Really, M.J. didn't see why Happy couldn't have at least TRIED to get a helicopter instead of driving them to the compound.
"It'll be fine," he'd said. "I know a back way," he'd said.
Well, if this was the backway, M.J. hated to think what the main roads were like right now. In the wake of the chaos as the giant machines had begun taking over large chunks of cities around the world, everybody was fleeing for somewhere far away, as if anywhere on earth would prove a good place to hide right now.
Not that M.J. really blamed anyone for behaving this way; what were they supposed to do, just sit and watch as the potential end of the world unfolded right before their eyes?
M.J. shut her eyes in embarrassment as Happy smashed the horn yet again, as if it would do any good.
"Dude, you REALLY think that's going to do anything?" she said, her tone a little angrier than she intended.
"Well, if these people would move..." Happy fired back but cut himself off midsentence. "I'm sorry."
"Me too," M.J. said, looking straight ahead. The fact was they had both been on edge for a while now. After her call with Peter had been abruptly cut off hours ago, she had gone straight to his and Happy's place, where the two had spent the whole time waiting it out, hoping against hope for some word from Peter eventually. They also kept track of the news too, trying to find any updates on the situation in general.
Thankfully, word had gotten through that the New York dome was down, and not long after that, M.J. had received a call from Peter, saying the others were going to rendezvous with him at the Avengers compound upstate and they would strategize further. She said she was going to meet him there and, somewhat surprisingly, he didn't put up much of a fight against the idea. He just sounded really tired, perhaps even more so mentally or emotionally than physically. She could tell he needed to see her.
M.J. needed to see him as well. She needed to do whatever she could to help him, even if it was just letting him see her, letting him know that she was still waiting for him, that she was still with him even against world-ending odds. For her part, she needed to look him in the eye and see him in the flesh to prove he was really okay, that he was still there with her, and that he hadn't been ripped from her like the few other important people in her life two years earlier.
But as her and Happy sat in traffic, she began to wonder if she would get that chance. Peter was going to be going back out there eventually, as the job still wasn't finished. What if he and the others left before she got there? M.J. was trying to hold it together as best she could, but deep down, she wasn't sure how well she could handle not seeing him before he went off to face such a powerful foe again. She needed to be strong, both for him and for herself, but it was time like these that stretched her limitations to the max, and then some.
M.J. suddenly felt a hand come to rest gently on her left shoulder. She turned to look at Happy, who had a renewed strength in his gaze.
"We're going to make it," he said. "Whatever it takes, we'll make it."
M.J. could only smile and nod lightly in response, before turning back to face ahead of them. She wouldn't admit it to him out loud, but she was grateful that Happy was here with her right now. It reminded her that she was not alone in this, that she wasn't the only one who was worried about Peter right now.
But sitting there, doing nothing but worrying, was starting to make her go nuts.
"How far away is the compound from here?" she asked as she turned to Happy.
"Honestly, we're decently close," the man responded, "probably about five to seven miles, if we can ever get past this light."
The word "if" was all they had right now, wasn't it?
Kate could only watch as her mom's company chopper descended towards the ground, a strange mixture of feelings churning in her stomach. Almost as soon as it touched down and the door was open, her mom came running out, throwing her arms around her. Kate returned the hug; despite what she feared was coming next, she was still happy to see her mom, to know she was alive and well amidst all of this.
"I saw you unconscious on the news!" her mom shouted over the helicopter's still running blade and engine. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine!" she shouted back.
Her mom smiled at her words, which only served to crush Kate's heart.
"Let's go," her mom shouted, "I have a place where we can go that's isolated! We should be safe there until this is all over!"
Her mom grabbed her loosely by the arm, but Kate stayed put, her mom's grasp slipping away, causing her to turn around and look at her in surprise.
"I'm not going with you!" she shouted. "Like you said, this isn't over yet!"
"Are you crazy!" her mom replied.
"Look, can we talk about this inside, where we don't have to shout, please!?" Kate questioned. Her mom reluctantly obliged her, following her and Spider-Man into the building.
"Could you give us a minute, please?" Kate asked Spider-Man. Thankfully, her new partner just nodded, turned and started walking. She then turned back to face her mother, a look of slowly dawning realization now on her face.
