Updated chapter 7! Hope you enjoy!
It's not often that Kara gets to use the six months of Investigative Journalism she got out of college before she quit.
Kara spends half a day looking at local messaging boards, looking for any information that might help her locate Spider-Man. They're not very helpful, unfortunately; she's hardly been the first one to have the idea of pinpointing the vigilante's location based on eyewitness accounts. This approach has only suggested that the guy mainly – though not exclusively – operates at night, on the East side, with a particular focus on Midtown and Queens. The only photos of him are blurry, there are no recordings of his voice, and his costume – simple as it is, consisting of a simple hoodie, track pants, and a balaclava with some kind of embedded lenses for eyes – covers every inch of skin. Kara knows, thanks to Tony, but most people aren't even sure the Spider-Man is a man at all.
Stark's right, though. Whoever the kid beneath the bug-eyed mask is, he definitely comes from Queens. Flying around the place reveals something of a unique pattern; she sees none of the telltale webbing she might've expected – by all accounts, they seem to dissolve within the span of a few hours – but instead spots a ton of minor instances of cosmetic damage in strange, hard to reach places. Little patches of shingles torn from roofs, bricks pulled askew from brownstones' walls, a shattered window seven stories from the ground, that kind of thing. Kara briefly considers the possibility of these being caused by the Chitauri, but the battle was, for the most part, contained to the heart of New York.
Considering Spider-Man's preferred method of travel, Kara's willing to bet the damage has, instead, been caused by the weight of a swinging pendulum, roughly the size of a fifteen-year old teenager.
Her search eventually leads her back to Midtown, as the sun sets on the city. If the vigilante sticks to his habits, he should show around soon, so she picks a good vantage point – the Daily Bugle's broadcast antenna, for irony's sake – and sits, observing.
It's hard to believe how far along into recovery the city is, already. All the alien bodies, weapons, and war machines have been cleared away, taken by S.H.I.E.L.D. and the American military for research and disposal, and the rubble is being steadily shipped out of New York. Full reconstruction will take years, of course, but thanks to Stark Industries, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the recently developed Department of Damage Control, the Big Apple is pretty much back to its natural rhythm. She briefly pictures what Argo City might've looked like, in this situation – if the civil war had ended, if Krypton had not been obliterated. Kara can't help but wonder if her kind, so complacent in their power and traditions, would've been as quick to start picking up the pieces.
Just as the sun vanishes from view, the roof maintenance access below her opens; not too odd a thing, considering it's most of the employees' preferred smoking area, but worth a look nonetheless – after all, everyone in this building was her coworker, before she chose this new career path. She peers around the dish she chose to sit on to get a closer look, and is surprised to find a short, curly-haired teenager, bent down over a small backpack, so full it seems to burst at the seams. Kara raises an eyebrow; the guy looks...familiar.
Her brain makes the connection just as the young man pulls out a highly customized red balaclava, and slips it on.
Kara averts her eyes as the kid starts stripping down in a hurry. No wonder he looks familiar; she's seen him come and go every other day, all shy smiles and puppy-dog eyes as her former boss cruelly evaluated his work. Peter Parker is a photographer, barely fifteen, struggling to make ends meet – somehow balancing a scholarship at Midtown Science and freelance photography, which he sells to Jameson for an outrageously low sum.
Peter Parker is also – and Kara can't fathom how – the wall-crawling, web-slinging, masked vigilante known as the Spider-Man.
Just as she's about to pop out of cover and come clean to the guy, she hears a distinctive thwip sound. Kara floats upwards, but Parker's already jumped, swinging on to the nearest skyscraper.
Excited, the Kryptonian pulls out her phone to let Stark know she's found him, only for a text to pop in from the man himself. 'Told you he wasn't very careful.', it reads. She snorts, and shoots back a text chastising him for stalking them both.
Kara takes to the skies, tracking Spider-Man. The young vigilante is incredibly fast, making use of every little bit of momentum and some very clever twists, turns, and slingshot tricks to reach some vertigo inducing speeds, even for her. Parker's rushing towards the OsCorp building like it's on fire – the skyscraper is not, in fact, burning, but the ominous obsidian monolith still fills Kara with apprehension; Norman Osborn's company is infamous for pushing bio-science just a bit farther than is strictly acceptable, all in the name of scientific advancement.
