Extenuating Circumstances, and What's Left Behind

Summary: Diana learns about the Decathlon event, and makes some awkward phone calls. Keeping her heroism a secret proves to be difficult when surrounded by friends in a crisis.

I woke up to curtains ripped wide open in my room, so the minute the sun crept to the pane's level, my sleeping in was doomed. I hated it when she did that. Madison must have opened them last night before I came home and I had been too tired to care to look.

I walked out of bed like a zombie.

In the living room, Madison's bedroom door was wide open, but it was deserted and she was long gone. Some mornings when she didn't work, she went on a run, on a bike, on a walk, whatever, just to get out of the apartment. Today was one of those days. I hoped it wasn't because of me.

The sun poured in through the living room window as well, illuminating every single speck of dust that floated over the bar. And, in my regular breakfast spot, were two pamphlets on drug use and one on safe sex.

I threw the one on sex in the wastebasket below the sink.

This was absolutely insane. Madison hadn't even showed signs of suspicion over me. I mean, sure, she was overly protective, but the fact that she knew I was sneaking out confirmed that I wasn't as slick as I needed to be. This was biology class all over again: now that there were new rules implemented, it was survival of the fittest. So, according to Darwin, I just needed to overcome this little boundary in order to succeed with Nightmare.

I needed to talk to Nitara. In real life, not over the phone. I had a missed call from her some time last night, probably the same time around when Madison had called her to interrogate the poor girl when she was with Harry, but that was it. And she could wait a few minutes for me to meet her at our street corners.

On my way down the stairs through the lobby, I felt eyes on me from the desk right to when I walked out of the building.

"It's humiliating," I told Nitara, once we had bypassed all major traffic lanes and were on a solid sidewalk to Midtown. "She literally took one look at me and decided drugs."

"You are being kind of weird lately," Nitara reasoned. "But talk about overreacting."

I shook my head as we crossed the street next to an alley entrance. Out of habit, my heart jumped as I looked down it, seeing nothing but pavement and a dumpster, farther down. "I didn't even think she saw me. It's not like I wasn't careful."

"I guess it's kind of anticlimactic that this whole thing ended before it ever really began."

Ambition struck me out of nowhere. "It's not over. I just have to figure a way around the lobby."

"Maybe you could lay low for a bit," Nitara suggested, shrugging her shoulders. "The city will still be here when you get un-grounded."

"In ruins," I seethed, clenching the fabric of my gloves. "And Vulture could be long gone and relocated by then. I need to keep an eye out."

Nitara's eyes widened slightly. "Woah. I know you hate him-"

I scoffed. "That's an understatement."

"-but he shouldn't be the reason you're doing this."

I almost raised my voice, but it would probably be within the people on the streets around us best interest if they couldn't hear what I was saying. "He kills people. Traps them in alleyways, throws them out of his warehouse. No secretary is going to keep me from having the chance of bringing him down."

Nitara took a breath. "I know," she said. "But if you do take him down, it needs to be for the right reasons."

"Not if," I corrected, appalled at my best friend's questioning. "When."

As it ended up, I did lie low for the next while. I didn't resurface as Nightmare for the next week, and no doubt did this raise some curiosity in Spider-Man. I did work once, and left the apartment with a side glance from the secretary as I did so, but nothing more. And, for Madison's sake, I managed to get home before midnight. I showed her my tip money for the week, and she was satisfied I never went through signs of withdrawal. To her surprise, at least.

And then I was faced with a dilemma on the first day of October.

Harry was currently taking interest in design with Charlotte and Jordyn, which left Peter and I to our own devices concerning our next photography event.

Our gathering in the corner was Betty's first supervising stop. "Photography! I just wanted to remind you guys about the Decathlon trip to Washington."

My brow furrowed. "We're not in Decathlon."

"Obviously not," Betty said. "That's why you guys have to go to take pictures. It's the finals. If they win, it'll be great yearbook material."

Peter and I slowly met each other's gaze. Travelling to Washington would be, at the very least, awkward as hell, especially for him considering he was now an ex-member of the club. "Betty," he sputtered, "I don't- I can't really leave New York. I have to be here for-"

"For your internship, yeah, yeah," Betty said, visibly annoyed. "I know you've dropped practically everything but yearbook for that, and I honestly don't know why you're even here if you can't help us out. Make up your mind, Peter, and let me know if you really want to come."

Betty's attention shifted from Peter to me. "Diana, I know you'll be there."

I bit my lip and didn't look at Betty when I said, "It's… kind of expensive to go to Washington, Betty."

