╭-°—✞—˚✧ ψ ✧˚—✞—°-╮
CHAPTER SIXTEEN!
𝖈𝖆𝖕𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖑 𝖕𝖚𝖓𝖎𝖘𝖍𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖙
╰-°—✞—˚✧ ψ ✧˚—✞—°-╯

────── 〔ψ〕──────

THE NEXT DAY at school proved harder to get through than Salene thought. News about Peter saving the team as Spider-Man went national and her interview with Betty and Jason was being played, she had asked to not be shown, but that was her face on the school TV. She rolled her eyes as she walked to her locker, she could feel the eyes of people and hear the conversations about her.

"I heard from someone on the team that she was stone-faced the whole time, she didn't shed a tear," She heard. Salene opened her locker, she wanted to just put her head inside and slam it shut. The attention on her made her want to curl into a ball and die on the spot.

You're okay, Lucifer's voice seemed more human than snake-like this time, but it still seemed to wrap around her head, it's your head, follow your breathing exercises.

Salene furrowed her brows, how did he know? Could he look into her memories as well? She shook her head, dismissing the questions she didn't want answers to and started to take deep breaths. She was soon interrupted by Ned Leeds.

"Salene?" Ned asked, he seemed nervous to her, she looked at him and he widened his eyes.

"Are you okay?" He asked and she threw up a smile, "I was wondering if you wanted to walk to Spanish with me."Salene furrowed her eyebrows at his question. She looked around the quickly emptying hallway to see that Peter was nowhere to be found. She looked back to Ned who only sighed.

"He found out some stuff about the winged dude, stuff that he was planning on telling you tonight as his place but he was about to ditch school when Mr. Morita caught him and pulled him to his office," Ned explained and Salene rolled her eyes.

"Of course he would," she commented, grabbing her stuff for her morning classes and shut her locker, "which means I'm going to have to wait for him outside detention, which I'm sure he's gonna get till he's graduated, considering what happened on the trip." Ned only nodded as Salene shut her locker and clipped her combination lock shut for her next time down the hallway. The Spanish classroom was only a few feet away and the two turned to see the Spanish teacher waiting by the door with a look on her face that said 'Well are you coming or not?'.

Salene and Ned started walking and she glanced at him, he seemed nervous which she realized at this point, he was in a constant state of that.

"I'll text him after class," Salene spoke quietly, nodding to the teacher as they passed. She could help but shake her head at the fact that Peter was on the edge of ruining his life.

────── 〔ψ〕──────

"SO- YOU GOT detention," The words of Steve Rogers went in one ear and out the other as Salene sat in a chair outside the detention room, waiting for Peter, "You screwed up." Salene scoffed at the words, she could only imagine what was going through Peters' head, but she knew from his accelerated heartbeat that he was upset.

Salene was playing a game on her phone to pass the time and explaining to Kyril what had happened when she heard a chair screech and loud footsteps out of the room.

"Hey, where you going? Get back here!" Coach Wilson called out, Salene knew the man well enough that he was two seconds away from falling asleep at his desk.

Peters' shoes squeaked when he abruptly stopped and saw her sitting close by, clearly waiting. There was an unreadable expression on his face as she stood up, an eyebrow raised as she glanced to the detention room and back to him. He sighed and she smiled. As the two were walking, Salene felt Peter wrap his hand around her elbow and pull her aside. She stumbled in his direction and looked at him, confused, his face flushed out a bit before he pulled his hand away and pointed to a set of lockers.

"I have to get something," he spoke and she nodded, following him as he started to walk off. She leaned against the wall adjacent to him as he looked down both sides of the hall.

He crouched down, grabbed the bottom that stuck out from the wall, and stood up, Salenes jaw dropped as the whole set of lockers came up, a couple of bottles labeled "Web Fluid" were sitting on top of Peters homemade suit. Salene watched as he set the lockers down quietly after grabbing a bottle of fluid.

"So it doesn't come out of you?" She asked and he looked at her incredulously.

"Did you think that comes out of me?" He asked and she nodded sheepishly.

"I'm not the only one," she cracked a small smile, remembering Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes at the airport.

"Let's just hurry before we miss our train," Peter sighed, a small smile of his appearing on his face.

The two walked home, Peter filling her in on what he saw on the mission and letting her in on the theory he had about The Vulture. It made sense, the bank robbers, what they saw under the bridge the night they were thrown into the lake and she was exposed to Peter.

"Did you bring your suit?" He asked as they got off the subway and she furrowed her eyebrows as she nodded.

