"mistake" • spiderchelle

death of a hero

It was a simple mission. Take down the Hydra base. They've done it before, so what could possibly go wrong?

Peter swung through two Hydra soldiers, webbing them down with his free hand. His spidey sense went off, and he flipped, dodging bullets with ease.

The process of his spidey sense going off and him reacting to it continued for another ten minutes.

What broke his pattern was the voices in his ear. "The north side is clear," he heard Natasha say, then a few grunts, "Now it's clear."

"We need some help on the east side," Sam yelled through the coms. "I'm coming," Peter said, swinging his way over.

Peter saw the familiar glow of Wanda's power, and landed beside her. "Hey Pete," she told him, throwing a few boulders at a group of soldiers. "Hey Wanda," he greeted back, flipping of a new boulder she had in the air and webbing two guys.

"Peter, I'm picking up one life form in the building," Karen told him. Peter glanced at the building, "Didn't Steve and Bucky just clear it?" "They did, but they left one it seems," the AI said.

Knowing Tony would protest, Peter decided to sneak off and find this person. "Be careful Peter, the building is unstable and could crash at any moment," his AI told him, concern almost in her voice.

Peter found a small hole in the wall, and crawled through it. "Take me to them," Peter whispered to Karen. "Turn right and continue going straight. Once you meant the end of the hallway, turn left and it's the first door in the right," she explained.

Peter followed her directions. When he made it to the end he asked, "This door?" "Yes."

He pushed it open, and looked around the room. He met eyes with a small girl. She had long blonde hair and sky blue eyes. She looked no older than five.

"Hello," Peter said in a calming voice, inching towards the girl. She didn't respond, only falling more into herself. "I'm Peter," he took off his mask, "I'm here to save you," he reached out his hand.

"You're not bad guy?" her shaky voice asked, only moving her head enough for him to see her eyes again. "I would never be a bad guy. I wanna stop the bad guys," he said, finally at the side of her bed.

"What's your name?" he asked her. "Maddie," she whispered. "Well Maddie, do you want to come with me." She started to shake her head no. "Come on. I can take you some place safe. You won't stuck in a room your whole life," he pleaded.

"Okay," she responded, finally unballing herself. "Do you want me to carry you?" Peter asked, mask still in his hand. "Please," Maddie's whole body was shaking.

Peter's heart was breaking. There's no telling what she's seen.

Peter put his mask back on, and picked her up with ease. "Karen." "Yes Peter?" "Is it still safe to go the same way?" he asked stepping out the room. "Yes. Though the building can collapse at any moment, please hurry."

Peter fast walked the same path as before. He could tell the building was in terrible shape.

When he approached his whole he looked at Maddie, "Crawl through there and I'll come behind you." The girl nodded and waited for Peter to lift her up.

Peter made sure she wouldn't hurt herself in anyway. He helped her through, while still being on the inside.

"Peter! The building is collapsing!" Karen said with as much pleading as she could. "Okay I'm coming out," he called out to Maddie.

He was about to starting crawling through, when he felt pieces of rock falling on him.

He had gotten one hand out, and Maddie had grabbed a hold of it. The building collapsed, the rest of him still inside.

Maddie noticed he wasn't coming out. "PETER!" she yelled, tears forming in her eyes. She caught the attention of Natasha who had just taken down one of the last agents.

Maddie fell to her knees, and grabbed Peter's limp hand. She held it close to her heart, and cried.

She didn't notice the redhead come up behind her. Natasha put together the situation fast and called in her coms, "Peter was in the building when it fell. Someone get their ass over here and get him out."

She started to move the rocks she could. Thrusters were heard soon behind her.

"Where's Pete?" Tony yelled, already moving rocks. Natasha pointed to his limp hand and the girl. "He went in to save her didn't he," Steve said.

Wanda, Clint, and Sam has just finished taking out the rest of the agents and ran over to the rest of the team. Wanda's magic started to surround most of the rocks. With little effort and a grunt, she sent them all flying.

"I see him!" Tony yelled, moving the last of the rocks off him. "Pete," he whispered, moving the spider into his lap. "Friday run vitals." "He has a crack in his skull, most of his ribs are broken, his left leg and right arm are broken, and his nose." "Oh God, Peter wake up."

Peter's eyes opened for a second. "M' srry," he muttered. "Don't be Pete," Tony cried. "Tak' care of mad," he attempted to get out. "Who?" Tony asked. "Maddie," he lazily pointed to the forgotten five year old.

"I go slee nw," Peter's mouth formed a smile and his eyes closed. "No. No. NO!" Tony screamed.

Everyone was crying. The teen had brought so much joy to everyone's lives. Even the coldest hearts melted at the sight of the bubbly teen.

Tony felt a small hand on his shoulder. He looked up from Peter's limp body and saw the small girl looking down at Peter. She too had tears running down her cheeks.

"He saved me," she said, standing beside Peter. She looked at his face and leaned down, giving him a kiss on the forehead. "Be safe up there," she told him, "Thank you."

word count: 1016