I compressed chapters three and four into this one, and did the same as I did with all the others. Hope you enjoy!
Alex groaned as he woke up in Doctor Connors lab. He looked around the room as his vision adjusted, and saw Peter sitting down in a chair, he pulled up next to a window. Connors noticed him awaking and walked over, "Looks like you're finally awake." He said with some relief.
"Doc? What happened to us?"
"I don't know. But whatever it was, Peter managed to break free from it and carried you back here. I ran some tests on both of you, but I didn't find anything out of the ordinary so I went to talk with SHIELD and they gave me this." Connors handed Alex a video recording.
Alex walked over to a nearby computer and plugged the disc in. Peter moved from his spot next to the window and began watching the video along side him. It showed two people, a boy with a blue shirt and silver hair running at super speeds, and a girl with red hair shooting what appeared to be red bolts of energy out of her hand and then later hypnotising and Pietro Maximoff." Connors said, "Or better know as Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Two twins who volunteered for experiments by the once dead but now revived hydra organization."
"Sounds familiar." Alex said tapping his chin.
"Hydra is the group Captain America tried to take out during World War 2."
"So what are their abilities?"
"Well, Pietro can move and think at superhuman speeds while his twin Wanda can manipulate probability via her 'Hexes"
As they were watching Peter noticed one man the stood out. He had long brown hair, a tactical vest on, and a mask concealing the lower half of his face, and a red star. The most striking feature about him, was the red star was on his metal arm "What about him?"
"James Buchanan Barnes. The Winter Soldier. Hydra's best assassin."
Alex snickered. "Guy gets a robotic arm and suddenly he thinks he's like Wolverine."
"He's bad new." Doc said handing them both a glass of water. "You're lucky it wasn't him you two ran into, or else there'd be nothing left of you."
Alex grabbed the glass and quickly finished his water, "Thanks doc." He said placing it back down on a nearby table. "So how do we track down Hydra?"
"You can't, and why would you want to?"
Peter grabbed his mask and put it back on. "Someone has to stop these Maximoff twins, it might as well be us." He said as Alex gave a nod and followed him out the door.
"Just please be careful!" Was all the doctor could say.
As they began their search for the twins, another search was about to begin. In the snowy mountains of Russia, a small base sits atop a hill. Inside a man was talking with someone on another screen. "Tomorrow, you and your strike team will travel to New York to bring back the test subjects, and bring back the one they call Spiderman. Whomever stands in your way must be eliminated, do you understand?"
The Winter Soldier nodded in agreement, and the call ended.
Back in new york the two heroes decided to halt their search and stop for some pizza. "So," Alex began taking a bite out of his slice, "How do you stop a witch, a hedgehog, and a guy that's stiff as a board?"
Peter tried thinking while taking his own bite. "Hopefully we won't have to fight that Winter Soldier guy. You said you can see Quicksilver?"
"Sort of. I can make out his outline, but he's still moving pretty fast."
"Hm. if you can slow him down, then I lure his sister away so that her illusions don't hit us. With that we can probably win."
"If I take out Quicksilver fast enough then I can help you with Scarlet Witch."
Peter gave a nod as he finished his pizza. "Alright then, we have a plan." He grinned. "Let's hope it works."
The next day the news was reporting several disturbances at the Empire State Building. Spiderman and Runner both rushed over and upon arrival, they were greeted with a tornado. "A tornado in New York?" Peter cried out as he dodge a car, "Runner go find Quicksilver, I'll work on stopping this thing."
"On it. Try not to break anything." He quickly said before heading off in search of Quicksilver.
Peter looked around, "Alright..now how to stop this thing…." He shot his web at a bunch of rubble and began to swing it around and through the tornado, disrupting the wind pattern. The cyclone dissipated and he walked around, "That's taken care of." He felt a tingle and dodged a hex bolt from behind.
Scarlet Witch stepped out from behind a building. "You two shouldn't have come here."
"Uh...shouldn't I be saying that? Besides, you two started this."
