A/N: This update came out a day later than I wanted it to but oh well. It's been a busy few days, and work experience is absolutely exhausting, not to mention I'm still on this shit laptop. Anyway, next week I have a completely free schedule to do whatever I want, so I'll probably be able to fit in a lot of writing. Also, I go to France on Friday the 27th, and I probably won't update then, but we'll have to see because it depends on internet and stuff.
Main news! Before the next chapter of this comes up, I will most likely be uploading a new story of mine titled 'Blackbirds and Bullet Holes' and I am super excited for y'all to read it. To give you an overview, it's a story centred around my OC, Bucky and (get this) Sam. Sma does not get the attention he deserves within the MCU, so I've added a lot more story to his character in this story, and I really hope you like it. Don't forget to check it out (whenever it does come out, that is).
As for the shipping name, i've come to the conclusion that I will use Petara for their regular forms and Spiderbell for their alter-egos, thanks to everyone who suggested that idea!
Anyway, what business is going on in this chapter? We've got Adara and Peter bickering for a thousand hours as well as Ned being a cutie, but also kind of an idiot. We also have a lot of action coming up, as well as an appearance from our favourite Iron Man, so stay tuned.
Onto the reviews! Sorry if I don't get to yours!
DarkLordofMemes- yeah, in our dreams, lol
Lizlil- You'll have to wait and see as to whether Adara will tell Ned or not. Sure, she trusts him because they've been friends for ages now, but she's not quite on the same level with him as she is with Peter and Harry. Either way, you'll have to see.
Raise a glass to freedom: Yay! I love your long reviews! I have plans for the motorcycle, Adara can't fix it herself but she's not gonna let Harry touch it either. Maybe she does need Tony's help, but the question is can see swallow her pride and ask him. As for her mental state, she's trying to keep it in right now, but she really does miss NAt and Steve quite a lot. We've seen a surprising lack of not-Luka in these past few chapters, so let's wonder when he could be making a return. Adara and Michelle going to homecoming would be fucking ICONIC but I have very specific plans for that, and you'll just have to see. As for Harry being gay….. I won't spoil anything yet. Anyway, thank you so much for the long review! I seriously love you!
Guest (1)- Tony pops up again in this chapter, I wonder whether you'll agree with his decisions or not. Either way, I'm looking forward to see if you do another rant (always very fun and interesting to read). As for the whole weapon thing, Peter will still find a different one, I just have a seperate plan of how I'm going to use the one Adara and HArry have to the one in the movie, though both will coexist.
GrendaldFC- Harry being gay is something I don't really want to answer right now. I'm very sure of his sexuality in the story but I just don't want to reveal it yet. I'm just gonna say that the whole 'gay vibe' thing, while kinda jokey in the last chapter, wasn't exactly wrong… As for villains we'll see in the story, I can confirm the Vulture (obviously), Green Goblin and Mysterio as well as original villains such as Luka. Venom is a bit iffy and it's something I'm unsure of including due to the upcoming SOny movie. However, it's not completely off the table depending on what direction the MCU goes in. venom would definitely be a thrill to write, especially when it come to how it affects Peter personally as well as his relationship with Adara.
WonderLoki: ASDFFHJK this review is so nice! I'm so happy you're liking the story!
MickeyMarceline101: Let's just say that you might see a Spiderbell team up in this very chapter, it doesn't go great ;)
The Wize 1: Steve and Nat will return….. Just not for a while
GUest: It's a good question and, not gonna lie, it is partly because I love writing her green eyes and so I can have a stand out feature for her that works as a weakness too. But we will be seeing use of colour contacts in future storylines when it becomes more important.
OfEmbersandWolves: Adara's gonna be a little ticked at Peter for being so stupid but, because she kind of already spilled his secret to Harry even though he didn't want her to, she can't really be mad for that long.
Robotics Fangirl: AAAAA That incorrect quote is genuinely perfect.
Thanks to: monkeybaby, maxattack, alliesmiley2, assbitch67, DarkLordofMemes, blueerimartian, stonyx30547, sociallyawkwardani, Lady Liberty, Jaygeek, lizlil, raise a glass to freedom, guest (1), iBananaCat, Fluffymarshmallows, roselover2525, GrendaldFC, Kath3rin, WonderLoki, MickeyMarceline101, Guest (2), The Wize 1, tryxxi, GUest, , Wr1ter2, OfEmbersandWolves, CupcakeLoopy, Sidewalk Enforcer, Guest (3), Remsony, D3athrav3n92, awsz, Iluvkovumiki, Robotics Fangirl, cabrera1234, Mileena1996, A Frozen Shadow, yamimily, Baperben and Llerak2365 for either leaving a review or following/favouriting on the last chapter! Over 650 reviews and I love each and everyone of you!
Reminder: In the last chapter, we kicked Homecoming off with Ned learning about Spiderman's true identity, and Adara isn't thrilled.
Soz for any shitt grammar this chapter, I hate proofreading, it's half two in the morning and I have work.
"I was gonna say something that would solve all our problems
But then I got drunk
And I forgot what I was talking about"
"Do you lay eggs?" Asked Ned, causing Peter to look away from the destructive scene that had taken place outside of Delmar's the night before and to his friend, who had been bugging him all morning.
"What?" The question had taken him by surprise, "no."
