The next morning, everything was back to what was relatively normal for Peter Parker. It was like yesterday never happened, like a giant water creature hadn’t attacked Venice, a caped man they called “Mysterio” hadn’t shown up to fight it, and Nick Fury hadn’t appeared out of nowhere to knock out Ned Leeds and kidnap Peter in the middle of the night to tell him about a top-secret mission to save the world.

“Okay, drink lots of water, and I’m gonna get you a vitamin C pill,” Betty instructed Ned as the students gathered outside the hotel. They were all packed up and ready to move on to Paris.

Paris.

The Eiffel Tower.

Peter was nervous, and felt in his pocket to make sure the small case containing the black dahlia necklace was still there.

“You cannot get sick,” Betty insisted to Ned. “Okay, babe?”

“Okay,” Ned smiled as Betty walked away. “Thanks, baby.”

“Hey, man, are you sure you’re good?” Peter asked. He figured that Ned must have been suffering some kind of aftereffects from Nick Fury’s knockout dart, which Betty had interpreted as Ned getting sick.

“Oh, dude,” Ned reassured his friend, casually waving off Peter’s concern. “I’m fine, okay? Don’t worry.”

“Okay,” Peter agreed. “Nice.” Ned seemed to let things go so easily. Peter wished he could be like that sometimes.

“Seriously, getting tranqed in the neck by Nick Fury...probably the coolest thing to ever happen to me anyway,” Ned related happily.

Peter nodded. “It IS pretty awesome.” And it felt good to have someone to share this stuff with.

“Yeah,” Ned smiled.

“I’m just happy I don’t have to go to Prague,” Peter admitted.

“Seriously.” Ned was supportive without being jealous of his opportunities. Peter was lucky to have him as a best friend.

“I mean, could you imagine that?” Peter asked. He really couldn’t imagine it.

Which was good, because in about five seconds, he wasn’t going to have to imagine it.

“Good news!” Mr. Harrington announced with a big grin on his face. “We’re going to Prague!”

“What?” Peter blurted, ready to jump out of his skin.

“Yeah. Tour company called,” Mr. Harrington related. “They upgraded us. You should’ve heard me on the phone with ’em. I really gave ’em hell.”

Behind him, Mr. Dell muttered, “All I heard was crying.”

As the group walked away from the hotel, they came upon a sleek tour bus that was a far cry from the broken-down everything they had encountered on the trip so far.

“Look at our upgraded ride!” Mr. Harrington exclaimed.

“Whoa, bro, you see that?” asked one of the students. “It’s pretty sick!”

“Wow! I’m impressed, Mr. Harrington,” Mr. Dell said, and he really was.

In fact, everyone seemed to be impressed. Everyone, that is, except Peter. He took one look at the driver of the tour bus holding a little sign that said MIDTOWN HIGH, who looked an awful lot like Dmitri.

That’s probably because it WAS Dmitri.

“Aw, come on,” Peter groaned.

“Peter, wh—? What’s going on?” Ned asked.

“I think Nick Fury just hijacked our summer vacation,” Peter told him glumly.

“Awesome!” was all Ned could say.

“Yeah,” Peter said, with a distinct lack of excitement and an expectant heavy, load of obligation. “‘Awesome.’”

Peter sat in his seat in the tour bus, staring at the window at the Eastern Alps. They’d been driving for hours and were now in Austria.

“Yo, what’s up, Flash Mob?” Flash proclaimed loudly.

Peter looked across the aisle to see Flash addressing his cell phone.

“It’s your boy, the Big F,” Flash continued. “Cruising through the Alps with my private driver, Dimitri.”

It didn’t escape Peter that Dmitri rolled his eyes.

His plans with MJ currently thrown out the window, Peter wondered what his next move should be. Then he remembered the gift that Mr. Stark had given to him, the one that Nick Fury passed along the previous evening.

Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out the case. Opening it, he found a pair of glasses along with a note:

FOR THE NEXT TONY STARK,

I TRUST YOU

P.S. SAY EDITH

—T.S.

Peter put the glasses on, then read the note out loud. “‘For the next Tony Stark, I trust you. Say EDITH.’”

“Stand by for retinal and biometric scan,” said a female voice from within the glasses. Within the lenses, Peter could see a retinal scan initiated, featuring a photo of himself. “Retinal and biometric scan accepted.”

Then these words appeared in the glasses:

“Hello?” Peter queried softly.

“Hello, Peter. I am EDITH, Tony Stark’s augmented reality security and defense system.”

“So he made you for me?” Peter asked, pleased at the thought of this last gift from his friend.

“No,” EDITH corrected. “But you have access to all of Tony’s protocols.”

“Cool.” He wondered what those were. With Mr. Stark, the possibilities were endless.

“Would you like to see what I can do?” EDITH inquired.

Peter looked through the lenses, and he saw the name EDITH appear.

“EDITH stands for ‘Even Dead, I’m The Hero.’” EDITH informed Peter cheekily. “Tony loved his acronyms.”

“Yeah, he did,” Peter chuckled.

“I have access to the entire Stark Global Security network, including multiple defense satellites, as well as backdoors to all major telecommunication networks.”

Suddenly, an entire world of unseen information appeared in EDITH’s lenses. Peter could see exactly what the other students were doing on their cell phones. He could read text messages that Flash was sending to his mother, or that Mr. Dell was researching the history of witchcraft on his cell phone’s web browser.

He wondered if MJ was texting.

That’s when he saw what Brad was doing.

He wasn’t texting.

He was searching the web for PRAGUE ROMANTIC SPOTS.

“No. Don’t look at it,” Peter said, not to EDITH, but to himself. “Don’t look at it. That’s—that’s wrong. That’s wrong.”

Unable to help himself, however, Peter turned his head left and saw Ned and Betty sitting together, texting.

First, he saw Ned’s text:

MISS YOU

Then, Betty’s:

MISS YOU MORE

Aren’t they sitting right next to each other?! Peter thought. These glasses are a blessing and a curse. zyXOEz5b2/vNDgmlnd+Er8BPcsZWlAZBSHbKR89ZIsvCUfb9c6IPLXgdT1GLXUTV