Chapter Text
There are a lot of stores and buildings that do not allow mutants to enter, it's just another effect of the fear of mutants that the bigots so happily spread around, making places unfriendly to mutants, and denying service to them.
Peter makes sure to rob those places, letting his kleptomania run wild.
Businesses like that don't deserve to make any profit at all if Peter gets his way, that is his own way to protest against the prejudice against his kind. Some protest, boycott, write long papers, or drop stadiums but this way is more of his style in his humble opinion.
He tried to explain this to his now ex-girlfriend Crystal, but she was shocked by all the things in his room/his mother’s basement that led to their fight, she said that he spends too much time on stupid things and should get a ‘real job’, not just being the fastest delivery boy in the world, a job adult job.
What did she know about jobs? She is literally a royal princess of a small country, second in line of succession , that is not a real job either Peter said. That was not a wise choice of word s, s he broke up with him on the spot.
Again
Is not their first break up, nope, he and Crystal have been in an on and off again relationship for like 2 years now, Wanda keeps saying that he should date someone else but Peter can't seem to fall for anyone in the same way he does for Crystal.
His mom also agrees with Wanda, and so does Mila, his Dad, and Magda. The only one that didn't voice an opinion about his love life is Nina, and for that, he tries to steal a pony for her birthday, the little girl loves animals and Peter loves the look on his Dad’s face once he sees the pony.
Usually, he would do this in his room but his mom demanded that he go outside, and smell the fresh air. Peter is just playing games in his favorite arcade breathing the air that doesn't smell fresh but is familiar and comforting, dealing with his breakup with the usual combo of games and very greasy food. The owner is not a mutant hater like some that he finds in his town, Peter always robs the coins of the machines. If you are going to be a hateful asshole and pot signs saying no mutant allowed yes you deserve to be out of business. Denying people access to the wonders of games is just wrong and should be illegal.
He is eating some chili fries trying not to think about Crystal and playing Mrs.Pacmen at his usual speed beating his own record for the third time, when he hears sounds of fighting and loud voices of men from the outside, this place may have the best grease fries but is not on the best neighborhood, he is used to hearing drunks being thrown out by the owner of the bar just around the corner, so there is not much of a surprise and he usually just he lets it slide most of the time, drunk man are not his problem.
What takes his attention away from the screen is the voice of a child asking for help in the midst of the men's loud voices. That is a big incentive to make him stop playing, Peter runs to meet the source of the voices, hoping to have heard it wrong, he doesn't have any super hearing and he listens to loud music all the time, so he can be wrong.
The word slows down and he goes to an alley, Peter is faced with a horrifying scene, 3 full grown men that are clearly drunk by the smell of them, that is like too fucking big, with large beer stomachs are beating a girl, the kid must be around 13 to 14 years old in the ally, one of them is in the middle of punching the girls face and the other two are laughing just watching it as if this was the most entertaining show as the girl tries to protect her head.
Anger is not something Peter often feels , he would describe himself as a chill dude , according to Wanda he avoids confrontation but looking at this kid hugging their head with her bruised arms, now he sees red.
Peter is his father's son and he will not stand for this.
He takes the one throwing the punch first, kicking him in the balls to make sure he will feel that pain for days, then grabbing him by the collar of his old and stained shirt with no protection making sure to make this the worst experience from whiplash, zooming in zig zags to speed him all the way to another state in the most disgusting trash Peter can find.
With the other two Peter punches them in the face, he feels very thankful that his Dad showed him how to use his power in the punch, he can see in slow motion their teeth breaking in tiny bits and blood spreading on the ground. Yikes, maybe he overdid it but now anger is the only thing on his mind, does the same for the other as the first guy and leaves them far away from here.
When he comes back the girl is still waiting for the next punch that will never come , she looks up and is clearly confused, looking up to see all the men gone and Peter standing in front of her.
Now that she took her arms off her head Peter could see that she was definitely a mutant, she had big shiny purple eyes and pink skin that resembled scales, her clothes had seen better days, she was wearing really ripped jeans and a very dirty moleton that maybe was white when she first bought it but now is mostly gray and brown.
What do you do when you just saved a girl's life? Should he give her space or run her to a nearby hospital that still treats mutants as human beings? Does he need to call the police? Scratch that, the pigs would only make it worse, they would never help a mutant with a visible mutation fairly .
