The shackles were cold against Peter's skin. While his mind was on the frigid feeling of the cuffs, it started to wander to how cold he truly felt. The concrete was slightly damp from an obviously busted pipe in the ceiling, leaking rusty, moldy water onto the floor of the unfinished basement. He knew he was weaker because of the lower temperatures in the room. It's November in New York, what can you do? There's a light snow outside and the cold weather already weakens Peter even when he's not shirtless on a cold, damp, concrete floor in an unfinished house that has no heating in it, yet. And with everything Peter had been through, with how many times he'd been kidnapped, tortured, beaten, drugged, poisoned and the lot, he'd never had an experience like this one. The odd "good cop, bad cop, even worse cop" thing was a particularly weird aspect of the whole ordeal. The past four days have been Hell but he never lost hope of one thing: The Avengers would find him.
"You need to eat something, baby," Estelle kept a lighter tone for Peter's sake, but it remained firm, establishing her point. For the past four days, she'd been giving him the same exact thing. Two chicken strips and one potato, cut up and roasted. Was this the only thing she knew how to make or was it some kind of tactic that one of the others insisted on? He knew it wouldn't be enough food, anyway, given his increased metabolism. He kept refusing the plate, regardless of the attempts made by his captor. His kindest and most empathetic captor, sure, but captor nonetheless. He'd eaten on the second day, because he couldn't take the hunger, but it barely tamed the beast his stomach was becoming. The noises it made were audible to the entire room.
"I'm not your baby. I don't want food. I just want to go home," Peter wanted to keep a defiant facade, but he was just too scared.
"You need to keep your strength up," Estelle insisted, pushing her long, dark, shiny hair out of her way, exposing her pale skin to Peter. To him, she looked like a ghost. One that was keeping him from his unconventional family: the Avengers, May and Ned. He would have given anything to go to school. To challenge his brain in a way that didn't end with him losing his life or getting injured if he failed, hell, to even experience the torment that Flash put him through. His thoughts were interrupted with a rough, intimidating woman's voice.
"If he doesn't want to eat, then he won't eat. Let him starve," The other woman's voice was stern and irritated. She pulled her hair into a ponytail, the brighter red strands in contrast with the darkness and gloomy feeling the room brought. She stared Peter down with a terrifying gaze. He leaned back a little, his chains making noise with every minute movement. "You've seen how he's been."
"Why are you doing this? Why can't you just let me go?" Peter's voice shook as he spoke. His body trembled partially from his suit's failed attempt to keep him warm and his fear, as he was on the verge of tears. "My family… the Avengers… are looking for me, right now. So, why don't you let me go? They won't find you. I won't tell them who you are, I promise."
"Because you belong to us, now, honey. Just ignore her. You know how Gena is. Grumpy, grumpy, grumpy!" The cheery tone was like fingernails to a chalkboard for Peter, and it was evident they were going to ignore the whole "the Avengers are looking for me" thing.
An old German man groaned, walking into the basement, down the creaking stairs. For some reason, he never spoke, but he didn't need to. His presence said, "Fear me." and his face said, "I'll kill you if you look at me just right." Every time he was in the room, Peter felt more scared than when he was just with Estelle or Gena.
"Please just let me go. I'm nothing to you. I'm useless," Peter leaned forward, almost standing up.
"Getting brave are we?" Gena noted his sudden sliver of courage, while begging. She tightened his chains and cut the top of the suit, exposing his arms and torso to the cold room. He shivered and whimpered as he felt the weakness in his body growing. "Let's go. Let him get some sleep before tomorrow. He's gonna need all the rest he can get," Gena gave Peter back the slack in his restraints and walked away with the old man, smiling. Peter watched the two leave, and shivered while he curled his limbs as close to his chest as he could, as his wrists were chained to opposite walls. He was happy to see them go, but didn't enjoy the idea of being alone with Estelle. But if he had to pick any of the three to be alone with, it was the kinder one.
"What does that mean? Why can't you just let me go?" Peter held his wrists up where the reinforced chains were. "You can take these off and I can leave. I won't tell anyone what happened, but I need you to let me go. Please."
