A/N: You all the the disclaimer... Marvel owns all of the recognizable characters. All of the other fictional characters are stuck with me.
Chapter 5: You Have No Idea...
May was pacing outside of the van, waiting for an update from the men inside.
Rhodes and Happy were left to wait with her, and both tried to find ways to offer her reassurance. However, the only thing that was going to make May Parker feel better was getting Peter safely out of that bank.
"How long until Tony can tell us something?" May demanded, expecting one of the other men to be able to answer her question.
Happy shifted uncomfortably, "Try to be patient, May. These things can take time," he explained, immediately regretting his choice of words.
Rhodes shook his head at the other man, and Happy was pretty sure he was rolling his eyes behind the sunglasses he was wearing.
"PATIENCE?!" May squealed. "Seriously?! We don't have a whole lot of time! My kid is injured in there! I want him OUT!"
May scrubbed her hands through her hair before bringing them down to rest on her hips as she continued to pace. She looked out towards the crowd of people that had gathered behind the police tape. She could see reporters with their cameras out, trying to capture anything dramatic that might happen. She could also see some of the others who had left the bank still waiting to find out if her nephew or the security guard would make it out. She had heard the police talking and knew the guard wouldn't be coming out alive, but she hoped that things would turn out differently for Peter, obviously.
It was the other people that annoyed May, the people who had no business being there except to satisfy their morbid curiosity. She wondered how so many people were able to waste their time and felt certain that they must have better things to do than to stare in fascination at the dangerous situation unfolding in front of them.
There was a young woman taking selfies with the bank in the background, likely using her nephew's suffering to get attention on social media.
There was an older man pacing around, trying to get an interview with the reporters as if he were someone important.
Ned was waving his hands at her, trying to get her attention from behind the police barricade.
"Wait! What the hell?" May thought, looking over towards Peter's best friend as he was trying to signal her.
"No way... what is he doing here?" May said aloud as she stepped over towards the barricade and police tape. Happy and Rhodes quickly followed her.
Rhodes caught her arm and asked, "Where are you going? If you go over there the reporters will be all over you like bees on honey!"
"That's Peter's friend, Ned," May said, pointing over towards the young man now waving his arms excitedly above his head.
"MAY!" Ned called out to her. "Over here! They won't let me through!"
"Hey!" Happy got the attention of a younger officer in charge of the crowd. "That kid waving his arms over there like an excited kid at Disney Land..." He pointed to Ned, "... We know him. It's his best friend inside that bank. Think you could let him join us?"
The officer looked from Ned to May and back to Ned again. "You sure you want to be putting up with that kid right now, mam? He looks like he's had one too many red bulls!"
May shook her head at the comment, "It's fine. Please, let him come over. He's a welcome distraction right about now."
The group watched as the officer approached the crowd, pointed to Ned, and lifted the tape for him to come over and join the others.
Ned rushed over to the trio, breathless and talking quickly, "Oh man, am I ever glad to see you! I thought I'd never make my way to the front and get your attention!"
The adults smiled at the teenager, but he continued before they could say anything.
"MJ and I were at my house, waiting for Peter. MJ was, like... you know, getting all frustrated with waiting. So I just turned on the TV, and..." Ned put a hand to his chest, still out of breath, "... there he was! At first we were, like... woah..." Ned threw his hands out to the side of his head, "and then we were, like... ahhh!" He brought his hands to his head, "... and then it was just too much and I turned off the TV! We called 911... and then called you!"
The adults looked back and forth to one another, surprised that the teenager continued to ramble on.
"MJ's parents called her to come home, but I snuck out of my house because I needed to be here! Please don't tell my mom! I need to be here! I want to make sure Peter is okay? He is okay, right?" Ned lowered his voice to whisper and leaned closer, "You know... he'll be okay since he could, like, Spider it up or something, right? The bullet can't like... you know... really hurt him?"
"Ned!" May stopped him. "I know this is a lot to handle, but just try to take a breath, okay?"
Ned sucked in a deep breath and let it out, looking at May as if to await further instructions.
"Is he supposed to know about... you know?" Rhodes asked, looking at May.
"Ned is the only one of Peter's friends to... you know..." May didn't finish, nor did she have to. She didn't want to make too many comments about that side of Peter. There were too many curious people around to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"Right... listen, kid," Rhodes started, "We can't know..." He didn't get to finish.
"Oh. My. God." Ned muttered in a loud whisper, leaning forward towards the others. With a slightly lower voice, "Are you... are you Colonel Rhodes? War Mach..."
