Wow. No seriously - wow, you guys. The support I've received is so overwhelming and I'm so, so grateful to each and every one of you! I can't believe you guys are enjoying this so much ! Every time I get a review it makes my day! Thank you all :D
A lovely nice long chapter for you all today to make up for the absence of a couple of weeks. My laptop had some problems and had to be sent away for repair but I got this up as soon as I could! The next chapter is already half written and I'm super excited to get it done! :D
A bit of info about this chapter (and a question for you all): the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D are going to be involved in this but I was wondering what everybody thought about how much to have them involved? I was thinking about potentially going as far as a ship between two characters (one Agent and one Avenger - not telling which yet ;)) but wondered if you thought that idea sucked? Let me know!
The real drama should begin at the end of the next chapter - or at least be introduced! Hope you enjoy this one folks :)
As soon as he entered the building Peter coughed, his lungs beginning to get congested with the harsh smoke that filled the entirety of the air around him. His spidey-senses were going haywire as the air crackled, the structure of the building creaked and flames danced around him in a dangerous manner. He began to sweat profoundly as he made his way across the floor carefully towards the sounds of desperate screams for help.
"Hello?" he called loudly, searching for the source of the screams. "Where are you?"
Shuffling forward, he placed a foot down and gasped as the wood gave out beneath him, flames shooting up towards him. Snatching his leg back, he stumbled slightly, off balance as his lungs grew heavier. Gaining his balance he shot a web onto the beam above him and swung himself careful over the pit of flames that had separated him from the rest of the room.
Another scream cried out and he snapped his head to the side, two figures coming into view.
"Hey," he yelled, rushing over to the two young girls who were huddled behind an up-turned table. He quickly crouched down and ran an eye over the girls who couldn't have been any old than ten, checking for any injuries. Apart from being covered in black ash, the two seemed relatively unharmed and they both jumped up at the sight of him.
"Spider-Man!" they both exclaimed, wrapping their arms around him. Peter eased them back and held them out carefully.
"Are you two alright?" The girls both nodded in response, coughing harshly. "Is there anyone else here with you?" he questioned desperately, remembering the fireman's instructions that four were still trapped on this floor alone.
"Don't know," one of the girls replied, her voice breaking mid-sentence with strain. Peter's mind worked quickly, knowing he needed to get the girls out and get back in to find the remaining four people before the building went up - or rather down.
"Okay, hop on," he instructed, lifting one girl up into his grip and letting the other clamber onto his back. "Don't let go, okay?" He felt both nod against him and he turned around, straining slightly at the added weight. Hitching the girls up securely, he carefully picked out a path towards the window once more. Avoiding the weakened floor, he skirted around the side and quickly made his way to safety.
Reaching the window, he threw up his free hand and shot out a web, lowering himself and the two girls safely to the ground below. Paramedics quickly rushed over and grabbed the children from him, placing masks securely over their faces as they continued to cough. Letting out a wheeze, he nodded to them before turning tail and shooting back up to the fourth floor window.
As soon as he stepped into the room once more, a loud groaning sounded and suddenly the ceiling above was collapsing down towards him. Throwing himself across the floor, he jumped the gap seconds before tonnes of rubble came crashing down where he had been standing. Letting out a sharp breath, he coughed once more and grew slightly panicked - his way out was effectively cut off.
Pushing forward, he exited the room and headed out into the hallway, bringing up his arm to attempt to block some of the smoke from entering his lungs.
Calling out again, he strained his ears in an attempt to hear any response. A cry rang out from the distance and he pivoted on the spot, shooting down the hallway towards it. The cries grew louder and he stopped in front of a closed door from which the sounds were coming from.
"Hold on," he yelled, standing back and balancing himself before throwing up a foot and smashing the door down before he stumbled backwards as flames forced out of the room and heat pushed against him. Look into the room in horror, he steeled himself and quickly leapt through the flames, a cry leaving him as the heat licked at his skin. He could feel his suit burn away slightly and his back and arms were engulfed in pain. Biting his lip, he quickly rolled over and doused what had started to catch alight and called out once more.
"In here," the voice yelled. "Please help!"
Peter stood up and quickly made out a figure hunched behind a fridge on the opposite side of the room. A man appeared to be holding another person in his arms and was trapped by a wall of flames. Peter shuffled towards the two, pushing the pain to the back of his mind (though he did make a note to himself to invest in fire-proof material for his next suit as he winced at the way his skin tingled sorely).
As he drew closer, he heard the same groaning noise that had sounded not a minute ago when the roof had caved in and he looked up in alarm as the ceiling began to buckle. Knowing he wouldn't reach the people in time, he felt his breath catch.
