Ace Up Your Sleeve
Chapter One
So I got this idea partially from an OC form I made for my friend (Katiejax117) and partially because I love (LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE) Asa Butterfield, partially because I wanted to do an "OC joins the team" fic but with a twist, and partially because I've never done a mystery.
Oops. I've said too much.
Mood Music: Something Big, Shawn Mendes
"Something big, I feel it happening, out of my control, pushing, pulling, and it's grabbing me, feel it in my bones like!"
"Ace up your sleeve – a hidden advantage that other people don't know about."
"I never thought I'd miss this place," Sam says while looking up at Midtown High. I was surprised he did.
"Me neither," I reply. A month ago, I'd given anything to get away from the bullies, homework, and horrible cafeteria food. But now, I was finding myself wanting that old life back. It would be better than S.H.I.E.L.D Academy, where I got my butt kicked by teammates and LMDs alike regularly. Not fun.
Ava pulled her arms around herself, shivering in the winter air. "Remind me why Fury wanted us here early?" she says, her teeth chattering.
"He said he wanted us to watch the students come in, and that we had to be alert at all times. And he said something about standing in freezing weather builds character. As if." I explain. Ugh. Fury.
Ava sighs, and stares at Queens before us, the sun slowly rising, painting the sky with shades of pink, orange, and purple. I might've enjoyed it if I wasn't freezing my butt off.
"Hey, guys-" Sam starts, but Ava cuts him off, punching him in the shoulder of his fleecy winter coat.
"Shut up. I'm watching the sunrise."
"But I really think-"
"SHUT UP!" she growls. Sam shut up.
"Do you see it, Peter?" she asks me. "Isn't it beautiful?"
"Um, yeah, I guess so...but what's even more beautiful is the fact that Janitor Stan is opening the doors," I say, pointing to the open doors, which I saw Sam pointing to.
We sprint to the doors, closing them as not to let in more cold air when we got inside. I let out a breath of relief, a breath that I couldn't see in front of me, thank god.
A moment later, the buses started rolling in, unloading students. I recognized most of them, or at least had seen them in the school once before. However, there were some new faces. Those were the ones we had to watch out for.
Wisely heading to our lockers to avoid the flood of students, Ava pulled me aside at mine. "See anyone suspicious?"
"Ava, if our suspect is as smart as we think they are, and we know they're that smart, because who DIDN'T hear JJJ screaming about them, they would know how to avoid getting caught. So I wouldn't really keep an eye out for necessarily suspicious people..." I trail off.
"Then what would we be keeping an eye out for?" she asks, crossing her arms.
"I don't know, people that are smart? Interested in technology? It takes a genius to get past the Bank of New York's firewalls..."
"Could you?"
Her question catches me off guard, because why would I ever steal from a bank? But then I realize she's asking me if I could, not if I would. She knows that. "No. Their firewall is too complicated. Even for me. Amadeus might be able to get past it, though. Or Tony Stark. But last time I checked, Tony Stark designed the software for them...and they're both superheroes... So that means there's pretty much an undercover genius at Midtown High. Not something I saw coming. Ever." The kids here are dumber than rocks. So to think there's a diamond among them... Wow.
"Yeah. How do they even know the hacker is here? I fell asleep halfway through the debriefing. I only got, like, two hours of sleep last night..." Ava says, yawning.
"I could tell," I remark. She looks...disheveled. More than usual.
"WHAT did you just say?" she growls.
"Nothing. And, to answer your question," I say hurriedly, changing the subject, "S.H.I.E.L.D managed to track the computer, but that thing had a TON of barricades and firewalls, and it took them two days to get through it. It tracked to Midtown, one of those laptops they issue to students at the beginning of the year. So it's a student's laptop, or a teacher using a student's laptop, but S.H.I.E.L.D has done research on all the Midtown teachers, none of them has the I.Q to even reprogram a phone... There could be an outside variable, someone who stole a student laptop to cover their tracks, but S.H.I.E.L.D's got that covered, or so they say. We're on the inside, investigating the students. And...maybe I shouldn't be saying all this without everyone coming in..." I glance at the students streaming into the hall where Ava and I are.
