It's Tuesday now, nothing from my dad, my mom is busy running the company, Steve is hiding I think, and even fricking Peter Parker is weird, so secretive... not that I'm curious but I do think I'm intuitive and he's jumpy at the classes, he's ditching stuff and I guess that's not like he normally behaves at least not at this level.
"-and then I threw him lego pieces all over the floor and he stepped on them" Harley proudly nods
"Are you sure you're not a villain?" I reach my locker and see Peter walking through the crowded hallway so I quickly jog to him and touch his back
"Peter!"
"Hey Tannie" he toothily smiles at me "What's up?"
"Just wanted to know if you received my message...?"
"Uh, umm I lost my phone, I was jumping, I mean I was walking pretty fast and I dropped it..." he scratches his head "What was about?"
"mmm.... nothing, just to tell you that Robotics Lab is not the same without you..." I huff
"Hey!" Harley approaches me and Peter "Hi I'm Harley" he nods to Peter
"Hi, I'm Peter! I should go now... see you at English bye" He makes a hasty exit and I spin to my locker
"He seems... anxious..." Harley says to the air and I nod, he even noticed it
Blah, blah, blah, classes. Not to sound pretentious, because I'm not but the syllabus is a little tedious for me right now and it's only the third week. I waited for Harley to finish something in his blueprints and then we decide to change the setting and head to the park. Happy was growling all the way saying he wanted to watch Downtown Abbey but I bought him a pretzel. Not a bad day, to be honest, sunny weather, clear sky. We sat on a bench to do our respective homework and then decided to rent a drone and play with it for a while.
Minutes into the game, I turn my back to some workers who are building a little playground for kids. Harley runs to catch the drone and I laugh at how he tries to jump for it but he amazingly fails. I slowly spin and the craking sound makes me fully turn. I squint my eyes and the yellow crane begins to shake from its base. I look up at the cabin, a worker is shouting and just like that, the crane is breaking apart, workers and people around start running away.
Apart from the metallic crane collapsing, people are panicking. I catch Harley's voice shouting at me but I can't spot him in the crowd. I begin to walk backwards and then spin to run as fast as I can. From the corner of my eye, I see how the top of the crane is beginning to fall exactly where I'm running. Faster, Tannie... whoa, whoa... wha... I look down and see how my feet are not touching the ground. I quickly look up and see Spider-Man carrying me away. I gasp at the swinging motion. Wind hitting my face.
"Don't worry! you're definitely safe here!!" with a deep voice he assures me "you're shaking...!"
"Yeah... I was almost crushed by that thing..." I tighten my grip around him and lick my lips at the pull on my stomach "don't let me go, please..."
"No way..." then he shoots another string of web and he rocks us to a building
"Here... it's safe" he gently puts me in a roof just beside the park, the cloud of dust making its way to the sky
"Thank you Spider-Man" I smile brushing my clothes and hair
"Yep no problem" he brings his hands to his hips and I quickly scan the suit
"You did all of that?" I point at his onesie
"I tried...I'm not the best at fashion so..."
I snort trying to look deeper in his weird glasses "Well... I don't know how you do what you do, very curious for sure but you're helping people and I believe that you had a choice... to do nothing or to do something and what you chose... says a lot about you" I kindly smile at him who stares at the floor "Now.... can you bring me down there? please"
"Yes of course!!" he approaches me and I hug him, he webs himself and leaves me on the floor, people watching the scene in amusement
I then walk to where Happy is, Harley is at the phone, both pacing back and forth
"Hey!!" I throw my hands in the air, Happy runs to me, checking my arms expecting a cut, Harley lets a sigh of relief
"Any pain?" Happy asks "you feel bad? a concussion?"
"I'm fine... Spider-Man got me just before that thing fall and crushed me, seriously..."
Happy then rubs his face and order us to get to the car. Harley mentioning me that he got our stuff. Once we reach Harley's house I step out with him.
"I'm so happy you're alive" He gives me a quick hug "I lost you at the crowd..."
