Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews last chapter. I'm glad you like how Ned ships Emma and Peter. I'm not sure what their ship name would be. Maybe SpiderSnake? WebVenom? Those are the only ones I can think of. Emma and Peter's relationship still has a long way to go but now that Peter and Emma know about each other I feel like they can move forward maybe a little faster which you see a glimpse of in this chapter.
Spawn Hades: I know that Peter can throw people through walls but Ned probably doesn't know that yet. Peter is definitely stronger than Emma but he just hasn't realized his own strength yet and he's also lacks a lot of skills in hand to hand combat so Emma has something over him there. The fact that Peter is technically stronger than Emma will be something that drives her up the wall about him which I think will be pretty funny to see in the upcoming chapters.
Keep reviewing and I hope you enjoy the chapter.
Normally on a night like this one Emma would've liked to curl up with a good book and listen to some David Bowie records as she read another one of her books but it didn't look like Emma was going to get what she wanted. No, instead of relaxing in her bedroom Emma was suiting up in her Viper Assassin uniform which she hadn't worn in a few months. Since Peter seemed so hell bent on going to a party and impressing his school boy crush Emma would also have to watch him from a safe distance to make sure he didn't screw up anything. This was so not how she wanted to spend her Wednesday night.
"Where are you off to?" Darcy asked as she gave Emma a curious look from the doorway of Emma's bedroom. Emma didn't bother shutting the door when she changed because it wasn't like she was really hiding anything. Darcy realized then that she had never seen the teenage girl in uniform so the sight was quite shocking. Even Darcy had to admit that the dark green color was a good look for her. Emma glanced at her nonchalantly as held her mask in her hands.
"Babysitting Spider-Twerp. It turns out that the guy is way more trouble than he's worth." Darcy crossed her arms as she gave Emma a look of amusement.
"I didn't realize he was that important to you." Emma looked away from Darcy and scowled at her mask.
"He's not. It seems like Stark left behind another mess and I'm the one who has to clean it up since no one else is around." Emma said bitterly but Darcy didn't quite believe her. If really didn't care about this spider guy then she wouldn't bother helping him out. Darcy never took Emma as the type to clean up other people's messes and especially messes left behind by Stark. Emma wasn't like Steve. She didn't feel the need to help others… only if she thought it could help herself or the people she cared about in the long run.
"Well, be careful." Darcy told her, not knowing what else to say. Emma just smirked at Darcy as she put her mask on and Darcy marveled at the way the red lenses in her mask lit up. The mask made her Superhero alter-ego look even more reptilian.
"I always am." Emma replied before she leapt onto the window sill and then flew out the window into the night with little effort. Darcy sighed as she leaned against the doorway and stared at the window.
"I'm never going to get used to super people."
Emma was perched on the rooftop of Liz's house as she looked through the glass windows of the massive house. She would never understand why people had so many windows put into their house when it made for such easy vantage points. She wasn't worried about anyone seeing her since it was dark by that time of night. Everyone was already too preoccupied with the party to spot her anyways and it's not like Emma really stood out in her dark green colored suit. She had the red lenses of her mask up as she used her own enhanced vision to look for Peter. Emma had to admit she was a little surprised to see Michelle at the party but who knew what went on in that girl's mind? Emma immediately gritted her teeth in annoyance when she spotted Peter and Ned at the party. Peter looked around the house with an oblivious look on his face. You'd think a person with enhanced abilities would be able to detect when someone was watching them. Apparently not.
"It looks like I'm officially on babysitting duty." Emma grumbled to herself.
"It sure does seem that way, Miss Rogers." McConaughey said.
"At least I have you for company, McConaughey." Emma told the AI system. "I don't know what I'd do if I had to sit here all night and watch Spider-Twerp miserably fail flirting with his school boy crush."
"That doesn't sound like your usual source of entertainment." McConaughey said, agreeing with her.
"Because it's not." Emma told him. "I didn't know anyone could be that bad at flirting. I think Steve's even better at flirting than him."
"I didn't know that was a possibility." McConaughey replied and Emma just shook her head as she watched Peter attempt to flirt with Liz.
"I didn't either." Emma curiously watched as Peter and Ned mingled with Liz before the older girl left to take care of something that had come up. It seemed like Ned and Peter had some kind of silent agreement between them before Peter immediately disappeared from her view. She sighed tiredly and knew that this kid was really going to test her patience. Why did Stark have to involve Peter in their world?
It was only a couple of minutes later when Peter crawled out of a window, seemingly oblivious to Emma's presence. He was still wearing a t-shirt with a dorky pun across it and proceeded to take the shirt off while he talked to himself. Emma raised an eyebrow as she witnessed what Peter did when he was alone with himself. Did he talk to himself often?
"Hey, what's up. I'm Spider-Man." Peter said to himself. Despite her anger with Peter for even planning to pop into Liz's party for something as stupid as increasing his popularity, she couldn't help but be amused by him. What a dork. "Just thought I'd swing by and say hello to my buddy Peter."
"Oh, what's up, Ned?" Peter continued to say. "Hey, where's Peter, anyways? He must be around…" It was then that Peter stopped planning how he would make his entrance to the party. Probably because he realized how stupid it was. Emma couldn't believe it had taken him that long to figure it out. "God, this is stupid. What am I doing?"
"Do you talk to yourself often?" Emma asked him suddenly. Her voice caused Peter to almost fall off the roof in surprise. Peter was able to regain his balance and put a hand over his heart as he tried to calm himself down. He glared at the bored looking blonde as he spotted her sitting not that far away from himself. Despite Peter's anger with Emma he couldn't help but be in awe of her. He hadn't seen her in uniform since the battle at the airport and that was before he knew who the Viper Assassin was. Seeing Emma in her suit gave him an indescribable feeling and Peter didn't know how to explain the feeling.
"What are you doing here?!" Peter exclaimed. "Were you there the whole time?" Emma only blinked at him before answering.
"Yes." She said shortly.
"So then you heard everything?" Peter asked cautiously.
"Yes." She repeated and Peter immediately blushed. He just shook his head as he looked down at his hands in embarrassment. His day just kept getting better and better.
"How do you even sneak up on people like that?" Peter asked as he changed the subject. Emma shrugged nonchalantly.
"Hydra." If there was one thing Peter knew about Emma it was the fact that she never really liked elaborating.