"Yeah. The bell should ring soon, we should go to class." Ava opens her locker and gets her things out for homeroom. Thank god for Coulson, we're all in the same classes.
"Wonder what Sam's doing," Ava wonders aloud. I glance at Sam's locker, a row down from ours. He's talking to some blonde. Wait, Sam talking to a blonde? What? He walks up to us with her. I raise an eye at her hair, which looks like she cut it herself.
"Guys, this is-"
The blonde cuts Sam off. "I can introduce myself, idiot. My name is Sadi. Are you Sam's friends?"
"Um, yeah..." Ava says. I can tell she's just surprised Sam's gotten this girl, this pretty girl, to like him, or at least want to talk to him. She must be desperate.
"So, you going to homeroom?" Sadi asks cheerfully.
"Yeah. Mr. Sallis, you have him for homeroom?" Ava responds carefully.
Sadi brightens. "Yeah! And...between us girls..." She whispers something to Ava, who giggles. Yes, that's right. Giggles. Not kidding on this one.
Sam and I exchange a quizzical look. Neither of us has ever seen Ava giggle before, much less with another girl.
"Show me when you get in there," Ava says to Sadi. Sadi nods, grinning.
"What do you think she said to her?" Sam whispers to me.
I shrug. How am I supposed to know how girls work?
We follow the girls into homeroom. Coulson coming in again for us, I see the room is filled with new students, people I haven't seen before. He must have put all of the new students together for us. I say a silent thank you to Coulson before sliding into an empty desk beside Sam, and to my surprise, Harry.
"Hey, Pete! What's up? Why are you back?" Harry asks me.
"Our new private school closed down for renovations, and the students had to go to different schools until renovations were finished. I figured I'd come here and visit you and MJ," I say, grinning. I must say, I've gotten a lot better at lying. "Sam and Ava came back here too." Sam waves at Harry from his desk.
Harry smiles at him. Then his smile suddenly turns into a frown when someone walks in. I glance at this person. He's small. He's not short, he's just...petite, in a sense. He's actually fairly tall. I notice that most of the heads in the room turn to him. Including the girls.
"Mr. Penwood, you're late," Mr. Sallis says. Mr. Sallis is old and cranky, and likes to call people formalities. I've never liked him, but he does tend to doze off a lot and that allows us to talk freely. So that's a plus to having him as a teacher.
He slaps an envelope on the teacher's desk, and goes to sit in the back. The girls's heads follow him. Ugh, one of those guys. Having Danny around is enough, but now another one?
"Ace, this isn't an official absent note," Mr. Sallis says. Ace, I assume, blinks his long lashes. Mr. Sallis pokes around further in the envelope. "Ahh, there it is...thank you, Mr. Penwood." Mr. Sallis then settles into his chair, and begins snoring.
"Who's that?" Sam asks Harry.
Harry rolls his eyes. "Ace Penwood. Stuck up, acts like he owns the place, and a girl magnet. Ugh, I can't stand him."
"He's got a lot going for him," Ava says from next to Sam, staring at Ace. Sadi, sitting behind Ava, whistles.
"Talk about sexy..." she says. Okay, I do NOT need to hear this...
"Oh, shut up," Harry grumbles.
"You're just jealous that all the girls like him instead of you," Sam says, laughing a bit.
Harry doesn't respond. I can imagine that's why. First Danny, now Ace. Well, it's only a matter of time before girls get tired with you, I guess.
"Is his name actually Ace?" Ava asks. "That's a weird name..."
"He says it's a nickname. But no one knows what his real name is. It's kind of suspicious," Harry says, narrowing his eyes.
"Suspicious? I don't know if that would qualify as suspicious. Lots of people have weird names. Like Topaz," Sadi says, pointing to a girl drawing on her notebook in the corner of the room.
"Still..." Harry responds. He really doesn't like this guy.
Ace walks up past our row of desks. I turn back to Harry, hoping he didn't notice me – all of us – staring. He's probably gotten used to it by now, if he's Midtown High's girls's new boy toy.
