A/N: I can't believe I actually got this done on time. I've actually been drowning in work all week long and 5 hours of sleep just doesn't cut it, apparently.
Alright! So the last chapter, we got to see some (hopefully) surprising action. I read your reviews and I loved your reactions! I really thought that I had made it too obvious and you guys had seen it coming, but, hey, I guess I had done better than I thought! Although, I had done the whole Ned getting hints about Adelaide and Tony just to divert your attention when he found out that she was the Blue Phantom. Just one of the tricks I had up my sleeve...Anyway, so this chapter is a little less climatic than the last one. To be honest, most of this chapter is just Adelaide sulking over the last chapter and trying to make up her mind. So, there's not much but it's important. I've actually been waiting to write the last scene of this chapter since even before Age of Ultron so I'm super excited about that even though I kind of got writer's block towards the end.
I have an idea for what I want in the next chapter and I would tell you my plans for this timeline, but I don't want to spoil this chapter so I guess I'll just tell you guys that in the next author's note just so we can be on the same page. I will say that the next chunk of this story is mainly gonna be like a hybrid of Dawn of Truth and the Spider-Man origin story.
Guest: I'm glad you like that Ned found out first. I agree with you; a lot of stories have Peter be the first to find out but I feel like Adie needed someone her age to talk to about this and, also, now Ned can be her 'guy in the chair' lol. That's my favorite reason for that haha. A little hint to the next chapter, Ned will be a huge help to Adie here on out.
locky3670: Haha I'm glad I was able to surprise you! I really thought that I had made it too obvious, but I guess everything worked out fine!
Thank you to: Guest, locky3670, lizlil, FanQuiet1991, and CarthageProject for following/favoriting or leaving a review in the last chapter! I have the best readers!
"Or what about Captain America?
Does he actually look old?"
Adelaide grunted, throwing a punch. She was drenched in sweat, breathing hard. She wiped the sweat off of her forehead with her arm, shaking her head. Adelaide positioned her feet again, gritting her teeth as she eyed the punching bag.
"Так!" (So!)
Punch.
"ебаный!" (Fucking!)
Punch.
"глупый!" (Stupid!)
You're the Blue Phantom!
She growled, punching the punching bag so hard, she felt the vibration travel through her arm.
From Sokovia!
Adelaide spun around, hitting the bag again. Her entire body was burning with energy. She was seeing spots in her vision, yet all she could see was the punching bag in front of her.
My friend! A superhero!
She kicked the bag angrily, smashing it as it came swinging back. She swung her leg around, landing another hard kick on it. It swung backwards. When it came back, she began punching it as hard and fast as she could. She focused on the punches, the movement of her hands, the sweat rolling down her face.
You're the Blue Phantom! From Sokovia! My friend!
Adelaide growled angrily, throwing her last punch as hard as she could. Then she slumped over, leaning against the railing. She stared at the punching bag, seeing flashbacks of last night. How could she have been so fucking careless? She had one job. One fucking job.
Adelaide heard the door opening, but she didn't acknowledge it, knowing exactly who it was.
"Go away," she grumbled. Tony stepped over the rope, coming inside the ring. She glared at him and he just blinked in oblivion.
"что ты хочешь?" (What do you want?) she mumbled.
"Okay, you've been acting like a little demon ever since I picked you up last night. So shoot. Talk to me. Confess. Spill it. Spill the beans, kid." Adelaide sighed, picking her water bottle off the floor. She began to chug it, to avoid answering any questions. Tony rolled his eyes and then snatched the bottle out of the teenager's hand.
"Hey!" she shouted, wiping the water off her chin with her arm.
"What happened yesterday?" he asked sternly. Adelaide glared at him, turning around and grabbing the towel to wipe her face.
"Adie, come on," he said and she sighed.
"Nothing happened yesterday," she told him and then turned away again. Adelaide glanced at her phone, scrolling through. There were at least a 100 missed calls from both Peter and Ned. She frowned, turning her phone off.
"You're not half as good at lying as me," the billionaire said, stepping in front of her, "So quit stalling and tell me what happened." His voice was quiet, but he didn't sound angry. In fact, he sounded worried. Adelaide stared at the ground, swallowing. God, she felt like the biggest idiot in the world.
"I screwed up yesterday, okay?" she said and then turned around, stepping out of the ring. Tony grabbed her arm, stopping her.
