Chapter Text
Peter was out of practice.
A part of him pretended to blame it on the fact that Mister Stark hadn’t allowed him to work in the entire time that he had been trapped inside the Compound. Maybe five years of being dead and only getting to dress as Spider-Man once since waking up had set him back quite a bit, and Peter’s muscles weren’t as strong as they used to be, he wasn’t as flexible, not to mention he didn’t even have his webshooters on him so he was relying completely on his abilities that he already had, flipping about…dodging the blows that Miss Henderson…or well…the guy Strange had been after was throwing at him.
Losing muscle mass from being dead apparently effected how well he could fight against some evil wizard. And Peter wished Doctor Strange was there, because it wasn’t a fair fight to go up against someone who could shoot what was practically glass shards at his face that formed from thin air and cut into the wall behind him. Guy…lady, Peter wasn’t sure anymore. He supposed Miss Henderson was possessed by the person inside of her and he wondered how long the evil wizard had been in there, because he didn’t like the idea of the guy assigning him a book just to fuck with him.
He had a feeling that wasn’t the case. Peter was the least of his worries, what he was after in that vault was something Peter didn’t understand, hadn’t asked many questions about, and when he did Mister Stark tried hard to avoid the answers, because…The War and all that, the stuff Peter had missed during his ‘nap’. A five year nap. Like waking up after school at seven in the afternoon and being disoriented for a good hour or so until one’s mind realized no…they hadn’t slept through the night, it was only dinner time.
Peter lunged forward, bringing himself to his feet after being knocked down yet again. Nearly ten minutes had passed in their tango. Peter was winded…Tired already, his stamina sucked now too, he had noticed. The adrenaline was doing its best, but he hadn’t been doing anything besides wander around a Compound for weeks. He wished now he had tried harder to convince Mister Stark to let him into the gym, or followed Mister Barnes more often. He wondered how long it would be until someone heard the commotion, or if they even would, being so far from the residential wing. Maybe a custodian or something would be lurking by? Someone to call for help?
Once he was in reach during his charge towards the woman, a hand shot out and grabbed him around his throat. Peter choked loudly, eyes going wide as his fingers immediately went to hers to try to pry her off while he was lifted up off the ground. The lights were flickering, her eyes were shimmering gold, and Peter’s own eyes widened to the sizes of saucers as he gagged past the hand, “Holy shit.”
He was slammed into the floor, air leaving his lungs as the hand continued to press down on his throat. He flailed madly, managing to land a heavy punch across her face and she fell to the side, giving Peter the chance to roll over and gasp in oxygen, scurrying away to put some kind of distance between the two. Okay…fire alarm on the wall, pull it, then what? Would the Avengers even know what was going on? Miss Henderson/the evil wizard recovered from the blow to her face, and she stumbled to her feet, glaring darkly at Peter on the floor. He stood, turning to run towards the fire alarm, however he heard the familiar sound, almost like crystal glasses clinking together and Peter turns just in time to have one of the crystal shards skim his cheek.
Peter fell back into the wall, groaning as blood pooled from his face and he felt a stinging sensation directly under his right eye and on the tip of his ear from where that was skimmed as well. He fell further just in time for several more to slap into the wall behind him. He clambered up though, and grabbed the alarm, before yanking it downward and immediately sending the room into a red hue, lights flashing and a loud alarm blaring throughout the Compound.
Peter couldn’t help it, when he saw the evil wizard startle, Miss Henderson’s eyes casting to the ceiling in surprise, Peter let a shit-eating grin cross his lips, feeling the blood from his cheek slide down in a crazed appearance as he called over the alarms, “What!? No fire alarms in Oz!?”
Her head whipped towards him, and Peter regretted the teasing immediately when a whip of sorts appeared in her hand. It sparkled, and shot out towards him, wrapping around his ankle and yanking him forward. Peter slid across the floor, trying to grab onto anything he could, but unfortunately there was nothing in reach and suddenly he was lying on the floor underneath the woman, her body much heavier than he expected. The alarm was blaring, and she grinned wickedly at him, putting Peter’s shit-eating smile to shame.
Peter tried once more to land a punch but both wrists where pinned behind his head and suddenly he was aware of her crazy strength. Was that magic? Or did Peter just suck? She leaned down close and spat in his face, causing Peter to flinch in disgust before groaning at the thought of some kind of disease getting into the cut on his face, but he supposed that wasn’t what he should have been worried about as she growled, but her voice was not her own…it was that of a man, nothing like the Miss Henderson that had spoken to him softly about literature and arithmetic.
