Tick Tock

Chapter Three

In science, they got new seats. Charlie was moved two rows behind Peter, and Peter was moved next to Ned Leeds. They had to do a virtual lab today in class, so Charlie pulled out her laptop, a MacBook. Peter looked a little surprised to see she didn't use a high end Stark Computer-thing.

She got to work, listening to her playlist on her iPhone, surprisingly not an X. It was an 8. Twenty minutes later, she glanced over to Peter, having finished her lab. He was hunched over with Ned squeezed in beside him, Ned expressing amazement and cringes occasionally. Her table partner, Mara Ling, was absent, so she slid into the vacant seat and tucked a lean leg under her so she could peek at what they were looking at.

Shaky phone view was in full screen on the laptop. No sound was audible, even to Charlie's heightened hearing. A blurry red and blue figure whizzed across the screen, which Charlie easily identified as Spider-Man. A person in a wheelchair was seconds away from becoming roadkill, when Spider-Man wedged himself in front of an SUV and caught the car like it was a pillow. Ned was looking at Peter mouthing something to him and Peter simply watching with a straight face on.

The video ended, and a recommended one was of Hourglass. Peter and Ned exchanged glances before Peter clicked on it. Charlie leaned closer, studying where this footage was taken. It was from a security camera in a Ghirardelli's Chocolate store. Charlie smiled to herself: the goons were normally the more daring ones, and she had called them candy nappers. One of them had thought to bring a gun, but with an almost casual hand gesture, followed by what appeared to be a glitch in the security camera(but was actually her slowing time down in a single space), his whole arm slowed to a fraction of its speed. She clapped a hand over her mouth to stop the giggle from escaping when she saw herself, mask moving at the jawline, and gesturing to the robbers. "Oh, man. Sorry for the scare, but you might want to get clean clothes at the laundromat in prison." They had only then noticed that their pants were unfortunately covered in chocolate.

"People of Science, you have free time until the bell rings." The teacher, Mr. Harrington, said mundanely, as if there was nothing exciting ever in the history of high school. Charlie scooped her bag up and moved over to Peter and Ned.

"Whatcha watchin'?" Charlie asked. Ned and Peter looked up quickly, before relaxing.

"Watching the two bugs in town doing their thing." Peter replied. The Hourglass video ended, and another suggestion popped up.

"Huh." Charlie demurred, eyeing the title of the video. "Someone made a video essay about the two spiders." Ned leaned forward and read the title of the video.

"Why Hourglass and Spider-Man Should Work Together," Ned read aloud. "Click on that one." Peter obliged, moving the cursor across the screen and clicking on it. Charlie scooted closer and sat on the table behind them so she could see.

"Hello guys! How are you doing today? Before we get to this video essay, I'd like to give a special shoutout to both Tick Tock and Spidey if they are watching this video!" Charlie gave a small sweet smile and leaned over to speed the video ahead. "Alright, so my first point as to why the two vigilantes should work together is that they are both spider-themed. Spidey has his red and blue color scheme with the iconic spider symbol on his suit, and Tick Tock has had her grey and blue suit with the red web patterns and that awesome double sided spider on her suit in the shape of an hourglass. Since both are extremely flexible, combining Hourglass's time warping with Spider-Man helping people getting out of buildings could save more lives."

"Geez how long is this video?" Ned asked, getting bored of the photos he'd only seen countless times. He looked at the time stamp on the bottom of the screen. "We don't have 57 minutes and 31 seconds, guys."

"It also appears as though they both have some form of Artificial Intelligence in their suits. Spider-Man has been reported to speaking to a Karen, located in his suit. Eyewitnesses have heard Hourglass refer to a 'Costa', and if you don't know, Costa means Coast in Spanish, so maybe she's Mexican or Spanish-"

The bell rang.

Peter got up, and turned around to scoop his backpack up. Charlie looked at his shirt, which read Never trust an atom. They make up everything. "Heh. Nice shirt."

•••

"I honestly don't know why this is an issue for me, FRIDAY." Tony said, getting a little exasperated.

"I just believe that Charlotte should have an armored suit like Peter's just in case if the worst happens." FRIDAY replied smoothly.

"But she already has her suit and guess what? Her logo nearly matches the Iron Spider's and its really creepy how similar the two are. She had that emblem before I even met Parker."

"Boss, you know spandex isn't exactly the best protection one can receive for being a crime fighter."

Tony hesitated. "Give me the specs for the Iron Spider." The suit came up via hologram. "Add on the AutoLock device where it currently is on her standard suit." The small gadget appeared on the inside wrists. "Can it be strengthened?"

FRIDAY ran tests, the holographic Charlie swinging and twisting every which way to avoid a spray of bullets, throwing knives, repulsor blasts, and more. "Sorry, Boss, but the location of the WebLock is hindering it from being strengthened without getting in Charlotte's way. That simulation was without the requested upgraded WebLocks. And this is with a protective cover over the WebLocks." FRIDAY stated.

The current simulation saw Charlie twisting around again, but this time, either the WebLocks got in the way, or they were obliterated by the weapons. Tony watched her try to avoid the weapons, but the WebLocks distracted her when they bumped up against her, causing her to lose focus and get shot.

"Huh. FRIDAY, keep running tests on the Iron Spider prototype for Charlie. I'm gonna work on the Bleeding Edge's single thruster."

"You got it, Boss."

•••

Brent was a highly skilled stalker. He had reliable sources for private information. But this Charlotte Stark might as well be nobody. No information on her at all.

He sighed. He really hated hurting kids, but to get Hammer the stuff he wanted, he'd need to somehow take a blood sample. He had some friends who could(illegally) delve into the database and see crimes or things that could have caused her to become an orphan.

He picked up his phone and dialed a number. "Hey, it's dad. Could you try to give that girl in your class, Charlotte Stark, a paper cut...She might be a criminal...yes I know I'm on the force...We just need to be sure...thank you, sweetie. I'll have to do it then...Alright. Got it. Bye."

•••

Later that afternoon, a stampede of teens burst out of Midtown Science and Technology. Among them was Peter, Ned and Charlie. Peter walked to the train stop(Charlie knew he took the R Train since Tony had given her the departure and arrival times just in case if she wanted to take it) and was stopped by Flash and three of his friends.

Charlie, who was about to tap "yes" on her holographic visual from her watch requesting a ride back to the Tower when a group of boys walked past her. She didn't see anything wrong, but she trusted her gut and followed. 

"Azul, tell Tony I'm gonna walk." Charlie said, lowering her watch, which automatically deactivated the holo.

"Tony will expect a report at 4:30." Azul stated calmly. Charlie was already speed walking to the train stop. Charlie mumbled a "got it" to her watch, her green eyes glued to the mundane station. Keeping a short distance behind the group of teens, they directed her to an unsuspecting alley across the street from the rail line. She hesitated briefly at the opening to the alley, listening to the sounds that echoed from within.

She turned the corner to find four teenagers beating up a boy with a familiar t-shirt. "Peter?" A fist met his cheek, making his head fly back. Flash's friends instantly froze, turning to stare in shock at Charlie Stark.