I was shocked. So Peter Parker didn't exist, but Spider-Girl did? That didn't make any sense. What kind of spell had Stephen cast? It wasn't like I could ask him because he probably didn't even remember. I looked at the girl in front of me. Kate was her name. I was glad that she couldn't see the confusion on my face. I supposed that since I still had my costume, it was implied that I had wore the costume to fight bad guys. I still didn't understand how such a thing could work, but maybe I just didn't understand magic as a person of science.
"I need to go." I declared.
"So, you're just going to save me and leave?" Kate asked. It seemed like she was persistent.
"It's kind of what I do." I stated as I prepared my web. Much to my chagrin, the girl kept talking. Yeah I knew that I could talk a lot but mostly to mock criminals. I generally didn't speak to civilians very much.
"You know I could have stopped those guys." She declared. That I didn't believe. You know I was pretty sure that I knew who they were. I might have heard of them.
"I don't think so." I retorted. I tried to think of a good way to escape. I really didn't like to injure civilians unless I felt threatened and this girl while bigger than me, really didn't seem that threatening. That was why I felt like she couldn't have won there.
"I could have." She reiterated.
"Do you know who those guys were. They're the Tracksuit Mafia." I stated. Yes there was actually a good of guys who called themselves the Tracksuit Mafia. While the tracksuit part was kind of lame, they were still a mafia and mafias typically shouldn't have been messed with. That was when I realized something. "Why were they after you?"
"Well they kind of think that I'm the Ronin." She stated.
Who the hell was the Ronin? Was this some sort of new superhero that was created as a result of the spell?
"I don't know who that is?" I stated.
"You must not have been around during the blip then." She declared. I supposed that made sense. I still hadn't caught up on everything that had happened in those five years. "The Ronin was an assassin who apparently killed someone important in the Tracksuit Mafia."
"And why do you think you are this Ronin?" I asked. She didn't look that much older than I was. Maybe she was in her early 20s. It was possible that the two of us would even be the same age if not for the blip.
"Because I kind of stole the suit and put it on." She replied sheepishly. What the fuck? The sounded like a terrible idea. If I wasn't someone who was supposed to save everyone, I would just let them deal with her, but I was a good guy and I couldn't let that happen.
"Well if they know who you are, they probably know where you live." I pointed out. It looked like I might have to take this girl under my wing to protect her. This was definitely not something that I was planning.
"I have an extra place that I can stay." She said. "It's a little bit off-the-grid, so they won't be able to find me there."
I considered following her because I might have to protect her and my spider sense would let me know if she was being followed. That probably wasn't in my best interest though.
"You know it would be a lot easier to talk to you if I could see your face." She pointed out. I considered that proposal. I mean technically, telling her wouldn't have any repercussions since literally no one knew who I was. You know I still had to find the right time to tell MJ and Ned who I am, but this state of girlhood was a bit of a complication there. "I'm not going to tell anyone your secret identity if that's what you're worried about."
Again, I really didn't have much of a secret identity. I just didn't have any identity. I then realized that if I did tell her, I wanted to go somewhere that no one else could see us.
"Not here." I replied. I couldn't believe that I was considering telling her. Even if she claimed that she was a hero too, it still probably wasn't a good idea.
"Follow me then. Just to let you know, my roommates can be a little bit flirty but they're harmless." She said. I didn't say that I would tell any roommates.
"I don't think that I want to tell them. I don't know if I can trust them." I declared.
"So don't then." She stated. "There's a place that you'll be able to change and you can only tell me."
"How many roommates do you have?" I inquired.
"Two." She answered as she led me to a loft of some kind. It looked really nice. In fact, it looked like it was some sort of hideout. "There's one boy and one girl."
When she opened the lock, I could definitely tell that it looked like a hideout. There was bathroom in the foyer which seemed to be a little bizarre, but maybe it had been modified that way. My spider sense told me that there was currently one other person inside. She took me inside of the bathroom.
"So you can change in here." She stated.
"Kate, don't take this the wrong way, but I don't feel comfortable changing in front of you." I said. I wasn't someone who was comfortable changing in front of people in general. I really hadn't even seen myself naked. At that time, I noticed that there was a shower in there as well. Of course I needed to ask first. "Actually, would you mind if I took a shower? Your plumbing does work, right?
"Yes, it works and you can. Just don't use the pink shampoo." Kate declared. "I'll get out of here and you can come to the kitchen when you're ready."