“I’ve heard their thoughts,” Came the voice, reminding Peter of a snake, “The dead boy…resurrected. Pulled from the grave almost three days later. There’s something holy in it, don’t you think?”
Peter swallowed and struggled a moment more before he replied sharply, “Oh yeah, we’re about to have a really awesome ‘come to Jesus meeting’.”
The hand returned to his throat and squeezed, and Peter made a pitiful sound, like a bird squawking. His fingers clawed upward fruitlessly, useless against the hands and he wanted to vomit, but he could not past the tightness, and he was so sick of being strangled, what was up with this guy? He could at least be a bit more…merciful in his methods, her methods, God Peter was still so confused and that was not what he needed to be considering while he had a hand choking the life out of him.
“I hope you believe in an afterlife.”
Peter could say nothing in return, and his mind started to fog over, making it difficult to even think of a witty response. If he was about to be strangled, he wanted it to be better than being stabbed by Toomes. He didn’t want to die afraid again, he wanted it to be…he wanted to be brave, but the only way he knew how to do that was to make a joke, and he couldn’t even do that with the hand on his throat. His vision started to darken at the edges, head lulling back and his eyes rolling.
Until the sounds of the sirens were overtaken by that of a gunshot.
The evil wizard person jumped off of him, rolling away as if to dodge the assault and Peter was left inhaling deeply once more, so much like earlier, except now it felt like his lungs were exploding. Right…keep distance from this dude, he strangles people. The Strangler. Spongebob…Ha. No. Peter hated himself for that, what the fuck?
He spat, drool sliding down his shirt as he snapped his head in the direction of the door. Relief flooded him when he saw several figures there…
The Avengers.
The source of the gunshot was Natasha, the gun in her hands smoking slightly from being fired.
Peter rubbed the back of his hand over the side of his mouth and looked at the evil wizard, who was taking in the new enemies with narrowed eyes and a tightened jaw. Peter could have laughed, if he could breathe, but he managed to croak out, though he didn’t know if the hoarseness could be heard over the alarm…
“So, about that meeting…”
The only response Peter received was a glare, and immediately, the red lights weren’t the only things creating the hue in the room. The evil wizard held out their arms, a flash filling the space past the blinking lights and Peter felt heat rise, as if an explosion had erupted. He felt himself fly backward, slamming into the wall and then into the floor, groaning as the other Avengers did the same, the room blooming into fire in small patches and smoke. Peter looked up, and the figure looked like the Devil, standing in the midst of its destruction, everything seemingly charred by whatever force they had created.
Confidence. Fucking dangerous.
…
Tony stood silently against the wall.
The golden trim brought the room into a sort of dream state. Tony had only had two glasses of champagne, but he was tempted for more. The idea flitted away though, every time he reminded himself what that night was about. What he had to do…And he kept watching May…watching Pepper…just waiting for the right moment when he could get her alone because he didn’t know what her reaction to the news was going to be and telling her in front of hundreds of guests was not what Tony needed. Despite the fact most of these people had no idea who Peter was…it was clear that May was happy that they were offering the support needed for the fund. Glad that it would continue to move forward. And Tony was so sorry he was going to uproot her life when it appeared she had finally gotten used to the way things were.
He had sent Pepper away. Despite her promising to be with him through the ordeal, he wanted to tell May alone. So Pepper mingled in his place, as he tried to calm his racing heart, waiting for his chance. It was almost as if he was waiting to jump someone, and maybe that was what this was…after all, he was going to bombard her with a secret that was going to change her entire perspective. A secret he had been hiding in his Compound for weeks, a secret that had begged to call her and Tony hadn’t allowed it because it had taken him too long to suck it up and brave the storm SHIELD had threatened them with. But they were there now, in that room, waiting to share something extremely life altering.
Tony was scared.
It got worse, when he noticed May had excused herself from the conversation she had been taking part in for the past twenty or so minutes and started to head towards the side exit that led into the outlying hallway. He could only guess it was for the purpose of the restrooms, but he felt…that would be the only time he could find her alone. When she would step out, and Tony moved forward, only hesitating slightly when he did so, casting a glance towards Pepper who nodded her head as if she understood.
This was it.
As much as he dreaded it, this was it.
