❛ I missed you ❜

The entire trip to Kansas was filled with negative thoughts and constant fears that maybe we were too late. They could be dead. They may be laying on the floor dead and as soon as we walk in it could be a trap and we'll be good as dead, too.

I sighed as I sat with my back against the van wall. I felt the van bumping up and down on the gravel road and while glancing at the dark door at the end of the vehicle. Peter caught my eyes as I looked forward again and he offered me a reassuring smile. I pursed my lips and glanced down, feeling his gaze lingering on at me for a short while.

Someone cleared their throat and when I looked up I noticed Marcus staring at me while nudging his head the direction of Peter. Since when did he want me talking to Peter? I shook my head vigorously at him and he rolled his eyes, then jabbing his finger in Peter's direction.

Before I could glare at him again, the van came to a lurching stop and Mr. Silas climbed into the back with Kathryn following. "So, we have a plan yet?" He wondered with his hands on his hips as he glanced at Peter and I.

I clumsily pushed myself to my feet and shrugged, "I'm not the leader," I said abruptly before gesturing to him to come up with a plan since he was the oldest one of us all. Mr. Silas huffed and looked at Peter who looked just as resilient to take charge. "You are the leader, Aniya. Jax and Luca thought so, too, else they wouldn't have saved you," Kathryn offered up with a reassuring grin. I bit the inside of my cheek and fiddled with my black long sleeve to try and draw the attention away from me. "I'm not sure what the plan would even be if I  led, so..." Peter awkwardly stifled while shifting on his toes.

"Come on," Marcus said while placing a hand on my shoulder, "You've got something, I can see it in your eyes."

I groaned, "What is up with people and my eyes? What do you see?"

Marcus chuckled, "Not sure. But it's somethin'."

I looked around the van as silence overcame us five and for a good minute or two no one said anything. They just continued to stare at me with a knowing look and after minute two ticked by I snapped.

"Okay, fine!" I shouted while throwing my hands up while throwing my head back in annoyance. "I have a plan," I announced, everyone practically sighing in relief at my words. "But you're not going to like it."

Kathryn scoffed and threw an arm around my shoulder, "I'm sure it's great," she cheered on with a bright smile on her face - a smile that never got old and reminded me of happiness in times of darkness. "Just tell us what we have to do and we'll go get our boys back."

I looked at Peter Parker who stood across from me and he nodded in motion for me to go on. I took a large breath and dropped my hands to my side, feeling them hit my thighs a little too loudly. "You're not coming," I finally breathed out.

Marcus narrowed his eyes at me and I bit my lower lip just waiting for the responses that would come flooding my direction. "What are you talking about? Of course we're coming," Marcus laughed. I shook my head, knowing my friends weren't going to understand so easily. "You wanted my plan and I gave it to you. I don't want either you or Kat coming in," I repeated to the blonde boy. "Bullshit! We're coming!" Kat shouted as she tugged on her fingerless gloves and turned to face Mr. Silas. "Tell her she's wrong!"

Mr. Silas looked over at me and then back at Kat before sighing, "Why don't you want them coming?" 

I shrugged, "It's not safe."

That was a lie. That was a big lie.

I didn't want them to stay behind because of safety. I had been with Mr. Silas the longest and I needed him to trust me even though I didn't totally trust him. My life had revolved around my family and when Luca and Jax pushed me into the hallway and told me to run they sacrificed everything we had promised each other for eleven years. Getting them back is my responsibility because it's my fault, and I'm not about to pull the two siblings that had already faced death into my problem.

"So what, it's safer with just you?" Kathryn scoffed in disbelief. "I won't be alone, okay? Peter Parker and I will go and - "

"Peter! It's Peter! What is with you and last names? God, can you not try to make everything about yourself? Your trust issues are - "

"You asked me to make a plan, Kathryn," I calmly stated in reponse to her outburst. "This is my plan, this is how I want this to be done. You wanted me to be a leader and you forced me into this position. You and Marcus are staying here with Mr. Silas."

Another silence overcame us all and I finished gearing up with my gloved tugged on my hands to protect myself from my powers and leaned down to lace my shoes. "Besides, Peter knows my powers, he doesn't know yours. It wouldn't be fair to him to go into a mission without prior knowledge of his comrades," I added in before standing up and seeing Peter send me a reassuring smile while pulling his mask over his head. 

"We'll be back soon."

With those four words, Peter and I had hopped out of the van and softly closed the door behind us. We carefully made our way to the entrance of the run down powerplant that the radiation levels had been spiking at and I allowed Peter to take the lead since he had more experience in missions. "So..." he whispered, interrupting the awkward silence that I seemed so comfortable in. "Don't say anything, Kathryn will get over it," I replied while ducking underneath a makeshift tarp in the back of the facility. "Oh," he said quietly, "O-Okay."

