"What happened?!" Ava asked, running into the hospital wing and shoving past Sam. She was quickly followed by Luke and Danny, all having worried expressions apparently etched into their faces.
They'd been paged away from their fight, being quickly replaced by Tony Stark, of all people. He'd sent them off without so much as another word, ignoring when Luke tried to find out more. Instead, they were picked up by their standing principal and S.H.E.I.L.D agent, Phil Coulson. Once they'd gotten on the Hellicarrier, they were told by Nick Fury himself that it 'wasn't anything to panic about', but that Peter had been injured.
Sam was pushed past immediately by Luke and Danny as well, looking at the backs of his friends as they gathered around the still healing fallen teammate.
"We were in a fight with the Juggernaut, and Web-Head wasn't paying attention," Sam said quietly, walking into the room with his head hung.
"And where were you?" Luke asked, looking up at Sam with a raised eyebrow. "This is a bad blow; it's taking his body a long time to heal. He would have sensed this coming for him."
"It appears that our enemy had time to plan exactly where to hit our dear friend Peter," Danny examined, frowning. He was currently letting his fingers lightly roam over the shattered bone and bruised tissue of Peter's ruined shoulder. "Those in a rush never succeed in precision'. How could he have gotten such a good hit if Peter would have sensed it?" The blonde looked up at Sam with a gentle expression. "Didn't you wish to protect him?"
All three of the teens heads turned to look at Sam, but the boy wouldn't look up, nor talk.
"Sam, explain, we teamed you two up for a reason, you can protect each other. You have no right to just say that he was 'distracted' without defending your own case. Now tell me," Ava crossed her arms as she stared the black-haired boy down, "what. Happened."
Sam looked between all of them, opening and closing his mouth before finally collapsing into the chair next to Peter's bed. "We were fighting, alright? We were arguing and I was insulting him; he wasn't paying attention because he was trying to defend himself to me. I didn't notice that idiot brute until it was too late."
Luke let out a whistle of disbelief as Ava shook her head. Danny set a hand on Sam's shoulder. "Why must you two fight? You're friends, correct?"
"Yeah, we're friends, but he got on my nerves so I made sure to get on his too." Sam hung his head in guilt again. "I didn't mean for him to get hurt." Sam's shoulders hunched as Danny patted his back.
"What happened to the Juggernaut?" Luke asked, pulling a chair up to Peter's bed as well as the genius slumbered on. "Did he get away?"
"Probably;" Scoffed Ava, who sat on the edge of the bed, "with as much as Sam's dropped the ball today, I wouldn't be surprised."
Sam opened his mouth to make a comeback, but let it drop. Soon after, he shook his head. "No, S.H.I.E.L.D got him. He wanted to get away, but I melted his armor." He hardly gave the fact a second thought, but both Danny and Ava perked up at this.
"You what?" She asked as Danny appeared to be stunned. "That armor is made from Crimson Gem, it's practically indestructible, how did you melt it?"
Luke's eyebrow raised. "Crimson Gem?" He asked, earning him an eye roll from Ava as Danny explained.
"It was cultivated on a different planet, and it's what gives him his strength. The fact that Sam was able to melt that was incredible." Crossing his legs, Danny thought for a moment. "Back when we first fought the Sandman, you melted him. Sand melts at 2500 degrees Fahrenheit, and you had trouble reaching that. This must have been at least nine times stronger."
"How's that even possible?" Ava asked, her expression becoming confused.
"'Anger is the strongest of all motivators'," Danny quoted. "You were upset that you accidentally assisted in Peter's injury?"
Sam shook his head again. "I'm upset that Peter got injured period. First he was offended by me, and then I assist in him getting banged up by the Juggernaut of all people." He heard a crack from Peter, and his head snapped up fast enough to see some of the bones resetting themselves. Every teen in the room winced heavily at the horrid noise.
"I didn't even know you cared about Parker," Luke said honestly with a shrug. "You two haven't ever gotten along."
"Of course I care about him; he's one of my best friends," Sam scoffed. "We may bicker, but it's always been joking up until now, and in a pinch, he would always have my back," Looking at the brunette, Sam sighed. "Apparently, that was a one sided deal."
"So you actually feel guilty?" Ava asked, seeming surprised. "I didn't know you felt anything other than pride and annoyance."
"Yeah, I didn't act like I did, and look where that got me;" Sam motioned at the bed, even more upset with the sight now that he'd been conned into feeling more guilty, "he won't wake up."
"Alright, this needs to stop. When he wakes up, you two have to stop fighting. Kiss and make up before acting like team mates," Ava ordered.
"As much as I hope you don't take that literally, I have to agree," Luke shrugged, followed by a nod from Danny.
"But Peter doesn't even like me. He was saying as he got hit that he cares more about some teammates 'more than others'." Sam's fingers curled into air quotations, not even noticing Danny's expression shift from concerned to guilty for a mere moment. However, Luke and Ava both did.
Clearing her throat, Ava stood before stating, "Stay here with Parker, we have a few things that we need to discuss." Luke waved for the three of them to leave, watching over his shoulder as Sam looked at Peter's face with a pained expression.
The very moment they were out of the room, Luke crossed his arms as Ava placed her hands on her hips. "Explain," they said in unison.
((Thoughts? Reviews? I hope you guys like it so far ^-^))