Happy Wednesday you wonderful people. After the response to Chapter Twelve which left me a little disheartened, you all came through for me with the last update. It's great to hear so many of you are reading and enjoying the story. Truly, it inspires me to sit down and write every day.

This is the penultimate chapter of this story. We'll be in Story III next week, which I can't wait for. You've been so patient with me, and that will be rewarded—I hope—when you see the Peter we'll have in those chapters.

A guest reviewer asked when I update. I keep a Wednesday and Saturday update schedule, but there are occasionally extra chapters inbetween.

Thank you Prongs100 for pre-reading.

Rambling over. Enjoy the chapter xxx

Chapter Fourteen

Rhodey stirred his coffee absentmindedly, his eyes fixing of the swirl of cream as it dispersed. His mind wasn't in the kitchen with him, and Bucky's and Steve's voices washed over him as they talked on the other side of the table.

He looked up when Tony brushed in, Stark Pad in his hand and glasses perched on the edge of his nose. He went straight to pour himself a coffee, still keeping one eye on the screen, only lowering it when he had his coffee and was slipping into place beside Rhodey.

He looked around as if noticing them for the first time and said, "No Pete?"

"Not since breakfast," Bucky said. "He said there was something he wanted to do."

Tony quirked a brow. "Any idea what?"

"No, and I didn't push. He seemed a little stressed."

Tony sighed and looked back over his shoulder to the hall leading to Peter's room. "Friday, is he okay?" he asked.

"Peter appears to be in slight distress," she replied. "He is in the bathroom. He's been running water for ten minutes."

Rhodey's head snapped up. "He's cleaning up?"

"I believe he is trying to prepare himself to shower."

"Damn," Tony muttered, pushing his coffee away. "No wonder he's upset. Should I go talk to him, you think?"

"I'll go," Rhodey said, getting to his feet.

Tony frowned, and Rhodey waited to see if he'd pull rank as Peter's father, but he nodded after a pause and said, "Okay. Make sure he knows there's no pressure."

"I will," Rhodey said, restraining the urge to roll his eyes. He knew Tony was just being overprotective, but none of them were going to hurt Peter willingly, and they'd not put pressure on him.

He passed through the hall and knocked on Peter's door then waited for a reply. None of them invaded Peter's space without invitation now as he needed to feel like he had control.

The door cracked open, and Peter peered out, his eyes tight with strain. "Hey," he muttered.

"You want to talk?" Rhodey asked.

He didn't answer at once, and then his shoulders sagged, and he nodded and stepped back to let Rhodey in. Rhodey went to the bed and sat down. Peter came and sat down beside him, the sound of the running shower in the background.

"You okay?" Rhodey asked.

"No," he replied, voice tired. "I'm being stupid."

"Because it's too hard to face the shower?"

Peter looked surprised. "You know about that?"

Rhodey sighed. "When you were… you know… I tried to get you into the shower one time. It was my mistake, I messed up, but you were really upset." He bit his lip. "We didn't know why."

Peter averted his eyes and said, "It's the water. When I was there, with Thuri, they did ECT on me." He stopped when Rhodey sucked in a shocked breath and then went on, forcing the words from himself. "But it was too hard for them to get the voltage right because I'm Spider-Man, so they had to get me wet first. He'd dump buckets of water on me and then do it, so it spread over my whole body." He licked his lips and swallowed. "It was the only water I'd get. I had to try and catch it in my mouth without choking."

Rhodey flinched. "You didn't even get water?"

"No. I got nothing." He shook his head. "I have to shower, though. My hair is gross, and Doctor Cho is coming today to take the tube out. I want to be clean."

Rhodey put an arm around his shoulders and hugged him close. "You're clean, it's only your hair that's a problem, and Helen won't care. I get it, though. That was why I tried to get you showered. It went badly wrong, so we never tried again. Wanda managed to untangle it all for you, but I know it can't be comfortable now."

"Wanda did it?" Peter asked, bringing up a hand to touch his hair. "I didn't know. I guess I wouldn't." He squeezed his eyes closed. "I missed so much, didn't I?"

"You did," Rhodey said. "But that part is over, and we're going to fix the rest. I know you're scared of the programming, but Tony is working on a way to get the words out of your head. You're safe here right now."

Peter nodded. "I know, but it doesn't stop me from being scared. I feel like if I can face this fear, the shower, I can face the words, too"

Rhodey stared at him a moment and said, "You're incredible, you know that, right?"

Peter looked genuinely startled. "I'm what?"

