Chapter 24: On My Way
"So then when I'm finished
I'm all 'bout my business and ready to save the world
I'm taking my misery
Make it my bitch; can't be everyone's favorite girl"
- Alan Walker, Sabrina Carpenter & Farruko

"I cant believe we had to go through and entire afternoon of shopping with Angela for nothing" Michelle said, while sitting on top of the counter at Angela's.

It was a couple hours after Peter cornered Ember after detention, something Michelle didn't hear the end of on their way to the bakery. The blonde also informed her best friend about what Tony Stark wanted but omitted the part about a certain someone being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Michelle also learned that Ember was still mad at Peter and that there was no way she was going with him to the dance.

Ember rolled her eyes at her friend's complaints  "It wasn't for nothing. I'm still going just not with Peter." Ember explained, throwing a rag at Michelle's face. "And so are you"

Michelle managed to catch the rag and began wiping the counter she was sitting on, chuckling at Ember's words "What makes you think that?" 

"Ned told me about the group thing. It sounds fun" Ember shrugged, hoping Michelle would agree to go, in case Ned ended up ditching her for Peter.

"Going to a lame high school dance that requieres girls to look pretty for a dumb boy sounds fun?" Michelle said, throwing the blonde a questioning glare.

" No. It's a lame high school dance, where you can spend time with your friends while trying to look pretty for yourself " Ember said, trying her best to convince her best friend.

"Yeah, sure" Michelle blew her off and kept cleaning some tables.

"Oh come on I know you want to go. If you didn't, you wouldn't have bought that yellow dress" Ember complained. She knew Michelle better than anyone and she knew that the brunette wanted to go to the dance but her pride wouldn't allow her to admit it.

"Maybe I bought it because I wanted to get Angela off my back"

"You're so stubborn" Ember groaned going over to the counter, to count that day's savings.

"Thanks" Michelle grinned, happily taking her words as a compliment "Now, tell me why Ned?"

"What do you mean?" Ember raised an eyebrow at the sudden question. Wondering why she was making it sound like a bad idea "He invited me and he's nice, so why not?"

"He's also Peter's best friend" Michelle added, trying to figure out why she agreed to such thing.

"And?" Ember asked, unsure of where this was going.

"Are you trying to make Peter jealous or something?"

"What? Of course not." Ember gasped appalled at the insinuation. She genuinely like ned, as a friend, but she really believed it would be a fun to go with him. "This has nothing to do with Peter Parker. I'm just trying to have a normal night with a good guy. Is that a bad thing."

"Just had to make sure you weren't getting too into chick flicks" Michelle shrugged grabbing the keys to the front door from her friend.

"Funny" Ember called out to her as the brunette flipped on the 'Closed' neon sign.

It was quiet for a while as the girls finished closing the bakery and heading upstairs to Ember's room to do their homework. "Maybe I'll go" Michelle said, as they were about to finish with biology, earning and excited squeal from her friend who jumped to hug her. "Only because it would be funny to watch teenagers drowning in their own self pity" Michelle added once she managed to push Ember off her.

"And because you love me too much" Ember said happily, pushing Michelle off her bed teasingly.The brunette gasped as she hit the floor while Ember laughed before Michelle grabbed her and brought her down with her.

"Attention to all units, we've got a 10-80 in progress. Suspect is driving a white van down in 21st street, filled with what looks like weapons." A voice was heard from Ember's laptop, cutting off the girl's laughter.

❅

It didn't take long for Ember to grabe her cloak and going to the scene. She sent a quick text to her father letting him know where she was going, not really wanting to get into another fight. Michelle assured her that she would stay and let Angela know after the woman came back from the doctor. The scene wasn't that hard to find, about five police cars following the white van. From the passenger side of the van a man seemed to be shooting at them with a weapon Ember recognized almost instantly as the same gun that almost blew her hand off a few weeks ago.

Without a second thought Ember slid down to stand by a sidewalk a few meters in front of the speeding van. Acting quickly, Ice Sorceress raised her hands and blasted a blizzard of ice to the road. Grinning proudly as she watched the drover lose control of the wheel and crashing into a tree. In a matter of seconds the five cars surrounded the van and the policemen got put and pointed their guns towards the vehicle.
A young looking cop, with raven hair was the first to notice the young hero standing by the sidewalk as some of his parters began to secure the area. The cop sent her a quick nod in sign of appreciation before walking closer to the van.

"Come out of the van, with your hands behind your neck" The raven haired cop, ordered to the criminals, but no movement came from the car. Raising his right hand to signal his partners to hold their fire.

Ember watched closely as the man walked towards the van, his gun raised and ready. He opened the backdoor of the van and before he could register what was happening a gun shot was fired, hitting him right in the chest at the same time someone threw a little device to the ground.

"Grenade!" One of the officers shouted, and everyone went into panic mode, the criminals used their distraction  to flee the scene.

