Author's note - This version of White Tiger is from the television show, 'Ultimate Spider-Man'. That is all.

Chapter Twenty-Five "Ava Ayala – White Tiger"

Ava's brow twitched repeatedly, a clear sign of her immense irritation. The team meeting was not scheduled to start for another thirty minutes, but it was no surprise that Ava arrived as early as she had. Out of all of her teammates, she had the most initiative. However, Ava questioned her own wisdom for coming in at all, or rather, she did in the form of an ungraceful and undignified sneeze. Snot fell from her nostrils, prompting Ava to curse the names of the ones responsible.

Herself and Parker.

Her head fell against the table with a smack. Flu season struck, and Spider-Man was the first victim of the team. It made sense considering how much he patrolled the streets. It was just yesterday. He stumbled into the room looking like a flu zombie, and Ava, alongside Luke, Danny, and Sam, told him to keep his germs to himself and scram.

Ava rose her head slightly and slammed it against the table.

Sadly, she followed him home. All Ava did was buy him a gallon of orange juice and gave it to his aunt. It wouldn't have been so bad if she left right away, but she had to stay and be the supportive girlfriend. Ava slammed her head against the table for a second time. Her team was already full of idiots. Did she really have to lower herself to a matching standard? Her bloodshot eyes steadily opened, blankly staring at nothing in particular across the room.

Stupid. Oh, so stupid.

That word ran through her mind several hundred times. What made her decide to go steady with the idiot, especially when everything he did was exceedingly stupid? It reminded Ava of the time she first watched Spider-Man in the training room. All he did was swing about madly with little to no technique behind his blows. Ava shot Colonel Fury a glare. At first glance, Spider-Man was more of a liability than a helpful teammate.

"Ayala, you're easiest the most textbook out of this squad, but I think you're a little too textbook at times. Parker may be rough around the edges, but his unorthodox approach makes him a valuable asset. Just watch him. You'll see what I mean."

She did just that, and one year had passed since then. Ava's watched Parker defy the odds more times than she could count. The incident that stood out the most in her mind was the time she and Spider-Man faced off against Taskmaster, a former SHIELD agent with photographic memory, for the first time.

All of Ava's knowledge on SHIELD hand-to-hand techniques and weaponry were virtually useless, but Spider-Man's unorthodox nature and ability to think on the fly gave them the edge they needed to pull off the win. Since then Ava and Peter grew closer as friends, and it blossomed into something more.

Her head smacked the table for a third time.

That didn't change the fact that Parker was a stupid boy who did stupid things in the stupidest way possible, but Ava sighed inwardly, hating that she supported more than half of the choices he made. Her mind grew fuzzy. Maybe Parker didn't give her the flu but his stupidity, explaining her reaction. She readied to curse his name, but all that came out was a flurry of congested sneezes.

Her head smacked the table once again, much louder than the previous times.

"So is that the flu, or are you hacking up a hairball?" a familiar voice said from behind, causing Ava to groan inwardly. Peter, donning his costume, made his way to Ava and placed his hand on her shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze. She mumbled incoherently, earning a smile from Peter. "Looks like you're the zombie today."

Ava refused to raise her head for several reasons. Her nose continued to leak profusely, she looked like Death's long-lost cousin, and she refused to give Parker any form of ammo to use later. However, his fingers gently rubbed her shoulder, giving a small sense of comfort. Ava moved her hand and clumsily patted around her shoulder, finally managing to intertwine her fingers with Peter's after a few moments. She peeked up at the young man with her bloodshot eyes.

Spidey's head seemed unnaturally large. Seriously. What a melon.

Peter shrugged at the girl's blank gaze. "You're a total zombie."

Ava rolled her eyes. "...don't make me sneeze on you."

I'm not too sure about this one, but I'd rather know what you guys thought. Reviews, constructive criticism, and requests are appreciated as always. The next updates will be Rogue, Shadowcat, and Tigra (in no particular order).

Author's note- I honestly feel like I'm starting to suck at writing this story. I'm going to put this fic on hold and focus on finishing both A Spider's Heart, Tales of a Warbird and Webhead, and continue updating Spiders and Magic. Not to mention, there's this side project I've been working on.

Hopefully, I won't take too long. Until next time!