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Spider-Man...
No.
The Spider has finally come online.
Hawk watched Peter's pupils rapidly contract and felt a sense of satisfaction.
Truthfully, the reason he had stayed out of the fight in the locker room and ignored Peter on the bus wasn't just because he wanted to avoid the tragedy that always follows superheroes. It was also because he didn't want his interference to prevent the original Spider-Man from ever existing.
There were three versions of Spider-Man.
And Hawk's favorite, by far, was this one—the one with the "Bully Maguire" face.
Having processed all of this, Hawk looked at Peter Parker, who was still staring at him as if in a daze, and was the first to speak.
"Afternoon, Peter."
"...Afternoon."
Bully Maguire snapped out of it, his expression reverting to its usual mild-mannered look. After greeting Hawk, he turned to Gwen. "Gwen."
Gwen had seen the intense look that had passed between Hawk and Peter.
It piqued her curiosity, but she pushed the thought aside and smiled. "Hey, Peter. I heard you gave Flash a run for his money yesterday."
The previous day at lunch, Peter and Flash Thompson had caused a scene in the cafeteria.
Gwen hadn't been there, but she'd heard from others that Peter had been like a completely different person, leaving the jock utterly humiliated.
Peter didn't say anything, just scratched his head and smiled.
Gwen took the hint and didn't press. She just gave him an encouraging thumbs-up. "It's about time you fought back. Good for you, Peter."
Peter's shy smile grew wider.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Mrs. Snow clapped her hands together. "Peter, have a seat." Once Peter had taken a seat on the sofa opposite Hawk and Gwen, she walked back to her desk and picked up three folders.
After a moment.
She handed one of the folders to Gwen. "A summer internship offer. Lab assistant in Dr. Connors's lab at Oscorp Industries."
Gwen's eyes lit up as she took the folder. "Thanks, Mrs. Snow. Dr. Connors just told me yesterday that he'd be in touch with the school. I didn't expect it to be this fast."
She could have gotten the internship without the official paperwork, of course.
But having this on file would look great on her college applications.
Mrs. Snow then looked at Hawk and Peter. "I have two other summer job offers, but I wasn't sure which one you'd prefer, so I figured I'd just call you both in and let you choose."
As she was about to continue, Hawk raised his hand, interrupting her.
"Wait, Mrs. Snow."
"What is it, Hawk?"
"I'm still not sure why I'm here."
"..."
Mrs. Snow blinked, then looked at Hawk's genuinely confused expression. "Did you forget our conversation in my office last month?"
Hawk's eyes widened slightly as he tried to recall their last one-on-one counseling session.
It had been a routine meeting.
Except...
Right as he was about to leave, Mrs. Snow had asked him about his plans for the summer, if he was looking for a job.
Hawk had told her he hadn't found anything yet, and Mrs. Snow had offered to help him look.
He hadn't thought much of it at the time, but had agreed.
After all, he really hadn't found a summer job yet.
As the memory returned, Hawk drew in a sharp breath.
Mrs. Snow chuckled at his expression.
"Remember now?"
"Yeah."
Hawk nodded.
Mrs. Snow smiled, then got back to business, holding up the two remaining folders. "One is also from Oscorp, a summer position in their Bio-Electricity Department. They need someone to help with filing and data entry. The other is from the Daily Bugle. They're also looking for a summer intern."
Neither job sounded particularly glamorous.
And they weren't.
But if you were to just walk in off the street, both Oscorp and the Daily Bugle would tell you they weren't hiring.
These weren't just two job openings, they were favors for Mrs. Snow.
In other words:
The only way to get these jobs was with the official paperwork she was holding.
Peter Parker instinctively looked at Hawk.
"Hawk, you want to choose first?"
"I..."
Hawk was about to tell Mrs. Snow that he wasn't planning on working this summer, but then a thought struck him. He changed his mind mid-sentence. "I'll take the one at Oscorp."
He had just remembered the paper by Dr. Connors on gamma radiation.
This was perfect.
He had been trying to figure out a way to meet with Dr. Connors, and now, an opportunity had just fallen into his lap.
Peter, seeing that Hawk had made his choice, looked at Mrs. Snow. "Then I'll take the Daily Bugle. I like taking pictures."
You sure do.
Hawk thought to himself, hearing Peter's words.
Mrs. Snow didn't care about their internal thoughts. Seeing that they had both made their choices, she handed them their respective folders and gave them their instructions.
"Peter."
"Yeah?"
"When you go to the Daily Bugle, ask for Mr. J. Jonah Jameson. Just give him this folder, and he'll get you set up."
"Okay."
"Hawk."
"Mrs. Snow."
"When you get to Oscorp, go to the Bio-Electricity Engineering department and ask for an engineer named Max Dillon. I'll call his supervisor ahead of time to let them know you're coming."
"Got it."
Hawk nodded, his expression unchanging, though the name registered.
Max Dillon?
Isn't that the guy from The Amazing Spider-Man 2? The nobody engineer who thinks the whole world ignores him, falls into a tank of electric eels, and becomes Electro?
Hawk shook the thought from his head.
He was far more interested in Dr. Connors's gamma radiation research than some future villain.
After all—
He had a feeling that the 'Gammanium' he was looking for was directly connected to whatever Dr. Connors was working on.
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