"NINE DEAD IN NEWARK, NEW JERSEY. Police in the area say that they believe loose criminal Illiana Viotto and her accomplice, Samara Viotto, started a bloodbath by killing three off—"
A loud click echoes throughout the living room, stealing Nina's view of the brunette going into vivid detail of her ex-mother's murder with a perfect smile on her lips and replacing it with an old re-run of Spongebob episodes.
"I was watching that." Nina sneers, grabbing a her second sandwich of the day, feeling her chest warm up the slightest bit when she recalls her conversation with Mr. Delmar. He had told her that his youngest daughter had a recent obsession with her alter ego, and hearing the stories of a eight year old girl running around their apartment pretending to be her took away Nina's annoyance towards her father - who had forced her to stay home instead of going to school.
"Ajak is a minute away, and trust me when I tell you that she'd be upset if she hears the news," Druig decides to turn off the T.V all together, grabbing a sweater from one of the spare chairs. "I'll meet her downstairs. Behave."
When he leaves, Nina grabs a tissue when she begins to cough violently, cringing at the sight of blood. It had been going on since last night - she'd emerge from sleep, cough up chunks of blood, and go back to sleep.
When Druig goes down to meet this mysterious Ajak (who she still knows nothing about), the bored girl takes it as her time to spam the groupchat she shared with Alaska and Betty with messages; multiple pictures of her bandage, all in different angles, and a bunch of obscure stories about her time as Mendax to the general public: like that time one guy who was probably ten years older than her trying to hit.
He currently doesn't have the ability to talk. It may seem like a very severe punishment in hindsight, but the man had sputtered out very inappropriate comments and she took care of it.
Now being aware of her alter-ego, Betty had told her that the whore ordeal had made a lot of sense: the sudden disappearance after school, the rooting for Mendax's early days when she was a Sophmore, the random injuries that would appear out of nowhere.
The three of them talk for a few minutes - Alaska spamming them with a variation of "my gf is so cute" messages, before the conversation goes radio silent - Nina assumes it's because their Calculus teacher caught the two of them again.
There was just something so... comforting, now that Alaska and Betty knew that she was Mendax. She haw always kept things in - she couldn't complain to how hard nights were to Peter, since despite both being vigilantes, he had a bigger advantage on him: his super strength and his healing. If she was to complain about rough nights, the girl was a hundred percent sure that Peter couldn't relate to her problems, all because his physical advantage was bigger.
So it lifted a certain weight off Nina's shoulders that she could finally complain about her nights on patrol, feeling relief that she didn't have to hide from her two best friends anymore.
Once she finishes the rest of her sandwich, (right after picking all of the pickles away - she never understood why Peter liked them so much) Nina hears the sound of the keypad beeping, turning around when she hears the sound of the door creaking.
Ajak — if it was her, had dark brown eyes and even darker hair - and if Nina was being honest, she was one of the prettiest women she's ever seen in her sixteen years of living.
"This is her?" she questions solemnly, scooting over to where Nina is perched on the sofa.
"Yup," Druig responds, a fond smile on his face.
"She looks just like Nikaia." Her eyes fix on Nina, before flitting back to Druig. "Except for that smile that spreads on her lips - I've seen it too many times - perhaps a little knowing. That's all you."
The mention of her mother has her heart clenching the slightest bit. The last time she's seen her was six months ago; and every day that passes by, she finds herself missing her presence more and more.
Out of the blue, she suddenly feels her throat tightening once again, and there she is - coughing violently into another piece of tissue, the red of her blood a sharp contrast to the whites of the object. Attempting to catch her breath was harder this time as they came in shorter intervals.
She see the way her father breaks at the sight of her weakness.
It's like a switch is flipped - suddenly, she struggles to breathe as a whole, breath coming out in short, panicked, breaths. It was the type of feeling you'd have when you're on the verge on an anxiety attack - yet, Nina was calm.
