two best friends for never

🦇💋

       THIS IS A HERO'S STORY but like, instead of propping open a window on the, uh, sixteenth floor, and jumping out, turning into a bat before anyone spots and screams, Isabelle's sneaking out of the country. Marie's under the impression that Isabelle's taken a flight to visit her big brother back at school — Elijah confirmed all of this, too — so things are going all right, so far. Marie knows Isabelle's going to JFK, because she would be going there anywhere. She knows Nate and Riley are tagging along, because they normally do. Everything to Marie is normal. Nothing to raise suspicion.

       They end up waiting around in the terminal for an extra couple of hours, because the flight to Boston they're meant to be on leaves at half-four, but Lagos is half-six. Which isn't that big of a deal, because they're in the fancy first class lounge, with the free muffins and the comfy chairs, it's just a little boring. They can't talk about why they're going to Lagos, in case the businessman near them overhears, and what would they do then? They can't spook someone if they know Moroi's literally a kid. They've got nothing.

       There is, however, an O.P.I stand in the duty free, which means Isabelle's now got a nail polish that matches her Moroi suit. Well, the Moroi suit's black, but still, this nail polish is black but in the light, it has this pretty red shimmer to it. Isabelle needs to figure out if she can use the old witch's spell to incorporate a nail polish change, every time she becomes Moroi... Hmm...

       Here's the deal, with Moroi's gear: there's this old spell Isabelle found, the one time she had the balls to go into a witchcraft shop. (She was in there for three minutes, enough to find the book and go, Oooh OK, before the upside-down cross started to move and Isabelle became convinced that her birth father was going to show up, so she booked it... Anyway.) It's an old Romanian one, apparently, where if you create a circle with this specific ingredients, you can conjure up the outfit. Apparently armies from centuries ago, the ones that would say "thee," used to use the spell so, in a snap of their fingers they'll have extra weapons on them. Apparently Vlad the Impaler used them... To have, like, extra stuff... to impale people with.

       Anyway. When Isabelle turns into a bat, when she turns back she can conjure up the Moroi outfit. She doesn't have to, but she can, which makes things a lot easier because she never has to change into the outfit herself. Part of the spell recommends a voodoo doll of sorts, to channel how you want the outfit to be conjured, and that's why, in Isabelle's closet, there's a Bratz doll in a salt circle. (Cloe never looked so angelic!)

       "This is fun," says Nate, having spent the last fifty minutes sitting on the floor, so Riley can paint his nails blue. "Why don't we go away more often?"

       "Because there are enough Nazis in the US," says Riley with a nod.

       Izzy laughs. "And we've gotta get the easy ones first," she says. "Thank gosh for Louis Theroux, leading us right to them."

        The businessman, at this moment, moves away. He casts them a strange look. Obviously he doesn't have teenagers.

       The journey itself runs smoothly, but the flight's super long, long enough that she's had to prerecord a message and send it to Elijah's phone, so when Marie calls he can have some sort of evidence that Isabelle's totally visiting him at Harvard. The three of them end up dropping dead, fast asleep, for the majority of the flight, Isabelle sleeping on top of Riley on the couch the private jet's got.

       They get into Lagos, Nigeria in the morning, rolling off of the plane, into a car they've already booked under her dad's name, and towards the hotel — again, under her dad's name. It's cool, though, because her dad never checks what Isabelle's up to, she just knows that if anything were to happen, at least he technically knows she left the country? But anyway. It also means the security's a lot tighter, and although Isabelle would love to punch the next Nazi coming her way, she isn't risking her friends getting hurt because of her. Not one chance.

       "Wow," says Riley, once they reach the hotel room, one of the suites with two bedrooms and its own little living quarters. Her eyes light up, still new to all of this, and Isabelle smiles at her. "This is sick."

       "Wait until you see the bathtub, it's like a jacuzzi—"

       "This is heaven," says Riley, beaming.

       Isabelle snorts. "Wish I could come."

      Riley rolls her eyes. "You know, if you can deck out hell for me, I'll stay there to keep you company," she says. "As long as I'm not actually burning for the rest of eternity."

       "Maybe your hair will go red like Izzy's," says Nate, walking past them to put his toothbrush in the bathroom, messing up Izzy's hair as he walks past her. She sticks her tongue out at him. "Jesus Christ, can we make a deal, right now? No one opens the bathroom window. No one needs to see me—"

       "Taking a shit?" says Riley, looking unimpressed.

