I switched Tony's jet into auto-pilot and, for a few long, boring hours, we drifted through the darkened sky. None of us felt like talking, so we just sat in silence, me almost having a heart attack whenever we entered a turbulent area of cloud.
It was about three in the morning and Evie was snoring in the back seat. "Do you think we'll get kicked off the Avengers for this?" Ben asked, his voice sleepy.
"You weren't even on the Avengers," Peter reminded him. He glanced at me and yawned. "But yes. Kira will probably get kicked off the team when we get back."
I scowled at him. "Well, aren't you a Negative Nelly," I chided.
Evie yawned. "Nah, Kira won't get kicked off the Avengers. She's Black Widow's daughter. That's gotta account for something."
"You're Black Widow's daughter too," Ben piped up, poking her. "Technically."
Evie rolled her eyes. "I think of Natasha more of an aunt, really," she admitted. "Even though she's my biological mother. You're still my brother, squirt. And Tina's still my mum." She ruffled his hair and he giggled.
I looked out of the window, thinking of Nat. The sky was dark and cloudy, scattered with stars. I could see the faint golden lights of cities down under me: we were probably passing over England right now. I was about to doze off when a buzz from my pocket distracted me. I pulled out my phone, which had previously been turned off in Aeroplane Mode, and looked at it. A billion messages from the Avengers group chat flooded the screen, most from my mum. I had one hundred and fifty-two missed calls. "Woah," Peter looked over at my screen. "That's... a lot of texts."
"Quite the detective," I teased him, responding to the group chat by saying: I'm OK. Don't worry. Gtg. That resulted in about fifty more texts coming in, most of them from Nat, who was texting in all-caps. I switched my phone off. "Did you bring your phone?"
"Nope." Peter shook his head. "It's back at the Tower. So they can't track us."
I frowned at him. "That's probably smart."
Evie snorted and started to sing 'Genius' by LSD. I threw my phone at her head and she squeaked, ducking to avoid the Evie-bound piece of technology. Ben gave me a high-five and Peter laughed. "What's your favourite song?" Peter asked me.
I thought about it for awhile. "Probably a mixture between every Disney song ever written, Thriller by Michael Jackson, and... Timber by Pitbull and Kesha."
He made a face. "Pitbull? Seriously?"
I nodded. "It's a pretty good song actually."
"I beg to differ," said Evie. "Pitbull's music videos are like, one percent actual music and ninety-nine percent underdressed girls."
"And zero percent hair," Ben added, giggling. "I like Dua Lipa."
"Good taste," I remarked, laughing. "So does Nat. She was blasting 'New Rules' at full volume when she had a shower yesterday morning."
Just as Peter was about to say something, I heard a massive bang coming from the end of the plane. I whipped my head around to see a cloud of dark black smoke pouring out of the left engine, which was hanging limp and lifeless, a great big hunk of metal, off the side of the plane. A red light started to flash on the dashboard, saying in big letters: ENGINE DOWN. I swore. "The left engine's dead," I said. "I'll have to fix it." I switched the plane off autopilot and grabbed the steering stick, veering it right. The plane let out a judder as it passed through some particularly dense cloud and Ben yelped as the entire body of the jet tilted to a terrifying angle.
"We're heading over Ireland," Peter yelled, his usually calm face panicked. "We just have to find a safe place to land!"
"You're insane," Evie screamed, holding on tight to Ben. "This is so insane."
I could see the first lights of dawn illuminating the Irish countryside, perfect green pastures arranged in squares down below me. Fire was spreading across the back of the jet and it was veering down quickly, aimed for a crash-course into...
"It's heading for Dublin!" I screamed. "We have to stop it!"
"There aren't any parachutes!" Evie screamed, scrambling to search for the safety gear. "And the right engine's gone too! We're coming in hot!"
I suddenly knew what I had to do. Grabbing a tool belt filled with all sorts of useful stuff, I handed the steering controls to Peter, whose face was confused and terrified. "What are you doing?!" he yelled, watching me stand up and open the door to the plane, his chestnut-coloured eyes bulging.
