Chapter Text
Ava had lived in the boroughs for as long as she could remember, she wasn't a Manhattanite until she came for school, but she used to spend every weekend in the City just walking around to avoid her crowded foster home. She couldn't risk getting caught jumping the turnstile and she used whatever money she had to get her to and from Manhattan, so she often walked everywhere she went and she had walked past some pretty iconic places.
She had walked past the Met hundreds of times, she had even allowed herself a moment to sit on the iconic steps, but she had never been inside. Nothing inside really interested her, if she wanted to stare at old paintings in complete silence, she could just do it on her cracked computer screen on an insomnia-induced thought spiral. Her refusal to ever go inside was based on her lack of funds and lack of interest, but on a whim, she had decided to go inside and see what the whole fuss was about. She was turned away however by a disgruntled worker with little to no explanation and Ava has since held a deep grudge against the establishment.
She had never learned why she wasn't allowed in, but her resentment for it grew into a full-blown war. No, she didn't care if it was one-sided and stupid, she hated that stupid building with everything in her and it had become an integral part of her personality.
So when she found out that the Arq-Tech Gala was going to be at the Met, she let out a string of curses that had Camila chasing her around the apartment with a bar of soap in one hand and a slipper in the other. For someone without any superpowers, Camila was surprisingly fast and her aim was scary good.
She rubbed the back of her head at the memory of Camila's slipper cracking against her skill as she stared at the scene in front of her. They had completely shut down part of Fifth Avenue, NYPD patrol cars lined the streets, there were officers and OCS members every few feet and it looked like they had some sort of special security device that everyone had to pass through to get inside.
She glared up at the imposing building, reminding herself that she was only going inside because of a mission and that her grudge was still standing firm. She began her ascent of the steps and started looking for Mary. She was Ava's way inside and based on their plan, she was supposed to be somewhere by the entrance.
She was coming up on the weird-looking security devices and she still didn't see Mary. A large and scary-looking individual approached Ava with a tablet in their hands, it looked like a children's tablet compared to them.
"Name?" They asked, not even bothering to look at Ava.
"Uh-uhm Ava?"
They looked up now, but Ava wished they would just go back to looking at the tablet because they looked annoyed and that scared her. "Last name?"
"Silva!" Ava said quickly. "Ava Silva."
They looked back down at their table, grumbling something under their breath. They swiped the screen, their eyes scanning down it before repeating and looking up at Ava. "You're not listed."
Now was the time to panic. "Oh? Really? That's so odd, I mean-" She began to turn. "You know, I can just leave and-"
"Cameron, I got this one."
Ava nearly squeaked out of stress when she heard Mary's voice. The tablet-wielding person turned as Mary approached, they still looked slightly annoyed. "She's not on the list."
"I know, she's my plus one," Mary said, grabbing Ava and tucking her under her arm. Ava immediately grimaced and wiggled her way out, pushing Mary away from her. "Perks of having a cool older sister."
The scary individual - Cameron - looked between Mary and Ava, seemed to not care enough to question it, and held their hand out to Ava. "Please hand over your phone as all cellular devices are not permitted for tonight's event."
"What?" Ava said, looking at Mary. "Then how are we-"
"Ava, stop making Cameron's job difficult and give them your phone," Mary ordered in a voice that Ava was all too familiar with. Ava pursed her lips, wanting to argue her point, but pulled her phone out of her clutch and handed it to Cameron. Her phone was pitifully small in their hand and Ava had the sudden urge to ask Cameron to hold their hand up, so she could compare them to hers. She got the feeling that Cameron would rather stick a fork in their eye than do that, so she held the urge in.
They motioned toward the security device. "Please walk through the device at a steady pace and wait to be cleared."
Ava looked to Mary, who nodded and walked around the device to the other side. Ava eyed the machine warily, noting the Arq-Tech label hidden in the corner. None of Jillian's weird devices had steered her wrong so far, so she stepped through, and a blue light immediately activated, taking a full scan of Ava's body. She did as Cameron instructed and waited after she passed through. The machine gave off a green light after a moment and Cameron told Mary she was good.
"Come on," Mary said, tugging Ava by the bicep as Cameron returned to helping the other arriving guests. She moved Ava's coat to see her outfit and smiled. "You look nice."
Ava looked down at herself, Camila had said the same thing, but she still felt a little self-conscious. She didn't own many Gala-worthy dresses - she had three dresses in her entire wardrobe and one of them hadn't fit her since she was 11 and she wasn't sure why she still had it. So Camila disappeared up north for a few hours and raided every female relative she had in the Bronx for anything that could fit Ava while Ava continued to do research and coordinate a plan with Mary. She came back to the apartment with a pale pink silk dress over her arm and nude heels in her hand.
All of their work repairing Ava's suit had come in handy as they managed to tailor the dress and alter it to something that was a little more modern. There was a large slit up the right side, exposing a good portion of Ava's leg and they had pulled in the waist to fit tightly around her body, practically hugging her skin. The fabric gathered loosely at her chest, which Ava didn't think would look good, but Camila assured her that the way the silk laid was perfect.
She didn't do anything special with her hair, she just straightened it and tried to coax it into something sleek and stylish. She took what little jewelry she had - a small ring with a jewel in the center and a silver necklace - and added it to the look. Camila proclaimed that she was a fairy godmother when she was done with Ava.
"Thanks," Ava said. "It's not too much? Or too little?"
Mary shrugged. "I don't think you'll stick out, but you'll definitely turn some heads."
"So how are we supposed to communicate if it's a no-phone event?" Ava asked as they continued walking up the steps.
"If you read the entire briefing, you would know," Mary muttered before palming something into Ava's hand. "Take this. Get inside and make eyes on targets. Be discreet."
Ava turned her hand over and saw it was a small earpiece. "Don't worry, I'm always discrete."
Mary let out a snort as Ava passed, she nodded at the other OCS members that were standing guard at the door. They parted and allowed Ava to pass through, it was uncomfortably warm when she crossed the threshold and she immediately wanted to take off her coat. She began to shrug herself out of it and wondered if she would have to carry it around with her all night before a museum employee appeared out of nowhere, offering to take it.
Something in Ava told her that this could just be some weird dude trying to steal her jacket, but the joke was on him if he thought he was getting an expensive coat. She smiled at him and handed over her thrifted coat, he disappeared with it as she slipped the earpiece into her ear.
She looked around the room and stubbornly admitted that it was really gorgeous, she didn't know why she thought it was gorgeous, but she just did. She liked looking at the odd details in the different structure pieces in the room, she thought it gave them character.
