Being There For You (USM One-Shot Book)

Chapter 2: Unfair Defeats

Set in season 4, after episodes 10 and 11 "Return of the Sinister Six" part 1 and 2. The aftermath of the battle and Peter's thoughts after losing Ben.

Peter trudged down the damaged halls of the Triskelion.

His feet sloshed through the flooded halls, cold ocean water soaking into the soles of his boots and turning his feet numb. Debris and plaster cover almost every inch of the floor. The entire building is one big battleground made up of broken edges and falling beams, the hit it took was almost enough to knock it down for good. He's walking, but it feels more like a trance. His arms are folded tightly against his aching chest. Several of his ribs are cracked, maybe even broken, and he doesn't need to lift his shirt to know that there are giant purple splotches coloring his skin from the beating Ock gave him on Octopus Island. He hadn't gone to Connors, or any of the medics, to get checked over yet. Agents were running around going through the necessary protocols, and almost all of SHIELD's medics were busy with his teammates and any other SHIELD personnel that got caught in the ensuing battle. He'd issued an all-building evacuation when he decided to stay and fight, but there were so many people and such little time, that not all of them made it.

He was waiting on the kill count. None of his teammates had been killed, just badly hurt and half-drowned. But there had been casualties, he's gone through enough battles of this magnitude to know when people were dead. He hadn't been expecting this. When the Sinister Six showed up, he thought it was the regulars. Kraven, Electro, Rhino, Scorpion, Otto - but Goblin had been in the ranks, and so had Hydro-Man. Peter wasn't prepared to fight a tsunami head-on.

He glanced around the waterlogged room and his heart crushed under the grief. He'd wait until the team and all the agents caught in the crossfire were taken care of. Besides, he didn't feel like talking to anyone right now, and he's muscled through worse pains.

There wasn't a destination he had in mind. He let his feet move on their own so his brain could, unsuccessfully, sort through the muddled and shocked thoughts drifting in and out of clarity. But he was surprised, startled even, when he realized he was in Connor's lab, directly in front of the machine he'd stored the Anti-Hydra weapon in. He faltered, just for a second, before making his way to the middle of the room on shaky legs, and just stood there.

Everything was ruined. Ock and his Six did a number on the place. On the whole Triskelion.

For the first time since getting back, Peter truly let himself get sucked back into the events of the day. Of the past few hours. He'd been mindlessly roaming, and now free from the eyes of others, his demeanor cracked and the waters rushed in. He dropped to his knees, pain smarting through his aching legs, but it's a sliver to what he feels in his heart. He can still feel Scarlet's body behind him, the kick in his back, forcing him to his knees, pulling his arm backward. He can feel Scarlet gripping the back of his head, pulling on spandex and hair as he forced Peter to look up. He felt sharp, tingling pain on his scalp and cold fear that shot through his body when Scarlet's barb popped out centimeters from his vulnerable torso, a threat to not move growled in his ear.

Peter felt anger and hurt, and betrayal as his mask was taken from him. As his biggest and most trusted secret was stripped away and thrown back into his face. He could still feel it – even now.

The adrenaline tingling through his body slowly dripped from his limbs and left him feeling small, drained, and weak. He came so close to losing Aunt May today. The realization makes his eyes water. She was okay and being tended to by a medic, but that only eased the pain slightly. She'd still almost died. Ripped from him like Uncle Ben. It was too painful to think about.

Slowly, he pulled one arm from its locked position around his torso, softening his fist to reveal the fabric clutched in his fingers. His eyes roam over the fibers of the black fabric, the glossy shine of the red lenses. Scarlet Spider's mask. Peter had picked it up when Scarlet threw it on the ground in defiance of Ock.