peter hated brad. he didn't think there was any other way to describe his emotions towards his classmate. brad, prior to the blip, was five years younger than peter. now, he had grown up, and was somehow in class with him. "the girls are all over him." ned had told peter, which made him furrow his brows, not believing it for one second.

brad seemed to follow peter everywhere. he was extremely obsessed, it seemed, with peter's relationship with dakota. "are you really dating dakota stark?" he had asked from his seat behind peter on the airplane.

"yeah..." peter had replied, unaware that brad was behind him.

"that's so awesome, dude. is she a good kisser? she looks like she would be." brad continued, and peter didn't know if he was trying to tick him off or if he was genuinely that dumb, so he didn't respond. it was almost like he was trying to mock peter; to suggest that he didn't believe that peter could possibly be dating her. "how does it feel, like, seeing her with spiderman and stuff?"

ned turned then, looking over at brad. "well the three of them are friends! peter and kodie met through his stark internship, and then they met spiderman."

brad had nodded, seemingly unconvinced. it was a long ride when peter had tried to get out of sitting in front of the other teen, only to be squished between his teachers, leaving ned with his new girlfriend, betty brant.

despite his annoyance with brad, the trip had been good for peter so far. he'd gotten to talk to mj, who he came to realize was funny, and a lot smarter than she let people know. he knew that dakota would love her, and made a mental note to properly introduce them sometime.

ned having a girlfriend was fun for peter to see, and it only made him more excited for paris with dakota. he couldn't wait to see the look in her eyes when she looked down at the locket he'd gotten her, the light of the stars reflecting in her eyes from the top of the eiffel tower-

he was pulled from his thoughts as flash moved past him, purposefully bumping into his shoulder as he walked into the bus, his phone held up so that his "adoring fans" could see insights of his trip.

peter rolled his eyes, looking back down at his hands, which held the black cased glasses from fury. he opened the case, admiring the cool-toned glasses. he put the glasses on and took out a card from behind them, running a finger along the writing. "for the next tony stark, i trust you." he read. "say e.d.i.t.h."

at his words, the glasses lit up. "stand by for retinal and biometric scan." they scanned his face, his eyes wide in shock. "retinal and biometric scan accepted."

"hello?" peter asked, scared.

"hello, peter." the voice replied. "i am e.d.i.t.h., tony stark's augmented-reality security and defense system."

peter furrowed a brow. "so he made you for me?"

"no, but you have access to all of tony's protocols."

he smiled, remembering the time when he had access to nothing and had resulted to hacking his suit. "cool."

"would you like to see what I can do?" the voice continued."e.d.i.t.h. stands for 'even dead, i'm the hero'. tony loved his acronyms."

peter cracked a smile, looking down at his lap fondly. "yeah, he did." he chuckled.

"i have access to the entire stark global security network, including multiple defense satellites, as well as back doors to all major telecommunication networks." she said. peter looked around, and, sure enough, he could see everything that his classmates were looking at on their phones.

peter scanned the bus, seeing that mr. dell was reading something about witchcraft, flash was texting his parents sadly, and, most intriguing to him, brad was looking up photos of dakota stark on google. he raised a brow, shifting in his seat slightly to see brad scroll through the photos, watching as the screen shifted to instagram, where he was attempting to message her.

"petrol and toilets. ten minutes!" mr. harrington's voice made peter look up, distracting him from brad's phone and obvious obsession with dakota.

the teen got up, ready to walk off of the bus before getting stopped by dimitri, the s.h.i.e.l.d. agent who had followed and hijacked his field trip. peter followed dimitri's extended finger to a building in front of him, gathering the hint. he walked off the bus, looking around aimlessly for his classmates, who seemed to have already made it to their desired destinations. his brows creased nervously as he opened up the door to what he hoped was a bathroom.

inside stood a tall blonde woman, who must have been a s.h.i.e.l.d. agent by her skin-tight black suit, not unlike the one dakota had worn the day prior. "close the door." she said in a thick accent when peter walked in.

"i'm peter parker." he introduced awkwardly.

"take off your clothes." she then demanded.

he cleared his throat, eyes now wide. "excuse me?"

"you told fury spiderman cannot be seen in europe." she explained. "so i made you this, another suit."

peter smiled slightly, nodding. "oh, thank you. i'm sure it fits fine." he then said. "i don't really need to try-"

"take off your clothes." she repeated more urgently, holding the suit out to him.

he cleared his throat. "okay. sure. it's a little embarrassing."

she seemed annoyed, nearly rolling her eyes at his slow pace. "now. hurry up."

"this is weird." peter said under his breath as his pants fell down to his ankles. he looked up in shock as the door opened, revealing the face of brad.

"sorry. i thought this was the bathroom." brad said, his phone in his hand.

"this is not what it looks like." peter insisted, holding out a hand as he attempted to pull his pants back up.

"i'll leave you alone." brad assured him, though peter didn't miss him visibly catching a photo of the moment. he then walked out, leaving peter alone with the woman.

"oh, my god. don't shoot anybody." he said to the woman, who had taken out and aggressively cocked a gun at brad, running out of the room. "brad? it's not what it looks like, buddy." he said, following him to the bus.

brad held his hands up defensively. "hey, man, look, peter, i'm not here to judge your life choices, dude. if you want to hook up with some random european chick, that's on you."

