From Worlds Apart - Marvel FanFiction

V - The Boy in the Alley

I opened the fridge and looked for anything good. I was bored as hell. I decided on a lasagne ready meal, taking it off of its shelf. I shut the door and gasped.

"Tony, don't do that!" I moaned, startled by his presence. He was standing just behind the open fridge door.

"I'm sorry! Couldn't you sense me with your weird...vampire..."
"Don't even finish that sentence," I snapped, pointing a stern finger at him. I took the meal over to the counter and removed the sleeve, reading the microwave instructions.

"You know that's my lasagne you've taken?"
"Not anymore," I muttered, putting it in the microwave and smirking. I watched as it aimlessly span around on the glass surface at the bottom of it. Bearing in mind Tony could afford all of the best things, that microwave seemed to be the one thing he didn't bother with: it was a pretty 'bog-standard' microwave, if you ask me.

"What's up with you? You don't even eat proper food and you've gone out of your way to cook MY lasagne, there must be something up," he said, leaning against the counter.

Of course there were a few things I was worrying about. Telling Peter, people finding out I was really the Crimson Shadow, and most surprisingly, what I was going to wear for that stupid party on Friday. I never worry about clothes; school has a bad influence on me!

"Just... school," I replied.
"School?" He echoed. "That's not an answer."
"Oh, I don't know, just... school. In general."
"Why, are you struggling?" he questioned.
"No, a lot of homework, that's all." I regarded him, and I could tell he didn't believe it, but he took it.

"Sure, kid," he sighed. "Enjoy MY lasagne."
"Oh, you and your stupid lasagne!" I exclaimed, irritated. He chuckled and left me alone. The microwave started to ping. I took it out, and dumped it onto a plate.

I sat on the sofa and finished my lasagne (or Tony's lasagne, for goodness sake) and set my cutlery down across the plate. The TV programme ended and changed to the news. Tony entered the room and caught sight of me.

"How was my lasagne?" He asked me. I was just about to throw an agitated comment back at him, but I was stopped by the news headline.
"Teen missing in Queens: 11th in the past 2 weeks."
I looked at him, the guilt on my shoulders weighing me down on the sofa.

"I'm sorry," I let out. "I haven't seen anything. Promise."
"It's not your fault," he said. "But keep looking."
I nodded slowly, then got up to put my plate in the sink. Tony came and stood on the other side of the counter opposite me, and reached over to put a hand on my shoulder.

"Whatever you do," he said quietly, "don't get found out. Don't go out of your way to investigate if someone could find out who you really are. Ok? Identity comes first." I was a little startled by the seriousness of what he was saying, and Tony could clearly tell by his expression. He gave me a warm smile. I raised an eyebrow.

"Ok... thanks," I said, looking at him as if he was mental.
He rolled his eyes.
"No problem, kid."
He left the room. I was left wondering if I would see anything linking to all these missing people soon. My instinct told me: yes. Yes I would.

***

It was the last period of the day, and Peter, Ned and I were counting down the minutes before the end. We were in Spanish, my least favourite. I was never good at Spanish. In my spare time I used to learn French, but Spanish - not really my thing. I was staring out of the window, daydreaming. I would've been chatting with Peter and Ned, but the teacher caught us, and I thought it was too dangerous to get caught again.

"Miss Fell? Hello?"
I looked up at the teacher. The whole class was staring at me, wide-eyed.
"Can you answer my question?" The teacher urged. Oh no....
"It's cat in Spanish," Peter whispered in my ear. Oh, not so bad.
"El gato," I answered.
"Ok," the teacher huffed. "Just checking you were listening."
"Thanks," I whispered to Peter. He grinned at me.
"No problem."
And before I knew it, the bell finally rang.

I walked down the street, keeping my eyes peeled for anything at all that could lead me towards the cause of all these crimes. I took every dodgy-looking alley I found. Nothing. I decided after a while that I would just run to the bridge and give up. I swung my bag over my shoulder a little more and got ready to run at my intense speed.

I then heard a shout. A boy, it sounded like, down a nearby alley. I looked around, then ran over to it. All I saw was a dumpster. I thought of shrugging it off, but decided it was best to make sure everything was normal. I kicked a bin bag full of garbage out of my way, and scared off a cat that was hiding in the dumpster.

All I saw was a body, lying lifeless at the end of the alley. His green eyes were open, his dark hair matted with blood. I crouched down in horror, and moved his hair to find a cut across his head. I moved further away from the pool of blood building up on the floor. He had a deep gash in his arm, which was causing the pool on the floor.

He wouldn't have been killed by just those wounds, I thought. Well, maybe over time, but I'd just heard him shout. How had the culprits got away so quickly? I realised there was a blood patch forming on his shoulder. I pulled his T-shirt up a bit to see, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

It wasn't a knife that took the killing blow, like I expected.

But the bite of a vampire.