Chapter 20
A week after I returned to school, my grandparents returned to New York. In a sign of goodwill, Clint and I meet them at the airport. Unlike the last time we had done this, there was no tears and comforting hugs. Grandad was the first to spot my brace. Even with my bone made new, Dr Cho had advised that I used a brace whenever I could to ensure it was healed properly. She had also told me to not use any of my weapons for a week and then to build up my strength again.
“What did you do?” Grandad asked. I could hear the anger bubbling up.
“I missteped coming down the stairs at the farm,” I explained, “I fractured my wrist. It’s okay. Really,”
“Are you sure?” Grandad asked, seeing right through the lie.
“Can we talk about this in the car Grandad?” I asked, “I have to do some homework to do for tomorrow,”
“Well I’m sure your homework can wait,” Grandma said, “You have other important things to do,”
“Can’t do the other important things,” I said, “I’m on medical leave until homecoming,”
“Okay then,” Grandad said.
“Have you had dinner yet Mrs Jackson? I know a nice diner we could go to if you wanted something to eat,” Clint asked.
“We had a meal on the plane Mr Barton,” Grandma said, “Please take us to the hotel. I would like to have a good night’s sleep before we start tomorrow,”
“What’s tomorrow?” I asked, as we all started walking towards the exit of the terminal “And do I need to be there for it?”
“Yes, you will need to be there,” Clint said, “We’re discussing visitation. You knew that?”
“I did?”
“Yeah, I told you last week,”
“Did you clear it with school?” I asked. The airport’s automatic doors opened as we approached it. My family joined the sea of people walking outside the airport. Most had suitcases or bags.
“Yep. They can’t penalize you for missing school for a legal matter. Or even for medical reasons,” Clint said.
“Why does Abigail’s school have a problem with her attendance?” Grandad asked.
“I’ve missed a lot of school lately. Mainly because I’ve been recovering. Doctor’s orders,” I said, “I told you, I’ll explain in the car,”
“Why don’t you pay for the parking Abs? And I’ll get the car ready. You remember where we parked?” Clint asked, handing me some money and the ticket for parking. I nodded and separated from my family.
Returning from paying the ticket, I slipped into the front seat of Clint’s pick-up truck. I was careful with my wrist as I pulled my seatbelt over me. Clint started the pick-up and backed out of the parking spot. Following the marked arrows on the road, Clint found the exit and joined the traffic on the motor way.
“So, what truly happened to your wrist?” Grandad asked. I sighed.
“We were fighting… I can’t remember exactly what we were fighting, but it was taking a while and a lot of man power to stop whoever it was. There was a bank robbery so Fe, Ligero and I were sent to stop it. We almost did. Something happened and Ligero lost control of her powers creating a shockwave. I was thrown against a brick building. I got a concussion and fractured my wrist. I was in a coma for two days. Dr Cho fixed my wrist last Thursday, but I still have to wear the brace to stabilise the bone and to keep up my cover of ‘I broke my wrist falling down the stairs’,”
“Ligero isn’t one of these inhumans or mutants we hear about on the news, are they?” Grandma asked. I thought about it.
“Honestly? I don’t know. And I don’t particularity care what Ligero is. She’s my friend and I trust her with my life,” There was an uneasy silence in the car. I would have turned on the radio if I hadn’t known for a fact that Clint’s car radio was broken. We soon came across familiar streets and I started to get antsy.
“I think I’ll just skip doing the homework tonight,” I said, “I need to have a meeting,”
“Sure. Be back by 9 though. You need to do your Spanish revision. You said you had your make up test tomorrow morning,” Clint said, pulling into the parking structure for our apartment.
“But you’re on medical leave,” Grandma protested.
“From heroing, yes, but from meeting with my friends to discuss our next step? You would have to tie me down, It’s two weeks before election night, and I have to be on live TV this week,” Clint came to a stop and put his truck in park. I undid my seat belt and got out of the truck.
