46 || the restart

"Time travel. Didn't expect that to happen today."

Queens, New York, Black Friday 2016-

"Go back in time?" Peter stammered, looking at the girl in shock. "Alison, are you nuts? There's no way that you can-" He stopped for a minute, trying to comprehend everything that was going on. Charles was dead on the floor, blood pooled on the gymnasium where he lay, and Alison was a mess, somehow believing that she could do the impossible. "It's impossible! The science doesn't back it up!"

"Well, science can go f-"

Alison started, being cut off by Peter clamping his hand over her mouth, startling the girl. "It's impossible!" Peter protested, his ripped off Spider-Man mask leaving him with a terrible case of bedhead. "You'd have to go at least-"

"Mach Two or higher. Yeah, I've done the math. And seen the episodes of Flash to account for it." Ali dismissed, sighing as she spoke. "It's not that big of a deal, really."

"Not that- not that big of a deal!" Peter exclaimed, looking at Alison with a look of irritation and shock. "It's gonna take a lot more than mathematical calculations and a determined spirit to travel back in time. I mean, you're still a kid! The Flash is a fictional comic book and TV show character that was struck by a particle accelerator!"

"Well, a super serum and some time stone energy's got to do." Alison muttered, cracking her neck and jumping up and down, trying to hype herself up to get herself ready to try the impossible. "If Absinthe said that I could-"

"This is all because of Absinthe? Alison, if that's what this is, she could be lying! You know that she's only here to kill you and that she'll do anything to get rid of you! Going that fast could probably make you run out of existence if she's lying!" Peter protested, looking behind him in exasperation, unsure of what else to do.

"Peter." Alison gave a pointed look to the boy, her face softening when she saw his worried expression. "My brother's-" She stopped, struggling to say the words that she had never wanted to say. "My brother's dead. If there's any chance at bringing him back- no matter how small- I'm willing to risk my own life to do it. Because I don't know what my life is without him in it."

Peter looked at Alison, seeing the pained and soft look in her eyes, walking up to the girl, locking her in a tight hug, breathing out a sigh, one that was letting Alison know that he was letting her do this- although very grudgingly at that. "Please try to stay as safe as you can." He grumbled, not releasing her from the hug. "I don't want you getting lost in the actual version of the Speedforce."

Alison held onto his hug, exhaling a heavy breath herself. "No promises there." She joked, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Just make sure if I don't make it back- or if I fail- that Jackie gets taken care of. Make sure the rest of my family- Christa and the Bartons included- are taken care of too."

"That's a promise I can keep, Miss Breakout." Peter joked, releasing the hug before it got too awkward. He looked at her one last time, giving a soft smile filled with worry. "Be as safe as you can be, okay?"

Alison nodded, trying to keep a smile on her face, her eyes almost dry again. Watching Peter turn around, almost ready to put his mask on again, Alison tapped his shoulder. "Peter?" She asked, watching the boy turn around one last time.

"Yeah?"

Reaching up on her toes, Alison gave Peter a peck on the lips, pulling away quickly. "You better stay safe yourself. If I don't actually make it through this, you're the last defense between the people and the world of criminals that slither underneath the shadows."

"See you soon, Spider-Man." With those final words, Alison raced out of the gymnasium, saluting Peter the way that he had saluted Captain America all but a few months ago. Racing away from the gym, a whoosh of wind followed behind her, leaving a confusedly smitten Peter Parker in her wake.

Alison knew that what she was doing would probably end up with her dead. Somehow, that thought made her run faster, her legs leading her through the streets. The adrenaline rush and the pounding in her feet kept her going, letting her run street after street after street.

Her heart facing, Alison willed herself to go faster, running and running until-

She was somewhere else.

It was a place that Alison hadn't ever seen before, and was unlike anything she had ever seen- or experienced. It was like standing in an always ongoing fog of blue and green clouds, the colors and sights reminding the girl of how travelling through light speed would feel. As she raced through the never ending tunnel, memories glimpsed by her, Alison's good and bad recollections echoing through the tunnel.

Suddenly, everything came to a stop. All of Alison's memories came to surround her, almost as if they were telling her to select a memory to go back to. Looking around her- at all of the memories suddenly surrounding her, Ali felt overwhelmed, engulfed by the memories that were pressing in around her.

"Unsure that you're going to make the right decision?" A voice questioned, cracking a little as it spoke. When Alison turned around to see who it was, Charles appeared out of the blue-green fog, almost as if he had come down from wherever place he had gone after he had... died. "Because you know what will happen if you don't-"

"One wrong move affects the whole timeline." Both said at the same time, Ali smiling down at her little brother who stood not even five feet away from her. "Just like in the Flash." The girl whispered, a small tear running down her cheek in relief, happy to see her brother again.

