LAURA

Midtown Science High School was at the heart of Forest Hills where Peter resided. It was a scholastically inclined school by the looks of it, with the wide MHS posters and notices and its boasting about it being a STEM school. The kid must have the IQ of Einstein or direct descendant of the scientist to have enrolled in here. It triumphed its infrastructural wonder from the gates of the outside, despite it looking like a normal school. Besides, these poor kids had school on a Sunday so this must be a serious school.

 When the final bell for school rang through, the heat of the midday sun started to burn through the back of my hoodie. Sin rustled with the heat so I moved under a nearby building's shade for a while. 

Students poured out of the front door, chittering loudly in their respective social cliques and dispersing like an army of ants. It was easy to spot the brunette-haired boy in the crowd with Sin's help and starting a slow trail behind him. 

Peter was accompanied by a short and stout boy who spoke enthusiastically about a television show that had taken the internet by a storm. When the topic took a turn at the Avenger's initiative, I scuttled closer behind a group of pedestrians and widened my earshot.

'Dude, remember that badass with the black webs?' the tan boy beside Peter spoke under his breath. 'Did you see him, again? Did you tell Mr. Stark?'

Did Peter see Malik? What did Tony Stark have to do with this? Before I could wonder how my question had been answered.

'That's not the worst part. It was like, he was infected or something,' Peter pondered out loud. His voice was tiny and sweet - like a child's. It made me want to go up to him and pet his curly hair.

Focus, Laura.

'Right,' I whispered sheepishly under my breath. 

Careful, the boy's looking.

Using a hand I pulled the hood if Eddie's leather jacket over my cheek to shroud myself from his vision. When the coast was clear, I looked back at the duo who seemed to be indulged a deep conversation.

'Lady at six o' clock is onto us,' I heard Peter whisper quickly into the stout boy's ears. The boy shot me a fast glance and looked back at Peter with wide eyes. I was a few meters away from them yet, their conversation was as clear as day.

'She's so hot!'

'Ssh, I'm gonna' draw her in. Go home, Ned.'

'Okay bye.' With that, the boy named Ned left Peter with one last gaze my way and scrambling onto the street before the signal turned red. Peter took a sharp turn on his heels, shooting me another glimpse and vanishing to the left. 

Before I could lose him, I pushed past the passersby and took a left where Peter did. Only to lose him amongst the multiple others who poured out of shops. I tossed the hood off my head and sent a frustrated hand through my hair, looking back at the street where even Ned had gone out of sight. 

'Who are you, miss?'

I shot my gaze to the boy I'd lost in the alleyway with a relieved smile gracing my lips. Walking forward, I stood in front of him and a head taller than him.

'Peter Parker, is it?' I asked, just in case. 'I'm Laura. Laura Sharp.'

'How do you know my - ' He started.

Sifting through Eddie's deep pockets in the coat, I retrieved the manuscript that I'd stolen off Eddie's desk and showed it to him. Attached to it was the short cutouts of three other pictures that he had taken at different months that year. Peter's face paled visibly.

'You took this picture, didn't you? And these, too?' 

He nodded with a startled look at my direction. 'What did I do?'

Oh my god, I was intimidating the kid. I turned down the tough voice and pulled up a saccharine smile. 'You didn't do anything, sweetie. I work for the Daily Globe in San Fransisco and I need your help to solve a missing person's case.'

He looked at the articles the back at me, pensively. 'Why me?'

'Because I know you know Spiderman.'

Peter's face turned a light purple with shock as his hands twisted together nervously. 'I don't know what you're talking about.'

'Give it up, kid. I know your secret.'

This made him even more nervous, his eyes losing contact with mine which was the first sign of lying. 'What secret? I have nothing to hide from you, lady. Absolutely nothing - '

'Peter, please. This is a matter of life and death. My boyfriend's career and life depends on you,' I confessed. 

'Your boyfriend?' He asked softly.

'You know Eddie Brock?' I said under my breath, with a tired grin. 'He's my boyfriend and we came all the to Queens to find this guy called Keith Malik. We think your friend can help us find him before it's too late. Listen, I love him very much and I want to help him with this so you gotta work with me.'

'Eddie Brock?' His eyes lightened with wonder and his hands flattened against each other. 'From like the show? Aw dude, that's awesome!'

I chuckled lightly. 'The very one. Now, I need your help.'

He assessed me with weary eyes, his fingers coiling and recoiling out of impulsiveness. He was deciding what to do. I tried to seem as desperate as possible, nipping my lips and taking deep breaths. Peter heaved a sigh.

'Okay. Follow me.'

He walked past me with his head hung low. I followed by his side and dug my hands into my jean pockets. Peter was silent as he walked by me, fast but enough to fall into step with him. He gave me wallflower vibes not really a show-off or popular at school. He must be one of the nice ones.

