fearless || peter parker

ten || a blessing, and a curse

That Friday, on the twenty-third, I was left for the third time in a row to go do some Nightmare business without Nitara.

At first, it was weird. I initially struggled when I was putting my mask on around my hair, and then when deciding what shoes to wear with it. As it turned out, I had no black ones, not even sandals, so I had to break into Madison's shoe closet. I got my hands on a pair of black Nikes, which looked like they were worth more than me, and couldn't help but wonder where she'd come across them. I'd never seen her in them.

Maybe they were Mom's.

Shamelessly, I slipped them on. It was better if they got some wear and tear, just not so much to be noticeable. I'd keep the damage to a minimum.

While it was still light out, I kept it to walks down side streets and alleyways that were never busy, if possible. Getting noticed could mean someone ringing the cops on me. So, as much as I hated alleyways, I tried to remember that I was the one with the power. I could defend myself just fine, and help others just as much. Like that blond kid at Midtown. I wondered how the thugs that cornered him were enjoying the police station.

For a dingy street in Queens at dusk, there wasn't much going on. I hadn't even heard sirens by the time the sun dipped below the horizon, which was my cue to swing up onto the nearest fire escape and take it to the rooftops.

I only used one trail to jump up, but it was enough to light up the whole alley. I landed with a clang, so if the residents of this building didn't already see me, they definitely heard me. I wasted no time in running up the escape until I got to the top, where there was nothing but vociferous wind, baked cement, and the faintest echo of a sunset.

I took my time jumping over the rooftops until I got to the corner the Deli was on. The lights in the front of the store were off, but I could see Murph lounging on the window counter. The streetlights flicked on, one row at a time down the street, and they rippled against the cat's fur through the glass.

Murph was watching the cars go by. There weren't many, and they all came by in bunches, no uniformly. Maybe the traffic lights were out of synch, but either way, traffic was once again dying down.

So much so, that I figured it would be safe to cross through the air at the intersection without being a distraction to drivers.

I spent most of my time on the business streets. I passed the Queens Diner a couple times, and could see Marty at the cash through the windowpanes as I stood on the edge of a roof. It didn't look busy.

I couldn't shake Nitara's words earlier of Peter from my head.

I mean, Peter was being odd at school, but that didn't mean that he worked with Vulture. We were sophomores, for the love of all things, and I didn't think that the Vulture, a weapon-loaded crime lord, had the time nor energy to fraternize with fifteen-year olds.

Fifteen-year olds that were on his side, anyway.

I sighed through my mask. Vulture had to have some people on his side. One man couldn't have been working in a warehouse all by himself. Maybe it would be easier to track them down as a start.

What was Vulture doing with weapons like that, anyway? Plotting world domination? Unlikely. It was definitely an interior business. Mafia? It sounded stupid, but it could be something like that. Or a gang showing off to other gangs. I was running out of options.

How would I even begin to track down his crew, anyway?

My thoughts were disintegrated by a shattering of glass, followed by a sharp alarm. My head spiked up, and as I swam away from my thoughts on Vulture, I looked below the side of the roof to the other side of the street where a shop had its glass door shattered. Just as I spotted the source of the alarm, the screeching of it stopped abruptly. It was the same store I had bought my gloves at, and through the window, I could see two figures moving around inside. They must have already turned the alarm off.