Notes: I've been posting side-stories over at AO3 that I haven't put up here due to lack of feedback and the occasional "Why do you hate Steve" PM making it not worth the effort to put extras here. However a few of the one shots ended up having significant world building scenes that will leave holes in the next main story if I don't post them.
Credit to Agnidivya's comments for prompting this story. I've assumed in other places that the Avengers do help out during natural disasters and always have but there's no substitute for showing it. The disaster in story is drawn from the 1999 Vargas Tragedy in Venezuela.
Good Deeds and Long Days
Disclaimer: Premise and characters belong to Marvel, I'm just playing with them.
The heavy, unseasonable rain had been falling on the town of Cerro Grande for days. As the night of the 16th progressed the rain saturated the hillsides, in areas the soil became a slurry and broke loose, sliding downward. The streams above the city flooded their banks and the water became thick with sentiment from the slides as it rushed down the hills toward the sea. The roaring, froth barely slowed upon reaching the Caraballeda fan, the flat expanse at the foot of the mountains built by thousands of earlier floods dropping their load of sentiment before becoming one with the sea but something new had been added to the plain since the last great flood: A city. Man in his arrogance had thrown up dozens of skyscrapers in the path of the flood. The thick, muddy waters had picked up rocks and branches, boulders and trees as it rushed downward toward the sea and the debris struck the alluvial fan city like a wave of battering rams, smashing through houses and the the lower levels of apartment buildings. The shanty towns on the city's outskirts were swept away in minutes. Then, back in the mountains, in the early hours of the morning the ground beneath the Cerro Grande itself gave way sending whole buildings into the raging torrent. And the torrential rains continued to fall.
"Peter!" FRIDAY sent an urgent buzz over the Tower's intercom to wake the teen. "Avengers Assemble!"
Adrenaline cleared the fuzz from Peter's brain and he scrambled out of bed, opening the silvery suitcase holding his Spider-Man gear, he dressed quickly. On his way to the door May hugged him and shoved a warmed breakfast burrito into his hand. "Be careful," she said.
The elevator rushed Peter to the hanger level. Colonel Rhodes was in the process of levering himself out of his wheelchair into War Machine while Vision and, to Peter's surprise, Harley Keener and Happy Hogan stood by, the later two already in armor. Carol Danvers and Alexei Shostakov were on one video screen, the Avenger Compound and several younger Enhanced, early signees to the new SHRA, visible in the background. Hope van Dyne and Hank Pym occupied another screen, checking in from the West Coast, while T'Challa and his Dora Milaje called in from Wakanda and Everett Ross represented the UN subcommittee. Several of Maria Hill's people rushed about the hanger prepping the quinjet for take-off. Pepper, cradling baby Nettie against her shoulder stood quietly by the elevator.
"I'll debrief you in the air," Rhodes said. "We're going to need all hands on deck. Danvers, take anyone who's passed their basic certifications. Hank, we'll need you at Pym Tech for data analysis. Let's move."
Peter followed War Machine onto the Avengers quinjet and belted in. One of the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents piloted the jet. Out the window Peter saw other aircraft taking off.
"Okay folks," Rhodes resumed. "We're getting reports of flooding and extensive debris flows from the state of Vargas. Early intel say tens of thousands impacted. There are whole towns washed away in the floods. FRIDAY's moving SI and Avengers' satellites into place. Ross, there may be other satellites up there, get the UN on the finding out who owns 'em, I'd like approval for FRIDAY to take them over but, barring that, get whatever data they'll feed us.
"There are people swept out to sea. If we don't get them soon they won't last . Captain Marvel, take any fliers you've got and start making passes at five miles out. Vision, you, Harley and I are with them. Harley, let FRIDAY man the armor, you're only here to take care of the coaxing."
FRIDAY made a rude noise.
"FRI, don't argue," Rhodes cut her off. "You get frustrated when humans aren't rational under pressure. Take your cues from Harley on handling the civilians but don't open the armor for anything."