"Comms check," Mary's voice echoed around in her ear as Ava's eyes continued to look around the room, Arq-Tech branding was hung everywhere, making it very difficult to forget who was hosting the whole event. If Ava remembered correctly, it would only be held in the Great Hall - where Ava was now - and if guests requested so, they had a few of the other wings open for them to look at with supervision.
Mother Superion was kind enough to share the museum layout with Ava and Camila a few days before so they could get a good grasp of their surroundings in case things went sideways. Camila had come a few days ago (Ava was supposed to come as well, but she stuck to her grudge and would only go one time) and scoped out a few good places to hide her suit for easy access.
"Ava, check," She responded, pressing her finger to her earpiece. Camila was supposed to be doing that right now while Ava was getting inside, they had decided on a custodian's closet right off the East stairwell, it would be the least populated area of the night, so Ava would be able to sneak off easier if she needed to.
"Cam, check," Camila's voice came in high and nervous over the earpiece. She was muttering to herself in Spanish, Ava caught some of her whispers and chuckled hearing all of the curse words spilling from her best friend.
"Don't tell me you're getting nervous, Cam." Ava teased.
"Puta Madre," Camila muttered.
"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Ava could hear Camila gearing up to curse her out.
"Leave her be, Ava." Shannon had muttered over the comms and Ava felt herself sober up. She and Shannon still hadn't spoken, they had danced around each other using Mary or Camila to communicate with one another and they were never in the same room alone. Ava didn't think she was mad anymore, she'd talked it out with herself, trying to see it from Shannon's point of view and putting herself in her shoes.
It made more and more sense to Ava, but it still hurt. She didn't want it to hurt anymore and Camila told her maybe the first step in healing the wound was talking to Shannon. That was two days ago and Ava hadn't made any progress since then.
"Suit in place," Camila said over the comms. "Heading up the stairwell. Can someone get me inside?"
"On it," Shannon said.
"Ava, have you made eyes?" Mary asked.
Oh right, Ava was supposed to be looking for people. She walked deeper into the room and looked around until- "Dr. Salvius spotted by the lifted stage."
Jillian was wearing a light beige suit, her hair tied up in a neat bun, she was speaking quietly to one of the employees, and she had two security guards flanking her, their eyes roaming about the room - she was safe for now.
Ava spotted the Mayor not long after and reported it to Mary, but she hadn't seen Lieutenant Vincent. "Do you think he'd be inside already? Maybe he's still helping out with security?"
"Possibly, I'll see if any of OCS has seen him. Keep an eye out." Mary said and Ava took a deep breath, her first task completed. She looked around for Camila, she should've gotten inside by now. She found a table to stand by, trying to look like she fit in with this crowd. Most people were in groups, talking amongst themselves probably about things that Ava would've found mind-numbing.
She tapped her finger on the table, trying to distract herself. She was trying not to feel so out of place, but looking around, it was getting very hard. She hadn't told Camila, but this was one of the reasons that she didn't want to come. She knew the kind of people that would be attending, they were the people that always made her feel "less than" growing up. Like she was a problem that needed to be fixed.
She had met more than enough entrepreneurs, company bigshots, and millionaires that were looking for a boost in good publicity that hoped some time spent with foster kids and orphans would earn them some goodwill in the public eye. They were nice enough when the cameras were rolling, but the second they stopped, they treated kids like Ava like a product, a thing, not a person. It was dehumanizing, to say the least.
She took a steadying breath, her finger still tapping on the table. She looked for Camila again, but her eyes instead met something else. Her finger stilled - in fact, her whole body stilled, which was quite the feat for her.
Ava was no stranger to the feeling of lust; she found people very attractive and she was not the type of person to deny herself the small moment to drool over a stranger. She had spent more time on her patrol talking up beautiful men, handsome women, and gorgeous enbys than she cared to admit. She liked people and thought if someone found them attractive, they should be told so.
But Ava wasn't sure what she felt right now, she felt like someone had sucked all of the air out of her lungs. She could hear the blood pumping in her ears and she felt herself go so eerily still that it freaked her out. She felt like the whole world had gone a little darker, not pitch black, but just a little dimmer while her eyes settled on the only bright light in the room.
She could feel her heart begin to beat violently against her chest as her eyes locked on the woman across the room. She hadn't seen Ava, but why would she? Ava wasn't worth looking at when she was in the room.
She was standing with a group of other people, they were all talking with animated gestures and expressions, while she seemed to be interested in anything else. She was wearing a dark navy suit on top of a cream-colored button-up that looked like silk. A few of the buttons were undone, revealing a small patch of tanned skin and a peek of collarbone that felt almost sinful. There was a gold cross that hung from her neck, matching the other small gold accessories she had on her person. She stood very still, except for her hands, which were constantly moving and twitching, her right hand was playing with a ring, spinning it around her ring finger over and over and over. She looked uncomfortable, but almost like she was used to it. It was a discomfort that didn't cause her pain, it was just irritating.
One of the people in the group had reached out and touched her shoulder and Ava felt an unjust flare of something hot in her chest. The handsome woman turned to look at them with a pleasant smile but took a small step away from them as she spoke. Ava felt the urge to rescue her, but Ava didn't know why.
"Stare harder, I'm sure your magic spell will work."
"Jesus fucking Christ!" Ava cursed.
Camila giggled in her special way and handed Ava a short, wide glass of something that looked like water, how boring. "People keep calling me that, although they usually say it when they're about to-"
Ava clasped her hand over Camila's mouth as fast as she could. She did not want to hear any of that. She could tell even with her mouth covered that Camila was smirking at her. She had teased Camila one time about never hooking up with people and now, she was on a mission to tell Ava about all of her exploits.
"If I take my hand away, are you going to continue to be gross?"
Camila gave her a look that could've meant yes or no, but Ava's hand was getting clammy, so she took her hand away, wiping it on a tablecloth nearby. "She's pretty," Camila hummed and Ava felt her cheeks burn.
"I don't know-"
"She's looking at you," Camila said, sipping at her own water.
Ava's head whipped back and she felt all the air return to her lungs. She inhaled deeply as soft brown eyes stared at her, she felt dizzy from the stare. The woman's eyes were gentle and warm while the rest of her face looked cold and aloof, the man to her left was still talking to her, desperately trying to grab her attention, but her eyes stayed firmly on Ava.
Ava didn't know what to do, so she smiled. The shyest and most earnest smile she could muster.
