𝐏𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 (marvel fanfic)

Chapter 15

Sarah watched with cold eyes the fire spread in her apartment as the alarm blared through the building. The smoke was already all over, completely masking her movements from sights. A thin sheet of water covered her mouth and nose preventing the smoke from entering her body. The fire would prevent any heat cameras from detecting her moves while the smoke took care of the visuals so she quickly took all her hidden stashes of weapons, medicines, and money before jumping out of the window into a dark alleyway and disappearing into the darkness. A wooden mask was left alone to burn in the flames, forever forgotten.

Still dressed in her work attire, she took a quick trip to a nearby river and buried her essentials, only taking her money with her. "It's going to be raining," she commented to herself, glancing up at the dark clouds forming. The perfect weather for her mood. As the first droplets fell on her bare skin, she felt her mood become better. Her senses sharpened drastically, and she felt safer like the whole city was under her control. Nothing could dampen her mood, not even the siren blasting through the city nor the giant screen that started broadcasting news of spiderman disappearing in the middle of a fight. She felt a headache forming as the info fully registered.

To add to that, her phone started ringing. She stared blankly at the screen displaying "Peter's aunt". Her finger hovered over the red button, the bright and smiling button tempting her heavily. In the end, she brought her phone to her ear to greet the unwelcome guest. And just as she had expected, a worried voice came through.

"Good evening Ms. Cano, I'm sorry to bother you this late but I'm very concerned about Peter, he should already be back, but when I tried to call him earlier, his phone was turned off. Since he was with you today, I thought you might know something about his whereabouts?" May anxiously asked, a hearable tremor in her voice.

That made no sense, which normal teacher would be aware of her student's locations after classes. Sarah could only suppose May made the assumption on the basis of the 'close' relationship they had previously displayed.

Sarah sighed, she was in too deep now, she couldn't backtrack. "He was held back by a teacher, don't worry, I'll accompany him back to your home, safe and sound." Her voice was warm and resolute, calming the worried aunt and reassuring her.

"I trust you Ms. Cano, thank you." Aunt May tightly gripped her phone and profusely thanked the teacher for going beyond what she was paid for.

Sarah hung up, and groaned at the thought of the sleepless night she would have to suffer through. All because she couldn't close an eye and ignore her irrational sense of guilt. She had no idea why she felt that foolish sense of responsibility for the teenager but she did and she would have to endure the consequences of it. It had long become evident to her; she wasn't heartless enough to let him die nor selfless enough to cut him off. She enjoyed his company, his bright disposition, and his foolish sense of justice that sharply contrasted with her own.

With reluctance, she would have to put her hero cape back on. With her dark hair billowing in the wind, she overlooked the city, letting the rainwater carry her to float over the city. According to the news, he was last seen fighting a gang, he had probably messed with a mafia group. Though most had been eradicated by Stark and his group, some still managed to remain hidden, crouching beneath the radar and waiting for an opportune moment to surge back up. Unfortunately, they had messed with the wrong teenager.

She glided with ease through the back alleys, quickly enough finding a lackey and forcing a parasite in his brain. She usually didn't really like using this ability of hers as it meant her victim was meant to die within the next hours but for once she had no care for the victims it would cause.

Within the next hour, she traveled from lairs to lairs, leaving no traces of her passage, getting rid of those that suspected anything about her identity but remaining hidden for most. Finally, she was brought to an underground lair as usual filled with the smell of illegal substances and an underlying smell of blood.

Sarah pulled her hood lower, gazing with disgust at the lust and greed blatantly displayed all around. She followed her guide under the prying eyes of the members, semi-awake through the mist. With a sense of urgency, she walked down the stairs and frowned as the smell of blood became more pungent. "Faster," she threatened coldly, mercilessly making the parasite move in his brain.

When she set foot on the last floor, she was hit with the flashbacks of a time when she too was contained in similar cells and she felt her fury rise up. Screams and pleas were a constant melody, along with the sounds of whips and metallic strikes. It wasn't hard to imagine what was happening here, hidden from sight.

Her gaze stopped on the last cell, where a small teenager was, dressed in his bright costume, looking around, no doubt trying to figure out a way to escape. He seemed very disturbed by the sounds he was hearing around him. When he heard her approaching steps, he raised his guard, preparing for the worst. The person who approached him was masked, a long cape hiding their figure, yet he couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity with this person, his instincts told him he knew them.

The guard opened his cell door and he cautiously stepped out, glancing at the glazed look of the guard before staring at his savior. "Why did you save me," he asked behind his own mask. Fortunately, his spiderman attire though a bit torn still hid his own identity. He wasn't too injured, save for a few bruises and cuts here and there. The only reason he was caught so easily was because they used sleeping gas.

"No time for that, we have to leave," Sarah commanded, the longer they dwelled behind the higher the chances of people she didn't want to see surging up.

"Can we-" Peter tentatively asked, glancing at the people huddled up in the other cells, scars littering their bodies.

Sarah had already examined them, their eyes were empty, broken even, all traces of their former selves gone. She could easily see the faint spots, tell-tale signs of the countless drugs injected in their blood veins. They were too far gone, at this point, they were as good as dead.

"The Police is on its way, don't worry," she lied easily, presenting him with a pretty lie that would pacify him, "But I doubt you'd want to stay here to greet them, right?"

Seeing him shake his head with renewed vigor, she nodded and left through the back door, as she turned around, she saw the faint unwillingness in her docile guard's eyes. He seemed scared of the repercussions he would suffer from his boss. Though he wouldn't have to worry much longer about that. When she was already a good few miles away, water surged to gobble them all up, leaving them to drown to death, forever silent about what happened that night. Just like that, a whole mafia group disappeared.

"Go back home, your aunt is worried about you," Sarah notified him, throwing him the phone they had taken from him. They were in another dark alley, so she took off her hood, revealing her identity, "Tell her you stayed late because of a teacher and that I brought you home."

Peter's mouth opened and closed, he tried to talk but he stumbled upon his words, shock coursing through his body. "Wait, how, why, what?"

She stared unimpressed at him before answering, "I saved that man once, he owned me so I simply cashed that favor, don't think too much about it. Your aunt called me saying you disappeared and when I saw the news, I recognized that mafia group."

Peter understood the perfect logic but he couldn't help but feel like it was a lie, still, he profusely thanked her, he didn't know what would have happened to him otherwise. At least, his identity as a superhero was still safe, for now.

"Another thing, tomorrow, meet me at the plaza." She announced more than asked, it was a weekend anyway. "And you should tell your aunt about your little night activities." She still threw him a bag of clothes she brought before leaving him in front of his apartment door.

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For those who requested an update on my profile when I asked! (ﾉ'ヮ')ﾉ*: ･ﾟ