"I've been thinking about that, actually." Alison admitted, fiddling with the handpieces of her suit as she spoke. "I didn't- and don't- want you to die, and I don't really care if it messes up the timeline anymore. We need to take Absinthe down, once and for all." The girl finished, trying to keep her voice from wavering.

"Ali-Cat-" Charles tapped her shoulder, jumping up rather high to reach his sister's height to do so. "Please be safe. You can't undo this. You know, it's just like Fake-Wells told Barry in that Flash episode. You can't tell anyone. You could majorly mess something up if someone else knew, and they could go on to mess up the timeline even more."

"Okay." Alison squeezed Charles' shoulder, giving him a comforting glance, her lips pressed into a heavy smile. "I promise you that, Charlie."

As Alison let go of Charles' shoulder, gently turning around to walk towards the memory of the day before, driving home with Christa from New York City into the Queens borough. Placing her hand on the images that had happened throughout that certain memory. "Alison?"

"Yeah, Charlie?" Alison answered, turning around one final time to see Charles there, her younger brother's face one that was uncommon to see- a frown. Tucking a wisp of hair out of her way, Ali's face molded into one of worry.

"You know I'm not actually real, right?" He double checked, his face now one of sadness and sorrow. "Because right now, I'm still on the floor of Midtown High's gymnasium, being watched over by a really confused Peter Parker that hopes that you can pull off whatever stunt you're attempting."

"Yeah, yeah." Alison nodded, a portal-like shape opening up at the end of the long-tunnel like dimension, almost telling Ali that her time in the dimension and with her brother was up. "But you won't be for long, Charlie. I promise."

The girl looked back at Charles before walking towards the end of the tunnel. Charles, the soul-like version of him, at least, waved goodbye as he watched Ali fade into the distance. Turning around one final time at the dimension, Alison saw her brother waving goodbye. Stepping one foot into the portal, the speedster heard the finals words of her brother as she left.

"Run, Ali, Run!"

Using her powers to run as fast as she could, Alison appeared in the middle of a Queens neighborhood, stumbling as she exited the portal-like world. It was late at night on Thanksgiving again, the girl assuming that her Barton cousin and her past self that she now replaced (yay Flash logic coming to use in the real world!) were on their way to the apartment.

Ali could only imagine how much Christa was losing her shit at the moment. As she arrived at a corner store for a snack, the place by on all too familiar bank, Alison walked in, her mask still on to mask her identity. "Hello?" She called out, inspecting the newly remodeled and rebuilt store.

"Hi." A man walked out, his eyes widening at the superhero in his store. "It's Thanksgiving night, what are you doing in a convenience store?" The Delmar man asked, leaning over the cashier counter.

"I could ask the same to you, Mister Delmar." Alison softly smiled, looking around the store. "I'm just here to get some fuel for my crime fighting night out. I'm rather famished." Ali continued, masking her voice through a method that the Flash used, vibrating her vocal cords back and forth to hide her real identity.

"Well, you've come to the right place." The man smiled, looking around at his empty store stocked to the brim with food and other supplies that would be sold at a convenience store. "Pick anything you want from the store, on the house."

"Sir- I really can't-"

"Please. After you and Spider-Man saved my life when that alien weapon went off next door, it made me start over. Kind of a good restart, too." Delmar explained, watching the superhero wander the store. "So please, pick something to eat as a gesture of my gratitude."

Alison sighed as her eyes fell upon the item she wanted, swiping a pack of sour gummy worms and tossing them gently on the table. The man let out a hearty laugh, shaking his head. "I thought you would've gone for the Hostess Donuts." He smiled, 'ringing' up the girl.

"Really?"

"Yeah. You seem like a Hostess Donuts type of person." Delmar observed, looking at the girl with a smile. "Anyways, enjoy your sour gummy worms and go kick some ass for the rest of the Queens borough, kay?"

ALison nodded, thanking the man once again for his kindness. "I'll pay you back, somehow." She hollered, opening the door . Gripping the package of gummy worms tightly in her hand, Alison raced back to the apartment complex, leaning up against one of the concrete walls that were on the sides of the stairs, sitting up on the banister.

About halfway through her package of gummy worms, the taxi that was supposed to take both Christa and Alison to the apartment complex pulled up to the curb, a worried Christa hopping out of the car. Christa's phone was pressed to her ear, probably on the phone with Clint.

"I'm telling you! This is not another one of my advanced senses mishaps." Christa exclaimed, thanking the taxi driver as she shut the door. "She just disappear-"

Her voice cut out as she saw Alison, fully dressed in her Breakout suit, up on a stair banister eating sour gummy worms with her back up against the building. "Shit just went sideways. I'll call you back, kay Dad?"

