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Peter and Jughead opened the Pop's diner glass door and walked inside. They searched everywhere for the scout in the photo Peter took of him, they asked around, and after hours of investigations one of the other scouts, a friend of that boy, said that he could always be found at Pop's eating an ice cream, and there he was, sitting in a booth, with a big cup of ice cream placed in front of him and a metal spoon inserted in the cold sweet.

Jughead nudged Peter in his side and nodded towards the boy, motioning to go forward and follow his lead. The two boys walked side by side, Jughead with his omnipresent confidence, and Peter tagging along and feeling again his anxiety kicking in. Once they got near the table, Jughead took the cherry on top of the ice cream with the spoon and ate it right in front of the scout

Scout boy: "Hey, what the hell man?"

But Jughead didn't budge a bit, instead he looked at him dead in the eye and said, nodding his head in the direction of Peter

Jughead: "My friend here saw the way you looked at us during Grizzly training: you're hiding something."

Stated him with such confidence that Peter thought that the sky would have thundered in any minute. Then Peter saw the boy's face and took another picture of him, waking him from the daze he fell into and encouraging him to answer

Scout boy: "It's Scoutmaster Doiley: he's lying."

Jughead, visibly interested as well as Peter, narrowed his eyes

Jughead: "About what?"

Then the boy revealed something neither Peter nor Jughead would've ever suspected

Scout boy: "The gunshot: it was him, he was teaching us how to shoot targets."

Peter's eyes widened upon hearing this, while Jughead continued his interrogation

Jughead: "Dilton Doley shot the gun on July 4th?"

Then the boy elaborated

Scout boy: "He's a hard-core survivalist. He says if we don't protect ourselves, no one will."

Once they got out of the diner, Peter's phone buzzed, he took it and saw Harry's name lit up, then he looked up towards Jughead, while pointing at his phone to silently tell him he had to answer, and Jughead nodded and walked a bit further to leave him space. Peter clicked the green button and placed the phone near his ear

Peter: "Hello, Harry?"

Harry: 《 Hey, man, where were you today? You ditched school or something? 》

Peter: "Oh, uh...actually I'm currently helping Jughead on an investigation for the Blue and Gold."

Harry: 《 Wow, that's so cool but didn't we agree on hanging out today? 》

Peter cursed himself...he completely forgot about it...and now, with the whole Veronica situation and the investigation, he didn't know what to say...

Peter: "Believe me, Harry, I would really like to, but today is a hell of a day, why don't you come and stay over at my house? We'll catch up and spend some time together."

Harry: 《 That's a great idea, it's been too long since I've come over to your place. Okay so...see you tonight I guess? Ahaha 》

Peter smiled at what Harry said and answered joyfully

Peter: "Yeah, see you tonight!"

Then the two of them hung up their phone call. Harry slumped on his bed with a huff and stared at the ceiling...of course, he thought about Gwen. The two of them still didn't speak since their last argument, and Harry felt just overall awful. He missed her, he missed her laugh, her smile, her lips...he raised his phone, scrolling through his contacts until he found Gwen's. He really wanted to call her, to apologise to her, to just...spend time with her. He had to make it right with her...but how?

Peter put down his phone, but suddently he recieved another call. He looked at the screen and smiled when he saw it was Betty, he quickly answered

Peter: "Betty, hi!"

Betty: 《 Hey! How are you guys? Did you find anything out? 》

Peter: "Oh we are good, it's all good, we are getting close to something. What about you? Oh and Ronnie? How is she?"

Betty: 《 Actually that's the reason why I called you: we discovered something and we might need your help. Can you come here at school in, like, ten minutes? 》

Peter was a bit puzzled by this, considering that school was already closed

Peter: "Wait but...isn't school already closed? What do you have in mind, Betty?"

Betty: 《 I'll explain everything to you when we meet there with Veronica and Ethel. 》

Again he was weirded out since he didn't know who that girl was

Peter : "...Ethel?"

Betty: 《 Don't worry, everything will be clear. Now I have to go...I love you. 》

Peter: "Oh ehm...y-yeah I-I'll see you later."

Peter slapped his palm on his face, cursing himself. He couldn't say those three words yet and he just chickened out, his anxiety kicking in. And Betty wasn't feeling any better: they were "dating" only for a day and, even if she was ready to say those words, it didn't mean that Peter too was ready. She closed her eyes and cursed herself for dropping that bomb on him, hoping that she didn't scare Peter too much, and promising herself to apologize to him for the suddenness of her declaration...not that she regretted her words or her feelings.

Peter put back his phone and walked forward beside Jughead, that asked him after a few seconds

Jughead: "Is everything okay, Pete?"

Peter turned his head to the left to look at Jug, and saw his worried expression. Pete wasn't surprised at all: Jug was always an intelligent person and a good observer, able to pick and notice certain details that practically made him some kind of Sherlock Holmes in his young years. Pete gave his friend a small smile and answered

Peter: "Yeah, Jug, everything's fine."

