The men that took him had no idea that he was Spider-man, they didn't know that he had a healing factor that doubled his metabolism, and since they did not know these things, they were ill prepared to handle a freaked out super teen in the back of a moving van.
The sedative they gave him had worn off in record time and Peter was so far beyond caring if these goons pieced his identity together it was laughable.
They were barely out of the city, off highway 287 near Durham Woods, when Peter came to. The dark subdivisions were backed in trees and there was no one on the roads.
Those things turned out to be in his favor because the first thing Peter did was kick the kidnapper closest to him square in the chest, knocking him into the front seat.
The van swerved dangerously before tipping on to its side and skidded to a halt in an explosion of sparks.
Peter recovered quick enough to wrestle his wrists out of the ropes, leaving a fair amount of laceration in their wake. He grabbed the man to his left and exchanged a couple punches with him, earning him a black eye but the other man a concussion.
With two out of five men down Peter turned his attention to the back doors that had busted open during the crash. He bolted out without a second thought, his eyes set on the woods to his left.
He got four running steps before a metal whip came out of nowhere and wrapped itself around his ankles sending him face first into concrete, scraping his chin.
Peter twisted over to his back in time to see Mark step out of the van. His torso was encased in a black ballistic vest and in his hand were two metal whips. The one around his ankles started to hum and before Peter could react electricity shot through his entire body.
The boy convulsed before managing to get his feet free. Scrambling to get up, he faced off with the whip wielding psycho.
"I don't know how you managed that you little shit, but you can't get rid of me so easily!" He snarled.
The remaining men slowly untangled themselves from the wreck and joined their boss.
Peter would have loved to have his web shooters, but since he didn't, he did the only thing he could think of that would throw the men for a loop. He ran at them, using his agility and flexibility to avoid their attacks. Natasha would be so proud.
Peter focused on the man armed with the gun first, taking him down with a series of wrist locks and punches. Since his attention was diverted the man with the whips had no problem sneaking his toys into the fray.
His Spidey-sense allowed him to get out of the way of the first one, but the second one caught him across the back fully. It sliced his shirt clean through and left a long bloody gash along with a shock.
He didn't dare disengage from the man he was fighting since the gun was still in play, so the teen had to endure a second strike to the back of his legs before he finished the henchman off and sprung backwards. Tossing the gun off into the darkness.
The metal started snapping at him at a faster pace as he danced out of the way.
Peter was getting tired of this game of tag but then his ears picked up a sound that made him smile.
"I would really hate to be you right now," Peter rolled backwards to distance himself from the whips and to make room.
How Natasha got the Quinjet to beat Tony to the scene, Peter didn't know, but Mark was gonna wish the Billionaire had been a little quicker.
Mark was standing for a total of four seconds before Natasha had him pinned to ground, hooks in, and arm thrown across his throat. He was out before he could even gurgle. Ironman was a few seconds behind to flying tackle the two remaining men.
All in all pretty anticlimactic for Peter, he had gave it everything he got to escape and those two took the baddies out in seconds.
Once the men were properly secured Natasha hugged him tight.
"Oh baby-spider, what happened? Are you alright?" She demanded, in Russian, but instead of waiting for him to answer she started checking him all over.
Tony stood there with a relieved look on his face, a look that slowly slid away to one of sadness.
It had been a hectic night and May was waiting for him when they finally got home. Natasha said good bye, but when Peter turned to talk to Tony the man was gone.
He was a bit confused because now that he thought of it, Tony hadn't said anything to him since the rescue.
Tuesday came around and Peter was excited to meet Happy after school in order to go to the labs.
He bolted outside only to see the black sedan was not there yet. The teen stood off to the side as the rest of the student body dispersed to their various rides. After an hour and a half, he had to think Happy wasn't coming.
The teen sent a text to Tony and Happy saying that he was going to head home, assuming something important came up.
Happy replied twenty mins later, apologizing but saying that there was an emergency and that the lab would have to be cancelled for the week.
Friday came and his hopes of at least training with the Avengers were dashed as well by a simple text, again from Happy.
Two weeks later Peter received the answer why Tony was avoiding him.
