fireball ✯ peter parker

❝ TWO ❞

I woke up to the sounds of sirens, conversations, and weeping. I didn't remember much, but I was surrounded by paramedics who seemed quite concerned about my wellbeing.

"I can't believe she's still alive. Call the deputy!" A woman with an NYPD uniform shouted. I tried to get up but was met with a wave of pain which overtook my entire body, as well as the grip of two officers pinning me down to the floor. I tried to shout in pain but no words seemed to escape my mouth. "Don't even think about moving, delinquent." Delinquent? What the hell did that mean? What happened?

"What?" I mumbled, but instantly met with a coughing fit, making my insides ache much more than they already did. Before the deputy was able to answer, everything turned to black.

-

I woke up in an isolated room. There were no windows and only one direct source of light above me. I was sitting on a metal chair, in front of a metal table - which happened to be the only pieces of furniture in the room. Confused and concerned about where I was, I tried to get up but was yanked back down when I realized that I had been handcuffed to the table. I looked around, trying to get the slightest hint about where I was being held. Had I been kidnapped? Was I in the basement of some madman who had plans to murder me and sell me for parts?

"I see you've woken up." I turned my head to the left to see a man come in through a metal door. He turned around and locked it, almost as if he was afraid I might run out of the room, even though I was already handcuffed to a table. He was an old man, perhaps in his late fifties, with a crisp black suit and a black shirt underneath, around his neck was a badge which spelled out NYPD. I looked at it, confused. Why was I handcuffed in a room with an NYPD officer? "You don't need to pretend to be confused on what you did, Healix. You've been detained. There's nothing more to hide. Just say the truth."

"What, What are you talking about?" I questioned, shutting my eyes in a desperate attempt to get the piercing headache which had found its way to the back of my head settle down. The man sighed and put both his hands on the table and leaned towards me, almost as if he were sick of me already. I instinctively leaned back, keeping as much distance as possible between us. What did he mean when he said I'd been detained? Why the hell was I even arrested in the first place?

"Don't play dumb sweetie." He tilted his head to the side and I clenched my jaw. I absolutely hated when anyone called me sweetie. It felt patronizing and ingenuine. "This isn't my first rodeo, and you aren't the first criminal who has claimed ignorance. Just do us all a favor, make it easier for everyone, and admit to what you've done."

"I didn't do anything," I explained, taking my free hand from the handcuffs and rubbing my eyes. "I honestly have no idea what is going on."

The man chuckled. "Yeah, and I'm Oprah Winfrey." I just stared at him for that desperate attempt at a joke and sarcasm. I didn't find it funny, nor did I find it an appropriate time to be joking around. I still didn't understand why the hell I was here. When I didn't answer, he just looked at me, almost with a look of pity in his eyes. "Have they ever harmed you in any way?"

"Who?" I asked, confused. Had who harmed me? I didn't have the slightest clue on what was going on.

"Your family. Have they ever acted in a way of violence or malicious intent?" He cocked his head to the side, exposing some of his gray hairs which indicated he must have been doing this for a while. "Is that the reason why you killed them, Healix?"

I felt a wave of sickness rush through my body. "What? My, my family is dead?" I felt my breathing began to come at a faster rate, and tears began to find their way out of my eyes. I looked up at the man who was interrogating me. "I, I promise you, I would never kill anyone in my family, ever!" My mind began to spin in many different directions. Was my family dead? Had someone killed them? Had they thought that I had done such a thing?

Then I realized.

The fire.

"You set them on fire, Healix. Quite a violent thing to do. Must've put them through a hell of a lot of pain. Did you want to see them suffer, little girl?" The man sat on the table and looked at me, almost as if he was able to read the guilt all over my face. I shook my head immediately. I still wasn't able to process the idea that my family was dead. I thought they'd maybe gotten out in time. Tears flowed freely from my eyes at the thought of my family burning alive.

"I swear I didn't-" but I was cut off before I could continue my plea. I had no idea what he was talking about. I was in my room the whole time when the fire had taken place, then jumped out the window. I looked down at my arms, which were covered in scars and stitches, which I assumed had been done when I was passed out.

"We've got an eye-witness; your neighbor saw the whole thing go down. She was the one who called our squad in. There is no reason to lie to me." I looked at him shocked.

"This doesn't make any sense," I stated simply, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Let me spell it out for you since you seem to have issues with simple sentences. Your neighbor saw you have a fight with your mother. She saw you slam the door and start the fire. She said she saw you start the flames." I stared at him blankly, feeling my stomach dropped. What if I had actually done it? Why would I have done it? How would I have done it? The flame started when I slammed the door, so it must've been my fault.

I felt the headache that was pulsing my brain grow stronger until I felt everything go black. a couple seconds later, I was greeted by a memory which I didn't know I had stored in the very back of my mind.

-
ELEVEN YEARS AGO

I was sitting on a chair near the kitchen table, staring blankly at my hands, knowing the power they contain, the damage they could do. I had accidentally killed our cat, Whiskers. I- I had just gotten so angry and it all had happened so fast- all I remembered was a bright orange light and she was burnt to a crisp. My father found me crying with my childhood pet in my arms.

My mother came and sat on the chair beside me, intertwining her hands with my tiny ones. "Healix. You must control your power. You cannot comprehend the magnitude of the force you possess. This power is stronger than you. It's stronger than both of us. You must contain the flame."
-
I opened my eyes, almost as if out of a gaze. Confused by the memory I had just seemed to remember, I couldn't help but worry. The headache seemed to fade away, and I was left with an unsettling feeling. I didn't remember having a pet cat, and I felt as if I'd sure as hell remember if I'd killed it.

I looked up, expecting to see the man who had been asking me questions earlier but instead was greeted with a different one.

"Healix, is it?" He was wearing sunglasses indoors and was wearing a suit which looked incredibly expensive. Great, I thought. Probably here to bring me to my jail cell to rot for the next twenty-five years. I nodded, adjusting my position on the chair so that my knees were brought up to my chin. "Don't be scared, I come in peace!" He joked, putting up his hands almost as if to convince me. I scrunched my eyebrows together, looking at him wearily.

"So you're not here to take me to a jail cell where I'll spend the rest of my life in?"

The man just chuckled and placed his hands in the pocket of his black blazer. "Absolutely not. Jail cells are so 2012, I'm thinking more of a modern, technologically advanced loft."

I looked at the man in confusion. "I'm not going to jail?" I felt a wave of relief wash over my body, but that was instantly gone when I remembered the fact that I was somehow involved in the death of my family. Maybe I deserved to stay here and rot in a cell for the rest of my life.

"No jail for you, kid. Think of coming with me as a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn how to kick some ass and control whatever you've got going on with those hands of yours." I tilted my head and looked down at my fingers, which I had been anxiously playing with the past couple minutes. "I'm Tony Stark, and I'm going to be your new mentor."