The Legacy of a Hero
Chapter Twenty-Five
"Alright, kid. Time for ground rules," Peter said, and Heather tried not to vibrate in excitement. They had met on the rooftop of their apartment building after she finished school the next day. They were both in civvies for the moment, not wanting to draw undue attention if possible.
"You need to take this seriously," Peter said, taking in how her sneakers were tapping out a rhythm on the tarmac.
"I am taking this very seriously," Heather protested, crossing her arms to keep her body still.
"Right," Her dad said, frowning at her grin. "Okay, rules. You only go out with me, never alone. You listen to what I tell you, you don't question my judgment."
"So, basically I'm nine and going on a field trip," She quipped, smirking as his frown deepened. "I'm joking, Dad. I get it. You call the shots, so noted. Anything else?"
Peter sighed and ruffled his brown hair. "I suppose… Do you have any questions? About your powers, or something else?"
There was something in his tone, something Heather couldn't quite put her finger on, that made her wary. "I mean," she trailed off. "How come the precognition-"
"Spider-sense," Peter corrected reflexively.
"Whatever you call it," She rolled her eyes, waving away the semantics. "Why doesn't it always work? It only works like eighty-five percent of the time. Sure, it keeps me from getting flattened by a car, but sometimes it doesn't register a punch before it's about to hit my skull and the only thing I have time to do is brace myself for the hit."
"You're not fully in tune with it yet," He explained, taking a seat on the parapet and leaning his elbows on his knees. "That takes time."
"I don't really have the luxury of time," She said, sitting cross-legged in front of him and leaning back on her hands. "I mean, if there's a building falling down around me and I don't know there's a steel beam about to cave my skull in," she shrugged. "I'm pretty well screwed at that point."
Peter seemed to mull this over, "Maybe I can help you hone it. I didn't have anyone to help me, so maybe we can speed up the process for you. Close your eyes."
Heather blinked. "What? Why?"
"Kid, what did I say?"
"Right, you're the boss," Heather sighed and obediently closed her eyes.
"Focus on it. There's a feeling right at the base of your neck, a kind of tingling," Peter paused, clearly waiting. "Do you feel it?" He prompted.
Heather's eyes scrunched in concentration. After a few moments, she did feel it. That slightly cold tingling she'd felt almost all her life. The familiar feeling was stronger when she actually focused on it. Before now, it had always been background noise, a kind of static she'd notice periodically. Now, instead of a feeling at the back of her neck, she felt the tingling all over her body. "It…" she hesitated, struggling to describe it. "It's like my whole body is covered by it. Do you remember that time I got sunburned at Montauk Beach?"
Peter was quiet for several seconds and Heather opened her eyes. He looked confused. "No?"
"Oh sure you do," She said, leaning forward. "I was like, I don't know, maybe four? We rented a cabin on the beach, and I spent the whole day swimming and making sandcastles with you and mom. She thought you had put sunscreen on me, you thought she had done it, and by the end of the day I was red as a fire hydrant. That night mom coated me in aloe vera gel across my whole body, and I slept on a bunch of towels on the bed."
Peter shifted his eyes to the side. "Oh, right. Yeah, I remember now."
She frowned at him. He's lying. He doesn't remember at all. Why would he not remember that? "Anyway," she continued after a moment, deciding to let it go, "The spider-sense feels exactly like the aloe vera – like cold and tingly all over my body. Is that how it's supposed to feel?"
He seemed to think about it for a moment. "Sort of. For me, it's a vibration I feel down my spine. Like a jolt of electricity when you touch a live wire, but somehow it's not painful."
"I wonder why it's different?" She mused, tilting her head back once more to watch the clouds roll by for a second.
"Did you have any other questions?"
"About my powers, or life, the universe, and everything?"
"You are such a smartass."
"It's one of my many talents. I dunno, I guess like… what kind of limits do we have? Strength and stamina, that stuff? I've only done some limited testing. I know I can lift at least seven hundred pounds without really any effort, but I know I've seen you pick up cars."
"Some cars," he corrected, lifting a finger. "It's a struggle if it's bigger than a minivan. I certainly can't hold an entire bus. It took some training to get there though. With cars it's more about the angle you pick it up at than the weight itself. Surprisingly cars weren't built to be lifted by hand, so you have to make sure you have a good grip or you'll just rip the bumper off. Don't worry kid, we'll work up to throwing cars, after we make sure you can help an old lady across the street."
