ILLYRIS | xii.
"YOINK!"
A FERRY BAD DAY
THE FERRY WAS scheduled to leave at eleven. It would take a little over half an hour for Thea and Peter to make it in time so they got a move on quick. The plan was a bit hazy but Peter assured her everything would work out on its own. Maybe it was his zealous confidence in himself that was offbeat. Or the fact that they were going to jump a ferry boat while Thea was supposed to be learning about Faraday's law.
In any case, she led the charge and they were a few rooftops away from the loading dock. Her ears rung as the blaring of the ferry horn echoed. The waters of the Upper Bay glistened under the morning sunlight, each twinkle reminiscent of diamonds showered across the ripples beyond the stationed vessel. She couldn't hear Karen's instructions but Peter informed her the time via Karen— ten-fifty. The only thing they had to do now was look for the Vulture's crew. To Thea it was obvious; illegal arms deals weren't in need of an audience. The holders would go to the car deck to conduct their business.
The ferry itself was huge, orange in color. A gush of frothy water was left in its wake as it began to set sail. Thea could see the edge of the building getting closer and before she knew it Peter had leaped off the railing, spreading his arms and legs out. There was no webbing. Only paper-thin patches of fabric that stretched out from his elbows. The wind picked up underneath them and he took off.
He reminded Thea of a sugar glider— the huge eyes not making it any better.
Taking a deep breath, she jumped and felt her fire pick up her body. Her flight wasn't as fast as Peter's but this was only her second time using the flames as a propellent and, well... she didn't quite pass the swimming unit in gym class.
Peter had his arms stretched out and seconds before they crashed into the wall, he pulled her close, wary of the soft flames that dripped down her hair. Whatever was making Peter stick to the side of the watercraft held the two of them and that was good enough for her.
"Nice," he whispered as soon as he secured his footing. With precise silence, the two crept up the exterior of the ship to a square window.
Thea caught a glimpse of numerous passengers idly sitting in their seats, busying themselves with phones or magazines. She felt her heart skip a beat— there were so many people and if something were to go wrong they would be in deep shit.
"Okay, Karen, activate Enhanced Reconnaissance Mode," she heard Peter say and frowned.
"Did Tony put in a microwave oven too?" Thea mumbled to herself as he communicated with his AI. She wondered if Bex could modify Bluetooth to fit a comms device. It wasn't just the awkwardness of being a third wheel that put her off. She wanted to know what was going on. Uncertainty wasn't a favorite feeling of hers.
Peter looked to her as Droney began to detach himself from the center of his suit and crawl on top of his head. "One of the guys from the bridge is there and he's with some old dude. Karen says he doesn't have a criminal record. Hey, Droney, keep an eye on that guy. We can't let anybody get away this time."
Thea smiled as the little drone hovered between them, emitting a hushed whistle before flying off. Peter took her up the entire height of the ferry and Thea felt her heart pound in her chest every foot they travel. As soon as the blue roof came into view she began to reach up with both hands, her legs still wrapped around his waist.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Peter quickly asked, instantly throwing his arm around her waist to keep her close.
"Don't worry, I got it," Thea murmured, securing her hands onto the railing and pressing her feet to the side of the boat, knees bent in a crouch. With a grunt, she pushed off with all her strength her legs swinging up and over in a circle until she felt solid ground. There was a slight thud next to her and she noticed the white of Peter's lenses largen in surprise.
"You took acrobatics?" he asked, perplexed.
Thea shrugged, her eyes scanning the vast bay and the horizon that laid beyond it. "When you're running for your life, you learn to climb whatever your hands can grab."
The two teens peered over the ledge and Thea let Peter use Karen to analyze the four men standing at a distance— probably to seem casual and unaffiliated with each other. The matching gray jackets give it away. She tried not to pay attention to Peter's murmurs though it must've been weird for him to seemingly talk to himself all the time. The mention of one criminal's name, Mac Gargan, and his extensive criminal record was something Thea didn't want to ask about.
"No, Karen, stop it with the Instant Kill already!" Peter whisper-exclaimed.
She didn't want to ask about that either.
The hiss of a door caught her ears and she looked down to see the Hoodie Man from the bridge strolling up to them. Though his eyes were fixed on the other side, his stance next to Gargan made her frown and lean just a bit closer. She noticed tattoos littering the side of his neck and the creepy aura he gave off— the most obvious one was a curling scorpion.
