The Weight of Us ｡ Peter Parker [3]

23 - Silk Returns

Seconds seemed to pass, maybe years, maybe decades, until the visions subsided in my mind. My eyes snapped open, my mouth dry and my limbs aching from the impact. Even though the truth weighed down in my head about Beck, an anchor dragging downwards towards the bottom of the ocean seabed, the reality of chaos hailed upon my body and stilled my heart.

Slender arms wrapped around my torso, yanking me backwards against the debris underfoot and away from the monster roaring to the sky, now ten times the size. My vision blurred around the edges and a loud ringing was making it hard to hear, but through the smoke cloud, I saw Beck roll to his side, eyes firmly on me. I struggled against the arms around me, wiggling towards him, wanting to uncover his lies. But my body felt too heavy and no words seemed to form on the tip of my tongue. 

"Florence, hey, look at me." Somebody's soothing voice broke through the ringing and my eyes took in the face hovering above me, her arms still circled around my waist. Her hair hung in black curtains and her lips parted in a familiar smile. "Yeah, that's it. Focus on me."

Cindy Moon looked sharper, her features like a delicate painting that somebody would hang over a mantelpiece. Her eyes were wide and covered in perfected eyeliner and her body, now taller and filled out around her hips, was coated in a white suit that resembled a spider's web. Buried deep within my mind I remembered her face and a night that changed her world. Silk had returned. "Cin?" She continued to haul my body against her own, my weight nothing to her. 

"Hey, you remember me, I'm flattered. But seriously, we've gotta' move," Cindy shouted, eyes pinned to somebody running towards us. Through the cracked cobbled stones and the ruins engulfed in fire, we hobbled away from the monster and towards safety. "Osborn, about damn time." 

Harry appeared from behind us, puffing like he had just sprinted forty miles. His face was covered in black ash and in the orange light around us, I could have sworn I saw a glimmer of green shine in his dark eyes. I spat blood to the stones below. "You're late." 

"Tardiness was never my strong suit," Harry muttered, flopping my arm around his neck to help ease us far away from the square. Above our heads a flare of green brilliant light was a beacon in the night sky. "Who's the guy in the cape? He's almost as pretty as me."

Visions cleared in my head. "Where's Pete?" My limbs fell away from my friends' grasp, my head snapping towards the ferris wheel, where the monster stomped towards. Cracks in the ground below oozed with orange lava. Hovering in midair, my eyes found Beck, who was shooting arcs of power at the monster perfectly, almost like he was putting on a show. "We've got to warn him about Beck. We've got to help him."

Cindy's hand yanked on my wrist. "Spider-Man's got it covered. You're in bad shape."

"I don't care," My lips curled into a snarl. Cindy barely blinked, all too familiar with my tempter. Hot and desperate tears formed in my eyes. "You don't understand. Beck is—"

Harry pushed against my back as he shouted something that would have Steve Rogers blushing like a little old woman in church. He dived towards the shaking ground, hands covering his head as Cindy threw her shoulder into my abdomen and tackled me to the ground. A terrible scream radiated through the night air; a hallow howl of something dying. 

The ringing it my head grew louder, blood trickled down my temple and met on my lips, the taste like copper and lightning. Above my head Mysterio clammed down his fish bowl shaped mask, hiding his face completely, before he zoomed into the monster's chest. Hands gripped my ankle suddenly, Silk yanking me backwards on the cobbled street as a green tinted rock from the monster flew towards us, as it exploded in a strange green tidal wave of energy. Cindy threw up her arms, webbing crisscrossing over our bodies in a sticky sheather, and the rock, aimed right for us, bounced against the net and fell to the stone with a sad thump.