New chapter. Note at the end.
As always, please review :)
Kate still had a bit of a limp when she got to school on Monday, but it was an easy thing to hide. Peter was already waiting for her at her locker that morning. She smiled faintly as she walked up, wrapping her arms around him, her head tucked under his chin for a minute enjoying the quiet before everyone started arriving.
A few people threw surprised glances in their direction, but Kate was far from caring. It had simply been too long of a week, hell too long of a year, for her to be concerned about it at this point.
As the volume coming from the direction of the front doors increased, Kate pulled back only feeling the slightest hesitance from Peter in letting her go. They moved to Peter's locker to wait for Ned, but before long the latest buzz from the students reached their ears and both felt their hearts drop.
The whole school was talking about the Liz's dad being arrested for the hijacking of the Stark Industries plane and the damage that it had caused at the beach.
Before they could get drawn too deeply down their hole of introversion, Ned arrived, jabbering at a hundred miles an hour. "It looked so insane. That whole—" Ned imitated a blast noise. "Like, it was just crazy. He—He was just, like...And you were like...And then I just hit him with the...It was so—" Ned took a break shaking his head. "Oh, my God."
Kate saw the small smile on Peter's face, and she squeezed his waist as they walked together. She was putting some of her weight on him as they walked.
"I mean, you saved me." Peter said to Ned with a smile.
"You saved both of us." Kate chimed in feeling Peter's arm tighten around her.
Ned smiled. "It was awesome."
As Ned lapsed into a brief moment of quiet, Kate looked up to see Liz was walking down the hall with her mother and Principal Morita. Mrs. Toomes was carrying a box of Liz's belongings from her locker.
There was a bitter taste in Kate's mouth as she watched some of Liz's friends rush up to hug her goodbye. It wasn't as if she were unsympathetic to the problem the teen was going through considering one of her brothers was sitting in the Raft, but she also knew there weren't any words that could make it better.
She felt Peter's arm tighten around her, but she couldn't bring herself to look up at him.
…
"Congratulations, decathlon national champions." Mr. Harrington announced as he set their trophy on the table as they all gathered around.
"Yeah!" Everyone cheered.
Kate smiled as she clapped lightly.
"I'll have to put this back in the trophy case soon…" Mr. Harrington said. "But just for motivation right now at this practice. I'm ahead of the game, but we will need a new team captain next year. So, I am appointing Michelle."
Kate looked up at the shocked girl and grinned brightly as she cheered with the others.
"Thank you." Michelle said. "My—My friends call me MJ."
Ned squinted slightly. "I thought you didn't have any friends." He said.
"I didn't." Michelle said.
Kate smiled at the subtle admission, shaking her head slightly. Her focus was drawn as Peter's phone dinged. Peaking over, she saw it was a message from Happy.
"I gotta go." Peter said looking up. He looked at Kate. "You ready?"
"Yeah." Kate said turning to grab her backpack.
MJ had other ideas. "Hey, where are you going?" She asked looking at them suspiciously. Peter looked at her wide eyed, unsure of what to say while Kate just looked up calmly. MJ zeroed in on the wide-eyed teen. "What are you hiding, Peter?" It was a tense second before MJ smiled. "I'm just kidding. I don't care. Bye."
Kate chuckled quietly and stood up with Peter. As they reached the door, Kate was distracted by Peter taking her hand and she missed MJ watching them as they left.
They walked down the empty hallway, checking quickly in both directions before slipping into the boy's bathroom where the message had said to go. It was…odd seeing Stark Industries' head of security in their high school.
"Hey, Happy." Peter said. "What—What are you doing here?"
Happy looked a bit sheepish. "I really owe you one you both." He said. "I don't know what I would do without this job. I mean, before I met Tony—"
Someone flushed one of the toilets, cutting him off. They all paused and looked at the stall as a boy walked out, pausing and giving them all a suspicious look as he went to the sink.
In probably one of the most awkward silences, they waited for the boy to leave before they were actually alone.
"So how long you been here?" Peter asked.
"Long enough to be awkward." Happy said. "Boss wants to see you."
Kate furrowed her brow slightly.
Peter glanced to the side. "Is he here too?" He asked.
"In the toilet?" Happy asked. "No, he's upstate."
Peter's eyes widened. "Upstate—Like, upstate-upstate?" He asked.
"Yeah, let's go." Happy said.
They trailed after the older man to the nondescript black car in the parking lot. Both climbed in the back and watched the buildings slowly start to decrease in size the further they got towards the edge of town.
As Kate stared out the window, she felt a gentle touch on her hand. Turning she smiled to see Peter's fingers wrapped around hers. She scooted across the seat to rest her head on his shoulder. She happened to catch the small smile on Happy's face as he glanced at them in the rearview mirror, but she just snuggled closer to Peter.
The closer that they got to the compound, the more excitement Kate felt. She was eager for Peter to see the new facility.
"Take a look." Happy called back. "It's pretty impressive, huh? They just finished remodeling the whole thing."
Peter glanced at Kate, who couldn't contain her grin as he looked out the window to see the facility the giant 'A' emblazoned on the front of the building.
The got out of the car and Kate couldn't help but giggle at the awed look on Peter's face as they walked up the steps into the main building. They stood at the large floor to ceiling windows and watched as the quinjet took off, which she knew was taking Sam, Steve, Wanda, and Vision to Belarus.
"You don't see that every day." Happy commented with a small smile as he looked at Peter's wide-eyed expression.
"Oh, there they are."
The three turned at Tony's voice to see him walking up with Clint. "How was the ride up?"
"Good." Happy said.
