A/N: so i deadass thought i had the corona for a week straight but turns out it was just my allergies, thank god. there were confirmed cases two hours and three hours away from me but i think im good for now.
life update: i have my first ever play in a little over a week and im so nervous! it's the first time im going to be acting in front of an audience and im super nervous but in a good way. im mostly nervous about my parents coming though. i really wanna show them that i can act so that they'll let me do it in the future cause i genuinely love doing it ?
also i just finished this chapter and i haven't proofread a lot of it so please excuse my grammar.
but! it's an extra long chapter and you guys should be glad that i didn't decide to split it in half to use for next week even though i'm going to be crazy busy next week and might not even have time to write a new chapter. :((
i'm just on spring break right now which is the only reason i can write such a long chapter lol but next week is gonna be crazyyy.
"He didn't know that she knew that he knew."
Adelaide hated shopping.
It meant she had to spend money. And without an income, shopping for groceries was like giving away money for her electricity bill or rent. She was worried that if she didn't find a job soon, it was going to come to a point where she was going to have to pick between food and her apartment.
And she didn't want to have to pick.
When she lived at the Tower, groceries just seemed to magically appear in the fridge and cabinets. And they always seemed to have a stock of frozen pizza rolls. Or chocolate. Or anything she ever wanted. She never realized how easy her life had been when she lived at the Tower. She had been taking so much for granted.
Adelaide sighed, pushing her cart along. She was at Trader Joe's, picking up the bare minimum of groceries that she needed to get through this week. She had decided to take things one week at a time, payment wise. She only had a little over a thousand dollars left in the little cabinet in her apartment. Which, she had quickly come to learn, was not a lot of cash in the adult world. Especially when her rent alone was 800 dollars.
She grabbed the cheapest loaf of bread off the shelf, throwing it on top of the eggs. She glanced at the price and cringed. New York was so expensive.
"Adelaide?"
Adelaide froze. She knew that voice.
Slowly, she turned around. There was May, smiling widely. Adelaide swallowed and then painfully forced a smile.
"H-Hey, May," she said.
"Hey yourself!" she said, coming up to give her the biggest hug. Adelaide hesitated for a moment before hugging her back. She almost felt guilty for hugging her. May thought she was a sweet teenager who happened to be her nephew's friend when Adelaide was, in truth, neither of those things. This was exactly why she didn't want to go back to her old life. The sheer amount of guilt was overwhelming.
But May's hug felt so comforting and Adelaide didn't realize how much she had needed a hug until now. She nearly broke down into the tears right there in her arms. Somehow, she managed to hold it in.
"How are you!" May said, pulling away and touching her hair, "I haven't seen you in months. And your hair! It looks amazing!"
"Thank you...I've been a little, um, busy," she said, pulling at her sleeves awkwardly.
"Too busy to even come over? It feels so strange not having you around as much anymore. I miss you," May said, resting her hand on the teenager's shoulder.
Adelaide felt too guilty to even talk. What would May say if she knew that Adelaide was an assassin? That she had killed children?
"I-I'll try to come more," she lied, adding more weight to the guilt that was already there.
"Don't be like a stranger," May smiled, "You're like family, you know."
Adelaide had survived endless nightmares.
She had suffered through trauma.
Hell, she had even lived through watching her parents get murdered.
But nothing – nothing – had been as hard as trying not to cry in that one, singular moment.
"Thank you," was all she could manage to say. May smiled.
"So how's school going? Sophomore year, huh?" May said, pushing her cart along. They were now shopping together, apparently. Adelaide swallowed down the knot in her throat successfully.
"Well, we're leaving for the decathlon tomorrow morning," she said.
"Tomorrow? Huh. Peter hasn't said anything about it," May said, taking a bag of gummy worms.
"He's not going," Adelaide told her.