“I’ll see you when I get home from the meeting Clint. See you tomorrow grandparents,” I said, waving goodbye with by right hand and close the door with me left. Clint waved goodbye and drove off. I didn’t stick around to watch the truck leave as I made my way to the elevator. I pushed the button for my floor and checked my phone. There were a few messages from the homecoming committee as well as a few from Lara reminding me about my Spanish test tomorrow morning. I ignored these messages as I left the elevator and walked down the corridor until I reached the apartment Clint and I lived in. I used my own set of keys to open the door. After closing the door, I activated my implant on the way to my room. I used the remote-control option for my holocube to set up a conference call with my friends. The call connected as I walked into my room. Within a couple of minutes, Peter, Stassia, Alyssa, Darcey and Megan were all looking at me.
“Are you guys free?” I asked.
“I’m patrolling the city at the moment,” Peter said, “But I’m sure I can stop,”
“I’m free,” Darcey said.
“I can be at the place you chose in minutes,” Stassia agreed.
“Give me ten minutes to clean up, and I can be on my way,” Megan said. Her hologram hand wiped what I assumed was sweat from her forehead.
“Are you sure you want me there?” Alyssa asked.
“Of course, Lyss!” I said, “I wouldn’t have it any other way. Besides, I think we need to have a team meeting about what happens next because we have two weeks until election night and I have yet to find out what’s going to happen,”
“Where do you want us to meet?” Stassia asked.
“School roof?” I said. Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Okay, I’ll see everyone there,” One by one we all disconnected from the conference call. For the first time since Alyssa’s outburst, I put on my suit. It was like putting on your favourite pair of pyjamas after a bad day. It was comforting. I took out my hoverboard from the belt and enlarged it. Making sure I had throwing knives instead of crossbow bolts in my leg compartments, I made the split-second decision to bring along my holocube in case we needed to show people what we were saying and make notes. The cool thing about holocubes was that Tony had made them with portability in mind; just like my hoverboard they could change size meaning I could shrink the holocube and slip it into a pocket. Doing just that, I picked up my hoverboard and left my room.
Fe and Red Bolt were already there waiting for me. Fe greeted me with a hug. I didn’t make a fuss about it. I really needed it
“Hey Darcey,” I said when Fe finally let me go.
“Hey Abigail,” Red Bolt said. The three of us made polite conversation when Ligero made herself known. I was the first to react by pulling her into a hug. It wasn’t a tight one like Fe and I had shared minutes earlier, but it was loose enough as to not spook Ligero.
“Glad you could make it,” I said, letting Ligero go “How are you?” Ligero looked at the ground and took in a breath.
“I’m recovering,” She admitted, “I’m coming to school tomorrow. Vision said I’m ready for it,”
“That’s good,” I said.
“Come find me before school Alyssa,” Stassia said, “I’ll be in the library and we can hang out together. And if you want to we can hang out with Lara, Freya and Harriet at lunch and interval,”
“Aren’t you going to be at school tomorrow Abby?” Ligero asked. I shook my head.
“My grandparents are back in town to talk about visitation,” I explained, “But I’ll try to be back at school as soon as I can. I really wish I didn’t have to go to this meeting,”
“Hey Megs!” Red Bolt said cheerfully as she spotted her friend set a sky cycle down.
“Is that one of the SHIELD issue ones?” I asked. Gecko nodded.
“Nat has a few stashed around and so do my parents. They let me use it for missions and stuff,” She explained, “I’m sure they’ll let you use them too,”
“I hated those things,” I said, “Too many ways to fall to your death,”
“You ride a hoverboard, surely that’s less safe than one of those,” Red Bolt said.
“She has foot straps and magnetic locking. Even if Abs was upside down the chance she’d fall out and die is almost 0%,” Fe said.
“Sorry I’m late guys,” Spider Man said as he swung onto the school roof. He spotted Gecko’s sky cycle.
“That’s so cool! Where can I get one?”
“Former SHIELD agents only. Sorry Pete,” Gecko said, “Besides you have your webs,”
“Which are no good for places that are populated with high rise buildings,”
“Not my problem,” Gecko shrugged, “So what do you want to talk about oh great leader who has a fear of falling?” The small comment about my fear made my friends laugh.
