#update 9

“You look like someone shot your dog,” Monica wrapped her arms around Alex’s waist and rested her head on the taller girl’s shoulder while they waited in line to pay for their frozen yogurt. “What’s wrong? Boy trouble again because if you need me to kick someone’s ass…”

“Only if you consider my prepodavatel telling me that if I don’t get better, I am going to fail boy trouble,” Alex sighed as she put her head against Monica’s curls. “Please explain to me why I decided to take Russian as an elective again?”

“Girl, I have been asking you that since you told me that it was on your schedule,” Monica laughed as she gave Alex a squeeze and let go as it was almost their turn to pay. “I mean, it’s Tuesday, but I can offer going out for drinks Friday night to help you forget your troubles.”

“I can’t,” Alex sighed as she pulled her card out, attempting to stop everything else from spilling out. “I have my first extra credit thing Saturday morning. I don’t think it would be a good idea to show up hungover the first day.”

“That on top of you not sleeping would not give the best impression, I’ll give you that,” Monica laughed as the two girls grabbed a table by the window and dug into their yogurt. “Where is this assignment again, the Ravenclaw Institute or something?”

“The Ravencroft Institute.” Alex purposefully didn’t tell Monica that it was an asylum for the criminally insane. There was really no reason to get a lecture when Alex just wanted to enjoy her frozen yogurt.

Unfortunately, she forgot that Google existed and it could be accessed easily by a smartphone.

“Your internship is at an asylum for the criminally insane.” Monica blinked at Alex, her spoon dripping peanut butter yogurt on the table while cheesecake and strawberry bits threatened to slide off.

Slowly, Monica put the bright pink plastic spoon into the container and folded her long, slender fingers on the table, and stared at her. Alex pushed around her chocolate yogurt filled with gummy worms, chocolate chips, and whipped cream and avoided the intense gaze. However, after almost three minutes of Monica’s silence, Alex finally looked up. Her dark eyes were practically sparking and her bright red lips were a thin line.

“Please explain to me what made you think that taking an extra credit assignment at an insane asylum was a good idea? Especially given how you attract every lunatic is a ten mile radius?” Monica’s voice was steady and controlled, but her nails were pressing into her skin hard. “I didn’t even think there were any asylums in New York City anymore? That’s like, some medieval shit, Alex.”

“It’s a government run facility for criminals who are too dangerous and unstable for the normal prison population,” Alex recited what she had read off the internet, expecting someone was going to yell her about this whole situation.

“Yes, because ‘government run facility’ is not just as terrible sounding as ‘asylum’” Monica’s voice rose and Alex quickly tried to shush her. “What the hell could you possibly be doing there? You aren’t a psychologist, you’re a scientist.”

“Let’s not shame our psychologist colleagues, they are also scientists.” Alex pointed out, which lead Monica waved her spoon before vigorously attacking her frozen yogurt once again. “There is a patient at the Institute that survived some sort of genetic mutation. Professor Warren wants to study how that affected the mental processes as well as the physiological effects. I would just be collecting skin and blood samples, then completing a quick interview.”

While Alex was attempting to sound confident it was all a show. There wasn’t much information about Ravencroft on the internet and it almost made her tell Professor Warren no. However, she had checked her grades that morning and had failed her first Russian quiz, so she needed the extra credit to cushion her GPA. A professor wouldn’t send her into a seriously dangerous situation, so there was no reason to stress about it. Right?

There was also this morbid sense of curiosity about what this genetic mutation looked like. While it was probably not anything dramatic, she was envisioning extra limbs or scales. The scientific part of her brain was interested about the research that this data was going to be used for as well. The questionnaire she had been emailed seemed pretty standard, but there was also a note to follow any line of questioning that Alex thought relevant. How was she supposed to know that if she didn’t know what the whole study was about?

“Why do you keep doing this to me?” Monica said with a sigh, shaking her head so her curls bounced wildly. “Now, instead of lazily laying in my bed with some hunk Saturday morning and getting my well-deserved beauty sleep, I’m going to be worrying about your dumb ass.”

