Flower Child (Peter Parker, MCU)

Lucius Fox Wannabe

After Hours - The Weeknd

"Remember, those of you going to Europe at the end of next month need to have their final payments brought to me by Fri - you guys aren't even listening." The bell had rung and everyone had already packed up their bags. Mr. Harrington was essentially speaking to their backs as all the kids filed out of his classroom and got ready for their next period.

Lila stayed behind, digging her payment envelope out of her backpack before walking up to her teacher and handing it to him. An excited smile broke across his face, and he told her he was looking forward to having her on the trip. She gave Mr. Harrington a shy grin of her own before turning around and nearly bumping into Brad, who also had an envelope clutched in his hand. He cracked a grin at Lila before reaching around her to give their teacher the envelope.

Mr. Harrington's thanks fell on deaf ears as Brad started talking to Lila. "I didn't know you were going on the trip too, that's awesome!"

"Yeah," Lila nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear. "It e-ends in Paris, so I was going to st-stay and visit some family."

"That's so cool, it's gonna be so fun!" Brad was exceptionally lively. Lila hadn't met someone as optimistic as Brad, whose chipper outlook despite half of his classmates disappearing for five years left others inspired. And when he came to Lila asking for some help in biology, she was entirely willing to put forth the effort. Ever since, he was always a pleasant person to have light conversation with. "Listen, I've gotta run but I was wondering if we could go over cellular respiration next Tuesday instead of Wednesday? I've got a quiz I want to nail."

Lila, having spotted Peter, nodded distractedly. "Sure, Tuesday works."

"You're the best, Lila, see you later!"

"See you," She muttered to nobody, as Brad had disappeared. Not that Lila paid any mind, she was focused on the fact that Peter and Ned were talking quietly to themselves, trying their best not to look suspicious but failing. And one word Lila happened to overhear gave her the exact context of their conversation.

Hovercraft.

The events at Meryl Streep's fundraiser were all over social media. A few articles had also popped up, but gave away very little information in regards to what had happened. One of the only few facts that had been given to the public was that the assailant was flying on a hovercraft, he managed to escape, and that he hadn't been found by the police. Suffice it to say, the would-be-murderer was front and center to the attention of Twitter.

Surprisingly, no one had put together that Jason Macendale was the man on the hovercraft. His name hadn't even touched the articles regarding the fundraiser, and that piqued Lila's interest more so than the shoddy videos captured that night. She shared this concern with Peter, who also thought it was a strange coincidence that his name wasn't mentioned at all. They both figured it had something to do with Norman Osborn, and how it was most likely he didn't want anyone thinking people were out to kill him.

Ned was immediately in on what really happened after Peter divulged it to him the following day. He was partly awestruck that the assailant was so original as to use a hoverboard as his getaway vehicle, but that was where the admiration ended. He'd read to both Peter and Lila that some news outlets were placing the blame on Tony Stark, which bewildered them all. Apparently, because Tony used to turn to technology to solve his problems, a growing number of bad people were doing the same; and thus making technology like Iron Man's now the new weapons race, circling back to why Stark had created Iron Man in the first place. Frustrated, Peter demanded Ned tell him what news source wrote it. Sheepishly, Ned admitted it was The Daily Bugle blog. No one gave that article a second thought.