"You didn't answer my question from before." Peter stated, changing the subject once more. From the icy look in her eyes he could tell that she didn't like discussing Hydra. "What are you doing here?" Emma just rolled her eyes.
"I'm babysitting." Emma answered. "Someone has to make sure that you don't screw things up." Peter glared at the blonde again, his ego feeling bruised.
"I don't need a babysitter." Peter told her and Emma scoffed.
"Yeah, well, apparently you do." Emma replied. "You're always running your mouth and you come up with the most stupid ideas I've ever head of. Wasn't it two minutes ago that you were debating whether or not to crash Liz's party so that you could somehow become the most popular guy at school?"
"You don't get it." Peter said, not liking how condescending Emma was being towards him. "You don't care about high school and you don't care about having friends or dating. All you care about is probably planning out some kind of revenge against Mr. Stark. You wouldn't understand why I'd need to do something like that." Emma feigned a sympathetic look as she took in Peter's whining. Wow… the misunderstood teenager act? How original, Parker.
"Oh, it must be so hard." Emma mocked as Peter glared back at her. "High school is just so difficult. No one understands me. Blah. Blah. Blah. All the low esteem, girl problems, and teenage angst. It's so difficult going to school and worrying whether or not your crush will ever notice you." Emma then rolled her eyes. "Oh, cry me a fucking river, Parker."
"Why are you so mean?" Peter asked suddenly and even Emma had to admit the question surprised her. She hadn't seen that one coming. Emma didn't let her surprise show on her face as she kept her face blank and answered his question as calmly as possible.
"Because all the niceness was beaten out of me a long time ago." Emma responded. Peter just stared at the assassin in wonder. He immediately wondered what happened to her that caused her to be this way. Emma had seemed somewhat pleasant when he knew her as Emma Lewis but the Viper Assassin was clearly cold and calculating. He didn't want to believe that the Emma that sat next to him in history class was all an act. No one was that good of an actor. Before Peter could reply to Emma's odd statement an explosion in the distance captured both of their attention. With their enhanced hearing and sight they were able to see an odd blue colored explosion on the other side of the residential neighborhood. Emma narrowed her eyes at the sight.
"What the hell?" Peter said to himself before he turned to her. "Should we go check it out?" Peter asked her, already putting their previous argument out of mind. Emma figured that was probably for the best.
"No, we should just sit here and stare at each other all night." Emma said sarcastically, reverting back to her usual self. "Of course we should go check it out."
"Okay, okay, I was just asking." Peter said defensively and without a word Emma propelled herself off the rooftop and flew into the night. "Wait don't you think you should take me with you?" Peter called out but his voice died out as he realized that Emma was already long gone. Either she didn't hear him or chose not to hear him. Either way Peter figured that he would have to find his own way to the explosion. Peter sighed tiredly as he began to shoot out his webbing and propelled himself off the rooftop.
"Thanks a lot, Viper, what a great help you've turned out to be."
Emma arrived at the explosion site in just under a minute but she knew better than to make herself immediately known. She perched on a tall branch in one of the trees as she silently investigated the explosion site. Emma wasn't really sure what she had been expecting when she first arrived but it definitely wasn't a bunch of idiots circled around a van as they showed off advanced weaponry that was beyond their understanding. One of the idiots, a bearded looking tool, cackled as he blasted off one of the weapons. Emma narrowed her eyes because she immediately recognized the weapon.
"Now, this is crafted from a reclaimed sub-Ultron arm straight from Sokovia. Here. You try." The bearded tool explained to a bewildered African-American man. Yeah, these idiots weren't your usual run of the mill super villains. They were in no way interesting to her like previous villains like Loki or the space elves had always interested Emma whenever she heard stories about them. These idiots were just lame. The guy then offered the weapon to the other idiot.
"I wanted something low-key." The second idiot explained. From the way he talked Emma could immediately tell that he was probably an ordinary drug dealer and not even the fun kind like the Cali Cartel had been back in the day. No, he probably just sold pot to teenagers and pretended to be more of a badass than he actually was. "Why are you trying to upsell me, man?"
"Okay, okay. I got what you need, all right?" The bearded tool said. "I got tons of great stuff here. One sec." The guy then went back to the van and started looking through his merchandise.
"McConaughey?" Emma whispered as the lenses of her mask went back down. "Can you get facial recognition for the bearded tool and his awfully quiet buddy over there?" Emma didn't ask about the guy they were trying to peddle the stuff off to since he was just some idiot who was there at the wrong place at the wrong time. Emma didn't really give a shit who that guy was because he didn't serve any purpose to her. Emma immediately watched the red screen as McConaughey tried to match the two idiot's faces with any information from the criminal database.
"I'm sorry, Miss, Rogers, but I can't seem to find anything about them. They're clean." Emma groaned at McConaughey's info. That really helped.
"Okay, I got black hole grenades, Chitauri railguns…" The guy named off as he continued to try and make a sale.
"You letting off shots in public now? Hurry up." His partner asked before turning to the potential buyer. "Look, times are changing. We're the only ones selling these high-tech weapons." Emma then watched as Peter finally showed up to the explosion site as he crawled up the side of a bridge.
"Woah…" She could hear Peter say. "This must be where the ATM robbers got their stuff." Emma refrained form rolling her eyes. Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.
"I just need something to stick up somebody." The potential buyer said. "I'm not trying to shoot them back in time." Emma smirked at that. So this guy was a classic sort of guy. Emma could actually respect that. The guy was probably just looking for a regular gun and if he had a criminal past then he couldn't just walk into a Cabela's and buy one.
"I got antigrav climbers." The bearded tool continued to say, ignoring what the potential buyer was trying to tell them.
"Yo, climbers?" The buyer asked, suddenly seeming interested in what they were selling. However, the buyer never got to see the antigrav climbers as music started suddenly playing. Emma immediately knew who's fault that was as she turned her head to glare at Peter. Why did he always seem to screw up every possible situation? This kid was a mess. Peter immediately scrambled for his phone and Emma braced herself for a confrontation with these idiots. Why couldn't she be able to work with a professional for once in her life? A professional like her father. No, instead she was stuck with some annoying, motor mouth kid that didn't know what the hell he was doing.
