Maya Stark

Chapter 32: Explosions

It could have been worse. I go flying back, the web not doing much to keep me in place. The force field may have left the plane in pretty good shape, but it only made my impact with the ground worse. It pushed me back farther and I landed really hard a little behind Parker. I struggled to take my mask off, struggling to breathe. My ears were ringing again, and I was disoriented and tired. This was turning into a bad day. I stagger to my feet in time to see suit guy coming right towards Parker, who is thrown into me. I gasp for air as both of us struggle to our feet again. Sparks fly from the guy's suit, making it clear that he's suffered damages too.

'Hey Pedro,' he said.

He flies at us again and Parker and I roll under him. Parker shoots a web but misses, so I attempt some magic, though I know I'm weak. Before I could do anything, the guy punched Parker with the wing, throwing him aside. Both of my arms get pinned to my stomach. I scream slightly as the claws dig into my skin. He punched me twice in the face, making me see stars, already weak. He then flies me up into the sky. Parker shoots a web at him, but it's high enough that when he drops me, all my breath is knocked out of my body.

Blood drips from my cheek all the way down to my chin. My eyesight is blurry and black dots plague my vision. My stomach, where the claws were, stung horribly and I couldn't catch my breath. My vision clears slightly, and I see suit guy slam Parker into the ground. I watch, pretty helpless, as suit guy lifts Parker by the hood of his Spiderman costume. He just holds him there until he spots something in the distance. He lets go of Parker and I struggle to lift my head. I watch suit guy lift up a crate. I cough, pointing my face down at the sand and spit blood out of my mouth. Suit guy tried to carry off with the box and sparks rain down from his suit. He doesn't seem to notice.

'Your wing suit,' Parker mumbled, lifting his head. 'your wing suit's gonna explode!' Lifting his arm slowly, he shoots a strand of web at the crate and gets to his feet to pull.

'Time to go home, Pete,' he said.

'I'm trying to save you!' said Parker.

Sound goes in and out of my ears. I spit more blood out of my mouth, my lip is bleeding a lot. Suit guy cuts the web with his wing and tries to fly off again. Parker tries to shoot a web, but his web shooters were out. The wing suit falls, and I shakily lift my hands, hoping to make a force field; but quickly give up on the attempt. The suit crashes to the ground, an explosion consuming the suit and Liz's dad.

'No,' Parker said, struggling to his feet.

I wince, but also manage to get to my feet. I wipe my chin with the back of my hand and Parker and I limp towards the crash. We spot the suit and Parker tries to lift it off Liz's dad but winces as he makes contact. It's metal and there's fire, it's hot. He looks at me and I take a deep breath, managing to make enough energy to lift away the suit. Parker carries the guy away from the flames, laying him down on the sand, Parker lying next to him. I cough from the smoke and blood continues to drip from my lip. I wipe my chin and basically fall on the ground across from Parker as I try to steady my breathing.

Parker gets up from the ground, holding onto his shoulder before offering me a hand. I hesitate before taking it, not thinking I'd be able to stand. I grip his arm to steady myself as black dots dance around my vision again. We look around at the fires and the crashed plane. The overall destruction.

'You okay?' he asked, his voice strained. I nod slightly. 'You have a nasty cut on your cheek.'

'Thanks, Parker, I didn't know that,' I said, my voice barely above a whisper. He cracks a smile at the sarcasm.

'Yeah, you're fine,' he said, making me roll my eyes.

With the strength I didn't think I had, we rounded all the crates that weren't burned and tied Liz's dad there with webs. We left a note for Happy that said, "FOUND FLYING VULTURE GUY. SPIDERMAN AND THE SHADOW. P.S. SORRY ABOUT YOUR PLANE". We also get our masks back. Then we go and sit on top of the cyclone, watching the cleanup crew. I had a couple small claw marks on my stomach that weren't all that bad. The cut on my cheek was the worst. I managed to rip a part of my sleeve, with the help of Parker, to clean up my face. My whole body burned, and I was in a lot of pain.

'Thanks for coming so fast,' Parker said.

'You seemed like you needed the help,' I said with a smirk. 'Not that I did much.'

'You lessened the impact of the airplane,' he said. 'It's not like I was much help after getting slammed into the ground, I wasn't expecting you to be either.'

I smile slightly as we watch the police and Happy at the beach. 'Yeah, well that guy packed a mean punch.'

'You going to the new compound tonight?' he asked.

'Yeah, I'll probably go with Happy,' I said. 'I'm basically already moved in. We just had to fix a really big hole in the floor.'

'A hole?'

'Wanda,' I said.

'Is it weird? Without everyone, I mean.'

I look up at the stars, already seeing some constellations. It was pretty tonight. 'It's...an adjustment. We're all getting there.'

'Sorry for how much trouble I've caused you, Maya,' he said, looking at me.

'It's fine,' I said. 'My dad knows I'm adjusting. It'll be fine.'