Chapter Forty-Four

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A/N: AHHHHHHHHH I WATCHED FAR FROM HOME AND OH MY GODDDDDDD. IT'S SO AMAZING AHHHHHHHHH. TOM HOLLAND IS SO FREAKING HOTT I CAN'T I CAN'T. AND THE MOVIE WAS SO ASRDFRFLDSS. GO WATCH IT, GO WATCH IT!

Okay, I'm done. But seriously, the movie was so incredible and I literally got sooo many ideas from it for this fanfic, you don't even understand. Tiny spoiler for this fanfic, let's just say MJ and Peter are NOT endgame (hehe see what I did there?)

Okay, okay, I'm done I swear. As you can see, I updated exactly one week later so, for now, Wednesdays will be my upload days but it might change to the weekend. But for now it's Wednesdays.

So a lott happened last chapter from nightmares to deathboards to crazy gym coaches. You guys got to see a littleee bit about Adelaide's past and that chapter officially marks the beginning of Civil War. Let me just say, by the end of Civil War, you will know everything about Adie. I mean everything. And you may change your mind about her after...*evil laughter*

Shoutout to everyone reading this whether you vote and comment or you don't, all of you guys are INCREDIBLY AMAZINGGG <3

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"Someone kicked her puppy, Peter.

That's really sad."
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"You look like hell," Happy observed, walking into the kitchen. Adelaide nodded, agreeing with him. She was sitting with a cup of coffee and watching the tv in the living room from the island in the kitchen.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" he asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee. Adelaide finished her fourth cup of coffee since this morning and slid off the stool for a refill. Sleep was a foreign word.

"You were out cold," she said, smiling at him but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. Her voice was small and sounded tired. Happy didn't take to importance how the teenager avoided his question and popped a bagel in the toaster.

"Your little project thing tired me out," he said, "I'm telling you, I am never having kids."

"Let me know how that works for you," she said, getting back up on her stool, "What time are they coming?"

Happy checked his watch. "In about half an hour," he answered, grabbing his bagel out of the toaster and he sitting down beside the teenager with his breakfast.

"I should warn you," he said with his mouth full of bagel, "Pepper's going to flip when she sees it's not done."

"Tell me something I don't know," Adelaide groaned, hiding her face in her hands.

"I'm going to pick them up," he said, standing up again and dusting his hands to get the crumbs off. He grabbed his phone and slid it into his pocket. "You coming?"

"I'm going to work on the project," she sighed, sipping her coffee. It burned her throat on its way down. "I have school in an hour anyway."

"Your choice, kiddo, but you're just delaying the inevitable," he said, ruffling her hair as he walked past her. Adelaide didn't bother trying to fix it as she stared at the tv with an empty look on her face.

She knew he was only talking about Pepper seeing her unfinished project but the teenager couldn't help but apply it to something else. Finishing her cup of coffee, she reached for another refill. It had taken five cups for the teenager to finally feel the buzz in veins and she headed to her room.

Since she got home last night, she had hit the gym downstairs to shake off her anger and anxiety. Her knuckles were still slightly sore and bruised from the punching bag.

You've gotten so pathetic...You didn't use to be like this...

Sighing, she walked into her bathroom. She stripped her clothes off and stepped into the shower, biting back a gasp when the scalding water hit her skin. It burned but at least then she could feel something.

I used to be the only one who stood a chance against you...

Adelaide grabbed the shampoo but it fell, hitting her foot. She bit her lip and picked it up, trying to focus on washing her hair instead of the throbbing pain in her foot.

Be who you really are...

When she was finished, she turned the shower off, wrapping a soft towel around herself and stepping out. She stopped in front of the mirror, staring at her reflection.

They made you too soft...

Her eyes had sunken into their sockets, her face looking almost gray. Her usually bright blue eyes were unusually dull and the veins in her arms seemed to bulge out.

You'll get to be yourself soon...

