I don't own anything except any original character and/or any original plot

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Chapter Thirty: The Big Threat

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"That was the most boring field trip I've ever been on," I groaned, careful to keep my voice low.

"Yeah, but you used to go to a mutant school. I'm sure all the field trips you went on were awesome," Ned pointed out, leaning over the back of his seat to talk to me easier.

"Think of how many places she could have visited," MJ stated from the seat across from me and Peter.

"True. Kurt always brought me places for 'study trips'. Kind of hard to compare a museum to Taj Mahal. Security was a paint though, Logan always sets off metal detectors."

"Taj Mahal, that's so cool!"

"Yeah, a symbol of an emperor who had a harem of wives and chose a favorite. Great," MJ cheered sarcastically.

Ned turned to MJ and started an argument about the importance of Taj Mahal and what it really meant. Harry joined in from his seat a few places behind me and Peter.

I glanced over at my sleeping boyfriend. How he could sleep while everyone on the bus was being as loud as possible I didn't know. We had even taken the last few nights off of patrol because of the lack of crime in the area, so he had gotten full nights of sleep. Spider-Man and Riptide were doing their jobs well according to the media. Well, besides J. Jonah Jameson. He had it out for us.

"You've never heard a sound like the rubberband man!"

"Seriously? Again?" I opened my bag and tapped my cuffs a few times until the music playing through them stopped.

"Is Rubberband Man a secret hero message or something?" Ned questioned, turning away from MJ and Harry.

"No. Shuri built these communicators so I could talk to her from space, but I think they're picking up signals when they aren't supposed to. I got one about a planet called Xandar being attacked earlier, and something about an Asgardian vessel. I think it depends on how far they're sending the frequency," I explained, zipping up my bag.

"That's so cool. Does that mean you can talk to Thor?"

"I haven't tried. The message about the Asgardian ship stopped so I assumed-"

Peter's head snapped up as the hairs on his arm rose. I followed his pointed gaze out the window, standing to get a better look.

"What the hell..."

It was a giant circular ship floating in the sky. Dust was raising into the air while it was hovering, motionless. Like it was looking for something. Or someone. The thought sent shivers down my spine. The image of what I was seeing brought up memories of different alien movies I watched, or better yet, the New York invasion. I was upstate, but that didn't mean the entire school wasn't watching on the TVs around.

"Ned, hey, I need you to cause a distraction," Peter tapped Ned's shoulder to gain his attention.

"Holy shit," Ned got a good look at the ship, "We're all gonna die! There's a spaceship!"

"That's one way to do it," I muttered.

As the rest of the class moved to the back of the bus Peter swung open the window in our seat, crawling outside and sticking to the side of the bus.

"What's the matter with you kids? You never seen a spaceship before?" The bus driver yelled.

I could have sworn I had seen him out on patrol and in my building before. Weird.

"(Y/n), come on," Peter urged, pulling his mask from his bag.

"Right, yeah," I smoothly slipped out the window, trusting Peter to hold me steady while I pulled out my cuffs, "Here we go. Thank you Shuri."

I tapped the cuffs together, allowing my suit to form over my body. I pulled my classic lipstick from one of the pockets and threw a layer on. Kissing Peter's cheek, I left a blue mark.

"You wouldn't mind hiding my bag in an alley since you still have to get changed would you?"

"Go ahead, I'm sure Mr. Stark needs us."

"Thanks Bug-Boy."

I pressed my feet to the side of the bus and pushed off, plummeting off the side of the bridge we were driving over and towards the river. ( wiggled my fingers and allowed the water to rise around me, bringing me back up into the air. I faintly saw Peter swinging closer to the city so he could change into his costume.

"Hey, guys?" I sent out a message to the X-Men, praying they would answer.

"What's up (Y/n)?" Hank was the first one who ended up answering.

"I think New York is in trouble, would you wanna get in on the action? We could use the help."

"Magneto has just finished designs on a project that would be the opposite of a Sentinel, attacking all humans. We're about to leave on a mission to stop it. Do you think you and the Avengers will be able to handle it?"

"Whatever's left of the Avengers," I muttered spitefully. Their mission was more important than mine at the moment, "I'm sure we'll be fine. Good luck guys, I'll talk to you later."

Sighing, I landed on the street near the strange ship. I heard several different struggles, but one near the park caught my attention. It was the flashiest, and loudest.

"Woah, holy-" I jumped backwards to avoid being hit by a large swinging weapon. It wasn't aiming for me, but while it was swinging it was knocking into different buildings and objects.

I ran towards the source of the weapon, though my natural instincts were telling her to run the other way. Even after being a hero for years I still had flight instead of fight urges. That would never change.

"Alright here we go," I pressed the insignia on my belt, releasing the water from its stores.

"No!" A deep voice roared from the center of the park. I had heard it on the news several times before, and recognized the owner.

"Hulk? What the hell is going on here," moving to the center of the park, I spotted Bruce Banner lying in a fallen tree while Tony was fighting a large alien, the one who had the swinging weapon it seemed, "Um, hi Mr Banner, I'm Riptide, what's going on here?"

"Are you a hero? You look like a hero," Bruce panted, too out of it to officially question me.

"Yeah, I work with Tony, kind of, it's complicated. Are you okay?"

"No, the Hulk is being a jerk, I'm probably better over here. You can go fight," Bruce waved his hand dismissively, dropping back into the leaves.

"Okay..."

Turning to the main fight, my eyes were immediately drawn to a quick flash of red. Peter had changed into his costume and joined the fight.