"Oi!" Yelled a voice, and both Peter and Ned turned to look at Adara, who was marching over to them.
This took both of them a little by surprise as, since she had moved to live with Harry, she took a different route to school, meaning they didn't meet up until school was only a few blocks away. So, Peter figured, she had purposefully changed route to come and meet them and, from the way she was walking, it was not going to be a nice conversation.
"Hey, Adara," said Ned, rather cheerfully.
"Hey, Ned," she replied, cool and calm towards him but, as she turned to look at Peter, it was obvious who she was really angry, "you told him?"
"W-what? About Spiderman?" He laughed nervously before glancing at Ned, "you told her that you knew?"
"You didn't tell me not to," Ned shrugged, "plus, it's not a big deal if she knows that I know."
"It's not a big deal for you," he hissed at his friend before looking at Adara, "look, Dara, I swear it was by accident."
"But you told him that I knew about you," her voice was sharp, her irateness crisp and clear in her tone, "that means he's gonna start asking questions." Ned was a little annoyed that she spoke about him like he wasn't there, but Peter was speaking now.
"But it's not like I'm gonna tell him anything," he said, "i didn't once mention the Blue-" He was cut off by Adara jabbing him in the shin harshly with her shoe heal. It didn't hurt, but it cut him off. "Okay! Okay! Look, I wouldn't tell him anyway because I don't go around giving away other people's secrets."
"Oh, drop it," she said, "I told you I'm sorry for telling Harry, I'm still sorry for it. At least I'm not giving away my secrets 'by accident' like an idiot."
"You ended up confessing your deepest secrets to Harry in an alleyway because you were drunk," he shot back.
She snorted, "getting drunk was not an accident, I'll tell you that."
"Doesn't mean you-"
"Will you two stop bickering!" Yelled Ned and the two other teenagers looked at him, surprised at his loud outburst. He looked a smidge apologetic. "I'm sorry, but you're both exhausting when you go at each other." Adara and Peter, who had been glaring at each other, took a step back from one another and chose to observe their shoes instead. "Anyway, can you just explain why Adara knew before I did?" He asked Peter.
The teenage boy bit his lip, "it was an accident- well, not really but it still was, kind of, sort of."
"You're not really giving an answer."
"And he's not going to," Adara shot a deadly look at Peter before looking at Ned with a much milder expression, "sorry, Ned, but enough people know as it is and," she glanced around, "there are too many people to over hear us."
"I don't think any of these people are eavesdropping on us, Dara," said Peter.
She shrugged, "you never know."
"Let's just get to school," said Peter, "or we're going to be late."
As if the word 'late' had sparked something in his brain, Ned suddenly came out with an outpouring of questions, "wait, if you're late, can't you just swing there? Or are you really fast so you can run there? How many weights can you lift? How fast can you run? What's the highest you've ever swung?"
Adara looked at Ned, overwhelmed, "how long has he been like this?" She asked Peter who shrugged.
"Basically all day."
"And you're not mad?" Asked Harry as the two walked into the gym later that day, "I mean, you were pissed last night but now you seem okay."
"Ned didn't tell me much in his phone call last night," she shrugged, "other than that he knew that Peter was Spider-" she cut herself off as Liz Allan and Betty Brant wandered by, chatting away "other than that he knew that thingy was thingy," Harry nodded, understanding. "I panicked and though maybe he'd let the whole blue haired side of me slip, but he didn't."
"So you're not mad?"
"I am still pissed off that Peter managed to give away his secret on accident like that," she rolled her eyes, "but it's his secret, and Ned only knows that we know, he doesn't know anything else about me."
"Are you gonna tell him?"
She scoffed, "no."
"Why not?" Asked Harry, "I doubt Ned's gonna give away your secret, he's fairly trustworthy."
"I'm sure he is," said Adara, "but, looking at him and Peter," the two glanced over to where the two were making their way over to the gym steps, "I don't think I want to have to deal with that." Ned was pestering Peter about Spiderman and, despite being just as annoying as his friend sometimes, Peter was beginning to look a little worn down.
"Fair enough," nodded Harry, before he noticed something else, "plus, he might accidentally give it away unintentionally." both of them watched with a sense of apprehension as Michelle peered over her book to look at Ned and Peter with a calculating stare, before going back to her book.
"True," said Adara, "but that's Michelle, and she's too observant for her own good."
They sat down on the gym steps, Adara and Harry sitting just below the other two teenage boys, who fell silent as Coach Wilson rolled a less-than-modern looking television to the front, and fumbled around with it for a bit before it turned on. Harry and Adara exchanged confused looks to each other, since when was watching tv a sport?
What Adara hadn't expected, was Steve's face in that ridiculous Captain America get-up to appear on screen.
"Hi," he said, "I'm Captain America." Adara watched the screen, feeling slightly amused but also a strange ache, when was the last time she had heard his voice? " Hi. I'm Captain America. Whether you're in the classroom or on the battlefield…"
His voice was drowned out by Ned and Peter's whispering, which was slightly annoying to Adara.
"Do you know him too?" Asked Ned.
"Yeah, we met," Peter replied, a little smugly as he watched the screen.
"Fitness can be the difference between success or failure," Steve went on and Adara wondered when he did these, and why he had never told her about them or seen them before. It must've been after the Battle of New York, right? Before the whole Winter Soldier and Hydra crap. How come she had never seen this before? She was going to give him hell for this when she saw him again. Actually, it was probably more like if she saw him again.
