I see the Vulture leave the plane while carrying a box, but, before I start chasing, an explosion rocks the sky.
Turning to the source of the explosion, I see what remains of the plane's tail burning, leaving behind a trail of dense black smoke.
As one of the engines and all of the stabilizers are no more, the plane starts rolling and losing altitude.
Fortunately, I see that the other engines can support the plane, even if it seems less stable than it should, turning in ways that no civilian plane should.
Putting my faith in Peter, I decided to chase the Vulture, giving my utmost to speed up to his position.
Soon I feel the air in front of me change, compressing and deforming as my speed goes over the one of sound. It only takes half a minute to reach the fleeing man, and as soon as I do, I strike with my superheated talons, cutting his suit like butter.
As soon as we disengaged, I saw the damage of my attack, as one of the two turbines of his suit was now missing. He falls for a couple of seconds before he can regain a modicum of control.
I can't see his face behind the helmet, but it must be quite something if you take into account that he has just seen a giant falcon with flaming talons cut through his steel suit.
Deciding that he wouldn't be able to escape into the air with the damage that he had taken, he chose to plummet to the ground, hoping to find a way to lose me there.
Unfortunately for you, I'm no dumb beast, and you won't be able to escape... Well, he is kind of lucky that I am not a predatory bird, at least I'm not trying to kill him...
The chase continues for a couple of minutes, with me taking my time to enjoy the helplessness of the Vulture, unable to get away, as his armor keeps taking damage each time I move near.
Finally, after I had my fun, I made him collapse into unconsciousness by slamming him hard enough. Deciding that it was time to return to Peter, I turned back into a Pidgeot, taking the Vulture and his loot with me.
Finding the plane is not difficult, as the trail of smoke is quite visible for a being with good enough eyesight, and, in another couple of minutes, I arrive there.
Putting down the weights I had been carrying, I inspected the trail of debris that the plane left on the sand where it landed.
Finding the unwilling pilot at the end of the trail, I turned back into my normal form. "Well, Pete, I was sure you would be able to land the plane, but next time you park one, you should use the landing gear." I tease him, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"What?! Oh, it's you, Sig... And you are naked," Peter says while blushing, looking away as soon as he realizes my state.
"What did you expect? You should know that I always end like this... Have you called Stark?" I say while moving behind him in a way that covers most of my body.
"Yep, and the firefighters, and the cops... Not that they need a call to notice a flaming plane crashing on the shores near the city." Peter replies, focusing on my face while trying not to peek at the rest of my body.
"That's true... Well, you landed in the right place at the end, and the plane wouldn't have been able to fly again even if you made the right landing, so don't worry about it." I say, trying to console him as I see a bit of uncertainty in his eyes.
"But we were tasked to protect it." He replies, making it clear that he didn't think of ours as a victory.
"We were tasked to stop the hijacking, and we did. No one talked about the integrity of the plane." I say with a smirk and a condescending tone.
"Semantics..." He replies with a smirk of his own, amused by my lack of care.
"Don't care... And if Tony says something, I will annoy Ms. Potts until he comes groveling at our feet." I joke, fully aware that Tony won't care for the plane itself.
"Come on, we did it. The tech is mostly safe, and we caught the thief. It's a win." I say, explaining to Peter my reasoning, as I see his unconvinced expression.
"Yeah, yeah, as you say..." He dismisses my words, unsatisfied with the outcome of the mission.
"Now we simply need to wait for the authorities to arrive so that we can return to the school and have our dance," I say, unwilling to wait too much while naked in front of a crashed plane.
"Don't worry, they will get here in minutes, and then we will get back to the ball..." Peter says, fully aware that I wanted to return to our previous activity.
It didn't take long for the siren of the first responders to come near us, and we took that as a clue for us to leave the scene.
Turning again into a giant bird, I have Peter ride me while we fly back to the school. This time I take my time, being less time-pressed and more interested in providing my boyfriend with a good flight experience between the skyline of New York.
Still, it doesn't take long before we move back to the ball, or at least back to the school, as we find it closing as we return.
Changing back to our evening suit, we have the time to hear the organizing team talk about what happened.
It seems that after the plane crashed, all the unessential activities were shut down, ending the ball early, and denying us our dance.
As soon as I heard them, I started cursing at Mr. Stark and at his ruining our evening.
Unexpectedly, Peter is the one that takes the lead, calming me and proposing a solution.
We move back to the roof, and as soon as we do, Peter sets his phone as a stereo that starts playing.
"Would you give me this dance?" Peter asks, offering his hand while trying not to turn too red as a smile blossom on my face.
"Sure, will you lead, or do you want me to do the honor?" I asked while taking his hand, ready to enjoy our dance.
"I have trained for this one, so I'll lead, but I'll need your input for the others..." Peter bashfully says, growing redder as he speaks while trying to remain serious.
The feeling of pure joy makes my heart skip a bit, as I move in his embrace, caressing his cheek while murmuring, "you tried to learn for me?"
"Obviously, I knew it would have made you happy, and that's all I want... I love you after all," Peter says, for once without any shyness or uncertainty.
At his words, I can feel my heart melt a bit, and I can't do anything else than kiss him, fully committed to showing him how happy I was at his words.
"I love you too, Pete," I say after the kiss, small tears of joy forming at the corners of my eyes.
As we pour our feelings into each other, songs come and go, and with them, we dance, changing the lead and timing, but always with our eyes fixed on each other's one.
Soon the entire playlist ends, and we stop, lovingly embracing each other, uncaring about the rest of the world.
"Thanks, Pete, I didn't expect you to do so much..." I mumble while a content smile adorns my face.
"I love you, Sig... And making you happy was all that mattered for this evening," Peter replies while hugging me, putting his eyes into mine, and starting another kiss.
"You reached your goal then... I loved it..." I say after the kiss ends, starting another one as soon as I stop talking.
"I have another surprise for tonight..." Peter replies as we regain our breath, having grown red after our smooching session.
"Really? Are you sure you are my cute and shy Peter?" I say while nibbling his lobe, fully aware of how much he loves it.
"I am ready," Peter says, making me stop, surprise and joy surging in my heart.
"Are you sure? I can wait as long as you need..." I ask with a trembling voice, yearning for a positive answer, but scared of the possible consequences.
"Yes, I'm sure..." Peter replies while giving me a loving smile, a smile that I return, as I can't stop myself from starting another smooching session, happiness flowing out of me.
"Let's go home then..." I murmur after our lips separate, embracing him once again, before disappearing for the roof, leaving it empty as silence settles on Midtown high.
I'm really curious who the other partner/pair is going to be.
I, ehem I mean we require details! Details!, details dammit!