Flower Child (Peter Parker, MCU)

Rest, Relaxation, and Robbery

Red Right Hand - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Lila spent the entire weekend enjoying the normality of being a teenager with her friends. Following the dinner, nothing in her life was unusual; in fact, it might've even been boring. She went to school for the rest of the week, passing through her classes without incident. She spent the afternoons working with her dad and was getting more excited to see their plans for the Met Ball (which involved exotic plants flying in from all over the world) come together. And on the weekends, she hung out with her friends. Michelle had taken her to a screening of a documentary that chronicled racial prejudice in the years after the Blip. Sophie and Cara had her for dinner on Sunday night and teased her about Peter going to the gala dinner with her. It had been a busy, but normal week, which meant that something abnormal was bound to be just around the corner.

The scales began to tip on Monday morning when Lila was in her history of film class (an elective she took for the sole purpose of watching movies for homework). The lights were off, Gone With the Wind was playing, and there weren't many people actually paying attention. And from the soft snores sounding at the front of the room, it appeared that even the teacher had lost interest.

With no one about to tell her off for not paying attention in class, Lila pulled out her phone. A part of her figured it might be a good idea to do homework and be productive, but even she wasn't immune to the tired and dreary atmosphere that Monday had set. It practically leached the motivation out of her, so she spent her time on the internet, surfing for adequate entertainment.

She was on the CNN News app (courtesy of Sophie, who ingrained in her the notion of keeping up to date) reading an article about how a seventeen-year-old NASA intern discovered a planet three days into his internship when a banner appeared at the top of her screen. It had the words "Breaking News: Norman Osborn..." and the rest of the article was obscured. Upon seeing the name, Lila immediately clicked the banner, loading the article.

A minute passed (for a tech school, their WiFi was not the greatest) and Lila had the full article loaded. She read it in record time, for there wasn't much information to take in.

Breaking: Norman Osborn Fires Head of Security

New York City, NY. Norman Osborn has terminated the head of his private security detail, Jason Macendale, a source reports. Macendale held the position for ten years, accompanying Osborn on his numerous business exploits around the world. Former CIA, Macendale placed his knowledge of threat assessment and self-defense to use in protecting the billionaire.

Just last year, Macendale made the news after Norman Osborn was almost attacked in an Abu Dhabi hotel. The attacker, armed with a nine-millimeter handgun crafted by Hammer Industries, aimed to kill Osborn as he left the hotel via the parking garage. Coupled with Macendale's quick reflexes and a faulty handgun, the attempt on Osborn's life was unsuccessful.

Thus far, it is unclear as to why Macendale was terminated. Sources report that last week Macendale appeared tense and angry at the dinner co-hosted by his now-former employer. Check back for more updates at CNN.com.

Lila felt more surprised the farther into the article she got. Attached to the article was a blurry paparazzi photo of Macendale as he escorted Norman out of some restaurant in Manhattan. The picture she was looking at jogged her memory of the man who had thinly veiled anger and a drink spilled all over his clothes.

Thinking back to the encounter, Lila also remembered the tension between Macendale and his boss as Osborn whisked him away to discuss business. Perhaps she was thinking too hard about the situation, or perhaps it was just stimulating enough to wake her up that Monday morning, but Lila couldn't shake off the story. And whenever she was curious about what was going on in the news, she had a reliable source she could always turn to.