Chapter 43
)()()(
"Oh, come on," Peter mumbled as he saw Dimitri stand by the new bus. He smiled to himself when he saw the familiar dark-haired Stark next to the agent, wearing a cropped red shirt under her famous leather jacket and black shorts over fishnets. She wore the same red as his suit, he thought, and it looked lovely on her.
She pulled down her circular sunglasses, giving him a half-smile before getting on the bus right before him.
"Good trip so far?" She asked, laughing at his exhausted face as they made their way to the back. "Don't worry. You're only coming as back-up."
"Doesn't make me feel any better for you hijacking the trip,"
She pouted before shaking it off, taking the window seat before he could.
They all sat down, and Salem let the journey begin before she pulled out a sleek box from her backpack. She handed it over to him before looking away. Peter sent her a curious look.
"Open it," She said, looking outside at the Eastern Alps of Austria. "It's a gift from Dad."
He did, seeing a similar pair of sunglasses that Tony used to wear. He picked up the note.
Keep her safe.
Say EDITH.
TS.
He put them on.
"EDITH,"
The sunglasses lit up and a voice came, "Stand by for retinal and biometric scan…Retinal and biometric scan accepted."
"Hello?"
He could see from the corner of his eyes that Salem was smiling softly at him. He didn't know if Tony meant to say keep Salem safe or EDITH.
"Hello, Peter," Her soft voice said. "I am E.D.I.T.H., Tony Stark's augmented-reality security and defence system."
"He made you for me?"
EDITH almost sounded insulted, as insulted as an AI could be, "No, but you have access to almost all of Tony's protocols, with the effect of Salem Stark having complete control and overriding permissions."
"Cool, cool," He nodded to himself.
" Would you like to see what I can do? E.D.I.T.H. stands for Even Dead, I'm the Hero. Tony loved his acronyms."
"He really did,"
"I have access to the entire Stark Global Security network, including multiple defence satellites, as well as back doors to all major telecommunication networks." She said. "However, there are areas that you do not have access to, without permission. All defence, strategic and offensive areas have been blocked off, except for when in active battle or in danger, or with the proper protocol being demonstrated."
"Of course," He said before nudging Salem. "If something happens, do I need to ask you for permission?"
"Only if you use Stark stuff for it," She said. "It's not like you get into real fights anymore. Thanos is dead. And there's no real enemy besides these Elementals anymore. If the time comes, permission will be given. We're stopping soon. Follow me when we go off."
They were off last and Dimitri pointed towards a woman in the doorway of a small house. They went in, finding the blonde agent. She handed Salem a small package before nodding and leaving them there.
Salem brought up a projection on her watch before nodding to herself. She handed Peter the package. "Suit up and put this on your chest."
"Okay," He said. "What will it do?"
"Change the colour of your suit," She simply said. "You'll look like Darkling more than Spider-Man. If the news says anything, we'll just say you're a new proxy."
He did so, letting the suit come up and then watched as the black gelbots consumed his outfit. It still had the design of his Spider-Man outfit but looked a little more like something Black Widow would have worn. Functional instead of completely nice looking. There were small bits of blue panelling, adding to the effect of the tiny purple lights coming from within the folds of the suit. It wasn't quite like what Salem wore but it was nice.
It went away again and they walked onto the bus after the break was finished.
Just as Peter passed Flash, the boy took Peter's sunglasses.
"Dope glasses, Parker," Flash said, putting them on. "How'd you pay for these?"
"Flash," Salem warned, her hands clenched by her side. "Give them back to him."
"Why? Unless you gave them to him," Flash pouted. "Aww, Salem Stark is playing Sugar Momma to Poor Penis Parker. Spending her daddy's money. How'd you manage that, Parker?"
Before Peter could even react, Salem grabbed Flash's collar, drawing him close to her. She took the sunglasses and handed them back.
"At least he's worth something compared to you, Flash," She said. "At least he has a guardian who cares about him and actually speaks to him more than once a week."
She let the words sink in before shoving Flash back into his seat.
Peter followed her back to their seats, giving MJ a shake of the head when she furrowed her eyebrows, asking if anything needed to happen. Peter watched Salem look outside the window before taking out his phone and putting on her favourite movie.
"Do you wanna watch Labyrinth?" He asked cautiously.
She narrowed her eyes at him but sighed, smiling, "What kind of question is that?"
He put it on, connecting their audio systems to it and they watched the movie for the rest of the trip. Salem yawned, leaning into Peter a little bit more.
MJ put up a thumbs up when she saw. Peter gave her the stink eye for that but rolled his eyes at her antics.
)()()(
When they got to Prague, Peter was very careful in waking the sleeping Stark. She had fallen asleep during the end of the third movie they watched, propping her head on Peter's shoulder. He didn't know where her slithery companion was, and he really didn't want to find out. As much as he liked Duke, he wasn't the biggest fan of snakes.
He touched her arm but she didn't wake up. When he saw the dark nails she had, looking more like smooth claws rather than true nails, he grabbed her hand. Squeezing it gently a few times, Salem was woken up with a grab.
"Owowow," Peter said as his hand was squished in her hand.
She blinked her sleep away and then released him, laughing behind her smile, "How many times have you woken me up and got hurt? Sorry!"
"It's alright," He shook his hand out, watching the white marks from where she squeezed fade away as he healed. "Coach has stopped. We're in Prague now. Were you the one to pay for this whole trip? I've been wondering."
Her sheepish smile was answer enough.
Peter rolled his eyes at her, chucking her bag at her as the whole class began to get off the bus.
The hotel was beautiful and expensive but Salem was perfectly fine with it. A small holiday in a different country was nice, especially with her friends. She was, legally, old enough to drink in Europe. The Blip and all of that ageing shit was still being figured out with the governments so all that mattered was what it said on her driver's licence.
