A/N: Welcome to one of the most important arcs of this entire story... Strap in. :)
Chapter Songs: Kill This Love by BLACKPINK for the first part, Circles by Post Malone for the second part, Somewhere Only We Know by Keane for the third part, and bury a friend by Billie Eilish for the last part. I think this is probably my favorite list of songs all crammed into a single chapter.
Headcanon of the chapter: Jack went through a Hamilton phase... and is still in that phase.
—
Beep! Beep! Beep! Be-
Danielle's hand reached out from beneath her comfortable cocoon of blankets to swipe her fingers to the left, sending the alarm clock on her nightstand flying across the room only to crash against the wall with a thud. There went another alarm clock. She groaned. That was the third one in a month.
The teenager groaned as she reluctantly pulled the blankets from off of her so she was able to roll off the bed with ease. Her eyes didn't have to adjust much to the light seeping in from the terrace windows into her room. It was 6 AM and the sun was barely starting to peak up on the New York horizon, the skyscrapers casting shadows all along the bustling streets below. Another sunrise, another day Danielle was having to wake up 2 hours earlier than normal.
"Join the soccer team, they said," she grumbled beneath her breath as she walked across her room towards her vanity. "It'll be fun, they said..."
She sat down in the small chair in front of her mirror and grabbed ahold of her brush to begin to untangle the mess atop her head that was her hair. It had grown a good five inches since she last cut it almost nine months ago. She'd had to trim it a bit after a good chunk had burnt off on the left from the fire of the plane crash a month ago when her and Peter had faced Adrian Toomes. Man, that had been a wild ride.
After managing to tame her hair into a French braid, Danielle wasted no time in changing into some joggers, her Midtown Tech soccer tee, and her running shoes. She grabbed her phone, earphones, backpack, change of clothes in her gym bag, and her two piece suit set that she shoved into her back pocket at all times.
As the teen made her way out of her room and down the hall into the main area of the Penthouse, she was reminded of the wild night she had had that led to the destruction of most of her temporary home. The attack against her, Peter, and May that Rae came in and stopped just before it took a turn for the worse. After May and Peter had left and Rae disposed of most of the bodies and hd a nice long chat with her brother and Tony, Danielle and the white-haired and ENHANCED woman decided not to speak of the event much after that save for the short, vague explanation Rae had given her about what she did for a living. Something to do with international espionage and black market arms dealers and hunting down underground HYDRA branches hidden within various international organizations.
But, Danielle had bigger things to worry about. Like the fact that she was about to be late if she kept staring at the hole in the roof where the chandelier used to be any longer.
The commute to the school went by fairly quickly and Danielle eventually got off from the subway and managed to jog into the girl's lockerroom at the school just in time.
"Seven AM on the dot, West!" Max shouted just as Danielle came running in, the rest of the soccer girls catching sight of her as she made her way to her locker to toss in her belongings and get ready to head out to the field.
As she began to unlock her locker, she heard Courtney groan from her locker adjacent to hers, "Remind me again why we have to have pre-season training before eight AM?"
"For real!" Heather called out from her locker down the row. "I swear, not even the rats are awake at the time I'm on the subway. It's inhumane making us have to wake up at this ungodly hour let alone exercise!"
Danielle stifled a yawn as she threw open her locker and tossed in her backpack and duffel bag. "Thankfully, it's only for a few more weeks," Jean exclaimed as she shut her locker beside Danielle's after tying her shoe laces on one of the benches. "The football team gets knocked out of the play-offs by Halloween almost every year."
"Hopefully they stick to that trend," Danielle groaned. "I don't know how many more alarm clocks I can go through."
A series of laughs echoed across the locker room just before the back door opened and a voice shouted from outside, "Let's go, ladies! Remember you only got an hour and a half to run 3 and a half miles, shower, and get to class. I don't wanna hear a single one of y'all complaining about no make-up if you take your precious time getting dolled up to run around a track!" Coach Wilson shouted before shutting the door once more.
One of the new freshman girls, Olive, winced across from Danielle near the sinks. "Is he always like this?"
Max slammed her locker shut, causing the girl to flinch once more, before slapping a hand against her back a little too rough. "Yup," she popped the 'p'. "You get used to it, though."
"You heard him, girls," Malory's voice echoed across the locker room followed by a series of loud clangs from other lockers being shut and locked. "Let's go!"
Danielle stifled yet another yawn as she checked her phone one last time before locking it up for the next hour and a half. Surprisingly, she saw she had a new message... from Peter. Hm.
She opened it.
To: Bend and Snap
From: *Spider Emoji*
Where r u?
Danielle narrowed her eyes at the odd question. She wondered what he could possibly need her location for. Was it a Spider-Man/Eris thing?
"Hey, has anyone heard anything from Betty?" Daisy asked as she passed her. She must've thought Danielle knew anything about her whereabouts. Then again, Betty had been a bit clingy with her ever since Liz left for some reason.
"She's recording a new bit for the school news again," Heather answered before Danielle had the chance. Danielle peered over her shoulder and watched as they left, leaving her alone in the locker room to answer the text. "Danielle, come on," she called before the back door shut.
Danielle quickly turned her attention back to her phone and typed out her reply.
To: *Spider Emoji*
From: Bend and Snap
Track. Gtg.
