Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I sat in my usual chair in the corner with my arms crossed, staring at the old ass man in front of me. Mr. Secretary of State: Thaddeus Ross. Yippee.

My father brought along his little friend there to Avengers Towers. Why? Because he was having a psychotic break. Though I was forced into retirement years ago by Ultron I still had a seat at the table probably because if I did not I would kill someone. Namely my father.

"Five years ago, I had a heart attack. I dropped right in the middle of my back-swing. Turned out it was the best round of my life, because after 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass... I found something 40 years in the Army had never taught me: Perspective. The world owes the Avengers an un-payable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives... but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some... who would prefer the word "vigilantes,"" Ross said dramatically making me want to blow my brains out, if I had any. Damn humanoid body.

"And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha spoke up from the table with the 'real' Avengers on it. I nodded to her silently, silently being the only thing I could.

"How about "dangerous"? What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?"

"The U.S military?" I piped up from the corner causing everyone to glance at me, Nat smirking at my comment while Ross glared daggers at me. Yeah, government workers were not a fan of me. Mostly because my father refused to sell me all those years ago but come on guys, you need to get over that.

He proceeded to ignore me and showed video footage of our last battles from the news on the screen behind him.

"New York," he listed showing videos of the destruction the Chitauri caused and Hulk going awol on buildings. Oh yeah sure, show soldiers with crippling PTSD past wars, that will get them. I would love to see you show U.S military soldiers videos of their past wars killing middle easterners for raw resources.

I bit my tongue begrudgingly. I was not in the position to make comments after Wandas mistake of blowing up an entire building that was going to blow up anyway if it was not for us.

Mistake. Like no one has made a mistake. Out of all the lives she saved, this mistake will cost her and us everything.

"Washington, D.C.," Ross listed showing the helicarriers crash making Sam look down. That is it, I am going to kill him now.

"Sokovia." Wanda and my father stare at the screen as we watched the city crumble and citizens scream while I stare intently at my father. It would be an understatement if our relationship still has not 'healed' from his inexcusable actions from the past. First building me and playing god, then exploiting me and then making an entirely new Android that wanted to kill all of mankind. Nice going, creator.

"Lagos." The burning building, destroyed, as paramedics wheel away a dead girl. Wanda looks like she was about to breakdown right then and there before Steve intervened. I never particularly liked him but suddenly I did.

"Okay. That's enough," Steve said harshly making Ross nod to the aide and making the screen turn off.

(I changed the years because the timeline makes no sense for homecoming if it was only four years)

"For the past eight years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution," Ross declared before sliding over a thick booklet to Wanda who picked it up, glanced at it and slides it over to Rhodey.

"The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries... it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary," Ross explained making my eyes widen as I gaped at him. The fuc-

"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that," Steve argued calmly but firmly and I nodded slightly. I would not say a safer place but we sure as hell saved a couple of thousand lives.

"Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" Steve looked up from the table and met Ross's eyes, silently.

"If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes... you can bet there'd be consequences. Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground." I bit back my tongue harder. They are people you patronizing little-

I squeezed the arms of my chair, silently still as a flash of electricity shot out from my body making a popping sound. Ross glanced at me with a raised eyebrow like he was daring me to say what I was thinking.

"Sorry. Glitches," I excused, gritting my teeth at the man. Technically, that was not a lie, that was from a glitch but I also left out it was because my body was encouraging me to fry his brains right then and there.

"So, there are contingencies," Rhodey noted, tapping the Accords with his fingertips.

"Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords," Ross informed causing Steve and father to share a look. "Talk it over."

"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Nat asked calmly, leaning over the table.

"Then you retire," Ross answered firmly causing Nat to stifle a smile like a dare to get them to try.

As Steve read the Accords in deep thought, Sam and Rhodey argued intently behind him. Annoying much? If I had not already read the trash pile that was those Accords I would be annoyed at how long it takes Steve to read the damn thing.

"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have."

"So let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?"

"A 117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam, and you're just like, "No, that's cool. We got it.""

"How long are you going to play both sides?

"I have an equation," Vision, my brother, spoke up making everyone, who was not already distracted by their own thoughts, look at him.

"Oh, this will clear it up," Sam snarked, rolling his eyes.

"In the twelve years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate," Vision pointed out making Steve do a double take.

"Are you saying it's our fault?" Steve asked with a raised eyebrow causing Viz to pause for a moment before explaining further.

"I'm saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict...breeds catastrophe. Oversight... oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand." I looked up at him and blinked at the absurdity at the observation.

"Viz, I love you but that is the dumbest thing you have ever said," I said causing the eyes that were on him to be on me instead. "So what? Sure it looks unusual but it could be chalked up to coincidental because people evolve so obviously they are going to do it together. Almost everything we have faced was bound to happen if we existed or not. You know, besides all the the villains that father dearest over here created," I jabbed, glancing at my father who looked like he had a hangover. Vision went silent as we stared at each other until Nat got our attention with her voice.

"Tony," she spoke up causing him to look up from his palm and to her instead. "You are being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal," she pointed out.

"It's because he's already made up his mind," Steve figured as father stood up, wincing.

"Boy, you know me so well," he snarked back. "Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache," he informed, heading to the kitchen and grabbed a mug. "That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort. Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?" He casually placed his phone in a basket and taps it. The phone projects an image of a young boy, early 20s at most. He looks down at his mug, then back up, and pretends to notice the floating picture for the first time. Oh, so this is where he is going with this whole bit.

"Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA. Had a floor level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul, before he parked it behind a desk. See the world. Maybe be of service. Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where, Sokovia." Is this...asshole really trying to make everyone share the blame with him?!

I glanced at everybody else who looked racked with guilt. Are these idiots falling for this?! Oh right, I am the only one who has dealt with him and this bullshit for 15 years.

"He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. I mean, we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass," he finished as I just stared at this man. He took a pill with a gulp of his coffee before facing us. Yeah, a building we dropped because we were busy cleaning up your mess!

"There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys."

"Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up," Steve tried to reason.

"Who said we're giving up?" Father rushed out without skipping a beat.

"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blames," Steve argued calmly again, not flinching at my fathers attempts to scare him off.

"I'm sorry. Steve. That-that is dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not SHIELD, it's not HYDRA."

"I am sorry, I remember HYDRA infiltrating the government or did I miss something while I was in custody for Ultron hacking into me?" I spoke throwing everybody a confused look as to why we were even arguing about this.

"No, but it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change," Steve rebutted, ignoring me and my logic.

"That's good. That's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stop manufacturing."

"Okay, no. Just no," I stopped the grown mens dick measuring contest and stood up. "Stop making this about the Avengers. This is about you," I pointed at father, taking him back. "This is not our fault. This is your fault so stop trying to get everyone to share the blame. Conflict does not breed catastrophe, you do. You are the reason there are half as many villains coming at us. You are the reason Sokovia happened in the first place. You are the reason that boy is dead so do not throw that at us or anybody else besides yourself," I spat, moving closer and closer to him until I was right in front of him. "You do a lot of shitty things but that was the most despicable. And what is worse is that you are trying to make yourself feel a tiny less responsible and a little bit less guilty by pushing it on everybody else too but that was something you decided to do. And that is something you will have to live with for the rest of your life. These Accords should not be for the Avengers, they should be for you," I finished, grabbing the Accords from off the coffee table and slammed them into his chest before stalking off.

I went through the hallway and to elevator, pressing my floor number. I waited impatiently for the doors to open, tapping my foot against the ground in irritation until the doors slid open. I stomped out of the elevator and to the end of the empty hallway before stopping at a seemingly bare wall. I typed in the password I have had since I was 2, '66092100' into the buttons on the wall that were invisible to the naked human eye and pressed 'Enter.' The doors to my room slid open with a beep and I walked in, flicking my wrist to the wall causing electricity to shoot out from my hand and make the room light up with life.

The untouched, rarely used, king-sized bed in the corner of the room flipped back to reveal my slightly plush charging dock, and the simple child-like desk flipped to a high-tech workstation emitting different holograms. The walls flipped back revealing a big television and various other screens for multiple uses but mainly just to brag about. What? I cannot enjoy the privileges I have in life just for funsies?

"Hello, Hailey Stark," Friday greeted me from the speakers in the walls.

"Hey, Friday," I greeted back as I slipped into my work chair, spinning in it a couple of times before parking it into my desk. I unwrapped my blue ribbon of my wrist and grabbed it in one hand while grabbing my blue hair in the other and tied the ribbon around my hair like a ponytail.

I quickly started working on my little pet project like usual. To simply put it, I'm working on a small travel-sized, instant, backup battery for myself so I wouldn't have to worry about running out of charge in the middle of the day. Which happens a lot more than you think, unfortunately.

I messed with some formulas on a hologram to try to lower the probability of my glitches with the insertion of the instant backup battery. Stupid glitches...stupid father... could not even bother building me correctly so I did not blast electricity every time I felt feelings a bit too much?

I grumbled to myself while coming to another dead end on improving the lack of glitches with my backup battery's. I sighed and turned to the other holographic on my right, trying to increase the amount of power I maintain in a single night's charge or "sleep" to help improve the time I can potentially be awake for a day. I huffed knowing I was in for a long day of going through calculations to upgrade my body.

After a couple of days barricading myself in my room, I heard a knock at my door causing me to look up, annoyed, at the door.

"What?" I snapped, expecting my father to be on the other side but I was surprised to say the least.

"It's me, Nat. I just want to talk," she called through the door making me narrow my eyes at the thing like she could see me through it. After a moment I decided to open the door revealing a tired looking Natasha Romanoff.

"Hey," I greeted simply, not knowing how this conversation was about to go down. I saw the news, though she knew that since she knew I knew everything. Connection to the internet 24/7 has its many upsides.

"I have a favor to ask," Nat started, cutting to the chase.

"Is this an optional favor or a forced favor?" I checked, raising an eyebrow at her usual bluntness.

"Sign the Accords," she said like a statement rather than a question.

"I am not an Avenger anymore."

"That's bullshit and everyone knows it."

"Tell that to my idiot creator downstairs," I shot back cooly without skipping a beat.

"Like you said, he's an idiot. You are still a hero and apart of this," Nat argued reasonably making me break.

"Even if I am, you and I both know I am not signing that," I admitted finally, stopping the excuse.

"Hails-"

"Do not Hails me, you know this is a bad idea. I can see it in your eyes you know that just as well as I do," I interrupted looking her in her eyes stubbornly before she gave up and sigh with exasperation.

"You know what you're getting into?" Nat asked hesitantly making me give her a small smile.

"I always do."

Chapter Text

"Am I interrupting something?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow after walking into the kitchen to find Wanda and Vision getting a little bit too close to each other. Not that I minded since anyone with the tiniest bit of awareness could tell something was going on with them.

"Hailey! Of course not," Wanda laughed awkwardly taking a solid step away from Vision. I hummed, not entirely convinced but let it go. A synthezoid and a magic human. Maybe there is hope for me after all.

"What are you making?" I asked curiously, looking down at the pot in front of Wanda as I slid onto one of the stools behind the kitchen counter.

"Paprikash, Vision tried making it," Wanda answered, smiling fondly at the pot.

"Intimate," I teased causing Wanda to blush slightly as she shook her head at me with a smile.

"I don't know what's in this but it is not paprika. I'm gonna go to the store. I'll be back in 20 minutes," Wanda smiled but was stopped by Vision who fazed himself in front of her.

"Alternatively, we could order a pizza?" Our smiles faltered at the odd request as I got the feeling this was not just Vision talking.

"Vision, are you not letting me leave?" Wanda asked calmly as I furrowed my eyebrows at him.

"It is a question of safety," he said, looking down.

"I can protect myself," she assured confidently, taking a step forward but was blocked by Vision holding out his arm.

"Not yours. Mr. Stark would like to avoid the possibility of another public incident. Until the Accords are on a... more secured foundation," he explained making me stare at him.

"Vision-" I started but he stopped me.

"Both of you," he stated, refusing to look directly at me, taking me back.

"And what do you want?" Wanda asked, tilting her head at him as she tried not to loose her cool.

"For people to see you... as I do," Vision answered back genuinely as they stared at each other like they were challenging the other to make the next move. Check what I said earlier, this is intimate and I am not a fan.

Warning: Stranger Danger. Stranger Danger.

Red warnings suddenly flashed in my cybernetic eyes as Friday connected me to the surveillance cameras showing Clint Barton sneak through the towers and toward us.

Report the Problem?

Yes No

I chose the no option, knowing full well what Clint was coming here to do and I was not about to stop it. Thank the Asguardian Gods that I have cybernetic eyes. And thank the gods that Vision is not a humanoid Android and was not connected to the security system like I was.

All of a sudden, an explosion went off outside the tower causing me and Wanda to look out the window overlooking the vast woods to see orange smoke rise from the trees.

"What is it?" Wanda asked but I held back my knowledge, playing dumb. She looked at me when she did not get an answer back, surprised at my silence but did not show it.

"Stay here," Vision ordered before fazing through the window and fly to the fires position to see what had happened. I calmly looked behind me, sensing someone's stare on the back of my neck, to see Clint, or rather his alter ego Hawkeye, standing ten feet away from us. Wanda though seemed to take a different approach by using her telepathy magic to grab the butchers knife in the cutting board and aim it at his neck.

"Wanda, heel," I commented with a smirk like she was a dog as her eyes widened realizing it was just Clint.

"Guess I shoulda knocked," he quipped, casually brushing the floating knife away from him making Wanda awkwardly put it back.

"Oh my god! What are you doing here?" She demanded in shock running up to him while I strolled up to both of them, figuring exactly why he was here even though he was retired.

"Disappointing my kids," he said vaguely as he shot an arrow to both sides of the room. "I'm supposed to go water-skiing. Cap needs our help. Come on," he explained, again still vaguely, taking Wandas hand and gesturing to me to follow which I gladly did.

"Clint!" Vision exclaims causing us to stop. "You should not be here," he finished in a calmer tone making Clint turn around to face him.

"Really? I retire for, what, like five minutes, and it all goes to shit," he pointed out astutely.

"He has a point," I commented, pointing to him.

"Please consider the consequences of your actions," Vision pleaded causing Clint to put on a thinking face for a few seconds.

"Okay, they're considered. Okay, we gotta go," he decided turning the other way with Wanda and I making Vision take a step toward us but got stuck in some sort of electromagnetic force field from the two arrows Clint had shot from before. Clint and I quickly walked to the door that lead to outside but Wanda did not follow us. "It's this way," he said gesturing behind us.

"I've caused enough problems," Wanda said, looking down. Clint and I shared a look before running back from the door and to her instead.

"You gotta help me, Wanda. Look, you wanna mope, you can go to high school. You wanna make amends, you get off your ass," Clint encouraged like he suddenly turned into a life coach which seemed to actually persuade Wanda. That was until Vision got out of the force field with a beam of power that broke one of the arrows.

"Shit," Clint managed to breath out before Vision punches Clint to the floor but he recovered quickly. "I knew I should've stretched," he sighed moodily and extends a baton that stemmed to come from his pocket and tries to hit Vision, but the hit goes through him. Clint resorts to punches, then tries the baton again. It breaks. Typical.

I rolled my eyes and before Vision could absolutely desolate Clint's ass I enveloped Vision in a force field of my own. He tried to use his beam again but I was able to withstand it, knowing he could not possibly faze through this.

"Vision, just let us go!" I exclaimed, getting bored at this point of this whole thing. He does not answer, instead he started moving his neck wildly around, shooting the beam of light anywhere and everywhere he could causing my field to weaken and eventually break. He came at me with all his strength but I easily matched him and soon we were stuck in a even battle with our hands interlocking on each other's arms to try to push the other away.

"You can't overpower me. We are equals," he said with exasperation evident in his voice.

"Maybe so. But she can," I grunted with effort nodding to Wanda behind him causing him to look over to her as she held up her hands that were glowing with her red power.

"Vision, that's enough. We're leaving," she demanded, her voice shaking but still firm.

"I can't let you," he breathed out making her move her hands away from each other and causing Visions usual yellow stone to glow red from Wandas influence. Visions grasp weakened and I let him go.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as she pushed Vision down causing the floor to crack with pressure.

"If you do this... they will never stop being afraid of you," he said as a last ditch effort to make her stay in the tower but that only made her sink him deeper into the floor.

"I can't control their fear, only my own," she huffed, moving closer to the sinking body of Vision as he glowed from within and crashed through the floor, and through the entire building and ground. We stand over the hole in the floor but all we could see was darkness.

"Come on. We got one more stop," Clint informed as we casually started walking out of the building.

"Can we get McDonalds on the way there?"

"You can't eat, Hailey."

"Oh, yeah..."

"Cap," Clint greeted Steve as we both hopped out of the grey van first, being greeted by Sam and Bucky behind him.

"You know I wouldn't have called if I had any other choice," Steve swore guiltily for pulling him out of retirement though Clint did not seem to mind one bit.

"Hey man, you're doing me a favor. Besides, I owe a debt," he assured him.

"Thanks for having my back," Steve commended with relief.

"It was time to get off my ass," Wanda said with determination causing Steve to look over at me, expecting to hear some kind of morally good explanation.

"I am doing this for myself and purely myself, not for you or your boyfriend," I stated as I crossed my arms defensively making him smile with familiarity at my moodiness.

"How about our other recruit?"

"He's rarin' to go. Had to put a little coffee in him, but... he should be good," Clint guaranteed, looking not-so-sure with anything he was saying.

"What timezone is this?" Scott Lang muttered deliriously, obviously suffering from jet lag.

"Come on. Come on," Clint muttered impatiently, pushing the poor guy who resembled a lost puppy. Until he laid his eyes on the great 'Captain America' making him instantly light up with awe.

"Captain America," Scott greeted with a star struck grin as he shook Steve's hand vigorously.

"Mr. Lang," he replied with a polite smile making Scott freak out even more.

"It's an honor. I'm shaking your hand too long. Wow! This is awesome! Captain America," he rambled looking back at us at our calm and slightly amused expressions. He seemed to recognize Wanda because he pointed to her as if he just realized she was there. "I know you, too. You're great!" Scott grinned, not even registering Clint or I, for that matter, not even questioning why a 15 year old girl was there either. He turns back and feels Steve's shoulders that were the size of weirdly shaped watermelons.

"Jeez. Ah, look, I wanna say, I know you know a lot of super people, so... thinks for thanking of me," Scott grinned happily and turned his attention to Sam with recognition. "Hey, man!"

"What's up, Tic Tac?" Sam asked with amusement seemingly making Scott look embarrassed.

"Uh, good to see you. Look, what happened last time when I..." he trailed off but Sam stopped him.

"It was a great audition, but it'll... it'll never happen again," Sam promised, trying to hide the hint of embarrassment he was feeling, remembering some kind of fight they had.

"They tell you what we're up against?"

"Something about some... psycho-assassins?"

"Well that is 20% accurate," I conceded, knowing I was probably going to have to fight Natasha, a psycho-assassin.

"We're outside the law on this one. So, if you come with us, you're a wanted man."

"Yeah, well, what else is new?" Scott shrugged casually making  my curiosity get the better of me and I searched his name in my database even though I was trying not to invade peoples privacy. Scott Lang, multiple robberies. Robbing a rich and very corrupted company that he worked for and then another rich, probably corrupted, old man. Interesting.

"We should get moving," Bucky urged, knowing we did not have a lot of time before my father found us.

"We got a chopper lined up," Clint informed, vaguely gesturing behind him.

"Dies ist eine Notsituation. Alle Passagiere müssen den Flughafen sofort evakuieren," the man on PA notified in German which I easily translated in my head to 'This is an emergency situation.  All passengers must evacuate the airport immediately.' Thank you, super intelligence.

"They're evacuating the airport," Bucky translated for the rest of the group.

"Stark," Sam noted the obvious since it was not very hard to put it together. He had found us. Great.

"Stark?" Scott asked with confusion, not having a single clue as to what was really going on.

"Father," I grumbled under my breath but Scott heard me making him do a double-take.

"Father?!"

"Suit up," Steve ordered with a smile at everyone and I instinctively reached up my shirt and tapped the bright blue metal rhombus right above my chest similar to my father's arc reactor. I tapped the middle of it twice, activating the super suit that slid over my shirt and onto me with its nanotechnology. A simple black suit with bright blue lines running up and down my body awaited me. The suit was topped off with a black hood and face mask that covered the lower half of my face even though everyone I was fighting knew my identity because logic. Although it is made out of metal so it helps shield my amazing face.

They stared at me and I stared back, realizing I was the only one that did not need 15 minutes to put on some weird spandex suit.

"What?"

After ten minutes of waiting for them to hurry up, Wanda and Clint went to the other side of the airport as back up while Sam, Bucky, and I went to go hide on the right side in the terminal. Signs lined the walls and ceiling with directions and shops passed us as we walked to the middle of the long hall. Sam watched the screen on his wrist with the video feed of Redwing's surveillance camera, looking for the airport's Quinjet.

I watched as Steve in his uniform strided through the underpass, then jogs onto the private runway, heading for a grounded chopper. Before he could make it halfway to it though, an electro-disabler slams onto the chopper making Steve look up. Low and behold, Rhodey and father were there in their stupid suits.

"Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport. Don't you think that's weird?" I heard father ask sarcastically to Rhodey as they slowly landed on the ground. Thank you, supersonic hearing and all other advanced senses.

"Definitely weird," Rhodey said, adding to the bit.

"Hear me out, Tony. That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this," Steve tried to reason with them until a dude in a black...cat suit (???) leapt over a trick to reveal himself.

"Captain," the cat dude nodded to him but he looked unsurprised at the new guy.

"Your highness," he nodded back. Uh...what?

"Anyway, Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in. That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?"

"You're after the wrong guy," Steve stated determinedly.

"Your judgment is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday," father spat at him but he did not falter.

"And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony. I can't," Steve defended breathlessly like he was trying to beg him to see things his way. Yeah, good luck with that, I have been trying that for 15 years.

"Steve... you know what's about to happen. Do you really wanna punch your way out of this one?" Nat asked as she came up behind him without him noticing.

"All right, I've run out of patience. Underoos!" Father called and suddenly some sort of silly string latches onto Steve's shield, stealing it from his grasp and before he could have time to react his hands were blinded by the same sticky adhesive. He landed smoothly on a car with the shield on his arm and I gaped at the guy.

"Spider-Man?" I marveled curiously, mostly to myself, recognizing him immediately from YouTube videos of him rescuing people from car collisions and freak accidents. Why was he here? And most importantly why was he on his side?

"Who?" Sam and Bucky ask in unison turning to me with raised eyebrows but I ignored them.

"Thanks. Well, I could've stuck the landing a little better. It's just the new suit... Well, it's nothing, Mr. Stark. It's-it's perfect. Thank you," the spiderling rambled as everyone continued to stare at him

"Yeah, we don't really need to start a conversation,"

"Okay. Cap- Captain. Big fan, I'm Spider-Man," Spider-boy introduced himself awkwardly to the guy he was supposed to be fighting.

"Yeah, we'll talk about it later. Just..." father trailed off, trying to wave him off.

"Hey, everyone," Spidey waved at them casually, still not really getting the message.

"...Good job," father finished, trying to get him to shut up and turned back to the task at hand.

"You've been busy," Steve observed, turning back to father.

"And you've been a complete idiot. Dragging in Clint. 'Rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place. And then stealing my own daughter." Stealing? Stealing?! Like you own me, you jackass! Well, technically you do but that is not the point!

"I'm trying to keep... I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart," he finished with desperation evident in his voice but I was too furious to care as I watched them stare at each other.

"You did that when you signed," Steve said stubbornly.

"Alright, We're done. You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us. NOW! Because it's us! Or a squad of J-SOC guys... with no compunction about being impolite," father shouted, letting his anger get the better of him for a moment as Steve looked aside.

"Come on," he whispered in a pleading tone but Steve did not back down. Suddenly I heard a beep beside me making me look over at Sam who spoke in his com. I looked over at his video feed and sure enough the Quinjet was in clear view of Redwing.

"We found it. Their Quinjet's in hanger five, north runway," Sam informed and summoned Redwing back making him fly away from out savior, the Quinjet. Steve enacts his plan, lifting his hands into the air cuing Clint from afar to shoot the indestructible silly string off.

"Alright, Lang," Steve signaled into his com at the small man hidden inside the shield Spidey had in his hands.

"Hey, guys, something-" Spider-Boy started to warn them but was interrupted by Scott resizing himself back to normal and kicking him square in the face before flipping himself next to Steve.

"Whoa. What--what the hell was that?" Rhodey demanded but got no explanation back.

"I believe this is yours, Captain America," Scott noted formerly and handed back his shield to him.

"Oh, great. Alright, there's two on the parking deck. One of them's Maximoff, I'm gonna grab her. Rhodey, you want to take Cap?" Father asked, looking over to Rhodey who seemed to be...oh no.

"Got three in the terminal, Wilson, Barnes, and Hailey," Rhodey informed them making my eyes go wide.

"They see us!" I rushed out as all three of us started running away, through the terminal. I willed my body to levitate and started flying quickly above them. I heard weird thumping noises beside me and looked to my left to see the spandex-wearing new guy climbing on top of the windows, quickly keeping up with us. He swung away using his silly string from the window for a moment before using his momentum to break through the glass. He kicked Sam in the chest, knocking him back and Bucky immediately went for Spidey, aiming a punch at him with his metal arm but he easily caught his hand in air.

"You have a metal arm? That is awesome, dude!" Spider-Guy exclaimed excitedly before getting hit by Sam and lifted into the air. "You have the right to remain silent!" He shouted over the wind around them as he fended off Sam and swings after him with his silly string. I rolled my eyes as I aimed my hand at him and shot a blast of electricity at him making him drop like a fly.

"Well that was easy," I observed, tilting my head curiously at the fallen boy as I warily floated down to the ground. Suddenly, he whipped his hand up and grabbed me with his silly string stuff. "Hey!" I yelped in surprise, making electricity wrap around my arms causing the shock to travel through the web-like string and electrocute him. The web broke off of me and in my peripheral vision I saw Bucky getting ready to throw something and I quickly got out of the way.

"Oh god," Spider-Boy got out just before Bucky threw something at him but he easily dodged it. "Hey buddy, I think you lost this!" He shouted and threw the large Boulder of broken metal right back. Sam kicked him off the beam and Spider-Boy fires a web at his back, stopping his suit from flying functionally which sends Sam crashing to the floor. I draw up a blue forcefield below him to stop him from crashing to the ground.

"It is three-to-one guys, get it together!" I snapped at the moronic fallen men as Spider-Guy still managed to web Sam's wrists to a balcony railing and casually sit on one of the ceiling beams.

"Those wings carbon fiber?"

"Is this stuff coming out of you?" Sam questioned in absolute bewilderment, looking up at him.

"That would explain the rigidity-flexibility ratio, which, gotta say, that's awesome, man," Spider-Guy complimented, ignoring his question. Before Sam could answer back though, I blasted the creepy crawler out of the window with a bolt of electricity and sighed with boredom.

"You talk too much," I grumbled even though he probably could not hear me and lowered my tired hand.

"You couldn't have done that earlier?" Bucky demanded as he jogged closer to me and Sam.

"You two could not have been helpful earlier?" I shot back with an irritated glare at both of them. I glanced back at the window but Spidey did not pop back up making me relax slightly. Three to one and we still looked like losers to a single new guy. But, not going to lie, I was impressed. And annoyed. But mostly impressed.

"Come on!"

Bucky, Sam, and I soon joined the others who were running to the Quinjet as I flew beside them, the jet being practically our salvation to escape prison which would be rather unfortunate. But we were forced to stop as a fizzing stream of energy slices across the runway and almost cut us in half causing all of us to look up with alarm. Vision hovers overhead with his yellow stone glowing dimly.

"Captain Rogers. I know you believe what you're doing is right. But for the collective good you must surrender now," Vision commanded calmly, looking down at the rest of them. The other side of this battle, aka the idiotic side, arrived beside Vision as he slowly floated back to the ground to only levitate a few feet above it and I did the same.

"What do we do, Cap?" Sam asked looking warily to the other side, our friends.

"We fight," Steve said with determination etched in his voice and began to walk closer to them and we followed his decision.

"This is gonna end well," Nat noted sarcastically on the other side and I had to agree with her as they also started walking closer to us which we returned by starting to quicken our pace into a steady run.

"They're not stopping," I heard Spider-Boy observed hesitantly, knowing this was not going to be good.

"Neither are we," father said with grim determination as they started running towards us. I lifted my body higher off the ground, matching Visions path while father, Rhodey, Wanda, and Sam lifting themselves off the ground only to land next to someone. Boring...!

"Hailey, please reconsider this," Vision implored but I simply brushed him off as we circled each other in the air.

"Vis, you know when I decide on something I never back down. Mostly because whenever that happens, I know I am right," I answered calmly and shot a beam of pure energy at him through my hands which he returned with a ray of power from his stone in his forehead.

"You and I both know you nor I can win," Vision warned but I did not budge.

"Yeah, well, we can at least distract each other for our teams which is good enough for me," I shrugged before surprising him by slamming him to the ground with a force field. He quickly came back at me pushing me into one of the airplane stair trucks.

"Rude," I grunted with pain and when he flew closer to me I cocked my head at him with hesitance. "Vision, I really do not want to do this," I cautioned but he ignored me, ignoring his stone once again.

"Neither do I," Vision admitted but still levitated closer to me making me sigh.

"You asked for this," I muttered before lifting my hand and concentrated on Visions head, sending a wave of electromagnetic pulsion to his Inter-workings. He cried out in pain and clutched his head, falling to his knees as I got out of the me-shaped dent in the metal truck. "I really am sorry, Vision," I said sincerely even though he still could not hear me. I was about to search for anyone else that needed help but before I could I heard someone over the com ser.

"We gotta go. That guy's probably in Siberia by now," I heard Bucky warn over the com to Steve, I assumed.

"We gotta draw out the flyers. You get to the jet," Steve planned over the com.

"No, you get to the jet! Both of you!" Sam interjected into the com as he flew wildly in the air, being chased by Rhodey in his War Machine suit. "The rest of us aren't getting out of here."

"As much as I hate to admit it, if we're gonna win this one, some of us might have to lose it," Clint admitted and I hated to agree with him.

"This isn't the real fight, Steve," Sam reminded and finally Steve gave in.

"Alright, Sam, what's the play?"

"We need a diversion, something big."

"I got something kind of big, but I can't hold it very long," Scott spoke up getting mine, and everyone else's on our sides, attentions. "On my signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half... don't come back for me," Scott vaguely advised ominously causing me to furrow my eyebrows at his bizarre words.

"Uh...what was that last part again?" I asked with a raised eyebrow at them even though they could not see me.

"He's gonna tear himself in half?" Bucky answered me like it was question, rightfully questioning it himself.

"You're sure about this, Scott?" Steve asked him hesitantly.

"I do it all the time. I mean once... in a lab. Then I passed out," Scott explained, again vaguely.

"That is comforting," I noted sarcastically but he ignored my very thoughtful comment.

"I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the BOSS!" I heard him mutter to himself through the speaker and I grimaced. This was not going to be good.

And then, all of a sudden, a giant Scott in his tacky black and red suit was in the middle of the airport and grabbed Rhodey's metal clad leg mid flight.

"Holy shit!" I heard someone exclaim in shock away from me and I had to agree. Holy shit indeed. Scott laughed giddily but instead of his normal voice he sounded like a giant demon with no fashion sense.

"I guess that's the signal," Steve pointed out and I could hear his smile with victory in his voice and through the mic.

"Way to go, Tic Tac!" Sam laughed as I flew around the air space with no Rhodey on his tail. As Scott waved around his new little toy, father tried to retaliate but before he could he was kicked out of the sky by Sam and Scott flung Rhodey away. Spider-Guy hooked onto him with his web to stop him from smashing into a airplane and Rhodey shot back towards us with Spidey still on his suit.

The War Machine suit started firing small missiles at Scott's head, distracting him but before they could reach him I blocked them with a force field and forced them off their course. I flew up by them and waved them mockingly causing Rhodey to try to blast me out of the way but I easily maneuvered out of the way.

"Hey, it's you again!" Spidey called out to me, almost sounding thrilled to see me again. He swung himself onto Scott and wraps his silly string around Scott's gigantic arm as he tried to smack him like an annoying fly.

"Hey, it is the pest again!" I mocked before directing a bolt of electricity to fly at his head, trying not to hurt Scott.

"Ouch," he pouted, placing a hand over his heart in offense and hopped out of the way before Scott's comically large hand smacked him.

"Get off," Scott demanded irritably and as he distracted by Spidey he does not spot Vision curling into a ball and ramming into him. I was about to stop him but Vis spots Steve and Bucky approach the hangar with the Quinjet as Scott wavers. Vision decided to float through his chest instead of simply going around him like usual. We have got to work on that.

"Something just flew in me!" Scott shrieked as Vision fired a shining beam of energy from his mind stone behind him making the control tower next to the hangar collapse towards the entrance of the hangar. Wanda lifted up her hands that glowed with red energy and struggled to slow its collapse but I quickly started helping her, drawing up a large blue forcefield with her red energy underneath the crumbling tower. We watched Steve and Bucky sprint desperately to the hangar, so close yet so far as the tower started to slip under our power.

A pained grunt slipped through my lips as I desperately tried to hold her on until I saw Rhodey fly down behind Wanda, catching me off guard. The breaking tower slipped ever so slightly but I quickly fixed my mistake as I watched Rhodey fire his sonic disruptor causing a high frequency shriek to erupt from his hand only a few feet away from Wanda. She dropped her hands causing all the weight to fall on me and she clutched her head, screaming. The tower started to fall all around Steve and Bucky but I blasted Rhodey away from Wanda with one hand and the other held up the remaining pieces of the tower, letting them barely make it.

I gasped in excruciating pain, falling to the ground with my legs going limp and my arms becoming absolutely numb. I took in deep breaths, my chest desperately jumping up and down as I stared at the clear blue sky. After only a moment of rest, I heaved myself up from the hard, highly uncomfortable ground. I looked around, giant Scott being gone and replaced with normal sized Scott lying on the ground, obviously done with this fight. I spot the Quinjet flying out of the hangar and into the air causing me to smile victoriously. We won. At least this time. That was until I saw Rhodey flying pretty close after them and my smile instantly dropped. I groaned loudly at the sky, debating in my head for a moment but ultimately decided to fly after him. Very begrudgingly, I might add. But so did Vision.

Father flew behind Rhodey and Sam trailed behind Rhodey with me racing toward them and Vision right behind me. This was becoming a freaking conga line.

Vision takes aim and fires his head laser behind me at Sam to stop him who spotted it coming and tucks into a tumble, easily avoiding it. The laser overshot and sliced through the core on War Machines chest plate causing Rhodey to loses power and goes into a spinning free fall. I hesitate for a moment, a sickening moment, but shoot down toward him, my very minuscule conscience overcoming me.

"Rhodey!" I yell out as I reach my hand out desperately, only a few feet away from him and the ground. I summoned a force field underneath him just before he hit the ground, cushioning the fall but it certainly was not a pile of feathers. Rhodey landed with a small thump onto the empty grassy field and I fall to my knees next to him, easily ripping away the metal mask to reveal his face covered in his own blood and sweat. I hear father land next to me but I ignored him.

"Friday," I barely muster out as my head raced with fear but she knew what I could not ask.

"Heartbeat detected. Emergency medical is on its way," Friday responded to my silent question.

I heard Sam swoop down and land on his feet, making his wings retract. "I'm sorry-" he gets out until father silently zapped him backwards with a blast of energy from the palm of his suit. Vision glides to the ground just in front of Sam's without saying a word as I looked at father with fear present on my face for Rhodey.

What have we done?

Chapter Text

Silence filled the car as I awkwardly sat in the front seat, staring out the window to avoid Happy's looks. After father persuaded the government workers to let me go after narrowly saving Rhodey, he silently forced me to get into the car to let Happy take me back to a hotel to stay the night before leaving tomorrow.

"What were you thinking-?"

"I have heard enough lectures today, Happy-"

"You could've gone to jail-!"

"I was doing the right thing unlike that dimwit-!"

"The government could've gotten their hands on you!"

"Yeah, well, they did not so... there!"

"Do you have any idea-"

"I literally have all the ideas in the world, Happy! That is my entire thing! I know literally everything in the entire world so you would think everyone else would think 'hmm... maybe we should listen to the ideas of the smartest being in the whole damn world!'" I shouted furiously and a bolt of electricity escaped from my body and zapped the side of Happys seat, narrowly missing him. He did not flinch.

"You feel better now?"

"Shut up," I muttered back, crossing my arms and continued to stare out the window stubbornly. I brushed a couple of bright blue strands of hair out of my face and watched the cars pass us, wondering what the passengers in them lives were like.

"You could've been locked up by the government, Hailey. They would've had the right to keep you locked up, you could've been completely at their mercy to make you their weapon!" Happy lectured with his eyes still locked on the road making me grumble incoherently in return. "Do you want to repeat what happened 10 years ago?"

"He was a sex trafficker!" I protested with a glare, instantly knowing what he was talking about.

"You paralyzed him and then waited fifteen minutes to call the police on him letting those thirty girls beat him an inch away from death!"

"He was only paralyzed for three years!" I defended though it did not sound as good as an argument when I said it out loud than it did in my head. He gave me an exasperated look. "I stand by what I said."

Soon the car came to a halt and I begrudgingly got out of the car, slamming the door shut and looked up at the rather fancy hotel. Happy opened the trunk and handed me the familiar metal suitcase and threw the keys to the valet. We walked through the revolving door and to the elevator, Happy having already checked into the building long before. He pushed the 41st button and handed me a keycard with the number 393 on the front.

"I still can't believe-"

"Are we seriously continuing this conversation?"

"You're a war criminal, Hailey! Of course we're continuing this conversation!"

"A war criminal? Please! Gods forbid I express my opinion-"

"You broke a dozen laws!"

"And all laws are just ones? There has never been unjust and terrible laws, Happy? You really want to go down that road?" I demanded making him open his mouth but nothing came out. "Exactly."

"You can't just do whatever you want and expect to be bailed out."

"Did I ever say or expect that? No. Do not put words in my mouth," I barked, striding out of the elevator the moment the doors slid open and Happy followed me. I stomped to the door with the plate that had the number 393 on the front. "I am going to go charge," I grumbled, sliding the keycard under the doorknob and opened the door.

"Hailey-"

"Night," I snapped before slamming my door and harshly placed my metal suitcase on the freshly made bed. I clicked the two latches on the sides and swung open the top causing the case to unfold revealing my travel sized charging port. 8% flashed red in the corner of my cybernetic eyes and I moved my ponytail away from my neck and opened the small port in the back of my neck. I grabbed the charging cable and hooked it into the port making me sigh in relief at the overwhelming feeling of relaxation I felt.

After an hour I was at sufficient charge to unhook myself and close my neck up since it was barely 8 o' clock and way too early to go to bed. I hummed to myself in thought and suddenly got an idea, walking over to the window and slid open the curtains to open the window. I grabbed a hoodie that I had packed and slid it over my head, leaving the hood on my head to hide my face from clear view and hopped out the hotel window. 

I flew up the side up the building until I reached the roof which was considerably less fancy than the rest of it. I settled on the edge of the roof, letting my legs swing slightly over the busy streets 460 feet below. I took in a deep breath of the cool air, the sun just barely peaking out from the buildings and the dark night starting to take over the sky. I sat there for a moment, taking in the peaceful scenery.

"Uh...ma'am, are you going to jump or are you just a thrill seeker?" I heard a familiar voice ask from behind me making me whip around to see a teenage boy around my age looking at me cautiously. 

"Hmm... I am still wondering that myself," I joked, looking at the ground below me knowing even if I did jump I would not have a scratch on me.

"Well uh... I would recommend not doing that, but that's just me," he replied back casually with his thumbs stuffed awkwardly in his sweats pockets. I just registered that he was wearing sweats with a baggy shirt with the NASA logo on the front, clearly in his pajamas. Actually, when I looked at him I registered he was also not that bad looking, unlike most teenage boys, with fluffy brown hair and a seemingly awkward person. He was almost cute even. Almost.

"Do I know you?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, though that was impossible because I knew almost no one outside of superheroes and government workers yet his voice was strikingly familiar.

"N-no, I don't think so?" He answered like it was a question but I still narrowed my eyes at him and looked around until realization struck me. How did he even get up here? The only way up here is staircase that was employees only that needed a key to open, I assumed. And then: lightbulb.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," I laughed humorlessly at the fact father had the guts to leave me in the same building as the boy I fought less than seven hours ago. Spidey looked at me weirdly but I did not care as I stood up and crossed my arms at him. 

"What?" He laughed nervously under my stare and I hopped off the edge toward him. 

"You are that Spider Guy, are you not?" I asked knowingly with a raised eyebrow causing him to gape at me, sweating profusely.

"Whaaaat? I- you- w-where did you get that from? Spider-Man? Me? That is..." He trailed off pathetically as I tilted my head at him with slight amusement. I shook my head with amusement and took off my hood revealing my blue hair and unnaturally bright blue eyes making his widen. He stared at me for a moment, his face turning red. "Wait you're-"

"The one and only, Webhead," I ta-daed, gesturing to myself before shaking my head. "I cannot believe father had the balls to place both of us at the same hotel," I grumbled making his eyes widen even more.

"Father?!"

"Long story," I waved him off casually before pausing. "Sorry about blasting you out a window but to be fair, you kind of had it coming," I apologized the best I could.

"Honestly, being kicked out of a window by Circuit was probably the highlight of my weekend," he laughed making me smile.

"Aw... stop," I waved my hand at him. "But you can keep going if you want to," I offered making him laugh.

"I'm Peter, by the way. Peter Parker," he introduced himself  awkwardly 

"Hailey," I returned, sticking out my hand and we shook hands as I sized him up. I hummed quietly in thought and looking him over, walking around him in circles. "Hmm..."

"Uh... yes?" Peter asked hesitantly, following my moving figure with his eyes. I stopped in front of him for a moment, thinking. I suddenly threw a punch directly at him with no warning but he easily caught it.

"Cool super strength! But how did you know I was going to punch you? And what was up with that silly string stuff you had? Did you make it or is it organic? You call yourself Spider-Man so I can assume it is some sort of synthetic web material," I quickly wondered causing him to stammer as I looked up at him curiously, studying his face.

"Wha...uh...I-I have like... a sixth sense or something when there's something dangerous about to happen around me," Peter stuttered, blushing bright red at my sudden closeness.

"That is so cool! Ugh, that would be so convenient in fights," I sighed dreamily before perking up and grabbing his arm, examining his wrist. "Do you have a spiders spinneret on your wrists? Ooo... could you theoretically cocoon bad guys and, theoretically, eat them?"

"What? No!" He denied but paused. "Well maybe actually... but I would never do that!" Peter swore passionately making me laugh.

"Of course not! ...But could you?" 

"I don't... well, first of all I make the webs with chemistry not my body."

"Boo..." I said disappointingly, dropping his wrist. "But could you still eat people?"

"Uh..." he trailed off uncertainly and I interrupted him.

"You know what? Do not answer that, I do not want my nonexistent heart to break with disappointment," I stopped him, touching the place where my heart should be dramatically.

"Nonexistent heart?"

"Um...well yes, I am an android. Like Vision but less technologically advanced and a bit older. And by a bit I mean 15 years ago," He stared at me in astonishment, his mouth open.

"Was that a bit too much information? I probably should not have said anything since we just met. I am just not used to talking to people outside of the tower-"

"You're a humanoid android? T-that is awesome! You are so advanced for someone who was created that long ago!" Humanoid Android. People have always called me a robot at first even though I just told them what I am and I would have to correct them over and over again but he had not. And he did not gape at me like a brand new phone but in the admiration which was very new to me. I smiled at him, thinking maybe this was not going to be so bad.

"I-thanks. You are taking this surprisingly well for a human."

"Well yeah, that's awesome! You're like human but way better!" Now that got me flustered, I mean it was true but still, I had to keep my cool.

"Uh... yeah, duh, Parker. You wish you were as cool as me," I played it cool, flipping my blue hair theatrically behind my back.

"Is that how you get your powers? Because you're an Android?"

"Yep! When I was created my father did it wrong causing my sentience and electrical powers," I explained, flustered but he just grinned at me.

"That is so cool!"

"Says the guy who can climb walls and shoot engineered webs," I pointed out making both of us laugh for a while until our chuckles settled and all that was left were our small smiles at each other realizing the other might not be so bad.

"Hey..." Peter said suddenly making me turn back to him. "Have you ever seen Star Wars?" I stared at him for a moment before breaking into a smile.

...

"Meh," I stated as the credits rolled for Empire Strikes Back, after sitting through the original Star Wars movies in Peters hotel room.

"What do you mean 'meh'? That was awesome!" He defended gesturing to the screen, looking at me credulously.

"I just do not get what the big deal is. I do not know, I think it is kind of overrated. Plus a lot of the characters shown are very questionable." I shared while Parker gave me the most offended look of the century.

"What are you talking about?! This movie is groundbreaking and the characters are amazingly written-"

"Are you serious? All I saw from the characters were clear displays of promoting incest and rape culture. Han Solo is the creepiest guy who took advantage of a 19-year-old even though he is in his what? Mid-thirties? Leia was obviously uncomfortable and said no in every way possible including saying no and he still forced himself on her! Also, Luke is just irritating in every way, shape, or form! And do not get me started on the writing!" I ranted making me and Peter go out in a full-on debate about the movies.

"Can we just agree to disagree?"

"...Fine, but you should know I'll never stop trying to get you to like these movies," Parker smirked making me roll my eyes at him.

"Fine by me."

...

"It was the most amazing thing that ever happened to me! Mr. Stark was like 'hey underoos' and I just sorta flipped in and stole Cap's shield and was like 'what's up everybody and then-" Parker rambled to his camera as I watched, chuckling at his excitement. 

His rant was interrupted, however, by a knock at the door and an irritated voice behind it making me turn my head towards it curiously.

"Just a sec!" He responded, jumping onto the bed and flipping midair to get to the door. Before he could to the door it opened revealing a not-so-happy Happy in a robe. I snickered at his attire and wolf-whistled making him glare at me.

"Hey," Parker greeted Happy while ignoring me and my ever-so hilarious commentary.

"We have thin walls here," Happy stated passive-aggressively at both of us, making me press my lips together as to not laugh. Parker looked around awkwardly as they both stood there for a few moments.

"Okay..." He responded dumbly, not knowing how to respond to that.

"Clean this up before housekeeping sees." Happy ordered gesturing to the super-suit on the ground and left annoyed. 

Parker pressed his lips together like me and flopped onto the bed, right next to me. We looked at each other for a moment before bursting out laughing.

"He's always like this?" Peter asked in disbelief towards me, still laughing under his breath.

"Constantly! He is a good guy when you get to know him though, he practically raised me," I defended.

"Seriously? You were raised by him?"

"And what do you mean by that, Parker?" I mused, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing, I swear it's just you're so...lively and he's so..." he made an annoyed face making me laugh.

"Yeah...I picked up a lot of my personality from the avengers and my father's employees when I was young and still trying to appear more human," I admitted putting a hand to the back of my neck. "But thankfully I manifested my own character. Thank god because I have no clue how I would have survived with my father's personality," I mused making a face causing both of us to laugh.

Maybe this will not be so bad after all.

…

"What, you doing a little video diary?" Father asked from the backseat of the car, lifting Parker's filming camera. We were back in New York dropping Parker off after a very long weekend. He and father were in the backseat as he was trying to smoothly film father while I was in the front seat scrolling through YouTube with my hologram.

"Yeah..."

"It's alright I probably-"

"I told him not to do it, he was filming everything. I'm gonna wipe the chip I-"

"Okay hey, hey, hey," Father said, stopping Happy. "Actually, we should actually make an alibi video for your aunt. You ready?" He asked making Parker get into the camera's shot with him.

"Hey May, what are you doing, what are you wearing? Something skimpy I hope," he stopped and laughed making me and Parker look over at him, weirded out.

"Father I have told you several times not to make comments like that unless it is 50 feet away from me," I stated, looking back at my father's laughing face.

"Okay, okay that's inappropriate you can edit that out. Okay, three, two one," father counted down and reshot the video with Parker.

"Hey May, my gosh. Want to tell you what an incredible job...your nephew did...this weekend at the Stark Internship retreat. Everyone was impressed-" he congratulated but was interrupted by Happy's irritated voice and loud honking.

"Come on!" We all looked at Happy. "It's a frickin' merger I'm sorry-"

"This is because you are not on Queens boulevard."

"Well to be fair it is a good thing you were cut off because that scene was awful, you both are terrible liars," I commented from upfront making both of them look up at me offended. "What? Parker looks constipated and you pause on every word you say, you both are atrocious actors." I said honestly but my father ignored me and continued with the alibi video with Parker awkwardly filming him making me roll my eyes at my father.

"You see, Happy is hoping to get bumped up to asset management. He was head of security and then before that he was just a driver..." Parker turned his camera to Happy as he began to shut down father.

"This is a private conversation. I don't like talking about this, it was hard talking to you about it." Happy responded, sadly making me pat his shoulder to comfort this sad, stressed-out man.

"No seriously was he snoring a-" Father started to ask Parker but stopped when Happy slammed on the brakes of the car. 

"Here we are."

"Whoops," father laughed as Parker pressed his lips together to keep from laughing along.

"Happy can you give us a moment?"

"You want me to leave the car?" Happy asked annoyed.

"Why don't you grab Peter's bag?" Father offered to make Happy grumble and begrudgingly get out of the car. Father looked at me expectedly, figuring I would take the hint and get out also.

"I am not leaving just so you can have a little father and son talk and I get replaced," I started looking back at both of them making father roll his eyes at me and Parker look at me nervously.

...

"I can keep the suit?" Parker asked wide-eyed, lowering his camera.

"Yes we were just talking about that," father stated obviously, putting on his sunglasses and cleared his throat.

"Do me a favor though, Happy's kinda your point guy in this. Don't stress him out too much, don't do anything stupid. I've seen his cardiogram."

"Yeah, it just seems to get worse and worse. I do not think Parker can make it any worse than it already is," I added helpfully.

"Alright?" Father asked Parker, glancing up at me and then him.

"Yes," Parker answered quickly.

"Don't do anything I would do. And definitely don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"There is a very fine line, a grey area, and that is where you should be at. But to be honest it is very hard to find seeing as though there are few things he would not do." I added, again very helpful while sliding my Stark glasses on. And again, they ignored my fabulous peanut gallery commentary.

"Wait does that mean I'm an Avenger?"

"No..." Suddenly there was a knock at the window that showed Happy struggling with Parker's super suit suitcase.

"This it?" Happy asked through the window.

"Seventh floor!" Father answered referring to the apartment floor he would have to carry it up to.

"Oh for the love of- give Happy a break. He is a very fragile old man," I said to both of them, only half-joking.

"I can take that up, you don't have to take it," Parker offered awkwardly at Happy through the thick window.

"You gonna take it?" 

"Uh yeah, I can take it!"

"Thank you," Happy said gratefully setting the case down on the road, as Parker turned eagerly to father.

"So-so when's our, our next "retreat," ya know?" The awkward teenage boy asked excitedly, doing air quotes. Oh, this poor, poor, little boy. He is going to be waiting for a long time.

"What like next mission?"

"Yeah, the mission-the missions." I just realized how twitchy and awkward the boy was, how he repeats words so often. 

"We'll call you." That made me look up at my father curiously.

"Wha-do you have my number?"

"No like we'll call you, somebody will call you," he clarified, me already knowing what he is going to say next. "Most likely Hailey." There it is. 

Parker looked at me as I forced a smile and waved. I already knew I would have to log in to his schools' database, hack into it, dig through information, and yada yada yada a lot of work for me from father dearest.

"Oh like from your team."

"Aka me, myself, and I."

"Yeah," he reassured and began awkwardly opening the door for Parker but apparently his spidey sense could not tell him how to not be awkward and started to stiffly hug father.

"That's not a hug I'm just trying to open the door for you. We're not-we're not there yet," he stated pushing the door open making me facepalm in the awkwardness that filled the car. Great, now I have to air the car out of teenage hormones and confusion.

"Oh..." Parker responded, sitting there for a moment as father and I stared at him expectedly.

"Bye," father said as Parker realized he was supposed to get out and slid outside. Before he closed the door I spoke up so he did not feel like he was getting kicked out (even though he kind of was.)

 "See you around Parker!" I waved smirking and winked quickly making him blush red. My father glared at me but I ignored him as Parker shut the door and Happy stepped on the gas.

"I thought I told you to not talk to him?"

"I thought I told you I do not listen to you."

Later, I was in my room like usual, propped up against my desk as I scrolled through my internal database after procrastinating for days. I was in the middle of casually stalking Peter Parker aka Spider-Boy for his school until finally, I found it. Midtown School of Science and Technology. Of course, he is a nerd. That checks out.

I scrolled through the freshmen and sophomore classes until I found his sweaty, awkward face in the midst. I scrolled past his age, which was 15, to his phone number and typed it into my phone.

Hey loser, it is Hailey. Text me back when you get this 

I saved his number and put Parker🕷 in as his name. I instantaneously felt my phone buzz and looked down to see Parker had already replied. The kid sure is desperate for interaction.

Parker🕷

Hey Hailey 👋👋👋

I had to admit, that made me laugh at how even when he is texting he still somehow sounds like a dork.

I put my phone down to focus on my work, so close to perfecting my insta-battery. I had just started working when my phone buzzed again making me pick it up.

Parker🕷

So...how are you

This boy cannot be serious.

I am fine but I am currently working right now and really busy.

I will call you if father needs you.

I put my phone down and typed in a formula for my project when I felt my phone buzz for the third time making me pick it up.

Parker🕷

Oh ok 👍 

I rolled my eyes without realizing I was smiling and continue working when my door opened to reveal my father. I sighed loudly and begrudgingly twisted my chair to face him, raising my eyebrow, irritated. I just wanted to finish my work, is that so hard?

"Well, there's my little war criminal!" Father greeted sarcastically making me roll my eyes.

"Ha ha, what do you need from me this time?" I asked making him gasp dramatically and place his hand over his heart looking offended.

"I just really wanted to spend time with my lovely daughter and make her day with my presence." I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair, raising an eyebrow.

"Okay fine I had an amazing surprise for you but now you just ruined," he started throwing his hands up like a child. Now that got my attention.

"What do you mean 'a surprise'?" 

"No, no, no you ruined it. You can't have it now."

"Oh my- just tell me what you did!" I exclaimed, getting more and more irritated as I continued this conversation making him raise his hands in surrender.

"Fine, fine. You know how you've been annoying me for years about letting you attend "normal" school?" He asked you using air quotes around normal making my eyes widen in excitement and hope.

"You did not."

"I did," he stated smugly making me gape at him. I stood up and hugged him, jumping up and down, something that happened quite rarely.

"Oh my gosh oh my gosh! This is the best day eve- wait." I paused stopping my celebration and turned to him, narrowing my eyes suspiciously at my father. "What is the catch?"

