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Darcy Lewis pulled out a pocket mirror from her bag and held it strategically before her face. A dark, almost deserted street stretched out behind her, lit only by the dull glow of the ancient street lamps lining the old Queens neighborhood.
A short dude in a hoodie was following her. He had been on her tail since she had walked out of the movie theater, where she had waved him off as another moviegoer headed in the same direction, but once her friend hugged her and they separated to go their own ways, Darcy began to fret about the steady thump of footsteps behind her. They were careful and not that loud, but in the silence of the night, with only the soft pitter-patter of raindrops hitting the pavement, the footsteps sounded clear and ominous. Whenever she stopped, they faltered, and Darcy knew this was no normal guy trying to hit on her by being a persistent stalker.
She couldn’t exactly turn around and confront him—in her line of work, it was better to either keep walking or give them the element of surprise—but once she caught a glimpse of him through her handy mirror, she knew what to expect. She wasn’t able to see his face under the hood, but he was short, not too bulky, and carried a backpack. If it wasn’t for his confident, purposeful walk, Darcy would have assumed he was a young student.
She drew her phone from her jacket and quickly dialed Tony. The call went to voicemail.
“Hey,” Darcy began in a whisper. “So, I’m being followed. It’s just one dude, and I have my taser. So, there’s nothing to worry. But just in case I don’t return home tonight, organize a nationwide search for your favorite lab manager. Got it? Great.”
She was joking, of course. There would be no nationwide search. Darcy’s phone had a tracker which would lead Tony straight to her in case of an unfortunate assault or kidnapping. Granted, it wouldn’t do much good if she lost her phone or her attacker threw it away before dragging her to his evil lair, but there was no way Darcy was agreeing to Tony’s suggestion of being micro-chipped for safety.
“Being injected with a tracker doesn’t guarantee safety,” she remembered arguing with Tony months ago. “It only guarantees rescue. And I could very well be dead by that time.”
Darcy rolled her eyes. She was being dramatic thinking about the worst possible outcome. She was going to be fine. Her fingers gripped the smooth surface of the taser in her bag as she walked determinedly toward the entrance of a side alley some distance ahead. She would have her element of surprise even if it killed her.
Again with the melodrama, Darcy.
As casually as she could, she slipped into the alley and flattened herself against the building. Her prized weapon was out and clutched tightly in her hand. She stood at the ready, taking a deep calming breath which did nothing to soothe her racing heartbeats. Just as she’d predicted, the hooded figure came to an abrupt stop at the entrance of the alley, and Darcy let out an unintentional battle cry, launching herself at him and taking him down with the force of her tackle.
It wasn’t exactly her plan to jump him. She had only wanted to make sure he really was following her before letting her taser do all the talking. Not for the first time, though, her body decided to betray her for an adrenaline rush.
She straddled him and rained blows on his back. “Going to stalk me, huh?” Punch. “Gonna rape me, huh?” Another punch. “Not today, pal.” The fact that he wasn’t trying to fight her didn’t even cross her mind. She grabbed his shoulder and raised her hips just enough to roughly turn him around, then pointed her taser at his chest and huffed triumphantly, “You picked the wrong girl to mess with.”
“Hey, no wait!” A high-pitched squirrely voice shouted and Darcy thought she recognized that voice, before her restless finger twitched involuntarily against the trigger and the electrodes shot out, hooking into his chest, making him squeak and convulse beneath her.
The hood slid back from his face and Darcy gasped, shooting up and away from him. The taser dropped from her fingers as she gaped at the familiar face. He was an intern at the tower. She had seen him following Tony around on a couple of occasions. Oh God, had she just beaten up a… a kid?
“Ms. Lewis,” he rasped, sitting up. And Darcy jumped into action, crouching by his side but not touching him.
Still jerking rather unpleasantly, he pulled the barbs from his chest and turned watery eyes in her direction. “That shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did.”
Darcy’s face scrunched up and she slumped dejectedly. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean… I thought you were going rape me or kill me or something…”
The kid looked scandalized. “No!” he exclaimed in his adorably high-pitched voice. “It’s late. But I didn’t think you’d want my company, so I was just keeping an eye on you from a distance.”
If it had been any other situation, Darcy would have laughed in his face. An unarmed teenager trying to protect a grown-ass woman with a weapon? That’s cute.
Considering she had just beaten up and electrocuted a fifteen year old, Darcy didn’t see the humor in his words. “That’s very… chivalrous of you,” she said dubiously. “But, as you can see, I can take care of myself just fine.”
“Yeah,” he said absently, looking at his hands. “You fried my web slingers.”
“Your what?”
“Uh… never mind,” he stammered, curling his fingers into fists and stuffing them in his pockets.
“Can you stand?” Darcy asked kindly.
He nodded and hopped up, leaving her stumped. She had never seen anyone recover from an electric shock so fast. Not just any kind of electric shock; the kind which comes from a Stark-powered megawatt taser.
He must have guessed her thoughts because he hastened to explain, “I’m stronger than I look.”
