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Poke Pt 10 - Prom Night

@devilishminx328. @theincaprincess, @lilith15000, @jesevans, @jiminapickle

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“We’re passing out the nominations early this year for the voting at Prom for the awards.” A peppy cheerleader said in offering you a sheet that you didn’t lift a hand to reach for.

“Oh, I’m sorry I’m not able to go.”

That had her smile drop and she asked, “Why not? It’s our night! The best night of the whole Senior Year experience!”

“It’s $285 a ticket,” you said and then took the awkward squeak from her as your cue to step away and continue on past the stunned group who by your second class had let it explode through the school about your one woman protest against the prom.

“Not a protest,” you sighed in a drop into your seat beside your literature teacher’s desk where he chuckled.

In his hands were packets he passed out for your final exams of the semester saying to you. “And here I thought my Prom was expensive at $59 a head. But they booked one of the hottest clubs in Manhattan.”

Through the door you watched Dean Morita entered with a wide grin that had you mutter, “Oh no,” and ease down in your seat only to sit up with a forced grin at his stop in front of you.

Onto your desk he settled a basic itinerary that read the layout of the graduation ceremony saying, “Final tally is in. Pluto since you have the highest GPA in our graduating class you will be giving the speech at our ceremony in two weeks.”

“But, what about Cindy? She had the highest.”

“Yes, however with your extracurricular credits and club credits to your resume you have beaten her by a single point on your average. She will give her speech first as Class Salutatorian.”

That had you scoff to her frustrated squeak muffled in her dropped head onto her arms folded in the desk in front of her. “Can’t she just give hers? She has a speech prepared since November!”

“The both of you were given warning to have speeches prepared.”

“Well, I, got distracted with a project.”

“Excellent, then bring it along for a demonstration. Let’s spice things up this year!”

You squeaked out a huff and tapped your fingers on the desk stealing a glance at Cindy who gave you an equally exasperated glance. “Maybe if we buy you a wig and some contacts they won’t notice we traded places so you can do both.”

That had a few chuckles fill the room only for the teacher to say, “Now that we have had ample disappointments on social requirements to the end of this monumental year, let’s get back down to the truly grueling part of your education, final exams. Half of your overall grade. Enjoy and break the seal. Feel free to roam the halls in conjoined nervous agony when you are done.”

“I thought you wanted to go to prom.” Harry’s voice came from the end of the hall making you smirk his way.

“How was Calculus?” You asked deliberately changing the subject.

“Spelled my name right for certain. What about prom? I got asked by one of the cheerleaders.”

“Ooh, you should have fun. Had a party before my friends from when I started here graduated early as a makeshift prom. I don’t think prom would be much fun without a group of friends and you would only be held back with expectation to have to keep me company as friends when you could shine, and possibly steal Prom King.” That had him roll his eyes, “You know that’d be fun for you. Big fun bash after your exams and then you get to traverse the globe for the summer.”

Up from his glance at his shuffling feet he caught your gaze to ask, “Running off with Johnny Storm this summer?”

“No, far as I know until chaos strikes it’s a trip to Scandinavia and then wherever the road leads for Eddie and me.”

“Well I hope the road could lead you to a suit shop in Manhattan,” he said making you smirk again, “Need a second opinion on a suit for prom. After school today, you free? Even planned a reiki session after where we get tarot and palm reading. Could be fun.”

“You already booked us, didn’t you?”

“You’re into all that supernatural stuff.” The bell rang and you had to split up to head to your next set of exams.

“Heard you’re doing a protest against prom.” MJ, with Peter’s jacket on she’d been loaned by him earlier, who had a clear crush on him, said as you passed her in her quiet corner near the stairwell you came down after you’d finished your exam.

“I’m just not spending that much on a ticket to a dance where I get violently ill from everything on the menu the caterers gave out. And I have to shell out a hundred bucks to get the dress I wanted to not have a date or good friends to dance with so I might be among the running to win the paper crown at the end of it.”

“Oh they sprung for aluminum and rhinestones this year.” That had you giggle and sit down next to her and let out a sigh. “You really want to go I’m sure there’s a back door somewhere and with a big enough bag you could bring your own snacks.”

