°°°
TWO TEENAGERS PEEKED FROM a concrete pillar inside a parking lot.
"Is that him? Aaron?" The girl questioned, leaning beside her friend. The guy who they were spying on was just approaching his car, opening the trunk.
"Yes." Peter promptly replied, shooting a web towards the guy's hand, before speaking to Karen. "Activate enhanced interrogation mode."
Before Eleanor could ask what was that all about, Peter rapidly approached the man, making the other hero walk faster than usual.
"Remember me?" A deep, strange voice came out of Peter's suit, startling both Eleanor and the man. "I need information. You're gonna give it to me now."
"All right, chill." The man spoke, raising his hands.
"Come on!" Peter insisted, and before Eleanor decided it was a good time to step in, Aaron spoke again.
"What happened to your voice?"
"What do you mean what happened to my voice?" Peter responded.
"I heard you by the bridge. I know what a girl sounds like."
That remark made Eleanor snort, making Aaron's attention fall on her.
"Hey, you the electric chick. Thought you retired." He said, grabbing his plastic bags from the floor and placing them on the trunk of his car.
"Not yet, man." She returned, not even bothering in altering her voice. "We need some information to sort some things out."
"Look, who is selling these weapons? I need to know. Give me names or else." Peter continued, and as he finished, the man before them slammed the car trunk shut, frightening both teens.
"You ain't ever done this before, huh?"
"Deactivate interrogation mode," Peter spoke softly just for Karen to listen. "Look, man, these guys are selling weapons that are crazy dangerous. They can't just be out on the streets. Look, if one of them can just cut Delmar's bodega in half-"
Aaron seemed unamused when he was talking, but when Peter mentioned the sub shop, his head rose. "You know Delmar's?"
"Yeah, best sandwich in Queens." Peter responded.
"Sub Haven's pretty good."
"It's too much bread."
"I like bread."
"Come on, man, please." Eleanor pleaded, interrupting the conversation from earlier.
Aaron kept quiet, and Eleanor took charge again.
"Come on, Peter. We're waisting time." She whispered, and both teens started walking away when the man spoke again.
"The other night, you told that dude, 'if you shoot somebody, shoot me.' That's pretty ballsy." Aaron's eyes then went for Eleanor. "And I saw you go after him, when he was picked up by that crazy dude. Pretty ballsy too. I don't want those weapons in this neighborhood. I got a nephew who lives here."
The two teens gazed at each other, before turning to the man.
"Who are these guys? What can you tell me about the guy with the wings?" It was Peter's turn to talk now, and the man shook his head.
"Other than he's a psychopath dressed like a demon, nothing. I don't know who he is or where he is." The teenagers were about to walk off again, but the man spoke once more. "I do know where he's gonna be."
"Really?" The girl asked.
"Yeah, this crazy dude I used to work with, he's supposed to be doing a deal with him."
"Yes! Yes. Thank-" Peter thanked, and both teens turned to start strolling away, ready to go into action when Aaron stopped them.
"Hey. Hey. Hey. I didn't tell you where. You don't have a location."
"Shit." Eleanor cursed. "He's right."
The disguised adolescents came closer to the criminal, who was still attached to the trunk of his car, waiting for more information.
"Can I give you both some advice?" The man asked, and the other two hummed in response. "You got to get better at this part of the job."
"I don't understand. We're intimidating." Peter argued, and Aaron gave an unamused look.
"She's kinda scary. Not you. Anyway man, Staten Island ferry, eleven."
"Oh, that's soon." Eleanor remarked, glancing at her best friend.
They were now about to finally walk away, and before they did, Peter spoke.
"Hey, that's gonna dissolve in two hours."
"No, no, no, no. Come fix this." The man begged, pointing to his hand.
"You deserve that." Eleanor responded, walking away with Peter.
"I got ice cream in here!"
"You deserve that, you're a criminal. Bye, Mr. Criminal!"
°°°
Both teens now found themselves at the top of the parking lot, with a question in mind. The pair knew they had the same question, but they were just too afraid to talk.
"So, you can't teleport yourself there?" Peter asked Eleanor, looking towards the horizon.
"No, Peter. That's not how it works." Eleanor answered, stepping a little bit closer to the edge of the building, looking down. "I don't even know how it works."
Her friend kept quiet before he placed his hand on her shoulder. "Come on, we got this."
Eleanor knew he was smiling under the mask, so she let out a breath and asked, "So. How do we proceed?"
