Chapter 39: Back Home

"I sure didn't miss this place."

Harvey whispered to himself as he walked through the halls of his school. But the familiar chaos of the students going about their business was comforting in a way. Surprisingly enough, nobody seemed to go out of their way to whisper about him. Heck, they even avoided him in the halls. They were making sure to clear a path for him wherever he walked.

"I wonder what happened." Harvey asked as he looked around; the students staring at him quickly averted their eyes.

"You can call it fear." 

Harvey turned and saw Sienna walk up to him. She leaned on a nearby locker and smiled at him. "Since you were gone, some rumors exploded throughout the school."

"Rumors?" Harvey asked.

"Oh yeah, like when you lifted one of the school's football linebackers into the air and put the fear of god into him." Sienna answered. "From there, it got exaggerated here and there. You're practically off limits now."

"I see…"

Harvey hummed and looked over to the shorter girl. Since that day at the fair, Sienna has become one of Alex's good friends. Even after Alex told her who she really was and how she usually acted, Sienna didn't abandon her like Alex feared. In fact, she said she was touched that Alex came forward and admitted she was scared of losing her for being 'uncool'. 

From that point, the two were on good terms. Harvey knew Alex had nothing to fear; she was a great person. And it seemed Sienna saw that, too. Harvey himself didn't interact with the girl too often, but when he did, he appreciated her company. 

"I saw what happened at the expo. Is everyone okay?" Sienna asked, worried. "I haven't seen Alex yet; she only told me she was fine through a text."

"Everyone is okay, no one got hurt." Harvey answered. "I wouldn't worry about Alex. She's a pretty tough girl. I'm sure she'll tell you everything when she sees you."

"That's good to hear!" Sienna said with a smile. "Hey, Harvey... Do you wanna, I don't know... go ou-"

RING

Looking up, Harvey realized that was the warning bell. They all had about five minutes to get to class. Looking back down, he looked at Sienna.

"Sorry, the bell cut you off." Harvey smiled. "What were you saying?"

"Oh, uh. It was nothing. Haha!" Sienna gave off an awkward smile as she backed up. "I gotta run to class. I'll uh see you around!"

Harvey couldn't reply as the girl ran off. He wondered what that was about. She probably has a class at the other end of the campus. Shaking his head, Harvey walked to his next class. 

Walking into the class, Harvey sat in his assigned seat and pulled out his new American History textbook. Looking up, he sees a blonde woman with glasses; she is dressed professionally. Lifting his eyebrow in confusion, Harvey couldn't help but feel confused. Was this a substitute teacher?

"Okay, class, have a seat." The blonde woman said, standing in front of the whiteboard. "Since I'm seeing a new face today, I will introduce myself again."

The woman turned around and started writing on the whiteboard with a black dry-erase marker. "My name is Sarah McConner. I will be your new American History teacher from this point onwards."

Harvey found it odd that Mr. Preston was replaced around a third of the way through the school year. Was he fired? Or did he quit? It must've happened when he was away during the expo. He'll have to ask Sienna what happened. She had his class as well.

"Now that we have introductions out of the way. Everyone, turn to page one hundred and thirty-seven. Section two." Sarah said while she opened her own textbook. "I'll need a volunteer reader."

The new teacher then scanned the room and landed on Harvey. Harvey felt an odd sensation when she smiled at him.

"Mr. Miller. Why don't you start us off?"

Harvey nodded and started reading the passage. Whatever that feeling was, it bugged him. Whoever this person was just raised more questions than answers. While Harvey was reading, he focused his senses and took a closer look at Sarah's soul.

'You finally realized it.' Zarathos spoke.

'Yeah, whoever this is feels like Natasha.' Harvey concluded. 'She must be with SHEILD.'

'Looks like they want to keep a closer eye on you.' Zarathos stated.

Harvey nodded and looked up. Another student was reading the following passage after he was done. Sarah turned her head and smiled when she noticed his stare. Harvey frowned and looked back down at his book. This was getting annoying. He had to do something.

•••

"What's your goal?"

Sharon Carter, better known as Agent 13, saw her assignment before her desk. Harvey Miller, otherwise known as the Ghost Rider. Director Fury assigned her to keep tabs on the young man and report any findings. The best place to be undercover was to hide in plain sight.

So, after offering the old American History teacher a new promising position in the next state over, Sharon swooped in and replaced him. Now, she could watch Harvey closely during school and from a distance after classes had ended.

Initially, when she started her new position, the boy left on a week's break to go to New York for the Stark expo. She couldn't follow after him. It could endanger her new position as a teacher if she suddenly disappeared from her new job. So she taught the students at the school for the week while she waited for his return.

This didn't mean she wasn't monitoring him. Fury gave her reports on the boy's actions while he was in the big city. Initially, he was just a tourist during the day, but at night, he became the Ghost Rider and continued his nightly activities. When she received the report on the attack on the expo, Sharon was shocked to read and see scattered video files of Harvey's transformed state, quickly destroying the Hammer Drones. 

This only proved to her that her mission was a vital one. The boy proved himself even more powerful than SHEILD initially thought. He was even placed beside Hulk and Thor in terms of power. While Sharon felt that was a bit much, She had to admit that Harvey kept surprising them all with what he could do.

One of his abilities, as reported by Natasha Romanov, was his sensing capabilities. On the night the director made contact with him, Harvey was able to sense the two armed squads that were waiting to be called in case Harvey turned hostile. This showed SHEILD that it would be impossible for any living human to get the upper hand on him by any covert attack. 

