Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews last chapter. I just wanted to say one quick thing about Emma. If she seems smug at all that's only because that's her mask. I mentioned in the last chapter Natasha referring to wearing a mask to hide emotions and that applies to Emma. She's been forced to be under the care of a man who she blames for tearing apart everything she's come to know and who also wants her father dead. Emma's forced to go to school which is somewhere she never wanted to go in her life. There's also no people that she can trust. I mean, she has Darcy but even Emma knows that she can't completely trust Darcy because it's Darcy's job to give Tony updates on Emma's current status. Emma only truly trusts Steve and Bucky so she's a much different Emma around them. She's happier and she's herself when she's around them. Emma might also trust Sam too since he's a close friend of Steve. The Emma we've been seeing right now in the story is a more distrusting and hostile Emma. She's also very miserable without Steve and her father there even though she won't admit to that most of the time. I think once she and Peter start becoming closer friends and she allows herself to trust him then we'll see happy Emma again. She won't hide behind sarcastic remarks and insults as much. If Emma seems mean it's only because she's lashing out. She misses her family and I think it's understandable why she acts the way she does. Once she becomes more comfortable around Peter she'll be a lot like the way she was around Steve. Also in reference to a guest review I also want to say just because I don't show you guys a scene of Emma training that doesn't mean she hasn't been training all this time. I just showed you guys a lot of scenes with her training in the beginning so I didn't think it was interesting enough to write scenes with her training consistently since we all know she trains. I'll probably include scenes of her training with Peter since I think you'd like to see that.
writeremma: I wanted to include the chat with Natasha because I knew Natasha would be the only person that Emma would listen to. She never really listened to Steve when he told her things like that because she knows her and Steve are different. They're family and both super soldiers but Emma was raised a lot like Natasha was so they have an understanding. I also can't wait for the day when I get to write Steve and Bucky officially meeting Peter. That's going to be one of the best chapters I'll probably ever write for this story.
JokeLover123: Yeah, I definitely think that the talk with Natasha will push Emma to trust people more. That conversation is really going to stick with her as she learns how to trust. It'll definitely apply to the situation with Peter.
Again, thanks for all the reviews. Sorry for not responding to every single one but I just thought you might like to have the chapter faster. Also, I want to say that I don't own the song 'Cold' by Maroon 5. Those lyrics completely belong to Maroon 5. Sorry for the Maroon 5 bashing in this chapter. I personally love Maroon 5 and they're one of my favorite bands ever but I just felt like Emma probably wouldn't like them. It also made for a funny scene in this chapter.
Thanks and please review.
"Fellow citizens of this great nation of ours." An man in his mid twenties announced. Judging from his beret, Emma had to assume he was some sort of college student who was trying his hand at political activism. "We're standing here amongst you today to make our voices heard as we protest against the totalitarianism known as the Sokovian accords! We ask that you join us in the fight to demand the freedom of Captain America and his faction of Avengers. Captain America who is practically the national symbol for our country. Captain America who represents freedom, justice, and liberty which is something that our government wishes that we didn't have."
"I don't know if I really like that guy." Michelle stated as she looked over at the man leading the protest. Emma glanced at him too as he stood up on a bunch of wooden crates with a huge megaphone in his hand.
"It's the beret, isn't it?" Emma inquired.
"I think so." Michelle replied as she stood there next to Emma. The two teenagers had long since decided to participate in the Sokovian accords protest since they heard about it a week before. Michelle wanted to participate because she was all about government conspiracies and Emma wanted to participate because she hated Stark. Together Emma and Michelle had created their own protest signs. The signs weren't half bad either since Emma and Michelle were both talented artists. The pair were even wearing shirts from the Free the Avengers line of clothing that had recently come out. The line of shirts was very popular and was sold in most department stores across the country. Emma had purchased her own 'Free Falcon' t-shirt with a picture of Sam in his Falcon gear stamped across it. Michelle was wearing a 'Free the Winter Soldier' shirt from the same line of clothing. Emma was a little amused to see the picture of her father stamped across the shirt. She hadn't wanted to buy the shirts with her father or Steve on them because she thought it would be a little too much.
"Why are you even here?" Emma asked her curiously. "I thought you said on the bus that you didn't like Captain America." Michelle just shrugged.
"I never said that I did or didn't like him." Michelle said, beginning to answer Emma's question, her tone fierce and strong. "I just don't like government control. The government tried to control the Avengers and when Captain America actually stood up to them they ran him out of the country. The thing with the Winter Soldier was just a diversion… they wanted Captain America to look like the bad guy for aiding an assassin but they actually wanted to snuff his voice out." Emma stared at dark haired girl with something akin to admiration. It was clear to Emma that even though Michelle pretended to be aloof and uncaring, she cared about things with more passion than anyone Emma had ever met. Maybe they were a lot alike in that way.
"So, why are you here? You've never struck me as the type to participate in political protests." Michelle asked Emma just as curiously. Emma chuckled lightly before she shrugged, looking around at all the other protesters and knowing how truly different she was from them. They were here because they wanted to protest something… Emma doubted that they actually cared what they were protesting about. Except for Michelle that is. Emma was here for something else entirely even though she kept telling herself it was because she hated Stark. Well, that may have been part of the reason but only a really small part. Emma then returned her attention to Michelle as she locked eyes with her friend, a serious expression on her dace.
"I'm here because of what a very brave and intelligent woman once said. She said to compromise where you can but where you can't, don't." Emma started to say as Michelle listened intently to the blonde speak. "Even if everyone else is telling you that something wrong is something right… even if the whole world is telling you to move, it's your job to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and tell them no… you move."
"She does sound intelligent." Michelle said quietly as she looked at the blonde who, for the first time, looked quite emotional. Michelle didn't think she had ever seen the blonde so overcome with emotion that she could clearly see the sadness and fondness in those blue eyes. "Who was she?"
"My grandmother." Emma said proudly and Michelle nodded. It was obvious that Emma felt quite close to her grandmother. The admiration in Emma's eyes clearly conveyed how Emma felt about her grandmother.
"Let's make her proud then." Michelle said, a smirk on her face as she started to hold up her sign which said 'Winter Soldier: The Scapegoat' with a hand drawn picture of Emma's father in his Winter Soldier gear. Emma thought Michelle did her father justice in the drawing the frizzy haired girl had drawn. Emma then held up her own sign which said 'Tony Stark for Prison:2016' and had a hand drawn picture of Stark behind bars. The former assassin thought the drawing was her best work yet.
