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Chapter Text

Moving away from home, away from her parents, was quite a big move for Juliet but due to some problems at home that she tried to bury far away, her mother and father decided it would be better that she left and came to live in New York with her uncle, Tony Stark. She had been living with him for over six months, yet it still felt like only yesterday she had come to call New York her home. It did not seem right still.

The Avengers had taken a liking to Juliet almost instantly, but she had her own opinions on each of them, even if she didn’t know them all that well. . . Tony was a little overprotective, so he didn't want Juliet involved with the avengers.

Juliet loved Natasha Romanoff, she looked up to her, kind of like a role model and she had been giving Juliet secret training sessions without Tony's knowledge, just in case she ever got into trouble and may have needed to defend herself. She had been training Juliet in hand-to-hand combat such as martial arts and occasionally how to shoot.

Clint Barton was another who had been fun to hang around with, he was funny, talented and a loving father to his own family. He helped with training Juliet with Natasha, whilst also training her in archery as well as melee combat.

Vision was cute, he didn’t really understand much but at the same time, he did. He was incredibly smart but at the same time did not really understand how to function as a human, but he always seemed to want to help. Wanda was sweet and misunderstood but Juliet had not had the time to get to know her properly yet, but she did enjoy watching Wanda and Vision interact with each other.

Juliet never really saw Bruce Banner anymore. She had only met him once or twice before Ultron had attacked but now, he just seemed to be gone. She had never really gotten the chance to get to know him.

James Rhodes (Rhodey) was funny at times, but he was the most serious when it came to work, a typical soldier. It was fun to watch the back-and-forth banter that always seemed to happen between him and her Uncle Tony.

Sam Wilson was funny too, he hung around more with Steve, but Juliet liked him. He was also sassy at times, unfortunately, she never really saw much of him either. He was another who was always so busy, though he was training people most of the time. The superhero life was a busy one.

The one person Juliet didn't like, and she didn’t fully know why, was Steve Rodgers. From the moment Juliet had met him, she hated him. He was arrogant, he thought he knew better than everyone else and Juliet hated arrogance, but she didn’t know much about him, well, other than what Tony had told her.

Juliet, however, had a secret and that secret was her hidden abilities. Abilities that only one person knew about, and it was surprisingly not Tony. Juliet was great at balancing, sneaking, and climbing and she could jump pretty far too. In truth, she would love to show her skills and prove that she could defend herself, that she wasn’t vulnerable. Maybe then she could join The Avengers, but deep down she knew that Tony would never allow it and so, that’s why they stayed hidden. Juliet’s abilities helped her with agility and flexibility, but it had also improved her senses and reflexes, almost like a Cat. Her mother had said something to her once about one of her ancestors believing they were blessed by an Egyptian Mau, the sacred cat of Egypt that would grace the temples of the pharaohs, perhaps her gifts were passed down to her from an ancestor, however, that didn’t seem to make sense since she was the only member of her family with these gifts. But Juliet had a past, a past that she couldn’t fully remember, and she believed that past held the answers to what truly happened. Yet, she sometimes had dreams… dreams of falling from a rooftop but then she would wake up. All she knew was that whatever had happened in the past, whatever had taken place… it had been the reason that she had fought against her sister after she tracked her to New York and tried to kill her.

Besides, a part of her didn’t believe that she was in full control of this new side to her. There were times when she would wake up in places that she didn’t remember going to, she’d have cuts and bruises but not remember why. It scared her, but she didn’t want to tell anyone.

But other than that, her Uncle Tony or any of the Avengers didn’t know the truth and that was that Juliet had another life when they were not watching her. She had her costume and gadgets which she kept in her school bag they were all way too busy to go routing through a teenager’s school bag to find out the truth.

Juliet studied at Midtown School of Science and Technology and had made quite a few friends, mostly due to her name, Juliet Stark. Who wouldn’t want to try and befriend the niece of Iron Man? She was an intelligent, beautiful young girl who shared her uncle’s brains. But that ran in the family anyway, her parents had both been scientists, chemists actually… well… before they blew up in their lab. But anyway, there was Chloe who was in her year, taller than Juliet with long black hair and chocolate brown eyes, she was a rocker much like herself and she had very quickly become Juliet’s closest friend. Then there was Jack and Declan, they were best friends, smart and funny. Jack was short with black hair and Declan was taller than the lot of them with short blonde hair, he was judgemental most of the time though. There was also Michelle Jones Watson, she was a quiet girl and they rarely spoke but when they did, they shared similar humour which made it easier for the two of them to speak to each other.

There was also her ex-boyfriend, Harry Osborn. He was a rich kid, his dad owned some big company in some other city and though she and he had hit it off and even Harry’s dad had liked and respected her, her Uncle Tony had forced her to end the relationship, he hadn’t approved at all. Her and Harry were still close friends though.

Then there was him. . .that was walking past Juliet right now with his best friend, Ned Leeds. Peter Parker. He had perfect mousy brown hair and mesmerising chocolate brown eyes. He was well built too for his age; Juliet just couldn’t find a fault in him. Juliet watched him walk past her and awkwardly smile at her as she stared at him. . . something which she soon realised that she was doing, yet it did not stop her from smiling back with lovestruck eyes. He went to his locker which was directly across from her own.

"Seriously Juliet?" Juliet soon heard Declan speak up from beside her, snapping her out of her little trance.

Juliet had forgotten that her and Declan's lockers were right next to each other’s, and she quickly turned to meet the blue-eyed boy’s gaze. He was standing with Jack who had already gotten all his stuff together, he was always so organised.

"What?" Juliet spoke up in a voice laced with evident confusion.

"You’re friends with that weirdo?" Declan replied in a much more amused tone of voice than he had before.

"I don't think he's weird. I think he's quite sweet." Juliet pouted out in reply, she had never enjoyed it when people judged others and honestly, she had no idea what made Peter a “weirdo” in the first place.

"Is she talking about Peter again?" Chloe popped up from the other side of her, causing Juliet to jump slightly. Where had she even come from?

"No, she's just smiling at him like a little lovestruck puppy." Jack adds on to the fuss, a rarity he usually stayed out of this stuff.

"Seriously guys?" Juliet sighed out heavily, evidently already done with this conversation as she dug through her locker.

"If you like the guy, you should just tell him." Declan points out to Juliet in a nonchalant tone.

"I don't like him that way. He's just a friend, just like you guys are." Juliet blurts out to the group, though her tone of voice didn’t help her in the slightest.

The group all looked at one another, all smirking at each other before they started heading in the direction of the cafeteria.

"Guys. . . Guys. . . Guys! I'm serious!" Juliet calls out to the group but almost immediately gets ignored.

Once at the cafeteria Juliet’s eyes remained straightforward, trying not to look at Peter as she took her seat at her group’s table, it was pretty difficult but she somehow managed… until…

"He's staring at you again Juliet." Declan whispers across the table to Juliet, catching her interest and breaking her resolve almost immediately.

Juliet’s blue eyes looked down to focus on the table in front of her for a moment. Juliet had many abilities and one of those abilities was enhanced hearing, she didn’t use it at school often, but she knew that if she used them now, it would be less awkward than making eye contact with him accidentally… however, whenever Juliet used her abilities, her eyes would change to an emerald, green shade rather than their usual baby blue shade. Keeping her head low so that her friends didn’t notice the change in her eyes, she listened in on the room, trying to tune into Peter and Ned's conversation specifically.

“Dude I went to this insane party-“

Nope.

“Mark actually said that?”

Not that one.

"I should probably stop staring at her before it gets weird." Juliet overheard Peter saying to Ned.

There she had found it.

"Probably..." Juliet overheard Ned reply.

"But she's just so beautiful." Juliet overheard Peter mutter out in response to Ned.

Juliet couldn’t help it… she could not stop herself from blushing before she cleared her throat, lifting her head once her eyes had returned to normal and quickly checking her phone for the current time. It was a good cover; it made her look like she had been deep in thought instead of listening in.

"Oh no! I have somewhere I need to be." Juliet quickly blurts out to the group once she had noticed the time.

"What? But you have maths." Jack quickly reminds her; she and Jack shared the same maths class and that was how they had met in the first place.

"Erm... Make an excuse for me? I need to get to this. I made a promise.” Juliet let out a sigh, grabbing her bag from under the cafeteria table.

