"I'm swinging in on the right. Whose got the left?" Peter asked, pulling on his mask.
"I got that side from the sky," Sam said as he directed Redwing to fly around where Tony was distracting the gunners at the base they were about to storm.
"I got the ground," Natasha said. Even though she had already been on three missions this week, she didn't hesitate to throw herself back into the fray.
"We got the ground," Steve corrected. "Are Bucky and Clint in place?"
"They better be," Wanda mumbled. Since they were supposed to give her cover fire while she did her magic, their positioning was particularly important. "Vision and Rhodey aren't going to make it, are they?"
Steve shook his head. "They're too far out. We can do this without them."
"Just because we can doesn't mean we should," Wanda said, red mist making her eyes seem demonic.
No one wanted to admit it, but she was right. After rebanding and expanding, the Avengers had to face the unfortunate reality that crime had flourished in their absence. Even HYDRA was pulling itself back together again, despite the fact that they had lost the Winter Soldier, Wanda, and Pietro, their strongest weapons. Luckily, Tony had managed to track down one of HYDRA's new bases and wasted no time on getting them all there. Vision and Rhodey were busy wrecking a smaller HYDRA base a few miles away while the rest of them were crouched on a rooftop above the bigger one.
"Okay, Spiderling, time to web them up," Tony said over comms as the gunfire increased.
Peter leapt off the building, his suits gliders slowing his descent slightly, and dropped fifteen stories before launching a web on one of the machine guns mounted on the base's roof. He swung onto the roof as Tony rocketed past him, his thrusters at full power. Peter saw Sam join Tony in the sky.
"Get down, there's snipers," Tony snapped. Peter immediately rolled behind a chimney as shots began being aimed at him. Red light in his peripheral vision let him know Wanda had joined the fight, and since he heard many startled shouts, he could only assume Steve and Natasha had also.
"Where's the target? I can't web him up if he isn't here," Peter said anxiously as Karen automatically muted the sounds of the battle so he wouldn't be overwhelmed. Even after fighting with the Avengers for months, he still wasn't used to the cacophony of battle.
"I guess he retreated down into the building," Tony said, sounding remarkably unfazed despite the fact that nearly all of the machine guns were aimed at him.
"Wanda, Peter, and I will go down. Natasha, find a way to get us down there," Steve ordered.
"Got it," Peter said. "Karen, deploy droney."
His drone zoomed around, giving him a full view of the fight. Wanda was busy destroying the machine guns, her side of the roof glowing ominously as a result. Clint and Bucky had commandeered one of the six sniper towers on the roof and were shooting anyone who had even a chance of getting near Wanda. She wouldn't be able to shield herself effectively while tearing apart the guns. Tony and Sam would occasionally swoop down low to get a more accurate shot but mostly stayed up high to draw away the fire. Steve and Natasha had found a hatch that led inside and were trying to open it.
"Karen, taser web," Peter ordered, flinging himself toward one of the sniper towers.
His first web hit the closer sniper, causing him to instantly collapse, and the second hit the circuit board, causing the lights to short circuit and explode. Peter easily scampered up the side of the tower on all fours, but he had rotten luck. The HYDRA agents had already pulled on their night vision goggles and holding long, serrated knives and pistols. Peter reluctantly conceded that HYDRA trained their thugs well.
"Okay, four of them, one of me," Peter mumbled as they slowly advanced. "This should be easy."
Peter rolled forward as they opened fire. Karen helpfully made droney fly past them to distract them. He quickly swept out their legs from under them and used his webs to pull away their weapons.
"Doors open. Get over here, Spidey," Natasha said sharply.
"Kind of busy," Peter gasped out as he crawled along to ceiling to avoid getting skewered by the one knife he missed.
"I'll take care of them, you get to the doors," Clint said.
Peter didn't question the archer, just smashed through the window and rolled upon impact with the ground. An arrow lodged itself inside the tower where the four snipers were and promptly exploded. Peter ran forward quickly to dodge the debris, stopping once he reached Wanda, Natasha, and Steve.
"You three go down. I'll make sure no one follows you," Natasha said, hefting her pistols.
"Clint, cover Natasha. Bucky, focus on the snipers," Steve said decisively. "I'll go first, then Peter. Wanda, guard our rear."
"We don't know how many agents are in there. This is suicide," Wanda protested.
