A/N: For those new to the story
::AI speak/ voice from a call or communicator::
21 months before Thanos
She was doing it again. She thought no one noticed and that she was being sneaky, but Peter saw the limp she would hide after training sessions. The wince or flinch she suppressed when her sparring involved hand to hand and she'd get hit on that specific spot on her leg.
Nadia was sitting in the living room, waiting for him to grab his backpack before she portalled both of them to the Avengers facility for the weekend.
She was massaging her leg delicately, the hint of shadows beneath her eyes cluing him in to what was probably not a very easy patrol last night, maybe even early this morning. This was actually the last weekend of May's imposed hero ban on Peter.
By Monday, he would be out and about again as Spiderman. He could offer to take a solo patrol and give her a break for a few days maybe.
"Are you okay, Nadia?" Peter said, concerned. The sound of his voice made her halt her actions.
"Of course, Spiderboy." She smiled at him, "Why wouldn't I be?"
His brown eyes drifted to her leg and the memory of homecoming night, Nadia being crushed under a ton of concrete from the knee down. Her choked scream and whimper echoed in his head.
"You should tell Mister Stark."
She shrugged, "It's just a little muscle pain. He already had Dr. Cho treat me."
The treatment had worked… mostly anyway. Some of the residual magic from the regeneration spell she used to help heal her leg had interfered slightly with the cradle's tech. She'd told Tony she'd be able to handle the rest with her magic.
Peter sat beside her on the couch, holding her arm, "Please?"
His eyes glinted with worry and Nadia chuckled, "How can I say no to that look?"
::Fuck! Take cover! There's a concrete barrier, four o'clock!::
She followed her AI's instructions and jumped behind a low wall, hissing and clutching at her leg. Shots were fired into the concrete and she had to duck lower. This had been a simple armed robbery, but one of the masked goons decided to shoot her in the shin.
It didn't penetrate her pant leg. Spells made the cloth stronger than kevlar, but the force of the hit was still enough to bring her down. That and the fact that-
Thwip!
The sound repeated several times in quick succession, followed by the grunts and frustrated yells.
When Nadia peeked from her hiding place, she saw Spiderman giving her a look.
"Looks like that's a wrap." She stood, hopping once before settling on both feet, though with more weight was obviously put on just one. She could hear sirens in the distance.
"You didn't tell Mister Stark." Peter sounded a bit exasperated.
"My robes may be reinforced with a shielding charm Peter, but I can still feel some of the force from a gunshot." Nadia tried to reason out.
"Nadia," the teen grabbed her arm as she made to start a portal away, "Let's just go to Mister Stark."
She sighed, "I'm okay, Peter. Just a little tired." A portal was opened and Nadia stepped into her apartment. "I have solo patrol tomorrow."
Peter quickly followed through before it closed behind him. "I've seen what your shielding charms can do, Dia. What's a gunshot compared to an alien laser?" He said, pitch high, remembering the ferry incident.
She did her best to assure him, "Peter, I'll be okay. I just need to do a little," she wiggled her fingers.
The teen stared at her as she walked into her kitchen, grabbing a mug, "Want something before you go?"
"N-No, thanks. I'm okay," He looked down at Stevie who gave him a look, "I'll see you tomorrow."
She bid him good night and told him to hurry home because May was texting her. He'd received a text from his aunt too. After sending her a quick OTW, he paused, a determined expression on his face before sending out another message.
Nadia's eyes blinked open slowly and she yawned. She tried wiggling the toes on her right leg and bending her knee to test out the muscles. Looking to the side, she wondered why Stevie was absent. He usually lounged on the mattress long after she got up-
She heard a noise and shot up from bed. Her mother and grandmother were both away and weren't due for a check-in yet.
She snuck into the hallway, ready with a spell when the smell of coffee hit her nose.
There, in her kitchen, was Tony Stark. Stevie was laying on the floor close to the breakfast island, keeping an eye on the billionaire.
"You need some decent coffee. I can barely taste the beans in this." Tony wrinkled his nose, pushing away his mug.