“Oookay,” Darcy said slowly, getting to her feet and giving him a onceover. “You’re far away from home today, aren’t you? You’re Tony’s intern.”
He shook his head. “I live here, actually. In Queens. Mr. Stark is my mentor.”
Tony… a mentor? “Right,” she murmured wryly. He was more likely to corrupt little kids than guide them.
“What are you doing here?” the boy asked curiously. “I have on good authority there are movie theaters in Manhattan too.”
Darcy snorted. The kid was funny. “What’s your name?”
“Peter,” he said, his cheeks going pink for some reason. “And you’re Darcy. I know everything about you.” His brown eyes widened and he whispered to himself, “Didn’t mean to say that.”
Darcy laughed and checked her wrist watch. It was one thirty in the morning. “Come on,” she said, swiping her taser from the ground and tossing it in her bag. “Let’s talk on our way home.”
Peter nodded. “Cool. The subway’s that way. I’ll drop you to the tower.”
“What, no!” Darcy said incredulously. “I’m dropping you home. Where do you live?”
“Not far,” he replied, looking affronted. “I can get home without an escort, trust me. But if Mr. Stark finds out that I let you—”
“Oh, God,” Darcy interrupted. “Please tell me Tony didn’t put you up to this.” Because if he was recruiting frikking teenagers to follow her around like bodyguards, then he had one hell of dressing down coming his way.
“No!” Peter said immediately. “He didn’t. I just… know you, and I can’t let you go off into the night alone. This is a dangerous neighborhood.”
Darcy looked around skeptically. It was a residential area, and it was deserted. It didn’t look dangerous at all. In fact, combined with the soft yellow glow of the street lamps, the slight drizzle of rain, and the occasional stray cat jumping from rooftops, the sight was really quite picturesque. It would make a lovely painting.
Darcy gave Peter a flat look. “And I suppose you can protect me from danger?”
“I most definitely can.”
“Remind me again who tasered who right now?”she teased.
“That was...” Peter flushed indignantly. “That was just me trying not to hurt you. I have awesome reflexes.”
“And yet you didn’t stop me from jumping on you and pummeling you with my fists.”
“You didn’t hurt me,” he said in a small voice, looking down.
Darcy grinned and resisted the urge to pinch his cheek. He was so cute, she wanted to hug him. “Come on, let’s get you home, and then I can go and tell your mentor the kind of heroic stunts you pull after school.” She scoffed softly to herself. “Keeping an eye on you, he says.”
Peter huffed and slunk down the road beside her.
After a moment of silence, Darcy glanced at him sideways. “Wouldn’t your parents be worried that you’re out so late?”
“I live with my Aunt May,” Peter replied casually, kicking a stone with his foot. “My parents are dead.”
Her heart twinged painfully at his words. “I’m sorry.”
At that moment, Darcy’s phone started vibrating and she pulled it out to see Tony’s face on the screen. She showed it to Peter, who sighed, before taking the call. “Hey, Tony. What’s up?”
“Where are you?” came his urgent demand. “Are you okay?”
“I’m heading home. I’m fine. But look who I ran into!” She turned the screen to face an awkward looking Peter.
“Hi, Mr. Stark.”
Tony looked surprised, and suspiciously relieved, to see him. “Pete, hey. Did you save Darcy from her stalker?”
“I saved myself!” Darcy huffed petulantly.
Peter grinned. “There was no stalker, Mr. Stark. Ms. Lewis thought I was the bad guy and beat me up.”
“What?” The billionaire shot Darcy a look of disbelief. “You beat up a fifteen year old?”
“His hood was up,” sputtered Darcy defensively. “And he was freaking me out!”
Tony shook his head, then burst out laughing. “You all right, Pete?” he asked between snorts.
“Yes, sir,” smiled Peter. “But I need to talk to you about my slingers.” He said the last word in a whisper and Darcy narrowed her eyes at him.
“No problem. Come by the tower after school tomorrow.” Tony’s gaze swept to Darcy. “Stay with the kid. I’ll have Happy pick you up.”
“Tony, wait…” Darcy began to protest, but he had already hung up. “Shit!” She turned to Peter with a puzzled frown. “He seems to think I’m safe with you.”
Peter nodded earnestly. “You are safe with me.”
Darcy pursed her lips in speculation. First, there was the idea that Peter had seen her strolling alone at night and had decided, without fear or hesitation, to keep an eye on her. Second, there was the really disturbing way he had easily pulled the taser barbs from his skin, like he was simply plucking a hair from his brow. Third, the way he had jumped up jauntily the very next second. And fourth, Tony thought she was safer with Peter rather than alone.
“Who are you, exactly?” Darcy asked him with narrowed eyes.
Pat came his reply. “Peter Parker, science nerd, class loser, fortunate SI intern.”
Darcy hummed, unconvinced. She didn’t press him though. She’d discover his secret eventually. “Cool. So, you wanna hang out with me in Jane’s lab tomorrow?”
The immediate shift in his facial expression was incredible. His eyes fairly lip up and he nodded enthusiastically. “Can I call you Darcy?”