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chapter twelve
A FERRY ODD SITUATION
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STATEN ISLAND IS PAST Brooklyn, so they have quite a ways to go if they want to get to the ferry on time. According to Karen, it's almost 4:30 p.m. They should make it just in the nick of time.

As she soars above where Peter uses traffic lights and streetlamps to swing through the streets, Lena starts planning how to hook up a Bluetooth earpiece to his suit so they can communicate easier. She's relying solely on him to know where to go. She can't hear Karen's directions, obviously, so she has to keep an eye on him at all times to make sure she doesn't accidentally overshoot him.

She hasn't used her powers to fly this far at once. It isn't her preferred method of transportation, but she can't run all the way there even with her boost. Sharp turns are the bane of her existence. Every time Peter abruptly turns at an intersection, she almost crashes into a building.

Luckily, they make it in time and Lena manages to keep up. By the time they reach the ferry, it's already leaving. That's when the reality of the situation hits her.

Ferry. Boat. The Upper Bay's churning waters. What has she gotten herself into?

Lena stops short on the sidewalk even as Peter runs past her to jump onto the boat.

"Come on!" he urges, raising his arm to shoot a web toward the watercraft, then stopping himself as realization dawns on him as well. He turns toward her in concern. "Do you wanna stay here? I can—"

"No," she protests firmly, cutting him off. She sets her jaw in determination and shoves down the fear gnawing at her stomach. "No. I won't be in the water, so I'll be fine."

"Okay," Peter agrees hesitantly. "Well, just to be safe, grab on."

He opens an arm meaningfully. Lena sighs, knowing that he's right. If she flies by herself over that water, she might freak out, lose concentration, and drop into it.

She wraps her arms around his neck. Once his arm is wrapped securely around her, she jumps up and attaches herself to him like a koala. It's a good thing he has healing powers— she's gripping onto him so tightly she could be causing bruises.

"Here we go!" Peter exclaims as he shoots a web onto the boat and takes a few steps back from the edge of the cement. Lena squeezes her eyes shut. He gets a running start, and then, before she knows it, they're soaring over the water toward the ferry at full-speed. "Lena, shield, quick!"

Lena throws out one arm and raises a barrier in front of them just before they would've crashed into the side of the boat. Instead, they bounce off, the energy dissolving once she discerns they won't turn into pancakes when they hit the metal.

"Nice," Peter whispers. Whatever material is in his suit causes him to literally stick to the ferry like an actual spider. He shifts his grip on Lena as he heaves them toward one of the windows. "Okay, Karen, activate Enhanced Reconnaissance Mode."

Lena raises her eyebrows. Peter's suit seems to have Enhanced Everything Mode.

She lets him talk to Karen for a few moments before he relays the information back to her. "One of the guys from the bridge is here, along with some old dude, but neither of them has a criminal record. Droney, keep an eye on that guy. We can't let anybody get away this time."

She watches as Droney detaches itself from the suit and hovers in mid-air near the window. She swears that it gives a little whistle of understanding.

"Alright," Peter addresses Lena this time. "Will you be fine once we move to the top of the ferry?"

"I think so," she responds unsurely, trying to think about anything other than the waves below them. Her mind won't stop screaming.

He swiftly climbs to the flat roof of the orange boat. The farther away from the water they move, the less intense Lena's fear is. She rolls out of his grip and onto the roof, shaking the plastic strands of hair from her wig out of her eyes. She silently peers over the edge with Peter beside her.

Four men are standing on the main deck, all of them trying to seem casual. They all wear nearly identical jackets in terms of style. Lena wonders if that was planned. Do criminals have uniforms?

It's a little weird to hear Peter talking to seemingly nobody, but even weirder that they're on a ferry with a literal murderer named Mac Gargan, according to Karen. He mutters to her for a few moments before suddenly exclaiming, "No, Karen, stop it with the instant kill, already!"

Lena decides that she doesn't want to know.

The dark-skinned Hoodie Man from the heist appears from the stairwell, saying casually, "White pickup truck."