Ember ran as fast as she could towards the ticking bomb on the ground. With a quick hand movement she managed to enclose the grenade incide of a huge dome of ice, just seconds before it exploded. No one dared to move as they waited to see if they were on the clear. After a couple seconds of nothing happening Ember rushed to aid the fallen officer. Her hands shaking as she got closer to the still unmoving man.

Ember could feel herself beginning to panic as she kneeled down next to him. She had failed, and someone had paid the price with their life. If only she had acted faster, maybe she could've seen it coming. What if he had a family? She couldn't be responsable for another broken family, she wasn't sure she could handle it.Her shaking hands quickly went to his neck desperately trying to fin a pulse.

And she thankfully found it.

"I need a medic!" She called out to the crowd of people and the officers standing near by. "You're gonna be alright" she whispered, trying to convince herself, as she ripped a piece of her cloak pressing it agains the opened wound, using her freezing hand to try and help more.

The ambulance was quick to arrive and the paramedics rushed to the heroine's side and lifted the body to take it to the hospital.
Once Ember was sure the officer was in safe hands, she flew up in the air, in the direction the two fugitives went.

When she reached a certain height she was able to see the parting ambulance along with two suspicious figures hurrying down Queensbridge Park.

"Bingo" she whispered as she began flying towards them.

The blonde floated above them before landing in front of them and freezing their feet to the ground before they could even realize what was happening.

"Where do you think you're going" Ice Sorceress grinned as she watched the two struggle to get free from her ice bindings.

She looked at them closely and easily recognized both of them. The guy was one of the criminals making their weapon deals under the bridge. Where she assumed he got the gun he was currently trying to raise without her noticing. But she did. Before he could fire the white eyed hero blizzard it away and froze their hands to their sides. The girl, she did know her name. Meg. The young, crazy girl that orquestated the hostage situation in Hillside Avenue.

"Why are you running away, Meg? I thought you liked games" Ember grinned at the short haired girl teasingly.

"Oh, how sweet, you remember me!" Meg said trying to appear calm but her eyes proved she was fuming.

"Barely" Ember shrugged. She grabbed the discarded gun on the floor, inspecting it. It had the same glowing core that she trusted Spider-Man with and he never gave it back. 'Stupid Peter Parker ' she thought before  facing the tow criminals again.

"How rude" Meg gasped dramatically "I thought we had something special Icy!" She pouted, before giggling at the angry reaction she got from Ember.

"Let's cut the chase" Ember growled, walking closer to them. "What is this and where did you get it?"

"Huh, I have no idea. I just found it" Meg answered, feigning ignorance "Do you know what she's talking about, Caleb?"

Her partner, Caleb, said nothing at all. He just glared at the short haired girl trapped next to him, clearly not amused with her.

"Fine" Ember shrugged, before raising the gun and pointing it at Caleb's face. The man's eyes opened in shock as he stared at the deathly weapon, he was terrified. But Meg didn't seem worried at all.

"Come on baby, we've talked about this," Meg said, sounding a bit amused with Ember's tactics "you won't shoot"

"You mean like you shot the cop?" Ice Sorceress glared at them, her white eyed seemingly flaring in anger.

Meg rolled her eyes at her, she couldn't care less about someone else's life. "Let's get this over with, then" Caleb turned to look at Meg like she was crazy. It was his life on the line and she was egging Ice Sorceress.

"I-I don't know anything! " Caleb whimpered as Ember's finger lingered over the trigger. "P-please, she just told me that-"

"Okay, that's enough talking from you" Meg said, before somehow managing to free her hand and stab Caleb with anlther kind of alien dagger. The moment the knife went through his heart it, exploded and blew Caleb up into a million pieces. "He was way too whiney"

Ember fired the gun at her hand and made her drop the dagger and cry in pain as her hand began turning into a sickly black color. And then she began laughing, like it was nothing and she was finding everything so entretaining.

""Now we're talking!"  Meg cheered before launching herself forward and pushing the blonde into the floor. Ice Sorceress tried to raise the alien gun once again but Meg noticed "I don't think so, babe"

Meg kicked the hunt out of her hand and began choking her. Ice Sorceress raised grabbed her wrists trying to get her hands off, but her powers seemed to have no effect on her.

"You like them? Thermodynamic gloves, seems like they're no math for you huh?"

Ice Sorceress glared at her and fled her eyes trying to focus. That's how she got free, her gloves melted her ice. But that didn't mean she was defeated. She clenched her fist to her sides, trying to focus and not think about how she was being choked to death. And the. She released it, a blizzard as powerfull as the one in the ferry that sent Meg flying into a tree and dropping to the ground gasping for air at the studded impact. Ember tried to catch her breath as she stumbled to get towards Meg.

