"Peter." Clara whined, the rumbling in her stomach now closer to a roar. "We've been walking for ages and I'm hungry!"

Every corner they turned, the streets became narrower and Clara found herself apologising to dozens of tourists and locals as she bumped into them. She held her hands up in a repentant gesture to a man in a floral button-up shirt and a dark blue baseball cap, the man ignoring her and keeping his head low. Her sights lingered on him for a second longer, a frown furrowing her brow.

She shook her head, her parents reminder coming back to her in a vivid memory. "Just because you know how to tell, doesn't mean everyone acting odd is involved something 'unjust'." She jogged slightly to catch up to Peter as he powered through the crowds, finding the perfect moments to slip between people.

"We'll get food after we find the shop." Peter stated, weaving through a narrow street.

"There's no one near here, are you sure we aren't lost?" She asked, looking at the now completely empty street while thinking about all the food she could be eating from all of the different restaurants across the island.

"We aren't lost!" He exclaimed. "I've got it on my phone, okay, it's just around..." He trailed off, his eyes lighting up as the shop appeared in front of them. He lingered at the doorway.

"Are you going in or...?" He ignored Clara's remark, stepping into the cramped shop.

"Buongiorno." Peter said to the glassmaker.

"Buongiorno." He replied.

"Hi, uh, I'm looking for a Black Dahlia necklace." Peter said, hoping the man could speak English. When he didn't respond, he looked to his phone, finding the translation he had prepared for this exact scenario. "Er... A fee-or-y near-o?"

The man in front of him frowned, Peter's pronunciation confusing the glassmaker. "Fiore nero." The two looked over to Clara, hearing her voice from the other side of the small space. "Sta cercando un fiore nero."

Peter turned back to the man, who had already turned to find the Black Dahlia necklace. "I thought you hadn't been to Italy?" He asked Clara.

"I said I had never been to Venice; I've been to Napoli and Milan."

"Oh. Well, thank you." He smiled, twisting around to face the glassmaker as he sat back down at his desk.

"Fiore nero." He spoke, his thick Italian accent evident in those few words.

Peter took it from him gently, holding it against the light. Clara approached behind him, peering over his shoulder at the glimmering piece of jewellery. "It's perfect." He grinned in awe of the man's ability to create such an item. "Grazie."

They exchanged money, Clara stepping in at the sound of a much too highly priced item – the man clearly taking advantage of the tourist's inability to speak in the native tongue when the other price tags Clara had seen were less than half the price. He didn't put up much of a fight; he knew when a battle couldn't be won. "Can we pretty please get food now?" She whined again, Peter clutching the box as tight as he could.

"Yeah, do you know of any where good?" Peter asked her.

She stared up at him with a look of disbelief. "Do I know-" She scoffed. "I have been looking for places to eat since we got here! There's this super good pizza place not too far from here – Well, the reviews say it's good anyway."

Peter smiled across at her, amused by the sudden burst of excitement she showed. "In that case, lead the way."

Not even five minutes later they were standing outside the pizzeria, the queue only a couple of people long seen as it had passed the lunch time rush. Clara bounced on the spot just outside, waiting for the man and woman filling the small space to exit. "Prosciutto pizza, per piacere." She said, barely reaching the service counter before requesting her late lunch.

"Er... I'll share." Peter said, looking to Clara who gave him a single nod to confirm that would be okay.

Peter heard the man across from Clara ask the student something, but he spoke to quickly for him to figure it out. "Si, grazie." She replied, practically drooling as she watched another man in the open kitchen tossing the pizza base in his hands.

Ten minutes later and Clara was back outside the pizzeria with the box open in her hands, the steaming meal sending the scent of ham, cheese, and tomato into the air around the two of them. "Can I?" Peter asked, hold a hand out in front of him. Clara nodded, twisting the box and allowing him the first choice of a slice.

She set the box down on a low wall separating the area they stood in and tore her own slice from the pizza. Only briefly pausing to blow on the food to cool it, she took a bite, the flavour dancing over her tongue as the aroma continued to drift upwards. She groaned in delight. "That is really good." Peter remarked, half a slice of the pizza already gone.

"Isn't it just?" She agreed. "Let's start walking back; I've no idea how far away we are from the museum."

She tore each remaining slice from the pizza so it'd be easy to pick up while walking, before sweeping the box back into her hands, closing the lid to avoid their lunch becoming tarnished in any way. "Boh!" They both jumped, spinning to face the origin of the word.

"What?" Peter asked, his voice shaking. He swung a hand behind his back, hiding the small gift bag he had been carrying.

"It's the most perfect word in the world." A strangely excited MJ informed them. "Italians created it, and I discovered it."