"Is that a 'friendly neighborhood Spiderman' kind of thing? It's been awhile since I've seen you help someone get a cat from a tree," she couldn't hide her smirk.
"I guess the cats have gotten smarter," he said dryly. "Everyone has to start small, kid. Like I said, we'll work you up to villains you'll need to throw cars at."
Heather wanted to say something about how Iris needed her murder solved now, regardless of Black Widow's ability to chuck cars around, but she didn't get the chance. Peter's phone beeped and he pulled it from his pocket. He frowned thoughtfully at the screen.
"Scratch that. Grab your suit kid, we're taking a field trip."
"When you said 'taking a field trip', this isn't quite what I had in mind," Heather shouted over the sounds of pandemonium. She and her dad had swung uptown to find Electro and Scorpion in the midst of robbing an armored bank truck, civilians screaming and scattering in terror. Electro had used his electric powers to melt the tires to the pavement, while Scorpion was spraying acid at the back doors to open them. The two security officers were still in the truck, realizing the safest place to be was behind bulletproof glass and reinforced steel in the cab, and Heather could hardly blame them.
"You wanted field experience, right? Welcome to my life, kid," Spiderman gestured at the two supervillains, his other hand gripping the glass of the building he and Black Widow were hanging from.
"So, plan?" She asked, braid whipping in the wind as she peered down. Her new goggles showed that the door of the truck was at seventy percent integrity and dropping. They'll have it open in a few minutes, she thought.
Spiderman snapped his fingers at her, "I'll draw their fire and take them out, you get any civilians still in the area out of harm's way. We'll have this wrapped up in no time."
Black Widow frowned at him but nodded. "You're the boss. Damage control it is."
She shot off a line and arced around the corner, out of sight of the supervillains. Once back on the pavement, she scanned the street for anyone hiding from the danger. She could hear her dad throwing bad puns and insults, along with the sounds of fighting, but as much as she wanted to help she focused on her assigned task. She found a businessman hiding on the floor of a cab, and she pulled open the door, reaching in a hand to help him to his feet.
The man hesitated and she gave him her best friendly grin. "C'mon, I'm a lot less scary than those guys. Let's get you out of here."
He nodded, acknowledging she had a point and let her help him climb out of the cab. "Stay low and take the side street to get out of here," she advised, glancing quickly at the fight to make sure her dad was still in one piece before refocusing.
"Thanks," the man said before taking off.
BW darted across the street, weaving between abandoned idling cars, eyes alert for more hiding New Yorkers. She found a mom huddling behind a car with her two kids, and she escorted them out of the danger zone as quickly as she could before returning to her search. The streets were basically empty at that point, or so it seemed until she found three teens about the same age as her. They were recording the fight with their phones (and probably live streaming it) from the doorway of a bodega.
"Dudes, I know you want those clicks, but you guys have to go," Black Widow whispered, startling them.
Two Asian boys and a black girl blinked at her, and while the boys dropped their phones, the girl trained her camera on Heather. "Who're you?" She asked as her friends grabbed their backpacks.
"Your friendly neighborhood Black Widow," Heather said dryly. "C'mon guys, it's not safe here. Let's get you -" Her spider-sense suddenly spiked. "Look out!" Whipping around, she barely had time to register a car flying towards them before she was leaping across an abandoned cab, planting her feet and bracing herself to catch it.
She had just enough time to think, this is probably a bad idea, before two thousand pounds slammed into her. Metal screeched, glass shattered, someone was screaming. She only realized later it was her.
The force of the impact pushed her into the cab doors, metal bending around her body like a cocoon as the trunk of the sedan compacted like an accordion. For a moment, everything froze as she dug her heels into the concrete, holding the car aloft and trying not to think about how her muscles felt like jello. Then gravity came back and she let it help her drop the car onto the road. She leaned over the crumpled trunk, exhausted for a moment as her brain caught up with her shaking muscles.
"Whoo!" Someone shouted from behind her. She lifted her head up and turned it towards the sound, finding the girl still had her phone out. "That was so wicked!"
Widow gave a shaky thumbs up, then slowly climbed out of the metal cocoon. "L-Like I said," She took a breath to steady her racing heart. "Really dangerous. You guys need to go!"
"We're going," One of the boys said, tugging at his friend's elbow. The other boy was already running down the street. The girl still seemed rooted to the spot until her friend gave another more forceful yank.
