↳ chapter ten ₊˚.༄
[# scarecrow wannabe]

PEOPLE IN AMERICA USUALLY DID SPRING CLEANING, BUT IN IVY'S HOUSEHOLD, it was always new years cleaning. The entire day would be dedicated to making the house look spotless, every shelf dusted, every room reorganized, every drawer decluttered. She would even go out of her way and wash her rug.

     Her brother, Mason, also joined them, through FaceTime, at least. His phone was propped up near the door and Ivy could see him folding his clothes through the screen. She kept on making snide remarks about the fact he wasn't here to clean his own room and Ivy had been tasked to do it while their mother did an extreme deep cleaning of their storage room and garage.

     "So, how's your vigilante career going?" Mason asked, now moving around his dorm with a broom and dustpan.

      "Vigilante career?" Ivy repeated, scoffing at him. "It's not even a career, bro. Or a side job. If it was, I'd be getting paid more than a cops yearly salary by now." The dark haired girl picked up a stray box of knick knacks her brother used to use to make his action figures, a plastic bag full of other unused items in her other hand. "You still need this trash?"

     "Hey, don't you dare throw that out." Mason warned, pointing a finger at the camera. "Or else I'm not helping you on your suit upgrades."

     "Hey," Ivy dragged out, playfully pouting her lips. "You're the one that does all the computer stuff. You need to help me,"

     "Didn't remember ever agreeing to be your guy in the chair," Mason muttered.

     Ivy rolled her eyes, picking up her phone and closing her brother's room. "It's by default. Now, thank me for cleaning your room."

     "No,"

     The call ended in less than five seconds after his response. She stuffed her phone into her back pocket and went down to the kitchen, her last place to clean. Ivy grabbed the spray bottle filled with a mixture of dish soap and water her mother always made. Clearing the counter and putting the dirty dishes in the sink, she started spraying the surface before wiping it down with a cloth. Organizing was something she could get by, something she enjoyed doing. But a full deep cleaning wasn't.

     A list had been left on the fridge, stuck by a magnet they had gotten from Japan. And on that list was everything Ivy needed to clean in the kitchen. Including the stove and oven. Two things she was not looking forward to.

     "You can do it, Ivy!" she lightly cheered herself before looking back at the stained stove top. "Or not,"

     She eventually resorted to playing music on her headphones so her grueling task would be far easier, Ichiko Aoba's latest album playing lightly. She couldn't remember how long it took for her to reorganize all the cupboards and drawers, as well as the pantry, but by the time she had finished her mom had been calling her name more than five times.

     "Ruka!"

     Ivy jumped back in shock and pulled her headphones down, instinctively straightening her posture and hiding her hands behind her back. She could never decipher what the situation would be whenever her mother called her by her Japanese name. "Yes, ma?"

     "You're gonna be late for Natalia's birthday dinner," her mom scolded, taking a dirty cloth off the floor. She walked away toward the sink and started to clean the piece of cloth before hanging it by the drying rack, strands of hair sticking out in every direction.

     "Oh, no." Ivy worried, watching as the clock struck three. Her best friend's dinner started at five. And she hadn't even finished wrapping her present. Rushing a quick kiss on her mother's cheek, she blurted out a small 'thank you' and ran up to her room, getting changed into a suitable outfit for the weather and occasion (which was just a pair of jeans and a pink top with a cardigan). She also managed to put on her suit beforehand, in case anything happened on her way to and from.

     The scarecrow guy that had terrorized yesterday's party had wreaked havoc in multiple crowds, countless reports about him had made its way onto news sites, papers, and articles in less than twenty four hours. Ivy wasn't one to go looking for trouble, especially one that had sent multiple people to mental hospitals.

     The nearest arts and crafts store was a fifteen minute walk from her house, which only made her speed her steps, lightly stumbling over her own two feet every now and then. The jingle of a bell sounded when she opened the glass door, its 'OPEN' sign dangling from side to side. The warmth of the store greeted her, contrasting with the winter air outside. She greeted the woman by the counter with a smile and a small bow. The grandfather clock that stood nearby read 3:23 PM.