"White pickup truck."
Gargan, who had been leaning against a mast, opened his eyes and met the ones of a tall Asian man standing a few feet away. He gave a subtle nod and the man began walking off to a corridor filled with parked cars, just underneath the seating floor. It was dark, the only light coming from either end where the sun was shining.
"Droney, scan the ship for a white pickup truck," Peter instructed softly as the drone flew out of sight. A few moments later, he sighed in satisfaction. "Oh, this is perfect. They got the weapons, buyers, and sellers in one place."
"Sounds easy enough," Thea sighed. She brushed back strands of hair that weren't braided from her face— they were just waiting for some action.
Suddenly, Peter jumped back in fear, stuttering, "no, no, no!"
He rambled on with the person on the other end of the assumably unexpected call. His attention kept flitting to the four that were doing nothing, from Thea's observation. She winced at the blaring of the ferry horn and wondered if the person Peter was talking to heard it. Her eyes widened as soon as she saw the Hoodie Man hold up a set of keys to Gargan and she nudged Peter who hastily exclaimed, "I gotta go! End call!"
"I'll take those!" His arm flung out, a thick strand of webbing latching onto the keys. "Yoink!"
Thea took a moment of silent reflection to contemplate the fact that Peter said "Yoink."
Before she knew it, Peter sprung off the ledge and landed on the ground. Sighing, she stood up straight and lept down, landing on a three-point stance. Thea hoped the fire curling at her body was enough to send a shiver of fear down their unsuspecting spines.
"Hey, guys! The illegal weapons-deal ferry was at ten-thirty! You missed it!" Peter jokingly exclaimed, shaking the keys in front of them tauntingly.
Two of the men grabbed at their belts for guns and just when the dangerous glint of metal made it into the light of day, Peter fired a web split into two, taking them down. Catching Gargan fumbling with his own gun, Thea rotated her wrists over each other, flinging a ball of Dragofyre towards him. It wasn't her first instinct— that would be to use the elaborate Water Dance she had been taught to fight in.
The gun had been knocked out of his hands and Peter caught it in the nick of time. Thea watched Gargan scream as the flames ate away his jacket and the skin on his face before she used the soft part of her foot to kick him over the railing and twist her body back in a quick fashion. Make quick strikes— it was the first rule of the Valoqar's Water Dance.
"Watch out!"
Seconds before he even shouted the warning, Thea felt the hauntingly familiar vibration run down her skin and she flipped out of the way just as an ominous trilling of energy sailed past her head. Her eyes burned at the shower of sparks that exploded as the Hoodie Man's gauntlet smashed into the metal railing. Just before he could try and strike her again, Peter's web yanked it out of his hands and stuck it to the metal confines.
"Thanks," she murmured, jumping to her feet at once with her breathing intact. The benefit of the Sovrani fighting style was its gentle stress on the body. It was a rule to never sacrifice protection and energy for brutality and speed.
As if he could sense what was coming towards him, Peter casually webbed the few guys sprinting towards him and threw them across the floor, addressing them, "Whoa, whoa! Not so fast! Are you guys okay? My bad, that's a little harsh." He glanced at the Hoodie Man who was trying to pry his gauntlet out of the metal gate. "I gotta say, the other guy was way better with that thing. I'm honestly... I'm-I'm shocked."
Thea stood as a watch but smirked under her mask at Peter's incessant chatter. She wasn't an expert in the art of vigilantism but she was sure there shouldn't be this much talking.
A shout echoing from behind them drew her attention to another of the criminals lumbering towards them at top speed. Thea positioned herself accordingly and used her wrist to deflect the predicted punch harboring his full-body strength. She twisted herself parallel to him, using her bent stance to deliver a swift punch to the soft part of his ribs and knocked him off balance. Without even looking, Peter stuck him to the wall, meeting Thea's hand in a high-five.
Bex was right all along— they made a good team.
Her head turned as loud metallic bangs echoed from the dark corridor behind them. The old guy from the seating floor looked at them with a venomous glare as the Asian man from the sale crumpled into a pile on the ground.
Just as they took a step forward, voices erupt from all around them: "Freeze, FBI! Don't move!"
Shocked, Thea snapped her head up to see the barrels of guns and the casually dressed wielders standing on the balcony above the vigilantes. The door slammed open beside them and more agents fed through, pointing their weapons in their direction.
