Chapter 6

Kingdom

"So Harry Osborne is gone and now we have Stark and Annie in critical condition at the hospital," Fury said as Peter, Thor, and Natasha stood before him. Captain America was at the hospital watching over Annie and Tony to keep them protected from Loki.

"He's alive…" Thor whispered.

"Jane told you, you didn't want to listen," Natasha replied.

"That women who was telling him off was Jane? Wow… she had some sass… Remind me to never mess with her or her psycho friend," Peter said.

"Shut it, your girlfriend is in a coma," Fury said to Peter. Peter sucked in his breath and looked away. "I'm letting you go so you can take over protecting both of them. Got it?" Fury commanded him. Peter nodded and left the office area, the glass replaced from the previous attack of Loki two days before. "Now… we need to hunt down Loki and his henchman so my suggestion is to keep Jane on our good side and Natasha you wake up Hawkeye and try to send out signals. He was Loki's last henchman, he should be able to track him."

Thor huffed and picked up his hammer. Natasha nodded and left Fury alone in his office with Thor.

"He died in front of me… I don't understand how he could have tricked us," Thor said to Fury.

"Your brother is incredibly smart, Thor. We are messing with a very big fish at the moment and I need everyone on our team. I may have to get ahold of a few X-Men troops but even that will be a long shot."

"X-Men?" Thor asked.

"An old friend of mine is leader of his little mutant gang of hooligans. That and the fact that we're receiving strange signals from a ship near Mars. We need to handle your brother's problem quickly or Earth will be facing another galactic war. I will not have more people than we need to get involved."

"What are we going to do?"

"I'm making a special visit to Chicago for a week once Annie and Tony have recovered. Annie was raised there, she may know a few people who can help us. From what I read, Harry could've been taken there for protection."

"What about the others?"

"They're coming too, if Loki wants war… well we'll have to visit the birthplace of that awful deep dish pizza for war."

Annie's eyes fluttered open and she rose quickly, the tubes covering her entire body whipped off her and machines started to scream for nurses. Stark rose from his bed and swore.

"Can you for one minute not make any fucking sounds? First you moan for your boyfriend for three days now you suddenly wake up and disturb my nap!" Tony yelled at her.

"Oh go fuck yourself, Tony," Annie hissed. Nurses came pouring in checking Annie.

"ANNIE!" Peter ran in screaming as he took her in his arms. The nurses shoved him away as they tried sticking the tubes back into her body. Annie complained about the tubes and laid back down. Her body agreed with her and her blood circled the tubes. The nurses shrieked as the tubes slowly came undone and Annie's blood shoved the tubes out, blue liquid sprayed the outlining of the tubes. Peter jumped back and Stark started to laugh.

"She's an Avenger alright!" Stark laughed.

"Quiet Mr. Stark, you are no better shape then she is… this is very strange though… Miss. Hill has this happen before?" The head nurse asked Annie.

"My body heals itself, I never need the stupid hospital. Can I go home now?" Annie whined.

"We need to keep you here for observations… You just woke up from a coma!"

"I wasn't in a coma. My body was healing itself so it shut me down for a few days."

"You stay here for the night, we'll take off for Chicago in the morning," Fury said as he walked into the room. "Stark you're staying here as well, your wife is requesting it until you suit is ready."

"Screw you," Stark hissed and fell back asleep.

"Why are we going to Chicago?" Annie asked as she got up from her bed and went to the wardrobe where Peter hung a few outfits for her. She picked out her ripped up jeans and Breakfast Club t shirt and threw them on the bed.

"We need to talk to your professor from DePaul," Peter said.

"Why? He doesn't have anything to do with this," Annie replied and pulled off her hospital gown. Fury looked away and Peter turned, his face turning deep red.

"Don't you have any decency, women?" Fury asked her.

"No… not really." Annie turned and Fury looked to see a long blue scar on Annie's back. I outlined her spinal cord and traveled from the tip of her neck to the bottom of her back.

"What happened?" Fury asked her. Annie threw on a black bra and the shirt.

"Experiments. I don't remember much but the government really tore me apart to look at my blood and organs."

"Well your blood is blue…" Peter replied. Annie looked at him darkly.

"I'm also missing my intestines," Annie grinned. Peter coughed and Fury shook his head.

"Aren't you just a mess of trouble," Fury replied.

The plane ride to Chicago left Thor sick and Hawkeye in a bad mood. Annie sat and watched Stark entertain the group with his story of how he punched Loki before his henchman threw him through a few buildings. He left Rogers close to tears when he reacted the punch.

"Let's just say you're Christian Bale that day and move on," Natasha said and the plane erupted into a fit of laughter as Thor looked around confused.

"Is he another Avenger?" Thor asked Jane.

"Not even close, he's an actor that plays a pretend superhero," Jane replied.

