Parker was bold, taking a risk that nobody had anticipated. After all, the threat was already standing right at their doorstep. Yet, seeing Tony's close attention focused entirely on Parker, the surrounding crowd gradually let go of their lingering worries.
In the captured frame, Parker crouched silently in the shadows behind the two men. While the duo conducted a cursory sweep of the area, they couldn't help but voice their frustrations.
"Can you imagine what the boss would say if he knew where we were? It's saying there was an energy pulse here."
They rummaged aimlessly around the room, shuffling items on and off the central table.
"There's no sign of the weapon. And even if it was here, now it's gone," the bald man muttered helplessly, staring down at his scanning instrument.
"So are we."
The second the bald man turned his head back, his eyes widened. The table in front of him was entirely bare, and an empty chair nearby was still slowly swaying back and forth. Reacting instantly, he drew his pistol, holding his breath as he waited in tense silence.
Beneath that very table, Parker was clinging upside down to the underside, his palms stuck firmly to the wooden surface. Neither of the men noticed his presence. Just as they gave up and prepared to head upstairs, Parker flicked his wrist, popping a tiny locator out and cleanly attaching it to one of their jackets.
The screen flickered, shifting the perspective directly into Parker's bedroom.
Ned sat on the edge of the bed, holding a compact device in his hands. A vivid, holographic projection snapped into existence above it, casting a soft blue glow across the room. The visual rendered a detailed hemisphere of the Earth, featuring a single, pulsing red dot that flickered near the coast, the exact real-time location of the tracker.
Ned stared at the hovering display in absolute shock. "This is so awesome."
"I know, right?" Peter grinned.
This cutting-edge location-tracking tech didn't just stun Ned; it thoroughly astounded the entire population of the Terra Federation watching the broadcast. Every single frame revealed technological advancements far beyond their current capabilities. Just when they believed they had seen it all, a new wonder would invariably appear to shatter their expectations.
Parker lightly tapped the holographic interface, and the map instantly magnified, pinpointing a specific metropolitan area.
"They're in Brooklyn."
"Staten Island."
The two teenagers closely monitored the trajectory of the signal pinging across the screen.
"Leaving Jersey."
Meanwhile, Parker inspected the web-launching mechanisms attached to his brand-new gear.
Suddenly, the tracking device emitted a sharp, rhythmic beep. Ned bolted up from the bed, bringing the display closer. "They stopped."
Parker hung upside down from the ceiling, resting his chin in his hand. "Huh. Maryland?"
At this point, Ned had pulled Spider-Man's fabric hood over his head, adjusting it curiously. "What's there?"
"I don't know. Evil lair? Heh."
"They have a lair?"
"A gang with alien guns... run by a guy with wings? Yeah."
Ned nodded in agreement. "Badass. But how are you gonna get there if it's, like, 300 miles away?"
Their eyes simultaneously drifted toward the flyer sitting on the desk, an announcement for their school's upcoming Academic Decathlon match. By pure coincidence, the national competition was hosted right in Washington, D.C.
"It's not too far from D.C." The two boys exchanged a quick glance, a silent understanding instantly forming between them.
In the live stream chat, the barrage of comments exploded with activity:
"I'm dying, that fat guy put on Spider-Man's hood and instantly turned into a chubby spider!"
"Parker is still way too impulsive. How can he act alone at a time like this?"
"He completely forgot what Tony warned him about!"
"Well, young and frivolous, isn't everyone like that at his age?"
"I seriously doubt he'll actually pull this off without getting into deep trouble later."
The morning arrived for the school bus to depart for Washington, D.C. Outside the building, students gathered in their official school uniforms, running through last-minute drills and reviewing flashcards.
Parker sprinted up from the sidewalk, carrying a heavy backpack over his casual clothes, completely skipping the uniform.
"Hey, it's Peter," someone called out.
Parker offered a wave. "Guys."
"Peter?"
"I was hoping I could rejoin the team."
Flash immediately stepped forward, his expression full of irritation. "No, no way. You can't quit on us... stroll up and be welcomed back by everyone."
The teacher turned around, surprised, but a warm smile quickly broke across his face. "Hey, welcome back! Flash, you're back to first alternate."
Flash's jaw dropped in disbelief. "What?"
"He's taking your place," the teacher reiterated smoothly.