Peter’s eyes followed Juliet as she rushed out of the cafeteria, wondering just where she was going. He’d noticed that she disappeared often and was always getting into detention for ditching classes or disappearing from school.

Juliet rushed out of the school, sneaking out was not too hard and after running a few blocks she found a nearby diner and immediately headed into the lady’s toilets. Once she knew it was safe, she dug through her school bag for her costume.

Juliet’s costume was a typical all-black leather catsuit with an all-head cat mask that covered her identity quite well, for footwear she wore all black leather combat ankle boots. Her hands adorned long leather gloves with sharp claws sewed into the fingernails, she was not sure what the claws were made of though. Her lips were painted blood red and her eyes were done with the Smokey eye effect, a black leather spikey choker, almost like a collar was worn around her neck.

With her bag in hand, she slowly sneaked out of the toilet window and climbed up onto the rooftop, leaving her bag hidden behind one of the ventilators. Once done, she moved to stand on the edge of the roof, looking down at the ground below.

"I've gotta get used to this height thing at some point." Juliet mumbled out to herself as she looked down at the concrete floor below.

Juliet quickly headed to the end of the rooftop to get a decent run-up before she took a deep breath and ran as fast as she could, leaping off the roof like she was swan diving into a swimming pool before she did an unnecessary front flip and landed on the next rooftop, she repeated that across the city until she landed on the right roof. The roof that she was meeting a certain someone on.

"Well! Hello, there kitty cat!" The familiar voice spoke up.

Juliet’s eyes met the red and black-suited merc with a mouth that was sitting on the edge of the opposing rooftop without a care in the world, swinging his legs like a playful child.

"It's Sphinx, you know it’s not kitty cat Wade." Juliet corrected him as she stood herself up straight after leaping to his roof, head tilting at the male curiously once she had come to stand beside him.

"And what exactly is a Sphinx!" Deadpool quickly retaliated.

He sat up and sauntered over to Juliet, playfully booping her nose with his gloved finger, only having it swatted away as she playfully glared at him from under her mask.

"It's a kitty so guess what? You're a kitty!" Deadpool finishes off.

"I'm already regretting coming here." Juliet sighed out; however, it was obviously a joke. Juliet did enjoy Wade’s company.

"Hey kitty, you're in for some fun when you get back home." Deadpool suddenly remarks.

"What?!? Why? What have you done now?” Juliet asks him in a much more serious tone of voice. “Also never say that again because it sounds really wrong."

"Well firstly, I haven't done anything this time. I’m both offended and flattered that you thought of me first." Deadpool quickly defends himself.

"You’re right, that is a first." Juliet playfully remarks in return.

Even though Juliet couldn't tell because of the suit, she knew all too well that he was giving her a bitchface. It was so obvious just by his body language.

"Second of all…. you’re too young to be thinking like that!” He continues. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”

Juliet couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him with a heavy sigh before she gestured for him to continue, he always was slow at getting to the point.

"And thirdly! Your little club thingy that you're a part of… but also not a part of, well they’re having a little dispute." Deadpool finally finishes off.

"Okay correction time Wadey.” Juliet starts, arms folded over her chest. “Firstly, you've no doubt caused some trouble somewhere along the line today but it’s the x-men's job to deal with you and not mine.”

Deadpool raised a finger, ready to open his mouth again but Juliet beat him to it and was quick to raise her finger to shush him.

“Secondly, I’m old enough to have a dirty mind, just legally not old enough to act on it. I have Tony Stark for an uncle, what are you expecting?” Juliet points out. “Thirdly it's not a club, it’s a team and I'm not a part of it… I just happen to live in the tower with them.”

"You remind me of that cat chick from that DC spin-off film that was released in 2004." Deadpool randomly mutters out, hands resting on his hips.

"What does that have anything to do with right now?" Juliet questions him, utterly bewildered as she frowns at the merc. "Also, I don't use a whip."

"Right. That would be a bit kinky if you did." Deadpool jokes half-seriously. “And that would be weird because you’re too young for that.”

Juliet once again gave him a deadpanned expression; it was like arguing with an annoying big brother. It was insane.

"Really? Wade?" Juliet deadpans, trying not to laugh. Conversations were always so strange with this man.

"Hey! Speaking of costumes! Have you seen that new costumed freak that's swinging around stealing my colours in his onesie?" Deadpool questions Juliet, half-joking and half-serious.

"No. I haven't actually." Juliet answers him, being serious for a moment though it doesn’t last long. "Maybe he's a fanboy of you."

"Maybe I mean, I am pretty awesome! Scratch that! I am ridiculously awesome." Deadpool boasts out vainly.

"I was being sarcastic." Juliet responds, trying her best to stifle a laugh.

"SHATTER MY DREAMS WHY DON’T YOU!" Deadpool yells out suddenly, he was such a drama queen.

Juliet couldn't help but roll her eyes at him, finally laughing at him before she stretched out, looking down at the traffic-filled streets below.

"I have to get back to The Avengers and find out what's going on." Juliet tells Deadpool in a much more serious voice, all joking aside. "Where are they again since you know so much?"

"I don't know. Their cute little Headquarters or something. I am not stalking them despite popular belief on the internet. I've been too busy avoiding that walking Russian tin man." Deadpool mutters out to Juliet.

"I'm going to guess that you’re talking about Colossus. What did you do this time?" Juliet questions him through a heavy sigh, already rubbing a hand over her mask in exasperation.

"I may or may not have blown up a big ass fucking bridge trying to-“ He pauses, already trying to cover his ass. “Totally trying to catch bad guys!"

"Yep. This is why you're not a hero DP."

Juliet let herself fall gracefully from the rooftop so that she can grab onto the fire escape on the building across from the pair of them, leaving Deadpool standing there watching her climb up the fire escape.

"You're also a bad liar!" Juliet yells out to him, still laughing to herself whilst she climbed.

"THAT’S RIGHT! CLIMB AWAY KITTY!" Deadpool calls back to her, ignoring her comments.

Juliet simply rolls her eyes and begins to make her way towards The Avengers tower, sneaking in through one of the windows and silently hoping that nobody would catch her in the act.

Once she finally got to her room undetected, she opened the door to be greeted by Natasha who was sitting on her bed, clearly waiting to catch Juliet in the act. How long had she been onto her?

"Natasha... I urm... I went to a fancy-dress party! Yeah, that's what this is..." Juliet quickly lies rather badly to her.

"I knew something was going on with you. I knew there had to be a reason why you'd be so good at your training." Natasha quietly works out to herself.

"Nat... Nat please, you can't say anything to Tony. He'll freak out and lock me away.” Juliet is rather quick to beg Natasha, who had fallen silent for a moment.

"Okay… I won't.” Natasha begins, watching as Juliet visibly relaxes. “As long as you tell me what exactly has been going on."

Juliet sighs, removing her mask as she ungracefully throws herself down to sit next to Natasha on the bed. Her eyes averting from Natasha for a brief moment before she takes a big breath, ready to finally tell someone the truth.

"So, I have abilities... Not exactly like Vision, Thor, or Wanda but like a... Well, like a cat." Juliet attempts to explain to Natasha, though she seemed to be confused by what she had said herself.

"I'm going to need a little bit more than that."

Juliet groans, messing her with a mask that was currently resting on her lap. This was awkward.

"Well. I have enhanced senses, reflexes, and agility. I can leap from rooftops like skipping a skipping rope and I am too quick for people to get a good enough aim on me or dodge and avoid my attacks. I can hear twice as good as a normal human and I can see the smallest of things from a far distance." Juliet finally manages to explain more thoroughly.

"Like a cat... I get what you mean now." Natasha mutters out to Juliet in response. "You could actually come in handy... Look I've got to go. There is some sort of meeting going on in the living room. I won't tell Tony; you have my word on that.”

"Thank you." Juliet’s voice was laced with appreciation as she watched Natasha raise from her bed, heading for the exit to her room. “You’re the best, Nat.”

Once Natasha had left her room Juliet quickly got changed into some grey bottoms and a deep blue sports tank top, wiping her face clean of makeup before heading down into the front room to hear the end of the argument that had been taking place before she had entered the room.

"We have thirty-six hours to catch Rodgers, Barnes and Wilson." Juliet overheard Natasha say to Tony.

That in itself was enough to cause her to pause in her path, stopping to lean against the doorway and continuing to listen in. Finally, Rodgers was public enemy number one. About time… she didn’t want to go after Wilson though. Barnes, well, she had no idea who that even was.