"Kid!" Rhodes cut him off this time, looking around carefully. "Not here! Cool it, okay!" He looked around some more before continuing, "Tony and I are here undercover. We're just concerned friends here to help May, only a few officers even know..."
"Mr. Stark is here, too?" Ned asked excitedly, "Where?"
"SHHH!" the three adults scolded.
Ned lowered his voice again, "Sorry! Where?"
"He's working with the police captain in the van, helping them to get a visual inside. We'll know more about Peter's condition once they can see him," Rhodes explained.
"But why can't you, like, just go in there and..." Ned brought up his hands and made little guns with his pointer and thumb, "... pow, pow, pow?!"
"The bank robbers can't make any connections between Peter and Tony, especially the Avenger connection!" May explained quietly, growing impatient with the young man now.
"oh..." Ned said, still looking a little confused.
"This is Peter's life we're talking about, kid," Rhodes said, "We're not going to rush into anything."
Ned finally nodded his head, seeming to come back to reality, "He's in a lot of trouble, isn't he?"
The adults didn't really answer except to nod their heads sadly.
Rhodes suddenly brought his hands up and played with his sunglasses a little. "We have a visual!" He whispered to the others.
May frowned at him, a confused look on her face, "Wait... can you... do you see something with those sunglasses?"
"Tony made them, so..." Rhodes shrugged, "... yeah. He's controlling the drone now. He must have activated something so that I could see the feed. Oh..."
"What?!" May asked, reaching for the glasses. "Let me see!"
Rhodes brought a hand to his face to hold his glasses in place, while using the other hand to grab May's arm that was reaching for them. "May, NO! If you take these, I could be recognized! I'll tell you what I see... just... let's head back over closer to the van."
The others followed Rhodes back over to the police van/command center, which was even further away from listening ears.
"You saw something!" May said, "What did you see?"
"Umm..." Rhodes held up a finger to her, looking at something. "Okay... uh... there was the security guard... that was the first thing... it wasn't pretty."
"What about Peter?!" May demanded. "Do you see Peter?" Her voice was lowered, but her tone was sharp, wanting answers.
Rhodes continued to hold up his finger to her, "Oh man... yeah... just a moment..."
The others stood close, listening to his every word, and desperate to hear that Peter was alive and well.
Rhodes swallowed past a lump that was forming in his throat. He didn't know if he should tell May exactly what he was seeing or not. Something told him that she would be horrified to hear that her nephew was bound and gagged all while being surrounded by the other men who were behaving like a hungry pack of wolves.
"Rhodes?!" May scolded the man, wanting answers.
"He's alive..." Rhodes said, still trying to keep track of the video. "It looks like they're getting ready to make a call to the police." He turned to May, "He looks... okay..." he decided to leave out the specific details, deciding that "okay" was a good enough word to use since Peter was alive and breathing.
May let out a relieved breath, "Thank God! Will you be able to hear the phone call?"
"Maybe... there is a small microphone on the arm on the sunglasses, but it will be hard for me to hear much outside like this," Rhodes explained. "We'll just have to be patient. Tony will fill us in on audio when he can."
"Patient!" May spat out the word as she said it, "I'm getting really tired of people telling me to be patient."
Peter wasn't sure what to think. As Larry was getting ready to make the call, Peter's spider sense flared, feeling a little different. It wasn't really anything dangerous, but there was something happening. He had turned to see a spider on a wall across the room, and he sensed that it was not a typical spider.
His eyes shot open in realization, "It's gotta be Mr. Stark!" he thought with a little excitement, "That is Stark tech! It has to be! He's gonna get me outta here!"
He had looked away quickly, not wanting to let the others know that he saw something. The spider was small, and he didn't really think the other men would even notice.
His attention was pulled back to Larry, who now had the phone to his ear. "It's ringing," the man said, looking down at Peter, "Remember what I told you... not one word other than what you were..."
Than man didn't finish as someone picked up the line, "This is Captain Jenkins," The voice said.
"Cap'n Jenkins!" Larry greeted. "You wanted to talk to the kid, so he has a few things to say..."
Moe reached forward, ripping the tape from Peter's lips. Peter winced at the pain of it.
The phone was placed by his face, "Th..uh" *cough*
Peter's mouth was very dry, and he had trouble getting out his words. He cleared his throat and tried again, "This is Peter."
His voice sounded rough, even to his own ears.
"Peter? Son... are you alright? We know you were injured. Do you need medical attention?" Jenkins asked.