She hit send before tossing the device into the locker and quickly dashing out to the field before one of the girls sent Coach Wilson in there to drag her out.
"Go, go, go, go, go!" The Coach shouted at his team members as they all ran out onto the track one by one.
Danielle ran out last, but by her fourth lap, she was already in the lead. It was always known by the team that she had the best stamina out of all the girls. Danielle knew it was because she had intense work-out sessions every night in the form of crime-fighting, but the other girls just passed it off as her being naturally athletic.
It was around her eighth lap that Danielle's sprint turned into a steady jog. She wasn't trying to impress anyone anymore than she was just trying to make it to three and a half miles before eight AM. But, she was aware she was being watched. Most girls were competing with one another.
A lot had changed since last year. Like, for one, Coach Wilson had decided to hold try-outs earlier in the year to start earlier training like today's. But, the only thing about that was the lack of team captain. After Ashley, Amber, and Maggie graduated the previous year, the only seniors left were Heather, Malory, and Jean, but none of them really fit the criteria for team captain and had other responsibilities. Rumors had been spreading around that either Danielle or Betty were up for team captain, but Danielle had made it clear she didn't want the position. Coach Wilson, however, still kept a close eye on her and she noticed it.
"Keep it up, West!" He shouted to her from the sidelines as she jogged by.
Great, she thought to herself as she ran by, yet another reason for Betty to act like my friend then suddenly stab me in the back.
"Elle!" Danielle paused momentarily as she was lulled away from her troubling thoughts. "Elle!" Her name was called again. And not just any name, her nickname that only one person ever used.
Sure enough, as she peered over her shoulder, she caught sight Peter Parker dashing across the track field towards her. He ran surprisingly fast for a kid in Vans, khakis, and a track hoodie. His earphones were still dangling from his hoodie neck line as he fell into a jog alongside her.
"Hey," he greeted her, slightly out of breath.
"Hey," she laughed at his disheveled appearance. "What are you doing here?"
"Uh, jogging, apparently," he replied. "Can't say I see the appeal."
Danielle giggled. "That makes two of us," she joked. "You needed to see me?"
"Uh, yeah, I just wanted to ask if I could steal you later after school... If-if you weren't busy," he explained.
"Well, I guess I could cancel my yoga class with MJ I had planned after Spanish," she teased. "Of course I'm free. But what exactly are you 'stealing' me for?"
Something lit up within her at the sight of Peter's smirk that he gave her in response to her question. His eyes twinkled ever so slightly when he replied, "It's a surprise."
"You sprinting at me from across the track at seven in the morning wasn't my surprise already?" She chuckled as she brushed a piece of her bangs from our of her face, the sweat causing it to stick to her forehead as she continued to hold her steady pace. "You know, Coach Wilson is gonna give you more detention if he catches you out here distracting his best player."
Peter raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, you're the best player, now?" Without warning, the vigilante broke out into a sprint, brushing past her as he went.
"Oh!" Danielle gasped in mock-offense before sprinting after him along the strip of straight track. She was close to beating him when she lost her footing and tripped. Her arm catching onto Peter, dragging him down with her. "Ah!" She yelped when Peter spun them around at the last second as they fell, causing her to be pinned on the track gravel. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see Peter hovering above her, an arm on either side of her face as he held himself a few inches above her.
He laughed at their predicament and couldn't help himself when he cracked the joke. "Guess you fell for me, huh?"
Danielle felt heat rush to her face and it definitely wasn't from the physical exertion. She opened her mouth to give a witty retort when the sound of a whistle broke them from their banter. Danielle and Peter both looked up to see Coach Wilson storming over, his whistle in hand.
"Aye! No funny business on my track!" He shouted at them. "Get outta here, Parker, before I give you even more detention! Go! Get!"
"Yes, sir," Peter shouted back as he scrambled to his feet and started dashing away towards the school. "See you after school!" Danielle heard him call over his shoulder as he left.
Danielle had just finished dusting off the gravel from her knees when she flinched at the sound of the whistle going off again. "West, four more laps for fooling around on my track! Go!" Coach Wilson shouted at her.
Danielle repressed a groan as she picked up her pace back into a sprint. Like hell was she going to class sweaty today.
—
Thankfully, she didn't go to class sweaty that day. But, she was soaking from the shower she didn't have time to dry off from. Luckily, it all dried off by 3rd period Chemistry.
As she walked in, she immediately spotted her friends near the far corner of the class. Seated at the middle table we're Cindy and MJ, already prepping for what looked like some kind of dissection. Danielle scrunched her nose in distaste. She hated dissections.
Then, behind the girls were the boys: Ned, Charles, and Peter. Peter seemed to sense her entrance because as soon as her eyes fell onto his familiar curly brown hair, his head snapped up to attention. He looked to the right and smiled when his eyes met hers. She gave him a small wave as she she began to walk down the rows to take her usual seat beside him. She was halfway there when a hand shot out, grabbed ahold of her arm, and pulled her into the seat at the table beside her.
"Uh-uh," MJ shook her head as Danielle abruptly fell into the seat beside her. Danielle opened her mouth to ask why she'd yanked her down into Charles' usual seat, but MJ answered before she could. "Charles traded up for the lab today. You're with us."
"Why? I'm always with Ned and Peter..." Danielle replied.