"Yeah, why did you ask me to?" She responded, watching his face as he looked around before leaning in to be quieter.

"Mr. Stark put something in our suits that tracks us and-"

Salene stopped him with a hand raised between them. She tilted her head and gave him a look that asked if he was for real.

"You're not hacking my suit, Peter," She spoke, looking forward to seeing the familiar road and Peters building dead center in the block of the buildings against the street.

"But it has all the features that-"

"Peter, I know you don't understand," Salene spoke up, she pulled him into the alleyway next to them for better privacy from the stray civilians walking out and about, "but one wrong move and I kill someone, my suit isn't to use my powers, it's to regulate them, I'm not jeopardizing the main purpose of my suit, I know how to change my 'power settings' I don't need help and I'm certainly not going to risk it."

Peters stared her down for a few seconds, she could see the gears turning in his brain and she hoped he changed his expression. She envied his powers, the way that they were inherently non-lethal but he had the choice to make them so. She didn't get that option and although Lucifer and Salene were on the same page, they still struggled to find a balance.

"I'm sorry," he finally spoke, sincerity was evident in his tone, "I should've realized." Salene let out a sigh at the way his brown eyes got big as they cast down to the ground. She put an arm on his shoulder, gaining his attention.

"You don't need to apologize, just start putting yourself in other people's shoes," She spoke and stepped back, walking up to his building and going inside with him hot on her heels.

────── 〔ψ〕──────

PETER'S ROOM WAS almost exactly the way Salene had last seen it, except it seemed to be a little bit cleaner. She assumed May came through and grabbed his laundry or Peter got around to making his bed. She sat down on the neat bed, setting her bag down next to her, pulling out her suit.

"Do you really need me to put this on right now?" She asked and he shook his head. He put on his mask, yanking his hoodie on as he sat down in his chair and spun around, grabbing a pen off his desk, tapping it against his fingers.

He stopped and stared at Salene for a few moments and the eyes of his mask squinted.

"Put on your mask," he spoke and Salene nodded, pulling her hair up in a bun. She pulled her mask out of her bag and pressed it to her face, feeling it lock around the back of her neck, she closed her eyes and felt the goggles come up from her mask, she opened her eyes to see the tech inside recalibrating to everything.

"Hey, Karen," Peter spoke, Salene furrowed her eyebrows and watched as she spun around again, "can you somehow connect to Salenes mask so she can hear us?" Salene couldn't tear her eyes from him as she stared in confusion.

A message box appeared in her vision.

PETERS SUIT WOULD LIKE TO CONNECT TO YOURS

ACCEPT DECLINE

Salene furrowed her eyebrows and she leaned back on Peter's bed.

"Uh, accept?" She asked, the accept option went green and a little square in the corner of her vision showed a line that moved anytime Peter made a noise.

"So uh, Karen, I was wondering if you could help me," Peter spoke up, "I'm trying to figure out who the guys under the bridge were that night, but I mean, I can only kind of remember part of a license plate."

Salene pulled out her homework and opened up her textbook, she grabbed Peter's pen as he spun and she smirked at how he tilted his head and shook his hand as if to say "really?". She shrugged as she went back to her book.

"I can run facial recognition on the footage of that encounter," Karen spoke in her ear, a blue box showed up in Salenes vision, interrupting her work as the logs of everything he's seen with his mask on came up.

"Footage?" Peter asked.

"Yes Peter, I record everything you see," she answered, Salene went to put a hand over her mouth but her mask was in the way.

"Everything?"

"Everything."

"Like all the time?" He asked and Salene began to put her books away, she knew that she wouldn't be able to work on her stuff tonight, though she figured she'd be okay since her work wasn't due for a couple of days.

"It's called the Baby Monitor Protocol," Karen answered him, Salene snorted and he spun around to face her.

"It's on your suit too, Sal, don't forget that," His eyes narrowed on the mask and she sighed, leaning forward, getting closer to him.

"I don't care about that," she smirked and he continued to spin around. Salene leaned back and watched him, tilting her head as she did.

"Um, yeah, just roll it back to last Friday," Peter commanded.

"With pleasure," Karen spoke and Salene watched as footage of Peter in his mask and a t-shirt came up, he was looking in his mirror, Salene remembers passing it when they came in.

"Hey, everyone. Yeah, kick-ass party. Hey, what's up, Liz? Peter's told me a lot about you." Video Peter winked to the mirror. Salene was wheezing as she watched and Peter turned to her, the eyes in his mask wide.

