[Edit: I have severely edited Chapters 1 and 2, so I suggest re-reading them before reading Chapter 3, otherwise you will get lost… Sorry for any inconveniences.]
Ch. 2 - Night Life
Doreen tapped her foot impatiently.
"Where are you, Kamala?" she said to herself. Tippy-Toe shrugged on her shoulder. Wiggling her nose, she turned around and barked behind Squirrel Girl.
Ms. Marvel shifted to her normal size onto the roof and wiped her brow. "I know, I know-"
"You're late Double M," Squirrel Girl said with her arms folded. "We were supposed to be on patrol by now."
Taking a deep breath, Ms. Marvel explained, "I had to deal with my parents and then..."
"Then...what?" Squirrel Girl arched an eyebrow.
The young Avenger scratched the back of her neck, "Weeeell, do you remember that news story about that high school upstate?"
"Yeah," Squirrel Girl's eyes narrowed, "what about it?"
"The person who did it was Loki's daughter, she accidentally blew up the school when she couldn't control her magic powers, she's currently staying at Avengers Tower, and I just gave her a pep talk to get her to join the Avengers. Which may or may not have worked." Ms. Marvel bit her lip, trying to engage how her friend was going to react.
Both Squirrel Girl and Tippy-Toe blinked a couple of times. It was a few seconds before she spoke up, "Well?"
"Well what?"
"Do you think it worked? The pep talk, I mean."
"I...don't know. She seems nice, a bit punk rock, but she didn't seem like the 'I'm going to follow my evil father's footsteps' kind of person. Maybe I should've said something more inspiring…"
"Are you kidding me?" Squirrel Girl exclaimed, putting an arm around her friend's shoulder "If you, the girl who talked a bunch of strangers into fighting an evil, Inhuman enslaving, Kree Accuser, couldn't convince her into becoming an Avenger, then I don't know what will." Tippy-Toe chirped and nodded her head in agreement. Then Squirrel Girl whispered into Ms. Marvel's ear, "She is under arrest, right? I mean… Wait, do the Avengers even have jail cells in the Tower?"
"SG!" Ms. Marvel said, frowning with her hands on her hips. "She's being monitored in case she…'explodes' again."
"Just wanted to know." Squirrel Girl held her hands up defensively. After a second passed, she asked, "Did she, like, explode for real or only figuratively?"
Ms. Marvel just gave her a 'really?' face.
"Just wanted to know," She repeated.
…
I stretched my arms out into the night air. It was a good idea to get out and get some fresh air…
"Umm… Tessa? Wear are we going exactly?" Fiona asked.
I stopped and turned around. "There is this awesome place, it has hard rock bands playing pretty much every night. Avenged Sevenfold, Halestorm, Amaranthe... It'll be a perfect place to relax." I turned again and began walking.
"Wait, you mean a nightclub?" Cho questioned, "They won't let us in, we're underage!"
"Oh, ye of little faith. Besides, we're almost there."
I jogged down the street excitedly, but when I reached our destination, my face scrunched in confusion. "The hell is this?!"
Fiona and Cho had come up behind me. Fiona asked me, "Is this...not it?"
The neon sign read Night Light. Cripes that is bad... The building itself was now silvery and modern looking architecture. "This should be the place, but..."
I recognized the bouncer and promptly walked up to him. "The hell happened, Bruce?!"
Bruce, a tall, muscular, and bald black man, looked up from his phone in surprise. His eyes were the only thing to betrayed his Inhuman ancestry; his pupils were slited, like a viper's. "Tess?! What are you doing here? Isn't summer over with?" he rasped in a very deep voice.
I folded my arms. "Don't change the subject, Bruce. What happened to the Triple Six?"
"It changed ownership."
"I can see that. What I mean is why."
Bruce huffed before continuing, "We were getting no customers, Tess. Despite your personal taste, people don't go to nightclubs to 'rock out.' I'm sorry." I pinched the bridge of my nose. "The good thing that came from all of this is that almost everyone got to keep their jobs. The owner is pretty lax, to be honest."
"That's good, I guess, but what about integrity and originality?"
"Neither of those things bring in cash anymore, you know that."
"You two know each other?" Cho asked.
Bruce nodded. "Yup, without Tess here, most people inside wouldn't have a job and would still be homeless. She convinced the owners that were hiring at the time to give us a chance, to help us get back to our feet. She also managed to convince the owners to make the place hard rock themed..." Seeing me look dejected, he added, "It's not so bad, we had Johnny Storm in here two nights ago."
I nodded in admittance. "Is the music okay, at least?"
"You wouldn't like it, since it's mostly pop and hip-hop, though we do let up-and-comers perform. It's a good chance for them to get discovered and that would give the club something to brag about."
I heaved a heavy sigh, "OK, I get it. Can you let us in or what?"
Bruce narrowed his eyes at me, "You're underage-"
"C'mon, man! I've had a very shitty day today and we need somewhere to decompress..."
Bruce stared at me, then closed his eyes before taking a deep breath, "Fine, just… If you get caught, it's your problem, not mine. Got it?"
"*Pffff!* I'm very proficient at sneaking in… And you know me; I don't do alcohol."
The three of use walked inside, but before we entered the establishment, I heard Bruce mumble under his breath, "That's what I'm worried about… You know how to get into trouble, but not how to get out..."
The inside of the nightclub was pretty much as you expected: pretty dark, glowing red, white, blue, and purple neon lights, some electronic song's bass vibrating the floor, and a nigh-impassable dance floor of people dancing and...grinding.
I grunted my frustration and headed to a secluded table.
On our way, though, the music stopped. The DJ went to the stage, mike in hand, and announced, "Now the singer you've all been waiting for, you know her and you love her, make some noise for Abuuuuuyaaaaa!"
A young black woman, appearing to be in her early twenties, walked out on stage. Her body had an athletic build to it, not too much in the back or front. She wore baggy ripped jeans, dull yellow and white sneakers, and a slightly small looking black tank top which the bottom of came into two triangular that came over her pelvic area and behind. She wore an oversized blue and yellow jacket that barely hung around her shoulders. Her hair was done up in thick dreadlocks that were put into a folded ponytail with quarter-sized blue beads tipping the ends. Her eyeliner was a metallic blue and her nails alternated between dull yellow and blue.
