Sorry it's been a bit, I had a bit of writer's block for this chapter. But here we are again, hope you all enjoy this.

Traveling Guest: Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. Indeed. Vision really won't come back for another chapter or so. Ross is scum, 'Nuff said. You'll see on Toomes.

TW: Glad you enjoyed it. You'll see.

New York

Afternoon

Gwen was walking home from school about a block away from her home she passed an alley.

"Help! My son! He's hurt!" a man's voice called out from the alley.

Almost before she could think it through, Gwen ran into the alley, finding a man leaning down over someone.

"Hey, what's wrong? What happened?" Gwen asked frantically.

To Gwen's horror, the man's arm then turned to sand, shooting out towards her and grabbing her by the mouth. She struggled, trying to cry out for help but her voice was muffled by the hand.

"Sorry kid, but you're not going anywhere," Marko said, a sick grin on his face.

Idaho

Same time

It had been a few hours since they had arrived and, even with FRIDAY's help, Tony was nowhere near close to breaking through the encryption. As Tony continued to work, Clint was staring across the room, a displeased expression on his face as he watched Wanda laugh at something Bucky said.

"You're not Superman Clint, glaring at him won't give you heat vision," Natasha said amused as she and Steve watched, trying not to laugh.

"Since when are they so tight?" Clint grumbled.

"Before she left for the farm, she used to use her powers when he'd have nightmares, take his mind off it," Steve said, to the surprise of both Clint and Natasha. "I caught her one time."

"Well, now I know where she was all night," Natasha mused as she looked at Wanda and Bucky thoughtfully. "And it sure explains a lot."

"Should we be worried?" Steve asked Natasha lowly as he noticed Clint crossed his arms, glaring at Bucky.

"No, he's just having a 'Dad moment'. No one will ever be good enough for Wanda as far as Clint is concerned," Natasha said, laughing lightly when Clint turned to glare at her. "Bet you thought you wouldn't have to deal with this for a few more years, huh?"

"Shut up. You're enjoying this too much," Clint grumbled and Natasha smirked.

"How much longer do you think he's going to keep glaring at us?" Bucky asked as he and Wanda talked, feeling Clint's glare.

"Until he gets bored, I guess," Wanda shrugged.

"So how was it, living at a farm?" Bucky asked.

"It was…nice. Normal family stuff, chores, it's the probably the closest thing to a normal life I've ever had. And of course, it all blew up," Wanda said with a sigh.

"People like Ross have a habit of doing that. I'm sorry," Bucky said sympathetically.

"It's okay. I'm more worried about Laura and the kids. Can't be easy for them," Wanda noted and Bucky grimaced.

"Yeah, probably not," Bucky agreed, remembering many families forced from their homes for their own protection during World War Two.

He had actually known some of them, family friends, he remembered. It was a small piece of memory that suddenly came to him, a fracture that he held onto. It was what he had done every time he remembered something from his past.

"Bucky? Are you okay?" Wanda asked as she saw Bucky's eyes staring at something far away, like he was lost in thought.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," Bucky said, shaking his head. "Just…remembered something."

"About your past?" Wanda asked and he nodded. "How is that going, by the way? Deprograming you?"

"Not all the way done, but according to Stark, I've made a lot of progress. So I guess I'll have to go back under when this all over," Bucky mused.

Wanda wanted to deny this but paused, knowing Bucky probably would willingly do this once the mission was over. So instead, she reached over, taking his flesh hand in his hers, giving him a small smile.

"For what it's worth…I'm glad you're here."

"Me too," Bucky said softly as they merely stared at each other for a long moment, not even noticing anything else going on in the room.

New York Bulletin

Later that afternoon

Peter walked into the office, waiting until Ellison was done on his phone call before walking up to his desk, handing him the envelope full of photos.

"Here you go, Mr. Ellison."

Ellison opened the envelopes and looked through the photographs of Spider-Man Peter had given him.

"Not bad kid. I'll give you five hundred for it," Ellison finally said after a moment.

"$1,000, or no deal," Peter said stubbornly and Ellison smirked.

"Ambitious, huh? I like that. 800, take it or leave it," Ellison offered and Peter considered for a moment before nodding.

"Okay, deal," Peter said and they shook on it.

"You got a bright future ahead of you as a photographer, but word of advice: get a better camera," Ellison said. "My secretary will give you your money on the way out."

Not long after, Peter was heading out, his money in his pocket when someone shouted.

"Someone tell Ellison to turn on the news, hostage Crisis at North and 9th!"

Peter stilled whirled towards a TV as someone turned it on.

"If you're just joining us, at the apartment building behind me, the Sandman and the Vulture are holding a girl that has since been identified as Gwen Stacy, daughter of Police Captain George Stacy, hostage," the TV showed an image of Gwen, tied to a pillar on the roof of the apartment and Peter paled. "Any attempts to infiltrate the building have been thwarted by the Sandman. Several police officers have been injured, although there have been no confirmed deaths as of this time."

Peter stared at the TV f or a moment longer before turning and sprinting from the building.

New York

Not long after

"He should have been here by now," Marko grumbled to Toomes, whose face was hidden by his helmet.

"He'll be here. He's saved her from you twice. He'll be here," Toomes said gruffly.

Unnoticed by Toomes and Marko, while their attention was on the police surrounding the building, Spider-Man crawled up the side of the building, heading towards the roof.