Christa looked up at her cousin, shaking her head. "You mind telling me what the hell just happened in the taxi? You were there, sleeping and then you just disappeared and-"

"Time travel." Alison interrupted, her face full of sour gummy worms. Her cheeks looked like a chipmunks would, a kind of neutral expression on her face as she continued to chew away at the sour yet sweet snack.

It took a minute for Christa to process everything the girl had just said, assessing the girl's expression to see if she was lying. "Time travel? As in, Flash Speed-Force time travel or Marty McFly time travel?"

"Can it be a little bit of both?" Alison questioned, watching Christa's face mold into one of shock. Shaking the bag that held some of her snacks, Alison pointed the bag over at her cousin. "Want a gummy worm?"

Christa sighed, accepting the snack from her cousin. "You have a lot of explaining to do." She muttered, popping one of the sour candies in her mouth. "Like another porch swing session of explaining to do."

"Not really. Absinthe kidnapped my brother, things went horribly wrong, and now we're here." Alison summarized, hopping down onto the stairs next to Christa. "Time travel." She shrugged, taking steady strides up the steps and towards the door.

"Alison!" Christa whispered sharply, looking at the girl's superhero attire. "You're still dressed up as-" She gestured at the costume, looking rather worried. "You know, Breakout."

"We can just say that you're and drunken person and I'm doing you a service by taking you home." Alison suggested, taking Christa's arm and slinging it over her shoulder. "It's a foolproof plan."

"I hate your plans." Christa grumbled, sighing as she let the girl get under her arms, dragging her feet limply to give the impression that she was drunk. "You're lucky that I'm a good cousin. And friend."

"Yes. You are." Alison grumbled, adjusting the girl's position on her shoulder. "Now shut up and act like a drunken person. I'm sure that Clint gave you more than enough stories on how I did that."

Seconds later, Barry, the trusty doorman, was opening the door, looking at the girls with a confused look. "Breakout, ma'am." He tipped his hat to the superhero, looking slightly confused as to why she was there.

"She's just drunk, Barry." Breakout reassured, carrying Christa through the lobby. The weight wasn't too much for the girl to handle, but Christa was rather heavy. "Doing everyone a public service by making this girl not puke in the streets."

"How'd you know my name was Barry?" The doorman questioned, his face molding into one of perplexment.

"Name tag!" Breakout hollered, the elevator arriving quickly to her call. The doors to the machine shuddered open, the girl dragging Christa into the elevator. The elevator doors dinged shut, Barry looking down at his doorman attire with an inspecting look. There was no nametag on his outfit.

So how had the girl known?

"You owe me big time." Christa sighed, latching herself onto the wall of the elevator. She let out a breath of annoyance, taking in the sights of the supersuit that Alison was wearing. "Outfit's not bad."

Alison laughed, playfully pushing Christa back with a smile. "Oh shush. I owe you, but it's not that big of an IOU. I owe you about as much as you owe me." Alison pressed the button to her apartment floor, the hum of the elevator coming up soft but steady.

"Whatever you say, Breakout." Christa teased, turning her back so that she could lean up against the elevator wall. "Got any plans on how to stop Absinthe? Or even to get her out in the meantime?"

"None." Alison admitted, scratching her head, pulling her mask up to rest on the crown of her head. "I'm sure that a cup of coffee and a hot shower will help me come up with something." She sighed, leaning up against the opposite wall of Christa. "If coffee doesn't help me in this fight, god knows what will."

The elevator dinged, signaling that the girls had arrived on the eleventh floor. The doors slid open, Alison walking out first, Christa trailing behind her. "Lead the way." Christa gestured, looking at the hallway that opened up from the elevator. "I don't know the way to your apartment."

"Yeah, you d-" Alison stopped herself, realizing that this was different now- she had pressed the restart button and now she was reliving everything. "Never mind. Different memory, different time." She dismissed.

Walking down the hallway to the apartment, Alison turned to Christa, walking backwards as she spoke to her cousin. "Now, when we go into my humble abode, I don't want you discussing anything about my time travel escapades. The less people know- including my family members- the better."

Christa nodded, the girl trailing behind Alison quite aways. "You might want to turn around, because you're about to run into the end of the-"

"Ow." Alison winced, rubbing the back of her head as a dull pain throbbed through it. "Stupid wall." She muttered, turning back around as they made their way through the hallway where Alison's apartment was.

Walking up to the door labeled 1115, Alison knocked out the designated combination for the door that she had knocked hours before, getting a major sense of deja vu as she did so. Everything was replaying like it had the day before, and it was almost chilling to Alison.

