"I NEED YOU TO HELP ME TRACK PETER."

Nicky looked up from where he was peering over Rhett's shoulder, eyes wide. "How did you get in?"

"Rhett made me a key," she said, breathless, motioning towards the man who waved sheepishly. Before either man could open his mouth to speak, she went on, "He got hit by a car yesterday and could have seriously hurt himself and I didn't know. Please."

"Well, Diana, I mean," Nicky began slowly, glancing over at Rhett for support, "He's his own person. He can choose what to tell you—"

"You told me you know someone who could be bleeding to death and they wouldn't ask for any help. Would you tell their friend that if it was them asking?" She stood her ground, fists clenched at her sides, feet firm on the ground. She never stood like this, she was never this sure in her life.

Nicky knew that as well. He rubbed his face. "Have you tried talking to him—"

"He's never around," she said, "Ask Rhett, I tell him everyday! I try to talk to him, I even text and call him, but he won't talk to me. Flash probably freaked him out or he's upset with me or something! I don't know! But I need to make sure he's okay. What if he died and no one knew, I-I couldn't just live with that—"

"I need you to breathe," Nicky said, nearly snapping, "I need you to calm down and think about what you're asking me to do, you're invading his privacy."

"Tony Stark probably does the same," she snapped back, "He made him his suit, it's probably got a bunch of cameras and microphones and I just—I know this is an awful thing to do. I know that. But—"

"Diana," he said, voice too calm, "I need you to think about this. I understand where you're coming from, but you're going to need to justify this, you need to prove to me that Peter is neglecting to take care of himself and you tracking him is in his best interest, not yours."

Her blood boiled at the thought of Nicky believing she was asking him to do this because she was a desperate ex. This wasn't about their relationship, it was about him staying safe. Like she had said, she didn't care about his feelings, she just wanted to keep him alive. She couldn't do that to his aunt.

"Why don't you hack into security footage and see if he's been getting hurt," Rhett suggested, "You do that all the time and, I mean, he hasn't been visiting Diana at all. Also, he's been getting into a bit of trouble, have you been reading the news?"

Nicky scoffed. "I haven't been able to sleep in the past few days, I don't even know." At Diana's concerned look, he sighed. "Family stuff, my step-brother's...an idiot. A really smart idiot."

"Like you," Rhett joked, but no one was laughing. He cleared his throat. "Go check, Nick, I think she's about to cry."

Diana bit her lip, taking a deep breath. "If you point out that I'm going to cry, then, yeah, I'm gonna cry. What is with people announcing that people are going to cry, it's so rude." She thought back to all of her classmates who used to shout that she was about to cry at school all the time after her parents died.

"Okay," Nicky said, softer this time, more himself, "I'll go check. Just–go do your homework and don't get your hopes up."

She sighed and dropped her bag onto the floor, sitting in front of the coffee table. She turned to look at Rhett who glanced between her and Nicky who disappeared into his room.

"He's not upset at you," he soothed, "He's just worried. It's been a while since his step-brother had contacted him. He's scared."

"What's going on?" she asked, pulling out her notebooks, "Is he in trouble?"

Rhett shook his head, biting his lip. "No...not yet. They want him to work with them and he's stalling, but he's gonna say no. He's just worried what will happen if he does."

She shivered, feeling goosebumps prickling her arms. "Guess I didn't help by barging in and screaming, huh."

Rhett smirked. "He was talking about you before you got here. He's planning something, I don't know what, though."

She raised an eyebrow. "That's ominous."

Rhett went back to his phone, relaxing back on the couch. "It's Nicky, he's probably making you an ice cream machine."

º º º º º

It had been two hours since Nicky disappeared into his room and Diana was starting to fall asleep over her schoolwork, Rhett nudging her every few minutes to keep her awake.

She was trying not to shake, having been jolted out of a light sleep, her nerves strumming, when his door opened. She was wide awake now.

He dropped a notebook in front of her. "Put down everything you want it to do and to what extent. I'll veto it, but I want your input. It'll take a while, but it'll be done, okay?"

She nodded furiously, opening the notebook. She stopped when she caught sight of the various notes already within the pages, flipping through them, eyes widening as she caught sight of more and more sketches and measurements.

She glanced up at Nicky who just looked down at her calmly, almost expressionless. She glanced back down and checked the front of the notebook.

