Thank you for the continued support, I know I disappeared off the face of the planet for a while there, it wasn't intentional but when life happens you have no choice but to go with the flow and hope your readers forgive you.
In lighter news, I graduated with an AA degree in Business, and I'm finally back at a point when I can start writing again.
So, with that being said, Black Cat? Yes, Tracers bullets do seem impossible BUT according to the comic to which I'm basing this off of, they are exactly how they were originally written. Check the comic, and you'll see Spidey ducking and dodging as they fly through billboards and avoiding every living creature except him. Like I said, it's in the comic, and I'm trying to use it as a reference for the main plot.
As far as the ending…you'll just have to wait and see. I do agree that the ending in the comic was very weak, so I'll probably do something different.
THANK YOU EVERYONE for your amazing support, and I pray you'll forgive me for disappearing, but I have every intention of finishing this story! NOW…BACK TO THE ACTION!
"Ugh," Spider-man groaned, whirling around a brick chimney and whining when the ridiculous bullets still somehow managed to zip around it without slowing down "What is with these things?!"
The bullets in question had no answer, they merely continued their pursuit making the spider give a breathless sigh. He was tiring. His body was slowing with every block he covered, and the bullets were gaining ground on him. He needed to figure out a way to deal with them before they caught up to him in what would be a very painful way. Surely, he could outsmart them. Unfortunately doing so was proving harder than anticipated. He couldn't just duck behind a building, or even a billboard. They either went around or through, never giving up their preprogrammed dogged pursuit. Spidey was running out of options
Unless…There was that one thing he could try. Peter's mind went back to a training session with Captain America back on the Tri-carrier. The man had insisted on some one-on-one time with the spider right before Fury took the wall crawler off the bench.
…..
"Alright, follow my movements. Move slowly, playing your muscles against each other, and work on Focusing."
Peter shuffled his feet in discomfort, he was in civilian clothes, which made him feel naked while training on the Tri-carrier. Normally he would be in his spider-man suit, however, the loose t-shirt and workout shorts billowed around him making the spider feel cold and extremely vulnerable. The fact that Captain America was in faded sweatpants and a light blue t-shirt comforted Peter, but only slightly.
"Um…why am I here?"
Steve pursed his lips, looking the youth up and down "Peter, what you went through would be traumatizing for even the strongest warrior in the world."
Thin shoulders hunched and Peter bit down on his lips as his eyes darted to the floor "I'm fine," he grumbled.
"No, you're not," Captain America placed what he hoped was a consoling hand on the teen's shoulder "Peter, I've seen PTSD in the eyes of soldiers more times than I care to count. I can read the signs. I also know the last thing you want to do right now is acknowledge it, but this isn't something you can ignore and hope it goes away. The reason I called you here today is to teach you some calming techniques to aid you in a full recovery."
Peter looked away, his discomfort making his body begin to rock unconsciously. He didn't know what to say, if anything he wanted to scream that he was fine and get out of there, but you don't blow off Captain freaking America. Unfortunately, that left him with only one option. "So, what am I focusing exactly?" Peter finally sighed, his gaze still not leaving the floor.
"Your chi," the warrior responded, his eyes soft as he assessed his student.
Peter cocked his head "My chi?" he asked "Are you sure I'm the man for the job? I could get Danny, he's a chi wiz. Heh, get it? He's a- never mind. You know, I'm much funnier with my mask. Can I, maybe, go put it on?"
"No," A gentle glare with a disapproving frown was Peter's only answer and the spider resigned himself to whatever the Captain had in store "Now," the captain continued "we are going to focus on filling your body with chi energy. Calming your mind and allowing you to feel at peace with your surroundings. Through this you can gain control of even the most frightening of situations and find yourself open to opportunities you might have previously thought closed to you."
Giving a heavy gulp, Peter shook off the trembling in his limbs and forced himself to mirror the Captain as the older man began to go through a slow rendition of what looked like a martial arts kata. Anxious eyes darted between himself and the leader of the Avengers and an awkward silence stretched out between them making the need to escape back to the streets of New York crash through the young hero. He wished he understood why now of all times that Cap would want to have a personal training session with him. True, the situation with Morlun was terrifying, but he was coping. So, why was everyone treating him like he was so fragile? It was getting really annoying.
"Come on, Peter, you're a scientist," Steve Rogers smiled gently, noticing Peter's hesitance while never pausing his movements "why are you so nervous about learning?"
"I'm not nervous, exactly," Peter mumbled, his form wobbling slightly as they went up to one leg "I just don't like everyone treating me like I'm broken."
The avenger sighed, accepting Peter's words "If we do, we don't intend to," he murmured "but we don't think you're broken. We only want to help you overcome what was genuinely a horrifying ordeal."
"Yeah, well, I'm over it," the spider snarled with more heat than he intended "besides I didn't see any of the avengers leaping in to stop Morlun even though I told Fury that he was a major threat. In the end I had to follow my instincts and stop him myself!"
