"Alright guys, so here's the deal."
Peter, Natasha, Tony, Vision and Rhodey sat around a long, sleek table as Everett K. Ross opened a brief case. The Avengers had gotten summoned for the first time ever under the Accords. It was a little nerve-wracking for everyone, especially for the United Nations. Although they had gotten most of the world's people to approve of their initial plans, they still hadn't the slightest clue what they would say after their mission was over. In a way, this mission was testing the waters in hopes that the Avengers could be put on full duty in the next couple of months.
"You know of Bowe Bergdahl, don't you?"
Tony and Rhodey nodded sympathetically, and Natasha bit her lip. Vision blinked a couple of times, then mumbled a quiet yes. Peter, on the other hand, sat straight up and look from Tony to Natasha and then back to Tony again. He was desperate to make a good impression on Everett Ross, especially because he had voiced some reluctance on letting a teenager join the elite group of superheroes. Deciding not to say anything about him not knowing who Bowe Bergdahl was, he nodded also, praying that Everett wouldn't ask him any questions.
"Wasn't he freed from captivity a few years ago?" Vision asked, adjusting his polo shirt collar.
"Yes, he was. Interesting fellow, Mr. Bergdahl . . . Anyhow, for your mission, I need you to imagine the Bergdahl situation all over again—only twenty times worse."
Everett passed a picture to Tony, who stared down at the glossy image.
"That is Julianne Morris, and this," Everett said, passing another "is Itai Harpaz. Morris is a physicist and Harpaz is a leading cell-biologist."
"I know Dr. Morris," Peter exclaimed as Tony passed the picture to him. "She's won a Nobel Prize! She's done so many—"
"Anyhow, these two prestigious professionals have been captured by Isil, and well, as you can guess, they want to get the hell out of there. Unfortunately, Isil isn't in the mood for trading—"
"So you want to, as humans say, bust them out of there," Vision asked.
"Exactly. Except there's one catch. They're being held in different locations and we're busting them out at approximately the same time so Isil doesn't see us coming."
Tony stared at the picture of Dr. Harpaz. In a split second, this mind was thrown back to the memories of several years prior. The scene around him spun away to that old, musty, dirty cave he had been held in for so long. His time spent in the Ten Rings lair with his co-captive Yinsen certainly had not been a pleasant time. After saving his life by building an arc reactor into his chest, Yinsen had helped him build the first Iron Man suit, and then sacrificed his life so he could escape and use the suit to help others. Although Tony carried around that sacred promise in his heart, he still didn't like to think back on his time with Ten Rings. Nightmares hunted him enough; he didn't need to think about it during the day.
"I know this mission probably hits close to home with you, Mr. Stark, but the U.N. needs the Avengers to get both of these professionals away from Isil before they kill them or use their smarts to make dangerous biological weapons. Any questions?"
Silence.
"Alright then. Let's go into the details."
Two Days Later . . .
"It's really hot, Tony." Peter mumbled as he pulled his mask over his head.
Tony ignored Peter's remark, and continued staring out onto the vast space in front of them. Most everything was brown and tan with a few splotches of green that indicated that there was still some life pout there. The landscape rose and tumbled in awkward bumpy hills, one that they'd have to scale to get to the secret Isil facility on the other side.
"Is the Iron man suit air-conditioned," Peter exclaimed, itching his arm frantically.
"Calm down, Parker."
"You must, y'know, really relate to Dr. Morris with the whole capture by terrorists to build deadly weapons thing."
Peter's words stung, making Tony lose his balance for a second. Peter grabbed Tony's iron arm and steadied him.
"So, what's the plan?"
Peter gawked at Tony, unsure of what to say. Finally he muttered "We just spent hours and hours going over it. What do you mean we don't remember?"
"Of course I remember! I'm just making sure your frantic little brain does!"
"Oh."
"So, Parker. What will you be up to when we bust into the base?"
"Uh—oh—well, Dr. Morris is being held in a room that's in the west wing of the facility. After we bust in, I pass the guards, which should be pretty easy considering the fact—"
"Okay, bug boy! What do you do after that?"
"Uh, Spiders are arachnids actually, not—"
"PETER!"
"Okay, okay sorry! I sneak in, break her out of the room and you will be distracting them by launching some mini missile thingies and then I help you finish them off, After that, we take the Quinjet about twenty miles from here and meet Natasha and Vision. We check in with Rhodey saying we're all right and we aren't dead and then we take Dr. Morris and Dr. Harpaz to the U.S base."
"Bingo! You ready to kick—"
"Let's just go, okay?"
Tony was surprised by the hint of nervousness in Peter's voice, especially when he had been so excited to fight during the Civil War.
"Alright then. Let's go."
