𝙄𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙎𝙋𝙄𝘿𝙀𝙍𝙎 𝙒𝙀𝘽 • p. parker

chapter eleven

EXCUSES AND BATTLES
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AFTER ANOTHER HOUR, THE TEENS GREW TIRED OF MATH. Putting on their jackets, the two walked down the stairs and to the front door.
"Papa! We're going on a walk!" Rory yelled into the house.
"Okay, get home soon!" Manny yelled back. Rory nodded, even though she knew her father wouldn't see it, and walked out after Peter.
The cool night air whisks around the two as they wandered in silence.
"You have a pretty cool family." Peter spoke up. Rory glanced at him and chuckled.
"Yeah they're pretty fun." She nodded. "Ya know, I always thought my dad would get a new wife after the accident, but he truly was in love with her."
"I like to think my parents died while holding onto each other. They were troubled but they both loved me." Peter confessed.
"I always wanted to do what my mother did, I'm just scared people will find out." The Morais girl blurted out.
"Find out what?" Peter came to a halt, turning his body to face hers.
"Uhm, I'm just scared people will find out, uh, what she was working on." Rory rushed out. "Honestly, I don't even know what she did, and it's been years. I want to redo her experiment and see what went wrong."
Peter nodded but both teens were pulled out of their silence by growing police sirens. From where they stood, they could see all the law enforcement darting to the bridge.
"You know, it's getting kinda late." Peter said as he looked back to the girl in front of him.
"Yeah, I gotta, uhm, put Luis to bed. It was awesome hanging out with you." Rory smiled innocently. She really needed to get over there.
"Yeah you too. Oh, uh, I would be happy to help you with your moms experiment at some point." Peter said as he and Rory backed away from each other.
"Yeah, that would be awesome. See ya!" She waved before walking away. When she turned around and didn't see Peter, she ran to an alleyway. From the hand sewed secret pocket in her baggy jacket, Rory pulled out her suit.
Quickly, the Morais girl changed, tucked her regular clothes into the jacket pocket, and hid it around her home.

-

Rory Morais knew this city like the back of her hand. Being a vigilante for two years helped out a lot.
Running through the back streets was like a breath of fresh air, at this moment, Rory truly felt like Lady Hecate.

Finally at the bridge, Rory ran into the street. From her place, she hadn't seen whatever was causing such a distress among the people. So, deciding against her better judgment, the young lady climbed up on a car to get a better look. Once standing with no cover, Rory saw the problem. A large, disgusting lizard was ripping through the car filled street.
"Oh sweet Jesus." Rory muttered. Watching as the monster threw cars to-and-fro, the Morais girl helped draw people away from the problem at hand.
"Hey! Help!" A yelled sounded from a black car. Rory jumped from roof to roof until she arrived at the spot, looking in the window she saw the man from Oscorp stuck within the confines of the vehicle.
Breaking the glass, Rory peered her head through.
"Hi, I'll get you out of there just, stay put for a second." She smiled at him. Straightening back up, she locked eyes with the lizard. As he drew closer, he tossed a car out of his way and off the bridge. Before it could crash in the water, a web shot out and grabbed a hold of it.
As Rory and her new vigilante friend were distracted with getting people to safety, the lizard pierced his hand into the car with the trapped man. He then began scratching around to get the man, his claws tearing the dark interior.
Then, the lizard man grabbed the car and was about to grow it before a yell distracted him.
"Incoming!" The spider-like vigilante yelled, kicking the lizard and attaching yet another car to the side of the bridge.
Rory contemplated using her other abilities, the ones that took her strength and energy. But yet again, she was distracted as a man screamed from the bridge.
"Somebody help! My kid, he's trapped!" The man yelled. Rory looked over and saw how the cars were beginning to creak.
As Spider-man went to help the kid, Rory jumped to the more dangerous part of the bridge, the outside railings.
Getting a good hold on the web, she began to slowly lower herself before she got to the back windshield of the car. Closing her eyes, the called Mari, the Basque Samhain Goddess with the associations of earth and fire magick. The dark sky split to form a circle of light, almost like the resurrection of a god, and Rory could feel Mari's power, she could hear the Goddess' voice talking to her, almost as if she were standing right behind her.
"Use my magic and save these people, then you will return it to me. I call upon my fire and earth abilities to travel to this lady and help her help innocents." The goddess called and when Rory opened her eyes she could feel Mari's trust in her to use these gifts for good.