"Decathlon's got you covered! They're hosting a bunch of different fundraisers. I'm surprised you haven't seen them around. The bus and hotel rooms should be all paid for. I really hope you won't let us down, you guys, because photography is practically the foundation of the yearbook."

"Yeah," I muttered, while Peter sported a half hearted "yup". With one last motivational smile, Betty turned and went to the student survey group and started chatting with that everlasting cheerfulness she seemed to always have.

"So," Peter said, lowering his voice so that everyone, mostly Betty, was out of earshot. "I guess we'll have to figure out who goes."

I nodded. "Yeah. I know you have the internship… but I'm kind of looking at you."

Peter faltered. "What? I thought you'd be good, because it's all paid-"

"I'm kind of grounded."

Those words lingered in the air after I said them, and I felt my face flush. What kind of a fifteen-year-old gets grounded?

I sighed. The one with the overly protective sister, that's who.

"Even if it's for school? Your sister… can't you just… ask?"

"I wish it was that easy," I replied. "She'd volunteer herself to be a trip supervisor before letting me go alone."

Peter grimaced. "Well… New- I mean, Mr. Stark needs me here. So I quite literally can't leave the city… unless there were some extenuating circumstances."

I raised my eyebrows. "Are there any circumstances that we can extenuate?"

Peter grinned. "If you can create an Avengers level threat in Washington, then maybe."

I laughed. "It's probably more likely to happen than Madison letting me go."

Half an hour later, still neither of us told Betty that we were both unavailable, and neither of us wanted to, so Peter and I snuck out of the basement early so we could go to both of our lockers before the bell. If worst came to worst, I could send my camera with Nitara and have her give it to one of the eight people who go to actually watch the Decathlon in the audience.

When we were both at my locker, our second stop, I brought up the next event going on in school, the week after Decathlon. "So, considering Homecoming is actually in town… do you think you're going to go?"

Peter shrugged. "I'm not sure. Dances kind of stress me out. Plus, the internship…"

"Is twenty-four, seven," I deduced. It seemed like Peter hardly had a life outside the Stark internship. I, on the other hand, had no life because I was grounded, so I stopped comparing myself to him for my own sake. "I get that, though. I probably won't go, because Nitara seems to be leaning towards going with Harry, and I'm not going to just show up alone… plus, I'm grounded."

"Awe." Peter shrugged his falling backpack strap back onto the top of his shoulder. I noticed it looked different than his old one- now it was green. "Hopefully your sister- Madison- loosens up. Especially for Homecoming."

I snorted, slamming my locker just as the bell rang. "We'll see about that."

"Hey," Peter called to me, just as I was planning to part ways to go to my next class. The hallway was beginning to flood with kids, but I stayed in the middle of it. "We should all do something together sometime. Like, I'm friends with Harry, and you're friends with Nitara…"

I smiled through the few people who walked in between us. "That would be cool! After… you know. Madison."

Peter waved before turning to go the opposite way, but I stayed standing in the middle of the busy hallway. That would be cool. Really cool.

"So," Nitara asked on our way home from school, more excited than usual. "What are you doing tonight?"

I huffed. "Working. Why?"

Nitara shrugged. "I don't know. I just thought maybe you'd want to hang out with Harry and I."

I frowned. "You know I can't do anything. Madison will track me down like a vulture if I'm not home on time."

Nitara grinned. "Unless…"

I could tell Nitara had one of her classic cataclysmic ideas forming inside her head. "Unless you just tell Madison you work later than normal. Then Harry and I can just swing by the diner and bring you with us."

I scoffed at all the things that could go wrong with that plan. Madison has called me at the diner before, and if she did that tonight, I wouldn't be there to answer her. Maybe she would say no and demand me to come home because she's never liked my job anyway. If I did get caught, I would be grounded until college, one hundred percent.

"I know you're thinking of everything that could go wrong with that," Nitara said, reading my mind. "But we haven't hung out outside of school in over a week. And I want you to meet Harry. Actually meet him, not just ask for his woodshop advice. I think it's getting kind of serious."

I blushed. "Nitara, I don't want to third wheel."

"Don't sweat it. We've already been to the movies and had my dad come along. It was kind of awkward, but Harry is super chill."

I grinned. "That sounds like something your dad would do."