       "You're not doing that anyway if we're sharing a room," says Isabelle. She picks up the earpiece they've managed to acquire, once Izzy and Elijah spotted that one of their dad's bodyguards had an extra one. Isabelle took it with them here, just in case, and she fixes it in her ear, trying it out. Her one connects to another, only these ones are more long-distance, tech the US government bought from Stark Industries to keep their prized possessions safe. It slots in her ear, sort of like a small earphone, and the person on the other end can here communicate with you. (Only issue is that they've only got two...)

       Riley shakes her head. "This is what boys are like."

       "Maybe we should get married and ditch 'em all," says Isabelle, to riley.

       She nods, grinning at her. "I'll be the Esme to your Carlisle."

       Isabelle winks back at her. "I'll buy you an island."

       Nate calls, "Buy me an island!"

       "Fuck off, Edward, no one likes you anyway," says Riley.

       "I swore you got an island for Christmas, last year?" says Isabelle.

       Nate walks out of the bathroom, and he sighs. "I told you, it's too small."

       "It's an island," says Isabelle. "It is meant to be small."

       Riley snorts. "Maybe it's a grower."

       Isabelle laughs.

       "I hate you guys," says Nate.

       "No you don't," says Riley, smiling brightly as she moves towards him, putting her arms around him.

       Isabelle does the same, laughing. "You loveeeeeeee us!"

       Nate frowns. "You suck."

       "She's a vampire, silly, 'course she does!" says Riley.

       Isabelle grins, flashing her teeth. There's no use for them whatsoever, but her canine teeth are a lot sharper than the average person's. You wouldn't notice, really, they just look weirdly similar to fangs, but to those that know, she could probably use them. She doesn't know when she'd need to bite someone, though. Can she pass on her powers? She doesn't think she wants to test that out. She doesn't want to be Carlisle that soon...

       Then there's a knock at the door.

       "The pizza's early," says Riley, frowning. She opens the door without a second thought — and of course, it's Marie.

       Shit.

       Nate grabs hold of Izzy's hand, and she feels her skin go numb, pins and needles taking over. She knows what he's doing, they practice all the time — when his dad was a superhero, his superpower was invisibility, and it's passed onto Nate. Izzy can absorb energy, and sometimes powers, so by absorbing Nate's energy, she can turn invisible — or at least, for enough seconds to rush into the bathroom, lock the door, and get out the window.

       "Isabelle, I swear on my mother's grave—"

       But Isabelle's already locked herself in the bathroom, forcing the window open again. The drop to the ground is terrifying, but Izzy knows it won't be much of an issue for her. She climbs out, and she jumps, quickly turning into a bat and bolting through the air.

       Shit, that was a close one.

       Isabelle lands in a side street, next to a café. She fixes her hair and checks her watch, her lips twisting as she thinks. Here's what she knows: ex-HYDRA agent Rumlow, nickname "Crossbones," is gonna try and break into the Institute for Infectious Diseases. She doesn't know what for, or why, but that's the only info they could grab using Nate's dad's old equipment. And, let's be real, for a piece of garbage from the nineties, it's impressive they managed to get that much.

       So, she decides she needs to blend in. Ever since she was taken, Marie's made sure she knows what to do, if she's in an uncertain situation. How to stay undetected. Blend in, don't act weirdly. You're next to a store front? Have a look, don't look like you're uncomfortable because they'll catch you out. They always do.

       Isabelle gets her phone out from her back pocket, so she can use her fingerprint to pay for a coffee. "Hi, uh, can I just get a black coffee, please?" she says, forcing herself to smile. Everything's cool, be cool Izzy, be cool. The lady working behind the counter nods and tells her the amount it costs, and Izzy pays with her phone, and she thinks everything's going all right.

       She checks her phone as she takes her coffee, looking at the text from Nate.

       NATE: Yeah so Marie is PISSED

       IZZY: What has she said???

       NATE: Mostly that she's pissed

       NATE: Also I checked Dad's pager — you've got five minutes

       IZZY: I'm on it

       Isabelle slips her coffee onto a table, and walks straight back into the side street she landed in. The thing is, she needs to do something, to stop these people, even if Marie's against it. Isabelle can't answer her fucking apartment door, she can't be home alone, because she's terrified of them taking her again. Because of them. She wants to fight back, and she's going to.

