A/N: Trigger Warnings: Violence towards minors and the elderly. Threats of Violence. People being threatened with guns and held at gunpoint. Minor Character Death. Mentions of blood. Cursing. Flashbacks.

Basically... there's a lot of violence, so proceed at your own risk.

There Will Be Blood

It was highly possible that Peter hadn't thoroughly thought this situation through.

If the look Grace Valentine was giving him was any indication, he most definitely hadn't thought this through.

He had a moment where his mind took him to another time and place.

"Hey! Hey, come on! You gonna shoot at someone, shoot at me!" A pause.

Herman Shultz studies him a moment and then, "A'ight." A gun is aimed in his direction and then everything goes to shit as Peter impulsively chases the bad guys down and nearly gets drowned in a lake. But Mr. Stark saved him.

Could Mr. Stark save him this time, though? What had Peter gotten himself into? Maybe he could blame Captain America for being the first to volunteer. Who was Peter kidding? He didn't need Steve to set the example of self-sacrifice. The lack of self-preservation skills was probably something that Mr. Stark would print on Peter's tombstone.

Peter was suddenly pulled from his thoughts by an unexpected sound.

Laughter.

Valentine was laughing again. What the hell did she find so funny about this situation? Wasn't she pissed off a moment ago?

Peter turned his confused eyes towards Steve. The older man was frowning at the woman, looking as unnerved as Peter. This woman was seriously unhinged, and that was something that wouldn't bode well for any of them.

The crazy woman stood to her full height and scrubbed a hand over her face before turning her attention back to Peter. "Do you think this is some kind of joke? Have I given you some reason to doubt how serious I am?"

Peter shrugged and glared at her. "I'm not the one laughing, and I meant what I said. I will always choose myself before offering someone else up for the slaughter."

Grace laughed again, but this time it held no mirth. She shook her head at him. "You clearly are close to Stark. It seems his hero complex has rubbed off on you."

Peter swallowed, clenching his jaw shut before saying anything he might regret. All the fear and terror from earlier were now melting into rage. Peter hated this woman. He wanted to stop this.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I told you… you pick one or I kill two." She took a few steps backwards, not taking her eyes off of Peter as she moved. She smirked, an evil look glittering in her eyes. This was a game to her. She was enjoying this.

Peter clenched his hands into fists, desperately wanting to break free and slap the look right off her face. May always told him never to hit a woman, but Grace Valentine wasn't just a woman. She was a monster.

"Maybe I need to narrow it down for you, Petey." She pulled her weapon from her waistband and pointed it towards Mr. Harrington, Ned, Flash, and MJ. "Which one of them gets to go first?" She gave Peter a serious look, sending him a silent challenge to see if he would dare to defy her again.

Peter continued to clench his jaw and fists, shaking his head.

"You can't ask him to do this," Steve spoke up, the older man's voice sounding far more nervous than Peter was used to hearing. Since when did Captain America get nervous?

"Shut up, old timer!" Erik snapped. "One more word, and I'll seal your lips shut for good!"

Grace quirked an eyebrow at her companion, giving him a look of silent approval at the threat.

Peter couldn't believe this. Were they all evil? He looked around the room. All of Valentine's people seemed to be enjoying the display. Peter's heart sank into his stomach. How is it that people could be so cruel? She wanted to kill someone… kids, actually! She wanted Peter to pick a classmate for her to murder in cold blood!

"Peter!" Grace snapped, pulling the teenager from his dark thoughts. "If you don't give me an answer, I'll pick two of them and I'll make the kill shots hurt. Do you understand?!"

Peter's heart sped up. The earlier terror creeping back in. He couldn't pick Ned (he was his best friend). He couldn't pick MJ (not when he was secretly falling for her). He couldn't even pick Flash (no matter how much the bully hurt him over the years).

Mr. Harrington's voice broke the tense silence. "Peter… you know what you need to do."