"He is NOT pretend! Batman is the shit, man," Stark shouted and picked up the newspaper. His wife looked at him and rolled her eyes before she went back to reading the paper.

"Oh look! It's Annie's kingdom!" Natasha shouted and Annie looked out the window and saw Sears Tower gleaming, Trump tower sparkling in the sun. She sat back and smiled. She was home again after her parents' death three years ago. She felt Peter grab her hand and she looked at him.

"Your kingdom?"

"Well… let's just say when I was living here, the crime rate was small. I wonder if the city forgot me…" Annie whispered.

"They haven't," Stark replied and pointed at the bridge the place was flying over. Annie looked and saw a large banner reading: Where is Frozone?" in red letters.

"That's your superhero name?" Thor asked her.

"Don't ask, they named me after that character from that Disney movie," Annie replied. The plane landed at a small base on the outskirts of the city. Military men greeted them and rushed them into a large limo where the mayor of Chicago was already sitting.

"What brings the Avengers to my city?" The mayor asked.

"We're just here to speak to a Professor Nevilles about Annie," Fury said and looked over at Annie. The mayor's eyes widen.

"Annie Hill? So this is where you gone. You became an Avenger!"

"Yes, mayor."

"The city will be so pleased to hear this! I'm sure you are also here to hunt down Mr. Harry Osborne as well I assume?" The mayor asked Fury as he swirled the wine in his glass.

"So you received the massive alert of his kidnapping?" Fury asked him.

"Of course! The entire world is on the manhunt for him, his father has saved millions of lives with his research."

"The man who caused the last war in New York City is behind it," Fury replied.

"Ah… I was thinking he would be. Well only one report of Harry being seen actually reached my desk. Here-" The mayor handed Fury the file and he opened it and scanned the documents. A small photo of Harry leaving a coffee house fell out and Annie took it and studied it. He dyed his hair black and his eyes were changed to green but his stupid smirk was recognizable. Annie tossed the photo aside and Peter picked it up.

"That's him alright," Annie said and the mayor's face lit up.

"Excellent, then I guess you will need back up for retrieving him?" The mayor asked.

"As of right now, he's not our major problem. Annie's professor is. Can you take us DePaul University?" Fury asked him.

"Of course!" The mayor replied and knocked on the window separating them from the driver. Annie looked out the window and saw the graffiti praising the old her.

"DePaul just ended classes for the day, perhaps you can wait until tomorrow morning? I can schedule a dinner at Rosebud for all of us tonight?" The mayor proposed to Fury.

"We'll be here for a week, why not? Take us to our hotel then."

Annie walked into her room that she was sharing with Peter according to Stark. She tossed her suitcase into the closet and walked into the room where she dropped her purse. Of course Stark would trick her. There was only one bed in the room. Peter walked in with his two backpacks and laughed at her expression.

"Oh Stark… you have to admit, he's a pretty funny guy," Peter replied. Annie glared at him and kicked his leg. Peter threw his backpacks on the bed and went to look out the window, it wasn't the best view of the city but it would do. Rogers and Hawkeye walked in carrying bags of food. They snickered at Annie and whistled at Peter.

"Someone is getting lucky," Hawkeye winked.

"Better not let Natasha hear that, she'll kick your ass and toss you out a window without your bow to save you," Annie replied.

"If you need anything… I think Tony has some stuff to hook you up with, spidey," Rogers laughed.

"Pigs," Natasha kicked Hawkeye and tossed Annie a bag. "Jane thought you might like it." Annie opened the bag and pulled out a red and black lace bra and underwear. Annie stuffed it back into the bag and threw it back at Natasha.

"And you say they're pigs," Annie hissed.

"Why what was it?" Peter asked.

"Nothing you need to be concerned of," Annie replied and Natasha placed the bag on the table and closed the door behind her. Annie groaned and fell back on the bed.

"Why can't people just stay out of my life?" Annie whined. Peter fell back next to her and chuckled.

"Superheroes never have a private life anymore. Just wait, Stark will give word to the press about us," Peter said and kissed her cheek.

"I rather he didn't."

"Well I lost Gwen a year ago and you lost that one kid. He's just trying to help. Besides the people think you died or something. Why not come out saying you're dating Spiderman?"

"What good would that do?"

"Eh give the people something to celebrate about. War is about to start with Loki so let the people have something to be happy about before grief sets in."

Annie stared up at the ceiling and heard Stark and Rogers laughing in the next room. It was close to noon and her stomach rumbled. Peter rolled onto his stomach and looked at his phone.

"So… how about we go to lunch? I never tried deep dish pizza and we haven't gone on our first official date as a couple yet," Peter said.

"I think I know a few shortcuts to Gino's East," Annie whispered and kissed Peter.