"He's not?" May asked, facing her. She looked confused for a moment and then she sighed tiredly. "I don't know what's going on with him. Ever since he got that Stark Internship, he's been so busy. I'm telling you, I don't like that Tony Stark. He's been keeping Peter so occupied, it's like I hardly ever see him anymore."
"Yeah..." Adelaide muttered. If only May knew. She would never even let Peter out of the house.
"Well, good luck with your Decathlon tomorrow," May said brightly, turning to her. They had arrived at the checkout counters and Adelaide had already finished her shopping. "I'm sure you're going to do amazing. And listen. Don't hesitate to come over whenever you want, okay? You don't even have to come over for Peter. It can be just the two of us, like a girls night, yeah?"
May wasn't dumb.
She knew something had happened between the two teenagers. They were teenagers. They fought all the time. She was sure they would make up eventually. Especially if it was Adelaide and Peter.
Besides, it was probably because of something Peter had done. She was sure of it. He and Ben. They were both one and the same.
Always messing up with their girls.
Adelaide smiled, "Yeah."
They were sitting in Peter's room.
Ned had gotten ahold of the web shooter and was projecting a hologram model of the city into the air. Peter hopped onto the bed, next to Ned.
"This is so awesome," Ned breathed in awe.
"I know, right?" Peter said, studying the hologram. They had monitoring it closely for about an hour now, looking for signs of movement from the arms dealers.
Ned poked the hologram and it became more define
"They're in Brooklyn," Peter said.
LATER
"Staten Island," Ned said.
Peter lowered himself from the ceiling, studying the hologram upside down. He made a crunching noise and Ned looked up. He was eating chips. Upside down. Ned's lips parted.
"Oh, sorry, do you want one?" Peter said, offering him the bag. Ned shook his head slowly before turning back to the model.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" Ned said. Peter casually munched on another chip.
"Sure," he said, watching the dot on the model moving through Staten Island.
"What do you think about Vivian?" he asked. Peter frowned.
"You mean...the new girl?" Peter asked.
"Yeah," Ned said.
"I mean, I don't really know her..." Peter shrugged, "She seems nice."
"I think I'm in love with her," Ned said.
Peter fell from the ceiling, hitting the ground with an oomph. He immediately sat up, looking at his best friend with wide eyes.
"You what?" Peter said, "You don't even know her! She could be part of the mafia, for all you know!"
Ned sighed. He had had this exact conversation with Adelaide. Eerily exact.
"She's not part of the mafia, Peter. She's really nice and we like a lot of the same things."
"But love?" Peter said, wincing, "Isn't that too...official?"
"That's just it. I want to make things official, but I don't know how to ask her out," he frowned, falling back onto the bed with a sigh. Peter didn't say anything. He didn't exactly have the merits to contribute to that.
"She's Adelaide's neighbor," Ned said after a while.
"More of a reason to not trust her, then," Peter mumbled. Ned sighed.
"What is up with the two of you?" he asked tiredly. This entire drama was starting to get old to Ned. He wanted his friends back the way they were.
"Nothing," Peter said immediately, "They're still in Staten Island."
Ned sighed, "Yeah."
"If you...like Vivian then ask her out. But just don't do it too soon," Peter said, "Girls can be very confusing, but just give it some time."
"Okay," Ned said, deciding to do just that.
"Good evening, Adelaide," TADASHI said.
Adelaide took a deep breath, looking in the mirror. She had — with much effort — convinced herself to put on her suit. It looked incredible — just like anything Tony ever made. She ran her fingers over the material, holding her breath.
The suit smelled like the penthouse and it stirred up old memories buried deep in the back of her mind.
"Here, put this on," Tony said, tossing her a thin metal cuff.
Adelaide looked at it curiously before sliding it over her right wrist. There were five small lights on the top that lit up one by one and then they all flashed together.
"Hold your arm up like...this," the billionaire instructed, pulling her wrist up. Adelaide watched him unsurely. What in the world was he doing? A moment later, her question was answered when the hoverboard flew up, attaching itself to the cuff on her wrist.
