Spider-Man : The Morales Trilogy

Chapter 10

Miles groaned and opened his eyes. His senses told him the attacker was still present which meant he could only have been out for a few minutes or probably seconds. He got up onto his feet and headed towards the shuttle.

The attacker was dismantling the shuttle on the inside and removing its components and throwing them into a bag.

"You could have just asked for the damn thing," Miles groaned. Both Sam and Ava were now on the floor, different positions than when he'd been punched through the shuttle. There was a huge hole in the side of the shuttle where he'd been punched through that he'd have a hard time explaining to authorities if they got here before he died.

"You should be dead," the attacker said and turned to face Miles. "No normal person would survive being punched through a shuttle. Especially if the punch was from me."

"Maybe you're not as strong as you think," Miles said and chuckled. "Or I might be stronger than you expected."

"You were just lucky," the attacker said and got up, leaving his bag of pilfered components on the floor. He grabbed Miles and lifted him off the ground and threw him out onto the road.

"This route is only used by Horizon High so there won't be any bystanders to help you or call the authorities. You're going to die painfully."

Miles got up just in time to avoid another hit from the attacker. "I'm not going to die today," Miles said and threw a counterattack sending the attacker so far backwards that he hit the shuttle and tipped it over.

Miles looked at his hands, surprised he could hit that hard. He then imagined how much pain Dil must have felt when he'd punched him.

"You hit hard," the attacker said and smirked at Miles. "Shockwaves hit harder." He stretched both hands and fired a shockwave at Miles.

Miles managed to jump high enough to avoid the shockwave then landed hard on the ground. "Shockwave's a great name, don't you think?" Miles said. "Sounds better than Scarface."

"Shut up!" Shockwave yelled and fired another blast. Miles jumped aside but before he got up, Shockwave was already in front of him and kicked him backwards.

Miles groaned and tried to push himself up onto his feet but Shockwave kicked him again, flipping him over. "You shouldn't still be alive by now, kid. You're special. You aren't human."

"I am," Miles groaned and caught Shockwave's leg as he tried to kick again and flung him aside. Miles got up quickly and with fists clenched, headed towards Shockwave who was getting back up.

Miles punched his face and was about to throw another punch when a shockwave hit him and sent him flying backwards. That really hurt.

Shockwave walked towards Miles and stood above him. "This is going to hurt you, kid. Then it will kill you."

And he fired a concentrated, continuous shockwave at Miles. Miles yelled in agony and tried to get up but couldn't. His head started to throb and his nose and ears started bleeding.

Finally, Shockwave stopped and kicked Miles in the head. Miles groaned as the world around him spun uncontrollably then everything was engulfed by darkness.

"Glad to see that you know how to stay down," Shockwave said. "I wonder how much your funeral is gonna cost your parents and that school of yours.

"He's alive but his vitals are low and he has a couple of ruptured vessels," said one of the doctors in the MedBay.

"Will he make it?" Dil asked, with a bandage wrapped around his head, standing next to Sam who didn't seem to be really injured except from a tiny cut on his cheek.

"We don't know," the doctor said. "He's pretty bad. You're going to have to leave so we can start working."

"I'm not going anywhere," Dil said. "He's my best friend. I can't just leave him!"

"Dil," Sam said and put a hand on Dil's shoulder. "We can't be here if you want them to help him. Let's just step out for a while."

"Don't touch me," Dil said and slapped Sam's hand off his shoulder.

"I don't think you really want to get aggressive with me," Sam warned and forced a smile. "You look hurt enough already, wouldn't want to make that worse for you."

"Two of you, out! Now!" The doctor yelled as the monitor started beeping frantically. Sam grabbed Dil and dragged him out of the room till and slammed the door shut behind them.

"What is your deal?!" Dil yelled and threw a punch. It hit Sam in the face but Sam didn't flinch or react. Dil, on the other hand, winced.

"Do you feel better now?" Sam asked. "Taken out the anger you're feeling? Ready to talk?"

"You and I don't talk. Buzz off," Dil said and looked around at the other doors leading to other rooms in the MedBay. A lot of students were in there right now. Miles had tried to help. Dil had seen or rather, heard some of it. He remembered seeing Miles get punched through the shuttle and the rest was a bit faint.

"Okay, suit yourself," Sam said.

"I'm such a coward," Dil blurted.

"What?"

"Miles tried to fight. I was conscious during some of it. I could have gotten up and helped, maybe we'd have stopped the attacker. But I didn't. I was afraid so I played dead, hoping the attacker would ignore me. Even when you put up a fight too."

"You were conscious during that?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. And I didn't help. I just stayed there waiting for law enforcement or something. Too afraid to fight."

"It's a good thing you didn't fight, you'd be dead, Dil," Sam said. "Miles and I, I think we're different. I don't know how to explain it to you, I don't even know where to start. Our strength is physical, maybe your strength comes from somewhere else."

"And where could that possibly be?"

"It's up to you to figure that out, not me. Taking the blame right now doesn't help Miles heal. He did what he felt was right and he's dealing with the consequences. Best you can do is pray and hope that he gets through this in one piece."

"Pretty sure you think you're wise, like some annoying Yoda."

"Do or do not."

"There is no try," Dil complicated and the two of them burst into laughter, despite Dil's head hurting.

"We are nerds!" Sam said and continued laughing.

"Hell yeah, Padawan!"