There was a scramble for the door, Charles opening it widely to see Alison standing there. "Ali-Cat!" he hollered, giving the girl a huge hug. Ali wasn't surprised by the hug, instead accepting the hug and squeezing her younger brother as tightly as she could. Her younger brother was alive, here, warm and breathing.

That was all Alison could ask for.

Releasing Charles from the hug, Alison walked into the apartment, Christa trailing in after her. "Charlie, meet Christa Amory-Barton, she's our cousin." Alison introduced her brother to her cousin, gesturing over at the girl.

"Cousin?" Charles gasped, looking up at his sister with shock and awe. "Are you saying that we're related to an Avenger?" He rushed out, a million thoughts racing through his mind as he continued to look at his cousin.

"I promise, I will answer all of your questions soon, Charles." Alison comforted, looking around at the apartment with a sense of comfort. She knew that she was safe for the time being- but not for much longer. Ali had to act fast- otherwise the same mistakes would happen again- and there was no going back after that. "But right now, I really need a hot shower and 10 minutes to myself, and then I can get to answering all of your questions.'

Twelve minutes and a coffee later, Alison's wet mop of hair was tied up in a messy bun, her wet tendril of loose hair dripping with water. She was dressed in an oversized Stark Industries sweater courtesy of her cousin, and a pair of pajama bottoms that were Midtown High colors.

"So, Clint's our Uncle." Charles triple-checked, watching his sister and cousin across from him interact, a few looks telling eachother everything that they needed to know, almost as if they were having their own conversation with their expressions.

"Yeah." Alison answered her brother, taking a sip of her coffee, yawning as she looked at her brother, who was seated on an armchair adjacent to the sofa Christa and Alison were seated on. "He's mom's brother. Not one of Dad's crazy siblings."

"I have so much to ask you." Charles whispered in awe, shaking his head in disbelief. "What did you do the past week? Where have you-"

"You will get those answers, I promise.We can spend all of tomorrow and longer than then to explain everything. It's been one hell of a week." Alison tried to reassure her brother, reluctantly realizing that as much as she would like to talk to her brother all evening, she had work to do. "Why do you get to bed? It's almost midnight."

"Yeah, well, sleep is overrated." Charles scoffed, earning a rapid noogie to the head from his sister, who had rose from her seat on the sofa with an amused look on her face.

"Okay, but if you crash out on the armchair, it's not my fault." Alison threw up her hands, motioning for Christa to follow her. "The teenagers are going to have a discussion real quick, try not to fall asleep in the meantime."

Charles smiled, eyeing the almost empty pot of coffee still on the burner. "And no drinking the coffee, either." Alison gestured to the pot, actually walking over and taking the rest of the liquid herself. "Growing boys like you need your beauty sleep."

"Do not you hypocrite!"

"So grumpy." Alison's face molded into a fake frown, her eyes glinting with amusement. "And this is why you need to sleep. Now, before I superspeed your little eighth grade butt over there." Ali threatened, giving Charles a pointed look.

"Fine." Charles grumbled, sulking his way towards his bedroom, a grumpy look coming onto his face. "But do you pinky promise me that you'll-"

"Promise." Alison interrupted, looking over at Charles with a hasty and relieved glance. Sipping on her coffee, Ali gestured for Charles to get on with his grumpy shuffle. "Go, go! And don't make a ton of noise on your way out. I don't want Jackie to know I'm home yet, otherwise I'll be grounded for the next century."

"Christa, my room." Alison repeated, grabbing Christa's hand, leading her down the hallway and into the room in seconds, superspeeding her cousin away from the looming threat of a sleeping Jackie and too much time wasted answering useless questions.

Disoriented by the sudden use of Alison's powers, Christa almost wanted to barf in the trash can. "Little warning next time?" The girl gasped, sitting down on Ali's bed to catch some air, her stomach twisting in knots.

"Didn't want the other cousin to know we were home yet. We're going to be planning some really bad stuff that might involve breaking more than just curfew." Alison locked her door, plopping onto her bed beside Christa, letting out a sigh relief as she did. "Home sweet home."

"Breaking laws?" Christa yelled, almost screeching as her tone raised higher and higher with every syllable that she uttered. "Ali, you barely got pardoned from the Sokovia Accords seven months ago and now you want to pull another stunt?"

"Well-" Alison searched for a better way to explain the idea that she had come up with while sipping her coffee and taking a long and much needed shower. Looking over at her Breakout suit, which had been cleaned with a Tide stick from the blood on the hand areas, Alison gave a small smile.

