9 | SCREWED IT UP

Somehow, Peter managed to rejoin the Academic Decathlon team right before they set off in the bus. Later on that night in Liz's and Val's hotel room, Liz began bombarding Val with questions. "So... you and Peter, huh?" Liz asked, sounding a bit sad.

"W-What? Of course not!" Val stammered over her words. Of course she found Peter cute, she had always thought that. And now, now that she worked alongside him her attraction toward him seemed to deepen. Never had she experienced such a feeling before, but she kind of liked it.

Liz sighed out in relief. "Okay, good. Because I was thinking you should tell him to ask me to homecoming." Liz told, plopping herself happily on the bed.

Val's heart seemed to drop with her words. Although she had just said there was nothing going on between her and Peter, she wanted to say otherwise. But, there was nothing she could do now... "S—sure. I—I guess so." Val shrugged, looking away from Liz.

"Great! Get dressed, we're sneaking to the pool in a bit." Liz announced.

Val was about to retort, when a knock on the door was heard. Liz hurried over to the door and opened it, revealing Peter in a hoodie. "I—I need Val." He told.

Liz sighed and waved over Val, leaving the two to talk at the door. "What is it?" Val asked. Peter lost track of his thoughts for a moment as his eyes lingered around and noticed Val's short, silky nightgown.

Val snapped rapidly. "What is it, Parker?" Val asked.

"Oh, ahem! I got rid of the tracker in our suits, and I turned off the training wheels programs Mr. Stark seemed to put in both of our suits. Also, I found an earpiece tucked in your cuff that your supposed to wear for your AI." Peter whispered as he handed her the bag filled with her suit.

Val nodded and Peter spun on his heel. "Hey, Peter," she stopped him, almost telling him about the occasional fluttering feeling she'd get when speaking about him, but she stopped herself, "thanks." She shrugged.

Peter smiled small at her and waved her thanks off. "See you in five." He told.

* * *

Peter and Val followed the instruction of Peter's newfound AI in his suit after deactivating the training wheels protocol. The AI led him straight to the tracking device he had planted, and Valdís kept up with him. "Hello, Valdís." Val's AI finally spoke up.

"I see you're heart rate is racing, does this mean you're in a life threatening situation?" The AI, that Valdís would call Lia from now on, spoke into Val's earpiece that she had been missing the entire time.

"Kinda." Val whispered.

"Would you like me to toggle weapon selection?" Lia inquired.

Val smiled devilishly. "Yes." She rubbed her hands together excitedly as she ran alongside the road behind Peter. Peter stopped before an old gas station and hid amongst the bushes, Valdís followed suit.

The pair spotted a vehicle with a couple of men inside of it. They looked shady as they were parked in the abandoned gas station along the side of the road in the middle of the night.

"Why is their secret lair in a gas station? That's so lame." Peter whispered over to Val.

Peter then hastily climbed up the sign of the gas station that proudly showed the prices of the fuel options. Val scoffed and looked up at Peter in disapproval that he'd abandon her on the ground since she didn't have the same powers as he. "Lia, what're they doing?" Valdís asked.

"I can tune you in, but because Mr. Stark didn't incorporate a mask with lenses on your suit, you won't be able to see inside the truck." Lia explained.

Valdís snorted. "Trash." She snarked.

Lia began to tune Valdís into the sketchy men's conversation. "I got the gauntlets from the Lagos cleanup. The rest is all mine." One man spoke.

"I can't believe they're still cleaning up that Triskelion mess." The other stated.

"I love it. They keep making messes, we keep getting rich." Another man chuckled.

The first man then changed the topic. "Target inbound." He announced.

"They're robbing something—" Valdís began to tell herself until she was interrupted by a Peter Parker jumping off the sign he was sitting on, and face planting on the concrete.

He quickly hid himself as he sorted out his new suit. "Which weapon would you like to use?" Lia asked Valdís as she figured out that Valdís was preparing to attack.

"What do I got, L?" Valdís asked, her thick Queens accent was at its peak recently and she seemed to have completely lost her Eastern European accent.

Lia paused. "Many things. Knives, tasers, poisoned darts, batons and more." Lia informed.

"You think it's about time I use my own powers instead of combat for once?" Valdís asked for advice.

"I— I am not sure. I would like to say yes but if you're not ready—" Lia began, but was interrupted by Valdís lighting herself entirely on fire. A wave of relief washed over her as an immense force washed away her pent stress.

Her arms were completely ablaze, then she rapidly put it out. She checked to see if her suit was still in tact, and it was perfectly fine. "Great." Valdís replied.

Valdís watched the sky as she noticed the guy with wings Peter had rambled about once, descended on top of a semi-truck passing by on the highway. Anchors lowered from his suit and held him onto the truck. He threw something on the top of the truck and magically opened it without a hassle. The guy with wings dropped down into the cargo of the truck and disappeared.

Peter pulled Valdís along and caught up to the truck. The two landed on top of the truck and waited for the guy with wings to get out of the cargo before they confronted him in his heist. Valdís was mesmerized by the purple glowing matter-shifting thing that opened the top of the truck for the guy with the wings. Peter quickly grew anxious and called for the attention of the guy with wings.

"Hey, big bird! This doesn't belong to you!" Peter called.

The guy with the wings stared at the two vigilantes from behind his mask's glowing green eyes. "Oh god." Peter gulped as the criminal readied his wings and flew directly at the two to knock them off of the truck.

Peter and Val dodged and made the winged man miss. Peter attempted to shoot a web, but the web ended up coming out faulty. He shouted at his AI as he dodged the winged man that was charging back at him. Valdís groaned and set her arms ablaze. She grabbed the tip of the winged man's wing and set it on fire too. The winged man spun around and managed to knock both Peter and Valdís into the cargo truck. The winged man closed up the top of the metal container before any of the two could even think of hopping out and fighting him again.

Valdís sighed and put out her fire. She ran a hand through her hair and groaned. "We screwed that one up, Parker." Val informed, but there was no response.

Val rushed over to the boy's side and pulled off his mask. She noticed he was just unconscious, and not in any serious life-threatening stage, so she just left him alone while she waited for the truck to finally halt to a stop.