Curly pointed his gun right at Peter's temple, digging it in a little and causing Peter to flinch. He looked up at Larry who was shaking his head, indicating for Peter to keep to the script. Moe was smirking in the background, finding the scene to be amusing somehow.
"Umm..." Peter swallowed, trying to pull moisture into his parched mouth. He wouldn't be given any water until he finished the phone call. "I'm supposed to tell you... that..." Peter took a breath, feeling the cold medal of the gun pressing into his head and finding it an unwelcome distraction.
"Come on, Pete!" Larry scolded. "Spit it out!"
Again, Peter tried to clear his throat. He hated being used and threatened like this. He knew Mr. Stark must be seeing this, so he had to be strong. Help wasn't far away. "... I'm supposed to tell you that I have a gun to my head. The men inside are demanding that you bring a helicopter to the roof of the building next door in no less than one hour..." Peter swallowed and took a breath before continuing, knowing the next part would be difficult to say and hard for anyone to hear. "If you do not deliver the chopper by that time, then they will put a bullet in my head..." Peter swallowed again, feeling Curly push the gun harder into his skull, "... just like they did to the security guard."
Peter looked up at Larry, who nodded his head for Peter to finish.
"Once the chopper arrives, I will be joining them as they go to the rooftop. If they see anyone, I'm dead. If they hear anyone coming, I'm dead." Peter's voice broke, and he hated how weak he sounded. He cleared his throat once more, summoning every once of strength and bravery to finish. "They will kill me if they have any reason to believe that you are trying to trick them and not let them leave. If you..."
Jenkins cut into what Peter was saying, "I think I understand, Peter. Is the man who put you on the phone willing to speak to me again?"
Peter didn't need to answer, Larry snatched up the phone having heard Jenkins' question for himself. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Larry demanded. He nodded at Curly.
This wasn't part of the plan. Peter's senses flared, and something told him he was about to be in a world of hurt.
Curly removed the gun from Peter's head and jammed it into his injured shoulder with incredible force.
Peter couldn't help himself. A guttural scream left his mouth, the begging words coming despite how brave he wanted to be, "STOP! Puh-PLEASE! S-STOP!"
"What are you doing to him? Let's talk about this!" Jenkins called over the phone.
Again Larry nodded, and Curly pulled his gun away. Fresh blood seeping through Peter's bandage.
Peter was breathing quickly, trying to fight the spots that floated in front of his eyes. He needed to stay awake. He needed to hear how this would end. Most importantly, he needed to show Mr. Stark that he was strong. He glanced over at the spider on the wall a moment, needing to see it there. He looked back at the men, seeing Moe preparing a fresh piece of tape. He shook his head, "No... ummfph!"
The tape was once again pressed hard over his lips, silencing him; also making it harder to take deep breaths. Again, Peter fought and forced himself to stay focused on what was happening.
"YOU WANT TO TALK, MR. POLICEMAN?! HUH?!" Larry was yelling into the phone. "DO YOU THINK THIS IS A JOKE? DID THAT SOUND LIKE A FUCKING JOKE TO YOU?!" The man was in a rage, showing a side Peter hadn't seen before. The man took a few breaths, using a forceful tone to continue, "What you need to understand is that WE ARE IN CONTROL! Peter's life... his well-being is in OUR HANDS! If you step out of line once... just ONCE... you'll be cleaning up his brains off the ground! DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?! You have ONE hour!" With that, Larry slammed the phone down, cutting off the communication with the outside.
Silence.
The area inside the bank was now dead silent, with only the rapid breathing of Peter and the other men filling the room.
Peter closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the counter, fighting to get his breathing under control. The flames of pain were tearing at the flesh around his gunshot wound. He felt sick and dizzy. He wanted to throw up! He could feel the bile rising and he was afraid he might choke on his own vomit.
"Wooh! Yeah!" Curly yelled, pumping an arm up in the air victoriously. "What a fucking rush, am I right?"
Larry smirked and raised his eyebrows up at his friends, "Think they got the message?"
They looked down at their squirming captive.
"You alright, Baby Boy?" Moe cooed.
Peter shook his head back and forth, desperately wanting the gag off.
"Sorry, sweetheart!" Moe cooed again, kneeling down and reaching forward. He brought his hands up to Peter's face, rubbing at his cheeks with his thumbs. "We didn't want anymore sound coming from you!"
Peter let out a soft sob from behind the gag, "Don't touch me! That's not helping! I'm gonna be sick! Take it off! Take it off!"
