Sorry i haven't updated in a while, I promise there will be more to this and my other stuff after my semester finals are over. Right now this was all I could do, and I really needed to write a short chapter to get over my writer's block and stress. So please, enjoy!

Reviews are appreciated.

Chapter Thirteen

Spontaneous Recovery

I got weak at the knees. It was like I just met him for the first time and I didn't know what to do with myself. Why was I like this? Eddie already knew enough about me that I didn't have to be so nervous around him.

Maybe it was because after a whole week not seeing or thinking about him, I realized that I spent a whole week not seeing or thinking about him.

Eddie seemed nonplussed though, as if he picked me up every day after work. I didn't even know how he found out I was an intern, or where I worked.

Then a worse thought came to mind. How long had he been waiting out here for me?

I approached him, carefully because I was afraid of my knees giving out at any moment. "Uh, h-hi, Eddie. How did – how did you know I was here?"

"Gwen told me."

Of course. I should've known.

I looked around, nervous. Come on, pull it together, Amy! You're acting like a weirdo again! "Uh, okay. Why are you here? Wait, don't you have work at ESU or something?"

"Ah," he just shrugged, like missing work wasn't too big a deal for him. "I asked Dr. Connors a favor and he said it was okay. Besides, it'd take you over two hours to get to Queens from here. Traffic is bad this time of day."

"Oh, right." This wasn't a problem I had considered until now, and even then it still wasn't exactly a problem. I had been planning on donning my superhero alter ego and head home on my wings, maybe take out a few baddies on the way. Rush hour wasn't exactly an issue for me anymore. Still, Eddie seemed surprise that I had forgotten something that would've been so clearly important to a girl who definitely shouldn't be a superhero. "I, um, forgot."

Wow. Nice save. NOT.

Eddie snorted. "No offense, but I think you'd forget your head if it wasn't attached to your body. Seriously though, you want a ride?"

I smiled awkwardly. Sacrificing my memory's integrity to protect my identity was worth it if I got to hitch a ride with Eddie Brock. Looking kind of like an scatter-brained ditz didn't seem so bad now. "Yeah, sure."

I reached into my bag and withdrew my helmet. I had reservations about taking it out in front of Eddie. Falcon's been in the media for a good bit now, would he recognize it as the one she wore? Would he put two and two together and figure out what I was really doing in my free time?

But Eddie looked little more than mildly impressed when I took out the helmet he gave me. "Wow, you're prepared. Are you psychic or something?

My first instinct was panic because I thought he was serious about that. But I realized he was joking fast enough to prevent what could've been a major freak out. Again, I simply smiled and said, "I keep it just in case this gets to a regular thing."

It was such a terrible lie and so exposing to the truth that I barely kept myself from blushing. Still, I could tell Eddie thought I was flirting and not trying to make up dumb excuses, so he grinned at me. "Really? No girl's ever told me that one before."

"Well," I said slowly, quick to put on my helmet before he could see my face blooming red. I was such a horrible flirt, I had nothing in the name of subtlety. "I wouldn't say I'm like most other girls."

"That we can both agree on." Eddie said, nodding and sliding on his own helmet. "Hop on."

I had forgotten how freaking terrifying Eddie was on a motorcycle. I mean, even after gaining a new perspective on life, what with the high flying and bag guy fighting - I've gotten pretty used to terrifying, death-defying things. But this? Totally different! Eddie seemed to have some sort of death wish, going so fast in the streets. I clung onto him for dear life.

It was pointless to tell him to slow down. Eddie had a need for speed, a bona-fide thrill-seeker. We dodged between cars and trucks, burning red lights and cutting through traffic so efficiently he would've put my wings on a run for its money. A part me was grateful, however, because traffic was really starting to build up. I mean, even more than the usual rush hour. Long lines of cars waiting at stop lights.

It was so bad, in fact, that when we blew past a police car, he couldn't give chase because he was trapped on all sides by other cars.

I actually found myself grinning and laughing at their expense, until it occurred to me that this definitely wasn't normal. I thought that maybe it was some idiot driver's mistake, but the further we went and the longer it was to any site of a car accident, I started to that maybe that wasn't the problem.

It was until I glanced up at a passing set of traffic lights did I realize what was wrong, and at first I didn't even believe my eyes.

I whipped back in my seat, but only confirmed what I saw the first time.

The traffic lights were out. All of them.

At first I thought it might be just a power outage, some fault of the DOT, but I saw that lights in nearby stores had gone out as well. When Eddie finally got ahead of the traffic, the lights ahead of us started to blink out, turning the streets dark as we approached.

In the crossway ahead of us, two police cars with blaring sirens screamed right through a red light just before it went dark, too. Eddie had to skid to a stop before we collided with them in the middle of the road. Even as the smell of burnt rubber reached my nose, three other cars smashed in front of us, each trying to avoid each other and failing spectacularly.

We watched in stunned silence as the police disappeared around the right corner. Eddie asked, "What the hell was that about?"

Not even two seconds later, lightning ripped through the streets, traveling across utility poles and traffic lights and tearing up the tarmac. The lightning turned night into day as people cowered in their vehicles. It rippled across the tops of cars, before stopping at a mailbox and exploding, sending paper into the air like fiery confetti. Glass cracked and the air filled with the smell of o-zone.

The electricity was gone in a moment, followed immediately by a ground-shaking round of thunder and incredible shock-wave. Glass windows shattered as it moved. I just barely managed to block most of the force with my mind, but it still knocked us, along with the motorcycle, over. At least I kept my helmet from cracking.

