Peter let out another yawn before taking another bite of his scrambled eggs.
"Wow, that was a full two seconds," Mina commented. She served herself a plate of eggs and sat down at the table. "Couldn't sleep?"
"Mhmm, yeah. There was a… bird outside my window." Peter grumbled out between bites. He hadn't meant to stay out so late last night, but after that… encounter, he went on a bit of a hero spree that went on a little too long. As soon as he saved one person from a drunk driver, there was a bank robbery on the next street, and then a purse snatcher just around the corner. It was always one more thing, one after the other. If he hadn't been forced to swing through Times Square, he would never have even noticed the time.
Thankfully his altered biology didn't make him drunk after a cup of coffee in the morning, but Peter still wasn't sure what his caffeine limit was, or if there even was one. He really hoped not if he was going to have to pull more all-night crime fighting sprees in the future. But it was something to experiment with later.
"A bird huh? Was it a tit?" Gina asked as she walked into the kitchen, causing Peter to nearly choke on his food. "Were there two of them? I hear a pair of tits can be quite noisy." She chuckled as Peter glared at her.
Peter sighed and jabbed his fork into his eggs. "I don't know what kind of bird it was," he said, thinking back to the strange creature last night. "Sounded big. Might do some research on it today."
"Let us know when you do so we can give you some privacy for your research." Gina laughed at Peter's tired frustration. She quickly grabbed herself some food to go and left the house.
"You know she does that just to get a rise out of you, right?" Mina sipped her coffee.
Peter shrugged. "Uncle Ben taught me not to let bullies get under my skin, but this… this is new to me. I'll get used to it eventually."
Mina's eyes narrowed at him over her coffee. "You get bullied often?"
"It's just this one jerk with more money than sense, as Uncle Ben would say." Peter shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I know how to deal with him."
Mina stared at him for a moment before downing the rest of her cup. "If you say so. But if he ever becomes a problem, tell me and I'll revoke his kneecap privileges."
Peter grimaced. "Please don't. He's just got a big ego that thinks name calling is the best thing since locker stuffing. Plus, his dad could probably sue us into the ground if you did." Peter's eyes caught the clock and widened. "Crap! I'm late for the bus!" He shoved the rest of the food in his mouth and chewed while he put on his shoes and grabbed his backpack. He waved goodbye to Mina and heard her mention picking him up later right as he ran out the door.
Peter stared down at his homework, but he could barely focus on it as his mind replayed the night before. Every angle he looked at it from, nothing made sense. What was that creature? How had no one noticed it before? Why did it attack him? Why lure him into some dark alleyway? He was missing some key piece of the puzzle, but he couldn't figure it out for the life of him.
"Hey man, sorry I'm late." Ned slipped into the chair across from Peter. "Mr. Hernandez wouldn't stop talking and took forever to assign homework."
Peter nodded in sympathy. "It's alright. I haven't gotten much done yet."
"What, are you stuck on a problem?" Ned asked. He glanced down with concern at Peter's papers.
"No, just distracted today," Peter said, and then an idea struck him. If anyone would know about strange creatures, it would be Ned. "Hey I saw this trailer on someone's phone on the subway and there was this girl with wings in it. What would you call that? I'm drawing a blank on it and it's been bugging me."
Ned had a thoughtful look as he sat down and opened his textbook. "That's a little broad, dude. What kind of wings?"
"Feathery ones, like birds." Peter waved his arms in a flapping motion. "And it was on her arms, not like angel wings on her back."
"Hmmm, that sounds like a harpy." Ned flipped through his textbook for a minute until he found the page he wanted. He flipped the book around for Peter and pointed at a picture of an ancient drawing. It was nowhere near like the creature he saw, but there were some similarities. The wings and claws were in the correct spots, but the bodies themselves varied from bony adults to giant chickens with a woman's head. Peter clearly remembered a small child in rags.
Peter nodded. "Harpy! That's what it was. Thanks, man." He started to push the book back when a hand came out from behind him and caught the page.
"Whatcha lookin' at, Parker?" Flash asked with a sneer. His eyes locked onto the pictures of the harpies, or more accurately what they bared. "Wow, are you that desperate for a girl that you have to look up tiddies in a history book?"