"Well, I'm ok... I still have some adrenaline, heart's beating too fast but I'm fine" I let out a sigh
"See you tomorrow then..." he again hugs me but before breaking the hug he steps in and kisses me in the corner of my mouth letting me in shock, he opens his door without turning to see me and I quickly go to the car, Happy is focused on his pretzel... what just happened?
Happy drops me at my new home and leaves when I enter. I hear someone talking in the kitchen so I quietly go upstairs
"I wish to understand it. The more I do, the less it controls me. One day . . . who knows? I may even control it...." Vision says and then looks at me "Hello Tannie"
"Hey Vision, Wanda" I wave at her "cooking again?"
"It seems is the only thing to do here" she huffs "but I don't know what's in this but it is not paprika. I'm gonna go to the store. I'll be back in 20 minutes, want something T?" I shake my head she walks away but Vision quickly blocks her way
"Alternatively, we could order a pizza? what do you say, Tannie" he says gazing at Wanda's eyes
"Sounds cool" I shrug
"Vision, are you not letting me leave?" Wanda quietly speaks to him, I look to the side unsure to go away or stay
"It is a question of safety,"
Bad move, Vision.
"I can protect myself" she blurts to Vision challenging him with her eyes
He holds her arm "Not yours. Mr. Stark would like to avoid the possibility of another public incident. Until the Accords are on a . . . more secured foundation"
I give one step backwards trying to discreetly leave the scene
"And what do you want?" they are inches away reminding me of what happened earlier
"For people to see you... as I do" he finally says and she touches her head in frustration and storms off to her room
What an awkward situation... I look at Vision who seems disappointed, he tries to follow her but just like he stopped her, I stop him.
"Trust me on this one... give her some time" I whisper to him
"Yes, you're right, maybe in an hour right?" he innocently asks me
"Yeah probably but use the door, not walls" I advise him
He goes away and I see that the thing they were cooking was still on, I ended up eating that even though that pizza suggestion was good. My phone starts ringing and I see it's my dad, I quickly answer.
"Dad!!! Oh my god, you never texted me back! are you ok?!" no answer just noises "dad??"
"Hey, you wanna see something cool?" I hear my dad talking his voice sounds far away so he's not talking to me, he probably speed-dialed me by accident "I pulled something from Dad's archives. Felt timely"
What is he talking about? I plug my earphones to listen better.
"FDR signed the Lend-Lease bill with these in 1941. Provided support to the Allies when they needed it most" my dad explains
"Some would say it brought our country closer to war" Steve's voice pops through the line and I sigh in relief he's alive and with my dad
"See? If not for these, you wouldn't be here. I'm trying to . . . what do you call it? That's an olive branch. Is that what you call it?"
Why an olive branch?
"Is Pepper here? I didn't see her..."
"We're kinda . . . well, not kinda..." my dad pauses and I pay more attention to this part
"Pregnant?"
What?
"No. Definitely not."
Good! I think
"We're taking a break. It's nobody's fault"
WHAT??!! that's why these days I haven't seen them together? Wait, what?
"I'm so sorry, Tony. I didn't know. What about Tannie?"
"She's fine, I know how family relationships can destroy someone, won't tell her"
Seriously dad?
"A few years ago, I almost lost her and my own child, so I trashed all my suits. Then, we had to mop up HYDRA . . . and then Ultron. My fault. And then, and then, and then, I never stopped. Because the truth is I don't wanna stop. I don't wanna lose my girls. I thought maybe the Accords could split the difference"
I hear some interference so I stand up and walk next to the windows
"In her defense, I'm a handful. Yet, Dad was a pain in the ass, but he and Mom always made it work" he finally adds
"You know, I'm glad Howard got married. I only knew him when he was young and single. I would've loved to tell him that he would have a granddaughter...-" Steve says, for a minute I get confused but then remembered the timelapse
"Oh, really? You two knew each other? He never mentioned that. Maybe only a thousand times. God, I hated you"
"I don't mean to make things difficult."