“If you get any more beautiful, people are going to start building monuments to you,” Alex laughed as she decapitated a gummy worm.

“It’s just, you have this freakish ability to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Knowing you, there is going to be a security failure and you’re going to be taken hostage within the first half hour.” Monica gave Alex a small smile to show that she was mostly joking.

Alex rolled her eyes, but couldn’t say that it was completely out of the realm of possibility. Just imagining the lecture she would get from Sam and Steve if they had to bust into a criminal asylum to save her was enough to give her a headache. That actually might be what would cause Steve to lock her in Stark Tower like a fairytale princess. Her mother and Jake would probably send him a thank you basket when they found out.

“Well, since you’re going to be in a hostage situation on Saturday, you have to come over and have wine and Chinese tonight. I’ll invite Gabe over and we’ll have a nice night in.” Monica had stress eaten all of her yogurt in record speed and tossed the empty carton into the trash can.

“You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you?” Alex laughed as her phone started to vibrate in her pocket, surprised to see Michael Sousa’s name on the screen. “I have to take this, give me a second?”

Monica waved her hand as Alex grabbed her yogurt and headed out to get a little bit of privacy. Normally, she would have let the call go to voicemail, but she was hoping that her favorite New York City cop had done the background check she requested on Peter Parker. She really hoped that he wasn’t some crazed stalker or something because that would make lab really awkward.

“Whatever it is, I didn’t do it, I swear,” Alex joked as she picked up the call.

“You know, it kind of concerns me that is your standard greeting when you answer my calls,” Michael’s voice held a smile, which eased Alex’s anxiety a little. He would be using his cop voice if there was serious trouble.

“Well, now that we’ve gotten my innocence out of the way, what can I do for you, Detective?” Alex leaned against the warm bricks of the building, phone pressed against her shoulder as she started in on her yogurt again. “Just know that I can and will plead the fifth if need be.”

“Alright, well please try and keep that sense of humor during this conversation,” Michael laughed, but Alex’s anxiety made her shove more yogurt into her face. “I might have asked a couple of the younger officers keep an eye on the guys you beat up outside the Marquee the other night.”

“Well…I guess that is better than having them following me around,” Alex sighed as she continued to shovel yogurt into her mouth. “I’m guessing they are up to something that has to do with me or you wouldn’t be even calling me. What’s going on?”

“That’s where it gets a little fuzzy,” Michael paused after that.

“So you’re calling me because?”

“The group of them were hanging around your college a couple days the past week. I’m not saying that they were looking for you, but they really had no reason being there if they weren’t looking for you,” Michael said it slowly, as if he really didn’t want to admit this to Alex.   

“So, you’re calling me to be careful and report if I see a bunch of rapists hanging about,” Alex scraped the bottom of her yogurt container, needed more sugar to deal with this. What was it with every man in her life thinking that she needed to be monitored twenty-four seven?

“Something like that. I know you can take care of yourself, just be a bit more careful than normal,” there was a hint of a smile in Michael’s voice again. “I would hate to have to write you up for manslaughter charges.”

“So you’re just trying to save yourself some paperwork, I see how it is.” Alex laughed as she tossed the yogurt cup away as she walked back into join Monica. “Thanks for the heads up, Michael. If anything changes, let me know.”    

“I would say the same thing to you, but it would be a waste of my breath,” Michael actually laughed now. “Take care of yourself, Alex. I’ll talk to you later.”  

“Michael as in that hunky police officer from the other night?” Monica asked with a large smile on her face as Alex hung up the phone and threw it in her bag. It was obvious from that wide smile that Monica had a thousand things to say, but instead just tilted her head and fluttered her eyelashes.      

“If I’m coming to your place for Chinese and wine, I need to get back to my place and get some work done.” Alex knew there was no reason to attempt to defend herself against Monica’s unstated accusations. No matter what she said, Monica would turn it around that Alex was madly in love with the Detective. Better to just keep her mouth shut.

