Justice; Retribution (Part one)
Summary: Amara May Parker has been The New York Spider for 11 years, swinging, inconveniencing publishers, and fighting crime- with the occasional world saving. But then Tony died, and shortly after, so did Aunt May, and then she's packing up her things to move to Gotham to be closer to the only family she has left. She's so very tired and so ready to retire the suit to work a normal job. Then she meets Damian Wayne, some dominos don't fall the way they're supposed to, and now she's scrambling to pick up the pieces of the normalcy she's incapable at keeping.
Content Warnings: Violence, swearing, angst, lots of talk about morality and death
I’m sure you’ve seen a few of these before.
My name is Amara Elizabeth Parker and when I was 16, I was bitten by a radioactive spider. A few days later my brother, Ben, died. And then I became the one and only Spider.
And now, 11 years later exactly, I was leaving it all behind.
“If we get out of this, I’m paying for your college tuition.”
“Tony,” I exclaimed, waving my hands frantically. “I’m not going back to-”
He looked over his shoulder at me and mimed a zipper over his lips. “Promise me you’ll go back.”
I rolled the tassels that came with the cap, through my fingers over and over again. The neon lights that came with New York city shined on my face from up high in one of the Stark Industries buildings. I leaned back in the loveseat and ignored the tight feeling in my chest that was in cahoots with the stinging in my eyes.
The sense feels like a warbly feeling behind my skull. Sometimes it's like an irresistible urge to move or jump, sometimes it's an ache to tell me someone is dangerous, or an itch to tell me to be wary. But it's almost like a voice or a consciousness.
“Hey, kiddo,” Pepper said, walking over to me and carefully sitting beside me. “How’s it going?”
I manually pulled a smile onto my lips and shrugged. “Oh you know, I graduated, I guess?” I chuckled and halfheartedly showed her the cap.
She mimicked my forced laugh and brushed a piece of hair off of my face. “He’d be so proud of you.”
“I hope so,” I whispered with a smaller smile. “He’s paying for it.”
“Sure,” She gently took both my hands and squeezed them. “But you earned it.”
I inhaled deeply and smiled thinly. “Where’s Morgan?”
“Down with Happy, still crying after the goodbye” She told me, watching me stand and carefully shuck off my gown. “Where to?”
“Not sure,” I shrugged and looked over the night sky. “One more patrol, I suppose.”
She nodded and shakily inhaled, hugging herself slightly. “He loved you– We love you so much, Amara.”
I took two steps and hugged her tight, which she eagerly returned. “I know, Pep. I just…need this for myself.”
“Okay,” She held me at arm's length and stared deep into my eyes. “--Okay, please be safe.”
Some 10 minutes later, I looked over New York with my mask in my hands. I sank my head as far back into my shoulders as I could and curled up in the “O” of some random office building.
And then I screamed into the howling winds until my throat ran raw.
“I seriously can’t believe you’re going down to Jersey in that bike,” Bucky shook his head at me, letting his disapproval be known for the millionth time, Sam harshly elbowed him and scowled. I rolled my eyes and knelt on the side of my bike, checking every bolt and pipe.
“Unlike our grumpy fossil,” Sam started, ignoring the glare from Bucky, I snorted and stood to look at them both with my arms crossed. “I am proud that you are following your dreams.”
Bucky held up a finger to Sam’s face and gaped a few times. “I am very proud of her!”
I rocked on my heels and lifted my backpack to my back. “Sure you are, Buck.”
“No! No, I am very proud of you, Amara, for pursuing your dream of being a teacher,” He paused and whispered to Sam, Sam whispered back. “-for middle schoolers.”
I nodded with squinted eyes and tightly pressed together lips. “It’s okay if you’re worried.”
“He’s not worried,” Sam shook his head. “He’d have to have a heart for that.”
We both giggled like school children as Bucky groaned.
“Amara, I’m not worried, I just think Steve would kill the both of us if he knew what you were doing.”
I sputtered and laughed. “Are you threatening to tell Steve that I’m moving?”
He ignored me. “I think you would give the old man a heart attack if he knew-”
Sam barked out a laugh and looked at me incredulously. “You hearing this?”
My jaw had dropped and I scoffed. “Dude!”
“I’m kidding, Steve would smack me and say you’re following your heart or something,” He shrugged and I lightly punched him in the shoulder.
We all grinned at each other before realizing that this was delaying the inevitable.
I stepped back and cleared my throat. “Hug for the road?”
They both took turns pulling me into bear hugs and then finally stepped back.
“Call us every hour,” Sam said seriously. “And if any of those kids give you shit-”
“Give ‘em shit right back,” Bucky finished, grabbing Sam’s arm and walking back to the sidewalk.
I smiled crookedly and saluted as my bike roared to life, they watched me with varying degrees of pride and fondness.
“Every hour!” Bucky shouted, making Sam howl with laughter.
I laughed as well and whipped out of the parking lot and into the road.
I ended up calling and texting the group chat every other hour, which was hesitantly acceptable with the two of them. And I called my uncle once after leaving New York.