"Come on, Estelle!" Gena peered her head into the room.
"I can't let you go, honey. Just get some rest before tomorrow." She set the plate of food on the floor next to Peter and left.
He sat for a few minutes, thinking about what "tomorrow" was. What were they gonna do? Why was it so important to Gena? If the past few days have indicated anything, it's that she doesn't care about anything. Whatever it was, he didn't want to stick around to find out because it was most-likely gonna end really bad for him. With every terrifying thought, his breathing elevated, which caused him to truly experience the smell of the mold, dust and rust around the room, his heightened senses taking it all in. He desperately yanked at the chains, pulling as hard as he could, even going as far as to tear the skin a little. A small amount of blood flowed down his wrists in tiny rivulets, dropping to the floor and dyeing the bare concrete red. As he pulled harder on the chains, making his wounds worse and the blood flow faster, he kicked at the chain links connecting his cuffs to the wall, hearing them creak and feeling them crush under his foot. He started to make progress before the door swung open and Gena came barreling in with a large needle in her hand.
Peter quickly tried crawling into the corner of the room to get away, but when he did, he felt his arm jerk back, nearly coming out of its socket. He knew good and well that he would dislocate his shoulder if he struggled too hard against the restraints, but he wanted nothing more than to get as far from this threat as he could. He kicked towards her, missing entirely, in his blind fit of fear.
"They'll find me!" Peter's voice was strained and it was heard throughout the house. "The Avengers will find me!" She jammed the needle deep into his arm, injecting every bit of the medication into him as he fought against her, the chains only making it more difficult. When she took the needle out, she quickly stumbled back, getting as far out of his reach as she could, as he started reaching out towards her, trying to fight, but he slowly felt himself slipping into the darkness.
"They'll find me." His words were barely audible and like an old film being burned, the blackness surrounded his vision, swallowing up the light, his sight fading into darkness.
"Okay, I get that Peter needs some me-time, but this is getting ridiculous. It's almost been a week! 5 days!" Tony turned to Bucky who shrugged and continued to shove a burger into his mouth.
"Just call her. She'd probably be happy for him to come up here and spend a little-dammit, Buck, you're inhaling the food-a little time to herself. Some May-time, if you will." Steve looked over to Tony, who was standing on the opposite side of the bar from the two super soldiers.
"Yeah, he's probably just screwing around with the dude he hangs out with who likes to touch my metal arm. Good kid, but I don't really like him as much as Peter. Can't spar very well. Or he's with the beautiful Auntie Underoos." Bucky's voice was muffled by the burger but still relatively easy to make out.
"Okay I'm going to try and look past the fact you tried to spar with Ned, an untrained combatant, if you can even call him that, and the fact that you just gave a really weird nickname to Peter's aunt..." Steve eyed Bucky down, then turned back to Tony. "But he's right. He's probably spending time with Ned or May. If he's with Ned, then you know the both of them would love to come up here. Just call."
"Damn right I'm gonna call. The kid needs to train. It's been way too long. Friday, call May." Tony set his hands on the marble surface of the kitchen counter tops and waited for "Auntie Underoos" to pick up.
"Tony! Your timing is fantastic! I was just about to call you." May was almost loud, over the compound's speakers, but everyone seemed to enjoy her voice so it wasn't a problem.
"Really? Why?" Tony's face creased in confusion.
"I was just going to see how Peter was doing. I mean, nearly a week at the Avengers compound? It's a long time, so I was just looking to see if he was having fun. That's why-" Her sentence was cut off by Tony's fantic voice.
"You haven't seen him, either?" Tony's heart rate started to elevate with every word May said.
"You haven't seen him?" May's pacing was audible to the Avengers. "Friday, please add Ned to the call." Her voice shook.
"Right away, Ms. Parker." The AI took only a moment.
"Hey, Mr. Stark! Hey, Aunt May! Can I come see Peter? A week is a really long time and I really miss hi-" He was interrupted by both, practically, co-parents.
"You haven't seen him, either?!" The two, in unison.
"N-no? I thought he was with one of you…" Ned became just as worried as everyone else and it was now becoming clear that Peter was missing.
