✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

"HEY, IT'S (Y/N) AND PETER!"

Abraham yelled from his spot, leaning on the side of the school bus with the rest of the Decathlon team, who had their bags and suitcases ready for the trip. Ned was among them, and he didn't seem at all fazed when he saw his two friends approaching the group, the rest were the complete opposite.

"(Y/N)? Peter?" Liz frowned.

"Yeah, I was hoping we could rejoin the team," Peter started, elbowing (Y/N) to back him up.

"He's right. We won't let you guys down — "

"No, no way. You can't just quit on us, stroll up and be welcomed back by everyone," Flash came into view, taking an intimidating step towards Peter to make him back up, and (Y/N) was about to protest when a loud voice cut in.

"Hey, welcome back!" Mr. Harrington greeted enthusiastically as he jumped off the bus. "Flash, you're back to first alternate."

"What?"

"He's taking your place," Abraham laughed.

"Excuse me, can we go already?" MJ cut in. "I was hoping to get in some protesting in front of an embassy before dinner."

"Protesting is patriotic," Mr. Harrington nodded. "Let's get on the bus."

Flash removed the yellow blazer from his shoulders and threw it into Peter's hands with an angry frown written on his face as (Y/N) was handed the spare one they had left.

As the entire group got inside the school bus, (Y/N) was already removing her backpack from her shoulders to sit next to MJ when a hand pulled her back to another seat of the bus, more specifically, in the back. Peter flashed MJ an apologetic look after she gave him a questioning frown, but it was nothing compared to the look (Y/N) had on her face.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"You always sit next to me in school trips," he explained like it was obvious. "Besides, we need to focus on our bigger problem."

He whispered the last part, afraid someone else could overhear the conversation. (Y/N) just let out a sigh and dropped her backpack on her feet, and stared out the window as they passed through the highway.

"Focus up. Our next topic is the moons of Saturn," Liz announced once the bus got on motion, leaving its original parking spot and going into the freeway.

Throughout the ride, Liz kept on asking questions to the group as she read from her flash cards, everyone participating having to press the small bell when they knew the answer right away.

"Uh, strontium, barium, vibranium," Peter answered one of the questions, smiling as he pressed his hand at the bell.

"Very good, Peter. Glad to have you back," Liz flashed him a look and a smile could be seen in her face before she turned back to the cards.

"Glad to be back," he nodded.

"What is the current standard unit of — "

Two different phone buzzing sounded at the same time, and (Y/N) pulled her phone out of her pocket and cursed under her breath when she recognized the number and the name, clicking on the red button to silence her phone down.

"Can I take this real quick?" Peter interrupted.

"Yeah, fine." Liz nodded and saw how Peter uncomfortably shifted on his seat and pressed on the green button of the screen.

"Hello?" Peter said in a lower tone.

"Got a blip on my screen here. You two left New York?" Happy's voice called from the other line.

(Y/N) and Peter locked eyes and shared a thought. "Tracker."

"Yeah, no, it's just a school trip. It's, uh, nothing," Peter answered. Look, Happy, I gotta say, you tracking us without permission is a complete violation of privacy."

Ned, sitting in front of the two pointed to the projection in his hand, showing the location of the men they were following after.

"That's not the same," (Y/N) muttered.

"What's not the same?" Happy asked.

"Nothing. Look, it's just the Academic Decathlon. It's no big deal," Peter followed on.

"Hey, hey. I'll decide if it's no big deal," Happy stayed quiet for a minute before continuing. "Sounds like no big deal, but remember, I'm watching you."

When the bus finally stopped, they had arrived to their destination. The bus had parked on the entrance of an enormous hotel, where more groups of people were already gathering for what they came here for; The United States Academic Decathlon.

The inside of the hotel was packed up with students and teachers, all walking through the booths that were there for the event. The doors from the hotel were visible from below, posters being glued to the wall to add more decorating.

"Everyone stick together," Liz looked back at the group.

"Yeah," Mr. Harrington backed her up, buttoning his yellow blazer and placing his glasses back to their normal position.

"You kidding me? This place is huge," Charles looked around the building.

"I've seen bigger," Flash scoffed.

"There's a bird in here," Abraham pointed and a chirp was heard from afar.

"Hey, you brought your laptop, right?" Peter moved his eyes from the view in front of him to look back at his friend.

"Why?"

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

INSIDE ONE OF the hotel rooms, the one where Ned and Peter would be staying, the trio got all their stuff ready and began working on the newest task, which was to remove the trackers.

"Guys," Ned asked, his laptop sitting on his lap. "Why are we removing the tracker for your suits?"

Peter, who had been distracted in seeing how (Y/N) was focused in her own suit, the look of concentration that he knew too well written on her face and a small flashlight tucked in her ear, blinked back from his thoughts and looked back at Ned.

"Uh," he cleared his throat. "Because I gotta follow these guys to their boss before they move again — "

"And Mr. Stark would kill us if he finds out about it," (Y/N) finished his sentence, not looking up from her suit.