“Hey kid, they are gone now, are you hurt? “ Peter says in a concerned voice, this is a stupid question, she is clearly hurt, as she has blood dripping from her nose and some gashes in her head, he can also see that her left eye is swollen, but he needs to know if she has any more injuries, any pains that his eyes can't see. X-ray vision would be a cool mutation but he wouldn't change his speed for anything, not even Wanda’s red sparks or his Dad’s magnetism.
The girl doesn't respond to him, only cowers in the corner more trying to make herself smaller , she is shaking but not taking her eyes off Peter , still afraid and ready to run away even though he can see she is in no position to outrun anyone.
He sits down to be on her level and gets closer very slowly, slower than a turtle , most of the time moving slowly is torture for him but in this situation, he can make an exemption , he takes his cap off showing the girl his silver hair , he doesn't like to wear it but his mom always gives him one whenever she sees that he is going out , she worries about him too much , no one can ever grab him but for her sake, he can do it.
“I’m a mutant too, let me help you out. I’m Peter what’s your name?”He uses the softest voice, like the one he used to when telling Nina or Mila bedtime stories, a calming tone that works wonders on his sisters.
“Maria,” she says in a whisper. She looked more relaxed once he showed that he was a mutant, too. Maria looked less prompt to run off and more tired, the adrenaline probably wearing off.
“That's a beautiful name, I like purple is such a good color, wish my hair was cool purple, and silver is not a fashionable color” Peter tries to break the ice, making himself less threatening to her.
“Wha-at happen to those men?” Maria asks looking around, finally taking her eyes off Peter, he takes this as a small win.
“That was me, don't worry about them, I placed them towns away from here. They are not coming back, you are safe now”
That did the trick to make the girl less scared. Peter could see her breathing slowly , she tried to get off the ground but the girl lost her balance so Peter put his hand on her shoulder to help her out. That was a wrong move because it caused Maria to flinch, so he put his hand up .
“Thanks for the help, Peter. It's late so I should get going” Maria says cleaning her face with her hand, which only causes the blood to smear on her face.
“I can take you to a hospital, it will take just a blink and we’ll be there” Peter offered, there was no way he was going to leave her by herself . The sight of Maria’s bloody face is proof that she needs medical attention.
“There is no need, I’m fine,” She said crossing her arms, or at least she tried to, as her face contoured in hurt by her movements, so she was not ok at all.
“Dude you can't even walk without falling, you are not ok. You need to be checked out by a doctor” Peter insists.
“I’m not going, I can take care of myself, thank you Peter you can go now…I'm fine” Maria says
Peter is not buying that, he wont let her go until he knows she is safe.
“Dude… I’m not leaving you here , let me help you out , we can leave the hospital before they charge us” Peter would never pay those overpriced hospital bills.
“No, I d-don't like hospitals”
That's fair, Peter doesn't it either but that is a problem with a clearly injured kid, and Peter knows nothing about treating her injuries, the only injury he ever helped treat was a burn on Wanda’s hand when they were 10, and he didn't do a very good job, but how was he supposed to know you don't put butter on burns? He was 100% sure that it would help his sister but it didn't.
“Where are your parents? Do you want me to take you to them?”Peter suggests that he may not be the best adult to help but her parents may know how to care for her, maybe they could take her to a hospital,
“They don't want…me anymore, they don't want freaks in their house,” She says in a hurt voice blinking tears away, Peter’s heart is being squeezed, how can parents just abandon their kid? Just for being a mutant is a reason to leave a child to fend for herself? Fuck them, they don't deserve to have kids if they would just abandon them for being different.
So no hospitals, no parents, no one but Peter. Cool, cool, cool. He can be a responsible adult. He has never done it before but he can try.
“Ok, so do you have anywhere to go? A friend's house? Where do you live?”
“That’s none of your business, just go away and leave me alone. I've been taking care of myself for weeks now, I don't need a parent or fake friend. I can handle it” Maria chins up, wide eyes maybe Peter could believe her if her left eye was not swallowing or if she wasn't using the wall to stay up.
“Dude, you are an underage kid who just got attacked in an alley by drunks, you need help, just let me take care of your wounds, ok? It can get nasty really quickly, an infection is probably not going to improve your living situation. I can get you somewhere safe and if you don't like it I’ll run you to anywhere you want and you never have to see me again”P
She takes a few minutes to think but she agrees.
“I need to hold your neck so you wont get wiplash to take you somewhere safe, ok”
She only nods her head, trusting him.