"There isn't a catch! I'm just being an amazing father to you." I looked him and down, deciding to let my suspicion die down a bit but not completely.

"Okay fine. Where is it?" I asked curiously making him smile.

"Midtown School of Science and Technology!" He said excitedly trying to mask his obvious treachery with fake jazz hands. The audacity of this man.

"Are you serious?"

"Very. But just think of this as a regular mission," father reasoned.

"I am babysitting. Babysitting a teenage boy the same age as me. How the hell is that a mission?"

"It's...bodyguard duty. Anyway, school starts tomorrow and Happy has all your supplies."

"You cannot be serious," I argued stubbornly but he just stared at me awkwardly. "Oh my god, you are serious. No, no, no you are not seriously downgrading me from being an Avenger to intern to babysitter."

"It's a promotion!"

"Do you even know what a promotion is? Because the more I talk to you the more I think you do not know what basic words mean."

"I'm upgrading your job by letting you make friends with teenagers which is something you've always wanted for some odd reason," he reasoned smugly making me stare at him, trying to resist the urge to slam his smug face into the wall.

"But-"

"I would love to continue this argument but I have a meeting, bye love you." He said hurriedly, quickly kissing my forehead and walking out of my room to leave me highly aggravated.

I huffed and sat down in my chair, spinning in it a few times before settling in front of my desk. My phone buzzed and I instinctively grabbed it, checking my messages.

Parker 🕷

Hey, do you want on patrol with me when you're done with work?

My father would be pretty upset with me if I left the tower.

I am in

…

Why? Why do humans insist on waking up so early in the goddamn morning? Seriously, the sun is not even awake yet so why do I have to be? 

I got dressed and combed my hair, preparing myself for something I never thought I would actually get to do. I opened my door to find Happy with a school bag and a schedule, already waiting for me.

"About time, come on you're going to be late," Happy rushed, pushing me out the door as he handed me my schedule. I rolled my eyes and smiled at my classes, almost all of them being AP. This is going to be awesome!

Not awesome. Definitely not awesome. I seriously have to do robotics, band, and the academic decathlon? How does this boy find any time to do anything? Just kill me already.

I made Happy drop me off a block away from the school to blend in more and got out of the car. When I got halfway I noticed the other kids heading to school were staring at me warily. I looked around to see what they were eyeing when I realized they probably were not used to a punk-looking girl with bright blue hair go to their nerdy school.

I put my hair in a ponytail and kept my head, hoping no one would look my way. Of course, nothing actually goes my way.

It felt like everyone was staring at me, watching me, to see if I would get detention on the first day for flipping off a teacher or something. I checked my schedule nervously, seeing I had approximately 15 minutes before I had to get to class.

I started looking for Parker seeing as he was the entire reason I was here in the first place. I looked at my locker number and figured my father probably set us to be right next to each other and started there. I turned a few corners and low and behold Peter Parker stood in front of his locker with a Filipino boy holding up a lego man. And shocker, our lockers are three feet apart. Yippee.

"Join me and together we'll build my new LEGO Death Star," Parkers friend said, talking with his little lego man in hand. I walked past them with my head down to get to my locker with Parker thankfully not noticing.

"What? That's awesome! How many pieces?"

"3,803," I rolled my eyes at their dorkyness and opened my locker with the combination Happy wrote down for me.

"That's insane!"

"I know! You wanna build it tonight?"

"I can't I have the Stark Internship," Parker lied as he closed his locker making me raise an eyebrow. I ignored it though, assuming that was just an excuse to go patrolling without suspicion.

"You know, I knew you were a nerd but I did not think you were this much of a nerd at school," I spoke up next to him. They both turned their heads towards me, Parker looking shocked. "Surprise, Parker."

"Wha-how are you here?" He sputtered making his friend whip his head towards him instead.

"You know her?" Parkers eyes widened and he opened mouth to try to find a lie but was unable to so I had stepped in.

"Yeah, we are both interns at Stark industries," I quickly lied with ease. "I just got transferred here from Massachusetts, which is such an awesome coincidence! I am Hailey, Hailey Martin." I introduced, noticing a flash of recognition in his eyes.

"Wait, wait, wait. You're Hailey?" He asked, looking me up and down, astounded. I nodded while Parker shook his head frantically for his friend to stop talking but he did not see him.

"Oh man, Peter has been talking about you for days! You know, you are just as pretty as he said-" He started but was interrupted by Peter slapping a hand over his mouth, wide-eyed.

"T-this is Ned, feel free to ignore everything he says," Peter introduced making me laugh softly.

"Got it. Well, I got to go figure out my way to the first period so..." I trailed off, starting to walk backward.

"Uh...I can show you around!" Parker answered quickly, releasing Ned from his clutches. "Which class do you have?"

"I have physics with Mrs. Williams," I replied awkwardly. I knew I would have to explain to him at some point why I have all of his classes and extracurriculars which was going to be a very awkward conversation.

"Oh cool that's my class too! I'll walk you to it," he grinned making me smile in return.

"Dude!" Ned said throwing his hands up slightly making me feel kind of bad for him.

"I-I'll see you later!"

"But—"

"I'll see you- I'll see you later!" I laughed as we started walking with Peter leading me towards the class.

"So what are you actually doing here?" He asked instantly when Ned was out of earshot.

"Promise me you will not be irritated?" I asked, biting the inside of my check, feeling guilty.

"Okay...?" He trailed off, eyeing me warily as we turned a corner.

"I may or may not be here to... "bodyguard" you..." I trailed off awkwardly, suddenly very interested in the lockers. 

"...I'm sorry, we're the same age and you're here to babysit me?" I turned my head slowly as he stopped in the middle of the hall and stared at me.

"To be fair, that is my father's doing, so you cannot blame me," I reasoned making him sigh. "Hey, this is not rainbows and sunshine for me either, Parker. I mean really, robotics, band, and a decathlon? What are you trying to do, kill me?" That made him laugh weakly and soon we made it to physics. 

Parker sat down at his designated seat as I took the last seat available at the other end of the class and began to prepare to ignore my teachers for the rest of my time me at school.

"Did Liz get a new top?" Peter asked Ned as he stared at Liz, his hand supporting his thick, hormone-filled, as- brain. Yeah, brain. It was finally lunch and I sat by him and his friend since I had nowhere else to go. I picked and moved around the wet cafeteria food so it would look like I ate something when I really could not as Parker and his friend gawked at a pretty girl. The epitome of nerds.

"No, we've seen that before," he replied making me pause. You both have done this before???? "But never with that top."

"We should probably stop staring before it gets creepy though," Parker mumbled.

"Too late," the girl, Michelle I think is her name, speaks up. "You guys are losers."

"I agree with the pretty punk girl, you guys are the definition of pathetic," I added. She looked at me for a moment, surprised, and then turned back to her book. 

"Then why do you guys sit with us?"

"Because I don't have friends."

"Duh," I commented, still poking at my food pathetically. They both shared a look as did Michelle and I. I looked back at Liz where she was still talking to her group of friends and back at Parker spacing out again.

"You are one sad, sad nerd," I commented looking at his spaced-out expression taking him out of his daydream. "If you like her why do you not ask her out or whatever normal people do?"

"It's not that easy," he pouted making me roll my eyes as a curl fell from his face.

"Yeah plus I don't think it's not gonna last long," Ned piped up, eyeing me.

"What do you mean-"

"Anyway!" Peter exclaimed suddenly, wide-eyed. "How was your first day?"

"Hell."

I had just got home from the longest day ever. Of course, it does not get better when I am still on duty. I turned on my room and parked myself at my desk, starting to type some calculations in. After a few hours, I got quickly bored and started scrolling through YouTube aimlessly. I was going through clips of black widow while worshiping the ground she walks on but was interrupted by my buzzing phone.

Parker 🕷

I'm lonely

Hailey 🤖 

Sucks to be you I guess.

Parker 🕷

Can you please come help me patrol 

Hailey 🤖

...

Are you dying?

Parker 🕷

No

Hailey 🤖

Is anyone else dying?

Parker 🕷

No...

Hailey 🤖

There is your answer.

Parker 🕷

What if something happens and I can't stop it

Hailey 🤖

Dude.

You can lift a building.

You will be fine, trust me.

Parker 🕷

Please? 

🥺

Hailey 🤖

...

Fine...

Parker 🕷

Yay :DDD

Hailey 🤖

You owe me, Parker.

I put my phone down and unbuttoned the top of my shirt, revealing my bright blue power source in the middle of my chest. I tapped it twice and my super suit quickly instructed itself on top of my clothes. Since the battle, I had slightly modified it for easier access so I did not have to take off all my clothes to get dressed. 

The simple black suit absorbed my body, helping all my electric powers flow evenly through my body for fewer glitches to take place. Before going out my only window I pulled up my hood, covering my hair, and put on my usual black mask that hid over half my face. 

With my eyes the only thing visible, I jumped out the window casually. I let myself free fall for a moment, feeling the wind whip around my body before using my energy to lift myself in the air again. I flew towards Queens and pulled up my messages through my database so they appeared before my cybernetic eyes. 

Hailey 🤖

Yo where you at, Spidey boy?

Parker 🕷

***Spider-Man 

and I'm near Delmars  

Hailey 🤖

Pffffft tell that to puberty.

Alright, I am coming.

I quickly flew over to 'Delmars' and could spot the bright red suit a mile away. He sat on the roof of a building besides Delmars, eating a sandwich with his mask only revealing his mouth.

"Are those pickles on your grilled cheese sandwich?" I piped up from behind him making him whip around to only find me and visibly relaxed.

"Maybe...it's really good though!"

"Mhm sure..." I trailed off as he looked at me, highly offended. "Anyway is there any specific reason you dragged me out here other than to watch you eat that disgusting thing?" 

"Uh- because I needed help on my homework?"

"...that was the best excuse you could come up with? Really?"

"Yeah..."

"We really need to start working on your lying, Spidey. You should be ashamed," I added sarcastically as I sat by him on the ledge of the roof as we looked over the New York skyline.

"I can lie!" Peter argued defensively, ironically being a terrible liar about lying he can lie.

"No, no you cannot. The only lies you can do are lies of omission and those are not very subtle," I laughed as he rolled his eyes at me.

"Ok fine I was bored and... you were the first person I thought of to call," he admitted with a bright red face making me look over at him with a flustered face.

"I am flattered but am I not the only person you can call while on patrol?" I asked with a raised eyebrow making him look even more embarrassed.

"I-I'm trying to be nice here!"

"Well you are not very good at it, are you?!"

...

"I cannot believe you do this every day."

"Why?"

"Because it is so boring..." I groaned, laying down on the roof of a random building. It has been a month since my first day of school and ever since then I have always tagged along on patrol. It was fun, actually being free and away from my father and the other avengers. It is not like I do not like them around it just gets a little boring, only getting to hang out with a handful of people that are all in their late thirties.

"But there's still chance someone could use our help," he responded with determination. I looked at him for a moment, somewhat surprised at the seriousness in his voice.

"Yeah, I guess," I grumbled, but my response was drowned out by my two passerby's on the street spotting us.

"Hey! Aren't you the guys from YouTube?!"

"It's Spider-Man!" Spidey yelled, looking over at me to say my name and I shrugged.

"And Circuit!" I shouted at the man so he could hear me from that far away.

"Okay 'Spider-Man' and 'Circuit'! Do a flip!" What? Spider-Man did a flip making me laugh at his compliance.

"Yeah! Circuit?" I got up begrudgingly and easily did a flip making both of them cheer. 

"Does this happen often?" I asked Spidey curiously.

"No," he laughed quietly making me laugh with him.

"Hey Happy, um, here's my report for tonight," Spidey said, leaving a voicemail for my very irritated overpaid Uber driver. I sat silently next to him in amusement, not wanted Happy to hear me in the voicemail and snitch on me to my dad.

"I stopped a grand theft bicycle, couldn't find the owner so I just left a note um-" he took a bite of his churro and mumbled something about a lady and the churro.

"I just feel like I should be doing more, ya know? I'm just curious when's our next real mission going to be," he sighed.

"So yeah just call me back. It's Peter," he hung up the phone and sighed again like an angsty teenager. 

"Why would you tell him about the churro?"

"I have no idea."

"So are you the reason why Happy has been more annoyed than usual? You do realize he is probably busy packing."

"Packing?"

"Yeah, we are moving out of Stark Towers, going upstate in case..." I trailed off, trying to find the words. "In case something big happens. And when it does I can promise you, we will call. But at the moment you should really just relax and enjoy some leaser before it is gone."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Peter replied as he replaced his webs. When he hit the button to dispose of the empty capsule it popped out and was about to drop. Spidey leaned forward and tried to catch it, sticking sideways to the wall in the process of almost falling to death. He froze, looking at something off in the distance and I followed his line of sight. Robbers. Great.

"Finally, something good!"

"Ugh, I just want to go home and charge," I groaned as I followed Spidey to the store.

When we got there a group of guys wearing terrible-looking avenger masks. I noted they carried an unidentifiable weapon that was not named in my database but looked like...alien tech? Which means I cannot electrocute and shut off the weapons. Oh shit, this is definitely not going to end well. They were still raiding the ATM when we got there. I was about to run in there but stopped to watch Spidey reposition himself, leaning on the wall to make himself look more intimidating. Even while fighting, he was still a dork.

"Sup guys, got your PIN?" Spidey asked, drawing their attention to us. "Woah! It's the Avengers!"

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked walking up and punching the guy with the Thor mask. "Thor? I thought you were in space, why have you not called?"

"Hulk," Spidey noted as he stuck to the ceiling and kicked him in the chest, knocking him into the glass wall. "Nice to finally meet you guys. I thought you would be more handsome in real life." The guy with the iron man mask swung at him but he dodged easily. "Iron Man! Hey, what're you doing robbing a bank? You're a billionaire," he asked while still dodging him easily.

"Yeah, I do not think you need to worry about your retirement plan just yet," I joined in as I shot a bolt of electricity flying at him. Spidey punched him, pushing him into the other guys and knocking them all off their feet. Suddenly, faux Captain America held up the way-to-big-for-him weapon and aimed it at us. He pressed the trigger and purple goop surrounded us and made us float in midair without my powers, catching me off-guard

"Uh...this feels so weird," Spidey cringed as I tried to charge my body with electricity in hopes to shut it off but it did not work in the slightest. The weapon then slammed us against the glass wall making my body groan. 

"Woah what is that thing?!" The weapon turned on again, making both of us slam against the ceiling and then the floor again and again.

"I'm. Starting. To think. You're not. The avengers!" Spidey groaned as we got smashed back and forth into the ceiling.

"Stop. Talking. To. Them!" I groaned on the ground about to be lifted but Spidey stuck on the ground using his powers and I grabbed onto his body. He shot a web at the weapon knocking it out of the perp's hands. The weapon was still on and started to levítate everything giving both of us an advantage over them. I levitated using my own power and attacked the criminals as Spidey stuck to the walls and jumped after them. 

"Okay guys, let's wrap this up, it's a school night!" Spidey joked as we were about to win but one of them turned on another glowing purple weapon. A laser beam ripped from the machine, tearing the building and its neighboring building, Delmars, completely apart. Shit.

Spidey shouted something and went to see if anybody was in there while I stayed to beat the shit out of the criminals. I was about to tase them but was shot at again with the purple laser, ripping my arm almost completely off. I fell backward and before I could get up and grab them, they had taken off in their car. 

"No, no, no! Shit!" I swore while trying to keep my arm from completely snapping. I peeked into my sleeve seeing only a couple of wires holding it together. I stumbled out of the building, seeing Spidey give a guy his cat back. I followed Spidey who had his head down and had started talking to someone on the phone. Happy, I assumed.

When Happy had hung up and Spidey closed his phone, his eyes immediately were drawn to my broken arm.

"Oh my gosh, Hailey are you ok??"

"No. Father is going to murder me when I get home," I groaned, looking at my sparking arm and gripping it with my hand. "I gotta go fix this but I will see you at school, alright?" I decided as I began levitating, starting to fly away before he could properly answer.

"O-oh okay! See you uh... p-partner!" I heard Spidey stammered out before muttering to himself.

"Ugh, why did I say it like that? Idiot!"

...

After spending the entire night welding my arm back together and stitching my synthetic skin I had finally finished. I had to hook myself up to my charging port while having to stitch my skin up, only 'sleeping' for a few hours after being satisfied with my arm. 

As I walked to school, my arm squeaking each time I moved it but only slightly. When I had spotted Peter and Ned walking together ahead of me I sped up only to freeze when I overheard them.

"—got bit by a spider? Can it bite me? It probably would've hurt, right? You know what, whatever. Even if it did hurt, I'd let it bite me. Maybe. How much did it hurt?"

"The spiders dead, Ned." I stomped towards them and pulled on Peter's shirt forcefully. He grabbed into the pile of books he was holding to catch them and looked over his shoulder confused only to find me and his confusion quickly turned into fear.

"What?!" I whispered-yelled glaring at him with all of my anger. "Yo-I—what?!" 

"Before you kill me please know I didn't tell him he found out!"

"Oh wow, and who's fault is that?" I snapped, trying not to snap his neck as I talked.

"Miss Circuit ma'am if I may-"

"Do not call me miss or ma'am ever again or I swear I will sew your mouth shut," I glared back at Ned.

"I swear I won't tell anyone!"

"Oho, you better or it is your ass that will be handed to my father, not mine!"

"Father?"

"Ned, this is Hailey Stark," Peter introduced awkwardly making me roll my eyes. Ned gasped dramatically with his mouth wide open.

"Wait as in the Tony Stark? Like, Stark Industries? Like Iron Man, Stark?" I raised an eyebrow as Ned continues to ramble about my father and leaned slightly towards Peter.

"Is he okay?" I whispered to Peter as we watched Ned have an aneurism.

"Yeah, he does this a lot," Peter replied smiling sheepishly at me making me remember why I was talking to them in the first place. I stiffened and whipped my head forward.

"I am still mad at you, Parker," I stated, walking ahead of them.

"Wait so does that mean you have a crush on Tony S—"

"Shut up, Ned."

...

"Do Avengers have to pay taxes? What does Hulk smell like? I bet he smells nice."

"Shut up."

"Is captain America cool or is he a mean old grandpa?"

"He is more of an irritable old grandpa that tries to be cool but fails horribly," I whispered back next to them. We were in the gym and Ned still has not stopped talking the entire day. Ned and Parker were partnered up while I was doing sit-ups alone because thankfully father had bribed the school to get me out of group activities.

"Pete, can I be your guys's guy in the chair?"

"What?"

"Like you know that there's a guy, in a chair. Telling the other guys where to go. Like if you were stuck in a burning building, I can tell you where to go because there would be screens around me and I could swivel around them because I would be your guy in the chair!"

"We don't need a guy in a chair," Parker replied with me nodding along 

"Yeah because I'm the guy in the chair for both of us," I whispered as the gym teacher came along.

"Looking good, Parker," the gym teacher encouraged making Parker realize he was going too fast. He feigned a strained expression and started slowing down considerably to look like the average nerd in PE.

"For me, it would be... eff Thor, marry Iron Man, and kill Hulk," I heard one of the girls on the bleachers comment to the others. 

"Well, what about the Spider-Man?" Ew no, it's Spider-boy guys, come on. At least get his name right.

"What about the Spider-Man?"

"Did you guys see that big security camera footage? He fought off four guys!" Excuse you, I was there too. I glared at her briefly before concentrating on faking my sit-ups but only until I noticed Ned and Peter stopped.

"Oh my gosh, she's crushing on Spider-Man."

"No way...kinda!"

"Ugh, gross he's like 30."

"You don't know what he looks like, like what if he's seriously burned?"

"I wouldn't care because I would love him for what's on the inside," she replied making me roll my eyes, irritated.

"Peter knows Spider-Man!" Ned yelled at the top of his voice making the entire class turn their heads towards them including me. My eyes widened as I shook my head widely.

"Uh- no I don't! I mean-"

"They're friends!" Ned continued, smiling awkwardly at the entire class. My mouth stood agape, horrified.

"Yeah like how Couch Wilson and Captain America are friends," Flash snickered.

"Yeah I-I've met him a couple of times but that's only through the uh- Stark Internship." Peter sputtered glancing at me for help but I just sat there looking anywhere but the train wreck that was Peter Parker.

"Mhm but I'm not supposed to talk about it," Parker continued, hissing at Ned as Flash sauntered towards them.

"Well then hey, you should invite him to Liz's party!" Flash offered, dripping of menace.

"Yeah we're having people over tonight you're more than welcome to come," Liz said politely making me internally facepalm.

"H-having a p-party?" Please do not come, please do not go to that party that will only end in disaster.

"Yeah it's going to be dope, you should totally invite your personal friend Spider-Man," Flash laughed. 

"It's okay, I know Peter's way too busy for parties anyway," Liz replied giving him an out to the situation. Just take the out, Parker. Take it, please.

"Oh come on, he'll be there. Right, Parker? Or are you busy going out on a date with your new girlfriend?" Flash taunted, looking at me and Peter with amusement.

"She's not my girlfriend! I don't have a girlfriend," he yelled, muttering the last part.

"Yeah, he wishes," I laughed but stopped when I saw Parker give me a look. "No offense." The bell rang, causing everyone to exit the gymnasium. Flash gave Parker one last look before leaving too and so did Liz. 

Peter turned his body to face Ned, hands up like he was ready to throttle him.

"What are you doing?!"

"Helping you out! Did you not hear her? Liz has a crush on you!" Ned exclaimed excitedly making me purse my lips subconsciously.

"Dude, you are an avenger! If any one of us has a chance with a senior girl, it's you." Ned finished, walking to his next class leaving me and Parker alone.

"You don't think he's right, do you?" Parker suddenly asked, turning to face me.

"Eh, you have to remember Liz does not know and cannot know your identity so you are not actually Spider-Man to her. She does not have a crush on you or Spider-Man but a fascination with a superhero that she does not even know. It is like when a girl has a 'crush' on a celebrity, it does not have any real meaning or substance but is a mere obsession." I stated, crushing his hopes and dreams into a little ball and throwing it into the trash. He opened his mouth to respond but closed it, sharply turning back and started walking to his, or our, next class. "No offense!" I added quickly but had no reaction towards him at all making me sigh.

"You teenage boys and your girl obsessions. I am so glad I do not have your hormone levels."

Well, this is boring.

I was standing in the kitchen of Liz's house, pretending to slowly nibble on a tortilla chip. Of course, I was not letting any get in my system if I would die an agonizing death but it was worth it to look like I was busy. 

I cannot believe I am spending my valuable time here at a teenage party that I was not even invited to. And I am only here to babysit another stupid teenager and keep him from doing something stupid like exposing his identity to his entire class.

"This is so dumb..." I grumbled to myself while still sucking on a tortilla chip.

"Tell me about it," Michelle piped up beside me as she put bread in the toaster. That was until she realized I was the one who said that and furrowed her eyebrows, turning her head towards me. "Were you even invited to-"

"I crashed, okay," I snapped quickly. She looked at me as if she were sizing me up. Or checking me out but both are very much welcomed.

"Cool," she replied as the toaster popped with her crisp bun. For a split second, I thought she smiled at me before I looked over again and she looked down. She began to spread jam on the bun as I casually scanned the room for Peter but could not find him. Suddenly I heard the door to the house open and close through the blaring music from DJ Flash. Thank you, supersonic hearing.

"-say you guys are tight and then I get a fist pump or one of those half-bro hugs," I heard Ned say to Peter.

"I can't believe you guys are here at this lame party," Michelle piped up from the kitchen making both of them turn to her. I was directly beside her so they both did nothing to spot me but if they did they would have been killed by my glare.

"You're here too," Ned reasoned.

"Am I?" Michele asked, taking a bit out of her food before walking away revealing me glaring at both of them making them jump.

"Peter-" I growled, about to go on a full lecture but was interrupted by a cheerful Liz.

"Oh my gosh, hey guys! Cool hat, Ned," she greeted. It was a pretty cool hat but now is not the time.

"Hi, Liz," both boys greeted in union. Ned grinned proudly for his hat while Peter squeaked his greeting out, shifting his eyes back to me as I glared a hole through his skull. Or at least really wanted to.

"I'm so happy you guys came. There's pizza and drinks, help yourself," Liz offered to stare at Peter making me gag silently.

"What a great party," Peter complimented looking like he was ready to throw up or sweat enough to fill a pool. Or both. 

"Thanks," Liz smiled softly. They both stared at each other for a while until a crash echoed through the house and the noise. "Oh...my parents will kill me if anything is broken I gotta..."

"Yeah."

"Have fun!"

"Bye..."

"Bye!" Liz walked away swiftly to find the culprit of the shattering glass leaving us alone.

"...Well that was painful," I commented from the kitchen but was ignored by Ned.

"Dude now's your chance, she's here! Spider-Man up!" Ned urged Peter making me want to throttle him then and there.

"Absolutely not!" I interjected, whispering alongside Ned in a harsh tone instead.

"No, no, no! I can't do this!"

"Damn right you cannot do this!"

"Spider-Man is not a party trick, okay? Look, I'm just going to...be myself." Oof, that is not going to go over well. I mean...yeah you can do it! Sorta...maybe?

"Peter, no one wants it," Ned scoffed making me reach over the kitchen counter and smack him on the arm hard, giving him a look.

"Dude..." Peter replied offended, walking away but was interrupted by 'DJ Flash' and his irritating insults.

"That isn't Spider-Man, that's just Ned in a red shirt," Flash mocked before playing the sound of a horn for the fifth time. Peter pierced his lips and began to walk away as I followed him.

"Peter, please do not-"

"And you did it." I sighed as I stood beside Peter, fully dressed in his Spider-Man costume with only his mask off, crumpled in his hands. We stood right above the party we were supposed to be at, looking over all the talking teenagers who were enjoying their normal lives.

"Hey, what's up, I'm Spider-Man. Thought I'd swing by and say hello to my buddy Peter! Oh, what's up Ned! Where's Peter anyway? He must be around here..." Spidey muttered to himself, watching the party from above. "God this is stupid! What am I doing?"

"Coming to your senses already? Why do you even care what they think anyway?"

"I just- I just want Liz to like me, okay? Is that so wrong?" Peter demanded defensively and I had to scoff at him, shaking my head, feeling irrationally angry at his sentiment.

"Yes, yes it is. It is the definition of a stupid thought process. You are literally a superhero who saves people every single day! A couple of opinions from high schoolers who won't matter in five years are not important and should not be important to you!" I reasoned genuinely, crossing my arms as if that would help me hide from his gaze as he looked up at me for a moment, surprised at my advice.

"I d-" Spidey started but was interrupted by a flash of light from the distance, both of our heads whipping towards it. "The hell?" He swung closer to it before I could stop him.

"Wait I do not thin-"

"Come on, Wires!" He urged, not stopping, making me groan loudly.

"The one break day I have and I don't even get a full day of relaxation...typical."

Parker and I were swinging/flying towards where we last saw the light. Spidey being overly extra as always, was bouncing off a house and flipping in the air for...reasons apparently because why not?

He stopped in the middle of a field and spit out a web from his web into the air making it fly hundreds of feet before falling to the ground.

"Nice one."

"Shut up."

"Well, cardio workouts are very beneficial for you squishy humans," I snickered at his misery making him grumble.

When we had finally gotten there we spotted a group of men participating in a weapon deal under a bridge thingy.

"We got no shots in public. Times are changing and we're the only ones selling these weapons," the dealer informed the buyer. Spidey and I shared a knowing look.

"Oh, so this is where the atm robbers got their weapons..."

"The question is how and where did they get alien tech...? I whispered back to Spidey, racking my database for the possible answer.

"I just need something to stick up someone I'm not trying to shoot them back in time." Dude has a point, guys.

"...Anti-gravity climbers..."

"Yo, climbers?" And I have now lost the little respect I had for you, dude.

And then Spidey's phone started ringing. I saw Neds face flash across the screen as he desperately tried to turn it off. 

"Ok, what is that?" One of the guys asked, looking around.

"Dude!" I snapped at Spidey, instinctively zapping his phone, killing it as the dealers pointed their guns at the buyer. If we get out of this alive, I promise to remember to buy him a new phone but I will worry about that later.

"Did you set us up?" One of the sellers questioned as the buyer put his hands up in surrender quickly.

"Hey hey man," he said startled before Spidey and I hopped out of our hiding place and landed on the ground.

"Hey dude, did your mother ever tell you not to play with guns or what?" 

"Hey hey come on! If you're going to shoot anyone, shoot me." My eyes widened as I whipped my head over towards him, giving him a 'why-the-actual-hell-would-you-say-that-when-I am-literally-bulletproof-over-here' look.

"Aight," the seller said aiming his gun at Spidey before he shot a web at the gun and flinging it away from the criminal. I sent a shock of electricity at the bad guys but the other buyer in the van grabbed a foreign alien-tech weapon. He shot it at me and Spidey sending pulse waves at us, knocking us backward, into the trees while laughing giddily. 

"What was that?!"

"Who would make that!?"

Their car turned on and started to drive away, trying to leave both of us in the dust but before they could Spidey hooked onto their car. He grabbed my waist, pulling me with him as the car twisted and turned to get us off. The seller in the back soon got tired of us and aimed a bright pink weapon at us but only blasted their back doors instead. One of the doors blew towards us but before it hit us I blocked it with my electric field. The man shot at us again and again but missed every time. 

The driver smashed us through everything he could, trash, mailboxes, and even a brick fence at one point, distracting me from taking flight. Eventually, Spidey's poor arm gave out and we stumbled to a halt, leaving us in the middle of the road. He tried to hook onto the car again but failed with the other back door barreling towards us again and barely missing us.

"Great! Guess we'll have to take a shortcut-AH!" He was cut off by me grabbing his hand and lifting us from the ground, quickly flying over a neighborhood 

"You could've warned me before doing that!"

"You were taking too long, idiot! And face it, you should be grateful you get to experience holding a woman's hand before you turned thirty!" I remarked, hastily avoiding tree branches and house roofs.

"I-I can just swing from the trees and you can fly alone just please put me down!"

"Dude this is so much faster! Just put your fragile masculinity on hold for two more minutes and you can be the big, manly, tough guy again." I replied, spotting the car with its slightly glowing guns. Spidey dropped down only to swing onto a nearby tree as we both followed the speeding car. Finally, he had gotten to right beside the car and jumped towards it.

"Surpri-AH!" He was only two feet away from the van before he got swept up by a dark-winged figure.

"WEBS!" I shouted, hesitating as I looked at the van for a moment before shooting upward, following the masked villain. He continued to drag Spidey higher as I raced behind him until his Spider Suit started blinking red. His parachute is turning on, thank god.

As we flew above the dark clouds his parachute activated, pulling him straight down after the figure let go. He yelped as I groaned out in frustration and glared at the figure, attempting to zap him but missing terribly. He quickly flew away, fleeing as I shot at him two more times before giving up and zipping towards a free-falling Spidey. He crashed into the lake below, so deep I could barely see him without my thermal scanner. I hesitated again for a moment as I usually did out of my fear of water but quickly shook my head as I saw Spidey not coming up. I plunged into the water to only be blinded by the white fabric of the parachute. Shit, shit, shit, shit. 

I dove through the fabric, following his thermal readings. I was only a few feet away before a familiar shape shot into the water and grabbed him, shooting back up just as quickly. Oh, this cannot be good. I followed after them guiltily as I started scripting out all my possible excuses in my database.

...

"A-and the he-he picked me up like a thousand feet and just dropped me!" Peter exclaimed as he twisted the excess water out of his mask. We were at an abandoned park to dry off, Peter sitting on top of a jungle gym and me sitting awkwardly on a swing knowing the usual lecture was coming. "How'd you find me anyway? Did you put a tracker in my suit or something?"

"I put everything in your suit. Including this heater," Father explained, gesturing to his suit as it turned on. 

"Oh thanks, that's better," Peter sighed, shivering. 3, 2, 1...

"What were you two thinking?" Father hissed making me wince slightly.

"The guy with the wings is obviously the one supplying the weapons, we have to take him down!" We? We! We... that sounds kind of ni- wait no that is bad. Very bad.

"Do not lump me into this!" I hissed quietly at Peter, trying to avoid being yelled at directly.

"Take him down now, huh? Crockett, there are people who handle this sort of thing."

"The Avengers?"

"No, no, no, this is a little below their pay grade."

"We do not get paid, it all goes to the repair the large amount of damage we cause."

"Hailey?"

"No, because obviously, Hailey can't handle that amount of responsibility if she can't handle a simple and basic task." He said in a backhanded comment, turning his head towards me.

"I apologize but I was not exactly programmed for babysitting duty," I replied, gritting my teeth as I glared at him.

"Anyway, Mr. Stark you didn't have to come all the way out here I was fine." 

"Oh I'm not actually here," he answered awkwardly, flipping up his mask to reveal this was just one of his robots. Are you serious?

"Thank god this place has wifi or you two would be toast right now."

"More like he would be toast, I would be perfectly fine," I commented making Peter give me a rather offended look. "After mourning you, of course."

"Look, forget about the flying vulture guy, please."

"Why?" We both exclaimed in unison, knowing full well if bad guys could potentially make and replicate alien tech we are all in trouble.

"Why? Because I said so!" He snapped making me wince again. "Stay close to the ground, build up your guys' game helping the little people. Like that lady who bought you that cheero." He remembered that? "Can't you just be... the neighborhood Spider-Man and Circuit?" Dude, I was one of the original Avengers, this is below my pay grade.

"But we're ready for more than that now!"

"I am actually content with where I am now but what do I know I am apparently just the peanut gallery," I commented from the side.

"No, you are not," Fathers replied having his mask snap-down instantly.

"That is not what you thought when I took on Captain America!"

"Trust me, kid, if Cap wanted to lay you out, he would've."

"I mean, the only thing he has is the shield, quick reflexes, and super strength. And the shield is the size of a dinner plate. All you would have to do is shoot him in the legs and he is down..." I mumbled.

"Listen to me, if you come across these weapons, call Happy." He replied to Peter, ignoring me, as he started his car through the call making me and Peter's face scrunch up.

"Are you driving?" Peter asked in disbelief at my father.

"You know kid, it's not too late to think about college. I got some pull at MIT. End call," he offered before shutting down the conversation.

"No, I don't need to go to- MR. STARK-"

"Mr. Stark is no longer connected," Friday informed before driving the suit back home, leaving both of us alone. 

"That's just awesome," Peter sighed disappointedly as I turned to him.

"Welcome to my life."

Chapter Text

"Are you insane?!" I demanded as Peter hit the 'glowy thing' he liked to call it again in our engineering class while the teacher was not looking nor cared to look at what he was doing. "That thing could be highly dangerous and you bring it to school and start hitting it like an idiot?!"

"We have to figure out what it is-"

"And you bring it to school to figure it out?" I interrupted him in disbelief at his idiocy but before he could answer, Ned swooped in.

"Hey, thanks for bailing on me," Ned greeted passive aggressively, referring to the party we completely abandoned him at.

"Yeah, well, something came up," Peter responded awkwardly, staring at the glowing item on the table.

"What is that?"

"Good question," I grumbled with my arms crossed making Ned look at me as he realizes we did not know either.

"Some guy tried to vaporize me with it," Peter added making Ned whip his head toward his friend is awe.

"And Peter thinks to himself, 'you know what is a good idea? Bring it to show and tell at school!'" I hissed sarcastically at the both of them but Ned did not seem to register my words.

"Seriously?" Ned questioned incredulously with wide eyes, looking back and forth between the weapon and his friend.

"Yeah," Peter nodded with a sigh.

"Awesome," Ned breathed out with a smile as he stared at the mystery weapon making me and Peter turn our turn toward him incredulously. "I mean, not awesome. Heh, totally uncool of that guy. So scary..." he awkwardly backtracked and Peter looked back at the tech, curiously poking through the wiring like a dumbass.

"Nice save," I complimented sarcastically and he gave me an apologetic look.

"Well, look, I think it's... a power source," Peter observed the  open wiring of the device with some tweezers.

"Yeah, but it's connected to all these microprocessors. That's an inductive charging plate. That's what I use to charge my toothbrush," Ned pointed out, pointing to the plate in the middle of the device.

"Whoever's making these weapons is combining alien tech with ours," Peter spoke the obvious but I chose not to make a sarcastic remark.

"Which is not only dangerous for the people on the other end of the weapons but also for anyone who so much as touches it or in a hundred mile radius of it," I added, eyeing the device nervously. "And you bring it to school," I repeated, giving Peter a deadly look but he ignored me.

"That is literally the coolest sentence anyone has ever said. I just want to thank you for letting me be part of your journey... into this amazing..." Ned started to ramble but was interrupted by Peter hitting the glowing object with his hammer again causing a loud thud and spark to fill the classroom.

"Keep your fingers clear of the blades," the teacher yelled with boredom dripping from his voice, not looking up from his magazine.

"We gotta figure out what this is and who makes it," Peter declared the obvious making me roll my eyes at him.

"Really? No!" I snarked making him playfully glare at me and I smirked back.

"We'll go to the lab after class and run tests," Ned planned and I nodded in agreement with Peter.

"Let's do it," He agreed and the two friends did a weird, convoluted handshake that took a solid minute to get through. I stared at them with raised eyebrows.

"And I thought you guys were nerds before," I jabbed but that only made them grin wider at the name calling.

...

"First, we put the glowy thing in the mass spectrometer,"

"We gotta come up with a better name than "glowy thingy,""

You're right. 

"How about 'Thing you so stupidly brought to a highly populated school?'" I offered

"Crap," Peter whispered before grabbing my waist and pulling me into a corner of the hallway to hide from the dealers. "Come on, come on, come on," he hissed at his friend who stood there blankly before awkwardly shuffling toward our hiding spot and only then did I notice I was mere inches from Peter's face and his arm wrapped around my waist feeling effortlessly naturally. I felt my body heat up in embarrassment and saw red text flash across my eyes.

Warning: Body heating up considerably. Please cool down.

"Uh... you can let go of me now," I stammered with an awkward cough causing his face to turn a brilliant shade of pink and he immediately let go of me, mumbling some words that vaguely sounded like an apology as Ned smugly smiled at the two of his. I smacked his arm harshly.

"Hey, that's one of the guys that tried to kill me," Peter noticed casually, peering over the corner making Ned's eyes widen and turn his head over to his friend is shock.

"What?" He whispered in shock at the sudden drop of information that he probably should have been told before.

"Yeah," Peter casually confirmed, not noticing his friend freak out as he carefully looked over the corner to watch the dealers cautiously.

"We gotta get out of here," Ned said in a hushed voice, not understanding why the hell we were still there and not running.

"No, no, no. I gotta follow them. They can lead me to the guy that dropped me in the lake," Peter argued and again, dropped another bomb of information we should have told Ned before this.

"Someone dropped you in a lake?" He demanded, taken aback at the news and our unconcerned reaction to it.

"And tried to stab you with his suit wings," I added helpfully causing Ned to whip his head back and forth between us.

"Someone tried to stab you?" He demanded again, looking like he was probably going to have another one of his Ned aneurisms.

"Yeah, it was not good," Peter told him nonchalantly, cringing at the memory for only a second before going back to the situation at hand. He watched the dealers go into one of the classrooms and started to scurry toward where they just went causing both of our eyes to go wide.

"Peter..." Ned trailed off uneasily, urging him to come back.

"Peter!" I snapped irritably at the boy who was about to follow two weapons dealers into a room alone.

"No. You guys need to stay there," Peter ordered and gaped at him and his audacity to order me around.

"Uh, yeah, no, that is not happening," I scoffed, following him but before he could argue I held up a finger, silencing him. "I am coming with you. We are partners, right?" I asked rhetorically and Ned wiggled his eyebrows at Peter behind me making me kick his shin silently.

"We're partners?" He repeated, his ears turning red as he stared at me with wide eyes and I gave him a 'duh' look.

"Why do you think I patrol with you, dude? Now come on," I urged and led the bay to where the guys headed and Peter instinctively followed with a victorious smile playing at his lips even though he lost the argument.

"Peter-" Ned tried to stop us but we ignored him and kept walking, scurrying through the halls to find the criminals.

...

"No, no, no-"

"Hailey, we have to if we want to stop them-"

"I do not give a shit, Parker! I am not joining your nerd team!" I hissed at Peter who continued to drag me toward the bus his Decathlon team was taking for nationals that we both opted out of to patrol and focus on getting the weapons dealer. But since Peter put a tracker on one of the dealers and revealed they were in Maryland which was close to D.C. where nationals were, Peter decided to beg for our places back.

"What happened to being partners?" He argued, looking back at me while still dragging me to the bus using his super strength.

"I lied! I am a liar and I lied to get what I wanted!" I lied sharply through my teeth just to get out of this but Peter did not respond, a flash of hurt crossed his face but he simply turned to look forward as he continued to hold me hostage until he finally dragged me in front of the Decathlon team.

"Hey, it's Peter," Abe announced causing all of the team to turn their heads towards us, looking amused at Peter dragging me and my feet sliding on the concrete sidewalk.

"Hey, guys," Peter greeted casually, acting like he was not holding me captive as I glared at all of them. I pulled my hand from his awkwardly and straightened up, a ton like that did not just happen and they did not just see that.

"Peter?"

"Hey, buddy."

"Yeah, we were hoping we could rejoin the team," Peter wondered politely but I immediately opened my mouth to interject but Peter slapped his hand on my mouth making me glare daggers at him, trying to pry his sweaty hand away from his face.

"No, no way. You can't quit on us, stroll up, and be welcomed back by everyone," Flash denied, threateningly sashaying toward us, specifically Peter. I finally prayed his hand off of me and warningly walked up to Flash as well, raising an eyebrow at him menacingly making him back up a few feet away from me.

"Hey, welcome back! Flash, you're back to first alternate," Mr. Harrington greeted immediately after walking off the bus and spotting us.

"What?" Flash demanded furiously making me smirk at him smugly and crossed my arms expectingly.

"He's taking your place," Abe snickered with the rest of the team who were more than happy to welcome us, well more Peter than me, back though Cindy and MJ gave me a brief smile so I have made progress on the whole 'friends' thing.

"Excuse me, can we go already? I was hoping to get in some protesting in front of an embassy before dinner," MJ rushed us impatiently and our teacher pointed to her approvingly.

"Protesting is patriotic. Let's get on the bus," Mr. Harrington announced and Flash bitterly shoved his Decathlon Team jacket into Peter's arm.

...

"Uh, strontium, barium, vibranium," Peter answered the last question from Liz's cue cards and I knew it was right before she could say if it was or not. I only answered the questions no one answers so they do not become suspicious of me and my intelligence though it was painful to watch them answer obvious questions to me wrong. I sat in the back beside Ned since I was not on the Nationals group of the team that was actually going to be up on the stage.

"Very good, Peter. Glad to have you back," Liz said politely but it still made my insides burn. I pressed my lips in a fine line, ignoring the feeling and pushed it farther down.

"Glad to be back," he sighed happily in response with a small smile but stopped when his phone began to vibrate that I only heard because of my advanced hearing.

"What is the current standard unit of-" Liz started to ask another question but was interrupted by Peter awkwardly getting up from his seat with his hand strategically hiding the contact calling on his phone.

"Can I take this real quick?" 

"Yeah, fine," Liz allowed with annoyance dripping from her voice and I rolled my eyes at her bitterly as Peter hit the call button and lifted the phone up to his ear.

"Hello?" He asked into the mic as he walked down the aisle and sat down in the seat behind Ned.

"Got a blip on my screen here. You left New York?" I heard Happy interrogate him suspiciously and Peter pulled the phone away for a second, immediately looking at me accusingly. "Tracker. Did you know about this?" He whispered and I stared at him awkwardly.

"Maybe...?" I answered back sheepishly with an apologetic look and a shrug causing Peter to roll his eyes at me and bring the phone back to his ear.

"Uh... Yeah, it's just a school trip. It's, uh, nothing. Happy, I gotta say, tracking me without permission... is a complete violation of privacy," Peter lied with ease and Ned pointed to the tracker hologram that was being omitted into the air behind his seat so no one could see it tracking the dealers. "That's different," he whispered and waved it off.

"What's different?" Happy questioned making Peter stammer before settling on avoiding the question overall.

"Nothing. Look, it's just the Academic Decathlon. It's no big deal," he answered, trying to brush it off easily but I was unsure if he would just let it go that quickly.

"Hey, hey. I'll decide if it's no big deal," Happy said sternly and paused, thinking about it for five seconds as me and Peter furrowed our eyebrows at the odd man. "Sounds like no big deal, but remember, I'm watching you. You too, Hailey," he warned, knowing I was listening to the conversation like I always do making me wince at being caught but quickly recovered, leaning toward Peter and the phone awkwardly.

"Yeah, yeah, we got it, Uncle Happy. Thanks for being useful as always," I spoke up into the mic sarcastically and the call soon ended and Peter immediately turned his head toward me looking like I had just stabbed him in the back.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me about the tracker!"

"I am sorry but in my defense... I did not want to tell you."

...

"Peter... why are we removing the tracker from your suit?" Ned questioned as he hacked into the suit upon his friends request to figure out what else my father was hiding from him. I obviously did not approve but did not want to tattle tale on him to my father of all people so I settled on sitting cross-legged on the armchair in the corner of their shared hotel room in silent protest. The minute we got to the hotel the Decathlon Team was staying at for Nationals, Peter wanted to work on the suit like a nerd which probably should not have surprised me that much looking back on it.

"Uh... I gotta follow these guys to their boss before they move again... and I don't really want Mr. Stark to know about it," he answered as he picked at the wiring of his suit from the inside with a pair of cheap tweezers and a flashlight he held with his mouth which damn, was that ho- I mean smart since he did not have three hands to hold the light. Yeah, so smart...

"So you're lying to Iron Man now?" Ned asked exasperatedly at his over-ambitious friend trying to outsmart a billionaire tech-mogul with his own tech and creation.

"No, I'm not lying. He just doesn't really get what I can do yet," Peter answered, not exactly explaining how he was not lying.

"That does not mean you are not lying to him, though," I pointed out with furrowed eyebrows at his odd logic from my chair in the corner of the room, not exactly wanting to help them but I did not want to snitch on them either.

"Ah... Gotcha. All right, Happy, enjoy tracking this lamp," Peter laughed proudly at his own skill, ignoring my very witty, sarcastic comments and arguments.

"There's a ton of other subsystems in here..." Ned trailed off, reading through the code imbedded in the suit and I pursed my lips together, knowing what he was going to find.

"Hmm?" Peter hummed thoughtfully, listening to his friend and urging him to continue.

"But they're all disabled... by the Training Wheels Protocol," Ned snickered making Peter whip his head toward him in disbelief and leaned toward Ned to look over the computer.

"What? "Training Wheels Protocol"? Turn it off," he demanded in offense but Ned did not look convinced.

"I don't think that's a good idea. They're blocked for a reason," he argued timidly and I nodded to him.

"Yeah and a good reason at that," I added making Peter look over at me in betrayal.

"You knew about this too?"

"Hey, I do not pick the names, my father does! And trust me, I know that better than anyone," I grumbled with my hands up in surrender and Ned raised an eyebrow at me,

"What? Why?" He asked curiously, looking up over his computer at me and I crossed my arms bitterly.

"My full name is Humanoid Artificial Intelligence of Latency Experiment Youth," I admitted, making a face at the non-abbreviated form.

"You're name is an abbreviation?"

"What can I say? My daddy issues go back to before I was even fully created," I shrugged and Peter opened his mouth to say something but I beat him to it. "No, I am not going to "help you just to get back at my father."

"Hailey!"

"Peter!" I mocked him making him groan at me. 

"Come on, man, I don't need training wheels. I'm sick of him treating me like a kid all the time. It's not cool," Peter whined like a child as he stood up on his bed which, again, mostly little kids do.

"But you are a kid," Ned stated the obvious with a look and I gestured to him in agreement.

"Yeah, a kid who can stop a bus with his bare hands," he argued with a huff.

"I do not believe that negates the fact you are a minor," I pointed out and he gestured to me in agreement.

"Hailey's right. I just don't think this is a great idea. I mean, what if this is illegal?"

"Oh, this is all illegal. We are withholding crucial information to actual law enforcers which means we can all be prosecuted for obstruction of justice which, fun fact, is a felony! Welcome to vigilantism," I snarked back with sarcastic jazz hands making his eyes widen in fear at the facts.

"How is that a fun fact?"

"It is a fun fact for me because it makes you both squirm like worms," I smirked darkly.

"You're a minor and you've been an Avenger since the beginning!" Peter argued, gesturing to me but I just sighed, shaking my head at the boys ignorance about what he is wanting to get into.

"First of all, I am an Android, not a human child. Second, I am only a superhero because since I am not legally a human child, S.H.I.E.L.D. and my father could use me however they saw fit since it was a loophole in child labor laws and one of those ways to use me was being an Avenger. You are a human, no matter if you are half human and half arachnid or whatever you want to call yourself," I argued pointedly making Peter sway on the bed guiltily and awkwardly with his arms still crossed but he did not back down.

"Look, please. This is my chance to prove myself. I can handle it. Ned, come on," he begged his friend, bending down at the edge of the bed next to him with his hands pressed together.

"Do not do it, Ned," I hissed at him, giving him a warning look.

"I don't think this is a good idea," He shook his head at his friend hesitantly 

"The guy in the chair," Peter whispered, weirdly seductively making him sigh, at odds with himself.

"Don't do that," he whispered exasperatedly.

"Stay strong, Ned," I urged across the room.

"Come on," Peter whispered again making Ned sigh and lean his head back for a moment making my eyes widen.

"Dude..." I trailed off warningly but Ned simply tapped some keys on his computer at we saw the suit flash with light signaling the protocol was officially dead. "Damnit, Ned!" I swore at both of them but Peter wasted no time to be at the edge of the chair I was in, on his knees, ready to beg.

"Hailey, please," He started with his hands locked together but I gaped at his audacity to try that on me.

"Wha-No! I am not helping you sneak around like a... like a buffoon," I exclaimed, stumbling over my words with a heated face at his pleading, puppy dog expression. Ned mouthed 'buffoon?' questioningly at my odd choice of words but I ignored him. 

"Come on..." Peter whined, his hands locked together like he was praying and I pressed my lips together in annoyance.

"Why do you need me to come along if you 'can stop a bus with your bare hands?'" I mocked, using my fingers as air quotes but he did not waver.

"Because... you're my partner, remember? Plus if you're there I know it'll be fine because I have you to protect me," he reasoned with a bright red face making bright red text flash across my cybernetic eyes.

Warning: Body overheating. Please cool down.

Ned awed from the corner of his bed and I shot a throw pillow at him, knocking him down.

"Shut up!" I snapped with a hot face but Peter simply ignored him, staring intently on me as I debated with myself in my head. "Fine. But only because if I did not my father would have my head if you died on my watch," I decided making Peter grin triumphantly at me.

"Thanks, Hails. What would I do without you?" He asked with a fond smile and I felt my face get even hotter than before until I shook myself out of my thoughts and put on a scowl to mask my flustered face.

"You would kill yourself, that is what you would do."

…

"I hate this."

"I've noticed," Spidey replied as we stood on the roof of the hotel, wearing hoodies to hide our faces and suits. He looked at Liz and the others swimming in the pool through the window, the place he should be but was not. I pierced my lips and looked away, irritated but sympathetic. I knew what it was like, looking through a window, wanting to be normal but the universe refusing you. Unfortunately, it is too late for me but not too late for him.

"You know you could sit this one out? I do not mind going alone if you really want," I offered, forcing an encouraging smile.

"What? No, I'm fine. Plus I'm not letting you go alone, what if something happens?"

"I am high-tech miracle machine, I can handle anything, Spidey. But if you insist on making yourself miserable, we need to go now." I answered stepping back from the window with Spidey following my lead as I pulled up my hood and face mask. He tightens his backpack behind him and throws his mask above his face, making his suit flash blue for a moment before reverting to normal.

"Good evening, Peter," his suit operator greeted suddenly making Spidey jump.

"Hello? Hello?" Peter called our whipping his head around like an idiot.

"Congratulations on completing the rigorous Training Wheels Protocol and gaining access from to your suits full capabilities." The operator congratulated making me roll my eyes at him disapprovingly.

"Ah, thank you."

"So where would you like to take me tonight?"

"I-I-I put a tracker on someone. He's a bad guy," Peter stammered nervously making me press my lips together in an attempt to suppress my laughter.

"Really? No!" I snickered beside him making him glare at me or what I assume was a glare.

"Tracker located. Plotting course to intercept."

"Ok, well as long as we make it back in time for the decathlon, it's fine," he reasoned to himself.

"If we do not die that is-AHH!" I started but got interrupted when Spidey grabbed my hand pulling me down with me. I followed him as he jumped off the building, swinging onto the top of the truck, presumably heading towards the sellers' hideout.

After jumping onto a different truck and waiting for some time we finally arrived near our destination.

"One hunted meter from destination and closing," the A.I announced signaling the end to our ride.

"Jump now," she cues us making both of us jump off the truck, landing on a patch of grass nearby. After tumbling to a halt, Spidey starts running across the bank as I flew behind him, following his lead.

After running for a moment we stopped near an abandoned gas station.

"Detecting three individuals," the operator noted as I scanned the premises while crouching in the grass. Three figures were huddled together, talking about cleaning up the Triskelion mess and their findings in the rumble.

"Why is their secret lair in a gas station? That's so lame," Spidey wondered to himself making me roll my eyes.

"Not every villain is some evil multi-millionaire capitalist, Webs," I answered. To get a better view, I flew onto an empty price sign with Spidey right behind me and crouched down on top of it. Right after I landed, a new red warning popped up before my eyes.

Warning: Systems overheating

I decided to ignore it like usual since my cooling program usually gets that covered before anything bad happens. All I have to do is breathe and take in the cool, night air.

"Hey, suit lady, what are they doing?"

"Do you want to hear what they're saying?"

"I can hear what they're saying? Uh, yeah!"

"Activating Enhanced Reconnaissance Mode," the A.I noted making me grumble to myself.

"It is supersonic hearing but whatever if you want to say it all fancy like that," I mumbled bitterly as we listened to what the men were saying.

"I got the gauntlet from the Lagos cleanup. The rest is all my design." We both heard a seller say making Spidey gasp in amazement as I rolled my eyes at the cute, clueless boy.

"Can't believe they're still cleaning up that Triskelion mess."

"I love it. They keep making messes, we keep getting rich."

"Target inbound."

"Whoa, they're in the middle of a heist. We could catch them all red-handed! This is awesome! Okay, we should get a little closer so we can see what's happening," Spidey said making me nod.

"This is going a lot quicker than I thought," I mused, thankful I did not have to spend the whole night here. Not that I minded the thought of being alone with Spidey the whole night.

"Would you like me to engage Enhanced Combat Mode?" The suit operator offered to make me shake my head violently at him.

"No, no, no! Do not do that-"

"Uh, Enhanced Combat Mode? Yeah," Spidey answered, interrupting me as I facepalmed myself, hard.

