"Alright, everyone, car leaves in thirty minutes, whoever isn't down in time is getting the bus!""

Nora opened her door at the sound of her father's words echoing in the house. The whole house was rushing around, fighting for the bathroom and getting dressed. Nora had her dress and makeup on, and was putting the finishing touches on her hair. She caught a glimpse of Aliya running from the bathroom, yelling at Rafe was who yelling right back. Leo was downstairs, having gotten ready before he arrived, a smart move considering he wouldn't have gotten anything done if he decided to get ready here. From her position, she could hear him conversing with their dad, probably as they adjusted their suits and ties.

She turned back, looking in the mirror as she placed the last bobby pin into her updo, taking her can of hairspray and dousing the top of her head with it. The few strands of hair she let loose curled around her face, making her braid look a little more slept in. After fixing the bun in the back, she nodded, grabbing her clutch and walked down the stairs precariously. She'd heard horror stories from Lee about her falling down the stairs and nearly breaking her ankles in heels. So, every step was calculated and precise, one wrong move and she was going down.

Once she reached the bottom, Nora stomped through the hall and into the kitchen where her father and Leo were enjoying a drink. "Could you make any more noise in those?" Nathan chuckled.

Nora grumbled. "It's my first time walking in heels. It's hard, give me a break."

Leo grinned at her, the whiskey in his glass sloshing around. "You look lovely, Nora."

She swished her long skirt, the fabric shimmering in the light. "I know, I feel like a million bucks." she gushed, red painted lips turning into a smirk.

Nathan shook his head. "Well, you look it. And with twenty five minutes to spare, that is a new record for you."

She shrugged. "I started earlier," there was the sound of something falling upstairs, making her eyes roll. "Unlike those two morons up there."

"Well, they need to hurry up otherwise the limo will leave without them." he said cheerily, making Leo choke a bit on his drink.

"Limo?" the Reynolds man asked. Nora matched his confusion with an incredulous look. Her dad had said nothing about a limo to them.

The older man smiled, setting his drink down. "Yeah, I thought I would make this a special event. I ordered one to bring us."

Just then, Rafe and Aliya arrived at the door, grinning widely. "Limo? Awesome!" Rafe said, walking over to Leo who looped his arm around his waist. "It's like we're Tony Stark or something."

Aliya walked over to Nora, nudging her shoulder. "You look amazing, Nora."

"So do you." she complimented back, admiring her form fitting red gown. Aliya had the best fashion sense out of all three of them. Nora was the type to wear whatever was casual, Rafe couldn't find something that went together if his life depended on it, but Aliya always dressed to kill. With her drop dead gorgeous body, her hair that seemed to cooperate with her(unlike Nora's, which took up two hours of the three hours she got ready in). She truly was stunning.

"Alright everyone, I want a picture. Rafe is wearing something somewhat decent for the first time in his life, I want this moment captured." despite Rafe's sour look, the others laughed, squeezing in for a photo, except for Leo, who brought his hand out for the camera.

"Let me take it," there was a groan from the rest of the Mendes family. "Come on, this is a family moment, I'm not family."

Nora balked as Rafe whispered under his breath. "Yet." thankfully, no one noticed that little exchange, but Nora couldn't help but giggle.

Aliya nodded, giving him the camera and skipped over to stand beside Nora. They all grinned, but Nora's faltered when she felt something being pressed into her palm. Leo snapped the picture, taking a look moments after. "God, you're all so photogenic, it's disgusting."

Rafe rolled his eyes. "Oh please, we aren't the ones with the Calvin Klein body."

Nora didn't get into the conversation, she was more aware of what was put in her hand. Glancing up at Aliya, who was the one next to her, didn't provide any answers because she went over to Leo without even a bat of an eyelash toward her. She opened her hand, and when she did, her heart plummeted a bit.

It was the beacon Peter had given to her.

That beacon was something that was supposed to help them, to make sure one person knew where the other was in times of emergency, but really it had done the exact opposite. It had complicated things enough that their relationship was fractured, when it really should've brought them together. Nora knew why her sister had given it to her. It was for backup, again, just in case. She had thought about bringing it, perhaps she had caught her mulling it over in her room and decided to make the decision for her. Her thumb ran over the device as she blew a breath out through her nose. Last time she put this in her bag, her identity was found out. Still, it could't to carry it, she knew Peter would know if it was an emergency or not.

