Tidal Wave [Peter Parker]

Part 20- God of the Sea

He was standing on the ocean floor as if he was waiting for her to return. She landed a few yards away from him. "You know it's rather impressive, what you can do," Njǫror said. "It's a pity you have to die for me to succeed."

"Who says you'll succeed?" Sage said.

The water around her began to glow, white lights started to arc through the water. She sent four small shock waves towards him. They all struck him at such a rapid pace that he was knocked backwards.

He stood up and laughed, making Sage feel sick. "You have no idea what I'm capable of," he smiled.

Sage rolled her eyes, "Seriously? I never thought I'd actually hear someone say that, thank you for that." Her voice was thick with sarcasm that Njǫror clearly did not understand.

He was puzzled, "You're welcome?"

"Oh, now it's my turn I suppose," Sage couldn't shake the sardonic edge in her voice. "You have no idea what I'm capable of."

"Then prove it," Njǫror said as the water started to churn. "Now's the time to save the city, Sage!"

The water rushed up on all sides. Everyone standing on the ice started to run to the shore. Tony had to drag Peter away from the edge to get him to safety. Sage was forced out of the water, she landed on the ice alone. She could see everyone on the shore, a few of them tried to run forward and help her but she activated her ear piece, "Everyone stop! Grab something rooted in the ground, a tree, a lamppost, anything!"

They all stopped and stared in horror at the rising wall of water. Then they rushed to find something to hold onto like Sage had said.

Njǫror landed next to Sage on the ice. She turned over on her back to look up at him. The wall of water was getting bigger with each passing minute. "This is what I can do, Sage. Your move."

Njǫror calmly walked back into the wall of water. She watched him disappear into it. Sage sat up and scrambled to her feet. "Not today," she said.

She raised her hands and focused on the water. Each molecule was bouncing around making it difficult to harness her abilities. She closed her eyes and heard Peter scream her name. That was all the motivation she needed. She thought about all the people behind her and opened her eyes, their blue glow gave her confidence.

The top of the tidal wave started to evaporate, the ice under her feet became thicker, and she forced the wave to stop moving. It took all of her concentration and effort to save her friends. "I won't let you hurt anyone else!"

She could hear Njǫror voice but she couldn't see him. "That's sweet but your efforts are useless. I am the God of the sea, you don't stand a chance against me."

The wave was under his control again, it grew until it was suddenly on top of Sage. It hit her with such a powerful force that it almost knocked her out. She got caught in the wave as it rushed back to greet her friends in a most unkind manner. She couldn't see anything; her body was tumbling through the water when she felt a sharp pain in her back. Sage stopped moving, she'd been slammed against a cement barrier. After several minutes of non stop beatings from the strong wave, the water subsided.

Sage opened her eyes and looked around. Everyone seemed to be safe. They had grabbed different grounded objects like she had told them too. Just as she thought everything might be okay, she saw something. The only reason they'd been able to hold on to those objects for so long was because Peter had tied them to their object of choice with webs. That was when she realized Peter was nowhere to be seen. Sage jumped up, ignoring the pain she felt. "Peter?" she said, no response. "Peter?" she shouted.

It wasn't until she turned around that she found him. In a last attempt to save himself, he'd grabbed the cement barrier and webbed his hand to the top of it. She jumped over the barrier and tried to wake him up. Her hands started to shake as she placed one of hers on top of the webs. She froze the water molecules in the webs to a point where they broke. He slid down the barrier without that anchor point.

Sage turned him on his back and held him. She pulled his mask off to listen to his non-existent breath. The only logical conclusion was that his lungs were full of water. Sage knew what she had to do, she wasn't about to let him die. The water in his lungs began to move, she was careful to separate the bodily lung fluid from the salt water. Peter started to cough, giving her a glimmer of hope. He coughed up the salt water and opened his eyes. She hugged him as soon as she saw that he would be okay. "Oh, don't do that," she said, her voice just above a whisper. "I can't lose you, I love you."

Peter hugged her back, "I love you too."

Sage smiled as she pressed her face into the crook of his neck. "I know," her voice hitched.

Peter laughed at himself, "You really could hear me during the surgery."

She leaned away to look at him, "Yeah, I could."

She touched his face gently. He had road rash on his forehead and cuts on his lips and brow bone. They both turned when they heard footsteps approaching.

"Awe," Njǫror said. "How sweet, young love."

Sage looked up with hatred in her eyes. "Leave us alone," she growled.

Njǫror laughed, "No, this is our fight now. I can always take care of Thor later, after all, the people think us immortal."

Sage and Peter stood up. Her eyes began to turn from grey to blue as her mind filled with rage. "Should we test that?"

She harnessed the water from the tidal wave that now surrounded them. It was easy for her to shape the water into a tunnel that engulfed the god and pulled him back out to sea. She jumped over the barrier and skated across the ice. Njǫror was stuck to the ocean floor, she was clustering the water molecules, making the water around him denser. The weight was crushing him.

There was only a few yards between them. "Do you really think I'd let you get away with that?" Sage said. "That was weak. You threatened to decimate the city with a tidal wave but if that's true, then what the hell was that?"

Njǫror smiled, "It was the opening act."

"I don't think so."

She sent a tunnel of water to the shoreline. "What do you think you're doing?" Njǫror asked.

"You'll see," Sage said. "Thor might not understand the laws of conductivity but I sure as hell do."

Something broke the surface of the water, it was Mjölnir. Before Njǫror had a chance to control the hammer, Sage summoned the power of Thor. The water around her glowed brighter, white arcs of light were coming off of her. A bright light struck the hammer and lit the water up like the New York skyline. Njǫror screamed as the lightning arced it's way towards him. She'd just used the hammer to amplify her own conductive ability, that combined with the conductivity of the salt water, it was enough power to send Njǫror out of the water and onto the shore. Sage shrouded herself in a layer of ice, preventing the lightning from hurting her. When Njǫror was gone, Sage shot out of the water and melted the ice simultaneously. When she landed on the sheet of ice she'd created, everyone there was fine. Peter had taken a knife from Natasha and cut everyone loose. When he heard her land on the ice, he ran forward and hugged her. "You're crazy," he whispered.

Sage took a deep breath, "Ice is a poor conductor, I knew you'd be okay."

She kissed his cheek, and stepped away.

Njǫror stood up and faced Thor, who was now holding Mjölnir. "Why would you let a fifteen year old risk her life for yours?"

Sage started to walk forward, "It's not his choice!"

She stopped short and held out her hand. Even gods were 60% water.