Here's the first chapter of Siren Meets Doctor Strange! This one's on the short side, but I'm hoping to move back to longer chapters once I get things in motion.
BOOK II
Siren Meets Doctor Strange!
Chapter One
*Six Months after Siberia*
Temperance Ward, true to her nature, was in way over her head.
"Alright, thank you, Mr. Daniels," Mrs. Embry said, clapping her hands to signal that the class should follow suit, "I've always wondered about a day in the life of a garbage collector."
Temperance shifted uncomfortably in her seat, straightening her blazer. Teenagers made her nervous. Most of the students in the classroom had already turned to look at her in anticipation.
"Next, we have a special guest filling in for May Parker - Temperance Ward, of Stark Industries, is here with Peter Parker to share about her work! Let's all give her a hand!" Mrs. Embry said, extending a hand in Temp's direction to signal her to come to the front. Temperance made her way through the desks to the front of the room and smiled at all the teenagers and parents who stared at her with stupefied faces.
"Hello," Temperance began, "Like Mrs. Embry said, I'm Temperance Ward, and I have been working for Stark Industries for about seven years now. I started as an intern at AccuTech and worked my way up - right now I am the head of Scholarship and Education Funds. Basically, I look for opportunities to fund STEM projects for high school and college students who show extra promise."
Temperance shot a glance at Peter, who, though obviously nervous, gave her a subtle thumbs up. He had asked her to come to career day about a month ago, as May was temporarily between jobs. She had been averse to the idea, knowing that Peter's classmates would ask her all sorts of uncomfortable questions if given the chance, but Tony had talked her into it.
He looks up to you, Tony had guilt-tripped her, Besides, his classmates tease him about his internship. Is it too much to ask for you to help his reputation a little bit?
Temp still hated the idea, but had resolved to do it for Peter, to whom she'd grown much closer over the last several months. Peter had proven to be a more difficult ward than she'd anticipated, and after the fiasco with Toomes and his crew, she was eager to do whatever it took to give him a normal life. She had made a deal with him - if he could stay out of trouble for a full month, she would represent him at career day in May's place. He'd held up his end of the bargain, and now it was her turn.
Temperance spoke for her allotted five minutes about the kind of work she did, soliciting applications for relevant scholarships and discussing the importance of non-profit work and philanthropy.
"Thank you," Mrs. Embry facilitated, standing again, "are there any questions for Ms. Ward?"
Every hand except for Peter's went up, and Temperance bit her lip, fidgeting. Even a couple of the parents had raised their hands. This was the part she had not been looking forward to. She knew that Peter's class would be relatively uninterested in the non-profit part of her job. Mrs. Embry gave her an encouraging look, and she cleared her throat.
"Alright," she said, pointing to a blonde girl in the front row, "go ahead."
"What would you say is your favorite part of your job?" She asked. Temperance gave a friendly nod, thankful for the question.
"I would have to say that meeting with students is my favorite part," she replied honestly, "It's fun to hear all of the original ideas everyone has for research. The rest is basically paperwork."
There was a small laugh of acknowledgment among the crowd before everyone's hands shot back into the air. Temp gestured to another student.
"How close would you say the Avengers are?" The boy asked. When Temp hesitated, he continued "Like, before? Did you all live together? Was it just work, or were you friends, too?"
"Jake, Ms. Ward is here to talk about her current job," Mrs. Embry reminded him.
"Oh, it's alright," Temperance assured her, remembering what Tony had said about how this would help Peter get along well at school, "yes, we're all friends. When you spend time with your co-workers, you grow pretty close. Yes?" She continued, pointing to another student.
"When you control a person," The boy asked, "Do you have to speak, or can you just do it with your mind?"
"Uh, well," Temperance replied, "I don't really have much experience with that, because I don't use it, but I'm not telepathic, so..."
She trailed off and called on someone else to signify that it was time to move on. The girl she called on gave her a casual, tight-lipped smile and leaned forward on her elbows, "What did Stark Industries do to help those who are shelter and food insecure after a major conflict?"
Temperance took a moment to muse that this one had to be MJ, and she was thankful for the softball question that brought them around to something she didn't mind talking about. Peter had begun mentioning MJ more and more, and Temperance could see why. She took a minute to explain The Department of Damage Control and everything Stark Industries had done to help clean up the mess that was often left in the Avengers' wake. She got through another two or three uncomfortable questions before the bell rang. Peter slid out of his seat and was at her side in a moment, ushering her out the door before any of his classmates could bother her for a selfie.
"See, that wasn't so bad, huh?" He said as they weaved through the hallways, ignoring the stares. One of the good things about living in New York City was that most people didn't care to see a celebrity on the streets - she was often stared at, but people usually kept their distance. That wasn't the vibe at Midtown High School.
"You owe me," Temp said.
"No, I stayed out of trouble, remember? I earned it," He reminded her with one of his playful little smiles. Ned approached them, looking as excited as he always did.
"Ms. Ward, I can't believe you're here! This is so great!"
"Hi, Ned," Temp greeted with a friendly smile. She liked Ned Leeds - he was a good, grounding influence in Peter's life and could be trusted. Ned walked along with them as Peter grabbed some things from his locker, and they exited the school. They said their goodbyes after Ned and Peter made plans to meet later that evening.
"Temp, I'm gonna just get in a quick workout-" he began, but Temp stopped short, turning to face him. A 'workout' meant that he wanted to go swinging around the city and find someone to help.
