┌────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────┐
chapter eighteen
ADJUSTMENT PROTOCOL
└────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────┘

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

LENA FEELS HOLLOW AS they walk the half-destroyed streets of London, no words echoing between the three exhausted superheroes. Their feet crunch over broken glass and shrapnel. The acrid stench of smoke lingers in the air from the drones that had exploded or used flamethrowers, making Lena's eyes water behind her mask.

The area surrounding the bridge is a disaster. Abandoned cars litter the streets, some with busted windows and cracked windshields, while others are half-burned. The storm Elemental — or, really, the projectors behind it — had slammed into the concrete, creating huge gaps in the barrier between the road and the River Thames. All of this destruction... for what? Why would Beck do this? To make himself look good?

Peter slightly limps alongside her. He'd tried to keep his mask off when they'd walked down from the bridge, but Lena and Graham had scolded him to put it back on. Though the streets seem to have been evacuated, there could be some stragglers who could see his exposed face. As a result, she can't see his expression, but he grips her hand securely like she'll fade to nothing if he loosens his hold.

Graham's eyes carefully scan their surroundings for any sign of their friends. They have no idea if Happy had managed to keep them safe or if Beck's drones had found them, after all. Even after all that has transpired, she doesn't allow herself to lose hope for one second. Everyone is okay— they have to be.

"Oh my God," a girl's voice gasps in the distance. The sound echoes across the empty street. "Guys!"

Footsteps pound on the asphalt. A smudge of pink moves at the far end of the street, and within seconds, it sharpens to the figure of Cindy Moon sprinting at top-speed toward them, black hair flying behind her. Lena releases Peter's hand and opens her arms, allowing her friend to barrel into her.

When Cindy makes impact, Lena grunts at the sheer force of the hug and steadies them both. The shorter girl hugs her tightly, nearly crushing her ribs. Lena returns the embrace with fervor.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Lena says. "Is everyone...?"

"Yeah," Cindy confirms, stepping back and wiping the corners of her eyes before tears can fall. "Yeah, we're all fine."

"Cindy?" MJ's voice calls. She, too, emerges from the rubble with some sort of medieval weapon in her hand — it looks like a spiky ball on the end of a stick — and her shoulders slump with relief when she sees them. The weapon clatters to the ground. "Oh, thank God."

Cindy moves on to hug Peter and Graham as well. From her, physical contact is expected, so it doesn't come as a surprise. However, Lena has no idea what to do in regards to MJ. The girl doesn't really seem like one for hugs. She stands awkwardly, part of her curly hair falling out of the low bun at the nape of her neck.

Lena unsurely stretches out a hand for a fist bump. MJ rolls her eyes with a half-grin, then pulls her in for a quick side-hug that makes a smile tug at the edges of Lena's mouth.

As soon as Max and Owen's figures appear, Graham shadow-travels closer to them and basically tackles them in a hug. Owen screams when his brother pounces out of the darkness and grabs him. Lena can hear Max pretending to complain about the embrace, but she knows that they're all grateful that each of them is okay.

Even a mere two weeks ago, Lena had been ecstatic to go on this trip. But now, all she wants to do is go home. It's a blessing that their Europe vacation is over now. After yet another encounter with an Elemental that conveniently pops up wherever they go, Mr. Harrington is probably in the middle of booking the next flight back to the States at this very moment.

This week and a half were supposed to be relaxing. Instead, they had been anything but. The only activity that she'd managed to enjoy without interruption was the Museo Correr back in Venice. After that, it had been catastrophe after catastrophe, mere moments of stolen peace amidst absolute chaos. Fleeting moments of happiness as the entire world seemed intent on dragging them down.

She'll go home, be with her parents, ask for therapy, and take that damn break that Steve had told her to. Before, she hadn't known how to relax, but now she's pretty sure she's going to need at least a two-week break from being Havoc. It turns out that even Avengers need their off-time.

Their friends help them sneak their luggage away to a public restroom so they can change into normal clothes. Lena retracts her suit and yanks her wig and mask off, sighing at the cool air on her face and scalp. Her face twists into a cringe when she regards all of the scrapes and bruises on her body. Now that the adrenaline is starting to wear off, she can feel every single one— especially where her stitches had come undone. There's a pulse or stab of pain with every movement.

Lena pulls on a button-front denim skirt, yellow mid-thigh socks, her trusty black Converse, and a yellow crewneck with minimalist flower designs on the front. She keeps the hem of her crewneck bunched up so she doesn't get blood on it, awkwardly shuffling out of the bathroom stall and kicking her bag across the floor.

