A quick update before we start: Finals are upon me, so that's why the story has been sporadic with its updates. I'm finally done with school, though, so let's get the ball rolling once more!
Now then, Shocket and Peter continue their vacation, at least as far as Peter knows…
After a night to sleep on Fury's offer, Peter and Shocket got ready to go to their next destination on their vacation. Peter made sure that Ned was okay after being hit by a tranquilizer dart last night, but Ned assured him that he was fine. The two also explained to Ned what had gone down with Fury the other night as well, seeing as Ned was in on Peter's secret.
"Getting tranq'd in the neck by Nick Fury is probably the coolest thing to happen to me anyway," Ned said.
"It is pretty awesome," Peter said, the two humans sharing a fist bump. "I'm just glad I don't have to go to Prague."
"Good news," Mr. Harrington called as he exited the hotel. "We're going to Prague." The students all looked at their teacher in confusion, though Shocket chose to cover her mouth to prevent herself from laughing. "The tour company called. They upgraded us. You should've heard me on the phone with them. I really gave them hell."
"All I heard was crying," Mr. Dell interjected.
The teachers led the students to their new vehicle, a luxury tour bus that was way above whatever budget Midtown High had. The driver was also a familiar face, that being SHIELD Agent Dimitri. Shocket climbed up on Peter's Shoulder, smirking as she ribbed him.
"Peter, Shocket, what's going on?" Ned asked.
"Fury just hijacked our summer vacation," Shocket said, glee in her voice. "Time for the continuing adventures of Spider-Man and Shocket!"
"Awesome," Ned said, smiling as they all got on the bus.
"Yeah, awesome," Peter muttered sarcastically.
Soon enough the class was driving through the Alps, with Peter and Shocket sitting in the back of the bus. The ottercoon was enjoying the sights of Earth, while Peter looked on his phone for potential romantic locations to take MJ to. Flash could be heard vlogging from the front of the bus, with Dimitri rolling his eyes as he had to deal with the teenager.
Peter's attention was soon drawn to the present Fury had given him, which he hadn't gotten the chance to fully look at yet. Why would Tony just give him sunglasses? Opening the case and putting the glasses on, Peter then found a note tucked away within the case. "For the next Tony Stark, I trust you. Say 'EDITH.'"
The glasses soon lit up blue, and a Heads-Up Display activated. "Stand by for retinal and biometric scan," the glasses said. "Retinal and biometric scan accepted."
"Hello?" Peter asked the voice.
Shocket took notice of Peter's reaction and turned her attention to him. "That's the gift Tony got you, right?"
"Hello Peter. I am EDITH, Tony Stark's augmented reality and defense system," the computer explained.
"So he made you for me?" Peter said, smiling.
"No, but you have access to all of Tony's protocols," EDITH explained.
"Cool," Peter said.
"Would you like to see what I can do? EDITH stands for "Even Dead, I'm The Hero." Though he made me in case of an untimely demise, Tony didn't want to waste a good acronym."
"He does love coming up with acronyms," Shocket nodded.
"I have access to the entire Stark Global Security Network, including multiple defense satellites, as well as backdoors to all major telecommunication networks."
Peter then had access to see what everyone on the bus was doing on their phones. "Is MJ texting?" he asked, before quickly shaking his head. "Wait, don't look at that, don't look at that. That's wrong."
Shocket let out a low whistle. "That's a lot of power to be responsible for. I mean, I know Tony's retiring from running Stark Industries now, but props for carrying on his legacy, Pete."
The two superheroes would have to continue exploring EDITH's capabilities later, as their bus was making a rest stop before getting to Prague. "Petrol and toilets, ten minutes!" Dimitri called.
As everyone got off the bus, Shocket stopped and looked at Dimitri. "So, Dimitri, what's your big spy thing? Fury must have a lot of trust in you to be ferrying us around Europe."
"My codename is "The Chameleon." I blend in without being noticed," Dimitri said. "Now go before I have to silence you."
Shocket held up her hands in defeat and went to go see what Peter was up to. Seeing the teen go off away from the rest of his classmates, the ottercoon bet that SHIELD had something in store for Peter. She was correct as another SHIELD agent was waiting for them. Closing the door behind them, Shocket hopped onto a table to get a better viewpoint.
"Um… I'm Peter Parker," Peter said, holding out a handshake.
"Take off your clothes," the SHIELD agent ordered.
"Exscuse me?" Peter questioned.
"You told Fury that Spider-Man cannot be seen in Europe. So I made you this: another suit," the SHIELD agent held out a package for Peter. She then gestured to another, smaller package. "I made one for your raccoon friend as well."
"Ottercoon, but same difference," Shocket shrugged.
"Oh, uh, thank you," Peter said, accepting the package. "I'm sure it fits fine, so I don't have to-"
"Take off your clothes!" the SHIELD agent ordered.
"Yeah, I'm not going to stick around for this," Shocket said, leaving the room. Just as she left, the ottercoon ran into Brad, who was heading for the room Peter was in! "Hey loser, the bathroom's other direction!" Shocket called.
Brad turned and looked down at her. "What did you call me?" he asked.
"You heard me. A loser. Can't even tell his head from his arse," Shocket smirked. "You think you're so smooth with MJ, but she's clearly not into you."