 “You’re no fun,” Monica pouted as they gathered up their stuff and headed out of the shop. “If it’s because of the Russian thing, I suggest swallowing your pride and getting a tutor. If you go to the student union, there might be something on the bulletin board. I need my fun-loving and carefree Alexandra back.”

“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” Alex laughed as they walked home, enjoying the warm weather in early autumn afternoon.

“Darling, all my ideas are good.” Monica flipped her curls before busting out laughing again. “Seriously, though. You need some stress relief and if you get it from sleeping with a cop, I guess I can forgive you.”

Alex rolled her eyes, but just let it go. Henry waved at the girls when they got back to their apartment building, saying that it was good to see them enjoying the day. Alex went to her apartment and was the most productive she had been all semester. While she might have dozed off on her anatomy notes, she still got caught up on all her classes except Russian.

At seven, Alex finally closed her books. She didn’t worry about changing out of the gym shorts and tank tops she had been wearing, knowing that Monica had seen worse and Gabe wouldn’t care. Instead, she slid on some flip-flops and plodded to Monica’s apartment.

“Su casa es tu casa.” Gabriel gave Alex a dazzling smile as he opened Monica’s door and handed her a wine glass.

“Muchas gracias.” Alex knew that her pronunciation was terrible, but it was the one phrase in Spanish that she knew.

Gabe gave a good natured laugh as he closed the door and ushered Alex into the living room. Monica was flopped belly down on a bean bag, ankles cross in the air, as she had notes and textbooks spread all around her.

“Oh, no, if I can’t study, then you can’t study,” Alex kicked Monica’s leg lightly before she sank down onto the couch, enjoying the air conditioning. “Besides, what kind of host makes their guest open the door?”

“I had to finish this chapter, alright? Besides, Gabe has been texting a boy for the past half hour with this idiotic smile on his face while we were waiting for you. He’s fine.” Monica flipped her text book closed before rolling onto her back. “And, because we have the first sorority mixer on Saturday, which you’re totally invited to, I need to get ahead on assignments.”

“I’m probably going to want to just come home and sleep, but I’ll let you know,” Alex knew that the chances of her actually sleeping more than two hours were very low, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to try. Plus, socializing past drinking and getting Chinese sounded too draining.

“If you wanted to go and have hot sex with the police officer, you just have to say so,” Monica laughed as she got to her feet and grabbed her phone.

Monica turned on Netflix and then tossed her phone over to Gabe so that he could put in his GrubHub order. He passed the phone back to Monica, who tossed it at Alex, almost making her spill wine all over the couch. After Alex handed it back, Monica continued to focus on the phone, tapping away and sighing.     

“You’re looking a little tense, Mo,” Gabe said as he turned down the episode of Supernatural for a moment. “Something wrong with our favorite Vice President of a sorority?”

“For once, it’s not the sisters that are causing me to go prematurely grey,” Monica sat up and blew some of her curls out of her face. “There has been some…tension at Oscorp recently due to events that I can’t tell you about under penalty of death. Of course, the interns are being blamed for the whole thing, which is ridiculous.”

“Why didn’t you mention something when we were together earlier?” Alex looked away from the screen were Sam and Dean Winchester were doing something very stupid and looking amazing doing it.

“When did I have the time between you dropping the mental asylum bomb and then talking to Hot Detective on the phone?” Monica smile at Alex.

“What’s the problem, in vague terms in which we wouldn’t really know what’s going on if someone tortured us for the information?” Gabriel asked as he got up and refilled everyone’s wine glass.

“As it won’t be leaving this room,” Monica gave them both a pointed look, “Oscorp has been experiencing some technical difficulties with their security system recently. Nothing serious and no one outside of the company knows about it, but obviously they are starting to get a bit paranoid about the whole thing. As the interns are low men on the totem pole and some of the glitches are around our lab, all the interns in my division have been questioned. There is a group message that’s comparing interrogation notes.”

