Homecoming: The Junior Novel

by Jim McCann

  “I got visual,” Shocker confirmed.

  I looked down one side of the road and up the other. About a mile away, I spotted their “bogey”—a cargo truck headed right into their trap.

  “Bogey confirmed,” Tinkerer said into his mic. “Green light, green light, Toomes.”

  Whatever was happening, it was about to go down any second. But why that truck? What could they—oh no, there it was!

  Swooping down from the sky was the winged monster from the lake. I barely registered Shocker saying, “Vulture, inbound.” So the demon had a name.

  The Vulture flew down until he was hovering just above the truck. He dropped some sort of device onto the roof. They were close enough now for me to see that the top of the cargo truck was vanishing!

  As the truck came closer, I swung onto the trailer and peeked into where the top had been. The Vulture was sifting through the cargo until he found what he was looking for: alien tech. He started to stash it in a bag. Okay, I’d seen enough. Time to spring my surprise.

  THWIP! I webbed his hand to his side, “clipping” his wing.

  “Hey,” I said, waving. “Remember me?”

  The next thing I knew, his other wing was swinging around, knocking my feet off the floor. He pulled out a huge knife and started to charge at me. Instinctively, I kicked at him. Hard. The Vulture went flying through the nonexistent roof. I started to lunge after him, but his wing knocked the device he’d used on the roof earlier, and in a second, the opening was gone. Unable to change course, I slammed headfirst into the ceiling.

  Okay, we have to stop meeting like this, I thought, just as I started to black out.…

  Bump. Thump. Slam. The sounds of metal hitting against metal woke me up. My head was pounding, and I could feel a giant bump on my forehead.

  I was stuck in some kind of cargo container. But it wasn’t moving. Wherever it was going, the delivery had been made. Or maybe we were stuck at a very long traffic light.

  I looked at the ceiling of the container. Maybe… if I… pushed…

  Guh. Nothing. No give at all.

  “How did he do that?” I muttered. How does a hole appear and then become solid again?!

  “Analysis determines it was some type of hybrid alien phasing technology,” my suit answered.

  “I don’t suppose I have a setting for phasing webs, do I?”

  “No.”

  Thanks a lot, Suit-Lady.

  I looked at the heaps of junk all around me. “What is all this stuff?”

  The suit didn’t take long to inventory my surroundings. “It appears to be debris from an area where alien or other exotic technology was used.”

  Then it hit me. “So that’s how he gets it; he steals from these guys. Question is, who are these guys?”

  I climbed over to the ventilation holes on the side of the container and peered through. A giant sign read DEPARTMENT OF DAMAGE CONTROL.

  My throat tightened. “What? Damage Control?! No, no, no, I can’t be in here!”

  My suit agreed. “It does seem unwise. Trespassers are prosecuted. Or shot.”

  “It’s worse than that—if they find me in here, Mr. Stark is gonna kill me!” I started to panic. I had to get out of here!

  I peeped outside again. “Is the coast clear?” I whispered.

  “I am not detecting any life-forms,” the suit replied.

  Okay, there was a door at the end of the container. All I had to do was push… hard… er… est. Nothing. Maybe a running start…

  WHOOF! I slammed into the door. It didn’t even dent.

  “Come on!” I complained, sitting down, defeated, not knowing what to do. I’d gone over everything a dozen times. I was stuck.

  But not alone.

  “I feel bad calling you ‘Suit-Lady,’” I said to my AI companion. “Should I give you a name? What about Karen?”

  Nothing.

  I flopped down and tried to get comfortable as the minutes turned into hours. Finally, after trying to re-create the New York skyline out of junk, something hit me. I started rummaging around. “Maybe there’s something in here I could use. That Vulture guy didn’t look like he was done dumpster-diving when I surprised him.”

  The mask’s eyes narrowed as the suit scanned the area. “There.” It lit up an object buried about a foot below me. Score! I started digging, and shortly after, I knew I had found it.

  “A glowy thing!” It was just like the one Ned and I cracked open.

