"I have half a mind to pull you into this pool!"
Strands of wet hair cling to Sakura's face as she eyes the relaxed figure of MJ, who only turns a page purposely loud in response. Huffing, she cups her hands to collect water. She flings it forward to splash against MJ's feet. The next response is a middle finger.
The lights underneath the water reflect off a dreamy glow. Sakura backstrokes away from her friend to join the others in the middle of the pool, engaging in what seems to be a splash war.
A giggle erupts from her chest when she strikes a torrent of water directly at Flash's face. He glares at her, then grins as he enacts his revenge. He isn't all that bad when his mouth is shut, an unfortunate rare occurrence.
She goes to lay on her back and float, but a streak of red and blue prompts her to pause. In an attempt to be inconspicuous, she pushes her head down while her eyes shift at the corners. A familiar face looks down from the glass roof, wearing a sullen frown. He doesn't notice her gaze, and is gone almost as soon she glances at him.
Peter?
It was too quick for her to discern what he was wearing, but something nags at her to follow him. However, by the time she emerges from the pool he most likely would've left already. She doesn't specialize in sensory techniques, and is only adequate at tracking.
But there is another way to get information.
She grabs hold of the bars and pulls herself out of the water. Wrapping her towel around her shoulders, she whispers a quick Be right back! to MJ.
Briefly looking around for cameras, she then conjures a shadow clone and subsequently casts a henge over herself. Her arms snuggle against the warmth of the fading blue hoodie she now wears.
Her clone goes back to join the others while she ventures to Peter and Ned's room.
"Hey, what's up?" She tests with Peter's voice. "Peter Parker picked a peck of pickled peppers." Oh how she could listen to him all d— Not the time!
Bringing a hand up, she raps at the door three times. Almost immediately, it flies open and reveals the expectant face of Ned.
"Why are you back so soon? Did you forget something?" Ned asks her quietly.
She plasters a smile on her – Peter's – face. "Um, yeah. Can I come in for a sec?"
Ned opens the door further and she dashes inside. The room is identical to her and MJ's. A laptop sits open on one of the beds, next to an elliptical object that emits a purple glow. The same malevolent energy she felt earlier surrounds it.
It is not dissimilar to chakra, the life-force energy, but it's imbued with something akin to killing intent.
"Let's go over the plan real quick," she rushes. "Just a refresh of everything."
Ned looks at her in confusion. "You were just here."
"I – I got nervous and blanked so I went back." Her excuse sounds feeble to her ears, but Ned seems to buy it.
"The tracking device stopped at Maryland, so Spider-Man's" – her eyebrows fly up – "going over there to check out the evil lair full of alien weapons" – What the hell? – "ruled by that guy with mech wings" – she tries not to seem flabbergasted – "to investigate what evil things they have planned."
She nods quickly, soaking up the bizarre information. Spider-Man? Peter? Peter's that sticky web guy, Spider-Man?
"Cool, cool, cool."
Ned tells her, "If you're not ready, it's okay, man. No one's forcing you but you."
"You're a good friend, Ned," she says. "You're gonna look back at this later, bring it up to– … me, and laugh nervously."
"What?"
"Gotta go, see ya!"
She dashes out of the room and into the nearest fire escape she can find. There, she stops for a minute or two to process everything. Despite how much distance Peter's constant absences have wedged between them, he's still her friend. And maybe she feels something a little too friendly for him. Knowing there's a high chance she'll be regretting this, she changes her appearance once again.
Gone are Peter's body and clothes, she's back in her own body now with slight alterations to her voice just in case. Clad in a dark green ankle-length cloak and a blank mask, Sakura heads off to Maryland.
It's a complete idiot move, going in blind with no weapons and a vague idea of what's going on, but she wants to finally get to the bottom of Peter.
Err… Okay, maybe that sounds a little weird.
Well past midnight, the streets are void of commuters. Few vehicles litter the road. She stretches her legs, coats it with chakra, and sprints towards Maryland.
Although not exactly the speed she prefers, it enables her to weave through any obstacles she encounters on the road. She tries to get a feel for Peter's chakra signature. It takes her a moment before she locates him on top of a truck. She falls back a distance to avoid alerting him.
