A/N: Hi again! Sorry it's been a little while! I've been busy with school and some other stories. Speaking of which, I wrote a little one-shot called He's With the Stars over the weekend, and if you guys went and checked it out, that would be awesome! Obviously, you don't have to, it's just a suggestion. :D

Anyway, I'll let you get to it! Enjoy today's chapter and make sure to leave any comments/suggestions in the reviews below!

Tuesday, October 15

2:00 am

Tony's heart pounded in his throat, limiting his breath. His hands were shaking so bad that Nat and Rhodey were looking at him with strange expressions. He swallowed, gripped the steering wheel tighter, and tried to focus. I'm coming, Pete, just a little longer. Just hold on until I get there.

"Why did we have to take a car again?" MJ was a lot like Mr. Stark; her knee was bouncing, and she tugged at her hair. May, who was next to her, put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Ned sat in the back with Bucky, staring out of the window.

"It's quiet," Nat said patiently. "We only have one shot at this."

The teen nodded, but her dark brown eyes continued to dart around her.

The tense energy in the car was tangible; no one spoke again until they arrived.

xXx

"And why exactly are they coming?" Mark stomped to Sinoper, demanding an explanation. His normally gelled hair was now sticking to an angry red face. The boy didn't answer, but looked to be very tense. When he didn't get a response, Raylen grew impatient. Faster than lightning, his hand shot out and struck Sinoper. His head jerked to the side with the impact; he recovered quickly, spitting a glob of blood onto the pristine white floor. "I asked you a question!" Rage was clear on Mark's sticky face.

"Sir," he grunted. "It's… Parker."

Raylen flicked an annoyed hand up, a high-pitched beeping poured into the room at his command. Stooping over, Sinoper yelled in pain and clutched his head. When the sound cut short, he stood back up, brushing his soft hair away from his dull brown eyes.

"There's a doctor. She ratted you out... Sydnie Marckle," his tone had resumed cold compliance.

"How?" Mark growled.

Sinoper held up what was left of the bug and pointed a lithe finger at his back. The older man marched back into the observation room and leaned down, speaking to his head of security.

"Move everyone to Lab Zero. And find me Sydnie Marckle."

xXx

She made her way to the door, trying to look as casual as possible. Sydnie waved to the people she normally waved at and went through the exit protocol like she usually did. She figured she had bought about five more minutes of time. When she made it outside into the cool air, she started running, not allowing herself the luxury of enjoying the beautiful night. She took several random turns to try and escape from Raylen, sprinting down streets and cutting through yards.

She nearly ran into an expensive looking Audi that had parked right in front of her path. They caught me. I just hope that Peter can escape… and that they don't hurt Jem. Sydnie dropped to her knees; she didn't care that tears now trickled down her skin and splashed onto the cement below.

"Are you Sydnie Marckle?" A voice. A woman's voice. She looked up and met the eyes of a woman with bright red hair.

"You can kill me," Sydnie cried indignantly. "But at least I helped him! They'll find him now…"

"We're not going to kill you," the woman answered, crouching down in front of her. "My name is Natasha. We're here to help."

Sydnie's tears slowed to a stop. "Natasha? You're Peter's friend?" They rose from the ground together.

"Call me Nat," she said. Nat was surprised when the woman launched forward and gripped her in a sudden hug. She returned it reluctantly.

"Thank you," Sydnie whispered, relieved. "And please. Please, we have to get them. They're going to kill my brother…"

"We can help you," a male voice said from the car. She looked over to see Tony Stark sitting in the driver's seat, tapping his fingers. "But we have to hurry. Get in."

xXx

"FRI, analysis," Tony said, adjusting his glasses to scan the tall building.

"Large group of heat signatures detected in the lowest sublevel," she replied.

"How many?"

"I'd say around 75, boss. All armed."

He swore. "This is going to be a lot harder than we thought." Tony turned to the rest of the group. "They have 75 guards in there."

Nat glanced around. "Okay, Ned you go with Rhodey; May, you stick with me. MJ, you're with Bucky, and Sydnie's with Stark. You have to stay behind us at all times. Here," she tossed Sydnie a sheathed knife. "For emergencies. We'll take out the main forces, and then get to Peter. Most likely, they'll try and take him out of there. We can't let that happen. Got it?"

"And please, try not to hurt any of the workers. Most of them are like me."

Everyone nodded grimly while Sydnie gripped the knife with newfound tenacity, a determined squint on her face. Tony tapped his watch. The Iron Man suit covered him, clicking and whirring into place.