"Ronin, you're in charge on the ground. There are local police and military forces evacuating the area, we'll be working in concert with them. Hill's on her way, she'll coordinate and be your point of contact. I want the Avengers focused on rescues. Happy, the armor's weight is going to be a disadvantage for a non-flier like you but your sensors can still be a big help in directing others. Wasp, join the ground team when you catch-up, you're too small to carry anyone while you're in the air."
"I'm getting reports of at least three local Enhanced already on site," Everett said.
"Have whoever's closest get 'em a headset and get them on our frequency. The sooner we're coordinating with them the better," Rhodes said.
The fliers bailed out before they made land, joining the small number of boats braving the storm to search the waters for survivors. War Machine, Vision and Iron Man split up to avoid wasting resources by overlapping their sensors while the organic fliers arrayed themselves between the trio and were soon busy pulling people from the water. After occupying the last of the organic fliers near her FRIDAY spotted two more life signs. She and Harley followed them to a small child clinging to the neck of a large dog.
Carefully FRIDAY lowered the armor to hover just over the surface of the water. "How are we going to do this?" Harley asked as he felt FRIDAY making continuous small adjustments to hold their position despite the wind and rain. "It worked so hard to save her, we can't just leave it."
"If the kid climbs on board we can make another pass and grab the dog," FRIDAY decided. "The thigh joint will make a fairly secure grip for the child. Once she's there, I can get one of the rescue straps around her to keep her from falling."
Harley smiled reassuringly and hoped it showed in his voice. "Can you grab my foot and climb up?" he asked.
The child only looked up blankly and held tighter to the exhausted dog's fur.
"Hey," Harley tried again. "Wanna get out of that water? Not that it's much drier up here, honestly."
"I've got more life signs," FRIDAY said. "I'm going to grab the kid and hope for the best for the dog."
"Call whoever's next closest," Harley said cutting the external mike. "I- If the kid freaks out on us we could drop her. Can you translate for me?"
"Yes," FRIDAY said.
"Okay let's try again," Harley said. "Princess your dog's looking awfully worn out. I bet he'd like a nice warm blanket on a dry boat. But we can't get him out of the water until we get you out. So can you climb up on my boot, please? Your dog's really tired. He needs a break."
Finally the child timidly reached up and grabbed the armored boot. While FRIDAY held the armor steady the little girl pulled herself up until she was clinging to the leg of the armor, standing on the boot. "Okay Princess, hold on really tight," Harley said. And FRIDAY took the armor up, once they had some altitude she cut thrust to one hand and quickly wrapped a securing strap around the child even as the wind sent them into a spin. Once done FRIDAY reignited the palm repulsor and swooped around to get a little momentum before skimming over the water to grab the dog. FRIDAY cradled the dog against the armor's torso, then flying unsteadily due to the wind and the load they headed for the nearest rescue boat.
"Middletown High," the secretary at Peter's school said as she answered the phone.
"This is May Parker, calling on behalf of my nephew Peter. Please excuse him from classes for the next few days," May said.
"Is he ill?" the secretary asked with concern.
"Oh no," May said. "The September Foundation is helping out with the flooding in Venezuela, Ms. Potts asked for volunteers from the SI staff and Peter wanted to help. I thought it was a great idea, worth missing a few days of school for."
"Um-"
"Don't worry, I'll make sure he catches up on his homework as soon as he's done," May said breezily.
The secretary and vice principal were looking up the disaster coverage online and talking about Peter when Liz Allen stopped by the office twenty minutes later to pick up a tardy slip.
"... So we're all going to SI after school to see if they need any more volunteers. Harry, you should come, everyone misses you," Liz rambled. Then she gulped, "Don't hang up, Harry. I didn't mean to mention Peter."
Harry took a deep breath and tried to shut out his father's last tirade about what an ungrateful, worthless, unconvincing disgrace he was.