"Okay, what the hell was that?" The bearded tool asked as all three of them looked around for the music. The bearded tool's partner then quickly pulled out a gun and pointed it at the buyer. Emma sighed. This situation was going to get messy. The only thing that troubled Emma was whether or not she was supposed to help the buyer. He was obviously a drug dealer or some kind of gang member so was his life worth saving? Did she let him die or did she save him? What was the right thing to do in a situation like this? Emma wasn't entirely sure and the clock was ticking.
"Hey, hey, man." The buyer said defensively, his hands raised. It was then that Emma's question was answered as Peter leapt down from his hidden position and started to confront the weapon dealers.
"Hey! Hey, come on. You gonna shoot at somebody, shoot at me." Peter told them, trying to distract them from the buyer. Emma became more curious about Peter's moral compass because he instantly seemed to know that saving the drug dealer was the right thing to do. So saving the drug dealer it was then, Emma thought to herself as she leapt down from the tree. She landed on her feet right beside Peter. The webslinger only spared her one quick glance before returning his attention to the bad guys. Emma would never know it but Peter was smiling underneath his mask. He usually fought his battles alone so it felt unbelievably good to have someone at his side. The weapons dealer smirked at the both of them before quickly pointing his gun at Emma and Peter.
"All right." He said before cocking his gun. The guy didn't even have time to pull the trigger as Peter shot out some of his disgusting webbing and threw the gun out of the guy's hand. The buyer immediately made a run for it but Emma wasn't worried about him. The weapon's dealer quickly started running towards the front of the van which caused Peter to sprint towards the bearded tool who was grabbing something out of the back of the van.
Emma assessed the situation, knowing that it was best never to run into something like that without knowing what she was up against. She turned out to be right as the bearded tool punched Peter in the chest with one of his advanced weapons. Peter went flying against a cement pillar and that's when Emma made her move. She instantly hopped on the guy's back when he was distracted by altercation with Peter and the guy never saw her coming. She wrapped her thighs around his chest and immediately began to squeeze. The guy grunted as he began to try and knock her off, swinging aimlessly from side to side. The only thing Emma didn't account for was his ability to swing his arm around and land a punch to the side of her face with the weapon. Emma briefly felt it's warm glow before it sent her careening off the guy's back and flying back into the a pile of leaves. Emma hit the ground hard, grunting as she tried to regain her strength. The impact of the weapon against the side of her face sent her enhanced senses into a sort of frenzy. There was a severely loud ringing in her ears and a haziness to her vision. She was definitely not going to be cheerful in the morning. Emma tasted a huge amount of blood in her mouth as she forced herself to get up from off the ground. She immediately spat out the blood and a single tooth as she glared at the cackling idiot. That guy was so dead.
"Viper, are you okay?" Peter asked her in concern, obviously not wanting to give up her identity as he called her by her alter-ego's name. "You just lost a tooth and your nose looks broken." Emma just waved her hand dismissively as she caught her breath.
"It's fine. I'll just grow a new one and my nose will heal." Emma told him, looking determined. "We can't let them go. They have too many of those weapons." Peter nodded.
"I'm already on it." Peter said as he flung out his wrists and shot out his webbing at the van that was already getting ready to leave. Peter then handed her a rope of webbing as he grabbed his own. Emma looked at the webbing in disgust as she held it in her hand.
"Why am I touching this?" She asked.
"Do you trust me?" Peter asked and Emma glared at him.
"No."
"Well, try to." Before Emma could respond to Peter she felt a strong tug and was then immediately dragged off her feet, falling to the ground but the webbing luckily stuck to her hand. It was then that Emma realized that the idiot had attached the webbing to the van so as the van drove away it dragged Emma and Peter along with it. Emma glared at the van ahead of her as she started being dragged down the street by Peter's disgusting webbing.
"You know this wasn't how I planned on spending my Wednesday night!" Emma called out to Peter as they continued to be dragged down the street by the van. If only her father could see her now. He would probably shake his head in disappointment because this was so unprofessional and not well thought out. Her father spent years of training her to prevent something like this from happening but Peter just had to save that drug dealer, didn't he?
"At least it's kind of spontaneous!" Peter shouted back.
"Yeah, in the wrong way." She argued. "Being dragged like garbage on a filthy street doesn't really do it for me."
"Come on, this is kind of fun. Just admit it!" Peter told her before the van made a turn and Peter was sent crashing into dumpster on the curb of the street. Emma was flung towards that direction too but she remained safe from crashing into any dumpsters for the time being. She immediately laughed at Peter who she could tell was pissed off from under his mask.
"Okay, this is kind of fun. You were right." She told him as she grinned at the webslinger. He didn't say anything and instead shot out another web towards the back of the van so that he could gain better control of where he was dragged. The grin immediately fell of Emma's face when she saw the bearded tool bring out another weapon from the back of the van and point it at them.
"Oh, shit!" Emma cursed as she could do nothing but watch the idiot fire the weapon. Luckily he missed when the van took a turn and the weapon's line of fire only hit one of the van doors. Emma and Peter narrowly dodged the van door as it came flying off the van. It didn't take long for the idiot to shoot the weapon again. It hit the street, sending the cement flying in every direction as well as dirt and dust.
"Ow! My Butt!" Peter yelped and Emma flinched as the dirt and dust got all over her. She gave the guy in the back of the van the death glare as she saw the dirt and dust gather in her once perfectly clean blonde hair.
"Look what you did to my hair, asshole!" Emma shouted at the guy in the back of the van. "I'm going to have real fun watching you die once I get my hands on you!"
"Are you seriously concerned about your hair right now?!" Peter asked in disbelief and she glared at him.
"I just had a blow out!" She shouted back to him, seemingly sensitive about her hair. Maybe Emma really was a normal teenage girl then. Peter decided to just let it go since there was more important things that they had to deal with for the time being. Emma watched as Peter took the brunt of most of the obstacles. He crashed into a truck and even Emma winced at the sound of impact. She decided that Peter must've been one of the most unluckiest people in the world as he crashed through three dumpsters on the side of the road. Emma thought she was pretty unlucky but Peter clearly had her beat. Emma winced as Peter then crashed into a cement pillar, causing the pillar to crumble to pieces. Yes, Peter was definitely the more unlucky one. Peter and Emma both lost grip on the webbing as the van proceeded to drive away. Peter tried shooting out more webbing towards the van but it was no use.
"Great." Peter said as they watched the van drive away. A determined look immediately came over Emma's face as she placed one foot forward. "Guess I'm gonna have to take a short cut."
