SPIDER-MAN AND ATOM ROGUE: HOMECOMING
P2: UN-HAPPY LIFE
**
"Michelle is a menace behind the wheel."
Mira couldn't help but giggle at Rhodey's statement as she made her way back into the apartment, her uncle hot on her heels. After much taunting from MJ, Rhodey had jumped into one of the co-carts determined to prove he wasn't an old man.
—MJ had destroyed him almost sending his car flying off the tracks.
The echo of Mira's phone buzzing every ten seconds was ringing in both of their ears as they made their way into the apartment.
"She did warn you that she wouldn't go easy on you." Mira argued, ignoring her buzzing phone as she made her way over to the fridge pulling out the apple juice and then reaching for an empty glass from one of the cupboards "MJ literally told me how much she hated my dad despite thinking he died saving people. She has no filter."
"She reminds me of a young Tony." Rhodey admitted as he took a seat at the counter letting Mira push a glass of juice toward him while she twisted her wrist turning her own drink into a milkshake just like did whenever her mother told her she couldn't have any more sugar "Best way to describe Michelle. Tony was 12 when he was in college for the first time. He never really grew up and kids are weirdly more honest than adults. Michelle is blunt by choice."
A part of Mira really wanted to tell Michelle who she really was.
But, that voice in her head, the one that belonged to her father was holding her back. It had taken her 12 years to tell the boy she saw as her own brother. As much as she adored Michelle, given how she had been raised...she just couldn't.
Forcing her brain anyway from all thoughts of finally telling Michelle who she was, Mira groaned as she spotted the time "I have to be in Brooklyn in 30 minutes."
Rhodey clenched his jaw unhappily at the reminder of the missions Ross was still forcing her to go on every single night. It hadn't even taken him four days post-Germany to demand Atom Rogue start working again despite the injuries she had sustained during the fight at the airport. While he had been given the past several weeks off to recover, Mira hadn't. She was currently the face of the Avengers especially given that Tony didn't do as much active work.
Even if she was only being forced to deal with street-level threats right now, it didn't mean that Ross wasn't putting her in danger.
As much of a monster as Marcus was, at least he had always stayed within a mile every time Mira was out there, ready to step in if something went wrong.
"Go get some sleep...I will wake you up in 25."
Mira forced a smile to her face quickly downing her milk-shake and placing the glass in the sink before she made her way into her room. Kicking the door shut behind her she reluctantly grabbed her suit out of the closet only to sigh as she felt familiar ice rush down her spin.
"No better than Marcus."
Her father was perched on the edge of her bed chuckling slightly as he flipped through images on her tablet, images of her memories of what had gone down during the Avengers break-up flooding the screen.
Using her memories against her was beyond cruel but Marcus Rohan, even if he was a hallucination, didn't seem to give a shit.
"I mean I am pretty sure I was the best-looking Avenger so yeah, they can't be better than me."
Mira ignored his playful statement as she made her way into her bathroom, doing her best to ignore the familiar sound of his voice echoing in her ear as he continued to go on and on about how handsome he was while she slipped on the pink and white suit. Since when did her dad have this kind of ability to be such a jokester? Or was it just Tony's influence over her infecting the hallucination that kept taunting her?
Stepping out of her bathroom in her suit, her hood and mask the only things not pulled up given she fully planned on at least a 15-minute nap before she went out, Mira groaned as she spotted her father still sitting there, eyeing her new suit closely.
"What happened to the navy?"
—Her first-ever suit had been a mix of Renterian navy and pink.
She had always hated to navy.
"I wanted it gone." She hissed before moving over to her bed, laying down, sinking into the mattress trying her best to ignore him "I don't get a lot of choice in my life, my suit was my choice. My choice to sleep right now is mine so buzz off."
"You are getting closer." Marcus continued as he moved around her newly decorated room, a room where all photos of him had been removed. From the outside, just by looking at the photos, it appeared more like Tony and Rhodey had helped raise her. As though the dramatic trio had ended up in a situation of having to raise a child together, all of them pitching in like Three Men and a Baby.
"Closer to the hero I trained you to be."
Mira groaned as she shoved her face further into her pillow trying to drown out the sound of his voice "You trained me to conquer. Not be a hero. Which I am not."
Mira Rohan doubted she would ever see herself as a hero given that saving people had never been her choice.
A hero chose to save people; she had been forced into it. Time and time again. She may be an Avenger but that didn't mean she was a hero. She was just a soldier who had been forced to enlist, with no choice in the matter whatsoever.
—The window frame sliding up caused her to tense up.
