PAIN IS TEMPORARY. Eszter focuses on that mindset, but she doesn't deny that the pain was excruciatingly agonizing. The enhanced whimpers softly as she shakily pushes herself up, slowly making her way to her feet when Eszter stumbles. Black dots instantly flood her vision, standing too quickly; Eszter's green eyes shift along the beach--the plane had dragged across the short stretch of the beach, leaving a trail of fire and debris. Suddenly, Eszter coughs from the thick smoke entering her body, but as her cough racks through her body, the enhanced felt her headache intensify. It felt like someone had gone by and whacked a thick glove across her head.
However, that all leaves her mind as she thought of Peter--oh, God, she needs to find him.
Eszter drags her feet into the sand, not caring that the sand jumps up and into her boots. Walking through the smoke, Eszter fans it out of her face while her other hand covers her nose but pulls it away when she felt something wet; glancing down at her fingers, Eszter was surprised to see blood dripping from her nose. However, she doesn't worry as she wipes her nose clean before she carries on.
"Peter . . ." Eszter weakly calls, barely raising her voice. "Peter!"
When Eszter walked deeper into the destruction, she spotted Peter lying in the midst of the fire, surrounded by broken pieces of the plane. Eszter nears Peter when she suddenly trips over a piece of metal poking out from the sand, causing the enhanced to fall on her knees; almost instantly, Eszter can feel the heat of the sand burning on her skip.
Peter peels off his mask, gasping for air, the ringing in his ears as he blinks slowly, looking around desperately for Eszter.
"Eszter," Peter tries to shout, but it was raspy and inaudible.
Somehow, Eszter hears him. "Are you--are you okay?"
Still, Peter couldn't hear the enhanced speaking; he furrows his brows questionably, but he scrunched his face in pain as he slowly pushes himself up to his feet. Eszter helps him; even through her own struggle, the enhanced does her best as she crawls back to her feet.
If Pepper were to see Eszter's dress, the woman would have a heart attack to see the tear that rides up her thigh--which grants the enhanced more mobility. A light color of smoke and dust filters the dress, barely noticeable. And Tony would be disappointed to see the scuff on the side of her boots, and now, they're covered with dirt.
Eszter unexpectedly limps but quickly hides it from Peter.
She walks in front of Peter with concerned eyes, trying to get his attention, but he wasn't looking at her. Eszter doesn't notice Adrian soaring after them with a battle cry, but the enhanced gasps in surprise as Peter suddenly shoves her out of the way. Eszter couldn't find her balance as she stepped on her bad foot, causing her to collapse and fall on her butt.
Peter yelps as Adrian knocks into him, spinning him around to the ground with a hard impact. When Eszter looks up from the ground, her eyes widen. Peter manages to push himself back up to his feet, ready to take Adrian on.
As Eszter climbs onto her feet, the enhanced gapes up at Adrian as he hovers before them.
"Hey, Pedro," Adrian taunts beneath his mask but cocks a brow at the enhanced. "You, I don't know. I wouldn't hit a girl, but if I have to go through you, too, then so be it."
"Jesus," Eszter wheezes as Adrian swoops toward them.
"Duck, Eszter!" Peter warns her as he quickly rolls to the ground, avoiding Adrian.
Obliging, Eszter drops low to the ground as Adrian soars above her; however, Adrian clamped his robotic claws on Peter as he steps on him, making the boy cry out. Then Adrian yanks his arm forward with a good swing, punching Peter right on the nose, causing the boy to retract.
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.
But then the sound of whirling noise caught their attention, struggling from something. Eszter rolls onto her stomach when she sees Adrian trying to take flight with the crates, but he barely lifts the box.
"Your wingsuit," Peter exclaims tiredly. Eszter frowns as she noticed his suit sparking and burning up. The enhanced pushes herself up to a sitting position. "Your wingsuit's gonna explode!"
Peter slowly lifts his trembling arm, trying to stop Adrian for another reason; he rises to his feet as he tugs on the crate. His feet dragged a little into the sand, but Peter keeps his feet firmly in the sand.
"What are you doing?" Eszter furrows her brows.
However, Peter doesn't respond; instead, he struggles to hold the crate down, so Eszter groans in defeat. Quickly the enhanced rushes behind Peter and grabs the web, surprising Peter. Holding her place, Eszter hadn't expected to be dragged through the sand suddenly, and she wonders how Peter planted himself firmly in the sand.
Adrian sighs in annoyance, thinking that these kids don't seem to give up; he turns around. With half of his face caked with dirt and stained with dried blood, Adrian's state resembled Eszter and Peter.
"It's time to go home, Pete."
"I'm trying to save you!"
However, Adrian ignores him and cuts the string with his wings, causing the two friends to fall to the ground abruptly. Eszter yelps suddenly but quickly looks up. Adrian's wings beamed brighter than before, seeming to struggle from being overworked.
Eszter glances back at Peter, but the boy couldn't save Adrian because he had run out of webs; Eszter feared the worst for Adrian. They watched as the wings were letting out a colorful spark in its trail, but Adrian could barely move any more by how weak his wings were. Suddenly, on the last straw, the wings explode.
Peter yelps as he instinctively wraps his body around Eszter protectively, letting the enhanced curl into a ball as she felt the boy lay his arm over her head, shielding her from the sparks and debris. Adrian glances over to his wings, falling from the sky and onto the ground as it explodes again. Eszter shrieks, but once the destruction settles, Peter looks off to where Adrian had fallen.
"No," Peter grits his teeth as he forces his aching body back onto his feet.
"Peter, wait! You can't go in that! You don't even know if he's alive," Eszter claims.