"You've been doing this for a while now, haven't you?" her mom said.
Kate nodded.
"Not that long, but yeah, a few months, give or take."
Her mom shut her eyes slowly, as if she was letting it all sink in.
"Is it because of him?" her mom said, nodding down the hall.
"Spider-Man?" Kate said, glancing back and forth down the hall, the one mentioned already out of view. "No. If anything, he's tried to keep me out of it really."
"Well maybe he's got the right idea," her mom spoke up. "Kate, you're not some superhero; you're a young woman with a purpose in this world."
"You mean the purpose you chose for me that you're still trying to push me towards?" Kate fired back. "I've told you a hundred times that's not who I want to be."
"And this is?" her mom questioned, "charging head long into Armageddon with a bow and arrow?"
Kate swallowed; the way her mom put it did make it sound like a poor choice. Still, her conviction didn't waiver.
"Yes."
Her mom looked almost surprised at how serious she was, as if she'd believed that a little questioning and word phrasing would convince her of the ridiculousness of the situation and thus why she should quit.
"Look, I need to get ready before we go out there again," Kate said. "You should go; find somewhere safe. I'll call you when this is over."
Kate started to turn but stopped after just a couple steps. She then rushed back and pulled her mom into a tight hug, squeezing her. She may not have known what was going to come next, but she wanted to at least head back out with one last happy memory with her mother instead of an argument.
"I love you," Kate said before pulling herself away, turning quickly so that her mom couldn't see her watery eyes as she walked down the hall.
Eli gritted his teeth as he attempted to apply some bandaging he found around his wound. He'd already washed it out a little, or at least as much as he could bear. Here he was, supposedly this tough super soldier, and washing, cleaning and wrapping a flesh wound were giving in a hard time.
Granted, a burn wound from a laser blast wasn't exactly a normal wound by any means, but still.
"Need help?" came a voice from the doorway to the room. Eli looked up to find that it was Kate, looking expectantly at him.
"Yeah, that would be nice actually," he conceded. In addition to this process proving more difficult than he'd imagined, something about the look on her face had told him she could use a distraction. She walked over to him, taking the bandaging and beginning the process of wrapping it around. Eli fought against the tendency to bristle a bit at the material touching his still sensitive skin. He looked into her eyes, seeing the same faraway look in her them despite how attentive she was to his wound.
"You alright?" he asked.
Kate stopped mid-wrap, eyeing him.
"You're the one with the burnt shoulder and you're asking me if I'M alright?" she countered.
"Good point," Eli conceded. "Still, I don't know, you just seem like you've got something in particular on your mind."
He noticed Kate swallow, clearly hesitant, but soon she spoke up.
"My mom came by just now. She was trying to convince me to come with her, and I don't think she's taking it too well that I want to stay and help."
"Ah, disapproving guardians," Eli replied. "I know the feeling."
Kate raised an eyebrow.
"Really?"
"Yeah," Eli said. "You know, you're kind of lucky in a way. At least you've already gotten the in-person conversation out of the way. I just left my grandfather a note just before I left. If I survive this, I'm not sure how I'll survive the conversation I'll have to have when I get back."
"I'm sorry," Kate said. "I imagine that wasn't easy."
"He has...very personal reasons why he doesn't want me doing this," Eli explained. "I understand them though, which really makes it even harder."
"I know what you mean," Kate replied, pulling tight as she finished the wrapping process. She hesitated before continuing. "I don't want to leave my mom to bury her only child, especially after we both already lost my dad. I can't imagine what something like that would do to someone, but..."
"But you feel that this is something you have to do," Eli finished for her. "That it's the right thing for you to do."
"Yeah," Kate concurred, finally letting a little smile in. "I'm the only one in our little group without superpowers or a fancy high tech suit, but to me, that's exactly the point. I was in New York in 2012 during the Chitauri invasion; I saw Clint Barton in action. He never knew it, but he showed me that day that you don't have to have superpowers to be a hero. That's something that I think this crazy world needs right now: someone who is just a normal person that is willing to step up and inspire people by giving it all they've got against terrible odds, no matter the cost."