"Unless we get the target, we have no way of finding any more bases," Steve said calmly. "Only the leaders know where all of the bases are and they've been careful to only transfer the knowledge verbally, so we have no way of pinpointing any locations. If they recorded anything electronically, Tony would have found it by now."
"Complain later, go now," Natasha shouted as she had to backflip to avoid being shot. "Where's my cover fire, Barton?"
"If I could eliminate all of our enemies at once, I would, Tasha," Clint snapped, intercepting a bullet aimed at her with an arrow.
"Wait a second before coming down," Steve warned before dropping down the hatch. They could immediately hear gunfire and groans.
Once Steve disappeared from view, Peter pulled himself down and crawled along the ceiling. Karen made his vibrant suit darken so he'd be harder to spot. He saw Steve duck into a doorway a bit down the hallway as the agents relentlessly shot at him.
"Web grenade, please," Peter said as he lined himself up with the agents.
Peter shot at their feet, instantly coating their legs in thick webbing. Wanda dropped down and yanked the weapons out of their hands.
"Great job, you two," Steve said, adjusting his shield.
"How are we going to find the target?" Peter asked. "He could be anyone in this building."
"He would have retreated to the most defensible location, which is usually near the center of the building. Trust me, I've stormed more of HYDRA's bases than anyone else," Steve said.
"He's right," Wanda said. "Let's just hope he doesn't have anyone with powers guarding him."
They made their way down the halls, checking every room briefly before moving on. Tony kept them updated on the battle outside, his voice the only thing that made them move quickly. Something felt wrong about this. They hadn't run into any agents yet they were nearly at the center of the building. Steve said it was because they were falling back to protect the target, but Peter's senses were going crazy. The further they went, the worse his apprehension got.
"Something's wrong," Peter whispered, feeling vaguely nauseous.
"Are you sure?" Steve asked, lifting his shield in preparation.
"Very," he managed to say, even as his head started to pound.
"We'll stay here and wait for the others to come," Steve decided, then said into the comms, "Nat, get Bucky and come down here. Clint can guard the door."
"What went wrong?" Natasha asked.
"Peter can tell that something's wrong, but we don't know what yet. Can't hurt to have some backup."
"Got it. Barnes and I are on the way."
Peter swayed. The lights were flickering, every shuffle of his teammates feet was seemingly amplified, and his nausea worsened. He could even hear the scrape of a glove squeezing a trigger…
"Get down!" Peter shouted, pushing Wanda down as shots began raining down on them from holes in the ceiling.
Steve immediately tucked himself behind his shield as Wanda erected a wall over herself and Peter. Peter shot webs up to block the holes but there were too many to cover without wasting all of his webs.
"Run. I'll cover you," Wanda said, extending the shield.
"Watch for Natasha and Bucky. They'll be here any minute now," Steve shouted behind him as he and Peter sprinted ahead.
Naturally, the next room was full of agents. Peter threw himself into the fray, webbing and kicking everything that moved. He saw Steve mow his way through the cluster easily so he focused on trying to find the door as he dodged blows and bullets.
Peter swore violently as a small blade was plunged into his arm but didn't let it deter him. Eventually, he found a door hidden behind a file cabinet. It had to be the one that led to their target.
"Steve, I'm going ahead," Peter shouted, knocking over the cabinet.
"I'll be there in a minute. Be careful," he said, taking up a defensive position in front of the door as Peter darted ahead.
A pair of seemingly impenetrable doors were at the end of a short hallway, but Karen quickly calculated the code to the door based on the impressions from fingerprints left behind. Peter barged in and narrowly avoided a bullet to the head. The target was alone but wasn't going down without a fight.
"Why can't you just put the gun down?" Peter groaned.
"Freak," the man spat out, even as he ran out of bullets. Peter was nearly an impossible target to shoot since he swung around so quickly and had perfected how to have as little of his body exposed as possible.
Peter webbed up the man (including a gag) and said into the comms, "I got the target. Where are you all at?"
"We're converging on your location. Keep an eye on our prisoner," Tony said.
Two minutes later, all of the Avengers were gathered around him. Natasha gave everyone a cursory check for injuries before heading off with Steve to clear out any lurking enemy agents. Tony stepped out of his armor and clasped Peter on the shoulder.
"This was a boring mission. Sorry you missed decathlon practice for this," Tony said.
Peter pulled off his mask. "Boring? HYDRA and boring don't belong in the same sentence."
