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It was dark out, but Andi could see perfectly. She sat quietly in the boat with Peter, Gwen, and Fury, her attention on the calming sound of the flowing water. Everything was so quiet, so peaceful, and she hated that it was about to be taken away from her. She'd come to Italy with the anticipation she wouldn't have to worry about being Recluse. She'd come to Italy with the anticipation that she'd be given the break she believed she deserved, but as usual, there was always something. It was as if everything bad was attached to her like a dark shadow, and she wondered if Peter and Gwen felt that way as well.

Her mind shifted to Gwen, and she tore her attention away from the water and to her friend. She was having a quiet conversation with Nick Fury, who was more than thrilled to have three young heroes rather than just two. Granted, he wasn't too keen on their teenage status, but not many people were.

"We never did get the chance to talk, y'know?" Andi said to Gwen, her words capturing the attention of Gwen and Peter alike.

Gwen excused herself from Fury and scooted closer to Andi. "You're right, we didn't," she replied. "I assume you have quite a few questions."

"I assume you do as well," Andi said with a quiet chuckle.

"Of course I do," Gwen said, glancing between her and Peter, who had found a spot beside Andi. "How did this happen to you guys? Were you bitten? I was bitten a few months ago."

"I was bitten," Peter answered her.

"I was injured messing around with some sort of arachnid experimentation," Andi explained to Gwen. "It was a bit of a shock when I woke up the next morning stuck to the ceiling."

"I bet that would've been a sight to see," Gwen laughed.

"It sure freaked my aunt out."

"I just—I wasn't really expecting to find that two of the planet's greatest heroes were two of my best friends," Gwen said. "I mean, you guys are practically legendary. You're Tony Stark's brightest pupils, you saved the universe with the Avengers, and you've both managed to uphold your perfect GPAs and your social lives through it all."

"Let me stop you right there, Gwen," Andi said to her. "I don't have a social life."

Peter rolled his eyes at Andi. "She doesn't have a social life because she chooses not to."

"That's not true!" Andi retorted. "I just don't like people."

"I guess that's where the name 'Recluse' comes from, huh?" Gwen laughed quietly.

"It's also a spider," Andi reminded her. "It's a play on words, I guess. Tony, um, he picked out the name for me."

"So, you guys really knew Tony Stark?" Gwen asked, her eyes bright.

Andi's expression changed almost instantaneously, and Peter was the first to notice. She was okay with a brief mention of Tony, but what she was not okay with was a full conversation involving him. She wasn't sure she could hold one. Thus far, the only one she'd been able to talk to about Tony was Peter, and it'd hardly been a conversation at all. Regardless, he was the only person Andi felt comfortable enough to talk about him with. She wasn't quite sure she was there with Gwen yet.

"We did," Peter, who knew Tony was the last thing Andi wanted to talk about, answered for her. It was becoming crystal clear to him that the rough patch Andi was going through not only had to deal with the trauma of the battle itself, but the trauma of losing Tony—the trauma of losing her family. She'd lost her parents, her sister, and now Tony in two very violent and unfair manners. It was a pain that would forever remain with her, and fighting that pain was a battle all on its own. Peter knew that all too well.

"Speaking of Stark, he left something for you two," Fury spoke up. Until then he'd been listening quietly to the teenagers' conversation, speaking up only now that he found it necessary.

Andi and Peter were not expecting his words, however. They both looked to him to see him holding out a small brown case. From her spot, it looked like a glasses case, but she didn't make a move to grab it. Instead, she let Peter. He grabbed the case from Fury and walked back over to Andi. He sat down and opened it, revealing a pair of glasses similar in fashion to what Tony always wore.

"'Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown'," Fury quoted, glancing back at the three of them. "He said only one of you would know where that's from."

"It's from William Shakespeare," Andi spoke absentmindedly, her eyes on the glasses in Peter's hands. She looked up at him with glistening brown eyes. "Will you hold onto those for us?"

Peter gave a soft smile and nodded his head before putting the glasses away.

"What are they?" Gwen asked the two of them.

"I'm gonna take a guess and say they're another one of Tony's many expensive inventions," Andi answered.

"They just look like a pair of glasses," Gwen said.

"Yeah, until we put them on." Peter chuckled and looked to Fury, pulling his mask over his face. "Are we almost there?"

"As a matter of fact, we're here," Fury told them.

The boat came to a slow stop beside a lone building. Gwen and Andi pulled their masks on as well and hopped out of the boat with Peter and Fury. The girls followed closely behind the two of them as they ventured further into a dimly lit tunnel.

"This is super creepy," Gwen said to Andi.

"Eh, I've seen creepier."

