𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 || 𝘚𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥

THE SILENCE OF ANGER WAS WHAT SCARED IMANI THE MOST. The stillness and faux calm in the air, like she was freed from the heart of the storm that sat right above her. It could be enough to fool the stupid, but Imani knew better. Her Father was the craftsman leading the narrative in situations like this.

Although the fear clung to every inch of her body, she still wouldn't say she regretted her decision. She wouldn't play into her Father's hand and help him prove whatever point he was trying to make. It was her pride, life, and fate in jeopardy. Because although he may not want to admit it, she was more like her Mother than he'd like to believe.

Pride was one thing. But once you start challenging what she was doing with her life, that was a whole other situation no one wanted to be on the receiving end of. Imani went about her life the way she pleased and made the decisions she made no matter if they led to positive or negative outcomes. In the end, they taught her something and that was something far more sacred than her fate or pride.

So, even though her Father held the reigns of the situation, she tested his patience. Wondering how far the man would go until he was the one relenting.

And she waited on the table, burning gaze unrelenting on her Father. She could've assumed it was for nothing, but the constant sighs and pauses in his movements proved as an inkling that it was working. Little by little she would whittle him down to a fuming state that would play into her hand.

Imani didn't want to manipulate or make him feel guilty for being angry–he had every right to be. But she wanted to see what he would say in the heat of the moment. What she could play off of to prove a worthy defence. And maybe, she wanted to hear exactly how he felt.

It took a while but eventually, the man turned away from the counter. He'd been prepping supper since he got back from making sure the people on the ship were safe, along with making sure the ship was secured enough to let the experts handle the issue. And in that time, neither he nor his daughter had dared to say a single word. Only the sound of the knife hitting the cutting board and music from the TV playing.

Crossing his arms over his chest, he stared at her indignantly. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

The girl faintly tilted her head, eyes furrowing as she shrugged. Just hold the bait in front of him and he would have no other choice but to take a chance.

"Is this to spite me or something? I know we're long past the rebellious phase of your life, so what the hell has changed in the last week compared to last year?"

There we go...

Imani raised a brow. "You think I'm saving people to spite you? Is that what we're going with now?" She asked, unable to help the short laugh that echoed from the bottom of her throat. "I mean, if that's the case, are you try spite me for not being around enough?"

"That's my damn job and you know it," he spat in aggravation, waving his hand in dismissal. "You knew exactly that I hate you doing this. It isn't your job and neither is it your little Spider-Boy's either."

"It's Spider-Man, actually-"

"Enough with the attitude!" Robert erupted, pointing a finger in warning. "I've fucking had it with this shit. Time and time again, you have gone behind my back and have continued to pull this shit despite my wishes. And sure, you were doing well after Stark brought you back from Germany. But that doesn't mean I'm going to tolerate these random moments you decide to have."

"Oh, so you're only now realizing what it's like raising a teenager-?"

"I SAID ENOUGH!" The steel and sharp tone of his voice had been just what shut the girl up. Staring up at him like she'd just watched him kill her cat. But it also caused the bubbling of anger to rise to an overflowing rate that Imani wished hadn't always been there since the New York attack.

"No. I'm done listening to what you have to say!"

Robert's eyes narrowed as he pushed himself off the counter and slowly approached the girl. "What did you say?"

"Old age finally catching up? Are you going senile? I said, I'm done!" She yelled, unprovoked by the dangerous look in her Father's eyes. "For years, I've been fighting this alone. I've been the one dealing with all the weight, and you continue to yell and badger me for doing something I think is right–a chance to save people when no one saved us!"

"That is not your responsibility, Imani! How many goddamn times do I need to say it?" He yelled, eyes drifting past her for a moment before they frowned.

But Imani was too focused on her anger to even care what was grabbing his attention. "And how many times do I have to tell you that I intend to simply save people? I don't want to kill or hurt anyone. I want to be the person we deserved when Mom and Issac needed saving-!"

"Iman, look out!" Imani could barely get the last bit of her sentence out before her Dad shoved her out of the way and an explosion echoed around them.

The ringing was the first thing Imani acknowledged. Then came the suffocation of dust and a stinging white pain up her side as she coughed hoarsely. Pieces of brick stabbed in her palms as she tried to sit up, squinting through the smoke that filled her eyes, staining them red.

"Dad!" She called out, legs wobbling beneath her weight. "Dad!"

"I-Iman...!"

Meeting the break of smoke, her breath was caught in her throat as she saw her Dad pinned beneath rubble. Blood dripped from his hairline by whatever exploded. But she could see it. Them. Her Mother and Issac. Their lifeless eyes peeked from small holes in the rubble. And then she heard them.

Please, save us!

Imani exhaled shakily, eyes unblinking with a shake of her head. The air felt stuffier than before, constricting her breaths into short and rapid paces. Throwing her mind into a weightless sensation that she fought against. "No. No, no, no."

Where were you? Why didn't you save us?

"Mama! Issac!" She tore at the rubble, unable to control her breathing as the harsh texture of the brick and rock tore her fingernails back. Unbothered by the pain of flesh from the tip of her fingers peeled off. "Please, no! No, no, no!"

"IMANI!"

The girl gasped, hands holding handfuls of her hair as she looked up at her Dad, who was freed from the rubble with his hands cautiously holding her shoulders. Tears rolled down her cheeks and her throat felt raw from the screams that had ripped through her like blades.

"H-Hey, you're okay. I'm here. Baby, I'm right here."

Imani's lips quivered and her face scrunched up as she grabbed at his shirt and pressed her face into his chest. An unbridled sob racked her body with the feeling of Father's arm wrapping around her in an instant. "Dad..."

He was safe...

"I know, sweetheart. I know," Robert soothed, kissing the crown of her head. "I'm right here. Just breathe."

