A mind beyond Marvel

[Peter POV]

It's been 3 days since the Harlem incident. The school was closed and there was a lock down for past 2 days.

I adjusted my backpack as I walked into Midtown High, spotting my friends already gathered near Gwen's locker. Ned was waving his hands while Gray leaned against the wall, looking half-amused, half-bored.

"You guys will not believe this," Ned said, eyes wide with excitement. "I finally got my hands on that ultra-rare limited edition Star Wars figure! Mint condition!"

Gwen smirked, closing her locker with a click. "And this affects us… how?"

"Excuse me, but this is a historic moment." Ned placed a hand on his chest in mock offense. "A pop culture artifact in my possession."

I chuckled. "I mean, it is pretty cool."

Gray, who had been casually scrolling through his phone, glanced up. "Yeah, yeah, super cool, but has anyone actually done their physics homework? Because I may or may not have completely forgotten about it."

Gwen rolled her eyes, handing him her neatly written notes. "I swear, what would you do without me?"

Gray is always at the top of the class. It would be cool to see him fail.

"Nothing, probably," Gray admitted, flipping through the pages.

"Did you see the clips about the battle of Harlem, it was insane", Ned chimed in excitedly

"It's nothing to be excited about 100s of people got injured and a lot of people died. The government has not given exact number.", Gwen replied with a stern face.

That was the truth a friend of aunt lost her life in the event. Her son is staying with us. Surprisingly a lot of people survived. They say there was another guy wearing a mask, but there are no videos about him. There is only the word of mouth. People called hi—

"Noctis, I heard that he saved a lot of people. My mom was in Harlem at that time and she was rescued by him. He could pass through rubble and stuff", Gray said. We all were surprised that his mother was in the middle of the action.

The bell rang, we started making our way to class.

The four of us entered Mr. Warren's biology class. Today's lesson: frog dissection.

Gray poked the frog's leg with his scalpel. "Is it weird that I kind of want to name it?", said lighting the mood.

"Aw, man," I muttered under my breath, staring at the poor frog in front of me. "This just feels wrong."

"Oh, come on," Gwen said, tying her lab apron. "It's science."

Ned winced. "Dude, don't humanize it. That just makes this worse."

As Gwen and I started carefully following the teacher's instructions, Gary nudged Ned. "I'll give you five bucks if you poke it and make it jump."

"Tempting, but I'd like to keep my dignity—and my grade," Ned said, shaking his head.

I sighed, muttering, "Rest in peace, little dude," before getting to work. The class was over.

"Everyone we are going on a field trip to Oscorb after 2 weeks. Make sure you all are prepared.", announced the professor while glancing at me and Gray.

[Gwen POV, Physics Lab]

My dad is working overtime, because of the recent incident. So, I asked him to take me to Harlem, to which he refused. People here don't feel the difference because we are at a much safer distance, 20 miles in Manhattan traffic is something like 4 hrs. The lab was quiet. I was at my workstation, adjusting the lenses on my latest project, when I heard the door creak open.

I glanced up.

Gray stood there, hands in his pockets, his usual confidence replaced with something... different. Hesitation? No way. This was the same guy who hacked School's security system for fun just to see if he could. Nervous wasn't his thing.

And yet, here he was.

"Hey," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Got a second?"

I set my tools down. "Depends. Are you about to tell me you accidentally programmed an AI to think it's a god?"

"He is in control of my body…. Zeep Zooorp" He rolled his eyes and started moving his hands like a robot.

I raised an eyebrow. "And?"

He exhaled, his fingers drumming against his thigh. "I was thinking… maybe we should get dinner sometime. Just us."

Oh.

My brain took a second to process that. Not 'grab food with the team.' Not 'let's brainstorm over coffee.' Just us.

A date.

I studied him for a moment. He wasn't looking directly at me—his gaze flickered to the lab table, the monitors, anywhere else. For a guy who was always confident, asking me this was somehow harder.

I smiled. "You mean like a date?"

His eyes finally met mine, and for a split second, I saw it—uncertainty, the tiniest crack in his usual armour.

"…y..yeah."

I leaned back in my chair, pretending to consider it. "Hmm. Well, I do enjoy good food."

He snorted. "Good. That's a strong start."

I let the silence stretch just long enough to make him squirm before I finally said, "Okay, Gray. You've got yourself a date."

His shoulders relaxed, just a little. "Cool. Uh—Friday?"

"Friday works."

He nodded, backing toward the door, like he'd accomplished some impossible mission. "Great. Cool. See you then."

I shook my head as he left, my smile lingering.

Gray—brilliant, reckless, impossible Gray—had just asked me out.

And somehow, that was more surprising than anything we'd ever built in this lab.

[Gray POV]

I can finally go to my lab, for the past 2 days there was a lockdown, mom and I stayed at home. She didn't let me out of her sight. I guess near death experience can turn people more appreciative towards life. I got back home and dropped my bag.

"Sire for the fast 2 days I have noticed Shield agents enquiring about you in queens and Brooklyn.", Alfred chimed in "but they won't find anything."

"I know", I smiled with a smug expression. I have been phasing under the ground and didn't come out until I reached Harlem. I guess they were able to trace my general direction. As expected of the second best spy organization in the world.

I realised that it was not able to use my navigation when I was in phasing mode, which caused me to come out of the ground when I was close to the scene to confirm logistics.

I slipped into the ground and started heading towards my cave.

I reached the cave, the cave was just as I remembered dark and gritty. "Maybe I should put plant some fake trees.", I muttered to myself. I headed to my genetic research station and pulled out 3 vials of serum. 2 of which contained Extreme V and one contained the inhibitor.

I lied down in a Pod and inserted Cannula in my wrist, the tube was connected to a machine that contained the serums. "It's up to you Alfred.", I said excitedly. "Good luck sire.", he replied.

Slowly I felt as if I was losing my consciousness. I closed my eyes and passed out.