"Buzz off, Flash," Peter grumbled, trying to remove the bully's hand from the book without giving away his strength.
"Come on, Parker, I just want to help. Guy to guy, you know?" Flash looked down at Peter. "Well, more like Chad to Virgin. Here's some advice: Quit being such a dorky loser." Flash walked away, letting his hand 'accidentally' smack Peter upside the head.
Ned glared at the retreating jock. "What a jerk. Don't listen to him, Peter."
"Never did, and wasn't planning to change that." Peter passed the book back to Ned.
The two of them returned to studying, but Peter's mind still strayed back to the harpy encounter. Figuring out the identity of the creature did little to answer any other questions that rolled through his head. No matter what angle Peter came at it from, the only way to get answers was to find and catch the harpy again. Only problem was that the harpy found him last time. But if Peter needed to be bait, he was willing to wrap himself in bits of bread and bagels. Or whatever Harpies liked to eat.
It wasn't long until study hall was over and it was time to go home. The bell rang and Peter's phone chimed. Peter checked it to see it was a text from Mina.
'In the car loop with my bike.'
Peter packed up and bid his friend goodbye. Only a minute later did he realize that Mina was in the car loop. With a motorcycle. In front of everybody. Peter picked up the pace and almost ran out the door. He scanned the car loop and found the familiar bike and helmet amongst the cars. Casually as he could, Peter walked around the crowd towards Mina's position. He was about to make a break for it when the last person he wanted to see showed up.
"Hey babe, nice ride!" Flash said as he strolled up with his usual swagger.
Mina flipped up the visor on her helmet and stared at him. "Can I help you?"
"Maybe. Do you mind giving me a lift? My car's been having issues. We could stop by this amazing pizza place. On me, of course." It was incredible how Flash could say all that with a straight face. Peter knew for sure that he had come in his dad's car this morning.
Mina blinked. "You're a ballsy one, aren't you?"
"It's just the natural Flash confidence." Flash leaned on the front of the bike. "So what do you say? You, me, and some pizza?"
Mina's eyes narrowed and Peter's senses started to itch, so he chose that moment to step in. "Hey, Flash."
Flash's grin washed away into a frown as he turned to face Peter. "What do you want, Parker? I'm trying to score here," he hissed out.
It wasn't difficult to think of an adequate excuse. "Sorry, but Mr. Iglesias wanted me to tell you he needs to talk about your last test. Said it was important. Sounded like you might not pass."
Flash's eyes widened. "We'll talk later, babe!" he said to Mina before running off.
Only when he was out of sight did Mina chuckle. "Nice going. I was going to break his arm if he kept talking." She tossed Peter a helmet.
"But not really, right?" Peter asked as he put the helmet on. Mina only responded with a hum, so Peter asked a little more insistently, "But not really, right?"
Mina shrugged, and once Peter was behind her, she gunned the throttle and sped out of the loop. Only a few minutes later did Peter realize they weren't heading home right away.
Peter stared at the dirty exterior of the store. There was a flashing neon sign next to the door that said 'Pharmacy', but a few of the letters were burnt out or flickering. Peter tried not to judge, but this corner store was almost a hole in the wall on the edge of a sketchy neighborhood. It might as well have a sign saying 'Get Your Illegal Drugs Here!' But this is where Mina parked her bike and started walking up to.
"What are we doing here?" Peter asked, trying to act casual.
"Getting illegal drugs," Mina said with mock seriousness. She chuckled at Peter's doubletake and playfully shoved Peter. "Relax, it's just medicine. Boss can't leave home and doesn't like random people walking up to the door so I gotta play errand girl."
"And the reason we can't pick it up from a grocery store pharmacy is because…?"
Mina opened the door, ringing a bell. "Because the boss values privacy and this guy doesn't ask questions. Most of the things we need aren't over-the-counter drugs anyways."
"Like what?"
"Formaldehyde and horse drugs"
Peter paused mid-step as the words processed through his brain. He looked to Mina to see if she was joking again, but it was impossible to tell from her attitude. So he kept following her up to the counter where a skinny, greasy man stood by the register, playing on his phone.
"Need something?" he grunted out without looking up.
"Order pickup for Rachel." Mina fished out a wad of cash from her pocket and tossed it on the counter.
