Prompt: Hostage Situation
"You are not going wearing that." Tony stepped out, putting his hand up in front of Peter, blocking his way.
Peter looked down at himself, close to being offended. It's not like he had worn anything that Tony hadn't told him to wear. A clean looking and fit- yes he specified that- black three piece suit. Okay, maybe his shoes were a size too big. But it was only one size, not that big of a deal! After looking himself over quickly, he looked back up at Tony, with a pointed look on his face.
"What's wrong this time?" Peter sighed in defeat.
"That tie!" Tony cries, leaning down slightly to start adjust the bow tie around Peter's neck. "And it's also a freaking bow tie, but I'll let you off easy this time."
Peter rolled his eyes as and held on to his look at Tony, as the man continued to mumble dramatically about the tie.
Finally, when Tony had finished he flashed Peter a grin. "There. That wasn't so bad, was it?" Tony pointed his finger at the kid's face. "And don't give me that look kid. Christ, you're gonna make a great dad one day with that look."
"Not with that baby face he isn't." Sam joked as he entered the common room, along side Natasha, Steve, and Rhodey. They were dressed equally to Tony and Peter. Sam and Steve were wearing nearly matching deep blue suits, making Peter believe that they had probably gone out together to get them. Knowing Steve, he probably didn't know what to get, so he just tried to get something that was as close to a match to Sam's suit as possible. Rhodey was wearing a clearly very worn out black suit. It was probably a designated suit he usually brought out for events like these. Natasha was sporting a flirtatious yet dangerous short black dress, with a red belt draping across her waist.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Peter dismissed, walking over to the counter to grab his phone. Most of the gathered team rolled their eyes playfully at his retort.
"Okay." Tony started. "Sorry to disrupt the Spider roast that's about to happen, but I think we have to go over some ground rules for the event."
Steve crossed his arms instinctively. "We're not children, Tony."
"Most of you aren't." Tony corrected. "And you guys basically are in a place like this. These people are very rich and powerful shareholders and investors. Most of them have money in, or invest in, the Avengers initiative and Shield." He took notice of Steve's surprised face. "Why's everyone giving me looks today? Do you think that it's just me putting my personal money in this Avengers stuff?"
Tony huffed at the more confused expressions he was receiving from around the room. Didn't these people understand how expenses worked? How did they think Shield was able to afford those helicarriers every month?
He whisked his hand at them. "The point is, please try to be on your best behavior. These people can basically determine what equipment we can or cannot bring on a mission. We need to act nicely. Like you're selling yourself, really."
Tony pointed at each Avenger. Starting with Peter. "So, that means no saying anything weird or rambling," be pointed at Natasha, "be friendly," Sam. "No inappropriate jokes." Steve. "Keep the conversation to this decade." Rhodey. "And for the love of a big man upstairs, please no more stories Rhodes."
Peter pointed at Tony back. "And no hypocritical comments," he teased.
Tony chuckled under his breath. He was almost impressed at the wit. But he still hoped that his warnings were received. This was still a very important banquet.
"Alright. Now that that's settled, let's get going because we could be late."
This place is so... pretty, Peter thought to himself as he walked into the banquet hall. Not like he had any real expectation of what it would look like inside, he's obviously never been to a place like this, muchbless for an event. But he was still in awe. Peter was a little hesitant at first. The building outside looked like any grey and lifeless building he had swung by countless times before. It almost looked like an office building to him.
But the inside! Wow! Peter first noticed the lights. They were bright, but also toned down to a pleasant orange. Like a sunset. There were also lights hung up around the walls, that were a subdued soft red color. Nearly pink, but still a distinguished red. The tables were placed neatly, with eggshell table cloths and matching wooden chairs around the sides of the hall. In the middle, was a shiny laminate flooring, reminiscent of cool marble, but was also a warm orange. In the corner, placed in front of all the tables, was hunky black stage. It seemed like an eye sore, compared to all the beauty surrounding it.
