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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟓
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐏

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After a long night of answering Atlas' endless questions, Alex found herself in a sleepless daze as she walked the halls of Midtown School of Science and Technology. She would've never guessed so many questions could fit in one person's head. It was like a never-ending hallway filled with files and files of unanswered queries that Alex had to answer. If it wasn't for his mother calling him to come home, the Easton girl didn't think their conversation would've ended. But she knew that the conversation was far from over.

The Easton girl forced herself to smile and wave at those she passed while doing her best to keep her eyes open. Luckily, her next class was shop class so she wouldn't have to pay much attention until they started on their projects. However, as soon as she entered the classroom, Alex knew her dream of daydreaming was over. And it was all because Peter Parker was doing something that she'd have to stop before he took down the school.

"Do you really think you should be hitting that thing with a hammer?" Alex questioned the brunette boy, causing him to jump and almost drop the tool in his hand before he spun around to face her.

"Like you know any better," Peter muttered under his breath then turned back around to continue attacking the glowing object.

"I know that you probably shouldn't hit an alien machine you know nothing about with a hammer," the Easton girl retaliated, earning an annoyed sigh from the boy.

The redheaded girl didn't move as she continued to watch the Parker boy smack the unknown object with a hammer. Each time Peter hit the machine, a static sound emitted from it. The noise made Alex flinch every time she heard it. One wrong move and everything around them would turn into ash just like they saw the machine do last night.

Just as the Easton girl was about to speak again, the parts of the machine holding the glowing rock finally broke open. Alex took a step forward to look over Peter's shoulder as he pulled the pieces apart to get a better look inside. Both of them held their breath as the Parker boy moved the wires before grabbing a screwdriver to help him. As he continued to fiddle with the contraption, they silently hoped he didn't trigger something he'd regret later.

"Hey, thanks for bailing on me," a voice said, causing both Peter and Alex to jump before they turned to face Ned.

"Yeah, well, something came up," the Parker boy told his best friend while gesturing towards the alien machine on the table.

"Oh, what is that?" the Leeds boy questioned as his eyes scanned over every inch of the object on the table in front of him.

"I don't know. Some guy tried to vaporize Atlas with it," Peter responded before he went back to fiddling with it using the screwdriver.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"How'd you get Atlas out of there and get the alien device?" Ned asked with awe in his voice, completely unaware of Alex and Peter glancing at each other.

Just the pleading look in the Easton girl's eyes made the brunette boy hesitate. Even though the two of them weren't exactly friends or even acquaintances, the Parker boy couldn't find it within himself to reveal to her that he already told his best friend everything. So to keep the speedster from getting even more annoyed with him, he decided to lie to his best friend about what happened the night of Liz's party. However, before Peter even had a chance to open his mouth to respond to Ned, someone else beat him to answer the Leeds boy's question.

"Alex got me out," Atlas whispered, causing everyone to look over at him and Alex to send him an irritated glare. The Duncan boy just stared at her for a long moment before a sheepish smile appeared on his face. "What? I thought this was like a superhero hang-out party."

"You told him who I was?" the Parker boy questioned as he looked over at the redheaded girl, only to find her staring back at him with a confused look on her face.

"Dude, she didn't tell me anything. Unlike you telling her secret to Ned," the raven-haired boy told Peter while sending him a glare before he pointed down at the object sitting on the table between them, "besides the fact that you disappear at the drop of a hat, the alien thingy on the table is a dead giveaway. Why would you even bring it to school? You saw those guys almost vaporize me with it."

"That is so awesome," Ned muttered under his breath, causing everyone to send him annoyed looks while he sent him a small smile, "I mean, not awesome. Totally uncool of those guys. So scary."

"Well, look, I think this thing right here is a power source," Peter said, going back to the alien machine on the table while the other three teens watched him with curiosity in their eyes.

"Yeah, but it's connected to all these microprocessors. And that's an inductive charging plate. That's what some people use to charge their toothbrushes," Alex stated after pointing to a couple of wires and metal pieces that the machine was built from. As soon as the redheaded girl finished speaking, she looked up to find all three boys staring at her with confusion in her eyes. She just watched them for a long moment then let out a long sigh. "Even though my parents were crazy, they still valued my education."

"Whoever's making these must be combining alien tech with ours," Peter announced after they all looked back down at the object in front of them before the Parker boy continued to use the screwdriver to poke the machine.