"So you're lying to Iron Man now?" Ned questioned.

"No, we're not lying," Peter defended. "He just doesn't really get what I can do yet."

Ned didn't say anything back but he didn't have to, since the look on his face said it all. (Y/N) pretended like she didn't see it and moved back on the task in hand, seeing how Peter was successfully removing the tracker off his suit.

"Gotcha," he muttered. "All right, Happy, enjoy tracking this lamp."

He glued the tracker on the lamp with care, the flashlight still stuck between his teeth before he pulled it off to talk to (Y/N).

"(Y/N), are you done?"

"Yeah, yeah. Wait up," (Y/N) pulled the tracker out with a pair of tweezers and examined it from up close to get a better look on it. "There you go."

"There's a ton of other subsystems in here," Ned spoke up after he typed on the laptop, green letters and codes popping on his screen.

"Hmm?"

"But they're all disabled by the Training Wheels Protocol," Ned laughed when he read the last part, and (Y/N) covered her own with her hand.

"'Training Wheels Protocol'? Turn it off," Peter said as he leaned on Ned's side to see for himself.

"I don't think that's a good idea. They're probably blocked for a reason," Ned shook his head.

"Come on, man, I don't need training wheels," Peter complained as he climbed on his own bed, jumping on it. "I'm sick of him treating me like a kid all the time. It's not cool."

"You are kids."

"A kid who can stop a bus with his bare hands and one that can blast someone to the next dimension," Peter continued.

"Guys, I just don't think this is a great idea," Ned added. "I mean, what if this is illegal?"

"Look, please. This is our chance to prove ourselves," Peter pointed over to him and (Y/N), jumping down from his bed and kneeling on Ned's side. "We'll handle it."

"I don't think this is a good idea," Ned protested.

"The guy in the chair," (Y/N) muttered with a dreamy tone, moving her fingers to add effect, blue mist playing in her hands.

"Don't do that," Ned complained.

"Come on."

Ned sighed and clicked on the keyboard of the laptop, and the suit sitting on the foot of the bed let out a whirred and crackled. The two changed into their respective suits, as (Y/N) wore a hoodie over it to cover any sign of it while Peter zipped his jacket up and placed the hood on.

"Okay, the glowy thing, it's evidence. Keep it safe," Peter muttered as (Y/N) checked outside to see if anyone was approaching them.

"All right?"

"Okay. Okay."

Peter checked the projector in his hand and turned back to (Y/N). "They're moving."

"Be careful."

The door closed behind her and (Y/N) checked on both of her sides to check one last time, freezing in her spot as she saw Liz and Cecilia walking up to them with quiet steps, both girls wearing their swimsuits.

"Hey, Liz," Peter greeted awkwardly.

"Perfect timing. We're gonna go swimming," Liz whispered, pointing to her and Cecilia as the latter turned around to signal the others to follow after her.

"Come on, come on," Cecilia mumbled, and the others passed beside them with smiles on their faces, giggling over their actions.

(Y/N) saw the glint in Peter's eyes of having to share a conversation with Liz and decided to walk forward, giving him a nod to silently telling him that she was leaving him for a small time.

"Hey, we're hotel room neighbors, didn't you know?" Cecilia ran after her, falling into step with (Y/N) as they walked down the hallway of the hotel floor.

"Really?" (Y/N) asked, curious to why she was trying to have a conversation with her but didn't think any further of it.

"Yeah, it's the room to the right. My right, not yours," Cecilia laughed at her own joke and played the towel on her shoulder.

"Anyway, you should come with us, you and your boyfriend's company will be accepted," Cecilia continued as (Y/N) played with the ends of her hoodie.

"Oh, he's not my — "

"Really? I always thought you two were too close."

"Well, it's always been him and I against the world," (Y/N) muttered, missing the way Cecilia smirked mischievously at her words.

"Psst, come on!" Sally, who had appeared from behind the corner of the hallway, whisper-yelled at the two, moving her head to make them follow her.

"Coming," Cecilia shrugged and turned back to (Y/N), who had looked back to see how Peter was still fumbling with his own words while talking to Liz.

"You see, one night at the pool can help you in reducing some of your stress, hon," Cecilia said. "Put on your swimsuit and come find us!"

With that, she gently slapped (Y/N)'s shoulder as a goodbye and joined her group of friends, Liz passing right past her as the two girls disappeared from her view, laughing to themselves.

"What was that about?" Peter approached her side, his backpack still slung on his shoulders.

"You're telling me. I could hear you not being able to speak to Liz from a mile away," (Y/N) teased after she regained her posture from the past conversation.

"I'm not that bad," Peter scoffed.

"Keep telling yourself that," she patted his shoulder. "Come on, bug boy. We've got better places to be."

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

FROM a view from above, (Y/N) and Peter were able to see how the rest of the team was splashing around and swimming inside the roofed pool, diving into the water and laughing among themselves.

As (Y/N) stood from her kneeling position and dusted off her suit as she placed her mask on her face, she felt a strange tingle travel in her entire body before she heard a noise that alarmed her.

