Fluff and angst are like peanut butter and jelly. Or Ham and cheese. One is soothing and the other is often tangy and knocks right on your tastebuds screaming; "I'M HERE BITCHES!"
In the best of ways, of course.
—*—*—*—*—*
"The irony is almost too much for me to handle," Matt remarked, looking equal parts disappointed parent and highly amused troll. He couldn't even see what was actually happening like Foggy could— and said blonde was wheezing on the ground from laughter so intense that it had long since went silent.
"It is kind of ridiculous," Karen agreed, arms crossed and eyebrow raised. "Not only do you have two vigilante personas, but you're going trick-or-treating with a veritable family of superheroes… while dressed as yet another vigilante," she perfectly summed up what was happening as I stood in the living room wearing the suit Peter had reluctantly forked over during lunch. He had a few backups just in case anything happened and he actually had to be Spider-man, but still. Relinquishing his primary suit to me was still a massive show of trust… and apparently a source of embarrassment, if his red face had been anything to go by.
Then again, blushing seemed to be an inseparable part of him at times so maybe there wasn't really anything deeper behind it.
So. In other words, I was in my living room dressed as Spider-Man. Minus the mask, which was in my hand.
"It is—" Foggy started, wheezing with another laugh, "oh my god—hahaha— it fits you perfectly!" Matt had to bend over to help lift Foggy off the ground and up into a proper standing position.
"Oh calm down," I chided jokingly, chuckling. "Halloween wouldn't be Halloween without a few tricks and jokes. Even if not very many people notice it," I pointed out. I swung my arms, feeling the stretch of the admittedly skin tight material against the limbs. The Boa costume was flexible, but definitely more bulky and obviously armored. It wasn't made with the same metals as th e Spider-Man suit, making it more stiff than the red, body-hugging thing that Peter wore.
He assured me that Tony had it washed beforehand, which I could attest to from the distinct lack of sweat smell in the clothing, so there was nothing to worry about hygiene wise. It was just… well, form fitting.
Nobody would mistake me for Spider-man at least
Good thing self consciousness regarding my body wasn't one of my plethora of personal issues. I posed in the bathroom mirror, with the door wide open so that my three family figures could laugh at me unashamedly (though, honestly, Matt would have noticed my posing even through a solid wall and laughed anyway). I had just finished practicing the hand movement Peter shot his webs with when my phone started vibrating on the table, the lyrics to Unstoppable by Sia starting to blast through the speaker. I ran out to the living room to snatch the device up from the coffee table, answering it.
"Yo!" I answered cheerfully.
"Oh my god, I am going to pretend you didn't just answer the phone with 'yo,'" Tony Stark groaned over the other side of the phone. "We're outside your building, kid."
"Tell me you aren't in a limo," I pleaded, grabbing my candy bag and slipping on shoes (the suit didn't actually need any, but we needed to pretend it was fake so. Shoes).
"Oh please," Tony scoffed. "I'm not that bad. And besides, we're trying to lay low today."
"Be right out," I assured him before hanging up, and looking to the trio watching me. I plopped the Spider-man mask onto my head, but didn't pull it down yet. "I'll call you when we're headed back. I'll be with the avengers, so don't you dare worry about me," I told Matt sternly, going in for a hug. He wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me briefly before letting go. "And you two," I spun to Foggy and Karen, who both comically snapped to attention. "Take this idiot out to a party or something, he hardly ever lets himself have fun," I instructed with a grin, ignoring Matt's protest behind me. "But don't get him drunk, because knowing him he'll still want to patrol later and level of inebriation will not deter him."
"He's a stubborn ass like that," Foggy agreed cheerily. "Now go before they tired of waiting. Have fun!" Foggy called after me as I jogged to the door, and I answered with a wave as Karen and Matt echoed his well wishing.
Outside the building, I grinned at the Arc-run car in front of me, sliding down the mask over my face before tugging the door open and sliding in. It was too big for everyone, which meant the others were probably in other cars and going to meet us at… wherever it was we were going trick or treating. As suspected, I slid right into Peter's side.
"Well hello there, random citizen," I greeted in a dramatically deep voice, making Peter laugh and put his head in his hands. I closed the car door behind me. "Remember to always buckle up, young man! And—"
"Okay, okay stop!" Peter begged through his laughs. "You're starting to sound like one of Uncle Steve's PSAs," he complained with a chuckle.