     Ivy browsed the store with keen eyes, grabbing a roll of wrapping paper with a simple flower design. She couldn't help herself and took the pink ribbon off the shelf, even though she had zero interest in learning how to tie an appealing bow for gifts, but that's future her problems. She went up to the counter and placed her items, taking an estimated amount of money from her wallet.

     "You should be careful when you leave," the lady advised, totalling her purchase. "I've heard there's this villain that appeared in Brooklyn. Bad people, whoever it is. Hopefully the cops get him, or that Silk girl."

     Ivy tried to keep her expressions neutral, not needing another reminder of her current problem. Taking out a few bills, she placed the exact amount of money and took her bag of items. "Uh, yeah, yeah. Cops should probably catch him."

     She and the lady exchanged a short goodbye, Ivy's racing heart taking far more control than she hoped. All she wanted was a night to spend with her best friend. As she stepped outside, Ivy expected to walk home like she would after any other trip to a store, like any other day. But this was not any other day, because an ear piercing scream came from a few stores below, a small group of teens running away from where the scream had come from.

     She only prayed Natty wouldn't hate her for being late as she entered an empty alleyway, taking off the outerwear that had hid her suit. She stuffed her clothes into her shopping bag and hung it on a street lamp, sticking it with her webs for extra measure. Pulling her mask up, she swung over to the nearest building and ran from roof to roof, hoping to catch sight of her villain from above.

     Ivy eventually spotted her target standing in the middle of the crossroad, the sidewalks flooded with his toxic gas. Scarecrow guy was much more detailed in the morning, and far more laughable with his full costume in view. He was wrapped head-to-toe in the same material as a potato sack, accessorized with a pointed hay hat and metal claws. But the thing that caught her eye the most was the gas tank attached to his back, labeled as 'fear toxin' and the machine he held.

     She jumped down from the roof and swung over to the parts of the street he hadn't infected, yelling at the civilians to get inside and leave. All it took was one look from Silk and everyone nodded their heads, turning the other way.

     A dark chuckle sounded behind her. Ivy whipped her head around and found the scarecrow guy cornering a family, ready to release his toxins. She had to act quick. Ivy shot her webs around the family and dragged them towards her, pushing them further from the abnormal villain. "Go, go, go! Run!"

     She shot another web at the scarecrow, spinning him around in the silk before slamming him into a brick wall. It may have weakened him, but the claws on his hands easily broke through her restraints, already making his way to attack Ivy.

     She managed to dodge his punch and swept him off his feet, delivering a blow to his mask-covered face. "So you're the guy that ruined new years eve?"

     Scarecrow guy didn't stay down for long, melting her webs with chemicals she didn't know he had equipped. "Where am I, silly girl?"

     He sprayed his toxic gas at her but Ivy managed to swing away in time. His main form of attack was the toxic gas and claws, she mentally noted, the seeds of a plan being planted in her brain. "It's Silk to everyone, scarecrow guy."

     "How do you know my name? Did you bring me here?"

     The Scarecrow guy kept trying to chase her and Ivy saw this as a perfect opportunity to drive him away from the crowded parts of Brooklyn. "Wait, so you actually go by Scarecrow? A little on the nose, don't you think?"

     The Scarecrow merely ignored her, throwing a toxin bomb at her face, one that she quickly deflected and webbed onto a trash can. He kept alternating between using the bombs and the gas tank attached behind him.

     One nearly hit the back of her head and Ivy sighed, shaking her head as she kept swinging. "Nobody wants to converse with Silk nowadays,"

     They passed the main street with all the cute cafes and stores and entered a street filled with apartment buildings. A familiar street, at that. Ivy stuck her webs on a random tree branch, tugging it down and swung it toward Scarecrow's face. She managed to catch him off guard and the stupid hat of his fell off, getting tangled in a bush of pink tulips.