"So, what do we do?" Rhodey questions them all but he was met with silence.

Juliet, finding that this was the perfect opportunity to speak up, pushed herself up off the wall and finally walked further into the room. Everyone’s eyes came to land on her, including Natasha’s. Juliet couldn’t help but wonder if this was what she had meant by coming in “handy”.

"There's going to be a war isn't there?" Juliet spoke up from where she now stood which was next to Rhodey.

"We don’t know that yet but before you ask, no, you are not getting involved because you're just a kid." Tony quickly tells Juliet in a stern tone of voice; he knew what argument was going to come up.

"I'm not a kid Tony. . .” Juliet carelessly commented in response. “So, which one of you is in the wrong this time? It’s not like any of you have been the same since you signed that stupid agreement."

"It was the best option to sign those forms, Juliet." Rhodey quickly responds to her, telling her something she already knew. “Signing The Sokovia Accords was the best option.”

"Yeah, I know, and I also know that Steve’s arrogance is why this whole argument started but look at you all. You're all battered and bruised." Juliet points out, almost sounding like her own mother which made her frown to herself.

"James Barnes. The Winter solider. He has been doing acts of terrorism." Natasha quickly informs Juliet, earning a glare from Tony in response but she simply ignored it and continued on. "He broke free today and Sam and Steve helped him. They both believe he's innocent."

"And is he?" Juliet questions her curiously, clearly now interested in this discussion. “Is he innocent?”

"We don't know." Natasha answers the young girl honestly, she never did lie to her which was why Natasha was the only one that she trusted to tell her the situation.

"But it doesn't matter if he isn't. Our job is to capture him. No questions asked." Tony spoke up over everyone, sounding much sterner this time.

That didn’t sound like the Tony she had grown up admiring, she didn’t like it.

"But if he is innocent then he doesn't deserve to be locked up. The least we can do is hear the guy out.” Juliet voices her own opinion. “Since when have you been the type to act without the facts?”

"She has a point, Tony." Natasha agrees with her, something that wasn’t exactly new and had spurred an eye roll from Tony.

"We aren't in any place to argue with the government." Rhodey quickly tells Juliet and Nat, siding with Tony in this dispute. Which was also nothing new.

"I hate to say it but I'm on Steve’s side for once." Juliet quickly speaks up words that she didn’t ever think she would say in her entire life. “I think I may need a brain scan.”

Despite her joke at the end of her comment, her words had earned an immediate glare from Tony, but she just rolled her eyes at him in response, she knew it was only a glare and he wouldn’t do anything else.

"Look, we are going to Germany." Tony speaks up finally, though his voice showed his frustration. “And we are going to bring them all in, as requested.”

"Even though we are seriously understaffed…” Nat sighs heavily. “But, I have an idea."

"So do I." Tony adds on.

Juliet, Nat and Rhodey all looked clearly unnerved by his words. His ideas were always ingenious, but they could also be incredibly dangerous.

"Mines downstairs… and is T'Challa...What's yours?" Nat asks Tony with a clearly concerned look, she did not like the direction this was taking.

"Mine doesn't matter right now.” Tony quickly dismisses without a care in the world, leaving everyone unnerved. “Hey Juliet, sweetie, how was school? How are you and that new boy doing that you’re interested in? What's his name I keep forgetting?"

"School was fine...” Juliet simply responded in a clearly confused tone. “Do you mean Peter Parker?"

"Yeah, that's his name...” He responds rather quickly. “Where does he live again?"

Nat and Rhodey share a look between each other, watching as Tony came over to rest his hand on Juliet’s shoulder. Juliet appeared to be remarkably confused and had even eyed the hand on her shoulder with furrowed brows.

"Queens...” Juliet responds, her eyes narrowing on him as she does. “Why are you asking?”

"Just wondering. You know in case you two become a thing and I need to pay him a visit to have a nice chat." Tony explains himself whilst now walking past Juliet, ignoring his niece’s glare as he did so.

Juliet’s eyes flick from Tony once he had left the room to an also very confused Rhodey and Natasha, clearly, they had no idea what he was up to either.

"So, Nat, when are you leaving for Germany?" Juliet questions the current badass female avenger, curiously.

"Tomorrow and no you're not coming, you could get yourself killed." Nat quickly puts Juliet in her place before she even has the chance to ask, though the comment had earned a confused glance from Rhodey.

"I highly doubt that.” Juliet responds nonchalantly. “They wouldn't be able to keep up with me, Nat. Trust me."

That comment had earned yet another confused glance from Rhodey, it was at that moment that he realised that Natasha clearly knew something that the rest of them didn’t know.

"You're not coming." She tells her in a much sterner tone of voice, she almost sounded like a mother.

Juliet pursed her lips, raised her hands in mock surrender and slowly backed away from Natasha but once she had turned her back on the female avenger, a smirk had pushed its way onto Juliet’s lips.

She was totally going.

Chapter Text

It didn't take Juliet very long to get ready, she had her costume on, food eaten, and drinks drank in no time... probably too quickly so it was a good job that she didn't have travel sickness.

Juliet quickly pulled out her phone and dialled the number of her best friend Chloe, she had to lie to her about something, so she knew why she was not in school, so she raised her phone up to her ear whilst keeping a lookout for everyone else. Tony and Rhodey had already gone, they had travelled ahead. Juliet was waiting for Natasha to start up the plane, she was sitting in the back behind the boxes of what she had assumed were guns or something.

"Hey, Chloe." She whispered into the phone once she heard the sound of her friend picking up the phone.

"Juliet, why are you up so early... I mean I know we have school today but it's like 3am..." Chloe replies groggily into the phone. "You're hours too early for school..."

"Well, I forgot to tell you yesterday but I'm kinda going to Germany for a bit." Juliet responds in a nonchalant tone. "So, I won't be in school tomorrow."

"What? Germany? Why?" Chloe questioned once again, sounding quite delirious from the fact that she had just woken up. "And why are you whispering?"

"Well... my parents are asleep." Juliet quickly lied, rather badly actually. "And it's a very short holiday."

"You don't live with your parents. You live with Tony Stark. Your uncle. . ." Chloe catches her out in her lie almost immediately, clearly, she wasn't as delirious as she had hoped. "Juliet, what's going on?"

Juliet froze for a moment, not at what Chloe had said but because she could hear Natasha's footsteps in the distance and so she instantly curled herself into a tighter ball, she did not want to get caught.

"Uh-oh." Juliet whispers into the phone. "Look I've got to go, I'll explain it all to you when I get back, okay?"

"Wha-"

Before Chloe even got the chance to answer, Juliet had quickly hung up and focused on listening in on what Natasha was doing. She was with someone else; she could hear her talking.

Peeking out, Juliet noticed that Natasha had climbed into the pilot seat and started up the quinjet, putting the mic and headphones on before checking over the stats and current condition of the jet, but she wasn't alone just as Juliet has suspected, there was a dark-skinned man sat beside her in the passenger seat, he wore an all-black suit whilst holding a headpiece in his lap that looked almost like a cat's head, clearly, she had competition in the cat department.

The quinjet suddenly rushed forward, nearly sending Juliet flying backwards as it almost shot into the air, but Juliet managed to stay firmly in place, thanks to her iron-like grip on one of the boxes. She remained completely still, not a sound leaving her and after about fifteen minutes of being in the air and the jet being completely devoid of emotion, Natasha spoke up.

"Juliet... I know you're back there. You may as well come out. I was your age too once; I knew exactly what you'd do."

Juliet's eyes had widened at Natasha's words, she was very tempted to stay quiet, but she knew there was no use... Natasha probably knew her better than her uncle did.

"This would have been so much funnier if I wasn't back here, and I'd placed a camera back here to record that." Juliet spoke up jokingly.

Standing up, the young female moved up towards the front to take a seat at the top of the quinjet with the pair. The man sat with Natasha, looked Juliet up and down, evidently confused by her presence. Now that Juliet was sitting up close, she had noticed that he was holding a panther type of mask.

"Who's this?" The man eventually spoke up, his voice held a hint of an African accent.

"T'Challa, this is Juliet Stark. Tony's niece. She has abilities like yours but hers involve heightened senses, reflexes, and agility like an actual cat. Tony doesn't know about that... which is why I'm confused on why she is risking doing something like this." Natasha introduces Juliet to T'Challa, her little speech earning a raised brow from the young female. "Juliet this is King T'Challa of Wakanda. To his people, he is also known as Black Panther."