"Magnets," he explained with a smirk, "I have those on my suit, too. The Deathboard – amazing name, by the way – will come to you from anywhere. You just gotta raise your wrist."
"Awesome!" she laughed, taking the hoverboard into her hands.
The board was barely 2 inches thick now and it also looked much sturdier. Per her request, Tony had done some aesthetic touch-ups on the board as well and now it had thin red stripes running along the length of the board that lit up white whenever the hoverboard was activated or in use.
"I love it!" she shouted, throwing her arms around the billionaire. Tony was caught off guard for a moment but a moment later he hugged the teenager back with a ridiculously large smile on his face.
Adelaide smiled to herself at the memory.
It was a sweet memory.
"It's been a while," TADASHI said, as if reading her mind. Tony had integrated the AI into her suit as well as the hover board. Which, at the moment was resting on her mattress.
Adelaide thought she looked incredible in her full suit with the platinum blonde hair and sharp, glowing blue eyes. The setting sun from the window was filtering into her apartment, making the room glow golden. She looked into the mirror again. She looked menacing and fearless. Despite the fact that she didn't feel menacing and fearless.
"Yes," she whispered back to the AI, "it has." She brought a wisp of white light between her fingers and it danced around her hand like a flickering flame.
"Would you like me to engage in stealth mode?" he asked.
As much as she wanted to go on a mission and use her powers, she knew deep down that she just wasn't ready for that yet. After getting her memories back, she didn't feel safe using her powers around other people, especially for fighting. Her memories had made it clear that she couldn't be trusted.
A murderer was a murderer, no matter the excuse.
Adelaide sighed, dropping her hand and the light flickered away. The golden sunlight filling the room seemed to dim.
"No," she sighed.
"As you wish," TADASHI said.
It was nighttime.
Ned had ended up on the floor while Peter had found his way to his desk and he was hunched over, doing his homework with his back to the hologram.
"Leaving Jersey," Ned said tiredly.
LATER
Ned was lying on the bed, bored out of his mind when the hologram began to beep.
Startled, he sat up.
"They stopped," Ned said.
Peter lowered himself from the ceiling again and turned around, eyeing the model.
"Maryland?" he said. He and Ned both looked at each other.
"What's there?" Ned asked. Peter shrugged.
"I don't know. Evil lair?" he said.
"They have a lair?" Ned asked, his mouth slightly agape.
"Dude. A gang with alien guns run by a guy with wings? Yeah, they have a lair," Peter said. Ned nodded slowly.
"Badass," he said, "But how are you gonna get there if it's, like, 300 miles away?"
They both paused.
And then they simultaneously turned to the decathlon poster on the wall.
"It's not too far from D.C.," Peter said quietly.
"Don't forget who your buddy is!" Mr. Harrington said as they all loaded the bus.
Adelaide was carrying a box of binders and pencils, waiting for Flash to stop taking selfies with the school bus so she could actually climb inside and put the box down. She glared at him.
"Can you hurry up?" she grumbled, "Some of us are actually trying to be useful."
"Someone hasn't had their caffeine today," he mumbled, stepping aside.
Adelaide stepped in his toe as she walked past him.
He yelped, jumping in the air. Abe snickered behind her until Flash looked up and glared at him. Once Adelaide was inside the bus, she found Michelle sitting the front seat, peacefully reading a book, totally undisturbed by the chaos. And by chaos she meant Mr. Harrington who had somehow acquired and utilized a megaphone at seven in the morning. She wanted to run the stupid thing over with this bus.
"Please stick with your buddy during the entire trip," Mr. Harrington continued to shout as if it was some sort of PSA for all of New York, "If you don't know who your buddy is, come see me. Abe, remember, we're buddies because your mom specifically requested that you stay with me so I can supervise your bathroom problem."
Everyone turned to look at Abe who looked like he wanted the earth to swallow him whole.
