Updated chapter 14! Hope you enjoy!
"I have a job again!" –Kara announces as soon as Peter steps into view, already halfway into the suit he keeps in his backpack.
"You mean besides being one of Earth's Mightiest Heroes?" –he asks, amused. "What's the job?"
Kara smirks. "I am now the Avengers' social media manager." –she proudly states, floating down to show him her phone.
Peter shimmies the rest of his torso into what appears to be an extremely loose-fitting suit; before Kara can do more than raise an eyebrow, he taps the spider symbol on his chest, and the cloth immediately contracts. Like before, the costume fits perfectly.
"Should I even be looking at this without a mask?" –he asks, dubious, reaching into his bag for that same object.
"Don't worry, Tony made sure this phone couldn't be tapped into. You should be safe from bored NSA agents." –she waves his worries away. "Look at what I've got so far."
Peter slips on the mask and scrolls through the various apps. Kara's only made a few posts, but they're already incredibly popular, as a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of real life superheroes is wont to be. "Nice. How'd you manage to get your hands on the 'Avengers' handle on every major social media platform?"
"I asked JARVIS to get them for me." –she shrugs. "I tried to ask nicely, but most of them wouldn't do it."
"So you just sicced an all-powerful artificial intelligence on them, huh? Cool."
Kara snorts. "Weird. I could've sworn Rogers shook his head, put his knuckles to his hips, and called it 'cyber-bullying'."
Spider-Man chuckles. "So, you ready to patrol the shit out of New York?"
Kara smirks. "Are you always so pumped about the prospect of facing dangerous criminals and missing out on half of your recommended sleep hours?"
"Obviously."
"Then yes, Spider-Man. Let's do this."
Patrolling the streets of New York together feels like something straight out of a huge comic book crossover. Fun banter and what will surely make for some iconic photographs come tomorrow, for the most part, but catching – and, if she's honest, terrorizing – criminals is surprisingly entertaining.
Exhibit one: a mugger who's cornered a rather bored looking middle-aged man.
Kara lands behind him, tapping the man's shoulder, and grabs the knife as he blindly attempts to stab her. The blade, of course, bends and snaps between her fingers, making the man pale as she drops the broken weapon. Then, Spidey lands beside her, binds his hands together, and bows like he's served a particularly delicious dish.
She smiles, and tells the now mildly amused victim he's free to go. The man mutters his thanks, and walks away.
After hauling the would-be robber to the nearest police precinct – by herself, as Spider-Man is still, of course, considered a criminal through the power of vigilantism – she takes to the skies again, where she quickly meets back up with the web-slinger.
"Do you ever think about losing the mask?" –Kara asks, carefully biting into a burrito she charmed the attendant at Chipotle into overstuffing.
Peter generously applies some extra salsa verde onto his beef fajita taco. "Sometimes, I guess. It's not like I can, I'd be next to useless in a fight without the ability to tune things out with the lenses, but...well, people are a bit slower to trust someone they can't look in the eye."
Kara hums, thoughtfully. "I talked to the Captain about the fight with the Chitauri just the other day. He said nobody would listen to him at first – they thought he was just some nut job in a costume, y'know?" –she says, her boot-clad feet dangling off the steel beam they chose to sit on. "Only when he took the helmet off did people really listen."
"Cap's a celebrity, though." –he points out. "There's no confusing that face."
"True enough." –she admits. "Makes him easier to evade, huh Peter?"
He – well, the lower half of his face – blushes. "You, uh...know about that, huh?"
"If it makes you feel any better, he's not mad. Just disappointed." –she says, cheekily.
Parker sighs. "I've only been at this for a few months." –he says. "The worst I've had to deal with was an attempted murderer I caught in the act." –he says, then points to his ribs. "I got shanked three times before I could even snap out of the shock."
"Yikes, Peter."
"I healed in like, half an hour. Don't worry." –he says, clearly attempting to downplay the horror of his injuries. Kara, of course, continues to worry. "The point is, things had been kind of slow until aliens dropped from the sky. And it's not like I don't look at Iron Man and go: 'man, I wish I could be that awesome one day'. It's just...suddenly I have a team of secret agents looking for me twenty-four-seven, and an actual superhero wants to talk me into joining his team. I guess I just...didn't know how to deal with that. I still don't."
Kara nurses the last couple of bites of her burrito. "Y'know, I think you might just be putting the whole concept of superheroes on a pedestal, Peter. I mean, think about it: by definition, being a superhero is just...performing heroic feats with the aid of powers or abilities that most people simply don't have. You do all that already, don't you?"
He shrugs, bashful. "Wouldn't everyone?"
She shakes her head, resolute. "No. No, Peter, not everyone would do what you and I do in our place. There's plenty of evidence; Obadiah Stane had an arguably more powerful suit than Tony did, two years ago. Did he even attempt to use it to help people? No. He killed half a dozen people and injured a whole lot more, just trying to get to Tony."
"Ivan Vanko was every bit as intelligent as Tony was, and even managed to prove himself smarter in some ways. Did he use his intellect to help his fellow man? No. He almost assassinated Tony in the middle of Monaco, and caused the deaths of dozens at the Expo."
Peter visibly shrinks – Kara curses herself, remembering, all too late, that Peter's own parents perished in the crossfire, but she doesn't stop.
"What about way back when? Johann Schmidt basically had the same powers Captain Rogers does. He could've helped end a World War. Did he, even for one second, think of anyone but himself? No! He created HYDRA, which was too much for freakin' Hitler!" –she says, throwing her hands up.