"What'd you screw up this time? Please don't tell me it was my Maserati." She pulled her arm out his grip, glaring at him. Was he ever serious?
"It wasn't your Maserati," she grumbled. Adelaide tightened her jaw at the thought. She felt humiliated and she had no one to blame but herself.
"Did you kill a man? I mean, what? What is it? Just tell me." Adelaide sighed, rubbing her face. She suddenly realized how tired she was. She hadn't been able to sleep all night.
"I let my secret slip. Ned knows I'm the Blue Phantom," she said quietly. Tony didn't say anything for a while, making the teenager look up. To her surprise, he looked confused.
"That's it?" he asked and Adelaide felt her jaw dropping.
"That's it?!" she shouted, "Tony, he knows! Just because the whole world knows you're Iron Man doesn't mean I want the whole world to know I'm the Blue Phantom, okay?"
"What? No! Look, what I'm trying to say here is, do you trust this guy?" Adelaide closed her mouth, looking at him curiously. She tried to process his statement in her mind.
"What?" was all that came out.
"He's your friend. Do you trust him?" Adelaide considered it. Did she trust Ned? Yeah, of course, but on what level? Sure, she trusted him to not cheat off her test, but did she trust that he wouldn't tell her secret to everyone else? Could she?
"I...I don't know." Tony blinked at the teenager.
"Alright, look. Do you see him as the kind of guy to go around telling people your secret after seeing the way you reacted when he found out?" Adelaide considered his question. Ned wouldn't do that, would he?
"I don't think so?" Tony patted her shoulder.
"Problem solved. You should trust him," the billionaire said, looking proud of himself rather than the teenager, "I'm not as terrible at this as I thought."
"You're still pretty bad," she said and he rolled his eyes. Tony ruffled her hair and then stepped out of the ring, walking out of the workout room. Adelaide sat down, holding her head in her hands, sighing.
How was she even supposed to face him again?
Suddenly, her phone rang again and she picked it up, staring at the name. Letting out a breath, she pressed the green button, holding the phone up to her ear.
"Ada?! Oh my god, thank god you're okay. I was so worried that something happened to you and especially after you ran out like that without an explanation and it must have been at least a million times I've called you since last night, why weren't you answering my calls? May and Ben were so worried and I tried calling your aunt and then I realized I didn't have her number so I kept trying to reach you but you just wouldn't pick up. Do you have any idea how worried we all were? How much we tried to contact you? You could've just sent me a message telling me you're okay. Here I was redialing your phone number like an absolute idiot. I should have know you weren't going to pick up. You never tell me anything that's going on in your life, I should just stop bothering."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Adelaide asked, frowning.
"That's all you got from everything that I just said?" he asked, sounding exasperated.
"No, I heard the rest." There was silence for a moment.
"So?" he asked.
"So?" she repeated.
"Ada!"
"Okay, okay, fine. I'm sorry. You're right, I should've texted you. It's my fault, I'm sorry. I was just so angry that I couldn't think straight," she said before realizing her slip up.
"Why were you angry?" She sighed, cursing at herself. She was a screw up. She couldn't do one thing right. Not one.
"I...uh, stubbed my toe," she said, wincing. The first thing she could think of was that? Adelaide sighed.
"Um, what?"
"Look, Pete, that's not important. What I do want to know is what you mean by 'never tell you anything in my life'. I tell you stuff," she argued.
"Ada," he said sternly, "don't change the subject. What happened last night? Why were you angry?"
Because Ned found out that I was the Blue Phantom.
She scoffed to herself. If only it were that easy.
"Can we not talk about that? I don't really want to think about it," she said, hoping that would be enough. Her mind was blank — she couldn't think of a single lie that excused her behavior last night. Maybe she'd come up with something later, but right now she needed to steer clear of that topic. She heard Peter sighing.
"Fine. But don't think I've forgotten it."
"Thanks, Pete." The two were silent for a while, lost in their own thoughts. Adelaide's mind swirled with confusion. One moment, she felt as if she could tell Ned everything. Everything. About her memories, her strange abilities, even her parents. But then the next moment, she was closed again. She was unsure of herself. She knew she'd have to face him sometime. And he was bound to ask questions that she didn't have the answers to. In fact, today was supposed to be the best day of his life, he had said it himself. Tony was going to meet the two today, just like she had promised them. But now everything was a mess and Adelaide didn't know where to begin cleaning it up.
