13

Winter is so here. It's super cold, sadly the dog still thinks the balcony door should just be open all day for her. She has been roving pair of sad puppy eyes since the temperature started dropping.

Chapter Text

Peter yelped as he dodged another advanced gun blast, but it did send him tumbling straight through a white picket fence and into some poor person's yard. "I should have stayed at the party!"

-"Probably should have, Quakes going to kick your ass for engaging without her."- Darcy's voice was irritatingly dry.

He face planted into a shed. "Why the suburbs, shady deals aren't supposed to be in the suburbs." Peter flung himself onto a roof and then took off after the van. "They're not getting away this time!"

-"Huh huh, well you're headed towards the beacon. And more crime happens in the suburbs then people think."- Darcy snickered. -"Did you just bust that man's shed?"-

Peter huffed as he ran, side note, being able to swing was made difficult by having nothing to swing from! "It came from nowhere!"

-"Yes, sheds like the one you just demolished, famous for their acrobatics and sensing of danger."- Darcy drawled.

He used a tree to send himself flinging over the next house. "Shingles are slippery." Peter barely managed to twist mid air to miss some hanging lights. Then he came flying onto the roof of a three story house and grinned. "I see the van. Just gotta slow it down."

-"Wait for Quake, she's almost to you."- Darcy's voice lost it's teasing quality.

Peter took a flying leap. People could die if he didn't get to the van. He was trained for this! "I got this!" His voice pitched up as he came flying for the bad guys. "SURPRISE!"

He was midway through an epic arch towards the weapons van when his instincts screamed. Twisting in air he brought his web shooters to like...do something. He was only half way twisted when he was slammed into by metal.

"WHAT!?" He grabbed onto the claw...thing that was cutting into his legs as they rocketed up. Peter's heart was in his throat as he realized a big metal bird thing had him. "Spooky eyes!" They were all green and glowy and his spider sense or whatever was blaring at him. They just kept going up, horrifyingly up. And then a cold shiver ran down his spine unlike anything he'd ever felt.

A black figure shot up above the bird and "Quake!" Peter finally realized what the black shape was. And then Quake landed on the back of the bird.

A wave of power that rattled him to the bone crashed past him. The metal bird cracked, sections blowing, some actually disintegrating, the creature/person crying out in pain. But the clawed foot released Peter.

He shot his web hooking Daisy. A yank of his arm and he went flying up past exploding metal and creepy bird person and he hooked himself onto Daisy's back. "Evil Bird!"

And then they were hurtling back towards the ground. Daisy's arms were towards the ground, her vibrations slowing their descent. His teeth chattered in his head from the power.

Glowy green eyed bird robot/man went spiraling down, one whole wing exploding sending it crashing into the ground in a fiery heap.

As they landed Daisy shot her arm out at the van that had pulled over sending it rolling onto its side in one of the yards. And then they hit the road with a jolt, Daisy's powers cutting off.

Peter gingerly hopped off of her back. He looked around the destruction of the small section of suburb. Lights were lighting up every house on the block, robot bird thing was on fire, henchmen were crawling out of the upturned van… oh he was so dead. There was even a teenage girl filming the whole thing from her bedroom window. "Uh...funny meeting you here?"

"Go web the men in the van." Daisy ordered, her voice hard.

He winced, but jumped to the van and promptly webbed the hands and feet of the two men and hauled them out. "Crime doesn't pay you know." Peter set them so they were sitting on the grass. Jumping onto the van he reached in and turned off the ignition and pulled the keys out.

There was an awful sound of tearing metal and a burst of vibrations.

Peter turned and winced as he saw Daisy dragging the person who'd been in the robobird suit out of the wreckage. She dropped his still smoking body onto the grass.

He tapped his comm. "I think we need an ambulance." Peter was so not getting back to that party… Ned was going to kill him.

Daisy strode straight for him and hauled him into a vice like hug. He squawked in surprise before hugging her back. That had been terrifying.

Peter held onto Daisy's hand as they sat side by side on the lawn. Police detective Yuriko Watanabe had pointed them towards the lawn. She was on the list Darcy and Daisy had made of acceptable police to corporate with. It was a short list. The news crews were there, evil bird dude was in the back of an ambulance, the two henchmen were in the back of a police cruiser. Multiple suburban people in bathrobes were being interviewed by police.

"So uh robo bird people. Who knew?" His goggles blinked as he looked at Daisy hopefully.

Daisy sighed. "I can't even be mad. Going in alone without back up against common sense was like...my move at SHIELD."

"Cool, not getting grounded?" He checked, his shoulders relaxing.

She looked at him, her new fancy mask actually moving with her face as she stared at him in disbelief. "Oh you're so grounded."