"Okay, okay," she said, reluctantly putting her phone in her pocket and taking her bag from him. "Thanks, Black Widow!" She called over her shoulder as she was jogging after the boys.
Widow gave a wave then scanned the street for more people from the roof of the cab, but she couldn't see anyone else crazy enough to stick around. Another terrific crash caught her attention and she saw that Electro had launched another car at Spiderman, which he dodged just in time. The car took out a mailbox and she winced, watching as letters exploded everywhere, littering the street. Someone is not getting their mail on time today, she thought.
Wait, if Electro is throwing cars like the world's worst bouncy balls, what's Scorpion doing? She swung her gaze down to the armored truck, alarmed when she saw Scorpion was still pouring acid onto the back doors from his tail. She tapped her goggles and the display told her the integrity of the doors was down to thirty percent. Shit, okay we need a new plan, she shot off a line and leaped up, swinging across the damaged city street before landing on the roof of the truck.
"Did you fill out a withdrawal slip, sir?" She quipped as she rolled into a handstand, springing back and kicking her feet into the villain's face. Scorpion cried out in pain, clutching his face as she landed behind him.
She swung her leg out in a low roundhouse kick, hoping to knock the man off his feet, but he was faster than she'd anticipated. His tail whipped around behind her, shoving her off balance and into the side of a van. Dizzy, she stepped back from the van only for Scorpion to wrap his tail around her torso, pinning her arms and squeezing her tight.
Widow immediately began struggling for breath from the vice grip. She kicked her legs and strained with all her enhanced strength to loosen his grip as he held her above him, glaring at her.
"Ohh looky here, Spiderman has a new friend! I wasn't expecting someone so young… or pretty," Scorpion growled, grinning at her as he squeezed his tail impossibly tighter.
"I'm not looking to be anybody's main squeeze right now," Black Widow retorted with her limited breath. She turned her wrist and flicked her hand, shooting a ball of thick webbing directly at his face. Caught by surprise as the webbing spread across his eyes, nose and mouth, Scorpion dropped her and she rolled under several cars to get away.
Panting on the asphalt, she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to collect her scattered, panicky thoughts.
"Kid!"
She opened her eyes and got to her feet quickly. Spiderman had webbed a dazed Electro to a lamp pole before flipping over to her. "You good?"
"Scorpion's got quite the crush on me," She grumbled, rubbing her ribs which were definitely bruised if not cracked.
"He does that. I told you to do damage control." She knew he was glaring at her. She decided to pretend she didn't know.
"Street's clear. We need to hurry and take them down before they get the truck open. There's no telling how much cash is in there," She pointed at the truck just as Scorpion managed to shred her webbing with a roar of anger.
"What happened to 'you're the boss'?" He folded his arms, and she very much wanted to scream in frustration.
"Well, boss," she said slowly, voice dripping with sarcasm. "What do you suggest we do?"
Spiderman seemed to think this over for a moment, and she could see over his shoulder that Electro was coming to his senses. "How about we switch dance partners?"
"Ready when you are," Widow said, watching Electro break out of the webbing, angry sparks flying in every direction. "Any advice?"
"Electricity hurts, so… don't get hit?" He offered with a shrug.
"You are the worst mentor ever," She growled, rolling her eyes as she ran towards her opponent. Jumping from car to car, she leaped into the air, spun tightly and kicked out at the electric villain's head. The hit knocked him down, but she knew he was not out. The rubber soles of her shoes had grounded her somewhat against his voltage. Even so, she'd felt a jolt run up her legs, rattling her teeth. As she landed on the side of a building, the air around her was practically crackling with electricity and she could feel the hair of her arms standing on end.
"So the rumors were true," Electro said in a surprisingly deep voice. "The bug took on a brat."
"Technically, we're arachnids," Widow said, using her webbing to pull herself out of the way as he shot an arc of electricity towards her. "But let's not get semantic, right?"
"Just as annoying as him too," He grumbled, pulling electricity from the city grid into a ball in his hands. Around them, lights and electronics sparked and flickered.
"Someone's gotta bring the jokes. You guys aren't exactly a barrel of laughs," She said, somersaulting in mid air to avoid the large ball of electricity he chucked at her. She heard it impact the building behind her, a sea of sparks raining onto the street below.
