Spider-man swore that Elementa could only throw some punches and he would melt down in a puddle with gushes of excitement and appreciation streaming out from his mouth.
This time, Elementa didn't make any slow wind summoning hand motion. She just raised her hand fast and palm up and rose up in the air with power. There was a pinkish air around her as she turned to him.
"Think you can keep up?"
"With ease."
With that, Elementa took flight, her hands at her sides, motioning the wind to wherever she was heading to. Spider-man shot web by web, matching her pace.
"Look! Spider-man and Elementa!"
Everyone down there looked at them in amazement and even cheered loudly. A few whipped out their phones and started recording.
"This is sick!" Spider-man shouted out as the wind reduced his sound.
"I know, right?!" Elementa shouted too.
They kept swinging and flying for 20 minutes until Elementa sat down on top of a building to catch her breath.
Spider-man landed next to her.
"What? Already out of breath?" He teased her.
"A bit. Because unlike you, Spider-boy, I use my body energy to travel." She said. A few moments later, she regained her breath and was ready to fly again but was stopped by the other.
"Well, I can help you in that case." He suggested uncertainly. Elementa's lips formed a smirk and he could practically see her raise an eyebrow.
"Mouth to mouth resuscitation everytime I'm out of breath? Sounds like a plan." She said, her tone playful. Spider-man immediately got reminded of a certain someone but ignored it. His face was a blushing mess under the mask but he was Spider-man... he could do it.
"I was gonna help you get there but sure, that works too, I guess," he flirte back smoothly though on the inside he grew extremely hot and it wasn't the weather. He forwarded his hand towards her and she grabbed it.
"Cha cha real smooth, Spider-man. Webbing up bad guys isn't the only thing you're good at."
Spider-man pulled her close suddenly so that she bumped with his muscled chest gently. His arm wrapped around her waist and her arms circled around his neck. For a moment the thought of the girl entered his mind when his eyes fell on Elementa's lips but he shook the thoughts away.
This was strictly professional maybe with a bit of friendship.
He shot out a web and attached it to a building far from where they were standing and took swing (took flight....took swing, you know).
After a few minutes, they were almost out of the city in an open ground which was surrounded by forests on one side.
Elementa touched her earpiece, her expression were now grim as she recieved her next information.
Spider-man followed Elementa into the forest, their steps calculating and senses high on alert.
Spider-man, who was swinging from tree to tree, followed Elementa who was walking, occasionally avoiding a branch or root, with a green glow around her palms.
"Tell me again why we aren't teleporting." Spider-man groaned, leisurely swinging.
"And how do you expect me to teleport to an unknown place, Mr. Sticky hands?" Elementa asked, frustrated because they had been walking and swinging for a long time.
"I don't know. You're supposed to be the more intelligent and badasser one here."
"Well, I don't have spider tingles, Spidey."
"Excuse you, they're spider senses, Ms. Glow hands."
Their banter stopped when they witnessed a near demolished house at a distance. Normally, that would mean typical horror houses in the middle of the forest but Elementa's location pointed at the same direction.
Carefully, they neared the run-down place and Elementa spread her mind to search for a presence. For a moment, she felt it nearing to another extremely powerful mind but as soon as her mind reached out to touch it, the connection snapped and a searing pain pierced her head. Clutching it, she fell on her knees but didn't dare make a sound. Goosebumps erupted her skin immediately. Spider-man crouched down to her level fast and looked at her with concerned eyes.
"Are you alright? What happened?" He slightly touched her shoulder. Her head immediately shot up and she stood up in a blink of an eye.
"There's someone in there! I sensed someone, really really powerful," She whispered furiously.
Without wasting a time, both entered the place cautiously as suddenly, Elementa's girls-in-chair couldn't give a further update of the place. Her hands lit up in a yellow glow and Spider-man started crawling on the ceiling, both nearing to a room with its door locked. Spider-man jumped soundly beside Elementa who was considering opening the door.