Which was fair.
"Once again, if you don't know who your buddy is, come see me—" The megaphone began screeching and everyone winced, covering their ears. Adelaide nearly dropped the box on the floor to press her hands over her ear.
Suddenly, there was a commotion outside.
"Hey, it's Peter," Abe said, looking through the window. Adelaide frowned and leaned into a seat to see for herself.
"Hey guys," Peter greeted.
"Peter?" Liz said.
"Yeah, I was hoping maybe I could rejoin the team," he said, scratching the back of his neck. Adelaide's lips parted in surprise. First he ditched the team and now he wanted back in? What was his deal?
"No, no way. You can't just quit on us, stroll up, and be welcomed back by everyone," Flash said.
She never thought it would ever happen in her lifetime but...
Adelaide agreed with Flash.
"Hey, welcome back, Peter," Mr. Harrington greeted, walking around the bus. He turned to Flash. "Flash, you're back to first alternate."
Flash's jaw dropped and he turned to Mr. Harrington, "What?"
"He's taking your place," Abe grinned through the window. Adelaide glanced at him. Someone tapped on the window beside him and they both turned their heads to see Michelle, having finally put down her book, lowering the window.
"Excuse me, can we go already? 'Cause I was hoping to get in some light protesting in front of one of the embassies before dinner, so," she said.
"Protesting is patriotic," Mr. Harrington beamed, "Let's get on the bus."
Flash glared at Peter as he shrugged his jacked off and shoved it angrily into Peter's hands.
Peter gave him a tight smile, but Flash marched past him in anger, shoving his shoulder as he did. Peter stumbled back a couple steps, but didn't say anything. Sensing someone's gaze on him, he looked up. Adelaide was watching him through the window on the bus.
His smile disappeared. She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.
"Everybody, on the bus!" Mr. Harrington announced on the megaphone. It screeched again and everyone shouted in complaint.
The bus had been on the road for about twenty minutes now.
Adelaide had successfully avoided confrontation with Peter who was sitting up towards the front of the bus near Liz and Betty. She and Ned were sitting towards the middle, speaking in hushed voices.
"Just do it," Ned whispered to her. Adelaide glared at him.
"It's not that simple," she hissed. Ned rolled his eyes.
"Just...talk to her," Ned said, "You're neighbors."
"That does not mean we're friends," she mumbled. Despite the fact that Vivian had given her burn cream and cookies.
"But we're friends and as your best friend, I'm asking you for a favor," Ned said. Adelaide sighed. She did owe him a few.
"Fine," she mumbled. Ned grinned. Adelaide glanced down the aisle behind them. Flash was back there with his friends, goofing off and laughing. He caught her eye from the back of the bus and winked. She rolled her eyes, ignoring him.
She stood up and took a few steps down the aisle, to where Vivian was sitting by herself, looking out the window with a small smile. Adelaide wondered what she was thinking.
"Hey...Vivian," Adelaide said nervously, taking a seat beside her. She beamed.
"What's up?" she said.
"I was just...I was just wondering. Um. Do you...have a boyfriend?" Adelaide asked awkwardly. Vivian blushed.
"No," she said.
"Great!" Adelaide said and then backtracked after seeing the expression on her face, "I-I mean not great. It's just that...you know, Ned. He doesn't have a boyfr— I mean girlfriend either."
"...Oh...okay," Vivian said, thoroughly confused.
"He's not gay. But um, he's uh, single. And straight," Adelaide stuttered awkwardly. Vivian nodded, not sure what else to say. She could feel Ned's heated glare at the side of her head. She ignored him.
"Cool," Vivian said. Adelaide looked at her. And then she opened her mouth to say something else, but decided against it. There was nothing she could say to salvage this conversation anymore.
"Okay. See you later!" she said and practically ran out of the seat and back to hers.