"No!" he yelled, doing all he could think of. He fired two bio-cables forward, waited until they wrapped around the pair and pulled towards him. The ceiling began to cave as he yanked them closer and he yelped once more.
The pair came crashing into him, knocking him backwards just as the floor above crumbled down. Debris flew up and Peter ignored his back which now screamed at him after the impact and rolled them over to protect the two as bits of plaster and wood came flying towards them. Several knocked into him and he grimaced, knowing that he was going to be sore in the morning. The flames gave no respite and grew closer towards them so he stood up sharply, pulling the man and what appeared to be his son up with him before heading to where the door stood. The fire had eaten through the thin wooden frame and walls and left a larger gap which he shoved through, arm around the man who held the boy tight.
All three of them coughed hard, the smoke becoming thicker and Peter looked around wildly, desperate for an escape. Dread filled him as both ends of the corridor became totally engulfed in flames, the paths blocked off.
"Just hold on guys," he tried to reassure, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt. Suddenly wishing he had spoken to Gwen today, he felt out of options. Before he could move, a sudden high pitched noise sounded and a blast cut through the wall to his left. Jumping back in shock, he was lost for words when a startlingly familiar gold and red clad figure stepped - or rather hovered - through the opening.
"Need a hand?" came the voice of Iron Man, appearing like a vision before him. Realising that he couldn't waste much time by pausing in his shock, Peter grabbed the man and his boy, pushing them forwards and followed Iron Man (he never thought he'd be saying that so nonchalantly - frankly he couldn't work out if he was hallucinating or not) back out of the clear path the hero (super hero, Peter reminded himself somewhat dazedly) had apparently created. Still overcome with surprise, Peter couldn't find words and simply jumped down and yet again handed the two over to the waiting paramedics. Stumbling, he felt himself growing weaker as he hacked against the ash that he knew was lining his lungs and he heard the voice of Tony Stark - the Tony Stark tell him to stay put before he flew off into the building on the sixth floor.
Peter dropped to his knees and felt a hand touch his shoulder. He distantly heard someone asking if he was okay and he nodded his head slightly, focused solely on regaining his breathing.
Not a minute passed before he heard a smashing of glass and looked up to see Iron Man flying out of the building with a woman clutched in his arms tightly. He landed next to Peter and handed her off to an ambulance crew before quickly asking the fireman how long he thought they had.
"You only got one?" Peter croaked, dread filling him once more at the idea of someone still being stuck in. He received a nod in response and before he could think about what he was doing, Peter stood up and webbed himself back up to the sixth floor.
He heard a whoosh next to him as Iron Man flew up with him and they both crashed through back into the building.
"This way, kid," came the instruction from his right and they both made their way through the flames once more. Both calling out, they looked quickly for the remaining trapped person throughout the floor but heard nothing in response. They continued to search for minutes longer before Peter suddenly heard a weak shout for help.
"This way," he croaked, darting down a corridor and heading into a room. He let out a sigh of relief as he saw a woman who was curled in a ball in the corner of the room as flames ate through the wooden floor towards her. He began to call out but as suddenly as before, the floor above began to groan and give way and he didn't have time to move before a blast ripped through the entire room. Peter was thrown backwards and the world was a jumbled for a few moments before he felt himself collide with something and blackness filled his vision.
It was a few seconds before the pain hit him and his vision greyed out, body screaming. Unable to move for a few seconds, he attempted to clear his head but felt himself slipping before he heard a voice ring out and the darkness claimed him.
"Hold on, kid."
The first thing he noticed when he came around was that he wasn't burning any more. The second thing he noticed was that he wasn't wearing his costume either and was staring up at the ceiling of what seemed to just be white (if he could classify an entire entity as a colour - though quite frankly he felt like he had earned the right to just make stuff up at points after what he'd been through). Blinking a few times, Peter let out a groan as his body reminded him that a building nearly fell on him.
Note to self - move faster.
Clearing his head, he suddenly remembered what had happened and began to sit up in shock. His ribs ached something wicked but he continued upwards and took in his surroundings confusedly. Last he remembered he had been about to become a crispy spider and somehow he had ended up in a what seemed to be some sort of hospital room or infirmary. Gasping, a realisation came over him and he quickly searched around for his costume only to find it nowhere in sight. Looking down at himself, he started as he took in that he was wearing normal clothes.