Cowardice stung like a blade. Like Thanos stabbing him. He ignored it though, and went on, pushing the side door open into the corridor, as he expected. The long hall wasn’t decorated like the rest of the building, and the lights felt too bright, the golden hue gone. He could hear May’s heels clicking and Tony turned towards the opposite way, seeing her back as she headed towards the restrooms further down. Tony swallowed thickly, opening his mouth, but he couldn’t find words immediately. He stepped forward a few times, choking, stuttering, but then it finally produced through his throat.
“May.”
It echoed through the empty space and she paused, whirling around. When she saw him, she smiled, and it was odd, it didn’t feel right. She was supposed to hate him, and she was going to again when he finally confessed everything to her, and he didn’t want to. God…he didn’t want to tell her. A selfish part of him was finally comfortable…Had gotten used to the kid being around, and dealing with the stuff that came along with that, and sure he wanted him to have his aunt back, but the other pieces of him knew this was just something else they’d have to recover from. Something else that a violent death had shredded and she would never trust him again.
He approached slowly, trying not to be afraid. Tony had done much worse things, but May was smiling. Nothing inside of him thought this was good, but it had to be done, and he breathed out slowly, stopping a few feet from her, his shoulders slouching without his knowledge. May seemed to notice, her happiness faltering as she moved forward as well, and Tony almost stepped back out of reflex. She blinked several times before she asked quietly, “Hey…what’s wrong?”
Tony didn’t know how to say it. How did one tell someone their loved one who had been dead for five years was now alive and had been that way for weeks? How did Tony admit he had been omitting the truth? Leaving it out, as she poured over her work, over and over, and wanted so badly to make Peter’s memory live forever when the kid was breathing, thinking, moving, having a life holed up inside for his own protection? Tony felt like someone had opened his sternum, it hurt worse than waking in Afghanistan, it hurt worse than Yinsen’s blood covering the suit and well…well…
He didn’t know how to do it.
When a few more beats of silence ticked by, May questioned, “Are you alright? Do you need me to get Pepper? I know this is all a lot…it’s a lot for me too, but it’s a great turn out and – “
“It’s not that,” Tony interrupted, and his voice sounded bleak in his ears. He wished he had told her sooner, had, had his revelation before then, with Peter in his arms on a rooftop, where he needed an adult that was not Tony…not the guy who could only tell him he wasn’t alone in his last moments. Who had held May, but she had wanted him gone, and sometimes he wondered if he had done the wrong thing by staying and gripping her so tightly, when she had clearly wanted Tony to stay away from them and –
“Get away from us! Get away from him! Leave us alone!”
His heart fumbled at the memory, eyes burning and he looked down at the floor, breathing slowly through his mouth as he considered the worst things he had ever done in his life, and letting Peter die had to be at the top of the list. If devils were real, he would have sold his soul to spare that boy. If he could have somehow kept Peter alive, just long enough…God, but five years, and he loved Peter. He loved him. He would never be able to say it out loud, despite the fact that he should…because Peter needed to know, and once he told May, she was never going to let him near Peter again. He’d never get to look at his face, at his curiosity, at the way he longed to learn and reached for things like Tony had once done when he was young.
Tony could never have children, he had missed the chance, but sometimes it felt like Peter was a part of him, but Tony had, had no work in his existence. Everyone else had molded Peter into such an intelligent and wonderful kid, and Tony had hidden him from one of the people that had a hand in that. He ground his teeth together, and he felt May grab his arm as she whispered softly, “Then what is it?”
He flinched away, pulling from her hold. Say it. Just say it. Tell her. She had to know, he had promised Peter. There in that corridor, their breathing was loud, or it was to Tony, and he thought maybe he was hyperventilating. It felt hard to draw air into his lungs all of a sudden, like he had never learned or there was something sharp between his ribs. Life felt never ending. Tony was going to live forever while everyone he loved disappeared. But he had to tell her, even if he risked one of those loved-things dissipating because Peter was so loved. Maybe Tony just couldn’t love him enough, he was broken.
“I haven’t been honest with you.”
May’s hand lowered, face faltering. She didn’t look angry, more confused, “About what?”
Tony’s eyes blurred, but he wasn’t crying…it was just his eyes…it was just…he couldn’t stop them as he gripped his fists so tightly, he felt his nails dig in. This was delicate, but Tony wasn’t. He was curt. He didn’t know how to soften this. When he took too long to answer, May’s voice repeated, this time trembling with an underlying anxiety, “About what, Tony?”