       She holds onto her necklace, as if for comfort, touching the orange jewel that almost glows, before she turns into a bat, bolting into the air and towards the institute. Weirdly enough no one seems to notice a black bat in the sky — Marie says there's so much terror on the ground, there's no need to look up — but whatever the reason, it's helpful for Isabelle. She flies ahead, and she sees the institute, recognising it from the pictures she's seen online, and just as she flies towards it, she sees a garbage truck drive straight into the barrier, destroying it completely, giving the two trucks behind it the ability to get into the facility.

       Isabelle gets inside, now in her Moroi gear. She pulls the fire alarm, in hopes that it'll get every employees attention if they didn't pay attention to the noise outside, and she tries her best to stay hidden. Green gas begins to fill every room, and Izzy rolls her eyes. She may be mortal, but she's not that mortal. Satan, seriously? Lucifer isn't gonna let his daughter roam the earth without immunity to this shit.

       She's in the reception of the office, but she checks the card behind the desk, stating where everything is in the building.

       And then she hears a voice, in her earpiece.

      "Right, Izzy," says Nate. "They're after a weapon on the third floor."

       "Got it," she says. "How are you—?"

       "Snuck out," says Nate. "Left Riley with Marie."

       "Bet she loved that," says Isabelle, grimacing.

       She gets upstairs, turning into a bat and quickly scaling the staircase, forcing open the door into the top floor. She hears gunshots, and she forces the last of Nate's stolen invisibility to get past them — the contained area is ahead, she's almost there, she can see Crossbones. The invisibility starts to wear off, and she can hear the man shooting shout at her, realising that she's there, and she races towards the contained area.

       Isabelle gets to Crossbones, two men standing with him. She coughs.

       "Hiya," she says. She grins behind her mask.

       One of them shoots at her, and the bullet bounces off her arm.

       Her eyes narrow, smirking. "Let me introduce myself."

       The man on Rumlow's right tries to tackle her, but she turns into a bat, turning back just as he's ran past her. She grabs the back of his neck, slamming his face into the wall. The other guy grabs onto her before she can push the other one to the ground, and she spins around, gripping onto the man's shoulder. Pins and needles cover her palm, and the guy's grip on her starts to loosen.

       "So, my name's Moroi Morningstar," says Isabelle.

       The man lets go of her completely, and Isabelle lets him drop to the ground. He isn't dead, just out cold for the time being. She turns to Rumlow.

       "You know the Devil?" she says. "That's my dad."

       "Guess I'll have to send you back," he says.

       He tries to punch her, and she stops his fist.

       "I think you'd like it more," says Isabelle, and she pushes him backwards, crashing into the wall behind him. Some of the chemicals spill and she winces. She hopes they're not corrosive, or something, shit, what if someone else—? Be cool, Izzy... Satan, this guy's evil, it doesn't matter.

       Rumlow stands up again.

       "All right, girlie, get out of my way," he snaps.

       Isabelle frowns. "Uh, no?"

       "All right, then," he says, and before she can react he grabs onto her hair, pulling on it, hard. She gasps. "I know who you really are, Isabelle. And I bet you really wouldn't like it if the next place I hijack is your daddy's office..."

       He looks down, at her necklace. It's hardly noticeable, the chain barely showing, but HYDRA demanded her for it, when they took her, they were angry when she didn't have it.

       So he grabs the chain, and pulls it off.

       It wouldn't take much to push her over, without her own personal battery, but Rumlow practically throws her to the ground, just for the sake of it. Isabelle can already feel her body beginning to panic.

       Here's the deal — Isabelle needs energy to survive, and given her powers, she needs a lot of energy to do so. That necklace of hers is the only thing that can give her the energy she needs. And without it, she begins to live up to the name of Moroi. Her eyes aren't just blue, they practically glow, and her eyes become awfully bloodshot, which looks even worse when the rest of her skin becomes snow-white. She has enough energy to take someone else's, but it's not a lot, and, in her eyes, her fighting becomes a lot more... desperate.

       Isabelle stands up. Rumlow's already escaped, and she swears under her breath, running out of the contained area.

       And then she sees him.

       Captain America frowns at her.

       "What are you doing here?" he asks.

       "He took my necklace," says Isabelle. Her throat feels dry.

