Ned was fidgety. It had been half an hour since the first bomb went off and about twenty minutes since he last saw Peter. Cap could only give him so much information about what was happening.
"You can't stay here son. I know you're Peter's friend and you're worried but you need to get on that bus with your classmates and get to somewhere safe. Buck and Sam will find him."
When he saw Bucky race passed Cap saying something about a car, it hit him that Peter had been taken. His friend had been kidnapped by the bomber.
"He- he doesn't have his suit, or even his shooters…" He looked around. Students were still filing out from the school. He looked towards their feet and saw a bag getting kicked around. He pushed his way through the crowd and against the traffic to retrieve it before joining Cap once again. "If-if we can get him is bag then-"
"Ned." Steve's voice was unbearably soft. "Hold onto that for him. I swear to you that we'll get him back. Do you understand?" He offered a small nod. "Then I need you to get on the bus and get to a safe place, for your sake and his. Do you know what he'd do to me if he figured out I let his best friend deliberately stay in a dangerous position?"
That caused Ned to smirk slightly. "Probably do more than just take your shield."
Cap nodded, a little surprised that he knew about that. "I would prefer if that didn't have to happen again, so please- get on the bus."
Ned gave him another nod and hesitantly filed back into the river of students.
That happened twenty minutes ago and he still heard nothing. The buses had taken them to one of the nearby colleges where parents could pick them up. Ned had been sitting on the ground with dozens of other students, still clutching Peter's bag when his phone buzzed. He half expected it to be Peter himself telling him he was fine but when he looked at his screen he saw notifications from nearly every social media site and news station he followed.
BOMBER ON BRIDGE TAKES HOSTAGE
HIGH SCHOOL BOY IN DANGER
AVENGERS ATTEMPT TO SAVE HOSTAGE
Ned's stomach was doing flips as he clicked on one of them, sending him to a video of a bridge blowing up. Another link sent him to a crude live feed from someone's phone on the bridge.
"I can't believe this is actually happening." The voice puffed in the background. "Holy shit."
He watched as it panned between the four Avengers currently on the bridge and Peter and his kidnapper. He watched as the kidnapper hoisted Peter up and carried him to the side of the bridge.
"No fucking way dude. He's not actually gonna do it-" The voice cut off into a yell as Peter went over the side.
Ned almost threw up. His friend had been bound in chains and tossed over the side of a bridge like a trash bag getting thrown into a truck. He watched through the shaky camera footage as one of the Avengers- Falcon it was- threw his wings to the ground and charged forward while Sargent Barnes leapt over the side after Peter.
"Yeah! Get him. Get the asshole!"
"You got this Avengers!"
"Bet the shit out of him!"
The yelling in the background of the video consisted of several onlookers yelling for justice against the bomber and cheering as Sam began to beat the ever living shit out of him. The camera was turned back towards the side of the bridge and the person holding it seemed to get to the edge.
"Come on! You can do it!"
The yelling from the few seconds prior turned into shouting as the camera panned down either side of the bridge; it was littered with people shouting some sort of encouraging words at the water, willing for the two submerged people to surface again.
It was perhaps the longest minute in his life. Ned watched the shaky video, almost chanting along with the people before two heads finally popped up from the water and began swimming towards the shore.
"Yes!"
"Whooooooa!"
"The Avengers rock!"
"Oh shit!"
The camera suddenly spun to see Ironman take a step before firing up His boosters and flying towards the water. It then panned up to a helicopter, a policeman or someone shouting orders for all persons to make their way to the left side of the bridge. The last thing that was seen before the feed was cut was Captain America jumping from it and landing on the ground.
Ned let out a breath of relief. They had gotten him just like Cap said. Peter was safe, at least he hoped. Who knew what kind of injuries he had received from the ordeal. It was another few minutes before Ned's mom arrived. Mrs. Leeds was hysterical when she found Ned, trying to comfort him from the general things that had happened but mainly because she saw him friend had been the hostage.
"He'll be okay. He's a strong boy; the Avengers will make sure nothing happens to him."
Of course he would be. He was freaking Spiderman for crying out loud… but in those moments he wasn't. He was Peter Parker, an insanity smart and kind boy from Midtown High. He was a hostage in those moments and somehow that terrified Ned more than any super villain would.
In that moment his phone buzzed and he hoped it was a notification from another live video but it was a call from an unknown number. He answered it hesitantly. "Hello?"
