The Secrets of Petra (Parker) Stark

15

Petra inwardly cursed as she arrived at home. She had forgotten to tell Mr. Stark about the weird tech stuff from the bank robbery.

Gosh dang it.

There was always next week... Or Petra could call Happy... Or she could investigate herself and prove that she was capable of being in this line of work. Honestly, Petra was surprised that Mr. Stark did not know about it, seeing as it was all over the news. Then again, maybe he did and he just did not mention it. But why would Mr. Stark have not mentioned it? What a mess. If things got out of hand, Petra decided, she would let Mr. Stark know. Until then, she would investigate herself.

(But then, weren't things already out of hand?)

-

After school the next day, Petra and Ned met up with Harry so that they could catch up. More specifically, so that Petra could answer their questions.

Since Petra's backpack was stolen, Harry offered to carry her stack of textbooks and notebooks. 

"I've got it," Petra assured him.

"Let me be a gentleman," Harry insisted.

"Fine." Petra handed Harry her notebooks, still holding on to the three textbooks (Chemistry, Calculus, and Spanish), plus the gigantic book that she needed to read for English.

Without a word, Harry handed Ned the notebooks, took Petra's stack from her, and then returned the notebooks to Petra.

Petra rolled her eyes, but did not protest. As if they had planned it, Ned and Harry took turns firing questions.

"So... Do you lay eggs?" Ned asked. "Like a spider?"

"What? No!"

"Can you spit venom?" Harry asked.

"No."

"Can you summon an army of spiders?" 

"No."

"How far can you shoot your webs?"

"I honestly don't know, Harry."

"Do you know the Avengers?"

"I met them. I stole his shield."

"No. Way." This inspired a new tangent of questions. "Is it really the size of a dinner plate?"

"Of course not... But I did shoot him in the legs."

"With a gun?" Ned gaped.

"With my web shooters."

"Is Captain America cool, or is he like a mean, old grandpa?"

"He was cool... But we were fighting against him."

"What does Hulk smell like?"

Harry made a face. "What kind of question is that, Ned?" Ned just shrugged.

"I didn't actually meet him. Hulk wasn't there."

"Aw. Can I be your guy in the chair?"

"What?"

Harry slapped Ned on the arm. "Dude! I was gonna ask that!"

"Sorry."

"Hold up. You guys want to be my what?"

"Guy in the chair," Ned explained. "You know how there's a guy with a headset telling the other guy where to go?"

"I don't need a guy in the chair."

"But every super-hero has a guy in the chair!"

"Ironman doesn't have one."

"Yeah he does. JARVIS," Harry said.