       "Look, kid, you shouldn't—"

       Isabelle ignores him, breaking one of the windows and turning into a bat.

       One of the trucks is driving off, and Izzy follows it. In her ear she can hear Nate speaking, but she can't fully hear it. Her mind can't focus on anything but I need that necklace back. She sees them crash the truck on the outskirts of a marketplace, and she waits for them to get out of the vehicle, waits for Rumlow to appear, before she changes back into herself mid-air, falling to the floor. She kicks Rumlow in the chest as she falls, landing on the ground next to him. She scrambles back to her feet. Everything's dizzy though. Her mind is still racing with the thought of I need the necklace I need the necklace I need—

       People scream around her. Someone screams "Devil!" which, yeah, is true.

       He's on the floor still. Isabelle sees the people around, and frantically she shouts at them, "Get out of the way—!"

       "The little girlie's back, is she?" he says, standing up. I need the necklace I need the necklace. Her head is spinning, but she can't stop yet. "I thought I made myself clear—"

       Isabelle punches him, hard enough that he falls back over.

       Everything's blurring together. The colours decorating the market stalls start to blend together, fruit and straw bags all becoming the same blurry thing. The only thing she's allowed to concentrate on is Rumlow, the shithead in front of her, the person that has her necklace.

       "Oh, and by the way? Crossbones? Really?" says Isabelle. She tries to search his pockets for her necklace. "Pirates of the Caribbean hasn't been good since 2005, you freakish has-been."

       He swings his arm at her, the one with machinery covering his hand. It hits her head, hard, and she falls to the floor. She can't get herself up, her head's spinning to the point that she doesn't even know where Rumlow is. She can hear Nate asking if she's OK, but it's blurred, alongside the people screaming, the people shouting in panic. Her eyelids feel heavy. Don't fucking faint now, Izzy, do not—

       "Say hi to your other daddy for me—"

       Captain America punches Rumlow before he can try and kill Isabelle. She tries her hardest to force herself up, but she physically can't. She doesn't know where exactly her necklace is, so her body isn't using any more energy than it has to. Isabelle feels as if she's in that prison again.

       No, come on, Isabelle, she thinks to herself. She uses all of her willpower to stand up. You are going to carry on. Isabelle Oswald, you are bulletproof, you are two steps short from being immortal. Stand up, you can do this. Come on, Isabelle. She thinks of when she was kidnapped, she thinks of how ever since she's wished she could do something to get back at HYDRA — this could be it.

       The blurriness fades a little. She can see Rumlow, enough to know that Captain America's grabbed hold of him... Enough to see the orange jewel glowing in his pocket... Enough to see his fingers on top of a red button...

       Isabelle, without another thought, tackles Captain America to get him out of the way. She can hear the explosion start behind her, and quickly she scrambles off of Captain America, quick enough to see Wanda Maximoff use her magic to keep the explosion contained. Rumlow floats into the air, and the necklace miraculously slips through Wanda's magic — or, at least, the jewel does, falling onto the floor.

      Quickly Isabelle grabs onto it, and already she feels better. It's as if at one second, she was exhausted to the point of fainting, and the next, she has enough energy to do suicides in P.E. She holds tightly onto the jewel, standing up.

       Everything's clear again. She can see the explosion being moved into the air... She can see Wanda struggling... She can see Wanda accidentally losing control of the explosion, and it crashing into the top of an apartment building next to them. Isabelle's jaw drops, shoving the jewel into her pocket, already moving towards the building to help the people in it.

      Steve stops her.

      "What are you doing here?" he says.

       "Sightseeing," says Isabelle, without a pause.

       He looks concerned. Which she thinks is weird.

       "Look, kid, you shouldn't be here," says Steve. 

       "Well, I am," says Isabelle.

       "This isn't your fight—"

       "Then you don't remember when you met me," says Isabelle, pure anger dripping from her voice. She walks past him, fully shoving him with her shoulder. And he does move back, her super-strength taking him off guard.

       She keeps on walking, before turning into a bat to go to the apartments at the top, where the explosion was.

       The first couple floors are fully gone. If anyone was in them, they're dead now. She checks the ones lower down, helping an elderly woman down the steps, using some of her own energy to give it to her. She calms down the children that are wailing, their mom having left to get groceries, the explosion having smashed the windows and cut their arms. She gives them some of her energy, as she carries down the stairs, for when an ambulance arrives.

