Nice
Chapter Song: Perfect by PUBLIC for the first half and Hollywood's Bleeding by Post Malone for the second half.
Headcanon of the chapter: Danielle used to have a crush on a boy dancer during one of the dance recitals she had played piano at before HYDRA. After falling head over heels in love with him, she managed to convince her parents to let her join ballet. She hated it and ended up dropping out two months later. Jack made fun of her for it for weeks.
—
Come to find, breaking Peter out of detention actually came with a few challenges.
Like, for one, there were only three people in the entire room: Peter, Michelle (for some odd reason), and Coach Wilson.
Danielle bit back the urge to groan after doing a quick once over of the room from behind the wall beside the doorway. She pressed against the brick wall and thought about her next plan of action of getting Peter out without Coach Wilson seeing. This would've been a lot easier if there were more people in detention.
But, Danielle had to work with she had. She had to think.
Plan #1: go up to Coach Wilson and try and distract him with soccer talk... Pros: it gave Peter time to sneak out while she talked Coach Wilson's ears off. Cons: Coach Wilson would eventually notice Peter was gone by the time Danielle would leave or he would see right through her bullshit... Either option wasn't exactly good.
Plan #2: get inside of Coach Wilson's mind and make him fall asleep... Pros: infinite amount of time for Peter to escape. Cons: Michelle would still notice and Danielle wasn't exactly sure if she even had that ability to put someone to sleep anymore. Plus, that was a bit intense.
And finally, Plan #3... This one was her last hope and her last idea.
—
"So... You got detention."
Peter rolled his eyes at the Captain America educational video Coach Wilson had playing on the old box TV at the front of the sterile classroom. It was cold and empty and there were only two students in here: him and Michelle. This was practically torture- child neglect.
Annoyed by the fact he was even in here, Peter glanced up at the clock in the corner of the class. 11:45. Fourth period had barely started and he was still stuck in here. Was he even going to get lunch? How long was he supposed to stay in detention? All day? And for what, truancy? This was so stupid.
Peter groaned as he set his head down on the desk over his crossed arms. Hell, he might as well pass the time by dozing off and taking a nap. It wasn't like Coach Wilson was gonna stop him, he looked like he was about to doze off himself.
Just then, the lights had suddenly flickered. At first, Peter had thought that perhaps it was his eyes playing tricks on him, but then it happened again, but this time it was only a single light in the corner of the room.
Hm... that was weird, he thought to himself.
He lights flickered once more in the opposite side of the room again, just over Coach Wilson. He hadn't noticed, but Peter had. He raised his head as his curiosity continued to grow at the flickering lights. Was this Morse code? Were the lights acting up? Was this some kind of attack.
Suddenly, the flickering light panels formed a pattern all the way to the door. Peter narrowed his eyes as he strained to see who the figure was peaking just pass the door. He shouldn't have been surprised to see it was his one and only partner in crime.
When he spotted her, Danielle gave him a knowing smile. He returned the grin.
He watched as her eyes traveled up to the lights. He inferred that was her doing. She turned back to him and with a blink of her eyes the two lights above him flickered. Once, twice, three times. When they stopped, Peter turned back to Danielle questioningly. What was she thinking?
Danielle frowned. Her eyes traveled up to the light just above her. It flickered for a longer period of time before turning on again. When she turned to look back at Peter, he was grinning. He understood.
Danielle smiled before holding up three fingers. She was going to countdown.
Peter sat up straight in his seat. He tried to make it seem as though he was stretching as he extended one arm up, but he kept another hand on his backpack while angling his legs out of his desk. He stole a glance to Coach Wilson before turning back to peer at Danielle out of the corner of his eye. He watched as her fingers counted down. Three. Two. One. Blackout.
The room was suddenly pitch black- save for the television that continued to play the educational videos of Captain America. Coach Wilson and Michelle Jones both glanced up in confusion at the sudden darkness.
"What the hell?!" The coach shouted as he stood from behind his desk.
But just as soon as the lights were out, they came back on. The Coach looked around for what might've caused the electrical malfunction, but the only old thing he could find out of place was the young teenage boy that had just been seated in the desk a few feet away.
"Great," Coach Wilson huffed as he fell back into his seat. He didn't get paid enough to go running after the damn kid. "Why are you here?" He asked the girl in the back corner he had just now noticed was even there. "You don't even have detention."
"Oh, I know. I just like coming in here to sketch people in crisis," she explained as she gestured to the sketchbook in front of her. She held it up to show him the odd drawing of what looked to be him. "Heh. It's you."