"Oh, cool you're a king! That must be pretty awesome. I'm The Sphinx." Juliet introduces herself with a wide smile, holding her hand out for the dark-skinned male to shake which he does with a respectful nod of his head.

"I wouldn't know. I haven't been home yet to actually be king."T'Challa replies honestly, earning a confused frown from Juliet in response.

"The Sphinx?" Natasha sounded confused for once.

"Yeah, you know... after the mythological Egyptian creature. The head of a human and the body of a lion with the wings of a falcon." Juliet explains to Natasha, offering her a small smile.

"You don't have the wings of a falcon." Natasha muses.

"I do if I steal Wilson's." Juliet cheekily whips back, earning a soft chuckle from Natasha.

Silence fell over the three of them, there was tension in the atmosphere that left everyone feeling a little uneasy. Friends were going to have to fight friends and well, family would have to fight family.

"Wait. You were on Steve's side in the argument last night. Are you really going to fight against your own uncle?" Natasha quickly raises the subject once she is hit with the realisation, finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah... well, it won't be the first time that I've fought against a family member..." Juliet answers honestly, voice merely a mumble.

Natasha didn't know what that meant, and she had briefly glanced over at Juliet who had bowed her head, avoiding eye contact with the woman. Noticing Juliet's avoidance of the subject, she chose not to ask.

"Well although we are on separate sides, I just want Barnes to pay for killing my father. As long as you don't get in my way, we won't have any problems, Sphinx." T'Challa tells Juliet in a much more sincere voice.

"Sounds good to me, Panther." Juliet agrees.

The flight was much longer than Juliet had expected it to be, it was also incredibly boring. There was no music and just endless silence between the three of them, she had never been in a more awkward situation before in the entirety of her life. There was just nothing to talk about.

Once they had landed, however, Juliet parted ways with Natasha and T'Challa and headed off to find Steve. She still couldn't believe that she was even siding with the man, and she imagined once he realised that it was her, he would be sharing her disbelief.

It wasn't long after she had set off searching that she had run around a corner and nearly walked into someone, she took a step back to fully take in the person in front of her and she was almost immediately greeted by the sight of the blonde-haired, blue-eyed spangled suit-wearing avenger and his buddy that all the fuss was about, "the winter soldier" as they were calling him on the news, though he had a gun raised and locked on her. There was also some other guy who Juliet had never even seen before but was wearing a red and silver suit with some sort of metal ant helmet.

"Hey, Stevie!" Juliet greeted the confused looking Captain America. "And hey... Barnes? Or is it Bucky that they call you? I've always tuned out whenever Steve has been talking."

"Uh... yeah... It's Bucky." The winter soldier confirmed, glancing over at his incredibly confused best friend with furrowed brows. "Steve, who is this?"

"Who the heck is the new guy?" Juliet questioned the pair, staring over at the other man that was with them.

The silver and red suit-wearing man gave Juliet an awkward wave of his hand, an awkward smile pushing its way onto his lips in the process.

"I'm Scott, also known as Ant-Man."

Juliet grinned at that, he seemed to have her type of humour and she gave him an awkward wave back in response. Steve's eyes had hardened on her, but Bucky had lowered his gun, he could already tell that she wasn't there as a threat.

"Who are you?" Steve finally asked her, voice commanding just as it always was.

"Oh wow, this costume really does do the trick huh?" Juliet remarked back in response, a soft laugh soon following her words.

Steve stared at her; she could practically see the pieces all slot into place once he came to the realisation. Scott and Bucky had been staring at Steve, waiting to see if he actually knew who this girl was.

"Juliet?" Steve finally responded.

"Correct!" Juliet muses, beaming with pride as she gave him a playful twirl to show off her suit. "It's a great look, right? It really does the job of hiding my identity."

"What are you doing here and what's with the suit? I'm surprised Tony even let you out of the house like that." Steve responded, half-joking.

Juliet walked over to the trio in an almost sensual manner, almost as if she was on a catwalk, her eyes were glowing an emerald, green shade as she tuned into her hearing, making sure that they were all truly alone before they returned back to their bright blue shade. Juliet had a habit of truly taking on a different identity whilst in costume, but not all of the time. Sometimes she felt as though someone was telling her to do certain things, to act in a certain way... occasionally, she could swear that she could hear another voice in her mind.

"Well, that's the thing he doesn't really know that I am here." Juliet muses out in response. "As a matter of fact, this... well this is going to be new to everyone but given the circumstances, I think it's about time I showed you all just what can truly do."

Juliet held eye contact with Steve, and she could have sworn that she saw distrust in his eyes as he stared at her, he didn't seem to like where this was going or the fact that nobody had known about this side of her. It was clear to see.

"We don't have time for your games, Juliet." Steve murmured out.

"Who's playing games, Steve?" Juliet shot back. "I'm here to fight."

"Well, I don't trust you." Steve responded nonchalantly. "You show up out of the blue, dressed like that. It's obvious that you're trying to play some sort of game to distract us and throw us off guard."

"Natasha trusts me." Juliet counters. "She's known about this for... well... I don't know how long for, but she figured it out and she's who brought me here."

"I like her, she's got style." Scott popped up suddenly. "Can we have her on our team?"

"Scott shut up for a minute." Steve commands, not once breaking eye contact with the girl in front of him. "If you're fighting with your uncle, you're--"

"Oh, that's the thing. I'm not fighting with Tony, I'm on your side. I thought I'd cut you a break."

"You could get killed." Steve points out. "You're just a kid."

"Well, I want to know what it's like to be a part of this world and you know what they say, curiosity kills the cat?" Juliet quips out in response. "But, well, cat's have nine lives... don't they?"

"I really like her humour." Scott pops up again. "Please can we have her on our side? We need less serious people on our team."

"Steve, we could use all of the help we can get." Bucky adds on, somewhat agreeing with Scott from beside him.

"I know but she's just a kid and I don't think Tony's going to be too thrilled about us having his niece on our side." Steve explains to the pair.

"Oh, come on Cap! Have you ever had a pet cat? They are agile, stealthy, flexible, quick and smart." Scott points out to the pair. "And independent, they can fend for themselves."

"And I have the heightened senses of a cat." Juliet adds to Scott's words. "I can see, hear and dodge way faster than the average person."

Steve finally breaks his eye contact with Juliet, averting his gaze as he heavily exhales and begins to push past the young girl, Bucky and Scott following closely behind him, exchanging looks briefly.

"Fine." Steve finally agrees. "But wait for my signal."

Juliet follows behind the group, and she watches as Scott suddenly shrinks down to the size of an ant and she watches in disbelief as a tiny little dot jumped onto Steve's shield. Juliet was shocked for the briefest of moments because she hadn't expected it but then it occurred to her... Ant-Man... of course, he could shrink to the size of an ant.

"Remember, they all have some kind of ability or gadget." Juliet mumbles out to herself.

Juliet moved to hide behind some of the cargo holds and watched as her Uncle Tony and Rhodey landed in front of a helicopter, blocking Steve and Bucky. It wasn't long later that she noticed Black Panther leap over one of the electrical rooms and land beside Iron-Man and War Machine. Juliet wasn't paying much mind to what the group were saying, she was simply waiting for her signal... and she finally got it.

Juliet watched as Steve did a small hand gesture and to make a scene, she decided to cartwheel her way over to the group and then end it in a front flip. If Black Panther was going to be dramatic, she could do the same. He was her cat competition, after all.

"Uncle Tony." Juliet greeted first. "Rhodey. Panther. Good to see you guys. It's funny who you meet in Germany, huh?"

"Juliet?" Tony spoke up in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me. Didn't I specifically say that you weren't allowed to be involved?"

"No hard feelings Tony." Steve commented almost smugly.

Tony shot a glare in Steve's direction before focusing on Juliet specifically, ignoring seemingly everyone else. He was in overprotective uncle mode. She knew that she was already grounded once she got back home.

"Where did you even learn all of that?" Tony questioned quickly.

" Gym class..." Juliet quickly jokes out, clearing her throat once she noticed that he didn't seem to find her jokes funny right now. "I'll talk to you about it later."

"Alright... I've run out of Patience." Tony angrily bites out. "Underoos!"

Suddenly, some web squirts onto Steve's shield and it goes flying into the air, his hands getting stuck together. A boy who appeared to be around Juliet's age landed on the truck behind Tony and Rhodes, proudly holding Captain America's shield. The boy was dressed in a red, black, and blue costume with a black spider symbol in the centre of his chest.

