Chapter Twenty-Six: "Doors are for people with no imaginations." – Derek Landy
Peter dropped Hiro off – again, and hopefully he'd stay this time – in the lab as they went by to the deck and explicitly made sure that the door was shut after filling a small, collapsible bowl with water. The three adults forged ahead to a jet with its ramp down and a single, low-level engineer crouched up front working on something he couldn't see. The young man stood up, looking somewhere between shocked, star-struck, and confused.
"Hey, you guys aren't authorized to be in here," he tried bravely, in Spider-man's opinion, but the captain had other plans.
"Son," the star-spangled man held up a hand, "just don't."
The unknown crew member opened his mouth, then closed it. "Yep." The hand that held the tool he'd been working with dropped to his side and he scooted his way around the other teammates, mumbling something about "Captain-freaking-America," in this jet, "of all the Quinjets up here!" As he skittered the rest of the way out of the flying machine, across the runway, Hawkeye sat smoothly down in the pilot's chair and flipped a few switches. He glanced over his shoulder with a lopsided grin, but a hard look in his eyes.
"Let's do this thing." And with that dramatic statement, they were off in the sky, Spidey catching sight of the Iron Man suit whizzing past, the smoke trails its repulsors left behind. The metallic superhero led the way towards New York from where the Helicarrier hovered over the ocean, and the boy could feel muscles he didn't know were tensed loosening as they neared familiar territory. He knew the city like the back of his hand, even more so now than before he had been on the streets, it was more comfortable.
Yet he still felt that well-known feeling curling around his gut, the one that followed him around near-always nowadays. A swirl of stress and anxiety that came with the worries of his life, but now it was multiplied with the threats hanging over, not his head, but the people of New York's. Causing Spider-man to fidget even more than usual, and that was saying something, as they grew closer and closer to the eventual battleground.
And there was going to be a battle, because from his experience, nothing this big went away with a snap and they were already cutting it close. When Widow handed him a comm, he fixed it in his ear without a word, just nodding at her, before going back to alternately staring at the floor or out the windshield and tap-tapping his toes inside his worn-thin sneakers. Through the unit, he could hear the dull buzzing of the wind that the device picked up in Iron Man's suit, once and a while a sputtering sound as his propulsion cut out momentarily. They neared Stark Tower as they flew over the city, and finally something happened in the form of Mr. Stark's AI, J.A.R.V.I.S., reporting in.
"Sir, I turned off the arc reactor. The device is already self-sustaining." It seemed that the robotic system was connected to their communication links.
"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig," they heard Iron Man say. Spider-man could just barely make out the hovering armor above the skyscraper, facing a complicated machine and another humanoid figure. Their jet was still far out of range and all they could do for now was listen to one side of the conversation. "Okay." The telltale sound of a repulsor charging filled the otherwise silent comms, before a weird, warped sound came through along with the man in the suit's surprised grunt.
"The barrier is pure energy," J.A.R.V.I.S. offered in explanation, proving Spidey's theory that the Tin Can had tried to shoot the mechanism. "It's unbreachable."
"Yeah, I got that. Plan B."
"Sir, the Mark Seven is not ready for deployment."
"Then skip the spinning rims, we're on the clock."
"He's gonna do something stupid, isn't he?" the brunet teenager voiced his suspicions.
"He's stalling for us to get there," Captain America simplified, as if he couldn't figure that out for himself.
"Yes, I get that," he brushed off with a hand. "But it's going to lead to something stupid and probably hilarious."
"'He' can hear you," Black Widow inputted. Mr. Stark was unable to reply, Spidey could hear the technology on his specially designed landing pad removed his armor, only leaving a simple comm unit in his ear, he suspected.
"Yeah, I know." Didn't mean he'd pass up an opportunity to poke fun at the billionaire. A few tense seconds passed of the whirring machinery and padding feet and the boy wishing he had a computer to hack into security cameras with.
"Uh – actually, I'm planning to threaten you," Mr. Stark said to someone they all assumed was Loki, though the young brunet had a feeling that the genius meant that for him as well. Another, shorter quiet. "Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage. You've got the – uh, glowstick of destiny. Would you like a drink?" Every pause when the god of mischief was replying to the man's words caused the breath to catch in his throat and him to pray that the plane would move faster. "No, no, no – threatening. No drink? You sure? I'm having one."
Clinking followed, and it seemed Mr. Stark hadn't been joking about that drink. "The Avengers. It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type of thing, plus Spider-man." And there was the revenge-dig the youngest had been waiting for. "Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But, let's do a head count here. Your brother, the demigod." More shuffling and something moving against skin that only came through the sensitive mike as a faint swish in the background.