"What does it mean?" Peter asked, the three of them now heading towards the museum together.

"That's the thing." MJ said. "It can mean a million things; it can mean I don't know, get out of my face, I don't know and get out of my face. It's the best thing Italy ever created – except for espresso."

"Oh, so you've been drinking espresso?" Peter asked.

"Hey! German? American?" An Italian ran in front of them, stopping the three in their tracks. "A rose? For you?"

"Boh." MJ stated bluntly, holding a hand out in front of her. The man looked a little offended as he walked away.

"Whoa." Peter commented.

"'Boh' is my new superpower." MJ held a triumphant look on her face, her eyes landing on Clara who was standing behind Peter. "Is that pizza?"

Clara nodded, turning the box, opening the lid, and allowing the taller girl to take a slice to try it. "The actual best thing Italy has ever created." Peter nodded in agreement, taking another slice and revealing the bag he had been holding.

"What's in the bag?" MJ asked with a mouth half-full of the pizza.

"Oh, uh... Boh." Peter shrugged.

"Nice." MJ said simply, turning and walking away and Peter following closely behind. Heading down the steps of a small bridge, MJ bent over, examining some wood protruding from the canal. "Woah, cool."

Clara and Peter moved in to get a closer look. Dozens of algae-coloured crabs were skittering away from the water. MJ looked back at them with a smile, amazed at the sight in front of her. While Clara found it just as interesting, concern bubbled inside her. Looking to a manhole cover to the side of them, she saw water working its way up onto the street. Peter noticed this too, the direction of his sights snapping towards the canal as the water was sucked away from their view.

Torrents of water headed towards the middle of the wide canal, passing under a gondola that held Ned and his new girlfriend, Betty. "What was that?" Betty asked, the boat rocking from side to side. The both leant tentatively over the edge of the small boat, watching as white foam travelled past them.

Everything seemed to go silent for a moment, and Clara found herself bracing for impact as the seconds waiting dragged on.

Then, screaming erupted from the crowds of on-lookers, tourists and locals alike running to safety as an explosion of water spewed into the air, creating a wave that rushed over the walkways around it. Boats were pushed from the epicentre, some slamming into the walls of already unstable buildings.

Peter reached a hand out across Clara protectively with her being the closest, instinctively moving to get people to safety. A second later, he noticed Ned and Betty's gondola swimming towards the building line, headed directly for solid wooden doors. He rushed forward, the doors thankfully opening while providing enough friction to bring the boat to a slow halt. "Betty, you okay?" He asked, pulling her from the grounded vehicle.

MJ reached to draw her out too, practically dragging her to safety while Peter helped Ned. "Come on!" He urged them.

"Guys! We gotta go!" Betty yelled, Ned, Peter and Clara all watching the water swirl upwards to form a monstrous being.

The water roared, seemingly stretching out to show its gargantuan size. "What is that?" Ned asked. Clara assuming it was rhetorical, and she was only slightly surprised when Peter answered.

"I don't know!"

"What're you going to do?" Ned rushed out, the pitch of his voice ten times higher than usual. Clara couldn't hear them now, the rushing of water too loud to hear the conversation even from only a few feet away.

"My suit's in the hotel." Peter grasped Ned by the tops of his arms.

"Why?" His friend squealed.

"Because I'm on vacation, Ned!" Peter growled through grit teeth. "Everyone will see my face. Get them out of here." With that he pushed Ned towards his classmates.

He looked towards Clara with wide eyes, wondering what she had heard. Though, by the looks of it, she had been to busy staring at the abomination in front of her to notice their conversation. "Peter, you've got to get out of here." She said, he snapping to face him.

"What?" He asked, having just told his friend the same thing. "What about you?"

Clara clenched her jaw and fists, turning her body fully to face him. As the monster still raged a hundred metres away, she fought in a battle within her own mind. "Come on!" She grabbed his hand, tugging at him and pulling him up the stairs.

"Wait, no!" Peter argued, stopping on the spot. She span to face him.

"What do you mean no?" She shouted, raising her voice to be heard over the crashing waves around them. Adrenaline pulsed through her veins as she supressed every urge to drag him by the ear, lock him away somewhere, and come back to fight the thing herself. They both ducked as pieces of rocks and bricks flew passed them, missing the two teenagers by inches. "Peter, come on!"

Peter turned and ran the other way, calling back over his shoulder. "Sorry, I'll meet you back at the hotel!"

"What?" She screeched, groaning in frustration before running after him. She could leave him, follow the others and make certain that they were safe, but the creature was over there, and her classmates had been running the other way. Peter Parker, however, was running straight into the eye of the storm.

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