Tony flew over the base and dropped Peter off near the entrance.
"Asta la vista, Tony!"
"Oh god, Peter! I hate Terminator!"
Peter scoffed, and in a matter of seconds, Peter disappeared, climbing right over the guard's heads. Tony waited a few minutes for peter to get past, analyzing how to take them out. Finally, he decided hitting them with all he got was probably the best thing to d. After all, they were only armed with a few automatic weapons . . . He'd seen a lot worse.
"Hey boys, looks whose back?" Tony called, landing dramatically in front of the four guards.
They immediately started talking in Arabic, pointing their guns at Tony.
Little do they know . . .
As they fired their shots, bullets bounced off Tony's suit. The men's eyes widened with terror, and several other men came forward with their guns drawn. Tony grinned as he aimed his repulsors at them and fired. One man flew back, dead.
Meanwhile . . .
Peter hung onto the ceiling, slowly inching his way past the guards. He watched them as they suddenly darted off.
It's working.
He silently dropped to the floor, expecting to see more guards looming around the corner, but there were none. As he continued walking, his heart hammering in his chest, peter imagined what ti was like living in such a horrible facility. The walls were dirty and it was so hot.
Thank god and everything else that is god for reminding me to put deodorant on his morning.
His spider sense started tingling angrily, sending shivers up and down his spin. It was hard getting use to all the sensations . . . His heightened senses often left him overwhelmed, wishing he could block out all the noises, smells, and movements pinging in his mind. They were useful, and had often saved his hide on multiple occasions. Whether it had been from Flash, hos old school bully or the furious Bucky Barnes, they had managed to keep him one step ahead of all the baddies knocking on his door.
"Ahlaan ahlaan? Manis alhadid huna? Nahn almushif eajjil!" (Hello hello? Is Iron Man here? We must hurry!"
Peter jumped to the side of the wall and shimmed his way back to the ceiling as two guards ran under him. He wasn't exactly sure what they were saying, but he could hear the terror in their voices.
"Yjb ealayk albaqa' wahimayat alssjjin!" (you must stay and protect the prisoner!) one guard said to the other.
Much to Peter's horror, one of the guards turned around and headed back towards the west wing.
Damn it.
Fear bubbled up inside Peter like a fountain as he watched the guard run quickly to where Dr. Morris was.
Do I take him out? Do I take him out? Do I take him out? Okay, okay, okay! Calm waaaaaayyyy down! What would Tony do? What would Tony do? What would Tony do? Damn it! I gotta take him out!
The guard reached a door, and slipped a key out of his pocket, and stuck it in the old, rusty lock. After a squeak, and a grunt, the door swung open.
Here's my chance!
Peter jumped down from the ceiling, and kicked the guard soundly in the back. The guard flew through the door, face down on the ground. After a few seconds, he jumped back up and fumbled with his walkie-talkie.
Peter let a string of web lose, and seized the device from his hand. Flinging it far back behind him, he lunged at the guard, sending him flying once again. The guard wrapped his arms around Peter, trying to cut off his oxygen supply.
They struggled for a few seconds, and finally, Peter heard a scream. Still wrestling with the guard, he glanced up to see Dr. Morris, chained to a post, staring down at them. Her eyes were wide with horror as she ogled at the scene going down in front of her.
"Hi! Big fan!" Peter exclaimed enthusiastically as kicking his opponent in the crotch. The guard groaned in pain, letting go of Peter. He stood back up, and drew a knife out of his robe. Peter grinned slyly, grabbed his wrist and sent the knife flying out of his grasp. Peter sent a flow of webbing around the guard, wrapping him tightly in a cocoon.
"All right, Caterpillar! You got your ass kicked!"
He brushed off his suit, and then finally remembered Dr. Morris. Walking over to the chain, he broke it from her wrist.
"How?" she mumbled, looking at Peter in awe.
She was a lot younger than Peter thought she had been. Her brown hair was hanging lose around her thin shoulders, and her green eyes glowed sadly in the darkness. She shivered, pulling her arms up to her shoulders.
"You cold?"
Dr. Morris nodded.
"Uh—it's like over a hundred degrees here but okay. Wish I could give you the suit to keep you warm cause that's the gentlemanly thing to do but I bet you don't want to see me buck-ass—"
Peter realized what he was about to say, and clamped his mouth shut.
Ugh, sooo awkward!
"Anyhow, we should probably—um—go see how Tony's doing?"
"Iron Man is here too?" Dr. Morris whispered in awe.
"Yeah, we gotta go help him."
He grabbed her hand, and pulled her towards the door.