"Exactly," Cindy chimed in as she snapped the large lab goggles over her eyes. "We never get to have you as our lab partner. Now we finally do."
MJ turned and gave the girl beside her an unimpressed look from beneath her own large pair of lab goggles. Cindy shrugged. Danielle glanced between the two, unsure of what to make of this silent form of communication between them. Something was definitely going on. "What's the real reason you made Charles take my spot with Ned and Peter?"
MJ and Cindy exchanged a look before Michelle eventually turned back to answer. "We wanted answers."
Danielle's face construed with even more confusion. "Answers about what?"
"About what's going on between you and Peter," Cindy exclaimed.
Danielle blinked once. Then twice. She looked at Cindy, who looked more excited than curious. Then looked over at MJ who wore the same stoic facial expression she always did. Did they know? About Eris and Spider-Man? No. No way. They wouldn't be this calm..
But if it wasn't about that, what could they possibly think was going on with them?
"Me and Peter...? There's nothing going on between us," Danielle said, her face void of any emotion as she spoke, hoping that MJ wouldn't look closer into it. Unfortunately, MJ always looked into things.
"You're full of shit, West."
—
"Peter, you're full of shit," Ned told his best friend bluntly, a few yards away from the girls.
Peter looked over at his friend, offended. "Dude..."
"He's right," Charles piped up from beside them. "There's totally something going on between you two. Spill it."
"What? There is nothing happening with Elle and I," Peter tried to explain. "We're just... friends." Just friends. Wow. He really was full of shit.
If Peter was being honest with himself, him and Danielle hadn't been 'just friends' since they first started working together as partners in crime... well, technically, crime-fighting. After that, they just grew closer. Those nights spent together taking down criminals, bank robbers, and drug dealers. The even later nights when one of them had to patch up the other. But if he had to pinpoint the exact moment he realized Danielle was more than 'just a friend', it was the night they took down Toomes. Specifically, the conversation Toomes had with him in his car before everything went to Hell.
"Peter, nothing is more important than family," Toomes' raspy voice echoed within the car doors. He sat behind the sterling wheel, and Peter sat a few feet away in the backseat across from him. He could see his eyes, burning with determination through the rear view mirror. It was so strong, Peter could only sit rigid and tense behind him and listen as he spoke. "You saved my daughter's life. I could never forget something like that. So, I'm gonna give you one chance. Are you ready?"
Peter didn't respond. He stiffened when Toomes turned around in his seat to face him, his eyes meeting his in a long stare. "You walk through those doors, you forget any of this happened," he began. It was then that Toomes shifted forward, his eyes burning holes within his own. He lowered his voice as he spoke, "And if you ever, ever, interfere with my business again, I'll kill you and everyone you love... That cute little partner of yours included."
Peter's blood ran cold at his words. And it only got worse as he continued to speak.
"What was her name again? Liz's friend... Danielle," the name fell off of his lips like smoke and ash flying out of a volcano. "I'll kill you both dead."
Peter's cold blood suddenly began to boil. His chest tightened and his hands tightened into a fists at his sides. He'd never felt such anger before, and it was in response to hearing Toomes threaten someone he cared about. It wasn't Liz, it wasn't his Aunt May, it was Danielle.
He had decided in that moment to go after Toomes alone, not wanting to involve Danielle. Of course she got involved anyway and nearly chewed his head off for trying to go at him alone. But, it was worth the shot to try and keep her safe from him despite knowing full well she could've handled him on her own if need be.
But something about just hearing him threaten her triggered a reaction within in that he'd never really felt before. And it wasn't just pure, blind rage. If it were, he would've thrown himself across the car in a heartbeat to strangle Toomes right then and there and stop him from even thinking about hurting his partner. But, he felt more than anger in response to the threat. He felt... scared. Terrified. Terrified that he might actually hold true to his words and do something to hurt Danielle. And that alone drove Peter to believe that he needed to go after him alone to keep Danielle away... to keep her safe.
She ended up being safer with him than anywhere else. And he ended up being safer with her.
That was the moment. That was the moment he realized him and Danielle were more than 'just friends'. After that, everything else just seemed odd. Not odd in a bad way necessarily, just odd I the sense that it felt different to be around her now. Different.
But there was nothing going on between them.
"You're full of shit, dude," Charles told him as he raised the scalpel and sliced across the stomach of the dead frog in front of the trio. Peter had to hold his nose. His enhanced senses were no joke when exposed to stronge putride smells. It was why he usually skipped on lab days, but today he just didn't feel like it. He wasn't sure why, but he just didn't.
"I'm serious, guys," Peter continued. "We're friends. Close friends. It's not like we're secretly dating. Danielle doesn't even like me like that."
"But do you like her like that?" Ned quirked and eyebrow at him.
Peter let go of his nose to defensively cross his arms over his chest. "What? No." He let out a nervous laugh despite himself. He didn't need to feel the heat in his cheeks to know he was blushing. Ned gave him an unconvinced look. "No," Peter repeated in a more firm tone. "No. I don't... have a crush on Elle. Especially not so soon after Liz."
"We don't need to bring up Liz," Ned insisted. "We're talking about you and Danielle. And in my personal opinion, she was a way better option than Liz. She knew you better, she actually talked to you and noticed your existence, and Danielle knows about... you know what," he lowered his voice and winked at him just in case he didn't already get what he was referring to.
