ZENITH ➸ avengers x pjo au ✔️

spider-man meets snake-lady

❝ HAD TO HAVE HIGH,
HIGH HOPES FOR A LIVING.
SHOOTING FOR THE STARS,
WHEN I COULDN'T MAKE A KILLING.❞

Peter Parker picked a tall building to rest on. Lugging around a snake lady on his shoulder was taxing, even for someone with super strength like Spider-Man. It was especially hard to keep her on his shoulder when he was swinging through the city. 

His right arm, the one he was holding her with, burned from over exhaustion. The other was tired from firing organic spider webs, one after another to keep himself from falling to the street and dying.  

So to put it lightly, Peter was relieved he finally had a chance to stop moving. Plus, the roof served as a great place for him to interrogate the dracanae without being interrupted. Unfortunately for him, the dracanae had woken up on the way to his new perch. 

She struggled and screamed, but Peter had luckily taken the time to wrap her up in another cocoon of web that kept her from doing much more than making noise. And that was actually a blessing since he was trying to get her to talk anyway. 

Peter pinched the bridge of his nose through his mask. "I'll ask again. Why are monsters roaming through the streets? What's your purpose here? Where are you from?" 

The dracanae hissed at him. "We have alwaysss been here. You jussst have never looked hard enough!" 

"What does that mean?" Spider-Man demanded. "You've been holed up somewhere?" 

The snake lady cackled. "Yesss. Holed up in plain sssight." 

It was getting him nowhere. Maybe if he killed her, there would be one less monster that would kill someone. 

"And now you will all die," dracanae finished, baring her gnarly teeth along with the threat. 

"How?" Peter asked forcefully, moving closer to the restrained monster. 

The snake lady cackled as if he had told her a joke. "Our Massster will sssluaghter you all, ssstarting with the one called Kara Legend." 

"Kara Legend?" 

"Kara Legend," the dracanae growled lowly in confirmation, the malice in her voice hard to miss. "She will die a painful death, soon! I only wisssh I could be present. And then you will die! And so will—" 

The snake stopped talking and collapsed to the ground when Peter punched her in the face, having had enough of her. 

↯↯↯↯↯

Kara soared above Manhattan as she leaned down and gave Hurricane a tight hug around his neck. 

"We meet again, old friend," the daughter of Poseidon laughed. 

I am not old, lady Kara, Hurricane rebutted. But I am very happy to see you again. How have you been holding up? 

Kara fell quiet. The winds parted her hair, and blew forcefully enough to cause ends of her jacket to flutter behind her in the wind. 

"I've been trying, buddy, but the guilt will never fade," Kara muttered. 

Yeah, but would they want you to live that way for the rest of your life? Hurricane questioned. 

Kara didn't have an answer for that. She gazed down at Manhattan. Before she could speak, a cacophony of shrieking noises interrupted her, giving the daughter of Poseidon no time to react as a horde of Stymphalian birds were suddenly on top of her, clawing and pecking. 

The demigod twisted and yelled as small cuts began to cover her body, but was able to summon Riptide quickly enough to block what would've been a killing blow to Hurricane's neck. 

Her storm spirit dove to escape the horde, leaving the horde to enter a hot pursuit, in which they began to launch their feathers like metal projectiles, spearing into Hurricane's back and Kara's side. The demigod grunted in defiance as she felt the presence of the East River below her. They both wouldn't make it. 

"Go!" Kara screamed in Hurricane's ear over the loud winds and calls of the birds. 

Before her steed could answer, Kara tipped over, allowing herself to fall off Hurricane's back and plummet towards Manhattan.