Chapter 15

There were more than a dozen cars parked outside of Liz Toomes' house.

With Tony not at home since he went off to a different country for some sort of party, Salem took the Lamborghini Centenario Roadster again since Tony couldn't tell her she couldn't. Her jeep was sitting in the garage, half taken apart and all over the place as she realised the new pieces hadn't come yet.

MJ sat in the passenger seat, impressed with Salem's driving as she parked and got out. They both brushed themselves off before going into the house, passing most of the people with an air of indifference.

"This place is nice," MJ muttered.

Salem shrugged. "Seen better."

"You probably live in better with a hundred servants and three butlers and a maid for each room," MJ teased.

"Nah, just me and my dad. Sometimes my GodFather comes around if he needs to crash because of a meeting or whatever,"

"Cool. Is it high tech or something?"

"One of the older Stark residences. It had to be refurbished when we moved back in. Hadn't been used in a couple of decades,"

"Yikes, what happened?"

"Fuck if I know. Dad didn't like the place and so we didn't live there until recently,"

"Toast?" MJ said, buttering a piece for herself from the kitchen. "I like mine with butter."

"Butter and strawberry jam for me then," Salem said, standing in the kitchen with her.

"Salem!" Liz Toomes greeted her, a red solo cup in her hand. "It's so good to finally meet you officially. I saw what you did with Flash, I think he deserved it. So, how are you?"

Salem blinked at the onslaught of questions and statements, smiling when she caught up. "I'm good, thanks. With being new to the school, I thought it best that I come. What better way to get to know new people than a party?"

Something crashed in the background, taking Liz's attention away as she excused herself again.

Salem's smile dropped again.

MJ snorted. "You really do put on a mask."

"Smiling reassures people everything is alright," Salem heard the little announcement Flash made about Peter and Ned and something about Spiderman. She excused herself. "I'm gonna go socialise, you've got my number in case you want a lift back."

"Nah, it's alright, I'll call one of my parents if I need a lift back home," MJ waved a hand, chopping on the toast before walking away. "Have fun with the losers."

)()()(

Salem walked outside, watching as Peter Parker took off his outer clothes to reveal the Spiderman suit underneath.

"Are you kidding me, Parker?" Salem wanted to scream but didn't want to bring attention to them outside.

"What?" He said, turning to her. "You're not supposed to be here. Why are you here?"

"I'm stopping you from doing something stupid," She said. "Put your clothes on and get inside. Just because your pride is bruised does not mean you get to flaunt your apparent 'friendship' with Spiderman to impress a girl."

"I'm not tryna impress her, I just—"

"Want her to notice you? That's called trying to impress her." She pinched the bridge of her nose as she slid off her sunglasses. "I know I'm not in charge of you, so this is some friendly advice. Impressing people doesn't mean you have their respect. Having people like you doesn't mean anything if they don't have any respect for you."

Peter sighed. "But I want her to like me."

"No, she likes Spiderman. You knowing him won't make her like you, she'll go through you to him, even if she doesn't know you are the same people."

Peter bristled just as the hair on Salem's skin prickled.

He looked at her. "Did you feel that?"

"Yeah," She nodded, beginning to chew the inside of her lip as she thought. "The Avengers are out of the country. Shit."

"I can check it out!" He said, finished his suiting up by putting on his mask. "I wouldn't be the Friendly Neighbourhood Spiderman if I didn't."

He saluted before swinging away.

)()()(

Salem cringed when she saw that her father was calling, answering and putting her sunglasses on.

"Peter found some sort of energy power source of Chitauri origin, I need you to get it back from him before he messes with it," Tony said. "Are you at a party?"

"You're at a party too, Dad," Salem said in Italian so people around her wouldn't understand. "Yeah, I'll get it before he can mess with it. What do you want me to do with it?"

"You don't mess with it either. If you can, disable it until I get home," He said. "I'll be home in a couple days. You alright to be left alone for that time?"

"You sent me to boarding school for the last, I don't know how many years. I'll be fine alone."