The DJ put on a steady beat; boom ba-doon-doon ba-ba-ba boom ba-doon-doon.
Abuya began to nod her head before singing.
As she sang, Abuya looked through the crowd and spotted me. She gave a smirk and (if I wasn't mistaken, which I probably was) a suggestive wink. My eyes widened. I looked to my left, then my right, but nobody was behind me. When I looked back, Abuya was still smiling at me while singing.
The most intelligible thing I uttered at that moment was, "Uh..."
Cho came to my right and pulled my arm, "C'mon, we found a table."
We sat down at a table that was right in a corner, away from the stage and crowd.
It took Cho a few times to get me out of my stuper, "Huh...? What was that?"
Cho eyed me curiously, "I said, 'now what?'"
I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Are you...okay, Tess?" Fiona asked.
"Guys, I swear that I'm fine. Nothing happened-"
"Nothing?!" Cho exclaimed quietly.
"I meant nothing happened with the Avengers: they came to my house, took me to Avengers HQ, I met my grandma-"
"Your grandma?"
"From Dad's side of the family." They nodded.
"Had some shawarma, told the Avengers off for trying to compare me to the megalomaniac that was my biological father-"
Cho and Fiona's jaws dropped again. "You didn't!"
I gave a smart-ass smirk, "I did. I practised some magic, got surprisingly good advice from the Hulk, and went to bed. Then you two tried to 'damsel in distress' me."
"Wow," Cho said after a minute.
"Tell me about it… So what about you?" I asked Fiona.
"Me?"
"Yes you," I nudged her with my elbow, "Just who is the mysterious and charming Fiona What's-Her-Name…?"
"Fiona Baker. I mean, there isn't much to tell..."
"Oh, c'mon! What are your favorite foods, your dream job, what's your family like? Junk like that."
"Well, I'm not really a picky eater, I wanted to become a fashion designer, and..." Fiona looked away for a moment, clearly sad from something…
Cho kicked me from under the table. "Jeez! What did I do?" I hissed. He nudged toward Fiona. "Uh… You don't have to talk about...stuff, if you don't want to."
She looked up suddenly, "Oh! It's nothing really! When I was being cocooned, I thought it would be a good idea to record myself and post it on my fashion vlog. My views skyrocketed, but for the wrong reasons… Everyone harassed me. Even my closest friends from school hated me. It got so bad that… Well, Mom and Dad took me upstate to avoid the very thing that you had to save me from." She scratched her arm and blushed from embarrassment.
"Well, between Cho having more brain-matter than his head can contain-"
"Hey!"
"And me being the spawn of a supervillain, you fit in fine with us. Besides, if all it takes for them to not like you are a bunch of feathers, then they really weren't your friends at all, huh?"
"I guess so..." After a couple of minutes, Fiona got up and said, "I'm going to get us drinks!"
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Yeah, it's the least I can do after you helped me."
"If you say so..." She disappeared in the sea of music and bodies.
"She seems nice," Cho mentioned after a couple of minutes.
"Yeah…" Cho gave me a raised eyebrow of suspicion. I scowled at him, "I didn't mean it like that. She's not my type." He kept up the look. "Just because I'm nice to a girl doesn't mean I'm trying to seduce her, Amadeus Cho. It just boils my blood when people who don't deserve it get treated like they're less than human, so I wanted to help."
He leaned back, shrugging, "Whatever you say, Tess."
…
Fiona apologized as she pushed past the dancing partiers. "Oops! Sorry! Excuse me! Pardon me!"
When she was pretty much at the bar, a thought sprung up, Wait, we're too young to order from the bar… Maybe she could find a vending machine somewhere…
Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a tapping on her shoulder. Fiona turned around and took notice of a man wearing a robot-like mask, a blue and black trench coat with its hood up, a blue and white track suit that was decked out with all sorts of high tech stuff that she didn't really understand underneath, and a pair of black gloves.
"Man, those feathers are so cool!" said the man, obviously a bit tipsy.
Fiona's eyes darted off to the side, then back to the man, "Uh, thank you?"
"Hey, you're pretty cute… Why don't you come sit with us and talk. I'll even buy you drinks."
Big red flag. "I...don't think-"
"Come on!" The man wrapped his arm around the shoulders, leading her to the table. She tried to squirm away from him, but he had a good grip on her. "I don't bite! My boss on the other hand… She has a bit of a temper, but she treats us pretty good."
Boss?
When they got to the table, though, there was only one other guy. He was leaning against the wall.
The tipsy goon asked, "Hey! Where did everyone run off too?"
The other guy, not happy in the least, said, "Mike, you idiot, the transaction is starting and we're waiting on you!" He waved his arm exasperatingly toward Fiona, "And who even is this?! You know how much Electro hates unexpected hitches in her plans."
"This," Mike said defensively, "is a dear friend of mine. She's cool. Besides, the boss will probably think she's cute, too."
Double red flag.
"Whatever, we don't have time to argue." He walked to the back of the nightclub and through a door that read, 'EMPLOYEES ONLY.' Mike, pushing Fiona along, followed.
Fiona, desperate, searched through the crowd for Cho and Tess, but found no one.
"Help..." she meekly spoke.
…
I was getting nervous and kept tapping my foot on the ground.
Finally, I said, "Something doesn't feel right..."
"What?" Cho asked. After knowing me even for such a relatively short amount of time, Amadeus Cho has learned pretty quickly to trust my gut feelings. And for several good reasons.
I stood up on my seat, trying to get a better view to spot Fiona. After a bit of looking, I spotted her, but…
"Shit." It looked like two cyberpunk cultist-looking weirdos were leading Fi toward the back of the building. It also looked like she was trying to search for help through the crowd, but all three disappeared behind a door…
I hopped down onto the floor.
Cho asked again, "Hey, what's going on?"
"Fiona's in trouble," I replied, "you ready to rock, Iron Man Jr.?" After rolling his eyes, he nodded.
I tried to make it through the crowd to the door where I last saw Fiona.
PLEASE don't be in way more trouble than it seems…
The universe ignored my plea.
…
Fiona was ushered into a mostly empty and well lit storage room just down a hall in the back of the building.
