A/N: Okay this is going to be the last chapter before we move onto the Age of Ultron storyline. I've got a plan on how that pans out (around 6 or 7 chapters with very little Peter). But I'm looking forward to introducing Adara's alter superhero ego if that's what you want to call it. After that, it will be all on Peter in his origin storyline (no idea how long that will take) which will also probably be mixed in with some Hydra stuff for Adara, but we'll see how that pans out.

I should probably stop writing and actually do some revision but I think I'll just procrastinate it more, as long as I don't fail maths or English (which is very likely considering how much bull is in the new English GCSE, literally, just google it, it's awful) I should be fine :/

Izzy: Thanks for the help but it seems the wiki does no good for me. It tells me he was born in 2001 and nothing else. I'm interested in where you read about his birthday being in April though. I don't think it will majorly affect the story anyway, but I'll keep digging.

Ficthow: Yep, that's the plan so far, that's if I make it to the homecoming storyline without dying of a fatal heart attack halfway through writing this.

Thanks to: LeeMinah92, Izzy, Harry Potter and the TARDIS, EzriaStydiaTrash, ficthow, jess114, Guest, InsaneKids159, Freddie4153, kaede97, lizlil, artemis7448, HighLadyofTerrasen, Marauder Hair, crawler123, Truffles98902 and Aunknowntimelord and Lucy Jacob for either leaving a review or following/favouriting on the last chapter! Honestly, you guys are the best and your reviews are the sweetest things.

"Thought that I would self-destruct, but I'm still here
Even in my years to come, I'm still gon' be here"

How? How? How did she do it? Peter knew that if he had ever been faced with a similar situation to Adara, with a gun pointed right at him, he would've wet himself. Yet, somehow, the thirteen-year-old girl seemed to have more balls than he did and had easily taken down the burglar with little effort. He wasn't going to lie, he was jealous of that kind of skill. Where had she even learnt to do that? He thought that Adara had opened up to her last night, turns out there were still many things he still didn't know about the dark-haired teenager.

He was waiting with Uncle Ben and Aunt May in the police station, Ned had since gone home. Adara too was waiting, she had called up one of her relatives earlier and had then been perfectly sitting patiently waiting for whoever they were. Peter was less patient, he was fidgeting around a lot, waiting for the officer. Obviously, he wouldn't be the one being questioned in this case, it would be his parents. Adara would also be getting questioned once her own guardian showed up.

The door to the station swung open.

"Adara," greeted a long, black haired woman wearing glasses, "Est ce que ça va?" Peter roughly translated it to 'are you okay?'

"Oui, oui," nodded Adara before going into full blown french that Peter couldn't even dream of understanding, "J'ai déménagé en Amérique quand j'avais six ans après la mort de mes parents. Je vis maintenant avec une famille éloignée et j'ai été à la maison-école la plupart de ma vie. Tu n'es pas marié."

Little did Peter or May or Ben know, Adara had just given Natasha her entire fake backstory. Luckily, the redhead, now wearing a wig, absorbed the information quickly and nodded. She turned to May with a smile on her face.

"My name is Allie Thomas," she said and he noticed that her voice carried no accent, "sorry to hear what happened to your home."

"Nothing was stolen," assured May, "thanks to your daughter."

"My niece, actually," she corrected, "and you must be Peter's aunt and uncle?"

Peter looked up, surprised the woman knew him by name. There was something familiar about her face, she reminded him of a celebrity of some sorts. She did look very rich; she was wearing a green, expensive looking jacket with a low cut black top and leggings, matched with some expensive looking flat shoes. She had green eyes but they were different to Adara's. They carried hints of blue and brown whilst Adara's did not.

"Yes, my name is May Parker and this is my husband Ben."

"Well, it's nice to meet you. I-"

"Excuse me, are you Miss Thomas' guardian?" Asked a grumpy looking NYPD officer in his mid-thirties.

"Yes, I am," she gestured for Adara to stand up, "I'm guessing you want to ask us some questions."

"Yes, if you'd please come this way."

Adara gave Peter a surprisingly confident smile for someone who was just about to be interviewed by the police. He smiled back with a little more hesitance before she vanished around a corner. The room she was lead into was a small, warmly lit office with a man already sat at the desk, tapping away on his laptop. He looked up when he saw the two enter the room.