"You're going to have to take a short cut." Emma corrected as she began to levitate off the ground. Peter stared at her in disbelief.
"How about you give me a ride?" Peter asked and Emma smirked. He really made it too easy.
"I don't think I know you well enough for that, Spider-Twerp." Emma teased. "You haven't even asked me out on a date first. That's not very gentlemanly of you." She then flew off before Peter had a chance to respond. He was starting to feel very hot under the mask as he blushed and it wasn't from all the running around.
"That's totally not what I meant." Peter mumbled to himself before he broke off into a sprint. He didn't know much longer he could survive Emma Rogers. The girl really seemed to have it out for him.
It didn't take Emma long before she was able to catch up to the van. Thankfully the bearded tool didn't seem to notice her approaching since she flew well above the van. They were probably still looking in back of them instead of above them. Emma really wanted to get some revenge against those idiots. Her hair was caked in dirt and leaves and she knew that she would be having to make another trip to salon sooner than she had planned. Emma didn't consider herself to be girly but she prided herself on her appearance. People took you seriously when you looked as though you took yourself seriously.
Emma braced herself for landing as her feet touched the top of the van, making a soft thump as she landed. She put her hands out in front of her as tried to maintain balance because she was technically car surfing. Emma definitely could say that it wasn't her first time car surfing. She heard the idiots inside the van talking amongst each other as they took note of the thump coming from the top of the van.
"What the hell was that?" One of them questioned.
"I don't know, man." The other one answered. "Maybe it's him."
"Well, why don't you go check it out. I'm a little busy driving your sorry ass around." The driver told the other one. The one on the passenger side grunted in agreement before he rolled down the window. Emma took a deep breath as she prepared herself for another confrontation. This asshole was totally going to get it.
"I don't know, man. I don't see anything." The bearded tool said as he looked up towards the sky. Seemingly satisfied with his observation, he then turned his head back around and looked down the street. Emma took note of his dismissiveness and immediately pushed herself towards the edge of the van. She could see the top of his head from this vantage point. Emma could hear Peter in the distance, trying to catch up with the van and miserably failing at doing so. The bearded idiot seemed distracted by Peter so she took advantage of that and immediately reached out towards him. She caught him by surprise as she grabbed onto shoulders and started pulling him out of the car. He yelped in surprise and pain as the blonde maintained her death grip around his shoulders.
"What the fuck is going on?!" The driver yelled from inside the car.
"This bitch is trying to kill me!" The bearded tool replied. This only pissed Emma off more as she continuously tried pulling him out of the car. He grabbed onto the door handle as he tried to fight against her grip and Emma happened to let go but only to grab onto his face. He screamed in pain as she grabbed his nose and twisted it with little effort. Blood immediately gushed from his nose and Emma smirked. She hadn't felt that satisfied in a long time.
"Payback's a bitch." Emma was about to scratch his eyes out when she heard Peter approaching again. She slightly hesitated as she heard him because she didn't know how he would react to her scratching the idiot's eyes out.
"Surprise!" Peter called out but was cut off as she heard a whooshing from overheard. Emma furrowed her eyebrows as she heard the noise and immediately let go of the idiot. She was about to turn around to see what had Peter cut off when she felt something grab her from behind and pick her up from off the van. Emma tried to see what had grabbed hold of her but whatever it was had a tight grip around her. She spotted metal arms around her and for a moment she thought it was Stark but then she noticed that it didn't look anything like the Iron Man suit. No, this was someone else. The van immediately began becoming smaller as the mysterious assailant flew well above the ground. Emma noticed the metal legs with metallic claws that were currently latched onto Peter as the webslinger tried to pry himself from the person's grip. She narrowed her eyes at the sight and then proceeded struggling in the person's death grip. Who the hell was this? She managed to twist and turn enough in their arms that she was able to get a view of it's face. Ominous green eyes stared back at her as she continued to fight against the person's grip. She glared back at the person venomously. Who did this person think they were?
"Let me go, asshole!" She snarled at him. Emma grabbed hold of his wrist and squeezed but her grip barely made a dent.
"Miss Rogers, you're currently entering a dangerous elevation." McConaughey told her.
"No kidding." Emma grumbled.
"I am deploying the parachute now." McConaughey said and Emma furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"What parachute?" Emma questioned as she heard a beeping coming from both her suit and mask. It was clear what McConaughey meant when not even a moment later a parachute deployed from her suit which forced her out of weird birdman's grip and sent her flying in the opposite direction. The parachute covered Emma's face as she started falling from the sky and one thing went through her mind as she fell.
Peter.
Where the hell was Peter? Emma furiously tried to rip the parachute from her face so that she could see but it seemed as if she was completely tangled in it. Great gadget you made, Stark. Really… this was so incredibly helpful. Why on Earth did he think she needed a parachute? She fucking flied for Christ's sake. Emma heard Peter's distant screams and she could only hope that Stark gave his suit a parachute too. Wait… Was she actually worried about him?
"I can't see shit, McConaughey!" Emma screamed out angrily as she fell through the night sky.
"You're nearing the ground." McConaughey replied.
"Yes, thank you for that helpful information. If I could just see the ground that would be splendid." Emma said sarcastically. It was then that Emma was finally able to rip the parachute from her and using her enhanced strength she detached the parachute from her suit. The parachute then flew off into the night air as Emma was finally able to have clear vision of the ground. Emma really didn't like how close to the ground she was. At the rate she was falling Emma wasn't sure if she would have enough time to steady herself so she didn't crash against the ground.
"Miss Rogers, you need to regain control of your flight or the results of you crashing could be near fatal." McConaughey told her.
"Yes, I know, McConaughey." Emma told him as she gritted her teeth. "That's exactly what I'm trying to do." Emma immediately pointed her feet towards the direction of the ground as she tried slowing herself down. It seemed to be working as Emma began decreasing in speed as she fell. Normally Emma could've just gone with it and flown away but she knew that she had worn herself out. She didn't really fly that much but when she did it toll on her.
"Where's a safe place to land, McConaughey?" Emma asked as she continued to slow down.
"There's a park directly below you." McConaughey informed her. "It's currently empty from civilian bystanders."
"Great." Emma responded as Peter popped back into her mind. "Is Peter okay?"
