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The next two chapters [Colleen Wing – Part 1 and Colleen Wing – Part 2] are already available, and in a few hours [Brutal Death – Part 1] will be available as well.
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***
For the first time that day, Peter took off the Spider-Man suit. The lycra came off, sticking to his skin, pulling at the sensitive areas where the fabric had melted because of the fire, 'Ugh, this is going to take a while to fix,' he thought, feeling the immediate relief of having his body free from that second skin.
Peter carefully folded the suit and stored it inside his backpack. Then, he took the bottle of a cheap perfume he carried and sprayed another generous amount over his body — his neck, wrists, and even his chest — masking the persistent smell of smoke that still clung to his skin and hair after the fire.
He didn't think it would work, but since neither Betty nor Jameson said anything earlier about the smell, it seemed to work.
Then, Peter checked the burns on his arms and shoulders with a grimace. The skin looked much better than it had hours ago — his healing factor had already kicked in, reducing the bright red to a softer pink and diminishing the blisters that threatened to form — but it still looked bad. Bad enough for someone to notice. And they would definitely bother him when he got wrecked by Colleen on the mat.
'Well... it will definitely serve to train my poker face.' Peter thought as he picked up the clothes he had brought for training from his backpack. He first put on a pair of blue shorts he had owned for about two years, bought at a time when he hadn't yet gone through the transformation his powers brought. Now they were clearly smaller on him — the hem almost at mid-thigh, the fabric stretched across his hips, the waistband too tight around his waist.
He would avoid using those shorts at all costs if possible, but unfortunately they were the only pair of shorts minimally suitable for the occasion. Then, he put on a white long-sleeved shirt that would luckily serve perfectly to hide the burns. And finally, Peter put on short white socks and a worn black pair of sneakers.
'Here we go,' adjusting the backpack on his back, he jumped down from the building into a side alley, landing calmly on the ground from a height that would have killed any human, and then walked to the entrance of the Chikara Dojo building. The contrast between what he had just done and the simple act of crossing the street like any other person never stopped being strange, even though he was already used to living between these two worlds.
Entering the building, Peter went up the narrow stairs, the creaking of the wood accompanying each step, until he stopped in front of the dojo door. He leaned a little to look through the small glass window embedded in the door… and frowned.
He couldn't see anything. The lights were off, the windows were closed and there was no sign of Colleen.
'Hum... don't tell me I forgot that there wasn't going to be class today,' Peter knocked twice on the door with his knuckles, while, with the other hand, he was already pulling his phone out of his shorts pocket to check if there was any message from Colleen saying something. But before he could go to the messages, the door shifted slightly with the impact of the knocks and opened on its own, creaking softly.
'The door was barely closed...' Putting his phone away, Peter entered the dojo cautiously, "Sensei? Your favorite student has arrived," he shouted but got no answer. 'How strange.' He had never seen that dojo empty. Even on days when there was no class, Peter knew that Colleen would be there — training alone, fixing something, or simply living, since the dojo was also her home. And he was sure that if that woman were to leave, she wouldn't forget to lock the door.
A little worried now, Peter began to look for the switch, finding it next to the door. His fingers were just a few centimeters away from turning on the lights when—
!!!
His spider-sense activated.
Peter ducked automatically, at the exact moment something cut through the air above his head, passing so close he felt the displacement of wind against his hair. 'A thief?' He spun on his own axis, sweeping the ground with his leg in a quick motion, trying to knock the attacker down.
But the person jumped with ease, as if expecting it, and in the same flow of movement swung what looked like a staff down at his head.
Peter threw his body backward, sitting on the ground as he spread his legs, only to see — with an immediate chill running down his spine — the staff slam against the ground a few centimeters from his groin.
'My jewels!' The thought came like a scream in the back of his mind. For a very real second, he was sure he was going to lose his future children.
With that not-at-all terrifying realization, Peter closed his legs around the staff, trapping it, and rolled to the side with enough momentum to yank it out of the attacker's hands. In the same movement, he threw himself upward with one arm, getting to his feet and already swinging the staff toward the head of the figure in front of him.
But the strike didn't connect.
The attacker simply dodged by taking a step back, as if expecting that attack.
Realizing his opponent wasn't just anyone, Peter was about to get a little serious when—
"Enough."
A familiar voice made him freeze mid-movement.
The figure turned on the lights, revealing herself to be none other than Colleen Wing, dressed entirely in black, in fitted clothes that favored mobility.
Peter blinked a few times, letting his eyes adjust to the light as he processed that Colleen had been the one attacking him from the start. "What the hell was that?!" He asked, a little irritated. He could have hurt her.
"A small test." Colleen replied as if it were the simplest and most obvious thing in the world, her voice calm, without the slightest trace of regret.
"Test?" he repeated, resting the staff on the ground. "You almost turned me into a eunuch!"
Colleen frowned, seeming offended by the reprimand and the lack of trust in his tone. "That would never happen."
Peter stared at her dryly. "You have a lot of confidence for someone who was literally two centimeters away from ending my lineage."
She completely ignored the comment, preferring to evaluate him from head to toe, analyzing every detail with almost clinical attention. "A few days ago, you barely knew the right way to keep your balance. Your movements were unstable, your base weak… you looked like a newborn foal trying to understand how its own legs worked." Colleen narrowed her eyes, tilting her head. "Now you can even dodge surprise attacks. You've evolved very quickly. It's even a little scary to see."
Peter made a face. He was obviously suppressing his powers as much as possible during the classes, leaving his reaction speed and strength equal to a normal teenager — even if that meant taking hits he could naturally dodge. Besides, Peter made a point of emphasizing his lack of technique in the first classes to force Colleen to teach him everything in detail from the beginning.
But hearing her compare him to a newborn foal… 'Maybe I overdid it a little in my acting.' He wasn't that bad. Even if he lacked technique, Peter had experience. A lot of experience.
And also, what kind of horrible analogy was that? Newborn foal? Seriously? "I already told you to stop with these weird analogies," he said, letting out a sigh. "Seriously, you're going to scare off any student who shows up talking like that, Colleen. And I thought that was a Chinese thi—" Peter stopped mid-sentence, realizing his mistake the instant Colleen frowned even more.
If there was one thing he had discovered about Colleen, it was that there were two versions of her. One outside of sensei mode, who made dry jokes, answered with irony and sometimes let a smile slip when Peter made a good joke. And another in sensei mode — the one who didn't laugh and demanded discipline, respect and excellence in every movement.
The Colleen in front of him was the second option.
"And I thought," she said, her voice low and dangerously calm, "that I had already taught you the proper manners inside the dojo."
"Uh, sensei-"
"Let's start the class." She interrupted him, walking past him and going to the center of the tatami. "You're warmed up enough."
'And now she's irritated. Wonderful'
***
Disclaimer: This story and its characters belong to Sony Pictures and Marvel Comics (Disney). This is merely a fanfiction written by a fan, with no intention of infringement.