The escapee - Marvel

Chapter 38 - A gut-wrenching ache

"Who do you think I am? Of course I 'ave it." 

Seven watched as a larger, more round man came into view, grinning. He was grasping something in his small, fat hand but she couldn't quite make it out yet.

She began searching the scene for any clues of what might be going on. She spotted someone else sat in the passenger's side of the van but their face was hidden by a hat that hung low on their face.

The people had chosen to meet on a street that was very badly illuminated by one mere flickering streetlight, she was hoping that Peter was able to see much better than she could with his enhanced senses.

"All of it?" The small man asked accusingly and Seven's eyes drifted back to the two men.

"What are you suggesting?"The rounder man bellowed and the other man looked around nervously. Peter and Seven shared a quick glance before they both nodded, understanding what they were going to do.

"Nothin Nothin Jerry, you know you're my guy" The short man shook his head and stepped forward into the orange glow of the streetlamp.

Seven could now see that he was rather ugly, his beard was thin and quite sad and he was obviously balding. His grin made her feel physically sick, he had one wonky yellow tooth that poked out of his bottom lip which she thought made him look a bit like a rabbit.

"You know I 'ave a lot of possible customers, I can easily take my business elsewhere" 

"There's no need for that," The small man said quickly, "What I mean is that I trust you fully," he spoke again, much slower.

Seven almost scoffed, she was tired and getting a little chilly, if she had wanted to watch two grown men arguing she would have sat in a room with Bucky and Sam. 

"Alright then" He moved forward and seven saw that what he had been holding was the handle to a small black case which he unclasped and opened to reveal small syringes which were filled with some unusual red liquid. As she inspected the case she felt a tickling sensation in her nose but quickly shook her head silently so she wouldn't make any noise.

The small man reached out to take the open case and Jerry let it go, a smug grin overtaking his face. "The payment?" He asked and the short man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small stack of money, his eyes never leaving the open case.

Seven scrunched up her nose, the sensation was back. She tried as hard as she could to push it away but it wouldn't disappear and even though she tried her hardest to stop it, she sneezed. She had tried to sneeze quietly into her arm but it didn't matter, the men had already heard it.

They both snapped their heads up to look at the two heroes, Peter had leapt out of sight as soon as she had sneezed so he wasn't spotted but Seven just stared down at them like a deer in headlights. 

The small man slammed the case shut and took off back towards the driver's side of the van, chucking the case towards whoever was in the passenger seat. Jerry however pulled out a small gun and began aiming it at her face, Seven reacted quickly this time and leapt out of the way as he shot the gun, the bullet missing her by a second.

Peter grabbed her and leapt to the floor, letting her waist go as they hit the ground. The van was already starting to move so he went after it, leaving her to deal with jerry. 

Seven focused on disarming him first. He pointed the gun at her once more and she uses that to her advantage. Seven jamp forward and grabbed the side of the gun, yanking it out of his grasp. She heard it clatter to the floor but she wasn't too focused on getting it while Jerry was still conscious. 

He began swinging at her face and Seven ducked quickly, avoiding the punch. She used the fact that he was focusing on her face and when she ducked again to avoid his punch she threw her own fist forward, right into his stomach.

Jerry stumbled back, gasping for air and Secen dropped to the floor, putting her weight on her left leg and sliding the right one out to the side, placing her left arm on the ground. She swept her leg around and hooked her foot behind his leg, causing him to trip and fall. 

Seven reached out and grabbed the gun in her right hand and stood again so she was no towering over the round man. She wasted no time in leaving down and smashing the gun against his head, watching his body become limp. 

She left him there, when she met up with Peter again he could web him up so there was no reason to stick around. She ran in the direction she had seen the van go a minute ago and used her power to propel her into the air, scanning the roads. 

Eventually she spotted the van a few streets away, Spider-Man swinging behind them. Seven drifted towards them and landed on the pavement, running beside Peter who had also dropped to the ground. 

"What now?" She asked breathily, trying to catch her breath.

"I'll use my webs to slow them down" Peter yelled back. Before she could ask him what she wanted her to do he was gone again, back into the air. 

Seven figured that she could use the air element to slow them down too. That would mean she would have to get in front of them though. She glanced over at Peter who was beginning to attach his webs to the van, pulling it back slowly.

She could see it begin to slow down and she used that as motivation to run faster so she could pass them. Seven ran as fast as she possibly could until she was a few meters in front of them, then she ran into the road, turning and facing the van and holding out her palms so she could direct the air in that direction.

Seven began using her power, she focused on visualising the air flowing through her and towards the van until she saw it begin to slow down, it was working!

Suddenly she heard one of the webs snap, and then another. Peter's webs had caught on a lampost and were snapping, and the van was speeding up again. Seven looked around frantically, she knew that the chances of her power being able to stop the van on its own were low but she couldn't just let them get out of the way. She remained standing in the middle of the road, her palms still outstretched at the nearing vehicle. 

 Slowly she began to realise that it really wasn't enough, the van was accelerating and it was inching closer and closer. They weren't giving up and neither would she. 

Peter watched the scene with horror, he thought that surely she would have been smart enough to get out of the road before the van could hit her but apparently not. He decided that she definitely did have a death wish. 

He took off again, swinging as fast as possible towards his best friend who was extremely close to a van travelling at an extremely fast speed. 

Seven now saw that she had no chance of stopping the vehicle but she also knew that she didn't have enough time to run out of the way. Before she could make any movement she felt two hands shoving her and she was flung across the road. 

As she flew she heard a sickening thud before landing and then nothing but the ringing in her ears could be heard as her head smacked against the concrete.