"Oh my god, you can see it!" He exclaimed and Salene nodded as she cackled.

"Karen fast forward to later in the day," Peter spoke frantically.

Peter was still in the mirror but he now held a sledgehammer above his head.

"It is I, Thor, son of Odin," Peter exclaimed in the footage and Salene fell back on the bed, squeezing her stomach as she wheezed.

"Don't watch!" Peter yelled as Salenes silent laughter made her chest hurt.

That's embarrassing, Lucifer commented as Peter finally got footage of that night up. Salene watched as the three men from that night stood around the back of the van that she had a part in destroying.

"Okay. The two on the right, who are they?" Peter asked, Salene squinted as she remembered how she fought them that night.

"Searching law enforcement databases. No records found for two of the individuals."

"Nothing?" Salene muttered under her breath, how could they have absolutely nothing on their record when they're such shitty drivers?

"One individual identified. Aaron Davis, age 33. He has a criminal record and an address here in Queens."

"Let's pay him a visit."

────── 〔ψ〕──────

THE PARKING GARAGE was almost empty, making it easier for Salene to recognize Aaron Davis. He was carrying a couple of bags and Salene squinted, trying to see if he may be met up with those dealers again after that night but from what she saw he looked defenseless, which means he was safe to approach.

She saw Peter swing down, his built-in drone flying around them. Salene jumped off the ledge she was on and used a bit of energy to blast herself to the floor Peter swung in on. She saw that he was already about to charge Aaron, her eyes widened, knowing that this was going to go badly. Salene jogged to catch up and maybe stop Peter but it was too late.

"Remember me?" Salene stopped in her tracks, taken aback at his voice, "Hey, I need information, you're gonna give it to me. Now." She finally caught up to Aaron to see that his hand was webbed to the top of his trunk, she knew he wouldn't be getting away.

"Alright, chill," Aaron had his other hand up in defense, clearly not interested in fighting them.

"Come on!" Peter spoke, Salene rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she watched him fail at interrogating the man. Aaron paused, Salene could see the gears in his head-turning.

Aarons stance became more relaxed, Salene knew the gig was up when he relaxed. It wasn't hard when Peter's normally high voice was a big tell for him, and he didn't use a voice changer when they first interrupted the fun deal the other week.

"What happened to your voice?" Aaron asked, Salene couldn't help but smirk, she wished she bet money.

"What do you mean 'what happened to my voice?'," Peter asked, his stance changed, Salene side-stepped closer to Peter, having them closer together would make them seem more ominous rather than two teenagers in dangerous, high-tech costumes.

"I heard you by the bridge-" he cocked his head a little as he glanced to Salene, "I know what a girl sounds like." Salene snorted at that, glancing at Peter who whipped his head in her direction.

"Sorry," she mumbled, she went to cover her face with her hand but her mask was already there.

Aaron seemed to smirk a little as Peter looked back at him.

"I'm not a girl!" Peter rejected, his hands went to his sides, balled into fists, "I'm a boy! I mean, I'm a - I'm a man!"

"I don't care what you are, boy, girl-"

"I'm not a girl! I'm a man!" Peter interrupted. Salene put a hand on Peter's chest as Aaron leaned down to get his groceries. Salene walked over and helped him.

"Look, we just want to know who's selling these weapons, I'm sorry we came on strong and startled you," she spoke softly, she stepped back as Peter started his interrogation method again.

Aaron slammed his trunk shut, from the looks of his car, it seems like he just has to do that a lot to get it to shut when he needs to open it. Peter stumbled back a bit, looking to his drone and back to Aaron.

"Y'all ain't never done this before, huh?" He asked, Salene sighed.

"Our first plan was to shine a lamp in your face," she admitted. She could hear Lucifer chuckle in the back of her head.

This isn't an 80's cop show, he reminded and she rolled her eyes.

"Deactivate interrogation mode," Peter sounded defeated in his words, the drone silently sliding back into his chest pocket. Aaron shook his head with a smile as Salene backed up to Peter, she wasn't sure what else she could do, she tried being nicer.

"Look, man, these guys are selling weapons that are crazy dangerous, they can't just be out on the streets!" Peter pleaded, his arm going up to reference the area, even though they were in a parking garage, "look if one of them can just cut down Delmar's bodega in half, imagine-"

Aaron perked up at the mention of Delmars, Salene wasn't surprised, they all lived in the same area.

"Yeah the best sandwich in Queens!" Peter replied, Salene glared at Peter without thinking, her family's diner in her mind.

