Iron Lightning [ I ] P. PARKER

XVIII. UNGROUNDED

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
"ungrounded"

*BOOM BOOM BOOM*

A hard knock made Jade jolt away. She woke up on the floor and the alien weapon tore apart, part by part. Another knock on the door made her head turn in the direction of the door and she quickly picked up the parts to throw them in a drawer.

"Jade, wake up, please," Tony's voice said behind the door.

She quickly messed up her bed sheets and opened the door slowly to see her father staring at the floor. He looked up and she opened the door all the way and walked backwards to let him in.

He stepped in and closed the door behind him, "I just got off the plane," he said staring the conversation off lightly.

"Oh," Jade said uncomfortably, she didn't know what to say and she was waiting on the lecture from him.

"I'm still very mad with you, but I've calmed down since last night," Tony said seeing Jades uneasiness. "I just want to talk."

"I didn't purposely go look for the danger," Jade started off.

"Then why did both of your suits turn on around the same time and you ended up in the same area?" Tony asked.

"I was keeping an eye on Peter like you said to, he was going to use Spider-Man as a party trick and I brought the suit just to make sure that didn't happen," She explained. "But we both ended up seeing potential danger ... and we went after it."

"Okay," Tony said in a pipped up voice. "That's all I needed."

Jade shook her head in confusion, "Huh?"

"I just wanted to know why you were using your suit around Spider-Man at the same time," He said and clapped his hands together. "Well, you're officially ungrounded."

"I was grounded?" She asked.

"Oh, yeah, I didn't tell you," he laughed and walked towards the door, turning around before exiting. ".... I love you, Princess."

Jade could hear the sadness in his voice, he was still hurt by the actions of two months ago, and so was she. She stood up and walked over to him.

"I'm sorry about all that stuff, I shouldn't have disappeared and I shouldn't have been so mean to you," she said hugging him tightly. "But it was undoubtedly your fault too because you stole my suit and told him you made it."

"He assumed I made it and I just never corrected him," Tony smirked and placed a kiss on her forehead and left her to her room.

After he left she packed up the weapon pieces in a bag, along with her suit and clothes from the other night. Happy took her home later on, right when school was letting out. She waved bye to him before walking in the building as the bus was coming by.

She ran up the stairs and tried to open her door but it was locked. She remembered leaving it in her backpack and Michelle had it. She groaned lightly and walked back down the stairs and outside the apartment complex.

She walked down the street to a coffee shop that sat in between the school and her apartment building, praying Michelle would be there.

And she was there, two coffees were on the table along with her backpack from the other night.

"How did you know?" Jade asked shocked.

"I was thinking of a common place we go to and I just thought you'd think this place, although I didn't think you would catch on as fast as you did," Michelle smirked. She motioned Jade to sit down and enjoy the coffee.

"No, come on, we can go to my apartment and talk about whatever, I have to watch the cams," Jade said picking up her backpack and coffee.

They walked back to the apartment, now able to get in, Jade them rushes to her tech room and turns it all on. "Veronica, pull up last nights footage of the fight. Mute please,"

"Wait, so what all happened last night?" Michelle asked pulling a chair closer to the desk.

"Spider-Man and I found this weapon dealing happening under a bridge. But the weapons weren't just guns and stuff like that, it was something you'd see in Star Wars— or alien like."

She grabbed her bag she brought back from Upstate with the weapon pieces in it. She dumped it out on an examine table and Michelle was awestruck.

"Bloody hell," she mumbled in a British accent.

They watched through Jade's eyes most of the time, just so Michelle could see what all was happening and she kept an open screen for Spider-Man's eyes too.

Jade shut it off when Peter was falling out of the sky and she looked at Spider-Man's recent suit activity. A tracking device was placed on someone and he was watching where they would go.

"He's tracking someone," Jade said, mainly to herself. "It must be the weapon dealers."

"This purple rock is weird," Michelle said examining it.

"Veronica said it was from the Battle of New York, 2012," Jade said, pulling back up the scanners from the previous night. "They all have some sort of criminal history."

"Where's the tracker leading to?" Michelle asked.

"They just left Brooklyn," Jade said and the two stayed in the tech room for the rest of the night, going in and out for food and drinks.

While they were waiting, Jade had VERONICA scanning the purple rock and found out it was in fact alien— a Chitauri core. When mixed with radiation it can become explosive.

"They've stopped," Michelle said grabbing Jade's attention.

"Where?"

"Maryland," She said zooming in. "What could possibly be in Maryland?"

"Maybe their sources? Warehouse?" Jade questioned.

"Look, it's really close to D.C. where Decathlon Nationals is going to be," Michelle said smirking.

"Wait, what's today's date?"

"Twentieth, why?"

"The decathlon trip!" Jade said quickly and ran out the room to her bedroom.

"What about it?" Michelle asked following behind.

"We leave tomorrow! I need to pack and find my camera!"

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