Nitara's dad, although strict, was really nice. He's always working during the week, usually during the weekend, and Nitara says he's saving up to buy a bigger apartment in a less sketchy part of town for when her grandmother finally comes over from India. Unlike me, Nitara was first gen, and her family kind of struggled after her parents divorced. As busy as he is, he's seemingly always there for Nitara when she needs him, or when she needs some quality alone time with a rich boy at the cinema. Awkward as he may be, he was also there for our family when our dad died, because he worked and went to school with our mom. In fact, that was how I met Nitara. Through him.

Sometimes I wished Madison could be supportive like Nitara's dad instead of a paranoid control freak. Nitara's dad wouldn't have assumed that late night sneaking out meant I was doing drugs and having sex. I figured I deserved to do some normal teenage activities.

"You know what? I'm done work at eight. You guys can meet me there."

Nitara added a skip to her walk. "I knew you would say yes!"

"Wait," I said, suddenly remembering my earlier conversation with Peter. "What if I called Peter and asked him to come tonight? He just mentioned we should all do something together as a group. Because we all know each other."

"That sounds fun," Nitara said. "Do you have his number?"

I pulled out my phone and clicked Peter's contact. "I got it from yearbook last week."

I pulled Nitara aside to the wall of the building we were walking against so we were out of the way of the sidewalk. The phone rang once, twice. I held it closer to my ear. Three times. Four. I heard Peter's voice, and almost opened my mouth to say something when I realised it was automated.

"Hi, you've reached Peter. I can't take your call right now- Ned, stop it- but leave a message. Uh, if this is Stark Industries please text me or call May. Tha-"

The voicemail beeped, and I gave Nitara a panicked glance before I started talking. "Oh, hi- Peter. This is Diana. And I'm with Nitara, and I'm gonna be with Harry, tonight, and I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out with us tonight. If you do, call Harry, because I'll be at work until eight… but I hope to see you later. Bye."

I hung up and cringed. "I hate leaving voice messages."

Nitara laughed. "You sounded half lucid to me. I think he'll get the point."

I rolled my eyes and slid my phone back into my pocket. "I hope so."

I parted ways with Nitara at the end of the street, and ran the rest of the way to Queens Diner so I wouldn't be late, because I still had to change. That phone call wasn't even the hardest one I had to make tonight- ringing Madison would prove to be hell.

The diner was dead. I would have to pretend to call Madison from a closet if I were going to convince her it was packed. I figured I would wait until just before eight, when I got off, before Nitara and Harry got here, but I should have known they would come early. My phone buzzed to an Instagram message from Nitara, which meant Harry was letting her borrow his phone. I didn't have to check it to know that it was them in the sleek black car, parked in the deserted lot. It wasn't the '74 Charger that Nitara bragged Harry's driver drove them around in, but it was still sophisticated enough to stand out in the unpaved, dimly lit parking lot.

I had scattered words in my mind of what I wanted to say. No matter how smooth I could plan this, talking to Madison would never be the same of talking to her inside of my head, because she always managed to be unpredictable. I saw Marty restocking the drinks fridge, and I wanted to ask him if he would stand up for me if Madison called back later and I wasn't here, but then I figured that would be unprofessional.

It was also unprofessional to use work as an excuse to go out. This I knew, and I had a sick feeling kind of forming in my gut from the possibility of Madison interfering, but I had to do this if I wanted the slightest chance at having the coveted 'normal teenage life'.

I dialed our apartment. One ring. My hand was sweating. Two rings. I could already feel a cramp blooming. Three rings-

"Hello?"

"Madison!" I exclaimed, already flustering at the most predictable word someone could say when answering the phone. "It's Diana. I-"

"I know it's you," Madison said. "No one ever calls here. What's up? Are you still at work?"

"Yeah, that's what I wanted to call you about." My hand trembled, and I looked through the windows at Harry's car. I was pretty sure he didn't have his license yet- he probably had a chauffeur. I gawked at the idea. Lowering my voice, in case Marty did hear me from the fridge in the other part of the diner, I said, "Listen. I know my shift is supposed to be over at eight, but we just got a call, and soon there's, like, a whole sports team coming in. Some basketball team just won a tournament, or something. I don't know, but they're coming to celebrate, and Marty needs me to stay and help."

I puckered my lips and played with the phone cord awaiting my sister's response. This wasn't so bad. I thought I sounded pretty natural. But then Madison didn't say anything, and I could tell she wasn't happy with what I had just told her. "We're short tonight," I argued. "Do you want me to put you on with Marty? Because he's really busy and I can't be on the phone for much longer-"

"Fine," Madison said, exasperated but finally breaking her defense. "What time do you need to stay until?"