"Sub Haven is pretty good," Aaron pointed out, successfully changing the subject, Salene had to hold in the urge to blurt out her family's restaurant, she doesn't want him to connect all the right dots all at once.

"Ah, there's too much bread," Peter argued, Salene couldn't believe what was going down between the two. The two came to him for interrogation and now they were talking about which bodega has better sandwiches. She was glad she texted Kyril to cover for her from her parents because, at this rate, she and Peter won't leave the garage until tomorrow afternoon

"I like bread."

"I'd like to know who the fuck, is selling these weapons!" Salene finally yelled out, startling both guys into silence. She looked to Aaron one last time, her eyes running over his face scanning for anything that could help her.

She got nothing. The blonde turned and was about to storm off, Peter trailing behind her.

"Stupid interrogation mode, Karen, don't ever do that again-"

"The other night, you told that dude 'if you're gonna shoot somebody, shoot me and you," Salene turned around to Aaron, "you didn't hesitate to jump in front of me, that's pretty ballsy, I don't want those weapons in this neighborhood-" Salene and peter were fully turned around, and now they were walking back towards the man- "I got a nephew who lives here."

Peter looked to Salene and back to Aaron she could feel his desperation wash over her by standing next to him.

"Who are these guys?" Peter asked one more time, "what can you tell me about the guy with the wings?" Salene shuddered, remembering how he dropped her in the lake, she also remembered Peter telling how that same man almost killed him when he stopped him from stealing from the truck.

"Other than he's a psychopath dressed as a demon, nothing, I don't know who he is or where he is," Aaron looked sympathetic as Peter leaned against the car, his head resting on the hood, he sighed, Salene looked back over to Aaron to see that his hand was rubbing his chin, "I do know where he's gonna be."

Peter perked up at Aaron's words, Salene did too, her heart skipped a beat as Peter stood up and faced Aaron again. Salene could almost see the hopeful look on his face under his mask.

"Really?" Peter asked, stepping a bit closer to Aaron.

"Yeah, this crazy dude I used to work with, he's- he's supposed to be doing a deal with him," Aaron told him.

"Yes!" Peter cheered, he seemed to be running off, snapping his fingers, "Yes!" Salene stood her ground and crossed her arms observing the kid she teamed up with.

"Aye, aye, aye, AYE!" Aaron called out, making Peter spin around with his eyes wide, "I didn't tell you where, you don't have a location."

"Right of course, yeah my bad, silly, just yeah," Peter walked back to the car, leaning against the right rear door, "Where is it?"

"Can I give you some advice?" Aaron asked, Salene raised her brow as she stepped forward, her shoulder brushing Peters as Peter gave a small nod and hum of encouragement, "you gotta get better at this part of the job."

"I don't understand," Peter leaned his side into the car and crossed his arms, "I'm intimidating."

"Please, I've seen bunnies at PetSmart that are scarier than you," Salene scoffed and Peter looked to her, a hand over his chest.

"The Staten Island Ferry," Aaron spoke, shifting his gaze from Peter to her, "Eleven."

"Oh, that's soon." Peter's voice lightened, he looked to Salene, tipped his head, and looked back to Aaron, "Hey, that's gonna dissolve in two hours."

Salenes jaw dropped, she did not just hear Peter say that. She walked over to Aaron shaking her head and cursing Peter out in her native language.

"Hey Karen," Peter spoke up, skepticism in his voice, "what is she saying?" Salene heated two fingers and burnt off as much as she could without hurting Aaron, after a few more gentle swipes, his hand was free and he nodded to Salene.

"Do you really want to know?" Karen asked in response, Salene smirked.

"No, I guess not."

────── 〔ψ〕──────

THE FERRY BROUGHT back memories of Salenes trip to Liberty Island. Her father wanted to go there when his family was complete and old enough to remember the trip. She was glad he did cause now she has something to focus on to forget the fact that she's making herself fly, if she thought too much into it, her head would ache and the burn in her forehead would get worse. She was hovering by a window, leaning against the metal wall for support and to make sure she wouldn't be seen by the civilians that were inside. She could see Karen analyzing the faces that were visible from the window.

"Okay, Karen, activate Enhanced Reconnaissance Mode," Peter commanded, Salene narrowed her eyes down on a white, grey-haired man that she thought looked familiar. She could've sworn she'd seen him before.

"He's upfront." The mysterious man spoke, "Main deck."

"I hate this guy," the other man responded, Salene saw him the night of the lake and at the school, she was ready to throw a punch his way.