"Hello, (Y/N)," a masculine voice spoke on her ear, though she wasn't able to see anyone else besides Peter on the rooftop.

"Uh, hi?"

Peter, who had been distracted in his own thoughts and scanning his surroundings, turned back to (Y/N) and waved a hand in front of her face to distract her from her shocked state.

"You can hear it too?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, it's confusing."

Peter seemed to be satisfied by her answer since he drifted back to his own world and seemed to be talking to his own version of the AI. "I put a tracker on someone. He's a bad guy."

"As long as we make it back in time for decathlon, it's fine," Peter said and used his webs to pull himself off the ground as (Y/N) thrusted her hands to the side.

They both landed on the back of a towing truck and let it take them away from the hotel, since it was heading the way of the location they were meaning to find. Once they got close enough and had to dispose of the truck, (Y/N) jumped off and lowered herself safely on the grass as Peter rolled on his side and stood up.

"Detecting three individuals," the male voice from before returned and (Y/N) found herself nodding, until she realized what she was doing.

(Y/N) kneeled down on the grass and Peter hid behind the bushes, leaning down to whisper, "Why is their secret lair in a gas station? That's so lame."

Peter jumped off his hiding spot and climbed on the tall structure to get a view from above, while (Y/N) decided to stay back and watch from below, using the leaves and bushes as disguise.

"Hey, suit man, can I hear what they're saying?"

"Activating Enhanced Reconnaissance Mode," the AI said emotionlessly.

"I got the gauntlet from the Lagos cleanup. The rest is my design," one man spoke from inside of the van. "Can't believe they're still cleaning up that Triskelion mess."

"I love it," another man interfered. "They keep making messes, we keep getting rich."

"Target inbound."

"Whoa, they're in the middle of a heist," (Y/N) heard Peter say in a low tone, his voice getting through her ear by the connected comms. "We could catch them red-handed. This is awesome."

"(Y/N), I'll get a little closer to see what's happening," Peter said and she gave a short response, seeing how he stared ahead once again. "Uh, 'Enhanced Combat Mode'? Yeah."

"No, no, no. I don't want to kill anybody."

(Y/N) saw how he aimed a web at the roof of the gas station and pulled himself with it, but instead of landing safely on the top, he hit the ground with a loud thud, making her wince.

"What the hell was that?" she asked.

"I don't know. Suit lady's acting all weird," he explained in a panicked whisper, continuing to shoot his webs but failing to fire the old ones.

(Y/N) stood from her spot and pulled herself off the ground and into the roof of the convenience store besides the gas station, seeing how Peter hid away from the men's view and followed after her, still having a quieted conversation with his AI.

"No. Just — You choose," Peter said as he approached her, crouching beside her, the two getting a better view of the thugs.

Three identical trucks drove on the road, and (Y/N) was able to see how a faint red light appeared from the clouds and formed itself into the familiar suit she'd seen a few days ago, flying into the scene.

"Okay, spider boy, that's him," she said.

The man with the winged suit lowered himself to the truck's level and anchored himself to the top of it, making sure that the wings didn't fly away with the strong wind. He threw a strange artifact into the truck's roof and lowered himself down.

(Y/N) and Peter had followed behind him and saw how a peculiar, light pink rectangle had formed itself on the truck's roof, leaving no damage as the man was accomplishing what he came here for.

"Whoa, cool. It's like some kind of matter phase shifter," Peter whispered in awe as he let the tips of his fingers touch the artifact before hiding from the man's view.

They saw how he jumped back up from the inside of the truck with a bag in hand and turned his back to the duo, pulling the anchors off the truck before Peter shot a web at the bag in his hands and removed it from his grip.

"Hey, Big Bird. This doesn't belong to you."

The man was wearing a helmet that blended in with the wings, but it was inevitable to imagine the harsh glare he had underneath, jumping back to his wings and into the air.

(Y/N) formed a sphere of energy in her hands and threw it at him, succeeding in throwing him back before he regained stability in the air. She made two more blasts and directed them at the man as he tried to fly away, resisting the urge to scream at Peter to help.

He shot a web at him but it didn't cause any harm, two separate webs escaping from the web shooters and missing the man completely.

"Suit lady, what was that?!" he frantically yelled.

(Y/N) dodged the enormous wing trying to slice her in half and directed another blast, this time not succeeding in striking him back. He moved out of the way just in time and harshly grabbed her by the arm.

"What? No, just set everything back to normal," Peter continued ordering the AI.

She removed herself from his grip but didn't get time to react to the kick at her stomach, which made her fly back and knock Peter down with her, both falling into the formed pink glow in the truck.

(Y/N) groaned as she hit the ground and winced when she heard a thud from beside her, not having that much strength to get up and help out, seeing black dots clouding her vision before it went dark.

so, it may seem like (y/n) is too weak now, but i wanted her to gain some development with her powers throughout the book. it wouldn't feel natural for her to be all overpowered.

-see you soon, bex