There was a small pause that Ava thought she had gotten it wrong, and she felt herself start to panic. Then, the woman smiled back. Small, barely a quirk of her lips, but it was enough.
Ava nearly died on the spot.
"If I could have everyone's attention!"
The eyes pulled away from Ava and it took Ava a few moments to find herself, she blinked a few times, took a breath, and turned toward the speaker. It was Jillian, she was on the lifted stage at the podium, and she looked confident. Ava had a fleeting thought about who was hotter- Michael or his mother - before refocusing on what Jillian was saying.
"I just wanted to thank everyone for coming to tonight's event," She said. "This city has become my second home, I have made wonderful friends here and created relationships I never dreamed of. I love this city as much as someone can and when the Mayor presented me with an opportunity to work together to raise funds for Harlem, I couldn't say no. My company was built in this city and it is my duty to uplift it and protect it as best I can. I can assure the people of this city that Arq-Tech will dedicate itself to safer operations and company policies going forward."
She looked over to where Mayor Schaefer and Lieutenant Vincent were both standing, she held a hand out to both of them. "I would like to thank our Mayor for all of his help in organizing this event and for taking the safety and rebuilding of Harlem as seriously as he has. Let's all give a hand to our mayor."
Jillian began clapping and her captive audience followed. Mayor Schaefer ate it all up, smiling and waving his hand in thanks before gesturing for Jillian to continue. "And thank you to our fearless Lieutenant Vincent, who was instrumental in organizing the first responders that dealt with the explosion. Lieutenant, I'm so grateful you have allowed the NYPD to partake in the gala and for all the work you have done over the years."
The audience clapped for Vincent and he just nodded his head, not wanting any of the attention on him.
"Now," Jillian continued. "While tonight is a celebration of Arq-Tech and the City's growing relationship and mission to rebuild Harlem, we are also fundraising for the city. It's not cheap to give this city what it needs and with all of your help, we can only continue to grow! So I ask that if you can find it in your hearts to donate, Mayor Schaefer and I would be incredibly grateful. There is no such thing as a small donation!" She smiled and raised her glass of champagne. "And with that, I will leave you all to your evening. Please feel free to mingle, and enjoy the beautiful art and some of the wings that the Met has graciously opened for us!"
Everyone applauded as Jillian descended the stage. People immediately rushed to her, some of them were reporters and others looked like rich socialites that wanted to get some good press with a photo op.
Ava looked back to where the woman was standing and pouted when she saw that she wasn't there. She groaned and Camila laughed lightly at her. "You know you can just look for her. It's not that many people."
"Yeah, but then I'm that weird girl that searched for her, basically hunted her down, just because I thought she was pretty."
"And why is that a bad thing?" Camila asked. "If she smiled back, maybe she wants to be pursued. Sometimes women enjoy the chase."
"And what if she thinks I'm a massive creep?'
"Then she rejects you. You pout about it, we drink terrible tequila and you move on."
Ava let her head fall to the table, moaning in despair. "But I don't want her to reject me. I might actually die if she does."
"God, you find one woman that isn't actively hostile toward you and you become an utter fool."
"I know," Ava whined. "Why do pretty girls have to be my weakness? Why couldn't I just have a normal superhero weakness?"
"God gives his strongest soldiers his toughest battles."
"Cool, except I didn't enlist." Ava turned her face to the side, her cheek resting on the tablecloth, and looked up at Camila, who looked perfectly amused by the whole thing. "She was so pretty, Cam."
"I know, so go find her and see what happens." Camila pat Ava on her other cheek and smiled. "The worst she happen is she rejects you."
Ava was not willing to disclose how long she had spent looking for the girl across the room, she scoured all of the open wings, probably looking like an idiot. She made it back into the Great Hall and went to the small portion of the room that was displaying some of the more popular art from the closed wings.
And there she was. Her back was to Ava, but she knew it was her. She was holding her champagne glass up, her other arm crossed over her chest, tucked under her right elbow. Her posture was amazing and it made Ava stand up a little straighter.
Ava could not fathom how she could stay so still for so long, Ava had only been watching her for a minute or two and she hadn't so much as twitched.
She wasn't going to talk to her, if she was honest, she was a little nervous to do so. It was clear that while she might've been uncomfortable in this setting - she knew it well, which meant she was wealthy. But she could hear Camila's voice in the back of her head - the worst that can happen is she rejects you.
And the best that can happen... well, Ava could fantasize about that later. She took a breath, shook out her hands, and stepped forward until she was parallel with the woman, she gave her some room, a foot or so as she joined in the observation of the large painting.
Ava braved a glance over at the other woman, she was still staring intently at the painting, her brows furrowed and lips slightly pursed. Ava didn't think she had focused on anything that hard in her life, she looked back at the painting and tried to see whatever the other woman saw.
It wasn't that it was a bad painting - Ava didn't really think anything that was hung in a museum could even be classified as bad - but she didn't see anything worth staring at that hard.
"Thoughts?" The woman's voice made Ava flinch.
"Li-like my thoughts? My current ones?"
The woman turned to Ava, her lips pulling into a wry grin and Ava felt her knees buckle. "Preferably."
"Oh, well- it's a bit warm in here and I wish that they would open up the Roman wing because that seems cool and-" The woman was trying to hide a laugh and Ava realized- "Oh, you meant about the painting."
Ava's face had to be bright red by this point.
"Yes, but I do agree." She said, a bit amused. She sipped at her champagne glass and Ava didn't think she had seen anything finer in her life. "I was hoping that would be one of the open wings, it's a shame that it isn't. I was really hoping to get a good look at the sculptures without a crowd." She looked back at the painting and sighed. "I just don't think I'm much of a fan of Abstract Expressionism."
"I don't think I know what that is," Ava admitted and the woman smiled again. Ava really enjoyed making her smile.
"Well, consider yourself lucky."
They reached a lull of silence and Ava was itching to fill it. She tapped her finger against her leg to stop the urge until she couldn't take it anymore and asked, "Is it supposed to look like that?"
The woman didn't seem disturbed by the lack of silence. "Look like what?"
"Like a five-year-old got their hands on some paint and just went ham on it."
The noise that came out of the women was one so gorgeous and melodic that Ava thought that it should be displayed on these walls with the art. The woman lifted her hand to her mouth to cover the laugh, but it had already slipped out. "I think that might be the best description of Abstract work that I've ever heard."
The woman extended her hand to Ava. "Beatrice."
Ava felt like she had won a glorious battle and she tried to not look too eager as she extended her hand. "Ava."
