From the Shadows | PETER PARKER [2]

| 32 |

"You're joking, right?"

Ned looks between MJ and Eloise on either side of him, the three sitting together on the city bus. When Eloise and MJ showed up at his front door with grievous expressions. He knew they were on a mission, and when they asked for his bus pass, he compromised with them: they could use his pass only if he could come along with them, wherever they were going. The two girls were hesitant to tell Ned what they had discovered, but once he asked a million times despite constantly being shut down, MJ caved and blatantly said that Mason is the Dark Menace and Zagan isn't a skrull like Peter believes. This, of course, caused Ned to freak out and make a scene on the cramped bus. Luckily most people had headphones on or ignored the teens.

MJ turns and looks at Ned with a flat look. Eloise runs a hand down her face and says, "No, Ned, we're not joking. Here, look at this."

Eloise reaches down and pulls the device that transforms Zagan into other people out of her backpack. Ned takes it cautiously, but almost drops it anyways. MJ elbows him and he apologizes.

"Woah, this is super advanced," Ned marvels, studying the tech closely. He runs his thumb over the sleek metal. "So I'm guessing this thing would scan, like, people and DNA and stuff, and then copy it so he can cloak himself with an image of the copy and modify his voice."

Ned's eyes are filled with curiosity and wonder as he scans it, unlike MJ and Eloise who were fearful. It's like seeing a kid holding up a new toy he just got for Christmas.

Lowering the device, Ned squints with confusion. "Wait, this doesn't explain why his eyes are yellow."

"I don't know man, contacts?" MJ suggests and takes the device from Ned's grasp, handing it back to Eloise to conceal in her bag.

Once it's put away and she straightens, Eloise looks out the window. They're passing a busy street with kids who just got out of summer school walking down the sidewalks. Cars pass, people pass, birds fly by—everything seems normal for a split second. But then the air stills and Eloise feels shivers run up her spine, the hairs on the back of her neck and on her arms rising. Something stirs in the pit of her stomach and for a moment she thinks she's going to get sick, but instead there's a loud crash that has Eloise's head whipping to see out the window on the opposite side of the aisle. The bus driver hits the breaks. The bus comes to a screeching halt and jolts all the passengers forward.

"Holy—" MJ starts, clutching onto the seat in front of her for balance. Ned's hand goes to her arm to keep her from falling into the aisle.

Eloise bolts up to her feet and watches as a car soars through the air, right towards a group of kids on the sidewalk outside of a candy store. She instantly uses her mind abilities to move the kids. If she had more time, she'd control their legs to make them run out of the way, but with the car flying towards them at an alarming speed, Eloise quickly throws them to the side. They scream and look at the car that hits the place they were just standing in shock.

MJ whips around to Eloise. She grabs the fabric of her shirt and tugs her out of the seat and into the aisle, pushing her along. She didn't need to say anything for Eloise to know that MJ knew Eloise was the only one around who could prevent as many causalities as possible. With everyone staring out the window at the commotion outside, Eloise takes the chance to slip out of her clothes, leaving her in her black suit she wears almost 24/7. Ned grabs the mask from her bag and tosses it to her.