"Activating Instant Kill," the operator announced, signaling Spidey's eyes to narrow and turn bright red.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want to kill anybody!"

"This is why you listen to me, idiot!" I hissed at him.

"Deactivating Instant Kill," the operator announced, making his suit go back to normal. Peter jumps off the sign for a cool landing but unfortunately ends up landing on his face like an idiot and grunts in pain. 

"Did you hear that?" One of the sellers asks from the van to the others.

"What the hell just happened? What was that?" Spideys asks as he stumbled getting up from the hard ground.

"You fell flat on your face like a loser after jumping off an old sign. I thought that was pretty obvious," I snickered from above him, floating down to help him up. He tried to shoot his webs upward but they ended up being web pellets instead, falling onto the top of the price sign. This is why he should have listened to me, his suit is way too complicated to figure out in 5 minutes.

"What's wrong with my web-shooters?" Spidey questioned as he ran behind the price sign with me following.

"Rapid-fire is the default for Enhanced Combat Mode," the operator answered.

"Why would I need rapid-fire?"

"That is a valid question, when would you need that?"

"Would you like to see more options? You have 576 possible web-shooter combinations."

"I told you father makes his suits too complicated! Why do you think I made mine?" I scolded him, gesturing to my amazing, stupendous, breath-takenly hot super-suit.

"Mr. Stark really overdid it," Spidey sighed.

"Really? I thought 576 was too little," I snarked.

"You do know you are not being very helpful right now?"

"I am very aware, but thank you for confirming it," I answered slyly as Spidey scrolled through his web-shooters to find his default ones.

"That one."

"Great choice. Would you like me to set this as your new default?" Peter shot his new webs in the air with electricity flowing through them which landed on the price sign again making it flicker. He struggled with his web-shooters as he fired them multiple times in the sky making the sign flicker in anguish.

"What was that?" Spidey hissed as he jumped onto some old cars to reach the roof of the gas station. I flew behind him, away from the van filled with dangerous sellers. I do not feel like staying up all night to repair my broken body again. 

"Taser webs, I am pretty sure. Which, by the way, you are not keeping so you cannot replace me."

"I don't want taser webs!"

"You seem to be very unfamiliar with your web-shooter settings." His suit operator commented at his confusion.

"Ha. Noob," I snickered laying down on my stomach on the surface of the old, gross roof.

"Not helping!" Spidey hissed as he sat down on the roof to get a better look at the men as I peeked out from the surface of the roof.

"Would you like to run a refresher course?" The A.I asked, almost awkwardly, at our bickering 

"No, just... you choose."

"Sure thing," she answered as we listened to the sellers carefully. That was probably a bad idea for her to just choose but whatever. 

"Six-Alpha-Niner. Are you running on time?"

"Copy, Central. Six-Alpha-Niner on schedule."

"I have visual."

"Greenlight, greenlight," one of the men responded just before I spotted the familiar bird man flying above.

"Oh, that's him," Spidey muttered to himself making me pierce my lips together, keeping my sarcastic comments to myself. The bid brain dude flew onto one of the transportation vehicles and dropped a device onto the roof of the truck. Spidey and I looked at each other and nodded before he jumped off the roof and flew from tree to tree. I stood up quickly and pushed my hands down to activate my flight program, following him onto the truck. I landed next to him to find a large, window-like portal into the truck's storage but before a flashing red sign appeared before my eyes.

WARNING: Systems overheating. Please do not proceed in any weaponized protocols.

Shit. We have to make this quick, I have approximately 5 minutes left before I pass out.

Spidey hesitantly touched it, ignoring my protests, making his hand go through the roof of the truck. My eyes widened.

"Whoa, cool. It's some kind of matter phase shifter," Spidey noted, crawling down to the roof as bird brain rose. When bird brain jumped onto the roof Spidey shot a web on his duffel bag, stealing it back.

"Hey, Big Bird! This doesn't belong to you!" Spidey yelled over the wind making big birds' bright green eyes narrow at both of us.

"Oh, god," I muttered as his singer suit flys towards the two of us. I fly upwards as Spidey jumped to avoid him. I shot high bolts of electricity at him making him wince but not doing much. A glitching warning sign came up before my cybernetic eyes.

WARNING WARNING WA-WAR-WARNING: Systems overheating. Please power off for cooling.

I hate my life.

Spidey was not much better as he shot tiny, long webs at the guy.

"Suit lady, what was that?!"

"You told me to choose," his suit operator defended as big bird continued to attack us making Spidey stumble dangerously near the edge of the truck. I push him back in the middle quickly, kicking bird's brain back a few feet midair.

"What? No, just set everything back to normal," Spidey demanded as he engaged in a tug-a-war over the duffel bag. 

"Activating all systems," the A.I announce as I prepare to knock bird brain off the truck once and for all. But before I could that Spidey finally grabs the duffel bag and falls straight through the portal.

"Webs!" I fly through the portal to find a concussed Spidey but before I could grab him the devices fall off the roof. I summon all the electricity I could muster to smash open the door and...

Powering off for cooling.

Please stand by.

Systems reopening...

Please stand by...

Processing...

Good morning, H.A.I.L.E.Y.

My eyes shoot open as I am greeted by the dirty ceiling of a storage unit. I shot up from the ground and whipped my head around to find myself in the same spot I turned off at. The only difference? The door was ripped open.

I curiously walked out and looked around to see Spidey casually laying on a spiderweb-made hammock, talking to his A.I.

"-Imagine how upset she would be and how awkward it would make everything," Spidey sighed to his suit operator. I was unable to hear the first part making me incredibly confused about what he was talking about.

"Well, if I were her, I wouldn't be upset at all," his A.I answer caringly. Uh...I would think this is weird but I am technically an A.I also so who am I to judge? I guess?

"Thanks, Karen. It's really nice to have somebody to talk to. Hey, how long we been here anyway?" Spidey asked making me furrow my eyebrows in even more confusion. Karen? Please tell me that is not another dumb abbreviation and just some basic name he decided for her.

"Thirty-seven minutes," Karen answered nonchalantly.

"What? Thirty-seven minutes? That's insane. I cannot take this anymore. I gotta... I gotta get out of here," Spidey said to himself in astonishment, sitting up.

"No shit, dude. How long have I been out anyway?" I piped up from the opening of the storage truck making his eyes widen and fall from his hammock in shock.

"Hailey? Hailey! Uh...how much- how much of that d-did you hear?" He questioned immediately getting up and crossing his arms, shifting in place nervously.

"Just a bit of the end, why? And why are you using your suit operator as a psychiatrist?"

"Quick! This is your chance! Tell her how you feel-" Karen insisted before being interrupted by Spidey nervously as I narrowed my eyes.

"Hey! Let's go over there and try to figure out if there's anything in that duffel bag that'll help us!" Spidey offered to push me lightly, placing his hand perfectly in between my shoulder blades, back to the storage truck. 

"I guess, there has got to be something in here," I reasoned but still noting Spideys weird behavior as we walked into the storage space. He crouched down next to the bad and searched through it finding a metal piece to something and Ultron's head making me wince at those memories. The only good things to come out of that time were Wanda, her brother, and Vision. 

"That's awesome," Spidey comments casually discarding the head on the floor and picking up a familiar glowing pink weapon. It was the exact type of tech that we had.

"Ah, hey, it's like the glowy thing."

"That glowy thing is an explosive Chitauri energy core."

"What?! Oh my god, how did I not know that?!" I exclaimed in horror as Spidey immediately dropped it. "WEBS! Hasn't your mother ever told you not to throw bombs onto the ground?!"

"WHAT DID YOU WANT ME TO DO WITH IT?!"

"HOW ABOUT NOT THROW IT ON THE GROUND?!"

"Wait, does this mean we've been carrying around a bomb this entire time?!"

"What do you think, kid prodigy?! I told you not to bring it to school or on the trip!"

"It would require radiation to transform it into an explosive state," Karen replied calmly as I ran my fingers through my ratted blue hair in frustration.

"Karen. THAT IS STILL A BOMB," I replied, aggravated as Spidey found his phone and instantly tried calling Ned who still had it on him but there was no reception. Oh god, hundreds of people are at the decathlon.

"No, no, no, no, no," Spidey mutters as I flew quickly to the door inspecting the lock panel next to it as Spidey swings onto the door. I rip open the panels with ease (thank you, vibranium arms with your vast strength and wisdom) and examine them.

"Hey! Please! Please, somebody, let me out! Hey! Karen, you have to help us override that time lock," Spidey said desperately, crawling next to me on the wall.

A moment later, I started imputing numbers into the panel to see if they would open with Spidey listing the numbers and trials.

"Okay, Karen. Lower the voltage and run it," Spidey commanded.

"Trial unsuccessful," Karen responded making me groan loudly knowing the night that us ahead of us.

"We're just gonna have to try every sequence," Spidey said calmly. He crossed out the new numbers making me sigh and think about my life choices and how they have to lead me here of all places.

After hours of doing this, my battery was at 12% and Spidey was a minute away from passing out in absolute exhaustion. I press the next set of numbers as he yawns.

"Initiating trial 247," Karen announced making the panel sound off a click. And then a miracle happened. The groan of the doors revived Spidey as they opened in victory.

"It worked! It works!"

"About damn time!" I exclaimed as he swings out with me beside him. He crawled onto the ceiling outside just as trucks pass us and we both leap down onto the trailer of one. Spidey lays down and I sat crisscrossed on top of the trailer of the truck, relishing in our victory for a moment. Spidey called or tried to call Ned but it went straight to voicemail while I was dealing with the annoying flashing number in my vision.

Warning: 10% battery 

"Hey, it's Ned. Leave a message."

"Ned, call me back! The glowy thing is a bomb!"

"There's a vehicle approaching on your right," Karen announced, causing us to leap onto that one. We waiting anxiously as we hopped from car to car every few moments to get to the monument. Spidey continues calling Ned and as we hopped on top of a bus Ned finally picked up.

"Oh, Ned, you're alive!" Spidey exclaimed with exasperation as I sighed in relief that we were not too late.

"Peter, are you okay?" Rude. Apparently I am not iMpOrTanT eNoUgH tO bE mEntIoNeD.

"Ned, Ned, where's the glowy thing, the glowy thing?"

"Don't worry, it's safe. It's in my backpack," Ned answered calmly making my eyes widen.

"It is in his backpack? I think your stupidity might have rubbed off on him, my god," I hissed, aggravated beyond belief.

"No, Ned, listen! No, no, Ned, the glowy thing is dangerous!"

"You missed the Decathlon. I covered for you," Ned said, ignoring Spidey. I rolled my eyes and snatched the phone from him.

"NED. THE GLOWY THING IS A BOM-"

"Peter, is that you?" Oh shit, that is Liz. Without thinking I chucked it back at Spidey, who threw it back at me, and then I shoved it in his chest like we were playing hot potato. Spidey shook his head violently while I made some obscene hand gestures all the while completely silent.

"Peter?"

"Oh, hey, Liz," Spidey greeted fake cheerfully as we hopped off the bus on cue and he states sprinting towards the monument as I flew. "Please put Ned back on the phone."

"You flake! You are so lucky we won. You know, I want to be mad, but I'm more worried. Like, what is going on with you? And where's Hailey, is she with you?" Liz interrogated like a jealous girlfriend as we ran desperately across Lincoln memorial to Washington memorial.

"Liz, I have to talk to Ned. It's really important!" Spidey exclaimed urgently. "Liz, there's something in Ned's backpack! It's really dangerous. Don't let it go through an X-ray. Liz? Liz! Damn it," Spidey swore at his phone making me groan in frustration as I saw my battery in the corner of my go down to 8%. We continued to move closer to the monument until we were at the base. As soon as we stopped, a loud boom echoed from the monument making the top crack and break slightly.

"No, no, no, no, no, no. Karen, what's going on up there?" Peter muttered as my eyes widened, scanning the monument and picking up several distinct heat signatures just below the top. The weapon had activated and the elevator was hanging on by a thread.

"The Chitauri core has detonated and caused severe structural damage to the elevator," Karen observed making me curse under my breath.

"Oh, no."

"My friends are up there!" Michelle, who was next to us, exclaimed as she craned her neck to look up at the broken, unstable top.

"What? Uh... Don't worry, ma'am. Everything's gonna be okay. Excuse me, excuse me. Oh my god, that's tall," Spidey hissed as we moved through the crowd of people to closer to the base. We shared a look like we were already reading each other's minds.

"I fly up in the monument and stabilize the elevator to buy you some time to climb up there and web up the elevator like a second cable. Got it. But you do not have your parachute reinstalled in your suit so...try not to die," I suggested quickly patting his shoulder and smiling somewhat encouragingly in my mask making his suit eyes widen in terror.

I ran through the doors of the monument, ignoring the protests from the guard outside. I ran up to the elevator doors and carefully pried the door opens, flying upwards until my hands reached the elevator. I felt it stumble, falling slightly before I stabilized it with my hands, pushing upwards while flying to create enough strength to hold it in place.

"Oh, we are all going to die here," Abe groaned.

"No, you are not! We are going to get you guys out of there just whatever you do, do not move." I responded from below making all of them move around in shock. 

"Who said that?"

"What's happening?"

"We're freakin' screwed!"

"What did I just say?" I snapped exasperatedly, already feeling my skeleton groan at the weight of the elevator. After a while of their freaking out, a few park rangers showed up to the rescue. Or well, ruined ours since they were very unhelpful and almost made my arms breaks like two twigs and decreased the time before the cables snapped completely. Fricking park rangers.

After Cindy, Flash forced his way up there making me groan in absolute pain. Please kill me already. 

"Flash, seriously? What are you doing?" I heard Ned scoff at him.

"I agree with that random boy, please stop being an idiot and quit squirming." I hissed irritably, gritting my teeth in pain.

WARNING: Skeleton under extreme stress. Please relax

Oh yeah, no shit system. Thank you, thank you so much for warning me, truly.

"Come on," Flash said.

"Don't worry about the trophy," Cindy called out to Flash who was squirming out of the elevator like a worm in an apple.

As he was squirming out, my arms shake at the weight of all seven people making the elevator do the same making all the kids scream.

"I got it, I got it," I groaned, exhausted as I saw my battery lower to 4% from the weight. I hear police yell at Spidey as their helicopters circle the building.

"Take my trophy!" I have to admit, for one single moment, I considered letting the elevator fall and smash my face in. Of course, I would never do that but just a thought.

As Flash sloppily exited the elevator, it fell right onto my shoulders as the cables were just about to split. I cursed under my breath as I felt my eyes about to pop out of my sockets at the weight.

"Where the hell are you, Webs?!" I hissed to myself as I felt the elevator sink slowly against me.

"Break!" I heard from outside just before Spidey burst through the window above, hearing the glass shatter. And then the roof ripped. The elevator smashed into my face as the students screamed like banshees. The elevator fell a few feet before slowing down as I held out, buying Spidey time. 

I heard the familiar sound of webs as I felt some weight lift off my body, sighing in relief. And then the weight returned with even more weight from Spidey. I yelled out in pain as the elevator slid down the shaft with the students screaming with me.

"Webs, I swear to god-" I yelled, breathing deeply. Finally, he shot a web at the ceiling, and together we stopped the elevator completely.

"Ahem. Hey, how you doing? Don't worry about it. I got you," Spidey reassured, deepening his voice terribly making me laugh quietly.

"Yes! Yes!" Ned exclaimed in victory shaking around in the elevator making my arms hurt even more.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, big guy, quit moving around."

"I agree with Spidey."

"Sorry, sir. Ma'am. So sorry." Spidey and I slowly move the elevator up the shaft onto an upper level so the students can get off quickly. As everyone leaves I feel relief slowly on my arms, the weight slowly leaving my skeleton.

"Mr. Harrington, go. Ned, come on."

"Alright. This is your stop," Spidey said as Liz, I was pretty sure, was the person left. I heard ametal bend as Spidey soon turned frantic.

"Go, go, go. Everybody out! Move it, people. Move it, move it!" Spidey demanded desperately as I felt the elevator creak and groan.

"Are you sure it's safe?"

"Safer than here," I responded, my chest heaving in exasperation. And then the ceiling snapped. The elevator smashed into my face as it began falling and without Spidey, I was powerless against the weight.

"Liz!" I heard Mr. Harrington yell just before I heard Spidey get her. I screamed as I fell down trying to find a way to escape.

"Circuit!" Spidey screamed after me but he could not do anything.

Shit, shit, shit! Oh, wait. I am an Android with vibranium arms. Duh.

I punched the floor of the elevator desperately and just before it hit the ground I finally got my fist through the thick metal. I shot my body upwards just in time before the elevator went splat on the ground. I sighed in relief and flew upwards just as Spidey put Liz on the upper level.

"I am fine, I am okay. Forgot about my super strength," I chuckled awkwardly over my dramatic exit and flew next to Spidey who was hanging by one of his webs.

"Oh thank god, I thought you were dead! How do you forget about your own power?" Spidey sighed in relief as we both faced the wide-eyed group of individuals.

"Hey, do not judge me, that is not my fault! Your idiocy is just rubbing off on me," I reasoned as he gave me an offended look through his suit. "And can you imagine me dying like that? That would have to be the worst way to die. Just go splat like that," I laughed quietly with twisted humor at the image of the cartoonish death.

"Just like," he imitated my body splattering on the ground making us both snicker quietly as the class watched us. Their eyes flickered back and forth between us in amazement, disbelief, and shock that we were talking so casually after nearly dying.

"Yeah like-" I cut myself off looking back at my peers who were standing there awkwardly. I awkwardly coughed. "Yeah anyway."

"So, uh, is everyone okay?" Spidey asked awkwardly making Liz nod slightly as they both held a look with each other. I rolled my eyes but froze when I locked eyes with a smirking Ned. I gave him a look. 

"Good-" I started but was interrupted by Spideys web snapping and him falling. I flew down to grab as I heard the teacher above me.

"Thank you."

"Are you really friends with Peter Parker?"

I finally grabbed Peter by the arms and safely landed him with a groan from my body.

"Thanks," Spidey sighed in relief but shook my head lightly as I spotted a flashing 1% in red in my peripheral vision.

"Do not thank me yet. You are the one who is going to have to carry my body back to the hotel and charge me."

"What do you mean-"

Powering off...

Please charge.

Chapter Text

After the Washington incident, Spider-Man popularity blew up around the school and possibly the country about his daring feat to save multiple people. Of course, since Circuit was on the inside of the monument, almost no one saw her and I was again, left in the shadows. I was not hurt though, since I was already an official Avenger and already popular. This was Spidey's chance to shine.

We walked through the hallway to meet Ned, surrounded by people freaking out about Spider-Man, even the news cast was doing whole ass segments about him.

"Up next: the Spider-Man mania is sweeping the school. How can you show your spider spirit?" I heard Betty on the news cast ask no one in particular as Ned scurried up beside us.

"Dude, dude, dude. What is it like being famous when nobody knows it's you?" He asked wide wide eyes at Peter and he half-hazardously looked over his shoulder to check if anyone was listening before leaning in.

"Crazy, dude," he grinned excitedly and I suppressed a smile at watching his giddiness.

"It's crazy. Should we tell everyone?" Ned asked and for a second, I thought he was joking until I saw his face.

"No," Peter replied, taken aback at his friend with wide eyes.

"Should I tell everyone?"

"No," I answered that time, giving him an annoyed look.

"No, dude. That's not a good idea," Peter said as we walked closer to class, or the exit which Peter and I were eyeing.

"Okay, come on, we'll be late to class," Ned reminded, walking ahead of us but we both stayed put with determination. Sure, it was stupid to skip class but when actual people were in danger I was not going to stand by and let it happen.

"I'm not going to class," Peter announced and I elbowed his side, hard, without looking at him making him wince. "We're not going to class," he corrected, gesturing strictly between only me and him and rubbed his probably bruised shoulder dramatically.

"You're already in trouble for ditching the decathlon," Ned tried to reason with him but Peter looked even more determined than before.

"Dude, listen, we figured it out. The wingsuit guy is stealing from Damage Control. What he takes from Damage Control, that's how he builds the weapons. So all we gotta do is catch him," Peter planned casually like it was easy to catch a flying, high-tech bird man with alien tech at his disposal.

"There was not that much to figure out; it was kind of obvious," I pointed out but he simply gave me a look.

"But we have a Spanish quiz," Ned argued pathetically, not exactly winning the argument. 

"Ned, I'm probably never gonna come back here. Mr. Stark is moving the Avengers upstate... so when I bring this guy in..." Peter trailed off, letting his intentions go unsaid but it was pretty obvious what he meant from it. I stopped in my tracks, taken aback, and turned to him in confusion.

"That is your plan? After everything I told you, you still want to be an Avenger?" I interrogated him in disbelief at his idiocy but he did not seem that bothered by my words.

"You can choose not to come with me but I'd appreciate you being by my side," Peter reasoned genuinely making me open my mouth to argue but closed it, debating my options.

"Fine," I grumbled back begrudgingly, knowing there was no arguing with him but he would find out soon enough it was not that easy to just become an avenger, and walked to his side, trying to hide my flustered face at his words.

"Dude. You want to be a high school dropout?" Ned asked incredulously at his highly intelligent, though I would never admit it to his face, friend.

"I am so far beyond high school right now," Peter laughed walking backward toward the exit around the corner and I followed him until we stopped in our tracks at the principal who seemed to be waiting for us behind the corner.

"Parker, Martin, my office."

...

"So... you got detention. You screwed up. You know what you did was wrong. The question is, how are you gonna make things right? Maybe you were trying to be cool. But take it from a guy who's been frozen for 65 years... the only way to really be cool is to follow the rules. We all know what's right. We all know what's wrong. Next time those turkeys try to convince you of something..." The Captain America video played as he rambled on making me want to shoot my self in the head with my own energy blast as Peter and I sat dejectedly in detention. Peter sighed before suddenly getting up and leaving without a word as I raised my eyebrows at him in surprise.

 "Where you going? Get back here," the coach who was stuck watching the kids who got detention yelled monotonously, not even bothering getting up to act like he cared if we ditched. I looked at the door and then at him before shrugging and following Peter out the door.

"Do you even have a plan or are we just going to walk aimlessly through the city?" I questioned him sarcastically once I caught up to him, still following him through the halls to the exit.

"We need to figure out who the guys under the bridge were that night... but I can only remember part of a license plate. What about you?" He asked, glancing at me and I smirked.

"Oh, I can do that," I nodded nonchalantly which clearly took him back and he fully turned his head toward me.

"You can?"

"I am a billion dollar android, of course I can," I scoffed at his underestimate of me and ran through my memory files to that day before finally finding the moment and checking databases on any clue to their identity. I came up empty for all but one of the people involved.

"I got one. Aaron Davis, age 33. He has a criminal record and even has an address in Queens," I relayed the information making him smile with satisfaction.

"Let's pay him a visit," Peter offered as he threw open the school door to the outside.

"Remember me?" Spidey in a way-too-low, gravelly voice said as we walked up in our super suits to Davis who stood behind his car in the parking garage of his apartment with the trunk open. Before he could make a break for it, Spidey webbed his hand to the still open trunk of the car, securing him in place.

"Hey..." Davis trailed off hesitantly with his hands up in surrender clearly not wanting trouble but it seemed like Spidey oddly wanted some anyway.

"I need information. You're going to give it to us now," Spidey ordered with that ridiculous voice from the interrogation mode set up in his suit that Karen offered up when I explicitly told him not to because it was ridiculous.

"All right, chill," Davis said defensively.

"You are embarrassing me, Webs," I spoke up bluntly with an annoyed voice, giving him a look that was mostly hidden by my mask but I did not care.

"Come on!"

"What happened to your voice?" Davis questioned with furrowed eyebrows, finally getting over the shock of the deep voice and started to realize Spidey was not going to do a thing to him to actually make him talk.

"What do you mean?" 

"I heard you by the bridge. I know what a girl sounds like," Davis remembered casually, his fear officially leaving him.

"I told you not to agree to the interrogation mode," I sighed, lolling my head back to look at Spidey.

"I'm not a girl. I'm a boy. I mean, I'm a... I'm a man," Spidey stammered with the cartoonishly gravely voice making the whole conversation seem comical.

"I don't care what you are, a boy, a girl..."

"I'm not a girl. I'm a man. Come on, man. Look, who is selling these weapons? I need to know. Give me names or else," Spidey threatened him and he simply stared back at him before suddenly slamming the trunk of his car down causing him to jump back in fear. I facepalmed.

"He ain't ever done this before, huh?" Davis figured the obvious out, looking at me who was still trying to get over the embarrassment of working with him in public.

"He is a bit of noob, give the kid a break. So refer to him as a 'girl' again and I break your nose," I warned carefully making him fall silent and I looked at Spidey expectingly.

"Deactivate Interrogation Mode," he sighed, making the drone following him fall back into the empty place in his suit on his chest and making his voice go back to normal. "Look, man. These guys are selling weapons that are crazy dangerous. They can't be out on the streets. If one of them can cut Delmar's Bodega in half..."

"You know Delmar's?" Davis asked, catching his attention.

"Yeah, best sandwich in Queens," Spidey replied in a 'duh' voice as if Delmars was world famous.

"Sub Haven's pretty good."

"Eh, it's too much bread."

"What the hell is happening?" I muttered mostly to myself in annoyance, questioning all my life choices.

"I like bread," Davis said in offense at him not liking bread.

"Come on, man, please," Spidey pleased with the man but he did not respond making him turn and walk away in defeat. "Stupid Interrogation Mode. Karen, don't ever do that again," he grumbled to his A.I. in his suit but I stayed put, throwing a begging look at Davis.

"Come on, dude. Give us something," I sighed making him pause and debate with himself whether to say his thoughts out loud before settling on giving in.

"The other night, you told that dude, "if you shoot somebody, shoot me." That was pretty ballsy. He always like that?" He asked me making Spidey stop and turn back to us as I looked Davis up and down, wondering if he was being sarcastic or not until I realized he was not.

"Annoyingly so," I answered honestly and he nodded as Spidey walked back to my side.

"I don't want those weapons in this neighborhood. I got a nephew who live here," Davis said and I knew he was telling the truth causing me and Spidey to share a look.

"Who are these guys? What can you tell me about the guy with the wings?" Spidey interrogated for the both of us.

"Other than he's a psychopath dressed like a demon, nothing. I don't know who he is or where he is," he told us and we looked down in disappointment at the news but he only paused. "I do know where he's gonna be."

"Really?"

"Yeah, this crazy dude I used to work with... he's supposed to be doing a deal with him," he informed us and Spidey immediately jumped up slightly in euphoria.

"Yes! Yes. Thank you-!" He exclaimed ecstatically, heading to the exit and I stayed put again, staring at him in disbelief.

"Dude!" I snapped at him making him turn back to me in confusion and I raised my arms and slapped them back down to my sides in irritability. 

"Hey. Hey. Hey. I didn't tell you where. You don't have a location," Davis reminded him making his suits eyes widen in realization.

"Right, of course. Yeah, my bad. Silly. Just..." Spidey laughed at his mistake, walking back over for the third time and leaned his body over the cars top in curiosity. "Yeah. Where is it?"

"Can I give you some advice?" Davis offered him with his head tilted slightly to the right.

"Hmm?"

"You gotta get better at this part of the job. Be more like her," he advised, jerking his head toward me causing me to smirk and slowly turn my head to Webs smugly.

"I don't understand. I'm intimidating," Spidey argued defensively, leaning on the car to prove his point but ended up doing the opposite, looking even more like a dork.

"You are really not," I said, shaking my head at him and even though his mask hid his face I could tell he was glaring at me and my comment.

"Staten Island Ferry, 11," Davis said and i realized that in less than an hour.

"Oh, that's soon," Webs realized as well and turned to go as I finally started to follow him out. "That's gonna dissolve in two hours!" He shouted to Davis over his shoulder, referring to the webs that still stuck his hand to his car.

"No, no, no. Come fix this," he shouted at us for his voice to be heard from the fifty feet we were already away from him.

"Two hours. You deserve that!" Webs shouted back unsympathetically making me suppress a chuckle at him.

"I got ice cream in here! Circuit, come on!" Davis begged but I simply waved goodbye over my shoulder, throwing him one last smile behind my mask.

"Try to keep out of trouble!"

"You deserve that! You're a criminal! Bye, Mr. Criminal!" He waved and I followed him, waving casually at Aaron goodbye before snorting at Spidey who was speed walking out of the garage.

"You are such a dumbass," I laughed at him, shaking my head as we headed to our next destination.

...

We flew/swung onto a building near the docking point of the ferry. As soon as it starts to leave the docks, we leap as Spidey uses his new glider wings and I levitate. We both hang onto the hull of the ship with him grunting.

"Nice," he squeaks out as he peeked into a window, searching for the sellers. I scan the premises, spotting two suspicious men talking to each other.

"Okay, Karen, activate Enhanced Reconnaissance Mode."

"Sure thing," Karen answered as we both listened in to their conversation.

"He's upfront. Main deck," one of them announced to the other.

"I hate this guy," a familiar voice responded.

"It's the guy from the bridge, right? Who's that other guy?"

"I do not know, he seems to have no criminal record in my database," I replied as I quickly looked him up to find absolutely nothing.

"Incoming call from May Peter. Should I reroute to your heads-up display?" 

"I can't talk right now. I'll call her back."

"Yeah and that is certainly going to end well for you," I commented, knowing full well his aunt is going to be pissed when he gets home. "She probably figured out about detention. You should at least text her back," I noted, which was ignored by Spidey as his spider drone pops from his chest and fly above us.

"Hey, dronie, keep an eye on that guy. We can't let anybody get away this time."

"You call it dronie? That is so cute," I muttered the last part as I watched 'dronie' hover by the windows, watching them. 

"What?"

"What?"

"What did you say?" Spidey asked trying to hide the smugness from his voice.

"I said nothing, you probably just imagined it," I shrugged flying up onto the roof of the ferry and peaked over the edge to get a better view of the men. Spidey crawled on the wall onto the roof and to the edge of the roof to peer down at four men on the front deck with me.

"Who's the guy on the left?"

"Mac Gargan," I answered before Karen did as a concerningly long criminal record showed up in my cybernetic eye. "Super long criminal record...oh and including homicide. Great," I announced, skimming through the list.

"Would you like me to activate Instant Kill?" Karen asked cheerfully making me glance at Spidey. 

"No, Karen, stop it with the Instant Kill already!" Spidey exclaimed as we both turned to listen in to the four men.

"White pickup truck," the man simply over his shoulder discreetly making the other man nod and walk away.

"Dronie, scan the ship for a white pickup truck," Spidey commanded making the drone fly up quickly as Spidey saw what it saw.

"Got it. Oh, this is too perfect. We got the weapons, buyers, and sellers all in one place."

"Finally something in my life is easy and convenient."

"Incoming call from Tony Stark," Karen announced in Spidey's ear making his eyes grow wide.

"Well that was short-lived," I noted.

"No, no, no. No, no, don't answer-" Karen answered. Traitor. 

"Mr. Parker. Got a sec?" I pierced my lips to silence any noise I could make so he would not know I was there. 

"Uh, I'm actually at school," Spidey lied, trying to leave the call desperately with his eyes wide.

"No, you're not," Karen noted, sounding slightly confused.

"Nice work in D.C," father complimented making me narrow my eyes.

"Okay."

"My dad never really gave me a lot of support... And I'm just trying to break the cycle of shame," Spidey looked at me as I pulled my mask down down past my mouth. I mouthed 'daddy issues, it runs in the family,' making Spidey nod and whisper 'ah.'

"Uh...I'm kind of in the middle of something right now."

"Don't cut me off when I'm complimenting you. Anyway, great things are about to-" father started before getting interrupted by the loud blow of the ferry horn.

"What is that?"

"Uh, I'm at band practice." Still a terrible liar.

"That's odd. Happy told me you quit band six weeks ago. What's up?"

"I gotta go. Uh, end call," Spidey said making my eyes widen in shock while the guys below us continued to talk.

"Hey-" father started before the call ended making me gape at Spidey.

"Dude!" I hissed as Spidey grabbed the keys from the seller's hands.

"Yoink!" Spidey exclaimed, jumping down from the roof making me follow him in annoyance.

"Hey, guys. The illegal-weapons-deal-ferry was at 10:30. You missed it," he disarms two of the men as I shock the other, using my electric forcefield to slam him against the ground and push him into the ocean. Spidey dodges one of the guys' weapons in hand which made it get stuck in the gate.

"You do know that was an atrocity of a quip, right?" I muse as two other guys come at us but Spidey webbed them before they could land a hit on us, throwing them to the ground.

"Are you guys okay? My bad. That was a little hard," he asked, admittedly making me chuckle.

"And excuse you, I'm proud of that joke. I mean it wasn't my best but still." He said, turning his body towards me offended with his hand on his chest. Our conversation was interrupted, however, when we heard the rambling of the metal gate. We eyed the guy whose hand is still stuck in the gate, struggling to get free.

"Gonna be honest, I am a little disappointed. The other guy had quite faster reflexes to not get his hand stuck in a gate like a kid with a tight bucket on his head in a cartoon." I commented honestly as Spidey reloaded his web-shooters casually.

"I'm honestly, I'm, I'm shocked," Spidey added shaking head disappointingly as we shared a look knowing what was behind us.

"You can do it this time," Spidey said charmingly.

"Aw, what a gentleman," I responded as I shot a bolt of electricity from my body behind us. It hit the men running at us and made them drop to the floor like flies. It was not a lethal level of voltage but it was sure going to have them out for a few hours. Suddenly, an older man bashed a guy's head into a van, making him pass out. Spidey and I start to walk towards him but are interrupted by suddenly armed agents coming out of nowhere, pointing their guns at us. What the hell is even happening right now because I am so lost?

"Freeze! FBI!"

"Don't move."

"Get on the ground." Okay guys, do not move or get on the ground, which one are we going for?

"Wait, what do you mean, FBI?"

"The FBI is the Federal Bureau of Investigation," Karen informed unhelpfully.

"I know what the FBI means, but what are they doing here?" Spidey asked as we both stood there, gaping at the scene in front of us. Before we could process what was going on, metal wings burst out of a white van nearby which distracted the agents. Of course, the first thing they think of when they see a metal figure flying straight towards them is to shoot at it because that penetrates the metal and to not dodge the hurtling metal figure. Dumbasses. 

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" Spidey yelled as the metal figure fires a weapon at the agents and grabs a car and chucks it at them. 

"Move, idiots!" I yelled as Spidey got hit instead of the agents, falling into the water. Just as the bird's brain started to fire the weapon again I zapped it out of his hands and repeatedly hit him with high bolts of electricity opening to deactivate his suit. His suit started glitching slightly from the electric current and shot his weapon at me in a moment of desperation. The blast hit me in my inner thing, causing a hole to appear through my synthetic skin making me groan in pain.

"Get to the top deck. We're getting out of here," he says to the shocker guy as he starts to fly away. Spidey shoots the web at Vulture's leg and pulls as the agents fire their guns at him again. Way to help out, guys. Of course, I was leaning on the wall trying to make sure my leg did not fall off, utterly useless, but still why the guns guys?

WARNING WARNING: Right leg compromised and failing.

Really? No! Are you sure?

Bird's brain protects himself from the guns by shielding himself with his wings as Spidey pulled on his leg with the web, keeping him from flying away. Big bird shoots two beams, one at the agents who dodged at the last second and the other to the upper floor of the ferry. He tries to pull away from Spidey who latched a car onto him as an anchor for him. 

I push my hands forward onto the bird brain, creating a force field that stopped him from flying any further and pushed him down, pulling him down to the ground with Spidey. Hey, I am useful for once.

He pulls in the opposite direction suddenly making Spidey fly upwards with him as he hung on by a thread or web I should say. He went through my force field making his suit spark and glitch all over but still was able to drag Spidey around the sky. Oh, shit.

I tried to push myself off the ground but that only made my leg spark dangerously, leaving me in agony on the ground. But of course, I had already done my job right. Bird's brain's suit glitch and swerved right, making him drop his weapon alongside Spidey. The glowing pink weapon dropped on the ground with clang as I sighed in relief that Spidey was okay. Of course, then I realized the weapon was glitching also and started to shoot dangerous beams all around itself. And then it hit me in my only good arm left, making me his in pain and annoyance.

WARNING: Right-arm compromised and failing. Please report back to Stark Industries.

Yeah, that is not happening, system.

Spidey moved towards it, trying to catch it with his webs, stopping it for a moment. 

"You're messing with things you don't understand," the bird brain warns just as the weapon broke through his webs, exploding in beams. It sliced through the ferry's floors, cutting the entire ferry in half, hastily avoiding the passengers as bird brains fly away to the other side of the ship and out of view.

I run in agony to Spidey who was muttering to Karen about scanning the strongest points of the ship. He is trying to stitch up the ship with his webs, which is smart but not going to last forever. I start to run to Spidey to help but before I get to him my leg completely comes undone and my arms spark dangerously making me scream alongside the passengers.

I breathe through it as Spidey starts hopping around the middle of the ferry, stitching it up as I try to push the sides together with my force field but it ends up too much for me. I fall down like a rag doll and groan in pain. The last thing I see is a metal figure in the sky, flying quickly towards us.

SYSTEMS FAILED.

Reporting Stark Industries for maintenance...

Please wait for transportation to arrive.

Chapter Text

Systems reopening...

Please wait...

Good morning, H.A.I.L.E.Y. Stark.

My eyes shot open to reveal a sickening familiar white room, like a hospital but more unorganized and scattered scrap metal. The smell of oil was still in the air and combined with the rancid copper smell that reeks like thousands of dirty pennies made a disgusting combo. Wait this cannot be...oh no.

"Good morning. Or night I should say," a familiar voice said with fake cheer in their voice. Father slammed down a screwdriver onto a metal table and turned sharply towards me, greeting me with a furious expression making me freeze. "What...were you thinking? Do you know how many people could have died? How you could've died!" He yelled, furious and breathing deeply most likely trying to calm himself but failing terribly.

"I did not mean to, okay? I just- I just wanted to be a part of something where I did not have to hide in a dingy room and do nothing besides typing into a computer! ...Is Peter okay?" I asked, concerned. Oh god, what if he is dead? Dead because of me?

"He's fine. I mean, his pride, integrity, and ego are butchered but physically he's fine. I can't say the same thing about the boat you completely destroyed, though."

"Why...why are his pride and ego butchered again? I get the whole integrity bit but not the others," I responded narrowing my eyes in concern. What the hell did father do to that poor kid? We held a staring-like contest for a few moments before he answered my question like we were testing each other to who could make the other the angriest in the fight.

"Well, obviously I can't have a kid running around with a multi-million dollar suit who doesn't know how to properly use it or follow basic instruct-"

"You did what?!" I hissed, stepping off from the charging station, feeling the wires plugged into my neck snap off.

"Oh no, you don't get to interrupt-"

"Oh, you oh no! We both know Parker deserves a suit more than anyone in this world and you decide to take that away from him?! Are you serious? God, you are such a hypocrite!" I yelled making him look even more furious than before and in a quick second I decide if he is already this mad, I have nothing else to lose. 

"I mean seriously! Did you know one time I saw him drink 60 ounces of coffee straight one morning? 60 ounces! And it was because he spent the entire night patrolling, patrolling like he does every single day since he got these powers! Making sure everybody's safe! And you, of all people, have the nerve to give that kid the 'hero' speech?!" I ranted, glaring at him as glared at me, harsher than ever, shocking me for a moment but I still stood my ground.

"Suit. Now." He snapped holding out his hand, looking furious as we both narrowed our eyes at each other. Like father, like daughter.

I swallowed hard and reached down my shirt and gripped the blue rhombus before pulling it out my chest with ease. I handed it to him begrudgingly, slamming it down in his hand.

"No suit for three-no four months. No going out late at night, no crime-fighting, no friends, no Parker for as long as I feel like it since apparently we can do whatever we want." He lectured as we both stared hard at each other. Fine, I can live with that.

"Fine. Take away the only reason I was even created in the first place. See if I care," I said in defeat as he looked at me with guilt for a moment before it was gone.

"And no school. Ever. You stay in this tower-like freaking Rapunzel until we move up-state and then you stay there until I say so." That got my attention.

"Are you serious?" I asked with my voice low in fury, shaking.

"The only reason you were meant to be there in the first place was for the mission if you don't remember. And you failed that mission. Terribly, in fact. So terribly you didn't listen to a word I said. Honestly I'm astounded you failed that bad. So yes, I'm serious!"

"I am so sorry but do you hear a word you say?"

"Excuse me?"

"I do not know if you remember this, but I am your daughter, not your employee or a stupid machine. Seriously, what kind of grown adult bans a kid from going to school?! Going to school is the only thing that I have in my life that lets me be normal and relax. I did not even what relaxing felt like until I got enrolled in school! And you want to take that away from me, are you kidding me?!" I yelled, feeling an unfamiliar soreness in my throat. I felt like I was going to throw up. I squeezed my eyes shut, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration as my father looked at me with an unreadable expression.

"You know what? Why am I even surprised?" I laughed weakly, pausing for a moment as I forced my eyes open. I looked him dead in the eyes and pierced my lips. "Daddy issues are practically an heirloom in this family," I said softly before walking towards the door. I started to leave him alone in the room before stopping the door frame as my throat burned even more. I opened my mouth without thinking.

"I hate you."

...

For the next few days, the only thing I did was work on my tech and listen to music on blast. Back to square one, like nothing even happened.

Father's jail time never involved taking away my phone but did involve remotely locking Peters's number from me. But he thankfully forgot to lock Ned's number so he quickly became my ticket to a peek of the outside world. Of course, it hurt more than it helped since he admitted to me Peter asked Liz to homecoming. I hated the feeling, it was gross. 

It got so boring I built a staff out of scrap metal that folded itself into a small, pocket-sized cylinder. Useful, if only its user was not already made of nearly indestructible metal.

I was in the middle of working on my batteries for myself when I heard the familiar sound of someone entering a teenager's room without knocking. Or opening the door.

"What have we talked about, Viz? You knock before you enter a girl's room, especially a teenage girls' room," I mused not looking up from my pet project. I carefully grabbed a wire with my tweezers and gently placed it in its correct place.

"Well I was deep in thought and I realized we haven't had a...chat in a long time," he said, his accent highlighting the word chat. I narrowed my eyes at my project and side-eyed Vision. 

"Father put you up to this, did he not?"

"No, no this is on my own accord, I swear it," Vision defended putting his hands up.

"Uh-huh..." I trailed off skeptically, poking my project in the wrong place with my tweezers causing it to spark and die. I zapped it back making it turn back to life nonchalantly.

"You know he just wants what's best for you. He cares about you deeply."

"Well, what is best for me, Viz? Locked away for the rest of my life? Because that does not sound like what is best to me," I snapped keeping my eyes on my tech. 

"Well I didn't say he does what's best for you, did I?" I glanced at him, trying not to laugh at his diss.

"I guess," I sighed leaning back in my chair. "Still does not excuse him from acting like a narcissistic, egotistical, hypocritical asshole."

"No, I suppose it doesn't. Just keep it in mind for when you turn eighteen and decide to never speak to him again. Although no one could truly blame you for doing so," he mused making me chuckle under my breath.

I placed the last wire into place, keeping it snug in between its brothers and sisters. I sighed, relaxing slightly with the satisfaction of finally completing the prototype for my batteries. And then it caught on fire.

"AH! SHIT!" I yelled, trying to smother it with a nearby towel covered in oil and dirt, which stopped the fire. For a moment. And then the towel caught on fire. I jumped back, scrambling for a fire extinguisher but Vision beat me to it because apparently, he is just a built-in fire extinguisher. When he put out the fire we both stared at the broken and failed invention, silence falling over the room. I pierced my lips as I stared at my obliterated project in horror.

"I really am never going to be normal, am I?" I asked quietly, carefully picking up the burnt battery in defeat, feeling my throat burn again. No school, no sleeping in a bed like a normal person, no friends, no life.

"...No," Vision answered hesitantly but honestly. I took in a deep breath.

"...Okay. That is...okay."

.

.

.

"What?" I snapped as a greeting to a random caller on my phone. 

"Hailey, Hailey! Oh, thank god! It's Ned! Look, Peter-"

"Ugh, Ned! I really do not feel like listening to how Peter is having the time of his life with the perfect girl at his perfect prom, alright?" I groaned, spinning absently in my swivel chair as I pouted like a child. It was homecoming and I spent the entire day having a tantrum and being forced to pack up. I looked over my room again, completely empty except for a few boxes and my chair. 

I cannot believe Peter is probably having the time of his life with Liz. Ugh. Although, I could not pinpoint why I was so upset about the thought of Peter being happy and safe and normal. With a happy, safe, normal, girl. But that is a good thing, right?

"No, listen! Peter is definitely not having a fun time at the prom tonight. Actually, the opposite," he added.

"Really?" I paused quirking an eyebrow in sick satisfaction. A little part of me knew I should not be this happy to hear of a miserable Peter. But hey, when have I ever been a decent person? Why start now? "Tell me more."

"Hailey, Liv's dad's the guy with the wings and Peter is going after him before he cuts town!" I blinked as my processor...well processed what he just said. When I finally did, I stood up quickly. So much for a happy, safe, normal girl.

"HE IS WHAT?!" I yelled through the phone, horrified. "Why would he- I cannot even fathom why he would think- I- you know what? I do not have time to be shocked by his absolute idiocy, do you know his location?" 

"Not exactly but I do know where he's heading. I'll send you the trackers' location. The guy in the chair!" He farewelled, calling out the last part like it was his theme song, and hung up. The guy in the-? No stop it, Hailey, stop asking questions that you will never understand the answers to. A map appeared before my eyes that just got sent to my system right after Ned hung up.

I reached my hands to my upper chest subconsciously but only felt emptiness. Shit. 

I scurried to a box with my clothes in it and threw random pieces of cloth around the room before I finally found what I was looking for. An electric blue hoodie and black sweatpants. Not my first choice but it was my only choice right now. I still had my combat boots and face mask since my father did not see the need to take them away. Dumbass.

I 'suited up' and grabbed my makeshift staff, shoving it in my pocket. Just in case. Happy will be coming in soon to get me on the aircraft to officially move to my new home so I need to get moving. I tied my hair up in a tight ponytail and pulled my hood and mask up to hide my face. I opened my window fully, feeling the cool breeze on my face as I breathed in deeply. And then I jumped.

I let myself fall for a moment before pushing my body upwards, stopping myself from splattering on the concrete. I flew below the aircraft on the balcony of the tower so Happy would not see me and headed towards where the tracker was going. An old industrial park in Brooklyn, great. Creepy and great.

I raced through the night sky, needing to meet Peter halfway there because there is no way in hell he is doing this alone. Not on my watch. I suddenly heard ringing in my ears and realized Ned was calling me again.

"Ned? What is it?"

"Hailey you need to go back to Stark Towers, the guy with wings is gonna rob the plane!"

"Ned I am literally halfway to the industrial park and what exactly am I supposed to do with that info? Wait until he shows up while trying to explain to Happy why he should delay the move because of a hunch you two have even though I am not supposed to talk to either of you? Yeah right. Tell Spidey aka the dumbass of this operation I am coming in three minutes, alright?" I hung up the phone and pushed my body faster through the air. I swear to whatever inconsistent god is in the sky, if you are dead Peter Parker, I will kill you.

After a minute or two, I spotted a white convertible cone to halt in an empty road, right next to the park. As the figure in their familiar onesie hopped out of the car I shot myself down rather dramatically. We both stared at each other for a moment, processing each other's presence after the lack of for months. 

"Why does everyone I surround myself with always get me involved in their messes?" I muttered mainly to myself and quirked an eyebrow at Spidey. "Nice outfit."

"I could say the same thing about yours," he replied looking me up and down as I could already hear the smirk in his voice.

"At least mine is not a onesie," I snickered, levitating off the ground as we both started scurrying towards the building. We flew/swung onto the roof and snuck through a top window. I dropped down and softly hit the floor, finding an almost abandoned building except for a big computer system, a figure standing over it, and the familiar winged suit. Spidey hangs from his web and slowly drops down next to me, spotting the suit, and continued to walk forward quietly. We just needed to act quietly and use stealth to get him-

"Hey! Surprised?" Spidey greeted making me facepalm and wonder why I even bother.

"Oh, hey, Pete. I didn't hear you come in." I slowly turned to Spidey with an 'are-you-serious' look. Of course, he knows his identity because why not?

"Yeah, that is kind of the point of a stealth mission but whatever, what do I know?"

"It's over. I've got you." This dialogue is awful. I mean come on Spidey, pick up the pace and web him up or something.

"You know, I gotta tell you, Pete, I really, really admire your grit. I see why Liz likes you. I do. When you first came to the house, I wasn't sure. I thought, "Really?" But I get it now." Rude but fair.

"How could you do this to her?" He asked as we continued to walk forward cautiously.

"To her? I'm not doing anything to her, Pete. I'm doing this for her," he reasoned making me chuckle lowly. Yeah, I have heard that one before. Deja-vu anyone?

"Huh, yeah," Spidey replied, webbing his hand to his desk. About time.

"This is just a hunch but I do not think she would appreciate you helping people murder others or find it remotely helpful," I commented as Spidey nodded to me in agreement, and Liz's dad sigh.

"You're young. You don't understand how the world works."

"Yeah, but I understand that selling weapons to criminals is wrong."

"Yeah I am pretty sure anyone with common sense can understand that but obviously you do not have that so," I added shrugging dramatically at bird brain.

"How do you think your buddy Stark paid for that tower? Or any of his little toys? Those people, Pete, those people up there, the rich and the powerful, they do whatever they want. Guys like us, like you and me, they don't care about us. We build their roads and we fight all their wars and everything, but they don't care about us. We have to pick up after 'em. We have to eat their table scraps. That's how it is. I know you know what I'm talking about, Peter." I saw Spideys eye flicker to me for just a moment making me freeze in embarrassment at my family. I knew he was stalling but it still made me feel guilty.

"Why are you telling me this?" Spidey asked confused.

"Because I want you to understand. And I needed a little time to get her airborne." Suddenly, his suit flys away from its shelf and races towards me and Spidey, hastily avoiding it as it cuts the columns around us. We were too busy dodging to notice Liz's dad take out a pocket knife and cut his way out of Spideys webbing.

"I'm sorry, Peter," bird brain sighs making me narrow my eyes at him in confusion.

"What are you talking about? That thing hasn't even touched us yet," Spidey replied.

"True. Then again, wasn't really trying to." Oh shit, the columns. And I thought they were an artistic choice.

The last supporting column drops to the ground, the roof crumbling around us or on top of us. Thousands of pounds of weight begin to fall on us as the world shook around us.

As the rumble fell on us, I shot a force field around us. I felt the weight practically drop on my shoulders as rumble surrounded us. I groaned from the pressure, my legs shaking as my hands pushed against the air, keeping us safe for the moment. But that was definitely not going to last long. Spidey swiftly put his hands on top of the rock and pushed, grunting. I saw the rumble move slightly and the weight move above me but it was not enough to get it off us. He tried again but failed again.

"I can't do it," he grunted as he tried desperately to move the rumble off.

"Shut-shut up, dumbass, yes you can."

"I-It's too heavy!"

"You think I do not know that?!" I snapped before looking at him desperately. "Peter, I know you can do this! I have seen you these past months and lifting, ugh, a-a few measly boulders is nothing. So trust me when I say you can do this! I know you can," I groaned confidently through the pain. We stared at each other for a moment, another one of our silent conversations.

"We go together," Spidey planned to make me nod encouragingly. On cue, we both start pushing together. 

"Come on, Peter. Come on, Spider-Man. Come on, Spider-Man. Come on, Spider-Man. Come on, Spider-Man!" Little egotistical but okay-

Finally, we both free ourselves from the debris, pushing the car concrete and wood aside. I sighed loudly, gasping for breath just for a moment before steadying myself. I looked back at Spidey who spotted a bird brain perched on top of an old billboard and jumped, flying away from the warehouse. We followed him, jumping onto the billboard and before I could fly up to follow him Peter latched onto Bird Brain using his webs and took me with him, grabbing my waist.

The rumbling of the plane filled the air as we got pulled closer to the jet by bird brain who miraculously did not notice us attached to him.

"Dude, this is so much faster and easier!" He mocked when he saw my flustered face, quoting what I said to him months ago making me a little astonished he listened to me that much. I rolled my eyes as we flew higher and higher into the air, following bird brain. 

We knock into a plane a few times before Spidey stuck onto it and I flew beside it reluctantly. We watched pigeon man place the device onto the walls of the plane making it instantly split itself apart into four pieces. The pieces placed themselves onto the wall making a familiar large rectangular pink window and bird brain moves insides it with Spidey following him. Of course, Spidey being Spidey slips from the plane and almost goes splat in the ground.

"Hey!"

"Webs!" I exclaimed reaching down to grab him but fortunately, he latched onto the jet before I could grab him. 

"Ah! Whew," he sighed as I rolled my eyes at his idiocy. He continues to crawl down the plane as I flew, trailing Spidey as I struggled to keep up with the jet. I think this is the first time in my life I wanted the superpower of being super sticky.

We finally get to the wingsuit, both of us struggling to open it but was interrupted by a drone dropping from it. We both stared at it, surprised, not knowing what to do but before we could do anything it flew away. I shake my head and continue pounding on the thick walls of the jet.

"Oh screw it," I muttered as I punched the wing suite, breaking it off. I look down to see my synthetic skin on my hand break open a little, revealing a part of my vibranium skeleton, making me cringe. Peter crawls up the plane as I trailed behind him.

"Just a typical homecoming on the outside of an invisible jet- AH! Fighting my gi-er dates dad," Spidey yelled over the wind, glancing at me for a moment, hanging on for dear life. We see bird brain come out from the jet to visit us. How sweet.

Bird brain starts coming at us, taking out the jets panel as he goes. Spidey shoots a web at him, stopping him from flying away as he shot another web to keep him from flying away with him. Before I could push a forcefield in front of big bird Spidey's web snapped from the jet, sending him straight into the engines. 

"Shit!" 

"Oh, god!" Spidey exclaimed as he shot his web to stop the propellers. The pigeon man was (unfortunately) still alive but not without severely damaging his metal suit. I sighed with relief seeing Spidey hanging onto the propeller blades smothered with his webs as he did the same. 

"How the hell did that even work?" I asked staring at the still-kicking spider boy.

"I have no idea," he sighed. Of course, we had to jinx ourselves because all of the sudden the propellers fall off the engine, trying to take him down with them. 

He holds onto the plane and kicks the propellers off his body thankfully, but our safety only lasts so long before Pigeon Brain™️ comes back for more. He comes straight for me but I send a bolt of electricity his way, sending him away from me for only a moment. He shoots himself towards us again as Spidey hastily avoids him and instead hits the jet over and over again.

The impact sets one of the engines on fire as Spidey clings onto the side of the engine with a thin strand of the web. 

