❛ Your sandwiches are ready ❜

Melisande Dubois felt disgusted as she hid on the rooftops to watch for any sign of Thunderbird during her Thanksgiving Break. Never in her life did she imagine having to resort to the same tactics as Spider-Man to investigate her case. She would much rather have waited for her algorithm but Steve made it very clear that he wanted her out on the streets to look for any clues that would assist her in her search. So there she was, crouched on a three-story building in Queens with a black ball cap on her head and a pair of glasses over her eyes while looking for any sign of the notorious new villain. 

Thankfully, she had not seen or even heard Spider-Man that night, and part of her suspected he was yet again chatting with Pappy Joe on the other side of the city. Meaning that she had this block all to herself, and of course, Thunderbird, if the woman were ever to make an appearance.

Andy had shut down her comms. nearly an hour ago due to the constant worrying of Steve so when she didn't hear him asking 'What do you see?' every five seconds, part of her grew lonely. But loneliness came at a cost because nearly a minute after Andy moved to a lower rooftop, she heard the cracking and sizzling of electricity. And when she peered down, she noticed 'Thunderbird' standing at an ATM with a small black taser in her hand. 

A small grin formed on Andy's face as she silently rose to her feet and hopped down to the ground, landing swiftly on her feet and standing completely still in the alleyway behind the mystery person. With a strong boost a confidence, Andy grew the courage to shout the villain's name and watch as she turned on her heel in two seconds flat. With a street between them, the two girls stared at each other, just waiting for one to make the first move. And to no surprise, it was Thunderbird who took the first step forward.

"Piracy, right?" the girl wondered, her voice being disguised by a vocal manipulator. Andy took a hesitant step back when the girl continued to approach and she narrowed her eyes at the masked danger, "So, why electricity? I mean, correct me by all means if I'm wrong, but you're behind these sales, aren't you? One of your prospective buyers told me that whoever he was buying from had this weird thing with lightning," Andy rambled. "Is it a fetish? Because that's one odd kink."

If Andy's opponent wasn't fuming before, she was now. The mask and hood combination hiding the girl did not disguise her anger and rage as a cold glare formed in her eyes. "Look, Piracy, you're messing with my sales, you're screwing what I've been building, and I don't like it one bit."

"Then stop me with that taser of yours," Andy suggested, raising her hand to gesture toward the small device in the girl's hand. Taking that as a battle cry, Thunderbird lifted the weapon and was ready to fire with no hesitation if not for Andy's preparation. With a swift motion, Andy pressed a single button on her watch that she had designed and lifted her wrist to counteract Thunderbird's and watched as green letters and numbers traveled on her device. In that moment, a connection between Andy's watch and Thunderbird's taser established and the electricity firing weapon was as good as nothing.

Thunderbird tried firing the taser multiple times before realizing Piracy had killed its power and she growled, tossing the weapon on the ground away from them. Thinking she was in the clear, Andy raced forward and kicked out her leg, watching as her foot came in contact with Thunderbird's stomach and forced the girl to fall back. That was when all hell broke loose and the girl's engaged in hand to hand. 

Andy had trained with the Avengers and therefore had more experience, so she no doubt overpowered Thunderbird with her fist colliding with her cheek. However, Andy's opponent was prepared for more than Andy expected, and when the girl swiped her against the wall, she threw her right arm to the side and clenched her fist, watching as electricity coursed up and down her suit. Thunderbird grinned and pushed her arm out at Andy, causing the girl to shoot into the wall of the alley and slump to the ground with pain flooding her system. She wasn't expecting that, and she also wasn't expecting to be flooded with lightning. 

But no matter, the girl got to her feet and ducked under the incoming lightning strike, then diving behind Thunderbird and pulling her feet out from under her. The girls could have gone back and forth for an hour if not for the neighborhood Spider-Man. He had heard strange noises and decided to investigate, but what he had entered into was not what he was thinking.

For several moments he watched the new villain he already knew of and a rogue Avenger fight each other, and he couldn't find a reason why they would be fighting. From what he saw, the rogue Avenger was closer to beating Thunderbird, and she would have if not for being stricken with the constant zaps of lighting. So thinking he was doing the right thing, Spider-Man jumped into the fight and used his webs to grab Andy's wrist and fling her to the opposite wall. 

Thunderbird had smirked, a winning smile on her face, and before Spider-Man could turn and go after her, too, a large SUV had whipped around the corner and beeped its horn, letting Thunderbird rush into the passenger side and zoom away before Spider-Man even had the chance to go after her. 

Instead, he turned back to the girl who was groaning in pain, and he rushed to her side only to have her push him back. She used the wall to get up, a hiss of pain leaving her lips, and she stared at the suited 'hero' in front of her. "What have you done?" she demanded, staring into his black goggles. He choked on his words and tried to find an explanation, but there was none strong enough. "I-I thought that..."

"You thought wrong," she snapped, ducking her head so he wouldn't be able to tell who she was. "You don't understand what's going on here, you don't want to understand what's going on here! This is too much for some city vigilante like you to handle, so let me do my job, and stay out of my way," she growled, beginning to walk away. "I was just trying to help!" he shouted after her. "Then stay out of my way, or else the United States is really going to have it," she finished.

While she limped away, she turned on her comms., making Steve jerk into attention from where he had been waiting, "She got away," she admitted, walking along the vacant streets. "What happened?"

"Spider-Man happened," she responded. "I got hurt, too."

"Get home, I'm waiting for you here."

With a sigh, Andy briefly closed her eyes and made her way to the train station so she could sit on the train for two hours to make it back to the compound. If she hadn't loathed the existence of Spider-Man before, she certainly did now. And to add to injury, she wasn't one step closer in finding out who Thunderbird really was. 