"Oh, SHIT!" Larry exclaimed, grabbing a garbage pail. "Look out!" He used his foot to nudge Moe, giving him the message to move.
"Oh, thank you, God!" Peter thought, realizing that Larry recognized his struggle. No sooner did the man rip the tape off and Peter let the bile and vomit spill into the can.
"Ugh! That's fucking disgusting!" Curly exclaimed.
"Poor thing!" Moe added, pretending to care.
Larry made a face and turned his head away, shooting Curly an accusing look, "This is your fault! You should be holding the puke bucket!"
"You're the one who wanted to make him scream!" Curly defended.
"I wanted you to make him scream, not make him SICK!" Larry yelled.
Peter was spitting into the garbage can now, breathing deeply. Anger surged through him. This wasn't fair! None of this was fair! "What the HELL did you think would happen?! FUCK! YOU!" Peter yelled.
Larry glared at Peter.
Peter returned the glare. He felt better after getting sick. He was mad. He felt his muscles pulsing. The pain was still surging from his wound, but his anger was stronger. They had NO IDEA who they were playing with! NO. IDEA.
"You done?!" Larry growled out, nodding towards the pail of puke.
Peter just nodded, not saying a word. He just continued to shoot daggers at his captors.
Larry stood up, tossing the pail off to the side and far enough away for the smell not to be a bother.
While Larry moved the garbage can, Curly stared back at Peter with rage. "Who do you think you are, huh? Look at you trying to be all tough! What kind of tough guy can't take a little pain, huh?"
Peter was still angry, and he couldn't stop himself, "I said..." he growled out, "FUCK. YOU."
Curly bent down, picking something up off the floor and swinging it at Peter's head.
The hit came from the left, knocking him onto his injured right side.
Peter held in the scream this time. He just groaned loudly, making it sound more like a prolonged growl.
He was laying on the floor, breathing heavily as his blood started to drip from the bandage.
"Enough!" Larry called. "Don't make him puke again!"
Peter opened his eyes, intending to shoot another look at Curly.
His heart nearly stopped when he saw what Curly had used to hit him... something that was still grasped firmly in the man's hand. His eyes widened at the sight, "Shit! My backpack! He's holding my Backpack!"
The other man seemed to notice where Peter's eyes went. "What's the matter, kid? You afraid I'll find your porn stash in here or something?" Curly put his bag on the counter.
Larry picked up the water bottle as Curly was reaching for the bag, preparing to see what Peter was so worried about. "Almost forgot," he said, picking up the bottle and removing the cap. "Here's your water you little PRICK!" With that, he began dumping the water on Peter's face, not caring if any of it went into his mouth.
Peter coughed and sputtered, licking at his lips in an attempt to pull in whatever water he could.
"Fix that!" Larry ordered Moe, pointing to the soiled bandage on his shoulder.
"Maybe I'll find something in here that you can use," Curly said to Moe, opening the front of Peter's bag.
"Oh, Shit! Mr. Stark, help me! Do something before they open my bag!" Peter thought frantically.
"What's happening?" May asked Rhodes frantically. "I thought I heard a scream coming from inside. Was it Peter? Rhodes? Talk to me! Did you hear anything?"
Rhodes didn't speak. He held up his hand to May, stopping her. He was looking straight ahead. To anyone else, it would look like he was staring off into the distance, but he was watching everything that was happening inside.
He decided to be honest with May, "They hurt him, May."
The women let out a small sob, grabbing onto Happy for support. Ned just hugged himself tightly, listening to see if anything else was said.
"He's a tough kid," Rhodes added, "He's holding his own as much as he can, but..."
"but what?" May asked. "Rhodes... Is he going to be okay?"
"I'm not sure... we may have a bigger problem on our hands," Rhodes said carefully.
"What the HELL does that mean?" May demanded, trying to keep her voice down.
Rhodes finally turned his head in her direction, "They're opening his bag."
"SHIT!" Came the soft and stunned replies. All three of the others offering the curse as a response at the same time.
That was definitely going to be a problem.
A black SUV suddenly appeared through the police barricade. They all watched as people began to file out.
FBI was written across the bulletproof vests of the individuals who were now heading in their direction.
"I'm Agent Samuels. Who's in charge here?" the one man asked the group.
This was most definitely going to be a problem.
A/N - Oh dear! Now what? What will Tony do? Will the police and FBI see what is taken out of Peter's bag? Will the FBI get in the way of Peter's rescue?
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