       The more and more she does the little things, the more she sees — the baby that's crying, the father that's struggling to calm them down. Her heart just hurts, seeing it all.

       She feels her heading getting dizzy, from the amount of energy she's been giving away to others. She can get more, her necklace (well... jewel, now) channels it, if she can help these people by giving them some energy to hold out until the paramedics arrive, then that's what she's going to do.

       Isabelle ends up having to leave, feeling too dizzy to help anymore. Someone's grandmother kisses her forehead and thanks her, calling her a saint, and she almost cries when the wonderful lady tells her she should rest. She doesn't do this to fight people, not really. She does this to make sure other people are OK... She wants to get back at HYDRA, sure, you can't blame her for that, but this is what she cares about more. She wants to make the world a little less hellish.

       She walks back outside, beginning to stumble. Steve is talking to Wanda, and he looks up when he sees her walk back out of the building. He frowns, and steps forward, just as Isabelle falls to the ground...

       "Isabelle," she hears Nate's voice say. "Izzy, where are you...?"

🦇💋

       IT DOESN'T TAKE MUCH FOR MARIE to think people are stupid, but believe her, the rate of stupidity she's been facing on a daily basis skyrockets when she's near the Avengers. She will forever be grateful for her friend Steven, for how he saved her, but sometimes, he really annoys her. Marie sits in the room in the Avengers headquarters, the old skyscraper in the city, and she looks across at Isabelle, who's still fast asleep. Over the years Marie has helped them — she wouldn't class herself as a part of the old SHIELD, or an Avenger, but she's helped them. Once upon a time, when she was still a princess, she was taught to look after the world. Then, it was providing hope when the Nazis were advancing... Now, it's helping out, whenever the Avengers need an extra hand. Which is a lot... Because they're stupid.

       She looks back on when she was a princess, no deal with the devil imprisoning her soul, with a heavy heart. She remembers how, at one point, her main concern wasn't being captured by the bad men so that they could take over her, but rather, the prince that she thought she was going to marry... The prince that would visit her and he understood why she was worried about becoming the queen, one day, because he had that same worry too... Years later she realised that when her prince talked about that, he meant an entire world in outerspace, and that the thunder and lightning that was always in the sky, whenever he appeared, wasn't just a coincidence... But anyway.

       She misses not having to worry about much. Or, at least, she misses not having to worry about bigger things. Like, if Isabelle dies the devil will sentence me to hell. In all honesty, Marie isn't too concerned about being sentenced to hell — she does, though, look at Isabelle like her own daughter, and it is her life's duty to protect Isabelle. And that used to be an easy task, but then Isabelle decided she wanted to become a superhero, so now Marie spends most nights praying that Isabelle will return home, without a bruise. She knows that Isabelle is stronger than most superheroes, that her only real threat is an angel, but still. Marie worries so much about that girl.

       Which is why she's so pissed off with Steven.

       "I should've clocked that bomb vest long before you had to deal with it," she hears Steven say. "Rumlow said 'Bucky' and all of a sudden I was a sixteen-year-old kid again..."

       "And yet the fourteen-year-old was more focused than you were," says Marie, frowning at him. "A top-secret Avengers mission was infiltrated by a fourteen-year-old and her friend's pager? She's just a child, and you let her fight Rumlow?"

       "I know, I should've stopped her," says Steven. "I'm sorry, I am... I get she's too young for this, I think that too."

       Marie sighs.

       "Satan, you're such losers," says Isabelle, walking out of the room she was sleeping in. Since returning to the headquarters, she's been changed into some of the clothes they have lying around, for these circumstances. A sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants, both heather-grey. It's weird to see Isabelle, wearing something that isn't black or pink... She does have her normal expression across her face, though, a confident, unapologetic, this is what I'm doing, I don't really care what you think. It's in the way she looks around, in the way she pulls her hair up with her scrunchie. The yellow plaid one. She calls it her Clueless one.

       Steven frowns. "Look, you shouldn't have been there—"

       "Well, I had done all of my homework," says Isabelle, narrowing her eyes at him. "What else was I gonna do? I've already watched 90210 twice." 

       Here's the deal: Here's the deal: Isabelle knew they were gonna be pissed with her, when she walked out of the room, but you get why she went to Lagos, right?

