Low Attack, Low Defense: Flash Sees Red

Morning sunlight always brought people brightness and hope.

But for Gwen Stacy, today's sunlight only ignited the blazing fire of justice in her heart.

The crimes she had witnessed growing in the dark corners of the city last night had kept her awake all night.

Her father and the New York Police Department alone could never illuminate every shadow in this city.

And now, she possessed the power to walk through the darkness.

Glancing at the design drafts on her desk and the half-tested Web Shooter, Gwen quickly made up her mind.

She picked up her phone and directly asked her teacher for a day off, citing illness.

Then she found Peter's number, her fingertips dancing lightly across the screen.

[Hey, Peter, I'm not feeling well today, so I can't go to school with you.]

After sending the message, Gwen tossed her phone aside and turned her gaze back to the design drafts, her eyes filled with focus.

Today, she had to finish both her suit and the Web Shooter in one go!

Only...

Ding dong~

The notification sound made her pause with the screwdriver she had just picked up.

The name "Peter" lighting up on the screen made Gwen's heartbeat inexplicably quicken for a moment.

Taking a moment to reply shouldn't hurt... right?

Queens, on the school bus.

Peter looked at the message on his phone, his brows lifting as a smile spread across his lips.

Not feeling well?

She was probably pretending to be sick so she could work on her secret gear!

Thinking of that, his fingers flew as he quickly replied:

[Then make sure you get plenty of rest. Do you need me to come over after school and help you catch up on your studies while I'm there?]

The message had barely been sent before she replied.

[No need! It's just a small problem. I'll be fine after some sleep! Just focus on your classes and don't get distracted!]

The slight panic between the lines practically spilled out of the screen.

Peter chuckled. This girl really was terrible at lying.

Peter: [You really don't need me? As our class's eternal number one, my notes are worth a fortune.]

Gwen: [Oh, please! It's not like I'm not a top student too! My grades aren't much worse than yours! That's enough, I'm going back to sleep!]

Looking at the cute emoji mixed into the messages, Peter could practically picture Gwen frantically working on her project while trying to handle him at the same time.

Teasing Ghost Spider really was a wonderful thing~

Just as Peter was enjoying himself.

An unwelcome guy boarded the school bus.

"Well, if it isn't our 'good-for-nothing little loser Peter'?"

A voice full of malice and mockery rang out.

Peter looked up and saw a face he knew all too well—and hated just as much.

Flash Thompson.

Midtown High School's star quarterback and the ringleader of campus bullying.

Memories from the past surged through his mind.

The suffocation of being locked in a locker, the humiliation of having his lunch knocked over, the embarrassment of being publicly humiliated... every scene was vivid in his mind.

Now that he had power, naturally, he had to get revenge for every grievance he had suffered...

Meanwhile, Flash noticed that Gwen was not sitting beside Peter today, and he instantly perked up.

Failing to bully Peter yesterday had left him feeling off even while playing football.

Today, he had to make up for it by picking twice as many fights and thoroughly enjoying the thrill of bullying the weak.

Flash looked down at Peter from above, his gaze falling on the phone in Peter's hand as amusement flickered in his eyes.

"Who are you texting? Why are you smiling so happily? Let me see. Are you fantasizing about some girl falling for a nerd like you again?"

Before he finished speaking, Flash's large hand was already reaching for Peter's phone!

He had already planned out the next scene.

He would snatch Peter's phone, then loudly read his chat history in front of everyone on the bus, enjoying the sight of Peter being laughed at until he was hopping mad but utterly helpless.

It was his favorite routine. It felt even better than that!

Hearing Flash's words, some of the other students on the bus smiled in schadenfreude, while others looked away and pretended not to see anything, afraid of getting dragged into it.

In their eyes, skinny Peter could never resist Flash, a key player on the school team.

A one-sided act of bullying seemed about to unfold.

But the next second.

Flash's smile froze on his face.

Before he could grab Peter's phone, a hand clamped around his wrist like an iron vise, preventing it from moving forward even an inch!

Flash froze.

He lowered his head in stunned disbelief.

Peter had not even looked up. He was leisurely texting with one hand while casually gripping Flash's wrist with the other.

Only after pressing send did he put away his phone and look at Flash with the gaze of a cat toying with a mouse.

That nonchalant attitude instantly enraged Flash.

He glanced at the classmates watching the show around him and felt as though every one of them was laughing at him.

"You..."

Flash Thompson's face instantly flushed red. He used every ounce of strength he had, trying to pull his hand free.

However, the force coming from Peter's hand was astonishingly great.

No matter how hard he struggled, he could not pull his trapped hand loose.

How was this possible?!

Flash's mind went blank.

Was this still that "little loser" he could bully at will, the one who never even dared breathe too loudly?

Since when had Peter become so strong?

"Didn't your mom teach you that taking someone else's things without permission is wrong? Or..."

Peter finally raised his head slowly. His gaze was utterly calm, but his words were packed with venom:

"You just don't have a mom?"

Everyone knew English insults were crude and repetitive, going back and forth between motherfucker, son of a bitch, and a few racial slurs.

So when Peter greeted Flash's mother using a Chinese-style insult, Flash stood there blankly for a moment before realizing—Peter was insulting him for not having a mother.

Then he completely snapped.

Low attack, low defense—typical white trash.

"Fuck! You're dead!"

Humiliated and enraged, Flash completely lost his mind.

His other free hand clenched into a fist and swung viciously at Peter's face with a howling rush of wind!

He put all his strength into that punch!

He was going to make this ignorant nerd pay in blood for what he had just said!

A wave of subdued gasps rose inside the bus.

Some of the more timid girls even closed their eyes, unable to bear watching the bloody scene that was about to follow.

"AAAAAAAHHHH—!"

Sure enough, in the next second, a pig-like scream echoed through the entire school bus.

Several girls could not help frowning, feeling sorry for poor Peter.

But as they listened, the sympathy on their faces gradually turned into bewilderment.

Why didn't that sound like Peter? It sounded more like... Flash?!