Also in the car was Tony, who was driving, Rhodey in the passenger's seat, and Wanda. I had never really spoken to the other girl before, so I was planning of making the most of my chance to speak to another female badass. I leaned forward, taking off the mask to look over at her. Her long red hair was fluffed out and slightly curled to mimic Poison Ivy's, and she was wearing what looked like a custom made costume that was much more modest than most Ivy costumes. It was a strapless green unitard with darker green spandex shorts peeking through the bottom, and a gauzy tail of the same darker green fanning out behind her. There were, of course, very intricate ivy detailing over the unitard and she was wearing very well made green boots with ivy and small red flowers sewed onto them. It was classy, but undeniably Poison Ivy.
Meanwhile, Peter was very classic. Standard higher-end costume store Batman's costume, with slightly cartoony padded chest and hard plastic "cowl" to cover the face. It was very geeky, which was perfect for who was wearing it.
And Tony.
Oh boy.
"Does Strange know you copied his costume?" I asked, trailing my eyes over the very convincing knockoff of the Cloak of Levitation. Stark just grinned, which was really all the answer I needed.
"I told Steve we were going to go as wizards. Steve assumed I meant Harry Potter characters," Tony admitted as he started driving off. "I never corrected him. Now he's wearing a bad wig dressed as Harry, and I don't have to try to adjust my facial hair."
Of fucking course he'd choose the costume just because of the facial hair. Why did I expect any different? And then I blinked, a smile slowly tugging at the corners of my lips.
"Is that… a compliment towards Strange?" I asked impishly, and Tony huffed.
"Of course not."
"Uh huh," I agreed, trading a glance with Wanda and Peter that said that neither of us believed him for a second. "You totally complimented his goatee by choosing to dress as him."
"No I—"
"Don't deny it dad," Peter pitched in. Rhodey laughed.
"Yeah, don't deny it Tones," Stark's oldest friend chided, gently elbowing the billionaire. Said military officer was also dressed up, and rocking his disco suit. It was shiny and obnoxious and perfect, especially for a guy most would expect to be super serious— I mean, the guy was Tony Stark's best friend since college. Obviously he'd have to be able to be wacky and not care too much about his dignity at times.
"Who are you paired up with, colonel Rhodes?" I asked. To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure myself why I instinctively used his rank when addressing him. I knew he was casual and laid back and would—
"You can call me Rhodey, I've told you that already," he said easily, turning back to smile at me.
—prefer me to use his nickname. There was just something about him being military that made me want to show him extra respect. I had a feeling it might be linked to a suppressed memory of some sort though, so I carefully kept my face blank of my inner confusion. I wouldn't pry into that, not on Halloween. It was time to have some fun, not worry about the things I had forcefully forgotten from childhood.
"And I'm paired with Nat. She was pretty excited to do disco, but don't tell her I told you that. I like all of my body parts exactly where they are."
I nodded. "Secret's safe with me," I assured, holding up one hand in a pseudo pledge position. "Fake Spider-Man's honor."
"Yeah, I don't know how far to trust that," the man admitted with a grin. I just shrugged, earning a chuckle from everyone.
"Alright kiddies, here we are. Full sized candy bars await," Tony announced, parking on the side of the street in a pretty expensive neighborhood. I shook my head, not surprised he chose to bring us to a neighborhood like that.
It was Tony, after all.
"Remember, Wednesday's a school night so no booze and we have to be back in the car by eleven so the infants can go to bed," Peter and I instantly protested being called infants, but we were ignored. "Oh look, everyone else is here. Let's go!"
Five minutes later, and I was pretty sure I was seeing double. All the Avengers were grouped together as they worked out a strategy for the optimal candy haul, but I was faced down the street as a creepily familiar suit, goatee, and swagger walked towards us.
"Uh…" it wasn't until the man got closer that I suddenly realized what was happening, and had to cover my mouth to avoid breaking out in sudden laughter. "Oh my god," I breathed. "Steve! You don't have a costume partner anymore!"
The blond in the bad wig turned towards me, confused for a second. That is, until he saw what I did, and started laughing. That brought Tony's attention to the scene, because he had to know what was distracting Cap from planning the route. And then he saw what the rest of us had started to notice, and his grin was nearly large enough to break his face in half.
Oh. Oh my god, the night was suddenly filled with far more ego than I feared any of us would survive.
"I thought you would know better than to think you could get away with dressing as me, Stark," Strange drawled easily when he pulled up to us, dressed in an absolutely flawless Tony Stark costume. I wasn't even sure it was a costume, it looked like he stole that suit from Tony's closet. Even the watch and sunglasses were perfect.
