Chapter 6: Where He Tries
"In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can"
-Nikos Kazantzakis

As soon as the bell rang, Peter leaped off his seat and ran like there was no tomorrow until he got out of school. Finally, studying was done and hero time began. He jumped over the fence, once he made sure no one was watching, and made his way towards the best sandwiches in Queens.

"What's up, Mr Delmar" Peter greeted once he got to the establishment .

"Hey, Mr Parker. Number five, right " answered the owner as the boy grabbed some candy and threw them to the counter.

"Yeah, with pickles and can you squeeze it down real flat? Thanks" he asked to the man who went to make his usual order.

"How's your aunt?" asked Mr. Delmar.

"Yeah, she's alright" answered Peter flinching uncomfortably. He knew where the hispanic man was going and he didn't like it at all.

"La tía de este es una italiana que está buenísima!" explained the man behind the counter to his partner not realizing the younger boy understood him perfectly.

"Como esta tu hija, eh?" Peter asked smugly, making the smile from the man's face morph into a frown.

"Ten dollars" grunted Mr. Delmar, glaring daggers at Peter.

"It's five dollars" Peter argued pointing at the sign above his head, an amused smile adorning his face.

"For that comment ten dollars"

"Hey, come on. I'm joking" the young boy said, grabbing his money and offering to the man "Here's five dollars"

Once the man took the money, Peter moved to greet the sleepy cat laying on the counter, until his gaze moved to the window. He could see two familiar figures walking in the street, he watched as the blonde girl threw her head back and laughed at something her companion said. Peter smiled at the sight without even realizing it, his cheeks tainted red at the sight of the blonde beauty, that was Ember Snow. He snapped out of his daydream at the sound of Delmar's voice.

"How's school?" the man asked watching the boy's longing stare with a knowing look.

"Uh, you know boring" Peter answered after clearing his throat, scratching his neck nervously. "I've got better things to do"

"Stay in school kid, otherwise you are gonna end up like me" Delmar advised, handing Peter his sandwich.

"This looks great" Peter said looking around the local.

"Best sandwiches in Queens" the owner announced proudly, before the boy ran outside in the same direction
the girl's walked a few minutes ago.

❅

Ember and Michelle entered Angela's, a small bakery in Queens that sold 'pan dulce'. On top of the store was an apartment, which was owned by Ember's family. After Ember's mother left the family of two rented a room in the apartment to the bakery's owner. Those were tough times for Carter Snow, without Margo's income, he couldn't afford their old house and for a moment the man thought he wouldn't be able to provide for his baby girl. That was until Angela Forbes appeared, the woman was kind enough to give them a room on her home and she even helped with little Ember while he worked. After a while Carter fell for Angela and the two got married, Angela raised Ember as her own and the blonde wouldn't have it any other way.

"There you are" greeted a man sitting on a booth next to the door. Carter Snow, Ember's father was a tall, handsome man with olive skin and deep brown eyes, his hair was a dark brown color with a few white hairs here and there. His whole face illuminated at the sight of his only child and her friend "Hi, MJ"

"What's up, Carter" Michelle responded, nodding her head in respect to the man who treated her like his own.

"Hey daddy" Ember said, giving her father a side hug, stealing some of the food on his plate "Thought you'd be at work"

"Ouch, are you kicking me out?" Carter exclaimed, taking a hand to his chest on fake hurt " Can you believe that, angel? I remember when she hugged my leg and begged me to stay home" continued the man, looking at his wife behind the counter.

Angela was also an attractive woman, with beautiful dark skin, brown curly hair and bright blue eyes. She was a bit short and curvy, small wrinkles adorned her eyes due to all her bright laughs "Ember, you're going to give your father a heart attack. Remember he's not young anymore"

The two teenagers snickered at the man's offended face, he sent the girls a dirty look, before returning to look at Angela "Alright, alright. I can tell when I'm not wanted. I'll see you later" he kissed his wife, and waved goodbye to the teenagers before leaving for work.

"Well, don't just stand there. Get to work, chop,chop" Angela ordered the girls before heading to the back of the store.

