chapter two.
❛ a ms. frizzle adventure ❜

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PRESENT DAY.

AS MUCH AS Arlyn had no desire to go on this field-trip, she knew she wasn't allowed to say no to it, seeing as nowadays she was doing anything to keep her grades up. She couldn't miss any potential work, not when she had to make sure the school wouldn't have to call home.

Sure, Arlyn was smart, always on top of her grades. But this was a tougher year in high school, and she really wasn't in the best mindset; her stress levels had been high recently, not just because of school.

"Earth to Arlyn?" A voice asked in front of her as she took her eyes away from the window, shaking herself from her thoughts. Ned was in the seat in front of her, and beside him was Emily. Peter had sat beside Arlyn in the aisle seat of the school bus.

"Sorry, what?" Arlyn asked, seeing Emily even turn around, wondering why Arlyn was spacing out. She even noticed Emily study her, as if she was assessing how she was doing.

"I said d'you wanna help build a Lego Millennium Falcon?" Ned asked again, not really noticing Arlyn's strange behaviour.

Arlyn blinked a few times, processing what he said before nodding blankly. "Yeah, sure." And it didn't take long for her eyes to drift back towards the window; mostly avoiding Peter's worried stare.

"We don't have to see that movie after school if you're not up to it," Peter mumbled, just for her ears; it was hard to speak over the rowdiness of the school bus.

Arlyn took a glance at him before shrugging. "Yeah, maybe another day."

That would also give her an excuse to avoid him more, seeing as they'd been in a strange place since their argument 2 weeks ago.

She almost jumped at her phone buzzing in her pocket. She tucked a loose tendril from her pony tail behind her ear, checking her phone, being a text message from Emily.

Em: You have dark circles under your eyes again.

Her best friend knew her too well.

Arlyn: Yeah. Had a bad dream again. Then couldn't get back to sleep.

Ten seconds passed before she replied.

Em: I'm sorry. Maybe you should try taking drugs to help knock you out for the night?

Arlyn bit back her smile; she had no idea what she'd do without Emily.

Arlyn: Thanks Em.

Em: No worries A.

The moment was interrupted by Peter's body shoving against her, leaning over her out the window.

"What the f-" Arlyn stopped her sentence short, eyes trailing to where Peter was looking. Above the city in the distance lowered a large, ring shaped ship, too-alien like for this planet. Of course this couldn't have been a normal field-trip, instead Ms. Frizzle had to pop in and take them for a trip to alien town.

On the bright side, this gave her and Peter an excuse to ditch this field trip.

But on the other side, she couldn't help but feel an underlying eerie feeling of déjà vu, as if this ship, this presence, this entity, had followed her in her nightmares.

The problem was she could barely remember most of her dreams now, and that was just a fading feeling.

In the time that Arlyn spent in her mind, eyes glued to the mysterious ship, Peter had asked Ned to make a distraction.

"We're all gonna die, there's a spaceship!" He yelled, and everyone's heads immediately turned to the windows, running to the back of the bus for a better look.

As this was going on, Arlyn had thrown on her long, black, hooded coat, tightened her ponytail and threw her backpack onto Emily's lap.

Peter tossed over a little earpiece he designed so the two of them could communicate effectively, which had been used pretty often lately on their usual superhero patrols of New York City. He then began attatching his web shooters, Arlyn sticking in her earpiece, and before she could put her mask around her neck in time to pull it up when needed, Emily grabbed her arm.

Her best friend's big green eyes washed over her with waves of sadness, yet confidence. "Stay safe, okay?"

Arlyn didn't have the courage to tell her lies, not to her face. "Safe isn't an option, but alive is. I'll see you tonight."

Emily gulped, squeezing Arlyn's hand in reassurance before Peter pulled open a window, launching himself out.

Arlyn ran to the other side, watching him hang on to the side of the bus and pull his mask on. Giving Arlyn a quick nod, he launched himself off the bus, as Arlyn followed, pushing herself off the side once she got out and flying just behind him.

After 2 years of learning to control her flying, it was as easy as blinking now.

They were coming close to their destination when Peter suddenly took a turn.

"Where're you going, the floating donut's that way?!" Arlyn called, following behind him anyways. He had lately been having these weird "spider senses", as he liked to call them, where he could sense danger—Arlyn wasn't the only one discovering more about her abilities—so she trusted his judgement.

