My head jerks up as Aaron's pen jabs into my ribs for the third time, sharp enough to actually hurt. The fog of almost-sleep evaporates instantly, leaving me blinking at the brightly lit Home Economics classroom like I've just been teleported here.
"Dude, seriously," Aaron whispers, his perfect blonde hair catching the fluorescent light as he leans closer. "You're gonna get in trouble if Ms. Walters catches you sleeping again."
I rub my eyes, trying to focus on the recipe projected on the whiteboard. Something about proper folding techniques for soufflés. Three days off because of Ultron's robot army tearing through Manhattan, and this is what they bring us back to?
"Sorry," I mumble, straightening up in my seat. My brain feels like it's stuffed with cotton balls after staying up half the night with Ellie. I glance at the clock, still forty-five minutes left.
The rain outside pounds against the windows like tiny fists demanding entry. It's been coming down since early morning, turning campus into a soggy, miserable maze of puddles and drenched students. The steady drumming against the glass makes staying awake even harder.
I scan the classroom, noticing the empty seat where Piper usually sits.
"Hey," I whisper to Aaron, "where's Piper? She never showed up."
Aaron shrugs without looking up from his meticulous notes. "I don't know. Maybe she's smart enough to skip."
"Damn. She doesn't seem the type to skip class though."
"No?" Aaron scoffs, finally looking up with an arched eyebrow. "Miss Perfect Parker always follows the rules?"
"Well, when you put it that way... I guess maybe she would." I concede, though something about his tone rubs me the wrong way.
A low rumble of thunder interrupts my thoughts, making the windows vibrate. Ms. Walters pauses mid-explanation about egg whites, glancing nervously toward the sound.
The thunder grows louder, no longer a distant rumble but an approaching roar. I squint toward the windows as the classroom lights flicker, casting eerie shadows across everyone's faces. Something feels wrong, way beyond normal storm-wrong.
The thunder doesn't fade like it should, instead, it intensifies into a deafening crescendo that makes my teeth rattle. And then, with a sound like the world being torn in half, the wall to my left is ripped open.
Bricks, glass, and twisted metal spray across the classroom as students scream. Cold rain and wind whip through the gaping hole where the wall used to be, and through the chaos, I see them.
Spider-Woman, her red and blue suit glistening as she flips through the air with impossible grace. But it's what she's fighting that makes my blood run cold.
Doctor Octopus sways in the pouring rain, but she's... wrong. Instead of her usual four mechanical arms, she has eight monstrous appendages, four erupting from her back and four more bursting from the front of her suit. Her trademark bowl cut is plastered to her head, dark sunglasses somehow still in place despite the chaos. The brown jacket she wears hangs loosely on her skeletal frame as her body sways unnaturally, like she's barely conscious while her inhuman arms fight with vicious precision.
"Oh shit, this fucks!" I stammer, unable to contain my excitement despite the chaos erupting around us. A real-life Doc Ock versus Spider-Woman battle crashing through our classroom wall?
Students scramble from their seats, screaming and pushing toward the door as Ms. Walters frantically waves them out, her face pale with panic. One of Doc Ock's robot arms whips through the air, smashing a row of kitchen stations and sending mixing bowls flying like shrapnel.
Aaron grabs my arm, his fingers digging in deep. "Come on!" he shouts over the pandemonium, tugging me toward the exit. "We need to get out of here!"
"I'm right behind you!" I yell back, giving him a reassuring nod while making absolutely no move to follow.
Aaron hesitates, his eyes searching mine before he finally turns and joins the stampede of students flooding into the hallway. I wait until I see everyone disappear around the corner before reaching into my pocket for my mask.
I slip the golden mask over my face and flip my jacket inside out, revealing the more heroic-looking lining.
Doc Ock staggers in the downpour like a drunk marionette, her body unnaturally limp while her metal arms move with terrifying precision. Spider-Woman flips and twists through the air, narrowly avoiding the metal appendages that slash at her with killer intent.
"What can I do, Spidey?" I call out, my voice steady despite the adrenaline surging through my veins.
Spider-Woman dodges a vicious swipe from one of Doc Ock's arms, landing in a crouch on an overturned desk. "Is everyone out?" she shouts back, her mask's eye lenses narrowing as she surveys the room.
I glance around at the empty classroom. "Yeah, they're all clear!"
