|Spider Man| A City of Shadow and Ruin

-Nine-

Round objects exploded through the room after breaking the windows. They had created a fog that was as good as soup. Peter had vanished from me in the chaos. Within seconds the fog had coated the floors. I ran forward towards the middle to see where the windows were, but they had been coated.

Within a few minutes the crowd was nearly gone. Into hiding or probably piling out the door.

I ducked towards the wall when I saw red lasers pointed. I saw shadows of men in black with large guns. If I could see them it was only a matter of time before they found me.

"Wo ist sie? The macht der Finsternis" One of them yelled.

German? He'd asked where she was. I wasn't sure what the last phrase meant. I'd taken four years of German. I knew only a handful of it.

It became quiet which led me to assume everybody was gone. One looked along the corners and spotted me. Just as he raised his weapon a piece of metal hit him and he fell. It launched back where it came from and I realized who it had been. Steve had somehow been prepared for this. Though his weapon hadn't been on him before.

Whirring sounded from the center and I saw a flash of iron mans light. They were fighting them. I backed towards the door despite the hum in my body. I craved to fight somebody. Someone grabbed around my neck and started to suffocate me. I clawed at them trying to be released. My shadows erupted from the floor and they started to wrap around the man. I told my shadows to squeeze his legs. He let go and I crumpled gasping. The moment he let go I'd accidentally done so.

In a second he was there readying a weapon and then he was lifted upwards. He was pinned into the wall probably ten feet up. I looked up to see Peter in a gleaming metal suit. He was using spiderwebs, however that worked.

Next thing I knew he landed onto the ground by me and hauled me onto my feet. Steve and Tony arrived behind us in their formal attire.

"Get her out of here" Tony told Peter.

He laughed at them from above, "She is far from fragile" his German accent was thick.

Peter walked me out as I gasped for breath. His arm was wrapped around my waist. My neck throbbed where the mans arms had been. I couldn't find the energy to speak to him. He walked me outside into the crisp evening light. His spider suit vanished before my eyes. He walked towards the end of the street. People were still walking about to their cars. A few police cars had their lights on in the distance.

Peter paused and looked at me, "Are you okay?" he looked me over stopping at my neck.

When I tried to tell him I was fine it came out in a raspy hush that made me wince. I stuck with nodding. That bastard had caused such an annoyance.

He seemed to accept the answer for now as we made our way to his car. It was tucked away in a parking garage a distance away.

* * *

Back at the compound Peter had taken me to the lounge. He called for Harland to come tend to me. I hated the idea of not being able to speak. She gave me a load of ice packs and some pain medicine. Otherwise there wasn't anything she could do.

"So it was Hydra, they were behind this" he looked at me. His eyes told me unsaid words. Hydra was behind creating me somehow.

Moments later the other three Avengers strolled in the door. None of them looked in pain whatsoever. Of course this was a Monday for them.

"Banner still doesn't know what you are, And now we know it was Hydra" Tony said.

"But why?" Steve asked.

"She's young and innocent its a good cover" Natasha said.

"Why let her here then? Why let her see her abilities?" Peter asked.

"Maybe they didn't plan on it and maybe they never got the chance to take her" Tony said his expression was vacant or guilty.

A sudden realization hit me. Steve had his gear because of me. Because they planned on this happening. Whoever wanted me knew I was here. My family needed to be moved then.

"Did you know this would happen?" Peter asked at the moment there was no accusation in his voice.

"I thought wrong, I thought maybe they would just send a spy I never assumed they would come out like that. They've never been so blunt" Tony said.

Peter looked at him for a moment as if his foot had been stepped on before something I hadn't seen filled his expression.

"She got hurt look at her all because you guessed wrong? That's not right And now the accords are definitely not going to be in her favor" Peter said.

Tony looked devasted. I wonder if he'd never seen this side of Peter either. He had a fondness for him over the others. Like he was a dad almost.

"Do you think I don't know that? Of course I do I know how bad this went sideways" Tony was eerily calm, but his anger was there in every word. To himself.

"So we keep protecting her, she's training here. We can say we don't know" Natasha said.

The truth has a way of not staying hidden though. I knew that and it seemed to be an unspoken thought between the five of us.