"S.A.N.T.O.S.?"
"The sound of your window opening was real Miss Rohan."
The fact she had to have an A.I. reassure her that she wasn't losing her mind was seriously concerning. Her mental health was drowning, Mira knew it, but she didn't have time for the therapy Tony had offered to pay for given everything else she had going on. She was struggling to see the bright side through all the darkness that had been in her life since her sophomore year began. Hell, the darkness had been there since she got her powers.
She never had time.
"Hey—"
Mira remained silent as the familiar voice washed over her ears, choosing instead to settle on her back, a soft blue cotton comforter surrounding her as her gaze remained focused on the ceiling. Not once drifting toward the boy who had climbed in through her window and was just hovering near it now, uncertain if he was allowed to take a step further into the room.
"What are you doing here Parker?"
His feet moved around the room before she felt the bed creek beside her as Peter in his Spider-Suit slumped down beside her like he normally did. Mira just sighed refusing to acknowledge him as he turned onto his side, his maskless face pressing into the right-side pillow. His body easily sank into that side of her Queen-sized bed that had weirdly become his given all of the times he had passed out here after patrol.
"It's quiet. So, taking a break." Peter admitted as his eyes continued to stare at the side of her face while she refused to even glance at him. Even if her voice was polite, the fact she wouldn't make eye contact right now made it crystal clear how upset she was with him "A lady bought me a churro..."
Mira reluctantly turned onto her side so that she was facing him, eyeing the half-eaten churro in his hands for a second before her gaze settled back on those beautiful eyes of his "Score."
"I saved you some." He ignored the blunt sarcastic tone as he held out the rest of the churro toward her.
Mira couldn't help but smile as she ripped off a small piece of the churro tossing it into her mouth only for her eyes to widen as she spotted the face in the makeup mirror on her desk.
No matter how hard she tried, she was cursed with the image of her father. No matter what she did, he wouldn't go away.
Two gloved fingers softly grasped her chin causing the image of her father to vanish as she was met with familiar dark chocolate brown eyes.
"Hey, M, what's going on?"
Mira swallowed nervously "I-I-I keep seeing him. Everywhere." She tapped her forehead with her index finger "No matter what I do, where I go, he is in there. He is always there."
Peter's face fell at her words, the realisation of why she kept staring off into space for the past few weeks hitting him at speeding force. She hadn't been staring at space...she had been seeing a vision of Marcus Rohan staring back at her.
"Is it-"
"My dad?" Mira finished his sentence for him as she rolled back over onto her back, letting her eyes focus on the glow and the dark stars above her "Big time with the haunting and making me feel crazy. Has been since St Louis. Wasn't as crazy to this point, at least not till I realised just how broken the team was."
She had been an Avenger for a day only for the entire team to fall apart in an instant. After the hell that had been St Louis, the Avengers had helped her through it, but once they were gone too...
...her mind finally cracked.
"I just—he keeps appearing turning me into a crazy person. My father has been in my head for 6 years since the day I got my powers. He was supposed to be here helping me, but—how am I supposed to know what I am supposed to do if the person who was meant to guide me is gone? If my mind is so twisted that people can't trust just my judgement because they think I am too traumatized to think for myself?"
Peter was silent for a long moment as he listened to her broken voice, watching closely as she kept glancing back between the ceiling and the mirror on the side table on his side of the bed "I am really sorry, M."
Mira just rolled her eyes, gaze still glued to the ceiling "Thanks...but Happy didn't call so—"
"—No, that isn't why I am apologizing."
Mira didn't believe him, not after so many weeks of evidence, proof that he just needed her on his good side so he could be an Avenger. Michelle's words about not just forgiving him automatically despite her instincts spinning through her head.
Mira Rohan deserved more than being a second choice, she was finally starting to understand that in her heart.
—She deserved more than just being Peter Parker's key to becoming an Avenger.
"You sure?" She huffed bitterly "Because lately, it seems like the only reason you talk to me is because of the Avengers." She gestured to her pink and white-clad body "Well, if you want to know, all Ross has me doing right now is street crimes. I have to be in Brooklyn in like 25 minutes to keep an eye out for a potential alien weapon threat so if you could leave me to nap that would be great."
"Mira, I screwed up."
Silence.
Peter's face fell as he watched her just close her eyes and raise the covers to her shoulders, curling up into a ball turning over so that he was left staring at the back of her head. Sighing into the pillow he shuffled a little closer hand moving to her shoulder "M, please...I am really-really sorry for everything. "
"Do you even know why you're sorry?" She snapped as she turned back to face him only for the pair of them to freeze as they clicked just how close their faces were.