"I stole his shield," Peter's voice drew her out of her musings and she rolled her eyes. He had neglected to tell Ned that Steve had also beat him after dropping several tons of steel on top of him.
"Woah…" Ned looked at his friend in admiration and Adara just shook her head.
"Today, my good friend, your gym teacher-" Steve pointed to his right while Coach Wilson waved from his left, "-will conduct the Captain America Fitness Challenge."
"Thank you, Captain," the coach's voice was fairly deadpan, "pretty sure this guy's a war criminal now," only because Ross and the Government said so, Adara thought rather bitterly, "but I have to show these videos. It's required by the state. Let's do it." He blew his whistle and everyone got to work.
"Look," said Adara, several minutes after the coach had blown his whistle, doing situps on the mat beside Peter and Ned and talking to Harry, "If I go to this tonight, then we can find out more about the source of these weapons. I don't care what they do, that's your job to find out, I just need to find and destroy the origin."
Harry, who was holding her trainers down as she did the sit ups, hummed in thought about this, "yeah, but maybe we should give it a bit of time," he sighed, "we've been investigating but have basically found nothing about it. These could be more dangerous than you think, and if you go up against one with no knowledge about it…"
"I could get hurt, yeah, yeah," she rolled her eyes, "you sound a lot like Steve."
"Well someone's gotta stop you from doing stupid things," said Harry and she just playfully glared back at him.
"Now see," said Betty Brant, rather loudly, "for me it would be it would be…" she trailed off in thought, "eff Thor, marry Iron Man and kill Hulk." She said this to Liz Allan, Jason Ionello and Seymour O'Riley, her friends.
Adara shook her head, "why would you fuck Thor and not marry him?" Harry gave her a vaguely disgusted look, "all I'm saying is, that man is a beefcake and I'd rather marry him than Tony."
"What about the Spiderman?" Asked Seymour, which snatched the two's attention, as well as Peter and Ned's too.
"It's just Spiderman," corrected Liz, with a surprising amount of passion, "did you see the bank security cam on YouTube? He fought off four guys." Adara had to suppress a groan at the look on both Ned and Peter's faces at that statement.
"Oh, my God," said Betty, "she's crushing on Spiderman."
"No way," said Seymour.
"Kind of," shrugged Liz. Adara didn't know why, but that statement caused her to get a knot in her stomach, but she ignored it.
"Ugh," Betty rolled her eyes, "gross. He's probably, like, thirty."
"You don't even know what he looks like. Like, what if he's, like, seriously burned."
"Good to know they don't care about the superficial things," whispered Harry and Adara sniggered.
"What if he's, like, a loser," Adara did her best impression of Betty Brant, "like Peter Parker." Harry laughed, but no one else heard.
"I wouldn't care," said Liz, "I would still love him for the person he is on the inside." Betty laughed, like this was the stupidest thing ever, while Adara glanced at Peter, who seemed to be in some form of shock. Liz had just admitted a crush on his alter-ego, he must be on cloud nine right now.
"Peter knows Spiderman!" Said Ned loudly, causing the entire gym to go silent as everyone turned to look at Peter, who was staring at his friend, gaping at what he had just said.
Adara and Harry exchanged looks, in disbelief at what Ned had just said. Adara had always liked him, he was smart kid but could be a little bit too chatty sometimes. But, this was really pushing it and Adara was feeling a little relieved that she hadn't told Ned about Bluebell, because she would hate to be in the situation Peter was in right now.
"Ah," he got to his feet, glancing around at everyone in the gym as he fumbled for words, "no, I don't. I-I mean," he approached Liz and Adara had the feeling that he was just going to make this worse for himself.
Instead, it was Ned who made it worse, "they're friends!"
And then Flash also made it worse, "yeah, like Coach Wilson and Captain America are friends." A laugh ran through the whole gym and Adara relaxed a little, no one suspected a thing. Then again, she glanced back to see Michelle watching with a blank expression. Either way, Adara was looking for anyway she could smooth this out.
"I've met him," said Peter and she resisted the urge to facepalm, "yeah, couple times. But it's- um- through the Stark Internship."
"Uh-huh," said Flash, not looking convinced.
Peter glanced at Adara who shrugged, he was on his own. "Yeah, well," he glanced at Ned, hard look in his eyes, "I'm not really supposed to talk about it!"
"Well, that's awesome," Flash said sarcastically, "hey, you know what, maybe you should invite him to Liz's party, right?"
"Yeah, uh," it was Liz's turn to be all polite and nice, "I'm having people over tonight. You're more than welcome to come."
Adara wasn't going, she had something to do. But, she glanced at Harry, eyes asking him whether he was going. Somehow able to understand, despite the lack of words, he shrugged, showing he hadn't made up his mind about it.
"You're having a party?" Peter looked at Liz hopefully and Adara wanted to puke, it was so cliche and adorable, it made her feel a little ill. Or was that the only reason she was feeling ill?
"Yeah," Flash interrupted the moment, "it should be dope. You should totally invite your personal friend Spiderman." Peter looked at him, considering something.
