Warning: minor death of a child in this chapter.

Chapter 7

Peter sat on his bed breathing deeply, in an attempt to calm the rage he was feeling. It had been a long time since he had gotten that angry at his aunt. He usually tried to keep his cool and be respectful to her, even when she was yelling at him. But he felt like his privacy had been invaded, and that alone brought a whole lot of angry emotions. It took him a full ten minutes to get his anger under control, and with that followed the feelings of regret and shame.

Now May would hold this moment against him for the next few months, reminding him of how disrespectfully he treated her. She would often make comments about how disappointed his Uncle Ben would be if he saw how Peter was now, and the teen was always able to brush away those comments with the knowledge that his aunt didn't know about his Spiderman life. Peter really believed that if Ben was watching him from up in Heaven, that he's proud of what Peter had become. All the lives he saves while out as the vigilante, and everyone he's helped. He was sure that his uncle was proud of him.

But then when he thought about how he had just shouted at May, the anger he felt towards her. Surely Uncle Ben wasn't too happy with how he had treated his wife. The feelings of guilt intensified as he dwelled on this thought, and tears began to leak from his brown eyes. He was so much better then the way he acted this evening. He even debated going out of the room and apologizing. But hearing the shouting match going on between her and Henry, Peter decided against it.

Feeling utterly disgusted with himself, and needed desperately to prove that he was a worthy hero, Peter grabbed his backpacked and pulled the Spiderman suit out of it. He debated locking his door before leaving, but May had a key to it, so if she really wanted to get in then she could. Meaning she would eventually find out that he left, and this made him pause briefly. It certainly wouldn't help his situation; his aunt would be disappointed in him, knowing that he left when he was supposed to be grounded. He needed to prove that he was still a good nephew to Uncle Ben, if he was even watching. Maybe the man that had been his only father figure was so utterly disgusted with the teen that he was no longer watching.

Peter stood in the middle of his bedroom, clutching the balled up spiderman suit to his chest. His small frame trembled slightly in the unsureness of what he should do. Staying put felt like it would be hell, but leaving would do the same for different reasons. The tears that had been leaking from his eyes began to flow faster. Maybe he should try contacting Happy again. Maybe there was a mission he was needed on, that would at least be a good reason for disobeying his aunt. The teen quickly snatched his phone from off his bedside table and scrolled through his contacts until he found Happy's number. He clicked on his message conversation, and was about to start typing out a message before stopping short. With the pad of his thumb, Peter scrolled through the conversation, seeing all the messages he had sent the man, but not one was returned. Why should tonight be any different?

Anger crept its way into the boy's chest. With narrowed eyes, he tossed the phone on his bed and quickly slipped into the spiderman suit. The anger he felt was quickly lined with rebellion. There wasn't a single person living on this hear that cared about Peter Parker. Surely his Uncle Ben must understand that. He used this line of thought as an excuse for disobeying. There was nothing wrong with desiring to feel loved. He'd never get that by staying in his bedroom. He would get that by going out as Spiderman. Queen's loved Spiderman. It was easy enough to see just by looking online at what people were saying about him. Once the suit had tightened around his body, Peter pulled the mask over his face, grabbed his phone where it landed don the bed, and jumped out the window without a second thought.

A breath of relief fell from the boy's lips as he swung from building to building. There was something about the thrill of flying through the air, that caused all his stress and problems to fly away from his chest. He never felt more free and at ease than he did when he was out being Spiderman. Yes even when he was in high stakes situations, it was nothing compared to the stress he feels when he is at home with his Aunt. Peter landed catlike on top of the roof of one of the high buildings in Queens. He stared out across the city, enhanced ears straining to pick up the sound of a nearby siren, and it didn't take long before he picked one up. "Finally…" he muttered to himself. Excited to be helpful for something.

Peter reached a hand out, pressed the button of his web shooters and took off towards the direction of the sirens. Soon enough, he was following a blaring fire truck that was zooming along a street, towards an apartment building that was on fire. He stuck himself to the top of a telephone pole that stood next to the building, and took a moment to assess the situation. Going by the looks of it, it seemed like the building would be going down within minutes. His enhanced hearing picked up on enough of the firefighters conversation to know that there were three children still inside the building.

