chapter twenty-two

➥  four weeks had passed since the fateful night of their homecoming dance, and the French family was settling in nicely amongst the residents of the tower, they were actually the perfect tenants, hardly making themselves noticed. the only member seen on a regular daily basis was Zander, who's newfound powers were coming along quite nicely, occasionally he could be seen walking with his twin sister Selena, who had started to warm up to the idea of Kat (she had saved her brothers life after all), and rather enjoyed their new home, she had even started hanging around Logan and Kat when they weren't busy with training or schooling.

It was her idea (that was skillfully planted into her head by Tony) for all of them to join in on the Halloween festivities happening down below on the streets. Bruce had just finished making Kat and Zander their own superhero costumes, custom tailored to their genetic mutations, and seeing as they would probably never see the light of day, she didn't see why it wouldn't be okay for the pair to dress as, well, their superhero selves for the day.

Kat, never having experienced the holiday, thought that it sounded like a lovely idea and had jumped to the task of asking permission from Clint, whom gave it without a second thought. "Thank you!" She had exclaimed excitedly, giving the man a hug before turning and running back to her room, where Selena sat on her bedroom floor with Logan. "Get dressed bitches!" She had shouted ecstatically. "I'll go grab Zander, and the outfits from Bruce! You're a fucking genius, Selena!"

She and Zander hadn't exactly been okay with each other since the night she had come home from her arcade date with Bucky, the boy had found a way to constantly be with her, always touching her when he was around, shoving one of his hoodies at her to cover up with whenever he thought her work out clothes were too revealing and Bucky was around, and she was extremely pissed at him over it but she didn't want him to miss out on the fun, he was just as cooped up and overworked here as she was.

She happened to pass by him in the hallway, to the labs, he was just coming out of the training room and she grabbed his hand, running slightly. "Come on, we're going out!" She says excitedly, a grin on her face.

Zander couldnt help but smile at the sight of her happiness, he hated that she was annoyed at him, and he knew he deserved it, he had officially turned into the over possessive, jealousy fueled boyfriend, and he deserved every bit of attitude, but he would take the happiness when he could get it. "And where exactly are we going?!" He asks, he hadn't left the tower in a month now, and he couldn't have cared less where they were going as long as he felt the sun on his face and fresh air in his lungs.

Kat giggles, turning around to look at him. "It's Halloween!" She says, coming to an abrupt stop at the doors of the lab. "Bruce, tony!" She shouts, causing the men to jump, they had been talking quietly about something. "We've come to put our suits to the test!"

She explained their Halloween plans, and Bruce and Tony were both more than happy to oblige without question, helping them into their super suits. "Here, let me get your eyemasks.." Tony says after helping Kat zip the back of hers up.

The girl was looking at herself in the reflective glass wall, taking in her blonde hair that she had recently had Logan crop to her shoulders for her and the way that the suit fit her. It was like a glove, perfectly in tune to the shape of her body, hugging her figure in the most comfortable way ( it' was purple too!).  Though it looked skin tight, if felt really roomy and breathable, and even had a matching pair of boots with it! Tony really did know her too well.

The man was back within a few seconds, handing the pair their black eye masks. It may have covered them the least, but it seemed to actually get the job done.

"Damn we look good." Kat says when she sees Zander turn around. She caught the blush on his cheeks, and the small smile he wore. "Green suits you." She says, looking at him adoringly, he really did look good. "Are you ready? Your sister says the streets are usually pretty crowded because of the parade, so i was thinking we should probably go now before it gets to be dark and the whole city decides to join in."

Zander nods, and they leave the labs, saying their goodbyes to Tony and Bruce. They walk quietly to the elevator, a slightly tense air about them as neither say a word or even look at each other, not knowing what the other is thinking. Zander wants to apologize for acting like he had been, but just as he's about to speak the elevator dings and they step out.

Logan and Selena were in the common room, both dressed as cats in the easiest impromptu costumes they could make out of Kat's closet, and turned to look at their friends in awe. "Wow." Selena says, taking her twin in. "Guess it's official Zan, you really are living your childhood dream." She teases.

The pair start to bicker, giving Kat an excuse to slip off quietly. She hurries down the hallway, stopping in front of the closed door across from her own and giving it a few soft raps, it took no more than a couple of seconds before the man who put her in the awkward situation with Zander to begin, d with opens the door.

"Wow.." He says, taking the girl in. He had to admit, she looked a different type of gorgeous in her suit, he had to give his props to Tony, the man knew what he was doing. "I think I'll need to ask Tony for an upgrade." He jokes, leaning against the door frame as he stared at her.

