Rise || Marvel

《44》The Dora the Explorer Watch

《 Tia's POV 》 

My dramatic escape from my friends wasn't nearly as climactic e as I originally planned... Mainly because I had to double-back after fifteen minutes to get Harley. He still wanted to meet up with Tony, and he didn't exactly know which way to go from the cafe to get to Stark Tower.

In his defence, the cafe was quite a way away from the tower. That was what Valerie and I had originally liked about the cafe. Since it wasn't in the main 'hustle-bustle' of everything, the cafe was usually more peaceful than mainstream places like Starbucks.

How'd I even get onto the topic of cafe popularity?

"Why are we just standing here like doofuses?" Harley asked hesitantly.

"Excuse you. I am a doofus," I pouted, then laughed sheepishly, "I got lost in my thoughts for a minute there, sorry...!"

"Don't sweat it- happens to all of us."

"Okay, okay, I'll get Tony," I chuckled. I raised my fist and rapped on the closed door to Tony's lab (where he was probably working on some project or another, I don't know), "KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK, DELIVERY FOR TONY STANK."

Harley let out a weird spluttering noise at the nickname, "I'm sorry, but WHAT?!"

"It's Rhodey and I's nickname for Tony," I winked mischievously as Tony's voice echoed from inside, telling me that it was okay to come in.

I nudged the door open.

"Deja vu," Harley commented, "Except this time, we aren't going to get ambushed by a psychopathic red-head."

Inside the lab, Tony was perched on one of the wheelie chairs, tapping away and navigating around several holographic screens. The "Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist" glanced around as we entered and straightened up, pushing the projected screen back a little.

"You're back from the cafe," He noted, then appeared to notice Harley behind me, "Why must you always bring friends home if you want to maintain your 'secret identity'?"

"He already knew," I deadpanned, then signed a flurry of (really dumb) jokes (puns) to Harley in ASL,causing him to grin in response while Tony demanded what 'the hell kinda demonicsummoning ritual was that?'.

Shoving my hands into my pockets, I rocked back on the balls of my feet, "Anyway, this special guest wants to see you! I would go make drinks or something, but we've just come back from a cafe. So, I'll just sit here and watch."

"No, I've been working on an AI unit for you, so you can continue doing stuff for it while I'm busy. Customise it or something," Tony waved the little huddle of holographs towards me before directing his attention to Harley. He furrowed his eyebrows slightly, then grinned, "Do you have another Dora watch? I liked that first one. How're ya going?"

"HA," I couldn't help but laugh at the comment and the incredulous expression on Harley's face.

~

You know what's great? Watching the sunset and sunrise from atop the tallest building I can find. I don't know, it's just great! Amazing view, crisp and cool air, generally not noisy as a herd of buffalo stampeding. Sunrises especially, they're awesome. Just grab a pop-tart and cup of hot chocolate, then watch the sunrise from a high vantage point! It really is quite serene.

Humming, I swung my legs back and forth, peering owlishly over the city scape. I kinda felt like Simba in the Lion King scene where Mufasa is doing the whole 'everything the light touches is our kingdom' thing.

"Hi there! How'd you even reveal your 'secret identity' to them all already, anyway?" Peter's voice jerked me out of my daydreaming as he dropped down beside me using a string of web.

The sun was beginning to set, casting long shadows up the sides of the New York city buildings, illuminated them in an orange-y light. I was perched on the edge of a long roof. The roof edge was a raised concrete gutter. It was actually pretty comfortable. The building itself was pretty tall, compared to a lot of the buildings in this city.

"Well, here's the thing..." I protested, "I am neither smart, nor subtle. So, how have the past few weeks been for you? I know you had some drama at school."

"Yeah, drama's right..." Peter chuckled, "It's all fine now. Looks like we've got a peaceful streak going for now!"

"My school's exam week starts soon, and I've gotta catch up on a week's worth of schoolwork. How are you and Ned doing?" I lay back, forgetting that I was sitting on a raised ledge and consequently toppled down onto the lower roof part. Peter, being the great friend he is, spent the next two minutes laughing (but trying to make it look like he wasn't).

When he had finally calmed down enough to form a full sentence without breaking out in laughter, Peter jumped down onto the same roof level, "Eh, I'd say we're on top of things!"

We sat in silence for several seconds, staring at the gradually darkening sky above.

"You know what, this is a pretty great roof," I remarked randomly.

"Oh yeah?" Peter grinned, eyebrows raised, "What exactly make a roof great? What are your criteria?"

I flapped my hand airily, "Hmm, well, it's got a great view for starters. Pretty cool ledge to sit on Not covered in bird crap. Yeah."

Peter regarded the rooftop, "It's a pretty smooth. I mean, it's not covered in gravel, either..."

"Exactly!"

"Wait, is this an apartment building...?" Peter jumped back onto the ledge to peer down at the rest of the building.

"Nah, I think it's some business thingo," I rolled over onto my stomach, feeling like a beached whale, "So we don't have to worry about people reporting two random teenagers flipping around the rooftop and geeking out about stuff. Everyone would have gone home for the night. Bonus!"

"I'll bring some snacks next time, then," Peter joked, returning to his position on the ledge seat.

"I dub this rooftop 'The Meeting Place'" I announced, "We need a flag. Neil Armstrong is quaking."

"Oh, I nearly forgot!" Peter exclaimed, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, "I... Kind of run a blog- under the mask of Spider-Man- that focuses on the Avengers and Superheroes. Like, cool and funny pics and stuff. Like, last week I did the Tide Pod challenge to see if my enhanced regeneration would stop me from dying!"

Slowly, I blinked at Peter before heaving a massive sigh, "Pete, buddy, I love you, but what the frick-frack slippedy smack?"

"What? I didn't die!" He protested, then snorted under his breath, "But Mr. Stark found out and won't stop calling me a 'Godless Travesty'."

"You want me to do a running jump off the side of a building in my 'hero' attire while dabbing to add to your blog?" I suggested hesitantly, laughing.

"...That would be PERFECT!" Peter nodded enthusiastically, now pulling out a camera from his backpack.

"Wicked, let's do it," I grinned.