"Stop being an ass, Flash," interrupted Adara, "I'm pretty sure that Pete doesn't have Spiderman on his contacts list," she gave Peter a sharp look, "whether he knows the guy through the internship or not."
Peter looked back at her, but then Liz started talking. "It's okay," she said, "I know Peter is way too busy for parties anyways." She shrugged.
"Oh, come on," Flash should really stop tempting him like this, "he'll be there. Right, Parker?"
Flash walked past Peter just as the bell rang, and everyone made their way back to the changing rooms.
"He better not be thinking it," said Adara to Harry, "if he is, I'm going to kill him."
"I don't know," said Harry, "we all know how much he loves Liz."
That was a good point and, as Adara jogged to catch up with her other two friends, she heard Ned say, "Liz has a crush on you!"
"Big deal," Adara interrupted, shooting a stern look at Peter, "Liz Allan has a crush on Spiderman, some guy who hardly knows and has been judged on the fact that he does good stuff. Not Peter Parker and, sorry, Pete, but you are Peter Parker right now. Don't compromise your identity for some stupid girl," she glanced back at Ned, "he's already made this bad enough."
"Come on, Adara!" Said Ned, "Peter's an Avenger! He has a chance with Liz."
"Spiderman is not an Avenger," she said.
"That's like saying the Bluebell isn't an Avenger either," Ned shrugged it off.
"She is not an Avenger," she said sharply, "and, Avenger or not, this isn't worth it. Michelle is already suspicious, I can tell. Not to mention, you go to one of the best schools in the country, everyone here is smart! If Spiderman is suddenly at the party, but Peter isn't, don't you think they'll get suspicious?"
"No, they won't," said Ned, both of them trying to convince Peter.
"I-" But he was cut off.
"All of you clear off," said Coach Wilson, "school's over, go get changed or I'll make you do extra laps."
They all quickly hurried out of there, Adara heading to the girl's locker room before shooting one last look over her shoulder. "If I hear that you were at that party tomorrow, Parker, I'll kill you." She left, leaving both boys, and Harry, behind.
"Did you hear that?" Said Ned, "she's not gonna be at the party."
"Yeah, but-"
"She'll carry out that threat and you know it, Peter," said Harry, "don't doubt her."
Peter hesitated, thinking about the time he had to physically pull her off a body she had been repeatedly stabbing and shrugged, "I don't know, really." But he had already made up his mind.
"I think we all know why Adara doesn't want Spiderman to go, Peter," said Ned.
"Is it because it's a stupid idea?" Asked Harry with a deadpan expression.
"No," scoffed Ned, "Adara does stupid stuff all the time. No, it's because she's jealous of Liz."
"What?" Said the other two boys at the same time.
"She doesn't want you to impress Liz," said Ned as if it was obvious, "because she's scared Liz will fall for you and then you get together and then she can't have you."
"That's ridiculous," snorted Peter, "Adara and I are friends, she's just looking out for me. Right, Harry?" The boy shrugged neutrally, though there was the faintest trace of a smirk at Ned's words. "Whatever, guys, can we go? We need to get changed." He was almost one hundred percent certain that there was nothing going on between him and Adara. His mind drifted back to the kiss, but he dismissed it with a shake of his head. Too much had happened between them since then, too many life changing discoveries about one another, it didn't mean anything, not at this point.
Besides, Peter had already made his mind up about the party.
"Be careful," warned Harry, "we don't know how dangerous these guys are. We don't even know the power of their alien tech. Just stay out of sight and don't-"
"-Do anything stupid," Adara finished for him, rolling her eyes, "yeah, yeah, I get it at this point. And don't worry, Harry, I've got this. I'm only spying and getting information for now, I get it." She could practically hear his doubtful expression, despite being on the phone to him. "Anyway, where will you be once this is done? Back at the tower?" She hadn't quite gotten used to calling it 'home' yet.
"No, no," said Harry, "I'll be at Liz's party."
"Seriously?" She rolled her eyes, "I'm out here doing work and you're there partying."
He got that she was only teasing, but explained himself anyway. "It's actually not too far from where the meeting's going to take place, so I figured it would be easier for us to meet up afterwards." Adara hummed in agreement at this. "Besides, if you're not stopping Peter from doing something stupid, then who is?"
"That's a good point," Adara groaned at the mention of the boy, "if Spiderman actually turns up to that party, then I might just murder him in his sleep." She glanced up, hearing a van, "look, I gotta go. Have fun."
"Stay safe."
"I will, mom," she mocked before dropping the call.
It wasn't that late at night, but it was already dark. The only light was artificial that came from the few lampposts dotted around the park. It was silent and empty, apart from the sound of Adara's own footsteps and a van rolling up. It was drawing closer to her, she ducked to the side, hiding behind a tree as it passed by, heading further into the park. Knowing that this was it, she prepared herself. She unbuttoned the denim jacket she had been wearing, revealing her Bluebell suit underneath, and shoved it behind the tree. For extra measures, she placed a few leaves on top of it so it was less visible, but it was too dark to see it anyway. Then, as easy as ever, she transformed herself from a long-haired brunette, to a short, blue haired girl.
Quietly, as the Bluebell, she followed the sound of the van until she was under a bridge. The van had come to a halt, and two men were getting out. She looked at them with a hard stare, before attempting to find a hiding space. These must be the people selling the weapons.