"Okay. Happy's at the tower if you need him, he's tracking Parker and making sure he stays local. Can you also keep an eye on him too? More eyes on that kid the better."

Care about a random kid more than your own daughter, nice.

"Yeah, of course," She said. "FRIDAY sent me the recordings from his suit. She'll inform me if anything is a miss and I can sort it out."

"Okay, good. Look, I gotta go. See you in a couple days,"

"See ya,"

)()()(

The next day was the detention.

She had it with Flash Thompson for an hour, having to listen to Captain America speak about detentions and right and wrong.

Salem took one look at the video and laughed, getting a glare from the teacher and look to be quiet.

"So… You got detention. You screwed up. You know what you did was wrong. The question is, how are you gonna make things right? Maybe you were trying to be cool. But take it from a guy who's been frozen for sixty-five years, the only way to really be cool is to follow the rules. We all know what's right. We all know what's wrong…"

She couldn't watch this anymore. She recorded part of the thing and sent it to Bucky since she had his number in case anything was wrong.

He found it hilarious too, though with him forwarding the video along to Steve, Salem's watch ringing with an incoming call from said Avenger.

"Are you going to take that?" The teacher said, looking over his glasses at her.

"I don't think I want to."

"Who could it be?" Flash asked, snappy.

Salem snapped her fingers before pointing to the portable TV. "That guy."

Flash scoffed. "As if Captain America of all people would call you."

"Doesn't matter if you believe me or not," She said, answering the call and leaving the classroom as she put her buds in. "Sup, Capsicle."

"Salem, why are you in detention?" He asked in his serious voice. "Bucky just sent me a video of you recording the detention Video I made a couple of years ago."

"A boy in my class grabbed my wrist to look at my bracelet since he saw me use my earbuds with it," She grinned. "I… reacted. I had a flashback and had… a mishap."

"What did you do to him?"

She sighed. "I knew he wasn't a threat but I reacted. All I did was put him on his back to neutralise the threat. I didn't hurt but I did scare him a bit. I'm in detention because of it."

"You felt threatened and reacted, that's understandable. Bucky had similar problems at first. He put Nat on the floor because she didn't announce herself before touching him, she sprained her wrist." He sounded a little amused and sad by this. "Are you okay now though?"

"Had a panic attack afterwards but I'm fine," She said, catching sight of Peter and Ned. "Look, I need to go. Talk later, Cap."

"No, you shoul—"

She ended it before quickly following after them.

)()()(

Salem grabbed them by the straps of their backpacks, dragging both boys into another corridor with her.

She leaned between them as they gasped as they were tugged back. "That glowy thingy is alien technology and you shouldn't be messing with it. Peter, I bet those men that were walking are the same ones from last night?"

"You know?" Ned turned to her, eyes wide before turning back to Peter. "She knows? Since when?"

"I've known for ages," Salem said. "Stark here. LILITH, get me an idea of their location."

"They walked down another hallway," LILITH said quietly.

"You two stay," Peter said, looking back at the men. "I need to follow them. Maybe they can lead me to the guy that dropped me in the lake?"

Then, Ned harshly whispered, "Peter!"

"Stay!" And Peter was off to follow them down the hall.

"Fuck. You stay, I'll follow him."

Ned grabbed her arm, watching as she twitched and gave him a harsh glare which made him drop the hand. "Look, I'm his best friend."

"And you're a normal human. You get injured and you're done. Just stay here and I'll make sure he's fine," Salem slinked down the hall, following Peter and giving Ned a glance that said to stay there.

Salem concentrated, using whatever energy she had and made herself invisible as she followed. The two men were rummaging throughout the classroom, dissatisfied because they couldn't find what they were looking for.

"Can you imagine what the boss would say if he knew where we were?" One said.

The other looked at the thing in his hand. "It's saying there was an energy pulse right here."

" There's no sign of the weapon. And even if it was here, now it's gone."

"So are we."