Through endless turns in the compound and no sound of any people in any further direction, we finally stopped in a long corridor and made contact with Mr. Silas who was tracking our progress from the van. "I'm not reading any heat signatures on the first floor," he said through the comms. in our ears with a sigh. "Try the second floor?"

I pursed my lips, "Whoever is up there will have the drop on us."

"You could fly up there," Mr. Silas suggested with seriousness in his tone and not a hint of sarcasm. Peter smirked, "I would love to see that."

I rolled my eyes and looked to my left as I felt a draft come in through the hallway. "Wait, there's a window open or something. Do you feel that?"

"Is this your Aniya the Last Airbender feeling or is this a guess?" Peter wondered. I raised an eyebrow. Did he really not feel it? The hairs on my arms were sticking up, how did he not feel anything. "No, I think it's coming from the basement."

"This is literally how all horror movies start," Peter called after me as a took a step towards the staircase in the corner. "I can't get any signatures from the basement, it's not on the floor plans," Mr. Silas reported. "Even more reason to avoid the basement," Peter quipped from behind me. I glanced at him and huffed, my hand wrapping around his wrist and tugging him to me. "If we see anyone in there just use your spiderwebs and take them out," I directed while standing directly in front of the staircase.

It was dark down there. I saw cobwebs between the railing and the handbar was rusted. "Maybe I should go first and protect you and - "

"Just follow me," I interrupted. I was not trying to drag anyone else down in my mess. If something bad was going to happen tonight then it was going to happen to me. "Wait, but - " Before Peter could finish his sentence I had already started down the stairs. 

Because it was dark no one could see me coming if there was someone down there, but like Peter said, it also meant anything could be down here. 

I heard Peter tiptoeing behind me and I even heard him say a little prayer. It was a good idea, but I didn't know Spider-Man would be so scared of the dark. 

As we neared the bottom, I heard two voices speaking in hushed whispers in the back where a small lamp was sitting atop a desk. The voices didn't sound like my friends, so I quickly filled my hand with a gust of wind in case I needed to do anything.

"Hey, there's a window open. You were right," Peter whispered in my ear as he pointed to the window across the room. I smiled, "I know."

Just as I took another step forward, I saw a sillhouette move from the backwall and before I knew it there was a pipe clanging at my feet. I jumped back and behind me Peter swore very loudly before I heard a thwip in my ear. I ducked underneath the web and saw the guy infront of me fly to the back wall that was dark.

Suddenly, the two voices in the back stopped.

"Okay, new plan," Peter called out as he again sent a web to the wall behind us where footsteps had raced down the staircase. "Blow them away."

Peter instantly vanished from my sight and flew to the other side of the room and I threw my hand out which sent a man clashing into something glass on the desktop. It shattered on the ground and I ran toward it, hoping that I could use the lamp to find some other source of light. 

I reached it and before I could pick it up, a new light source lit up from the back that was once completely dark. It was fire. Not like a campfire as I had been reading up on, but a real fire. A large smile grew on my face and I ran to the fire that had showed me the space around the light. 

It was Luca and Jax. 

"We knew you would find us!" Jax cheered as he stumbled to his feet and reached out to give me a hug. I ran into his arms but he was suddenly pulled back by a chain wrapped around his wrist. Luca was in the same position. "I've already tried burning out of them," Luca told me as he pulled away from our hug after mine and Jax's. 

I looked around and my eyes lit up as I saw something just a few feet away. I ran over to grab it and once I had it in my hands I grinned. "Hold still," I told them as I pulled their chains together and started using the knife I had found to slice the metal chains. 

It took me quite a while, I'm not going to lie, but Peter had webbed up everyone in a dark corner and I had enough time to cut their chains efficiently. "I told Mr. Silas that we found them. Kathryn and Marcus are pretty happy," Peter told me as he approached me as I was just finishing the boys' chains. "Are they still mad at me?" I wondered. Peter shrugged, "Didn't seem like it."

"Good," I breathed out as the boys rubbed their wrists. I saw their confusion clearly but they knew not to ask questions at this moment. Instead, they enveloped me in a group hug and refused to let me go. "I missed you so much," I whispered into their shoulders. A tear slipped from my eye and I quickly wiped it away. 

"We missed you, too," Luca told me as he held my hand as we parted. "We knew you would find us," Jax added in with a smile. 

I chuckled and nodded before a frown grew on my face and I punched both of them very hard in the shoulder. "What the hell? Why would you make me leave? Do you know how worried I was about you? I befriended an old man and a Spider-Kid! They are both very nice but I was all alone! I will kill you next time you do that to me!" 

Luca held his arm and groaned while Jax smiled, "It's good to see you again, sis. It's really good."