Noses almost brushing, breath on each other's face.
As her eyes met his, Mira swallowed nervously, her heart starting to pound in her ears in a way it had only really done when she was around her friend Dante in St Louis and she didn't understand why!
Forcing herself to look away from his eyes, she buried her face into her pillow hoping that Peter wasn't using his powers to listen to her frantic heart right now.
—He was.
—But his own heart was pounding just as loudly as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
Mira let out a deep sigh, she didn't want to be upset with Peter, she really didn't, but he just kept breaking his promises, kept moving further and further away from the boy who she had sat on that fire escape with taking about responsibility and defending the little guy. That was the Peter she adored, the one she liked. The person he had been since Germany was so far from that, the shift jarring as hell. There was nothing wrong with him wanting to be an Avenger, but what wasn't okay was letting himself get lost in it.
"Parker, are you happy? Just being the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman?"
Peter was silent for a long stretch of time before a sigh left his lips "I'm ready for more." Her jaw clenched at the response "What about you? Are you happy?"
A bitter chuckle escaped her "Would you be happy if the main reason you were risking your life every night was because a creep with a moustache silently threatened to ruin your entire life if you didn't?"
**
Stabbed.
She had been freakin stabbed!
If Mira hadn't already been pissed about her current predicament, tonight had just solidified her hatred of Ross and The Accords. She had been stabbed in the foot while she had been in the middle of pinning up the drug dealers and yes, she had healed already but it was annoying! It was annoying that the World Council had told the Avengers they couldn't fight unless approved, it was annoying that she had to be their little puppet on strings, and it was annoying having a 10-inch dirty blade shoved through her foot!
Once she was sure the police had arrived, she pushed up into the air heading right toward Queens. She had been jumping between Brooklyn and The Bronx leaving Queens for Peter tonight but Ross's stupid voice had pipped up in her ear ordering her to go check out a group of men who had triggered one of the government's Alien tech alarms.
If these men were using alien tech, she had to take over.
—No Spider-Man, just her.
Just as she approached 21st Street her eyes widened in panic as she realised which ATM they were robbing. It was the one right across the street from the deli. Her favourite deli.
Mr Delmar's.
—NO!
Flying down she quickly landed in front of the deli only for her blood to run cold as she focused her gaze on the ATM. The bank where Spider-Man was currently fighting off the robbers, but that wasn't what had her panicked right now, it was the extremely loud weapon.
The gun that was glowing with a hint of purple had her stepping back a bit as the molecules practically screamed in her ears all the way from here. It was alien but with a mix of normal human metals thrown in. The molecular structure was dangerous and more importantly, it was highly unstable.
It was going to blow.
She could feel the atoms shaking violently on the verge of collapse, the glow of the weapon growing more intense as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up straight.
The instant she felt the shift she raised her hands quickly surrounding herself and the deli in a forcefield just as a massive burst of energy came hurtling toward her, one which would have cut right through her and the deli in less than a second.
Peter came running out of the bank, white lenses widening for a brief second only for his shoulders to relax as his eyes landed on her.
Mira just sighed "I need to call Ross."
**
As Mira stood across from him on the roof, going back and forth with Secretary Ross which had her swearing under her breath every few seconds in Cantonese, Peter was desperately trying to get a hold of Happy.
Those weapons were insane!
He needed to tell Happy so he could tell Mr Stark and given Mira looked ready to explode right now as she tried to keep from murdering Ross through the phone, he decided to help a little and take telling Happy off her plate.
"I don't know Ross, why don't you tell me?!" Mira snapped loud enough for him to hear, just hearing the anger in her voice right now as her hand tightened around the metal pipe next to her, the metal easily denting under the strength, had him a little scared for the man.
He hated how Ross treated Mira but when Mira was mad, she was just plain terrifying.
"Oh, I'm sorry that creating a forcefield and stopping the place from getting burnt straight to hell wasn't the appropriate way to handle the situation!"
Her voice was dripping with such heavy sarcasm that it almost had Peter snorting, only for his focus to quickly be taken away from the furious girl as a familiar voice finally picked up his phone.
"Yeah?"
"Happy the craziest thing just happened to me. These guys were robbing an ATM...with these high-tech weapons—"
"—Hey, take a breath, I don't have time for ATM robberies or the thoughtful notes you leave behind. Talk to Mira. She knows moving day is keeping me busy, everything's gotta be out of here next week."
Peter's entire body went into a standstill, unable to do anything but remain frozen.