"You may have had an old crush on Liz, but you've got the hots for Danielle," Charles exclaimed as juices squirted out from where he cut the frog. Ned and Peter jerked back in disgust.
"Watch where you're spraying his guts, dude," Ned chastised him before turning back to Peter. "He's right. Don't try to deny it either."
"I don't... have the hots... for Elle," Peter stated defensively.
"Oh, yeah? What is this so called 'surprise' you have for her after school then?" Ned prompted. "A secret marriage proposal perhaps?"
"Dude, no," Peter shut him down. "And it's nothing... Besides, how did you even hear about that?"
"I'm mutual friends with one of the girls on the soccer team who overheard you to lovebirds chatting on the field this morning. She then proceeded to tell me about how apparently you were seen on top of her!"
"Dude!" Peter quickly clamped a hand over his friend's loud mouth. He three a quick look over his shoulder to see if Danielle or anyone else had heard. Thankfully, they hadn't. Danielle's back was still turned to him, but he could tell she was laughing at something Cindy had said because he could hear from where he sat from across the room. It would've been hard to pick up on for anyone else over all the other voices and noises in the room, but his enhanced hearing pinpointed her laughter over everything else and focused on it.
Ned suddenly slapped Peter's palm from his mouth bringing him back to the present. "So, it's true?"
"We fell!" Peter defended himself.
"Oh, yeah. You fell," he mocked him. "Dude, all I'm saying is, don't be blind to the clear chemistry between you two. And, hey, maybe you'll work out better than you and Liz ever did," he exclaimed cheerfully.
"Yeah, didn't you guys last like a week or something before you ditched her at Homecoming and her dad got arrested the next day?" Charles prompted. "Damn. Shitty weekend for her all around..."
Ned reached across the table to grab ahold of the goggles on his face, pull them, then let them slap him in the face. "Empathy, Charles," he scolded him.
—
It wasn't long before the school day came to an end. Danielle found herself growing impatient as each second ticked by leading up to the dismissal bell ringing. She had been looking forward to Peter's 'surprise' since he first told her about it this morning, and finally, as she speed walked down the crowded hallways, across the school parking lot, and towards the bleachers at the football field, she was getting the chance to see what it was Peter wanted to show her.
Sure enough, as she approached the bleachers, she saw her partner was already waiting for her at the top. When he saw her reach the edge of the field, he was already on his feet, jumping down the seats to stand at the foot of the bleachers in front of her. "You ready?" He prompted, a beaming smile on his face.
She returned the bright smile with one of her own as she nodded. "Always."
Peter's smile widened as he held out his hand to her. "Mind taking us up?"
"How many stories?" She prompted as she took his hand in her own in a firm grip.
"Mmm, six works."
Danielle raised an eyebrow at him, still in the dark about what this so-called surprise was. But, either way, she closed her eyes and focused on a rooftop a few blocks away on top of a bank she knew was only six stories tall. When she opened her eyes, they were standing on top of it.
When she opened her eyes, Peter had already released her hand to quickly drop his pants, take off his hoodie, and kick off his shoes to reveal the Spider-Man suit underneath.
As Peter packed away his discarded clothes into his backpack, Danielle reached for her own suit inside of her bag. "Should I...?"
The web-slinger quickly shook his head as he zipped up his bag and three it back of his shoulder. "No, no, no. You won't need it," he assured her as he pulled his mask over his face. "But, you will need to wear this." He then proceeded to reach into his backpack pocket and produced a tie folded into a strip of cloth.
"A blindfold?" Danielle asked him wearily.
"Yeah. It's a surprise, isn't it?"
Danielle eyed the blindfold then eyed Peter once more before reluctantly taking the blindfold from him and placing it over her eyes. Once it was in place, she wrapped the two ends behind her head and tied a quick knot to ensure it stayed on.
"Is it on tight? Can you see me?"
Danielle shook her head.
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
Danielle gave him an unimpressed look at his lame joke.
"Sorry," he snorted before grabbing hold of her hand once more, leading a blind Danielle towards what she assumed was the edge of the building overlooking some sort of crosswalk. At least that's what it sounded like due to all the honking, sirens, whistling and voices down below. Not to mention, the wind whipping up from beneath them, giving Danielle a small glimpse of just how high up they were.
The brunette quickly grabbed hold of the web-slinger beside her, her right arm wrapping around his shoulder to hold her place on the roof without falling by accident. She jumped slightly when she felt his arm instinctively wrap around her waist in response. "Are you sure this is safe?" She called over the deafening sounds all around them. "I mean, I know you're good at swinging, but I don't know about being blindfolded..."
"You'll be fine," Peter reassured her as he teetered them towards the very edge of the building. "Alright, hold on tight!" He shouted. Danielle heard the familiar sound of the web-shooter being used and almost immediately threw her other arm around Peter's neck, gripping for dear life before feeling the ground underneath her disappear. "Oh my God-!" She screeched as she felt herself flying.
Swinging with Peter was already horrifying enough as it was. It felt like getting on a bungee jump knowing that at any time the bungee could snap and you could fall to your death down below. Except, what made it worse with Spider-Man was that anything could happen on this ride around downtown New York... Of course, if that wasn't terrifying enough, now Danielle was doing all of that while blindfolded and holy shit was it absolutely horrifying.