Gargan, a short man with a shaved head, a neck tattoo, and a demeanor that seems creepy as it is, glances at a tall Asian guy to their right. The other man wordlessly walks to where the cars are stowed underneath the seating area on the second floor. To them, it's just a dark corridor with cars parked on either side.

"Droney, scan the ship for a white pickup truck," Peter mumbles. A few moments later, he tells Lena, "Ah, this is perfect. They've got the buyers, the sellers, and the weapons all in one place."

She squints at the men on the deck. The wind blows her hair into her face repeatedly, causing her to have to keep brushing it away. She can't tell what Gargan's neck tattoo is. It looks like some sort of small creature with a curling tail. A scorpion? That's a weird choice. He might regret that when he's old and wrinkly.

Suddenly, Peter leaps backward away from the edge and shouts fearfully, "No, no, no, no!" She figures he's answering a call as he begins to talk to the person on the other end. While he's preoccupied, she keeps watch over the criminals below them. Nothing happens for a while. Then, Lena's eyes widen at the sight of Hoodie Guy holding up a set of car keys to Gargan. She elbows Peter, who shouts, "I gotta go! End call!"

Flinging an arm out and attaching a web to the keys, he says, "I'll take those. Yoink!"

Lena blinks, trying to ignore the fact that he just said Yoink.

He catches the keys in his palm and backflips off of the roof. In a much less cool but more practical move, she stands up and jumps down from her spot, landing beside Peter and trying to ignore the shock of pain that travels up from her knees.

"Hey, guys!" Peter greets, jingling the keys in front of the criminals surrounding them. "The illegal weapons-deal ferry was at four. You missed it!"

The group of three men hurriedly reach into their belts for their guns. Before they can take them out, though, Peter flings a split web at the men on either side of him. Lena quickly thrusts out her hands to send a blast of energy at Gargan. She sends the man flying off of the boat before slamming him into the railing so that the wind gets knocked out of his chest. As much as she would have liked to send him into the water, she doesn't want him to get run over by the ferry. Death isn't really her thing.

"Duck!" Peter suddenly cries.

Lena feels something stick to her back. Before she knows it, she's flying backward and crashes into his chest, his arms wrapping around her middle to keep her upright. Just as she moves, Hoodie Man slams his fist into the railing where she once stood. He's wearing that electric-shock glove that the Beanie Guy was wearing at the heist. Before he can retaliate, Peter flings a web at him and sticks the shock glove to the railing.

"Thanks," she says through a pant.

"Don't mention it," he replies casually as he rips the web off of her back. Then, as if he can sense what's going on behind him, he casually shoots a few at the other two guys and throws them forward until they come crashing to the ground. "Whoa, whoa, not so fast! Are you guys okay? My bad, that was a little harsh." Then, addressing Hoodie Man as he struggles to release himself from the web, he says, "I gotta say, the other guy was way better with that thing. I'm honestly... I - I'm shocked."

Lena can't believe all of the words that keep pouring out of his mouth and wonders if he always talks this much during fights. She usually doesn't say more than a few words, but here he is, rambling to his heart's content.

She spins around at the sound of an enraged yell coming from behind them. A man is sprinting toward them between the rows of cars, but she merely blasts him aside and Peter sticks him to the wall.

Graham was right— they do make a pretty great team.

But then, the gray-haired man from the upper level takes the Asian man's head and bashes it into the side of a white van. Lena's heart drops. He turns toward them with a dark smirk on his lined face. She can barely see him from so far away, but she can tell that he has a receding hairline and that he is not happy.

"Holy shit," she mumbles. The Asian man is unmoving on the concrete floor. Is he dead?

Just as Peter takes half a step forward, voices erupt from above them. "Freeze! FBI! Don't move!"

Lena jerks her head up to see several agents on the balcony above them, aiming their guns at the two vigilantes. The doors to their right burst open. Even more people pour out from the stairwell, shouting so many things at once that they all blend into a confusing mix of gibberish.

"Get on the ground!" one demands as he runs toward her. Lena, wide-eyed at the fact his barrel is so close to her chest, throws her hands above her head.

"W - W - Wait!" Peter shouts, his arms going up in defense. "What do you mean, FBI?" A pause. "I know what the FBI means, but what are they doing here?"