"Freeze! Put your hands up!" one of them shouted at her. Thea did as she was told although her eyes spoke a different story.
"W-w-wait!" Peter rambled as his arms shot up in defense. "What do you mean FBI? No, I know what the FBI means, but what are they doing here?!"
Thea gasped as a giant mechanical wing tore through the side of the white van Another one burst through the end, pushing against the wall to take flight. The agents aim their weapons toward the familiar figure, the buzz of the wings so loud, it cut out the blasts of bullets that bounced off the suit harmlessly.
The metal of the suit gleamed against the sunlight and Thea could see the full ensemble better. The wings were huge— built with rotators like razors that cut through the van with ease. The figure held a weapon and wore a mask but the only thing she could see were its beady green eyes and the violet glow of the gun that grew brighter as he flew close.
"Get out of the way, get out of the way— move!" Peter shouted to no avail. The agents kept firing at them and Thea swiftly disarmed the two on her left and right, blasting one aside with a barrier and tackling the other to the ground. She could narrowly feel the heat of the purple blast striking the metal as she sprung up to her feet. Her eyes widened as a gray sedan flung through the air and smacked into Peter, throwing him against the mast.
Vulture soared into the sky, facing the ferry with his glowing weapon. Thea jumped out of the way as a bright purple blast shot toward her. The agent she tackled scrambled up to his feet and she jabbed her leg out, sweeping his ankles. He fell with a groan and Thea winced. She just hoped she wouldn't get arrested by the freaking FBI.
One of the henchmen tried to make a run for the door and the web Peter flung to try and stop him disintegrated from the purple blast the Vulture fired.
Thea's vision was clouded in red-orange as she tried to fling a burst of flames towards the Vulture's wings. Dragonflame could melt through steel like a hot knife to butter and if she could dismantle its mechanical function it was game over. The Chitauri energy made her skin hurt and she could feel her veins throbbing. The energy output was too much, two ancient forms clashing in a vicious battle until finally, she grabbed onto the metal railing above her, hoisting herself over and planting her feet on the ledge. She saw Peter facing the Vulture from below, shooting a web to his feet though the act itself was meager.
The masked man didn't mind him, only curving a wing to shield his body from the barrage of bullets from the agents' painfully useless guns. The moment his green eyes fixated on her, Thea knew she was the force he was up against and it frustrated him. It was the deeper mysteries lurking in the depths of her Sovrani blue eyes— the powers she manifested that could tear his operation apart.
She threw up her arms the blast reflecting off of the fire that consumed her hands. The force was super-charged, making her arms quiver as she tried to keep them up. Peter worked synchronously, firing web after web to try and halt the rotators suspending him in the air but the razor-sharp tips cut them. Thea attempted to block more of his blasts and the mystified FBI agents had watched as she became the very creature that rained destruction on kingdoms thousands of years ago. Fire made into flesh.
This was the longest fight she had been in. A sheen of sweat covered her forehead, her quick breaths obscured by the black mask she wore on the bottom half of her face. Her arms ached and her aim was shaking. Some of the blasts went astray as the Vulture faltered in the air. Thea saw the faint glistening of white attached to his foot. It was Peter trying to pull him closer. Another blast struck the ground where the boy had been standing and he soon hoisted himself atop the railing next to her.
"What's the plan?!" she shouted, throwing up a barrier in front of her and Peter. Her forearm quavered, the fiery light shuddering with every ounce of Chitauri energy it absorbed.
"Uh, stop him!"
Well, no shit! She wanted to shout but was quickly pushed aside the second the barrier began to crack and shatter.
When Thea looked up, she saw Peter dangling from the webs latching onto the Vulture's feet. He narrowly brushed the choppy waves below him. It was an odd chase of cat and mouse, the purple blasts narrowly missing Peter as he swung himself back onto the ferry, taping a number of strings onto the ferry that the Vulture was tangled in. It didn't hold for long and Thea saw the sleek metal panels of the wings snip the webs like a pair of scissors.
He took aim again and she was ready to hurl the full strength of the dragon at him until the purple glow of the gun was shrouded by white webs.
"Active taser web!" Peter desperately shouted as he tried to tug the weapon away.
The web flickered as a quivering light and sparks erupted from the rotators of the wings as the electricity surged through the Vulture who instinctively released the gun. Thea dropped down the second the gun clattered to the ground. It went haywire, shooting purple lasers in each and every direction. The alien technology was unstable, firing on its own accord.