"No." she said shaking her head frantically, "You don't understand. He's coming."
"Who?"
"The Winter Soldier."
Alex kept a steady paced as he ran along the streets trying to look for his mark. He finally noticed him, but he was just standing there as if waiting for something. "What's up Danny Boy? Stub your toe or something?" Alex asked in a cocky tone.
Quicksilver turned to face alex, "What are you doing here?"
"Why does every villain ask that?" He chuckled, "I'm here to stop you of course."
"Hmph. You're a fool, do you really think you can beat me?"
Alex moved into a fighting stance, "Won't know unless I try now will I?"
"Ha. Alright then." He charged straight for Alex and landed three quick punches to Alex's chest, knocking the wind out of him.
He's moving so fast, but I have to focus. I know I can spot him. Alex began to focus his vision right as he made another charge. As he went in for a strike, Alex spotted his movements and grabbed his arm stopping him dead in his tracks.
"Gah! Let go of me!" He started to jerk back and forth trying to get Alex to loosen his grip.
Alex lifted him off his feet and swung him into a building, knocking him on his side and causing him to kneel on one knee dazed.
"You're going to have to move faster than that if you want to escape my eyes."
Quicksilver spat on the ground growling, "Fine then. I will." He charged again at Alex, this time fueled by his anger and fury. This time, even Alex couldn't focus his vision as he quickly moved behind him, delivering a strong kick to knock him off balance and then uppercutted him, sending Alex flying into a car windshield.
Alex grunted as he tried to stand up, "Ow..damnit."
"Had enough?" Quicksilver grinned, pacing back and forth until he was grabbed by someone behind him, lifted in the air, and tossed through a window.
Alex looked over and saw the Winter Soldier standing over him. "Um. Hello."
The Winter Soldier said nothing as he picked up Alex at least ten feet off the ground, and drove him hard through the roof of the car, immediately knocking him out. The Soldier moved to grab Quicksilver and turned to leave but stopped.
"I think you have someone we want there." Spiderman said with Scarlet Witch at his side.
"Give Pietro back!" Scarlet Witch snapped at the soldier.
He stood there with an emotionless face and completely still, as if he were carved in stone. He suddenly dropped Quicksilver and grabbed a grenade launcher off his back and simultaneously shot at them. Peter shot some webbing at the grenade and tried to swing it into the air above them, but the shock wave from the explosion sent them both flying forward. Scarlet Witch went crashing into a light pole while Spiderman landed in front of the Winter Soldier who picked him up by the neck.
"Heeeeyyyyy can we talk about this?" A sharp punch in the face shut him up for the time being.
He moved him around his shoulder and grabbed the other two and put them into a nearby unmarked black van, and quickly speeded off.
A couple minutes later Alex woke up gasping and panting for air. "What- Peter? Quicksilver?" He stood up, "Scarlet Witch?" He twirled around but no one was in sight. "Damn! He must have taken them, I have to find them."
With a quick call to Doctor Connors and a couple hours later he arrived at an old abandoned warehouse near the waterfront. He vaulted over from a few buildings over and entered the building from a latch in the roof. He looked around the bottom floor and all three of them were being kept in cages. He stalked across the floor, careful not to make a noise until he reached Peter's cage. He forced it open and swung the door open. When it did, it emitted a loud screeching noise and the Winter Soldier appeared out of the shadows, shooting a grenade at the two. The both dodged to the side and turned to face him.
"You up for a fight Pete?"
"Only if you are Alex."
The two charged at the Soldier as he ran for them, but they were easily outmatched. They each tried to fight him on either side but he was faster and stronger, easily outclassing them with the years of skill and training he had achieved. Whenever Alex threw a punch he grabbed it and tossed him aside like a loaf of bread, and whenever Peter shot webbing at him he dodged like he knew where they were going before they were even shot. Alex tried faking him out and go in for a low strike, but he saw right through it, grabbing his forearm and tossing him over him and across the room. He grabbed his grenade launcher and fired it at Alex without a moment's hesitation.