"Like you'd know her better than me," Brad said, rolling his eyes. "The rodent that tagged along with that weirdo Peter knows girls better than me? I don't think so."
Shocket barred her teeth. "Not a rodent, dumbass. And for your information, I know more about relationships that your pinky toe. So if you know what's good for you, then I'd stay away from MJ and Peter, or else you'll see that I can do more biting than just my words."
Brad scoffed. "Whatever. Like you can do anything to me."
As Brad walked off towards the bathrooms, Shocket shook her head, then got a devious grin on her face. Heading back to the bus, she found Brad's bag and put in a "surprise" for him to find later. As everyone got back onto the bus, Peter took his seat next to the ottercoon, looking a bit uncomfortable.
"You okay, dude?" Shocket asked.
"I just had to strip and change in front of a random lady I don't know," Peter whispered. "Do you think I'm fine?"
"I mean, there was this one time the Guardians had to infiltrate a planet of nudists," Shocket shrugged. "I think I saw more of Drax than I ever cared to see."
Peter shuttered at that mental image, then composed himself as he put his EDITH glasses back on. "EDITH?"
"Yes Peter."
"What else can you do, besides look at everyone's phones in a very blatant invasion of privacy," Peter said.
"Of course. With access to all Stark Industries' technology, I can call on one of the many satellites to perform a drone strike against any target you set for me. I can also only be used by those authenticated by biometric scans. If you wish for anyone to use my services, you must first accept them as one of my users."
"Hey Peter, can I try something?" Shocket asked.
"Sure," Peter said, handing the glasses over. "EDITH, allow Shocket access to your system."
"Access granted. Welcome, Shocket. How can I assist you?"
"Woah, this is awesome," Shocket said. "I gotta stop by and ask Uncle Tony to make me one of these before I leave Earth." She glanced over to where Brad was in the back of the bus. Using EDITH, Shocket smirked as she scanned for the device she placed in his bad. "EDITH, activate the surprise I placed in Brad's bag."
"Activating the Star-Lord Special."
Without warning, loud music started blaring out of Brad's bag, though it wasn't just any music: it was Star-Lord singing an off-key version of "Come and Get Your Love" by Redbone. Everyone's head turned to look at Brad, the kid picking up his bag and trying to figure out where the music was coming from.
"What is that?" MJ asked. "Your demo tape or something?"
"No, it's not," Brad tried to say, digging through his bag. "Where is it coming from!?"
"Brad, while I appreciate your tastes for the classics, this is one sing-along you should keep to yourself," Mr. Harrington said.
"It's not me sir!" Brad shouted in dismay.
Shocket laughed, with other students also starting to crack up at the bad singing as Brad tried in vain to stop the music. "Oh man, getting that recording of Quill in the shower was so worth it!"
"What did you just do?" Peter asked as Shocket handed EDITH back to him.
"Brad was about to walk in on you and the seamstress lady, so I stopped him and told him that he didn't stand a chance with MJ. He called me a dumb rodent, so I planted one of my micro music markers in his bag," Shocket explained. "Practically invisible to the naked eye, it can play a set music track on loop as long as it's active. The serve as a great distraction tool for infiltration missions. Usually I have to physically activate them, but with EDITH I had her remotely do it."
"Nice," Peter said, smirking and starting to laugh himself as Mr. Dell confiscated Brad's bag from him. "So, how long will that song be going on?"
"Oh, give it about ten minutes and it'll automatically shut off," Shocket explained.
"Hey Peter, nice glasses," Flash said.
Taken aback by the compliment, Peter just nodded in confusion. "Thanks, Flash."
"It's a very European look for you," Betty agreed.
Soon their other classmates were complimenting Peter's shades as well, all while Brad was sulking about getting his bag taken by the teachers. Shocket smiled and gave Peter a thumbs up. Score one for Team Heroes, and zero for Team Brad, she thought. Now I just gotta help get Peter the best opportunity to confess to MJ- After saving the world, of course.
Author's Note
And EDITH has been introduced to the story! While Tony is alive in this timeline, he probably built EDITH as an "in case of emergency" before the events of Endgame. Peter still gets the glasses here, but now it's more for him to more directly carry on Tony's legacy as Iron Man formally retires. No pressure, huh?
The first big change to the timeline happens here as well: Brad didn't get the chance to blackmail Peter, with Shocket instead distracting him from finding the hero in a compromising position. Brad is still a jerk that wants to stop Peter from getting with MJ, though, so Shocket set up a prank to knock Brad down a peg. This also means that Peter doesn't accidentally call a drone strike on his classmates. Again, changing the small moments to make Peter look a bit smarter as a hero (though I still love Far From Home as a movie).
The micro music markers are an original invention of Shocket's that I came up with. I figure that they would. work best for whenever the Guardians have to break into a heavily guarded place. You just set a specific voice or song on one of the markers, turn it on, and then throw it on a wall for an instant noisy distraction.
Also, Dimitri's codename being "The Chameleon" is a shout out to one of the fan theories about his character that came around the time of the movie. He's not exactly the classic Spider-Man villain, but it does act as a nice reference.
On a side note, would you guys like to see one-shots involving Shocket and Lylla for whenever "Marvel What If" comes out? Depending on how the show plays out, seeing Lylla interact with T'Challa!Star-Lord might be an interesting thing to look into.
Next Time: The duo got to Prague and face the monstrous Molten Man!