"It's the guy from the bridge, right? Who's that other guy?" Peter asked, Salene shrugged, there was a part of her brain that just couldn't quite place him, maybe it was because she could barely see his face.

"Just keep me posted," The white man spoke, Salene had a feeling he was running the operation.

"Pete, something doesn't feel right about-"

"Incoming call from May, should I reroute to your heads-up display?" Karen asked.

"I can't talk right now," Peter responded, " I'll call her back."

Salene sensed movement coming from Peter and looked over to see the spider on his chest coming out and crawling up to his head. Her eyes widened in shock and she looked down at the symbol on her chest, wondering if maybe hers would do the same.

"Hey, dronie, keep an eye on that guy, we can't let anybody get away this time," the drone flew up as Peter and Salene made their way to the roof of the ferry, it was easier for Salene because of her powers, but the both of them had to be careful as to not be seen through one of the many windows, one mention of Spider-Man and Lightbringer and the whole operation is blown. And they always run the risk of the Vulture man swooping in and stopping them from getting all the men on board "ted down for the police.

The two were squatted over the roof, observing the scene below them around five men were down there, all of them looked to be like men Salene would be scared of if she didn't have Lucifer inside her.

"Who's the guy on the left?" Peter asks, Salene watches Karen scan the faces and people of everyone on the bottom floor of the ferry, the man he asked about was leaning against support for the second floor of the ferry, he had his arms crossed and his hands tucked under his arms, Salene automatically didn't like his demeanor.

"Mac Gargan, extensive criminal record, including homicide." Karen explained a shudder went down Salenes spine, her instincts knew when to not like a guy, "Would you like me to activate Instant Kill?"

Salenes eyes widened at the question, looking over at Peter who was shaking his head and rearing back. From his reaction, this isn't the first time she asked this question.

"No, Karen, stop it with the Instant Kill already!" He rejected, Salene couldn't help the giggle escape her lips.

"That's kind of funny, out-of-context," Salene spoke, looking back to the scene below them, she sees the man who was from that night of the interrupted gun deal and the school approach Gargan.

Her ears perk at the same time as Gargan trying to listen as best as possible.

"White pick-up truck," the man said to the guy a few feet away, Salene could only assume he was the buyer, or a middle man for the buyer, checking out the weapons before the actual buyer starts flashing any kind of money.

Gargan nods to the buyer and he walks past the both of them and disappears to where all the cars are parked below Salene and Peter.

"Dronie, scan the ship for a white pickup truck," Peter instructed, the drone flew off and disappeared as well. Salene was planning on where she would land, she also couldn't help but notice the other man from the deal under the bridge holding his jacket weirdly, in the corner of her vision, she could see all that the drone was seeing when the man approached the white pick up truck, another got out of the truck. Salene raised her brows at that. He was in a baseball cap with blonde hair popping out underneath. The two approached the bed of the truck that was covered in the tarp, the blonde man opened up the tarp, revealing the pile of weapons in the back.

"Oh, this is too perfect," Peter spoke, Salene can hear the smirk in his voice and she couldn't help but smirk herself, "we got the weapons, buyers, and sellers all in one place." He had spoken too soon about the situation, another pop-up with Tony Stark's face came up, Salene's eyes widening at his photo.

"Incoming call from Tony Stark," Karen announced, Salene knew she wouldn't allow Peter to decline that call as well.

"No, no, no" Peter mumbled in a panicked tone, "no, no, don't answer."

"Mr. Parker. Got a sec?" Tony's face was in the middle of her vision, what he was blocking, was moved to a square next to it. Salene felt like he was staring at her but she knew that wasn't the case.

"Uh, I'm actually at school." Peter lied, he looked to Salene she could tell he was asking for back-up but she shrugged and shook her head, she had no idea why he was calling, she was more scared than he had attempted to call her and he was now calling Peter to get him to look for her.

"No, you're not." Karen chimed in, Salene rolled her eyes at the AI being a smart ass.

"Nice work in D.C," Tony spoke sincerely, it threw Salene off guard, she glanced at Peter, not looking for too long, wanting to keep her focus on the deal going on in front of her.

"Okay," Peter wasn't hiding his distraction well, but Tony didn't seem to notice, which made Salene wonder about the both of them.

"My dad never really gave me a lot of support," Tony explained, Salene's heart twisted up a bit, she never heard much about Howard Stark beyond the website for Stark Industries and the founder's page, "And I'm just trying to break the cycle of shame." Hearing this made a few puzzle pieces click with Tony, of course he had the stereotypical daddy issues. A lot of millionaires who inherit businesses like he did have them, at least that's what TV told her.

