|Spider Man| A City of Shadow and Ruin

-Three-

The next day I got up early. When I stepped into the kitchen I saw Rodgers. I was thankful I'd already gotten dressed. Black leggings, a band T-shirt and a black hoodie tied at my waist. Black was always the best colored clothing to me. 

"Morning Aria, ready for today?" he asked. 

"What's today?" I asked not bothering to return the greeting. 

"Well, he was saying you could be training for an internship. Moving even if you take it" my mother said, she was smiling, but I knew how she really felt. 

Like I did. Scared and worried.

I assumed my background check had passed well. I hadn't done anything suspicious ever. The most was when I was in sixth grade I stole a few pencils from a treat bucket in an elementary school. 

Of course, they would call it that an internship. If it was official I'd get into any college, but I couldn't afford any college. 

"That's great" I said. 

* * * 

I was silent as we drove back to the compound. I had a billion questions. A billion worries more like it. I looked at the smoke still floating above the rubble. I assumed most of the Avengers were busy cleaning up. If they even did that much. 

"Tony wants you to stay at the compound because he's worried" Steve said. 

"I don't want to be another pawn in someone's game. I want to have a life outside of battle" I said. 

There was a thrill to it I thought. Like living in a fantasy novel, but in those their destinies were already written and controlled. This was real life. Everything was up for debate and choice. 

"Whatever you have, it didn't look good and it, well you didn't have control it seemed. Here you can learn to wield it" he said. 

"I know, but moving? That's a lot to ask" I said. 

"Your job is ruined, and from your records college hasn't started it's a good option all you have to do is train while we figure out how you work" he said. 

"If I become a soldier" I said. 

Avenger was a fancy way of saying a soldier. And well I had very little trust that it was up to me. I could always try to change things by myself. Right? Yet I was in the car pulling up to a place that gave me the utmost worry.

I got out with Steve, and we walked inside this time down to the right. Outside there was a cement floor with obstacles and targets. 

"Tomorrow I will have help to get some of your stuff" Steve said. 

"Ya" I said. 

I was a woman of few words. Every time I talked to Steve I felt a jolt of anxiety. Not because he was some special super solider, but because he was a person. I had a bag of things already slung over my shoulder. I wondered when I'd get to go home. 

"Your lucky kid any more of fighting and you'd be toast" Tony said opening a door. 

"I needed to help" Peters voice. 

He looked at me giving me a wave as Steve stopped. I looked at him confused as to why we were stopping. 

"We found nothing strange with her everything is normal other than one component, but we don't know what it is" Stark said. 

"Hey Aria" Peter said a smile forming on his face. 

I didn't know how to feel about the way he smiled. The way it just took seeing me to create it. It made my heart jolt in my chest. Though I assumed he did that with anybody. Not just me. 

"Aria? I want to see what you did yesterday" Stark said. 

Man, I hated that stare. It had a lifeless feel to it. Only when he joked did you see his eyes light up. It took two days, and I already had a pattern to the guy. 

"Alright" I answered, but I felt unsure. 

"Can I come?" Peter asked looking more at me then Stark. 

"Sure" Tony Stark answered. 

We got outside to the paved training area. It was the size of a small city grocery store parking lot. The three of them stood to my left. 

"Any moment now" Tony said. 

His face was beginning to look pretty punchable. I stood trying to remember the feel of it. I thought of it, but nothing happened. I felt so nervous with so many eyes. Steve looked like he was waiting to coach me into what to do. Peter gave me a small thumbs up when he saw me glancing. 

I faced forward looking at the small target ahead. I stilled my mind after a few breaths. I tried to remember how the shadows had felt when they crawled back into my skin. I imagined them surrounding the small wood target ahead. Just as I pictured, they formed around my arms and drifted to it. Soon the red and white paint in the shape of a guy was shrouded in darkness. 

I held it there and lifted my hands and moved them closer feeling the pressure of the wood as it crushed into pieces. When I dropped my hands, the shadows disappeared, and it was rubble. A realization came over me that I was gasping for breaths. 

Steve and Peter looked both scared and in awe. Tony looked like I'd just scratched one of his fancy cars. 

Without another thought I felt the shadows forming again around my arms. I panicked and they faded instantly. Panic keeps them at bay. Probably because that's when I was focusing on the control of them.