“Hey what’s up, kiddo?” He shouted into the phone. “Pulling up now?”
I laughed and held the gas nozzle to my bike. “Nah, still got some 3 hours left, but I’m running a little late and wanted to double check that I’m showing up to the restaurant and not your house.”
“Yup,” he confirmed. “We’ll have dinner waiting for ya.”
“Thanks, Raff,” I hung up and continued with a sigh.
I pulled up on the street and frowned.
I’ve been in a few different cities in a few different countries, but never have I seen a place so…gross. I looked down at my feet and toed a beer can with my boot.
I looked at my phone, 9pm, I sighed and pocketed my keys.
‘Raff’s Home’ the massive sign overhead read.
I snorted and opened up the door, a bell chimed and a teenage girl not looking up as I approached.
“Hey, welcome to Raff’s,” She mused, flicking a post-it note on the register.
“Hey, uh,” I rocked on my heels and grinned wryly. “Maggie, at least look up at me.”
My cousin glanced up once then snapped her head up to look at me. “Amara!” She sprinted around the counter and threw her arms around my midsection. I squeezed her and rocked us back and forth as she laughed.
The door to the kitchen flew open and Raff smiled at us, I heard him snort and looked up at him. “Get over here, Tio.”
Maggie stepped back and Raff looked me up and down. “Look at you, Amara. Christ, I blink and you’re almost taller than me.”
He grips my shoulder firmly and tugs me into a hug.
Tasha comes out soon after with a plate and drops it over to a table before hugging me quickly. “Nice to see you again.”
“You too,” I beamed, giving her a smile and watching her visibly relax.
Raff grabs my shoulder and brings me behind the counter. “Come eat! We’ve got everything you could want.”
As he continues to ramble on, Tasha nudges me and rolled her eyes before walking back into the kitchen to answer a phone. Maggie watches us and pitches into the conversation when she feels like it. Once my uncle was finally done, I settled beside Maggie and we talked in between customers.
“I don’t understand,” She shakes her head. “I mean I knew the relationship was going downhill but I thought he’d have the balls to break up with me before cheating.”
I lick the hot sauce off of my pointer finger and snort. “Girl, guys like that don’t have balls at all, they’re allllll dick and douchebag.”
“Thanks for coming!” She shouted to a couple leaving the restaurant.
Tasha and Raff walk out and hang up their aprons. “Alright, let's rap up and we’ll take Amara to the house.”
“Sit your ass down, Amara Parker,” Raff shouted, walking into the kitchen with a towel over his shoulder.
I snorted and settled by the counter until the three of them were done.
“Be careful with that shiny bike you got out there,” he called to me, as they walked over to a car. “People don’t mess with the taco guy’s car cuz we’re the cheapest food that delivers, but I can’t vouch for you.”
I flipped my keys a few times and nodded. “I’ll figure something out,” I said with a mischievous grin.
He cocked a brow but got into his car and led me to their house.
“Booze?” Raff asked quietly as we sat down on the couch, Tasha quietly said something to Maggie that I didn’t bother to listen in on and they walked into the hall.
I shrugged. “Sure,” not like I can get drunk anyway, faster metabolism and all.
He poured two glasses of whiskey and handed one off to me. “So the drive was good?”
“Fantastic,” I nodded, sipping on the alcohol. “Clear skies the whole way.”
“Good, good,” he tapped on the side of the glass and cleared his throat.
I wished he’d just say it already.
“May and I didn’t get along towards the end of our relationship, I won’t lie,” He said quietly. “But I’m so, so sorry she’s gone.”
I took another sip. “Yeah, me too.”
Raff inhaled deeply. “Retirement treating you well?”
I snorted. “I haven’t had to talk to a cop in a month, I feel so liberated.”
“Did the news ever get to find out their beloved hero was gone?”
“Nope,” I popped my lips. “No, some of the others are going to give it a while before saying anything publically.”
He watched me. “That’s it?”
The silence wasn’t uncomfortable but I didn’t like it either.
“You and your brother are very similar,” He tilted his head and carded a hand down his beard. “In that, neither of you know when you’re really done.”
I hummed and started bouncing my knee. “Ben owned the bank thousands of dollars and died high as a kite. I saved New York more times than I can count. Him and I were very different.”
He held his hands up and stood. “Okay.”
After a moment, I called over my shoulder. “Raff,” I winced, he looked over his shoulder and raised a brow. “Do you think I’m doing the right thing?”
“I think,” he said slowly, finding the right words. “I think that you will do whatever is necessary for what you think is right; whether or not I like my niece putting her life at risk for people who don’t give a damn. But…what you think is right is pretty damn noble for a girl from downtown Queens.”
The next day, I woke up early and pulled out my one change of clothes from my backpack; a long sleeve black shirt and beige cargo pants, Maggie stared at me when I walked out of the bathroom until I cocked a brow.
“Didn’t you host, like, tons of high end parties with Tony freakin’ Stark?”
My eyebrows furrowed and I straightened. “Long time ago. Why?”
She tilted her nose up. “You look like you bought that in a thrift store.”