There were four other people dressed like the first two, but there was a young black woman, around Fiona's age, that was dressed differently. For one, she didn't wear the coat or mask. She wore a one piece suit, boots, and a blue headband, holding her curly hair back. The suit itself was mostly white-dull grey with blue lines symbolizing electronic circuits and the suit was jam-packed with electronics: two matching gauntlets ending with two sleeveless gloves, a belt around her hips containing several devices, a harness that hugged her chest (which sported a large circular part that covered her chest) and back, and a pack with several tied wires connected it with the other articles of clothing. The whole thing looked both coupled together and streamlined simultaneously.
"I'm so glad you could join us, Mike." She did not sound glad at all. Electro's fingers were tapping on the handle of a trolly carrying six strange devices. Each was the approximate size of a volleyball, shaped like a pyramid, but without the pointed top, had an octangular handle around each device, and two collapsible antennas sticking out of a side on each device.
"Sorry boss..." said Mike.
Electro was about to address the feathered elephant in the room when the storage room's lights flickered for a couple seconds. Out of the darkness of those seconds appeared six shadowy figures, all identical except for one. They looked like some sort of armored ninjas, with their pitch black armor and cloth looking almost indistinguishable from each other. Their helmets looked something like a BMX helmet, but without the visor and the goggles. The latter was replaced with a curved eye-slit where two yellow spheres indicating eyes sat. The prominent one wore dull yellow pauldrons. He (?) was also carrying a black briefcase.
Electro's henchmen practically jump because of their unexpected arrival. Electro herself held up her hand to tell her men to not jump the gun.
"You guys seriously need to learn how to enter a room like normal people," Electro snarked.
Yellow-Shoulders ignored her and said, "Do you have the devices that we requested?"
Rolling her eyes, Electro thumbed toward the trolly, "Parts weren't exactly easy to come by, you know… All of the money better be here."
Yellow-Shoulders narrowed his eyes, "Do NOT insult us. The money is all here," He taps the briefcase, "All unmarked, untraceable bills. Do the devices work?"
Electro huffed in frustration, "And how exactly were we supposed to test 'em out when you wouldn't tell us the type of energy these detectors were supposed to be detecting to begin with!"
"That is none of your concern."
"Whatever. Next time you want to do business, maybe you should divulge a teeny bit of information, just fyi."
Ignoring her again, Yellow-Shoulders said, "We trade goods at the same time, agreed?"
Electro nodded her head and mentioned for a henchman to start pushing the trolly toward the shadow ninjas while Yellow-Shoulders delivered the briefcase. The air became thick with tension, but the exchange went off without a hitch…
…
"Shit..." I said for the umpteenth time in a handful of minutes. Cho and I had followed Fiona to a storage room where, after peeking through a slightly opened door, there were two obvious supervillain gangs trading some supervillain weapons for cash. With Fiona stuck in the middle of it.
"What do we do?" Cho asked.
After a minute, I asked, "can you shut off the lights?"
"Maybe if I had access to the circuit breaker, but finding it may take too long."
"What about an EMP?"
Cho looked at me with a really? face. "No," then his brows scrunched up, like he just got an idea, "but, I could send an electrical surge to knock out the lights..."
"Okay, when you do that I'll sneak in and grab Fi. Easy peasy!"
"I would try to argue, but...we don't exactly have an option here..."
"I'm going to sneak in now, behind the box right there. When I give the signal, you turn off the lights." Cho reluctantly nodded.
I carefully opened the door slightly more open, allowing me to squeeze through. I managed not to get spotted when I snuck behind the large cardboard box, though it probably helped that the two groups were more attentive to each other, ready for a backstab, than anything in their environments.
Behind me, I gave a thumbs down, then a thumbs up. The signal. Cho found a clump of wires and connected to his suit. With a couple taps to his tactical visor's display, the lights suddenly shut off.
"What the f-" said a cyber-goon.
I stealthily sped to where I saw Fiona last, punched the guy that was holding her with an eldr-infused fist right in his gut, took her hand, and made a mad (stealthy) dash toward the door. I ushered Fiona through the door before me. Looking back, I smirked while I thought, Suckers!
Man, does the universe hate me…
It was then that the lights flickered back on. Both parties looked around, and simultaneously, saw me. Also at the time, an ember from the burnt goon flew off, landed on the money in the briefcase that Electro had opened to count her money, and promptly caught on fire. Electro quickly extinguished the burning money before the sprinklers turned on, frying everyone. But the damage was done.
"I KNEW it!" Electro yelled. "I knew these ninja-weirdos would try something! You probably hired her to do your dirty work."
"That is the last time you slight the Heishou!" Yellow-Shoulders slowly withdrew a short sword from the sheath on his back, "For our Master, the Mandarin, your head is ours."
With wide eyes, I thought, SHIT, and ran right through the doors.
No sooner than when I left, that the sounds of clashing metal and electric bolts could be heard.
Speed-walking now, I zipped past my friends. Cho, hot on my heels, yelled, "What the HELL happened, Tess?!" Then an explosion destroyed a wall.
"We're leaving. Now."
Fiona, near my right, muttered, "Oh no..."
…
Escaping from the back area, we tried to make it to the exit.
The DJ called out, "It's okay, everyone, just some technical difficulties..." The lights would momentarily go in and out and no music was playing.
Dammit, I thought, and tried to make it to the stag.
Cho called out, "What are you doing NOW?!"
"Something stupid and responsible..."
Making it to the stage, I got up and sped-walked to Abuya. Before security could tackle me right off the stage, I snatched her microphone ("Sorry...") and said, "EVERYONE! You need to evacuate NOW!" Pointing to the back, I continued "There is a supervillain fight going on RIGHT NOW!"
Absolute silence. Then, someone in the way back (or is it the far front?) yelled distantly, "Boo! Get off the stage!"
Really?
Then, the back wall that was right of the door suddenly exploded. Arcs of electricity and shuriken followed suit. Now everyone rushed to the door... I lept off stage and ducked behind an overturned round table.
…
Squirrel Girl, Tippy Toe, and Ms. Marvel lept from rooftop to rooftop, searching for people to save, criminals to beat up. The usual.
Something caught Ms. Marvel's eye. A guy wearing red and blue swinging between buildings…
Stopping, she waves and yells, "Spider-Man! Over here!"
Turning around, Squirrel Girl snarked, "Really? I thought we were patrolling, not waving your boyfriend down Double M..."