She met her hand and oh, her touch was electric, but also familiar. Ava found it strange and enticing, she released Beatrice's hand - even if she didn't really want to - and they both turned back to the painting, their shoulders brushing up against one another.
"Is this something you do?" Ava asked, gesturing to the art with her water. Beatrice shook her head and took a very generous sip of her champagne, tilting the flute upwards, and extending her neck, and Ava was struck by what a lovely neck it was. She wasn't sure when she started to think necks were lovely, but she did and Beatrice's was the loveliest she had seen.
"No," She let out a heavy sigh, shifting the glass in between her fingers.
"That seemed like too heavy a breath for me not to ask about it." Ava hummed.
Beatrice gave Ava a shy smile. "It's just... complicated."
"Too complicated to share with a stranger?" Ava asked.
Beatrice chewed on the question before answering, "I just- No, I don't do this. Perhaps in another life."
"Why not this one?'
Beatrice stared into her glass, letting out a small breath. "Sometimes we are not always meant to live the life we want."
"Says who?" Ava snorted.
Beatrice looked at her and Ava noted just how... tired her eyes looked. She looked weary, she looked like she carried an impossible weight upon her despite her amazing posture. "Duty." A beat passed. "Honor."
"What's honorable about denying yourself something that you're clearly passionate about?"
Beatrice sighed, but nodded her head, a sad smile on her lips. "That's the question immigrant children have been asking for millennia."
Ava gave her a sympathetic smile. "Where are you from?"
"Originally, London. But I grew up here and in Switzerland. I've been here for the past 5 years."
"I figured you weren't a New Yorker based on the accent," Ava said. "But I'm about as good with European accents as I am with the other US cities."
"That's not surprising considering your horrendous American school system." Beatrice teased, a delightful smirk on the edge of her lips. "But kudos to you for knowing it was a European accent."
Ava knew her cheeks were hot, she didn't know that she was into... whatever had just occurred, but she was tending to learn new things about herself every day. "Hey, you aren't allowed to diss our school system if you're not from here."
"I've been here long enough." Beatrice reasoned with a quirked brow.
"Nope," Ava shook her head. "Only born and raised can comment on it."
"And I assume by your staunch views, you were born and raised in the US?"
"Right here in New York," Ava brimmed with pride. "Just across the bridge in Brooklyn."
"I'm ashamed to admit that I've only been to Brooklyn a handful of times," Beatrice said. "My work is a little restrictive about my whereabouts and I only ever really stay in the city."
"Now, that is a damn shame." She had her feelings about Brooklyn, most of them not positive, but it was still one of the best boroughs in the city. She would fight tooth and nail to say that it deserves to be top two in every ranking of the boroughs and it was criminal for anyone to live in New York as Beatrice had and never visit it.
"I agree," Beatrice said, her fingers fiddled with the ring she had been spinning. She looked down at the champagne glass in her hands before speaking again. "I-uh- I would be honored if you would be my tour guide the next time I'm down there."
Ava kept her face as neutral and calm as possible, just a small hint of a smile slipping out. "I would be happy to."
Ava noticed Beatrice take a breath, her posture relaxing a bit and her hands stilling. They both looked up at the painting and Ava moved just an inch closer until their arms were brushing up against one another. She couldn't stop her smile from growing when Beatrice didn't pull away but instead leaned in.
Talking to Beatrice was one of the easiest things Ava's ever done in her life.
She found out that Beatrice had gone to college (she called it university, which Ava teased her about) for Art History and Library Sciences, which was how she knew so much about the Jackson Pollock painting they had been staring at.
"It's not seriously called that," Ava said. They had moved a short distance away from the painting to one of the tables. They were both leaning in close to one another, talking so close, their arms occasionally brushing up against one another.
"Oh yeah, Pollock thought that naming his work would distract viewers from the true meaning of his work," Beatrice explained. Her eyes lit up when she spoke, her hands moving with animated gestures and Ava devoured all of it. She listened more intently than she ever had, allowing herself to be still and quiet so she didn't miss anything Beatrice said. "Then for whatever reason, when it was being shown at a gallery, he changed it to Autumn Rhythm. He's never said why he changed it, but most people still know it by Number 30."
"What a weird dude," Ava said, not sure she could add anything to the conversation.
"Very weird indeed."
"So we've established you aren't a fan of Abstract or Jackson Pollock. Do you have a favorite artist? Or art style?" Ava asked. Her elbow was propped up on the table and her head was resting in her hand as she stared up at Beatrice.
"I wouldn't say it's an art style, but I really enjoy the Romanticism era and on occasion, I can find the beauty in Renaissance work."
Ava gave her a helpless stare and Beatrice continued. "The Romanticism era was kind of all about evoking emotion - whether it was fear, sorrow, awe - the goal was to make the viewer feel something intense. I think that Romanticism targets exactly what art should do, it should make people feel something."
"Like movies?" Ava asked and Beatrice nodded. "See, I get that."
"Get what?" Beatrice asked.
"Movies should make people feel things. Like if it's done well, it should get a reaction out of people. I just don't understand how a painting can do the same thing. It's just a picture. At least with a movie, I'm seeing people act out painful emotions and say moving dialogue."
Beatrice considered this, tilting her head back and forth. "Isn't a movie just a moving picture? A moving painting if you will?"
"I..." Ava had never really thought about it like that.
"Think of a painting as a snapshot of a movie. A paused screen at a pivotal and emotional scene of the story. Just because you've paused it, does it take away the emotion you should feel? The more you stare at the still screen, does your feeling grow or wither?"
Ava's brows came together as she thought before she eventually let her head fall off her head, hitting the table with a gentle thump. She let out a groan, it was muffled by the tablecloth, but Beatrice heard her as she let out a small laugh. "You're making me rethink too many things."
"I would apologize if I actually meant it."
Ava lifted her head back up and found Beatrice staring off at something, she was not nearly as stiff as she had been when the night had begun. Her shoulders were slightly slumped forward, her chin dipped down, and her whole body just looked so relaxed.
"Beatrice, you clearly love this work. Why not just say screw your job and be an Art History person?" Ava didn't know the correct term for what she was thinking of, but Beatrice seemed to understand what she meant.
"Because it's not where I'm meant to be. Not everyone can do the thing they really want to and that's okay. I've accepted that I'll continue my soulless career and enjoy art from afar." She said, "If this is the worst thing I have to deal with in my life, I think I'll be okay."
"Not to shit on your morals and values, but how can you not even give yourself the chance to experience something good? Something that could maybe make you happy?"