As Peter was sorting through the pile of mail, he saw an official letter from Stark industries.
Curious, he popped it open and read it quickly. Then he reread it. And again.
A choked gasp escaped his throat.
He glanced around the empty apartment, his chest constricted.
His first thought was that it was a mistake, so he sent another text to Tony but then the automated message that came back confirmed his horror.
Message could not be sent. Contact your provider if problem persists.
Now his mind was racing. What did he do? How did he screw up so bad that Tony wouldn't even talk to him?
Then it came to him. The kidnapping.
After all the time and effort, the Avengers put in to training him, he couldn't even stop a few guys from taking him. He was a liability. Tony had him in his personal lab, he was privy to so many top-secret projects and he couldn't even keep himself safe.
Peter slid down the wall, so he was sitting and pulled his knees to his chest. He was a liability to Tony Stark, and to the Avengers. This was all his fault.
A horrible coldness seeped into his chest and his limps felt like rocks. He couldn't even find the energy to cry.
When his aunt found him later that night he was in the same spot. She helped him back to his bed, chalking it up to a sickness, and for the rest of the weekend that is where he stayed.
He ate and moved only enough that Aunt May didn't insist on him going to the hospital. The offending letter stayed tucked in his hand the whole time. His last line to his mentor.
The only thing that made him feel anything over the next two weeks was his patrols. It wasn't a good feeling per say but it gave him a few minutes of adrenaline to focus his anger. At least that was something he could still control.
He would do a couple hours after school, go home to do homework and see May, then once she was in bed or at work he went back out. If he got three hours of sleep in a night, he would be lucky
He was stopping lots of crime, helping lots of people but it was lacking his regular fast-talking quips, and yes he was becoming much more efficient but he was also being reckless. His own safety was low on his priority list.
It was Friday night, and May was going to work a double at the hospital leaving Peter free to spend the whole time out without any worries of raising suspicion.
He swung through the streets searching for some kind of action. The sun was starting to go down before he finally found something.
Normally he would have left the firefighting to the professionals, he had no training in that sort of thing but what made him stop at the scene was screams of people caught inside.
Without a second thought Spider-man shot a web to the top of the building and swung feet first into a lower story window.
His mask filtered very little of the smoke and there was zero visibility. Still he could hear the people. Using his hearing and the thermal vision setting in his eye lenses he started through the building. It took two minutes to locate the first person. A woman, unconscious, slumped against the door frame.
Spider-man grabbed the woman and gently positioned her over his shoulder. He didn't want to break anymore windows in case it sped up the spread of the fire, so he got back to his initial entry point and swung down to the street.
"Hey! Hey over here!" Spider-man yelled. A firefighter saw him and ran over to assist.
"Don't go back in there, Spider-man! The building is very unstable! It could collapse at any second!" The man tried to reason.
"There are more people trapped!" He said over his shoulder as he headed back for the window.
The screams inside were getting more and more faint and the young hero feared the worse. He searched frantically, he found nothing so he went down to the next floor, where the fire was burning so hot it seared his lungs with every breath.
He could barely make anything out with his thermal vision, everything looked white. It was only once he turned it back to regular vision that he saw it. In the apartment bathroom. Two little forms huddled in the bottom of a tub.
Spider-man suppressed a violent coughing fit. He grabbed the kids and bolted back out the hall. His Spidey-sense flared sharply, and he jumped back just in time for a beam to smash down where he had just been.
Through the smoke and debris, he saw the light of a window. He had one chance so he took it. Hugging the kids to his chest the teen threw himself out the window, back first. He was able to secure a web for a couple seconds before he hit the pavement with a thud.
He was pretty sure he cracked a few ribs, but nothing mattered at that moment except those two tiny people still tucked into his chest.
EMT's and firefighters ran over and grabbed the kids. Spider-man pushed himself to his knees, coughing violently.
A horrible crash signalled the collapse of part of the building, but Spider-man did not take his eyes off the two the emergency services were working on.
The little girl took a sharp inhale and started to cry, and cough. A woman broke free of the crowd and threw herself into the child's arms.
"Oh, my baby! My baby! I couldn't find you! Where did you go? Where?" Cried the woman.