     It seemed as though the accessory was an integral part of his identity, since the man glared daggers at her. The claws he wore readjusted, somehow, becoming sharper, more precise. She only prayed nobody would walk out of any building doors, especially not Natty. She'd hate to save her from her own home. Ivy risked a glance at her apartment window, opened as usual. She was a natural light and wind kind of girl.

     Turning away from your opponent was, of course, a horrible idea. The Scarecrow had brought out a needle from one of his various pockets and aimed to stab it through Ivy's shoulder. The only thing that saved her was the glitch he fortunately experienced.

     "Malfunctioning, huh?" Ivy commented, yanking the needle out of his hand and pierced his own skin with the toxin. She thought he would be weakened by this. It's his own toxin, of course, the deadly solution that sent dozens into fear induced comas. But she seemed to be mistaken.

     Scarecrow guy laughed darkly at her, a typical evil laugh you'd hear in some action movie, slowly getting up from his position on the ground. "Oh, you poor thing. I'm immune to fear. You should've broken the needle when you could."

     He's immune to his own weapon?

     It only seemed to click in her mind that he would be far more difficult to defeat than she had anticipated, especially since she couldn't just kick him back into his universe. How did he even get here, anyway?

     Soon enough, he lunged at her with his sharp claws and they started a hand to hand fight. Ivy had never been an expert at close ranged combats, even now with nearly three years of experience from being Silk. Her punches were strong, her kicks were great, but neither had really helped her win in a fight, at least, not on its own.

     In the corner of her eye, a familiar head of brown hair peeked through a window. Ivy tried her best to make a zipping motion to her lips and Natty immediately understood, closing her windows and blinds before hopefully locking them.

     Another claw from the Scarecrow reached for her face and Ivy wrapped her hands around his wrist, bringing his fist to tear through the tank of gas he carried. Another useless effort. His claws retracted in seconds.

     Panic rose in her body, throwing punch after punch and kick after kick without much thought. Ultimately, he anticipated her attacks and caught her fist, throwing her to the ground. Pain shot through her chest and she groaned, pushing herself back up only to be pushed back into the brick wall behind her. Ivy caught herself before she could fall, wincing at the ringing in her head.

     Her vision filled with black spots, no matter how hard she trained her eyes on one spot on the ground. She could hear him taunting her, bringing her mask down before she could fight him. The mechanic he held would've spewed his fear toxin all over her if a red and blue figure didn't shove him away at the last second.

     Ivy pushed herself off the wall, pulling her mask back up as she stumbled over, staring at the mystery man that had appeared out of thin air. "Um... what— who are you?"

     "That's classified." he said.

     The dark haired girl scratched the back of her neck, taking the mysterious figure in as she tried to push away the headache she just earned. "Well, I'm sure you're a lovely... werewolf... man... but, I really have to web this guy up and get to my best friend's birthday dinner."

     "I'm not a werewolf—"

     "Really?" she tilted her head, noting his broad back and clawed hands. "Cause you have claws so I kind of assumed—"

     "I'm from another dimension." He told her as if it was groundbreaking, earth shattering news.

     Ivy only narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not really surprised, actually."

     "My name is Miguel O'Hara." He introduced. "I lead an elite strike force dedicated to the security of the multiverse—"

     "Alright, cool," the dark haired girl cut him off. "Can you send that guy back to where he came from? Also, what's that wrist band thing?"

     "It's not a wrist band,"

     "Well, someone's sensitive." she lightly scoffed, rubbing the side of her head. "Did it bring you here? Can it take you to any universe?"

     Miguel dismissed her questions with a wave of his hand, seemingly unaware that the villain had gotten back up. "Look, kid, I'll take it from here."

     Ivy took a few steps back, awaiting his next action. "Oh.. kay,"

     Noticing her sudden wariness, the man asked. "What?"

     "Well, behind you there's—"

     The Scarecrow glitched before he could stab Miguel with his fear toxin, falling to the ground as his body spasmed. Ivy took the syringe from his hand and decided to stab his eye through the mask, twisting it for further damage.

