Hey ya'll, here's the next chapter, and like I said, it's starting out with Amanda's pov, it's just a little fluffy scene between Amanda and Piotr, because I know some of you like the pairing. I hope you like this chapter, we get to see Spidey, and also, someone asked if it's the new Spider Man or the old one, and I have to say the new one just because I'm not a huge Toby McGuire- Spidey fan. That's just me though, so if you want to imagine him as Toby McGuire, go ahead, but when I'm writing him, I picture the new guy, Andrew Garfield. Anyways, I hope you like the chapter.
Disclaimer: Still don't own Marvel... Darn.
Amanda was getting used to the way life was now. Things changed, she understood that, but never in her life did she think she would ever be in the position she was in today. Living on a secret government base with the people who saved the world from aliens, and were now considered a threat to their country.
Imagine, living in a world where Captain America was considered an American threat. That's probably why Tony took to calling him Captain Canada, and Captain of the Great White North. Needless to say Steve wasn't too thrilled about his new nicknames. Amanda was sitting outside while Kayla, the little girl she now considered to be her sister, was playing with a stuffed toy and a Barbie doll she had.
"May I sit with you?" Amanda smiled at Piotr and nodded as he joined her on the blanket she had laid out on the small area of grass there was.
"Where is your mother?" he asked and Amanda shrugged.
"I don't know, she said something about going to talk to a teammate and being back late." she said as she marked the place in her book with a small fallen leaf. She put the book to the side and looked at Kayla who was making the Barbie dance. "Seems like she's never around anymore." she said with a small sigh.
"She's busy now. She has to run SHIELD and try to defeat the evil that has overtaken our country."
"I know, it just, before that security breech-" Piotr looked away quickly and Amanda took his hand. "Hey, look, she told me what happened, she said it's not your fault." she said as she held his hand between both of hers.
"If I had stayed with her-"
"If you had stayed with her Madame Hydra probably had people ready to take you out." she said as she stroked his hand gently. "I'm glad you weren't hurt."
"But your mother was."
"And my dad is working on a cure." she reminded him. "Piotr, you can't go beating yourself up over this when my mom already forgave you." she said.
"Do you forgive me?" he asked and she frowned in slight confusion.
"For what?" she asked.
"For harming your family." he said and she sighed.
"You didn't harm anyone. The only person I blame is Madame Hydra." she explained. "So, yeah, I guess I forgive you, even though there really isn't anything for me to forgive..." she frowned lightly, and then smiled as he smiled. She rested her head on his shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her, she opened her book again and continued to read while Piotr sat there with her, keeping a very watchful eye on Kayla who was now gathering sticks up to try to build a stick house.
"I don't like this." Natasha was saying when we parked outside of Stark Industries.
"It'll be fine, I'll be in and out of there in no time." I said to them. "I know all of the security codes and I know how to get around things, it'll be okay." I said. She sighed and then handed me a small ear piece.
"Keep this in, we'll be listening." she said and I put it in before I walked up to the door and went inside. No one paid me much attention as I walked through the lobby and to the private elevator. I typed in the code that I knew Rhodey used when he went up and the elevator opened for me. I stepped inside and hit the button for floor 12.
"Jarvis, initiate code 1143129." I ordered.
"Now causing a power surge towards all employee computers and wideo cameras Mrs. Banner. By the way, welcome home."
"Thanks Jarvis," I smiled. "It's good to hear your voice."
"I do hope the children and Dr. Banner are alright." he said and I chuckled.
"They're fine." I said as we got to the 12th floor. "Don't open the doors yet, how many people are on floor 12?"
"Four. Floor 12 has been restricted to only those with top level clearance."
"Do I have top level clearance?"
"According to Mr. Stark you've always had the highest clearance Mrs. Banner."
"Thank you Jarvis." I said before the door opened and I stepped out onto the floor.
"Stupid computer." Dallas was mumbling as he smacked the monitor.
