A/N: GUESS WHO NEARLY DIED TWO DAYS AGO- that's right it was me but I'm okay nothing happened lucky me I still have to go to school next week :(

Anyway this chapter gets pretty heated by the end and of course there's angst as usual ;)

"Iron Man. Hey, what are you

doing robbing a bank?"

QUEENS COMMUNITY BANK

"Yo, this high tech stuff makes it too easy," he said as his buddy drilled into the ATM. His friend laughed to himself.

"Told you it was worth it," he grinned.

"Okay, go, go, go," he urged the other guy who grabbed his own high-tech weapon and charged it up to pull out the part of the ATM he had just lasered through. It levitated out soundlessly.

"Woah, nice!" he laughed, making a grab for the money inside.

"We can hit, like, five more places tonight," the other guy laughed as he piled the money into his bag.

Unknown to them, a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man had silently walked through the door. He closed it quietly and then turned around. They still hadn't noticed him. He looked around, trying to find an intimidating pose to strike. He settled for leaning one hand against the wall with the other on his hip. He made a mental note to look up good hero poses later. There had to be something better than this.

He cleared his throat, "What's up, guys? You forgot your PIN number?"

They all froze and then whipped around, revealing their masks.

"Whoa! You're the Avengers. What are you guys doing here?" Peter greeted cheerily.

Iron Man loaded his gun, but Peter shot a web to snatch it out of his hands and he swung it to the side, hitting Iron Man and Thor in the face. Thor hopped right back up and tried to elbow Peter's face, but Peter slammed the "god's" fist right into the Hulk's face, knocking both of them backwards.

"Thor. Hulk. Good to finally meet you guys," he said as he pulled himself up onto the ceiling. He kicked Thor backwards into the window. Peter hung himself upside down from the ceiling.

"I thought you'd be more handsome in person," he said just as Iron Man began throwing punches at him. He dodged them effortlessly.

"Iron Man. Hey, what are you doing robbing a bank?" Peter grinned, "You're a billionaire."

Just as the Hulk stood up with his high-tech weapon, Peter dodged one last punch from Iron Man who tripped and fell back into the Hulk. They both stumbled to the ground with a groan.

Peter didn't react fast enough to Captain America aiming the other high-tech device at him and now he was suspended in the air.

"Hey! Oh, this feels so weird!" he shouted just before Captain America threw him onto the Hulk. Peter slammed into the wall with a loud oomph.

"Whoa, what is that thing?" he breathed. Before he could stand up, Captain America once again captured him in the levitation field and began tossing him up and down between the ceiling and the floor.

"I'm starting–" Up. "–to think–" Down. "–you're not–" Up. "–the Avengers!" Down.

Before Captain America could toss him up like a salad again, he pressed his hand onto the floor, letting the stickiness hold him down.

He shot his web a desk behind the supersoldier and pulled it forward, ramming it into his back.

The day was finally over.

Well, almost. They still had to wrap up the deli and close everything properly before they left. While Adelaide was wiping down the countertops, she wondered about what she wanted to do once she got home. Maybe she'd watch tv while eating her sub. Who was she kidding. That was exactly how her days ended every day. So perfectly bland.

"Still got school tomorrow, then?" Mr. Delmar asked as he grabbed the broom. Adelaide's nose scrunched up at the thought of going to school again. And not only school but the decathlon, too. Why did she join, again?

"Unfortunately," she sighed as a piece of her hair fell out of her ponytail and into her face. She blew it to the side lazily. "Any chance you'll still take me up on that pack of gum?"

"I thought it was gum and a five dollar bill?" Mr. Delmar asked. She pursed her lips.

"Vending at school machine ate it," she said.

"Hope they fix your schedule tomorrow," he said with a grin. Adelaide sighed, taking out the trash.

"I hope so too," she said before she disappeared into the kitchen with a black bag of trash in her hand. She pushed open the back door with her hip and threw the bag into the dumpster before dusting her hands and coming back inside.

"Hey Mr. Delmar, I forgot to tell you that I left the box of gloves under the—"

Adelaide squinted her eyes, trying to look into the bank across the street. Her eye caught movement going on inside even though the bank had been closed for a while now. There was money flying around everywhere.

Spider-Man was being tossed up and down like a bouncy ball.

"What the hell..." she muttered under her breath.