"I should be home before midnight," I said, ignoring Nitara's waving hands in my peripheral vision, now poking out of the car windows. "But honestly, no promises."

Heat rose to my head as I awaited my sister's reply. If I was caught in this lie, there was no leaving the house ever again. I could kiss goodbye my job, and this might even be the last straw for hanging out with Nitara, at least for a while.

After an episode of silence, I lied through my teeth some more. "There's a whole sports team coming tonight. I can't miss this much tip money."

"I'll let the secretary know before they close. I won't be here when you get home either. I have a late shift. But be careful, okay? Maybe call someone you know to walk home with you. Trust me, you just don't want to be out after midnight."

It was like a weight was lifted off my chest, and I could finally breathe the air of freedom. "I'll ring Nitara. Thank you-"

The line was dead.

I hung the phone carelessly on the red hook, and took off my apron, throwing it in the laundry before waving goodbye to Marty- it was eight, on the dot. As I walked outside, I took my hair out of its ponytail, letting my natural waves do what they wanted free of their hair elastic. Nitara opened the door to the side of the car from the inside, just as I took off my visor. "I told her around midnight," I began. "But-"

"Yeah, I figured," she mumbled, taking Harry's hand, who sat on the other side and waved with his free one. "That's still a few hours, I guess."

"If you'd let me finish," I said, "She has to work the late shift tonight. So she'll have no idea what time I come home at."

A slow smile crept across Nitara's face. "Today's our lucky day."

I wasn't sure what radio station Harry had on, or if it was him or his chauffeur playing the music, but Everlong was playing so loud that I was beginning to get a headache, even with the windows halfway down. When I got in, Harry and I had exchanged greetings, and that was kind of it, because we were only acquaintances and I figured that if Peter were coming, he would already have been in the car. There was even a tinted window installed between us and the driver, so I couldn't see who it was. It screamed nothing short of rich to me, and I was practically in awe. Madison and I didn't even have a car- the only person who did in our family, dead or alive, was my older sister Vienna, who I haven't seen in four months- she bought a farm with her fiancée last year, and ever since then, we've never had the time or energy to make our ways in and out of the city to see her. Madison's job didn't let us leave often, either, because it seemed she was always on call.

Now that I thought about it, it wasn't much different from Peter's stupid internship. I wondered at what point jobs became more important than family and friends.

Above the music, I ended the silence by practically yelling, "Where are we going?"

Harry looked over at me and grinned. "You know my dad runs OSCORP," he enlightened.

I raised my eyebrows. "I do now."

Nitara almost snorts. "Wait, you didn't know that? Are you serious?"

I threw my hands up. "I don't know a lot of things! You know I don't keep up with business and anything going on in the outer world-"

Nitara leaned back into the long seat of the car. "I figured you would have started looking in to this kind of stuff, all things considered."

I hit the side of her arm. "Shut up, would you?"

Harry laughed at me hitting my best friend. "You guys have an interesting dynamic."

I shrugged. "It's too bad we'll never know what our dynamic would be like with Peter here."

Harry leaned back and put his arm around Nitara, who gladly moved closer to his side, and at that moment I did feel like a third wheel. "I don't really know what's going on with him lately. He's been kind of weird even before the internship started. Like, maybe six months ago is when he started being busy all the time. It sucks he can never hang out."

The song ended, and there was a moment before the next one played where everything was silent and Peter's absence was strung up in the air, unmoving. It felt really weird without him.

"Where are we going tonight?" Nitara asked, before I could comment again on Peter's whereabouts.

"Manhattan," Harry said with a grin, gazing back out the window to the streets that always looked the same. "I'm going to take you guys up the tower."

"Like last time?" Nitara basically wore puppy dog eyes as she looked at Harry. "Is your dad going to be there tonight? I haven't- if I had known we were seeing him I would have dressed better-"

"Don't panic," Harry said simply. "We're not seeing him tonight. He's in Buffalo right now in a conference. It's just gonna be us and the security lady that never leaves her post up there."

Nitara huffed. "How romantic."

"Don't worry," I said. 'Any chance at tonight being romantic was ruined the second I got in the car. Still here, remember?"

That actually made Nitara smile, and move a little bit out of Harry's grasp. The chauffeur put his foot on the pedal, because all of a sudden we left the intersection at a high speed. I rolled across the seat, hitting the door, and burst out laughing when I got back up.

"You're not sixteen," Harry laughed. "Put your seatbelt on or we'll get charged."

This time I laughed. "Poor you. Your dad is going to have to work another three seconds to pay that one off."

