41 Heist

Heist

December 12th, 8:10 AM

"So what was all that about?" Jessica asked me.

"Huh, I'm not sure about it myself."

I won't lie; her words stung me.

["Mr. Pryzbylewski thinks that you have it in you to change the world! Please make sure you don't waste away your talents!"]

'I'm trying goddammit. I'm trying!'

"Pete…you okay?"

"...."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for asking Jessica!" I put on a smile.

She hit my arm lightly and said, "I told you it's Jess now. My friends call me Jess, don't you forget that."

"Sure thing Ms. Thompson."

She playfully hit me again.

"So you're coming to the game today?" I asked,

"Why? To watch you get destroyed?"

Oh, she's a feisty one, isn't she.

"Don't know about that, but I would love to have you there to watch me play!"

She got embarrassed all of a sudden, and avoided looking at me. Her cheeks were bright red.

"Um…okay.. If you insist!"

'Oh god she's so cute! I can't believe I once thought her to be evil.'

Speaking of evil, I wondered what Flash Thompson was up to these days. We started to head to our respective classes; it was getting late.

"So how's your brother holding up?"

"He's still as stubborn as ever. The doctors told him to rest and what does the idiot do? He starts walking with crutches! He's so obsessed with football... it might actually affect his health now."

I didn't like the guy, in fact there was a part of me that despised him but seeing Jessica look sad didn't give me any pleasure. She was just a good person, it just happened to be that her brother was a douche.

"I'm sorry." I say

"For what? You're not responsible for any of this. Like you said my brother has a lot of learning to do, but I won't quit on him. I'll make sure that from today onwards he's on the right path, and I'll make sure he stays on it." She glowed.

"That's good to hear, I'll tutor him if that helps. You don't have to carry all of the weight."

"Peter… that's not… You don't have to do that."

"We're friends, remember?" I wink at her.

There was a pregnant pause.

"Thanks…a ton… Peter." She said to me, her emotions seemed to overwhelm her.

"Oh, and Jessy."

She turned towards me,

"All my friends call me Pete. And by friends, I mean Harry!"

__________________________________________________________________________________

I was sitting in the class, flipping pages mindlessly. It was biology class.

Suddenly, I could feel a small projectile head towards me.

It was a paper note. Someone wanted to say something to me.

My Spidey senses did not trigger, so I let the paper note hit my head.

I pretended to be surprised and looked behind me to see who threw the note.

I already knew who it was!

The girl, sitting two rows behind me, was the one who threw it, but I played the part of the unassuming nerd to see what this was all about.

I picked up the paper and read it.

[Are you dating Jessica Thompson YES / NO]

Sigh

'It seems they're adamant about meddling with my personal affairs'

I crumpled the paper and dropped it to the floor, earning a dissatisfied groan from the girl behind me.

'That's what you get for gossiping about me!'

The day passed as usual, there were some stares and whispers but then again, that's a common occurrence for me these days. I had gotten used to it ever since my altercation with Flash and his gang. The Thompson siblings were responsible for my misery in one way or another.

I smiled thinking about the blonde haired girl.

'I can't wait to show off to Jess, I'm pretty sure today's game would blow her mind. Oh…Aunt May and Uncle Ben too.'

One by one, all my problems seem to disappear. Uncle Ben was responding to the treatment, Harry was alive and well, and I was even making some new friends. Sure, our financial situation wasn't ideal, but that would change once the super cement was finished. Jessica was also a nice person to hang out with. I can't wait for this Sunday! I can't wait for today's game.

'I wish my entire life went like this. Just doing boring every day stuff and hanging out with my friends. No more fighting with pimps or school bullies. No more emotional stress worrying about my family's future! This was nice, I wish it lasted forever!'

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

POV - Adrian Toomes

December 12th, 1:00 AM

He flew. Using his wings.

Of course he wasn't a 'fucking bird'

No...his wings were of the mechanical variety, which he had built himself. Daedalus would be proud.

It was one of many designs. Stark Industries, specifically Howard Stark, rejected his designs.

'Too unreliable' was how he described it. He grinded his teeth just thinking about it.

He had it all back then: a good paying job and a family. If he hadn't lost his shit that day, he would still have his job and everything else.

His wife's cancer would have been covered under the insurance! He wouldn't have had to resort to bank robbery to feed his family.

He wouldn't have had to miss moments of his daughter growing up.

The funny thing was, after his wife died, he actually started enjoying his new profession. After a taste of crime, he couldn't go back to a boring office job.

He surveyed the night sky, flying low enough not to be detected by any radar. His suit had a cloaking mechanism that helped deal with other forms of surveillance technology.

He circled the building once more, checking for any security guards.

'Huh? Security is surprisingly light today.'

There were only three guards patrolling the rooftop, nowhere near as many as before. It looks like they weren't even carrying guns, just tasers.

I guess the young Stark wasn't as cautious as his father!

