A Web of Two
Peter didn't know how long he was unconscious. All he remembered was dropping down violently onto his kitchen floor and seeing the face of his enemy. For a moment it was like awaking from some terrible dream. Or perhaps he thought he was only waking back into another one. But he was wrong. His eyes fought their way open to find themselves in a darkly lit room. His vision still blurry. He could see one other person in the room with him. He couldn't tell if they were sitting or not, but if he could take his best guess they were sitting. Then his eyes slowly began to adjust once more to the light. The walls stood out more. They were concrete. So he guessed they were underground. Suddenly he got a feel for his hands. All of the muscles in his body one at a time started back up again. First there were his hands. His fingers twitched before he managed to gain full control over them again, and then he finally was able to move each of them with perfect dexterity. At that point he realized they were handcuffed or rather chained behind his back. Then his arms came back to life. They felt cold. He looked and saw they were pressing against steel. He was chained to a chair. His eyes looked once more ahead of him, and the person that was in the same room as him had red hair. It was Natasha. She was in the same position as he was, chained to a chair and everything. Her eyes met with his.
"Na . . . ta-sha," Peter barely managed to speak.
A steel door, one that Peter didn't even notice was there until now, violently swung open, following with men in black bullet-proof vests and black clothing underneath entering the room, all armed with rifles, except for one. He was the only one without a helmet as well. Peter raised his head more to look at him, as he was sitting down and the man towered over him. He had this mean look in his eyes. But as he approached closer to him, you could tell he felt obligated to his job. As far as his physical features, he was athletically built, as expected. He had to be about 6'1 or 2. Peter only found him intimidating due to the circumstances. Natasha on the other hand found this normal from dealing with many situations like this throughout her career.
The man came closer and closer towards Peter, his boots leaving a muffled thud with every step, like the ground was shrieking with pain as he planted his feet onto it. Once he'd made his way about a foot from Peter, he stopped in perfect comportment. It's as if he planned the whole walk ahead of time. Everything about this man was with purpose, and that's what made him all the more threatening. Two of the men who followed in after him stood by his sides. He completely blocked Natasha from his view.
"The Amazing Spider-Man," the man said, slightly mockingly. His voice was loud and clear. It filled the whole room. "I wonder where his mask is now."
Peter didn't want to look him in the eye. He tried looking around him, at his nose, or his forehead, but not in the eye. He felt that if he looked in his eyes they would pierce through him like knives or shoot lasers into his own.
"It's not there," the man went on. He kneeled down on one knee, directly facing Peter in a more leveled position. "Your face is out for the whole world to see now. How does that feel? To be exposed? To know that the very thing – a piece of spandex – that protects the balance between those that you care about and those that you despise is gone? It's actually kinda funny when you think about it. You so-called 'superheroes' like to think that hiding yourselves from others is gonna change anything. But here you are. Things in this world are hidden so they can be found. That's a true fact."
Peter liked to think he was good at hiding his emotions, but he really couldn't tell at this point. He tried to seem brave in any situation.
"I know you're scared," the man said, looking right through him. "You don't have to pretend. It's natural, really."
He was far too casual with his words to be speaking on such a matter.
"I know it was you who took care of some of my good men. And I don't blame you. It was fight or flight for you, and what you did didn't surprise me at all. In fact, I give props to you for that. Not many people have gotten away with their lives from us, but you two are something else."
Peter tried looking to Natasha, but the man was still in the way, blocking his view.
"You see, there are those who are heroes." He then turned to Natasha. "And there are those who like to think they are heroes."
"You'd know, wouldn't you, Miles?" said Natasha.
The man smiled. "You're damn right," he said.
"And HYDRA sure knows where its heart lies doesn't it-
"Don't forget where you came from, Romanoff."
Natasha was silent, but mad silent. She knew where she came from.
"Yeah. You think we'd forget?" As he spoke he pointed his thumb back to Peter. "You see, he probably doesn't know all the mess you have left on your record. He doesn't know –
"Actually he does," Natasha interrupted. "I told him personally."
The man raised his eyes. He turned back to Peter. "Wow," he said. "She's crazy, right?"
Peter was getting fed up with his sarcastic mocking tone.
"Look who's talking," Peter managed. The man was obviously surprised. Then he smiled again.
"That's the Spider-Man I know," he replied. "But I know Peter Parker is probably in there somewhere shitting his pants right now. 'Cause Peter Parker didn't sign up for this, did he?"