"I think Mr. Stark's in danger!" He replied, and just as they turned a corner there he was, battling this huge creature that looked like he popped out of World Of Warcraft. Arlyn was trailing a fair distance behind, so by the time she got there Peter had already been flung away. Sticking out her hand slightly on the way down, she graced his fall, then focused back on the creature ahead.

Before she could land, she collected all the energy around her that she used to fly, swooping it upwards and slamming into the ground, creating a wave of energy that knocked the thing off its feat, Stark loosing his footing slightly.

"Hey Tony," she yelled, standing up straight and saluting him before almost getting hit by the creature's claw arm if it wasn't for Stark shooting his lasers at him.

"Nice to see you too Knox," he deadpanned.

"Uh, what is this guy's problem Mr. Stark?" Peter yelled, swinging back towards them.

"Uh...he's from space, he came here to steal a necklace from a wizard," Stark replied, his own voice popping into her earpiece, thanks to Peter. He seemed to be distracted by configuring Stark's suit to connect to her earpiece, as he was grabbed by the claw arm, being swung around in circles, all while Arlyn threw blasts of energy at his face, which he simply shrugged off.

"Did he come from Hogwarts or something?" Arlyn asked, rolling away from his arm that swung her way.

"I'm not even gonna ask what that's from," he replied.

And just as Peter was thrown away, and Arlyn and Stark were busy trying not to get knocked down by this Hulk sized beast, Peter swung back, hauling a taxi cab and slamming it down onto the creature's body.

"Nice one!" Arlyn complimented, pulling up her loose mask.

But this thing was way stronger than a mere car, as it pushed it off, flinging it right in Stark's direction. Arlyn took it upon herself to swing the vehicle away with just a brush of her hand.

Stark nodded at her, as if letting her know how good she was doing.

After all, this was the first time he'd really seen her in action ever since she began training at the Avengers' facility.

Arlyn fell backwards as something red zoomed by her, the creature taking this to his advantage and swinging his arm towards her, Arlyn letting out a painful grunt as her body catapulted to god-knows-where. Thankfully somebody happened to swing by, grabbing her and dropping her back onto her feet.

She gave Spidey a wink as thanks, and she swore he almost swung into a tree.

"Kid one, that's the wizard, get on it," he said to Peter as he blocked the creature's hits with a shield. Somehow after 2 years they were able to understand these numerical nicknames that Stark gave them.

"On it!" Peter replied, pulling himself towards the wizard who she could see flying away in a red cape.

Arlyn shook her head, rolling back her shoulders. The creature seemed to be too focused on Ironman. "Hey ugly, why don't you go back to Middle-Earth where you belong?"

The creature huffed, turning towards her. But she had already started sprinting towards him. He wasn't really sure what she was about to do, and neither was Stark, until she jumped up, kicking her keg forward. sending a 'kick' of energy towards the creature who flew backwards and slammed his back into the ground.

"Uh...guys?" She heard Peter say through her earpiece, "I'm being beamed up here."

"Get after him kid two," Tony said, as the creature jumped back on its feat, shaking the ground and making Arlyn lose her footing as he finally got her in his claws, throwing her against a statue.

Pain radiated through her back, Arlyn letting out a strangled groan as her face buried into the grass, propping herself onto her knees in hopes to gain her strength back. Turning her head, she could see Stark trapped in his unattached claw, the creature sprinting towards him with a large sharp sword. Before she could try to push him out of the way, a large orange ring appeared in front of him, as if it was a magical portal, that the creature fell into and didn't come through from the other side.

Before she could even think about what the hell kind of magic that was, she was already back to her commands. "On my way Pete!" She said, pushing herself off the ground and soaring towards the sky where the donut spaceship rose towards space.

This thing was hard to beat, but Arlyn was prepared to do anything to make sure Peter wasn't stuck in space if that meant she was stuck with him.

The higher she rose, the harder it was to catch up, and the more tired she felt from the previous fight.

Ironman was trailing just behind her, boosting himself with his fancy-dancy new suit. She knew there was only one way she was going to make it up there.

"Tony, I need my suit."

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wow i really do love a rag tag duo of heroes that are sadly going through some shit that you wont find out about till next chapter :) also i love arlyn and emily's relationship wow they care abt each other sm

also shes been training at the avengers facility?? and has a new suit?? hmmm guess you'll have to read more to find out wtf has been going on these past 2 years.

hope ur enjoying this cause i definitely am!!