Allies & Enemies // Spider-Man [Book 2]

twenty-four {Arya's POV}

The soft breeze played with my hair as I sat on the bench just outside the courtroom. My hands lay in my lap, soft sparks jumping from my fingertips. 

I hated this. I wished I had a properly functioning family, but my parents didn't even talk to each other. They only seemed to talk if they had something to argue about, which was me this time around. On the other hand, I did have a functioning family. I had a father who loved me and took care of me ever since he knew I existed. I had a mother who was there for me whenever I needed her. She had spent countless nights with me when Tony was out of town or when I was feeling down. And yes, I was talking about Pepper. 

"Hey," I heard a familiar voice and I looked up, seeing Peter standing just a few feet away. 

"Hey," I mumbled, lowering my gaze again. 

"You okay?" He sat down next to me. 

I shook my head. "Not really. I don't things are looking very well for Tony with all those things the judge said. I'm just scared, Pete. I really don't want to go to Seattle. That means I'll be away from everyone and everything. School, my friends, you."

Peter wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me against him. I let out a deep sigh before he spoke again, "You heard what the judge said. Maybe your mother can move closer so you can see her more often." 

"I know that. It just seems like she wants to take me away from Tony. She's my legal guardian, Pete," I huffed. 

"That might be true, but your dad was the one who was there for you when your mother abandoned you and dropped you at an orphanage instead of letting him know that he even had a daughter. If he knew, maybe you would've lived with him from the beginning," he said. 

I nodded. "Yeah, you're right. But you and I both know that Tony wasn't really the fatherly type when I was born," A soft chuckle left my lips. I took my phone from my pocket and saw the fifteen minutes had almost passed. "We have to head back." 

"Do you want me to come and sit with you? I'm sure the judge won't mind," he offered but I shook my head. 

"No, that's okay. I'll be fine," I told him. 

"Sure?" 

"Yeah, I'm sure," I repeated, offered him a smile, and rose to my feet. With Peter's hand in my own, we headed back into the courtroom. I passed my mother and she tried to talk to me, but I just walk straight past her. Peter went back to May and I sat back down in my previous spot. The judge returned. 

"I would like to proceed," she called and hit the hammer on the wooden disk, causing all conversations to cease. "I would like to invite Dr Hannah Adams to the front, please." 

Dr Adams stood up and stood before the judge. As she passed me, she sent me a wink, to which I replied with a smile. With her small gesture, my worries shrank a little. "Dr Adams, can you please inform the Jury about Arya's hospitalisation after the crash?" the judge asked.

She cleared her throat. "I have been Arya's doctor since she moved in with Tony. A few months back, Arya was involved in a very serious bus crash after which she was saved by the superhero better known as Spider-Man. He took her to the hospital where she was examined by me. She appeared to be fine apart from a wide collection of burns and bruises. We had no indication to assume that something else was wrong. She got out of the hospital a few days later and went home with nothing but soreness. A few weeks ago, she came in coughing up blood, which is very usual for patients who were in a car crash. We examined her again and discovered a rupture in her spine. We had to perform surgery on her and she's totally fine now." 

Judge Sellers nodded. "Impressive. So you're saying that this had nothing to do with the way Tony looked after her?" 

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Dr Adams confirmed with a nod of her head. 

"Okay." The judge jotted some things down on her notepad before looking up again. "Thank you, Dr Adams. You may sit back down. I would like to invite miss Irene McConnell." 

Irene stood up and took Dr Adams' spot. "You took Elena Solomon's place at the orphanage where Arya grew up and you took the first step in this trial. Is there a particular reason for that? Surely Arya doesn't live at the shelter anymore, so if she was adopted, why did you decide to contact Elizabeth?" 

Irene straightened her back. "I have not had the pleasure of knowing Arya personally, but Elena informed me about her when I took her place. A child surviving a lightning strike has a reputation, I suppose. I was sorting through the paperwork Elena had not done and came across Arya's file. I read it and saw the adoption form had not been fully completed. It missed the signature of the person who had emitted her to the shelter in the first place, which I found very odd because none of the other children had this in their files. So I called Elizabeth and discovered that she had put this in Arya's file to make sure a good person would adopt her. The last thing she wanted was for her daughter to be taken into an unsuitable family," Irene stated. 

"So Tony, when you adopted Arya, you were not informed about this?" Judge Sellers asked my father. 

"Not at all, Your Honour. I went through the adoption process and was told that everything was handled. I was not informed about needing a signature of her mother, who I knew nothing about at that time," Tony answered. 

"Elizabeth, were you contacted when Arya went into the adoption process?" My mother fell silent as everyone in the room was looking at her. "Elizabeth?" 

"I was, Your Honour," she mumbled, barely audible. 

"And you didn't respond?" the judge pressed. 

"I did not." 

"And why is that?" 

"Because I knew who was willing to adopt her." My heart sunk and I felt sick. She wanted to keep me away from my father. 

"You saw that Tony wanted to adopt her, so you sabotaged the forms so he couldn't become her legal guardian?" 

"I wouldn't put it like that, but-"

"Is this true?" 

"It is, Your Honour." 

"All right. That was all. I would like to see everyone back here in 30 minutes while I discuss the verdict of this case." The sound of the hammer hitting the wood was heard once and the room erupted into chatter.