𝐏𝐀𝐖𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝟒 | 𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐏𝐀𝐖𝐍

—♟—

"𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐄?"

"Nothing so far."

"Okay," Kara sighed as she sat down on top of the ledge, ignoring the slight lurch in her stomach as she looked down at the street that was about fifty feet below her.

She frowned as she thought about the math homework that she hadn't finished yet. Not that she was particularly worried about the homework itself—rather, she was worried about the fact that she had promised to send her answers to Ned by six o'clock, and it was now nearing eight. She was sure her phone had vibrated itself off the desk from the number of times Ned had texted her.

Whatever. He had probably moved on and asked Peter or Sam for the answers.

"There is a bank robbery taking place on Roosevelt Avenue."

"Got it, thanks, Hermione." Kara shifted her face mask on, making sure that it was covering most of her face before teleporting inside.

She quickly turned invisible before anyone could notice that she was there, and squinted her eyes as she looked around and assessed the situation.

There were four robbers—two of them were yelling at the cowering bank tellers, while the other two patrolled the room, keeping their eyes on the bystanders that were pressed against the wall with terrified looks. All of them clutched heavy guns, and their gloved fingers were locked around the trigger.

So . . . not great.

Kara narrowed her eyes as she tried to come up with a plan. It'd be better to somehow knock them out all at the same time, otherwise, they might start shooting. The problem was, she couldn't do any explosives—there were innocent people in there, after all.

Kara sighed. She'd just have to do her best.

She crept up to the nearest one, who was leering at a woman with his gun prominent in his hands. Kara snatched the gun from his hands, and as he whipped around wildly in surprise, she hit him in the head with the butt of the gun, causing him to fall back and lay limp.

To reassure the bystanders that were screaming, Kara turned herself visible and blasted the other patroller with a burst of cyan energy. He flew back, hitting the wall and sliding down as the gun fell out of his slackened hand.

The other two robbers had turned to her by this point, and their shaky hands pointed their guns at her. The widened eyes that peeked through their ski masks and the voices that trembled as they yelled at her to stop told her that they were already far too afraid, which was exactly what she needed.

Kara became invisible once again and teleported behind one of the robbers. She tapped his shoulder, causing him to spin around in fright, and punched him in the face as soon as he did.

He stumbled back while the other robber swung his gun around and searched for her, but was soon knocked down as Kara sent a blast his way.

The former rubbed his hand against his cheek as his eyes roamed around the room, but one blast to the chest, and he was down too.

Feeling relieved eyes set upon her from all the bystanders, Kara quickly formed a rope out of her energy and rounded the men up, then swiftly tied them together in a back-to-back circle.

After giving small nods and "You're welcome"'s to the bystanders as they thanked her and sent her appreciative smiles, Kara teleported back to the rooftop and sighed. Another successful mission.

She hummed softly as she stared out at the sky, which was settling into a soft pink as the evening neared. A warm breeze washed over her, which she usually would've enjoyed, except this time, she did not, since she was wearing a full-body suit and a mask that covered her face.

"I know you have turned your notifications off for text messages from Ned, but he has sent a total of two hundred and eighty-seven texts in the past forty-five minutes. Would you like me to read them all?"

"Oh God, uh . . ." Kara sighed, rubbing her eyes before she shrugged. "Just read the latest one, please."

"All right. It reads as follows: 'Kara' in all capital letters, exclamation mark, exclamation mark, exclamation mark, exclamation mark, exclamation mark, exclamation mark, exclamation—"

"Okay, got it, Hermione, thanks," Kara interrupted, a half-amused smile on her face.

"Would you like to send a reply?"

"Yes, please." Kara thought for a moment before telling her, "Send: 'I'm outside right now, is it okay to send the answers in a couple hours, question mark.'"

"Sent."

"Thanks, Hermione."

About half a second later, Hermione spoke into her ear, "Ned has replied. Would you like me to read it?"

Kara rolled her eyes. "Yeah."

"He said: 'Yeah, that's okay. Jeez, I thought you were dead.'"

Kara giggled. "Just send him a laughing emoji in response."

"Sent."

Kara looked down at the street below her, a small frown coming upon her face as she watched a little boy drop his ice cream onto the ground, and then winced as his wail somehow reached her ears. Little kids could really scream.

"There is a home on fire on Richardson Street."

Kara's eyebrows furrowed. "I'm not a firefighter."

"There is a man trapped inside."

Her eyes widened as she gasped. "Oh my God, someone should help him."

". . . Wouldn't that be you?"

"Oh shit, you're right, that would be me. What's the address?"

"Two-eight-four Richardson Street."

"Got it, thanks!"

