chapter nine!
nina and the bug boy

"SO, what happened?"

Nina sat against the wood of her door, knees hugged to her chest with her phone still with her in case Peter will call her back. She stared at his contact; the picture of him still with those glasses and it made her want to smile, except her heart was up in her throat. No one has seen him. She sent May a text, saying that Peter left the party and she's called him━and has everyone looking for him, as well as that Ned knew he was okay (kind of), and that he should be on his way home. Nina hated making May worry after the death of Uncle Ben. She remembered the days after he died. Peter had snuck out then, too. But always to Nina's apartment where she just held him as he cried and said it was all his fault. And she told him it wasn't, but she knew that those words wouldn't mean anything at that time. And so she just clutched onto him tighter until he cried himself to sleep, and she shed a few tears, too, because Ben had been like family to her as well.

She hoped Peter was okay.

On the other end of the door, Spider-Man was using the first aid kit Nina's father always has to help his cuts and bruises. He told her that he healed quicker, and that he'd be fine without it, but she insisted, stepping out of her room so he could take off his mask without her seeing. She was glad she was home alone, and that her parents won't be home until very late, otherwise things would be very different. She didn't know how her father would react to seeing Spider-Man in her room. Nina believed he'd be more focused on the fact that it was a boy and not a human web-slinger.

"It was a weapons sale," answered Spider-Man. Nina wondered whether he was talking to her right now without his mask ... that made this moment between them, however far apart, breathtakingly close. "But ... it was weird. The weapons were weird━like anti-gravity guns, black-hole bombs━"

Nina's stomach twisted at that one, "That's not good."

"They must be the same guys that sold those weapons to those robbers across from Delmar's," murmured the vigilante. "But I followed them in this━this awesome car chase across the suburbs before this big guy with wings picked me up and threw me into the water. Then, Mr Stark got me out. He showed me this heater in my suit. It was cool. Then he left, which was also cool."

Nina didn't exactly find any of that cool (well, perhaps the heater in the suit thing; that was kinda cool). She pulled her knees up even closer to her chest, "We can't have those weapons on the streets. That's going to be a disaster."

There was a pause. Nina frowned. Then, Spider-Man repeated, unsure, "We?"

She flushed, "I━I mean━well━you, of course━I just━I mean, I'm here if ... if you want help with that."

Nina imagined him shaking his head. "No," he said immediately. Part of her sank, even though he was right. "No," Spider-Man repeated, stronger this time. "If I drag you into this, that means you'll be in danger. I━I can't put you in danger."

"But I want to help," argued Nina. "Not━not fight like you, but, you almost collapsed in my room, bug boy. You need somewhere to go. I━I'm just saying ... you know, my window's always open. These guys belong to somewhere, okay? And they've gotten these alien-tech weapons somehow. I can't just stand back and do nothing━this is my home, I care about it."

There was more silence. Nina listened, waiting for a response. Her phone was forgotten for a second as she tilted her head towards the door, wondering if she could hear his silent decision. Then, she felt shuffling. It was a moment before the door handle turned and Nina got onto her feet. As soon as the door opened to her room, she slipped back inside, watching Spider-Man walk back to the bag he had pulled in through the window with him. Nina closed the door behind her, just in case her parents decided to come back early and walked up to him.

He unzipped his bag and pulled out a strange, egg-shaped glowing object. At first glance, Nina could guess it to be some energy core ... just purple and pulsating like it was alive, and a beating heart wedged into what was left of a gun. Spider-Man handed it carefully over. Nina hesitated, but she soon picked it up with ginger fingertips, turning it around to examine it.

"I found it on my way back through the streets," said the superhero as she did. "I think it's what powers those things. I need to pick it apart to get a better look, but that's the logical guess. It's obviously alien."

Nina sat down onto the pillows at her windows, turning the object around again. "Yeah," she murmured off-handedly. She wasn't the best at engineering and mechanics but she knew enough from when they touched base with them in physics, as well as from Peter, who was smart at practically everything. He could look at this, pick it apart and figure it out easily.  "But these connectors are man-made," she pointed to the casings that ejected from the glowing orb. She felt Spider-Man lean in close over her shoulder, sitting to just above her height. "You'll find these in an electrical toothbrush charger. So, that means ... what? They're combinding our tech with alien tech?"

