You're my escape- A Peter Parker Love Story

Red, Red, Red

Misguided Ghosts by Paramore played through the speaker of The Compound's laboratory. Eliza and MJ were tucked into a corner of the lab away from the actual paid workers. They had safety goggles over their eyes as they measured out the specific amounts Yelena had sent them. Their corner of the lab was filled with beakers, warming plates, droppers, and the air-locked administrators Eliza had built the weekend before.

MJ carefully scooped a half teaspoon of magnesium oxide. Her concentration created a single wrinkle in her forehead as she carefully scraped off any extra to ensure she had the perfect amount. "Have you heard from your sister about the sleeper cell in America yet?"

Eliza was bent over the boiling mixture of calcium oxide and water. Mixing calcium oxide and water created an oil called calcium hydroxide. It separated from the calcium and water as it floated to the top. She carefully scooped the oil from the surface and moved it over to a beaker beside the warming plate. "No word yet, though she has told me she's taken out three more cells in South Africa, Thailand, and Japan. At this rate, she'll be done within the next two years."

MJ stopped to look over at her. Her eyes widened behind the goggles. "That's great."

Eliza grinned as she scooped out the calcium hydroxide until she reached 1.2 milliliters. When she had enough, she handed it to MJ to combine the magnesium oxide. "If I can help take out a sleeper cell or two here in the States, I'll do it. She knows that. She knows I'll do anything for her, which is why she sent the ingredients. It has to be."

MJ added the magnesium oxide and swirled the beaker to gently combine the two. The oil didn't want to accept the powder, but after a minute of swirling, it began to blend together. When it was finished, she set it over a low flame so it could begin to boil.

With time on their hands, MJ raised her goggles to rest on her hairline. Eliza followed suit and rubbed at the irritated red lines outlining her eyes. "I just wish she would tell me more."

"Have you asked?"

She shook her head and dropped her hands to her lap. "She's busy with the other cells, which I understand." She looked across the lab set toward MJ. She had her own indents marking the goggles path which made it hard for Eliza to remain serious. "I just want to help. We took out The Red Room together. We ended a regime as massive as that, I can take on more responsibility."

"Maybe she's trying to let you live a normal life." MJ raised her shoulders with her suggestion. "You told me that it was Yelena who told you to come back here. She was also the one under Dreykov's control. She was brainwashed and did whatever they wanted of her. Maybe keeping you out of this is her way of trying to give you what she wanted the most."

She bit into her cheek as she considered it. She looked down at her hands to pick at the skin around her nailbeds. "That makes sense. But-" she sighed as she looked back at MJ. "I've told them I want to use my skill. Having a normal life is out of the question. Everyone knows who I am now. Even going to school makes me feel like an animal at a zoo. Everyone watches me and asks me to take out my batons. It's not a normal life. If I could just-" she looked down at the calcium hydroxide to see it begin to boil. The yellow oil tinted orange with the added magnesium. The heat deepened the orange until she could see the red beginning to show through. A few more ingredients and they would be done with the single antidote. "I want to help. Normal is not an option. But being The Raven and helping my sisters is." Her gaze found MJ's as it conveyed her need to have a purpose. "I left the Red Room and have felt so disassociated. I love being home, I love being with you and Peter and Ned, but-"

"You know you could do more?"

She nodded. "I know my talents. I know my skill set. I just feel as though everyone is trying to push me aside in an effort to give me what they always wanted. But maybe I don't want what they want. Maybe I want to have my life here and go out and help the world. Can't I have both?"