Chapter Text
“You can’t do that, Peter!”
“Yes I can. It says sacrifice a creature. It doesn’t say it has to be MY creature. That stupid Rock Hydra is gone.” Peter grinned at you from across the table in an empty lounge at the Avenger’s training facility. You leaned back in your chair and glared at him.
“It doesn’t work that way and you know it. You can’t sacrifice a creature of mine without a card that would allow it anyway, and nothing on that card says that you can. Now, get rid of your Suntail Hawk, or get rid of that Smothering Abomination. Trying to sacrifice my creature isn’t really a sacrifice for you, is it?”
“Fine. Whatever. It should work that way.” He grudgingly picked up the flying Suntail Hawk card and set it to the side. Turning two of his swamps sideways to tap them, he placed another black card next to the Abomination. “Tapped two Swamps and I’m summoning the Black Knight. 2/2 and First Strike.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know what the Black Knight card does, goofball.”
“There’s no reason to stoop to name calling,” he sniggered at you. “You know, girls don’t usually even play Magic, let alone consider themselves rules experts.” He was teasing you, and you knew it, but there was no way that you were going to let him get away with it.
“Yeah, Spidey? Girls do a lot of things that guys don’t think they can do. Wanna hit the gym and spar with me? Maybe go outside and play a little basketball? We’ll see who can do what.” You kicked him lightly under the table and he laughed at you.
“You are absolutely nuts if you think I am ever doing either of those things. Do I look crazy to you?”
You raised your eyebrow at him. “Do you really want me to answer that?”
Once again, he laughed. “I’m really glad that you’re here, (Y/N). Playing like this is much better than playing over the internet, and I really like having you around”
“Yeah, me too. I missed seeing your dorky face in person,” you giggled in response.
“Dorky? Says the girl playing Magic: The Gathering and schooling me on the rules.”
“Well, I’ve been playing since I was nine, and somebody has to step in when you just decide to make rules up! Now finish your turn.”
He looked at the table and then at his cards. “I can’t attack you right now since you made me get rid of my only flying creature. I need my Smothering Abomination to block that Hydra, so I guess I’m done. At least this should keep me alive for another round, then I will unleash the pain.”
You untapped your lands and took a moment to consider your cards. Glancing over at Peter’s life, you saw eight red colored counters. On your side, the counters were yellow, and there were only three of them. “So what was our deal, again?”
“If you win, I will take you to Central Park to ride the carousel. When I win, you have to go to the game store in Queens with me to play Magic. There are always guys there playing, and some of them are jerks. Most of them have probably never seen a girl up close before, especially one as pretty as you who can also kick their butts at the game.” His hand suddenly flew over his mouth. “I didn’t mean that pretty part. I mean, I did mean it. You are easily the prettiest girl I know, I just didn’t mean to say it, you know, out loud.”
You pretended to ignore the comment, but you could feel the blush creeping across your cheeks. “What if we called it a tie and did both? Throw in a stop for ice cream, maybe?”
“That sounds more like a date than a punishment for losing a game.” He looked up at you again, horrified. “Not like a real date, because I know you wouldn’t want to…….Ugh! I should just stop talking now.”
Once again, you pretended to ignore his adorable sputtering. “Were the bets meant to be punishments? I mean, going to a game shop to kick a bunch of obnoxious boy’s butt’s at Magic with you doesn’t sound particularly awful to me. It sounds like a lot of fun. I guess you think having to go to the park with me and maybe getting an ice cream cone would be a terrible punishment, though? Too bad.”
Peter’s eyes went wide and he looked up at you. “Wait. You’d want to go on a date? Like a real date? You mean with Spider-Man, right?”
“Definitely not. I’d want to go on a date with Peter Parker. It would look a little weird running around the city with you in that suit. Besides, Spider-Man is kind of a jerk.”
“I’ve heard that before,” Peter chuckled as he looked over the cards on the table. “Is this because you know you’re going to lose? You only have that Rock Hydra, and powerful as he is, unless you have a lot of sorcery in your hand, you will be dead in the next round. Are you trying to get me to declare a tie so that you won’t have to admit defeat, even if it means having to go on a date with me?”
“Who’s thinkin’ that they’re going on a date?” The familiar drawl of your father, interrupted. He gave Peter that intense stare that he was known for, and you had to cover your mouth to keep from giggling. “We ain’t here for datin’, Parker, and we certainly ain’t here for you to date my little girl.”
“Dad!” you groaned. “You’re acting like an overprotective oaf! I’m 17 years old!”
“Yeah? Well maybe I am, but I don’t trust him. I was his age once. I remember what it was like.”
