Hi Everyone!
Sorry about not updating last week. But I'm here this week! No long rant from me this time so on with the chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, you lawyers can just cool your jets.
Happy Reading!
True to Natasha's word, Gwen was off for the next few days. The girl was up with the sun and even twitchier than she had been during the World Unity Fair incident, according to Pepper. Peter had to be in her line of sight at all times. Any room she entered was checked for threats immediately and then her head was on a swivel to make sure that no threat entered.
The Avengers never left them alone. Since Steve was usually the first one awake, he made sure to be in the kitchen when Gwen lead Peter in to make breakfast. Peter's instant smiling reaction to 'Uncle' Steve always put her more at ease. After breakfast, it was either Thor or Bruce who kept an eye on the kids. Thor would regale Peter of stories of his youth or would play with the young boy. Bruce would often be found working on his tablet in the rec room while Peter and Gwen watched tv or otherwise entertained themselves. Though those scenes always seemed to end with Peter playing with one of his toys around the room as Gwen looked over the scientist's shoulder and got a lesson in whatever he was working on that day.
After lunch, which someone always made sure Gwen and Peter ate, it was Clint or Natasha's turn to watch them. Though more often than not it was both of them. Most afternoons the foursome could be found in the gym where Natasha would work with Gwen on her sparring while Clint easily kept Peter entertained in the rafters. In the evenings it was a combination of everyone and if Gwen stayed up late, then Tony was awake and tinkering with something while Gwen read or watched mindless tv until her mind wound down enough for her to sleep.
It took nearly a week, but finally Gwen began to accept that she was safe. That Peter was safe.
For the first time in her life, Gwen was somewhere that could be deemed completely safe. For the first time, she had a home.
"Police say that as of right now, they have no leads on the green masked terrorist who bombed the World Unity Fair last Saturday. They are asking for anyone who has any leads to please come fore-"
"JARVIS, mute," Natasha said and the AI obligingly put an end to the too perky news anchor's review of the terrifying events of that day. The video footage, taken from cell phone cameras and other recording devices, of the fair and the villian's attack still played on the television in the rec room.
"Thank you," Gwen called from the kitchen where she was in the midst of making lunch for herself and her brother. Peter was in the rec room, coloring in a coloring book that Pepper had gotten for him a few days ago.
"Lunch time?" Natasha asked, walking into the kitchen.
"Grilled cheese," Gwen replied. "Tony and Bruce are somewhere doing something Tony called 'science bro-ing' so I am going to assume that they won't be up for lunch. Steve went out a while ago and said he'd find his own. I made enough for me, Peter, you, Clint, and hopefully enough for Thor." That was one of the things that Gwen appreciated about living in the tower with genetically altered super heroes. No matter what you made or how much, it all got eaten.
"Gwen! Look what I drew!" Peter shouted as he ran into the kitchen, sliding on the tile floor in his socks.
"That looks awesome, Peter," Gwen said, giving her brother a bright smile. The five year old had had a field day with the crayons, the paper was a rainbow of colors but the central figures were easily recognizable. There was Gwen and Peter of course, but there was also every member of their adopted family. In the very back was an easily distinguishable figure clad in black and with a big black dot over the left eye.
Gwen caught Natasha's eye over Peter's head and saw the woman was failing in holding back a smirk. "I don't suppose there's a way to get him a copy, is there?" Gwen asked with a giggle. The spy's smirk turned devious.
"Oh, I think I can do better than that," Natasha replied.
"Hey, Peter, why don't you get your crayons and bring them to the table?" Gwen said. "Lunch is ready. Do you think you can draw a special picture just for Uncle Nick?"
That was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak, as Natasha broke out in laughter. Peter gave her an odd look as he went to retrieve his crayons and paper.
"What did you say to her?" Clint asked as he came into the kitchen. The question just made the red-head laugh harder. "I haven't seen her like this since that one time Tony got locked out of the tower."
"I just asked if she could personally make sure that Uncle Nick gets the pictures that Peter is drawing special for him," Gwen said innocently.
Clint shook his head. "I don't know who I should tell to stop encouraging who."
"And you never will," Natasha answered, finally getting her laughter under control.
"So what are we doing today?" Clint asked, giving up on the last topic completely. "More sparring?"