It didn't take long before the protest in front of one of the embassies turned into a march across Washington. It wasn't a spur of the moment thing since the organization that had set up the whole thing had also gotten the correct permits to march through the streets. Emma knew that the protest could never be contained in front of the embassy since thousands of people showed up to join in on the protest. Emma was amazed at all the people who had turned out for the protest. She had even heard some people mentioning coming from all parts of the country. There were people from more liberal areas of the country like Washington state and California but there were also people from more conservative areas like the deep south and the mid-west. Emma was amazed that everyone had come together for an event like this to come and protest against the government who had tried to control the Avengers with the Sokovia Accords… to protest against the people who had run this nation's symbol, and all he stood for, right out of the country and forcing him into hiding. This wasn't just about politics. No, it was about freedom.
"The government has used the Winter Soldier as a scapegoat to try and turn us against Captain America but we're not stupid!" The guy with megaphone said into the megaphone as they marched through the streets. "The Sokovia accords were said to be created to protect us but it's all lies feed to us by greedy and corrupt politicians! They want to control everything including the Avengers! They would rather let innocent Americans… innocent humans die than not be in control!" Okay… this guy was very enthusiastic. If he wasn't actually wearing a beret than Emma might even respect him some what.
"Tony Stark sits in his little castle protected by his advanced security systems and Iron Man armor but what about us? If the aliens attack us again can we really expect him to save us?" The guy continued to say into megaphone as they continued to walked down the street. "This is what the government wants! They want us to rely on them and not the Avengers! It's why they punished Captain America's faction for not signing the accords and it's why they ran them all out of the country!" The guy took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself down after finishing his rant. He then turned to Emma and Michelle who were marching towards the front of the crowd, seemingly exhausted by his little speech.
"Here, kid, do you want a go at it? I need a break." The beret wearing college student said to Emma as both girls gave him a look of surprise. The look of surprise on Emma's face quickly morphed into a look of mischievousness as she smirked. The worst thing anyone could ever do is give her a platform to complain about Stark. She really hoped someone was filming this so that Stark could see her good work.
"Don't mind if I do." Emma said deviously as she took the megaphone from college student. Even Michelle looked a bit wary at the look on Emma's face. It was the first time she had seen a true look of evil on someone's face but instead of fearing the look, Michelle just felt intrigued at what Emma was going to say. Emma had told Peter and Ned to keep a low profile but that was because Peter was trying avoid Stark... to remain under radar. Emma wanted Stark to see this more than anything. She wanted him to see how unafraid she was of him and let him know that wasn't intimidated by the likes of him. Stark needed to know that he wasn't the one holding all the cards. Emma then maintained a calm composure as she spoke into the megaphone.
"As we march through Washington today, let us not forget who's really to blame for Sokovia." Emma said into megaphone, her tone calm and even, as she walked beside Michelle. "Tony Stark. A spoiled billionaire who thinks he knows better than everyone else… a man who created Ultron because he was playing god. Ultron who caused mass destruction in Sokovia and who could've done worse if it hadn't been for the other Avengers cleaning up Tony Stark's mess. What happened in Sokovia wasn't the Avengers fault… no, it was Tony Stark's fault." The crowd of protesters all cheered at Emma's speech. It seemed like Emma wasn't alone in blaming Stark for everything… that was nice to know. Even Michelle smirked at Emma's speech because she didn't know her friend was such a talented speaker.
"Tony Stark is a man who's made his fortune off profiting from war. He should be tried and convicted for his war crimes." Emma continued to say into the megaphone, wrapping up her speech. "Tony Stark: The War Lord!" Everyone cheered at Emma's proclamation as the blonde handed the megaphone back to the college student who gave her an impressed look.
"That was pretty good, kid." He told her and Emma nodded, feeling a bit out of breath for the first time in her life.
"Thanks." She replied as they continued to march down the street.
"It feels good, doesn't it?" He asked her and Emma allowed herself to smile. He was right. She honestly felt a whole lot better after venting out her frustrations with Stark to people who actually wanted to listen and people who even felt the same way. It was an amazing feeling getting that all off her chest.
"Yeah… It does."
The protest wrapped up about a couple hours later so Emma and Michelle both headed towards the hotel to meet up with their teammates for dinner. The decathlon team decided on a pizza place for dinner which was only a couple blocks away so they walked. Emma spent the entire walk to the pizza place, talking to Abraham and Michelle. She didn't really feel like talking to Peter and Ned because she knew the two would only demand to know who it was she met up with earlier. They weren't stupid enough to really believe it was her aunt and Emma gave them credit for that. Peter and Ned hung in the back of the group, as the decathlon team walked to the pizza place, talking amongst each other in hushed tones. They obviously thought that Emma couldn't hear them because they were debating on what Emma was hiding from them. If she didn't have enhanced hearing than maybe she wouldn't hear anything but unfortunately for them she did. She practically rolled her eyes at their antics. What dorks.
It wasn't long before they arrived at the pizza place. Mr. Harrington ordered very simple pepperoni pizzas for the large group except for Liz and Michelle who were vegetarians. Emma would never understand how people could deny themselves the pleasure of meat but she was sure it had to do with the murder of farm animals. Emma liked animals well enough but that didn't mean she liked them enough that she'd give up meat for them. Emma liked some people too but that didn't stop her from killing them when she worked for Hydra. It was basically the same thing.
"So what were you and Michelle protesting today?" Abraham asked in his thick Ghanaian accent. Emma shrugged nonchalantly at the same time that Michelle did which only creeped out their fellow classmates.
"Oh you know, the usual stuff. The government, Sokovia accords… Tony Stark." Emma explained as she took a sip of her Dr. Pepper. It seemed like she now had the attention of Peter and Ned as well as a few other curious onlookers. However, Peter and Ned looked more suspicious than Emma's other classmates. They couldn't really believe Emma would actually go out there and participate in a protest. She seemed more quiet and reserved than that… she seemed like she wouldn't want to be the type of person to be in the spotlight. That just showed how much she resented Tony Stark.
"It was pretty cool, I guess." Michelle added with a bored expression on her face. "The beret wearing idiot leading the march actually handed Emma the megaphone. She completely buried Tony Stark. She made him sound like the hypocrite he is." Peter glared at Emma once he heard Michelle's recollection of the protest. He couldn't believe she actually went out there and protested against Mr. Stark in public. What if Mr. Stark saw the protest? It was then that Peter saw the smirk on Emma's face. It finally hit him. She wanted Mr. Stark to see the protest. This was just Emma's way of getting more revenge against Mr. Stark. This was her way of rebelling against him. It was kind weird if you thought about it. Most kids rebelled by sneaking out to parties but Emma rebelled by publicly protesting Mr. Stark's actions in a political speech. The Avengers were definitely a dysfunctional bunch of individuals.
"I was only stating facts." Emma said with an aloof expression on her face. "Facts about him profiting off of war and playing god. It's all true."