"What are you two planning on doing with all that cash, anyway?" Widow wasn't really expecting an answer, she was just trying to keep him focused on her and lead him further away from his partner. "Is there a new iPhone dropping this week and I missed the memo?"
Electro smirked at her but didn't answer. He's smarter than he looks then, BW thought, swinging further away from Spiderman's fight with Scorpion. She was getting quite desperate to think of a plan which didn't end in her getting barbecued. I really don't want to test just how many volts it takes to kill me… or even how many it takes to do serious damage. Shaking the thought from her head, she scanned the street before her eyes landed on a fire hydrant and an idea came to her. Surely it's not that simple?
Her spider-sense screamed at her to move – now!
Letting her webline go, she used her built up momentum, pulled in her arms and spun away from where she felt the danger coming. Time seemed to slow as she saw the arc of electricity that had been aimed for her head barely pass by her. Too close, too close, too close! She thought, landing on a truck and crouching low to make herself a smaller target. That was way too close. Okay, let's finish this now before I get turned into a crispy critter.
"Yo, is that all you got!" Black Widow shouted, heart hammering in her chest. "You couldn't hit the Empire State Building!" She taunted, then immediately leapt to the side as he fired at the truck.
Electro growled and fired off shot after shot, Widow dodging with a series of backflips and handsprings. She could see he was tiring, she just needed to keep this up long enough to… "Ahh!"
Widow screamed as electricity coursed through her body, the force slamming her into the back window of a cab. Glass pieces stabbed into her back as her body convulsed for several long, painful seconds. "Shit," she hissed through clenched teeth, slowly rolling away from the broken window and laying on her stomach across the trunk.
"You don't look so good, kid," Electro said smiling as he slowly approached her, conjuring a new ball of electricity. "Let's put you out of your misery."
"Funny," she said through gritted teeth, "I was thinking the same thing." She shot a webline at the fire hydrant which Electro was now conveniently standing right across from and yanked hard. The hydrant cap ripped off and a geyser of water gushed out, pushing the villain into the concrete wall of the building across the street.
As the man screamed in agony, Widow finally let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She let her body go limp until she heard Electro go unconscious. Slowly sliding off the trunk and onto her feet, she stumbled a little and had to hold onto the car for support.
"Widow!" Spiderman called, and she looked up. He jogged up to her, and she could see Scorpion was unconscious in a net hanging from a flagpole. "You okay?" He asked and the concern lacing his voice took away some of her frustration with him.
"We need to stop meeting like this," She joked, trying not to visibly lean on the car even though it felt like it was the only thing that was holding her up.
"Let me see," He said, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder as he examined the damage to her back.
"Is it bad?" She asked. She felt his fingers prodding at the shards of glass sticking out of her back, and her costume felt vaguely wet but weirdly she didn't feel much. She'd felt more pain from the electricity than the impact with the glass.
"I think it looks worse than it is," He said, sighing. She heard the 'fwip' of his webbing and felt it covering her back in a fine mist. "I'm going to cover this so we can keep it clean until we can get it looked at."
"Where?" She asked quietly, leaning against the car more fully. She was disassociating, she knew this, but she couldn't seem to stay focused.
"Widow, hey! C'mon kid, stay with me," Spiderman gave her arm a hard shake.
"Right, right," She swallowed against the feeling of cotton in her mouth. "I'm here. I'm here," She tried to stand up straighter only to fall into his arms. "Shit, sorry. My head really hurts, Dad," she murmured.
"We'll talk about getting a swear jar later when you're not falling over," He leaned over and scooped her up onto his hip like she was a little kid. She wanted to whine at him that she didn't need him to carry her, but her head really did hurt. The thought of trying to websling right now made her feel like vomiting.
"Sorry Dad," she said, leaning her forehead against his shoulder and closing her eyes.
"Kid, ixnay on the ecretsay identitiesyay," He advised as he swung them up and away just as the cops appeared on the scene to take care of the two villains.
"What the fuck does that mean?" She muttered.
"New ground rule, when we're in the field, I'm Spiderman. Not 'dad'. Clear?"
"Oh. Yeah, got it."
"We meet again, miss Widow," Dr. Banner said as he walked into the med room at Avengers Tower.
Heather gave a limp wave from the exam table she was laying across. "Sup, Dr. Banner? Sorry about getting blood all over the lab – ow!" She frowned, trying to look over her shoulder at where Tony Stark was pulling glass from her back. "Can you be a little more careful?"