"Jump on me." Peter immediately proposed, making Eleanor turn to him with a confused look. Even though the bottom half of her face was covered, Peter laughed at her surprised expression.
"I think we're too early into this friendship for that kind of stuff, Parker."
Peter grinned. "I phrased it wrong. Jump onto my back, I'll swing us there."
Eleanor considered the option for a bit. "You sure?"
"Yes, just, don't electrocute me." He replied teasingly, making Eleanor roll her eyes, the memory of the time she accidentally electrocuted him as she hugged him last week on her mind.
"That was just one time." She annoyingly claimed before she approached Spider-Man. She sighed and spoke: "On the count of three. One, two, three!"
Eleanor jumped and her arms went around Peter's neck, her legs encircling around his hips while Peter's left hand grabbed her left thigh. The sudden and massive contact between the two made the girl blush and her stomach tremble. She tried her very best to push her feelings for Peter way down inside her, but there would always be some residue.
"You okay?" He questioned, grabbing her left leg firmly.
"Yes, are you sure we can pull this off?"
"Y-Yeah. I think so. Just, hold on tight. A-a-and lift your l-leg, please."
Eleanor wondered about what had made him so nervous, she looked down and realized her leg had been grazing his private area this whole time.
"I am so, so, sorry." She apologized, burying her head on the crook of his neck.
"It's okay, El. Now, hold on tight."
Eleanor tightened her grip on Peter, and let out a sigh. She closed her eyes and buried her head on the crook of Peter's neck again. The three seconds before Peter shot his web to a nearby building felt eternal. She cherished the moment she was in, since she knew it would be the closest she'd get to Peter ever.
And then, she felt it. An unimaginable amount of air making her ponytail fly with the wind hitting her face. She felt herself fly, and then fall down again. Up, and down. Up, and down, as Peter jumped, and shot another web. She opened her eyes a little and saw their reflection on a glass window. She smiled but gripped tighter onto Peter.
"You okay?" She heard him question again, among the hectic city's noise.
"Y-Yeah!" She yelled back. "T-this is-" she stopped as she felt herself fall again, as Peter shot another web. "A-amazing."
"Don't worry, I got you. We're almost there."
Eleanor just nodded in response, knowing full well Peter would not be able to see her, and rested her head on his shoulder.
A few minutes after, both teens landed on a building near the terminal. Eleanor, who had pulled the courage to look forward, saw that the giant, orange ferry was leaving the dock, and nudged Peter.
"It's leaving!" She said.
"Hold on." Peter muttered, and with Eleanor still on his back, he ran towards the ferry and jumped. The girl went into panic mode when she noticed the familiar web-shooting sound hadn't gone off, but she was flying still. She then noticed Peter's glider wings on his arms, and made a mental note to ask him about that later. They landed on the ferry's external wall, looking through a window.
"Okay, Karen, activate Enhanced Reconnaissance Mode." Peter spoke and looked inside the ferry intensely.
Eleanor took this time to look down and saw water surrounding her. Panic started flooding her body once again.
How am I going to help without electrocuting somebody? She thought.
"It's the guy from the bridge, right? Who's that other guy?" Peter's voice brought the other teen back to reality, and she looked into the window.
"Is it that guy?" She asked.
"Yeah, but there's no criminal record of- I can't talk right now. I'll call her back."
"May?" Eleanor asked, Peter nodding in response.
Out of nowhere, a small drone hovered around Peter, making the girl amazed.
"Hey, dronie, keep an eye on that guy. We can't let anybody get away this time." Peter spoke to the artifact, and it flew away.
"Holy shit, I want a suit like yours," Eleanor commented, making Peter chuckle.
"Hold on tight." He reminded, and he crawled to the roof, both teens peeking down. "Y-you can jump off now, El."
The girl did as ordered, and crouched down. She looked over at the men and saw them chat. A few seconds later, one of the men directed himself towards the area where the cars were parked.
Eleanor then neared Peter. "Hey," she murmured at her friend. "They've probably got a car in the parking area with loads of stuff."
"Oh, this is too perfect, El: we got the weapons, buyers, and sellers all in one plac- no, no, no, no, don't answer." Peter replied and then looked down to the ground, confusing the other teen.
As Eleanor came closer to Peter to ask if he was alright, she got close enough to hear a familiar voice from the mask's speakers.
"Mr. Parker. Got a sec?" Tony Stark's voice frightened both teens all the way to their bones.
The two adolescents gaped at each other with widened eyes, as Peter returned to the billionaire.
"Uh, I'm actually at school." As Peter chatted with Tony, he gestured Eleanor to keep an eye on the men.