"Hey man. What's up Mr Stark?"

"You good Tony?" I ran over to join the pair. It was a strangely casual conversation considering the circumstances.

"Kids, what are you doing here?"

"We were on a field trip, to MoMA-" Peter began to explain before being grabbed and thrown by the alien.

I raised my hand, clenching my fists and freezing several pieces of water. Thrusting my closed fist forward, the spikes of ice shot towards our enemy, taking his attention away from Tony. With his attention on me, he swung his weapon in my direction. I dodged that, but I received a kick to the back instead.

"The force from the kick has severely bruised 4 ribs and cracked two," Misty reported.

"Great," I groaned sarcastically, jumping back up and wincing. I would have to heal myself later. No getting out of it that time, "What's this guys' problem Stark?"

"He's from space. He came here to steal a necklace from a wizard, that Strange guy that you met before at Xavier's, are they coming to help? It'd be great if they could."

"No, they have another mission. Magneto," I said the name as if it explained the entire situation. While Magneto wasn't a household name anymore, it was still pretty commonly heard.

"Aren't all wizards strange?" Peter questioned, webbing the alien's weapon and pulling back.

"No, his name is Strange," I corrected, freezing the alien's feet to the ground, "Not that he has a strange name, well, he kind of does, but his name is actually- Why is this the discussion right now? We're fighting a giant alien."

The alien picked up half of a cab that had somehow ended up in the park, throwing it towards Peter. In retaliation Peter webbed the back end, throwing it back at the alien. The alien made a jumping motion and broke the ice around his feet, now being able to move freely.

Doctor Strange flew by the three of us, his cape being the main thing moving him as he seemed to be unconscious. That cape was incredible, it seemed to gave a life of its own.

"Kids that the wizard, get on it," Tony ordered, shooting a beam at the large alien.

"On it!"

Peter shot out a web while U used water from the nearby fountain to lift myself into the air to go after Strange. Another alien, one much more human in the terms of body size, was after Strange as well, floating as a large chunk of pavement.

The alien waved his hand, and they sent a billboard backwards towards Peter and me. We quickly moved out of the way, taking a moment to get back on track.

"Not cool!" Peter yelled frustratedly.

Several lampposts folded in on themselves in an attempt to stop Stange. One near the end of the line caught the cloak, causing Strange to fly forwards with nothing keeping him in the air.

"Bug-Boy!"

Peter webbed Strange's torso, preventing him from hitting the ground. He continued to swing away until something caught Strange in a large beam of light leading up to the ship. Freezing the water beneath me, I clutched Peter's hand like he was my lifeline. In reality, I was probably his in that moment.

Crack!

The ice beneath me cracked due to the force of the beam. Peter gripped my hand even tighter as they rose into the air. I was out of water, and with one hand I couldn't gather enough to freeze us to anything again.

"Mr Stark, we're being beamed up!" Peter said into the com.

"Hang on kids!" Tony implored.

As Strange entered the ship through the entrance that had opened up, Peter shot out another web onto the side of the ship, stopping us from going inside, but keeping us attached to the ship.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," I muttered repeatedly as I clung onto Peter, "This is worse than when we were on that plane against Vulture."

"Guys you gotta let go I'm gonna catch you," Tony said from below us, thrusters on full blast to keep up with the ship.

"But you said save the wizard!" Peter argued, he pulled off his mask, gasping, "I can't breathe, I can't breathe."

Peter's words brought my attention to my own breathing as well. My lungs were constricting, my airway closing up. We were too high, literally leaving the atmosphere. The air was thinning, and we weren't acclimated.

"We're too high up, you're running out of air."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Peter mumbled absently.

Peter let go of the ship, falling backwards as he lost consciousness. Gasping, I reached out for Peters, falling as well. Reaching out for him was more instinct than anything as I could barely see two feet in front of me in that moment.

Something struck my back, and tingle spread across my body. Weakly looking down, my body was flooded with adrenaline. It was a new suit! Peter's hand brushed against mine and I glanced over. He had a new suit as well. From the looks of it, they were the suits Tony had offered us if we joined the Avengers.

A mask covered my mouth and nose, giving me access to fresh air. Gulping in deep breaths, I gasped when my old mask fell from my face. Reaching out I managed to snag in mid-fall, stuffing it into an empty belt pocket. I had a new mask that covered my iconic lipstick, but I could breathe so I wasn't complaining.

Pressing the insignia on my belt- still an X-Men insignia, which I was thankful Tony kept- I released a new sore of water. Swinging my hand I froze the water onto the ship, suspending myself.

"Mr Stark it smells like a new car in here!" Peter's voice was full of childish glee.

"Happy trails kids. FRIDAY, send 'em home."

Parachutes shot out of the backs of our suits, the wind catching them and sending us back to Earth.

"Seriously?" I screamed over the wind in frustration. Tony needed us and then he didn't, then he did, then he didn't. That would not fly in my book.

"I got it, I got it," Peter shot out two webs. One onto the ship, and the other onto my wrist, "Can you cut the parachute off?"

Following Peter's request I swiped my hand to the side, cutting the strings to his parachute before doing the same to my own. Peter pulled us towards an opening on the ships exterior that was slowly closing. It was likely a part of the landing hear.

Once safely inside the opening, we backed up against the wall as it shut us off from the outside world, shrouding us in darkness. The new suit adrenaline fading, pain flared up in my ribs.

Wincing, I placed a hand over my stomach, "We should have stayed on the bus."