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After finally releasing a little power, Ava instantly felt better. She hadn't dared to don her suit for the time she had been in New York, and using her powers without her mask was way too risky, but the longer she had spent without setting a fire, the colder she became, as if a light inside her was going out. However, after the relief she had felt on the roof (afraid to set fire to her grandmother's apartment), she felt that perhaps it was time to suit up once again. As long as she kept a low profile, Ava reasoned, perhaps no one would even notice that the Firebird was in NYC. And even if they did, the superhero hadn't been seen at all in months! It was unlikely that anyone would be able to piece anything together. Still she was anxious.

It was a week before she worked up the courage, at which point she had been in the city for almost a whole month. It was dark, and her grandmother was deep asleep. Wearing a skintight suit with a golden bird emblazoned upon the chest, Ava slipped out of her bedroom window and once again climbed the fire escape to the roof. This time, however, she did not sit down, but instead remained standing, lowering her head and shutting her eyes. When her head raised, she felt no longer like Ava, but like the Firebird, feeling her eyes blaze with fire and flames lick her sides. As she threw herself off of the side of the building, she extended her arms and revealed, webbed between her arms and waist were feathery, fiery, makeshift wings. Her comments the week before had been a slight lie, she thought with a smirk. The Firebird could not fly, so much as glide and sometimes propel herself into the air with force. Falling with style, was the phrasing she preferred.

It was hard to keep a low profile with fiery wings aiding her escapades, but the Firebird managed to remain unseen (occasionally extinguishing herself in the process) as she explored the low skies of New York. She had not planned to start any fights (it kind of went against the whole "low profile" goal), but something happening in one of the alleys below her caught her eye.

A young girl was being harassed by two men. They were closing in on her steadily. The Firebird dove down to help, landing on one of the men's shoulders. He fell to the ground and groaned.

"Well that's rude," the Firebird smirked, picking herself up again, "I'm not that heavy."

"Who the hell are you?" the other gaped.

"You obviously haven't been to Washington DC in a while," Ava flexed her hand and it instantly

The man gulped. Perhaps New Yorkers knew enough of Spiderman to be wary of masked vigilantes. Still, he stood his ground, raising his fists..

"Really? You're going for fists against fire. Bold move," she remarked.

"Sorry I don't have a knife, babe," he shrugged, "I lent it to my partner."

Ava swivelled around just in time to stop the man she had toppled from stabbing her in the back. He practically snarled as she snatched his wrist and squeezed until he dropped the blade. She then tossed his hand to the side, his body following suit and slamming against the floor once more. Hopefully, he would stay down this time. The superhero was about to turn around once more when she felt a solid punch to the back of her head. Instinctively, she went to secure her mask, and almost growled as she faced her second opponent, head pounding.

"You should not have done that, dude," she seethed, livid.

Before the criminal could sneer another word, the hero sent a fist erupting with flames at his cheek. He yelped and slapped his palm to the burning skin. He fell to the ground, the heat and agony spreading across the left side of his face.

"Woah, ok, that got heated," she breathed, "... That was unintentional, by the way."

"You bitch!" he screamed.

"Language! You did deserve it, you know."

The criminal swung at her once more, this time having grabbed a pipe from the littered alley floor. He lunged at her and yelled out, but the Firebird merely caught the useless weapon and melted the polyvynil chloride tube until it seeped through her fingers into a scorching hot puddle on the concrete.

"Whoops. I think I'm going a little over-the-top tonight. Haven't used my powers in a while, you see."

The man's mouth was opening and closing hesitantly as he eyed the melted pipe on the floor. His eyes darted to the girl in front of him and shot his arms into the air.

"I surrender," he stated, falling to his knees once more.

"Look the cops are already on their way, so... if you guys could just shut up and sit there until they arrive?"

The two men nodded frantically and the Firebird turned to the girl, and realised several minutes too late that she was being filmed. Shit.

"I just potentially saved your life and you're gonna expose me like that?" Ava asked, feigning hurt.

The girl's eyes widened and she lowered the phone.