Jughead could see that Pete definetely had something wrong, but he didn't want to push him to say it, so he merely said, after hugging him from the side like a big brother

Jughead: "Okay, just know that whatever it is, you can talk to me, buddy."

And once again Peter wasn't surprised at all, so he nodded appreciatively at his childhood friend and then the both of them looked forward and kept walking. After a bit, Peter woke up from his daze and remembered he had to reach Betty at school, so he quickly and apologetically took leave and started heading to school, but suddently he heard a too well known noise from afar: sirens.

Peter: (For being a small city it isn't that quiet at all, goddamnit...)

Peter knew what he had to do, and he knew that Betty was going to be sad, maybe even upset about his absence, most of all considering the bad as hell timing of it. He ran into an alleyway and jumped on the wall, starting to climb up as fast as he could and, once on top, he discarded his civil clothes, now in his spider-suit he put on his mask and gloves and jumped down, starting to swing from building to building until he saw a couple of cop cars chasing a big grey and armoured one that was speeding like crazy on the road, destroying other cars in the process. Upon seeing this, Peter knew for sure that he was going to be late.

In the meantime Betty was frantically checking her phone to see if Peter left a message, but nothing. It had been half an hour since she told him to come to school...among other things...and she couldn't but think that maybe she actually scared him with those three words. Veronica came behind her and gently put a hand on her friend's shoulder, Betty turned around and Ronnie said

Veronica: "B, are you sure he's coming?"

Betty nodded and said

Betty: "Yes, V, he's coming, I know he is..."

Veronica nodded with a sympathetic smile on her face, then she walked back inside the class to talk a bit more with Ethel and the other girls. When she arrived in the class after receiving Betty's call, she noticed that her bestie had gathered a big group of girls to deal with the Sticky Maple problem. Then Betty told her that, before getting into business, they had to wait for Peter, because he promised to give his help if it was needed, and Betty needed Peter to help her...she needed her boyfriend(?)

Spider-Man was swinging frantically to try to stop the mysterious guy in the huge vehicle and, finally, he landed on its bonnet and managed to have a look on the guy: he had shaved hair and a thick beard. As soon as the man saw the superhero, he took out his mini-uzi and yelled while shooting at Spidey, the windscreen instantly broke and Spider-man leaped up in the air and landed on the car's hood. The man then swerved left and right trying to make him fall off and, despite his best efforts, Peter fell from the car and landed on his back on the bonnet of a police car. Peter turned around to look at the cop, discovering that the one who caught him with his car was none other than George Stacy, who exchanged a nod with the superhero and said

George: "Stop him!"

And Peter made a salute with his right hand while saying

Spider-Man: "Aye aye captain!"

Then he got in position ready to jump and, while looking ahead, said to himself

Spider-Man: "Alright...I can do this."

Meanwhile Betty, with a defeated sigh, decided to stop waiting for Peter, as the matter at hand was more urgent, and began talking with Ethel and the other girls, with Veronica listening attentatively. All of a sudden inside the class came Cheryl, who listened to the sad and unfair experience of Ethel with Chuck, but said

Cheryl: "Yes, yes, we've all heard your tragic origin story."

Then she saw how Betty kneeled beside her and comforted her, and saw how much Ethel appreciated the gesture. Cheryl couldn't but notice how easily Betty could connect with other people, how much these other people appreciated and reciprocated the kind gestures made by the blonde. Betty was the image of the perfect girl: kind, beautiful, intelligent...and these qualities always managed to attract people, this way new friendships were made, new possible boyfriends would come. Betty was perfect, and that's why Cheryl couldn't but hate her, more so because the blonde reminded her of another person that was exactly like her, if not better, and this sole fact made her even more irritated

Betty: "I'm so, so sorry Ethel, that's horrible."

Betty would receive all the attention, and Cheryl couldn't stand it

Cheryl: "Not as horrible as being a suspect in your own brother's torture-murder case, but we all have our crosses. In the meantime, River Vixen practice starts in five minutes, sluts."

But Ethel interrupted them

Ethel: "They're ruining our lives, and to them, it's just a game! They keep score and-"

That last statement captivated the interest of Veronica, who interjected and said

Veronica: "Wait, what do you mean, keep score?"

Meanwhile, Peter was trying to find a safe way to apprehend the man without hurting other civilians, and suddently he had an idea. From the car hood he jumped back, doing a backflip, and shot two webs on either side of the car and planted his feet firmly on the ground, but what he thought of doing revealed to be harder than expected, since the car's high speed didn't let him put enough resistance against it, but nonetheless he kept holding on with as much strength he could. The man in the car noticed Spider-Man holding on and lowed the window down, took his mini-uzi and started to blindly shoot behind him while yelling with a weird russian accent

???: "Spider leave Aleksei alone, or Alexey crushes Spider with his hands!"