Using fire to melt away the glass, Lady Hecate looked into the car to see a young woman with a little baby in her hands. Her breathing was gruff and Rory could see the fear in her aura.
"It's okay, I'm gonna help you." The Morais girl held her hand out but the woman just flicked back, the car jolting with her movements.
"Please, don't hurt us." The woman cried. "We just want to go home."
"And I will make sure you get there. I need you to trust me, okay? I promise you I will make sure you get home." Rory held her hand down farther, trying to grab ahold of the woman. The younger girl could sense the car was going to fall, it was only a matter of time.
"I need you to trust me, okay? Give me the baby." She then let go of the web and held her other hand down. The woman reached up and handed the vigilante her child. Rory moved the little thing so it was in the crook of her elbow, then she reached her hand down.
"Okay, come on. I got you, I promise." Rory urged calmly. The car was swaying with the wind and the web was snapping. The woman reached up but as she did, the car fell free.
Rory, who wasn't holding onto the web, pulled her free hand up to the sky with her palm up, and as she did, the water below them raised. Making a pool for the falling people, the car landed softly before Rory realized she was tumbling down. Pulling the baby to her chest, Rory rolled into a ball and anticipated the crash.
The cool water woke her from her trans as soon as she hit it, forcing her to remember her time was running out on these abilities. Looking at the bridge, the young vigilante saw that Spider-man was jumping from the last car, getting all the others to safety.
"What happened?" The woman asked as she crawled out of the trashed car and into the small pool. "Where's my baby?"
"She's right here, okay? I got her." Rory handed the bundle back to the weeping mother.
"Alright, I need you to listen to me. Where I walk, you walk. No exceptions. I'll get you back to the bridge." Rory ordered before closing her eyes and focusing on the water. She formed a staircase that lead the three back up to the bridge. Once there and safely touching solid ground, the Morais girl raised her hand to the sky and mumbled an incantation. The power left her at once and she suddenly felt exhausted. Falling to the ground of the bridge, she closed her eyes and heaved a sigh.
"I'm just gonna, sit here, for a minute." She gasped out, her breathing rapid. Lord she hopped the cops weren't there yet.

"Hey, hey." Rory opened her eyes to see Spider-man kneeling next to her.
"Hey, there you go. You okay?" He helped her sit up. Rory looked around and saw the survivors of the bridge attack looking at the two, some recording on their phones. Then she panicked, feeling her face quickly for her mask.
"It's okay, I made sure they kept it on don't worry." The other vigilante whispered. "We gotta go, can you get up?"
Rory sluggishly shook her head before almost falling over again.
"Whoa, okay. It's okay, come on." Spider-man grunted as he helped the girl up, the crowd of onlookers backed up slightly to make room for them.
"Hey, listen, I need you to wrap around me, okay?" Spider-man looked at the poor girl. She nodded before snaking her hands around his neck and holding on tight, then she jumped slightly and wrapped her legs around his waist, securing her ankles together so she wouldn't fall.
"Okay, there we go. You good?" He looked at her slightly.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm good, you can go." She mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut in preparation of the other vigilantes swinging around.

-

After a good 15 minutes of avoiding police and getting away from the bridge, Spider-man finally came to a stop in an alleyway. Lucky for Rory, it was her alleyway.
"Right, I think we're far enough away. Where am I taking you?" The man put his hands on his hips as Rory gathered her breath. She noticed the man had a backpack, one that looked suspiciously like Peter's, but she didn't say anything about it.
"This is actually good. Thanks for the help." She leaned her back against the brick wall.
"Oh no problem, thanks for your help with getting those people from the cars. That was cool what you did with the water, how did you do that?" The vigilante rambled.
"I called upon the goddess Mari and she gave me her strengths. Unfortunately, when I do that spell I lose my energy." Rory explained.
"Oh, so you're a witch?" Spider-man asked bluntly.
"Ouch, we hardly know each other. How would you know I'm a bitch?" Rory smirked.
"No, no, no, no! I didn't mean it like that!" The man waved his hands in dismissal. "I only meant that-"
"I know, I'm messing with you." Rory laughed. "Yes, I'm a witch. I dabble in spells, potions, tarot cards, the whole shabang."
"Oh that's pretty cool. So, like, can you do anything where you don't pass out?" Spider-man asked with genuine interest.
"Well, I can mess with lights, I can see auras very easily, I can speak with gods and goddesses, and I can tell peoples intentions." Rory listed.
"Wow, well it was great to fight with you again, I have to do some research about this big dinosaur that's running around. I'll see you later." The man prepared to jump off but Rory grabbed his arm.
"Wait, you didn't, see my face, did you?" She asked Her voice was quiet and small, she was scarred and not her usual confident, sassy self.
"No, I saw those people crowd around you but when I got there no one was near you and your mask was still on. Don't worry, you're still a secret." The man nodded to calm her. Rory just looked at him, his intentions were good and he was yelling the truth. Not the whole truth, but the truth.
"Okay, stay safe." She back up and waved. Once she saw he was out of eye sight, she stumbled to where she hid her things and put her jacket on. God, why was being a superhero so hard?