"So you are going to break the law!" Christa concluded, her voice one of exasperation. "Look, I'm all down for taking down a supervillain and saving your little speedster ass, but breaking the law-"

"It's not breaking the law. It's just sending a message out by broadcasting the signal over federal and national servers to the whole New York City area and the Queens borough." Alison scoffed, grabbing her laptop from her nightstand and placing it on the bed for Christa to use.

"So what do you say Miss Amory-Barton, you ready to send a supervillain a MessagePad ?"

Everything was so rushed. Alison's plan, the concept, everything that the young girl had come up with on the fly was rushed and hasty. She felt like there was no time to waste, most certainly with Absinthe on the horizon and ready to strike at probably any moment.

"You ready?"

"No."

"Why?" Christa's face furrowed up into confusion, adjusting the camera that was set in front of the backdrop of Alison's plain grey wall in the room. "You came up with this idea."

"Doesn't mean that it's one I want to do." Alison argued, sliding her gloves on her fingers, flexing the fingerless things carefully. "Who knows if that Asgardian will even see it?"

"Believe me, she will." Christa muttered, turning back to Alison's bed where her computer lay. The electronic device was flashing at her, showing the feed of the camera. "We're not breaking the law and possibly the news to not get Absinthe's attention."

Tying her hair back into a sloppy high ponytail, Alison's face scrunched up, thinking about what her cousin said. "You know, if you don't want to break the law, just say so." She finished off her ponytail with a quick tug, motioning for Christa to toss her mask over to her.

"How will people not recognize your voice? I mean, encrypted voice files aren't too hard to crack." Christa pointed out, throwing the girl her mask.

"I have my ways." Alison smirked, using a move that was textbook Flash as she spoke. "Including some moves from the Flash himself."

"I'm telling you, your name should have been Miss Flash. You're like the teenage rip-off of the guy." Christa chuckled, giving the camera one final glance before leaving it alone.

"Am not!" Alison scoffed, catching the visor-like mask. Pulling the mask over her head, Alison pushed it over the crown of her head, wearing it like a headband. "Besides, I didn't really choose the name. Tony Stark did, and it kind of stuck."

"It's not just the name." Christa added, laughing as she poked fun at her cousin. "Everything you do is textbook Flash. Voice manipulation, time travel..."

"Okay, Okay. Maybe I did use the voice manipulation and running on water tricks. But time travel's a different story. And you know that." Ali pointed out, jutting a finger straight at Christa. "So don't call me out on that one, cuz."

"Touché." Christa laughed, looking at Alison with a serious look. "You ready to do this?" She asked, looking back down at the camera. Getting off the bed, Christa wandered to the camera, placing her finger on the shutter.

"Ready when you are." The girl responded, modifying her voice as she pulled her mask over her face. "Let's get this camera rolling."

"Recording in 3...2....1..." Christa called out, her fingers gesturing how many seconds they had left. Her eyes trained on the camera, Christa saw Alison's face light up as she spoke.

"Hi. This is your friendly neighborhood Breakout here, with an important announcement to make. Ladies and gentlemen, grab a seat and relax, because this is Breakout Breaking News Broadcast."

When the camera's little red light stopped blinking, Alison pulled her mask off her face, breathing out a sigh of relief. "That was good, right?"

"Best we're gonna get." Christa resounded, backing up the video into Alison's computer hard drive. Christa continued to work, doing some tech related stuff Alison couldn't even understand.

Looking at the time, Alison saw that it was past 1AM in the morning, yawning as she checked. She and Christa were too hyper focused to even realize how much time had passed. "How long do you think it's gonna take?"

"Nine hours? Ten at most." Christa estimates, tapping away at the device. "It's a long ass upload, and I've got to bypass-"

"Yeah, save me the tech bull crap." Alison yawned again, plopping down on her bed. "If there's a chance that we can even pull this off, then let's do whatever it takes."

"Yup." Christa agreed, looking up from the computer with a tired yet worried look. "But how are you going to pull all of this off? Now that you're publicly calling Absinthe our, she won't hesitate to go after Charles."

"Yeah, kidnapping and killing him seem like Absinthe's agenda before she officially offs me." Alison bluntly stated, unfazed by what the girl had said. "Let's just say I've got a plan in place. You keep working away, and I'll get my plan settled."

"Whatever you say, Breakout." Christa teased, turning back to her work. A small frown settled on the girl's face, her look of determination evident as she typed out lines of code. "Just be back here by 4AM." Jutting her finger to the click that read 1:45, Christa not even looking to as she spoke.

Not even giving an answer, Alison rushed out of the apartment in a flash, leaving Christa with a body of wind. Laughing, Christa tosses a piece of hair out of her face, getting back to her important task at hand.