Ms. Marvel, giving her friend a glare, said, "I told you that in confidence!" Squirrel Girl rolled her eyes and smirked while Tippy Toe locked her mouth with an imaginary key and threw it away.
Spider-Man had noticed and swung to the two heroines, but he wasn't alone… Another spider hero, clearly a girl wearing a hooded white and black suit, swooped alongside him and landed on the roof.
Ms. Marvel was shocked, to say the least.
"Hey, how's it hangin', Ms. Marvel?" Spidey asked.
"Fine, fine… So, are you going to introduce your friend?"
Turning around, then turning back, Spider-Man said, "That's right, you two haven't been formally introduced yet. Ms. Marvel meet Ghost-Spider."
"Hey," Ghost-Spider waved cutely.
"She's still a bit green, so I'm showing her the ropes-" Ghost-Spider punched Spidey's arm. "Ow!"
"I've kicked more than my fair share of butts, web-head."
"Yeah, but I'm still technically your senior when it comes to being a wall-crawler..."
"By only a few months!"
Ms. Marvel had to interrupt, "Didn't Black Widow gain spider powers and then immediately trashed an entire team of Spider-HYDRA Agents?"
"I mean..." He scratched the back of his head, "She's an Avenger! And Black Widow! It's literally in her name."
"I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that..." countered Ghost-Spider. Tippy Toe jumped off Squirrel Girl's shoulder and onto Ghost-Spider's and sniffed her hood. "Aww! What's your name, little guy?"
"This is Tippy Toe, who's a she," Squirrel Girl stepped forward and introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Squirrel Girl, Ms. Marvel's bff and crime-fighting partner."
"I bet it gets pretty exciting, fighting alongside an Avenger, huh?" asked Ghost-Spider.
"It has its moments." Squirrel Girl's eyes darted to Ms. Marvel, then back again, "I've known Double M long before she became an Avenger, but I bet it was probably way more exciting when you teamed up with her, Spider-Man..."
Ms. Marvel's eyes widened and she slowly turned her head to her supposed 'friend.'
"Oh uh… I thought it went pretty smoothly, for our first team up that is," Spidey said, slightly nervous.
"C'mon! Didn't you fight off a small army of AIM personnel and saved three Avengers at the same time?"
"Oh, you definitely have to tell the story now," Ghost-Spider said excitedly.
Ms. Marvel glared daggers at Squirrel Girl.
"Well-" Spider-Man began, before Tippy Toe barked a couple times, seemingly pointing behind the group. She jumped off of Ghost-Spider and ran to the edge of the roof. The others saw arcs of electricity shooting off into the sky from behind a building.
"Good girl Tippy!" Squirrel Girl gushed, "You deserve a treat for that." Tippy happily accepted the nut and began chewing away.
"I've heard of dogs that fight crime, but squirrels? That's a new one..." quipped Spider-Man.
Tippy barked at Spider-Man, then resumed chewing. "Yeah, we don't like using the D-O-G word around Tippy. Bad experiences being chased..." Squirrel Girl whispered.
"Duly noted."
"Duty calls," lamented Ghost-Spider. She thwipped a line of web and swung toward the lightning.
"Hey, wait up!" Spider-Man called out, following her.
After they had gotten out of earshot, Ms. Marvel exclaimed, "What was that?!"
"Giving you an opportunity, Double M," Squirrel Girl replied. Ms. Marvel crossed her arms. "Look, you like him, right?"
Blushing, Ms. Marvel replied, "Well... I mean, he's nice and a little funny-"
"I don't see why you can't just ask him out."
"My schedule as an Avenger and as a student-" Squirrel Girl cocked her eyebrow up. "It just seems a bit much all at once, ya'know? Plus my parents would FREAK!"
"Well, whatever you decide," Squirrel Girl came up and squeezed her friend's shoulder, "I'll be there to back you up one hundred and ten percent."
Ms. Marvel hugged her friend and said, "Thanks."
"Still going to tease you about it."
"Hmm…"
"C'mon," Squirrel Girl said as they de-hugged, "we can't let the web-heads from having all the fun, can we?"
…
The two caught up to the Spiders on top of the roof of a nightclub.
"What took you guys?" asked Ghost-Spider.
"We don't have webs to swing across New York with..." Ms. Marvel lied.
"Touche."
"So what's happening in there?"
"It looks like another supervillain gang turf war," replied Spider-Man. "Ready?" The other three (four if you counted Tippy Toe) nodded. "Ms. Marvel, why don't you make us a door?"
She smirked, "With pleasure." Ms. Marvel's right hand enlarged to a cartoonish size before she slammed it through the roof.
…
Why does the universe hate me so much? I thought as shuriken zipped above my head. Cho and Fiona had somehow snuck to me through the warzone.
"Now what?" Cho yelled above the noise.
"How am I supposed to-" Just then, a chunk of the roof cave in (which took out one of the ninjas, who dissipated into shadowy smoke) and Ms. Marvel, two of the Spider-People, and a girl dressed like a squirrel of all things jumped through the hole.
Ms. Marvel shouted, "Everyone, freeze! I am an Avenger!"
The two supervillain groups stopped, looked at each other, then attacked the party crashers.
Spider-Man called out, "I guess they didn't get the memo!" Ms. Marvel morphed her hands to block the four from incoming damage. The ninja in yellow, though, was slowly coming up behind the squirrel-chick, ready to cut her down with his sword.
Goddammit, I thought. I ran towards them, then shouted, "DUCK!" before I said, "Eldr-ballr!" to summon a green fireball in my hand and threw it. Squirrel-chick looked to see who had yelled and ducked like there was no tomorrow as the fireball came at her. The spell hit the ninja dead-on, disintegrating him into smoke. All four young heroes
looked at me in astonishment. Ms. Marvel most of all.
"TESSA?!" she yelled in disbelief. That shook the two spiders out of their awe and web-slinged a couple of tables towards us to provide more cover. I took a third table and flipped it over, giving enough cover for Cho and Fiona to come over to where we were hunkered down.
Ms. Marvel, returning to her regular proportions, angrily asked, "What are you doing here, Tessa?! You should be at Avengers Tower!"
"This is the girl you were talking about before?!" interrupted the other girl.
Spider-Man put both of his hands in front of him in confusion, "Can someone please explain what is going on?!"
"And who are they?!" Ms. Marvel continued, pointing to Cho and Fiona.