'I read your file, Peter. You're a great kid,' I mused. 'I'm sorry about your parents.'

He sent me a sideways glance. 'It's okay. My aunt takes good care of me.'

'I lost my mother when I was in high school,' I shared with a nostalgic prick in my eyes. 'Kept shifting foster homes for two years and then left to college. Now, here I am.'

'What about your dad?'

'He left when I was little. He cut off all ties with us so I gave up trying to find him,' I shrugged. Raising my eyebrows, I narrowed my eyes in faux anger. 'Look at that, not even ten minutes in and you know my life story.'

Peter smiled. For the next few minutes, we walked aimlessly on different pathways and since I was new to this part of the States, I was clueless about where we were heading. Peter stopped, inspecting the street number and quickly wedged between the netted fencing, waving at me to follow him.

'Where are we going?'

'Okay,' he huffed, ignoring my question and made a circle with his finger. 'Turn around.'

'What?'

'You don't want to see this.'

I glared hard. 'Peter, I don't have time for this - '

'Trust me, Ms. Sharp. I'm not going anywhere.' He coerced and motioned to me once again.

I have my eyes on him. Do as he says.

'Just Laura,' I said and held my hands up as I showed my back to him. If he needed a quick toilet break or something, there was a restaurant right there. Maybe it was that urgent. 'Okay kid. Do your thing.'

I whispered swiftly under my breath. 'What's he doing?'

Changing . . . into something. New clothes.

'Wait, what?' I blasted. Slapping a hand over my eyes, I groaned out loud. 'Paker, are you getting naked?'

'Sort of,' he mused silently. 'Don't look!'

I growled lowly, tapping my feet impatiently. There was light drizzle in the air so I pulled up the hood on the jacket and looked to the ceiling. 

A whiz of white linen like substance latched itself onto the fire-escape above me, the familiar suited superhero pulling himself above my head and landing in front of me with his hands over his hips. I yelped quietly and stumbled a few steps back.

'You wanted Spiderman,' he said. 'You're looking right at him.'

I couldn't believe my eyes. Looking behind, I found no sign of Peter and widened my eyes in horror. My dumbfounded expression remained plastered when I gulped at the suited boy and called out to him.

'Peter?'

'Yep.'

'You're Spiderman?'

'In the flesh.'

I decided to ignore his tight spandex costume and jump right into it since we didn't have time. 'And, you know what happened to Malik?'

His hands went to his head and snapped the mask off his face. Toying with the mask, he walked forward and heaved a sigh. 'The dude isn't human, Laura - '

'He's an alien. Tel-Kar. He's a part of the Kree,' I finished for him nonchalantly. 'What else?'

He sent me a weird sideways look. 'Anyways, I followed this guy to this grotto place under the his headquarters and he had this weird black goo thing that ran all over his body. But it didn't look like it was doing Malik a favor. So I heed this Tel-Kar guy - '

'Wait, back up,' I said. 'This symbiote was rejecting him?'

'Symbiote?' He asked with a confused eyes. 'What's that?'

'The weird goo,' I explained. To show him an example, I merged my hands together and pulled them apart to reveal the white tentacles that spewed out in cords from my hands. Peter's expression was horror-struck as he got into defense position. He bounced on the balls of his feet.

'What the hell is -  What the hell are you?'

I let it sink back into my pores and I shook my head in denial. 'I'm not going to hurt you, kid. But, he will.'

'He had the same thing in him!' He said with realization, pointing at me. 'The symbiote or whatever. You look normal, though.'

'Because I achieved symbiosis,' I told him with a sigh. 'Keith's body is somehow expelling Venom. How is that possible?' I thought out loud, pacing ahead of him. Maybe Venom was doing it on purpose.Or maybe Keith turned hostile against his own will on Venom. Theories racked my mind when I heard Peter's small voice regard me.

'Venom? ' He asked like a child getting his favorite toy on Christmas. His brown eyes lightened as he sent a hand through his curly hair. 'That is so dope. The symbiote has a name?'

See? I am cool.

'It talks to you,' I said, tapping my temple. 'My symbiote's name is Sin. He connects to you and he lives off you. He's like another voice in your head.'

'So, a para - '

'Do not finish that,' I warned, knowing the last time that happened I got a bruise that healed slowly on purpose. 'You don't want to poke the beast.'

'You got what you wanted,' he shrugged. 'What should I do now?'

I smirked. 'Ever thought of meeting Brock in person?'

'Holy shit, no way!' Peter said after he took a beat to process the information. I laughed and nodded.

'Okay, don't pass out on me. We still got an alien to catch.'