"Am I dead?" I asked Peter out of the corner of my mouth, mask in my hand.
"I don't know, but I'm suffocating under this much ego and perfect facial hair power," he whispered back, the both of us instantly giggling like stereotypical schoolgirls. "By the way, Ned and MJ are coming with us. I already told them where to come."
I had actually just picked up on those two familiar scents when he said that, so I just nodded, smiling, as those two figures walked up the street towards us.
"Wouldn't be trick or treating without the ones who will actually get the candy," I remarked, knowing that despite all the planning the adults were doing they wouldn't get any sweet treats of their own. MJ gave me a fist bump as she walked up in her seventies tie-dye hipster costume, and Ned and Peter did their own secret handshake next to us, Ned in— to nobody's surprise— the latest Iron Man costume.
"Stooop," I moaned in despair, looking over at my friend. "Tony's levels of narcissism are already dangerously high, why did you have to make it worse?"
"Ohmygod I'm trick or treating with the Avengers…" he completely ignored me. It seemed like even the Avengers Exposure Therapy couldn't numb him to the surreality of going door to door for free candy with them.
We spent the first hour just chatting as we walked around getting candy, our bags gradually getting heavier. We were definitely a bit older on the spectrum of kids out trick or treating, but it wasn't op bad. There were other teenagers out enjoying the night, so we didn't really stick out. The amount of compliments I got for my costume, which I wore the mask the majority of the time since I loved hearing Peter's AI comment on things (and it was always best to keep the illusion complete at all times) was frankly flattering and confidence boosting as hell.
"What do you usually do after school, Hebi?" Wanda asked, sticking with the rest of us younger folk as we walked. I smiled at her despite it being hidden by the mask.
"Homework," I deadpanned, making Peter, MJ, and Ned laugh.
Midtown's workload was no joke, but we all suffered it so we deserved a laugh at it every now and then dammit.
"I also put together orders for my online tea business, WickedTea. Plus my dad and I like to just hang out, sometimes we'll go out with his best friends for dinner or something."
"But do you have any hobbies?" She asked, seeming to be genuinely curious. I shrugged, obviously not able to tell her about my whole Boa thing.
"Sure I do. Making new teas is really calming, but I also like fighting— as if that wasn't obvious. I train with my dad every Saturday. And dancing, but," I rubbed the back of my costumed neck. "Contortion and dancing were the things I did to earn a living back when I was homeless, so I don't really feel much of a need to do them all the time anymore. I'll still occasionally get bored and start putting together a random routine, but it isn't super often. I like reading, though."
"Oh hey, look at that," Clint spoke up, nodding his head to the large front yard of one of the houses on the street. He and Bucky were paired together and, since they were lazy, were both dressed as stereotypical vampires. It seemed like the house he had pointed out was hosting an open costume contest, and they were playing loud music. The ring of contestants waiting to be judged were dancing to fill the time, and I pulled up the mask of my costume a bit so that Peter could see my predatory smile.
I could see him pale even from behind his Batman mask.
"I guess let's turn this into a costume dance competition! Anyone wanna step up?" A guy, probably one of the people who lived in the massive house, spoke over a microphone. I slowly pulled the mask back down, everyone in our group suddenly focused on me. I'm pretty sure I was radiating mischief at that point.
Peter lunged forward, trying to grab my arm before I could move but he was too slow.
"Hell yeah!" I cheered, jumping forward and front flipping over to the costumed dancers, right as Wildcard by KSHMR was played. I'm pretty sure it was just for me.
I could sense Peter's face palm from behind me, the weight of everyone's stares heavy on me.
I come around the turn and people stop and stare
Karen was already ordered not to make any changes to the mask's eyes, so that it was more believable that the costume was a copy. Therefore, the wink I gave the crowd was entirely missed but I didn't care. I hadn't danced in front of a crowd for a while, and it was different than presenting in front of a class. I always knew nobody would remember a faceless street performer when I was homeless, so I was safe, and I was in a mask that time so I was even more protected than before.
I began cranking out my best moves, mixing hip hop and ballet and the occasional flips into the routine. I made sure not to do anything too wild, I didn't want to stand out too much, but I still let myself have fun as I spun and blew everyone else out of the water. At one point someone yelled at me to do a backflip, which was a classic Spider-Man request that flew over exactly nobody's head. I laughed, but did exactly that.
