Chapter 17: The Game
"You are more hero than breath, fuck being a damsel in distress. Raise your bloody knuckles to the sky. Women like you know how to fight."
- Ambra Wilson

Michelle Jones wasn't happy, she chased after Peter only to find him in detention, and just with her luck the door was already closed when she got there. Usually, it was coach Wilson who was in charge of detention but for some reason, Mrs Warren was covering  for him. With coach Wilson Michelle would have been able to walk in with no problem, he would probably be asleep on his desk, but Monica Warren wasn't a lady you wanted to mess with and her detentions were a bit more strict. To be honest the brunette wasn't even sure about what she was going to do if she found Peter, it wasn't like she could just come up to him and ask him if he was Spider-Man, the boy would most likely deny everything and either way it wasn't like Michelle could interrogate him without risking exposing Ember's identity. 

Michelle was so deep inside her own thoughts that she didn't even realize her best friend was there until she spoke. "What did Mr. Harrington want?" Ember asked, dropping her stuff in her bench and sitting next to the brunette.

"Oh, he wanted to talk to me about some homework" Michelle lied, casually closing her notebook and leaning back on her seat.

"Well, I saved you half of my sandwich, thought you might be hungry" Ember said, grabbing her leftovers and handing the sandwich to Michelle who eagerly took it.

Michelle wasted no time in taking a big bite, closing her eyes in delight, Ember knew she loved her food and when she doesn't have any the brunette gets cranky "And that's why you are my best friend" Michelle said with her mouth full before taking the water Ember had in her desk and taking a big sip.

"I thought it was because I broke Zack Gordon's nose after he tried to punch you"

"That too" Michelle nodded, smiling fondly at the memory and eating the last of pice of the sandwich, before she remembered what  has been bothering all morning "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes, MJ, you can have the rest of my chips" Ember said, not even giving it a second though as she got them out of her bag.

"Awesome" The brunette was quick to snatch the bag of greasy chips from her pale hands "but thats not my question" she continued, Ember turned to look at her expectantly. Michelle took a deep breath knowing her question might get Ember mad but she asked anyway "Who do you think is under spider man's mask?"

"Seriously?" Ember groaned dramatically, throwing Michelle an annoyed glare. She had had enough from the whole 'Spider mania' that seemed to take over Midtown "the last thing I want is to talk about Spider-Man. Thats what everyone in this school talks about!"

"I know, I was just wandering." Michelle knew Ember wasn't Spider-Man's biggest fan, especially not today, but the brunette wasn't able to find Peter Parker and therefore Ember might be her last source. "You've known him for almost a year and you're telling me you've never been at least a bit  curious about his identity? Not even once?"

"What's there to be curious about? He's probably just an ungrateful, full of himself teenage boy" Ember answered harshly, obviously done with the conversation.

"If you say so" Michelle sighed, from what the blonde said it was safe to assume she wouldn't listen to her theory any time soon.

❅

After her shift at Angela's ended Ember grabbed her cloak and went to the rooftop. She was sitting by the edge, eating some pretzels, listening to police reports through her laptop. Her grandmother, Anastasia, taught her how to break into the signal when Ember decided she wanted to become a vigilante, it was something very illegal but useful considering she didn't have super hearing or high tech gadgets to help her.

This afternoon she was expectantly waiting for something to happen to get her mind away from her current inability at keeping people in her life. The blonde girl was still debating whether or not she should call Peter. After trying to talk to him during school, Ember decided she would give the boy some space and wait until he wanted to talk to her. The thing is, Ember Snow is an impatient person, not one of her best traits but its who she is and she was getting tired of waiting for Peter Parker to call. If he didn't call soon then she would take matters into her own hands.

"We've got a hostage situation down in Hillside Avenue" A voice came from her laptop, breaking Ember out of her thoughts. The blonde teenager was quick to put on her cloak and turn into Ice Sorceress, sliding through the buildings towards scene.

The hostages were trapped inside a departamental store. The crime scene was filled with cops surrounding the building, along with paramedics waiting for a ransom call. Ember decided to stop at the top of the building in front of the store, assessing the situation. From what the blonde could gather, there were around twenty people trapped inside, including kids and some of the store's staff. They had been trapped for about thirty minutes but the cops in the scene were still waiting for instructions from their superiors.

"Why is no one doing anything?!" Ember heard a woman shout from the crowd of people waiting behind the caution tape. She appeared to be around her mid twenties and had long blonde hair all tangled from all the times she had nervously ran her hands through it. "Please my wife and daughter are inside!"

"Madam we are doing everything we can but right now we need you to stay behind the tape" said one of the policemen, slightly pushing her backwards as the woman poured her eyes out.

"My family, please my baby girl she's just four!" The woman was in hysterics, catching the attention of everyone around her, only causing more frenzy around the crowd. "Why is no one getting them out?!" The police were trying to keep everyone calm, but it was no use, they were concerned loved ones that just wanted answers and for the people inside to be rescued.