Surprisingly, he stops in front of Ava's desk. Ava raises an eyebrow at him. "Yes?"
"I like your eyes," he says, grinning, and walks out of the classroom. Ava sits there, stunned. Guess it's not every day you get a compliment, much less on your eyes, by a good looking guy.
Sadi laughs, grinning from ear to ear. "OH MY GOD! Do you realize what just happened? Ace Penwood, THE Ace Penwood, just COMPLIMENTED you! He even ignored RACHEL!" Rachel Patton had a reputation for being the hottest girl in school, and the fact that Ace had ignored her and went for Ava instead... What the HECK is WRONG with that boy?
"Whatever. He's probably just saying that..." Ava says, shrugging. Nope, she didn't brush it off. She's still affected.
"Girl, we HAVE to get you back in his sight again." Sadi dragged Ava by the wrist out of the classroom, Mr. Sallis oblivious and sleeping. God, Midtown needs better teachers.
"Follow?" I ask Sam. He shrugs, and pushes his chair in. We follow the girls, once again, out into the hall.
Ace is standing by his locker, getting a laptop bag out. Sadi pushes Ava into the hall, and she loses her balance – weirdly, I mean, she's the White Tiger, shouldn't she have balance? – and crashes into Ace, slamming them both into the lockers.
Sam snorts, and I slap him to keep him from laughing. I want to see how this plays out.
"OH MY GOD!" Ava yelps. "I'm so sorry, because my friend just kind of pushed me, and-"
Ace puts his hands on her shoulders, and rights her. He picks up his laptop bag, and slings it over his shoulder. "It's fine, I get it. Sadi, I see you back there."
Sadi peeks out from behind a corner, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry..."
"Please stop trying to matchmake me, and let me get on with my life."
"Oh, come on, Ace, you like the poor girl, obviously-"
"NO, I don't. Please just let me go-" Ace is interrupted by Sadi, who pins him to the lockers in a surprising show of strength.
"NEVER! You need a girlfriend. Ava is perfect for you. Think about it! Ava and-" Ace growls, cutting Sadi off.
"Get OFF." Ace snarls, and pushes Sadi off of him. He storms down the hall, away from us.
Sadi sighs. "Well, that went horribly. Sorry, Ava..."
Ava shrugs. "It's fine. I'm not really interested in romance anyway." The bell rings. "Let's get our stuff," she says, and heads to her locker.
Sam looks at me, and I shrug, unsure of what to say. Who knows what's going on in Ava's head? Girls are complicated.
After sitting through four mind-numbing periods, lunch is finally here. Today's lunch special is...meatloaf. Yay. Honestly, I'm surprised Principal Coulson hasn't changed it to Tofu Loaf yet.
I sit down at my usual table, Ava and Sam already there. "Hey, Parker, Sadi's gonna be sitting with us. Her usual table isn't exactly...welcoming her."
"What do you mean by that?" I ask, poking the rock-solid meatloaf with my fork.
"She usually sits with her friends, but now that Ace shunned her...everyone is. So I invited her here," Sam explains.
I don't mind, I feel kind of bad for Sadi. Ace seems like a jerk. His looks are probably the only thing getting him to popularity. "That's fine. She seems cool."
Sam's head turns as Sadi slams her tray down on our table. "Thanks for letting me sit with you, guys..."
"No problem," Sam responds, trying to pick apart his meatloaf, and failing.
"So, what are you-" Ava's interrupted by an alarm sounding throughout the school. Not the fire alarm, but a different one.
"Attention, students," Principal Coulson says over the PA system. "There has been a report of hackings all across New York City. This school is on lockdown until the city is up and running again or the hacker is caught. Please remain calm and go through your classes as usual, and if it still isn't afe to go out of lockdown, then you will stay after hours." The PA system crackles off.
Oh my god...after hours? From what we know, the hacker is brilliant. S.H.I.E.L.D might never catch them. Which means I might have to stay after hours at Midtown High.
Ehehehe...so, how'd you guys like it? And, also, check out my new forum, called Ultimate Idea, Character, and Prompt Generator! Please please please!