Racing through the streets of Queens, Alison streaked across the Hudson River, taking a shortcut across the Brooklyn Bridge (she didn't want to race across the water late at night). Making it to her destination quickly, Alison barely had to scale the steps of the brownstone before she saw the door open, ready for her.

Inside of the doorway was the face of a man that she had seen far too much in the last 48 hours, a look of irritation evident on his face. Shaking his head, the man let her in.

"You went back in time." Strange scoffed as soon as she walked through the doors, shutting them quickly behind her. Turning to face the girl, he was not pleased.

"Wait, how'd you-"

"You forget I wear the Eye of Agamotto around my neck. Anything involving the Time Stone or the powers of time that occur in this universe I know about." Strange interrupted, sighing as he looked at the girl fully donned in her suit.

"Thing's a little flashy."

"Well, when Stark designs a suit for you, flashy is practically built into the name." Alison retorted, crossing her arms as she stood in the entrance hallway. "Anyways, I came to ask for a favor. It's about Absinthe."

"And, I'm assuming, your guardian and Charles." Doctor Strange guessed, tilting his head slightly towards one side as he continued to speak. "You're lucky, as I'm the only other one who knows how to deal with Absinthe."

"Cocky much?" Alison fired back, arching an eyebrow as she spoke. Her mask was at the crown of her head again, like it had been less than an hour before.

"If you've come for another favor, you're most certainly not going to get it this way." Strange responded, his tone monotonous as he spoke.

"Fine." Alison grumbled, begrudgingly caving in. "What do you want in exchange for my family to be safe?" She asked, ready to do anything for her family.

"Simple. Promise never to mess with the powers of time again, and we've got a deal." Strange said, holding out his hand for Alison to shake.

"Deal." Alison shook his hand in an instant, not even thinking about the requirements of the deal. "That promise is easily made."

"Great. Where do you want your family to go then, Miss Marnell?"

Arriving back at the apartment forty five minutes later and a few tearful goodbyes, Alison sighed as she shut the door loudly, wiggling out of her suit. Ali casually walked towards her room in a sports bra and spandex that she wore under the suit.

"Hey! Watch it! Your brother and Jackie are sleeping!" Christa hollered from Alison's room, the girl sighing with frustration as she hit another firewall.

"They're not!" Alison hollered back, walking to slip on a sweater she had kept on the coat rack in the living room. "They're not even here!"

"Wait." Christa peeked her head out of the bedroom, looking concerned as Alison continued to make her way to her bedroom. "Then where even are they?"

"Safe." Alison wiggled on the sweater, gathering her suit up from the ground. "In a farm in the middle of a Midwestern state called Iowa."

"You sent them to my house?" Christa exclaimed, hearing another loud beep as the code she had inputted failed. Running back into the room, Christa let a frustrated sigh as she clicked away.

"It was the safest place I could think of. Absinthe couldn't exactly get them if they were in a safe place in the middle of nowhere in seconds. Plus, the place is off government records, and that's good enough for me." Alison walked into the room, looking at Christa's concerned face. "What's the matter?"

Right in front of the two girls was a huge firewall block from Stark Industries, Christa looking up at Alison. "I don't know, you tell me."

"Shit." Alison whispered under her breath, pulling out her phone. Shooting off a text to Skylar, the girl got an almost immediate response. Her phone rang twice, Alison answering it quickly.

"Thank god you texted me-"

"Dipshit. Yeah, yeah spare me the details. And yes, I know the study session's date changes and everything. I got it under control." Alison interrupted, knowing every word that was going to come out of Skylar's mouth.

"How did you even-"

"It's a long story. You mind helping me out with the problem I texted you about?" Alison asked, interrupting her friend as quickly as she had done before.

"Why would you want to hack into the federal broadcasting network and C-SPAN for the New York area?" Skylar asked back, confused to what the girl was getting at.

"Just trying to get a message out." Alison lies, telling her friend the partial truth. "The person told me to communicate with them through the network by displaying a message."

"Okay, so this firewall is pretty simple. You just need my dad's password." Skylar stated, her tone becoming more and more cocky as she spoke. "Lucky for you, I have it."

"Well, what is it?" Alison asked, glancing over at Christa with an encouraging and positive look.

"jarvisisstillmycopilot. No caps, no spaces."

"That's a strange password." Alison chuckled lightly, repeating the password again. "jarvisisstillmycopilot?"

"Don't question it. He's nostalgic for his old A.I." Skylar dismissed the question, shrugging lightly through her phone. "Now if that's all, I'd like to get back to sleep. But, Alison- stay safe?"

Hanging up from the call, Alison didn't give her friend an answer. "No promises, Stark." She muttered after the call had ended, throwing her phone on the bed. "You get that?"