•••

With Thanksgiving Break coming to a close, Andy had one last shift to cover at Delmar's in order to satisfy his workload. It was nearing the evening and the girl had two hours left until her work was done and she had never been so resilient to get off work. Ever since the encounter with both Thunderbird and Spider-Man last night, she had been feeling very annoyed and frustrated with how this mission was going. And it wasn't even the mission that was stressing her out, but also her other activities she needed to make more time for, such as her civics project with Peter and her mission for her parents. 

The project with Peter was supposed to last until January which meant they had about two months to do an entire case study on Spider-Man and present it to the teacher. 

Still, Andy preferred being at work and doing all she could for Mr. Delmar, it was the least she could do since she did live above the deli. And the deli was a place that not many people came to, well, at least not many people from Midtown came to. Everyone around Queens knew Andy, but her classmates knew a different Andy, so she liked to keep the two separate. 

However, there was one family that had both knowledge of Andy on the streets and knowledge of Andy in school. And that family was known as the Parker's. 

When Andy put on her apron that morning, she wasn't expecting to see the Parker's, especially so close to dinner time. Of course, Peter had been known to come in and order, but Aunt May, as far as Andy knew, had never been inside the deli. But apparently today she had.

When the teenager was organizing the money in the cash register, the bell dinged at the door and she looked up to see May and Peter Parker walking in with smiles on their faces as they chatted about something together. Not going to lie, it made Andy feel slightly jealous that he still had someone to laugh and smile with, but she diminished that thought from her head and welcomed the customers inside. 

"Mr. Delmar went out for a bit," she told the two, "But I can help you, what would you like?" she asked politely, stepping to the counter and putting some gloves on. May gave her a smile and Peter waved slightly before looking at the menu behind her, "I'll take a number three," May told her, watching as Andy wrote it down on a notepad, "I'll take the number five, and can you press it down real flat?" Peter asked.

Andy nodded and wrote the order before pressing the bell on the counter, alerting Russo that he had sandwiches to make. "Oh, hey, boss!" Russo joyfully called to Peter as he jogged into the front. "Hey," Peter nodded, earning a raised eyebrow from Aunt May.

As Russo made the sandwiches, Peter stepped over to watch him and Andy handled the money that Aunt May had handed her. After a moment of May looking at Andy and trying to find out where she had seen her before, she smiled wide, "You're that girl always talking to Pappy, Andy, right?" 

"Yeah, that's me. Uh, Pappy is one of my close friends," she answered kindly, leaning on the counter to talk with the woman. "My husband would have liked you. Pappy was close to him, never stopped talking about that man," she continued, her eyes losing that spark she had a second earlier.

"I knew Mr. Ben," Andy jumped in. "He was special, alright. And believe you me, Pappy never stopped talking about him, either. He still doesn't."

"Is that right?"

"Sure is. He also talks about Peter, you know," Andy continued. Peter heard his name and his head snapped up, listening to the conversation between his new classmate and his guardian. "He says he's just like Ben, respectful, caring, big heart. Says he takes the time out of his day to say 'hello' and make him feel like more than just a homeless man. And that makes me happy because Pappy deserves that love."

"He sure does," May beamed, looking down at the counter and trying to keep the tears in her eyes. Clearing her throat, the woman looked up and wiped her eyes, then motioning to Peter, "Well, I should get back home, I left a pie in the oven. Uh, Peter, meet me home, will you?"

"Yeah, of course," he replied, watching his aunt give him a smile and then turn back to Andy, "It was great talking to you, Andy. Hopefully, I'll see you around."

"Great talking to you, too," she said in response, watching as Aunt May walked out of the door while fighting the urge to break into tears right there. Sighing, Andy turned back around and was met with Russo handing her the sandwiches in a bag. The man waved to Peter as a goodbye and then disappeared into the backroom. "Your sandwiches are ready," Andy called out to the boy while he was petting the fat-ass cat on the counter. 

His head whipped up and he walked over, taking the bag and thanking her. But he didn't back away just yet. This girl was a new friend of his, someone he talked to almost every day when she wasn't concentrated on her computer. He was known to make useless conversation, so his first line was, "So, you like sandwiches?"

Andy's shoulders dropped as she stared at the boy and she had to refrain herself from rolling her eyes, "Is that a pickup line, Parker?"

At that moment, Peter became flustered and he tried to come up with an excuse, "What? No! Uh, I-I... you know... well-- you know what? Aunt May probably burned the pie and I should really get going," he said while trying not to make a fool of himself. "I'll see you at school," he finally rushed out, "See you later, Peter," the girl grinned, waiting till Peter was out of the deli to laugh to herself.

It didn't matter how bothered Andy was by the human race, sometimes, they had their shining moments.

•••

I encountered Thunderbird last night and we had a quarrel that could have lasted longer than it truly did. She was a fair opponent and I blame myself for underestimating her abilities. She does, however, rely heavily on weapons which is something I can work with so long as I find what power source is used to collect her electricity. The fight did not go to plan as Spider-Man interrupted our battle and mistook me for a threat, ultimately letting Thunderbird flee from me. It's evident she isn't working alone, I figured this from her first appearance. If I truly want to take down, I must play her own game.

Moving away from Thunderbird, this past week had been Thanksgiving Break and it reminded me greatly of the loss of my parents. Natasha has been working for me to find any information concerning their death and or disappearance, but so far, S.H.I.E.L.D. has given her nothing. I have been assured that I will have my answers in the near future, and holding that close to my heart, I am prepared to wait and continue with my assigned mission.

Sunday, November 27, 2016
Melisande Dubois