Norman's lawyer and a Goblin spotting during trial had been enough to secure reasonable doubt about whether or not Norman had been behind the mask during the Goblin's earlier attacks on the city but there'd been no way for him to wriggle out of charges regarding the assault on Peter and the threat against May. Norman's claim that he'd been defending his home from a trespasser fell on deaf ears considering that he'd not only hospitalized a sixteen-year-old friend of his son's, he'd gone after Peter's widowed guardian after Peter had been beaten so badly he couldn't stand. There was still an active counter suit in which OsCorp was accusing Stark Industries of putting ideas into the head of an impressionable teenager to use him to spy on their business rival but the extent of Peter's injuries and the earlier incident of violence against him left both judge and jury feeling particularly unsympathetic toward Norman. Harry had ended up having to testify in a last ditch effort to dispel the impression that Norman was an abusive parent and Harry's testimony hadn't softened anyone's attitude toward his father.
"It's okay," Harry quickly assured Liz. "Yeah, things are all weird between Pete and I now and probably for a long time to come. But it's not like I'm going to go nuts if I hear his name or something."
'Awkward,' Harry thought to himself. 'Is that really the word for it when you're wondering if prison's actually a major stumbling block for your dad putting a hit on your best friend? Peter knew what Dad's like, why'd he have to be so stupid?'
"So Pete's helping out?" he said.
"Yeah," Liz said. "It's terrible, the Red Cross thinks maybe as many as fifty thousand people could have died. The whole class is going to go see if there's anything we can do to help out. When we were talking about the disaster in class Felicity was the biggest advocate of us helping out but I think Flash pointing out that we have a geometry exam tomorrow might have actually have been the deciding argument. Gwen says it probably won't be exciting if they do take us as volunteers but even if it's boring we're doing something good and that's what counts right?"
"Yeah," Harry said thoughtfully. "That's what counts."
Several of the more intractable members of the SI board had cornered Pepper in her office around midmorning after the Avengers had left for Venezuela. "Yes, I did tell the R&D team to gather up every last working 'own the night' prototype sensor and be on the second wave of planes," Pepper said, her tone implying light curiosity about why they were wasting her time with this.
"You can't just abandon all our business ventures to do charity work."
"Abandon?" Pepper asked her eyes narrowing. "Is that what you think I'm doing? The rain in Vargas hasn't abated, in fact it's getting considerably worse. Rescue efforts are floundering due to inclement conditions, the rescuers can barely see their own feet let alone find the people who need them, even the Avengers are struggling. Since we don't make weapons anymore the military has asked us to focus sensors so they can fight in any conditions, can you think of a better field test?"
"Er, um, there is that."
"And I suppose you aren't interested publicity attached to being able to say that it was Stark Tech saving lives down there either?" Pepper asked archly.
"Of course. We'll just let you get back to what you were doing."
Pepper's phone rang not long after she'd cleared her office of nay-sayers. "Stark Industries, Virginia Potts speaking."
"Hi, um this Harry Osborn. I, um, heard about SI helping out with the flooding down in Venezuela and well, I was thinking, patent dispute aside, OsCorps' gliders could be useful right? They're small maneuverable personal craft with hover capability and enough lift to handle a passenger."
"What are you suggesting Mr. Osborn?" Pepper asked.
"I've got over a dozen working prototypes in storage and five test pilots on the payroll," Harry said forcing his nervousness back. "Can we work something out with the lawsuit so I can send them out to help? Also, they're not long range craft and OsCorp doesn't have the clearances the September Foundation has so I could use some help with transportation as well as the lawsuit."
Pepper found herself smiling, "I don't think I see any serious roadblocks preventing you from helping out Mr. Osborn. Just make sure your pilots pack their rain-slickers." She knew that if the gliders performance was exceptional her patent suit would likely end with OsCorp paying royalties while the military got the gliders but it had always been just a matter of time before technologies similar to the Iron Man tech were developed. Tony had estimated ten to fifteen years and they were currently sitting at seven but he'd made his estimate before Vanko and before Hammer got his grubby, not well secured, paws on War Machine. "I'll send my lawyers over with some papers excluding non-profit, humanitarian efforts from the cease and desist on the operation of the gliders."
With Felicity Hardy leading the way, Liz Allen, Gwen Stacy and Flash Thompson and a few dozen of their classmates made their way to the receptionist's desk at Stark Industries. "Hi!" Felicity said brightly. "We heard that the September Foundation was asking for volunteers to help out with the Vargas Flood? Where do we sign up?"
