Ava glanced across the lunchroom at Danny, he had been staying away from the rest of them all day. "Do you guys know what's wrong with him?" She gestured over her shoulder at the mopey blond.
Mary Jane (the only other girl who sat with them) shrugged, "He's usually quiet, but today he's being just odd. Did something happen?"
Luke sighed. "Just leave him alone, this is going to be a bad day."
"Why?" Peter scoffed. "Just because Scor-" He cut off and glanced at Mary Jane and Harry, neither of them knew that the five of them were really super heroes. "Just because… What happened this morning? That didn't seem like enough to put him in this mood."
MJ and Harry exchanged confused looks as Luke spoke up again. "No, it's not just that. Did you notice he was a lot harsher with you than usual this morning?"
"Yeah, usually his fortune cookie comments are not so… straightforward."
Looking off into the distance, Luke sighed. "It was today, eleven years ago, that Danny's parents were killed. He didn't need any more bad news today."
Harry shook his head sympathetically. "That sucks. His parents died when he was seven, right? Everyone thought he was dead too, then he just magically reappeared a year ago. Did he ever tell anyone where he was all those years?"
The five superheroes exchanged looks. Of course all of them knew where he had been, but they couldn't very well tell Harry and MJ that Danny had been training to become king of a mythical city in the middle of the Himalayas.
"I doubt," Peter began carefully, "That anyone really knows what happened. And Danny doesn't talk about it much."
"Peter, Sam, Ava, Luke. Come with me please."
The four teens jumped up to see Principle Colson (A.K.A, Agent Colson of S.H.I.E.L.D.) standing there with a serious look on his face. Danny was now standing by the door, waiting for them.
Nodding, the others made it toward the door, not paying attention to the excuse Colson mumbled to MJ and Harry. If they were all being called out, it meant something big was happening. And they had a good guess as to what it was.
As soon as the five superheroes landed back in the helicarrier, they were met by a very upset image of Director Fury on a big screen above them.
"What is this Fury?" Spider-Man asked in confusion.
"Training, what else web head? I am sending you all on a mission tomorrow and you need to be ready."
"For Scorpion? We can take him down like that." White Tiger snapped her fingers.
"Not just Scorpion." Fury muttered before the image clicked out. The team didn't have time to question the statement, for seconds later, they were attacked by a couple dozen killer robots.
Three hours later, the heroes all collapsed in the lounge with a groan. All of the team except Spider Man lived in the helicarrier, so they had their own wing with bedrooms, a kitchen, and a lounge area.
"Fury told me we are going to Steepridge Alaska." Ava yawned, looking at her mission packet ( she was the only one who read them). "Does anyone know where that is?"
"Nope. And does anyone know what Fury meant by 'not just Scorpion'?" Luke lifted his face from where he had planted it in the couch.
"One way to find out." Nova had a glint in his eye that promised trouble.
The team looked at each other worriedly. "This isn't going to turn out like when you tried to capture Doom and his robot almost blew up the reactor, is it?" Spider Man frowned.
"For the record, that was YOUR fault web brains. And no, this is just for information.". Nova grinned evilly as he hacked the S.H.I.E.L.D. database. "Here it is!" He exclaimed. "Wow…"
"What! What is it?" The others crowded around him. A couple thousand things had popped up on the screen along with the name, Angel.
"Look at that!" White Tiger whispered and read some of the random newspaper headings aloud. "Angel saves life of child with Leukemia. Winged hero saves lives no one else can. The angel of Steepridge spotted outside children's hospital.". There was only one picture of her among all of the other stuff. It was very blurry but you could clearly see long white bird wings stretching out from between her shoulders.
"If she's that good, I wonder why Fury hasn't recruited her yet?" Danny mused.
"Because we can't find her." The sound of Fury's voice behind them started the five heroes and they turned around guiltily.
"Why is it that every time I change the password, you figure it out?" Fury glared at Nova.
"Because you are way too obvious!" Nova scoffed. "Master of the epic eyepatch? Ser-"
Nova shut up when White Tiger elbowed him, hard. "What do you mean 'you can't find her'?"
"Exactly what I said."
"But you're the super spies!" Spider-Man cried out, aghast.
"Yes, and she's the slipperiest person on the planet. Easy to say, it really annoys me that we can't even get a decent picture of her! And for some reason, the satellites can't see that city. So I may be a little obsessed with figuring out the mystery of Steepridge." At the hero's skeptical glances, he growled, "This isn't my first rodeo kids! And when you all go there tomorrow, after taking Scorpion down, you are going to find her. It's likely that she will turn up to watch the fight. Now get some rest. It'll be a big day tomorrow!"