Salem watched as they approached the table Peter was under, one had his hand on the gun on his belt as Salem felt her instinct flare up with the present danger. Both men left the room, only after Peter shot a robotic spider at one of the men's shoes.

A tracker.

She knew because she helped design it before she was kidnapped.

)()()(

Ned and Peter sat on Peter's bed as Salem sat at his desk, rubbing at her forehead as they explained how Ned found out.

"So you're not human?" Ned asked, a wild look of excitement over his face. "At all?"

"Technically I'm human and yet not. I can do stuff, I can do whatever I want if I put enough energy into it," She said.

"So you're superhuman?"

"Something like that. So what's your plan with this?" She gestured to the holographic map of where the power source thing was. "And you, little spider, need to stop messing with the settings of the suit."

Peter looked sheepish. "How'd you know that?"

"I just do,"

"Okay…" Ned said. "Since they're in Maryland, and the Academic Decathlon is in D.C, couldn't Peter like, swing on over and sort it out? You can probably help?"

Salem clicked her tongue piercing against her teeth, gathering the tip between her teeth as she thought. "I need to get the damn power thing before my dad gets home, and since you won't give it to me."

"So you'll help?" Peter said.

"I kinda have to, don't I?" She sighed. "You need to stop with this Avenger stuff, Peter. You didn't sign the Accords so you don't have any obligation to do this stuff."

"You read the Accords?" Ned asked.

"Of course, but I haven't read the revised version yet. I'll do it tonight,"

"Under the new Accords, I'm allowed to work under a person who has signed them. So what I do is legal," Peter said.

"Fair enough then," She grabbed her bag. "I'm out. See ya eventually."

)()()(

"So what's your plan, delinquent?" Bucky said as he sat on a stool a couple of feet away from where Salem worked in the workshop of the compound. He was one-armed as Salem had the metal one complete scrapped since she saw the effects it had on him.

"I'll figure it out as we go," She said, soldering a wire inside the new and improved arm. It was a beautiful black vibranium she had requested from Shuri and T'Challa, one with a blue inside that would show stop the wires from eroding too quickly with use.

"Whatcha got in mind? I can almost hear the cogs turning in that pretty little, Cruella-like head of yours,"

She smirked, jabbing the solder in the air towards him. "Watch it, I'm sorting this new arm out for you."

"I know. Don't piss the mechanic off while they're with your new limb." He lifted up his hand in surrender before dropping it. "Are you going to use your gloves? You need a power source if you're gonna be superhero-ing around."

That made her pause.

"Fuck."

"Language, missy,"

"Bite me, Barney," She dragged her hands down her face, groaning in disbelief at her stupidity. "How could I forget I need fuel? I've still not even started to do anything with the gloves and I have to wear them in a few days."

"You could ask Wanda to get rid of the trigger for them?"

Salem laughed.

"Okay, understandable," Bucky laughed too. "I wouldn't let her mess with my mind either. Been messed with enough. How have the nightmares been?"

"Horrible," She sighed. "I've not been getting enough sleep because of them. Having to go to school because, as my dad says, it will keep me out of trouble, isn't helping."

"You're turning sixteen in a couple of weeks, aren't you?" Bucky said. "Why can't you just do your GED now?

"Dad said no,"

"Said the man who was at MIT at your age," He huffed. "Right. Finish the arm out and you can help me test it."

"How would we test it?" Salem said, confused by his sudden enthusiasm. "To see how it works, you would need to be in a… fight. You want to fight me? I'm gonna lose!"

"Not if you use your powers," Bucky grinned, half smirking at the same time. "Suddenly exposure to your gloves will help condition you quicker. If you know you can use your gloves while fighting, you can rely on them without fearing them."

"And if I get triggered?"

"I'll be there to help. LILITH will inform me if you get close so we can try and keep pushing you until you don't get trigger by the gloves,"

Salem looked down at the metal arm on the table, closing it up quickly as she was finished. "You don't have to help me, you know. I don't need your pity."