Everyone had their own rooms so they settled down before Salem and Peter went down to see Fury and his crew again.
Salem yawned.
"Miss Stark," Fury started. "That thing is going to be here in a few hours. Are we boring you?
She put up two fingers, almost pinching them together, "Just a tad. I thought we went through this already?"
"We did but it's better to be safe," Maria Hill said. "They won't evacuate the city."
Fury sighed, "Idiots. So, what's the plan, Parker?"
"I will be in the cathedral tower, keeping watch for the fire monster," He said, looking at Salem and Beck. "When that shows up, I will radio you guys, and then Mr Beck and Salem will-
"My name is Mysterio,"
Peter almost frowned, "That's when Mysterio and Salem will move in. I'm there as backup. If either of them signals, I'll come in."
"Peter, listen to me," Mysterio started, "The best hope you have, the only hope, is to stop it here now, no matter what the cost. Manoeuvre it away from civilians if you can, but most importantly, keep it away from metal. If it gets too big, it'll draw power from the Earth's core. After that, there's no way to stop it."
Salem raised an eyebrow in Nick and Maria's direction, asking silent questions. She had her suspicions already but there was nothing to lead on right now. She had to wait.
"Hey man, our friends are here. And I can't help but think we're putting them in danger,"
"I don't want them hurt," Salem said.
"Your friends are the least of your concerns right now," Nick said.
"LILITH is tracking them. If they get too close to the Elemental after we locate it, she'll tell us," She said, giving Peter a reassuring look. "They'll be fine."
He took a breath of relief, nodding, "Thanks."
)()()(
Darkling sat high on one of the buildings, dangling upside as her legs kept her to the ledge but otherwise she was upside down. Her white hair was pulled into an easy ponytail as she swayed in the dark sky.
"It's coming," She said into the comms.
"How do you know?" Mysterio asked.
"I can feel it,"
She sat up from her position, glancing down at the crowd below her as the ground crackled and creaked. It barely took a moment before the statue in the middle of the place broke open and showed the fire Elemental in all its burning glory. It roared as Peter announced its arrival.
She jumped from the building, landing on the ground in a crouch before leaping towards the creature. It burned her as she touched it, but she didn't care. The pain she felt could be ignored for now, using the thermal energy from the Elemental to fuel herself more.
Spider-man and Mysterio began attacking the creature. Salem kicked one of the fire hydrants, watching as the water burst out before using her powers to redirect it towards the fire elemental. It threw fire in her direction and she was barely able to dodge it as it threw itself into the carousel to absorb some of the metal.
"Small problem," LILITH announced to her.
"What is it?"
"Ned and Betty Brant are on the Ferris wheel," She said. "They're stuck."
"Shit," Salem muttered before saying into the comms, "There are civilians on the Ferris wheel. I'm going to evacuate them. You two, deal with the Elemental."
While they distracted it, Salem dodged the fireballs aimed for her until she reached the Ferris wheel. She began to climb up it, making sure she knew exactly which seats had people in them.
She made her way up, getting to Ned and Betty's carriage.
"Let's get you both down," The Ferris wheel swung on uneasy hinges as something was thrown at it, making it rattle. Darkling leaned in, making sure her hands could be free for them to grab onto. "Hold on. This is gonna really unsettle your stomach. Prepare yourselves."
She grabbed their hands, holding tightly as the ends of her white hair lit up with silver light, burning to purple as she concentrated. A single strike of lightning and the three of them were teleported several streets over. She let go of them, and suddenly felt the burns more than she did before but still ignored them.
"Get to your hotel and stay there," She said. "Just get inside."
There was something about the energy she had absorbed from the Elemental, something wrong and unexpected. It wasn't the right kind of energy for otherworldly beings. It wasn't mythical or mythological. It was fabricated but she couldn't say anything yet, not when Fury and Hill trusted Mysterio still.
It wasn't until Mysterio threw himself into the heart of the creature that made her truly believe her instincts.
Peter was panicked as Mysterio lay on the ground, helping him up as Salem got to them.
Maria Hill and Nick Fury joined them too.
"So it's over?" Maria asked.
Beck nodded, out of breath, "That was the last of them."
"But not the last threat we'll ever face," Nick shook his hand, "We need to stay vigilant. There's a void in this world for someone like you. Hill and I are going to Europol headquarters in Berlin tomorrow. You should join us."
"Thank you. I just might take you up on that,"
"You got gifts, Parker. But you didn't wanna be here. Nor do you, Salem. I'd love to have both of you in Berlin too. But you got to decide whether you're going to step up or not," Nick looked at both of them. "Stark chose you. He made you both Avengers. I need that. The world needs that. Maybe Stark was wrong."
Salem clenched her fists, trying to keep her anger down while Peter looked sad and near crying.
"Was he?"
"Back off," She muttered lowly, just enough so fake-Fury could hear her. "No one chose me to be an Avenger. I chose to be and I'm done. Do whatever the fuck you want, just don't bother me with it."
She could see the shift in fake-Fury, where Nick Fury ended and Telos began.
She turned her back on them and left.
She wasn't coming back.
)()()(
LILITH informed her that ownership of EDITH had been transferred over to Quentin Beck and she didn't care. Peter was old enough to do what he wanted but it still hurt. Her father's gifts apparently meant less to him than she thought. It wasn't her problem anymore.
Until Peter called her, almost scared and nervous.
"Hey, something happened," He said. "I need a ride."
"What now?" She asked. "I thought I told you I'm not helping anymore."
"Something bad happened, Salem." His next words were a plea. "Please."
"Fine. I'm back in the States but I'll grab Happy and we'll be there soon,"