"What was that?" Ned said, gesturing to the seat behind them. Adelaide sighed, running her hands through her hair. She would feel more comfortable having spiders crawl down her arms than have that conversation again. She sunk into the seat.
"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed quietly, throwing her hands up in the air, "I told you I didn't want to do this. I don't know how romance or being a wing-woman or anything works!"
"Yeah. Clearly," Ned mumbled.
He wondered how she was going to be able to handle it when she dated Peter in the future.
Because obviously they were going to. They had to. Otherwise, he was going to lose fifty dollars to Michelle. And he had been saving up that money for those Avengers action figurines he had had his eye on for a while now.
"Sorry," she mumbled. She blew her hair out of her face.
"It's okay," Ned sighed, "It's not your fault you're terrible at it."
"And she's my roommate," Adelaide frowned, covering her face, "I hope I didn't just make everything super awkward. She probably thinks I'm crazy."
"And she would be wrong to think that because...?" Ned teased.
"Shut up," Adelaide mumbled, smacking his arm and making him laugh. She glanced over at him, thinking of something.
"Hey, is it just me, or has Peter been acting a bit strange lately?" she asked. His eyes widened just like she knew they would.
He didn't know that she knew that he knew.
She just wanted to see how well he could lie about it. Or if he was going to lie to her. Maybe he'd tell her the truth. She knew he was aching to tell someone that he knew about Peter's identity because that's just who Ned was. He hated keeping secrets.
"St-Strange?" he asked, sitting upright in his seat. Adelaide nodded.
"Yeah. I feel like he's...different, you know?"
"D-Different?" Ned stuttered. Adelaide sat up, turning to face him.
"I mean, one minute he bails on the team and then he shows up this morning saying he wants to join again. Isn't that weird? You don't think he's hiding something from us, is he?" she whispered. Ned's face paled. He had the most guilty expression she had ever seen.
"N-No," he said in a pitch higher than normal, "I don't think he's hiding anything from us."
"Really," Adelaide said.
"Really. I d-don't know anything," he said, completely avoiding her gaze. Adelaide sighed, sinking back into her seat.
"Just wanted to be sure," she said quietly.
"Y-Yeah," Ned said.
She would just have to find another way to ask him about those weapons.
"Water?" Adrian asked.
Flint glanced at him and then shook his head. He shifted in his chair uncomfortably. He looked around the room. It was a large room.
It was Toom— Adrian's, as the man had insisted he call him — office in his house. Flint at first had been skeptical. Adrian had never taken any of the other men to his home. The man supposedly never mixed his personal life with his business. So Flint was a bit confused about Adrian's unexpected invitation to his home. He wasn't sure how to read the gesture.
As for the office itself, it was nothing short of grand. Adrian had gone out of his way to make the room seem like an office for normal affairs, instead of arms dealing. There were certificates and degrees on the wall behind the desk. There was a cabinet in the back left corner, filled with faux client info in case anyone ever searched the room. A small shelf against the wall, to the left of the entrance, was filled with books about accounting and taxes.
Flint suspected the computer at the desk to be cleaner than most government officials'. This man was not in this business to play around.
"So tell me about your abilities," Adrian said, grabbing a tennis ball off his desk and then leaning against it casually. Flint squirmed in the overly large chair in front of him, feeling small and awkward in the room.
"What about them?" he said, finally settling into a position where he had his feet spread out and arms resting casually on the armrests. He still felt uncomfortable.
"Start with how you get them," Adrian said, bouncing the tennis ball off the wall and catching it again. Flint watched him for a minute.
"I'm not sure myself. It was...some sort of research facility. One minute, things were still and then, suddenly, everything started spinning. I was buried under the sand and when I woke up the next morning, my body had dissolved to sand," he said, staring hard at the edge of the desk. He pressed his hands together in a tight grip.
"So you really can turn into sand...whenever?" Adrian asked with a curious smile. Flint glanced at him.
"Yeah," he said, holding out his hand and dissolving it into sand. Adrian watched with a gleam in his eye.