I huffed, "There's no time to explain; we need to take down psycho Electro over there."
"Hah!" Spider-Man laughed, "I see what you did there..."
"I wasn't joking..."
"How did you do that?" asked the Spider-Girl in the white hoodie.
I wiggled my fingers in front of me, "I'm a wizard!"
"But magic doesn't-"
"Do you really want to question it right now?" She wisely kept quiet.
Over the bolts of lightning, we heard Electro shout, "Ignore the ninja weirdos, blast Spider-Man to kingdom come!"
Spider-Man shouted over the cover, "What's the matter, Electro? Aren't you 'shocked' to see me?"
She snarled, "You and your stupid puns!" before throwing some more lightning our way.
"Can you not antagonize the angry electric person?" Cho pleaded.
"Sorry, force of habit..."
I turned to Cho, "Can you do to them what you did to the lights earlier?"
"I can try to rig something up..."
"You can do that?" asked Spider-Man.
"Only one way to find out."
"What happened before?!" asked Ms. Marvel.
I relented, "We may have disrupted an underground supervillain weapon's exchange..." Ms. Marvel's jaw dropped, but Squirrel Girl seemed to be nodding her head in approval. "It wasn't like I did it on purpose!"
The blasts of electricity suddenly stopped. We peered over our cover to see the worst case scenario; one of the Electro-goons had gotten hold of a hostage - Abuya!
She didn't get out in time?! She looked understandably scared…
"Alright, Spider-Loser and friends," Electro called out, "if you don't get out from under there by the count of ten," she held out her gauntleted hand, crackling with electricity, "this chick is gonna get fried."
Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl, and Spider-Man almost instantly got up from behind the cover with their hands up in the air.
"That's good, now the rest of you… Ten!"
"What are you doing?" hissed Ms. Marvel.
"There has to be something we can do!" argued Ghost-Spider.
I ignored them and asked Cho, "Do you got it?"
"Hold on…" Cho held out a cobbled-together device. "There! But I'll definitely get spotted before I can get it on her..."
"Pssst" Squirrel Girl hissed, "Tippy Toe." I was about to ask if she was alright when a squirrel wearing a yellow bow suddenly appeared next to me, looking up and sniffing. "Tippy can take it to the chick and give her a taste of her own medicine."
"No," I argued, "plant it on the guy, I think I have an idea..." I took out my spellbook and flipped through the pages.
"Will she… Does she understand?" Tippy Toe did a cute little salute before taking the device and scurrying off with it.
"Seven!"
"There's no time to read!" hissed Ghost-Spider.
"There's a spell in here that I skimmed before I found the fire manipulation chapter." I found it and began reading it, "Just be ready when I give the signal." Those of us behind cover nodded.
Spider-Man tried to stall for time, but… "Hey, Electro, have you ever tried the electrolyte free diet? I think it would-"
"Keep talking, jackass," she answered, "that'll just make it even more satisfying when I finally get rid of you for good! Six!"
"Man, someone's in a 'half power' mood today..."
Just then, Tippy Toe was standing by the goon who had Abuya, ready to go. Squirrel Girl nodded and tippy climbed on the goon.
"Whoa- What's-" Tippy planted the device on his back, jumped on his head, and pulled his hood over his eyes before leaping and scurrying off. The goon tried to get his outfit (for what it was) back in place.
I yelled, "Now!" Cho tapped on his wrist-mounted tech, sending the signal to short circuit the goon's tech. Some arcs of electricity came off of him and struck Electro, sending her off of the stage.
I sprung up, with my hands looking like I was trying to play a game of invisible tug of war, I pulled as hard as I could while yelling, "Draga!" Abuya got lifted off of the ground and flew up and towards me. As I caught her in my arms, I was about to topple onto the ground from the force (and her weight; I'm not saying she's fat, not at all, but I'm not used to carrying full grown mid-twenty year old women...), but Fiona was behind me and caught me before I fell. Just then, I had noticed that a ninja was about to throw some shuriken at me. I was out in the open. Perfect target.
I heard, "NO!" from behind me as Fiona got in front of me while holding her arms in front of herself. Before she could get sliced up, the feathers growing on Fiona's forearms puffed out, like an umbrella. I heard cling-cling-cling as the shuriken bounced harmlessly off of Fiona's feathers and hit the floor.
"When could you do that?!" I exclaimed.
"I-I didn't know I could!" Fiona squeaked.
"Goddammit!" Electro said as she got off of the floor and began to rant, "Can this day get any worse?!" She then began to glow blue as electricity raced toward her.
Before she could become Super Saiyan Blue, however, Ms. Marvel suckerpunched her with an enlarged hand right into a wall.
"Who else wants some!" Squirrel Girl said, doing her best impression of a WWE character. The rest of the goons raised their hands, clearly realizing they were no match. The ninjas seemed to have disappeared…
…
We managed to get outside, to where the police, emergency personnel, and a large crowd of civilians gathered. A couple of MTs took Abuya with them to get checked out. Squirrel Girl talked to the police as the officers gathered the unconscious and surrendered Shock Jockies into custody. Ghost-Spider seemed to be quite skittish about going near the cops, strangely enough…
"Whoa!" I cried as I nearly fell from exhaustion, but Ms. Marvel caught me.
"Are you okay?" she asked me.
"Yeah," I huffed, "it seems that doing a lot of big spells in quick succession will tire me the shit out..."
Some paparazzi were about to rush us, until the Avengers dropped by. Captain America, Hawkeye, and Black Widow jumped off of a large hover-car like vehicle right after it landed as Iron Man, Falcon, and an extremely irate-looking Thor landed all on their own.
"Do you have any idea how much trouble you are in right now?"
"I have an inkling..." I had to look away from Thor. Not because I was particularly guilty (OK, maybe I was...a little...), but have you ever stared down Thor before? That's what I thought.
"Tony, wait-" Ms. Marvel began.
"Did you have anything to do with this?"
"What? No!-"
"Who're...these kids?!" Hawkeye said, mentioning to Fiona, Amadeus, and Squirrel Girl.
"Hi, I'm Squirrel Girl, Ms. Marvel's bff. Big fan-"
Looking extremely guilty, Fiona burst out, nearly crying, "It's all my fault! I'm the one who blew up the school!-"
"First of all," I pointed to myself, "I'm the one who destroyed the school," I pointed to Fiona, "not you, Fi."