"That is literally the coolest sentence anyone has ever said," Ned declared while Atlas nodded along beside him before the former looked up at his best friend, who was exchanging the screwdriver for the hammer, "I just want to thank you for letting me be part of your journey into this amazing-"

The Leeds boy's sentence was cut off by Peter hitting the machine with the hammer one more time. All of them jumped at the loud sound that cut through the air before they watched the purple glowing object that was in the center fly across the table. While Alex and Atlas tried to stop the table from rapidly shaking, Peter and Ned looked back at their shop teacher, only to find him working on his crossword puzzle without a care in the world. Once they knew they were in the clear, the four teens turned their attention back to the machine and the glowing alien rock on the table.

"I gotta figure out what this is and who makes it," Peter concluded right as Alex and Atlas shared another look with one another.

"We'll go to the lab after class and run some tests," Ned added right before he and Peter did their special handshake while the other two teens at the table turned their attention back to the best friends.

"We're gonna help you," Alex declared, drawing the two boys' attention toward her before they stared at her and Atlas with wide eyes, "look, neither of you knows what this thing is or what it does. Whether you like it or not, you could use more help with this."

Just as Peter was about to open his mouth to speak, Ned spun around to face his best friend and beat him to it. "I know you don't like her but they might be able to help us."

"Oh, we can definitely help you," Atlas stated before his eyes landed on the Parker boy to send him another glare, "and just so we're clear, I'm not very fond of you either."

Silence surrounded them for a long moment before Peter let out a long sigh and shoved everything on the table into his backpack. "Alright, you guys can help. Let's get to the lab."

Alex and Atlas exchanged a quick smile before grabbing their bags and following Peter and Ned out of shop class. The four of them tried their best to look inconspicuous as they walked through the halls toward their next destination. Along the way, the Easton girl's thoughts ran rampant in her head as she tried to figure out what they were dealing with. It wasn't long after that when the Duncan boy gently nudged her with his elbow.

When she looked up at him with confusion in her eyes, he gestured toward the two boys in front of them. It only took a moment for Alex to realize they were starting to have a hush conversation that she and Atlas could barely hear. That immediately caused the two of them to pick up their pace so that they were standing on the other side of Ned.

"First, we put the glowy thingy in the mass spectrometer," the Leeds boy stated as they continued down the strangely vacant hallway.

"First, we gotta come up with a better name than 'glowy thingy," Atlas muttered under his breath, earning a small nod from Ned before two men appeared from around the corner.

The sight of the newcomers immediately caused Alex, Peter, and Atlas to stop in their tracks and duck down the adjoining hallway. Ned just stood in the middle of the corridor for another moment before moving to join them in their hiding place. Alex and Peter exchanged a wide-eyed look while Atlas peeked around the corner.

"Hey, that's one of the guys that tried to vaporize me," the raven-haired boy announced after moving to hide behind the wall once again.

"What?" Ned said while Alex and Peter exchanged a knowing look then the latter moved past Atlas to look around the corner at the two men, "we gotta get out of here."

"No, no, no. I gotta follow them," the Parker boy declared, earning confused looks from the other three teens, "maybe they can lead me to the guy that dropped me in the lake."

"Someone dropped you in a lake?"

"Yeah, it was not good."

Alex just stared at the back of Peter's head for a long moment before letting out a long sigh and forcing him to face her. "Look, I know you and I aren't exactly friends, but following them is practically a death sentence."

The Parker boy didn't say a word as their eyes stayed glued to each other. It wasn't long after that when Peter turned around and began walking down the hall despite Alex, Atlas, and Ned's protests. The three of them just watched as the brunette boy cautiously made his way down the hall. Despite everything within her telling her to stay where she was, the Easton girl took a step to follow after him, only for Atlas to grab her arm and stop her in her tracks. Just as she was about to speak, a knocking sound cut through the air, causing them and Ned to jump. When the three of them turned in the direction of the noise, they found a boy staring at them from the other side of a window. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Ned responded in an unconvincing tone before the three teens forced smiles onto their faces.

"What are you doing?" Atlas questioned, causing the boy to point behind him at the game he and his friend had set up on a table.

"Chess."