'IRON MAIDEN'

Rhett peered over her shoulder and laughed. "I like that. I'm Failsafe," he glanced up at Nicky, "You picked one yet?"

The man shook his head, not smiling. "I'm still trying to see if I want to do it. Because it's expensive and dangerous. Also a bit paranoid. But mostly idiotic."

Rhett frowned. "Why? I thought it was a good idea."

Nicky shrugged. "If she's supposed to follow me, then she doesn't get one. You're not supposed to have a weapon if you're the one behind the scenes, that's not the way it works."

Diana glanced up from where she was writing bullet points in the next available page which she titled 'Spider-Tracker'. "What're we talking about?"

"Nothing, just keep writing," Nicky said, waving her off.

She shrugged, mind buzzing with ideas, and went back to writing. She didn't want to overdo it, but she didn't want to just omit an idea and regret it later on. So she pretended to be Gwen and began organizing all her ideas into sections, some that she thought were vital, others that were secondary, and others that would be very helpful, but might be overboard.

"You have the handwriting of a doctor," Rhett commented, leaning over her shoulder, "I think my students have better handwriting than you."

She raised her head to stare at him. "You read Captain America fanfiction, don't judge me."

Nicky burst into laughter, doubling over before glancing up at Rhett, then throwing his head back, slowly dissolving into breathy, silent laughter after a few moments, slowly sinking to the ground. Diana giggled at his antics and looked over at Rhett who was looking at Nicky with bright eyes.

"Almost forgot he knew how to laugh," he mumbled softly and Diana's smile slowly vanished as she got a good look at Nicky, at the bags he had under his eyes, the stubble starting to grow around his mouth and chin.

"You finished?" Nicky asked as he composed himself, moving to a sitting position on the floor.

"Um...yeah, I think this is it," she said, handing it over to him.

He squinted at the words, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, Rhett's right, this is awful, even for me. Eh, it's fine, I'll figure it out. Thanks, kid. Hey, by the way, is pink really that bad of an option for you? 'Cause I'm really feeling a pink vibe."

She ran her tongue over her teeth in thought. "If it's with gold, I guess? But it has to be a rose gold sort of thing, you feel?"

He grinned, snapping his fingers. "Yes, I do. Okay, kid, you're gonna have to give me a while, but I think I can work with what you've given me." He disappeared back into his room, closing it with a final click.

Rhett sighed, glancing over at the teenager. "You sent him on a rollercoaster of emotions, you know that, right?"

She ducked her head. "Sorry."

He shook his head. "Not necessarily a bad thing. It's the first time he's gotten mad at anyone that wasn't his step-brother, but it's also the first time he's smiled in the past few days. You're like the little sister he never wanted, but that's not a negative thing."

She smiled. "Well, that's good, I guess. Why'd he ask about the pink thing?"

Rhett shrugged and pulled out his phone. "You'll just have to wait and see."

º º º º º

It was nearing the end of August when Diana finally received any sort of word from Nicky about her tracker. She was in Spanish class, spending the last fifteen minutes researching famous Hispanic figures, when her phone buzzed in her pocket.

"Wow, someone's popular," Harry joked, tapping her knee. It was only the two of them in Spanish, Gwen and Flash in other classes, so she was often the target for his light teasing.

"Silencio," she joked, pulling it out after making sure others had done the same, "I don't think I said that right. Um..." she checked her notifications, eyebrows raising at the text from Nicky.

from: Nicky (2:27 pm)
It's done

Harry gasped as he caught sight of the message. "Is that Nicky? I haven't talked to him in forever, I should invite him over for dinner. Should I invite his roommate too? We've never really met. Wait, I don't think I've told him about Johnny and I yet. I should do that."

"You should lay off on the caffeine," Diana suggested, placing a hand on his shoulder, "You okay?"

"Yeah," Harry breathed, shaking his head, "Fine. It's just that Johnny is throwing this party and he wants me to be there and I have no problem with parties, but..."

"But..." she prompted, pocketing her phone despite her curiosity, "What's wrong?"

"All his friends are going to be there," Harry sighed, "and by friends, I mean exes. He's dated a lot of them. And, I don't know, some of them are aliens. So, I don't really know how I'm supposed to mingle, I can't fake it the way I usually do or else Johnny'll think something's wrong."