Gwen made a face. "Not that I'm not grateful but I'm sick of sparring and anything else to do with the gym really. I'm getting itchy feet." The last bit was said in a guilty mumble.
"Hey," Natasha said, "It's ok. This is the first time in what? Two years where you've actually set down roots. Where you've been able to be yourself without having to hide yourself and Peter and what you can do. The first time you don't have to be on the move. Not to mention your life before."
In the past few days, Gwen had been a little more forthcoming with the red-haired spy about her life before Peter and her step-father. She had even told the woman about the first time she had met Fury. They'd had some very deep heart to heart conversations.
"How about we go somewhere?" Clint suggested. "It can't be good for Pete to spend all his time inside, no matter how much we wear him out in the gym."
Gwen hedged at the idea. Her protective instincts were screaming to stay in the tower where it was safe while her sister instincts were agreeing wholeheartedly with Clint that staying inside all the time was not good for anyone. She had lived it for long enough.
They hadn't been outside since the World Unity Fair Incident and one of the bargaining chips Pepper had used to get Gwen to agree to that outing was the fact that they had the whole team with them. At the moment there was only Clint and Natasha and maybe Thor.
The spies waited patiently for Gwen to come to her decision. She took in her brother's pleading face at the thought of getting out of the tower and made her decision.
"What did you have in mind?"
After that first time out of the tower, a whole new world was opened to the kids. It wasn't uncommon for one or both of them to plead for someone to take them out. They had even managed to get Tony to chaperone on time. The billionaire swore up and down that Gwen had been taking lessons from Pepper. Everyone else had just watched with cameras at the ready (it was great blackmail material) as the 16 year old girl talked Tony into taking her and Peter to the zoo. The media had had a field day but somehow none of the pictures taken of Gwen and Peter, from any camera, were ever in focus enough for them to be recognizable.
At the moment, Steve was taking them out for icecream. He was their babysitter for the afternoon as Natasha and Clint were out on a small mission for SHIELD. Gwen wasn't stupid, she had caught on the second day that at least one of the Avengers was in the room with them at all times. She was grateful to them, especially for keeping it up well after she had finally found her equilibrium. She stared with suspiciously bright eyes at her brother, perched happily on Steve's shoulders as he chattered away about anything and everything that came into his mind.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she jumped when an arm was slung around her shoulder and she glanced up into Steve's concerned eyes and her brother's worried ones.
"You ok Gwenny?" Her brother asked from his perch on the super soldier's shoulders.
"I'm fine Peter," she said.
"You sure, Gwen?" Steve asked, still frowning in concern.
"I'm fine, honest," she told him. "Just... Thank you, for everything you all are doing for us."
That, Steve understood. "We wouldn't have it any other way, you know."
"I know." Gwen gave Steve a happy, if a little watery, smile.
They soon came to a stop in front of a shop that Clint, who was by far the best person to consult on places to eat in the city, had told them they absolutely had to go to for icecream. Steve set Peter down on the floor and the five year old immediately rushed over to the impressive display of icecream flavors. On the way there though, he got waylaid by the colorful assortment of other candies the shop had.
"Peter, stay in sight please!" Gwen called after him. It said a lot about her comfort level that she was willing to let her brother wander even a few feet away from her side. "You did bring Tony's card, right?" she asked Steve.
Gwen still had trouble with accepting the fact she and her brother were essentially living on the Avengers charity and always got uncomfortable when they went out of their way to buy her and Peter things. A compromise had been hit upon by Pepper. Tony was a billionaire, she had pointed out, and so long as they didn't go around buying cars or planes every day, any of his money that they spent would be a drop in the bucket. So Tony had made sure that every one of the avengers had a credit card in his name for when Gwen and Peter were out with them.
"Of course I brought it," Steve said, "I've got a feeling that Peter's going to want to buy the whole store."
"Gwen! Come here! There's a whole second floor!" Peter called from across the store. At that same moment, Steve's phone rang.
Steve answered his phone, watching with a smile as Gwen followed her brother up the stairs to where the five year old was happily exploring the second floor.
"Peter, settle down please. People will think you were raised in a zoo or something," Gwen chided teasingly as she finally caught up with her brother.
"Can I get these? Can I, can I, Gwen?" Peter pleaded holding up a bag of gummy worms.