Adelaide lost track of how long she stood there staring at herself in the mirror. She didn't recognize herself anymore. She blinked, terrified of her own reflection. The girl in the mirror looked dead inside. Who was she?

Blinking herself out of it, Adelaide pulled on her clothes — ripped jeans and a white shirt with a black leather jacket — and busied herself with her project. Her mind to wandered to a certain blade that she had hidden in her dresser but she didn't pay it any attention. Nothing good could come from thinking. Soon, Tony and Pepper announced their arrival.

"Adelaide?" Pepper shouted.

"In here!" she shouted back. She was nowhere near finished with her project board and Pepper was going to kill her for sure. There was still lots left to cut and glue and write. She was so screwed.

"Hey," Pepper smiled as she came to stand by the door. Her eyes traveled from the teenager down to the mess spread across the floor that was the project. "What's this? Are you making another trifold for your project?"

"Um...yes and no?" Adelaide winced, "But not yes, so...no."

The teenager watched as the woman's face went from smiling to frowning to angry.

"Are you kidding me? You didn't finish!" she said. Tony appeared beside Pepper, peering into the room curiously.

"Look at this, she didn't finish her project," Pepper complained, crossing her arms across her chest.

"I'm telling you, the Stark gene thing is real," he said, stepping inside, "I did this all the time when I was in school. Nice work, kid."

Pepper gave the billionaire a look and walked into the room, crouching down beside the project.

"Wait a minute – are you okay?" Pepper suddenly asked, making Adelaide look up. She scrunched her nose in confusion.

"Why?"

"You look..."

"Like you got run over by a truck," Tony finished, sitting down on the floor beside Pepper. Adelaide bit her lip, glancing between the two.

"Did you get sick? Why didn't you tell me you were sick? Did you take your temperature? God, did you even take any medicine?" Pepper rambled, reaching over to feel the teenager's forehead. Adelaide realized that she must look worse than she thought.

"I-I'm fine," she said, her voice raspy. Pepper didn't look convinced so Adelaide figured she should change the subject before the woman stuck her in a bed with a thermometer in her mouth.

"You do the gluing," Adelaide told Pepper, and then turned to the billionaire, "And you cut. Oh and make sure you don't write anything with a blue pen in the scientific method section...or was it red? Point is, Happy will go crazy."

"Happy? Happy Hogan?" Tony asked. The teenager shrugged.

"Hurry, because we only have a half an hour," she said and they all began working on the project as fast as they could.

In the middle of it, Adelaide looked up, glancing at the two adults sitting in front of her and a weird sort of feeling settled in her chest. She didn't deserve them. They took her in when they had no idea who she was and they raised her like her parents. She probably would be on the streets without them, maybe even dead by now.

"Thank you," she mumbled quietly. They both stopped, looking up at the teenager.

"Are you talking about your souvenir because we definitely didn't forget to bring you one," Tony said and Adelaide managed a laugh.

She was going to be fine, she realized.

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"Ned, did you finish the coordinated demonstration?" Adelaide asked as they all walked into school together. Ned looked at her with wide eyes.

"I thought you said I had to do the speech, I didn't make a coordinated demonstration!" he said, panicking.

"Oh, right," she said, shaking her head, "Sorry." She needed to get it together before the science fair tonight or all their hard work would be for nothing.

"We're totally gonna win this thing," Peter said, rubbing his hands together. He and Ned high-fived in agreement.

Adelaide managed to finish the board, albeit, it was slightly sloppy towards the end. She was just glad Happy hadn't seen it. He had asked her to show him on the whole ride to the school but she refused.

"Ada?" Peter said, waving his hand in front of her face. She blinked, turning to look at him. She hadn't realized they had stopped walking and she was standing a few steps ahead of them. She half-turned to face them.

"Hm?" she said, raising her eyebrows.

"I asked if you finished the trifold...are you feeling okay? You look..."

"Like someone kicked your puppy," Ned said. Peter gave him a strange look.

