CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Family Doesn't Lie

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WHEN CECELIA BURST OUT of the back doors of Midtown Tech, fully suited up in her Phantom costume (she'd stuffed her dress into her backpack and shoved it into her locker), she fully expected to spend at least a couple of minutes searching for Peter. Spider-Man suit or no Spider-Man suit, he was fast, and his stupid, stupidly cool abilities made it so he could hide practically anywhere. He could be hanging off the side of the Empire State Building for all she knew.

However, when she actually made it outside, she found that her calculations were extraordinarily far off.

Peter lay crumpled on the asphalt, wearing perhaps the ugliest costume Cecelia had ever seen. Instead of the tight spandex suit he'd worn after Tony Stark had picked him up, he was now in a red hoodie with a crudely drawn-on spider emblem, sweatpants, and long, red boots. His mask was a rudimentary thing, just a wad of felt with what looked like cut-up goggles serving as lenses. The only thing that was even somewhat professional was his webshooters, and those were lying a few feet away.

Approaching Peter, malice in his eyes, was Schultz. He was wearing the shock gauntlet—he'd really taken up the mantle of the Shocker, now—and smoke billowed off of it. It wasn't difficult to tell that it had recently been used. Nor did it take a genius to figure out who it'd been used on.

As Peter attempted to regain his bearings, Schultz sneered, "He gave you a choice. You chose wrong."

Cecelia's stomach clenched. She looked from Peter to Schultz and back to Peter again, two halves of her warring for dominance. Part of her clamoured to help Schultz. She had a responsibility, after all, both to him and to the company. Even if Schultz had left her on the ferry, he'd gotten her out of enough scrapes in the past to give her a responsibility to take his side.

But that half of her sounded a lot like Uncle.

The other part was more concerned with her classmate, trapped by Schultz in front of him and a school bus behind him. He may have been an aspiring superhero—though he was still technically a vigilante—but he was fifteen years old. And, unlike Cecelia, he wasn't a fifteen-year-old that was used to being hurt.

Both sides clashed. Unable to make a decision, Cecelia continued to stand, encased in stone.

Peter raised his head, panting. "What the hell?"

Schultz chuckled. "What's with the crappy costume?"

He powered up the gauntlet, and electricity crackled at its end. Cecelia remained frozen in indecision, watching as Peter's head turned to where his webshooters were lying. If Cecelia wanted, she could toss them over to him, giving them a fair fight. Or she could ram either of them from behind with her stunners. Neither would know what hit them.

She still did nothing.

Peter scrambled to his feet, sprinting towards the poorly designed contraptions. Schultz didn't go for him, however. Instead, he slammed the gauntlet into the front of a school bus. The gauntlet's power was enough to send the bus into a spiral, and it slammed into Peter in a haze of shattered glass. He went flying, slamming into another bus. More glass rained down on him, and he slumped to the ground, completely winded.

Cecelia's breath hitched.

Schultz kicked Peter's webshooters to the side. "I wasn't sure about this thing at first, but damn," he muttered, looking down at the gauntlet. Peter staggered up again, but he only managed to stumble a few steps backward before Schultz hit him again. It was the equivalent of a bug being hit by a swatter—Peter was launched into the air, crashing through the front window of a third bus and skidding his way to the back.

It got harder to breathe. Sure, Cecelia had tried to do the same thing to Peter during their multiple altercations, but it was different, now, knowing who he was. That part of her on Peter's side was getting louder, now, screaming at her to stop this. Spider-Man or no Spider-Man, if Schultz kept going on like this, he was going to kill Peter.

And maybe that was the point.

Cecelia's body made her decision before her mind did. Just as Schultz was winding his arm back, preparing to send another shock into the school bus—which would probably send the whole vehicle flying—Cecelia ran forward. The sound of her purposefully loud feet crunching on the gravel was enough to make Schultz whirl around, even before Cecelia opened her mouth.

"Stop!"

Schultz did. The power fizzled out of his gauntlet for a moment as Cecelia sprinted towards him, both of her hands out in surrender. "Stop!" she repeated, gasping for breath. She drew to a stop near Schultz and clutched at a stitch in her side.

"Phantom?" Schultz's tone was incredulous. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Same—same as you," Cecelia responded. "Kind of."