“They’re making me give a speech at graduation. One point, Valedictorian by one point. Cindy’s had her speech ready since November and I got distracted and drew about fifty dinosaur comic strips on a tangent from the plant transporter rings I spent all the time on instead of writing a damn speech.” You glanced at her and said, “I’m not motivational and a science project won’t bolster hopes for the other graduates to be excited to end their year with.”

“You do know we go to a science based school?” She asked and you smirked in return for hers, “These kids would kill for a science project to end the year, from a double Nobel Laureate no less. What do the rings do?”

“Oh, I um, every Christmas they have the giant pines for the lighting ceremony and it is such a hassle to get them from a to b so I thought transporter rings, they expand and you push the plant into one and it comes out the second ring.”

“Like a transporter?” She asked excitedly, “Like ‘Beam me up Scotty’ level transporter rings?”

“Well they’re more like floating hula hoops at this point but that’s the gist of it.”

You said and her jaw dropped, “Can I go when you show them?!”

“I, sure. I still haven’t heard if my Gramps can come or not.”

“I’ll tell Peter and Ned, they’ll flip over seeing that!”

Off the steps she darted and the next avalanche of a rumor had taken root and all you could do was to stand up and head out early to fetch your hat and head off to go and watch a film nearby to fill the time. Harry set the time and place to pick you up from for this appointment he thought would be fun.

Eight others were inside the cot filled space right out of a stereotypical zen hut of a space layered inside the rough cement walls without substantial natural light even with floor to ceiling windows on one wall that was aimed at another building. “You get this one, I’ll sit here,” Harry said claiming his spot.

“Now when you feel at peace do settle down and remove your shoes, socks too if you feel so inclined, if not then lay back and let the sound of the music wash over you.” Half an hour the trio of ladies overseeing the session commented on aura colors and layered crystals across each of you. None of which seemed to do anything for you but whisper of where they were from as they were laid wrongly on top of you and everyone else.

And after, with the woman who claimed to see your white and purple aura countering Harry’s orange one you went alone into a side room set up like a rather pitifully set up adaptation of a teepee for the tarot reading. Palm reading was never an option for you, but was amongst the few services offered within this private space. Just a giggle was the response you gave to three of the apparent worst cards you could get instantly stunning the woman who had laid them.

9 of Swords is a card of anguish, despair, worry, and guilt. If you pull this card, it might mean you have done something wrong, and you are very aware of it. This is a card that means it's time for some introspection and to address aspects of your life in which you could improve your behavior. Maybe you had an affair, cheated on exam, or lied about something important. The 9 of Swords shows guilt is weighing heavily on you, and it is time to right your wrongs.

10 of Wands. This is a card of struggle; a sign you are in over your head. Whether it's in your career or a personal relationship, this card means you've possibly bit off more than you can chew. It indicates you are in for a tough period, and that every day is going to be a little harder than usual.

The Moon. This card often stands for fears and anxieties - the kind that keep us up in the middle of the night. It can also signal a sort of existential dread, the type that hits you when you stare into something as large and unfathomable as the dark night sky and space. If you pull this card, it can mean there are deceptions or fallacies in which you believe. It can also point to the fact you are experiencing fear and letting yourself become engulfed in it. The Moon points to change, uncertainty, and emotional vulnerability. If you pull this card, you may need to assess and confront your fears or parts of your life in which you are lacking clarity.

Harry didn’t fare much better and was pleased for the reserved suit shop afterwards where he got to unload about his apparent blip of loneliness ahead mingled with a clear sign he was due for a promotion, surely to warn that if he threw himself into the new change he could lose out on a romantic partnership. Browsing over suit materials he asked you, “What did they say to you?”

“I have guilt, anxiety and struggle ahead. Oh and the woman said I should let my little frustrations with my parents go. Insisted that our breakfast tiffs should be taken as constructive means to grant insight to struggles they have greater experience over.”

That had him chuckle, “Did you tell them?”

“They seemed so confident, even though they clearly don’t know how to construct a proper teepee they do try to show some level of intuition. Not my job to break their day jobs, they want to live with the lie day in and out that’s on their conscience not mine.”

“I like the gold,” he said showing you the square swatch of material from the book.

