SWIFT. discontinued

CHAPTER THREE

03 | alice rushman

Nova's phone binged. A text from Tony Stark was seen on the screen of her cellphone. We leave on Tomorrow. You'll have company, don't worry.

"Doesn't even say hi," Nova muttered at hid her phone in the pocket of her backpack. Tony and the girl had been communicating when the millionaire came to recruit her. All she knows is that Tony had also recruited another masked hero, they'll leave tomorrow, and she was already excused from all of her classes since Tony hacked into the school's survelane system and gave her the award for perfect attendance.

"Hey Nova," Peter sat down on the lunch table with Ned beside him. "Hi Pete, Ned."

"Heard that Mrs. Norman is considering to promote our study to the principal, so that's great." Ned started the conversation before digging into his food. "I don't know why I'm not blessed with intelligence, like you guys." the girl muttered and started picking on her food. Peter and Ned shared a look for a moment before looking back at Nova.

"If you weren't smart, then why are you accepted in here? Your amazing Nova. Don't forget that." Peter consoled. This put a smile in Nova's lips. The rest of the lunch period was left with a comfortable silence.

The day went on by quickly. Nova took most of her things from her locker and brought them home, considering she was leaving for a week. Today, she was going to protect the streets of New York as much as she possibly can.

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"Hey, there's a hostage in the National Museum. We need to go there as soon as possible." Spider-Man gasped and landed down beside the other hero. "Where is it?" Nova asked, cracking her knuckles.

"See that building? Right there." Spider-Man pointed to a building standing a few stories tall. Nova placed her hand on the hero's neck, causing the boy to get confused.

"What are you doing?" he asked, motioning to her hand that was on her neck. "I'm holding your head. So you won't have Whiplash."

"What?"

"Whip— lash." the girl muttered and closed her eyes. When she opened it, what was milliseconds became minutes. The world was moving really slow. She held the hero on the neck and rushed towards the bulding that he pointed at. When everything was normal again, Spider-Man shook his head and looked at his surroundings. He was in the building. His neck was hurting mildly. Spider-Man blinked through his suit since his head was throbbing.

"It's okay. Happens to everyone." Nova adverted her attention to the men, women, and even children, who were all tied on a corner. A group of men who were dressed in all black who were screaming and pointing guns at them were now staring at the pair.

"Alright dude, put the guns down and nobody gets hurt." Spider-Man said and put his arms out as a sign of respect. "We were just leaving," the leader showed a shiny artifact.

"Shoot at the two and at the hostages. Make sure to hurt the girl." he pointed to Nova. When she heard the sound of the gun shooting, she closed her eyes again. There were lots of bullets coming the hostages way, so Nova avoided all of the incoming bullets and rushed towards the group. Nova pushed the bullets with her hand, and pushed them all to the wall where nobody was. After triple—checking if they won't be hit, she ran towards Spider-Man.

There were five bullets on his way. Nova pushed them all with her finger and made them all hit the cream coloured wall when time resumed. After finishing her business, she ran towards all the men and punched them repeatedly. Taking all the guns, she walked back to her place beside Spider-Man and let time resume.

The boy webbed all of the masked criminals and helped all of the hostages escape the scene.

"You know, if your going to rob somewhere, I suggest do it about noon-ish." Nova walked towards the criminals. Spider-Man slapped her lightly on the head, making Nova glare at him.

"What was that for?"

"You just gave advice to a criminal."

They started bantering. It was cut after a few seconds when the leader started to laugh wildly. "This isn't over, Swift."

"Yes it is."

"Alice Rushman." the criminal said, and Nova slowly diverted her attention to the criminal upon hearing her mother's maiden name.

"We have her. Alice Rushman. This isn't over." he concluded. As if on cue, police officers came barging in the scene and took the webbed criminals. After thanking the pair, they went out of the building.

"You okay?" Spider-Man noticed that the girl was shaken up. "Yeah! Um, I need to go. Won't be able to see you for a week. See ya!" Nova exclaimed and ran out.

The hero blinked and stared at the ground. He was really confused since the girl dashed away without any explanations. But what worried him the most was how New York would be safe for a week.

Since Tony Stark needed him to go to Germany tomorrow.

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whiplash

noun  whip·lash  \ ˈhwip-ˌlash , ˈwip- \
injury resulting from a sudden sharp whippingmovement of the neck and head