"Not it's not." Peter said suddenly with an angry look on his face. Emma looked up with interest at the expression on his face, her smirk disappearing as she feigned a look of surprise.
"What ever do you mean, Parker?" Emma asked mockingly. "You mean to say that Tony Stark never made money off the weapons he sold? He never created Ultron who destroyed Sokovia? He's never caused a single amount of destruction in his sad, pathetic life?" Peter held her scrutinizing gaze fearlessly, refusing to back down. Emma didn't scare him.
"Mr. Stark's made mistakes like everyone else but he's learned to do right by those mistakes and make the world a better place. He just wants to make the world safer." Peter argued and their other classmates looked back and forth between the two as if they were watching some sort of tennis match. Emma raised her eyebrows.
"You sound like you know Tony Stark really well." Emma commented as she crossed her arms, her voice icy and manipulative all at the same time. "It actually sounds like you're more than just his intern… you two sound like best friends." Peter glared at the smug looking blonde again. He could never win with her, could he? He'd never met a more frustrating person in his life.
"I've met Mr. Stark a few times and I know that he's a good person." Peter replied coolly and he was proud of himself for speaking in such a cool and even tone as he stood up to Emma. Even Emma was slightly impressed with Peter's boldness as she relaxed back in her chair. She looked into Peter's eyes as if she were trying to search for something, the action caused Peter's heart to race as he blushed from her scrutiny.
"Well, I'm sure you believe that." Emma finally said as she backed off, seeming to find what she was looking for. Truthfully, Emma was actually very impressed with Peter's boldness in standing up to her. There wasn't many people that stood up to her without faltering but she had to admire the way Peter acted. He did it so fearlessly that even she began to question if her effectiveness in striking fear in others was somehow lessening.
"Okay, guys." Mr. Harrington said as he laughed nervously and did his best to defuse the tension between his two students. "It's nice that we have talks like this. This is demonstrating that we all have different opinions about issues that we care about but at the end of the day we can still be friends." Emma tore her gaze away from Peter as she looked at their dorky teacher. This guy was the most spineless man she had ever met… well, not the most spineless. Dr. List will always take first place for most spineless in her heart. Emma then feigned an innocent look as she looked at Mr. Harrington.
"You're completely right, Mr. Harrington. We were having a disagreement but now it's over." Emma then looked back at Peter with the same innocent look on her face. "Peter and I are still friends. Right, Peter?" Peter glowered at the blonde. Suck up, he thought to himself.
"Yeah, totally." Peter grumbled as he crossed his arms. Mr. Harrington then gave Peter a look as he looked away from the nice young student. Emma was such a sweet and agreeable student which was more than he could say about his other students.
"Now, Peter… Emma's willing to put this disagreement behind her. Shouldn't you do the same?" Mr. Harrington asked Peter in a slightly scolding tone. Peter bit his lip so he wouldn't glare at the teacher. Just like a lot of other people, Emma had him completely fooled.
"Of course, Mr. Harrington." Peter said begrudgingly before resting his eyes on the innocent looking blonde. Innocent? Yeah, right. "Sorry, Emma." Emma smiled at him but it wasn't her genuine smile that reached her eyes...The smile that emphasized the green in her otherwise blue eyes which was also his favorite smile. No, it was a fake smile that Peter didn't really like at all. It didn't even compare in the slightest to real one.
"Peter?" Ned questioned as sat up on his bed with his laptop in his lap. "Why are we removing the trackers from yours and Emma's suits?"
Peter had poured himself over both his and Emma's suits as he tried to find the trackers in them. Emma laid down on Peter's bed as she intrusively flipped through his notebook, reading all the little notes he had written inside it. Some of the notes were pretty embarrassing including the one where he wrote "Liz Parker" all over one page in particular. Who knew Parker could be such a girl sometimes? Well, she kind of did but this really confirmed it.
"Because we gotta follow these guys to their boss before they move again and we don't really want Mr. Stark to know about it." Peter explained as he had a flashlight in his mouth, continuing to look for the tracker in his and Emma's suits. Emma had decided to let him do all the work since she didn't really know the high tech nature of Stark's devices. With her luck she'd probably do the impossible and break the suit. Hydra never really trained her to disengage technology that high tech because nothing Hydra or their enemies ever had was as high tech as Stark's stuff. Besides… Peter looked like he knew what he was doing.
"So you're lying to Iron Man now?" Ned asked as he looked between Peter and Emma in disbelief. Emma looked away from Peter's notebook and raised her eyebrows at the dark haired boy.
"It wouldn't be the first time." She retorted before returning her attention back to Peter's notebook. Peter just shook his head at the odd girl. There was an unspoken agreement that came between the two of them as they returned to Peter and Ned's hotel room. They had silently agreed to put the small argument at the pizza place behind them. He could tell that Emma wasn't really offended or angry about the argument. It was just the normal bickering that came in between them. Peter didn't know why but he felt like Emma was testing him for some strange reason.
"No, I'm not lying." Peter told him pointedly, making it clear that he wasn't on the same level as Emma who was the poster child for manipulative and deceitful behavior. "He just doesn't really get what I can do yet." Peter then smirked as he found the tracker in his suit.
"Got you." Peter said in triumph before also looking back at Emma's suit. He immediately looked at the same spot in Emma's suit that he had found the tracker in his own suit and with little to no surprise he found an identical tracker in the dark green colored suit. Emma looked at him approvingly.
"Nice job, Parker." Emma complimented as if she complimented people all the time. Peter was left a bit dumbstruck by the approving nature of Emma's comment. Emma had never really complimented him on anything in all the time he had known her and he couldn't help but feel elated by her compliment. Had he really impressed Emma Rogers…A person who didn't seem that impressed by anything? Peter just smiled at her before returning his attention to the identical noticed that his brown eyes had a bit of a mischievous glint in them. His smile made Emma uncomfortable as she reluctantly looked away from him. She felt that familiar sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Maybe she was just nauseous which was odd because Emma didn't think she could get nauseous.
"All right, Happy, enjoy tracking this lamp." Peter said as he placed the two trackers on the lamp. Emma returned her attention to the teenage boy as she looked at him questioningly. Maybe she was becoming a bad influence on him. Stark certainly wouldn't like that… which only made the situation better.
"There's a ton of other subsystems in your suit, Peter." Ned said he read the coding on his laptop. Both Emma and Peter's suits were plugged into the laptop through USB cords.
"Hmmm?" Peter asked distracted as he continued to look at both his and Emma's suits.
"But they're all disabled by the Training Wheels Protocol." Ned continued to say, grinning as he read the coding. Emma snickered from her spot on Peter's bed and Peter looked up at Ned in disbelief as he hopped onto the bed next to his friend to have a look at the screen.
"What?" Peter asked as he read the coding on the screen, not believing what he was seeing. "Training Wheels Protocol?"
