"All right, kids, we have a mission here," Power Woman said, handing manila folders to the five teenage metahumans standing in front of her. They were in the abandoned military base that the DEO had secured for their headquarters. "Inside the folders, you'll find pictures of two subjects. First up is Spider-Man. He just appeared on the superhero scene a few months ago. Since then, he's been reported as teaming up with Batman to defeat the 'Sinister Six', and taking out several members of Intergang. DEO wants Generation Next to study him."
"Cool, our first mission," Husk whispered to Hawk, who was standing beside her. "Excited, Hank?"
Hank Hall put his finger in front of her mouth. "Hush, Paige. Let her finish." She then saw Valor and Argent chuckling. "Oh, shut up," she said.
Power Woman began speaking once more. "One of our field agents has reported as seeing an extraordinary athlete at Midtown High School in New York City. From all appearances, he seems to be a metahuman. It's the usual - super strong, super fast. DEO wants us to check that kid out too. The plan is for us to get into the school. I'll be posing as a subsititute teacher. You will all be students."
"Won't it seem odd for five new students to start at once?" Tom Palmer, also known as Valor, asked.
"Perhaps, but the DEO has already . . . altered certain records, providing you with alibis. Nothing will seem out of place. You will start tomorrow."
Spider-Man leapt in the air, just missing a blast from the Shocker.
"Whoa!" the wall-crawler exclaimed. "A little close there, wouldn't ya say?" Spider-Man somersaulted in the air, and landed right behind Shocker. He put his opponent in a headlock.
"Get off . . . " Shocker muttered. He aimed his fists at the ground, and let loose, hoping to use the energy to knock Spider-Man off of his back.
Unfortunately for him, Spidey's grip was excellent, and all he succeeded in doing was knocking the both of them back a couple of steps. Spidey used that momentum to swing Shocker around and knock him to the ground. Almost instantly, an energy net covered Shocker.
"You're under arrest," Maggie Sawyer's voice said.
Spider-Man walked over to where he saw Captain Arthur Stacy standing.
"What, did you transfer to SCU?" the webslinger asked.
Captain Stacy smiled and shook his head. "No. I'm on assignment with them. I'm covering Intergang, and they were charged with taking down Shocker."
"Who is tied in there somehow," Spidey finished. "One of the last loose ends."
"You had something to do with taking them down, as I recall . . . "
Spidey shook his head. "Don't give the credit to me. My buddy, the Shadow, did most of the work."
"Wasn't he the one caught in that huge blast in Suicide Slum?" Stacy asked.
Spidey nodded. "He's doing okay. But that last case of his really took its toll. Several people got hurt, and I hear Intergang is trying to make a comeback, even more viscious than before."
"That's too bad. At least we got Shocker." Stacy looked over at the cops beginning to leave. "I have to go. Keep in touch."
"I will," Spidey said, shooting a webline and slinging away.
Tom Palmer and Paige Guthrie walked into Midtown High and were amazed. For Paige, the school was huge, nothing at all like the country high schools she was used to. Tom was glad to finally be out of the DEO facility and around normal people again even if it was just for a brief time.
Finally, Tom came back to reality and looked at his schedule. It was very similar to Paige's with only a few differences. While both were assigned to get close to Cody Driscol, their appearance made it necessary for them to be placed in different grades. Fortunately, Cody was well advanced, and so took classes that were in various levels. With their schedules, at least one, if not both, were able to watch him.
Paige turned to Tom. "So, if we were the only two assigned to get near this kid, what are Argent, Hawk, and Chamber doing?"
"They're just keeping an eye on everything, and will be used when something comes up," Tom replied. "You have gym with him. Keep watch, and let me know what he's up to. I'll try to see if I can catch him down there after school. Come on, our first class is this way . . . "
Peter Parker walked down the halls, and heard someone call his name. He turned and found Jimmy Olsen coming up behind him.
"Peter! What's up?"
"Not much," Peter replied. "Just going to class."
"Have you heard anything about Victor or Jason?"
Peter shook his head. "I haven't heard a thing from Victor since the incident at The Crib, and Jason's still in the hospital. They're not sure what's going to happen. Have you been to see him?"
"Not since Saturday night, when you were there."
"Do you know if Natalie Casswell is here today?"
"No, I usually don't see her during the day anyway. Mary Jane might know."
"Cool. Talk to you later."
Jimmy rushed off, and Peter turned around, nearly bumping into two students who were walking down the hall, both looking at cards.
"Whoa! Sorry, there," Peter said.