"Fixing this problem!" I yelled back, feeling the rush of air blow into my face, sending my hair flying like crimson ribbons in the wind. Ignoring my friend's screams and thinking that this was the most insane thing I'd ever done in my life, I kicked the door shut and shoved myself onto the roof of the jet-black plane, the fire coming from both broken engines pouring past me in a dark smoky spiral. My heart was pounding in my ears so loudly I thought I'd go deaf. Channelling my probability gift and draining most of my energy, I switched it so the jet wouldn't crash into Dublin. Holding my breath, I watched as the plane veered right, away from the city down below. Letting out a sigh of relief, I suddenly had a realisation: I didn't need to be on top of this plane! What was I even doing up here??
"Dumb, Kira, real dumb," I muttered, climbing over to one of the engines, tool belt in hand. I reached down to it, feeling the searing heat of the fire as it licked over my hand. I pulled it back, hissing with pain. Swearing, I looked up and almost screamed as I saw how close we were to crashing down in a field of waving barley storks: well, it was a desolate field, so that as good, but still. We were going to die.
"KIRA!" somebody screamed. I whipped around to see Peter hanging onto the top of the plane, his Spider-suit covering his face. He held out his hand. "GRAB ON!"
I latched onto his hand, the wind tearing at my face. He grabbed me and held me close. "You're insane," he told me.
I laughed, even though the prospect of certain death seemed inevitable. "Is rescuing girls from burning jet planes something you do on a regular basis?"
"You'd be surprised," he muttered darkly, swinging down back into the cockpit of the plane, where Evie and Ben were screaming their heads off.
"WE'RE GONNA CRASH!" Evie shrieked, covering Ben's eyes.
"Not if I can help it!" Peter said, grabbing both of them and me and swinging us out of the cockpit again. They screamed even louder as he jumped down out of the door, using his web shooters to attach themselves to a set of trees. We slammed into the trunks and I could have sworn I broke my ribs, landing in the field and rolling about ten metres before screeching to a stop.
The plane exploded, fire engulfing it's sleek black surface. A massive mushroom cloud rose above the field, barley storks swaying. I gulped and groaned, not moving from my spot on the ground. Tony's gonna kill me.
But not after Nat has. Nat will have killed me then brought me back to life only to kill me again. And then Tony will kill me after that, and it'll be a never-ending cycle of being murdered by the angry Avengers. What a way to go.
I stood up blearily, my legs wobbling as they tried to hold my trembling weight. Feeling like I was made of lead, I stumbled over to where I could see my friends, who were groaning on the ground with similar injuries. Peter was leaning against a tree, his face bruised and covered in blood. Evie was nursing a sprained ankle while Ben blinked and stumbled around dizzily. "You guys good?" I asked, knowing it was a stupid question.
"We just crash-landed from a plane," Evie breathed. "And we're alive."
"Are we, though?" Ben asked, rubbing a lump on his head.
Not wanting to provoke an existential crisis in a dizzy eleven-year-old, I made my way over to Peter and slumped down next to him, trying to give him a smile that looked more like a grimace. "You saved my life," I said.
He looked at me and blinked. "Uh. Yeah. I guess I did."
"Again," I added, remembering Mount Gestola. "You've saved my life twice now."
"Why are you counting?" he asked, the corners of his mouth lifting a little.
"Because now I owe you twice," I pouted. "I don't suppose buying you food counts as suitable payback?"
Peter chuckled a bit. "You don't owe me anything. Getting to be your friend is payback enough."
I blushed. "You're not only my friend, you know," I said.
"Really?" he smiled at me, his cheeks reddening.
"Larb date, remember?" I said dryly. "I'm looking forward to that."
"Me too." Peter sighed, resting his head back against the bark of the tree and watching as the sun rose over the horizon. "Me too."
