48 || battered and bruised victories

"Leave."

Queens Theater in the Park, Black Friday, 2016-

Fire rocked the building, the world nothing but an inferno of smoke and fire. Flames licked up the sides of the curtains, looking much like a burning face that was slowly turning into ash. Small amounts of smoke wafted up from the point of the explosion, revealing two women battered and bruised, one standing over the other.

Staring down upon the woman who was badly burned and cut from the debris that was in front of her, Alison wiped the edge of her mouth, a line of blood smearing across her face. "Leave." She spat out, the open coverings of her suit burned at the edges, some minor burns dotting her open shoulders. Her ears were ringing, overwhelmed by the noise of the blast. The girl didn't seem to care, too focused on the woman she had once so feared in front of her.

The sound of crackling flames could be heard in the silence after, Alison getting no response from Absinthe, who was staring the girl down just as coldly as Alison was to her. A crash echoed through the theater, debris falling down with a thundering noise.

"You've lost. So retreat. I'll spare you mercy, let you live, and you can go and tell your deranged father that you've killed me." Alison continued, removing the mask that was glued to her face with a pop. Spitting a spatter of her blood on the visor, the girl threw it down at the woman. "Here. Evidence of the kill."

Absinthe slowly grasped the mask, gathering herself up shakily. Alison offered the woman no help, crossing her arms while staring coldly down at the defeated Daughter of Thanos. Looking the young teenager in the eye, Absinthe rasped our a question. "And what if I come back and try to finish the job?"

"Let's just say that you won't even be a thought in your parents mind on Asgard." Ali threatened, taking a deep breath in as she continued. "And that's a promise I'm willing to keep."

Absinthe gave a cold laugh, surprised by the answer that Alison gave her. "Didn't think you had the heart or guts to do that, Miss Marnell." She remarked, watching the girl stand steady in her place, mere feet away from a woman who could knock her down at anytime again.

"You don't know that you're capable of a lot of things until you're forced to do them. And you've backed me into a corner. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get out of it." Ali fired back, arching an eyebrow at the challenge that Absinthe was making. "Now, do we have a deal or not?"

Pausing for a moment, the defeated Asgardian considered her choices. Looking at the burning chaos around her and the thought of inevitable defeat, the woman caved. "Fine."

"Now go run off to your space hidey-hole and pray to whatever deranged gods that you believe in that you never see my face again." Alison spoke, finishing her sentence with a bold statement. "Or you face the idea of not even existing on this universe.

"I don't think we're finished yet, Alison Marnell." Absinthe cocked her head to the side, giving the girl a coy smile. "Mark my words, you will get an even bigger surprise when my father comes to exact his mission. And then, then you'll wish that I'd of killed you today. I'll see you then, Miss Marnell."

With those words, Absinthe was gone.

Breathing out of a sigh of relief, Alison pressed a shaky hand up to her comm, turning the device back on. "Hey guys." She rasped, her voice tired and strained.

"Alison!" Skylar's voice rang the through the device, and incoherent noise coming through the comm. The ringing noise in Alison's ears increased sharply, the girl wincing from the loud noise. "Thank god you're back online. What happened?"

"It's over. It's all over, Sky. We won." Alison interrupted, her hoarse voice with exhaustion. Looking at the chaos around her, Alison's eyes widened. "Although I'm not sure the city of Queens will be too happy with the damage."

"You did it?!" Skylar exclaimed, relieved with the answer that Alison gave her. "Well, what are you going to do now? I can see that the visor optics are gone, so I can only assume it's gone. You better get out of there before your real identity gets-"

"Al- erm, Breakout!" A voice called out from the top of the now open air Queens Theater, Spider-Man slinging onto the stage with a perfect landing. "What's-what's going on? I your telecast earlier, but when the big bright blue explosion happened I just couldn't help but-"

"Pet- Spider-Man." Alison laughed, faltering at the actual superhero name that Peter donned. "I'm okay. Got a few scratches and lost my mask, but I'm fine. Absinthe's- well, let's just say that she's not going to be coming back."

"She's gone? As in, no more evil doing gone?" Peter reiterated, shocked at what Alison said. When Alison carefully nodded back, Peter's eyes through the Spider-Man mask widened, sighing audibly in relief. "And you're okay?"

