Daphne absentmindedly plays with the food on her plate. She shuffles individual rice pieces from one side to the other and only rarely takes a bite. Derek eyes her worried and finally musters up the courage to break the silence.
"I won't be home tomorrow evening," he says after clearing his throat.
"Hm?" Daphne doesn't look up and purses her lips.
"The zoo is organizing a winter disco every Thursday and they're a little short staffed this time around." Derek raises his eyebrows when Daphne doesn't reply, so he pokes his fork into her food, stealing a piece of chicken off her plate.
"Hey!" She exclaims. Derek raises his eyebrows at her as he triumphantly munches down on Daphne's food.
"Figured you're not gonna eat it."
"I am! I am... I just-" Daphne looks back down at her plate and immediately starts shuffling the dish with her fork again.
"You just?" Derek cheekily brings his cutlery back to Daphne's plate and she manages to chuckle as she sword-fights him away with her own fork.
"Sorry, dad, I've got a lot going on," she sighs.
"Oh, and I don't?" Derek scoffs. "You're not the only one suffering from everything that's happening to you." Daphne bites her lip and takes a breath.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Derek lets out a loud sigh as he leans back in his chair.
"I know you don't, Daph..."
Derek looks at Daphne as she continues to play with her food. Right before he wants to break the silence himself, Daphne speaks.
"When I was brought back by Loki..." She frowns, lost in thought. "After the thunder strike."
"Yeah?" There's a short pause and Derek leans forward again, quietly shuffling his own food around his plate.
"He said he gave me back to you. And then he left." Derek bites the inside of his cheek, knowing what Daphne implies. He'd hoped she'd never ask him this. Not because he has anything to hide, but because he wished he had a more meaningful answer.
"I..." He quietly puts down his cutlery and looks up at Daphne. "I never knew it was him."
"Not even when the images from the New York attack went viral? Everyone knew Loki at that point." Daphne twirls her fork in her hand and Derek isn't sure if she's angry or just curious.
"You were unconscious. You were bleeding. I had been looking for you for hours, Daphne. I only went back home when the storm became too much. At the time I couldn't care less about whoever brought you back. The only thing that mattered was that you were back. Safe, with me. I didn't care to remember his face." Derek rubs his eyebrows and ponders his words. "I took you from his arms and when I turned to tell him to get inside with the storm still happening, he had already disappeared. I never questioned it."
"Why not? Wasn't that weird?"
"I always thought that man was your guardian angel," Derek admits. He seems almost embarrassed. Daphne chuckles as she finally puts some food on her fork to take a bite.
"I guess he really was." After her second bite, Daphne looks up at her dad again. "You mentioned a Zoo Disco?"
...
"Excuse you?" Tony stares at Nick Fury, wide-eyed.
"You heard me, Stark."
"No-no, I don't think I heard you well enough. Come again?"
"You just want to hear me say I fucked up."
"What? No, of course not! I just didn't hear you the first time," Tony says with a loud fake cough. Nick lets out an agitated groan.
"Fine," he sighs. "David got out." He sucks at his teeth. "We're guessing we can find him wherever Daphne is, so we want you to contact her." Tony doesn't give Nick Fury his answer straight away. Instead, he counters his question with a question of his own.
"How in the world could he escape?! From the Raft, of all places?!"
"Ask Strange." Tony's face turns sour.
"Strange?" He says quietly. The name seethes from his lips. "Strange!"
An orange glow fills the room and Stephen steps out of his circular portal.
"You called?" His eyebrows raise nonchalantly and Tony takes a few forceful steps his way.
"Care to explain how David escaped the Raft?" Stephen's eyes go wide and he takes a step backwards.
"He what?!"
"Yeah, that was pretty much my exact response! The fuck did you do?" Stephen shakes his head slowly. You could practically see the gears turn in his head.
"The kid has very potent magic and in order to keep it from growing out of proportion I had to teach him some basic things, so he can control it."
"You taught him?!"
"Upon my request," Nick butts in. "That silver stuff triggered something and he was in a lot of pain before Strange showed up." Tony pulls at his hair and grabs his phone, dialing Daphne's number.
"How'd he get out?" Stephen turns to face the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"He created a portal," Nick replies calmly. "Like the one you just walked in with." Stephen stares at Nick in complete disbelief.
"I never taught him that..." he mumbles.
"He must've watched you quite closely then, doctor."
"And only with one hand?" Tony asks with his phone still clutched between his shoulder and his ear.
"You don't need two hands to create a portal. Magic is only limited by your mind," Stephen sighs. "This kid is dangerous."
"Yeah, no kidding," Tony scoffs. "Come on, Daph, pick up!"
...