She could barely hear herself think as the wind whipped through her hair at an alarming rate every time she felt Peter swoop down at the lowest point of the swing. At this point, Danielle had her eyes slammed shut, her face buried into Peter's neck, and her limbs wrapped around the web-slinger as if she were a koala gripping onto a branch.
It felt like they had been swinging for an eternity... Until Peter abruptly swung them at a 90 degree angle going upwards, suddenly releasing his partner into the air.
"AHHHHHHH-!" Naturally, she screeched and flailed. It only lasted a second when she came falling down right back into the idle arms of the vigilante that had tossed her in the first place. Peter gripped her tight as he slowly lowered them down and as soon as she felt his body stand upright, she quickly let go of him and nearly gasped in relief as her feet hit the solid ground... She was trembling from the trip and trying to hold it together as her arms gripped tightly onto Peter's biceps.
"You okay?" He softly prompted.
"No," she snapped back. "New rule: no more throwing me– especially while I'm blindfolded!"
She knew Peter was grimacing from the lack of response at first. Then he raised his hands to her shoulders and squeezed them in comfort. "Well, we're here."
"Where?"
"The surprise."
"Can I take this off now?" She reached to remove the blindfold, but Peter was quick to grab hold of her wrists to keep her from doing so just yet.
"Not yet," he told her. "Stay right here. Don't move." Then suddenly, his grip was gone and Danielle was alone...
Well, somewhat, she could still hear the sounds of cars passing by on the street she assumed was a few yards away. She quickly concluded they were on a sidewalk because now she was hearing people walking by. She probably looked insane standing in the middle of a walkway with a blindfold on...
"Alright, I'm back," Peter's hand found hers and she noted that it was no longer covered in spandex. He changed back into normal clothes. Hm, she wondered where they were to warrant him being in normal clothes. She was about to find out soon. "Come on."
Danielle didn't protest as she let him lead her into a building with a shockingly cold interior. And when she meant cold, she means freezing. The AC must've been blasting in the place. It felt... open, but she couldn't quite tell. It seemed nice, they were clearly walking on tiled floor. And Danielle's nose wrinkled at the overwhelming smell of dust, old wood, and burning candles.
"Peter, where are we?" She asked suspiciously as she felt him move from leading her a few feet ahead of her to directing her with his hands on her shoulders.
"We're almost there," he answered vaguely. They entered some kind of room, Danielle could hear him open and close the door as they walked in. This room was different. It was more... airy and not as breezy as the last room. She also felt the carpet under her shoes as she continued to walk where Peter directed her. They must've walked only a few yards ahead when Peter suddenly stopped them. "Okay, now... Slowly remove the blindfold," he instructed.
Danielle did as she was told and hooked her fingers on the top of the blindfold and slowly pulled them down. Her eyes were met with a bright yellow light and it took a few moments for them to focus. When they eventually did, the first thing Danielle saw was a stage. It was... huge. Then, she took a look around herself and realized it wasn't jut s stage, Peter had taken her to a theater.
"What... What is this place?"
"It's some old run-down theater," he explained. "I crashed through the attic roof a few weeks ago on a patrol and thought it was pretty cool... Then I saw that the owners must've left something behind that I thought you might've liked..." Peter jerked his head in the direction of the stage. Danielle followed his gaze and froze when she saw it...
Sitting on top of the large stage underneath the beaming spotlights was a Grand Piano. It was huge. Even bigger than the one Steve had gotten her at the Compound. It must've been a Concert Grand from the size and mass of it. She'd never played one of these before... Then again, she hadn't played a even a regular piano in a very long time either.
"I remember you telling me you used to play and then I saw your music sheet book in your backpack," Peter explained. "I know you said you hadn't played in a while, but I figured you could start again... maybe here?"
Danielle tore her attention away from the enormous piano to face him. "You found this place just for me to play again?"
Peter shrugged. "Yeah. I mean, it's not like the previous owner is gonna come back for it..." Danielle let a small laugh escape her lips.
The pair of teens walked the rest of the way to the stage and up onto it using the stairs at the corner. They approached the large piano and the first discernible thing about it was the excessive amount of dust it had collected over the years. Peter instinctively blew on it, watching as the plume of dust whipped up into the air before falling to the ground.
Danielle walked to the end of it and gently lifted the large cover to see underneath. Just as she suspected, it was dusty, had cobwebs inside, and just from looking at it it seemed like it was out of tune. Sure enough, when she reached in and strummed one of the treble strings and winced when it produced an odd note. "It's a bit out of tune..." She remarked. "I can probably tune it in a week or two..." she thought on it for a moment. "...or three."
Peter, standing to the side trying to gauge her reaction to all of this while she studied the instrument, finally spoke up. "But you like it?" He asked.
Danielle beamed before walking over and wrapping her arms around his middle in a tight embrace. She rested her head against his chest and felt him stiffen. "I love it," she gushed. Peter quickly relaxed after that, his arms coming to return the hug, equally as firm. "Thank you."
The pair were content to remain this way... until both of their phones buzzed simultaneously.
They broke away from their hug and quickly reached for their collective devices in their pockets. Danielle saw the message and clicked to open hers.
