"That's normal for him"
“I’m fucking terrified,” MJ replied. Her words utterly shocked Peter. Not because the use of vulgarity, but the fact that MJ actually admitted to having feelings. Peter gave her a reassuring look and focused his hearing, listening for any activity on the floors below or above. It was alarmingly silent, besides the thumping of the 25 beating hearts belonging to his classmates. Peter flinched when MJ put her hand on his shoulder.
“MJ?” Peter asked, as he was not used to her being this close to him.
“Peter, listen to me. Do whatever you have to do, just, make it out of this alive okay?” MJ told him, never breaking the deep gaze into his eyes.
“MJ, what are you talking about?” Peter questioned in a shaky voice. He wasn’t the best at confrontations, and now was not the best time to rehash some of the identity reveals he went through with Ned and May.
“I know, Peter,” Michelle said to him in a quiet whisper that barely escaped her lips. Just as Peter was about to qualify her statement, gunshots rang throughout the floor.
Bullets rained through the glass doors effectively sending shards of glass flying towards the class. Peter nearly toppled some of his classmates as he tried his best to shield them from the incoming glass. The gunfire halted and the group of gunmen yelled a command in Russian to each other while retreating back down the staircase.
There were a few students crying, and Ned swore he saw a tear drop fall from Flash’s eye. Everyone was relieved when the gunman had left. A quiet chatter picked up between the students, some comforting other students and some attempting to hold themselves together.
“Is everyone alright?” Letitia asked. She herself had a small cut above the brow with the slightest amount of blood trailing down her freckled face. The students responded with a nod or a small “yeah.” However, there was one student who remained silent.
It was MJ who noticed a disoriented Peter who was standing and looking out of the non-existent glass doors.
“Peter? Are you alright?” MJ asked, swapping the nickname “loser” for Peter’s actual name. Her question was answered when Peter turned around and sat down on the floor rather harshly; he had a steady flow of blood trickling down from the multiple cuts that encased his face and arms.
“Holy shit Peter!” MJ practically yelled as she ushered Peter to lie down. He resisted MJ’s attempt to make him lie down as he assured her that he was fine.
“MJ, I’m fine, it’s just a few cuts, I’ll heal,” Peter told her in hopes that it would calm her down. He didn’t need any more attention drawn to him, especially in this state. MJ called Ned over and shot him a worried look.
“Jesus dude! Are you okay?” Ned asked Peter as he wiped away the blood slowly making its way down his jawline.
“I’m fine Ned, I heal fast,” Peter said, hinting at his accelerated metabolism. Ned picked up on the hint and let out a reassuring sigh.
“What happens if they come back?” MJ asked, her voice cracking at the thought of another attack.
“I’ll stop them,” Peter told her confidently while picking out a small shard of glass from the palm of his blood-stained hand.
“No offense Peter, but you aren’t in the best shape right now. You’re literally covered in shards of glass and dried blood.” MJ told him in the nicest way possible. Peter looked over to Ned for support but Ned just shook his head.
“Sorry dude, but I agree with MJ on this one, you look like shit,” Ned said to Peter.
“Can you call any of your Avenger buddies or something?” MJ asked Peter whose face was still covered in streaks of blood.
“No, I tried to call Mr. Stark but I can’t get through. F.R.I.D.A.Y. is down too so I can’t see what’s going on.” Peter replied.
“Wait, you’re telling me that MJ knows?” Ned paused. “You told her but not me??” He asked in disbelief.
“No Ned! She found out! Sorta…” Peter explained while glancing around at his other classmates. Most of them were fine. A few had small cuts on their exposed arms or faces but the injuries were minimal; Peter had endured the worst of it.
“Okay, so what exactly is the plan?” MJ said in a softer tone just in case the gunmen decided to return.
“Look, I know that you guys advise against it, but I have my web shooters with me and I can take out whoever decides to show up. Because if these guys show up again, I don't think they’re gonna play nice. I think they’re looking for something.” Peter told Ned and MJ. The two nodded their heads even though there weren’t too fond of that particular idea.
“How do you know that they’re after something?” Ned asked.
“They’re Hydra agents, I caught a glimpse of an octopus symbol on one of their sleeves. I think that they’re after the arc reactor. But I don’t know why they would do an attack this public, they’re usually more inside job type people.” Peter explained, recalling some of the former missions that Tony had told Peter about. The bad guys are always after something, and they’ll usually do anything to get what they want.
“Why do they want the arc reactor?” MJ asks while she picks a piece of glass out of Peter’s hand. He winced as she pulled out a small shard of glass from the broken doors. She flashed him a reassuring smile as she continued to pick out more of the tiny shards from his palms.
“Because it’s a renewable and unlimited power source that can be used for almost anything,” Peter said as MJ continued removing the glass from his cuts.
She made her way from his hands to his forehead, carefully adding the removed shards to a growing pile on the floor. MJ gazed back down to his hands that she previously had wrapped them in a shred of cloth to stop the bleeding. As she uncovered the bandage, she was met with a nearly healed wound. Ned and MJ were in awe as they were almost able to see the cuts closing in real-time. Sure Ned knew about Peter’s healing factor, but seeing it up close was almost fascinating, and for MJ, this seemed impossible. No one should be able to physically heal as fast as Peter was.
“Uh, Ned?” MJ asked in disbelief at the sight of Peter’s rapid healing factor.