"Give me a minute with the kid." Tony said to his friend.
Happy gave him a flat look. "Seriously?" He said.
"Yeah." Tony said. "I gotta talk to the kid."
"I'll be close behind." Happy said.
Tony smiled. "How about a loose follow? All right? Boundaries are good." He said.
Clint, who rolled his eyes at the exchange tapped Kate's elbow and motioned for her to follow as they paced ahead of Tony and Peter, out of earshot even for Peter.
…
Peter watched as Clint lead Kate ahead of them, Kate only glancing back briefly with confusion in her eyes before she focused on her brother.
Tony punched his shoulder lightly before putting his shoulder as they walked. "Sorry I took your suit." He said. "You had it coming. Actually, it turns out it was the perfect tough-love moment that you needed. To urge you on, right? Wouldn't you think? Don't you think?"
Peter's mind stuttered for a second as he tried to catch up to what Tony was saying. "I guess." He said.
"Let's just say it was." Tony said.
"Mr. Stark, I really—"
"You screwed the pooch hard, bigtime." Tony cut him off. "But then you did the right thing. Took the dog to the free clinic, you raised the hybrid puppies…" Peter furrowed his brow slightly. "All right, not my best analogy. I was wrong about you. I think, with a little more mentoring…you could be a real asset to the team."
"To the—?" Peter paused as Tony took a couple steps ahead of them. "To the team?"
…
"Everything okay?" Kate asked looking at her brother.
Clint sighed. "You know where I stand on you being in the field." He said. "I want you to be safe." She shrugged; she knew this already. "But I also know that it is impossible for what I do not to affect you in some way."
Kate looked at him curiously. "Clint…"
"What you did this weekend…" Clint said with a sigh. "I was furious—" yeah, that she knew. "But I was also so proud of you." She looked at him in surprise. "When you couldn't get ahold of anyone, your only instinct was to go and you helped save countless lives."
Kate stopped and looked at her brother, Tony and Peter still heading towards them.
"There would be restrictions, obviously on what you would be allowed to participate with." Clint said. "But if it is something that you chose, that you wanted, then—"
"Yeah. Anyway…" Tony said coming up, obviously talking to Peter but cutting Clint off. "There's about 50 reporters behind that door. Real ones, not bloggers. When you two are ready…" He pressed a button on his watch and a door opened to reveal two new suits. "Why don't you try that on? And I'll introduce the world to the two newest official members of the Avengers."
Kate froze, eyes trailing over the new suit, similar to Clint's but clearly tailor made for her. She stepped forward, speechless as she tried to take in everything about the suit at once.
"Can—What?" Peter stuttered as he walked forward, in awe of his own suit.
"Yeah, give that a look." Tony said grinning as he saw their looks of awe. Humble, the man was not. "After the press conference, Peter, Happy will show you to your room…your new quarters—Where's he between? He's next to Vision?" He asked looking back.
Kate frowned as she heard that, looking back at the billionaire.
"Yeah, Vision's not big on doors." Happy said.
"It's fun." Tony said meeting Kate's gaze.
"Or walls." Happy said.
Tony gave her a quick wink. "You'll fit right in." He said.
Kate looked at Peter and saw him mulling this information over. She glanced at Clint, who was leaning back against the wall near their suits with his arms crossed, watching them both impassively as they made their decisions.
Peter turned. "Thank you, Mr. Stark." He said. "But I'm good."
Kate raised her eyebrows in surprise. She looked at Clint and he looked as surprised as she did.
"You're good?" Tony looked at him confused. Kate wasn't fooled. "How are you good?"
Peter looked nervous under Tony's gaze. "Well, I mean, I'd rather just stay on the ground for a little while. Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man." He said sheepishly but with conviction. "Somebody's got to look out for the little guy, right?"
"You're turning me down?" Tony asked taking his glasses off. "You better think about this. Look at that." He pointed to the suit. "Look at me." Peter met his gaze. "Last chance. Yes or no?"
"No." Peter replied.
Tony paused for half a second before he shrugged. "Okay." He said looking up at Clint. "It's kind of a Springsteen-y, working-class hero vibe that I dig." He said. "Happy will take you home." He looked back at Happy. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." Happy said seeming just as surprised as he stepped forward. He looked at Peter. "Mind waiting in the car? I need a minute."
Kate smiled when Peter looked at her. "I'll follow you in a minute." She said.
Peter smiled and turned to Tony. "Thank you, Mr. Stark." He said holding out his hand.
"Yes, Mr. Parker, very well." Tony said seriously, shaking his hand.
"See you around." Peter said moving off.
Tony nodded. "Okay." He said.
There was a moment of silence while they waited for him to get out of earshot.
"You knew he'd turn it down." Kate said softly so Peter wouldn't hear her.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Tony said just as softly, but the pride in his eyes gave it away.
Kate started to speak when she heard Peter's voice. "That was a test, right?" They turned to see Peter looking back at them. "There's nobody back there?"
"Yes, you passed." Tony said. Peter's face lit in a bright smile. "All right, skedaddle there, young buck."
"Thank you, Mr. Stark." Peter called and jogged out.
Tony smiled. "Yeah, thank you."
Happy smiled at Tony. "Told you he's a good kid." He said.
Clint stepped up and casually handed Tony $100 bill. Kate chuckled and just stood up on her toes to kiss Tony's cheek.
Suddenly eyes were on her.
"What about you kiddo?" Clint asked.
Kate paused to really consider it. "I think…"
This might be the last chapter in the story. Maybe an epilogue if I am feeling inspired. Once I am done with Iron Maiden I will post an update here when the sequel is live! Thank you everyone for your support!