  “A Chitauri energy source,” the suit explained. “Commonly found after the Battle of New York.”

  This was perfect. If I could pull it apart like the last one and aim it at the door…

  The suit interrupted my great escape plan. “If damaged, the energy source will emit a pulse,” she said.

  “Yeah, I know,” I replied.

  “Eventually it will purge all of its energy,” the suit finished.

  Purge all its… “You mean, like, explode?!”

  “The blast could damage the door, if that is your train of logic. However, in this confined space, you might be killed.”

  The glowy thing was a ticking time bomb once cracked, I realized. Ned and I had already cracked one open, which meant only one thing.…

  I had left an alien bomb with… “Ned!”

  CHAPTER 9

  Okay, was it time to panic yet? I had to warn Ned that the Chitauri-energy-source-alien-battery thing could go off at any moment. My best friend… Liz… the entire decathlon team… they were all in danger.

  And, of course, I had no cell service. Of course.

  I pounded on the door of the container, but it wouldn’t give. Turning in frustration, I sifted through the rubble and found some concrete blocks I could use as a brace. Wedging my back against them, I put my feet on the door and pressed as hard as I could. My thighs were burning, but I didn’t care. I… had… to… get… this… door…

  CRACK! The door flew off its hinges and hurled across the room.

  “YES!” I shouted. I was—

  Not free. At all. I was surrounded by concrete walls. There were no windows, only a door ten times as massive as the one I’d just barely broken free from. “Seriously?” I wondered. “What’s going on?”

  “You are in some kind of storage vault,” my suit replied. “The walls are solid concrete, and that door is three feet thick.”

  “Okay, sorry, Mr. Stark.” I sighed. “I know you said to keep a low profile, but I gotta get out!” I started banging on the door, but it only echoed through the room. My shouts for help bounced off the walls. I had given everything I had just to get out of that container. The suit was no help, and I was stuck, waiting.

  What must have been several hours later, I heard the door finally start to groan. It was opening! I leaped onto the wall above the door and sneaked out over the workmen’s heads as they entered. I had to act fast before they noticed—

  “Uh, guys…” said one of the workmen, pointing to the torn-off door of the container.

  It didn’t take long for the alarms to start blaring and the gates to shut. I raced out of the room as fast as I could before the whole facility went on lockdown. Swinging over a fence on the outer perimeter, I landed on top of a truck carrying big concrete tubes. Pulling up my holo-map, I checked to see if the truck was headed toward DC. It was. And I had service bars on my phone again!

  “Pick up, Ned! PickUpPickUpPickUp!” I yelled into my phone. Where could he be?

  “Peter?” I finally heard Ned answer. I’d never been so happy to hear his voice. “Are you okay? You missed the decathlon!”

  “Yeah, I was a little, um, stuck,” I said. “Ned, I need you to focus. Where is the glowy thing?” Every second counted. I had to know that he was far away from it in case—

  “Don’t worry, it’s safe,” Ned whispered back. Okay, safe was good. “I’ve got it in my backpack.” Not good!

  “What?! Ned where are you?”

  “We’re at the Washington Monument,” he informed me. Great. Hu
ge public space full of people. “Michelle is having some sort of sit-in and won’t go inside, but, Peter, you need to—”

  “Ned! Listen!” I cut him off. “You have to—” The rest of my sentence was lost in some fumbling on the other end, and I heard Liz telling Ned to “hand it over.”

  “Peter, is that you?” Liz asked. She was not happy.

  “Liz? Listen, I—”

  “You flake!” she continued. “You’re lucky we won anyway or I would—”

  I definitely wasn’t listening. There wasn’t time. “Liz,” I began, “I—”

  She interrupted me again, this time sounding concerned. “I want to be mad, but I’m really more worried, honestly. I mean, what is going on with you? You were weird last night, and nobody could find you today. Level with me: Is it drugs? That would explain a lot.”

  Drugs? No.

  Bad guys with alien tech? Yes.

