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Chapter 23: The Sudden Sandstorm
🕑 Added 2025-10-07 15:45:00 +0000 UTC
As the soft music began to play, couples drifted toward the dance floor, swaying gently to the rhythm.
Gwen immediately pulled Lucas along with her. To be honest, Lucas didn’t know how to dance—but Gwen did. All he had to do was follow her lead and avoid stepping on her feet. Surprisingly, after a few steps, he found himself moving quite naturally.
Peter wanted to ask Mary Jane for a dance, but when he saw she already had a partner, he slumped into a chair, sipping his soda with a dejected look.
“Peter, shall we give it a try?”
A gentle voice came from beside him.
Peter looked up—straight into Felicia’s dazzling eyes. For a second, his brain short-circuited. He nodded before he even realized what he was doing.
Like a puppet, he let Felicia pull him onto the dance floor. He awkwardly shuffled along with her, his mind completely blank.
Felicia couldn’t help but laugh at his stiff, flustered movements.
“You know, Peter—you actually look kind of handsome tonight~”
She teased with a playful smile. Felicia had a habit of toying with shy boys like Peter just to see their reactions.
“Ah—r-really?”
Peter stammered, his cheeks burning. Despite all his superhero training, when faced with a beautiful girl like Felicia, he was still hopelessly shy.
“Hehe~ you’re too cute,” Felicia giggled.
Meanwhile, Skye was sitting alone at a table, tinkering with a laptop she’d pulled out from who-knows-where. Every now and then, she’d sip her soda. Several guys came over to ask her for a dance, but she turned each one down flat, barely looking up from her screen—as if the entire prom had nothing to do with her.
Then, Gwen and Lucas came over after finishing their dance.
“You’re still playing on your computer? Come on, go dance! With the way you look tonight, you could have any guy you want!” Gwen said, grabbing Skye’s arm.
Before Skye could protest, Gwen shoved her toward Lucas.
“Lucas, you dance with her! She’ll be bored to death just sitting here.”
Lucas blinked, caught off guard, but nodded and led Skye toward the dance floor.
Skye didn’t resist. She just let Lucas pull her along. Neither of them could actually dance, so they just moved slowly, swaying in time with the music.
“Um… boss,” Skye said softly, cheeks a little red. “When does the prom end? I kinda wanna go home.”
Lucas didn’t notice her flustered expression. “Probably not for a while,” he said lazily. “But if you’re bored, you can head back first. Honestly, I didn’t wanna come either. Staying home sounds way better.”
Skye nodded in agreement. She was a homebody too—just like Lucas. Neither of them were the “party” type.
Just then, Peter rushed over, his face serious. “I just got an alert—I have to go.”
He waved his hand, showing a modified phone he’d pulled from his pocket.
Lucas instantly recognized it. Peter must’ve hacked into the NYPD’s radio channel. That meant something big was happening—and Spider-Man was needed.
“Go,” Lucas said simply.
“Uh… about that…” Peter scratched his head awkwardly.
“What is it?”
“Can I… borrow Gwen?”
Lucas rolled his eyes. Borrow Gwen? What kind of phrasing was that?
“Ask her yourself. Just—make sure she doesn’t get hurt.”
His tone was serious. Ever since learning that Gwen was the Ghost Spider, he knew he couldn’t stop her from being a hero. But he also trusted her to be careful.
Peter nodded. “Got it.”
He ran to Gwen, who glanced at Lucas. When she saw him give a small nod, she followed Peter out.
“Guess it’s just us now,” Lucas said, looking down at Skye. “Wanna head home?”
Skye’s cheeks were still a little pink. She nodded. “Let’s ask Felicia too. If she wants to leave, we can give her a ride.”
Coincidentally, Felicia was also ready to go, so the three of them left together.
On the way back, their taxi driver mentioned that there’d been a traffic accident nearby. “Whole section of Queens Boulevard’s shut down—sand everywhere,” he said.
That’s probably where Peter and Gwen went, Lucas thought. He didn’t think much of it. A traffic accident was hardly rare in New York—there were several every day.
Back at the Devil May Cry office, Skye was back to typing furiously on her laptop, while Lucas sprawled on the couch like a corpse.
“Hey, Skye,” he called lazily. “Grab me an orange juice, would ya? Thanks.”
With a helpless sigh, Skye got up, went to the bar, and took out two glass bottles filled with golden liquid—one for Lucas, one for herself.
“Here. Seriously, what brand is this? It’s insanely good.”
“Ha! Trade secret,” Lucas said smugly as he popped the cap and took a swig. The sweet, refreshing taste of orange filled his mouth. “You won’t find this anywhere else.”
Of course, he wasn’t about to tell Skye that everything in the bar—food and drink alike—came from the FF world via his system, which even restocked automatically. He never had to worry about running out. Sometimes he didn’t even bother cooking anymore—just grabbed food straight from the fridge. Everything tasted five-star good.
And thanks to the system’s “Master Chef” perk, anything he did cook with those ingredients turned out divine. Not that Skye knew it, but it was a hidden perk for her too.
Sipping his orange juice contentedly, Lucas melted into the couch like a puddle of lazy bliss.
On the shelf, the little Moogle plush was fast asleep, a tiny bubble puffing from its nose. Skye didn’t disturb it—if she did, she’d probably end up cuddling it all night.
“Hey, boss, check this out!” Skye suddenly called. “They’re reporting on that thing the taxi driver mentioned—and Peter and Gwen are on the news!”
She turned the laptop toward him.
Sure enough, the live broadcast showed the scene of the incident: sand had suddenly appeared all over the street, blocking traffic and causing a fifteen-car pileup. Spider-Man and Ghost Spider were seen swinging through the chaos, rescuing civilians.
“‘Sand suddenly appeared’?”
Lucas frowned. That caught his attention. If his Marvel memory served him right, the only person who could manipulate sand like that—and who had history with Spider-Man—was Sandman.
Could it really be him?
He pondered it for a moment but didn’t think too much of it. Right now, the only thing that really mattered was getting his first commission. Whether or not Sandman caused the accident wasn’t his problem—as long as the guy didn’t mess with him.
“Skye, still no clients?” Lucas asked wearily.
She shook her head. “Nope. Plenty of people have left comments out of curiosity, but no actual commissions.
Honestly, boss, you really shot yourself in the foot by insisting on only taking supernatural cases. It’s not like the world’s crawling with ghosts and demons! Now look—we’ve got nothing!”
She sighed, rubbing her temples. Sometimes she just couldn’t understand how Lucas’s brain worked.
Lucas only snorted. “That’s because you haven’t seen what I can do. Taking normal cases would be a waste of talent.”