Once he said that, it started coming back to Natasha again. He didn't sign up for this. He never wanted to. This life wasn't meant for him. And she still failed.
"Do you know why we want to kill you?" the man changed the subject.
Peter didn't answer.
"Because you all are what ruins society. It's people like you that make the world the way it is. Full of destruction. Full of despair. You all make the world imbalanced. Imagine people living peacefully under one rule. There won't be any more crime. No more wars. No nothing that makes the world mad. People would comply and get on with their lives. But you – you make the people believe they still have freedom. That they still have someone to look up to – to idolize. Idols defeat the whole purpose. No one should be higher than anyone else. That's not what humanity's purpose is for."
"And what if I didn't exist? And I just let the world run mad the way it is now, would all of those lives that I protect still mean nothing? All the people I've saved – would they still just be numbers to you?" Peter asked.
"I don't think you're very experienced enough on the true dirty side of life."
Peter became silently enraged. His Uncle Ben came to mind. "I know the dirty side of life," Peter bitterly uttered.
"Do you now? And what about you, Romanoff? You know the dirty side of life, don't you?"
She looks at him for a moment, with eyes that could kill. "Screw you," she simply says.
The man shakes his head and looks back to Peter. "Now it's people like her who we should just off right now."
The two men beside him then raised their guns at the defeated spy.
"Don't!" Peter shouted.
They stopped. They looked back at the man, and he gestured for them to lower their weapons.
"If you really wanted to kill us, why didn't you do it already?" Peter went on. "Why didn't you just kill us before when you had the chance?"
"What, you're telling me you haven't figured it out yet?" the man said, sounding somewhat disappointed and enthusiastic. "We really don't' want to kill you. I like you, actually. You spark some sort of interest in me that I can't explain yet. This woman on the other hand . . ." He points back to Natasha. "Forget her. She can go. I couldn't care less about her. But I feel like you would be a missed opportunity. Someone like you just can't go to waste."
"I'm not interested," said Peter.
"You're very bold. That can be dangerous."
The words sort of scared Peter a bit.
"I think one way or another, you'll eventually be convinced. I could tell you that you'll never see the light of day again. I could tell you that the people you love will have their lives in danger. I could have you at gun point and say all the threatening things I've come up with over the years . . ." As he said that, he actually did pull out a handgun and placed the muzzle directly under Peter's chin as he forcefully raised his head upwards.
"Stop it, Miles," Natasha barked, growing very protective but really scared. He ignored her. Peter began trembling uncontrollably.
"And even still I'd find a way to convince you."
"I said stop it!" Natasha roared.
Then for a moment, the scene stayed frozen. Everyone was frozen. Then the man finally brought the gun away from under Peter's chin.
"You have no more freedom," said the man. "Know that. In here, under our domain, you're just Peter Parker. Not Spider-Man, not Web-Man, not Spidey, not anything but just plain old Peter Parker."
And with that they all left the room, leaving Peter and Natasha alone, sitting across from each other, both chained to their cold metal seats. The door slammed shut, leaving a loud echo. Peter just sat and reflected on everything he just heard.
"That bastard," Natasha muttered, but loud enough to be heard.
"Natasha, how'd you get here?" Peter snapped his attention towards her.
"The same way you did," she replied. "They broke into my place and abducted me."
"God…"
"Don't feel bad. I was somewhat prepared. I took one of them down with me at least."
Peter wanted to smile but couldn't in this dilemma.
"I think they tranquilized me or something," Peter spoke. "The drug kicked in too quick . . . I was already out by the time I could understand what happened. My senses came back and warned me of something . . . I don't even know how they snuck past so far."
"They're good at their job," Natasha admitted.
"Who's that Miles guy?" Peter changed the subject.
"He was a SHIELD agent – was a SHIELD agent. Maybe he never was."
"You worked with him?" Peter asked.
"A few times. Just very few times. We were both SHIELD shadow agents. I never really liked working with him."
"I guess I don't have to ask why."
"Yeah," Natasha raised her brow. "I hadn't seen him in quite a while after an incident that occurred during one of our missions. He was temporarily suspended for violating specific protocol on an operation."
"What did he do?"
"Kidnapped and tortured a suspect under no one's orders, kept them concealed in his basement until he got them to talk. Fury was pissed. Beyond pissed. That gave SHIELD a bad name for quite a while. Well, then again, it kind of already had a bad name the whole time. I'm not surprised he's part of all this."
