MAGIC TRICKS [PETER PARKER]

THREE

"WHAT IS THAT?"

I sat down on the stool next to Peter in shop class. He had texted me to meet him in the room during lunchtime, so I opted to sneak my peanut butter and jelly sandwich inside the class underneath my jacket. He was hammering away at some piece of crazy machinery that had a purple glowing thing in the middle. I immediately scowled. "I don't know. I was hoping maybe you could tell me," he said, pushing the thing into my hands.

Retracting my hands back quickly, I examined it. It glowed brightly, like the Eye of Agamotto, when in use of course, but there was no way this was an infinity stone. "Heck if I know," I shrugged finally, ducking my head to take a bite of my sandwich. Peter frowned, and I held it out, mouth full. "Wanna bite?"

He opened his mouth, unsure of how to respond, until he shrugged, and I tore off a piece and handed it to him. "Ugh, strawberry?" Peter said in disgust, swallowing down the piece of sandwich. I glared harshly, reaching across the table to take the hammer from him. I said, "Don't diss the berry, all right?" Peter laughed lightly.

"Hey, thanks for bailing on me," a voice said, and Ned walked up, a slightly disgruntled look on his face. Peter shrugged innocently. "Yeah, well, something came up."

Ned frowned, pointing at the piece of metal. "What is that?" Peter shrugged again, and I looked at Ned. "We don't know."

"Some guy tried to vaporize me with it," Peter said casually, like that was an everyday thing for him. Ned's eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"Yeah," Peter nodded, poking some metal prongs at the purple thing in the center. Ned and I shared a shocked look. "Awesome..."

Peter looked at us incredulously, like we were being so immature. "I-I mean, not awesome," Ned said quickly, shaking his head, "Totally uncool of that guy, so scary..." Peter rolled his eyes, amused, and I leaned on the table, watching his fingers work. "You know, you could've asked me to come help hunt down these guys," I said, raising my eyebrows. Peter shrugged his shoulders again. "I didn't think it'd be much of a fight," he affirmed, poking at the thing again, "It wouldn't have been if someone hadn't called me in the middle of it." We both turned to Ned, who raised his hands innocently, wiping off the peanut butter that had gotten on his mouth after he had just stolen the rest of my sandwich.

I sat back with a sigh. "Well, if you ask me, it looks like some kind of Chitauri power source," I guessed. Peter pursed his thin lips again. "Yeah, but it's connected to all these microprocessors..."

"That's an inductive charging plate," Ned chided, "That's what I use to charge my toothbrush." I looked at him strangely. Peter's eyes lit up like a light bulb.