"Sorry, it's a livestream," she said, "I thought someone on it might be able to call the police and then you arrived and I just kept filming."

"Kids these days," Ava sighed, "You're good, but I'm gonna get out of here as soon as the police arrive - are you gonna be ok?"

The girl nodded and smiled.

"Thank you so much, Firebird!"

Sirens had reached the opening of the alley and voices could be heard.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm your friendly-neighbourhood-whatever," she said, turning her head to the men, "I've got my eyes on you two, don't you forget!"

And with that, she shot herself into the air with a burst of flames. She would have landed gracefully on the roof above, but instead her body slammed into something hard and tall.

"Oof!"

"Woah, sorry! Didn't see you... There," the figure apologized, scrambling off of her.

It was Spiderman.

"Hi," she propped herself onto her elbows.

"You're a bit far from home, aren't you?" he quipped and offered her a hand, which she gladly took.

"Sorry to encroach on your territory."

"Superheroes are always flying in and out of my city" (Ava assumed he was smirking underneath the mask) "I'm not exactly gonna tell the Avengers to move out, am I?"

"Well, sure, but I bet you don't go running into them on random Harlem rooftops."

"True," Spiderman chuckled, and Ava noticed that his voice sounded a little familiar. Perhaps she had heard him on the news? "Have you been in New York long?"

"Not at all," the Firebird replied, "Do you have any sights or supervillains to recommend?"

"The Green Goblin is always nice this time of year," he quipped, "Although I'd be happy to give you a tour of the best spots if you'd like? We can skip the villains."

Ava was taken aback, but she smiled. Spiderman was as friendly as everyone made out, it seemed.

"Ava, are you ignoring me?"

Liz had appeared beside Ava's locker almost as soon as she unlocked it. The girl spoke without insecurity, but with a forceful annoyance. Her arms were folded and her hip cocked.

"Of course not!" Ava protested.

"You haven't had lunch with us all week," Liz pursed her lips.

"Liz," she smiled, "It's Wednesday."

Liz gave her a look.

"And you've only been to football practise twice - you've been here three weeks!"

"I told you, I'm not a huge sports fan," Ava shrugged, "But I'll sit with you at lunch today, if you want."]

"Do you want to?" Liz scowled.

"Of course! I'm sorry I haven't been hanging out with you much recently," Ava smiled benignly, "I had science club on Monday and Peter and Gwen-"

Liz groaned.

"They're my friends!"

"I don't understand you, Ave," she sighed, "Look, I'm having a party at mine on Friday. Come! It'll be nice to see you outside of school, and you can make up for all of the lunches you've missed."

Ava mulled this over for a moment.

"Alright, I'll go, if Peter, Gwen, and Harry can come too."

Liz rolled her eyes.

"Fine, but you better not spend the whole night with them! There are some guys from Manhattan Prep that I wanna introduce you to."

She winked, spotted Flash, and ran off. Ava rolled her eyes.

Liz's home, located in the Upper West Side, turned out to be a penthouse apartment, which should not have surprised Ava given her friend's perfect style and general personality. It was impeccably decorated, and currently only half full.

Gwen, Harry, and Peter had agreed to arrive together. Though Harry was thoroughly excited by his invite, Gwen and Peter had seriously considered not going. Ava had had to plead with them to come - she genuinely liked Liz despite her slight arrogance, but she hated the idea of being in a room full of strangers with her flighty friend for company and her obnoxious boyfriend for company. She hadn't known Peter, Gwen, and Harry for long, but already she felt much closer to them than Flash Thompson and the rest of the football team. Ava was already there - having arrived early to help Liz set up - and greeted them gratefully at the door.

"Glad you could make it," Liz said in a strained voice as she joined them. "Can I get you guys anything to drink?"

Ava led them to the kitchen, where a large bowl of punch, along with various bottles, sat next to a pile of red cups. Gwen sniffed the punch gingerly.

"Is there alcohol in this?"

Liz snorted, and Ava quickly intercepted.

"Uh - yeah, sorry. We can just get you some soda if you'd like?"