Ember saw the commotion as an opportunity to slip down the roof and land on the side alley where the backdoor was. Locked. Ember let out a frustrated sigh, she knew it wasn't likely for it to be open but a girl could dream for a simple rescue. It was an electric lock she would need an approved ID to access, she could try to find a vent but it would probably catch the attention of the cops. Without giving it much thought, Ice Sorceress put her glowing hand on top of the panel, freezing the circuits inside, only  stopping once she heard a snap indicating the box failed and the door opened. Taking a quick look behind her to ensure no one had noticed her, she secured the hood of her cloak on top of head, and walked inside the building.

Inside it was dark and quiet, the door she came through appeared to be the storage room, all the lights seemed to be turned off and surprisingly no one seemed to be guarding the door she came from nor the nearby halls. Whoever orchestrated the hostage was either way too confident or had intel from someone. Ember decided to check around some of the aisles, hands raised ready in case she needed to defend herself. As she got closer to the main area, she could see a light way down the hall, probably were all the hostages were, and she could hear a bit of a commotion going on inside.

The blonde hid behind the corner taking a little peek to watch the scene ahead. There was a circle of people sitting on their knees, a couple had the uniform from the store but most of them were customers, there were some who appeared to be praying and others were crying, there was even a man cradling little yellow bundle. However, there was no one watching them either, no one pointing a gun at their heads, whoever took them didn't even bother to tied them up, they all sat there not making any attempts to run. Curious, Ember took a cautious step closer to the light, not far enough to get caught but just enough for her to try to get a better look around the room. No one else was there. Why would anyone leave all these people here not even bothering to watch them? Better yet, why weren't they attempting to escape?

Taking a risk, Ember walked a bit closer to the circle of people, no one moved a muscle. Only a little girl with dark brown curls seemed to have noticed the hero, but she still said nothing, the girl just stared right at her hugging her stuffed unicorn tightly. Unsure, Ice Sorceress kept walking until she was standing right in front of the little girl and the rest of the people, still getting no reaction from anyone but the girl.

"Hey" The heroine said softly, crouching right in front of the girl who cowered back in fear "it's okay, I wont hurt you" the blonde tried to ease her raising her arms to show she meant no harm "can you tell me whats going on?" The little girl, looked into her white eyes once more, but said nothing.

Ember sighed, standing straight once again trying to walk closer to the others, maybe someone else could help. Just as the blonde was about to take another step, the curly haired girl began shaking her head frenetically, which made Ember stop. "What's wrong?" The blonde questioned, alarmed, looking around and raising her now glowing hands once more, waiting for attack. There was no one there.

She turned to look at the girl once again, not understanding what she was trying to tell her. The girl raised her tiny arm and pointed at something above her head. It was some kind of lamp a big lamp hanging from the ceiling. The green eyes teenager inspected it and realized it was directed towards the circle, and there were other three lamps just like that one.  Creating a snow ball in her hand, Ember raised it and threw it to the space just above the girls head. The moment the ball came in contact with the space, just a few milimeters away form the brunette, it incinerated into nothing. The lamps were generating some kind of dome, it explained why the hosteges weren't tied up or trying to escape, they were trapped. What the blonde still couldn't understand was why the little girl was the only one who could see her.

"Who trapped you?" Ember asked the girl. The kid just pointed once more to a hallway on the other side. "I'll get you out, just hang in there"

The blonde began walking towards the the direction the girl pointed, nervously tapping her fingers on her legs as she got closer. Everything was quiet as she turned the corner, there was no one there,  but just when she was about to go back she was thrown into the floor. Ember tried to get back up only to be stopped by a black combat boot stepping on her chest. It was a girl with shoulder length hair with violet tips, she had a black covering half of her face.

"I was beginning to think you would never show up" The unknown girl took away her foot,  leaning forward, only to restrain the blonde again by holding a knife in front of her neck.

"What do you want?" Ember asked through gritted teeth, not even flinching as her captor began pressing the knife closer to her skin.

"I was bored and a friend needed a favor" she shrugged off. "The name's Meg" the girl finished, taking off her mask with her free hand to show a big smirk.

While the short haired girl was busy caresing her cheek with the blade, Ember  was able to grab her arm and began freezing it. Meg's pained scream echoed thoughout the entire store, the blonde lifted her legs and kicked her on the stomach sending her crashing into an isle. Before she could recover the blonde heroine rolled on her back and stood up raising her hands and shooting a blast towards Meg's wrsits, trapping her.

"Woah, alrighty then" Meg groaned, trying to hide the pain coming from her wrists "Damn why you so cold, sister"

"What do you want and who sent you?" Ember growled, ignoring the little joke and waking threatingly towards the restrained girl.

"I love games. Would you like to play a game?" Meg dodged the question, smiling form ear to ear like the cheshire cat.

"What do you want and who sent you"  Ember repeated, creating a sharp looking icicle on her right hand, raising it to Meg's neck.