"I'm fine." Alison reassured, looking up at the gaping hole that was in the roof. "Although I should probably go to Iowa before someone finds out my real identity." She started to walk away from the huge hole in the ceiling, hopping off of the stage and into the rows of chairs.

"Iowa?" Peter questioned, confused by her comment. "Why would you even want to go out to Iowa? It's just a random state." He mumbled, trying to follow the walking girl.

"Because my brother and my cousin are out there."

"Why would you-" Peter sighed in exasperation, trying to keep up with the rapidly increasing pace of the speedster. "Why would you want them out there? There's legitimately nothing out there."

"That's not true." Alison smirked, pushing the door to the theater open, natural light flooding the place. The theater had a lobby area, and it was sheltered by curtains, but not for long. "My Uncle Clint lives out there."

"Uncle Clint-"

"Strange! Can we get a portal please?" Alison yelled at the empty space around her, knowing that somehow the man was listening in. Her hands were cupped over her lips, the loud sounds echoing through the lobby.

"Strange? Portal? Alison, you've got a lot of stuff to answer f-"

Interrupting Peter's barrage of questions, a glowing golden circle of a portal appeared, the comforting appearance of a farm on the other side of the gateway. "Now, come on you loser, we've got limited time before this thing closes." Ali pushed her friend forward, launching him through the portal. She jumped in straight after, unaffected by the way it messed with her insides.

Peter, in the other hand, stumbled as he made it to the other side, barely able to maintain his balance. Disoriented, he wasn't able to realize that he was no longer in his Spider-Man suit anymore. Replacing it was a geeky t shirt that he had thought he had lost a few months before (along with a good backpack), comfortable blue jeans, and a plaid top shirt.

Alison's outfit was one that was cozy and comfortable, an oversized black sweatshirt and denim jeans making the girl feel at peace. The breeze blew softly over the farm's grasses, the small blades flowing at the slightest hint of wind. A soft but bright sun welcomed the two, the frost of winter barely settling in. Alison's look of exhaustion molded into a smile at seeing the familiar place.

"Ali!" A slam of a screen door could be heard as Charles bounded down the porch's stairs, a few hundred feet from where the portal had ended up. Tackling his sister in a huge hug, Charles didn't leave Alison any time to breathe (or wince from the impact of the hug hurting her injuries). "You did it! You're okay!"

"Yeah." Alison smiled even wider, embracing her brother with a tight squeeze. Leaning the top of her head against his, she looked up at the porch door, seeing Jackie and Clint emerge from the Barton house.

Jackie, looking rather different in casual clothes, ran over to her cousin, joining her cousins in a hug. "Oh my god, you're okay. You're actually alive, and you're-"

"Still standing, yes." Alison laughed, Jackie releasing her hug on the girl quickly. "And while talking about my great plights is great and all, I've got a friend with me and I think getting a recap of what just happened and getting too emotional would kind of put a dampener on the mood. Don't think Peter wants to see that."

"Peter?" Jackie reiterated, the name clicking in her head. "Peter Parker?" She triple-checked, making sure that she and Alison were talking about the right person. When she looked just behind Ali, Peter was there, waving politely to the woman.

"Yeah." Alison looked over at Peter, still seeing him wave at Jackie. The girl smiled softly, a blush rising to Peter's cheeks when he felt the situation get awkward and drop his hand.

"Alison?" Clint looked over at his niece, giving her a relieved glance. "Thank god you're okay. Last time you were here, the things you were saying, they were pretty- well, pretty morbid."

Releasing her brother from the hug, Alison nodded. "Yeah. Well, I wasn't sure if I was going to make it back or not, and you've got to have contingencies in place just in case. Oh! And don't worry about Christa. Your daughter's fine."

"Good." Clint nodded, the teenager reading his mind. "Because if I found out that my daughter, your cousin was hurt- that would be bad, for you and for all of us."

"Cousin?" Peter stammered, looking at Alison with a confused look before realizing what the Avenger was saying. "You're related to an Avenger?" He exclaimed, his eyes widening with shock.

"You're a little late to the party." Clint noted, his nose wrinkling up in amusement. Crossing his arms, the man looked over at Alison and shook his head. "A day late."

"Been a lot more than a day for me." Alison grumbled, shaking her head. "Anyways, Christa's fine. I kind of just beat up a supervillain, so I didn't have time to grab her before my secret identity was blown. I'll make sure she's home by Sunday."