"Alright, I get it, Kara! People suck." –he says, dejected.
"People can suck." –she allows. "But most don't. There's so many more good people than bad. And then there's people like you – people burdened with such power, the kind that could make you rich, or deadly, or both, and yet, you choose to use it to help. You could be breaking into bank vaults with that strength of yours, but instead, you spend your nights bringing criminals to justice."
He smirks. "Don't be giving me ideas, alright? I'm broke."
Kara smiles. "The point is, no. Not everyone would do what you do with your powers. The fact that you do is, to me, all it takes. You're a hero, buddy."
Peter munches quietly on the last of his food for quite a while. "...that was a hell of a pep talk, Kara."
"...oh, thank Rao." –she breathes out.
"What for?"
"I thought I messed up, you were so quiet!"
"Well, you gave me a lot to think about! Plus, I'm really hungry."
She chuckles. "You know, Avengers Tower has this amazing fully stocked kitchen..."
He groans. "Geez. You too, huh?"
"Just putting it out there. Cap may or may not have asked me to." –she says, apologetic.
"...baby steps, Kara. Lemme sleep on it. Now, are you going to eat that second burrito?"
She clutches the tinfoil bundle possessively. "Of course I am, who do you take me for? Hand over the salsa, Parker."
Unfortunately, the fun of the night can't last; reality catches up to them just as the clock strikes eleven, a bloodcurdling scream drawing their attention to the heart of Hell's Kitchen.
"Crap." –Peter says, fingertips sticking to a brownstone. "That sounds awful."
"Where did it come from?" –Kara asks, trying to gain some height in order to spot the ongoing crime.
They try to listen for the source again, but neither one can pinpoint it. Peter curses under his breath. "Keep a lookout for a man in a red outfit and cowl. This is Daredevil's turf, and he's got much better hearing than I do. He might lead us there."
Kara frowns. "Daredevil?"
"Yeah, the Devil of Hell's Kitchen." –Spidey says, swinging in a search pattern. "You haven't heard about him? You've heard about me, and I'm the newbie."
"Sounds familiar, but maybe I haven't. You know him?"
"Yeah. There's something of a...vigilante underworld in New York. I've helped him out a couple times – not that he appreciates it much, but he hasn't kicked me to the curb so far."
Shouts – male, this time – interrupt them, a lot closer than the previous ones. They dive towards the source, only to find a grim, ongoing scene when they close in on the alley the sounds came from.
Kara immediately identifies two figures – one, a burly-looking man currently being beaten to death, and another, a person in red and black body armor wearing a horned cowl, brutally delivering a flurry of blows to the clearly unconscious man beneath him. Kara's seen plenty of bodies in her time – shot to death by particle blasts on Krypton, burned alive by Chitauri plasma weaponry, crushed by falling debris – but she's never seen anything quite like this – the man's face looks like raw steak – blood, teeth, and spittle flying every which way as the brutal vigilante continues his assault. She doesn't even stop to think of why Daredevil might be doing this, instead charging in and sending the vigilante flying as her shoulder makes contact with the man's side.
Much to her surprise, Daredevil rises like he hasn't just been hit by the equivalent of a small car running him over, and throws some kind of baton at her, pulled from a holster strapped to his right leg. Kara doesn't even move, the blunt instrument harmlessly bouncing off her forehead, and back towards the vigilante, who expertly catches the thrown weapon. Kara stands defensively over the beaten thug, and weathers the rather ineffectual assault Daredevil delivers. He grits and bares his teeth, framed in a scruffy-looking beard, as his frustration builds, the blows that would easily down any normal person not even fazing the Kryptonian. Supergirl grabs onto the neckline of his body armor, and raises him even as the vigilante attempts to push and kick her away.
There's a very brief moment of satisfaction for her, seeing just how powerless Daredevil is to stop her, before the vigilante is yanked out of her grip by Spider-Man's webbing. "What are you...?" –she asks, confused.
"Kara, the woman." –the teenager quietly notes, pointing a little further into the alleyway. Kara's blood runs cold; a red-headed, pale young woman lies, prone on the ground, unmoving.
Kara forgets all about her duel with the Daredevil and the man beaten to a pulp, rushing towards the woman. Kneeling down beside her, she's relieved to see that she still breathes, though her worry doesn't go anywhere; far from it, since there's a sizable cut on her forehead, bleeding like crazy, and her top's been practically ripped off. She unclasps the cape from her shoulders, and gingerly envelops the woman with it.
Peter lands beside her, tension obvious throughout his lithe frame. "Daredevil says he knows a place we can take her." –he mutters, a hard edge to his normally cheerful voice.
Kara nods, lifting the unconscious woman. "Where to?"
"Follow me." –a surprisingly civil man's voice says. Kara turns, finding the masked vigilante standing behind her. She stares into the red lenses covering the Devil's eyes, trying her best to ignore the blood spray covering most of his face, gauging how much she can trust such a brutal man. His outfit tells a rather dark tale, filled with mended tears and what can only have been bullet holes. His knuckles are literally dripping with crimson, but something about the way his lips tremble at the sight of the unconscious woman ultimately convinces her to trust the man.
Kara hesitantly nods, then gasps as the man vaults his way to a nearby fire escape, quickly making it to the roof. The two heroes spare a glance for the beaten thug – barely alive, for the moment – and follow the vigilante.
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!