Beatrice just shrugged, she ran her fingers up and down the stem of her glass. "A product of how I was raised." She suggested, she paused, her fingers stilling. "Maybe to give my next life the best chance at happiness."
"Your next life?" Ava asked.
Beatrice looked up, she seemed to come out of a daze, maybe surprising herself with what slipped out of her mouth. Her eyes settled on Ava and she watched her readjust and soften, her voice going a little lighter. "My grandmother used to tell me that people that experience the worst hardships in their current life will experience the greatest joys in their next one," Beatrice hummed, her finger circling the rim of her empty champagne glass. So sometimes during hard times, I imagine my next life where I'm happy and doing the things I wish I could do in this one."
"Like reincarnation?" Ava asked and Beatrice hummed affirmatively. "Is it comforting?"
"Most times, it's probably an unhealthy coping mechanism. But it's nice to dream about."
"Maybe you should stop dreaming about it in your next life and start living it in this one."
Beatrice smiled at her and Ava felt her entire head spin. She looked out at the open space in front of them, they were tucked away in a more private part of the hall. The orchestra players had come out and were playing a gentle tune, one with a light melody and a harmonic bass to match it.
"Do you dance, Beatrice?" Ava asked.
"Do I dance?" She repeated, accentuating the middle vowel.
"Yeah, you know-" Ava began to do probably the worst robot in the world, but the grin that appeared on Beatrice's face made it completely worth it. "Do you know how to shake a leg?"
"Is that some sort of New York vernacular that I should be aware of?"
"Probably not, but it's a fun thing to say." Ava held her hand out to the other girl. Hesitation was written clearly across Beatrice's face, her eyes jumping from Ava's hand and then up to her face. Ava gave her an encouraging smile and perhaps that was enough as Beatrice took Ava's hand.
Her fingers were cold in Ava's and they were wonderfully soft. Ava was trying to keep her grinning to a minimum, but she couldn't help it. She began to walk Beatrice toward the open floor when somebody stepped directly into their path.
Silver Sable! Ava's mind screamed at her. She schooled her features to keep the surprise to a minimum, she had never met this person as far as Sable was aware. "Sorry, excuse us," Ava said, trying to step around her, but Sable moved right in front of them.
"I turn around for one minute and my date gets stolen right out from under me," She said and Ava felt her stomach drop. Her head whipped to Beatrice, who - to Ava's horror - looked very tense. "Beatrice, I've been trying to get you to dance with me for years."
"Lilith-" Beatrice said with a warning growl. Ava couldn't figure out what to feel - a little turned on by the tone of Beatrice's voice or the fact that Beatrice was familiar enough with Sable to use her first name.
"What? You can't expect me to not take it as a slap in the face that you let some-" Lilith gave Ava a glance over, a smirk on her lips. "Under the bridge trash dance with you when I've been trying since boarding school."
Ava's free hand balled into a fist. "Sounds more like jealousy to me."
Lilith scoffed. "What do I have to be jealous about?" She reached out and touched the strap of her dress before taking her hand back. "Off the rack, right?"
Ava would've throttled her right then, in fact, she made a step forward to do just that, but Beatrice tugged her back by her hand. She stepped in between Ava and Lilith, glaring at the latter. "Now is not the time."
"We need to talk," She looked past Beatrice at Ava. "Without the little street rat."
"I swear I will fuck you u-" Ava seethed before Beatrice stepped into her vision, squeezing her hand gently, placating her. Ava could still feel the heat radiating off of her, but with Beatrice being all she could see, she felt it start to dwindle.
"I need to talk to her, I'm sorry," Beatrice said, sounding genuinely apologetic. "I'll have to rain check on our dance, but meet me in the Greek and Roman Art wing in 15 minutes, okay?" She gave Ava's hand a last squeeze before letting it go.
She turned to Lilith, grabbing her roughly by the bicep and yanking her away. She watched her disappear into the crowd and with a pout, returned back to her table, picking up her glass of water and finishing it off.
With everything that Ava knew about Beatrice, it made no sense to her that she would know Silver Sable as well as she seemed to. Beatrice was kind, honest, intelligent, she had a strong sense of morals, she looked beautiful in navy, her hair smelled a little bit like jasmine-
"Scare her away so soon?"
Camila appeared by Ava's side, interrupting her spiral of thoughts - although she would be coming back to one about the jasmine scent at a later time. Ava groaned in response and Camila patted her on the back.
"Not all of us can get lucky," Camila said. "She looked like she was interested though. So what did you do?"
"I didn't do anything. Silver Sable stole her away."
"Sable's here?"
"Apparently, Beatrice is her date," Ava huffed, letting her head fall into her hand.
"Well, then maybe it's not to be," Camila said. "I don't know if you should trust someone that would willingly go as Lilith Sablinova's date. I mean, she's hot, so I understand that." She seemed to reconsider some things. "Hot women doing bad... hmm."
"Cam."
"What? I support women's rights. Am I not allowed to occasionally support women's wrongs? Especially hot women's wrongs?"
"Ignoring the fact that she blew me up two weeks ago. She just called your best friend a street rat."
That seemed to shake Camila out of her horny spell and she looked ready to throw down with Lilith just as Ava had.
"Code Spider!" Shannon's voice rang clear in Ava's ear. She looked to Camila, who seemed to get the same message.
"I thought we were calling it Code Red," Ava asked Camila, who just shrugged. "Shannon, what's wrong?"
"We've got confirmed reports of Cardinal infiltration and- Oh shit!" The comms was cut off by what sounded like gunfire and it made both girls jump. They looked at each other and decided it was time.
"Go through the Medieval Arts and then the American Wing. Take the stairwell to the left all the way down." Camila instructed. Ava nodded and was on the move, carefully weaving in and out of the crowd, trying not to look too obvious.
"Code Spider! Code Spider!" Mary's frantic voice sounded in her ear. Ava finally found the door leading to the stairwell and slipped inside. She looked over the edge and when she saw it was clear, she hopped the railing, she shot out a web just before she hit the floor. She landed in a low pose as she looked for the custodial closet that Camila had told her about. She found it and slipped inside, she searched through the various storage boxes until she found a briefcase with the OCS symbol.
She pulled out the case, put in the code, and flipped open the latches, her mask staring up at her. She quickly slipped out of her dress and tugged on her tight suit just as she heard Mary's voice come over the comms again. "Spider-Man, status?"