Lena screams as a mechanical wing cuts through the back of the white van. Startled by the noise, the agents in front of them turn around and aim their guns at the figure tearing itself out of the vehicle, the familiar wings spreading so wide that they scrape into the sides of the narrow corridor.

Now that it's daylight, she can see his costume better. The wings are obviously the most glaringly obvious aspect of it. The edges are sharp, complete with circular razor blades that had helped cut it out of the van like it was paper. His face is entirely covered with a black mask— the only part she can see is the neon green of his eyes. He's holding some sort of weapon in both hands.

"That dude is Vulture," Lena realizes in a breath of shock.

Vulture begins flying toward them, his wings flattening behind him to gain speed. Lena's eyes widen at the sight of the purple-tinted gun in his hand. The FBI agents start firing at him with their pistols, but the bullets bounce harmlessly off of his suit.

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" Peter shouts to the men. When they don't move, Lena tackles the agent closest to her just as Vulture fires his weapon at the spot where she and Peter had been standing. The purple grenade hits the fence instead and narrowly misses Hoodie Man.

Vulture doesn't let this minor setback stop him and instead picks up the car at the end of the corridor. Lena scrambles off of the agent, muttering, "Sorry, please don't arrest me," before flinging out a hand and sending a shield of energy in front of the vehicle. Her arm strains against its momentum. Just before she can use her other one, the car breaks through the fence and sends Gargan flying into the water.

Vulture hurtles into the air after the car and hovers, facing the ferry with his glowing gun. Lena jumps out of the way just before a purple beam hits her. Quickly, she sends a burst of energy toward the agent she'd tackled and pushes him out of the way.

The man's glowing green eyes pierce into her own as he sends another shot at her feet. She jumps, flinging energy to blanket her steps and use as stairs to climb through the air with. Once she reaches the third-level balcony where the other agents are standing, she turns back toward the enemy.

Peter shoots a web at him from the main deck. It attaches to his foot, but doesn't seem to do much else because he curves his wing in to block the bullets coming his way. Lena throws a force field up just as he fires another purple-tinted shot at them. Her energy shudders against the blast, but she grits her teeth and holds it steady with straining arms.

Peter fires another web as Lena attempts to block more of his blasts with her powers. The FBI agents have stopped to watch, mystified as she shoots blue tints of energy from her hands, attempting to anticipate when his shots will occur. Vulture seems to be growing frustrated with her.

Sweat prickles down the back of her neck. She's growing tired, arms aching from using them so much and to such an extent.

Peter loses his footing on the deck. His grip on the webs causes his momentum to carry him as far into the air as Vulture. She throws out her arms and encases him in a blue bubble, pulling him toward the ship by quickly yanking her arms into her body and forcing him along with a gust of energy. He lands on the second level with a pained grunt.

The man's wings must be made of some sort of blades, because he snips one of Peter's webs like the edges are a pair of scissors. He shoots another web at him, this one attaching to the weapon in his hands.

"Activate taser web!" she hears him shout from below. Immediately, the web becomes electrified, causing Vulture to instinctively release it as the currents reach him.

As Peter pulls it closer to him, Lena jumps from the balcony and blankets her fall. The gun goes berserk once it hits the floor. It fires on its own accord as if the alien material inside of it is unstable, sending short blasts of lasers around the ship. Lena forms a bubble around it to prevent the beams from causing any damage to the ship as Peter covers it with webs. Once it stops moving, she lowers her burning arms with a sigh.

Vulture seems extremely unbothered that the weapon is no longer in his hands. Once she turns around to look at him, he says, "You're messing with things you don't understand."

Lena jumps as the gun sends a beam through the webbing, the lasers stronger and thicker than the ones he'd been trying to blast them with. She desperately tries to stop them with another shield. However, this time, they're too strong and penetrate it, sending her own powers ricocheting toward her and knocking her to the ground with a grunt.

When she moves her hair out of her eyes and looks up, she sees that the lasers have stopped. They've burned a line straight through the center of the ferry. For a beat, nothing happens, but then water begins to burst out between the cars like miniature geysers.