The girl did as ordered, and lowered her body closer to the ground to avoid being seen. The ferry's horn went off as Eleanor saw one of the men ─ that she later remembered, was the same one who drove the van during the lake situation ─ holding a pair of keys. Eleanor panicked: they had to act, and fast. She then turned to Peter, and whisper-yelled: "Peter, let's go!"
"I'll take those!" He yelled, making himself noticeable, as he shot a web to the man's keys and snatched them off his hand. Eleanor then leaped from the roof, landing safely on the ferry's floor.
Spider-Man mimicked her actions, landing beside her. "Hey, guys. The illegal-weapons-deal-ferry was at 10:30. You missed it."
Eleanor just rolled her eyes at her friend's joke, as she noticed two men in front of her lunge towards her. She avoided both punches and kicked one of the men in the stomach, making him hit the wall a few meters from her, and fall from the ground. To the other one, she ducked as he tried to punch her, and placed her hand on his leg, electrocuting him slightly, before pushing him away. The man went to the other wall on her side, making her take a mental note to not forget she was stronger than average. She also took another mental note to use her powers wisely, a miscalculation could damage the engines, or worse, she'd kill everybody if she fell into the water.
At that moment of self-reflection, the man from the other night lunged towards Eleanor, with what seemed an electric glove. Eleanor stopped the punch with her bare hand, small electric rays freeing themselves from her hand towards the glove.
"Nah-uh, buddy." She spoke, as she used most of her strength to stop the man's movements. "This doesn't work on me." The girl then gripped tighter onto the glove making it shine brighter and then, making it stop working. She shoved the man against the Ferry rail, and as soon she got rid of him, she heard Peter yell from a few meters beside her.
"Duck!"
She immediately did as ordered, and saw that the two men from before were running towards her, so Peter shot a web at both of them and sent them flying towards the ferry's railing as well.
"Are you guys okay? My bad. That was a little hard." Peter then apologized, and before the man with the burnt glove could stand up again, Peter shot a web towards him, making him not able to move.
"I gotta say the other guy was way better with that thing." Peter then started talking again, as Eleanor looked around. It was too quiet, too simple. She knew something bigger was coming. As she looked around, Peter shot what seemed a web grenade behind them, wrapping a man with it.
Eleanor's eyes kept scanning around until she saw him. A man was hitting another man she had seen earlier against the white truck, making him unconscious.
"Stop!" She called, Peter's eyes following hers. And before she could run towards the man, a bunch of civilians exited every door that was around them, and each one yelled the same thing.
"FBI!"
"Freeze!"
Eleanor, mimicking every main character's actions after an FBI encounter on any movie she'd seen, raised her hands immediately. "What the hell?" She asked to herself.
"Shit." She heard Peter curse beside her, as they were both circled by men holding up guns.
The girl turned to the agents before her with the weapons in their grip. "Alright, alright. We get it." She said, her hands still in the air. "FBI. We're in the same side as you guys-"
Eleanor was interrupted by two familiar robotic wings breaking a van's walls in the parking area. The vulture guy then came out of the van, with a weapon in his hand, flying towards them. The FBI agents started shooting at it when Eleanor turned to Peter.
"Move them out of the way!" She commanded as Peter looked at her. She then looked at the vulture. "I can take this."
The vulture shot what seemed an energy blast towards everyone on the deck, and Eleanor took a step back, made an electric ball with her hands, throwing it towards the flying man. As Peter moved the agents away, Eleanor kept launching electric balls at the vulture guy, who kept avoiding them. Then, the robotic man grabbed a car and planned to throw it towards them. Eleanor clenched her teeth and grunted as she tried her best to make a forcefield. She did, but the car's force was too much for her, so she maintained the force field for less than three seconds, which was enough to keep the agents safe, but also enough to push her towards the edge of the ferry. Before she could fall into the water, she grabbed onto a rail with her right hand, taking short, quick breaths. Despite the position she found herself at the moment, she smiled at herself. She really could make forcefields after all. She shook her head, and tried her best to climb up the rail. As she did, she felt a piece of metal rip through her suit on her knee, earning a grunt from her. Peter approached her and helped her land on the deck, as the vulture man flew higher.
Eleanor heard the energy blast gun starting up, and she looked up and attempted to toss an electric ball towards the vulture guy, which she missed. Her knee was bleeding down her white suit and hurt like hell.
"Get to the top deck." The flying man commanded the man with the burnt glove, who had been set free. "We're getting out of here."