"That's admirable," Eli replied. "I guess my position is similar but also a little different."
Eli looked up to see Kate tilting her head, prompting him to continue.
"I...I don't exactly come from a place that everyone wants to move to. But I inherited these gifts, these abilities, and I want to put them to good use somehow. I want to show kids that look like me, kids that come from the same kind of place I do, that they can use the gifts they have to make a difference too."
He looked at Kate, who said nothing in response, only giving him a light smile. Her eyes then shifted downward, and her expression turned inquisitive.
"You make those yourself?"
Eli looked down to see that she was referring to his throwing stars.
"Oh yeah," he said, removing one from his waist. "I've had some practice in metalwork over the years, so I thought I'd put it to good use." He handed it to her, who took it and looked over it thoroughly.
"Not bad," she complimented. "I actually made some of my arrows by hand too, particularly the points."
"Guess we both have more than one special talent," Eli said, prompting a small laugh from Kate.
He had to admit, something about seeing her smile made him feel just a little bit better already.
Peter stared out the window, letting his thoughts run wild. They were mostly concerns about his teammates; after walking away from Kate and her mom, he'd gone to check on Amadeus and Riri, where the former would tell him a horrifying tale of how the WorldMind had taken control of the latter's armor, turning it against him with her trapped inside. If the look on her face as she sat alone in her room of choice was any indication, the fear Amadeus had described might have been an understatement. She might not even want to put on the suit again, and Peter could hardly blame her.
If anything, he would encourage it.
Amadeus himself was fine physically, but Peter had spent way too much time taking guilt trips in his own mind to not recognize when someone else was going through the same thing. He clearly looked at Riri as a close friend, maybe even his best friend, so it wasn't hard for Peter to imagine what was going through his mind as he watched her go through this.
This was all not to mention Sam and Eli coming back injured, having had to make the longest trek of them all that way no less. In the moment, it had seemed like the best call to have them paired together for the long trip, but now he wasn't so sure.
Then there was Kate. Not only had she gotten hurt again, but now her mom was here too. Peter hadn't had to listen to the conversation to guess what it was about, given Kate's concern when he'd wanted to take her to the hospital after her gash wound in her stomach. Her mom had clearly found out in the worst way possible, and now she was likely filled with fear for her daughter's life. He couldn't blame her either; if anything, part of him was on her side. Part of the reason he had wanted to become a hero, especially a friendly neighborhood one at the time, was so that other people wouldn't have to lose someone in the way he'd lost his Uncle Ben.
He knew how much Kate wanted this but... wasn't it his primary obligation as a superhero to keep her safe?
Of course, none of this was even to mention that the job still wasn't finished, and the world still needed saving.
Peter began wandering down the hall, all his thoughts beginning to feel like physical weights piling onto his body. He eventually leaned his hands against the wall, putting his weight on them. He was feeling so much: guilt, anger, frustration, fear, etc. All of it was flooding his mind like too much information being downloaded onto a computer, causing it to suffer from information overload.
In his case, it was more like emotional overload.
Unable to hold it all in, Peter punched twice into the wall, shattering a couple small areas of concrete, causing it to spill on the floor. He forced himself to take in a couple breaths, trying to let them out slowly to relax, but it didn't do much good.
He happened to glance down the hall, suddenly realizing he wasn't alone. However, it was not one of his teammates, nor was it Kate's mom.
It was M.J.
They locked eyes for barely even a second before she started running towards him, eventually leaping into his arms, throwing her own around him in the process. He returned her embrace, holding her in a gently but firmly as she buried her face in the neck of his costume. The two of them just stood there for what felt like an eternity, both refusing to let go of the other. It didn't matter what had happened or what would have to happen in the hours to come.
Right now, they both needed this.
Hope you guys are still enjoying it!
Also, for those who have seen Hawkeye the first two episodes of Hawkeye, I took how Kate saw him in action and how that inspired her from the series in a way to try and still keep her similar to the MCU version of the character now that its out. The conversation with her mom was written before the episodes came out, but I did notice they share some similarities.
Anyway, continuing to pray for you all as always; stay safe and healthy!
"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe," Hebrews 12:28