Sakura keeps her eyes on the boy in spandex as he jumps to different vehicles now and then. It's nearly half an hour later when he finally jumps off the truck he's on and rolls to a stop on the grass. She hides behind a tree about thirty meters away.
Peter – Spider-Man – crouches behind some vegetation next to a gas station. He jumps gracefully atop the signage. Sakura watches him from the opposite side of the road, taking a peek at what he's looking at and straining her ears. At first, she thinks he's talking to himself, but then a not-quite-human voice responds to him.
"Hey, Suit Lady, what are they doing?"
Her cheeks burn beneath the mask as he squats and gives her an eyeful of his shapely posterior. (She promises she's not a pervert. He just has a nice butt. She appreciates it.)
"Do you wanna hear what they're saying?" It's a feminine voice, robotic in a way.
"I can hear what they're saying? Uh, yeah!"
"Activating Enhanced Reconnaissance Mode."
Sakura moves closer to him while he's distracted. She wonders where he got the suit, almost missing the homemade one he had before. For a reconnaissance mission, Spider-Man isn't so quiet or subtle. Anyone passing by could see him from his position. Not to mention that he keeps on talking, whether to himself or to that lady she's not sure.
She braces herself when he seems to shift, readying himself to spring into action.
With a strange hand sign, he shoots a web.
He falls flat on his face.
Secondhand embarrassment washes over her and she winces when he lets out a loud pained grunt. It's clear to her that, despite being months into his superhero persona, Peter is still quite inexperienced and amateurish.
There's a series of fumbled web-shooting and scrambling, in plain sight of the men he's following, before he hides and climbs on top of the gas station building. It's a miracle how they haven't seen his debacle with the flashing sign.
A line of trucks appear suddenly, followed by something in the sky. It's a winged man covered head-to-toe in leather, with something similar to a heavy-duty gas mask that has glowing green orbs.
The man drops an object on one of the trucks. It causes a purple rectangle to form, and he drops through it and into the truck, leaving behind his pair of mechanical wings attached to the truck by some wires. Sakura stifles a gasp as she recognizes the energy.
She follows the truck while keeping herself hidden in the shadows of the trees. The technology is unlike anything Konoha has.
Spider-Man silently jumps on top of the truck and pokes at the translucent purple energy, then crawls to the side to hide.
The man soon jumps up, this time with a full bag of whatever. Whatever it is, it's not his to take. (She guesses it's probably related to the alien weapons that Ned mentioned.)
Spider-Man slings a web to the bag and brings it to him, at the other side of the rectangle.
"Hey, big bird!" He taunts. "This doesn't belong to you!"
Her cloak whips behind her as she runs, thankfully not loud enough to garner their attention.
'Big Bird' attaches himself to his wings, then lunges at Spider-Man, who ducks and fires a string of web at him. It doesn't do anything, much less stick.
"Suit Lady, what was that!?"
"You told me to choose."
Sakura intercepts the man as he goes after the vigilante once again. She rears her fist back and, with an almost feral growl, punches the winged man's gut.
"Woah." Spider-Man lets out a sound of astonishment behind her.
Wavering in the air, the man is forced back about ten feet before he regains control of himself. She could almost feel his glare through both of their masks.
Her body is nearly shapeless underneath the cloak. Spider-Man doesn't have a single clue who this person is, especially since they don't seem like the talkative type.
The man flies forward once again, aiming for the boy behind her. He reaches a hand to snag the black duffel bag, almost pulling Spider-Man into the rectangle as he refuses to let go.
Spider-Man yanks it back with a force. He nearly falls off the side of the truck if not for the stickiness of his feet. Sakura grabs him by the arm and throws him to the other side.
Any sound the vigilante makes is hard to make out against the wind. He clutches the bag to his chest and jumps off the moving truck.
Hoping her friend flees, Sakura reinforces her efforts in bringing down the man. When the purple energy disappears, she slides across the truck underneath him and leaps to latch on his back.
She grits her teeth together as he brings them higher in the air, leaving her feet to dangle.
Her hands reach under his armpits to slap them over either side of his head. As she increases the pressure, she could feel the material of his mask bending under her strength.
Her head bumps hard against a streetlight. It snaps in half, its bulb smashed to bits.
