Chapter 2
Lori looks out the window of her (HUGE) hotel room, admiring the view of Germany. She had admittedly never actually left America before. Or New York for that matter. Her family wasn’t exactly in the best situation to be going on vacations, financially. It was refreshing to see something other than the same old view from her Queens apartment.
After a little bit, she gets bored and plops herself down on her bed, which was the most comfortable bed she had ever had the pleasure of sitting on, and texts Peter. They had exchanged numbers on the car ride to the hotel.
Glimore Girl: hey pete, whats up?
Spider-boy: not much. just hanging out in th COOLEST HOTEL ROOM EVER
Glimore Girl: IKR. such a step up from my two bedroom apartment back in new york.
Spider-boy: wig. so, what part of ny are you from
Gilmore Girl: Queens, hbu?
Spider-boy: also queens
Glimore Girl: really? how come we have never crossed paths?
Spider-boy: no idea, thats super weird. what school are you going to?
Gilmore Girl: well i’m at maspeth rn but im about to transfer to midtown because i won some smart person scholarship.
Spider-boy: no way ! i go to midtown too
Gilmore Girl: well, i guess we’ll see each other there :)
Spider-boy: can’t wait ;) anyways, we should go to sleep. big day kicking cap’s butt tomorrow lol
Gilmore Girl: yeah, right. goodnight pete
Spider-boy: night lori
Lori turns off her phone and hugs it to her chest. It’s really nice to have a friend who understands superhero stuff. Or even knows she is a superhero, for that matter. Her and Peter talked the whole car ride to the hotel room about teenage hero stuff. He understands her.
So yeah, it was really nice.
Lori is woken up by the sound of the hotel phone ringing painfully loud. She looks over at the clock, it reads 5:10 am. She groans and grabs the phone.
Happy Hogan’s exhausted voice comes through. “Get ready. It’s go time:”
She sits up straight in her bed. “Okay, I'll be ready in a few.”
“Great. Make sure you get the new suit Stark made. Peter put on the wrong one.”
“Okie dokie.”
And as soon as it started, the phone call was over. And the excitement set in.
Lori grabs her cell phone off the charger and immediately calls Peter.
After a few rings, he picks up, the same amount of excitement in his voice as Lori had in hers.
“Hey! Did you get just a call from Happy too?” Lori says, jumping out of bed and zooming around her room to get her suit.
“Yeah, so cool right?!” Peter says. “We’re getting phone calls from the head of security from Stark Industries now!”
“Yeah, totally insane.”
“So, you guys are both from Queens?”
Lori looks up from her fiddling with her fingers. She is sitting criss-cross applesauce on the concrete about a foot from Tony Stark, who did not tell her that there would be so much waiting around on this trip.
“Yep.” she answers, leaning her back against the wall of the airport.
Tony just nods in response. He seems jittery, almost anxious. Which is weird, considering he is the actual Iron Man, and Iron Man doesn’t get nervous, right?
After a few seconds of very uncomfortable silence, Peter speaks up. “So when is Cap actually gonna show up?”
Tony sighs, sitting down on a random storage container. “I actually have no idea. I just know he will. Eventually.”
They sit quiet for a second before Peter speaks up again. “But like do you have a general time range or-”
“Hey, spidey, I already told you I don’t know. So stop asking, alright?” Tony snaps, but then immediately after seeing how shocked Peter's face is, calms back down. “Sorry, I- ugh, I just sounded so much like my dad. Sorry.”
“It’s fine Mr. Stark.” Peter says, slumping down right next to Lori, who leans her head on his shoulder.
Lori looks to the left and sees Sgt. Rhodes, some man dressed as a cat, and Black Widow all talking to each other, which would be totally surreal if it wasn’t for the past couple of days. Tony joins them after a minute and they seem to have what she can only explain as “stressful interaction.”
“So, do you have any idea what's going on?” Lori asks, fiddling her blue and black mask in her hands.
“I haven’t got a clue.” Peter says, pulling his own mask off.
“Me neither.”
After what seems like forever, Tony finally announces that F.R.I.D.A.Y. has picked up some heat signatures in the parking garage next to the airport, which they assume is Team Cap, so they get into their respective positions. Which for Lori and Peter, that means hiding behind some storage containers and waiting for Mr. Stark's cue.
While they’re waiting, Peter pulls out a video camera.
“Wow, did i just get teleport to 1998?”
Peter chuckles. “No, I just like the camera quality better. It’s more rustic.”
“Hmm, okay. What’s it for?” She asks, pulling her mask down over her face.
“Well, I just wanted to document this experience. So, video camera.” He answers. “Here, get in the shot.”
She leans over against Peter as he starts the video.
“Okay so, this is Lor-” She nudges him, reminding Peter to use her superhero name. “Sorry, Blue Jay, and right behind us is Captain America, and Iron man, and Black Widow an-”
“And the dude dressed as a cat” Lori interrupts.
“Yeah, the dude dressed as a cat , and-”
“UNDEROOS!”
“Crap that’s us, gotta go”
Peter quickly flips out and grabs Captain America's shield mid air, then lands on top of a radio car almost perfectly.
“So, how was that? Kinda my first ever superhero pose moment or whatever.”
Lori, while invisible, runs behind a stunned Cap and wraps her arms around his shoulders while jabbing her knee in his back, causing him to bend backwards.
“I thought it was pretty cool myself.” She says, turning visible again.
Peter cocks his head to the side. She can’t see his face but she knows he’s smiling. “Thanks, i thought so too.”
“Can you two stop flirting, please?” Tony says, pointing between the two of them.
“Oh yeah, sorry.” Peter answers.
“Hi Cap- Captain” Lori stumbles, trying not to freak out while holding him down. “I’m a big fan of yours.”
“Yeah, yeah, me too. I’m uh- Spiderman.”
“”Um, okay, that’s alright, you don’t need to start a conversation here guys.” seethed Tony, clearly exasperated.
“Oops, sorry.” Lori apologizes. “I- I’m Blue Jay by the way.”
“Okay-” Tony starts. But gives up about halfway through, after deciding it’s a lost cause.
“So, Tony,” Steve begins, “You’ve been busy.”
Tony jerks his head toward the Captain. “Yeah, and you’ve been an idiot. Bringing in Clint, ‘rescuing’ Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a SAFE place. I’m just trying-” He stops for a moment, choosing his next words wisely. “I’m trying to keep the Avenger’s from falling apart.”
Lori stops listening after this, it’s not really her place to listen. Plus she has absolutely no idea what any of this is about. Tony wasn’t exactly generous with the details of this fight. All she knows is that Cap did something very bad, and that she should definitely
go for his legs.
Next thing she knows, Cap wraps his right leg around both of hers and in one swift movement, knocks her to the ground. A dude appears, seemingly from nowhere, and kicks Peter, causing him to drop the shield. The dude (Ant-Man?) then hands the shield back to Cap.
“Aw, great. Spotted two heat signatures in the parking garage. One is Maximoff, I'm on it.” Tony barks. “Rhodey, you got Cap?”
“On it, Tones.” The sgt. answers. “Two in the terminal, Wilson and Barnes.”
“Barnes is mine.” The guy dressed as a cat says, running that way.
“Alright, here we go.”
“Wait, what about us?” Lori blurted, standing back up on her feet.
Tony turns to the teenagers. “Just stay close to the ground, like we agreed.” Then he flies away, leaving Peter and Lori just standing around.
“Hey, wanna not do that?” She extends, helping Peter up.
“Yeah, sure.”