Disclaimer: Don't own, don't care, don't sue.
(Queens, New York, September 13th 2016 , 7:48pm)
Peter Parker was an idiot. Plain and simple.
Anastasia had been watching him for three hours now and the boy had caused more chaos than he had stopped. He stopped a burglar attempting to rob a convenience store only to trip the alarm himself and almost got smacked with a baseball bat from the angry store owner. He'd gotten chewed out by a young mother for scaring her and almost causing her to drop her two year old child. Not to mention he managed to break a fire hydrant, somehow.
It was frightening how clumsy this fifteen year old with superpowers was.
Now she was watching him stop an attempted mugging. The unfortunate victim, a girl in her twenties from the looks of it, was pressed up between the alley wall and a dumpster. The two men that had tried to mug her were both fairly big, both pushing six feet and probably weighing close to two hundred pounds. One had a tattoo of a fly on his cheek while the other had very intense eyebrow piercings. They loomed over their victim menacingly, a sharp knife appearing in the hands of the tattooed guy.
Anastasia crouched on a nearby rooftop, waiting to see how the spider handled the two men before she jumped in to help. She was already dressed in her suit, a black tank top under her dark purple suit jacket paired with black tactical pants and black steal-toed boots. Her rings decorated her hands, glittering in the artificial light the lamppost gave off. Her top hat sat comfortably on her currently purple head, a black domino mask hiding her features.
Spider-Man landed silently behind the would-be muggers, clearing his throat loudly. The two men whipped around in a panic, looking around before spotting the red-and-blue dressed vigilante. Eyebrows, as Anastasia dubbed him, scoffed and nudged his partner, Tattoo Guy, with a grin.
"Look, man, the itsy bitsy spider came out to play." Eyebrows said mockingly.
Spider-Man ignored him in favor of saying his own quip. "Don't you two know that you should never hurt a lady?"
Tattoo Guy waved his knife around threateningly. "Get outta here, punk. Before I make you regret it."
"Sorry, can't do that." Spider-Man stepped forward. "I'd put the knife down before you get hurt though."
"And who's gonna make me? You?" Tattoo Guy sneered.
Anastasia had enough. She was bored as hell and wanted to punch the crap out of somebody. These jokers would do just fine.
She wriggled her fingers and stepped through the portal she created, suddenly looking at the backs of the muggers. Spider-Man's pure white eye things widened at the sight of her, taking half a step back in surprise.
Before the idiot criminals could react she kicked one in the back of the knee, elbowing the other in the ribs. She moved to stand on front of them, quickly kneeing Eyebrows in the face which knocked him out cold. She then grabbed Tattoo Guy by the collar and punched in the face three times, twisting the knife out of his grip as well. She finally knocked him out too with a kick to the face, breaking his nose as a result.
The girl shimmed her way out of her hiding spot, thanking Anastasia before bolting out of the alley. Anastasia put her hands on her hips and looked over at Peter, who was still staring at her in shock.
A teasing smile came across her lips. "You gonna say anything, bug boy?"
The vigilante straightened up at the name. "It's Spider-Man! And I had that you know."
"I know," she shrugged. "but I was bored."
"Y-you were bored?" he squeaked.
"Yup." she said, popping the p. "Is that a problem?"
"Yes!" he exclaimed loudly. "You don't just save someone cause you're bored!"
"Oh really now?" she asked in amusement. "Why not?"
"B-b-because, uh, yo-you," he flailed, desperately trying to find the words. "You just don't, okay?"
Anastasia shook her head with a sigh. 'I have so much work to do with him.' she thought as she walked toward him, circling him as she looked him up and down. The teenage boy fidgeted nervously as he watched her.
"What are you doing?" he asked, swallowing thickly.
"Looking at you." she answered as she came to a stop in front of him a foot away. "You need work."
Peter recoiled at those words. "Excuse me?"
"You. Need. Work." she repeated slowly.
"What gives you the right t-, wait." he said, bouncing on his toes suddenly. "You were in Germany! You're the one who made that worm-hole thing that saved Colonel Rhodes!"
"I was," she agreed, amused as all hell. The boy in front of her seemed to vibrate from excitement.