Peter locked eyes with his teacher. It was clear that the man wanted to be the one picked. Mr. Harrington looked wrecked, no doubt feeling guilty for walking his students into this mess. He wanted to be the one to take the bullet for his students.

"It needs to be a kid!" Erik spat out, seeming to read the situation for what it was.

Peter swallowed nervously. "I… uh…"

He was cut off by Flash. "Parker! Listen man, I'm sorry for everything that I've ever done to you! All these years, I was just jealous! I… I c-can't die! Not again… not after being blipped!"

Peter blinked at the bully. Did Flash seriously think that he was about to be picked?

"Do what you need to do, Peter," MJ said, looking stoic.

"I'll forgive you, man!" Ned spoke up next. "It can't be two! Just pick me… it's okay."

Tears were building up behind Peter's eyes again. He couldn't be the reason one of them died. Not when his friends were trying so hard to be brave.

It was MJ's words that had Peter's wrists itching. What he needed to do was bust out and stop this! Steve must have been reading his mind because he suddenly whispered quietly, "Trust the team! Don't reveal anything!"

"I…" Peter was trying to say something, but no words came out. What the hell was he supposed to say? He literally could not make himself choose.

Grace sighed, turning her head to study the three students who were quaking in fear next to their teacher. "What do we have here? It seems, Peter, that you have two friends and a foe to choose from… if their words to you are any indication." She turned her eyes back to Peter. "Seems to me the choice should be simple." She scowled. "Or are you still trying to be a hero?"

She had no idea what weight those words held. Was he still trying to be a hero?

"I just wanted to be like you," Peter told his mentor.

"And I wanted you to be better," the man replied in disappointment.

The memory swirled in Peter's head as he once again felt that same sense of complete and utter failure. The world didn't need a useless hero like Spider-Man. They needed real heroes. Peter still wasn't good enough, and now one of his friends would die because of it.

"Times up, Peter!" Grace scolded. "You've made it obvious that you want me to kill two." She gave him a smile that sent chills down his spine. "And for being such a little sissy about all of this, I'm going to take out your two friends. That should teach you to take me more seriously."

Ned and MJ visibly paled, but seemed to do their best to keep up a brave front.

"No!" Peter pleaded. "The Avengers! If they have what you want, will you leave them alone? Please! No one has to die!"

Valentine sauntered back over to Peter, still holding her gun in her hands. She once again knelt down in front of him. This time she used her weapon to push the hair out of Peter's face. "It's true. No one has to die. If Tony Stark comes through and meets my demands, then maybe… just maybe… your friends will have a chance."

She pushed herself back into a standing position, putting out a hand to Erik. "Why don't we give Iron Man a call, hm? Let's just see if your little friends get to live or die."

The ride back to the Tower was tense. FRIDAY gave Tony a play by play of the situation as they all made it back in record time, practically running to their command center.

Pepper greeted them the moment they all entered, begging Tony for more information on what was happening. The News was reporting on the hostage situation at the Museum, but very little was known by the police or reporters on the scene.

He filled her in quickly as they walked. "Where's Morgan?" he asked her suddenly, feeling the need for reassurance that at least one of his kids was safe.

"She's with May. Happy picked her up when we heard the news. They're upstairs in the penthouse," Pepper told him.

Of course! Tony took a moment to note that he would need to thank Happy later. It was important to have Peter's aunt close in this situation so that they could keep her informed.

"So… what's the plan?" Pepper asked.

Rhodes answered from behind. "We were strategizing on the way back, but we definitely don't have any great solutions. How can we give this woman something that doesn't exist?"

Pepper frowned nervously. "What about the police? Have we reached out to the authorities on the scene?"

This is why Tony loved this woman. She always managed to keep herself calm in situations like this and think logically. "Uh... actually, hun. We dodged their calls for the most part. We told them we'd get back to them once we had more information. I think they're probably sending someone to us."

