The beginning of a very long week.
TUESDAY DECEMBER 19, 2017, 3:07 PM.
“You know, a little help would be appreciated!” Peter shouted through the coms. He was a few feet away wrestling down one of the alien things. He was moving quickly but was getting overpowered by the beast. Harley on the other hand was standing in the middle of the street like a jackass.
“What do you want me to do? I don’t have any weapons,” he shrugged.
“I don’t trust you with any weapons after the incident on Thursday,” Tony said. He was nowhere in sight.
“How was I supposed to know that the sprinklers were heat-sensitive? My flame thrower was flawless.”
“I gave you a wrench,” Tony said. Harley could tell he was rolling his eyes just by his tone of voice.
“Gee, thanks. I can beat Parker to death with it.”
“Can we please focus here?” Peter webbed the alien to the ground but instantly was engaged to fight with another. The whole city was overrun by space dog things. Buildings were in flames, cars were overturned. It was a huge mess. Classic Avengers stuff.
“Roger that commander,” Harley said, picking up his stupid wrench.
“Don’t quote Star Trek around me. That's disrespectful,” Peter replied, tasering an incoming alien.
“Oh now, who needs to focus?” Harley rolled his eyes.
“Incoming!” Tony shouted as an alien ran down the street towards Harley. Harley rolled his eyes and swung his wrench. He missed spectacularly and was immediately tackled by the space dog thing. It roared in his face. He shoved his wrench into its mouth just as it bit down at his face. It gnawed on the wrench before yanking it from Harley’s hands and throwing it a few feet away.
Just as it was about to eat his face, it seized up and fell onto its side. Harley looked up and saw Spider-Man with his arms folded across his chest.
“Can you take this a little more seriously?” He asked, hauling Harley to his feet.
“What? It’s not like they can hurt us.”
Iron Man swooped overhead. Behind him was a trail of alien dog things. “You guys looked bored. I brought you company.”
“Great,” Harley said. “I lost my wrench. Guess the jig is up. So what? Do I just die now?”
Nobody answered him. Peter was locked in combat with three of the space dogs. Iron Man was gone again. Harley looked around for his wrench. He saw it a few feet away and ran towards it. Before he reached it though, one of the space dogs slammed into him. He hit the ground and rolled down the street. He groaned as he slid to a stop near the intersection.
“Kid you alright? Okay, cut the projections,” Tony said. The city around them melted away. The space dogs and fire all froze before melting away.
Harley coughed roughly and opened his eyes. Drones swarmed around them before retreating back to the van. Tony had dragged them out to the middle of nowhere just to beat the shit out of them with some drones.
“You good, kid?” he asked, crouching beside him.
“Asshole. If I knew why you dragged me down here I wouldn’t have come,” Harley groaned
“It was a good test run. Pete, you gotta work on that backswing or you could’ve lost a leg.”
Peter nodded and slipped his mask off. He was panting heavily as he flopped onto the ground beside Harley.
“Why was I needed for this? I’m not an Avenger,” Harley asked. He was massaging the sore spot on his arm where he’d been hit.
“Entertainment,” Tony shrugged. “General boredom...”
Harley rolled his eyes and rested his head back on the frozen ground. The sun was beating down on his face. It felt good compared to the freezing December wind. Tony drove them down in some sketchy van to an empty field behind the Avengers Compound. He said they weren’t allowed in but they were allowed on the grounds. He hadn’t told them what they were supposed to be doing either. He just handed Harley a wrench and climbed back into the van.
“Hey Rebel Without A Cause,” Tony said, “Where are you gonna tell your mom you've been all day?”
“First of all, I don’t get that reference.”
Tony rolled his eyes.
“I got it handled. I told her I joined the decathlon team.”
“Yeah well, I don’t really feel good about you missing too much school. If there was room in the tower I would have just waited until after you guys were done with class. Don’t get comfortable skipping though, young bucks.”
“Ugh, Tony you’re old.”
