ILLYRIS | v. "HOW ABOUT A KNIFE?" MAN IN A CAN TO THE RESCUE
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THE FIRST THING Thea saw was a flash of white. Then Peter Parker's horrified eyes locking with her hazy ones. He was kneeling over her, mask off and hair dripping water. Her chest felt like hot lava. His lips kept moving at an absurdly fast pace like he was panicking or speaking to someone she couldn't identify. A thicket of fog overwhelmed her brain. It was mumbling, then a high-pitched gasp reverberating.
"Yes! You're not dead!" Peter cheered, throwing his arms up triumphantly and sighing out of deep relief.
Thea didn't feel alive. Or if she was, she would've rather died than feel what she was feeling. Her skull was pounding, like someone took a hammer to it. Her eyes widened and her fingers flew to her chest, a surge of relief washing over her when she felt the metal of her dragons' head pin miraculously still secured. Her sopping wet clothes clung to her frame, hair plastered to her neck and face. Thea knew she wasn't a pretty sight and knowing a boy was looking at her made her suddenly sit up and claw at her cheeks to pull hair out from her mouth.
Then, it wasn't Peter's face that really surprised her. It was the one of their savior's. Well, face was a bit of an exaggeration. More like a mask she had seen over and over again on the news. A red and gold metal mask of the one and only, Iron Man.
Thea froze and her jaw dropped in amazement. Despite everything that happened to her in a matter of two days, this, by far had to be the most unbelievable. Then another realization hit her. Peter was speaking with Mr. Stark. Tony Stark! The invincible, genius, billionaire, Avenger—
"You alright, kid?" Tony's unmistakably suave but slightly robotic voice filtered through the mask. He was hovering in front of her, kept up by the propulsor jets shooting down from his gauntlets and boots. She almost felt compelled to bow down but the sweeping wind from the lake made her hug her body tighter to preserve what little heat she had.
"Like... freezing." Her mind shut down and she only realized what she said after she said it.
Thea's first instinct was to find her phone to take a picture with him or pull up her list of questions for Tony Stark if, in the case, she would ever meet him, she would ask. But as she pat herself down, her fingers didn't feel the familiar outline of her phone. Realization sank in and her heart jumped. Bex. The party. She didn't even bother to tell Bex when she was coming back.
"Hi, Mr.— Iron—Stark." Thea smoothed her wet dark hair with one hand, suddenly self-conscious of her muddled appearance. "Wow, you're— you're actually him."
"Well, I'm not him," Tony tilted his head towards Peter who smiled through chattering teeth.
"How did you find us? Did you put a tracker in my suit or something?" Peter inquired.
"Uh, I put everything in your suit," Tony answered in a matter-of-fact tone. "Including this heater."
Like it was on cue, Thea heard a subtle hissing, and Peter shifted closer to her, sighing as steam vented from his suit. She didn't feel the warmth as strongly as he did. It was fine— she had a heat source of her own. Unfurling her hands, she felt relief as cracks of gold light shone throughout her black coat, evaporating some of the water. Her sore back dug closer in the metal of the jungle gym they leaned against and she felt her body begin to release the painful tension from the freezing lake.