“That sucks, didn’t you all need to go through some sort of…testing to get security clearance?” Alex asked as she sipped her wine. She had been wondering how different Oscorp was from Stark Industries, but she didn’t want to come out and say she had to have a polygraph test. It would seem weird if it wasn’t industry practice.

“I mean there were background check run and personal references verified, the usual stuff. We also don’t have access to everything, just the projects we’re working on. I mean, I’m working on a new water filtration system that takes out impurities while equally distributing things like fluoride into the water at less cost, smaller equipment, and hopefully completely green.” Monica shrugged. “I don’t know why they’re so worked up about it. Nothing has been stolen and the security cameras have never gone out. It’s just some IT bug that has to be taken care of.”  

“It might not be that simple,” Gabriel said as he tapped the side of his wineglass, obviously deep in thought. “There are a number of reasons for glitches in the system that are not simply IT issues.”

Gabriel started to explain a number of complicated computer and security processes that could possibly lead to the vague glitches Monica had mentioned. Some of it was rather innocent stuff, others were malicious virus that had no set plan of attack, just to cause chaos. Alex zoned out after a couple minutes, feeling about an inch tall for not noticing that something was bothering Monica. She had to be the worst friend in the history of the world, just a step above Brutus to Caesar, but just barely.

“Oh fucking hell,” Monica gave a frustrated growl and collapsed face first into the bean bag. “What did I do to deserve this?”

“What’s going on?” Alex asked, not sure what could have made Monica react so dramatically.

“I hit pick-up instead of delivery and so now the delicious, unhealthy, and soul comforting Chinese food that I need is now sitting on a counter instead of on it’s way into my belly,” Monica’s voice was muffled by the chair.

“Don’t be so dramatic, I’ll go pick it up,” Alex said with a laugh as she got up and slipped her flip-flops on. “You ordered from The Jade Dragon, right? That’s only like ten blocks away and it’s still nice out.”

“Do you want me to go with you?” Gabriel asked, already getting to his feet. However, at that moment a cell phone started to ring. They all stared at one another for a moment before it was coming from Gabe’s pocket. He pulled out another cell phone and sighed.

“You take whatever that is, it’s not that late and the restaurant isn’t far. I’ll be back before you finish your call.” Alex left before anyone could protest, taking the stairs since it was faster.

It had gotten a bit cooler than Alex had expected and she crossed her arms over her chest as she walked quickly toward The Jade Dragon. While the restaurant didn’t get any marks on aesthetics or presentation, it was the most delicious Chinese in the city. For a moment while she was waiting for the light to change, Alex got a chill that she was being watched, but the light changed and the feeling slipped away as the bell over the front door rang.

After five minutes to confirm with Monica that Alex was there to get the food, she was left with a brown paper bag packed full with delicious smelling food. The walk back took a little longer, Alex having to switch hands when her fingers cramped. That feeling of something not being right only increased as she seemed to hit every light. Alex’s fingers found her wrist, looking around, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Anxiety was a bitch.

Five blocks from the building, something hard and cold was pressed into Alex’s spine. After having a gun pressed to your skin once, you never forget it, and Alex froze recognizing that feeling now. This time it was not one of her less than civilized friends playing a not at all funny joke and Alex’s wrist throbbed in pain. 

“You looked better in the red dress,” A male voice whispered into her ear. “You’re going to walk down this alley with us, calmly, and we’re going to have a little chat.”

“If I say no?” Alex’s voice was steady even though she was covered in a cold sweat. This close, there was the possibility of getting the gun away from the guy without him paralyzing her with one shot, if not kill her. However, there was a chance she couldn’t and also that he would accidently fire and hit some innocent bystander. Was that a risk she was willing to take?

"We don’t believe in the word no, Princess.” The sound of a click made Alex jump a little. “But you know that, don’t you?”

