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“Here’s the plan,” Peter looked up from his phone when Steve began his speech “Romanoff, you go left inside the base and get the files from the computers.”
Natasha nodded and Steve turned to Clint “Hawkeye, you get to the vents and take them out from above. Banner, you know the plan- stay on the jet until we need you” Bruce nodded, rubbing his hands together. Peter assumed it was more of a stress tick than an attempt to warm up.
Tony activated the suit as Steve moved onto him “Stark, turn off the alarms and cameras so we can get in undetected them you get into the centre and blow the place once we’re all out.”
“Sam, take out all the men you can outside the base. Wait until we’re inside before you reveal your position” Sam nodded, taking in Cap’s words all while fixing some of the tech in Redwing. Peter sometimes forgot how smart the man was.
“Spider-man,” Finally “You go right and see if you can hack into the computers, see if there’s any deeper information Romanoff can’t find”
“And where will you be, Cap?” Natasha asked, setting a gun into her belt. Which, to be honest, still unnerved Peter a little.
He wasn’t an official Avenger, but the position was there whenever he wanted it. Tony had made that very clear. When the Rogues had returned he had introduced himself as Spidey, not Peter Parker. 1: Despite his hero worship, he didn’t know them. He didn’t trust them with such an important secret. 2: He had heavily relied on the snark he obtained as Spider-man to not embarrass himself until his hero worship had worn off.
“I’m going to the prison cells. I’m hoping my heroic image survived the Accords” Steve replied, half joking. They were able to joke about the accords now. This was proved as Tony rolled his eyes with a scoff, but it was obvious there was no harm meant.
The Avengers knew his identity now. It hasn’t been a big deal, aside from a few qualms about his age which had been settled soon enough (Steve had enlisted in the army as a teenager, and Natasha was a child assassin as far as he knew. They had no place to talk)
The mission was a simple enough one in theory. It wasn’t Hydra, but their morals were the same. They were experimenting on humans- mainly children, trying to make them stronger, smarter, more useful. It was an established group in several countries, this one was in America, so Peter was invited along. (Still not an Avenger, they were hesitant to take him to other countries)
“Roger that, Rogers” said Clint, standing up from his chair with a grunt. Peter groaned, rolling his head dramatically. He stood up as well, slipping his mask onto his head
“How many times are you gonna say that joke?”
“Until it gets old” Clint picked up his bow from where it was perched against his chair. Natasha hit his shoulder as she walked past
“It’s been old for years, Hawkass”
The door opened slowly and Tony walked to stand between Natasha and Clint. He grabbed a handle made for this very reason and lifted them out of the ship, disappearing into the horizon.
They couldn’t park the jet too close, or their position would be revealed at once. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t a pain in the ass swinging through trees.
Peter sighed, jumped on his feet, and then leaped out the door, attaching a web to a tree to catch himself.
He swung along as quickly as he could without face planting into a tree, heading Sam’s wings fire up as he left the jet behind.
He was nervous. He always was, no matter the size of the fight or who he was fighting with. There was always a chance he could die. Always a chance he could leave May alone, leave Ned with no one to talk science with, leave MJ with no photographs to draw (Well, MJ would find another photographer, but he liked to think his death would stop her for about a month)
The fight was ultimately more important than his nerves, though, so he continued to swing.
Go right, hack into their system.
This could save someone’s life. No pressure, Parker.
The base came into view within minutes. It was a large, grey building, though it obviously had some camouflage tech to hide it from commercial planes. He latched himself onto the wall and waited for Sam to arrive.
He didn’t need to wait long, for moments later Sam appeared in front of him, Captain America in hand.
“Enjoy the ride, Cap?”
Peter jolted at Natasha’s sudden words, and turned to see her and Clint hidden underneath a tree. Clint noticed his jump and laughed, ignoring Peter’s obvious eye roll.
“I think I’ll stick to cars” Steve said as he was dropped onto the ground, rubbing his shoulder. Sam scoffed, landing on a thick tree branch.
“I carry your super soldier ass all the time and this is the thanks I get? Maybe Spidey’ll give you a smoother ride”
“Last person I gave a ride to threw up on me” Peter piped up. He was very happy not having someone else’s life in his hands before the mission even started, thank you very much.
Tony snorted over the coms “Better than the time a cat you were saving scratched your face” Before Peter could retort he continued “Get in here, the alarms are off”
Steve nodded to Clint and Natasha, and then to Peter, signalling for them to go in first.
Peter released his grip on the wall and rushed inside, watching Clint jump atop of different boxes to reach the vent and crawling in.
