ILLYRIS | xi. "AM I THE BAD COP?" ADVANCED INTERROGATION MODE
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THE DEVIL'S IN the details. Knowledge itself is power. Quotes and idioms measured the tactics of perception for a reason. Thea was counting on Peter to uphold his promise to help calculate their next move with this underestimated power. For now, she watched the Spider-Man mania sweep Midtown Tech with a quiet amusement on her face. Change was certainly in the air and for Thea, it came in the form of the school newscast flashing across the mounted television screens in the hallway.
"This past weekend, Midtown's Academic Decathlon team defeated the country's best to win the national championship," Jason announced. A slideshow of pictures appeared on the screen as he continued, "later that day, they also defeated death."
It suddenly cut to hastily taped footage of Abe at the front of the Washington Monument, shouting, "Explosion! Sally screaming, Flash screaming— Everybody screaming!"
"Purple lasers, smoke everywhere, it was—" a bleep cut out Charles' obvious swear word, "—tight, just like a Bon Jovi concert!"
"As you know, we made it out alive and that's the important thing. I couldn't bear to lose a student on a school trip," Mr. Harrington's somber voice filtered through, his nervous smile unconvincing. His eyes began to lose focus as the camera zoomed in. "Not again."
"Thankfully, no one was seriously injured thanks to the Spider-Man," Jason concluded as an outrageously grainy picture of Peter scaling the monument showed up. It was captioned THE SPIDER MAN!! in big, comic sans. Thea pressed her lips in a thin line to refrain from laughing.
"Thank you, Spider-Man," Jason and Betty's—robotic— voices clashed together.
"Up next: the Spider-Man mania is sweeping the school! How can you show your spider spirit?"
Thea smiled up at the news reporters that began to segway into more homecoming business but gave a jolt as a bespectacled girl with mousy brown hair stared up at her. She raised a brow, plucking out her earbuds and cutting off the tunes of Queen.
"Oh my gosh, you got saved by Spider-Man, right?" she implored with eyes widened in disbelief. "What was it like? Was he cute?"
"Uh— yeah," Thea said vaguely. She returned her attention to her locker but the mousy girl didn't budge until she looked down at her, a crease forming between her brows. "He-he smelled good."
The extent of the spider-mania hadn't settled on Thea until she noticed every conversation weaving in the Washington Monument rescue. People she didn't know came up, asking her questions about the incident and though the fake integrity, made her uncomfortable, she was indifferent about the shift in attention from the mysterious girl of fire clothed in Valaryen black with dark hair adorned in braids to the acclaimed vigilante of Queens. She's not jealous—some people know her name more than others— not when she spotted Peter's grinning face on the other end of the hallway. The boy looked positively over the moon as he strode up to her, hands shoved in the pockets of his brown jacket.