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The last thing Alex ever expected was having Peter and Ned ask to hang out at her apartment with her and Atlas. At first, all she gave them was a confused look and a quirked eyebrow. However, her bewilderment soon faded when they explained that they needed a secure place to track the men that Peter tagged. So here the four of them were, sitting on the couches in her living room with pizza and chips on the table in front of them as they tracked the men on the Parker boy's small device.

"This is so awesome," Ned muttered under his breath as he stared at the holographic image.

"I know, right?" Peter said as she plopped down on the couch next to his best friend after grabbing a water bottle from the fridge.

"It reminds me of something out of Star Wars," Atlas added before taking a bite of his pizza.

Alex just studied the screen in silence while her brain tried to put all the information they had together. It wasn't long after that when Ned tapped the holographic image, making the picture change completely. The Easton girl immediately moved forward to get a better look before she was able to determine exactly what the map was showing them. "They're in Brooklyn."

What they didn't expect was staying up for hours watching the small red dot on the screen move. As they went from place to place, Atlas and Ned continued to eat the food on the table in front of them without taking their eyes off the map. While they did that, Peter grabbed a few things from Charlie's old storage room and began upgrading his backup web-shooters. Just watching the Parker boy made Alex think back to her suit gathering dust in the hall closet. It wasn't long after that when the Easton girl got to her feet and made her way toward the hall closet. A small sigh passed over her lips as she opened the door to reveal the only thing hanging inside. Her suit.

"That's awesome," a voice said, causing Alex to jump before she turned to face a grinning Atlas, "how long have you had that?"

"Two...maybe three months now," the redheaded girl responded as she pulled out the suit and placed it on the dining table, "I've never actually worn it though."

"Why not?" Atlas asked while running his hands over the black material, "I've never felt anything like it before."

"It was specifically made to work with my abilities. And apparently, it's laced with vibranium," the Easton girl explained, causing the Duncan boy's eyes to widen before he looked up at her, "it was sent to me by a couple of friends in Wakanda."

"That's so cool!" the raven-haired boy exclaimed as he looked back at the suit on the table, "you seriously need a superhero name."

"But I'm not a superhero," Alex stated for the millionth time, only for a large grin to form on Atlas' lips.

"What about your middle name? Zephyr?"

The Easton girl's entire body froze as she slowly looked away from the suit to meet his gaze. "How did you know that was my middle name?"

"I did my research."

"That's creepy."

"And yet, I'm still your best friend," the Duncan boy retaliated, causing Alex to roll her eyes at him before he continued speaking, "come on, 'Zephyr' is perfect! It means 'a soft gentle breeze.'"

"It is pretty cool!" Ned called out from the other side of the room while Peter continued to work as if they weren't having a conversation.

"Fine!" the Easton girl groaned while running her hands down her cheeks before turning to fully face Atlas, "if, and I mean if, I decide I wanna become a superhero, I will use the name Zephyr."

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It wasn't until 2 a.m. when the buzzing of Peter's tracking device cut through the air. Everyone was forced out of their slumber by the sound before they looked toward the glowing object. Alex's attention instantly fell on Ned, who was wearing Peter's mask, as he reached for the device on the table. Alex and Atlas scooted closer to him before the three of them studied the object in the Leeds boy's hands.

"They stopped," Ned announced before Peter jumped down from the ceiling and landed in front of them, causing Atlas to let out a small shout then he grabbed Alex's arm. Everyone just stared at the Duncan boy for a long moment before he cleared his throat and detached himself from the Easton girl's arm. After he regained his bearings, the four of them turned their attention back to the holographic map.

"Maryland?" the Parker boy muttered under his breath after figuring out where the men ended up.

"What's there?" Alex asked, earning shrugs from the three boys in response while they kept their eyes glued to the hologram.

"Evil lair?" Atlas suggested before Ned, who was still wearing the Spider-Man mask, turned to look at him.

"They have a lair?"

"Dude, a gang with alien machinery run by a guy with wings? Yeah, they have a lair."

"Bad*ss," the Leeds boy responded with a hint of joy in his voice before his attention turned toward the two super-powered teens, "but how are you gonna get there if it's, like, three hundred miles away?"

"Well, I won't have a problem with that," the Easton girl said with a smirk then she looked over at the Parker boy, "but I don't know how you'd get there."

As soon as she finished speaking, Peter looked over at something sitting on her coffee table. The three other teens instantly followed his gaze to find the paper that Liz gave to her a few days prior. A flier for the academic decathlon.

"It's not too far from DC."

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