"No, no, no, no," he muttered, shifting off the bed and holding in a moan as his abused body protested the movement. A look down at his arms told him that he had been taken care of - bandages graced his arms where he knew burns and grazes lay. Glancing outside the room he saw an empty corridor and crept quietly forwards. Poking his head around the glass, he quickly surveyed his surroundings before darting down the corridor, trying to find any clue of his whereabouts.
As he moved, he tried to piece together what he could remember before he woke and as he rounded the corner he could hear voices growing louder. Creeping forward, he flattened himself against the wall and listened carefully. Suddenly the image of Iron Man flying towards him, helping him evacuate people from the burning building and the final explosion ran through his mind and he started, figuring out pretty quickly where he now stood; Stark Tower.
Well, shit.
Backtracking, he turned tail and headed back down the corridor and away from the voices, intent on finding an exit. If his suit was gone, they knew who he was and he needed to get out of there - fast. However, as he strode quietly away from the voices, he heard something that made him stop in his tracks.
"…Loki is back on Earth."
Steve Rodgers pounded at the punching bag in front of him, sweat dripping down his forehead. His punches were set in a perfect rhythm, bodying swaying with each throw. Images flashed in his mind with each smack - Peggy, the ship crashing to ground and fighting off the alien invasion were but a few of the choice things he saw. It wasn't just when he exercised but when he slept too. His dreams were endlessly filled with pictures of things that he could've done better, ways he could've saved people instead of letting them die around him.
Letting out a grunt, Steve threw a mighty punch and sighed as the reinforced bag went flying across the room and landed with a loud thud. Letting his arms hang for a few a seconds he regained his breath as he forced the image of Peggy out of his brain.
Heaving another weighty sigh, he walked over to the downed bag and grabbed it, dragging across the room to where a line of identical bags lay, each in a differing state of disarray. Turning on his heel, he was about to pick out another bag when suddenly the door to the gym opened and Tony stuck his head in.
"Hey, Cap," Tony greeted cheerfully (almost too cheerfully Steve thought). The billionaire looked over at the row of punching bags and let out a sigh of his own. "Another, really? I'm paying for those you know," he joked, chuckling slightly at his own expense.
Steve let out a calming breath and closed his eyes in resignation.
"You're not - S.H.I.E.L.D are," he reminded his friend, opening his eyes and sending him an exasperated look.
"Oh yes - a great benefit of saving the world; free punching bags for you and a free lab for Brucey. Wonders never cease! I'm pretty sure Natasha and Barton even get free food," Tony snarked in response, smiling easily once more.
"What do you need, Tony?" Steve asked, knowing that the man wasn't there for just a chat (he still remembered the argument they had had on the helicarrier before the whole alien invasion had taken place - "You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!") and whilst the two had patched things up considerably from when they had first met, Steve knew he wouldn't be the first of Tony's list to just chat with so he decided to cut to the point.
"We have a few people upstairs I think you should meet," Tony stated (in a somewhat mysterious tone if you asked Steve - he and his father was quite alike in that respect).
Letting his chin drop to his chest, Steve swiped a towel across his forehead and nodded, agreeing easily. Throwing the towel on the bench, he headed towards the shower room just outside the gym, passing Tony on the way.
"Give me ten minutes and I'll be up," he stated, headed for a nice cool shower. Tony nodded, setting off back upstairs and Steve let himself into the shower room.
Ten minutes later he was on his way up, refreshed after his workout. As the elevator doors opened, he stepped out into the living area and was slightly taken aback at the number of people gathered. Alongside Tony and Pepper, the rest of the 'Avengers' team sat together talking with a group of others. He recognised Phil Coulson but the rest were new to him. Making his way forward, he nodded at Natasha as she smiled up at him and he took a seat between her and Pepper (who knew the two women would get along like peas in a pod - Steve swore they even went shopping together last week).
Coulson smiled at Steve as he sat down, still unable to get completely over his admiration for Captain America (the trading cards still sat securely in his bedside table at his quarters in the S.H.I.E.L.D HQ - blood stained and all) before clearing his throat and turning to his team.
"Thanks for all coming today," he began. "There is a problem that you all ought to know about. Loki is back on Earth."
At this revelation, exclamations of outrage broke forth from several parties. Steve sat stunned in his seat, only able to turn to look at Thor who stood uncomfortably to the side, arms folded. Tony stayed quiet, an unreadable frown on his face as Clint stood up and paced over to the window.
"How did this happen?" Clint asked wearily. Loki was firmly on his list of "people to kill next time you see" and the archer could feel his anger growing.
Phil glanced to Thor in response and gestured for him to take over the conversation. In response Thor unfolded his arms and placed a hand against the back of the sofa.