The ship gives a terrible groan as it starts to split in two.

"Oh my God! What do we do?" Peter shouts fearfully as he scrambles to help Lena to her feet. "Karen, give me an x-ray of the boat and target all the strongest points! Lena, can you—"

"I've got this!" she tells him once she's standing again. When he hesitates, she orders, "Go!"

Just like that, he's swinging toward the cement support beams on either side of the ferry. Lena releases several breaths to calm herself and to gather her strength. Once she's focused, she throws her arms out on either side of her and sends two blasts of energy out with them. She forms them into thin sheets before pulling her arms toward her. She feels the exact moment they hit the sides of the ship. Her arms abruptly stop, unable to move unless she uses all of her strength to bring them to her sides.

Lena opens one eye when she feels water lapping at her feet. The main level has started to flood, waves churning as they threaten to carry the cars away. She feels her heart give a spasm of terror. Quickly, she releases her grip on one of the blasts and uses the stair method to return to the third-floor balcony. There, she's able to see more of the structural damage. The boat is on fire in several places where the split occurred. Civilians have gathered near the windows; their screams of fear ring in her ears. Peter has finished attaching his webs, which make a dizzying crisscross pattern between the split halves.

It's holding— for now.

"Yeah, Spider-Man and Havoc!" a dude yells from the inside of the ferry, standing up to applaud them just as the web on the wall beside him snaps.

Lena watches helplessly as more webs begin to break off of the ship. Her heart sinks with each ping of them snapping. Below her, the water begins to rise, causing car alarms to blare and then drowning them out as the vehicles sink under the bay.

She hears one of the FBI agents scream from the main deck. Without looking, she covers him in a bubble and heaves him up beside her. He lands with a thud on the metal floor.

"Someone else is down there!" he shouts to her.

The ferry groans again, Lena's heart thundering in her chest as the side she isn't holding begins to dip even more. She prays to whatever's above to forgive her as she thrusts out her other arm and attempts to bring the two halves together with equal strength.

"No!" Peter cries, catching one of the broken strands of web while simultaneously shooting another on the other side. He hangs in the middle of the broken pieces. Lena watches as he attempts to pull them together with his bare hands and forces her body to work double-time, not wanting him to get torn in half or something.

Something penetrates her energy shields on either side. The sudden leverage causes her to slam to her knees, breathing heavily as her hands catch her fall. She glances up in confusion as the ship begins to piece itself back together again.

At first she thinks it's Peter's doing, but then she notices that he's just as perplexed as she is. He drops down to the third floor with a mutter of, "What the hell?"

Lungs burning, Lena pushes herself to her feet and stumbles toward him. Her limbs are like jelly. As soon as she reaches his side, she realizes how the ship is seemingly moving by itself.

The mask of Iron Man peers at her through the nearest window. "Oh, Havoc, you're here, too? It's nice to see you back in action."

She flinches at his condescending tone.

As soon as he leaves the window, Peter jumps after him in an attempt to help. Lena merely stays where she is and examines the damage around her. The flames licking the site of the split flicker out. As Tony does whatever to fix the ship, she feels useless.

She finds she doesn't have the strength left to care. She drops to her knees and tries to get air into her burning lungs.

"Yeah, Iron Man!" the same guy from before cheers. Other civilians on the ferry clap along with him, making Lena's heart deflate as they look through her like she isn't even there.

And, just like that, she and Peter aren't the heroes in this narrative anymore. They're just the stupid teenagers who royally fucked up.

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i'm sorry if it feels like none of this made sense. a lot was going on at once so writing it was a challenge! there isn't really a synonym for "web" so i had to type it like 200 times and started getting annoyed at myself. also, a lot of things kept happening between the dialogue so it seems kinda choppy!

basically lena is so powerful and she doesn't even realize it (once she learns to control her abilities it's all over for you hoes)

i know this was a serious chapter but .... i made memes again

also, if you want to see aesthetic images that relate to lena, check out my weheartit collection for her! the link to my account is in my bio! it includes things that really capture her as a character and i'm actually pretty proud of it

-kristyn