"Incredible," he said emphatically. "Peter, after everything you've been through, only two days after coming back to yourself after over a month of being lost and three weeks of being tortured, you're still fighting to face your fears. I don't think any one of us could do that." He stopped and considered. "You're like Tony. When he was held and tortured, he turned the experience into creating Iron Man. And your situation was worse. He was tortured, but they didn't take his mind the way they did yours."

Peter stared at him, seemingly processing the words, and then shook his head and said, "You make it sound better than it was. I shut down for a month."

Rhodey lowered his arm from Peter's shoulders and placed his hands on his chest instead. "Tell me, Pete, did you shut down because you were scared of what would happen to you?"

"No, I was worried about what I'd do to everyone else."

"Exactly. That was strong—incredible. You are facing these fears now and…" He trailed off, and his mouth dropped open as he realized something that might be the answer. "Peter, I've got to talk to Tony. I've got an idea that might…" He snapped his fingers. "We might be able to fix the programming. I don't know; I don't really understand how it works, but it's an idea…"

Peter looked puzzled, but he nodded and forced a smile as Rhodey got to his feet and strode to the door. He waved a hand when Rhodey turned back at the door, and then, with a look of steely determination, he pulled off his t-shirt and made for the bathroom.

Rhodey felt a surge of pride and hope that his idea might work. He rushed back into the kitchen, where the curious eyes of Tony, Steve, and Bucky met him.

"Everything okay?" Tony asked.

"That thing you made," Rhodey said. "The therapy tool, to make people face their past and change the memory… It had the gross name."

"BARF," Tony said. "What about it?"

"Peter!" Rhodey said. "Do you think we can make it work for Peter?"

Tony's eyes widened. "Face the words?"

"Exactly!"

"Yes!" Tony said eagerly. "That could work."

Rhodey nodded. "He's trying to face his fear of water right now, after they…" He winced at the memory of what he'd heard. "But he's facing it. If he can face the words…"

"Wait!" Bucky said, holding up a hand. "What exactly are you planning?"

Tony turned his bright eyes on him, his voice rushed with excitement. "BARF —Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing. It can tap into memories and create an interactive holographic experience. He could face the memories and beat them."

"Face the words?" Bucky asked. "Do you know how hard that could be on him?"

Tony's face fell into solemnity. "I know, but this could work. Peter always faces his fears, every time, and this will be the hardest, yeah, but it could be the fix he needs."

"And if the words trigger him?" Steve asked.

Tony shook his head jerkily. "He won't let that happen."

"You can't know that," Steve stated.

"No, we can't," Rhodey agreed. "And it will be tough on Pete to do it, but this might be the only way we can fix it."

Bucky looked down at the tabletop where his hands were fisted, head bowed, and said, "I don't like this. It's too much pressure to put on him after everything that he's been through."

"Maybe it is," Tony said. "But the pressure he's under already with his fear is much worse. He's terrified of the words, of Ross getting him again and using them. We've got no fix for him yet. He's out there, the most powerful man in the world, and he would turn Peter into a weapon if he had him again. I don't believe it would work, Peter would shut down again, but that's a whole new kind of hell."

"We ask him," Rhodey said. "The four of us with him. We each get a chance to share how we feel about it, what we think the risks are, and he decides."

Bucky looked up. "I can agree with that. It should be his choice."

"Me too," Tony said without hesitation. "Steve?"

Steve was silent a long moment, and then he said, "Yeah. It's got to be Queens' choice. But we have to make the risks clear."

"We will," Tony said.

There was an uncomfortable moment, and then Friday spoke, sounding oddly satisfied, "Peter is now out of the shower and drying his hair."

Tony and Rhodey exchanged a satisfied glance, and Bucky huffed a laugh. "Okay, maybe he can do it. He's definitely strong enough."

"He is," Tony said seriously. "He's strongest of us all."

Rhodey agreed. He'd seen Peter break when he'd tried to get him in the shower, he had the scar on the back of his head as a reminder, and he'd seen his stress when he'd been with him, but Peter had faced it.

If this worked, Peter had to face another fear, and then he would be free.

Bucky set the last platter of sandwiches down on the table and said, "Friday, can you tell everyone lunch is ready."

"They're on their way," she replied. "Peter said he just needs a minute."

Bucky nodded with a small smile. He was pleased Peter was coming. He worried after the stress of the shower he might isolate himself for a while.

There was movement at the door, and everyone, excepting Peter, trailed in and took their seats. Bruce sat at the head of the table, and Bucky slid the platter of sandwiches he'd made specifically for the huge man to eat. Bruce smiled and murmured his thanks.