"What time is he supposed to be here?" Asked one. He had a deep voice and a shaved head, and was darker skinned than his partner.
The other guy, who was wearing a beanie and had a beard, shrugged, "dunno, around about now, I reckon." His general demeanour was more relaxed, and far less professional than his partner.
Carefully, Adara crept up to the front of their van while they opened the back doors to it, oblivious to her presence. She so badly wanted to get a better look inside and waited for a distraction so she could maneuver herself into a better position.
The distraction came in the form of a car driving and parking up beside the van. The two sellers turned to look at the car and the person inside it. Adara took the opportunity to dodge to the side and behind the bridge, which gave her a side-long view of what was inside the van. Her eyes widened at the amount of weapons inside, some she hadn't seen before, most looked nothing like the one she and Harry had back up in the tower. This was going to be a bigger problem than she thought.
"Hey," said the newcomer, getting out of his car. What had Harry said his name was again? Aaron Davies or something. He was less important than the seller, but Adara still memorised his face, just in case.
"Aaron Davies?" Asked the bigger seller and he nodded. "You come to check out our stuff."
"Yeah, man," he nodded, shifting his shoulders and glancing around, "I've been waiting weeks for this, what's up with that?"
"We're busy people," said the big guy as his partner rummaged around the van, "and you can never be too safe. We've been taking too many risks, we've already got a couple of people onto us, not to mention the bank screw-ups last night with the Spiderman."
So Peter had encountered the weapons too? That made sense, actually, when she remembered the scene at Delmar's. Maybe he could be some help.
"What you buying for?"
Aaron shrugged, seemingly on edge, "just tryna stake out someone, nothing major."
The weapons that the beard-guy got out said otherwise. Adara eyed it curiously as he walked up to Davies. It was silver, shiny and long. Adara observed the red glow it had, the same kind of energy that had been running through the Ultron bots. That must be what's powering it. They must've got the weapons from Sokovia, so their palette went beyond the Chitauri tech. This was important information to Adara, so she stored it in the back of her mind for safekeeping.
"Now," said the beard-guy to Aaron, "watch this!"
Much to Adara's shock, he fired a shot. It let out a loud 'womp' sound as it exited the gun and then crashed into a nearby tree. The explosion was deafening and rocked the area. Adara watched in fascination as a cloud of smoke littered with flashes of blue light rose into the sky. He had just set of a shot in public like it was nothing, that was a risky move. But she was more in awe at the power of these weapons, her stomach jolted as she realised something. Hydra had already caught scent of these weapons, that was how Harry had discovered them in the first place. If these guys ended up selling them… she shivered. She couldn't let these douchebag idiots be the reason that Hydra rose back to power.
"Jackson," hissed his partner, "you idiot! What if someone saw that?"
"Relax," said the man who was called Jackson, "chief doesn't need to know. Besides, who would've seen that?"
His partner pulled him to the side and muttered something out of Aaron's earshot, but not out of Adara's. "We already know the fucking Bluebell's onto us," he hissed, "we don't want anyone else hearing about this arms deal, least of all, her."
"What's that blue-haired freak gonna do anyway?" snorted Jackson, "arrest us? She's a wanted criminal herself after the whole Captain America business." Adara's eyes narrowed.
"Uh, guys," said Aaron, looking a little impatient.
"Right, right," said Jackson, ignoring his partner and walking back over, "okay, I'll show you it again."
"Now, that's fi-"
But he had already set off another shot, just as blinding and as deafening as before. Adara wondered how one guy could be so stupid. The group watched the explosion fizzle out before the talking started again.
"Whoo!" Jackson laughed, "now this is crafted from a reclaimed sub-Ultron arm straight from Sokovia," he explained to Aaron, confirming Adara's theory. The question was, how were they getting these weapons? All of the clean-ups had been performed by Stark industry and the government, so they had to be stealing it. Jackson handed the blaster over to the buyer who seemed more than hesitant. "Here, you try."
Aaron looked put-off, "man, I wanted something low-key. Like, why you tryna upsell me, man?" It's true, they were upselling him, probably you make more money. Adara knew she'd have to stick around, finding the cost of these weapons were important, that way she could find out how big their range was and how many possible buyers they could have.
In the corner of her eye, she could've sworn she had seen a flash of red and blue, but passed it off as being a part of the aftermath from the explosion, directing her attention back to the deal.
"Okay, okay," Jackson headed back over to the van, "I got what you need, all right? I got tons of great stuff here. One sec. Okay, I got black hole grenades, Chitauri railguns…" He began listing things off as his partner approached behind him. Adara took note of this wide range of weapons. This was very, very dangerous, especially with the amount of petty criminals, like Aaron, who were able to get a hold of it, not to mention, Hydra too.
"You letting off shots in public now? Hurry up," he was definitely the more intelligent of the two, he walked up to Aaron, "Look, times are changing. We're the only ones selling these high-tech weapons."
"I just need something to stick up somebody," said Aaron, glancing over his shoulder before gesturing to the weapons, "I'm not trying to shoot them back in time." He was more of a classic criminal, behind the times in this superhero-filled world.
"I got antigrav climbers," said Jackson, which seemed to grab Aaron's attention.
"Yo, climbers?"
Everyone paused as someone's ridiculous music started playing. Adara glanced around, confused and a little pissed, who had interrupted her spying?
