𝐁𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐏 𝐓𝐎 𝐂𝟒

—♝—

𝐊𝐀𝐑𝐀 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐒 she twisted the dial for her locker, annoyed when it didn't open once she had tugged it. With a sigh, she tried again.

"Where'd you get a backpack from?"

As the lock successfully opened this time, Kara turned to see Peter and Ned come up to her, and she let out a small giggle when she saw that Peter was carrying his stack of books.

"It's from eighth grade," she told him with a small shrug as she put a couple of things away into her locker. "Which is why it's bright pink."

"At least you have a bag," grumbled Peter, his lips forming into a small pout.

"You want me to carry your books for you?" she questioned with an amused smile, to which he shook his head.

"It's okay," he sighed. "I got it."

Ned let out a small gasp as he turned to him and sized him up. "Wait, do you have super-strength?"

Peter shrugged as Kara shut her locker. "Yeah."

"Whoa," Ned breathed out, keeping his widened eyes on him as they began to make their way to the chemistry classroom. "Do you know how strong you are? Are you, like, Hulk-level strong?"

Peter shrugged again. "I doubt it."

They reached the classroom after a minute and quickly took their seats as Mr. Cobbwell began to scribble on the chalkboard, though they paid no attention to it as they took their books out.

"Who gave you the name Spider-Man?" quietly questioned Ned, causing both Kara and Peter to shush him.

"I came up with it," Peter whispered as he flipped his notebook open.

"What about Psionic?" Ned asked, turning his attention to Kara as the bell rang.

"Uncle Tony did," she murmured, receiving widened eyes and a gasp in response. "Shh, Cobbwell is starting."

As the lesson started, and the room filled with the low drone of Mr. Cobbwell's voice and the scratching of pencils, Ned heeded Kara's wishes and remained quiet . . . for about five minutes.

Ned leaned past Kara, abandoning the notebook in front of him as he whispered to Peter, who was diligently writing the note down, "Can you spit venom?"

Peter kept his eyes on his paper as he shook his head. "No."

Ned, however, wasn't finished with his questions. "Can you summon an army of spiders?"

Peter glanced up at the board before continuing to write. "No, Ned."

"Wait . . ." Ned gave a small groan of realization as he turned to Kara. "So that's why you're so weird when we write tests."

"Yes, now, shh!" she hissed, glancing around her to make sure that no one was listening in.

Ned, however, did not 'shh' for the rest of chemistry class, nor did he 'shh' for any of history.

Although, Kara could barely even focus on the crazy questions that Ned was asking; she was far too busy trying to keep her calm as their teacher droned on about the Sokovia Accords.

Peter gave her a worried side glance every now and then, though she just sent him a small smile and shake of the head every time.

She could tell that some people were also glancing her way as well, though it wasn't out of worry; it wasn't exactly unknown that she knew the Avengers, and it seemed as though they were anticipating some sort of reaction from her.

The teacher leaned forward on the podium, glancing down at the textbook that was rested on it before continuing, "The Sokovia Accords were put into place—"

"How far can you shoot your webs?" Ned whispered as he leaned over.

"It's unknown," Peter mumbled back. "Shut up."

"—to begin regulating—"

"If I was you," Ned whispered, ignoring Peter's request, "I would stand on the edge of a building and just shoot it as far as I could—"

Peter's voice was a little louder this time, "Shut up, Ned."

A girl who sat in front of them turned to face them and shot a glare, causing Peter to smile nervously and Kara to sigh.

She closed her eyes and leaned her cheek against her hand as she tried to ignore the teacher. She didn't bother writing any notes down; she knew far more about the Sokovia Accords than anyone else in this room, anyway.

"Do you know about the Sokovia Accords, Kara?"

She opened her eyes to look at Ned and shook her head. "No, Ned. I don't know anything about the very thing that split my family apart."

"Right," he muttered, sending her a small frown. "Sorry."

She had really hoped that she would be able to take her mind off of all this once gym class began. But, as usual, the universe hated her.

"Hi. I'm Captain America. Whether you're in the classroom or on the battlefield—"

Kara stared at the small, old television that was set up next to Coach Wilson, the gym teacher. She tried her best to keep her tears in as she stared at the uncle that she loved so much, who was on the screen with his full get-up and the warm smile that she missed so dearly.

