"So, do you have a plan in mind?" I asked Peter as we ran down the hall towards the back exit, taking awkward strides in my heels as he hurriedly put his makeshift Spider-Man suit on. "A step one?"
"Yeah, track my phone," he panted, pulling on his mask and hoodie. "I left it in his car."
"Track it how?"
"Never really got to that part."
"Superb," I scoffed, throwing the doors open. The back of the school lot was filled with buses. "Now, let's get this-" I was punched in the back and flew down on the concrete into a tumble. My metal fingers scraped against the ground as I fixed myself, glaring in pain at the man who had just attacked me. "Well that was very rude," I hissed at him.
"You're not Spider-Man," he realized out loud, pulling his fist close to his chest. It was covered by a glowing gauntlet. Peter came racing in his direction only to get punched through a bus. "But you are."
"What the hell?" Peter cursed, hunching over.
"What's with the crappy costume?" the guy commented, preparing the gauntlet for another shot. Peter tried to shoot from his web-shooter, but it had broken off the suit. "I wasn't sure about this thing at first..." He hit a school bus in Peter's direction, drawing him out so he could throw him into another bus. "... but damn." He turned around, looking at me with a smirk. "You know, I recognize you now. Boss said that Isabel Stark might be paired up with the red freak. I saw you on the ferry," he clucks his tongue at me disapprovingly, taking slow, mocking steps toward me. "You need to work on your spying."
"You need to work on trying to intimidate people," I spat, standing weakly to my feet. "It isn't working." The man glared at me, pulling his fist back to hit me, the gauntlet glowing white. A strand of webbing shot through the air and attached to it. I followed the strand to see Ned holding the missing web-shooter with wide eyes.
"What do I do now?" he yelled at me in terror, his arms shaking as the man tried to tear the webbing off. "Isabel?!?"
"Throw it!" I told him, catching it from the air with my metal hand. The bands fitted themselves around my wrist, allowing me to use the web strand and throw the guy into a bus. As he slumped to the ground, I pulled my middle and ring finger in, hitting a button to trap him against the bus with a splatter of webbing.
"That's the coolest thing ever," Ned awed, coming beside me and mimicking my movement. "Take that, mister!"
"Ned, there isn't much time." The two of us turned to see Peter walking in our direction with a slight limp. His mask wasn't covering his mouth as he breathed heavily. "The guy with the wings is Liz's dad."
"What?"
"I know. I gotta tell Mr. Stark," he continued, coming over to my side and leaning on me for support. Ned looked between the two of us in confusion. "Call Happy Hogan. He's Mr. Stark's head of security. And, uh, get a computer to track my phone for me."
"On it," Ned began to grin, hurrying back into the school. Peter shook his ankle a few times.
"You're sure you're okay?" I asked him. "It doesn't hurt too bad... does it?"
"Just a little tender, I'm sure I'm fine," Peter shook his head, giving a final shake of his ankle. "I didn't know you knew how to use the shooters."
"Neither did I," I answered truthfully, taking it off and handing it to him. "I guess I've seen you do it a lot and just figured it out by that." The two of us just looked at each other, not really sure of what to say.
"You... you look really pretty," he said slowly, color rising through his cheeks. He shuffled back and forth on his feet. "You cut your hair?"
"Yeah, I..." I blushed, pulling strands of hair out of my face from all of the action. "It's something new."
"I like it."
"Thanks. You look good..." I then remembered he was still in his old Spider-Man suit. "...too."
"What can I say, red and blue's just my color," he laughed, and I couldn't help but smile. Why had he been ignoring me for all this time? It hurt. "Isabel, I-"
"I bet Ned's already tracked your phone by now," I cut him off. "We should go."
"But- I- yeah, you're right," Peter sighed. With his right hand, he shot a web strand out to a tall pole. He wrapped his left arm around me, pulling me in tight before giving the strand a tug and sending us flying out of the bus lot and over the school fence. A few feet before we're about to hit the ground, he swung us back up again. "Is that who I think it is?" he asked me, looking at a red convertible coming in our direction.
"I think so," I answered. "We need that car." Wasting no time, Peter released the web strand and landed harshly on the bonnet of Flash's car, causing him and Courtney to scream.
"Flash," Peter ordered in a low gravelly voice, letting me go so I could slide off the top and open the driver's door. "I need your car and your phone."
"Uh, sir, technically, this is my dad's car, sir. So I can't..." Flash began to ramble.
"Now," I tell him darkly, giving him a glare. Flash looked at me in surprise before recognizing me.
"Bella, what are you-" I didn't waste any time, and I used my powers to create a water whip to pull him out of the car. He fell on his butt, letting out a groan when he hit the road. Courtney jumped out of Flash's car with a shriek and ran as fast as she could, and we could hear her sobs of terror as she disappeared. My heart froze and I looked back at Flash worriedly, feeling sick as realization dawned on his face.
"You're Isabel Stark," he breathed, staring at me in awe. "I had a feeling you were, but... oh my God."