"Asta la vista, baby!" he called over his shoulder, half-expecting Dr. Morris to roll her eyes. Instead, she smiled a tiny smile and followed him out the door. They ran down the hallways, and Peter's sense started tingling as the got closer and closer to where Tony was. He could hear a couple of voices calling out in Arabic. Peter cussed under his breath.
"Alright, Dr. Morris . . . You—uh—well, you aren't secretly a ninja or anything, are you?"
She shook her head.
"Well, um. I guess you have to wait here—oh, what if there are some more—Ah, well . . . What do you think? Okay, screw it! Wait here, and I'll be back for you in a second."
With that, he ran out to where Tony was, and almost screamed. Expecting to see Tony flying about while bashing heads together, he stopped, and stared up into the sky. Inching out of the entrance, hoping to surprise them from the back, he saw Tony, lying on the ground. A few guards had guns pointed at Tony, whose helmet was lying on the ground next to him. His face was bloody, and under his right eye, a large and yellow bruise was developing.
"Oh god," Peter mumbled under his breath "What am I going to do?'
In his mind, he heard the slow click of a trigger being pulled back.
Oh my god!
Peter jumped out, waving his arms frantically over his head.
I got to distract them so Tony can get up!
"TONY HATES 80S MOVIES LIKE TERMINATOR BUT HE LOVES 80S MUSIC!" Peter screamed as loud as he could.
What on Earth? That's so random! What even?
All eyes turned to him, and no one moved. Tony tried to sit up so he could see Peter, but was abruptly pushed down.
"I—uh—AND I NEED YOU NOW TONIGHT AND I NEED YOU MORE THAN EVER AND IF YOU ONLY HOLD ME TIGHT WE'LL BE HOLDING ON FOREVER!" Peter sang, jumping up and down as he went.
WHAT AM I DOING? STOP! STOP!
Terror coursed through Peter's veins. Tony was close to death, and him singing Total Eclipse of the Heart was not helping at all.
"TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE IT TO THE END OF THE LINE. YOUR LOVE IS LIKE A SHADOW ON ME ALL OF THE TIME. I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO, I'M ALWAYS IN THE DARK! WE'RE LIVING IN A POWDER KEG AND GIVING OFF SPARKS!"
Everybody raised their guns, and pointed them at Peter.
"I REALLY NEED YOU TONIGHT! FOREVER'S GONNA START TONIGHT! FOREVER'S GONNA START TONIGHT!"
Sensing the pressure on their triggers, Peter jumped up, flinging a strand of web up into the air. It attached to a rock jutting out of the hill. He swung over the guards, who were peppering him with bullets.
Whew! Look at me! I'm bullet proof!
He glanced back down to see Tony slowly standing to his feet. Panting nervously, Peter swung back down, aiming his other hand at the guards. A strand of web wrapped around one of the guns, and landed it in Peter's free hand. Swinging himself up onto the rock, he pointed the gun at one of the men and yelled "STOP OR I'LL SHOOT!"
This didn't hold much ground with the men though because they continued firing up at him.
Uh, um . . . Tony never told me how many hits this suit could take, did he?
BAM!
Several men collapsed to the ground, burns covering their backs.
"Nothing I can do. Total eclipse of the heart." Tony said, swaying a little bit.
He felt dizzy, and a wave of nausea swept over him.
"TONY! You're alive!"
"The new thrusters I added shorted out on me. I crushed a couple of them when I fell, but a couple of them got on top of me and—"
"Excuses excuses!" Peter chimed.
"Where's Dr. Morris, Peter?"
"I'm right here," a voice called.
Peter swung down, and walked over to where the frazzled woman stood. She looked bewildered and lost like a sad, wet puppy.
"Dr. Morris! It's a pleasure to meet you!" Tony called, extending an iron clad hand.
"You're bleeding."
"Aww thanks for the concern, sweet thing."
"Ohhhh okay! Let's get out of here before Tony says something cornier!"
"Corny? You just sang the corniest power ballad of all time!"
"Ugh, please don't remind me!"
"I actually really like that song," Dr. Morris said politely, giving the young superhero a hug "You have a lovely voice! You should be on Broadway or something."
"Uh—thanks. Anyhow, like I said earlier, we should go. I'm super hot and I want to make sure Natasha and Vision are okay."
Tony chuckled.
"Good job, bug boy!"
"Aw hell no!"
"Turn around bright eyes!"
"Tony, I swear—"
Authors Note:
I would like to thanks maripaz6 for her inspiration concerning this chapter. I really hope the action scenes are to your liking! :)
The song Peter sings is "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler.
Please leave prompts for me! I will try to get around to writing them all down in some shape of form! ;0
Much love,
gotmoreissuesthanvogue
P.S. I made a nod to something from Tom Holland's career in there. Kudos to those who catch it.