Druig sits next to her, nonchalant facade long gone as he begins to rub circles on Nina's back; a thing that had always comforted Nikaia, and as he recently found out, Nina. "Ajak, I have always followed your lead, even when I question you, I've always done as you ask, for the mission."
Ajak looks torn, a certain sadness in her eyes as she watched the scene unfold; Nina helplessly leaning against her father as she eyes the blood soaked tissues with one hand. "Druig—"
"One thing is all I ask of you. Just one thing - heal her." Druig pleads, taking the tissues away, not one ounce of disgust present on his face; making Ajak realize how much he's come from a long way. "I'm not asking you to alter the course of history— all I'm asking is for you to heal her."
"I will do as Arishem entrusted me to do." It pains her to say this, especially watching the interaction with her bare eyes, but it's a must. "You know we cannot interfere."
"She's not a human. She's my daughter. She's Nikaia's daughter. What's the difference between healing her and healing me whenever I get injured?" His voice cracks at the very end of his sentence, accompanied with the hoarse fit of coughs that hit the girl once agIn. "It's all I ask, Ajak. Please."
She bites her lip, finding herself thrown into a huge dilemma. She shouldn't be doing this. Hell, she shouldn't even have to make this decision in the first place, since they couldn't reproduce.
But, behind it all, she sees Druig - the once unserious man he was now begging her; the love of a father to his child clearly evident in those eyes of his.
"Just this once, Druig." Ajak breathes out, and an audible sigh of pure relief comes out the man's throat. "I'll heal her, as you say, but just this once. We had our purpose, we served it, and all we need—"
"All you need is what?" Nina interrupts the lady, a furrow in her eyebrow as she absorbs the conversation.
"It's nothing." Druig reassures her, tapping her back to calm her over. He still hasn't told Nina about how him and Nikaia could leave at any moment, travel back to Olympia, because frankly, he doesn't know how he can. "Right, Ajak?"
Noticing the shift of tone and sudden coldness, Ajak nods. "Right."
Nina's gaze on her didn't waver as she looked her in the eye, neither did she attempt to step back in order to keep the distance between her and the older woman.
She didn't trust people, at all, especially with the ruckus of two highly trained people trying to kill her, but her parents trusted Ajak - and there wasn't anyone else in the world she trusted more than her parents. Even Peter.
"You'll be okay," she assured, placing her hands on either side of her head before she could have any further objections.
Symbols appear on her hands - weird symbols that she didn't recognize, but once the woman went through it, a weird, calming feeling had settled over Nina.
It felt like like whatever is passing through her is taking chunks of her with it. Holes in the skin, holes in the heart, and she's sure everyone in the room can see them. But they can't - Druig still had that same worried look on his face and Ajak was still focused on healing whatever disease Samara had implanted on her.
Nina isn't too sure if it took two minutes or two hours, but Ajak finally releases her hold on her. To check if she was actually healed or this was all just a fucking ruse, her nimble fingers remove the bandage that wraps around her torso, mouth stuck in a wincing position until she realizes that the wound, was in fact, gone.
She was healed.
"Pneumonic plague," Ajak informs once she's done, pointing towards the bloodied tissues in the trash bin. "It came from the bacterium Yersinia pestis and are normally transmitted from rats to humans by fleas - but it had somehow manifested in your lungs. It's been 16 hours since infection; 18 hours and you would've died."
Druig clenches his jaw, nodding silently as Ajak explained the other anomalies she's healed in his daughter's body.
...
"Why are you wearing the bracelet?"
It's been a day since Ajak visited. Druig insisted that she'd spend the night at the apartment since the man who once owned it was a rich man and they had plenty of spare rooms - but the woman insisted on traveling back home, apparently, she had some stuff to sort out.
It took plenty of convincing of her father to let her go to school - plenty. If this was set a year ago (or six years, that still fucked her brain up) Nina would've loved the excuse to stay in an not attend school: but now, she was actually interested in all the classes she took after spending most of her time at Stark Industries.
