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

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Chapter Twenty-Five: Returning Home

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"I'm going to miss Wakanda," I muttered, looking out the window of the ship as it landed at the Avengers compound.

"You'll be going back for your internship," Peter pointed out.

"It won't be the same," I whined dramatically, "I'm actually going to have to work."

"What do you call the lessons we had to take over the summer?" Peter questioned.

"Seeing you getting your butt kicked while learning about a cool country," I laughed at the memories.

Peter flushed in embarrassment and grumbled under his breath, making me laugh even more.

The Wakandan ship touched down on the pad. There, Aunt May and my parents were waiting to bring us home. May seemed amazed by the compound, while my parents were casual about it, not new to the hero scene like May was.

"Hamba kakuhle," I waved, bag slung over my shoulder.

"Hamba kakuhle," T'Challa nodded, smiling, "We look forward to having you back during the year."

"I look forward to training with the Dora Milaje again," I sent Peter a pointed look.

"Shut up," he muttered weakly.

"I look forward to kicking ass," Okoye smirked.

The door to the ship closed, and it cloaked and took off. Peter and I watched it go, already feeling nostalgic about our recent memories.

My dad grabbed my bags and put them in the trunk of our car. While he was doing that I gave Peter a tight hug and kissed his cheek.

"I'll see you soon Bug-Boy," I smile, getting into the back of our car.

While in the car I updated my parents on everything that had happened since we talked last. I even showed off my tattoo, granted my dad almost swerved off the road when he saw it. He was more excited about it glowing than anything else.

"How was New York? Any attacks?" By order of my parents, I hadn't been looking at any news about New York. They didn't want me to stress over the city when I wasn't there.

"No..." my dad's voice rose an octave as he quite obviously lied about the state of our city.

"Your voice always raises when you lie Dad. What happened?"

"No one was hurt," Mom started slowly, "But there were a few attacks. Just appearances and attacks on supply trucks that were heading towards Oscorp. By the time the X-Men got there to deal with him he was gone."

"He probably just wanted to draw Spider-Man and Riptide out," I sighed, leaning my head against the car window.

My parents nodded in agreement. To lighten the now somber mood my dad put on THE Playlist and we spent the rest of the car ride jamming out to the diverse tunes. Our voices melded together in the worst way, but we were too immersed in the music to care.

At a few stop lights, we got some weird looks from the surrounding cars. Considering the fact that the three of us were screaming out song lyrics in either terribly off-key voices or surprisingly accurate pitches, it made sense. On top of singing, we were also dancing as much as we could in the confined space.

Aunt May is telling me I picked the weirdest but best girl possible

I looked at my phone in confusion. It was a very random text. What were they talking about that led May to thinking I was weird? Besides the whole me being a mutant and superhero thing, I was pretty normal.

On your right

Looking out the window, I laughed and waved at Peter. He was sitting in the passenger seat of May's car in the other lane. They were watching us as we were dancing and singing.

"I love you May!" I yelled out the window before the light turned green and we drove away again.

I had nearly forgotten that Peter, and I lived on the same street, meaning we were taking the same way home. We would have to carpool at some point in the future, depending on who got a car and license first.

When we arrived home Jess greeted me with a hug and showed off her new access badge, showing that she was, in fact, the new manager of the building. On top of that she had an album of pictures of her and Via, along with the ones she sent me over the summer.

"I get the penthouse," she beamed, "Looks like I don't have to worry about finding a place anymore, huh? I was thinking about asking Via to move in with me too. It might seem a bit fast but she's real and that's hard to find in New York."

"Way to be humble Jess," I rolled my eyes, smiling all the same, "You do what makes you happy. Congrats."

"What about you and Peter?" Jess leaned in close while my parents were busy waiting for the elevator, "What did you two get up to when you were in Wakanda? Your texts were so vague when I asked you over the summer."

"They were vague for a reason," I hissed, covering my face with my hands, "I don't know, made out I guess. Said I love you for the first time. Just, shut up."

Jess giggled, messing up my hair, "Good job, kid. You set your boundaries, stand by them. Although Peter doesn't seem like the kind of guy to push you farther than you're comfortable with."

She was right there. Getting out of that situation as fast as I could, I joined my parents in the elevator. When we got to the apartment, my parents promised to order takeout while I unpacked.

While I was unpacking, I remembered I was meaning to text Harry and see if anything weird had been going on with his dad. Or, anything weirder than him being a super-villain that was. But Harry didn't know that and I wasn't keen on breaking the family even more by telling him.

Hey Harry, I was wondering how your dad has been since you said he's been off

He's fine

Always in his office but what else is new?

Is he taking care of himself?

Bernard says he's eating which is good, he's just bussy

*busy

Yeah I'm sure that's it

I knew I was lying through my phone screen, but I didn't know how else to handle things. Tell Harry and shatter the fragile relationship he already had with his dad? Keep lying to him and risk pushing the two apart? Wait and see if Harry figured it out on his own?

