《10》I Caught the Corn Chip

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Tia's POV

Gloomily, I traipsed back inside the Task Force Headquarters building. As I expected, Task Force agents were running around everywhere like panicked chickens. Alarms were blaring from what sounded like every possible direction.

"Steve, Sam and Bucky are probably already gone by now..." I mumbled to myself, craning my neck to survey the scene. On the far side of the room, the elevator doors slid open with a pleasant 'ding!', which totally contrasted with the serious atmosphere. A familiar flash of auburn hair exited the elevator, catching my attention. Natasha, Tony and T'Challa were hurrying towards the doors, whispering to one another urgently. Tony looked furious.

"Hey! Where are we going?" I called, running over to join them.

"Where have you been is a better question," Tony countered.

"Fighting. So where are we going?" I repeated, having to jog to keep up with the three adults.

"To meet up with Rhodey. We're going to track down Rogers, Wilson and Barnes," Tony growled.

"He's been given a 36-hour deadline to bring them in..." Natasha explained quietly. I fiddled with my gloves, deactivating them silently.

I know. I thought, watching the gloves slide back into wristband form.

"I'm coming with you. If we are going after Barnes, I will help..." T'Challa said calmly. Tony shot him a look. I couldn't tell if it was weariness or gratitude.

"Where are we meeting Rhodey?" Natasha inquired, moving closer to us to avoid a group of stressed-looking security guards.

"He said he'd pull a car up," Tony responded simply. As if on cue, a silver car cruised into the car-park. The window rolled down to reveal Rhodey's grim face.

"Come on, we've got a lot to do and not much time to do it," He shouted to us. Tony sighed quietly. Natasha called dibbs on the front passenger seat, so Tony, T'Challa and I ended up crammed in the back. T'Challa and I claimed the window seats, leaving Tony to fill the middle seat (ha!).

Rhodey put his foot on the accelerator, and the car rumbled forward onto the main road.

"He's going to assemble a team," I said once the Task Force Headquarters had disappeared from our view.

"Who, Steve?" Rhodey asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah," I nodded. Okay, play this cool, Tia. Don't sound like a crazy stalker... "If I were Steve, I would know that someone would come after me. He's going to assemble a team of people to help him out."

Yeah, that sounds believable. Good job, me.

"...That's actually not a stupid idea," T'Challa murmured slowly, "But who would he assemble?"

"So he's already with Sam and Barnes, right? He's going to get Wanda, Clint and a dude named Scott Lang," I counted them off on my fingers. Natasha rubbed her temples in annoyance, probably mentally sighing because she knew that Clint would totally do something like this.

"Wanda's with Vision," Tony denied my claim, "She's not going anywhere. Cap' can't take on Vision, not even with Barnes and Wilson helping."

"Yeah, but Wanda can stop Vision, which is what she'll do. I guarantee she hates being stuck inside- she'll leave when she gets the chance," I explained tiredly. My energy had seriously depleted itself after the fight from earlier. Tony looked dumbfounded.

"Mmkay, but who's this 'Scott Lang' you mentioned? I've never heard of him," Rhodey interjected.

"He was on the NEWs a while ago?" I lied, cringing at myself, then continued, "He's technically a super hero like you guys, and Sam had an encounter with him, so he'll go recruit him for the team."

There was a resounding silence following my analysis, in which I could tell all four adults were probably wondering how the heck I even knew all of this. Feeling awkward, I continued, "So they'll have a team of six, all of which have fighting experience. Which means we'll need to go recruiting, too! If we count all of us in here, we've got five people. Vision will probably turn up on 'our side' at some point regardless if we ask him or not, and I've got a suggestion for one more..."

"'One more'? Who?" Tony's voice sounded a little faint, as if he were having trouble believing all the words coming out of my mouth.

I grinned, unable to suppress my excitement, "Can I show you a video on YouTube?"


~


The apartment was just like a remembered in the movies. It reminded me of my own apartment, back in my normal world... except this one was A LOT more homely. The delicious smell of home baking was wafting from the oven, and a soft breeze was playing through the open window. The couch looked comfortable, although I wouldn't know because Tony told me to stay out of the adult conversation. Meanie.

"So, in short, based off his results at school, I believe he is a suitable candidate for my Internship program," Tony was explaining, "It's not too strenuous, ask Tia over there. She's another intern of the program who got in via the grant, and she's loving it."

"Yes, internship! Absolutely!" I grinned widely, giving the brown-haired woman sitting next to Tony on the couch the 'thumbs up'. May raised her eyebrows, smiling incredulously at the 'good news'. Behind me, there was a soft click, and the door opened.

Cue my fangirl self absolutely losing it internally.

A brown-haired youth with earbuds in shouldered the door ajar, carrying an electronic gadget of some sort.

"Hi May," He greeted distractedly, not looking up as he deposited his bag on the floor and nudged the door closed. He wandered towards the kitchen, still totally oblivious to the strangers in the apartment (which was quite a feat, as I was squeaking and flapping my arms in a fangirl-ish nature).

May and Tony half-turned to track the boy's progress.

"How was school today?" May called over to him. I shot a quick, excited glance at Tony, who mouthed back.

'By the way, after all this, I'm gonna enrol you in school.'

Wtf.

I turned back to grin enthusiastically at Peter, who STILL hadn't noticed us.

"It was okay," He replied, "There's this crazy car parked outside..."

His voice trailed off and his mouth shaped a perfect 'O' in shock.

"WE HAVE BEEN NOTICED!" I rejoiced. Tony appeared to be inspecting a corn chip, but threw it at me to shut me up. (I caught it).

"Mr. Parker," Tony greeted.

"Um..." Poor Peter looked utterly confused and he anxiously approached us, "What- what are you... Hey! Um, I-I'm Peter!"

This is officially the greatest day of my life.


~

HAPPY HALLOWEEN GUYS!! I dressed up as Spider-Qwen and got ahold of my cousins' toy Infinity Gauntlet >:) 
What did you all dress up as?

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