The spiderling gave himself ten more seconds to listen for the sounds of child cries within the building. He picked up two on the fourth floor and with no hesitancy, the teen jumped from the pole crashed through one of the windows on that forth floor. It was hot. Even shrouded in the highly expensive suit that Mr. Stark had given him, sweat was pouring off his body just seconds after entering the building. It wouldn't be long before his body got so hot the sweat would just evaporate off his body. He couldn't dwell on that though, there were children that needed his help. He could hear one of the kid's voices coming from the next room crying, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" Upon investigating the room, Peter found it was a young girl probably 7 years old, hiding under the bed. One of the worst things that could be done during a fire is hide, but now really wasn't the time to be scolding her for that. So he lifted up into his arms and continued towards where he could hear the next child that was crying for help.

This one he found in what was probably the apartment next door. It was a four year old boy, that looked to have gotten stuck inside his bedroom. He was lying on the floor against a wall, completely surrounded by flames. There was no access to his bedroom door or the window, in fact Peter had to shoot at the wall, and swing himself and the girl he was holding over the flames just to get to him. "Don't be afraid, I'm here to help," he spoke after the boy gave him a frightened look.

A desire to get out, must have overtook his feelings of fear, because the younger child immediately clung to him. Peter had the girl, climb up onto his back, and he held the boy in one arm to swing back over the flames. There was still a third child in the building. The teen's enhanced hearing could hear them. It sounded like it was coming from the room right below them. Peter took a very brief moment to debate on if he should go after the third child. The child was still alive, and the teen was confident that he would be able to get to him or her. But he also had his hands quite full with the two other children who were crying against his body, and going after the third child would jeopardize their safety.

He eventually settled on taking the two kids he already had, out and into safety and go back for the third child. "All right, hold on tight," he told the two children and quickly swung out of the already broken bedroom window. Peter quickly shot his web at the telephone pole that stood right above them, so he could safely lower himself and the kids to the ground. The moment his feet touched the ground, the girl jumped off his back and immediately ran back to where her parents were. "Mommy! Daddy!" she called out as he ran into their embrace.

The young boy however was still clinging and crying against his chest, not yet aware that they were in safety. The teen hero, approached the large crowd of onlookers and firefighters nearby. "Who does this one belong too?" he asked indicating the small child in his arms.

Not even thirty seconds passed before a young woman ran up to to him. "Right here! Right here!" she snatched the boy from Peter's arms who were only grateful to pass him along to his mother. The teen really needed to get back inside for the third kid before it was too late.

That proved easier said than done, as both families of the children he saved were insistent of giving their thanks. The girl's father actually pulled Peter into a hug, and wouldn't let go despite any protest he gave for what felt like a full minute. "Your welcome! Your welcome!" Peter returned their words quickly, trying not to sound annoyed. "But there's another kid inside and I need to go and get them."

Peter turned back towards the burning building, and was about run back inside when one of the firefighters stopped him. "Don't bother Spiderman. Carlton's already got her." As the firefighter spoke, another firefighter emerged from the front doors of the building carrying a small child in his arms. A feeling of relief came over Peter as he saw this. It wasn't a mistake getting the other two to safety first. The third child, got out safely. Or did she? A small jolt went through the teen soon after as he realized how still the child was in the arms of the firefighter who quickly ran over to where the medical team was stationed. "She lost consciousness about a minute ago."

Despite everything his mind yelled at him to do, Peter could not tear his eyes away from the scene. The fireman did everything they possible could to revive the small girl that looked to be no older than three years old. The girls parents had run over, trying to get to their child but other fireman was holding them back. After what felt like an eternity the most horrible words Peter would have ever thought to hear were uttered. "Time of death, 11:07pm." As horrible as those words were, they were nothing compared to the gut wrenching sobs that where now coming from the child's parents. Peter dared a glance over in their direction. The girl's mother was sobbing broken heartedly into the chest of her husband. The man was looking right at Peter, and the glare that he was casting at the teen spoke volumes. 'Why didn't you save my daughter?'

Remorse and guilt flooded into Peter's chest, as he took several steps back. She was alive when he was in the building, he could have gotten to her in time. He was sure of that. If he hadn't left, she would still be alive. He made the wrong choice. He almost went over to apologize to the couple, but did not because he felt like he had no right to share in their grief. He was basically the one who killed their child. Sure he didn't deliberately throw her into a burning building and leave her to die. But the fact that he had the chance to save her and didn't take it, that was just as bad, at least in his mind.