"Okay." Clint nodded, gesturing for his kids to come out of their eavesdropping positions on the porch. "These little rascals thought that they could hide and surprise you, but they made you some stuff that I think you'd like."

Smiling, Alison saw Lila bounding towards her with the widest (and toothiest) grin on her face. "Look at it!" The little girl showed Alison a drawing of Jackie, Charles, and Alison hugging the Barton family. "It's all of us!"

Taking the drawing from the girl's hands, Alison squatted down to Lila's level, wincing as she moved her left hand, which displayed the picture. "It's beautiful, Lils."

"Lils?" Lils repeated excitedly, looking to her father beside her. "I have a nickname!" She shouted with glee, jumping up and down in excitement. "You hear that, Daddy?"

"Yeah." Clint smiled, watching his daughter bound towards him. Lifting the girl up, he let her rest by his left arm. "If you guys want to come in for some coffee, I've got a pot brewing."

"You've always got a pot brewing." Charles noted, crinkling his nose up at his Uncle. He could practically smell the bitter liquid from outside in the grass, and it seemed like he had a bad experience with the liquid. "Always."

"Coffee." Alison breathed, exhaling in relief. She needed some caffeine desperately, and at the mention of the drink, immediately nodded. Turning to look behind her, she inclined her head at the door. "Pete, you want some coffee too?"

"Coffee?" Peter stuttered, embarrassed by Alison calling him Pete. "Y-yeah, sounds good." He nodded, walking towards where Alison was. She was gesturing over to him, and he was trying to keep up with the girl's quick motioning hand.

Walking with Jackie towards the door, Charles snickered, looking behind at Alison and Peter. Clint and Lila had already walked into the house, Clint not wasting any time to get his cup of joe. Charles smiled widely, hollering at Ali while holding the screen door. "So you're on a nickname basis now, huh? It's Pete now?"

"Just go!" Alison hollered, dismissing the boy with a wave. "Do you want me to continue teasing you about this Jenna I'm hearing about from school?"

"It's Violet!" Charles hollered back, no shame or embarrassment in his voice as he spoke. "Have fun talking to your boyfriend though!" Bounding up the porch steps, Charles slammed the door shut behind him.

"He thinks we're dating, huh?" Peter's quiet voice from behind Alison spoke up, a hint of humor in his voice. "Wouldn't be the first time." He remarked quietly, a small smiling look on his face.

Alison looked to Peter in shock. Motioning to her ear, Ali had a perplexed look on her face. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?" She repeated the motion, her look one that was practically priceless.

A blush flew up on Peter's face, heat rising to his cheeks. "I didn't mean it like that! It's just- with how much we've been- you know- studying and talking and everything, May thinks we're dating. And that the study group was just an excuse for a date."

Alison, upon hearing the rambled excuses of Peter, just laughed, a small but not evident blush forming on her cheeks. "Well, you'll have to tell her that her fantasies about us dating are just fiction."

Clint, opening the door with an evident look of catching two teenagers in a moment he would surely torture them about, looked out at them. "Hey! You two chattering teens going to come in or not?"

Smacking Peter playfully, Alison started to walk towards the door, looking behind her for Peter. "Come on you loser. I want some coffee before I go home and have to finish all of those projects I didn't get done today with you."

Groaning lightly, Peter jogged up to Alison, sighing at the thought of the homework and projects he would have to do once he got home. "Don't remind me. That math project is going to kick us in the butt."

"Didn't take us too long last time." Alison recalled, murmuring the words she was saying softly. Looking to Peter, Alison spoke louder, so that the boy could hear. "I'm sure that it wouldn't take us too long."

Peter nodded, not hearing the words spoken from Alison's mouth at first, only hearing the last words that she said. "As soon as we get our caffeine fix, we'll start working, okay?"

"At my house though." Alison interrupted, scaling the wooden steps by two. "I'm pretty sure May would get suspicious, especially after what just happened and the injuries I recieved. She's already figured out you're Spider-Man, I don't want her to know about me."

"Fair point." Peter jumped up onto the porch, skipping all the steps and hopping up smoothly. It was a perfect landing, and he smiled at the fact that he didn't trip over himself.

Rolling her eyes, Alison opened the door, grumbling under her breath. "Showoff." She shook her head, letting a small smile and a chuckle stay at the edge of her lips.

