Chapter 10
Steve was greeted to a ruckus of loud cheering as he stepped into the tower penthouse that evening. He, Bucky and Sam had agreed to pick up dinner on their way to the team’s movie night that evening and the three were laden with large carrier bags full of Chinese food as they rode the elevator up to the penthouse floor. Last week, they had missed movie night as the three of them were tearing up an old hydra base that had been reactivated out of the blue. Although, they weren’t entirely convinced it was actually Hydra operating the base. For one thing, they didn’t seem the least bit interested that Bucky was there.
The three of them walked across to the kitchenette, placing the bags on the counter before turning to see what all the commotion was about. The furthest wall had been decorated with a mass of spider webs of varying sizes and consistencies. In front of them, with their backs to them stood Tony, Peter and a girl Steve didn’t recognise. She was easily the shortest of everyone gathered in the penthouse – which also included Pepper, Natasha, Clint, Bruce, Wanda and Vision, who had taken up most of the sofa space and were all watching Tony and the two teens with amused expressions.
Steve’s gaze settled on Peter as he extended both arms in front of him. On his wrists, were a pair of black bands, which would have passed for bracelets or armbands if it weren’t for the small triggers jutting out from them and resting in his palms. “Web grenade!” he shouted joyously before pushing his middle fingers into both palms. Two globs of white fluid shot from the bands and both exploded about five meters in front, coating everything in a two metre radius in web fluid. Both Peter and Tony whooped joyfully at the impact. The girl beside Peter had her hands clasped together and a large grin on display underneath the long strands of dark hair that was obscuring most of her features from view.
“You do realise you three are clearing all this up, don’t you?” Pepper jibed from her spot on the sofa beside Natasha. She had changed from the charcoal business suit she had been wearing earlier that day into denim shorts and a loose-fitting tank, feet curled up underneath her and looking very comfortable after a day of long meetings.
“Yeah, yeah,” Tony waved her off as he and Peter were looking over a holographic projection that had appeared over Peter’s left hand. With Peter’s right hand, he selected an option on the menu that was displayed in front of them. “Hey Cap! Come over here, we need a guinea pig.”
Steve groaned as both Bucky and Sam pushed him towards Tony, who had a very mischievous glint in his eyes. One that could only mean pain, embarrassment or both for Steve. Tony pulled Steve into the middle of the space in front of him and the two teens. Peter had a nervous expression on his face, but the boy was practically vibrating with excitement at the same time. The girl was staring at Steve with an almost horrified expression, which did not ease Steve’s nerves in the slightest. He missed whatever Tony had said as he stared at her. Behind the dark, wavy locks, she had pale skin which was blemished by a large purple bruise surrounding her right eye. She looked very much like she had been on the receiving end of a strong fist. Her build was slim, maybe a little bit too slim looking at her, and she seemed to be leaning more on her right side, with only the toes of her left foot touching the floor.
Peter flicked his wrist in Steve’s direction and pressed the trigger. A web came hurtling towards Steve and hit him squarely in the chest. He thought that was it and Peter was just using him for target practice, so he took a step forward. That was when the pain came in. Peter had pressed something else on the holographic menu on the web-shooters and suddenly what felt like a hundred tiny currents buzzed through Steve’s chest. He was on the floor in less than a second, writhing as the electric current passed through him, before stopping almost as suddenly as it started.
The girl rushed forward to help the super soldier up, apologising profusely as Tony roared with laughter and Peter just grinned at the success of the web. “Oh my God! I’m so sorry Mr… err… Captain America, sir!” She extended a hand towards Steve, which he gratefully took. He tried to pull himself up, but accidently pulled the girl down to the ground with him, as she clearly couldn’t take his strength. Peter and Bucky jumped into action after that, Peter helping the girl up, an arm wrapped around her waist once she was standing as she audibly winced. Steve noticed that she couldn’t even put her left foot on the ground at all now. Bucky pulled Steve up, almost wrenching his arm out of its socket as he did so. His friend of nearly a century was struggling to contain his laughter as he looked at Steve.
Tony wiped a stray tear from his eye as he took the web-shooters from Peter. He was still chuckling to himself at the sight of the Captain writhing and twitching on the ground as he returned to his lab to deposit the web-shooters. Steve’s eyes were drawn back to Peter as he helped the girl walk over to the sofas, despite the girl’s suggestion that she could walk just fine on her own. Pepper had uncurled her feet and gestured for the girl to sit in between her and Natasha on the sofa. Once she was sat down, Peter sat on the floor in front of Pepper, leaving the remaining space on Pepper’s other side for Tony when he returned.
“Ashley, you should rest your foot up on the table - keep it elevated.” Pepper addressed the young girl and Steve finally had a name for her. But not much else.
