If there was one thing that Peter hated most, it was school. Just because he did well in all of his subjects and other electives, didn't mean that he liked it. Sure he won three science fairs in a row, was at the top of his class in Advanced Biology, Advanced Calculus and Advanced Robotics, but he did it because that was what Tony would have wanted for him.
The day started off as per normal. Waking up at 7 am sharp, brush his teeth, put on some decent clothes (his fashion sense was a disaster and Tony was no help), went down to greet his family, eat whatever Steve cooked, grabbed his school bag and walked to school. At school, get beat up by Flash, in classes, act like the straight A poster student that his teachers thought him to be, blush at Gwen, meet up with the gang at lunch, get beaten up by Flash somemore, go through a few more classes, then get picked up by one of his family members to go straight to the Daily Buggle for work.
James Jonah was as annoying as per usual. Complaining about the headline of the newspaper giving Spider-Man too much credit than needs to be given. Honestly, it was just a part-time job and Peter was their photographer. He just goes with the flow.
Today, Natasha was fetching him. He got into the car that she owned. "Hey, Aunt Nat."
"Hello, Peter. How was school today?"
"It was fine." He said, telling her what she wanted to hear. The rest of the journey was quiet as they found nothing much to chat about. They pulled outside a huge building.
"Have a good day at work, Peter. Do you need me to walk you in?"
"No. I got it. Thanks." He gotten out of the passenger seat and released a breath he had been holding. "Hear goes nothing."
Peter took the elevator to the tenth floor where he worked. Even though he mostly took pictures for the paper, he had to recieve his boss's approval which was hard.
"Parker! Over here!" A man wearing a pinstriped suit shouted. He waved the daily paper at Peter who walked over.
"Eric." He greeted. Eric had been the newbie since Peter was a freshman at Midtown high. He may have had ten years of experience in another newspaper building, but the Daily Buggle was a whole new game. Eric had been lost when Peter was assigned to show him the ropes, having been stationed here for quite some time now. Eric was grateful and the two soon forged their friendship over their hate for their boss.
"Parker. Want a coffee? It's terrible stuff. Tastes like tar." Peter declined the offer as Eric walked over to the coffee maker to refill his drink. "I have to tell ya, Parker. Something's up with Jonah today."
"Oh yeah? How so?"
"Well. He's got his eye on another hero. The Doctor guy?"
"Doctor Strange?"
"Yeah! That's the one. And he gets too frustrated trying to come up with some crummy headline to make both him AND Spider-Man seem like a complete menace." As if on cue, people are seen scrambling in fear and annoyance from said man's office.
"Smith! Where are those headlines I asked for?! They better be good! Jackson! You'd better be serious about that article! Parker! We need pictures! The Buggle ain't gonna snap pictures of itself! We're running a God damn press here! Chop chop people!" Peter sighed as Eric shot him a sympathetic look. Jonah sat in his chair with his eye trained on Peter himself. He had learned to get use to that stare.
"He are the pictures, sir." He didn't know if he sounded timid or irritated. They were all pictures of Spider-Man. There was no Doctor Strange as his help was unexpected.
"That's it?! Where are the pictures of the man in the cape? We need pictures of him causing trouble! Or there will be no good headline! Wait! I got it! The headlines will read: Watch out, folks! Mysterious wizard saves New York's menace! Friend or foe? That'll surely make a great front page. Smith! Take notes!" Peter sighed as he began the day as per usual.
When he had packed up and left the office, it was already 9pm. He walked down the alley, thinking about school stuff and Wade. He knew just thinking about him made him cry. But Wade was his best friend since life at the orphanage.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a shriek in the air. Peter hurried to change into his Spider-Man suit, not even bothering to call the others for help since he figured that he could handle this on his own.
The cries came from what was once a railway station. He remembered his teacher saying something about it being torn down to be made into a commercial building, but the company that was supposed to build it had insufficient funds and so all construction ceased, leaving the remains of an abandoned place.
"Hello? Anybody there?" Peter walked with caution. A small beam of light shone down on a chair with what seemed to be a girl in it? He walked closer, checking that no one was in sight before realizing his mistake. That girl was no girl. It was a doll. A speaker was attached to the front, the same shrieks he had heard coming out of it. It was a trap.
Suddenly, all went black.
