•AFTER THE WAR: SPIDER-MAN'S STORY [COMPLETED]•

Chapter 16

"Where are they?"

"There! Over there!"

"Get out of the way, I need a clean shot for the Daily Bugle!"

Voices swirled all around Peter. Noise, that's all it is, he thought exhaustedly. He limped down the street, still carrying Dakota, heading over to the police cars parked outside the building.

He handed Dakota over to one of the doctors from an ambulance. "We'll make sure that she's okay," he said as she was rushed into the vehicle. Peter just nodded.

"Where is she? Where's our daughter?!" Dakota's parents' voices reached his ears. Turning, Peter caught sight of a young officer trying to calm them down.

Peter walked over, and nodded respectfully to the officer. He looks relived to go... "She's alright. She's in an ambulance right now, heading to the hospital," he explained.

Dakota's mother gasped. "She's not badly hurt, is she?"

Peter shook his head. "Not that I know of."

"What happened in there?" Dakota's father pressed him.

"Uh, well..." Peter stuttered. "S-she got... knocked out while Taskmaster and I were fighting..." He didn't want to tell them exactly what happened. Dakota would have plenty of time to do that herself. "She didn't look too bad, though," he said hurriedly, not wanting to worry them either. "I mean, I'm not a doctor or anything-"

"Thank you," Dakota's mother cut him off. "I-I didn't know if I would ever see her again..."

Peter dipped his head awkwardly. "Just... doing my job, defending the people of Queens," he said.

The police chief walked over to them. "Hey kid," he said, "I need to talk to you. Now, if you don't mind."

"Got it, chief." Peter said a hurried goodbye to Dakota's parents, then turned to him. "What's up?"

The chief looked him square in the eyes. "We need to know what happened in there. Taskmaster's been terrorizing these streets for long enough, and we need to know where he is right now."

Peter looked away. "He's dead," he said flatly.

"You mean you killed him?" the chief asked bluntly.

"No!"

"How then?"

"It... was an accident. His sword fell on top of him," Peter glared at him. "I don't kill people."

The chief raised an eyebrow at Peter. "Really? Then what would you say you do?"

Peter thought for a moment, then answered, "I'm just a kid from Queens, trying his best to save the world."

The chief snorted contemptuously. "I don't know about the whole world, kid," he chuckled. "All you did tonight was save that one girl."

"She's somebody's world," Peter muttered, staring at the ground.

"Still," the chief continued, "even I gotta admit, you did good. She probably would've died without you there to protect her."

Caught off guard by the other's sudden change of heart, Peter took a moment before he replied. "Th-thanks, chief," he stammered, feeling pride welling in his chest from the praise.

Seemingly satisfied, the chief nodded curtly. "I'll send a team in there to confirm what you told me." As Peter turned to leave, he called out, "Oh, and Spiderman? Good luck."

Smiling through his mask, Peter shot out a quick salute, then started swinging for home.

                    ---

"I can't believe it's been an entire month already, can you?"

Peter was in his room, working on homework with a finally fully-recovered Dakota. "Nope," he answered. "I'm just so glad I don't have to go out hunting for him anymore." He turned to his friend, smiling at her. "Do you have any idea how exhausting looking for him every day was?"

Dakota feigned interest. "No, I don't! Tell me all about it," she said, smirking.

Peter shook his head. "Nah, you'd get really bored."

"But I love your stories," Dakota protested, laughing.

Peter chuckled. "Uh huh, only the ones with Captain America in them," he teased.

Dakota threw a pillow at him in mock anger. "No I don't! That one with Giant-man and the Star Wars' reference was pretty good!"

Peter caught the pillow and passed it back. "'Pretty good'? It was awesome!" he leaned back, remembering. "A brilliant stroke of genius."

"Yep, you're exactly right there," Dakota agreed. "Star Wars is the best."

"Are you going to see Rogue One?" Peter asked.

Dakota laughed. "You're kidding, right? I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

"Same," Peter agreed, nodding.

Peter's phone beeped, and he pulled it out of his pocket. "Who's that?" Dakota asked, looking down at her notebook.

"It is... Mr. Stark! Again..." Peter answered, trailing off as he read it. "Heh. He's just complaining about my treatment of 'his suit,'" he huffed.

"That reminds me," Dakota said, looking up again, "did you two ever find out more about Taskmaster?"

Peter gritted his teeth at the sound of the name. "Nothing more important than his real name, which was Tony Masters, ironically."

"Heh. I would've loved to see Stark's reaction to that!" Dakota exclaimed.

Peter smiled. "Yeah, he seemed really pleased about it," he said sarcastically.               

"What did he say about those infinity stones?"         
Peter frowned. "It was weird; it was like he knew what they were, but he didn't say anything about them," he said.

"Hmm," Dakota spoke thoughtfully, "maybe he'll say something about them later."

"Maybe..." Peter shook his head, doubtful. "They sound pretty dangerous to me."

Dakota smiled. "You took Taskmaster down. Maybe they're not so bad."

Smiling back, Peter answered her, "Yeah, hopefully."

Hopefully...

"Well," Dakota summed up, "I know Spiderman can handle them, whatever they may be."

                                                     The End