"No problem," the boy replied. "We should have been watching where we were going. We're new."
"Do you need help getting to a class?" Peter offered.
"Actually, if you could tell us where room 225 is, it would be very helpful," the girl replied.
Peter pointed ahead. "It's down there, the second hall on the left. Go down that hall, and it should be on the left. I'm not sure how far down though."
"Thanks," the girl replied as they walked off.
"Do you think he suspects anything?" the boy whispered.
"Relax, Chamber," Argent said. "These image inducers are disguising us. No one will have a clue what we look like."
During her second period class, Ms. Starsmore heard a beep from her desk drawer. It was her scanner. It found something. She looked up from the paper she was writing and saw several students looking around.
"Don't worry, students. That's just my watch. It beeps at odd intervals sometimes." She returned to work.
Later, after the class had left, she pulled the drawer out, and read the scanner. Another meta? she thought. This is going to be slightly more difficult than I thought.
Meanwhile, the Daily Planet was hosting two visitors. Lex Luthor and Norman Osborn had come to tour the building, and get a feel for it before they bid on it. They inspected workstations, and even the building itself, looking for places that could use improvement.
"I don't like this," Lois muttered. She was standing by Perry White's office with Ben Urich, and the editor himself. "Luthor is just going to screw us over. Heck, those two together have already manipulated to force the sell."
"Lois, we all know Luthor is a crook, and has his hands in a lot of places, but there's nothing we can get him on. He's too careful," Urich replied.
"He wants to make an internet news site," Lois said. "And it just so happens that he's buying the Planet. Makes you wonder if he cares about printed news . . . "
"Now, Lois," Perry interjected, "there is no guarantee that Luthor is going to buy this place."
"Perry! He's the richest man in the city, if not the world! If he wants this place, he'll find a way to get it. If he didn't want to place a bid, then he wouldn't be wasting his time here now!"
"She does have a point," Urich pointed out. "I'm just worried about Jameson. What's going to happen to him?"
"I don't want to think about that," Perry answered. "He used to be a newspaper man. He'll find work."
"I still don't like this," Lois repeated.
Tom walked into the gym after school and saw Cody shooting some hoops. This kid's amazing, Tom thought as he watched Cody make the shot every single time.
"You're not bad when you're playing by yourself. No way you can do the same against me," Tom said.
Cody turned his head and fired a shot. "You're right, I'm even better when I'm playing against someone," he replied as the ball went through the net.
Tom tried not to look amused. "My friends say I'm the best."
"Hey, man, I'm so good that I have to keep myself off of the school team."
"Big talk, make me a believer."
Cody tossed a ball to Tom. "Let's go," he said.
Tom began dribbling the ball, slowly at first, but then speeding up. Cody got in a definsive position. Tom continued dribbling and he tried to run to the right. He blinked, and suddenly Cody was right in front of him. Tom did a crossover, bouncing the ball around his right leg, and then his left, finally shooting.
Somehow, the ball didn't make it to the hoop, and Cody had it and was dribbling.
"Wanna make it full court?" he asked, smiling.
"Sure, I'd love to beat you full court," Tom replied chuckling, while wiping the sweat off of his forehead.
Cody started running and dribbled the ball the length of the court. Just as he was getting ready to shoot, Tom came up, jumped, and grabbed the ball only inches away from Cody's hands. He started towards his basket, but Cody was in front of him. Tom threw, but Cody blocked it. However, Cody wasn't able to recover it, so Tom got it back. He threw it up and it hit the backboard, and bounced off. Cody grabbed it on the rebound.
This guy has got to be a meta . . . Tom thought. No normal person can possibly be this fast and agile.
The two continued to bounce the ball around, and let it change hands several times in the next five minutes, but neither was able to get a shot. Finally, Tom put his hands up.
"Good to see you're not all talk. Wanna call it a draw?"
"A draw is better than a loss anyday," Cody said, sticking out his hand. Tom shook it.
"See you around, okay?"
"Sure," Cody said. He walked out of the gym. Tom stood in the middle of the court for a while, catching his breath. Husk walked up to him.
"Paige, where were you?" Tom asked.
"I was under the bleachers. That was some game."
"Yeah, he really had me going. Were you scanning?"
Paige nodded. "He's a metahuman."
Tom sighed. "Well, that part's done." They began walking to the door. "He's good, fast, agile, strong, I kinda think he is the Spider . . . "
Cody was walking out of the locker room when he heard Tom say that. He stepped back in the doorway and listened.
