Spidey and the Iron Girl: Vol. 1

#9: Iron Girls Don't Cry

Andover's Preparatory School looked like a ghost town when Collin touched down behind some trees by the lacrosse field. She knew from experience that the security guards who kept watch over the boarding school grounds almost never came back here and none of the security cameras pointed this way, so a girl in a flying metal suit landing there at 2 am would most likely go unnoticed.

She'd had to navigate herself all the way to Massachusetts using only the alignment of the stars-- which hadn't been that hard since Sam had taught her how to do just that in her last years of training. As she deactivated the suit, she could almost hear the echo of that long-ago conversation over the crunch of wet grass beneath her feet...

"FRIDAY, deactivate global positioning system," She'd heard him instruct over the comms of the Iron Girl suit.

"Are you crazy? We're halfway across the continental U.S. right now, how are we going to find our way home?" She exclaimed as all the visual overlays that showed her what direction they were flying disappeared from her display.

"How are we going to find our way home?" Sam scoffed, tucking his wings to flip over and glide on his back. "You'd have to be a special kind of stupid to get lost on a night like this..."

Skeptical, Collin had followed his example, aiming her thrusters in the opposite direction so she could face the sky like he was. It was night and the inky sky above them was dotted with millions of stars. They drifted like this for a moment, taking in the natural beauty like two swimmers floating on their backs in a gentle river of clouds.

"Are you about to tell me to follow the North Star back to Stark Tower? Because, I hate to break it to you, but that's East of here, not due North..." Collin muttered over the comms.

"And that, young cricket, is where you're completely wrong," He chuckled. "All you need to know is where North is, Collin, and then everything else falls into place..."

He'd been right, of course. Sam usually was.

Collin left her suitcase behind the trees and started walking around the edge of the lacrosse field. Even darkened, the familiar setting filled her with nostalgia. She'd kicked so much ass that first semester of her senior year, right before the Snap. Her team had been set to go to the State competition at the end of the year and everything... but, of course, that never happened. She could have reclaimed her spot on the team when she was brought back-- the headmaster had even written her an email inviting her to join the team again as co-captain, no try-outs necessary-- but by that time her father had become so paranoid about losing her she was being homeschooled at the compound.

A chilly breeze swept across the empty campus, too cold for a summer's night, but it wasn't the weather that raised goosebumps on her skin. An eerie sense of unease began to settle over her, growing stronger with every step she took. As she quietly walked the courtyards, dimly lit by yellow lamps, she suddenly realized it had been a mistake to come back here.

She didn't know what she'd expected. To see her old friends running to greet her? For her old professors to poke their head out of the classroom doors and comment on how much she'd grown since the last time they'd seen her? To feel that sense of belongingness she'd once felt walking these halls, like there was no way anything could ever change? But she didn't feel any of those things. The grounds were too dark and the buildings too empty, without even the hum of students in the dorms whispering to each other after lights out to cut through the silence.

School was no longer in session. And she no longer belonged here. With a heavy heart, she trudged back to get her suitcase. Depressing as this visit was turning out to be, she didn't have anywhere else to go so she lugged the bag back with her, dodging the security cameras and the one security guy in a golf cart who was on duty to sneak into her old chemistry lab.

This place, at least, hadn't changed. The lock to the window by the chemical ventilation hood was still faulty and she was able to push it up with only the tiniest of creaks. She tossed her suitcase in before climbing in after it.

Sighing, she sat down on the floor and looked around at her old classroom. She squeezed her eyes shut and for a second she could almost see her old life here, the memories glowing golden in her mind's eyes. So many hours spent fucking around with different chemical combinations, getting scolded for breaking into the limited access cabinet where they kept all the really dangerous (aka, fun) stuff... When she opened her eyes again, the golden visions dissipated as quickly as they'd formed, fading into the somber gray shadows of the empty laboratory.

She laid down, dropping her heavy head onto her suitcase. It was only then, in this complete and lonely privacy, that she let a few tears slip from her eyes.