I took off my suit, followed by my bra…and panties. It still felt weird wearing them. I know that the panties were a lot like briefs but there were smaller and more delicate. It felt good against my skin, but it was still weird with nothing to hold in place. I looked at my nude body in the mirror and it was so foreign to me. I still couldn't believe that was me. I got inside the shower and started to wash myself. My skin felt sensitive and I found out that I still had some things that I needed to get used to. There was also one other thing that I was worried about, but I wasn't sure if I would have that. I'd never asked anyone with super healing if they experienced anything like that, mainly because it was embarrassing. There were two bottles of shampoo and a bar of soap that smelled like pomegranate. I did like the smell of pomegranate. It took some long to wash my hair. Nevertheless, I did feel better when I was finished showering. I grabbed a towel off of the rack and dried off before I got dressed.
I then walked into the kitchen. I wished that I had some pants to meet these new people, but I had heard that girl's pants could be pretty tight. I didn't know if that was true since I hadn't actually tried any on myself. Inside there was a girl with blonde hair and a black guy. I didn't feel it was appropriate to call him African-American since I couldn't confirm that his family had roots in Africa. Strangely, I couldn't sense him in front of me.
"Hi." I said nervously.
"Kate, why is this girl here?" The blonde asked. She looked like she was about the same size as me.
"This is our spot." The boy added.
"Yeah and I'm thinking that maybe she could possibly join us." Kate responded. I had no idea what she was doing. "I'm going to let introduce herself to you."
I wasn't sure why this was so nerve-racking. Part of it was I was pretty sure that both of them were judging me and they obviously didn't trust me.
"Hi I'm…Antonia." I declared. Even though I was saying it more. I still wanted to say Peter. I had to get in my head that I was Antonia and I was going to be Antonia for a long time. In fact, I didn't even know if I would ever be able to change back. I wanted to believe that I would be able to change back, but there was a still possibility that was irreversible. I mean the spell kind of changed reality and something like that didn't seem like it would be an easy fix.
"Antonia saved me from the Tracksuit Mafia, even though I probably could have handed it myself." Kate declared. You know something that I was just realizing was that both of them had Southern accents. The two of them were not native to New York. "Anyway, this is Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson."
"Well she is cute at least." Tandy commented as she walked over to me. I blushed a little. Cute was not something that I was used to being called. She started to walk around me. I couldn't figure out what she was doing. "Damn girl, you have a really nice butt."
"Tandy, what are you doing?" Tyrone asked. He looked annoyed. I wondered if he had seen her hit on girls before. At least I thought she was hitting on me. I didn't feel comfortable at least. "Kate, what we're doing here is supposed to be a secret and we can't exactly go around telling anyone about it just because you want to hook up with them."
"We're not hooking up." I said with an even brighter blush. I was pretty sure that it wouldn't even be legal for me to date Kate. "I'm only 17, well legally at least."
"What do you mean by that?" Tyrone asked.
"It means that she was gone…like I was." Tandy stated. I shouldn't have been surprised that at least one them hadn't survived the blip. I mean half the population had been blipped. "So what are doing here by the way?"
"Well I kind of don't have anything left." I said. I mean I still wanted to talk to Mrs. Stark, but things were really complicated right now. If I was going to meet with her, I would probably need something to wear to an interview and I definitely didn't have that.
"We can relate except for Tyrone." Tandy explained. "Both of my parents and dead. Kate's dad is and her mom is in jail."
"What about you?" I asked Tyrone.
"My family is fine. I just had to move on." He stated.
Before I could say anything else, I heard the familiar voice of the man who helped ruin my life before.
"It's been a few days since the fiasco on the Statue of Liberty and Spider-Girl's cultists continue to call her a hero. Well if she was a hero, then she wouldn't be wearing a mask. Besides, everyone knows her fans just want to see what's under that suit anyway. Listen to me boys, Spider-Girl is not going to fuck you." Jameson declared.
"I actually agree with him." I muttered, probably a bit louder than I intended.
"Why are you watching that?" Tandy asked Tyrone.
"I do it ironically." Tyrone said.
"Don't you know that just makes him stronger. That blowhard is nothing but a sexist pig." Tandy remarked. "Wait, what do you mean that you'll agree with him?"
"I mean not that I…I mean Spider-Girl should reveal herself." I declared. I really am pretty bad at keeping secrets.