"Ah, Miss Thomas and the other Miss Thomas," said the man, "take a seat. I'm Chief Raymond, I just need to ask a few questions."

"Of course," said 'Allie.'

"First of all," he began, "you are her aunt, correct?"

Natasha nodded, "she has been living with me since she was six."

"And was homeschooled most of her life?"

"Yes, how is this relevant?"

"My apologies, miss," Raymond said, "we just need to do basic background checks. Both of her parents are deceased, yes?"

"They are."

"And how were they related to you directly, Miss Thomas?"

"I was her father's sister," and Adara was a little impressed by the smoothness of her lies.

"Okay," he finished typing something up onto his laptop, "now, we just need to ask you couple questions about the circumstances of the attempted burglary. Is that okay, Adara?"

The teenager nodded.

"Around what time did you fall asleep?" He asked.

"Around three, I think, we'd just finished watching a movie."

"And what woke you up?"

"Well, I wasn't sleeping great," she ignored the look Natasha gave her as she said that, "and then I heard someone walking around. At first, I thought it was just the building creaking so I got up because I needed the toilet." It was a lie, the footsteps had woken her and she had been suspicious of that, but she wasn't keen on telling the policeman how she'd known that there was a robber but had still gone to face him on purpose.

"And then what happened?"

"I opened the door and walked out to see this man crouched over the tv, trying to unplug it from the wall," Adara said it with no emotion in her voice whatsoever, "he heard me and pointed a gun in my face?"

"And you weren't scared?"

"I was a little," she lied.

"Did he say anything to you?"

"He told me to not make a sound or he'll shoot me," she told him, "then, for some reason, he turned his back to me."

"So what did you do?"

"Well, I moved towards him until I was right behind him. Then, he turned around and tried to shoot at me, but I pushed his arm so the bullet hit the floor. Then, I kicked him in the back of the legs, grabbed his gun and hit him over the head with it, knocking him out."

Natasha raised an eyebrow and looked at the teen who shrugged.

"Oh," Raymond stopped typing to look at her, "and how old are you again?"

"Thirteen."

"And how did you know what to do?"

"I taught her basic self-defence," Natasha answered this time, "just in case."

"Well, Miss Thomas, your daught-" he cut himself off, "uh, niece, managed to prevent a robbery as well as apprehending a known criminal, you must be very proud."

"I am," she nodded, before turning to her, "Steve va être énervé." (Steve will be pissed off).

Adara's smug smile quickly turned into a frown.

"Your phone's ringing," stated Adara.

"I know," said Natasha, handing to her, "it's Steve, you can deal with him."

"Great," she muttered, swiping to accept the phone call, "hey-"

"Natasha?" He didn't sound happy.

"She's driving, it's Adara," she answered.

"Put it on speaker then," he said and she did so, "Natasha, why didn't you wake me up?"

"Because I can deal with these kind of things," the redhead answered nonchalantly.

"What even happened? I asked Tony and he just told me that you had to go because Adara had got herself into some kind of mess. What did she do?"

"A man broke into the Parker's house."

"What?" Steve seemed suddenly tense, "was it Hydra?"

"No," answered Adara, "just some idiot. I took him out, don't worry about it."

"And you're sure he wasn't Hydra?"

"Positive, Steve," she assured him, "Hydra would never hire an idiot like that, he didn't know who I was and was completely incapable of doing anything, even stealing a television."

"But-"

"Believe me, Steve, I know Hydra. Why would they hire a guy to do something as pointless as that?"

And Adara was right. Why would Hydra want to hire someone to steal a tv? However, what she didn't anticipate that, whilst they hadn't hired the burglar to steal the television, they had certainly had a hand in the event. Sometimes, all it took was the temptation of an 'accidentally' left open window and a robber pumped with cheap drugs to create a useful situation. Whilst Uncle Ben might easily blame himself for 'foolishly' leaving the window open, the reality was that he did close it, Hydra was just very good at picking locks.

Chief Raymond, a well-respected man as well as the officer who had interviewed Adara and 'Allie' Thomas, had dialled a number into his burner phone the moment the two had left to head back.

"Raymond," said a voice from the other end of the line with distinct New Yorkian accent, "how did it go?"

"The plan worked, General," responded the respectable chief of police, "we unlocked the window and the idiot noticed and broke in."

"What about the girl?"

"She took him down easily," he snorted, "didn't seem to be suspicious at all."

