Spider-Man: Nobody Home (18+)

Chapter 49: Birthmark

Peter looked around at the time frozen city in terror. His mind trying to make sense of all this. They always knew this day was coming, no matter how much they both tried not to think about it. Now it was here and Peter didn't feel any more prepared than they were when they first met.

He looked over at Raven and noticed her expression. Her sorrowful gaze looked like she wanted to cry as she awaited his response.

Quickly he swallowed his fear and took a step closer to her.

"We're gonna make it through this." He assured her caringly. "We just need to figure out a game plan is all."

"You don't get it!" she protested, her voice cracking with sorrow. "There IS no way to stop it. It was foretold." Peter looked off in thought after that, but didn't say anything back.

Suddenly the wall of the factory was blasted out in a fiery explosion and Slade emerged from the flames, casually walking toward them, his eyes fixed on them both. Peter clenched his fist and stood in front of Raven, ready to fight.

"Don't make me call Ghostbusters on your sorry ass!" Peter shouted.

Slade, however, kept marching toward them. "Ah there it is. The clever quips. I was beginning to think you had lost your charm, Peter."

"You should learn not to doubt me." Peter replied, before webbing both of Slade's feet to the asphalt, stopping him in his tracks.

Then he sling shotted himself at Slade, landing with a powerful punch to Slade's chest, only for the villain to swat him back to Raven in a fiery blast. Raven caught Peter in her arms and looked him over, noticing his suit had been badly burned, exposing his skin along the sleeves and mask.

"I have a message for you," Slade said as he freed himself from Peter's webs, "and I will deliver it, whether you like it or not."

Raven's eyes glowed white and Peter leapt to his feet. With a wave of the hand she threw a car at Slade, followed by another. Thinking quickly, she turned around and opened a portal behind them.

"Through here!" She shouted to Peter.

"You first!" He shouted, squaring off against Slade as he melted through the first car, followed by the second

"Theres no time!" She shouted, grabbing him with her powers and shoving him into the portal.

She looked over her shoulder with a gasp and saw Slade breaking out into a sprint toward her. Then, suddenly a web shot out from the other side of the portal and pulled her through, with the portal closing promptly behind her. She landed in Peter's arms and he quickly threw off his tattered mask and looked her over with a worried look.

Raven's eyes widened and she blushed at the feeling of him holding her close. She could feel her heart rate subtly increasing like butterflies.

"Are you okay?" He asked worriedly

"Y-Yeah." she said, still blushing as she stood back up. Then she cleared her throat awkwardly after enjoying such closeness. "Thank you."

"No problem." He replied as they both turned and started walking hurriedly through the streets.

He looked around, noticing she had brought them both to the opposite side of the city. His heart ached with the desire to fix everything for Raven, but he was helpless to do so.

"S-so do you have a plan?" he asked as he followed closely by Raven's side, keeping a watchful eye at their surroundings.

Raven let out a defeated sigh and shook her head. "No..." she stopped in her tracks and looked back at him apologetically. "Look... Peter... You should probably get away from me..." Peter snapped his head around with a shocked look at that. "Seriously." she pleaded. "I can't let you get hurt because of me."