Peter glances back at his friend. "I have to, E. He could be alive, and if he is, I have to save him," with one final look, he runs into the fire.
Eszter huffs as she watches Peter running into the fire, covering her mouth to cough as it was starting to become more difficult to breathe; the enhanced's throat was dry and scratchy, but Eszter didn't want to leave until she sees Peter return. She was stressed and anxious when Peter still hadn't come back, making Eszter panic a little as time passes.
Finally, Eszter perks up when she sees a silhouette emerging from the flames, so she takes a few steps forward to get a good look at the figure; to Eszter's relief, Peter trudged out of the fire with Adrian slumped around his shoulder, struggling to carry the man out of danger.
"Thank god," the enhanced mumbles as she rushes to their aid. Peter drops Adrian on the ground as he falls with him, too weak to carry the man any longer. His muscles were aching. Eszter hurries to Peter's side, examining him. "Are you insane? Are you hurt?"
Peter admires Eszter's caring nature, always making sure someone else was okay before worrying about herself. There it is again--the butterflies. "I'm fine," he assures. Peter feels different around Eszter again, and he didn't fight it.
Smiling in relief, Eszter chuckles thankfully as she cradles Peter's face in her small hands, caressing her thumb across his cheek. "We should probably get out of here," she says after a moment of silence, thought the two couldn't help but get lost in each other's eyes.
Peter purses his lips as he lets the moment end, he nods. Eszter helps the superhero sit up, making Peter groan from the pain in his ribs and his back. The girl was careful to pull him to his feet slowly. His brows furrowed when he sees her dress ruined, making him feel a strong sense of guilt. Peter hadn't realized that he practically took the girl from the dance and ruined her dress from trying to protect him. He didn't bother to think about how Eszter would've felt before he practically dragged her out here in the middle of the night. God, Peter had never felt more guilty.
Eszter didn't notice the gloomy look on Peter's face; he smiles forcefully as he couldn't bring himself to smile-maybe it's also because his face hurts from the number of beatings he suffered.
Peter glances over at Adrian, the man coughing harshly as he tries to get the smoke to exit from his lungs. "First, we have to deal with him."
Eszter and Peter glance down at Adrian as the man looks back at the two, accepting his defeat. The man merely grins with his lopsided smile; he slumps to the ground, leaning against the crates when Peter smacks his wrists with his web-shooters on them. It was stuck--which probably explains why it wouldn't work earlier--Peter sprays a bed of webs on top of Adrian's body, sticking him in place. Adrian grimaces at the sticky feeling of the webs, licking his dry lips as he narrows his eyes at the two. Eszter raises her chest, breathing heavily as she felt a piercing pain on her side, the girl scrunches her face in slight pain, but she suppresses it from Peter knowing.
"Do you have paper and pen?"
The enhanced gives Peter a ludicrous look. "Why would I have paper and pen during a fight?" Eszter rhetorically asks.
Peter looks at her, a bit offended. He raises his hands defensively. "Just asking, sheesh."
Adrian chuckles at their bickering.
Peter walks away to find something, leaving Eszter with Adrian; she crosses her arms awkwardly, avoiding the man's gaze.
"You're a good kid," Adrian acknowledges. "Very gullible, too."
Eszter looks down at the man as he shakes his head. "Yeah, well, beats going to jail, now does it?"
She felt bad for Liz; once she finds out, things will change how she views her dad, and Eszter couldn't imagine the pain Liz will go through. Eszter couldn't comfort her friend, having a feeling that Liz will know the enhanced was involved with Adrian's arrest. If anything, Eszter believes that Liz would rather not see the enhanced after the news.
Unfortunately, Adrian knows Peter being Spider-Man; who knows what he would do with that kind of information while in jail. As if he could read her mind, Adrian cocks a brow.
"I won't tell," Eszter scoffs, not believing him. "Why would I tell people who Spider-Man is? He knows my daughter--he can get her hurt to get back at me."
"Peter would never do that," the enhanced crosses her arms, narrowing her gaze. "But if you know what's best, just know that I'd come after you, and put you down myself."
Adrian grins. "Are you threatening me, Dusk?"
"No. It's a promise."
Once Peter returns, Eszter and Adrian were cut off from their conversation, but the man chuckles to himself. Then, Peter sticks the paper next to Adrian's head as he steps back and reads it. It was silent between the three, and Eszter was silently begging to leave. She didn't want to be here any longer than she has to, and luckily Peter grabs Eszter by her waist and shooting a string go web toward the Cyclone ride.
It was a cliche moment--the hero saves the day and gets the girl, but minus the actual girl part. Peter saved the day and got the bad guy.
Eszter realizes one major thing: as hard as she tries to pretend, she'll never be a normal teenager, especially after gaining powerful abilities. Maybe this was a sign for Eszter to acknowledge her true destiny.
Maybe Dusk doesn't have to hide in the dark anymore; she can come into the light and realize just how much she can make a difference.
💜
A group of men was scattered all over the beach after Happy spotted the plane crashing from the old Avenger's Tower. He hadn't bothered to listen to any of his voicemails until now; as he continues through the mess, Happy flashes his flashlight around him. There were webs almost everywhere.
As soon as Happy found Adrian, Eszter's voicemail starts. "Happy, and were your damn phone! We know who the man is! He's going for the plane. You need to stop the plane before it heads off!"
Happy pulls his phone away, staring in disbelief; he couldn't believe the teens were right because of this. Peter had done this all on his own? Now he regrets ignoring Eszter's phone call at the tie of the situation.
How the hell is Happy going to explain this to Tony?