"Yup." Christa typed out the password, gaining access past the encrypted firewall. "Now give me the next three hours to upload this video and crack these last few walls, and we'll have you on live TV."

"You do that." Alison yawned, slowly shutting her eyes as she heard Christa type away at the firewall. "I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up in three hours."

"Will do, Breakout. See you in three hours." Christa other Ali's head, the superhero crashing asleep before Christa finished her sentence.

The sun shone brightly into the Marnell apartment, piercing the top of Alison's eyelids. Groaning, the girl snatched her pillow, throwing it over her eyes.

"Alison, get your ass up. We're late." Christa shook the girl, throwing the pillow off of her face. "I let you sleep another two hours, it's 8AM."

"Felt a lot less than five hours." Alison groaned, rubbing her eyes with another yawn. Sitting up with an awful case of bedhead, the girl looked over at Christa.

"Well, while you've been napping, I've finished up our little mission." Christa displayed the laptop, the final piece of code finished, the video uploaded. "All you need to do is press the magic button."

"Let's call it. 8:37 AM. This begins the final adventures of Absinthe and Breakout." Alison said, leaning forward and pressing the button that would show the video everywhere across New York City and the boroughs around it.

"Hi, this is your friendly neighborhood Breakout here with an important announcement to make. Ladies and gentlemen, grab a seat and relax, because this is Breakout Breaking News Broadcast."

The video was appearing all over Queens, showing up on every device in the whole area. Floods of people stopped their work around the city, confused as to what was going on.

"Now I know, I know. I'm interrupting your daily news channel or the TODAY show or something, but this message isn't for you. It's for one person in particular."

Skylar Stark, upon seeing the video, groaned audibly. She had given Alison the damn password to the firewall that was placed from Stark Industries, and now she was using that to create a city-wide commotion. She was going to get in so much trouble with her dad for this.

"Absinthe. She's about 5'7, little taller than yours truly, and wears this black attire that looks like something that someone would wear to ComicCon? Yeah, yeah, I know most of you haven't seen her around, but this message is for her."

Peter, who was cooking the Parker's traditional Black Friday breakfast with Aunt May, dropped his whisk in his waffle batter with shock. Breakout-Alison-'s face was staring at him straight at the TV. And as she continued to talk, Peter could only watch the girl he hadn't seen in over a week continue with her speech.

"This was the easiest and fastest way to get the news out so here we are. Broadcasting this vigilante's face all over New York."

A dry chuckle sounded from the girl, Breakout shaking her head with a sigh as she continued. Turning her eyes straight to the camera, almost staring into the camera's soul, her tone turned serious.

"Absinthe. Think you're getting tired of this game of cat and mouse we've been playing? Because I've gotten tired of the game."

Tony Stark, a man halfway across the world, was begrudgingly dealing with some problem with the Sokovia Accords. When he got a ping on his phone of reports of a signal broadcasting out to all New York, the man only saw one underlying factor in all of it: a superhero on screen. Curious as to what was going on, Stark talked into the feed.

And listened.

"Now if you want to settle this, once and for all, like women, you'll come meet me at the Queens Theater in the park- let's say noon today. Let's give this little matinee show the perfect final act, yes?"

Pausing for a moment, Breakout stopped, raising a finger in remembrance. A coy smile slipped on her face as she continued to speak.

"Oh! I almost forgot. If anyone- and I mean anyone- tried to get involved in this little showdown, I will superspeed your ass back to wherever you came from in these boroughs of New York. And that's a promise I intend to keep."

That stopped Peter Parker in his tracks, who was already planning to sneak away from his study session and breakfast to try and help Alison. "Shit." The boy whispered, knowing that there was truly nothing he could do now. Well, without Alison getting super pissed at him.

"Well, I think that about wraps up our little Breakout Breaking News Broadcast. Next time this speedster has gotten herself into a tight spot of needs the public's help, I know where to find you. Thanks for watching, Breakout out."

When the video stopped playing, both Christa and Alison audibly sighed in relief. The hardest part of the plan was over-for now.

Now they just had to actually come up with a plan.

"Well what about-"

"No."

"Christa, you can't keep saying that all of my ideas are dumb!" Alison exclaimed, taking another bite of her Nutella toast with an exaggerated sigh.

"I can and I will, watch me. The trap idea was dumb, the confrontation in front of people is dumb, and I don't think anyone wants you to go back into another one of Absinthe's creepy power trip thing." Christa sighed, throwing down a pen on the notebook she had in her lap.

"What better ideas are there? I can't exactly come in without a plan, or a weapon. This showdown starts in an hour and a half, I can't just walk in unprepared." Alison fired back, irritated by the awful plans and ideas the girls had come up with.

