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Most of Midtown High hated assemblies. They crammed every single student into the poorly ventilated gym, and the general atmosphere was usually one of disgust and annoyance. The place just took on a bad vibe as soon as every grade got shoved in it at once. So when the students were once again forced to attend an assembly one gloomy Wednesday morning, they weren’t expecting much. What they got was even worse. Doc Ock decided to crash the assembly about halfway through, his goons guarding the doors so no one could leave.
“Good morning, everyone!” he said, spreading his arms in greeting, “I heard from a friend that Spider-Man is a senior at this school! If you don’t want your classmates to die, Spidey, I suggest you come down here.”
No one moved. Doc Ock sighed with disappointment.
“I guess we’re going to do this the hard way,” he said.
“Wait,” a student suddenly spoke up, standing up abruptly, “Don’t.”
Most people recognized said student as Peter Parker. The oldest of a set of triplets, he was said to be a genius and was one of the kindest people in the school (if a bit weird).
Doc Ock raised his eyebrows. “I was expecting someone more intimidating.”
“Suck my fucking dick,” Peter snapped, “You want me, right? Let everyone else go.”
Doc Ock beamed. “Ah, it’s definitely you. The hatred is there. And so is the selflessness.”
At his side, Ben Parker tugged on his brother’s wrist, his eyes pleading for him to stay out of a fight. Peter glanced down at his brother and grimaced, pulling free of his grip. On his other side, Kaine Parker looked worried. To the onlookers, the tapping he did on his brother’s leg seemed random. But Peter recognized it as Morse Code. Stop. Peter ignored that as well. He made his way over to the stairs and jogged down them, striding towards Ock with steel in his gaze.
“You can stop right there,” Doc Ock warned, “Or someone dies.”
Peter halted in his tracks. His fists were clenched and the steel in his eyes had turned to rage. If Ock was intimidated, he didn’t show it.
“What do you want?” Peter asked, the rage even showing in his voice.
“To make an example of you,” Ock replied calmly, “If you are who you say you are, this will hurt quite a bit.”
He held up a tiny device and pushed the dial all the way up. To everyone but Peter, Kaine, and Ben, it made no sound. But to their enhanced ears, the sound was the sharpest, most painful thing they’d ever heard. They all screamed at once, and Peter hit the ground. All three of them clutched at their heads, pressing their palms to their ears in an attempt to block out the noise. Blood began to drip out of Peter’s ears. Ock laughed and turned the dial down. The three spiders panted, all trembling. Peter stayed curled up in fetal position on the ground. Ben had his head between his knees, and Kaine had surged to his feet and was standing there shaking. He cautiously removed his hands from his ears. Blood stained them and trickled down his neck.
“I didn’t think I’d catch three!” Ock exclaimed, “This is quite a surprise! I should’ve guessed you were triplets. Mutants, I assume.”
Kaine’s stingers extended from his wrists. He was still shaking, but he walked down the steps with purpose in his stride.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Ock warned, shaking the noisemaker as a threat.
Kaine stopped a few feet away from Peter, his eyes flicking between his wounded brother and the psychopath holding a device that translated to pain. Back in the stands, students were contributing their jackets to the single minded cause of blocking Ben’s ears from whatever sound the noisemaker was producing.
“You’re a monster,” Kaine snarled, “Go to hell.”
He shot out a strand of webbing that hit Ock right in the face. He sprinted forward and slammed right into one of Ock’s arm, but it didn’t seem to faze him. He grabbed the arm and snapped it, swinging the end he had broken off at Ock’s face. It made contact and Kaine lunged at the noisemaker, but it was too late. The thing went off and Kaine screamed, dropping to the ground and grabbing at his ears. Peter writhed on the ground, his screams joining Kaine’s. In the stands, someone had shoved the arm of a jacket into Ben’s mouth. He screamed into it, his eyes feral with pain and fear. He grabbed his phone, nearly cracking it with the force of his grip. He unlocked it quickly, hitting the phone app and coming to tears as he hit a contact simply titled “johnny”. He shoved it at the nearest person, and they hastily explained the situation to the person on the other end.
“Are you willing to comply now?” Ock asked, turning the noisemaker off, “Or would you like to suffer some more?”
Blood was pouring out of Kaine and Peter’s ears. Both were in tears. Kaine’s stingers had receded back into his skin.
“Good,” Ock said happily, “I want to keep you all alive for now. Get your brother down here, please.”
“Don’t touch him,” Kaine growled.
Ock raised his eyebrows. “He’s special to you two, huh? Good to know.”
“Fuck off,” Peter wheezed.
“Get him down here, now ,” Ock snapped.
Ben got shakily to his feet, the jackets people had donated falling to the ground. The inner ones were drenched with blood. Unbeknownst to most, Ben’s ears were already sensitive from a run-in with the villainess Shriek. Peter and Kaine knew if they did anything more to fight back that caused Ock to use the noisemaker, Ben could possibly lose his hearing. So they didn’t move as Ben made his way down the stairs, pausing far away from Ock with fear in his eyes.