The ageless hero gave a sorrowful sigh "While I concede your point, and we admire the fortitude you've shown in Morlun's defeat, I feel it necessary to tell you that instinct can kill you. However, I think you already know that."
"Cap, with all due respect, if I can't rely on my instincts—I've got nothing. That's even scarier than what I went through with Morlun." The spider ground out.
Steve nodded, his tone soft as he continued the lesson, guiding Peter through another set of Katas "I understand but that shouldn't deter you from looking beyond them. If you want to survive to a ripe old age, you know what you need?"
"An ice floe to be frozen alive in?" Peter muttered.
The avenger couldn't stop the eye roll at Spider-Man's words "You've been spending too much time around Tony," he growled before clearing his throat "Peter, all I'm saying is that one considered, calculated move can be better than twenty reactive moves. No matter how well executed they are, and that requires focus. Which is what we are working on now."
"I thought we were focusing my chi?"
"They go hand in hand," Steve stated "Your speed, your strength…its amazing, spectacular. But sometimes you need to stop. Take a deep breath and focus your energy, your chi, reach into yourself. Envision yourself accomplishing that which you couldn't. See it. Concentrate on it. Slow the world around you so that there's only you…and your goal…and then do it!"
"But what does that have to do with PTSD?" Peter blushed when he realized he had unconsciously admitted that Cap was correct about his trauma, but held the firm on the question, desperately needing the answer.
"Just because the battle is in the mind doesn't make it any less of a battle." Steve murmured, his eyes growing dim with a deep unspoken pain "but in this battle you can't punch it away or train your body until it can be conquered. This battle requires a focus of the mind, and an unbending determination to fight it until it's well and truly gone. Which I honestly can say, is much harder to do than many people think."
"What if I can't?"
Steve felt his breath catch at the uncharacteristic tone of hopelessness being used by the young hero. His heart constricted in sorrow that the boy had to grow up so quickly and make such grown up decisions so early in life. "You can," the older man said in an emotional rasp "I truly believe you can, you just need the proper focus."
….
Ever since that day, Peter would train with Captain America, sometimes speaking his fears, but never letting it slip that he was suffering physical repercussions. If anything, the training sessions were giving him better control over his body, thus bringing him to this idea. Steve once told him of a martial artist who used his chi to strengthen his palms and catch a bullet. Granted, Peter wasn't a chi master, but he'd been training with Cap for over a month, so surely, he could do something like that with these…right?
"Well, no time like the present to find out."
Skidding to a stop on a rooftop, Spider-Man whirled around to face the projectiles hurtling straight at him and opened his palms. "See my goal," he whispered, focusing what he hoped was his chi "concentrate, slow everything down until its just me and my goal and then…do it!"
Shak!
"Whoa," Spidey gazed down at his right hand, a bullet nestled in his otherwise unharmed palm.
"Web Head!"
Spider-man looked up to see a very irate Nova shooting towards him and threw his arms up into the air "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"
"Uh-uh, no way dude," Nova snarled as he came in for a landing "you left us, remember? Said you'd take this guy out by yourself!"
Spidey scoffed "When has that ever stopped you? It wouldn't be the first time you ignored a direct order."
"I don't remember an order," Luke's baritone chuckled "I just remember you saying you would take care of him yourself."
"Indeed," Iron Fist leapt up to the rooftop, his eyes narrow behind his bandana "and even if there had been, we would have assisted you in his capture, nonetheless. Regardless of what you may think Spider, we are still a team."
Spidey let out an aggravated groan, before waving his hand "Whatever, either way you're too late because I took care of the stupid bullets."
"What stupid bullets?" Nova asked, his tone at once concerned and aggravated.
"These!" Peter thrust out his hands, palms up "that jerk tracer somehow made bullets that follow your every movement, and let me tell you they were a pain to deal with!"
"Yeah, I can see that," Power Man blanched, his features growing pale "but dude, you may want to do something about that hand."
"What hand?"
"The one that's dripping blood," Nova gagged.
Spidey cast a quick look down, only to discover that he hadn't escaped unscathed as previously thought. While his right was perfectly fine, his left hand had a rather gruesome hole in it and had a free flow stream of blood dripping onto the roof of the building they were standing on. All at once the Spider-Man's vision spun, the pain he had been dealing with before the fight returning so to rip through his abdomen. Peter felt his breathing begin to quicken, and his vision spun into a kaleidoscope of color. Gulping back a mouthful of bile, Peter clenched the injured hand into a fist, and closed his eyes as darkness overtook him.
The last thing he heard as he tumbled to the gravel of the rooftop was the faint screams of his teammates, calling his name.
PLEASE tell me I'm forgiven?
If you liked this chapter, I beg of you, REVIEW! I love all your reviews and while I know I don't deserve them due to the long absence I do hope that those who have reviewed before will continue to do so.
As stated before, I WILL FINISH THIS! Now that I'm graduated from college with my Business degree, I will actually have time for writing again!
Thank you for reading, and please REVIEW this chapter!