Eugene couldn't swallow this reality. Just two nights prior, he had openly mocked Parker at an event. Now, at the most critical juncture of the national tournament, Parker had seamlessly reclaimed his starting spot, shoving him back to the bench.
The surrounding teammates burst into stifled laughter at Flash's expense.
"Excuse me, can we go already?"
Liz walked over carrying her bag, glancing over at the instructor. "I was hoping to get in some protesting in front of an embassy before dinner."
The teacher smiled approvingly. "Protesting is patriotic. Let's get on the bus."
Enraged, Flash ripped off his team jacket and hurled it violently at Parker's chest.
On the highway, the interior of the bus was lively with preparation. Liz held a stack of practice cards, quizzing the team one by one. Seeing Parker answer effortlessly, she offered a genuine smile. "Very good, Peter. Glad to have you back."
"Glad to be back," Parker replied, adjusting his collar.
Suddenly, his phone vibrated violently. Parker glanced at the caller ID: Happy.
"Can I take this real quick?"
"Yeah, fine," Liz nodded.
Parker slipped toward the rear of the bus to answer.
Happy's voice barked through the speaker without missing a beat. "Got a blip on my screen here. You left New York?"
Parker immediately realized the suit's built-in tracker was reporting his location. "Yeah, it's just a school trip. It's, uh, nothing. Happy, I gotta say, tracking me without permission... is a complete violation of privacy."
Nearby, Ned pointed subtle fingers toward the custom tracker in his own hand. Parker lowered his voice to a hushed whisper. "That's different."
Happy frowned on the other end. "What's different?"
"Nothing!" Parker stammered quickly. "Nothing. Look, it's just the Academic Decathlon."
Happy grunted. "Hey, hey. I'll decide if it's no big deal." He paused, his tone shifting back to its usual stern composure. "Sounds like no big deal, but remember, I'm watching you."
This sudden shift in Happy's attitude brought laughter to millions of viewers. Even though he was merely Tony's assistant, his comedic presence held a special place in everyone's hearts.
Soon, the bus pulled up to the hotel near the competition site. While the rest of the team gathered to check in, Parker leaned toward Ned and whispered, "Hey, you brought your laptop, right?"
Ned blinked. "Why?"
Parker pulled Ned straight up to their hotel room, dumping the contents of his backpack onto the bed before pulling out the folded spider suit. Ned pulled out his laptop without delay, plugging a connection cable straight into the suit's interface.
Grabbing a flashlight, a pair of tweezers, and a small screwdriver, Parker set to work physically dismantling the suit's internal tracker, while Ned bypassed the software blocks on his screen.
"Peter... why are we removing the tracker from your suit?"
"Uh... I gotta follow these guys to their boss before they move again... and I don't really want Mr. Stark to know about it," Parker explained, carefully twisting a tiny screw loose.
Ned stared at him. "So you're lying to Iron Man now?"
"No, I'm not lying!" Parker replied anxiously. "He just doesn't really get what I can do yet."
With a delicate pinch, Parker extracted a microchip from the fabric. "Ah... Gotcha."
He promptly set the tracking chip directly under a nearby desk lamp. "All right, Happy, enjoy tracking this lamp."
Ned's eyes widened as line after line of code flashed across his screen. "There's a ton of other subsystems in here... But they're all disabled... by the Training Wheels Protocol."
"Hmm?" Parker leaned over, his brow furrowing. "What? 'Training Wheels Protocol'? Turn it off."
Ned hesitated, shaking his head with a timid smile. "I don't think it's good that these subsystems are disabled for a reason."
Parker threw his hands up in frustration. "Come on, man, I don't need training wheels! I'm sick of him treating me like a kid all the time. It's not cool." He bounded onto the mattress, pacing back and forth restlessly.
"But you are a kid," Ned pointed out plainly.
"A kid who can stop a bus with his bare hands!" Parker retorted instantly.
Ned sighed. "Peter, I just don't think this is a great idea. I mean, what if this is illegal?"
Parker dropped to his knees beside Ned, begging desperately. "Look, please. This is my chance to prove myself. I can handle it. Ned, come on."
When Ned kept shaking his head, Parker leaned in close, using his ultimate leverage: "The guy in the chair."
"Don't do that."
"Come on!"
Ned let out a defeated breath. With a few rapid keystrokes, a bright ripple of light swept across the entire surface of the suit; the Training Wheels Protocol was officially overridden.