“Just not that material, frays no matter the hem stitch you use.” A new material was chosen and through the shop a few options were found for Harry to try on and have tailored. That would be finished in time for the big day and when that was through he was off to do more studying while you were called to the candle shop for a late shift to fill an empty slot that suddenly popped up.

Five million, in full in trade for the final flight test oddly scared you woke up the next day, your final day at school. One day ago into Iron Man’s chest you had walked mid shuffle through your bag to get a pen and make a note for yourself, only to be pulled into a work lunch after the final class at Midtown to go over final designs and first figures of the new fleet. Numbers for how many that had been ordered were shared alongside news of the larger pool of customers out in Dubai and Asia. Months now he had been piling up new bodies and waiting on the final design of interior from you and so this would be an easy drop of this fleet to be followed by a second he would green light to be built. All he wanted to do was to ease you into the prospect of being in possession of a small fortune soon to grow into a large one when your fleet would quite literally take off around the globe.

Decades now aviation companies had become multi billion dollar companies, and him knowing how he stepped his foot into that, even with just war birds, they didn’t let him in lightly. Now this branch of Stark Industries was set to take the brunt of the blows when they would kick and flail in response to the change of this branch of commute. But his aim to cushion the blow did nothing of the sort. Only worsening things in fact and setting off the mood of your entire final day.

The entire final half morning there you could only feel the same creeping chill up your spine from lessons to pull the trigger on captives taken by Leviathan and Hydra. True you had Columbia still to get back to in the fall, these faces around you wouldn’t all wind up in unmarked graves dropping off the planet, this wasn’t death but it sure as hell felt similar. A mixture of pity, envy and curiosity for what the senior class would get up to after this finite drop off into the real world flooded up from the younger years.

Yearbook pick up was the first step for everyone who had purchased them including yourself. Hour by hour each year got their own memoriam of their year for just them while everyone else traded pens and colorful stamps and stickers that filled every yearbook offered. Had you not had the ability to heal yourself you imagined your wrist would be throbbing much worse than it was at the end of the half day before freedom was called for and the Seniors were off to ready for the Prom you were still not going to attend.

A bit behind you lingered to hand over small knickknacks to each teacher you had been given to their own tastes they appreciated for its silent gratitude and attention to their personalities you had picked up on their openness on their likes or subtleties. You felt you had to say goodbye in case you’d never see them again as this chapter of your life closed. Sure some might be at the graduation ceremony the following week but you felt you still owed them a proper goodbye.

Then surely focus sank back into the yearbook on your lap now inked to the brim with sentimental notes and scribbled names and smiley faces lost to the always present thought of how none of them truly knew you. And had they not made up their own glorified version of you in their heads it wouldn’t matter if you dropped off the face of the planet. But like always your phone buzzed and you had to grin at the message from Eddie. He wouldn’t be home tonight but like he’d implanted a chip in your brain after having carried Venom randomly over the years he could feel when you were at your lowest through the connection he had to the symbiote.

It was a simple reminder to not load up on sweets fully knowing you’d baked brownies, cookies and a cake, most of which he didn’t take as you’d meant for him to for his stakeout to go with his igloo cooler of sandwiches and strips of bacon he’d packed to fuel the night up on shared watch with Venom. And again with the simple us they posed as for who would miss you had you vanished you bolstered your own tattered sails as best you could with thoughts and irritations for increasing your work hours or thoughts of adventures to be had over the summer. You needed the money, or at least the schedule you set was driven by that comment, while now with money from side jobs that wait for the trust fund was all but habitual at this point. Truly you wanted security for the rest of your life, but all that work gave you little sleep when the big baddies liked to come out at night.

Only a few years in and you just felt tired of this anti hero business. There was no running from it as your every inch burned to make this place a better world for the next year of children that would be born into it. A safer place. Without Hydra or others like them. But that meant sacrificing your safety, your patience, your time, your dreams and possibly meeting your Mate. This road could only grow darker and even though you had spared your ability to have babies you doubted this world would ever be safe enough in your lifetime to be able to bring any into it. There was no choice. Keep fighting. Keep hiding. And never take off the mask until you have it torn off of you by whoever is capable and then get up and keep fighting now with a face and name to give the masses to put all their blame on for all the evil in the world.