He changed his direction to face the guard at the rear, and he charged in, speeding up at an incredible pace.

'Easy pickings'

He landed on the guard's back, knocking him out instantly. He retracted his wings.

The first part of the plan was a success! Now for the hard part.

He searched the body guard for his identification.

'Voila, there it is."

Once he got the ID card, he shut the guard's mouth with tape, tied him up, and hid him away.

He crept towards the back door. His thermal goggles helped ensure to avoid any unexpected encounters.

He saw the side entrance, it was illuminated by a powerful light. He was tempted to walk to it, but his caution proved otherwise. He switched his goggles to electric mode.

Using it, he could see electrical charges flowing through different electrical appliances.

The massive amount of charge went to powering the light, but there was a small DC voltage running at the side.

'A security cam.' he thought.

Thankfully, he was prepared for such obvious deterrents. He pulled his cloaking mask over his face and moved.

The mask emitted signals that disrupted radio waves and other communication signals. He waved once to the security camera.

'Hey there, nice to be back home finally!'

He knew they couldn't see him, he was pretty sure the feed was completely disrupted. The only thing guards at the monitoring room would see are the words 'NO SIGNAL'.

He used the security guard's ID to enter the entrance.

The second part of the plan was a great success.

'YES!' He celebrated with a fist pump.

All he had to do now was go to the 13th floor and find Obadiah Stane's office.

Easier said than done, but that's what the kingpin was paying him the big bucks for!

He hugged the corner and made his way to the stairs. They were completely empty as usual.

'AH the nostalgia! These hallways bring so many memories.'

None of them good!

He switched back to thermal mode. It helped him avoid meeting the security guard surveying the stairs. His suit's high grip helped him crawl the walls.

When the coast was clear he used the ID again to enter the main building.

"Lucky number thirteen!" he whispered to himself.

According to his research, Stane's office was approximately 700 meters from where he was. He typed out the message on his pager, "DO IT" and sent it.

He waited for thirty seconds, just when he thought about resending the message. The lights went off.

'Good job Herman! Two minutes is all I need to work my magic.'

His fellow accomplice, Herman Schulz jammed the electrical generator running the entire building. Schulz had no idea what he was even stealing! For a measly $100,000, he gladly did his part in creating a blackout in Stark Tower.

The power would be off for another two minutes. He could hear the office workers who started leaving their offices, probably looking for someone to complain to.

He made his way to Stane's office by crawling on the ceiling. Once he reached there, he picked the lock and entered the room.

1:30 minutes left until power comes back.

He turned on his suit's flashlight. It made it easier for him to move.

He started opening the drawers and searching for the name 'TEN RINGS'

One drawer after another, file after file, he looked for it everywhere but still couldn't find it.

He looked at the time again—1:12 minutes left.

He searched for another ten seconds, rechecking the desk, seeing if he had missed any clues.

"THINK Adrian! THINK! If you were a double crossing snake where would you hide your dirt?"

He looked everywhere in the room. Nothing caught his eye immediately.

0:54 seconds left.

Then he saw the suspicious looking bookshelf.

"Oh, you can't be that cliché!" He said out loud.

He turned on his electrical signal mode. There was a faint hint of electricity running through the shelf. He went over to the shelf and to the start of the electrical flow.

The book was Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'.

It made him grin.

'The irony!'

He let himself be amused for a second. Then he resumed his role as a cool professional thief.

0:40 seconds left.

He lifted the book and pressed the button beneath it, which unlocked the façade.

He opened the trap door, It had a separate small battery powering its circuit.

It was a small room, there was an assortment of wines and firearms to the side.

There was a small safe, he used his electrical key picker to quickly open it.

There were two gold bars and a file. There was also a USB drive tucked away in the corner in a plastic bag.

The file had ten rings, Japanese words inscribed in each of them and two knives or swords at the center.

'Bingo!'

0:20 seconds left.

He cleared the safe and went outside the office and started climbing the walls, making his way to the exit.

0:10 seconds left.

He got to the stairwell in ten seconds flat.

The guard must have gone to check the generator room. He activated the cloak mode again and made a run for it. Just as he reached the top of the building, the power came back. He used the ID card to open the exit door.

When the cold air hit his face, relief flooded his body. After all, a vulture cannot fly indoors.

He went to the nearest edge, and just before he jumped, he had a sudden urge to look back at the building once more. His anger flared at the sight of the terrible construction.

"You took everything away from me, STARK. Now watch as I take everything from your son!" He yelled out.

"Hey who's that!" One of the security guards heard him and was approaching the source of his voice.

'It's too late for you to do anything about it!' He flipped the guard off, who could barely make him out. He leapt from the edge of the building before the guard could get any closer.

As his body began accelerating downward and the wind grew stronger, his wings came out. The mechanical wings used wind resistance to fly safely to the rendezvous point.

'Heh, like taking candy from a baby!'

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