"Nice job kid." Tony calls over to him.

For a moment, Juliet felt a surge of anger wash over her for the simple fact that this 'kid' seemed to be good enough to come here but she wasn't. Even if Tony knew about her abilities, she knew for a fact that he still wouldn't have brought her along.

"Thanks! I could have struck the landing a little better, it's just the new suit, wait! It's nothing, Mr Stark. It's perfect. Thank you." This 'kid' awkwardly babbles out, clearly nervous.

Juliet couldn't help but chuckle to herself in the corner, earning a few looks from Bucky, T'Challa, Steve and the new kid. But she couldn't help it, it was clearly his first battle with the Avengers too, but he was much more nervous than she was.

"Yeah, we don't really need to start a conversation." Tony calls over to him in a friendly tone of voice, he was clearly being nice because it was his first time.

"Okay..." He breathes out nervously. "Cap-Captain..."

The kid salutes at Steve nervously whilst still holding his shield. It was like he didn't understand the concept of a battle. It was actually pretty adorable to Juliet; she couldn't stop the amused smirk that twitched on her lips.

"Big fan. I'm Spider-Man." The boy introduces himself to Steve, despite being on the opposing team.

"Oh, I get it!" Juliet suddenly exclaims, gripping everyone's attention as she points over at Spider-Man. "You're the kid that's stealing Wade's get-up!"

"W-What?" Spider-Man stutters out nervously, clearly just as confused as everyone else on the battlefield was.

"Wait..." Tony quickly interrupts after shushing Spider-Man. "Who exactly is Wade?"

"Deadpool..." Juliet begins to explain awkwardly. "Wade Wilson?"

"Oh cool, you know Deadpool!" Spider-Man blurts out excitedly, once again being shushed by Tony immediately after.

"Deadpool! When have you been hanging out with Deadpool?!? Don't you know the crap he-" Tony suddenly cuts himself off. "You know what. It doesn't even matter, we'll talk about it later."

Juliet fell silent at that; she knew for a fact that she was in for the biggest lecture of her life once she was home, and she was probably grounded for the rest of her life.

"So yeah, Hey everyone!" Spider-Man waves out to everyone.

"But yeah, Good job kid." Tony gestures to Spider-Man.

Juliet watched as Steve listened in on his earpiece, it wasn't long later that he was raising his hands and it was then that she had realised that Clint had shown up with Wanda. He immediately fired an arrow to free Steve's hands.

"Alright Lang." Steve spoke up and Juliet began to quickly step backwards, she wasn't sure what was going to happen.

"Hey guys, something--"

Spider-Man starts off but is quickly interrupted by Ant-Man front flipping and kicking him in the face as he returned back to his normal height, he had managed to grab the shield off Spider-Man in the process.

"Whoa, what the hell was that?" Rhodey blurts out at the scene.

"I believe this is yours, Captain America." Scott practically announces to him once he had come to stand beside Steve.

Scott hands Steve his shield and Juliet watches in confusion as everyone starts flying around and running off in different directions. Juliet decided to follow Steve, she had been in the process of running after him... only to get held back by some sort of sticky substance on her gloved hands.

"I'd get off me if I was you, kid." Juliet quickly bit out knowing who it was, there was only one web-slinger around the airport. "I don't want to have to kick your ass."

"No can do. Mr Stark said to keep on you and keep you out of the fight. I'm also on strict instructions not to hurt you... I'm not sure why but it'd really help if that was mutual, it'll make it easier." Juliet hears Spider-Man tell her from behind her.

Juliet had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at Tony's instructions, he was still acting as though she was some fragile piece of glass. He didn't realise what she as capable of at all.

"Yeah. I can believe that." Juliet calls over her shoulder to him, still fighting against his webs. "But there's something that Tony didn't tell you."

"Oh? What's that?" He asks sounding genuinely interested.

Juliet firmly grabs a hold of the web that was stuck to her hands and roughly pulls forward on them, leaping over this Spider-Man's body and throwing him straight into the cargo container, causing the web to detach in the process.

Juliet stayed crouched down to the floor with her left leg stretched out to the left of her body and her hands firmly on the ground in front of her.

"I'm part cat." Juliet finally finishes off, hearing Spider-Man groaning in the distance.

Spider-Man jumped up from where he had been on the floor in front of the cargo container, he had made a remarkably quick recovery considering the dent that his body had left in the metal container after he had hit it. He began to walk over to Juliet, raising his hands defensively.

"Look, Mr Stark said not to hurt you and I have one job and I have to impress him." He awkwardly rambles out in response to her, not even seeming fazed by the blow that he'd just taken.

"Look, Spidey. I don't care what Mr Stark said. You're getting in my way." Juliet snaps out. "And I suggest that you get out of my way."

"Well... If I have to fight you it's really going to suck because I can't hurt you." Spider-Man points out in response to her.

Juliet couldn't help but roll her eyes at his little comment, he was really dedicated to impressing her uncle, she'd give him that... but his voice really reminded her of someone else's, she just couldn't figure out who, it was distracting.

Juliet snapped herself out of it and retracted her claws in her gloves, scraping them against the concrete floor as she remained in her little pose, her eyes beginning to glow green as she stared up at him, a smirk pushing its way onto her lips.

"Oh boy..." Juliet heard him breathe out heavily.

"So, who's more agile?" Juliet purred out. "The Spider or The Cat?"

Juliet quickly shot up in the blink of an eye and cartwheeled towards him, when he fired his web at her, she fell down to the floor, flat onto her belly before she did the worm and pushed herself back up onto her feet. Spider-Man quickly stepped backwards; hands prepared just in case.

"I mean... I know this won't change much but you really remind me of someone--" He quickly comments in a slightly scared tone of voice but is quickly cut off by Juliet's foot that nearly connects with his face, but he catches it just before it can connect.

"Yeah, same here." Juliet breathed out, shocked that he had actually managed to catch her foot.

Juliet then acts like she's going to stop but instead, quickly uses all of her strength to flip herself up and kick him in the chest, knocking him to the floor and freeing her foot from his hold in the process.

Whilst he's winded on the floor, she quickly rushes away from him and heads over to where Bucky and Sam were inside the airport. Juliet was running up behind them once she was inside but that was when she noticed that Spider-Man seemed to be following her from above. He was climbing along the windows. He was really dedicated and persistent, she'd give him that.

"Hey!" Spider-Man called from the roof window. "You know, I'm just trying to do what Mr Stark asked me to!"

"Can't you just leave me alone for five minutes? You're like an incredibly clingy boyfriend." Juliet called back, continuing to run through the airport whilst he crawled along the roof windows after her.

"Can't we just talk about this!" He called back. "Mr Stark doesn't want you fighting!"

"No!" Juliet yelled back to him. "Geez and I thought Wade was bad. I'm never going to complain about him again.

"Need a hand?" Juliet heard Sam from up above.

Juliet saw him come flying in from above her, firing rockets at Spider-Man but he missed. Spider-Man swung in through the windows, fighting against Bucky first. Juliet had just been running, trying her best to get away from him but she soon felt herself get lifted up off the ground, a hand wrapped tightly around her hip someone and not a moment later, she landed on the foundations of the roof.

Juliet whipped her gaze around and her bright blue hues connected with Spider-Man's white and black covered ones. A groan left her lips, and she threw her head back, she wanted to claw his eyes out.

"Are you being serious right now?!?" Juliet snapped out at him, angrily. "Let me go! Put me down, right now!"

Enough was enough, she clawed at his chest, causing him to flinch and recoil back slightly and she took that opportunity to try and wiggle out of his hold, but it didn't work. He was stronger than she was, much stronger... even with her enhanced strength.

"Hey! Hey, quit it!" Spider-Man exclaimed, tightening his hold. "I'm trying to keep you safe here! God, you're so stubborn."

"And you're too persistent! I don't need protecting and why are you even protecting me! We are pretty much the same age by the looks of it and we're both in the same situation! If I need protecting, then so do you!" Juliet ranted out, practically throwing a tantrum in Spider-Man's arms.

"Wow! Do you think we're the same age?!? You look so much older..."He exclaims with a soft laugh soon following, it was like he hadn't heard everything else she'd said. "I mean that in a good way though like you're really... uh... good looking. I mean, not like that. I mean you are, but I just mean you're really pretty but in a sp- I'm just going to shut up."