Peter simply smiled back, following Alison into the house. The two teenagers were overwhelmed by the strong scent of coffee and a homey warmth sweeping over the room. The sights were ones that were simplistic, a basic farm decor gracing the walls, along with pictures of family and hand drawn pictures to match.

"Welcome to the Barton household." Alison smiled, seeing the picture of her mother and Clint the main piece on the mantel next to the family picture. Clint walked up to the two with steaming cups of coffee in basic creme cups, a smug look on his face. Sighing, Alison looked at her Uncle with an irritated glance. "Whaddya want, Clint?"

"You know, I'd think that my niece would have a little more respect for her Uncle." Clint responded, handing his niece a mug of coffee, doing the same to Peter. "I came over here to check your injuries, cause I know that those cuts on your face aren't the only ones."

Alison groaned, sipping a bit of her hot caffeinated goodness. "Clint, I'm fine. It's nothing major. Just need to slap a few bandaids and- Ow!" Looking at her uncle, Alison saw him in the S.H.I.E.L.D. stance, his arm coming back from a punch to the shoulder. The girl hissed as he touched her shoulder again, the man shaking his head as Ali proved his point.

"Yeah, no, you're getting fixed up." Clint disagreed, motioning for Alison to remove the sweatshirt she was wearing. "Laura'll get the kit. It's right under the bathroom sink." He hollered, his wife already on the move.

Alison looked at Peter, her eyes flitting back to her Uncle. "I really don't think that it's a good idea right now. I can just treat myself at home, plus, Peter and I need to get back to the apartment and get working on a project."

"You need to stay safe." Clint disagreed, tugging at the sleeve of the hoodie. "And not injured. You know, people are going to realize something's up when you have the same exact injuries as Breakout did, and then they'll start to suspect you." He argued, his wife handing him the medical kit.

Peter, who locked eyes with Alison, merely shrugged. "Listen, I'd love to try and back you, Ali, but I can't argue with an Avenger. Especially when that Avenger makes valid points. And is your Uncle." He added, his eyes quickly darting over to look at Clint, who was staring the boy down.

Alison sighed, caving as she pulled the black sweatshirt over her head, showing the burns on the exposed shoulder parts of her suit. The skin was puckered red, white spots showing signs of first and second degree burns on her skin. A slash of a knife was visible on her left shoulder, dried blood spotting the wound.

"Jesus." Clint muttered, popping open the med kit. "You're even worse than your mom, and she took some damage in her days." Unraveling the bandage roll, Clint spread out the rest of the kit's supplies.

Peter, upon seeing Alison only donned in her sports bra that she wore underneath her suit, looked away. Noting his embarrassment, Charles walked up to Peter, tugging the boy's sleeve. "C'mon Peter, you can come talk to Jackie and me over at the coffee table."

Peter gratefully accepted the request, grabbing his mug of coffee, walking over to the table where Jackie patiently sat. Gratefully ruffling Charles' hair, Peter sat down next to Charles, engaging in some casual conversation about his "Stark Industries internship" and school.

Alison looked at her Uncle, who was inspecting the depth of her cut and how bad the burns were. Clint sighed, grabbing some of the burn ointment that he had stored in the kit and started to apply the ointment to the wound. After finishing the application, Clint started to wrap a bandage around her right shoulder, the shoulder already burn-treated. "You know, I can take care of myself." Alison muttered, embarrassed. "Mom taught me basic first aid."

"For injuries at your Boston colonial house like accidentally cutting yourself or burning yourself on a mac and cheese bowl, yes I remember you doing that, sure, but not training for this." Clint protested, finishing the bandage neatly. "Besides, you need to learn to start relying on people other than Christa and Stark's kid. Me helping you get fixed up is a good first step."

Ali scoffed at the last words that Clint told her, wincing as the man inspected her left shoulder, which was much worse than her right. "Yeah, well, I'm not exactly the best at relying on people for comfort. Probably because of my-"

"Stubbornness? Yeah, your mom had that too. Didn't want any help unless she actually asked for it." The Avenger sighed, starting to apply the ointment to her left side. "I wish she would've let people help her a little more instead of always helping others."