"You left a note for MJ in case she wakes up, right?" Gwen asked.

"Yes, I told her we were going with Nick Fury to a secret location to discuss the super-powered monsters that've been terrorizing countries across the globe," Andi spoke nonchalantly, her words earning Fury's attention.

"Child, are you out of your mind?" Fury chastised her, unable to detect the sarcasm hidden within her tone.

"Sir, um, it's probably best that you don't take her seriously," Peter said before Andi could respond.

"Yeah," Gwen laughed nervously. "Her native language is sarcasm."

Fury looked back at Andi and shook his head. "You're a lot more like Stark than I thought."

"Well, he did raise me," Andi muttered, her words shocking Gwen.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, yeah, we'll talk about it later," Andi told her, though she knew they certainly would not be discussing it later.

"You guys can lose the masks," Fury told them as they walked further into the tunnels. "Everyone here has seen you without one. Apart from you, Miss Stacy, but you're free to decide for yourself."

The three of them took off their masks without protest and continued following Fury. There was technology and personnel everywhere, all of whom had been expecting at least two of the teenagers. The amount of people present made Andi a bit uncomfortable, however, though she didn't dare allow it to show. Instead, she moved closer to Peter. Her arm brushed his, and he looked down at her. He met her eyes briefly, and that was all he needed to know what was going on inside her head. He'd seen the look far too many times before. It was common when the two were out together in public and there was an abundant number of individuals surrounding them. Peter was usually the one she looked to for comfort in the matter, and even now it still made his heart swell.

Gwen watched the two of them with a soft smile on her face. She'd known from the moment she met them that there was something there. Of course, she'd known about their prior relationship and their breakup, but she still wanted nothing more than for the two of them to find their way back to each other. Peter had spent so much time talking about her and how much he missed her. It was the reason why Gwen had spent so much time with Peter lately. She was doing what she could to help him figure out how to get her back, and in return he was helping her win over the heart of her own love—Michelle Jones. It was tough work, but Gwen knew in the end it would all be worth it.

After being introduced to two of Fury's personnel, Maria Hill and Dimitri, Fury introduced them to Mr. Beck, who the three teenagers knew as Mysterio thanks to their classmates.

"It's Mysterio," Peter said, nudging Andi's arm.

"What?" Mysterio questioned as he turned to greet the three teenagers.

"It's nothing," Andi assured him. "It's just what our friends have been calling you."

"Well, you guys can call me Quentin." Beck walked up to shake their hands, his eyes stopping on Gwen. "Fury told me there was only going to be two of you. I didn't know there were three."

"Yeah, I'm Gwen," Gwen introduced herself with a bright smile on her face.

"She's a bit of a newbie," Andi said, glancing back to Gwen with a playful smirk on her face. "We figured she'd benefit from this little field trip here."

"Your suit looks familiar." Beck furrowed his brows in concentration as he looked at Gwen. "Were you at the tower today?"

"I was, yes."

"Well, I gotta say you guys handled yourself pretty well out there," Beck told them. "I saw what you did at the tower. We could use a few someones like you on my world."

The three were perplexed by the sound of his words.

"I'm sorry, your world?" Peter questioned with furrowed brows.

"Mr. Beck is from Earth," Fury informed the teenagers. "Just not yours."

"There are multiple realities," Beck told them. "This is Earth Dimension 616. I'm from Earth 833."

"Are you saying there's a multiverse?" Gwen asked excitedly, walking up to stand closer to Beck as Andi and Peter, who were equally as excited by his words, followed behind her. "I thought it was just theoretical?"

"If what you're saying is true, that's completely gonna change how we understand the initial singularity," Andi added.

Peter nodded at her side. "I mean, we're talking about an eternal inflation system here. How does that even work with all the quantum—?"

"It's insane!"

"Totally mind-blowing."

The adults in the room looked at the teens, their expressions mildly shocked, as well as annoyed. They were impressed with their knowledge and intelligence, of course, but they were babbling.

"S-sorry," Peter apologized to everyone. "That's just really cool."

"Don't ever apologize for being the smartest one in the room," Beck said, his eyes on the three of them. "None of you."

Maria Hill scoffed behind them and pressed a few buttons on her keyboard, revealing a beautiful holographic image in front of the teens and Beck. "Anyway..."

"They were born in stable orbits within blackholes," Beck began explaining. "Creatures formed from the primary elements: air, water, fire, earth. The Science Division had a technical name for them. We just called them—"

"Let me guess!" Andi cut him off. "Elementals."

Beck smirked and looked to Andi. "You don't miss a beat, do you?"

"I'm big on mythology," Andi said with a shrug of her shoulders. "I've read about similar versions of what we're talking about. It's what I would've called them. I'm not surprised that they're real. Most myths are real nowadays."