The moment I said that I expected Harry to stop the car and make me walk back to my apartment from the edge of Queens, but he chuckled and turned up the radio. Even Nitara laughed after her initial shock that I had just bullied her boyfriend's dad. Rolling the windows all the way, wind entered the car twice as fast as before, and my hair started to whip in my face. Leaving my seatbelt off, I stuck part of my head out the window and let my hair flow behind me. That was how the rest of the drive went, and Peter didn't come up again.

The view from the top of the OSCORP tower was, in one word, insane. Mesmerizing, maybe. Galactic. I had never seen New York from higher than the rooftops I ran on as Nightmare, and people were like grains of sand compared to their normally ant-sized façade atop the apartment buildings I jumped. And at night, the lights were blinding. The gale nearly blew off my Islanders cap- I used a hand to keep it snug over my hair. It used to be my mom's, and under no circumstance was I about to let it fall one hundred and eight stories to the streets below.

I was making a habit of staring down on the streets for theft, assault, any kind of crime I was brave enough to intervene with, that Nitara had to take a break from leaning against Harry for warmth to putting an arm around my back and squeezing my shoulder. "You're tense," she commented, but it sounded like a whisper in the wind. "Forget about Madison, about everything. You can worry about it when you're back down on the ground."

That didn't make it any easier. My problems from the ground had followed me hundreds of feet into the air, because when I looked at Harry holding Nitara, the only thing embracing me was the gale that would whip by, colder and colder with every bite at my skin, and I noticed the emptiness around me far too much. I knew what was missing, even though I tried to push it from my mind.

Oh, hi-Peter. …I hope to see you later.

I wrapped the fluttering sleeves of my work blouse around my chest and leaned against the railing. It only hit me then to take a picture. Duh. To think that I called myself a photographer, yet stared at a skyline for over fifteen minutes without capturing the moment.

The only camera I had on me was my phone. It was fine.

The image in the lens reminded me of a puzzle I had back in our apartment. My dad was obsessed with puzzles, and I would always do them with him and my sisters, but after he died in the battle five years ago our mom had put them away in the back of the closet with his other significant belongings. Now hers were there, too.

It was practically the spitting image of the puzzle, and I had to wonder if the photograph was taken in the same place as I was now.

My phone suddenly felt heavy in my pocket, and I wanted Peter to be here too. Taking photos was weird without doing it with him. But if he cared, I suppose he would have checked his voice mail and called back.

I checked my voice mail. Zero new calls.

"Sucks that Peter wasn't here," Harry commented, once again reading my mind. "He missed a fun night."

Going out for fast food and then climbing twelve sets of stairs after a lengthy elevator ride shouldn't have been the time of my life, but after being holed up at home for so long, I had to agree that it felt good to be out.

"It's just past twelve," Nitara commented, checking her ornate wrist watch. "I should be getting back. I told my dad I wouldn't be out too late."

"I can get my driver to take us back to Queens," Harry suggested.

"That would be great," I said without a hint of joy. "Except Madison thinks I'm at work. If she sees me in your car…"

"We could take a walk back to your place. I'll just park a few blocks away. It's a nice night anyway."

Nitara grinned. "And I'll just tell my dad your car broke down. He'll love you even more for walking me back."

I shifted uncomfortably. "Um, guys? You don't have to walk, I can just go a few blocks on foot-"

Harry laughed. "Don't be ridiculous, Diana. We're not just going to let you walk alone, especially through Queens."

I gave him a sly smile as we took one last glance at the city from the roof and walked back through the doors. "I can take care of myself. But I wouldn't mind some company."

Harry gave me a look, almost a disbelieving one, as we started back down the stairs. If only he knew how much I could take care of myself. I almost laughed at the idea, but I noticed I had kind of killed the conversation, and we didn't get one going again on the way back down the elevator to the first floor, where Harry's car stood idle.

Even through the tinted window, I could see the chauffer's bored gaze focusing on no particular object. "He looks bored," I commented.

Harry reached for the doorhandle so that Nitara could step inside. "He gets paid twenty-nine dollars an hour."

I shut my mouth and walked around to my side of the car.

There was softer music playing on the radio this time, and I spent the ride with the window down and my hair flying whilst Harry and Nitara engaged in some low talking. For October, and the fact that we were back on the ground again, it was a considerably warm night. Even with the three of us, there was still room on the car-wide seat for a fourth person, but instead of Peter I got to sit with a big pile of empty.

