we're counting on you
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The bus was about ten minutes away from its destination. It'd grown dark, and most of Andi's classmates were becoming a bit tired. Few had already succumbed to their tiredness, Peter included. He'd been fast asleep on Andi for the last hour or so, while she sat quietly scrolling through her phone. She was ready to finally get off the bus and get to wherever Fury had decided to send them to. She was ready to lay on an actual bed rather than a set of uncomfortable bus seats. She was also ready for the quiet. The chatter around her was too much for her senses, and she was more than ready for a break.
Peter moved in his sleep, and Andi looked down at where he lay on her lap. She smiled softly and placed her hand onto his head, gently moving the thick curls from his face. He looked so calm and peaceful as he slept. The sight reminded her of the night the two shared together just a few days before leaving for Europe. Andi had been swinging her way around New York to figure out who the city's newest hero was, only to come home and find her best friend relaxing in her room. She remembered how his presence made her feel. She remembered the butterflies, but she remembered the dread as well—the dread of remembering what used to be. It was the reason she'd dismissed control that night and allowed him to stay with her. Andi needed that sense of comfort only he was able to give her. She needed to wake up to his loving touch. She needed to wake up with his arms wrapped around her so protectively, despite knowing she was more than capable of protecting herself. She needed to wake up in the morning to the smile that made her entire world turn. She needed to wake up to him.
As Peter lay sleeping, Andi began to think about how normal things were beginning to feel between them. She wasn't ready to jump back into the vast sea of their relationship just yet, but she welcomed the feeling that she knew eventually she could. Eventually, she'd learn to deal with her emotions in a healthier manner, and she was perfectly okay knowing he'd be the end result of the battle she once feared she'd lose.
"Hey, Andrews," Flash called from his seat across from her. Gwen was asleep against the window, but Andi didn't blame her. She, too, would also use sleep as a way to escape Flash's presence.
Andi's smile disappeared at the sound of his voice, however, and she turned to look at him. "What do you want, Flash?"
"I wanna know why the hell you like Parker so much," Flash said, gesturing to her current affection towards Peter. "Like, what is it that attracts you to such a loser, Andrews? I don't get it."
"I wouldn't expect you to get it, Flash," Andi spoke nonchalantly. "I wouldn't expect you to understand what it means to actually give a shit about someone."
"Um, I give a shit about someone," Flash remarked.
"Yeah, you can't count yourself," Andi told him with a sarcastic smile on her face. "Why do you care so much anyway?"
"I dunno." Flash shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I just figured you'd go for someone with a little bit more spice, y'know? Sports cars instead of busses. Private jets instead of the subway."
Andi nodded her head as she listened to Flash, though she wasn't at all agreeing with him. She'd never cared about such menial things before. It didn't matter to her that Peter didn't have an expensive means of transportation or a ridiculously expensive penthouse in Manhattan. The only thing that mattered to her was his heart. Peter was the kindest person Andi had ever met. He cared deeply about those around him, including Flash himself, despite his harassment and bullying.
"You don't know me at all, do you, Flash?" Andi asked, though she already knew the answer. "I don't care about money. I never have. The only reason any of you know I have it is because my Aunt decided to be petty. The heart of a person is much better than the material of a person. I don't care how poor Peter is or isn't, because none of that has anything to do with why I care for him. It never will."
"Damn, that was deep," Flash muttered. "Maybe I'll take a page out of your book, Andrews."
"Yeah, good luck learning to read it."
"Tell me the truth, though..." Flash leaned closer to her. "You bought him those nice ass glasses, didn't you?"
Andi let out a breath and met his eyes. She placed her phone down and raised her hand to Flash's face, pushing him away from the two of them. She refused to give him the gratification he yearned for. He gave enough to himself, and she didn't think she'd be able to handle the irritation that would come from his growing ego.
The city lights of Prague grabbed Andi's attention, and she gently shook Peter awake. His eyes fluttered open, and a smile lit up his face the moment he looked at Andi. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. He gazed out the window at the city lights, and his smile fell slightly. Though Prague was absolutely beautiful from what he could see of it, he couldn't ignore the reason why they were there in the first place. They weren't there to enjoy their vacation or spend time with their friends, but instead they were there to fight an inter-dimensional hell-being.