Juliet couldn't help but roll her eyes at him, she hadn't been able to contain the blush that had started gracing her cheeks at his little ramble. In all honesty, she was flattered but this was not the time or place for that. Suddenly, she heard the sound of something coming towards them at an alarmingly fast rate.

"Uh oh, get down!" Spidey blurts out quickly, which made her realise that he clearly had similar abilities to her own.

Juliet had already ducked down; she didn't hear anything collide with them, but she couldn't stop herself from looking up at him with the biggest bitchface she'd probably ever pulled.

"I have heightened senses too, genius." Juliet points out to him, sass coating her tone and attitude.

It was then that she had noticed that he was holding an incredibly heavy chunk of concrete. It was no surprise that she couldn't escape his hold, his strength was incredible, and she watched in disbelief as he threw the concrete slab back at Bucky with twice the speed that it had approached them at.

"Hey, buddy! I think you lost this!" He called over to Bucky as the slab smashed the wall that Bucky was hiding behind.

Suddenly, Falcon swooped in and knocked Spider-Man out of the foundations, knocking Juliet down to the ground too. Luckily, she landed on her feet and hands in the perfect Cat pose. She could see Spider-Man fighting with Falcon in the air.

"YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT!" She could hear Spider-Man screaming out to Falcon in the air.

A soft laugh passed Juliet's lips as she watched, it was clear that he seemed to be having fun fighting everyone. He was probably the only one enjoying himself, today.

Juliet rushed up to where Bucky was standing and she watched as Spider-Man flipped out of Falcon's grip and fired a web, causing his wings to malfunction so he fell from the sky right next to them. She stood next to Bucky and watched as Sam managed to stand himself back up but only to get web fired at him and get stuck to the railing behind him.

"Are those wings carbon fibre?" Spider-Man questions Sam casually, showing a glimpse of his intelligence which had perked Juliet's interest.

"Is this stuff coming out of you?" Sam suddenly asked him, a question that made her wonder the same thing.

"That would explain the--" Spider-Man starts off but Juliet is quick to interrupt him.

"Seriously?"

"What?" He questions her back, confusion lacing his voice.

"I don't know if you've been in a fight before but there's not usually this much talking." Sam explains to him.

"Oh. Sorry. My bad." He quickly apologises.

Juliet watched as he fired his web to attach to the roof and he swung forward and into the air only to have Bucky charge at him like a mad bull and knock him out of the air and off the railings with him and Sam.

"I'm going to be honest with you guys..." Juliet called down to them, confusion filling her voice. "I don't even know who's side I'm on anymore."

Juliet looked down at them all to see that Bucky and Sam were webbed to the floor and glaring up at her with Deadpanned expressions. Spider-Man wasn't there which was concerning but she didn't even have enough time to fully register it because before she knew it, she was being pulled up into the air by a web and back into the guy's arms. It was almost like she weighed nothing to him. He placed her down on the window ledge as he looked down at Sam and Bucky.

"Guys, I'd love to keep this up, but I only have one job here today and I've gotta impress Mr. Stark. I'm really sorry." He calls down to them both.

He went to fire his web at them, but the web seemed to attach to something other than them. It was Sam's little drone. She ducked down as the drone smashed through the window, pulling Spider-Man with it and she watched him drop from the sky with a cry.

"Oh, shit..." Juliet breathed out, worry immediately washing over her.

Forgetting whose team she was actually on due to how much he reminded her of someone she obviously cared about, Juliet quickly leapt out of the window, front flipped and landed on the ground. She then crawled around the corner on all fours to see Spider-Man on the floor, groaning from the drop.

Juliet slowly crawled on top of him and casually straddled him, gently slapping his cheek in an attempt to get him to snap back to reality. Leaning down, she rested her lips by his ear that was hidden behind his mask and smirked.

"Hey, Spidey..." She purred out, rubbing her cheek against his own just like a cat would. "Wake up!"

Juliet heard him groan out in pain once again and she couldn't help but chuckle softly to herself, crawling back off him to lay on her side on the floor next to him.

"If it's any consolation. I'm enjoying this job." Spider-Man finally mutters out.

"Good to know." Juliet mused out from beside him. "Well, since you're so persistent, I guess I'll switch sides. I mean I don't even know Bucky anyway and he just threw a slab of concrete at me whilst I was with you and then Sam knocked me out of the foundations soooo... I think I'm a lot safer on your side."

"Awesome..." Spider-Man groans out, still trying to recover as he pushes himself up into a sitting position. "Let's kick ass together then..."

Pushing himself back onto his feet, he pulls Juliet up with him and places his hand around her waist, holding her against his chest as he begins to swing his way across the airport. Landing with her in line with their team which seemed to be ready for a battle against Steve's team.

Their team was: Juliet, Spider-Man, Iron-Man, War Machine, Black Panther, Black Widow and The Vision.

They were up against: Captain America, Ant-Man, Wanda Maximoff, Hawkeye, Falcon, and Bucky.

Juliet noticed that she seemed to be across from Falcon which was worrying. He could fly, after all.

"Glad to see you've changed sides." Tony perks up from beside her. "I knew that you wouldn't side with Steve for long."

Juliet smiled over at Tony in response, he knew her so well. Tony cleared his throat, gesturing to her and Spider-Man. She hadn't even realised that she was still holding onto him until Tony had pointed it out and she had immediately retracted, noticing that Spider-Man had awkwardly cleared his own throat and scratched the back of his neck.

Steve's team began marching towards their own, causing their team to start walking towards them in retaliation. It was like a battle of stubbornness.

"This is going to end well." Juliet heard Nat mutter out sarcastically from her other side.

Steve's team then began running, causing their own team to start running back at them.

"They're not stopping!" Spidey perked up from beside of her.

"And neither are we." Tony replied to him.

Tony and Rhodey flew up into the sky with vision whereas Juliet, Spider-Man, Natasha, and Black Panther all simply ran faster at the opposing team. Spider-Man swung up into the air once he'd gotten close enough.

Falcon flew at Juliet and tried landing a punch on her, but she had quickly dodged him and leapt up onto his back, linking her legs around his neck and gripping his legs with her hands so that she could use all of her strength to flip him over and onto his face on the ground.

"Whoa! Sweet move!" Juliet heard Spider-Man shout from the sky where he was avoiding the objects Wanda was throwing at him by jumping on them.

"Web him to the ground!" Juliet called up to him.

He fired his web and stuck Falcon to the ground. Juliet watched wordlessly as Wanda threw Natasha across the airport and it wasn't long later that she was slowly following after her, she was flying through the air and into one of the cargo containers, getting knocked unconscious. The last thing she heard was Spider-Man freaking out.

Juliet woke up in bed in a hospital gown with her costume across the room from her. Natasha was standing by her bed looking incredibly worried, she even looked as though she had been crying which was not a look she had ever expected to see on Natasha's face, and it wasn't one that she wanted to see again.

"Hey, you're awake. Are you okay?" Natasha quickly asked her, concern lacing her voice.

"I'm fine, Nat..." Juliet quickly reassured her. "What happened?"

Her body was extremely achy, and she was completely exhausted despite just waking up. Honestly, she felt like she'd been hit by a truck.

"Well, while you were tag-teaming with that Spider-Man. Wanda took you by surprise whilst you weren't paying attention. She threw you across the airport. You hit your head pretty hard. Spider-Man, the kid that Stark found, he picked you up and put you on a nearby rooftop so that you were out of danger. Then he got himself hurt when Scott turned into some type of giant." Natasha explains everything but the mere explanation made her brain hurt.

Ant-Man could turn into a giant? But that Spider-Man helped her out and put her somewhere safe? He really was dedicated to that task that he was given.

"Is he okay?" Juliet quickly asked her, worry filling her voice.

"Yeah, he's fine. He's gone back home now." Natasha reassures her.

There was a mixture of relief and disappointment washing over her, she couldn't help but wonder if she'd ever see him again.

"Where's Tony?" Juliet finally asked.

"I have no idea." Natasha replies. "He was here checking up on Rhodey but now he's gone."

"Why? What happened to Rhodey?" Juliet's voice was immediately filled with concern.

"Well... He flew after the plane that Steve and Bucky escaped on with Tony, but Sam followed them. Vision tried to shoot Sam down, but Sam dodged his attack and vision accidentally hit Rhodey. He fell from a pretty high height. He might never walk again."

