𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐔𝐒𝐊

17. 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆, 𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝘂𝘀𝗸

Eszter grits her teeth as a rush of adrenaline pumps in her veins, the enhanced grunts in pain as she uses her powers to hold Adrian away from Peter. The dampener zaps Eszter's skin, making her cry out to relieve some pain, but it barely does any help. When Adrian glances over his shoulder, he was surprised to see Eszter's hands glowing; he's always heard about Dusk, but Adrian has never seen her in action.

Seeing the opening, Peter grabs Adrian's hand to attempt a maneuver, but the man suddenly shoots to the sky, taking Peter with him. Releasing himself from Adrian's hold, Eszter couldn't react fast enough to save Peter, not with the pain burning at her skin; luckily, he caught himself.

Peter collided on the ground with a loud thud, huffing as the air escapes from his lungs. Adrain came back down, but Eszter rushes forward as she tries to warn Peter, but the enhanced jumps forward; gasping from the sharp pain around her torso, Eszter doesn't have time to think when she's suddenly pulled away from the ground.

"Eszter!" Peter reaches to grab her hand, but their fingertips barely touch.

"Peter!" Eszter shrieks.

The ground began to shrink the higher Adrian went; glancing down, Adrian noticed Eszter in his grasps, but for some reason, the man couldn't bring himself to hurt the enhanced. He's heard quite a few stories from Liz regarding Eszter, and from what he knows, his daughter is fond of the enhanced. He wasn't a horrible man, either--Eszter is like his daughter, in a way, and Adrian wasn't sure if he can go through with this.

However, Adrian grins at an idea that comes to mind; he knows Peter wouldn't let his friend get hurt. He'll be too focused on saving Eszter to worry about Adrian, unaware of the plan of leaving with one of the crates.

"You picked the wrong time to leave the dance, kid."

"You don't have to do this, Mr. Toomes. You don't have to be the villain of this story," Eszter attempts to reason. "Think about your daughter . . . what would she think if she found out her dad is the bad guy?"

Adrian pauses briefly. "You know, Liz talked very highly of you. Said you were nice and a good friend. But you're just like her, in a way--too damn good for this world," he sighs, shaking his head. "But this is why I'm doing this . . .for her, for my family."

Having a hunch on where this is going, Eszter starts to plead. "Mr. Toomes, don't--" but then Adrian unlatches his claws from her torso.

Dropping from the sky, Eszter could feel her heart drop to her stomach as she feels the wind rushing past her, whipping her in the face. The next thing Eszter knew is the loud screaming in her ears--oh wait, those are mine, she thought. But as Adrian watches her fall, he removes his helmet before flying over towards the crate of Chitauri energy cores.

Peter felt his spider senses tingle as he finds Eszter falling from the sky; the boy mumbles something incoherent, prepping himself. As Eszter got closer, Peter waits before launching himself into the air, crashing into the enhanced before he wraps his arms around her. Eszter gasps and scrunched her eyes, waiting for the impact; then, Peter grunts first once he takes the fall for Eszter, landing on the sand with a loud thud and getting the wind knocked out of him.

"Holy crap. That was scary," Eszter mutters lowly, only for the two of them. However, the enhanced was still sitting on Peter's waist, laying on his chest; Eszter blushes. "Peter, you can let me go now."

Opening his eyes, Peter meets Eszter's piercing green eyes and nearly gets lost in them before remembering he was still holding the enhanced in his arms; blushing deeply, Peter awkwardly lets go of Eszter as she rolls off and falling on her back. Huffing, the enhanced stares up at the sky where she had fallen from.