Disclaimer: I only own what is mine. My OCs and Ideas.
A/N: Wow, I updated this on Sunday and now here I am on Saturday. Wow... So, usually, these chapters take me longer to write because I have to re-watch the episode and pretty much type out all the dialogue I use in each chapter. But with this chapter I took quite the artistic liberty, you'll see what I mean.
For any fans of my other work in progress "Lights", I am working on getting the next chapter up soon if you've been here a while you might know I like to do what I call "binge writing" so I'm working on getting those gears in motion for Lights. I'd say the next week or so?
Please enjoy this story! Read, Review, and most importantly above all else, Enjoy!
Reviews:
Death Fury - Per usual, thank you!
TheImmortalDanny - Three months (give or take) and I'm still fast? Wow... I hope you enjoy Danny's chapter, a little sprinkling in of foreshadowing. And Danny's powers? Maybe a little something-something next chapter? Maybe? Enjoy and thank you for reviewing!
Chapter 11: Danny
I feel as if being Danny Rand has started to take away from me preparing for my return home. It's distracting me from my focus. I am going to face Scorpion again. I have to be ready.
I have to hone all of my skill. I have to be perfect. A millisecond of hesitation or the smallest mistake could be his widest opening in taking me down. Maybe killing me if…
No, I can't think like that.
But right now, he has the resources of K'un-Lun at his disposal. He has probably been spending everyday training under Master Lei Kung… and I'm here…
I take a deep breath and let it out my nose as I open my eye and pull out my headphones.
I'm lying to myself if I call that my meditation time.
Yes, meditation can be used to solve problems, but I need the quiet headspace. If I keep worrying about what I can't control… I don't want to know how Shou-Lao might react.
"You finish your meditation?" Sam asks from beside me where he was reclined back on the couch, scrolling through his phone.
"For now, yes, I have."
"Check your messages then." Sam grins. "I promise it's good."
I pick up my phone and sure enough, I have a new message from Agent Coulson.
I open up the message and read it through. "Sam… what's an 'Uber-Adventure Water Palace'?"
Sam puts his phone down and looks at me strangely. "Do you know what a water park is?"
"Not really…" I admit.
Sam picks up his phone quickly typing away at it before showing me the screen. "This is a water park."
The image shows a large slide with water flowing down it. "Ok?"
"I don't know what else to say besides you'll understand once we get there." Sam sighs.
"SHEILD is sending us to Uber-Adventure Water Palace for a little vay-cay." Sam smiles as we caught up to Peter. He had quiet the large stack of books in his hands. "The sickest, wettest, slipperiest water park in the whole world."
"I like slippy," Peter complains. I stop and look back at him. I feel bad; I should be working like he is. "Ah, why do I have to memorize these books on SHEILD strategy and teamwork dynamics?"
Agent Coulson walks up behind him and plops another book onto the stack. "Don't forget Eye On The Prize, Director Fury's official biography. You're the leader Parker, leaders don't get slippy."
Leaders have to make sacrifices…
Kings have to make sacrifices…
I let out a deep breath and close my eyes.
"They work hard, for the good of the team." Agent Coulson goes on. "Last one in is a spider's egg!" He yells. When I open my eyes he rushes by us on his way to the transport.
"I shouldn't be going," I mutter to myself. "I have things to work on."
"Uh no, you out of all of us need to go," Sam says as he walks backward. "Dude, you've never been to a water park, you need this experience in your life, especially Uber-Adventure Water Palace."
"Come on, it'll be good for us all to relax and have some time off, and don't feel bad for Parker, after the whole Sinister Six thing Fury decided he needed to work on his leadership skills," Luke adds.
"Fine," I agree. "I'm coming."
"Reading?" Luke asks as he puts his phone down and looks over at me. "Come on man, we're taking a break from work."
"I have a responsibility to myself to learn these texts," I tell him calmly, my eyes lose the character I was just reading.
"Whatever man, you know we will be there in a few minutes.
"So I hear," I agree.
"Hey, Danny, I have a swim shirt for you in my bag," Ava says turning around. "I didn't know if you had one or not. I figured not."
"What do you need a shirt for?" Sam asks, turning around in his own seat. "Dude… we're superheroes. If we can't go walking around shirtless showing off our abs; what's the point?"
Ava only smacks Sam upside the head.
"Thank you, Ava, the gesture is much appreciated." I nod at her. "And Sam, you may have forgotten," I pull up my shirt enough for him to see. "But I have a large dragon brand on my chest, and the point of this trip is to not be heroes."
"Killjoy," Sam grumbles. "Well, you may not be flexing, but you can't stop me." He flexes his arms and looks at each of them.
"I have no intent to," I assure him.
"Alright team, let's get unload and checked in." Agent Coulson says turning around in the driver seat. "We'll grab some dinner and then map out tomorrow." He got out of the van and walks around back.
"I swear he's worse than us." Ava groans as she gets out of the van.
"To a relaxing vacation!" Ava holds up her soft drink as we sit outside the restaurant on the pier.
"Vacation!" Sam shouts to the ocean, tapping his glass with hers.
Luke and I also offer up our glasses to oblige her.
This is beautiful. The air smells fresh; the wind is a nice touch. This is peace.
"Got something to say, Fortune Cookie?" Sam asks looking at me from across the table.
"It's peaceful here. I don't think I've been this at ease in a while." I admit. "The ocean, the sunset…"
"It is nice." Ava sighs looking out at the water. "We needed this. I think Peter needs his space too."
"We will be moving out soon enough." Luke reminds her.
"Yeah, but still," Ava sighs. "We all kind of need a break from it all. You know?"
"Yeah," Sam yawns stretching his arms out. "And you guys are welcome by the way."