"Is something wrong, Mr. Miller?"

Back to the present, Sharan now believes that Harvey's sensing abilities were more diverse than what they initially believed. Could she have been discovered that fast? How was that possible? Her cover was perfect.

"You! You're what's wrong." Harvey told her. The class was currently empty. It seemed he wanted to wait for them to be alone to confront her. "What's SHIELD doing placing one of their own at my school?"

"I'm afraid I don't understand." Sharon said she had to try and see if Harvey would drop it. Otherwise, her cover was good as blown.

"Stop playing coy with me, 'Sarah'. You feel very similar to Agents Hawkeye and Widow." Harvey exclaimed. "Drop the act, or I'll drop you."

To prove his point, the left side of Harvey's face began to burn. Revealing a portion of his skull. Finally, Sharon admitted defeat. There was no way she could take him down if a fight did break out.

"There's no need for that." Sharon said, raising her hands in defeat. "You're right. I'm here on director Fury's orders."

"Why?! I already said I would help his supergroup if trouble popped up." Harvey said in frustration, his face healed itself. Leaving no damage behind. 

"It's because of the possibility that you could accidentally attract dangers to you or those around you. I'm here to ensure you have the proper backup to ensure no one around you is hurt." Sharon said. Maybe it wasn't too late. Perhaps she could use his knowing about her identity as a way to gain his trust.

"I'm only here to be of help. Not to target you or your friends." Sharon said. "We've already run some damage control for you. Haven't you wondered why you're not in handcuffs and why your face hasn't been spread throughout the news and internet?"

"SHEILD covered everything involving your true identity before you transformed at the Stark Expo, so you can rest assured your identity is safe."

"…I have been wondering when they would have come for me. So it was SHEILD… Is this a you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours type of situation?" Harvey asked her; Sharon could only smile at him. "Thank you for that, but don't take it as I suddenly trust you and your organization."

"I can see how you being here could be beneficial…" Harvey then walked over to her desk and rested his hands on top. "But let me tell you this now."

"If you or SHEILD goes after anyone I care about, I promise you all. I will make it my life's mission to hunt all of you down." Harvey declared.

Sharon started to feel the room's temperature go up. Beads of sweat began to form on her face. The kid wasn't kidding; she believed he could perform his threat. 

"I promise you. I'm on your side." Sharon said slowly. She then held out her hand. "My name is Sharon Carter. I hope we can get along, Harvey."

The temperature in the room returned to normal. Harvey stared at her hand for a few seconds and finally grabbed it. With a shake, he nods at her.

"Don't make me regret this, Sharon." Harvey spoke.

"I won't."

•••

"What do you think?"

Wanda asked her brother from within Harvey's kitchen. She was currently cooking some dinner for everyone to eat later. It was one of her favorites, chicken paprikash. Her brother zoomed into the room and stopped where she was holding out a spoon.

"Mm. It's delicious." Pietro said as he held the spoon. He tried scooping another portion, but his hand was stopped by red energy. "Just a little more!"

"No, you have to wait." Wanda said as she covered the pot with a lid.

They both stepped out of the kitchen and into the large living room. Today marked their third day living in Harvey's home. It was large and beautiful, and Harvey kept it well-cleaned and organized. At first, she was apprehensive about taking advantage of him, but Harvey promised her it was okay. He said that his house was too large and quiet, so staying with him would actually be a huge favor done by them.

Wanda just accepted that. She could understand what it means to have a quiet home. After all, she and Pietro lived similarly back in Sokovia after her parents were… 

Shaking her head, Wanda decided to turn on the television and see its channels. Pietro fell on the couch beside her and watched as she clicked through the channels. 

"Wait, go back." Pietro said as he pointed at the tv.

Wanda nodded and switched the channel back. It was the news; they reported on what happened at the Stark Expo a few days ago. There were even clips and images of Harvey's transformed state, fighting and destroying several drones with incredible ease.

"I still can't get used to how he looks." Pietro mumbled. "Pretty scary."

"Pietro!" Wanda smacked her brother behind the head. "He's our friend! Don't say that."

"Yikes, alright." 

The news anchor reported that Tony Stark and James Rhodes would receive medals for their distinguished acts during the expo attack. Wanda frowned at that.

"Harvey should be the one getting an award! Not Stark! I'm pretty sure this was mostly his fault!" Wanda spoke as she turned off the television.

"Perhaps you're right. But I don't think Harvey would have accepted the medal." Pietro said. "It's not in his nature."

"How would you know?" Wanda squinted at her brother.

"It's a guy thing." Pietro answered as he brought his hands behind his head.

"Don't you have to work?" 

Wanda said in irritation. Her brother decided to take up a job in the company GrubHub. He didn't want to take advantage of Harvey's kindness, so he decided to earn money by making deliveries, and with his abilities, it made the job a breeze. Pietro also used the job as a way to train himself so he could run for longer distances without getting tired.

"Ah, you're right." Pietro stood up and stretched. "I'll be back soon."

With that, Pietro ran off in a blur of blue and silver. Causing Wanda's hair to flutter in the wind. Looking at the door, Wanda wondered when Harvey would arrive from school. He promised to help her gain better control of her magic. After all, he has the most experience from either her or her brother, so he likely has some tricks to make the learning process easier. Sitting down, Wanda decided she might as well do something with her time while she waited.

"I guess I'll see what this Netflix has to offer."