"Sleep well?" Andi asked Peter.
Peter nodded his head. "Had a pretty comfortable pillow," he replied with a laugh.
"Glad I could be of service to you," Andi said with a smile on her face.
A few minutes later, Dimitri pulled up in front of a rather elegant looking building. By then, sleeping students had woken and started making their way off the bus. Andi, Peter, and Gwen were among the last off the bus. The three followed their teachers and classmates into the hotel, which was even more elegant inside than it was outside. It was beautiful, that much Andi could admit to herself, but she still did not care. Her classmates did, on the other hand, and wasted no time at all in making it known.
"This place is so classy!" Betty said.
"Yeah, so why are we here?"
"Speak for yourself," Flash's voice could be heard. "I'm home."
"What happened to taking a page out of my book, Flash?" Andi asked him.
"C'mon, Andrews!" Flash scoffed and gestured to their surroundings. "You can't tell me you aren't home either."
"I live in a cabin, Flash."
"I bet it's one spicy cabin."
"Jesus Christ."
Andi's attention was averted by her phone vibrating in her pocket. She watched Peter pull his out, as well as Gwen, and the three exchanged several glances before walking away from the group. They answered their phones simultaneously, and were instantly met with the voice of Maria Hill.
"It's Hill," she told the teenagers. "There's earpieces with your suits. You need to put them on and wait for instructions, understood?"
"Yep," Andi responded.
"Thanks, ma'am," Peter said.
"Yeah."
The three hung up their phones and looked to each other.
"She's kind of..."
"A bitch?" Andi finished for Gwen. "I don't remember her being like that."
"So, you met her before all this?" Gwen asked.
"Sort of," Andi answered, remembering all the video conferences and phone calls involving Maria Hill she'd listened in on. "There's something off about her, I don't know."
"Don't think too much about it, okay?" Peter nudged Andi's arm. "I don't think any of us need anymore to stress over."
"He's right," Gwen said to Andi.
"If you say so."
Ned hurried over to the three of them, expecting to speak to Andi and Peter about their ventures with the Elementals, but Gwen's presence threw him for a loop. "Uh, what's going on over here?" he asked the three of them.
Peter and Andi exchanged looks with one another. Ned knew exactly who they were and what they did, but he lacked the information about Gwen. They hadn't told him because it wasn't their place to. Granted, the two doubted Gwen even knew he knew, so Andi thought of a very subtle way to break the news to him.
"We're just over here talking about how preoccupied you've been with Betty," Andi spoke, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're supposed to be our guy in the chair, y'know?"
Ned's eyes widened slightly and he glanced over to Gwen, who was beginning to put two and two together. The grin on Andi's face only helped confirm the thoughts going on inside Ned and Gwen's head. Peter stood in between the two of them rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
"Andi, I—" Ned kept looking back and forth between her and Gwen as if to remind Andi of her presence.
"It's fine, Ned," Andi assured him. "She knows about us."
"What?" Ned's eyes widened even more. "How did that happen? When did that happen?"
"Back in Venice," Gwen answered with a shrug of her shoulders.
"She saw us on the bridge," Peter added.
"So, you know they're Spider-Man and Recluse?" Ned asked Gwen quietly.
Gwen nodded her head and leaned forward, prepared to tell Ned the truth. If Andi and Peter trusted him, she did too. "They also know I'm just like them," she told him.
"What?" Ned furrowed his brows and looked at the three of them. "Just like them? There's three of you now?"
"I'd show you if the lobby wasn't filled with our classmates," Gwen told him.
"She's helping us deal with the Elemental issue," Andi told him.
The smile popped back onto Ned's face and he clapped his hands together, his eyes falling on Peter. "Bro, how does it feel to be outnumbered by two, powerful women?"
"I don't really mind," Peter said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Yeah," Andi added. "Powerful women are all the rage nowadays."
"I mean, have you seen Captain Marvel at work?" Gwen giggled.
"Yes, actually," Peter and Andi answered simultaneously.
"Do you guys do that a lot?" Gwen asked the two of them. "Y'know, the whole answering together?"
"Duh!" Ned answered before Andi or Peter could. "They're soulmates. They even finish each other's sentences."