"Hey, if I get mind flayed by any chance and I shoot webs at you, I'm apologising in advance."
"No hard feelings, dude. You might be dead even before your web gets out of you hand. Aww don't look at me like a kicked puppy I'm only joking."
They entered the room to only find it old and desolate with spiders and their webs all over the corners. There was a small broken drawer and closet in the room. Cautiously, they entered the place. It was totally empty with no previous signs of life or whatsoever. Elementa swore she felt someone's strong presence earlier when they obliterated her mind, giving her a pain so strong that could send any common person to coma.
"Uh....hey Elementa, this thing looks kinda weird."
She turned around to see Spiderman holding up a small circle chip thingy of vantablack colour. Taking it from him, she twirled it in the glow of her fingers but it absorbed the light instead of reflecting it off. She dimmed the glow much more before it started dissipating into heat.
"This was intentional," she said with a frown. Of course, people didn't make unknown microchips and painted them vantablack.
"They don't want us to find out about this chip? That's kinda mean. I'll have to tell this to Mr. Stark," he said before turning around to tell Karen to contact Tony.
Elementa's eyes widened at this. There was no way she would get involved with the Avengers. There was a huge risk of people finding her identity and Divija would be a constant target if villains wanted revenge.
"No."
"Why? I mean, Mr. Stark is really smart and he can do a better job than us combi-"
(MISSION ABORT! BETTER BACK UP BOI WRONG CHOICE OF WORDS!")
"I'll make one thing clear, Spider-man. I don't think your Mr. Stark took pains to find out about all this. And about my job, I've been doing a pretty great job on my own. I don't need any Stark or Rogers to validate my work. Believe it or not, I bet they're desperate to have me on their team. I have someone to take care of and I've no intention to harm them. So, I'm warning you to keep all this to yourself. If this bugs you, imma work on my own."
With this, she teleported back to her girls-in-chair with the chip. The dark atmosphere surrounding her lit up as she landed with a solemn expression. Looking around, she realized MJ was there too. Of course, she would be there. Going out for something dangerous as this and not informing her got the girl worried and she immediately came to their place.
"Dude! You okay? Did you find something?" She was immediately tackled into a hug by MJ with her questions.
Johanna, Ayana and Yuna came rose up from their chairs and rushed to her as she took out the chip and kept it in a table while dimming out the lights.
"What's that?" Yuna questioned as she peered closely.
"Some kind of microchip coated with vantablack. We can't keep this under light for long," she responded solemnly. The girls scrunched up their eyebrows in confusion.
"Vantablack? But isn't it illegal to use? Like except some educational purposes?" Ayana questioned. Johanna took the chip in her hand and looked at it closely to find any source of hint but only got disappointed. MJ suddenly jumped up.
"Wait! If this is vantablack, they should be sensitive to touch. This seems sus, bae."
That was right. One touch and the material would lose all its magic but this didn't seem to be affected.
Elementa checked her watch. 2:27. Her and MJ weren't supposed to stay out till late. More since it was school night. Next day would be hectic.
"Guys! It's school night! We'll have to go back home. I'll take this one with me."
With that she teleported MJ to her house and bidding her goodnight, came back to her own. Elementa opened the mask from her face and touched the ring of her finger which retracted back the suit. She turned to look at her bed. Divu was wearing her sister's oversized shirt which looked like a dress on her.
Leaning down, she kissed her forehead lightly and a sleepy smile appeared on her face. "Didi...." she trailed of in a tiny croaky voice, her eyes closed still.
Yodheya now sat down on her computer and opened her palm in the moonlight. The microchip looked like a black hole without any shine yet nothing seemed to be destroyed in it. Suddenly, something clicked in her mind and she immediately put the microchip on a clean panel and started working on it. It was already late but she was determined to find any clue from it.