—Moving?
—What the hell was he talking about?
"Wait. you're moving? Who's moving?"
"Don't you watch the news? Tony sold Avengers Tower. We're relocating to a new facility upstate. Where hopefully cell service is worse."
The reveal left Peter crushed, voice cracking slightly as the sledgehammer that had just slammed into him prepared for another blow "But-what about me?"
"What about you?"
Avengers Tower was going to vanish, no longer there for him to look up at and imagine the day he had his own room there.
"Well, what if Mr Stark needs me or something big goes down? Can I please talk to Mr. Stark?"
"Look, just stay away from anything too dangerous. I'm responsible for making sure you're responsible, okay?"
Quickly dropping down the side of the roof into the alley where he left his backpack, Peter shook his head. He was responsible. Very-very responsible "I am responsible-Oh, crap. My backpacks gone."
May was going to kill him.
"That doesn't sound responsible. Look just talk to Mira and stop calling me."
The line went dead, leaving Peter alone with his own thoughts, every single little doubt he had about himself suddenly screaming loudly in his ears. Swallowing he quickly webbed back up to the roof where Mira was still going back and forth with Ross. The second his eyes focused on her his shoulders slumped.
Happy's words were ringing through Peter's head like a tornado over and over again. Tony had sold Avengers Tower? How could he just sell it? Why hadn't Happy told him-
—Scratch that!
Why hadn't Mira told him anything about this?!
How long had she known? Had she just found out?
—NO!!
There was no way she hadn't known about this the entire time, she practically lived at The Compound three days a week and she spent years building memories with all of the Avengers at The Tower. It had a lot of personal memories written within the walls. Massive moments of her life had happened there. She had met Rhodey and Natasha at the tower; she had broken down into tears after having to say goodbye to Natasha and Rhodey was practically living with her and Quinn right now. There was no way Mr Stark could avoid telling her.
Her mother's main lab was in the medical wing of The Tower!
She had to be crushed by the news, so why hadn't she told him?
Before his thoughts could continue to spiral out of control with all the questions he had, Mira screamed into the air hanging up her phone. In less than a second she had grabbed his arm hauling toward the edge of the roof.
There was practically steam coming out of her ears so for the sake of not being murdered in the crossfire of her current fury courtesy of the Secretary, he decided against bringing it up right now.
She was already upset with him and given she looked ready to go full Renterian on Ross's ass, he was a little too scared to bring it up.
Was it strange that he found angry Mira a little attractive?
—Wait what?!
"I need to know exactly what happened tonight, Parker. Every detail, now."
**
Peter was freaking out.
Honestly, Mira was almost certain she had never seen him this freaked out in all the time she had known him. Expect for maybe the time Rhodey caught him climbing in through her bedroom window a week after Germany. It was safe to say Rhodey hadn't been happy given he had actually hauled Peter out of the apartment by the ear and told him to look up the word door in the dictionary before he slammed the front door right in his terrified face.
When she had finally managed to sneak past Rhodey to go and see Peter, the boy's face had been so pale she had genuinely thought he was going to collapse on the street.
"What kind of weapons were those? Like did you see them-"
Mira sighed as she pushed open his bedroom window the two of them quickly trailing inside, they couldn't stay out here all night just freaking out, all it took was one of his neighbours to hear them arguing then they were screwed "Yes Peter, I saw it when it was being fired right at my head!"
—Pink quickly shot out shutting Peter's bedroom door before May could catch sight of them.
"Right. Dude, alien weapons almost killed you and Mr Delmar how are you not freaking out?!" His hands were quickly on her, tapping her suit as he checked for the injuries, his brain still moving at hyperspeed thanks to all the adrenaline.
"I am half Renterian dummy! AKA: An Alien Peter! I was literally almost killed by my alien father!" She deadpanned before slapping her hands to her face the panic about how screwed she was starting to settle in "Ross is actually going to kill me then you then me again because they got away! I-God I'm gonna be a lap experiment. They will gut me into pieces-I-I-I am so dead! Oh-"
"Hey, he's not gonna touch you—" His hands were cupping her panicked face his own panic settling down as they practically switched places in a split second. Her losing her mind while he tried to get her breath and think for a second.
In no way was Peter letting one hurt Mira. No chance. He had already almost lost her more times than he could count in the past few months, in no way did he plan to be sitting beside her hospital bed again just waiting endlessly to find out if she was going to be okay. Nothing was touching Mira Rohan while he was here. He didn't care if it upset the governments of this world, all he wanted was for her to be safe.
