"Just a bit further, alright?" Peter panted to himself, feeling sweat and tears make his face slick behind the mask as he shot webbing out to the next building. His spine reacted horridly to each pull, once in a while the pain being strong enough to force him to cry out. This only made him wish that he had practiced with the rockets on this suit, but right now he couldn't afford to waste time with joking around. He needed to find Sam and Ava fast.
Sure, he was a quick healer. What was a six month injury for most was something that he could recover from in a few days. But, in the end, the injury that he had now required at least a bit of resting time, which he still hadn't granted it. That was the problem, with being a hero. There really aren't any breaks.
Mid swing, the sensors in his helmet went off, pulling up the diagram from S.H.I.E.L.D (thankfully it was still hacked to their tech), showing that both of his friends were somewhere underground in this area. Pulling himself up short, he began to descend. Eventually, he was able to drop down to street level, yanking up one of the sewer drains without too much trouble. He could hear a few exclamations of surprise around him, but he ignored it as he dropped down the narrow hole, landing on his feet and a small grunt as his spine was jolted.
"Now they can never say I'm lazy," he sighed, swallowing thickly as he stood a bit straighter. Even just looking at the walls, his mask pulled up warnings for several markings that were made in the bricks, which looked as if they had been hit repeatedly by a sharp object. Walking up, a metal glove traced one of the slices lightly. "Poor wall, being subjected to such abuse. You should file a lawsuit. You have the right evidence." Patting the wall once, he began to walk down the tunnel, listening closely. After nearly five minutes of perfect silence, he decided that he could let down his guard just a bit. With a small shrug and a pained twitch, he sucked in a deep breath, now walking a bit less cautiously in search of his friends.
"Well, scoot over Alice, because I'm down the rabbit hole."
-0-0-
"Find him!" Fury yelled, pacing the front of the Hellicarrier. "It shouldn't be this hard to trace a signal!" Every pair of hands next to a computer began to type faster, tracing a signal that was well hidden under Stark technology.
"Sir," Came a yell from Maria Hill, causing Fury to turn on heel. "We found him, but his signal is cut off at the same location as White Tigers," She spoke as she approached, handing off a small tablet as evidence. "There's something breaking the connection, so we're dead in the water. The only way to get him now is manually."
"Manually? The Avengers are offline at the moment, currently fighting off in Asgard, and the only two that I have at my command are Iron Fist and Power Man. Are you trying to tell me that I send them in?" He shook his head, not noticing as Danny and Luke step through the entrance. "It's too dangerous; they were both injured last time."
"So we're trusting all of this to be sorted out by an injured sixteen year old?" Maria looked unconvinced as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Sir-" She started before she was cut off by Fury's hand lifting.
"Enough," He snapped, setting his jaw. "We can only wait."
Again, it went unnoticed as the two boys slipped into the hallways, their heads ducked. "Peter needs help," Luke started, and Danny only nodded.
"Did you see where the signal was traced to?" Danny asked quietly, walking with Luke to his own room. "Because I'm not quite sure that I'd be able to trace it myself."
Luke nodded, and they continued to walk for a minute more before reaching their rooms. Stepping into his room, Luke looked up at his friend. "I'll be able to find it well enough, so that settles it. Go get your outfit, and I'll meet you on the ground, alright?"
"You got it," Danny smiled, nodding before running off towards his own room. "Meet you in a few!"
-0-0-
Sam awoke with a small groan, his vision tipping harshly to the left as he tried to sit up. "What the. . .?" He started, not able to move all that well. A quick pull of his hands settled the suspicion that he was tied up, but luckily his legs were free. Pushing himself up into a sitting position, he looked around the small space with squinted eyes. It was a cage, the bars a dark and smooth metal with no apparent opening. He could walk around comfortably if he wanted to, but at the moment he wasn't even sure if he could stand.
"About time, it's been hours since you passed out. Well, since you were hit over the head," Ava started, looking at Sam from the cage next to him. "How're you feeling?"
Sam jumped at the sound of his friends voice, but simply shook his head, trying to get a grip on himself. He felt as if he were slipping away again, and he wasn't about to let that happen. "Like I was hit by a boulder," He admitted, hating that he could hardly see Ava. From what he could tell, there were several screens about thirty feet away from them, but they weren't giving off enough light to illuminate the space that the two of them occupied. On either side of each cage, there were doorways, but Sam couldn't bring himself to stand and investigate. They appeared to take up the entire room, with a simply hallway leading over to the screens. If he squinted hard enough, he could see Ava's arms crossed over chest as she sat back against the bars.