"Whatever. F.R.I.D.A.Y., drag the target up top," Tony instructed. "Rhodey and Vision should be arriving with the Quinjet soon."
The suit scooped up the target and flew him down the halls. Tony and Peter lead the way out of the room, everyone else trailing behind them.
"So when's May expecting you back?" Tony asked casually, as if they weren't strolling around a HYDRA base.
"Tomorrow night. I'm supposed to call her when we get back to the Facility tonight," he replied, checking how much webbing he had left.
"I'd be excited except I know you're going to fall asleep in the Quinjet," Tony said with a smirk.
"Missions are tiring," Peter protested. Why could he hear that noise? The battle was over…
"Anyways, what should-" Tony began to say just as Peter's spider-sense spiked.
A HYDRA agent came barreling around the corner, gun aimed right at Tony. Peter didn't think or hesitate, just responded instinctively. Before Tony could even comprehend that there was a threat, Peter tackled the agent. The man's head hit the floor with a loud bang.
Peter scrambled up and kicked the man's weapon away as more agents charged them. Peter saw Wanda fling up a shield over Tony, who was defenseless without his suit or a weapon. The Avengers rushed past him to fight off the agents.
Peter looked down as he felt a warm liquid touch his foot. The man hadn't gotten up, so Peter assumed he knocked him out, but that wouldn't explain the blood. Slowly, Peter knelt down beside the man, setting his mask down on the ground, and pressed two fingers against the man's throat. There was no pulse.
Peter threw up.
"Spidey, pull your mask on!" Tony shouted. His voice sounded so far away. "Are you trying to get shot?"
The agent was dead. Peter had killed him.
Red light filled his gaze as Wanda extended the shield to cover Peter.
"I can't hold this for long," Wanda warned. "Peter, get out of here!"
Leave? He didn't deserve to. He had just slammed a man into the ground so hard that he cracked his head open like an egg on the cement floor. The blood that haloed the dead man's head reached Peter's mask and fingers. How poetic. He literally had blood on his hands.
"What the hell are you doing?" Tony shouted, slamming his fists against Wanda's shield. "Get over here!"
No. He deserved to die. He deserved to have a bullet hit him between the eyes and come out the other side. He was a murderer. Blood for blood to right a wrong.
"Steve, get the kid out!" Tony shouted.
Strong arms grabbed him and Peter lashed out. He couldn't leave, he couldn't just walk away free of all punishment after what he'd just done.
"Peter, stop. It's just me," Steve said, gripping the boys wrists tightly to stop him from punching. Peter could barely process what Steve was saying, all he could hear was the blood dripping out of the man's skull.
"Get him out of here!" Tony screamed, still punching at Wanda's shield.
"Sorry, Pete," Steve muttered before tossing the boy over his shoulder and running back up to the roof. Peter stopped struggling. All he could see was the body and his mask lying in the blood.
"Wanda, get Tony out of there. Sam, Nat, Clint, Bucky, get out of there as soon as you can. S.H.I.E.L.D will be here soon. They'll take care of the remaining agents," Steve said into the comms.
"Copy that. What happened to Peter?" Wanda asked. All sounds were becoming more muted by the second.
"I don't know. I'll check on him in the Quinjet," Steve said, worry clear in his voice. Peter didn't care.
Long halls, flickering lights, labored breathing, fluttering heartbeat, distant gunfire. All of it barely reached Peter. He felt distant from his own body, as if his mind no longer had any control over it. He didn't want to be associated with the atrocity his super strength had committed. This wouldn't of happened if he'd never been bitten by that spider.
The pale yellow light of the base was replaced by stars, the stale air replaced with a cold breeze. They were outside for only a few seconds before Steve set him down on the seats in the Quinjet.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., scan him for injuries," Steve said breathlessly. Peter shut his eyes.
"Besides a stab wound in his arm that will heal naturally in another two minutes, Mr. Parker has no physical injuries," the AI reported.
"What's this about injuries?" A man asked, walking towards Steve. Rhodey. Rhodey was here.
"He's not hurt, but he stopped fighting. No one knows why," Steve explained. "He's not responding."
"Where's Wanda?" Vision asked sharply.
"She's coming. Did you get the other target?"
"Yes. King T'challa insisted on trying him in Wakanda because that man was running another base on Wakanda's border. We believe that faction was going to attempt to steal some vibranium," Vision said before heading down the ramp. "There she is."
Two more sets of footsteps. One stopped on the ramp but the other halted in front of him. Tony.