Letting out a groan I face planted onto my bed. While the bed I had in the palace was as high grade as you could get, I missed my mattress and blankets. They were familiar and made me want to sleep as soon as I touched them.

"Why is the hero life so complicated?" I sighed, "At least in the X-Men everyone knew everyone was a hero. Most of the time Magneto was the villain too, we all knew who he was."

"Yeah but if you never left the X-Men you never would have met Peter and your friends," my dad grinned from the doorway, "And what would you do without young love?"

"Hahaha," I looked up from my pillow, "Very funny."

"Seriously (Y/n), I know things were easier with the X-Men, but you're in high school. They designed it to be as difficult as possible and you're adding an alter-ego onto that. Maybe you could-"

"No," I shook my head, already knowing what they were going to say, "I'm not going to stop being Riptide. You should know that."

"I know, I know," Dad sighed. My mom popped up behind his shoulder.

"We know you can handle yourself, but we worry," Mom cut in, "When you were with the X-Men you were surrounded by other, powerful mutants, and you never went on the most dangerous missions. Now you're going against whatever comes at you with only you, Peter, and your friends who don't even have powers. You're powerful honey, and experienced, but every time you go out we don't know how beaten or upset you'll be if you come back or if you'll even-"

My mom halted, putting a hand over her mouth. I jumped up, pulling my parents into hugs.

"I've trained a lot over the summer, I don't need my powers to fight now, although they are a big help. I'm going to be okay," I assured, with a confident smile, "You aren't going to lose me as long as I can fight, and when I can't, then Peter'll be there for me."

My parents nodded. We stayed in our hug for another few seconds before we pulled apart to a knock at the door. It was our takeout.

We spent the rest of the night sharing stories from our summers and watching movies. We were happy and back together, ready to start another school year.

~*~*~*~

Harry looked up from his phone at his dad's study door. Ironically, (Y/n) had messaged him asking how his dad was doing while he was walking to the study. If he didn't know any better, he would have guessed her mutation was mind reading.

"Hey, Dad?" Harry knocked on the wooden door. Norman swung it open, raising his brows as he waited for Harry to say what he needed so he could get back to work, "I just wanted to make sure you ate the dinner Bernard brought you."

"Yes, I did. Thank you for your concern," Norman smiled, though it seemed strained and fake to Harry. Norman stepped back, ready to close the door before he paused, "Bernard told me that trip you went on was to Wakanda. How in the world did you manage that?"

"Oh, (Y/n) got an internship at the palace through Tony Stark."

"(Y/n) knows Tony Stark?"

Harry paused, choosing his next words carefully. He knew that if he implied something strange, or said something wrong, then Peter and (Y/n) would be exposed as heroes, and he had no idea how to react to that, "Yeah... Peter had an internship with him and they met at one of the conferences."

"I see..." Norman nodded, his eyes narrowing, "Well, Bernard will be taking you to buy school supplies tomorrow, so you better get some rest."

Harry nodded, saying goodnight before he left. Norman leaned against the doorframe until Harry turned the corner of the hallway. As soon as he was gone Norman scowled and retreated back into his study, closing the door and locking it behind him so Bernard or Harry wouldn't enter unexpectedly.

He pulled out one of the books on the bookshelf and stepped back as the case slid away. Norman entered through the secret doorway into his lab. It had become even messier since his attacks began. Equipment lining the tables, papers covering every inch of the walls.

"That girl knows Tony Stark huh?" Norman distractedly glanced at his Green Goblin suit before he began to type on his computer, "Nothing is that coincidental, even in this world."

Norman quickly pulled up security footage from Oscorp. The idiots never removed him from the system. He rewinded back to the day (Y/n) went in for her internship. He isolated her voice and took away any possible background noise using a filter.

Norman played it on a loop for a few moments before opening a new tab and pulling up footage from his suit that he had taken while fighting Spider-Man and Riptide. He isolated Riptide's voice. He put the two audio recordings side by side. The two said different words but the tones and pitches were the same. Their accents were the same as well. They were the same person. Norman smirked victoriously, his eyes glinting with a dangerous excitement. Hook, line, and sinker.

"Little Miss Riptide is about to drown," he sang, reexamining all the facts. Riptide and Spider-Man were close, very close. That meant they probably knew each other's identities. They were around the same age... "Oh, I wonder who her spider friend is. Let's try... Peter Parker."

Norman pulled up footage from his fights with Riptide and Spider-Man, isolating Spider-Man's voice. He also pulled up footage of Peter, comparing the two as he isolated the voices and cut out background noise.

"And now we have a spider about to be caught in its own web." Norman looked over at his suit and smirked, "Two heroes in love. This will be fun."