Chapter Text
New York was infamous for the amount of side streets and back alleys hidden around it, and even more so for the supervillain who like to hide in them. Any wrong move could put you in serious trouble. One such path led to an underground lab that many feared: the lair of Doctor Octopus. However, Doc Ock was not the one standing in the lab right now. Instead, working at one of the lab tables stood a young, teenage girl wearing dark grey armor and boots over a forest green jumpsuit. She had a light complexion with chocolate brown hair that was tied back in a pony tail and wore a set of dark grey goggles with the lenses glowing bright green.
She currently was bent over a metal back plate of some kind as she worked on it with various tools, too engrossed in her work to notice someone approach her from behind until they reached out and grabbed her shoulder and shouted. “Ha!”
The girl shouted and, dropping her tools, whipped around to see another girl, about her age, wearing a more casual outfit and had light brown skin and black hair that covered one of her eyes. She was currently in a burst of laughter.
The first girl sighed and grabbed her chest. “You’re going to give me a heart attack one of these days, Keemia!”
Keemia grinned. “I can’t help it! You fall for it every time, Liz!”
Liz just shook her head and sighed. “I know, I know, I just keep getting caught up in my work.”
Keemia looked over at the plate and chuckled, “I’m here trying to keep my grades up, and here you are making some crazy new tech? That’s not fair.”
Liz playfully slapped her on the shoulder. “Oh, come on, you’ve just been jealous of my intellect since Middle School. I’m sure you’ve got a skill of your own.”
“I hope so. Anything to stay out of my dad’s line of work.”
Keemia’s father, Flint Marko, did business deals with the crime boss called Hammerhead, but only for the money he needed to support himself and Keemia. Knowing her disapproval of it, Liz had restrained herself from telling Keemia her own father, Otto Octavius, had become a supervillain, passing off his absence as being at a science convention or some other place.
“So” Liz asked, “Whatcha doin here?
“Just wanted to say hi” Keemia replied, “I’ll probably be out of town for the next few days.”
“Where are you going?”
Keemia looked a bit upset and sighed. “Just another one of Dad’s “business trips”. Thank God, school’s out right now.”
Liz nodded in agreement, but then got an idea. “Tell you what. Once I’m finished with my project and it works, I can probably have you work with me.”
Keemia stared at Liz in a mixture of surprise and disbelief.
“I’m serious.” Liz continued, “If you want to stay out of your Dad’s work and go your own way, I am more than happy to help with that.”
Keemia was silent for a few moments, but then broke out into a smile before hugging her friend.
“I’m not quite sure what to say” Keemia said.
“Don’t mention it” Liz replied, “I can already think of some of the things we’ll be able to do.”
Just then, a car horn sounded from outside the lab. Keemia sighed. “That’s my dad. I gotta go.”
The two friends hugged one last tie and shared their goodbyes before Keemia walked out of the laboratory. Once she was gone, Liz returned to her work, putting the finishing touches on the pack that would give her the same abilities of her father. If she was still able to convince Keemia to join her, the two would be quite the team once Liz had given her the proper tools.
Liz chuckled as she relished the thought. Soon, she would be the one people feared, and things would only get better with her best friend by her side…