I Am Karen - Spider-Man / Peter Parker [1]

Chapter Twenty-Five - Congratulations

It didn't take long for the beach to have a swarm of men in black suits with torches appearing, Happy at the helm. Peter of course had had to run off the moment they arrived so that his identity would not be discovered. However, his actions left Maria standing in the sand beside Adrian who was at her feet, both of them surrounded by fire and the remains of the cargo plane and it's contents. Each of the Stark men was searching the remains. Maria watched as Happy's worried gaze ran over the site, his torch following the same path. Eventually, the circle of light moved along the sand and landed upon Maria's feet moments before it moved up her body and to her face.

"Maria?!" Happy said in relief and shock - Maria didn't exactly look her best. After Maria had ended their call, he had grown evermore worried the longer time had gone on. It took mere seconds for the older man to make his way over to her.

"Spider-Man wanted to say he found the flying Vulture guy and ... sorry about your plane" Maria informed him, confirming that this was Spider-Man's doing, he had captured the Vulture. Upon hearing the news, Happy looked down to the sand where Adrian still lay defeated at Maria's feet. Without a care Happy moved his torch and shone his light right into the other man's face. The older man flinched on the floor and covered his face from the light but made no more attempts to move, he knew there was no point. Happy knelt down and forced Adrian onto his front where he then grabbed his arms and handcuffed them tightly behind his back. It took Happy a lot of strength to not beat Adrian up for what he had done to Maria and Peter (part of Happy was worried to how the kid had faired especially after seeing Maria).

"You're okay, right?" Happy asked Maria, looking over his shoulders at her. Maria nodded after which Happy dragged Adrian to his feet. Once they were back on their feet Happy turned to Maria and gave her a pointed look which confused her greatly. "Your dad is going to kill you."

"Why?"

"He sent men to the warehouse you sent him to and they found only a collapsed building with neither you nor Peter in sight which they reported back to him" Maria's eyes widened as she remembered that she had given her father the address to the warehouse but hadn't updated him at all. "Then he couldn't get a hold of you as your phone is at home, your watch ... is smashed, Peter didn't have his suit so he couldn't get the GPS off that either. He's been hunting you down." Maria felt her stomach turn; she was an awful daughter.

It was at that moment the familiar sound of thrusters could be heard over Coney Island Beach. The men and Maria turned to watch a very comforting and familiar sight; the red suit of Iron Man flew through the air and landed on the sand perfectly. Maria watched in shock as her father opened up and raced out of the suit towards her. He didn't even take stock of everything else around him, he was completely focused upon his daughter. He didn't say a word as he grabbed her and pulled her tightly into his chest. Maria automatically wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Get him out of here Happy before I kill him" Tony spat as his eyes rested on the Vulture who was looking at Maria with guilt in his eyes, he was only beginning to see the damage he caused.

The moment she was in the safety of her father's arms, Maria felt her emotions washing over her and she let her guard down. Tears gathered in her eyes and her body began to shake as she finally allowed the enormity of what had happened to overcome her. Even though she didn't want to, Maria began to weep into her father who gripped his daughter tighter upon hearing the heart-breaking sound. She was only sixteen and she had been terrified, Tony had always felt guilty for dragging Maria into this world especially at such a young age and it always killed him when his strong little girl broke down because of it. There wasn't much he could do but hold her and tell her she was alright, that he wouldn't allow any harm to come to her. A promise he would one day fail to keep.