Gwen shook her head and blushed. She grabbed a cup of the dubious punch and took a sip. Ava had to contain her laughter at the girl's reaction. Harry eagerly grabbed a cup, too, and Peter followed, looking slightly anxious.

"Ave, you need to meet some of my friends from Man Prep," Liz grabbed her arm and pulled her into the growing crowd.

The next time she saw Gwen was about an hour later, after being forced to schmooze with several Man Prep cheerleaders. She was leaning heavily against a dresser, chatting with a redhead whom Ava had never seen before. Gwen turned as she approached, and gave Ava a giddy smile.

"Ava, this is MJ! She's my new best friend," she announced proudly, grabbing Ava's hand in her right and the redhead's in her left.

MJ grinned and leaned towards Ava slightly.

"I think you might want to sober her up," she said, "A couple more drinks and she'll be out."

Ava nodded and took both of Gwen's hands.

"Gwen," she kept her voice kind and gentle, "would you like another drink?"

Gwen's eyes lit up and she hugged her friend tightly.

"Nevermind," she muttered in Ava's ear, "You're my best friend."

Ava chuckled and led her into the kitchen. She returned to Gwen, who was swaying slightly, with a glass of cold water. Gwen looked disappointed, but drank it in full.

"Promise me you won't drink any more alcohol tonight, ok? You won't be able to make it home tonight if you do."

Gwen gave her a sour look, but nodded.

"Maybe I'll take a nap," the drunk girl decided, and Ava led her to one of the guest rooms.

Slightly under another hour passed before Ava ran into Peter and Harry. By this time, she was a little tipsy herself, though she had purposefully kept her intake low, mainly to keep an eye on her friends. Peter, it seemed, had had the same idea, and, though lightly buzzed, was not as floored as Harry, whose words were slurring horribly.

"He's not looking so good," Ava giggled as Harry attempted to approach two pretty girls, and managed to trip on his own feet, ending up in a heap on the ground.

Peter turned to her worriedly.

"Have you seen Gwen? I lost sight of her and now I-"

"She's in one of the guest rooms, sleeping it off, don't worry," she smiled. Relief flashed across his face instantly. Ava motioned to Harry. "How are you all getting home?"

"Harry's gonna call his chauffeur," Peter replied with an awkward grin, "They'll drop off me and Gwen, although I'm a little out of the way..."

"Brooklyn?"

"Queens."

"Ah."

"You can get a lift with us if you want?"

"Oh, I'm staying the night with Liz," Ava smiled warmly.

"You two seem pretty close, huh?" Peter looked like he wanted to say more, and perhaps he would have if he'd had a little more to drink.

"She saw me looking lost in the hallway on my first day and told me that my hair was 'super cute'. She showed me around and we just sort of clicked. I don't quite get it either," she laughed at Peter's expression, "But I think she's actually really nice underneath the whole... ya know... exterior."

"And Flash?"

Ava laughed again. Peter grinned.

"TBD."

They stood in silence and watched as Harry, having quickly scrambled back to his feet, started shouting at the girls over the music. Both girls looked amused.

"I'm - I'm glad you moved here," Peter admitted, going slightly red.

"I'm glad I moved here too."

Peter began to say something else, but Liz approached and wrapped her arms around Ava's neck. Flash followed and scowled at Peter.

"I've been looking for you for ages," she admonished loudly, "Look what I saw on Twitter!"

She thrust her phone in Ava's face as a video played. It was of the Firebird in an alleyway, beating up two men.

"That definitely is the Firebird," Ava agreed. Liz scoffed.

"But this was filmed in the city! Like a few days ago!"

"In New York?" Ava raised an eyebrow. Acting was hard when tipsy, but she remained as unperturbed as possible.

"Maybe she's moved here too!" Liz whispered conspiratorially.

"Are you sure you're not the Firebird, Ava?" Flash asked. His smile was playful, but his eyes looked genuinely curious. Ava laughed.

"You caught me, Flash! I've been the Firebird all along! And Peter here is Spiderman, and Liz is Black Widow, and you-"

"Ok, ok," Flash raised his hands in surrender, "I get it."

Ava smiled.