"Kind of?" Schultz repeated. "Girl, you've been ghosting us for a week. The bosses are pissed, the Tinkerer is pissed, and I'm pretty sure there's a bounty out for your head. Why the hell have you not responded to your uncle's texts? And what are you doing here now?"

"You left me on the ferry." The words came out before Cecelia could stop them.

"So what? You know the rules, kid. It's every man for himself. And you got out of there fine, anyway."

"I could have died!"

"It's an occupational hazard. Just look at what happened to Brice. Now, if you don't mind, I'm kind of in the middle of something here."

He charged up his glove again, but Cecelia leaped in front of him, blocking his access to the bus. "Stop, Schultz."

"What the hell is wrong with you? Get out of my way."

"Why? So you can kill him?"

"Toomes gave him a choice. He could either stay and enjoy the dance or he could get his ass beat. Guess which one he chose."

"He's fifteen!"

Schultz's expression darkened. "You know who he is."

Cecelia didn't bother lying. "Yeah, I do."

"Are you a fucking traitor, then? Trying to protect him? Why didn't you tell us right away when you figured it out?"

"I don't—I don't know." Cecelia kept her arms spread wide, continuing to keep Schultz out of reach of the school bus. "But I'm not a traitor, okay? I was just... I was just mad about the ferry. You guys left me without even thinking about it. The only reason I didn't end up dying was because Spider-Man was there. And yeah, I know it was Spider-Man's fault, and he totally ruined the deal, but... he still saved my life."

"If you're not a traitor, girl, then prove it. Get the hell out of my way."

"You're going to kill him."

"That's the plan."

"Then I'm not moving. Look, let's just talk about it. You don't have to kill him. Maybe... maybe I could talk to him. He doesn't know about what you have planned tonight. He won't figure it out. If I can keep him distracted, then everything will go as planned. You don't have to be a murderer."

Schultz let out a long sigh. "We're already murderers, kid."

"Please."

Schultz glanced back at the bus. "If you don't move out of the way, I'll blast you."

"Try it. I'm pretty good at dodging that kind of shit."

A low growl escaped his lips. "You are a fucking traitor. You proved that the moment you figured out Spider-Man's identity and didn't tell us. And you're proving it now by getting in my way. I'm sorry, kid. I've liked you the moment you first came to the warehouse, but you're either with us or against us. There is no in-between."

Then he rammed his gauntlet right at her.

It phased right through Cecelia's gut, crashing into the school bus she'd been trying to protect. Sure enough, the force of the hit sent the bus flying through the air, far over Cecelia's head. She caught the faintest glimpse of red from within its interior, being knocked about, before the bus finally landed upside-down in a haze of smoke.

"Oops," Schultz droned.

Red spotted Cecelia's vision, and before she knew what she was doing, she was throwing a solid punch at Schultz's face. Caught off-guard, Schultz made no move to block it. It caught him right in the jaw. He was sent staggering back, his gauntlet crackling at his side.

"You piece of shit!" Cecelia yelled. "He's a kid!"

Schultz rubbed at his jaw bitterly. "So are you. But I'll still sleep sound as ever when I end up killing you, too."

Cecelia's heart climbed into her throat. This was serious, now. Schultz—who'd been her partner on missions, who'd joked around with her on occasion during deals—thought she was a traitor. He was going to kill her. And then he was going to kill Peter, too.

She didn't want to betray the people who had taken her in, who had accepted her when no one else would. But... she couldn't let them kill Peter.

Peter, who passed notes with her in class, who had an obnoxious crush on Liz, who rescued cats from trees and saved women from purse-snatchers. Peter, who had saved her life on the ferry, who tried to reason with her instead of immediately bashing her face in, who walked her home after her so-called 'mugging' and tried to make her feel better. Peter, who liked LEGO and Star Wars, who had lost his parents just like Cecelia had.

She still didn't like him. And she sure as hell wasn't on his side. But still.

The doors to the ruined bus opened, and a groaning Peter crawled out. He lay on the ground, obviously in pain, and Schultz took his hand off his jaw in favour of attempting to attack once more. He swung his gauntlet towards Cecelia, who flickered into intangibility a split second before the electricity assaulted her. She went solid again, gasping, and activated her stunners. Twin beams of pure energy went surging right at Schultz, who had now become her enemy. Before they could hit him, though, he ducked.

