Blue Phoenix - MCU Civil War Replacement

Chapter Thirty Two

Charles had been very agitated when I'd shown up but once he saw me he settled down enough for us to talk. He'd been confused but he remembered me. We'd talked for over an hour and by the time I'd left he seemed in much better spirits. I hated Alzheimer's; it stole so much from so many people until the sick one simply wasted away but it wasn't just the sick that it affected either.

Calling Charlotte back to tell her my findings had been hard. There were days that Charles didn't know who she was, and they were getting more frequent lately. She'd essentially lost her dad and there was no cure for Alzheimer's yet. She'd been happy that he'd recognized me and was able to help him but it had to hard to not be the one able to help your own father.

Parking in front of Peter's school I take a deep breath. Working with the kid was just what I needed to get my mind off the things I couldn't change. I walk up the steps and through the doors, stepping through the metal detectors and cross the hall to the office.

"Hi, my name is Makenna James. May Parker should've called and told you guys I was picking up Peter Parker today."

The lady at the desk looks up at me and her eyes go wide. I swallow the chuckle that threatened to come out and smile at her. She shakes her head slightly and blushes as she focuses back on the computer in front of her, typing something in.

"Oh yes Dr. James, she did first thing this morning. He's currently in the lunch hall with the Decathlon team. Would you like me to page him to the office for you?"

"Actually would it be alright if I went and got him? I'd like to see his team."

"Of course. Straight down this hall and take a left at the end. Is there anything else I can do for you?" She says, handing me a slip of paper

"No thank you. Have a wonderful day."

Walking into Midtown High School felt like I was walking into the past. I turn and walk the way she'd instructed and it felt strange being back inside a high school again. I'd graduated when I was Peter's age and that was a long time ago now.

The hallways looked much the same as the ones at Lincoln Park in Chicago where I'd gone, lockers lining the walls on both sides with doors every twenty feet. I turn left at the end of the main hallway and soon this hallway ends as well, dead ending at a pair of doors. I push them open quietly, slipping into the room unnoticed and lean against the wall.

A tall girl stands behind a podium and was calling questions to a group of students sitting on the stage at two tables. They hit a bell in front of them before answering. Peter wasn't sitting on the stage but was sitting at one of the round tables with I'm guessing the teacher in charge.

"Peter it's Nationals. Is there no way you could take one weekend off?" The teacher sitting with Peter asks.

"I can't go to Washington because if Mr. Stark needs me then I have to make sure I'm here." Peter replies.

"You've never even been in the same room as Tony Stark." A boy says at a table not from them, feet propped up in a chair in front of him.

"Wait, what's happening?" A girl on stage asks.

"Peter's not going to Washington." Another girl replies from where she is laying on the floor seemingly doing homework.

"No no no no no no." The first girl says, looking panicked.

"Why not?" The boy beside her asks, hitting his bell.

"Really? Right before Nationals?" The girl behind the podium asks.

"He's already quit marching band and robotics lab." A girl says, looking up from her book making everyone look at her, "I'm not obsessed with him. Just very observant."