He breathed.
Breathe, Stark, breathe.
The ground opened up. Tony hadn’t seen the stars, despite Peter having mentioned them. He was looking at Peter’s body, bloody, his eyes were half-lidded, there was still life there, while they were on the beach. He was still breathing, choking on his blood, bubbling from his chest where air escaped. Sucking chest wounds. Tony knew what those were, and he had tried to cover them with his hands, but they were hard from the suit, and Peter let out strangled cries, that weren’t really cries…he sounded like a wounded dog. Whining and whimpering. He smelled so strongly of blood, and Tony was angry at the world, angry at Happy, angry at himself for not being there sooner.
“Okay kid, okay, I got you – I got – keep your eyes open – “
“Kid! Stay awake – I’ve got you.”
And Tony had reached up, had grabbed Peter tightly by his face, too roughly, Tony was hurting him…He knew he had been, but he didn’t know what else to do, to get the unfocused eyes to look at him. Peter wasn’t inside, he was too busy fighting to breathe and Tony felt so angry. So scared. So alone as he got inches from Peter’s face and ordered, his voice cracking slightly and Tony pretended he hadn’t had tears in his eyes.
“You look at me. You don’t have permission to fall asleep.”
Peter’s only response had been a guttural groan and Tony’s body wouldn’t stop shaking as he started lifting Peter from the sand…
“I know it hurts…I know.”
“We’re leaving. We’re going to the hospital – Happy! Fucking hell…”
He wasn’t listening. No one was…they were utterly alone there. Happy was panicking, and so Tony took off. He flew away, wishing he were braver. Wishing he didn’t know deep down in his gut Peter was going to die.
He was going to die.
And he had…
“Peter’s alive.”
When someone lies and lies and lies, the truth is hard, and Tony felt heavy when it left his mouth, like cotton. He didn’t miss the way May’s skin paled, the way she stepped away from him as if she had been struck. Her mouth parted, to say something, but nothing left her lips as a choked off word escaped her, and it faded away, and no one was saying anything. Tony felt the quiet creep in like a monster. Like when Peter was so silent. When he was just choking on his own blood.
May stood like that a few more moments, completely silent. It was as if he could see the words calculating in her brain, and her first response wasn’t much of a surprise, as she let out a startled breath, laughter, but small and quiet and she shook her head just a moment before she croaked, voice sounding raw, “What?”
“Peter is alive,” Tony’s voice was…blunt. He needed her to understand, he needed her to see the honesty. She was breathing, chest rising and falling but then she was shaking her head again and he knew she was having trouble processing it. Anyone would. Anyone would struggle to string even a coherent sentence together and so, Tony went on, “Have you ever heard of SHIELD?”
May said nothing, but he knew in her eyes she had not.
“They’re…a government branch. They handle a lot of the weird shit…enhanced humans fall under that list. And myself…They…they knew he was important to me, and they brought him back to hold over my head. To be a bargaining chip, so I’d keep defending the planet. They have the medical technology available…and they just…brought him back.”
He let those words sink in. Let her ponder on them with great difficulty as her eyes fluttered to the floor and then back up at him. Her face was so pale, she looked ready to pass out. He didn’t miss how her hands were shaking and finally…finally words came…
“How long?”
It wasn’t the question he expected first. Maybe a ‘how?’ but he supposed when one’s nephew was Spider-Man, it wasn’t too difficult to believe that a government branch existed with the capabilities of bringing the dead back to life. Not when just a few years ago people all over the earth had turned to ash and then were brought back before her very eyes. Something glimmered under her irises, and he didn’t recognize it until he answered.
“A few weeks.”
And then he recognized the glimmer as betrayal.
Then. Then was the dreaded question…
“How long…have you known?”
She waited, there were tears now, welling and falling and it was profuse. Tony could hardly stand to look at her, but he kept himself steady, he had to be, he couldn’t break down when he was the one at fault. He had to take some kind of responsibility for his actions. For hiding Peter and letting SHIELD control all of this bullshit. Everything was pissing him off, but not May and he was so, so sorry for what he had done. So when he answered, he tried to keep his voice from wavering…because she deserved to get to be angry at him. He had done something wrong. They had all wronged her so violently.
Finally, he answered, “Right after it happened.”
The slap had come as a sting. It was sharp, and his head whipped to the side when he was struck and it only burned a second, nothing compared to the pain he knew he had inflicted on this woman. He stared at the wall, waiting for the pain to subside, and when he finally looked back down at her, into her eyes that were round and pained, she whispered, “How dare you?”
