Spyder and The Avengers

Chapter 3 - Investigating

I made it down to the first floor without passing out in the elevator, which was a plus. As always, there were a few shady people meandering around. Some were sitting on the chairs, with earbuds on and staring off into space, while others just looked idly around, clearly bored.

After I got out of the building, I looked around, munching on my granola bar. I could almost always find something of interest going on.

I found my ideal location, a newspaper stand. I bought the most recent one and flipped around. Aha! I found a story about a massive bank robbery near here, and how Spider-Man had stopped it.

I swear, I don't know how that dude could manage a normal life and a superhero one. It must be torture. Always missing out on everyday activities like work, maybe college or even school...

Pure and utter torture.

Tucking the newspaper under my arm, I walked as fast as I could towards the bank that had gotten robbed. It was Roosevelt New York Bank, one of the more secure banks around. I wonder which thief could have pulled off a robbery like this...

The newspaper's only description of the robber was a dark reddish blur and huge goggles. After scouring my memory and finding nothing, I decided that it was a new kid trying to make a quick buck.

I started snapping pictures of the area, police and all. There was yellow caution tape surrounding the immediate area, but I got as close as I could. I held my camera out over the tape as far as possible and took a few shots. I scribbled the location in my notepad.

After I clicked as many pictures as I could, I scanned the newspaper again. There has to be at least one more story I could find before Sunday.

Huh.

Apparently the Osborne Labs was coming out with some new cross-species technology. I'd have to check that out tomorrow.

It was already quarter to six, so I quickly glanced around once more for any last-minute details. Nada.

Then, I speed-walked to my apartment complex. The elevator, as usual, was downright painful on my senses of sight and scent.

Yep, gotta love the Big Apple.

After a brief camera-cleaning session in the hallway of floor twenty, I found my apartment.

Uncle Ben was home now. He was sitting at the kitchen table, reading a recent edition of the "Cars Monthly" magazine. He loved cars, but could only afford a dinged-up red convertible made in 2002. I worked extra hard in school so they wouldn't have to pay as much for my college fund.

"Hey, Uncle Ben," I said, throwing my granola bar wrapper into the garbage can. "How was work today?"

He looked up. "Oh, hi, Pepper. Work was fine. I got let out early because something went wrong with a chemical the labs were experimenting with. It was..." His face scrunched up as he tried to remember. "Bio-Engineering, I think. For, uh, little animals like cockroaches and spiders.

"Because of my whole 'new-janitor-on-the-job' shtick, they sent me to dump it, so I dropped it in the nearest place, one of them richer neighborhood dumpsters. Then, I came right home. How was your day, P?"

I gave him a small shrug and grabbed a slice of pizza from the fridge. "Fine, I guess. Where's Aunt Mae?"

He gestured to the living room. "She fell asleep watching TV. Poor girl, spending all of her time trying to find 'quality' home items," Uncle Ben told me with a sigh. "No job, so she makes up for it with... whatever she does all day."

I gave him a hug, hiding a grin, and told him I would be in my room. Already digging into my pizza, I walked down the hallway next to the rec room, and opened the door at the end.

My room was kind of a mess, with papers and books and pens strewn everywhere, but I didn't mind. Everything was accounted for, and had an order.

Alone at last. I breathed in deeply and opened a window. The sounds of the city -car horns, voices, and lots of beeping, along with a brisk but warm spring breeze- flooded in.

I sat at my computer desk and pulled the memory card out of my camera. I inserted it into the fancy-shmancy computer I got from Marcy on my twelfth birthday and pressed the power button. While it was booting up, I checked my notes. Roosevelt New York Bank. Unknown robber. Spider-Man. Stinky, stinky elevator.

Rolling my eyes, I found a pencil and erased the last one, which was scrawled in Aunt Mae's thin handwriting. She wrote that wherever she could, trying to start a "Clean Those Stinky Elevators!" revolution.

It was one of her many strange yet lovable quirks.

But back to Spider-Dude.

Apparently, this masked marvel decided to try out for the Avengers. I bet that was one of the tests they gave him. Maybe he passed and actually got in.

Shocker.

Finally, the home page appeared on my screen. I clicked into the memory card file and uploaded my most recent pictures. I then pulled up my school's newspaper column site and posted my pictures and notes onto it. My work was done.

I pulled out a book from under the bed and chewed on the pizza. I normally work on multiple books at once, school-related and not. It's also a great way to keep my brain active.

Around ten o'clock, I took a cold but refreshing shower and pulled on a faded baggy shirt with a pair of light yellow shorts. I tiptoed into the hallway and peeked in the living room. Aunt Mae and Uncle Ben were both asleep, but the TV was still wide awake. I quietly turned it off and creeped back to my room, left my door open, and crawled into bed.

I closed my eyes and almost immediately fell asleep.

Zzz...

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<·<Pepper_B_Parker*Alias:_Spyder*Position:_S.H.I.E.L.D._agent>·>

Whoop. Another chapter down.

Oh, fun fact: This story was made by me. Why? 'Cause Tony, being the weirdo that he is, told me to. And Fury told him to tell me.

So yeah. Thanks a ton, Fury McFudge.