A familiar thwip sound cuts through the chaos as a red blur swings through the gaping hole in the wall. Scarlet Spider lands in a perfect crouch beside me, rainwater streaming off her crimson suit.
"Took you long enough," Spider-Woman groans, launching herself toward the ceiling as two arms smash into the spot where she'd been standing.
"Traffic was killer," Scarlet responds without missing a beat.
"Oh my fucking god," I breathe, my jubilation doubling as I watch the two spider-heroines position themselves on opposite sides of Doc Ock. "I can't believe I thought I was going to sleep the day away."
I grip the edge of an overturned desk, transfixed as Spider-Woman and Scarlet Spider begin moving in perfect synchronization, like they've choreographed this fight a thousand times.
Spider-Woman shoots a web at Doc Ock's face, before Scarlet follows up with a powerful kick to the villain's midsection. The silver arms lash out wildly, but the spiders are already gone, flipping through the air in opposite directions.
"Hey, Doc!" Spider-Woman calls out, landing on the ceiling. "Looks like you've got a real arms race going on there. What's the matter, four wasn't enough for you?"
Scarlet Spider lands on the wall beside a shattered whiteboard. "Maybe she's compensating for something," she quips, dodging another arm that embeds itself in the plaster where she'd been a split-second before.
I expect some kind of witty retort from Doc Ock, but instead, a strange, mechanical voice emerges from somewhere in her suit, not her mouth, which hangs slightly open like she's barely conscious.
"NO MATTER HOW MANY SPIDERS THERE ARE, YOUR LIFE IS OVER," the voice grinds out, the sound unnervingly disconnected from Doc Ock's slack face.
There's something deeply wrong about Doc Ock beyond the extra arms, her slack face, that artificial voice coming from somewhere else. Before I can process it further, all eight tentacles appendages shoot upward simultaneously, punching through the ceiling with devastating force.
"LOOK OUT!" Spider-Woman yells as massive chunks of concrete and steel beams rain down directly above Scarlet Spider.
I watch in horror as the entire ceiling collapses, bringing a full floor of rubble crashing down onto Scarlet. The thunderous roar drowns out her scream as she disappears under a mountain of debris.
"FUCK!" I shout, the golden energy surging through me instinctively. I focus on a spot near where Scarlet disappeared, reality bending as I teleport directly into the heart of the destruction.
Dust chokes my lungs as I materialize among the wreckage. I start digging frantically, tossing aside chunks of concrete and twisted metal. "Scarlet! Can you hear me?" My hands bleed as I tear through the sharp edges.
"AND WHO ARE YOU?" The mechanical voice cuts through the chaos behind me.
I spin around to see one of Doc Ock's arms whipping toward my head like a metal serpent. Before it connects, a red and blue blur intercepts it, Spider-Woman catching the arm mere inches from my face.
"Leave him alone!" she grunts, muscles straining against the silver appendage.
"Fuck this," I mutter, feeling the familiar heat building in my temples as I prepare to release my horns. The golden energy pulses through my veins, gathering power…
WHAM!
Another arm slams into the side of my head from my blind spot, sending me flying across the ruined classroom. Stars explode behind my eyes as I crash into an overturned desk, my vision swimming with black spots.
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO FOUGHT THE WIZARD THE OTHER DAY," the voice observes, those sunglasses somehow still perfectly in place despite the chaos. "THIS MATTER DOES NOT CONCERN YOU."
I teleport away before another arm can hit me, reappearing behind a toppled filing cabinet. My head throbs violently where I was struck, and I press my palm against my temple, feeling warm blood trickle between my fingers. I need a moment to catch my breath, to let my vision clear.
From my hiding spot, I watch Spider-Woman wrestling with Doc Ock. The villain's mechanical arms have her completely immobilized, one wrapped around each limb, suspending her in mid-air like a captured fly in a metal web. Spider-Woman thrashes desperately, but the arms only tighten their grip.
With horrifying deliberation, Doc Ock's remaining arms reach for Spider-Woman's face. Metal fingers curl around the edge of her mask and begin to pull.
"NO!" I scream as the mask tears away, revealing Piper's face, rain and sweat plastering her hair to her forehead.
Something snaps inside me. I don't fight the power building in my temples and instead channel every ounce of it forward. The pain is excruciating as the horns rip through my skin, blood streaming down my face in hot rivulets.
