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A few days later, Peter Parker showed up looking all dressed up and proper.
"You going on a date?" was Jasper's first reaction—because, seriously, Peter totally looked like he was about to meet someone special. But then why was he coming to Jasper's place? Maybe he needed a favor? Like, did he want Jasper to pretend to be Spider-Man so he could enjoy his date in peace?
Honestly, Jasper wouldn't even mind filling in as Spidey for a day… but in return, Peter better do his holiday homework. No way Jasper was gonna save the day for free.
While Jasper was still trying to figure it out, Peter spoke up.
"I'm heading to Mr. Stark's company to apply for a holiday internship. I thought you might wanna come too, so… you in?"
Peter always felt safer with Jasper around—after all, Jasper was the kind of guy you could trust to watch your back.
Jasper looked at Peter with a puzzled expression. Work? Seriously? That wasn't in his plans. Holidays were meant for relaxing, not working!
"Yeah… no thanks," Jasper replied flatly.
Peter kinda figured Jasper would say that, but he had a backup plan ready—an upgraded Spider-Suit. Tony Stark had mentioned it before, told him to swing by whenever he had time. And now that he did, Peter figured he'd drag Jasper along.
"There's a brand-new Spider-Suit waiting. You sure you don't wanna check it out?" Peter said, knowing full well Jasper wouldn't pass up a chance to get something cool for free—dude was a seasoned freeloader.
Sure enough, Jasper nodded.
"Alright, let's go!" he said, shutting the door behind him as the two of them headed out together.
BOOM!!!
On the way there, just as they were in the car, a sudden explosion hit nearby. Someone had attacked the cars around them, and they were caught in the middle of it.
But neither Jasper nor Peter just sat back. The attackers were terrorists, and they'd grabbed a young man as a hostage while trying to make a getaway.
There were six of them total.
Unfortunately for them, they messed with the wrong people. Jasper had dodged most of the shrapnel from the explosion, but the shockwave still knocked him off his feet—and pissed him off in the process.
Jasper growled, "You take three, I take three!"
Peter nodded, already having changed into his suit in the corner under cover of the smoke.
Jasper crouched low and sprinted toward the terrorists. They were trying to escape, but no way was Jasper letting that happen.
He silently popped up behind one guy, grabbed his head, and slammed him into a nearby car.
The car dented on impact, and the terrorist went down cold. Unlike Peter, Jasper didn't hold back. If it weren't for his Spidey-sense, he might've been killed just now. The middle-aged driver who'd been taking them got hit in the chest by shrapnel and was unconscious, maybe worse.
Jasper had used some webbing to seal the wound temporarily, but he wasn't sure the guy would make it.
So yeah, he was mad.
His violent takedown had caught the attention of the other terrorists. They turned and raised their guns, but Jasper was quicker—he rushed them before they could shoot.
The first guy got a solid punch to the face, his nose snapping sideways.
Rat-a-tat-tat! The others fired, bullets spraying everywhere.
But Jasper's Spidey-sense was in full gear. He twisted and flipped out of the way, dodging every shot.
The guy he'd just punched wasn't so lucky—he got caught in his teammates' crossfire and went down in a bloody mess.
BOOM!
Just then, Spider-Man swung in, snagging one terrorist's gun with his web.
The rest turned their fire on him, but Peter was just as agile, flipping through the air and dodging like a pro. With both him and Jasper in the fight, the whole thing was over in under a minute.
Jasper checked his watch and said, "Time to go."
Peter nodded in agreement.
About five minutes after they left…
Black Widow and Hawkeye arrived to investigate. Black Widow checked over the unconscious terrorists. One of them had a cracked skull—probably a concussion, maybe even brain damage.
Man, Jasper really didn't hold back.
Compared to Spider-Man, Jasper went a lot harder. But honestly, that wasn't a bad thing. Anyone would be mad after getting bombed. If it were her, she might've just finished them all off.
Soon after, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents arrived and took the terrorists into custody.
Before leaving, Black Widow gave Tony Stark a call.
Meanwhile!
Using his shadow-travel ability, Jasper took Peter straight to the front of Stark's company. Of course, they made sure to come out in a hidden spot first.
Peter tried to fix up his damaged clothes—at least brushing off the dust. The bomb blast had torn part of his outfit, and he knew Aunt May was gonna freak when she saw it.
Still, he stood tall and said, "Let's do this!"
Jasper nodded, and the two walked up to the entrance… only to get stopped by security.
The guards refused to let them in—and they weren't being polite about it either.
Luckily, Pepper Potts happened to be passing by and brought them in.
She glanced at both of them and said, "He's already waiting for you."
Peter responded a little nervously, while Jasper just looked at Pepper without saying a word.
Pepper led them into a fancy room filled with expensive furniture.
Tony Stark was in there, working on his armor.
He'd recently fought another guy who could build arc reactors, so now was a good time for an upgrade.
"Hey, kids! How about some juice?" Tony suddenly turned around and said with a grin.
"Orange juice for me!" Jasper replied without hesitation.
"Same for me," Peter added. His eyes were already scanning the blueprints for the armor. He could understand a little, but not enough to fully get it—it would take a lot of studying to figure it all out.
Tony's robot butler brought them their drinks.
"....."