Daphne whips her head carelessly to the beat. Request hour just started, so there's more than just pop music blasting through the speakers. Daphne's jacket had been tossed aside ages ago. She's unsure where it is, but she doesn't care right now. Her hips sway to the beat and she ignores the stinging cold and all the people around her. When someone approaches her to ask her if she was Daphne 'from the kidnapping' she'd simply say: "Nah, but I look like her, so I get that a lot." Most people would leave her alone. After all, it made her a whole lot less interesting. And it's still New York; most people actually didn't care. She opted not to invite any of her friends or classmates to this outside disco thing. She just wanted to let go and not have to deal with any questions. Or people. The less interactions she has, the less time she gets to think about...
"Daphne!" Her face contorts when she hears his voice. She sniffs once and turns away from it, not halting her movements and pretending to be un-bothered. "Daph!" He's nearing her, but she still doesn't want to talk to him, so she closes her eyes. The longer she doesn't have to look at him, the better. Daphne's eyes open abruptly when his hand touches her shoulder and turns her towards him.
"Daph, we've been trying to reach you!" Peter stares at her with wide eyes and Daphne blinks a few times, unhappy with the fact that he threw off her groove.
"I'm busy," she says simply, before trying to turn away from him again. However, his grip on her arm tightens and he jerks her towards him. She yelps softly at his brashness and stares at him wide-eyed.
"David's on the loose." The look in his eye is intense and Daphne's breath is stuck in her throat. His irises are dark and his jaw is tightened. Is he... Being protective? Confusion spreads through Daphne's body. She was convinced he didn't care about her anymore and now he's acting like this? Daphne scoffs.
"Oh, so you don't say a word to me, go on with your life, but now that David's lurking you're suddenly back to being the hero?" Peter immediately lets go of Daphne and takes a step back, slightly offended, glancing around to see if anyone noticed her outburst.
"I'm sorry, okay, I just need you to not be in public until we catch-"
"Nah," Daphne says while shaking her head. A sarcastic laugh falls from her lips. "Nah, you don't get to exclude me from this." She puts her hands on her hips. "Call Fury, or whatever. If you want David caught, I'll lure him out."
Peter lets out an exasperated sigh as Daphne turns to walk away from him.
"He's dangerous, Daph." He follows her through the crowd of dancing people. "Strange taught him some basic magic tricks and now the guy can teleport!" Daphne's head whips around and looks up at Peter defiantly.
"I'll lure him out," she repeats determined, enunciating every word. "He gets jealous easily, so all I gotta do is get the attention of a few guys and he'll be out in no time." Daphne cocks an eyebrow. "You're the big, strong man, right? I'm sure Spider-Man can restrain him." Daphne continues her strut towards the DJ and she nonchalantly steps up the small stage to request the next song. She arches her back and sticks out her butt as she leans over the sound system. Peter can do nothing but stare at her, defeated. He knows she has every right to be frustrated with him for breaking up with her the way he did, but she's been evading him constantly. He wants to talk to her, but she doesn't give him the opportunity and now she's saying this? And doing... That?!
Jealousy creeps up on Peter when he spots a few random guys also staring at Daphne. Or, more particularly, at her behind. Peter looks away, pretending to not be bothered by it, but his blood is slowly starting to boil. He sucks at his teeth and ends up looking around for the reason why he went to find Daphne in the first place. If David knows magic, he must be able to find her quite quickly and easily. Maybe he can disguise himself, like Loki can. Doctor Strange explained what he'd taught David, but if he learned how to teleport without Stephen's help, there's no telling what he's capable of.
The current song swiftly transitions into something that seems to have been inspired by Indian music. Daphne slowly lets herself glide off the stage as she winks at the DJ and mouths a short "thank you". Peter frowns, trying to recognize the song, but it's not landing. In any case, he can't keep his eyes off Daphne anymore. The way she elegantly saunters over to the other people on the dance floor is strangely captivating. she takes the tie out of her hair and shakes her head a few times, letting loose her long wavy hair. The song starts with the chorus and Peter finally realizes what they're listening to. His face contorts. "Come and get it" by Selena Gomez.
You ain't gotta worry, it's an open invitation
I'll be sittin' right here, real patient
All day, all night, I'll be waitin' standby
Can't stop because I love it, hate the way I love you
All day all night, maybe I'm addicted for life, no lie.
I'm not too shy to show I love you, I got no regrets.
I love you much, too much to hide you, this love ain't finished yet.
