MAGIC TRICKS [PETER PARKER]

FIFTY-TWO

"DID I EVER TELL YOU I'm afraid of heights?" Nadia said, her heart hammering in her chest. Peter, who had one arm wrapped tight around her waist where he stuck himself on the side of the plane, narrowed his new suit's eyes at her. "You can fly, though."

"Yeah, okay, fair point," she answered, squeezing her eyes shut as the plane dipped a little. Nadia held tight onto Peter's arm. "I guess it's really a fear of falling. I had a dream once I fell out of the sky and accidentally killed The Rock." She blinked up at him with wide doe eyes, saying in a tiny voice, "Don't drop me."

"I gotcha," Peter chuckled in reply, squeezing her closer to his body. The plane zipped through the sky as they rapidly approached London.

"All right, comms check. Can you hear me?" Happy asked, from inside the cockpit.

"I can," Nadia squeaked in response, looking at him through the window. Peter nodded in agreement. "It's a little loud out here, though."

"I like the new suit. You guys match," commented Happy. "You're looking a little green in the face there, Stevens."

Nadia lifted her hand just enough to give him the middle finger, though terror ran through her. Before Happy could give a snarky reply, his attention was on the swirling storm that hovered over London- the final "Elemental." "Woah. You guys sure that's not real?"

"Yeah," Peter answered. "It's just... 100 times bigger than I expected."

"Still the play?"

"Yep. We need to get high enough so Beck doesn't see us coming," Peter confirmed. Happy nodded. Nadia felt sick to her stomach. "Oh, God. Higher? Seriously?"

"Copy. Stay sticky."

Suddenly, the plane was tilted upwards, soaring higher into the sky to try and get above the black storm ahead of them. As they approached where Peter had decided they were going to jump off, he held Nadia tighter and chose to distract with a question towards Happy. "Hey, Happy?"

"Yeah, kid. What is it?"

"We need to have a serious conversation about you and my aunt!"

Before Nadia knew what was happening, Peter had pushed off the side of the jet, and they were falling into the black clouds. She screamed, clutching onto Peter with such a ferocity he was afraid she tear into his new suit with her nails, but finally she grasped the fact that- duh- she could fly. She willed white energy to surround them both, propelling them to swoop around towards the center of the big fire, water, earth, air monster that tormented the bridge. "It's not real, it's not real, its not real!" Peter shouted into her ear, right before they passed through into the center of the illusion, where all the bots moved around. Nadia gave a sigh of relief. "Oh, God. Okay, here we go," she said, releasing him from her side to float next to him. "Time to smash some drones. You got this on your own, Spider-Man?"

Peter nodded, and she let the energy that surrounded him disappear. He dropped a bit, before landing on one of the drones, starting to hook a string of taser webs around a good number of them. Nadia took one of the drones nearest her and slung it into another, both creating a small explosion, instantly dropping from the air. She continued to do this, until Peter had also destroyed a number of them, and the illusion around them had numerous holes in it.

Suddenly, Peter was swinging himself right in front of her. "I see Beck! Could I get a lift?"

"You got it!" Nadia caught him with a ball of energy, raising him into the air and propelling them forwards, toward where he had spotted Beck standing on the bridge. Just as Nadia was bracing herself for them to smash through the windows-