"I won't let him do anything okay? I'll fix this, I'll find out where the...." He trailed off as he caught the sight of something sitting on his bed just staring at the two of them with wide eyes.
Peter froze.
No, no, no, no.
NOOOOOOOO!!!
This couldn't be happening right now.
But it was...
The Lego death star hitting the ground was what finally got Mira to turn only for a small scream to escape her chest as she spotted Ned Leeds staring back at both her and Peter, his eyes wide open in a mixture of shock and amazement; gaze jumping between the pair of them, examining every inch of their suits like he thought they might vanish.
SHIT!
How the hell was this happening again? Last time with Sammy she hadn't been good at sensing other atoms in humans so she hadn't noticed him walk in, plus she had been dealing with Ultron, but how the hell did she miss sensing Ned?! How had Peter missed the sound of his heartbeat?! Ross was so in her head that she had completely forgotten to sense her surroundings when she opened the window.
CRAP!
CRAP, CRAP, CRAP
"I am gonna blame this on Ross too." She whispered under her breath quickly twisting her wrist and sparking her suit with pink.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!"
Peter's eyes widened in panic at the sound of May's voice echoing from the kitchen.
No, no, no.
"UH! It's nothing. Nothing."
It was nothing, nothing but everything in his life going straight to hell. Ned sucked at keeping secrets! He was the literal worst person on the planet when it came to not getting overly excited and spilling when he knew something good.
"You're Spider-Man and Atom Rogue."
Clad in a blue and white daisy flower jumpsuit with long sleeves, Mira just batted her eyes innocently, mocking confusion. Her first instinct was still to fall into complete denial mode. Maybe if she knocked Ned unconscious they could convince him this was all a dream when he woke up?
—Did Uncle Tony have some kind of mind-control device she could use?
"I don't know what you're talking about Ned. Did you hit your head when you stood up, maybe we should take you to a hospital you might be seeing things."
Peter turned to her ready to question how the hell that was her defence only for his eyes to widen as he clicked that she had temporarily shifted the atoms in her suit that made it visible to the human eye into a blue jumpsuit. While he was still clad in his Spider-Man suit.
—What the hell? Why didn't she do that for him too?!
"Why didn't you-"
"I'm still angry with you."
"Oh, come on!"
Before they could fall back into arguing mode though, Ned clapped his hands together drawing their attention as he pointed a finger to his very freaked-out face "Ah hello, Mom and Dad calm down I am freaking out here."
"Don't call us that!" Mira snapped already at her limit with people constantly accusing her of either dating Peter or Spider-Man or both. She had gotten it constantly from Pietro and Sammy she couldn't keep listening to everyone tease her about something that wasn't even a thing.
—There was a small crack in her chest at the thought of Pietro.
—She missed him teasing her.
"We are not a couple!" Peter exclaimed though while Mira looked frustrated, his voice was more panicked and squeaky, cheeks turning a bright red as the memory of just how close their faces had been when they had been lying on her bed together a few hours ago flooded his mind.
If he had moved even an inch—
—NOPE! NOT THE TIME.
"Are you sure? Because you guys act like a married couple."
"NO, WE DON'T!" They both snapped out of instinct.
"You're Spider-Man." Ned breathed again in amazement "And Atom Rogue..." The crush he used to have on the pink superhero now felt all types of wrong given that Mira was kind of like a sister or a cousin more than anything.
"I'm not." Peter slapped his hand to the button at the centre of the suit, the now baggy material immediately starting to spill down his body causing Mira to freeze, eyes widening like saucers "We're not. M is right, you have a concussion."
"Her hands were glowing pink!"
"Trick of the light." Peter shot back before groaning through his complete and utter panic, not yet noticing just how quiet Mira suddenly was beside him "Ned, what are you doing in my room?"
"May let me in. You said we were gonna finish the Death Star—"
"—You can't just burst into my room!"
At that moment, the door busted open reeling a wave of smoke and a laughing May now standing in the doorway wafting at the smoke still spilling out from her failure in the kitchen "Ha-ha. That turkey meatloaf recipe is a disaster." She smiled at the boys before focusing on Mira only to quirk a small amused brow as she spotted Mira blushing a beetroot red as she tried to look anywhere but at Peter who for some reason was standing in front of Ned just wearing his boxers.
"Mira, honey, you okay, you look a little flushed?"
Mira gulped quickly pressing her hands against her cheeks, embarrassment flushing through her system as she felt Peter glance over at her quickly. There was no way in hell she was making eye contact, while she wouldn't admit it, it had taken her a few seconds to look away from his chest and the humiliation running through her system was overpowering her panic about Ned.