Coach Wilson rolled his eyes and pulled his phone out again to read the latest stats on whatever games were going on. No, he did not get paid enough for this job.
—
"Thanks for the break out," Peter laughed as him and walked side by side down the empty halls of the school, searching for the closest exit before Coach Wilson or another teacher found them trying to escape.
Danielle chuckled as they turned a corner of lockers. "You didn't think I would just leave you in there, did you?" She jokingly wondered aloud.
"Well, I hoped you wouldn't," he replied with a grin. "But thanks agin. Nice thinking with the lights."
"I wondered how long it would take you to catch on," she giggled.
"How was I supposed to guess what you were planning? I can't read minds."
"Spiders aren't telepathic. Noted," the brunette cheekily joked.
Peter couldn't help but roll his eyes at her crack humor, but he enjoyed these rare moments of light-hearted banter and joking. It reminded him of him and Danielle's old friendship. The pure and innocent one where neither teen was holding secrets from one another so blatantly, where there weren't unanswered questions or awkward tension, the one where they could both just laugh and talk at Delmar's like two normal high school students. It felt like their friendship was morphing back to what it once was for Peter and Danielle when they first met.
"Oh- hold on." Danielle halted in her tracks momentarily, Peter passing her to get to a set of lockers to the side of the hallway. The brunette watched Peter effortlessly lift the row of lockers along the wall up by a foot, his free hand reaching into a bag that was hidden beneath to grab what looked like a bottle of some sort. And just as easily as he had picked it up, Peter set the lockers back down and joined Danielle once again in walking towards the nearest exit.
"What's that?"
Peter followed Danielle's pointed haze to the bottle in his hand. "It's the fluid that makes the webs that come out of the shooter," he explained as he pulled a part of his sleeve down to reveal the metal slingers attached to his wrists. He popped his wrist up in an odd motion that allowed some kind of tiny metal compartment on the device pop off and land into the palm of his hand with ease. Peter pinched the small device in between his fingers, holding it up for Danielle to see. "I pour a little bit of fluid in here, and it's enough webs to last me a few hours- depending on how busy my day is and how much I use."
"You... made it yourself?" Danielle inquired as she watched Peter slip the device back into the slinger where it came from and pocket the web fluid into his back pocket.
"Yeah," he nodded. "It took me a few days of experimentation on the roof of my apartment building to get the formula just right. And I may or may not have almost set one of our neighbor's cats on fire-" Danielle snickered, much to Peter's own amusement. "-But after some detailed research on actual spider webs and bio-degradable fibers strong enough to pull a cargo plane, I'd managed to create the sticky things that help keep me from falling every night."
"Huh," Danielle hummed aloud.
Peter glanced at her, confused by her reaction- or rather, lack thereof. "What?"
Danielle shrugged. "I don't know. Hearing you talk about all the work you put into being Spider-Man, it just... It makes me wonder what I did to become an Avenger. Put on a mask and move things with my mind?"
Danielle hadn't noticed, but just as she had approached the double exit doors at the end of the hallway, Peter had halted to a stop a few feet back. "Hey," he called to her. Danielle stopped, her hand on the door handle as she turned to face him. "You're not any less than me just because I did research. I mean, how much research can you do on being a badass sorceress who moves mountains and meteors?" He jokingly added. Danielle pursed her lips so not to smile, but it didn't seem to be working.
"Besides, you've done a lot more than just put on a mask. You save people. You helped save the world," he exclaimed. "All I've done so far is help an older lady find a laundromat and get my favorite sandwich store destroyed." Peter visibly deflated at his own words. Seeing him now and just how helpless Peter looked knowing he could be doing so much more than what he was doing now really made Danielle see just how much he wanted and needed to bring down the winged-guy and his weapons dealers. They both wanted something out of this bust. Something more than just the victory, but something to prove themselves.
"Hey," Danielle muttered softly as she placed a hand on her partner's shoulder. He glanced up at her as she smiled at him. "We're gonna get these guys."
Peter nodded firmly in agreement, his eyes glistening with determination as he held his hand out for her. "Partners?"
Danielle looked down at his extended hand then back up to him as she gripped it in her own. "Partners," she exclaimed proudly.
"Come on." Peter jerked his head towards the door before letting her hand go. And with that both teens were out of school and on their way to finish what they started.
—
"So this is your room," Danielle remarked matter-of-factly as her and Peter filed into the small bedroom inside the Parker apartment.