They entered the command center and Tony paused once inside to look at his wife. She knew exactly what he was thinking. "You want me to take the lead with law enforcement and the press." It was a statement and not a question.

"You know me so well," he told her, managing a weak smile. "I trust you, Pep. No one handles law enforcement and reporters quite like you do."

She nodded and returned the sad smile. "I've got your back, Tony. You just have to keep me in the loop." She glanced over at Rhodes, knowing he was more likely to be the one to keep her informed while Tony was distracted.

"We'll keep a line open with you at all times," Rhodes assured her.

"When someone arrives, they'll want to speak with you. I'll do my best to keep them out of here and in one of the conference rooms," Pepper informed him.

The group was moving again. By now, everyone who was at the meeting with the Security Council was in the room together, pulling up holograms and doing what they could to keep their eyes on the situation inside the museum.

They were quickly running out of time, and it was clear that Grace Valentine enjoyed toying with Peter and Steve, but mostly Peter.

"FRIDAY, why don't we have audio?" Tony demanded.

"In the State of New York, it is illegal to record what someone is saying without their consent." FRIDAY answered. "The security cameras at the museum are picture only, Boss."

Tony growled in frustration. "Why are we so apt to follow the rules these days?"

"We aren't above the law, Stark," Sam Wilson remarked. "I'm pretty sure the Accords have made that abundantly clear."

Rhodes shot the man a look. "Not helping, Sam."

The Falcon shrugged.

"I can help read lips," Bucky offered. "It's actually one of the more useful skills that I picked up over the years."

"That's handy," Scott commented, eyes suddenly going wide. "That wasn't meant to be a joke about how you only have one hand. I just meant it like, you know, how it's useful"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Chill, TicTac. We ain't exactly worried about whether or not you're making bad jokes right now."

Scott frowned. "I don't… uh… I don't make bad jokes." He looked at Bruce. "Do I?"

The large, green man simply shrugged.

"What is she doing now?" Wanda asked, scowling at the woman as she talked forcefully to Peter.

Tony shook his head. "We need to get him out of there."

Bucky studied the screen. "You're not wrong, Stark. She's demanding that Peter pick who dies… or she'll kill two."

"What do we do?" Tony complained. "We are almost out of time. We need something! Otherwise, she's going to kill someone!"

"I hate to break it to you, but both Peter and Steve have volunteered to take that bullet." Bucky informed him, looking worriedly at the screen.

"Oh god," Tony breathed out, slamming himself into a nearby chair and scrubbing his hands over his face in horror.

Pepper rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Bucky's frown deepened. "She's not accepting. She still wants the kid to pick someone else."

"She wants the truth, right?" Bruce asked. "She didn't say we needed to give her the stones in an hour. She told us that we had an hour to decide if we were going to tell her the truth."

Rhodes frowned. "Yeah, but then she said she'd kill someone every 15 minutes after that until she had the stones."

"Still… it might buy us some time," Sam added.

"What? What is going to buy us time?" Tony demanded, sounding more than a little panicked. "Would someone like to clue me in?"

A voice from the door interrupted before anyone could answer. "That's what I'd like to know," Clint Barton said, stepping into the room. "Why is it that every single time I try to retire with my family, it all goes to shit?"

"Clint," Wanda said, sounding relieved to see her friend. "How did you get here so quickly?"

The man shrugged one shoulder. "I still have friends in high places." He looked at Tony. "Let's get right to the point. I can guess most of what's happening here. Hostage situation at the museum. Cap and the kid are inside. What are the demands?"

Everyone looked at each other for a moment. It was Scott who answered, seeming to be uncomfortable with the awkward silence. "They want the stones," Scott told him.

Clint blanched. "The stones? What stones? You can't possibly mean the Infinity Stones because they're gone."

"And that…" Tony spoke up. "... is precisely the problem."

"They think we have them?" Clint asked in confusion.

"The woman in charge thinks we lied about them being destroyed after Carol snapped," Rhodes explained.