To: Afterschool 'Activities' Groupchat
From: Guy In The Chair
We got a hit on those Avengers ATM robbers. Meet up at my building. ASAP.
—
Ned was already standing in the middle of the alley just outside his building by the time Danielle and Peter arrived. He was pacing, probably impatiently waiting for them, but instantly stopped as Peter swung down, gently dropping himself and his partner down beside his friend.
Peter, dressed in his normal clothes– save for the Spider-Man mask over his face– ripped off the mask as soon as his feet hit the ground. "Hey, man, what happened?" He prompted his best friend.
"It's Droney," Ned exclaimed. "You set him out to find those ATM robbers after you put a tracker on one of them last time they tried to attack the bank a few blocks from Danielle's place. Remember?" Both Danielle and Peter nodded. Ever since Toomes and his associates had been locked up, the makeshift team had been spending the last few weeks tracking down the people they'd sold their weapons to. There were a few that had traveled out of state that Tony and the FBI were working on, but there were tons locally distributed that Danielle, Peter, and Ned were now working to find.
They'd cracked down on a lot of the singular weapons holders. Like the average mugger that didn't know how to use them or the individual guys looking to rob a bank by themselves. But it was harder to take down the groups that had multiple weapons. Specifically, the Avengers ATM robbers Peter had failed to take down and what had set him off about Toomes and his whole scheme to begin with. These guys were organized, quick, knew hot cover their tracks, and kept slipping through their fingertips. But, thankfully, Peter had been smart enough to manage to out a tracking device on one of their weapons and have his recon drone do... well, recon.
"Well, they've been staking out at singular location and Droney has been surveying it for some time," Ned explained as he took a seat on a nearby crate and pulled his laptop from his bag. After a few clicks and a bit of typing, Ned turned his screen around to show them pictures of what seemed to be just your average suburban house. "This is it. At first, I thought maybe it was just a storage place for the weapons because they seemed to just drop them off there and go their separate ways. Then, just a few hours ago, they came back..." Ned pressed the space bar and showed the group of men inside gathered around a table and whiteboard full of maps and pictures.
"They're planning again..." Danielle concluded. Ned nodded.
"It's not a storage place for their weapons, it's their secret lair," Peter exclaimed. "We gotta go tonight."
Danielle's eyes widened at his insistence. "Tonight? We don't have enough surveillance to know their full layout or dynamic or even where they keep their weapons," she protested.
"If we wait, they could hit up another bank and we'll have let them get away four times already," Peter stated in frustration.
"And if we rush in there without a plan or the information we need to form a solid one, we could be signing our death wishes," Danielle retorted, just as frustrated.
Peter pursed his lips and held Danielle's hard stare. They glared at each in an intense staring contest before breaking away to turn towards the third member of the team. "Ned, what do you think we should do?" Peter prompted.
Ned's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Me?"
"You've been in charge of recon and surveillance on these guys. Do you think you could figure out where they keep the weapons and where everything is in the house?" He asked.
Ned looked between the two vigilantes and shrugged. "I- I... Probably," he reluctantly answered. "I can try and get Droney inside-"
"No, that's too much of a risk," Peter remarked. "Just get him close and and see as much as you can, alright?"
"Alright, but, you're gonna have to drive then..." Danielle and Peter both shared a confused glance at one another. Drive? They didn't have a car. Just then, Ned produced a set of keys from his pocket. "Here ya go."
Peter took the keys and held them up. "Uh, dude, whose are these?"
Something seemed to click for Ned when he abruptly gasped and shot upright to his feet. "Oh, right... There was another reason we are meeting here in this alleyway. And it is right here," Ned exclaimed, his hands coming up to gesture towards a large white van a few yards away. "Ta-da!"
Danielle's jaw fell slack as Peter's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Dude, you got us a van!"
"How did you even buy this?" Danielle asked in shock.
Ned shrugged. "EBay," he answered nonchalantly. "I sold a few of my antique Star Wars collector's items to save up for this bad boy. But it was worth it."
"This is totally awesome!" Peter exclaimed in excitement as he switched off the lock and climbed into the driver's side. The van rumbled awake as Peter turned the key. Once it was up and running, he lowered the window and called out to the pair. "Get in."
While Ned slid the side door open to climb into the back, Danielle was reluctant to climb into the passenger's seat. As soon as she shut the door behind her, she immediately put on her seatbelt. She still had nightmares from the last time she was in a car with Peter... She shuddered at the memory and tried not to think about it now that he was back behind the wheel.
"You've been practicing more since you got your permit last week, right?" She asked him.
Peter nodded, his hand coming up to the gear shift on the side of the steering wheel. "Yeah, definitely. There's nothing to worry about, Elle-" He cut himself short when he hit the gas, but instead of going forward, they reversed into a stack of trash bags behind them. Danielle gripped the bottom of her seat tight and turned to glare over at her partner beside her as if to question his last statement. "That was an accident," he defended himself before shifting again, this time when he hit the gas, they drove forward.
Danielle sent out a silent prayer to anyone out there that there wasn't a repeat of last time as Peter made a turn into oncoming traffic. She white-knuckled it the rest of the trip to the house in Brooklyn.
