𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙'𝖘 𝖑𝖎𝖋𝖊! ; 𝚂𝚙𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚛-𝙼𝚊𝚗

²⁰ HOMECOMING: riot and vulture

"But I understand that selling weapons to criminals is wrong." Peter backtalked.

Adrian cocked his head to the side. "How do you think your buddy Stark paid for that tower? Or any of his little toys?"

"That's not the same, and you know it," Leo interjected. "That happened--"

"Why? Why isn't it the same?" Adrian shrugged, but the answer was evident to him. "Oh, right, I forgot. Because he's an Avenger, and I'm a Mr. Nobody. He's the hero, and I'm the villain."

He pressed his lips into a thin line and smiled at the naive kids before him. "Those people, Leo, Pete, those people up there... the rich and powerful, they do whatever they want." He motioned between the trio. "Guys like us... well, like Peter and me... people like Leo or the Starks don't care about us. Rich. Born on a silver platter. They don't give a flying rat about us. We build their roads, and we fight all their wars... and everything, but they still don't care about us."

Leo had a feeling there was a reason he got into this mess of selling weapons, and judging by the way he spoke, someone rich did him dirty.

"We have to pick up after them. We have to eat their table scraps." Adrian's eyes flared with resentment, but they were mostly tired as he spoke. "That's how it is. I know you know what I'm talking about, Peter."

"I didn't realize this was a therapy session." Leo scoffed as he glared at the man.

Peter frown. "Why are you telling me this?"

It can't be.

"That... was a threat." A new voice called from behind. "In case it wasn't clear enough."

Leo and Peter spun around to the source of the voice, their eyes caught sight of Cole pressing a gun against Teagan's temple. "Surprised? Come on, you should've seen this coming a mile away. This is how we criminals deal with problems. You f*ck with us, we f*ck with you right back. And believe me when I tell you this, killing is the cheapest hour of the day for me."

Teagan could feel Cole's nails digging into her forearm the more she fought against him, her eyes felt droopy from the sedatives that were still in the process of wearing off. A whimper blurts out her lips as the barrel of the gun pressed deeper into her temple as Cole made his statement. Her whole body was under a lot of stress, Teagan felt so scared, even in the presence of her powerful friends, she had never felt more indispensable than at this moment. All Cole had to do was pull the trigger and her life would end in a blink, and her heart seemed to just figure everything out.

She could die tonight...

... unless she did something about it.

"Is that what you are now? A f*cking criminal that threatens innocents? That kills them?" Leo's voice boomed, clearly affected by the fact that Cole and Toomes were using Teagan as leverage.

His blood was boiling, and his fists were tightly clenched. Heathen wanted out, the beast had had enough of being trapped inside a cage, it wanted to lash out, it wanted to hunt, and feast, but Leo was a bit more controlling of his temper than Heathen was. Leo wanted to wait for the perfect time, he knew if Heathen went after Cole he wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger and kill her, neither of them wanted her dead.

"I gain nothing by killing your girlfriend." Cole spat. "It would be a waste of a bullet. But I will do so. I will pull this trigger and blow her brains out, bear no doubt of it. Because criminals don't like it when they f*ck with their business!"

The gun. The thought came to her as fast as being dosed in cold water, and she took advantage of that Cole's attention was fixed on Leo. She glanced down at the holster tied to his right leg, since her arms were tied, she would have to be subtle in her moves. If she grabbed a hold of the gun she could use it against him, she wasn't as smart as Ned or Peter, but she knew exposing the skin to nitrogen was harmful.