So, she opened her clutch and placed it gingerly inside, careful not to press it. Her dad checked his watch before the sound of the door knocking interrupted the party. "Alright, everyone, that's the limo, let's go."

As they all walked to the door, Rafe piped up. "I heard Commissioner Stacey is going to make a speech." Nora perked up a bit at the name, she felt like she knew that name from somewhere else.

Even as they climbed into the limo, Nora couldn't help the uneasy feeling bubbling in the pit in her stomach.

If only she knew why.

-

When they got to the ballroom, the party was already in full swing.

Many families were dotted around the ballroom, many that Nora recognised from going to gala's and the various Christmas parties over the years. A band stood to the side, playing some tune that had most of the couples up and waltzing. The giant hall was decorated with tables covered in blue satin table cloth, with ornate chairs and brilliant silver cutlery. Beside the band that was playing a soft waltz lay a few snack tables, a few waiters placing new trays of food there. Other waiters walked around, holding trays with champagne filled glasses, offering it to people in the crowd. Leo accepted two, handing one to Rafe as he eyed the snack table like he was ravenous. Aliya had already disappeared into the crowd, conversing and being a proper socialite. Nathan had been shuffled to a group of police captain's who were already rather tipsy, congratulating him on getting some random thorn in the NYPD's side. Nora had taken to one of the tables, already pulling out her phone and putting up photo's of the event on her snapchat story.

Minutes after posting the first one, she got three snaps. One from Peter, one from Ned and one from Michelle. Ned's was just him making a grumpy face with the caption, 'Lucky...', Michelle just snapped her middle finger at her with the caption, 'Have fun', and Peter just sent her a text.

FROM: PARKERPETER15

I hope you have fun, you deserve it!

Her grip tightened on the phone in her hands, but she got over herself long enough to send him a quick smiley face in response. Now, she regretted opening up the stupid app in the first place, so she threw her phone back into her clutch, throwing the bag onto the table. She hated that a well meaning text like that made her mood turn so quickly. She did deserve it, she had had a rough few weeks, she fought the Avengers for gods sake, she needed a break! Although, thinking about it, she was a teenager in a room of people who were meant to be semi serious(considering this was commemorating those lost in the Battle of New York), so she wasn't supposed to have too much fun.

As the song transitioned into another, Nora was already beginning to get bored, no one here was around her age. Either they were far too young or far too old. Rafe and Aliya were up on the dance floor, letting loose for the first time in a long while(she hated to think that she was the reason why they hadn't gotten a break either) and here she was, sitting awkwardly, in a dress she really wanted to show off. Her eyes wandered around the hall before she caught the sight of Commissioner Stacey walking towards her, a young girl at his side. She stood up, smoothing out her dress in an effort to look good for her father's superior. "Ms. Mendes."

"Commissioner Stacey, hello." she said, taking his hand.

He shook it firmly, a smile on his face. "I was just mentioning you to my daughter here, I told her you were in the same school."

The girl beside him was a mirror image of her father, she was quite tall, taller than Nora anyway although that wasn't surprising. Her hair was jet black, her skin a beautiful olive colour much like herself and her eyes were dark. She wore a maroon coloured dress and towered over her in a pair of black heels. While she looked very intimidating, her smile contrasted her daunting stance to the point where Nora didn't feel the fear she expected to feel. "Hi, I'm Gwen." she said softly, her black painted nails tapping against her bracelet covered wrist.

"Nora." she smiled back, if a bit reserved.

"Gwen's a senior at Midtown." her dad told her, to which she nodded.

"You just started this year, right?" she asked, tilting her head slightly. "You'll do great. It's a great school."

"Well, I'll leave you two to get to know each other."

Gwen kissed his cheek before he left, before turning back to the younger girl with a smile. "Don't mind him. I just thought you looked lonely and he thought to butt in."

Nora shook her head a little too quickly. "No, no, I don't mind. Seriously, I was dying."

