the siren |peter parker x siren!oc|

Serenity: Part 3

After retrieving a sample of the water that he had carefully pulled the creature from, Peter shoved a lid on the test tube and found a solid place to keep it. Mr. Stark was frantically rushing around, demanding his pilots to step on it, laying her limp figure out on the floor of the main cabin. As they flew at an alarming speed, they poured water from the tap over her, a precaution that neither was sure was necessary. There was no telling whether or not she would be able to survive outside of water, so Peter understood Mr. Stark's anxiety. A similar feeling was stirring inside of him, but its origin wasn't similar to his mentor's. He wanted her alive not for research, but for. . .

He was stumped on the reason. It felt too artificial to be love.

They reached the compound ten minutes later, their conversation limited to instruction. By the time they landed, Peter was slightly nauseous from the unnatural speed they had been traveling at. While Mr. Stark gathered necessary equipment, Peter took her in his arms, running as he had been instructed to. Their poorly crafted plan was to put her in a bathtub until Mr. Stark had perfectly replicated the water sample they had collected. It was the best they could do, and probably better than throwing her into the chlorinated pool.

To save time, he webbed up the stairs, thankful that he was able to keep her fastened in one of his arms. Being sticky did have its perks. He sprinted into Captain America's old bathroom, the tub being the size of a mini pool, and shot another web at the faucet, yanking it to get the water running. He set her down, then stood, awkwardly staring at her while the tub filled.

Incoming call from Tony Stark.

"Pete, she in the tub?" he sounded frantic.

"Yeah, Mr. Stark. Is there anything you need help with?"

"I'm working on trying to replicate the water and constructing a glass tank to keep her in. Sounds a little inhumane but we really have no idea what we're working with. While these tests run, I'm going to head up there to give you something to keep her mouth shut. Again, sounds inhumane, but. . ." he didn't finish his sentence.

"I-I understand Mr. Stark."

Peter continued staring at her after he hung up. In his 16 measly years on Earth, he had never seen anything quite as disgustingly beautiful as this. . .mermaid in front of him. It was this moment that forced him to acknowledge that the images that fairy tales had intensely ingrained in his mind were either vibrant or cold, not the middle ground that happened to be reality. He had either expected a colorful tail and a glowing, cheerful face, or a dark tail and an evil, glossy glare. She was neutral. From what he consciously remembered, her silver eyes had looked more curious than malicious, and the bottom half of her body was peachy, barely a different color as her skin.

She looked dead. He knew she wasn't, just knocked out, but seeing her in this odd, undesired state had caused Peter to clench his teeth. He knelt down beside her, the tub now halfway full, and took her hand in his, examining it carefully. It was a normal, human-looking hand, the nails obviously bitten off.

"Am I interrupting something?"

The sudden voice shook Peter harder than expected. He jumped up, his head hitting the ceiling with a loud thud, and when he landed back on the ground, it was on his feet.

No head trauma detected.

"Thanks, Karen," he sighed.

Mr. Stark's suspicious eyes made Peter feel like he could see right through the mask. He walked to the tub, opening the creature's mouth and placing a black device that covered her teeth. Somehow she looked even more eerie than before.