Charles' POV

As Evelyn disappeared into the operating room, my heart ached with worry.

Warren stood at my side, a gentle hand on my shoulder.

Time ticked by slowly as we watched through the window as doctors and surgeons passed in and out of the operating room.

"Hello," said a voice, pulling my eyes away from the scene. A man extended his hand to me. "I'm Tony Stark," he introduced himself.

"Charles Xavier," I said. "I'm Evelyn's guardian."

Stark extended a hand to Warren.

"I'm Warren, Eve's brother," he said as they shook hands.

"Warren, Mr. Xavier," Stark began. "I'm glad you made it back alright . . . I'm gonna cut right to my point: I don't know what went wrong—with that suit, I mean. I tested it rigorously. I shot bullets at it point-blank. I just don't know what went wrong—"

His voice trailed off. "I take full responsibility for all this," he said at last.

"This is in no way your fault, Mr. Stark," I said. "Apocalypse is a very powerful mutant. There's no doubt in my mind that if Eve hadn't been wearing that suit, she'd be dead in the sand of Cairo. That piece of metal would have torn through her. Your suit stopped it. You've done more than enough: you've bought us time, Mr. Stark, and for that I thank you."

Stark looked conflicted. I could tell he still felt it was his fault.

"We've recovered her phone," Stark said, changing the topic. He gave me Evelyn's cell. "She's got some texts from this Peter kid. I know him, he's a part of the Stark program too," he explained. "They're good friends."

"The press is at the front door," Stark continued. "We're ignoring them for right now. Be sure to keep away from the windows if possible, God knows what kind of stories they can make up with a single photo. But I'm sure you'll both want to stay close by until Eve recovers. We have guest rooms—"

"About this Peter," I stopped him. "If they're good friends like you say they are, would you be able to call him, tell him the situation? I'm sure he's worried sick."

Stark sighed. "Yeah, okay," he decided, "give me a couple minutes."

Peter's POV

May and I had went out to dinner the night Eve had left for Cairo. I was so worried for her but I couldn't even tell Aunt May why.

By the following morning, I was so worried I was running a fever. I didn't get much sleep either. Aunt May let me stay home from school.

I was sitting on the couch with May working from home next to me when something on the TV caught my eye. The news had gotten footage from the battle in Cairo.

Eve's unmistakable black wings contrasted the light desert sands. She jumped down from a building, her sword at the ready. The powerful mutant Eve had been talking about—Apocalypse—blasted shards of metal at her.

"Aunt May, look," I said, pointing to the TV.

"Now if you look right here, you can see The Angel of New York gets hit with some kind of metal projectile," the newscaster said as the footage zoomed in. "But she doesn't even flinch—"

"Isn't that the girl from next door?" May asked, confused.

My phone started buzzing. "Hello?" I said picking it up quickly.

"Hey, kid," said a familiar voice.

"Mr. Stark!" I realized. "What's going on? Is everyone alright?"

"We got Eve out of Cairo," he began. His voice didn't sound very optimistic.

Aunt May was listening in intently.

"Kid, there's no other way to say this, but she's not doing so hot," Mr. Stark said. "She got hit. Hard."

My heart dropped as I watched the scene on the news play over and over again. I could see the exact moment Eve had been injured.

"So if you want to have your Aunt bring you over to the new facility, you can come see her, Peter. We're doing everything we can but, she might . . . she might not make it through the night."

My throat burned as I tried to hold in my tears. "Yeah, okay." I sniffed. "I'll be over."

"Alright, Pete, bye."

My phone fell out of my hand as I hugged Aunt May tightly, hot ugly tears falling down my cheeks.

"Peter," May breathed sympathetically, rubbing circles on my back.

"May, I gotta tell you—my friend Eve, from next door, she's an Avenger," I said, my voice hoarse. "I just told you she was a part of the Stark Internship so you wouldn't, you know, freak out."

"I'm not mad, Peter," May said, pulling away from the hug. I could tell she was a little shocked though not mad. "Do you want me to take you to go see her?"

"Yeah," I decided, taking a deep breath. "Let's go."