My perfect landing was greeting by a huge roar of appreciation. I finished off with a sassy turn and snap, making sure to pose as sassily as I could—jutted hip and all. The laughs and cheers and whistles that followed were very satisfying, the Avengers adding their own support with some of the loudest cheers of the crowd.
"Spider-Girl!" Someone yelled, which actually started up a chant of Spider-Girl. It made me laugh loudly, bending over in shock even as I walked over to my group again. Bucky ruffled my head, considering my hair was under the mask. Rhodey gave me a hearty clap over the shoulder, and Peter, Ned, MJ, and Wanda swarmed forward to tell me what they thought of my little performance.
"You are so going to be a YouTube sensation now," MJ warned me, smirking. "Pretty much everyone had their phones out filming that."
"Alright alright," Tony was smiling widely, but ushered our group forward. "Let's—"
"Oh, wait!" The guy who had been on the microphone before ran forward, holding out a bag of candy. "Spider-girl! We had to give you some kind of prize for that awesome dance, so here's your trophy. Have a Happy Halloween everyone!"
I slowly took the bag of candy, peeking into it to see full sized chocolate bars filling it up. I gasped, looking up at everyone in surprise.
"Oh my god," I breathed. "Thank you so much!"
The guy shrugged off my thanks, jogging back to start up the normal costume contest again as we walked off. I carefully put my new bag into my candy bag on top of the rest of my haul, feeling pretty damn good.
That was, until I suddenly recognized the neighborhood we were in and froze a few blocks away from the Contest house.
"Oh my god," I said slowly, turning to Tony who had chosen the neighborhood. He wasn't meeting my gaze, pretending to be showing Rhodey and Strange something on his phone. "This whole thing was a set up!"
"Now, Hebi," Rhodey was the one that spoke up, holding his hands up in mock surrender. The unsurprised, chagrined looks everyone had told me that they all knew what was happening. "It wasn't a set up. We wanted to go to a rich neighborhood for the best candy, and this one just so happened to fulfill two needs at the same time. Convenience, we swear."
"Unbelievable," I shook my head. "You guys planned this the whole goddamned time."
I didn't really know how to feel, looking around to see if I could cross the street and get away from that train wreck before it began. Unfortunately, my luck decided to screw me over.
"Hey! Is that Hebi? I'm guessing that's Hebi," Scott's voice cut through the general noise of the street as he made his way over, holding the hand of a little girl. "Hank helped me convince my ex to let my daughter fly up here for Halloween. I only have her for another hour before she has to go on Hank's plane to fly back to California, so you should come say hi!"
Oh. My. God.
Everyone was in on it.
"I know you can't see it," I said monotonously to the whole group behind me. "But I am very annoyed right now."
I forced my voice to be cheery the next second though as I walked forward and crouched by the little girl, who I soon learned was Scott's daughter Cassie, and talked to her as if I was super happy and not at all annoyed at my friend's meddling.
"Come on, come meet uncle Hank!" Cassie yelled happily, handing her fairy wand off to her dad so she could grab my wrist in both of her tiny hands and tug me off towards Hank's house. Which was right there, the building that had tipped me off to all of the Avengers and my best friends having set up this route in order to force me to talk to Hank.
They had even got the little girl roped in on their evil plan.
Suddenly I realized how damn lucky the world was that the Avengers were actually all good guys. Because if they were villains… the world would have already been won over.
It was kinda scary how powerful they all were.
I let the little fairy-dressed girl drag me to the house I had been avoiding since the argument more than two weeks earlier. When she wasted no time storming in I had to accept that I would not escape, and sighed in despair.
Sure enough, Cassie led me right up to Hank. He had a cat ear headband shoved on his head, likely against his will, as he read a book next to a bowl of candy. Scott's daughter wasted no time shoving me over to him.
"Daddy said you fought and have to make up now, so bye!" She admitted with a large smile before running out of the house and slamming the door behind her tiny form.
Leaving me alone with Hank.
I was so pranking all of them in revenge for this crap.
Hank has put down his book when he noticed me, his sharp old man mind not needing very much time to deduce who it was wearing the Spider-Man costume in his living room in front of him. I removed the mask anyway, shifting from foot to foot.
"Umm…"
"I'm sorry," Hank said without any beating around the bush, making my head shoot up and my eyes widen. I hadn't expected him to give in that quickly. "I know it was shitty of me to say those things, and I realize I don't actually know much about your past. I didn't have any right to say those things," he looked away, one hand tapping his fingers against the wooden arm of his chair. "I guess I'm still a bit old fashioned. It's hard for me to imagine a kid actually having seen or experienced more than me. But you're a good kid, you've saved my life and always come to me if you've heard information you think I need to know. You've looked out for me even before we knew each other well, I shouldn't have been harsh about you wanting to keep a secret."
