LIAR, LIAR. Peter Parker

six. mendax

"Okay. That's good," her mother breathed out, leaning against the leather seat. "You're barely fifteen, Nina. You don't need a boyfriend right now, not when we've just moved here."

Despite the fact that her mother was formerly one of the deadliest assassins in the world, or the fact that she could easily get her ass kicked right there and right now, her cheeks turn a soft shade of red, arms wrapping themselves around her chest. "Mom, shut up."

Her mom laughs, a fake laugh, easily identifiable, but Nina doesn't mind. It's better than getting slammed against the car window with those god-dammed brass knuckles of hers.

"Your teacher told me about the decathlon you're a part of that's being held in a few days," another surge of anxiety envelopes Nina's stomach. Is she mad? Why would she be mad? I never wanted to join the decathlon in the first place. "Don't stress on the mission for a bit, okay? Try to unwind in Washington. Relax. When you come back home, we'll get back on track, yeah? You know what happens when you don't take this seriously when you're back."

Her voice is sweet, almost like honey, but Nina feels the venom behind it.

The girl gulps, unconsciously grasping the blue cloth tighter. Sometimes Nina wishes that she's like Valeria.

She wished that she'd be able to stand up to her mother and able to walk through the world without feeling the immense pressure to have victory over everything. She wishes that she could live life like it was her last. Instead, she was a pawn to Illiana, blinded by loyalty, suffocated by the pressure that was gripping her like a fucking vice.

Sometimes, she wishes that she could shake the crushing weight of expectations her whole family was throwing into her way, added to the expectations she had on herself: get us a penthouse, get us money, give it to Nina, she's stronger, give it to Nina, she's smarter, kill a superhero, get high grades, join the decathlon team, never lose, help Valeria with her missions, never disappoint Illiana.

Nina isn't even sure if she wants to kill Spider-Man anymore. Seriously - he's too fucking annoying all the time and he talks way too much - but when Nina sees the expectant look on her mother's face, eyes wide, eyebrows furrowed, her brain does the thinking.

Her heart doesn't want it. Her brain craves it, the validation she'll get when she presents Spider-Man's dead body. "Yes, Mom."

...

Nina tells Liz that she's sick the next day. In return, Liz sends her a get well soon GIF of a cat.

After their talk from the last night, Illiana tells her daughter to take the next school day off. It was no surprise that Illiana was disappointed with the lack of weapons brought home by Valeria and Nina, and apparently, those people had business in Maryland, which wasn't that much far from Washington, so Nina was assigned with a new mission.

Again.

The girl pours herself a cup of coffee and adds an inappropriate amount of creamer and sugar as she waits for her mother at the dining table, watching as the sun rose from the floor to ceiling windows.

Training day used to be Nina getting beat up black and blue from sparring with her mother (since, y'know, everyone thought that she was powerless), but the recent training days after she discovered her powers were quite different from what she was used to.

Instead of bruises, she was tasked to use her powers on Samara, testing the extent of her powers. It started off pretty simple - making her walk up and down a flight of stairs, but the last time she'd practiced them on her sister, she'd been so pissed at her from the day before for losing her iPad that Samara ended up with a giant gash on her arm.