"Do you know him too?" she heard Ned whisper to Peter, who was in between them on the bleachers.

"Yeah," Peter whispered back, "we met."

"—fitness can be the difference between success or failure."

"I stole his shield," Peter continued with a grin.

Ned's jaw dropped. "What?"

Kara looked towards Peter, who was still grinning at Ned, and she swallowed as she put her gaze back on Steve, who was still talking.

Peter glanced at her for a moment before doubling back as he realized what he had said. He leaned towards her, his eyes a little wide as he murmured, "Sorry, Kara, I didn't—"

"It's fine," she whispered, her voice a little tight.

"Today, my good friend, your gym teacher" —Steve pointed to his right, and Coach Wilson, who was standing on the opposite side, waved— "will be conducting the Captain America Fitness Challenge."

Steve raised a hand in salute before the screen transitioned to 'Station I: Sit-ups.'

"Thank you, Captain," Coach Wilson said. "I'm pretty sure this guy's a war criminal now, but whatever. I have to show these videos. It's required by the state. Let's do it."

Kara sighed, rubbing her eyes. She brushed away the hand that Peter placed on her shoulder, and shook her head as he began to whisper something to her.

"Kara!"

Kara turned around to see Liz, who was grinning.

"What's up?" Kara asked as Peter and Ned brushed past her.

"Don't really feel up to doing this fitness training or whatever. We" —she gestured to herself, Betty, Charles, and Sebastian, all of who Kara wasn't exactly friends with— "are gonna play eff, marry, kill with the Avengers."

"Sure," Kara agreed with a shrug. "But I'm not gonna play."

"Aw, come on," Betty egged, slightly pushing her shoulder. "Why not?"

Kara squinted her eyes. "Because the Avengers are basically my family, and, although I'm fine with the kill option, I'm not so fine with the other two."

"Yeah, that's a good reason," Liz agreed with a small laugh. "Come on."

As the other students piled onto the gym floor and separated into their stations, the five of them remained on the bleachers, though they headed down to the lower ones before sitting down.

"Okay," Liz sighed as she leaned forward, her hands resting on either side of her. "Captain America, Iron Man, and Hawkeye."

Sebastian squinted his eyes, pursing his lips for a moment before saying, "Eff Captain America, marry Iron Man, and kill Hawkeye."

"Eff Hawkeye, marry Captain America, and kill Iron Man," Betty decided with a grin.

Charles raised a hand. "Eff Iron Man, marry Captain America, kill Hawkeye."

"For me . . ." Liz narrowed her eyes as she shifted in her seat. "Eff Captain America, marry Hawkeye, kill Iron Man."

"Let's do an X-Men one," Betty quickly interjected before Liz could give out three more options. "Quicksilver, Cyclops, or Nightcrawler?"

"Easy." Liz grinned. "Eff Quicksilver, marry Nightcrawler, kill Cyclops."

"No, I feel like having laser vision is like a kink," Charles butted in, eliciting a laugh from the others. "Eff Cyclops, marry Quicksilver, kill Nightcrawler."

"I'm gonna agree with that one." Betty nodded. "I mean, Quicksilver is pretty hot."

Kara shuddered.

"I'm gonna go eff Nightcrawler, marry Quicksilver, kill Cyclops," Sebastian said.

"Personally," Kara chimed in, "I would kill Quicksilver. I don't know why none of y'all decided that, but whatever."

"Okay," Liz sighed. "Back to the Avengers: Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor."

Sebastian thought for a moment before answering, "Eff Hulk, marry Thor, kill Iron Man."

"Really?" Liz asked dubiously as she turned to him, an amused smile on her lips. "You'd eff Hulk?"

"Yeah," Sebastian confirmed with a grin. "I mean, I bet he has a monster di—"

"Anyway," Kara said loudly. "I'd kill them all. Next."

Charles grinned. "Eff Iron Man, marry Thor, kill Hulk."

"That's more reasonable," Liz giggled. "I'd eff Thor, marry Hulk, and kill Iron Man."

"Now, see, for me," Betty began as she leaned her chin on her hand, "it would be eff Thor, marry Iron Man, and kill Hulk."