“May – “ He tried.
“You’ve known,” May whispered, voice slowly rising into something shrill and completely panicked, “You’ve known all of this time…the entire time I’ve been talking about this gala, and the fund, and everything and yet you let me just…you let me just go on believing he was gone!”
She hit his chest. Just a few times, before he grabbed her wrists and pushed the hands away. Holding on though, and squeezing, trying to make her understand through his eyes that he didn’t want it to be that way, but he cannot explain with her screaming nonsense but he let her because he deserved to get hurt too, the way he had hurt her. She deserved to have her moment, not to be shut up, and shoved aside. Because she loved Peter. Loved him, presently, he was alive and she didn’t know and Tony couldn’t help the guilt. He was sorry.
And he whispered that, despite her screaming, “I’m sorry…I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t say sorry!” She shouted, the first coherent thing through her string of curses, “Don’t you – you knew and you didn’t…He’s my child, Tony! I deserved – oh my God, I can’t believe they just…no, no, no…”
She doubled over, and Tony held a lot of her weight. The devastation wracked the walls. It was like being in the morgue all over again. He held her, despite her gasping for air, murmuring how much she hated him, and Tony didn’t blame her for hating him…He had been wrong. It was probably the same anger Tony had held towards Fury for hiding Peter. For bringing him back. For putting the kid through that. Tony just held her, before he finally murmured, “I’m going to bring you to him, May. He has…he has been asking about you, every day.”
It took her a second to get her breathing under control, but when she did, she stood up and pushed Tony away, glowering through her red and puffy eyes. Her mascara had run a bit, and she snarled, “You’re damn right…you’re damn right you’re going to bring me to him and you’re going to stay away – “
The door down the hall flew open and Tony whirled, fully expecting to shout at a guest to get the hell out, but it was Pepper who appeared at the end of the hall. She paused, looking at them and there was a look of panic on her face as she approached, heels clicking as she practically ran towards them. Tony shook his head and started, “Pepper, this isn’t a good time – “
“Tony,” She sounded out of breath, holding up her phone in her hand, “Rhodey…he just called me…he said…he said that some guy Stephen was after is in the Compound and Peter was fighting him and – “
She didn’t get to finish. Tony didn’t hesitate, moving around her. He looked back, ordering sharply towards the woman, and gesturing to May, “Stay with her.”
Neither said anything, but May tried to rush after him, only for Pepper to grab her by her arm and stop her. Tony shoved past the double doors, pressing his cellphone to his ear and he listened to it ring once before a voice answered on the other end and Tony snapped coldly…
“Strange…seems you’ve brought a plague unto my house. Get to the Compound.”
…
Peter supposed when he had seen the Avengers arrive he thought, the fight would be over. But the evil wizard clearly had different plans for them.
Well, he excused it. Blamed it on the fact that not all of the Avengers were there. It was Colonel Rhodes, Natasha, Mister Barnes, and Cap. Peter had forgotten he was basically the only one put on house arrest and others could come and go as they pleased, accounting for those who were missing and Doctor Banner…who probably wasn’t about to turn into a raging Hulk monster and was elsewhere inside the Compound. Peter had thought, until he saw him edging in the doorway after being thrown for the fifth time.
The problem with this guy was that they couldn’t get close enough to land their hits. The sprinklers had started going off to take care of the fire, but Peter felt like he was drowning, hair sticking to his forehead as he slid across the floor, watching Mister Barnes get thrown into Cap’s body sending them both into the ground, and Colonel Rhodes’ and Natasha’s bullets were deflected with ease. Peter wiped blood from his face once more, or it could have been water, but it felt too warm for that. He started running, before he was suddenly grabbed by the invisible hold once more, this time flung back into Natasha’s body, much like Mister Barnes had been.
Both of them hit the ground and they groaned, the water going up Peter’s nose where it had started to puddle. He rolled onto his back and Natasha grabbed his arm, scolding, “Think before you act, kid.”
“I am thinking,” Peter growled, as he was yanked to his feet in the chaos, “Thinking more than you guys with your little bullets.”
Natasha’s gun had slid away from her though, too close to the evil wizard. There was no getting it now, so she simply reached into her belt, pulling out yet another one. Peter rolled his eyes. Maybe it wasn’t the time to be disrespectful to Black freaking Widow, but he was getting annoyed with the fact they couldn’t even land a punch, even after Cap threw his shield. Peter heard grunting in the background and he asked, “What’re we going to do?”