"Y'know, my partner would absolutely love you," Beck said to Andi with a quiet chuckle.

"Your partner?" Andi questioned. "Is he here?"

"She is not," Beck answered, his eyes bright as he looked at Andi. "But hopefully you get to meet her soon."

"So, these things are like Thor, huh?" Peter spoke, pulling the conversation back on track. "Thor was a myth, and now we study him in physics class."

"There are worse things to study," Gwen giggled.

"Thor isn't a threat, though," Fury spoke up. "These myths are threats."

"They first materialized on my Earth many years ago," Beck explained. "We mobilized and fought them, but with each battle they grew and got stronger. I was part of the last battalion left trying to stop them. All we did was delay the inevitable."

"The Elementals are here now, attacking the same coordinates," Maria told them. "Our satellites confirm it."

"So, thank Mr. Beck for destroying the other three," Fury said. "There's only one left: fire."

"It's the strongest of them all," Beck said with a sadness in his tone. "It's the one that destroyed my Earth. It's the one that took my family."

"I'm sorry," Peter apologized.

"It'll be in Prague in approximately 48 hours," Maria said.

"We have one mission—kill it—and you three are coming with us," Fury said to the teenagers.

Gwen, Peter, and Andi exchanged glances with one another. Fury's words were not what they'd been expecting. Not at all. And they weren't too sure how to feel about them. All they knew was that they had so much more going on for them, and that didn't include going to Prague to fight some mythical fire monster.

"Mr. Fury, this all seems like big-time, huge superhero kind of stuff," Peter told him. "I mean, we're just your friendly neighborhood spider-people."

"Bitch, please," Fury scoffed and gestured to Andi and Peter. "The two of you have been to space."

"That was a total accident," Andi said. "Please, there has to be someone else you can call."

"What about Thor?" Gwen asked.

"He's off-world."

"Doctor Strange?"

"Unavailable."

"Captain Marvel?"

"Don't invoke her name."

Andi rolled her eyes at Fury and ran a hand through her hair. "Look, we all want to help, we do, but we're teenagers. We have responsibilities, like making sure our families don't figure out we ditched our school trip."

"Yeah, my aunt will kill me if she finds out," Peter said.

"And I can only imagine what would happen if all of us were to show up in Prague dressed the way we usually are back home in New York," Gwen added. "Everyone would figure out who we are. It would ruin everything."

"Okay, okay," Fury said, his annoyance with the teenagers growing. "I understand."

"I'm sorry, what?" Peter was shocked by this, as was Gwen and Andi.

"Why don't you get back before your teachers miss you and become suspicious," Fury said. There was a sly smirk on his face, alerting Andi that he was up to something. Whatever it was, she wasn't sure, though she doubted he'd tell her if she asked. "Dimitri, can you take them back to the hotel, please?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, Mr. Fury," Peter said to him. "And good luck."

Peter, Andi, and Gwen started walking together towards the exit, stopping briefly to bid their goodbyes to Beck. Once the three made it back out into the night, Andi stopped, causing Gwen and Peter to stop with her. She looked at them with concerned brown eyes and a frown on her face.

"Did we do the right thing?" she asked her friends. Her inner turmoil was punishing her for walking away from the fight rather than making an effort to end it. Since she'd gotten her powers, she often found herself unable to keep herself out of danger for the sake of protecting those around her. She'd never put herself above the safety of those who couldn't protect themselves. Even when faced with the deadliest and most frightening battle of her young life, she still chose to fight, because she knew she was among the few who truly could. "I mean, it's our job to handle stuff like this, and we pretty much spit in Nick Fury's face."

"I mean, like you said in there, we're teenagers," Gwen said. "I know you two have done more with your powers than I likely ever will, but I don't think there's anything wrong with putting ourselves first when we've been through so much already. We're supposed to be on vacation for crying out loud. We're supposed to be enjoying ourselves and spending time with our friends."

"Gwen's right," Peter assured Andi, though he was dealing with a similar torment. He was never one to walk away from the fight either.

"I'm sure there'll be other monsters to fight," Gwen continued with a smile on her face. "But we do deserve a bit of a break. Believe me, I've been going nonstop since I got my powers, and I'm tired. All we can do is hope Fury finds someone else to help Quentin. I'm sure there's an abundance of heroes to choose from."

"Yeah, maybe you're right," Andi responded. At this point, she was trying to more-or-less convince herself she made the right decision, but so far it wasn't working too well. Regardless, she intended to fight the thoughts in her head, just as she'd been doing for months now. She could only hope those thoughts didn't come back to bite her in the ass.