Chapter 17 – Peter's Fight
'How far out are we?' Natasha asks, looking over Tony's shoulder.
'We're here. What's the plan, Cap?' he calls over his shoulder.
'We don't have time to be subtle,' Steve replies, tightening the straps on his shield. 'We go in and we get Wanda and Peter out. If we have to knock her out, we knock her out.'
'And everyone else?' Thor asks, shifting his hammer from hand to hand.
'Show no mercy,' Loki answers for them, his eyes flickering between red and green. On hearing what had happened with Wanda the brothers had returned from the UN, apparently T'Challa had wanted to come but Nakia had convinced him it was better to continue the battle in the UN. According to Thor the king had not been amused.
'Let Loki and I focus on Wanda,' Strange tells the team. 'We should be able to neutralise her powers enough to be able to capture her.'
'Can we go yet?' Wade growls, guns spinning in his hands.
Tony pulls the jet to a stop, tapping his reactor and letting his suit cover him. 'I second the question.'
Steve looks round at everyone, and Tony has rarely seen him this angry. 'Let's go.'
Peter struggles to his hand and knees from where he's fallen against the wall. He's learned a very important lesson today: Bucky has always held back in a fight since he stopped being the Winter Soldier. If it weren't for his spidey-senses he'd be dead. He's also struggling to fight his friend properly, not wanting to hurt him even though it's obvious that Bucky currently doesn't have any issues with doing the same.
A vibranium hand closes around his throat and drags him up to pin him against the wall. Peter finds himself looking into very familiar dark eyes, currently blank of all emotion.
'You don't seem to have done as well as you thought, little spider,' Francis crows from over Bucky's shoulder. 'So, I think we'll be taking you to add to our little collection. How I am going to love breaking Wade by having him fight you.'
What can I do? He barely has the energy to struggle against the immovable grip at his neck. He sees Wanda, watching the fight impassively. I guess it's time for a risk.
He activates the suit and has the mask dragged back to reveal his face; staring straight at Wanda he lets himself sink into a memory, knowing if this doesn't work to break her control then nothing will.
'Peter?'
He turns to look at the android on the operating table. 'Can I get you anything, Vis?' he asks, checking Shuri's screen around him to make sure he hadn't missed anything.
'Peter, can you promise me something?'
'Of course,' he takes the android's hand.
'If I shouldn't make it through this-'
'Vis you'll be-'
'Peter please don't interrupt me. If I shouldn't make it through this, I want you to promise me you'll look after, Wanda.'
'You know I'd do that anyway, Vis, we all will,' Peter reassures him.
'I know but…Peter I need you to promise me this.'
'But-'
'Promise me, Peter.'
'I promise.'
Peter's eyes are tearing as he pulls himself from his memory, meeting Wanda's gaze over Bucky's shoulders. There are tears on her face and it looks like she's waking up from a bad dream, but still unsure where she is.
'Any last words for your friends before you forget who you are, little spider?' Francis taunts him.
'Yeah,' he croaks out, looking straight into Bucky's eyes. 'Thank you. For what you did for Steve, for what you do for the team. But most of all,' he feels the tears travel down his cheeks as Bucky's fist that is raised ready to knock him out, lowers a little, the fist not quite as tightly formed as he repeats words from the presentation he did months before, 'thanks for accepting me, an awkward, nerdy kid from Queens, and for being my friend.' He swallows. 'I'm sorry I failed, but I'll never stop trying.' He looks over and catches Wanda's eye. 'I promise.'
Wanda screams, causing Bucky to loosen his grip on Peter's throat and he collapses to the floor, coughing as he gasps air into his lungs. The super soldier has his ears covered from the noise. The HYDRA soldiers seem to be panicking and then the door bursts open.
'Bucky!' Peter has never been happier to hear Steve's voice.
'Francis you mother fucker, I should have known you'd be here!' Wade yells, heading after the man as he begins to back up towards an exit.
Peter looks over to see Strange kneeling by a sobbing Wanda; he catches the doctor's eye and sees him nod. All remaining fight leaves his body. Wanda broke the conditioning.
Bucky, however, is still stood over Peter, looking torn between wanting to attack him and like he knows he shouldn't.
'Winter Warrior!' Loki's voice carries across the room. 'Face me in combat!'
'Loki what are you doing?' Steve demands.
'Trust me, Captain,' the god responds. 'I can bring him back. Just let me face him. The rest of you make sure the rest of this place is destroyed.'
'Hey, kid,' Sam lands next to him as Bucky turns to face the trickster. 'Let's get you out of here.'
'Fine by me,' he manages to force past his abused throat.
Wanda looks up as Sam flies past with a battered Peter.
'We should get you to the jet as well,' Strange's voice is soft, despite everything she's done.
'No,' she replies, finding the fight returning to her again. 'Agatha is here. I need to face her.'
'Who is Agatha?' Natasha asks, coming to crouch next to them.
'She's a witch,' Wanda explains. 'She managed to twist my own magic against me, but I know how to fight her now. You can't fight her without me.' She looks to Strange. 'She absorbs people's magic. She'd drain you and leave you a dried-out husk. Together we might be able to beat her, but we can't face her alone.'
'Alright,' Strange agrees, 'we'll face this Agatha, the rest of you deal with everyone else.'
Natasha doesn't look happy with the plan. 'Are you sure you can do this?'
'No,' Wanda replies, staggering to her feet, 'but I have to.'
A/N: Hi everyone. I'm so sorry I've been so terrible at responding to reviews recently, work has just been absolutely hectic and I've been doing a lot out of hours. I promise to do my best to get better from this week as it should start calming down again.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, this whole thing was based on a comment from a reader (I'm so sorry I can't remember who it was now!) who said they'd love to see a fight between Peter and Bucky. So basically this whole instalment built out from this chapter. So please please please do keep reviewing and letting me know what you think and what you'd like to see. It might not materialise for a while, but it does end up finding a place in a story somewhere.
Love always,
L x
As always here's your sneak peek:
-Listen to me, Winter Warrior- he shouts through the link. Bucky's punch goes wide and he blinks in surprise.
'What did you do?' he growls at him, righting himself and stabbing upwards with a knife.
-I did nothing except speak. I know you can hear me-
'Stop it!' Bucky yells, lashing out with a leg and sending Loki staggering backwards.
