"It's really nothing personal, Miss Green, I hope you understand that," a man who I've come to learn is Nick Fury says through the plexiglass wall. "You did quite a few things that were wrong, though, and now we need to determine the consequences. Have a good day."
He left the room with a nod, leaving me alone in the small ten by ten cell. Besides the oddly comfortable looking cot built into the wall, the room is empty and completely uninviting. I guess prison cells aren't exactly meant to be inviting though. That would be a bit counterproductive.
I sat there for who knows how long until I finally heard footsteps padding closer. I sit up slightly, gazing out through the bars.
Even though he's kind of the one who put me in here, I can't stop the grin from spreading across my face as my red footy-pajama-wearing friend comes into view.
"Hey Pete," I whisper, standing up and walking over toward the bars. He's wearing his mask which makes me a bit nervous since I can't see his expression, and I hope he's not mad at me.
He stays silent for a minute, staring at me until he finally reaches up and pulls off his mask. "Hey Ari," he says, a familiar goofy grin spreading across his face.
"I don't know what they're talking about up there, but I tried my best to sway them in your favor," he sighs, and I can practically see the guilt crawling around on his skin.
"You didn't have to do that. It's not your fault. If anything I deserve to be in here," I decide, sitting back down, leaning against the side wall next to the glowing blue bars.
They're strange, like physical beams of light or something that materialized when they put me in here. I tried pushing through them but they're pretty strong.
"Look, I've known you for a long time. I refuse to believe that you actually like being a bad person, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to give you a second chance. Okay?" He states in a voice so forceful that I can't bring myself to argue. Not that I was going to, I don't really want to spend the rest of my life in prison when I'm only 17. I haven't even graduated high school yet.
"Do the rest of your team know about this?" I ask, and Peter shakes his head.
"Not yet, but they'll probably want to talk to you tomorrow," he replies, and I feel my chest tighten.
"Oh," I mutter, my shoulders slouching slightly. Even though I've known them all for a while, I'm not sure if they'll forgive me as easily as Peter seems to have. I don't want to lose them as friends - especially Danny. I've never been happier than I am with him, and I really don't want to mess that up.
"Hey, I have to go. Its really late and as much as I'd like to Fury won't let me stay here all right. Good luck though, Ari," Peter says with a grimace before he turns and walks away.
I trudge over the cot on the wall with a groan and fall back on it, cursing how comfortable it feels. The last thing I want to do is feel at home in a prison cell.
*********************************
"Hey, Ari!" A voice shouts, quickly followed by a small, "ouch!"
"She's sleeping, Sam!" Ava quietly scolds, and I open my eyes, grimacing as they're ambushed with brightness.
I blink a few times before everything that happened the night before comes rushing back to me and I jump off the cot, scrambling toward the front of the cell.
"Hey," I say, my voice shaking slightly. Even though they don't look too mad at me, I'm still pretty scared of what they're going to say.
"Did you really rob a bank? Cause that sounds awesome!" Sam blurts out after a long, awkward silence.
"Yeah.." I reply, chuckling awkwardly.
"How? I've always wondered how criminals get away without setting off any alarms," Sam asks excitedly. A small part of me can't help but wonder if Nick Fury sent them down to somehow interrogate me, but I answer anyway.
"I disable the alarms at home, or at least as many as I can. Sometimes I can't get to a couple and we just have to anticipate them and run before the cops arrive," I explain, Sam's eyes glowing with fascination. He a strange kid.
"That is so cool!" He exclaims, and Ava elbows him in the side.
"That is not cool! That's illegal," she cries indignantly, glaring at Sam. When she turns back to me though, the look in her eyes immediately softens.
"I refuse to believe that you would do something like that without a good reason though. Unless everything I know about you is a lie, you're not a bad person Ari," she says in a gentle voice. I can practically feel some of the tension leave my body as I breathe a sigh of relief.
"You'll probably have to face some consequences though, because what you did was wrong and unlike us, Fury doesn't know what kind of person you are. We don't even really know what kind of person you are. I just wanted to say that none of us are mad at you, and we're all here for you. Okay?" Ava continues, and I nod silently. I'm not really sure how to take what she just said. I'm glad none of my friends hate me, but I'm starting to realize now that it was naive to think that nothing would change.
"Everyone wants to talk to you, but Fury said only a couple of us can at once so I guess I should probably give someone else a chance if you're up for it," Ava says and Sam nods, grinning at me slightly. She walks away, her heels clicking across the metal floor.
"Ignore what Ava said, hacking into banks is awesome," he decides before jogging after her.
I sit down on the shiny linoleum floor, not sure what else to do. I briefly catch a glimpse of my reflection on the ground and gasp, running my fingers through my knotted hair. I look like a character in a horror game.
I'm just picking the last stray bug out of my hair, probably from when Peter dragged me up here last night, when I hear a new set of footsteps approaching. By the heavier, more sure steps I figure it's Luke, and when he comes into view a few seconds later I see that I'm right.
"Hey, Luke!" I exclaim, brushing my hair out of my face and standing up. It's pretty awkward to have conversations through bars, but it's better than nothing.
"Hey Ari, how's it going?" He asks, and I can hear genuine concern in his voice.
"I've been better," I admit, smiling lightly. He nods, and we stand in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes.
"Fury's pretty upset. Apparently, he's been trying to track you down for a long time, and he doesn't seem too ready to just let you go. I can kind of understand too, you're an insanely good cyber hacker," he finally says, a conflicted look on his face.
"I know that I should be really mad at you, but I'm not. I mean, you lied to all of us and it's our job to stop people like you and put them behind bars, but at the same time you're one of the best friends I've ever had," he sighs, and I can see his eyes water slightly.
"I'm sorry, Luke," I reply, and he nods slightly.
"Me too. Good luck," He says before walking away. I sigh and start chewing on one of my nails, a nervous habit I've had for a while. Four down, one to go. Unfortunately, this last one is probably going to be the hardest.
I sit back down and lean against one of the walls, closing my eyes with a sigh. The lack of sleep I got last night is finally starting to catch up to me.
"Ari?" A tentative voice asks, and I immediately feel tears fill my eyes.
"Danny," I breathe, a smile spreading across my face. It's honestly pretty stupid how happy even just being around him makes me.
I stand up off the cold, hard floor and look at him, trying to find something to say.
"You did the right thing," he finally says, looking me in the eye. "Asking for help, I mean. Not the hacking and robbing banks and stuff. I'm glad you're okay and that psychopath didn't hurt you."
"Are you mad at me?" I ask, desperately needing to know the answer. I don't know what I'd do if I lost him.
"I was at first. Then I looked through SHIELD's files on you and saw everything you've done. There were a lot of bad things, but there were some good things too. You hacked into big government organizations to help give money to non-profit charities. Have millionaires give back to the people they hurt in the process of becoming rich. Stuff like that. It made me realize that there was more to what you did than just bad," he admits, and I feel my heart start beating twice as quickly. He's not mad at me.
"Fury doesn't seem to see it that way though. We're all trying, Ari, we really are. We love you and we don't want to lose you," he says, his voice cracking slightly.
"Please don't worry about me. No matter what happens, it'll be okay," I reply, gazing at him through the bars on the cell.
"I have to go. Fury wanted to talk to you.." He sighs, and I quickly blink away the tears in my eyes.
"Okay," I whisper, watching as he walks away. Depending on what Fury says, it might be the last time I ever see any of my friends again.