5
Peter's eyes snapped open. His eyebrows furrowed.
Above him, the sky was white, but underneath him, the ground felt very. . . soft.
What had happened?
The last thing he could remember was. . . the rooftop. Silenzior. The hostages. . . .
Crap.
He jerked upright.
All at once, the blood rushed to his head, and a pounding thrum went through his ears. Groaning, he put his head down again.
The blow to the back of his head, at least, had been very real.
Blinking blearily, holding a palm over one eye, Peter raised his head and looked around.
He was in his apartment, in his room, in his own bed. The covers had even been neatly pulled up to his shoulders. "What?" he mumbled to himself. He kicked the blankets off and looked around again, puzzled. How'd I get here?
He heard his phone ping with a text. Turning around, frowning, he picked it up off the nightstand and checked it.
The text was from Ned.
We still meeting at school today?
MJ's response came in a few seconds later.
Affirmative. In comp lab.
Peter rubbed a hand over his face. He was going to have to talk to Agent Hill, or Fury, or somebody, as soon as possible. Until then. . . .
He got up.
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". . . and then it finished with like this weird message to 'all the heroes that are left,'" Peter said.
MJ raised an eyebrow. "Ouch."
"That's so freaky," Ned breathed.
The three of them sat alone in the computer lab. They were supposed to be working on their science project, but that had been unanimously and silently put aside in order to talk about the events of last night.
As MJ picked up her phone and started looking something up, Ned leaned closer, seemingly more excited than worried. "So what did he want? What were his demands?"
"They were kinda weird, actually," Peter said. "He said he wanted worldwide 'silence.'" He put the word in air quotes.
There was a pause. Ned frowned, looking confused. "What does that mean?"
Peter bit his lip. "Yeah, I don't really know yet."
MJ glanced up briefly over the top of her phone. "Nothing coming up for 'Silenzior,'" she reported. "Just Spanish pronunciation websites."
"So what'd you do?" Ned asked Peter.
Peter looked at Ned, then glanced sideways at MJ, and shifted in his seat. "Um, nothing," he said. "May and I went home."
"What?" Ned sounded incredulous.
Peter twitched his head meaningfully in MJ's direction.
Ned's mouth opened as he got it. "I mean, you definitely couldn't have done anything," he said, slower, more obviously. "So what are we gonna do?"
MJ looked up again. "'What are we gonna do?'" she repeated questioningly.
"Aren't you at least a little afraid of imminent death?" Ned asked. "Or. . . silence, I guess?"
"I mean –" MJ shrugged as she set her phone down. "It doesn't really matter."
Peter looked up, frowning. "What do you mean?"
"Well, either the Avengers are gonna take this dude down, or they're not, and we're gonna die," she said, sounding vaguely uninterested. "Nothing we can do about it right now." She fixed Peter with one of her catlike stares. "Right?"
"Right," Peter said, blinking. He shook his head. "Right. Yeah. Obviously."
Ned gave him a sympathetic look from across the table, obviously knowing why this would be weighing on Peter's mind so much.
MJ tapped her paper with the tip of her pencil. "So. Report and presentation. Since you guys seem to have the presentation part covered, I'd kinda like to know what I'm writing about."
"We were thinking retroreflective paneling," Ned said. "Y'know, something Tony Stark might have used. . . ."
Peter tuned them out and frowned, deep in thought, down at his phone. He had written down everything he could remember Silenzior saying to him, and he was turning the words over in his head.
"Hello," MJ's voice broke into his thoughts. The tip of a pencil eraser poked him in the shoulder.
"Hm?" Peter looked up quickly, jarred out of his thoughts. "Oh. Yeah?" He reluctantly put his phone down.
"The presentation," she said. "You volunteered?"
"Yes," Peter said. "It's, um. . . experimental retroreflective-paneled fabric. From Mister Stark's lab."
"Fabric," MJ repeated, sounding skeptical. "You're saying Tony Stark made the Invisibility Cloak."
"Kind of," Peter said truthfully.
His phone pinged with a text, and he checked the screen.
Parker, it's Hill. Car's outside.
The number was blocked.
Peter jerked to his feet.
Both Ned and MJ looked at him. "Peter?" Ned asked.
Peter didn't look up. "Um," he said, his eyebrows drawing together, "guys, I gotta go."
MJ gave him a look. "You gotta go," she repeated tonelessly. "You've been here all of four minutes."
"I know, I'm sorry, it's just –" He pointed to his phone, then realized he couldn't think of a single plausible excuse. "This is really important, I'm sorry, I really have to go."
"Peter!" MJ called after him, but he was already out the door of the computer lab.
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Agent Hill stood beside a matte-black car, leaning against the hood with her arms crossed. Sunglasses shielded her eyes.
Grabbing the straps of his backpack, Peter sprinted across the street. "Agent Hill, hey!" he said, breathless.
Agent Hill gave a half-smile. "Parker. You're out early." She nodded to him. "We have a lot to discuss."
"How'd I get home?" Peter blurted. It hadn't meant to be his first question, but it had been bothering him ever since he'd woken up.
"SHIELD transported you back. You had a concussion."
Peter's hand went to his head. "That explains a lot." He frowned. "What happened last night?"
Hill gave an ironic smile as she shifted her weight off the car. "Funny. I was hoping to ask you the same question."
"Well, you guys were there, right? Did you catch him?"
Hill didn't answer right away, which was an answer. Peter's heart sank. "Wait, Silenzior got away?"
She nodded her head towards the car. "Get in," she said. "I need to debrief you."
She got in the driver's side, and Peter walked around to the curbside side of the car. Sliding his backpack off, he opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat.
The inside of the car smelled like new leather. As Peter pulled his door shut, the car was closed into cool silence.