"Coming!" She slipped her mask on and tucked the case back into the place Camila had left it, sprinting out of the custodial closet. She pointed her hand up at the ceiling, her webshooters activating and yanking her up the stairwell at a crazy speed. She leaped onto the side of a small column on the balcony of the Great Hall, she could see some of the OCS members moving about the room, barking orders at the attendees. She was only gone for a few minutes, but the OCS moved quickly. "What's the plan?"
"We need to clear everyone from the Museum."
"Mary, that's like 600 people. That could take too long."
"Then we better work fast. OCS is covering the Great hall, you get any stragglers. We need everyone out in the next five minutes, I don't think the NYPD can hold the Cardinals for long."
Ava sighed, she pointed at one of the arched walls and thwipped around the Museum, calling out to anyone that might be hiding - or doing other things - in the closed-off wings and private galleries. She had found a few and alerted them that they needed to exit calmly and quietly. She reached the last wing, Greek and Roman Art, and found only one person there, deep in thought, staring at some sort of statue, their head gently tilted to one side as they inspected the creation in front of them.
"Be-" Ava coughed. "Ma'am!"
Beatrice turned to her, there was an easy sway to her movements that made Ava wonder how many glasses of champagne she had that night. She held another champagne glass, still full, and a glass of water, untouched. Her eyes were a little unfocused, but when she saw who she was talking to, something in her seemed to straighten up, her posture getting a little stiffer. "Sp-Spider-Man. I didn't think you'd be in attendance tonight."
"I'm not, I'm here to clear out the building."
Beatrice looked confused. "Clear out the building? What's going on?"
"I-" Ava was cut off by a small tickle at the back of her head. Spidey-Senses. Ava looked around, but she didn't see anything. Nobody had come down to this part of the gallery.
"Spider-Man?" Beatrice's gentle voice called her back. Her brows were furrowed together in concern. "What's going on?"
"We-" There was the tingle again, but it felt like it vibrated through her skull now instead of the gentle tickle she usually got. This had to be bad. She turned, putting a hand out, guarding Beatrice. She didn't know what was going on, but she would be damned if she let Beatrice get hurt.
Then she saw a flashing red light, it was small, barely noticeable, but there it was between the podium and the statue that Beatrice had been looking at.
"Fuck," She cursed, she moved quickly with one arm slipping around Beatrice's waist, tugging her close. Ava could not think about the small noise that left Beatrice's lips when she touched her or the earth-shattering feeling of her pressed against Beatrice, she had a job to do.
"Hang on to me," Ava ordered, trying to sound put together and in charge, and Beatrice complied. She dropped both glasses and put one arm around Ava's neck and the other resting on her shoulder, fingers digging into the fabric of her suit. She slid in close to Ava's body and Ava was doing everything in her power to not inhale Beatrice's intoxicating scent because it would be weird for the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man to sniff someone.
Ava gritted her teeth as she flung her free hand out, webbing shooting to the ceiling as she swung them away just as a small explosion went off behind them. Beatrice's grip went a little tighter around Ava as their bodies swung wildly from the power of the blast.
"Did I just hear an explosion?" Camila's voice rang clear in her ear.
"Small one just went off in the Greek and Roman Wing," Ava answered, trying to keep her eyes forward. Beatrice was making it particularly difficult as she had tucked herself into Ava's neck, her fingers digging into the fabric of her suit and her breaths were coming out in sharp exhales. It was driving Ava's mind to very dangerous places.
"What's your status on evacuation?" Mary asked, Ava could hear gunfire over the comms.
"Escorting the last civilian to the steps. You?"
"We're pinned down pretty bad in the Medieval Art area. They're decimating everything."
"Okay, I'll be there soon." Ava yanked harder on her web, pulling herself toward the balcony, she kicked open the door to the outdoor overlook and swung herself and Beatrice down to the lower levels.
They reached the steps outside of the Museum where a collection of first responders had gathered, they were taking in civilians, triaging them before moving on to the new people being escorted to them.
"Spider-Man, we need help! Now!" Shannon called out to her.
"I'm coming!" She shouted as she landed on the steps, both of their feet gently touching down on the stone. Beatrice didn't let go of Ava immediately, still clinging tightly to her for just a second longer than she needed to.
Not that Ava was complaining.
"You'll be alright, ma'am," Ava said in her gruffest tone. "There are EMTs here to help if you've been hurt and-
"Wait, there's- there's a girl in there- Ava," Beatrice said, looking panicked, her eyes jumping between Ava's face and the Museum. "You need to go back in there and get her." She tried to side-step around Ava, but she was a lot faster and placed firm hands on her shoulders, forcing her to relax and sit on the steps. "You can't leave her there-"
"Hey, hey relax!"
"I was supposed to meet her in the Greek Wing and -" Beatrice took in a shuddering breath, running her hand through her hair. "If Lilith wouldn't have interrupted me, I could've - I have to go in and get her!"
Ava really wished that Beatrice would've finished her thought. What would Beatrice have done if Lilith hadn't interrupted? She had a few ideas of what she wanted to do. "Yeah, you're definitely not going back in there."
"I can't just leave her in there!" Beatrice yelled with such intensity that it made Ava flinch.
"I'm not going to leave her!" Ava said, trying to calm her down and ignore the fact that Beatrice was willing to run back into a very dangerous situation to save her, despite only meeting her tonight. She was willing to completely disregard her own safety just to make sure that Ava was alright. "I- I'm not going to leave anyone in there, ma'am. Don't worry. But I need you to stay here until the first responders arrive and promise me that you will not go anywhere near that building."
"I-" Beatrice stuttered, looking back to the museum and then back to Ava, her eyes blown wide.
"Promise me!" Ava said. She couldn't go help civilians if she had to be worried about Beatrice.
"Okay, I promise," Beatrice finally said, deflating a little and relaxing on the steps. An EMT approached Beatrice, offering his hand, and nodding at Ava. She waited until she saw Beatrice reach the waiting ambulance before turning back to the museum and swinging back into the action.
The noise and chaos grew as she got closer to the Medieval Wing, she worked as fast as she could, opting to web up and render the Cardinal thugs useless instead of fighting them. She could feel herself starting to tire as she yanked and hung thugs from the ceiling, cocooning them or sticking them to walls. She checked her webbing supply, it was lower than it had been in a while, but she had at least four extra tanks on reserve.
She should be okay for now, she webbed up another set of thugs before making it into the Medieval wing where she found Mary, Shannon, a few other OCS members, and some NYPD cops tucked down behind debris for cover.
"You guys doing alright?" Ava asked, getting their attention.
"Good of you to finally show," Mary grumbled.
"Hey, I was back there, cleaning up your mess."