"You think Cody is Spider-Man?" Husk asked.
"He's got to be. Who else is that agile?"
"Well, come on. Ms. Starsmore wants us upstairs. She found something."
As the two members of Generation Next walked off, Cody came out of the locker room, smiling. He could have a little fun with that misinformation . . .
When Valor and Husk walked into Ms. Starsmore's room, Argent and Chamber were already there. Hawk followed them in.
"Glad you are all here," Sarah said, standing up. "Today, I had the scanner on all day long. There is another meta in the building."
"Um, us, maybe?" Hawk suggested with a cocky chuckle.
"No, it read eight meta in the building. The six of us and Cody only make seven. I want Tom and Paige to continue to monitor Cody. The rest of you search for this second meta."
"Ms. Starsmore," Paige said. "We did find something. We scanned Cody, and he turns out to be a metahuman, most likely Spider-Man."
"Or the other meta could be Spider-Man," Sarah replied. "Good work. Tomorrow, we all resume our search."
That night, Peter walked up to the counter at The Crib. He saw a red-haired girl under the counter, looking for something. Leaning over, he tapped her on the shoulder. "Excuse me, miss," he asked, "but are you busy?"
Mary Jane stood up. "Not really, Peter, I'm just trying to get some extra trays out. We lost a few the other day, and the waitresses need something to hold."
"Need some help?" Peter asked.
"No, I have it," Mary Jane replied, pulling the trays out. "So, did you see those new kids today?"
"Yeah, they asked me for directions to their room this morning."
"Room 314?"
"No, Room 225."
"Must have been a different set of people. I saw two new kids in my homeroom."
"It's kinda odd to have four new kids in one day . . . " Peter wondered. "Something sounds strange. In fact, a lot of strange things have been happening recently."
"Like what?" Mary Jane asked, leaning over the counter.
"Well, the Daily Planet is going to be sold. More than likely to Lex Luthor, who'll just strip it for whatever resources he can salvage. In fact, he was suppose to tour the building today."
"Are you worried about your job?"
Peter shook his head. "Not right now. No one is sure when the sale will be."
Both were silent for a couple of minutes. Finally, Mary Jane spoke up. "Are you busy tonight?" she asked.
"No, not really. Why?"
"I need some help with homework. You can help me right?" she asked with a gleam in her eye.
Peter smiled. "Sure. What time?"
"I think around eight or so." MJ looked at the clock. "It's only a couple of hours. If you want to hang around, I can drive back."
"I'd like that . . . " Peter replied.
Over in the corner of the same club, the five members of Generation Next sat around, discussing their mission.
"So, how do we keep tabs on Cody after school?" Paige asked.
"We don't," Tom replied. "The DEO has constant surveillance around Cody's place. They'll keep track of his every move. They've had people watching sporatically for a while, but they set a van up last night."
"Could he be on to us?" Argent asked.
"I doubt it, Toni," Tom answered. "Only thing that might give me away was the basketball game. Even if he does think I'm a meta or something worse, there's nothing to connect the four of you."
"What about this other meta?" Chamber asked. "Who could that be?"
"This is New York, there are tons of other superheroes," Hank Hall replied. "For all we know, it's that Shadow guy. He was . . . well, seen isn't the best word, but he was 'seen' on the first day during the shooting. How did he get there so fast? Had to be a student . . . "
"Or a teacher . . . " Paige added, taking a sip of her milkshake.
"This mission is a pain," Hawk began. "Do any of you have any idea how much work it takes to stay awake in that Algebra class?"
The rest of the group chuckled. "Some heroes have to fight sludge monsters, you have to take Algebra. It's the price you pay as a DEO Agent," Argent said.
"I still don't like it."
"Can't like everything . . . "
Norman Osborn stood on the catwalk of the expansive laboratory at the newly christened Osborn Industries. He watched as several teams of scientists worked on various tests; most of them pertaining to the latest wonder drug, Oz.
"Sir, the latest data indicates that Oz can be distributed commerically within six months," Osborn's assistant said, reading from a printout.
"Six months? That's earlier than I expected," Osborn replied. "However, I have a feeling it won't be out for a while."
"Sir, why?"
"I have some . . . further tests I wish to run . . . with my own select group of scientists."
"Yes, sir," the assistant said. "Shall I tell marketing?"
"Not yet," Osborn replied. "In fact, you shall tell no one. If you do, something . . . unfortunate might occur . . . "
Next Issue: Spider-Man meets the DEO!