"You pulled this off?" I ask.
"Well kinda." Sam smiles slyly. "I may or may not have over heard Fury and Coulson talking about giving us a break and I may or may not have thrown in this for a suggestion."
"Nice work man." Luke holds up a hand for a high five.
I also hold up my own hand to him.
"Even Danny's in the spirit of a good vacation, you don't even know what you're in for tomorrow." Sam give me a high five.
"I'm sure I don't." I chuckle.
"We're going to cram as much into this trip as we possibly can," Sam assures me.
I don't think I've enjoyed myself this much in a long while.
"Hey, Coulson's coming down." Sam said from across the tube, "Let's look for him."
"He was right behind us, right?" Luke asks rolling out of the inner tube and pulling the rest of us along to the side of the pool.
"Yeah, he's got less weight so he should be coming pretty quickly." Ava offers.
"I think I see it," Sam says as his eyes trace the ride. "And…. touchdown."
Sure enough, a black tube comes out the end of the side, a minute later Agent Coulson is spat out from the mouth of the side.
Sam presses his lips together in a failed attempt to keep from laughing and Ava just laughs besides me.
I close my eyes and shake my head as I feel a smile creep across my face.
"So," Sam takes a deep breath and goes under the tube and pops up on the other side. "This is fun, right Danny?"
"It is." I agree as I take a breath and go under the tube to go out.
"Ok," Ava steps out of the tube. "Can we get lunch now?"
"I could eat." Luke agrees.
"How did you sneak food into here?" Sam asks as Ava passes out our lunches she had packed.
"When you have one person with peanut allergies and another with 'dietary restrictions,' they tend to be forgiving." Ava sighs passing me a sandwich and Sam one too. "Plus I read up on the park rules before we left."
"Are you referring to me?" I ask.
"Sorry, Danny but it's true." Luke pats me on the shoulder as he sits down.
I let out a deep breath and shake my head as I open my sandwich bag.
"Think about it. This is healthier than what we could buy and cheaper." Ava shrugs giving us all water bottles.
"So, should we check in on Pete?" Sam asks he's already opened his bag of chips with half his sandwich gone. "I mean, I know this is a vacation but I'm kind of curious to see what he's been up to this weekend."
"Same here," Ava picks up her phone unlocking it and typing quietly for a minute.
"I do feel kinda bad… having this much fun without him." Luke says digging through the small lunch box.
"I don't." Sam shrugs.
"Well, I had a feeling," Ava sighs, looking at her phone.
"A feeling about what?" I ask.
She passes me her phone as Sam and Luke look over my shoulders.
"'Spider-Man: New Hometown Hero'?" I read the title.
"What?" Sam asks.
"He's in Boston," Ava narrates, "stopping petty crimes."
"Seriously, how'd that happen?" Luke asks.
I scroll down and read the article.
"Well, JJJ offered a cash prize for his unmasking. At the same time, the Mayor of Boston offered him the key to the city." Ava explains.
"Not going to lie," Sam sits back on the picnic blanket. "I would also take that swap."
"Yeah, I don't blame him." Luke agrees.
I pass Ava's phone back. "But Boston doesn't have villains. Not like New York, surly he's not feeling… satisfied. There's this… this thing about him. He gets such validation from doing what he does."
"I'm sure he wouldn't just walk away," Luke adds. "Right?"
"Hey, I don't think any of us would blame him. It probably crosses all of our minds from time to time, right?" Ava asks.
I only give a silent shrug; Luke and Sam on either side of me give their own answers of reluctant agreement.
"See?" Ava defends.
"Eh, I'm not too worried about it. He's not going to stay there very long," Sam speaks up after a second.
"Why's that?" I ask him.
"His aunt," Sam says. "He wouldn't leave her. She's out of town for the weekend like us, so that gives him his free time to run on over to 'Bah-stan' and have a party, but I bet you he's coming back."
Sam has a good point.
"Now would you guys hurry up and eat, the lines will be short for like an hour for lunch so we need to stuff our faces and get to the next ride." Sam hurries us, getting up and throwing his trash into a nearby trash can.
"Calm down and give us a second." Ava glares at him.
"Plus you might want to give Coulson a break after that last one," Luke adds nodding at Coulson who was sitting in the shade not far from us.
"Eh, he can catch up with us later, it's not like he can't track us." Sam shrugs sitting back down on the blanket.
Spider-Man stood on the edge of the building watching the Jumbo Screen of The Daily Bugle, taking it all in. He picked up his phone and spoke on it for a minute before he put it away and turned to us.
"But I missed you guys most of all." He finally addresses us.
"Please tell me someone recorded him saying that," Nova says leaning forwards with his arms crossed.
"Sure looked like you were having a party over there in Bah-stan." White Tiger mocks.
"You had us worried you weren't coming back." Power-Man laughs.
"As your… leader…" Spiderman begins as he puts his fists on his hips as he approaches us. "It's important that you know how much I appreciate every one of you."
"Coulson needs to give you more homework." I decide aloud. He doesn't seem very serious…
Spider-Man holds up a finger and rushes over to look down at the street again, listening to something for a second as we wait to see his call.
"Wicked Awesome!" Spider-Man yells out, pumping his fists. He walks back over to us.
"It's a Boston thing." He shrugs as if it's completely normal; he picks up his board that has been sitting on the ground beside him.
"So is this…" he muses. "To me, my sidekicks!" He yells as he runs to the side of the building and jumps off.
"'Sidekicks'?" We all repeat in near unison.
"I'm going to beat him." White Tiger threatens.
"Not if I get him first." Nova takes off after Spider-Man and the rest of us follow.
Someone is getting an earful tonight.
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