"Mr. Parker is safe. Mr. Stark was able to save him from drowning." McConaughey told her and Emma groaned.
"Stark's here?" Emma questioned. "That's just great. I thought he was going to be in India?"
"He is in India."
McConaughey hadn't really gone into detail when he mentioned that Stark was there and he also happened to be in India at the same time but Emma figured that he was probably controlling an Iron Man suit from India. It wouldn't be the first time he had remote controlled one of his suits. She had seen the Iron Legion first hand… well, she had seen the Iron Legion when Ultron controlled them at least. Emma had been walking around on the ground for a couple minutes now as she walked towards the playground area of the park. When Emma saw the Iron Man suit standing there she immediately turned back around and started walking in the opposite direction. There was no way she felt like dealing with Stark tonight… in any capacity or form.
"Woah, woah, Mini Cap." Stark called out as he spotted her leaving. "Where do you think you're going?" Emma sighed and turned around to face him. She noticed that Peter was sitting on top of a jungle gym as he squeezed the water from his suit. He no longer had his mask on as he looked her over with a worried expression on his face. Emma's eye twitched at the sight. She didn't think she liked that one bit. The lenses of her mask immediately went up as she stared at the Iron Man suit.
"Away from you." Emma answered as she began walking towards them. Talking to Stark seemed inevitable now.
"Aw, that's not very nice of you, Mini Cap." Emma glared at him. He knew more than well that she always hated that name. It was probably why he continued to call her that because he knew it riled her up. "I see you and Spiderling have finally been introduced." Emma narrowed her eyes at him.
"Yeah, it sure was a coincidence that we met." Emma told him, her voice sounding condescending. "Can you believe the odds of it? An assassin and a amateur superhero attending the same high school?"
"Hey!" Peter interjected, completely offended by Emma's statement. He went ignored by both Emma and Tony as Emma was locked into a staring contest with the Iron Man suit.
"Yeah, well, it's nice to see you making some friends for once." Emma scoffed at Stark's remark.
"Parker and I aren't friends, Stark. I don't have friends." Emma told him.
"Right, I forgot how anti-social you are." Stark replied. "At least you're fighting crime. I didn't think I'd ever see the day. I honestly thought you were two seconds away from building your own super secret evil lair and hatching out a plan to bomb the compound." Emma smirked at him.
"Now there's an idea." Emma quipped and she knew that where ever Stark was located that he was glaring at her. That gave her a lot of satisfaction. "Don't think that I'm my grandfather. I'm only here because I don't want those idiots selling those weapons to Hydra. This is entirely self serving."
"I'm not sure if I believe you, Mini Cap." Stark retorted.
"I don't care if you believe me, Stark. Besides… you owe me big time." Emma told him and the Iron Man suit crossed it's arms.
"How's that?" He inquired.
"Well, I had to babysit your little project for example." Emma reminded him as she spared a glance in Peter's general direction. Peter glared at her for talking about him like he wasn't there. Emma, however, didn't feel at all intimidated by his weak glare. Parker didn't scare her one bit. "It seems like someone's always picking up after you, Stark. Steve's not here to do that anymore so I guess the job's mine now." Stark was quiet for a moment which was odd because Emma didn't think she ever remembered Stark being quiet.
"You look for worse for wear, Mini Cap." Stark told her as he assessed her appearance. It was true. Emma's hair was caked with dirt and leaves, looking very disheveled and in a different state than he had ever seen it in before. There was slight bruising around her jawline which Tony was convinced would disappear in an hour's time. Her nose was bent at an odd angle and he knew immediately that it was broken. Blood was smeared around her mouth and nose. It was odd to Tony because he didn't think he had ever seen the blonde look so unkempt. There was also a lot of blood on her hands, he noticed. "Are you wounded somewhere else? You've got blood everywhere." Emma just glanced at her hands nonchalantly before looking back at him.
"Most of it's not even my blood." Emma replied and Stark sighed heavily.
"Please tell me you didn't kill anyone?" He asked, sounding very tired.
"Relax… I came close but birdman stopped me." Emma said as if that was supposed to reassured everyone. Tony decided to just let that one go and tend to the current task at hand. He didn't feel like lecturing Emma for having homicidal tendencies.
"I'm just going to ignore your serial killer instincts for the moment and discuss something more important with you two." Stark announced. "Peter was telling me all about your interesting adventure tonight with birdman and his weapon dealer buddies." It was then that Peter hopped back into the conversation.
"Yeah, I was just telling Mr. Stark how I was about to help you with those guys in the van." Peter said excitedly as he told the story. Emma raised a brow at his excitement. She didn't know if she found his dorkiness adorable or stupid? No, she most definitely didn't find it adorable. Emma didn't find anything adorable. She didn't even find puppies adorable.
"I jumped off the roof of that house and was like 'Surprise'! And then he just, like, swooped down like a monster and picked us up, and took us up like a thousand feet and just dropped us." He continued to say as he squeezed the water from his mask and Emma seriously wondered how he breathed. Peter never seemed to stop talking. That kid sucked all the oxygen from the room whenever he talked.
"How did you find us?" Peter questioned Tony as the Iron Man suit then began to hover above ground. "Did you put a tracker in our suits or something?"
"I put everything in your suits. Including this heater." Tony explained. It seemed like he was deflecting. Emma narrowed her eyes at him as steam immediately began to rise from Peter's suit and he was immediately warmed up. Peter was momentarily distracted from the fact that Stark didn't really answer his question.
"That's better. Thanks." Peter told him.
"What were you two thinking?" Tony questioned and Emma rolled her eyes. Here comes another lecture from the hypocrite himself. Emma would sit there and be lectured by Steve but she'd be damned if she sat there and allowed Stark to lecture her like he knew better than her. This was coming from the guy who invented and sold weapons of mass destruction, built Ultron, and started an unnecessary war. Yeah, Emma wasn't about to be lectured by the likes of him. Steve was the only one she would let lecture her. "I expected this from Peter but not you, Emma. I thought you were more responsible than this."
"Don't try the father figure act, Stark." Emma told him, her gaze cold and unrelenting. "It doesn't suit you."
"The guy with wings is obviously the source of the weapons." Peter interjected as he brought the conversation back to the mysterious birdman. "We've gotta take him down." Peter stated, referring to himself and Emma. Emma didn't know how she felt about Peter's statement. He was referring to them as if they were some sort of team. It was odd to her. The last time she had a partner like that was when she was partners with her father.