"Well, what about the Spider-Man?" Charles asked as he raised his eyebrows.

"It's just Spider-Man," Betty corrected.

Kara could see Ned, who was keeping Peter's feet down as he did sit-ups, watching them, his mouth slightly agape. She silently groaned; he better keep his mouth shut.

"Did you guys see the bank security cam on YouTube?" Liz questioned excitedly. "He and Psionic fought off four guys."

Betty grinned. "Oh my God, she's crushing on Spider-Man."

Charles scoffed, the corners of his lips twisting upwards as he shook his head. "No way."

Liz shrugged, a guilty smile on her face as she bit the edge of her thumb and admitted, "Kind of?"

"Ugh, gross." Betty shuddered.

"I mean . . ." Kara interjected, glancing over to see that now the group had both Peter and Ned's attention. "I'm pretty sure he and Psionic are dating, probably."

"What?" Sebastian shook his head. "No."

"He's probably, like, thirty," Betty pointed out with raised eyebrows.

"You don't even know what he looks like," Charles added on. "Like, what if he's, like, seriously burned?"

"I wouldn't care," Liz rebutted. "I would still love him for the person he is on the inside."

"Peter knows Spider-Man!"

Kara whipped her head around to look at Ned, her eyes wide.

He. Did. Not.

Maybe no one heard?

Everyone in the gym simultaneously stopped what they were doing to stare at Peter, who was staring at Ned with shock.

So, yes, everyone heard.

Peter quickly got up to hurry towards the bleachers, Ned trailing close behind.

"No, I don't. No," Peter stammered before shrugging. "I . . . I mean . . ."

Flash, who had been climbing up a rope, slid down to the ground with a small thud.

"They're friends," Ned stated with a grin, despite Kara slightly shaking her head and mouthing for him to shut the fuck up.

"Yeah, like Coach Wilson and Captain America are friends," Flash scoffed as he slowly walked toward them, eliciting a chuckle from the students.

"I-I-I've met him. Yeah. A couple times," Peter said sheepishly as he shrugged and gave them a nervous grin. "But it's, um . . . through the Stark internship. Mhm." He turned to Ned, and, through gritted teeth, continued, "Yeah, well, I'm not really supposed to talk about it."

"Well, that's awesome. Hey, you know what?" Flash raised his eyebrows, a grin spreading onto his face. "Maybe you should invite him to Liz's party," he suggested as he gestured over to Liz. "Right?"

"Yeah, I'm having people over tonight," Liz said with a nod. "Kara's coming, you guys should come, too."

"Having a party?" Peter uttered.

"Yeah, it's gonna be dope," Flash agreed, his malicious smile more prominent than ever. "You should totally invite your personal friend Spider-Man."

"Um . . ."

"It's okay," Liz said quickly, resting her cheek on one hand. "I know Peter's way too busy for parties anyway, so . . ."

Kara breathed a small sigh of relief, though that relief soon disappeared as a smirk appeared on Flash's face.

"Come on. He'll be there. Right, Parker?" Flash leered as he passed by him.

The bell rang, and Kara quickly said goodbye to the group before heading over to Peter and Ned.

"Ned!" she muttered as the three of them began to head towards the changing rooms. "Why did you do that?"

"She said she had a crush on Spider-Man!" Ned whispered back as Peter rubbed his eyes. "What else was I supposed to do?"

"Not say anything!" Peter answered with a sigh. He looked towards Kara, his expression pained, and asked, "What do I do?"

"Well, unless you're fine with looking like a liar," Kara sighed, "your best bet would be going to the party and bringing Spider-Man with you."

"Peter, this is our chance to be cool!" Ned insisted, a grin growing on his face. "Let's go!"

Peter only groaned in response.

—♝—

"House party in the suburbs." May grinned as she slowed the car down in front of Liz's house. She gave a small sigh as she gazed at the coloured lights and the groups of people who were on the lawn. "Oh, I remember these. Kind of jealous."

Ned, who was sitting next to Kara in the back seat, had a wide grin as he remarked, "It'll be a night to remember."

May laughed in agreement, and her eyes moved to the fedora that was on Ned's head. "Ned, some hats wear men. You wear that hat."

