The Unassigned Mission

Captured

Peter sat on the roof top of Mr. Delmar's newly renovated deli; clad in his Spider-Man suit. His eyes scanning the busy streets below for any signs of danger. He was cautious to not be in complete sight for people to spot him but honestly the people of New York could care less about his whereabouts unless they were in trouble. His mask was raised just enough so he could eat his favorite sandwich made by the shop below him. As he swallowed a bite he felt as if he had heard a click of some kind. His eyes followed the mass of bodies to try to locate the sound, squinting like he's closely examining a page out of 'Where's Waldo'. He focused on a girl with a camera, facing the street while taking pictures of passing taxis. Peter perked up and pulled his mask into place,

"I recognize her hair."

"That is slightly concerning, Peter."

"KAREN," he mumbled "don't go reading my thoughts."

"Unfortunately you said it out loud, sir."

"Just quiet," he waved off nothing in particular as he watched Sophia.

She watched the mix of taxis and cars zip by, waiting to cross the street. Her gaze fixed on the slowly blurring vehicles, speeding by fast enough to make her skirt flutter against her legs each time one past. When the road was momentarily clear, she took a step down from the curb but paused. It didn't look like she was going to hurry across the street, she was just standing there; focused on the seemingly empty road. It was like she was waiting for a car to come at her.

"What are you doing?!" Peter raised his hands in confusion and shouted loud enough to himself as if he was watching an unsettling soccer match. 

Sophia blinked quickly as a hand grasped at her arm, she tugged away simultaneously as she stepped back onto the curb. She looked over her shoulder to look at the man who alerted her but he wasn't something worth remembering. He was just another face that would get lost in the New York crowd, she mumbled a thank you but something caught her eye behind the man, on the building.

Sophia crossed the street when it was safe to walk again and turned to look at the buildings she recently had her back facing to. She crouched down and angled her camera up to capture the figure on top of the deli.

Peter gasped and scrambled to get in position. He automatically chose to lay on his side with a hand on his hip but quickly corrected himself,

"Stupid choice, Peter. Why is your first choice always the Titanic French girl pose?" He mumbled that as he just eased into a casual sit and held up a peace sign.

Sophia smiled from behind her lens and took the photo, the red and blue of Spider-Man's suit was a colorful contrast to the gloomy, fall evening. He almost radiated from where he sat on top of that building. Her smile was still on her face as she gave Peter a thumbs up and went on her way.

"Your heart rate is increasing, Peter."

Peter rolled his eyes and slung a web onto the lamppost adjacent to him; ready to head home.
________________________________

As Peter arrived to school the next day, he imagined the photo Sophia took would be plastered all over school and it would be the talk of the day about her capturing NYC's masked hero on a casual stroll around Queens and everyone would be so amazed.

Except, that was Peter's Spider-Man ego getting to him or just KAREN's pep talk from yesterday. Either way today was nothing like that. Everything was normal and seemingly calm. Peter cycled through his day, noticing Sophia in different areas of the school rather than never seeing her at all through the course of the day. You'd be astonished how many times you could spot someone in crowd if you're looking just hard enough for that specific person.

Peter has had this problem before with Liz and he wasn't about to make his odd fascination with this helpless girl public like last time. Ned didn't need to know about his 'crush' if that's what it could even be called because he knows he'd just get teased.

Nearing the end of the day, Peter was walking through the art department for no particular reason and slowed down to peak inside the photography room. The darkroom light being on signaled someone was in there and Peter couldn't resist. He cracked the door open and he knocked, two heads turned to look in his direction. One he recognized and the other he in fact did not; which made this moment suddenly awkward.

"Um," Peter quietly hummed and looked nervous at the fellow unidentifiable student who was just watching him as he sloshed his photo in the developer.

The painfully quiet moment continued on, even Sophia had to look away to busy herself to ease herself of the tension, until the student decided his photo was developed and rinsed enough to hang. He clipped the photo up and watched Peter as he passed him then left entirely.

Peter cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, "I would stereotypically ask if 'I'm interrupting something here' but I'm not sure what I just walked into."

Sophia laughed and motioned him to come closer, "yeah, I can't say I even know that boy."

"So, what's going on?" He clasped his hands behind his back as he peered at Sophia's photos; Some printed and others developed film.

"We went around our neighborhoods yesterday to capture things that make home feel like home," she shrugged.

Peter's eyes focused on the photos tinted red in the light of the darkroom, he noticed a photo of himself in his Spider-Man suit.

"So what did you conclude with?"

"I chose this one," her hand of course went to the photo he was looking at, "I think Spider-Man makes Queens home."

Peter fought back the urge to burst out in a huge smile or song. He simply nodded and admired the photo of himself, "Yeah...why do you think that...personally?"

"He makes people feel safe, he cares about us little people. I think with all he does he is what makes the community, I don't know, I just think this photo captures his importance."

She picked up her photo and examined it, "the gloominess of the city is nothing in comparison to the power he holds. Look at him, he lights up the sky with his suit. It must be a metaphor for something."

"That the red in his suit needs to be toned down a shade or two..?"

"No," she laughed "that he brings light to our community. He's the unifying factor. That's why I believe Spider-Man is what makes Queens feel like home."

Peter held back everything not to embrace her and thank her endlessly. He just nodded and watched her amazed, "I bet he would love to hear that."

"Nah, he probably hears that all the time. Can't boost his ego too high or he'll forget about us little people."

"How could he?"

Sophia looked at Peter and soon picked up her digital camera, focusing it briefly before taking a picture.  Peter blinked blindly,

"What was that about?"

Sophia was looking at the photo she took, "red just suits you."