Hours passed and by time, it was 5:30 am already. Yodheya finally looked at the revelations with a wide smile on her face. It was a round RFID chip modified by conformal layers of parylene and vibranium as its outer protection. The vantablack was tampered with and worked on so that it could, with the slightest of light, heat it up pretty fast. That was a motive to destroy the microchip if it came to the wrong hands. Thankfully, she caught on pretty fast and found the clue.
Although this was a plus point, she would have a harder time to figure out the traceability code in order to find any clue about the thing.
Sighing loudly, she leaned back on her chair. Her eyes fell on the clock and immediately widened. It was almost 6 o'clock. She had to make breakfast for her uncle!
CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!
In a second, she bolted out of her room to enter the kitchen. She opened the fridge to find it almost empty.
Of fucking course that bitch won't bring the groceries!
There were enough ingredients to make something for that asshole and her sister for breakfast and lunch if she excluded herself. Guess she would have to buy from Delmar's again. In a hurry she burned her index finger but she didn't dare stop. Sober Pramod Bose in the mornings wasn't really a good thing. He needed his breakfast hot and ready on a plate whenever he emerged from his bedroom after freshening up.
Her eyes met the hand of the clock.
"15 minutes?! Are you fucking kid- oh no not now!"
Her phone rang in her room and she had to practically sprint and recieve MJ's call and run back to her frying chicken.
"Hey boo, yeah. I can tell you stories but gotta whip up a breakfast for that ass. Sure! Bye."
Her ears picked up the sound of the shower going off and her heart started thundering. Quickly arranging the sandwich on a plate, she cracked an egg on a pan. He would be coming out any minute now. Thankfully, as soon as he appeared outside the bedroom, she put the poached egg on the plate and poured him a glass of juice.
Without a word, he sat down on a chair as she put the plate and glass in front of him and turned away to go brush her teeth but his deep, dangerous voice stopped her.
"You were up till late last night."
Shit. How the fu‐
"I-I had to complete assignments." She hoped he would believe her. Thankfully, he bought the lie and went back to eating. Finally, with all the life returning in her, she went into the shower with her towel and clothes. Stripping down, she stepped into the shower and relaxed immediately as the hot water hit her skin.
She finally realized how stressed she was. The burn in her finger started hurting but she was used to the pain. It was unbelievable how much she was struggling with her life at that point. She had her alter-ego to focus on things that slipped past the Avengers. She had 2 jobs to work and a little sister to take care of, protect and teach. She had an abusive uncle who looked for every opportunity to unleash his anger on her. The rest of her family was dead because of her. Staying up for 2 consecutive nights gave her an intense headache and her eyes were craving to close and fall asleep in the bathroom itself. The little bit of energy that remained in her body was already draining away.
Earlier, she had another problem which was concerning about what was happening in India at that time. With difficulty, she contacted a superhero from her home country to know about her well being.
"Actually, it's not that bad in here, you know? Without Kalki it was hard but that's okay. New York's at the worst condition," Kinaur said. They were a scientist who took the centaur shit seriously and became one themselves years ago when the Lab had a... small mishap. The name was given by the public, after Kinnara Kingdom in Mahabharat where the tribes were mysterious linked with horses and were considered super-creatures. They were one of the most powerful superheroes in existence yet not many knew them. Their powers are super-strength, mind reading, clairvoyance and teleportation.
"I know....but- won't people suspect that after the disappearance of Kalki, Elementa suddenly appeared and both have the same powers? The world does have intelligent people and we're the example."
Kalki was the name given to Yodheya when she appeared in the superhero world in an embroidered suit and the most dangerous powers. Crimes that rose during the blip and continued after, started disappearing suddenly after the appearance of a certain female superhero. She was named such since the crimes rates dropped tremendously after her appearance and Kalki was another form of protector who was known to rejuvenate existence by ending the darkest and destructive period. But after Kalki disappeared, the crime rates started rising again but thankfully, a bunch of new superheros emerged again.
Kalki was now Elementa.