Spider-Man shrugged. His lenses narrowed in thought, "Seems like it."

"They obviously have the money for the resources," said Nina. "Whoever is tinkering with this, I mean." She then chuckled to herself, eyes lighting up. "Tinkerer. They're the Tinkerer." Nina was very proud of the name she just came up with.

"The guy that was giving these things out," Spider-Man met her gaze, "he called himself the Shocker. He had this thing around his wrist, he could blow stuff up with it. Made with the same stuff, I guess."

"So, there's a team of them," realised Nina. "A corporation, even."

"And I bet that bird guy is their leader," finished Spider-Man.

Nina found herself smiling. Spider-Man frowned, "What?"

She blushed and looked away. She tried to hide it in her hair. "Just━you and I, we make a good team."

Nina didn't glance back, not sure what reaction she wanted ... even though she couldn't even see his face. But she heard the sound of his lenses moving back and widening. Then, Spider-Man said, "Really?" in that high voice that was so familiar right to her bones, and yet she couldn't pin-point it. It was too muffled for her to be sure on anything━anyone could have a voice like that. And Nina didn't think she wanted to find out why it was familiar ... that was Spider-Man's secret, not her's.

"Yeah," she mumbled, fiddling with the object. It was warm. "We're like ..." Nina shrugged, "Nina and the Bug-Boy."

Spider-Man scoffed, "Bug-Boy?" he chuckled. "I'm not Bug-Boy. I have a cooler name than that. And shouldn't I be first, I'm the superhero?"

"Men being first in the name is overrated," Nina smirked. "Us girls are usually way smarter. We solve everything. Luke and Han would have died in minutes if it wasn't for Leia. Same with Ron and Harry; they're nothing without Hermione."

The vigilante shook his head, still in disbelief. But she knew he was smiling. She just knew. "Nina and the Bug-Boy," repeated Spider-Man, chuckling, but it was sweet; it made her blush again.

It made Nina decide to be honest, "You know, this is weird but ..." she stared at her feet to make it easier to get her words out, "... you wear a mask, and we barely know each other, and yet, I feel like I've met you before. I feel like I do know you."

"You do know me," said Spider-Man.

Her eyes widened. Her head snapped up to meet his, shocked. "I━I do?" she asked, startled he'd be so blunt.

"Yeah," he replied. "I'm your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man."

Nina rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "Get out of here, bug-boy," she passed him back the strange tech. "Stay safe."

"I'll try my best," replied Spider-Man, taking the power core and stuffing it into his bag. He swung it over his shoulder and climbed back up onto the window sil and out into the night. Nina rose onto her knees, watching him go with a fluttering heart. Just as he was about to jump up onto the fire-escape bars, he stopped himself and glanced back. "Nina?"

She hummed, answering. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for tonight," said the superhero. "Just ... thank you."

For some reason, it seemed to hold more than just his gratitude for her help tonight in her room. Though, Nina couldn't fathom why. But, she just smiled, forcing it down and bringing up her mischief to lean forward through the window. She smirked up at Spider-Man, refusing to let herself back down out of nerves and say, "Just go get 'em, Tiger."

Spider-Man's lenses tilted upwards in a smile before he leapt off the fire escape. Nina pushed her head right through the window to watch him dive, cheering into the night before attatching a web to the next building━and he was gone.

Just as she slipped back inside, her phone lit up. Nina's heart leapt and she rushed towards it, her heart back to racing as she fumbled for it to see who sent the message. Her whole figure slumped in relief as she read Felicia's: Ned heard from Peter, he's okay.

Nina sighed, her worries diminishing for now.

*ೃ༄

     MONDAY at school, Nina stayed back after Decathlon, sitting at her computer and searching through pages and pages of websites to try and help Spider-Man. She had finished enough study for Washington to which they left for tomorrow. She couldn't stay here for long, as she promised to spend time with Felicia before she headed home, but Nina took this chance before she was too meet up with her friend to try and figure out who this bird guy might just be. And who these people that worked for him were. Even possibly what this core might be. It had to be alien tech infused with their own, and the only time a vast mass of alien tech had been on Earth was after the Chitauri invasion in 2012. She wrote down anything she found, had many opened tabs and many investigative journalist articles open. But so far, she had found little to nothing. Up until now, it seemed these guys had been like ghosts; completely invisble.

