Spider-Man
Price of being a hero
A woman screamed as she was shoved against the wall of an alleyway.
"Shut up!" the man holding her against the wall demanded. "Or I'll cut your throat!"
The man pressed the knife he held to the woman's throat closer for effect.
Just as the man began to feel under the woman's clothes something shot out of the shadows and attached itself to the mans back, the man was then pulled into the shadows, a few seconds later the man came rolling out of the shadows tied up in webbing. The woman briefly saw someone else emerge from the shadows and scale the wall before disappearing over the roof, the woman quickly phoned for the police.
Peter swung away from the woman and tied up man, he ignored the pain of his various injuries caused by his fighting with crooks and the general ache that plagued his body as he swung from building to building, his eyes felt heavy and he only just managed to avoid hitting a building because he hadn't been paying enough attention to where he was swinging.
"Just one more round and I'll call it a night." He told himself quietly, he had told himself the same thing two rounds ago and would tell himself it again two rounds later.
Eventually the pain and tiredness got to Peter and while stopping a drug deal he was stabbed pretty badly in the side, he webbed up the wound but he knew it needed proper attention, too bad he didn't have the option of going home or going to a hospital, not since that night. The combination of problems finally got to him so he landed on a balcony to have a brief rest, and ended up passing out on the spot instead.
Ellie Brown had had an usual day so far, she had gotten up, had breakfast and fed her dog, went to her job as a care assistant, came home and did some of her university course work, walked her dog, made dinner and fed her dog again, and then she snuggled up on her couch with her dog to watch a movie. When she woke up to her dog, Fred, growling at the window to her balcony she realized that she had fallen asleep on the couch without meaning to.
"What is it boy?" Ellie asked Fred.
Fred continued to growl at the window.
Ellie reached into a cabinet draw and withdrew a pistol with her left hand, she knew that she probably didn't need it, Fred was probably growling at a cat, but it was a force of habit to have a weapon in her hand when checking something potentially dangerous. She slowly nudged the curtains aside using the pistol and at first spotted nothing.
"Fred, you silly boy, there's nothing there." She said to her dog, putting the pistol down and crouching down to rub behind his ear, but Fred continued to stare at the window.
That's when Ellie caught movement out of the corner of her eye, she swung round to fully face the window and quickly picked up her pistol again to defend herself but again saw nothing. She was beginning to think it had been a trick of the light when her mind picked something up that her eyes didn't, there was someone lying down on the balcony!
"I know you're there!" Stand up slowly!" Ellie demanded, making her voice as calm as she could.
The person didn't move.
"I mean it, I have my gun aimed at you!"
Still no movement.
Ellie slowly got up from where she was crouching and kept her pistol trained at where her mind told her the person was lying, she then moved to the light switch for the balcony light and flipped it on quickly using her shoulder, what she saw shocked her.
Spider-Man was lying on her balcony cover in blood with a pool of it growing underneath him.
Ellie placed her pistol in her pocket after flipping the safety on as she unlocked her balcony doors and stepped out to get a look at the vigilante, she checked his pulse and found him to be alive but the pulse was weak, he was also obviously unconscious.
"Fred, bring mama's arm!" Ellie called to her dog as she used her left hand to check where Spider-Man was injured.
She got an answering bark and a few seconds later a thump and scrapping sound followed before she got another bark, she turned around to see Fred with a mechanical arm in front of him.
"Good boy."
Ellie took the arm and brought the end to the small stump that was all that remained of her right arm which had some connection ports in it, she took some wires from the arm and slid them into the ports and gave a pained hiss each time before pushing the arm fully against the stump, there was a series of clicks and beeps while Ellie gritted her teeth. Ellie then rolled her new cybernetic arm around a few times and bent the fingers to test that it was working properly.
Ellie then put both arms under Spider-Man and picked him up using strength someone of her size and build shouldn't posses, though Spidey seemed to be lighter than she thought he would be.
"Fred, out the way!" Ellie told her dog who was getting in the way of her feet.
Ellie set Spidey down on her couch and quickly set about getting her medical kit and a basin of water and some towels, she used scissors to cut away the fabric in the way of the wounds and ended up removing the entire torso and legs because she kept on finding injuries that needed tending to, some were a few weeks old but had obviously not healed well and one of the fresher ones looked on the verge of infection, she kept Spidey's mask on though out of respect for his hidden identity.