The receptionist smiled warmly. "Well first we need you to fill out these forms. Due to SI's defense contracts we need to do a quick background check on everyone allowed on the premise. We'll also need a permission slip from your parents if any of you are under eighteen."
The teens exchanged a disappointed look, "Thanks," Liz said recovering her aplomb after the small set back of paperwork and parental approval needed. "A friend of ours, Peter Parker is already helping, could we maybe drop in and see what he's up to?"
"I can't let you on the premise without the proper paperwork," the receptionist said apologetically. "You could call Mr. Parker and he could come out to the lobby to talk to you."
"Actually Peter's out," a new voice said.
The teens turned, "Amadeus, we didn't know you were here!" Liz greeted the other boy cheerfully.
"Yeah, everyone assumed you were skipping again," Gwen added and Flash snorted. In the month since Amadeus had joined their class he'd missed nearly as many days as he'd attended.
"So what have they got you doing and where's Peter?" Felicity asked.
"Unfortunately, there hasn't been much call for a hacker-extraordinaire," Amadeus admitted. "So I'm packing boxes, making up care packages to ship down to the people who were displaced. Peter's the lucky one, he volunteered early so he's down in Vargas, most likely unpacking and distributing the care boxes."
Spider-Man scaled the exterior of a listing, five story apartment building glad that the rain didn't seriously hinder his wall-crawling. The bottom floor of the building was completely buried in sentiment, the second was partially underwater and the structure was regularly being battered by debris caught in the flood waters threatening it's already questionable stability.
"Move fast, we won't be able to hold position long," one of the officers in the police boat that had brought him there shouted as the man gunned the motor to keep the flood waters from pushing the boat out to sea.
"Got it!" Spidey shouted back. "This leaning tower has no tourist appeal." He crawled in a window and shouted, "School bus is waiting! Get a move on!"
In few moments the people who'd taken shelter in the building believing it's height would make it a safe place to weather the storm began trickling in. Spider-Man created a webline between the police boat and the window. He showed the first few how to use it as a zip-line then went to search the rest of the building for stragglers as they made their escape.
Spidey returned to shouting. "You can't leave us here!"
He noticed his line was slack and stuck his head out the window, "What's the problem?" he shouted down to the officers on the boat.
"Spider-Man, the weight is too much. Come, we'll send another boat for the rest," the officer shouted.
Spidey glanced back at the people yet to be rescued. "Why don't I just wait here for the next ride?" he said. "You'll be quick right?"
"As soon as we can," the officer said.
As the boat motored away Spidey tried smiling at the remaining strandees, "So, anybody got a bottle to spin? It'd help pass the time." Only a few of the others even bothered to turn away from the window as they stared after the boat disappearing into the rain. It was only about ten minutes later when the building began to shake under repeated blows. Spidey ran to an upstream window and his jaw dropped. "That's gotta be a whole town," he exclaimed at the sheer volume of timbers and roof segments coming at them. The already listing building began to shift even further from vertical and several people screamed. Spidey glanced around then pointed at a nearby building. "I think that one looks a little more sound, anybody want to relocate?" Spidey was practically trampled as people crowded around him.
As the debris continued to pound the building Spidey led his group of strandees up to the next floor and shot a webline across to the next building. While the building shook and groaned, listing further and further Spidey helped the others slide across to the, hopefully, safer building one after another. There were only five people left when Spidey saw a boulder caught up in the silt laden current heading toward them like a cannonball. "Oh shit!" Spidey swore and he lifted a kid to the line, wrapping the legs of a pair of jeans around the kid's forearms before shoving him out over the gap. The boulder struck as Spidey reached for the next person. With a screech the building gave way.
Spidey grabbed a little girl and held her tight as he threw himself out of the collapsing building. For a moment they were falling through a hailstorm of broken masonry then they hit the water with a painful splat. The current spun them around and tried to pulled them down. Spidey pulled the girl against his chest and kicked for the surface but there was no light, nothing to tell up from down.