"Is he hurt?" Tony asked, his voice uneven.
"No, he's just shut himself off. Did you see what happened?" Steve asked.
"I didn't realize it at the time, but yeah. I saw it," Tony said softly. "I'm taking him to the side room. Don't let anyone disturb us."
Tony wrapped an arm around Peter and gently pulled him up. Peter opened his eyes and allowed Tony to guide him to the tiny side room near the cockpit. Tony set Peter down on the small bed there that was intended for medical purposes.
"It's just us now, kid," Tony whispered. "Do what you got to do."
Peter threw up again. It felt like his body was trying to purge itself of its guilt but settled for spitting out his guts.
"I did the same thing," Tony admitted as he passed Peter a towel. Peter trembled as he wiped his face. "It's not your fault. You may not believe me, but I swear that it's not your fault. You were just trying to protect me."
Peter leaned back, his head resting against the cold wall. He felt empty. Tony being there was inconsequential. Peter didn't feel like a person anymore. He was a ghost of a human being. Blood still coated his hands.
"Here. Let me," Tony said, reaching forward to wipe away the blood. Peter flinched away. Tony couldn't touch him. He was a monster.
"It's just me," Tony said gently.
That's why he flinched away.
"I'm not going to hurt you."
No, but I could hurt you, Peter though, turning away from Tony to face the wall. The Quinjet began to hum. They were lifting off.
"Do you want me to leave?"
Yes. No. He didn't deserve Tony, but he didn't want to be alone. Yes and no and yes and no until his head hurt.
Finally, Peter nodded. Tony sighed, clearly displeased, but left without another word.
Peter threw up again.
"What happened?" Steve demanded as Tony left the kid alone. Everyone eagerly awaited Tony's answer. They had grown very fond, not to mention protective, of Peter almost immediately.
"Peter killed one of them," Natasha said quietly once it was clear Tony couldn't. "He didn't mean to, but accidents happen."
That shut everybody up. Most of them hadn't killed anyone until they were at least in their twenties, Tony in his forties. No one expected that their youngest and purest teammate would break that streak. This was the same kid who made Tony take out the instant kill mode in his suit upon joining the Avengers.
"How's he doing?" Clint asked, genuine concern in voice. As an assassin, he understood everything Peter was going through and then some.
"He's puking and seems to have gone mute, so about as well as can be expected," Tony said bluntly. He sat down next to Rhodey and clutched his head. "God, I'd kill for a drink right now."
"At times like this, I wish I could drink," Steve said. Bucky nodded in agreement, but it was clear from the distant look in his eyes that he was thinking of his own body count.
"How long until we get back?" Tony asked heavily, shutting his eyes.
"Two hours. Should I call Mrs. Parker?" F.R.I.D.A.Y. replied.
"Not yet," Tony said. "I'll check on the kid in an hour. Hopefully, he'll pass out."
Natasha and Clint shared doubtful glances. They remembered their first kills vividly. It wasn't something you could forget so easily.
Wanda abruptly sat up, pulling away from Vision. He looked at her in confusion but didn't object.
"Open the door," she said, panicking as she ran towards Peter's room.
Everyone knew better than to question her. Steve hastily yanked the door open and Wanda was there only a heartbeat later, red magic swirling around her. She pressed a finger to Peter's forehead, causing him to fall over, completely unconscious.
"What the hell was that about?" Tony demanded, glaring at the witch. He may love Wanda, but he could never trust her powers after what she showed him that was essentially responsible for Ultron.
"He was trying to knock himself out," she said, brushing Peter's curls away from his face. "If you don't believe me, see for yourself."
Sure enough, there was a dent in the metal wall and a bump on the back of his head to match.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., tell Bruce to get the Medbay ready," Tony said, sitting down next to Peter. Wanda respectfully moved away. She could sense Tony's sadness and worry and was fairly sure it was giving her a headache.
"Wanda, how long can you hold this?" Steve asked.
She shrugged. "At least four hours, more if I'm alone with him. All of your emotions are distracting me."
"Do what you can. I'm going to check on the target," Steve said, heading to the other side room on the Quinjet, Bucky automatically following.
In all honesty, everyone had forgotten about the man they had locked up in their plane as their fear for Peter overshadowed everything else. Slowly, they drew away from Peter and tried to act like nothing was wrong. None of them bought it. They all knew that everything had changed the second the man's head struck the floor.