“When was that? Somewhere around 1900?” You grinned at the horrified look on Peter’s face, but you knew that your dad, even if he was the great big scary mutant known as Wolverine, would just laugh at your teasing.
“It’s my job as your Pop to keep the riff-raff away,” he pointed one popped shiny claw at Peter.
“Can you stop, please? It’s bad enough that most of the boys at school are terrified to look like they are spending too much time with me,” you grumbled.
“Only most? I guess I’m gonna have to try harder.”
You were the product of a very short relationship and you never met your father, living with your mother in Calgary. He kept up with you, though, sending little cards or gifts on your birthday, holidays and special occasions, but he stayed away, fearing that his life was too dangerous.
That all changed one summer night, shortly after your 12th birthday, when two men broke into your home and you watched from the closet as they killed your mother before coming after you. They dragged you out of the closet, and as one of them loomed over you with a large knife, something happened and your brain went fuzzy. When you regained your senses, the two men were laying on the ground in a puddle of blood and you were holding the knife in your hand. You dropped the knife and ran to your mother, but it was too late.
Moments later, a funny looking man in a red and black sort of costume showed up. He said that he was one of your father’s very best friends, and to ignore your father if he said otherwise. He also said that your dad sent him to rescue you, but apparently you rescued yourself. Not really sure of what choice you had, you agreed to go with him and the next day he delivered you to a gruff looking feral sort of man that turned out to be your father. He explained that he had the X-gene, and apparently, after what happened the night before, so did you.
Since then, your home has been the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. Your mutation gave you photographic reflexes, which allowed you to mimic the movements of anyone. That meant that you could perform difficult gymnastics routines and dances, learn to play complicated pieces of music, or compete in many sports after watching them just once. It also meant that you could fight very well, which is how you managed to kill the two intruders, after watching the way that they attacked your mother.
While most parents might encourage the less violent uses of your mutation, your dad wasn’t most parents. He had enemies, and those enemies had already killed your mom. He wanted you to be able to defend yourself, so in addition to your studies, he trained you to fight and keep your head from going fuzzy while you learned your opponent’s moves. He would partner you up with anyone willing to help you to learn different styles of fighting. The man in the red and black suit was the first to volunteer and by the end of the day, you could not only fight like him, but were just as proficient in the use of his Katana’s. As the man predicted, your dad said that they were more like frenemies than actual friends, and he got paid to go rescue you that night, but you grew to adore the man that you now called Uncle Wade, much to your father’s chagrin.
Now, five years later, your dad was working with the Avengers on occasion, and sometimes he’d bring you along. You could easily hold your own in a fight, and your father just saw it as another part of your training.
You enjoyed it even more when you met Peter Parker for the first time well over a year ago. You shared a lot of the same interests and got along very well. You convinced your dad to bring you along to the Avengers anytime you could, and the two of you kept in touch while you were at school by e-mail or video chatting. You’d play Magic or other games, help each other with homework, or sometimes you’d just talk about nothing. Either way, the fact was that you liked him, and until this very moment, you thought he might like you.
“Instead of talking about this silliness, how about you two finish the game and we start getting ready for the mission? This HYDRA base isn’t gonna take themselves out for us, and I’m pretty sure that killing that Rock Hydra thing isn’t gonna help.” He folded his arms and looked between you. “Get suited up, both of you. We got a meeting in 30.”
“Y-yes Sir,” Peter responded, and your dad chuckled at his nervous stuttering before wandering off.
Seeing the somewhat terrified look on Peter’s face, you sighed loudly. “So I guess that’s gonna be a no on the draw, huh Peter?”
“Well, uhhh…. your dad didn’t seem to think that it was a great idea. Besides, you don’t really wanna go out with me. You just don’t want to lose the game.”
“Right. I just don’t want to lose. Well, in that case……..” You tapped one of your Islands and all nine Mountains before throwing a blue Flight card on top of your Rock Hydra and a red Fireball card beside it. “8/8 flying Rock Hydra attacking you and you have no flying creatures. The Fireball does an additional eight damage to you directly.”
Peter stared intently at his cards before tossing his entire hand on the table and looking up at you with something like shock on his face. “I can’t fend off either. You win.”
“Yeah, I guess I really just didn’t want to lose this game did I?” You gathered your cards and slid your life counters into their leather bag before walking out of the room silently.
Exactly 30 minutes later, you were suited up in the black uniform that you wore for training back at school, and sitting at a large table between Peter and your father. It was a quite intimidating to look around the room and see people like Tony Stark, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, and Wanda Maximoff, sitting with you. If that wasn’t enough, Steve Rogers, Captain America himself, was standing at the head of the table going over the mission plans.