"Okay, what the hell is that?" The other three guys looked equally as bewildered as she was, but the buyers were quick to turn on Aaron.
Suddenly, the bigger guy whipped out a gun, pointing it at Aaron, "you set us up? You work for the Bluebell?"
"Hey, hey, man!" Aaron raised his hands in the air, "I don't, I don't!"
Then, if the situation couldn't get any worse, Spiderman suddenly dropped to the floor.
"Hey, hey! Guys, come on!" Said Peter as Adara stared at him from her hiding spot, "if you guys are gonna shoot at someone, shoot at me!" That fucking idiot.
The bigger guy shrugged, nonplussed, "alright."
He turned his gun onto Peter.
Two things happened at the same time. Adara jumped from her hiding spot and kicked the attacker in the head, knocking him to the ground as Peter shot out a web and pulled the gun from his hands.
Adara rolled across the floor, pushing herself up before seeing the danger in front of her face. She ducked just in time to dodge the massive gauntlet Jackson had around his fist. Instead, it was Peter who got smacked in the face and was sent back flying several feet.
"Alright," Adara said, sweeping out the guys legs from underneath him, "you're gonna pay for that." He attempted to punch her, but she swiftly moved to the side and kicked him in the stomach before feeling someone grab her.
It was the bigger guy, who pulled her back by the neck. She used him as a launching pad and back flipped over the top of him, landing it messily and falling to the floor. She pushed herself up in time to see the bigger guy running to the front and Jackson climbing into the back.
"Not so fast, connard," she muttered, getting to her feet and swinging herself into the van just as it started moving.
She hardly had time to register the fact that Peter had just hooked himself onto the back of the van using his web as Jackson swung at her again. She dodged around him, being much quicker than he was. She had to be careful, while she was swifter and had more skill, he carried more weight and power, which slowed him down but could make a single hit fatal. She wasn't Spiderman, she had no regenerative powers like that.
Falling back onto her backup, she pulled out her knife, stabbing him in the shoulder blade.
He let out a cry and reflexively kicked her in the stomach. She had no time to control herself as she fell out the back of the van. Her back hitting the road painfully. Peter saw this and shot a web at her. She caught in just time, before realising what it was attached to, and suddenly feeling herself getting pulled along with the van.
"What the hell are you doing here?" He shouted at her before the swiftly turned a corner and PEter smashed into a bin.
"What the hell are you doing here?" She shot back in a hiss as he regained himself.
"Look out!" He yelled and he purposely crashed into her to shove her to the side as the van door went sailing over their heads as Jackson accidentally hit it with his blaster.
They turned the corner and Adara's side scraped across the floor. She was glad that Tony had put so much armor-like protection on her suit because, otherwise, she would've been covered in scrapes and her get-up littered with holes from being dragged across the roads and sidewalks like this. It was possibly the worst idea Peter had had yet.
Another explosion went off behind them, Adara only managing to duck in time as Peter yelled, "ow, my butt!"
They turned a corner so sharply that Adara was dragged through a pile of leaves and Jackson was jolted to the side violently, the blaster he had been shooting at them with fell out of his hands and sidden across the road and out of sight.
Adara watched, vaguely horrified as Peter was dragged through a pile of bins and into a wall, smashing straight into it. Alone now, she grabbed the webs he had attached the van for himself as used them to pull herself forward. She ducked to the side as Peter attempted to get onto the van again, but ended up pulling off the other door.
Not knowing what happened to him, Adara managed to get one hand onto the van, the other one still holding the webs while she latched her feet onto a pipe to steady herself into an awkward position. Jackson attempted to stop on her hand, ,forgetting he had alien tech with him in exchange for a more physically, brutal move. She yelled out in pain as she felt one of her fingers break, but managed to latch onto the van with ehr other hand and swing herself back into the pack. She could tell that Jackson was pumping himself up with adrenaline to ignore where she had stabbed him in the shoulder, the cut hadn't been that deep anyway. But Adara knew that was his weaker side, and used it to her advantage.
Before he could grab a chitauri blaster, she suddenly swung one leg into his hip and used that to pull the other one up to his shoulder. Then, she cartweeled herself to the floor, pulling him down with him as he landed with a thump on his injured side. Not wanting him to get away, she climbed on top of him, knife pressed against neck.
"Who makes these weapons?" She spat, "where's your base?"
He laughed, blood was trickling from the side of his mouth from where his teeth had slammed down on his lip and tongue when she had pulled him down.
"Tell me," she said, her voice dangerous and angry.
He just laughed again, "I know a certain underground group of people who would pay good money for me to take you to them alive," he said with a throaty chuckle, "are you familiar with them?"
Adara tried not to let herself freeze up, "you're in contact with Hydra?"
"They're in contact with everyone they want something from," he said with a spit and Adara realised he was referring too, "not sure why they would want a stupid bitch like you."
Her eyes widened in realisation as she heard the gun powering up beside her. She turned her head to see the driver aiming a blaster at her. Just as he fired, she ducked underneath but the force caused her to roll out the van and onto the road.
In the back of her mind, she could hear the van driving away and Jackson whooping at her failure. How could she let herself get so distracted so easily? Pushing herself up, she felt the ache in her legs and arms, and wiped the side of her face just to come back up with blood where she had scraped herself.