"It's not my mess and you should've been here sooner. We wouldn't have gotten pinned-"
"Maybe you should've done your whole security job better-"
"Enough," Shannon hissed, silencing them. "We don't have time to argue about silly things like this. Spider-Man, we need you to take out the shooters laying down heavy fire. Until you do, we're severely pinned down and we can't make any move to stop these guys."
Ava would've stuck her tongue out if her mask allowed her to, so instead, she shot a glob of webbing at Mary's hand, sticking her to the debris. "Have fun getting out of that!" She yelled as she zipped to the ceiling to get behind the Cardinal thugs. She saw two of them, lasers trained on the debris where the others were hiding, waiting for any sign of movement.
She quietly dropped behind one of them, she shot webbing at the rifle, keeping it steady and trained where it was before slamming the thug's head against the stone railing of the balcony. She swung to the other side and did the same to his partner. She waited just another moment, seeing if anybody had seen her, she watched as the Cardinal thugs below looked undisturbed and continued to patrol around the open area.
"Shannon, go!" Ava said and a moment later, bodies leaped over the fallen debris and attacked the waiting Cardinals.
She landed on the floor in the midst of the chaos and did her part, taking out as many of the thugs as she could.
"You're a real dick, you know that," Mary said at one point. She let out a yell as she slammed the butt of her weapon into the back of a thug's head. "You're lucky that Shan knows how to get out of that stuff."
"Why do you think I did it, asshole?" Ava called back. "How did they even get in here? I thought you guys were running point on security."
"We were."
"Well, good job, sis. You only let about 40 armed mafia thugs into the event."
"First of all, lay off," Mary growled, she fired off two rounds that caught one guy straight in the chest, and he let out a pained yelp as he crumpled to the floor. "Second of all, they smuggled themselves inside, we handled front security and the Great Hall. NYPD was supposed to handle everything else. We think they hid all of their explosives and weapons in the museum before the gala."
"What the hell do they want? Destroying the Museum? What do they gain from it?" Ava asked.
"Don't know. More fighting, less talking." Mary said peeling away from Ava and going to help Shannon.
Ava did as Mary instructed and pulled off a thug that had an officer pinned to the floor. "Listen, I like the cops as much as you do, but let's play nice now." She clocked him twice across the chin before delivering a jumping spin kick to his temple. She landed on the ball of her feet and helped the officer back up, patting him on the back and sending him back into the fight.
She felt the back of her neck tingle and she turned around just in time to dodge a knife to the back. The thug was making a weird noise though, he was all tense and stiff, which was odd.
"Careful now, Spider."
The man slumped to the floor and Black Cat appeared behind him, Ava could not help the grin that crawled onto her lips.
"What are you doing here?"
"Heard you could use some help, darling," Black Cat purred, she placed her hands on Ava's shoulder and used them to lift herself up and catapult herself toward another one. She struck them across the temple with her elbow, ducked under the swing of another, and delivered an impressive sidekick to his chin that actually lifted him a few feet up in the air.
She spun around to Ava, and Ava found that she missed her acrobatic flair. "Well, it's good to see you, little meow meow."
Black Cat's face morphed into disgust, a horrible expression on an otherwise handsome face. "Please never say that to me again."
Ava grinned, striding over to Black Cat like a mischievous child. "You have a cute little nickname for me. Why can't I have one for you?"
The look of small panic that passed Black Cat's face made up for the fact that she hadn't seen her in a while. "I do not have a cute nickname for you."
"Okay, darling. Whatever you say." Ava teased, dropping into a terrible English accent. She shot a glob of webbing over Black Cat's shoulder, sticking a Cardinal thug to a column, they pulled and yanked at the material to get themselves free. Black Cat finished them off with a clean punch against the jaw. "You've been avoiding me."
"Someone is full of themselves," Black Cat hummed as they both turned, pressing their back to each other and surveying the men surrounding them. "Just because I leave crime scenes before you can get there doesn't mean I'm avoiding you. Maybe you should get better at the whole Superhero thing."
Black Cat cracked an elbow across one thug and slammed her heel into their knee, hyperextending it backward and quite possibly breaking it while Ava took out two more, webbing them around their heads and slamming them together.
"You don't even steal anything, you just go in there to make a scene. Makes for a pretty shit burglar." Ava popped another in the chest so hard, they flew backward several feet.
"Maybe I'm just so good you don't know I've stolen anything." Beatrice delivered several striking kicks that would leave the other person with some massive welts.
"Maybe you're just breaking into places to get my attention." They both finished off the last person in their general area.
"Maybe I am."
They both turned to each other, their faces close and their chests heaving. Ava looked down at Black Cat's lips, she had been wearing lipstick, but she had either wiped it off or forgotten to reapply it. Her cheeks were more flushed than usual, a delicate sheen of sweat beginning to appear on her skin, and small pants coming from her mouth. She could just barely make out Black Cat's eyes from behind the dark lenses of her mask, her pupils were blown wide and she was staring at Ava's mouth - or at least, where her mouth would be if her mask weren't in the way.
Ava wasn't sure if it was the events from the gala or the fact that Black Cat had never looked at her the way she was looking at her now, but Ava wanted to kiss her senseless. She wanted to kiss her until she forgot her own name. She wanted to steal her breath and hear Black Cat gasp for air. She wanted to feel her claws run up and down her back, marking Ava with red scratches. Ava wanted to knot that silver-white hair up in her fist, tugging it gently to see what noise she could pull out of Black Cat. She wanted to know what other noises Black Cat would make.
Oh, good lord, she was taking the coldest shower known to man when she got home.
"Is everyone good?" Mary said, breaking whatever was between Black Cat and Ava, who quickly shifted away from one another. Ava could hear her blood pumping in her ears. She looked around and saw that they had come out as the victors of this battle.
Shouts of confirmation came from everywhere in the room. NYPD and OCS members began rounding up the unconscious or immobilized Cardinal thugs, cuffing as many as they could and escorting them out of the room.
Shannon and Mary came up to Ava and Black Cat. Shannon gave Black Cat a full look before looking to Mary, who was still looking at Black Cat through narrowed eyes. "You on our side today?"
Black Cat shrugged. "For now. As it stands, your interest currently aligns with mine."
Mary looked at Ava. "You trust her to help us?"
"Yes, I do," Ava said without thinking twice. Mary considered this and huffed.
"That was too easy," Shannon hummed, looking around at the destruction. The press was going to have a field day with this one. "They kept us pinned down for so long and then basically retreated or just gave up altogether."