Peter then tried to shoot a web towards the man with the burnt glove, but the vulture guy shot an energy blast at the web, breaking it off. Peter then shot a web at the flying man's foot pulling him towards the deck. At the same time, the FBI agents shot at him, while he covered himself with a metal wing.
Eleanor once again caught the familiar sound of the weapon starting up, she then shot an electric ball at the gun. She succeeded this time, but the man reacted quickly: he made the gun fire again, this time, towards the ferry's inside. Eleanor's eyes enlarged: she had forgotten about the people inside.
While Peter was fighting off the flying guy, Eleanor took the time to open the door closest to her, and climb up the stairs as quickly as her knee let her, to where the FBI agents were. She hurried them back in and entered the lobby, where all the passengers seemed to be already panicking and huddling against the walls, or seats. She cleared her throat, and decided to lower her voice this time.
"Calm down, everybody." She saw the amazed looks from people around her. "Everything's going to be okay."
"Rogue?" A kid hiding behind her mother asked. They were both sitting on the seats still, clutching onto them.
"Uh, yeah. I guess that's me-" she replied, and the ferry stumbled, from another blast from the outside. Everyone clutched onto any surface they could hold, some screaming, some praying. Eleanor's heart broke at the sight.
"Everybody," she stopped lowering her voice, this time, she raised the volume. "Hold on tight, stay closer to the walls. We're going to be fine."
This was the time she made a mental note to buy an earpiece to be able to communicate with Peter. She moved people around, taking them to the safest places she could find.
"Everyone, just relax. We're going to be-" she was interrupted by multiple blasts of energy going off from the ground towards the roof, thankfully, not harming anybody in the process. They went off almost everywhere, and she devised the man with the burnt glove running on the outside deck.
"Hey, hey!" Eleanor yelled, and before she could take any step closer, a huge explosion went off. She did not move an inch, and glanced around. For a few moments, she could only hear 3 things: her heart beating, her breathing, and metal breaking down below. She had to maintain a calm behavior, but deep down, she knew she couldn't when she could also hear water seeping in.
"Okay, everyone." She spoke sternly. "Listen to me. Everybody to the sides, now!"
The people inside the boat followed her instructions, and as the ferry kept trembling, she used her super-speed to help everyone get to the wall closest to them. She was on the right side of the boat when she heard people screaming. She turned, and observed the boat was tearing itself apart slowly. Water seeped from the bottom towards the upper floors, wires went loose, Eleanor's eyes widened and her heart dropped to her feet: she knew this was a recipe for disaster.
She then saw Peter flying through the middle of the boat, tying up webs to keep the ferry together. He went through the broken structure repeating his actions, as Eleanor planned what she should do next.
Think, think, think.
She couldn't do anything, she felt useless. She then saw Peter land on the ferry's roof, his idea of tying up both parts of the ferry together successful. Eleanor felt herself breathe again when she felt the metal structure stop falling.
"Yeah, Spider-Man!" A man yelled, and people started applauding, when the webs started snapping and the ferry went back to it's falling position.
Eleanor gained her adrenaline and quick thinking back. "Everybody on the ground!" She yelled. Metal parts started falling off the ceiling, so using the tiniest forcefield she could make, she pushed them towards the water, avoiding to get any civilians hurt.
Peter grabbed two webs, and pulled them both together, trying to piece the ferry back together. A web from Eleanor's left side also broke, but she took it just in time and pulled. Her right hand clutched onto the web, as her left hand held tight onto a broken window's edge. Glass broke her hand's skin, making her grunt as she pulled with every ounce of super-strength she had in her. Just as she fell she was about to give in, the ferry went back up. She glanced around, and when she last saw it, the ferry was already placed together. She looked around and saw Peter in the center of the room, shrugging his shoulders. His eyes then widened to the sight behind Eleanor. She turned around, expecting the worst, but it was way, way worse than she thought.
"Hi Spider-Man, and Rogue, is it?" Tony's sarcastic tone emitted from his suit, that had been pushing the ferry's wall all this time. "Band practice, is it?"
She then watched the suit fly away, and Peter immediately followed it. Eleanor took the chance to run up the damaged stairs and go towards the rooftop, trying to find Tony. She looked around, and finally saw him, with Peter trailing behind.
"Uh, Mr. Stark? Hey, Mr. Stark. Could I do anything? What do you want me to do?" Peter proposed, jumping onto a tower on the ferry's roof.
"I think you two have done enough." He returned and flew away.