"So that means out information was right," responded the voice, "she is attending a public school, not to mention she's been moved from the foster home. What was her fake story?"

"Apparently she moved to America when she was six-years-old to live with her 'aunt Allie' after her parent's death. She's kept the same name, though. Obviously, she's convinced she's safe from Hydra, otherwise, she would've moved to the other side of the world."

"Address?"

"I've got it, but it's a fake."

"How are you so sure?"

"Her Aunt 'Allie' definitely isn't a woman to be living in a small townhouse in Queens. If anything, her name definitely isn't Allie."

The voice let out an annoyed grunt, "who is it then?"

"She was wearing a disguise that had me fooled for a few minutes," Raymond told him, "but, I eventually figured it was the Black Widow herself."

"Natasha Romanoff?"

"The one and only," he nodded, despite the fact that he was on the phone, "looks like your experiment is living with the Avengers. Which means she, and anyone else around her is automatically under their watch."

There was a long amount of silence.

"Sir?" Raymond asked after a minute of no response.

He laughed, "give it some time, let them get comfortable. We'll get her back."

"Sir, is it even worth it?" Raymond asked cautiously, "I mean-"

"It's worth it, Raymond," He reassured him, "that girl's powers makes her unstoppable. I trained her to be unstoppable."

"I don't understand-"

"Use your tiny brain and think about it," the voice spoke down to him as though he were a child, "shape-shifting is one, if not, the most useful ability on the planet. Under our orders, she would easily be able to transform into the president himself and…"

"She would have access to all Nuclear weapons and the US military."

"Exactly," the voice on the other end hummed, "she'll be the key to Hydra's rise, under my control. Now, we'll give it a year or so, let her get comfortable. Then, we strike. Understand, Raymond?"

"Yes, Luka."

"Good, I'll contact you in a few weeks time."

"Hey, 'Dara," it was Monday morning after the sleepover and Peter had spotted the girl leaving her car just outside the school and had wandered up to her.

She glanced up in surprise when she realised he was sticking with the nickname, "Bonjour, Pete. How are you?"

"Fine," he shrugged before remembering something, "oh, I needed to give you these."

He opened up his bag and found the box of chocolates he had stuffed in their this morning as well as a card. She took them and raised an eyebrow.

"Last time I checked, it wasn't Valentine's day," she said, teasing tone in her voice.

"Oh, no" he shook his head vigorously, a growing blush on his face, "they aren't from me. Uh, May told me to give them to you, as a thank you for what you for stopping the tv getting stolen."

"I figured, Pete," she smiled at him, "what's that English expression? I was just pulling your leg."

The two began to walk towards the school and he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "uh, right. Sorry, we left the window open, by the way, it sorta ruined the whole sleepover. Especially since we never got to watch the last movie."

Adara just looked amused, "it is okay. I watched the last one when I got home anyway."

For some strange reason, Peter couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He had enjoyed watching Star Wars with her and seeing her reactions to it but at least now she was a little more educated when it came to films.

"What did you think?" He asked.

"Good, especially the ending. But, it was not as good as the first two."

He nodded agreeing with that and was prepared to say something more when a short stature burst into view.

"Hey, Penis Parker," said Flash, "and Adara."

The girl rolled her eyes but said nothing.

"What do you want, Flash?" Peter asked with an annoyed tone, trying not to come off as intimidated in front of Adara.

"Well, Leeds was just telling me an interesting story about a sleepover," Flash snorted, "I can't believe you let a girl fight a burglar for you!"

Adara frowned, "what do you mean? He didn't 'let' me do it, he was asleep."

"Sure," Flash snorted, "I'm sure that was what he wanted you to think."

The girl sneered at him, "even so, why do you look down on him? Do you think you could've taken the burglar down?"

"Obviously," Flash looked at his friends who all nodded in agreement, "if a girl could take him down, then I could too, easily."

"Oh," she raised an eyebrow, "does that mean you think that you could take me down in a fight?"

"Uh, yeah, obviously," the boy nodded.

Peter doubted he could and, from the smug look on Adara's face, he knew that she knew that she thought that too.

"Okay then," she smiled, "how about this, after last period you meet me in that back alley behind the school and then we'll see who wins."

Flash looked hesitant, "I don't like hitting girls."

"Mauviette," she muttered, "more like you're scared of getting beaten by a girl."