From how close her head is to his, she could hear his noises of pain. The next thing she hears is her gasp for breath when he lets them crash to the side of the road, her back carrying the brunt of the fall.
She's dragged along with whatever move the man makes. Her cloak tears at the friction and soon her flesh leaves trails of crimson.
Unable to hold it in, she lets out a pained cry. "Gah!"
The man takes control of his wings. For retribution, he stomps on her ribs heavily with both feet before taking off. During times like this, she always tries to keep positive.
She's positive she has at least three broken ribs.
The pain doesn't stop her from rolling over, but it prevents her from standing up again. She could only watch helplessly as he, rather shakily, retreats with the help of his wings.
Sakura doesn't know how much time has passed when suddenly she feels Peter's chakra signature right next to her.
She squints up at him through the holes of her mask. He waves his hand in front of her. He seems to be talking, but it's almost like she's under water. She can't understand a word he's saying.
Spider-Man, sans the black duffel bag and faded yellow backpack, shakes his head. He pulls his mask up to his nose. She reads his lips.
"Whatever you do, don't close your eyes!"
Nodding weakly, she lets him pick her up on his back. He forces her hands together around his neck and she tightens her hold. He makes that same peculiar hand sign from earlier, only this time it successfully latches on a tree. Like a slingshot, the web brings them to it.
Webbed secure to the trunk are both of the bags. He lands them on a branch that's big enough to handle their weight.
Sakura slumps forward, and he frantically pulls her to his chest before she can fall. He carefully leans her against the tree. He brings his face within her eyesight.
"You're okay, you're safe now, alright? Can you hear me now?"
She nods, closing her eyes. But even though she's still wearing her mask, he seems to know. "Don't close your eyes! You might have a concussion."
She's disappointed with herself. Her body cannot keep up with the strain of the last hour, but thankfully no secondary memories rush to her so she knows that her clone is still with MJ.
Bringing up her hands in an attempt to calm the vigilante, she pushes herself up. She asks hoarsely, "Are you hurt anywhere?"
"What?" Spider-Man looks at her incredulously. This person who looks like they just got ran over is asking him if he's okay? "Don't worry about me, worry about you! You've lost a lot of blood from the looks of it."
Sakura shakes her head and brings his ear closer to her lips. "I can heal you."
"No," he denies her offer. "Save your strength."
Her hands once again glowing green, she instead brings it up to the wounds on her back. If only there were blood-replenishing pills in this reality…
The white eyes of his suit seem to widen as her skin knits itself back together. "That's so cool!"
When her wounds are fully healed, she brings her head back to stare at the stars. She shivers as the wind blows, still weak from the blood loss. He takes out his Decathlon jacket and blue hoodie from his backpack and wraps both around her quivering body, layering them.
"Hey, Suit Lady, can you please check their vitals?" Spider-Man speaks to the voice in his suit again.
"Certainly," she affirms. A beat, then, "Four fractured ribs: one on her left side, and three on her right. Approximately 27% of blood has been lost. If the average human loses more than 40% of their blood, death is imminent."
This piece of information seems to distress her friend. "Death?! No, no, no… This is all my fault! I shouldn't have left them alone with the bad guy."
"I would recommend several blood transfusions."
Sakura breathes heavily, each breath like a stab to her chest. "N-No need. Please, just give me a few hours to rest. I'll heal myself. Thank you for saving me, I can take it from here."
"Save you? I left you to fend for yourself!" Peter still hasn't pulled his mask back down. He bites his lip as he considers what to do, and her eyes zero on that single course of action. "I'll stay with you until you can heal yourself. Then I'll leave."
Despite her urging for him to leave her, she feels relieved to hear his words.
"I still can't let you go to sleep yet, though," he continues. "I'm not entirely sure how concussions work, but in the movies it's generally frowned up."
Huffing, she hesitantly traces the hood of her cloak. Miraculously, it had stayed up even after everything. "Okay. Talk to me, because otherwise I might die of boredom instead."
"That wouldn't be ideal. Uh–so, you got a name?"
She holds out her hand to signify stop. "My name is not important."
"Well, people call my Spider-Man," he offers. "That's 'Spider' hyphen 'Man' just in case you were wondering."
"I wasn't."
He laughs nervously, "Right." He gulps before continuing. "How about we name my suit's AI?"