Dressing up, she emerged from the shower, not forgetting to brush her teeth. Divu was already sitting up with her hair in a big mess and eyes closed. Yodheya ushered her to the bathroom to freshen up and picked out her clothes to wear. Her own bag was packed the night before she went on that mission with Spider-man. She packed her sister's lunch box and heated up her breakfast, then went to her room to wear all her accessories. She felt naked without them now that she was so habituated. In twenty minutes they had to leave the house and Divu was late. So, Yodheya came in the room to only find her sister passed out again on the carpet flat. Groaning in frustration, she pulled her up in a stand and dressed her fast as she stayed in her sleepy state. When her senses kicked in, she already found herself on the table with food I front of her. Devouring them down, she was being pulled outside by Yodheya, who was muttering curses under her breath.
"Your bestie's mom gonna drop you, okay? Don't kill anyone, don't you dare waste my hardwork in your lunch box, and for the sake of your gorgeous sister, don't kick Ronny again or I'll flip my ish. I don't need that Karen calling out my existence for a slight scratch on that spawn of Satan," Yodheya rapped to her sister who nodded like an obedient puppy which was something she was far from. Divu raised a hand to voice her opinion.
"If he calls me the f-word again, can the beat the s out of him?"
"That's something to think of. Go ahead and I'll take care of it. But that's applicable only if he's an a-hole."
"Yes, Commander."
In a few minutes, Makayla's mom picked Divu up to go to their destination. Sighing for the hundredth time that day, she proceeded to go to the coffee shop where she was meeting MJ.
The cafe was small and quaint with a few customers. She entered to see her sitting in the furthest corner, with her phone. Yodheya already knew her order so she went ahead and ordered MJ's macchiato and her own espresso. It was too much caffeine for her own good but she needed that to survive through hellhole. Paying for them and grabbing her orders, she headed towards the table and sat down with a plop, facing MJ.
"Hey, loser."
"Kill me."
The tall girl released a chuckle and shook her head. "You stayed up?"
"Yeah no shit, Sherlock," Yodheya replied while rubbing her temples. Grabbing her cup, she drowned the whole thing in seconds.
"That explains why you're extra salty."
"Apparently, a microchip banged me pretty hard now I don't have my lunch. We gotta stop at Delmar's."
"Gotcha."
After finishing their coffees, they proceeded to Delmar's. Many also called it the "best sandwich in Queens" and it was quite in her budget. Without waiting, they proceeded to go in.
"Welcome to Delmar's Deli and Grill. What can I get you?" He asked as Yodheya approached him.
"Two grilled chicken sandwich with extra cheese, please."
After they were done, she bid him a goodbye with a small smile and headed to school.
"So, when are you gonna tell me?"
"After school. For now we have a Physics teacher to cap."
Talking all the way, they finally reached school to only be approached by Peter and Ned. Yodheya glanced at him with a smile but it faltered a little when she saw his under-eye bags. It wasn't because it hurt her to see him this way.
Teenage life is a slow-burn angst and staying up is a religion for most of them.
She frowned because last night was a hectic one where Spider-boy and her worked till late. Not to mention both of them were insanely big Mr. Stark fanboys who would jump of a cliff if he wished. Shaking away the thoughts, she greeted them. She needed more proof.
"Hey guys. Any thoughts about our Physics project?" Ned asked, doing a complex handshake with Yodheya. Smirking, MJ spoke up.
"We burnt our papers during trial-"
"-and we didn't remember to do the backup," Yodheya finished.
"Sounds too 'dog ate my homework' but a genius one." Peter approved with a smile. Yodheya's stomach did a backflip at that smile but she kept her cool and together they proceeded towards their homeroom.
Little did they know, their were surprises waiting for them.
_________________________________________
So.... there goes another one... and the science-y thing? Don't question me. I'm horrible at science and I just gathered bits and pieces from internet and just framed it all so I'm pretty sure it ain't right. Then again, I'm not a science student so you can't expect that from me.
Anyways, love ya <3
Bye <3