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Peter could feel Flash glaring at his back. He had caught up with the Decathlon team just as they were about to enter the venue. While he attempted to ignore Flash, Ned sidled up to Peter, whispering loudly.
”What the hell happened! Where were you? I was freaking out Peter, man I didn't know what happened. What if you had died?! I wouldn't have had any idea...”
Mr. Harrington turned around and hushed them, putting an end to Ned’s rambling. Behind them, Peter heard Flash mumbling.
”I can't believe I got kicked off by Parker at the last second. Fucking teacher's pet.”
Continuing to ignore him, Peter turned to Ned, whispering quietly,
”I'll tell you after this. It was crazy! But don't worry about it too much, we’re about to go.”
The team stopped at the door that lead to the Decathlon stage.
”Dude! You can't just tell me that then expect me not to worry about it!”
-----
Peter’s team won the Decathlon, the winning question being answered by MJ in record time.
”The Washington Monument is five-hundred and fifty-five feet, five and one-eighth inches tall.” The tour guide droned on. Sure, the Washington Monument was cool, but why did they have to celebrate their success by listening to a lady who sounded just as bored as they were? He could tell that MJ was angry that she had been dragged into this as well.
”Look at how the marble and granite are cut around this zone...”
Crash!
The air is filled with the sound of shattering glass as blinding purple light fills the elevator.
Peter blinks his eyes, attempting to asses the situation. Looking to his left, he can see that the glowing is coming from Ned’s backpack.
”Ned! The purple glowy stone thing! Get rid of it!” Ned stares, then his eyes widen as he understands what happened. He hurriedly starts to take his backpack off, only to stop as the elevator jerks and falls a few feet.
His teammates all have fearful looks on their faces, clinging to the walls of the elevator.
”What is going on!?” he heard Liz shout as Flash let out a high-pitched scream.
”Please remain calm, ” the tour guide said. ”We are perfectly safe.”
Peter pulled the side of his hoodie over his mouth, muttering quietly.
”Karen, how stable is this elevator?”
”The elevator is estimated to lose all structural integrity within the next twenty-five seconds.”
...well shit
As Ned finally got his bag off, he unzipped the front pocket.
”Uhh...Peter? I don't think I should touch this.”
The stone had burned patches of Ned’s backpack to a crisp; Peter could feel the heat radiating off if it from three feet away.
”What the hell is that,” One of Peter’s teammates asked, voice shaking.
Before Peter could open his mouth to respond, the elevator jerked again, this time dropping five or six feet.
”Structural integrity will fail in ten seconds, ” Karen helpfully reminded Peter.
Peter assessed his options. First, he could hope and pray that the police or fireman or whoever deals with these kinds of situations would make it in time to save them. He stomach dropped at the second option.
”Five seconds.”
He looked over at Liz and Flash, both with looks of fear on their faces.
”Four seconds.”
Peter glanced at Ned, whose hands were shaking.
”Three seconds.”
He and Ned made eye contact. Ned looked at him with expectation.
”Two seconds.”
Peter subtlety rolled up his sleeves to expose the web shooters he kept on his wrists.
”One second.”
Peter took a deep breath, steadying himself, making sure his feet were securely attached to the elevator
”Structural integrity has failed.”
The wire holding the elevator up snapped.
They began to freefall. Half of the team screamed while the others had their eyes squeezed shut.
Then the elevator stopped falling.
And it started moving back up.
Startled, Peter’s classmates raised their heads.
To see Peter, webs coming out of his wrists, keeping them from falling. They all stared at him in disbelief. Liz was shaking from the adrenaline rush and even MJ looked slightly out of sorts.
”What. The fuck.” Flash’s eyes couldn't have been wider. Everyone stared at Peter as if he had some strange mutation. Which, honestly, wasn’t that far off.
”Um...surprise?” Peter got the sudden urge to do jazz hands. He could hear Mr. Stark in his head saying “Real mature Pete, real mature.”
”What? I...I don't understand, ” Liz said, voice shaking. ”Peter, what the hell is going on?”
Peter locked eyes with Ned and tilted his head to gesture to his bag. Ned unzipped Peter’s backpack and pulled...
Pulled out Peter’s Spiderman mask.
He didn’t think the noisy, rowdy Decathlon team could ever be this silent.
”Figures,” MJ said. Everyone looked at her in shock. ”What, like it wasn't at all suspicious that whenever Peter disappears, Spiderman shows up?”
-----
Peter pulled them up with his webs, almost at the top of the elevator shaft.
”Shhh...shhhhh, please remain calm.”
He turned around and saw the tour guide lady talking to one of his classmates, patting her sympathetically on the shoulder.
Peter grabbed his mask off the floor and slipped it on.
He turned around and looked at his classmates.
”What do I have to do so that you guys don't tell anyone?”
His classmates all looked at each other. Finally, Liz looked up at him.
”You saved our lives, didn't you?”