Crushed

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His Wednesday had started off just like any other. Peter had woken up, shoved breakfast into his mouth, and caught the train to school. He had a test in math that he found incredibly easy, and an essay that was due in English. He had finished it last night after patrolling. There weren't even any incidents from the Flash today, which was rare, but lucky on his part.

Ned told him about a new Lego set he had gotten, and Peter agreed to make it with him on Saturday. They spent an hour after school working on homework before Peter left so he could have time for patrol. He liked to get in at least a few hours of homework before he went home to get as much sleep as possible. But that was hard a lot of the time because with him being in a bunch of AP and honors classes, the homework seriously piled up.

He powered through, though, and by the time he finished, it was already ten o'clock. He pulled his suit on, refilled his web shooters, and climbed out the window. It was a nice night, cool, but not windy, though there were clouds on the horizon, with a promise of rain sometime in the near future.

There were low levels of crime that night, but Peter managed to stop a couple muggings and a car theft, plus some guy dressed in a rip-off Spider-Man costume robbing an ATM. Basically, everything went smoothly. Until he heard the screaming, and a loud boom from a few blocks away.

He immediately headed toward it, swinging as fast as he could toward the ruckus. The cool night air whipped at his face, and he would have enjoyed the swooping feeling of flying if not for the maddening sense of foreboding in the forefront of his mind. When he finally reached the site, there were fire trucks coming down the road, but no police or other emergency workers.

Half the building was on fire, and smoke billowed up from one corner.

"Hey, Karen? You there?" He asked, surveying the damage already done.

"Yes, Peter. I'm always at your service." She replied in that polite tone she always used.

"Ok, thanks. Can you scan for life forms in the building? I don't know if anyone is in there, since it looks more like an office kinda deal."

A diagram popped up on his HUD display, showing there were about 20 people trapped inside. At least they were all crowded to the side where there was no fire raging. He leaped into action, scaling an alleyway wall and climbing to the level where people supposedly were.

"Karen, how much time do I have before the fire gets to this side?"

"Approximately three minutes, though the building is highly unstable. Vital support beams are compromised, and collapse is imminent."

"Okay. Wow. Thanks." He stuck a web just above the window he intended to enter through before a deep rumble echoed into the street. Peter cursed. He barely had any time, and a bunch of people to get out. Taking a deep breath, he smashed through the window, tumbling into a roll across the glass-strewn floor. People gasped and pointed, but he didn't have time for their surprise.

"You, you, and you, grab hold of me. I'm going to get you somewhere safe." He called, hoping people could hear through the roaring of the flames and screams of terrified citizens. A woman climbed onto his back, and Peter grabbed two more workers before webbing to the nearest rooftop and depositing his cargo. He rushed back through the window, retrieving three more people as fast as he could. After repeating this a few more times, Karen spoke in his ear.

"Peter, you have one minute until the fire reaches the civilians. I recommend getting them out as fast as you can."

"Yeah, I'm working on that. Will you notify the police and some firefighters that there are people on the roof?"

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