WOW this chapter took a long time. I haven't updated in a month or so! Sorry for the wait!

I've been caught up with life and I struggled with lack of enthusiasm.

But things are heating up! MWAHAHAHAA!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer:

I do not own the Avengers movies, the Marvel franchise, or any of the characters. That all belongs to Marvel Studios. Everything to Marvel Studios. Any added dialogue, plots, or characters are mine, but nothing else. I don't own it.

Chapter Thirty-Six - Mouse Trap

The hotel bulbs shudder above me and I exchange a worried glance with Ned.

"What's going on, man?"

"I don't know." The ceiling trembles.

Ned and I rush to the door, peeking out. Other doors open and my classmates stick their heads out, curious to uncover the recent occurrence. Murmurs ripple through the students as the whirring and footsteps from the end of the hallway validate my suspicion.

Iron Man struts past the hotel quarters, eye-slits scanning every face.

By now, the entire class has gathered out in the hallway, chattering to each other. Flash shoves his way to the front of the group, his jaw hanging open like a deer in headlights.

Mr. Stark stops in front of me. "Hey, kid. How's Oregon?"

I shrug. "Better now that you're here."

"That's the right answer."

Flash strolls up and punches me in the side. "Nice trick, Parker. This isn't April Fools' Day. Come on, shut off the hologram– or whatever it is– and let us all go back to sleep."

Ned fumes. "Shut up, Flash. This is real." He leans toward me and drops to a whisper. "This is real, right?"

Mr. Stark opens the mask. "You think I'm not real, kid?" He fires a repulsor beam in front of Flash's toes and the bully topples down with a yelp.

Laughter erupts from the class.

Flash scrambles to his feet and brushes his pants down. "The Stark internship isn't real, Peter, and you can't prove it." With one last cuff, he returns to the throng of students.

Mr. Stark slaps me on the back. "Go get ready, kid. I'll make sure these brats are gone by the time you leave with me."

Ned's eyebrows squeeze together as I shuffle into the hotel room and close the door. "Leave? Where are you going? You need to be here for the ride to the Salem capital. We're leaving early tomorrow morning. Like…really early."

"Yeah, I know. I'll be back after Mr. Stark and I catch the criminal."

Ned's eyes spark to life like darts of fire. "You're gonna capture bad guys with Iron Man? How cool is that!"

"Well, this bad guy is very specific." I strip down to my boxers and slip on the Spiderman suit. The smooth fabric calms the hairs rising on my skin.

"Specific? What do you mean?"

"He's got wings. And he's tried to kill me more than once."

Ned pales. "Vulture?"

"Yeah."

"You're gonna get killed again, bro! Why– ."

" 'killed again?' "

"I mean– he's gonna hurt you, Peter. You can't go. What if that mean guy is there? The one that shot you?"

"Digg?"

"Yeah, him."

"He can't be there because," I grit my teeth against the memory of his gruesome death, "he's dead."

Ned sighs. "Oh. That's good, then."

I zip my sweatshirt over my suit and strap the web shooters on my wrists. "I'll be back before you know it. Don't worry about me."

"That's kind of impossible, dude."

I grin. "I'm lucky to have you, buddy." We perform our special handshake and end in a hug.

"Bye, Peter."

"Bye, Ned."

Mr. Stark takes me up on the hotel's roof where we stand side-by-side, observing the busy nighttime city.

"Mr. Stark, do we have a plan?"

"Yeah. I made one." He taps his facial slit. "Jarvis, scan for a heat signature and an individual matching the name 'Adrian Toomes.' "

"One result found, sir. In the north side of the city on the roof of an airport building."

"Perfect." Mr. Stark murmurs something to Jarvis and kneels in front of me. "Listen, kid. You need to do what I say, got it?"

"Got it."

"Stay with me until I say to split up."

"Wait, we're splitting up? Why?"

"It's… You'll see. I sent two locations to Karen's AI. One is the airport building."

I bite my lip. "M'kay."

"When I say split up, there's something I need you to do for me. You'll go to the other location and stay there until I say to come back."

"Why aren't you telling me exactly what I need to do there?"

"Because it's not important. What is important is that you do everything that I tell you to do. Okay, kid?"

"Okay."

"Good. Now there's one more thing I need you to know."

I squint at him through the darkness. "What?"

"I can't have you holding onto me during this mission like with Digg. I don't want to drop you and I don't want you to fall off. This is an important, dangerous mission, so things could turn in seconds. If you're holding onto me and I need to make a sharp turn, you'll go flying."

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you'll need to keep up."

The maggot-like worry in my stomach abates. "I can swing on webs?"

"You don't have your Spider senses, so it could feel a bit different, but yes."

A smile breaks out on my face. "Thanks, Mr. Stark!"