She hoped that he wouldn't be awake to spot the bracelet - but he was.
"Why are you awake?" The girl changes the topic, hiding the jewelry behind her bag.
"I'm driving you to school. Don't change the topic," he says icily, pointing at her hidden arm. "Put your arm out."
"No."
This time, his eyes glow a bright gold, and that sheer force takes over the girl - since she was no match for an Eternal, and soon, her wrist is exposed to her father.
"You are not putting that thing on." Druig points to the nanotech suit disguised as a bracelet, "You are in enough risk just going to that school, Nina. You can't—"
"Stop controlling my life. Stop controlling me." the anger begins to claw at her chest despite how much she doesn't want to fight with her father; Druig using his powers on her was always a sore spot for her.
The man lets out a sigh, momentarily forgetting how dramatic Nina could be at times. She got it from her mother. "I'm saying maybe you should really hang up the Mendax suit for a little while, okay? Just go dark until we have an idea of where Illiana and Samara might be and how much they know."
"I can't do that and you know it." Nina shoots back, hiding her arm away from her father as if it would do something when the damage is already done. "I have a duty to the city and—"
"The city has Spider-Man." Druig stressed, frustration growing over the minute. He could use his powers of Nina in the blink of an eye - but he wanted his daughter to understand how important her life was and why risking it was stupid. "You have a duty to me, to your mother, to your friends and to Peter to stay alive. You almost died two days ago - you would've been dead by now if it wasn't for Ajak."
"You trust Peter way too much. It's all well and good he helps people, but you must be mental to expect him to be able to help everyone. It's unrealistic. You can't expect so much from just one guy who has his own problems to deal with - that's why I'm there. We work as a team. We help the city as a team."
"I think the city can survive one day without you."
"I'm already slacking on my part, dad!" Nina raised her voice, gritting her teeth as the pure unbridled rage ran through her - her head was in a weird mixture of emotions, but the annoyance towards how overbearing her father was being stood out the most. "I skip patrol days whenever I'd get my period. I skip patrols whenever I'm at work. I skipped yesterday—"
"Again, the city can—"
"If I'm not there to protect people, then who will?" she couldn't help it this time - she yelled at her father. "Peter can only cover so much. Samara and Illiana are in New Jersey right now doing god knows what murdering all those people and you have no fucking idea how much creeps there are at New York. What if there's a girl getting harassed in the East Village, or a robbery in uptown, and I'm here in Queens, sitting my ass off like those fucking cops?"
That stunned him into silence.
"I'm patrolling, with or without your permission, and I'm staying a bit late to make up for yesterday and the day before that." Her hearts soften for a moment at the sight of her father, looking disappointed in himself, so she continues. "And I'm driving myself to school since you don't know how public transportation works and I don't want you to end up somewhere you aren't supposed to be."
The day passes by slowly. It started off with the morning rush hour traffic. Then, Nina catches up on her lessons, her homeroom teacher tells them about a summer trip across Europe, Alaska kisses MJ when she thought no one would see them, (it was only Betty and Nina, but still) there were a lot of sights of Peter, for some reason - maybe it had to do something with her injury, but Nina refused to talk to him for the whole day since she knew he would only be a distraction; besides, they'd be meeting each other at the Strip Spot - so she'd have more time to ogle the boy when the time comes.
At four pm, Nina is holding a #4 sandwich on her hand and is on the very edge of a anxiety attack - all because Peter had asked her a question.
"What are you doing here?"
The boy, however, wasn't prepared for Nina's reaction. She froze. Every muscle in her body tensed up. She stared down at her sandwich, unable to meet Peter's eyes, but not quite seeing it either.
Peter Parker's seemingly innocent question leads to Nina close to having a panic attack - and it sucked.