"I wonder what happened to him to get him is such a state." Ellie said to Fred.
Ellie was thankful that she had taken a first aid course as part of her training because otherwise she wouldn't have known what she was doing despite previous experiences with wounds before said first aid course, she washed and disinfected the wounds before sewing up the ones that needed stitches and then wrapping all of them in bandage, throughout all of it Spidey remained unconscious. After taking care of him Ellie let him stay on the couch and covered him with a blanket before sitting on a nearby seat, she knew she wouldn't be able to get any more sleep with an unconscious vigilante on her couch.
"When he wakes up it's going to be one hell of a commotion." Ellie told Fred.
Fred just looked at her before settling down near her feet and going to sleep.
Day light filtered through the curtains as Ellie woke up from where she was slumped in her seat, she silently cursed and rubbed her neck as she realized that she had fallen asleep sometime during the night, she looked over at the couch and saw Spider-Man still sleeping there. Ellie then went to get changed into some day clothes before making breakfast, transferring her pistol from her pocket back to its place in her draw in the process.
As she prepared breakfast for herself and her guest when he woke up she picked up Spider-Man suddenly becoming stiff but otherwise not moving, meaning that he was awake but didn't want anyone to know he was awake.
"I made breakfast if you're hungry." Ellie told him as she set both plates on her table and sat down to eat hers.
Spidey didn't move but Ellie picked up him slowly moving his head so he could look at her through the lenses of his mask.
"You don't have to worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I didn't while you were unconscious so why would I do it now?"
Spidey seemed to come to the conclusion that he wasn't in any immediate danger and so sat up on the couch. Fred went over to him, eager to be friends with the new stranger.
"That's Fred." Ellie introduced her dog. "Now, are you going to come and eat?"
Spidey slowly got up and moved over to the table, he sat down and there was an awkward silence, he eventually lifted his mask to uncover his mouth and nose and began eating.
"Sorry about you're suit." Ellie said. "But you had so many injuries and removing it manually wasn't a good idea at the time. And you don't have to worry, I didn't peak under your mask, I respect your need for privacy."
Peter automatically brought a hand to his mask as if to check it hadn't been moved.
"I'm Ellie, by the way."
"Why are you helping me?" Peter finally asked after finishing his breakfast.
"Well, I could just leave you injured on my balcony, and I can tell that you would appreciate being taken to hospital where your identity would be found out. You're lucky that I'm a good person and that I know first aid, because if I didn't I would have phoned the hospital, secret identity or no."
"Thank you."
"Nothing I wouldn't do for a fellow hero."
"Fellow hero?"
Ellie went wide eyed when she realized what she had let slip. She gave a nervous laugh.
"Well, let's just say that a few years ago I was a hero like you, but then certain events happened that put a stop to that."
Ellie motioned to her cybernetic arm, Peter had noticed it as soon as he saw her but was polite enough to not mention it.
"Actually, it's kind of ironic, I have enhanced durability but that didn't stop a ton of debris crushing my arm."
Peter was tempted to ask who she had been as a hero but stopped himself, he didn't want to make any sort of connection to the young woman, he was curse to have everyone that he cared about die because of him, he didn't want it happening again.
'But she just said that she had been a hero and she has enhanced durability, she would be strong enough to fend off attacks from villains.' A small voice echoed in his head.
'No!' he told himself. 'She could still get hurt if I get too close, she's already lost an arm.'
Ellie frowned as Spidey went silent.
"Anyway, you're still pretty banged up and you're suit had been reduced to something not appropriate to be swinging around in. So you're welcome to stay he while you recover."
"No! I couldn't!" Spidey burst out. "You've already done too much and I need to get back to my job."
"In that, I don't think so." Ellie deadpanned, looking at the remains of Spidey's suit. "At least let me go to the thrift show across the street and get you something better to wear."
"You don't have to waste money on me."
"I'm not. Consider it public service."
Peter sighed in defeat, he supposed he could at least let her get him some cheap clothes, he really didn't fancy swinging through New York as he was either.
"Fine."
"Good." Ellie grinned, going to the door and grabbing her bag on the way out. "Fred, keep him here." The dog barked in response as Ellie closed the door.
