I Am Karen - Spider-Man / Peter Parker [1]

Chapter Twenty - Solving The Puzzle

Finally, it was the day most people had been looking forward to, Homecoming. It was all anyone could talk about. Maria didn't understand why people were so obsessed with it; they went to parties all the time but a party the school held was for some reason much more exciting.

Once school was over, Maria had offered Michelle a lift home. The truth was Michelle had been acting strange all day and Maria had no idea why, she was wanting to get her alone to try and tease it out of her. The ride to Michelle's was only twenty minutes, she had time to get the girl to talk. However, as it turned out, Maria didn't have to do any poking around for Michelle spoke first.

"Homecoming tonight, you coming?" Michelle asked as normal as possible trying to not rise any suspicion from her best friend. She kept her eyes locked upon her phone that she was scrolling through. Unfortunately, it did the exact opposite. Maria was immediately suspicious. Slowly, Maria turned to look at Michelle, her eyes narrowed - a fact Michelle noticed.

"Why does it sound like you are going?" Maria asked instead of answering Michelle question. Was this what she had been hiding? Michelle never liked these parties yet she was going - Maria knew Michelle enough to know that she was going.

"Well ... umm" Michelle started, her words coming out slowly whilst she kept her eyes locked on her phone. "I ... was ... asked." Maria knew Michelle had been hiding something.

"You were asked? By whom?" Maria questioned with a grin firmly placed on her face. This never happened, ever. Michelle just wasn't one for accepting invitations by boys. Her being asked to Homecoming by someone was awesome but her accepting it was unheard of.

"Ned" Michelle answered still refusing to look at Michelle. Maria's jaw dropped at the news. Ned had asked Michelle to Homecoming and Michelle had said yes!

"Ned. As in Peter's Ned?" Maria finally asked. Maria had started to think that Ned and Michelle were getting close and that there might have been something there but to have it confirmed was brilliant. She was so happy and it showed on her face. A fact that annoyed Michelle to know end.

"Yes" Michelle answered through gritted teeth before she glared over at Maria. Maria was so happy and smug at the same time. "Stop it bitch." Maria laughed at Michelle as she watched her best friend's cheeks flush.

"I didn't say anything" Maria replied with her hands up in surrender. Huffing, Michelle crossed her arms after she finally put her phone down and fully turned to face Maria.

"Are you coming or not?" Michelle asked, desperately wanting the attention off of herself. Maria laughed at Michelle's reaction but before anymore could be said, Maria suddenly felt her watch vibrate along with her phone. Lifting up her phone, Maria saw her screen flashing red. She had gotten an emergency alert. That was never a good thing.

With a shaking thumb, Maria opened up the alert only for her heart to stop. She was staring at a picture of the Vulture in mid-flight. He was back! There had been no sighting of the man or any readings of his wingsuit's energy since the ferry accident but there he was. Maria didn't know what to do, the Vulture was back but why? This was something she had to figure out so that she could help stop him. Lifting her gaze back up to Michelle, Maria finalised her decision about Homecoming.

"I have plans."

~8~

Maria was stood before her lab computers nervously. Her arms were crossed and her foot was anxiously tapping against the floor. The truth was Maria had forgotten about the scans she had been running for weeks that were searching for any sign of the Vulture. When she had shut down KAREN Maria had assumed the scans had stopped but they hadn't and now Maria was aware of the Vulture's presence. She couldn't just sit back whilst knowing the Vulture was out there again, she just couldn't. The only issue was that she had promised her father/herself that she would stay out of any business like this, she would forget about it all but as she stared down at the blurry image of the Vulture, she knew this was one promise she had to break. She had to find him and figure out who the hell he was.