Natasha was proof there was a pathway to be considered good, but no one but you and Cooper and Bucky had a clue what it took to get her there, how she was molded to be all she was before she went rogue. What she knew she was running from and what they were capable of if she had been caught in one of their traps. No one knew, and if they did she would be painted with the very same damaged brush that you had been. She was subtle where your break away was explosive beyond belief and shook the world. You made true evil blink and now you bore that title for the act. No one knew how painful that was to you that no one knew, but deep down a part of you hoped they would never find out. That they would never know what cruelty the human race is capable of. What you had been trying to weed out. Which some days felt like an impossible thing. But you had to try.

“Damn,” you muttered missing your stop on the subway and you sighed readying to take the longer walk home that you would at least use the chance to stop in at a place to bring home some food for yourself. Behind the counter of the eatery you caught the cautious grin from the woman there as the man who was leaning over the counter drew back clearly having been caught in his try to stick the place up.

“Nice bag,” he said and his eyes dropped to your shoes noting their name brand even with the wear on the soles of them. “And shoes.” A nod of his head was followed by his saying, “Bag on the counter.”

Blankly you eased the bag off your shoulder and plopped it on the counter loudly and held your expression in his lean in with finger extended to try and get a better look at your necklace. “What do you have hiding there?” Hard onto his foot you stomped and drove your face forward to head-butt him that had his scream muffle in the fold of his body to the floor.

“Just rude,” you said opening your bag to bring out duct tape to tie his hands behind his back. “There are 53 second hand shops in New York, but no, everyone would rather drop ten large on a defense lawyer for theft than helping local shops. Selfish.”

“Crazy bitch, it’s just some pocket change! What’s it to you?!”

“The tape is so they don’t shoot you, idiot.”

“What?” he asked awkwardly looking over his shoulder at you.

“Thank you,” she said and called out to her son in the kitchen who was on the phone with the police who gave the clear that the man was subdued lowering the urgency. And right away she took your order and chuckled at your joke about being from a long family of hard headed women she joked back about sharing the same trait.

When your food was ready you shouldered your bag again and lifted both the food and large sweet tea you sipped on all the way home to the sound of the police dragging the culprit away as he complained about his now broken foot he didn’t want to put any weight on.

Dinner was lovely and like the year before you would use this night to keep the streets clear of drunk drivers outside the various proms held tonight the cars were levitated and breathalyzers were used to ensure those inebriated weren’t driving. Those who were too far gone were searched for their address and sent home in the fleet of taxis that waited for this night that agreed to accept payment at a later date and sent each of the kids home with an IOU that if they didn’t cover you would. Little things that helped to make this city better people did for one another.

Including the opening of several gardens and community centers out of formerly abandoned buildings that you helped to arrange with banks to realize leaving them decrepit did nothing to help and that with more construction crews in work they would be getting more money in the long run anyways. Because in all the mix up of the masses or those murdered for their crimes all their wealth was sent to public set up foundations to fix up towns. And all from your laptop you could make certain that the cities were being given a face lift and no deep pockets could stand in the way of this process or they would be targeted as well.

The medical world was much easier to fall into line with locks on prices and medical debts suddenly erased down to what it actually costs to make the medicines and tech used in implants and a basic daily rate for hospital stays. The foster system was a forest fire no matter how you looked at it and all you could do was to vet the guardians to weed out the despicable without chance to help the kids left without a home.

“Love the suit!” Spidey’s voice rang out luring a smile across your lips behind the mask facing the teen who dropped onto the edge of the roof you were seated on top of.

“Thanks, it’s got so many pockets. I love it.”

He chuckled as you let out a giggle and said in a nod to the next wave of teens exiting the Prom asking, “Your school let out yet?”

“Ya. My Prom was tonight, felt better on parking patrol.”

“My school had a Prom too. How do you know my name?”

In a glance his way you said, “I’m the one who’s been leaving your backpacks on your fire escape when you forget them.” That had him chuckle and you said, “I can give you a tracker bee for it if you want one.”

“Mr Stark made me a tracker spider. Thank you though.”

“Perhaps a chart on trash routes so you’ll know which are the best hiding spots then?” you giggled out and he chuckled again.

“That would be good to learn.” He said looking to the lot below as you did again.

“It’s all circular. You’d be surprised how many patterns are circular. Humans keep rotating back to it no matter how much we like crisp angles for our buildings. Even spiders do, if you like them in real life or, well we never covered why you chose the getup other than the clear webbing.”