Clint sighed and put his hands on his hips. "Well, shit. She's not totally wrong." Clint was quiet for a moment before giving them a warning look. "I'm not going back in time for those things again! I will NOT deal with that a second time!" His warning was venomous. They all still felt the weight of Natasha's death.

Pepper paled. "Is that option even on the table? I'm with Clint. I don't think that is the answer."

Bruce shook his head. "Hell, no. We can't mess with the timeline again. We need something else."

"Make it quick." Bucky commented. "The kid didn't pick the first person to die, so Valentine wants to take out his two friends unless we come through."

"Damn it!" Tony yelled. "What do we do? Someone give me something!"

"Tell her she can have them!" Scott offered, making it sound as if it was a genius suggestion.

Tony's jaw dropped. "I'm sorry… are you really suggesting that we offer to give this woman something we don't have?"

"Obviously, we can't give her the real thing!" Scott said defensively. "We just make her think she's getting them. It's like Big Green said, she wants the truth right now. So… we give her what she 'thinks' is true."

Tony shook his head. "It's risky."

"It's all we've got," Sam added.

"She's calling," Bucky warned.

Tony's phone rang, making him curse. He let it ring. "So… we give her what she wants… without actually giving her what she wants? Is that our play?" His voice was full of anxiety, clearly wanting a better plan.

"Are we allowed to fight our way in?" Clint asked.

Wanda frowned. "Ross got in the way. We weren't able to make progress with the Council. They've grounded us."

"Then I guess you better answer that call, Stark," Clint frowned.

Tony swore under his breath once more before answering the call. "This is Stark."

"It took you long enough to answer my call, Iron Man," Grace Valentine's cold voice said sharply through the phone.

"My apologies," Tony answered tersely. "We're just busy trying to follow your orders over here."

"Are you? It's not wise to lie to me."

"I'm not lying to you, Grace!" Tony said, clutching the phone tightly, wishing his hand were actually tightly wrapped around this insane woman's throat instead of his phone. "We want to give you what you're asking for."

"Do you?" her voice sounded surprised. "I'm sure sweet Peter will be pleased to hear that. He and I had a little disagreement. I'm afraid the consequences of your noncompliance will come at a higher cost, Stark. You see, Peter didn't listen to me when I told him to pick who dies. If he couldn't pick one, I warned him that I would kill two instead. He failed to pick, so now he'll lose two friends if you don't come through on your end."

"That's a lot of pressure to put on a kid, Grace. You're bargaining with me. Leave the kid out of it!" Tony told her, not bothering to hide a threatening tone.

"Don't blame me, Tony. I'm not the one who brought him into this, after all. You put him in the middle… making your affection for the boy so very obvious for us with your sweet dedication. He's an important part of our little game now. How traumatic this situation is for him is really up to you," She chuckled cruelly on the other end of the phone.

Clint looked at Wanda and whispered. "Who the hell is this psychotic bitch?"

"I'll explain later," Wanda replied, shushing him.

"You said we had an hour to get you the truth. That's what we can give you," Tony offered.

"I'm listening," Grace said, sounding impatient.

"The Infinity Stones are clearly dangerous. You saw what happened… what they're capable of doing. We couldn't risk it. They're hidden, but…" Tony looked up at the others. Rhodes gave him an encouraging nod. "... but we can get them for you. We just need a little more time."

Valentine chuckled gleefully on the other end of the phone. Her voice sounded triumphant when she spoke again. "I knew you and that pretentious group of so-called heroes were full of shit! I just knew it! You will bring us the Infinity Stones! Every 15 minutes that we have to wait, I will make sure blood spills. Are we clear? You will bring them to me!"

"You see," Tony said, attempting to sound confident. "There's the problem, Ms. Valentine. Your first call interrupted our meeting about the Accords. So… we're still restricted in our actions. We've been told to stay out of this and let the authorities handle it. We're going to need time to coordinate with them and find a way to safely get you what you want."