"Oh. Then who thought it would be cute to hack Friday?" asked Iron Man.
"That would be Cho."
"What?!" Cho exclaimed, elbowing me, "Dude!"
"Hey, I have enough heat on me as it is, I need someone to take some. And you did hack Avengers Tower."
"You think this is a good time to jest?" Thor said, trying to not yell.
"It is a defense mechanism..." I said through gritted teeth.
"Do you want to be like your old man?" asked Hawkeye.
"That's exactly what you want, isn't it? Proof that you were right. To have the satisfaction."
Ms. Marvel asked me, "What about what I said? What Hulk said?"
I turned my head, "What's the point if the people I'm going to put my trust in won't trust me?"
"I trust you." I looked up to her sceptically, "After what I saw, after you saved those people, I definitely trust you."
I looked away quickly… Spider-Man looked over to Ms. Marvel and shrugged. She merely mouthed, long story…
"If you're going to throw her in prison, then you'll have to throw me in with her!" Cho said, stepping forward.
"Me two!" said Fiona.
"Me three," we all jumped as Abuya cut into the conversation, "She saved me as much as the rest of 'em. So, you'll have to arrest me and I have one hell of a lawyer." Abuya had one of those emergency blankets that they give to people after a disaster occured or whatever. She winked at me.
The shit just happened?
"That won't be necessary, miss…" Cap said. "We should probably take this conversation somewhere less...public..." He turned to the massive crowd of civilians and journalists trying to capture every bit of information they could.
Hawkeye and Captain America hopped on the hover-car and Black Widow readied it for take off.
"So, uh…" Spider-Man slowly began to walk backwards, "I guess you guys really don't need us, so we'll be on our way..."
"Not so fast, pajamas," Iron Man corrected, "we want to hear everyone's side of the story. Including yours."
Spider-Man and Ghost-Spider looked at each other for a minute, before nodding.
"Spider-Man not snarking," said Black Widow, "it must be the end of the world..."
Captain America mentioned Cho, Fiona, and Squirrel Girl to get in the hover-car.
"What are you going to do?" Squirrel Girl asked Ms. Marvel.
"I'll hitch a ride with Tony."
"Where will I fit?" I asked.
Thor walked up to me and said, "You're coming with me so you will not try any more foolishness."
"Hey wait-" He unceremoniously picked me up in one arm, and with a motion of his axe, we flew off into the sky toward Avengers Tower. To say I was unhappy would be an understatement…
…
"Oof..." Cho pitied.
"What is it?" Ms. Marvel asked after listening to Tessa scream into the night sky.
"Tess is afraid of heights." Everyone looked at him in disbelief. Ms. Marvel audibly facepalmed.
…
Thankfully, I had stopped screaming halfway through the "ride" and settled on whimpering. We finally made it to the balcony of Avengers Tower, but I clung to him for dear life.
"Niece? You can let go now..." Thor said, but I didn't budge. Finally, he had to peel me off of him and I nearly face planted from my knees being so wobbly. "Are you...afraid of heights?" Thor asked, looking at me quizzically.
Angry, I said, "No! Shut up! You're afraid of heights!" and stormed into the Tower. I sped walked inside of the building, finding the kitchen and rummaged through the cabinets for hot cocoa mix. I found some, but someone drank all of the milk. I took a soda and sat on the couch in the living room.
Thor walked in, eyeing me warily. "Well?" I asked, "I figured you would have thrown me into the big house by now..."
After a minute of him trying to figure out what I meant, Friday explained, "She means prison, Thor."
"Is that what you truly want?" he asked.
"It's what you're expecting."
"No, it isn't-"
"Funny," I interrupted, "that's not what I saw in your eye when we first met, when I met most of the other Avengers, whenever I meet people in general." I took a deep breath before continuing, "Do you want to know what my problem is? Whenever people meet me, they instantly think they know everything about me. They treated me like I was some sort of lost cause, like I was a freak even though I hadn't done anything to deserve it. And do you know what the worst part is? I...hated myself too and I couldn't figure out why. I'd look in the mirror and think of the thing looking back at me as a monster, like everyone else had."
I took a long drink of my soda, enough to burn my throat a little. "So I learned from an early age that it was just easier to let people believe what they wanted to believe and to not change their minds. So go ahead, hate me. I'm more than used to it by now."
A minute of silence passed before Thor spoke up again, "That isn't true..." I looked to my left to where he stood. He looked...sad… "I did see Loki in you, Tessa, but not his sins; mine. My inability to save him from his own self-loathing and destructive behavior. When Heimdall told me he might be alive, I was overjoyed to have my brother back! Despite what he did, I always saw him as my little brother… We Asgardians are very...war-minded; we value strength and the warrior's honor, which made the rest of the realm to look down on Loki's trickster ways."
He coughed into his hand, "When I saw you, though, I knew it was a chance for redemption, for both him and I. I don't want you to follow in his footsteps..."
I huffed out loud. Despite it all, he was growing on me, too… "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore, Uncle-"
I was interrupted by Ghost-Spider walking into the room, all agasp with wonder. "Oh man! I can't believe I'm actually in Avengers Tower! THE Avengers Tower!"
That was bad timing…
"Looks a lot nicer without all the broken glass like before..." commented Spider-Man.
"Tell me about it," agreed Ms. Marvel, "THAT was a pain to clean up..."
Soon, the rest on the group came in, sitting on or around the couch.
Fi sat next to me and asked meekly, "Are you...okay?" My face scrunched in confusion, "You know, your fear of heights."
I glared at Cho for a moment, "Can we not, please?"
"Right," Cap said, trying to change the subject, "back to what we were discussing before." He mentioned for Fiona to start.
She had her hand in her lap, twiddling her thumbs in nervousness, "Well, at the beginning of the school year, my family and I moved upstate to...remove myself from being discriminated against for being an Inhuman, which didn't exactly pan out." Ms. Marvel, sitting across from Fiona on the coffee table, stretched her arm over Fiona's shoulder and squeezed reassuringly.
"Brent and his goons," I snarled.
"You mean the kids that got caught up in the explosion that destroyed your high school?" asked Black Widow.
"Wait, what?!" asked Spider-Man. Ms. Marvel hushed him, much to his chagrin.