"Hey Ned." Peter's voice was like music to his ears. "You doing okay?"
"Wh- Peter! Am I doing okay?" Ned practically yelled. "You're the one that just got dropped into a river after being held hostage and you're asking if I'm okay?"
"You saw all of that?"
"Yeah. Someone on the bridge was filming everything."
"Well there goes me wanting to keep a low profile." He could practically see Peter rolling his eyes. "Cap said you're looking after my stuff for me."
Ned patted the bag in his hands. "Yeah. I was able to get your bag and, uh, all your things are there. I checked to make sure."
"All right, thanks a lot for that. Don't know what would happen if someone else had found it."
"Come on kid. I told Aunt Hottie we'd meet her." He heard Tony say in the background.
"Yeah, yeah okay. Hey do you wanna stop by later? I'll give you a first hand interview on what happened and I don't think May will let me set foot out of the house ever again."
Ned laughed. "Okay. I'll bring your stuff by tonight."
"Thanks again Ned. You're the best."
AVENGERS
It was a few hours later that Ned found himself on Peter's doorstep. He didn't know why but it felt like his heart was in his throat, suddenly terrified at what he'd see behind the door. He knocked and a moment later May opened the door.
"Hello Ned." She lead the boy in and gave him a hug. "How have you been?"
"I'm all right Mrs. Parker, all things considered." He answered truthfully.
"I'm just glad you're not hurt. Peter though, I swear he'll be the death of me. He's in his room right now. Go see him. I'm sure he'll be glad to see you."
"Thanks Mrs. Parker." With that Ned made his way to Peter's room, knocking before entering. When the door opened he saw Peter sitting at his desk on his computer, a brace on his left wrist.
"Hey Ned." Peter turned to him giving him a small smile.
"Hey Pete. I, uh, I brought your things." He handed the bag over to his friend who looks through it. "Are you okay?"
He nodded. "I'm fine. My wrist was bruised and dislocated but that's really the worst of it. Gotta wear this stupid thing for a while." He held his hand up for emphasis. "Other than that I'm just a bit bruised. How about you? Steve said he was ready to force you on a bus if he had to."
"No way. He wouldn't really do that would he? To think I was so close to being man handled by Captain America." Peter let out a chuckle. "But I guess good; still a little shaken by everything but good." A smile crept onto his face. "So what happened? I saw everything prior to you surfacing from the river but that's really it. The news didn't really say that much either, only that the school would be closed after the attack and that you had been saved and the guy got taken away. Who was he anyways?"
"Mr. Stark said he was an old employee who had been fired after they found him stealing research and tech. Apparently he'd been spending his parole time developing EMPs specifically designed for Mr. Stark's suit from the stolen data."
"So that's what happened on the bridge. May's still all right with you doing your internship after finding out your were taken because of a personal grudge?"
"May doesn't know it was because of a personal grudge. No one does except you and the Avengers. Mr. Stark told May and the media that I was a victim of opportunity after idiotically trying to save another student from being kidnapped; told everyone my selflessness and stupid idea of heroism and bravery probably stopped the situation from escalating even further." He smiled and shook his head. "He also said if he finds out anyone hassled me for an interview that he'd personally ruin their career."
"That doesn't include me right? I didn't ask for this, you offered. Are you trying to set me up?" Ned squinted at him.
"Heh, no you're fine. You're pretty much the only person I'm allowed to tell these things to anyways."
"It's good to know I'm safe from his wrath." Ned's face was blank before a laugh escape his mouth. "Did you really say Mr. Stark, help? Going to change your job description to damsel in distress?"
"Hey I thought I did a pretty good job of acting like a normal scared kidnapped then held hostage high schooler. What was I supposed to do with all those eyes on me?"
"Oh Ironman! My hero!" Ned teased. Peter burst out laughing at his impression.
The two stayed in his room until May called them for dinner. The day had been hectic, to put it mildly, for both the teens. Being able to sit down and eat together, joking about the whole thing was a welcomed change of pace. Ned spared a glance at Peter.
Yeah. He wouldn't give up the hectic life he had for anything.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm...
Yeah, this wasn't supposed to happen but after a very lovely review, coughLoonycough, I figured I could give you another short little chapter depicting Ned's view of everything. I think it turned out nice and had a good time writing it. BUT this is it. No more. The story's over now.
Hope ya liked it. See ya in the next one!