It didn't take long before Nina had called up Felicia for help. Her best friend had shut herself in her room at home to hear the story, and as soon as Nina finished, her friend exclaimed: "You're helping Spider-Man?!"

"Shhh!" Nina scolded her, glancing at the door to the classroom. It was open, since Mr Harrington only let her stay on the condition she didn't close it for security and supervision reasons. "I don't even think I'm supposed to tell you. He made it very clear that he did not want me in danger, and I'm pretty sure that would extend to you. And ... he doesn't exactly know I'm digging into it like this ... it originally had been just to look at the power core he had found."

"That's crazy," said Felicia. She sounded as though she had dropped down onto her bed. "Also, if you don't want people to hear me, put in earphones, you dumbass. Come on, you're better than this, hon."

"Oh, right, yeah, that's a good idea," Nina quickly reached for her earphones and placed them in before plugging the end into her phone.

Felicia's disappointed tsk was now only heard in her ears. Then, she said, "So, these guys are selling really dangerous weapons into the streets of New York? Why aren't the━you know, Avengers━called in for this?"

"Well," Nina scrolled down to find what felt like the hundreth website based around money laundering in New York. She scrolled ... Wilson Fisk ... nope, nothing. (Hey, wasn't Wilson Fisk that philanthropist?) "I guess after the Sokovia Accords, and they've been hidden well for this long, I don't think the U.N has considered it dangerous enough."

"Dangerous enough? Didn't you say black-hole bombs?"

"Yup," Nina clicked on the link to a familiar article, hoping to find something in there. "So, yeah, but anyway, I'm practically Spider-Man's investigative partner. It's cool. We're Nina and the Bug-Boy."

"You got your name first, nice! That's my ex-wife. This is why I still love you."

"Should we get married again?"

"Done, I do."

"Till death do us part," Nina muttered, reading. "But, basically, from what I saw, they're somehow using both alien tech and normal tech to create these insane weaponry. Like the ones used at the ATM robbery. Spider-Man stopped a sale last night in the suburbs."

"Shit," cursed Felicia. Then, another thought hit her, "Wait, the suburbs? So, Spider-Man had been around to say hello at Liz's party? He does know Peter?"

"Yeah, he does ..." Nina tapped her pen against her cheek.

"Crazy how he's in the suburbs and Peter just leaves, and they know each other..."

"I thought Ned said he was called in by the Stark Internship?" Nina frowned. "I don't know, he never called me back."

Felicia scoffed, "Of course, he didn't. Why am I not suprised?"

Nina pursed her lips. The anger she thought she'd feel, and used to, didn't come to her like usual. Instead, that worry returned like water filling up in her chest. "I don't know, Cia ... I ... I've been pretty worried about it. May ... May tells me he sneaks out all the time."

Her friend went silent for a second, because even if she tried to show it off, Felicia was caring, as well, and she had been friends with Peter, too, since Freshman year. They both knew this was out of character. Ever since he started that internship with Stark around the time the Avengers fell apart ... now that Nina thinks about it, it was perhaps the exact same time. But even before that, since Ben's death, he had grown, lost the glasses, got stronger ...

    Nina scowled outside of the door ... only for the frown on her face go from anger to confusion.

Now, Nina has seen a few strange things. A common visitor to her bedroom window recently as a human spider-ling. But she knew when someone wasn't supposed to be at a school during this time, especially when they were two grown men in janitor outfits she didn't recognise ... and one of them had a strange, thick and large gauntlet in one hand.

They stepped out from the stairs of the mechanics workshop, glancing around briefly as if to check their whereabouts (a very suspicious act) before setting off down the hallway.

      Confused by the long silence, Felicia muttered, "What is it? What's wrong?"

     Nina didn't have time to explain. She just whispered, "I'll call you back soon, Cia..."

     Her friend was immediately concerned, "Wait, Nina—"

     But Nina hung up.