The beams glanced off of the bus and ricocheted back to Cecelia. Because she hadn't been expecting it, she wasn't able to become insubstantial in time. They hit her right on.

It was if she'd been hit by a bus. As the wind was knocked out of her chest, Cecelia was launched backwards, soaring over the school buses and surging right towards a parked car she was fairly sure was Principal Morita's. Panicked, knowing that to make impact would likely mean either paralysis or death, Cecelia engaged her boots. They stopped her just a foot above the vehicle.

Not bothering to land, Cecelia surged through the air, heading back to the conflict. There, she found Peter attempting to crawl away from Schultz, who was sauntering towards Peter like he had all the time in the world. Like he was a goddamned villain in a movie or something.

"Stop!" Cecelia shouted again. She finally touched down on the ground and aimed a kick at Schultz. He caught her leg in his ungloved hand and jerked it to the side moments before Cecelia could transform back into nothing but air. The force sent her onto the ground, where she rolled once, twice, three times before finally drawing to a stop.

Peter lifted his head. "Cecelia?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't make a big deal out of things," Cecelia grunted.

"But you're... whoa!"

He rolled out of the way just moments before Schultz's gauntlet slammed into his head. Schultz growled and went for him again. Again, Peter dodged.

"Why did he send you here?" he asked Schultz, his voice strained.

"Guess you'll never know," Schultz responded. He raised his gauntlet again. It rippled with electricity, preparing to cook Peter from the inside out before Cecelia could reach him.

Then a web shot through the air and encased the gauntlet completely.

Cecelia gasped, following the line of the web. There, she found Ned, still in his suit and hat, holding one of Peter's discarded webshooters.

"Nice shot!" Peter yelled. He leaped to his feet, seizing onto the web and yanking it down. The gauntlet went with it, which meant that Schultz did, as well. The webshooter zinged back into Peter's hand just in time for him to web Schultz to the side of the bus. "Yes!"

Ned noticed Cecelia as she climbed to her feet. "Oh, my God," he breathed. "Peter! It's... it's that girl you told me about!"

"I know," Peter said. Then he walked over to her and held out a hand. Cecelia didn't take it, standing up on her own. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving your ass, apparently."

"But—"

Cecelia poked him in the chest. "I wasn't just gonna let him kill you, okay?"

"But you're—"

"What is happening?" Ned asked, his words practically a shriek. Peter jolted as if he'd forgotten he was there.

"Ned, the guy with the wings is Liz's dad."

"What?"

"I know! I gotta tell Mr. Stark. Call Happy Hogan. He's Mr. Stark's head of security. And, uh, get a computer and track my phone for me."

"What about her?" Ned asked, pointing to Cecelia. "You told me you'd been fighting her!"

As if he'd just remembered that she was here, Peter whirled around. Rubbing the back of his neck—though this seemed more like a nervous tic than a sign of his spider senses in action—he asked, "Are we gonna have a problem?"

"If you mean, am I going to fight you, then no," Cecelia said. "But—"

"Okay, good! Then I've got to go! We've got to catch him before he leaves town!"

He took a running start forward, leaping onto a streetlight. Using the momentum, he shot out a web and swung through the air, heading into the streets. Cecelia stood there for a moment, glancing at Schultz, webbed to the bus, Ned's retreating figure, and Peter, before making the executive decision to follow him. She engaged her boots once again and took off, keeping an eye on the boy in the hoodie.

It didn't take long to catch up with him. Peter landed on the hood of a silver convertible, causing it to screech to a halt. When Cecelia got closer, she found Flash and an older girl inside, gaping at the vigilante that had practically materialized out of thin air.

"Flash," Peter growled, sounding as if he'd smoked one-too-many cigarettes, "I need your car and your phone."

"Uh, sir, technically—technically this is my dad's car, sir. So I can't—"

Cecelia landed beside Peter, and both Flash and the girl let out nearly identical screams. Peter turned to face her, surprised, but Cecelia was already talking. "You heard the boy—uh, man. Out."

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am." Flash scrambled out of the car, and his disgruntled date followed. Peter clenched his fists, then leaped into the driver's side. Cecelia entered the passenger's.

"What are you doing here?" Peter hissed, staring down at the gear stick in bewilderment. Cecelia switched it to drive for him, and he slammed on the gas so hard they went careening forward.

