Unstoppable Spiderlings

Episode 9: The Task at Hand

Riiiiiing! The bell in the hallway gives John and Andrew a migraine for the tenth time that day thanks to their ever so slightly enhanced hearing. Andrew swears he's going to go deaf one of these days because of the schoolbell, but John knows their rapid healing factor will protect them between classes.

"Such a dumb pop quiz today. I literally can not believe there were questions on there from chapters we never learned about before," Andrew complains, going down the hall with his brother. He is able to easily carry eight heavy books in his arms, but he needs to act like he's struggling.

"If you listened yesterday then you would know the teacher told us to read the next chapter for homework, and that there would be a quiz the next day on the matter," the blonde responds. He sighs and puts his blue hood up when he sees Flash walking down the hall. "Don't look now, but our favorite classmate is coming drenched in his favorite uniform."

Despite the warning, Andrew looks up and sees his nemesis in school wearing his football outfit, the number 15 draped across the front and shoulders. Luckily, he stops short before he can get to the twins, but he picks another victim instead.

Flash grabs Harry Osborn's collar and lifts him up, slamming him against the locker to create the typical clanging sound you usually hear in teenage movies. "Doesn't rich, pretty boy have some change to spare?" he asks in a mocking voice. "Or should I make you not so pretty?"

"Ey," Andrew yells, making John groan and look the other way. "If you bruise him up, everyone is going to think that's the latest fashion. Just admit it, Flash, he has way more style than you. Wearing your football uniform everywhere isn't going to make you more popular."

Flash forgets about Harry, dropping him to the ground and stomping over toward the Spiderling. He knocks his books out of his hands, papers flying everywhere (Andrew is one of those students who puts all of his notes inside his textbooks), and pushes his shoulder against the wall. With his free hand, he sticks a finger in the boy's face. "You should really learn to bite that tongue of yours."

"Why? When has that helped anyone? It would only make sense if you took that advice so we didn't have to hear your awful voice eight hours a day," he retorts, earning a punch across the face. All of the students crowd around and gasp when Flash makes a move.

"Would you leave him alone already?" Harry yells, pushing himself through the crowd. "What's with you today anyway?"

"Shut it, Osborn!"

"He probably failed Ms. Kim's pop quiz today like everyone else," Andrew says with a smile. He sees Flash's face turn red, so he knows he hit a nerve. Maybe he should push it a little further... "Or, you know, got told off last night by his parents because of his other grades." He turns back to the guy holding him against the wall. "You do know we are only a month and a half into the school year, right? Man, are you already failing? Hopefully you don't have to repeat senior year!"

He receives a fist to the stomach, the wrong side of the stomach, which makes him wheeze and fuzz out. Finally, John enters the fray only to drag Andrew's twitching body away from the scene before any teachers show up. Flash shoves his way through the crowd, everyone struck with confusion from what just happened. Harry has never seen the school this silent, but he snaps out of it and hurries over to the twins. People start to realize it's time to go home, and start moving around while gossiping over the latest hallway fight.

"Are you guys okay?" Harry asks, opening the door to the men's restroom. He looks around for a moment before spotting John overing over his brother in the corner, doing something to him. Walking closer out of curiosity, he sees that the injured one has a bunch of stitches on his side, half of his torso colored a sickly deep purple. Harry puts a hand over his mouth and says, "There's no way you got that from Flash. Unless, he's secretly Nitro Spider or something."