Alex knew at that moment it was the assholes from Marquee.

Her eyes closed and she said a couple of choice words under her breath before moving into the alley. While she was still scared, a part of her was wondering how this kept happening to her. Maybe she should let Steve lock in Stark Tower, maybe then she wouldn’t be accosted by morons.

“You know,” Alex said over her shoulder, anger starting to replace some of her fear, “if I was really a princess, this would be considered treason. I could have you beheaded.”

“You smart mouth bitch,” The gun is brought down on the back of Alex’s skull, causing her to stumble into the dumpster and see stars. “I lost my acceptance to medical school because of the police report.”

Alex set the Chinese food on the top of the dumpster so she wouldn’t spill everything and slowly turned around. The three men who assaulted the brunette outside the Marquee where all glaring at her, but there was only one gun, which was a plus. Still, Alex was in flip-flops and she didn’t think that one bag of takeout would stop a bullet.

“Do you understand what you did to us, what we might lose?” The shortest one growled.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have raped a bunch of women and then your perfect future would be secure. However, you ruined their futures so it only seems fair that your lives are ruined as well.” The fear had seeped away at some point, leaving just anger. How dare these men who raped a number of women, stand there and complain to her about how their actions ruined their lives.

“None of them said no,” the black haired one pointed out with the sleaziest smile Alex had ever seen, “and neither will you.”

“No,” Alex said simply as she took a step forward. “Now, if you touch me, you’re going to need god himself to stop me from ripping your throat out with my teeth.”

All three of the men took a small step backward at the viciousness in her words. It only took a moment for them to collect themselves, smirks sliding back onto their faces. Alex had never had the urge to spit in someone’s face, then she did in that moment. She had always felt that a punch was more refined than spitting, but these guys deserved to be degraded.

“Well, then I guess I’m just going to kill you if I can’t get anything from you. That will lead to the other bitch dropping the case.” The black haired one, who was holding the gun said. “You’re probably a horrid fuck anyway.”

Before Alex could say anything, the gun muzzle was pressed into her chest. It jumped a little with each heartbeat as they stared each other down.

Alex knew that there should be fear, there should be tears, there should be begging for her life, but all she felt anger. It would be a cold day in hell before she let these pieces of shit kill her. That meant she had two options, attempt to disarm and get away or try and talk them out of shooting her. There was no point in attempting to appeal to their sense of humanity, it was obvious that they had none, but she could probably spin it into a way of them saving their own asses.

“Finally, a way to shut you up.” The black haired one slid up to brush against her jaw and then back down. “You know, you’re very pretty when you aren’t talking. Are you sure we couldn’t work something out?”

“I wish I could say the same for you, but you’re just disgusting,” Alex said between clenched teeth.         

The men just laughed a dark and humorless laugh. Alex knew that she now only had one option, which was to get the gun away from them. Yet, the muzzle moved back down, right over her heart, right into the red star tattoo, and pressed hard. The black haired man took another step forward and licked his lips.

There was a sharp pain and a large crash, but there was no blood. For a long second Alex just stared at the other two men, neither of them sure what the hell had happened or where the black haired man had gone. Then there was a flash of red and blue and the assailant was being punched multiple times in the face.

“Now, is that any way to treat a lady or the Chinese food she’s carrying?” Spiderman asked as he moved to stand between Alex and the other two men. “Why don’t we just let her hurry home before the foods cold and we can have a chat about manners.”  

“We’re going to teach you a lesson this time you fucking fairy,” the shorter one growled.

There was the sound of a shot being fired and Spiderman jumped out of the way. Alex just stood there, pressed against the dumpster, unable to move. It was as if the little buffering wheel was up in her brain and she couldn’t process anything. Spiderman bounced off the bricks, avoiding another shot, and gave Alex an ungracious shove behind the dumpster to get her out of the line of fire.

