°°°
5 MONTHS EARLIER.
Eleanor was eating breakfast at her kitchen counter, excited for her day. As she finished, she placed her empty plate on the sink, and as if on cue, her dad walked down the stairs.
"Ready to go?" He asked. Eleanor nodded in response, and the both exited the house, and jumped into the family car.
"I still don't understand how Tony Stark asked you to take a look at his tower." The teen commented, fastening her seatbelt.
"He's an old friend of mine. And he wanted someone trustworthy enough, at least that's what he said." Her father laughed, starting the car and driving off. A half an hour of traffic later, Eleanor and her father were standing in front of the huge, brand new, Stark Tower in downtown San Francisco.
Eleanor whistled in amusement, she had never felt herself so small.
"Pretty neat, huh?" Her father commented, gawking her amusement, placing a hand on her shoulder. "He really went the extra mile. He always does."
The teen didn't respond, she just kept staring at the incredibly large building.
"Come on," Her father called, "I've got work to do."
Both relatives walked to the back of the building, where the arc reactor was. They got in, and Eleanor's eyes glew in excitement. The arc reactor was a huge machine in form of a circumference. It was a large circular glass, with blue electricity going through it continuously. She didn't know how it powered the entire tower.
"Dr. Page!" A man in a white coat greeted her father, shaking his hand. "It's great to have you here. We've had some malfunctions with the reactor, we could really use your help."
"It's my pleasure." William Page, Eleanor's father, replied. The man in a white coat's eyes went from William to Eleanor.
"I suppose this is your daughter, doctor."
"Yes, this is Eleanor. Eleanor, this is Bill, head engineer of the arc team."
The teenager shook the man's hand shyly.
"We have a future doctor among us." Bill joked, walking beside Eleanor and her father, towards the gigantic reactor in the middle of the room.
"Yes, but a real one. She wants to be a neurosurgeon."
The teen's cheeks felt warm as William kept bragging about her. She walked behind the two men as they talked.
"I believe she'll became a great doctor someday." Bill commented.
"She will, in anything she does." Eleanor's father turned his head to look at her. "She's pretty smart, like me. You know, Eleanor, that's a gift. And a gift like that comes with great responsibility. Don't waste your intelligence. Be badass."
The girl smiled and side-hugged her father, before the two men went to get a closer look at the machine. Eleanor then kept gawking at the enormous machine when she heard a faint beeping sound going off. She turned to look at her father, to ask what was going on, when everything went black.
She didn't know how long she had been unconscious when she woke up. Her eyes opened slowly, and when she felt the incredible hot environment, she sat up as fast as her body let her. She looked around, and as much as she tried to squint her eyes to look for anyone, the black, thick smoke wouldn't let her. She slowly stood up, and as she placed her hands on the floor, she felt all the tiny bits of copper and glass going through her skin. She groaned in pain, and stood up.
She looked around. "Dad? Dad!"
She could hear the ambulance siren from afar, but she still couldn't find her father. Her eyes started to feel with tears. She turned to the arc reactor, and saw that the glass covering the machine was broken in the middle. Her eyes widened. The arc reactor could explode again.
The girl ran towards the control table of the machine. She looked for the lever, button, or anything that could turn it off. Her eyes wondered around the table, until she saw it. On the edge of the table, there was a huge lever with "On/Off" written on it.
She approached it, and tried to pull it down. She then knew she needed way more strength. She tried as hard as she can, and when she successfully pulled it down, an electric shock went though the lever to her system. The girl screamed in pain and she lost her grip from the lever, falling onto the ground. As she lost consciousness, she heard the ambulance van arrive.
Hours after, she woke in a hospital room. Her mother hugged the burnt sweater her dad was wearing earlier, crying silently. She called her, Eleanor's voice hoarse. Her mother noticed her daughter was awake, and approached her and told her what had happened.
Eleanor didn't listened to the whole thing. She just heard some words here and there: overcharged. Reactor. El. Survivor. El's injuries. Fatal. But gone when she was placed in the OR table. Miracle.
Eleanor just stared ahead. She didn't feel her heartbeat anymore. A small tear went down her cheek, wishing she wasn't the one who had woken up.