“How could you be so positive that you’d win earlier?” Peter leaned over and whispered to you. “What if I had a Mental Misstep card in my hand? That would have countered the Fireball.”
“My flying Rock Hydra would have beaten you anyway. Besides, Mental Misstep wouldn’t work because…….” You felt your dad’s elbow in your side and you jerked up in your seat to find everyone at the table looking at you.
“Something you two need to share with the rest of us?” Steve stared down the table at both of you.
“No Sir, sorry,” Peter stammered.
“At this point, I’ve given up on understanding why we bring Peter along to fight, but now we’re bringing two underage kids?” Clint Barton looked over at you and smiled, kindly.
“She can handle herself, Barton,” your dad growled beside you. “You know that very well, and I wouldn’t have brought her along if I was worried.” He was right. Both Clint and Natasha were happy to spar with you on more than one occasion, and you easily held your own against them, after watching video of them sparring with each other. “These sorts of missions are good practice for her since they ain’t that hard.”
“We’re also shorthanded since Sam and Bucky are out chasing down more Hydra leads, Scott’s with Cassie this week, and T’Challa had to return to Wakanda,” Tony shrugged. “Besides, both of them are close enough to 18, and are perfectly capable of hanging with us.”
“Alright everyone,” Steve interrupted. “If there is nothing else, get your gear and let’s head to the jet. We’ve got a long flight.”
“I’ll meet you on the plane,” your father said, as he followed the others out of the door.
Barton came up beside you. “It’s nothing personal, (Y/N). I just don’t want to see any of you kids get hurt. If your dad’s cool with it, so am I. You are one hell of a fighter, but don’t forget while we’re out there that you aren’t bulletproof. You too, Parker.”
You assumed that Peter had already left, so you were surprised to find him right behind you. He assured Clint that he’d be careful and Clint walked off to gather his gear, leaving you and Peter alone.
“Sorry I got us in trouble in the meeting,” Peter said after Clint was gone.
“No big deal,” you shrugged and started walking toward the door with Peter following behind.
“What if I had a Terminate card? It would have killed your Rock Hydra.”
“You really aren’t going to let this go, are you?” You shook your head and grinned at him. “With all those Mountains that you didn’t have, how were you going to cast it? Besides, if you killed the Hydra, the Fireball would still kill you.”
“Yeah, I guess so. Then why did you try to get me to take a draw, if you were so positive that you’d win?”
You stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned to look at him. “You think about that, Peter, and let me know when you figure it out.”
Both you and Peter brought a deck of Magic cards for the ride, but you spent more time answering Stark’s questions about the game than actually playing. When you finally reached the drop off point, you boxed your deck up and stowed it under your seat before pulling on the yellow and black partial face mask that your father insisted you wear to hide your identity.
“Be careful, (Y/N),” Peter insisted before pulling on his Spider-Man mask. You couldn’t help but laugh at how completely ridiculous he looked, but even with the mask on, you could tell that he was pouting.
“I’ll promise to be careful if you do the same, Spidey. Do we have a deal this time?”
Peter nodded. “Yes. I’m not making the same mistake that I did last time.” He winked at you with one of his strange animated eyes, and that just made you laugh again. “Maybe we can talk about that after this is done? That is, if you still want to.”
“I suppose we could do that,” you responded with a wry smile.
“Just one thing, though. What about Rest for the Weary? I had Plains, so I could have cast it, if it were in my hand. That would have given me four extra life tokens and kept me in the game.”
You threw your hands up in the air with a loud groan. “Peter Parker, you are the most frustrating person I have ever met! You lost. Accept it. You could have tied, but you didn’t choose very wisely, did you?”
Peter nodded in resignation. “No I didn’t. I choose pretty stupidly.”
“You sure did, buddy. Now, let’s go kick some Hydra butt, then we can talk.”
“It’s a date.” His weird eyes went wide and he smacked his forehead with his gloved hand. “I mean, if you want it to be.”
“What do you think, Spidey?” You winked back at him before running to join your father to prepare for the raid.
Soon you were all knee deep in Hydra agents. Barton and Stark were keeping an eye on things up high while the rest of you moved through the warehouse like facility, plowing through the agents on the ground. You’d managed to take care of three of them, knocking them out by yourself before you turned toward a fourth and grinned as the gun in his hand went flying into the air, compliments of one of Spider-Man’s webs. The man turned to run, and you chased him down one of the side corridors.
It didn’t take long to realize that you’d made a huge mistake when you looked around and saw that you were now separated from the rest of the group, and the man you chased wasn’t alone. It was a trap, and you’d run right into it. The second man lifted his hand and you just barely saw a flash of metal before something sharp pierced the only visible part of your neck, and everything around you went black.