"Uh, I'm kind of in the middle of something right now," Peter spoke, making Salene wince, she knows it's probably killing him right now to do this, being complimented by Tony Stark is something nerds and superhero geeks alike would die for.

"Don't cut me off when I'm complimenting you. Anyway, great things are about to"

The horn of the ferry made Salene jump back, she used her powers to stabilize herself and her heart stopped when she realized she let out a yelp from the surprise of the horn.

"What is that?" The suspicion in Tony's voice set Salene's heart rate up for a heart attack, "and who just yelped?"

"Uh, I'm at band practice." Peter couldn't be less convincing.

"That's odd. Happy told me you quit band six weeks ago," Salene wondered how much Tony paid attention to Happy's updates on her and Peter, "What's up?" Salene thought he would at least try to come up with a good answer to get Tony to not get suspicious.

"I gotta go," Salene couldn't help it when her palm collided with her forehead, "Uh, end call."

Tony sounded like he was going to protest but however he was going to end that sentence was cut off, Peter leaned forward, a better view of the deck was now below them.

"I'll take those!" He chirped, "Yoink!" Salene's eyes rolled to the back of her head involuntarily at Peter's words, she jumped, letting her powers carry her down to the bottom floor of the ferry.

Her back was to Peters, her eyes were scanning for the white pick-up truck, she thought that maybe one of them should stick by in incase the winged man comes and snatches up the weapons now that they've announced themselves to everyone riding.

"Hey, guys." Peter spoke up, "The illegal-weapons-deal-ferry was at 10:30. You missed it." Salene doesn't see what Peter is doing behind her, but when she feels the air behind her she knows he's jumped off to fight the guys in front of him, she decides to go after the truck and the guys buy it.

Go back, he's gonna need you soon, Lucifer's voice was in the back of her head, normally she would ignore him, but she didn't need his voice to know that it was right, she turned around, the man from the bridge had the electric fist, Peter ducked and the man had found himself stuck in the gate. Salene used her powers to get herself back to Peter as soon as possible.

While she was practically launching herself, Peter managed to web three guys and throw them across the deck, Salene's eyes widened at that, her head tilting as the men groaned on the ground next to the destroyed motorcycle.

"Are you guys okay? My bad. That was a little hard." Peter taunted, Salene couldn't help but chuckle.

"Don't tease them, they did their best, I'm sure," she chimed in, crossing her arms as she watched the man stuck in the gate, "At least the other guy could land a punch though, where's he? I'd love to have a chat."

Salene turned around at the sound of the man in the hat charging at her, with a flick of her man, he was slammed in the wall and knocked out. Peter nudged her and she turned her head to face him, his eyes seemed wide.

"What? He's napping, I promise," She assured him. Salene turned back to the man stuck in the gate and squatted in front of his, just out of arms distance, "who are-"

The sound of something heavy hitting metal echoed out of the cargo hold, making her whirl around and stand next to Peter. The man from earlier, the one who was talking to the new Shocker stood over the crumpled body of who Salene believed to be the buyer. She looked to Peter who had glanced at her and back at the same time and she knew: she had to go after him. He had to be the winged man.

That was - of course- until they were immediately surrounded by men and women in guns.

"Freeze! FBI!" Salene wondered if she could risk snatching Peter and just flying away.

"Don't move!" She wanted to ditch the mission so badly, but she couldn't predict the consequences, she just knew that this is what checkmate truly means.

"Wait, what do you mean, FBI?" Peter asked, Salene wondered too, maybe someone else had witnessed the explosion under the bridge, maybe Aaron Davis was holding on to more information, but she doubted that he would jeopardize an FBI mission, he would've told them to back off if that was the case.

"The FBI is the Federal Bureau of Investigation," Karen responded to the question, not understanding Peter's tone.

"I know what the FBI means, but what are they doing here?" Peter asked

"These dealers have been kind of sloppy if you ask me, I would've been shocked if they got away with any more deals," Salene glanced back at the man in the gate, he only rolled his eyes at her jab.

Salene regrets looking back because she almost let a handful of FBI agents get hit by a car. She immediately sprung into action, using her powers to surround the FBI agents and relocate them to either side of the top deck. Salene wondered how that suit was able to throw the truck like that. She didn't have time to think about the mechanics of his suit because a ball of purple energy was coming for her. She felt Peter's web on her back and knew to jump as he pulled her back, using a layer of her energy to buffer her landing.

