A few days have passed and the Angels have been keeping track of the Vulture and his crew. They figured out most of the crew members' names but still haven't figured out who the Vulture is yet.

Peter has been radio silent ever since Washington. He has been working on his own on the down-low, not wanting to be reprimanded for the umpteenth time as he thought it would probably be best if he worked alone.

Juanita and Raven took turns having Natalie sleepover since she still didn't have a place to stay yet.

The girls were at Mr. Delmar's deli-grocery, buying a snack for school later. Natalie was looking for a drink with Raven as Juanita was up in front, ordering a sandwich.

"How's Natalie holding up?" Me. Delmar asked, referring to her foster parent.

Juanita glanced over at Natalie, who was occupied by Raven still. "They kicked her out after the incident in Washington. The mom told her she didn't want to waste her time worrying and looking after her if they don't constantly keep tabs on what she's doing and where she is." She said softly with a saddened gaze at Natalie.

"Wow." Mr. Delmar was taken by surprise, speechless at the sudden news as Natalie and Raven walked up to the front to pay for their drinks and candy. "Hey, girls." He said putting up a front, giving the girls a warm smile.

"Hi Mr. Delmar." Raven and Natalie said in unison as Natalie pulled out some money to pay for their stuff.

"No, no. It's on the house." He said.

"What?" Natalie said taken aback.

"For my favorite customers, it's on the house." He insisted.

"O-Okay," Raven chuckled, satisfied with not paying as she grabbed her things. She and Juanita head out of the store as Natalie stayed put.

"What's going on?" Natalie crossed her arms as her eyes narrowed at him cautiously. "You hardly ever give your favorite customers an 'it's-on-the-house' pass more than once."

"No, I don't do that with the customers who think they're my favorite. However, you three are my favorite, so for you three it's on the house." He shrugged simply.

Natalie hummed in response, still cautious. "If you say so." She said as she turned to leave.

"Hey, Natalie?" Mr. Delmar started as she turned to face him again. "I don't have the papers or whatever, but how would you feel if I adopted you?" He asked seriously.

"W-What?" She lightly choked on her breath, unsure of what she just heard.

"Yeah, I was thinking. You know, what if I took you in as my own?"

Her eyes welled up with tears as she looked at the man who she looked up to as a father figure, nodding. "Y-Yeah. I'd love that." She hugged him as she cried softly. "Thank you." She whispered.

He hugged her back, his eyes tearing up as well as he looked down at the young girl he always looked after as if she was his own daughter.

She sniffled, pulling away from the hug as she chuckled lightly, "I should get going." She wiped away her tears quickly. "I'm gonna be late for school."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go, don't want you to be late." He smiled lightly at her as she waved goodbye.

"Bye." She whispered with a smile as she left the store. She let out a sigh as Raven and Juanita looked at her with a confused look. "I think Mr. Delmar just adopted me." She breathed out in disbelief and joy.

"Oh my god, Nat." Juanita smiled widely, pulling Natalie in for a hug.

"That's amazing!" Raven squealed lightly, joining in on the hug.

Natalie let out a soft chuckle, "Yeah, it is." She pulled away from the hug as the girls started walking to school.

Once the girls arrived at school, the student news played on the tv that was displayed in the hall. "This past weekend, Midtown's academic Decathlon team defeated the country's best to win the national championship. Later that day, they also defeated death." Jason's voice was heard throughout the halls.

Natalie sighed as she and the other girls watched the school news, "This must boost his ego." She said with her arms crossed, referring to Peter as she waited for Raven to gather her belongings.

"Most definitely." Raven nodded in agreement, noticing Peter headed their way with a huge grin etched on his face. "Speaking of..." She trailed off, nodding towards Peter subtly.

Natalie turned around to where Raven motioned towards, seeing a happy Peter skip toward Ned.

"Have you heard anything from him?" Raven asked as they headed in the opposite direction of Peter's.

Natalie shook her head, "Surprisingly, no." She stated before sighing. "On the bright side though, we don't have a mission today." She smiled gratefully.

That is until the girls felt their arms being tugged into a corner, "We have to go." Juanita stated quietly, her gaze motioning towards a clear exit for them to not get caught. "Pepper's waiting for us."

"What?"

"You jinxed it." Raven snickered, following after Juanita.

Natalie groaned slightly, following after them nonetheless. "Why'd I have to jinx it." She muttered to herself as her shoulders slumped.

The Angels sat in the back seat of the Audi that was sent out for them driven by Happy. "Is, um, Spider-Man coming?" He asked, unsure if he should've said his actual name or made up one.