"No, no, no. I told May I would take you to the lab today to put in a couple hours of work," she said. After May had learned about Peter's extracurriculars, things had become so much simpler. Now she could communicate freely with May about Peter, unlike the first couple months of his internship, when everything had been hush-hush. It had been May's idea for Peter to move forward with real research as a condition of his being Spider-Man. Around the time May found out, Peter had also started having trouble paying attention in class and had begun to skip school. May, Temp, and Tony were all deeply invested in Peter making the most of his intelligence and getting into a good university. Peter sighed and followed her to the street.
"Where is Happy?" Temperance murmured, checking her watch and glancing around.
"How about I just take us?" Peter suggested with a glint in his eye.
"You know we can't do that," Temp said. She couldn't be spotted with Peter while he was in his suit - people were used to seeing her with Peter, and it would make it too easy to connect his identity to Spider-Man, "besides, I don't feel like throwing up today."
"Okay, well how about I just meet you there?" He said. Temp sighed.
"Fine. But you go straight there - no pit stops," She negotiated. He happily agreed and ran off before she could get in another word.
"What part of no pit stops was unclear?" Temp asked with a raised eyebrow as Peter entered the lab with a Delmar's bag.
"Ham and cheese with dijon mustard," he said, pulling a sandwich out of the bag and tossing it to her. Temperance accepted the offer and unwrapped the sandwich, unsurprised to find that it was squashed flat. At first, she had thought that this happened because he was stuffing the sandwiches into his suit, but after eating at restaurants with him, she knew that this was just how he thought sandwiches should be prepared. Temperance was sitting at a lab table with a stack of internship applications in front of her, and Peter walked over to another island, throwing his backpack down and arranging a few beakers.
"No chemicals until you're done eating," said Temp, chewing on a bite of her sandwich.
"I'm not five, you know," Peter replied. Temp patted the counter in front of her, gesturing for him to come sit across from her.
"I know," She said, "Come eat with me."
Peter, happy to be invited instead of told, pulled up a stool and sat down, unwrapping his own sandwich, "thanks for coming today."
Temperance nodded, "it's a shame I didn't get to see Flash."
Peter laughed, "I'm sure he'll hear about it soon enough."
"Good," Temp said, picking a burnt edge off of her sandwich, "maybe it'll shut him up for a while."
"I don't think that's possible, but thanks anyway."
"MJ seemed pretty cool," she continued, subtly eyeing him for a reaction as he took a bite of his sandwich. His eyebrows furrowed, and he shifted in his seat a little bit, clearing his throat before swallowing.
"How'd you know it was her?"
"Because she's exactly how you described."
Peter's cheeks held a tinge of pink, "yeah, she's a really interesting person. She's passionate about a lot of stuff."
"Seems like it," Temp said, nodding thoughtfully, "have you ever considered asking her out?"
Peter's head shot up, eyes wide and mouth hanging slack, "what? Ask-ask her...why do you say that?"
"Oh, no reason," Temperance insisted, "I just think you'd be cute together."
Peter went back to studying his sandwich, "yeah?"
"Yeah," she smirked at him as she finished off her sandwich, "well, if you need advice, I'm here."
"Thanks," he said, rolling his eyes, "You'd have to fight May for it, though."
"I bet," Temp said, balling up the sandwich paper and tossing it at the garbage can. The room was quiet for a minute while Peter continued eating.
"Did you ever wish you had a Mom?" Peter asked, "Growing up, I mean."
Temperance straightened a bit at that, taken by surprise.
"Sometimes," she admitted, "but only when I saw what other people had. My dad never gave me a reason to miss my mother. He was enough."
Peter nodded thoughtfully. Temp knew this wasn't about having a mom - May was fulfilling that role admirably. This was about the absence of a father figure in Peter's life, and his desire to fill that void.
"And besides, Tony nags just as much as any mother," she added lightly. Now that Peter was finished with his sandwich, too, she pulled her stack of applications back in front of her, "have you thought of any new changes to your formula this week?" she asked.
To make things more streamlined and help Peter to enjoy his research and avoid feeling overwhelmed, Temp had allowed him to use his research requirement to play with (and hopefully improve) his web formula. He'd gone through several versions at his point, and was always jotting down new ideas - he really was a brilliant kid.
"Yeah, I'm just gonna try one minor thing today," he said, cleaning up his mess and then heading back over to his own lab table. Then, with a cheeky smile, he nodded to the applications and added "need me to look at any of those?"
Temperance would usually do the initial review of applications and pull the ones that seemed the most interesting. Then, Tony would look over them in a second review to judge each project's scientific feasibility. Occasionally, when Tony was busy, Temp would ask Peter to take a look, and it was starting to make him arrogant.
"I'll manage," she said dryly, turning her attention to the first application.
"Welcome back, Temperance," a familiar, computer-generated voice greeted as Temp entered her apartment and locked the door behind her.
"Lights please, Penny," she replied. Penny turned the lights to a low setting, and Temp hung her bag and keys on their respective hooks.
"Shall I start the tea kettle?" Penny asked.
"No, thank you, Penny," said Temperance, "I think I'll just take a shower and head to bed."
Penelope, the AI that Tony had designed specifically for her home, took the hint and left Temperance to her thoughts. Temp sat down at her kitchen's breakfast bar and sighed, running a hand through her hair. Another day had passed just like the last one, and another one waited tomorrow. She told herself the same thing she had told herself a thousand times to try and ward off the existential dread of a stagnant life - one day at a time.