The Girl with Venom

Chapter Sixteen

Peter

I managed to lower myself down from the roof and waited in an ally for Mr. Stark, my hand pressuring my abdomen. Five long minutes later, a sleek black car pulls up beside the ally, and the window rolls down. I limp over to the car and open the door and awkwardly sit down. I lean the chair back, making my stomach feel slightly better. I reach up with my non bloody hand and pull my mask off, breathing in the fresh air.

"What happened?" Mr. Stark asked as he began driving. "Some guys attacked a woman so I stopped them," I reply out of breath.

"Holy hell," he says, looking at me. "Looks like they won."

I chuckle and grimace. We make it to the tower and Happy helps me out of the car. Along the way, I almost pass out, time blurring. Eventually, I am told to sit down on a table, and I hear Mr. Stark grumble something about having to make me a new suit. I lean back and lay down on the table, thankful to finally relax, and blackness surrounds me.

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Rose

Peter didn't come to school today, which is weird. He never misses school. I check my phone and see he hasn't responded to my texts. Which is also weird. He always responds.

"Maybe he was killed," Venom suggests. "People don't get randomly killed," I think. Maybe he had second thoughts about going out tonight?

"I can kill him for you."

"That won't be necessary," I think. "But thank you for the offer."

The rest of the day goes by without a word from Peter. Just as I begin to walk home, a text appears. "Hey I'm really sorry. I had a family thing today so I couldn't go to school. Still want to go out to dinner?"

"He's lying."

"How do you know?" I think.

"How do you not know? That is clearly a lie."

A couple texts later, he says he'll meet me at my apartment at 4:30 to go to the restaurant. I pocket my phone and continue the walk home.

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I close the door behind me and toss the keys in the bowl by the door, backpack still slung on one shoulder. "Mom, I'm home!" I say as I rummage around the kitchen looking for a snack. "Hey Rose! Come over here! There's a nice man here to meet you!"

Frowning, I walk into the living room to see my mom sitting on the couch opposite of none other than Tony Stark. "Hello Rose. Your mother here was just telling me about your excellent grades in school and all of the volunteer work you do! I'm impressed." He says, gesturing to my mom.

"Um, yeah, thanks." I reply, unsure what to say.

"Hey would you mind if I talked to you privately? I have an internship position open at Stark Industries. If you're interested of course." He says. "Uh sure," I say.

"Excellent!" He springs up out of the chair and walks towards my room. I fidget with my backpack strap and my mom grins and gives a thumbs up. I follow Mr. Stark to my room and I walk in after him, closing the door. I drop my backpack by the door and stand awkwardly while his eyes skim over my room. "So I take it you've probably heard of the person who saved that little girl from being hit with a car?" He asks all of a sudden, turning to face me.

"Um... no. I haven't... heard of anything like that," I say, alarms going off in my head. "Do not screw this up." Venom says in my head. "I'm trying! I don't know what to say." I think.

"Really?" Mr. Stark frowns. He takes his phone out of his pocket; more like hologram and projects a video. A yellow balloon floats into the street, a girl follows. A car comes speeding at her, unaware. A woman in a hoodie steps out in front of it, their hand seemingly disappearing as the car crunches around their hand and arm. The woman looks around, shocked, and the video ends with their face frozen on the screen. He looks at me expectantly, and I say nothing.

"So how'd you do it?" He asks. "How'd I...? I didn't do that, that wasn't me." He points down at the hoodie I'm wearing, and then to my shoes that I wear every day. "Yeah, but tons of people have this hoodie and shoes." I say.

"JARVIS, run a facial scan." A red line runs horizontally down the frozen image and an image of me appears on the screen while a mechanical voice echoes "Rose M. Bolton. Age: 16. Date of Birth: January 19th, 2002. Address:...." and continued to list every detail about my life. When it finished, Mr. Stark looked at me again.

I sigh in defeat. "Ok fine that... is me." I say, pointing to the screen. "Not trying to sound rude, but what do you want?" I ask.

"I want to offer you an internship at Stark Industries- like I said. I'm sure you understand that day-to-day life is dangerous; with robberies, kidnappings, murder... You name it, it happens here. You know, that girl you saved is calling you the Golden Queen? '#GoldenQueen' began trending on every popular social media this morning. You saved someone's life, Rose. What you have is a gift, and I would like you to use that gift to help our city. Your mom doesn't have to know exactly what you're doing, just that you're getting tons of volunteer experience." He finishes, shrugging. He takes out his wallet and opens it, pulling out a card. He hands it to me and I take it, and see a phone number on it with the Stark Industries logo. "Let me know what you think." He says, and with that leaves. I glance back at the card as I hear my mom and Mr. Stark exchange farewells.

"Don't even think about it," Venom says.

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After what seems like hours of my mom asking questions about the prospect of an internship at Stark Industries, I glance at my watch and notice it's almost time for Peter to arrive. My mom hurries off to get her hair curler out, while I open my closet and shift through the few dresses that I own. A few moments later, I'm changing into the dress; a black dress and a hip length black overcoat. I dig around my closet searching for the cross-body bag I took to the dance, I find it and ensure the butterfly knife and pepper spray are still there. I swipe on some quick makeup and some lipstick and make my way to my bathroom, where my mom set up the curling iron. Sitting down on the chair, I wait patiently while my mom adds light curls to my hair, all the while chattering about Mr. Stark and the evening with Peter. She fluffs the curls and notes how cute they look, and how she wishes she could pull them off.

She finally finishes and looks me up and down, frowning. "You're missing something," she says. Her eyes light up and she goes to her room, returning a second later with a wool scarf and wrapping it loosely around my neck. "Don't want to get a chill!" she says.

Right on time, there's a knock at the door, and my mom smiles and pushes me towards the door. "Remember to always be aware of your surroundings!" she lectures. "And always keep a tight hold on your purse! Text me when you get there, text me when you leave, and text me when you think you'll be home!"

"I will!" I laugh. I turn around and hug her. Breaking apart, I move towards the door, her giving me a small wave and slowly heading back to my bathroom to clean up the curling iron. I open the door to see Peter standing there awkwardly. Immediately I notice the black eye and a bruise on his cheek. I close the door behind me and try to think.

"What the hell happened?" I ask.

"My neighbor!" he says suddenly. "He came over and I went to open the door and he kind of... whacked me in the face."

I raise my eyebrows.

"With the door," he finishes.

"He's lying again," Venom says.

"Oh, I know. He's hiding something."

"With a door?" I say, doubtful.

"Yes! The side of a very... solid door. You've never done that? I've done it before. Shall we go?" He says quickly, pointing down the hallway.