"You had a point," I argued gently, running a hand through my bangs. "I shouldn't hide things from Pete, but there's a reason behind my madness. You have to know that," I pleaded with him, meeting his eyes evenly. "If you knew everything, you'd understand."
"Then tell me," he leaned forward. "Keeping things to yourself isn't healthy, I should know."
I chuckled pitifully, shaking my head. "Not yet," I whispered. "I've forgiven what you said a long time ago, but that's not the issue. The way I reacted… that wasn't cool," I admitted. "I didn't think I would react like that, but it seems like my past had a bit of a harsher hold on me than I thought. You don't have to worry so much though, Natasha, Bucky, and Clint know. They help me whenever they can," I assured him with a lopsided smile. "And my dad knows too. I'm just… I'll tell you when I have things under control a bit better, okay? I'm just not ready yet."
Hank sighed, running a hand through his hair before gesturing for me to come closer. "Say trick or treat so I can give you candy already then, you brat," he said kindly, reaching into the candy bowl at his side. "And go have fun. I expect you to show up here over the weekend so I can do maintenance on your tech though, you've been avoiding me long enough that I'm worried your reckless butt has already messed something up."
I smiled widely; things with Hank would be okay. That was good. Maybe things were looking up.
—*—*—*—*—*
It wasn't until the week after Halloween that things started to take a turn. Or more accurately, that anybody noticed anything was wrong. Hebi had barely texted or called Peter, Ned, or MJ over the weekend. That was normal for her periods of "light sensitivity," since she said the light from phone screens annoyed her during it. But… that wasn't the issue. The three of her friends knew that her light sensitivity never came back super soon, it was still at least a week away from when it was likely to resurface.
So… the fact that she hardly responded to them at all was a little concerning. Still, they shrugged it off. Maybe she was just tired or she got sick or something—they had had a group call in order to reassure one another and make plans to ask her if she was okay on Monday.
Sure enough, the first Monday after Halloween came and Hebi wasn't wearing her glasses.
She wasn't making eye contact, either.
Peter frowned, trading a glance with Michelle as the four of them walked together to their English class. Hebi had a habit of zoning out, yeah, but she would always respond when spoken to and it wasn't hard at all to get her involved in a conversation.
"So I'm gonna blow up Chicago tomorrow and make it rain chihuahuas," MJ drawled. "What do you think, Hebi?"
"Sounds fun," she agreed monotonously, clearly not having actually paid an ounce of attention to the words being spoken. That was when the three knew something was up for sure, and that it had to be big. Making an outrageous claim was their trump card for getting Hebi's attention during her zone outs, it never failed. Even when her hearing aids were off and she seemed to be a bit worse off than usual audibly, she still always picked up on it when they said something stupid or ridiculous to get her attention.
But the three watched as Hebi just went straight to her desk in English without even waiting for them, pulling out her supplies for class and proceeding to stare off at the blank wall like a robot.
It was the most unnerving they had ever seen their Asian friend act.
"You gotta talk to her, man," Ned whispered, the three of them standing just to the side of the door to have a mini conference about their new friend crisis.
"Why me?" The lithe boy asked, eyes wide. "You're the one that always makes her laugh, and MJ's her partner in crime. We should all work together."
"No," MJ disagreed, frowning and with her arms crossed over her chest. "If she's going through something, trying to approach her as a group could be counterproductive. You're the one she spends the most time with, you know her the best. She still twitches whenever Ned or I even touch her shoulder," the girl pointed out. "But she never blinks when you do, or when you put your arm around her. You have the best shot at getting her to open up."
Peter frowned, looking away from his two friends to look over at Hebi worriedly. She was as still as the wall she was staring at, but her eyes weren't as blank as she seemed to think. Even from across the room Peter could hear her heart thumping faster than normal. Not fast enough for her to be in a panic attack or nervous or scared, but definitely quick enough for some concern. She was probably worried about something. And her eyes were dull but the bags were deep underneath them, and there was still some red there as if she had been crying. Had she gotten any sleep recently?
He ran a hand through his hair. "Okay," he agreed softly. "I'll try, but she's a private person. If she doesn't want to talk, she won't and there won't be anything we can do about it."
"So, what?" Ned asked, sounding angry and hopeless. "We just let her go through whatever it is that's going on and pretend everything is normal?"