The man glanced up at Mina and then put his phone away. "Gimme a sec." He slunk to a door marked 'Employees Only'.
As soon as the door closed, Peter asked, "What does she need formaldehyde for? I can guess that she has a horse to take care of that needs the pills, but why formaldehyde?"
"Oh that's for me," Mina said. She gave Peter a sidelong look. "It's part of a skin care routine I'm working on."
"Skin care?" Peter frowned in confusion. "But it's a mild irritant and usually meant for preserving dead tissue."
Mina grinned like a shark. "Oh, I got a lot of dead tissue." She tapped a finger against the scar that crossed her face and then lifted her shirt to show her midriff scars. "You could almost say it's a full body issue. A little bit of that zombie juice keeps me looking nice and fresh."
"...I'll take your word for it then." It wasn't like Peter knew the first thing about cosmetics beyond some basic chemical makeups. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you get those scars?"
"It's complicated," Mina said, lowering her shirt. "But the quick and dirty version is that my ex-boyfriend gave them to me."
Peter gasped. "Did he attack you with a knife?"
Mina barked with laughter. "Oh no, this was from him trying to patch me up. I got injured by a drugged up psycho stalker with a machete."
The sheer casualness she spoke with hit Peter like he was being slapped by a frozen fish. Peter stared at Mina with disbelief, then looked at her scars and then back to her. "How are you still alive?"
"I told you, it's the formaldehyde skin care routine." Mina gestured to herself and winked. "It works wonders, you know?"
Peter was certain that it didn't work like that, but before he could call her out on it, the back door opened and the greasy shopkeeper returned with a large bag in hand. Wordlessly, he placed it on the counter and started ringing up the items, counting out the bills Mina had left on the counter. He handed back the change before returning to his little phone game. "Thanks for shopping here," he rattled off like a robot.
Mina grabbed the bag and money and headed for the door, Peter in tow. Halfway to the door, the bell above the door rang as three burly men in leather jackets walked in, laughing at some joke. Mina paused mid-step to avoid running into the first guy. "Hey, watch where you're going."
"Heh, sorry, Sweetcheeks. Here, lemme get the door for ya." He held the door open while the other two guys stood aside.
"Thanks." Mina began walking through.
"No, thank you." The guy holding the door gave her a swat on the butt.
Mina froze on the spot, then slowly turned her head to glare at the man leering at her. "What a gentleman. Would you also be so nice as to hold this for me?" Mina shoved the bag into his hands, and as soon as he had a grip on it, she punched down at his groin.
The man's leer was gone in a flash, replaced with shock and then agony. The other two winced, even as one had pulled out a phone to snap a picture. The bag was taken back out of the pained man's hands which quickly raced down to cup his broken jewels.
"Aw, thank you," Mina said in a sickly sweet tone. She gave the other two a baleful glare as she walked out the door. They wisely did nothing.
Peter sidestepped the now crouching man and made for the door. "Clean up on aisle three." He kept an eye over his shoulder to make sure they didn't follow them back to Mina's bike, but the only action he saw was their attempt to help their friend up. "Was that a good idea? Those guys look like they're from a biker gang."
Mina rolled her eyes as she packed the bag into her bike bags. "Please, most biker gangs are full of crap, like high school bullies. Show them you're not to be messed with and they back off like whipped dogs. They'll probably just complain to their boss who'll just smack them around for being pussies." She tossed Peter his helmet and got on the bike.
"Coming from experience?" Peter asked as he put the helmet on.
"Well I didn't get these scars by running with the right crowds, I'll tell you that." Once Peter had his arms around her, she gunned the throttle and sped out of the alley onto the street, leaving one of the thugs holding out his phone to eat dust.
A/N: I had this in my drive for a long time to serve as part of a series of buffer chapters, but that plan didn't pan out as I hoped. I genuinely wish I could churn out chapters more than once in a while but doing tedious paperwork for 8 hours a day tends to leave one drained of any desire to look at more words, much less process them in a coherent story. I do want to be better, both in timeliness and as a writer.
Perhaps on a brighter side, being drained has led me to trying out new and old series (Fallout NV, Amphibia, and Cult of the Lamb to name a few) and thus generating new plot bunnies. If anything, I need to get better to help those ones grow too.
Please leave a comment and maybe even some feedback!