"That's fair." Peter admitted, the robot bird had been...it'd been scary. He maybe should have probably waited for back up. "You're still coming to Decathlon though right?"

She squeezed his hand and laid her head on his shoulder. "Wouldn't miss it."

////

Darcy stared at the morning news and felt tears of mirth gathering in her eyes. This was the best thing ever. "FRIDAY, print just...all of these articles. I'm making a scrapbook."

"What's got you in a state?" Jane asked from her fevered calculations.

She snorted, a slight whistling sound like a dying whale escaped her. Because there were pictures, so many amazing pictures splashed everywhere. "The best media day for enhanced individuals just happened."

"Huh?" Jane looked up, face slightly crinkled.

Darcy couldn't even articulate her joy without chortling. She waved Jane over.

Jane got the message and walked over, actually left the science, it was a miracle. She looked down and stilled. "But aren't-"

"Yes." Darcy gasped.

"And wait but…" Jane's eyes widened.

Darcy lost it, she was crying, she was laughing so hard. She wheezed out a reply between bellows of laughter. "Yes!"

"Well that's….something." Jane trailed off before starting to giggle.

Because there, being cooed over by the whole world, were photos of Spiderman and Quake landing on a street, Peter clearly hanging onto Daisy. And then there were photos of them hugging each other desperately. It looked intimate as hell. But oh the coup de grace was a photo of them sitting next to each other on some poor idiots front lawn. They were clearly holding hands in it, Daisy's head on Peter's shoulder. The internet was losing its mind.

Darcy knew that this was a public relations coup. Quake and Spiderman stopping illegal alien weapon running in the suburbs? Nothing scared important people like giant menacing, demonic looking robot bird people with super weapons in the goddamn suburbs. Only damage was some minor grass being torn up, a few hours of road repair, and a demolished shed. All of which 'Spiderquake' had already promised to fix. Short of saving puppies while holding a baby, with god bless america in the background, there was no better PR. It was a miracle. But Darcy couldn't stop wheezing.

"They're idiots." She gasped out.

Jane opened her mouth but more giggles came out instead of words.

An hour later, Darcy kept snorting anytime she thought of it. "Think I should make them 'congrats on your true love' cake?"

"I think it's very impressive you know Quake and Spiderman." Ian put in from where he was rewriting Jane's notes, only legible.

She winced at his smile. Normally she wouldn't encourage him. Dating the intern was so London, and his breath had smelled like socks. But, well it was a wonderful day. "It is cool isn't it. I think I should get them a cake. There has to be some fancy caterer in the tower who'd make a themed one."

-"Mr Stark has two chefs on call in the tower as well as six in the cafeteria."- FRIDAY helpfully informed them.

Darcy beamed. "Thanks FRIDAY. Can you put in order for a romantic congratulations cake for Spiderquake? Tell whichever chef has time for it to have fun with it."

-"Very well Dr Lewis. Do you require anything else?"- FRIDAY asked.

She shot the nearest camera a thumbs up. "I'm good FRIDAY." Darcy pulled up her favorite dance mix and blasted the lab.

Darcy pulled up work with the holotable. She was going to use the nanobots to make Janes teleporting tech mobile, portable, and not a bumpy van ride from sending someone to a bilgesnipe den or something. Holo tables were so cool. No more reams of graph paper and exploding prototypes. She could do 90% of the work on the table and only synthesis one or two prototypes. It was an excellent day.

Darcy felt bleary eyed from staring at holographic numbers. It took her a second of blinking to bring the person who'd just interrupted her into focus. "Jackbooted thug lady?"

"It's Maria or Hill." The perfectly pressed woman replied. "I'm head of security here at SI."

Darcy whistled. "Those cheekbones can cut glass can't they? I mean damn if the ladies did it for me, I would be all over you."

Hill's eyes twinkled, but her face stayed even. Killer poker face that one. "I was advised I should look into your security considering your parentage."

"Naw I'm good, Soldier Hotstuff." Darcy flicked her wrist just right, her new bangle turning into the most tricked out taser on the planet. "Dudebros everywhere should fear me."

Hill's lips twitched upward. "How do you feel about coffee and discussing the legal mess we're all in the middle of then?"

"Fine, I'm guessing my being a Stark isn't going to stay quite much longer anyways." Darcy turned off her holotable. She carefully set the biolocks. No stupid hazing the newbie crap was fucking with her designs. Not that SI seemed the place with worse hazing then maybe putting salt in your coffee if you had an office jokester in your cubicle area. Better safe than sorry though.

Darcy picked up her knit hat, pulled it down to her ears and then grinned at Hill. "Ready when you are Sir Hotstuff."

"Changing up nicknames already?" Hill asked while leading them to the elevator.

She shrugged. "I mean I don't think either of them are the perfect name for you. But you can tell a lot about a person if they just roll with the punches ya know? LIke Agent iPod Thief. He was just a badass."