Sam and Bucky took up the remaining spaces on the two smaller sofas. Bucky sitting between Clint and Bruce while Sam took the spot beside Wanda, who was sitting with her feet in Vision’s lap. That left the floor for Steve. He decided to sit between two sofas with Clint's legs on one side of him and Natasha's legs on the other. As Tony came to sit down beside Pepper, the girl – Ashley – seemed to be arguing with Pepper, albeit politely.
“Thank you Ms Potts, but I couldn’t put my feet on the coffee table. That would be rude.”
“Tony does it all the time, although I wish he wouldn’t... But you really need to rest that ankle.” Pepper argued sternly.
“I’m fine, really.”
During this exchange, Wanda had apparently disappeared towards the cupboard in the corner and returned with a stack of blankets and cushions. She passed a cushion towards Natasha, who reached forward and placed it on the table, and in one quick movement had grabbed Ashley's leg and propped it up on the table. The girl had tried to glare at Natasha, but she winced lightly and immediately relaxed her face and fell back against the sofa. Wanda passed another cushion to Peter, who tucked it underneath him and then one to Steve, who did the same. To his right, Clint was leaning forwards, hands outstretched towards Wanda, begging for a blanket. Wanda decided to use her powers to lob one at Clint’s head without looking at him. Bucky chuckled at the affronted sound Clint made when the blanket smacked him across the face. The chestnut-haired Avenger then passed a blanket gently to Ashley before taking one for herself and dumping the rest in a pile on the floor. She curled up with Vision on the sofa, draping the blanket over them both. Knowing the Avengers the way she did, those blankets would be snatched up by the others soon enough, even if they were too macho to admit they liked to snuggle under a blanket.
“Hey kids, you two did great work today.” Tony grinned as he addressed the two teens, who responded with wide smiles of their own.
“The interface design was very impressive Ashley,” Bruce called from the kitchen where he was pulling plates out of a cupboard. He and Sam had apparently gotten up whilst Wanda had been distributing cushions and blankets to the team and were bringing over the food and a load of plates and eating utensils. Sam laid the Chinese food containers out on the table, dunking a serving spoon in each container and Bruce put a stack of plates and the utensils in the middle. Immediately, the super soldiers and Peter were reaching forward to grab plates and start piling them high with food.
“You made those web-shooters today Ashley?” Pepper asked, an impressed tone to her voice.
Ashley shook her head. “I think Peter and Mr Stark made the actual prototypes. I just threw together some quick coding to make a basic interface so that Spider-Man can cycle through the different types of web-fluid that would be loaded into the shooters. It needs more work as it’s a bit buggy and I noticed it glitching out a bit when Peter tried to load up the electro-webs.”
Natasha bumped Ashley’s shoulder on her other side to grab her attention. “Just take the credit Ash… Everyone’s really impressed with your work.” Ashley blushed and mumbled a quick thank-you, making Natasha and Pepper chuckle. “I’ll get you a plate,” Natasha announced as she leaned towards the large coffee table. “What do you want?”
Ashley’s eyes went wide as she surveyed the table in front of her. She didn’t even know what half the dishes were, as she had never had Chinese take-away before. She pointed at a large container of rice and meat near the centre of the table. “Just some rice, please… If that’s okay?”
“Yeah, of course.” Natasha scooped a couple of spoonfuls onto a clean plate. “Anything else?” Ashley shook her head, so Natasha handed her the plate with a fork before picking out her own food.
“You’ve got to eat more than that Ashley,” Pepper commented as she started tucking into her own plate, full of rice, noodles, various meat dishes and what looked to be large, battered prawns.
“So,” Sam brought the attention on himself as everyone ate. “Is anyone going to tell those of us that were late - because we were picking up the food – who this is?” Sam pointed to the girl, who quickly dropped her gaze to her lap.
“Sure thing Pigeon,” Tony started. “This is Ashley. She’s my new intern. She goes to school with Pete and she’s smarter than almost everyone in this room.”
“Tony, I think you might have to concede defeat on this one,” Natasha piped up. “I think she is the cleverest one in this room, full stop.”
Tony huffed while beside Natasha, Ashley was gaping at the red head in disbelief. She had just been called clever by Black Widow. But Black Widow had also just insinuated she was cleverer than Tony Stark and that just wasn’t possible. “Miss Black Widow, thank you but there is no way that’s true. Peter and Mr Stark and Dr Banner and Ms Potts are definitely smarter than I am. I think the Avengers probably all are as well… Just maybe in different ways.”
“Aww, she’s sweet,” Bucky spoke up. “Keep this one around. I like her.”
“That’s handy Buckaroo, I’m planning on letting her assist with upgrades for your arm.” Tony spoke nonchalantly as he picked up some noodles with his chopsticks. Ashley gaped at Tony, clearly not expecting to hear that. Bucky just simply looked at her across the room and sent her one of his million watt smiles.
