Stark And The Spider

Toxic

(Stark's P.O.V.)

His gun digs into my back, staying right with me, as I walk towards the standing cabinet on the back wall.

I begin to fidget with my weapons bracelet, feeling it's cool metal against my fingertips. Thursday had already briefed me on what it can do this morning, so a plan began to formulate in my head. My sneakers squeak on the tile floor as I reach the cabinet. The gun still wedged between my shoulder blades.

I take a deep breath and open the cupboard with the dangerous chemicals in it. "Stupid." I mutter.

"What was that?"

I reach forward for one of the chemicals. "Stupid," I say louder, "to lead your hostage towards a bunch of toxic chemicals."

I quickly splash the chemical in his eye, and side step out of the gun reach. I block out his deafening high pitched man-scream, and proceed to roundhouse kick the gun out of his hands, like Natasha taught me. I drop to the ground and swing my leg around, knocking him off his feet.

"Thursday! Now!" I yell.

A strand of navy blue metal slides from my bracelet, and wraps around my middle finger on my left hand, clicking into place. It wraps around the base of my finger, from one knuckle to the other, with a circle on the outside. I fire at my target, and a beam of light erupts from the circle and into the man's chest.

"Holy sh*t."

My entire body tenses as I whirl around, pointing my fist and the finger canon at the source of the voice. Then, immediately let out the breath I was holding, and lower my hand.

The source of the sound, is a boy in a red and blue, skin tight suit, with a mask. And when I say skin tight, I mean like really, really skin tight.

"W-what was that?! That was so sick! How'd you do that? Did you just kill him?!" The boy stammers.

"Relax," I say, "it's merely a stun-laser." I laugh, "so, you must be the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man I've heard so much about."

He jumps down from the window sill. "Yup, that's me. Guess you didn't need my help after all."

"I can handle myself. How'd you know to come here?"

The white eyes on his suit widen, "I, uh, I, a boy told me. He said he was in this class and that one of his friends was still inside."

"Peter?"

"Yeah! That was his name."

"Okay...that explains one thing, but I still have another question." I take a step forward, "why do you call yourself Spider-Man?"

"I was bitten by a radio-active spider. It gave me the powers of a spider." He explains.

"That much I figured. What I meant was why do you call yourself Spider-Man? Your just a kid. Just a boy."

"I'm not a boy! I'm a man!"

I chuckle, "alright. Whatever you say, Spider-Boy. I gotta go to my next class. Can you handle him?" I point to the man unconscious on the floor.

"Yeah, I got him."

"Good. See ya around, Spider-Boy."

I walk out the door and watch as two police officers zoom past into the other room.

"Nice work Spider-Man! You've done it again!" I hear one of the officers congratulate.

I laugh under my breath, shaking my head as I continue to walk down the hall.

"Thanks, but I didn't really do anything it was all her." I hear Spider-Boy reply, "wait, where'd she go?"

I suppress a laugh from my hiding spot down a random corridor, and continue to sneak away to my next class.

......................................................................................................................

The school's P.A. machine lets out an announcement saying the lock-down was over, and our end of the day classes were cancelled. I could hear many students cheering, but I was ultimately  disappointed. My next class was Advanced Computer Science, which was the thing I was most looking forward to. But I guess I shouldn't be picky since I managed to survive my first encounter with a villain. 

A villain? Really? Your dad is the super hero, not you.

On the way out, I run into an out-of-breath, panting Peter Parker.

"Are you okay?" He asks, complete concern showing in his voice.

"I'm fine."

"That was stupid."

I shrug, "oh well. Good thing Spider-Man showed up. I was beginning to get worried."

"Spider-Man?"

I laugh. "Yeah. He showed up just in time. You were the one who contacted him, right?"

"Um," he pressed his lips together, "well, yeah. But Spider-Man was the one who took that guy down? By himself?"

I shrug, "well no. Not by himself. I helped. I also bought him some time."

"Did you fight?"

Peter, you are making it very hard to appear normal, "kind of, I, um, used to take martial arts when I was younger."

"That's cool. So, um, what'd you think of Spider-Man? Was he awesome?"

I sigh, "I think he's pretty cool and noble for doing those things, but Peter, I have a question. What did you think when I tried to single-handedly take on the man with the gun? Did you think it was brave? Or stupid?"

Peter rubbed the back of his neck, "both, I guess."

"Exactly, the same goes for Spider-Man. Peter, it's noble and brave that he does all those nice things for people, but honestly, it's also kind of stupid. He could get himself killed."

"But he has super powers."

"But he's just a kid! He's just a kid, Peter! And people expect him to go out and fight their battles for them! The expect him to put his life in danger, every day! He can't be that much older than us, Peter! It honestly makes me sick."

Peter stands there for a second, processing, then he looks down at his shoes, "with great power comes great responsibility."

Frustrated, I run my hands through my hair, "it's still not right, Peter! He's just a kid! They expect him to be a brave, fearless hero, but they forget he's just a kid." I sigh, "whatever, never mind. Yes, Spider-Man seems like a cool guy. Look, Peter, I have a ride. They're going to be waiting for me. Do you need a ride home?"

"That's okay. I don't live too far."

"You could get kidnapped."

"Seriously? What are the odds of me getting kidnapped?"

"What are the odds of a crazy man with a gun breaking into our science classroom the exact same time we have that class?" I can feel my smirk showing.

Peter rolls his eyes but smiles. "Okay, fine."

I smile, a genuine smile, "alright, let's go."

We walk down the steps of the school, and come across a some-what expensive looking car.

Dad, you have got to be kidding me.

I guess it could be worse though. He could've sent a limo. Or a Lamborghini. Or a Ferrari.

"That's your ride?" I turn to see Peter gaping at the car.

I rub my neck, "well, it's not mine. But it is the car that's picking me up."

"Wow."

I close the distance between myself and the car. I tap on the driver's window.

Happy rolls it down, "hey kid. Ready to go?"

"Yeah. Is it okay if we give my friend Peter a ride?"

"No problem. Who's-"

"Happy?"