“I know,” Ned told her as he too was helping Peter get the rest of the broken glass out of his skin. “It’s normal for him.”
“O-okay then,” MJ said as a chatter between the other students in the room picked up slightly. The gunmen had been gone for nearly fifteen minutes, and everyone seemed more optimistic than they had before. It wasn’t until Peter heard the cocking of a gun that he quickly turned his head towards the dreadful staircase.
“Tell everyone to be quiet!” Peter semi-yelled at Ned and MJ. He was able to pick up multiple steps of heavy footsteps that were heading up the stairs unto the floor they were on.
“Peter, what’s wrong?” MJ asked with a worried look plastered on her face that Ned shared.
“They’re coming!” Peter said, effectively alerting the class to stay down and stay quiet. Many of the students' faces paled and some even started letting out a hushed cry. He eyed the arc reactor that stood only a few feet away from him and quickly shuffled over and grabbed the glass case.
“Peter, what the hell are you doing?” Flash asked as the footsteps were getting closer. Peter didn’t have the time to answer as the doors to the staircase burst open and five gunned men walked out of the room. They were searching for the arc reactor, and Peter kept it close to his chest. He knew that if Hydra got their hands on Stark’s technology, it could be catastrophic.
One of the masked gunmen heard a noise from one of Peter’s classmates and aimed his gun at the now shattered glass doors. They men weren’t able to see the students behind the tables, but they knew that they weren’t alone on the floor.
“Whoever is back there, retreat slowly with your hands up.” The burly man said. His thick accent confirmed that he was Hydra, along with the symbol that was plastered on his left arm and chest. Everyone made eye contact with Mr. Harrington as he mouthed the words “Don’t move.” The students and Letitia nodded in agreement as the gunman became increasingly uneasy.
“If you don’t come out in the next five seconds we’ll open fire.” The man said as his deep voice echoed throughout the floor. MJ shot Peter a look saying “don’t you fucking dare” as a tear trickled down her rosy cheeks. Peter mouthed back the words “I have to” and stood up as fast as he dared. The arc reactor was tucked in his left hand that he hid behind is back as he faced the menacing man. He let out a scary chuckle at the realization of the threat that the man believed he was up against. When he saw that Peter was just a kid, he lowered his guard and waved his men back.
“So you’re the one who’s been causing me trouble. We couldn't seem to find what we were looking for the first time up here, but it seems that you might have what we want.” The burly man said as Peter remained quiet and stared straight into his eyes. His classmates were confused as to why he was the one standing up to the bad men WITH GUNS. He gave Ned and MJ a nod that everything would be alright and continued his silent face-off with the bad guy. He pulled out a crumpled picture and held it up to his buddies asking them quietly “Is this the one?” They nodded in agreement and turned back to Peter.
“So you’re Stark’s personal bitch? Nice to finally meet the fucking kid I’ve heard sooo much about.” The man said in a sarcastic yet stern tone. His satire would have almost been funny if he wasn’t so huge. That man could take someone out with the snap of his fingers.
“What do you want?” Peter said dryly while clearing his throat. He silently tucked the arc reactor into his back pocket while adjusting his web shooters under his sleeves.
“Show me where Stark keeps the arc reactor, or I’ll kill your girl over there.” The man said while motioning to a standing MJ, who let out a small scream as one of the other men grabbed her and dragged her towards Peter. Peter gave her a sympathetic look and refocused his attention back on the giant man.
“I-I can’t even take you there if I wanted to.” Peter stuttered out, the lie rolled off his tongue as the man became uneasy.
“And why is that?” He asked furrowing his brows and taking a step closer towards Peter. His breath smelled so bad that Peter was sure everyone in the entire building got a whiff of the stench.
“Because you and your oh-so-bright men over there shut down the security system. I can’t open the door manually without an override access code.” Peter explained glancing towards MJ. Even in a life-and-death situation, she looked beautiful. She radiated confidence even though there was a gun pointed at her and Peter.
“If you don’t find a way to open that door in the next three seconds I’ll personally shoot this girl in the head!” The man yelled. Peter’s hand brushed his back pocket and he felt the warmth radiating off of the arc reactor. He knew that Michelle’s life was worth more than an arc reactor, as began to slowly remove the device from his pocket.
Ned noticed Peter taking the arc reactor from his back pocket and shot straight up off of the floor.
“Wait!” Ned exclaimed. His classmates looked up at him with confused faces. “I can open the door!” The burly man let out a small chuckle and waved Ned over to where Peter and MJ were standing.
“Get over here boy!” He said as Ned rushed over to the two. The trio had guns pointed at their back and Peter’s spidey sense couldn’t help but scream “Danger! Danger”’ Peter shot Ned a look saying “What in the actual hell are you doing??” but Ned only put his hand up in reassurance.
“You three are coming with me, and you’re gonna unlock this ‘door’ or whatever we have to do to get the arc reactor.” The man explained.
“It’s on the 35th floor.” Peter said, knowing that there was a not-very-busy lab up there where Ned could access a computer to get the word out that “Hey we are in a hostage situation and there are five men with guns so plz save us thanks.” Because seriously, how has no one come to save them yet??
“If you’re lying to me boy, I’m taking you out first.” Peter gulped at these words and kept moving forward with the butt of a gun digging into his back.