Peter, hearing this, mumbled silently

Spider-Man: "Wow, and I thought my stutter was a problem..."

He avoided the bullets shot at him, but he couldn't keep up like this, or someone might have died, so he thought of something: without leaving the string of webs he shot before, he started shooting more and more to the back of the car. In the meantime the man had emptied his weapon, so he threw it on the passenger seat and picked up his automatic rifle from the ground. Peter had to act quickly, his instinct made him realize it, so he swiftly attached all the webs he was holding on the ground, effectively slowing the car almost to a stop, but in this way he ended up being thrown forward. He reacted fast and shot two webs to give himself the swing in the air, then he started to web the wheels one by one, he webbed the entire vehicle on the ground as much as he could, putting a stop to it. Peter landed on the ground, and from the car came out the man, presumably Aleksei, with his assault rifle. Peter widened his eyes at him: he was at least four meters tall, if not more, and had huge muscle mass and huge hands, overall the guy was practically a giant. Aleksei had a terrifying grin and aimed the rifle at Spider-Man, but he webbed it out of his hands, then he aimed both of his hands at him and was ready to shoot two webs, but the web-canisters were empty. Alexey grinned again and cracked his knuckles

Aleksei: "Now Aleksei crushes Spider like small cookie..."

Peter then lowered on the ground in a fighting stance and said

Spider-Man: "Alright, big guy, bring it!"

Ten minutes later...

Peter ran through the school doors and reached the Blue and Gold panting

Peter: "Betty! Here I am, I'm sorry I'm late I did as fast as I could-"

Peter stopped on his tracks when he saw Betty and two people he didn't know inside the school paper, and asked, still panting

Peter: "Ehm, d-did I interrupt something?"

Peter's stutter coming out automatically in presence of new people. Betty was visibly surprised when she saw Peter walk, no, run through the door, as she at that point didn't expect him to show up anymore. She also noticed a thin layer of sweat on his face and staining and attaching his shirt to chiseled his chest, signaling that he in fact ran there, and tried to shake away that little bit of dirty thoughts in her head. Then she stood up and answered

Betty: "Oh no no no, uhm...these are Ethel and Trev."

The two said hi to Peter, who reciprocated the gesture and then asked

Peter: "Uh, I-I'm sorry I kinda need the bathroom real quick, c-could you wait for me for a couple of minutes?"

The three of them nodded and Peter, still panting, headed for the bathroom while, in the room, Ethel turned to Betty, who was still looking at the void, again thinking about the sweaty mess that was Peter and the little bit of muscle mass she managed to see through his shirt, and asked her

Ethel: "Is he your boyfriend?"

Betty shook her head, coming back to reality and looked at Ethel, puzzled

Betty: "W-what?"

Ethel giggled a bit at the sight and asked again

Ethel: "I asked if he's your boyfriend, I didn't realize you were daydreaming."

Betty blushed a bit, but nonetheless answered with a smile on her face

Betty: "Yeah, yeah he is..."

Ethel smiled at Betty, while Trev showed a bit of disappointment on his face, something that Betty noticed, but didn't point out. Peter entered the bathroom and, from his backpack, picked up a new shirt. Since last year, before summer vacations, Flash decided it was a great idea to hit him with a water balloon, Peter always remembered to bring with him emergency shirt and pants inside his backpack, but this time inside of it there was even his suit: he decided that, since he didn't want to get near the school with his suit after ten tiring minutes of fighting that Aleksei dude, it was better to run in civilian clothes. Fortunately he beated the guy and the police arrested him, while also securing all the money he stole from the bank. After a couple of minutes in which he again put on his costume and, over it, all the other clothes - of course after locking the door - he came back inside the school paper and sat down, listening to everything: Ethel, the playbook, and the plan...

Peter, Betty, Ethel, Veronica and Kevin were in the school halls that evening, and planned to find the infamous playbook in the boys' locker room, right where Trev said it was. Everyone had a flashlight lighting the dark hall, and Peter had his camera with him, so that they could get the best quality pictures for the article Betty would have written on the matter.

Veronica: "Football players behaving badly? What else is new? Steubenville, Glen Ridge...But the coach's son being the ringleader? Just how depraved is this town?"

Peter's phone buzzed with a message, he picked it and saw a text from Harry

🤵🏻TeddyLaurence💵💵

Hey, Pete, May let me in, where r u?

Peter widened his eyes, realizing that it was already 21:17 and he had to be home by 22:00, so he sent Harry a message

🤠NathanDrake🥃🧗🏻‍♂️

Sorry bro, I'm helping Betty with an article, but I'll be there as soon as I can 😔

Suddently a voice startled everyone

???: "Color me impressed!"

Everybody gasped and turned around only to find Cheryl with a flashlight

Cheryl: "A, B and E with B, V and P. What would your Holy Roller mother say about this, Betty?"