Besides that, though, tonight had been good. I needed to get out of the apartment and actually see people.

Once we hit Queens, we drove for a bit longer until we passed the diner again, and a few blocks after that, Harry knocked on the glass to talk to the driver. There weren't many parking lots in the neighbourhood, so I wasn't surprised when he just pulled up to a curb on Winter street. I also wasn't surprised when he locked the car doors immediately after we got out and shut off the light.

"He'll be fine," Harry said, beginning to walk down the sidewalk with one hand in his pocket and another in Nitara's hand. "We have bulletproof windows."

I wished that I could have said it was ridiculous to imagine the driver getting robbed at gunpoint, but this was America, and not even two weeks ago was I taking care of those armed robbers with Spider-Man. So instead of questioning it, I figured it was a pretty smart move.

"It's so cold," Nitara murmured, wrapping her whole arm around Harry's waist as we walked. "Oh- I left my jacket in your car."

"Here's mine," Harry said, pausing to take his thin coat off. I bet it didn't do anything for the cold anyway. But still, he gave it to Nitara, and she didn't complain again.

I thought it was warm out in nothing more than long sleeves. "You guys are Instagram-worthy," I muttered with an eye roll. They were stupid for each other, but I wished I could be stupid with someone too. In the meantime, I wrapped my arms around myself and held my own hands.

Until somebody yanked them apart and pointed a gun in my face.

"Against the wall, and don't scream," he said, loud enough for us to hear but not to wake up the people in the building behind us. I did, and I felt fine, until the barrel of the gun left my face. That was when my heart started to pound a little too hard against my chest and I had to actually focus to keep my legs from shaking. The guy pointed the gun at Nitara, who yelped until he repeated his threat, and then at Harry, who looked as pale as chalk as he joined Nitara and I.

The guy looked pretty satisfied with himself as he stood back, keeping his gun up. "Alright. Let's make this quick. You," he said, motioning the gun to Nitara, "open your purse."

I stole a glance at Nitara, who was in between Harry and I, and she was already crying enough for the both of us. Slowly, she slid her purse down her arms. It was a soft, floral one with a metal clasp at the top, just big enough to fit our Spanish textbook. "Please," she mouthed at me, from behind her hair. "Do something."

Instead of doing something, I stood and watched her reluctantly hold out her purse, absolutely frozen. Time was moving an inch a minute.

"Open it!" the man pushed, and for the first time, I got a good look at him from the streetlight he stood under. He had a beard and moustache, and had scraggly brown, unkempt hair that looked like an Obi-Wan mullet. Other than that, he wore leather. Leather jacket, and leather pants. His shoes were probably leather, too.

Nitara pulled her purse open and stared at the guy. "Okay. I want you," he said, pointing his gun back at me, "to put your phone and any cash you got in there."

I nearly fell over. Not only did I have the world's easiest password, a bunch of zeroes, but I had Nightmare pictures on there. Places I'd been, trails in action, texts to Nitara, everything. I could beat the shit out of this guy if I were fast enough. He would certainly be caught off guard if Nightmare herself sprung a trail on him.

But as I dropped my phone in the purse with the few dollars I had in my pocket, I looked at Harry. No way was I blowing my cover over this. That was never, ever going to happen. For all I knew, Harry would rat to his dad, and half the school, and that would mean no more Nightmare and that I was grounded for life.

"Your hat, too," he said, eyeing me down.

My face drained of any blood that was left. "It's worn," I said. "Why-"

"Do it, bitch," he sneered, waving his gun closer to my face. "You're lucky I give a damn about wasting bullets."

With one shaking, sweaty hand, I took off my mom's dusty old Islander's cap and said goodbye as I put it in Nitara's purse. I caught her eye again, and she just stared at me with a gaping mouth. Like she couldn't believe what I was doing. Neither could I.

"And you," he said, pointing the gun back at Harry. "I bet your daddy gives you allowance in gold bars. Haven't happen to have one on you, huh?"

Swiftly, Harry pulled out his wallet and dropped two, three, then four hundred-dollar bills into the purse, followed by some twenties and change.

"A bag," Nitara sobbed, her hands quivering as she held out her purse. "Please, I can get a bag. This was my grandmother's. It's all I have of hers."

I closed my eyes and cringed. The man crept closer to Nitara, so close, that he pressed the barrel of the gun against Nitara's forehead. "Your grandmother can rot in hell, kid. I'm taking it, and then I'm taking your stuff, and then I'm gonna toss it. Check the dumpsters next week and you might get lucky."

