The pain she had been bracing for never came.
Mary Jane only felt a gust of wind rush past her, and then a broad figure stepped in front of her, blocking her view.
Clark stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, shoulders squared, taking the shockwave head-on.
But to him, that level of attack was barely more than a tickle.
This was nowhere near the original Shocker tech. It was a cheap knockoff of a knockoff, watered down several times over.
His bio-electric aura erased that kind of force effortlessly, so that was exactly what it did.
He had no interest in pretending to get blasted backward just for the sake of appearances.
"Clark?!" Mary Jane's eyes lit up at once. She had never expected him to show up here, much less save her.
The thug stared at Clark, who had taken the hit without moving so much as an inch, then looked down at the weapon in his own hand.
Then he smacked it a couple of times with his palm, apparently convinced that was enough to fix it.
Yes, he genuinely thought the thing had malfunctioned. It did not even occur to him that he had landed a direct hit and Clark had simply not been hurt, or had not even taken a single step back.
That possibility was too terrifying.
They had tested the gauntlets themselves. They were strong enough to launch a person into a wall and knock them out cold.
Clark looked at the two thugs "repairing" their weapon and just walked over.
He patted both of them on the shoulder, only to have one of them swat his hand away, annoyed at being interrupted.
"These idiots..." Clark pressed a hand to his face, utterly speechless. They really let morons like this join gangs and run around with serious weapons.
They were in the middle of a mugging, and these geniuses had started troubleshooting their gear.
Clark was not some Kansas farm boy in the old-fashioned sense.
He was not that kindhearted.
So he slapped one of them upside the head without the slightest hesitation. They were criminals. He saw no reason to go easy.
The one who had been fiddling with the gauntlet took the hit, snapped around, and threw a punch. Clark caught it cleanly and forced the arm down with ease.
"Damn it, can't you see I'm fixing this thing?!" the thug barked, even while being completely overpowered.
"Low-IQ lifeform," Clark said flatly, done with all of this.
Using his height advantage, he yanked the glove right off the guy's hand.
The other two lunged to get it back, but Clark pinned them with one arm while awkwardly pulling the gauntlet onto his own hand with the help of his leg.
It was still powered on.
Then he aimed it right at them.
"So," Clark asked, tilting his head, "you were saying this thing was broken?"
Watching Clark single-handedly keep two grown men completely under control, Mary Jane was thrilled.
She almost jumped in excitement.
But she did not forget the important part. She pulled out her phone and called the police first, just in case they had guns too.
The two robbers looked at the glove Clark was holding and started laughing. Even though they were being restrained, they were still convinced the thing had failed.
"Yeah," one of them sneered. "Obviously it's busted. Unless you're saying it hit you and nothing happened."
Clark did not bother answering.
He simply triggered it.
Bzzzt!
The shockwave fired.
The two thugs were blasted straight into the alley wall, their heads smacking hard enough that both slumped sideways and blacked out on the spot.
The whole fight took less than two minutes.
Mary Jane had not even finished her call by the time it was over.
All she could do was tell the dispatcher, "Sorry, someone passing by stepped in and handled it. The muggers are unconscious on the ground now, so please send officers to this location to arrest them."
Clark was deeply impressed by how quickly she adapted.
Smart. Very smart.
No wonder she was going to grow into an excellent reporter one day.
Mary Jane hung up and walked over to thank him.
"It's a good thing you came by," she said, letting out a long breath. "I don't even want to think about what might've happened otherwise..."
Then she added, still worried, "If Peter had been here, with that skinny little body of his, one hit from those things would have killed him."
She was still worried about Peter, though thankfully he had not been there.
"Clark, promise me you won't tell Peter the exact details about tonight. You know what he's like. If he found out I almost got hurt, he'd feel awful. He might even grab a wrench and go looking for those gang guys himself. Honestly, I should stop going out so much at night from now on. Peter too."
Hearing that, Clark was delighted inside.
Having a childhood friend who always cared this much about Peter was exactly the kind of thing he, as Peter's big brother, loved to see.
"Easy enough," Clark said with a grin. "But if something like this happens again, call me."
Mary Jane gave him a grateful smile.
Clark casually removed the gauntlet and stuffed it into his backpack.
"What are you keeping that for?" Mary Jane asked, confused. "Isn't that evidence?"
"This thing's not ordinary," Clark said. "And that 'Terrible T's' name? Doesn't sound like something random street punks came up with on their own."
"I'm taking it home so Peter can look at it. You know how much that kid loves machines and electronics. Maybe he can figure out where it came from. It might help the police. Help out our newly returned Captain Stacy too."
They did not stay in the alley long.
Clark walked Mary Jane home himself all the way back to the neighborhood. Peter, completely clueless about what had just happened, even greeted them with the usual dazed, lovestruck smile.
Late that night, the Parker house was quiet.
Ben and May were already asleep.
Only the light under Peter's bedroom door on the second floor was still glowing.
Clark pushed the door open and, just as expected, found Peter wearing safety goggles and holding a soldering iron, hunched over an old radio he had taken apart into a dozen scattered pieces.
"You're still up?" Clark said, locking the door behind him before walking over to the desk. "You're going to nod off in class tomorrow and get called on by the teacher again."
Peter pulled off the goggles, rubbed his tired eyes, and smiled. "Almost done. I'm trying to improve the receiver frequency on the antenna. Maybe I'll be able to pick up police chatter eventually. What about you? Why'd you come back with MJ? For a second I thought Upperclassman Felicia had whisked you away on a date."
"Don't even start," Clark said, rolling his eyes. Then he pulled the gauntlet from his backpack and placed it on Peter's desk.
"Take a look at this."
Peter's eyes locked onto the glove instantly.
He set down his screwdriver and leaned in for a careful inspection.
"Whoa. What is this? Some kind of powered exoskeleton assist device?" Peter's scientific soul ignited on the spot as he examined it with intense focus.
Clark dragged over a chair and sat down, then gave Peter a trimmed and heavily edited version of what had happened in the alley.
Naturally, he left out the true power of the shockwave and everything about himself. He only said that some thugs had tried to rob Mary Jane using these gauntlets, and that he had caught them off guard and taken them down with a wooden stick.
"What?!" Peter shot to his feet, fists clenched tight. His face twisted with anger at the thugs, but also guilt that he had not been there. "They attacked MJ? So that's why you two came back together."
"Was she hurt? How bad was it? I should've walked her home! God, I'm such an idiot. I knew things had been getting worse lately..."
Seeing Peter like that, Clark reached over and gently patted his shoulder.
"Calm down, Peter. MJ's completely fine. Not a scratch on her. She's home safe and probably asleep already, you saw that yourself. And she specifically told me not to let you do anything reckless over this. She doesn't want you getting hurt. She's worried about you too."