poison | parker | book one

CHAPTER EIGHT

[POISON]

•

"Misses Zollas, it is a pleasure to meet you after all this time," Tony said over the headset. He got the helicopter off the ground and out of range of the capo. "My name is Tony Stark. You might know me as Iron Man. We've been observing your predicament for awhile now, and I apologize it took us so long to step in. I apologize for any harm you or your daughter have sustained."

She acknowledge him by humming.

"We will provide you housing and hospitality until we get the mob under control, preferably behind bars. Do you have any questions or comments? We can go more in-depth at the tower, so Mari can be there."

"Where is she? Where is my daughter?"

"Mari was there the whole time, Misses Zollas. She shifted-"

"I know that. Where is she now? Where was she before this?"

"Right now she is with Spider-Man, safely on the way to meet us," Natasha said, lighting up Nina. "Before this, she was in our safe hands. It was our idea she came here and lie to you. It was for your safety."

"My safety?"

"Ma'am, let's please wait until we can talk this all through in a formal manner," Tony urged from the cockpit. The tower was in sight, a huge relief.

Mama huffed. "Fine."

Nina asked Natasha about Spider-Man. "You can meet him for yourself," Natasha said with a maternal glow. "It'll be exciting," she smiled in the uncomfortable circumstances.

•

Mari sat next to Peter on the sofa. She leaned her forearms onto her thighs, trying to ground herself.

Peter sat a bit more comfortably. He sat upright. His mask was off and he ran his gloved right hand through his hair ever so often.

Tony had been trying to get Mari's mother to sit down and talk it all through.

"...Mister Stark, you must know why I'm angry! My daughters could have died."

"Mama, that wasn't their fault," Nina spoke up. "It was the bad guys' fault." She sat on the footrest in front of Mari and Peter.

"Nina, hush," Mari mumbled softly.

"And she's been here all this time? She lied to me, you made her lie to me."

"For your safety, ma'am," Tony stated calmly. "She couldn't have told you because there would've been nothing you could have done. Messy things like this run their course, then we step in. It isn't ideal, but with the abrupt short notice it was all we could have done."

Mama looked at Mari for some sort of explanation and Mari pieced his words together in her native tongue.

Mama sat next to Nina. She absently patted Nina's hair. She spoke a number of calm, Spanish words to Mari and Nina. Then she stopped.

"Translation?" Tony asked with patience.

"Misses Zollas said that she appreciates your hospitality," Natasha said from leaning in the doorway. "She apologizes for misinterpreting your protective nature. She appreciates that you protected Mari and did your best to extinguish the situation at hand. She's sorry for assuming you, and we, were all bad."

The Zollases looked at Natasha, eyebrows cocked.

Natasha shrugged. "I've studied and learned many languages."

Tony acknowledged Mama's statement before he looked around the room. "How does dinner sound? I'm thinking Chinese food to celebrate."

Mari laughed exhaustedly. "Why not?"

Tony smiled and the group dispersed.

Mari stood again, and hugged her mother and sister. "I love you, and I'm sorry."

"Solo bueno, ahora."

"Mari?" Nina whispered coarsely. Mari squatted to get closer to her. Nina got close to her ear and whispered: "Can you and Mama leave Spider-Man and I alone for a minute?"

"No way, little weirdo." Mari rolled her eyes. Mama and Nina joined the bulk of the group in the kitchen-dining room and Mari welcomed the silence between her and Peter.

"So, what happened?"

"We went in; the man threatened to kill us all if Tony called the cops; he had bad guards; and we escaped when I pretended to be one of their sorry asses." She shrugged.

"I'm glad it worked out. They wouldn't have liked having to deal with me."

"No?" She raised an eyebrow.

He grinned. "How's your brother?"

"Shit," she sucked in a breath, "I forgot to call him."

She pulled out her phone and dialed his number. She stood and walked over to the quieter window. Peter watched her, recognized her mouth moving, but lacked the audio.

In a few minutes of mutely studying her, she hung up.

"He's at the sandwich shop. They called him when I was still there, and he arrived when we left. They have him. They said if I don't come back within the hour, alone, they'll shoot him dead."

Peter stood and approached her. She didn't back up.

"Let's go, then. Grab your coat. We'll keep it quiet, just you and me."

"I don't know if I can..."

"You're on those meds, now. Together we can take them. You took them on your own."

"But we had a safety net."

"I'll be your safety net, then." His lips perked in a crooked smile.

"Okay."

They snuck out to the landing pad and she felt the coolness of the night sink into her skin and seep into her bones.

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

They ran to the edge of the landing pad, he pulled her torso to his, and they fell and spun through the sky in a grand show. Plummeting toward the busy street below, she breathed him into her lungs.

Poison, she thought.

If he were a poisonous spider, and I were a bird, I'd be dead.

He extended a web. "Don't be scared."

"I'm not."