67 Rescue Fire / Breaking News

Midtown High (Thursday)

After school, Ned suggested that all of us should hang out together as a group. After a brief discussion, we finally decided to head to the nearest McDonald. Felicia is next to me with her arm linked with mine, MJ is walking beside Peter who is helping her to carry a stack of library books (it seems that their relationships is slowly blossoming) and Ned is walking beside us.

"Guys, we need to bring in another girl into the group. I feel like a lamp pole" Ned grumbled slightly.

As all of us joke about who we should bring into the group to accompany Ned, I caught Peter stifling several yawn. Even though the crime rates has reduce drastically and that police can handle their jobs, Peter still insist to go out to patrol the streets as Spiderman.

MJ noticed this concernedly asked "Are you alright, Peter? You have trouble sleeping again?"

Peter nervously replied "I can't sleep so I went for a jog last night",

"Is that so?" MJ asked him with a hint of a smile on her face.

"Ya, could be because of male puberty" Peter answered while laughing nervously.

Listening in on their conversation, I have to admit watching Peter trying to find an excuse make life a little more interesting from time to time but I believe he need to take it easy. Maybe as Nightwing, I could give him some advice. Peter did his superhero's duties as if he held the weight of the whole world on his shoulders and took it too seriously.

I glance at Felicia who is giving advice to Ned on how to pick up girls, at least she know how to prioritize.

"Oh my God!" Ned suddenly shouted while pointing his finger at a certain direction.

Our eyes widen slightly as we could see in the distance an apartment building on fire. Without another words, we quickly run toward the scene.

Arriving there, we could see the top few floors of the apartment on fire. The firemen with their firetrucks are at the scene trying to fight off the fire, the policemen had cornered off the area and the paramedics are taking care of the victims that have been brought out of the building.

There are a lot of peoples, including a few news vans nearby reporting on the fire.

"I hope everyone got out safely" Felicia said concernedly while looking at the burning building.

Distracted by a large commotion, we turned to see a few police officers trying to hold back a woman covered black with soot. "Ma'am, you can't go in there! It is too dangerous!" one of the police officers shouted.

"You don't understand! My daughter is still in there! Please! She is at the seventh floor! She is just over there!" the woman shouted back desperately with tears streaming down her face.

Felicia is the first to speak up "Can't we do anything?" before clearing her throat saying "I mean shouldn't they do something?" feeling frustrated.

Ned suddenly interrupted us saying "Wait, where is Peter?"

"Err....he left... he said he can't stand watching such depressing scene" MJ answered hesitatingly. Hearing this I knew everything will be alright.

Suddenly someone in the crowd yelled out "It's Spiderman!" Felicia sighed in relieved.

"It will be okay, Felicia!" I said trying to reassure her.

"I know!" Felicia replied as she squeeze my hand tightly.

...........

Eddie Brock was nearby when the fire happen so he decided head to the scene to capture a few pictures. As he arrive on scene and started taking photos, he heard a loud shout from the crowd "It's Spiderman!". Looking upward, Eddie grinned to himself as he excitedly aim his camera to capture the whole scene.

.........

Peter's POV

Hearing the desperate cry of the woman, Peter quickly run towards the nearest alley. After making sure the alley is empty, he quickly climbed up to the top of the building and change into his Spiderman costume.

Jumping off the rooftop, he started web slinging his way towards the burning building. He ignored the shouting crowd and smashed through one of the seventh floor's windows.

Flame and smoke is all over the place, making it harder to see. Spiderman shouted "Hey, kid where are you! If you can hear me, yell out for me! Hurry, it is dangerous here!" as he start searching all over the place.

Racing against time, Spiderman finally found the little girl unconscious in a closet. Feeling greatly concern, he wasted no time and quickly picked her up into his arms saying "Hey, kid! Wake up!".

The little girl moan slightly but remain unconscious. Spiderman sigh in relieve as he quickly held the little girl close and head to the nearest window. Jumping out of the window, Spiderman fired his web lining and landed safely on the ground.

Her mother run towards him shouted "Amy!" quickly take the little girl into her arms.