"Poor Rhodey..." Juliet breathed out heavily. "Where am I anyway?"

"You're in a hospital here in New York. Don't worry. We got you flown back home when we came back. Rhodey's here too." Natasha reassures her.

"When will I be allowed to go home?"

"Tonight, hopefully." She sighs heavily. "I wish I could say the same for Rhodey."

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure he'll be fine." Juliet says, trying to reassure her. "Have some faith..."

"All we can do is hope for the best."

Chapter Text

 Juliet had found that going back to school after the weekend felt a little surreal, especially after everything that had happened. Nothing had made sense. Just going back to school as if nothing had happened made the fact she’d just been fighting alongside and against The Avengers feel like a dream, but she was back and the first person that she wanted to talk to was Peter Parker.

Juliet stood outside Peter’s locker in a short black skirt with skin-coloured tights underneath. For a shirt, she wore a peach cropped top with frilly sleeves and unfortunately, she had to wear a little more makeup than just eyeliner to hide the bruises from the fights. She’d tried to cover the ones on her hips and arms, but they couldn't really be hidden. It didn’t help that it was a hot day thanks to a heatwave, so she had to wear something to keep herself cool.

Juliet’s bright blue eyes flickered over to meet Peter’s chocolate brown ones as he came walking down the hall with Ned. He seemed to be limping and the closer he got, the more Juliet began to notice that he had a black eye. What happened to him?

"J-Juliet… Hey..." Peter stuttered awkwardly.

Juliet noticed that Peter was always nervous around her. Of course, she had overheard him talking to Ned about liking her, but her life was far too complicated for him. That's why she had kept her distance from him. It wasn’t just the fact that she was the niece of Tony Stark either or her abilities. It was also the unresolved blackouts that she still hadn’t figured out.

"Hey, Peter... and Ned." Juliet greeted the pair with a fake smile before it was quickly replaced by the concern that she actually felt. "Peter, what happened to you?"

Peter raised his fingers up to gently press his bruised eye before he forced an obviously fake smile. It was rather similar to the one that she had offered them prior.

"Oh...I... I urm got into a fight." He answered in his usual nervous tone of voice.

"A fight? With who?" Juliet asked him in a voice laced with nothing but pure worry.

"This... He was... A very big guy like and I mean little really big. Huge. " Peter rushes out, though it’s difficult for Juliet to believe him.

It was almost like he was lying.

"A very big guy... And do I need to take this big guy on myself?"

Peter laughed softly, focused on his locker for the time being. It was clear that he thought Juliet was joking but when he turned his head and saw her serious gaze, he quickly realised that she wasn't joking.

"No... No Juliet it's fine, honestly." He quickly reassures her.

"If you say so...” Juliet muttered. “Anyway, what I came here for was to apologise--"

"Hey, Juliet! How was Germany?"

It was Chloe. Oh no. Juliet had forgotten to tell her not to tell anyone else that she was in Germany over the weekend.

"Wait. You were in Germany?" Peter quickly questions her, sharing a quick look with Ned who had clearly forgotten to tell him that Juliet had also been missing over the weekend.

"Oh, erm... yeah, kinda. I was with my uncle while he had a business meeting." Juliet quickly lied to him. It wasn’t exactly far from the truth, anyone that had heard of the fight over the weekend would know that Tony had been in Germany.

Chloe's features quickly filled with confusion, but Juliet chose to ignore her. Juliet moved to grab Peter’s arm, tugging him a little down the corridor with her, away from Chloe and Ned.

"As I was saying. I wanted to apologise to you." Juliet whispers, continuing with what she had been saying earlier.

"Oh! W-What urm... What for exactly?" Peter stutters though it was clear by his expression that he was confused.

"For not really spending much time with you lately... I've just had some very personal things going on with me. Things that… well… other people wouldn't really understand." Juliet tries to explain to him without telling him too much.

"I know that feeling. Me too but it's fine, I get it. Don't worry about it." Peter quickly dismisses her worries. “I just hope you’re okay now.”

"See, I met someone over this weekend, and he really reminded me of you. I didn't know exactly who he had reminded me of until yesterday and now I feel so guilty for being so horrible to you… and to him." Juliet explains a little more thoroughly. “I don’t understand why I do it, sometimes it’s like it’s not really me saying or doing things and I have no control… it’s really weird and hard to explain”

"You haven't been horrible to me..." He mutters out in confusion.

His eyebrows were still knitted together, and it was then that Juliet noticed how his dark hues seemed to move to my hips and it was clear by the confusion on his face that he had noticed the bruises, but he doesn't say anything about them or point them out.

"Wait… Juliet, why were you in Germany again?" He asks.

Juliet felt a wave of confusion once she’d heard his question and she could have sworn that she heard a faint voice in her mind…

He is Spider-Man… He was who you were with at the weekend.

Juliet shook off the thoughts, she pushed that voice to the back of her mind and tried to focus on the conversation with Peter who was still staring at her intensely.

"I told you. I was with my uncle whilst he was doing a business meeting. But if you’ve seen the news, I guess you know what that meeting was."

"Right...” Peter seemed to trail off, rubbing the back of his neck. “Hey, do you want to… well maybe study or something together tonight? I could meet you after school.”

If she could have exhaled a sigh of relief at that moment, then she would have. But instead, she just smiled at the question he’d asked her.

"I’d love to…” Juliet timidly responded. “I've got to go and get back to Chloe. We have history."

"I'm in your history class remember and we left Ned and Chloe back there… together."

"Oh yeah...” Juliet mumbles in response. “I’m really sorry, I've had a long weekend."

Peter walked alongside Juliet back towards their friends and then all together they walked to History a rather awkward silence. Juliet hadn’t didn't noticed the strange looks that she was getting from Peter as he looked at the bruises on her arms and hips. She didn’t realise that he was putting things together in his head, that it was all starting to add up to him.

Once in history, it seemed that all they were doing was watching a movie. Well, they were watching Saving Private Ryan more importantly. Peter and Ned were across the classroom from Juliet, Chloe, Declan, and Jack. There was a seating plan for that class.

Mid-film Juliet began with this surreal feeling. It felt like something was going to happen… an impending feeling, a feeling of suspense and then she heard it. A spitball and that was when her reflexes kicked in. She didn't even look in the direction that the ball was being fired from, she simply raised her hand and caught the minuscule ball between my thumb and index finger before it could hit her friend, Declan.

When Juliet’s now emerald gaze turned to look at the douchebag jocks that had fired the ball, she was met by the sight of hanging jaws. She gave them a condescending smirk, a bitchface soon becoming present as she let the spitball drop to the floor. It was then that her eyes returned to their normal shade, the attitude quickly erasing from her face.  Now blue eyes averted from the jocks to meet Peter’s gaze which was intense. She’d never seen him look like that before.

The rest of the day was pretty slow, but Juliet managed to get through it without accidentally causing another scene. As the day came to an end, Juliet met Peter at the lockers just as she had in the morning, and he still had that intense thinking face going on.

"Okay, Pete… you’re worrying me. What's up with you? You've had this thinker’s face going on for hours now." Juliet half-joked.

"Yeah, I urm... I've just... I've had a few things on my mind." He manages to explain and it’s clear by the concern and confusion in his voice that he’s telling the truth.

"Do you… Do you want to talk about it?" Juliet finds herself asking.

Though there was some worry present that she couldn’t help but try to bury deep down again. Was this about her? Did she do something wrong? Was he suspicious of something?

"No...” Peter mutters, voice a bit lower. “No. It's fine. I'll be fine. Anyway, we should probably get going."

Without giving Juliet a chance to answer, Peter starts walking down the hall and out of the school and Juliet found herself following alongside him. Part of her knew that she should probably let Tony know where she was going and what she was doing, especially since she was supposed to be grounded but something was telling her to go with him. That she /needed/ to go with him.

“Is whoever you live with going to be okay with this?" Juliet checks with him, trying to make conversation.

"Oh... Aunt May. She'll be fine with it...” Peter reassures her, pausing for a moment as he awkwardly clears his throat. “Although she may freak out over you at first."

"What? Freak out over me? Uh… may I ask why?" Juliet asked, bewildered.

"Because you're a girl." He awkwardly mumbles in response.

"Oh…” Juliet bashfully whispers. “Yeah, I get it.”