"Ada? You still there?" came Peter's voice.
"Yeah, I'm still here," she answered.
"I hate to bring this up now, but…" She sat up, suddenly alert.
Did Ned tell him everything? Of course he did, they were best friends. Oh God, now Peter knew too. How was she going to answer to both of them? Maybe she should just end the call right now and move away to Malibu. Then she'd never have to face either one of them again. But what about Tony and Pepper? And Happy? What would she do without them?
"We still have to finish that Chemistry project that's due Monday," he said and Adelaide let out a relieved breath, wanting to smack Peter Parker on the head for almost giving her a heart attack. He was lucky he wasn't standing next to her right now or she just might have hit him. She took a moment to catch her breath which had gone completely out of control.
"Do we have to do it today?" she asked. She wasn't in the mood for atom modeling after the incident last night. In fact, the only thing she was in the mood for was chocolates.
"It's due Monday, we have to finish it today."
"But –"
"What if I came over to your house?" he suddenly suggested. Adelaide's eyes grew wide. Her house? As in the Tower? The Stark Tower? She shook her head, blurting out yet another excuse.
"My um, aunt and uncle aren't home and I'm not allowed to have people over when they're not around," she lied. That wasn't a terrible lie. Although, it make her feel terrible. She was just spitting out lie after lie. Why did it have to be so complicated?
"Oh," he said, "Well, I guess you can come over to my house. Ben and May aren't home, but they won't mind. In fact, sometimes I think they love you more than me." He chuckled. Adelaide smiled. Peter was lucky to have an aunt and uncle who cared so much for him.
"It's because I'm more loveable," she teased.
"Yeah, right," he mumbled, "So are you coming over or am I going to have to do this all by myself? I gotta tell you though, I'm terrible at crafts." Peter knew she was in a good mood now, but the curiosity was killing him. He had to know what happened last night. Maybe he would be able to get her to tell while they were working on the project together. He doubted Ada would tell him anything until she wanted to, but it was worth a shot.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," she sighed.
"See ya."
Adelaide hung up the phone with a long sigh. Who knew keeping a secret could be so tiring?
Knock, knock!
Adelaide dropped her hand, shoving it in her coat pocket. The weather kept getting colder, but the snow was yet to fall. It was constantly windy and the cold air always turned Adelaide's nose red like a traffic light. She hated getting stuck in the cold, but she couldn't complain. It was November in New York, it wasn't like it was going to be hot and sunny anytime soon.
She let out a breath, watching the small puff of air as she did. Suddenly, the door swung open, revealing Peter.
"Hey, come in," he said. She stepped inside, grateful for the warmth. The Parker residence wasn't big or extravagant, but it was cozy and Adelaide would take that over any sort of luxury any day. She pulled off her coat and hung on the coat rack by the door, rubbing her hands together. Even though she loved Ben and May, she was glad they weren't home. Otherwise, they would have asked a million questions. Peter eyed his friend with amusement as she shivered.
"Do you want me to turn up the heater?" he asked.
"No, thanks," she muttered. With a shrug, he began heading upstairs to his room and Adelaide followed behind. Suddenly, it struck her that Ned might still be here after their sleepover from last night. She panicked, almost missing the next step of the stairs. She stumbled, catching herself just in time by grabbing ahold of the railing. Peter turned around.
"Are you okay?" he asked curiously. She seemed very jumpy.
"No — Yeah, I'm fine. I just...is Ned still here?" she asked, hoping it wouldn't be too obvious. Luckily, Peter didn't seem to pick up on anything.
"No, he left hours ago. Said he was in a rush or something," he mumbled and then began walking again. Adelaide let out a breath, relieved. Peter opened the door, revealing a total mess inside. There were empty chips bags, empty cans of Coke, scattered popcorn…He chuckled.
"Sorry about the mess, I never got around to cleaning it after last night," he said and Adelaide nodded.
"I figured," she muttered.
"So...did you guys have fun?" she asked innocently. Peter nodded, clearing his desk of candy wrappers.
"We watched like, 7 movies and I don't think I can't even count how many bags of popcorn we ate," he said with a small laugh, looking around the room, "Actually, I think we can."
He began collecting the bags of popcorn around the room, counting aloud. Adelaide rolled her eyes, glancing around the room. So Ned didn't tell Peter. Maybe that was a good sign. She twisted her fingers together anxiously.