“Call me old again and you’re walking home,” Tony joked. He frowned when his phone rang. “One minute.”
He picked up the phone and walked out of earshot.
“How are things with your mom?” Peter asked.
Harley shrugged. “She’s still here.”
“Is that a good thing?”
Harley shrugged again. He liked having her around. But, he knew it was only a matter of time until she disappeared. It’s what she always did. Whether she left for days or months. She’d always find a way to escape. “I’ve kinda been avoiding her. We haven’t really talked a lot.”
Peter sighed. “You haven’t even tried to reach out to her?”
“Why would I? She’s the one who…” He took a deep breath. “Don’t try to fix this, Parker. It’s not that simple. Just stay out of it.”
“I’m not trying to fix it, I'm just trying-” Peter suddenly stopped talking. His brows furrowed.
“What?” Harley asked, looking around. “You sense something?”
Peter shook his head but didn’t explain further. Harley rolled his eyes.
“Something bad happened,” Peter said ominously.
“Alright kids,” Tony said, clapping his hands together. “Hate to cut things short but something came up.”
“What came up?” Harley asked.
Tony seemed to hesitate. Almost as if he wanted to tell them. “Avengers stuff.”
Harley rolled his eyes again. He hated being out of the loop. Sure, he wasn’t even close to being an Avenger. He didn’t even have powers. But he hated that Tony would never tell him any details.
“I did want to try one more scenario with the drones but I guess that’ll have to wait until another day. Happy will drive you guys home,” Tony said, helping Harley to his feet.
Peter nodded and grabbed his backpack from beside the van. The ride home was uneventful. Happy shouted at the other drivers on the road and Peter talked nonstop about how cool the holograms were.
Harley had a growing sense of dread the closer they got to his house. He hated the feeling of going home. Not because he didn’t like being there, he just really really didn’t want to have to speak with his mother. Every day when he got home she would wait for him by the door and try to ‘talk about what happened.’
By the time he got home, his mom’s car was already in the driveway. Tony had given it to her as a housewarming gift. As if the house wasn’t enough.
Harley’s plan was to sneak into the house quietly and hide out in his bedroom for the night. Of course, he failed miserably. His mom was practically waiting for him by the front door.
“Where were you today?” She asked instantly.
“I had a robotics club thing,” He replied casually.
“You missed third and fourth period.”
“You put Tony as one of my guardians. He signed me out.”
She scowled. “You said you were at robotics.”
“I was at robotics after that,” Harley shrugged.
His mom rolled her eyes. “What is going on with you lately? You keep lying to me. Right now I need the truth. Are you using again?”
Harley tried his best to not roll his eyes. It was almost as if every time he did anything wrong she’d ask him if he was on drugs. “I told you like a thousand times. I stopped.”
He pushed past her to the staircase. She scoffed and grabbed him by the arm. “This conversation isn’t over Harley. You tell me the truth are you using again?”
Her grip was strangely strong. A pit began to form in Harley’s stomach. “I’m not on drugs. Let me go.”
“Let me look through your backpack and then I’ll let you go.”
“Are you serious? You don’t trust me?”
“Should I have a reason to?”
“I’m your son. Is that not good enough?”
“No, it isn’t!” There was a moment where they both just stared at each other. Harley broke first. He rolled his eyes before pulling his backpack off and dropping it by her feet. She released his arm and picked up the bag.
“Search away,” He said, turning for the stairs.
He could hear her unzip his bag as he turned the corner towards his bedroom. He hated that she didn’t trust him anymore. It was just annoying to come home to an argument every. Single. Day. It was exhausting. It had been like that since he’d moved back in with his mom though. Every day was another fight about the same thing. No matter how he acted, she’d always ask if he was using again. Almost as if to blame his faults on drugs. It was driving him nuts.
An alert flashed on his phone screen. A text from Tony. “Gone for the rest of the week. Happy is in charge. Don’t stress him out.”
Great.