The girls went behind the counter to leave their stuff and grab their tags, then they got to work. It was a minute of fake smiling and polite replays, just a normal day. The bell rang to announce the arrival of a new client, it was no other than Peter Parker. He came everyday for two 'besos', a Mexican pastry that consisted of two sugared breads with jam in the middle, it was something Aunt May loved and Peter always bought two, one for him and one for his aunt. The fact that a certain blonde girl worked there had nothing to do with his visits, at least thats what he told himself and his aunt when she asked.

Ember smiled a little at the sight of the boy, but it wasn't a real smile, it was more a polite one. She didn't like the fact that she felt awkward around the boy since his comment at the cafeteria, even thinking about it bothered and she still didn't know why "Hi, Peter. The usual?"

Peter just nodded, he felt like he had to apologize to the girl, even if what she said earlier was a joke, he couldn't look at her and not feel guilty for implying she wasn't pretty. Ember was pretty, at least in Peter's eyes, she was one of the prettiest girls he had ever seen, he thought that since the day they met next to the swings and as they grew older he still believed it. The blonde grabbed his order and handed it to the boy, avoiding his brown eyes "Thanks. I, uh-"

Peter's attempts to apologize were cut short by Angela storming to the kitchen door, wiping her flour covered hands on her apron, not noticing the awkward boy talking to her stepdaughter "Ember could you watch the churros, I have to go-" she stopped talking once she noticed Peter and Ember's red cheeks "Oh. Hello, Peter. I- did I interrupt something?"

"Peter was about to say something" intervened Michelle, from the other side of the counter. She watched her friend and the boy closely, trying to figure out what went through their minds.

Peter gulped nervously at the three pair of eyes set on him, waiting for him to say something "Umm, n-no, I was just leaving. Have a good day"

And with that the boy practically ran out of the bakery, leaving the three people confused. He walked around the corner, towards an alley next to the bakery, his cheeks still red from embarrassment. He tried to forget what happened as he started dropping his clothes around and putting on his Spider-Man suit, his day as a friendly neighborhood hero began.

❅

"No second work for you today or are you leaving that for Spider-Man?" After a few hours of work Michelle and Ember went to the blonde's room. They just lie down on her bed listening to some music and doing their homework or reading a book, it was what they usually do unless Ice Sorceress had anything to do. It seemed like crime had been laying low since the fight in Berlin, Ice Sorceress barley made an appearance, but Youtube sensation, Spider-Man, was always out looking for trouble when there was none.

"Please, like he could handle anything on his own" Ember replied, not looking up from her book, she didn't feel like talking about the hero today.

"I thought you said he was good?" Michelle questioned, confused about how undecided her friend could be when it came to her fellow hero.

"He is" she answered, still immersed on her reading, yet, she felt her friend's eyes on her, making the blonde sight and finally closing her book she looked at Michelle " I just don't think he's as ready as he believes. Ever since Berlin, he hasn't showed up to our meetings, he seems to believe he can do anything"

"Well, he did fight with Iron Man" Michelle tried to excuse the hero, not seeing why Ember was so insistent on training and saving the world with the boy.

"And I fought with Captain American. So what? He's still learning as am I, he just goes looking for trouble and I don't get it. Everything is fine, he should let it be" Ember huffed, grabbing her earphones, clearly done with the conversation. Spider-Man confused her, when she first met him she wanted him gone, she thought the boy wouldn't be able to handle it, but something made her believe in him. At times it seemed like she couldn't care less about the boy, but she did, she acted like he was a burden when in reality Ember had high hopes for him, she truly believed they could accomplish something good together.

The two friends sat in silence for a few seconds, until a strange feeling clouded the blonde's mind. She felt a shiver run down her spine, she felt drowsiness overcome her all due to a familiar smell.

"E? Is everything alright?" Michelle asked noticing her friend's sudden change, she noticed her friend breathing heavily and tightening her hands into fists. Ember could barley hear the brunette's voice, she was losing control. Leaving the comfort of her bed, the girl made her way towards her window, and that's when she saw it. Her now white orbs caught sight of an explosion occurring ATM in front of her home, she saw how Delmar's business exploded into flames with the man probably inside and she knew she had to do something "oh god" Michelle exclaimed as she saw the incident and watched as Ice Sorceress went into trouble before anything else could be said.