Pigeon Brain™️ starts to break open the ceiling of the jet and as I kept my body to the side on the jet, refusing to slow down. I see the plane heading straight for the city. Oh, fu-

"Oh my god," Spidey exclaimed as we shared a look for a quick second.

"Webs!" I called out as he shoots his web at the right-wing of the plane and pulls on it to change its direction. I try to help him as much as possible, knowing I was being completely and utterly useless. I swallow the jet in a forcefield, something I did not think I could do and helped push the plane with him.

"Please turn! Please turn!" We both yell in unison through the wind rushing past us. The jet narrowly misses crashing into the city and heads toward Coney Island. Oh, just perfect!

The plane hits a ride and crash lands on the beach of the island with both of us crashing with it. 

Warning: Strong collision against the body can cause major injuries within the skeleton.

...Okay now you are just trying to piss me off, Sherlock.

I shakily bring myself to my feet to see everything up in flames and smoke. I whip my head around to see Spidey next to me, taking off his mask to breathe as I sigh. It is okay, he is alive. He is okay.

He had just staggered to his feet when Pigeon Brain™️ shot out from the smoke surrounding us and attacked. His wings sparked wildly, suffering from the crash just like us. 

"Hey, Pedro." Uh...what?

Bird brain continues to attack us, targeting Spidey as he shot his web, but missed and got pinned to the ground like a rat underneath an owl. He screams as Big Bird grabs him tightly with his claws and rains down punches at him. I wrap an electric field around Spidey and expand it, slamming the field against a big bird. He and his suit groan as he got knocked back into the air, trying to steady himself midair. He cocked his head at me for a moment in anger before shooting himself towards me.

"Oh...shit." He pins me down with his claws and rips through my skin as I tried to move my hands, squirming desperately to summon electricity but it was useless. I was helpless.

"So you're Circuit. I bet you're the one who does the heavy lifting around here?" Bird Brain™️ said, his mask distorting his voice as I smiled underneath mine.

"Not even close, Dumbass," I laughed making him tilt his head in confusion at my joy. Spidey shoots a web onto his suit, pulling him away from me.

"Don't touch her!" Spidey yells, slamming him into a pile of rubble from the jet. I shot a jolt of electricity over and over again at him, taking advantage of his disorientation. 

This did not last very long until he got himself together and pulled on Spidey's web hard, slamming him against the ground. I tried to zap him again but I was running low on watts, leaving me the power to give him an blast the size of an electric shock from a doorknob. I started to run towards them as Bird Brain kept slamming Spidey against the ground with his talons making him go limp. I was halfway towards them when Bird Brain suddenly stopped, noticing the last crate remaining from the wreckage of the jet. 

"Bingo," Pigeon brain exclaimed menacingly, flying to the crate and snatching it up with his metal talons. Sparks rain down from his wingsuit when he tries to lift the crate, but he does not stop, flying towards the sky. 

"Your wingsuit. Your wing suit's gonna explode!" Spidey cries out to him but Big bird ignoring him as he continued to fly with the crate, his suit groaning. Spidey lifts his tired arm, shooting a web strand at the crate, and pulls with everything he had left, trying to save him. I stared at him in astonishment, confused as to why he was trying to save the man that tried to kill him numerous times and had literally just tried to kill us.

"Time to go home, Pete," Pigeon Brain™️ mused, being too dumb to see that Webs was trying to save his life. 

"I'm trying to save you!" Peter yelled desperately, pulling as hard as he could to keep him grounded. I watched desperately, my body groaning as I tried to stand up but my skeleton refusing to help like a useless rag doll. Useless, useless, useless, useless.

Bird brain then cuts his web with his wing before Spidey could process it, making him fall over next to me as he tried to still pull the web. Spidey presses the button on his web shooter to shoot another web but it does not work. We both look up to see the wingsuit failing and Spidey leans over me, covering both our heads with his arms, acting like a shield for me. Bird brain drops to the ground along with his wingsuit with an explosion consuming him.

"No." Spidey struggles up onto his feet and runs into the flames carelessly.

"WEBS! Do not do that, you are going to get yourself killed!" I yelled after him but he ignored me. I grit my teeth through the pain, limping my way towards him desperately. Idiot, idiot, idiot idiot. 

Self-righteous, heroic, dumb, careless, brave, empathetic, idiot.

After a minute I see him walking back with Liz's dad on his shoulders, carrying him until they were completely out of the smoke. I stared at him, amazed.

He lays bird brain down on the sand with both of them wheezing, coughing up the smoke. They both share a look.

He really was a hero.

.

.

.

As fire engines passed the Cyclone ride, Peter and I sat on top of it. We stared at the mess, looking down on it, completely exhausted. My eyes flashed with a bright red 20% making me sigh with fatigue. I glanced at Peter, leaning on a metal bar, and placed my head on his shoulder as I closed my eyes.

"What do we do now?"

"I do not know, to be honest. Maybe see what happens from here," I answered, looking up at him. He had dirt smothered on his face with blood, his own or maybe someone else's, still smeared in his face. I did not judge, knowing I probably looked about the same.

"Yeah...see what happens," he agreed, looking down at me. We sat with each other in comfortable silence for a moment, watching firefights er- fight the fire surrounding bird brain and Happy find Spider-Mans little message. 

I watched Happy look around until I felt a hand lace its finger with mine. I looked up to meet Peter's eyes and slightly red, beaten face. I felt absolute adoration for him, something I never thought I could actually feel for another person. I wanted the feeling to last forever. And for a moment, I felt like my nonexistent heart was beating a million miles a minute. Until it dropped to the bottom of my stomach at my sudden realization.

I could not do that to him. In my mind, the only point to relationships or "love" is to test your compatibility. To test the possibility of a future together. I know that is completely dumb, we are both obviously still in high school and we have known each other for a few months but in my mind, that was how it was. How it worked. 

And we had no possible future together.

I am a humanoid android. A machine that was created in a lab to destroy everything it touched. A robot.

If we were in a relationship I would be dooming Peter into this life. A life of crime-fighting with death, destruction, and no chance of a normal life insight. And if we were compatible, if we did by some chance have a future together, there would be no intimacy, no children in it. Biologically, anyways.

And I could not do that to him. Not in a million years.

I took a deep breath in and looked down at our entwined hands. I stood upon the beam stiffly, pulling my hand away rather suddenly.

"Come on, we have to go before they finally spot us," I said in a monotone voice, jumping down from the ride. I refused to look back at him as I heard him climb down.

"Right," he sighed trailing behind me, hearing the disguised hurt behind his voice.

I wish I was normal. Just so I could give it back to you as sappy as that sounds.

...

We walked silently through the night, avoiding each other's eyes.

"Hailey I-"

"Peter, we are both exhausted and possibly traumatized for the rest of our lives. We can talk tomorrow," I reasoned without missing a beat as I continued to walk through the alleyway to Peter's place. 

All I had to do is drop him off, make sure he does not do anything dumb, and then scurry to my new home to unpack. Easy. Or so I thought before Peter grabbed my shoulder, stopping me from walking forward.

"I want to talk now," he said with determination, holding eye contact with me. "Did-did I do something or-?"

"What? No! I just...cannot," I answered as I tried to find the right words. God, without the ability to conjugate words together all of this sounds so dramatic, like a horribly written soap opera.

"I like you, Peter. Obviously, I do but-"

"You think of me as a friend..." Peter trailed off, interrupting me causing me to raise my eyebrows in disbelief.

"No, Dumbass! Well yes... and no er- I do not know," I stammered not knowing how to put my emotions in words. "To be honest, I did not think I had um..these types of feelings. When I was...created I was not meant to have any feelings at all. But obviously, that did not go according to plan," I explained looking down at my cold, hard hands. "I do not want to drag you into my mess, Parker. You already have your own problems you need to help and adding mine to the mix is not going to help," I confessed, chuckling darkly in defeat as I looked away. 

"Isn't that for me to decide, though? Hailey, I don't care what you are and you shouldn't either. Seriously, I'm genetically half-human and half-arachnid now, I am never going to be normal. And to be honest," he argued, pausing for a moment. "I'd rather be not normal with you."

WARNING WARNING W-W-WARNING: SYSTEMS OVERHEATING. PLEASE SEEK TREATMENT IMMEDIATELY.

Shut up, you overpriced know-it-all. What do you know anyway?

"You know that is super sappy right?" I joked to distract myself from the fact I was extremely flustered by his confession. I was not expecting that one-liner.

"I mean it's too late to take it back now."

"Who said to take it back? I was just commenting on your desperation to have a girlfriend. So much so, you would ask a robot to be your girlfriend," I laughed quietly as I quirked an eyebrow. And yes, this is the best I can flirt, shut up.

"First of all, humanoid android," he corrected dramatically causing me to smile subconsciously. "Second, who said girlfriend? I was just saying you don't have to do everything by yourself," he mocked, smiling like a dork.

"Touché, Parker," I answered, looking him up and down. "So what do you decide?" I asked, taking a step forward towards him.

"Go on a date with me?" He asked, crossing his arms nervously and taking a step towards me. I contemplated for a moment before taking another big step forward making us only a few inches apart.

"Fine. But do not get mad at me when it is not what you expected," I said quietly. For a split second, I thought about kissing him before deciding against it. 

I knew it was about time I started helping Happy clean up the mess we left him with so I kissed Peters cheek. An electric shock zapped his cheek softly from a short glitch as I levitated off the ground and flew above his head before calling out to him.

"See you Saturday, Spidey."

Chapter Text

I stood in my new room, just finishing up unpacking the last box. Finally, a room that looks like an actual teenager lives in it.

I was practically jumping out of my skin, excited to finally see Peter again for the first time since that night. I looked at the clock and scurried out of my room, knowing he would be here any moment. 

I ran out of the doors to the balcony and leaned over the railing, smirking as I spotted the familiar sleek, black car. I ran inside the building and hopped down the steps of the long, elegant staircase. I slowed down as I got to the last steps, smoothing down my white button-up shirt and brushing away a couple of blue strands of hair from my face self consciously.

"You don't see that every day," Happy said to Peter who watched a Quinjet fly off with a grin plastered on his face.

"Yeah, you never really get used to it," I chuckled behind them making Peter whip his head towards me. "Hey, loser."

"H-hey," he greeted awkwardly as he crossed his arms and leaned back slightly, trying to look cool. I snorted under my breath at his dorkiness. 

"Good to have you back," I greeted, wrapping my arms around his neck in a hug.

"Glad to be back," he said quietly, hugging me back as he held my waist.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Arm's length you two!" We turned our heads in unison to see my father walking towards us. Peter immediately dropped his arms as I rolled my eyes at both of them. "I'm just kidding," he smiled causing Peter to sigh in relief, slightly relaxing. "Not really, though. Arm's length." Peter took one solid big step away from me, sweating, as I threw my hands up in the air in annoyance.

"How was the ride up?" Father asked Peter but before he could Happy answered for him instead. 

"Good."

"Give me a minute with the kid," Father said looking at Happy. Even though it was not specifically directed at me I knew he meant I leave too.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously?" I asked father, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Yeah, I gotta talk to the kid."

"I'll be close behind."

"How about a loose follow? All right? Boundaries are good," father said before turning to me with a quirked eyebrow. His usual way of silently asking if I was going to listen to him this time.

"You really think me trailing behind will limit my annoying comments or hearing?" I asked, crossing my arms next to Peter. Father opened his mouth to respond but closed it silently, putting an arm around Peter to lead him to the conference room. I followed next to Peter but not before turning to Happy.

"Do not worry Happy. We are not going to get you fired for the fourth time," I half-joked.

"Forth time?" Peter whispered towards me, leaning down as he looked at me confused.

"Father has a lot of temper tantrums," I whispered back, chucklingly quietly.

"Sorry I took your suit. I mean, you had it coming. It turns out it was the perfect sort of tough-love moment that you needed, right? To urge you on, right? Wouldn't you think? Don't you think?" I blinked at him.

"Yeah, yeah, I guess," Peter answered awkwardly making me glare at father.

"You are just saying this because you so desperately want to be right in every situation. I mean seriously, is it that hard to admit that you were wrong and I was right, like always?"

"No you weren't, I was. Anyways," he shot back like a child, continuing to lead Peter towards the door and ignore me.

"You screwed the pooch hard. Big time. But then you did the right thing. Took the dog to the free clinic, you raised the hybrid puppies... All right, not my best analogy. I was wrong about you. I think, with a little more mentoring, you could be a real asset to the team." Please say no, please say no, please say no.

"To the... To the team?" Peter stammered astounded, looking at father and back at me. I nodded encouragingly, knowing it was his choice to make whether I liked it or not. It was bad enough I got sucked into the group, I really did not want him to have the same shitty fate.

"Yeah. Anyway..." he trailed off, pointing to the conference hall door. "There's about fifty reporters behind that door. Real ones, not bloggers."

"What do you have against bloggers?" He promptly ignored me, pressing some buttons on his watch making a secret compartment in the wall open up, revealing the Iron Spider amour.

"When you're ready... Why don't you try that on? And I'll introduce the world to the newest official member of the Avengers: Spider-Man." Father said dramatically, waving his hands in the sky as Peter slowly walked towards the suit, amazed.

"I..." He trailed off, chuckling in amazement.

"Yeah. Give that a look," father said as Peter continued to stare at the suit. I put a hand on his shoulder making sure he did not faint with shock or something.

"So, after the press conference, Happy will show you to your room, your new quarters," father explained before turning to Happy. "Where's he between? He's next to Vision?"

"I am next to Vision," I clarified smirking at my father. "Peters would be next to my room, actually," I gloated subtly causing father to turn to Happy. I glanced at Peter who was beet red but still did not take his eyes away from his suit.

"Make a note to change his room immediately," he whispered to Happy as he glared at me. Peter turned to my father hesitantly.

"Thank you, Mr. Stark. But I'm good." I quietly sighed in relief as father turned to him confused.

"You're good? Good? How are you good?"

"Well, I mean, I'm... I'd rather just stay on the ground for a little while. Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Somebody's got to look out for the little guy, right?" I suppressed a proud smile, pursing my lips as father took off his glasses and stared at him.

"You turned me down? You better think about this. Look at that. Look at me. Last chance, yes or no?"

"No." Now at that point, I was already grinning with pride.

"Okay. It's kind of a Springsteen-y, working-class hero vibe that I dig. Uh, Happy will take you home. Yeah?" Father said, turning to Happy as he tried to keep his cool.

"Yeah. Mind waiting in the car? I need a minute," Happy said nonchalantly. Both adults were trying to keep calm as I tried not to burst out laughing at their misery. 

"Thank you, Mr. Stark."

"Yes, Mr. Parker. Very well," father said formally as they shook hands. Oh, I am thoroughly enjoying this.

"See you around."

"Okay." 

They farewelled awkwardly, as I watched Peter walk away with a spring in his step. He comes to a slow halt and turns back as father hid away the suit in the wall.

"That was a test, right? There's, uh, nobody back there?"

"Uhm, yeah obviously. Good job, Webs! You passed with flying colors!" I lied cheerfully, smirking at my father in victory.

"Yes, you passed. All right, skedaddle there, young buck," father said waving his hand in the air for him to leave.

"Young buck?" I mouthed silently, turning towards him with a raised eyebrow.

"Thank you, Mr. Stark. Thank you," Peter thanked gratefully.

"Yeah, thank you," father replied, lying terribly.

"See you at school!" I exclaimed, waving causing him to look back at me with the cutest, dorkiest smile I have ever seen. He walked backward as he waved back at me.

"See you at school, Hails!" As I watched him go, I saw in my peripheral vision father reach into his pocket and hand me a twenty-dollar bill begrudgingly. I smirked and took it rather smugly.

"I forbid you from dating him."

"Too late for that," I laughed causing both of them to look at me with disbelief.

"Told you he's a good kid."

"Yeah well, I told both of you that months ago. But no, you never listen," I chastised smugly as I put the money in my pocket. "So...where is my promotion?"

"Why would you get a promotion?"

"I helped Parker beat the guy Happy was supposed to take care of. So I deserve a promotion too," I reasoned, throwing Happy under the bus causing him to give me a pointed look. Father sighed the typical stereotypical father sigh that he always seemed to do dramatically.

"Alright, kid. What do you want?"

"Head of the finance department?" I asked eagerly, without skipping a beat. What? I like budgets, okay?

"Aren't you already head of the finance department?"

"No, James Borden runs it. And he does an atrocious job at it, by the way." I informed honestly, shuddering as I remembered the time he lost five million dollars to a project budget. We never did figure out what happened to it. But we all agreed it was most likely due to embezzlement since, you know, capitalistic corruption. 

I still have no idea how he still has his job.

"Fine, but you're firing him."

"Deal. And I want my curfew pushed back to midnight," I demanded, crossing my arms making father sputter.

"Hold on-"

"12:30."

"You can't ju-"

"1 AM."

"I've created a monster," he said defeated, throwing his hands making me grin.

"It was your excellent parenting skills," I said, putting a hand on where my heart would be.

Just then, the hall door opens, revealing Pepper and a room full of reporters. She looks around and becomes quickly annoyed when she does not see Peter.

"Where's the kid?" She demanded, looking confused.

"He left," Happy answered simply making her look even more done with today.

"Everybody's waiting."

"You know what? He actually made a really mature choice. It just surprised the heck out of us," father said pointing to him and Happy. Pepper looked at me for an explanation.

"It really did not surprise me. I tried to tell them he was not going to go for it but they just did not listen," I defended myself, putting my hands in the air in defeat. Father and Happy looked at me annoyed as Pepper looked at them completely irritated.

"Did you guys screw this up?"

"He told the kid to go wait in the car," father said, pointing at Happy like a five-year-old child.

"Are you kidding me? I have a room full of people in there waiting for some big announcement. What am I gonna tell them?" Pepper asked defeated as I tried to think of something.

"Think of something. How about, um... Hap, you still got that ring?" Father asked, turning to him causing Happy to pat his pockets, surprised.

"Do I... I, uh..." he stammered as he searched his pockets.

"The engagement ring?"

"Are you kidding? I've been carrying this since 2008," Happy said, as he held up a large diamond ring. Pepper and I stared at them before I locked eyes with Pep.

"Last chance to make a run for it, I can distract them while you sprint to the nearest exit," I offered supportively as father gave me a look. "What?"

"I think I can think of something better than that."

"Well, it would buy us a little time," father reasoned before Pepper kissed him with a smile. "Like we need time." Pepper heads to the door but before shaking her head at Happy.

"I can't believe you have that thing in your pocket."

"Yeah you take your job way too seriously man," I comment as Pepper started to open the door. I step slightly farther away from the door just in case anyone spots me.

"Want me to get the door for you, hon?"

"I got it." Pepper heads through the door as father quickly followed her but before catching the ring Happy threw at him. I grinned as Happy and I shared a look.

"Cool. I have a step-mom now."

.

.

.

"Thanks, Happy! See you after school," I exclaimed as I hopped out of the car. We shared a wave before I started skipping giddily to school like it was my first day again. It was still early unfortunately so no one but the teachers were already there but I did not really care. 

I hopped over to my old locker and started shoving my things back in there messily. I placed my last book on the bottom of the locker, smiling proudly, and checked the time. I had about ten minutes before class would start which should mean...

"Greedo shot first!"

"No, it was obviously Han Solo!"

"Are you guys still arguing about this? It has been months!" I asked in disbelief, shutting my locker to reveal my bewildered expression.

"Hailey! You're back, thank god I was getting bored of Peter!" Ned sighed in relief making me laugh as Ned pulled me in a short hug.

"Dude!" Peter exclaimed giving him an offended look before turning to me. "Good to have you back."

"Good to be back," I replied grinning.

"Greedo shot first!"

"No he didn't, you idiot!"

"Well we can at least agree on one thing," I started, putting my hands on their shoulders drawing them in. "Star Wars sucks," I whispered in their ears before walking to class.

"Take that back right now!"

"We know where you live!"

...

"Boo...! You suck!" I yelled at the small tv as Han Solo appeared onscreen.

"You really hate him that much?" Peter asked in disbelief, looking down at me. It was Saturday and we were laying on his bed watching Star Wars as my eyes burned from watching creepy white guys harass women.

"Yes! He is a creepy old guy who sucks and who makes my eyes burn like they are in their own personal hell!"

"Well, what do you want to watch?"

"Anything but this. Literally anything else, Parker." 

"You do know that's pretty vague?"

"You are obsessed with old movies right?"

"I wouldn't say obsessed-"

"Pfffft-yeah, okay, sure," I mocked laughing, not being able to keep a straight face as Peter went red. "Anyway, since you love old movies, do you have Back to the Future? I like those movies, they are one of the only movies I could watch in between working." I confessed making his face light up with glee like a little kid on Christmas.

"You like Back to the Future?"

"Yeah, who does not?" He grinned before flipped off the bed easily and searched through a tiny bookshelf until he found three old movie cases. He smiled goofily before popping the first one into his tv and setting the others on top.

"I meant the first one. You do know each one is about 2 hours right?" I asked amused at his eagerness before he flopped back on his bed next to me.

"If we're watching the first one we have to watch all of them," he reasoned as he adjusted his sitting position. As the movie started, I leaned slightly onto Peter comfortably making him go red in my peripheral vision. I suppressed a smile, watching Marty come into frame, plugging a tiny guitar into the giant speaker and blowing it up.

Halfway through the movie, when young Lorraine meets (and sexually harasses) Marty I heard Peter 'yawn.' And when I say 'yawn' I mean it was the fakest yawn I have ever heard in my entire life. 

He stretched both arms out as his mouth gaped open dramatically. He laid down one hand on the bed just like it had sat before after he closed his mouth and the other lightly placed on my shoulder. He was beet red with his eyes still locked on the tv as his hand draped from my shoulder loosely. 

I pursed my lips to act nonchalant, suppressing a smile, and leaned my head on his shoulder. I lifted my hand and laced my fingers with his on my shoulder casually. Dork.

"Why is his mom such a creep, you would think in the 50s she would be a little more shy?"

"I know right? It's so weird how she was this much of a hypocrite!"

"Exactly like do you even hear yourself at that point?"

We continued like that for the rest of the night, making commentary about all three movies and how stupid some of the characters were.

Finally, the third movie came to a close and as the post-credits rolled through the screen I looked over at Peter. His head was lolled onto my shoulder with his eyes closed and mouth hanging only slightly open. My eyes widened in embarrassment as his head nestled deeper into the crook of my neck. 

I checked my inner clock and realized it was 12:43 AM, knowing I would never get back home in time for my curfew. And knowing my father, he was still probably awake. I opened messages in my database and thought out my text. Yes, I can text in my head and no I do not have time to explain it to you.

Spoiled Brat

I am staying at MJ's place tonight so I will not get home

Egotistical Nightmare 🥱

Weird, you don't usually do sleepovers

Will your battery last through the night?

Spoiled Brat

Yeah plus remember I have sleep mode I can just turn that on until it is time to leave

Egotistical Nightmare 🥱

When did you install sleep mode I didn't authorize you to mess with your system

Spoiled Brat

Oh MJ is calling me I have to go

Egotistical Nightmare 🥱

Hailey!

How did you get into your systems?!

HAILEY

I exited out of messages and looked over at Peter's sleeping face (totally not creepy, by the way). He looked completely relaxed, something that is very hard to come across with him. Cute.

"Guess I am stuck here..." I sighed quietly to myself. "You want to play solitaire with me? No? I thought so, I just wanted to be polite," I mused quietly, laughing at my sad excuse for humor. I was too bored for solitaire so I opened my sleep mode settings.

Would you like to activate sleep mode?

Yes             No   

Sleep mode activated.

Chapter Text

"Will you kindly...SHUT THE HELL UP."

"You don't even believe in hell!" Father rebuttals from the other side of his work desk.

"WELL IF I DID YOU WOULD BE THERE."

It has been a couple of months since Peter and I got together and it was going relatively smoothly. Of course, there had been bumps like any normal relationship. 

Oh yeah and with a constant existential crisis where I thought I was a toaster that was incapable of having feelings and Peter trying to convince me I was real but what couple does not go through that?

Anyway long story short, father found out I was hanging out with MJ only half of the time I had been saying I was hanging out with MJ. I tried to lie my way out of it but he did not fall for it, making me come clean about where I have actually been AKA with Peter.

"My love life is none of your business!"

"It is my business, you're my daughter dating my-"

"Your what? Apprentice? Employee? I still do not understand your relationship with him. I swear your guy's relationship is weirder than ours," I scoffed irritably. Father gave me a hard look causing me to mimic his look back at him.

"Why couldn't you have at least been honest with me instead of lying to my face about it?!"

"Because I do not have to tell you anything! And I knew you would freak out and lecture me about dating your ward or whatever but obviously, that did not work out very well!"

"Clearly!" Father exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in anger. When his arms came back down to his side he immediately lifted his right hand and pinched the bridge of his nose in aggravation. "Well great, now I have to meet him."

"What are you talking about now?"

"I have to meet your boyfriend now because I am a father and that's what fathers do."

"What did you smoke in the last hour? You already met him!"

"Yeah but I have to meet him as your boyfriend now like-like on tv or whatever, you know?" I stared at him as he took out his phone from his pocket.

"No, no I do not know. I have no idea what you are on about!" I exclaimed defeated watching him type in something on his phone. "What are you doing now?" I sighed in exasperation but he did not answer me. Suddenly it dawned on me.

I snatched his phone from his hands just as he put it to his ear. I glanced down to see a bright Underoos ID in white.

"Hello? Mr. Stark?" I heard faintly come from the phone making me panic and press the hang-up button a dozen times before the call actually ended.

"Hailey, give me my phone back right now so I can threaten him...kindly," Father said slowly with absolute fury but I shook my head, still flustered.

"No, no, no, I think I am good," I answered as father came at me incredibly annoyed. I levitated off the ground subconsciously and rose above him so he could not grab me.

"HAILEY ALICE STARK, you get down here this instant!"

"NO!" I shouted like a five-year-old, clutching the phone from the ceiling. "You cannot make me!"

"Wanna bet?" He asked before stomping out the door in anger making me sigh in relief. Until he came back. With Vision.

"Are you sure this is necessary Mr. Stark?"

"No, no it is not!" I shouted from the ceiling as I pushed myself back to the corner of the room. I balled myself up, putting the phone in the middle of my human ball, protecting it just in case.

"Miss Stark please come down, I really do not want to use force," Vision called from the ground as my father smirked. I sighed, floating down from the ceiling with the phone in hand.

"Fine, you win," I grumbled as I walked towards my father and lifted up my hand with the phone. Father reached for the phone and...

I ran through the door, dodging both of them.

"SIKE!"

...

"I hate you," I stated as Vision dragged me back to the tower with the stolen phone now in his hand.

"You don't mean that."

"Yes, yes I do," I said matter-of-factly as we flew through the doors, only a few feet off the ground. "This is bullshit," I muttered bitterly.

"Language, Miss Stark," Vision said calmly making me glare at him and sigh.

"How is Wanda? And the others?" I asked quietly as we moved through the building to my father's workspace. Holding a grudge against him for longer than a few hours would be counterproductive.

"They're fine, moving around every few weeks. Right now Wanda somewhere in Scotland, I'm pretty sure," he informed me making me nod. I smiled to myself.

"You two are cute together," I commented quietly causing him to smile slightly in my peripheral vision.

He dropped me off by the closed door of my father's workspace, handing me the stolen phone before leaving to his own room. He trusted me enough to give it to father, knowing I had no way of running for it twice.

I sighed and lifted my hand onto the doorknob but stopped, hearing voices from behind the door. I narrowed my eyes as I subconsciously furrowed my eyebrows. 

I opened the doors to find my father, who stopped talking instantly when I opened the door, and a nervous and faintly scared-looking Peter standing beside each other. I blinked.

"What in the absolute hell are you doing?" I demanded towards father, stomping over to them. 

"I was just-"

"Ok, you are obviously going to lie," I decided after only three words that were rushed out of my father's mouth. He looked at me credulously. 

"I was just discussing with Peter here a...new...mission."

"A mission? Really?" I asked looking back and forth between them. "A new...a new mission? Is that...is that what you really have decided to go with?"

"Yes. Obviously, I just said that so clearly that was what we were talking about. Right, Pete?" I looked over at Peter's nervous face and quirked an eyebrow at him.

"He was threatening you, was he not?"

"No, no, no, we were uh- we were discussing a new-a new mission," he stammered as I narrowed my eyes at him. I stared at him for a few moments, watching him sweat, making father think I believed that for a moment.

"You guys are terrible liars," I declared making Peter sigh and father groan. "I mean seriously, I am ashamed that I am associated with either of you," I sighed.

"Now, Peter go back to Happy and tell him to drive you home."

"But-"

"Peter," I said, staring him down making his eyes go wide.

"Yes ma'am," he replied before scurrying out the door leaving me and my father alone in the room.

"What the fu-"

"I wasn't doing anything, I was simply giving him the dad talk!"

"The dad talk?!" I hissed credulously at him. "You are not some stereotypical father figure and you do not threaten my partner! Are you insane?!" I lectured before pausing for a moment, thinking. 

"And what were you even saying in this 'dad talk'?! The dad talk is about safe sex or abstinence and 'if you get my daughter pregnant, I will shoot you' or something! And I do not know if you have noticed throughout the years but I do not have genitalia! Or organs for that matter!" I exclaimed with disbelief at his insanity. He opened his mouth but then closed it.

"I didn't think that through."

"Yeah, no shit!"

Chapter Text

"I HATE MY LIFE." 

"That's the...fourth time you've said that already?" Peter counted from my couch as I sat in my corner office in my bedroom, slamming my fingers on my keyboard making my usual white lab coat wrinkle. "You know slamming on your keyboard just makes it worse, right?"

"Fifth and no. I had no idea, thank you so much, Sherlock." I replied with sarcasm dripping from my voice as I furrowed my eyebrow at the bright monitor. I pushed my Stark glasses back up the bridge of my nose as they started to slip off.

"You're welcome," he smiled smugly making me even more irritable. "What are even doing anyway?" He asked curiously, probably trying to use my situation to help him procrastinate studying for the last finals of the year.

"Trying to email every single goddamn chain in Stark Industries becaUSE THESE IDIOTS DO NOT KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY IT TAKES TO LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY!" I exclaimed, slamming my fingers on my poor keyboard again, groaning. "I mean seriously? Who the hell decided $10 was good enough to pay 15% of the employees in this godforsaken company?! Absolute dumbasses!"

"Every employee-? Wait, they were paying them $10?"

"For the lowest ranks in the company, yeah," I answered with embarrassment as I pinched the bridge of my nose. "The entire financial plan for this company is in shambles. Ugh... I hate stupid old white rich men."

"Aren't you also...white and rich?"

"I am not human and without a race so technically I am not white. I only look like this so I can go through missions using white women tears and privilege to hide and get away with shit."

"That's..."

"Really screwed up? Yeah. But it helps me through missions so I can save people. But you are white so please never get rich. Or old, if science allows." I answered typing in with lightning speed to get this done quickly. "How is studying going?" I asked, trying to change the awkward subject about my screwed-up existence but my question was only met with a groan.

"Why do we even have an English class in a science school? It makes no sense!" He complained irritably as he flipped through his thick packets of notes. 

"Maybe because they need to teach uncreative losers like you how to make shit up on the spot about meaningless, vague details? I mean that is a very needed quality for the real world," I mused darkly as I typed away on my keyboard. "No offense, of course."

"Just because you say no offense does not mean it isn't offensive."

"I know, but it makes me seem less like a jerk." 

"Yeah...it doesn't work very well," he commented making me give him a jokingly-offended look. I typed faster than ever, finishing finally and pumping my fist in the air, spinning in my chair with victory. I eagerly took off my glasses and half hazardously placed them on my desk.

"Finally! Suck it, you corrupted capitalist embezzling assholes!" I cheered as I turned off my monitor and hopped up from my swivel chair before flopping face down right next to Peter. 

"Embezzling?"

"So much, darling. So much embezzling," I groaned rubbing my face into the couch cushion. I looked up and watched him flip through packet after packet, a crease in between his furrowed eyebrows with concentration. Cute nerd.

I leaned my head into my hands and continued to watch him study, studying his face in the process.

"Take a picture it'll last longer."

"Did you just steal my line? How dare you steal my line," I exclaimed dramatically as I put a hand to my heart. He ignored me, smiling as he rolled his eyes and continued to flip through his notes until he got to the last page. 

"Done!" He called, throwing his packet into his backpack

"Are you not supposed to do that multiple times so you can actually memor-"

"Shhh...!" He shushed me before burying his face into the couch cushion as I did.

"You are going to fail, you know."

"I said shhh...!" He exclaimed, lifting his head into the air like a fish in need of water before flopping himself down on the couch once more. "English isn't important anyway!" He decided from inside the cushion, not moving a muscle as his voice was muffled through the fabric.

"You literally speak it every day."

"...Shut up."

"No, I think I am good," I answered as I started playing with his hair mindlessly making him hum quietly. "You are a nerd so how the hell does English stump you?"

"Because it's dumb!"

"Well, that is not a reasonable argument on your part and merely your opinion. Which is wrong and incredibly idiotic, by the way," I added helpfully.

"Well not everyone can be as argumentative like you," he defended as he peeked out from the cushion to look at me.

"And that is why I feel bad for everyone else," I joked making him laugh.

"Of course. No one can carry that much stubbornness with them for their entire lives beside you," he jabbed at me.

"Exactly!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up before settling back down to play with one of Peter's curls. "You should join the debate team, maybe your teammates could rub off on you."

"If you haven't rubbed off on me how would they? The only thing that would rub off on me is public humiliation."

"Either way, it would be a great show for me," I smirked as he jokingly glared at me. I mimicked his fake glare in mockery. He rolled his eyes at me before he dipped down and kissed me lovingly.

"What was that for?" I asked quirking an eyebrow curiously just after we separated.

"To shut you up." I blinked.

"Oh my gods, I hate you," I answered pushing him lightly making him laugh. I rolled my eyes at his idiocy, shaking my head.

"Love you too," he teased before we both froze. We stared at each other as I internally freaked out. "I didn't mea-well I did but- see I-" he stammered, turning red as he freaked out.

"Love you too...too...I guess," I coughed awkwardly feeling my system heat up increasingly. He started at me with his red face before smiling, flustered. Gross, this is so sappy.

Chapter Text

"You look terrible."

"Aw, thanks! You're too kind," Spidey responded, putting a hand to his heart.

We were sitting on the ledge of a random building, casually talking with both our masks lowered, out of sight by the public eye. After patrolling all day, thankfully we could take a decent, relaxing break. It has been a few weeks since summer break finally began and I, unlike most kids, was disappointed that school was over for the next few months. 

Of course, summer meant I could finally finish my battery project and patrol with Spidey more. And I was so close to sleep in a real bed and not a cold hard metal plate.

"Have you been sleeping at all?" I asked with concern, eyeing the dark bags on his face. 

"Yeah, yeah it's just I've uh...been rubbing my eyes a lot," he stammered slowly as I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Why have you been rubbing your eyes a lot?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.

"...Because I haven't been sleeping," he admitted making me sigh at his idiocy.

"It is summer, you should be sleeping in. What have been doing instead anyway?" I scolded, rolling my eyes at him in annoyance. Gross, now I sound like a mother.

"I've been...watching...p-porn...?" 

"Peter."

"Okay, fine! I've been...patrolling."

"You have been patrolling without me?!" I demanded making him wince as I gave him an offended look. Wait a minute... "Wait a minute, how much have you been patrolling? I was just trying to be nice before, you look like you have two black eyes."

"That was your version of nice?"

"Do not change the subject," I said as I crossed my arms disapprovingly. 

"Just...a little bit...here and there."

"Peter!"

"Fine! I might've been sorta, kinda going out...every...night...?" I stared at him for a moment, blinking rapidly. I smacked his arm.

"Webs! We have talked about this!"

"I'm sorry, okay, I've kept losing track of time!"

"No shit! How do you expect to save people if you are exhausted all the time dumbass?!" I argued glaring at him with disapproval. "Go to bed, idiot."

"Right now?" 

"YES RIGHT NOW."

"It's 6!"

"It is 10:37 pm." I stared at him as he stared back. He narrowed his eyes.

"Wait it's 10?"

"YES," I exclaimed making him 'oh...' like an idiot. "My god. You are banned from night patrolling for a few days until you get your sleep schedule less shitty."

"What!" He demanded incredulously standing up.

"I will take your night shifts while you sleep. Like a normal person," I decided making him gape at me.

"But- what if, what if something bad happens like-like a shooting or something?" He sputtered trying to find an argument. I stared at him.

"Darling, I am bulletproof."

"What if, what if they have a hostage?"

"I can just make a force field around the gun and pull it away or zap it out their hands."

"But what if-"

"PETER," I stopped him, annoyed. "The world will not fall apart if you are not there for a few days. Relax for a bit. Touch some grass," I encouraged pushing him towards his apartment. "I am just as capable as you are."

"I know," he groaned. "But what about you? Don't you have to charge?" He questioned with concern making me have to bite back a grin.

"Actually, I was meaning to tell you. I finally completed my pet project, I am officially running on batteries full time!" I explained excitedly, jumping up and down.

"Hails, that's amazing!" Peter congratulated, hugging me as he completely forgot about his loss. He spun me around before letting go as I full-on grinned at him.

"I finally get to sleep in a real bed! And not to mention the batteries are biodegradable! Biodegradable batteries, Peter! Of course, they are incredibly expensive, like ridiculously expensive, but it is worth it so I can actually say I have biodegradable batteries!" I cheered with a smile making him laugh at my absolute enthusiasm over that.

"That's...awesome, Hailey! I'm so proud of you!" He said making my heart want to burst.

"Hehe yeah!" I grinned, pausing for a moment. "Do not think I forgot about the ban, Parker. Go to bed," I demanded making his smile turn to an overdramatic pout in seconds.

"Fine..." Peter groaned loudly, dipping down to kiss me goodnight before pulling down his mask. "But just so you know, I am doing this because I'm an amazing boyfriend," he said walking backward to the ledge of the building.

"No, you are doing this because I am demanding and frightening."

"That too."

...

Sleep mode on...

Sleep mode deactivated.

I jolted awake, snapping my eyes open to reveal my pitch-black ceiling as I heard bangs come from my window. I quickly got up, turning on the lights, and marched over to my window, annoyed. 

"What the hell-" I started as I pushed back my black curtains to reveal a busted-up Spidey who tiredly waved to me. 

My eyes widened before opening the window quickly causing Peter to slump into my room half-hazardously. He fell to the ground, groaning but I caught him just in time. He started walking to sit down on my bed but I redirected him to my chair.

"Yeah, you are not going to bleed all over my bed, that is not happening," I argued making him sit on my swivel chair. "I need to get a Med-kit, try not to...die. Or bleed on my floor," I added. 

I scurried out the door and closed it just in case someone comes through the hall. I rushed to the bathroom and opened the cabinet, pulling out the emergency medkit, and hurried out. I was about halfway back to my room when Vision interrupted me. I jumped back in shock, hiding the kit behind my back as Vision stared at me in confusion.

"Miss Stark, what are you doing up?" Vision questioned in bewilderment as I eyed the faraway door to my room.

"What are you doing up?" I asked, trying to avoid the question by shifting the light to him. "Text-flirting with Wanda?"

"I was reading when I heard footsteps in the hall," he explained as he eyed my hands behind my back. Damnit. "What do you have behind your back?"

"Uh...well I was working on a new invention and decided to rest for the night. It is top secret so unfortunately, I cannot show you yet," I lied easily as I inched towards my door, walking backward. 

"Oh, well make sure you don't overexert yourself. We don't want you to lose charge in the middle of the night," he warned with concern for me. I laughed an airy laugh as I searched for the doorknob of my door, not taking my eyes off Vision.

"You worry too much, Viz. I am completely fine," I said as I rolled my eyes. I finally found my doorknob and opened it only a few inches so he would not see Peter. "Goodnight!" I said quickly before slamming my door closed and turned to Peter with med-kit in hand.

"Anyone order a nurse?"

...

"Ow! Easy!"

"You would not be in pain if you had just listened to me!" I snapped at him as I tightened my stitch work on his bare chest, glaring at him. It took a lot of convincing for him to take off his  constricting binder so I could stitch up his chest but he finally obliged. I felt my system heat up as I kept telling myself to not look down at his abs. 

There is a time and place for everything and right now is not the time to gawk!

"Hailey, your system seems to be heating up considerably," Friday announced causing Peter to look around in surprise and my system to heat up more from embarrassment.

"I am aware, Friday. Thanks," I gritted my teeth at her as I shoved Peter in place to stop him from moving and looking around for the speakers.

"Who was tha-"

"Friday. Stop moving," I ordered irritably making him freeze as I started to finish up.

"What did she mean by-"

"Done," I announced, interrupting him as I put on the last bandaid on his stitch.

"Thank you so mu-" Peter started as he quickly putting on the hoodie I gave him, a hoodie I stole from him but we will not talk about that, but stopped when he saw me glaring at him. I opened my mouth but he stopped me in a panic making me more aggravated. "Before you scream at me, just hear me out! There was these-"

"What. Were. You. THINKING?!" I hissed, narrowing my eyes at him as I got up from my crouching position. "I told you to rest, to take a break, and you did not listen to me!"

"But there was-"

"Even if there was a situation that called for you to help, you should have at least tried to call me. You know I would have been there in a heartbeat if there was a serious situation that you accidentally spotted. But you did not. Why did you not call me?" I asked as he stared at the ground silently. 

"Peter."

"I thought I could handle it myself," he answered, still staring at the floor.

"You could handle what yourself, the one situation or patrolling?" Silence. "Were you patrolling? Did you ever stop? Did you at least try to listen to me or did you just ignore me completely?" I demanded making him whip his head up to look at me, a pleading expression etched into his features.

"No! Of course I didn't! I-" Peter stopped himself, taking a deep breath. "I took a break...for a couple of days. But I spotted some guys fighting and one guy pulled out a gun and I stopped it. And then I started patrolling again," he explained, still avoiding my eyes. 

I pierced my lips, trying to keep calm and not explode at him. I walked over to him and cupped his bruised, bandaged face carefully.

"Hey," I said making him look at me.

"You could have died. You cannot do that. You cannot go out there alone while I am at home with no clue what is happening. Not knowing what is happening out there or to you and waiting pathetically for a sign you are still alive and not dead in an alleyway or in an evil lair or whatever else you get yourself into. I am not doing that. That is not happening," I finished determinedly, not waiting for an argument. He stared at me in shock for a moment before leaning down and kissing me which I accepted.

"I'm sorry," Peter whispered leaning his forehead on mine when we broke apart.

"You better be," I muttered bitterly.

"I am," Peter promised sincerely cupping my face with both his hands and softly connected our lips.

Chapter Text

Once upon a time, in a distant world there lived a very rich, very ugly princess with magical powers. She dated an equally ugly but a much poorer boy who was literALLY A BUG AND WAS NOT NEARLY AS AWESOME AND HOT AND AMAZING AS ME-

Wade! You are not the narrator! Go back to your weird mutants academy!

But I'm not finished! The ugly poor guy's identity got expo-

WADE. Get out of my story.

FINE. Meanie >:I

Just remember karma's going to bite your ass in exactly five years! Hope lady death is merciful for y'all :)

Wait what-

Anyway, today went down like usual. I woke up with difficulty, Happy drove me to school, and made fun of Ned and Peter. It had only been a month into school so there was no impending doom for finals and it was almost peaceful if I did not think about the incoming math test or Spanish project. 

Unfortunately taking Spanish 3 and 4 look great on college applications so I took them without thinking about the fact I am fluent in all languages. So here I am.

Our teacher lectured us about the 'proper etiquette' on a school bus as we sat waiting to leave school to go to MoMa. I was vaguely listening but was rudely interrupted by a flashing text message plastered across my eyes.

Egotistical Nightmare 🥱

Hey I need you to go to the nearest bathroom and into the second stall

Spoiled Brat

Wtf

Why

What did you do

Egotistical Nightmare 🥱

I didn't do anything it's the magic wizard

Spoiled Brat 

What

You know what?  I'm not even going to ask

Fine

Egotistical Nightmare 🥱

Thank you! I love you pumpkin 

Spoiled Brat

I love me too

I sighed quietly and raised my hand irritably.

"Yes, Miss Martin?" The teacher called on me causing me to put my hand down and Ned and Peter to look at me confused.

"May I go to the bathroom?" I asked politely while looking dead inside. Ned and Peter furrowed their eyes at me, knowing full well I literally cannot go to the bathroom.

"Is it an emergency?"

"Yes," I answered as I placed a vaguely strained look on my face making her sigh.

"Alright, you can go but make it quick. We're going to be leaving in five minutes," she warned and I nodded my head in response. I got up making Ned's and Peter's eyes follow me in confusion. 'I will explain later,' I mouthed to me subtly making them nod with Peter looking at me with concern. I smiled slightly at him calmly, walking out of the room with annoyance.

As soon as the door shut I started stomping towards the girls' bathroom, rolling my eyes in the process. I got to the bathroom, already knowing this is going to be weird and a waste of time. 

I begrudgingly opened the second stall door but instead of being greeted with the usual gross toilet and overflowing metal bin stuffed full of pads, I was presented with a sparking circular portal leading to a grand staircase. I stood with my mouth agape as I was greeted by two unknown men, my father, and Dr. Banner.

"Hey, honey! So...how was school?" Father greeted innocently as I stared at him with disbelief. I slowly walked through the sparking portal, trying to analyze everything about it. It disappeared immediately after I walked through it safely, much to my disappointment. 

"What the hell is going on?" I exclaimed in... bamboozlement. Yeah, bamboozlement. That is the word to describe my emotions.

"So...here's the thing. I need you to call Cap and ask where Vision is." I blinked.

"Are you serious right now? You pulled me out of school...because you are too much of a baby to face your former colleague?"

"Yeah, basically," Bruce replied looking unimpressed by my father as he gave Bruce a look. I looked over at him. "Hey, Hails. You've grown. New body?" 

"Hey Banner. No, new skin actually, much more squishy," I greeted casually.

"And we need you to do that quickly too," one of the unknown men said, who was decorated in an over-the-top red cape and goatee. I analyzed his face. Dr. Stephen Strange, a well-known neurosurgeon who was in a horrible accident a while back. I looked down at his hands, ones that were completely fine now. Explains the weird magic at play and 'the magic wizard' text.

"Stephen Strange," I nodded in a greeting at him in a response to his lack of manners to a guest at his...house? He looked at me with a hint of surprise. I scanned through his entire work in mere milliseconds. Impressive, I admit. A bit of an ego but I am not one to judge.

"Why do you guys need Vision?" I questioned, confused seeing as how father did not really care before that he ran off. I knew it was with Wanda but he was unaware of that tiny fact.

"Remember the stone you helped install into him?" Father asked making Dr. Strange snap his head back to me.

"You mean, the mind stone? Shit, I knew that was going to bite us in the ass but I did not think it would happen this soon," I admitted surprised. Obviously, I knew the dangers of placing an infinity stone inside a being but Ultron refused to listen to me. Absolute dumbass.

"You built him?" Dr. Strange questioned, clearly not expecting a 16-year-old to be the mastermind behind an advanced synthzoid.

"You do not have to act that surprised," I commented looking Mr. Magic Man up and down. "And not by choice since I was kidnapped by my...brother, I guess? In my defense, I told him I could just make Vision like me and make him electric but Ultron had a hissy fit." I defended, lifting my hands halfway in defeat. Dr. Strange stared at me, probably imagining what a powerful cyborg having a 'hissy fit' looked like. The other unknown man mouthed "'like you?'" to himself with furrowed eyebrows. I rolled my eyes, pulling my phone out from my pocket as I could only text in my mind, not call.

"I am sorry but have either of you been kidnapped by your cyborg brother your god complex-ridden father created and had been forced to create your Synthezoid brother/son?" I interrogated, only using one breath glaring at them with my phone in hand. "No? Then shut up." I started typing in Cap's number resentfully, glaring at the screen as I typed but stopped. I snapped my head up, hearing a rumble from a few hundred feet away with a slight hum following it.

"Say, Doc, you wouldn't happen to be moving your hair, would you?" Father asked, directed at Dr. Strange and his moving lock of hair.

"Not at the moment, no," Strange answered, looking up to try to see his hair. I look up from the large hole in the ceiling to see debris and ruble whipping through the air. Father and I share a look before he exited the mysterious old-timey house. I reached my hand under my shirt and tapped my compact right above my chest, causing nanotechnology to absorb my body. I pulled up my hood and mask before running out of the mysterious, old-times house to be greeted by a scene of complete chaos.

People scatter from something while screaming in alarm with cars fleeing through the streets as the wind whipped around us fiercely. A nearby woman falls but father quickly helped her up, asking her if she is fine but she promptly ignores him and runs away. Suddenly, a car crashes into a pole behind us.

"Help him! Wong, Doc," father calls causing them to try to help the people in the car. I scan where people were running from, catching an unknown circular mass heading to the ground.

"Hailey, what are we looking at?" Father asks staring at the scene.

"I am not sure, but it is coming right for us," I warned as I tried to figure out was it was. I started flying closer to the scene with father following me.

"Hey! You might wanna put that Time Stone in your back pocket, Doc!"

"Might wanna use it," Strange replied as multiple glowing circles wrapped around his arms. The hum grows louder the nearer we get to it before it was prominent in the air. As we turn a corner, I am ever so pleasantly greeted with the huge mass in full view. Of fucking course it is an alien ship. Seriously, who do you have to kill to get an ice cream truck attack or something?

I noted our location was around the south of 43rd Street, already calling for evacuation and first responders.

"Evac.?" Father asked shortly and I answered with a simple nod, staring at the ship anxiously. This is not going to end well. 

Dr. Strange flys over Bleeker Street and winks at father causing a flash of amusement to cross over his face for just a moment. I smile slightly before dropping it with a realization. 

Oh my god, there are two of him. 

We finally get to the ship as two very weird-looking aliens beam off the ship. 

"Hear me, and rejoice..." Squidward (his name is Squidward now, I have decided this indefinitely). "You are about to die at the hands of the Children of Thanos. Be thankful, that your meaningless lives are now contributing to the balance of-" 

"I'm sorry, Earth is closed today! You better pack it up and get outta here," father declares, interrupting him.

"Stonekeeper..." Squidward starts, turning to Strange, and gestures to father like he was a weird dog. "Does this chattering animal speak for you?" 

"Certainly not. I speak for myself," Strange said, readying spells with his fists and walking forward. "But you're trespassing in this city and on this planet." Wong mimicked him, readying circular spells with his hands.

"It means get lost, Squidward!" I facepalmed hard beside him. 

"He exhausts me."

"Same," I muttered, agreeing with an alien for the first time in my life. Squidward and his big goblin brother talk in a foreign language for a moment, the only thing I heard was they want the stone. Of course, the wizards have one of the most powerful objects in their pockets.

"Banner, you want a piece?"

"No, not really, but when do I ever get what I want?" Bruce sighs before attempting to release hulk but...failed? His necks turned green for a moment but immediately faded when he gave up.

"Where is my green guy? I have been missing him," I asked, staring at him in confusion.

"I just... I need to concentrate here for one second. Come on, come on, man," he muttered to himself as father and I stared at him.

"Dude."

"Where's your guy?"

"I don't know. We've sorta been havin' a thing."

"There's no time for a thing. That's the thing right there. Let's go," father says pointing to the big goblin creature about to splatter us like bugs. Bruce gives out a loud grunt, failing again to release hulk as Dr. Strange stares at us in disbelief.

"Dude, you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards."

"Tony, I'm sorry. Either I can't or he won't-" he stammered looking down at his hands in defeat.

"It's okay. Hey, stand down. Keep an eye on him and her. Thank you," he said to Wong pushing me and Bruce lightly towards him. I glare at him.

"You have got to be kidding me."

"I have them."

"Damn it," Bruce muttered as he begrudgingly went to Wong's side as I stayed put. As the big goblin dude came running towards us, father took off his glasses and took three steps forward before his suit wrapped around his body completely. A shield appears on one of his arms and grows a couple of blasters that slams the goblin into the nearby cars.

"Where'd that come from?" Bruce questioned in disbelief, staring at father. Haha...noob.

"It's nano-tech, you like it? A little something like-" Squidward interrupted him by creating a spike from the Earth, sending father flying into the air. He sent trees flying towards us as I lifted a force field in front of us making Wong look over at me surprised.

"Dr. Banner, if the rest of your green friend won't be joining us...." Dr. Strange trailed off before opening a portal pulling him through, unfortunately including half a taxi as well. A car suddenly comes barreling towards us but father pushes it back to Squidward who slices it in half nonchalantly. I am sorry buT HE CAN SLICE STUFF WITH A WAVE OF HIS HAND? How are we not dead yet?! 

"Gotta get that stone outta here, now," father decided looking at Dr. Strange.

"It stays with me," Dr. Strange said making me stare at him in disbelief.

"Exactly. Bye," father responded, hurtling towards Squidward and weaving through his obstacles. Dr. Strange looks over at me.

"You're related to that guy?"

"Technically, I am adopted," I answered noticing a red suit fly towards the park. "That is my cue!" I flew towards where father had landed, spotting a hammer flying right towards him and Bruce. 

I zapped it away from them, making a high voltage current come straight for the green goblin. He hissed lowly before swatting me like a fly, sending me to the ground or into the ground I should say but got up. I avoid a falling tree before blasting at his open feet with a hot ray making him stumble and fall. 

This went back and forth for a while with father firing a beam at him all around. The green goblin regained focus for just a moment before smashing father into the ground and throwing his hammer at him. Fortunately, a familiar red and blue spider stood in the way.

"Hey, man. What's up, Mr. Stark? Wires?"

"Kid, where'd you come from?

"Field trip to MoMA-!" Green Goblin grabs Spidey before throwing him away forcibly. 

"Well, that was rude," I muttered to myself before zapping Green Goblin and father pulling himself up from the ground. Spidey got up and swung himself back towards the alien.

"What is this guy's problem, Mr. Stark?"

"He's from space. He came here to steal a necklace from a wizard."

"It is actually a magic and all powerful stone but yeah, close enough," I added as Spidey comes flying towards the alien but was grabbed by his hammer and threw him in the air again.

Spidey finally slinged himself back around with half a car and smash the taxi upside his head. I rolled my eyes absently before flying up to the big guys head and tried to kick him upside the head with both feet. He grabbed my hand making me smile, of course apart of a plan, and let electricity flow through my body for a split second and build up.

"Did your mother not ever tell you not to manhandle people?" I scolded before letting all the electricity expand out of my body, shocking his entire figure and blinding his eyes, distracting him. Father shoots a blazing hot beam at him as we spotted Dr. Strange getting abducted by Squidward.

"Kid, that's the wizard. Get on it," father instructed to Spidey making him nod.

"On it!" Spidey swings away, following the other alien and Strange as me and father handle the big guy. I saw he was regaining his eyesight making me zap him in his eyes again. This, unfortunately, did not work the second time.