"No, I'm not."

"Then do it," she glared down at him mildly. A crowd had begun to form around the three of them, Peter noticed, and all of them were looking keenly onto the conversation, excitedly muttering between them.

After a couple seconds of silence, he nodded. "Deal, what do I get when I win?" He smirked.

"If you win," she looked at him, "I'll go on a date you," and there was a wolf whistle from the crowd.

"What?" Exclaimed Peter but Adara elbowed him in the ribs.

"And if I win," she continued, "you have to leave Peter, Ned and I alone for the rest of the year, deal?"

He nodded, "deal, I'll be looking forward to our date."

She raised an eyebrow, "don't get your hopes up. Now, if you don't mind, I need to be going to my locker. Remember, behind the school after last period. See you then, Flash."

She elbowed past him, Peter quickly following a couple paces behind. He had to jog a little to catch up with her. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" He asked, "I mean, not that I don't want Flash to get what's coming to him but what if a teacher gets word of this because there's definitely gonna be a crowd."

"We're not doing it on school property," she pointed out, pushing the door open, "and we're not doing it during school time. Plus it's that back alley, you know, the one where all those edgy teenagers smoke? Don't panic, all the teachers are too scared to go back there anyway. Plus, it's not like you'll be the one getting into trouble."

"I don't want you getting into trouble either."

She shoved past some eleven-year-old kids, "good to know you're looking out for me."

"Yeah, well, someone has to," he muttered, "first you're taking down TV robbers and next you're beating up Flash," he then gave her a smile, "someone needs to stop you from taking over the world."

The dark haired girl just smirked in her usual, strangely mysterious way, "thanks, Pete."

"No problem, Dara."

Adara: I'm gonna be late out after school today.

Happy: Why?

Adara: Talking to a teacher about something. Don't tell Steve!

Happy: Okay, but don't take too long otherwise I'll let some other, less good, driver start picking you up and dropping you off.

Adara: Don't worry, I'll be as quick!

"Who are you texting?" Asked Ned.

"Someone," she answered vaguely, "just telling them I'm gonna be late out of school."

Peter wasn't listening, he was thinking about the fight that was only ten minutes away. They were in their Spanish class and, at this point, the entirety of their grade had basically caught word of the fight and had been gossiping about it all day. The general consensus, amusingly, was that people wanted Flash to get his ass handed to him but, much to both Peter and Adara's annoyance, they also believed that was not going to be what happened. Flash's little posey had been spreading rumours of his attendance at 'fighting' classes which Peter doubted was true.

"Have you finished the work?" Asked the teacher suddenly, drawing Peter out of his thoughts.

Adara, who had quickly shoved her phone away, nodded, "yeah."

"Let me look," Adara handed her sheet to her which she spent a minute inspecting before nodding, "good work as always. And you, Mr Parker?"

"Uh- yeah, nearly."

"Nearly isn't good enough," she said, shaking her head, "I expect to see it done in the next five minutes or you'll have to finish it after class."

"Yes, miss," he said and she walked away. "God, I don't know why she likes you but hates me."

"Try being fluent in Spanish," she took his sheet off of him and began to read it, "then she'll like you," she pointed at two of his answers, "Those two are translated in the wrong tense."

He rolled his eyes.

"Hey, I'm only trying to help."

"I know, I know," he nodded and went back to correct them.

Luckily, he did get the work done on time and, the moment the bell rang, everyone began hurrying out the classroom. Adara, as usual, was two steps ahead of everyone else and, by the time Ned and Peter had caught up with her, she was already slamming her locker shut.

"Is this really happening?" Asked Ned, a big grin on his face.

"Yep," she nodded popping the 'p,' "ready? Let's go."

As the three walked, with a considerable crowd behind them, Ned would not stop asking questions.

"What if you lose? Will you really go on a date with him?"

"I'm not going to lose," she assured him with an untouchable amount of confidence, "I would rather die than lose to Flash Thompson."

"But what if you so lose?" Ned continued to pester.

"Ned Leeds, I took down a man with a gun who was double my height and weight," she snorted dismissively, "I'm sure I can handle some middle schooler."

"That whole thing with the burglar might've have just been luck," suggested Ned.

Adara sent him a vaguely agitated look over her shoulder, "I can assure you that is definitely was not luck." But she didn't elaborate.

