I can't breath. All I can feel is the sand in my open wounds. My stab wound is still bleeding and I'm losing much more blood from all of the other cuts I've received from skidding across the beach. I feel the black liquid dripping from my nose, but I don't have enough energy to wipe it away.
I'm laying on a beach that's on fire, with pieces of a destroyed plane surrounding me. I've never felt this weak, and the only time I have ever felt more pain than this was when I was in Hydra, being tortured and injected with the serum that gave me my powers. I can't hear anything other than the ringing in my ears.
I turn over onto my back and open my eyes, staring at the night sky and the lights of the Ferris wheel from Coney Island. I slowly stand up and look around. There's no sign of Peter, and I'm overcome with the fear of losing him again.
Limping as fast as I can, I desperately search for any sign of him. Finally, I see him, and I can tell that he's searching for me too. He doesn't have his mask on, and when he sees me, he smiles in relief. Both of us try our best to run to each other, but before I make it to him, Vulture comes out of no where. He flies right into Peter, causing him to fall back onto the ground.
I run faster to him, jumping over pieces of the destroyed plane and trying my best to steer clear of the fire. Vulture turns and flies right back towards Peter, who does a front roll under him and then shoots a web at him, missing. Vulture flies right back to him and lands on top of him, causing Peter to scream at the weight of Vultures wing suit on top of him.
He is punched in the face repeatedly with Vulture's metal hand, before Vulture picks him up by the front of his suit and flies back into the air. Peter pries himself from his grasp and falls, but before he reaches the ground, he shoots another web, pulling himself to Vulture and kicking him.
He tries to keep a hold on him, but fails, falling face first onto the ground. Vulture lands back on him and picks him up by the back of his suit, slamming him onto the ground over and over again. He drops him and then lands on the ground, picking him up by his hood.
"No!" I scream, finally within hearing distance.
Vulture sees me and let's go of Peter, flying to me. I stay where I am, refusing to run from him.
"You Stark's never die, do you?"
"We're stubborn like that."
"But your grandparents both died, didn't they?"
"I never met my grandparents. So if you're trying to distract me with remorse, it's not going to work."
"You really are stubborn."
"Like father, like daughter."
I send an energy ball towards him and his suit glitches as he soars backwards. He stands back up and flies towards me, but before he reaches me, I blast him backwards. I take this opportunity to run to Peter, who is still laying on his stomach on the beach.
"Peter!" I yell, gently shaking him.
"Gracee?" he says weakly, turning over onto his back.
"I'm right here."
"Are you okay?"
"Don't worry about me. Are you okay?"
"I'm okay." He smiles.
He looks behind me and his eyes go wide. Before he can say anything, a metal blade from Vultures wing slices across my neck. I grasp the front of my neck, already feeling the warm blood pooling down onto my hands.
I see Peter screaming my name, but I can't hear him. I fall backwards onto the beach and he hovers over me, his brown eyes wider than I have ever seen them before. I look over at Vulture, who looks as if he is about to come for Peter next, before he is distracted by something out of my sight. I'm too scared to look back at Peter's face as he watches me die. I don't want to die. I've faced death many times in my life, and it never gets easier.
I try to think of any way to possibly survive this, and an idea comes to mind. I lift both of my hands to where I can see them above my face. Using my power to heal myself could be impossible, but it's the only chance I have left. I create an energy ball, but instead of being black, it's white.
I place the pure magic onto my neck and the pain slowly goes away. I hope it's not because I'm dying, and I'm certain it's not when my breath comes back to me. I gasp for air and sit back up. Peter stares at me with a shocked expression, before wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug.
"Are you okay?" he asks, his voice shaking.
"I'm okay," I whisper.
As he is hugging me, I see that behind us, Vulture is scavenging a crate full of explosive Chitauri energy cores. His suit glitches and he struggles to fly away with the crate.
"Wait!" I yell, standing up.
Peter looks at him and his eyes widen in realization. He shoots a web on him and tries to pull him back with it.
"Your wings!" Peter yells. "Your wing suit's going to explode!"
I try to use my powers to help, but nothing happens. Even though this man tried to kill me and is the reason for me to have possibly lost my powers forever, I know that I have to save him. I grab the web with Peter and use all of my strength to pull it.
"Time to go home, kids," Vulture yells.
"We're trying to save you!" I yell back.
Vulture cuts the web with his wing and then continues trying to fly up, causing Peter and I to fall to the ground. He tries to shoot another web, but he's out of web fluid. The bombs explode and Vulture falls to the ground, into the fire. Peter and I both stand up and run through the fire, trying to find him.
When we find him, the wings are no longer attached to his suit. I help Peter lift him onto his back, so he can carry him. We both stumble out of the fire, and Peter drops him to the ground. All three of us lay in the sand, coughing from the smoke. When Peter and I get our breath back, we stand up.
Vulture looks at us, surprised that we helped him even after he tried to kill us both, twice. We drag him to one of the crates that's not on fire, and Peter reloads his web shooters, so he can tie him up with webs. Before leaving this scene for Happy to find, we write him a note.
FOUND
Flying Vulture guy
- Spider-Man and the Dark Dahlia
P.S. sorry about your plane