Marvel Oneshots

6. "Late Night Hero" - Peter Parker

Warnings: Car crash, fire/explosion, minor injury, robbery

1244 words

🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️

I sighed, tapping my pencil against my notebook in irritation. Why was I upset? Because Peter stood me up.

Again.

We were supposed to work on homework together today, but I'd been waiting for him for several hours, and hadn't seen his stupid fluffy brown hair or adorable brown puppy eyes. 

Oh, yeah. I have a crush on him. I don't think he felt the same way, though, because every time I wanted to hang out with him, he wouldn't show up. Even though I had all my work done at this point, I still wanted to talk to him; I waited a few more minutes before finally giving up, packing all my things and texting my parents that I was on my way home. The parking lot was empty when I stepped out, and if it wasn't for the street lamps scattered about, it would a pitch black night. The moon was covered by a layer of thick clouds, which wasn't all that uncharacteristic for winter in New York. I walked quickly over to my car, starting it and turning the heat all the way up, and then began to drive home once my hands were warmed up.

Bored, and a little tired from the long day and late hour, I turned the radio on. A song I didn't recognise began to play; while I didn't know it, it was pretty catchy and I began to sing along. It was starting to get to the climax of the song, and I was really getting into it, when an explosion from the building I was driving past pushed my car off of the road. It swung out, the rear hitting a pole, and I jerked in my seat, crashing against my seatbelt. The force of the blow stung my chest, and my head swam for a second before I shook my head and got my bearings. The windshield in front of me was wrecked, cracks distorting the view in front of me.

When I looked up, the building was burning, and I could see people inside still, and a few others around. Some were running, some looked to be recording the event, but I didn't see anyone calling for help. I fumbled for my bag, grabbing in from where it had slid off the seat in the crash, and dialled 9-1-1.

"911 Emergency, what's your emergency?" The dispatcher said.

"Hello, um, there's a building that exploded and pushed my car into a pole. I'm okay, but there's people inside and it's still burning."

"Where did it happen?" 

"At, um," I looked around  for a street sign, and when I finally found it I told them the address.

"Okay, I'm going to send help. Stay away from the fire, and tell anyone you see to stay away, too. Do you know how the explosion started?"

"Um, no. I was just driving past."

"Did it happen just now?" They asked, their voice calm and even.

"Yes, I was just passing."

"Do you see anyone acting suspicious?"

I looked closer at the flames liking up the walls. Past them, through the hole caused by the blast, I saw three masked individuals. I realised it was a bank, and they were robbing it. "There's a bank. I think I see three people robbing it."

"Could you describe them for me? Are there any features you can see to help identify them?"

"No. I'm too far. Everything's a little bit blurry."

"Did you hit your head in the crash?"

"No." I answered, confused on why it was difficult to see. I brought my hand to my face and realised why. "Oh, my glasses fell off."

"Okay. I'm going to ask you to stay on the phone. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, I think so," I responded. Suddenly, I saw a flash of red and blue fly through the sky, followed by a thwip sound and a strange white thread sticking to the outside wall before the familiar hero swung into the bank, taking down the thieves. "Spider-Man is inside. He's fighting against the people in the bank. He's doing pretty-," well, I was going to say, before I saw someone I hadn't before armed with a gun. "Spider-Man, look out behind you!" I yelled, but it was too late. The stranger fired, and the hero faltered on his feet before turning and knocking the gun away from the man and webbing him up. "Spider-Man was shot. I have to help him," I said, unbuckling my seat belt.

"Ma'am-" The officer said over the phone, but I'd already dropped it on the seat. But, as I tried to open the door, I realised that the front had hit something, too, and my leg was pinned.

"Shit," I muttered, trying to pull my leg out. As soon as I moved pain shot through my, causing me to yell. "Ow, shit, that hurts."

"Hey, you're okay," a voice said, causing me to jump and scream. "No no no, I'm not going to hurt you! It's Spider-Man, see?" He said, pointing to himself. "Now, you're stuck. Is it okay if I help you?" I nodded. "Okay. Give me a sec." He said, and disappeared from my view. I heard a crash behind me, and someone crawling up to the front of the car, and then he was right next to me again, but inside this time. "Hey. I'm going to push some of the metal out from around your leg, and when I say, I want you to pull it out, okay? It'll hurt, but you'll be okay, I promise."

"Okay." I said, my voice wavering. His head bobbed, then reached past me and began to relieve the pressure on my limb.

"Now," he said, and I did as he said. I screamed in pain as I drew my leg unto my seat, and as soon as it was free he let go and braced one of his hands against my shoulder so I wouldn't fall back in. "You're okay, I've got you. Here," he said, grabbing my coat from the backseat and handing it to me, helping me put it on without moving too much. "I'm going to punch the glass out of this so we can get you home, okay?"

"Alright," I squeaked, trying not to think about how bad my leg was throbbing. He did just as he said he would, clearing it out of the way. 

"Now then," he huffed, slightly out of breath, "is it okay if I pick you up?" I nodded, and he wrapped his arms around my back and under my knees, being as careful with my leg as possible, and jumped out the open space and back into the street. Sirens began to blare as he set me down on the ground by my car. "You're bag!" He yelled, jumping back into the car and pulling it out, setting it down next to me. "Are you okay?"

"Besides my leg, I think so." I muttered. "But you, you got shot. An ambulance should be on the way, they can help you."

"I'll be okay." He insisted. Several squad cars, fire trucks, and EMS cars pulled up, and while I was distracted the mysterious masked man disappeared with only the trail of webs he left to tell me I hadn't imagined the whole thing.

"Thank you," I whispered, and while I couldn't see him, something told me he heard me.

🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️

Not me literally looking through a 911 operator's handbook to write this scene as accurately as possible (thank you, Alameda, CA Police Department). I hope you enjoyed this chapter though!