Suddenly aware of all the stares everyone was giving him, and feeling like every single one of them had an accusing air about it. Peter shot a web, and quickly fled the scene. He could already see the News Headlines for tomorrow. "Spiderman Allows Child to Die in Burning Building." It didn't even matter that he had saved those other two children, the fact that he had let that third one die in the building canceled out all other good deeds. The teen swung from building to building, barely aware of where he was going. He didn't stop until he ended up sticking the landing wrong on a particularly high building, and fell flat on his face on the rooftop. He felt his lip start to bleed, as he bit into it from the impact, and he was pretty sure had this happened before the spiderbite he'd had broken his nose. Peter laid face down on that rooftop for an undetermined amount of time, trying to get his bearings again.

Finally, he managed to drag himself to the edge of the building and look down at the almost empty road below. There was a siren off the distance somewhere, and his normally instincts tugged at him to go follow it. He could still be helpful tonight. Would it even matter though? He still allowed that child to die in the fire. Nothing he ever did from this moment on would redeem him of that. He could have saved her, he really could have, and he chose not to.

Peter pulled himself up, and swung his legs over the edge of the roof to sit. Just as he was debating whether he would survive if he just jumped off the building how, a text message pinged on his phone. He almost didn't look, because it was probably just his aunt telling him how much trouble he was in for leaving his room. But in the end, took a glance and was surprised to see that it was Ned. Of course it was. The other teen seemed to always know when Peter was in this state of mind, even when he didn't actually know. There had been plenty of times in the past Ned had called him or sent him a message about something random when he had been contemplating suicide, and it always managed to pull Peter out of it so he could go on another day. This was the case again, but as Peter silently ready the text that his friend sent, it somehow made him want to jump even more.

12:00am

Ned: Happy Birthday Bro!

He actually looked at the date on his phone just to make sure that Ned wasn't mistaken. It was true, it really was his birthday. With everything that had happened the past few weeks, Peter had completely spaced the fact that his birthday was coming up. Leave it to Ned to be the one person that stopped him from forgetting his own birthday. The other teen always had a thing about making sure that he was the first person to wish him a Happy Birthday, and always sent a text at exactly midnight so he really would be the first.

Most people would be excited and happy on their birthday, after all it was the one day a year everyone that you new took a moment to appreciate you and show that you love them. It was different for Peter Parker though. He could count the people who would actually acknowledge his birthday on one hand, and it still wouldn't add up to five. Ned was one of them. His aunt would at least tell him Happy Birthday if she remembered and toss him a 20 dollar bill, and not mention it again until the following year where she may or may not remember again. Henry would only acknowledge it if he was in the same room when May did, and that had only happened once. The only other person who ever cared about his Birthday the way one was supposed to, was his Uncle Ben. But he's been dead for almost 7 years now. Peter doubted that his Aunt May remembered this year. She didn't remember last year, and didn't bother reminding her and didn't plan on doing this same this year either. A Birthday greeting doesn't seem intentional when you have to remind them about it.

For several moments Peter stared down at the street below him. Debating on if it was worth it to live out another year of his life, Peter decided that he would at least give his friend the chance to talk him out of it. So he unlocked the phone, tapped the message button, and typed out a response.

12:07am

Me: Is living another year on this shithole we call home even worth it?

Peter turned the screen off when he sent the message, and waited a moment for Ned's response. He figured it would be pretty quick, Ned probably hadn't fallen back asleep yet. But when five minutes passed and still no response, Peter wondered if maybe he was already asleep. It was either that or the other teen really didn't care if he killed himself. It was another five minutes before his phone pinged a response. But when Peter looked at his phone he was surprised to see that he had gotten a message not from Ned but from Happy.

12:19am

Happy: What the hell is that supposed to mean?

A horrified jolt ran through the teen as he realized what must have happened. He looked back at the last message he sent to check, and sure enough he had sent that message to the wrong conversation. He hadn't looked closely enough to see that he was actually sending that message to Happy instead of Ned. For a brief moment he fretted, wondering how he was going to explain himself. But these feelings only lasted a moment before they were replaced by anger. After all this time, it took a suicidal question to get a response from Happy. Peter glared at his phone for a good minute before promptly chucking it off the side of the building and watching it charge down towards the street where it shattered when it hit the ground.

It's finally time for Tony to start doing what he's supposed to be doing as a mentor.