"If that's all we can do," MJ confirmed sadly. "Forcing her won't help anything. Normality might, though."
"Let's just… let's just go one step at a time," Peter told them. "Let me try talking to her. Maybe she won't mind telling me something."
Worried, they all went to sit down in their usual spots. Peter waited until the room was mostly full and nobody would easily be drawn to look at him or Hebi. "Hey," he started softly, leaning towards her. She didn't react, so she slowly reached out to touch her arm.
Her reaction was sudden— she pulled away as if she had been electrocuted, eyes wild with panic and she spun to look at him and… and then she called down. Once she saw his face and put together what had happened, a whoosh off air left her lungs in one fluid motion, and she sunk down into her seat looking embarrassed.
"Are… are you okay?" Peter tried, frowning at her concerning actions. "No, that's a stupid question, obviously you aren't. Hebi… is there anything I can do to help?" She wouldn't meet his eyes. "You can talk, if you just need someone to listen."
The girl's arms curled around herself—defensive posture, Peter's mind supplied. A subconscious action the body took to protect itself when it felt helpless, especially in emotional situations.
Peter was just getting more worried.
"I'm fine," Hebi lied. Peter could see through it clear as day, even if he wasn't good enough at reading heartbeats to tell a lie from the truth. It was just so obvious that she was anything but "fine."
"Hebi…"
"No, really," she tried, turning to give him a shaky smile. It solidified after a second, actually turning convincing. Peter just got more concerned. "I just haven't been getting very good sleep, that's all. I'm a bit stressed with both Physics and Chem, and then that calculus test coming up is a bitch. I'll be better before you know it, trust me."
He didn't.
With most things, yeah. He trusted Hebi with his life, with his suit and his identity, with his embarrassment. But he did not trust her to be truthful about her health, because he was watching her lie to his face.
Briefly, he wondered what else she had lied about to his face if she was able to be that convincing about it. He figured that was a can of worms to open some other time.
He just wanted his friend Hebi back. The one that had danced in the Spider-Man suit on Halloween and become a meme on YouTube as Spider-Girl. The sassy, strong, stubborn young woman that told off Flash eloquently without any effort. The girl whose first demand after figuring out his hero identity was to be his backup.
Seeing her so vulnerable felt wrong.
"If you say so," he reluctantly agreed out loud as the teacher started class. "But I'm here to help okay? I mean it."
"I know, Super Nerd," she assured him softly, just barely unable to keep the wobble from her voice. "And I promise, I'll come to you if I need to."
Knowing he couldn't do anything else, Peter just nodded and resolved himself to keep an eye out for her.
—*—*—*—*—*
"Sir, there is a Karen Page in the lobby asking to see you. She has Hebi with her, she is currently unconscious," Friday informed Tony, and the entire living room in Avengers Tower by consequence. Currently there was Wanda, Steve, Clint, Rhodey, and Peter along with the owner of the Tower himself. They all stood up immediately at the news.
It was Tuesday night, and Peter couldn't help but be worried. Hebi had not changed much at all since he had seen her Monday morning, only putting more effort into trying to seem normal. It didn't work.
"Why the hell is someone coming here with an unconscious teenager?" Tony demanded first, straightening his shirt instinctually as he headed to the elevator. Everyone else, concerned for the young girl, followed.
"Friday, is she injured?" Steve asked as they all filed into the metal box.
"No sir, it appears she has been sedated. I am detecting small amounts of sedatives in her system, meaning they have taken her slow metabolism into account and she should be waking soon."
That didn't satisfy any of them, if anything the faces of everyone present just got grimmer. Who the hell had the audacity to sedate Hebi? And why would they come straight to the Avengers afterward?
"Does the woman have backup?" Clint asked. "What are we looking at here? Armed thugs, a ransom, what can you tell us Friday?"
"It seems there is only the one Karen Page, Mister Barton. There is nobody else in the lobby aside from the secretary on duty. My scans also show that nobody is outside in the immediate vicinity."
"Obviously," Tony muttered, trying to figure out what was going on. "It's almost midnight, most of the staff is already home for the day."
Peter himself had a strict midnight bedtime during the week, so he had just been about to be sent to bed when they had gotten the notification. He was pretty sure that, whatever it was that was going on, he wasn't going to get to sleep as usual.
The elevator door opened, and the six heroes walked out to see what looked like a normal, stressed blond woman. She actually resembled Pepper quite a bit, from her appearance to the way she held herself to the way she was even dressed. She had on business casual even that late at night, though it was clearly rumpled as if she had been sitting or laying down in that outfit for a while.