I didn't look until I felt him step away. "Down on the ground," he clipped. "Y'all are going to count to fifty. Mississippi style. When you're done, I'll be gone, and you can thank me for having the class to not shoot any of you brats."

Simultaneously, we all knelt down to the ground, and watched as he left in a sprint in the way we'd came. After he ducked in an alley, one we had passed on the way down, I stood up and took a breath.

I would fix this.

"Harry," I whispered. "Take Nitara home and then call your driver and tell him to watch out. Have him pick you up at the apartment."

"What? What about you? Diana, we just got-"

"Fucking robbed, I know! Just go, okay? I'll be fine."

"No," Harry said. "No way. You saw that guy. You're not walking back that way alone."

"Harry, if he wanted, he could have just kidnapped us all. He's long gone by now. I bet he's from Brooklyn or something. That's how criminals work, you know? They don't stick around spots. Just let me go and trust me when I say I can handle myself."

Nitara stared at me with a stone cold face. "It's not out fault if he gets you, then. You know, because you can handle yourself."

I wanted to say anything that would make her feel better, but that would have to wait, because I had a robber to track down. "I'll see you at school tomorrow."

I hadn't run so hard since the beep test in gym. My shoes slammed against the pavement with every step like cymbals, and my throat was dry as if I had just played my clarinet for twelve hours straight. I got to my building in record time, and made my way round the side.

The recycling bins I usually kept stacked were on the ground, emptied. Fuck. Today was garbage day. I looked up at the fire escape with two options- I could waste five minutes using the stairs, or I could use my trails and ruin the back of a perfectly good shirt.

I sidestepped until I thought of his face. Shirt it was.

There were no windows on the bottom floor of this side of the apartment, and no cameras that I knew of, so I shot four trails out from behind me and twirled them around the fire escape platform two stories up. It barely broke a sweat doing that, which was good considering I had hardly any more sweat to break.

Was Madison home? I couldn't remember. Thoughts were scrambled in my head as I booked it up the escape and to my window which I prayed Madison hadn't locked when she opened my curtains earlier. With one hard yank, the window opened, and I let out a breath of air that I hadn't known I was holding in. I crawled through, one leg at a time, and hurriedly bounced on my left foot in order to get my whole right leg through.

If Madison was up, or home, she definitely heard that. Maybe our neighbours below us, too.

It didn't matter. My door was closed, and just for good measure, I took my clothing covered desk chair and shoved it up against the handle. In a flash, I was ripping apart my closet. At the back, all on one hanger, was my uniform. Suit, if you would. I practically ripped off my clothes, said goodbye to the shirt I had on that now had four tears burned into the back, and threw on my black top and mask. My hair, although windblown, was still straightened, not my natural curl, but it would have to do, because I didn't have time to dunk my hair in water. Whipping my mask on, I had everything I needed. Lastly, though, I felt my legging pocket for my phone, which was still gone. Right.

I would have it back soon.

I cracked my window open once again, this time prepared for what I was getting myself into. This guy had no idea who he was messing with. I almost laughed at the fact that out of everybody in Queens, he had to point his gun at Nightmare.

And I knew where to find him.

What I told Harry hopefully got him off my back. I would bet money (if I still had some) that he was still there, because when he told Nitara to check next week's dumpster, he wasn't going anywhere. Not for a while, really.

Before I knew it, I was running at top speed back to where it had happened, hoping that Harry heeded my advice and got a lift from Nitara's, because if he saw me, it was over. I didn't take him as a total genius, but seeing Nightmare on an errand after getting robbed alongside someone with the same hair and voice would just be a dead giveaway.

To my comfort, Harry was nowhere in sight, and the street was deserted of cars. Lights that were on in some windows were now turned off, and streetlamps were the only means of light. So when I slowed down and inched toward the alley I saw the guy disappear in, I knew I would have the advantage in the dark.

That's when it happened.

Around me, I saw just a silver lining around a darkness that emerged from in front of me, behind me, from me, who knew. But it was the same stuff from the night with Vulture, and it spilled around me like ink in the air, and everywhere it touched, like a cloud, became pitch black.

But I could still see clear as day.

I didn't even try to wrap my head around what was happening when I heard distinct chatter come from down the alley. Why was it always an alley? Still in the midst of the mysterious cloud of darkness, I took slow steps towards the voices. The talking picked up, and I assumed that they couldn't see me, but they could see the looming blackness that strayed their way. I decided to overlook the portentousness of the situation, and made a point to step on dry leaves, wrappers, pieces on scrap tin or cardboard, whatever would make noise to let the people at the end of the small alley know I was coming.