Keeping the address in mind, Kara teleported over to Richardson Street.

There was a row of homes that lined the street, with smoke billowing from one of the houses near the middle.

A group of people—neighbours most likely—were crowded around the front of the driveway, nervously waiting for someone to put the fire out and save the man. There were no fire trucks in sight, nor the sound of its siren to reassure anyone.

Kara teleported to the front of the house, wondering how to take it from there. The most important thing at the moment was saving the guy, not the house—the house was long past saving.

Most of it was already quite on fire, flames flowing out of the open windows, and most of the right side of the house had fire wrapped around it.

By now, she'd been patrolling for quite a few months, so the nerves she had at the beginning of her patrolling days usually never returned.

Today, however, was different. If the man died, that was on her, and only her. She had to hurry.

Before she could move towards the house, a suit of red and blue greeted her as Spider-Man swung his way towards the home.

Suddenly, Hermione spoke into her ear, "Would you like me to activate the Enhanced Interrogation Protocol?"

Kara shrugged as Spider-Man came to her side. "Sure."

"Enhanced Interrogation Protocol has been activated."

"Hey, uh. . ." Spider-Man cleared his throat as he obviously tried to lower his voice, and put his hands on his hips. "What are you doing here?"

Kara's eyebrows furrowed, feeling as though she recognized the voice. She brushed it off; there was no way she knew the guy behind the (rather terrifying) homemade mask. Maybe he just had one of those voices.

"I'm here to—" Kara paused as she heard the squeak that her voice had been altered to—it was as high as a chipmunk's. She silently groaned; of course Tony would do this to her. "Uh, I'm here to save the guy in there."

"There's a guy in there?" Spider-Man asked incredulously, whipping his head towards the burning house.

"Yeah." She cringed at the voice again before shaking her head and telling him, "You stay here, I'll go in."

"No, no, I'll help you!" he insisted as he shook his head.

She raised her eyebrows and pointed out, "You'll burn alive."

"You got a point there." Spider-Man nodded quickly. "You go, I'll wait here."

She nodded and whispered for Hermione to turn off Enhanced Interrogation Protocol as she sprinted towards the house.

She went up to the front door, which was mostly burned away, and stepped inside, carefully avoiding the flames that were quickly climbing the walls.

Her mind raced as she tried to think of a way to not be burned alive, but she was coming up short. This would have been a lot easier if she had Killer Frost or Frozone with her.

With a nod to herself in a silent encouragement, Kara pushed her hands towards the fires with her telekinesis, which instantly forced them to sway in the other direction and open a path for her to go through.

Doing this as she went up the stairs, Kara made her way to where she figured the bedroom was.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" she shouted out.

"Help!"

She heard a faint voice coming from the room to her left.

The door was already on fire, what had seemed to have been a pure white was now a scorched black. She blasted the door, causing it to be completely destroyed as the wooden splinters fell to the ground.

The room was enclosed in roaring flames, every inch of the room being red and orange while smoke drifted wherever it pleased.

There was a man laying on the ground, nearly unconscious as he suffered next to the bed. His dark hair was wild and stuck to his skin, and his red face was shiny with sweat and burns as he panted. There were a few burnt holes in his clothing, the small scorch marks on his skin being able to be seen through the holes.

As Kara hurried in, she could feel herself weakening, both by the extreme heat and the continuous force she had to use to keep the fires away from her.

Feeling beads of sweat beginning to run down the sides of her face, she quickly made her way toward him, coughing from the amount of smoke that had begun to flow into her lungs.

There were small fires that were close to him from the wooden bed, the cotton blanket, a few articles of clothing that were strewn on the ground, and a wooden floorboard plank that had been slightly lifted.

Kara could feel burns starting to form on her face and hands as she knelt down and put her hand on the man's shoulder, then teleported back onto the driveway.

The wail of sirens was now approaching, the flashing red and blue appearing at the end of the street. The two fire trucks, along with an ambulance behind them, rapidly made their way to the driveway before the firefighters hopped out to get rid of the fires that encased the smouldering house.

The paramedics lifted the man—who had fallen unconscious—onto a gurney and immediately set to work on him.

"Thank you, Psionic." A middle-aged paramedic smiled before rushing the man into the ambulance.

"Hey—hey!" Spider-Man came to her side as she stumbled toward the sidewalk. "You okay?"

"Enhanced Interrogation Protocol has been activated."

Kara was not okay. "I'm okay."

"That's good." Spider-Man nodded, going on his tiptoes as he watched the firefighters do their job. "Uh . . . I guess . . . I'll see you around?"

"Mhm."