"Only this one time, kid."

"Touch down here, Pete. We'll split up soon." I land in the alley with a metallic thud and trifle with the buttons on my gauntlet. "How you doing, kid?"

No answer.

"Kid?" I turn around.

Peter's red and blue figure swings from above on a web. He staggers against the wall, panting.

I fold my helmet into the suit and peel the kid's mask off. "Pete?"

The teenager's face is drenched in sweat and whiter than the sheets on a bed. His legs buckle and he sinks into my arms with a pained sigh.

"Whoa, hey…! You okay, kid?"

"Mr. Stark, I…" His eyes flutter open. "I don't know what's wrong– I'm…so dizzy…"

"From swinging on the webs?"

"I-I don't know… Maybe." Peter groans and stumbles to his feet. "Everything's tingling…"

"It's probably your senses. Not having them and trying to be Spiderman all over again is taking a toll on you." I withdraw and tilt my head to the stars. "We'll wait as long as we need. Don't get up until you're feeling better."

"I'm-I'm fine." Peter hauls himself to his feet. "Let's go. We need to find Vulture."

"Remember that other location?"

"Y…yeah?"

"Go to it. I'll be connected with a comm and I'll tell you when you can come over."

Peter narrows his eyes at me. "Fine. But you need to tell me what you're going to do in the meantime."

"I'll find Vulture."

"When you find him, could you call me?"

I shrug. "Okay, whatever." Powering up my stabilizers, I hover in the air and salute to him. "You sure you're going to be okay, kid?"

Peter dips his head. "I'll be okay."

"Go get me some shawarma, all right?"

"What? What are you– ?"

"Ah, doesn't matter. I'm just rambling. I'm hungry and I need to go to the bathroom anyway. I need to leave and find Vulture."

Peter ruffles his hair and swoops it to the side. "Prepare for blast off!" His voice is at least an octave higher, screeching in an undeveloped range.

"Pete, what– ."

"We're going to need a lot of power to blast off…" The teenager whacks his thighs. "Pat, pat, pat, pat– ."

I almost facepalm behind my mask. "Oh, don't get me started on that show…"

Peter beams, fixing his haircut. "I used to watch Little Einsteins all the time when I was younger. Did you ever watch that show, Mr. Stark?"

"It's a stupid little-kid show, so no."

Peter places his hands on his hips.

"Gimmie a break, kid, now you look like Pepper."

"No, I– !"

"We need to stop bickering and get to work."

The teenager bobbles his head. "Okay."

"Split up, kid."

"Okay."

"Don't take risks."

"Okay."

"Awesome. Bye, kid." I rocket off into the city's polluted air before I can regret my actions. The buildings squish me with spiraling lights. Jarvis pinpoints the airport building at once, on which a helicopter landing pad twinkles with neon colors. Through the gloom, a solitary figure paces on the roof.

Adrian Toomes. The Vulture.

I levitate toward the object of the mission, my heart racing despite my confident posture. As I near, the scratchy voice of Peter's nemesis alights in the atmosphere.

"Get down here, Stark! I know you're there to kill me."

I debate firing a repulsor beam to knock him out of the game right away, but the optimal option is stay and talk. Distract him. Confuse him. Maybe get some answers. "You waiting for a helicopter?" My suit touches down on the concrete.

"Nah. Got better things to do."

"Like what?"

He shoves his hands in his pockets, the stars and faint moonlight glinting off his skull. "Waiting for you."

My foot taps. "You knew we were coming?"

"Depends." He gives a nonchalant shrug and a deadly grin.

A chill locks my spine in place.

"I know Digg's dead, Stark. I know a lot of things."

I scrutinize every detail of his clothing and expression.

"I know you captured him. I know he took the pill. I know he told you where I was gonna be. I know he died with you at his mercy."

"And so you just hobbled over here to wait for us?"

"Pretty much."

"Look, I want answers."

"I'm all yours. But first…get out of your suit or I'll send a hundred agents after Pedro."

The request kills the words on my tongue. Peter… He's… Vulture's predatory eyes carve into me, making me shiver. "Fine." I step one foot out of the suit.

"Come on, get out of it."

The other foot.

"All the way."

My arms and chest.

"Hiding your face like a coward?"

"Nope." The last bit of tech creaks open. "I just don't want to see your ugly face up close. Jarvis, sentry mode."

Toomes's smile widens. "I used to respect him, you know. Peter"

"Oh, really?" Now it's my turn to pace, resembling Pepper on a stressful work night. "Trying to kill someone undoes that impression, you think?"

"Yeah, I agree with you."

"Do you now?"

"Peter's strong. Stubborn. Reckless sometimes. But strong. He saved me when he coulda left me burning in the fire."

"And that was a great choice on his part." I chuckle. "Why do you think we're here?"