For several long moments Spidey swam only hoping he'd reach air soon. Then he was slammed into a wall. It knocked what little air he had left but he was glad of the reference point. Using his free arm he scrambled up the wall. His head broke the surface and he gasped for air. He pulled himself and the girl a little higher and found a window opening on a floor above the water level. Caked with mud from head to toe Peter shoved his mask clear of his mouth as he slumped against the wall and laughed. "We made it!"
Then he looked down at the girl cradled to his chest and saw her temple had been caved in, her dead eyes were open and staring up at him. Unable to react, Peter knelt there holding her. Time passed. Slowly Peter became aware that Ronin was shouting his codename over the comms while FRIDAY was whispering his real name in his ear and making wiring in his suit send out small shocks.
"She's dead," Peter said dully.
"Xyebo," Ronin swore quietly. "Spider-Man, we will grieve after. For now there are others who yet live, they must be our focus."
Peter nodded. Very gently he laid the girl down then pulled his mask back into place. "The ones I got out, they're in the building northwest of the one where they left us," he said. "I should- I'll go to the roof, figure out where I am."
"FRIDAY has your coordinates," Ronin said. "Help is coming."
"I- I should check the building," Peter said. "See if anyone else is holed up here."
"Go," Ronin ordered. "We'll be there soon."
As night closed in and the last traces of light faded from the skies the rescue workers gathered under canvas tents for a quick meal before crashing for the night.
Peter sat numbly on one of the benches, still in his mud-caked costumed, barely aware of the steaming bowl Ronin had put in front of him. Later, when the aerial rescue team trooped in, Harley and Rhodes took the spots on either side of Peter.
"There wasn't anything you could have done better," Rhodes said putting a comforting hand on Peter's shoulder. "You stayed, which frankly I wish you hadn't, you got everyone you could out of that building. Even as it was collapsing you were still thinking about saving lives. You were swept nearly a quarter mile downstream, that you managed to keep ahold of her through all that was amazing. There wasn't anything more you could have done to save her and I'm just glad we got you back in one piece."
"Does anyone know what her name was?" Peter asked.
"Not yet. Right now the priority's still on the living," Rhodes said. He looked Peter over carefully, "I want you and Harley bunking with me tonight. I need to see how you sleep and have a talk without the mask before we decide if you're going out again in the morning."
"Don't send me home!" Peter exclaimed. "I can still help!"
"I know you can and it might be the best thing for you but I need to make sure your head's still in the game," Rhodes said.
Harley, not knowing what to say, superstitiously edged closer to Peter until he was all but leaning against the older boy's side in an effort to provide comfort.
During the night the rain tapered off and the next day dawned clear. Walking out of their tents high on the steep hills above the city the rescuers looked out over a sea of devastation. The floodplain where the city had stood was completely inundated. Here and there a few of the more solidly constructed, luckier buildings remained standing but most of the city was lost.
"We've got reports of people buried by mudslides inland," Maria Hill announced as she grabbed a coffee and joined the assembled Avengers.
"Send me," Wasp said. "My bugs and I are the best equipped for that sort of search." With a resolute look she added, "Time is an issue and it would go faster with a second swarm, is there any way we can get Scott Lang in the field? Have Hank put a tracker on his suit or a remote disable, something I don't care, but recognize that he can help."
"He did turn himself in, that speaks in his favor," Hill allowed. "I'll talk to Ross about seeing if we can spring him for a little community service." She turned to Rhodes, "Speaking of the director, he's wanting a word with you Colonel."
Rhodes nodded, they finished strategizing for the day then he put the call through as soon as he was in the air. "Director Ross?"
"What were you thinking!" Everett exclaimed. "I've got reports Spider-Man nearly died yesterday and I hear you've got another kid even younger in the field!"
"The other boy is in the Iron Man armor, under these conditions he's safer here than on a school bus," Rhodes said.
"And Spider-Man?"
"This is in his range," Rhodes said. "He did good yesterday, nearly a hundred lives attributed directly to his actions. And yes, there was a dicey part but he got himself out of it and I've spoken to him about taking more care in the future."
"A six-year-old died in his arms. I want you to send him home and I want some sort of review to see how badly you scarred him," Ross insisted.