He used his flesh hand to lift her chin, making her look up at him. "You don't have my pity, Salem. You have been through too much at your young age. And you remind me of Stevie before he had the serum."

"So I remind you of a kitten with its claws out?"

He bopped her on the nose as he took his new arm, attaching it with her help. When he moved it too much one way, she slapped his flesh hand away and guided it into the proper position.

Bucky swung his arm around, getting the hang of it quickly. He ruffled her hair with his metal arm, letting her wack that one when she tried to get him to stop.

"Less kitten and more lion cub ready to bite me," He said, clenching both hands to check the abilities quickly. "Right. Up you go. Get suited up and we can go test this new thing out."

"Suited up?"

"If you're gonna fight in one outfit, you should train in it too," He gently pushed her off the stool, making sure to give her enough time to jump off it before she could fall. "Off you trot."

She gave him a face, flicking the medallion on her necklace. Within seconds the purple, almost black suit appeared on her.

"Off you trot, sergeant," She grinned. "You're taking ages."

)()()(

Bucky held her gloves out in front of him, watching as Salem made a face at them and crossed her arms so her hands were hidden.

He wore his usual outfit of dark trousers, shirt and dark blue jacket without the left arm because it would impede his movements.

"Come on, delinquent. You're gonna have to put them on eventually," He said, after another minute of silence. He took off his own glove that sat on his right hand, putting one of Salem's on and watched as it stretched to fit him. "I've got one on, and now you put on the other. Since they're connected, you'll know you're not the only one in pain."

She sucked her teeth, before making another face and sighing. She grabbed the glove, putting it on her left hand and frowning at it as anxiety pulled at her gut. Her instincts didn't say that this wasn't a threat, a danger to her so she could calm down a little.

"Take a minute," Bucky said, watching her carefully as his training took over. He jutted his right foot back, getting into an attack position as Salem nodded.

"Let's begin."

)()()(

Bucky sat with an icepack on his head, half glaring at Salem.

"I said I was sorry!"

"You headbutted me!" He said, looking at the ice pack in disbelief. "And it hurt. A lot!"

She snickered. "You shouldn't have made a comment about my hair then."

"You look like Cruella!"

"And you deserved that headbutt!"

This time Bucky laughed. "True. You didn't have a panic attack though, or a flashback, or an episode. You can wear the gloves for as long as you need them, but when you realise you have them on, you panic. You needed a distraction."

She pouted before it dropped. "Wanna go again?"

"Of course. Someone needs to teach the delinquent better moves."

)()()(

"BOOYAH, BITCHES!" Salem screamed as she flipped Bucky onto his back.

"Language!" Steve's voice echoed across the training room, making both former HYDRA captives cringe. "What are you two doing?"

"Training?" Bucky tried.

"Who's training who?" Natasha laughed as she came in, seeing Bucky on the ground with Salem still standing. "She's kicking your ass, Barnes."

"Nah, I'm just going soft on her," He said as he stood up.

Salem gave him a look. "Wanna test that theory?"

"No."

Natasha snorted. "Good answer. Wanna try me, Salem? See if your teaching is up to scratch?"

Salem looked excited at that, beyond happy as she grinned. "No weapons, no powers."

"Fair and square," Natasha walked over and got into position.

Bucky walked over to Steve, getting his phone out. He leaned in to whisper, "I'm recording this and sending it to Tony."

Steve nodded as they watched. "He's not going to react well."

"He's gonna be proud of his daughter though,"

"Her fighting, not so much," Steve whispered back. "He's still paranoid about her safety and her doing superhero stuff isn't going to help."

…

"And she's on the floor!" Clint yelled as he watched Salem be thrown onto the ground.

Salem grunted as she landed on her front.

"Here," Natasha tried to help her up, giving her a hand but Salem used her strength and unbalanced her. Natasha landed on her front too, right next to Salem as the two laughed.

"I hate spiders," Salem said.

"I hate snakes."

They laughed as the night went on and Salem spent the night at the compound since it was far too late for her to drive.