"Miles," Peter said.
"Max Miles," Natasha noted. "His nickname around headquarters was Mad Max. I never called him that. I didn't even like him."
There was a brief moment of silence between the two. Peter then tried breaking free from his chains, but for some reason putting up an effort didn't feel the same as usual. Using his strength didn't feel like it usually does. He tried to pull the chains apart as hard as he could, but it only hurt his wrists more. His face tensed excruciatingly, and the rest of his body trembled as he forced again and again. Then he stopped again, as it was starting to hurt his wrists even more.
"These chains can't be that strong," he said, slightly panting but in more pain than exhaustion.
Then he thought back a moment. He remembered when Miles came in, something about his senses were off. He could obviously feel his presence, but he couldn't feel any further than that like usual. He couldn't follow any of his next movements, nor could he prepare for when he pulled out his gun on him. His enhanced spider senses were gone.
"They did something to me," he quietly spoke. "I can't do anything I could before. My senses, my strength, it's all gone."
"They probably drugged you with a substance capable of temporarily disabling any mutated or superhuman abilities," Natasha remembered. "I know because SHIELD would use it on special operations. But like I said, it's temporary."
"When will I get them back?"
"Probably no time soon enough before they carry out what they plan to do with us."
"Do you really think they're gonna kill us?"
"I don't believe that jackass for a second. He's already been clear that he'll kill me, and there's no doubt in my mind that he'll kill you, too."
Peter suddenly felt hurt. Not because he thought Natasha thought so much lower of him to be put to death as well, but because she mentioned him dying after she'd fought hard enough to try and keep him alive. Then he thought of Aunt May again. He begged to know what she might be doing right now. She probably thinks he's okay or at home or something.
"Peter," Natasha said. "There's something I have to tell you."
He was all ears. It wasn't often she spoke on a much deeper, honest level with him. He was anticipating what was to come next.
"I've never been honest with you. I've never been completely honest with you. We never met by coincidence. That night when you swung by on that rooftop and I spotted you. And then we fought together. Those thugs. And their bodies hitting the ground."
Peter slowly began recalling the event one by one as she spoke.
"It was all planned," she finally managed. "It was all planned out. Fury pushed the idea. Or at least I thought it was Fury – I don't know anymore. It's so confusing now with HYDRA here and there, but I'm telling you now . . . it was my job to lure you from the start."
Taking it all in, Peter stared at the floor momentarily. Natasha expected him to have some sort of breakdown, and lash out at her for being such a liar. Instead, he remained calm – or at least as far as speaking with her directly goes; nothing about the situation they were in called for remaining calm.
". . . And?" he said.
Natasha raised an eyebrow. "And? What do you mean 'and'?"
"And . . . what do you expect me to do now? I'm tied up to this chair – with you – and I could be out saving the world. I got myself here."
"I got you here!" Natasha hissed.
Peter yielded to Natasha's anger, always being afraid of it, not wanting to be the subject of it.
"It was me who put you here in the end" she went on. "It was Fury's fault. SHIELD's, HYRDA's, everyone involved!"
"No it-" Peter remarked.
"And it was me who chose to be a part of this mess. I didn't care enough at the time."
"It was HYDRA's fault-
"It was me who thought I had everything right!"
"You can't save everyone, Natasha!" Peter yelled over her.
His response to her made her step back this time. It was something she never thought to hear come out of his mouth. She was silenced by a teenager. For about ten seconds, she was silenced.
"I know," she finally let out.
"I had to learn that the hard way," Peter said. "With Gwen, her father . . . Uncle Ben. The world is . . . the universe is in control. The fate of the universe. I can't do anything to meet with that. I wish I could protect everyone I love every time. But the truth is that I can't. I have to accept that. As a young adult, I have to start getting that in my head."
Natasha had nothing.
"And it doesn't matter to me now if you were lying the whole time. For a while, I thought I couldn't trust you at all. When you came back and you told me about HYDRA and all of this, I didn't think you were trustworthy at all. And then I realized I probably wouldn't be alive without you. I owe you so much. It doesn't matter if I'm caught up in this deadly game of spy versus spy. At least I can say that I trust you now. And we're stuck here in these chairs together."
The spy took in a small sigh of both relief and exhaustion. She would have to think of something sooner or later to bust out of here.