Cindy immediately picks it up and slings the straps over her shoulders, shuddering at the thought of the bag touching the bathroom tile.

MJ regards Lena with a frown. "Why are you holding your shirt like that?"

"I tore open my stitches," Lena replies, turning around to show them the gruesome cut on her lower back. Both girls make pained groans at the sight of it. "Either of you have a Band-Aid?"

Cindy sighs and starts to dig through her backpack. "I should have one somewhere, but you need medical attention."

"Medical attention, shmedical shmattention," Lena dismisses as MJ runs a paper towel under one of the faucets and starts to gently clean the wound. She sucks in a sharp breath the moment the towel comes in contact with her skin, gritting her teeth together to suppress a cry.

"You look like you got hit by a truck," MJ tells her bluntly.

"Thanks, MJ."

Once Cindy has placed at least five bandages on Lena's cut, doused her in perfume because — in her words — she "smelled like death", and tackled Lena's unruly waves and bangs with a hairbrush, they leave the bathroom. Graham and Peter are already waiting outside with Abe, Ned, Betty, and the twins. She feels lighter at the sight of them all together. It may have been an accident that their secret had been spilled to a few more people, but she finds herself almost grateful that it had happened. At least now she'll have more girls to closely confide in.

Sure enough, Mr. Harrington has them on the very next available flight back to the U.S. He doesn't even seem fazed that Peter and Lena are back, nor that this is the first time he's actually seen Graham in over seventy-two hours. He just appears glad that nobody had died. Lena's pretty sure she sees him shedding a few tears as he hugs all of the students.

"Hey," Mr. Dell says as he approaches Lena, Graham, and Peter, a colorful travel pillow around his neck. He lowers his huge sunglasses to look them in the eyes. "Brad mentioned how he saw you guys in a... compromising situation."

Oh my God. Lena's cheeks heat to a bright red, nearly matching the vibrant hue that Peter's skin flushes to. Graham's eyes become wide as saucers. She feels dread tightly coiling in her gut, sure that they're going to get expelled or something—

"I just wanted to say that I don't care what you guys are doin' in your free time—" Mr. Dell continues.

"Mr. Dell, please, it's not like that," Lena promises, her words coming out so quickly she nearly stumbles over them. "Brad took a photo, and from that, it could have seemed like something was going on, but it really wasn't, I swear."

The teacher puts a hand out to quiet her. "You aren't in trouble, but I did give him a stern talk about respecting other people's privacy. Just thought you guys should know."

He walks away. Lena glances at Brad, who stares at them with a half-suspicious, half-embarrassed expression on his face. She resists the urge to snort at the image of him receiving a scolding by Mr. Dell, the heat slowly fading from her face. Peter, on the other hand, is still a bright, flaming red.

Lena sleeps the entire eight-hour flight back to Newark, New Jersey. She and Peter use each other as human pillows. She raises the armrest between them so they can scoot closer, her head resting comfortably on his chest while his leans on the top of her head. At least one good thing had come out of this, she thinks with a small smile.

When they're woken by the process of landing and forced to sit upright in their seats, Peter tells her a secret.

"Remember when we were flying to Venice and Ned told you that I have a perfume allergy?" he asks, voice sleepy and soft. "I really just wanted an excuse to sit next to you."

She chuckles at the memory of Mr. Harrington's unnecessarily extensive seating changes to accommodate Peter's faked allergy. "I know, because Cindy practically showered me with perfume earlier, and you haven't had a reaction." Her tired grin widens at the embarrassed cringe on his face. "Why didn't you just ask me to sit by you?"

"Thought you might say no," Peter admits as he picks at an invisible thread on his flannel.

"You thought I would say no? Did you see that I was sitting next to Brad?"

Finally, they're on solid ground, and Lena has never been happier to see the United States again— a feeling she'd never thought she'd experience. While most of the kids in their group rush ahead of them to greet their parents, Lena and Peter hang back, mostly because Peter keeps walking slower with every step.

"What's wrong?" she asks him, squeezing his hand.

He wets his lips nervously. "Your parents aren't gonna, like, kill me, right? Because they scare me, and I don't wanna be yelled at."

Lena laughs. "Relax, Peter. They love you. To be honest, Ma has been subtly hinting that she wants us to get married ever since you first dropped me off at my apartment." Both of their eyes widen at what she'd said, and she quickly scrambles to cover her tracks. "Not that I expect us to get married! Or anything! We've been dating for, like, three or four days. Oh, God, are we dating? I forgot we aren't putting labels on this. Oh my God."

