Heart and Heroics ›› Peter Parker [1] #Wattys2017

10- Villain Phobia

Ever had a trepidation of being attacked by escaping prisoners? If your answer is yes, you might be able to relate to me.

I'm sitting at the island in our kitchen, while eating cereal. I watch the news, that my dad just turned on. I put a spoon of cheerios in my mouth, only to almost spit them back out. The cause was the reporter on the TV, whom said the following:

"We're live on the scene where authorities are saying that Phineas Mason escaped the jail cell, in which he was held." The screen pulls up a mugshot of the Tinkerer.

I cough, and nearly choke on my food. I slip off my barstool, and walk up closer to the TV. I pause the screen, and eye the picture, to make sure I'm not seeing things. I'm not.

I slowly press play, and the reporter starts talking once more.

"It was said that Mason fled around 3:00 this morning. The local police say that they will be on the lookout for Mason, and hope that Spider-Man will help bring him in like he did before. We will be tracking this story, and will being giving updates on this breakout. I'm Susan Jones, and this is MSNBC, Victor back to you."

"What 'cha doing there?" my dad asks.

I turn around. "Just listening to the news."

"Okay. But you need to hurry up and get ready for school."

"I am." I grumble, and play with my hair. I yawn, assembling my things for school.

In the back of my mind, I replay my promise to Captain America about not getting into deadly situations.
I quickly brush my teeth, and my hair. I rush into the kitchen once again, zipping up my bag, and fling it over my shoulder. In less than a minute, I scramble out the door with a brisk 'goodbye' to my parents, and come out to the end of our driveway with only a few seconds to spare. I have lots to talk about with Peter, once I get to school.

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I find Peter leaning against a wall near the lockers. "Hey," I said, setting my backpack down. "Did you hear about Tinkerer?"

"Yeah," Peter replies. He looks at me with a tired glance.

"How late were you up until?" I ask.

"Studying your brain out Peter?" Mary Jane's voice comes from behind me. Her almost black hair is tied up in a loose ponytail. She's wearing an oversized sweatshirt, and looks like she just rolled out of bed.

"Actually, I w..." Peter starts to say that he wasn't then says, "I was studying."

"I didn't,"Ned says frowning. "I should've though."

Mary Jane rolls her eyes. "Whatever. I'm usually asleep in my bed at this time."

"But class is about to start in twenty minutes," I said.

"Exactly. Sometimes I don't give a crap about when my first class starts, so I sleep in until the last moment."

Peter and Ned stare at her, but Mary Jane pays no attention. "So what have you two been?" she's asking Peter and I. "Why do you both have matching bruises?"

"They're not matching bruise," I mumble.

"Flash got Peter, but I have no idea what happened to Fiona," Ned says looking at both our faces.

"Fell on a brick," I lie.

Peter flicks his eyes over at me. He knows I'm lying, and says, "I hope it heals up fast."