They were frozen, like I was when I had a gun pointed in my face. I spotted my target immediately- he was hunched behind someone standing in front of him, and they were holding something pretty familiar in one hand, and a wad of cash in the other.

"I hear someone," the looming person said. "Did you guys set me up?"

"No!" the man who robbed me stood alert, and pushed who the first person, who must have been their buyer, out of the way. He pulled out his gun, and I heard the bullet spin into position. With a couple more steps, I stopped and stood silently, crossing my arms even though I knew they couldn't see. "Who are you? What is that stuff?"

"It looks like gas," one other guy said. "Or poison-"

The buyer dropped the purse and stuffed their money into a hoodie pocket. Hair covered their whole face, but I could see pink and green streaks in it. "I'm out."

I didn't care about them, or the fact that they left to jump over a familiar sounding dumpster that blocked off a clean exit out of the alley. The person I did care about, however, was holding a gun at me, which was a problem.

I took a silent step to the side, and just as I did, the gun went off in the middle of the alley, but not where I stood at the side. He shot again and again, probably not sure if he hit anyone or not, while his buddies also crept slowly towards the dumpster to get out.

I was close enough that the cloud of darkness' perimetre was the same distance from me as it was for him. Without wasting another second, I ignited two trails and shot them at the thief. One for the gun, which I sliced apart in seconds, and another for him. He didn't even have the time to look shocked as I threw him against the building, tightening the hold of the trail around him. I let the smallest amount of sharpness seep through, and I could smell the metallic scent of blood soak the air around us.

"Shit," I heard someone say from the top of the dumpster. I didn't have to look to shoot a trail all the way to their chest, and as I pulled it back, I heard them hit the ground with a strained groan. By now, the darkness covered the both of us.

"What are you?" the man breathed as I crept closer, pinning him against the wall like he did to me. "What are you? What are you doing?"

"I'm sure you remember what you did tonight," I said, not intending my words to sound as menacing as they came out. "You took something."

"I-I didn't-I was just buying-"

I tightened my trail against his skin, cutting deeper into the circumference of his skin. "Don't lie to me. I saw you."

"Okay," he breathed, his voice becoming raspier. "Okay, I did, but-"

"But what?"

He didn't answer, so I punched the side of his head with my left hand just to throw him off. "That's what I thought. But nothing."

I slowly unwound the trail from his waist, and it slid away slowly enough for him to feel it. When it did, I took a step back and let him take a sigh of momentarily relief. I didn't let it last long- with both trails, I threw him against the side of the dumpster and lavished in the clang that rang through the alley after he hit the metal. "Usually I call the police," I told him. "But… time is like bullets. I didn't want to waste theirs on you."

Nitara's purse was on the ground next to me, so I picked it up and shook it. Our stuff was inside. Slinging it around my shoulder, I walked over to the robber and bent down next to him on the ground.

"I'm going to take your purse," I said, yanking his wallet out of his pocket and his cell phone from his pants. I took his hand and pressed it against the phone, unlocking it. It was an iPhone, so I navigated to the settings and used his thumbprint to delete the password. "Now I know who you are, and I know who you know. So if I were you, I wouldn't do this stealing stuff anymore, or I'll find you. Trust me. I'll find your friends. So stay away from this, or you'll see me again."

He let out a small wheeze.

"Got it?"

"Yes," he said, bringing his knees into his stomach."

I got back onto my feet. "And you should stop buying leather, too. It's cruel."

I walked away, as quickly and as silently as I had arrived, but the darkness lingered in the alley.

A/N! Hi guys, thanks for sticking with me for the past couple of months, I'm sorry for leaving it since Hallowe'en. University is currently kicking my ass and now I'm in my second busy semester. I'm not sure when the next update will be out (probably not as long as a wait) but I just wanted to say thank you all so much for following and leaving such kind reviews :) because that's a pretty big part of what motivates me here. As for D… well, she's kind of being scooped when it comes to Nightmare and her personal life, and in my giant huge break, I did watch Spiderverse… Diana's no different, she has to deal with hero stuff to. (It was a really good movie holy shit) If anyone is interested, I have a Spotify playlist called FL under the unfortunate username watermelonicole, and on it is a growing list of songs I vibe to while I brainstorm and I think they really fit the story. If it's your thing, there's some Imagine Dragons, Coldplay, a twinge of Green Day, some Boston, etc. Thanks for reading!