"A super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a younger guy with the proportional strength and agility of a spider; a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them." During the next few moments they could hear echoing steps from Mr. Stark's shoes on the pristine floor. "Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."
The next thing out of his mouth would become one of Peter's favorite verbal trump-cards the older ever uttered. And that included Yeah, well I'm Iron Man.
"We have a Hulk."
Spidey snorted a quiet laugh with Hawkeye and even Black Widow and Cap' cracked smiles among the pre-fight jitters. "Yeah – you're missing the point. There's no throne, there is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes, and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. 'Cause if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."
"Damn right," Agent Barton affirmed in a murmur. Spider-man nodded rather stiffly as the other, less expressive two set their jaws stubbornly. They were almost there, but it was taking forever, at least that's what it felt like to him. His sensitive ears picked up metallic clinks, almost like glasses ringing against each other, still slightly lower. But if Mr. Stark wasn't wearing his armor… then the only metal objects in his immediate vicinity were the scepter and his arc reactor… at that realization, he almost laughed out loud. Loki was trying to mind-control him and the reactor was rejecting the foreign energy, leading to one very confused, silver-tongued god.
Then when Stark started talking again, the teen gave up on trying to contain his chuckles in snorts and snickers. "Well, performance issues, not uncommon… one out of five—" The voice was abruptly cut off with a choking sound and thump that sounded a lot like a body being thrown to the ground… it was rather strange that he knew that sound by heart, the boy absently thought as the atmosphere in the jet lost its lightening feel. "J.A.R.V.I.S., anytime now."
"You will all fall before me." Loki was close enough to the micro-bug that his accented words filtered through, just barely loud enough for the enhanced spider to hear.
"Deploy," Mr. Stark made out. "Deploy!" A shattering of glass and air rushing was all they could hear before another smashing sound followed – he crossed his fingers that it was Loki – and tinny, humming mechanisms surrounding and merging with the comm unit. He had his suit back and everyone in the jet breathed a sigh of relief as the voice came back clearer than before now that the man had his helmet on. Unfortunately, that meant the second crash hadn't been Loki, but the arachnid was glad to know at least one of his idols was okay, seeing as the others were MIA or being mind-controlled at the moment. "And there's one other person you pissed off! His name is Phil."
"Heck yes," Spidey muttered resolutely. He lowered his fingers from where they had drifted up to the little communication link as he had listened in, shifting with easy balance to stand closer to Hawkeye up front. A laser of pure, blue light shot up to the clouds, tearing an ugly black hole in the clouds. Stars shone through like the night sky and smoke curled its fingers around the fringe of the portal, explaining the insistent buzzing in the back of his head that he'd been trying to ignore. Now the almost painful pangs his spider-sense had been sending through his head made sense. At least it had subsided, as if it had just been waiting for him to realize that HEY, THERE'S A GIANT ALIEN PORTAL IN THE SKY! From their distance, the aliens flying from the portal looked like specks, flies buzzing around a Lego house. "Aw, dang."
"Right, army," Iron Man followed up, the suit rocketing higher to meet the newcomers and explosions greeting them. The first part of the fight had begun in the air and they could only hope that those on the ground were smart enough to stay off the streets, to stay safe. Of course, there was a reason Spider-man was needed, and it wasn't because the citizens of New York would follow exact protocol in the event of an emergency, even if there was a set procedure for an alien invasion. Their jet was over the city, getting closer by the second above the streets, but he felt utterly useless as he moved back towards the bay doors anxiously.
"I gotta get out there," he said to himself softly as he activated the pressure pads on his web-shooters. Unlike the others in the plane with him, he wasn't necessarily limited to solid or flat ground, what with his spidery combination of wall-crawling and web-slinging. All Spidey needed was a good jump point. "Guys, I'm going."
"Going where?" Captain America automatically questioned and followed the costumed boy's route to the "Open" button, then back to the door as it unlocked.
Out on the edge of the ramp, his back facing the open air, he spread a mischievous smile across his face with his arms raised by his sides. "Just out for a swing." The teen fell backwards, relishing the rush of air and adrenalin he had missed over the past while on the flying aircraft carrier. There just wasn't anything quite like this. With a touch of his fingers, a web-strand flew and grasped onto a building's edge to carry him in a parabolic swing under the jet.
At the top of his arch, the superhero let go and flipped up high, so high as to peek, upside-down, through the transparent window of the vehicle and wave at the trio inside. They all wore some variation of a surprised expression, despite how stoic some always seemed. The captain seemed to remember the vigilante had been issued the same commlinks they all had, and his voice came through the younger's ear.
"Spider-man come in," Captain America demanded with just a touch of worry.
"Roger, Captain Rogers!" came the sarcastic reply. "I haven't even done anything yet. At least let me punch an alien bugger." The spider abruptly knocked a Chitauri off a chariot with one fell swoop. "There, now what do you want?"