It took quite a while to get to Peter’s apartment, they’d both taken the subway and they had eventually got there. Peter unlocked his apartment front door and walked in first, holding the door open for Juliet and gesturing for her to follow in after him.

"Aunt May, I'm home!" Peter called out into the front room. "I've brought a friend home too; I hope that’s okay!”

A brunette woman walked into the front room from what looked like the kitchen. She was younger than Juliet had expected her to be. She smiled brightly at the sight of Juliet before she rushed over to the pair of them, ready to introduce herself.

"Juliet this is my Aunt May. May this is my friend from school, Juliet Stark." Peter introduces the pair to each other.

"Well, it's great to finally meet your girlfriend, Peter! I knew something was going on with you! It’s so good to finally meet the girl that I’ve heard so much about!" May announces, placing a hand on Juliet’s shoulder.

Juliet felt her cheeks heat up at Aunt May’s words and her bright blue hues flickered over to look at Peter whose cheeks were just as bright as he glared at his aunt but not maliciously, more as an attempt to silence.

"She's not my girlfriend may..." Peter corrects, sighing heavily.

"Has Peter told you about Tony---" She starts off, but Peter quickly cuts her off.

"She doesn't need to know about Mr. Stark!"

Juliet’s eyes widened at his words, and she quickly looked from Peter to his Aunt May. What did her uncle have to do with Peter? What was her uncle keeping from her?

"Stark? Tony Stark?" Juliet muttered in response to the pair.

"Yes. Tony Stark. He came here a few days ago and took Peter away to Germany to do--" She was once again interrupted by Peter.

"So, we have a lot of studying to do so..."

He was slowly pushing Juliet towards his bedroom whilst talking to his aunt may, not wanting Juliet to hear too much. Of course, May didn’t know the real reason that Peter had been taken to Germany by Tony. She thought it was just an internship.

Once they were inside his bedroom, Peter let out a breath that he hadn’t even been aware that he was holding before he threw his bag on the floor and leaned against the bedroom door, trying to relax.

Juliet’s eyes scanned around his room which was like any average teenage boy’s room. Messy and filled with computer games, it reminded her of her old room back when she lived with her parents.

Ask him about Germany. You will see that I am right…

That voice was back, making Juliet shake her head to try and push it away again. Turning around, she looked at Peter as he leaned against the bedroom door, and she hesitated for a moment before she spoke.

"You never told me you were in Germany, Peter.

"It...” Peter stopped himself before he sighed. “It was kind of a last-minute thing... You know? Wait, hold on… you never told me that you went to Germany either."

Juliet had been staring at Peter for a few moments, in her head, she was beginning to put two and two together. This couldn't just be a coincidence. Not when her uncle was involved, that’s for sure.

Juliet paused for a moment, looking away from Peter as she let out an amused scoff and rubbed a hand over her face. She hadn’t noticed the once again intense look that Peter had been offering her. She needed to find a way to scope out his room, to find whatever secret he may be hiding. But Juliet mumbled something out about a coincidence before turning to look back at Peter.

"Hey... I don't mean to bother you but I'm really thirsty." Juliet managed to lie talentedly to him as an excuse to get him to leave the room.

"Oh...” Peter muttered, seemingly awkward. “I'll urm...Yeah, I'll go and get you something to drink."

The second he leaves and closes the bedroom door; Juliet moves over to Peter’s school bag and unzips it. It had the usual schoolbooks and pens but nothing special.

Juliet stood up, her eyes scanning the room for anything out of the ordinary and then she looked up. There was a small opening on the roof, a door to what she assumed was an attic. She slowly pulls at it so that it opens, it was barely open before a costume was falling out and falls into her hands. A red costume with black lining and blue legs. Spider-Man’s costume, she recognised it from the Airport.

I told you…

Peter walks back through the door with a glass of orange juice and his eyes instantly widen at the sight he’s greeted with. Juliet was holding his costume.

Peter rushed into the room, quickly closing the door behind him and placing the glass of orange juice on the chest of drawers.

"I can explain that!" He suddenly exclaims.

"…Please do…” Juliet replies surprisingly calm.

Peter slowly approached Juliet and gently took the costume from him. Moving to hide it behind his back.

"Okay...So this is for... A fancy-dress party… No I mean, it’s for Comic Con." He didn't even believe the lie himself.

Juliet stared at him for a few moments before narrowing her eyebrows at him. Was he really expecting him to believe a lie that he didn’t even believe himself?

"I knew it! You’re him! I can't believe this!" Juliet practically yelled.

Peter quickly rushed over to her and clamped his hand over Juliet’s mouth in a quick attempt to try and keep her quiet.

"Peter! What's going on in there?"

The pair heard Aunt May from the other side of the door. Peter stared at Juliet with those pleading big brown hues of his. Juliet pulled his hand off her mouth and stared at him with disbelief-filled features, did he really not trust her to stay quiet about this?

"We are just--" He starts but Juliet was quick to cut him off.

"Roleplaying for drama!"

"Oh okay... let me know if you need anything.” Aunt May called back to the pair.

Once they had heard her walk away from the door, Juliet started punching Peter in the chest. But not as an attempt to hurt him, more out of frustration that he’d been keeping this from her.

"How could you lie to me! For months!" Juliet yell whispered at him.

"I didn't know how to tell anyone! They'd think I was a freak. Only Ned knows...Well and Mr. Stark." He yell exclaimed back to her.

"My uncle knows! My own uncle and didn't think to tell me about this! If he knows I'm here tonight and he would freak out. He knows that we’re close but he didn’t stop to say “Oh hey Juliet, by the way, Peter Parkers that Spider-Man kid!" Juliet yell whispered in a rant. "But that's not the point! I've liked you for months and I've known that you've liked me for months, but I've never done anything about it because I thought my life was too messed up to get you involved in and all this time!"

"I'm sorry it's just I--" He pauses for a moment. "Wait...Your life was too messed up? I was right!! You are that cat girl!!”

"I go by Sphinx actually..." Juliet quickly corrects him. “I don’t know how I came up with the name but it’s fitting.”

"You tried to kill me!"

It's now his turn to freak out.

“I… what?” Juliet whispered out, she didn’t remember much of that battle other than getting on the plane, bits in the middle and waking up in the hospital. “I don’t remember that…”

“You spent most of the battle trying to kill me.” Peter explains further.

"All I remember is that you saved me when I got knocked unconscious." Juliet says in a now relaxed voice, she had been reminded of Natasha's words in the hospital.

Peter seemed absolutely baffled by how she hadn’t remembered trying to kill him but given that she’d taken a horrible knock to the head, he wasn’t surprised.

"I... I... I knew it was you but at the same time I didn't." He tries to explain. “I just had this feeling…”

Juliet couldn't help but pull him into a tight hug. He awkwardly and slowly hugged her back but gently. Juliet buried her face into his shoulder, breathing in the scent from his hoodie and he did the same, it all felt so right.

"Wait...You like me?" He says, showing his shock.

"Yeah..." Juliet mumbled into his shoulder.

"Well... I mean... Well..." He started stammering.

Juliet and Peter both pulled back from the hug, Juliet couldn't help but chuckle softly at Peter’s nerves. He was always so nervous, but in those moments, she felt his nerves too. She felt just as shy and timid as he did. Juliet leaned in towards his lips and he did the same. They were just centimetres away from their lips meeting… before…

"Juliet! Your uncle's here!"

The pair both heard Aunt May shouting and they both jumped back from each other, Juliet nearly fell over Peter’s school bag, but he managed to grab her quickly before she fell.

Without a word, Juliet quickly grabbed her bag and walked out of Peter’s room alongside him, only to be greeted by Tony in one of his black suits. Juliet had no idea how he’d found her, but she wasn’t entirely surprised either. Tony always had his ways.

"How was studying?" Tony asked Juliet as soon as she had come into view, but his words sounded like they had an alternate meaning.

"It was fine… how was work?" Juliet countered his question, her words also having an alternate meaning.

"Fine."

Peter’s eyes moved between Juliet and Tony, probably still in disbelief. Peter was staring at Juliet for quite a while until Tony spoke up and gripped his attention once again.

"Good to see you again, Parker. How's school?" Tony asked casually.

"It's...It's been fine Mr. Stark, Sir." Peter stammered out.

"Good.” Tony simply states. “Well, it's been great catching up May."

May offered Tony a smile before he gestured for Juliet to head out of the door which she did almost immediately without a protest. Bidding a quit goodbye to May and Peter as she walked past.