Despite being seventeen or eighteen, Gwen had this motherly attitude about her, it instantly calmed you and made you feel like you were her equal. So when she giggled, Nora felt like she was accomplishing something. "Good, so were we, this thing is kind of boring."

Nora frowned. "We?"

"Oh, me and my friend, Diana. We've kind of been standing on the side doing nothing. We're so exciting." she joked before taking her hand and leading her over to her friend. "Come on, I'll introduce you."

Nora completely forgot the beacon in her bag.

Now Gwen's friend, she did recognise, but it was from years ago. After the battle of New York, the media hounded on the people who had lost family members in the incident. One of them was infamous for freaking out when a reporter tried to interview the poor girl. Diana Smith was her name, and she too was a senior at Midtown, but that's all she knew about her. When she got closer, she saw a blonde girl nursing a glass of something like looked like Sprite. She wore a powder blue dress and red lips much like her own. As she took a sip from her glass, she was scrolling through her phone. "Hey, Dina, I've brought us a friend."

She looked up, a lopsided grin on her face. "Hey, nice to meet you, I'm Diana."

Nora nodded, a little overwhelmed at the idea of two seniors befriending her. "Hi, I'm Nora."

"Nora Mendes?" when she nodded, Diana smirked. "So, you're the one who made Flash cry."

The brunette blanched at her, blinking. "I, uh, yeah, I did."

For a few moments, there was silence before Diana rolled her eyes playfully, laughing. "Knowing him, he probably deserved it."

Twiddling her thumbs, brown eyes met blue. "Are you his girlfriend or something?"

"God, no, I'm more of a sister than anything, which means you have to tell me every detail about that moment. Every bit."

Gwen tapped her shoulder as they laughed. "Hey, I'm gonna get a drink, do you want one?"

"Yeah, if they've got Coke or something, I'll take it. Thank you!" she nodded, disappearing into the crowd. Now, it was just Diana and Nora. In an effort to make things less awkward, Nora broke the ice. "So, what do you plan to do after school?"

Swirling her straw around in her glass, the blonde perked up. "I'm thinking about getting into nursing. The medical field, definitely."

Nora beamed. "You should talk to my sister, she's a nurse. Well, a trainee nurse, but a nurse!"

The older girl grinned back, eyes lighting up in both surprise and excitement. "Really? That's awesome, I've always wanted to get a second opinion on that kind of stuff."

"Well, from what I've gathered, it's supposed to be hard. I wanted to be a paramedic when I was younger."

Diana raised a brow. "A paramedic, huh? That's gotta be harder." at the freshmen's confused look, she elaborated. "The nurses have to deal with the aftermath, paramedics have to treat them on scene. They have to see a lot of horrible stuff."

God knows I have...

"But, I suppose the nurses wouldn't save as many as lives if the paramedics didn't exist." Diana shrugged, just in casual conversation but to Nora it wasn't. As the blonde went on, Nora chewed the inside of her lip, replaying what she said. She was right, in a way, even if they were thinking about different things. Without Mercy, sometimes the paramedics wouldn't have a person to bring to the hospital, and that was a good thing. No matter how much pain she caused people in her life, she always knew she would do good by strangers, that was the one thing she could count on when she had the mask on. "Y'know, this is a little dark a topic to be talking about. And anyway, you're like five, you're too young to be thinking about college."

Nora gasped in fake offence. "I'll have you know I'm five and a half."

Diana laughed, shaking her head in amusement as Gwen returned with a glass of coke and ice and a drink of her own. "You two seem to be getting along well, have you forgotten about me already?" the last part was aimed at her friend who only pushed her playfully.

"As if, I don't think I could ever forget you." just then, a ring tone began to erupt from her bag. "Sorry, I have to take this, give me a sec." she said, before clicking answer and walking to the exit to get better signal.

Gwen shouted after her. "Remember, you have to be there for the—?"

Diana turned back quickly to call back. "I know!"

The black haired beauty turned back to Nora again. "So, liking it so far?" Nora took a sip of her drink, nodding as the sweet drink hit her tongue. "My dad wanted to make sure everything was perfect for his speech tonight. He wanted no altercations outside with Spider-Man and Mercy or anything like that." she took an even longer sip, to hide her wide and surprised eyes. "I made the mistake of saying we should invite them."

