SKYFALL | PETER PARKER [ 1 ]

6: A NEW HERO.

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A WEEK AFTER, THE teenager was walking home from the training with Mr. Stark, late at night. Her hands were still burning, but she was glad that she didn't have to wear gloves anymore. Channeling her inner powers and controlling them was the best thing she had ever learned, she was more relieved now. Hiding it from her friends was kind of hard, ever since they noticed that every time Eleanor used a vending machine, she'd always get more than one snack. As time went by, she got closer and closer to Peter, Michelle, and Ned. Sitting in the same lunch table became a habit for them. Telling them could be an option for the future, but not now. Eleanor had too much on her plate: an immense document with questions for the decathlon that Liz had emailed her, the training, a certain crush fluttering inside her, and school.

As she kept thinking about life, the teen was strolling through the somewhat empty streets of Queens, behind a family: a mother, a son and a baby girl. They were meters away from her, she didn't want them to feel creeped out by a teenager following them. She was watching them walk, her heart fluttering when she saw the baby girl laughing. And out of nowhere, a group of guys dressed in black seemed to pull all of them inside an alley. Eleanor stopped dead on her tracks, calculating her next move, fast. She'd just had two weeks of training with Mr. Stark, she didn't feel ready, but she had to do something.

She turned around to see if anyone was looking, and opened her backpack quickly, looking for anything that could slightly hide her identity, or else, she'd be screwed. She distinguished her black scarf at the bottom of her backpack and placed it on her lower face, covering her nose, and mouth. She also placed her hair on a ponytail, keeping out of the way. She ran towards the wall before the alley and glimpsed, hiding. The guys had the family pressed against the wall, the mother was carrying her baby and the kid was hiding behind her mother.

"Come on, give us the money." One of the guys said, his voice really hoarse.

"I told you," the woman cried, Eleanor noticed that she was trembling too. "I gave you everything, we don't have anything else."

"Of course you do." The same guy replied, pulling out a metal blade. "We just need you to speak, or else."

Eleanor closed her eyes, took a long, really long deep breath and took a couple of steps forward.

"Hey!" The teenager yelled, and she felt that from now on, her body wasn't responding to anything her brain commanded. "Leave them alone, you prick."

The guy turned to her, lowering his blade. He laughed, and Eleanor quickly distinguished that there were 3 guys in total. Two guys were in each of the sides of the family, with blades as well. The third one was in front of them.

"Look, guys," He turned to the others. "Another freak in tights. But this time, it's a she." This comment made her look down at her choice of clothing for a second, which was some black, skinny jeans, and a grey sweater.