"Aww, Harry," she cooed, "Just be yourself. Just relax and have a fun time, it's Johnny's party and he is your boyfriend." She paused before adding, "Whom I have never met before. Rude."

"Great idea!" he gasped, "I'll ask if I can bring you, Gwen, and Flash! So you can be my backup and it'll be disguised as a perfect opportunity to introduce the most important people in my life to the most important man in my life."

"Flash is a man," she pointed out, stomach dropping at the thought of a party.

"Flash is a child and no one can convince me otherwise, not until he can stand up to my shoulder," Harry replied, not missing a beat, "So, will you come? If he says yes, which he probably will."

"Um..." she began, glancing away. She really didn't want to go to a party, especially not one hosted by a member of the Fantastic Four who was also rich and had a lot of friends.

"Please," Harry begged, "I want you to meet him and I need moral support. This is important to me. You're important to me and I want him to know that."

She groaned, shaking her head. "Don't pull that on me, Harry..."

"Please!" he whined, drawing the attention of the class, "I will do anything. Anything! I'll buy you a car!"

"Oh, please don't," she whispered, heart racing at the thought of driving a car, "I'll do it. But you'll just owe me, okay?"

Harry cheered loudly, pulling her into a tight hug. "You're the best! I love you!"

She rolled her eyes, but hugged him back. "Yeah, yeah, love you too, Harry."

"Go back to Nicky," he said, pulling away, "Tell him I said hi, but don't tell him about Johnny in case he doesn't know, I wanna surprise him."

She snorted, but agreed, pulling out her phone and pulling up messages.

to: Nicky (2:39 pm)
Should I come over?

from: Nicky (2:40 pm)
Heck yeah! You better love it
I'm putting it in this really
nice packaging

She smiled and shook her head, hiding her phone screen from Harry's prying eyes, ignoring his pout.

to: Nicky (2:40 pm)
You didn't have to do that

from: Nicky (2:41 pm)
I think it's been established
that I am a textbook
overachiever. Go back to class

She laughed and showed the conversation to Harry, figuring that it didn't allude to anything major. He laughed as well, shaking his head.

"I miss Nicky. Do you see him a lot?" he asked, propping his chin up on his hand.

She nodded, now feeling slightly guilty. "Yeah, um, I usually go to his and Rhett's apartment, like, every day? To do homework, not just for sessions."

"So you're going to those," he said, sitting up straighter, "Good for you! That's really great, he's, um, really good at what he does. Pulled me out of a really rough place, you know?" He tapped on the table awkwardly, his smile more bashful than it had been. He often talked about his rough patch, but never told her what, not that it really mattered.

She reached out and gripped his arm, giving him an encouraging smile. "You're great, Harry, you know that?"

He laughed. "People tell me that all the time. Do you mean it?"

She rubbed his arm, nodding firmly. "Of course. You're one of my best friends."

He grinned and pulled her into another hug, one that was genuine and not fueled by ulterior motives. "Thanks, Dina."

"Of course, Harry."

"Okay, hug fest is over, please go back to work. Just five more minutes, that's all I ask."

The two blondes pulled away quickly, glancing at their Spanish teacher who rolled his eyes from his desk before going back to grading papers.

"What's Nicky finished with?" Harry asked, pointing back to her phone.

She shrugged; he had never actually told her what he was making other than it was what she had asked for. "I don't know. Guess I'll just have to find out."

º º º º º

Diana walked into the apartment carefully, unsure whether she should have knocked. She did have a key, though, and Nicky didn't ask her to turn it in when she first used it, so there was, walking into the apartment on her own.

The moment she closed the door, all the lights went out. She jumped and gripped the door handle, flinching when large lights in the middle of the room burst to life, casting a blue glow towards her, silhouetting a large shadow.

There was the sound of a microphone echo and then, "Diana Ann Smith. Are you ready?"

She blinked. "Nicky, where did you get the micropho—"

"Answer the question," he bellowed, voice echoing.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Uh, yes, I am ready..."

"Say it with more passion and actual feeling in your voice!"

"Nicky, seriously?"

"Diana, please, I hooked up these lights and this mic and everything, it took me forever."

She groaned and complied, tilting her head back and raising her voice, "I am ready!"