"Incredible," he mumbled and Flint returned his hand to its normal state.
"I knew you'd be useful the moment I saw you on the news," Adrian said, pushing himself off the desk, "You know, Flint, all of those morons who work for me have never come to my house before. I don't mix my business with my personal life."
"I don't blame you," Flint said uneasily as Adrian walked around him, still casually tossing and catching the tennis ball on the ground.
"But I trust you," Adrian said, "And I've only ever trusted two other people in my life. My wife and my daughter."
Flint paused. He had not been expecting to be trusted. He, a convict, trusted? No one had ever trusted him. Not even his own wife. Perhaps his daughter did, but she was wrong to do so.
"I'm glad," he said as Adrian appeared to his left. Flint could hear him pacing behind him, left and right as he tossed the ball around.
"If we can successfully work together, then you and I will be able to do so much more than just arms dealing," Adrian said. Flint looked over his shoulder at him.
"Such as?"
"Anything," Adrian grinned, "The world is our oyster." Flint looked away.
"Listen, I just need the cash from this deal and then I'm out," Flint said. Adrian came to stand beside him.
"Why stop at this deal?" he said, "You could make hundreds of thousands. Save up for your little girls education, buy a house, show your wife that you can be good enough again. You could earn her respect again. You won't just be working for me like the rest of them, you'll be working with me and making twice as much money."
Flint paused.
Save up for Penny's education? Buy a real house? Prove himself to be a good enough father and husband again? It was all he'd ever wanted. To settle down and live a normal life. And to earn anyone's respect, let alone Emma's? It was so much more than he could ever ask for.
But what if it could be true?
"Look at me, Flint. You think I don't care about my wife and my daughter?" Adrian said, leaning in. Flint's gaze flickered behind him to the picture frame hanging on the wall amongst the certificates. It was a family picture and they were all together and smiling. Flint wanted to take a picture like that someday.
"Men like us have to do whatever we can to keep our family together," Adrian said, "You and I can do that. Together. For our families. Let's team up, Flint."
"But..." Flint started.
"You're not a bad person," Adrian said, clasping his shoulder, "You've just had bad luck. Just like me."
Adrian was right.
He wasn't a bad person. He just had bad luck.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Flint glanced over his shoulder and a woman popped her head inside. He immediately stood up. The woman looked between the two men before smiling warmly at Flint. He forced a smile back. She must be Adrian's wife.
"Hey, honey," Adrian said with a gentle smile, "This is Flint Marko, my new business partner."
Flint swallowed.
"Hello," she smiled politely, "I'm Doris, nice to meet you. I was actually just going to set up lunch, you're more than welcome to join us, Flint."
"Actually, I..."
"Flint has business to take care of," Adrian said, intervening, "I'll be right out, sweetheart."
Doris smiled at both of them before stepping back and closing the door behind her. Both men waited for the sound of her heels against the floor to fade down the hall
Flint turned around to face Adrian before he could change his mind.
"I'll do it," he said, "I'll be your business partner."
Adrian smiled, satisfied, "Wouldn't expect anything less from you, Flint. We're going to make millions together."
For Penny.
It was always for Penny.
A/N: i love writing flint cause he's such a complicated character who isn't technically a bad guy but still kinda is. on that note, i also love writing may just cause she's the best aunt to ever exist and i love her to death.
anywayy, i was looking back at the old chapters and i realized how happy everything used to be before. like when adie's biggest problem was how she was going to face peter after they kissed or getting a B in math to go on a field trip...im really putting you guys through an emotional rollercoaster nowadays, huh?
but don't worry guys, it's only going to get worse and worse and worse and... :)
question: tom holland or peter parker? i'm not even going to try to answer that one lol it's too hard for me to pick lol
so what the hell is going on with this virus? it's cancelled so many things from the coachella to the nba season and tom hanks apparently has it now too? corona, explain !
