THE APPRENTICE II

3

"So. Elementals, huh?" She started and sat down on one of the chairs. Peter sat beside her and put the glasses on his shirt.

"Yeah, and we think the next one's gonna be fire. The first one was water, though; it was like, 20 feet high- huge,"

"Woah, and you were took on it alone?" She raised her eyebrows then smirked. "I'm...that's impressive, I knew earth would be in good hands,"

"Thanks, but...it wasn't me who did everything, it was Mysterio." Hazel straightened up from the chair which Peter took as a queue to explain. "You don't know him? I thought you'd know him cause he does magic and stuff,"

"Wait, what?,"

"Sorry, sorcery- he does sorcery, like you guys but it's all different and green,"

"But the time stone's disintegrated." She struggled to piece it together "and Stephen and I are the masters of the time stone, how...how could this be possible?,"

"I don't know, it's just magic, I guess. How impossible can it get, am I right?,"

"Right. He did use the mirror dimension, right? Kept the both of you inside it and kept the public away?," She was on the edge of her toes at his blank face "the invisible force field,"

"No." Peter confessed and the girl gasped then struggled to find words to express herself. "But then now, people know what you guys do, right? You get recognition! You can be an official avenger now-,"

"-We don't care about being avengers, or recognition, or any of that!" She fumed and immediately lowered her voice when she noticed people staring at them. Hazel stood up from her seat and practiced her breathing techniques, then stormed into the girl's bathroom.

Peter nervously chuckled at the group of people nosily turning their heads at him and ran to follow her.
"Hazel, Hazel, come on." He locked the door and sighed, then showed his palms. "I- um,"

"Don't Hazel me, that idiot just exposed centuries of secrets to the human race! People have been kicked out, hurt, or died just to keep it a secret and this...this obnoxious, egomaniac ruins everything!" She placed her hands on her hips and clenched her jaw. "I...I can't believe this, we have to cover this up! I have to tell Stephen then we'll have to tell all the masters-,"

"-wait! No one's telling anyone anything yet." Peter held out his hands in a stopping motion and stepped in front of her. "Look: we might as well finish this first, right? This is an actual threat! I mean...it may not be the universe or...or reality at stake but it still matters. So...let's just do this, alright?"

She exhaled an audible sigh and rolled her eyes, making him smile and hesitantly put his hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks, really. I appreciate this, and um, you." He opened the door to a stall and she looked at him like he was crazy. "I'm gonna change into my suit!,"

"Oh." She waved her hand and his body was dressed in it within a blink of an eye.

"Woah! I've got a learn that!," he opened the door and started to run off

"Not a chance,"

"Okay."

The two exited the building and Peter communicated with his team. Hazel prepared herself by starting a small fire in the location to get the civilians away.

"Hey we need to get to the car- did you do this?! Did you set the fire?!,"

"Shh! Shut up, we need to get going!,"

"Hazel! Hazel, that's arson!,"

"It's not that big! It's basically, like, mini arson. Mild arson,"

"That's not a thing,"

"Yeah it is." She shrugged off

"You know, we should talk about your ethics after this!" Peter remarked and the girl smirked in response. "See you,"

"See you." She greeted and they parted ways. Peter webbed up to the roof of a building while she hid behind a pillar near the venue. Along the way, Mysterio passed by Hazel and peeled his eyes on and off her.

"Uh...are you Hazel?," He walked up to her hesitantly and lowered his voice secretively.

"Mysterio." She gave him a head to toe stare and gritted her teeth to stop herself from saying anything offensive.

"Hey! Peter was going on non-stop about you! He said we'd hit it off really well and become best friends or something!"

"Oh, I highly doubt that,"

"Huh?,"

"You should get into position." She scoffed and the man started to walk away. "Hey! Remember to use the mirror dimension, this time."