He chuckled and said, “Went with Pluto once to Columbia, met Dr Connors, I got bitten by an experimental spider. Not so bothered by them now, they tend to steer clear of me oddly enough.”

“It’s because they think you’ll eat them and brightly colored breeds mostly are some of the deadliest to other breeds, highly cannibalistic. Speaking of Pluto, she got distracted, asked me to deliver this.” Out of your pocket you offered him a box. Asked me to slip it in your room for you, but you had company.”

“Thanks,” he nodded adding the box to a hidden pocket inside his suit. “You really like bugs, you get bitten too? Mr Stark has a board on you but doesn’t let me look at it.”

You shook your head, “Born able to make things grow and summon and create insects and animals. Including living mechanical ones.”

“Animals too? Then why bees?”

“If the bees die the world does. Same as trees, you know they connect their roots and share nutrients and talk to one another. The oldest become mothers to the babies that grow under their shady branches and even without sunlight they can grow healthy. The roots can stretch for miles underground and even if you planted saplings in the open outside of the forest she would adopt them too and help to keep them healthy.”

“Trees can talk?”

You nodded, “If people were more like trees just imagine how the world could be. We’d be in Eden.”

“Ooh,” you and Peter said about a teen who just fell off a half wall trying to do a cool pose for a picture, then he murmured, “That guy’s not in Eden.” To the panicked voices of the teens below at the sight of blood he brought out his phone and called 911 as you sent down a couple bees to help keep track of his vitals until the ambulance was on the way.

“So why are you out here? One of us should have a fun summer at least.”

“This is fun,” he looked at you asking, “Were you really trained like Black Widow and the Winter Soldier?”

“Mixture of the two. They took me as a kid like her and given the serum like him. I just made a bigger bang when I left their control.”

He nodded and asked, “That why you killed those people? To help other kids?”

“No one could have protected me. They trained me to kill people. No forgetting that. I got here and I had these flashbacks when I would see headlines in the papers or hear the police scanner my neighbor used all hours of the night. Which isn’t an excuse, I know I killed hundreds of thousands of people. Just can’t think of how many people they would have killed or hurt if I hadn’t. I’m just a nameless person compared to Stark who’s killed more than I have same as his dad by stamping their names on the weapons they sold and it cost him his heart to get him to try and help other people for a change. Difference is I’m broke and sit on top of other people’s towers instead of my own.”

On the back of your shoulder he pat his hand and said, “You aren’t killing people as badly these days. They know now what not to do has a more serious consequence and they keep doing it. Cops can’t catch all the bad guys in the world. We should be able to help. I remember with the Vulture guy Stark kept telling me to step aside. Do nothing. I get it.”

“Don’t ever forget you’re the friendly neighborhood Spiderman.”

“I won’t. It’s the people, not the system we serve.”

“Exactly.”

“I don’t think Mr Stark gets that.”

“I don’t think he knows the difference yet. He still has faith in the system. Hasn’t bit him yet.”

“Well he has SHIELD to keep an eye on him.”

“And if I wanted to kill SHIELD and bring him down I know just where I would get a job.”

“You think there’s spies?”

“There’s always spies in every agency. Been doing some digging lately for any visible idiots who put off clues.”

“What do you even look for in an agency founded on making spies for a spy?” he asked looking at you.

“There’s always something. No one is that good, not even Black Widow or the Winter Soldier. He’s been in dozens of pictures after his hits he was sent on.”

“What did she miss?”

“She has a bit of an addiction to a certain boutique that has to have an ID on file. Uses her favorite alias, which has a track-able paper trail for her celebration shopping trips.”

“You’ve dug into the team?”

“No, Fury has people for that who are terrible at closing rabbit holes behind them set off my alarms, every single one of them.” Making him chuckle. “And no, you haven’t tripped any of them.”

“Smooth sailing on the plan so far then,” he teased making you both chuckle.

Pt 11

#Escaped Child Assassin #Tony Stark #Peter Parker #Harry Osborn #Last day of school #yearbooks #Prom Night #Spider-Man #Not easy to say goodbye #Necklace for MJ #Save the Bees #Mother Trees #Marvel

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