"You're the Mad Hatter! From those Heroes for Hire guys that help the Avengers!" his excitement seemed to grow even more as he realized who she was.
Anastasia nodded at his words. "That's me."
"You're so cool!" the spider gushed. "Are you really her? Are you really able to go anywhere in the world with a flick of your wrist? Is that your natural hair color?"
Anastasia blinked at the sudden spit-fire questions. "Uh, yes I am, yes I can, and no, it's not."
"So cool." he muttered to himself before he seemed to get a handle on his enthusiasm. "Er, not to sound rude, but why are you here?"
"I'm here for you." she answered easily.
"What?" the brunette squeaked again. "Why me?"
She heaved a sigh before bringing her hand to her ear. "Command, is the area clear?" she spoke into her comm.
"You're good to go, Hatter." Mia's voice sounded in her ear.
"Thanks," she replied before focusing back on the confused boy in front of her. She took off her domino mask and then her hat, the glamour falling away to reveal her true features. Peter's masked eyes went wide, mouth no doubt hanging open in shock.
"Hi, Peter." she said, sounding slightly sheepish.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
The spider-ling paced in front of her, mask clutched in one hand while the other ran through his already messy brown hair. She leaned against the wall, watching him work through all the information she had just given him. The poor boy probably just had the shock of his life.
"You're here to babysit me!?" the vigilante cried in outrage, finally spinning around to face her.
Anastasia winced visibly, her mask and hat laid on the ground beside her for the moment. "I wouldn't call it babysitting..."
Peter groaned loudly, burying his face in his palms. "I can't believe Mr. Stark would do this."
"Actually," she corrected him. "he doesn't even know I'm here. Or that my team and I are even watching you."
He lifted his head in confusion, tilting his head in way that reminded Anastasia of a puppy. 'He's too cute.' she thought absentmindedly before instantly shutting down that train of thought. She didn't like him. She didn't!
Now if she could only convince herself of that.
"Then why are you here? Cause if Mr. Stark didn't send you then why...?" he trailed off as she snapped back to reality, confusion still littering across his features.
She sighed and waved him over, moving to sit on the ground. She'd been awake for about sixteen hours now and the tiredness was starting to catch up with her. She'd gotten back from a mission early that morning only to be told that she had to go to school and start a new protective detail on Peter. Said boy was now sitting in front of her, impatiently waiting for his explanation. She sighed heavily and started explaining why.
"Because you're absolutely terrible at being covert." she said bluntly. Peter sputtered indignantly but she talked over him. "You've gotten caught on multiple CCTV cameras with your mask off, you're constantly on your own, personal cell-phone that anyone can steal if they get lucky. You leave your backpacks everywhere, which get stolen a ton. It's a freakin' miracle that nobody has found out who you are."
Peter moved his mouth without any sound coming out. After a minute he slumped his shoulders in defeat, looking glum as he played with his mask. "I had no idea." he muttered quietly, sounding like a scolded child.
Anastasia's heart clenched without her approval when she heard his sad voice. 'Pull yourself together.' she scolded herself. 'You've only known him for a day.' Still, she couldn't help but put her hand out, covering his hand with one of her own. He picked his head up and gave her a wide-eyed look as she let a small smile form on her lips.
"It's okay," she said, squeezing his hand. "That's why I'm here. To teach you how to be like us, and avoid getting found out."
Peter wet his lips nervously. "Do you think that- that I can train with you?"
Her smile got bigger at his question. She let out a laugh as she leaned back, releasing his hand. "Oh, honey," she said, her eyes twinkling madly. "I'm gonna run you into the ground."
OoOoOoOoOoOo
"I told you so." Zane said smugly as he and Mia leaned away from the computer, having just finished listening to the portal jumper's conversation with her new 'student'.
Mia rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. What do we do now?"
Zane crossed his arms in thought before grinning widely. "We're gonna get Tony and Faith involved."
The twenty-year-old walked out of the room without another word, his intent obvious. Mia glanced at the door warily, wondering just what her leader was going to do. She glanced back at the computer which showed Anastasia and Peter still talking to one another, the blonde seemingly explaining something while Peter listened intently, nodding here and there.
"Sorry, you two." Mia muttered, leaning back in her comfy office chair. "But those three aren't going to quit until the two of you are together."