  But I couldn’t explain that to her. “Liz, listen to me!”

  “Peter, we’re going through security,” she said before I could go on. “I gotta hang up. But you’re in big trouble. Mr. Harrington is not happy.”

  Then the line went dead.

  “Liz? Liz!” Shooooot. I tried dialing again, but Ned wasn’t picking up his phone, and time was running out. “Suit-Lady, scan the area for the fastest way to the Washington Monument!”

  I pictured Ned’s backpack making its way down the security conveyer belt. Would the security guard notice something suspicious, or would he just pass them off as a bunch of high-school geeks?

  Was the Chitauri battery starting to glow and pulse yet? Would anyone notice Ned’s bag turning purple? Or would they all be transfixed on oohing and aahing at the “world’s tallest obelisk”?

  Finally! I could see the Washington Monument! I leaped off the tour bus I’d been clinging to for the past however-long. Looking up, I saw the feet of Giant Abraham Lincoln. A looooooong rectangular pool separated me from the Washington Monument. Where were lampposts and tall buildings when you needed them? Only one choice: run!

  I sprinted along the pool toward the giant obelisk, but it didn’t seem to get any closer. “How long is this thing?” I groaned.

  “The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is two thousand and twenty—”

  “Wasn’t really asking, suit!” I said. I needed to lighten my load, so I hurled my backpack into a tree and webbed it there for safekeeping.

  About two thousand and twentysomething feet later, I finally reached the base of the Washington Monument, only to almost trip over Michelle.

  “Um,” I said in my Super Hero voice. “Where’s your class?”

  Michelle looked at me in shock and pointed up.

  How far up they were was what I needed to know. Suddenly, I had my answer, in the form of my worst fear.

  FWA-BOOM!

  A stream of purple energy lit up and burst out of the top of the Washington Monument.

  CHAPTER 10

  All around me people were screaming and running. Some were filming with their phones. I wanted to yell for them to stop, that those were my friends in there and they could be hurt, that it was partially my fault!

  Was I too late?

  “Suit-Lady! What happened? Are they okay?” I was desperate for any information.

  “Engaging sonar hyperthermal analysis,” the suit responded. It whirled quickly, and my mask’s view changed to almost an X-ray vision of the inside of the monument. Waaaaaay up at the top, I could see the elevator. A red circle appeared around it. That’s where Ned, Liz, and the others were. “All elevator occupants appear to be alive.”

  “Oh thank God.” I exhaled slightly.

  Then she continued: “For the next eight minutes and twenty seconds.”

  “What?!”

  “The elevator’s structural integrity has been compromised, and it will fall.”

  My mind was scrambling for a plan when a familiar voice shouted what I should’ve been thinking. “What are you doing?! Help them!” Michelle was still standing, wide-eyed, next to me.

  “Yeah, yeah, on it!” I said, not even bothering to use my Super Hero voice. There was no time—I had to get to the top of that monument!

  Oh boy. The monument was huge. I could barely see the top. “How tall is this thing?” I wondered out loud.

  “The Washington Monument is over five hundred and—”

  “Not really helping!” I took one more look and leaped onto the monument. The highest I’d ever climbed was six stories. This was over five hundred feet.

  And I needed to get to the top.

  In eight minutes.

  No problem.

  (Gulp.)

  From the hyperthermal analysis, it looked as if the elevator was about eight feet below the observation deck. Poor Ned and the others were probably so scared. Hopefully, they were close enough to the deck for park rangers to pry open the doors above them. They would have to be super careful—any sudden shift and the elevator could fall. It was only a matter of time either way. Were “alien bomb explosions” even covered in the training for the tour guides?

  “The safety systems are completely failing,” my suit informed me. Great. Could I catch a break and get some good news here? I kept climbing and climbing up the side of the monument. “The occupants are in imminent mortal danger. They will fall in seven minutes, twelve seconds.”

  “Not if I get there first,” I said through gritted teeth. The top looked as far away as ever. I looked down to see how much progress I had made. Five stories, maybe? Time to dig deep, Parker. I psyched myself up, quickening my pace.

