Prompt number: 31 - "I trust you"
Fandom: Spidey/Avengers
Rating: Teen and Up
Warnings: None.
Note: Continues from Prompt 29.
Alright, one day late but here we are. The last Prompt for fictober20. Thank you to everyone who followed me on this event. I had a lot of a fun and it was far less stressful than last year. Hope you enjoyed the drabbles and one-shots and here's to hoping you like this last one.
Bucky breathed heavily as he stared up at the burning building, half of it turned to rubble while the rest held firm. Steve lay beside him seemingly in shock after Bucky forced them both to jump out the window form the seventh floor. But there were more pressing concerns first. "Nat, Clint?! Are you there?! Did you get out?!"
The comm crackled but gave no response. Bucky waited a few seconds before trying again. "Clint, Natasha!? Are you alright?! Please respond!"
Steve mumbled something before suddenly lurching to his feet. Bucky barely got on his feet in time to restrain his friend who seemed eager to run back into the burning building, what was left of it.
"Let me go!" He yelled, straining against his hold. "Peter! He's in there, I got to get him out!"
"Snap out of it, Steve! It was a trap, Peter was never in there!"
"No, no he has to be. He was here. We tracked him here. I promised I'd bring him home!"
Guilt. Grieve. Loss. Steve was spiraling and who could blame him. His husband was stabbed and would have died if they hadn't found him in time; his son was taken and brainwashed or something; and now they thought they'd found him and instead almost got killed themselves.
Steve had promised an unconscious Tony to bring Peter home to him. Now with his most recent failure burning to the ground, he was drowning.
"Steve, it's alright. We'll find him and Tony will recover. We'll fix this." Bucky held his friend as he crumbled in his arms, finally allowing himself to feel everything that he'd been holding back. He didn't need to be the leader right now, or be Captain America. He was just a parent and a husband who needed a little help to cope with it all.
"Bucky?! Do you copy?! Clint and I got out safely. Are you two alright?!"
"Yes, we're out." Bucky quickly responded as best he could while having his arms full of a devastated Steve. "Let's get the hell out of here."
"Friend Bucky! I have located young Peter."
"What?!" He shared a surprised look with Steve. "You've got Peter?!"
"Yes. I saw him escape the area. He was nearby. I knocked him unconscious."
"He must have used a detonator with a short range. He had to stay close." Clint pitched in.
"Thor, get him back to the Tower but restrain him. We don't know what was done to him."
"Understood, friend Bucky."
"Buck?" Steve sounded so insecure, it broke Bucky's heart. It had been a long time since Steve had been this subdued.
He grabbed his shoulder in support, looking him dead in the eye. "We'll save him." He said it with as much conviction as he could muster. Peter was family. They would do everything in their power to fix this.
"I'm not going to lie. It's not looking good." Bruce said to the room at large, all his friends, his family gathered to hear about Peter's situation. He spared a glance at Tony and Steve.
Steve looked devastated, there was no other word for it. This news was not going to do him any good unfortunately. And Tony, he still had that glimmer of hope and determination in his eyes despite what had happened to him. The bandage around his throat was a constant reminder of the brutal attack Hydra had orchestrated using Peter. Even with the advanced healing capabilities of Wakanda, it would be hours, possibly a day, before Tony was allowed to speak.
"I've studied his brain and there is definitive evidence of brainwashing, similar to what was done to Bucky."
"But Bucky broke free of that, so can't Peter...?" Scott pointed out, somewhat hesitatingly.
"Not in this case. Hydra did something worse with Peter." Bruce paused to collect himself. "They put a chip at the base of his skull that suppresses Peter's mind if or when he tries to break free."
The room did not take it well. Many looked shocked, others disgusted and angry. Bucky actually punched the wall, leaving a fairly sized hole; both Thor and Wanda's eyes glowed with their power as they barely contained it.
Steve had buried his head in his hands but Tony...Tony was looking straight at him as if he knew there was more. He could probably see the struggle with the Hulk in his eyes. Bruce had never wanted to let him free this badly before, but Hydra had managed it.
"There is more." He announced to the room, regaining everyone's attention.
"More?" Sam questioned, clearly not thinking it possible to be worse.
"Yes. The chip has another function. It's slowly erasing his memories."
"WHAT?!"
Bruce couldn't tell who had spoken, possibly everyone. He knew what they were going through. He'd almost turned green and wrecked the entire lab when he discovered it, anger but mostly fear taking a hold of him. They could seriously lose Peter and how much had they already lost of him?
"How long?" Bruce turned to Steve, surprised the man was actually asking him something. In all his time as an Avenger, Bruce had never seen the Captain so low. He'd always been a beacon of hope for them all. Then again, this was his son, his kid that was in trouble and potentially gone forever. It would break anyone.
"At the rate it's going, at least a few days, maybe a week but probably less."
"That's quite slow." Rhodey commented.
"Yes, it seems Peter is fighting it. He's sort of hiding himself from the chip, but that means he isn't actively fighting to break free from the brainwashing."
"He can't fight back without exposing his memories as long as that chip is in place." Nat figured out.
"So we remove the chip, right?" Scott said.
"It's not that simple. It's in a very dangerous place. I could cause all manner of damage-"
Tony approached him, interrupting him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Then in the faintest whisper, he spoke three words. "I. Trust. You."
"Tony, I-"
"He's right, Bruce." Steve cut in this time. "I trust you, too. We trust you. Whatever happens, happens, but we have to at least try."
"Stark would like to see Peter." Wanda spoke softly.
"I'm sorry Tony, but you can't and not for the reasons you think." Bruce hurried to explain at the affronted look. "Peter is slowing down the erasure by basically hiding his mind, his thoughts. But every time he is around us, interacting with us it triggers his memories."
"Seeing us, hearing us, it's pulling him out of hiding." Natasha concluded.
"Yes. I can't let you see him and I can't wait much longer. If you're sure about this, I have to get started now."
As one Steve and Tony nodded. This was the only way to get Peter back. Either they lost him today or in a few days from now. At least this way, they hadn't done nothing.
"Peter? Hey, eyes on me now." Bruce snapped his fingers to get his attention. "How do you feel?"
Peter blinked a few times to get his bearings probably, before slowly answering. "I feel fine."
Happy smiles and relieved laughs filled the room at his answer, but Bruce wasn't convinced yet, especially when Peter pulled his hands away from the hold of his dads, as if he was uncomfortable with it.
"Peter? Is everything alright?"
He looked around the room before looking back at Bruce and asking the one question he had hoped he'd never have to answer the kid.
"Who's Peter?"
fin
That last scene was inspired and totally took a few dialogues directly from the Flash, I couldn't resist.