"It's soya bean coffee." Nadia answered, going to a cabinet and bringing out a container of her other coffee grounds.
"That's not real coffee."
She poured the rest of the soya coffee into a thermos and rinsed out the coffee maker for a new batch of "real coffee".
"Tony, it's-" When she looked at the clock she jumped, "Oh crap, is that seriously the time?" Did she sleep through her alarm? Just as she was about to turn and make a dash for her room, Tony spoke up.
"Happy called the cafe. You're off the hook for today." He stood and gave her a stern look, "But we," he pointed at himself, then her, "are going to the facility."
"Is it an emergency?" Nadia wondered, immediately perking up, "You could have just called."
"Nope, then you would have waited, and this needs attention in a more timely fashion." He held his hand out and made a motion. "Magic circle."
"I'm still in pajamas-"
"Circle." Tony said more firmly.
Nadia sighed. She guessed she would find out when she got there. A few seconds had a portal open to Tony's lab, one Dr. Cho and an assistant present.
Her brows raised and her thoughts came together.
"Peter…"
"Yup," Was the simple confirmation. "After you, Sabrina." Tony urged her forward.
She guessed there was no avoiding it now. Not with the sternness masked in her father's cheery tone and steely eyes.
"Multiple hairline fractures," Dr. Cho said, examining a 3d version of a bone scan and zooming in on her right tibia and fibula, "The cradle managed to fix the worst breaks, but these..." She gestured to the fine lines crossing her bones, "They weren't here then."
Tony clicked his tongue, "Why'd you even think about hiding this? I trusted you when you told me your voodoo was enough to take care of it." There was no outside sign of the trauma her leg had undergone because the cradle had still taken care of the superficial and muscle damage despite the slight interference of Nadia's magic.
"I thought…" Nadia hung her head in shame. She couldn't think of a valid reason. She did just assume that it was muscle pain or her adjusting to her patched up leg, but when the pain persisted after several regeneration charms, she should have said something.
"She needs a boot to limit the strain and around eight weeks to give her bones time to properly heal." Dr. Cho said, Tony nodded.
"Now you can't say I'm not a doctor or I'm just overly paranoid. The actual doctor said it." He gave her a stern look, crossing his arms. "You're benched."
Nadia gaped, "Eight weeks?!" That was way too long.
"Well, that's the disadvantage of healing like a normal person." Tony sniffed. "You'll be staying at the facility while you're off patrol."
The young woman shook her head. "No. No way. I have a job, Tony."
The man folded his arms in front of his chest, "Fine. Your job at the cafe. But other than that, you're coming straight to the facility."
"Seriously! It's just serving coffee- Wait." Nadia's eye twitched, "You're okay with me going to the cafe?" She asked suspiciously.
"It's your day job." Tony shrugged and said simply, "But no after hours activities. The kid will make sure you actually come here before he goes on patrol."
"Peter?" Well… he must have wanted to do something to make sure she would get better, "He volunteered? I swear I'll come here straight after work. He doesn't have to worry about me. I'm the adult." She tried to reassure while Dr. Cho's assistant snapped on the boot on her leg.
Tony scoffed, "Sure, and sometimes adults need supervision. You tried to hide your booboos, so until I can trust that you won't be a child and will actually come over after your coffee job, the Spiderling will make sure." He patted her shoulder, "Just do it for him. You know how kids worry."
And as Nadia had come to find, Tony could worry too.
The billionaire clapped his hands together when the assistant stood up, "Now that that's done. I've got an hour before a meeting. Up for ice cream? Ben & Jerry's just named a flavor after me."
A/N: Looks like this story will be following this format. Present-day chapters with flashbacks of the two years in between. The flashbacks will switch between the three Capelli's so we get a glimpse into what each of them were doing before the Infinity War.
Big thanks to all those who followed here from Getting to know Spiderboy and The Second Sun. For those who are new, welcome! I would, however, suggest that you read GTKS first before this one as there will be plenty of references to past events that might be confusing. Suggestions? Comments? Is this format alright with you? I'd love to know.
'Til Next Time~