—
When the team eventually pulled the van up across the street from the house, night was already beginning to set in. Danielle was finally able to let out a heavy sigh of relief, thanking any higher power out there that Peter didn't crash and managed to stay in the lanes this time.
Peter parked at the corner of one street, giving the team a clear view of the house at the corner of another street across the intersection. It was lit up inside and Danielle spotted a few dark figures moving past the closed window curtains, but other than that there was no clear visual inside.
"How are we supposed to go in there blind?" Danielle prompted her partner. "They could kill us both instantly with one of those guns they have. Is it really safer to do it now rather than later?"
"Elle, they could be attacking tomorrow," Peter replied. "We have them in our sights and we're a step ahead of them for once. We've gotta take them down." Danielle let out a heavy sigh. He wasn't going to change his mind about this and she had a bad feeling about it. "Hey." She turned back to face him. "Partners, remember?" He held out his hand towards her.
Danielle looked at his insistent look then eyed his hand. She trusted him. She did. She trusted him to save her life. But she still couldn't shake this bad idea from her gut. Yet, she was reluctant to reach out and grip his hand nonetheless. "Partners," she repeated after him in a feigned confident tone.
Within minutes, both Danielle and Peter were dressed in their suits, huddled in the back of the van while Ned tried to maneuver Droney to get a better look inside of the building using his laptop him and Peter had managed to sync to Karen. So, everything Droney or Peter saw, Ned saw. It became even easier for them to work as a team dynamic when Karen helped them set up a secure link for the earpiece in Peter's mask, Danielle's ear, and one for Ned's laptop. They were good... but they still had a lot to learn.
"I've got a somewhat clear shot from the back kitchen window," Ned exclaimed from where he sat in the passenger's seat. Danielle and Peter peered over the chair to catch a glimpse of what Droney was recording.
It seemed to be a small opening between the blinds that looked into what appeared to be a somewhat clean kitchen. From the looks of it, the house was hardy reply used. Inside, there was minimal furniture, no decoration, and not a lot of the lights were in use. It proved their theory that this house was strictly for planning.
"We could catch them in the act of setting it all up," Peter exclaimed triumphantly as the camera panned over to the living room in the back where a table was set up surrounded by several chalkboards. Within the circle of what seemed to be their plan were four burly looking men. These were the robbers. All in one place. "They're there. Let's go. You shut off the power, I'll swing in through the side window right next to them. You come in to take on the two closest to the wall, I got the two by the window-"
"Peter, wait," Danielle tried to stop him as he hurriedly pulled his mask on over his face and started towards the van door, "We don't even know where they're keeping the weapons. We're still going in at a disadvantage-"
"Elle, come on," Peter groaned as he jumped out of the van and soun back around to face her still inside. "They're not even going to have time to grab their weapons by the time we get to them. They'll never see us coming."
Danielle watched as the web-slinger then spun on his heel, shooting a web up on a street pole to swing towards the direction of the house without even bothering to hear her out. "Stubborn son of a- URGH," she let out a frustrated groaned as she snapped her mask on and jumped out of the van. Something was up with Peter and it was really starting to piss her off. Still, she reluctantly shut the van door closed and teleported her way to the side of the house, aware of the web-slinger on the opposite side eager to hop down from his perch on the roof to crash inside the moment she shut off the lights.
Danielle crouched behind a bush just beneath a lit window, her eyes scanning the area to see where the main generator was. When she eventually spotted it, she carefully made her approach, but stopped halfway there when the lights abruptly shut off on their own from inside. The teenager froze in her place... something wasn't right. The same feeling she'd had from earlier was returning and it was getting worse the longer she remained still and the lights inside remained shut off.
Peter must've noticed it too because it wasn't long before she heard him over the earpiece. "Ned, what's going on in there?" He prompted anxiously.
"I-I don't know! They just manually shut down their power inside. I can't see anything," Ned replied, his voice trembling over the comms.
"Do they know we're here?" Danielle whispered. Her answer came in a much different form of communication not commonly done through earpieces.
BOOM!
There was an enormous blast of blue light, fire, and flying shards of wood directly beside Danielle. The teenager was thrown sideways from the blast that left a gaping and smoking hole in the side of the house. "Oomph!" She fell hard on her face. "Mm," she moaned as she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. Her ears were ringing and her body felt sore, but she still pushed herself up until she was able to turn back around and face the direction of the which the assault had come from.
Her blood ran cold when she saw two men holding large guns with glowing parts directly aimed at her exiting the hole they had just blown in the house to get to her. It dawned on her as they drew closer to her that they knew they were coming... It was some kind of set-up.
"GAH!" She heard a cry from the other side the house followed by another explosion. Her heart dropped when she realized Peter was being mushed as well... Peter.
"Nice try, freak," the first man with the purple looking alien gun spat at her. "I would say 'I'm sorry', but I'm gonna enjoy this way too much to even feel bad..." A wicked smile spread across his face as he held the gun up. Danielle's skin crawled at the sound of the weapon charging up, but while they had outwitted her, she was willing to bet they weren't too good without their weapons.
Before the man could even get his finger on the trigger, Danielle was reaching her hand out towards the large oak tree a few feet away. She grabbed a hold of it using her invisible power and yanked as hard as she could. In response, a large branch chrome off with a sickening crack before falling directly on top of the first man aiming the weapon at her, and catching the second man off guard to the point where he nearly dropped his weapon.