"Get to the top deck," The suited guy commanded the man who was somehow free from the gate, "We're getting out of here."

Salene didn't bother to try and stop the man from running, she just jumped, using her light to boost her up to the top deck, prepared to cut him off at the top. She got into her stance, charging up her gauntlets, and stood a few feet away from the door, flush to the wall. A few moments pass and sure enough, her guy slams through the door at full speed, she runs after him, holding up an arm to send a blast when he swings his fist around and launches her back. Her body hits the wall and seconds later, rays of purple energy are slicing through the wall next to her. Her heart fell through her stomach and her body temperature went down 10 degrees. Salene groaned as she got up, tears forming in her eyes at the feeling of her muscles spasming over the bruised bones in her back. She noticed a couple of civilians walk over to her, offering a hand. Salene looked around as a shockwave left her to stumble back a couple of feet, it wouldn't be long before the water under the ferry ends up in the ferry. She wheezed and wheezed until she finally slapped herself in the face and jumped, the heat and energy in the suit carrying her back to Peter as he desperately thought of a plan to keep the ferry together.

"Oh, my god. What do we do?" Peter panicked, "Karen, uh, give me an X-ray of the boat and target all the strongest points, Lightbringer, keep everyone on the boat until more help comes."

Salene was feeling better, she managed to get down to the bottom floor and grab a couple of people before they got water-slammed into a car, bringing them up to the second floor with the safer civilians. As she worked to get people off the bottom level, she caught glimpses of Peter swinging around, using his webs to connect the halves of the ferry.

When everyone was on the second floor, she met up with an out-of-breath Peter at the top in the back, she observed all the webs, warily eyeing one that was close to a flaming part of the boat, her heart was going a mile a minute.

"Great job, Peter." Karen encouraged, "You are 98 percent successful." Salene was ready to just jump into the water and never swim up again. Peter could only yell "no!" in protest but Salene jumped down, doing her best to use her energy to push the water down under the halves of the ferry. It was no use and Salene feared she only made it worse in the end.

Peter didn't stop yelling, which caused Salene to look up and scream in horror at the sight above her: Peter was holding onto both ends of the ferry with nothing but a web in each fist. She shot up, hovering in front of him, her hands going to her hair and she pulled. He was being split in half right in front of her and she didn't know what to do. She didn't even realize how badly she was glowing until Peter turned his head away from her.

Suddenly, the groaning of the two halves being pulled underwater stopped, and soon the two halves of the ship were slowly moving back toward each other. Peter and Salene slowly landed in the seating area, looking around in confusion, she knows Peter couldn't have been able to do this, she almost watched him perform a medieval torture tactic to himself.

There was a rhythmic tapping along the outside of the ship, a slam over by the window to their left startled them into facing it. Iron-man rose into view of the window, Salene wished she jumped into the water.

"Hi, Spider-Man, Lightbringer, band practice, was it?" He asked sarcastically, the tone of his voice made even Lucifer inside, feel regret. He flew off to the side, towards the back of the ferry. Salene ran off to follow, seeing him fly under into the cargo hold.

The weapons! Maybe if he saw what they were doing, the shame wouldn't be so bad. She jumped off the ledge, flipping and using her energy to swoop under and follow him into the cargo hold. Her heart sank at how empty it was. All the cars had washed out into the water.

"Uh, Mr. Stark? Hey, Mr. Stark." Salene could hear Peter but he sounded far away, her blood was rushing in her ears at the sight of the destruction before her, she aided in this, she fucked up. And all she could do? Staring at Peter as he did everything in his power to stop the ferry from splitting, "Could I do anything? What do you want me to do?"

"I think you've done enough." Tony spat bitterly. Salene felt the sting of that hit her chest. She watched Tony fly off and go behind Peter, wrapping her arms around his torso and flying off the ferry, she never wants to get on another boat ever again.

────── 〔ψ〕──────

THE SUNSET OVER THE would've been nice if a smoking ferry surrounded by lifeboats wasn't in the middle of the orange colors reflecting off the water. Salene's hair was down and her mask was in her lap, she could pull her shameful gaze away from the eyes, she never fucked up this bad before, and one time she handed a knife to a chef in her family's restaurant, her parents and aunts and uncles all took turns spitting on her and the poor chef while throwing salt on them to cancel out the bad luck, though she figures it didn't work because sure as shit, a week later, Satan traps her in an alleyway and decides to possess her. Chef Paul also quit that week and Salene had to do his closing chores for a month since it was hard to find another Greek chef that would want to work in the Kalimeris kitchen.