“Don’t die, Spider-man” Natasha said before running to the left. Peter nodded and made his way along the right corridor.
Karen placed a map of the base so he could see it when he looked down and to the left. It didn’t show people, he was still working on that, but it made sure he wouldn’t get lost.
(Peter had refused Tony’s suit after May had found out, instead opting to make his own with Tony’s resources. He had kept Karen and a few of the web combinations though, and a few parts of the baby monitor protocol at May’s insistence)
He looked around the next corner, and counted five men. All armed. He could take five men.
Clearing his throat loudly, he walked around the corner as casually as he could.
All five men turned, guns at the ready.
“Sup?” Peter said with a jerk of his head. Two of the men exchanged a confused glance while the other three fired immediately.
Peter jumped up and latched onto the ceiling, firing a web at the of the men’s heads. He pulled his hand back, throwing the man at the wall and knocking him out.
Peter dropped from the ceiling and fired webs at two men’s faces, blocking their view, before grabbing their heads and hitting them against each other. They dropped to the floor, guns still in their hands.
Narrowly dodging a bullet, he kicked a guys knee in and hit him in the back of the head before catching him and using him as almost a shield against the bullets- praying the last man wouldn’t risk his coworkers life. They didn’t.
Peter grabbed the man’s gun from his limp hand and used it to fire at the man’s hand. He dropped his gun and cradled his hand to his chest, allowing Peter to rush forward and hit him with the handle of his own gun.
Peter sighed heavily, looking at the five bodies surrounding him. They weren’t dead, he had been very careful (less careful than usual, and he had also skipped the quips. These guys were experimenting on kids. He didn’t have much to say to them) but the guilt in his stomach regardless was overwhelming.
“Peter,” Karen said gently “You need to move on”
Peter shook his head in an attempt to shake away his thoughts and continued down the corridor.
There were no more enemies to take down, thankfully, and Karen had automatically switched to the Avenger’s cons so he could hear their bickering instead of the groans and cries of the men he had hurt.
“If you put the hammer in an elevator-“
“I keep telling you! Elevators aren’t worthy-“
“It doesn’t matter if-“
“Have you two always bickered like a married couple or is that just since the divorce?” Peter spoke up as he walked through another empty corridor. Two more and then he was at his target
“Trust me Spiderling, this is a long debate” Natasha muttered, Peter could hear the clicks of a keyboard as she spoke.
He reached his destination as the argument started up again. The room was large, and occupied by seven guards and one…tech guy, probably. The computers were scattered around the whole room, with one main one in the middle.
Peter snuck up behind the man closest to him and grabbed him around the neck, tightening his grip to cut off his oxygen supply and not allow any sound out. He repeated this process with the other men, ignoring the stabs of guilt that ran through him as he did so.
With the last man, he webbed his gun out of his hands and then webbed him to the ceiling, letting his yells echo the room.
The tech man yelped in surprise, spinning in his chair. Peter leaned against the wall casually
“Hey, dude” He said, jerking his head in greeting “Mind if I take a look at that computer?”
The tech man jumped from the chair and held up his hands in surrender.
“Thanks, man” Peter slid into the chair and began to type “What’s your name?” He had to keep the man here, so he might as well make conversation
“My name- I- I’m Matthew”
“Hey Matthew” He lifted his hand in a wave, typing with the other. He continued to hack into the files, occasionally asking for a password which was easily given up before-
“He’s running away”
Peter looked towards the doorway at the sound of Karen’s voice to see Matthew sprinting towards it. He sighed, dropping his head towards his chest, and shot a web at the retreating man’s back.
He screamed as it made contact and pulled him back.
“I had so much faith in you, Matthew” Peter scolded, shaking his head without looking away from the computer. “What’s the password for file 83?”
“P- P7VG4”
“Thanks” Peter entered the code before returning to his complaining “I mean you think you know a guy, and then they run away. How rude is that?”
“Please don’t kill me”. Matthew blurred out from his spot on the floor. Peter looked towards him
“I’m not gonna kill you, dude” He pointed to the bodies surrounding them “They’re not even dead and they would’ve shot me on sight”
Matthew relaxed at that, lying back on the floor and exhaling loudly.
“Yup…” Peter broke down the final firewall “You seem decent. Well, you would if you weren’t experimenting on children” He picked up a coffee mug from beside him and threw it at Matthew’s head, knocking him unconscious.
He clicked into the file…
and promptly threw up in the bin beside him.
He knew they were experimenting on kids. It had been fueling him this entire time. But seeing it was…it was an entirely different thing.