"Let's get him back."

xXx

Silence. 74 armed soldiers stood stock-still, aiming weapons at the only entrance to the lab, their silver armor glinting in the low light. Mark and Angela stood in the very back, Sinoper in front of them, poised to leave through an emergency exit if the need arose. A couple of other doctors stood behind Sinoper with tech and sedatives in case he went haywire. There was a pounding from above, and the troops tensed their fingers over the trigger.

"Tony," Nat whispered from outside the thick steel door. "You go first; your suit can take their fire."

He nodded and raised his gauntlet. It hummed, charging for a split second before blasting the door off its hinges. Immediately, gunshots rang out, shooting past the group. Tony rushed forward so that the deflected bullets wouldn't hit any of his friends. They did hit a lot of soldiers, though, and many dropped before he had even started firing. Rhodey, suited up, came charging in after him, shooting missiles and bullets.

FRIDAY automatically targeted several guys, taking down 15 at once with one shot. Nat and Bucky started firing from behind the door. After a few minutes, Tony stood in the middle, looking around.

"Maybe this wasn't as hard as I thought it would be."

The rest of his team filed in, Sydnie, Ned, May, and MJ sticking behind their respective protectors. There was a small group of people near the back of the room, and with them stood Peter. He looked different, though. They had smeared black paint underneath his eyes, which looked duller than normal, and he wore a skin-tight obsidian suit with various weapons strapped to it. He also wore a dark bandana across his mouth and nose. Peter stood frozen in a fighting stance, daring them to come closer.

"Bring in the 10-Team!" Screamed a tall man next to Peter. FRI scanned his face and pulled up several records. That was Mark Raylen. The woman standing next to him, grasping two large knives in each had, he recognized. Tony's blood boiled at the sight of her. Angela.

A group filed in, dressed in white jumpsuits and white ski masks. They instantly started hand to hand combat with Nat and Bukcy, trying to draw the attention away from Mark. The tech company owner was being escorted to a tiny hatch in the back of the room, Peter trailing behind them.

Raylen hopped into what appeared to be an elevator, whispering something to Peter before he did. Then, leaving his bodyguards, he pressed a button and was launched into the air.

"Don't let him get away so easy, FRI," Tony yelled, punching an ivory-clad henchmen in the face.

"On it, boss." A small diamond shaped drone detached from his suit, flying up the empty elevator shaft. It was then that Peter joined the fight.

He leaped gracefully in front of Bucky, using the initial shock to kick his legs from underneath him and snatch his gun. Peter unloaded it and tossed it to the side, then shot a ball of webs at the Super-Soldiers feet to prevent him from getting back up. This all happened in a matter of seconds and MJ, who was with Bucky, stood paralyzed.

"Sinoper!" Angela yelled. Who the heck was Sinoper? "Take them out, not down! And hurry!"

Peter acknowledged her with a nod. He flipped backwards, shooting webs in the eyes of Tony and Rhodey, and landed in front of Nat. She was not surprised, however, and began to engage with him.

"Guys!" Tony yelled, struggling to remove the sticky substance. "This is your cue!"

May, who stood behind Nat with her arms wrapped tightly around her, nodded in resoluteness.

"Peter!" She said to the boy, trying to earn his attention. "Peter, honey? It's me."

At this point, he had Natasha pinned to the ground and was staring at his neighbor intensely. At her words, he cocked his head.

"Don't you remember me? We used to have dinner all the time when your mom was away…"

When the apartment door finally cracked open, all May could see was half of Peter's face. Upon realizing it was her, he swung it open and beamed.

"Mrs. Miriam? What are you doing here?"

"Call me May, please," she begged. "And I told you we'd have dinner together." Smiling, she held up a bag of Chinese takeout. "I'm a really good cook."

Peter invited her inside, and they took a seat in the living room.

"You're lucky my mom isn't home," he said. "She hates fast food."

"I'm pretty sure Chinese doesn't count as fast food," May said pointedly.

They launched into a mini-discussion about the subject, laughing and eating Ham Fried Rice during the process. May found that she was growing quite fond of this young boy… he had a bright smile and a contagious laugh. She remembered feeling anger at how tense he got when she hugged him goodbye. Despite his best efforts, she had still noticed the bruise.

"Please, Peter, I know you're still in there. If you'll just-"

He shot a glob of web onto her mouth, effectively quieting her desperate pleas. "Be quiet. We wouldn't want him to hear you." He tapped his head. "And it's Sinoper."