In the Administration, many couldn't help but chuckle at Parker's antics.
"Looks like he's going through quite a rebellious phase."
"Still, for middle school students to possess such high-level programming talent is impressive."
"We are truly behind them in terms of raw technical exposure, largely because our Terra Federation has enjoyed peace for far too long."
Johan stared at the display, his gaze clouded with a quiet, sorrowful nostalgia. "The opposing party is clearly dangerous, armed with advanced alien weaponry. If Parker heads out there all by himself, I fear he is walking straight into disaster."
Johan vividly recalled the heart-wrenching agony on Tony's face when he held Parker's fading body in that future projection. If anything happened to Parker now, Tony's heart would shatter all over again.
The Director spoke up softly: "In order to protect Spider-Man, Tony went out of his way to install that training wheels protocol. He truly cares for the boy."
Having donned his suit following the override, Parker checked the hallway through a crack in the door.
"The glowy thing, it's evidence. Keep it safe. All right?" Parker instructed, placing the purple crystal retrieved from the alien weapon into Ned's hands.
Ned stuffed the crystal securely into his backpack and nodded. "Okay. Okay."
Parker activated the wrist device, tracking the moving red dot. "They're moving."
"Be careful."
Closing the door behind him, Parker turned right into Liz, who was wearing a swimsuit and heading toward the hotel pool with several classmates. "Hey, Liz."
"Perfect timing. We're gonna go swimming," she invited warmly. "Come on, come on, come on."
"What?"
The rest of the team ran forward.
"Hey, Peter."
"Hi"
"Hey." Parker desperately wanted to join them, but remembering his mission, he suppressed his desire and shook his head in refusal. "I was, uh... I was gonna go study in the business center."
"You don't need to. You're the smartest guy I've ever met. And besides... um, a rebellious group activity the day before competition is good for morale."
"Hmm?"
"Um, well, I read that in a TED Talk, so... I... I heard it in a TED Talk. And I read a coaching book."
"Wow, you really... This is really important to you."
"Yeah. It's our future. I'm not gonna screw it up. Besides, we raided the minibar, and these candy bars were, like, $11. So get your trunks on and come on."
"Come on." The other said.
Liz said, "I'm coming, I'm coming."
"Let's go."
Standing outside on the glass exterior of the building, he watched through the window as Liz and her friends splashed around happily. A firm, resolute determination settled into his eyes. He couldn't share those mundane teenage pleasures right now; he had a far greater responsibility to fulfill.
Viewer comments flooded the feed:
"If it were me, I would've gone swimming without a second thought!"
"Spider-Man is truly stepping up to shoulder his duty."
"Most of us fall far short of his selflessness."
"With great power comes great responsibility... that is precisely why Tony chose him."
"Exactly! All those comments saying he just got lucky with a rich benefactor, have you ever stopped to ask yourselves why you don't deserve a mentor like Tony?"
Sighing quietly, Parker pulled his mask down over his face. Instantly, the suit came alive in a way it never had before. The spider emblem on his chest emitted a soft glow, and a crisp, synthetic voice echoed directly into his ears.
"Good evening, Peter."
Parker jumped. "Hello? Hello?"
"Congratulations on completing the Training Wheels Protocol..." the voice stated pleasantly.
Parker's vision transformed instantly. A sweeping array of holographic interfaces and tactical readouts overlapped across his lens, capturing ambient parameters and displaying live data streams.
"And gaining access to your suit's full capabilities."
"Ah, thank you." Spider-Man stammered, overwhelmed.
"Where would you like to take me tonight?" the suit AI asked.
Parker caught his breath. "I put a tracker on someone. He's a bad guy."
"Tracker located." A dynamic map of the area flashed onto his HUD, highlighting the target's trajectory with a bright red vector line.
"Plotting course to intercept target."
Parker adapted remarkably fast. "As long as I make it back in time for decathlon, it's fine."
He launched a web strand, swinging onto the roof of a passing transport truck.
Over at Essen Heavy Industries Group, Astor watched the suit's diagnostic display with deep fascination.
"It seems we could integrate some of these dynamic system modules into our own military projects," Astor noted thoughtfully. "Compared to the Nano Suits or the Mark series, this Spider suit offers incredible system integration."
His team nodded in unified agreement. The seamless artificial intelligence interface was something they all envied.