Betty wasted no time to answer

Betty: "What are you doing here?"

Then Kevin interjected and said

Kevin: "And where did you get those thigh-high boots? They're amazing!"

Peter looked at Kevin with a "are you serious?" look, and Kevin, very innocently, said

Kevin: "What?"

Cheryl ignored their exchange and answered Betty

Cheryl: "Trev told Valerie, who told Josie, who told Ginger, who told Tina, who told me, and I thought I would help out."

But the blonde was having none of it

Betty: "Help, or derail our investigation?"

Then Cheryl, with an annoyed look on her face, said

Cheryl: "Get over yourself, Betty..." then she glanced at Peter and, smirking, said "...even your cute boyfriend has more faith in me, ain't that right Petey?"

Now all of the attention shifted towards Peter, who stood uncomfortably in the middle of his friends that didn't know yet of their relationship. Kevin gasped and widened his eyes and said

Kevin: "Petty happened and none of you told me?!"

Peter then eyed Kevin and said

Peter: "Wha- 'Petty'?"

Kevin put his hands on Peter's shoulders

Kevin: "I've been shipping you two for weeks, maybe even a month, and none of you told me?!"

Peter raised his hands in an apologetic gesture

Peter: "I-I'm sorry Kev, it happened so fast a-and-"

Then Betty intervened in help of her boyfriend

Betty: "We wanted to wait before telling you, AND we would have told you at a better moment than this, thank you Cheryl."

What surprised Veronica the most tho wasn't the relationship in itself, since she suspected that the two would end up together, but the fact that she wasn't jealous. She expected to be jealous of Betty for the fact that she had a relationship with Peter, but nothing, not even the feel of a sting, she wasn't even pissed. In that moment she thought

Veronica: (Did I just got over him...? Or, did I even have a crush on him? Maybe I never felt something for him, except maybe attraction, but even that...I don't feel it anymore...)

Betty then asked Cheryl

Betty: "How did you even know that?"

And Cheryl, feeling almost offended, said

Cheryl: "Oh please, you would give him heart eyes since I can remember, at this point it was obvious, Betty."

Suddently Ethel called everyone

Ethel: "Hey guys! Get in here!"

The whole group, with the addition of Cheryl, entered the locker room and started searching everywhere for the playbook, until Ethel found it with ease inside one of the lockers

Ethel: "Trev was right: they didn't even bother to hide it."

Peter took his camera and snapped a picture of the cover, then they opened it and found a series of writings, nicknames and points. Veronica noticed one in particular

Veronica: "'New girl'? Is that what I'm reduced to? Nine points?"

Then Ethel noticed something too

Ethel: "Better than 'big girl', seven-point-five."

Then Betty froze, she couldn't believe at what she found there, and in a whisper said

Betty: "Polly's in this book..."

And Cheryl continued

Cheryl: "Next to Jason's name..."

Veronica frowned and put a hand on Betty's shoulder

Veronica: "I'm so sorry, Betty."

Then the blonde hugged Peter tight, a gesture he didn't wait to reciprocate. Pete knew about Polly, she was always nice to him when he was at the Cooper's place to hang out with Betty, and what happened to her: her family, being taken away to a psychiatric mental hospital away from everybody, and now this...it wasn't fair, not for Polly, and neither for Betty, who had to witness all of this without having the chance to help her sister. Cheryl was shocked, she looked down and slowly walked a couple of steps behind, then she said

Cheryl: "This isn't...Jason would never..."

Then something in Betty just snapped. She detached from Peter and turned to Cheryl with a wild look in her eyes

Betty: "It's right there, Cheryl! God, your brother hurt my sister! This is what guys like Jason and Chuck think about women: we're objects for them to abuse, and when they're done, they shame us into silence. They have zero remorse for the lives they destroy!"

Peter saw the look of shame and hurt in Cheryl's eyes, and even if what Betty was saying was maybe true, it wasn't the best time to compare the redhead's dead brother to sexual, selfish predators like Chuck. He put a hand on Betty's shoulder and gently said

Peter: "Betty, that's enough."

Betty turned to look at him with an expression Peter couldn't exactly point out, but before she could speak Cheryl said something

Cheryl: "Maybe I don't know Jason..."

It pained Peter to see Cheryl that heartbroken: she lost her brother and had people from left to right accusing her for his murder, and now she discovered something terrible about him, something that could potentially change the whole way she always saw him. Peter wanted, no, needed to do something: he had the power to help his friends, so it was his responsibility to do exactly that. Veronica then spoke

Veronica: "Okay, Peter'll take the pictures and we'll show them to Weatherbee: it'll be the perfect cover for your exposé."

