10

“What are you gonna do about the water monster?” Ned asked, clearly panicked at the thought of the creature he imagined was lurking below them.

Peter stood in the upstairs hallway holding his toothbrush and toothpaste.

“Nothing! It’s dead!” Peter assured his friend, not positive if he really believed it. It was more like he was trying to convince himself. “And besides, that Mysterio guy’s all over it. Look, I just wanna spend some time with MJ. We were talking about Paris, and...I think she really likes me.” Or he hoped that was so. Why else would she keep smiling at him?

Peter walked into the room he was sharing with Ned. He went to the sink and started to brush his teeth.

“That’s nice,” Ned said, standing in the doorway, distracted for a moment from his fear. “It reminds me of when Betty and I first fell in love.”

Ned took a few steps into the room to share the tale of his glorious romantic experience. “I had just finished my fruit cobbler, right, and—”

Peter thought it was weird that Ned didn’t finish his sentence. And he thought it was even MORE weird when he heard a loud THUD and turned around to see Ned asleep on the floor.

With a dart sticking in his neck.

Then he saw someone sitting in his room.

Someone holding a weapon.

Wearing an eyepatch.

“You’re a very difficult person to contact, Spider-Man,” the man in the chair said.

“You’re Nick Fury,” Peter identified the intruder, his heart pounding. “And you just shot Ned.”

“It’s just a mild tranquilizer. He’ll be all right,” Nick noted, shrugging it off. “So good to finally meet you. I saw you at the funeral, but I didn’t think that was a good time to exchange numbers.”

“No, that would’ve been really inappropriate,” Peter agreed.

“That’s what I just said,” Nick replied. He continued to study Peter with his one good eye, which was somehow more intimidating than two.

“Right,” Peter acknowledged. He had been dreading the moment when he would actually have to talk to Nick Fury on the phone. He had been putting it off and putting it off and putting it off, and now he didn’t HAVE to talk to Nick Fury on the phone because NICK FURY WAS SITTING IN HIS ROOM LIVE AND IN PERSON AND WHAT THE HOLY HELL WAS HE GOING TO DO？！

“The important thing is, you’re here,” Nick said. “I tried to bring you here. You avoided me, and now you’re here. What a coincidence.”

“Wait,” Peter considered. “Was this a coincidence?” Was anything a coincidence if Nick Fury was involved? Could this have been staged to get him here somehow? His mind ran in a dozen paranoid directions. Which was pretty common when one was around the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

“I used to know everything,” Nick mused, ignoring Peter’s question. “Then I come back five years later, and now I know nothing. No intel, no team. And a high-school kid is dodging my calls.”

Peter thought that Nick Fury looked SUPER annoyed now. That couldn’t be good.

“Here’s what I do know,” Nick continued. He set a small metallic object down on the table, and a hologram appeared above it. “A week ago, a village in Mexico was wiped out by a cyclone. Witnesses say that cyclone had a face.”

Before Nick had a chance to say anything else, Ned let out a loud.

SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE

Nick glared at the sleeping Ned. “Three days later, a similar event in Morocco. A village was—”

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Nick pointed his weapon toward the door, and Mr. Harrington poked his head in, unable from his angle to see Nick or the gun aimed at him.

“Just making the rounds,” the teacher told his student. “See if anyone needs any emotional counseling after today’s traumatic events.”

“No, we’ll be okay. We’re—we’re fine,” Peter said nervously, fidgeting with the tube of toothpaste in his left hand. “Thank you.”

“Great, ’cause I’m, I’m not qualified to actually—” Mr. Harrington admitted, finally noticing the unconscious Ned on the floor. Whispering, Mr. Harrington said, “Oh. He’s passed out. I’m not really qualified to do it anyway, so good night.”

Mr. Harrington left the room, closing the door behind him.

“That was my teacher. Sorry about that,” Peter apologized. “You were saying?”

Annoyed, Nick picked up the thread of his story, “A village was destroyed by what may well be another world-threatening—”

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

“Babe, you still awake?” Betty inquired through the door. “You’re not answering any of my texts.”

“He’s asleep, Betty,” Peter answered loudly.

“Oh,” Betty replied, disappointed. “Already?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay!”

As Betty left, Nick tried to get to the point of why he was there, “That’s why it’s imperative—”

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

“Hey, boys,” Mr. Dell called to Peter and Ned from the other side of the door. “So that canal water today was filled with dangerous bacteria...”

“Another person touches that door, you and I are going to attend another funeral,” Nick said, emphatically. Then he picked up the metal object from the table. “Suit up.”

The last thing Peter heard before he put on his Spider-Man costume was Mr. Dell saying, “Let me know if either of you develop vomiting.”

Truth be told, Peter kind of felt like vomiting.