"When we have time, we should link our network directly with the AI system; it would greatly optimize our operations," Astor added with a smile. However, he didn't realize that the current state of the suit was still only its most basic configuration.
Astor then sighed, shaking his head. "Still, Spider-Man's actions this time are far too reckless. Heroes are truly destined to be alone... To be honest, I wouldn't want to be a hero at all; I just want to be my own person."
The viewers felt a wave of profound respect. Time after time, Parker gave up normal teenage happiness to uphold righteousness, swallowing his inner desires to stand guard over others.
Clinging tightly to the metal plating of the truck to withstand the biting wind, Parker listened as his AI assistant alerted him: "One hundred meters from destination and closing. Jump now."
Parker dropped cleanly into the roadside brush, creeping stealthily through the treeline. The suit's scanning array automatically highlighted enemy positions ahead. "Detecting three individuals."
Parker peered through the foliage toward a dilapidated facility near a gas station. "Why is their secret lair in a gas station? That's so lame."
Scrambling up a high billboard overlooking the road, he secured a clear line of sight.
"Hey, suit lady, what are they doing?"
"Do you want to hear what they're saying?" the AI asked.
"I can hear what they're saying? Uh, yeah."
"Activating Enhanced Reconnaissance Mode." The directional audio zoomed in, amplifying the faint voices inside the vehicle below.
"I got the gauntlet from the Lagos cleanup. The rest is my design."
"Can't believe they're still cleaning up... that Triskelion mess."
"I love it. They keep making messes; we keep getting rich."
"Target inbound."
"Whoa, that's so cool." Parker blinked in shock.
"Whoa, they're in the middle of a heist. I could catch them red-handed. This is awesome." Parker whispered excitedly. This was his chance to stop a major crime! "Okay, I'll get closer to see what's happening."
"Would you like me to engage Enhanced Combat Mode?" the AI offered.
"Uh, 'Enhanced Combat Mode'? Yeah."
"Activating Instant Kill." Instantly, Parker's HUD locked onto a single point, and the wide eye-lenses of his mask narrowed into sharp, lethal slits. A dangerous crimson light ignited within the optics.
"No, no, no. I don't want to kill anybody." Parker panicked, waving his arms wildly.
"Deactivating Instant Kill." The lenses expanded back to their friendly white appearance.
Chat comments immediately flared up:
"Whoa! I didn't expect the suit to have an instant-kill mode!"
"Is that his ultimate execution protocol?"
"The six mechanical spider legs on the Nano suit are the coolest, though!"
"True, but for the Civil War, this suit was already ridiculously overpowered."
"Why does he suddenly feel like a miniature Iron Man?"
Aiming at a distant flagpole to swing across, Parker fired a web, only for a limp blob to shoot out uselessly. He plummeted straight down, tumbling into the dirt.
The thud startled the men in the truck. "Did you hear that?"
"What the hell just happened? What was that?" Parker picked himself up, embarrassed.
"You jumped off the sign and landed on your face," the AI stated dryly.
Parker looked back up and triggered his web-shooter again. Instead of a single line, a massive, net-like web burst forth in all directions.
"What's wrong with my web-shooters?" Parker hissed, scrambling behind cover.
"Rapid-fire is the default for Enhanced Combat Mode," the AI explained.
"Why would I need rapid-fire?"
"Would you like to see more options?" Two massive virtual selection wheels materialized in his field of vision. "You have 576 possible web-shooter combinations."
Parker stared at the dizzying arrays. "Whoa, Mr. Stark really overdid it."
Down below, the bald man stepped out of the vehicle, holding a heavy gauntlet. "You two wait right here."
"Wait. You're gonna want to turn on the dampers. That thing will shatter your arm."
"All right, where's the dampers?"
Still cycling through options, Parker mumbled, "That one."
"Great choice. Would you like me to set this as your new default?"
"No, no, no."
The scene switches to the people who were talking in the car.
"Push that in. No, the other..."
"Here? This one here?"
Then, back to Peter. "What was that?"
"Taser webs," the suit announced as Parker launched an electrified strand onto the billboard above.
"Taser webs? I don't want Taser webs."
"You seem to be unfamiliar with your web-shooter settings. Would you like to run a refresher course?"
"No. Just... You choose!"
"Sure thing."
At that moment, a convoy of heavy trucks hummed down the main highway.
"Six-alpha-niner, are you running on time?"
"Copy, central. Six-alpha-niner on schedule."