After that, the group descended into a comfortable silence, with just the noise of forks and chopsticks scraping over plates. Sam had picked a ‘family-friendly’ action film to watch starring Jackie Chan. It had a lot of laughs and easily kept everyone entertained. Ashley finished her small plate of rice about the same time that Peter finished his second plate of food. Natasha had offered to get her some more, but she had politely declined, reaching instead for the glass of water that Bruce had brought her when he and Clint sorted drinks for everyone. She finished the glass, carefully placing it back on the table and snuggled further under the soft, baby pink blanket Wanda had given her. She managed to make it to the start of the film’s ending credits before she dozed off, her head resting gently on Pepper’s shoulder.
Most of the Avengers had watched the girl as she lost the battle against her eyelids, struggling to control their laughter as her head lolled about a few times before finally landing on the Stark Industries CEO. Pepper looked at her fondly, before turning her attention back to Tony, who was looking through some notes from the meetings earlier that day.
“What happened to the kid?” Bucky asked, trying to keep his voice low so as not to wake her.
“She said she lost in a fight against a flight of stairs.” Tony shrugged. He then nudged Peter’s shoulder gently in front of him. “Did this happen at school, kid?”
“No, she showed up this morning like that. Mr Harrington sent her and MJ to the nurse’s office during first period, but then I didn’t really see much of Ashley the rest of the day. When MJ came back though, she was upset.” Peter sighed as he looked at Ashley’s sleeping face. “I think they got into an argument. MJ asked me to look out for her. I think she thinks something is wrong.”
“And what do you think, Pete?” Pepper asked gently.
“I agree with MJ. I know there’s more to the story… There’s something MJ knows but she won’t tell me. I think that maybe… Maybe something is going on at home.” Peter whispered the last bit, frightened that Ashley might hear him and get defensive. He breathed a sigh of relief when Ashley didn’t move an inch.
The air felt heavy as silence fell around them all. What Peter had said was pure speculation, but it didn’t sit right with any of them, not even Steve, Bucky, Sam or Clint who had met the girl for the first time that day. Clint had gotten up to put a second movie on while the Avengers chatted amongst themselves. Vision was having a conversation with Sam about the mission he had been on with the two super soldiers the last few days, while Wanda was practically sat in the former’s lap, staring at Ashley. Her eyes had a soft red tint as she gazed upon the young girl's dreams.
Ashley was huddled in a dark corner, pressed up against a wall as the sounds of screams echoed around her. She reached up, grasping a door handle in front of her and tugged on it, trying desperately to open the small closet she was trapped in. Tears were streaming down her face as she begged and cried to be let out. “Please! Let me out! Daddy, please! I need to save Lucas!”
The screams got louder until they finally stopped and an unearthly silence settled in the air. The door swung open with a creak as if it hadn’t been locked at all. Ashley crawled out of the cupboard into the rest of the apartment. The hard, wooden floor was splintering against the palms of her hands, but she paid it no mind as she moved towards a small body in the middle of the room. A young boy, couldn’t have been older than ten, was lying on the floor, blue eyes fixed blankly on the water-stained ceiling above them. His green Hulk t-shirt was now stained red as blood continued to flow from a wide slit across his neck and seeped into the floorboards beneath him. Wanda could see in Ashley's periphery there were two more bodies, both propped up against a wall in the corner. A man and a woman, smart business clothes also stained with blood, much like the little boy's. Their eyes were fixed on the boy in front of them, but the unwavering stare gave away the fact that they too were dead.
The sound of a loud sob pierced the silence and drew Ashley’s (and Wanda's) attention to the doorway, where a young girl, about the same age as Ashley was standing, a hand covering her mouth and tears falling from her eyes. Wanda recognised the dark, frizzy locks belonging to Peter's girlfriend, MJ, who had visited the tower a few times before. She took a step into the room, lowering the hand that was covering her mouth.
“This is all your fault,” she spoke, mahogany eyes staring at Ashley (and Wanda).
A shadow flickered behind MJ. There was sudden rush of air before MJ's hands were pressed against her throat as she fell to her knees in front of Ashley. Rivers of blood ran over her fingers as she desperately tried to hold the wound closed. But it wasn’t enough. As she watched MJ's eyes turn glassy and her body slump forward to lay beside Lucas, Ashley could hear more screams. Her throat felt dry and scratchy as the strangled sounds continued to claw their way up her throat, relentlessly. The shadows were closing in fast, turning the world around her dark as the bodies of MJ and her family began to disappear from view. The words ‘this is all your fault' echoed in her mind like a sick mantra as she was tugged out of the dream...