"Shut up, Ned," Andi said with a roll of her eyes.
"It's true!"
"Wanna know what else is true?" Andi asked him. "It's true that we really have to go."
"What do you mean?"
"The Elementals, they're here, Ned," Peter told him.
Fear washed through Ned's body, and he frowned. "Here? Peter, we're here!"
"I know, I know," Peter replied. "We're figuring it out, I promise."
"You have to do something, please!" Ned said, looking at all three of his friends. "We're all counting on you."
Andi frowned and let out a breath, while Peter watched Ned walk away with sad brown eyes. Gwen stood with her arms crossed and an aching fear inside her. The three were so young, yet they held the weight of the world on their shoulders. Everyone around them expected so much from them, though most didn't know it. Though the teenagers were terrified, they knew they couldn't let their friends down. They knew they couldn't let the world down.
"Let's just go meet Fury and get this hell over with," Andi muttered as she turned to walk away. Gwen and Peter followed behind her, sparing one last glance at their classmates. They were all there to have fun and enjoy their vacation, and, unbeknownst to them, Gwen, Peter, and Andi were the three reasons they were able to.
About thirty minutes later, Dimitri had taken the three teenagers to meet Fury and Beck, and the remainder of Fury's entourage. Andi sat on a table with her gaze on the floor. Peter stood in front of the fireplace lost inside his thoughts. Gwen was busy gazing around at the technology in awe. It was obvious that at least two of the three didn't want to be present, and this annoyed Fury.
"Excuse me?" Fury called. "Andrews? Parker? Are we boring you?"
Andi rolled her eyes and looked at Fury, but before she could get a word out, Beck spoke up for them.
"They're not bored," Beck told Fury. "They're just thinking about how you kidnapped them."
Andi nodded her head. "Among other things, but that's the gist of it," she added.
"You had obstacles," Fury said to them. "I removed them."
"Is that what you call it?" Andi questioned him with narrowed brown eyes.
Fury only stared at her.
"They still won't evacuate the city," Hill told the group.
Fury groaned the moment he heard the information and looked to Peter, Andi, and Gwen, the latter of which had finally made her way to her friends. "What's the plan, you three?" he asked them.
The three exchanged glances with one another. Andi nodded to Gwen as if to let her know it was okay to speak for them. Peter was too nervous to, and Andi just didn't want to. She knew if she did she'd have so much more to say to Fury.
"Um, we'll be spread out in the cathedral tower keeping watch for the Elemental," Gwen started explaining. "When it shows up, Peter will radio you guys, and the three of us and Mr. Beck—"
"My name is Mysterio," Beck cut her off, a knowing smirk on his face.
"Okay." Gwen smiled back at him. "The three of us and Mysterio will then move in."
"Piece of cake," Andi muttered, a sarcastic smile on her face.
"I need you guys to listen to me, okay?" Beck said to the three teenagers. "This isn't gonna be easy. The best hope you have, the only hope, is to stop it here now. No matter the cost."
"I think you're missing a few key details within your little pep talk," a new voice grabbed everyone's attention.
Andi turned her head to the opposite end of the room to see a woman walking in, the heel of her boots echoing loudly against the floor. She didn't appear to be much older than her mid-twenties, but it was the dreaded sense of familiarity Andi felt when looking at her that perturbed the blonde. Her long brown hair, her beautiful brown eyes, and her flawlessly chiseled features—Andi had seen them all before, but in that moment, she knew it couldn't be possible. It'd been so many years. So many empty, yet unforgettable years.
"W-who is this?" Peter asked Mysterio, glancing back and forth between the woman and Beck.
Beck had a smile on his face as he met the woman's eyes. "This is my partner—Aurora."
The sound of the name sent a stabbing pain through Andi's heart, and she looked at the woman, Aurora, much more closely than she had just seconds before. She studied her features intently, and her mind began piecing together the details she thought had been lost years ago. Andi was having trouble believing what she was seeing. She was having trouble believing what her mind was trying to convince her of. It was impossible. It had to be.
"Partner?" Gwen asked with furrowed brows.
"Yes," Aurora answered with a bright smile on her face. "Sorry I couldn't be here sooner, but I've been busy dealing with the aftermath of the incident in Mexico. These Elementals are a pain in my ass."