I stood up, the sound of a phone ringing blaring out from the crash. I squinted into the distance at the wreckage and made my way towards it, stumbling a little. I gasped, staring into the fiery carnage: my phone had somehow survived and was ringing from where it sat on the burnt leather seats. "What is it?" Evie called.
I grabbed it and swiped left, swearing when I saw the caller ID.
Grimacing, I pressed answer and put the phone to my ear, wincing as I said, "hey, mum."
"KIRA ROMANOFF-AKIRO." came my mother's angry voice through the receiver. (Yes, I changed my last name. I didn't think the Bardasen counted anymore, seeing as it wasn't exactly a real place.) Her voice sounded thick, like she'd just been crying. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF ODIN WERE YOU THINKING?!"
I grimaced. "Um. We had to find Holly and..." I let out a long breath. "I'm so sorry, Mum."
Nat's voice softened. "I know, kiddo," she said, the traces of anger still clear to be heard. "But seriously, for a genius, that was THE DUMBEST THING YOU'VE EVER DONE. YOU HEAR ME?!"
"Yup, I hear you."
"TINA HAS BEEN WORRIED SICK! SHE'S BEEN TEARING HERSELF UP ABOUT IT!" Nat's voice had resumed it's angry-mother mode. "SO HAVE I! TAKING EVIE AND BEN WITH YOU?! THAT WAS THE MOST IRRESPONSIBLE THING YOU'VE EVER DONE!"
I swallowed uncomfortably. "Well, actually, they were the ones who persuaded me to come with them."
Nat let out a loud, angry sigh. "Oh my god, Kira. Are you actually going to lay the blame on them? I know you took the file on Holly. You're so irresponsible, impulsive..."
I fired back with, "well, I get that from you!"
"I KNOW!" Nat yelled. I could practically hear the steam coming out of her ears. "Why won't you just be happy with what you've got? You've got me, and we were happy together! I'm your mother, Kira... why won't you listen to me?"
"I DO listen to you!" I yelled. "But when it's the fate of the universe at hand, especially if it has something to do with me, what do you expect me to do? Sit around like a good little kid and let the grown-ups handle it? The same grown-ups who failed to handle it last time?"
Okay, I'd gone a bit too far. I could hear the hurt in Nat's voice as she said softly, "Yes. Yes, that's exactly what you were supposed to do!"
"Fine!" I yelled into the receiver. "So what do you want me to do now??"
"Well, I want you to come home!" my mother demanded angrily.
"Uh, that's not really possible." I glanced at the burning wreckage of the jet and blushed.
"Why? You stole a jet plane. Just fly it back!"
"Um." I swallowed nervously. "We kinda... might've... exploded it."
"YOU EXPLODED IT?"
"Yup. Literally just then."
"HOW THE HELL DID YOU MANAGE TO EXPLODE IT?"
"Well, it exploded itself, really. The engines burst into flame and we crashed in a field in Dublin."
"Did anybody get hurt?" my mother's voice was concerned and serious. "Did YOU get hurt?"
"Nope," I lied, my voice strained. "We're all right as rain."
"LIAR." Nat hissed. "I bet you broke your ribs. I bet Ben has a concussion and Peter's face is messed-up. I bet Evie sprained her ankle."
I couldn't believe my ears. That was actually... exactly what happened. "Um, no," I wheezed. Suddenly having an idea, I began to make buzzing noises. "Hold on..." I tried to make static noises and make my voice quieter. "The connection's... failing... sorry... I need to go..."
"DON'T YOU DARE END THIS CALL, YOUNG LADY!" It was such a generic-mother-response I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from laughing.
"No... see you... wait... bye Mum... love you... see you later..." I ignored Nat's angry yells and pressed 'end call' on the phone screen, chucking the piece of tech into the fire and stomping on it so she couldn't call me again.
I looked at my friends, who were all staring at me with wide, gobsmacked eyes. "Was that your mum?" Peter asked.
"Nope!" I said brightly. "Let's... forget that just happened and go find Holly, OK?"