Ned shrugged, his grin broadening. "Yeah, it gives me confidence."

"It should," Kara giggled as she patted him on the shoulder. "You look great, Nedster."

"This is a mistake," Peter, who had been peering through the window, muttered. He turned to May, shaking his head. "Hey, let's just go home."

"Oh, Peter," May sighed, giving him a sympathetic look as she slowly shook her head. "I know. I know it's really hard trying to fit in with all the changes your body's going through. It's flowering now."

"Uh-huh," Peter scoffed in amusement, a small grin growing on his face.

May turned to face Kara and Ned, and scrunched her face as she told them, "He's so stressed out lately."

"What helps with stress is going to a party." Ned grinned. "We should go to the party."

Peter pursed his lips together before quickly nodding. "Yeah, let's do it. Yeah. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go."

Kara exchanged a small grin with Ned, and the three of them quickly got out of the car. She watched as Peter leaned through the rolled-down window to murmur something to May, and once he had joined them, she waved goodbye.

"Bye, May!" Ned called with a grin as he waved.

The three of them turned to the raging house, the bright lights inside allowing them to see the tens of people that were chatting and dancing to the music that was blasting.

They began to walk up the lit pathway, glancing at the couple of people that were talking at the side, and Ned nudged Peter.

"Dude," Ned muttered, "you have the suit, right?"

Peter pulled up the sleeve of his blue plaid button-up to reveal that he was wearing his suit underneath as he murmured, "Yeah."

"This is gonna change our lives," Ned squealed as they continued towards the house.

Kara's nose wrinkled. "Is it?"

"Not for you," Ned scoffed as he lightly elbowed her, "everyone already likes you because you know the Avengers."

They made it to the front door and entered the crowded house, the EDM and chatting growing louder. There were tons of people—people who didn't even go to their school—walking around with red solo cups and plates of snacks in their hands.

They glanced towards the end of the room to see that Flash was manning the DJ station, a pair of headphones on as he clicked something on the laptop in front of him.

"DJ Flash!" came a deep voice from the speakers.

"Okay," Ned whispered as they continued looking around. "We're gonna have Spider-Man swing in, say you guys are tight, and then I get a fist bump or one of those half bro-hugs."

Their attention turned to the front as Liz, who was wearing a blue blouse and had a red solo cup in hand, walked up to them with a grin.

"Hey, guys," she greeted before nodding towards Ned's fedora. "Cool hat, Ned."

Kara grinned. "Hey, Liz!"

"Hi, Liz!" Ned exclaimed, glancing over to Peter, who gave a nervous smile.

"Hi, Liz."

"I'm so happy you guys came," Liz told them as she put a hand on her hip. "There's pizza and drinks. Help yourself."

The sound of glass shattering drew their attention toward the side, and Liz sighed.

"Oh, I . . ." Liz trailed off as she nervously glanced towards the side. "My parents will kill me if anything's broken. I gotta—"

Peter quickly nodded. "Yeah."

"Have fun." Liz smiled as she began to walk off.

"Bye," Ned called.

Liz glanced over her shoulder at them as she returned, "Bye."

"Dude, what are you doing?" Ned whispered urgently as he whipped his head around to face Peter. "Spider it up!"

"No, no, no. I can't . . . I cannot do this," Peter answered, shaking his head profusely. "Spider-Man is not a party trick, okay? Look, I'm just gonna" —he shrugged— "be myself."

Ned sighed. "Peter, no one wants that."

Peter's eyebrows furrowed as he muttered, "Dude."

Peter began to walk away, his expression clearly hurt, as Kara elbowed Ned.

He paused in his step, however, when Flash picked up the microphone and called, "Penis Parker, what's up? So, where's your pal Spider-Man? Let me guess. In Canada?" Cue the laughs from the crowd. "That's not Spider-Man! That's just Ned in a red shirt!" More laughs.

Peter glanced at Kara, who was frowning. "I'm going," he muttered, eliciting a grin from Ned and a shake of the head from Kara.

"Peter, don't let Flash—"

"I'm going," he insisted.

She only sighed and motioned for him to go on.

Ned grinned as Peter looked around and slipped out the door, and turned to Kara. "Dude, this is gonna be sick. We'll be the most popular kids in the school!"