Then Betty detached herself from Peter and walked to Cheryl, then she said

Betty: "Yeah, but no: these girls deserve justice, don't you think, Cheryl?" then she turned to Veronica "You want vengeance? You wanna go full dark no stars, Veronica? I'm with you, and I have a plan. Follow me."

Betty was about to go, but Peter stopped her and said to the others

Peter: "Guys, can you please give us a moment?"

Everyone nodded and left the room, then Betty, confused, asked

Betty: "What is it?"

Peter, looking at her, said

Peter: "What is exactly your plan, Betty? Isn't exposing them enough?"

Betty looked at him with an incredulous expression on her face

Betty: "And let them go unpunished? No, Pete, Chuck deserves it, and all of the girls in that book deserve justice."

Peter shook his head and said

Peter: "Betty, this isn't justice: this is vengeance. And it will never be the same thing."

Betty then raised her hands in the air, exasperated, and said

Betty: "Well, sometimes it is necessary!"

But Peter was having none of it

Peter: "Betty...Polly wouldn't want you on this path."

Peter wasn't one to bring up Polly in their discussions, but now he had to: he knew better than anyone else the desire of revenge, and he didn't want Betty on that road. Betty's reaction tho wasn't what he was expecting: she pointed a finger at him and said

Betty: "Don't you dare bring Polly up. She had Hell falling on top of her from every possible way, and I could never do a damn thing! Now I have the chance to make them pay for everything, and you won't stop me. Not now, not ever..."

Peter had never seen such a hatred and rage in Betty's eyes: she's always been kind, generous, forgiving...but now she was the furthest from that, and honestly he was pretty scared of this sudden change. He looked at her with pleading eyes

Peter: "Betty, revenge won't give you what you want." then he took he hand and said "Please, don't do something you will regret."

But she, with a stoic expression on, said

Betty: "Don't worry, I won't regret it." she detached her hand from his and said "Don't stand in my way."

She turned around to walk out, but before she could do that Peter shot a Spider-tracer on the skin of her ankle, and he thought to himself

Peter: (If Peter Parker won't stop you, Spider-Man will)

Betty was in her room, sit in front of her mirror and applying red lipstick on, but then her mother Alice came inside and, when she saw her, she said

Alice: "Seduce Scarlet doesn't suit you, dear."

Without looking at her, Betty answered

Betty: "It's Polly's, I'm borrowing it."

And Alice replied

Alice: "Polly grew up too fast, I don't want you to make the same mistake."

And Betty, still looking at herself in the mirror, said

Betty: "Well, I like it: it makes me feel...powerful."

Somehow, with that lipstick on, with her overall attire she chose to wear for the plan, everything made her feel like she was a totally different person, like she wasn't the sweet, obedient little Betty anymore, but instead like she was a new different, beautiful and powerful being. She felt like she could do everything, like she was superior, she felt dominant...and she liked that feeling, that sensation. Alice then asked

Alice: "Are you coming with us to the mayor shindig?"

And Betty answered

Betty: "No, I'm going over to Veronica's to study for a test."

Alice shook her head at that and said

Alice: "I don't want you associating with a girl like that. Why don't you spend some time with Peter? He's your boyfriend after all."

It seemed like everyone was telling Betty to do or not to do something: first Peter, now her mom. And she hated it. For her entire life she's done everything her parents told her to do, but now she had enough: since the day she joined the Vixens against her mother's wishes she felt free to choose whatever she wanted to do, and she liked this feeling, and no one was going to stop her from doing exactly that.

Betty: "Peter's busy, and Veronica is my friend, so get used to it."

Then Alice went behind her and used a napkin to wipe the red lipstick off, then she applied her a pink one. Looking at her daughter through the mirror, she said

Alice: "Here, Pink Perfection: it's more you."

'It's more you'...those words ringed in Betty's head for minutes. It pissed her off the fact that everyone seemed to have an opinion on who she was and what she should do. 'The nice girl' 'the girl next door', all these labels had a bitter taste in her mouth. She had the right to choose and decide who she was, and no one else. After a couple of minutes her mother left, she wiped off the pink lipstick and re-applied the red one.

Betty: (That's who I am)

When she walked out of her house she was wearing a light blue, sleeveless shirt tight up to show a bit of her stomach, a leopard colored skirt that reached above her knee, high heels and her classic ponytail. Peter was in his suit on top of a house across from Betty's, and the sight made him both widen his eyes at the hotness Betty was sporting, and worry for not knowing why and for whom she dressed like that. Peter used his agility and his tracker to follow his girlfriend from a distance

He followed her until she entered inside Pop's, and Peter crouched down on top of a building nearby that could give him a good view of what was happening inside. He saw her sitting with Chuck, and that made him even more confused

Spider-Man: "What are you planning, Betty?"