"Amazing." Peter breathed out, as he took in all the surroundings.
Tony patted his shoulder as he walked in. "Get used to it, kid. This will be your future."
Peter pressed his lips together, in a small look of disgust. This was great and all, but it wasn't really what the 'little guy' was probably accustomed to. It just wasn't a place Peter would be comfortable with all the time. Not his style. It was and felt too... big for him.
Tony let out a quick laugh as he continued into the hall, along with the rest of the team who left Peter in his awe. He shouldn't have expected any other reaction from Peter. He was kind of jealous of the kid in a way. The kid was too nice, too gentle to be excited for this kind of world. Tony's world.
Happy walked up and nudged Peter's shoulder, waking him from his daze. "Stay close to me, okay kid?" He ordered, not waiting for a response, and instead walking immediately away.
Peter followed him, realizing that everyone else had also walked into the hall. He fast walked to catch up to Happy, and took in some more of the beauty of the place. A lot of guests had already arrived. They were mingling in the middle area, which Peter mused would have been designated as the dance floor if this was anything were also many people talking and laughing at a refreshments table.
He briefly took notice of where each Avenger disappeared too. Natasha seemed to pinpoint who was an investor of Shield, and had immediately joined a group with one of those investors in it. Tony and Rhodey had stuck together and went off to the refreshments table and was already beginning a conversation. Sam and Steve had stuck together as well, and were busy eyeing around the hall when it seemed that they were called over, by what Peter could only potentially call, fanboys.
Peter suddenly realized how awkward he felt. He didn't really know what he was supposed to do. Was he supposed to talk to some of these people? Were they just going to ask what a high school kid was doing here? What was he supposed to say to that? Should he join one of the Avengers, and just try not to draw attention to himself? Peter felt himself panicking. Maybe he should just stick with Happy.
He looked around, suddenly realizing that he had just stopped walking to take in those surroundings. And he couldn't see Happy anywhere.
Oh, great.
He started panicking again. Great. Now he looks even more lost and confused than he already did. But now he didn't have someone familiar to basically hide behind and hoped no one noticed him.
Scanning the room for Happy, he noticed the restroom sign tucked into the corner of the room. In a quick decision, he began to B-line for it. At least there he could take a breather there, and then could stand close to the door while he scanned the room for Happy again.
When Peter got close to the door, he could already hear voices. His Spidey sense tingled for a moment before he pushed open the door, but he decided that was probably from just feeling as awkward and uncomfortable as he did. But, that still meant that there was probably people in there. It took a few seconds to fully push the door to sneak in as well. Peter had to use some of his super strength to push it. As if someone had jammed the door or something.
Peter still didn't really pay attention to the warning signs. He was anxious at the moment to really think about it. Instead, he finally got the door to open and headed straight to the bathroom sink to take a breath. He put both his hands on the counter, closed his eyes, and took that deep breath to calm himself down for a moment.
Didn't he just hear some voices behind the door?
He opened his eyes at the thought, and kind of wished that he didn't. As he looked over, he saw five people staring intently right back at him.
He first noticed the man with the very large forehead, with a dark green tinge to his skin. It was hard not to see him first. Ironically, who peter should have noticed first, was right beside him. Justin Hammer. The Justin Hammer. AKA just recently freed from prison Justin Hammer. Peter recognized him instantly. He still remembered everything that went down at the Stark expo. There was two muscular men beside Justin, but Peter didn't recognize them nor did they look that strange in any way. And finally there was a woman beside the man with the large forehead, wearing something familiar to Natasha's 'assassin' outfit.
For at least a minute, Peter and the group just stared at each other. Classical music from inside the banquet hall infiltrated the restroom, being the only noise. Peter was trying to register to himself that these, clearly villainous, people were here. As well putting the pieces together that he should have already did the math on. Whispered noises? Spider sense? Jammed door? Come on Spider-man!
Well, Peter figured, he chose to be the first one to do anything. He faked coughed uncomfortably. "People you see in the bathroom, am I right?" He began to back up slowly back towards the door. "Well I'm gonna be heading out then..."
