Is Love Enough?

Chapter 20

Everyone was stunned, their Peter reduced to a tool for murder. It hardly looked like he aged: his entire demeanor different. He stood tall, relaxed and rigid at the same time.

"Baby, please," the normally stoic Tony Stark cried in vain.

Peter didn't waste any time and unloaded both clips into the group, Bucky's metal arm and Steve's shield taking the brunt of most of the bullets. Windows were cracked and holes lined the walls as Peter dropped the guns and ran towards the group, swords drawn. Tony's suit encased him right as Peter made a blow to his arm.

Tony was relying on FRIDAY to drive the suit: tears clouding his vision, "Bambi, I know you're in there somewhere. Please come back to us!"

Peter only seemed to grow more irritated as he turned to block a punch from Nat.

They were going hand to hand as Nat said, "I'm so sorry, паук. This should never happened."

That seemed to throw Peter off as Nat was able to land a hit and pin him down. He struggled to get out of her grasp and only stopped jerking around when Bruce injected him with a sedative. Nat only let the boy go once she was sure that he was fully unconscious.

Tony practically fell out of the iron man suit and kneeled next to Peter, "Peter.." he whined pitifully.

Bucky decided to take charge from here, "I know you're not gonna like it but we have to contain him somehow," Bucky held up his hands defensively as every eye in the room glared at him, "He's not the Peter you knew right now, and it won't do us any good to have to keep fighting him and knocking him out. We need to talk to him and get through to him to bring enough of him back to counteract the H.Y.D.R.A. influence."

Steve dragged his hand through his hair and down his face with a sigh, "We can use the-"

"The cell?" Bruce asked quietly, "Hulk's cell? So what? We're just gonna lock him up like a criminal?! Like a threat?!"

Nat stepped up and tried to comfort Bruce, his veins going a little green, but he roughly shrugged off her hand.

Bucky crossed his arms, "Yes. Because that's what he is right now. He's H.Y.D.R.A, not your lover." Bucky shook his head in pity, "not right now."

Bruce held Bucky's stare before his knees buckled and he crawled towards Peter. He gently placed Peter's head in his lap as his whole body shook with silent sobs. With shaking hands he gently pushed Peter's hair out of his face. Five years lost. Five years worth of dates. Five years worth of hugs and kisses. Five years worth of Peter. All lost. And for what? Bruce leaned down and placed a gentle kiss to Peter's forehead.

Clint sat next to Bruce and firmly held his shoulders as Nat sat next to Tony. Steve stepped up and his heart clenched the closer he got. This Peter, the one laying before him, seems to be a Peter from a different life. It's the same body, the same face. But it's not his Peter. Not today. Not anymore. And maybe never again. Even if they can manage to bring him back, there's always going to be a ghost haunting him. His eyes will glass over in a crowded room and be pulled back to his past. Nightmares and self-doubt will follow him the rest of his life.

They managed to get a cot down to the cell so Peter wouldn't be sleeping on the floor. Steve closed the steel door with a heavy heart. He leaned his forehead against the door for a moment to collect himself then he made his way back to the others.

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He woke up confused. He had been sent on a mission, so how is he back in his cell? Wait, not his cell. This one is bigger, and has a one-way mirror? His heart stopped as he realized what that means: he's failed. The soldier patted down his pockets but they've taken every weapon he hid. He groaned in frustration as he heard footsteps coming towards his cell. He sat, tense and waiting, for a S.H.I.E.L.D agent to come through that door and torture him. When the glass became transparent, Peter was confused.

Three men stood before him, all in disarray. Their hair looked ragged, stubble unkempt, and their clothes were wrinkled. Behind their eyes the soldier could see sorrow. And denial. But behind it all there was relief. He watched them watch him for 20 minutes before the blonde one finally made the first move.

"Peter," the blonde's voice was steady but the soldier could hear the hidden grief, "you with us?"

The silence continued on as the soldier only looked. Only watched. Only listened. "Pete, baby, say something," the brunette with a glowing chest pleaded.

"Do you know how long you were gone?" the blonde continued, "Who took you? Anything?"

The one with glasses and peppered hair spoke next, "Do you even remember who we are?"

The soldier stared at each man with a cold stare. What he could gather is he failed his mission, so now he is a prisoner of S.H.I.E.L.D. He shouldn't say anything, for if he is deemed important enough... well. He's a dead man either way. You don't get captured and live. Either he is retrieved and killed or he will die by the hands of the enemy. Thinking logically, he really has nothing left to lose, does he?

He assumes the silence lasted for too long because the three men shared a defeated look and turn to walk away. Before they can get too far the soldier spoke, "Who is Peter?"

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Sebastian sat at his desk burning holes into the wall. He knew it was a bad idea to send his soldier back to the Avengers. That's exactly how they lost the first one. His superiors had pushed for it, however, so he didn't have a say. And now he just lost his soldier.

The one he had been grooming since birth, well, that was until his parents finally grew a conscious. He can't let him go, not after all he's done to get his soldier back. But that would mean going against orders, against H.Y.D.R.A.  That would mean death. His soldier is going to die, as is protocol.

Peter Parker, his unfinished symphony.