"I dunno." Toomes throws his hand out to stop me in my circling. He brings one foot in front of the other until his face is inches from mine. "Ever heard of the game Mouse Trap?"

"Hmm. Yep." I pop the P. "Wanna play?"

"Actually, I would." His hazel eyes gleam. "You've seen the bait, you've run from it. You thought about it. Now you're back, sniffing out the clues." He snaps his fist closed on empty air. "Now you have the bait. You're after it. You're running to escape, thinking you're certain who's in control. But little do you know…"

Sweat rolls down my neck.

Toomes squints at me. "…you're right where I want you."

I don't have time to respond to his analogy before he's thrusting a knife into my chest.

"Karen, guide me to where Mr. Stark wanted me to go."

"Sure, Peter."

I brush off the shakiness from my earlier dizzy spell and weave through the labyrinth of alleyways. "Can you tell me where I'm going exactly?"

"Jarvis has asked me not to inform you."

Her answer stops me in my tracks. I twist my neck backward toward where Mr. Stark had left me a couple minutes earlier. Why would he want to keep it a secret? What's he hiding from me?

"Peter, should you be continuing toward our destination?"

I nod. "Probably, yeah. Thanks, Karen."

Avoiding cars and the public overall, I sneak around undercover, limiting my web usage and following Karen's helpful navigation. The alleys serve as wonderful pathways to dodge any sort of attention, as the sight of Spiderman in Salem rather than Queens, where his disappearance has often been discussed on the news, would blast into popularity. Nope. Not risking it. Mr. Stark seems to take the whole 'I'm popular' thing in stride and doesn't worry about any of it. At least he doesn't have some winged nemesis chasing after him all the time and no one's screaming on the internet for him to be somewhere at this time for this event to save these people.

The alleys shrink away and force me to snoop around amid the city's not-so-dark roads. My inability to climb walls due to my reverse-spider-bite episode almost has me web swinging, however, the sensations from before intimidate me enough to stay away. The roads slim down. Shop fronts and closed restaurants flank each avenue.

"Peter, you're nearing your location."

"Awesome!" I approach a fork in the road. "Which way?"

"Right."

"Roger that."

I round the corner and the only building squeezed between two broken-down houses is an old shawarma joint. My eyebrows knit together to support a tight frown. What?

"You have reached the destination point, Peter."

"The-the shawarma…place?"

"Yes, Peter."

I hunch, slack-jawed, for a moment before recalling a piece of dialogue from Mr. Stark.

"Go get me some shawarma, all right?"

He knew. He led me here on purpose. Set this as a location. Told Karen to keep it a secret.

Why?

"Karen, why would he do that?"

My AI doesn't respond.

"Karen?"

"I'm not sure, Peter."

"Do you have a guess?"

"Well, Mr. Stark is always trying to protect you. Maybe he wanted you away from Vulture?"

I swing my arms and chew on my lip, averting my eyes. "What do you think I should do? Mr. Stark told me to stay here, but…I can't."

"Why can't you, Peter?"

"Mr. Stark might be in trouble."

"Why don't you contact him?"

"Good idea." I press two fingers to the comm with a sigh. "Mr. Stark?"

Nothing.

I quit messing with my web shooter and try again. "Uh… Mr. Stark?"

Static, then a couple words of a clipped conversation.

"You're right where I want you."

Vulture's voice.

A moment's wait.

Mr. Stark's pained gasp dials my heartbeat to one thousand. Energy floods into my aching legs and I bolt back the way I had come, paying no attention to secrecy. As I'm nearing the place that Mr. Stark had left me, I bark at Karen through my mask. "Karen, take me to the airport stat!"

"Right away, Peter."

The location blinks into my own heads-up-display, naught but a few blocks away. Buildings, large and small alike, streak past me and my feet blur on the pavement. The alley I'd taken cuts off and I spin around the corner to find a busy street piling with colored vehicles and spiraling headlights. A horn shrieks somewhere nearby– a car horn. Lights dance off my Spidey suit and a fist whirls like a lasso out of a window.

"Hey! Off the road, Halloween Clown!"

Contrary to my usual actions following a civilian mistake, I don't stop to apologize and dash away. Through my panting, I get a couple words out to no one in particular. "Man, now would be a great time to climb on walls."

"Peter, may I remind you that, due to the reverse spider bite, you cannot climb on– ."

"I know, Karen!" I duck into a side street to wait out a dizzy spell, then continue with more ferocity than before and ram two fingers to my comm. "Mr. Stark, can you hear me?"

Instead, Karen answers with an update. "Peter, I've just received news from Jarvis."

I tilt my head upward. The airport! Finally… "Yeah, shoot!"