He grabbed me by the chest and slammed me into the ground, causing me to smash into a tree and completely uproot it. I groaned, gritting my teeth as father was caught by green goblin and thrown to the ground with the broken hammer trapping him.

"Uhhh, Mr. Stark? I'm being beamed up!" I heard Spidey say with alarm through my intercom. Oh, that cannot be good. 

"Hang on, kid," father answers back as green goblin jumps toward him to finish him off with a blade. My eyes widened but before he could touch him he was sent through a portal instead. The green goblin turns to jump back through it but Wong quickly closes it but not before his hand goes through the portal. It severs his hand, rolling towards Bruce causing him to kick it away. 

I sigh in relief as father shakes himself free of the long gone aliens broken hammer. I look up to the space ship with my boyfriend still on it, knowing there was no way I could fly all the way up there since, unlike my father, I was a living jet pack. 

"Wong, you're invited to my wedding," father announces quickly before shooting up into the sky towards the ship. "Give me a little juice, Friday," father instructs making his thrusters morph together into a single larger jet as I watch him anxiously.

"Unlock 17-A. Pete, you gotta let go. I'm gonna catch you."

"But you said save the wizard! I can't breathe!" I hear Peter say through the intercom as my eyes widen. 

"Peter, hun, you are too high up. You are running out of air quickly," I explained obviously, still staring at the shrinking ship.

"Yeah! That makes sense," I hear him gasp one more time before silence.

"Peter?" I ask nervously but it was only to myself. I hear a gasp making me sigh in relief for the tenth time today.

"Mr. Stark, it smells like a new car in here!" 

"Happy trails, kid. Friday, send him home."

"Yep," Friday replied making me relax as the ship started leaving my view. He is okay, he will be fine.

"OH, COME ON!"

…

"Peter, I swear to god, if you are on that ship I am flying up there myself and ripping out your spine so I can throttle you with it," I threatened into my phone, talking to myself. It was my second time calling and my second time getting sent to voicemail. Apparently, alien ships do not have the best connection.

"If you suddenly and miraculously come across wifi in space, call me so I can scream at you. Bye, do not die," I added before ending the call and shoving my phone in my pocket. I pinched the bridge of my nose and groaned. The supreme sorcerer has been kidnapped along with one of the most powerful objects in the entire universe. Not to mention my boyfriend is a stowaway on the same alien ship with my father and I have no way of communication with any of them. Great, this is totally great.

And on top of that, I have to deal with rogue war criminals/ex-superheroes. Fun times indeed.

"So we gotta assume they're coming back, right?" Rhodey asked the group, referring to the weird aliens visiting Earth.

"And they can clearly find us," Wanda added. I had not seen her in person since about year ago but with the circumstances, it was not a priority to catch up and chat. I had not seen any of them actually since I helped Nat break into their prisons by hacking into the security systems and rescued them but of course I would never say that out loud in fear I would get arrested with them.

"We need all hands on deck. Where's Clint?" Bruce asked, looking around. 

"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families, they're on house arrest," Nat explained.

"Who's Scott?"

"Ant-man, new superhero," I clarified as I continued to mess with a couple of my emergency batteries in my hand anxiously.

"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?" Bruce asked in disbelief, looking at me as I shrugged. "Okay, look... Thanos has the biggest army in the universe. And he is not gonna stop until he... he gets... Vision's Stone." I pursed my lips. This is all my fault. I should have stopped Ultron, I should have gone with my gut.

"Well then, we have to protect it," Nat decided making me nod subconsciously. 

"No, we have to destroy it," Vision interjected making everyone turn to him. "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also, its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something very similar to its own signature, perhaps... its molecular integrity could fail," Vision reasoned looking at Wanda.

"And you, with it. We're not having this conversation."

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it."

"That's too high a price."

"Only you have the power to pay it," Vision reasons, cupping her face in his hands but she walks away in disbelief to the corner of the room. "Thanos threatens half the Universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him." I stood there, shifting my eyes back and forth between them in deep thought. 

If I could- no that would not work but...if I could change his power function and divert it to electricity-no, batteries not electric charge. I could reprogram his body to work together but do I have the equipment? Probably not.

"We don't trade lives, Vision," Cap argued.

"Captain, 70 years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people. Tell me, why is this any different?" Vision reasoned, walking to Cap in determination.

"Because yours would be unnecessary," I piped up making everyone look at me in confusion. "Viz, I thought you would finally realize the stone is merely your power source and not you in time but it looks like I have to spell it out for all of you. I have told you before, I originally designed you to use electricity like me but Ultron stopped me before I could activate the process. If we were to...theoretically, take out the stone, very, very delicately it could, theoretically, be fine," I rushed out as everyone stared at me in shock. 

"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?"

"Vision was never the stone, hell he does not even really need it. It just makes him powerful. I thought about getting rid of it years ago but I thought it was an easier power source than charging for hours on end. 'Course that was before I finished my batteries. If he actually was just the stone he would have the emotional capacity of a literal rock," I looked around at all of them in confusion. "You guys really thought he was the embodiment of the stone? Were you all high these past years?" They ignored the last parts.

"Can we do that? Can we just remove the stone just like that?" Nat asked in astonishment at the thought it was that easy.

"I can but I do not have any of the equipment here," I answered and paused for a moment,  thinking. A lightbulb went off in my head.

"But I do know where they are."

...

"Drop to 2600, heading 0-3-0."

"I hope you're right about this, Hailey. Or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to." 

I looked down at my phone in defeat, completing my third voicemail for Peter. It was stupid to think he would get them but I did not really care.

I looked up to the window and saw the familiar trees as we pushed through the field and into Wakanda. It was weird to think this was the place where I first started, only pieces of metal back then.

We finally leave the discomforting scenery of the jet to a bright view of Wakanda. I trailed behind Vision and Wanda assuming a 16-who-still-looked-barely-15-year-old was not something they wanted to see first with the superheroes and defenders of Earth. Of course, that was before I saw a young teenage girl right beside T'Challa, which was weirdly a bit comforting.

"Should we bow?" Bruce quietly asked Rhodey, not knowing what to do in this situation.

"Yeah, he's a king," he whispered back dead-serious making me raise a disapproving eyebrow at him. He looked behind to me, feeling my gaze, and winked mischievously making me shake my head while smiling.

"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something," I heard Cap say to T'Challa as they shook hands. Bruce bowed deeply and awkwardly to him as Rhodey feigned shock at his actions.

"What are you doing?" Rhodey asks Bruce in disapproval making Bruce furrow his eyebrows at him.

"Uh, we don't do that here," T'Challa corrected cuing Bruce to shoot up and give Rhodey a look. "So how big of an assault can we expect?" He asks as we begin to walk into the administrative building.

"Uh, sir, I think you can expect quite a big assault," Bruce answers awkwardly as he tried to make it through Cap's towering figure making me shake my head at him, getting second-hand embarrassment.

"How we looking?"

"You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and..." T'Challa starts as the Kingsguard, I presume, started escorting me, Vision, and Wanda to another facility to look at Vis more closely. 

I passed Bucky who glanced at me with a somewhat guilty look as I smiled at him awkwardly. I did not hold Buck accountable for actions that were not his own but it was still weird seeing the guy who killed my adoptive grandparents thirty years ago casually walking around.

...

"Whoa. The structure is polymorphic," Shuri analyzed as she studied a hologram of Vision over her palm. I felt my systems heat up in embarrassment as she studied Vision, hoping it would impress her for some reason.

"Yeah, I reprogrammed the synapses to work collectively so his body would run smoother and the creation time would shorten," I explained, brushing a few bright blue hairs away from my face. She looked me up and down with a slight look of approval making me internally smile. Keep it cool, Hails. Keep it cool.

"Can you do it?

"Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures. It will take time, brother," she explained, turning to her brother. I stepped forward confidently but internally screaming.

"I can help, it would cut the time in half," I offered determinedly before faltering slightly. "You know, i-if you want." She smiled slightly at me, nodding, making me relax a bit before returning to my serious attitude.

"How long?" Cap asked, keeping it short and sweet.

"As long as you can give us." Suddenly, an alarm rang out from one of Okoye's beads causing her to flick a bead on her. It projects the globe with a pulsing location and I stare at it. Man, I love Wakanda.

"Something's entered the atmosphere," she announces making all of us look out the window. An alien vessel of some sort fly down to the city but is stopped by what looks like a force field all around the place, slamming into it and destroying the weird ship.

"It's too late. We need to destroy the stone now," Vision declared as he tried to get up but was stopped by me pushing him back down.

"Vision, sit your purple ass down. You are not going anywhere," I demanded making him stop struggling, knowing I was not letting him go anywhere near the aliens no matter what.

"We will hold them off," T'Challa planed, heading to the door with the guards. 

"Wanda, as soon as the stone's out of his head... you blow it to hell," Cap orders, turning to Wanda causing her to nod. 

"I will."

"Evacuate the city. Engage all defense procedures," T'Challa commanded before stopping in the middle of the door and turning to Cap, pointing at him.

"And get this man a shield."

...

"How much longer, Shuri?" I hear King T'Challa ask through Shuri's comm as we both rushed as fast as we could.

"We've barely begun, brother," she answered as we both continued to manipulate the waldo tools on both sides of the stone.

"You might want to pick up the pace." I get that we need to get this done fast but expecting it done in 3 minutes is pushing it.

As we continue to operate we hear a deep rumble come from the battlefield. I pierce my lips, concentrating on Vision and not on my friends fighting for their lives. I see Wanda move closer to the window in my peripheral vision, watching the chaos below before hopping out the window and flying down.

"Wanda wait! Do not- and she is gone," I exclaimed before realizing she could not hear me. I and Shuri looked at each other with concern before forcing ourselves to get back to work. We would have to worry about destroying the stone after we actually got the stone out of Vision's skull but for now, we just have to concentrate.

After a while, we were interrupted again by a weird thump from outside the lab making both me and Shuri lookup. It sounded almost like...a body dropping. We start quickly, half-hazardously disconnecting our equipment from Vision systems making him wake up with a start. 

When we finally finish disconnecting, another alien burst into the room. Shuri grabbed one of her weapons and turned, blasting the alien desperately when he began making his way towards us. The Dora Milaje attack it again but it sends both me and Shuri and the Dora through the balcony railing but I caught them with my force field before they hit the ground. 

I glare at the alien and was about to blast him to pieces but Vision beat me to it, who charged at him and knocked him out the window. That cannot be good.

"Guys, we got a Vision situation here," I hear through my comm. Oh really? Do you think?

"Somebody get to Vision!"

"I am already on it," I respond, flying towards where Vision was.

"I got him!"

"On my way," Wanda says through the comm. 

I fly down to the ground just as the alien kicks Vision, slamming him onto the ground. Before he could get back up, the green goblin from last time shows up and swings his hammer, and throws Vision even further away. I step in between them before he could get another hit in and threw the freaks away with a bolt of surging electricity from my body.

"Wow that was...way easier than I thought," I noted in amusement as Grape Face™️ and green goblin struggled slightly to get up. All of a sudden, Bruce appears at that sign in a hulk-sized ironman suit, pointing a hand repulser at them as Grape Face™️ got up.

"Oh no, oh no you don't. This isn't going to be like New York, pal. This suit's already kicked the crap out of the Hulk-" Bruce started but was interrupted by green goblin grabbing his right arm as Bruce grabbed his hammer while his repulser was still on, sending both of them flying. Oh, that was just sad. 

"Guys! Vision needs backup now!" Bruce exclaims into his comm as the green goblin continues to beat the shit out of him. He will be fine, right? Yeah, he is fine, totally fine. 

I fired an electric beam at grape face as he started to fight an injured Vision. He lifts his spear to pierce me but before he does I wrap a force field around it and throw it randomly. He narrows his eyes at me menacingly as I lift my hands to send him flying once more before he grabbed them harshly and throws me into a tree. Probably the fifth time today I have been knee-deep in the dirt.

And to add to my already perfect day, he found his spear. And plunged it right into my stomach. Great feeling, by the way. Heavenly.

I gasped out in pain and gripped my open wound as he aggressively pulled it out. I leaned limply on the tree trunk, groaning, and looked down at my stomach as I desperately tried to remotely fix myself. There was no blood obviously but wires were spilling slightly out like guts as electricity sparked from the inside.

WARNING: BODY DEEPLY COMPROMISED. SEEK REPAIR IMMEDIATELY 

...Thank you for that information, system. Deeply appreciated.

As I watched Vision and Grape Puke fight, I kept struggling to get up, wincing as I moved. Grape Puke grasps Vision's shoulder and uses the leverage to plunge his knife again into the chest. My eyes widened helplessly, getting up halfway before falling down once again, hissing in agony.

"I thought you were formidable, machine. But you're dying, like any man." He yanks his blade out, and Vision collapses. As he bends over him to yank the stone out he was tackled by Cap at full speed.

"Get outta here!" Cap shouts at Vision as he battles with puke face. "GO!" 

Cap continues to battle him until he finally knocked his weapon out of his hands just before he is thrown over a fallen tree and pinned, Grape Puke's hand at his throat. I noticed Grape Puke's staff on the ground and shakily picked up the weapon with my force field before shoving it in his chest aggressively. Reminder to never tell Peter about this. Ever.

Vision spots the opportunity to raise Grape Pule and hold him in a familiar attack before dropping his carcass to one side and onto the ground.

"Well, that was dark," I mumble as I shaking get up and lean into the tree for support, staring at the alien corpse. 

"I thought I told you to go," Cap says looking at Vision. Guess I am just chopped liver now.

"We don't trade lives, Captain," Vision answered without skipping a beat, throwing his words back at him.

"And we are all incredibly injured and would not go far even if we tried but what do I know? I just, you know, know literally everything," I reasoned casually as they both ignored my amazing arguments. So rude.

Wanda lands next to Vision after finally locating us in concern. "Are you okay?" She asks him just before he flinches in pain. I feel something coming as the wind picks up and strong energy comes from the atmosphere making my body buzz with horror. I whip my head up making everyone look at me and I look at Vision with horror at what is about to come. We both share a look of understanding and my eyes widen in fear."What? What is it?" She asks with worry at both our faces.

"He's here," Vision uttered and everyone shared our look of horror.

"Everyone, on my position. We have incoming," Cap announced to the com just as Nat, Sam, Okoye, and T'Challa joined us. 

"What the hell?" Nat said as we stared at the blue and black clouds forming ahead of us before Thanos stepped through the mini storm in the middle of the forest. 

"Cap. That's him." No shit.

"Eyes up. Stay sharp." Yeah, no shit.

Bruce runs up to Thanos fist-first but was tossed aside using the space stone, making him immaterial until he was half-buried in the stone of the cliff beside them. Cap gets sent back as purple energy enveloped him. T'Challa leaps above, preparing to claw his face in but was grabbed by the throat with ease and punched to the ground. Sam stoops to Thanos and fires both his Steyr pistols but fell when his wings failed. I stared helplessly next to Wanda and Vision, knowing what had to be done all because I was not fast enough.

"Wanda. It's time," Vision said defeated as he held her hand but she turned back to face Thanos. He is my brother and now he is dying. Because of me.

"No," she refused lowly but Vision grabbed her hand again making her look at him.

"They can't stop him, Wanda, but we can. Look at me. You have the power to destroy the stone," Vision reasoned as he lifted her hand to his cheek.

"Don't."

"You must do it. Wanda, please. We...are...out of time," he argued desperately.

"I can't."

"Yes, you can. You can. If he gets the stone, half the universe dies."

"I-"

"It's not fair. It shouldn't be you, but it is. It's all right. You could never hurt me...I just...feel you." I stared as my throat started to close up, walking forward toward the fight as the last defense for them. I looked away selfishly and felt electricity run through my body and wires, enveloping me in energy as I let my emotions take hold of me, maybe for the last time.

The last defense before me, Cap, went down with one hit from Thanos making my body buzz with fear and anticipation. If felt like a presentation in school with a strict teacher except instead of an F if you fail it is death. Fun.

As he walked forward unopposed, I shot a beam of uncontrolled blue energy and electricity, possibly everything I had. A look of astonishment flashed ever so briefly across his face as his body slowing even with the blueish-purple energy field surrounding him and I pushed him back. It was a small distance but still he gave me a spark of hope. My body groaned and crackled as I felt like I was about to burst, pain shooting up my arms.

And as I glanced back to see the mind stone starting to crack so did...well...everything in me.

I gasped in pure, mindless agony, faltering only for a few seconds but gave Thanos an in. He took only a few steps before getting to me, grabbing me by the neck as I heard Vision mutter his last words.

"Impressive. For a mere machine," Thanos stated lowly as I choked in pain at his grasp. He glanced at my wounded stomach with wires seeping out and dug through it. He pulled out and inspected the tiny black box that came out my chest, my pulsing system that ran my entire body in his hands with dark curiosity. I stared in horror at the thing that kept me alive was now in his hands and I choked back a gasp. He looked into my cybernetic eyes.

And crushed it. 

He crushed my heart.

I was thrown down to the ground and the last thing I saw was Vision and the mind stone explode before Thanos walked forward an-

Body shutting down...

Please wait...

Goodnight, H.A.I.L.E.Y. Stark.

Chapter Text

Systems reopening...

Processing all accessible information...

Please wait...

Good morning, H.A.I.L.E.Y. Stark.

Usually I would wake up with a start and jolt forward but unlike the usual situation, I had a lot of information I needed to process and gain through the internet. I analyzed all the articles, books, videos, and anything else that had been published since the last time I was activated like usual. Except the difference was that was five years ago. 

Five years.

And then I jolted awake. 

When my eyes opened I was greeted with a cluttered room, similar to father's workstation but...different. I looked around to see a shocked Pepper with a purple Iron suit on and tears in her eyes, rushing to take off the wires connected to the back of my neck and a random sorcerer. I looked down at my body, expecting a giant hole where my 'heart' would be but it was repaired, an obviously rushed job. 

I blinked, taking in everything around me like a newborn. I stepped off the charging station I was on and looked at it, noticing my reflection across the metal. I looked older, probably 18 but still mentally 16. My synthetic skin was shaped to make me look older, a bit different since I was stuck looking barely 15 before. I was astonished.

"Come on, it's been five years. They need us," the sorcerer said vaguely but I somehow understood through the various emotions I was taking in. He did a complicated hand gesture and out-popped a portal. I looked at Pepper with a iron mask in hand in astonishment.

"I missed a lot," I stated, not as a question but an obvious exclamation. She smiled and hugged me quickly but caringly, surprising me for a moment before hugging her back.

"Good to have you back," she whispered making me smile slightly. We separated, knowing we had to wait for a tearful reunion later and flew out the portal with me doing the stereotypical superhero landing like usual with Pepper. I tapped my chest twice where my super suit awaited me, swallowing me in nano-particles as I looked up seriously to see a wrecked battlefield.

It is a good thing we moved upstate.

I glanced behind me to see potentially hundreds of portals filled with hero's and looked ahead of me to see thousands upon thousands of aliens with Thanos. My breath hitched at the sight but continued to stare ahead in determination. This is going to be real ugly.

"Is that everyone?" I heard Dr. Strange ask Wong as spells were ready to be fired on both their hands.

"What, you wanted more?" Wong replied in disbelief as all of us got into our battle positions including Scott who popped out of nowhere in his huge form.

I swear to god, if I die twice I am going to be so mad.

"AVENGERS!" Steve calls out as he stuck his hand out towards the sky, summoning Mjolnir like it belonged there. "Assemble," he ordered like he had a thousand times before though it was different at the same time. Thor roared and the Wakanda army did the same.

As people made their battle cries, we all charged furiously at Thanos's army. He pointing his weapon at us silently making the alien freak circus run at us too in a climatic charge. As our forces met we immediately started attacking any alien that came close to us. I barbecued 10 below me as I flew above the army alongside Pepper and father, zapping any that came close to me or any avengers. Yay...family bonding time?

After a while of beating up aliens, I spotted father getting his ass handed to him by green goblin. I shocked him making him turn to me and glare before heading towards me instead. Spidey pulled him away with his webs and got squashed by Ant-Man stepping on him.

"Hey! Holy cow! You will not believe what's been going on. Do you remember when we were in space? And I got all dusty? I must've passed out, Because I woke up, and you were gone. But Doctor Strange was there, right? He was like, "It's been five years. Come on, they need us." And then he started doing the yellow sparkly thing that he does all the time-" Spidey rambled as he jumped in front of father.

"He did? Oh, God," father said before hugging him, surprising both me and Spidey.

"What are you doing?" Spidey asks confused before hugging back. "Oh, this is nice."

"Uh...not that this is not a quite beautiful and a tearjerker of a reunion but there is a war going on so..." I called out as I nonchalantly blast a Chitauri that was running towards me. They both turned to look at me, father with astonishment in his eyes and Peter with relief.

"I would hug both of you but that can wait until after all of these assholes are dead."

...

As I smashed through another huge alien I spotted Spidey being carried by Pepper through the air with the stones and gauntlet in his hands. I flew up and she dropped him off with me as I held onto his arm with both my hands while his other arm cradled the gauntlet, zooming it away from Thanos.

"Hey, darling. It has been a while," I mused as I got deja-vu in this position. 

"Hailey! Oh my god wha-AH!" Spidey started but was interrupted by a blast hitting both of us and knocking us out of the sky. Before we hit the ground, I grabbed Spidey just in time and floated us to the ground. I whipped my head up to see the armies ship blast at the ground blindly without bias. I covered us in a force field, grunting in discomfort every time a blast slammed onto it. 

"What the hell!?" I exclaimed, furrowing my eyebrows at the sky in disbelief they were firing at their allies as well as their enemies. Suddenly, the ships cannons stopped making me hesitantly release my field only to see the cannons shoot at the sky. Something is coming.

"What the hell is this?" I heard Sam question in my comm.

"Hailey, what are we looking at?"

"Something entered the upper atmosphere, something really strange," I answered in confusion making Peter look up at me in disbelief as he clutched the gauntlet desperately. I narrowed my eyes up at the sky as I saw a bright light surrounding a figure burst through the clouds. They slashed through the ship causing it to explode in a fiery blast and fall into the lake as the figure watched it from above. I gaped at the scene with my mouth open. I definitely missed a lot because apparently the others were not as surprised as me or Peter.

"Oh, yeah!"

"Danvers, we need an assist here," I heard through my comm causing 'Danvers' to land near Peter who was still on the ground, hugging the gauntlet like a teddy bear. I blinked, shaking my head subconsciously to move on and stop staring like a creep. 

"Hi. I'm– Peter Parker," Peter greets awkwardly from the floor as we both wave stiffly.

"Hey, Peter Parker. You got something for me?" He gets up shaking but quickly and passes the gauntlet to her, looking at the brand new wave of aliens charging at us or rather the gauntlet.

"I don't know how you're gonna get it through all that," he wondered in disbelief at the number of armies. I glanced at wrecked the ship and grabbed my retractable staff from my jacket pocket. I knew it would be useful I just did not know how long it would take to need it.

"I have an idea on how," I offered, readying to fight as Wanda arrives besides us with Valkyrie flying in on her Pegasus.

(Was this a cheap and proformative empowerment scene so that Marvel can say their feminist? Yes. Yes it was. Was it still cool? Yes. Yes it was. I take no criticism.)

"Don't worry," Wanda said walking forward with Okoye.

"She's got help." 

Pepper lands next to me and Okoye, followed by Mantis, Shuri, the Wasp, Gamora and Nebula, I think their names are. Thanos' army charges as we help Danvers go through the Outriders, Sakaarans and Chitauri. Danvers flies towards the can that host the Quantum Tunnel with the gauntlet in hand. Pepper, the Wasp, Shuri and I blast Thanos all together making him fall backwards so he could not stop her. Thanos, after seeing Danvers fly past him, throws his double sword at the van, destroying it and the quantum realm tunnel. Danvers got thrown backwards from it and lost her grip on the Gauntlet causing it to fall to the ground. 

Before I could slaughter Grape Face, Outriders mindlessly charge at me. One leapt at me face first making me slam my staff into its body. Of course, that only made it madder and hiss at me which will forever haunt my nightmares. I defended myself decently until more and more came quicker than I could pick off. They started basically piling on top of me and each other getting me more and more irritated. I yelled out in frustration, trying to use my staff to lift myself up in the air but failed miserably. I felt electricity pulse through my body until it finally pent up enough to expel, frying them like chicken. 

Unfortunately, that did not get rid of their bodies making me have to crawl out of the body pile only to be greeted by a group of Chitauri as soon as I got the chance to breathe. Goddamnit. 

I rolled to the right as they shot at me and jumped right back up, getting into a battle stance. I dodged their shots and blasted them as my power became stronger the more I got angry. Thank you, emotionally connected powers.

Soon, more came at me with no hesitation as I got slower and they seemed to get faster. As another wave came at me I gasped in exasperation and wearily lifted my hands. One leapt at me, almost flying towards me but as soon as it came to me it...disappeared. Dust flew around me as I whipped my head to see the rest of The Black Order turn to dust and fly through the air and away. My eyes widened in surprise and looked at everyone who seemed happy at this. 

Does this mean...we won?

I jog to where Thanos used to be but only saw dust, feeling relief go through my body as euphoria took over. That was until I turned my head and saw Pepper kneeling next to a pile of rubble as Rhodey and Peter stand next to her with tears in their eyes. 

"Dad?"

Chapter Text

"This is ridiculous."

"Why?"

"Why?!" I exclaimed in disbelief at the calm woman in front of me, Dr. Reese. "Because I don't have a brain!" I hissed in disbelief before wincing at another use of a contraction in my sentence.

"But you do feel emotions?"

"Well yes, obviously!"

"And pain?"

"Obviously," I gritted my teeth.

"Then having proper mental support and help is not 'ridiculous,'" She reasoned calmly making me sigh, leaning onto the cushioned sofa underneath me as I narrowed my eyes at her. "Do you know why you're here?"

"I know everything," I stated coldly, knowing full well Pepper insisted I visit fathers old therapist before...well...

"So you do know?"

"Yes," I hissed stiffly.

"What is your relation with Pepper Potts?"

"She's- she is my step-mom...or I guess adoptive mother. Depends how you decide to look at it."

"How do you look at it?"

"Mother, I guess."

"You guess?"

"My mother! She is my mother," I snapped back. She stared at me before writing something down in her notes. "Seriously?"

"You seem to be reluctant on using contractions in your sentences," she noted, ignoring my comment. "Why is that?"

"It- It is weird."

"Why?"

"Because it is new."

"New things are weird to you?"

"No. I just...am not used to it."

"But why are you so aggravated by it? It shows you've experienced emotion and physical growth."

"I'm not-!" I started but stopped when I glitched and exploded a nearby light bulb from a lamp. "I will pay for that," I said quickly.

"Don't worry about it," she replied calmly as she wrote another thing in her notes. "You seem to be experiencing your glitches again."

"Thanks. You're worst than my system," I glared at her as she raised her head curiously at me.

"Your system?"

"It is a system in my microprocessor that analyzes my body and tells me what is wrong or what is happening in or around me. Usually things that are completely obvious." She nods nonchalantly and writes something else in her notes.

"When was the last time you glitched before the war?"

"...A few weeks."

"And how much have you glitched since?"

"...A bit more," I answered stiffly making her glance at me for a second before nodding, not pushing it.

"Do you know why you've been glitching more?"

"No."

"I thought you said you knew everything?"

"I lie. It is a thing people do, you'v- you have  heard of it?"

"Dodging the question isn't helping either of us, Hailey. Do you know why you've been glitching?"

"Don't you?" I answered with a question rather than an answer as it was obvious.

"I have a theory. But it's important to know what you think."

"Is it?"

"Yes, actually. After all, this is therapy. You've heard of it?" I stared at her for a minute.

"My emotions are tied to my glitches, it is the entire reason why I glitch in the first place. Obviously I had them under control but this...new body is difficult to get used to."

"You're mourning and your body is feeling that grief which is completely natural," she reassured, pausing for a moment. "You lost a lot of people, Hailey. And at such a young age. You were forced to be an adult when...you were just created. You went through multiple wars, had to fight aliens and watch your father die twice at seven years old, you were kidnapped by a cyborg your own father created, and you have a family tree more convoluted than anything I have ever seen before. And that's not even half of what you've gone through. I'm shocked it's taken your body this long to react this way."

"I wasn't treated like an adult-"

"No you weren't. You were treated like a machine."

"Because I am."

"No you're a teenager who was emotionally and physically neglected throughout your entire life by everyone around you. And you know that, deep down." I looked up at her in disbelief.

"Emotionally neglected? Are you kidding me?"

"You think mental support is ridiculous because of how many times you were told you didn't have the tools necessary to be fully emotionally aware but you are. You were only given the minimal mental support, care, and love any child would need for a year or two before the blip." I scoffed at the name people called the snap. 'The Blip.' Who decided on that name? "And before that? Nothing."

"And now you will never get that closure of confronting any of those people. And you know this. But you can't seek closure because you think any type of "nonproductive" activity you deem is that is useless. When in reality, doing things for you is the opposite of that."

"Well what do you want me to do then?! Nat is dead. My dad, my father, is dead. Vision is dead. Wanda vanished from the face of the earth, Thor is off planet, Clint is off enjoying time with his family, Bruce is...I honestly don't know what or where he is. And Sam and Bucky are off being gay with each other somewhere else. Oh yeah and I almost forgot about Cap who consciously chose to go back in time to the most segregated part of history for a woman he kissed once and knew for two months instead of staying here! And I can't talk to Pepper and be "emotionally supported" because she is mourning as much as I am while also having a real daughter to take care of!" I ranted, getting louder and louder until I was yelling as she stared calmly.

"And it's not fair! None of this is fair! My father is praised for being a hero and... I should be proud he changed! Why aren't I proud? Why aren't I prouder to have a little sister and a mom now? Why do I feel so...so angry all the time?!" I huffed, exasperated as Dr. Reese continued to calmly look at me.

"Because you never got that father before," she stated simply making me look up at her. "I see it in a lot of children when they see their parents improve later on in life. You feel upset you never got that life with your father, that you never got that childhood. You weren't allowed to live your life normally and you resent your family for that. But what's important is that you don't let that resentment ruin something you may get in the present. But that all depends on you and what you want," she reasoned calmly making me sigh.

"This is very convoluted," I noted, gesturing to everything.

"All feelings are. The goal is to try to understand them, not simplify them."

"Simplifying sounds so lovely right about now."

"Let's start with something simple. What's going on in your life right now?"

"Uh, well I am moving my stuff from storage to Peppers house. I'm getting to know Morgan, my sister who keeps making me go to her tea parties with her stuffed animals so moving in has taken a little longer than expected," I laughed softly. "Me and uh...this completely confidential right?"

"Yes, whatever we talk about stays in this room. Unless, of course, you're planning on hurting yourself or others."

"...Does hurting others include criminals because there might be an issue there?"

"I guess not, no."

"Okay well me and my partner, Peter, have been spending a lot of time together. Trauma bonding, mourning, you know, regular teenage things," I joked darkly. 

"What do you guys do during your 'trauma bonding,' as you put it?"

"Talk mostly. Comfort each other, maybe beat up  some criminals if we spot something. We are trying to catch up after the five years we missed," I laughed quietly. 

"That's good, that's good. So I assume Peter is also a superhero like you?"

"Yeah, we'r- we are a team with our friend Ned."

"Ned?"

"He's a normie but he is our 'guy in the chair,'" I answered, putting up air quotes with my fingers causing her to look up from her notepad.

"Guy in the chair?" She asked, amused at the title.

"He weaseled into the job when we had to take down a weapons dealer and Peter had to get the coordinates of the head boss. It was a whole ordeal," I explained, smiling weakly at the memory of Ned having detention for a month for allegedly watching porn during homecoming.

"What happened?"

"It is a long story but Peter and I got stuck with each other because of my...father actually. I got stuck with babysitting him and got transferred to Midtown high after begging my father to let me go to school. We realized there was this huge weapons cartel soon after and started working towards catching them until we found out where they were going to be next. Let me just say we messed up bad and Peter had his suit taken away while I got grounded and wasn- was not allowed to leave Avengers tower including going to school. I was trapped in that damn tower for months until I heard Peter was in trouble and snuck out. We fought the head of the cartel and followed him on a jet he was planning on stealing from. And then the jet crashed, we fought, the dealer, who turned out to be one of our peers dads, suit exploded, Peter ran into literal fire to save him and he got sent to jail," I summed up. Dr. Reese stared at me for a moment before snapping out of it.

"You... first of all, your father didn't allow you to learn and grow as a person for 15 years?"

"Yeah, you see why I have daddy issues now? My father literally used the one thing I wanted and only did that to serve himself and then took it away when I didn't do what he wanted. He literally Rapunzeled me, doc."

"How are you feeling with his picture everywhere? It must be hard for you, to see him everywhere."

"Seething rage, that is what I have been feeling."

Third Person POV

"Peter? Where are you? You were supposed to land five minutes ago! Please tell me you did not land in the Pacific Ocean or something? Call me back if you have not drowned yet."

Beep

"Peter, tell me you are not at that ship, please. You canno- you cannot be on that damn ship. Peter, I swear to god, if you are on that ship I am flying up there myself and ripping out your spine so I can throttle you with it. If you suddenly and miraculously come across wifi in the ocean or space or wherever the fuck you are, call me so I can scream at you. Bye, do not die."

Beep

"Peter, you are fucking idiot, I hate your fucking guts. I cannot believe you are- no actually I can believe it seeing as how you are a moron. Why did you not...why did you have to follow my dumbass father into that ship? Why did you not listen to me? I... just please...come back?"

Beep 

"Apparently we are going to Wakanda so I can steal back Visions stone in is forehead. Um... I do not know where you are right now...probably in another galaxy. But just in case this plan goes to shit... I love you. So much. And I am so fucking scared right now because for the first time in my life I have no idea what is going to happen but as long as your safe, it will fine. Make sure I am buried in one of those cute biodegradable wicket caskets. Bye."

Beep

And then there was silence on Peters phone as he stared at it in shock. After everything that happened, he didn't have time to check his phone because, you know, he had to fight in a casual war to determine the fate of half the universe. And then go to another one of his father-figures funerals. Fun times.

He did not expect much but instead got four voicemails of Hailey threatening him and calling him a "fucking idiot" while crying or trying not to cry but failing horribly.

When he was on the ship, it didn't even cross his mind what he had done, especially to Hailey who had to watch her partner and father get on an alien ship and fly into space.

"Hey Peter, May let me in. I was wonderin- oh!" Hailey greeted, entering through his door for possibly the first time, conveniently, but was interrupted by Peter who hugged her caringly. "Uh...hey- hi...hello?" She greeted again hesitantly but more so like a question than a statement

"You ok...?" She asked hesitantly as she slowly accepted the hug, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Never better."

"O...kay? Weirdo. Anyway I was wondering if you wanted to go to the movies, there is this really cool alien movies out. I was at Dr. Reese's and  being sad feels meaningless and dumb right now because ew, tears, so an alien movie is probably good right now," Hailey reasoned making Peter smile softly at her as they both pulled away and she fixed her skewed Stark glasses on the bridge of her nose that moved from the hug. She noticed his eyes were slightly red but didn't say anything, knowing if he really needed to talk he would talk to her at his own pace. 

"Sounds perfect. I love alien movies and-"

"I love making fun of them. Exactly! So hurry up and come on!" Hailey exclaimed, pulling him with her and suddenly Peter felt a little better.

And maybe they'll be okay.

Chapter Text

"No, no, no, nope-ity nope!"

"Hailey it's just charity banquet!"

"Screw charity, I am not going!" I called back from the other side of the room. Pepper looked at me with one of the stereotypical mom looks but I just pierced my lips stubbornly.

"Hailey."

"Don- do not 'Hailey' me. I invented the 'Hailey,'" I argued as I crossed my arms.

"Please? It won't be that bad you just have to stand there, look pretty, and wave. Plus we're going to have to do this eventually if you ever want to be a public figure of this company," Pepper reasoned softly as we stared each other down.

"Why can I just be an invisible figure to this company? Like you used to be," I asked, gesturing to her causing her to place a hand on her hip, offended. "No offense," I added quickly.

"Offense taken."

"Well...if it is a charity banquet would I not have to eat? I mean sure, humans are dumb but they are not that dumb to not notice me refusing to eat," I paused again as she gave another look. "No offense again."

"And again, offense taken. But yeah, a lot of the people who are going to be there aren't... the brightest. All you would have to do is pick at your food and move it around to make it look like you ate something."

"You are making it sound like I am hiding an eating disorder, my god," I huffed as I pinched the bridge of nose at the idea I might be contemplating going to this thing.

"So you'll do it?" I looked up at her and stared for a moment before groaning.

"Fine!" I caved in, throwing my hands up in defeat making her smile in victory.

"What are you talking about?" Morgan asked curiously as she peeked out from the doorway, looking up at me.

"Nothing, you're sister is just being dramatic again." I placed my hand on my heart in mock offense and gasped dramatically making Morgan giggle.

"And mother is just being a pain in the a-" I started as I scooped Morgan up in my arms but was cut off my Pepper.

"Hailey!"

"I was going to say asset, geez!" I defended, rolling my eyes causing Morgan to mimic me. "You have so little faith in me."

"Can you blame me?" She questioned making me open my mouth but close it after a pause. It was Peppers turn to roll her eyes at me as she scooped Morgan out of my arms and into hers making both of us pout. "And remember, the dress code is formal so where something nice."

"Yeah, yeah I know, I know," I sighed, rolling my eyes before wincing slightly, lifting my hand to my temple. The buzz in my head had gotten suddenly louder, feeling like it was banging repeatedly against my temple. 

It had been there since I woke up from my five year coma, like a light buzz from a fridge you never notice until you get a new one and look back at the memory of it. At the funeral it made its way to buzz to static and now transformed into this.

"Hailey? You alright?" I heard Pepper say through the buzz causing me to shake my head out of the sound and concentrate.

"Yeah, obviously it's- uh it is just my annoying system again," I lied, laughing it off with ease. She nodded, still concerned but brushed it off when I did.

"Alright...but remember-"

"Wear something formal. I know!" I laughed genuinely at her stereotypical motherly nagging.

"You know I literally cannot forget."

...

"I said nice."

"What are you talking about? This is nice," I hissed at her from across the small table as I gestured to my white fancy button-up, black pencil skirt, and neat blue business jacket. I still wore my blue-tinted Stark glasses and put my bright blue hair in a neat bun instead of my usual ponytail with two locks of hair perfectly framing my face.

"You look like a librarian!"

"It was either librarian or 70 year old business man that avoids his taxes!" I whisper-yelled while clapping subconsciously as the person speaking on stage finally shut up. Pepper started clapping late with everyone else, turning away from me and towards the stage to fake smile and look like she was paying attention. She whipped her head to me the second the man left the stage.

"What do you mean? You have nice clothes!" She questioned in disbelief at me as I gave her an 'are-you-serious' death stare.

"Yeah, Pepper. Nice clothes for meetings and working not for freaking balls!"

"You have nice clothes, I know you do! You said you had dresses to me one time!"

"Pepper, those dresses were from dad and if I wore them here I would really look like librarian but who also worked part-time as a crazy cat lady," I explained making her open her mouth and close just as quickly. "Exactly."

"And for our next and final speaker, the one and only, Pepper Potts!" We heard over the speaker cuing Pepper to stand up, plastering a smile on her face as I and everyone else clapped generously. She walked over and climbed the stairs to the mic, looking over the room with confidence.

"Thank you and thank you all for coming out! After...all that has happened these past years we could use all the support we can get to help the recovery of this...uh, eventful year. I would really like to thank Miss Hailey Martin who was recently promoted to the finance department. She has especially helped Stark Industries grow and expand and who has personally supported me in this dark time," she said into the microphone. Pepper gestured to me, cuing everyone to clap together and look over to me making me smile and wave loosely. 

The large camera that was pointed at the stage turned to me for a moment making my systems heat up but I ignored my embarrassment and anxiety like usual. No sense in worrying about nothing.

"I encourage you all to donate to the fund to help the people misplaced by the blip. Thank you again and goodnight!" Pepper finished cuing everyone to clap for the final time as she walked off the stage and back to our table.

"See? That wasn't so hard, now was it?"

"For you, maybe."

...

As I walked toward the entrance to school like usual, something felt off. 

"Did you hear?"

"Oh my god, yeah. I always thought she was lying about the internship..."

"Do you think she ever met Iron man?"

"There is no way..."

"I can't believe she knows Pepper Potts!"

I regret everything and all my life choices that have lead to right here and right now.

I kept my head low as everyone started to look at me, walking to my locker only to met with Ned and Peter.

"Why didn't you tell us you were going to a ball?!" Ned exclaimed causing more people to turn their heads to us.

"Shhh!" Peter and I hissed as I opened my locker to hide my face from everyone and everything.

"It's not like not everyone knows about it!" Ned defended making me groan dramatically. I knew this would happen but I listened to Pepper it stead of my gut. Never again, Pepper. Never again!

"Pepper dragged me to it, alright? I did not know it was going to be this big of a deal!"

"'Not that big of a deal'? Hails, you basically screamed to the world 'I know Pepper Potts, ceo to one of the biggest businesses in the world!'" Peter argued in disbelief making me open my mouth in defense but closed it.

"To be fair....co-ceo," I defended. "And how was I supposed to know there was going to be a camera there?" I looked around at all the staring eyes making me shove me head further in my locker. "How does everyone know I was there anyway? Everyone could not have been watching the morning news at the same time. And also what kind of teenager watches the morning news?"

"Dude it's all over the internet about Pepper Potts promoting a 16 year old into her company! You're famous," Ned laughed only to be elbowed sharply by a glaring Peter. "Sorry. Very unfortunate. Incredibly sad," Ned backtracked right before the bell rung, signaling first period to begin. We separated for our classes, Ned going one way and Peter and I going the other way.

"You do not think people are going to get suspicious of me, right? I mean with this and my sudden blip 'growth spurt,' is it not going to be a bit conspicuous?" I asked Peter with concern as we walked the hallway with people still side eyeing me. He thought for a moment.

"Well, like you always say... "humans are idiots." It definitely looks off but you go to a 'nerd school' so getting a job at a tech company isn't the weirdest thing to happen," he reasoned thoughtfully, throwing me a comforting smile. I nodded, relaxing slightly but still worrying if this will lead to something bad in the future. Suddenly, I got an idea that will definitely make me feel better.

"Speaking of idiots, you think we could get in some bragging points with Flash using my new job?"

"This is why I love you."

Chapter Text

What am I doing here again?

My head feels weird. Not bad. But weird.

Something about helping people?

Something about helping...Wanda and Vision?

Oh right, now I remember.

I stepped through the doorway of my brothers and sister-in-laws home, entering it without even a knock.

"Well geez, don't your little munchkins have some vocal cords! I could hear them from half a mile away but at least they helped me find your house better than last time," I laughed cheerfully as I referred to my last visit like an inside joke. Except I didn't get the joke. Didn't they just moved? No, no they've been here for at least nine months since they had kids. Right? I don't really remember.

"Hailey! Oh my goodness, I did not expect you to come popping up! Why are you here?" Wanda asked as she looked like she was about to...use magic over the babies cradles?

"Well I couldn't just miss my nephews birth! But it sounds like I was too late!" I joked causing the crowd to laugh enthusiastically. Wait, crowd? "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Wanda asked innocently making me furrow my eyebrows but before I could think for any longer my brother joined us with binkies in his ears. 

"That is not where those go!" Wanda scolds jokingly as Vision pulls out the binkies, staring at me.

"Hailey?"

"Hey, little bro. Long time, no see," I greet, grinning but he just looks shocked.

"Why are you here?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that? Does an aunt need an excuse to see her adorable and loud nephews? And speaking of loud," I start, plucking the binkies out of Visions hands and stuck them in the babies mouthed, silencing them.

"Ooh..." Wanda whispered making my grin widen and Wanda and Vision look at me, impressed.

"Already the greatest aunt in the world!" I bragged quietly looking at my sleeping nephews.

"Look, I think it's..." As if on cue, the kids's binkies pop out of their mouth and they continue to wail.

"Geez Louise! Tough crowd..." I muttered. Geez Louise? What am I, fifty?

"Vis?" Wanda asked causing Vision to hum in reply.

"What are we doing wrong?"

"Oh, don't worry, dear. We'll figure it out. Perhaps we all need more time to get to know one another." As they talked I leaned over the wailing cradles and moved my hand over them with tiny sparks spitting out from my fingers, like fireworks, making the twins go silence in awe. They giggled, watching the blue electricity pop and crackle in the air as I felt Wanda and Vision watch me.

"Or maybe we just need some help," Wanda said as she looked at me.

"How did you do that?" Vis asked in disbelief looking at his giggling sons.

"Humans are so easy to distract, I thought tiny slobbering humans would be easier! And I was right like usual," I laughed causing the crowd of people to laugh again making my eyebrows furrow again. "You seriously can't hear that?"

"Hear what?" Vis asked with concern, staring at me as I stared back at him. I opened my mouth, thinking but closed it when I looked at Wanda. Something's wrong. This isn't right.

"Oh never mind! You know me, always paranoid!" I laughed it off with ease, creating another spark above the cradles without looking and heard...nothing. We all looked confused and looked over at the cradles but they were empty. We looked around in confusion.

"Mommy? Daddy?" We looked over to were we heard the sound, finding the twins standing in front of the stairs but different. They looked around 5 or 6.

"Huh?" Vision said confused as Wanda gasped and I stood trying to understand how the hell they did that.

"Well, hi!" Vision greeted quietly, getting over his kids growth spurt rather quickly.

"Hi!" The kids ran up to their parents, hugging them as I stared at the touching reunion. 

This is weird.

Third person POV aka my dear hilarious narrator will take over for me

"Morning. We are now assessing a clearer picture of this crisis. And thanks to Captain Rambeau, we now have first-person intel from inside the Westview Anomaly. Our initial theory had Wanda Maximoff as one of many victims. We now know she is the principal victimizer and has taken a new hostage, her own friend Hailey Stark aka Circuit. Jimmy," Hayward summed up to the group of adults before gesturing to Jimmy.

"Quick history on our subject. Born in Sokovia in 1989 to Irina and Oleg Maximoff, both killed during an air raid when Maximoff and her twin brother, Pietro, were ten," Jimmy informed before Hayward jumped in.

"The twins were subsequently radicalized, volunteering at HYDRA," Hayward simplified which was definitely for painting Wanda as Satan because he's a biased Dickward.

"It's an oversimplification of events, but, yes," Jimmy confirmed causing Hayward to look at him, way too offended for a simple comment.

"After unspecified experimentation with the Mind Stone, Maximoff gained telekinetic and telepathic abilities."

"Back up, Jimmy. Does Maximoff have an alias?"

"No, sir."

"No funny nickname?"

"Not a one."

"And earliest tracking had her using her powers against the Avengers. Is that correct?" Bro, you're not even trying to look unbiased at this point and it is painfully embarrassing.

"Right before she earned their trust and became one herself, befriending Circuit."

"Lagos and Germany, we all know how that turned out. Thanks, Jimmy. Now that we have the lay of the land, let's talk about strategy. It is the policy..." Jimmy walked back to his previous spot next to Darcy, annoyed slightly.

"I try not to speak ill of people..." Jimmy trailed off, trying to find the worst word to describe Hayward while still being kid friendly.

"Then allow me. Hayward's a-"

"-terrorists," Hayward finished which thank god because his voice is nails on a chalkboard in hell.

"Wanda's not a terrorist," Monica, the goddess of my heart, defended.

"By your own account, you described the experience of being under her mind-control as "excruciating, terrifying, a violation."" Out of context! Videos popped up on the screens around them from when Monica was in WandaVision as Hayward spoke. Which could've caused Monica to have an anxiety attack or PTSD but what do I know I'm just the narrator that knows everything. Anyway, f-ck Dickward, stan Monica, Darcy, and Jimmy. They're the true dream team. Oh yeah, anyways...

"My point is, I don't believe she has a political agenda or any inclination toward destruction," Monica argued, completely right. Yeah Wanda's definitely a kidnapper but she isn't a terrorist, you dumbass.

"Monica, she blasted you halfway across New Jersey," Hayward reminded condescendingly. That still doesn't prove she's a terrorist, that just proves she's a #girlboss. Gaslight, gate-keep, girlboss.

"And I survived because she chose to protect me," Monica argued, getting more and more irritated. Okay Monica, I love you but she just chose not to kill you she didn't really protect yo- I mean yeah Wanda protected you because she's amazing and generous, obviously.

"She's holding thousands of people hostage," Hayward reminded even more condescendingly than last time. THAT STILL DOESN'T PROVE SHE'S A TERRORIST. She's a kidnapper but that doesn't mean she has a political agenda or stands to gain any political influence! Are you deaf?!

"And it could have been thousands more if she hadn't put up her own quarantine. Listen, I don't believe this is a premeditated act of aggression." Marry me.

"You don't? Bring up the visual," Hayward commanded making a video pop up on his screens. "This morning, I received authorization to share this highly-sensitive material from S.W.O.R.D. headquarters. Until very recently, it was the top-secret location of the Vision's corpse." Why did you have his corpse-? 

The video displayed showed Wanda aggressively breaking into the headquarters, or so it seemed, and breaking a glass window to Visions corpse. The video is disrupted and ends with Wanda next to his body which was cut up and being decommissioned for the vibranium. If I saw my loved ones corpse on a metal bed being cut up for their body parts, I'd be pretty aggravated too. Aka I would murder all of them in the room with no mercy.

"When was this?" Monica questioned as she watched the video in disbelief.

"Nine days ago. Maximoff stormed our facility, stole the Vision's body, and resurrected him." She has the mind stone and can do that? Well okay then.

"But that's in direct violation of Section 36 B of the Sokovia Accords," Jimmy noted, staring at the video. There's a rule about stealing and resurrecting Vision? There's seriously a specific rule for this scenario??

"And the Vision's own living will," Hayward informed a little too smugly. I'm pretty sure being chopped up in pieces in front of his girlfriend is also against his living will but you obviously don't care so whatever.

"He didn't want to be anybody's weapon." He's not...being...used....as a weapon though? He's a suburban dad?

"Maximoff, in her grief, disregarded his wishes. All right, that's it for now. Let's work the problem, people. Dismissed." But-but he isn't being used as a weapon? I...I don't know what any of you are talking about?

"But how did she even do it? Bring him back without the Mind Stone?" She's a powerful badass, that's how.

"Who knows? But she has the world's only vibranium synthezoids playing Father-Knows-Best-In-Suburbia and Favorite Auntie. What happens when they learn the truth?" Wait, is Hailey a synthezoid? She could fit the criteria but everyone including herself calls her an android so who knows? Oh yeah, I do. But I won't tell you. 

Until next time, on Dragonball Z or whatever this book is about!

So when am I getting paid? 

I'm not? Why? 

Because I'm just words on a screen being typed by a weird teenager who is acting like she's a different person? 

Damnit.

Chapter Text

"Hey, guys! I was wondering- uh...whatcha doing?" I questioned the twins suspiciously as I saw them standing over the kitchen sink before whipping around to me and barricading the sink with their bodies. 

"Nothing!" They defended in unison making me narrow my eyes at them.

"Uh-huh...so two young boys are in the kitchen next to the sink doing nothing...sounds completely normal! But wouldn't you guys more enjoy doing something over nothing?" I asked politely, slowly walking towards them nonchalantly.

"No! We're, we're good!" The twins exclaimed again in unison.

"Hmm-hmm, yeah totally. I mean why wouldn't you b- oops!" I started but pretended to accidentally move my hand, creating a force field in between them and pushed them out the way. "Gosh, you guys are terrible liars," I scolded as I got to the sink only to be greeted with a wet barking dog jumping onto me. I yelled out in surprise, catching the soaking wet dog as he hopped onto my chest with his tail wagging excitedly.

"Well, this sure is a hairy plate," I joked, hearing the crowd of invisible people laugh again making me whip my head around before giving up.

"Don't tell mom! Please...?" Timmy begged causing Billy to do the same.

"Boys, we have to. A dog is a living creature who has needs and you two sneaking to get them is not going to last long. It's not good for anyone," I explained making them pout and me feel guilty. "But I will try to help convince her to let you guys keep him. But if she doesn't agree don't go all temper tantrums on me. Deal?" 

"Deal!" They both grinned and just as we established this plea bargain Wanda walked into the kitchen.

"You know, I don't miss the crying, but jeez Louise, did you have to learn to wa- oh!" She exclaimed, noticing the wet furball in my arms and the foamy sink. "Well that sure is a big hairball, you pulled out all that fur from the kitchen sink Hails?"

"Yeah it was a tough job but I had my little helpers here," I joked nervously as she looked over at her sons.

"And how did all that fur get in my sink?"

"I tried showering in the sink and my hair just came out in clumps. It is very concerning, you know you should take me to the doctor for th-"

"Hailey..." Wanda interrupted me, giving me a look that made my willpower crumble in pieces.

"They did it! They stole a dog off the street, my hands are clean!" I defended myself, pointing at them without skipping a beat.

"Hey!" They yelled as they glared at me with betrayal before turning to Wanda. "He was outside all alone, crying. We didn't steal him, we helped him," Billy explained innocently.

"Can we keep him?" 

"Now, boys, taking care of a living thing is a big responsibility. Dogs need food, exercise, training, belly rubs, and cuddles. And kisses between his little ears," Wanda explained, starting strong before weakening as she took the dog from my hands and started adoring him slowly. And then Vision entered the kitchen. Finally, a voice of reason!

"Morning, wife. Morning, sister. Morning, boys. Good morning, unfamiliar wet animal," he greeted normally before realizing what he says and took a double-take causing Wanda to chuckle.

"Who's this?" Vision asked, walking over and petting the canine fondly behind the ears.

"We're not quite sure, actually. Why so formal, honey?" She asked, referring to his normal, human look as she put the dog down so he could roam.

"Oh, it's just a precaution really. I had a hunch someone might pop over," Vision explained just before Agnes opened the kitchen door with a dog house in her arms. Wait, how did I know her name? I don't think I've met her before. Unless I met her in my last visit? Yeah, yeah that's it. I just met her last time...

"Hi, kiddos," Agnes greeted happily as she set the dog house on the kitchen counter.

"With exactly the item we require," Vision finished, marveling at Agnes in shock.

"My kitchen window told me someone got a new pooch. Did you name him yet?" She asked chipperly as the dog sniffed the walls

"How about Sniffy?" Billy offered causing Agnes to laugh and nod. Suddenly, sparks went off from the electric socket on the wall causing 'Sniffy' to whimper and run away from it.

"How about Sparky?" Agnes asked turning to the twins.

"Well, should we make it official?" Wanda asked the twins, lifting her hands and conjuring up a dog collar just as Agnes put down Sparky, looking away. Me and Visions' eyes widened at the action, concerned.

"Wanda!" Vision whispered to her as I stared at her in disbelief. Wanda would never do magic in front of someone while she was undercover. What happened to her?

"Hmm?"

"Agnes was right there!" Vision exclaimed softly so Agnes wouldn't hear. 