"Is that who you were talking to earlier?" She asks curiously.
Nodding, he twiddles his thumbs together. "I kinda feel bad for calling her Suit Lady, you know? I think I should probably give her a name. Like Sakura…"
At the mention of her name, she snaps to attention.
"No, no, no. That's–that's weird. Probably." He groans, putting his head on his gloved hands.
"Why would that be weird?"
Peter peaks over his fingers to look at her blank mask. "She's my… friend." He notices that her voice is slowly starting to lose its croaky quality.
She tilts her head. "That's weird?"
"Considering the fact that I like her, yeah."
Butterflies flood into her stomach, almost overpowering the sharp pain in her chest as she nearly chokes in surprise.
"But then there's this other girl, Liz… I kinda like her too."
Trying not to sound dejected, she says, "Oh. Then I guess both those names are out."
"Yeah," he smiles as he looks down at the forest floor several meters below. Sakura wonders which girl he's thinking of when he smiles like that.
He perks up. "How about Karen?"
"It sounds nice," she replies.
'Karen's voice joins them with a hum. "You can call me Karen, if you'd like."
"We still have to name you, though." Peter points at Sakura. "I'm gonna quickfire a bunch of names and you just let me know if you like any."
She nods, not as pumped as he is about this naming game.
"Stronghold." – "No."
"Badass." – "No."
"The Hooded Bandit." – "I'm not a bandit."
"Hooded Healer?" – "No alliterations."
"Shadow Hunter." – "Cheesy."
"Treehopper." – "Hell no."
"Green Medic?" – "No."
"How about Suckerpunch? That was the very first thing I saw you do when we met." Peter finally suggests something semi-decent.
Sakura thinks about it. "I'm not opposed to it." The first two syllables are rather similar to her real name's, but as long as she keeps up with her clones then her identity shouldn't be a problem.
"Great!" He grins widely. Only then does he remember that his mask is still pulled up. He gives her one last smile before his mouth is covered.
She misses it already.
Suckerpunch's shoulders are beginning to droop. Peter grasps for a new topic to keep her from falling asleep. "You from around here?"
"Not really, no. But you're not from around here either, huh, Spider-Man? Here for superhero business?"
Trying not to sound nervous, he tells her, "Yeah, you could say that." He clears his throat. "Thank you for helping me with that bad guy, by the way. I know you were probably wondering what the hell was going on, but thank you."
"It's no problem at all, seriously. It's my social responsibility to help people in need, you know?"
He nods at her words, grateful she understood. "Exactly."
A pleasant silence stretches between the two of them. He's busy fiddling with his webshooters, looking through the various options. He sorta feels overwhelmed, but there's no way he'll admit it to anyone.
While he asks Karen about the refresher course of the suit, Suckerpunch sits there almost motionlessly. If not for her irregular breathing, he would've thought she was asleep. As if she feels his stare, her head turns to face him and he snaps his head back forward as fast as he can. There might be a tinge of red on his cheeks due to embarrassment.
Something about her feels familiar.
He wants to talk more, because she's so interesting, but there's not much to talk about between two virtual strangers with secret identities.
Peter's mouth stretches wide in a yawn as exhaustion finally hits him. He rubs his eyes through the mask and stretches out his joints.
"If you're tired, I can keep watch for the first two hours," his companion offers. "Karen can take over while you're asleep."
"Nah, I'm fine. I've had my fair share of all-nighters. I once stayed up to write a paper about sleep deprivation."
She snorts at this.
After a while, he decides to check out what the bird man was planning on stealing.
He cuts down the duffel bag's web before he falls deeper into his tiredness. The first thing his hand comes into contact with is some spare parts, then a helmet/mask thing, until finally he grasps another glowy thing like the one Ned currently has in his possession.
Suckerpunch watches him as he does so, which is pretty unnerving with that creepy mask she has on.
"Hey, it's like the glowy thing. I have another, my friend has it," he explains to the cloaked individual. "We don't really know what it is, but we're hoping to find out."
"Don't you feel that weird energy leaking off of it?" She leans closer to examine it in his hands.
He turns it over his hands, as if looking for what she's referring to. "I guess. I have this tingle sense thing that alerts me to danger, and it kinda makes my sense buzz. It's like static."