"Go, now," Peter hissed at him, taking his phone and sending our classmate on his way. I sat in the passenger seat numbly, Peter's words dull to my ears as he began to speed down the road. Why didn't I think it through? I was so close to being done with my contract and I wasted it on none other than Flash Thompson. "Ned, I don't think she's breathing! Isabel, are you breathing? I don't want to be an ass but we really don't have time to go to the hospital but I can totally take you-"
"Just keep driving, we need to- Peter!" I came to my senses and jerked the wheel right before he could crash into another car. The two of us screamed as several cars honked at us. "How can you not drive?!?"
"I thought I could!" he screamed back, taking the wheel back from me and driving the car between two motorcycles. "Get out of the way, get out of the way! Move! Move!"
"Peter, are you okay?" Ned asked carefully through the phone, his voice blasted by the speaker. "Isabel, is he okay? Are you okay? This entire situation is so stressful."
"I've never really driven before," Peter defended himself, swerving wildly. "Only with May in parking lots. This is a huge step up. Damn, where are the headlights on this thing?" A minivan almost slammed into my side, and the two of us screamed again. "This is insane!"
"Oh, move over!" I huffed, leaning over to his side and turning a knob clockwise on the left, causing the front lights of the car to turn on. "Headlights, got it. Ned, have you gotten through to Happy yet?"
"Yeah. I'm working on it. I just gotta backdoor the phone system."
"Backdoor faster," I grumbled, every once an a while taking the steering wheel to keep us from running into cars. Peter cleared his throat uncomfortably, causing me to shoot him a glare. "Something funny, Spider-Boy?"
"You haven't called me that in a while, Belle," he noted.
"You don't get to call me 'Belle' after ignoring me for the past week," I growled, staring back at the road, now not as crowded with cars. "What was up with that? I don't remember doing anything wrong during that fight between you and my dad, I was defending you! And then you just disappeared!"
"It's a long story," he sighed, gripping the wheel tightly. "And I'm really sorry- I didn't want it to happen but I didn't have a-"
"Peter, Isabel? He stopped in an old industrial park in Brooklyn."
"What? That makes no sense!" Peter sputtered, shaking his head and almost driving over the curb in the process. "I thought he said he was going out of town!"
"Weird. Oh, I reached Mr. Happy. Don't think he likes you, by the way. And by you, I mean Peter. He likes Isabel just a little more."
"Kind of saw that coming," I said with a small smirk as Peter scoffed. "Keep going, Ned."
"It sounded like he was catching a flight. He said something about taking off in nine minutes."
"What?" Peter questioned in confusion.
"He was surrounded by a bunch of boxes."
"Boxes?" It finally clicked in my head.
"It's moving day," I told Peter with wide eyes. "It's moving day! Avengers Tower!"
"He's gonna rob the plane!" Peter caught on, glancing at me for a few seconds before returning his eyes to the road. "I gotta stop him."
"We gotta stop him," I corrected him.
"Yeah."
____________________________________________________________
"This is the place?" I asked Peter softly, staring at the dark building in front of us, Avengers Tower glowing in the skyline. The two of us stood right outside of the car, our hands resting on the doors. I could feel the grooves from almost flipping twice with my metal fingers.
"Yeah," Peter answered back, his voice almost a whisper. There was a faint wind blowing my short hair in my face. A loud crash came from the building, causing the two os us to jump.
"Are we gonna go in there or keep standing here?" I huffed, glancing over at him. Peter didn't look back at me. "All right, I'm gonna get these heels off and I'll go in first." I leaned down to slide them off only to feel a soft tug on my metal arm.
"I'm really sorry about this." I looked at him in horror, my left hand webbed up to the car. "I really am."
"Unweb me right now, Peter Parker," I warned him. "Right. Now."
"I can't have you come with me, you'll understand in a bit," he told me, cautiously backing up away from the car and me. "Like I said, I'm sorry."
"Peter, you are not doing this to me," I shook my head. "Peter... Peter!" My words had no effect on him as he swung himself away and into the building through a window. I wanted to scream in anger, but if I did that it would only alert Liz's father of our presence. I could've used my powers to stop or something, I just... didn't have it in me.
"Oh, get a fucking grip, Isabel," I swore at myself. "You can't let your emotions get a hold of you, especially right now." I pulled my arm as hard as I could, trying to rip it from the webbing, only to take the entire side door in the process. The convertible gave a groan, and I almost fell over from the new weight attached to me. "This is fantastic."
I shook my arm wildly for a minute, even standing on the detached door trying to get the webs off, but nothing helped. Finally, I narrowed my eyes at the webbing and slowly froze the strands, expanding them into icy shards that snapped the moment I ripped my hand away. I flexed my metal fingers individually, regaining control of them when I heard a low rumble. I turned my head in the direction of the building as Liz's father flew out in his suit.
And the building crumbled inward.
"Peter," I breathed out, my heart feeling like a weight in my chest. Dust was floating in my direction, bits of rubble rolling to my feet. "Peter." Why hadn't he come out yet? Why wasn't he climbing out unscathed or maybe with a few scratches? He couldn't... it wasn't possible... "PETER!"