PRESENT TIME
"And that's it." Eleanor said. Her glaze fixed itself onto the floor through the entire story, as she did when she told police officers what had happened.
"Wow," Ned said. Midway through the story, he had sat on the floor with the other two teens and reclined his back onto Peter's bed. "So you got your powers from Tony's arc reactor?"
"Apparently, yeah." Eleanor replied. The silence was prominent. Both guys didn't know what to say, so the girl took the lead on the conversation. "Where are the guys know?"
Ned then turned to the hologram. "Staten Island."
"It seems we're going to stay here for a while. Peter, do you mind if I go to your kitchen to pour myself some water?" Eleanor asked, looking towards him.
"S-sure, g-go." He said, smiling nervously at her.
Eleanor smiled and walked out to Peter's kitchen. She found it difficult to breathe every time she told that story, it was still an open wound. As she was pouring herself water into a glass, she heard Peter join her.
"Hey," he said at first, and to Eleanor's eyes, he seemed really nervous about something.
"Hi Pete." The girl replied, drinking a bit of her water. "What's up?"
"Listen, I-I," he started, his hand going to the back of his head. "I'm really sorry about your dad. I know how it feels to loose someone you love. I lost my parents when I was a kid, and I also lost my uncle a while back. I-I kinda know what you're going through. So, if you ever feel really bummed, I'll be always here to help." He gave a sad smile when he finished.
In that moment, she knew it was going to be way too hard for her to forget him. He was such a good person, always caring for everybody. She looked at him, and smiled, holding back her tears.
"I'm really sorry you had to go through all that. You can always count of me if you ever need to."
"The hero thing- I mean, discovering your powers and stuff, may seem scary at first, but believe me, you'll get the hang of it. You're awesome, yeah? And we're in this together." Peter said, looking at Eleanor's eyes.
The girl felt as if her heart was about to burst. "T-together?" She asked.
"Together." Peter finished. Both teens were smiling at each other, and there was a bit of silence until Eleanor spoke again. "Well, let's go back to Ned."
°°°
"They stopped." Ned said, pulling the web shooter's hologram closer to his face. It was a few hours later, Ned was wearing Peter's mask, Eleanor had been laying on the floor reading one of Peter's comic books, and Peter sat on the ceiling.
The other two teens stopped their actions and glanced at Ned.
"Maryland?" Eleanor asked, sitting up. "Why Maryland?"
"I don't know. Evil lair?" Peter commented, upside down.
"They have a lair?" Ned asked, and the eyes on Peter's mask widened.
"Dude. A gang with alien guns run by a guy with wings? Yeah, they have a lair." Peter replied, making Eleanor chuckle.
"Badass." The teen wearing the mask commented.
"But Peter, how are you gonna get there if it's, like, 300 miles away?" Eleanor asked, looking at the hologram.
She didn't receive a instant reply, she just saw Peter and Ned turn to look at Peter's wall, were a decathlon poster was hung.
"It's not too far from D.C," he finally replied, and then he looked at Eleanor. "And you're coming with me."
"Wait, what?" She said. Peter then jumped down from the ceiling, and the girl stood up from the floor. "I can't go."
"Why not?" Ned asked, taking off Peter's mask. The two boys had the same curious looks they had earlier.
"C-cause, I just learned how to control my powers a few weeks ago, and, I really don't want to hurt anybody-"
"Come on, El." Peter using his nickname on her made her heart beat rapidly, as usual. "You won't hurt anyone. You're great, really."
"But still, it'd be weird if both you and I disappeared in D.C at the same time Spider-Man and Rogue are there, if somebody sees us, they'll know."
"She's got a point." Ned commented, looking at both teens.
Peter hesitated before answering. "Okay, I'll go on my own. But take your suit anyways, just if something goes wrong and if I need your help."
"Sure. I'll be attentive, anything you'll need, I'll be there." The girl placed her hand in front of Peter. "Team?"
"Team." Peter placed his hand on top of her's and was followed by Ned.
"Team."
°°°
a/n: I'm so excited for what's coming!
-a.