Without thinking, peter jumped in front of the blast and covering himself around it. The shockwave sent everyone flying back and even managed to open Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch's cages.
When Alex finally recovered he looked over and noticed Peter lying on the ground a few feet away from him, motionless. "Pete?" He tried standing but fell to the floor. "Argh!" He looked to his legs, and could feel his broken bones. Wanda and Pietro noticed him and helped him over to Peter's body. His hands went for his wrist. No pulse. "No…" he spoke shaking his head checking his neck. "No!" He screamed, tears starting to form in his eyes. The twins kneeled down besides him looking over his dead friend. "He's...dead."
As they all sat there in silence the sound of rotating blades of a helicopter quickly approached them, followed by soldiers crashing in from the windows of the warehouse. Some grabbed the Winter Soldier as the rest took aim at Alex and the others. Thinking fast, Quicksilver grabbed Runner and Scarlet Witch began to race out, forcing Alex to drop the body. "Wait! We have to go back! I have to get his body!" Alex screamed.
"There's no time!" Scarlet Witch spoke as the strike team planted a bomb on the ground. "Run faster Pietro!"
Quicksilver managed to get them out of the warehouse and a few extra blocks down before an explosion sounded off, and smoke and fire began to rise out of the rubble.
Quicksilver set his sister down first, then was more careful with Alex, though he was able to stand on his own feet now. "Accelerated healing?" He guessed
Scarlet Witch went to Alex's side. "We're really sorry about your friend."
"It's not your fault. Peter always knew that he was risking his life every day protecting people from danger. I just..never thought he'd go out like that…"
Quicksilver gave Alex a pat on his shoulder, "You two were alright. If you ever need us, don't hesitate to call." He gave Alex a folded up piece of paper and picked up his sister, quickly speeding off, leaving Alex alone again.
That night it took Alex all of his strength to break the new of Peter's death to Doctor Connors and Aunt May. When Aunt May asked about the details he had no choice but to lie, saying it was a freak accident at the science lab and that Peter's body was destroyed in the fire. Ironically enough when Alex returned to the remains of the warehouse Peter's body was nowhere to be found.
Three months went by as people began to mourn the loss of Spiderman, and the disappearance of Runner only made them even more fearful. Alex had quit being a hero not out of fear but out of respect for his friend.
One day while helping Aunt May clean out the attic, Alex stumbled upon one of Peter's old journals. Aunt may said she never opened it to see what Peter had written in it, and that he could keep it. He found himself flipping through the pages of the journal and came across the very last entry. It was written the day after Uncle Ben's death, and it simply read, "With great power comes great responsibility." Aunt May decided to take a break and turned on the TV, only to see the news broadcasting on Rhino, causing havoc downtown again with one headline on the bottom. Alex glanced at it. Where is the Runner… He looked back at the book and then left in a hurry.
Downtown Rhino was tossing cars and shouting, "Yeah! That's right New York, I rule now! No more Spiderman, and no more Runner! Only Rhino!" He cackled.
"Think again Rhiny. I believe one of us is still here." A voice called behind him.
Rhino turned around to see Runner standing in the middle of the road. "Well well well." He mused, "Look who came crawling back. What are you going to do without Spiderman here to help you?"
"Well seeing as how Spiderman was able to beat you senseless without my help, and embarrass you at the same time I think I'm going to do the same thing." He retorted.
"Really?" Rhino said sarcastically, "You think so?
"You know what, you're right. I know I will. Thanks Rhiny."
Rhino roared with rage and charged at Runner. Runner began to run straight for him back as his mind began to race. With great power comes great responsibility. My friend Peter Parker, known to the city as Spiderman, taught me what that really meant. For a while, I thought I was honoring his death by giving up on being a hero. Now I realize that the only way to truly honor my friend's existence, is to protect the very people he gave his life for. Peter Parker was Spiderman. Me. I'm Alexander Drake. And I am the Runner.