The woman perked up when she saw them, relief crashing over her features. That immediately confused them— wasn't Hebi in danger? Why else would a stranger bring her there unconscious and sedated?
"Karen Page?" Tony asked, persona on and walls up as he approached her. Hebi was laid out on one of the lobby sofas right behind Page. "Can I ask what the hell you are doing here with a family friend at half past," he pretended to check his watch, "the middle of the goddamn night? And who sedates a fifteen year old? That seems like a new low to me."
Karen straightened her back, eyes hardening with determination. She stepped forward, holding out her hand stubbornly. "Yes, I'm Karen Page. Nice to meet you too," the sass in her tone definitely reminded Tony of Pepper. He shook her hand. "I'm Matt's Secretary, and a close friend of his, so don't you dare accuse me of endangering Hebi in any way, sir," she took a deep breath, but when she let it out her face seemed to age and the lines in her forehead deepened. "Hebi's like a little sister to me. But… sedating her was the only way to get her out of the house, I was hoping she could stay here for a few days," Karen turned her head to look at said sleeping girl. "Can we… can we just get her into a bed first, and I can explain? She's going to wake up any minute now and I don't want to be within striking range."
Clint walked up immediately, grabbing Karen by the upper arm and pulling her to the side. The two exchanged quick words where he others couldn't hear for a moment. Whatever answer he archer got made him relax, and he came back to the group with a tired smile.
"I'll take her up. You guys can show Miss Page up to the living room or something and figure out what's going on," he said softly before walking over to lift the teen into his arms. She didn't weigh much, not that he expected her to with her small stature, but her muscle mass added enough heft for him to spend a second adjusting her in his arms before he took her into the elevator and headed up to set her into a guest room.
Ten minutes later, he joined everyone else in the living room. Karen had been sat at the kitchen counter and was clutching a hot cup of tea in her hands. She took a sip, looking up when he walked in.
"Okay, everyone's here," Steve said, meaning everyone who had been present during the call. If the rest of the team had to be notified, they would be, but it was late and he didn't want to wake them up if it turned out being nothing serious. "So what's going on? Why did you have to sedate Hebi, and why do you want her to stay here? Does Murdock know you brought her here?"
Karen sighed, rubbing her forehead with one hand as the other set her cup down.
"That's the issue," she admitted slowly. "Matt was… he was mugged on Friday, but he's fine!" She rushed to assure them. "He got away, no problem. Hebi wasn't that far behind and helped knock the guy out. But Matt got stabbed in the arm, which wouldn't normally be an issue, but the wound got infected," Karen's hands started to tremble, so she took a minute to take another sip of tea. It was one of Hebi's blends, which really shouldn't have calmed the woman down as much as it did.
"And..?" Rhodey prodded gently. "You guys have medical care right?"
"Oh, yeah," Karen waved a hand dismissively. "We have a really good doctor who takes care of him, that's not the issue. The issue is that the infection also gave him a pretty bad flu, he's been out of it since Saturday. Puking, sleeping all day, chills, the whole nine yards, and that's on top of the treatment for the knife wound," Karen informed them.
"Okay…" Rhodey spoke up again slowly, eyebrows knit. "So… what's the problem? Couldn't you take her in for a few days if you don't want her getting sick?"
"That's not the problem," Karen argued, sounding annoyed and tired. Very tired. "It's just… has Hebi told you about what happened when she was six? She came home from school to find her mom's corpse and a bunch of alcohol bottles."
The room went dead silent. Tony, Peter, and Clint were not surprised since they already knew, but it was news to everyone else. For the three who had already known, the picture started to slowly come into focus.
"She's been through a lot of shit," Karen let out a slightly hysterical laugh, clearly fighting back some frustrated tears. "Way more than she deserves. Way more than anyone deserves. She's seen more than just her mom's body, which would be trauma fuel in and of itself for anybody. And she is so close to Matt, he's broken down all the walls she built without even seeming to try," the blond strayed gesturing with her arms as she got more passionate. "Him getting sick like this has affected her in a way none of us expected," she slumped down onto her stool and stared into her cup of tea.