"You were hit over the head by Thundra's fist, so I'm not all that surprised," Ava gave a shrug as she yawned, looking over at him. "You were muttering in your sleep, by the way. Even at a time like this, you felt guilty about Parker of all people. You kept mumbling that you were sorry," She rolled her eyes as she sat back.
"I did not!" He defended, sitting up a bit straighter as his face adapted a defensive look.
"Yes, I'm just saying it for the fun of it," She smirked, shaking her head. "Really, though, you need to let it drop, I don't think he cares that much."
Sam opened his mouth to respond, but instead his voice was replaced with the voice of a science oriented genius. "Aww, you do care!"
Both Ava's and Sam's head snapped up at the sound of hushed voice, and the mask covering his face pulled away so he could look at them with a grin. "Need to be saved?"
"What are you doing out of your bed?" Ava hissed, standing as she walked closer to the doorway that Peter was currently hiding by. "You just had your spine broken, are you insane?"
"A bit, but only in the best sense," He assured, frowning as he looked at Sam. "You're bleeding," He commented, looking annoyed, "Why is he bleeding?" He asked Ava, before she simply rolled her eyes.
"Oh my god, you two are like an old married couple," She sighed, and each boy let out an indignant huff.
"Didn't answer my question, but we need to get out of here," Peter said, dropping down in front of the cages. His metal boots made a loud clanking sound against the floor, but his fingers danced around for a lock that didn't exist. "What, did they build this around you?" Peter asked with an annoyed tone, his brow furrowing. After a minute more of searching, he stepped back. "You may want to get away for this," he stated, lifting up a hand. Immediately, his palm glowed before letting out a blinding blast, ripping open a hole where the two cages joined all the way through to him. Peeling back some of the metal bars, he made a wide opening for the two of them, which Ava promptly walked out of.
"You mind?" She asked, holding up her bound-together wrists.
"Well only because you asked so nicely," Peter mocked, smiling behind his mask as one of the claws came out from the back of his suit. The tip was a blade, making it easy to cut through the material. Ava began to rub at her sore wrists before her brow furrowed, and she turned on heel.
"Sam, what's taking so long?" She asked, honestly sounding confused.
Peter noticed the teens absence as well, and turning around, he let out a small sigh.
Sam was having trouble even standing, and every time he came close, he'd fall over once more. Peter was by his side in an instant, wrapping an arm around his waist before slinging one of Sam's arms around his shoulders. "Come on, don't be so overdramatic. It's just a scratch," Peter pushed, helping his friend limp through the doorway.
By the time he cut Sam's ties as well, his friend was beginning to pass out. Peter began to feel as concerned as Ava looked, and sucking in a deep breath, he turned to her. "You need to get him out," he started, but she shook her head.
"It's high security, and we're both useless without the amulet and his helmet. I can't do it," She shrugged, and it was then that an idea struck Peter.
"I need you to do exactly what I say, alright?"
-0-0-
"How did you manage to sneak this out?!" Iron Fist yelled, holding tightly onto Power Man as the Spidey-Cycle roared down the street.
"It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, I just had to break a few doors," Power Man yelled, taking a sharp left. They were only a few streets away from the signal cut off before a loud boom emitted from one of the sewer covers, causing the people in the surrounding area to gasp and step back. After a mere moment, a blur of gold and red shot out, holding a passed out teenager.
"Wait!" Iron Fist called, leaning back. Slamming on the brakes, Power Man forced the bike to come to a stop before both of their eyes went wide. They were currently looking upwards with the entire street at the Iron Spider, who was currently holding a passed out Sam Alexander to its chest.
"Where's Ava?" Iron Fist asked to Power Man, and before he could even begin to venture a guess, the suit shot towards them. Stopping to hover in front of them, the helmet pulled back, revealing an almost nervous looking Ava.
((Oh my. An injured Peter, alone with an unknown assailant? This should be interesting. By the way, I AM SO FREAKIN SORRY. I got a new computer (yay on that note) but unfortunately for me, all of my saved documents were on my other computer, which died (hence the reason for the new one!). So, I rewrote the chapter and made it longer than usual, so there's that ^-^ Enjoy, R&R if you so feel like it, and I'll see ya next time!))