"You've got to be kidding! I'm not exactly a patient woman, and you are in no position to tell me how this is going to work!"

They all tensed as she raised her gun and stepped towards Peter's friends on the security feed they were watching.

"You will bring me the stones! I'm not afraid to kill them, Stark! Don't think that I won't do it!"

Tony could hear Peter's protests through the phone, and the sound of it broke his heart. "I never said that we weren't going to give you the stones!" he said frantically. "We just need more than 15 minutes!"

They watched on the security feed as Grace frowned and clutched her weapon, her finger placed dangerously over the trigger. Her gun was pointed at Peter's best friend. Peter was fidgeting while Steve seemed to be leaning over and saying something.

"Don't do anything stupid, kid," Bucky said quietly.

Tony didn't need further explanation to know that Peter was just about ready to break free and tackle Valentine himself. He couldn't risk that. "We are cooperating. We will give you what you want. No kids need to die today, Grace!"

They watched her lower her weapon. "How much time are you asking me for, Stark?"

Tony looked at his friends.

"We need at least a couple of hours!" Rhodey whispered.

Sam shook his head. "She'll never go for that. We'll be lucky to get twenty minutes."

Clint stepped forward. "Start high. I'm with Rhodes."

"It's going to take a couple of hours. The stones are spread apart. We need to get them, bring them back, and coordinate with the police," Tony explained.

"You must think I'm stupid! No way am I giving you that much time." She was pacing now. "You can have 20 minutes!"

Sam shot them a look that clearly indicated that he was right.

"An hour and a half," Tony tried.

"30 minutes!"

Tony closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. "75 minutes! Please… this is not something that we can do quickly. Do you want the stones or not?" He knew it was risky to give her attitude. The woman was dangerously escalated, but they needed the time.

They watched as she stopped pacing on the security feed, lowering the phone from her ear and looking frustrated. She walked over to converse with some of her people before getting back on the call. "I'll tell you what, Stark. I'm feeling generous. You can have ONE hour!"

Tony sighed in relief. It wasn't much, but it was so much better than 15 minutes.

"But it's going to come at a price," Grace told him.

Before anyone could process what that could mean, she raised her gun and pulled the trigger.

There was a collection of gasps and protests all around Tony, but he could only watch the security feed in horror as Peter's teacher went limp. He could also hear the screams of terror on the other end of the phone. He felt dizzy. He couldn't believe this. How could she do that? They were cooperating (as far as she knew).

"As I said, I'm feeling generous. The KIDS get another hour."

Tony was breathing heavily, fighting his emotions. "You… you didn't need to do that! We're trying to work with you!"

"You're making demands that you have no right to make!" She scolded. "That was a warning. I'm still in charge here. Unless you want his little students to join him in death, you better be sure that I get EXACTLY what I want. I'll call in 30 minutes to check in on your progress."

Before Tony could say anything else, she hung up the phone. Tony's hands were shaking, and his eyes were glued on the security feed. The room was completely silent as the heroes watched some of Valentine's goons drag the teacher's body away, leaving a bloody streak behind.

Tony looked at the terrified faces of the other hostages. Kids were crying. One woman was rubbing her young son's back with her bound hands as the boy retched. Peter had pulled his knees up to his chest. He had his face hidden behind his own bound wrists as he rocked himself back and forth in despair. Steve was trying to soothe Peter, but he was sending a murderous look towards Valentine.

After a few more moments of silence, Tony cleared his throat and rubbed away the tears that were threatening to fall from his own eyes. "We do not let that man die in vain! We are getting them all out of there!"

"Great! Are we suiting up? I can fly the quinjet," Clint offered.

Rhodes shook his head sadly, "We can't risk that. It might just make it all worse."

"We can't afford worse!" Tony spat angrily, standing to his feet. "We work this out. Bruce… how can we engineer some convincing stones within the next hour?"