Peter circles the building once, twice, and a final third time, going higher and higher until he reaches the roof. Kara silently approaches, curious about his reason for being there. Parker makes his intent quite obvious when he forces open the lock to the maintenance access with his bare hands.
"I'm pretty sure that was locked for a reason." –she blurts out, landing behind him.
Parker turns, fast as a whip, and slings a web at her, which she barely manages to block with Stark's suitcase. The young man pulls, stronger than she could've imagined, and manages to yank it out of her hands. "You're really getting on my case, lady." –he says, half annoyed, half amused. Then, his strange, comically large mechanical lenses widen – Kara assumes, in recognition. It's not like she wears a mask.
"How's it going, Spider-Man?" –she asks, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. "Since I'm assuming this isn't a photo op for Jameson, you mind telling me why you're breaking into a billion dollar company?"
He clears his throat. "Uh, no clue what you're talking about." –he declares, letting the crushed padlock fall from his fingerless gloved hand. "Thanks for the neat gift, though."
Kara shrugs. "I'm just the delivery girl. Stark's the one you should be thanking for the upgrade."
Parker blinks. "Wait...are you saying this is actually for me?" –he asks, giving the fancy case a second look. "'Upgrade'...is this a suit!?"
"There should be a note inside, somewhere." –she nods. "He says it's missing a lot of bells and whistles, but he definitely made you a suit, yeah."
He gasps, but stops himself from opening the case, dubious. "What's the catch?"
Kara purses her lips. "I'll let you know when I find out for myself. My suit's a Stark design, too."
"You do look pretty spiffy, Miss Danvers." –he finally acknowledges.
Kara snorts. "Thanks. You still haven't answered my question."
Parker sets the case down. "Well...I'm supposed to meet someone from the inside. There's...a conspiracy going on, and we're trying to get to the bottom of it."
"Peter?" –a small voice says from behind the now unlocked door. Kara raises an eyebrow, while Parker seems to shrink, turning around to open the way.
Behind the door is a young teen that looks to be the same age as Peter, wrapped up in a spotless lab coat. She's slightly taller than him, and a blonde, her hair pulled back into a very sensible if tiny ponytail. Clear blue eyes regard her in awe from behind her bangs.
Parker sighs, resigned. "Kara Danvers, meet Gwen Stacy. Gwen, this is...used to be Jameson's personal assistant, Kara."
"You...you're Supergirl." –Gwen gasps.
Kara smiles. "That would be me, yeah. Nice to meet you two – though I've gotta say, I wish it were under less...clandestine circumstances." –she says, amused.
Gwen pales even further. "This isn't...we weren't trying to..."
"Don't worry. You're not in trouble – at least, not with me. I do want to hear more about this conspiracy, though."
The two teens look at each other. "Can we trust you not to tell anyone else about this?" –Peter asks.
Gwen winces as Kara raises an eyebrow. "It's just...this is big. It's not just OsCorp, either – it's just that we know more about OsCorp because I'm an intern here. And it has a lot to do with him." –she says, pointing at Peter. "The thing that gave him his abilities came from one of OsCorp's labs. If it were to get out..."
"I don't wanna brag, but I'm very strong." –Peter says, sheepish. "If a fifteen year-old can do what I do, I don't even want to imagine what a private army with powers like mine might look like – and that's exactly the kind of thing OsCorp is developing."
Kara scowls. "Are you sure?"
Gwen nods. "I know what I saw. This isn't a military contract or anything like that. Whoever commissioned this project isn't part of the government."
The Kryptonian ponders the situation for a moment. "I can't keep this from Stark." –she warns them. "Then again, he already knows pretty much everything there is to know about you, Spider-Man."
The vigilante sighs, chagrined. "...I guess it's fine if the Avengers know, right?"
She winks. "You can trust us, Peter. Fill me in."
As always, thank you for your attention! Make sure to comment or message me if you have any questions about this story. Look me up on Twitter as Darthkvzn or Tumblr as darthkvznblogs if you'd like - and on Ko-fi, as Darthkvzn, if you like what I do and have a buck to spare.
Until next time!