"I have no idea," Cecelia admitted. "I—I—Toomes texted me. He said he knew your identity. And I... I wanted to warn you, for some reason. But Liz said you left—" Peter winced at the reminder, "—and so I followed you out here."

"But why?" Peter asked. The car crashed into a bike rack, and Cecelia swore, taking hold of the steering wheel. She'd never actually driven before—unless you counted in Mario Kart—but she'd watched her parents do it often enough that she knew he was being way too forceful in his turns. "Sorry. But, seriously, why do you care? I thought... I thought you told him."

"Well, I didn't. Look, apparently, I'm a traitor now. I didn't—I didn't want to be, but I couldn't let Schultz kill you. And now, I don't know what to do."

"You can help me," Peter said earnestly, pulling onto the main streets. Cecelia kept her hands near the wheel, steadying him when he veered too far one way or another. "You have to realize now that what your uncle, what Liz's dad is doing... it's bad."

Cecelia squeezed her eyes shut. A stray tear streaked down her cheek.

She thought back to the ATM robbery and the explosion at Delmar's. The fight that had happened a year before that killed an elementary school teacher. The way Brice had died, sudden and unexpected.

She thought back to every single one of Uncle's punishments. The way he would always tell her she deserved it, just because she wasn't perfect for him. The names he'd called her.

Then she thought back to Schultz. The way he'd been so willing to murder both Cecelia and Peter. What he'd said to her: "We're already murderers."

From the very beginning, Uncle had told her that what they were doing was for a good cause. It had been Tony Stark who had put him, Toomes, and countless others out of jobs after the Battle of New York. They needed to survive somehow, and if manufacturing and selling weapons was the way to put food on the table, then that was what they had to do.

But... had that ever been the only way? Wasn't there the Avengers for Unemployment Efforts, a company that had been set up by Tony Stark right after he'd saved the world? Enough buildings had been taken down and enough lives had been ruined to necessitate this. And there had been enough money poured into the business to ensure that no one would be cast aside.

She took in a few deep breaths, barely noticing the constant jerk of the car. Then she opened her eyes.

"M-maybe you're right," she said. Just saying the words felt like a betrayal to both Toomes and Uncle. "But I can't be one-hundred percent sure yet. I just need... I just need to talk to my uncle. He's always been—he's got to have an explanation. I have to hear it from him."

"No. No way. Your uncle has been hurting you, Cecelia."

"He's still my family."

"Cecelia—"

"Peter, I'll tell you everything. You don't even need Ned to track your phone, because I know where Toomes is going. I know what his plan is. But you have to let me talk to my uncle. I can—I can decide then if I want to help you or stop you."

Peter's face paled. "Don't do this."

"I have to. Now, make a left here."

"What?" Peter jerked the wheel, sending them careening to the street Cecelia had gestured to. Cecelia screamed, leaping forward to help him out. Before she could, though, Peter stabilized it. Then he shot Cecelia a glare. "Give a guy a little warning next time!"

"Keep going straight until I tell you to," Cecelia ordered. "Then make a right."

"I still don't like this," Peter said. Then: "Where are we going?"

"Brooklyn."

"Brooklyn? I thought he was leaving town!"

"He is," Cecelia said. "But Brooklyn is where his suit is."

"Cecelia—"

Peter's words were cut off by the shrill ring of his cellphone. He jumped, then fumbled to pick it up. "Hello? Ned? Hey, hey, hey, can you hear me?"

"Go for Ned," came the tinny voice out of the phone.

"Ned, I don't need you to track my phone anymore. Um, the Phantom is leading me to where the Vulture guy's gonna be."

"Cool," Ned said. "So, is she, um, like on your side now?"

"I guess? Not really. It's complicated. Um, where are the headlights on this thing?" he asked Cecelia. When Cecelia shrugged, he repeated the question to Ned. "I'm in Flash's car."

"I'll pull the specs," Ned responded.

"Okay, you're on speakerphone!" Peter said, then practically shoved his phone at Cecelia.

Ned chuckled. "You stole Flash's car. Awesome."

"Yeah, it's awesome! It's—"

"Take a right!" Cecelia yelled. Peter shrieked and jerked the wheel, narrowly avoiding crashing into a bus. Cecelia slammed against the door and tensed up, uncomfortably reminded of Uncle.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Peter choked.