These were children, most of them younger than him. There were thousands of records of injections given, surgeries performed, beatings given, alongside pictures of each.
Peter was glad Matthew was silent, because if the man had made a single sound after Peter had opened the file he would’ve been dead in seconds.
“-about to blow, get out if you’re still in there”
Peter startled at the warning. “Give me five more minutes”
“Can’t really do that, Parker” Tony growled, voice strained. Peter stood, pushing the seat aside to focus on the information
“I really just need a bit more time-“
“You don’t have it! You need to get out of there” A desperate tone seeped into Tony’s voice. One Peter hadn’t heard before
“I can’t! Tony this is important”
“What’s important is you staying alive” Steve said, Peter noticed he was panicked as well. How much time did he have?
He voiced his question as he uploaded the files onto a hard drive.
“Not enough, Parker forget the files just leave”
“I can’t forget these files, Mr Stark” He never would be able to, in more ways than one. He had a feeling those files would be haunting his nightmares for the next while.
“Peter-“
The roof collapsed just as the files were saved onto a hard drive.
—
The first thing Peter noticed was the cold. He felt as if he had fallen asleep outside in the rain.
Rain. He was wet.
He clenched his fist, noting the hard drive inside of it. Protect that.
The next thing- and arguably the worst thing- he noticed, was the pain. There was a large pressure on his chest, restricting his breathing. His arm hurt as if it had snapped, so it probably had, and his leg-
The pain stemming from his leg left him in agony, leaving him trying to stifle his sobs to stop the pain in his chest.
The final thing he noticed was the water dropping slowly onto his forehead from above him. Probably a tap that had burst while the place was collapsing.
Collapsing. The building had collapsed-
The building had collapsed and he was still in it. Again.
Peter’s breathing sped up at once with the realisation, and he brought at arm to the rock on his chest in an attempt to get more oxygen. He had been on a mission with the Avengers, they knew he was in there. They would find him.
But would they? He wasn’t a part of the team, and he was young, inexperienced. He was a liability. Case in point- the fact he was currently trapped under a pile of rubble with valuable information.
If they didn’t come for him, he would just have to get his own way out. He put two hands on the rubble above him, ignoring the pain that shot through his left arm and pushed them up.
The rocks around him shifted dangerously as he pushed, dust falling into his eyes. Peter coughed harshly, his ears ringing.
“Karen-“ Peter said croakily, cutting himself off with a groan.
The small structure that he had been relatively safe in was strained and about to break. His arms shook violently under the weight.
“Karen are you-“
His left arm buckled first, letting one side of the rock slam back onto his chest, promptly winding him. Peter let out the first of many cries of pain as he struggled to regain his breath without choking on dust.
He had done this before. He would be fine. He just had to…
Peter let his head drop onto the ground, groaning. The pressure was worse than the pain. It reminded him of being 9, of magazines and hands over his mouth. It reminded him of everything he had spend the last 6 years burying deep down inside of him. He had to get out.
“Can anyone hear me?” Peter yelled at the top of his voice. He would even be grateful for Matthew at this point. He would be grateful to anyone who could get him out of this hellhole.
“Hello? Can you-“ Peter went to push at the rocks again but stopped as his arm sent a shot of pain through him as a protest. “Please-“
He hadn’t gotten injured last time. Not badly enough to prevent him from getting out. But now…
“Karen,” Peter said again, reaching up to his head with his uninjured arm and feeling the fabric covering his face
“M- Park-er-“
Peter let out a loud sigh of relief at. Karen’s crackled greeting. He wasn’t completely alone.
“Can you-“ He coughed, and felt a warm liquid rise in his throat “Can you call someone? Karen?”
“Calli- my- hul- Pete-“ The sound glitched out, leaving Peter alone in the silence once again.
Peter took a steadying breath, put the hard drive inbetween his teeth, placed his hands against the rock and pushed.
The last thing he felt before the world went dark was his bone snapping.
—
“Peter…”
“…-breathing?”
“…-hear us? Peter….”
“Come back-!”
Peter woke with a gasp, and was immediately held down by multiple pairs of hands.
“Relax-“
“Don’t touch me-!” Peter sat up quickly, yelling at the pain in his ribs. Two hands grabbed his shoulders and began to push him down
“He doesn’t know where he is! Let him go-“
“Don’t,” Peter thrust his head forward, hoping to headbut anyone infront of him.
The hand on his shoulders slid down to wrists, Peter’s eyes shot to them immediately
“You gotta relax, Peter. You’re gonna hurt yourself-“
“Let me go” Peter said, though it came out as more of a plea than he would’ve liked.