Alison let out a gasp of pain as Clint lightly rubbed the ointment in, the sting sharp and painful. "Why are you telling me this?" She asked, looking up at the man with a confused look. "I mean, I get it and everything, but-"

"Because." Clint started to wrap bandages around her shoulder, focusing on getting the bandages just right. "I don't want that to happen to you. Your friends and family aren't risks, they're the people that will support you. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Especially from me." He added, tying up the last end of the bandage. "Because I love you, okay kid?" He stepped away from his work, kissing the top of his niece's forehead tenderly.

"You know, you can't just tell me that for the first time in eight years just because I was in danger of losing my-"

"I'm not. I want to tell you that so you can stop pushing people away." Clint told his niece, his look of concern genuine on his face. "And I wanted to show you that you've got people who love you, even if they don't show it at first." Clint pointed at Peter, who was animatedly talking about something. "I mean, look at the kid. He's Spider-Man, and he could be out in the streets of New York fighting crime, but he's here, with you. He's talking to your family, actually engaging with them. If that doesn't tell you that there's commitment in a relationship, I don't know what will."

Alison sighed, standing up from where Clint had sat her down. Grabbing her hoodie and shrugging it cautiously back on, the girl quickly squeezed her Uncle into a tight hug. "I love you too, even if you just barely started to come back into my life."

Clint laughed, accepting the girl's embrace. "Now go talk to lover boy. From what you told me you did before you went back in time, you two have a lot to figure out."

Punching her Uncle's shoulder, Alison broke away from the hug, smiling at his antics. "He doesn't even know that I did that!" She exclaimed, hissing the last words quietly. "Time travel, remember?"

"Right." Clint dragged out the syllables of his sentence, unconvinced. "Go talk to them. And open up to them." He shoved Alison towards her family, and back into her life.

Shaking her head, Ali walked over to the table, seeing Peter sit across from Jackie and next to Charles. "Mind if I crash this party?" She asked, not even waiting for a response before squatting down next to the group.

"Go ahead." Peter answered in a heartbeat, looking as Alison squatted down next to him. Offering her his seat with a quick gesture, he quickly got a response, the girl shaking her head. "We were just talking about the project we have in math, and the Academic Decathlon teacher. "

"Oh, Mister Harrison?" Alison asked, getting a nod of confirmation from Peter. "Yeah, he's a little too out there for my liking." She stated, shaking her head at the though of the teacher.

"Exactly!" Peter exclaimed, pointing at Alison. "Charles was saying he wants to go into Decathlon, so I was trying to warn him and-"

"Charles Samuel Marnell, if you join Peter in Decathlon I don't know what I'm going to-"

"Samuel?" Cooper questioned, eavesdropping in on the conversation the Marnells were having. The Marnell's cousin, the exact same age as Charles, had a shocked look on his face. "Really? That's your middle name?" Looking to Alison, the boy offered an explanation. "Charles refuses to tell us what his middle name was."

"Now you know." Alison laughed, seeing Charles turn beet red at his full name. Looking around at the busy Barton household, Ali rose up from her squatted position. Glancing at the scene around her, she gave a small sigh. "Well, this has been great and all, but I really think that we should get going."

Jackie nodded, rising from her seat. "From what Peter's told me, you have quite a load of homework to get done. Maybe you guys could have Ned over too, as I know Skylar's already over at our house."

Peter and Charles stood from their seats, pushing them in politely. "We've got to go through one of those portal things to the sanctum again, right Alison?" Charles asked, excited at the idea of using the method of transportation again.

"Yeah." Alison nodded, waving goodbye to the Barton's scattered around the house. "And you and Jackie can take a taxi cab home." She opened the door, letting Jackie and Charles go through first.

"What are you going to do? Well, you and Peter?' Charles asked, looking at his sister with a slightly confused look. "If you guys aren't going in the taxi cab with us then-"

"Us?" Alison interrupted, a mischievous look on her face forming as she let Peter walk through the door. "We're going to have a little bit of work to do before going home to do our homework. But all in a day's fun, right?" The girl winked, looking back at the Barton house before shutting the door.

"Let's let the Black Friday chaos begin."

<~*~>

two chapters left!

and 9 days left until my deadline

okay I hope y'all enjoyed, there's not much to say anymore, cause it's all cute filler and falling action.

but this was a pretty long ass chapter for filler, like 4350 words or something

I'll see you in the next one!

bye

-ash