"Friday, get me a location on Peter's suit tracker, now!" Tony's voice was uncharacteristically harsh towards the AI. Luckily, she didn't have feelings. Steve and Bucky took that as their cue to suit up. Friday had already taken the liberty of sending Tony's armor through the compound to make contact with his body, gearing him up to look for his youngest Avenger.
"Wake up, honey," Estelle took the plate and set it closer to the door, out from Peter's reach, taking note of the fact that he'd eaten all of the food. He'd practically licked the plate. She could still hear his stomach growling. He'd been there for days and they'd been feeding him like a normal human instead of a superhuman with enhanced body function. Not on purpose, of course, Estelle wouldn't do that. But they really didn't know much about Peter-slash-Spider-Man other than the fact that he had super strength and he could heal very fast.
The darkness is suddenly gone as a flood of light comes rushing towards his eyes. The flashlight is removed and he can see the room is not as dark as it once was. He feels his chains getting tighter and his arms stretching out on either side of him, restricting his movement. With the tightening, he feels himself being lifted, bringing him to his knees, his chin resting on his chest. The cold cuffs cut through his raw wounds, reopening them. His whimpers were audible throughout the room.
"Today is the big day," Gena grabbed him by the chin, lifting his head to show his face. His eyes were barely open, yet scanning the room as best he could. Nothing seemed different, aside from the brighter lighting. "I've been waiting to do this ever since we got you. Five days too long, if you ask me. But day six? Day six is my favorite, so far."
"What...what does...th-mean?" Peter's words slurred as he tried to fully focus his eyes on at least one thing. Gena released her grip on his chin and it fell, nearly hitting his chest. His head felt like large weights, while he tried lifting it to get a better view of his surroundings. Maybe he shouldn't have, because what he saw sent a jolt of fear throughout his entire body sending his heart rate through the roof.
Before his mind could even attempt to process what was going on, he felt a burning, sharp pain in his forearm. He looked over to see Gena cutting through his skin, blood seeping through. He let out a strangled scream, trying to pull away, with no success. When she finished, she set the knife back on the large table with multiple utensils and sat in a folding chair straight in front of him, staring at his wound.
"What...what'r-what're you...doing?" Peter panted, slowly lifting his heavy head to see the woman's unfaltering gaze to his still-bleeding, but healing, cut. "Why?"
"Why what?" She knew exactly what he was asking, she just wanted to hear him say it and he knew that, but he hadn't the energy to truly think it through.
"Why? Why're you...doing this?" His words were slow but his mind was now racing with thoughts of escape and the torture he was about to face.
"I want to see how you heal. I want to see how your abilities work," She crossed her arms, watching while his wound slowly close and the bleeding slowed.
"Please… Please let me go," Peter's voice was weak and small, but his tone brought the slightest guilt to the stoic woman.
"You know I can't do that," Seeing his wound was fully healed, she grabbed a larger knife from the table and stood, walked over to Peter, and took his chin in her hand, once more. The two made eye contact, sending a shiver down his spine. "I want to know how you work. I want to know how your body works. Because of that, I have no choice. Morbid curiosity, I guess. I've waited for the past five days while I watched Estelle baby you and try to get you to eat. Day two was fantastic, and all but she's just too empathetic for my taste. I guess I'm still getting what I want so..." She slowly pushed the large knife into his stomach, carefully avoiding any organs, but relishing in his screams and the feeling of the flesh and muscle being moved away from the weapon. Peter's screams could be heard from the empty street. That is, if there was anyone there to hear it. Maybe there was.
"I heard something," Bucky's warm voice and good news immediately attracted Tony's attention. Steve ran towards the super soldier, Tony following close behind.
"What was it?" Tony inched closer to Bucky, hoping to hear something good.
"I think it was a scream. But with all of these houses, I can't be sure which it came from." Bucky was sympathetic with Tony, and his mind was on Peter and what he could have been going through.
"We'll do a door to door. We're searching all of these houses on this street… hell, on the whole block! We're finding Peter!" Tony's voice was loud and threatening, but Bucky didn't mind, knowing he was only worried.