I focus on a spot directly beside Doc Ock and teleport, materializing in mid-air next to her slack face.
Time seems to slow as I pull my fist back, pouring every bit of my demonic strength into the blow. Doc Ock's mechanical arms sense the danger, three of them whipping around to shield her face at the last second.
My fist connects with the metal barrier with a thunderous BOOM that shakes the entire building. The impact sends shockwaves up my arm. Doc Ock goes flying backward, her body slamming into the far wall with enough force to crater the concrete.
I land in a crouch, my fist still glowing with golden energy as blood drips from my horns onto the flooded floor. I turn to help Piper, but she's already recovered her mask and pulled it back on, her identity once again hidden.
"Are you alright?" I ask, my voice rough with concern.
"Since when can you punch like that?" she asks, sounding both impressed and wary as she adjusts her mask.
"Since Norma's," I reply simply, the memory of that night flashing through my mind.
"That makes sense," she nods, understanding immediately what I'm referring to.
We both turn our attention to the pile of rubble where Scarlet disappeared. Spider-Woman gestures urgently. "Scarlet!" she calls out, and we rush to help, tearing through the debris together.
We find Scarlet Spider in a small pocket of space she'd created with her webs, battered but alive. Together, we pull her free from the wreckage, her red suit torn in several places, revealing bloody scratches underneath.
Once she's clear, we all look toward the crater in the wall where Doc Ock landed, but the villain is long gone.
"Dang," Spider-Woman and Scarlet say in unison, scanning the rainy landscape outside for any sign of their escaped enemy.
Spider-Woman sighs heavily, her shoulders slumping with exhaustion. "Well, let's go, Scarlet," she says, clearly disappointed at losing their target.
"Yeah," Scarlet agrees, her voice equally deflated.
They fire their web shooters simultaneously, launching themselves out into the wet afternoon. I watch them swing away, disappearing between buildings in the distance
The classroom looks like a war zone, overturned desks, shattered equipment, a collapsed ceiling, and water pooling everywhere.
I'm about to teleport out when a tremendous crash makes me spin around. The hallway door splinters inward, wood fragments exploding across the room as Venom tears through the entrance. Her blank white eyes widen at the destruction before locking onto me.
"Are you alright?" she growls, crossing the flooded classroom in three massive strides. Before I can answer, she scoops me up off the ground, those powerful arms cradling me against her chest as she inspects me with frantic intensity.
I can't help but laugh. "I'm fine," I tell her, reaching up to touch her face, feeling the symbiote ripple beneath my fingertips.
"What happened?" she demands, those milky eyes narrowing as she takes in the blood trickling down from my horns.
"Doc Ock decided to fight in my class," I explain, wincing as a fresh wave of pain pulses through my temples. "Right in the middle of learning how to make soufflés."
Venom sighs in relief, her massive body relaxing slightly. "And you fought her," she says, not a question but a resigned statement.
"With Spider-Woman and Scarlet Spider," I confirm, feeling a rush of pride despite the throbbing pain in my head. "You should have seen me land this punch! Doc Ock went flying into the wall so hard she left a crater."
She sighs again, deeper this time. "I was on the other side of campus," she explains, her dual-layered voice vibrating through my chest where I'm pressed against her. "No one knew anything until the evacuation started."
"I'm fine, really," I insist, reaching up to touch the tender spots where my horns protrude from my skull. Even as I speak, I feel them starting to loosen, the connection between the demonic growths and my body beginning to weaken.
It's becoming more familiar each time, the way they detach when my power fades, the strange sensation of something that was part of me suddenly becoming foreign.
With a sickening little pop, the first horn breaks free, tumbling from my skull and landing in Venom's massive palm. The second follows moments later, both crumbling into fine ash that sifts between her clawed fingers. The pain recedes immediately, leaving only a dull throb where they'd erupted through my skin.
Venom's blank white eyes narrow as she studies me. Her gaze travels from my face downward, pausing pointedly at the obvious bulge straining against my pants. A predatory gleam enters those alien eyes as she carefully sets me down, keeping one hand on my shoulder to steady me.
"My poor demon boyfriend," she rumbles, her dual-layered voice dropping to that dangerous, seductive register that makes my heart race. "I guess I'll need to help you with that."
"I guess so," I manage to reply, my voice embarrassingly breathless even to my own ears.