"That weird glowy thing," the AI interjects, "is an explosive Chitauri energy core."
At this revelation, Peter tries to drop it as softly as he can back in the duffel bag, inching away from it. "You mean we've been carrying around a bomb!?"
Karen's voice is calm. "It would require radiation to transform it into an explosive state."
Peter grapples for his backpack, bringing out his phone only to be greeted with no signal.
"Why do you even have that thing in the first place?!"
"I have to get back to my friend!"
"Wait!" She grabs him by the wrist before he can websling away. "I'm coming with you. We have to dispose of the bombs safely."
"I'm all for teamwork, but if you lose any more blood you'll probably die!"
She shakes her head stubbornly. "This is nothing. Take. Me. With. You."
Her grip on his wrist becomes way too tight before she lets it go. (He could almost hear his bones squeak in protest.)
Very much intimidated, Peter concedes and holds his hands up as if to placate her. "Fine, but don't haunt me if you die. Can you stand up?"
Suckerpunch takes one bag over each shoulder, while Peter carries her on his back again. The sky is starting to brighten, while birds begin to chirp. He still has a few hours to take care of this whole situation before the Decathlon competition takes place.
The tall trees around this area provide him with an easier setting for his webs. He swings, he jumps, he leaps for third the time it took to get there in the first place by truck.
His companion gets off his back when they finally land on top of the United States of Academic Decathlon building.
He directs her to the fire escape, where thankfully no one is loitering in. "Wait here. I'll be back with the Chitauri core."
She has barely nodded when he zips past her. Sakura uses this moment to dispel the clone currently sleeping. The rush of memories don't hurt as much as they used to.
Sakura hoists Cindy over her shoulders. Her fellow half-Asian shrieks in delight as they battle against Flash who has Abe on his shoulders.
Next.
When MJ finally puts her book down, Sakura sees her opportunity. With a battle cry, she charges at the taller girl and brings them both underwater. She is snorting gleefully while MJ whacks her behind the head.
Next.
"Make way!" She shouts, going as far as she can from the pool. Then, she runs back, performing a perfectly executed flip into the pool. Everyone cheers.
Next.
Although not close with the senior girl, Sakura strikes a conversation with Liz about the upcoming sites they could go to after the Decathlon competition the next day. Liz is simply too nice to hate over a boy.
And finally.
"What the hell did you say, you punk?" She roars. The pool is silent at last, while everyone eyes the two in front half in anticipation and half in fear.
Flash puffs his chest and lords the extra height he has over her. "You heard me, Whore-uno."
The juvenile nickname he has for her doesn't faze her, no. It was what he said before.
"Pathetic Penis Parker doesn't deserve his spot on the team. Mr. Harrington probably feels sad for the little orphan." He chuckles. "That's the only reason he gets to come and go as he pleases."
Her green eyes look almost like acid in her anger. "You'll shut that thing you call your mouth if you know what's good for you. Not only does it spew shit, it smells like it too."
Everyone exchanges a shocked look with one another, even MJ who doesn't expect this personality shift of her best friend's.
Flash scoffs. "Or what?"
Sakura, too enraged to even think of the consequences, corners him to the wall. His sneer falters in his face, showing a hint of fear. She whispers to him menacingly, "You'll see. Try me."
She grabs her towel off a chair and marches away.
MJ snaps into action, taking her stuff and running after Sakura. Everyone else is too shocked to move, still processing what just happened.
When MJ catches up to her in their room, she whirls Sakura to face her. "What happened over there?" She demanded.
"Flash is a dick, through and through." Sakura's nostrils flare.
"You're an idiot," MJ tells her.
"An idiot or a loyal friend?"
"Definitely an idiot."
Of course her clone is as reckless and hot-headed as she is. She thought she had finally managed her anger for the most part, especially since this reality's Sakura is a lot more peaceful than her other self, but alas.
Sighing, another shadow clone pops up and immediately goes back to their room. Her chakra is way, way low. Last night was the most strenuous thing this body had ever experienced, and it shows. She'll see how much she regains in the next few hours before she tries to replenish her blood and heal her ribs.
The Flash situation from last night is still fresh on her mind, but she doesn't regret it.
Not one bit.