She heard a cheer that could only be Rhett as Nicky continued, "Approach the box."

Rolling her eyes, she moved forward, squinting against the blue lights, stopping in front of the large box. Why was it so big if she was asking for something small?

"Okay, that's all I got, kill the lights, Rhett, we're done."

Diana covered her eyes as the main lights were turned back on and the blue lights turned off, the metal blinds removed from the window, letting in the afternoon light. She blinked away the spots, getting a closer look at the box.

"Okay," Nicky said, popping up from his hiding spot behind a couch, "So, I have to explain some things. Well, we'll start off with what you asked for, then we'll move on from there, how's that?"

She nodded, still reeling from everything that had happened. He grinned and crossed the short distance towards her, reaching over and tapping a spot on the top of the box. She jumped back as it opened to reveal two boxes, one much smaller than the other.

"I can't believe you spent a bunch of money on big boxes just to be extra," Rhett sighed, sitting on the counter.

"I'm reusing the boxes, don't ruin this," the other man replied, picking up the smaller box on top and handing to the flabbergasted teenager, "This is your tracker."

She gasped softly, stomach lurching; she should have known, but the thought of it being real was still a shock. At Nicky's nod, she carefully removed the lid of the dark grey box, placing it underneath the bottom as she peered inside.

Rhett was right, it was a big box for the actual item. Inside were a simple pair of earrings, a aquamarine blue teardrop gem set inside a rose-gold outline. She snorted at the teardrop shape, glancing up at Nicky who told her that aquamarine was the March birthstone and that he knew blue was her favorite color. She frowned, not remembering when she told him that, but remembering when she told Peter. She pushed away the thought quickly.

"So...earrings," she said lamely, "They're really nice, thank you, but I'm confused."

"Yeah, me too," Rhett piped up, a bowl of popcorn sitting on his lap.

"Look, here, it's like this," Nicky began, plucking the earrings from the box, "You just press them and they pull up a screen in front of your eyes and mouth. Only you can see it because of the field that I set up, but everyone can see your reactions, so try to remember that. It's kind of like a holographic screen, but it's tangible? Stole the idea from Stark tech. I also added something else, but we can talk about that later."

She nodded slowly. "O-okay...how is it supposed to track Peter?"

He bit his lip. "Okay, this is the weird part. You're gonna have to inject him with this." He reached into the box and pulled out something she hadn't caught sight of. It was a small and rectangular with a button on the side. "Doesn't matter where, though I suggest the back of his forearm as there aren't many nerves."

She blinked. "You-you just want me to inject him. Randomly at school?"

He scoffed and shook his head. "No, of course not. Do it the next time he visits at night." She opened her mouth to argue, to repeat that he didn't visit anymore, but he held up a hand, "I already texted him, he will go to you if he gets hurt. He gets hurt a lot it seems, I saw the footage."

She nodded wordlessly, sighing. "Okay...what does this do, how does it work?"

He walked towards the counter, picking up a tablet. "Here. You don't always have to have the screen up. In fact, I suggest you don't since all it'll show is his location and his vitals, alerting you if he gets hurt. That's why it needs to be injected, you know? You'll be able to hear what he says, basically."

"How did you do all of this?" she asked, staring at the screen as various graphics appeared, showing her examples of what would happen if Peter was stabbed the way he had been the last time he had visited.

He raised an eyebrow. "Do you really want an explanation? Believe me, I've done this before, I wouldn't have been able to do this if this was my first time. I'm surprised it worked, I had to combine and re-work fifteen different plans and fit them all together into something small enough to go unnoticed."

"Thank you for doing this," she breathed, feeling guilty, "You really didn't have to."

"No, I did," he sighed, "He can't do this on his own and...the world's getting a lot scarier."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

He turned to look at her. "I need you to understand, I made you something else. I made you something else, but I don't like it. People like us—who do what we do? We're not supposed to have these. It's a huge change and I don't want you to have it, but you know me and because of that, you're gonna get in a lot of trouble and I need you to be able to protect yourself."

He started towards the larger box, but Diana stopped him, grabbing his arm. He turned around quickly and pulled his arm away, looking at her with narrowed eyes.

"I don't want it," she said quickly, "I-I'm fine with the tracker. That's supposed to help Peter, whatever you have in there, if you don't want me to have it, I don't want it."