She stood up, reaching for her phone and walked to the door of the Decathlon classroom, careful not to make a noise. She peered outwards, watching them walk down the hall. She glanced down the other end, seeing no students or teachers. There was the chess club in the classroom over, but that was it.

She had a stupid idea, but perhaps the idea of helping Spider-Man gave her some irrational confidence━a feeling that in this moment, she was invincible. It was a very dangerous thought to hold, but when Nina was determined and focused on something, she almost never saw the possible consequences. She just knew she was helping Spider-Man, and she will help Spider-Man and she was helping Spider-Man!

Nina crept out of the classroom and followed.

She kept a safe distance. Far away, but not so far away that she lost the two strangers completely. Holding her phone tight, Nina didn't know what she'd do once she couldn't follow them any longer, but right now, all she focused on was not being heard or seen, because she had a feeling those masked guns at their hips and that strange gauntlet device in the taller man's hand could do a lot of damage. How had they even gotten in with those weapons?

(Nina wanted to have a talk with the school's secuirty).

Nina reached the corner and waited a moment before looking around it. She watched them continue towards the stairs towards the school's maintenance. A step downwards to the back entrances, old storage rooms and boiler that was basically another room for storage since they stopped using that━like━when people stopped using boilers.

She took a deep breath, feeling her heart race at the thought of what could happen if she got caught, but it didn't stop Nina. She kept going. She rushed along as fast as she could without her sneakers squeaking on the tiles. The door was slow closing, thank god, and she managed to catch it just before it closed, double checking how far the strangers were down the stairs before she slipped inside. They didn't look back as it closed, and even if they had, Nina was prepared. She had ducked in the corner beside a janitor's tray, crouching low right before the landing ended and the stairs started. From here, she watched until they reached the bottom of the flight and turned the corner away from the storage and maintenance, and towards the back school entrance.

Nina stepped out of her hiding place and scurried down the steps. Her palm was sweaty on the handrail. She reached the bottom and pressed her back against the plaster, her nose itching at the smell of dust and lack of opened windows. Nina heard the sound of the back fire exit doors opening. She held her breath. When she heard them close, she risked a glance. Seeing it clear, Nina raced to the handle.

As careful as she could, Nina counted to ten before she ventured opening the door━only just until it was ajar so she was able to see. She raised her phone, getting her camera ready. It felt too easy. There they were, walking towards a car at the curb, the liscence plate right in view. Then again, high school kids didn't go around following people with guns and dangerous weapons.

Nina held her phone right, frowning to try and get all the numbers of the plate in the frame. As the men got into the car, she took the photo, very proud of herself.

She stood back up, able to breathe without worry of getting caught. Nina looked at the photo she took, and she managed a grin despite it all.

*ೃ༄

    a/n: hey guys!!! hope you guys are enjoying this chapter. NO WAY HOME LITERALLY COMES OUT THIS THURSDAY IN AUSTRALIA (I don't know about you guys) but i will state this now. after no way home comes out. I promise i will NOT SPOIL IN THE AUTHORS NOTES as long as YOU GUYS DON'T SPOIL IN THE COMMENTS.

    also, second promise: everyone in this book must give the movie a shot if tobey and andrew aren't in it, because at this point, i full on believe they aren't but the movie is still gonna be fukin amazing. these guys all worked so hard on this movie, and jacob did a stunt WHILE having a dislocated shoulder so if anyone calls it a bad movie just because andrew and tobey aren't in it imma smack u im sorry. that's not a valid reason.

     anyway, here's today's chapter's meme:

     but i also went ahead and made some snapchats for these characters. because these guys are teens and you know, since i was something of a teen myself only last year

anyway we used snapchat fucking a lot, and i plan on using a lot of social media/messaging in this book to add to that whole theme of the homecoming trilogy. not actual posts, just you know, commenting, mentioning liking photos, etc, you know, what i've already done.

     but i made these for this chapter because i got really bored and i was scrolling thru pinterest and saw these photos so.

from ninahart to f.hardyy
( wife 💞💞 )         ( ex-wife 💔 )

ninahart's story
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from ninahart to mjones
( loser 1 ♡ )              ( wife 2 🙌🏾)

from ninahart memories
1 year ago

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1hr ago