"Previously on Peter and Salene Screws the Pooch: I tell you to stay away from this." Tony all but announced his entrance to the rooftop that Salene landed the two of them on, "Instead, you hacked a multimillion-dollar suit so you could sneak around behind my back doing the one thing I told you two not to do."

Salene's eyes were watering, she never took well to mentor-figures yelling at her. Her father, her uncles, her grandfather, always ended up crying in her room until Dina managed to calm her down.

"Is everyone okay?" Peter asked, his voice cracking a bit, for once, she didn't mind him speaking for her, she knew she wouldn't be able to speak without breaking down and looking bad in front of her, instead, she looked to Tony with the most remorseful eyes she could manage, she knew it wouldn't work.

"No thanks to you two," Tony responded rudely. Salene's jaw dropped at his words. He was true, she failed worse than the ATM robbery fuck up. But to hear Tony put it so bluntly went straight to her chest.

She failed Tony Stark.

"No thanks to us?" Salene could feel Peter's anger next to her, he swung around and landed on the roof of the building, walking behind her back, she turned but scooted closer into the roof, her legs dangling off the edge.

"Those weapons were out there, and we tried to tell you about it." Peter was slowly approaching Tony getting louder with his words, Salene couldn't find it in her to chime in, just watch the scene before her. "But you didn't listen. None of this would've happened if you had just listened to us. If you even cared, you'd be here."

The suit opened up, Tony came out and made Peter stumble back a couple of feet, Salenes eyes widened, Peter glanced back at her in panic and she shook her head, unable to speak.

"I did listen, kid. Who do you think called the FBI, huh?" It finally made sense to Salene, but now anger was starting to bubble up inside her as well, he has sat around, ignoring her and Peter, acting like he didn't give a flying fuck about that night at the lake when he was doing his job? Why didn't he share that with them, Salene never would've come if she knew that the FBI would be there to do their jobs, all she did was get in the way because tony decided to keep that information away from them, "Do you know that I was the only one who believed in you? Everyone else said I was crazy to recruit a couple of fourteen-year-old kids-"

"-We're fifteen-" Peter interjected, Salene was ready to chime in but Tony beat her.

"No, this is where you zip it! All right?" Tony yelled, silencing Peter, "The adult is talking. What if somebody had died tonight? Different story, right? 'Cause, that's on you two. And if either of you died, I feel like that's on me. I don't need that on my conscience."

"Yes, sir," Peter mumbled, making Tony nod. "I'm- we're sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it." Tony was fueling Salene's temper more and more, her body temperature was rising and she knew that her fists were glowing.

"I understand, I just wanted to be like you," Peter pleaded, Salenes heart was breaking for him and her frustration with Tony wasn't helping her emotions and exhaustion.

"And I wanted you to be better. Okay, it's not working out. I'm gonna need the suit back, both of you," Tony spoke, his eyes looking her over, glancing down at her fists, his eyebrows raised. Meanwhile, the panic was rising in her chest, even though Lucifer and she have come to terms, she still doesn't have full control over her powers, any moment she could level her family's home and diner.

"For how long?" Peter asked, he doesn't realize.

"Forever," Tony responded grimly, Salenes heart sunk.

Peter shook his head, shock evident on his face.

"Tony," Salene finally spoke up, "I don't trust myself to control this, I-"

"Trust me, I'll figure that out for you," His words would be reassuring on paper, but his tone made Salene regret getting out of bed that morning. Peter came out of his shock, he couldn't stop begging.

"You don't understand, please!" He tried, "This is all I have. I'm nothing without this suit."

"If you're nothing without this suit, then you shouldn't have it" He paused, scoffing at his own words, but not in a playful way, "Okay? God, I sound like my dad."

"I don't have any other clothes," Peter mumbled, Salene pointed at him, her face telling Tony that she was in the same boat.

"Okay, we'll sort that out."

Salene hated guns and Staten Island.

────── 〔ψ〕──────

BRUH FR THIS IS THE LONGEST CHAPTER I'VE WRITTEN IN YEARS

7472 WORDS????? WHO IS SHE AND WHERE HAS SHE BEEN THIS WHOLE TIME

ANYWAYS GET READY FOR MORE KALIMERIS BONDING NOW THAT SALENE ISN'T DITCHING WORK FOR CRIME FIGHTING!!!!

ALSO
LOOK AT stilestastic AND I'S CONVERSATION ABOUT THIS AFTER I WROTE IT LMAOOOO