Instead of making the most awkward escape ever, Peter was stopped and pulled back by some sort of... invisible force. He was pulled towards and nearly into the large headed man. He was an inch away from the top of the man's chest, and he had to bend his neck painfully to cautiously look up at the stranger.
The strange man smiled at him. The back of Peter's neck fluttered. "You must be the newest Avenger. Spider-man. Little, precious, Peter Parker."
Just like in the hall, Peter didn't know what to do. Should he fight? He supposed it would depend on whether everyone else in this room were as dangerous or powerful as the large headed man clearly was. Which Peter was already assuming was the case. Well, except for Justin Hammer. Should he just stand there? Nope. He was definitely in danger. Should he run? Well, he just tried that. Should he scream? Even though he was currently in most likely a bad situation, in a room with some villains, he was still worried about disrupting the event in the hall.
Peter was gonna fight first, he supposed.
He lifted his arm up and back, readying a swing his fist. The man frowned at him, and motioned to Hammer. Peter swung his readied fist, aiming for the strange man's large head, but his hand was stopped by that same invisible force, barely an inch in front of the head. Without any time to really process what to do next, Peter noticed Hammer pulling out a large syringe from a tiny bag on the floor. And he was coming right at him with it.
Oh no.
In an attempt to get distance between the syringe heading towards him, Peter did an awkward attempt to escape. He tried to back up away from the big forehead man, but he couldn't break free from the invisible force. Trying to find another option, he twisted his body around, for his back instead of his front to be up against the man. Peter figured that he could probably try escaping in that position. He didn't get a chance to test it out, as the man instantly wrapped both his arms around Peter's front. One around his neck, one around his chest. The man started to squeeze his arm wrapping his neck. Panicking now, Peter reached up with both of his arms to grab at the man's arms, trying to release the pressure threatening him.
Hammer was still waking towards him with the syringe filled with a neon green substance. Attempting to still fight him off, and while his arms were occupied, Peter lifted his legs, and began to kick wildly. In response, the two other men rushed and grabbed Peter's legs. But Peter was absolutely stronger than the two men, and it turned into a struggle between the two parties. Hammer was moving from side to side, finding a safe area to inject the syringe. While Peter's legs were still flailing, his arms were also wrestling with the strange man's arms. It got worse as the man moved his arm that wrapped Peter's neck, to clamping around the boy's mouth, lifting his neck up slightly to try and give Hammer an area to stick the syringe into. Peter broke at that movement, and screamed a muffled cry for help.
It was almost comical when Happy walked in.
"Dammit kid! I told you to-" Happy stopped his complaint as he burst through the door, to be met with the startling situation.
Hammer turned around automatically. He twitched his head in surprise at seeing Happy's face. "Do I know you?" He asked.
Happy's eyes met Peter's as he was trying to process. Peter wasn't sure if Happy would understand his muffled yell, but he tried to get out, "get Mr. Stark!" As best he could.
He figured that he must have, considering Happy immediately rushed out of the room.
"Fuck!" Hammer cussed, and jumped at Peter. He hit his mark that time, and punctured the thin metal of the syringe into Peter's neck.
Peter tried to twist and fight once again as he felt a cold liquid enter through the fresh wound. It felt invasive. Whatever it was, it must work fast. Peter felt his limbs slowly stop fighting as the edges of his fingers and toes began to go numb. His arms and legs stung and started to feel like bees were swarming them, buzzing close to his skin. His vision felt the same, and the corners of what he could see in the restroom became blurry.
As Peter stopped fighting, the two men who were at his legs stepped away. The strange still held Peter firmly, with the one arm wrapping his chest, the other his chest.
"It seems that my serum works perfectly, as I thought." The strange man said. "Hammer, get the second syringe ready for the Captain. We have to move more quickly now than we previously planned."