Peter shrugged as he tried to clean up a bit, throwing dirty clothes into the corner and off the dressers, kicking some toys under his bed, and throwing balls of paper trash into the bin by his desk. "Uh, yeah. I mean, it's not anything fancy like your penthouse, but-"
"I like it," Danielle told him with a broad smile, her eyes traveling up around the walls, studying all the posters and paraphernalia all across Peter's small bedroom. The room was small with only enough actual open space for about four people to fit in, and the rest of the apartment- from what Danielle could tell- was basically the same. But, it was nostalgic of sorts. "It reminds me of the old apartment I had with Sharon- my 'Aunt Kate.'"
Peter smirked in amusement at her reminiscing, but was reminded of the task at hand when Danielle turned back to him and asked, "So, what's the plan? How can we track these guys here? Do we even know if they're back in New York?"
Peter visibly deflated. She had a point.
"... no," he admitted. "But we have a way to... maybe track these guys and figure out who they are."
Danielle's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"
She watched as he set his backpack down and dug inside to produce his mask. "Remember that night of the party where we first started chasing after these guys?"
"How could I forget? I puked in the middle of a park after we almost drowned because of the Wing-Guy," Danielle muttered bitterly. The memories of that night were still clear in her mind and the nightmares were still recurring.
"Right," Peter cringed. "But remember how under the bridge we went straight for the van? All this time we've been going on this wild goose chase for the sellers when we should be going after the buyers instead," he explained. "I mean, think about it, the buyers have to have some kind of way to get into contact with these guys."
"They have to know something," Danielle concluded. "People selling alien weaponry isn't just something you stumble onto."
"Exactly!" Peter beamed, she was finally catching onto his point.
"That's a great idea," Danielle exclaimed. "But how are we supposed to track any of their buyers down? We don't know the first place to look- except maybe the ATM robbers, but I doubt you got a name while they were shooting at you."
"Yeah, not exactly," Peter grumbled in agreement. "But I got a part of a license plate from the guy under the bridge."
Danielle's eyes lit up as a smile crossed her face. "Peter Parker, you are a mastermind," she stated with such excitement and pride. She could've kissed him right now.
"I know," he retorted back jokingly. Danielle chuckled, but when she gave no other response back, Peter's smile fell as he looked at her expectantly.
Danielle was beginning to feel as though she had missed something. "What?"
"You didn't get..." he trailed off before shaking his head. "Nevermind, we'll get back to that. Right now, I wanna see if maybe Karen can track down this license plate number."
Danielle contorted her face in confusion as she watched Peter pull his mask on over his face, his arms falling to his side as he dropped his weight into the chair by his desk. "Who's Karen?" The brunette inquired as she awkwardly took a seat on the bottom bunk of Peter's bunk bed, her back arching in an odd posture as she tried not to hit her head on the bed above her.
"Oh, yeah- I named the AI in my mask Karen," he explained nonchalantly.
Danielle tilted her head in curiosity. "Like... the robot from Spongebob?"
Peter's head whipped around to face Danielle, the white irises of the mask wide as he exclaimed in disbelief, "You got the reference from Spongebob, but you didn't get my Star Wars reference just now?"
Danielle shrugged. "I kind of like Star Trek more," she revealed with a grimace.
"Seriously-?!"
"Peter," the teen quickly cut the rant short before it even started. "The license plate number."
"Oh, right." Peter turned back around in his seat and focused on the task at hand. "Hey, Karen, what's up? ... Listen, I was wondering if you could help me. I'm trying to figure out who the guys under the bridge were that night, but I mean, I can only kind of remember a part of a license plate," he explained to the unheard AI in his mask.
"'Kind of?'" Danielle craned her neck to peak over his shoulder at him.
He turned slightly to see the pointed look she was giving him. "It was a dark night under a creepy bridge. I was kind of more concerned with stopping you from getting shot at the time," he shot back in his defense.
"Hey," Danielle protested. "I was trying to save that guy's life."
"And I was trying to save yours-"
"Peter."
"License plate- right," Peter turned back away from Danielle and froze. She figured Karen was telling him something right about now. She couldn't hear anything the AI said, but caught bits of what Peter seemed to be repeating. "Footage? ... Everything? ... Like all the time?"
"Your AI records everything you do in the suit?" Danielle pieced together.
"Um, yeah, apparently," Peter replied before a scoff escaped his mouth and the pen he had been anxiously twirling in his fingers was thrown across the room carelessly.
"What? What is it?"
"It's apart of the Baby Monitor Protocol," Peter groaned in frustration. "Of course it is."