Now it's Peter's turn to silence her uncharacteristic rambling by placing both hands on the sides of her face. He looks her in the eyes and asks, "Do you wanna be my girlfriend?"

Lena feels like her heart may burst out of her chest. "Yes."

Peter grins, but before they can say anything else, Betty squeals as she approaches with Ned.

"You guys are so cute!" she gushes with a huge grin.

"Thanks," Peter says shyly as he removes his hands from Lena's face. He bounces on his heels while he talks, half from nerves and half from excitement. "Uh, I was thinking that we should all ... I dunno ... like, go on a double date or something."

"Oh, we broke up," Ned and Betty awkwardly reply in synch.

"No! W-What? Why?"

"When men and women grow apart, the journey they shared together will always be a part of them," Ned replies.

Lena blinks in confusion. "That didn't answer any of his questions."

Betty places a gentle hand on the side of Ned's face as if she hadn't said anything at all. "You are so wise."

"Thank you."

Lena shoots a questioning look at Peter, who shrugs in response to her silent question of what the heck is going on.

Once Betty leaves, all Ned does is give a smile and walk away as well. Lena wonders if that entire conversation was just some weird, sleep-deprived hallucination on her part.

Graham sighs and wedges his way between Lena and Peter, slinging his arms around their shoulders. One of the buttons on his denim jacket hits the back of Lena's hand and causes her to glare at him. He pays her no mind, a dreamy expression on his face.

"Young love," he drawls. "Speaking of that..."

Using his height, Graham spins both of them around until they're facing the crowd of parents. Lena instantly sees Ma and Pa near the front. Ma looks like she's fighting to keep herself from gaping, while Pa is smiling but giving his signature, fatherly glare at the same time.

Peter whimpers. Graham pats his shoulder. "Good luck."

He shoves them forward. Lena takes off in a sprint, dropping her bags when she comes close enough to her parents. She all but leaps into her father's arms. Ma joins in, and Lena feels so secure that tears spring to her eyes. There's so much she wants to tell them, but probably can't. They'd never let her outside again if they'd known exactly what had happened on the trip.

Once Pa sets her down, Ma reaches over and flicks Lena on the forehead.

"Ow!" she cries, massaging the spot with her fingers.

"You were stuck in Berlin?" her mother demands, thin mouth pulled into a frown. "And you didn't call?"

"How did y—?" Lena cuts off her question when the answer hits her. Bruce. Instead, she slumps in a sigh. "Can we please talk about this in the car? I want to get my stuff from baggage claim—"

"You'll get your bags when I say you can get your bags, Lena Marie."

In the middle of Ma's tangent, Peter approaches and stands awkwardly to the side. She eventually notices him and stops, her mood changing in an instant so a radiant smile takes over her face. "Peter! It's so good to see you."

"Hi, Mrs. Rivera," he says, his voice an octave higher than normal as she pulls him into a hug. He clears his throat when they break away. "I, um—"

Lena saves him by slipping her hand into his, hoping that a bit of good news will distract her mother. "Peter and I are dating now."

"Oh, finally," Ma sighs. "I thought I was going to have to go gray before you finally opened your eyes!"

"Ma," Lena groans.

"Traditionally, in Filipino culture, we follow the etiquette of Panliligaw," Pa informs Peter. His brown eyes have the sharpness of a hawk's as he regards the boy. "Courting."

Peter goes a bit paler. "C–Courting?"

Ma smacks Pa on the arm, face pinched in a frown. "Tigil na, John." She turns to them with a much kinder expression. "The younger generation is getting less and less traditional nowadays. Don't listen to him. But we do hope you are serious about our daughter."

"Yes," Peter confirms with a nod. "Of course."

"Good." Ma grins. "Oh, look! There's your aunt. We'd better get to baggage claim."

Lena nudges Peter's elbow with her own as they start walking. "See? That wasn't so bad."

"Do you feel how sweaty my hand is right now?"

________

a/n:

WOW, i am forever alone.

ok wait i found this gif of jacob artist and i'm crying because it looks like that one meme from the office

graham watching his friends start dating like ^

we're almost at the end of the movie! i really only have like 3 minutes left of film material to write, but there will still be 2 more chapters to go. i have a cute one and then a chapter that will tie things up better! i'm really excited for the next one, you guys have no idea.

i really love lena and mj's budding friendship and i can't wait to expand on it in the future. i hope that spider-man 3 will give me LOTS of opportunities to do so.

here's another photo of graham and lena's outfits. fashion icons.

thank you so much for reading!

—kristyn

TRANSLATIONS:

Tigil na: Stop it