The little girl slowly opened her eyes drowsily replied weakly "Mummy....?" her mother started crying in relieve.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for saving my daughter" the mother said thankfully. At the same moment, the reporters started surrounding him and started asking various questions.

Seeing this Spiderman said "I got to go! I think there is a kitten stuck in a tree somewhere that need saving!" before jumping into the air with the reporters shouting questions.

After making sure that he is out of sight, he quickly double back.

End of Peter's POV

.........

"Guys is the girl, alright? I heard Spiderman was here" Peter run towards us acting concern.

"Peter, are you alright?" MJ asked concernedly as she rushed towards him and hug him tightly.

"Errr... I am fine. Thanks, MJ" Peter replied looking slightly confuse.

MJ realizing her mistake quickly release Peter said "Good" before slapping his shoulder hard and walking away blushing embarrassingly.

Ned rushed towards Peter saying "Hey, man! You missed it. It was awesome. Spiderman came swinging in like this!!!! Thwip! Thwip! Thwip! ... Wait you smell like ash!".

"Errr.... I....." Peter said before stunning in silence. Felicia stared at Peter suspiciously while I try my best not to laugh at them.

MJ quickly interrupted "Did you go downwind! You need to go back and take a good shower, Peter. You stink!".

"Yeah, hahaha!" Peter laughed nervously.

Felicia lean her head against my chest saying "I am glad everything turn out alright!" before she look towards the little girl and her mother who is taken care by the paramedics.

"Yeah..... the world needed heroes. Heroes that others could look up to, heroes that help make world a little more safer and heroes that help give people hope so that they can hang on to their live a little bit longer..." I replied softly to myself.

Hearing my words, Felicia looked at me with a surprised expression said "That.... is beautiful" before looking away with a determine expression continued "I will protect you" she whispered under her breath as she hug me tightly.

As I held Felicia in my arms, I continue watching MJ and Ned talking with Peter about Spiderman's rescue.

.........

30 minutes later.....

J. Jonah Jameson is live on air said "Spiderman 'Hero or Menace' " as he pause for dramatic effect.

"Nowadays it seems like the general population are becoming more infatuated with the fantasy of heroes coming through those doors, windows, roofs, or anywhere out of the blue just to save us. But you must ask yourself this.... are heroes truly someone who can be there within an instant to save the day? That's the question that we must ask the so called 'superhero' known as Spider-Man" J. Jonah Jameson continued on as he gestured his fingers when he say superhero.

"What do we know about him? This man appears out of nowhere, to rescue people but there is a possibility that he could be a criminal who hide his crimes behind all the rescue he make. If Spiderman and the Defenders want to be 'superheroes' tell me why they need to hide their face from us" J. Jonah Jameson argued on.

"The police officers are split on the decision on whether or not Spider-Man is a hero or a criminal. One might think that the officers of New York City might feel some sort of gratitude towards Spiderman because of his actions. Why we need policemen to patrol the streets if we need superheroes to safe the day?" J. Jonah Jameson said as he pound the table to make a point.

" I always believe that perhaps people with super powers like Spider-Man merely want to showed off their abilities. Witnesses claim that Spiderman and his friends felt the responsibility to use their powers to help people. Why does he feel that it is his responsibility to use his powers to help people? Did he do something with his powers and end up regretting it? We don't know since he hide behind his mask" J. Jonah Jameson said arrogantly.

"I admit Spiderman has done a lot of courageous feats since his 'superhero' career began with many of the civilians and police officers are thankful for the web slinger. I still believe he and the other 'superheroes' are a menace to society, imagine knowing millions of dollars of our money is used to repair or rebuilds the damages of their battles" J. Jonah Jameson said while raising his voice angrily.

"Some people claim that he come to the rescue when we needed him the most, but the real reason is a harsh one. With every passing day the existence of superheroes in New York City is making it more dangerous with more the appearance of new villains" J. Jonah Jameson pointed out.

"Superheroes may be our only hope to stop the super powered criminals running rampant through out our once great city. But I believe if they want to help so much, why not just join the law enforcement or New York City's police department. So today, I will end my statement by saying Spiderman is and always have been a menace" J. Jonah Jameson ended the breaking news with a menacing smile.

......

As the Daily Bugle's Breaking News ended.