"Respectfully, I don't think that's the best response," Rhodes argued. "In my opinion he's coping. I wish it hadn't happened but sending him home while the crisis is still on would compound the damage. I think the best thing for him at this point is to go home knowing he did everything possible to save lives down here and he is saving people Director."
"But at what cost?" Everett asked.
"Call Samson," Rhodes offered. "Spider-Man talks to him twice a month, let him make the final call. If he thinks it's best for Spidey to go home I'll pull the kid. But I don't think he will. Spidey's got a better head on his shoulders than most people twice his age."
"Don't think I won't," Everett threatened. "And if the doctor doesn't agree with your assessment I want both those boys on the next plane to New York."
"Yes sir," Rhodes agreed. Then he fell back into formation with Captain. Marvel, Iron Man and a half dozen of the OsCorp gliders. Each of them carried a non-flying Avenger or one of the more skilled trainees as a passenger.
In a remote facility in Nevada the four renegade Avengers watched warily as Director Everett Ross stormed into their common area. "Lang!" Ross exclaimed. "Van Dyne thinks you won't just run away if we let you out of here for a few days to help us save some lives."
Scott jumped up and came over with Steve, Clint and Sam following right behind him. "What's going on?" he asked.
"You might have seen the news about the disaster in Venezuela? We've got massive flooding, people washed out to sea, miles of mudslides. Three cities and over a dozen towns devastated and the part of the state that isn't under water or mud is without power or potable water and cut off from most forms of transportation," Everett explained. "Van Dyne's using her ants to scout anywhere we've got a hint of life under the rubble but she says she could cover more ground with your help."
"I'll do it!" Scott exclaimed.
"We're putting a kill switch on your suit and a tracking device, you step one inch out of line and you'll be back here so fast your head will spin!" Everett threatened, "With another escape attempt added to your sentence."
"Not a problem," Scott agreed readily.
"We could all help," Steve pointed out.
Everett shrugged, "Yeah, you could help but it's not worth the risk of turning you loose. I've got plenty of strong men, frankly Danvers and Vision outclass you by a large margin." He turned to Sam, "With the OsCorp gliders we've got enough fliers," then Clint, "and I wouldn't know what to do with an archer if I had one."
"I'm trained in pararescue," Sam reminded and Everett stopped. Fully trained rescue personnel were not something he had an excess of.
Ten minutes later Everett led Scott and Sam up to the roof of the prison where he had a helicopter waiting. "Dr. Pym's waiting with your suit in San Francisco," he told Scott. "And I'll have the Falcon gear shipped to Vargas. There will be a kill switch on both suits." He glared at Sam, "Don't think I won't use it! Drop you right out of the sky if you try anything!"
Sam rolled his eyes, "Given what you described I'm going to be too busy working to 'try anything'."
Once they were in the air Sam put a hand on Scott's arm, "This isn't going to be like a battle," he said quietly. "At Leipzig everyone there could look out for themselves and be trusted not to lose their heads when things got dicey. Here, you're going to be surround by hurt scared people, you can't count on them doing the smart or sensible thing. Have you ever taken First Aid?"
"I took a class when Cassie was born," Scott said.
"Better than nothing," Sam said. "Mostly you're going to need to step lightly. You've got abilities no one else has but you're far from the expert when it comes to search and rescue. Listen and follow instructions."
The helicopter landed on the roof of Pym Technologies, Hank was already waiting for them. He glanced Sam over and frowned upon recognizing the man as the one most likely to have gotten Scott involved in the Avengers' Civil War but he gave Scott a grudging smile. "You've got work to do Lang," he said handing over the Ant-Man suit. "Listen sharp, it's going to be tempting to shrink people stuck under the rubble to get them out. Don't. The suit is designed to shield you from the side effects but your daughter's pet ant is the only living thing that's ever had Pym particles used on without the suit's shielding and I can't get that thing back to it's proper size. We don't to end up with a bunch of permanently miniaturized people so don't even consider using the particle disk on anyone," Hank continued while Scott suited up. "You're primary goal is to search people out and gather data so other rescue workers can get to them with minimum fuss but I have preshrunk stabilizer gear and had the ants pack it for you in case you need to shore up the rubble. You and Hope will both be relaying data back to me and I'll guide you from here. Don't get too creative."