This time, she blew her cover by spitting the drink back into the glass in shock. "Invite them?"

"It was just a joke, I know how much they annoy him, I was just saying it to mess with him." her eyebrow quirked a bit. "Didn't take it well, however."

She knew Commissioner Stacey did not like her or Spider-Man, though it was really Peter he didn't like. His attitude wasn't always as endearing as she thought it was to others. To the police, he was this cocky nuisance that needed to be taken down a peg or two. They had some sort of respect for her though, she was more of a Samaritan in their eyes until she became wrapped up with the web slinger. "Well, I think Mercy would've liked to have been here."

Gwen licked her lips slowly, as if processing what she had just said. Oh no, this may not be the best place to talk like this. She heard Gwen Stacey's name sung by the science and math teachers, she was revered in their eyes. If she was as gifted as they said she was, and she figured it out, then Nora's fucked. "I'd like to think she's here in a way." the older girl winked at her, and Nora's never been more confused about what one gesture could mean. "I mean, there's as many survivors here as there are cops. Diana is here on behalf of her parents. A lot of people are healing from this, and Mercy likes to heal, doesn't she?"

The way she said it, there was no doubt that she knew, but in another breath, it was like she knew but she was willing to keep a secret. So, even though what she said had made tears prick in her eyes, Nora answered her. "Yeah, she does."

"It must take a lot out of her though, all this hero stuff. I mean, you see her on the news and she's as battered as the people she's saving."

"She gets by, although she's as battered mentally as she is looks physically sometimes." Nora said into her glass, careful not to let anyone else hear.

Gwen's face morphed into a look of pity. "Tell her I'm sorry."

"I think she already knows." the air had become a little heavy for her, so she set her glass down on the nearest table. "I'm hungry, do you want anything?" she asked the senior.

She shook her head. "No, I'm alright, thanks." nodding, Nora walked over to the snack table nearest the kitchen.

Snacks and sweets lay on plates, looking as delectable as they smelled. Nora smiled, picking up a plate and piling all the macaroons on her plate. She was nearly done with putting the fifth sweet on her plate when she heard the faintest groan from the left. Her hand froze, her whole body rigid. All sound drained from her ears as she carefully cast her eyes to the door of the kitchen, which was wide open. Nora set the plate of goodies down, taking a tentative step toward the kitchen. Peering her head to the side a little, all colour drained from her face as she caught a glimpse of someone's hand poking out from behind a counter. In one second, it was lying limp, then the next, it was dragged away. Nora took a step back, her breath catching in her throat.

When she turned around, she met the chest of a waiter. "Is everything alright, miss?" when she looked up, his face was deadly calm, his hazel eyes piercing into her. He wasn't asking her anything, he was telling her. Everything was alright, go back to your dance. Any other person would've been scared into submission, but not Nora. She heard that, nodded, and continued on, scanning the situation around her. She needed to find her brother and sister, she needed to know where her suit was.

As she walked quickly to her family, she noticed all the waiters eyes were boring into her. They were all deadly still, and if they weren't, they were coming to a halt. Nora could feel the sweat begin to bead on her forehead, just keep going, don't give yourself away. As she passed, Gwen frowned at her, but one look made her nod. She may have been cursing her earlier, but thank god this girl was smart. Diana was outside, still talking on the phone, that was good, if this place was locked down she was safe at least. Her heels clicking against the floor was the only thing she could hear, other than her heart pounding in her ears. Aliya was closest, chatting to some guy. "Aliya." she said, not giving her time to protest as she grabbed her wrist and tugged her over to her. "Where's my suit?"

"What?" she exclaimed, leaning in. "Why do you need you—"

"No, stop asking questions and just tell me."

"We managed to sneak it into the coat closest. Now, what's going—"

Rafe joined them, his cheeks flushed from the alcohol he had been consuming throughout the evening. "Hey guys, are you enjoying yourselves?"