Kara turned around and teleported to the Compound, arriving in one of the living rooms and immediately collapsing onto the ground.

"Enhanced Interrogation Protocol has been deactivated."

"Kara!"

In her coughing fit, she looked up to see Steve, Sam, Rhodey, and Vision all rushing toward her with widened eyes.

"Oh" —she coughed as she took her mask off and tossed it to the side— "'sup?"

"'Sup'?" Sam echoed with a scoff. "You come here looking like a burnt piece of toast and all you have to say is 'sup'?"

"What do" —she coughed again— "you want me" —another cough— "to" —cough— "say?"

"Give her a moment, Sam," Steve murmured as he crouched down to Kara's side, and his eyebrows furrowed down at her soot-ridden face and suit. "You okay, Kara?"

She only coughed in response and she slowly sat up.

"Yeah, I don't think she's okay," muttered Rhodey, his eyes narrowed as he watched her bury her head into her hands and continue wheezing.

"Kara?" Steve said softly, resting a hand on her back as she stopped coughing and exhaled.

"So, uh" —one last cough— "there was a fire."

"Really?" Sam raised his eyebrows in feigned surprise as he crouched on the other side of her. "I thought you got all these burns and charred lungs from a nice swim in the ocean."

Kara glared at him as she sighed. "Oh, you're real funny, Uncle Sam."

"I know I am," he remarked. "Now tell us what happened."

"Uh . . . so there was a house on fire . . ." she began with a mumble, "and I went inside and got a guy out . . . and now I'm here."

"You went inside a burning house?!" Rhodey exclaimed.

She nodded with a small shrug. "Mhm."

"You should go check in with your mother," Steve sighed as he helped Kara to her feet. "Make sure you're all right."

Kara waved a dismissive hand. "It's okay, I'm good."

"You don't exactly look like you're good," Rhodey commented, gesturing towards the burns that covered her.

"I'm fine," she reassured the group, shaking her head and motioning towards the wounds that were healing with a blue glow. "My healing is doing its thing. Watch, I'm okay." She raised her eyebrows as she lifted her hand towards the wall. "Pew, pew, all good."

Vision turned to the wall before looking back at her. "Nothing happened."

"No need to get sassy," she muttered with a small pout. "How you doing, Vision? Haven't talked to you in a while."

"Well . . ." Vision examined the burns that were quickly healing before giving her a shrug. "I have been doing better than you, clearly."

Kara slowly sat down on the couch, wincing slightly as she looked down at all the singed holes that now decorated her suit. "On a scale of one to ten, how mad do you think Uncle Tony will be that I ruined his suit?"

Sam snorted as he and the others sat down; him, Rhodey, and Vision taking the couch across from her while Steve sat by her side. "Eleven."

"Shit," she sighed.

Immediately, Steve, Sam, and Rhodey simultaneously reacted:

"Language!"

"Hey, no dirty words!"

"You're, like, two months old!"

"I'm fifteen," she complained.

Rhodey scoffed. "Yeah. Fifteen seconds old."

"You're younger than that baby over there," Sam told her with a small grin as he gestured over to Vision, who shrugged.

"I am two years old."

Kara nodded enthusiastically. "At least I'm not the youngest one anymore."

"You are mentally," Sam pointed out with lifted eyebrows.

"Nuh-uh" —she raised a finger and shook her head— "that's Uncle Tony."

Rhodey gave a small shrug and muttered, "She's not wrong."

She suddenly gasped as she realized something, causing four pairs of eyes to turn to her in alarm, probably assuming that the gasp was caused by pain.

They were soon reassured of their worries as she turned to Steve and exclaimed, "Guess who I saw at the house, Uncle Steve! Spider-Man!"

"Oh, uh, that dude who swings from webs and stuff?" Sam asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah," she confirmed with a nod.

Steve's eyebrows were furrowed. "What was he doing there?"

"I would assume the burning house had attracted him," Vision remarked with a curt nod.

"Yeah, but what could he even do?" Rhodey pointed out as he turned to Vision. "Spiders burn in fire."

"Yeah, I didn't let him go in," Kara responded. "I told him that—"

Suddenly, a voice drifted in as the clicks of a pair of heels approached. "Steve, I need a—"

Helen stopped in her tracks as soon as she came in, her eyes fixated on Kara, who gave her a sheepish smile.

"Kara," she breathed out, her eyes widened and her face now a little pale. "What. Happened?"

"Well . . ." Kara glanced down at her lap and shrugged. "I was patrolling . . . there was a fire . . . I went inside the house . . . bada bing, bada boom, I'm here."

"And why didn't you come to me?!"