"Yep, just um...I...um...I run hot remember? The heat from the kitchen is just getting to me."
May didn't buy that but she spared the embarrassed girl any further panic merely grinning back at her "Well, I'm glad you're here. Quinn was just about to call you to tell you we are doing Thai instead."
The casualness of the statement had Peter and Mira momentarily glancing at each other in confusion. Were they missing something here? Since when were the four of them all supposed to have dinner?
"Wait, my mom is here?"
"You guys forgot?" When she was met with awkward silence, May sighed running a hand through her stunning hair that Mira was still so jealous of before smiling "We planned this a few weeks ago. Dinner, all four of us to celebrate your internships. Meatloaf is out, so Thai."
Given Mira knew her mother hated Thai food, she lit up a little because she rarely got to eat it. The prospect of food shelving her utter terror of Ned knowing the truth momentarily put to the back of her mind. Even if she did not want to be having dinner with Peter right now, especially given that there was a chance after his talk with Happy he now knew about the Tower being sold so she knew an argument was coming, she would happily sacrifice her sanity for Thai food.
Before she could utter a word though, Quinn Rohan's head appeared in the doorway from behind May "Hey M."
Mira grinned "Hi Mom." She had to play it cool right now. Given that somehow Tony had actually kept his mouth shut and hadn't spilt to Quinn that Peter was Spider-Man. While she knew Peter knew about her his identity was still safe. For how long given she was standing in his room while he was half naked and her mom knew she would have just finished patrolling for Ross, she had no clue.
"How was work?" The grimace that appeared on her daughter's face spoke a thousand words "Sorry cutie. But Thai food always makes you feel better after dealing with that-" She paused glancing at the innocent faces of Ned and Peter before switching to Cantonese "--lan"
Mira and May giggled while Peter and Ned just shared a confused look.
"Um, M what does that mean?"
"Learn Cantonese and you'll know."
While Ned suspected what it meant but wasn't too sure what specific word it translated to, he just leaned forward to whisper in Peter's ear, he had heard Mira mutter that word angrily when he hadn't shown up for her performance so he knew it was in no way a nice word "Dude, it's not a compliment."
Quinn just winked causing Ned to blush sputtering slightly no longer able to even speak at the sight of the woman grinning at him "Um-I--"
May shared an amused glance with Quinn before she focused back on the sputtering teenage boy who couldn't look Quinn in the eye for more than a second before becoming a babbling mess, it was so adorable "Ned, you wanna join?"
"Yes."
"NO!" Mira and Peter retorted sharing a quick panicked glance only for Mira to blush again as her eyes drifted before she quickly placed her hands over her eyes trying really hard not to keep looking at the muscles on his abdomen.
"He's got a thing." Peter explained weakly.
"A thing to do after." Ned reluctantly agreed as Peter glared at him sharply.
Quinn and May shared another look, perplexed by the weird exchanges and tensions in the room before finally, Quinn shrugged "Next time Ned, oh Peter honey?"
"Ah, yeah Quinn?"
"Could you please wear some clothes when around my daughter?" The second the request left her lips his eyes widened cheeks flushing in embarrassment as he remembered his current state of dress. Quickly he yanked the grey sweater off his desk chair, holding it in front of him to try and get some semblance of modesty, stammering out an apology. Quinn had been the one only of Mira's parents or even parental figures that liked him, he so could not screw that up. Plus, while Quinn didn't have powers...she might find a way to poison him to death if she decided that she didn't like him anymore.
"Sorry, Quinn!"
The instant the door shut behind the two adults, Mira screamed into her hands, letting her palms muffle the sound as she started tapping her head against Peter's wall, desperately wishing to wake herself up from this nightmare.
"Oh, they don't know!" Ned whispered loudly as Peter frantically started pulling on his shirt, managing to catch the grey joggers that Mira managed to throw over without stopping her silent screaming into the wall fest.
"Nobody knows!" Peter whispered back "I mean Mr Stark knows because he made my suit and Quinn knows about Mira because she was born with her powers-"
In an instant Ned forgot all about Peter's revelation slowly turning to stare at the still silently screaming Mira, everything slowly clicking for him. The pieces of the puzzle coming together, slotting together in perfect harmony. She had said she was half Renterian! That her alien father had tried to kill her! Her father had apparently died in St Louis, the same place where Mira had been when she had gotten so badly hurt she ended up in the hospital for days. St Louis where Atom Rogue took on The Blue Bullet.
The only Renterian known on this earth...until now.