Danielle pursed her lips. "I'm glad I didn't get an AI."
Peter, having heard her comment, turned around to glare at her through the mask, clearly unamused. She bit back a laugh, but when she couldn't hide her smile, she shrugged innocently. Truth to be told, Peter was kind of smiling from under the mask too, but turned back in his seat to get back to the footage. "Hey, Karen, is there anyway to help get Danielle to see what you're showing me?"
There was a pause before Peter lifted his sleeve up on his left arm and turned around for Danielle to see the blue holograph projecting from the web shooter in his wrist. The hologram was a small screen that seemed to be a wide-set view of what Peter had been seeing the past few months since getting suit. Who knew how much data the AI had of all the outings Peter had taken in the suit.
Suddenly, a soft, robotic voice spoke up, "Hello, Danielle. A pleasure to finally be introduced to you."
Danielle wasn't quite sure how to respond. She'd never really gotten used to FRIDAY back at the Compound, and she doubted she would get used to the AI now speaking to her through Peter's wrist. "Um, hi," she settled with as a response.
"Hey, Karen, can you just roll it back to last Friday?" Peter cut in to the short lived introduction.
"With pleasure," the AI hummed happily. Within seconds, hundreds of clips of videos fast forwarded only to stop on a single selected file. Which, just so happened to be a video of what seemed to be Peter with the mask on standing in front of a mirror.
Danielle tilted her head. "What's this?" She wondered aloud.
Peter sat upright in his seat at the sight of the video playing out on his wrist. "Um-" he tried to explain, but before he could answer, the Peter on the video began to speak. "Hey, everyone. Yeah, kick-ass party. Hey, what's up Liz? Peter's told me a lot about you," the recorded Peter waved and joked before 'turning' towards and unseen 'Liz' to wink.
Danielle guffawed while Peter squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is just me messing around," he tried to explain. "Go later in the day, later in the day."
Danielle began to stifle her laughter after the last video to try and focus on the new one Karen was fast forwarding to project onto the hologram. The teens were expecting the recording of the bridge, but were surprised with yet another video of Peter playing in the mirror. Only this time, he was holding what looked like a hammer made out of cardboard. He held it up over his head in the mirror and cried out in a painfully terrible Thor impression, "It is I, Thor, son of Odin-"
"No, no, no, no, no, no-" Peter quickly tried to shut off the holographic video as Danielle threw her head back back in laughter, unable to contain her obvious amusement at the impressions he did in the mirror. Peter gave the girl beside him a half-hearted glare as he tried to stop the video. "That's definitely... no. That's definitely not what we wanted to watch. Just-"
"You're impressions are very funny," Karen mused. She was definitely not a physical person, but Danielle could practically hear the smile in the AI's robotic voice.
She giggled at the comment and when Peter gave her a pointed look, she quickly stifled it with her hand. "Sorry," she apologized through her laughter as she tried to sober up. "I'll stop now."
"Fast forward to the arms dealers," Peter requested, the two teens turning their attention back to the holograph as it fast forward to a freeze frame of the people beneath the bridge from high-above where Peter had been perched.
Danielle leaned forward to get a better look when she had recognized the bald man to the right. "He's one of the guys that went to the school the day after," she commented.
"The two on the right, who are they?" Peter asked the AI on his wrist.
"Searching law enforcement databases," Karen replied, the screen shifting as multiple files and images of different mugshots passed by in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, the screen returned to normal. Had she found something? "No records found for two of the individuals." Apparently not.
"Nothing?"
"What about the one on the left?" Danielle prompted as she leaned forward, examine the man on the screen. She could've sworn when she saw him down at the bridge she had seen him before. But from where? He had recognized her too, she just couldn't put her finger on who he was and how she knew him.
Karen seemed to answer the question for her when a mugshot of the man popped up onto the screen along with the full report of his criminal record. "Individual identified. Aaron Davis, 33. He has a criminal record and an address here in Queens."
Aaron Davis...
Danielle bowed her head as she tried to remember that name. But all that was coming up was a dark night, a street lamp, bloody hands, and her face no longer hidden behind a mask.
"What's your name?"
"A-Aaron... Aaron Davis..."
It was him. That man that owed money to the gang members in the Projects. He had gotten shot before Danielle could stop them. He was bleeding out on the street. She had nothing else to cover the wound so he wouldn't die. So she made the decision to use her mask, risking her identity being exposed by him.