Kara gulped nervously before gesturing to Steve and saying, "They, uh, they told me not to. Mhm. It wasn't because I said I was fine. Nope. Their fault. Blame them. Ground them."

"You're the worst liar ever," Sam remarked, his arms folded as he gave her an amused smile.

"Yes, you cannot convince anyone," Vision agreed with a small nod.

"Rude," she mumbled.

"Look at you!" Helen pressed as she stepped towards them, her hands on her hips. "You're covered in blisters and second-degree burns! What were you thinking?!"

"My self-healing is helping!" she protested with raised hands of surrender.

"And you four!" she exclaimed angrily, turning her attention onto the men, whose eyes widened.

"Us?"

"Why are we in trouble?!"

"We didn't do anything!"

"Yes, well, I suppose that is the problem, is it not?"

"Vision!" Sam whipped around to him and glared at him. "You're supposed to be on our side, man!"

Vision only shrugged in response.

"Why didn't you drag her down to my office?!" Helen continued. "Steve, you are literally a super soldier!"

"What if she blasted us?" Sam pointed out as he gestured towards Kara. "That shit scares me! I'm not 'boutta lose my left ear or somethin'!"

"Then you could've come down to my office and told me!" Helen responded with a glare that made Sam shrink down in his spot.

"Uncle Steve could've just punched me in the face and knocked me out," Kara interjected with a shrug.

"Aw, man, I would've paid to see that," Rhodey remarked.

"If this happens again, I am taking away your TV time!" Helen threatened as she pointed her finger at the four men.

Sam scoffed. "You're not my mo—"

"Don't make me count to three!"

"Sorry," Sam muttered, his lips forming into a frown as he lowered his gaze to the ground.

"Kara," Helen sighed, "come with me."

Kara followed her to the infirmary and quickly sat down on top of the hospital bed, watching as her mother shuffled around the room to get what she needed.

"You know, you don't have to do anything, Mom." Kara frowned. "My healing is almost done."

Helen ignored her as she began to press a damp cloth against the burns to cool them down, causing Kara to wince in pain. She sighed. "Tell me exactly what happened."

"Oh, uh . . ." Kara sighed before she began to recount, "I was patrolling—I had just stopped a bank robbery, which was fun—and Hermione told me there was a guy trapped in his burning house. I went there, met Spider-Man—which was also fun—and then I went inside. I found the guy on the second floor, picked him up, teleported outside and gave him to the paramedics before coming here."

"How did you get through the fire?" Helen asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Oh, I used my telekinesis to bend the fire away," Kara answered with a small shrug.

"I don't like this patrolling stuff," Helen muttered as she examined Kara's wounds, which were practically finished healing by this point. "It's too dangerous. I get worried."

"You have nothing to worry about," Kara reassured her with a small smile. "Except for me getting burned, because it did happen, but this is the last time. Probably."

"It better be," Helen warned with an amused smile, leaning over and kissing her forehead.

"By the way," Kara suddenly said, "when is the next time we're going to visit Uncle Tony?"

Helen pursed her lips and squinted her eyes as she thought for a moment before answering, "We've got dinner at his house next Friday, I think Amelia and Peter will be there, too. Why?"

Kara narrowed her eyes. "I have something I need to yell at him for."

"When do you not?" Helen chuckled. "What happened this time?"

"Watch this," Kara sighed. "Hermione, activate Enhanced Interrogation Protocol."

"Enhanced Interrogation Protocol has been activated."

"He did this to my voice," Kara spoke, her voice now as high as a chipmunk's again. "He seriously thinks I can intimidate bad guys with this? They'll laugh at me!"

Helen laughed, shaking her head as she reassuringly patted Kara's shoulder. "It's very intimidating, don't worry, honey."

"Incoming call from Peter Parker. Deactivating Enhanced Interrogation Protocol."

"One sec, Mom." Kara smiled before she slipped off the bed and told Hermione to accept it. "Hey, babe. What's up?"

Peter sighed as she walked into the hallway and leaned against the wall. "Ned's freaking out."

"I told him I would take a couple hours to send him the math!" Kara protested. "I told him that, like, forty minutes ago."

"Yeah, but it's Ned."

"Can you send him the work?" she asked hopefully with a frown. "I'm a little busy right now."

"Honestly, I was gonna ask you for the work," he sheepishly admitted. "I've been a little . . . preoccupied with something the last few hours."

Kara's eyebrows furrowed in surprise as she questioned, "You haven't done it yet?"

"Neither have you!"

"You got me there," she chuckled. "I'll finish it by nine, and then I'll send it to the group chat."

"Okay, cool. See you tomorrow."

"See ya."