He had to admit, he loved her new haircut, it added a kind of edginess to her usual soft, sweet personality and he thought it definitely worked for her. "Where's your guard dog?" He asks, peering down the hallway. Generally here lately, wherever Kat was, is where Zander was, making it hard for him to get any time with her.

Kat rolls her eyes playfully. "In the living room, with his sister and Logan." She says, looking down at her feet. "We're going to the Halloween parade thing, would you want to come too?" She asks almost too hopefully, looking up at him through her eye mask.

Bucky gives her a sad smile, as much as he wanted to jump at the opportunity, he knew that this was a test for the two of them, to see how they handled a real scenario with their superpowers and team training simulations they'd been doing. "Sorry Doll," He says, arms crossed over his chest as he resisted the urge to reach out and brush her hair behind her ear. "I dont think it's a good idea..your boyfriend doesn't like me, and I dont handle crowds too well anymore.."

"Oh..okay.." She says, honestly sad that he had turned her down. She brushes it off, giving him a smile as she turns to leave. "See you later!" She heads down the hallway, back to where her friends were waiting almost impatiently for her. She noticed Zander's look immediately. "What? I had to pee."

➥ The streets were crowded, the group hadn't gotten too far when Kat spotted Peter through the crowd. They had been slowly making their way through a rather large crowd of adorable children dressed in things that she didn't even recognize when she heard his voice.

"Excuse me, coming through.." She had heard, her head snapping up at the familiar voice. She spotted him not too far away, trying to get a different group of kids and their parents to back away from the building he was in front of.

"Spidey!" She calls, her hand raised to wave at him. She had the sense that he wasn't dressed for Halloween in that moment, and didnt want to give his secret away. She yanked on Zander's arm, trying to get him to help her through the crowd. "Zander, Peter's over there, look!" She says, pointing.

Zander turned his head, trying to pretend like he wasnt upset with her. He had heard her ask Bucky to join them. He just didnt understand why she felt the need to be around him all the time, it's almost like she didn't see the way he looked at her.

He furrowed his eyebrows, he could hear the franticness in Peter's voice, something was definitely wrong. "Come on, let's help." He says, pulling her through the kids. "What's going on?" He asks as soon as they're close enough.

Peter sighs in relief at seeing them. "That bank behind me? It's being robbed." He says, pulling the two of them away from the crowd so they wouldn't overhear. "There's hostages, but the only way in is covered by gun men and there's definitely a bomb in the doorway." He says, feeling helpless. "I tried to call Tony but he didn't answer, I have no idea what to do..if I break in through the front windows, I risk them murdering the hostages or setting off the bomb and killing all of us.." He looked behind him again. "But there's no other way in, no roof hatch, no windows around the back or in the alley.."

Kat and Zander look to each other, the feelings between them completely gone in that moment. "We need to help.." Kat says. Zander nods in agreement. "I might have a plan." She says after a moment, turning to Logan and Selena. "You two, keep everyone back as far as you can without saying anything about the bomb inside." She gets a nervous nod from both girls. "Logan, get ahold of Tony, Bruce..your dad.. anyone at the tower and tell them what's going on okay?"

"What are you going to do?" Logan asks on the edge of excitement and terror, pure adrenaline running through her veins in that moment. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, looking between the three heros in front of her.

Kat can't help but smirk a little, thrilled with the situation at hand. "I'm going to put my seventeen years of training to some use, finally." She says.

She turns back to Peter and and Zander, huddling with the two so as not to be overheard by anyone. "Follow me, we'll go through the alley and around to the back." She says, leading both boys across the street towards the scene of the ongoing crime.

"Not to be a copy cat here," Zander says, following behind his girlfriend. "but to quote Logan, what are you going to do, Kat?" He genuinely had no idea how they were going to do this, or what was even going through her head right now. She turned on her heel, giving him a look that clearly said her plan should have been obvious.

"There's no windows in the back of banks like this because this is where they keep their  vaults." She says, hands on her hips. "I would imagine it's the entire length of the building, and most likely about four feet thick of steel..think you can get us through it?"

Zander looked at her, appalled. *Kat, I've barely been using that for a week.." They had recently discovered, to the delight of Bruce Banner, that not only could be turn invisible, but he could turn other things invisible with him, they had also just figured out that he could move through objects, such as walls, with ease when he was invisible. "And I dont even know if I can do it with people yet! I can barely do it with a pen!"