By the time they reached an alley, there were already a small group of people anxiously waiting for the fight to start. Flash, of course, was giving Adara a smug look, seemingly sure that he would win. If anything, Peter was worried whether or not he'd come out of this alive.

"Adara," he greeted, "good to see you didn't chicken out."

"Why would I?" She looked confused.

"Because I'm pretty tough looking."

Everyone in the crowd looked at each other as if to say 'is this kid serious?' Adara, without warning, took off her backpack and shoved it into Peter's chest, pushing her dark, brown hair up into a ponytail before cracking her knuckles. Flash watched this happen with the slightest look of hesitance on his face before quickly replacing it with a look of self-assured victory.

"Rules, then," said Adara, "doesn't matter who wins or loses, and this goes to anyone watching too," her green gaze swept across the growing group of onlookers huddled in the alley, "no one is to tell a teacher or any adult a thing. You can film this but no putting it up on any social media because that's stupid. Neither Flash or I am getting in trouble for this, understand?"

There was a nod.

"As for the actual fight," she looked thoughtful, "what do you think, Flash, do we fight until someone gets knocked out."

The boy shook his head with great vigour, "No way, I don't want to have to knock you out."

"I mean, that wouldn't end up happening but okay," she hummed, "how about we fight for a couple of minutes and, at the end of that, we see if there's an obvious winner."

He nodded, "sounds good."

Adara glanced around, "anyone got a timer on their phone?"

"I do," said Ned quickly, "lemme get it up."

"Set it to two minutes," her cold, green gaze flickered back to Flash, "and tell us when to go."

"Okay," said Peter's friend, "three… two… one… go!"

Neither moved and Flash raised his hands, "I don't want to have to hit a girl."

Little did he know that this 'girl' was a shapeshifter who watched her parents die in front of her before being trained by Hydra themselves. Then, after that, lived on the street for six months on the run from the said organisation. Not to mention the time she had stabbed two guys to death. But she wasn't gonna say that out loud.

"What are you?" She sneered, "a pussy? We have two minutes. Make the first fucking move or I'll knock you out cold."

"Fine," he said before clumsily swinging his fist.

Without moving from the spot where she stood, Adara caught it in mid-air and twisted it. He let out a surprised screech of pain but, before he could do anything about it, she sent a solid kick to his stomach, knocking him to the ground.

"Come on," she said, "I'm going easy on you, Flash. I expected a little bit more."

Angered further by this, the teenage boy jumped to his feet and tried to make a grab for her ponytail, a move which Peter found fairly pathetic, she slid to the side and let out a heavy sigh. Determined, Flash grabbed onto her shoulder with his left hand and attempted to hold her there whilst sending a punch directly at her face. Adara ducked down and his balled hand went flying over her head. Without flinching once, she grabbed it and darted behind his back so she was holding his arm there. He tugged it from her grip but, at this point, it was useless as she manoeuvred him into a headlock and then twisted her body backwards, throwing him to the ground.

He struggled back to his face but, at this point, Adara was done messing around. She sent a solid punch to his jaw followed by a kick in the crotch and the boy let out a gasp of pain.

"Times up!" Said Ned.

"No offence," said one voice from the crowd, "but I think the winner's kinda obvious."

"No fair!" Complained Flash.

"How is it not fair, Flash?" Said Adara, "or are you just too embarrassed to admit that you lost to a girl. Now, are you gonna stick to the deal and leave or alone? Or do you want another bruise on your dick?"

He blushed, embarrassed and annoyed. "Fine," he snapped, "but, next year, I'll get you back for this."

She snorted, "I'm sure you will. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to head home now."

She pushed through the crowd, not even bothering to look back over her shoulder and the brooding Flash behind her as she made her way over to Happy's car. Sure, it was probably really petty to be so rude to flash but, then again, she didn't really care about how he felt. Then, suddenly, she paused, glancing over her shoulder. A strange feeling washed over her, it felt like she was being followed.

"I'm safe," she whispered to herself, "I've got Natasha and Steve and the rest of them. Je suis sauf."

But her words felt empty.

She began to walk back towards where the car was parked and waiting.

A/N: Next chapter is Age of Ultron! And I'm looking forward to powering through that storyline so we can get to Peter's origin story and really get down to the nitty, gritty of it all.

I'm also having an eye test tomorrow and I lowkey do not want glasses but I know I need them because otherwise, I can't read the board in class lol.