Author's Note: I'm kinda grooving on the Spideynova ship right now, so I'm gonna keep rolling with that for a bit. We might even get jealous Harry. A note about the timeline. This all takes place in the year or so before Winter Solder, the finale of Season one is gonna happen simultaneously to Winter Solder. I own nothing.
23. Why
Movie night had gone off well, even if there had been a struggle for the remote at one point. Pepper had brought them several large pizzas about halfway through Fellowship of the Ring. Piper was the only one who liked Hawaiian so she got a pizza to herself which was good because ever since she was bitten by the spider she'd had a faster metabolism than most, not nearly as fast as Uncle Steve or Uncle Bruce but fast enough. MJ was staying the night and fell asleep about halfway through the Two Towers. Harry was having his driver drop Eddie home after he took Harry home since Harry was closer. They couldn't stay as Tony had a strict rule about boys sleeping over in the tower, it was Tony's only strict rule. Once Piper had helped MJ to the spare room she always used and bid the boys goodnight, escorting them out of the tower she snuck off into her room and changed into her costume. She had a linkup to the police radios that she'd rigged up in her lab. She turned it on and listened for a moment before she flicked it back off pulled on her mask and slowly opened her window. These windows on the thirtieth floor of what had started as an office building hadn't originally been intended to be opened but Piper had made some modifications after she'd gotten her powers, including hacking into JARVIS and reprograming him to ignore her comings and goings as Spidergirl, she'd also snuck her father's back up AI's and implanted a similar subroutine in each just in case. She swung off to intercept a heist in progress. Someone on one of the lower levels of the tower watched Spidergirl swing away and shook her head, long strawberry blonde hair falling into her face.
Piper intercepted the man as he leapt away from the jewelry store. She swung in, snatched the bag out of his hand and dropped it to the angry store clerk below who caught it out of sheer surprise. Piper flipped midair and kicked the man in the side sending him flying onto a nearby roof. She spotted a streak of light but paid it no mind as she landed on the roof. The man she'd kicked was familiar, she'd fought him before. He called himself Batrock the Leaper. Out of curiosity she'd checked to see if any of the villains she normally fought had SHEILD files. Not many did, the frightful four did but Batrock's was so small it wasn't even really a file. All it did was say that he was French and leapt using likely stolen tech that he wore on his legs. He was also pretty strong for someone who wasn't a mutate, mutant or even physically enhanced.
"Batrock, don't you know this is my neighborhood? You'd think after getting your butt handed to you by me a few times you'd know better." He groaned and pulled himself to his feet. Piper dropped flat to the roof as he leapt at her face. A blast of light came from her left and knocked Batrock off his feet. She turned, Nova was floating at the edge of the roof. She rolled her eyes under her mask and dodged right as Batrocks foot filled the space that had seconds before been where the back of her head was. She elbowed him in the thigh and shot a line of web behind her sticking his other foot to the roof.
"Sup lightbulb?" Nova shook his head.
"You weren't at training webs." Spidergirl nodded.
"You already knew that though Bucket head. You're hear about Save the Citizen, aren't you?" Nova nodded as Batrock pulled a knife and sliced through the webbing. Piper dropped into a perfect split as Batrock attempted to grab her from behind. She spun on her hands and knocked him off his feet before webbing both of his arms to the roof then his legs.
"Seriously dude just stay down." She shot at Batrock before turning back to Nova. "So, are you just gonna float there or are you gonna ask questions?" There were so many questions Nova wanted to ask. How did she know more heroes' identities than he did? What was her SHEILD clearance, could it already be higher than his? How the hell did she program twelve LMD's in less than three hours? But he wasn't sure where to start so he asked a simple if vague question.
"Why?" Piper sighed and tapped the side of her web shooter, a small key pad popped up and she typed out a quick message. A piece of webbing shot out of the base of her web shooter and Piper stuck it to Batrock's forehead. It read, 'Careful of the legs on this one. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spidergirl.' She webbed his legs down a few more times just to be safe. Nova tapped his foot on thin air until Spidey raised an eyebrow under her mask at him and he stopped. She stepped up in front of him.
"Not here, come on I'm starving." Nova raised an eyebrow at her but let her lead him further into Queens. She climbed down the side of a building that had a deli at street level, the sign above the store read Delmar's and it was still open, even at nearly midnight. Painted in one of the windows was a small circle that had Piper's mask painted in it. Nova raised an eyebrow but floated into the store after her. She didn't remove her mask but the man behind the counter smiled.