"Mr. Stark has been attacked by Adrian Toomes and is weakening fast. His arc reactor core has sustained large amounts of damage. He had taken his suit off earlier, but upon putting it back on, found it unresponsive."

My stomach clenches in a tight knot. A precarious ledge on the side of a house catches my eye and I fiddle with my web shooters. "Well, Mr. Stark needs my help." A few web-slinging seconds later, I'm landing on top of an apartment building, barely able to keep the whole world from rocking out of control. My arms throb as if I'd stuck them in an oven, my wrists more so. I start to stand up and everything splits in my vision. I clutch a nearby trashcan to steady myself. Ugh, I can't save Mr. Stark now… What am I going to–

"Give it up, Stark! You're done."

Vulture's echoing speech jerks my head up.

There. One building away. Toomes. And at his feet…

Mr. Stark, his suit flickering on and off like a dying lightbulb.

No…

"Y'know, Bird Brain…not a great plan." Mr. Stark fights to struggle to his feet but a heel to his already-broken chest plate brings him to the ground again.

"Stop stalling. Where's Peter?"

"That's not within my ability at the moment, sorry to tell you." Mr. Stark groans.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Toomes leans in, putting his entire weight on my mentor. "Thanks for nothing, Stark." With one shove, he sends Mr. Stark toppling off the building in a free fall.

I don't think twice about it. Breaking into a run, I cross the next apartment and pitch myself off the edge. The breeze rips at my suit. Mr. Stark's wind-whipped form plummets like a stone in water and, as I'm finalizing my decision, everything slows down.

One web fired. Stuck to the side of the building.

Another web fired, this time at Mr. Stark.

All connected.

The pavement threatens. Closer, closer, closer… The webs aren't catching…

Time.

Stands.

Still.

The street lurches away from us and the web yanks taut. My shoulder pops with a burst of agony and I let go, crying out. Mr. Stark and I tumble in a heap to the ground. Adrenaline zaps through my veins and drags me to my feet. My right arm hangs in an awkward angle, bringing up the pain from earlier.

"Kid– ."

I pivot at Mr. Stark's voice and rush over to him. "Mr. Stark! Are-are you okay?" I help him to a sitting position, however, withdraw with a gasp when I notice puddles of blood dampening his clothes. "You're-you're bleeding…!"

Mr. Stark waves me away and shifts his position. "No, I'll be okay, kid, I just– ." He breaks off with a shaky exhale and all color drains from his sweaty face. "Bird Brain stuck a toothpick in me…"

A stab of worry gets my body sweating enough to fill an ocean. I pry off my mask. "What-what should I do, Mr. Stark?"

My mentor opens his mouth to reply, but a rasping cough sends blood trickling down his chin. "J-Jarvis…!"

No response.

Mr. Stark blinks hard. "Jarvis!" The suit cocooned in broken pieces around him goes dark without the faintest sound of Jarvis's smooth voice. Sparks crackle around the hinges of the breastplate. The arc reactor is silent and devoid of the life-giving energy that commonly flows through its skeleton.

My mouth streaks dry. The reactor… It's shut down.

Mr. Stark doesn't have much time left. It's only a matter of time before his heart…

Stops.

My breathing speeds up. My chest constricts. The noises of the world start to shrivel into the background as Mr. Stark's icy reactor locks itself in my vision. My skin prickles with heat. My hands shake.

Mr. Stark's mouth is moving. No words reach me.

The image of his lifeless body hooks onto my mind like a claw. Scratching, cracking, ripping open my skull–

"Kid!"

I jolt into reality.

"Don't panic on me, kid." Mr. Stark's chalky face moves into view. "You okay…?"

I catch my breath, nodding. Averting my gaze, I notice with a twist in my chest that I'd crumpled my mask in my fists. "What should I do, Mr. Stark? How can I help?"

Mr. Stark wheezes and bends over to reconnect a wire on his armor.

A massive crunch from behind tears through the pavement.

I dart around with a shriek, clutching my right arm.

Within the snake-like scars in the road twitch giant, metal talons. Adrian Toomes, who looms over us like a hawk poised to strike, is the waking image of my nightmare, the rusty hinges of his wingsuit creaking with dried blood. Behind the goggles, amid the shadowed fog of the night, two sunken eyes stare like an undead skeleton. Steady. Unblinking. Vengeful.

"Hey, Pedro."

Mr. Stark's jaw tightens. "Peter– ."

Vulture lunges. Cold metal slams me against a brick wall. Cold claws slice through my suit and cut deep into my flesh. Cold wings close in and drape a blanket of shadow over us.

Through the pitch-darkness, words curled in twilight frost rasp into being.

"This is for taking everything away from me."

The barrel of a gun presses into my forehead so hard it draws blood.

Click.

A outburst of fire launches my world into an orange haze.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'll leave it at that...