Hill slid her sunglasses off.
Peter twisted around in his seat to look at her. "Is everybody okay, at least? The police officers?"
Hill glanced sideways at him as she put the car into gear. "Seatbelt."
Peter quickly pulled it across his shoulder and clicked it into place. It was faster than arguing.
As Hill pulled into the street, her eyes flicked up to the rearview mirror, but it seemed more like she was looking at him. "First, your report," she said, before he could ask again. "What did Silenzior say to you?"
"Um –" Peter grimaced and rubbed the sore part of his head. "Nothing, really."
"Did he mention future locations, future people he might be looking to attack?"
Peter racked his brains. "Maybe the Avengers?" he said. "It seemed like he was expecting all of us to be there." He quickly described the rest of the fight, including the bizarre smoky blasts Silenzior had fired at him.
"Was he human?"
"Yes. Well –" Peter frowned. "I think so."
She nodded, as if that had been a sufficient answer. "What did he sound like?"
Peter ignored the question. He had given his report. "Agent Hill, are the officers okay?"
Hill glanced up at the rearview mirror again. "Autopilot," she said aloud to the car. She lifted her hands away from the wheel, and the car took over the steering.
With her hands free, Hill tapped something on the screen built into the car's center console.
"Security Level 9, code zero-twelve-nine," she said.
The screen blinked to a green text box. Voice Code Confirmed. As that disappeared, multiple windows sprung to life – videos, photos, scrolling boxes of text.
Peter was getting nervous. "Agent Hill, please just tell me. Are they still alive?"
"They're alive," she said.
Peter relaxed, but only a little. Her wording was a little ominous. "Are they okay?"
She brought up a new window. "Not exactly."
Seven images, arranged into two irregular rows, popped up onscreen. Peter leaned forward, frowning. What the heck. . . ?
The photos were of the police officer's faces, like mugshots, but there was something off about all of them – every single person had a jagged black X drawn across their throat, like weird tattoos. The X's were all of the same rough size and shape, but the pattern of jagged edges differed from person to person.
"Noticed the marks?" Hill asked. Peter looked at her, then realized he had touched his own throat absentmindedly.
He pulled his hand away. "What are they?"
"The mark Silenzior leaves behind," Hill said.
Peter fought back the urge to shiver. "What happened to them?"
"We'd been assuming that his call to 'silence' individuals was a euphemism for something a little more deadly," Hill said. "Turns out, he meant exactly what he said. The officers were rendered completely mute."
"Mute?" Peter repeated. His mind replayed his fight with Silenzior. "Oh, no."
"Based on your report, it sounds like that smoke is what he uses to silence them."
"Yeah, he tried to do the same to me." Peter frowned.
"Notice the significance of the number?" Hill gestured with her head at the photos. "Seven. Seven officers. One for each of the remaining Avengers."
Peter hadn't noticed. It was creepy.
Hill tapped something on the screen, and the pictures disappeared. "All the officers were unconscious at the time he silenced them."
Peter closed his eyes and scrubbed a hand over his face. He'd screwed up, but there was one more thing that was bothering him. "What knocked me out?" he asked. "Silenzior was standing too far away."
"He may have had accomplices."
"So we might be looking for more than one guy, right?"
"Focus your energies on Silenzior for now," Hill said. "The public doesn't know about the attack yet, but they will soon. We wanted to debrief you before the details got out."
The car pulled to a stop.
Peter turned in his seat to look out the window and realized the car had stopped in front of his apartment building.
He twisted back around to face Hill. "Okay, so what do I do?"
"We'll be in contact for your next mission. Until then, keep an eye out. We don't know when Silenzior's next attack is going to be."
As Peter left the car and started mounting the steps up to his apartment, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He paused and pulled it out.
Once again, it was from a blocked number – SHIELD.
SHIELD will contact you when you're needed.
Peter paused on the steps and tapped out a quick response.
I'll be ready!
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The road thrummed rhythmically under the car's wheels. Hill glanced out the window distractedly as she drove.
"Place call," Hill finally said aloud to the car. "Secure Line Alpha, four-zero, twelve-seven."
The car obeyed, and a holographic image popped up on the car's windshield as the call went through.
Nick Fury's voice came over the car's speakers. "Tell me Parker had news," he said as a greeting.
Hill flicked her eyebrows up. "Well, he's fine," she said.
"Damn," Fury muttered, knowing that she would have led with her most pertinent information first. "He doesn't know anything?"
"Nothing yet. Silenzior doesn't strike me as the chatty type," Hill said. "But we do have the Avengers as possible targets."
"Understood. Is that all you called to tell me?"
"Sir –" Hill paused, pursing her lips. "HEL was on that rooftop with Silenzior. I saw King hit Parker from behind."
"I'm aware."
Hill opened her mouth, hesitated, then spoke anyway. "Nick, don't you think he should know?"
There was a pause from the other end. "Parker doesn't need to know yet," Fury said. "HEL hasn't involved themselves enough to interfere with his mission." When Hill didn't reply, Fury continued, "Is that understood?"
Hill let out her breath slowly, like a resigned sigh. "Understood."
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A/N: What's this? Another chapter, so soon? Why yes indeedy! Why so soon, you might ask?
BECAUSE SPIDEY IS BACK IN THE MCU AAAAAAHHHH
I hadn't really let myself get too upset over the Sony/Marvel/Spidey dispute, because I decided that it was gonna be pointless to get myself too riled up over something I couldn't control. But honestly, now that he's back, I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER YAY
So anyways, this chapter might have come a little bit early in order to celebrate this special occasion. Thanks always for reading and following! And thanks to guest for your review! I hope you guys are enjoying the story!