The goons raised their binoculars. "I got a visual."
"Green light, green light."
A set of massive, mechanical steel wings swooped out of the night sky, soaring rapidly toward the lead truck.
Parker gasped as he spotted the Vulture overhead. "Oh, that's him."
"Okay. I got eyes on the convoy. Pulling in behind the caboose."
"Deploy anchors."
The Vulture hovered above the cargo container, deploying two steel anchors that clamped onto the roof, locking himself in perfect sync with the vehicle's speed. Pulling four compact emitter nodes from his gear, he tossed them onto the metal surface. A shimmering purple energy field erupted between the nodes, rendering the heavy steel plating completely intangible.
"Dropping down." Detaching from his wing rig, the Vulture dropped cleanly through the phase-door into the truck's interior.
"No outgoing distress signals. You're clear."
"Hey. Looks like they got some good stuff here."
Parker leaped onto the roof, touching the glowing purple boundary. "Whoa, cool. It's like some kind of matter phase shifter."
"All right, coming up." The Vulture jumped up.
Reaching inside with a web line, Parker snagged the bag the Vulture was carrying. "Hey, Big Bird. This doesn't belong to you!"
The Vulture's green-lit visor snapped toward him. "Oh, God."
Springing back out, he reattached to his wings and charged Parker with terrifying force.
Parker tried to fire a web, but the line split into two erratic strands.
"Suit lady, what was that?"
"You told me to choose."
"What? No, just set everything back to normal."
"Activating all systems." Before Parker could fix his settings, the Vulture slammed into him, kicking him viciously into the cargo container. The four nodes collapsed inward, tumbling into the truck alongside him and instantly sealing the ceiling shut.
Expecting open air, Parker tried to jump, hitting his head against the solid roof with a heavy thud that knocked him unconscious.
The audience watched in stunned silence.
"Did he just get locked inside an armored vault?"
"Is that civilian gang really using phase-shifting technology?!"
"If I had that, I could walk through any wall in the world!"
"Alien tech is terrifying... Compared to them, our Terra Federation looks like elementary school kids!"
The jostling of the truck eventually brought Parker back to his senses. Rubbing his head, he sat up groaningly. "My head."
"You appear to have a mild concussion," The suit reported softly.
Parker looked around at the pitch-black cargo bay. "Hey, so where am I right now?"
"I'm not sure. The container walls are hindering my sensors."
"Wait a minute. They must have hijacked the truck and taken me to their evil lair," Parker deduced solemnly. "Okay, suit lady, we're gonna have to fight our way out of this one."
Backing up, he braced himself and charged the rear doors. "Three, two, one."
He slammed through the doors, expecting an open highway, only to find himself inside a vast, cavernous underground vault surrounded by reinforced concrete walls. "What is this place? Suit lady, where am I?"
"You're in the most secure facility on the Eastern Seaboard. The Damage Control deep-storage vault."
Parker looked up at the towering, impenetrable steel doors and collapsed against a crate. "No. Seriously? Argh!"
Desperate, he leaped to the frame, attempting to pry the heavy mechanism open with his bare hands. The solid steel didn't budge an inch.
"The door will most likely remain closed until morning," The suit noted.
"Morning?!"
In utter defeat, Parker spun a large web hammock across two containers, slumping onto it. "Hey, suit lady. I kind of feel bad calling you "suit lady," you know? I think I should probably give you a name. Like Liz. No, no, no. God, that's... That's weird. What about Karen?"
"You can call me Karen if you would like."
Hanging upside down from his feet, Parker opened a textbook to pass the time. "Hey, Karen, what else can this suit do?"
"What?" A pair of web-wings deployed from his underarms. "Maybe we should run that refresher course."
Over the next few hours, Parker meticulously ran through the suit's arsenal: Bounce Net, Web Grenade, Splitter Web, etc. Eventually, he lay back down, staring up at the concrete ceiling. "Should I tell Liz that I'm Spider-Man?"
"Who is Liz?" Karen asked.
"Who's Liz? Heh. She's... Heh, heh, She's the best. She's awesome." Parker smiled softly. "She's just a girl who goes to my school. And, uh... Yeah, I just... I really want to tell her, but it's kind of weird, you know? 'Hey, I'm Spider-Man.'"
"What's weird about that?"
"What if she's expecting someone like Tony Stark? Imagine how disappointed she'd be when she sees me."