There were nights she had nightmares about Aaron Davis exposing her identity to the world and her enemies coming for the people she cared about. People like Peter, Michelle, Liz, Ned, and all of her friends at Midtown. She waited for weeks for the man she saved to turn up and wreak havoc on her life. But he never did. And she almost forgot about that dark night in the Projects.
"A-Am I going to die?"
"N-No. No. You're going to be fine."
"Elle?"
The brunette was snapped from her thoughts by the sound of her name being called. She looked up to see Peter already standing at the ready, clad in his suit waiting for her at the door. He must've started concocting a plan the moment he got a name and address while she was taking a stroll down memory lane.
"Karen found out where this Davis guy lives. Some apartment complex a few blocks West. You ready to head out?" He asked her.
"Um, yeah. Yeah," she repeated firmly with a nod as she pushed herself up and off the bed. She took out the two suit pieces from her back pocket and pressed the first one to her abdomen, the navy suit stretching out across her body and encasing her in a strong and firm armor. She hesitated with the other piece, staring at it in consideration as it rested in the palm of her hand.
"Hey." She looked up to find Peter with his mask off, his eyes wide with worry. For her. "You okay?"
She nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine," she quickly assured him. "Just glad we finally have a solid lead." It was a lame lie, but she really didn't feel like getting into the sense of nostalgia putting on the mask made her feel. Not when they had someone to go interrogate.
Without a second thought, Danielle pressed the small piece to her ear nd pressed down into the button, releasing the chrome mask from it's compartment and allowing it to cup the bottom of her face.
"Let's go."
—
Aaron Davis liked to think of himself as a self-made man.
Well, sure, he had a little help along the way (and by 'help' he meant a few stick-ups, muggings, store robberies, and petty theft of a few small shops), but, hey, it was tough out there. If you wanted to survive anywhere in the world- especially New York- you had to be tough with it.
Growing up as kid from the Projects, a penniless nobody that the world stomped on and called worthless, to having his own place in Queens (with it's own parking garage- he might add), it was a big enough transition that he dubbed himself to be- yes, you guessed it- a self-made man.
Sure' his line of 'work' had its up's and down's, but he pushed through. He had to. He lived by the belief that the world would stomp you down and make you stay there if you let it. And there was no way he was letting anyone get him back to rock bottom.
He knew what rock bottom was. He'd been there himself once upon a time on a dark night almost a year ago when he was still hanging around the Projects, sticking his nose placed it shouldn't have been, getting involved with people he definitely shouldn't have been involved with.
He barely remembers what got him in trouble in the first place, but he remembered that night clear as a bell. He remembered that gun shot and the way it felt when it went through him. He remembered the feeling of cold, hard asphalt underneath him as he laid bleeding in the street thinking no one was gonna come for him- him, the worthless kid from New York. He remembered thinking 'this is where I'm gonna die, isn't it?'. But most of all, he remembered the angel that saved him.
She was hidden by the darkness, but he still remembered what she looked like, clear as day. She was pale, had dark hair that shielded her face, and had the lightest brown eyes he'd ever seen. It was like staring at a bowl of creamy chocolate. But not any kind of chocolate, it was like the Reese's peanut butter chocolate ice cream kind of chocolate. He never forgot those eyes, especially not when they glowed gold.
They called people like her freaks and outcasts where Aaron was from, but this girl wasn't some freak. She was his savior.
To this day, he couldn't tell you why that little girl- barely a child- took her mask off to save him. She risked it all. He couldn't have imagined just how many enemies that girl made in the line of work she was in, yet she three all that caution out of the window to save him. Him. Aaron Davis. The no one that the world don't give two shits about.
So, after a brief two nights in a run down hospital, he cleaned himself up. He stayed clear of those bastards in the Projects and set his sights on robbing rich bastards that had all the money in the world and wasted it on luxuries like taking the A-Train. But he was thankful for that, because it was on that train that he was able to pick up a few tricks- and belongings.
And now, here he was, in his apartment building garage getting ready to bring his nephew his birthday gift and some ice cream he brought for the party. A place he'd never thought he'd be if it weren't for that girl that something in him worth saving.
Thwip!
A harsh stinging sensation on his hand ripped Aaron out of his own head and brought him back to reality. A reality that was getting weirder by the second when he tried to tug his hand away from where it had been hit with something, only to look up and find it was stuck. And not just frozen into place, but actually held onto the top of his car trunk where he had left it while getting the ice cream from the trunk by weird white shit. Now where had he seen that before?
"Remember me?" A deep metallic voice from across the parking garage caught his attention. When Aaron looked up to see where it had come from, he should've been scared to find it was that other vigilante from last week, the one that wore tights and swung on weird white shit... Oh, okay, now this made sense.