Kat rolls her eyes at him, hands on her hips. "Wait, hold on, what are you talking about?" Peter asks, hands up in the air. He was confused. He knew Zander could go invisible, but he didn't know that there was more to it too.

"What better time to find out than right now?" Kat asks, completely ignoring Peter. She stared at Zander, trying to get her point across. "There are people in there who need our help, do you really want to just walk away and not try?"

Zander makes a noise, tapping his foot like a toddler before looking at her once more. "Fine, okay, I'll try." He says, hoping that it actually worked. He grabbed her hand, and reached for Peter's, knowing that he had to be touching both of them to be able to even get them invisible too. "I can turn you guys invisible with me, and if Kat is right, I should be able to walk you straight through the walls and into the vault..it's all very new so bare with me."

Peter makes a shocked noise, but says nothing, allowing Zander to hold his hand. He hears the boy breathe in as he rocks on his heels for a moment.

"Okay.. okay..* He says, closing his eyes. Zander squeezed both of their hands, feeling himself go invisible. After a few moments, he opens one eye, peeking at Kat, before opening the other and looking at Peter. "Well, that's definitely a good sign."

Peter looks down at himself, completely shocked. "Holy crap i can't see myself!" He says, moving his leg and shaking it all about, trying to see if the invisibleness would shake off.

"Peter, focus!" Kat snaps, urging Zander forward. She gives his hand a gentle squeeze. "Come on, babe, you got this!" She says, encouraging him as best as she could at the moment.

Zander nods, squeezing her hand back before walking forward with them. "Okay guys, here we go.." He says, putting his foot through the brick wall, it goes through with ease.

Peter follows as Zander drags him through the wall. He almost pulls away, terrified that it would hurt, or worse, wouldn't work and would instead leave him with a bloody nose from hitting the wall. But just as he's deciding too, he's suddenly being pulled through the brick, and into the steel. He felt like his whole body had turned to jelly.

"Oh, that's a different sensation." Kat says as they continue to walk through the steel of the safe. In just a few short steps, they were indeed in the inside is the vault, but they weren't alone.

Huddled in the corner were three hostages, hands ried together as they huddled against each other, looking towards a ponytailed man filling a burlap sack with stacks of cash that sat on the vault table.

"I'll get him, and I'll send another me out to see if there's any in the hall." Kat whispers. "Zander, you get them to safety with Logan and Selena," She says, naturally assuming the role of leader. "Peter, stay with me." She lets go of Zander's hand, regaining visibility in the middle of the vault.

The hostages start at the sight of her, one of them making a muffled panicked noise. Kat holds her finger to her mouth, shushing them quietly as she allows herself to duplicate. Peter goes next, watching her duplicate slip quietly out of the open vault door and into the hallway beyond it. Zander is last, making his way over to the hostages as Kat taps the shoulder of the robber.

The man turns, surprise written on his face. "Hi!" She says, a smug smile on her face as she pulls her hand back, punching him in just the right spot, with just enough force to knock him out immediately. He slumps forward against, and Kat grunts at his weight, lowering him to the ground as best as she could before just dropping him, letting him fall in a heap. "Peter, I could use your webs around him."

Peter obliges, shooting webs until his hands and feet were bound perfectly. "Done." He says after a second, turning around to see what she wanted to do next. ..

Kat gives the scares group a small smile, trying to be reassuring. "I know you guys are traumatized right now," She says softly, looking at her friends. "But I need you to hang in tight for a few more seconds okay? We're here to help, and unfortunately for you, the only way out is the way we came in..my friend Zander will take care of you all..do what he says." She gives him a breid smile, before moving towards the door. "Meet us in the hallway."

Within moments Kat and Peter were crouched in the hallway, both hidden behind the corner as the scouted what was going on in the main room. Men were walking around with guns, bullet proof vests covering their chests, tactical pants on their bottoms, they looked like their pockets were full of ammo. They had been planning this for a while, by the looks of it.

She could see some of the patrons of the bank, and maybe a few other employees, they were spread out across the floor, all of them laying on their stomachs with their faces towards the tile floor. The tellers must not have been able to pull the silent alarm, otherwise police would have been swarming outside of the large glass front windows. This was bad, bad indeed.

"Peter, you're like super smart right?" She whispers, her eye catching on the bomb that was where he had said it was, attached to the front doors.

"I mean..I guess.." He says, looking at her like she was out of her mind for asking that that this moment. "Why?"

"So, you could probably disable that bomb without killing the entire block then?" She wasn't really asking. She knew that he would be able to figure out, she would just have to buy them enough time.