"Well, if I were her, I wouldn't be disappointed at all," Karen replied smoothly.
Parker smiled softly. "Thanks, Karen. It's really nice to have somebody to talk to. Hey, how long we been here anyways?"
"Thirty-seven minutes."
Parker sat up and screamed in frustration. "What? Thirty-seven minutes? That's insane. I cannot take this anymore. I got to... I gotta get out of here."
He thought hours had passed, but it was barely over half an hour. Yet those short, vulnerable moments resonated deeply with the millions watching across the Terra Federation.
"There's got to be something in here I can use. Okay, let's see. Nope. That's awesome. Oh." Refusing to sit idle, Parker searched his dropped backpack, pulling out the metallic alien component he had retrieved earlier. The core pulsed with an eerie purple glow. "Hey, it's like the glowy thing."
"That glowy thing is an explosive Chitauri energy core," Karen identified instantly.
Parker nearly dropped it. "Y-You mean, we've been carrying around a bomb? "
"It would require radiation to transform it into an explosive state," Karen explained.
"No, no, no." Parker's heart stopped. Ned had the second, smaller crystal in his school bag. He pulled out his phone, but the underground vault blocked all cellular reception.
"Hey! Please! Please, somebody let me out! Hey!" He leaped to the door, pounding furiously against the steel, but no one heard him.
Spotting the electronic door console, Parker called out, "Karen, you have to help me override that time lock. Okay, Karen, lower the voltage and run it. Trial unsuccessful. Okay, we're just gonna have to try every sequence."
Meanwhile, at the Academic Decathlon venue in D.C., the competition was about to begin. Ned paced nervously, checking his watch for Parker.
"Ned, Peter, we're gonna be late. Come on, let's go."
"Okay. Uh, hold on, hold on." When the call came to head to the stage, Ned hurriedly grabbed his backpack, with the purple crystal tucked inside, and rushed out to join the team.
"Initiating trial 247. It worked. It works." After dozens of failed code combinations, the massive vault door finally hissed open. Parker sprinted out, jumping onto a passing delivery truck while frantically dialing Ned's number.
"Please be sure all cell phones are turned off. Thank you." However, the team was already on stage, their phones switched off per official rules.
"Karen, get me to Decathlon as fast as possible," Parker yelled as he leaped across moving vehicles.
"Sure thing. Just tell me where it is."
"Across the street from the Washington Monument."
"It's Ned. Leave a message." The call went straight to Ned's voicemail. "Call me back. The glowy thing's a bomb!"
"There's a vehicle approaching on your right."
At the tournament, the intense final round reached its climax.
"We have now entered sudden death. The next correct answer wins the championship."
"Midtown Tech?"
"Zero."
"That is correct. Midtown takes the championship." With a brilliant final answer from MJ, they secured the national championship victory. Celebratory cheers erupted.
"Woo-hoo! We won."
"You guys, I am so proud of you."
To celebrate, the teacher arranged an immediate tour of the famous Washington Monument tower.
"Told you we didn't need Peter."
"Flash, you didn't answer a question."
Parker finally arrived at the city limits, leaping onto a local transit bus just as his phone call finally reconnected. "Oh, Ned, you're alive."
Ned answered, startled. "Peter, are you okay?"
"Where's the glowy thing? The glowy thing?" Parker panted.
Standing at the security entrance of the monument, Ned whispered, "It's safe. It's in my backpack."
"Ned, listen, the glowy thing is dangerous!" Before Ned could process the warning, he placed his backpack directly onto the X-ray scanner's conveyor belt.
"You missed the decathlon. I covered for you. We're at the Washington Monument."
Liz snatched the phone away. "Peter, is that you?"
"Hey, Liz."
"Is that Liz?"
"Put Ned back on the phone."
"You should tell her how you feel."
"You flake. You are lucky we won." Liz scolded. "I want to be mad, but I'm more worried. Like, what is going on with you?"
"I have to talk to Ned. It's important!"
"All items on the belt, please."
Liz set the phone onto the belt and walked through the metal detector. Inside the security scanner, intense X-ray beams passed directly through Ned's backpack, striking the unstable Chitauri energy core. Deep within the core, the quiet purple light flared, surging into a chaotic, volatile reaction.
"There's something in Ned's backpack. It's dangerous. Don't let it go through an X-ray." The signal sputtered and died. "Liz? Liz! Damn it."