"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you, Emma." Ned suddenly announced as he noticed the coding from the Viper Assassin suit on his screen as well. "Some of your subsystems are disabled by the Mini Cap Protocol. Granted you have access to more subsystems but there's still a lot that are disabled." The smug look immediately fell off Emma's face and was replaced by a glare. Peter was just happy to see that Mr. Stark thought they were somewhat equals. This would definitely make Emma stop thinking that she was somehow above him.
"What?!" She asked angrily.
"Is that what Tony Stark calls you? Mini Cap?" Ned asked as he laughed at the pissed off expression on Emma's face. Peter recalled that Mr. Stark had, in fact, called Emma that but he hadn't questioned it at the time because they were a little busy discussing the weapon dealers. "Is that supposed to be a reference to your grandfather?" Emma just gave the giggling teenager her famous death glare and he immediately shut up, disguising his laughter as a cough.
"Turn it off." Peter demanded, wanting the protocol to be turned off from both his and Emma's suit. The protocol was only going to hold them back from their full potential. Peter knew that him and Emma were more than capable of taking down the bad guys but Mr. Stark was insistent on treating them like children.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Ned told them honestly. "I mean they're probably blocked for a reason."
"Come on, man. I don't need training wheels." Peter complained as he got off the bed. He then jumped onto the bed that Emma was sprawled across, snatching his notebook from her and tossing it across the room. A normal person might've been embarrassed at being caught snooping around but not Emma. She just gave him a bored look as he stood there on the bed.
"I'm sick of him treating me like a kid all the time. It's not cool." Peter whined, sounding very much like the child he was convinced he wasn't. Back when the Avengers all lived in the tower together, Emma used to glare in annoyance at Stark whenever he would whine. Pepper would smile in amusement at him but Emma never understood why. What was cute about whining? But sitting there now, Emma thought the act was kind of amusing on Peter. She wouldn't go as far as say that it was cute on him because nothing was really cute to her.
"It's pretty annoying actually." Emma said, agreeing with Peter. If there was anyone in the world that knew how Peter felt, it was Emma. Her time with the Avengers was spent with people who treated her like some silly little girl. She was patronized just like he was and they were both sick of it.
"But you guys are kids." Ned told them both and Peter scoffed while Emma just looked away. This reminded her of the conversations she used to have with Steve. Conversations in which they would argue with each other but those arguments just seemed silly now that he was gone and she was alone.
"Yeah, a kid who can stop a bus with his bare hands." Peter retorted as he spared Emma a glance. "And Emma can fly and totally take on Thor is she really wanted to."
"I've also assassinated a lot of people." Emma added which caused both boys to just stare at her but she didn't seem bothered. Ned gulped as he was suddenly reminded of how dangerous the blonde really was. She was like Charlize Theron's character from Atomic Blonde.
"Peter, I just don't think that this is a great idea." Ned told his best friend. "I mean… what if this is illegal."
"It is illegal." Emma told him as if that would reassure him. She now had her phone out as she looked at Pedro Pascal's wikipedia page after looking at the wikipedia page of the show Narcos. Emma was just that bored with the whole conversation between Peter and Ned. Now she was looking up random people and shows on wikipedia. Emma didn't understand why they were sitting there discussing this which only caused them to waste precious time. Peter quickly got down from the bed and knelt down on the ground next to Ned's bed.
"Look, Please. This is a chance to prove myself." Peter said pleadingly. "I can handle it… Emma's will be with me the entire time. Ned, come on."
"I don't think this is a good idea." Ned said to Peter before speaking in a more hushed voice. "And I really don't think you can trust Emma."
"Superhuman hearing!" Emma called out to him as her eyes remained glued to the screen. Pedro Pascal was from Chile? She never would've guessed. Well, at least that explained how he spoke Spanish so fluently on the show.
"The guy in the chair." Peter said to Ned, trying to get his friend to give into him. Emma liked seeing a manipulative Peter. Manipulative Peter was way more fun than uptight and nosy Peter.
"Don't do that." Ned replied in an exhausted tone.
"Come on." Peter begged before Ned sighed heavily, caving into Peter. Emma honestly thought Ned might've held out a little longer but she had been wrong before. Ned typed a few keys on the keyboard and suddenly both Emma and Peter's suit started glowing and humming. Emma even tore her eyes away from her phone as she sat up in the bed, staring at her suit with a curious look on her face.
"I guess we're all set to go then." Emma said without looking away from her suit. She was excited to see what was Stark holding out on them with. What was her suit's full capability if it just wasn't McConnaughey? Emma then got up from the bed and immediately held up her suit as it stopped glowing. She looked it over but didn't notice anything that different about it. She supposed she'd be able to tell the difference when she put the suit on.
"What are we doing about the weapon dealers?" Peter asked her and Emma glanced at him briefly.
"We go over to their lame evil lair, find their boss, and then stop him. It's that simple." Emma told him and Peter just shook his head. Emma didn't sound that concerned with the mission.
"No, it's not that simple. How do we stop him?" Peter pressed and Emma shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, usually I'd just kill him but I can tell that you might not be interested in murder." Emma quipped and Peter just stared at her. Emma rolled her eyes. "Relax, Parker. I haven't killed anyone in years. I promised Steve that I wouldn't."
"Somehow that doesn't make me feel better." Peter muttered. "No, seriously… how are we going to do this?" Emma just sighed.
"Okay, listen to this. I'll distract him and when he's not paying attention you shoot him with your webbing. You make sure he's all tied up and restrained." Emma told Peter as she laid out the plan. "Then I'll fly myself and birdman out of there. I'll dump him on Stark's doorstep like a Fedex package and Stark will handle the boring legal side of it."
"That doesn't really sound like I'll be doing much of the work." Peter noted disapprovingly which caused Emma to glare at him.
"I'm sorry… do you want to fly him back to the Avenger's facility? I didn't realize you could fly." Emma said sarcastically. She didn't know why Peter was being so trigger happy about all of this. It's not like Emma was thrilled at the idea of flying herself and a two hundred(not including the weight from the suit) pound man back to New York. If Parker could fly than you better believe he would be doing all the heavy lifting.
"Fine we'll go with your plan." Peter reluctantly agreed. He could see that Emma was right even though he didn't want to admit it. There wasn't any other plan they could go with… at least not one he could think of. This would be the only realistic way to catch the guy with the wings.
"Let's suit up." Emma told him before she inwardly winced at herself. God, she sounded just like her grandfather when she said that. It looked like Steve's captain attitude had rubbed off on her more than she thought.