Suddently the connection with the tracer was lost, and after some time he saw Betty walk out, and after a couple of minutes even Chuck got out. Peter decided that it was better to follow Chuck, so that if someone tried something on him, he would've been ready to intervene. After half an hour of following, Chuck arrived in front of a door and knocked. The door opened and on the other side Peter saw Veronica in a one piece swimming suit and a black robe on her shoulders. Peter's eyes almost fell out at the sight, but he quickly diverted his gaze: he had a girlfriend after all. Chuck entered the house, and Peter saw a window on top of it, so he crawled up and watched from the window what was happening inside. He watched as Veronica, after letting the robe fall off, sat on the side of the swimming pool and, for a moment, they seemed to be waiting for something, then Peter saw her. Betty Cooper, the nice girl next door, his girlfriend, walk inside the place with only black heels, a black skirt and bra, and a black wig on her head. The sight would've been very exciting if something in Betty didn't seem...off. Peter couldn't point out what, but everything she was wearing and doing, it just wasn't like her. Plus, the fact that Chuck was seeing her girlfriend in a bra made him want to punch him in the face, or just let the girls continue with whatever was going on, but suddently a ringing got his attention. He picked his phone and noticed that it was 21:50 and that the caller was none other than his aunt May. He crawled a bit far from the window and lifted his mask above his nose, then answered

Peter: "Hey, aunt May..."

May: "Peter, where are you? It's almost ten o'clock, you should be home by now."

Peter: "I know, May, I'm sorry. It's just that something with Betty came up and I forgot to call you."

May: "You're not, like...with Betty..."

Peter: "What?! No! No, I- We're not doing that!"

May: "Oh, thank God! I'm not ready to have more nephews."

Peter: "May!"

May: "Alright. By the way, there's Harry still waiting for you here, try to finish...whatever you two have to do fast if you want to spend some time with him."

Peter: "Okay. Listen, May, I have to go now, see you home."

May: "Yeah, see you, and don't be late! Bye, Pete."

Peter: "Bye, May."

He closed the call and said to himself

Peter: "I have to stop worrying her."

Peter lowed his mask again and crawled towards the window, and the sight gave him shivers: Chuck was handcuffed to the side of the pool, him inside and screaming while Betty was pushing her heel on his head, pushing him underwater. This was his cue, he had to intervene, so he forced the window open and jumped down, a few meters from the three of them and, with a web, he took the pool remote away from Betty's grasp. The three of them all looked at him, surprised that Spider-Man was in fact there, and Peter said

Spider-Man: "So all the screaming was coming from here, huh?"

Usually Pete would crack a joke or two, but now he wasn't in the mood: he was disappointed in his girlfriend for what she was doing. She was about to drown a boy, and Veronica was probably too shocked to comprehend what was happening. He looked at the three of them one by one, and when he looked at Betty he could see the regret in her eyes, but also guilt, another feeling Peter wanted to protect her from.

Peter: (I should've been more careful. If I intervened before, now she wouldn't feel like this. Damn you, Betty, why didn't you listen?)

Chuck was visibly relieved at the sight of the superhero, and said

Chuck: "Spider-Man! Thank God! Please, help me, take these two crazy chicks away!"

Peter spared a disgusted glance at Chuck, then he looked at the girls and said

Spider-Man: "Go, before I change my mind."

Betty and Veronica wasted no time and ran outside the pool hall

Chuck: "Wait, they assaulted me! Aren't you gonna bring them to the police?!"

Peter was beyond pissed. He broke the handcuffs and picked up Chuck, then punched him on his jaw, sending him a few meters away from where he was. He held his jaw in pain as a big, purple bruise was already forming, but before he could get up Peter stood behind him and yanked him up by his hair, then with a low voice said

Spider-Man: "I know what you did, Chuck. I know about the playbook, I know everything."

At this Chuck audibly gulped and visibly paled, but Peter didn't finish

Spider-Man: "But lucky for you, I believe in second chances, so I will let you go for now. But if I hear that you keep doing those things, I will hunt you down, beat you and then leave you to the cops. Do you understand, boy?"

Peter wasn't one to threaten people, but Chuck needed to be scared to even think about giving another Sticky Maple to a girl, and besides...he called his girlfriend crazy. Chuck merely nodded as an answer to Peter's question

Spider-Man: "Good. One more thing..."

Peter punched him again, not too hard, but enough to knock him out, then he layed him down and, once Peter was again on his feet, said

Spider-Man: "Stay away from Betty."

Peter swung back near his house, changed into his civilian clothes and rang the doorbell at exactly twelve past ten. All in all it wasn't bad. The door opened and May greeted her nephew with a hug. Peter went up the stairs and entered his room to find Harry on his phone. As soon as he saw him, he put it away and greeted his best friend with their handshake

Harry: "Pete, finally! Where were you?"

Peter smiled at him and said

Peter: "Well, something with Betty came up and I didn't want to leave her alone."

Harry had a knowing smirk on his face and crossed his arms, Peter looked at him weirdly

Peter: "What?"

