Chapter 2: Where They're Found
"If you have something worth fighting for, then fight for it"

Six Months Later

It was a normal afternoon when Peter Parker made his way home, after a great day. What's not to like? In the morning he arrived on time to his training with Ice Sorceress, he aced his algebra test and he even talked to a cute girl during Spanish class, in his mind nothing could ruin this day.

"Hey, May." said Peter once he got inside his apartment, failing to notice Tony Stark sitting on his couch.

"Mmm. Hey. How was school today?" answered May Parker, Peter's aunt and legal guardian.

May was an attractive woman who had been through some tragedies no one her age should, she had lost people she loved and ended up as the only possible guardian to her nephew. May Parker could be a bit anxious around New York City, all the crimes and dangers the city faces could make anyone nervous, specially someone in charge of a fifteen year old boy. Peter is all thats left to May, they have been each other's rock through many ups and downs, losing him is something she can't afford, it would completely break the woman.

"It was okay. This crazy car parked outside." said Peter before finally noticing the billionaire with a nasty bruise, sitting next to his aunt.

"Oh, Mr Parker." said Tony to the shocked teenager.

"Um. What are you doing...Hey! Uh, I'm Peter." Said Peter nervously

"Tony."

"What are you doing here?" Not understanding what the billionaire was doing at his apartment.

"It's about time we met. You've been getting my emails, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah." lied Peter

"You didn't even tell me about the grant." spoke May, shocked

"About the grant." continued the boy, still not knowing what was going on but trying to please Tony.

"The September Foundation. Remember when you applied?" answered Stark "I approved, so now we're in business."

"But you didn't tell me anything.What's up with that? You keeping secrets from me now?" intervened May, not knowing about all the secrets her young nephew kept.

"I just know how much you love surprises
so I thought I would let you know...Anyway, what did I apply for?"

After some more lies and some flirting from Tony's part, Aunt May allowed the two guys to talk in private at Peter's room.  Once they were inside his room, the man locked the door before spitting at the garbage ca, while the boy still looked very confused.

Tony walked around the teenager's room, picking up some of the stuff he had laying around."Whoa, what have we here? Retro tech, huh? Thrift store? Salvation Army?"

"Uh, the garbage, actually." answered Peter, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"You're a dumpster diver?"

"Yeah, I was...Anyway, look, um, I definitely did not apply for your grant..."

"Ah-ah! Me first." Cutting off the boy
"Quick question of the rhetorical variety.
That's you, right?" asked Tony, pulling out his phone to project a small footage and pausing at a close up of a guy on a onesie swinging from a spiderweb.

"Um, no.What do you mean?" answered Peter, he could feel his heartbeat increase at the accusation, no one was supposed to know.

"Yeah. Look at you go." continued Stark, as the clip showed a young girl in a blue cloak stopping a car by freezing it while the guy in the onesie stopped a second car from hitting a bus "Wow! Nice catch. 3,000 pounds, 40 miles an hour.That's not easy. You got mad skills."

"That's all on YouTube, though, right?That's where you found that? Because you know that's all fake.It's all done on the computer." said Peter attempting to cover his lie but with no avail. "It's like that video. What is it?" kept saying the boy while avoiding to look at Tony

"Yeah. Oh, you mean like those UFOs over Phoenix?" answered Tony, clearly not believing anything the boy was saying. The billionaire grabbed a broomstick to push open a trap door at the ceiling, while the boy absently stared at his junk not paying much attention until Tony spoke again. "Oh, what have we here?"

Peter turned around just as the trap door opened and his "suit" fell from it's hiding place. As fast as he could Peter threw himself to the onesie, desperately trying to hide it from sight "Uh, it's, uh"

Stark stood there staring at the boy boringly but with a hint of amusement at his ridiculous attempts to hiding his identity  "You're the Spider-ling. Crime-fighting spider. You're Spider-Boy?"

Knowing there was no point on trying anymore , Peter dropped his head before muttering "Spider-Man."

"Not in that onesie, you're not." chucked Stark

"It's not a onesie." said Peter angrily "I don't believe this. I was actually
having a really good day today, Mr Stark.
I didn't arrive late, this perfectly good
DVD player was just sitting there, I got paired up with a cute girl for a Spanish project, and Algebra test, nailed it."

"Who else knows? Anybody?"

"Nobody."

"Not even your unusually attractive aunt?"

"No. No.No! If she knew, she would freak out.And when she freaks out, I freak out."

"What about your partner in crime? The girl, does she know your identity?" continued Tony while analyzing the boy's hero suit.

"Ice Sorceress? No, I don't think she likes me that much" he answered, remembering how the mutant tried to avoid him when they weren't training, in fact the heroine wouldn't even call him if there was an emergency and if he showed up the girl didn't speak she just glared at him.

Noticing the teenagers disappointed tone, Tony changed the subject ,You know what I think is really cool? This webbing.That tensile strength is off the charts.Who manufactured that?"

"I did." Peter answered feeling a bit proud but not showing it.

"Climbing walls, how you doing that? Adhesive gloves?"

"It's a long story. I was..." started Peter only to be interrupted by the man playing with his hand made suit.

"Lordy! Can you even see in these?"

"Yes, I can!" shouted Parker, offended "I can see in those. "It's just that when whatever happened, happened, it's like my senses have been dialled to 11. There's way too much input,so they just kinda help me focus."

"You're in dire need of an upgrade.
Systemic, top to bottom,hundred-point restoration. That's why I'm here." After hearing those words, the boy sat on his bed looking interested "Why you doing this?I gotta know, what's your MO?What gets you outta that twin bed in the morning?"