As Peter waited for Ellie to return he couldn't help wandering around the apartment, he saw photos of people who were probably her family and friends, every time he happened to wander close to a window or the door Fred would growl at him and place himself between Peter and the window/door. Peter came to a desk with a wooden box on it, he undid the latch on it and looked inside, it was filled with newspaper clippings, he picked up some of the clippings and found that they were about a superhero group named the Queen's Legion or focused on one or two of the heroes from said group. Peter tried to remember a Queen's Legion but came up blank, this was no surprise as the paper clipping said that the group was based in England and America rarely cared about events in England unless that came over to the states. Going on what he learned Peter guessed that Ellie had been one of the members of the Queen's Legion, though he couldn't guess which.
Ellie soon returned with a bag of clothes.
"I had to guess your size so some of it might not fit." She said.
Peter rifled through the bags and pulled out a top, trousers, trainers and a hoody that had his symbol on the back.
"I couldn't help myself, I saw it and thought it'd be funny." Ellie laughed when she saw him holding up the hoody. "You can use my shower before you get dressed, no offence but you stink."
Peter couldn't help but agree, he hadn't washed in a while so he wasn't the cleanest of heroes, so he went to Ellie's bathroom to have a quick wash before getting changed. After getting out of the shower and changing into the clothes given to him he was ready to leave through the door, but a cough stopped him.
"Sorry, but I can't stay." Peter said as he turned to face Ellie.
Ellie stood there with a backpack filled with things held out to him.
"I know, I was a hero once too, remember, and I do follow the news. I can see that you're currently in a tight spot, I'm happy to help." She told him.
"Please, I can't take anymore, you've already done too much for me and I can't pay you back." Peter refused.
"Just take it."
The bag was thrown at him and he caught it. Peter sighed and put on the backpack before opening the door and leaving.
A few blocks away from Ellie's flat Peter swung onto a roof and checked the contents of the bag, there was the rest of the clothes Ellie had bought him, some bottles of water, ready made sandwiches, some packet of chips, a first aid kit and some money. Peter's eyes widened in disbelief when he counted the money, with it he would be able to buy the materials needed to make more web fluid which he was nearly out of. Peter sighed and stashed his bag somewhere he knew no one would find it before starting his usual patrol.
It was just over a month before Peter found himself back at Ellie's apartment, he hadn't meant to, he had just won a fight against Doctor Octopus but had ended up badly injured, Ellie had found him and dragged him back to her flat to patch him up. It turned out that Ellie had actively sought him out after recognizing how badly he had been injured he'd been from the footage of the fight shown on the news, Peter had protested but she didn't listen and even threatened to tie him up to make him stay until she was satisfied he was properly tended to.
After that Peter would end up at Ellie's apartment in some way or another, usually she would find him after he got badly injured and drag him back to her flat and tend to his injuries while also forcing him to eat as she had taken note of how thin he was, but some times he ended up at her flat by himself but that was only when he was so injured that he realized that needed her help. The situation wasn't ideal though, Peter tried his best to stay away from Ellie so he couldn't for an attachment but Ellie insisted on helping him, and when he did end up at her flat he would leave as soon as he could.
Despite all of his efforts Ellie still got close to him and she became his go-to person, she would help fix his suit and supply him with the materials for his webs, she fed him and gave him a safe place to sleep when his body finally decided that it would function any more without sleep, and many other things all without ever seeing his face or knowing his name, saying that she was only helping a hero because she couldn't be a hero anymore.
Speaking of Ellie former alter-ego, Peter had learned more about her past as a hero in England and the team she had been on while he had been recovering at her apartment. Ellie and her teammates had burst onto the scene around seven years ago around the same time as some super villains, the team had fought them and then swore loyalty to the Queen and her subjects which had earned them the name the 'Queen's Legion', the Queen had then officially inducted them as protectors of the crown as the ones who dealt the the super villains. At first Peter had been unsure on which member of the Legion Ellie was but the process of elimination had revealed her to be the Legion's team leader, Avantia, she had been sort of Adventuress themed and wielded twin pistols and a whip with stunning accuracy. The Legion ended a few years after they began, it had ended with a final fight with all of the Legion's villains and the villains being beat, but the fight had taken its toll and Avantia had been reported to be badly injured in the battle, which Peter knew was her arm being crushed. With Avantia out of active duty and all of their villains behind bars the Queen's Legion disbanded and the members went back to their lives, sometimes they surfaced again once in a while but the Legion was ultimately dead.
