Spiderman's Sister

All my fault

When I've calmed down at some point, Wanda gives me some freedom to arrive and unpack my things. Since I only took the bare essentials with me, it didn't take too long. As soon as I'm done with that, I'll take the mail and go through it. Basically, it's just ads and some flyers. But underneath all that unnecessary stuff is a big envelope. One of those that are padded on the inside. There is no writing on the envelope other than my address and my name. I open it and find a USB-Stick inside. Weird.......... while it's not uncommon for information to be leaked to me anonymously for any stories. But currently i'm not working on any stories that might involve anonymous information. Well, let's see what's on the USB-Stick. I get my laptop, sit on the sofa, put it on the table in front of me and turn it on. Then I put the USB stick in and I find a single file on it, a video file. I start the video and only see a black screen. For real? That's all? For minutes, the screen is just black. I'm about to remove the stick again when the image begins to change. It's still quite dark, but you can still see that the camera is in an empty, dreary room. Maybe a basement? When I'm still wondering what all this means, the camera pans and my heart stops. Tears well up in my eyes and when I realize what I'm looking at, my heart starts to race in panic. In front of me on the video, I see James. My james. What happened to him? He's lying half on his side. I can see that his wrists are tied behind his back and his ankles are also tied. But that's not the worst. His face......... it's swollen, covered with bruises, cuts and scrapes. While my brain is still trying to understand what I'm looking at, a hooded figure suddenly appears in front of the camera. He slowly approaches James and crouches in front of him. James seems to be saying something to him. His lips are moving but I can't hear anything. I don't know what James is saying, but suddenly the masked man has a gun in his hand. He aims at James' legs and...... pulls the trigger. Even though the video has no sound, I can hear James screaming. His face is contorted in pain. James' tortured face is still floating in my mind's eye as the screen goes black again. This can't be true! As my mind realizes that I really just saw this, my shock dissolves into a full-blown panic attack. I scream and cry like never before.

Meanwhile with the others.

For two hours, the Avengers have been gathering all the information they could find about Colin Matthews. Which unfortunately really isn't much. Although this guy works in an executive position at a newspaper, there is no information about him after he graduated from high school. And what you can find out about his life before that isn't helpful. He is an only child. His parents - Mary and Kent - live in Boston and have been married for 40 years. His school days were just as boring and unspectacular as everything else you can find out about him. All in all a very frustrating result for two hours of work. It's late now and Steve is about to call a short break when Jarvis talks to them.

Jarvis: Mr. Stark, there is an emergency in Ms. Parker's room.

Everyone looks at each other in shock and confused. Peter is the first to run out of the room and down the emergency exit stairs to the private quarters and your room. The others follow on his heels. When Peter sees Vicky - huddled on the floor, crying and in a panic - his heart breaks and he immediately rushes over to her worried. Without saying anything he pulls her close. She buries her face in his chest and lets her desperation run wild.

Tony: Can anyone tell me what's going on here?

As soon as she entered the room, Nat looked around for the possible source of Vicky's panic attack. She notices the laptop which is switched on and on the living room table with a video file open that has finished playing. She rewinds a bit and is just as shocked as Vicky when she recognizes Bucky on it.

Nat: Uhm folks, you should check this out.

Except for Peter, everyone gathers around Nat, who starts the video again. Everyone is shocked when they see what happens to Bucky.

Back to Victoria's POV

Steve: Vicky? Where did you get the video from?

On the edge of my consciousness I can hear Steve's question but am unable to answer him. It doesn't make any sense. Why would anyone kidnap James and do such horrible things to him and show me? Who could hate us both so much? Besides the Avengers, there aren't any people who know us both enough to have anything against us, are there?

Peter: Vicky? Can you tell us where you got the video from?

I can also hear Peter's question, but my whole body refuses to answer.

Peter: Vicky please. Where did you get that?

And all of a sudden my body doesn't want to be silent anymore. A new wave of panic washes over me. I bury my face even more into Peter's chest and sob.

Victoria: The video was in our mail on a USB stick.

Sam: Well, at least now we know that whoever took Bucky knows about Peter's sister.

Bruce: Then it was definitely the right decision to bring her and Peter here.

Maybe it really was. Who knows what exactly this sick lunatic is up to. When a discussion breaks out between the others about what to do now, it all becomes too much for me. I just want to forget what I just saw. I want to keep believing that James is fine after all and that he's just so upset with me and my stubbornness that he didn't get in touch with the others out of anger. But no matter how hard I try, I just can't get the video out of my head. Unnoticed by the others, I go over to my bed, crawl under the covers, pull my legs close to my chest and stare blankly out the window. Into the darkness that reflects my inner mood. I just want to wake up from this nightmare.

Peter's POV

What is this sick nightmare? While a discussion broke out between the others about what to do now, I watched the video that horrified the others. It's horrible. Bucky, beaten up, tied up and weak. And then...... then he gets shot in the leg in front of the camera. Even for me - who didn't have that much to do with Bucky besides working with him - it breaks my heart to see him like this. I can't even begin to imagine how Vicky must be doing. When I look over and see that she is no longer sitting on the floor where we found her earlier, I want to panic. Not that she ends up doing something stupid out of sheer desperation. I let my eyes wander around the room. When I see that she has just crawled into her bed, a load falls from my heart. Maybe the others should move the discussion somewhere else.

Peter: Guys? Could you maybe discuss this further outside?

I nod towards Vicky's bed and the others immediately seem to understand what I mean.

Nat: Of course Peter. Let us know if there's anything we can do or you need anything.

She gives me a confident smile before following the others out and closing the door behind her. After the others have left, I turn off Vicky's laptop. Someone from the others seems to have taken the USB stick. It's probably better that way, so there's no risk that she'll look at it again. Then I walk over to her, take off my shoes and crawl onto the bed with her. As soon as I sat down and leaned against the wall, she turned to me and snuggled up to me, crying. I'm totally overwhelmed to see my sister like this. She's usually always the tougher one of us. Before yesterday I have never seen her cry in my life...... except when she is watching Titanic. But seeing her cry because she's not doing well emotionally..... no, that's never happened before. I don't know what to say or do to improve the situation. I guess the best thing I can do right now is be there for her. I sit silently, her head resting on my legs, caressing her head and back soothingly. I really hope this whole situation ends well.