“Just want to see where we’re at and then plan our next steps,” I said, bringing out my holocube and setting it up, “As I said earlier, I have no idea what Hamilton is going to do come election night, win or lose. We also have the small problem of being two weeks away from election night and we’re down one hero for sabotaging him unless I’m overwatch,”
“Well I can help with one of your problems,” Gecko said, pulling out a flash drive, “May I?”
“Go ahead. Just don’t leave any spying software on it. It’s brand new,” I said, throwing her the cube. The holoprojections disappear for the time it takes the holocube to leave my hand and reach Gecko’s. Once she has the holocube, Gecko puts her USB into the port. The holocube produces a hologram of the files on the USB and Gecko opens a folder titled HMC.
“Open all files,” She instructs the holocube. The holocube doesn’t do anything.
“Open all files in folder HMC,” I say. This time, the holocube does as its asked and protections of documents and blueprints and notes fill the air.
“The updated holocube has voice recognition software. I thought it would be a good idea, especially since the six of us only use our holocubes for superhero stuff,” Fe explained, “It appears Abigail just hasn’t given us voice control yet,”
“Like I said, it’s brand new,” I shrugged, “I’m assuming that everyone can rearrange the display at the same time still,” Fe nodded and all at once, the six of us started to move the holoscreens around so that nothing overlapped. Once that was done, Gecko explained what all the files meant.
“When I was in England, I was able to swipe some of Harper and Galvon’s correspondence. Early on, I kept finding mentions of a device for New York. As you can see it comes up quite frequently in their emails. I was, thankfully, curious enough to find out what the device was. Unfortunately, the blueprints and notes on the device was in a code that I only managed to break a week ago. The device is some sort of mind control thing. The notes and the blueprints had a lot of sciencey things that I don’t understand, so my dad is looking into it for us. He should have the analase done by Wednesday. When he gave it a quick once over, he said that it’s going to be used on the New York public on election night whether or not Hamilton wins,” Our group fell silent.
“That’s… that’s huge,” Red Bolt said, breaking the silence, “Are any of us even qualified enough to handle this? We should call the Avengers,”
“We are Avengers Darcey,” I said, “We can handle this. But not alone. I’m sure we can all work with some Avengers to stop this from happening,”
“Okay so we know what he’s planning,” Fe said, enlarging one particular blueprint, “And I’m sure in two days’ time, we’ll know the how and the where. We can come up with a plan for that. Even with homecoming that night. Can I get a copy of this blueprint?” Fe directed her question at Gecko.
“Sure,” Fe pulled up some options for the file and sent it to herself.
“I know where Hamilton is going to be on Friday night,” Ligero spoke up.
“Where?” Gecko asked.
“He’s going to be in my father’s studio filming live for an hour or so. I heard my father talking to him last night. I don’t know why though,” Ligero asked, rubbing her hands together.
“I do,” I said, “He’s interviewing me. We’re going to talk about the apartment collapse and what my views are on politics and stuff like that,”
“I would say we sabotage that interview, but I don’t think you’d be happy with that,” Fe said.
“No, I wouldn’t be happy. I’m nervous enough as it is,” I admitted to my friends.
“Well then, it’s a good thing I already know where Hamilton’s final debate is going to be,” Red Bolt said, “The final debate between the candidates is going to be in front of members of the military, past, present and probably future. My brother and I going on behalf of our dad since he’ll only just be getting back from deployment,”
“Damn, that’s going to be highly risky,” Gecko said.
“So, we go with small attacks. Spit balls, webs in the hair and all that jazz. Maybe some accidental knocking over of glasses of filled with drinks,” I say, “When is the debate?”
“Exactly one week from your live interview,” Red Bolt said.
“So, if we meet again in a week to start planning the event in full, would everyone be okay with that?” Fe asked. Everyone nodded.
“Is there anything else we need to talk about?” Spider Man asked. I checked the time on my holocube.
“I still have an hour and a half before I have to be back home. Is it okay with everyone to just chill here? I feel we haven’t done that at all,”
“Yeah sure,” Red Bolt said, “But can we get something to drink? I’m really thirsty,”
“I could see if I can find a coffee shop or something that’s still open and get us all something,” Spider Man offered, “That’s if you all pay for your own drinks,”
“There’s a coffee shop called Time Out that way,” I point in the direction of the apartment complex that Clint and I lived in, “It’s cheap and open 24/7. It’s only maybe a block or so,”
“I could do with a hot drink,” Gecko said. Ligero nodded in agreement.