I nodded, "I discovered Fi getting bullied and went over to tell them off, but got beat up for my trouble. That's when my magic power surged out of me and...well… Kaboom. That reminds me..." I looked up at the ceiling and asked, "Hey Friday, my Starkphone is still here, right?"
"I do believe so."
"Why is that important?" asked Iron Man.
"Because, before I confronted the bullies, I started to record on my phone before hiding it in my jacket. If we're lucky and the data wasn't lost when my magic overloaded the phone, we could have some evidence against any legal repercussions from the 'victim...'"
"That's...actually kinda clever..."
I wore quite the smug grin, before continuing, "I don't always fly by the seat of my pants, y'know."
"Great," Cho sighed, "now her ego is gonna get even bigger..."
Giving a sideways glare, I said, "That's when Cho hacked into the Tower." He gave me one of those "Are you serious?" looks.
"Is that right?" asked Iron Man.
Cho's face went white, "I only did it because I was worried about Tess; I would've-"
Iron Man chuckled, "Relax kid, you're not in trouble. In fact, I'm rather impressed. It's not everyday someone out-techs me. Friday on the other hand..."
Curious, I glanced at the ceiling and said, "Friday? Cho is really, really sorry for hacking you. Aren't you Cho?" He nodded furiously.
A few seconds passed before Friday responded, "Tessa, please tell Cho that I do not accept his apology."
Who knew AIs could get upset?
"She's going to have to get used to it," said Tony.
"What do you mean?" asked Cho.
"I'd like you to intern at Stark Industries." Amadeus' eyes grew as wide as saucers. "I'd hire you, but hiring teenagers is against regulations and whatever. Walk and talk?" Cho got up and nodded subtly. As they walked toward the kitchen, Tony continued his impromptu job interview, "Amadeus right? Phil and Helen's kid?"
"You know my parents?"
"Of course! They own one of the biggest pharmaceutical development companies on the continent. We go to a lot of the same fancy, rich people parties. Though it'll be tough to convince them..."
"Oh man!" Squirrel Girl palmed her forehead suddenly, "What time is it?"
Friday answered, "Two-o-eight am."
"My mom is going to murder me..."
Fiona agreed, "My parents are probably freaking out, too."
"We'll deal with that later," Cap interrupted them, "so, what happened next."
I continued the story, "After I was 'liberated,' we went to the nightclub-"
"And you thought that was a good reason...why?" interrupted Hawkeye.
I just shrugged. He raised an eyebrow. I threw my hand up, "I was touched that Fi and Cho would go to such lengths to rescue me, so I thought it would be fun to have one last hurraw, before...whatever is gonna happen next...happens."
"Is that when the fighting started?" asked Black Widow.
"No...I went to get some sodas-" Fiona started.
"Really..." Hawkeye said in disbelief.
"Hey, I don't drink alcohol out of the principle that my Mom's a drunk. And an ass," I corrected him. He just huffed.
"Anyway, I was getting sodas when one the the henchmen tried to...hit on me."
"What a creep..." I mumbled.
"Then the henchmen dragged me along with them and met with a weird group of ninjas."
"Ninjas?" Hawkeye said skeptically.
"Yes, Bird-Boy, ninjas. Everyone that was there can attest that the Electro-Freaks-"
"Technically they're called the 'Shock Jockies,'" interrupted Spider-Man.
"Same diff. The Shock-Losers and shadow ninjas were the ones that started the fighting."
"She's telling the truth, Hawkeye," added Ms. Marvel.
Squirrel Girl nodded, "And if it wasn't for Tessa, I'd be a goner. Thanks by the way."
"No prob," I said.
"What were they fighting over?" asked Widow.
"It looked like they made a deal; the Shock Jockies made some energy-detecting tech and the ninjas paid for 'em."
"So why did they start going after each other?"
"During the attempt to rescue Fi," I scratched my cheek sheepishly, "they, uh, spotted me and accused each other of sabotage…?"
"And then?"
"And then," continued Spider-Man, "we, as in Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl, Ghost-Spider, and I crashed the party and took down the bad guys."
"With help," I added.
"With help," he amended.
Captain America huffed, "Well, at least no one got hurt, and that's what matters."
After nearly a minute of silence, I got up and said, "Well, I'm gonna get that phone now, before I forget..."
I made it a bit down the hallway when I noticed that Black Widow was following me.
"Really," I said, turning around to face her, "I don't need someone to constantly keep an eye on me." She merely raised an eyebrow. I rolled my eyes and continued walking. We made it to the elevator, went up, then got to my room.
I opened the door and Leah practically lept at me, rubbing herself against my legs. "What's the matter? Did you miss momma?" I picked her up and scratched under her chin. I handed her to Black Widow and said, "Here," and searched my room for the phone. Widow reluctantly took the cat, who stared at the ex-SHIELD agent expectantly, purring.
"Got it!" I waved the phone in the air before taking Leah back and heading downstairs.
In the elevator, Widow asked, "Do you really think there will be any legal trouble?"
I snorted, "In a word: yeah. If they think there is a buck to be made, then they will go for it. Besides, you can't be too careful these days..." The rest of the elevator ride was relatively quiet, except for Leah's purring.
When we got back to everyone else, only Cap, Tony (out of his armor), Ms. Marvel, Thor, and Hawkeye were the only ones still around.
Tony answered, "The Spiders and Squirrel Girl went home for the night while Amadeus and Fiona are calling their parents." I cringed, thinking of how Cho's parents are going to react, and handed Tony my phone. "I'm guessing this is it?"
"Yup. Hopefully I didn't fry it too badly..."
"No worries kid, Stark tech is the state of the art."
"Did you test it against magical explosions?"
"No, but the data chip is specially protected from energy overloads, so it should be okay."
"Aww," Ms. Marvel gushed, once she saw Leah, "And who is this cutie?"
"This is Leah. She's a rescue." In true Leah fashion, she instantly leapt out of my arms and rubbed against Ms. Marvel's legs.
"Quite calm for a cat in an unfamiliar place..." remarked Black Widow.
Remembering her nonchalant attitude towards how I made fire in my room before, I admitted, "She's a very mellow cat. Low maintenance."
It was then that Fiona got back from her call and plopped down on the couch. Leah quickly trotted to her and rubbed against her legs. Fi's eye's seemed a bit red.
"That bad?" I asked.