"She'd be mad if someone kicked her puppy, Ned," he said. Ned shrugged.

"She would be sad," he argued, "Someone kicked her puppy, Peter. That's really sad."

"Nobody kicked my puppy — I...I'm fine," she sighed, rubbing her face, "I'm just a little tired."

"Well don't fall asleep in Mr. Hans' class," Ned warned as they started walking again, "You do remember what happened last time, right?"

"Like I could forget," she said, cringing at the memory, "he made me stand in front of the class for the rest of the period." That had been highly embarrassing.

"And you fell asleep standing up," Ned laughed and she rolled her eyes. Sometimes it was hard to sleep, other times...not so much.

For some reason, she always found it easy to fall asleep to Mr. Hans' boring lectures. Adelaide didn't think she had the energy to fight with Mr. Hans today so she hoped she didn't fall asleep.

"All students with a trifold board for the Science Fair, please report to the gym to allow the projects to be set up for this evening."

Adelaide swallowed. The last place she wanted to go was the gym. She didn't think she could handle seeing his face again or the eyepatch that apparently she had given him.

As they approached the double doors, she began to quietly panic.

"You guys go, I have to use the restroom," she said, handing the trifold board to Peter. She didn't even stop to her their reply and bolted away from the gym, towards the girls' bathroom. Nobody was inside thankfully and she stood in front of the sink, trying to catch her breath without much success.

She looked up, catching her reflection in the mirror. There was no way she would be able to avoid him forever. What was she going to do when she saw him again? Demand answers? Threaten him with the knife that he gave her? And even if he did answer her questions, how sure was she that she wanted to hear the truth? Was she ready? Would she ever be?

She splashed cold water on her face, trying to calm herself down. There was no use in trying to answer questions she couldn't. But she knew that she wouldn't be able to hide in this bathroom for the rest of the school year and she would have to face him eventually.

She had to go back to the gym. She wasn't going to let him control her life. He had already made her worry herself sick, she wasn't going to let him ruin her project. Besides, it wasn't just her project; it was Ned's and Peter's too and she needed to be there with them. Wiping her face, she took a deep breath and stepped out of the bathroom.

Just get through today, she told herself as she walked towards the gym. His words began echoing in her mind again against her will. Even after she had spent all night thinking about it, nothing he said had made any sense to her.

How much longer would she be able to make it without answers? She had spent a whole year here trying to get answers and now that she was finally getting them, she was too scared to hear them.

Adelaide realized how ridiculous that sounded. Graves had answers. He knew about her past. Maybe he even knew who killed her parents. All she had to do was face him. Maybe he could answer her questions. The question was, did she really want to know the truth?

She was standing in front of the gym now, with her hand over the door. With a deep breath to calm her nerves, she pushed the door open and walked inside. The gym had transformed into a project display room. The teachers had set up tables in a semi circle formation to display the projects and there was a big banner hanging from the ceiling that read Midtown High Science Fair. Adelaide spotted Ned and Peter standing in line with their backs to her, relatively close to the front.

She couldn't see Graves anywhere, she realized. Maybe he was in his office. She contemplated her choices. Either she could force him to give her answers and hope that she could live with it, or she could pretend that last night never happened and continue to live in oblivion.

She was already halfway to his office behind the gym before she realized that her subconscious had already made the decision for her.

The air in her lungs grew thinner as she approached his office. Was this it? Was she finally going to get her answers? Was she going to figure out why there were 13 years of her life that she couldn't remember?

From afar, she could tell that the lights were off but she knocked nonetheless. There was no going back now.

Adelaide waited impatiently but no one answered. She tried the doorknob, knowing that it was probably locked because he rarely left his office unlocked but the door pushed open to her surprise. Adelaide stepped inside, looking around the small, dark office.

He wasn't there.

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A/N: What's that I hear? Oh, you don't like cliffhangers? Well, that's too bad ;)

Question: Who do you think will win the Science Fair?

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