  Please let them get Ned and Liz out safely, I thought. Who was I kidding? Flash would probably push to the front of the line. Whatever he did, he better not put my friends in greater danger.

  “You now have two minutes, fifteen seconds,” the suit updated me.

  “What?!” That meant the elevator could drop any second.

  “The structural deterioration has escalated.”

  Looking around, I was at a loss. All I could see was gray wall above and below me. “Whoa…” I groaned. Don’t worry about below. “I gotta get in there! How can we do that? Fast!”

  I heard a CLICK and a buzzing sound as the spider-symbol on my suit suddenly fell off… and started flying around me on its own!

  “Deploying reconnaissance drone. Searching for entry point.” My eyes started following the drone, amazed that it had been on me the whole time.

  “Eight observation windows have been located,” the suit said.

  “Great! Point me in the right direction, and let’s go!” I said, starting to move toward the nearest window.

  “There are three occupants remaining in the elevator.” Hmm, seems I was probably right about Flash. Three was a good number. I could handle three.

  I reached the window of the observation deck and kicked at it. Nothing. “C’mon!”

  “One minute, fifteen seconds,” the suit updated.

  I was just about to give the window another kick when—“Yipes!”

  A flock of birds flew past my face out of nowhere, and I found myself in a free fall off the ledge. Instinct kicked in, and I fired a web at the edge of the window. I slammed into the side of monument.

  “Thirty seconds.”

  Go time.

  I climbed back up and was just about to try to punch through the window when I heard a WHIP WHIP WHIP behind me and the wind picked up. Turning, I saw a police helicopter. Help! At last!

  Uh-oh. Maybe I spoke too soon. The police had snipers aiming my way! Did these guys not realize I was trying to rescue my friends? “Return to the ground immediately,” a voice rang out from a megaphone. Guess not.

  “I’m trying to help them! They’re about to die!” I yelled back, hoping they could hear me above the sound of the wind and whirling blades.

  “Return or we will open fire!” That answered that.

  Looking up, I realized I could see the top of the monument. If I could get there…

 
“Fifteen seconds.”

  I had run out of time to think. I made a break for it, climbing as fast as possible. The helicopter angled slightly to increase altitude and follow me. Now the blades were positioned between me and the snipers. Sweet! Working so far.

  I reached the tip-top and stood up, the helicopter almost even with me. Any moment and the snipers would be level with me again. Time to engage Plan Insanity.

  “Five seconds.”

  No turning back. I took a deep breath and dove off the monument.

  I flew straight at the helicopter, arcing over it.

  THWIP! I fired my webs at the helicopter landing skid. It caught. Tucking into a roll, I swung back around. The window of the observation deck was rushing toward me.

  “Zero seconds. The elevator roof is no longer attached.”

  The update came just as I crashed through the window. I didn’t even notice the other students on the landing. All I could hear were Ned and Liz screaming as the elevator started to drop.

  TWHIP! BONK! BONK! FWIP! The ricochet web I fired down the elevator shaft found its mark, catching the elevator and stopping its fall. Then I fired another web and started to pull up the elevator, bracing my feet against the doorframe. I could see Ned and Liz and Mr. Harrington looking up at me, terrified—except Ned, who was giving me a thumbs-up.

  I was doing it! It was working, I thought as I strained to haul three humans and an elevator up two stories. But then the elevator doors flew off and a gust of wind sucked me right into the shaft until—WHAM! I was on my back in the elevator, looking up at the three people I was trying to save.

  “Hey,” Ned said, smiling.

  I gave a weak wave. “Hey.”

  Without any warning, the web I had anchored to the roof of the elevator gave out, and we started to fall again. Aiming at the top of the shaft, I fired another web, this time at the gears of the elevator. We slammed to a halt.

  Adrenaline kicked in and I leaped up, bracing my feet against the remains of the roof. With all my might, I started to pull us up, up… higher… almost… there.