"You shouldn't be able to feel anything with how much local anesthesia we've used," Tony said, bemused. She could see he was wearing gloves speckled with blood, and held an alarming large piece of glass with a pair of tweezers.
"I told you Tony, our metabolism is much faster than even Cap's. We burn through medication like kindling if it's not strong enough. Come on kid, you don't want to watch that." Spiderman was sitting on a stool in front of her, and he gently pulled Heather's head back towards him.
"Why do I still feel loopy if I've already burned through the pain meds?" Heather asked, squeezing her dad's hand tightly when she felt Tony pull another chunk from her back.
"Sometimes the side effects take longer to work through our body than the meds themselves," Peter shrugged.
Why did he leave his mask on? Everyone here knows who he is, right? Heather thought, frowning. She understood why her dad told her to leave hers on, even if she trusted everyone in this building to literally save her life; she was still a minor and she liked being anonymous.
"You still with me, kid?" He asked, poking her nose.
She blinked and couldn't stop the giggle that escaped her. The giggle turned into a hiss as Tony pulled what had to be a very impressive glass piece out. "Shit," she growled.
"Language," Bruce said from the computer, and Tony snorted behind her.
"Have you ever been on Twitter? The kid is practically rated G in comparison," the mechanic said, punctuating his statement by dropping the glass piece into a metal tray.
"Yeah, no I avoid Twitter for… obvious reasons," Bruce replied dryly, making Heather giggle again.
"If this is what she's like on pain meds, I would love to see this kid drunk," Tony said with a chuckle.
"I am so much fun drunk," Heather confessed, then flushed when her dad just facepalmed.
"Swear jar and an alarm on your window, kid," He said only loud enough that she could hear.
"Alright webby jr, I need to start stitching these up. It's probably going to hurt worse than it has up to now, but I need you to be still, okay?" Tony got up to get a fresh pair of gloves and the supplies he needed. "By the way, is there a reason you didn't take her to the only actual medical doctor on the roster? Even with his nerve damage, Strange could have fixed her up a lot better than I can."
"There's an avenger with a medical license?" Heather asked at the same time that Peter answered, "We're not on speaking terms right now… or ever. It's a long story."
"What did you do to piss Strange off?" Bruce asked, typing at something on his laptop.
"Let's just say he and I had a difference of opinion."
Heather frowned at that, picking at the IV in her arm. She wanted to ask more about it, but something told her Peter wouldn't say anything else in front of the others, and she was starting to feel exhaustion creep in, replacing the adrenaline from that afternoon. Her back was to the windows, but she could tell from the light streaming into the room casting long shadows that it was evening now. "Could you give me something else before he starts poking at me with a needle?" She asked quietly, and was surprised when her dad caressed her cheek gently, like he used to when she was little and sick.
"Sure kid. Let me just dig through the cabinet and see what they've got on hand. They've had to bandage me up before, so there should be something stronger than the morphine he gave you to start. Might make you more tired though."
"That's alright. Sleep sounds pretty good right now," She confessed, a little embarrassed. On the one hand, she hated how needy she felt. She hadn't needed her dad to take care of her for a long time now, she normally even brushed off her mom when she was sick. But on the other hand, there was something about the mixture of adrenaline, corticotropin, and morphine in her body – not to mention realizing just how badly things could have gone today – that made her feel young and vulnerable.
If I'd gotten hit by Electro more than once, or if the glass from the cab had hit the wrong spot… She tried to mentally shake the thoughts away. There was no point fixating on them now.
"You think you can handle school tomorrow?" He asked as he got up to dig through a metal and glass cabinet.
"If I heal up as fast as I did from that bullet wound, probably. Maybe someone should write me a note for gym class though," She raised an eyebrow at him and he shot her a look over his shoulder.
"I wouldn't count on it," He said shortly and she groaned.
AN: Listen, I'm not going to lie, I kind of hate this chapter. But I am through procrastinating on a story that has been on hiatus for five years. It's just going to have to be *sings off key* good enough... Anyway, hope you've all had a lovely August. Summer is almost over, and for some of you I know you're back in school already. I know it sucks now, but focus on the things you love and push through the stuff that isn't fun - school is worth it in the end, I promise (though I will tell you, I have never once used Algebra outside of college so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯). Be safe everyone and have a lovely day!