"Uh, hey...?" Well, that was one way to greet a guy that just glued you (or whatever this shit on his hand was) to the trunk of your car and was now charging at you... with... was that little spider drone flying around this kid's head? Well, wasn't that a cute development.
"I need information," the Spider Geek proclaimed in his fake robotic voice. Aaron had to wonder, was it a built in voice modifier or did he have some sort of radio in that mask of his? Or hers? He was pretty sure that the Spider Geek that had shouted at the bridge sounded girly. "You're gonna give it me now." Well, wasn't he pushy.
First things first, Aaron needed this little kid to calm the fuck down. The first thing he learned in the streets was that nobody ever gets shit done when they're angry, irrational, or impatient. And this kid was gonna have to learn that fast. "Alright, chill."
"Come on!" He shouted, clearly NOT chilling out.
Okay, now Aaron needed this kid to back up. He was angry and too close. Where the hell was his partner from the bridge? The Eris girl he was pretty sure saved his life. JE had seen her on the news (the Spider Geek, too), but the girl had a new suit now and it looked weird seeing it up close again underneath the bridge. So, where the hell was she?
But, out of all the questions he wanted to ask, of course he went for the more obvious one. "What happened to your voice?"
"What do you mean, what happened to my voice?" The kid was clearly taken back by the abrupt and off-topic question during this 'interrogation'. Aw, poor kid must've thought he was actually being intimidating with his fake deep voice, spider drone, and red and blue rights.
"I heard you by the bridge. I know what a girl sounds like." Of course Aaron cruelly knee the kid in front of him with a six pack, flat chest, and what looked like a bulge in his crotch area was for sure a little dude, but he really just wanted to fuck with him. It was probably his first shot at this type of stuff and what wasn't to love about a little bit of joking around with the local vigilante?
This seemed to really tick the kid off. "I'm not a girl! I'm a boy! I mean, I'm a- I'm a man." Oh yeah, that was convincing.
He just made it too easy. "I don't care what you are; a boy, a girl-"
"I'm not a girl! I'm a man!" He shouted. Aaron wondered if the kid would ever get back on topic to what he actually came here for when finally he seemed to snap back to his sense. "Come on, man. Look, who is selling these weapons? I need to know. Give me names or else!" Oh, now he was 'trying' to be intimidating? Okay, let's see how that really works out for him.
Without warning, Aaron used the hand stuck to the trunk to slam it shut with a loud bang and echo across the garage. He kept a straight and unimpressed face on as the kid jumped back in surprise. He almost- almost- laughed when the little drone jumped back with him.
He felt a little bad for the kid's ego, but, hey, he needed to learn.
"You ain't ever done this before, huh?" Aaron asked the kid.
He watched as the Spider Geek deflated with a sigh. He bowed his head and muttered beneath his breath. "Deactivate Interrogation Mode." Aaron watched in amusement as the little drone flew back onto the emblem on the kid's chest.
He had a setting on his little suit for 'interrogation'. Oh, that was too cute-
"He may not have much experience with this," a new voice echoed across the garage, breaking Aaron out of his humorous thoughts. He looked around for the source of the voice, but all he came up with was flickering lights in the garage. You'd think for a place that charged $1,300 a month, they'd have less electrical issues.
"But, I do." Oh shit!
When Aaron turned back around, the vigilante girl was suddenly standing there a few yards away from the Spider Geek. The lights were flickering above her, reflecting off of the chrome of her golden mask hiding her face.
"You upgraded," Aaron remarked on her new suit. He also noticed she grew a bit taller and her hair was longer, too. Good for her.
He could've sworn he heard her chuckle from beneath that mask. He even saw the little crinkles at the corners of her eyes that proved she had at least smiled in amusement. Then, she did the unthinkable.
Aaron watched as she took both her hands and placed one on the center of her abdomen and the other behind her ear. His eyes widened as the suit she had on removed itself from her body and folded into a small button she had pressed on her stomach to reveal her normal civilian clothes underneath. Then, with her second hand, the chrome plates of her mask retracted into a small piece she removed from behind her ear.
He could see her whole face now. It was clear in the light just as clear as it was in the dark that night she saved him. Still the same pale complexion and the same chocolate eyes.
This time he saw the smile she gave him as she replied, "You didn't die."
Aaron couldn't help but chuckle in surprise at her careless antics. He had to wonder if she was always this impulsive.
Clearly not, judging by the Spider Geek's reaction.