"Sure Pete-"
The sound of an explosion behind them made Gwen whirl around and the rest of the customers start screaming. A second explosion went off and suddenly the entire store was in flames. The stairway had been damaged in the blasts, leaving one of the customers dangling in the air. A third explosion rocked the foundation of the store, nearly bringing the ceiling down on the pair.
"Peter, I need you to listen to me," Gwen said, "We need to get out of here. You're going to walk in front of me very slowly towards the stairs. When we get there, you're going to use a web to get us down."
"But what if someone sees!" Peter exclaimed.
"We have to risk it," she replied. "I'm counting on it being too crazy for anyone to see, and if they do, they'll probably pass it off as a hallucination."
Peter shrieked as a fourth explosion brought down the ceiling right next to them.
"Gwenny!"
"It's ok Peter, everything's ok. I need you to start walking. I'll be right behind you the whole time." Peter nodded, though the expression on his face was more terrified than she had ever seen, and started slowly moving forward. Gwen kept a hand on his shoulder as they picked their way across the destroyed second floor.
They were just ducking under a fallen beam that was on fire when a fifth explosion knocked them off their feet. Gwen's heart leapt up to her throat as Peter started sliding away from her when the floor buckled under the assault. She scrambled after him, her eyes watering from the smoke that threatened to choke her. She heard Peter shriek and time seemed to slow down. The floor underneath him gave way to a gaping hole that swallowed her brother's body.
Before Gwen could move or even let out a scream for her brother, the whining whirring of engines reached her ears. She watched as a figure in metallic green rose up out of the floor, laughing maniacally. The monster held Peter by the throat in one hand as it rose on its glider.
"So nice to see you again Gwen," the monster hissed. "And little Peter too."
"Leave my brother alone!"
"I don't think so. You see he-" Goblin Man shook Peter to emphasize his point "-is my assurance of your good behavior. He could so very easily slip from my fingers."
"Let my brother go," Gwen said, looking Goblin Man directly in his sickeningly shiny bug eyes.
Goblin Man cackled. "If that's what you want, Gwen." And he let Peter go.
Gwen screamed as she watched her brother fall through the air for the second time and gasped with relief when he managed to catch himself with a web. Her relief was short-lived though.
"Gwen, its melting," Peter cried out. Gwen looked up and felt her stomach turn over when she saw the flames on the ceiling eating away at her brother's lifeline.
"Hang on, Peter! I'm coming." She ran to the edge of the hole and leaned out, reaching desperately for her brother. "Grab my hand."
"You're too far away!" Peter shouted.
"Just a little bit further Peter, you can reach!" Gwen called, straining her arm for a few more precious inches to reach her brother.
Something whirred in the air above her head and then Gwen heard the familiar twang of her brother's web breaking. The sound of the inferno around them became a roar in her ears as she watched her brother fall into the inky blackness and disappear. Peter's dead. That was the last thing she knew as something sharp pierced her skin in the side of her neck and she knew no more.
Peter's dead. Peter's dead. Peter's dead.
Gwen had awoken in a terrifyingly familiar white room. There were tubes running from her arm and she was hooked up to at least three different machines. She wanted nothing more than for this to be a twisted nightmare and she would wake up back with her family in the tower with Peter safe and sound asleep beside her. But this was her reality now.
Peter's dead. Peter's dead. Peter's dead.
That was the mantra that had been running on repeat in her head. She didn't know how long she had been there, connected to the machines and having tests run on her. A day? Three days? A week? It didn't matter. Peter was dead. She had promised him, promised him, that she would take care of him. That she wouldn't let anything hurt him. She had failed. Nothing mattered anymore.
She didn't fight them when they came to take more of her blood. She didn't scream and kick when they came to inject foreign chemicals into her body to see what the results might be. She just lay there, uncaring and lifeless. They could do whatever they wanted to her. It didn't matter now that he was dead.
Sharp green eyes twinkled as they looked upon the desolate scene. Everything was going according to the Fates design. The only thing that was left to happen to the girl was for her to die in one of those idiots' experiments. Her 'family' would find her cold body only hours too late.
A smirk curled the edges of his thin lips as he set to work.
After all, he owed the Fates a trick or two.
So... Don't kill me please? How bout this, before you all start un-favoriting this story wait one more week? I do have a plan with this and I promise you guys that if you stick with me, you'll be pleased with the outcome.
Until next time (hopefully),
CaseClosed621