HOLY SHIT!!!
"You're father's The Blue Bullet?!" He exclaimed finally getting her attention off the wall, panicked terrified eyes drilling into him, shoulders beyond tense as she waited for the reaction. Waited to be called the daughter of a monster, a murderer, a failure "That is awesome!" Her entire body froze at his response, Peter shooting him a scolding look as he pulled on his pants.
Ned winced "Sorry, like really messed up you had to fight him, but like you're so cool! You were cool before but this?! Is this what heaven feels like?"
Mira relaxed slightly relieved at the response, one that wasn't automatic fear over her heritage "Ned—"
He was too excited to let her get a word in "—You're like the face of the Avengers right now man! That is so cool-" His eyes jumped to Peter "Mr Stark made your suit? Does that make you one too?"
Mira rolled her eyes as she spotted the way Peter momentarily relaxed struggling to look cool "Yeah, basically."
"He hasn't signed The Accords so no he is not."
No one was allowed to be an Avenger anymore without signing The Accords and the only way for Peter to get the official status was to have an adult sign on his behalf if he wanted to keep his identity safe or he would have to take off the mask and finally tell the world that Peter Parker was indeed Spider-Man.
Honestly, if that ever happened, she truly hoped she was there for Flash's reaction. The complete mental breakdown would be epic.
Ned almost collapsed, having to catch onto the railing of the new bunk bed Peter had gotten a few weeks ago, fingers latching around the top bunk to keep from fainting at the overwhelming flow of information. He had thought meeting Mr Stark and Mr Rhodes was awesome but this had somehow topped that by like 200%.
Peter didn't hesitate quickly rushing in front of his best friend as Mira dropped down onto the desk chair slumping forward and burying her head in between her knees. When Sammy found out she hadn't been this panicked. Yes, she had been panicked about her father hurting Sammy but she had never been worried about him spilling.
Ned sucked at secrets!
Screwed. They were so majorly screwed right now.
"You can't tell anybody about this." Peter told him, eyes wide with panic as he started begging "You gotta keep it a secret."
Ned's face fell, disappointment rushing through him "Secret? Why?"
Instantly Mira was on her feet, moving right in front of Ned yanking onto his hoody and pulling him towards her, his eyes just widening in amazement as she brought him up to his tiptoes with ease despite how tiny she appeared "Ned. May will kill Peter you know that and what do you think happens if anyone finds out who Atom Rogue is? Or how she is related to The Blue Bullet."
—That got Ned to freeze up for a second.
He remembered all of the riots demanding the government track down every piece of information available on The Blue Bullet following St Louis. He had seen all of the screams of people demanding his head on a platter for all that he had cost them. Demanding to know who Atom Rogue was and how she had managed to go up against a Renterian.
—Renterian was probably one of the most hated words on this planet right now.
Her statement also had Peter frozen, the words Sammy had spoken to him that day running on a loop in his mind, momentarily forcing him to forget his own panic about May finding out. May would lose her mind and then make him stop, but the world would tear Mira apart. What if they pushed her to her limits and she ran? In theory, as half-Renterian she could technically survive in space...or at least that was his theory, he knew she had never tried to fly that high.
The mere idea of her having to do what her father did and run off to outer space or at best to whatever backup plan Quinn had in place for them, terrified the living hell out of him.
NO.
Ned had to keep quiet. If Sammy could do it for years for Mira, Ned could do it for them.
—Hopefully.
"Come on Ned please."
Mira groaned as she spotted him still hesitating ever so slightly probably fantasising about telling the world his best friend was Spider-Man instead of outing both of them "I will use my powers to make whatever Lego sets you want for the rest of your life."
"Deal."
No hesitation this time, for a second Mira and Peter were sure they were in the clear until he opened his mouth again "Okay, okay, okay. I'll level with you...I don't think I can keep this a secret. This is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me, guys!"
Peter finally snapped a little as he placed a gentle hand on Mira's back moving her to the side as he took back the spot in front of Ned "Ned! May cannot know about me, I cannot do that to her friend now. You know? I mean, everything that's happened with her, I..."
Ben Parker's name echoed silently through the air, a dower mood forming before Peter grabbed Ned's shoulders shaking him slightly.
"—And M? If anyone finds out about her-I don't want to think what they would do."
If the world found out she was The Blue Bullet's daughter, he could imagine that Ross would throw her straight to the wolves, ready with scientists to collect the remains left behind.
For him, May and everyone at school finding out would ruin his life, but for Mira?
It was life and death.