This love ain't finished yet
So baby whenever you're ready
When you're ready come and get it, na na na
Daphne sways her hips and plays with her hair as she dances. It's awfully enticing and Peter has to move away from the dance floor to keep himself from grabbing her by the waist and dance with her like they used to. He's fairly certain she wouldn't appreciate that. Unfortunately for Peter, it didn't take long for a guy to show up right behind Daphne to dance with her. Peter realizes he's losing control of his super strength as he bends part of the metal fencing he's leaning against when the random guy grinds up against Daphne. His hands creep past her waist to press her flush against him and, to Peter's dismay, Daphne shows no sign of stopping him.
Daphne closes her eyes and lets herself get carried away by the music again. She hates this song for a lot of reasons; the lyrics literally being an invitation to abduct her, is definitely one of those. But this is hopefully exactly what she needs to dance to in order for David to reveal himself. Daphne presses herself against the guy behind her and can't help but imagine it's Peter giving her this kind of attention. She's practically waiting for the guy to tangle his hands in her hair like Peter always did, but he doesn't. She takes a breath and turns away from him as the song nears its end. She looks around to see if David's anywhere, but can't seem to spot him anywhere.
There's a moment of doubt in her mind as she wonders if the effort was even worth it. She's suddenly disgusted with herself for dancing like this with a stranger. While Peter's watching. The same stranger tugs at her shoulder, trying to coax her into dancing against him again. She opts to just keep facing the guy, who is quite obviously a few years older than her. Ew. She fakes a smile as she continues to dance along to the music as her requested song fades to silence. They all clap for the DJ who casually announces the next song would be the last song of request hour. Daphne bites the inside of her cheek. Maybe she really did just waste a lot of time pretending to like the guy she was dancing with. David's probably not even here anyw-
Baby, I'm preying on you tonight
Hunt you down eat you alive
Just like animals
Animals
Like animals-mals
Daphne's eyes go wide and she immediately turns around to the DJ who seems to be minding his own business. She rushes away from the stranger who's still trying to dance with her and climbs up the stage towards the DJ again.
Maybe you think that you can hide
I can smell your scent for miles
Just like animals
Animals
Like animals-mals
"Who requested this song?" She yells over the music. The DJ shrugs apologetically as the song continues in the background.
"I dunno," he says honestly. He pauses to think. "Some dude, I guess."
"Which way did he go?"
"Girl, I'm trying to work here-"
"Fine! Sorry,, sorry..." Daphne slowly climbs down again.
You're like a drug that's killing me
I cut you out entirely
But I get so high when I'm inside you
Daphne's about to accuse David of pulling some sick joke by requesting this song, but she wasn't much better than him in that regard. Her heartbeat is loud between her ears and she's getting short of breath. She rushes to where she dropped her jacket, but it's missing. Which means her phone's gone too. He's here, she thinks. Fear suddenly takes over as she hugs herself. He's actually here.
Yeah, you can start over you can run free
You can find other fish in the sea
You can pretend it's meant to be
But you can't stay away from me
Whatever bravery Daphne thought she had has completely disappeared. Every part of Daphne is screaming for her to find Peter. He can protect her. There's nothing she wants more now than to have his arms wrapped around her as he tells her everything is going to be okay. A quiet sob escapes her mouth as the heavy weight of regret creates an empty pit in her stomach. Why was she so stupid?! She calls out for Peter as she turns another time, but his brown curls are nowhere to be found.
You're still in my head forever stuck
So you can do what you wanna do, eh
I love your lies I'll eat 'em up
But don't deny the animal
Daphne finds her way to the other side of the crowd. She's panting. Peter's name is wet on her lips as she repeats it constantly in her search for him. Her hands pull at her hair and she decides to just make a break for it. Get to Tony as fast as she can. She turns one last time, in the direction of Avengers Tower, and that's when she spots them. Adam Levine's howl is all she can hear, echoing into the night sky. She stares at the two guys wide-eyed. Peter's frozen where he stands with David's silver arm wrapped around him. One wrong move and he's done for.
Everything seems to happen in slow motion. Daphne doesn't think twice as she accelerates towards David and Peter. She pushes aside everyone in her way and leaps over a bench. David waves his one hand and cocks his head cheekily as both of them disappear into an orange portal. He really did learn magic. Daphne swears under her breath, but yelps when someone suddenly grabs her arm and stops her from advancing. She doesn't care to look up. Not even when the woman says she's with S.H.I.E.L.D. Daphne doesn't care about anything but Peter right now. Her mind and body are on autopilot as she shakes herself free with little effort and continues her chase.
She finds herself running to a more and more secluded area in the zoo. The disco's far away from where she is right now. Why does everything always have to happen when she's at a party of some sort?!
"Peter!" She calls out in a desperate attempt. "David!" An unexpected warmth expands behind her and she turns around to see David standing in a portal he created. Before she can react, he grabs her arm and pulls her in.