"Wait! Where are you going!" Silas noticed Peter starting to run off.
Peter stopped and pointed toward the ruins. "Ned is buried in there!"
"I know, Peter. I know what you're thinking. Misty is also buried there, but..." Silas couldn't finish his sentence.
Klein interrupted from nearby. "Wait! Peter, are you trying to rescue your classmates?"
"Listen, there are professional rescue workers saving them right now. If you rush in recklessly, you will only complicate their work." Klein disagreed with Peter helping; it wouldn't be help, it would be interference!
"No, Teacher, I..." Peter didn't know how to explain himself. He couldn't exactly tell them he was Spider-Man.
"Listen to me, Peter! You are my student, and you must obey your teacher's orders!" Jedek stepped forward. Since Peter was his student, it was more appropriate for him to take charge.
Peter was reluctant. "But I..."
"Peter, trust me, they will be alright." Silas, leaning on Klein for support, came closer to Peter and patted him reassuringly. The Green Goblin's self-detonation had caused him serious trouble, primarily his leg, where he felt intense pain. The fact that Misty and Ned were victims only made things worse. He clearly remembered taking Misty to the schoolyard. Even with the large blast radius, it shouldn't have harmed her. What happened in between? Did Misty worry about him and follow him back?
"I... I understand, but I can't stand idly by." Ned was Peter's only close friend at school besides Silas.
"You should go call Uncle Ben and Aunt May first; I'm afraid they'll worry after seeing the news," Silas suggested, giving Peter a necessary task.
Peter immediately thought of Uncle Ben and Aunt May and hesitated. He finally said, "Alright then... but I'm still going back." Peter deliberately kept his voice low for the last sentence; he wasn't the kind of person who would abandon his friends.
"I understand," Silas nodded.
"Alright, Silas, I don't mean to interrupt you brothers, but you need to receive treatment immediately," Klein said, looking at Silas's right foot and arm.
Silas didn't try to be tough. "Thank you, Teacher."
"There's no need to thank me. I am your teacher, and I am responsible for your safety." Klein led Silas away.
Peter watched Silas's limping figure, then thought of Ned still buried in the ruins. He clenched his hand into a fist, then slowly relaxed it. Getting angry now was useless, and the perpetrator responsible for this chaos was already dead.
"I, Peter Parker, swear that I will never go easy on an enemy again! Otherwise, the only people who will get hurt are me and those I love!" Peter underwent a transformation in that moment. Perhaps he would still be the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man everyone loved, but his methods for dealing with criminals would become slightly more violent.
Unbeknownst to Peter, the true mastermind behind all this was safe and sound at Oscorp, and furthermore, Silas had already deployed the Shadowkhan! The Shadowkhan were all disguised in rescue worker gear, and their faces and eyes were perfectly hidden by their masks and goggles, preventing anyone from noticing them. Even if someone saw the sudden influx of over a dozen rescue workers, they would simply assume headquarters had sent in reinforcements.
"Hello, Aunt May, it's Peter Parker." Peter arrived at a payphone and dialed his home landline.
"Oh, my God! Peter! Are you alright! How is Silas! I saw everything on TV! Are you two..." Aunt May's voice was tearful, showing how worried she was.
"It's okay, Aunt May, we're both fine. Silas just has a little injury, but don't worry, we're totally fine," Peter quickly said. Hearing Aunt May cry made him feel terrible; he had worried his family.
Aunt May immediately responded, "Injured?! Don't worry, Uncle Ben and I will rush to the school right away."
"Okay. Oh, and Aunt May, please bring some freshly squeezed juice. Silas loves that, maybe it will help him feel better," Peter suggested.
"Yes, we'll be right there," Aunt May said.
Peter replied, "Alright, I'll see you then, Aunt May. Silas and I will be waiting for you at the school."
"Okay."
Beep beep beep~
Peter hung up the phone. Now he had to go save Ned! When Aunt May and Uncle Ben arrived, he was sure Silas would explain his absence.
"This will do!" Peter grabbed a red plastic bag from the street, poked three holes in it, and entered a small alley. He found a donation bin where generous people dropped off clothes for those in need.
"Sorry, but I promise I'll pay you back." Peter picked out a red tracksuit, shot a web, and swung away (now wearing a temporary, unmasked suit).
In the Tent
This was a temporary tent set up by medical personnel for the less severely injured. Silas was inside. Although Silas had injuries to his arm and leg, he was in stable condition and was being looked after here, unlike many others who had fainted and were rushed to the emergency room, with many fighting for their lives.
Looking at the injured students and his colleagues all around, Klein felt sorrowful. Two major attacks had occurred in a single week.
Klein also harbored a secret: he suspected the Lizard was his friend, Professor Connors. After the Lizard disappeared and the students went home, he rushed back to the professor's dorm room to check on Connors. He found a messy room, a shattered mirror, and a fallen briefcase. Most importantly, there was a notebook with a sequence of complex formulas he didn't understand, but one line of text he did: [Lizard Serum, can help people modify genes, regrow lost limbs, and give you superhuman strength]. This formula notebook was left in Klein's dorm. The Lizard, unable to find it, later wrote a new one in the sewers, which Peter ended up with.
"If I had superhuman strength, could I protect my students from harm?" Klein wondered, clenching his fist.
Silas glanced at Klein's tightly clenched fist, assuming the teacher was simply furious about what the students had endured.
So Silas said, "Teacher, you don't need to worry. Everything will be alright."
Klein unclenched his fist and forced a smile. "Yes."
Silas's sentence had interrupted his dark contemplation. Recalling what he had just been thinking, Klein felt a cold sweat break out. Professor Connors turning into the Lizard was a terrifying precedent. He absolutely could not do that.
🗒️NOTE:
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/MistaQuartz
Explore up to 20 chapters in advance!