Maya Stark

Chapter 30: Liz's Dad

My homecoming night was quite uneventful for a while. I wandered around an empty tower as movers got everything onto the plane. I had nothing to do until Parker called.

'Maya!' he said when I answered.

'What is going on now?' I ask.

'I stole Flash's car!' he said. 'The guy with the wings was Liz's dad. I need you to meet me somewhere.'

'Somewhere?' I ask. 'Wait, what? You stole Flash's car? Liz's dad is the villain? What the hell is going on?'

'Maya, just get your suit on and come on,' he says. 'I'll text you the address!'

And he hangs up. I close my eyes for a second. There is no reason for me to go and help, other than the fact he asked. I've already done enough damage and I'm sure he can manage without me. But if I don't go and Parker dies while I sit here, well that would pull on my conscious. I open my eyes and curse as I make my way to my empty room. Empty except for a couple pieces of clothing and a suit my dad didn't know I still had. I throw it on as quickly as possible, tying my hair back and making my way towards my window. The only window that opens, thanks to me. I throw my mask on and take off out the window.

'Friday, connect me to the call with Ned and Parker, please,' I ask her. A picture of Ned in the computer lab and Parker's picture pops up. He was obviously still driving.

'Flying blindly here, guys,' I said.

'There, at an industrial park in Brooklyn,' Ned said. 'They just stopped.'

'What?' Parker said. 'That makes no sense. I though he said he was going out of town!'

'Weird,' said Ned.

'Oh my god,' I said, eyes widening. 'Parker, it's moving day! Take off is in like eight minutes! They're going after the plane!'

I start to pick up the pace. I get there at the same time as Parker, getting out of the sideways car. My dad would have had a heart attack if he saw it right now. It wasn't a bad car, but I've seen better.

I land in front of him. 'You okay?'

'Yeah,' he said. 'Totally. You know, nothing weird going on tonight at all.'

I hold back a laugh. We go up to the roof and get into the building through the skylight. Parker goes first, hanging from a web, slowly descending into the building. I go down once his feet touch the floor, a lot faster than him. The room was filled with computers and gadgets. Monitors showered the tower and there was also a blueprint for my dad's plane. We go deeper inside, until we came to a big room with only a desk and a person. I felt like something was off.

'Hey!' Parker said. 'Surprised?' He did not seem surprised.

'Oh, hey Pete,' suit guy said. 'I didn't hear you come in. You brought your little friend. Fun.'

'It's over,' Parker said. 'I've got you.'

'You know, I gotta tell you, Pete, I really admire your grit,' he said. 'Not so much as your friend here. I don't know what her deal is yet. I see why Liz likes you though. I do. When you first came to the house I, I wasn't sure. I thought, "Really?" but I get it now.'

'How could you do this to her?' Parker asked.

'To her? I'm not doing anything to her, Pete. I'm doing this for her.'

'Huh, yeah,' Parker said, shooting a web at suit guy's left hand, sticking it to the desk. I had a feeling that wasn't going to do much.

Liz's dad sighs. 'Peter, you are young. You don't understand how the world works.'

'Yeah, but I understand that selling weapons to criminals is wrong,' said Parker.

'How do you think your buddy Stark paid for that tower? Or any of his little toys?'

My blood ran cold, and I spoke before I could resist. 'That's different. My dad didn't know he was selling to criminals! You do!'

'Dad?' suit guy said. 'If Stark is your dad, then that would make you Miss Maya Stark, am I right?'

I locked my jaw and silently curse myself. I need to control my anger.

'Leave her out of this,' Parker said. I turn to him, slightly shocked. 'She's only here to help me.'

'You've just proved my point,' suit guy said. 'Those people, Pete, Maya and all those people up there, the rich and the powerful, they do whatever they want. Guys like us, like you and me, they don't care about us. We build their roads, and we fight all their wars and everything, but they don't care about us.'

'So what?' I say, unable to help myself. 'When my dad and the others were fighting against those aliens and robots you stole all the stuff from, they weren't in a war? They weren't fighting to protect Earth? I didn't see you down there during the New York attack in your little winged suit. What about at Sokovia? No, you weren't. Guess what? I was. I saw it all happen in front of my eyes. Death and destruction. You don't know the half of it. It's not a walk in a park.'

'Nice speech,' suit guy said. 'Inspirational. Showing the extensive amount of trauma your dad has caused you.'

'He didn't cause it!'

'We have to pick up after 'em, Pete,' he said, turning back to Parker. 'We have to eat their table scraps. That's how it is. I know you know what I'm talking about, Peter.' My blood boiled and my hands clenched into my fist, my fingernails digging into my palms.

'Why are you telling me this?' Parker said.

'Because I want you to understand,' suit guy said. 'And...I needed a little longer to get her airborn.'

The winged suit comes flying in behind us and Parker and I jump out of the way. I was angry, the emotion clouding my mind. I ignored the suit and ran up to suit guy. He sighed when he saw me.

'You do get in the way, Stark,' he said as I stopped in front of him.

'I take that as— ' I didn't get to finish as the suit came flying next to me, the wing grazing my side, enough to rip the suit. I stumble back, gripping my side. The cut stung and I tried to ignore it as Parker comes up next to me.

'You okay?' he whispered. I nodded, staring at Liz's dad.

'I'm sorry, Peter,' suit guy said. 'Not so sorry for you, Maya.'

'What are you talking about?" Parker asked. 'That thing hasn't even touched me yet. Maya's had worse injuries anyway.'

'True,' suit guy said. 'Then again, wasn't really trying to.'

I finally turn my attention around the room. The suit had attacked the pillars of the room. As the ceiling starts to fall, Parker surges forward, trying to get to suit guy. I put a force field over my head, trying to protect myself. The second a decent size stone hits the force field, I get knocked to the ground. I look up to see a pretty big rock coming down on me and I urge the energy to surround all of me, but the second the rock makes contact, everything goes black.