“Would five dollars be enough?” Fe asked, “It’s all I’ve got on me,” I nodded, pulling out my emergency cash. I had a ten-dollar bill on me.
“I’ll pay for Lyss’ drink too,” I said, handing Spider Man the bill. Ligero smiled at me. The others soon handed over money of their own.
“I’ll take a hot chocolate with a caramel shot,” Gecko said.
“Chai latte,” Red Bolt said.
“Hot chocolate for me,” Fe added to the list.
“I’ll take a hot chocolate too please,” I said.
“I’ll have the same as Abby,” Ligero said, softly.
“So, I have three normal hot chocolates, one hot chocolate with a caramel shot, a chai latte and one black coffee,” Spider Man repeated the orders back to us. We all nodded in unison. Satisfied, Spider Man sent a web flying from his wrist onto the building across from Midtown. He then took a running leap off the building, holding tightly onto the web.
“I don’t know how he does that,” I said.
Nursing our hot drinks, I sat in a circle surrounded by my friends. Peter’s mask was lifted above his nose, so he could easily drink his coffee. Stassia had placed her helmet in front of her, letting her curly hair hang over her right shoulder. Megan’s mouth covering hung around her neck. Darcey had removed her mask and put it on the roof beside her. I’d deactivated my implant. Alyssa didn’t have any mask or face obscuring object to hinder her ability to drink her hot chocolate.
“So, I was sitting in maths, right,” Stassia recounted, “And our teacher asks if any one has revised for our math test and Nikisha yells out ‘we will when you return our marks for the last one’. So, what does our teacher do? Pulls out our last test papers and starts handing them out. When they’re finished, they ask again if anyone revised. In response to that, people bring out their math books and start revising,” The story got some laughs out of it.
“If we did that in our class, we’d be dead,” I said.
“I think we just get away with it because sometimes we’re too funny,” Stassia admits.
“You know that reminds of something Megan did once,” Darcey said. Megan, who had been taking a sip of her hot chocolate, coughed.
“Don’t you dare Darce!” Megan yelled once she’d recovered from her coughing.
“Back when Megan was in England, we’d skype each other occasionally and early on, I bribed her to tell me who she had a crush on,” Darcey smiled, “I had an important test the next day and I was meant to be studying for it but instead I was talking to Megan. We were talking about crushes and I knew I could weasel it out of her if I told her I’d do some study. Which she stupidly agreed to,”
“Who was she crushing on?” Stassia asked eagerly. Darcey stopped smiling.
“His name was Blake,” She said. Everyone instantly made a connection to Blake Greenberg.
“I already knew that,” I said, trying to lighten the mood, “It wouldn’t be the first time someone fell in love with someone they probably shouldn’t have, but even I have to admit – Blake is good looking,” My attempt to make the topic lighter didn’t work well; there was an uneasy silence over the group. Then my phone chimed. I pulled it out to see why it wasn’t on silent. Then I saw the time on the lockscreen.
“Crap,” I said, switching my hot chocolate to my right hand and pushing myself up with my left “I’ve got to get going. I’ll see you all at school tomorrow,” I took out my hoverboard and enlarged it. I hoped on it.
“See ya Slingshot,” Stassia said, tapping the side of her head. Realising what she meant, I activated my implant before waving goodbye to my friends. It was a mad rush back to the apartment complex. Unsurprisingly, Clint was waiting for me as I walked in our front door.
“Sorry,” I said, “I was having hot drinks with friends,” I held up my nearly empty, now cold cup of Hot Chocolate.
“Twenty minutes of Spanish and off to bed,” Clint said, “And no holocube for 24 hours,” I sighed, handing over my holocube.
“What time is the meeting?” I asked.
“I’ll be picking you up at the beginning of lunch. You won’t miss your Spanish test,”
“I was hoping that was the case,”
“I’m going to bed. Twenty minutes Abigail, and I expect you to be asleep after that,”
“Night Clint,”
“Night Abigail,”