"Come with me, we've only got a few minutes." I said as I walked past him to the door of the lab. He followed after me quickly, scowling lightly as he did.
"Minnie Banner," he said dramatically. "I should have known."
"That's right, when Jarvis starts wrecking havoc on the building it's usually me or Tony." I joked as I used Dallas' ID to get me into the lab.
"Why does that work?" he asked.
"Employee computers and cameras work on a different system." I explained as I held the door open for him.
"I miss you." he said as we walked into the lab.
"I miss you too." I sighed as I looked at the walls.
"What are you looking for?" he asked and I smiled when I saw it. The obnoxious picture of Iron Man Pepper wouldn't stand having in her house.
"The safe." I said as I walked over to it. "In that cabinet there should be a collapsible box, put it together for me please." I said and he went to the cabinet and put the box together while I climbed onto the counter and pulled the painting down. There barely visible was a translucent touch screen. I took off my glove and typed in a code making the wall pop out slightly.
"What's with the gloves?" Dallas asked as I pulled the safe door open. He handed me the box and I put it on the counter. Everything in the safe was in small metal boxes with codes imprinted on top of them. I started lining the box with the metal boxes.
"I can't touch people anymore," I explained shortly. "Madame Hydra has made sure of that by trying to turn me into the next Rogue."
"Rogue? That little mutant girl being honored next month?" he asked and I frowned as I looked at him.
"Honored?" I questioned and he nodded.
"Oh yeah." he said. "Her and a bunch of others, they're the best little enforcers of Norman's new law, thus making him throw all of them a nice little party." he said rolling his eyes.
"...Where?" I asked and Dallas shot me a look. "Here?!" I asked and then quickly started to fill up the box again.
"Yeah, the board decided with Tony gone the best thing to do would be to work alongside Norman. Technically I'm supposed to be calling his little Goon Squad right now to come arrest you for treason and a whole other mess of things, but the man clearly underestimates both of us."
"Nat did you hear that?" I asked.
"Yeah, I heard." she responded.
"Minnie, hurry up and get out of there, now." Clint ordered and I smiled lightly.
"I didn't realize this was a party line." I joked as I took the lid from Dallas. "Okay, I'm coming." I said as I closed the safe, wiped the touch screen and hung the picture back up.
"What is all that?" Dallas asked.
"Prototypes, and a few other things Norman would kill to get his slimy little hands on." I answered.
"Mrs. Banner, Osborn's Army is on their way. It seems the safe was set to call them when it was opened."
"Jarvis why didn't you warn me?" I asked.
"There's no records of the safe being altered anywhere in my mainframe." he said sounding upset.
"Okay, it's fine." I sighed. "I'll be fine, look, Dallas, I've got to go." I said to him and he nodded.
"I wish I knew you were coming, I have so much stuff to give to you." he sighed.
"You have got to stop shopping for me." I said.
"Never!" he insisted. "And it will be on your plane when you go home, what airport are you leaving from?"
"Laguardia." I said and he nodded.
"Okay, it will be done." he insisted. "I'll take care of everything."
"You know there is one other thing you can do for me." I said with a smile. "Send them in the wrong direction; convince them I'm headed towards Culver University. Make them think I'm looking for Betty Ross." I said and he nodded.
"You got it." he said before he threw his arms around me. I pulled away quickly and looked at him apologetically.
"Don't touch my skin. I don't want to hurt you." I explained before I went to the car. "Let's go." I said as I got into the front seat.
"This is it." Phil said when we got to the building.
"Clint, I want you on top, if he tries to go up, I want you to stop him, Natasha, same for you on the bottom." I said and the two nodded as they got out of the car. "Logan, you and Phil are going to come with me." I explained.
"What about the box?" he asked and I looked at it.
"It'll come with us too." I said with a shrug as I picked it up. "Which apartment is he in?" I asked
"Apartment 4-A." Phil said.
"Hear that guys, he's on the fourth floor, so keep your attention focused there." I said as I looked at the picture with his apartment circled. "It's the apartment on the 4th floor with the fire escape out the window." I said.