The Angels all shared a confused look, "No? Pepper just called for us." Juanita informed him.

His eyes slightly widened as he wished he bit his tongue for slightly exposing Peter's identity.

Raven noticed the change in his demeanor, "We know about Peter, don't worry. He sort of told us his identity without meaning to." She reassured him.

He chuckled lightly, "Of course he did." He mumbled as he started to drive off. "I'm surprised Tony hasn't told me about you."

"There's a lot of things Tony hasn't mentioned." Natalie gave him a tight-lipped smile, Juanita nudging her to keep quiet as Raven threw her a look.

"Right..." Happy nodded slowly before turning back to face the road and start driving.

The whole car ride there was immensely awkward and silent until they arrived at their destination. "You girls can head on up. Pepper'll be in her office." He told them as the girls nodded in unison.

Raven and Juanita turned to Natalie once he drove off, "Now what was that about?" Raven was the first one to speak up.

Natalie rolled her eyes, "I don't know, okay? It just came out." She breathed out. "I didn't mean for it to come out that way either. Now can we just go and see what our mission's about or why we were called in for?" She said as they nodded in silence. Natalie was the first one to walk off as Raven and Juanita shared a look.

Once they entered Pepper's office, they weren't expecting Tony to be there as well. "Good morning, Angels. What do you got for me." Tony spoke after he swirled his chair to face the girls, Pepper standing beside him.

"I'm sorry, Sir... but it's the afternoon." Juanita corrected him shyly.

Tony looked up at Pepper, his brows furrowed in thought. "It's morning somewhere." He pointed out with a light chuckle and a warm smile to show that he was just teasing. "Anyways... what's the 411? The stitch? The dealio? Is that what you youngsters say now?" He asked sitting up from his chair.

He cleared his throat, "Oh, by the way... Natalie, I heard about the Washington incident. How are you holding up?" He asked sincerely.

"Um, I'm doing what I can I guess." She answered taken aback. "But what we found out about the weapons relates to the incident that happened in Washington."

"Yeah," Juanita started, pulling out her phone with a picture of the said weapon they were talking about to show to Tony. "This weapon is what caused the explosion that day. It was activated by radiation when it was being scanned along with a student's phone." She explained. "It's also the same type of weapon that was used in the bank robbery by Mr. Delmar's shop."

"Also that day where you, well technically your suit, picked up bug boy from the lake," Raven added, crossing her hands behind her back timidly.

"Have you seen their faces?" Pepper asked them, remembering a certain type of protocol Tony added to their suits.

"Yeah? We all got a glimpse of some of the men or at least a good look at one of them. We also found out two of the guys' names, which is Aaron Davis and Mac Gargan. Why?" Natalie inquired looking between both Tony and Pepper.

"Because as you girls know I added everything in Peter's suit, I have also added everything in your suits... including, what I like to call, the BMP." Tony stood up, clicking on some random buttons from his phone.

"BMP? What's that?"

"The Baby Monitor Protocol." He said after swiping up on the screen of his phone up to the tv that was in the room, showing a still photo of a clip from the arms deal the Angels were talking about. "Ah, perfect." He said zooming into one of the guy's faces while asking Friday to do facial recognition on the men.

"Okay, Angels." He closed off the image after sending the info to someone, turning to face the girls. "Good work, but I'll handle it from here."

"What? Why?" Raven asked, her brows furrowed and her arms crossed.

"It's for your safety since they're most likely will be making another arms deal with probably a higher risk type of lethal weapon." He explained. "Don't think of it as me benching you girls. You'll still go on other missions, just not this one for now."

The girls all looked at each other taking the information in. Were they upset at sort of getting kicked off their current mission? Yes. But they understood that it was probably best for their safety. Juanita was the first one to nod, "We understand." She said after she and the girls silently agreed as well.

"What about Peter?" Natalie asked, fidgeting with the bracelet on her wrist.

"Nat-"

"It's not for the reason you think." Natalie cut off Raven before continuing to speak to Tony. "It's for his safety as well. He's been radio silent since Washington and I'm just worried that he might go off on his own to fight this guy."

Tony looked at Natalie, taking in what she told him, and then looks at Pepper. He gives her a crooked smile, "You know Pepper thought the same thing earlier today. Which is why I'm having all of you sit this one out. Which reminds me, I need to call the kid." He waved his phone in his hand. "Uh, Miss Potts, would you do the honors of telling them their next upcoming mission."

"Sure thing." Pepper smiled, gesturing for the girls to follow her. "Okay, Angels. Time to get to work."

『 LILLS SPEAKS! 』

sorry if this seems short, hopefully,
the next chapter will be a little longer