       Maybe this is why people say to never meet your heroes. Because Isabelle never thought in a million years she would be this annoyed with Captain America.

       "You know what?" says Isabelle. "Next time, you just won't see me."

       She leaves Marie standing around with them, her arms crossed, with her whole I'm an angry princess look across her face. Isabelle loves Marie, loves that she's super feisty when she wants to be, but sometimes it's annoying. Especially when the majority of the feistiness is directed at Isabelle.

       Isabelle turns into a bat, simply because if she's in her Moroi gear, she doesn't have to wear that gosh-awful Avengers tracksuit... Well, it's not really a tracksuit, but it's still disgusting. One day, when Isabelle isn't too busy, she's gonna make herself a whole little wardrobe to leave with the Avengers because she really isn't feeling this heather-grey two piece. It's kinda fuckin' disgusting, in her opinion. She misses her Betsey Johnson dresses from the 90s, her super-funny hoodie that says "Hell was boring," even her diamante hoodies... This Avengers crap doesn't top a diamante hoodie, let's be real here.

       She thinks she sees Spiderman, when she's trying to get through midtown, and quickly she lands on the rooftop he's standing on. Isabelle, as Moroi, smiles, even though her mask covers it.

       "Hey, Spidey," she says.

       Spiderman must've seen her coming, or something, because he doesn't jump. Normally people do. Sometimes Elijah fully yelps... It's a little funny.

       "You were with the Avengers yesterday, weren't you?" he says.

       Isabelle nods. She sits down on the rooftop. "They're actually super annoying, you're not missing out," she tells him. Spiderman nods, and Isabelle looks at his suit. She can't even call it a suit. Just a weird mix of fabric... Like everything red from the TJ Maxx clearance. Isabelle pulls a face. "You know, if you want a new suit, I can get you one... I mean, it won't be built special, but like, it'll look better..."

       "You don't have to do that," says Spidey.

       Isabelle raises her eyebrows. "Please let me."

       "No, I, uh, read once that yours is apparently a really expensive brand and I don't want you to pay for something that... expensive," says Spidey.

       "I have the money," says Isabelle.

       I have no other way of showing affection for friends, please for the love of gosh let me buy you something.

       "It's fine," says Spidey. "Thank you, though..."

       Isabelle shrugs. "When's your birthday?"

       "Wh-What?" says Spidey.

       "Do you not have one?" says Isabelle. "I know someone like that... Her dad says that birthdays encourage materialistic dependency... They own three islands. But that's fine, because land is apparently not a materialistic possession... But then they've got a private Balenciaga store..."

       "I don't know if you're making that up or not," says Spidey.

       Isabelle grins. "It's funny because it's real."

       The Huxleys are weird, she thinks. Maybe it's because the parents golf.

       "So are you really rich, then?" says Spidey.

       Isabelle nods. "Have you seen Clueless?"

       "Oh, yeah, my aunt loves that movie," says Spidey. "I mean—"

       "Even superheroes have aunts," says Isabelle, and she winks. She starts to smile at him. Stop it, Izzy, you weirdo. "Anyway, uh, you know in Clueless, how she has that computer that shows her all her outfits?"

       "You have one?" says Spidey. Through his goggles she can see his eyes widening. "That's so cool!"

       Isabelle nods, grinning. "You never said when your birthday is," she tells him. "I mean, I can tell you mine, if that gives you some sort of security..." She pauses. "It's December twenty-fifth."

       "No way," says Spidey, and she thinks he laughs, but it's muffled by his gosh-awful mask. "Your birthday is Christmas day?"

       "It's ironic, isn't it?" says Isabelle.

       "Mine's August tenth," says Spidey.

       "OK, so," Isabelle begins, and she tries to remember the date it is today. (What, it's a Sunday, she doesn't have school, how is she meant to remember?) June fifteenth. "When it's your birthday, I'll get you a new suit... Maybe it'll be an early birthday present. So maybe it'll arrive, like, tomorrow, but it's just super early..."

       Spidey shakes his head. "I'll give it back."

       "Well that's a dick move," says Isabelle.

       A while passes. She was meant to go home, to seethe in her bedroom, but instead she hangs out with Spidey. She sits on a fire escape in Queens, next to him. This is fun!