"You're not." Someone opened the door to Alison's bedroom, the person donning a pair of high tops and a fuzzy sweater as well as a classic Stark smile on her face. "Because Stark 2.0 is here to help."

"Skylar!" Alison exclaimed, her face one of relief and irritation at the same time. "How'd you even get in here?"

"I have a key, remember?" The girl looked at Christa skeptically before sitting down on Alison's bed with the two cousins. "Also, I now know what you needed that password for."

"Yeah, and if I don't figure out a plan in the next hour, I will literally be dead. Literally." Alison started, her face serious.

"A plan? Dude, you need more than a plan. You need a miracle to win up against Absinthe. Have you even fought her recently? Sound like you just provoked a beast you don't want to poke." Skylar stated, crossing her arms.

"Well battling her- let's say, about three times within the span of 24 hours is definitely not provoked." Alison slyly stated, shrugging sarcastically as she spoke.

"Three times? Jesus Christ, what have you even done this week?" Skylar exclaimed, looking at her friend with a surprised look.

"A lot. Don't care to explain, but all you need to know is that-that's Christa-" Ali jacked her thumb over to the said girl. "She's my cousin, and that shit went sideways yesterday. We're about to take on our favorite Asgardian in about an hour, because I went and did something dumb to prevent something happening to my family."

"You really know how to screw the pooch." Skylar sighed, shaking her head as she continued. Brushing a piece of hair out of her face, Skylar took a deep breath out.

"It's kind of her trademark." Christa snorted, smirking as she scribbled down another idea in her journals.

"Hey!"

"Let's get to work." Skylar laughed, interrupting the cousin's banter with a smile. Pulling up her backpack onto the bed, Christa pulled out some tech from her bag. "You guys ready for some stolen Stark prototypes?"

About forty five minutes and a suit up later, Alison looked at her friends, who were reviewing the plan one last time. "So you get there-"

"Make small talk, stalk to get the devices online, and then we'll be in business." Alison finished, a sinking feeling rushing in her stomach. As much as she was in the plan, Alison knew that something- anything- would go wrong. And then the girls would be totally screwed.

Waiting a few more minutes more to get her final things into place, Alison raced to the Queens Theater in the park. Looking around, Alison saw that the people of Queens (and the rest of New York) hadn't really listened to her, people barricaded off by the police, who had set up shop there.

Turns out people really like their superhero showdowns.

Speeding to the barricades, the police saw that she had arrived, and alone at that. "Ma'am-" One police officer started, looking slightly concerned as he spoke. "We tried to get them away like you asked but-"

"Don't worry. I'll take it from here Captain-" Alison checked the police officer's badge and name card, finding it quickly. "Stacey." She nodded respectfully at the man, still using her voice warp trick.

Hoisting herself onto a cop car, many people started pulling out their phones to get a picture of the superhero. Alison whistled to get everyone's attention, waving her hands to help her case. "Hey!" She called, her voice making everyone go silent. "What did I say if anyone got involved into my fight?"

"You'd superspeed our asses back to New York?" A man suggested, speaking up to the superhero in a timid tone.

"That's right. So you better skedaddle skedoodle before your dicks turn into n-"

"Breakout. The little super speedster who called me out." Absinthe interrupted, standing on the actual site of the Theater, causing everyone to turn to see her. More phones were pulled out, trying to catch a glimpse of the super villain through their camera lenses.

"Guys." Alison whispered into her comm, talking to her cousin and Skylar on the other side. "She's here. Activate the device and get everything else online." Turning to the police captain, Alison looked at him with a hesitant look. "Sir, I know this really sucks, but please- try to get them away from here."

"Sure." Stacey nodded, looking at the civilians in front of him. Looking to the officers around him, he talked to them through their communications device. "Get the civilians to safety." Turning back to Alison, he saw her step away. Sighing, the man shook his head. "Damn superheroes. Messing up the world one battle at a time."

Alison, her focus now on Absinthe, stepped off the cop car and towards the actual Queens Theater. "Hey Arnora! How about we settle this away from the civilians? Maybe inside the theater? The last act is starting, and I'd hate for you to miss it." Walking carefully towards the woman, Alison heard Christa through the comm.

"Devices are online. Kick some Absinthe ass, Breakout."

<~*~>

oh hello there

told you there was some way crazier shit than killing off characters, it's time travel!!!

y'all hate me enough for that wait though?

pretty sure you do but whatever I had fun

anyways I took over another book, it's a Tony Stark daughter pic, and you might have heard of it, it's stark-11-industries ' The Breeze

yeah that one

I'm still trying to get this book done by December 5th but updated might be a little more spaced out than I want it to be.

anyways I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you in the next one!

-ash