"If you weren't working in the labs I'd offer you a job in security." Hill did look properly amused now. "Is this how you got some of the most stubborn people on the planet to compromise for five minutes?"

Darcy snorted. "As if. Naw it's like this. Capsical and Poprocks should never be sat down at a table and left to 'compromise'. They'll dig their obstinate heels in even if they agree. You have to negotiate the least objectionable solution with each of them separately."

"Interesting approach. Is this a 'Stark doesn't play well with others' conclusion?" Hill was part curious, and partly testing her. It was kinda flattering and insulting at the same time.

Darcy rolled her eyes as they stepped out of the elevator and moved towards the Security office lounge. They had the good coffee up here. "Look, it's like bullfighting. Steve is a bull only instead of horns he's got the Shield. I mean I'm pretty sure the man would charge straight into a brick wall if he thought it was the 'right' thing to do."

"You're not wrong." Hill agreed while pouring them coffee and gesturing the creamer and sugars.

She nodded, finally someone other than Daisy who got it. "Right? See and Tony's a matador. Complete with sparkly outfit, charm and using weapons to bring down things more powerful than himself. But see the thing is you're asking a bull and a matador to sit down and agree on the rules of bullfighting. It's not gonna happen."

Hill actually grinned at that as she brought her coffee to her mouth. "So you separated them and got their handlers to do the compromising for them. Effective approach. I wish I'd thought of it."

"They look like adults so everyone assumes they'll act like them." Darcy dumped four creamers and two sugars into her coffee. "Besides, Capsical is jaded and hates 'The Man' with every fiber of his justice filled being. And Poprocks is a lot of things, but he's very much a part of the whole 'The Man' thing. Steve is never going to trust Tony completely after Ultron. And Tony is incapable of the basic empathy or of understanding what his bullshit is going to do to normal people. He plays by rich person rules, he doesn't get that's not how the world works for literally everyone else."

Hill seemed to consider her words, her eyes sharp though she still felt friendly. "You're not wrong, in fact that's partially why we have tried to keep Steven in DC and Stark in Malibu as much as possible."

"Huh...that makes so much sense." Darcy reevaluated the woman. This was an ally!

Hill hummed. "How would you like to look at some of the policy we've been trying to get Stark to agree to since apparently he listens to you?"

"I won't put anything in front of him I don't think is a good idea." Darcy wasn't going to back down on that point.

Hill nodded with ease, which was kinda impressive how she did it, while looking formalish. "I wouldn't expect anything else. But enough of Stark, what type of security do you already have in place?"

"Well legally, and according to internal SI paperwork I live on Thor Floor. And if I get caught out in Queens it's because Daisy Johnson was a foster kid my parents took care of for a year when I was in middle school. It's only natural we're catching up now that we live in the same city." Darcy loved her sister's hacking skills. They'd laid the correct paper trail to make their connection completely legit looking. And it'd protect the Parkers.

Hill sounded amused. "I assume all the paperwork and records are 100% legal and legitimate."

"Of course." Darcy winked, even if she wasn't that good at it and it probably looked kinda dumb.

Hill huffed softly. "Well then. You do realize you'll have to accept a bodyguard once the news hits?"

"It's going to suck monkey balls." Darcy grumbled before draining her coffee in one go. Sue her, she wasn't recovered from collegiate bad habits yet.

Hill refilled her mug. "I have a few options I think you'll find less objectionable. In fact, how would you feel about two of your friend Daisy's old coworkers? SI has been considering offering them employment."

"If Daisy vouches for them." She cocked her head to the side. "I thought you said 'a' bodyguard?"

Hill opened her mouth and then her pager, phone, and half a dozen alarms around the office went off. She grabbed her phone and hissed. "Shit."

"Which alarm is that?" Darcy asked.

Hill looked at her. "The one that means that the lead Daisy found for Steven just paid off."

"Huh, so the brainwashed russian murderbot alarm. Good to know." Darcy took a liberal gulp of her coffee. "You're going to need me to head off Tony aren't you?"

////

Wanda watched as Daisy taught a small herd of tiny children how to safely summersault. They looked like a bunch of awkward pillbugs, rolling around the mats. She bit back a smile. It was kind of adorable. She looked at the gym employee in an identical blue polo to the one Daisy was wearing. "I thought this was an extreme obstacle gym not…" She looked pointedly at the adorable group Daisy was leading.

The guy in the polo laughed. "We have classes for every level of skill. That's our beginners tumbling class for kids." He held out his hand. "I'm Drew."

"Wanda." She accepted his hand, a trickle of her powers brushing against his mind. He was harmless, very bored, and curious about his new coworker. Ah, he wanted something new to gossip about. She pulled back her small trickle of power. "I had expected more...rock climbing with paintball guns honestly."