She loaded the gun and moved away, “Think. Tony always talks about how smart you are, use it.”
Peter scoffed. Easy for her to say. His brain was still swirling from being strangled twice during their fight. The alarm was too loud, the flashing lights were too bright, his senses were going crazy, and he was struggling to focus on things right in front of him. Peter stared, watching as Cap’s shield was deflected once more, and Barnes tried to rush the evil wizard. The gunshots were nearly unbearable, everyone was moving, Peter wanted to ask Colonel Rhodes to just throw a grenade or something and end it, but he couldn’t and Bruce Banner didn’t know how to help. It was just…it was a lot. A lot, and he didn’t have his webshooters.
He felt terribly left behind because of that, he wasn’t moving as quickly as he should have been. Peter’s eyes scanned the room, looking for something, anything that could be used in their defense, but he couldn’t just…he wished he could focus. Pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes, he groaned, turning back towards the fight.
Just when Mister Barnes was back up and running again, Peter slipped off his shoe, chunking it at the side of the evil wizard’s head. In retrospect, it was funny, but right then it was not, when the man swatted Mister Barnes aside, but flinched when the shoe actually made contact with his temple, slipping through his barrier. Obviously he hadn’t felt that was a threat, but it was the first hit they had made on him and it was annoying that it hadn’t been a bullet, all of them just bouncing off the energy-like-field he had created.
Miss Henderson’s head whipped in Peter’s direction, and Peter didn’t get the chance to be disgusted by the water on his sock before some kind of invisible force was yanking him forward, like the magical whip had done around his ankle earlier. Peter was grabbed by the front of his shirt with the wizard’s free hand, his other hand raised in a blocking stance against the other Avenger’s. Peter’s mind whirled, and he felt nauseous standing there, struggling in the grip on his clothes, bringing his arm down repeatedly over the wrist holding him in an attempt to force a release.
The golden eyes were burning again.
The woman with a voice that was not her own said simply, “So foolish.”
Peter was shoved down, face first into the building water and he inhaled just enough to turn his head and spit it back up. He rolled himself over, kicking outward madly, before he was sliding over the floor, and water was freezing his bones, splashing around them while the sprinklers continued to rain. He heard Cap yell something to him, something about getting away and out of his reach, but the evil wizard simply stared at him, and Peter’s head yanked over in the direction, just a few feet away where Natasha’s gun had gone after being thrown a few moments before.
He dove for it, grabbing the handle before rolling onto his back and pointing it at the wizard. Peter’s hands shook, he wasn’t sure he had ever even held a gun, let alone shot someone with one. And what if Miss Henderson was still alive in there? He didn’t want to kill her. He didn’t want her to die. Peter was tired of people having to die because of him and it wasn’t her fault she had been possessed. The hesitancy in his hands punished him though, when the evil wizard suddenly whirled forward, practically flew, and Peter wasn’t sure if their feet had moved at all when the gun was pulled from his hands without him being touched, immediately appearing in the hand of the wizard, in their bubble of an energy shield and Peter wanted to break it. Wanted the Avengers to come in, while he was stuck, missing a shoe, and having a gun pointed at him just a few feet away. Enough distance to feel as if he could maybe move at the last second, but not enough to feel confident.
Peter’s mouth opened, he wondered if he was about to say his last words…like he had done five years ago. He wondered if this time it would be different without the stabbing, but with a bullet instead. However, it didn’t come…because there was the sound of something crashing and Peter’s head whipped towards the door, half expecting to see that Bruce Banner had turned into the Hulk, but that wasn’t what he was greeted with.
Instead…there stood Doctor Strange, hands clenched at his sides and glowing.
And Iron Man.
Peter smiled, grinning widely and he practically soared to his feet, the distraction giving him the chance to do so. He let out a loud whooping sound, cackling as he stumbled slightly, taking in the sight of them. Right…Right…maybe this wasn’t the whole gang, but they definitely outnumbered the evil wizard now…Surely Strange could break the barricade that Peter was trapped behind, if Peter’s shoe had done it then –
Peter didn’t get to finish the thought.
The gun in the evil wizard’s hand fired.
He didn’t even hear it. A sharp pain ripped through him, and Peter’s head snapped backward from the force of a bullet against a skull.
Peter hit the ground with a hollow thud.