SKYFALL | PETER PARKER [ 1 ]

5: NEW ANGLES.

"Yeah," the girl's eyes went from him to the floor, her hands cuddling themselves into the pockets of her hoodie. "I just feel a bit bummed. I'll be back to normal soon."

"Alright, well, you know I'm just a text away, yeah?" Peter said, giving a small smile. "Well, technically, a floor away. Y-you know what I mean."

"Thanks, Peter. I mean it." Eleanor responded, chuckling a bit. She smiled at him as she saw him leave. After he was gone, she let out a huge sigh and returned into her home.

It was two hours after that encounter, and Eleanor was watching a movie on her laptop. She was bored, and she couldn't think of another way to kill some time. Her brain needed a rest from thinking too much. Then, a knock on her window startled her. She paused the movie, and when she was about to take her leather glove off, she saw Peter crouching on the fire escape on her window.

"What the hell?" She muttered and approached him. The girl opened her window, receiving a cold breeze as she did it. "Peter?"

"Hey, El. Brought you this." The teen then handed Eleanor a take out container with a restaurant's logo on it. "We didn't know what you would like, so May and I ordered our favorites. Banana and California rolls."

Eleanor looked down at the box, and then back at Peter with a wide smile. She felt as if her heart was about to bounce off her body. "Peter, I-"

"Don't worry, it's on us. How are you feeling?"

Eleanor then took a few seconds to admire him. His hair was messy, in an almost perfect way. The city lights gave him a small glow that made Eleanor feel she was watching a masterpiece.

Why am I thinking like this? She thought.

"This lifted my mood a lot. T-thinks for thanking of me. I mean, I-" She stuttered, blushing as she couldn't find her way through words. She looked down at the container then back at him. "You know what I mean. Thanks."

"It's okay, don't worry." He said, laughing. "Good night, El."

Peter then climbed up to his window, back at his bedroom. Eleanor's smile didn't fade, in fact, she felt this warmth linger all night around her body she couldn't explain.

°°°

It was the next day, and Eleanor found herself in an abandoned factory in Queens. It was deserted, the smell of rust being very present. Her gloves were discarded on the ground next to a speaker and her backpack. Tony Stark was wearing his infamous suit, standing beside Eleanor.

"I don't know how these things work, so, I made a list, to see what you're able to do. See that mannequin over there?" He pointed at the said mannequin, that was meters away from the girl. "Try to throw something at it."

The man took a step back. Eleanor, based on the clips of Scarlett Witch she had previously binged on youtube, opened her hands on her sides, lighting rays appearing, going from her fingers to the center of her palm. She threw her arm towards the mannequin, and a ball of electricity flew out, missing it and burning the metal wall of the factory.

"Throwing energy balls, check. Now, try to lift something."

Eleanor took a long, deep breath, and stared at an old tire far from her. She set her hand towards it, the electricity came out and struck the tire. She grunted as she lifted up, and threw it at the other side of the factory. She smiled, liking this new feeling.

The afternoon went on like that, with AC/DC playing in the background, they both discovered that Eleanor could also lift heavier things with the electricity coming out of her, move them, and hold them in the air (at least, for a while). She couldn't transport herself through electric outputs, but she could run at an incredible speed, she could also lift and lower herself to/from high places but she just had to work on it. A lot.

A few hours after, Eleanor and Tony were sitting on the factory's rooftop. The girl was exhausted to say the least, she had been running for at least an hour straight and lifted very heavy things here and there. They were both silent, admiring the sunset setting on the city.

"Don't let this drag you down." Tony blabbered out, so fast the teen couldn't comprehend at first.

"What?" She asked. Turning her head slightly to look at him. She felt so tired that the slightest move on her neck ached.

"Don't let this, thing, drag you down. You can work it out. It may seem new, and terrifying, but I know you can do this."

Hearing Tony Stark motivating her made her shocked. She had misjudged him all this time, thinking he wouldn't care about her existence. He really did, and it showed.

"Thanks, Mr. Stark."

"I'm sorry. My father wasn't the type to give me advice, so I'm trying to break that cycle here. Hey, your father was a mechanical engineer, right?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe you should focus on that, kid. Or biomedical engineering, your abilities would help you a lot with that. I got some pull at MIT."

Eleanor considered the option. She had never taken the time to look at another angle, but Mr. Stark just did for her. She liked that idea: she could build stuff, but focusing on the health of others.

"That sounds interesting, Mr. Stark, I'll think about that one."

"It's getting late, kid. We should go home." He stood up, his metal mask going back to face. "By the way kid, in two weeks I won't be here. Got a trip to India. We'll resume the tutoring when I get back."

The teen nodded, and they both rose from their sitting positions and challenged each other to a race towards the Stark Tower.

°°°