***
Peter had been amazed as he tested out the new web-shooters. They were effortless to use and the new design would allow Peter to easily adjust the types of web he used in a fight. He had managed to tweak his web formula in order to condense it down so he didn’t have to carry bulky vials around with him. Instead he could perhaps make an upgrade to his suit to house the new web-disks in small compartments almost like a utility belt. Peter grinned at the idea. I could be like Batman!
Peter knew Ashley was incredibly smart, so he couldn’t be totally surprised when she presented the interface to him and Mr Stark. Sure enough, it had some glitches in it and needed expanding and tidying-up a bit, but it was no less impressive. Peter certainly wouldn’t have been able to create that and he very much doubted Mr Stark could have made it that quickly. There was no question in Peter’s mind about whether Ashley deserved the Stark Internship. She had proven herself in just one afternoon and Peter was so proud of his friend.
But the icing on the cake that day was the expression of delight when he had taken the web-shooters for a test drive in the lounge with Mr Stark. Since the start of school that morning, Ashley had looked miserable. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why. The large bruise on her face had been the talk of the whole school and the other kids had no idea how to whisper or be discreet. Maybe they wanted Ashley to overhear their speculations, as a means of torturing her further, because clearly the pain she was already in wasn’t enough for them. She had limped through the corridors between lessons, favouring her right foot over her left, which had been wrapped by the school nurse earlier that morning, and every so often she winced, her face contorting in a pained expression.
At lunch time, Ashley was nowhere to be seen. MJ sat beside Peter with a sour expression on her face, which prompted Peter to ask what happened.
“She won’t let me help her. In fact, she blew me off completely!” MJ gritted her teeth angrily as she stabbed her jacket potato with her fork. Ned flinched in his seat across from her and quietly reminded himself not to upset MJ ever. “I know she didn’t fall down any stairs... I bet they did this to her – probably because of that Stark Internship.”
“They?” Peter asked, but MJ had ignored him in favour of stabbing her potato to the point it had turned into mash.
MJ and Ashley had ignored each other for the rest of the day. Ashley had seemed to ignore absolutely everyone, including Peter who was trying to grab her attention outside her locker. He can’t forget the scared expression that was on her face after he tapped her on the shoulder. Peter also couldn’t forget the jittery aura that surrounded her as they stepped outside. The aura didn’t seem to relax until she got into the car and she had looked over her shoulders several times on the short journey between the school and Happy's Audi.
But once they were settled in the lab, she was like a whole other person – focused and diligent. Peter much preferred the Ashley that was in the lab with him. As the movie played out, Peter noticed that Ashley was calm and even content, curled up as much as she could under the baby pink blanket. Both Pepper and Nat had insisted that she rested her sprained ankle on the coffee table, something Peter whole-heartedly agreed with. By the end of the movie, Peter could pick out soft snores from his friend (so quiet that he assumed only he, Steve and Bucky could probably hear them).
He spoke to the adults for a bit, voicing his suspicions after speaking to MJ at lunch. It certainly brought the mood down, but Peter was very much of the mind that if anyone could help his friend, it was the Avengers. They all half-focused on the screen as Rush Hour played out on the screen, a film they had all seen before. It was only on really to fill a void. About half-way though, Peter started to hear soft gasps, almost like a series of hiccups. His lips parted slightly as he tasted the air around him – salt. He then realised it wasn’t hiccups... They were soft, almost inaudible sobs.
Peter discretely moved a hand underneath the pink blanket and found Ashley's uninjured leg. He began rubbing her calf gently up and down, his thumb moving in a circular motion in an attempt to comfort his friend. It didn’t work, he realised, when she let out a soft whimper that drew everyone's attention. Peter squeezed a little bit firmer which caused Ashley to lunge forward in her seat as she woke up. Peter watched as she rubbed her face – to others it may look like she was rubbing the sleep from her eyes but he knew that she was actually wiping away tears. If the sympathetic looks from Bucky, Steve and Natasha were anything to go by, they hadn’t been fooled either.
Peter caught sight of Wanda's face to his left. She was staring straight ahead, a flicker of red flashing in her eyes. There was a single tear rolling down her cheek. Wanda had seen whatever was in Ashley's head, and if that was her reaction to it, then Peter's heart was breaking.
“Oops, I fell asleep again,” Ashley chuckled dryly. She sat herself up, mumbling a quick apology to Pepper for leaning on her. Pepper simply put an arm around her and pulled her closer.
“Don’t worry about it,” she reassured. “Tony won’t cuddle me in front of the others.”
Tony sulked beside Pepper and she playfully slapped his arm in return. Ashley giggled at the exchange and everyone except Peter, Wanda, Steve, Bucky and Natasha lit up with wide smiles. Peter gave Wanda a sideways glance, quirking his eyebrow questioningly. She simply shook her head, clearly understanding Peter's silent question: What did you see?