"Can you get the civilians out of those things' range?"
"That was the plan! You'll be able to handle our oh-so-friendly friends up there with Iron Man?"
"Yes. You sure you know what you're doing?"
"With all due respect, Capt'n. You may have served in a war, but I've been doing this for far longer than you." Spider-man, now lower than their lofty heights, but just as fast, seeing as they had to dodge and shoot at Chitauri frequently, sprinted to a landing on a street crowded by halted cars. Without stopping, he hopped up in one leap to the top of a truck and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Anyone still out here! You need to move it and get inside! Better yet, to the subway! Stay away from the windows!" He doubted any of them would listen, but at least he gave them a fair warning.
Then he was off, having taken too long for even that short message, and he was moving cars to get to those trapped, webbing debris out of the way when some alien decided to break a building, carrying a pair of kids back to where their parents waited with outstretched arms and tear streaked cheeks. The boy couldn't begin to describe each thing that happened, or how long it took to get each person to safety. All he knew was that he couldn't stop, that he had to make sure they were all off the road, no longer out in the open, before he moved on to the next street.
Spidey must have gone through at least a block's worth of jammed-up roadways before anything came through his comm. Somehow, he hadn't encountered any of the bug-like aliens on the ground and they seemed content to take potshots from their bikes. The vigilante had taken down a few that came close enough but was mostly focused on shooing citizens inside and underground.
"Thor's taken on Loki at the tower," Black Widow's no-nonsense tones were the same in any situation it seemed. Spider-man's head jerked up as she finished the sentence and he herded the last few people on that street. He was a building, maybe two, away from the tower and could hear the loud noises of Loki's scepter, the crackling of electricity around Thor's hammer, before he even saw the large letter K get blasted off Stark Tower, but just barely over the wartime cacophony.
Iron Man shot by overhead, leading a squadron of Chitauri cruisers on a chase as baffled policemen pulled up. Ugh, he did not have time to deal with the boys-in-blue right now. The superhero swung up to an alien vehicle and snatched the riders off in a flip, tossing them into a concrete wall that they slid down, and didn't move. The brunet didn't have time to think about that as he took out another by screwing with its steering system – which didn't appear to be very good – and moved on. "Stark, we're on your three, heading northeast."
"What, did you stop for drive-thru?" the irritated billionaire snarked back. "Swing up Park, I'm gonna lay 'em out for you." The teenaged spider had stopped trying to look for the team every time they talked over the earpieces, instead zeroing in on each group of terrified people and getting them to safety. A couple times a larger group became a target for the aliens and he had to jam up their rides, letting them crash into each other, or even jump up and take them on himself. He knew it wouldn't be long before they started going after him specifically, like they were the Avengers members. Then Spider-man would be in real trouble.
Thought I'd change up the chapter titles with one of my favorite quotes. I just thought this is something pretty much any superhero will relate to. They do go crashing through windows an awful lot. And walls. And ceilings. And anything that isn't a door.
Enough of that. This chappie ended up pretty long… probably because I was trying to not make it short and went a tad bit overboard. They're in the thick of it now! And who thinks Hiro is actually going to stay on the Helicarrier? Show of hands.
Lucky
To Vladimir Mithrander: Thanks a bundle! I try my best, but PTSD and such is something I've never had to deal with (thankfully) so it's nice to know that it's good.
To Dark Neko 4000: Eventually, have patience and all will be revealed in time… wow, that sounded so mysterious…
To winfield56: Thanks, but I have y'all to thank for reading.
A Link (Huésped): ¡Gracias por el consejo! Aquí, con toda honestidad, traté de leer tu reseña con mis escasas habilidades de clase de español antes de rendirme y solo traducir Google. Lo mismo con esta respuesta, así que por favor culpe a Google por cualquier error. De todos modos, tendré eso en cuenta cuando finalmente lo vea ... ¡Me estoy muriendo de suspenso!
To Dylan-A-Friend: Hades yeah! Hope I don't disappoint with the fight scenes, those aren't my strong suite.
To Silvermane1: Oh boy, just you wait. I wrote something sort of like that and I can't wait to see if you like it!
À Merlin (Client): Tout d'abord, permettez-moi de dire que tout cela se fait par le biais de Google Translate. Je suis donc désolé si quelque chose ne va pas, ce n'est pas de ma faute. Pour répondre à votre question, Harry viendra plus tard et sera plus important. Je ne voulais pas que la présence de Harry ou de Peter affecte beaucoup le film, mais la raison de leur présence viendra dans les chapitres suivants.
To twilightserius: Don't worry… karma is real and in his face later on.
P.S. Wow, look at all the languages!