I hit the ground on my back, the air knocked out of my lungs. Gasping for breath, I managed to pull my leg out from beneath the motorcycle. Eddie was already on his knees, trying to help me up.

No one had gotten seriously injured from the shock-wave or lightning. The people in their cars were now on the street, inspecting the damage. Traffic had been pretty much put to a halt. Cars were stopped bumper to bumper. Calls were being made and photos were being taken.

The destruction wasn't over yet, though. Another blast shook the streets. It was too dark to see anything, what with the street lights having been blown out, but the giant plume of flame was easy enough to spot.

I was back on the motorbike in a second. I yelled at Eddie, "Go!" and he didn't even argue before gunning the engine. The front wheel left the ground as we shot forward and headed straight for the source of this catastrophe.

It didn't take too long to find it. Right ahead of us a battle royal was taking place. Rubble littered the ground, the faces of buildings missing entirely. Smoke rose from several buildings, fire spewing out of windows. A ring of police cruisers was centered around the center of this destruction, the remains of a building that might have once been a bank or office building. Between the arriving SWAT team and armed policemen firing into the mess, I could see a light moving amongst the ruins.

A SWAT team van pulled up in front of us and a squad of well-armed and protected men jumped out, swarming the area. One of them trotted over to us, not looking too pleased to see a couple of kids wandering into their business on a motorcycle. He had biceps the size of watermelons, bald, and wearing thick bullet-proof armor. In one arm he held a Plexiglas shield and the other a semi-automatic. He looked as though he could mow down the motorcycle all on his own.

"I need you two to clear out!" the SWAT officer ordered, pointing down the way we came. His voice boomed, easily heard over the bike's engine and the chaos behind him. In the flashing blue and red lights, I could see his name on his jacket: GARRET. "This area isn't safe for civilians!"

I was going to ask what was going on, but Eddie surprised me when he said, "Look, is there anything I can do to help?"

I was more surprised that he didn't involve me in that question and for some reason not as much that Eddie was willing to put his life on the line. What was this guy trying to do, looking for opportunities to kill himself?

"Eddie, no!" I protested. I didn't want to hang out too long with SWAT guy Garret when I could be helping out as Falcon. I needed to get the hell out of the public eye so I could change, but I didn't know how I could get far away enough from Eddie to do that. "This isn't safe, look!"

Behind Officer Garret, there came another blast of electricity, reaching upwards into the sky in the shape of a tree. Men shouted and ducked lower to the ground, panicking and yelling into their radios. Before Officer Garret could chuck the motorcycle across the street, the cars closest to the disaster zone were launched into the air like they were made of tinfoil.

"GET DOWN!" Garret yelled as the lightning arched over our heads, curving down and connecting with a nearby utility pole. The transformer blew up into a shower of sparks and the ground beneath our feet fractured.

The police cars landed, sending glass and metal everywhere. The resulting quake knocked everyone off their feet. Pandemonium reigned.

Usually, not a lot of people consider being thrown airborne by fire a wonderful opportunity apparently given to them from some sort of deity, but thankfully not a lot of people live secret lives as superheroes, either.

I was thrown perhaps ten feet, far enough away from Eddie to make a run for it. I landed in a roll and made for the nearest alley, ripping off my jacket as I went.

It's show time.

OoOoO

Eddie had barely recovered from being thrown from his motorcycle before Falcon had flown to the scene.

She landed in the midst of the rubble, in the center of the chaos, near the source of the lightning and tremors. Falcon had been anticipating one of Spider-Man's enemies, since they had an annoying tendency to pop up at the most inconvenient times. But instead of seeing Electro or Shocker, she instead saw a flannel-garbed man in rugged jeans and work boots. The only thing truly bizarre about the man was, attached to his shoulder, a Terminator arm going berserk

Falcon almost reconsidered engaging in battle with what could possibly be a T-800 (something she had been convincing herself wasn't real less than an hour ago), but the terrified look on his face told her this was a lot worse than she first thought.

"Get away!" he shouted at her, waving his human arm away. Falcon scrambled back, tripping over gravel as his robot arm started sucking energy from an overturned SWAT truck. "I can't control it! Get out of here!"

"Whoa!" Falcon ducked as a lightning bolt veered off its course and almost took her head off. "Look, I'm trying to help you! Is there any way to turn that thing off?"

It was hard to see his face with the flashing lights and dark street, but Falcon could see that if there had been a way to turn it off, the man would've done it a long time ago.

He didn't even get to answer before a bolt struck Falcon. She didn't even see it before it hit her extended wing.

Falcon was vaguely aware of a numbness. Her vision went white and she felt strangely peaceful, as if she were drifting on a cloud. It seemed as though she had fallen asleep while standing up, but in the back of her mind, Falcon knew this wasn't the case. The whiteness lasted perhaps a few seconds before she returned to reality.

She would have rather stuck with the dream.

The pain in her arm nearly knocked Falcon unconscious again. It was so intense that her radar no longer worked. Somehow Falcon was still standing, but she felt paralyzed. Oh god, she couldn't see. She couldn't move. It was dark out and the robot-arm man was gone.

He's gone.

Falcon regained bodily function immediately. Whipping around, she thought it was unusual how dark the place was, how quiet things were.

Then she realized something was very wrong.

Falcon was blind and deaf, without even her radar to back her up.