Thea threw her hands out and small barriers shot out, trying to stave off the energy bursts flying everywhere. Peter, in a desperate attempt to shut it off, covered it in webs until the glow was extinguished and it stopped moving.
"You're messing with things you don't understand!" The Vulture warned.
She jumped as a beam shot out from the webbed device that began to warble ominously. Instinctively, she shot her hands out, trying to deflect the lasers that broke through each barrier she built. All she could see was purple light engulfing the world around her. Her breath hitched in her throat as a blast zipped past Peter who was looking around in horror. One barrier she put up rippled with energy, ricocheting toward her and knocking her to the ground.
Throwing her hair out of her face, her eyes widened as she saw a line burned right above her. It stretched out endlessly, a burning red seared in the metal. The lasers had cut through the ferry and she grabbed onto the base of the mast as the energy pulsated once, shaking the watercraft. Nothing seemed to happen.
Then she heard a sudden gushing... and the geysers of water that shot out in every direction. The ferry gave a resounding groan as it split into two.
"Oh my God!" Peter cried out. "What do I do?! Karen, give me an X-ray of the boat and target all the strongest points! Thea—"
"I got this!" she shouted, tilting her head for him to go up. Her hands let go of the mast and she scrambled to her feet as she spotted Peter swinging himself up.
Thea gasped when she felt water splashing against her boots. Her skin prickled painfully and just out of the corner of her eyes, she could see bursts of fire crawling along the seared metal that Peter was swinging back and forth from, tying webs in every direction. She sped up the shaking steps, her heart thumping in her chest as she spotted the raging waves in the dead center of the ship's two halves. Screams echoed in her ears as terrified civilians gathered in bunches, watching the bay creep closer and closer.
Her eyes were trained on the flames that grew all around her. The ferry ran on diesel, the whole thing could explode and kill her and everyone on it. She held her arms out at either side, grounding her feet at once. The sound of grating metal reverberated and her veins were suddenly charged with the energy of the fires. Tongues of red and orange zipped around her like a raging gyre. The fire is mine, she told herself when her arms threatened to fall.
Peter had landed on the top of the ferry, panting heavily as he stared at the maze of webs connecting the two halves. It was barely holding everything together and she felt her heart sink at the sound of elastic stretching.
"Yeah, Spider-Man and Illyris!" a man shouted, encouraging a few more cheers but not before the web on their window snapped helplessly.
Thea watched behind the whirlwind of fire as the strings broke one by one, heartwrenching pings filling the air with the screams of the passengers and the blares of car alarms that submerged under the crashing waves. A coppery taste filled her mouth and her tongue throbbed as the strength of the fire burned her muscles. She had never absorbed an element before and she could just barely see Peter in the center of the two halves, holding onto webs for dear life. He looked like he was about to get torn in half, his groans of pain unbearable.
All of a sudden, the floor beneath her stopped moving. Stunned, she fell to her knees, the last of the misty fire disappearing from her hair. Thea was moving and the other half was coming closer. The webs holding Peter up loosened and he looked around in shock. For a second, she thought it was Peter's doing but he dropped down next to her, just as perplexed.
"What the hell?" he breathed.
Arms burning, Thea scrambled to her feet, realizing just how the ship was piecing itself back together. It only took the bright lights bursting out in the blue sky and attaching themselves to the ships to figure it out.
The familiar, red-and-gold mask of Iron Man faced her in the closest window. "Oh, and Illyris, you're here too?"
The other half of the ship finally joins the one she and Peter were standing on with a satisfying clunk. All was quiet for a moment until the same man stood up, cheering with the rest of the civilians, "Yeah, Iron-Man!"
Thea's heart sunk as Peter launched himself in the air to meet Tony and attempt to help. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead and exhausted, she fell to her knees, struggling to catch her breath. The flames were gone— there wasn't anything more she could do. She felt her confidence deflate as the metal glint of the Iron Man suit soared through the sky, fixing the near irrevocable damage the two teens had caused.
"Zavorse," Thea muttered.
____
this was 99% fight scenes and WOW it took a lot of time to keep it concise
thea's so powerful and we're seeing more and more of what she can do with her powers we love the first female maegya (once she masters the full scope of the fyre it's over for all of y'all)
sidenote i created a pinterest that features boards of my fics (handle is danysclouds or danyscloudswp either should work) go on and check it out!!
- geena