She shook her head, "No, but it was a way more emotional than I wanted..."
"Still, couldn't be worse than what Cho is gonna go through..."
"What do you mean?" Ms. Marvel asked.
Just then, Cho walked in, looking both relieved and worried. I raised a brow at him, and he answered, "Lucky for me, they didn't pick up..." Just then, his phone rang. Cho started to sweat profusely as he looked at the ID. He quickly handed the offending phone to Tony and pleaded, "They will not listen to me-"
Tony took the phone and answered, "Hell-" He jerked his head away from the phone from the sheer volume of angry Korean rushing out. "Helen, HELEN! It's Tony Stark. Yes, that Tony Stark." He looked questionly at Cho, who hung his head in embarrassment. "Hello Phil, it's good to hear from you, too. No, Amadeus is not in trouble. In fact, I wanna run an idea by you..." Tony walked his way back into the kitchen before finishing.
Cho plopped down onto the couch beside Fiona and groaned. Ms. Marvel sat beside him and patted his shoulder sympathetically.
"Well," Hawkeye stretched, "if that's that, then I'm off to get some shut eye," and walked into the hallway.
"In the meantime," Tony said, returning from the kitchen, "Natasha and I will be taking the two runaways back home." Cho and Amadeus wearily got up from the couch and followed the two Avengers back to the hover-car.
Before they left, I pulled both of them and hugged 'em. "You guys gonna be alright?"
Fiona nodded while Cho said, "Yeah, I hope..." I watched them until they disappeared into the elevator.
After a minute, I yawned and said, "Man, I should probably hit the sack, too..."
Ms. Marvel got up and said, "Well, good night. Should get back before my parents find out I'm not sleeping either. I...guess I'll be seeing you?"
I looked into her eyes for a second before releasing a defeated sigh, "Yeah, I guess I'll give the whole 'Avenger-in-training' idea a shot." Ms. Marvel's face beamed when she heard this. I glanced at Thor and smirked, "It didn't feel too bad saving people. Well, between becoming an Avenger or constantly destroying buildings, it's not exactly a hard decision to make..."
I walked to the elevator, with Leah close behind me, and thought, The hell am I getting myself into?
…
Ms. Marvel could barely keep herself from bursting with joy, "Did you hear that?!"
Steve could only smirk, "Yes I did, Ms. Marvel."
"Mission: Recruit Tessa was a success!" She waited for someone to slap the high five that she waved. Cap was kind enough to oblige her. Ms. Marvel looked up and saw Thor's worried expression. "What's the matter, big guy?"
Thor looked up, "Hmm? Oh, nothing. I was just wondering if the 'surprise' I had asked the dwarven forgemaster, Eitri, to make will be finished in time."
"Surprise?"
Thor gave his own smirk to the young Avenger, "Yes, I only hope she will like it..." He then walked to the elevator to get to his own room and get some rest.
"Well, that's nice of him," remarked Ms. Marvel.
Cap nodded, "Yes it was."
After a moment, Ms. Marvel looked at the time on her phone. "Jeez… If Mom finds out I'm not in bed right now... See you later Cap!"
"Good night Ms. Marvel." Steve sat in the chair at the snack bar for a minute after the young Avenger had left. He contemplated the events of the day. Steve chuckled to himself as he got up and left to go get some shut-eye of his own.
…
It was nearing three o'clock in the morning by the time Iron Man and Black Widow were headed back to the Tower.
Dropping off Fiona had been the most awkward out of the situation, since the young Inhuman and her parents cried and hugged each other on the porch of their home for ten minutes straight, give or take. Once they had settled down, Iron Man and Black Widow carefully explained to everyone (including Cho) how the Avengers wanted to do going forward. To say the idea shocked them would be an understatement…
"I'll think about it," Fiona finally said. Her parents, shocked, tried to argue, but she wasn't going to have it, "Mom, Dad… No matter where I'm going to go, I'm going to be an Inhuman. There is nothing that is going to change that. What happened today… How I saved my friend with my powers, it felt good! And...I think Flynn would want me to do it, too."
Black Widow frowned, "Who's Flynn?"
"Our son," Mrs. Baker, a middle aged, brown hair woman of average height, answered, "he became an Inhuman, too, when the Mists hit. He ran off when a mob attacked him, thinking he was a demon and we haven't heard from him since… We tried to contact the police, but they've been too busy with other Inhuman activities to really help. We thought it would be a good idea to move upstate to prevent another incident from happening again."
"You have our deepest condolences."
Mr. Baker, a tall and lanky man with thinning, brown hair, sighed in defeat. "We'll discuss it in the morning." He turned to the two Avengers and said, "Thank you, for protecting our little girl."
"We didn't do anything," said Iron Man, "She's an incredible young woman." Fiona smiled at the praise
"Yeah, she is," the Baker family went inside their home to finally relax after a trying night.
Dealing with Cho's parents had been a bit...trickier. Iron Man did most of the talking, the three going back and forth with the idea. Cho tried to include himself into the conversation, but a stern look from Mrs. Cho silenced him quickly.
After a bit of negotiating, Tony had agreed to have Stark Industries sign a contract with Cho Pharmaceuticals to co-develop top of the line ventilators, medical monitors and scanners, etc. It also didn't hurt when Tony explained that with Amadeus' intelligence, there will be supervillains and terrorist organizations who would want to abduct him and that training with the Avengers will prepare him for the possibility, if it happened.
With everyone satisfied, Iron Man and Black Widow took their leave.
Returning to the Tower, Natasha asked, "Do you think this idea will work?"
Tony thought about it for a minute before answering, "I think the Avengers Initiative was a bit too ambitious, especially with how many hero teams there are nowadays: the Thunderbolts, Future Foundation, the Atlas Agency, ALPHA Flight, Excalibur, STAKE… But as we saw in the alternate future where Kang took control of Earth, there will always be threats and there will always be people willing to face those threats to save lives. Cap and I just thought it would be a good idea to teach them what we know now, to prepare them for future situations."
Nat nodded, "I know, just wanted to know your view on it."
Tony yawned and stretched, "Well, I'm gonna hit the sack..."
"What," Natasha smirked, "not going to pull an all nighter?"
Tony huffed, "And risk getting Pep angry? No thank you..."
The ex-SHIELD Agent chuckled before heading to her own room.
~ To be continued…
…
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