But Meg wasn't ready to give up yet. Struggling to get to her feet, she laughed herself forward once again before stabbing Ember in the side with a knife. Ember's eyes widened in surprise and for a second they seemed to go back to their normal green before she recomposed herself and grabbed her wrist and flipped her over her head. Paying no mind to the knife sticking out of her side, Ice Sorceress managed to kick Meg in the face, distracting her just enough in order for her to quickly form a fist of ice and crashing it on her head, knocking her out in an instant.

"Nice try" Ember panted before kicking the unconscious girl once more, just to make sure she stayed down.

❅

Peter Parker sat on his room, gently wrapping up a little box with a blue corsage inside. It wasn't very pretty, but it was the best he could do. It was his first night without the suit and he would be lying if he said he wasn't itching to go out there again. But he couldn't. He was back to being same old regular Peter and he had to make the best of it.

"Ice Sorceress back in action." Peter's attention quicky turned to his small T.V at the sound of the heroine. "Today the heroine managed to stop a criminal by the name of Meghan Holliday, the thief behind this afternoon's car chase and the one behind Officer's Lancaster injuries. The location of her partner, Caleb Harmon, remains unknown but-"

A sound coming from his window caught his attention. Nervously he muted the news and went to his closet to grab one of his web shooters. He carefully approached the window and was horrified by what he found. There she stood, the same girl from T.V, except she was in her civilian form and was covered in blood.

Peter opened his window and gently helped her in and sat her in his bed. His eyes filled with worry as he tried to figure out if the blood was hers.

"Em what-"

"Don't talk" Ember cut him off, speaking through gritted teeth as she tried hard not to cry in pain. She turned to glare at the panicking teenager and Peter finally got a good look at her. Her was sweating, and had bruise forming on her neck, the bottom of her cloak was torned out, and she was applying pressure to her side that was covering her hands in blood. "Just so you know this doesn't mean I like you I just had nowhere else to go"

"Just let me see" he said, gently wrapping his hands around her own and trying to pry them of her wound. It was a knife wound, he knew because the weapon east still there, the girl hadn't ripped it out. "Why aren't you healing?" He asked, panic raising is his voice as he tried to figure out what to do. It didn't look good.

"I can't heal until the knife is out" Ember groaned, trying to take deep breaths. "I can't do it. I need you to do it"

"What?" Peter squealed, not liking the idea at all. "Em I have no idea what I'm doing, what if-"

"Just freaking do it!" Ember snapped, her eyes flashing white before she cried out in pain. "Please, it hurts Peter"

"O-okay, I'll help you yeah?" Peter gulped down his nerves as his shaking hands grabbed the hilt of the knife making Ember flinch in pain. "Hey, remember that time when you told me about your grandmother?" He watched as Ember nodded slowly her eyes closed as she tried to control her breath. "What was her name again?"

Ember smiled slightly, knowing what he was trying to do and no matter how mad she was with him she appreciate him trying to calm her down. "Anastasia, her friends called her Anna"

"Right. She lived in Paris for a while yeah?" He asked again gently reaching out for the halt of the knife as Ember began to tell him the story again. Taking a deep breath he counted to three in his head before getting the knife out with one pull. Ember bit her lip trying to stop the cry that wanted to come out, she kept her eyes closed as she felt Peter gently applying pressure to her wound with a clean cloth.

The boy stared at her for a bit, her face begining to relax as the pain began to drown out. She was so pretty, even after the night she had, she still managed to look beautiful in his eyes. He watched as the bruised in her neck began to heal and couldn't help but reach out to gently brush his fingers against her red skin. The blonde's eyes snapped open at the sudden feeling, turning to look at him but his eyes were fixed on the bruise. A part of her told her to push him away, but she was far too weak to do it. Not to mention she liked being this close to him.

"What happened?"  He asked again, his voice barely a whisper as he looked at her green eyes.

"Just a fight, I'm alright" Ember said, her voice as gentle as his as she got trapped in his brown eyes.

"You scared me" Peter sighed, raising his hand to gently stroke her cheek.

"I'm fine" She whispered, leaning onto his hand.

They stayed there for a second, both putting behind the last few days and enjoying the feeling they only got with each other. But the enchantment couldn't last forever, there were still too many things left unsolved between then and they both knew it. Ember was the first to break off the stare and lean away, Peter's hand dropping to his side at he sudden movement.

"I have to go" Ember coughed, standing up from the bed.

"Yeah" Peter nodded sadly noticing the cold tone was back on her voice. It was nice while it lasted.

"Like I said this doesn't make us friends got it?" Ember announced, giving him a warning glare. Peter just sighed in defeat before nodding "Good'"

The blonde girl walked towards the window, before throwing the boy one last time look "Thank you, Peter"

❅

[word count: 3076]

A/n: Apparently this book is eligible for the Wattys and like I'm low key thinking about giving it a go? I mean its not like I have high expectations or anything but like everyone seems to be entering. I don't really know much about the Wattys and would like to know what you think?

Anyway hope you liked the chapter and don't forget to comment cause I love hearing your thoughts!

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