"Take him down now, huh?" Tony asked mockingly and Emma glared at him. She didn't know why he was so high and mighty. Stark was just some rich nerd in a suit. Peter and her were probably like thirty times stronger than him put together. Emma had also been doing this kind of thing a lot longer than Stark had been. He was probably neck deep in women when she was training at the Hydra base in Siberia.
"Steady Bonnie and Clyde, there are people who handle this sort of thing." Stark told them.
"The Avengers?" Peter questioned.
"No, no, no. This is a little below their paygrade." He answered. Emma didn't agree with that at all. If Steve had known about these weapon dealers then he would be one of the first ones out there hunting them down and making sure that these weapons never ended up in the hands of Hydra. Nothing was beneath Steve because her grandfather was just that great of a person. A hell of a lot better of a person than Stark could ever dream to be. That became very obvious to her as she watched Stark.
"Anyway, Mr. Stark, you didn't have to come all the way out here." Peter said as if he were inconveniencing Stark. Emma snorted. She couldn't believe Peter actually thought Stark gave a damn about them enough to come rescue them in person. Not that Emma ever needed Stark or anyone to rescue her. "We had that. We were fine."
"Oh, I'm not here." Tony told him as the face plate of the suit lifted up and revealed that there was no one inside the suit. "Thank god this place has wifi or you two would be toast right now. Thank Ganesh while you're at it. Cheers."
"Please, Stark, like I'll ever need you to rescue me." Emma said in an annoyed tone. "Don't act like you're some sort of godsend because you're not. I was handing the situation before you came along."
"Like you were handling not letting Peter drown when he crashed into the water?" Stark retorted and Emma shrugged.
"He's enhanced. He can take it." Tony growled in frustration as he changed the subject. It was nearly impossible to argue with that girl. She made everything so difficult.
"Look, forget the flying vulture guy, please." Tony begged them.
"Why?" Peter questioned in frustration, annoyed that Tony wasn't taking him or Emma seriously. He thought if Emma was with him that surely Mr. Stark would give him the time of day but apparently Emma wasn't going to make a difference.
"Why? Because I said so!" Tony yelled, his voice laced with anger and annoyance as he raised his voice at them. Tony couldn't believe this was what Steve had to deal with for over two years. It seemed like he had a new found appreciation for Steve Rogers that he had never had before. "Sorry, I'm talking to teenagers." Tony could be heard apologizing in the distance and Emma clenched her jaw despite the lingering pain that was still there.
"You should know better than anyone that I never forget, Stark." Emma said venomously. She tried to control her anger but Tony made it so hard. She didn't like being told what to do by anyone and especially not him. She let Steve get away with it but she wasn't about to let Stark get away with it too.
"Stay close to the ground." Tony told them, ignoring what Emma just said. "Build up your game helping little people, like that lady that bought Peter that churro." Emma glared at the Iron Man suit.
"I can tell you where to shove that churro." Emma deadpanned. She liked to think that she was deadliest assassin in the world or least she had been. Emma would never resort to helping old ladies cross the street or saving someone's cat from a tree.
"Can't you just be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man?" Tony asked before turning his attention to Emma. "And Emma, can't you be a friendly and nice assassin? Instead of killing people can't you graffiti the side of a building? You're a talented artist."
"But I'm ready for more!" Peter argued and Emma just stared at the Iron Man suit with a stoic expression on her face. She really wanted him to give her an excuse to kill him. Emma was just counting down the days. Emma wasn't even going to dignify Stark's stupid remark with a response.
"No, you're not. You're both not ready." Tony said as the Iron Man suit looked between the both of them.
"That's not what you thought when I took on Captain America." Peter said as he continued to argue with Tony.
"Trust me, kid, if Cap wanted to lay you out, he would've." Tony told him and Emma had to nod in agreement with Stark even though it killed her to do so.
"He's got you there." Emma told Peter and Peter gave her a bewildered look.
"I thought you hated him!" Peter exclaimed. "Don't agree with him!" Emma just shrugged.
"I do hate him but Steve could've really kicked your ass into the next century if he wanted." Peter just groaned in frustration at Emma's comment. She was supposed to be helping him.
"My point is that you're both not ready for this. Especially you, Emma." Tony told her honestly. "Maybe if you were auditioning for a team of super villains then you'd make the cut but not this. I swear… you could give Loki a run for his money so please don't ever join the dark side." Emma gave Tony a smirk.
"I make no promises." Tony just sighed at Emma's answer. That was completely reassuring.
"Listen to me. If you come across these weapons again, call Happy." Tony told them and Emma rolled her eyes. Yeah, right. Like Happy could really come and save the day. It was then that both Emma and Peter heard the revving of an engine and Peter looked up at the Iron Man suit in disbelief.
"Are you driving?" He questioned.
"You know, it's never too early to think about college." Tony informed them. "I've got some pull at MIT. They have an amazing art program there too so you might be interested, Rogers." Emma just scoffed at Tony's suggestion.
"Oh, I'll be as far away from you as I can get by then, Stark." Emma sneered.
"Yup, great talking to you as always, Mini Cap." Tony said sarcastically. "You're always a pleasant ray of sunshine. Make sure you tell Darcy and Jane hi for me."
"Oh, go fuc-" Emma started to say but was cut off by Tony before she could finish.
"End call."
"Mr. Stark is no longer connected." Friday's voice told them before the Iron Man suit immediately flew off into the night sky, leaving Emma and Peter alone with each other. Emma just glared in dismay at the space, where the Iron Man suit had previously been hovering, before grumbling to herself.
"Asshole."
"That didn't go as well as I had hoped." Peter stated as both he and Emma walked home. Peter had since put his mask back on after it dried. Emma was still reeling from the unhelpful conversation they had with Stark. That certainly hadn't helped her mood after getting the shit beat out of her.
"Yeah, well, nothing ever does with Stark." Emma replied. "Trust me. I know. This is only the beginning."
"Is your nose okay?" Peter asked in concern and Emma's eyes widened in realization. She had almost forgotten about her nose in the midst of everything. Emma gently wrapped her fingers around her nose and Peter watched her with wide eyes. "Wait don't-" And a sickening crack could be heard as Emma quickly reset her nose. A small amount of blood came pooling out but the blonde's eyes didn't even water. Peter was surprised to see that Emma didn't even flinch the slightest bit.