He froze the moment she took off her suit and had been panicking since. "Eris, what are you-"
"It's fine," she hushed him in a calm and collected voice. Aaron watched as she gave him a pointed look that clearly stated 'just shut up, I know what I'm doing', but in her own special way as she slowly started walking towards where he stood, still stuck to the car.
"Aaron," she said his name as if they had known each other for years and he was a familiar friend. He shrugged it off. He guessed she earned it, after all, she had saved his life.
"Eris," he replied back, with a more joking tone in his voice.
She chuckled again, but this time instead of smiling after she had laughed, she frowned as a somber tone settled into her expression. "You know why we're here," she told him seriously. "Those men that you were trying to buy from... we need to know where they are. Those weapons that they're selling, they're dangerous. You know better than most that stuff like that shouldn't be out on the streets like that. You've seen the news, you've seen what they're capable of, what happened to Delmar's-"
"You know Delmar's?" He asked out of the blue. Truth be told, he just didn't like the deep way this kid was getting under his skin the way she was. He had a way with words and how to talk to people and those piercing brown eyes didn't do anything to help.
But instead of her answering, Spider Geek did. "Yeah, best sandwich in Queens," he exclaimed.
"Sub Haven's pretty good."
Spider Geek shrugged. "It's too much bread."
"I like bread-"
"Guys," Eris calmly called out, grabbing both of their attention as their conversation was cut short. She gave them both pointed looks. Aaron wondered how she came to be this patient as she turned back to look at him with those pleading eyes. "Aaron... please. We need your help."
Aaron felt like a deer caught in headlights with both these kids looking at him as if he was their last hope. He hated being out in a pedestal like this. Sure, being worst something to someone felt good, he felt a sense of pride in his chest everyday his little nephew looked at him like he was the hero of his life. But being someone people depend on, especially for crazy shit like this, it felt like too much. Hope was a scary thing.
When it seemed like he wasn't going to give them anything, the Spider Geek and the girl both started to walk away in defeat. He heard the kid mutter something about his little interrogation mode while Eris pulled out her two little suit compartments again, getting ready to leave him.
Yeah, hope was a scary thing. But once upon a time she was the one giving him hope.
"The other night, you told that dude, 'don't shoot him, shoot me.'" Eris slowly raised her head and the Spider Geek stopped in his tracks as they listened to what he said. "That's pretty ballsy. Even for a girl."
She turned to look at him, a raised eyebrow at the comment but a smirk on her face nonetheless. He might've drank too much last week or he might've just been seeing things, but the look in her eyes... she almost looked proud of him.
Aaron sighed. "I don't want those weapons in this neighborhood. I got a nephew who live here," he admitted.
The girl and the Spider turned back towards him and slowly walked back to hear what information he had to give. The Geek was the first to talk. "Who are these guys? What can you tell us about the guy with the wings?"
"Other than he's a psychopath dressed as a demon, nothing," Aaron answered truthfully. "I don't know who he is or where he is." He didn't know nothing about that psychotic demon, and he was glad he didn't. He'd been around for years and he'd never heard horror stories quite like the ones about the Winged-Demon that had been flying around New York.
At his lack of information on the guy, both vigilante kids seemed to have lost faith. The Spider went as far as pressing his head against the his car like he was giving up or some shit. Aaron nearly rolled his eyes. Over dramatic teenagers...
"I do know where he's gonna be," he added with the raise of his eyebrow.
Eris and the Spider looked at him with intrigue. "You do?" She asked curiously.
"Yeah, this crazy dude I used to work with, he's supposed to be doing a deal with him," Aaron explained.
Eris smiled as the Spider Geek got a little too over excited and began to walk off for some reason. Wait, hold up, was this kid actually leaving before he could get the location and time and actual useful information? Damn, this kid was bad. "Hey! Hey, hey! I didn't tell you where. You don't have a location," he called after the poor kid.
"Right. Of course. My bad. Silly- just..." Eris looked back at her partner with a grimace as he quickly made his way back, even having the nerve to set his elbow on the roof of Aaron's car. "Yeah. Where is it?"
Wow. This kid was unbelievable. And he was one of the heroes going up against the Demon? Oh, good luck with that.
He turned to the girl with a pointed look. "Is he always like this?" He asked her in disbelief.
"Hey!" The Spider shouted in offense.
To Aaron's amusement, Eris actually shrugged. "Usually he's smarter than this. But, he's a bit new to the whole 'actually going against people' thing," she explained.
The Spider turned to her in shock. "Hey!"