He was not going to let anything happen to her. He promised. Plus...deep down, he couldn't live without Mira in his life. He couldn't and he didn't want to.
Mira's gaze softened slightly as she watched him, her heart pounding softly against her chest. Peter Parker even when misguided was still the kindest softest soul she had ever met.
"Ned, please." She whispered, water blurring her vision as she stared back at him, fingers digging at her cuticles "Promise us. No one can know."
A beat of silence echoed through the room as Ned slowly started to truly digest just how serious this secret he had stumbled into was before finally, after what felt like an eternity, he nodded. These were his best friends, he didn't want to put them in a tough spot let alone in danger from government-owned Men in Black kind of creepy agents "Okay."
"Just swear it, okay?" Peter begged, water in his eyes that had Ned completely folding as his eyes jumped between his two terrified super-powered friends.
"I swear."
Mira let out a sigh of relief throwing herself back down onto Peter's bed "Ned, if you back out, I am telling Betty you stalk her on Instagram."
As much as Ned wanted to be offended he just smirked holding out his fist for her to bump "Blackmail, I respect that." They bumped their fists together twice ending with a fake baseball bat swing, while Peter just let out an exasperated breath moving away from the pair as he clawed at his hair.
"I can't believe this is happening now."
How the hell did Mira not completely lose her mind when Sammy found out about her? Did her stomach feel ready to fall right out of her butt and her head ready to explode like out of some weird horror movie from the 80s.
"Can I try the suit on?"
Mira groaned at Ned's question, quickly grabbing one of Peter's pillows and surrounding it with a pink glow causing Ned's eyes to widen only for an excited squeal to escape him as she shoved the 1972 Batman Tumbler box he had tried to steal off her directly into his arms "You build that tonight, we can talk tomorrow."
Ned just sputtered as he shook the box, eyes widening even further as he heard the familiar jingle of legos moving around "This is the best day of my life."
With Ned too distracted by the bribe Mira had just given him, Peter started pulling him towards the door fully intent on kicking him out so he could finally freak out about how screwed he and Mira were now "Yeah, you build that, we will tell you everything else at school tomorrow."
Given Ned was still too immersed by his gift making it crystal clear just how susceptible to bribery he was, Peter finally pushed him out of his room, shutting the door shut behind him. While he might not particularly agree with Mira's tendency to jump to blackmail and bribery he had never been more grateful for it until now.
Moving over to where she was hanging upside down off his bed, her head dangling over the edge, he slumped down onto the floor beside her bringing his knees to his chest as his head fell into his hands. He had thought tonight couldn't get any worse, from upsetting Mira so much that she still technically hadn't accepted his apology, the ATM robbery with the crazy weapons, and finding out Mr Stark had sold The Tower but this had managed to top all of it.
"Was this how you felt when Sammy found out?"
Mira turned her head slightly so she could look him in the eyes, her soft panicked brown eyes meeting his own worried dark brown "No." She admitted, voice barely above a whisper as she let her mind drift back to that day. A day that had changed everything for her. It had been the first time a true threat had found out she was Marcus's daughter, but it had also been the first time she had been able to be completely honest with her best friend. The fact that not even a day later the rest of the Avengers had arrived on her back porch just made the memory more special.
48 hours had changed her life for the best...and the worst.
Peter furrowed his brows in confusion as he leaned his head back against the mattress "Why not?"
"I mean, I was more worried about Dad killing him for knowing than I was about him finding out." She had never doubted Sammy would keep it secret, her concern had been over what her father might do to him if he ever found out Sammy knew. Now that she knew her father had in fact been murdering kids for years, it made her all the more relieved that he never found out that Sammy knew, she didn't even want to imagine what her father might have done to him just for having that piece of information.
He wouldn't have jumped to mind-wipe, he would have jumped to wiping him out.
"Not only do I trust Sammy more than anyone-" Peter shifted a little, praying silently that Sammy hadn't been talking to Mira about his current opinion of him, given what Michelle had said earlier he knew Sammy did not have any love for him right now "-But I also have so much dirt on him, so I never had to be worried he would tell."
—With everything she knew, she could get Sammy sent to Juvi or maybe even Prison.
She winced slightly letting her eyes linger on the door, mind drifting to the newest member of the in-the-know-club "Ned, however? Blackmail would only work for so long."
"M, again blackmail, bad. Bad." Re-conditioning her brain after all of the manipulations from the past 14 years was going to take time but at least her first thought wasn't to lock Ned in a basement for the rest of his life so he couldn't tell "Were screwed then?"
—Without a doubt.
"Yep."