“What does that have to do with a party?” I holler, looking after her as she walks out.
“You’re supposed to have a better sense of fashion!”
Raff packed me lunch and gave me directions to the airport, to which I thanked him and left to pick up my stuff.
“Rhodes!” I yell, walking into the landing bay, and grinning up at my friend.
He walked down the ladder of the plane and shook his head at me. “Finally, kid I thought I was going to toss your stupid cat out the window.”
We hug and he firmly pats me on the back. “Where’s my daughter?” I demand, looking over his shoulder and trying to see into the back.
He steers me by the shoulder and brings me around back to where all of my furniture and luggage was being unloaded. On the couch was a gray pet carrier with a yowling cat in it.
When I picked it up every single other person working there exhaled in relief, I lifted up the carrier and Mouse instantly stopped and stared at me. I chuckled and reached my finger in to scratch her chin, she purred softly and I put her back down.
“Thank you so much for doing this,” I said to Rhodes, crossing my arms and smiling at my stuff. “I have no idea how I would have made it down here with all this stuff.”
He squinted at me. “Didn’t you inherit 25 percent of Tony’s estate and fortune?”
I flushed red. “I don’t want to touch that money until there’s a gun to my head.”
“That’s…fair,” he tilted his head and watched me. “How’s Gotham been for you?”
I shrugged. “It’s been a week, can’t say much.”
He nodded and we walked around the loading bay and over to the truck where everything was being loaded up. “Have you been…seeing the town?” He tried and failed to seem nonchalant.
“Nope, I start working at Gotham Academy tomorrow, no more Spider stuff,” I huffed, rocking back on my heels.
“Gotham was the wrong place to go if you wanted a quiet retirement,” He told me, shaking his head with a knowing voice. “I give it a week.”
With a scowl, I shouted at his back. “A hundred bucks says I'll never use the suit again!”
I thanked the drivers and sent them off with a wave. They had offered to stay and help but I insisted that I could handle this myself. Messaging Rhodes a last thank you, I got to work.
First I walked around the house once more, taking note of all I wanted to change. The brick house is a two story brownstone sort of set up but without the extra neighbors. There was an older lady that Edith found online and reported that she was a retired chef. I hadn’t seen her in person but I hoped to bring her some cookies. The first floor was made up of a hallway with two doors and a staircase at the end, one door had a bathroom and the other led to the living room and kitchen. The second floor had two rooms, a master bedroom that was quite spacious and a guest room that was half as big as the master. I walked around the boxes until I reached the cleaning supplies then got to work.
For the next four hours I spent sweeping all the into a pile and having calls on and off with the electrician. After I deemed the house clean enough for the cat, I let her out and she began roaming. Eventually coming back to me and meowing in accusation.
“Yeah I know, I know,” I rolled my eyes and reached for the next box. “Look to make up for it, we can get a replacement tower for you.”
The next task on my scribbled down list was to set up the furniture, so I rolled my shoulders and turned to the couch. Mouse blinked up at me from the brown leather armchair and I rolled my eyes.
“Your choice, cat,” I whispered, lifting the chair up with one arm, she growled lowly but stayed curled up as I set it down in the corner.
After all of the biggest pieces had been organized into the rooms I wanted them in, I took a few pictures for Sam and Bucky and started doing the tedious things. Like silverware and pots, or clothes.
Finally I looked at the silver case.
This is the one thing I had brought on my own, I trusted Rhodey to bring it to the airport but I took it the rest of the way on my bike.
“Hello old friend,” I murmured as if I hadn’t seen it a month ago.
I walked over to the kitchen table and set it down, the gleaming “Stark Industries” made me flinch. I lifted it up and set my thumb on the scanner, it hummed and the case opened with a click.
The black and white watch stared at me from its firm position in the velvet pillow, I frowned and traced the edge of the black shining rim. I took it off the pillow and carefully held it in my hand, then I tapped the face of the clock three times and the suit uncurled into my hand. Nanotech, a science I don’t even try to understand.
The spider sat in the center of the chest, long white spindly limbs spread out over a black base and around the torso, down the legs and up the arms. Webs start forming densely towards the ankles and taper off where my waist and lower stomach meet. The wide white eyes stare up at me.
I rub the smooth fabric slowly and then triple tap the center spider to make it shrink into a watch.
My phone goes off and briefly I think about letting it go.
“Hello, is this Ms. Parker?”
“Yes, hi, I’m Parker,” I silently winced but she moved on without a beat.
“Hi! This is Amanda White, head mistress for Gotham Academy, calling to make sure you’re all set to start tomorrow?”
The memory snaps into place and I remember her from the virtual interview that we had.
“Yes!” I beam at my cat and pump my fist silently. “I’m all set.”
“Fantastic, we’re all ready for you and the students can’t wait to meet their new teacher!”
I smile and walk over to the counter to lean against it. “Can’t wait.”
She hung up and my cat watched as I did a dance around my new kitchen. “Hell yes!”
Here is the first chapter! Tell me what you thought, this is so very self indulgent but I am nothing if not proud.
Ask to be tagged if you enjoyed it enough to read more!