Ellie watched the TV and sighed as she watched Spider-Man being covered by the news, he hadn't fought any major villains lately so it was just Jameson ranting about how Spider-Man was really a bad guy that was biding his time and a whole lot of other stuff that he ranted about because of his inconceivable hatred for the web-slinger, Ellie had been tempted more than once to take a can of spray paint to Jameson's bill boards. It had been over two weeks since Spider-Man had visited last so her life was pretty uneventful so far, considering what she saw as eventful it was amazing she hadn't gone insane.
Ellie sighed and walked into her bedroom, she went over to her closet and opened up a false panel to reveal everything from her days as Avantia; her costume, weapons and gadgets as well as a laptop containing many secrets stored on its memory. Ellie picked up the aviator helmet and goggles that functioned as her mask, among other uses, and ran her left thumb over the lenses and reflected back on old times with the Queen's Legion, the praise and admiration as well as the feeling of fulfillment when they saved people and beat the bad guys.
Ellie often thought of donning her costume again and getting back out there to aid Spider-Man. After all she had only lost her arm, not her powers, and her cybernetic arm worked perfectly fine thanks to the technically minded of her former team mates. But then the memories of the final time she wore the costume, the day she lost her arm, would flood her mind; the pain of her arm being crushed, the terror of being trapped like that, the helplessness to do anything, and the soul crushing sadness of waking up in hospital only discover the absence of a certain limb. She just couldn't find the courage within herself to do it.
Peter gritted his teeth as he was yet again slammed into a building harshly by the Rhino, he was once again up against the sinister 6 and was not fairing very well, his fight with the Green Goblin only two days previously had left him significantly hurt even days afterwards and the Sinister 6 were taking advantage. He had run out of webbing and he was sure he had broken bones, things were beginning to look hopeless.
Back at her apartment Ellie was watching the fight being covered by the news, she felt horror at Spidey's situation and could tell he was heavily injured due to how he held himself. She tore away from her TV and stormed into her room and opened the false panel in her closet, just as she reached for her costume she was once again assaulted by the painful memories. But she forced herself passed it, she remembered how important it was to help others and the words that she herself had said to a fellow team mate, 'True courage doesn't just come from doing the right thing, it comes from doing the right thing despite being afraid'. Ellie closed her eyes and pulled the costume out of the closet.
Her costume was a bit tight but that was to be expected after it being so many years since she last wore it, the sleeves concealed her cybernetic arm well enough, the boots were bound to give her blisters though, she strapped on gun holsters each side of her hips along with her whip that was made of very strong but flexible material, she wrapped her scarf around her neck that concealed a voice modulator to disguise her voice, and lastly she pulled on her helmet and pulled the goggles over her eyes. She was ready.
Ellie left the building and went to her motorbike, after turning the ignition she pressed a concealed button that changed the look of the entire bike to match her color scheme. She then rode off toward the fight.
Back at the fight Peter was almost done, he was barely able to avoid most of the attacks, let alone make attacks of his own, but he refused to run away and leave the civilians to get hurt.
"Give it up, Spider-Man!" the Vulture exclaimed. "This time we have you beat."
If he wasn't a PC superhero Peter would have flipped him the bird.
Peter's spider-sense warned him a little too late of the oncoming attack from Doctor Octopus and he found himself captured by the metal arms.
"I'm wondering," Doc Ock said as Peter struggled in the hold of his metal arms. "Should we unmask you and then finish you off or kill you now and then unmask you. I would love to see the life leave your eyes but there's something more appealing about you dying with the mask on."
"I say we smoosh him now!" Rhino shouted, punching his hand for emphasis.
"I don't know, I'm more for the 'seeing the life leave his eyes' part." Shocker said.
"Decisions, decisions." Doc Ock said, tapping his chin in thought.
"Can we just do it before somebody like the Avengers show up." Sandman said, worried that something would happen to stop their victory.
"The Avengers? Ha!" Electro laughed. "They only deal with the world-wide threats, they're not going to bother with us, and especially not someone so small as Spidey here."
"I have to agree. Spider-Man has always worked alone and now it is his downfall." Doc Ock said. "Now, unmasking before or after?"
"I would be so sure about Spidey being alone!" a voice interrupted them.