"Tell me about it," Fury scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Anyway..." Aurora stopped and looked at the three teenagers, her eyes brightening slightly. "Would anyone care to introduce me to our young heroes?"
"This is Peter, Gwen, and Andi," Beck informed her.
"Andi? Recluse, I'm assuming?" Aurora looked to Andi. "You're the one Beck told me about."
"Yep." It was the only word Andi could manage to get out. The more Aurora spoke, the more familiar she became, and the bigger the fight inside Andi's head. Beck was from a completely different universe, which meant Aurora likely was as well. The thought alone was the only way she could convince herself she could not know this woman, but the pure emotion the sound of her voice elicited inside Andi was something she could not ignore.
"I trust you've told them what they need to know?" Aurora turned back to Mysterio.
"I was about to until you interrupted me," Beck muttered. "Be my guest, though."
"I will," Aurora said, turning her attention back to the teenagers. "You're here to fight the final Elemental, and I want to thank you three for being so selfless."
"Yeah, well, we didn't really have much choice in the matter," Andi remarked.
"What do you mean?"
"Fury kind of kidnapped them," Beck told Aurora.
Aurora's eyes widened, and she looked at Fury. "You understand the objective was to find heroes willing to help us, right? Not kidnap those that didn't."
"In my defense, two of the three were chosen by Tony Stark himself," Fury informed her.
"Jesus, okay," Aurora breathed out and ran a hand through her long hair. She looked back at the teenagers, a soft smile on her face. "Alright, guys. You're about to fight the baddest Elemental yet. Do what you can to maneuver it away from civilians, but whatever you do, keep it away from metal, okay?"
"She's right," Beck joined in the conversation. "If it gets too big, it'll be able to draw power from the Earth's core. After that, there's no stopping it."
"It's a pain in the ass," Aurora said.
"Look, our friends are here," Peter said. His tone was nervous, and Andi frowned. She knew he was thinking about what Ned said to them earlier. "I can't help but think we're putting them in danger."
"You're worried about us hurting your friends?" Fury's loud voice caught their attention. He got up from his seat and walked over to the teenagers, who were now standing with each other by Beck and Aurora. "You, who called a drone strike on your own school tour bus?"
His tone was throwing Andi off, as well as completely aggravating her. Given the plethora of emotions swirling around inside her, she found she was desperate to let some of it out. At the moment he seemed to be an appropriate target. "It was an accident, okay?" Andi told Fury, her tone matching his own.
"I don't care if it was an accident or not!" Fury responded. "Stark gave you a multibillion-dollar A.R. tactical intelligence system, and the first thing you do is try to blow up your friends! It's clear to me that you were not ready for this!"
"Excuse me—"
"And you..." Fury cut Andi off before she could defend Peter. "I was told you were the gatekeeper—the one meant to keep Parker and yourself out of trouble, but the only productive thing you've done so far is mouth off!"
Peter simply walked away from the group. Andi and Gwen watched him with a frown on their faces, but Andi turned back to Fury only seconds later. His words only caused her aggravation to grow, and without even thinking of the consequences, she shot a web at him from the spinneret in her arm. Fury jolted back at the strength of the blow, but was otherwise shocked to find his mouth covered in webbing. He glared at Andi and attempted to remove the substance from his face, but to no avail. Those around the two watched with wide eyes and expressions of shock, while a certain pair of inter-dimensional partners couldn't hide the amused expressions on their faces.
"Don't forget who called who here, Fury," Andi told Fury as she started backing away from the group to find Peter. "We might be 'kids', but we are not your punching bags. I'll be damned if I let you treat us like it."
Andi quickly disappeared, followed shortly by Gwen. The adults in the room were left to their silence and shock, Fury especially. Aurora and Beck, however, were absolutely amused by what they'd just witnessed, and Aurora met his eyes.
"I really like this girl," Aurora said with a quiet laugh.
"I knew you would," Beck replied with a knowing smirk on his face. That wasn't all he knew, though, and soon enough everyone would find that everything they thought they knew was anything less than the truth.
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Introducing the beautiful and lovely Zoey Deutch as Aurora. I hope you guys love her as much as I do.
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