It was a difficult for Alex to stay focused on the fight, Spiderman moving so fast, but unable to get the three men all wrapped up in webs. The vigilante was able to get the gun out of the black haired one’s hand, but that was the only progress he really made. The alley was too tight and it was obvious that Spiderman didn’t want to really hurt them.

As if something switched on, Alex surged forward and tackled the shortest guy from behind. They both hit the cracked asphalt, Alex’s knees getting bloodied, before she brought her knee up and slam it into his balls. The man’s elbow came back at the same moment and winded her, causing her to roll off of him.

Spiderman’s foot came down on the wrist of the other man’s wrist as he got him onto the ground as well, but the blacked haired one got behind him. While he didn’t have a gun, he did wrap an arm around Spiderman’s throat and they both tumbled into the wall. Alex scrambled over and slammed her elbow into the other man’s stomach to stop him from joining the fray. Spiderman got a bit of leverage and flipped over, stuck to the wall, and webbed the back haired man to the ground. Then he webbed the other two, making sure to cover their eyes.

Alex thought that was a bit excessive as she got to her feet, hissing from the scrapes on her knees. She was thinking up something witty to say to the web-slinger as she tilted her head up. However, it died on her lips and all the air left her lungs. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be real.  

“No,” Alex said shaking her head and backing up, “no, no, no! Not again.”

“Again?” Peter Parker asked as he jumped down onto the asphalt and picked up his mask, brushing it off. “You unmask superheroes often, Harper?”

“Why me? What did I do to have this keep happening to me?” Alex ran her hands through her hair as she paced over the prone bodies, pulling little sounds of protests when she stepped on a hand or stomach. It was like she had a tattoo on her forehead that read ‘superheroes please come mess up my perfectly normal life at the most inconvenient times.’ How many superheroes were running around New York anyway?

  "You just found out about my secret identity, I’m pretty sure I should be the one freaking out.” Peter pointed out, brushing the dirt off his mask.

“Peter?”

“Yeah?”

 “Shut the hell up.”

“What? I have a secret identity for a reason!”

They two of them just stood there and staring at one another, wrapped up in their own thoughts. Most of Alex’s continued four letter words. Of all the students in her Biochemistry class, she was paired with Spiderman. Peter Parker was Spiderman.

“What do we do now?” Alex sighed, as the sound of sirens reached her ears. It wasn’t like she could unlearn Peter’s identity and it wasn’t like she could avoid her lab partner. She had even started to, against her will, consider him a friend.

“Well, first we should get out of this alley since the boys in blue are on their way. They aren’t all that fond of me and vigilante justice,” Peter tugged the mask on, even though it was pretty pointless.

“Do you know that there is a task force that is tasked with finding vigilantes and you’re on the top of their list?” Alex asked with a smile before looking down at the idiots on the ground. “One of that task force will probably be here because of this and I should talk to him. You get out of here, though.”

“I’m not going to leave you alone with these guys,” Peter gave the wiggling black haired man a swift kick in the ribs. “I mean, I’ve been following you for weeks trying to keep them from getting you alone. Especially after their first threat.”

“So you were stalking me, I knew it!” All of strange questions and popping up out of nowhere suddenly made so much more sense. Popping up when she was jogging at dangerous times, being alone with Sandy where she could have been hurt or taken, and being sincere when asking if she was alright. It was still stalker behavior, but in a sweeter way.

“It wasn’t stalking, it was…protection detail that you didn’t know about,” Peter protested.

“Yeah well,” The sirens sounded as if they were on this block, “we’ll talk about it later. These guys are tied up all pretty and you’re not good to anyone in jail. Especially me, we have that project in Warren’s class that I don’t want to do alone.”

“Oh, I see, purely selfish reasons,” Peter laughed, but he crawled up the wall without any more protest. “I’ll see you when I see you, Harper.”

“You bet your cute little spandex ass, now get out of here.” Alex walked over and grabbed the Chinese off the dumpster so that didn’t get tipped over in the chaos.

“Stay out of trouble,” Peter called before he disappeared onto the roof.