And were those...were those the Avengers?

"Alright guys, let's wrap this up. It's a school night," he said as he kicked Thor onto a poster on the wall that read, Identity theft? We've got you covered.

Iron Man held up the high-tech device, but before he could do anything, Peter webbed the device against the window and jumped onto Iron Man's shoulders. He briefly wondered what Mr. Stark would do if he actually did this to him.

"So how do jerks like you get tech like this?" he asked as he looked at Iron Man's face under the mask.

Suddenly, the Hulk fired up the laser device at him.

"No!" Peter shouted, "Wait, wait, wait!"

He quickly pulled himself and Iron Man out of the way less than a second before the plasma blast cut through the wall of the bank and hit the deli across the street.

Delmar's exploded into flames.

"Delmar's!" Peter shouted, quickly swinging himself across the street. He ran into the store, waving the smoke away from his face.

"Hey, Mr. Delmar, you in there?" he shouted in panic, "Is anybody in here? Hello!"

"Over here!" Mr. Delmar said, coughing loudly. Peter found him crouched behind a table, holding his cat.

"Come on!" Peter urged, holding his hand out. Mr. Delmar took his hand to help himself up and Peter quickly escorted him out of the store. Mr. Delmar was coughing wildly, but he was gasping, trying to tell him something.

"What is it?" Peter asked, glancing over his shoulder at the burning restaurant. It would collapse any second now.

"A..Ad...Adel...aide," he said in between coughs. Peter's eyes widened.

Ada!

Immediately, he ran back inside. The flames were higher now. He couldn't help but feel a sense of panicked deja vu. The fires were inching towards the ceiling. The entire restaurant could cave in any moment. He had to find Ada before it was too late.

"Ada!" he shouted, "Ada!"

Then, he heard someone coughing.

Peter found her crouched behind the burning counter.

"Ada," he said, making her look up. She looked absolutely terrified, clearly having no idea what was going on. The smoke was making her eyes burn and she couldn't see as clearly. Peter swallowed.

"I-I'm gonna get you out, just hold on!" he said and then he took a step back.

He shot webs from both hands out at the counter and pulled it towards the window as hard as he could. He groaned under the pressure, but, finally, the counter gave away and crashed into the windows, leaving a clear path for Ada to walk through.

Suddenly, a piece of aflame plaster fell from the ceiling, creating a line of fire between him and Ada. She looked up at him and then up at the ceiling which was groaning. She pushed herself against the wall, surrounded by fire and backed into a corner.

Their eyes met over the fire.

He shot his web out, pulling Adelaide towards him just before the ceiling caved on her.

She crashed into him hard and he wrapped his arm around her, swinging them out of the burning deli. As soon as they hit the pavement, Adelaide's feet gave away and she nearly fell down but Peter held her up, holding her close.

"I got you," he breathed. Adelaide pushed him away and began coughing uncontrollably. She bent over, leaning her hands on her knees. It all had happened so fast, her mind was still back in that corner of the deli. Peter carefully helped her to sit down at a bench.

"I'll be right back," he said as he left to check on Mr. Delmar and she nodded, still coughing.

A moment later, Peter came back to her, crouching down in front of her.

"You okay?" he asked quietly. The coughing had lessened, but her eyes were watering from the smoke and her throat was burning as if it was on fire itself.

"I'm fine," she mumbled, her voice sounding raspy, "What happened?"

Peter sighed, dropping his head. The robbers had already escaped.

"Robbers. Had some high-tech weapons. I tried to stop them but..." he trailed off. Adelaide studied him. It was still strange to think it was Peter under that mask.

"High-tech weapons?"

"Not important. Are you sure you're okay? Do you need to go to the—"

"I said I'm fine," she snapped, reaching up to a bruise on her forehead and wincing, "Stop acting like you care."

"What?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows together.

"You said we were done. So stop acting like you still care," she snapped and then she wished she could take it back. She didn't want to start an argument right now. She wanted to crawl into a bed and hide from the world.

"That doesn't mean I want you do die," he said, sounding angry. This fueled her annoyance. Who the hell was he to get angry with her?

"I'm sorry. The last thing you've said to me is 'get out of my life' which was three months ago and you expect me to think you still care?" A small part of her wanted him to say that he was over the whole thing and that he still cared a lot about her.