Without another word of discussion, the group headed for the door. The restroom was relatively small, so it didn't take more than a few moments for the team to leave. The two men were out first, followed by Hammer, the woman and than the strange man as he basically carried Peter out with him, keeping his hold on the boy.
Peter was still feeling groggy as he was carried out. Was he going to pass out soon? He wasn't sure. The world just looked like he twirling around it, like if he was on a teacup ride from an amusement park. He thought that maybe he could still scream for help, but he was not entirely sure if his body was responding to his brain telling it to. He could feel his body shaking though, despite being so numb. His limbs didn't register as being there to his brain until they shook.
"Hey!" Someone screamed from across the hall as soon as the group emerged from the bathroom door. Hammer recognized the voice immediately, and subtly hid behind the woman.
A laser beam whizzed passed the strange man, and hit the wall behind him, as Tony Stark continued to yell at them. "Let. The kid. Go. Now!" His hand was raised, now wearing an IronMan gauntlet.
The people of the room screamed and backed into the corners and sides of the room. Some of them had already started crying. It was as if the people had parted the sea, as it gave the strange man a perfect view of Tony from across the hall. It also gave Tony a chance to see Peter. His heart tingled with anxious worry when he saw the kid. Peter wasn't moving, except for the shaking, and the man had him in a strong grip.
"Why hello, Stark." The man remained calm as he spoke. "I've already met the newest member." He sneered, twisting Peter to be placed more in the front of himself.
Tony tilted his head, attempting to seem less on the verge of a panic attack than what he really was. "Am I supposed to know you?" He asks. He looked at Rhodey and Happy beside him for an answer. Steve, Sam, and Natasha also stepped out of the crowd.
"I was friends with Bruce Banner. Call me, The Leader." The man explained.
Before Tony could reply, Steve asked his question. "What is it that you want?"
The Leader went back to grinning. "Well, Justin Hammer wanted to show off an experimental serum." He said, gesturing to Hammer, who gave up hiding and side stepped from behind the woman. He gave a little wave. "I'm sure my other compatriots are here for vengeful reasons. But what do I desire? Funding."
Rhodey raised his eyebrow, returning Tony a look. "Funding?"
The Leader nodded. "Correct. For my experiments and various projects." He began to address the crowd. "I mean, who wouldn't want to fund my experimental projects that could defeat the Avengers themselves!"
Tony scoffed. "Oh, please. Who here would even think about funding a..." His voice trailed off as he looked about the crowd. Some were nodding, and some were smiling with an excited tinit in their eye, and were whispering to the people around them. "Wow. Greedy and slimy, all of you."
The rest of the Avengers looked just as shocked and disgusted at the enthusiastic response from the crowd. Was the idea of having a way to defeat the Avengers just too good of a prospect that these people were ignoring that these people were criminals? They supposed they knew the answer to that.
Peter stayed silent as Tony and the strange man spoke. Not that he could say anything anyway. He was pretty sure he had lost the ability by the serum. His mouth felt very foamy. His head was vibrating violently and his vision was occasionally popping with static. There was a low humming buzz in his ears. Was it getting hot in here?
"I wouldn't try anything, Avengers. You don't want anything... unnecessary to happen." Peter heard the words, but he couldn't quite process who said them. The voice didn't feel familiar though...
Peter squeaked in surprise as he felt the arms clutched around him tighten to a not safe level. Had he done that? He let a muffled squeal as he tried to relieve the pressure, and kicked pathetically with his legs.
Tony's eyes widened at the man's threat. He watched Peter struggle for a moment, his heart fluttering with concern. His chest felt tighter. He shook it off mentally, and scowled at the man doing this.
Tony was about to speak, more like threaten, when Steve spoke first. "How about you let the kid go?" Steve demanded.
The Leader pretended to look confused. He looked down at Peter. "Kid?" He asked. "Do you mean, pwecious wittle Peter?" He laughed, motioning to his group to be ready for a fight. "No. I think I'll keep him. I can use him as a special slave."