The sinister 6 only hand enough time to look in the direction of the voice before a motorbike slammed into Doc Ock, causing him to be knocked out and drop Peter in the process. The person on the bike then jumped off and helped Peter of the ground while drawing a teched-out looking pistol from one of her holsters.
"Up you get, Spidey." Ellie said as she helped the hero off of the ground, the voice modulator causing her to sound more British than she already was as well giving her voice more maturity so she sounded different to how she usually did.
"And just who are you?" Shocker asks.
Ellie gave a mock salute using her pistol. "Avantia, of the Queen's Legion. I won't be surprised if you haven't heard of me."
"What are you doing?" Peter whispered, not wanting her to be involved in the fight with his bad guys.
"Saving you're arse." Ellie answered.
"Agh!" Rhino screamed as he charged at them.
Ellie smirked as a familiar feeling that she usually got when fighting returned to her. She waited until the last second before she and Peter dived out of the way, causing Rhino to instead slam into Vulture who had been diving at them at the same time. Ellie pressed a button on her cybernetic arm and her motorbike came to life and drove itself over to her, both heroes quickly jumped on and drove off just managing to avoid getting hit by a blast from Electro.
"You're aiming sucks!" Ellie taunted to the villains as she drove away from them.
Shocker sent a seismic blast at them.
"Whoa!" Ellie and Peter yelled as they were flung from the bike, both luckily landing on their feet.
Ellie's bike landed on its side, looking pretty banged up.
"Bollocks!" Ellie exclaimed when she saw the state of her bike.
Unlike Peter she didn't care about keeping her image PC, 'bollocks' was on the milder side of the vocabulary she used during fights. And on top of that, she was one of the members of the Queen's Legion who swore the least.
As the Vulture swooped down at them again Ellie turned and fired her pistol at him without hesitation, the bullets pierced his wings in a coordinated manor that caused them to break, he crashed into the ground without his wings.
"Still got it." Ellie said proudly, twirling her gun before holstering it.
Peter grabbed Ellie's shoulders and pulled her away in time to avoid getting grabbed by Sandman.
Ellie mentally scolded herself for getting too cocky and not paying enough attention to her psychic navigation to see the attack coming. Then again, acting all cocky was how she won some battles, that and also being so annoying that the villains ended up making mistakes due to their anger.
"Okay, Extra-arms and Pigeon are out of the fight for now, that leaves Sparky, Mattress-Man, Mr. Anger issues and Sandy." Ellie did a quick anaysis while she and Peter dodged attacks, her nicknames for them only making the villains more angry. "Who do you want to take?" she asked Peter.
"I'll take Rhino and Sandman." Peter said.
"Got it."
Ellie then quickly hands Peter some web cartridges that she had pocketed before leaving her apartment, Peter quickly put them in his webshooters and swung off.
The fight went well for the heroes after that, Peter managed to defeat Sandman by using electricity to stop him from reforming and took down Rhino by managing to suspend him in the air where his strength did him no good. Ellie used her old tactics of pissing of the villains enough to get them to make mistakes and it worked like a charm, she called Electro and Shocker names and taunted them so much that when they fired at her she simply used her whip to swing out of the way and they ended up hitting each other instead, knocking the other out instantly. Though, the fights weren't that easily, Peter felt like he was one gust of wind away from falling over and Ellie was bruised and scrapped and her costume was torn in places, her cybernetic arm had also malfunctioned from Electro hitting it.
"Well, that was fun." Ellie said with a grin, trying to get her arm to function again.
Ellie suddenly picked up something flying towards them on her phychic navigation, she turned and saw Ironman flying towards the fight scene.
"Feel like getting out of here?" she asked Peter.
Peter nodded.
They went over the Ellie's bike, it may have been banged up but it still worked, and they quickly drove away before Ironman could reach them.
When the two heroes reached Ellie's fight the adrenaline had worn off and they could no longer ignore the pain.
"Owe. Owe. Owe..." Ellie complained with every step she took.
Peter rolled his eyes at her antics.
As soon as they got inside Ellie tore off her boots and socks and hissed when she saw her feet, due to fighting in boots too small for her, her feet were red and covered in blisters.
Peter was already passed out on her couch, finally succumbing to his exhaustion and injuries.
Ellie sighed as she got about treating both her and Peter's injuries before trying to sort out her arm.