Grunting with the effort, she looked up just in time to see Peter come sailing over the buildings, nearly landing on top of the van. Then, out of nowhere, something came and grabbed him out of the air, lifting him higher and higher until he was out of sight.
"Pete," she said before repeating it louder, "Pete!" Oh, God, what if he was hurt.
With no regard to her injuries or how exhausted her body was from the strain, she ran, doing her best to follow what was now nothing more than a dot in the sky. Then, instead of growing smaller, it grew bigger and she realised that Peter was falling. Desperate, she sped up into a sprint, pumping her legs and arms as fast as she could to follow the dot that gre larger and large as Peter attempted to get control of himself as he crashed back down to Earth.
And…
Into the river!
Adara skidded to a halt at the edge of the bank as the boy fell into the water with a splash, barely stopping in time. Her body tensed up when she realised that he wasn't coming up. Hadn't his parachute been on or something? What if that was restricting his movements? What if he was drowning? Adara's mind was racing, how did she help him? He was too far away and Adara knew that she wouldn't be able to reach him in time.
Then, a saviour. She spotted the Iron Man suit dive into the water and, only a few seconds later, reemerge, carrying Peter in its arms as it flew over the water and landed somewhere not too far from Adara.
She sagged a little in relief before pausing, hadn't Tony said he was going to India or something? He mentioned it when she spent the weekend at the compound. Maybe he had come back early, or was remotely controlling one of his suits. There was only one way to find out.
She stumbled across both Peter and the Iron Man suit three minutes later in a park next to the river. She paused, listening to the two talk.
"And then he just, like, swooped down like a monster," Peter was obviously in the middle of the action-packed retelling of the story, "and picked me up, and took me up like a thousand feet and just dropped me." He paused, glancing around, "wait, did he get Dara? Where's Dara? What happened to her?"
"I'm here," she said, emerging from the trees with a hard look in her eyes as she approached her friend and the Iron Man suit. She wiped a bit of the blood off the side of her face, "I'm fine."
"You're not fine," said Tony sharply, "you've hurt yourself."
"It's nothing I can't heal," she shook off his concern, not really wanting to talking about it, "how'd you find us?"
"Put a tracker on both of your suits," he explained, "I put everything in your suits, actually," he looked at Peter, "including this heater."
Peter seemed to relax a little as steam came out of his Spiderman suit and looked at Tony, "woah, that's better, thanks."
"What were you thinking?" He asked, "what were both of you thinking?"
"The guy with the wings is obviously the source of the weapons," exclaimed Peter, "I've gotta take you down."
Adara nodded in agreement, "I've been following these weapons for a while now. They're coming from everywhere: New York, Sokovia, DC," she listed them off, "they're dangerous too."
"How heroic of you," he said drily, "I thought you were more of a fan of taking down Hydra, not this team-up thing you have going on."
"We met by accident," she explained away, "besides, these weapons link to Hydra. They're already trying to get their hands on them and that guy," she pulled a face, "Jackson or whatever, he knew that Hydra was looking for me. Obviously, they're in the black market and-"
"I'm gonna stop you right there," said Tony and Adara glared at him, annoyed that she had been interrupted, "that's more reason for you to keep out of this."
"What?" She exclaimed, "I've been handling Hydra since the Chadburn incident," she argued, "this is nothing."
"This is more than Hydra and, besides, there are people who handle these sorts of things."
"Like who?" Asked Peter, "the Avengers?"
"No," the suit shook its head, "this is a little below their pay grade." Steve would have disagreed, Adara knew that.
"Anyway," Peter went on before Adara could shoot a scathing comment towards Tony, "Mr. Stark, you didn't have to come out here. We had that. We were fine. Right, Dara?" He looked at her and she nodded anyway, despite not fully agreeing. But, she needed to keep pursuing these weapons, and Tony wasn't being overly supportive.
"Oh, I'm not here," he said and the suit lifted its mask up to show an empty space. Adara had been right, "Thank God this place has Wi-Fi or you would be toast right now. Thank Ganesh while you're at it. Cheers." The suit looked like it was holding empty space and Adara figured he had a drink in his hand right now. "Look, forget the flying vulture guy."
"What, why?" Asked Peter.
At the same time, Adara scoffed and went, "no."
"Why? Because I said so!" He yelled it loudly and seemed to apologise to someone he was with, "I'm sorry, I'm talking to a couple of teenagers."
"You can't seriously expect us to stay out of this," said Adara, "if you had seen what those weapons had done-"
"You're fired up because that guy mentioned that Hydra was still after you."
"They've told those weapons guys, who know I'm tracking them, that they'd pay them if they took me in," she said, "damn right I'm fired up. I just want to-"
"Adara," he interrupted again and her annoyance was increased to maximum, "Cap and Romanoff aren't here and," he gestured to the empty headspace in the suit, "neither am I. You have to be more careful dealing with this."
"I am being careful, Tony," her tone was fiery hot, "I've got Pete here, looking out for me."
"I, uh-" he nodded, "yeah, yeah, I'll look after her, Mr Stark." The two smiled at each other and, in India, Tony rolled his eyes.
"You two are adorable," he said, "but I'm gonna have to ask you to stay close to the ground. Adara, no more Hydra, ass kicking. Try helping the little people, like the lady who bought Peter that churro," Adara glanced at Peter who shrugged. The suit turned to the teenage boy, "and you, try not to go in over your head. Try being a friendly neighbourhood Spiderman."