Peter only nodded at the tall, willowy figured blonde, assuming that she was going to take her suit to the bathroom to change. He and Ned, however, were both surprised to see that Emma made no move to go to the bathroom and was actually about to pull off her t-shirt. Peter watched wide eyed, stunned at what the blonde was doing. He immediately turned his head away when he saw the bottom of Emma's bra as she carelessly started to pull her shirt off. Ned just stared at the blonde in shock, not knowing where else to look.
"What are you doing?!" Peter exclaimed as he looked at the wall, trying very hard not to look at the blonde. Emma stopped pulling off her shirt and let the article of clothing fall back down against her body. She gave both Peter and Ned a confused look.
"I'm suiting up… just like I just said." Emma replied casually.
"I thought you were going to go to the bathroom to change." Peter told her as he tried to steady his breathing. That was actually the most he had ever seen a girl naked and it happened to be a girl that Peter was starting to become attracted to... which was something he couldn't even admit to himself aloud. Emma just gave Peter an odd look.
"Why would I do that?" Emma questioned. "That would take up too much time. Wait… why are you interrogating me like this? We're wasting time."
"Because I don't think it's appropriate for us to change together. I'm very uncomfortable." Peter said honestly and Emma glared at him in disbelief. She couldn't believe he was really worrying about social customs in a time like this. They were about to get ready to go on a mission together and he was having a panic attack because he saw part of her bra? What the hell was wrong with this boy? Couldn't he grow up?
"Are you seriously telling me that you're uncomfortable right now? Come on, Parker, we have a mission to go on. We don't have time for this crap." Emma argued but Peter stood by his words. He stared back at her with defiance in his eyes, silently telling her to go change in the bathroom. Emma just groaned, rolling her eyes as she picked up her suit and started to head towards the bathroom. Normally she'd argue with him all night long but Emma didn't have time to spare.
"I can't believe you're being so immature about this." Emma complained as she opened the door to the bathroom before glaring at him. "I'm going to be changed in two minutes so if you're still not done getting dressed by the time I come out I could give a shit less." The blonde then slammed the door closed. Peter flinched at the loud sound before turning to Ned who was still staring at the door the blonde had slammed shut with the same shocked expression on his face. Peter just sighed.
"She's never going to be boring, is she?"
Emma had pulled up to the side of the hotel in a newer model of a black Ford Mustang. Before she left the hotel room she had told Peter to meet her outside and she'd give him the signal when she brought the car around. He actually believed Emma had somehow rented a car for the occasion. Rookie mistake. Rental cars could be tracked and it wasn't like Emma could legally rent one anyways since she was only fifteen. Emma was sitting in the driver's seat waiting for Peter without her mask on. It kind of screwed up her line of sight when she was driving so she left it off for the time being. Emma spotted Peter sitting up on top of the hotel building so she flashed the headlights three times. Peter spotted the signal and immediately leapt down from the building, using his web shooters. She watched as he cautiously made his way over to the car, looking as though he were taking time to admire the car as he did so. He finally approached the car and opened the passenger side door, hoping into the seat.
"Woah… this is such a nice car." Peter remarked as he closed the door behind him. Emma didn't even wait for him to buckle himself in before she immediately took off.
"Sure is." She replied distractedly as she turned out of the parking lot of the hotel. Peter jumped up and down excitedly in his seat as he looked around at the car's interior.
"I didn't know you could drive." Peter said and Emma shrugged.
"There's a lot you don't know about me." Emma replied calmly. Peter just nodded as he drummed his fingers against the arm rest. Emma clenched her jaw tightly. She hadn't realized he'd be this annoying to drive with. It didn't take long for the teenage boy to become restless before he reached out to mess with the knobs on the stereo. Peter immediately turned on the stereo before he started changing the radio stations to find a song he liked. Emma told herself to calm down and let him be. There would be no use in arguing with him in a time like this. Peter finally settled on a radio station as the station played a familiar sounding pop song that Emma immediately knew that she didn't like.
'Acting like we're not together, after everything that we've been through. Sleeping up under the covers.' What sort of song was this? The singer had the most nasally annoying voice she had ever heard. Did Peter really listen to this crap? Between the singer's high pitched voice and the electronic nature of the music, Emma was quickly becoming annoyed.
'How am I so far away from you? Distant when we're kissing. Feels so different.' At first Peter only hummed along to the lyrics which set Emma on edge enough. She was always tense before a mission. Emma usually spent her time before a mission mentally preparing herself for every possible scenario. It was then that Emma became even more tense when Peter started singing the chorus of the song.
"Baby tell me how did you get so… cold enough to chill my bones. It feels like I don't know you anymore." It sounded like Peter was singing at the top of his lungs to Emma since her hearing was more enhanced and they were in a tight space. She couldn't help but notice that he was also a pretty horrible singer. Never quit your day job, Parker... or maybe night job considering just who he was. "I don't understand why you're so cold to me."
"With every breath you breathe, I see there's something going on-" Peter continued to sing until Emma finally had enough.
"Can you shut up?" Emma said in annoyed tone as she cut him off. It was impossible to think around him. She couldn't seem to have a coherent thought pattern around him at all and it frustrated her beyond belief. Peter immediately turned to look at her with a surprised expression hidden under his mask.
"What? You don't like Maroon 5?" Peter asked her incredulously.
"Turn it off." Emma said as she gritted her teeth.
"Well, I get that they're not what they once were but I think it's cool that they're evolving with the times-" At this point Emma grew tired of arguing with him and immediately pulled out her gun from her holster, pointing it at the stereo system. It seemed like she had finally snapped.
"Turn it off or I'll turn it off for you." Emma snapped and Peter's lenses widened as he looked at the gun in shock.
"What the hell?! Is that a real gun?" Peter exclaimed as he looked between Emma and the gun, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.
"No, it's a water gun." Emma said sarcastically before rolling her eyes. "What do you think? Of course it's a real gun."
"Why do you have a real gun?!" Peter asked, slipping somewhat into a panic mode.
"In case things go south." Emma answered as if it were the obvious thing in the whole world. Emma always had a gun with her on missions. There was nothing that had changed since Hydra that would make her not take a gun with her on missions. She understood that it had been a while since she had missions to go on but Emma didn't think she had changed that much since then except for the fact that she didn't kill people anymore.
"South? What do you mean south?" Peter kept asking her, his voice becoming slightly hysterical. Emma just sighed as she tried to calm herself down. She didn't think that she could get headaches but Peter was really starting to test that theory. Emma put the gun back in her holster before shutting off the stereo herself.
"It's just a precaution, Parker. Those guys have guns… shouldn't I have one too?" Emma said, posing what she thought was a good question. Peter just shook his head.
"Why would you need one? Mr. Stark's designed these amazing suits for us. They have everything in them." Peter told her and Emma just glared at the road ahead of them.
