The Amazing Avenger.
Recap: The Avengers confront Loki, who responds with a full bag of tricks. Now on to Chapter 9.
Chapter 9.
The team assembled back at Stark Tower. Everyone except Thor, who after some time, regained the use of his power and was out scouring the town for his brother, despite Tony telling him that might be a lost cause since he disappeared out of thin air. Thor's response was pushing Tony hard against the wall and telling him to steer clear of him. Despite his anger at the God, Tony backed down, only because he knew that Thor was capable of crushing his skull without so much as breaking a sweat.
Besides Thor, everyone's pride was pretty much hurt. The city was pretty much in an uproar over the day's events and Clint did not follow Natasha back to the Tower. Except for Steve and Peter, the team had taken quite a beating from Loki. They had to admit, Loki was a much stronger foe this time around.
"Can you believe that bastard?" Tony yelled as he slammed his freezer shut and placed an ice pack to the back of his neck. "That suit was one of my best ones. It's just a hunk of junk now!"
"Oh I'm so glad you're worried about your precious metal suit!" Natasha spat at him, an ice pack applied to her knee as Tony sat at the table across from her.
"Look toots, that suit was made by me, with time taken to make it by me, and was paid for by me, so excuse me for being just a bit sentimental." Tony snapped back.
"God, you're pathetic!" Natasha muttered, shooting Tony a disgusted glare.
Tony raised his eyebrows and was about to fire back when Steve held his hands up. "Ok, ok…enough, both of you!" Tony and Natasha both glared at Steve, but each took a deep breath and just stared each other down.
Peter sat at the table as well, trying to absorb what he had seen downtown. He couldn't shake his mind from Loki, the way the God stared him down before he disappeared. He was angry, not only because Loki vanished, but because he felt so helpless. Here he was sitting without so much a scratch, while Tony, Natasha, Clint, and Thor all suffered the repercussions from their confrontation with the trickster. He had gotten there too late, and even though no one was blaming him, he couldn't shake the guilt he was feeling. He was not nearly fast enough. Here he was offered a spot in the Avengers and he couldn't be there to help his teammates in time. Some superhero he was.
"Hey, you ok?" Steve asked him, concern drawn on his face, as if he had been sensing what was on his mind.
"Yeah I'm fine." Peter muttered as he rose up from his chair and silently stalked out of the room.
Tony pointed at his direction. "What's with him?"
"I think he's feeling guilty." Steve said with a sigh.
Tony scoffed. "The kid should feel lucky. If he were fighting Reindeer Games, he probably would have ended up in ribbons."
Steve looked at him disgusted. "You're a jerk, you know that?"
Tony gave him a mock smile. "So I've been told."
Steve just scoffed and shook his head.
"You know.." Tony spoke up, flipping his ice pack in his hands and glaring at Steve. "I don't blame that kid. He's great, don't get me wrong, but he is new. But you, my friend, are not so new. You mind telling me what the hell kept you while we were all getting our asses handed to us?"
"Are you blaming me for this?" Steve shot out.
"Well, let's see, you pretty much showed up just when the curtain closed." Tony snapped. "So…yeah."
"Peter and I got there as fast as we could!" Steve defended.
"Apparently not fast enough!"
"Loki disappeared, Tony!" Steve shouted.
"Well, how convenient for you!" Tony spat.
This time, Steve was angry. He slammed his hand down on the table, with enough force to even startle Natasha. He shot up, ready to kill Tony. Tony wasn't backing down this time. He rose up to.
"You wanna do this, Spangles?" he taunted and walked right up to Steve until they were nose to nose. "You know, I am so sick of hearing how great you are. You wanna know what I think? I'll tell you. While everyone here thinks you're God's gift to the universe, I think that inside, you're still that scared little puny kid getting rejected from every recruiter and getting his ass kicked in alleyways on a daily basis. You're a coward, Rogers, and no matter how much serum they pump you with, you always will be!"
The next ten seconds was a complete blur as Tony ended up being knocked from one end of the room to another. Even Natasha screamed. Tony groaned as he moved from the floor. Steve stood there, breathing hard as he stared down at his fist, which was already bruised and swollen. Natasha sat frozen, staring from Steve to Tony, too shocked to move.
Things stayed this way for a few minutes until Fury and Coulson walked into the room. "Ok, do I even ask what the hell is going on here?" Fury growled angrily, as he surveyed the scene.
Tony was spitting out blood and ignoring Fury, as usual and Natasha was still too stunned to speak. Steve was staring at Fury, but the only thing that came out of his mouth was,
"I quit."
Fury's one eye went wide and Coulson sucked in a breath. Natasha shook her head at Steve, but he ignored her as he grabbed his jacket and stormed out, passed Coulson, who stood there staring in disbelief. He wanted to chase after Steve, but he knew Steve was too angry to talk rationally at the moment.
But Peter was not so logical. He had listened to everything that was going on from the stairwell. He ran after Steve as Steve stormed out of the tower and down the street,
"Steve! Wait!" he yelled after him, but Steve was not listening. He kept walking.
"Steve! Hold on, you can't quit." Peter was running and managed to catch up to him. "We need you."
Steve didn't stop walking. "I'm out, kid. I-I can't take this anymore. If you know what's good for you, you'll leave too."
Peter couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You don't mean that!"
Steve stopped then, causing Peter to almost trip hitting the brakes on his steps. Steve was staring down, avoiding Peter's stare.
"Listen, you don't know what I've lost for this. I lost who I am, my best friend," then he added with almost a whisper, "..Peggy." He then looked up at Peter after a few seconds of silence, and Peter was taken aback to see tears trickling down his face. "I'm drowning, kid. Tony was right. I don't have it anymore."
"No Tony was not right!" Peter snapped, but Steve could see the pleading in his eyes. "There are a lot of people out there who believe in you, I believe in you."
Steve stared at Peter for a moment, then wiped the tears from his face. "Goodbye, kid." And with that, he walked away. Peter just stood where he was. He knew Steve had made up his mind. Everything around him was a blur as he felt himself crumble from all the emotions washing through him. He had fought to hold back his own tears, but to no avail. As he saw Steve walking and then disappearing around the corner, he stood there and let the dam fall.
A/N-Sorry it's such a short chapter, but I had this in my head all day at work and had to get it out before I had to retire for the evening. A lot of tensions I know, and believe me, it was hard to even hold my own tears as I wrote the last part. But don't fret, my pets, I will have an awesome new chap up soon and I think it will entail Peter's emotional struggles as he comes to terms with his guilt and in doing so, confronts Loki on his own.
So, this is where I could use some suggestions. Believe me, I have my own ideas, but I am really interested in hearing what my readers think. How would you guys envision a confrontation between Loki and Spiderman?
Until next time…;)