"One of them literally ran away from me when I got in front of them," Ava said. She thought she had a scary presence, but Shannon's reasoning was more sound. She was right, they had gone through a whole debacle smuggling their people inside the event, wrecking the whole place, causing chaos and commotion, only to give up after 20 minutes into the attack. That was strange, to say the least.
Or was it exactly as they had planned? Ava thought for a moment before she was struck by a thought. "Has anyone seen Jillian? Was she evacuated and escorted to a safe point?"
They all looked to Mary and Shannon, who looked at each other. The look they exchanged did not give Ava the answer she was looking for, she pointed her hand to the sky, her webbing flying out and she zipped to the ceiling. She climbed until she reached the skylight, she punched through the glass, deciding that the Museum would already be paying for enormous repairs and they could add another pane of glass to the list. She stuck her head out the window and felt her stomach drop.
"Spider-Man, what's going on?" Mary called as Ava pulled herself up and onto the roof.
"I thought you guys were Italian, what's with the Irish goodbye?" She didn't have any time to waste, she sprinted forward, shooting out webs at the landing skids, sticking them to the landing pad.
"Boss, it's Spider-Man!" One of the Cardinal thugs called out. Ava looked to where he had shouted and saw a man in black clothing with red accents step out of the helicopter. This was the man in charge, the Pope. He glared at her from behind his eyebrows and held up a hand, stopping his men from attacking. Behind him, Ava could see three seated figures with hoods thrown over their heads and hands bound together in front of them. One of them was wearing the beige suit that Jillian had been wearing earlier.
"There has to be something in the Bible that tells you kidnapping is wrong," Ava said, almost shouting over the helicopter blade. "Thou shall not steal people?"
"You are infringing on things you do not understand, Spider-Man." The Pope warned.
"You're infringing on basic human rights."
"The lives of these people will serve the greater good, you will see that in the coming days."
"How ominous," Ava said, "How about you return the people you took and I give you some in-store credit?"
"You are a petulant child."
"Woah, Woah, there's no need to sling insults," Ava said, thwipping out a glob of web so quickly that the Pope had no time to react. His hand was stuck to the hull of the helicopter, so if he tried to go anywhere, he would have to ride outside the vehicle.
"Take him down!" The Pope bellowed and his men sprung into action. There weren't many places that Ava could escape to get to higher ground on them, which meant she was working on her ground game. She managed to execute some pretty nasty combos that even Mary would be impressed with, knocking two thugs out cold before the mere numbers crashing on her got the best of her.
She caught a fist across the face and felt something slash at her stomach. She pressed her hand to her stomach and was met with the wet and warm feeling of her blood. "Hey, not fair. I didn't know we could bring weapons to this fight."
The thug with the knife smirked at her, flipping it and hunching into an offensive stance. Ava rolled her eyes, spun and kicked his wrist, making him drop his knife. She jabbed him straight in the face, his head bucked back hard and he fell to the floor. "Good thing, my whole body is a weapon."
"God, your self-confidence knows no bounds," Mary grumbled behind her. Ava turned to find the group she had left behind had figured out where she was and were making their way up through the roof access.
"Finally figured it out, huh?" Ava said, tossing a thug that came charging at her. He flipped onto the floor and Mary struck him across the face.
"It would've been nice if we got a heads up." Black Cat said, joining the fight with Shannon coming up just behind her.
"Yeah, but what's the fun in that?"
Black Cat rolled her eyes and dodged an attack from a rather sharp-looking machete. She disarmed the man holding it, caught his wrist in an awkward hold, and forced him to the floor. She kneed him in the temple and he dropped to the floor without much of a fight.
There were only a few thugs left and the Pope was still stuck to the side of the helicopter, she would still be able to question him when this was all taken care of.
The last thug was in front of Ava, he was still fighting valiantly, although Ava was mostly just dodging his attacks. She didn't want to have to hurt him if she didn't have to and was just about to web him up when she felt a tickle at the back of her neck. She turned to see a thug that had been hidden behind the helicopter, coming out from his hiding spot, his gun pointed at the back of Mary's head. How had she missed him? She dropped the man in her grasp and moved to get to Mary, but she was too late.
"Mary!" Ava cried out, but there was someone that was already there, they had caught the thug by the wrist, forcing the gun toward the sky and away from Mary's head. Lilith shifted her hold until he dropped the gun and punched him with her free hand, dropping him as he went unconscious.
"You should be more aware of your surroundings." She said to Mary, who pointed the barrel of her shotgun at her in response.
"You want me to shoot you?" Mary asked and Lilith just shrugged, which just seemed to piss Mary off further.
"Sable, what the hell are you doing here?" Ava called out, while Shannon reached out and stopped Mary.
"Protecting something I have a personal vested interest in," Lilith responded. "Duck." She said before chucking a knife past Ava and catching the man in the throat. The results were immediate, blood poured out of his neck and bubbled from his mouth. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as he fell to the floor.
"The hostages are off the helicopter," Lilith said, nodding over to where the 3 former hostages were sitting. They had taken their hoods off and were trying to figure out how to get out of the handcuffs. Jillian and the Mayor looked particularly shaken while Lieutenant Vincent just looked like he wanted to get off the roof.
"When did you-"
"When you were too busy playing hero," She answered. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have other places to be."
"Hell no-" Mary said, grabbing Lilith by the wrist.
"I just saved your life," Lilith said, looking down at Mary's hand and then back up to her face. "I suggest you take your hands off of me."
"And I suggest you shut the fuck up." Mary hissed.
"Mary, now is not the time-" Shannon said, trying to calm down her girlfriend.
Ava felt a tingle in the back of her head and she turned to see the Pope slipping into the cockpit of the helicopter, barking at the pilot to get the thing in the air. He was going to escape and Ava wasn't going to figure out why he staged the attack on the museum. She needed to know, she needed to know how all of this connected.
The helicopter blades began to whirl loudly, spinning faster and faster before they started to hover off the floor. Ava had a split second to decide, she looked back at Mary and Shannon, who were still arguing over what to do with Lilith. She looked at Jillian, who looked frightened and seemed to need comforting, and then back at the helicopter.
"Oh, this is so stupid," She said before breaking out into a full sprint to the edge of the roof and jumping, shooting out a web, sticking to the bottom of the helicopter. She felt something tug at her foot and she looked down to find- "Black Cat?! What the hell are you doing?"
Black Cat had a hold of Ava's ankle, her fingers locked in a death grip. "Making sure you don't get yourself killed. Now pull me up, I am not riding like this the whole time."