Steve looked around and said, "No Queens?"

"He needed another minute," Bucky said, sitting down and pulling over his coffee. "He's coming."

"And he did something big today," Tony said with evident satisfaction.

"He did?" Wanda asked.

"I wouldn't call it big," Peter said, appearing in the doorway with a grin. "It was just a shower."

He came in and sat beside Bucky with the impressed and proud words apparently washing over him as everyone expressed their pleasure and admiration.

Bucky saw the marked difference in Peter. His hair was drying and combed into the style he preferred, looking clean and soft for the first time in weeks.

Bucky couldn't resist ruffling it and saying, "It was big, and you look good, bud."

Peter grumbled and made the face Tony had tried to mimic when telling them about his aunt as he tried to fix his hair, but he was soon smiling.

"Dig in," Bucky said, and hands grabbed at the sandwiches and loaded them onto plates as Bruce stuffed a sandwich into his mouth whole and chewed with evident relish.

They ate in silence for a while, Peter only managing two, but Bucky had already prepared a protein shake for him, which was in the fridge, ready for him in a few hours.

"Rhodey had an idea that might help you, Pete," Tony said. "Did you hear?"

Peter looked between them. "No. What's the idea?"

Rhodey cleared his throat and lowered his sandwich. "Tony's got some tech that might help you break the programming."

Peter's eyebrows rose. "Yeah?"

"It's something I made a while ago," Tony said. "It's called BARF—Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing. It was designed as a therapeutic tool, but I think you can make it work for you. It will tap into your memories and create an interactive scene. I've used it myself to make something right in my past that I struggled with before."

"How will that help me?" Peter asked.

"You'd have to face the words," Rhodey said. "Go back to the time they were being programmed into you and take control."

Peter ducked his head and chewed on his bottom lip. "Right."

Bucky placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "You don't have to do this, bud. It is going to be damn hard to face, and it might not work."

Peter nodded. "But it might?"

"It might," Tony said carefully.

Peter sat in silence for a moment, and Bucky held up a hand when Rhodey opened his mouth to talk. He wanted Peter to work through this in his own time, not feeling pressured to accept or refuse.

"What…" Peter swallowed hard. "What if doing it triggers the words?"

Tony grimaced. "It's a risk, but you beat them once."

"I don't want to hold anyone else at gunpoint to break them," Peter said. He closed his eyes. "Is there anything else that might work?"

"Nothing we know of," Tony said regretfully. "Not yet, anyway."

"Honestly, bud, anything we try is probably going to involve facing the words and risking being triggered," Bucky said. "I had to hear them a lot to break their hold on me."

Peter rubbed his forehead with a shaking hand. "Okay, I'll try it, but I want back up in place. You've got to be ready to stop me if I'm triggered. I can't hurt anyone."

"I can promise that," Bucky said. "I won't let you hurt anyone. We'll lock you down if we need to."

He hated saying it as it was the last thing he wanted to do, but he knew he was only ready to let Thuri start removing his programming when he knew there were safety measures in place, and Peter would feel the same.

Peter nodded. "Then let's do it. The sooner these words are out of my head, the better. Tony, do you have this… BARF thing?"

"Not here," Tony said. "I've got it at home, though. I'll go pick them up whenever you're ready."

"I'm ready now," Peter said emphatically.

"Tomorrow," Tony said. "I want to run through the specifications first, make sure they're ready."

Peter looked at Bucky. "And you'll be ready to stop me?"

"We all will," Bucky said. "With me, Steve and Bruce, we can handle you."

"And I've got the vibranium restraints Shuri gave me," Tony said, his tone disgusted.

Peter shot him an apologetic smile. "That'll work. Good." He ran his hands through his hair. "I can do this."

Bucky saw his resolve and bit his tongue. He was worried about the pressure they were going to put on Peter, but he also knew that if any of them could handle it, it was him. He'd proven himself again and again.

Hopefully, he would be able to that strength again and use it to make this the thing that set him free and gave him peace.

So… We've got the solution? I know BARF isn't the most original idea for this, I've read it at least once, but it was the best option for the story. Hope you're not too disappointed by my lack of imagination.

I have another question. In Story IV there will be a press conference with the people that fought in The Battle of Earth. Peter will be one of them—while maintaining his secret identity. Can you think of any questions that you think would be asked of the character by the press—Peter included? Nothing will be asked or known about the Stones, so it would all be about Spider-Man, Thanos and the battle. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Until next time…

Clowns or Midgets xxx