Within a moment's notice, she was in action. Her hand coming up to focus an untouchable grip onto the barrel of the alien gun and throw it upwards. The front, in turn, hitting it's owner square in the nose and knocking him back slightly.
"Oh!" He shouted. "You little bitch-" The man charged at the teenager then. Blood running down his nose, and a look of hatred in his eyes as he came at her with the weapon. He gripped it as if it were a bat, holding it up and throwing it's weight down onto her.
Danielle quickly took a knee, her arm coming up to push her powers out as a shield to block the attack before it could even touch her. Once the gun came down into her invisible protection, she used that force to then grip the gun tight to reverse it's moment. The gun, along with it's owner, flying backwards, doing a somersault mid-air before falling on his back a few feet away from her.
The brunette stood up back onto her feet, her eyes glowing a menacing gold as she towered over the man slowly cowering away from her now that he no longer had a weapon in his hands. The hatred he once had in his eyes now replaced with fear. A sliver of pleasure coursed through Danielle's veins as she watched the robber begin to scramble away. Before he could get too far, she used both of her hands to push his chest back, sending him flying right back through the gaping hole in the wood and back inside the house.
He fell onto the hardwood floor with a loud thud and cry. Danielle stalked towards him, ducking slightly to get inside, but her eyes remained glued to him. He continued to try and crawl away, but stopped in the middle of the house, his shaking hands grabbing ahold of the regular firearm tucked away in the back of his jeans. Danielle registered it before her even had the chance to aim it towards her. The moment he had it out, she was already pushing his hand involuntarily up to the ceiling in a swift motion of her hand.
She didn't have to do much else after that when a web shot out from the other end of the house, attaching itself to the gun and yanking it out of the man's grip. Danielle glanced up in the direction of where the web had come from and held back a sigh of relief at the sight of Spider-Man walking out of the shadows, two seemingly unconscious men lying out on the ground beside him.
"Look, listen-" The man in the ground tried to reason, his fearful eyes darting between both vigilantes standing on either side of him. "I-I didn't mean it. I've got a wife and kids I've gotta feed. Please-please, don't-" He was promptly cut off when Eris threw the man effortlessly across the room and held him against a wall, Spider-Man immediately following up by webbing him in place up there.
Once it was all said and done, the pair vigilantes turned back to each other. Spider-Man stepped towards her, his eyes widening at the sight of the red mark on her cheek just above the edge of her mask. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she quickly assured him. Her hand coming up to brush off the few pieces of wood shards left over in her hair and in her suit. "How about you?"
"They were no problem," he quickly dismissed her question, his white eyes still glued to the injury on her face. "I heard the explosion and thought that you were... I don't know how they-"
Then it happened again.
That feeling Danielle had. Like something bad was going to happen. But, what?
A split second. That's how long it took for Danielle's eye to look over and see the supposedly incapacitated robber Peter had 'no problem' with reaching out towards his large weapon, his eyes trained on Peter's back as he grabbed ahold of it.
Point six seconds. The robber was aiming the alien gun. The brunette was shouting, "NO!"
Point seven seconds. The robber had his finger on the trigger. Eris was surging forward towards the web-slinger.
Point eight seconds. The robber fired. Danielle was pushing Peter out of the way and down to the ground as a singular blue shot of whatever energy that gun used came barreling towards her.
Point nine seconds. A single shot hit the teen directly in the chest as her partner fell to the floor, the last thing he saw before he hit the ground was his friend being hit by a ball of blue light.
A second. Danielle Harper hit the wall behind her with a loud crash from the sheer force of impact. Peter Parker fell but was back on his feet as he shot a web out on and yanked the gun away from the man that had fired it it. He shot one more web hard ball of web directly at his face to knock him out for good before scrambling over to the body lying on the ground beside him.
"No, no, no, no, no."
Fear. It traveled up his spine and coursed through his blood as his shaking hands came to grab hold of Danielle's lifeless body. She was warm, but her eyes were closed an she was terrified to check for a pulse. Was she alive? Was she dead?
"Elle?" Peter croaked, his spandex-clad fingers gently pressing to the pressure point on her neck. He gasped in relief when he felt a pulse. "Karen?" He called to his AI.
"Miss Harper's sustained four bruised ribs and a mild concussion, but will recover within the next few hours based on her enhanced healing capabilities," the robotic female voice answered.
"Oh, thank god," he breathed out in a sign of relief. She was fine.
He kept repeating it himself over and over in his head. She was fine.
Danielle was fine.
—
A/N: HOLD ONTO YOUR HATS, YOU'RE ABOUT TO GET POUNDED!
Reviews:
PrettyRecklessLaura: Sorry for the long wait. Hope you enjoy!
zikashigaku: Sure did! As did this chapter, too. Rae's story is up now if you wanna check it out on my profile ;). And, yes, the sibling moments are sprinkled about, but as we get closer to IW their relationship will play more of a vital role. And, I'm glad you're excited, hope you enjoyed the first chapter.
Justareader: AWWWWW, I'm glad you like it. No matter how many people tell me this is the best story ever, I will never believe you, lol. But I'm still glad you like it. And absolutely, Jack and Danielle's sibling AND superhero dynamics are truly one of a kind.
