Malen'kaya Zemlya [2] [P. Parker]

3.15 Drop

I pushed through the crowd of people, waving my hand over my necklace and pelting up the stairs.

"Hello, Miss. How can I help?" My A.I. asked as it activated.

"You remember the glowy thing, right?" I asked.

"You mean the explosive Chitauri weapon core?"

I stopped in my tracks. "You knew what it was?"

"Of course."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You never asked."

I huffed a sigh and began climbing the stairs again. "Alright, can you find it?"

"Of course." there was a pause. "The core has caused severe structural damage to the elevator. It has stopped thirteen floors above you."

"Is Peter here yet?" I asked, running faster.

"Peter Parker is scaling the wall on the other side of the monument to you. Would you like me to sync your earpieces?"

"Yes!" I cried out. "Definitely do that!"

"Syncing... Syncing... Syncing... Synced. Gaia and Spider-Man are now connected."

"Peter!" I shouted. "Can you hear me?"

"Ash?" He asked. "Yeah, where are you?"

I pulled one of the elevator doors open to see the elevator hanging six floors above me. "Six floors below the elevator. I can't go any higher but I'm ready to catch it if it falls."

"Okay, I'm going from above." He paused. "Somehow."

I nodded, despite the fact that he couldn't see me, then turned my end of the comm off, meaning I could hear Peter but he couldn't hear me.

"I should give my A.I. a name..." I muttered.

"That would be preferred." The A.I. replied.

I ran through some options in my mind as I peered up the elevator shaft. "How about... Jane. As an acronym of... Just A Nifty Electronic." I shrugged. "Sounds cool, I guess."

"You can call me Jane," Jane replied.

"Great." I turned the comm back on properly and spoke to Peter. "Hey, Spider-boy, you almost in? This is gonna come down if you're not.

"I-"

"You now have 125 seconds until catastrophic failure." Peter's A.I. told us.

"What? Why?" Peter asked as I staggered and almost slipped down the elevator shaft.

"Unexpected motion has caused the deterioration to escalate," Jane added.

"How do I get in there?" Peter asked.

"Activating reconnaissance drone." the A.I. informed.

"He has a drone?" I asked in a whisper.

A face peered down at me. It was Abe.

"Guys, Gaia's down there!" He waved and then grinned. "Wait, that's Ashley! Ashley's down there!"

I waved up. "Take it easy, guys. I got you down here if anything happens. Spider-Man's almost with you!"

There was a shuffling sound. "Spider-Man?"

"Just try not to move around too much, okay?" I called up.

"Okay!" Abe called back down to me.

"Okay. Oh, my god. Okay." Peter's voice reached my ears once more.

"You good?" I asked.

"What's wrong?" His A.I. asked. "You've reached the southwest window. Why are you hesitating?"

"It's fine. It's just, I've just never been this high before." Peter replied.

I smiled. "Hey, Spider-Boy, I get it, okay? But you've gotta get this done or our friends are gonna fall."

"Yeah, okay. Gotta focus up. I can do this."

"Yeah, you can. You're fricking Spider-Man." I grinned.

"You're right. I'm Spider-Man." he paused. "Wait. You called me Spider-Man."

"We're on a bit of a time crunch here," I muttered.

"Also, you have not reinstalled your parachute so a fall from this height would most likely be lethal." his A.I chimed in helpfully.

"Perfect. Oh, my god." Peter breathed.

There was a pause and a soft thud.

I tilted my head. "That didn't sound like a window breaking to me. What's going on up there?"

"It's not breaking. Why is it not breaking?"

"It's a four-inch ballistic glass. You'll have to create more momentum." The A.I replied.

"Jane, tell me what's going on in the elevator and up top," I ordered.

"It seems that a police helicopter has ordered Peter to return to the ground," Jane told me. "Inside the elevator, Eugene 'Flash' Thompson is exiting through the ceiling hatch."

I breathed out in relief. "Who's out so far?"

"Cindy Moon and Flash Thompson, and Michelle Jones is on the ground."

"Thanks, Jane." I nodded.

The elevator car shook in the shaft above me.

I steadied my breathing and paused. How long would it take to grow something up if they fell? How far would they have to fall before they died anyway, no matter whether I catch them or not? What would I catch them with?

Making a quick decision, I raised my arms, tuning out Peter's mumbling and making a series of rope-like vines across the elevator shaft. They grew from all directions, spreading across the gaping hole and covering it quickly.

Soon after that, I heard the telltale sound of glass breaking and the elevator dropped.

I thrust my hands out to make the vines stronger, but they were never hit. The elevator car stopped about four floors above me.

"I did it! Whoa!" I heard Peter shout happily from above.

"Wooh!" I shouted up, but it was too soon.

The elevator car dropped.

A/N

Yeah, hey guys! Did you enjoy the chapter? It's been like two weeks...

Oops, I guess.

So, Ashley's AI is called Jane (Just A Nifty Electronic) and you have no idea how long it took me to come up with that because I knew it'd be called Jane but I didn't know what it would stand for. And it stands for something because Ash is a nerd and that's the kinda stuff she does.

Anyway, so my friends and I have been writing dark stories for a 'competition' that we're holding and it's kinda fun. I might post mine somewhere on Wattpad once the comp is over, but yeah.

I'll catch you all later, amazing people who have stuck with me, I love you all!

-lost_in_a_book__