"Hebi saw Matt passed out in his bed, and something just snapped. She saw how weak he was, how he isn't tossing and turning like usual, and next thing we know she's glued to his bedside. She set up an entire station next to him, with all his medicines and ten water bottles and a hot plate so she could make soup for him right there on a moment's notice— it's overboard. And when he's asleep, she just stares at his face and won't let go of his wrist. She is…" Karen's voice cracked, and she covered her mouth with one hand to hold back a sob. "She looks at him sleeping and all she can do is imagine that he's dead," she whispered. "She just sits there, repeating to herself over and over again: 'he has a pulse. He has a pulse. He has a pulse,' and it scares the crap out of us. She hasn't eaten a solid meal since Saturday besides her school lunches, but she puked those up when she got home. She hasn't slept in probably that long either, unless she managed to pass out when we weren't looking. Me and Foggy— Matt's best friend and law partner— we have been over there constantly looking after both of them. Foggy's taken over the couch because Hebi won't leave the stool by Matt's bed. We had to do something."
"Why here?" Wanda asked, leaning over and gently placing a hand on Karen's shoulder. The blond slightly relaxed, Wanda's magic gently softening her emotions and warming up her muscles so that she wasn't so tense. "Like Rhodes said, you or this Foggy person could have taken her in, no?"
"No," Karen shook her head. "Hebi's been teaching me self defense, but Foggy and I aren't fighters or athletes. I tried taking her home to get her away from Matt for a while to relax, but she literally jumped out the window. No matter how hard we try, she's stronger and faster and always goes right back to his bedside," the woman lifted up her cup, gulping down the tea. She set the empty mug down after a minute, and took a slow, steadying breath. "She should be fine once Matt's better and lucid and able to talk to her. I don't know how he does it, but he's always able to say the right thing to her. So… I figured this was my last hope. I knew she was friends with you guys, and you actually have the means to keep her here until she's being healthy again. She needs food, and maybe even a health checkup after her stupid hunger strike. Please, tell me you'll help. Please."
"Obviously," Tony remarked, but his voice was surprisingly soft. "We'll keep her here at least for a day, though I don't think she'll like being confined to the Tower…"
"You'll have to keep her home from school," Peter pitched in, sounding a lot more subdued than usual. "If you give her an inch, she'll take a mile. She'll use school as a chance to go right back home when we're not there to stop her."
"Oh, so like you?" Rhodey asked with a raised eyebrow, looking at the teen in the room with a small smirk. "How many times have we sent you off to school only for you to ditch and do something we specifically told you not to?"
Peter knew better than to answer that, rubbing the back of his neck.
A soft chuckle drew their attention back to their guest, who had watched the interaction with a soft gaze.
"You sound like Matt," she said to Peter, who blinked in surprise. "He's always been too stubborn for his own good, Foggy's told me horror stories of the two of them back in college," she admitted. Peter jotted down another similarity between his and Hebi's fathers— they both had extremely close friends that they met in college, and those friends both spread horror stories about them from said college days.
"Maybe that's why he and Hebi get along," Karen continued. "They're both way too stubborn for their own good. Never listen to common sense," she chuckled as if she was thinking of an inside joke. "Stay a friend to her, will you?" She asked Peter softly, her voice barely above a whisper. "Hebi acts like nothing bothers her, but she needs you more than she lets on."
Maybe Peter should have been listing similarities between Hebi and his dad instead, he realized with a frown.
"Of course," he agreed immediately. Karen relaxed and sighed.
"Thank you guys so much, really. And for the tea, too. I better head home to take over the night shift from Foggy, one of us will drop by tomorrow to check on Hebi. If that's okay?" She aimed the last question at Rony, who shrugged and nodded.
"Yeah, of course," he answered easily. "Just tell Friday—"
"Sir, I hate to interrupt," Friday spoke, stopping whatever the billionaire had been about to say. "But Hebi has just woken up and I think it is best if she is restrained. She is attempting to break down her door."
"Oh boy," Steve breathed.
"I'll get Bucky," Clint said immediately. "Pete, Wanda, see if you can't get up there and get her to calm down until I can get him up to speak to her. Tony, maybe you should give Miss Page a drive home?"
"No, no, I have a car," the woman quickly shot that offer down. "Just focus on Hebi. Please."
—*—*—*—*—*
And I am back in the grooooove! Other than the Apology scene, which didn't turn out quite as good as I wanted, this chapter turned out pretty decent. And on time, yay! Hope you guys liked it, next chapter will be a lot of Hebi trying to deal with this new angst, and things will pick up pretty soon. Things have been going a little slowly, but I promise this is all building up to something (plot, maybe? O.o nooo waayyyyyy).
Again, NEVER be shy to talk to me in the comments. I love you guys and everything you have to say so much!
As always, thank you guys so much for reading and see you next chapter~