"But I'm ready for more now," said Peter.
"We both are," added Adara.
"No, you aren't," he said firmly.
"That's not what you thought when I took on Captain America," Peter said.
"Trust me, kid. If Cap wanted to lay you out, he would've." Adara couldn't help but silently agree with Tony's words there. "Listen to me. If you come across these weapons again, call Happy."
Peter and Adara heard a car revving and both said, at the same time, "Are you driving" But were ignored.
"You know, it's never too early to start thinking about college. I got some pull at MIT. And we can always fancy some fancy language college for you, Adara. End call."
"No, no," Peter stuttered, "I don't need to go to-"
"Mr. Stark is no longer connected," FRIDAY said and flew away.
Adara was seething in anger as he flew off, "his he kidding? 'Stay close to the ground,'" she scoffed, "like hell I am! Morceau de merde." She shook her head, "we're going after the vulture guy, right? We're not gonna listen to Tony."
"We aren't," Peter said before growing in confidence, "No, we're not gonna listen to him. We have to go after this guy, he's dangerous, you saw some of those weapons."
She nodded, enthusiastic, "yeah! Not to mention that bird guy, he needs to go down. And Hydra," she was fuming, "I can't believe he told he to stay out of this because 'Cap and Nat aren't here anymore.' That was his damn fault, they wouldn't have to have left if it wasn't for the-" she paused, clearing her throat, "anway, what are you doing here?"
He went a little red, knowing Adara was going to be pissed, but he decided to be honest as he pulled his mask back on. "I was going to Liz's party when I saw the explosion," he sighed, "you were right, I was being stupid. I like Liz and all but I couldn't risk giving myself away as Spiderman."
Her gaze softened a little, "it's okay, Pete, at least you realised."
"Can you do me a favour?" He asked.
"What is it?" She looked at him cautiously.
"Can you tell Ned about the Bluebell?"
She didn't look to be in agreement with it, "I-uh- no."
"Please, Dara," he said, "I feel bad for leaving him out the loop for so long, he was really upset about HArry and you knowing before him." HE wasn't that upset but that was besides the point. "I just feel bad for leaving him out of it for so long, you know? Please, for me."
She sighed, "I'll think about it," they both spotted something in the corner of their eye at the same time.
"What's that?" Asked Peter, walking over to it and picking it up to inspect it, "it must've fallen out from their weapons."
She peered closely at it, "hye, that's the same one Harry and I have at the tower." She explained further when she saw Peter's confused face. "We've been tracking these weapons for a while now and less than two weeks ago, we prevented an arms deal and picked up a blaster a lot like this."
"Do you know much about it?"
"Its alien, chitauri from the Battle of New York but," she shrugged, "other than that we've got nothing."
"I'll see if I can find anything," he was about to pick up the weapon when his phone rang, Adara rolled her eyes at his stupid ringtone. "Hey, man," Adara guessed it was Ned, "I'm on my way back."
"Actually," said Ned, "I was calling to say maybe you shouldn't come."
Adara heard Flash's voice and several others down the phone, "when I say Penis, you say Parker! Penis!"
"Parker!" They chanted back.
"Penis!"
"Parker!"
Adara felt anger and frustration bubble in her chest and stole a glance at Peter, who was looking rather downtrodden.
"Sorry, Peter, I guess we're still losers." Adara could still hear the chanting in the background, "I'll see you tomorrow."
"I'll see you tomorrow at school," he put down the phone.
"Flash is an idiot, you know that, right?" Said Adara, "he bigs himself up but he's really just a loser too. I wouldn't worry about him or his petty insults, he just wishes he was smarter than you."
"Yeah," he sighed, picking up the glowing weapon and inspecting it, "I don't get how you do it."
"Do what?"
"Not care about what others think of you."
She laughed, "Peter, I care about what others think about me," he looked at her, "but only the people whose opinion matters to me. Like Steve or Nat or," she glanced back at him, "you. When I was with Hydra, all they ever wanted me to do was succeed, succeed and succeed. After a while, I kind of became numb to the idea of impressing others who I hated, like Luka. I don't care what other people think of me because they don't matter. But I care what you think of me because you do matter to me."
He smiled underneath his mask, "you matter to me too." He then frowned, "how's your face?"
She touched the area where she had scraped it against the floor, "it stings slightly but," she rolled her shoulders and flexed her fingers, "it's my joints that ache more. Anyway," she tapped her cheek, "it's nothing I can't heal. How are you?"
"Fine," he shrugged.
"That's good," she checked the time, "I'm gonna head back, better tell Harry about what happened."
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow."
"À demain," she said with a nod as they headed home.
A/N: Phew, that was a lot longer than I expected it to be but it was a lot of fun to write. Anyway, don't forget to be on the lookout for my new story Blackbirds and Bullet Holes and, in the meantime, have an incorrect quote!
Adara: I like your pants.
Peter: Thanks. They were 50% off.
Adara: I'd like them 100% off.
Peter: The store can't just give clothes away.
Adara: That not what I-
Peter: That's a terrible way to run a business, Dara.
Next chapter: Whatever happens next in homecoming plus some more shipping fuel, I don't know.
