Caught In A Web (Peter Parker/Tom Holland)

Chapter 35

We were walking down the street to where Happy was going to pick us up. Peter hadn't said a word. He was upset. Very upset. He was sure that the Mangler was out of the picture.

I stop and grab his hand.

"Hey, I have an idea," I say. He looks at me with his pouty eyes.

"What?" He says.

"What if we go out on a date? To get all of this shit out of our minds?" I suggest. He smiles.

"Y-Yeah, what would you wanna do?" He asks.

"I don't know, what would you want to do?" I say. He stares at me speechless. "Maybe you could plan this, it would get your mind off things for sure."

"Okay," He smiles.

That will keep him happy for a while.

---

That night Peter went out to go patrol the city and also plan something for us to do as a date. I was sitting at Peter's desk, doing research.

I was on his computer looking up the Mangler. The only recent news about him was how his victims escaped recently.

There were interviews.

I clicked on one of the links of an interview. It was a video. It was a younger woman, maybe early twenties. I recognized her from that day. I untied her. I clicked on the video.

"He kept us all down there for days, weeks maybe," The woman. "Then shortly after I gave up, Spider-Man and a girl showed up and saved us."

I smiled at the remark.

"The girl was familiar to me," The woman said. "The man who kept us, who I learned was named Grant, had pictures of her. He always talked about that girl and about how she was the perfect bait for Spider-Man. I don't know why though."

I felt a pang of fear hit me.

Then I thought of something.

"Grant," I said. I could look him up. Somehow I could figure out his name, or even look in archives of Midtown high...

I immediately go onto google and search the words, Grant and Midtown high. About a second later I find a link to an old article titled, "Death of Midtown High Student."

I click on the article. It was written in 1993.

"Tuesday, January 4th, 1993, 16-year-old student was found dead in Midtown High School," I read out loud. "Grant Jensen was a sophomore who had severe social anxiety. He reportedly never talked to anyone and sat in the corner of every class."

I then started to scroll down and saw how he "died".

"Grant Jensen was found, stabbed in the stomach in a janitors closet, faculty believed it was murder but students believed it was suicide" I read out loud. I stared at the text in front of me before scrolling down more and seeing him.

Grant Jensen.

It was him.

He faked his own death.

He was posing for a photo for school picture day.

It hardly looked like him without all the stitches and sewn up eye, but it was him. He looked depressed. Not happy at all.

I scrolled down more and found an interview from a student.

"He was weird," The student said. "He never talked to anyone, which caused him to be bullied. He was bullied a lot. He just acted different then everyone, you know? He was part of the photography club and liked taking photos of people, he was also really into sewing. He sewed weird shit all the time. He also liked to take pictures of the girls, like a lot. Me and a couple of other guys caught him taking photos of our girlfriends changing in the locker rooms. Then when they beat him up, he said he was going to kill us all. That scared them because he looked like a school shooter, then the next day he killed himself."

I stared at the screen. I figured it out. It was a revenge plot. But why would me and Peter be in this?

I scrolled down more and saw a picture. The picture was labeled, "Some of Grant Jensen's photography."

It was of a girl.

The girl looked a lot like me, like a lot like me. Too much like me. I stare at the photo. She looked so much like me, I couldn't get it out of my mind.

My phone then buzzed.

I looked over and saw I got a text from an unknown number.

"I see you figured it out," I says.

I grab my phone and text back, "Who is this?"

"Come on, seriously? It's Grant, you didn't think you could get rid of me yet, Veronica, did you?" The next text says.

"You really want to fuck with me again?" I text. I immediately get a text back.

"I miss the excitement, but don't worry, soon we'll be back."

"We?" I text.

I don't get a response after that.