Hang In There// P.P.

Chapter 6: Spider-Man.

While it only took me a couple of minutes to actually get to the crime scene but it took a bit longer to get into the suit than I anticipated. In total it took me five minutes to get the Queens Central Bank, but Spider-Man had broken that record, already having had dealt with the robber, obviously not aware of the second one coming up behind him, crowbar in hand. I emerged from the shadows, chanting 'evolo' as I ran towards the second robber, ramming myself into his body, knocking him off balance.

Spider-Man immediately turned around once he heard all the commotion. I took on the crook in hand to hand combat, of course with my added advantage, I knocked him to the ground, unconscious. I could see the spiderling looking at me from my peripheral vision, a small smirk growing on my face as I turned towards him.

"You gotta watch your six."

He was still looking astonished by something, probably the robber on the ground.

"Yeah, thanks."

It took him another moment or two to come to realization.

"I'm Spider-Man by the way."

He held out his hand for me to shake, something that wasn't commonly done at a scene, nevertheless, I shook it anyways.

"Magus." (ma-goo-sa)

"Latin, huh."

"Honours. You can just call me Mag."

I could see his eyebrows raise from underneath his mask, which was just a pair of goggles and a beanie, in fact his whole suit was simply a homemade attempt.

"You're a teenager?"

I chuckled at him.

"Yeah. And by the sounds of it, you are too."

Spider- Man let out a nervous chuckle in response, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Uh, yeah."

Okay, so Spider-Man is a teenage boy from Queens that obviously takes Latin as a subject. How hard could it be to figure this out? Little did I know just how difficult it would be. I looked at my watch a '1:00' flashing on and off the small screen. I promised Harry I wouldn't be too long. There was movement behind us as I acknowledged the time, turning to see the criminal running at me with a pocket knife. Before I even had time to react Spider-Man had webbed him to the wall, defeating him once again.

"Nice save."

He chuckled in response. I mentioned the time saying I had to get home before my brother would kill me, Spider-Man himself also mentioning he needed to go too. I offered the boy a small smile before turning around to head home, he called me back.

"You know-"

He started.

"-You should probably watch your six."

And then he was gone, swinging into the darkness of the city. I let out a small laugh at the boys humour before leaving the scene as the guards showed up, taking the bank robbers into custody.

_________________________________

To say I was tired the next morning was an understatement. I was ready to just topple over with lack of sleep, running on a total of two hours sleep as I forgot the amount of homework we were given. MJ noticed my deflated being as I met her, per usual, in the hallway.

"Well you look dead."

One thing I loved about MJ was her ability to be brutally honest about anything. I gave her a weak smile as we walked on through the sea of people. I collected my books from my locker as Peter came walking over, not looking too energized himself. We engaged in small conversation as MJ bid us a farewell, walking off to her first class early. I smiled at something Peter said, slowly walking backwards, books in hand. I offered him a small smile as I continued to move backwards, leaving to get to my first class also. However, when his face dropped and he lurched forward, wrapping an arm around my waist to bring me closer to him, did I realise I could have caused a disaster of a mess, not seeing the running first year coming my way. We watched as he ran past, Peter's arm still wrapped around my waist. Once everything had went back to normal and we realised the position we were in, he quickly let go, urgently fixing himself as we stood in a momentarily awkward silence.

"You gotta watch your six, Sof."

That was my line. I looked at the boy in confusion, but played it off as nothing. Maybe I had said it to him once when he was getting caught up with Flash, which seems like a valid explanation, so I didn't question it.

"Uh, yeah, I do."

I let out a small chuckle as I said it, the last few minutes playing over in my head. I shook it off as the bell rang, saying goodbye to Peter as I headed off to my first class: AP Biology.

This was one of the only classes that I had with Harry, since he repeated last year due to bad scores. Naturally we sat with one another, it was our moment that we could exchange all the school gossip. Of course, it all came from Harry, but today was different. I found myself falling asleep more times that not in those fourty minutes. Eventually the tiredness took over and the heaviness of my eyes grew too much as they closed shut.

Flashes of different scenes danced across my vision. Visions of death and destruction all around the world, before it all slowed down and focused on one place: Midtown High. I was dropped into the middle of the hallway, confusion taking over as I walked cautiously down the dead hallway of Midtown. I passed a window, my reflection making me aware that I was in the suit Tony Stark had given me. I walked on further down the hall, coming to a stop just outside the gym. The school was in silence. I opened the door to be met with a sight that scarred itself into my memory. The entire student body was scattered lifelessly across every corner of the hall, stone dead. I stared in horror as I felt compelled to walk further into the gym, stepping over bodies until I felt a hand wrap around my ankle. I jumped slightly with fright before looking down only to see the face of Peter Parker. Without a second of hesitation I knelt down, concern evidently washing over my face.

"Pete, what happened?"

I could feel the tears starting to sting at my eyes as I looked at the face of my quickly dying friend. He grabbed my collar with whatever strength he had left, pulling me closer. The words he whispered in my ear sending chills down my spine:

"You could have saved us."