"Thanks for giving me another chance," Scott said. "I won't screw it up."
"You better not," Hank said gruffly. "Your daughters' going to be watching. And by the way, she's a better assistant than you ever were."
"Cuter too," Scott agreed easily.
Hank handed over a specially designed suitcase, "Here's your swarm, flying ants with video equipment for data collection."
"I'll take good care of them," Scott promised.
"Take care of yourself," Hank said as Everett pointed Scott and Sam to a waiting quinjet. From San Francisco they flew directly to the disaster site. Sam's wings were waiting there along with Maria Hill. She eyed the two renegades disapprovingly. "Lang, there's a team waiting for you up river. Wilson you're under my command, try to remember how that works."
Scott nodded, he opened the briefcase then smiled as one of the ants flew up to perch on his hand. "Ant-ony VI, you remember me!" he said then shrank down and mounted up for the last leg of the trip. Twenty minutes later Ant-Man was on the job zooming through small cracks in the rubble along with the rest of his swarm, Hope and Hank's voices on the comm as the three of them coordinated efforts. To Scott it was like he'd only been half-alive for the last few months while he'd been without the suit, sitting in prison helpless to do anything worthwhile.
"There are heat sources twenty feet northwest of your current position," Hank said and Scott directed the swarm to break-up, he had each ant pick a different path for more comprehensive data collection. Back in San Francisco Scott knew the data flowing in was massive as each ant sent back images and telemetry for Hank to collate and scale into a map of the collapse. Then he was through, there were three people huddled in the shelter of a standing wall, the far wall had collapsed and the roof leaned over their heads at an angle, there was a crack across the width of it which threatened to give way at any moment. Scott popped back to full sized and the trio flinched away from his light after days trapped in the dark. Their faces were hollowed and pinched looking and they barely seemed to know how to respond to his sudden appearance. "We're gonna get you out," Scott assured them. He handed over his canteen and the few snack bars he'd stashed in his pouch before joining the rescue. "You're going to have to sit tight for a little longer while some friends of mine map out the the best way to go, okay?"
"Scott," Hank barked over the comm. "Enough lollygagging. Hope's already been at work for thirteen hours, you've got a lot of catching up to do."
"That's my cue," Scott said. "I'm gonna go ahead and do some road clearing then you'll be out of here." He leaned over and patted the first person on the hand then shrank down.
"Five feet to your left," Hank ordered.
Scott jumped on board his favorite flying ant and flew through the maze of cracked concrete and broken timbers. "I see it," he said spotting a precariously balanced slab of rock. He pulled out several jacks that were shrunk even in proportion to his ant-sized self. He placed them carefully then enlarged them until they'd levered up the slab and stabilized the area.
"Eight feet ahead," Hank ordered and Scott scurried to obey.
Ant-ony VI flew around an overturned bedframe and past a wardrobe that was supporting what was left of the ceiling then landed. Scott dismounted and squeezed beneath the debris where the ceiling had collapsed completely. He pulled himself up using the knob on a busted dress drawer then shoved his way through a pile of destroy plaster board. He caught a piece of fabric and pulled himself up, intent on reaching the next spot Hank had identified as likely to cause further collapse as rescuers dug their way down. Under his feet the fabric turned wet and slippery, Scott stumbled and caught himself on a jagged white spar only to realized it was the broken end of a rib. For several moments it was all Scott could do not to vomit as he found himself clammering over a half buried human corpse.
"What's the hold up? You're almost in position," Hank snapped.
Scott shook his head. "On it," he said grimly. He took a deep breath then, using a seam in the body's shirt for a hand hold he climbed down the other side and kept going.
After another ten hours and three more rescues Hope grabbed Scott and took him back to the base-camp for meal and some sleep. "There were so many bodies," Scott said.
Hope took a second look and saw he was pale and shaken beneath the dirt he accumulated over the course of the day. "Come on," she said. Once they'd filled their trays she lead him over to sit at a table near Spider-Man. As they ate Scott realized that a number of the more experienced rescue workers were making a point of stopping by and talking to the young hero about their experiences when their best hadn't been enough and how they'd moved past it to keep doing the job.