"Got it." Clint said. "Just once I wish these guys would live on the first floor." He sighed in my earpiece and I smirked lightly.
"We're good Minnie." Natasha said.
"We're heading up now." Phil told them before we walked to the building. Luckily a woman saw me holding the box and smiled.
"You must be the new neighbor on floor two." she said as she held the door open.
"Yeah, thanks a lot." I smiled as we walked inside. We went to the elevator and rode it up to the fourth floor before finding the apartment. Logan leaned towards the door, listening, and then he nodded.
"He's home." he said to me and Phil knocked on the door seeing as I was still holding the box. The door opened a moment later to reveal a skinny young man with dark eyes and brown hair swept out of his face.
"Can I help you?" he asked as he looked from Logan to Phil to me.
"Mr. Parker? We'd like to talk to you." Phil spoke up.
"What about...?" he asked hesitantly.
"Well I hear you're a pretty big fan of spiders." I said and he stared at me for a moment, before swinging his fist out. Logan seemed to anticipate that because the next thing I knew as the young man's fist came swinging towards me, Logan caught it in midair, twisted the boys arm behind his back, and shoved him back into the apartment. Peter jumped easily onto the table, looking ready to fight as Logan's claws extended. Phil and I stepped into the apartment closing the door behind us.
"I don't care what you say or do, I'm not signing any registration!" Peter shouted at us.
"Well that's good news for us then." I said and he looked at me suspiciously as I set the box down on his small coffee table and walked over to the men. "Thank you." I said to Logan softly as I touched his leather clad arm. He retracted his claws but kept a stern eye on Peter who looked confused. His eyes flickered to the window and I smiled. "We've got two agents outside, one on the roof, one on the ground; both are ready and waiting for you to make a move." I said and he looked back at me. "Look Peter, we're not working with Osborn."
"We're a special division of government, put together to work alongside people with remarkable abilities and those who haven't got said abilities." Phil explained as I handed my ID to Peter.
"Strategic Homeland Intervention and Logistics Division?" he read. "SHIELD? You guys were blacklisted, taken apart and put on every wanted list Norman could get you onto." he sounded almost impressed. "I thought you disbanded."
"Can't disband an idea." I said and he stepped off of the table.
"What do you want with me? I'm retired."
"I know about what happened to you, and I'm sorry. I know how it feels to not be able to be with the one you love. Even if they're right in front of you."
"How could you possibly know how that feels?" he asked.
"Same as you. Norman Osborn took it from me. Not in the same way, mind you, but the intent was still the same." I explained and he nodded.
"So what, you want me to become a superhero again?" he asked. "You want me to fight this whole fight, is that why you're here?"
"I'm here because you're one of the people who was able to get into Oscorp. You were changed by their doing and I don't think Norman knows that. If he did, there would be armies of spider men running around, wouldn't there?" I asked and he shrugged lightly. "Look, Peter, what I'm asking is for you to join us and lend your expertise on Norman, on the whole thing because I know you've been keeping tabs on them." I explained and he smirked slightly. "Join the fight that we haven't stopped fighting." I said and he thought for a moment.
"Minnie, we have a problem." Natasha said suddenly.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Luke Cage just pulled up." she said.
"Nat, get out of sight. You know as well as I do, engaging him won't make a difference."
"I can cause a distraction, give you some time to get out of there." Clint said and I bit my lip thinking about it.
"What did you have in mind?" I asked and a moment later there was an explosion across the street. I went to the window quickly and saw a fire hydrant shooting water into the air. Luke Cage looked at it, startled, and then looked up at the building. Our eyes caught and he ran to the front door. "Christ, I think he saw us." I said into the ear piece.
"Come upstairs." Clint ordered.
"Right, got it." I said as I turned around, Peter was not in sight and Phil and Logan looked at me inquisitively. "Get upstairs." I ordered them. "Now, go!" I said and Phil grabbed the box before going, Logan hesitated and I nodded.