       "So what are your powers?" she asks. They're overlooking a street with a vendor on the corner, selling hot dogs and burgers, only the burger buns have Captain America's shield coloured into them. It's not difficult to remember how famous the Avengers are... The other day, Izzy saw this cart outside of central park, where they were selling umbrellas and ponchos and shit, all with different Avengers' faces on.

       That's got to be weird for Marie, Izzy thinks to herself, remembering the baseball cap with Thor's face stuck on the front. Just... seeing your ex's face... stitched onto a baseball cap, feet away from your house.

       Gosh, what's gonna happen if Izzy became one?

       "Uh, super-strength, all the normal stuff," he says, shrugging.

       Isabelle narrows her eyes, looking at him. "How strong?"

       "I can pick up a truck," he says.

       "Oooh, very nice," says Isabelle. "What else?"

       "I can sense when something bad's gonna happen," says Spidey.

       Isabelle raises her eyebrows. "... What?"

        "I get, like, goosebumps," says Spidey. "Oh, and I can also stick to walls."

       "What?"

       "Yeah, it's weird," says Spidey, a little sheepishly.

       "It's cool, though," says Isabelle, noticing his slight embarrassment, at least she thinks it was embarrassment, and thinking, shit shit shit be nice. "What happened, then?"

       Spidey scratches the back of his neck. "I was bitten by a spider."

       "So that's why you're Spiderman," says Isabelle. "Ohh."

       She hears him laugh. She can only see his eyes, but she sees them wrinkle, like they do when you smile. Isabelle smiles softly.

       "Why are you Moroi, then?"

       "That's my name," says Isabelle. His eyes widen, in a way that must mean what the fuck. "Well... It's my Satan-given name, so that's why that zombie said Moroi Morningstar, because that's the full version of it... Yeah, don't worry," she grins at him, nudging him lightly. "It's not my real real name." She glances at his hands. "Wait, so, what are those — thingies?"

       "Oh, uh, these are my web-shooters," says Spidey, and he raises his arm to show it wrapped around his wrist, and resting on the bottom of his palm. "They're meant to enhance the, uh, stickiness."

       Isabelle looks at him oddly. Spidey looks a little awkward.

       "Yeah, it's a little weird," he says.

       "No, it's not that," says Isabelle. "You made those?"

       She points to his wrist, to the web-shooters.

       "Uh, yeah," says Spidey.

       Isabelle's eyes widen. "J—Yeezus, that's so smart!"

      Spidey looks surprised, but he smiles back, properly this time.

       "I, uh—"

       "You are not downplaying yourself, that's literally the coolest thing ever," says Isabelle. She hopes she isn't sounding ingenuine, because she means it. What kind of kid can make something like that? Isabelle literally does nothing for this, all of her gadgets are Nate's dad's old stuff.

       Spidey looks at her oddly. "You can turn into a bat..."

       "Uh, I didn't invent something," says Isabelle, raising an eyebrow.

       After a while, Isabelle decides she should better go, before Marie gets too worried. It's not like everything's fine, or anything. But Isabelle gets that Marie's gonna be more worried about her for the new few days, because of the whole Lagos thing. It's fine, though. Nothing can hurt Izzy, not really. She has her special jewel in her pocket, she'll put it on a new chain later on, and everything'll be as right as rain.

       "When will I see you again, then?" says Isabelle, to Spidey.

       He raises his arms, unsure. "When are you in Queens next?"

       Isabelle tilts her head, frowning. "When are you in the Upper East Side?"

       "Oh, fair enough..." says Spidey.

       Isabelle crosses her arms. "What are you doing tomorrow night?"

       "Uh, same as this," he says.

       "Right, OK, so," she begins, and she glances around, trying to remember where they actually are. "We can meet here tomorrow? Then we sort out a way for us to talk... If you want, I mean."

       "Oh, yeah!" says Spidey. "Yeah, that would be really awesome!" His eyes light up, she can see them wrinkle around the eyes, from him smiling, and she smiles, too, a little surprised he's that excited. "I've never had a superhero friend before."

       "Me neither," says Isabelle, grinning. "See you tomorrow?"

       "Yeah," says Spidey, looking excited.

       This is cute, Isabelle thinks to herself, as she makes her way back home. She flies through her bedroom window, and she grabs her laptop, dragging it across the carpet as she begins to Google iPhone, already reaching for her dad's credit card on her bedside table....

       What? He said emergencies only, and this is an emergency.