"Did...Was Ned acting...different?" she asked. Peter stopped, bent over as he was picking up another bag from under his bed. So his suspicious had been right. Something had happened between her and Ned and that's why she had run out like that. He stood up, clearing his throat.
"Now that you mention it, he was acting a bit jumpy…" Peter answered, "Did something happen between you two?"
Adelaide kept her face impassive, although she was frustratedly screaming on the inside. How had this all gotten so complicated?
"No, nothing," she answered. Peter sighed, shoving the popcorn bags in the trash.
"Ada, what's going on? You can tell me," he said, stepping closer. Adelaide shook her head.
"There's nothing to tell. Ned and I...we, um got into an argument, that's all," she said quickly. She swallowed, hoping he would buy that lie. He looked confused.
"Over what?" She racked her brain for yet another excuse.
"It was silly. He just said my catsuit looked, um...ridiculous and I got angry and...yeah," she said quietly. Peter began laughing.
"That's it?" he asked, "That's what this was all about?" She nodded weakly. She was beginning to hate lying to everyone. Especially her friends.
"Why don't you just call him?" Peter asked. He was suddenly in a much better mood, knowing there wasn't anything seriously wrong with his friend. Adelaide frowned, shrugging.
"I'll do that later. We have to finish the project now," she said, setting her bag down by the door, "I'll make a sketch of the model and you get the materials."
"Yes, ma'am," he mocked and then left the room to get the materials. Adelaide rolled her shoulders and sat down at the desk, pulling out her notebook and beginning to draw the sketch.
After a while, Peter came back with all the materials and they both worked together for the rest of the afternoon, avoiding the topic of last night. They finished as soon as it started to get dark outside and the wind died down a little. Adelaide helped him clean up the mess in his room and then they both collapsed on the chairs, worn out from all the Chemistry and crafts.
"You know," Peter said, staring at the ceiling fan, "you should call Ned. He probably feels terrible."
"Yeah?" Peter nodded.
"Ned will say sorry even if it wasn't his fault," Peter said with a small laugh, "Just call him, I'm sure he's dying to talk to you." Adelaide sighed, closing her eyes.
"Yeah, okay," she said.
It was late. Tony and Pepper were long asleep, but sleep was rarer than gold for Adelaide. She was sitting on her bed, legs crossed, staring at the wall in front of her. Although, her mind was completely elsewhere, wandering.
She twisted the hem of her shirt around her hand, wondering if she should take Peter's advice. In fact, that's all she had been thinking about since she got home. Even though Peter only thought she and Ned were just having a silly argument, there was some sense to his words. If she knew anything about Ned, it was that he was probably dying to talk to her. Knowing how much he loved superheros, he was also probably dying to ask her a ton of questions. If anything, he was probably ready to burst from excitement and anticipation.
But Adelaide definitely was not. It wasn't easy for her to tell someone the whole truth. She had had a hard enough time telling the Avengers and they were the Avengers for crying out loud. This was Ned. Ned. One of her best friends. She should tell him, right? Besides, he already knew half of the truth already anyway. Albeit, it was totally her fault and she couldn't blame anyone but herself for the slip up, but it was too late to fix it now, even though she'd thought of a millions ways to do so. She had to focus on the present, the truth.
The truth was that Ned already knew and she couldn't avoid him forever. Adelaide sighed, falling back onto the bed. She turned her head to look at the clock on the wall. She was making it too complicated. It was Ned. She should just tell him. Even though it was one am. Adelaide reached for her phone before she could change her mind again and spend yet another hour in a dilemma.
She held up the phone to her ear, suddenly remembering that he was probably awake for the movie marathon on tv he was telling her about earlier this week. Adelaide closed her eyes, wanted him to pick up but also not wanting him to. Finally, she heard his familiar voice.
"Adelaide?" he said, sounding excited.
"Don't freak out on me," she injected quickly before he could start rambling her ear off.
"I-I wasn't going to freak out. My best friend is a superhero. She's the Blue Phantom who fights with the Avengers. Why would I freak out?" he said, his voice slightly shaky from the excitement. Adelaide felt a small smile tugging at her lips.
"You didn't tell anyone, did you?" she asked quietly.
"Of course not! I haven't told a single person!" Adelaide nodded.
"Thanks, Ned."
