Webs of Steel

Chapter 1; Car Trouble

Peter slammed his hand down on the steering wheel as the car rolled to a stop, followed up with a pop, a bang and finally, a sizzle. In the passenger seat beside him, Gwen sighed and reached out her hand, placing it upon his shoulder.

"I told you the car wouldn't make it." She said quietly.

"Yes. Thank you. And now we're stuck in the middle of nowhere." He complained.

Gwen took a deep breath and turned her head so that she was looking out of the window. She focused on how the tall blades of green grass in the endless fields around them swayed in the breeze, and shifted her gaze up to the windmill.

"I'm sorry." He muttered. "I'm going to see if I can fix the problem."

"Peter, judging by the smoke, I'd say the engine is fried. There's no fixing that while we're stuck on the side of the road." She pointed out. "Let me call for help."

"We don't need help, I can fix it." He insisted.

"Come on… it'll be easier if I call-"

"I said I can fix it." He cut in.

"Okay." She agreed.

With that being said, Peter opened the door and walked around to the front of the car. A frown pulled at his eyebrows as he lifted the hood and soon he was invisible through the thick smoke. Gwen hesitated, then opened her own door and stepped out of the vehicle. She walked around the front and stood beside Peter, looking at the smoking engine in disbelief.

"Yeah… that's not getting fixed on the side of the road." She commented.

Peter's expression softened and he turned to her, bringing his hand up against her cheek. "Look, I'm sorry for being a bit of a jerk… but you know how things are, it's not a good time for us to be breaking down."

"It's fine. Just… Don't make a habit out of it, okay?"

"I won't." He promised. "Do you see anyone around?"

Gwen's eyes drifted around their surroundings until they met Peter again, and she shook her head. "Nope. Let me just make a call."
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Clark dusted his hands off as he shoved one hay barrel on top of another two that were already stacked. Glad to be done with his chores he wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and headed out of the barn. He jogged up to the front porch, but paused as something caught his attention.

His face creased in a frown as he listened closely and deciphered two voices coming from somewhere in the near distance. Clark let the door slip from his hand and close again, and after hesitating for a moment, he took off in the direction that the voices seemed to be coming from. He stopped a few feet short of the road and his eyes widened as he saw a couple of unfamiliar faces standing around a car that looked like an egg could be fried on it with the way the smoke was rising from the hood.

Before he could quite process what he was seeing, one of them came running towards him. Her blonde hair was flailing behind her in the breeze and she struggled to stay balanced while she ran. Following behind her was a guy, slightly taller than the average male and with fair brown hair. Clark cringed as he didn't look happy.

"Hey!" The blonde called once she was close enough.

"Uhh… hi." Clark said and held up his hand. "Do you need help?"

"No." The voice from behind her snapped.

"Yes." She said in contrast.

"No, we don't."

"Ignore him. He's in a foul mood." The blonde dismissed. "I'm sorry, this is weird but as you can probably tell by the smoke, our car broke down and we have absolutely no idea where we're going, and now we're sort of stuck here."