Broken

Part Three: Goodbye My Friend


Driving to Ned's house, Peter hands Pepper another stack of papers. It read "Part One: The Beginning" Peter explains he found this while they were in the house near his room. Pepper simply nodded and read the thought scanned over the stack of papers.

When she was done, the feeling she had before only seemed to get worse. With Peter showing Happy where to go, they finally reached Ned's home. They noticed there wasn't a car in the driveway and Peter explained his parents were most likely at work and his grandma was on vacation with some relatives.

The three of them got out of the car and headed to the door, but Peter froze his spider sense went off. Running up to the door, he touched the doorknob, and it opened. Happy and Peter walked in first, with Pepper following behind them. The living room was a mess, from ripped up coats and jackets spread on the floor along with broke broken potted plants, shredded up couch, to a TV with a hammer through it.

"Ned!" Peter shouted, running up the stairs.

Happy followed him while Pepper continued looking into the living room. After a few moments, she moved on to the kitchen, where she was welcomed with broken dishes over turned chairs, table and utensils spread all over the floor. When she found nothing, she turned to leave when a scratching sound caught her attention. Turning toward the sound, she noticed a dark spot in the corner by the door.

Pepper took a few steps back and, just like she thought, there stood the silhouette. It stared at Pepper as it did last time, but this time it didn't move towards her.

"Why are you here?" She asked.

The silhouette remained silent and merely raised its hand, pointing upward. Shaking her head, Pepper didn't understand where it was pointing to. Then she remembered Peter's friends, Ned. She wanted to run off. She had to make sure his friend was okay, but she also wanted answers. So this time Pepper took a step forward toward the silhouette, but it shook its head and kept pointing up. It then backed away, shaking its head. Seeing that she was getting nowhere with this, Pepper took off running upstairs, fearing what she would find.

Welcomed by broken glass, papers, clothes, along with tons of debris, it was the trail of blood that made Peter's heart race. Running down the hall to the last room, he kicked the door open. Peter's eyes widen as he stood there frozen. Happy caught up to him and looked toward the bed. Laying in the bed was a heavy set teenage with headphones on. He had a comic book laid across his chest with his eyes closed. But the trail of blood lead right to him.

"No, please, no.." is all that left Peter's lips.

Walking over to Ned, Happy moved the comic book and noticed the blood on his shirt. He checked for a pulse and took a deep breath. Before looking back at Peter.

"Call 911," Happy said.

Nodding, Peter pulled out his cell phone and dialed. By this time, Pepper arrived. She glanced down at the floor filled with potatoes chip bags and candy wrappers along with clothes and comic books stained with blood. But it was the purtird smell of rot that caused her nose to wrinkle she even had to hold in a gag. By this time, Peter put away his cell phone.

"Ned…."Peter pushed out his.

"I'm so sorry Peter, is help on the way?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah, I called 911. They will be here shortly," Peter said.

"He still has a pulse. I hope they get here soon," Happy said.

Pepper glanced around the room. She knew this couldn't be the only reason the silhouette pointed upward. Her eyes narrowed when spotted a thick envelope on the table. Walking over to the table, Pepper picked up the envelope and looked inside.

Pepper looked at Peter. "Stay here. I need to talk with Happy outside."

Peter simply nodded as she left the room with Happy following right behind her.

Outside, Happy and Pepper stood by the car.

"What wrong?" Happy asked.

Pepper removed the stack of papers from the large envelope and showed it Happy.

"Part Three Goodbye My Friend." Happy said out loud.

"The Silhouette was in the kitchen. It pointed upward," Pepper said.

Happy shook his head. This was getting serious.

"Should we get the police involved?" Happy asked.

Pepper remained silent as the sound of sirens were close. Peter emerged from the house, causing both Pepper and Happy to look in his direction.

"Not yet ... I mean if whoever is doing this is a huge major super villain or something, could the police really handle it and please don't tell Mr. Stark I want to sort this out first?"

Pepper sighed. She really hated this. She was at a lost she knew she should contract Tony and tell him everything that was going on. But the moment she spotted The Silhouette peeking out from behind a tree, she knew time wasn't on their side.

Pepper continued staring at The Silhouette. She was surprise it wasn't gone yet and with the help of the sun she could see. The Silhouette had a male build, which only caused her to confirm a suspicion she had in her mind. Pepper once again found herself moving closer toward The Silhouette, hoping he would move more into the sunlight, but she was stopped by Happy, who laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Peter, do you have any other friends or a girlfriend, perhaps?" Pepper asked.

"Well, there is MJ" Peter paused as a shiver ran up and down his spine. "You don't think?"

"We need to leave now!"

Just as the ambulance and police reached Ned's house, Happy, Pepper and Peter were already gone. All Peter could think about was MJ, and he hoped he wasn't too late.