Peter groaned as he came to, he felt like he had been used as the Hulk's punching bag and then some. With groggy eyes he looked around the room and spotted Ellie at her desk with some tools scattered around her as she worked on her arm, Ellie was wearing some casual clothes and Peter could see some plasters and a bandage decorating her skin.
"Could Tech make these instructions anymore complicated?" she moaned in frustration.
"I could take a look if you want." Peter offered as he slowly sat up.
"Good to see that you're awake." Ellie said as she swung around. "I was worried when you didn't wake up. You've been asleep since yesterday."
"That long?"
"Well, you did take quite the beating. You're lucky I came along when I did."
"You didn't have to-"
"But I did." Ellie cut him off. "You need to stop with all this self-sacrificing bullshit. You're just one hero, you can't hold yourself accountable for cleaning the streets of crime all by yourself. I was part of an entire team and we still had a hard time."
"I just don't want anything else to happen."
"And I get that, I really do. You want to not get close to anyone because you don't want it to hurt when they get hurt. Well, newsflash, I was a hero years before you and I went through my fair share of trials and tribulations. I know the price of being a hero!"
Ellie was crying at this point, it hurt her to see Peter hurt like this and it had scared her when he wasn't waking up.
"So...if you think that I'm going to let you do this on your own anymore...you've got another thing coming."
Ellie fell to her knees and sobbed, Fred was quick to go over to her and offer comfort. Peter frowned and crouched down next to her.
"I'm sorry." He apologies. "It's just, a lot of people have been hurt because of me..."
Ellie looked at him with sad but understanding eyes. "I know it seems like that, but you can't just shut yourself out from others, and you're not going to shut yourself out from me."
Peter sighed and nodded. He then sat down and removed his mask, showing Ellie what he really looked like.
"Hi, I'm Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man." He said, holding out his hand to shake.
Ellie smiled back at him. "Hi, I'm Ellie Brown, aka Avantia." She shook his hand.
Both of them then got up with Peter needing help from Ellie because of his injuries.
"I wasn't kidding about looking at your arm." Peter said. "It's the least I could do after all you've done."
"Fine, I'm completely lost on what to do with it anyway." Ellie said.
Peter sat down where Ellie had previously been sitting and looked at the cybernetic arm, the panels were open to expose the circuits and wires and the blu-prints for the arm were struck to the wall in front of him.
"Who made this arm?" Peter said, impressed. "This doesn't look like something that you could have just bought."
"One of my former teammates made it." Ellie said, making a start on a late breakfast. "He was aptly named Tech. Tech was a wizard when it came to machines, together with Glitch, who was a master when it came to computers, they actually designed and made most of the gadgets the team used. They're the ones who made Fred."
Peter looked up from working on the arm to shoot a confused glance at Ellie and then at Fred, who was scratching behind his ear.
"He's a robot?" he asked.
"Yep. Wouldn't believe it though, would you?" Ellie rubbed Fred behind the ear. "Fred was my actual dog at one point but he eventually died of old age, so Tech and Glitch decided to copy his personality and such into a robot dog they made, they programmed him to act and think like a normal dog unless his defense systems are activated. He acts just like Fred and I still love him, despite being a robot, though on the bright side I don't have to clean up after him anymore."
"Do I need to be worried about those defensive systems?"
"No. He's already registered you as a friend so he is as likely to hurt you as he is to hurt me. And his defensive systems only activate if I give the voice command or if he sees us in significant enough danger."
The two spent a little while in silence as Peter worked on the arm and Ellie made breakfast with her one hand.
"Try this out." Peter said, handing Ellie her arm as they sat down to eat.
Ellie took the arm and attached it, hissing in pain as she did.
"That hurt?" Peter asked, concerned.
"I'm attaching it to my nerve endings, so it's going to cause a little pain." Ellie deadpanned.
"Ouch."
"Yeah, but that's the price for an cybernetic arm."
Ellie tested out the arm once it was attached, she best it and rolled her shoulder, then pinched each of the fingers to the thumb.
"I little stiff but still good, the stiffness will probably wear off anyway." She said.
As they ate a thought occurred to Peter.
"Did you ever tell you're parents about being Avantia?"
"No." Ellie answered. "I didn't want them getting worried or trying to stop me. When I lost my arm we pretended that I was just a civilian who got caught in the damage of the fight. After that my family moved over here, my folks moved to New Zealand when villains started popping up here but I decided to stay since I was old enough to be on my own. So, what about your family?"