"But you gotta to tell me everything. I'm dying from being kept in the dark. I need to know. My best friend's superhero!"
"Shh!" she shushed him, wondering if there was anyone around him who might have heard.
"Right. Sorry. My best friend's a superhero," he said again, whispering this time.
"Listen. Top priority. No one else can know. Okay?"
"Yes. Got it. Deal. No one will know. Wait, who else knows?" he asked. Adelaide winced. See, it was questions like this she wasn't really looking forward to.
"The Avengers," she said.
Pepper...Happy…she added in her head.
"That is so cool! Adelaide you have like, the coolest life! I can't believe my best friend's a superhero! You're the Blue Phantom!"
"Ned!" she shouted.
"Don't worry, it's just me. No one else is around."
"Be careful, Ned. I'm serious."
"So what's it like? Do you get to say cool stuff like Back off! or Hands in the air! I bet you've never lost a fight before…" Adelaide was suddenly reminded of Rosie and she glanced at the doll sitting on the shelf to calm her heart down.
"Ned."
"I wonder what it's like to fight with the Avengers. Is the Black Widow as scary as they say she is? Or what about Captain America? Does he actually look old? Oh! And Mr. Stark! So you have met him a lot of times! No wonder!"
"Ned."
"Does Timothy Lark actually exist? How did you get your powers? Were you born with them? Oh! Were you abducted by an alien ship like that kid Peter Quill and then the aliens gave you your powers? What did you —"
"Ned!" Silence.
"Sorry," he mumbled, though she could hear the smile in his voice, "I'm just so excited! This is like, the coolest thing that's ever happened to me."
"Listen, I don't want to talk about this over the phone —"
"Got it. How's tomorrow after school in the library?" he asked. She had a feeling he had been planning this for a while now. She couldn't blame him.
"Okay," she agreed.
"Perfect! I still can't believe my best friend is a superhero! I just want to thank you for being a part of my life and giving me this experience," he said and Adelaide laughed, something she hadn't been able to do for the past couple of days.
"See you, Ned."
"Signing off, Blue Phantom."
"Ned?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't call me that."
"Sorry. I'm just —"
"So excited. Yes, I know. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye!"
Shaking her head, she ended the call, tossing her phone to the side. She rolled over, staring at the ceiling. Somehow, Adelaide felt like she had made the right choice in deciding telling Ned. With a million more thoughts in anticipation for tomorrow, Adelaide finally found sleep.
Pepper: Wait, why are you late?
I overslept.
Pepper: I thought I told Tony to wake you up.
Tony: I overslept, too. Sorry, hon.
Pepper: You had one job. One.
Pepper: Are you at school now?
Yes, I'm walking inside.
Tony: Liar.
Tony: I can see you getting in the car with Happy from the window.
Pepper: Adelaide?!
Yes! Okay! I'm sorry! I just didn't want you to freak out.
Pepper: It's a little too late for that.
I'll be there soon, don't worry about it.
Pepper: Be safe.
Tony: Hey! Watch out for the car!
Pepper: What?!
Shut up, Tony.
There's no car, I'm sitting in the backseat.
Pepper: Tony! That was not funny at all!
Tony: You're right. I'm sorry.
Tony: Not even a little?
Pepper: …
Tony: Please don't kill me.
Shaking her head, Adelaide put her phone into her pocket. After falling asleep too late last night, she'd hadn't been able to get up on time and now she was late for school. In fact, she had probably missed her entire first class. Though, that wasn't such a terrible thing since it was only math. Even then, she wasn't exactly anxious to get to school any faster. Sure, she had decided to tell Ned, but that didn't mean it was any easier to talk about it. She was still burning with anticipation
By the time she got to school, it was already time for gym class. Adelaide headed straight into the changing room, changing into her shorts and T-shirt. Once we was changed, she went outside, heading towards the bleachers, waiting for Peter and Ned. After a while, she saw the two walking towards the bleachers side by side and Ned's face lit up at the sight of his friend. She was a superhero! That was never not going to be cool.
"I thought you weren't going to come," Ned said once he got closer. The two took a seat above her and she turned around to face them.
"Yeah, me too," Peter agreed, noticing that his friends had made up, "What happened?"
Adelaide smiled, feeling relieved that she at least didn't have to lie about this one too.
"I overslept."
"You know, I have a solution to that problem." Adelaide eyed him curiously.