"I think you're forgetting why I pushed you away three months ago," he snapped instead, standing up angrily.

"Because I stopped you from committing murder? God! You still think you're the good guy here?" Her voice was almost shouting.

She slouched. She didn't want to fight with Peter. But this fight was inevitable. And it was three months old. But she wasn't the same person she was three months ago, willing to admit that she had been wrong to stop him that night. Now she knew better. Only, Peter didn't.

"And you think you are?" he asked, gritting his teeth.

"You're not a hero, Peter, you're just some guy to wants to avenge his uncle," she said.

"I would have if it wasn't for you!" he shouted, making fists at his sides.

"You honestly think Ben would have wanted you to kill that man!" she shouted back which ended in a fit of coughs. Peter answered without even thinking. Like a reflex.

"He's not here because of him," Peter whispered, leaning forward, "He had no right to kill my uncle."

Adelaide looked up at him.

The restaurant was still on fire. Mr. Delmar was nowhere to be seen. She was shivering and her throat was burning like hellfire. Peter was towering over her. Although she couldn't see his face underneath the mask, she knew he was furious.

This wasn't the Peter she knew. He was consumed by vengeance. He was too blind to see the consequences of what he wanted. And she was too mentally exhausted to argue with him right now. She swallowed.

"And what gives you the right to kill that man?" she asked quietly.

Peter looked at her for a long minute.

Then the sirens ripped through the silence and Peter glanced at her one last time before shaking his head and swinging himself away.

She watched him go until his figure disappeared behind a building. Suddenly, the wind got colder and the streets seemed to get darker. Adelaide pulled her knees up to her chest once he was out of sight, beginning to shiver as the tight knot in her chest loosened.

She hid her face between her knees and let herself cry right there on a bench on 21st street.

Adelaide silently watched the sirens atop the police car.

After the police had gotten here, they pelted Mr. Delmar with questions who answered all of them with an eerie calm. The ambulance arrived a few seconds after the cops and quickly searched her for injuries. Besides a couple bruises and first-degree burns on her arm, she was fine. They left her wrapped in a blanket and sitting in the ambulance to check on Mr. Delmar.

If Peter hadn't saved her when he had, she could have died tonight. Why wasn't she more fazed? She was so calm, it was scaring her. Did she not care about her life anymore? What was left in it that was worth living for?

All she could think about was if she had died, how long would it take for everyone to find out? Would they even care? Would Tony?

And then there was Peter. God, Peter. He saved her life again. But why couldn't he understand that taking a life wasn't so simple? It had almost been a year since Ben died and Peter still hadn't moved on. He'd lost himself in vengeance. And maybe, just maybe, it was too late to help him find his way out. She hid her face in the blanket, closing her eyes.

She was so lost in her depressing thoughts that she hadn't even noticed Mr. Delmar approaching her. Murphy meowed quietly in his arms, catching her attention.

Adelaide's eyes widened and she jumped down from the ambulance.

"Mr. Delmar...I am so sorry about the deli," she whispered. Mr. Delmar shook his head, his eyes still watching the restaurant. It had burned to ashes now, nothing left of it but blackened charcoal.

"It's all gone," he mumbled to himself quietly, "Just like that."

Adelaide hated seeing him like this, defeated and dejected. It was like looking into a mirror. She wanted to help him, but there wasn't much she could say or do to help. She reached out to hug him and he sighed, hugging her back with the arm that wasn't holding his cat.

"It's going to be okay," she said, pulling away.

"I'll get you your salary by tomorrow," he said, staring at the open ambulance behind her.

"No — don't worry about that," she said firmly, "You don't need to pay me."

He looked up at her with a grateful smile and Adelaide had a feeling it would be a while until she saw him again.

"Thank you," he said quietly, "You're a good person, Adelaide. I hope you work everything out in your life." His tone implied something more, but she didn't question it.

Instead, Adelaide forced a weak smile.

I hope I do too.

A/N: Hey so I need a quickkk favor from you guys. I wanna enter this fanfic contest on here but the max word limit for entries is like 2,000. So I gotta pick any 2,000 words of this story I can submit and they judge based on just those 2,000 words.

Any particular scene you guys think that I should submit? Or what's your favorite scene in here and I'll see if it fits the 2,000 words mark :)