A STORM IS BREWING | PERCY JACKSON

Chapter Fourteen

Peter quietly approached the bridge where the explosion had come from. A group of men were standing around the back of a van and Peter had to hold back a gasp when he saw the tech that one of the men was showing off. It looked exactly like what the ATM robbers had.

He clung to the wall and listened as the men explained the different weapons they had in the back of the van. He jumped as his phone started ringing. He tried to quickly silence it after seeing that it was Ned calling. However, the damage was done and the two dealers had turned on the third man, thinking he had set them up. Peter didn't have to think twice as he jumped between them. The man may have been a criminal, but he didn't deserve to die.

"Hey!" He exclaimed, as he dropped down. "If you're going to shoot someone, shoot me!"

One of the men smirked before turning the weapon on him and firing. Peter felt the brunt force of the weapon hit him and then he was being thrown back into the wall. He was grateful for the mask at that moment because it prevented him from getting a mouthful of dirt after he fell to the ground. He looked up and both cars were pulling away. He quickly shot a web at the van, letting the other man go.

The dull ache in his chest persisted as he was dragged along the ground. There was a ringing in the back of his head before he instinctively dodged an incoming shot from one of the weapons. Peter managed to knock it out of the man's hands causing it to fly away from the van. He just managed to see where it landed before he was being dragged down the street again.

This time the van swerved in an attempt to knock him off. Peter hit three trash cans and a mailbox before he fell. He managed to duck into a roll at the very last second that absorbed most of the impact. He watched the van speed away before swinging after it. Peter crashed through about five more houses, startling twice as many people, before he caught up to the van. He was just about to jump onto the roof when the he was lifted into the air. Peter looked up and saw a humanoid figure with wings and glowing green eyes carrying him.

For a second, he thought that Alecto had decided to come after him again before dismissing the thought. Uncle Hades liked him now, he wouldn't send the Furies after him. He tried to take another look at the thing carrying him. It was obvious now that the thing was human. The green eyes were part of a mask and the wings... the wings caused a sharp pang to shoot through his chest as he remembered Daedalus. The pang increased but this time it was was because the air was stinging his skin harshly as the masked man took him higher into the sky.

Percy cursed himself as he started thrashing in the man's grip. He had let himself get caught up in his memories and lost a few vital seconds. Now, he was high enough that if he fell he would have a few broken bones. He glanced down and grinned. Maybe he wouldn't end up injured after all.

The man had flew him at least five hundred feet into the air before he stopped. Percy froze as he stared into the bright green eyes on the mask for a few seconds before he was released. Percy felt his stomach flip as he fell through the sky. A parachute came out of his suit but he was dropping so fast that it just ended getting wrapped around his body uselessly.

He hit the water with a large splash. Immediately he felt reenergized, the water working to heal the cuts and bruises he had gained. He quickly got free of the parachute and started swimming towards where he thought the shore was. He had barely made it twenty feet when something else shot into the lake and picked him up. He started thrashing again before he saw the familiar iron suit and stopped. He cursed in his head. He was not looking forward to the conversation he was about to have.

Stark dropped him off at the shore line and Peter stumbled as he regained his footing. Stark hovered slightly above him, the suit managing to give off an air of disapproval.

"How'd you find me?"

"I put everything in that suit. Including this heater," Stark answered vaguely.

Percy pulled uncomfortably at the neck of his suit. He was already dry because of his powers and the heater provided an extra uncomfortable warmth. Plus, he didn't like the thought of Stark being able to control the features on his suit.

"What were you thinking?" Stark asked.

Peter furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "The guy with wings is the source of the weapons. I gotta take him down. What did you expect me to do?"

Stark scoffed, "Take him down now, huh? Peter, there are people who handle this sort of thing."

Peter looked at the billionaire incredulously, "Like who? The Avengers? Oh wait, they don't exist anymore. You didn't have to come out here, you know. I had that."

Stark floated down a bit. The visor of the suit opened to reveal that no one was piloting it. "Can we stop with the sass? I'm not here. You should be glad this place has Wi-Fi or you would be toast right now. Look, forget the flying vulture guy. Please."

Percy felt his blood start to boil as Stark spoke. The man couldn't even deign to be there in person and then he was treating Percy like he was a child. Which, admittedly Stark thought he was because of the Mist, but it was still annoying.

"Why?" Peter asked heatedly.

"Why? Because I said so! Stay close to the ground. Build up your game helping little people, like that lady that bought you the churro. Can't you just be a friendly... ...neighborhood Spider-Man?" Stark tried to explain.

The anger in Percy continued to grow. "I'm ready for more than that now."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am! Mr. Stark when we first met you asked me why I put on the suit and I told you it was because I could do things other people couldn't so it was my job to make sure they stayed safe. Someone once told me that with great power comes great responsibility. There's a man out there now who can do things that most people can't and he's using his abilities to hurt people. I have to be the one to stop him because no one else is willing or is able to," Percy explained to the older man.

He heard a soft sigh come out of the suit. "Trust me, kid. You have your whole life ahead of you. Focus on school. Call Happy if you come across anymore of these weapons."

Before Peter could respond the suit flew away, leaving him standing there. He let out a scream of frustration before turning and swinging away. He didn't care what Tony Stark said, he was going to find the Vulture and make sure he faced justice.

Another chapter! Sorry for not posting for so long even though I promised to try and have a more normal updating schedule but I recently had a death in the family and I didn't feel like posting or doing anything. I have another chapter already written so there will definitely be an update next week but after that it might be another couple of weeks before I can update again. My goal is to have this book finished by the time Endgame comes out but we'll see. I do plan on making a sequel to this.

What did you guys think of Into the Spider-Verse? I loved the soundtrack and animation style for the movie. I think it might be my favorite Spider-Man movie to date so we'll see if Miles makes an appearance later on in the book ;)

Thank you for the votes and reads! We are officially past 25k!

<3 S