"Spidey! Good to see you! The usual?" Piper nodded.
"Can we make it two Mr. Delmar? Extra Pickles on mine, please. And squash it as flat as you can." The other man behind the counter nodded and Piper reached for the waist of her suit. Mr. Delmar shook his head.
"Don't you dare hero. You saved my life and my store you don't pay here. That's what that symbol in my window is for." Piper frowned behind her mask.
"But I usually only get one… I don't wanna trouble you." Mr. Delmar shook his head again.
"Any friend of yours is a friend of mine Spidey. Don't worry about it." Piper grinned under her mask and moved off to the side to pet the cat that lay on the counter. She motioned Nova over.
"Nova this is Mr. Delmar, and this is Claude his cat." Dr. Delmar smiled and held out a hand to Nova.
"I meant that, any friend of Spidergirl's is a friend of mine. She saved my life when someone was trying to rob my store. I didn't think anyone was gonna help cause none of those big-time heroes' care about the little people like me. But she swooped in and saved my life and my store. She comes by to check on me every so often since, and now I got a rule in my store. Heroes eat free, whatever they want." Nova was a bit surprised but he shook the man's hand, careful to turn down the glow a bit as he did, he didn't want to burn him.
"Also, he's got the best sandwiches in Queens." Mr. Delmar grinned and thanked her. Sandwiches were handed over to Spidey and she handed them to Nova and fist bumped Mr. Delmar. She swung off after thanking him again but she only pulled herself out of the building waiting for Nova. She printed another of her web notes, this one read 'Thanks Mr. Delmar. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spidergirl.' She stuck it to the outside window after pulling a hundred-dollar bill from a small compartment on a hidden belt she wore under the top of her costume. Then she swung away. As she paused on the roof across the street Nova spotted Mr. Delmar coming out of the store. He grinned and waved at the hero across the street. She waved back and then swung off Nova hot on her heels the bag still in his hands.
Piper stopped nearly six blocks away and sat down on the edge of an apartment building. Nova hovered awkwardly, the plastic bag still in his hands. Piper patted the stones next to her and Nova took her invitation and sat down next to her. She took the bag and handed him a sandwich taking out a flattened one for herself. She pulled up her mask so the edge sat on the bridge of her nose and frowned. There was still something in the bag. She reached in and pulled out two brownies. Her grin nearly split her face. Nova was getting very confused.
"You never answered my question. Why did you create Save the Citizen?" Piper had taken a big bite of her sandwich so she took a moment to chew before she responded. She pointed across the street where a bank sat.
"See that bank?" Nova nodded.
"I tried to stop a heist there once." Nova's eyebrows rose.
"Tried." Piper nodded.
"Tried, I failed because Thundra threw an ATM and part of a wall at this little family of three. The mother was pregnant at the time. They put in the paper that the family named the little boy Der, cause Spider. She turned and pointed towards an alley a bit farther away from them.
"I stopped a mugging there. This older lady was trying to get her groceries home when these two teens jumped her. I got there in time and she didn't get hurt so that was good. I helped her carry her groceries home. Her name is Pearl, her grandkids don't call her nearly often enough and whenever it gets cold she leaves hats and scarves for me on her fire escape. She knits them herself. She reminds me of my Aunt May." Nova was seriously confused now.
"Ok that still doesn't answer my question." Piper sighed and took another bite of her sandwich. She chewed slowly and then spoke again.
"I created Save the Citizen because life is important. Too many heroes take the little things for granted. We can't do that. If we do we'll forget why we started this in the first place. I don't really know your stories, how any of the rest of the team got started, but I started to honor the memory of someone I lost. Of everyone I've ever lost. I can't honor them if I just beat the bad guy. It's not enough, I have to remember to protect the people who can't protect themselves." Nova was a little stunned. He'd been starting to think that she'd created it to make her teammates look silly. But looking at her now he saw something in the small bit of her face he could see, he could almost call it determination but there was something else too. An almost melancholy expression sat on the face of this normally upbeat hero. He was starting to see why Fury put her in charge. She checked the watch function on her communicator. It was nearly one am. She stood.
"Well I need to get home before someone realizes I'm gone. Think about what I said Nova. Think about why you're in this business." She rewrapped what remained of her sandwich and one of the brownies and tucked them away in her belt. He frowned slightly as she finished making sure nothing would fall. She smiled at him before she pulled down her mask.
"Don't let that sandwich go to waste. Seriously, best sandwich in Queens. I'll see you tomorrow Nova." With that she swung off, leaving Nova alone with his thoughts.