"He lost a kid yesterday," Hope explained quietly. Scott studied the younger hero, Spider-Man's shoulders were hunched defensively even against the other rescuer's offers of comfort and while his mask was shoved up to allow him to eat he only remembered to put food in his mouth sporadically, mostly at the urging of the brown haired boy plastered to his side.
During a lull between people stopping by to check on Spider-Man Scott got up and walked over, "Um- hi," he said. "This is probably a crappy time but I figured I'm here and you're here and if I don't say it now next time will be even more awkward, plus it'll probably be for years from now. So um- I'm sorry about Leipzig. I didn't have a good reason for being there."
Spider-Man blinked up at him while Harley glared.
"Yeah, I know. 'Who are you?' I'm Ant-Man, Scott Lang, the big guy you took down at Leipzig," Scott said ruefully. "I wish I'd remembered that we were all good guys out there and fought that differently. So again, sorry."
"Shouldn't you be in jail?" the Harley demanded hatefully.
"They let me out to help," Scott said. "I'll have to go back once we're done here. You know, I think this is harder than any heroing I've ever done."
"Yeah," Spidey agreed. "I've never felt so inadequate before."
"Well, I can't say that, unfortunately," Scott admitted thinking of his daughter and the ways he'd failed her over and over again. "But, I know exactly what you mean."
When the rescue workers hit forty-eight hours without finding anything but bodies, Rhodes ordered Peter and Harley home. The two boys arrived back at the tower, dead on their feet and wearing what felt like pounds of dirt. May, Marlena, Mercedes, Pepper and Nettie met them at the hanger.
"Harley!" Mercedes shrieked as her brother unexpectedly wrapped her in a hug the moment he saw her without a single thought to the mud and clay covering him.
"Just glad to see you, sis," Harley sighed, not letting go even as she squirmed.
After a moment it hit Mercedes that her brother wasn't just trying to get her dirty and she stopped struggling, wrapping her arms around him in turn, "Glad you're back even if you do stink," she said as their mother joined the hug.
"I've gotta go shower," Peter said as he evaded May's attempt to hug him.
May traded a worried look with Pepper, "Well, maybe dinner will help?" Pepper offered uncertainly. "Group dinner."
May followed Peter back to their rooms, "We're having pizza," she called through the door as he went to change. "Should I order your usual?"
"Yeah, thanks," Peter called back after several moments.
To everyone's surprise Captain Stacy showed up with the pizzas, "Just wanted to see you back with my own eyes," he told Peter. "I read the reports, you did a lot of good work there." He glanced over at Harley, "You too."
"Thank you," Peter replied dutifully.
"Nature's bigger than any of us," Stacy said with sympathy in his eyes. "I know how easy it is to fixate on the losses but you did great."
Peter nodded then helped to carry the pizzas inside. "Have you called Cassie lately?" he asked Mercedes after they'd eaten.
Mercedes looked confused. "Why don't you vid-call her?" Marlena suggested looking at Peter.
"Yeah sure," Mercedes agreed.
When the call connected they discovered Cassie bouncing around excitedly. "My dad's helping people again!" she exclaimed. "And Dr. Hank says I'm his assistant so I can come with him when he goes to get the suit back! I get to see Daddy for a little!"
As he listened to the last of the kids in his circle chattering happily a measure of tension went out of Peter's shoulders. "I'm going to crash," he declared after several minutes.
May made her excuses as well. After Peter had gone to bed she started a pot of coffee and settled in to wait. About three hours later Peter stumbled out of bed and dropped onto the couch, burying his head in his hands. May sat down beside him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him against her. "I couldn't save her," Peter said. "I didn't even know her name but she was just tiny, like Mercedes or Cassie."
"I know," May replied quietly. "But you did everything you could. You have to let her go."
"I was right there, why couldn't I save her?"
May squeezed him tighter and, finally, Peter let himself cry. "It doesn't feel like it now but you're going to be okay," May promised rubbing circles into his back. "You're going to be okay."