“What’s the matter?” Ock asked, “Scared?”
“I hate you,” Ben managed, his voice shaking with both anger and pain.
“I know,” Ock replied, “Come closer.”
Ben took a few cautious steps forward. His eyes moved constantly from his brothers to Ock.
“You’re not going to win, Otto,” he said, locking eyes with the super villain, “We’ve beaten you hundreds of times.”
“And yet I’m still standing here,” Otto responded coolly, “You win battles. I win wars.”
Ben snorted. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth, and that’s saying something.”
Otto held up the noisemaker. “I suggest you take that back.”
Ben stared him down stubbornly.
“Take it back, Ben,” Peter begged.
“I’d listen to your brother, Ben ,” Otto suggested coldly.
“Fuck off,” Ben retorted, “I’d rather eat my own webs.”
Otto sighed. “Alright. You asked for this.”
Before he could move, three icicles buried themselves deep in Otto’s arm. Otto yelled and dropped the noisemaker, clutching at his arm. In one of the doorways of the gym, Iceman stood with rage somehow expressed in the ice covering his face. Otto’s goons were unconscious at his feet. In the second doorway, Otto’s goons screamed as they were engulfed in flames. Johnny Storm stepped through the fire with his eyes blazing. While Otto was distracted, Kaine reached forward and crushed the noisemaker with his fist.
“You guys got this?” Ben called over to Iceman and the Torch.
“Of course,” Johnny replied coolly.
His whole body went up in flames. He and Iceman charged, easily avoiding Otto’s arms. As they fought, Kaine crawled over to Peter. Ben helped them move back to the bleachers, and then all three of them collapsed in a pile. Brad Davis, Ned Leeds, and Michelle Jones crowded around the three, staunching the bleeding as best as they could. Betty Brant and Flash Thompson stood nervously nearby, eyeing the fight as other students fled. Iceman froze over the machine that powered Otto’s arms, and after that it was all too easy for Johnny to land a punch that knocked the man out. Johnny stood guard as Iceman hurried over to the spiders.
“Hey, sweetheart,” he said to Ben, the ice on his hands melting so he could cradle Ben’s face, “Can you hear me still?”
Ben sighed. “Yeah.”
Iceman looked relieved. “Good. Do you have webshooters on you? Johnny’s family is on the way to pick up Otto, but we want to keep him tied down until then.”
“They’re in my backpack,” Ben replied.
“I’ll go get that,” Betty offered, hurrying to where Ben had been sitting in the bleachers.
“How’d you guys know to come here?” Peter asked, his voice raspy with pain.
“Ben had someone call Johnny,” Iceman explained, “And we were nearby.”
Betty returned with Ben’s backpack, and Iceman took it from her and dug out Ben’s webshooters.
“You remember how to use those?” Ben asked with a small grin.
Iceman made a face. “Yes, Benjamin , I remember how to use them.”
Ben smirked. “Just making sure.”
Iceman slid back over to Otto and Johnny, webbing down Otto with surprising efficiency. Then both him and Johnny walked over to the small group. Johnny carefully untangled Peter from Ben and Kaine and propped him up against the bleachers.
“Are you okay?” he asked with concern.
Peter nodded tiredly. “My head hurts.”
All three of the spiders winced as the sound of sirens reached their ears. Ben covered his ears.
“Here, I have an idea,” Iceman offered, his hands freezing up again, “Ben, move your hands.”
He covered Ben’s ears with a casing of ice, effectively muffling outside noises. He made a little hole so the blood could drain. He did the same thing for Peter and Kaine, then sat back with a proud grin. Johnny gave him a fist bump.
“Better?” Johnny asked the three.
Peter put a thumbs up. Then the rest of the Fantastic Four entered the gym, followed by paramedics, and there was a rush of questions and concerns. Otto got hauled away by the Four to be taken to the Raft, and the paramedics took care of the three spiders. The students of Midtown got the rest of the day off, but they were reassured that school would still be in session the next day.
The morning of the next day, Principal Morita announced over the loudspeakers that the Parker triplets would be returning to school the next day, and that until then there was a card in the office for students to sign thanking the three for their service to the school and the city as a whole. The whole day, students came in groups to sign the giant card. It was packed full of signatures by the end of the day.
The day after that, the Parker brothers were greeted with enthusiastic clapping when they walked into school. Ben still had bandages wrapped around his head that covered his ears, but Peter and Kaine seemed fine. They accepted the card and the attention with the humility people had come to expect from them. But all of the students noticed that the three were wearing their suits under their clothes, their masks tucked into their pockets like they were expecting a fight. And when someone suddenly shouted in gym class that day, Kaine’s stingers immediately surged out of his wrists and he moved into a fighting position. Things weren’t the same. The spiders no longer felt safe in their own school. So when they announced that they would be finishing their schooling online, no one was surprised.
In the eyes of the general public, Peter, Kaine, and Ben Parker were heroes. But with exposed identities came danger. And the trio would have to deal with it for the rest of their lives.