Pepper tapped at her phone. "Happy texted. The FBI is waiting upstairs. I can talk to them. Fill them in. I'll see what they suggest as the best way to get the replicas into the building in exchange for the hostages."

"We do know that it won't be that easy, right?' Sam interrupted. "We need to make a plan for when this all goes sideways. No way this crazy ass woman makes the exchange simple."

Rhodes nodded. "Sam's right. We need to make contingency plans…"

" Yeah… maybe some plans the FBI and Security Council aren't aware of," Bucky added.

The others nodded in agreement.

"What about Strange?" Bruce asked. "Have we heard anything from him?"

Clint's face grew hopeful. "Holy shit! That's it! That's the solution! Where is the wizard? What good is it to have a wizard who can open portals if he's not going to be around? We could portal those people out of there before the bad guys even know what's happening!"

"I'm afraid not," Wanda told them. "He's… not exactly around."

"What the hell does that mean? Where is he?" Scott asked.

Wanda shrugged. "Around… he's all over, but nowhere we are likely to reach him."

Tony scrubbed a hand over his face. "That's just great. Whatever… we don't need the Bleecker Street Magician."

"What about Danvers, Thor, or the Guardians?" Sam asked. "Should we reach out to them?"

"I don't think that's such a good idea. I think the Security Council will catch on if we start bringing in our friends who are off-world." Rhodes commented.

"I still think they should know what's happening," Clint added.

Tony nodded. "We'll send them a transmission. We give them the 4-1-1, and keep them on standby. Bruce and I will work on some convincing stones, Pepper will talk to the FBI, a couple of you fill in the team members that we can reach, and the rest of you work on those contingency plans!"

"Happy says the lead FBI agent is named Jimmy Woo," Pepper informed them, continuing to tap at her phone. "I'll talk to him, and you all have to let me know if we learn anything else."

Scott turned to her in surprise. "Agent Woo? I know him. He was in charge back when I was on house arrest. He's a good man. Maybe I can help you talk to him?"

"That's not a bad idea," Rhodes said. "Does he trust you?"

"Mostly," Scott shrugged.

"Good enough. Scott goes with Pepper," Sam said. "Bucky, Rhodes, and I can work on the contingency plans." He looked at Clint and Wanda. "Can you two reach out the others? Wanda… maybe you can try to get a message out to Strange?"

"I can try, but I make no promises," she answered.

"Sounds like we all have our jobs. What the hell are we waiting for? We've got less than an hour at this point," Clint pointed out.

Tony nodded. "Right. Let's do what we do best, people! Let's make the impossible happen."

With that, they moved to take care of their respective business.

Tony and Bruce looked for materials that they could use to craft something that could pass as the Infinity Stones.

Pepper and Scott went up to meet with Jimmy Woo and his FBI team.

Rhodes, Sam, and Bucky used their military training to try to plan for ways in which their team might be able to intervene.

Clint and Wanda prepared communication to any of their allies who weren't in the room.

They had less than an hour to get Peter, Steve, and the other hostages out safely. They were determined to make sure no more blood would be spilled.

They were going to stop Grace Valentine.

Whatever it takes!

A/N: I'm sorry! Truly! I have nothing against Mr. Harrington. I like the character a lot, but I felt like it only made sense for Grace to follow through on her threats to some extent. I wanted to be clear... she is a VERY bad person in this story! Mercy is not her strength. Someone had to go, and Harrington was willing to sacrifice himself for the safety of his students. His sacrifice won't be forgotten.

But... who will she target next? Will it be Ned? MJ? Both?

Will Peter be able to hold himself back?

Will Steve step in to protect Peter?

How much will the violence escalate before the Avengers are able to step in? Or will Ross make sure they are kept on the sidelines?

Why does Grace want the stones? What is her ultimate goal?

Answers to all of these questions and more as the story continues. Stay tuned, my lovelies!