"Is that really what you want?" sighed Kara as the two of them waded through the crowd. "I mean, what's the point of being popular, anyway?"

"Uh, so people think we're cool?" answered Ned with raised eyebrows. "You know, if I were you, Kara, I'd be telling everyone about how I know the Avengers. Easy popularity, right there."

"The reason I don't do that is because everyone only pretends to be my friend so that they can meet the Avengers," Kara pointed out with a wrinkled nose. "I don't go around telling people, and they still do it. Tiffany from our bio class asked if I could introduce her to Iron Man."

"And?" Ned asked. "What did you say?"

"I said that he's in India." Kara shrugged, and, to answer Ned's scrunched face, she added on, "He really is there. He left a couple of days ago. I've been enjoying the peace and quiet around the Compound."

"Oh."

"Mhm."

As they continued walking, Ned looked around the room, giving his best grin as he tipped his fedora at people who then either ignored him, laughed at him, or gave him a scrunched nose. Ned's shoulders then slumped.

"My hat isn't working," Ned muttered. He turned to Kara, his expression pleading as he asked, "Is it not cool?"

"It's very cool," she reassured him as she reached up and straightened it for him. "They just suck."

"I don't know . . ." Ned looked off to the side for a few moments before groaning, "Where's Peter?"

"We can call him," Kara suggested.

Ned nodded, and the two of them quickly found a mostly empty room. A couple of people were huddled in the corner, giggling, and a few empty cups sat on top of a cabinet that was pushed against the wall.

Kara glanced over at the people who paid them no mind before she and Ned sat down in the chairs.

Ned pulled out his phone and quickly pressed on Peter's contact. He put it on speakerphone so that the both of them could listen as the ringing filled the air.

Kara sighed as it reached voicemail, and Peter's voice came through, "Hey, it's Peter. Leave a message."

The phone beeped to let them know it was recording.

Ned glanced towards the door before leaning closer to his phone and whispering, "Peter, where are you? The hat's not working. This is not cool."

Ned ended the call, and, with a groan, slipped his phone back into his pocket. His face was more than crestfallen as he looked up at Kara and muttered, "We're still losers."

"Hey, you're only a loser if you think you're a loser," chided Kara.

"Okay, well, I think I'm a loser, so . . ." Ned shrugged. "I'm a loser."

"No, Ned. You're a winner," Kara insisted as she folded her arms. "Number one. That's why you have a one at the end of your Instagram username! Because you won!"

"That's only because I locked myself out of 'nedleeds' and couldn't remember my password," grumbled Ned, causing Kara to chuckle and roll her eyes.

"Maybe it's a sign from God," she offered with a shrug. "He's telling you that you're a winner."

He scrunched his nose before scoffing and shaking his head. "No, it's just a sign from God telling me to write down my passwords."

"And that you're a winner."

Ned glared at her. "No."

"Okay, well," Kara sighed, "there are other ways to get popular!"

Ned's expression was more than doubtful as he crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. "Like?"

"Like . . ." she said slowly as she lifted her shoulders, "talk to a bunch of people?"

His lips pursed together as he gave her a look of disgust. "Why would I do that?"

Kara laughed. "What's the point of being popular if you don't even want to talk to people?"

Ned let out a long sigh as he shook his head and leaned back in his chair. "I already told you the answer: People will think you're cool, and won't laugh at you when you do something."

"Like who? Flash?" she scoffed. "He sucks, anyway. I mean, this music is definitely something he just searched up on Youtube and pressed play."

"Yeah, but everyone thinks he's cool," Ned insisted, glancing over as the other people occupying the room left, leaving them by themselves. "He even has his own car."

"Come on, Ned," Kara groaned. She rubbed her forehead before shrugging and gesturing towards the door, where the party raged beyond. "How about we go out there, and talk to some people? Become cool the normal way?"

"No way," he refused. "Not until Spider-Man comes."

She sighed as she leaned back in her chair. "Yeah, well, I have a feeling Spider-Man isn't coming."

Ned was quiet for a few moments before perking up. "What if Psionic comes instead?" he suggested, his grin growing back onto his face. "She could at least say she's friends with me! That'd still work!"