"Well this just got a lot more interesting." Tandy declared as she suddenly some sort of blade made of light.
"I call her Dagger." Kate replied. I didn't really like that name. "Of course it really works when you add Tyrone to it. Then you get Cloak and Dagger."
"Why does she call you Cloak?" I asked.
Tyrone then covered himself in shadows and appeared behind me. That must have been why I wasn't able to sense him.
"What do you do?" I asked Kate.
"I shoot arrows." She replied. Oh, so I guessed that meant that she didn't have any superpowers. "I think you could join our team. We call ourselves the Young Avengers."
"We do not call ourselves that." Tandy argued. "So you say that you don't have anything left. Does that mean that you don't have a home either? Do you not friends or family or anything?"
"No." I answered. "My life is pretty complicated and I don't really want to get into it right now."
I knew that they wouldn't believe what I had to say. Maybe after they got to know me better, they might but even that would still be a stretch. I didn't know if any of them knew anything about magic.
"Well if you don't have anywhere else, why don't you stay here?" Tandy suggested. "Just don't use my shampoo."
"I already told her that." Kate responded.
"I don't know if I can stay here." I replied. I probably should but I wasn't completely sure if I could trust them. "I don't want to impose."
"You don't have to worry about that. Both Kate and Tyrone are loaded." Tandy declared. "We have no problem getting food for you."
"I eat a lot of food." I pointed out. "It has to do with the healing. My body burns calories much faster than normal."
"We should still be able to handle that." Kate remarked. It was then that I had an idea.
"Do you have anything that I can wear to a meeting?" I asked.
"Who would you be meeting with?" Tandy retorted. This part was going to be hard to do.
"Pepper Stark." I declared. The three of them all gasped.
"How did you manage to get an appointment with her?" Tyrone asked.
"I kind of don't have one." I admitted. "I need to talk to her. It's pretty hard for me to explain. I just need to know if you have anything that I can wear."
"I don't think this will accomplish anything but you can borrow something of mine." Tandy offered. "How are you going to get past security to talk to her?"
"I have an idea." Tyrone said.
So the next morning, Tyrone used his powers to literally get me right in her office. Unfortunately, she wasn't actually in her office at the time, so I had to wait. I was nervous and it was not helped by the fact that I was wearing a dress…and tights. At least they made my legs not feel as cold. I also had to wear heels, which I did not know how to walk in. Needless to say, she was surprised when she saw me.
"Mrs. Stark?" I asked. I was very nervous about this.
"Who are you? How did you get past security?" She questioned. She looked like she was ready to call them on me.
"I need to talk to you about something." I replied. I was terrified about this conversation. I knew that she was pretty nice and I probably shouldn't be but this time I was a stranger and she was obviously less receptive to me. "You see I knew your husband…"
"I'm going to stop your right there." She cut me off. "You're not the first person to say this but unless you have a sign and notarized DNA test, you're not getting anything from me."
"What?" I asked. That wasn't what I expected her to say.
"You mean you're not here to say that you're his daughter?" She replied. I shook my head. "Well I apologize. It's just so many young people want a piece of his fortune. However, I'm very busy so you have one minute to say what you need to talk to me about."
"I was actually interested in seeing if you need a nanny by any chance." I declared. I felt pretty stupid doing this. I probably wouldn't be if he hadn't suggested it to me.
"I'm not sure if I can trust you around my child considering that you snuck into my office." She admitted. That was completely the reaction that I expected. On top of that there were probably thousands of more qualified people than me.
It was something dawned on me. Could that have been what he was trying to tell me? Could it be possible that he really was my father? Did he know about it or did he only figure out after he died. I mean if there was some sort of spiritual plane, he might have met my mother. It still sounded very illogical. Could this man that I looked up to all of my life really be my father and how did I not know before this?
"When he was younger, did he happen to know a woman named Mary Parker?' I asked. It was at that point that she looked horrified.
"How do you know that name?" She questioned.
"She was my mother." I said.
"She told him that she lost the baby." Mrs. Stark remarked. Oh my god. It really was true. This had to be something that was always true. "What is your name?"
"My name is Antonia Parker." I replied.
So yes, Tony was Antonia's father. You may have guessed that from the last chapter. That means Morgan really is her sister. She also met Cloak and Dagger. We might see the Young Avengers in action at some point. But when will she talk to MJ and Ned and will they believe what she has to say? Please don't forget to review.