Rise || Marvel

《28》The Shadiest of Acres

(Song: We Won't Stop Dreaming - Pinkzebra)

《 Tia's POV 》

It was easy enough getting to Central Park. I think I freaked out a family of squirrels when I suddenly appeared with a burst of flames underneath their tree branch, but no one else saw me.
Now came the issue of getting to our target apartment building. I had no idea what it even looked like.
In the end, I ended up pulling out my phone and entering the address Peter had told me into Google Maps.

Genius.

The screen displayed a red-brick, four story building, probably wide enough for ten or so apartments on each floor.

I was about to exit the Safari app when a small notification popped up in the corner of the screen, revealing the name of the place.

"'SHADY ACRES CARE HOME'?!" I read, bursting out in laughter, "THIS IS BRILLIANT! Could this be any more perfect?"

After several minutes of leaning on a tree for support as I laughed my ass off, I straightened up, still grinning, and peered around, letting my gaze roam over every building I could see. Eventually I spotted it. The apartment building was sitting near the road running alongside the park, tucked neatly between two alleys.

'Rendezvous at the complex across from the apartment building...' Peter had said. I angled my gaze back down the street. Sure enough, a large complex was looming directly across from the red-break structure.

I retreated a little back into the park (so one would see me... That would make things awkward) and willed myself to be on top of the tall rendezvous building. There was a flash of fire, then the grass under my feet was replaced with gravel.
A startled sparrow flapped away from the sudden presence of a human.

"Sorry birb!" I waved after the small animal. It ignored me. Apparently, I don't have Snow White's connection with animals. Cri every time...

"Oh, you're already here?"

I nearly tripped off the roof as a familiar red and blue blur swung past and dropped down next to me.

"You're forgetting I can teleport," I replied (after getting my balance back), eyeing the edge of the roof cautiously.

"Right, true..." Peter chuckled sheepishly, "Did you come straight here? Where'd you put the notebook you were using in school?"

"I made a small detour to Stark Tower to drop off my school things first..." I admitted.

"Good idea..." Peter angled his gaze towards the red-brick building across from us, eye slots of his mask narrowing, "So that's the place, huh? The stuff Mr Stark sent me said that it's a retirement home. Apparently, they don't get many residents, so they'll probably be marked for demolition in the next two or so years..."

"Yeah, it gets demolished. Thor was pissed," I snorted to myself.

"Huh?"

"Nothing! What does it say we have to do?" I quickly changed the subject.

"We just have to scout it out according to the info..." Peter reported, sounding a little disappointed that we hadn't been given a bigger part, "It said that there had been unusual energy readings within the building. The owner claimed that she had been woken up several times to noises in the walls? Weird. Also, residents claimed that there's been 'magic' stuff going down there. Like... floating teapots? What the heck?"

"Ten bucks says it's Odin," I challenged him.

Peter tilted his head slightly, "Isn't he the dude from Norse mythology who supposedly knows everything?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Why would he even be on Earth, then?" Peter asked disbelievingly.

I shrugged, "I dunno. Maybe Thor's being the only Avenger with initiative and actually searching for the Infinity Stones and Loki bewitched Odin and trapped him on Earth so that Loki could be king of Asgard?"

There was a long silence.

"That seems oddly specific. Also.... Huh?" Peter sounded baffled at my 'guess', but shook his head as if to clear his thoughts, "We should probably go check it out, then?"

"Lead the way, Spider-Man...!" I mock-bowed. Peter snickered and shot a strand of webbing at a nearby building, swinging away nimbly. I, on the other hand, shimmied down a drainpipe running along the wall of the complex I was standing on (nearly dropping my glasses twice) and jogged over to Shady Acres. So graceful, I know.

Peter was waiting in the alley beside the care home, staying as far away from the overflowing trash cans as he could. When I finally joined him, he pushed off the wall.

"Okay, so I was thinking... Maybe you could go into the home as a normal citizen under the pretence of checking it out because you have a... I don't know... grandmother who wants to go into a care home," Peter suggested, tugging his mask up to reveal his face.

"How the hell did you think of that in the time it took for me to jog across the street...?" I muttered, "Fine. Good thing I didn't drop off my glasses at the Tower before coming here. Where will you be?"

Peter pointed at the roof of the retirement home, "Up there. I'll scale the building and try find any vents or something. The managers claimed to hear things in the walls, so the vent systems would be a good start."

"You're smoirt," I grinned, briefly thinking of Brooklyn 99 as I said 'smoirt'. Jake would've been proud!

Peter webbed the wall, turning to me for a second before Peter-Parkouring up to the roof, "Shout if you find something, and... uh... maybe try not to burn the place to the ground?"

"Pfft, Aye Aye! Get up there, Spidey," I flapped my hand randomly. Peter grinned and pulled his mask back over his face. With a small rustle of remnants of trash underfoot, the male leaped off the ground, rapidly climbing up the bricks like a... well... like a spider. Who knew.

I backed out of the alley and climbed the granite steps to the front door of the old building. Never thought I'd ever end up here of all places...