     "Ah!" Scarecrow groaned as he clutched his eyes, pulling the needle out before stumbling back to his feet. Blood started to soak through the left side of his mask. "You better be careful, girl. Actions have consequences."

     "Wouldn't I know that," Ivy muttered, turning to look at Miguel. "You should use your claws to break his tank, it's filled with fear-inducing toxins."

     By the time she focused on the Scarecrow again, he had gotten nearly ten meters away from them, heading for the crowd of people that had formed ahead. Ivy stuck her webs on the ledge of a window, pulling herself up as she chased her villain from the side of a building.

     Down below, Miguel had already catched up with him, knocking the villain into a street lamp. Ivy jumped down from the building and quickly ushered the panicked citizens inside as the Scarecrow scattered bombs of toxic gas. With the remaining time she had left, the dark haired girl shot her webs at the bombs, creating a silk cover to prevent the gas from leaking.

     She nearly slipped on a stray new years card, multiple stands and remaining Christmas trees littering the streets. The Scarecrow guy and Miguel kept fighting, but it looked like it was heading nowhere. The only thing it did was litter the place.

     "Dude, are you actually gonna stop this guy or just make a mess?" She called out, swinging over and building momentum before kicking the Scarecrow into the ground, receiving no actual reply and continued his attempts at knocking out and webbing the guy.

     Ivy scoffed. "Otoko to puraido," Men and their pride.

     The fight eventually led them to a park by the lake, multiple passer bys either watching with curiosity or screaming their head off before and running away, recognizing the potato sack man from the wave of articles about him. Scarecrow shot the toxic gas from his machine, targeted at a group of teenagers studying (what for, Ivy didn't know but wasn't about to question).

     The webs from her right hand wrapped around half of the young teens and the webs from her other hand wrapped around the other two, pulling the quartet away before they could further risk themselves, inhaling only a small dose of the fear toxin.

     Nearby, a middle aged man was cutting down one of the dying trees, far too skinny and dried to be among the rest of its friends. Ivy pulled the axe from him with her webs, yelling a very sincere (not really) apology before throwing it at the Scarecrow's fear tank. Did she have the faintest clue of how to throw an axe? Absolutely not. The closest thing she ever got to such exercise was when she had to throw a knife at a woman who was terrorizing some restaurant's kitchen.

     Some power in the universes decided to finally take her side and allow the blade to penetrate the side of the tank, inevitably weighing Scarecrow guy down. Miguel ripped the axe out and the vapor (or whatever chemical gas was) it held leaked onto the ground. Ivy landed beside him and took the weapon before slashing the mechanic that held the tank together with Scarecrow's suit.

     Miguel managed to trap the Scarecrow in a high-tech cage of sorts just as she opened a garbage bin with her webs and tossed the broken and emptied toxin tank inside. Scarecrow guy kept banging the translucent red walls, his yells muffled by the red material. A hexagonal portal materialized behind the cage, lights of orange and yellow swirling around each beam as a violet aura radiated.

     Ivy gave the man beside her a two finger salute and started to walk away, glad that she didn't have to deal with the Scarecrow guy. "Bye! It was nice working with you," She turned her back to him and would've swung away if he hadn't called out to her.

     "Hey, kid, do you wanna come with me?"

     "To your strike group?" she looked at him incredulously before thinking about his offer. If she came with him, there's a chance she might get to see Gwen and perhaps other familiar faces (theoretically, of course). There would also be a chance she'd miss Natty's birthday dinner.

     "If I come with you, will I get a wristband?"

author's note!

after a billion god darn years (i'm being dramatic it hasn't even been a week) this fight scene is DONE. IM SICK OF WRITING SCARECROW EVERY ORHER PARAGRAPH ONG

very unrelated to the chapter, but staymoon is so reputation coded ugh. anyways pls leave some comment gays, love ya, stay safe <3