"Really? And what's that?" she asked, amused. Peter grinned knowingly.
"It's really simple, too. I do it all the time," he started, rubbing his hands together, "So, all you have to do, is avoid falling asleep at 2 am. Easy, right?" She rolled her eyes, laughing.
"Smart ass," she joked, "If it were that easy, you don't think I'd be doing it all the time?"
Peter shrugged. "Beats me."
Suddenly, Coach Graves blew his whistle turning their attention to him.
"Get down here," he announced, rolling open a mat on the floor.
With a groan, the class began making their way down the bleachers begrudgingly. Clearly, he wasn't very likable. There hadn't been any more 'incidents' recently which Adelaide was definitely not complaining about. She couldn't wait for this class to be over even though they had just started school a few months ago. The class grouped together at the bottom of the bleachers, waiting for Coach Graves to give more instruction.
"Today will be our final lesson in our martial arts instruction. You will use everything you've learned so far to beat your opponent. The goal is to have them pinned down for 5 seconds to consider yourself a winner. I need a volunteer to help me demonstrate. Anyone?" he asked.
A couple people raised their hands but Graves' eye was only on Adelaide, of course.
"How about you Miss Rivers?"
"I didn't volunteer," she said bluntly, crossing her arms. He grinned.
"On the mat," he said, stepping back.
She rolled her eyes, walking over. What did he want from her? She stood on the mat lazily, arms still crossed. Adelaide eyed him carefully, almost glaring. No one else in the class had the guts to glare at Coach Graves or talk back to him. Now that she thought about it, she was the only one he didn't get angry at ever. It didn't matter what she did, he never yelled at her. On the other hand, if Flash even looked at Graves wrong, he got detention. What the hell was going on his head? Adelaide was dying to know.
Ned was excited. His friend was a superhero! And she was about to fight their coach! Of course, it wasn't really a fight, but he would take what he could get. He wondered if she would use her superpowers to win. What if she turned invisible? She probably didn't want to blow her cover...again. He was grinning so hard his cheeks were starting to ache. Adelaide was a superhero! The Blue Phantom! The Blue Phantom versus Coach Graves…
"Ready?" he asked her.
She dropped her arms to her sides as a yes. Graves grinned, getting into position.
With one last smirk, he jumped at her, trying to grab ahold of her arm. She moved aside swiftly, somehow expecting the movement. Instead, she grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back even though he was a full grown man. As she was trying to knock his feet out from under him, he wiggled out from her grip and made her lose her balance. She rolled over before he could get her and then jumped up to her feet again.
She was getting the strangest feeling while fighting him. It was as if she knew his next 3 moves well before he took action. It was almost instinctive as she dodged his fist or faked a left pivot. When he went right, she ducked under his arm to the other side and then kicked his legs out from under him, causing him to fall over. As he was trying to stand up, she twisted his arms behind his back and pinned him down. Five seconds later, she dropped his arms and stood up.
He grinned, standing up.
"Great use of the last move, Miss Rivers. I was expecting something like that from you," he said and Adelaide narrowed her eyes. What was his deal?
"Alright," he said, clapping his hands together, "Everyone, find a partner, a mat, and get to fighting. Go!"
The class rushed to find a partner and Michelle approached her, a bored look on her face.
"Wanna fight me?"
Adelaide smirked.
"Thought you'd never ask."
Finally, the dismissal bell rang, signaling the end of school. Everyone was bolting out the door, rushing to get home. Adelaide hung back, slowly putting her books back into her backpack. Ned, on the other hand, was just about ready to burst from excitement. He was minutes away from feeding his curiosity. He had hardly even been able to get any sleep because of this.
As the three of them were walking out of the classroom, Ned glanced at Adelaide, grinning. He turned away facing Peter.
"Peter, you go ahead. Adelaide and I have to work on our...Algebra project in the library," he said. Peter shrugged, not questioning it.
"Alright. See you guys tomorrow," he said, walking out the doors. Ned turned to Adelaide, grinning.
"Come on, let's go to the library!" he said, practically dragging her there. They headed over to the back, sitting by the computers. They ran past the librarian who shushed them for being loud, even though there was no one else in the library. There was only one light on in the back and it was dim, making it dark.
Adelaide hated the dark.
"So did you really fight Ultron in Sokovia? Was he scary?" Ned asked, "Did you fight against Ultron? What was he like? He had a whole army of Ultron bots. They must have been hard to fight. I saw you, on the news, fighting one of them! What did it feel like? It must have been so terrifying."