The young hero let himself breath a little as he looked to the second child, a little boy.
A woman was giving chest compressions, another was giving breaths every now and then.
Spider-man didn't know how long he watched them go on, but his heart started to ache when the emergency personal stopped. He couldn't understand why they were stopping, they needed to help him.
One of the firefighters closest to him gave his shoulder a squeeze. The female that had been giving the breaths sat back on her heels and gave a soft sob.
The mother who was holding the little girl wailed as she realized what this all meant.
Spider-man couldn't stay. He couldn't handle seeing the mother's loss.
Peter yanked the mask off and threw it across his room before collapsing beside his bed and giving a hoarse sob. He buried his face into the blankets and just let out everything he had been bottling up for weeks.
It was an hour later there was a knock on the door. Peter couldn't be bothered to stand so he ignored it. The pounding became more insistent then suddenly there was the sound of splintered wood.
"What the hell….?!" He heard a man snap.
"I am pretty sure I can afford a door!" came Tony Stark's reply. "Kid? Pete? Are you here?"
Peter hid his tear streaked face in the blanket, not wanting a man like Tony Stark to see him cry.
Foot steps stopped at his bedroom door.
"Pete?" Tony's voice was surprisingly gentle. Peter was still in his suit minus the mask, huddled in a small ball by his bed. It was not a look that gave someone the impression the teen was doing well. "Happy, can you give me a minute to talk to him?"
The second set of footsteps left.
Peter felt the brush of fabric as Tony sat right beside him. The man hesitated for a moment before placing a hand on one of his shoulders.
"Peter? Can we talk please?" Tony asked. "I saw the news and rushed right over. I watched you throw yourself into that burning building. What were you thinking?!"
The increase of volume for that last question made Peter flinch and Tony automatically felt bad.
"You could have got yourself killed kid! And if that happened, I would never forgive myself!"
"I am fine." Peter mumbled into the blankets, he just wanted the man to leave, he didn't need to be pitied.
Tony turned so he could grip both of Peter's shoulders and eased him up right, so he could see him.
"Peter. These last few weeks have really sucked, and when I saw you go into that building, I realized I needed to clear the air."
"I screwed up, I know. You had every right to fire me. I don't blame you, but can you go now? I am kinda having a rough day and would like to be alone." Peter asked.
Tony stared at him blankly for a moment. Peter sighed and moved so he was at least sitting on the bed and not on the floor. Eventually Tony followed him up.
"Pete, I did not fire you because you did something wrong. I fired you so that you would be safe, I didn't like that you were targeted just because you were close to me, so I cut all ties, officially as well so everyone would know and leave you alone." He stated.
"That's stupid." Peter said flatly. "I'm Spider-man, I can get into all the trouble I need by myself."
Tony surprisingly, didn't call him on the stupid comment.
"I know. Well, I realized that now. You did throw yourself into a burning building, and that didn't involve me in anyway." Tony agreed. "So, kid, I am sorry. You are un-fired, and you can come back to the tower tonight so Natasha will stop yelling at me and hug you."
That made Peter feel a bit better but when he looked up into Tony's eyes something in him broke again and he started to cry.
The billionaire froze, looking both confused and scared. He didn't deal with emotions well and the kid obviously needed something else.
"Pete, it's ok. I mean, come on it's all done now. Won't happen again, I swear!"
Peter was shaking his head before Tony even finished his sentence.
"I-it's n-not that," Peter stammered as he hugged his arms around his middle, "D-did you see the rest of that report on the fire?"
Tony thought then shook his head no. Watching Peter go into that building was enough to make his queasy.
"I saved two people," Peter said then paused.
"OK, that's good right? You did a good job," Tony stated, confused.
"I brought three out of the building. A little boy," Tears flowed freely down his cheeks. "A little boy didn't make it. He was so small. And his poor mother …."
Tony did the only thing that seemed right. He wrapped his arms around the kid and held him tight.
When he had gotten word that Peter had been kidnapped he had a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach, he was so sure it was his fault and he needed to fix it. Now, to see the same kid before him, crying because he lost someone he had been trying to save he realized he couldn't fix anything. The best he could do was to be there whenever the boy needed him.