"that's not what that was." peter argued, desperate.

"i can't pretend i didn't see what i saw." brad replied, still holding his phone. "honestly? i think dakota deserves the truth. she's been through so much, what with her dad dying? you really want her to find out about this from some tabloid? or, what, did you just want to do this behind her back?"

peter shook his head. "no, no, that isn't what's happening here at all! listen, i can explain-"

"i'm gonna have to send her this photo." brad pressed.

"she doesn't read her instagram messages." peter replied quickly, his eyes wide as he tried to come up with a solution.

"well, i actually got her phone number from ned."

peter let out a pained groan, making a mental note to kill ned for this later. "please, you can't send her that photo." he said, not knowing how she'd take it. obviously he wasn't cheating on her, and there was enough trust between them that she wouldn't ever think he was. but.. to see a photo like that out of context? peter didn't want to see any consequences of that. he especially didn't want to have to explain himself about something like that when he was trying to admit just how deeply his feelings for her ran.

before peter could press brad further, they were loading the bus back up, and he was forced to get back to his seat. "e.d.i.t.h.?" he asked once he was sitting down, putting the glasses back on.

"hello, peter. how can i help you?" she asked.

"hey. there's this guy in my class who's gonna try to ruin things with kodie-" he rambled.

"peter, i'm having difficulty hearing you." edith said. "can you please speak up?"

"brad davis." he said more clearly. "he has a photo of me."

edith seemed to acknowledge this. "brad davis. is he a target?"

peter considered this for a moment. "is brad a target?" he turned over his shoulder to see brad on his phone, seemingly smirking as he looked at his screen. "yeah." he turned back around. "he's a target. he's a target." he nodded.

"copy that. target is brad davis." edith said. "initiating strike."

peter's eyebrows raised. "initiating what, now?"

"intercept point determined." the voice continued. "releasing kill vehicle."

"edith." peter said urgently, not wanting to kill anybody.

"dope glasses, parker." flash reached across the seat between him and peter, taking them from peter's face. "how'd you pay for these?" he asked.

"flash, give them back." peter begged.

he ignored him, putting them on his own face. "i'm really paying you a compliment."

"please give me-" peter reached over, accidentally punching flash, completely knocking him out as he took the glasses back. "i'm so sorry." he apologized quickly. "edith, don't kill brad." he said once they were back on his face.

"do you want me to cancel the drone strike on brad davis?" edith asked.

before peter could reply, one of his classmates looked up at him in shock. "did you punch flash?"

peter shook his head, incredulous, trying to divert the situation. "no."

edith, thinking that was a response to the initial question, spoke again. "firing."

without stopping to think for another second, peter shot a web at the steering wheel of the bus, making dimitri lose grip and send the bus soaring left and right along the road. the drone, which was now approaching the bus, shot a bullet directly into the rear view mirror.

"edith!" peter said over the shouting of the other students. he became confused when he didn't feel the presence of the glasses, looking down to see them discarded on the floor. he grunted, picking them up and putting them back on.

"commencing second strike." the glasses informed him.

"peter," mr. harrington warned, "plant your fanny in that seat and sit down right now."

peter looked at the mountains next to the road, thinking quick. "look at the baby mountain goats!"

"baby mountain goats?" an intrigued mr. harrington replied, turning in his seat.

once the entire bus was distracted, peter jumped, flying through the sun roof and coming face to face with the drone. he shot webs at it as it began to shoot, tying it to a rock and letting it destroy itself.

he landed back onto the floor of the bus just as everyone, disappointed, turned back around. "i don't see any mountain goats." mr. harrington frowned.

"you missed them." peter explained, his hair severely ruffled from the experience.

"i know you think none of us have noticed, peter," betty said, making peter's eyes widen, thinking his identity was figured out, "but your new look, i love it." she finished.

she and ned continued on about how "classy" and "european" his "new look" was while peter, exhausted, slumped back into his seat. "oh man." he breathed out. "let's try that again."

"this is so weird it was right here on my phone." brad, who was trying to show the other students the photo of peter, complained.

peter smiled at the victory, looking down at his own phone, which was ringing, dakota's face smiling back at him on the screen.

"murder, as far as i know, wasn't on today's agenda." dakota told him when he picked up the phone, her voice giving off her annoyance.

"it's not on anyone's." peter replied, his voice a slight gulp.

"no, it's on mine, just not until next thursday." kodie replied sarcastically, pinching the bridge of her nose between her two fingers the way she frequently did when frustrated. "i leave you alone for a day and already you try to murder someone? with drones? dude, seriously?"

peter frowned, not wanting to make her upset with him. "i can explain-" he trailed off, his brows furrowing in realization. "wait, how did you find out about this?" he asked, realizing that she had known about the drone strike immediately after it had happened.

"i have access to all of edith's software, duh." she replied as if it was obvious.

"what? i thought it said i had access to all the protocols?" peter wondered aloud.

kodie nodded. "you do. but, so do i. and i actually have more access than you because i'm the co-creator, meaning that i had the ability to make it so that everything you do from now on, now that you tried to murder your classmate," he tried to cut her off, but she kept talking, "has to be approved by me. okay?"

he bit his lip, nodding. it was fair enough. "okay. and, for the record, i wasn't trying to kill him. the glasses just wouldn't listen to me."

she chuckled fondly, nodding her head. "yeah, likely story, parker."