"My father saw fit to punish Loki in the same way he had to me years before. His aim was to make Loki see the error of his ways, much as I did when I came to Earth." Thor paused, letting the information sink in. "By taking away most of Loki's powers, he's taken away his purpose, too. I believe on Midgard you call him the 'God of Mischief', correct?" he questioned, waiting until he received a nod in confirmation.
"There is a reason for that," he continued on. "Loki lives to cause trouble. I once believed there was hope for him but after he led the Chitauri to your planet, he has become a lost hope." Thor couldn't help letting the sadness he felt bleed through into his words and he straightened up, folding his arms once more.
A few moments on silence paused before Phil saw fit to continue explaining his reasons behind gathering the large group that sat around him.
"I want to introduce you to my team," he began, sitting up and clasping his hand in front of him. Turning to his right, he smiled at how nervous the younger members of the team looked (because May and Ward hadn't let emotions show in what Phil counted to be close to a month now. It had to be a record) and nodded his head towards them.
"These guys are going to help you dealing with what's going on. You may not feel you need them," he stated, feeling rather than seeing the look of scepticism that had undoubtedly blossomed on at least Tony and Natasha's faces, "but they are very good at what they do. We have received information about Loki that makes my team a good asset. At 4:31 on Friday we received intel that Loki had items on him when he was banished. Fury thinks it may have something to do with the Chitauri and my team has experience in that matter."
He looked over at Simmons who had blushed slightly at his words.
"Fitzsimmons are our two brightest minds," he began, gesturing to the two nervously smiling geniuses that sat next to each other.
"I'm Fitz - engineering," the Scot explained quietly, nodding a greeting at the (slightly overwhelming, not that he would let it show in front of Simmons) large group sat around him.
"Jemma Simmons," said his partner, a smile gracing her features. "I'm a bio-chemist," she explained, happy at the mild look of acceptance from Bruce Banner (the Bruce Banner, she reminded herself in her head. Trying not to freak out wasn't as simple of a task as people made it out to be).
"May and Ward," Coulson continued, pointing out the two silent agents respectively as they both nodded a cool greeting. "They'll be working alongside Natasha," he said, plainly ignoring the scowls that appeared on all three of the faces of the mentioned people.
"Finally, Skye is our resident computer hacker," he explained with a slight smile. Skye grinned at the group in front of her, unable to hold back the awe she felt.
"Can I just say - you guys totally rock," she said, glancing over the group of heroes sat before her (seriously, she was going to marry Thor. Did anyone else see those arms or was it just her?).
"My kind of girl," Tony quipped, face remaining straight. Pepper rolled her eyes beside him and reached up to flick him in the ear to which he let out a sharp "hey!" and shot her a mock glare.
"Anyway," Coulson continued, "a few weeks ago we came across some strange deaths involving odd symptoms such as levitation and electrostatic anomalies. Initially we believed it to be some form of weapon but found out it was a virus caused by a Chitauri helmet that was left after the invasion. The virus basically caused people to turn into electrostatic bombs," he explained wearily.
Phil glanced over to his two young geniuses and noticed their looks of discomfort. He winced slightly before continuing the information.
"Simmons contracted the virus after we examined one of the bodies," he began carefully, noticing the looks of sympathy that rose of a number of the faces in front go him. "We were in the air and almost ran out of time. Luckily Fitzsimmons managed to create a vaccine-"
"It was more like an anti-serum, really," Simmons interrupted meekly, twisting her hands uncomfortably.
"An anti-serum," Phil agreed easily, "that managed to cure her of the virus. However, if Loki has got his hands on it and knows of what it can do, we may be in some serious trouble."
A silence lay over the group as they each attempted to take in the information. Eventually, Tony was the one who broke that silence as he stood up determinedly.
"We kicked his ass once and we sure as hell can do it again. Let's find this son of a bitch - no offence to your mom, Point Break - and stop him before he can do any damage."
"Sir," an English voice suddenly rang out, startling several people. "It seems Mr Parker is currently trying to leave out of the seventh floor window."
Tony sighed, stepping towards the elevator quickly. "Back in a minute kids - play nice," he explained, smiling slightly at the exclamation from Fitz (or was it Simmons? He had forgotten already which way round they were. He decided he would call them both Fitzsimmons to make it easier) of "is that an AI home computing system? Oh wow!" before he hit a button and began his way to try and intercept Peter on his way down.
Quickly reaching floor seven, Tony stepped out of the elevator and strode down to the room which Peter had been in. Opening the door to the room, he stepped in and was greeted by the sight of the teen spider's back as he hovered over the open window frame, poised to jump.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."