"I'll be fine Logan, go." I ordered him and he followed after Phil. "Peter." I called to him. "He's coming for you, and no matter what weapons you may have, this guy is impervious to everything." I said into the abandoned looking apartment. "So if you decide to do the right thing for yourself and the right thing for Gwen, please, come with us." I said before I left the apartment. I found the stairs and was running up them when someone landed on the railing next to me.
"Come on, my way is quicker." Spider man said as he grabbed me and wrapped his arm around my waist. He shot a string of synthetic web up and it caught something before we shot up. I held onto him tightly, until we reached the last floor.
"Glad to see you made the right choice." I said and he shrugged his shoulders.
"Well honestly you sounded a little desperate for information on Norman. Plus I was kind of curious about that box." he admitted and I laughed before he opened a door to the roof where Clint, Phil and Logan were.
"Nice tights." Logan said and Peter scoffed slightly.
"Is he always this friendly?" he asked me and I rolled my eyes.
Hawkeye had shot an arrow with a rope attached to a tree across the street and had tied the rope off on our end.
"Minnie, you go first." Clint ordered and I shook my head.
"No, I want Phil to go first."
"Why Phil?"
"Because last time he was the only one around to do something he got stabbed in the back. Really badly, and in case you haven't noticed, I'm rather fond of Phil, I want Phil to go first." I said and he chuckled.
"I'll take the fire escape Minnie, I've still got the box." he said before he stepped onto the ladder. He went down the fire escape and got into the SUV when the door to the roof opened. Peter stepped forward quickly.
"Now look dude-" he was cut off by Luke punching him hardly across the face. Peter fell to the floor and I heard the sound of Logan's claws extending as Peter got up and scrambled away. I stood there in shock as Hawkeye pulled out another arrow and shot it at Luke.
It shot out a net, wrapping itself around Luke Cage who was knocked back on the ground. He managed to scramble out of it as Spider man shot a synthetic web to the side of the building and jumped over the side, swinging around, and landing in front of me as Luke walked over to me.
"Fancy tricks." Luke said and I could imagine Peter smirking under his mask.
"I can do more than that." he said.
"Hawkeye do one of those arrows have some sort of cover?" I asked and he looked at me. Spider man tried to contain Luke with a blast of his synthetic web, but Luke broke it easily.
"Smoke?" he asked and I nodded. He shot the arrow at Luke's feet and thick smoke came out of the tip, the smoke surrounded us and I pushed Spider man towards Hawkeye, knowing Luke wouldn't be able to tell which way we were going. In doing that, Luke Cage stumbled forward, and grabbed onto the first person he could, which happened to be me.
It happened in a flash, one second I was trying to get Peter out of there, and the next second I felt like I was being pulled into a crushing hold by the Hulk. I gasped, trying to use some of the self defense that Natasha, Clint and Steve had taught me, but the impervious man hardly registered that he was feeling the hits, until I bit down on my glove and pulled it off. I turned, pressing my hand to his neck and instantly felt his energy pulsing through my hand.
The smoke started to clear up, and the first thing I registered seeing was a set of long, sharp, adamantium claws coming right at me. He sliced through Luke easily, his claws clipped me, but the large gush of blood we both expected to see never happened. It was just three scratches on my forearm.
"No time to worry, Peter, web him!" I ordered Spider man who instantly covered the man with the web netting he had used to catch many criminals and attach them to walls until the police found them. We made it back down to the car and Phil hauled ass to Laguardia.
"Well," Peter said suddenly and everyone looked at him. "That wasn't so bad." he grinned and everyone stared at him for a moment before I reached back, extending my hand.
"Welcome to the team." I said as I shook his hand.
Okay I know I'm not great at writing action sequences, but I hope this was okay, and I hope you liked the chapter! Next chapter we get to find out about the box, Luke Cage is confronted by Norman and things get a little tense in the Banner household. Stay tuned!
P.S. Please don't forget to review!