Nina closed her eyes and focused on breathing, willing himself to get past this. Now wasn't the time to have a anxiety attack - fuck it, she looked so stupid, but he was right. What the fuck was she doing here?
Samara almost killed her. She put a fucking plague in her body and if it wasn't for her father's friend she would've been dead right now. What if he was right? What if she didn't have the upper hand? What if Samara comes back and kills her properly this time? Right now, when she was offering herself on a silver platter, flying through the city while everyone—
"Nina."
It's like she's in a constant fog state. She can hear fine, but she suddenly has this immense trouble listening to whatever Peter's trying to say that might reassure her. She knows what to say (or she doesn't), but she can't say it. It's not quite fear that's holding her back, but her body and everything in it is just frozen.
She suddenly felt an arm around her shoulders and a warm hand covering hers. A voice registered in Nina's ears, but she could barely understand it. It sounded distant, muffled. Like it was a million miles away from her.
She tried to focus on the feeling of someone touching her, bringing her back.
It's Peter, she reminds herself, taking in deep breaths every minute. It's Peter. It's Peter. It's Peter. You're okay. It's Peter.
Her breathing eventually slowed as the arm rubbed her shoulder soothingly.
"Nina," the boy murmured calmly, gently, sandwich she was once eating disposed to god knows where. "Calm down. You're okay. You're fine. Just breathe. I'm sorry for asking, okay? I'm sorry. You're okay."
Once she had calmed down enough for the rest of her body to catch up with her brain, the first words she utters are, "I'm so fucking pathetic, Jesus christ - what's wrong with me?"
Peter, who was still holding her together, shook his head. "You're scared and that's okay. It's normal."
"I shouldn't be this scared, Peter." she said quietly, still not removing herself from the boy's grasp. "I'm a hero."
"You're human." Nina started to pull her hand away when Peter grasped it back firmly, not letting her go. "You aren't a robot, or a highly trained assassin, you're a human, and humans get scared and thats okay." he said quietly, trying to catch Nina's gaze.
Nina frowns, but nevertheless intertwined her fingers in Peter's and kept her eyes fixed on their joined hands. His hands were quite rough compared to her soft ones - but his warmth - his touch - sent that weird feeling down her stomach, easing her of some of the worries that clouded her mind.
"Samara put some type of plague in my body." she finally admitted it in front of the boy, her eyes set on their connected hands. "If it weren't for dad's friend, I would've been dead. He tried stopping me from patrolling this morning and I don't know—"
Nina couldn't finish the words, partly because she didn't know what to say and partly cause she didn't want to say it, the The two of them stayed still, breathing nearly in sync and hands intertwined.
Until suddenly, a loud whoosh echoed throughout the spot, causing the two of them to spring up in action, eyes darting around the area to look for whatever threats there are.
It all happens so fast. The figure, whoever it was, moves instantly, a spear appearing on their hand. But the thing was, they weren't attacking her - they were attacking Peter.
It takes a few seconds - then it clicks.
"Stop!" Nina yells, panicked despite the growing joy in her chest. "Stop— that's Peter! He's a friend! Dad knows him!"
Nikaia, hair now brown instead of the blonde that resembled hers, retracted the spear, inching it away from a shaking Peter Parker. "Well then, please don't tell your father about this."
...
NOTES:
two chapters before far from home officially begins <3
finally giving nina a break for the next chapter (i'm being serious this time LMAO) it's all fluff, not gonna spoil anything but yeah its just pure fluff
also just going to explain all the sciencey shit in this fic for no reason except for me just wanting to bc i'm a woman in stem:
- the reason why samara had a whole personality change is bc she altered the frontal lobe of her brain to be immune of nina's mind control. that lobe is also responsible for characteristics, decision-making and movement so that's why she's been acting out of character.
- druig removing nina's pain by deactivating her nociceptors with his powers; and therefore the nociceptors isnt shooting up a response= nina cant feel pain
- nina got the Pneumonic plague from a bioterrorist attack from samara