So, she did. He's safe. He's safe. She had to remind herself that it wasn't what the images in her mind told her. He was in front of her, holding her, alive. Yet, she still felt fear from what she'd seen. It'd been so brief, but every second felt like a minute and forced to relive something she'd managed to force to the back of her mind through her into a spiral.

Lifting her puffy eyes from his chest, she hummed. "What happened?" Imani sniffled, looking at the wall of the apartment gone. The sight of red and blue lights dancing across the encompassing building structures able to be seen.

Robert glanced back, sighing. "I don't know. I think I saw someone floating outside the window behind you," he explained. "I didn't get a good chance to get a good look at them. Might be that Vulture guy."

That'd been enough for Imani's heart to rise in her throat as the grasp on her Dad's shirt tightened. Her body began to tremble with an animalistic rage beyond what she thought herself capable.

Without a warning, Imani shot to her feet and marched toward the opening. Unable to get far, Robert grabbed her wrist suddenly, with a hiss falling from his lips. "Imani, wait-!"

"That goddamn bastard came after you, Dad," she said over her shoulder. "I'm getting some payback."

And the man seemed to understand, for once. His gaze softened with a thick swallow as he nodded, letting her go. Imani smiled once more before launching herself into the night sky. Beginning her hunt.

This anger isn't something new to Imani. She'd felt it the same the moment she saw Nova. The woman who had pulled her and her Father from their apartment with two bodies left behind her. Even then, Imani had considered tearing the woman's body limb from limb and watching blood rain from the sky. But Imani understood the lack of control Nova had held in the past. There had been more lives to save and more enemies to take care of.

But this was unmatched. The Vulture had come for her Father. Her last particle of the family resided in that man. And something like that wasn't able to be dismissed. She was drowning in it and she wasn't entertained by the idea of coming back up.

Tracking the Vulture down hadn't been hard considering the explosion and descending plane hitting the beach on Coney Island. And by the time she arrived, Peter had saved the man from the flames he had been permitted to suffer from. A far more merciful way to go then what Imani had in mind.

Her arrival was noticed by Peter who snapped up from his position on the ground and stared at the girl. "Imani." His breath was caught in her throat from the blood that ran down the side of the girl's face. Clothes covered in dirt and dust that didn't look like they would ever come out. But he was more aware of the dark look in her eyes as she stared at Adrian Toomes, Liz's father.

In an instant, she marched toward the groaning man and lifted him in the air with her powers. Peter was quick to sit up. "Imani-" His body was forced into the ground with an echoing clap ringing out through the air. A weight was placed on his body, compelling him to the pinned position. No matter what he did, her idle powers collapsed further into his body, digging his figure into the surface.

Imani grabbed the web shooter from the boy's wrist without a word. Ignoring the groans that fell from Peter's lips she shot webs around Adrian's body until he was restrained. Tossing the gadget aside, she took the long end of the web and hooked it around one of the broken wings of the plane sticking up from the ground and forcing the Vulture's body into suspended motion where he stared down at the girl.

As she tightened the web around another piece of the plane, she heard the man laugh softly. A groan quickly followed as she looked over her shoulder at him, eyes fixated on his own that moved with the sway of his body. "I'm surprised you survived. Was hoping I killed your Dad to buy me some time," Adrian commented, smiling devilishly. "But you're as persistent as I thought."

Grabbing a piece of broken metal, Imani tested the swing on it. It felt nice in her grasp. It sat comfortably and she was able to grip it enough that it didn't hurt her wrist.

Perfect...

"Imani!" Peter groaned. "Imani, don't listen to him!"

She stared up at Adrian for a long moment. The crackling of flames and sparks of machinery dying were all that could be heard. But the ringing in her ears overwhelmed everything else. Her nose twitched, face twisting in anger as she gripped the pipe with both hands. "I wasn't." Her simple response was followed by the painful snapping of bones under the merciless swings of metal meeting Adrian's body.

Peter was forced to watch Imani swing the metal chunk and break Adrian's body piece by piece. The older man's cries echo in his ears like a nightmarish scene in a movie. Blood spilled from Adrian's lips as he writhed and flinched under every brutal hit. Incoherent gargles bubbled at the tip of his lips.

All sensibilities had drained her, and restraint had finally wilted to what she was now. She wasn't planning on killing the man. That would cause more problems than solve because although this man had nearly killed her father, this was Liz's father. He was a father, a husband, and likely someone's friend. Yet, did that clear him of Imani's judgement? She was his judge, jury, and executioner.

"Imani!" Peter called out in desperation. "Imani, stop, please! If you kill him, there is nothing I can do to help you!"

And that had been enough for Imani to freeze in her spot as her arms slowly lowered. Back still turned to him as she let the weapon rest idly in her right hand.

This was morally wrong. This was the worst possible thing a "hero" could do. But when did Imani ever consider herself a hero? She never wanted this. All this life brought was pain and suffering and forced those within to witness it happen before their very eyes. So, why did it matter if he saved her? She was just as bad as any other common criminal at this point.

Why did she want him to save her?

Tossing the piece of metal to the side, she glared up at Adrian. "Be very happy that boy has more sway with me than I'd like to admit," she growled. "Because if I got to you first, I would make you witness every horrific piece of torture I had in mind for you."

Adrian couldn't respond, blood spluttering from between his lips. Eyes heavy with exhaustion.

Turning to Peter, Imani relented her powers and watched him stand to his feet. He stared at her in caution and she nearly wanted to laugh. He was afraid. The irony and hole in the entire argument she had made to her Father was more apparent than ever.

"He got to my Dad, Peter. This is strictly payback for hurting someone I loved." Then she extended her hand out, a smile forming on her lips.

"Now, you gonna save me, Spider-Man?"