Both of them would've told him what was going on, if it wasn't for the shrill, ear piercing sonic blast that resonated throughout the room. Nora screamed, hands going up to block the sound from her ears. Her siblings did the same, eyes screwed shut in pain. The whole place in fact, was crippled by this unwanted noise. All the waiters then dropped the platters of champagne, seemingly unaffected by the blast and pulled out weird looking guns out. All the cops saw this, and tried to pull out their own guns. "Put your guns down!" someone must've shrieked because one waiter just pressed a button on some sort of device. One cop pulled the trigger, but no bullet came out. As the sonic blast died down, all their guns were rendered useless.

"Now, everyone down!" said one of the waiters, and Nora felt her stomach turn.

The waiter was the man at the lab at Oscorp, the one she had let live.

Rafe grabbed Nora's shoulder's, making her crouch down behind a table. They were all breathing heavily, searching for their father who they saw was over with Commissioner Stacey, looking like he was fit to kill. "Dad..." Aliya breathed.

"Where's Leo?" Nora asked her brother who had sobered up very quickly.

"He had to leave early, he had to pick up his sister from the airport early. He's safe." Nora nodded, glad that he was out of harm's way.

The man took to the middle of the room, scanning the room. "Now, I don't ask for much, we just have one question for you all." his eyes surveyed the whimpering masses in the hall. "Where is Mercy?"

Nora felt all the breath leave her lungs in that moment. They were here for her, they knew who she was. This wasn't good.

"We aren't going to hurt anyone, if she makes herself known. Then, we will kindly be out of your way, and you can enjoy the rest of your evening."

Rafe whispered to her. "Who is he?"

"I let him live." was all she said for him to know what was going on. "I thought I was being merciful, I let him live."

"She has one minute before we start shooting people."

Murmurs of pain and sadness washed through the crowd. "Suit." she whispered. "Now."

Rafe pointed, and Nora followed. The coat closet was half way across the room. She remembered something else, the beacon was also halfway across the room.

Oh, god. People were going to die because of her.

Trying to weigh her options, the three Mendes' siblings minds went blank when they heard the next voice.

"I know you." it was their father, being his heroic self and taking a step toward him.

The man from the lab smirked at him. "And I know you. Hello, again."

Aliya shook her head, eyes already filling with tears. "No, dad, what are you doing?" she said to herself.

Their father took another step. "I sent your boss to prison, is that why you're here?"

He chuckled, a sound that made Nora want to snap his neck. "No, I'm not here for you. I'm here for someone who hold dear though." people around them eyed him, but said nothing. "Mercy, she killed one of my best friends, most of them actually, I want to show her that she shouldn't have messed with us."

Nora could feel her fingertips tingle with energy. This man was going to die, like all his other precious friends.

"You'll never break her. If that's what you plan to do. You won't be able to destroy her."

"And why is that?"

"Step away, dad." Rafe warned.

Nathan's eyes locked with Nora's, whose widened. This wasn't happening. "Because she's strong. Stronger than you ever know. She put herself back together when your friends broke her. She's more capable than she was. And she knows that you won't be able to stop her."

"Daddy." Nora sobbed, knowing exactly what he was doing.

The man laughed smugly, before lifting the gun and aiming it straight for her father. "Are you sure?" a streak of purple energy fired from the gun, hitting him in the stomach.

As his children screamed their throats raw, Nathan Mendes fell to the floor, unmoving.

-

A/N: Sorry?

I've been waiting so long to write this chapter, you have no idea. And for those wondering, that is Gwen Stacey. I know she's not blonde or anything, but if Flash can be a poc, why not Gwen. Her faceclaim is Camila Mendes, bc she just looks like Gwen Stacey to me.

And for those who caught it, I included Diana Smith from Lonely Hearts, a book written by the brilliant spiderlad. For ages, we've had a joint 'AU' of sorts where our two oc's and I decided(with her permission of course) to write that interaction. So, sorry if it put you out or anything but I don't care, it made me super happy to write. Also, it's my story so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Hope you guys enjoyed this story, there's only one chapter left in part one and then I'll be taking a bit of a break so my other oc's can feel a bit of love. I have another Peter Parker story if you're interested. It's called Hide & Seek. 

This surpassed 4k words, this is officially the longest chapter i've written of anything here on wattpad.

Comment, vote & follow! - Emma