Family Tree ~ An El Hopper and Peter Parker Story

Chapter 21

El gripped onto Mike's arm as the group heard the growls of the monster in the center of the mall. Doctor Octopus was also scoping the area, looking for them. She held her breath a few times when she could feel the supervillain behind the place she was hiding in with Mike and Max. 

Peter felt his spider sense tingling over and over again. Whenever it got bigger, he had to resist the urge to punch Doctor Octopus in the face. That could reveal him and MJ's hiding spot and it would cause for her to die. Instead of attacking, he just squeezed MJ's hand as tight as he could, hoping that they would all make it out alive.

The kids could hear the monster looking away and Mike went to check. Both the monster and Doctor Octopus were facing the opposite direction, away from the five of them. He took a deep breath and lowered himself back down to Max and El.

"They're not looking this way," he whispered to them. "We can run out through the main entrance upstairs."

"What?" Max whispered back. "We can't. Not with El's leg."

"We have to try!" Mike whispered to her.

"There's another way," El whispered to them, grabbing onto Mike's knee. "To get out. Through the Gap."

Peter and MJ overheard their conversation and they looked over at the store next to them. El was right. There was a door at the back of the clothing store that they could escape in. It would mean leaving Nancy, Jonathan, Will, and Lucas behind, but they were closer to the main entrance than they were.

Mike peaked out again from behind their hiding spot and saw that the monster and the supervillain had their backs completely turned away. He looked over at Peter and MJ, who nodded, and then looked at El, grabbing her hand. "Now!"

The five teens ran as fast as they could into the Gap. They made it as far as the entrance when El tripped due to the limp her leg. That made enough noise for the monster to roar and head over into their direction. Mike, El, and Max ducked behind a shelf and Peter and MJ went behind another one right next to them.

Doctor Octopus took notice of the monster running over to the store and he walked over there to look as well. "Where are you kids?" The five teens heard in a menacing tone. "Hand over Spider-Man and we'll spare the rest of you."

Neither of them moved when he had said that. They all knew that they couldn't trust what the man had said. However, Peter remembered how May had died during his first encounter with the supervillain. He had told him to stop freeing the hostages and to tell him where the lab was. Instead of doing that, May was murdered. He was about to stand up to hand himself over, but MJ tugged him back down, giving him a death glare. She wasn't going to let him sacrifice himself because if he did, all of them would die.

"You had your warning," Doctor Octopus said. "Now you will all suffer!"

The monster opened its mouth and tentacles grew from it. The arms slowly went across the store, looking for the kids. They could hear the growling and the screeching coming from the arms, remembering them from the cabin. They all sat still, hoping that the arms wouldn't find either of them.

Lucas peeked out over the counter that he, Will, Nancy, and Jonathan were hiding in. He saw the Mind Flayer and Doctor Octopus looking through the Gap Store. That meant that the others had to be in there. He quickly grabbed his wristrocket from his belt and started to load it up with a rock.

"What are you doing?" Nancy whispered at him.

"Creating a distraction," he explained. Lucas then stood up and started to aim the rock at the monster. But then he noticed some balloons at the other side of the floor, away from where the both of the kids were.