From The Dark | Peter Parker x OC ✔️

Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Seven

A/N: helloo

it has been a long week and i am soo ready for the weekend already. my allergies had been acting up all week long and they finally calmed down, thank goodness.

anyway, not so fluffy, kind of confusing chapter so have fun!

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"Stop lying to me, Peter."

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"Adelaide! Come on in!" Lukov greeted her.

He stepped aside so she could walk into his lab. Adelaide nodded, smiling hesitatingly.

It had taken some deceit for her to end up here on a Sunday night. She had to tell Happy she was going to Ned's house for a project and after he had driven her up there and seen her go inside the house, she told Ned to cover for her in case Happy called. Ned, of course, had plenty of questions but she told him this was just going to have to be one of those no questions asked kind of situation and that he needed to blindly trust her. Ned reluctantly agreed and helped her slip out from his backdoor where she turned herself invisible until she was out on the main road from where she hailed a cab to Brooklyn college.

Slowly, she stepped into the lab which was on the small side. The more she looked around, the more she realized how much of a mess it was.

"Are you...the only one who works here?" she asked, stopping to turn around and face him. He chuckled.

"No, no. Many students also come here for their research projects. My station is set up towards the back, come on," he said and began walking towards the back of the lab. She followed him, still looking around unsurely. There were various contraptions and half-built projects by students lying on the tabletops as they walked toward the back of the lab.

Finally, they arrived at a rather small table tucked away in the back corner of the lab. There wasn't much on it besides some vials of a clearish, blueish liquid and something that almost looked like a microscope.

"This is it," Lukov smiled proudly, gesturing to the table. Adelaide looked around wearily. In all honesty, she had been expecting a particle accelerator or even at least a MRI machine. This was...underwhelming at best. How much research could he really do with this little equipment? And, more importantly, how was she going to help him with this?

"I know what you're thinking," Lukov said, almost reading her mind. She glanced at him wearily. "This is all pretty quaint."

"Um...yeah," she mumbled, looking around again, "How much research can you get done here?"

Lukov sighed, "Not much, I'm afraid. Without funding, the school can't get me the proper equipment. And even if I did have the proper equipment, it would be useless without a sample of Luxium to test it on."

At the sound of the name, Adelaide looked up at him.

"You mean...there's still samples of Luxium out there?" she asked. Lukov pursed his lips.

"Yes," he said, "But it's all property of SHIELD. And I...of course, can't access it anymore. My research is ultimately a hopeless cause."

The gears in her mind were spinning. Property of SHIELD? If Lukov couldn't get it, what if...? Besides, this was pretty important research, after all. With her powers of light and Lukov's knowledge of Luxium, they might really be able to make something. And if her parents had believed in this project years ago, she had faith that it would lead to somewhere.