°°°
Peter and Eleanor sat on the edge of a building in silence. Her mouth cover was now on her left hand's palm, trying to avoid any more blood. And once again, she heard the familiar sound of rockets hovering behind them.
"Previously, on Peter and El screw the Pooch: I told you to stay away from this. Instead, you hacked a multimillion-dollar suit so you could sneak around behind my back doing the one thing I told you not to do." Mr. Stark's voice was stern, not as laid off as they were used to.
"Is everyone okay?" Peter asked, looking down to the streets.
"No thanks to you." Mr. Stark answered.
"No thanks to me?" Peter claimed angrily, as he stood up from his position and approached the suit. Eleanor just turned her head to look at them, guilt flooding around her body.
"Those weapons were out there, and I tried to tell you about it, but you didn't listen. None of this would've happened if you had just listened to me." Peter stepped towards the suit as he talked, getting angrier by the minute. This was a side of Peter Eleanor had never seen. But then, he continued: "If you even cared, you'd actually be here."
Out of sudden, the entire suit opened, and Tony Stark came out of it. This startled both teens; Peter took a step back and Eleanor rose.
"I did listen, kid. Who do you think called the FBI, huh? Do you know that I was the only one who believed in you? Everyone else said I was crazy to recruit a 14-year-old kid." The older man spoke, walking towards Peter this time.
"I'm fifteen-"
"No, this is where you zip it, all right? The adult is talking. What if somebody had died tonight? Different story, right? 'Cause that's on you. And if you died, I feel like that's on me. I don't need that on my conscience." Tony's voice scared both teens, and it made Eleanor remember when her father used to scold at her.
Peter kept quiet, and Eleanor's heart stopped when the man's eyes turned to her.
"Don't even let me get started on you." He stated, approaching the girl.
"Mr. Stark, I-"
"Didn't you listen back there? This is where you both zip it. I don't want to hear anything from you." He spoke sternly, and Eleanor's lips formed a straight line. "Hear this, you're not ready. There's a reason why I told you to wait, you could've easily killed every single person in that boat, including Peter. Could you live with that?"
Eleanor eyes glanced at Peter for a second, and then back at Tony.
"Answer, Eleanor. Could you live with that?"
"No." She responded, angry.
"You're not ready. If you continue like this, people will look at you like a monster. You need to learn how to control your powers." Tony then sighed before he continued. "If anything happened to you, I'd also feel it's on me. I just.. thought you'd be better."
That last sentence made Eleanor's heart break. She was using all of her strength inside her to not let any tear roll down her cheeks.
He took a step back, staring at both teens. "Look at you two."
"I'm sorry." Eleanor expressed, looking at the ground.
"Sorry doesn't cut it." Tony replied, avoiding her gaze.
"I just- It's not fair. How long do I have to wait to finally use my powers for good? I can't just stand by and not do anything when there's people like them roaming the streets, I-" Eleanor started arguing but was interrupted by her mentor.
"Yes you can, and you will."
"Mr. Stark, I just want to be like you." Eleanor spoke, her voice breaking down.
"And I wanted you both to be better." Tony commented, and then he continued. "Okay, it's not working out. I'm gonna need the suits back."
That request shocked teens to the core, making them look at him angrily.
"For how long?" Peter asked.
"Forever." Tony's eyes went to Eleanor. "You shouldn't even have one in the first place. It's-" he started, but he seemed to give up the fight. "I just, need both suits back."
"No, no, no, please, please, please." Peter pleaded. "You don't understand. Please. This is all I have. I'm nothing without this suit."
Eleanor pondered about how hurt she felt about giving her suit, she couldn't imagine how Peter would be feeling.
"If you're nothing without this suit, then you shouldn't have it. Okay? God, I sound like my dad." Tony spoke.
"We don't have any other clothes." Peter remarked, and Eleanor walked to join his side in front of the millionaire.
"Okay, we'll sort that out."
°°°
a/n: a long ass chapter to make up for the time I was gone!
I'm so sorry about that, though.
I'm currently in my senior year, so, my life is extremely busy now.
Also, I wanted to sit down and take my time with this chapter, since I want to make it as clear as possible.
Speaking of clear, I believe that some things about Eleanor/her feelings for Peter/her father/her powers have not been as clear as I want them to be, so, any question you may have, leave it here!
Also, due to the pandemic we're currently going through now, I'll be updating a lot more! :)
Please, please, please, take care. Don't go out unless it's completely necessary, wash your hands, you know. All the healthy stuff.
I hope you all stay healthy!
All the love,
-a.