Aaron chuckled at the girl's antics before turning back to the kid. "Cam I give you some advice?"
"Hmm?"
"You got to get better at this part of the job," he told him truthfully. "And, uh, stick with her." The Spider turned to the girl and both he and Aaron watched her smile and duck her head at the indirect insinuation that she was the one that was probably going to keep the kid alive.
"Wait, what do you mean, get better at the this part? I'm intimidating," he said unconvincingly. He most definitely wasn't helping his case when he crossed his arms over his chest and tried to lean against the car like some cool guy.
Aaron nearly rolled his eyes. He almost did had it not been for the girl's reaction. She giggled at the kid's antics and when Aaron turned to look at her, he could see her eyes on him. She was amused by this kid. Laughing at his shit humor. Oh man, teenagers. How he missed the days.
He sighed, reluctant to give the information. "Staten Island ferry. Eleven."
After the words left his mouth, it was like a switch went off in both the vigilantes. The Spider stood up straight, as did the girl, and the first thing either of them did was look to each other. It was like they were both looking for guidance on what to do next from the other, but just from a look they seemed to be on the same page. Huh.
"Okay, that's soon," the Spider commented nervously.
"Yeah, we have to go now," Eris concluded as she pulled out her two suit compartments again. She stopped momentarily after putting on her body armor to turn to Aaron and say, "Thank you."
Aaron shrugged. "It's the least I can do, kid." He watched her smile disappear as the chrome mask came over her face, covering it again.
"Hey," the Spider called Aaron's attention back to him. "That's gonna dissolve in two hours," he explained, gesturing to the white shit stuck on his hand still. Aw, shit. He had almost forgotten about that.
When Aaron looked back up, he saw both vigilantes already walking away. We're they seriously trying to leave him stuck like this? Seriously? "No, no, no, no. Come fix this," he insisted.
"Two hours," the Spider repeated as his pace picked up. "You deserve that!"
"I got ice cream in here!"
"You deserve that. You're a criminal. Bye, Mr. Criminal!" The smug little bastard waved over his shoulder with his back towards him as he dashed to catch up with Eris already perched on the edge of the parking garage, ready to jump off.
Aaron threw his hands up in outrage as she turned to glance at him from over her shoulder. She shrugged in response. "Keep your nose clean, Davis!" She called out to him as the Spider jumped up onto the edge next to her, waiting for her to finish talking with him. "Hope I don't see you again!"
"The feeling is mutual!" He shouted back.
Aaron watched then as the Spider wrapped an arm around the girl's waist and shot some of that white rope from his wrist. It must've latched onto something because not even two seconds later, the pair of teenage vigilantes were jumping off the edge together,like a bunch of suicidal maniacs.
"Whoo!" He heard the Spider Geek shout in excitement as the swung through the air, leaving him alone in the parking garage attached to his trunk. Damn, those kids were crazy. It was weird to think they were the future of the World's protection. He hoped he had helped them on their journey, at least.
Now all he had to figure out was how to get this shit off his hand.
—
A/N: this should be a record time of how fast it took me to write a chapter. When I say I wrote this chapter in literal hours, it took me only two days. Well, it's not like I have much of an excuse not to write, but I do still have lots of homework and other responsibilities. Anyway, enjoy.
Reviews:
PrettyRecklessLaura: You didn't have to wait for long!
anonymouse: aw, I like this username much better. I think it's cute (and punny). AH! I haven't caught up yet, NO SPOILERS! But I will definitely get to it. And, YOU JUST REMINDED ME I DIDN'T DO THE INCORRECT QUOTES LAST CHAPTER AGHHH. The ones you gave me were pretty good though. I might steal them later.
rjstx1: Your wish is my command, lol.
zikashigaku: Yeah, it's kind of recurring for her to be on her own. I like that about both her and Peter's story because it seems like they're alone, but they're not and yet they still manage to grow on their own but with the support of others. If that makes sense? Aw, I'll accept the hugs for her and deliver them later, lol. Flash is always a tool, but FFH made me feel kind of bad for him. Anyway, hope you like this slightly soft chapter.
Incorrect Quote of the Chapter:
May: *walking in to check on Peter* Hey, Peter-
May: *sniffs* Is that perfume? Do you have a girl over?
Peter: *hiding smelly markers behind his back* Y-yeah... a girl.
[another because i keep forgetting to ADD THEM]
*Peter and Dani on a mission*
Dani: How are we supposed to get in?
Peter: Don't worry. I have keys.
Peter: *smashes window*