And with that, Tony was done with continuing any sort of conversation or negotiating. He fired another laser from his gauntlet, aiming for the man's big head. Seemingly receiving the response he had wanted, the man grinned.
Peter felt out if it by then. He was focusing on how strange his head felt. Was... was this what drugs felt like? He hadn't tried anything, not really. Okay, he did smoke a little bit of weed once. All it did was get him and Ned giggling for a few hours. It wasn't worth how Ben looked at him when he found though. But, if this was drugs, did he still have his powers?
He vaguely registered a hot and shiny laser beam whizzing pass his shoulder, along with a cry of desperation from... someone? Huh. Peter shook his head, replacing his thoughts. He totally had to test it, right?What powers could he test? His strength? No, he wouldn't be able to see that. His senses? No, they seemed pretty shot right now.
Wait. His stickiness!
Peter started to giggle to himself. That was absurd! What would he even stick to? Could he even tell himself not to stick after sticking in the state he was in? His giggles became even louder as he pictured the very thought.
Tony backed up from his spot on the hall for a moment. He had been blasting at The Leader, who had been using what he could only assume was telekinesis to avoid his attacks. Peter was still in the man's grip, and he was becoming more and more desperate to get the kid away the madman as Peter wasn't responding to anything Tony said. He had to get Peter out to figure out what was wrong with him. He had to save him. The other members of both sides were also nearby fighting each other, but focusing on them wasn't exactly Tony's top priority.
And then, Peter started giggling. Like, pretty maniacal laughter, Tony would say. So, Tony stopped and backed up for a moment. What was that kid doing? The Leader seemed just as perplexed, and stared down at the kid in his arms.
While still giggling uncontrollably, Peter reached his arms up, connected his hands to the man's large head for a few seconds, then removed them. Bringing along with his hands, was several layers of skin and flesh.
"Fu-ARGH!" The man screamed in pain, and clutched the hand printed sin holes he now had on his giant head. Peter fell to the ground as the arms released.
Tony should have leaped to Peter. And he was going to. Any other situation he would have leaped to immediately get confirmation that Peter was okay. But, he had to just process just what happened. Did his... sweet and gentle Peter... just rip the flesh off of a person's face... and giggle at it?
Okay, scratch that, Peter definitely wasn't alright. Tony ran towards Peter, diving on his knees when he reached him.
"Oh man, kid, that was scary." Tony cooed as he checked Peter over. The kid was still kind of giggling, as he was shaking his hands, trying to remove the bloody skin glued to them. Tony put the back of his hand on Peter's forehead, and he did feel a little warm. Nothing too bad though. He looked over his arms and legs, and luckily those didn't have much bruising. Tony pressed two fingers against Peter's neck.
"Whoa kid! Are you running a marathon!" Tony exclaimed as he felt how fast his pulse was.
Peter giggled again. "I'm too busy to run!"
Tony lifted his brow. "What are you busy doing?"
Peter closed his eyes and began to twitch his head without warning. "I'm playing space invaders."
"What? No you're not!"
"In my head." Peter explained weakly as his head continued to shift while he laid on the floor.
Tony sighed in relief. "I guess all that serum did was get you really really high, Pete." He chuckled, patting the kid's shoulder.
Tony tilted his head as Rhodey, Steve, and Happy all approached. "Oh hey guys. Did Conehead and company run off?"
Rhodey was the first to nod, looking a bit shaken after glancing at what was still miraculously stuck to Peter's hands. "Ugh... yeah. They ran after whatever... that was happened."
"What's up with the kid?" Happy demanded.
Tony chuckled. "Oh he'll be fine. Just kind of like, really high. We should take him back to the tower."
"Well, in that case I don't think a lot of these guys are going to 'fund' whatever that serum was." Steve noted.
Tony laughed as he imagined the faces of the guests when Peter had reached up and teared off a bunch of flesh from the man's head, giggling uncontrollably the whole time.
"Oh yeah. I almost forgot about that. Probably not, huh?"