Peter looks at her as jf she was actually insane. He had absolutely no clue how to disarm a bomb. He was about to say so when Zander shows up beside them, materializing out of thin air.

"They're with Logan, and your friend too, Peter.." He whispers, kneeling down to peer at the room behind them. "Looks a bit busy in there." He looked to Kat, waiting for her instructions, he had no problem letting her call the shots for this, lord only knew he was at a loss for any kind of brain function other than doing what he was told right then.

Kat nods, glad they had made it out. "Okay," She says, "here's what going to happen: Peter, you get out there and get that bomb disarmed..keep yourself out of sight, I'll distract them but i can't promise long." She says, looking to her spider friend. "Zander, think you can handle that many people?"

Zander looks, nodding his head once. "Of course." He says, as if it hadn't just been a problem for them five minutes ago. "You stay safe okay?" He says, turning himself invisible on her signal.

Peter uses his webs to pull himself to the top of the hallway ceiling, crawling across upside down as he made his way to the opening. It was a high roof, he would almost call it an atrium if it weren't for the flat, un windowed look of it. Kat waits a moment, making sure that they're able to maintain before she crawls behind the teller counter, headed for the middle booth.

She hops up quietly, standing with her hands on her hips. She had been expecting to be noticed almost immediately, though she didn't mind the dramatic entrance she got. "Excuse me gentlemen, am I interrupting?" She drawls out, a smirk on her face.

Immediately she had a gun pointed at her. "Get the fuck down and put your face on the fucking floor!" The leader shouts, pointing his gun at her. He didn't take the super suit seriously, jf was Halloween after all. "Do it now!" He yells when she doesn't move.

"Sorry, hun, I can't do that, this is designer." She says, gesturing to her outfit. She counted two of the hostages were gone already, Zander having taken two at a time. "Hope you don't mind, I brought friends." She says, motioning to several of her duplicates roaming the floor freely. Three of them, one for each of his friends.

"Kill her!" The man snarls, his friends jumping into action immediately. One of them swings a knife at her duplicate, which just steps out of the way, grabbing his arm and twisting, she hears bone break immediately.

The other two circle their friends, each of the men striking out first, only to be shocked by the power of her blows when they connect with their faces.

The leader narrows his eyes, looking at Kat. "You're one of those mutant freaks arent you?" He taunts.

"Sorry to disappoint but i wasn't born like this." She says, popping the knuckles in one hand. "I was made." She reared back before shooting her hand out, letting it stretch across the room as she connected her fist to his already ugly nose. He grabbed her hand in a surprise twist of things, yanking on her arm just hard enough to catch her off guard and throw her across the room.

Kat lands against the wall with a thud, hitting the floor with a sickening crunch. She breathes through tightly clenched teeth, she definitely had just broken her ribs. 'Oh you're so fucking dead." She grunts, getting back to her feet.

Four more hostages had disappeared by that point, and there were only three left that she could see.

"Alright cowboy, let's wrestle." She says, charging towards him full force. She connects with his middle, taking him down to the ground. He lands heavily, his hand coming up to connect with her face.

They trade blows for a while, until she gets a good enough grip on his arms, pinning him down roughly before Zander appears next to her, urging her off as he holds the still struggling man down.

"Peter!" She yells, noticing one of the men getting closer to him. She makes a run for it, stretching her arm out to grab the man just as Peter notices him. Her hand grabs his collar, pulling him backwards to the side of the room she was on, not noticing the gun in his hand until it was too late. Before she can kick it away, the man pulls the trigger, the shot ringing out loudly.

"Katherine!" She heard Zander yell as a searing pain burns through her, shocked, she turns her attention off of the man and to her now bleeding shoulder.

The bullet went clean through, and blood was now seeping out of the wound and onto her uniform. She was shocked, and it was almost as if the whole room stilled, Zander and Peter jumping into action just a moment to late as another shot rings out and she drops to the floor.

She didn't remember much after that, but within moments Zander was hovering over her, his face red and worried, tears brimming in his eyes. "Shit..holy shit.." He says, pressing down onto her stomach. "Peter!" She heard him yell as he looked over his shoulder. "I need to get her out of here!"

"Go, I got this!" She hears him yell just as the edge of her vision starts to go black, the room spinning. She felt like she was cold and on fire all at once. Not sure what was going on around her anymore, she felt him lift her into his arms, saw him look down at her and say something that she couldn't quite make out.

Without warning, everything went black.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

hey bbys !!! i know, i know, it's been a while! welcome back to my oldest (it's been literally five years), bestest, and favorite fic !

let me know what you think in the comments!