Chapter Five: Bi-Winning

It was Saturday, bright and sunny in New York City, I stood on the intersection corner just outside central park waiting for her. Ned, otherwise known as Origin buzzed in my ear, I could hear the munching of his potato chips in my right ear as he folded the wrapper and the creaking of his chair.

"Maybe turn the sensitivity down Ned?" I suggested as I spotted Katie just across the street waving at me. The wind caught her beautiful brown hair, her smile was radiant, I smiled back.

"Hey!" Ned shouted over the communicator.

"You heard Mr. Stark, my name is Origin."

"Okay Origin, if we're going to take this whole thing seriously, maybe consider saving snack time for later?"

"Fair enough Dark Armor." His tone was sarcastic.

"Is that all you two?" Peter's voice came over the communicator.

"Yeah," I said.

"Fine." Origin echoed my response.

"Great, let's get started."

"Right, Dark Armor I'll be monitoring your convo with the sweet Ms. Evans, I'll do what I can to support you. Spiderman what's your status on Katie's home?"

"I'm on my way now,"

"Great, listen team, I know we're not Avengers but if we want to impress Mr. Stark we gotta be Bi-Winning in this operation. Dark Armor will attempt to woo Katie and get information about her father and his whereabouts, Spiderman will get eyes on Dr. Evans, he's been 'out of town' the past few days since the tesseract went missing. Until we can get eyes, we're counting on you Dark Armor to keep Katie busy, keep the date going."

"I'll do my best, going radio silent, about to make contact." I said as Katie finally crossed the street towards me.

"Reaching the Evan's residence now." Spiderman said as a thump was heard on his end. I guessed he just landed.

"Hey!" Katie raced over and threw her arms around me.

"Hi Katie," I wrapped my arms around her.

We turned and started to walk into Central Park, the shadows of the trees stretched over us in the afternoon sun. The sun made it easy to forget the city was still in blackout.

"Remember the route for the longest path through the park. You should be out in two hours if you hit all the landmarks." Origin said in my ear.

"For now, it should be plenty of time on my end," Spiderman confirmed.

Katie wrapped her arm through my right arm, "You know, I was surprised you texted me after the other night."

I looked over at her, "You mean the party?"

Katie smiled, "No actually, the party was great, especially the last part…"

I laughed a little, "Oh yeah, sorry about that."

"No, I liked it don't be sorry."

"Oh well I mean, of course you did!"

"Smooth," Origin said laughing over the earpiece.

"You get a lot of practice?" She asked,

"No, actually, unless you count Ned and Pete."

She laughed again, "You know how to make me smile."

"Ugh gross," Origin said.

"What the hell?" Spiderman said.

We continued to walk, the birds tweeting around us and bicyclists going around us as we walked.

"Brad's not very happy with you," Katie admitted.

"Oh, well I thought you two were broken up?"

"We were, I mean we are. He just doesn't let go easily." She sighed.

"Well that's a future Adam problem on Monday,"

Katie seemed to go quiet for a minute as we continued our walk, "Hey,"

"Yeah?"

"What happened to you guys the other night? The lights went out and you bailed? People at the party were saying you were going to the city?"

"Don't let her run this interrogation Armor." Ned reminded me.

I knew I couldn't straight up lie; she had seen my Pictalk app location.

"Well we drove to Stark Industries," I admitted.

"Why? My father works there, it just seemed like a weird coincidence."

It felt like hell trying to lie to her, she seemed so innocent in all of this. I had always had a weak spot for a pretty face though, had to stay focused.

"Oh, my father has done contracts with Mr. Stark and I'd met him a few times."

Her eyes seemed to reflect a mind full of questions.

"Look Ned and Pete are huge fans of the Avengers, we thought we could catch them jumping into action if we drove to New York really fast."

"Dude…" Spiderman muttered.

"Way to make us sound like total losers…oof." Origin said.

Katie raised an eyebrow at me, I could feel her gaze stabbing right through me as if she was trying to find holes in my story.

"Oh, wow. So you left the party to nerd out?" Her tone was slightly humorous, but she seemed disappointed all the same.

"Well, I wouldn't say that."

"I guess I thought Mr. Stark would have a plan for restoring power. Remember the attack on New York?"

"Like anyone could forget that," she said.

"Well, the power went out before it happened."

"So you were worried it was happening again, I guess that explains why you were so intense."

"I mean unless you want to tell her the entire mission, I would change the subject." Origin suggested.

We started across a stone bridge overlooking a small body of water, I pulled her hand to the side and we looked over the water.

I looked into her green eyes, "Katie, I had a lot of fun that night, please don't think anything different. I wouldn't have asked you out today if I wasn't interested."

"I had fun too," she said, "I'm glad I came out, I'm just glad its cleared up."

We started to walk again, after walking for awhile and getting lunch at a hot dog vendor, I realized the time was melting away and we were almost through the park.

"Guys, something is wrong here, there is zero sign of Dr. Evan's existence in this house. I cant find anything on him, not even a family photo." Spiderman spoke up, "Her house is a dead end."

We have nothing, I need information fast!

"So you said your father works at Stark Industries?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, he does he's been there for years."

"What does he do?"

She seemed to think to herself, "He works mostly with nuclear energy, he has this big project keeping him out of town."

"Out of town, great…" Origin said.

"Oh, that must be hard, never seeing your Dad…" I tried to empathize with her but in truth I knew exactly how she felt. "My parents work all the time, they're very career driven which means I never see them."

She rolled her eyes, "I think a lot of people our age would do anything to rid themselves of their parents, they have no idea what its like to come home to a dark house every single day."

"What does your Mom do?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh, my Mother passed away when I was in grade school."

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said catching my embarrassing question.

"It was hard, when we lost her Dad became distant…then the battle of New York happened."

"What a coincidence, listen closely Dark." Origin told me as my ears perked.

"That was a hard day for a lot of people, everything changed."

Katie seemed to think to herself, "He became distant soon after the attack, you said you know Mr. Stark, you know Iron Man?"

I tried to hide my surprise at her questions, her pretty eyes seem to scan me intensely. "Yes I do, does your Dad know him?"

"Know him? He despises him, the past few weeks have been hard, he left unannounced."

"I'm sure he'll come back Katie,"

She smiled and shook her head, "Gosh, first date drama, with boy problems and daddy issues you must think I'm crazy."

"No not at all, my parents are the same way, I know how you feel."

She took my hand and we were almost out of the park.

"There's nothing here guys, place is pretty normal, I think Dad took his equipment with him." Spiderman spoke over the communicator.

Suddenly I had a crazy idea, "Do you know where he went?"

Katie nodded, "Yes, he has a secondary office in Manhattan he's been staying there."

I paced myself carefully, "What if we go visit him?"

She stopped in place, "I don't know he doesn't like to be bothered while he's working."

"I'm sorry, if I made you uncomfortable with that, I was just trying to think of ways to help. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have suggested that."

She reached for my hand, "No, no, maybe we should go see him, I would feel better if you were there you've been so nice to me it would be nice to have you there with me."

"Okay,"

"Nice looks like we got a plan, Spiderman, can you get back to New York City? Dark Armor is going to Manhattan, he may need the backup." Origin advised.

Katie took my hand and hailed a taxi, whether I liked it or not I was along for the ride. My future as Dark Armor lied in her hands.