As Sinoper hopped away, he didn't see her drop to her knees, a steady stream of tears leaking from her eyes.

He landed right in front of Rhodey and Ned, once again locking combat. Rhodey was too afraid of hurting him to win. The boy began to turn away, but Ned stopped him.

"Wait, Peter please. It's me, Ned. Your best friend… remember? We hung out like every day when Angela wasn't home…"

"Dude, I'm telling you, it's like, 600 pieces!"

Peter gaped. "There's no way. How long is this gonna take us?"

The pair skipped up the front steps of Ned's house. When they walked in, Mrs. Leeds herded them to the kitchen for a snack. She always had some sort of after-school food prepared, cookies, chocolate pretzels, muffins, you name it.

"I don't know man, but it's going to be. Awesome!" Ned pumped his fist.

They each grabbed a blueberry muffin and headed upstairs, Peter shooting Ned's mom finger guns. "Thanks, Mrs. Leeds!"

She laughed and shooed them away.

They sat on the floor all afternoon, talking and fiddling with legos, a John Denver record spinning in the corner of the room, playing Ned's favorite: Leaving On a Jet Plane. Occasionally, they went back downstairs for another muffin.

"We're almost finished with the Death Star, man. Please-"

He was cut off by Sinoper's cold glare. "I don't know you."

Ned was unable to hide the hurt, and shook his head in disbelief. How could he say that to me?

"Yes, you do," MJ said, stepping forward. "You know all of us. We're your friends, Peter. We love you. Come back to us… come back to me."

"Stop it," Sinoper growled. "I locked him up before, and I'll do it again. You're too late; he's never coming back."

Memories floated past Peter like pictures, making him turn his head and reach out to them. They appeared to be tangible. In fact, when his finger touched moments frozen in time, they started to glow and spread warmth through his shivering body.

The first one his hand grazed was a memory of him and May eating Chinese food in his apartment, laughing and telling stories. Another flew forward, this time depicting the day that him and Ned first started building that silly Lego Death Star. The music that they played that afternoon filled the small space around him. John Denver.

Finally, a voice broke through the soupy blackness. It was distant and muffled, but he could still hear it. Peter knew who it was by the way his heart rate quickened and his palms began to sweat. MJ. It was MJ.

The last of her words became clear. "We love you. Come back to us… come back to me."

Come back? Back from where? Where did I go? His mind was foggy and disoriented; it felt like a straightjacket, tightening around him.

"MJ," he called, trying desperately to swim to the surface of this soup. "Help me!"

"Aurgh," Sinoper growled in pain, clutching his head. Angela looked panicked, and ran to the elevator shaft, willing it to return faster.

"Oh no you don't," Nat said, pinning her to the wall and taking her weapons. "Leaving so soon?"

She pressed a few fingers right below the other woman's chin, at her Vagus Nerve, and Angela dropped like a sack of potatoes, unconscious.

"MJ… Help… me…" Peter groaned, gasping in and out very fast. "Can't… take him." He ripped off the bandana to breathe the air better, still keeping a hand pressed to his temple. She ran over to him and put a hand on his back.

"Peter? Come on, Peter, you can do this. Fight it. Fight him!"

Tony, who had previously been finishing off the last of the cronies, came scrambling over to Peter's other side. He lifted his face plate.

"Kid? Can you hear me?"

"Mr…. Stark," he panted. "I… c-can't…" Peter squeezed his eyes shut and crouched into a ball, remaining upright. Then, he screamed. It was guttural and blood-curdling, sending a chill down the spines of everyone in the room. Rhodey had helped May get the webs off, and she was crawling over to them, horror painted clearly on her pretty face. Peter just kept on screaming, shaking his head back and forth and shuddering violently. Sweat poured down his face and stained the front of his shirt. Tony and MJ looked at one another, helpless. What were they supposed to do?

"Here," Sydnie said, bending over one of the bodies and dashing to them. She gripped a small syringe, holding clear liquid, in one hand and a small cotton ball in the other. "This will sedate him for a while… calm his mind," she said over his agonized screeches.

Tony forced Peter's hand away from his face, holding it still for Sydnie. She quickly cleaned his skin with the cotton, and injected the liquid into his arm.

His cries became hoarse and finally tapered off. His eyes rolled back and he collapsed into Tony's arms, limbs dangling weakly to the side. The echoes of his screams filled the silence. This should never have even happened.

A/N: I hope you like it, and please leave a review! Good or bad, they make my day. :D

REVIEWS:

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See you all next time!

-katilange