"I already made it, Diana," he said, "I made it for you. We're not supposed to have weapons, but this is a different time, things have changed—"

"No," she whispered, "No, I don't want things to change. The reason I asked for this was so I could make sure he's okay, the way it used to be—"

"And you can still do that," he sighed, "But, Diana, this is serious. Times are—" he cut himself off, covering his mouth, "You know what? You're right. You're right, no, we-we aren't going to conform to our fear. We are going to stand by what we think is right."

Rhett hopped off the counter. "Nicky, wait—"

"I'm serious, Rhett!" he shouted, "They-they can't just bully me into working with them, threaten me. I've built up too much to disregard everything over the threat of death and the promise of money. I make money by helping people who deserve it."

"What's going on?" Diana asked, stepping forward. Nicky was starting to scare her, his arms waving violently.

"Nothing," he said quickly, "Nothing you have to worry about because I'm not going to let anything happen to any of us. I'm gonna stand up for what's right, so are you." He picked up the forgotten earrings, placing them in her hands. "Don't abuse this."

She stared into his eyes, her entire body tense. "Don't think I will. Don't you dare."

He nodded stiffly before turning back to the other box, picking it up and carrying it into his room. "Look, Rhett, I'm not gonna throw it out, this cost money. But I'm not giving it to her, I'm not gonna be an idiot."

"It's not idiotic to try to keep her safe!" Rhett cried, "It's not idiotic to have a failsafe."

Nicky blinked. "Did-did you just use your hero name as a way to convince me to give her a weapon that she shouldn't have because she's not a hero?"

Rhett threw up his arms. "It's the only way to get you to listen to me. And what do you mean, of course she's a hero! She's a teenage girl who patches up another teenager who fights crime. You're a hero and she is too, she should have a—"

"Her weapon is her ability to keep Peter and herself alive," Nicky finished coldly, "Diana?"

She swallowed thickly. She didn't want things to change. She had told Nicky during one of their sessions, she didn't want to fight crime like Peter; that wasn't what she was made for. She was made for the sidelines, to help with the clean-up, the aftermath. But then she thought back to Flash and Harrison and her stomach churned; she had also sworn to stop things before they started. But that was with Flash, this was different.

"I don't know," she whispered, "I don't want it, though. Because if I have it, that means I have to fight."

"No, it's doesn't—" Rhett began, but she cut him off.

"Yes, it does," she snapped, "Because if I have that and something bad happens, that means that it happened because I didn't stop it. Like Peter, if he gets hurt and his wounds aren't treated, that's on me. Because I didn't make him feel safe enough to come to me for help. I have the ability to help, which means I have to. If I don't, then I'm the bad guy."

Nicky motioned to her, looking at his roommate. The man sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Fine. Whatever. Do what you want, but do not get rid of it."

Nicky nodded. "I won't."

Diana nodded as well. "Then we're good? That's all?"

Nicky shook his head. "No. Well, I mean, yeah, I gave you everything, but...this isn't the end. Times are changing. That I agree with."

Diana frowned and glanced down, looking at the earrings. "That's what I'm afraid of."

She didn't know it then, but she was right to be afraid. Very, very afraid.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 07.29.17 )

Ew...that ending. Gross. So, this was a pretty bad chapter and everything was squished into one, but there was a very prominent time skip. We've just reached the beginning September and you know what happens on the 14th...so a lot is going to happen in two weeks (a lot happens in a short period of time, this story is all about that, so...fun)

Nicky has his reasons for not wanting her to have a weapon. He's not the first to help a hero, there's like this whole group of them, hard to explain and not important. Rhett has his own reasons for him wanting to have it. Everyone has their reasons for what they did and you'll see it soon enough.

Also do you like Diana's pretty blatant "with great power comes great responsibility reboot" speech, she has a lot more of those later on.

You know how Happy was "the big brother" in Homecoming to Peter? Nicky is "the big brother" to Diana (she's probably supposed to have a sister, but whatever gender roles).

Needless to say, we are entering Homecoming, but Diana will have her own stuff separate from Peter although, now that she has the privacy-invading tracker, you'll get a third person perspective on his actions. Also, Liz and Michelle and Ned will be more prominent, considering.

Yeah, that's all I have to say so...thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!