"Thanks for reminding me." Emma told him as she held her finger up to her nose in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
"Did that even hurt?" Peter asked her curiously and Emma raised her eyebrows at him.
"Did what hurt?" She asked in confusion.
"You just reset your broken nose." Peter told her. "You have to be in some pain. I gather that you probably have some sort of healing factor like me but I still feel pain." Emma just shrugged as she removed her finger out from under her nose as she felt the bleeding lessen.
"I feel pain but I've learned how to hide it." Emma replied and Peter just stared at her.
"You don't have to hide that from me, Emma." Emma was taken back by the softness of his tone. The sincerity in his voice spoke louder than words and Emma could feel that same sick feeling in her stomach. She suddenly like she was going to puke or something and it wasn't from her nose bleed.
"It's a force of habit. Hydra taught me these things a long time ago and I don't know how to forget them." Emma explained as she ignored the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Peter just nodded solemnly as they continued to walk down the street.
"And what about your tooth?" Peter asked her. "Do you need to go to the dentist?" Emma just shook her head.
"No, I'm fine." Usually she would be offended by his constant fussing but Emma felt really tired after the day they both had.
"Are you sure because you lost a tooth and I'm pretty sure that warrants a visit to the dentist." Peter continued to pester her.
"I'm completely fine, Parker." Emma insisted but Peter didn't seem convinced as he stopped Emma in the middle of the street.
"No, I'm not going to take no for an answer until I have a look for myself." Peter told her and Emma raised an eyebrow at him.
"I didn't realize you were a dentist." She deadpanned. Peter just shook his head at her as he pulled out his phone and then switched the flashlight mode on.
"Let me have a look." He insisted and Emma shook her head at him.
"No. You're being ridiculous." The white lenses of Peter's mask glared at her as he waited for her to be cooperative.
"Let me have a look and then I'll stop annoying you." Peter demanded. Oh, so he actually knew when he was being annoying? That was new. Emma sighed as she rolled her eyes before opening her mouth nice and wide so Peter could have a look at her tooth. Emma was too tired to argue with him again. He pointed the light inside her mouth and quickly scanned the area, looking for the gap where her tooth had been. He was bewildered to see that there was no gap inside her mouth. Her perfect and pearly white teeth were all in place and not a single one was missing. Peter looked at the inside of her mouth again just to make sure but it was evident that she wasn't missing a tooth. Emma then closed her mouth and backed away from the shocked looking Peter Parker.
"Did you have a long enough look? Geez, Parker, I've met a lot of guys in my life but you're the first one that has a tooth fetish." Emma said with her usual amount of snark. Her suggestive comment went ignored by Peter as he stared at her in amazement.
"You can grow teeth?" He asked in wonder and Emma didn't seem that impressed by his revelation.
"I thought I mentioned that before."
"I just thought you were joking." Peter said. "You're like a shark." Emma furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at Peter's odd statement.
"What?"
"Sharks have rows of teeth so if they lose one tooth then another takes it place." Peter explained and Emma glared at him.
"I know that but I don't have rows of teeth." Emma replied.
"Then how do you grow a new one?" Peter asked in confusion and Emma shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know… Magic, I guess." She told him and Peter didn't like that answer. He was more of a man of science. Peter was also a bit frustrated to see that Emma didn't seem to care how she regrew teeth even though it was completely perplexing to Peter. He didn't even think that he was able to regrow teeth although Peter didn't really want to test that theory anytime soon.
"Do you have any other injuries?" Peter asked worriedly as he changed the subject but Emma didn't even have a chance to answer before McConaughey stepped in.
"I can assure you, Mr. Parker, that Miss Rogers is completely healthy. I detect no concussions or other injuries." McConaughey informed Peter causing the teenage boy to jump about a foot in the air.
"What the hell?! Why did I just hear Matthew McConaughey's voice?" Peter questioned as he looked around wildly like he was going to see the famous Texan actor pop out from behind a tree. "Is Matthew McConaughey also God?" Emma just sighed as she rolled her eyes at Peter.
"No, that's just the AI system that Stark put in my suit." The white lenses in Peter's mask widened as he looked at her.
"The voice of your AI system is Matthew McConaughey?" Peter asked in surprise. "That's so cool."
"It's just Stark's weird sense of humor." Emma explained.
"What do you call your AI system?" Emma just stared at Peter like he was stupid.
"McConaughey." Peter blushed from under his mask as he realized how stupid that question was. Of course Emma would call her Matthew McConaughey sounding AI system McConaughey. What else would she call it? Peter didn't know why he acted so stupid around Emma sometimes. He liked to think he was smart enough to have intelligent conversations with people but when he talked to Emma the words just became all mixed up in his head. It was like he forgot himself.
"Right… that makes sense." He then gave her a curious look. "Why did Mr. Stark program McConaughey into your suit? Is he your celebrity crush or something?" Emma scoffed.
"I don't have celebrity crushes. That's a waste of time." Emma told him. "I just happen to like a couple of his movies." Peter smirked at her even though Emma couldn't see.
"So you do have a crush on Matthew McConaughey. Does your AI system know how you feel about his inspiration?" Peter teased and Emma glared at her. Emma didn't like what he was doing. She was supposed to be the one who did all the teasing, not him.
"Don't be ridiculous." Emma said coldly but Peter just smiled because he could see past her cold exterior. She wasn't that good at hiding.
"I always took you for a Benedict Cumberbatch kind of girl."
"I felt the same way about you." Emma retorted. Wow, it seemed like Emma managed to win another one of their teasing matches. Peter had to admit that he did not see that one coming. Emma was way better at comebacks and insults than he would ever be. That much was clear. A frown came over his face as he remembered something he had forgotten with all the events that had occurred in the past couple of days.
"We were supposed to have a Star Wars marathon tonight." Peter said suddenly as it occurred to him and Emma glanced over at him. "I had forgotten after everything that's happened these past couple days."
"I forgot too." Emma lied. In all honestly she hadn't forgotten about the invitation Peter had given to her a couple of days ago even though it felt like it had been months since then. Emma just assumed that the invitation had been canceled the moment Emma revealed herself to be the Viper Assassin.