"Well, I didn't always have Stark to make fancy gadgets for me. I guess old habits die hard." Emma replied in a harsh tone. Peter immediately got the feeling that she didn't wish to further discuss the subject. Maybe it was best to just let it go. They were about to go on a mission and they didn't need to start another argument which they always seemed to do. Peter lost count of the amount of times he and Emma bickered in the short time they had known each other. The teenage boy just shook his head as he reached for the stereo again but a heated glare from Emma stopped him.
"I swear, Parker, if you turn on that stereo again you're out of the car." Emma told him sharply. Peter rested his hands in his lap as he muttered to himself, not believing how someone could really be that unpleasant. Still… Emma could be her unpleasant self and he couldn't help but secretly enjoy bickering with her. It was kind of fun to see her get all annoyed and angry even if she was sort of terrifying at the same time. Peter liked seeing that side of Emma because she was actually showing emotion instead of wearing the mask she always seemed to wear.
"Okay, okay. You hate Maroon 5… I'll remember that for next time when I make our road trip playlist." Emma just focused on the road as she drove down a highway.
"How far are we from the weapon dealers?" Emma asked him in a more quiet tone as she tried to bring their attention back to the mission. Peter turned to look at her, trying to analyze the unreadable expression on her face. It was then that he notice the readings that had come up on the screen inside his mask. The readings showed him her heart rate as well as an x-ray that confirmed that the blonde sitting next to him was in good health. It seemed to be part of the new upgrades his suit had. Peter furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as several Viper Assassin files started popping up on his screen. He noticed that the files were emblazoned with a sinister looking symbol. Hydra's symbol.
"Parker?" Emma asked again, breaking Peter out of his thoughts. It seemed like Emma must've been trying to get his attention for a while. He blinked before shaking his head. The female disembodied voice must've heard Emma as the screen showed the location of the weapon dealers again.
"We're about five miles away. Just keep driving north." Peter told her and Emma nodded solemnly. "The new subsystems that Ned gave us access to are awesome. I even have an AI system like you have. Do you know if you have anything new in your suit?" Emma just shrugged.
"I don't really know. I haven't put on my mask yet but I'm sure I'll find out soon." Emma replied. Truthfully, Emma really hoped that there wasn't that many new little gadgets that Stark had included in her suit. She was kind of curious to see what Stark thought up for her but at the same time she knew how far Stark went with things sometimes... how unnecessary he could be. Unlike Peter, Emma hadn't really care if Ned had given her access to the new subsystems or not. Emma was trained to fight in hand to hand combat and as well as how to be resourceful. Stark just tended to make things harder than they had to be. The only problem Emma had with Stark disabling the subsystems was the fact that he didn't think she was responsible enough to have them. Who was he to judge her? "Let's just hope that Stark didn't over complicate things."
It was quiet in the car for a brief fleeting moment as Emma focused on the road and Peter looked outside the window. They didn't have that much further to go and the anticipation in getting there was really starting to get to Emma. A mischievous smirk came over Emma's face as she pressed her foot against the gas pedal. There really wasn't anything that sounded better to Emma's ears than the roar of the Mustang engine. She smoothly passed cars on the highway that were going way too slow for her liking. Emma also noticed the way Peter clutched onto the sides of his seat.
"Why are we going so fast?! We're going to die!" Peter exclaimed as he stared at the road in fear. Emma was amused to see how panicked he was with her driving. It wasn't like she was going a crazy speed. She was only driving at 95 mph. Emma had driven way faster on previous missions.
"I want to get there faster. The faster we get there the sooner we can come back and make it in time for nationals." Emma explained and Peter just shook his head in disbelief.
"Yeah but we won't make it back to the nationals if we crash and die." Peter told her pointedly which caused Emma to roll her eyes at him yet again.
"Drama queen."
Emma parked the Mustang a couple blocks away from the location of the tracker. She didn't want the idiots to become suspicious about a random Mustang parked near their lair. To Peter's surprise they both survived Emma's erratic driving. Emma had since slipped on her Viper Assassin mask and was immediately surprised by all the new little pop-ups on her screen. Great, she thought to herself, it looks like Stark really did over complicate things. While Emma had access to a AI system before, she now had access to many more subsytems than were previously allowed. Emma was getting all kinds of readings that she could care less about. Who cared about the percentage of humidity in the air? That didn't make the slightest difference to Emma.
"McConaughey, can you put on Viper vision?" Emma asked the AI system quietly as she and Peter made their way through a grassy field. Emma could see a gas station in the distance and she was assuming that this was where their evil lair was. An evil lair inside of a gas station? Were these guys some backwoods rednecks or something? Although Emma shouldn't judge. She was technically from Oklahoma originally.
"Of course, Miss Rogers." McConaughey answered as her red lenses went down and Viper vision came on. Emma smiled faintly as the familiar thermal imaging of Viper vision filled her line of sight.
"Miss, Rogers, I am detecting three individuals in the distance." McConaughey informed her as Emma spotted a beat up looking van at the gas station. She could see their thermal heat signatures through the van as the red lenses zoomed in on the vehicle. Emma gave Peter a hand signal, silently telling him to stop. She crouched down behind a bush and Peter followed suit. They now had the advantage since the weapon dealers had no idea that they were even there. Emma didn't want to reveal themselves to them just yet.
"Why is their secret lair in a gas station? That's so lame." Peter quipped which caused Emma to smile.
"I know. I was thinking the same exact thing." Emma whispered to him much to Peter's surprise since the blonde hardly agreed with him on anything. Peter just smiled a small satisfied smile from under his mask, pleased that Emma was starting to become slightly less hostile to him.
"Mr. Parker, are you alright?" The female disembodied voice asked Peter. "Your heart rate had just accelerated. Shall I inform Miss Rogers of your current predicament?"
"No, no. That's fine… I'm perfectly fine." Peter assured the voice as he blushed in embarrassment. Emma raised a brow at the masked teenager, wondering what it was that his AI system said but Peter just shook his head at her. She decided to just let it go. They had more important things to worry about at the moment.
"We should find a higher location so we can get a better vantage point." Emma told him quietly as she looked up towards the deteriorating sign near the gas pumps. Peter just nodded and they both left the bush they were previously hiding in. Emma flew gracefully up to the top of the sign while Peter used his webshooters to fling himself up to the sign and landed in a crouched position. Emma stood on the ledge of the sign a little lower so that she could remain hidden.
"Hey, suit lady, what are they doing?" Emma heard Peter ask his AI system as she focused her enhanced hearing on what was going on inside that van. Her Viper vision suddenly showed depictions of all the different types of weapons that the idiots had in their van. Emma could not believe that they actually were able to acquire that many advanced weapons. Maybe they weren't as stupid as she thought but they were still stupid enough to actually have all those weapons with them. If something happened to that van than Emma was sure the weapons would cause a massive explosion. Although… it wouldn't be that great of a loss considering who was currently occupying the van.