Peter put down his cutlery and looked down at the table for a good while.
"You don't have to say if you don't want to." Ellie said.
Peter shook his head as he mustered the courage to finally tell someone how bad his life was. "I don't have anyone left. My parents died in a plane crash when I was young, I lived with my aunt and uncle but then uncle Ben died after he was shot by a robber, he's the reason I became Spider-Man in the first place, then my girlfriend Gwen died after one of the villains I was fighting dropped her, I tried to save her but ended up snapping her neck from how fast she was falling, then my aunt May died during a bank robbery while I was there trying to stop it. That's why I didn't want to get close to you, because you'll only end up dying too."
Ellie got up, went around the table, and gave Peter a hug.
"It's okay." She said. "We all lose people, but it is important to persevere."
Peter sat still, not knowing what to do.
Ellie stepped back and stretched.
"Anyway, if I'm going to keep to my promise of joining you I'm going to need some new clothes to go superheroing in. Those one I wore are too small for me, I've still got the blisters on my feet from my boots. I'm going to get to work on getting something more my size and more resistant to wear and tear."
Ellie then left the room.
Peter sighed and sat back in his chair, everything seemed to be happening so fast, he had finally confessed to someone and he was now gaining a partner in crime fighting. He decided to turn on the TV to try and get his mind off of everything.
"The mysterious woman who aided Spider-Man in his battle against the Sinister 6 has finally been identified and it turns out that she is not new to the scene." Said the anchorwoman. An image popped up of some of the members of the Queen's Legion in a group photo with Ellie in full costume circled in red. "Avantia is a heroine of the former England based superhero group, the Queen's Legion, which had disbanded five years ago after Avantia herself left for reasons unknown; though many speculate that she was heavily injured during her last fight due to some eye-witness reports at the time."
"About time they worked it out." Ellie said as the came back into the room, holding a notepad and phone. "I wonder how long it took for them to just Google my name, I've been on the front page of newspapers for crying out loud, I couldn't have been that hard to find."
"At least you probably won't get a bad reputation like I seem to have. Though, knowing Jameson, he'll start attacking you as soon as he can despite your previous work." Peter said.
"Well, it does help to have the backing of royalty to shut up the doubters. But, you're right, Jameson won't care about that and rant about me anyway."
Peter laughed. "I can already hear him.'This Avantia woman is a menace! Who does she think she is, coming to our country acting like she owns the place?'" he did his best impression of Jameson.
Peter then noticed Ellie smiling at him. "What?"
"Just nice to hear you joking around and having a laugh, that's all." Ellie said. "Your emo attitude was getting old."
"I am not emo!"
"Tell that to the Peter I first met. You wouldn't smile, you would laugh, and you didn't want human interaction."
"Okay, fair point. But I had my reasons."
"I know that now."
Ellie went back to writing on her note pad, most likely something to do with her new costume.
"Now, do you think I should stick with the same design as the original or go with something new?" she asked Peter.
"What are you thinking for the new?"
"I don't know. When I was coming up with ideas for my costume the first time around I wanted to make it steampunk, but my team and I agreed that steampunk would only work it we went with it for a unifying theme and none of the others wanted steampunk. Looking back now, I realise steampunk isn't a good look for me as a superhero."
"I like what you have now."
"Original it is then. By the way, I might be getting some calls soon from the other Legion members when they hear about me being back on the field, just a heads up."
"You'll be answering the phone anyway."
"Some of my old teammates don't make calls in the traditional sense."
"How do they make calls then?"
"Some are too bizarre to say. But, you'll know them when you see them. Anyway, back to my costume, and while I'm at it a new costume for you that's not going to fall to pieces so often."
Peter had given up arguing over Ellie's charity at this point, he knew that no matter how much he protested she would do it anyway. Though, he had to wonder, where did she get the money to buy all the supplies and materials that she used on him?
Peter lay on the couch and closed his eyes to sleep, sleep sped up his healing and he wanted to be ready to resume being Spider-Man as soon as possible.
That's all until someone chooses to pick this up and write it for themselves.
For anyone confused, Avantia's powers include: The default enhanced durability, strength, speed and senses. Psychic navigation. And the ability to not be affected by any sort of mind manipulation.