"I didn't bring my suit," Kara answered, causing his grin to die down. "Next time, Neddie."

He scrunched his nose. "You know, it'd be cool if you could, like, compact your suit in something really not suspicious—like a ring or a bracelet or something. That way you could just carry it around, and prove to people that we're awesome."

The idea sparked a memory inside Kara's mind. "Uncle Tony did something like that before—he made a briefcase out of his suit."

"Cool," Ned breathed out with widened eyes.

"Yeah, nine-year-old me thought it was the coolest thing ever," laughed Kara. "I didn't tell that to him, though."

"He's so awesome."

"He's all right."

Their attention drew to the door as a chant began to float in.

"Penis Parker! Penis Parker! Penis Parker!"

"Oh, God," Kara groaned softly, putting her head into her hands as she muttered quiet curses to herself.

"See what I mean, Kara?" Ned sighed as he gestured towards the door, the chants as audible as ever. "We're losers to the outside world."

"I don't get it," she murmured as she looked up at the other boy, "why does he pick on Peter so much?"

Ned shrugged. "Because we're—"

"Don't say it."

"—losers."

She shook her head as she straightened up and pulled her phone out of her pocket. As she quickly pulled up Peter's contact, she muttered, "I have no idea what the hell Peter's doing, but I'm telling him not to come back."

Ned's eyebrows furrowed. "But Spider-Man—"

"Whatever, Ned," Kara interrupted as she pressed the call button and brought the phone to her ear. "The chance is gone."

Peter picked up after two rings, much to Kara's relief.

"Hey, what's up? I'm on my way back."

Kara sighed as she got up and walked towards the door, Ned trailing behind her. "Actually, I was calling to say maybe you shouldn't come. Listen to this."

Kara pulled the phone away from her ear and held it out towards the door so he could hear.

Flash yelled into the microphone, "When I say 'penis,' you say 'Parker.' Penis!"

"Parker!"

"Penis!"

"Parker!"

"Sorry, Peter," Ned murmured into the phone. "I guess we're still losers."

Kara gave Ned a small glare before bringing the phone back to her ear, "Where are you right now?"

"Uh . . . I'm a couple of houses down from Liz. In the backyard."

Kara sighed, "Wait there. I'm coming to get you." She turned to Ned, who was frowning, and asked, "You okay to go home by yourself?"

"Yeah," replied Ned glumly as he pulled out his phone.

Kara nodded, giving him a small pat on the shoulder. She then looked around to make sure no one could see her and teleported to where she hoped Peter would be.

It was a little darker outside than it had been when she had first arrived, but the moonlight made it easy for her to see that Peter, who was dressed up in his suit, was standing in the backyard that was just one house away from her.

She jogged over to him, her eyebrows furrowing as she saw that he was crouching.

"Peter, what happ—" She paused as she came to a stop in front of him. Her eyes caught sight of what was in his hand: some kind of device that had a glowing purple core. "What is that?"

Peter looked up at her, gripping the device tentatively in his hands as he shook his head and stood up. "I don't know—I, uh—"

"Come on," Kara sighed as she put a hand on his shoulder, "let's go back to my house."

Once he had nodded, she teleported them back to her room.

Peter pulled his mask off and tossed it to the side, and Kara's eyebrows furrowed as she realized that his hair was wet.

"Why's your hair wet?" she questioned as she stepped forward, running a hand through the sopping strands.

Peter sighed as Kara wiped her hand against her shirt. "I was dropped into a lake."

Kara froze. "You . . . were . . . what?"

"So . . ." Peter sighed as he sat down on the edge of the bed, and a worried Kara quickly sat down next to him and placed a hand on his arm. "I was going to go to Liz's . . . but I saw this blue explosion, so, obviously, I went there instead. There was some kind of arms deal going on, so I tried to stop them, and . . . do you remember those guys from the ATM robbery? The weapons they had?"

Kara frowned as she nodded. "Mhm."

"They had stuff like that too," Peter told her. "I tried to follow them, but this big dude with wings grabbed me and dropped me into a lake. Then Iron Man got me out, but—"

"He wasn't actually in the suit?" Kara finished with raised eyebrows. When Peter nodded in confirmation, she shrugged. "Yeah, he's in India right now."