"I got the gautlet from the Lagos cleanup. The rest is all my design." Emma narrowed her eyes as she listened to the weapon dealers. Lagos? That's where Steve, Sam, Natasha, and the witch tried to take down Rumlow when he attempted to steal that biological weapon. She thought they had done a good job in cleaning up after themselves but these weapon dealers must've been fast if they somehow got their hands on anything from the incident.
"I can't believe they're still cleaning up that Triskelion mess." Another weapon dealer said, referring to the same exact mess Emma and Peter had just witnessed on their way to D.C. It was a terrible sight to be seen but Emma knew what her grandfather had saved the world from. She had agreed earlier with Michelle that Captain America hadn't really done anything to stop the tyranny of Hydra which was true but he did stop Project Insight. Emma might not have been allowed to see much details about Project Insight but she knew enough about it to know that it would've wiped out a couple million people from the face of the planet. Some people might've considered the plan insane but Emma understood why Hydra felt the need to design such a plan. They wanted to eliminate anything or anyone who they saw as a threat and Project Insight was the way to do it. It was an insane and evil idea but it made sense for Hydra.
"I love it. They keep making messes, we keep getting rich." A different weapon dealer replied and Emma instantly recognized his voice. He was the same one who they saw at school the other day and the same one who tried to shoot at them. Emma still wondered what happened to that buddy of his whose nose she broke. Probably dead, Emma decided. When agents at Hydra failed to do their job right they were terminated. Birdman probably had the same kind of mindset when it came to his goons.
"Target inbound." The other one suddenly said and Emma realized that they were in the middle of a heist. Of course, Emma thought to herself. Why else would they be staked out in their crappy looking van? They were probably waiting around for Birdman. Well, this just kept getting better and better.
"They're in the middle of a heist." Peter whispered, unknowingly agreeing with Emma's thoughts. Emma had to commend Peter because he was learning the game fairly quickly. Maybe the two of them spending so much time together was finally proving to be worth while if it was having a positive effect on him.
"We could catch them all red-handed. This is awesome." Peter continued to say in an excited voice. Emma really hoped that he wasn't going to become too anxious. She didn't need him to jump the gun on this one.
"Pace yourself, Spider-Twerp." Emma whispered, knowing full well that his suit would now enable him to hear her. Peter was so excited for how close they were to catching these guys that he didn't even feel annoyed at Emma's nickname for his alter-ego.
"Okay but we should get a little closer so that we can see what's happening." Peter told Emma. Emma sighed but nodded reluctantly. He was probably right about that but they needed to remain hidden until the last second. They couldn't let their targets gain the upper hand.
"Fine but we need to remain discreet." Emma agreed. "These guys are idiots but they're not your average petty thiefs. We need to be smart about this."
"Of course. Discreet and smart are right up my alley." Peter replied. Emma strongly resisted the urge to snort at his words. It was really hard to resist the urge but she finally managed to do so.
"Miss Rogers, would you like me to engage enhanced combat mode? Mr. Parker has just engaged the same mode in his suit." McConaughey told her and Emma shrugged nonchalantly.
"Sure, why not." Emma replied. It would probably be a smart move for her and Peter to be on the same page anyways. Maybe if they were locked into identical modes than it would make it easier to apprehend the weapon dealers.
"Activating instant kill." McConaughey said as her Viper vision zoomed in on the weapon dealers and labeled clear targets on their bodies. Emma looked at the targets in fascination as it showed her various different ways to take out the targets. Images of different weapons also popped up on her screen and Emma could only assume that the weapons were hidden somewhere in her suit.
"Okay, I think I can be cool with this." Emma said breathlessly, feeling overwhelmed by all the options of death. Stark had a more sadistic mind than she originally thought. That might've made her hate him a little less… not much but still less than before.
"Emma, deactivate it." Peter told the blonde after seeing the scary smile on her face. He had already deactivated his instant kill mode much to his relief. Peter just couldn't believe Mr. Stark would put something like that in his and Emma's suit… well, anyone's suit actually. "We can't kill anyone. You need to deactivate it right now." Emma was a little surprised and impressed to hear the authority in Peter's voice as he ordered her around. Normally she would defy him because he wasn't Steve and he couldn't tell her what to do but somehow she was more impressed than pissed off at his attitude. Parker was finally standing up for himself, Emma thought to herself. Good for him.
"Fine. McConaughey, deactivate instant kill." Emma told the AI system, slightly pouting as she did so. Peter was the one with the moral compass after all so she should probably take his advice on that.
"Deactivating instant kill." McConaughey told her as Viper vision went back to the manual mode it was originally in.
"You're no fun." Emma muttered to herself as she glared up at Peter. This time he actually glared back at her since he could finally hear the snide comments she said under her breath when she thought he wasn't listening. Looking away from the blonde, Peter held his wrist out and shot his webbing towards the gas pumps. He expected the webbing to stick to the side of the gas pumps when it actually didn't and he instead fell face flat on the ground. Normally Emma would've laughed at him but she knew that the idiots in the van could possibly see him. Emma immediately flew herself to the top of the gas pumps as she looked between Peter and the van. No one had come running out of the van yet so she assumed that the idiots were oblivious like usual.
"What the hell just happened? What was that?" She heard Peter ask his AI system before he flung his wrist out again and began shooting webbing at a sign above the gas pumps. Emma glared at him from her spot on top of the gas pumps.
"What are you doing?!" Emma whisper-yelled at him.
"My suit's malfunctioning." Peter whispered back to her before he ran for cover behind one of the gas pumps. Emma rolled her eyes as she heard his answer. His suit malfunctioning? Yeah, right. He didn't mean that the suit that Stark designed for him was malfunctioning… No, he actually meant that he just couldn't figure out how to work his own suit. And she thought Steve trying to figure out how to use a Stark phone was hard to watch.
Peter then flung his wrist again and shot webbing that immediately caused the top of the gas pumps, where Emma was positioned, to spark with electricity. Emma stared at the sparking lights with wide eyes before she quickly flew up, not wanting the sparks to touch her. What was going on with that boy? Emma looked over at the van with her Viper vision and could tell that the idiots were momentarily distracted by something in the van. She took her chance and then proceeded to fly down from the gas pumps towards Peter who was hiding behind the abandoned building. She gracefully landed right next to the panicky boy and sent him a scathing glare.
"What the hell are you doing?" She questioned angrily.
"Nothing, nothing. Come on, we've got to catch those guys." Peter told her dismissively as he hopped onto a dumpster before propelling himself onto the roof of the abandoned building. Emma just sighed before flying herself off the ground to join him on the roof. He really needed to get things together. She never remembered her father saying that she was this difficult to train. Then again… her father never really said much in those days.