Drew laughed outright. He spoke while wiping a tear from his eye. "Oh that's a good one. No, nothing like that. Paintball." He shook his head. "No we run classes for all ages, but they focus on gymnastics, martial arts, parkour, and rock climbing. I'm the current rock climbing instructor actually. I mean the groups are usually after school groups. But Daisy is teaching the classes that are less focused."

"Like tumbling?" She asked.

He nodded. "Hm. She's got the weirdest mix of masteries. But the only class she's running in your age range is Tai Chi, though that's more geared towards older patrons." Drew looked at her in open curiosity. "Are you a friend of hers?"

"Yes we...play paintball quite often." Wanda's eye twitched slightly. If paintball, combat, and constant explosions at the same time could be considered 'play'. Though she was pretty sure that to Daisy it did.

Drew snorted, a sort of understanding in his eye. "I'm guessing that's why the guess at paintball rock climbing of all things." He chuckled, shaking his head. "Well if you're not here to sign up for a class or anything you're welcome to watch while you wait for your friend."

"Thank you." Wanda smiled at Drew. He was...so horribly normal it was actually slightly soothing.

Wanda straightened an hour later as Daisy loped towards her. And she could feel and see, just the happiness radiating out from the woman. "Hello."

"I see Drew showed you where the sports drinks are." Daisy laughed. "What's up?"

Wanda easily followed the clear invitation from Daisy. "I needed to get out of the tower and I thought you wouldn't mind?"

"Of course not." Daisy dropped a hand on her shoulder, her eyes kind. "We're friends, you're always welcome to drop by." She seemed to consider something. "Do you need to crash at Aunt May's for the night?"

Wanda loved being at the Parker home. It was full of light, affection, warmth. Though she hadn't spent a great deal of time there, it still felt like a home she'd been welcomed into. Perhaps not her home, but a home nonetheless. "I would like that."

"Cool, the couch is super comfy." Daisy led them into a locker room. "I'm guessing the emotions are running pretty high with Barnes newly in the Tower."

Wanda sighed. "There is that. But also...well I'm not the most dangerous person requiring Vision's supervision now. The apartment was...quiet."

"And Pietro doesn't return till next week." Daisy finished for her while pulling her shirt off in an easy move, completely mindless that Wanda was right there.

Wanda's eyes snapped up to the ceiling. "Yes."

Daisy laughed lightly. There was a slight rustling before she spoke again. "You can look now." And indeed she wasn't half naked anymore. "I forget not everyone is used to close quarters. Privacy wasn't really a thing when living on a plane or a secret base. Sorry."

"It's fine..just unexpected." Wanda cleared her throat. "So do you and Darcy have some PR campaign plot I'm going to be dragged into for Barnes?"

Daisy grinned. "No, in fact now that you Avengers have a PR team we won't meddle...much."

"Somehow I doubt that." Wanda was pretty sure Starks in general were incapable of not meddling constantly.

Daisy shrugged unrepentantly. "Well I mean we don't want him to avoid being tried for his crimes."

"But you protected me?" Wanda frowned. "Why me but not him?"

Daisy picked up her duffle bag and led them out of the locker room. She paused to wave at Drew. "See you Wednesday Drew!"

"Carrot juice is disgusting!" He hollard after them.

Daisy waited till they were on the sidewalk before replying to Wanda's question. "A few reasons really. They were going to use it as an excuse to lock up all of us who are different. But mostly you're just a person from a forgien country, a young female person at that. He's a beloved American hero. And he was actually brainwashed and no jury is going to convict him."

Wanda mulled that over, appreciating absently that Daisy was giving her the chance to think it over. "You thought they were going to lock me up without a trial."

"It's what the Accords would have made legal. Barnes isn't the type of person you can just make disappear." Daisy opened the passenger door of a small honda.

And the thing was thanks to hours of hearing Darcy absently gripe about politics while working on gizmos for Peter, well Wanda could see the shape of it all. It...it scared her to see the disaster that might have been. Still could be if things went very wrong. "You and your siblings have done far more than most realize I think."

"Which is exactly how we'd like to keep it." Daisy hopped into the driver's seat and started up the car. "I mean the kid needs to keep working on local do gooding for another three years minimum. And I...once a spook always a spook I guess."

Wanda stared at Daisy. "You would be a horrible spy."

"Hey now!" Daisy laughed. "I'll have you know I'm an excellent undercover operative."

Wanda stared at the other woman. "I don't buy it. You are too solid in who you are."

"It's why they never suspect." Daisy winked.

Wanda couldn't help it, she laughed. Because the idea of Daisy Johnson pretending to be anyone else was laughable. The faintest tingle of her powers warned it might not be quite that laughable though.