His nose wrinkled. "He told me I should just 'stay close to the ground,' and be a 'friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man,' but that's stupid."

"I mean . . . is it?" she asked dubiously, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Yeah. I mean, I can do better things!" he insisted. "I want him to see that I'm more than just someone who gives directions and gets churros!"

"And he will. I know he will," she reassured him as she interlaced their fingers and gave his hand a small squeeze. "But this seems like some kind of alien tech, and I don't think we should get involved with that."

His eyebrows knit together tightly as he looked toward her and asked, "So, what do you wanna do with it?"

"I can give it to Uncle Tony once he comes back; ask him to take care of it," she offered.

"Kara," he sighed, "I can do this."

She shook her head. "Peter, you will die if you handle this by yourself."

"Well . . ." he shrugged as his gaze met hers, and, with a small smile, he pointed out, "that's why I have you, right?"

Kara gazed at him for a moment as she considered, and, with a small groan, she warned, "If we die, it's your fault."

—♝—

Kara peered over Peter's shoulder, watching with a wrinkled nose as he hit the device with a hammer.

She glanced around the shop, praying that no one would notice the strange technology that they were working on, though her attention was quickly brought back to Peter as he breathed out, "Oh."

The piece of metal that had been holding the glowing core down had come loose. Peter pulled it out, disconnecting the small red wires that were still holding on.

"Hey, thanks for bailing on me," muttered Ned as he came up behind them.

Peter glanced up at him as he grabbed a flathead and began trying to pry the core out. "Yeah, well, something came up."

Ned's eyes widened when he noticed what Peter was working on, and, with his gaze stuck to the glowing care, he quietly asked, "Oh, what is that?"

Peter shrugged as he pulled out a loose piece of metal and tossed it aside. "I don't know. Some guy tried to vaporize me with it."

Ned's eyebrows furrowed as he turned his gaze back to Peter. "Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Awesome!"

Both Kara and Peter gave Ned the same incredulous look, to which he shut his eyes and shook his head.

"I mean, not awesome," he quickly corrected. "Totally uncool of that guy. So scary."

Kara chuckled as she patted his shoulder. "Good save."

Peter raised his eyebrows at Ned before continuing to work on the device. "Well, look, I think it's a . . . a power source."

"Yeah, but it's connected to all these microprocessors," Ned pointed out as he gestured toward the small chips. "That's an inductive charging plate. That's what I use to charge my toothbrush."

Peter stopped his attempt as he leaned against the desk and stared at the contents of the device. "Whoever's making these weapons is obviously combining alien tech with ours."

"That is literally the coolest sentence anyone has ever said," Ned breathed out as he gazed at the core. "I just want to thank you for letting me be part of your journey into this amazing—"

Peter, clearly not listening to what Ned was saying, grabbed the hammer and hit the core again. The three of them winced as there was a burst of bright light, and the core popped out of its place before falling onto the table.

Kara glanced around to see that Josh had turned to them with furrowed eyebrows, and she quickly sent him a small smile. She was reassured as he returned the favour and continued his work.

Nervously, they all turned to face Mr. Hapgood, the shop teacher, though they let out a small sigh of relief as they saw that he was far too occupied by the magazine in his hand to glance over.

"Keep your fingers clear of the blades," he called.

The three of them turned back to the table, now staring at the oval-shaped core that glowed brightly.

Peter placed his hands on the table and sighed, "I gotta figure out what this thing is and who makes it."

"We'll go to the lab after class and run some tests," Ned agreed.

Peter nodded. "Let's do it."

They then did their overly complicated, dorky handshake that made Kara laugh and shake her head.

"You guys are nerds," she scoffed, receiving two glares in return. "And I'm saying that."

—♝—

Once the final bell had rung, Kara, Peter, and Ned wasted no time as they packed up their things and immediately made their way toward the lab.

"First," Ned began as they turned the corner and started walking down one of the hallways, "I say we put the glowy thing in the mass spectrometer."

"First, we gotta come up with a better name than 'glowy thingy,'" Peter replied hushedly.

Ned scrunched his nose and nodded. "You're right."

