Killer ▹ Peter Parker [2]

6 | nick fury

6 | NICK FURY

Back at the hotel, everyone was tweeting, texting, streaming everything about the events they had just witnessed. The news was calling the hero Mysterio which meant mysterious. Valdís was intently watching the news on the tv while Peter was on the phone talking to his Aunt May, telling her that he was fine. Val was sure that the new broadcaster was simply calling the hero the mysterious superhero, but, she quite liked referring to the man as Mysterio. It had a ring to it.

Peter walked over to join Val in watching the news. "So, are we gonna try and track down Mysterio?" Val asked Peter, her adrenaline was still pumping so she seemed hyper about the whole superhero thing again.

"Who's Mysterio?" Peter bunched up his nose in distaste at the name.

"That's what the journalists are calling that other guy, mysterio. I think it means mysterious or something." Val shrugged.

"No, no, no, no. We are on vacation, Val. We aren't going to be tracking down anyone. Leave all this mess to the Avengers." Peter crosses his arms.

Val was quiet for a moment, then she opened her mouth to begin speaking again. "Um... we are the Avengers."

"You just had to say it... didn't you?" Peter grumbled, not wanting to accept the huge responsibility that came with being an Avenger. "We are not Avengers while on a school trip."

"You certainly thought you were one when you jumped out of that bus in New York five years ago to go fight aliens coming out of the sky." Val cocked her head at him, reminding him that not too long ago he, too, wanted to be a full time hero. Now, suddenly, he wanted to be a normal teenager? Peter rolled his eyes, then took a seat next to her. "So Paris tomorrow. We're going to the Eiffel Tower. Should be great." Peter let out a shaky laugh.

"Yeah, yeah." Val waved him off as she continued to watch the television— her eyes glued and unblinking. Peter took a deep breath and fumbled his thumbs in his lap. He was nervous about giving her the ring. He wasn't exactly sure if it was the right timing to give her such a commitment. Especially after everything she had lost.

* * *

"So what are you two going to do about the water monster?" Ned asked Peter and Val once everyone was heading back to their rooms for the evening. Val, of course, snuck with Ned and Peter's to walk to their room to chat some more since talking with Betty, her roommate while they were in Venice, didn't seem like so much fun.

"Nothing! It's dead. And, besides, that Mysterio guy is all over him." Peter shrugged, sticking his toothbrush in his mouth— since he was about to brush his teeth once they arrived in the room— as they walked down the hall toward their room.

"That's nice." Ned sarcastically remarked. The moment the three of them stepped foot into Peter and Ned's hotel room, a quiet dart shot through the air and into Ned's neck. It instantly knocked him out. Fortunately, when he collapsed, he fell onto the couch in the room.