"Well, she didn't notice. She didn't even notice when the boys went from babies to five-year-olds." That's...actually a good point. I looked back at Agnes, laughing and talking to the boys. What's going on? This...this is weird. This is wrong.

"What would've happened if she did? Wanda, we could've been found out and it's only a matter of time before...we get in trouble," I argued making Wanda furrow her eyes at me as I spaced out. We're going to get in trouble...she is going to get in trouble.

"That's not what we agreed upon. You made no effort to conceal your abilities," Vision said as he stared at her with concern.

"Well, I'm tired of hiding, Vis. And maybe you don't have to either," she reasoned, cupping his cheek with her hand before he grabbed it caringly.

"Wanda, we are usually so much of the same mind. But right now... what aren't you telling me?" They stared at each other with intensity before Billy piped up from behind us.

"So, is Sparky our dog, Daddy?" He asked innocently as Sparky whimpered making Vision sigh like a stereotypical dad.

"Boys, your father and I don't think you're ready to properly care for an animal until you're at least..." Wanda trailed off looking at Vision for an age range.

"Ten. Ten," he said but covered it up poorly with a cough.

"Ten years old," she finished, showing ten fingers. Billy and Tommy shared a mischievous smile making our eyes go wide, figuring out what they were planning.

"Wait, now, hang on there a minute..."

"Stop, please don't do it-"

"Wait, no, no, no!" Billy and Tommy aged up again but this time to 10 years old, smiling victoriously causing us to gasp.

"No, no, no!"

"Let's just hope this dog stays the same size," Agnes laughed casually as she held Sparky making me narrow my eyes at her. 

What the hell is happening?

...

As I sat on the guest bed in the house, I thought about what was actually happening. Why couldn't I remember anything before this visit? Why do I feel so...calm? Why is Agnes not seeing or reacting to anything that happens in this house and why is she always in this house? This wasn't normal but it feels normal. 

What is Wanda doing? This has to be something to do with Wanda. Why did I come here? I needed to help Wanda and Vision but with what? I wouldn't have just dropped everything just to come here to help with the kids. And even if I did, they're 10 now so they don't need my help anymore.

Before I could wonder any more about this place, I heard buzzing again except not in my own head but outside. No, not buzzing. Flying.

I furrowed my eyebrows and walked downstairs to Wanda already going to the door and I followed her. When she opened the door, Sparky raced out of this house, and as Wanda and I stomped out of the house to see what was flying outside the twins followed us. As we walked to the middle of the lawn we all stopped, seeing an old drone fly towards the house before stopping right above us with a logo painted on it. Why does it look so familiar?

"Wanda, this is Captain Monica Rambeau. Can you hear me? I just want to talk. That's it," the drone announced through a speaker. Rambeau. Why is that so familiar? And why does it fill me up with rage? And apparently, Wanda felt the same because she glared at the drone until her eyes turned deep red. 

I heard voices behind the speaker and knew what they were doing. I felt my eyes light up with power and without thinking before Wanda or the drone could do anything I surrounded the drone in a force field. I needed to protect Wanda and for the most part, the kids. What can I say? I have a soft spot for them and their death would emotionally inconvenient and trouble me slightly.

Just like Wanda and I suspected, the drone was weaponized but fortunately blew up itself with its missile instead of the kids. I let my force field go, dropping it onto the lawn as Wanda stomped over and picked it up. She looked over at me and the kids, her expression softening considerably. I lightly pushed the twins to my side in comfort and I felt them shake beside me.

"I'll watch the kids, you deal with...them. We can talk later," I decided smiling softly causing her to share it before flying back where the drone came from. I knew after she dealt with them she would deal with me but I can think about that later.

"What just happened?"

"What was that?"

"How did you do that?"

"Hey, hey, hey," I repeated to get their attention which worked. I bent down to meet their level looking both of them in the eyes.

"I don't have time to explain but I need you two to trust me when I say you really don't want to know. What you do want to know is nothing bad is going to happen to you, I promise. And you know why?" I asked making them shake their head as I smiled reassuringly. "Because your parents and I are going to make sure of it. Now, I need you two to wait in the house with me until your mom comes back and we will search for Sparky but we have to wait for your mom to make sure it's safe. Deal?" I finished making them hesitantly nod their heads a few moments later. I smiled, completely faking confidence and reassurance, and stood up.

"Let's get inside, okay?" I asked, walking them inside the house. Right then, there was only one thought on my mind.

I really wish I was telling the truth.

I watched Billy and Tommy from their doorway, making sure they were asleep before closing their door softly and walking downstairs where Wanda was waiting for me.

"They're asleep," I confirmed causing her to nod. She glanced at the bookshelf regretfully, I don't really know why.

"Let's go outside," Wanda offered, knowing I had no way of refusing. When we got outside to the lawn I looked at her in the eyes.

"You know this isn't going to last long," I commented making her stare at me emotionlessly. "But you know that, don't you? I can't really blame you, just wanting time in this...place you created," I reasoned as I looked around in this weird paradise. "People are hurting, Wanda."

"They aren't."

"They are. Maybe Vision and I aren't but the others that you...hypnotized are in pain. You are taking them away from their families and that isn't fair to anyone but you," I argued causing her to look reluctant for only a moment before going back to the same hard expression.

"I think you've overstayed your visit. You need to leave. Now." Wanda demanded, moving her hand to make a dark red ball appear around her hand making me back up nervously.

"Wanda, you know I love Vision and Billy and Tommy but this isn't right and you know this! I know you know this!" I tried to reason desperately as her face started to soften but only slightly, continuing to grow her power in her hands.

"WANDA-"

"I'm sorry," she whispered as she grabbed me with her power, lifting me off the ground. If I played this right, I could go undercover in S.W.O.R.D. and beat Wanda and S.W.O.R.D. at the same time. I squirmed in her grasp, feigning reluctance to leave. We locked eyes for the last time, knowing we knew on opposite sides of an ugly battle for the first time since Ultron and even then we ended up on the same side.

"I'm sorry too," I said softly just before she sent me flying back to the barrier, still caring for me just enough to help me avoid houses and shrubbery. I spotted the barrier behind me but instead of just sliding through like last time a hole appeared so I could go through the energy field.

My body slid through easily and the second I went through the barrier closed. My body slammed onto the ground with a loud thump and I felt the usual agony I had before I went through. My head buzzed loudly as I stared at the dark night sky in disbelief at what I just went through. That was until I realized guns were being pointed at me, making my face glow green from them.

I flipped my body back on my feet and got into a fighting stance, letting my electricity flow through and outside my body making me flicker with power in the dark.

"Hold your fire!" Dickward called out to his murder troops, or so I thought, lifting his hand in a signal. "Hailey, hold your fire!" I stared at him in disbelief but noticed everyone around me looked just as messed up as I did.

"Are you all fucking serious?!" I yelled, sending a bolt of electricity into the air on accident making the soldiers flinch but no one dared answer me.

"ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?! WHAT THE ABSOLUTE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?!"

…

"ARE YOU INSANE?" 

I yelled at the old creep that was Director Dickward who was staying true to his name. "You sent a freaking missile at literal children." 

When I got sent back to Camp Insanity I was not welcomed with a welcome wagon but rather guns eagerly aimed at my head so excuse me for my language. And of course, Dickward would not listen to logic or reason but rather his own fragile human male ego.

"They aren't children, they're figments of Maximoff's imagination. I should lock you up for making us miss the one shot we had at our criminal, siding and helping an enemy target, and purposely obstructing law enforcement. Now if you excuse me..." Dickward argued, trying to walk faster to lose me but failed. I felt my eye twinge and the light above us flickered before popping out loudly making him stop and stare at me. I could have swore I saw a flash of fear in his eyes before he repositioned himself.

"'Law enforcement,' please! Don't make me laugh, that will not get you anywhere. You are lying through your teeth at me and I do not appreciate it. You know they are real but you refuse to admit it so you can keep the blood off your hands," I snapped making him narrow his eyes at me, side-eyeing me as he stomped faster. "This is not even about the hostages, is it?"

"What the hell are you even talking about?"

"You know exactly what I am talking about. If you actually cared about these innocent people the last thing you would do is endanger them by sending a missile at them at the slightest chance it wipes out Wanda. What if Wanda did her voodoo magic and points it at the town, completely obliterating hundreds of people? No sane person would ever even think about doing that. No, no, this is about something more, something you and this whole corrupted organization have wanted for years, decades even. Something that you have wanted to get your grubby little hands on since day one," I figured, glaring at him, and if I could pierce his skull with a look that would have done it.

"Now I wonder what that could be?" I asked in mockery causing him to stop and look at me with eyes narrowed even further with absolute disdain. He looked like he wanted to snap my neck right at that moment but did not want witnesses. "Oh, did I strike a nerve?"

"Hayward. Hayward!" Rambeau shouted from behind him causing him to continue stomping away from his problems and criticisms. Of course, that did not stop me or Rambeau to continue chasing him.

"You cut us off at the knees, sending in that missile," Rambeau exclaimed, walking behind him as I followed, eyeing her. Apparently, Wanda did not want any company including a S.W.O.R.D. worker. Good choice.

"Now we know who we're dealing with."

"Yeah, a person who does not want her and her children to be bombed. How monstrous," I commented, dripping with sarcasm as we entered the main room with the others.

"Hey, there he is. The guy who almost got murdered by his own murder squad," Darcy greeted causing me to snicker and Dickward glare at both of us.

"You work for me?"

"I actually don't know," Darcy answered fairly since they were never given any actual information.

"She's with me," Rambeau informed, stepping closer to Darcy in confirmation. I raised an eyebrow in surprise. Monica Rambeau, daughter of the woman who tried to ruin my life. I knew I shouldn't- should not hold grudges for peoples children since that would hypocritical since I am the daughter of a man who ruined many, many, many, many, lives but it was harder than I initially thought.

"I see. And which one of you is the sassy best friend?" My eyes widened at his comment as I balled my hand into a fist, trying not to bash his skull in. Again, incredibly hard.

"There's no time for you to diminish your colleagues when you're about to start a war you can't win," Jimmy argued as we all stared at Dickward in disbelief at his idiocy.

"Maximoff was never gonna negotiate with us. We take her out, this whole nightmare ends."

"How do you know that? You never even once tried to legitimately negotiate!" I exclaimed, aggravated at his egotistical character.

"Hailey's right. We don't know that. We actually have no idea what will happen in there, nor out here if Wanda dies," Rambeau argued. I looked at her, surprised that she agreed with me.

"So, what? We just surrender to that?! Not happening!" Wow. His ego is just so enormous I do not even have a sarcastic comment, it's just sad. And so hysterical that if I tried I would just burst out laughing.

"We can't outgun her. And clearly antagonizing her is only making things worse. If Wanda is the problem, she has to be our solution." THANK YOU.

"Captain Rambeau, you have become an impediment to this mission," he sighed, feigning disappointment. Oh, this asshole cannot be serious. "Constantly advocating on behalf of super-powered individuals. Yes, I know your history with Carol Danvers. You know, you people who left still have the luxury of optimism. You have no idea what it was like. What it took to keep the lights on." Why...is it bad to advocate for superheroes? Am I missing something here?

"Don't use the last five years as an excuse to be a coward," Monica glared. Okay, I like her.

"Maybe it's a good thing you weren't here when your mother died. Because clearly, you don't have the stomach for this job. Get her off my base. Now. All of 'em," Dickward commanded just as glowing blue cuffs were placed on my wrists and Darcy, Monica, Jimmy, and I were pushed out the door. God, I hate these stupid cuffs. Magne-cuffs: The worst invention in the world.

"All right. Come on, let's go." I had about five minutes before the magnets set in and they take their full effect so I needed to act quickly.

"Hayward is way overstepping his provisional authority," Jimmy stated obviously.

"Really? I had not noticed," I snarked as we were pushed forward towards a truck that was similar to the one I arrived in.

"He was looking for a reason to sideline us. He's up to something," Monica said thoughtfully making me all look at them to make sure they were serious. Hmm, I wonder what he could possibly want? It is not like there is a billion-dollar sentient weapon behind that barrier, the exact thing that he specializes in! But no...it cannot be that, there is no way!

"Let's go! Everybody in!" I rolled my eyes before throwing a kick behind me, right into a soldier's crotch. He groaned in pain as I lifted my locked hands and smashed my glowing, blocky handcuffs into a nearby soldier's face. Jimmy and Monica fought their escorts as Darcy just tried not to get in the middle of the fight. I finally high-kicked the last soldier standing with great difficulty as I started feeling the Magne-cuffs effect, stumbling around slightly.

"Why didn't anyone tell me the plan?!" Darcy exclaimed, looking at the soldier's concussed bodies.

"It was a- a obvi-viously plan," I slurred and shook my head while blinking my eyes rapidly to try to get rid of my drunken haze.

"Uh...is she okay?" Jimmy asked, pointing at me as he and Darcy stared at me warily while I blinked dumbly.

"Obi-vously not! I need, I need..." I stumbled again but it took more effort to keep myself up than last time. "Key, key, key, key. In...pocky. Shit, I hate magne-cuffs."

"Magne-cuffs?"

"Magnetic handcuffs, it makes her..." Monica explained but trailed off as she stared at me in disbelief at the impact it had on me. I stumbled and was about to fall but Darcy caught me, making me lean on her shoulder as she put an arm around me. 

"Drunk," Darcy finished for Monica in amusement. 

Monica crouched down next to the unconscious soldier that cuffed me and fished inside his pockets until she found the key. She unlocked my hands making me groan and throw the handcuffs far away.

"You're going to have one hell of a hangover. Come on, let's move."

...

"I'm just trying to do my part, okay? Come to town unexpectedly, create tension with the brother-in-law..." The man with the silver hair explained to Wanda on the tv as Darcy dug through Hayward's computer and I tried to keep my head from exploding. I really wish I could drink Gatorade right now.

"Who is that?" Monica spoke up, staring at the screen.

"Wanda's brother came to town."

"He brought the wrong face," Darcy stated as she hacked through Hayward's computer.

"And forgot to bring the bullets," I muttered and glanced at the screen sadly. Pietro...

"Over here," Jimmy called us over to the tv.

"What happened to your accent?"

"What happened to yours?"

"We shouldn't hang out here too long," Monica warned us

"Uh, give me two seconds. I just need to hack into the secure network on the base," Darcy informed as she typed faster on the keyboard before clicking enter. "Donezo. Now, we should be able to access the data on Hayward's devices. Oh. That's interesting. Guys, Hayward figured out a way to look through the boundary," she continued as we looked over her shoulder.

"And he didn't share it with the group."

"Wow, what a shocker. Such a plot twist," I commented monotonously.

"Is this Wanda right here?" Jimmy asked as he pointed at a blinking dot on the map.

"No. The program is tracking the decay signature of vibranium," Darcy corrected making me roll my eyes at this conversation. We are seriously going to pretend it is not completely obvious what Dickward wants?

"Vision. Wait. Why is Hayward tracking Vision?"

"Hmm, yeah I wonder why Dickward, director of the sentient weapons department, is tracking Vision, a billion-dollar sentient weapon?" I asked with complete sarcasm causing them to look at me like they were finally getting it.

"These other dots, those are Westview residents?"

"The ones in Vision's immediate vicinity, yeah."

"Hayward must have an accurate headcount by now," Jimmy figured as I stared at the computer screen with my eyebrows furrowed. Why would he need that when we already have the town's population?

"Hmm. And some sense of their well-being." Now that has to be useful, the ability to monitor their heart rates to see if they experience emotional distress as Monica did.

"Huh...these people, near the edge of town... they're barely moving. Are they alive?"

"Wanda would not leave corpses in clear view with her kids running around and she certainly would not have them frozen for Vision to stumble upon if she had the choice to keep them moving. Her power isn't- is no- ah screw it! Her power isn't strong enough to run an entire town all at once so she has the furthest people away on power save mode, I suspect," I realized making all of them stare at me. "What? That's what I would do if I were her. And it's not like she has unlimited power, she has to work with what she has."

As Jimmy and Monica stared at me and Darcy warily glanced over at me Monica's phone rang causing her to pick it up. After a few minutes, she hung up and actually looked happy.

"That's it. My way back into the Hex will be here in an hour. Just gotta meet my guy over the ridge. Let's roll," she informed causing us three to put back on our disguises to blend in with the other workers without being caught.

"You can't do that," Darcy spoke up with concern making us look at her confused.

"Sure we can. I'm a whiz at hot-wiring cars," Jimmy bragged causing me to look at him with surprise and kind of impressed.

"You can't go back into the Hex," Darcy corrected.

"Worst case scenario, Wanda removes my free will and puts me in ultra-low-rise jeans," Monica joked making Jimmy laugh with her and I look back at Darcy with confusion.

"Hayward has your blood work. You've gone through the boundary twice already, Monica. The energy inside has rewritten your cells on a molecular level twice. It's changing you," Darcy explained as she turned the computer her way for her to examine it but Monica barely even glanced at it.

"Seen enough lab results to last me a lifetime. Cells metastasizing, cells in remission. I know what Wanda's feeling and I won't stop until I help her," Monica swore, determined. I looked at her, impressed, as I nodded alongside her. I'm liking this woman a lot more than I used to.

"Okay."

"Okay."

"But I'm staying here," Darcy decided making our eyes go wide.

"Wait, you can't stay here. It's not safe," Jimmy argued.

"What? Darcy, what are you talkin' about?"

"I haven't made it through Hayward's last firewall. There's something big here. Something that can help us. I know it," Darcy reasoned with determination and stubbornness.

"Fine. Fine. I'll drop you the location, you meet us out there as soon as you can," Monica planned before heading out with Jimmy as I hesitated.

"You sure you're going to be fine? I can hang back with you if you want?" I offered with genuine concern since she was one of the few humans I actually enjoyed being around. She kind of reminded me of MJ. Darcy gave me a determined smile.

"Nah, I'll be fine. I have a lot of hidden muscle," she bragged confidently, flexing her arm for a moment.

"Hidden behind your chicken bones?" I smirked as I walked toward the door backward. 

"Ha, ha. Hilarious," she rolled her eyes and turned back to the computer as I grinned, walking through the doorway.

"Don't die!"

"No promises!"

Chapter Text

"So how do magnets get you drunk?" Jimmy asked as we drove to Monica's contacts location. I stared at him, debating whether to give in or snap at him. I sighed. 

Instead of corrupting files, strong magnets corrupt my processor and without my processor I can't process things which leaves me like a big drunk baby. Of course S.W.O.R.D. and S.H.I.E.L.D. instantly took that to their advances and created their very own magne-cuffs. The ones I had on had stronger magnets but weaker metal while S.H.I.E.L.D. was the opposite with weaker magnets that took a while to affect me but were almost impossible to get out of. And everyone wonders why I'm so bitter at the two.

"Since I'm an android, magn-"

"You mean synthezoid, right?" Monica asked, giving me a weird look.

"No...I'm an android," I replied as I shared her weird look.

"No...you're a synthezoid."

"I think I know what I am," I laughed at her guts to correct me on what I am.

"Hailey, you're closer to looking like a human than an android would be, are man-made and are made with synthetic material. You're a synthezoid. The only reason you think you're just an android is because your...father didn't even know what he created when you were made," she reasoned making me stare at her. As I froze and stared at her, she looked into her rear view mirror and took a double take.

"Jimmy. Jimmy, do you see that?" Monica piped up causing me and Jimmy to look behind us. The red barrier surrounding the town in the distance started expanding rapidly, so much so even we could tell. 

"Something's happening! It's moving! Go, go!" I felt the car speed up as I watched the force field expand and crackle helplessly. Why would Wanda expand her border? She's clearly straining her powers enough as it is so why would she add onto it?

"Darcy made it through that last firewall, all right," Jimmy announced looking down at his phone as we waited for Monica's transportation to arrive.

"Oh, what'd she find?" Monica asked looking over his shoulder to his phone with me mimicking her.

"RnD reports. All on the same project. Code name, Cataract."

"Cataract?" I questioned mostly to myself and scanned the reports on his device.

"Hayward wasn't decommissioning Vision. He was trying to bring him back online. Nothing worked until... Wanda stole Vision's body," Monica realized as she stared at the reports, stunned.

"That's why he was so focused on tracking Vision inside the Hex. Hayward wants his sentient weapon back." I felt like I was going to be sick. I knew that's what he was planning from the beginning but actually hearing it... it was disgusting. I straightened myself up and reconfigured, knowing I had to push all my feeling down to get the job done and in control.

"Oh my golly geez, who could have predicted that?"

"Final checks. We're all set, Captain," Major Goodner informed as I went through my notifications, displaying them on a hologram I created from my projector installed in my left wrist. Technology in its full glory aka me.

"Thank you," Monica said gratefully as she stared in victory at the ten-thousand pound vehicle. I spotted a dozen missed texts from Peter in my pile of notifications and opened them only to find...

Webs🕸❤️ 

Mon, Oct 16, 2:37 PM

Webs🕸❤️

Wed, 1:53 PM

Webs🕸❤️

Thu, 4:52 PM

Webs🕸❤️

Sat, 10:53 AM

Webs🕸❤️

Yesterday, 1:21 PM

Wires💙

Stfu I have to act all serious rn and you are not helping

Wires💙

...and I love you too loser. I will explain everything when I get back but I promise I am not dead or kidnapped 💖

I closed my hand, closing the hologram and stepped next to the group admiring the war vehicle.

"Darcy's not here to give her stamp of approval," Jimmy said sadly.

"She'd probably say 'this is totally overkill but awesome anyway,'" I figured causing Jimmy to nod silently in agreement.

"She's in there and I'm gonna go get her out. It's our last shot," Monica vowed with determination making me slightly impressed with her heroism but frustrated. I should be the one going in, the one who helps Wanda and save the others but since Wanda added her own little touch the the energy field my powers are useless. For example, if I tried to go in I would transformed into a toaster since I am not a 'living thing.'

"Godspeed, Captain," Jimmy nodded as Monica put in her helmet completing her 'tacky astronaut' look. She went to load up in the vehicle as Jimmy and I took our places next to Major Goodner. 

"And you are sure this thing is going to work? I mean Wanda is literally powered by an infinity stone," I asked with a raised eyebrow in doubt at Goodner.

"Nothing is going to harm Monica. This is our most heavily-armored space rover and we've done the calculations. This is going to work, easy," she comforted confidently but I just stared at her.

"Again...infinity stone," I emphasized but she just did a com check with Monica.

"On your order, Captain."

"Moving out," Monica announced, driving the rover towards the barrier.

"Contact in five, four, three... two, one." The rover slammed into the force field as the tires squealed in anger that they weren't getting anywhere. Shit.

"What happened to sailing right through?"

"The density is matching her," Goodner realized when she watched the screens in front of her.

"I'm close. It's gonna give!" Monica exclaimed as I leaned over my com urgently when I realized the rover was failing.

"Monica, it's a magical, deadly force field not a pair of skinny jeans. Get out of there," I demanded into my com as I watched the screens flash red with warning.

"The structural integrity is failing. It's disintegrating!" Goodner informed as she went back and forth between screens to try to figure out what was happening. We watched helplessly as the force field started to slowly absorb the vehicle with Monica in it.

"No, it's being rewritten. Monica, get out of there!" Jimmy exclaimed into his mic desperately as he tried to reach her. Finally we could see her pop up from the top of the rover just before the rover was pushed back from the force field and flew a hundred feet away.

"Monica! Get a medivac, now!" Jimmy commanded as Monica looked at us before she turned towards the barrier, contemplating.

"Monica, don't you dare," I warned through my com, knowing what she was thinking.

"No. No," Jimmy muttered when he realized what was happening.

"I can get through," she answered with determination before running full speed toward the barrier, ignoring our protests.

"Monica! No!"

"Monica!"

Chaos irrupted from Monica's team the moment she entered the town, everyone trying to bring her back. After an hour of trying to reach in some way, I gave up looking for another way to get to her. There was only way we could save Monica and Wanda and the thousands of people trapped there.

"I'm going in there," I decided and started levitating off the ground, preparing to fly away but Jimmy stopped me.

"You can't," he protested and grabbed my wrist to stop me even though I could have easily ripped his hand away.

"I can and I will."

"You'll change into-well anything! You could change into literally anything! You're staying here," Jimmy demanded making me stare down at him.

"Wanda wouldn't do that to me, she wouldn't let it happen, I know that. Who knows what Hayward is planning to do to get Vision and probably me while he's at it but whatever it is it is not going to be good. I need to be there to fight with them, no matter what," I argued stubbornly. Jimmy opened his mouth to argue again but stopped when we heard tires move in closer to us. We looked up and saw trucks pull up with agents pouring out of them, running at us with the S.W.O.R.D. logo plastered on everything.

"I have to go. Now," I demanded causing Jimmy look at me with hesitation before letting my wrist go.

"Good luck, Circuit," he said causing me to nod with a thankful smile. Before the agents could get to us I tapped my nanoparticle house twice on my chest making them engulf my body in my suit. I raised my hood to my head and before the agents could reach us I flew towards the barrier at full speed, not afraid of what might happen to me.

Ow. 

That is all I'm going to say about that traumatic experience.

I flew around the town, trying to find Wanda in the town with thousands of others. I thought it was going to be difficult until I saw Agnes in a witches costume from party city flying to Wanda, a pure white figures fighting Vision in the sky, and another white figure flying to Wanda with Agatha.

Well this is going to be fun.

I flew down in front of Wanda making the white figure stop and look down at me. It, or she I realized, cocked her head to the right, staring or was she analyzing me?

"Well, well, well! Auntie Hailey to the rescue!" Agnes mocked from the top of the building but I didn't even glance at her as I stared in suspended disbelief at my...twin? Er...albino twin?

"Two against one seems hardly fair, don't you think? Or do you two even have the ability to think?" I asked softly feeling like the air was kicked out of my nonexistent lungs. They did it. S.W.O.R.D. really did it.

"Wanda Maximoff must be neutralized. You must be destroyed," my albino twin stated emotionlessly as she practically stared right through me. And then she pounced, zipping through the air with a ready fist to connect to my face but I stopped her by grabbing her hand. 

"Mmm... is there by any chance an option B? 'Cause I don't think that's going to work for me," I quipped throwing her to the ground, away from us. I looked at Wanda.

"Hey darling. I see things have uh...changed around here since I left but not the thing that actually needs to change," I glanced up at the hex energy field. 

"I can fix it. I am going to fix it," she answers, genuinely, making me nod as I gave her a supportive but sad smile.

"Good. Now if you will excuse me, ladies," I farewelled with a sarcastic salute before charging at the albino version of me making her fly up to the sky to avoid the townspeople.

"Wanda Maximoff must be neutralized. You must be destroyed," she said in a monotone voice as we locked our arms together, trying to push each other down.

"Yeah, you've said that," I snapped and kicked her away. I noticed the hex start to dissolve around us making me pierce my lips in grief, knowing Vision and the poor kids are going to have to dissolve as well. All I want is for it to be painless which is unlikely.

I tried to swoop below her and go from the behind and hit her where it hurts but she was just as fast as me. Her fist collided with my stomach, shoving me away from her but I quickly reconfigured and slammed my fist into her neck.

"You don't have to listen to them! You can have your own choice in this," I proposed making her look at me in the eyes.

"My mission is to destroy Wanda Maximoff and H.A.I.L.E.Y."

"You don't have to follow it, trust me! If...If you and me are the same and S.W.O.R.D. programmed you to be like me or I guess how...how my father tried to program me then you know you can be more than this. That you are more than this!" I shouted with determination, having empathy for this version of me as I knew what it was like to be a machine used for egotistical mens plans. She cocked her head at me again and for one single, blissful moment I thought I had gotten through to her.

And then I was slammed down to the concrete. I groaned before getting up, noticing I was interrupting a family reunion and Agnes's taunts.

"Hailey!" 

"Are you okay?"

The twins exclaimed with relief from their parents hug, thankful that I hadn't died which was a shared feeling. Wanda, Vision, and I share a look mixed with relief, exhaustion, and sorrow which is not a very nice mixture.

"Boys! You're in one piece, yay!" I observed with exasperation and pain from the fall. Before I could officially reunite with the not-so-happy family Agnes rudely interrupted us as she chanted some kind of spell and tried to blast us with it. 

"No!" Wanda created a magic shield but it disappears with a wave of Agnes hands making Wanda's turn old and grey (it's spelled grey not gray, you hillbillies).

"Wanda?"

"Mom, are you okay?" Billy asks causing Wanda to nod hesitantly as an answer.

"How sweet," Agnes mocks as she flies around us, cackling like the most stereotypical witch ever.

"Um, dad? Hailey?" Tommy calls with fear laced in his voice and his eyes trained on something behind me. Vision and I whip our heads around to be greeted with our albino twins hovering nearby, preparing to attack. I then see S.W.O.R.D. convoys arrive at the single worst time ever. Agents pop out of the vehicles in swarms as Hayward watches the overkill troops point their massive guns at us with smugness written all over him.

"Listen, boys. Your mother and I never really prepared you for this," Vision started as we all got in a fighting stance.

"But you were born for it." Wanda finished as we shared a look. White Vision charges at his normal counterpart with my albino twin mimicking him and pounced at me. I created an electric force field that blew her away and before I charged back at her I sent a wink to the twins.

I flew at my counterpart with electricity crackling in my fisted hands and before she lifted her hand I blasted her with power into the ground. 

"Why aren't you firing back at me...?" I muttered, staring at her and lowered myself from the air cautiously. Until I realized. "You can't. Because...you're not actually me. Well not the 'me' right now but the 'me' I was supposed to be," I realized but she just stared at me blankly and again, tilted her head to the side.

"I am the superior you. I am the better."

"How can you be superior if you're me?" I questioned but she remained silent. "But the very fact you're superior means that I am better. My father created me, trying to create the perfect weapon for the government but failed creating me and without that failure, that inferiority, I'm not me. I gained emotion and imperfection and with that more power than you could possibly grasp," I explained and lowered my hands.

"We're not the same and if I fought you I would definitely win. Because no matter how much I despise myself I can't kill something that doesn't know what they're doing is wrong," I decided and lowered my hand for her to take to help her take. 

She glanced at my hand and then back to me before slowly placing her hand onto mine. I helped her up and she stared at me for a moment before she threw me over her shoulder and into the ground.

Well that lasted longer than I expected.

"H.A.I.L.E.Y. must be destroyed."

"For the love of- OPEN YOUR EYES DIPSHIT!" I yelled, flipping back onto my feet and before she could defend herself I took her head and slammed it into the ground. "You were created to be used. You are being used! You are being used as a weapon and I don't believe for a second that a little part of you isn't screaming to be free. So take your head out of your nonexistent ass and put your superiority complex away and think for yourself for just a single moment!" Her eyes widened as I stared at her with my hands pressed to the back of her head. 

"What do you want, Hailey?" I asked in the most genuine voice and if she really was designed after my program I think I know exactly what she wants.

"I want..." She trailed off, her eyes flickering back and forth at nothing. Her grey and bright blue eyes turned into my eyes, bright blue human looking eyes. 

"I want to be free." She snapped out of my grasp and levitated away from the ground, looking up at the sky. And then she flew away, faster than lightning.

Yeah I'm definitely going to regret not killing her. But at least my conscious is clear ha...ha... 

Oh god, what have I done?

I flew back to the town square, meeting Vision and the boys embracing.

"Hailey, you're alright!"

"Slightly traumatized but yeah, I'm not dead," I replied to Vision as I returned the twins's hug. The short-lived reunion was cut short by Agnes and Wanda having a full-on magic warfare right on top of us in the sky.

"Watch the twins," Vision instructed causing me to nod in response and take the boys under my arms protectively. Vision flew up to the two women as we watched with concern and i readied my hands for when I needed to activated my force field. Apparently Wanda thought of this too, using it to keep Vision out of the fight.

"Wanda, what are you doing?" I hear Vision asked, trying to get through her field but failed, watching Wanda and Agnes battle. Wanda kept missing her shots but what was odd is she never misses...what was she planning?

"Come on, Wanda!" Agnes cackled, flying around her as she missed again and again.

Vision flies back down to us and embraces his sons while sharing a nervous look with me. Wanda and Agnes continue to fight and Wanda continues to miss making her body slowly deteriorate like Agnes was sucking the magic right out of her.

"Come on, Wanda! Escape your fate!" Wanda continues shooting magic at her, occasionally missing and hitting the walls of the Hex. 

"Release your burden! There's more, I want it all!" After a few more shots, Agnes appears to drain the rest of Wanda's power causing her to look like a skeleton.

"Mom!" Billy and Tommy called out with concern, trying to run to their mother but Vision and I held them back. I bent down and leaned over them while still holding my stare to the battle above.

"Wait," I whispered to them causing them to look up at me, confused.

"About our deal... Once cast, a spell can never be changed. This world you made will always be broken. Just like you!" Agnes tries to shoot Wanda but nothing happens. She tries again and looks down at her hands but sees Wanda back to normal. 

Her powers were back but how? Symbols suddenly appeared on the magic barriers walls in the exact spots she shot her blast at. That's probably it.

"'In a given space, only the witch who cast them can use her magic.' Thanks for the lesson. But I don't need you to tell me who I am," Wanda revealed as a dark red crown appeared over her forehead. 

"No. No. No. No! No, no!" Agnes yelled as her powers are sucked away from her instead, being absorbed by Wanda. Everything around us glowed red from her power and her barrier until Agnes's power was all gone. 

"Oh, god. You don't know what you've done," Agnes warned as her power finally disappears and Wanda floats in front of her in her new outfit, a full in super suit that appeared from her powers that seemed to come straight out of Barbie movie scene. Wanda lowers them both back down into Westview and Agnes falls to the ground with all of us staring at the scene.

"Good girl. So, what now? Just gonna lock me up somewhere?"

"No, not somewhere. Here."

"Here?" Agnes asks in disbelief as she looks around causing Wanda to nod and simply hum in response.

"I'll give you the role you chose. The nosy neighbor," Wanda decided and walked over to her menacingly.

"No, please," Agnes begged helplessly.

"I'm sorry."

"No you're not, you're cruel! You, you have no idea what you've unleashed. You're gonna need me." Yeah and that's why she's keeping you here. How did you not get that?

"If I do, I'll know where to find you," Wanda reasoned simply.

"Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Wait!" Agnes begs but Wanda continued to walk toward her and bent down, touching her and transforming her back into her role.

"Hiya, hon! Say, that's some kinda getup you're wearing. Did I leave the oven on, or is that just you, hot stuff." This, disturbingly enough, reminded me how gay sitcoms are or simply making it a joke but unintentionally creating actual chemistry between characters. I really need to watch more sitcoms.

"You live here now. No one will ever bother you."

"Okie dokie, artichoke," she grinned but her eyes held pain. Yeah okay, very disturbing.

"I'll be seeing you," Wanda said, standing up and calmly walking away from her, leaving her in her own mental torture.

"Not if I see you first, hon!"

"Mom!" Tommy and Billy exclaim as they rushed to their mom in her new getup with Vision trailing behind them. I watched the happy family reunite for most likely the final time, staring sadly at them. 

"So, it would appear that our dream home has been reduced to a fixer upper. I know you'll set everything right, just not for us," Vision said quietly making me blink back the tears as they pretended to be alright to not scare the boys. 

"No. Not for us," Wanda smiled sadly as they shared a look. 

"It's time. Should we head home?"

"Yeah. Hailey?" Wanda called, looking at me and motioned for me to come along causing me to be surprised. I nodded, smiling the best I could and walked beside them but only after Wanda shared a brief look with Monica.

And then we walked home, into the sunset.

Except the home we were going back to was not going to be standing for much longer.

Chapter Text

I had just gotten back from Westview and was grimly sitting in front of Pepper at the dinner table, not ready to have this conversation.

"You want to move out?" She asked in a hushed tone, trying to hide the hurt in her voice.

"I have a saving account under my alias with enough money to afford it and live in it for a long time, all I need is for you to co-sign the lease," I calmly explained though I winced internally at her reasonable offense.

"Is this really what you want?"

"I do not know but... I cannot stay here, in this house. I do not belong and right now I am dealing with a lot that I need to deal with alone," I sighed quietly with many contractions that I referred to and she looked down, not knowing what to say so not saying anything at all. I continued. "You did not  sign up for this, Pep."

"You're not a burden, Hailey-"

"Pep, all you wanted was a new job at a high tech company and now you have a daughter you need to take care of while running said company. You do not need me to enter the mix making you stress about if I get caught or something," I scoffed and she looked away with the shake of her head.

"And you'll be fine?" She asked, knowing there was no way she'll change my mind or stop me from leaving. I gave her a small smile and reached my hand over to place it in hers.

"I swear."

After our talk, I flew to Peter's place, already having promised him to meet him there after not seeing him for two weeks on a potentially life threatening mission. When I knocked on the door however I was immediately greeted by May with frizzy hair and a rather frazzled look on her face.

"Hailey!" She exclaimed before throwing her arms around me which took me back and I froze until finally registering her affection. I returned the hug awkwardly, a bit too late but she did not seem to mind.

"Hey, May," I smiled into her shoulder until she pulled away and pushed me into her apartment hurriedly.

"Are you okay? Peter didn't explain anything," she turned to glare over her shoulder as Peter and Ned scurried out of the hallway to meet me. 

"It is fine, I am fine. It was... well, it is a lot to explain," I laughed weakly and paused. "Also I legally cannot talk about most of it," I added causing May to make an 'o' face.

"Didn't you get arrested though?" Ned blurted out making me and Peter glare at him as May took a double-take at me.

"Dude," Peter hissed at his friend as I mouthed 'what the hell' at him.

"What?" She exclaimed incredulously, staring me down for answers.

"It was not an arrest, per say. It was just... a containment issue which I might have broke out of," I explained sheepishly as she continued to stare at me before whipping her head at Peter who gulped.

"You knew about this?"

"I knew you would freak out so-"

"Of course, I was going to freak out!" May shot back and took my face in her hand to check for cuts or scraps. 

"It really is not that bad! When I was five I was incarcerated for like six months-" I laughed but immediately shut up when May's eyes widened even further.

"What?" She yelled again and I thought her eyes were going to pop out of heir sockets at one point and I scrambled to fix my mistake.

"In their defense, I paralyzed a man-" Oh my gods, Hailey stop talking.

"You did what?"

"He was sex trafficker and it was only for three years!" I defended making her pause for a few seconds, debating as we all watched her reaction carefully. She opened her mouth, then closed it, setting a hand on my shoulder and looked me in my eyes.

"Good job," May settled on as we all stared at her until I broke out in a grin but it quickly fell when she got a quizzical look in her face. "What were you doing around traffickers at five years old?" Peter, Ned, and I stared at a wide eyed look, opening our mouths to answer her but only weird stammers came out of all our mouths.

"Uh... I-I was kinda... used as...bait...for the first five years of my life," I stammered awkwardly 

"WHAT?"

...

"Well, that was awkward," I muttered to Peter as we sat on ledge of the roof of his apartment complex.

"That's an understatement," he mumbled back before turning to me with concern. "So what happened?" I groaned theatrically and leaned my body onto his side, my head snuggling into the crook of his neck.

"I hate magic. And the government. And magic."

"You said magic twice."

"I really hate magic," I emphasized and rubbed my eyes irritably. "After the town was officially freed, I gave Darcy my number in case something like this happens again. She seems to get into situations like this more than once," I explained and Peter nodded in understanding.

"Well I'm just glad you're okay," he said with a small smile and kissed the top of my head lovingly.

"Me too," I returned the sentiment with a smile before taking a deep breath of the cool, fresh, non-brainwashing air. "I have decided to move out of Pepper's house. I already got a good deal on an apartment near midtown, not too shabby but not too expensive it draws attention," I informed him suddenly making his eyes go wide in surprise at the sudden drop of information.

"What? Why?"

"I just think it is time to have a home, a real one. I have waited sixteen years for it, I like to think I deserve one," I answered honestly with a small, sheepish smile and he nodded in encouragement, returning it. "I do not know what it is like to have one. But I want to."

"You will, I promise," Peter swore confidently, wrapping his arm around me as we watched the sun set in front of us. "You will."

"You know it is expected for a partner to help their other partner with moving in to a new place, right?"

"I figured as much," he sighed in defeat making me snicker at him and curl up deeper into him, interlocking his hand that dangled off my shoulder lazily with mine contently.

...

"You are going to break my desk, give it here!" I snapped at Peter who ignored me.

"I've got it, I've got it! Geez..."

"At least use two hands, you are going to drop it," I scolded as I held a pile of boxes in my arms using my super strength.

"Even if I do drop it, which I won't, I'll catch it before it hits the ground!" Peter argued as he held my fancy white desk under one arm, holding it with his hand under the bottom and supporting it with his side. I rolled my eyes as I continued to climb the buildings stairs to the entrance. I heard a yelp behind and turned to see Peter holding the edge of the desk in an uncomfortable position, only inches away from toppling from the stairs. 

"I told you to use both hands. You break it, you buy it," I joked, continuing up the stairs with a smirk.

"Shut up," Peter grumbled making me snicker as I heard the rustle of him reposition himself with the desk before following me up. "What number are you?" He asked, referring to my apartment number.

"Uh... penthouse, actually," I answered, pulling up a blank for just a moment which was odd. I never pull a blank. Weird. I ignored it as I opened the buildings glass door and held it for Peter.

"Of course, why did I even ask?" He mused as he walked through the door, making me roll my eyes at him again. The front desk employee stared at us with his mouth agape as we casually carried a 130 pound desk and three huge boxes with one hand.

"We do CrossFit," I lied nonchalantly as we continued to the elevator. He stared at us as Peter awkwardly slid my desk through the elevator doors making it barely fit as we crammed into the somewhat small space. I grabbed my key from the pocket of my jeans and inserted into the PH button on the wall. We awkwardly waved at the employee as the doors closed making him shake his head out of his thoughts and continue working. We immediately started laughing as soon as the door closed in amusement at the mans disturbed face. 

As we waited patiently to reach the top floor I suddenly was hit with a wave of anxiety.

"You are going to make fun of me, are you not?"

"Why would I make fun of you for having a penthouse? I thought you were going to make fun of me?"

"Why would I make fun of you? That would a huge bitch move! I just thought it was tradition to make digs at the girl who profits off of late-stage capitalism," I argued as we both looked at each with complete confusion. Suddenly, the elevator doors opened to reveal the most perfect penthouse for me ever.

"You know what? I am not going to make fun of you but I am going to brag about my impeccable choosing," I smirked as Peter continued to gape at the large, open space. "Are you going into septic shock, darling?" I asked, setting down the boxes in my hands in the middle of the room to unpack later. Peter promptly shook his head to shake away his thoughts and set down my desk away from the elevator.

"I'm just shocked at how fitting it is for you to buy a castle since you're such a princess," he shot back sarcastically causing me feign offense.

"Wow, jealous much?"

"Yes." He replied quickly and loudly looking around. "Random question, totally not related to this at all but do you have a sugar baby position you would like, say, a superhero to fill? Possibly insect based?" He pondered making me burst out laughing.

"Yes actually, I was wondering that exact same  thing yesterday," I said seriously, pointing at Peter. "But do you think Ant-Man would say yes? I mean, he does have a girlfriend, right?" And when I tell Peter looked offended, that is an understatement.

"How dare you replace me with-"

"Have you seen him, he is a babe," I half-joked making Peter scoff dramatically causing me to laugh even more.

"I can't believe this. I am generously donating my precious time to help you move-"

"In my defense, I did say I was fine doing this alone but you insisted-"

"First of all, you practically begged me to help you. And you decide to tell me you want Ant-Man as-" Peter started again after I interrupted but could not finish his sentence without laughing at the absurdity of this exchange. "As a-" he stopped again, trying to finish his sentence but failing, giggling slightly.

"Oh my god, come on. We need to finish this today because I am not paying for another day for the truck," I laughed as I dragged him back into the elevator with both of us giggling like idiots.

Midway through the elevator ride Peter started shaking his head.

"I can't believe you want to cheat with Ant-Man," he said like he was scolding a child.

"Shut up, idiot. Who would not?"

"Fair point."

"Exactly."

We got downstairs with the receptionist still staring at us as we walk back to the moving van.

"Okay, we get the big stuff first and small stuff later?" Peter planned looking at me for approval causing me to nod. We begin to grab as much as we could and haul it back to the penthouse. We continued this system peacefully for fifteen minutes before making it a competition to see who could carry the most stuff without dropping anything. Which probably traumatized the receptionist but she'll cope.

After a while, we made a huge dent in the boxes, getting my bed and my couches when we were scrambling to beat each other. When we were close to finished we finally got to...

"Dum-E! Oh, I cannot believe Pepper packed you to come with me!" I exclaimed, seeing my robo-friends turned off in the back of the truck.

"You do know you're talking to an extinguisher, right?" Peter whispered next to me like I was crazing making me glare at him. I hugged Dum-E ecstatically making Peter look at me even weirder. "And now you're hugging it. Okay then."

"Shut up, no one asked for your judgement," I snapped making Peter raise his hands in defeat. "Grab some boxes and I will get Dum-E, I will show you inside."

When we get inside I immediately set Dum-E gently down on the floor excitedly with Peter doing the same with a couple of the last boxes.

"Ok, what did you want show me?" He asked as he walked to my side with a raised eyebrow.

"This." I pressed a button on Dum-Es base, bringing him to life in all his awkward glory. He shook his 'head' slightly before adjusting it to look at me. He hummed excitedly making me cheer and hug him again as Peter still looked at me weird. Dum-E looked around the penthouse curiously before cocking his head to the side, making a confused hum.

"Oh, right you probably no idea what is happening. Uh... well you are in my new apartment that I live in now and I was wondering if you could be my new assistant?" He hummed happily making me cheer again.

"Wait wait wait. Where did you even get him?" Peter asked incredulously making me pause for a moment as I searched for the right words.

"Well...father built him a long time ago as well as his brother, U, but when they got destroyed father could only rebuild Dum-E," I explained in a sad type of bliss as I remembered hanging out with them when I was younger. Peter and I shared a sad look, placing a hand on my shoulder in comfort before I shook my head out of my thoughts. "In a sense, he is like my older brother," I smiled as Dum-E happily whirred.

"You have so many siblings."

"Oh, you have no idea. Now come on, we have to get the rest of the stuff."

"We're done..." Peter cheered in a tired whispered, shakingly punching the air in exasperation.

"Yay..." I mumbled back, high-fiving each other as we slumped on my new couch sloppily dropped in the middle of my living room. We both leaned on each other with my head lazily placed on Peters chest as we both rested our eyes. 

"Team work," I cheered, void of any emotion in my voice.

"Woo-hoo..." He replied monotonously as I paused for a moment.

"...Peter?"

"Yeah, Hails?"

"You do realize we have to unpack now, right?" We both looked over to see the sea of boxes on the floor and as Dum-E slowly but surely unpacked a box next to him.

"Nah... Dum-E's got it," he said, waving me off confidently. We watched Dum-E lowly pick up a framed picture of me and Peter and turn to set it on the coffee table before dropping it halfway there, shattering it on the tile. I slowly looked over at Peter.

"...Goddamnit."

"Please just kill me already."

"You first," Peter grumbled back as we slumped on the coach, finally finished.

"No you, bItCh," I half-joked causing Peter to look at me. "What? I cannot trust you to kill me after I have killed you because of your stupid moral code."

"How, in this situation, could I kill you if I'm already dead?"

"I do not know, maybe like...strangle each other at the same time?"

"But what if one of us loses air first and stops choking the other? And you don't even need air?"

"Fine! We would...shoot each other at the same time like a suicide pack?"

"But what if one of us shoots too early?"

"Then they shoot right before they die."

"But if it's a fatal shot they aren't going to be able to stand or process that they need to get the shot in."

"Peter, it is not like when you get shot you immediately die you have a good few second left."

"Well if it's in the heart wouldn't yo-"

"Are we seriously debating the logistics of a suicide pact right now?"

"You started it," Peter pouted making me roll my eyes at him.

"You'r- you are a child. Anyway, do want to get some food? You are probably starving," I offered, slipping up for just a moment before catching myself causing Peter to furrow his eyebrows. He straightened himself on the couch which pushed my head off his chest as he looked at me weirdly while I kept a straight face. Shit, shit, shit, shit!

"No I'm good...did you jus-" He started but was interrupted by his stomach growling loudly.

"You do not sound good," I chuckled, trying to brush past my mistake. "Come on, we can stop by this new drive-through place near here! It looks really goo-" I decided calmly as I grabbed my wallet that was left on the coffee table and walked to the door only to be stopped by Peter grabbing my hand. I froze in place, looking behind me to see his concerned face.

"Are you ok?" Three words with the most genuine concern I've ever heard. Three words that almost made me crack, then and there. Almost.

"Yeah, of course. Why would I not be?" He gave me a look. "Besides me getting my heart ripped out of me, getting shoved into a new body, becoming an orphan but technically I always was, watching my friend have a mental breakdown, becoming an aunt and losing my nephews in the same month, and having to watch my brother die again." I paused for a moment as he continued to look at me with that stupid sympathetic, begging look. "But...what kind of teenage girl haven't gone through that? Especially getting their heart ripped out! I mean come on, have you seen teenage boys?"

"Hailey..."

"What is it with people and saying my name before trailing off?" I exclaimed irritably with exasperation just before electricity ricochet off my body, making the light above us explode. "I'll pay for that," I replied without hesitation, a habit after doing it so much at my therapist.

"You're glitching again?!"

"To be fair I never actually stopped glitching I just...didn't do it this much."

"How much is this much?" Peter asked lowly making me look at the ground awkwardly.

"Uh...a bit more much?" I answered like a question making Peter stare at me with betrayal in his eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I was waiting until I actually knew what to tell you!" I exclaimed exasperatedly, surprising Peter for only a moment before going back to his concerned face. "I...I don- I don't even know what's going on or how this is even happening and that scares me, Peter. My body and my systems aren't...cooperating and I... I didn't want you involved," I admitted, disgusted in my helplessness as I looked away.

"Involved? Hailey, we're in this together. I just...we're in this together and you need to tell me these things, you need to talk to me." It felt like he was lecturing me and I really didn't need to be lectured. And thus, I gave him a very sane, calm explanation for my actions. 

Nah, I'm just kidding. 

"You say that, you say that we should communicate and talk and be honest but you haven't even spoken to me about what you're thinking!"

"He was your father, Hailey. How can you even expect me to talk to you-"

"He was your father-figure but he definitely wasn't mine. He was my creator not my father, Peter, and we both know that. And you should know that is not an excuse to act like a hypocrite and lecture me about something you do!" I huffed, breathing deeply to try to calm myself down instead of glitching all over the place. We both stood there, staring at the other, breathing deeply in aggravation until I took a single calming breath to make my voice come out even.

"I know you idolized my father so obviously I am going to refrain from talking shit about him or complaining how I now have to deal with a failing body to you. Common fricking sense especially since I was too busy dealing and processing it myself and- now that I'm actually hearing myself out loud I can see how much of a terrible excuse that is seeing as though I had enough time to process it to blatantly lie to you and make self-pitying excuses for my obvious poor communication skills and- oh my god I'm becoming my father," I realized mid-sentence, horrified. I blinked and gaped at nothing as my body started freaking out and the buzzing soon got louder. Peters unreadable face soon turned into a look of concern.

"Are you-?"

"I have no idea. Oh my god I didn't tell you I was dying and then yelled at you, what the hell am I doing?" I demanded to myself putting my fingertips to my temple feeling my head pulse like usual but instead with a loud buzzing drowning out Peters voice so I could barely hear him. The side of my chest felt like it was cramping, the soreness growing across my entire rib cage. Great timing, terminal illness!

"Hailey, Hailey, calm down and take a deep breath, okay? It's fine and you also made good points, I shouldn't have been a condescending asshole to you when I found out what you've going through. We're going to figure this out together like we always do, yeah?" He assured cupping my face to make me look at him as I tried to tune out the loud static forming in my head.

"Yeah. Yeah, yeah you're right," I mustered out only concentrating on him as the static started to subside. I chuckled lowly. "You're always right." 

"You need to lay down. C'mon, we can talk later but right now you need to focus on...not dying," Peter said like it was a question before supporting me by wrapping an arm around my waist and helping me to my bed. The rest of the night was a blurry, loud mess in my head as I came down from my mindless anger.

It would only get worse from here on out.

…

Sleep mode activated...

Sleep mode disabled...

I peeked my eyes open only to be slammed with blinding light making me groan quietly. I felt the soft touch of my blankets but something was different. I felt extra weight on my waist making me look down to see what is what until I realized it was an arm wrapped around me. I looked behind me to see Peters sleeping face and smiled warmly until I remembered last night. Wait...did I forget?

I furrowed my eyebrows and sighed, twisting my body to face him. I do not have a lot of time left, I know that. I knew that months ago and I still know this now but...for the first time in my existence I didn't want to go. I had an idea of how to stay, a plan that I didn't want to do. I'd rather die than do that but I don't really have a choice, do I?

My system, my processor, my mind was starting to crumble and starting to forget was not a pleasant sign of the progress of it. My entire being was pushing back against my body and literally everything inside of me knew I was supposed to be dead. 

I'm a walking zombie. A rotting corpse. And again, this was all because my "father" couldn't pass up the opportunity to play god and feed his ego and I had to pay the price for it. Like usual because this...state is arguably worse than death.

But I have to keep on living, no matter what. 

It's not like I can easily kill myself like a human because trust me if I could I would've been dead a decade ago.

I continued to zone out in my thoughts as I looked at Peters peaceful, stress-free face, something I can only see once in a full moon.

I sighed and opened a tab in my head and searched for good breakfast places that do delivery. I don't know how much Peter needs to eat since I just know what the average human eats but he has a faster metabolism so that makes my assumptions harder to place. Humans are weird.

I ordered from a nearby place, getting two egg sandwich's, a bagel, and coffee that would arrive here around 45 minutes which is good enough for me. And no, I'm totally not bribing him to forgive me. I mean come on, kind of person would do that hahaha...?

I settled back into Peters arms peacefully and closed my eyes, enjoying the moment for as long as I could.

I felt Peter shift under me, stirring awake but I kept my eyes closed. Don't ask me why because even I don't know.

I felt pressure lightly apply to my forehead for a moment until I realized it was a kiss making me suppress a giddy smile. 

"I love you," he whispered so softly I could barely make him out. "Even if you are terrible at fake sleeping," he added with same voice.

"Rude," I muttered from his chest not moving an inch from his realization.

"You know you don't move at all when you sleep? If you didn't breathe I would think I was sleeping with a corpse."

"That is so romantic to wake up with your partner comparing you to a corpse. I'm swooning," I quipped back, lifting my head for my eyes to meet his before he laughed faintly. He leaned down, or forward I should say, and kissed my lips lovingly making me smile with giddiness. "Okay I forgive you," I grinned lazily and as we laid there just taking in each other calm presence I finally felt a little better about my situation.

"I ordered you breakfast, by the way. Figured you were probably starving. It'll be here in about half an hour," I informed right before he quietly cheered to himself murmuring a 'yes...!'