Peter's pace suddenly slowed as two men appeared at the end of the hallway, and Kara's eyebrows furrowed as she watched his eyes widen.

"Crap," he breathed out before jumping behind a wall. "Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on," Peter whispered to the other two as he motioned for them to join him.

After Ned looked both ways to make sure no one was there, Kara and he shuffled behind the wall. She glanced at the window on the wall that showed the Chess Club currently playing chess, though, luckily, the members seemed to pay them no attention.

Peter, keeping his back pressed against the wall, peered over the corner, and the other two quickly followed.

They watched as the two men walked closer.

"High schools creep me out," said the taller one with a grimace. "They got this funny smell, you know?"

The three of them quickly pressed their backs against the wall again.

"Hey, that's one of the guys that tried to kill me," Peter whispered to them.

Kara's eyes widened. "What?"

"Yeah."

Ned's eyes were just as wide as he nudged Peter and whispered, "We gotta get out of here!"

"No, no, no, no, no. I gotta follow them," Peter whispered, peering over the corner for a moment before turning back to the pair. "Maybe they can lead me to the guy that dropped me in the lake."

An incredulous expression came over Ned's face as he questioned, "Someone dropped you in a lake?"

"Yeah, it was not good," Peter muttered back, looking towards the two men again.

Peter began to inch forward as the two men entered a classroom, and she quickly reached out toward him. "Peter—"

He turned back to her, shaking his head as he whispered, "No. Stay there, Kara."

They watched for a moment as Peter snuck down the hallway, though their attention was quickly grabbed as someone knocked on the window.

They whipped around to see a boy, who had been playing chess, now on the other side of the window. His eyebrows were furrowed as he asked, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Ned chuckled as he straightened up and leaned one hand on the window sill.

"Oh."

"Yeah," Ned sighed as he put the other hand on his hip. "You good?"

The boy grinned as he gestured back at his game, where his friend was waiting. "Chess."

Peter came out only a couple of minutes later, his breath a little short and his face urgent. "I put a tracker on one of them," he whispered as he glanced over my shoulder. "Kara—my room!"

Kara nodded before the three of them rushed outside. She glanced around to make sure there were no security cameras before putting a hand on either boy's shoulder and teleporting them into Peter's room.

As Kara sat on the edge of Peter's bed and Ned sat on the floor, Peter grabbed one of his web shooters and pulled up a small model of the city.

Awe-stricken, Ned took the web shooter from him and stared at it as the model fully rendered and showed the location of his Spider-Tracer.

"This is so awesome," Ned breathed out.

Peter grinned as he sat down beside Kara. "I know, right?"

Ned poked the model, and it suddenly became more defined.

Peter squinted his eyes. "They're in Brooklyn."

As the night continued, the three of them kept their focus on nothing but the location of the Spider-Tracer, though they had to find different ways to partly amuse themselves.

"Staten Island," Ned read out as Peter hung upside down from the ceiling and grabbed a handful of Doritos.

The two criminals weren't finished with their move, it seemed, as the location continued to change. Nightfall had come, and Peter began working on his other web shooter as he sat at his desk.

"Leaving Jersey," Ned told them as the location changed.

Peter nodded, though he kept his focus on his shooter as he projected a characterized picture of his mask onto the wall.

The three of them were growing rather tired as they continued to wait. Ned had joined Kara on the bed, though whether or not he was awake was unknown to Kara; he had pulled on the Spider-Man mask.

Jerking them fully awake, the web shooter began to beep.

Kara and Peter turned to face Ned as he lifted the web shooter and told them, "They stopped."

Peter, who had gone back to hanging down from the ceiling, came down and faced the model with squinted eyes.

"Maryland?" he read out.

Kara's eyebrows furrowed as she peered at the model. "What's there?"

"I don't know," Peter answered with a small shrug. "Evil lair?"

Ned's eyes widened as he breathed out, "They have a lair?"

"Dude. A gang with alien guns run by a guy with wings?" Peter pointed out with raised eyebrows. "Yeah, they have a lair."

Ned gave a nod. "Badass. But how are you gonna get there if it's, like, three hundred miles away?"

In realization, the three of them turned to the Decathlon poster that was hung up on Peter's wall.

Peter shrugged. "It's not too far from DC."