And Harry said smugly

Harry: "What's the deal between you two?"

And Peter, playing ignorant, asked

Peter: "W-what do you mean?"

He again cursed his stutter in his head and walked towards the bed, leaving his backpack on the ground and sitting down, while Harry chuckled and said

Harry: "You stuttered, you know exactly what I'm talking about: you spend time together, you join the school paper to help her, you investigate together 'till night time...what did I miss?"

Peter scratched the back of his neck and chuckled nervously. He did want to tell him that Betty was his girlfriend now, but maybe she wasn't ready yet, plus they had to talk about a couple of things, like what happened that night and the L-bomb she released on him, so he opted for the best choice in the matter

Peter: "Well...I may kinda like her..."

At that Harry put his friend in a light chockhold and ruffled his hair while laughing

Harry: "I knew it! I knew you liked her, I was ready to bet my underwear on it!"

The two of them kept laughing together. They spent the night like that: talking of everything and nothing, laughing together, just like old times, and Peter was glad to have a friend like Harry to spend time with.

The next morning Peter and Harry entered the school together and were immediately met with Gwen, who showed them the paper printed by the Blue and Gold with a smirk on her face

Gwen: "Gotta give credit to Betty, this is one hell of an article! And look at this: 'Photo by Peter Parker'; Pete this is amazing!"

Peter scratched the back of his neck and said

Peter: "Nah, I mean...anyone would've done that, I just helped a little."

Harry put an arm around his friend's shoulder and said

Harry: "Aaand here he is, 'way too modest Peter', c'mon can't you accept the fact that you did something incredible, together with...Betty?"

Gwen was a bit weirded out by Harry's words, and Peter really didn't want to talk about that, so he quickly changed the subject

Peter: "Uh, hey Gwen, were you at the Taste of Riverdale yesterday?"

Gwen was still puzzled by that, but she decided to let it go and answer Pete while the three of them started to walk along the corridors

Gwen: "Uh, yeah, I actually was. Nothing to say: Josie and the girls are incredible as always, and Archie told me he helped writing the song they played, isn't it great!"

Harry and Peter nodded with smiles on their faces

Harry: "So our little Archie apparently is doing great! I'm really happy for him."

Gwen agreed with her boyfriend and said

Gwen: "Yeah, I really hope he can show everyone what he's capable of."

Peter then froze on the spot: he saw Betty beside Veronica. He excused himself from Harry and Gwen and walked to them. As soon as they locked eyes, she too froze, and Veronica noticed it was because of Peter, so she patted her friend on the shoulder and excused herself. Peter stopped in front of Betty, and she said

Betty: "Hi..."

And Peter answered

Peter: "Hi."

Betty looked down for a moment, fidgeting with her hands, then she looked back at him and said

Betty: "I'm sorry. I should've listened to you when you told me to let go and follow the plan, but I didn't listen: I was so caught up in my anger and rage that I couldn't think properly...and I've been very cruel to you, the things I said, the way I said them...I'm so, so sorry."

Peter gave her a small smile before looking down for a moment, then he looked at her and, with wet eyes said

Peter: "When Ben was...that night I was so angry...the only thing I wanted to do was to kill the man who took my uncle away from me. I called it justice, but it was only vengeance, and I knew that he didn't want neither me or May to live with that constant rage and desire in our hearts. Right then I learned an important lesson: vengeance is not the answer, because it makes us do things that...that are just not us, things that we'll regret. Are you okay, Betty? Is there something you want to talk to me about?"

Betty felt so, so bad in that moment: how could she behave like that when Peter, even going through that, managed to stay strong and be better? She regretted everything she did that night, and from then on she would be better. She took Peter's hand and squeezed it, then she said

Betty: "Just that I regret everything, and that I will be better from now on."

They smiled sweetly at each other, then something came up in Peter's mind and he got instantly nervous

Peter: "So...a-about what you said to me on the phone yesterday..."

Betty understood and blushed furiously, then said

Betty: "Listen, I'm sorry. I know it's so soon, and even if I don't regret saying it, I should've waited a bit more before dropping that bomb on you."

Peter smiled at her and said

Peter: "Betty, it's not that I don't have feelings for you, it's just that...I still have to reach the chapter you're at, but I'm willing to give this relationship a try."

Betty smiled brightly at this

Betty: "And that's exactly what I want as well. And we'll talk with the others: at this point it's just a matter of time before they find out."

Peter nodded, agreeing with that

Peter: "Yeah, and it's better if they find out from us. Oh, by the way, you wrote one hell of an article!"

Betty smiled and blushed at this, she looked down to hide it for a bit, then returned her gaze to him and said

Betty: "Well, I had one hell of a photographer! Have you considered having it as a profession?"

Peter laughed at this and said

Peter: "Oh no no, I mean I love photography, but I aim to do something more relevant in the future."

Betty, still smiling, tilted her head on the side and asked

Betty: "Like what?"