Adelaide silently pulled up her sleeve, revealing the mark one of the Ultron bots had left on her arm. It was very faint now, but she would never forget it was there or how she got it.
"Woah," Ned said in shock, "Did an Ultron bot give you that?" She nodded, letting her sleeve fall back down and covering the scar.
"How did you get your superpowers? Were you born with them? Can you really control light?"
"I don't know, don't know, and yes."
"Wow…" he said, at a loss for words and, thankfully, anymore questions. Adelaide searched his face carefully.
"I just don't understand one thing...how did you end up here?" Ned asked quietly after a while. Adelaide hesitated.
"I came here 11 months ago," she answered, "I woke up at the Stark Tower and I don't remember anything before that."
"Like...anything?" She shook her head.
"Nothing at all. I'm 14 years old and I don't remember 13 of them."
"That's crazy…What about your parents? Do you remember them?"
"Not really. I only have one memory of them and it's the one where they were killed. Other than that, I don't even remember what they were like," she said with a shrug.
"Adelaide, that's terrible...I'm so sorry…" Ned said. He took another moment to take in the information, thinking to himself quietly. Suddenly he remembered what his friend had said.
"Wait, did you say you woke up at the Stark Tower?"
"Yeah," she said with a grin as she watched his face present a million emotions in three seconds.
"Wh-How-When-Wha…?" he stuttered.
"Yes, Ned. I live at the Stark Tower," she said, answering his unspoken question.
"Wh…?"
"Tony and Pepper," she confirmed.
"How…?" She shrugged.
"I don't know how I got there. I just know that I woke up there and Tony and Pepper have taken me in ever since."
Adelaide thought back to the time when she had woken up. The first person who had been there was Happy and then there was Tony and then Pepper and then the Avengers. Now that was her life. It felt so long ago. So much had happened since that day.
"I think I'm going crazy," Ned said after a while and Adelaide chuckled.
"That's what I thought for about a solid month after I woke up," she said. The moment she had discovered her powers, she had really thought that she had lost it.
"So you woke up at the Stark Tower and now you live there, you have powers that can control light, you fought with the Avengers in Sokovia, you can't remember anything from your past, and you still go to school?"
"Yeah, that just about sums it up."
"Everything makes so much more sense now," he said, dazed, "All those times I thought you were hiding something or when I saw you getting out of the car with Happy Hogan...I wasn't just seeing things. It was all true!"
"Yeah...sorry about the whole keeping a secret thing. I don't think I'm ready for everyone to know just yet. Although, I do want to keep my identity a secret so please don't tell anyone."
"Adelaide, I swear on my life I won't tell a soul." She smiled, grateful.
"Thanks, Ned."
They both were silent for a while, thinking. In a way, telling Ned had definitely lifted a weight off of her chest. Although, if he hadn't seen her as the Blue Phantom that night, she doubted she would have told him any time soon. Maybe she was waiting to find out something else about herself, know who she really was.
"Have you tried looking for what might have happened to you in the past? The part you can't remember?"
Adelaide sighed.
"That's all I've been trying to do ever since I got here. We even asked Fury to look into SHIELD files —"
"Wait, SHIELD?"
"Yeah, my parents were SHIELD agents," she said, "But Fury said their files were empty. Someone had stolen all of the information about them just to keep me in the dark. I know there's someone behind all of this, there's gotta be, but I just don't know who."
Ned was quiet, thinking. Adelaide watched him, curious. She could almost see the gears spinning in his head.
"What is it?" she asked quietly.
"Have you tried looking in HYDRA files?" he asked and Adelaide gave him a confused look.
"What? Why would I look there?"
"Well, you said your parents were SHIELD agents and your parents' files were empty and...HYDRA is SHIELD's biggest enemy…"
Adelaide followed his thoughts, connecting the link. Her mind was spinning a million miles a minute. It was like puzzle pieces were falling perfectly into place. And then, everything clicked.
"...And HYDRA might know what happened to my parents," she said aloud.
"Bingo."
"Ned! That's brilliant!" she said, trying to keep her voice quiet despite the excitement, "I can't believe I didn't think of that before. It's so obvious! But how do we get access to HYDRA files?"
Ned grinned knowingly.
"Just leave that up to me."