What things Steve?
"I know because you're a very polite person"
"If I see a situation pointed south . . . I can't ignore it. Sometimes I wish I could"
"No, you don't" my dad quickly adds
"No, I don't. Sometimes..."
"Sometimes I wanna punch you in your perfect teeth. But I don't wanna see you gone. We need you, Cap. So far, nothing's happened that can't be undone, if you sign. We can make the last 24 hours legit. Barnes gets transferred to an American psych-center . . . instead of a Wakandan prison"
Who's Barnes? the "old frozen buddy" my dad talked about?
"I'm not saying it's impossible, but there would have to be safeguards" Steve sighs
"Sure. Once we put out the PR fire, those documents can be amended. I'd file a motion to have you and Wanda reinstated"
"Wanda? What about Wanda?" when Steves mentions her name I turn quickly to see if she's near but no
"She's fine. She's confined to the compound, currently. Vision's keeping her company"
Not the best idea dad...
"Oh God, Tony! Every time... Every time I think you see things the right way" Steve raises his voice making me jump a little
"What? It's a 100 acres with a lap pool. It's got a screening room. There are worse ways to protect people"
There's a lap pool? Happy never showed me that
"Protection? Is that how you see this? This is protection? It's internment, Tony"
"She's not a US citizen," my dad says
"Oh, come on, Tony" angry Steve is new
"And they don't grant visas to weapons of mass destruction"
Oh, dad, you didn't
"She's a kid!" Steves shouts again
"GIVE ME A BREAK! I'm doing what has to be done . . . to stave off something worse" I flinch at his shouts, this is new for me
"You keep telling yourself that... Hate to break up the set" I hear a door opening
What I do know, I should probably hang up, I mean I listen to that but... ok I'm overthinking. I hang up and start analyzing the situation but I don't have a lot to work with.
"uh... are you here, Friday?" I call and move to the living room
"Hello T" a voice comes in the middle of the chessboard "as you can see Mr. Stark also moved me here"
"Great! because I need you... search for files of a man named Barnes, please"
"Just a second... I have a match at the files Mrs. Romanoff freed from SHIELD, would you want to see them?"
"Yes!"
Friday then displays a whole bunch of holograms with too much information, videos, and pictures.
"Looks that I have a lot of homework..."
I spent the end of the day reading everything I could about Barnes, his recent activity and his imprisonment exactly at the Terrorist Centre my dad is in. I reach to the point of exhaustion, my mind can't take anything more and it looks is already night. Don't overthink just sleep. I just hope everyone is ok.
-----------
I wake up and try to find the gym, much to my laziness I try to walk at the treadmill, I quickly grab a granola bar and juice and prepare myself for another day of school while my dad is fighting with Steve. A knock at my door appears.
"Come in!!" I finally put a sweater on and see it's my mom and all I want to tell her is that I know about her and dad but maybe it's not the best option "Oh, Mom!"
"Baby come here!" she hugs me "Oh I'm so happy that you're here! How was the moving?" she gently touches my hair
"Quite simple actually, but now I need to unpack every box here" I point at the boxes "I haven't seen you in a while mom"
"I... I know baby. I regret that, trust me, but I have an important thing to tell you... you know that there's a working wing here?"
I nod "yeah Happy showed me"
"Well... now, most of the things I do as the CEO now I'll do them here! we'll be closer" She shrieks and I sigh
"That's all I want mom... for all to be closer," I say feeling a pressure in my chest
"I should go now, Happy is already in front, have a good day T, love you" she leaves me and a red light starts flashing in one of my walls
"T, I just got new information about James Barnes seconds ago, the database has been updated" Friday appears
"Show me" I say
A news channel projected in the hologram shows the facility where my dad was, I start feeling nervous.
"Friday, translate, please"
"James Barnes, the suspect in the UN Vienna bombing escaped custody today. Also missing Avenger Captain Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson"
Oh no, they split ways...