"Scream all you want, Spider-Man. No one lives on this street right now. Every house is still under construction and it's been delayed. No one will be able to hear you," Gena's voice was nearly a laugh, feeling like a jab in the heart to Peter. He was still breathing heavily from the knife in his side, as he could feel his body trying to heal around the weapon, making it even more painful. Tears flowed freely and whimpers were inevitable.
"Please, at least take it out," Peter's voice was shaking, every word was painful, causing his stomach to move, bringing the knife along with the movement.
"I guess I can do that," Gena walked back towards him, unsheathing the knife from his stomach. His gasp was loud but the feeling was welcome, given the alternative. She slowly and dramatically walked over towards the table and set the knife down. She turned towards him, eyeing his hand that was fisted in the shackles. His worry grew when he saw the gears turning in her head. Her pace was steady and her eyes were fixed on his fingers.
"What...what are you doing?" His voice started to slur while the cold, exhaustion and pain threatened to pull him out of consciousness.
"I haven't broken anything, yet. I was going to do your arm but I thought I'd just go for the finger so I wouldn't cause you too much pain." Gena grabbed him by the shackle, and uncurled his weak fingers, breaking his index with a loud, strangled scream. He struggled against his restraints, then he felt it. The muscles giving way as his bones shifted. He'd dislocated his shoulder. Another scream rang through the air, clearly audible outside. He couldn't do it anymore. He couldn't stay awake. His head hit his chest, eyes closed, and falling into the welcoming darkness.
"Do you hear that?" Bucky eyed a specific house, running towards the door. Tony and Steve quickly followed suit and Tony aimed his palm to the large door, blowing it back through the unfinished house.
"Peter! Peter, yell if you can hear me!" Tony's lungs were strained as he yelled as hard as he could. His desperation was growing stronger to find the spider.
"Dammit," Gena noted the Avengers' presences. Estelle and the old German man stood from their seats in the corner of the room, readying to fight. "Leave him here. He's dying, anyway. The second wound doesn't seem to be closing as fast as I thought it would."
"You went too deep. He's gonna die," Estelle rushed towards Peter, grabbing his pale cheeks, the loss of blood making him even paler.
"I said leave him. Let's get out before they get here," Gena grabbed her gun from her holster and the captors ran around to the opposite stairwell from the one where the Avengers were currently moving down.
"Peter!" Tony jumped past the rest of the steps to the floor, quickly getting to his cross-tied kid. "Answer me, Pete." While Steve and Bucky cleared the house, Tony told Friday to call for the med team.
'"Please." Peter's voice was breathy and weak. "Please...let me go" Every word felt like it was choking Tony. "They'll find me." Tears threatened to show themselves across Tony's face but he skillfully used his experience and held them back. The two ridiculously gorgeous super soldiers entered into the room once more.
"House is clear. We sent tac teams out to look for them. We're gonna give them this camera, here, on the wall," Steve picked it up before it was quickly yanked out of his hands and into Tony's grasp.
"Friday, download the video to the compound's servers. How long is that damn medical team gonna take?" Tony's voice was stern and full of worry and emotion.
Minutes felt like hours, but when the medical team arrived, all Hell broke loose. The basement room was flooded with personnel. Steve and Bucky had already left the room, giving the medics space to work on Peter, but Tony refused. He had to stay.
"Dislocated shoulder, broken left index finger, stab wound in the lower left stomach, nearly-healed abrasions on both wrists, and medium cut on the right forearm. Possible drugging." Every word threatened to send Tony into a panic attack..
"I'm right here, Pete. I'm not leaving you." Tony's emotions nearly swallowed him whole, while he watched Peter being cut from his chains. He could see where Peter had been fighting against them, when he noticed his wrists were mildly bleeding. He also noticed the bent chain links connected to the wall.
Peter's shoulder was popped back into place, and a sling was there in seconds. His finger was set, and they began to lift him onto the gurney, to roll him outside to the Aven-jet. Tony followed closely behind, walking in, almost stepping over one of the medic's heels. Two of the medics remained by Peter's gurney-side while the others went to the back of the jet, allowing Tony, Steve and Bucky to sit next to the young spider.
"We're right here, Peter. We're not leaving you."