A smaller pair of hands grabbed his shoulders just as the ones on his wrists disappeared.
“You’re safe, you’re okay” This became a mantra for the next while, as Peter slowly but surely came back to reality. Eventually, he was able to place the hands as Natasha’s, and the larger ones were probably Steve’s or Clint’s, judging by the fact that the men were still standing beside him.
He was in a hospital bed, with an iv sticking out of his hand and cast on his arm and leg. His chest hurt, and was probably wrapped tightly.
“Sorry-“
“Don’t” Natasha cut him off firmly, and finally let go of his shoulders. Peter felt a bit of the tension release from him as her hands left.
“You have nothing to-“
“Actually he does have something to apologise for,” Peter winced as Tony opened the door and leaned against the doorframe. Steve narrowed his eyes at Tony
“This can wait-“
“No,” Tony said coldly before meeting Peter’s eyes “Haven’t we talked before about you not doing what I tell you to?”
Peter gritted his teeth, swallowing the anger bubbling up inside him and threatening to release. “Did you see the files?”
Tony’s stony expression faltered for a moment “I did”
Peter nodded, forcing his brows to unfurrow “Then you know why I couldn’t leave”
The last of the anger seeped from Tony, leaving his face only showing concern and…respect? Peter pushed himself into a sitting position with the help of Clint, groaning as quietly as he could.
“Doesn’t mean you didn’t get crushed by a building” Natasha said, fiddling with the bag attached to his iv. Peter trusted her enough to assume that she wasn’t trying to kill him with an overdose.
“Nothing that hasn’t happened before” Peter replied, shrugging as much as he could without aggravating his injuries.
Steve stilled beside him, as did Natasha, Clint and Tony, and the thought suddenly came to Peter that maybe they hadn’t known about that incident.
“I mean-“
“You what?” Clint exclaimed loudly
“It’s a figure is speech” Peter ducked his head “Do we have water?”
“Oh my God” Tony muttered under his breath and quickly walked out of the room. Peter watched him go, a strange sense of hurt rising in him
“Is he mad at me?”
“He’s concerned” Natasha corrected, handing him a glass of water “And probably guilty. It happened because of the Vulture, right?”
Peter took the glass, staring at her in surprise “Yeah…how did you-?”
“I pride myself on knowing a lot about my teammates” Natasha said, smiling. She took the glass back from him after he had taken a few sips
“But I’m not a teammate” Peter countered, turning to Steve for help. Steve shrugged with a small smile
“You may as well be. Bruce says even Hulk was worried about you”
The sentence struck Peter like a slap on the cheek. They had been worried?
Well, obviously. If they weren’t worried then they wouldn’t be by his bedside. But…
“People were worried?”
Clint frowned “Of course we were,”
“Peter,” Natasha’s voice grew serious “Did you think we weren’t coming?”
Peter laughed nervously, putting his hand on his forehead “It’s not that-“
“Then what is it?” Clint asked, though it sounded like more of a demand. Steve sent him a look
“It’s just that-“ Peter sighed, leaning his head against the wall “I’m a kid, and I’m not a part of the team. I’m not important like you guys are”
Clint sighed deeply and pulled over a chair to sit beside Peter. Their eyes met, and Peter felt as it Clint could read his mind if he wanted to
“You are a kid. And you’re not part of the team. But don’t think for one second you’re not important”
Peter broke the eye contact, choosing to instead stare at his hands. They’d never take him on missions after this. He shouldn’t have said anything, he probably wouldn’t have if he wasn’t on meds for the pain. (Was that Natasha’s plan? Hopefully not)
“You believe me?”
Peter’s silence was enough of an answer.
“C’mon, kid. If you didn’t matter we wouldn’t have brought you along.” He leaned forward “Do you realise how many kids you saved with that hard drive? How many kids you save on a daily basis? Does that not matter?”
Peter sighed “Anyone could’ve done that, Clint”
“I couldn’t” Clint said “I couldn’t go out there every single night and save people’s lives, then come home to a shit ton of homework and school in two hours and still pass all my exams and help save the world”
He tapped Peter’s chest lightly “That’s all you”
Peter felt a smile tug on his lips and let it be. He was…surprisingly content after the day he had had. Was it just a day? Or had he been out for a while. Oh-
“My aunt-“
“We called her,” Steve said at once, as though he had been waiting for Peter’s mind to reach that point “She’s worried, but fine. Not mad”
The remaining tension left Peter at once, simply leaving him tired.
“You can go to sleep, we’ll be here when you wake up” Natasha said soothingly, Peter sniffed once, nodded, and finally let himself drift off.