Spider-Man…
No, that's not quite right.
The spider geek was finally online.
Hawk caught the slight flicker in Peter Parker's eyes as his pupils narrowed sharply. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Truth be told, the reason Hawk had chosen to sit back in the shower room and later acted cold toward Peter on the school bus wasn't just because he didn't want to get involved in a superhero's tragic backstory. There was another reason he didn't want to disrupt the origin story of the first Spider-Man.
There were, after all, three versions of Spider-Man.
And Hawk only really liked the original the one whose face reminded him of Tobey Maguire's.
As for the Amazing one?
Well, at first, Hawk wasn't a fan. But after Andrew Garfield pulled off a real-life Amazing Spider-Man 3, Hawk's respect grew, almost by association.
But Tom Holland's Spider-Man?
Sorry, no thanks.
Let's just say… the moment that version fell for a girl of a completely different type, Hawk's goodwill for the character dropped into the negatives.
Anyway
As his thoughts turned, Hawk noticed Peter staring at him, seemingly frozen. So he broke the silence first.
"Good afternoon, Peter."
"…Afternoon."
Peter Tobey's spiritual doppelgänger snapped back to reality, quickly plastering a sheepish smile on his face. After returning the greeting, he turned to Gwen and gave a polite nod. "Hey, Gwen."
Just moments earlier, Gwen had caught the silent exchange of glances between Hawk and Peter.
She was a little curious about it, but she pushed the feeling aside and replied with a warm smile, "Good afternoon, Peter. I heard you gave Flash quite the surprise yesterday."
At lunchtime the day before, Peter had clashed with Flash Thompson in the cafeteria.
Gwen hadn't witnessed it, but from what she'd heard, Peter had done a complete 180 and humiliated the school bully in front of everyone.
Peter didn't respond just scratched his head and chuckled awkwardly.
Gwen made a small cheering gesture. "You should've stood up for yourself a long time ago. Keep it up, Peter."
Peter smiled even more bashfully.
Just then, Ms. Snow clapped her hands, signaling that everyone had arrived. She motioned for Peter to sit down. Once he took his seat on the couch across from Hawk and Gwen, she returned to her desk and picked up three folders.
After a moment
Ms. Snow handed one of the folders to Gwen. "An official internship offer from Oscorp Biotech Dr. Connors' lab assistant position for the summer."
Gwen's eyes lit up as she accepted the folder. "Thank you! Dr. Connors told me yesterday that he'd be contacting the school soon I didn't think it would be this fast."
She could've joined the lab without an official offer.
But with this document, her future resume just got a serious boost.
Ms. Snow then turned to Hawk and Peter. "There are two other offers, but I wasn't sure which you'd prefer, so I figured I'd let you both choose for yourselves."
Just as she was about to continue, Hawk raised his hand, cutting in politely.
"Wait a moment, Ms. Snow."
"Yes, Hawk?"
"I'm still not really sure why I was called in today."
Ms. Snow paused and blinked at him. "You don't remember our conversation in the office last month?"
Hawk blinked back, trying to recall his last one-on-one meeting with his counselor.
He remembered it being a routine check-in. Nothing major.
Except
Right as he was leaving, Ms. Snow had casually asked if he'd made any summer job plans. He'd told her nothing was locked in yet, and she had offered to help if needed.
He'd agreed, but hadn't really thought anything of it.
Now, as the memory returned, he sucked in a sharp breath.
Ms. Snow chuckled at the look on his face.
"Remember now?"
"Yeah… it's coming back to me."
Hawk gave a small nod.
She smiled again and brought the conversation back around, lifting the two remaining folders in her hand.
"One's also from Oscorp, but it's with the Bio-Energy Division. They're looking for a summer intern to help with document organization. The other is from the Daily Bugle they also need a summer worker."
To be honest, neither job sounded particularly impressive.
And they weren't.
But if you walked into either place on your own and asked for a position, you'd be told they weren't hiring.
These weren't job openings.
They were favors Ms. Snow calling in personal connections.
In short: without the folder in her hand, you weren't getting in.
Peter glanced at Hawk.
"You want to pick first?"
"I…"
Hawk snapped out of his thoughts, about to say he wasn't planning on taking a summer job. But then something clicked in his mind and he changed his answer mid-sentence.
"I'll go with Oscorp."
He had just remembered something.
A paper he'd read in the school library Dr. Connors' research on gamma radiation.
And now, fate had just handed him a perfect excuse to meet the doctor himself.
Peter nodded and turned to Ms. Snow. "Then I'll go with the Daily Bugle. I've always liked photography."
You bet you do, Hawk thought to himself.
Not only do you love photography you practically invented the superhero selfie. And then sold those selfies to your own newspaper.
Ms. Snow, unaware of Hawk's internal monologue, nodded and handed the remaining folders to the two boys, then gave them each a quick briefing.
"Peter."
"Yes?"
"When you report to the Daily Bugle, ask for Mr. J. Jonah Jameson. Just give him this letter he'll handle the rest."
"Got it."
"Hawk."
"Yes, Ms. Snow?"
"When you arrive at Oscorp, head to the Bio-Energy Engineering Department and ask for a technician named Max Dillon. I'll call their supervisor ahead of time and let them know you're coming."
"Understood."
Hawk nodded calmly, but the name made his eyebrow twitch.
Max Dillon?
Wait wasn't that the guy from The Amazing Spider-Man 2?
The invisible engineer who thought the world had forgotten about him, until he fell into a vat of genetically modified electric eels and turned into Electro?
Whatever.
Not his problem.
Hawk shook the thought away.
He wasn't interested in the story of a man turned into a walking lightning bolt.
He had his eyes on something else something far more intriguing.
Gamma radiation.
More specifically, the research Dr. Connors was conducting.
Because Hawk had a feeling…
That what he was looking for the Gamma Core might be connected to that research.