"Because...Because I've been me my whole life,and I've had these powers for six months. I read books, I build computers.
Yeah, I would love to play football,
but I couldn't then, so I shouldn't now."

"Sure, because you're different."

"Exactly. But I can't tellanybody that, so I'm not.When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen,they happen because of you." Continued Peter sadly as memories started hunting his mind.

"So you wanna look out for the little guy,
you wanna do your part? Make the world a better place, all that, right?" Said Tony, noticing how the boy's voice changed.

"Yeah, just looking out for the little guy.
That's what it is." sighed Peter, looking sadly at his hands.

"I'm gonna sit here, so you move the leg.
You got a passport?"  said Tony as he sat next to the boy.

"No, I don't even have a driver's licence." scoffed Peter

"You ever been to Germany?"

"No." answered Peter again, not seeing where the adult was going with these questions.

"Oh, you'll love it."

"I can't go to Germany." Finally Peter caught onto what the man intended, so he starting to shake his head rapidly.

"Why?" asked Tony

"I got homework." answered Peter with embarrassment on his face.

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that."

"No, I'm being serious.I can't just drop out of school." Peter said, he was sorta lying, he didn't want to go because he had training and if he missed training Ice Sorceress would never let him help her.

"Might be a little dangerous. Better tell Aunt Hottie I'm taking you on a field trip." Tony walked towards the door, not caring about the boy's objections

Before Tony could realize anything, the boy stood up, shooting a web from his arm, trapping the billionaire to his door "Don't tell Aunt May."

"All right, Spider-Man. What about your girlfriend, Ice Sorceress, do you know where to find her?" said Tony a bit impressed by Peter's actions.

"She's not my, uh, she's just, uh" he stops talking at Tony's glance,sighing "Like I said, she isn't my biggest fan, I don't know anything about her"

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A teenage girl with long platinum blonde hair made her way through Queens, heading to her hideout just as she did every afternoon after school.

To anyone else the teenager seemed like a normal, innocent girl, but apearences may be deceiving. If you looked at the girl standing on the roof of the old building you would never guess the secrets she hides. You wouldn't know that she wasn't just a girl, one wouldn't believe she was the heroine who guarded their streets ready to face any harm that came their way.

Ember Snow was anything but normal or innocent, behind her cold facade hid a brave girl, determined to fight for what she believed was right, helping those in need without expecting anything in exchange. For Ember saving people wasn't something she did for the power or the glory, she protected others because not everyone has the perfect life and not everyone has a helping hand, she wanted to prove that she could be that helping hand, to prove that being different didn't make you a monster.

The blonde stood on top of the same old building everyday, making sure everything was fine, looking for someone who needed help. Today, Ember stood there thinking about everything that had changed during the last months. Six months ago, she was the hero everyone counted on, now, there was another hero in town, a boy who wanted nothing more but to help others, just like her. It may seem nice to have someone to share the heavy burden with, but Ember wasn't used to having a partner, she was Ice Sorceress and she never asked for any help. The green eyed girl believed she could do anything on her own, after all she had been alone for years, but this past months had proven that perhaps some help wasn't always a bad thing not that she would ever admit it out loud, especially to the boy who at times seemed to attract trouble like a magnet.

Two figures approached Ember from behind, while she still stood there deep in her thoughts. Just as the man opened his mouth to call her name, the young heroine turned around abruptly, shooting ice from her hands, freezing the feet of the two intruders, making them raise their weapons at her, they didn't attack they just stared at the girl. Her platinum blonde hair turned into an even lighter color,almost white, the once sparkling forest green eyes were replaced by glowing white ones and trails of frost seemed to cover her face. The girl who stood before them wasn't Ember Snow anymore, on her place stood Ice Sorceress, ready to attack them if needed.

"Who are you?" her voice was cold and harsh, as was her stare. The young vigilante studied the two closely, looking for an answer to her question, knowing that they wouldn't speak. Her white eyes went from the quiver hanging on the man's back to the weapon he carried on his hand, then, to the glowing red hands of the girl on his right.

Realizing who the intruders were she lowered her hands, showing them that she meant no harm. "Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Clint lowered his bow, nodding at Wanda indicating that she should do the same. "We need your help, Ember"

"How do you know my name?" glared the blonde, raising her hands menacingly at the sound of her name "Better yet, help with what?" asked Ember, becoming worried about the two people in front of her.

"It doesn't matter, will you help?" answered Clint, analyzing the blonde.

Ember laughed, it wasn't a pleasant laugh in fact the sound of it made Clint tense a little bit. "Whatever it is you need my help with is your problem not mine."

"People could get hurt" said Wanda trying to reason with her.

"Then you save them. I have things to do here." said Ember, glaring at the two heroes. It wasn't that she didn't care,but these strangers suddenly show up knowing who she is, asking for her help on something they refused to tell her about. Ever since her mother left, Ember learned not to trust people so easily, and no matter who this guys were, she wasn't about to give them what they wanted. "In fact I should get going."

The young Snow turned around, ready to make her exit, when the voice of Clint Barton stopped her dead on her tracks. "Steve Rogers needs help"

Hearing the name of the soldier changed everything. It was a name she had heard many times in her life. The name of a man her grandmother told her stories about. The brave young boy who wished to become a hero, even when no one believed he could, Steve Rogers never gave up, he proved everyone wrong and saved a lot of people along the way. Anastasia Darling, being one of those people, Ember's grandmother wasn't just a stranger to Captain America, she was a friend and the young blonde knew that.

With a deep sigh, Ember returned to her normal appearance before looking at them. "Where are we going?"

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