"Peter, are you okay?" Ned asked.

"I've never really driven before. Only with May in parking lots. This is a huge step up."

"Another right!" Cecelia ordered. This time, she was prepared for Peter's intense turn.

"Hey, have you gotten through to Happy yet?" Peter asked Ned. Cecelia steadied his hands on the wheel, her heart beating erratically in her chest.

"Uh, yeah. I'm working on it. I just gotta backdoor the phone system."

"Okay. Um, how are you coming along with those headlights?"

"Uh, round knob to the left of the steering wheel, turn clockwise," Ned responded. Peter did as he said, and the headlights finally flickered on.

"Okay, perfect."

"Left!" Cecelia cried. "We're almost there!"

"Ah, okay, okay, okay!"

"Oh, I reached Mr. Happy," Ned piped up. "Don't think he likes you, by the way. It sounded like he was catching a flight. He said something about taking off in nine minutes."

"What?"

"Right!" said Cecelia.

"He was surrounded by a bunch of boxes," continued Ned.

"Boxes?"

"It's moving day," Cecelia said, remembering the debriefing just before the ferry.

"Moving day," Peter repeated. Then: "Oh, my God, it's moving day! He's gonna rob that plane!"

"Bingo. Left."

As Peter twisted the wheel, his head snapped to her. "You seriously didn't tell me he was gonna rob a plane?"

"Oh, sorry, I was too busy trying to keep your driving from killing both of us," Cecelia replied. "I was planning on telling you once we reached the warehouse. But, by the way, I didn't owe you that information. I could have kept it from you if I wanted. Or given you a false plan and had you run around in the dark."

Peter stared at her. Unlike his new lenses, the old ones didn't move, but she imagined he was narrowing his eyes at her. "You know, you're a jerk."

"I am. But also, depending on how things go, I might help you take down my own uncle's business, so. I don't know if you've got the right to call me that. Left."

"Okay, I know you told me you don't know Phantom, but her voice sounds really familiar," said Ned. "Like someone who goes to our school."

It was Cecelia's turn to look at Peter. Obviously, Ned knew about Spider-Man, and, given their conversation in the parking lot, knew what Peter had been up to, too. So why hadn't Peter told him that she was Phantom? Had he been that scared of her blackmail that he wouldn't even tell his best friend?

"Um—" Peter began. Cecelia leaned forward. She might as well get the cat out of the bag, now.

"You're right. I do know you, Ned Leeds. Which leaves me to pose the question: what did you tell Christine? You know, after you left her to chase after Peter."

"Wha—Cecelia?"

"That's not an answer. Also. Peter. Right."

"Dude! What? You were the one who's been beating up Peter?"

"She hasn't been beating me up," Peter protested, swivelling the steering wheel again. They were in downtown Brooklyn, now, heading for its outskirts. "She's just—"

"I didn't know it was him," Cecelia interrupted. "But also, now that I do, I'm still considering it."

"Dude! Don't you dare touch my best friend!"

Cecelia was barely listening. "I just have to... my uncle will tell the truth. He's never—he's never lied to me before."

Even when it hurt, he didn't lie. He didn't sugarcoat things. He made sure Cecelia knew the dangers of each mission, exactly what tech he wanted her to work on. He made sure he knew how freaks were treated in the real world.

"Cecelia..." Peter's tone was soft. Cecelia hated it.

"Shut up. Just shut up. And take another right. We should be there in about ten minutes. Maybe five depending on how much you surpass the speed limit."

"I really don't understand you."

"I figured," Cecelia responded, leaning back in her seat. "I don't understand me, either."

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HAVEN: OH MY GOD IS THIS WHAT I THINK IT IS??? PHANTOM AND SPIDER-MAN TEAM UP??????

yes! yes it is. but only kind of. cecelia still believes she's on her uncle's side, after all, even if he believes that she's a traitor. but maybe that'll change next chapter...

seriously, though, i've been trying to build up to her redemption arc for the whole book so far, really, and i hope i'm doing it justice. i didn't want cecelia to change her mind right away, because i didn't think that would be realistic to her character. nor did i think anything less than schultz trying to murder peter would have given her the hint that things weren't exactly right. but i really hope it makes sense 😭 

thank you for reading!! <333