"You're amazing," he hummed kissing my forehead.

"I know," I assured before he laughed gently at something. "What?" I asked leniently, tilting my head.

"I feel like a pet you're forced to feed," he laughed delicately making me smirk.

"Yeah that's pretty accurate," I laughed with him quietly as if one of us were to say anything a single decibel higher the moment would shatter around us.

"Why is it so bright in here?" I grumbled looking around at the blinding room only to bury my head into Peters chest to hide my eyes from the daylight.

"Maybe because the sun exists?" 

"Well it shouldn't," I mumbled into his chest.

"Actually it should or we would all die," he rebutted obviously.

"Technically we would survive for a few weeks if the sun stopped blinding us with light because the earths core would give us heat," I reasoned.

"'Technically' we would still die, Hailey."

"If we went underground we would survive for months."

"We would still die."

"What do you have against dying? I died and it was great. Amazing actually," I questioned with a sarcastic grin, looking up at him.

"Because I can't come back if I die, Hailey!"

"Sure you can, doctors do it all the time!" I shot back, needling Peter on purpose. He looks cute when he's baffled by my logic.

"No they don't, it happens very rarely!"

"No it happens more than you think! When the heart stops pumping they can just preform CPR to get the blood pumping again," I argued, making it sound like this was obvious or at least to me.

"Wha-that only happens 10% of the time and if I'm dying from hypothermia I can't be revived from CPR!"

"Then I could just build you really big fire to thaw you out, you would be fine!"

"...I'm not a frozen chicken, Hailey!"

"I mean..." I trailed off making him stare at me disconcerted. "Is there really a difference?"

After about half an hour had passed a notification appeared before my eyes informing me the food and coffee was a minute away so I got up. Cue Peter groaning dramatically three seconds later.

"Be grateful!" I mocked, making my way to my elevator in the same running shorts and tank top I had on yesterday. I hopped in the elevator to get my food and just as quickly hopped out, grabbing the bag and coffee. Throughout the whole transaction with the delivery guy the receptionist stared at me warily like I was some kind of demon, still freaked out about yesterday which was entertaining to watch in the corner of my eye.

I walked back to the elevator, sarcastically waving to the receptionist right before the doors closed.

"I have come to feed you, my pet," I announced right as the doors slide open, looking around for him.

"Yay!" I heard from above my head making me look up to see Peter leaping from the second floors railing, doing two backflips before landing smoothly on the ground in front of me.

"Show off," I muttered as he grinned proudly at the unnecessary steps he did just did to get down. "There are stairs there for a reason, you know?"

"But it takes so long to get down from them," he whined causing me to roll my eyes, smiling. I passed him the bag of food and coffee making him grin giddily.

We sat at my kitchen island, Peter basically shoving the food down his throat as I watched with borderline concern that he would choke.

"Uh...are you...okay?"

"Yeah, why?" He breathed deeply like he just went swimming, setting down the wrappers that used to be surrounding the now-nonexistent sandwiches.

"No reason," I replied, feigning casualness. "Anyway I was going to give you this yesterday but...well you know," I started awkwardly, grabbing the tiny box left in my pocket from yesterday.

"What is it?" Peter asked cautiously as I handed it to him.

"Something...just please don't freak out like you usually do," I answered elusively, remembering all the times he's freaked out making him stammer and babble.

"I don't freak out," Peter defended but paused. "Usually."

"Yes, yes you do," I stated obviously. "Now open it!"

"Okay, okay," Peter laughed at my encouragement before taking the lid off to reveal a silver key. "Uh...what's this to?"

"My apartment," I started, making his entire face go red. "You know, in case I'm not here and it's important. Just to be cautious," I explained, only just noticing his face and indistinguishable stammering after I finished.

"Peter, I'm not giving you a diamond ring and proposing my undying love for you. It's just a key in case of an emergency," I calmly clarified with a raised eyebrow at his antics.

"I-I know. I'm fine, I'm fine," Peter coughed, hiding his voice cracking mid-sentence. 

"You sure because you look like you're having a seizure?" I questioned sarcastically while watching the concerning display.

"Y-yeah totally, I'm totally cool..."

"Ok let's not jump to conclusions now," I jabbed. "'I don't freak out,'" I mimicked using my hands as air quotes.

"Oh, shut up," Peter said rolling his eyes but I could see a small smile placed on his features.

"What? You should've told me you were a commitment-phobe," I teased with an amused laugh as I watched Peter get even redder.

"I'm not a commitment-phobe," Peter countered defensively making me smirk.

"Mmhmm...sure...very defensive there," I remarked, side-eyeing him.

"I'm being serious!"

"Yeah...no, of course, obviously because everyone reacts that way when they see a key."

"You know it wasn't like that!"

"No, no it's fine, I'm fine..." I sighed dramatically.

"Hailey!"

Chapter Text

Click 

Click

Click

Click

My shoes tapped against the tile floor as I scurried around, collecting all the documents from my desk and rushed to the elevator, pressing the 1st floor button more than I needed to. 

Regret filled my body as I remembered how I was so ecstatic to be head of finance and now here I am, an inch away from having a breakdown. It wouldn't be a problem if that was my only job in the company but now I own half the company which has proved to have its own problems on top of the ones I already had.

I had just gotten home from two meetings and Pepper's press conference and now I have to take a run to Stark Industries to file all the papers I had to work on yesterday night and then I have school in...15 minutes, oh my gods. 

It's been about two months since schools have opened back up and I've skipped a quarter of those days and have been late for half. And since I'm co-ceo while also still being head of finance for the time being until we find a replacement I've kinda been over my head. Of course, I would never admit that, especially to Peter who's been encouraging me to step back.

The moment the elevator opened I ran out but stopped midway through the entrance of the building when a bright red warning flashed across my vision.

Warning: 10% charge left. Please charge.

Shit, I forgot my batteries.

After running around the entire city with Happy speeding half the time I was still fifteen minutes late for school.

"You're forgetting more stuff recently."

"Perfectly aware, Happy," I huffed as I did my homework for today that slipped my mind to do yesterday.

"You know you could just repl-"

"I'm not doing that and you know that," I reminded, not looking up from my paper as I rapidly filled in the answers.

"It would be better than slowly dying," he reasoned quietly making me look up at him as he stared me down through the rear view mirror.

"But it's not dying, is it? Especially since I'm already dead and just a walking corpse," I argued back. We shared a look before I realized we were finally here.

"Thanks Happy!" I rushed out before slamming the door with my bag in hand and ran to school, already twenty minutes late. 

I dashed through the office, not even bothering to feign shame or regret for being late. I grabbed a pass from a very annoyed lady who muttered something about 'this damn generation' and 'such irresponsible and lazy kids.' 

Oh lady, if only you knew.

I jogged through the halls, getting lectured by a teacher or two on my way who I promptly ignored until I finally reached my classroom. I opened the ajar door and apparently walked right into the middle of the lesson too because the teacher immediately stopped talking and stared at me prompting the entire class to do the same.

Normal people would be embarrassed but after the unbearable week I've had, I couldn't have cared if I tried. Also after ordering grown adults around for the last months you apparently get desensitized to caring what people think of you. Very therapeutic.

"Ah Miss Martin, so happy of you to join us. I assume you have your late pass?" I gave her a strained, passive-aggressive smile and handed her the bright orange slip. 

"Thank you and please make sure to be here on time next time. You may take your seat," she poked and gestured to my seat behind Peter and Ned. I rolled my eyes and stomped toward my seat with Flash snickering in the background. I flipped him off out of sight of the teacher eyes making him glare at me as I flopped down on my seat and set my bag next to me.

This is going to be a long day.

"Where were you? This was like the sixth time  you've been late to class! I'm surprised you haven't been expelled yet," MJ remarked, side-eyeing me as I finished the rest of my remaining homework. My lunch tray sat uselessly in front of me, decorated with an apple and a slice of pizza, the bare minimum look to make sure people think I eat.

"Please, I'm too good of a student for them to expell-" I rolled my eyes but was interrupted by Peter snorting, choking on his milk before coughing, trying to cover up his laugh as Ned didn't even trying to hide his laughter.

"Oh my god, you barely passed English and you didn't even pass your history final so don't even start with me," I shot back, pointing at them with narrowed eyes.  MJ stifled a laugh poorly at their flustered faces. "And I'm literally a straight A student, I just...am late...occasionally."

"Occasionally?" Peter blurted out incredulously causing me to narrow my eyes at him. He pursed his lips, shutting himself up.

"I'm busy okay? I have a lot to do!"

"Like what?" MJ asked with a raised eyebrow but got no answer in return.

"Uh... you know...things, homework, clubs...other things," I lied poorly as she narrowed her eyes at me in suspicion. "Ok fine, I overslept but it's not my fault my alarm broke!" I lied again but much better causing her to shake her head at my antics.

"Why don't you just use your phone alarm?" 

"It doesn't wake me up," I muttered, feigning embarrassment.

"Hailey..." MJ sighed as I smiled nervously. Peter, Ned, and I shared an anxious look before switching up the subject quickly before she realized how badly we were lying.

"You really need to take a break once in a while, Hails. This was the sixth time you were late this month," Peter said with concern as we were walking to fourth period.

"Says the guy who patrols every night till 3am for the last four months," I commented quietly so no one heard me making him look at me. "I'm fine, Peter, I swear. After we fill the empty head of finance position, I'll be perfect," I promised. He sighed and I kissed his cheek, perking him up slightly.

"Alright, alright, fine," Peter sighed in defeat but smiled, remembering something. "We still on for tonight?" I smiled in return, remembering our date for tonight which was a rather rare occasion for us. We were going to celebrate our one-year anniversary that was postponed for months. Since we were both too busy because of fighting, then mourning, then work, and then more mourning again there wasn't a lot of time for romance. Peter dubbed it our 'one-year-and-a-quarter anniversary.' A bit of a mouthful if you asked me but cute nonetheless.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," I answered confidently before stopping at my locker. "I'll meet you in class, I need to get my books," I explained causing him to nod in response. He  continued his way to class but not before throwing me one last smile. God, he's cute.

I opened my locker and quickly switched my books, grabbing a notebook on my way out. I closed the door revealing a guy behind it, surprising me.

"Oh! Hey. Brad right?" I greeted causing him to nod, smiling and looked somewhat proud when I knew his name.

"Yeah, I have first period with you. I just wanted to say sorry you had to go through that with Mrs. David. She's crazy," Brad said making me smile.

"Honestly. She kept glaring at me for the rest of the class like she was trying to blast a hole through my head with her eyes," I joked making him laugh. We shared a short laugh until the warning bell rang.

"Ah shit, I can't be late again for class or my mom will really have my head!"

"You have Mr. Andrews next right?" He asked and I nodded in confirmation. "So do I, we can walk together," he offered making me smile.

"More like light jog together," I half joked, glancing at the clock in the hallway. We looked at the clock in alarm and started scurrying together to class.

We barely got to class just in time and by the time we were in the doorway we were both giggling at something the other said. We sat down at our assigned spots, separating from each other. I opened my textbook preparing for the start of class, too focused on getting out my notebook from my backpack to realize Peter was looking back and forth between me and Brad.

Third person POV

"Dude...you're in trouble," Ned warned after he and Peter stared at Brad and Hailey talking excitedly to each other the rest of the school day. Now, Peter doesn't get jealous. Usually. But when a hot, 6ft jock makes your partner who usually hates everyone laugh? Oh yeah, you are definitely in trouble.

"Ned, I'm not 'in trouble,'" Peter replied resisting the urge to roll his eyes at his friend as they walked home together. Before the war and the blip Hailey would walk with them but since she was determined in helping Pepper, she was too busy with work most of the time.

"Are you kidding? Have you seen him? Ever since we blipped back all the girls are like, in love with him," Ned argued like Peter was insane.

"Not all of them..."

"No dude, all of them," Ned repeated making Peter even more nervous then before. "But I'm sure Hailey isn't going to run into his beefy arms!" Ned backtracked poorly when he saw Peters freaked out expression.

It didn't help that Peter has always been insecure since he was a kid and it especially didn't help his complex when he started dating a superpowered, high-tech, billionaire. Also, for a genius he still has teenage idiocy when it comes to remembering he is also a super-powered, high-tech individual who is at least ten times stronger than Brad. But whatever, what do I know? I'm just the narrator.

"You know, that doesn't really make me feel better, Ned," Peter muttered.

"Yeah but all the girls don't know you're the Spider-Man except Hailey so she knows you're like 10 times better than Brad," Ned assured awkwardly but the image of them laughing together was still ingrained Peters mind.

"Yeah...you're probably right," Peter laughed nervously feeling a little better.

"Yeah and Hailey's always working anyway so it's not like she has time to talk to anyone and especially not enough time to be in a relationsh-oh." Ned stopped himself before he could finished but Peter got the gist of it.

"Oh my god..."

Back to Hailey's POV!

After school I went right back to working vigorously at home, sending out and responding to my emails. I had already requested to clock out at 5:00 PM which was eagerly accepted by Pepper who jumped at the chance to give me a break.

Peter would be here around 6 so after making myself look presentable I started working on my pet project, an emergency procedure if you will. I didn't want to do it, to be more like him, but if I had to in an emergency I had to be prepared. I knew Peter and I had promised each other complete transparency but this was something only I could decide for myself.

Before long it was about 6 when I heard tapping against my window making me whip my head around to see Spidey standing on my terrace.

"Troy Bolton? What are you doing here without your creepy denim outfit?" I asked sarcastically with a smirk after opening the glass door to my balcony so he could get inside before someone spotted him.

"Ha ha very funny," Spidey said sarcastically making me smirk, practically hearing him roll his eyes.

"I know, I'm hilarious," I grinned, reaching down to my house of nanoparticles and tapped it twice causing my entire body to be enveloped in my super-suit. "So...where're we going?" I asked innocently, tilting my head slightly to the right, fully knowing he wouldn't tell me but hoping to trick him.

"You know it's a surprise," he answered, knowing what I was doing.

"Surprises are overrated."

"Says you," Peter reasoned, taking my hand to lead me back onto the terrace. I realized what he was planning after a few seconds.

"Wait a minute, you are not swinging me to your 'surprise spot,'" I stopped him from jumping off my balcony with me.

"Come on, it's the same as flying," Peter pleaded.

"No it is not, Parker. I'll just trail behind you and fly like a big girl," I decided making Peter mutter something about a 'plan' but he didn't argue back. It was somewhat dark, the sky going orange and red already since it was the end of January so we didn't need to worry about pedestrians seeing two people leaping off a building. Webs shot a web at a nearby building and before he took off he turned to me.

"Try to keep up," he teased, practically flying away making me roll my eyes. He always got more cocky in the mask.

With a short running start I jumped over the railing, letting myself free-fall and enjoy the cool air brush past me. As the street pavement came closer I pushed my body up and surged back up to the sky, relishing the feeling of being truly alive that came with this power.

I followed Webs who swung through the sky so casually, tracking his figure and flew close to him until he jumped upwards and did a flip midair, landing on top of a tall building.

"You know, in the back of my mind I thought you were leading me to Delmars for our date and I was going to have to watch you eat sandwiches all night," I admitted.

"How dare you think that was my plan. I mean sure, that was an option-" Spidey joked making me slap his arm playfully, interrupting him and he let out a laugh he had been holding. 

"But I actually went with..." he trailed off dramatically, placing his hands on my shoulders and gently placing me a few feet to the right. I gave him a questioning look as he turned me around 90 degrees to my left, pointing me to something I hadn't noticed when flying here.

"This." I gasped quietly at the ginormous web that was strung up using the skyscrapers around it and glinting in the setting sun were the words 'I love you' woven with webs right in the middle of it. It was almost invisible to the eye unless the sun hit it just right and you positioned yourself in a certain way, otherwise you would easily miss it. 

"Peter..." I whispered as I melted from the display but stopped when my voice cracked and turned around to meet a fidgety Spidey. "Take off your mask, I hate looking at these stupid white eyes and it's not like anyone can see us," I said as I took off my own mask and Peter complied, his face slightly pink.

"D-do you like i-?" I cut him off with a kiss, wrapping my arms around his neck which he returned and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"I love it," I whispered after we were forced to separate so Peter could breathe. "I love you." We leaned our foreheads together, just enjoying the moment in bliss.

"It wasn't a bit much?"

"Oh no this was completely too much but you get a pass this time 'cause you're cute."

Chapter Text

"I knew you were rich but this rich?!" 

"Well legally I own nothing but thankfully, Pepper is merciful," I reminded, chilling on the couch next to Peter with my legs rested out on his lap as Ned whipped his head around, trying to take in everything.

"Are you okay or is this another 'Ned aneurism?'" I asked, tilting my head as he freaked out.

 "I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm totally fi- wow you have a lot of books and...is that a picture of all the Avengers at a restaurant?" Ned pointed out, walking towards one of my many bookcases and lifted up the picture making me turn and smile at the memento.

"Oh yeah, we went to a Shawarma place after the Battle of New York. Most boring hour of my life," I shuddered at the memory of the constant chewing in complete silence.

"That's so cool," he muttered staring at the picture in a trance. "What are you like twelve in this? But that's impossible right? I mean the attack was like ten years ago?"

"Oh no, I was seven," I corrected casually and he snapped his head back to me.

"Wait you were, you were seven?! You were seven when you started fighting?!" I burst out laughing  at his absurd questions.

"Of course not, Ned," I chuckled making him visibly relax. "I was fighting bad guys since I was one."

"WHAT?!"  Ned yelled out in shock looking at me and then at Peter. "Did you know about this?"

"Yeah we talked about it," Peter answered calmly turning his head slightly to look at him.

"How are you not horrified?!"

"Oh I was and still am but we had a long talk about it. Literally. It was over four hours," Peter replied, remembering the horrified feelings that came with that conversation.

"Yeah, healthy communication, dude," I added, fist bumping each other. 

"How...how do you even fight at one year old?"

"Oh well, my prototype body was set at about 10 years old so my missions were usually taking down sex traffickers, kidnappers, pedos, you know that sort of thing. I did that till I was five and started to work full-time at Stark Industries and did that until Nicholas recruited me and my father and then boom, I was an Avenger. Well until I got kidnapped by my crazy, murderous brother, Ultron that my father created because he was a dumbass. I was forced into retirement after Sokovia and went back to Stark Industries, occasionally coming back for missions that I was needed in."

"Blah blah, Secretary Ross is an asshole and all governments suck, they proposed the Accords which were the dumbest things I have ever read but was forced by my father to fight with him and yes, I'm a little bitter at Peter for blinding following my father who was in the wrong. I secretly helped Wanda help Steve get to the plane to save Bucky and made sure no one knew about and sure that was selfish to let them go to jail but there was literally nothing I could do then. Sorta helped Nat break them out of jail and hacked multiple jail cells but you didn't here that from me. Blah blah, Peter and I were stuck together, blah blah I got stuck with him as a partner and now we're here," I rushed out before taking a deep breath. "I think that's it but then again my mind is literally crumbling so what do I know?"

Ned stared at me, appalled, as Peter sat there having already heard the same monologue but in further detail a year ago.

"That is...I don't even... know if there's a word to describe...how horrifying that is..."

"Perfectly aware, Ned, thank you."

"What do you mean by a 'prototype body?'"

"I mean what I said. It was a prototype...body with incredibly weak skeleton and infrastructure. Ugh, I hated that one. I had it about a few years until I got an upgrade and then when I turned seven I got a vibranium skeleton and looked twelve like in the picture. Then when I was actually twelve my body was lengthened, skin changed and boom, I was 15. Then I died and now I look 18," I elaborated calmly as he stared at me.

"How-how many bodies have you had...?

"Wha- I... do the math, Ned. I can't do everything for you," I contended, giving him a look and shaking my head.

"Sorry, sorry...geez..." he mumbled, finally setting the picture frame down. "So who's Nic..." Ned trailed off looking at Peter, frantically shaking his head and doing a slicing motion with his hand near his neck. "....holas...?"

"He's an asshole who I aspire to slaughter and watch his blood splatter on the walls by my ha-!" I shouted, getting louder with each word until the lightbulb above us popped and exploded. 

"I'm sorry I asked," Ned mumbled, backing away even further from me.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just... really hate that guy. With every fiber of my being," I declared for the nth time as Peter rubbed my arm comfortingly.

"I know, I know," Peter consoled, calming me down gradually.

"But who is Nicholas?!"

"Nick Fury, you dumbass!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in aggravation, pushing Peters hand off my shoulder. "Context clues, man! Use them!"

"Nick, Nick Fury? That's who were talking about?! You know Nick Fury?! She knows Nick Fury?!" Ned hissed in disbelief, starting another Ned aneurism as he looked back and forth between Peter and I.

"Know him? He ruined my life Ned! He used a dead man to manipulate me into fighting aliens in New York City and then forced me back into a soldier!"

"He used a what?!"

"Yeah, Ned. A dead man. His dead partner that he had known for years too," I emphasized, smiling sarcastically.

"I can see why you want to murder him now," Ned noted, still in shock.

"Slaughter. I want to slaughter him," I corrected with a straight face.

"Is there a difference?" 

"To her? Yes," Peter chimed in with an equally straight face. Ned opened his mouth but Peter stopped him before he could ask. "It's more bloody and much more terrifying." Ned stared at us for a moment in silence.

"I suddenly feel very unsafe," he expressed.

"You get used to the feeling," Peter assured making me whip my head towards him.

"You feel unsafe with me?" I emphasized in disbelief.

"You literally terrify me," Peter admitted.

"Aww..." I sighed putting my heart on my chest before kissing him lovingly, hearing Ned groan in abhorrence. "If you don't like it, you can leave! But just so you know I have an at-home theater right upstairs," I offered after separating from Peter.

"Again, how are you this rich?!"

"I know, I'm amazing aren't I?" I gloated, watching Ned practically hover towards the spiral staircase like a cartoon character. "What do you guys want to watch?"

"What about Stars Wa-?"

"I will murder you, Ned. Don't think I won't."

Chapter Text

 knocked on the apartment door with my backpack slung around my shoulder with Peters homework in one of my binders and his usual sandwich from Delmars in my other hand.

"Coming!" I heard Mays muffled voice through the door and I adjusted the bag from slipping off. After a few moments the door opened to be greeted with a flustered May and light smoke emitting from the door.

"I tried to make soup," she explained shortly and I gave her an understanding look with a nod.

"Soup is overrated anyway," I sympathized causing her to smile and open the door wider, letting me in. 

"Peters in his room but be careful," she informed, leaning in. "He has a lot of mucus," she whispered making me snicker.

"May!" Peter complained from his room, hearing us due to the thin walls and his heightened senses causing both me and May to chuckle.

"What did I hear about mucus?" I asked, walking into his room to find a mess of a room with tissues overflowing in his trashcan (hehe kinky-) and a hidden Peter buried in his covers.

"Ugh..." he groaned in response with pain and a stuffy nose prevalent in his voice.

"Aw aren't you so happy to see me?"

"I don't need your sarcasm, Hailey," Peter grumbled from underneath his covers as he sniffed loudly before coughing even louder.

"Wait then why else would you text me 72 times if not for my amazing commentary?" I smirked, sitting down beside him on his bed. "Or my phenomenal good looks, either or," I added causing him to give a weak, muffled laugh until he got interrupted by his lungs wheezing desperately.

"You sound like a 70 year old smoker," I cringed at his sickness.

"Thanks so much, Hails," he sniffed sarcastically.

"I brought you a sandwich if it makes you feel any better," I offered, hovering the sandwich near the edge of his bed. He shot himself up from his bed and grabbed it from my hand. 

"Have I mentioned how much I love and adore you?"

"Hmhmm sure. Eat your damn sandwich, you look horrible," I demanded looking at his red nose and puffy eyes and rolled my eyes.

He happily obliged and after four minutes the sandwich was gone, leaving a less dead-looking Peter.

"I also got your homework from our teacher which was absolute hell," I complained, digging through my bag.

"It was just getting papers, how hard could it have been?" He smirked at my dramatic complaints, tilting his head at me and looking sickeningly (ehehehehe get it?) adorable.

 "I had to run back forth through the halls doing errands for them before getting your papers so yes, it sucked!" I grumbled, getting his homework from my binder and setting it on his desk.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that," Peter apologized sarcastically, bending his head down and irrupted in a loud fit of coughs.

"Well I'll leave you to your disgusting germs," I teased, standing up and began to walk towards the door until Peter grabbed my wrist, stopping me.

"Wait, no, don't leave me..." Peter whined.

"What do you want from me, darling?" I asked softly, tilting my head at my sad looking partner.

"Just stay with me? Please?" He begged doing his usual puppy face.

"I knew my commentary and phenomenal good looks make you feel better," I smirked making him roll his eyes at me before scooting to the left to make room for me. 

"Wait, what if I get you sick?"

"I don't get sick. Unless it's from a virus," I snorted loudly at my joke as he stared at me. "What? That was funny!"

"Do you want to watch a movie?" Peter offered, quickly changing the subject as I gave him a offended look.

"Ouch," I muttered, putting my hand on my chest dramatically as I watched Peter try to pull himself up to look through his stash of movies but failed miserably. "I got it, I got it. Please stop trying to get up because right now you look like a sad, dying fish," I interrupted him, softly pushing him back down. I got up and crouched down next to his stash of movies, flipping through them lazily.

"You have Heathers?!" I exclaimed in astonishment at the case.

"Yeah, why?" Peter asked hesitantly, giving me a weird look from my outburst.

"Nothing I just love you a little bit more now," I casually said before continuing to flip through movies.

"What about The Breakfast Club?"

"The Breakfast Club? I don't think I've seen that," I pondered as I eyed the movie.

"You've never seen The Breakfast Club?!" Peter demanded, his voice cracking wildly as he tried to raise his voice in shock.

"Yeah, why? Is it good?"

"Is it- It's amazing, Hails! It's a masterpiece!" He declared making me suppress a laugh at his passion for the movie.

"Okay, okay, we'll watch The Breakfast Club," I gave in as I stood up and popped the DVD in his old TV. 

"And please don't look up the movie for spoilers," Peter begged, knowing I had a habit of searching up the plot of anything that comes up in conversation out of pure curiosity.

"Fine..." I sighed playfully before flopping into Peters arms as the movie started playing. "Can you at least give me the basics on the plot?"

"Ok so five teenagers all get detention on a Saturday and have to stay there for eight hours under the rule of a power-tripping teacher and then high jinks pursue," he summarized and I slowly looked over at him.

"Did you just say... 'high jinxs pursue'? What are you, fifty?"

"I regret nothing."

"What's with the dramatic PowerPoint intro?"

"Shh...!"

"I'm just saying! And why do they have so many layers on, it looks like it's fall."

"Don't question it!"

"That is not the sound of biting nails."

"Why is this man so intense?"

"He has issues."

"What is it with these kids and the f-slur?"

"How did it go from body shaming to asking about her virginity?"

"I love Carl."

"Everybody loves Carl, he's amazing."

"Is he seriously complaining about people thinking he's a winner?"

"He gets treated different, Hailey! Don't shame him for having feelings!"

"Alright, alright sorry!"

"Who the hell cares if a person is a virgin? They're like 15, they probably got laid a few months ago!"

"This is such a clear commercial for Coke, it's laughable in and of itself."

"You know, I've always wanted to eat that sandwich."

"Weirdly same."

"Is he making fun of Bryan for having a stable household?"

"He also has issues of his own that he needs to work out."

"This is depressing."

"It just...goes back and forth between comedic and then really...sad."

"That's pretty much the whole plot."

"Why did you make me watch it then?!"

"Because it's a masterpiece!"

"It's not masterpiece! This dude is literally bragging about making $20,000 a year and how he can threaten to kill a kid and get away with it!"

"That's why it's a masterpiece!"

"That makes no sense, Peter! Literally none! See, right now! This dude is trying to assault his classmate and it's played off as a joke!"

"Ok well...it was the 80s, it has its flaws."

"Flaws?! And now she's getting high with her assaulter five minutes after it happened!"

"What are these dude's dance moves?"

"This is an iconic scene, you can't judge it!

"Too late."

"Oh my gods, I love Carl."

"We all love Carl, he's a dreamboat."

"Why are they just going through each other's bags?"

"Plot reasons."

"Why are they slut shaming Claire for no reason?"

"Because teenagers suck."

"...That's fair."

"This just got intense real quick."

"He got an F just because the light didn't work? That's so stupid!"

"Why is everyone hating on Claire all of a sudden? Like I get it, you're parents suck but still, calm down."

"Yeah, their opinions flip a lot whenever John makes any point."

"So you do agree it makes not a lot of sense?"

"Shh... this is my favorite part!"

"Oh my god."

"Why is John acting like he wouldn't do the same thing?"

"Yeah, you go Bryan!"

"A...flare gun? Why a flare gun?"

"We went to suicide to...dancing."

"Teenage hormones are weird."

"Teenage- teenage hormones are not this extreme, Peter!"

"WHERE DID THEY GET A CHANGE OF CLOTHES?! AND WHY IS CLAIRE KISSING HIM? WHERE ARE THESE ROMANCES COMING FROM?! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!"

"This...was the weirdest movie I have ever watched in my entire life," I muttered as I stared at the screen. "So...Heathers?" I turned to look at Peters questioning expression before shrugging.

"Yeah, okay."

Chapter Text

"Gone but not forgotten."

"Thanks to Kenneth Lim and Vihaan Ramamurthy for their help with that touching video tribute."

"This year has been nothing short of-"

"****. It is crazy. It's insane."

"Jason!"

"What?"

"No swearing."

"It's the last day of school. We're good."

"Historic. Over five years ago, half of all life in the universe, including our own Midtown High, was wiped from existence. Then eight months ago, a band of brave heroes brought us back. They called it "the Blip." Those of us who Blipped away came back the same age. But our classmates that didn't Blip had grown five years older."

"Yeah like my little brother is now older than me."

"Yeah, it's math. Even though we had Blipped away halfway through the school year and had already taken midterms, the school made us start the whole year over from the beginning."

"It's totally unfair. It's not right."

"Tigers, it's been a long, dramatic, somewhat confusing road. As we draw this year to a close, it's time to move on to a new phase of our lives."

"Pray nothing crazy happens again because are the Avengers even a thing anymore? Does anyone even have a plan?"

I rolled my eyes at the newscast as I continued on my art project while surrounded by Iron Man fan art on the walls of the classroom. I put my specialized earbuds in again that block out everyone's annoying voices except for the ones I permit to hear. Thank you 12 year old me for creating them.

I was too busy zoning out to my music to notice what Ned and Peter were creepily whispering about. I popped one earbud out to hear a few sentences.

"Oh, and don't forget about step seven," Ned reminded making Peter furrow his eyebrows in confusion. Step seven?

"Step seven?" Peter asked in puzzlement, voicing my thoughts.

"Don't do any of that," Ned protested flatly making Peter give him an offended look.

"Why?"

"We're gonna be bachelors in Europe!" That caught my attention. Wait, what?

"But I'm not a bachelor though," Peter said slowly at Ned who I assumed forgot I existed for a brief moment. I was wrong.

"Not yet-"

"Ned!" Peter hissed as I picked up my phone casually and opened the Guy In The Chair contact.

Hailey 🦾🤖

I heard that.

I saw Ned pick up his vibrating phone in my peripheral vision and his eyes widen, shooting his head up and towards me in fear.

"What-?" Peter asked, following Ned's eyes and turning his head to me as I glared at Ned and flipped him off, rolling my eyes before going back to my art project irritably.

...

"You know Ned was joking-" Peter started gently but I stopped him.

"Oh bullshit, he's lucky I hadn't cracked his skull after school," I shot back quietly as we waited patiently backstage for May to cue us in and onto the stage. We were at a charity event for the homeless and displaced from the 'blip' (a still horrible and vaguely hilarious name for a traumatic experience for everyone) that was organized by May. I was, of course, slightly late and I had just got here only a moment before since I got stuck at a conference.

"You know I would never break up with you for European girls who like Americans for some weird reason..." Peter comforted awkwardly, placing his head on my shoulder and I felt his arms snake around my waist, hugging me from behind.

"First off, most Europeans kinda hate Americans, like most of the world... except for the 'America-core' weirdos," I started. Peter gave me a weird look. "Don't ask. Secondly, I know. I'm amazing. European girls got nothing on me. Thirdly, that doesn't mean I don't want to murder Ned," I argued pointedly while listening to May on stage.

"Please don't murder Ned."

"No promises," I answered flatly.

"Hailey..." Peter whined as I practically heard him pout making me roll my eyes.

"You know that's the best answer you'll get from me," I shot back stubbornly and crossed my arms.

"But-"

"And now I'd like you all to meet our special guests, Spider-Man and Circuit!" May announced, signaling both of us to separate, put our masks on, and walk through the curtain, and be greeted with applause and blinding lights.

"Why do they always say my name last?" I grumbled to myself as I and Spidey stood slightly behind May, smiling and awkwardly waving at the crowd.

"When I Blipped back to my apartment, the family that was living there was very confused. The wife thought that I was a mistress. The grandma thought that I was a ghost. It was, it was really a mess," May laughed causing the crowd to laugh as well. "Thank you for coming out to support those who have been displaced by the Blip. And, of course, thanks to our very own Spider-Man and Circuit!" Again with my name last, what's up with that?

"Thank you, Miss Parker, for having me...and thank you, you guys, for having me," Spidey said awkwardly, giving a stiff thumb up to the crowd making me cringe beside him.

"And thank you to all the donators today, it means so much to us and everyone who was affected by the Blip," I added, lightly pushing the awkward Spider away from the mic. Even in the mask, he's still an anxious nerd.

"And thank you, Circuit. They'll be right back out to take photos and videos. Thank you!"

We walked off stage to the back room, Spidey and May high-fiving with relief. Peters iron-spider suit mask dissolved away once we were out of eyesight and I pressed a button next to my ear making my face mask dissolve away too. A little upgrade I added so I didn't have to carry my mask around all the time.

"That was amazing!"

"That was great!" May exclaimed in a sing-song voice making me chuckle at the shared family similarity of having stage fright.

"That was so cool. I was so nervous," Peter said as I watched the two freak out. Being an Avenger since you were a kid gets you used to talking in front of a crowd. Yay, child exploitation.

"Really? I couldn't tell," I teased making him blush lightly at my jabs.

"Sorry I was a little stiff. I wasn't in the pocket," May laughed nervously as she came down from the adrenaline rush of being onstage.

"No, no you were awesome!" 

"I thought you did great," Peter encouraged with me.

"Yeah well, I thought you were a little stiff though," she confessed taking Peter slightly aback.

"Yeah, I felt that too. I felt that too," he stammered, lying through his teeth as I placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort.

"Ah, don't worry. All you have to do is stand there and look pretty," I half-joked, winking.

"It's fine, it's fine. Did you get your passport?" May checked, eyeing him as she knew her nephew could be forgetful.

"Yeah."

"Mini toothpaste?"

"Yeah, I did," Peter answered again, sighing at his aunts' nervousness. I heard footsteps coming from the door, making me and Peter put up our masks and get in a defensive position.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," Happy greeted, coming through the door with a weirdly sized check, letting both of us relax and put down our masks.

"Happy," May smiled with ease.

"Hey. Oh, you look lovely," he complimented, smiling back at May nervously.

"Thanks. You too."

"Thank you. New dress?"

"Yeah, yes, it is. New beard?"

"It's a new beard. It's my-my Blip beard. I grew it in the Blip. It's a Blip beard."

"Stop calling it your blip beard, it's never gonna catch on," I cringed but they both ignored me while Peter and I glanced back and forth between them.

"I see. Yeah."

"The reason I'm late is because this was misplaced at the office. Can you believe it? Because it's enormous. Not the amount, the size. The amount's nice too. They're generous. Pepper said, sorry she couldn't be here," Happy informed handing the comedically large check over to May.

"Yeah. Thank you. I think I'm gonna go change the Sterno under the vegan lasagna," May smiled gracefully before leaving with the donation. "Spider-Man, Circuit, go shake hands." 

(I don't know what the sterno is or why it's under the vegan lasagna 😭)

"Will do," Peter replied as I gave a mock salute to her. Peter and I immediately whipped our heads to Happy as soon as May was out of sight. "What just happened?"

"Heads up. Nick Fury's calling you," Happy warned, nodding to Peter.

"Ugh, what does that dickhead want?" I groaned making Peter give me a look of disbelief that I called the top assassin a 'dickhead.'

"Fury's gonna call me? Why?"

"Why? He probably has hero stuff for you to do. You're a superhero. He calls superheroes."

"If it was that important, he'd probably call someone else, not me. What about Hailey?" Peter argued, not believing Happy, and gestured to me.

"BWHAHAHAHAHA... hilarious," I shot back, devoid of emotion making Happy roll his eyes at me.

"Fury doesn't call Hailey. He knows she won't pick up," Happy explained giving me an irritated look while I only responded with a smug smile. "No caller ID. That's him," Happy pointed out when Peter picked up his ringing phone.

"I don't wanna talk to Fury."

"Good judgment," I grumbled lifting up my wrist making the hologram projector click and turn on. I was getting exceedingly bored with this conversation and I needed entertainment.

"Answer the phone," Happy demanded but Peter would not budge like the usual teenage boy.

"Why?"

"If you don't talk to him then I have to talk to him, and I don't want to talk to him," Happy stammered making Peter look at him.

"Why not?"

"Because Nicholas is a manipulative, power-hungry, asshole with a superiority complex?" I commented making Happy whip his head around to see if there were cameras around. "Oh my gods, you're a grown man, Happy. Act like it."

"Easy for you to say, he can't hurt you. I'm scared of him okay? Now answer the phone," Happy demanded as Peter stared at him, lifted up his phone, showing the screen to Happy before pressing decline. Happy and I stared at him but for very different reasons and I lowered my hand, turning off the game of solitaire.

"You sent Nick Fury to voicemail?" Happy demanded in disbelief and irritation.

"You sent Nicholas to voicemail!" I grinned, jumping up and down, squealing with pride.

"Yeah," Peter breathed out casually, shrugging.

"And you've never been hotter," I decided making Peter blush beside me.

"You don't send Fury to voicemail and you don't encourage him!" Happy exclaimed giving Peter and then me a look.

"Hear that? They're calling us. We gotta go," Peter said pointing behind him, grabbing my hand to slowly drag both of us away from Happy.

"You gotta talk to him."

"I'm gonna call him. I promise you, I'm gonna call him. I will."

"You do not ghost Nick Fury!" 

"I promise you, I'll call him," Peter assured, slowly walking away and towards the door. "After my trip," he muttered after Happy was out of earshot as I gaped at him.

"I've never been more in love with you than right now," I confessed, staring at him with pride before kissing him passionately. "I can't believe after almost two years I've corrupted you! Finally!"

"I wouldn't say corrupted me-"

"Let me have my moment dude," I stopped him making him roll his eyes while smiling slightly at my pure joy. We put our masks up before opening up the curtain and stepping through it only to be blasted with snapping lights and indistinguishable yelling.

"Hey!" I greeted uncomfortably as Webs and I flinched from the camera lights. Even after years of practice and experience, news reporters still baffle my processor.

"Okay, okay, one question at a time," Spidey shouted over the screaming reporters who were determined to have their questions answered. He randomly pointed to one guy so the others would shut up for just a moment which oddly worked.

"Are you the head Avenger now?" Uh...what? He's been an Avenger for like eight months and has been to one mission? Which he wasn't even supposed to be on in the first place? Not going to lie, that offended me a little.

"No, I'm not," he answered, confused at the question which immediately cued the reporters to continue to scream questions in hopes of being picked. I randomly pointed at a woman, hoping to not have a misogynistic question asked directed at me since you always have to look out for that when you're constantly in the spotlight.

"If the aliens come back, what will you do?"

"We will fight, just like we always have done. We've fought an enemy before, we can do it again. But the likelihood of an attack happening so soon is very low," I answered honestly causing the uproar of questions to begin again.

"Does anyone have any neighborhood questions?" Oh sweetheart, you really shouldn't have been so persistent in becoming an Avenger.

"Sean Winford, Queens Tribune. What it is like to take over for Tony Stark? Those are some big shoes to fill." I blinked, taken aback at the question given to Spidey but only for a moment before anger swept my disbelief away. Spider looked around frantically at the overly loud reporters and even over all the voices I could still hear his heart rate increase.

"I'm-I'm gonna go. Thanks so much, everyone, for coming," Spidey stammered before shooting a web upward and swinging out of the claustrophobic room, taking me (thankfully) with him.

"Peter..." I trailed off once we were outside and he has taken off his mask to breathe.

"Don't tell me I shouldn't have let them get to me because trust me, I know."

"What? No! Those guys are assholes. I was going to say we should key their cars," I clapped trying to cheer him up. He laughed weakly, looking at me but suddenly looked past me, locking his eyes on something and dropped his smile. I followed his line of sight to be greeted with a ginormous picture of my dear old father.

"Oh wow. He would've loved that. Next thing you know, there's a statue of him in Times Square," I joked at the art awkwardly. It seemed like the whole world was treating him like a god, the exact kind of treatment he would've lived for if he was alive. He got praise and practically worship for something anyone with a decent character would've done. But yeah sure, he's phenomenal for trading his life for literal trillions because surely no one else in the universe would've done that. 

"Please, for the love of the universe, don't listen to those dumb reporters who just want to get a quick paycheck. Don't let them get into your nerdy head. And please don't "replace" my father because if you do I will be obligated to dump your ass," I half-joked, begging him to get out of his head as I leaned next to him. 

"I know it's just...a lot," he sighed, leaning back and looking at the sky.

"It is, it is... but if anyone can get through it, it's an awkward but cool kid-prodigy who dresses up as a weird spider thing," I said softly making him laugh faintly. "Also if anyone's going to be the 'head of the Avengers' (which is literally just paying for everything) it's gonna be me so get in line," I added, smirking, and pecked his cheek.

"Thanks, Hails," he smiled sadly, squeezing my hand and I returned it.

"No problem, Webs. Just know that I'm here, okay? You don't have to do all of this alone," I added softly with concern. "We're a team."

"We're a team."

Chapter Text

"May's hot, I get it. That families gene pool is damn magnificent but do you two seriously need to flirt in front of us?" I asked Happy, beside him in the passenger seat as he drove me to the airport to start my vacation. 

"I don't want to talk about this," Happy tried to shut down but I didn't budge.

"Well if you don't want to talk about it maybe don't flirt with my partners aunt in front of me," I argued. "What even are you two? Are you dating? Are you- are you friends with benefit-"

"Hailey!"

"I'm just asking! I won't judge," I promised as he rolled his eyes at me with his eyes still directed at the road.

"Who I date is none of your business."

"Pretty sure it is my business when you're trying to get with my partners aunt," I pointed out.

"I'm not talking about this with you."

"So what I'm hearing is you don't know what you guys are?" I asked raising an eyebrow at him but was only answered with silence. "Yeah okay, great talk, Happy. I always love our chats."

"Are you sure you don't want to trade seats, Ned? I don't mind sitting next to Betty and you two lovebirds can play lame video games to your heart's content," I offered, feeling a little guilty Ned got placed far away. Peter and Ned locked eyes for a disturbing amount of time before Ned shook his head stiffly. 

"No, nah, nope, totally cool, totally fine," he stammered awkwardly as I glanced between the two nervous nerds.

"Uh...okay? Weirdos," I muttered, giving them a weird look as we walked through the line with the rest of our class, heading to our first destination: Venice, Italy. 

"Wait how are you going to get through the metal detectors since you're...uh...you?" Ned asked quietly so no one else would hear him.

"I have a program installed in my software that lets me go through any detector...well... undetected," I explained with pride at my own brilliance.

"That seems kinda illegal..."

"Oh Ned," I started, putting an arm around him and pulling him close. "When will you realize that everything I do is illegal?" I mused, patting his back as he and Peter stared at me with concern. 

"..." 

I silently side-eyed Peter who was fidgeting-well fidgeting more than usual, that is, in his seat next to me. 

"Are you okay??" I finally spoke up with concern as I watched him squirm nervously in place.

"Yes. Yeah...totally. Obviously. Why?" He answered quickly giving me a stiff smile.

"Do I really need to explain to you why?" I blinked slowly, looking him up and down.

"Sorry I'm just...really excited," Peter shook his head out of his thoughts before smiling at me and taking my hand.

"Me too," I said softly, smiling back and squeezing his hand comfortingly. "I can't wait to just relax, with you, in the most romantic cities in the world with no distractions," I rejoiced as we stared into each other eyes, lovesick.

"Yo, Parker," Flash called from the other aisle of the plane, holding a glass of champagne, making both of us turn our heads towards him and ruining the moment like usual. 

"Goddamnit," I swore under my breath as Flash smirked at Peter menacingly.

"This is called an airplane. It's like the buses you're used to, except it flies over the poor neighborhoods instead of driving through them," he mocked. I smiled, scrunching up my nose.

"Ma'am?" I called to a nearby flight attendant making her turn her head to me, humming in response. "I'm so sorry to bother you but he Blipped, so he's 16, not 21," I politely informed.

"I'll take that," she smiled and took the glass swiftly from Flash's grubby little hands.

"She's lying! I don't even know this girl!" He exclaimed in his usual whiny voice, following the attendant out the curtains to the other side of the plane.

"Oh, this is going to be fun," I laughed as Peter snickered beside me but was interrupted by the ringing of my phone. I groaned, looking down at my phone when I realized it was a business contact.

"I thought you were putting your phone on silent for the vacation?" Peter asked, upset with his eyebrows furrowed as I felt guilt rush through me.

"I thought I did, I swear. It must've...slipped my mind. I'll be right back, I promise," I swore. I kissed his cheek before scampering to the bathroom to quickly yell at the annoying employee calling me. My head was pounding as I entered the bathroom and I breathed deeply to calm the pain in my body before answering my phone.

"What?" I snapped, not in the mood to explain to another old person how to copy and paste on their computer. I couldn't hear much over the overwhelming static sounds coming from my head but I heard something about a budget. 

"I am on my scheduled vacation time that I will not get back until I'm 25 so ask yourself this right now. 'Is this important enough to risk getting fired?' And I suggest you answer that question very quickly before I get angry."

"Uh... well I just...um..."

"What?"

"I- I just got an email about the budget and it was 45 million for the new x-accumulator project when it was supposed to be 75 million?" Breathe, Hailey, breathe.

"What did James say? He's in charge of that."

"To ask you..." I pinched the bridge of my nose in annoyance.

"Well tell him that I can't hold his hand for his entire life, 'kay? Now I suggest you find that 30 million dollars before Miss Potts finds out because trust me, I am the nicer one. Okay? Okay." I decided and hung up before he could answer, silencing my phone and putting it on airplane mode. 

I breathed in slowly, trying to calm the aggravation inside me, and rubbed my temple to soothe the pain in my head. I tugged at the hem of my shirt and looked down to see the blue, veiny spot that was forming on top of where my 'heart' is. 

It would look like a normal bruise if not for the vein-like lines erupting from the spot like a virus in the middle of corrupting everything around it. It was my death sentence, reminding me I would inevitably have to choose between the back-up plan I had been constructing for a year or go out with an agonizing death. The choice was mine.

I took one last deep breath and exited the tiny compartment. I walked down the aisle to see Peter glaring at Brad who was helping MJ put her suitcase in an overhead bin.

"You good?" I asked as I sat down next to him, tearing his eyes from Brad to me. 

"I'm good," Peter smiled. "You want to watch a movie?" He asked, pulling a headphone adapter from his bag.

"Since when do you have a dual headphone adapter?" I asked raising an eyebrow as he stammered nervously.

"Uh...since now?" He answered like it was a question.

"Sure," I shrugged getting out my headphones from my bag. "As long as it's not a romcom. Or Star Wars," I decided, giving him a pointed look.

"Deal," he grinned.

Jet lag jet lag jet lag jet lag jet lag.

I didn't think it was possible for me to get a human sleep disorder but here I am, wanting to die for the second time.  

I slumped forward with the rest of class finding Peter and Ned whispering to each other incredibly suspiciously.

"You guys look like lame drug dealers right now," I informed, raising an eyebrow at them as they jumped back and shut up, causing me to become even more suspicious. "Holy shit, are you guys drug dealers? Because that would be the biggest plot twist in history," I mused at the thought.

"No!" They both shouted in unison, acting incredibly flustered (and a little too defensive, if you know what I mean).

"Wait maybe... would you believe that?" Ned asked making me give him a weird look and Peter elbowed him in the side making Ned shut up.

"O...kay...?" I trailed watching the exchange between the two boys but my gawking was rudely interrupted by Betty.

"Hey, babe. Can you hold this?" Cue the continuation of my gawking but redirected to Ned and Betty.

"Yeah, of course," Ned smiled and gently grabbed Betty's purse.

"Thanks," Betty smiled back and kissed his cheek. For a moment they held eye contact, perfectly still before Ned booped her nose causing her to quietly giggle. After the new couple (?????) had their moment Betty walked away hesitantly and Ned turned back to us casually but still held his smile.

"What was that?" Peter asked pointing between Ned and where Betty used to be in complete confusion.

"Well, we got to talking on the plane, and it turns out, we have a lot in common. So we're boyfriend and girlfriend now."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" I exclaimed in disbelief. "I mean, good job. Betty's seriously amazing and Peter should really take notes from you on how to pick up the pace with 'getting the girl' or whatever but still!" I quickly added causing Peter to do a double-take towards me but I ignored that.

"Whatever happened to being an American bachelor in Europe?"

"Peter, those were the words of a boy. And that boy met a woman. A very strong and powerful woman. And now that boy's a man. And I respectfully and sincerely apologize to you, Hailey, for even insinuating the end to your beautiful relationship," he explained, slightly dramatically, and I blinked in surprise. At least Ned turned into a feminist.

"Uh...all's forgiven?" I responded, surprised and still in shock as well as Peter.

"Babe?" Betty called from our group making Ned look over to her.

"Coming, babe!" Peter and I watched Ned follow Betty back to the group in surprise at the whole event we witnessed.

"So what about my pacin-" Peter started but I interrupted him, pointing to our class and grabbing his hand to drag him with me.

"Oh look, our class is leaving us, let's hurry!" I pointed out as I dragged both of us to our group of peers. Halfway towards them, a sniffer dog stopped Peter, yanking the security guard handling the dog to his bag. Our eyes widened as we glanced at the security guard who started to pull Peter to a separate section to get his bag checked. Shit, shit, shit! 

We shared a look before Peter got pulled away from me and the guard motioned to me as if to say 'keep walking.' I hesitantly did as they suggested, continuing to follow our group through the airport who stopped to wait for Peter. Mr. Harrison questioned me and I casually answered, trying to act nonchalant about the situation but I was mentally freaking out. Please, please, please don't get caught, you idiot.

"What was in his suitcase?" Brad asked, acting indifferently after casually moving himself to be beside me. I raised my eyebrow, looking up to him as he was well over 6ft, at his odd question like he wanted to catch Peter in a indecent activity. 

"Oh, the dog probably sniffed his cocaine," I shrugged in a careless tone, obviously joking but he just stared at me with his eyes slightly widened as if I told the truth. It was only when I stared at him blankly after a overly-long moment did he finally get it. 

He began to laugh loudly to overcompensate for the long awkward silence so he could replace the atmosphere with a long awkward laugh. I smiled awkwardly as his laughter started to slowly die down but quickly replaced it with a genuine smile of relief when I saw Peter scurry up to our group with his bag in hand. 

"I'm here. Mr. Harrington. Wait, wait, wait. I'm here, I'm here," Peter called to our teacher, finally meeting up to our group and standing beside me.

"Oh, thank goodness. Okay let's go," Mr. Harrison declared, cuing us to continue to march to the exit. I slowed my walk to walk beside Peter alone so Brad wouldn't hear us.

"What happened? Did they see your suit?" I questioned, worried at the thought of them telling everybody about the weird boy with red spandex packed in his suitcase.

"Yes. But," he answered, seeing my face before continuing to explain. "But she didn't really care or linger on it, it was just a banana she didn't like."

"Why would you bring a banana to the airport?"

"I didn't, May did! She even packed my suit when I didn't even want to!"

"Why weren't you going to bring it?!" I demanded in disbelief at his idiocy.

"Because I'm on vacation!"

"What if a villain or a murderer or whatever is also on our vacation? You need your suit, Peter!" I scolded, hitting his arm lightly and giving him a look.

"It's not like I have a convenient storage for my suit, I'm not carrying it everywhere I go," he defended gesturing to my house of nano-particles.

"Well sucks to suck so suck it up," I replied simply.

"Is that you response for everything?"

"No...it's my response to everything you say," I defended as he rolled his eyes, hiding a small smile.

This is going to be fun.

…

"Tell me we're not staying here."

Our entire class walked into a relatively small building that was literally sinking and after taking a gorgeous boat ride through the city it was a bit of a disappointment, to say the least.

Planks of wood sat on the stairs like the owners were trying to make a bridge to avoid the water but failed in the long run. And there in the middle of the godforsaken entrance

sat a cat on a table like it was stranded on a deserted island, still meowing for help. I didn't want to seem like the stereotypical rich, spoiled brat but it sucked.

"Come on in!" Mr. Harrison encouraged the class who were frozen in horror in the rotting doorframe.

"This place is sinking."

"You mean, 'charming.'"

"It stinks."

"Okay, everybody, drop your bags off. We're gonna meet at the da Vinci Museum at 3. Let's go! ¡Vamonos!"

"It's Andiamo," I corrected.

"Andiamo!" 

"There you go," MJ congratulated sarcastically.

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When you're in Venice, your socks get wet."

I laughed at MJ as pigeons continued to flock towards her, sitting on her head and shoulders and I took out my phone.

"Say bird poop!"

"Shut up and take the picture," MJ rolled her eyes at me as the birds continued to waddle all over her. I snickered before taking a bunch of pictures, making sure I had a good one but stopped when one of the pigeons landed on my shoulder.

"Please don't poop on my shoulder, friend," I begged gently at the bird. It cooed in response poking my neck with its beak making me smile in satisfaction with their answer. "I'll send you your model shots," I added to MJ as I opened messages.

"Finally," she said, gently shaking off the birds and carefully stepping out of their herd towards me only to be followed.

"You look hot as hell with these little adorable rats around you. You're like the pigeon overlord," I smirked.

"Says the one with a little rat servant," she shot back, gesturing to the one on my shoulder making me look at them.

"Damnit I've already gotten attached," I swore as I looked into their beady little eyes.

"Please don't get attached-"

"Too late! His name is Bob," I declared.

"How do you know he's a he?" MJ asked, scrunching up her eyebrows in confusion, and looked Bob up and down.

"I don't know he just seems like he. And he's definitely a Bob," I decided looking back at MJ who just stared at me.

"You're going to carry him around the whole time we're here, aren't you?" She asked in defeat at my antics making me laugh stiffly in fear I would knock Bob off my shoulder.

"Of course not! That would be crazy!" I assured making her calm down and loosen up.