"I guess we'll have to take a rain check on that." Peter stated. "At least until all this birdman business is finished. Something tells me that we haven't seen the last of that guy." Emma was a little taken back by Peter's suggestion of saving the Star Wars marathon for another day. She didn't think he still wanted to sit down and watch a movie with her. Not with everything he now knew about her. However, Emma didn't let her surprise show on her face as she maintained her composure.
"I have to agree with you there, Parker. I don't care what Stark told us about those weapons." Emma started to say. "We can't just trust Happy with this. I've known that guy for a couple of years. He's nothing more than a glorified bodyguard that Stark couldn't bare to part with. Happy's nice and all but that's the truth."
"So what should we do about Mr. Stark?" Peter asked her and Emma shrugged.
"We be the good little high schoolers he wants us to be… or at least let him think that." Emma said with a mischievous look on her face. Peter didn't know how to feel about how devious looking Emma was right now. Did he… did he really feel attracted to her based on that look on her face? Peter couldn't help but notice how his heart nearly pounded against his chest as he practically watched an idea form in Emma's head. He knew she had enhanced hearing like he did so he hoped to God she couldn't hear his heart hammering in his chest.
"So we lie to Mr. Stark?" Peter questioned.
"We're not lying. He's too busy to talk to us half the time so it's not like he really knows what we're doing." Emma told Peter. "He only steps in to lecture us when he feels like having a conscience."
"So what do we do about Happy?" Peter inquired.
"What about Happy?" Emma threw back at him, not seeming bothered at all about Happy.
"He's supposed to keep watch over us." Peter explained and Emma just rolled her eyes.
"Happy's too busy with moving day. The only time we should be worried is if we have to make a trip out of town." Emma said. "We have trackers so he'll get a notification if we're out of town. Otherwise the city is our limit." Peter nodded as he silently agreed with Emma's plan. He had to admit that Emma was proving to be an amazing partner in crime. Well, crime fighting at least. She was more rational and calculating than Peter was, thinking out every possible move before she made it. Peter hated to admit but he could be pretty impulsive at times so maybe it would do him some good to have someone more rational at his side.
"I just can't believe Mr. Stark didn't take us seriously." Peter said sulkily as they continued walking through the residential neighborhood.
"Get used to it. None of the Avengers ever took me seriously and I've been involved in this world since I was a toddler." Emma replied and Peter took note of that information. It was interesting to him that the Avengers wouldn't take someone like Emma seriously. She had been fighting all her life yet they didn't take her seriously? That was truly a mystery to him.
"He and everyone else just treats us like children." Peter added and Emma nodded in agreement. Her heart soared as Peter expressed the words she had been feeling for the past couple years.
"Exactly! I hate when they talk down to me like I'm a silly child that doesn't understand the world." Emma responded. "I know the world better than most of them. Especially Stark. What does he know? He's just some rich guy that's gotten everything handed to him."
"Stay close to the ground?" Peter questioned, repeating Stark's earlier words to them. "What is he talking about?" Emma scoffed.
"It means that he wants us to not draw any attention to ourselves." Emma answered, her voice laced with bitterness. "Stark wants us to not be a problem that he has to deal with. That's exactly what that means."
Emma and Peter passed by a house when something captured both of their attention at the same time. Emma could hear a strange humming noise coming from the yard due to her enhanced hearing and she paused as she looked through the darkness. From the way Peter stilled she knew that he could hear it too. They both exchanged a single glance before they silently walked into the yard and towards the strange humming noise. When they approached the source of the noise Emma wasn't that surprised to see that it was one of the advanced weapons that the weapon dealers had been trying to sell. It must've fallen out of the back of the van as the dealers were being chased by Emma and Peter. Peter knelt down and turned the mysterious weapon over and both of their faces were basked in a purple glow.
"Woah." Peter breathed as they stared at the weapon in awe. Emma knew that it wasn't a weapon that had come from Ultron so she gathered that it must've been from the Chitauri during their attack on New York. She had seen some of their weaponry at Hydra and this looked to be very similar to that. Emma never liked the alien weaponry, preferring something more classic and traditional. Like she once told Stark and Banner, those things were beyond their understanding and weren't meant to messed with by the likes of humans. Peter's phone then interrupted Emma's thoughts as that same annoying ringtone from before rang out. She noticed a picture of Ned that had popped up on the screen before Peter pressed the phone against his ear.
"Hey, man, what's up? We're on our way back." Peter told Ned as Emma continued to curiously gaze at the Chitauri weaponry.
"We?" Ned questioned on the other line.
"Yeah, Emma and I got caught up with something. I'll explain everything tomorrow." Peter answered.
"Wait… Emma was at the party?" Ned asked. Peter spared the blonde a glance before returning his attention to the conversation.
"Not exactly. It's a long story." Peter said shortly before Ned changed the subject.
"Actually, I was calling to say maybe you shouldn't come. Listen." Emma heard Ned say on the other line before she heard the distant chanting of "Penis Parker" as Flash riled the party goers up. Emma's patience with that kid was starting to wear thin. One of these days the Viper Assassin might crawl into Flash's bedroom and scare the shit out of him. Let's see just how arrogant he'd be after that.
"Sorry, Peter. I guess we're still losers." Ned told him and Emma wanted to roll her eyes. Teenagers could be so melodramatic sometimes. A frown then came over her face as she noticed Peter's shoulder sag at what he heard on the phone. Emma started to feel a rush of sadness come over her. Did she feel bad for Peter? Did she feel sympathy? Emma didn't really want to believe that she did because she thought Peter's whole high school drama was pathetic and ridiculous. Why would she feel bad that he was being stupid about something that was so trivial? Emma pushed those thoughts away as she forced herself to focus on the Chitauri weapon instead.
"I'll see you tomorrow." Ned told him.
"I'll see you tomorrrow in school." Peter replied before he ended the call and put the phone away. If Peter was bothered by what Ned said on the phone then he didn't say anything about it as he reached out to grab the weaponry. He carefully picked the weapon up in his hand and the humming became louder as Peter held it closer to his chest. Emma's shoulder brushed up against Peter's shoulder as they both gazed at the very dangerous looking weapon in shock. They both turned to look at each other with wary looks on their faces even though Peter's expression was hidden by his mask. They were both speechless as they gazed at each other but one thing was clear. If this was one small piece of what those dealers were selling, along with the weapons at the bank, then who knew what else they had up their sleeves.
This was not good.