Or what?" Meg asked, dropping the smile and glaring at the white eyed girl  "C'mon we both know how this works, you won't use that"

"You don't know me" She pressed the icicle closer to the other girl's neck, she knew Meg was right but Ember didn't want to her the satisfaction.

"Maybe not but I know you're the hero and you won't kill me" Meg taunted, even pressing her neck closer to the icicle, not close enough for it to cut her skin. Meg began pulling something from her left sleeve, but Ember didn't notice it until it was to late. Meg pulled out a small remote with one button and clicked it before the blonde had a chance to take it  "I'd love to chat but the game is about to start"

"What game?"

"In less than minute the dome holding the hostages will drop, after that you'll have fifteen minutes to get everyone out or boom!" Meg explained, adding ab overly excited tone in the last word.

"Damn it!" Ember cursed, there was some kind of bomb in the building and the girl probably started the count down with that little button. She was quick to snatch the remote and trap Meg's feet before speeding towards the hostages.

"Good luck, Ice Sorceress!"  Meg shouted after her, not even carrying that she was stuck to the aisle.

❅

"Okay everyone calm down!" Ember shouted, trying to control the situation, while the hostages were running around like headless turkeys. After she left Meg she arrived at the main entrance, where some of the hostages were already looking for a way out and banging onto the main door, while others were still crying and holding onto each other for support. It was chaos. No one was even listening to her, and they didn't have time for this.

Suddenly a shrieking scream sounded and everyone went quiet, looking terrified for the source of the sound. It was the little girl with the curly hair, standing a few steps next to the heroine. "Ice Sorceress is talking! " She announced, authoritatively, making everyone turn to said blonde

"Thank you" Ember nodded at the young girl, appreciatively  before addressing the  rest of  the crowd. "Okay, everyone needs to stay close on line and begin walking towards the back, there you'll find a storage room with a door that will lead you straight to the sideway alley. On the front you'll find the cops tell them to evacuate the area immediately!" The blonde ordered, counting each person that passed, there was still enough time, they were going to make it.

As the last head walked inside the room Ember began to run back to where Meg was still trapped, only one person noticed her departure

"Came back for little old me? You're too sweet!" Meg greeted the blonde, that annoying smirk back on her face.

"Shut up" Ember groaned, grabbing the ice around the girl's wrists and begging to absorbe the ice sorrounding them, and bounding them together once they broke from the aisle.

"Are we going on a road trip?" Mes kept pestering as the blonde freed her feet form the ice.

"Oh you'll be takin a trip, straight to jail" the blonde siad, roughly pushing Meg forward.

"Ugh, maybe you should leave me here" Meg groaned, letting the blonde drag her around.

"Why? Orange isn't your color?"

"Oh sister, I rock every color" Meg said, earning an eye roll from the cloaked heroine.

The way was silent until they reached the main area, where the little girl suddenly ran to grab her stuffed unicorn laying on the ground.

"What are you doing here? You need to get out, now!" Ember shouted, beggining to panic, she didn't know how much time they had before the bomb exploded and the girl could've just walked straigh into her death for one toy.

Meg took the chance to kick Ice Sorceress's knees and smashing the ice bounding her wrists straight into the blode's head, disorienting her and with one smash against the concrete wall Meg managed to free her hands.

"I must say I like the little friendship we've got going on here" Ember stood up stepping in front of the kid, protectively, as Meg pulled out her gun and aimed at them "but, this is were we part ways"

Ember raised her hands, creating an ice shield that envolved her and the little girl, just before the bullets hit them. "Are you alright" The blonde asked worriedly as the shield dropped, Meg was nowhere in sight. The kid nodded, her eyes wide and frightened from what happened "C'mon let's get you to you to your mom" Ember signed, offering her hand ignoring how to the little kid, of ignoring how light hey she felt, and the two began running as fast as they could.

"Anya!" The blonde woman from outside shouted once she spotted Ice Sorceress and the girl coming out. While they were inside the cops had pushed the crowd further back and trying to get everyone out before the explosion, they had managed to push them a block away. Ignoring all protest the blonde woman pushed the cop away and rushed towards her daughter, Anya, an asian woman, who was one of the hostages, following close behind her. "Thank you" the woman sobbed looking at the young hero while holding her family.

"It was nothing, madam" Ice Sorceress said, as the cops walked closer to the family of three and pushed them towards the evacuating area. Before any of the authorities could reach her, Ember blasted herself out of the scene, landing on the same building before and watching everyone fleeing away, they were all safe.

It was impressive how everything could change in an instant. If she wouldn't have arrived or if she had taken a little longer, there was a possibility that almost all those people would've died tonight. Life was such a valuable thing, it could end in just one snap of fingers and all those families would be left broken. Her job was dangerous and tonight she realized that she could die at any time. And if Ember Snow was dying, then she didn't want to go away with a bunch of would haves. She still knew nothing about Meg or why she apparently lured her there, but right now it didn't matter. Right now, Ember Snow wanted to talk with a certain young boy she was crushing on and if he wasn't going to say something, then she would take matters into her own hands.

❅

[word count: 3236]
Not edited