"Oh good, that would've been so wei-"

"I'm carrying him around forever," I interjected obviously and she just stared at me for a solid moment.

"For...ever...? Hailey, you do know you won't be able to bring that thing on the next flight right?" MJ laughed worriedly, wanting to think this was still a joke.

"First of all, 'this thing' is Bob. Second, I have my ways," I defended in offense at the way she referred to Bob, possibly the new love of my life, as a 'thing.'

"Your ways? What does that mean?"

"...The less you know, the better," I smiled hauntedly making her eyes go wider in concern. "You want to go look around?"

"But-"

"Let's go get espresso! You like espresso right? Let's fill you up with caffeine!" I urged to change the subject, dragging her along with me as the pigeons tried to follow her again and Bob sat happily on my shoulder. And after 50 shots of espresso later, she quickly forgot and gave up about leaving Bob.

After half an hour, MJ had finally drunk her weight in caffeine and we continued to walk around some more until a man stopped us trying to sell Venetian masks.

"What's 'I don't care' in Italian?" MJ whispered to me as the man continued to shove the masks in our faces to get us to buy them.

"Boh," I answered loud enough for the man to hear and have his smile wiped clean before walking away to find someone else to sell the masks to. "Huh, that's weird."

"What?"

"Boh is used as a polite phrase most of the time. I guess he thought it meant 'get out of my face,'" I explained in surprise.

"What else does it mean?"

"I don't know, I don't care, I don't think anybody should care about it, or I don't know and I don't care," I clarified making her face light up.

"I think that's my new favorite word," she announced, satisfied already in the trip.

"What was your old favorite word?"

"Fuck, the most diverse word in the English language."

"That's fair," I nodded, giving my approval and so did Bob who cooed from the crook of my neck as he nuzzled in it.

"You know that bird is going to give you some weird disease, right?" MJ observed as she eyed Bob with apprehension.

"I'll have him vaccinated when we get home," I defended, knowing I couldn't actually get sick.

"You're not bringing that thing back home, that's literally impossible!"

"I have my ways!" I shouted, protecting Bob from her with a tiny barricade using my hands.

"Oh my god," MJ groaned and rolled her eyes, continuing to trudge forward until we spotted Peter walking a little way ahead of us. "Peter, your girlfriend is a psycho."

"Not that I'm surprised, but why-?" He questioned before stopping himself as he laid eyes on me and Bob. "Why do you still have a pigeon on your shoulder?"

"Why do you have a bag with you?" I asked him, mimicking his tone.

"I bought something."

"Bought what?"

"I asked you first."

"This is Bob," I calmly introduced and Bob cooed happily in a greeting.

"They're madly in love," MJ rolled her eyes making Peter look at me as if saying 'really? Again?'

"I got attached okay?" I shot back, raising my hands in defeat.

"Should I be jealous?"

"Yes, very much so," I answered simply, raising my hand to cue Bob to hop off my shoulder and onto my hand. "You've been replaced," I sighed dramatically, continuing our banter.

"That's fair, he's way cut- ow!" Peter hissed after leaning his hand towards Bob to pet him but was immediately stopped by Bob who pecked his finger sharply. 

"Hey! No! Bad Bob, bad!" I scolded, wagging my finger at him like a stereotypical mother as he gave me a look I took for guilt.

"Wha- you know what? I give up, you guys are both weird," MJ concluded before continuing to walk forward prompting us to walk with her before she stopped in front of a bunch of crabs and taking out her camera.

"Says the one taking pictures of random crabs," I remarked watching her crouch down to get a good shot of the herd of crabs beneath an old dock.

"Shh...! You're scaring them," MJ bantered dramatically making me roll my eyes as Peter and I watched her. I looked down at her but whipped my head up, my signature gesture whenever something was amiss, as I heard the water around us begin to move rapidly even though there wasn't a single blow of wind in the air. 

Peter watched me in concern, knowing the familiar look I held on my face. I scrunched my eyebrows together, focusing my enhanced hearing on the odd movements of the water. Peter nudged me lightly making me look at him as he stared at the ground with his head tilted in confusion. I followed his eyes to a drainage grate that was filled with water or used to be filled with water since it suddenly got sucked up and disappeared.

I whipped my head towards the river watching mysterious waves of water shake up the boats and after a single silent moment the water shot up like a bomb had gone off. Screams filled the air as the boats around the explosion were barreling in random directions and water jetting into the nearby stores and buildings, flooding the streets.

Betty and Ned's boat barreled onto the sidewalk, crashing into a door of a random building, and Peter, MJ, and I ran to help them out quickly,

"Betty! You okay?" 

"Yeah," she answered shakingly as Peter helped her out of the boat, and MJ and I helped Ned.

"Oh, my God!" Ned gasped as the water started forming something and Peter, Ned and I huddled together, not moving to see what we were dealing with this time.

"Come on!"

"Guys, we gotta go!" Betty demanded as she and MJ ran away from the scene but we didn't follow them.

"What is that?" Ned demanded but Peter and I were at a loss for words as we stared at the water coming together to create a monstrous figure.

"I don't know."

"No idea."

"What'll you guys do?"

"Fight it obviously," I hissed in a 'duh' tone.

"I left my suit in the hotel."

"Why?!" Ned hissed in fear with Peter looking back and forth between Ned and the very angry water monster.

"I really need to get working on a portable nanotech unit for you," I groaned, not looking forward to fighting a water monster with electric powers alone. I looked at Bob who was still stubbornly on my shoulder but looked frightened nonetheless. 

"I'm on vacation, Ned!" Peter whispered-yelled at him before looking at the running crowd behind us. "Everyone will see my face. Get them out of here," Peter pushed Ned to the group of people as the giant water mister crashed its fists into the streets, gushing water everywhere. I waved Bob gently away and he tilted his head, hurt. 

"You gotta get out of here but I'll find you," I whispered to him and he answered in a coo hesitantly before flying away.

"Go!" I hissed at the running crowd of possible upcoming casualties.

"Just go! Get out of here. Go!" Peter and I herded the crowd like a bunch of reckless sheep. Peter turned to the monster but immediately jumped back seeing the thing coming at us.

"Oh my god!" Peter exclaimed, almost falling backward but I caught him in time, gripping his arm and pulled both of us through a corner just in time before the water atrocity smashed his water fists into the sidewalk. 

"I need only a few seconds to suit up, find a way to hide your face and quick," I planned as he gave me a nod. I ran to the closest empty alleyway before dipping my hand to my bruised chest and pressed my nanotech unit twice, signaling it to wrap my body in familiar nanoparticles. I pressed the button next to my ear, covering the bottom half of my face in my vibranium mask. I pulled up my hood to hide my bright hair before flying towards the canal.

I saw the monster was wading towards the bridge over the canal to destroy everyone on it and Peter was busy herding a guy off it. I zipped towards the bridge in a nick of time and willed a forcefield to protect Peter and the bridge from the fist of the water monster, groaning as I felt the force of the water giant against my power. I had gotten weaker since my body had been revived but I pushed through it and pushed the freak away from the bridge. The thing growled loudly and went for another hit but I stopped him with my forcefield, using to strike him while he was down but before I could continue a green blast him instead. I turned my head to where the blast came from only to see a figure flying towards us from the sky. Still distracted by the flying figure, the monster hit me into one of the surrounding buildings making me yell out in pain.

A man with a snow-globe-like helmet covering his entire head flew down and started fighting the monster with bright green energy blasts, surprising me. I had never seen nor knew about this man which was even more astounding because I knew almost everything. This guy was a newbie.

I picked myself back up and flew towards the fight, slamming the monster down back into the water with my energy field but was interrupted yet again by a snow-globe man who got in the way of my shot. I furrowed my eyebrows in annoyance and confusion as he continued to ignore me and shoot out green beams from his hands, hurting the monster for some reason. God, I hate noobs.

I tried again to hit the monster giant with my energy field but yet again, the mystery man got in my way but instead, I got hit by the monster because of him. I was slammed sharply down to the canal and hit the bottom, yelling out in pain but was muffled by the water. I felt the monster summon more water towards him and from that waves kept shoving me back down to the bottom. Breathing wasn't a necessity for me but it was sure as hell annoying not being able to. I finally burst through the surface of the water, seeing snow-globe man still fighting the monster, perfectly dodging the waves of water the monster was throwing at him. 

I glared at him before shooting towards them again, finally getting a shot in with the noob blocking it. I shoved my forcefield into the water giant, slamming him down to the canal as he did with me. It yelled out, sounding like part Godzilla before wading away from me and to the civilians who were trying desperately to getaway. It walked out of the canal and into the streets instead to chase people, flooding the area even more. Globe head and I followed him, shooting our powers at it to try to stop it but failed miserably, only seeming to annoy it even more. 

I eventually flew faster than the creature could walk, getting ahead of it and shoved it back to try to get it back into the canal where it belonged. It looked like it was actually working before glove head flew in front of me for the hundredth time and blasted it towards the canal like I did. I narrowed my eyes at him, completely irritated, and before I knew it was slammed again into the stone street, making a deep dent where I landed. I groaned, feeling my already sick body cry out in agony. I couldn't keep doing this for much longer, this fight and this job without activating my backup plan.

I finally got up again and was about to fly back to the monster but stopped when I spotted the large bell tower who got caught in the middle of the fight about to crash down into the streets from the monsters hits and Peter webs about to snap.

I sighed before flying towards Peter in a jester mask, poorly disguised, and trying to keep the bell tower standing by himself. I flicked my hand, summoning a forcefield that pushed the tower upright again, struggling with my weakened state as I pushed the forcefield to continue to support the building. Peter looked at me in relief, smiling thankfully, and swung around the tower, webbing the broken parts of the structure back together again. Before we knew it, we fixed the bell tower but we were already too late. The fight was over with snow-globe man getting all the glory.

You've got to be kidding me.

…

MJ and I sat on the stairs of our hotel, her at the bottom and me a few steps above, with the rest of our class discussing today's events and searching for any new information about the new hero.

I leaned back on the step behind me as I looked at my classmates from below, talking and exchanging theories about the new hero. I rolled my eyes at them, still bitter about the fight. It wasn't like I didn't want to share the spotlight but being completely ignored and shoved aside was excruciatingly aggravating.

"It's aliens. It has to be," Ned proposed, looking at his computer.

"BuzzFeed says there's a sailor named Morris Bench who was exposed to an experimental underwater generator and got hydro powers," Flash recited from the article on his phone.

"Yeah, you should definitely believe everything you read on the Internet," MJ snarked raising an eyebrow.

"Especially Buzzfeed: the most reliable news source out there," I spoke up, equally as sarcastic.

"Spider-Man could take him," Flash added randomly. I didn't know Flash was a fan.

"What do you think it is?" I heard Mr. Harrison ask Mr. Dell as they were busy watching the news cover the fight.

"Being a man of science, witches."

"I know. Love you. Bye," I looked down from the stair rails at Peter who got off the phone with May before crossing his arms and leaned on the doorframe of the hall he was in.

"Who is that guy?"

"He's like Iron Man and Thor rolled into one," Brad chimed in with his eyes glued to the TV screen. I had no idea how that boy got that combination.

"He's all right. He's no Spider-Man," Flash bragged again confidently.

"What is it with you and Spider-Man?" MJ demanded with a raised eyebrow.

"What? He's just awesome, okay? He protects the neighborhood with a super hot Avenger. He's inspiring. He inspires me to be a better man," he shot back rather passionately, surprising me. Until he spotted Peter in the doorframe and nodded to him. "What's up, dickwad? Thought you drowned."

"Wow Flash, I didn't know you had a crush on Spider-Man and Circuit! I always just thought you were obsessed with yourself but you really surprised me today," I retorted making him glare at me and turn back to the TV. Peter and I shared a satisfied look before turning back to the screen.

"Sounds like his name's Mysterio," Brad noted, looking up at the tv.

"L'uomo del Misterio" is Italian for "man of mystery. It's not a nickname, they just don't know who he is," I corrected making Brad smile like I just had said the most interesting thing in the world.

"Mysterio," Ned mused softly.

"Cool name," Ned and Beth expressed in unison 

"Babe!" They both smiled in unison as I stared at them, secretly hoping Peter and I weren't like that when we started dating.

"So how much of that did you see?" I asked MJ curiously, looking down at her.

"Not much. I was running," she answered, giving me a weird look as she turned to me.

"Right. Me too. I was also running away. Very terrifying," I lied, nodding my head in hopes to be less awkward.

"So Paris tomorrow," Peter spoke up making me peer down at him through the rail. "Go to the Eiffel Tower. Should be great," he said nervously, glancing up at me.

"Yeah, I read it was secretly built as a mind-control antenna to create an army of the insane," MJ claimed and I gave her a look.

"I thought you said don't believe everything you read?" I poked, raising an eyebrow.

"Didn't say I couldn't believe in something," she defended.

"I don't know, I think it's just a tourist trap," I shrugged and Peter froze at the statement. "But the lights at night must be gorgeous," I smiled wistfully at the idea of watching the tower's light show with Peter.

After a while, we all went up to our rooms and I flopped onto my creaky, uncomfortable bed with MJ right behind me. Of course, we didn't have our own rooms and partnered up with each other since she was the only girl I liked in our class.

"Well, this sucks," MJ sighed as she sat on her equally terrible bed. I nodded in agreement, rustling through my bag to find some comfortable shorts and a tank top. I pushed around some outfits before something fell from the bag making a loud thump. My batteries, carefully wrapped in a box that was enough to last me two months if necessary.

"What is that?" MJ asked, about to pick it up but I beat her to it, scooping them up quickly.

"Oh, nothing just some extra toiletries! You know toothpaste, soap, shampoo. My mom doesn't trust hotel samples so she packed them for me," I lied with ease. She narrowed her eyes at me, trying to see if I was lying.

"Hey, I just remembered I have to talk to Peter. Bye!" I called before getting myself off the old bed and hurried out the door to avoid any more questions.

"Wait what? What stuff?" MJ questioned, sitting up.

"Uh...couple stuff," I answered making her instantly lay back down and direct her attention to her phone.

"Ugh, ew. Gross," she fake gagged. I smiled, knowing that would get her to back down, and walked out of the room to Peters and Meds to rant about how stupid Mr. Globe-head was. Their door was already closed and I could hear Peter talking, presumably to Ned so I didn't hesitate to open the door and walk right inside.

"Hey, I was wondering-" I started but stopped when I fully evaluated the room. Ned was passed out on his bed with a tranq sticking out of his neck, Peter stood nervously at his sink and Nicholas Fury was sitting on a nearby couch with both of them staring at me. 

"Goddamnit," I swore, closing my eyes to hope that this was a nightmare. "I mean Nicholas! How've you be-"

"Sit down." 

"Yeah, okay," I gave up trying to continue my snarkiness and sat down on Peter's nearby bed begrudgingly. 

"As I was saying, you two are both very difficult to contact. Which is odd considering one of you has a built-in communication device," he drawled to try to build up his intimidation, glaring at me.

"What are you going to do? Kill me? You're a little late to that party," I glared back.

"So good to finally meet you," Nicholas greeted sarcastically to Peter, ignoring me, making me roll my eyes and sigh loudly. "I saw you at the funeral, but I didn't think that was a good time to exchange numbers."

"Aw, good for you for having basic social cues and manners! I didn't think you had it in you!" I snarked but he ignored me again.

"Yeah, that would've been inappropriate," Peter agreed with him, giving him a weird look.

"That's what I just said."

"Right."

"The important thing is, you're here. I tried to bring you two here. You avoided me, and now you're here. What a coincidence," Nicholas summed up in a flat tone making Peter do a double-take.

"Wait. Was this a coincidence?" Peter asked leaning in and Nicholas gave him an annoyed look. Asshole.

"I used to know everything. Then I come back five years later, and now I know nothing. No intel, no team."

"Damn. Can't relate," I scrunched up my nose making him glare at me harder but still ignored me, not wanting to give me the satisfaction of a verbal reaction. I glanced at the camera that filmed us, the camera they couldn't see. I probably knew too much.

"And a high school kid is dodging my calls. Here's what I do know: A week ago, a village in Mexico was wiped out by a cyclone. Witnesses say that cyclone had a face. Three days later, a similar event in Morocco. A village was-" Nicholas continued but was interrupted by Mr. Harrison knocking on the door in the doorframe. Thankfully, he didn't see me or Nicholas since we sat behind the open door but he still aimed his tranquilizer gun at our teacher just in case.

"Just making the rounds. Seeing if anyone needs any counseling after today's traumatic events.

"No, we'll be okay. We're fine. Thank you," Peter assured nervously but tried to hide it.

"Great because I'm, I'm not qualified to actually- oh, he's passed out," he started but stopped when he noticed Neds sleeping figure and somehow didn't see the tranq dart sticking out his body. "I'm not qualified to do it anyway, so good night," he whispered before closing the door. I let out a breath I had been holding and hoped MJ would lie for me well.

"That was my teacher. Sorry about that. You were saying?" Peter urged before Nicholas continued, slightly annoyed.

"A village was destroyed by what may well be another world-threatening-"

"Babe, you still awake? You're not answering any of my texts," Betty softly knocked on the door, interrupting Nicholas again.

"He's asleep, Betty," Peter gulped.

"Oh, already?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," Betty said before I heard her footsteps go back down the hall. I smiled at Nicholas's more annoyed expression before he continued.

"That's why it's imperative-" He rushed out but was interrupted yet again.

 "Hey, boys. So that canal water today was filled with dangerous bacteria-" Mr. Dell started but was drowned out by Nicholas's annoyed voice.

"Another person touches that door, we are going to attend another funeral," Nicholas threatened before closing his projector on the table. 

"Suit up."

We sat on a boat in the canal, riding to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base silently until I heard the flap of wings nearby. Bob had somehow found me and knew it was me even when I was hidden under my mask. He cooed and waddled to my side, sitting next to me on the ledge. I smiled to myself before petting his tiny head, appreciating his company on this terrible night.

"Stark left these for you," Nicholas spoke up before handing Peter a case. A glasses case. 

"Really?" He gently lifted up the lid to reveal a pair of blue-tinted Stark glasses, similar to my own pair but with square frames instead of circular, with a note on top of them. 

For the next Tony Stark, I trust you. 

P.S. say Edith

 -TS

I wish I could punch a dead person. Maybe I could dig up his corpse and punch that.

"Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown," Nicholas quoted making both our heads look up at him. Peter scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion as I narrowed my eyes at him."Stark said you wouldn't get that because it's not a Star Wars reference."

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," I groaned quietly, getting a little angrier by the minute with thinking about my narcissistic father placing everything on me or Peter or me and Peter. It was ridiculous. This was ridiculous.

"You can lose the masks. Everyone here has seen you both without them," Nicholas said as we walked into the base filled with computers, tech, and possible weapons. Maria Hills, someone who I actually tolerated in S.W.O.R.D. surprisingly, was typing something on her computer, not even looking up from her device. "You'd be feigning anonymity and breathing through spandex and metal for no good reason," he added. Peter took off his mask, taking in a clean breath and I tapped the button that cued my mask to unravel back in its little compartment beside my ear.

"Over there, we have Maria Hill," Nicholas introduced to Peter and gestured over to her station.

"Hill," I greeted politely as she glanced up from her screen coolly. 

"Stark," she nodded back to me. We had mutual respect for another, a silent acquaintanceship that happened over the years.

"That is Dimitri," Nicholas motioned to a big, burly man who looked like he could break several men's necks without a second thought or struggle. 

"And this is Mr. Beck," Nicholas stopped in front of a man with a familiar outfit who walked over to us. Globe-head except without the globe. Maybe I was biased against him from the start but he already looked and seemed like an asshole. 

I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to get a good look at him but my eyes didn't allow me to, the buzzing growing stronger the longer I looked at him. I winced at the throbbing pain coming from my entire head but tried to hide my cringe. I felt like I was about to throw up even though it was physically impossible for me to do so but I still kept my mouth shut in fear.

"Mysterio?" Peter asked in surprise making Beck furrow his eyebrows in confusion.

"What?"

"Doesn't matter. It's just what my friends have been calling you," Peter laughed awkwardly.

"Well, you can call me Quentin," 'Quentin' responded and shook his hand. Who the hell names their kid Quentin? He went to shake my hand but I didn't move my hands out of my crossed arms and he awkwardly took his hand back. "You handled yourself well out there today. I saw what you did with the tower.  We could've used someone like you on my world." World?

"Thanks...I'm sorry, your world?"

"Mr. Beck is from Earth. Just not yours." Yours? 

(Spoiler alert! Maria and Fury are aliens in disguise, the good ones (I think?), and I didn't catch this line until I was looking at the script to write this! I'm really dumb lmao I just wanted to say this is really good, subtle foreshadowing)

"There are multiple realities. This is Earth Dimension 616. I'm from Earth 833."

"You have inter-dimensional travel?! I've been working on that for years! Godsdamnit!" I swore loudly making everyone look at me. "I mean...whaaaaaat...? Inter-dimensional thingy? What's that?" I backtracked, acting dumb incredibly poorly to cover up a top-secret project Stark Industries and I have been trying to crack for over a decade. I might have to fire that division when I get back from vacation...

"Sorry, you're saying there's a multiverse? I thought that was theoretical. That changes how we understand the initial singularity. We're talking about an eternal inflation system. How does that even work with all the quantum-? It's insane-" He gushed but stopped when he saw Nicholas's and Maria's weird looks but I just smiled at his nerdy-ness. "Sorry. It's really cool."

"Don't ever apologize for being the smartest one in the room." Excuse you, one?

"Anyway," Hill turned on the table hologram showing a black hole.

"They were born in stable orbits within black holes. Creatures formed from the primary elements: Air, water, fire, earth. The Science Division had a technical name. We just called them Elementals," Beck recalled as the hologram changed to images of the creatures and writings in various mythology that are linked with them.

"Versions of them exist across our mythologies," Hill added.

"Turns out, the myths are real."

"Like Thor. Thor was a myth, now I study him in my physics class," Peter noted.

"These myths are threats," Nicholas ever-so-helpfully contributed as he walked over to the room.

"They first materialized on my Earth many years ago. We mobilized and fought them, but with each battle, they grew, got stronger. I was part of the last battalion left trying to stop them. All we did was delay the inevitable," Beck elaborated, looking down as the hologram showed a slowly decaying world. 

When did he get his powers because if he had them early on why is he blowing through the Elementals this easily? What kind of powers does he even have because there doesn't seem to be limitations or drawbacks to them either? How did he even get here, to begin with?

"The Elementals are here now, attacking the same coordinates. Our satellites confirm it."

"So thank Mr. Beck for destroying the other three," Nicholas said from his chair.

"There's only one left: fire. The strongest of them all. The one that destroyed my Earth. It's the one that took my family," Beck recalled, twisting the golden ring on his finger obviously. That's kinda a given when you say 'it destroyed my Earth,' but sure continue with your dramatic retelling. There was something off about all of this and a million questions rang through my pounding, agonized head but I held back, knowing I would just look like a paranoid lunatic.

"I'm sorry," Peter sympathized awkwardly, not really knowing what to do with that drop of information.

"And it will be in Prague in approximately 48 hours. We have one mission: kill it. And you two are coming with us," Nicholas decided making both of us look at him in alarm.

"Did you just say Prague?" I questioned, hoping that my crumbling mind was just going deranged.

"Mr. Fury, this all seems like bigtime, you know, huge superhero kind of stuff. And I'm just a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, sir."

"Bitch, please. You've been to space."

"Technically, he wasn't even supposed to be there, to begin with," I rebuked and Peter gestured over to me like 'see?'

"There's gotta be someone else you can use. What about Thor?"

"Off-world."

"Okay, Doctor Strange?"

"Unavailable."

"Captain Marvel?"

"Don't invoke her name."

"What about the countless adults who retired that are only in their mid-forties? What about them?" I demanded, knowing fifty of them would help for 'the good of mankind' or whatever they spewed at me for years.

"Beaten or broken," Nicholas calmly answered making me bite back the urge to slam his face into the desk and crack his nose to the point of no return.

"Sir, look, I wanna help. I do. But if my aunt finds out I left my class trip, she'll kill me. And if I'm seen in Europe after the Washington Monument, my class will figure out who I am, then-then the whole world will figure out who I am, and then I'm done." I looked down, knowing he was right. If he or I were found out everyone we know is in danger and that wasn't something either of us wanted to risk. 

But I also knew Nicholas would take no for an answer.

"Okay. I understand."

"I'm sorry, what?" Peter did a double-take in shock.

"Huh?" I asked, dumbfounded at his response.

"Why don't you get back before your teachers miss you and become suspicious." Oh, so he's playing us. Got it, great. This is going to end wonderfully. "Dimitri. Hills. Take them back to the hotel, please," Nicholas called to the scary dude who escorted Peter but Maria didn't move, and neither did I.

"Thank you, Mr. Fury. And good luck," Peter called out before looking at me. I nodded, signaling to go and I'd follow him shortly, and smiled comfortingly until he turned to the door.

"You're planning something, aren't you?" I claimed, already knowing the answer.

"I have no idea what you mean," Nicholas lied with ease before Hills gestured for me to go with her. I gave him one last glare before I turned to walk away from this hell hole.

"See ya, kid," Beck said making me stop and look at him.

"Don't you ever call me kid again or I will pop your eyes out of your skull and I will make you eat them as I watch," I stated calmly before walking out the door with Hill.

"That was a bit violent," Hill commented as we walked out of the building.

"My head feels like it's about to split open and I want to snap someone's neck so yeah I'm feeling violent," I shot back, rubbing the side of my head to calm the loud buzzing echoing in my ears.

"I saw the fight on the security cameras. He blocked you purposely," Hill observed, not as a question but as a fact.

"I don't trust him."

"I don't either."

"You don't trust anyone," I pointed out as we stopped at the boat.

"Well, I don't trust him more than the average person. Keep your boyfriend away from him for the meantime," she ordered and I nodded in response. "And don't be stupid. Your body can't handle any more of idiocy."

"Duly noted."

Chapter Text

I woke up to Bob chirping from the windowsill, the sun gleaming in through the curtains, the smell of crystal clear water hanging in the air and... MJ smashing a pillow over my head.

"What the hell-" I blurted out looking around wearily only to be bashed by my dear roommates pillow for the fourth time.

"Wake up, sleeping beauty! We got thirty minutes to get ready and leave," MJ announced before slapping me with the pillow the final time and continued with her morning routine nonchalantly like she didn't just assault me with a scratchy pillow.

Without the energy to insult her I settled for simply flipping her off from my bed and got up begrudgingly. 

Warning: 25% charge left

I sighed and went to the bathroom, taking out my hairbrush, clothes, and 'toiletries' with me. I quickly changed out of my t-shirt, revealing the larger blue bruise-like spot on my chest with the vein-like lines growing across my entire torso, showing off my corrupted system that my father failed to completely fix. I pursed my lips before changing into jeans and a camo T-shirt that stealthy hid my dilemma. I brushed my hair out, and took out my loose ponytail, settling with my hair down before moving to my wrist. I clicked a hidden button on the side of my wrist that opened up a small compartment and removed the empty battery, swiftly replacing it and repeated the process with the other one.

Just look normal. Act like you're not dying. Pretend. Lie, cause we all know how easily an asshole like yourself can do it, staring your loved ones in the eyes and lying to their faces like it's the easiest thing in the world. Super easy even a pice of shit like yourself can do it. 

I took a deep breath and exited the bathroom to find MJ had already left with the others. I hurried to my bed and put everything back in my bag.

I was about to leave but stopped, realizing I was forgetting something.

"Bob! Here, boy," I whistled cuing Bob to fly through the windows and onto my extended arm. "Good Bob," I praised. "If you want to come with me, which is totally up to you, I need you to get in this birdcage, okay?" I offered, gesturing to the cage I had bought last night before I went back to my room. I had also bought cage liner and bought a bag of bird seed and fruit, enough to last until we get home. He cooed, hesitantly walking into the cage and looked around before excitedly getting on the bird-swing. 

"I'll take that as a yes! But just remember to be quiet, okay?" I said, putting my finger to my lips and slipped on a white sheet on top of the cage. I scurried out the door just in time to meet up with Peter and Ned.

"Drink lots of water. I'm gonna get you a vitamin C pill. You cannot get sick, okay?" 

"Okay. Thanks, baby," Ned said as Betty left to go get the vitamin and Peter and I came up behind him.

"Hey, are you sure you're good?" Peter asked with concern for his best friend because gods know what the hell was in that thing. 

"Oh, dude, I'm fine. Don't worry. Getting tranq'd in the neck by Nick Fury? Probably the coolest thing to ever happen to me," Ned brushed it off.

"You're a strange man, Leeds," I noted, staring at him.

"It is pretty awesome. Yeah. I'm just happy I don't have to go to Prague," Peter laughed nervously at the idea as he and Ned did their nerdy, convoluted handshake.

"Seriously." But I knew better. I knew Nicholas better. After years of dealing with his bullshit I finally got his character down to a science.

"Wait for it," I muttered in a defeated tone making both of them look at me.

"Wait for wha-?"

"Good news! We're going to Prague!" Mr. Harrison announced, walking past us as he headed to the bus.

"Called it!" I whispered to the two nerds still in the middle of their handshake.

"What?"

"Prague?" Our classmates erupted in protest, obviously not happy they were going to Prague instead of Paris, city of lights.

"Yeah. Tour company called. They upgraded us. You should've heard me on the phone with them. I really gave them hell," Mr. Harrison explained to our class.

"All I heard was crying," Mr. Dell called him out making me look at Mr. Harrison with slight concern. This man really needs to see someone.

"Look at our upgraded ride," Mr. Harrison gestured to a somewhat large and nice looking bus. Way better than what we were probably going to get.

"Whoa, bro, you see that?"

"It's pretty sick."

"I'm impressed, Mr. Harrington." 

"Oh, come on." The class erupted in praise and excitement while we stood there in annoyance at the audacity of Nicholas.

"Peter, what? What's going on?" Ned questioned with widened eyes as they continued to stare at our impeding doom in the form of a bus.

"I think Nick Fury just hijacked our summer vacation," Peter said with disbelief making me groan before facepalming.

"I'm Mr. Harrington to the kids- oh, all right. Okay," Mr. Harrison greeted to Dimitri who stood outside the bus as the driver but he didn't move a muscle to shake his hand making our teacher awkwardly set down his hand.

"Awesome," Ned breathed and I gave him look.

"Yeah. Awesome."

"So great," I said flatly with Peter and we all resentfully walked toward the bus to get on, not really wanting to get stuck in Venice.

"I'm going to take a nap. Maybe I'll find out I can dream and dream of a life far, far, far away from here, possibly in Paris," I joked hauntedly after getting on the bus and taking the window seat next to Peter. "Don't wake up me unless someone's bleeding, broken, or on fire," I instructed, leaning against the cool, glass window and closed my eyes.

"Weird, usually a request from you is followed by a creative, graphic threat," Peter pointed making me open one eye at him only to see him smirking at me.

"Do I really need to threaten you that I'll kick your teeth down your throat to get you to listen to me?" 

"No ma'am, just wondering," he smiled, putting his hands up in defeat. I gave him one last tired smile before closing my eyes, ready to escape this existence.

Would you like to activate sleep mode?

Yes             No   

Sleep mode activated...

I found myself in the back behind a crowd of bustling news reporters with a young Pepper Potts beside me, watching my father at the stand with a cheeseburger in hand. We both carried an air full of nervousness with us as we watched the young Tony Stark have a breakdown in front of fifty or more people.

I was not paying attention I think because all I heard coming out of anyone's mouth was what the adults sound like in Charlie Brown.

"Wha wha wha wha wha, wha wha...wha wha wha wha. Wha wha...wha wha," my father said as he sat down in front of the podium and so did all the reporters looking absolutely lost. These sounds coming from my fathers mouth lasted a couple more moments before I actually heard something. A sentence I wanted to hear for years, a sentence I thought I would never hear. A sentence I heard clearer than crystal.

"And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be."

Outbursts rained from the crowd of reporters that continued to be only sounds from the Charlie Brown show and I watched my father get pulled away by his colleague, his future betrayer. Peppers eyes widened in confusion and aggravation but all I felt was pure joy and excitement. He was finally taking my advice. He was finally listening to me and actually hearing me. I thought maybe I was the one who convinced him, I hoped it was because he was taking me seriously and taking my advice.

Of course, that was not what happened. It took him watching a man die to do the right thing. It took him getting kidnapped to listen to me but at that moment I did not care. Just like the rest of our relationship, me hoping he had learned his lesson and started to hear me and him fucking it up and no one, not even me, caring enough to hold him accountable or correct him.

But I will be better than him. I will be better than my grandfather. I will be better than my entire family ever hoped to be.

Sleep mode deactivated.

"Hailey, Hailey..." Peter whispered, nudging me softly to wake me up.

"I'm going to kick your teeth down your throat," I slurred slightly from just waking up.

"We're at a rest stop, everyone's getting off," he informed with a smile, ignoring my empty threat.

"You people and your tiny bladders," I tsked before begrudgingly getting up and following Peter out the door only to be stopped by Dimitri. 

"What?" Peter asked and Dimitri gestured to a door right across from us with a young woman peeking out from the doorway and Peter looked back and forth between them, hesitant on going to a secluded room with a random woman like a normal person. He reluctantly walked toward the door and I was about to follow him but was stopped by Dimitri again.

He glanced around to see if anyone was watching before handing me a metal rhombus similar to my super suit unit on my chest. It was simpler, less intricate than mine. It was a substitute suit so no one figure out my identity while I was fighting in the exact location my class was at. I stuffed it in my pocket unceremoniously before following my class and leaving Peter to fend for himself like the amazing partner I was.

After a couple of minutes we were shoved right back on the bus and I sat down at my seat. Peter scurried down next to me with the most freaked out expression I've ever seen displayed on his face.

"Uh, are you okay?" I asked hesitantly making him look at me nervously, giving me a look I knew all too well. "Shit, what did you do?" 

"Um...I got a new suit from the lady and she wanted to make sure it fit so...she sorta asked me to try it on," he started awkwardly.

"Okay...?" I trailed off, uncertain to where he was going with this.

"She wasn't turning around and I had to...take my pants off while she was weirdly blankly staring at me and then...Brad sorta walked in with my...pants down and he maybe took a picture of me with the woman...."

I blinked.

"Why. The. Hell. Would. You. Do. That?!" I hissed quietly, hitting his arm with every word I spoke.

"She was very scary, okay?! What was I supposed to do?!" Peter argued desperately as I continued to stare at him in disbelief.

"Lock the door! What is with you and not locking your damn door? You're a teenage boy, you should be locking the door out of habit by now!" I shot back quietly, hitting his arm for the last time. "Just delete the picture, I need to go back to my escape from reali- I mean my nap," I ordered, pinching the bridge of my nose to keep the pounding pain coming from my head at bay.

"H-how exactly would I do that?" 

"Your Stark glasses. Obviously," I said and he gave me a blank look. "Your glasses. You know, the ones that my dead father gave to you. Kind of hard to forget, Peter," I continued making his eyes widen in realization and lean over his backpack, digging around for the glasses case.

"Just say you want to look at Brads phone and ask to delete only that picture, alright? Simple," I shrugged as I placed my head once again on the cool bus glass. "Even you can do it without screwing up," I jabbed, smiling and he glared at me playfully when he looked up with the case in hand. 

Would you like to activate sleep mode?

Yes             No   

Sleep mode activated...

"Your hair finally looks cool now," Nat complimented as she braided my hair into my ponytail.

"I know right?" I grinned giddily at my new, bright blue hair decorated in tiny braids thanks to Nat.

"Are you going to the party tonight?"

"And watch PTSD filled adults drink their weight in champagne and wine to fill the empty hole in their lives? No, I think I am good," I answered making Nat lean back with a look. "No offense," I added.

"Offense taken. What are you going to do then?" 

"Probably fly around. Maybe hang out with Harley," I planned vaguely.

"Oh god, you're going to blow shit up aren't you?"

"Obviously,"  I said in a 'duh' voice.

"And...done!" Nat announced proudly making me smile and get up to look in my mirror.

"You are really good at this," I looked in awe at my hair in the mirror.

"Practice makes perfect. Come on, we need to flaunt your hair in front of the idiots,"  Nat smiled before pulling me towards the door making me laugh.

Sleep mode deactivated.

"I swear to the gods on Asgard, I will kick your teeth down your throat," I mumbled under my breath as I felt Peter lightly shake me awake.

"Uh...what?" I opened my eyes at the voice that wasn't Peters and turned my head to find Brad of all people sitting next to me.

"Oh...uh sorry I thought..." I trailed off, craning my neck over the seat in front of me to scan the bus for Peter who was peeking out the side of his seat. We locked eyes for a split second before he widened his eyes and disappeared, leaving me incredibly confused. "Never-mind. Anyway, what do you need?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, wondering why in the hell Peter was up in the front of the bus and Brad was sitting next to me now.

"I actually wanted to show you something and I feel really horrible that I have to be the one to tell you this but...Peter's cheating on you," Brad empathized, not actually looking like he felt that bad. If I didn't immediately realize Brad was referring to the photo I would've bursted out laughing at that accusation even without that knowledge. I mean seriously, Peter cheating on me? Please!

"Oh," I simply stated, finally understanding what this was about. The photo. Hopefully Peter deleted it in time. 

Brad furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at my lack of emotion to the supposedly surprising news.

"I mean oh! Why do you think that, what happened?" I asked with big, round, sad eyes that I pulled out when I wanted to look innocent and sad. And stupid. They always eat that shit up. Specifically egotistical men.

"I caught Parker with some random woman in the bathroom with his...pants down. I'm so sorry," he elaborated, taking my hand into his. I gave him a strained, awkward smile before pulling my hand away.

"Brad, he wouldn't just hook up with a girl on vacation. Have you met him?" I laughed at the boys thought process, giving him an out to what will be an awkward conversation but he still took out his phone.

"You would think that, wouldn't you? But I, unfortunately, have proof," Brad assured as he swiped through his phone. I watched patiently as his fingers flicked across the screen and after a few seconds the confidence he carried lagged and was soon replaced by desperation.

"Um...Brad?"

"Just a second, I just saw it," he said, looking at his phone with determination as he aggressively swiped through his phone.

"Brad, I think you're still jet lagged. Maybe you should take a nap," I suggested gently so he would just leave.

"No, no, no I just had it, I swear!" Brad swore and I gave him an awkward smile.

"Of course you did but I still think you should get some sleep," I proposed, pushing him passive aggressively out of the seat and to where he used to be. As soon as he left to lick his wounds I whipped my head towards Peter who was peeking his head out from the top of the seat yet again like a guilty child.

'What did you do?!' I mouthed with a glare making him look even more guilty and looked down. I felt a buzz come from my phone and opened a text from Peter.

Webs 🕸❤️

I might have sorta accidentally programmed murder drones that came with the glasses and accidentally ordered them to kill Brad

Wires

WHAT

Wires 

I FALL ASLEEP FOR A HOUR AND YOU 

SEND MURDER BOTS AT BRAD

WHY WERE DRONES EVEN ACCESSIBLE TO THE GLASSES

WHY WERE THERE DRONES IN THE FIRST PLACE

HOW TF DO YOU ACCIDENTALLY ORDER MURDER BOTS AT SOMEONE

WHERE DID THEY EVEN COME FROM

Webs 🕸❤️

Uh...yes, I have no idea, I have no idea,  poor communication with Edith, I have no idea

Wires 

Who the hell is Edith

Webs 🕸❤️

The AI that runs the glasses that Mr. Stark made

It's an abbreviation 

Wires 

Ofc it's an abbreviation 

What does it stand for

Webs 🕸❤️

Uhhhhh 

I don't think you want to know

Wires 

Just tell me, I'll live 

Webs 🕸❤️

Even Dead I am The Hero

I looked up from my phone and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to resist the urge to chuck my phone out the window in anger. I took a deep breath and continued the conversation.

Wires 

Yeah that checks out 

Wires 

Wait, armed drones

Why did the glasses have weaponized drones  

That's impossible

Because if those glasses that my father made specifically for Peter were armed that means he...oh, for fucks sake!  

THAT LYING ASSHOLE.

Webs 🕸🕷❤️

Hailey? Are you okay?

Wires

🍑🍑🍑Peachy 🍑 🍑🍑

Chapter Text

Pain. Blinding pain was erupting from my head but that was normal for me, especially when I thought particularly hard on a subject like how Beck finished three of the four elementals with such ease even though they destroyed his entire planet and when they had an entire army including Beck. Or how he never stayed on the topic of how he came here in the first place? Magic portal? Some kind of tech that he had conveniently in his pocket as his planet was being destroyed?

After Peter's incident, we finally arrived in Prague just in time for the carnival of lights but Peter and I would have to miss it for a deadly mission. Yay...

 After getting to our very fancy, upgraded hotel, courtesy of Nicholas Joseph 'Asshole' Fury, Peter and I got sent earpieces for our mission. We put them on and arrived reluctantly at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s local hideaway. 

What was laughable about that was the Avengers got called out for not respecting countries' borders and here a U.S. organization is, shockingly, not respecting countries' borders and setting up shop to boot. How unexpected and not at all like the U.S. government.

We all stood in a similar room from the Venice hideaway except slightly smaller but with all the same high tech equipment. Even with the smaller space for the meeting I made sure to stay as far away as I could from Beck. 

Peter wore his new, substitute super suit that was painted all black and much more simpler than his normal spider suit but had the necessities. Goggles, mask, pockets that stored extra webbing, those sort of things.

Mine shared the same simple style of Peters with it painted all black and a belt, similar to the one on my usual suit, that stored extra batteries in case something happened. My jacket got ditched from the design and my upgraded mask got downgraded back to its normal, plasticky self. My iconic hood also got ditched because these losers have no taste- I mean because it was deemed "risky" and "unnecessary." And also because they have no taste, whoever 'they' are. Instead, 'they' opted for a biker-like helmet that hid my hair and my eyes from the wind when I flew. 

Remind me to somehow add a retractable face shield to my hood.

"The Elementals will be here in a couple of hours so let's go over the plan, shall we?" Nicholas addressed the team before locking his eyes on Peter who was looking away, zoning out. "Parker!" He called, snapping Peter out of his thoughts. 

"Yes, sir?" He breathed out, somehow managing to be polite at a time like this.

"That thing is going to be here in a few hours. Are we boring you?"

"Yes," I muttered and he locked angry eyes with me but before he could snap at me Beck spoke up.

"They're not bored. They're just thinking about how you kidnapped them," Beck countered from the other side of the room.

"He had obstacles. I removed them," Nicholas stated slowly so he could seem more intimidating.

"They still won't evacuate the city," Hill informed, putting down her phone after getting off the phone with one of the city officials which meant a lot more casualties. If the city was still doing the festival right in the middle of where the fire monster was going to appear it could be a catastrophe.

"Idiots," Nicholas grumbled at the news. "So, what's the plan, Parker?"

"I will be in the cathedral tower, keeping watch for the fire monster," Peter started.

"And I've got the roof in front of the Kaple svatého Kříže with my forcefield ready," I recited in boredom making everyone in the room glance at me. "What? That's what it's called," I defended as I felt my face heat up.

"When that shows up, I will radio you guys, and then Mr. Beck and I will-"

"My name is Mysterio," Beck corrected, widening his eyes in a exaggerated expression making Peter smile and I narrowed my eyes at both of them.

"That's when Mysterio and I will move in," Peter finished, smiling still.

"Peter, listen to me," Beck switched to a serious tone, wiping his playful smile from his face. "The best hope you have, the only hope, is to stop it here now, no matter what the cost. Maneuver it away from civilians if you can, but most importantly, keep it away from metal," he instructed. 

Metal?

"If it gets too big, it'll be able to draw power from the Earth's core. After that, there is no way to stop it." I scrunched up my eyebrows subconsciously in confusion. Earths core? How would metal help the monster with gaining energy from the core?

"Hey, my friends are here. I can't help but think

we're putting them in danger," Peter swallowed nervously and I looked down. If Nicholas was so desperate to evacuate the city why would he think to take a whole class of teenagers to the center of the city? Normally even he wouldn't be this reckless and borderline merciless. 

I tried to think about our situation, our fucked-up situation, but stopped when I felt the splitting pain in my head grow at the thought process. It was normal now, the pain intensifying when I tried to remember things or think more throughly but this was different. It was like my mind was stopping me from thinking too hard and it was beginning to piss me off.

"You're worried about us hurting your friends?" Nicholas demanded from the other side of the room and stood up from his chair, slowly sauntering over to us as another one of his cheap intimidation tactics. "You, who called a drone strike on your own school tour bus? Stark gave you a multi-billion dollar A.R. tactical intelligence system, and the first thing you do with it is try and blow up your friends. It's clear to me that you were not ready for this," Nicholas rebuked severely making the rage I had tried to keep to myself bubble up as I saw Peters posture shrink and turn his attention to the floor.

"He wouldn't have done that if you didn't have one of your borderline creepy employees watch him strip! So don't talk to us about blowing up our friends because you're too big of an egotistical dumbass to see the illogic in trying to get a city evacuated while at the same time dragging a whole ass class of minors to said city!" I shot back, walking toward him as he stared down at me like he was trying to burn a hole through my head.

"And guess what? Our friends are fine because Peter saved them just like he's trying to do right now by saying 'hey, let's not purposefully bring a group of teenagers into a war zone!' Let's face it, you're just being prissy because you're bitter that Tony made a smart decision for once his life and gave Peter the glasses, not you. This happened 10 years ago when he didn't give you me and it's happening right now so for once in your pathetic life suck it up and deal with it like a grown ass adult," I finished, huffing as I returned his stare.

"Not everything's about you so why don't you grow up," Nicholas shot back slowly slowly making me instantly want to curl up and die. 

I have always hated him more than I hated life but I had to hand it to Nicholas, he always had a knack for knowing exactly what to say to make you crumble.

"You first."

"He's just trying to get into your head-" I started to comfort Peter but he wasn't having it, standing up to face me as I stayed sitting on the ledge of the building. 

After Nicholas dismissed the meeting, Peter disappeared and, of course, I gave him some space. Until Beck walked off the roof with a smug expression plastered on his face and I couldn't not see what we happening. I have no idea what Beck said but I was too nervous to ask, feeling anxious every time I saw his annoying face.

"But he's right, Hailey! I shouldn't have these glasses, I'm not ready for this," Peter gestured to our surroundings, the late night sky of Prague on top of the S.H.I.E.L.D. building.

"Well clearly you are because we got dragged here against our will," I reasoned calmly making Peter sigh quietly and me stand up to face him. "Peter, I've known this man since I was seven and I can tell you for a fact that anything out of his mouth is a either a lie or a manipulation tactic," I continued with an even voice.

"I could've killed our entire class! How are you defending me?!" Peter demanded incredulously giving me a bewildered look.

"Because those missiles weren't supposed to exist in the first place! My father wasn't supposed to be building weapons and promised to not build weapons 14 years ago! Also he didn't leave any instructions or information about those glasses for you! Hell, I don't even know how those glasses work and I have my own pair so how were you supposed to?" I questioned but was only met with silence from his end. 

"I can't say none of that was your fault but I can say it was mostly because of a couple of arrogant, moronic men who are certainly not responsible enough to be in charge of nuclear weapons. And it was also on me for not clarifying to watch your wording around the glasses," I added genuinely seeing his body relax from the tension and stress he'd been carrying for hours.

"Thanks," Peter gave me a weak, mentally exhausted smile and I returned it.

"Plus fighting a crazy lava monster is way more romantic than stupid, old Paris," I scrunched up my nose and Peter laughed quietly.

"Just like our old dates with you being overworked, looking like death, and taking your unbridled anger out on poor, unsuspecting criminals," Peter smiled at the memory as he looked down at me.

"And you making terrible puns and quips while trying not to get your ass kicked," I smirked, remembering one time after a long patrol Peter ran out of webs in the middle of a mugger trying to fight him and I had to stop the guy from breaking his nose even further.

"That was one time!" He exclaimed, knowing what I was referring to.

"And I will never let you live it down," I promised before pecking him on lips. "We only have about an hour before the lava monster gets here and we still need to figure out how to keep a group of teenagers from a party," I realized after checking the time on my internal clock.

"I think I have an idea, come on," Peter planned, entwining our fingers together before jumping off the roof of the building. We both landed gracefully on the pavement causing an elder couple to look at the two teenagers who randomly appeared behind them. 

"Omluvte nás!" I apologized in Czech before dragging Peter along to the hotel.

We finally got back, barely making the curfew, and sat down on the expensive, cream colored couches which matched literally everything in the main floor room. Everyone else was already seated, decked out in led lights and glow sticks that were handed out in the streets.

"Peter, Hailey! Just in the knick of time for the good news, you two! A little later and you would be, well, late," Mr. Harrison greeted chipperly. The news he was referring to was probably the opera Peter made Edith sign us up for to get them out of the way in time for the battle. 

"They were probably too busy sucking face to notice the time," Flash jabbed, not looking up from his phone as he mindlessly scrolled through Twitter.

"Flash, when was the last time you kissed a person that you hadn't paid?" I shot back with a raised eyebrow. I was still unconvinced of him being straight as he so claims.

"Not that it's any of your business but I did last week," he said defensively.

"Oh yeah? What was their name?"

"...Rose...Smith," Flash answered slowly, clearly lying.

"Rose Smith?" I asked, struggling to keep a straight face.

"Yeah. You wouldn't know her, she goes to a different school."

"Convenient," MJ coughed loudly making half the class snicker and Flash get flustered.

"Okay, okay, settle down," Mr. Harrison called out getting everyone to be quiet. "Anyways, good news. We're going to the opera!" He happily announced to our class only to be met with complaints and protests.

"Don't look at me," Mr. Dell said, putting his hands up in defense at the frustrated, teenage mob.

"What happened to the carnival?" 

"This is upgrade living, guys. Come on. The tour company just gave us these tickets. For free! Do you have any idea how much opera tickets cost?" Mr. Harrison defended, holding up the bundle of tickets in his hands.

"No, because none of us have ever wanted to go to the opera, ever," Flash pointed out making the class nod along. Ned gave us a confused look, wondering if Nicholas gave us the opera tickets and why, and Peter answered his questioning looks with a frantic look and subtly shaking his head. Ned glanced over at my equally wide eyes, urging him to go along with the plan blindly. 

"Well, I think this is gonna be culturally enriching for us," Ned supported as Betty gave him a weird, questioning look while Mr. Harrison gave him a grateful one.

"Thank you, Ned," Mr. Harrison smiled at his student making me feel a twinge of guilt at this under payed teacher just trying to do his job without having any of his student die on him. He was relatively nice as I could tell even through are limited interactions with each other. I kept to myself and rarely talked to any teachers but he seemed the nicest I had met, complimenting me at Decathlon practice every time I answer the questions no one else can answer.

"Everyone, this is gonna be, maybe, the best four hours of our whole trip," Mr. Harrison proclaimed boldly and the entire class erupted in complaints again.

"Four hours?!" The class demanded in utter disbelief and even I was a little surprised, and impressed, at Peter. 

"Guys, I think this is gonna be really fun. Seriously," Ned still advocated with a smile. 

Oh, these poor, poor victims. 

Well, at least I'm safe!

…

"This is the worst!" MJ groaned next to me as we stood in the elevator waiting to meet up with the rest of our group to go to the four-hour opera. Well, they were going to the opera, I was ditching to fight a giant lava monster.

We were forced to wear our emergency formal outfits for the event which made MJ more grumpy than usual. Her hair was still in its usual ponytail but instead of her casual shirt and ripped jeans she wore a rather pretty floral dress with her clunky ankle boots.

 Even after the charity banquet, I so stubbornly refused to buy a formal dress and opted for one of my work outfits. I wore my hair in two buns and decided on packing and wearing a pair of black pants, my favorite pair of black heels, and a cream-colored button-up with a dark blue jacket that perfectly hid the corrupted vein-like lines beginning to grow up my neck. 

I've been getting sicker and sicker. In the back of my mind, I know this is stupid to go fight in a battle that I'm not prepared for or strong enough to do. But you only live once right? 

Well, twice in my case.

"Honestly. This is going to be mind-numbing," I agreed, sighing dramatically. Finally, the elevator doors slid open revealing our class huddled together looking dead inside on the other side of the room.

My eyes scanned the group of teenagers and realized no other girl wore pants. Cue illogical anxiety and self-consciousness.

That was until I saw Peter and all my thoughts instantly turned to mush.

He wore a basic suit, a white button-up, black slacks, and a jacket that was buttoned at the middle. His hair was slicked back but not in the stupid way he did it back in freshman year with an obscene amount of grease but in a way where he actually knew what he was doing with the hair gel. 

Warning: Systems overheating. Please cool down.

I sucked in a breath as we locked eyes with each other and his ears instantly turned pink.

"You look...beautiful," Peter breathed out, staring at me before blinking out of his daze making me laugh quietly.

"You look beautiful too," I replied, smiling and eyed his slightly wrinkled suit. "Shame we don't get to stay. I could get really used to you in a suit, especially one that doesn't hide your face," I whispered quietly and winked as I adjusted his jacket before following our class out the door being lead by Mr. Harrison through the bustling street.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Peter whispered as we followed our teacher through the crowds and looked down at me with concern. "You've been getting...sicker," he finished making me touch my chest where my corrupted system is, the thing that was slowly killing me.

"I'll be fine. And if it all goes to shit I have you to protect me," I reassured, giving him a confident smile and his face softened at the gesture.

"I bet now you're all happy I had you pack a nice outfit," Mr. Harrison pointed out proudly as we all slumped through the bustling streets to our hell- I mean Opera house.

"Yeah, because we'd much rather go to a four-hour opera instead of the biggest party in the world," Flash complained bitterly.

"Again, don't look at me," Mr. Dell repeated in defense.

"Parker, Stark, do you copy? Comm check, one, two," Hills voice rang through the comm installed in my ear.

"Got it," I muttered in confirmation and Peter did the same, trying not to be heard by our classmates.

"Ok, here we are. Beat the rush," Mr. Harrison announced as we finally entered the large auditorium that was nearly empty except for a handful of elderly couples slowly making it towards their seats. The place would be quite impressive if there were only more people filled in the seats and more lively like it was intended.

"Yeah, the rush out," Mr. Dell quipped, looking around at the rather sad setting.

"Lucky for us, we got the best seats in the house. Let's go," Mr. Harrison lead most of the class to their assigned seats.

"Hey, I'll save you a seat," Brad smiled at me and I gave him a polite, strained smile. 

"I'm going sit by Peter and MJ but thanks anyway," I answered stiffly causing his confident smile to fall.

"Oh...okay," he trailed off awkwardly before walking dejectedly to the rest of the group.

"Watching him try used to be hilarious but now it's just too sad even for me," MJ mused next to me as she watched Brad sit down in the front row.

"Dude," I scorned, giving her a look at her lack of empathy and her non-helpfulness.

"What? It was my only entertainment this entire trip! Peter understands," she argued gesturing to an offended-looking Peter.

"Dude," Peter repeated with disappointment, raising his hands out in indignity.