"I got a visual." Emma heard one of the weapon dealers say as a line of heavy duty cargo trucks passed the gas station. Emma narrowed her eyes as she looked at the cargo trucks suspiciously.
"Green light, green light." Another weapon dealer said. Not a minute later Emma saw a familiar looking outline fly through the night sky. She still had her Viper vision but she could definitely tell that the outline was of the mysterious Birdman that had grabbed her and Peter the other night. Who was that guy?
"Oh, that's him." Peter said before turning to her. "We need to get him right now, Emma. I don't care if you say it's too soon or not. He's not getting his hands on those weapons."
"I wasn't going to disagree with you, Parker." Emma said much to Peter's surprise. Peter was right. They couldn't let that guy get away. It was times like these that made Emma wonder what Steve would do and she was a hundred percent positive that he wouldn't let that guy go. Usually Emma liked to sit back and observe her targets before making a move. Sometimes that took weeks on end but she wasn't going to have that luxury for this mission. The weapons this guy could use or sell could ultimately cause massive devastation. They needed to act fast. "You're right. We can't let him get anymore weapons. He needs to be stopped right this second."
"I'm glad you're finally seeing things my way." Peter replied.
"I'm not seeing things your way. I just know that if my grandfather was here that he wouldn't hesitate to stop Birdman over there." Emma told him, her tone full of determination. Peter just nodded slowly to himself. Emma looked him over carefully as she asked her next question. "Are you okay to make your own way over to Birdman? You don't want me to fly you over there?"
"No, I'm fine." Peter said in an assuring tone. "Besides… I don't trust that you won't drop me in the middle of the highway." Emma couldn't tell if his tone was joking or not but either way she still smirked at him.
"Fine. Have it your way." Emma said casually before she propelled herself off the roof and swiftly flew over to the cargo truck. Peter sighed as he watched her fly away. Sometimes he really wished that he could fly like Emma. It would make things so much easier.
Emma flew well above the cargo truck so that she could remain out of Birdman's sight but quickly lowered herself down once she noticed that he had disengaged himself from his wings. How could he already be inside the cargo trucks? Those things looked reinforced and surely they would hear him trying to break into the back of one of them. Emma silently grasped onto the side of the cargo truck as it drove down the highway. She hadn't wanted to land on top of the truck, afraid that it would alert Birdman to her presence. Emma easily lifted herself onto the top of the cargo truck from the side and noticed Peter crawl up on top of the truck at the same as her. It was nice to know that there were so in sync. Emma furrowed her eyebrows immediately as she noticed the ray of purple that had encompassed the top of the truck. She found that she could look directly through the mass of purple and see everything inside the cargo truck, including Birdman. It was like some sort of portal that allowed for someone to go through solid surface areas. It just had to be another tool those idiots created with the alien weaponry.
"Woah, cool. It's like some kind of matter phase shifter." Peter remarked quietly as he gently touched the purple mass. Emma raised an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything. She wanted to tell him not to touch it but she didn't want to alert Birdman to their presence. There was also the fact that Peter seemed to know more about what the hell that thing was than she did. Emma continued to stare at Birdman through the purple mass and saw that he wrapping up his little heist. She immediately looked at Peter.
"We should get into position." Emma told him and he nodded in agreement as they both got up from the roof. They immediately stood a ways back as they waited for Birdman to come out of his little cubby hole. Emma clenched her jaw in anticipation as she saw him finally pop out of the purple mass with a bag of weapons in his hand. Peter shot out his webbing without warning and immediately snatched the bag out of his hand. Birdman whipped back around to stare at the two crime fighting individuals. The spider and the snake... An unlikely combination.
"Hey, Big Bird! This doesn't belong to you!" Peter yelled at him. Birdman just stared at them before reattaching himself to his wings. This caused Peter's confidence to falter but it only made Emma more determined to take him down. Remember, she told herself, Peter said that you can't kill anyone. This was going to be the hardest mission she ever had to do if she wasn't supposed to kill anyone. All her other missions ended in death which made everything simpler as messed up as that sounded.
"Oh, god." Peter mumbled as his lenses widened. Birdman immediately flew in their direction threateningly causing Peter to do a flip in the air and Emma to fly off to the side so that they could avoid being hit by his wings. Peter flung his wrist out and shot out his webs but they missed Birdman by a long shot. Emma groaned in frustration. Was he still figuring out his suit?
Birdman then flew towards Emma, trying to shoo her away from the cargo truck but she fearlessly flew in his direction. It didn't seem like Birdman anticipated this move as he jolted in shock when Emma grabbed onto his forearms with a harsh grip. They spun around through the air like dancers until Birdman eventually was able to kick her with one of his clawed feet. Emma flinched when one of his clawed feet managed to kick her in the stomach but she quickly recovered as she dodged another one of his kicks. Emma had to say that this was an odd circumstance. She had never fought in the air like this before but then again there wasn't many people who could fly.
"Miss Rogers, would you like for me to dispense the Viper Venom?" McConaughey asked her. Emma raised her eyebrows as she delivered a kick to Birdman's side. It didn't seem to do any good because Birdman's suit seemed to be well armored. Peter was still on the ground trying to figure out his suit as Emma tried to apprehend Birdman.
"Yeah, sure. Whatever, McConaughey. Anything would help right now." Emma told him as she dodged another hit from Birdman.
"Dispensing Viper Venom." McConaughey said as Emma heard a soft hissing sound. She watched in surprise as a green colored liquid sprayed the metal arm of Birdman. Emma noted that the liquid was coming from a metal plate on the wrist of her suit. The green liquid seemed to make a sound that could only be compared to bacon on a frying pan as it hit the metal of Birdman's suit. She watched in shock as the liquid seemed to burn through the arm of Birdman's suit like it was some kind of acid. It started expose some wiring which sparked when it made contact with the Viper Venom. Stark, what did you do? Even Birdman seemed shocked at what was happening but he soon clearly became pissed as he flew backwards from Emma. Emma had stupidly allowed herself to become distracted at Stark's little gadget. So distracted that she barely had time to anticipate Birdman's move when he propelled himself through the air and flew, towards her, feet first. Emma held out her hands defensively in hopes of somehow slowing down his impact but his speed was too fast and the force of his feet caused Emma to fly backwards through the air.
"Viper!" Peter yelled out in concern. Emma tried to slow herself down but the impact of Birdman's feet was so forceful that she only stopped when her head hit the edge of the cargo truck, causing her to fall through the purple mass and land on the floor of the truck. The last thing Emma saw before she blacked out was the night sky through the purple portal. If only the view from outside her bedroom window was this pretty, Emma thought deliriously as her eyes fluttered shut.
If only…