Miss America: The Daughter of Steve Rogers

Chapter 39

"Okay, drink lots of water and I'm gonna get you a vitamin C pill. You cannot get sick, okay?" Betty says to Ned as all of us stand outside the hotel, ready to head to our next destination. Paris.

"Okay. Thanks baby." Ned tells her and she walks back over to the rest of the group.

Peter and I go up to him. "Hey, man. Are you sure you're good?"

"Oh, dude, I'm fine." Ned reassures us.

"Okay."

"Seriously, getting tranq'd in the neck by Nick Fury, probably the coolest thing to ever happen to me anyway." Ned looks to both of us and I nod in agreement.

"It is pretty awesome." I agree. Peter and Ned do their secret handshake. I look at them and laugh. "I'm just happy we don't have to go to Prague."

"Seriously." Peter agree. Then Mr. Harrington exits the hotel.

"Good news! We're going to Prague!"

All of our classmates look up in confusion and groan.

"What?" Peter and I question.

"Prague?" Mr. Dell asks.

"Yeah. Tour company called. They upgraded us. You should've heard me on the phone with them. I really gave them hell." Mr. Harrington explains.

"All I heard was crying." Mr. Dell scoffs.

We grab our stuff and walk around the corner of the hotel to the street.

"Look at our upgraded ride!" Mr. Harrington beams.

We come face to face with a large, fancy Mercedes bus. I see the familiar bus driver waiting by the door. Holding up a sign that reads: "Midtown High".

"Emerson, Peter, wha- What's going on?" Ned asks.

"I think Nick Fury just hijacked our summer vacation." I answer with a frown.

Mr. Harrington goes up to Dimitri and holds out his hand. "I'm uh, Mr. Harrington to the kids, uh..." Dimitri doesn't respond. "Okay."

They all board the bus. Peter, Ned, and I are still standing back a ways.

"Awesome." Ned exclaims and runs to the bus to find a seat next to Betty.

"Yeah. Awesome." Peter says unenthusiastically. He starts dragging his feet towards the bus. I roll my eyes.

"Note to self: the next time Fury goes on vacation, ruin it for him." And then I follow behind.

Later on we're driving on a long, winding road surrounded by trees in the Eastern Alps in Austria.

Flash is up front on his phone again, live-streaming. "Yo, what's up Flash Mob? It's your boy, the big F." Dimitri looks mildly annoyed. "Cruisin' through the Alps with my private driver, Dimitri."

I look down at Peter's phone and it shows him reading an article titled Top 10 Romantic Places in Prague. I give him a questioning look, unsure of what he's going to do with that information.

Then Peter catches sight of the glasses case Fury had given him. He pulls it from his bag and opens it, putting on the Tony Stark-style glasses. He pulls out a note, reading it.

"For the next Tony Stark, I trust you. P.S. say 'Edith'" The glasses light up for him.

"Stand by for retinal and biometric scan." I hear a voice coming from the glasses. A scan of Peter's face appears. "Retinal and biometric scan accepted."

"Hello?" Peter asks. I give him a confused look because I have no idea what's going on.

"Hello, Peter. Hello, Emerson. I am EDITH, Tony Stark's augmented-reality security and defense system."