"I'm sorry about this," Toomes said as he walked over to Gwen, who merely glared up at him. "You should know, you won't get hurt. You're not even the target, you're the bait."

"You realize that psycho has tried to kill me three times, right?" Gwen asked with a glare at Marko, who was looking down at the police.

"I wouldn't be working with him if I had another choice. But I don't," Toomes said in regret.

"You always have a choice. No one made you become a weapons dealer; you made that all on your own. Now look at you, holding me captive, don't you have a daughter my age?" Gwen asked and Toomes almost clenched his hands into fists. "What would she say if she could see you now?"

Toomes was taken aback before he saw movement. He looked up just as Peter swung in, delivering a spinning kick to Tony's chest strong enough to send him flying. Peter quickly moved to rush towards Gwen only to be grabbed from behind by a large fist full of sand. Peter struggled as he was lifted up into the air.

"The boss wants to see you, Spider-Man," Marko said smugly. "But first, it's time for some payback."

Marko then raised his free arm, which expanded as it transformed into sand, turning larger and larger before he grabbed Gwen, lifting her up into the air, ripping the robes around her.

"You've stopped me from killing her twice. Now, you get to watch as I kill her," Marko said smugly.

"Hey! This wasn't part of the plan!" Toomes shouted as he got back to his feet.

"Screw the plan!"

Marko slammed the hand holding Gwen into a wall, causing it to crack as Gwen cried out in pain and fear. Enraged, Peter put all his strength into opening Marko's hand, forcing himself free. Jumping out, Peter webbed a nearby brick off the wall and flung it at Marko. It smashed his face into bits of sand and Peter rushed towards Gwen but, before he could reach her, Marko's free hand grabbed him by his leg and slammed him back first onto the roof, hard enough to crack it. Before Peter could move, he found Marko's hand around his throat.

"I don't think so," Marko said, his head reforming. "Now, watch as I kill your little friend."

Marko tightened his grip on Gwen and she screamed in pain. Peter was trying to fight his way out of Marko's grip when Marko was struck by something in the back. He heard a beeping and turned his head just before a small explosion charred his back. Marko cried in pain, hunching over before Toomes flew over, using his wings to cut through the hand Toomes was using to hold Gwen. She fell into his arms as the sand fell away.

"Go, now!" Toomes shouted as he set her on the ground.

Not needing to be told twice, Gwen turned and ran, making it to the door and running down the stairs. Peter jumped up into the air, landing next to Toomes as Marko reformed, seething with anger.

"You're going to regret that," Marko sneered.

"My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner," Toomes told him.

With a growl, Marko turned his entire body into sand, which grew and grew until he was towering over them.

"Oh boy," Peter muttered.

Marko lunged at them both, Peter jumping one direction while Toomes flew into another. As he flew into the air, Toomes shot two missiles into Marko's back, which exploded. Marko swayed, the sand now heavily burned before he fell down, breaking apart and leaving only sand.

"I guess that takes care of him," Peter said as he hopped down.

Only for Toomes to turn to him, shooting his gun at him. Peter jumped, using his webbing to grab a brick, which he swung at Toomes. The brick struck the gun, breaking the front of it.

"Toomes, we don't have to do this!" Peter shouted as Toomes rushed him.

"Yes, we do!" Toomes grabbed Peter, slamming him into the wall where Gwen had been restrained by Sandman.

With all his strength, Peter kicked Toomes away before jumping away from the wall.

Down below, Gwen emerged from the building, holding up her hands as she saw the police.

"Gwen! Gwen!" George walked passed the barricade and grabbed his daughter, who threw her arms around him in relief. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, but Spider-Man's in trouble."

Toomes flew towards Peter, slamming his armored foot onto Peter's chest and pinning him to the wall.

"I'm sorry, but he wants to see you," Toomes said apologetically.

"Who's he?" Peter grumbled as he struggled.

"Someone very powerful, someone you don't say no too," Toomes said as he grabbed Peter by his shirt, lowering his foot. "Sorry, Spider-Man, but he wants to see you."

"He'll have to get in line," Peter said, breaking out of Toomes's hold and kicking him.

As Toomes stumbled back, Peter shot out two streams of webbing, which wrapped around Toomes's wings. Peter then pulled, hard and the wings were yanked from the suit, Peter dropping them to the ground with a loud 'clang'.

"I noticed the missiles come from your wings. No gun, no missiles, no wings. Which basically just makes you a big, walking chicken without wings," Peter joked.

With a roar of rage, Toomes rushed him but Peter shot off some webbing, which wrapped around Toomes. Peter then lifted him up into the air, delivered a few punched to Toomes's helmeted face, cracking the helmet before he slammed Toomes down onto the ground, knocking him out.

Peter breathed heavily for a moment before his danger sense went off. Someone was coming.

Moments later, George and several police officers burst onto the roof, finding the unconscious Toomes, the sand that was Marko (still not able to pull himself together) and no Spider-Man. Looking up, they could see Spider-Man swinging away, a few roof tops north.

"Should we call in a SWAT team to go after Spider-Man?" one of the officers asked George.

"No. No, not today," George said, looking down at the downed Toomes and Marko. "We have more important thigs to handle."

Hope the fight scenes were enjoyed.

Marko and Toomes have been defeated, for good this time. But when it comes to Ross, things are never easy, so don't expect him to take this lying down.