Peter pondered the question for a bit, then said

Peter: "I don't know, but it will be...amazing."

Betty: "Yeah, I think so too."

The two eventually hugged for a bit, and then parted, him going back to walk with Harry and Gwen and Betty meeting Veronica at the Blue and Gold to resume their conversation from before

Veronica: "I'm telling you, Betty, you were like...another person: the wig, you calling Chuck 'Jason', you calling yourself 'Polly'..."

Betty was arranging a few papers on a desk, then she turned towards her friend and said

Betty: "Uh, no, V, I didn't do that..."

Veronica crossed her arms and nodded, saying

Veronica: "Yes, girl, you did."

Betty: "Okay, I mean, I remember saying Chuck should apologize for Polly, but not because I thought he was Jason."

Veronica pressed further

Veronica: "Why then?"

And Betty answered

Betty: "Because I'm sick of guys like Chuck and Jason doing horrible things to girls like me, you and Polly, okay?"

She then closed the door of the school paper. And Veronica asked her blonde friend something

Veronica: "Does Peter know what happened?"

Betty shook her head and said

Betty: "He knows the essential: that I regret what I did, and that I'll be better."

Betty, together with Veronica and her friends in the hallways in the middle of all the other students of Riverdale High, watched as Chuck and his posse were being escorted away. Betty and Veronica noticed the bruises on Chuck's face, and this made Betty wonder

Betty: (The walls of the pool hall at Ethel's are soundproof, but then...how did Spider-Man know where to find us...?)

Good and evil. Light and dark.

Betty and Veronica.

Two sides of the same Janus coin.

Given Betty's article, Weatherbee needed a sacrificial lamb...

needed to make an example of someone.

So after Hermione Lodge negotiated

a lesser sentence for our two avenging angels

Coach Clayton, to save his job, to save the school's reputation...

...was forced to cut his own beloved son and his goon squad from the team...

...an action that,

though none of us knew it at the time...

...would have terrible consequences in the weeks to come.

Ethel turned to look at Betty, Veronica and Peter, and said

Ethel: "Thanks guys, for everything."

But Betty, putting a hand on her shoulder and smiling at her said

Betty: "Thank you, Ethel, for going on the record. It made all of the difference with Weatherbee. You're the bravest of them all, Ethel Muggs."

And Veronica added, while still looking at Chuck leaving the school

Veronica: "#Justice4Ethel"

And Peter too said something

Peter: "You know, my uncle used to say: 'one hand washes the other'; it means that, to really accomplish something, we need to work together and help each other. So, Ethel, if you need help with something, come to us."

Ethel hugged Peter and said

Ethel: "Thank you, Pete, I mean that."

But one thing was certain:

Betty and Veronica, now B and V...

...and maybe forever, had been forged.

They walked through the fire and survived.

And the same was for Peter and Betty.

She was hiding something...

...and Peter knew that, but what?

Betty and Cheryl were outside of school, in front of a metal bin, where they decided to lit it on fire. After a few moments, Cheryl turned to Betty and said with sadness in her voice

Cheryl: "Whoever killed Jason hurt him. Maybe Jason hurt people too. If he hurt Polly, I'm sorry."

We crave absolutes. They comfort us.

But life is infinitely more complex than that.

Peter, Betty and Jughead were in the Blue and Gold, hearing at what Dilton had to say about the shot

Dilton: "If you publish a story saying I fired that gun, my life will be ruined: I'll be banished from the Adventure Scouts and charged with a misdemeanor. So, what if I have a better story? If I tell you what I know, promise me the gunshot stays between us."

Betty spoke fast and said

Betty: "You have our word, as journalists."

At that the two boys nodded, and Dilton continued

Dilton: "I saw something at Sweetwater River, something nobody else saw: ms. Grundy's car, by the river's edge...she was there."

Betty was weirded by this new element, while Peter and Jughead knew that it was a matter of time now before Archie's secret love affair with the teacher would come to the light

Despite all of

I would've done anything

our recent troubles,

to protect Archie...

...but Dilton Doiley had just opened Pandora's box...

...and now there was nothing I or anyone, could do to save him.

A/N: Hey guys! I'm really sorry for the delay, but here you go! From this moment on I think I will publish only complete episodes, so that we can speed up things a little bit. Anyway...Aleksei has made his appearance! Do you already know who he is? Are you hyped for the next episode? If it's a yes, then write your answers to these questions:

Will Flint and Aleksei team up?

When will they acquire their abilities?

Will Peter be able to balance his normal life with his superhero life any longer?

Will he be able to help May keep the house?

But, most of all...Betty is starting to have questions about the sudden appearance of Spider-Man, and we all know Betty, so tell me...

Will she discover Peter's identity? If yes, then when?

If you want to find out, stay tuned and don't miss the next episode of...

Spider-Man X Riverdale!

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