Ember knew it was a bad idea, even the smell of strong fire made her weaker as it did a few minutes ago in her room. Being inside of the burning building could kill her in a matter of seconds, yet, here she was risking everything for a man she barley knew. With as much strength as she could master, the heroine raised her hands and shot cold blasts in an attempt to defuse some of the flames. She saw the man's coughing behind the counter holding his cat tightly to his chest, they couldn't move the structure was already starting to collapse.

"Hold on" Ember ordered to the man, as she created a safe path for him, she tried to extinguish every flame and blast away the structures blocking Delmar from safety. She was overusing her powers, she could feel her head spinning, and a trail of blood started flowing from her nose "Let's go." She was finally able to reach the man and started dragging him towards the exit.

"Is anyone in here? Hello?" She heard the familiar voice of Spider-Man from the exit, a few feet away from them.

Once they finally reach him, Ember practically threw the man at him as a nauseous feeling grew from the back of her throat, suddenly the girl was on the floor, throwing up blood all over the place. Peter quickly sat down the man and his cat and reached out for the girl, scared for her life.Ember only glares at him slapping his hand away and fleeing the scene as fast as she could.

❅

Ember was on her bed, hearing an earful from her parents. The moment she arrived home, Michelle ran to call for Angela's help at the sigh of her weak friend. The woman immediately called her husband and ordered the girl to stay on her bed.
By the time Carter arrived home, Michelle had already fled, knowing the blonde was in trouble.

"What were you thinking?" Carter asked, pacing back and forth in front of his daughter, "You know what fire does to you. We allow you to go around saving people but we expect you to know when it's too much!" The man continued, he was worried sick about Ember every time she ran out to save the world. He knew she could defend herself and that nothing he said would stop her from being Ice Sorceress.

"Mr. Delmar was dying, I had no choice! " Ember answered, looking at both adults with pleading eyes "I didn't mean to worry you guys, but I had to do something"

Carter opened his mouth to answer something but got cut off by Angela grabbing his arm and giving Ember a kiss on the forehead "There's no point on arguing about it. Get some sleep, darling" she whispered to the teenager and dragged her husband out of the room. Angela was worried as much as Carter but the damage was done, Ember was stubborn and she had a heart of gold, she would always put others before her and Angela didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

As soon as her bedroom door closed the girl sneaked out through her window, going to meet a certain boy who nearly got her killed. Ember found him exactly where she expected, the alley next to her house. It was their meeting place, it was where they met before training and where they hid their stuff.

The boy was with his back turned, talking to someone on his phone. He had his mask off but it was to dark for Ember to see who he was.

"I thought I told you to call if there was an emergency" Ember said, making her presence known to the boy in red.

Peter nearly dropped his phone at the sudden voice, quickly hanging up and putting his mask on before turning to face the familiar white orbs, that seemed to want to kill him in that moment "I had it under control"

"Clearly you didn't" the girl retorted, walking to stand closer to the boy.

"It wasn't my fault. These guys, they had a gun-" Peter rambled trying to defend himself.

"I don't care" the girl cut him off, raising her hand in a 'be quiet' gesture "I don't care about their stupid gun!" She whispered-shouted, getting angrier by the second as she stared down at the boy "Someone could've gotten hurt or even killed!" She exclaimed, her voice raising a little as she pushed the boy against the wall "Seriously, what's wrong with you?! First you don't show for training in the last months, now, you don't even call?"

"I'm sorry!" Peter exclaimed, also raising his voice a little while holding his hands up scared by the girl's anger. Ember noticed the fear on his voice, she sighed and stepped away from him, allowing Peter to continue talking "I just don't see the point on training anymore. I- I've got it covered"

"Is that so?" The girl faked laugh, crossing her arms against her chest, shaking her head in disappointment "You're just a kid playing the superhero, I expected better from you. You think you can do everything by yourself? Well, good luck with that, cause I'm done saving your ungrateful ass"

She left the boy there after that, trying to control her anger, the last thing she needed was to lose control and end up turning Spider-Man into a popsicle, no matter how tempting it sounded at the moment. Perhaps she was to harsh on him, it's not like she never made mistakes, she had help, but right now she didn't care.

❅

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