It Started With A Mission (Peter Parker Fanfiction)

Chapter 20

When Peter got to the ground he rushed to Riley's side, kneeling on the ground. He felt for a pulse and didn't get one. "No, no, no," Peter repeated over and over again. "Can I get an ambulance? Anyone? Help!" He started calling out. He was on the verge of tears and he was holding her hand. "Please, Riley..."

A group of firefighters rushed over. Tony flew down barely harmed, much to Peter's shock.

He uncoiled his mask from his face and his jaw was dropped. He let out a shaky breath and stepped out of the suit, away from his superhero identity, to be with his daughter. "This can't be happening! Do something now! Do something, anything!" He said running to Riley. The firefighters began to before CPR on her, while one of them went to get the defibrillator. "Please, Riley. Please, wake up! Goddammit," Tony said, now crying. Peter was standing off to the side now, finding it strange how even a man who may be cocky and a know-it-all on the outside has feelings. Watching the one girl he might have ever had a chance with, slowly slip out of his life was so sad. He couldn't lose her. He wouldn't know how to bear it. The firefighters used the machine on her and after a few seconds, one of them said, "We have a pulse, but we have to get her to the hospital immediately."

Tony got in the ambulance with the paramedics and they shut the door and left. One of the remaining firefighters said to another, "There's no way in hell she could have survived that fall."

"She's probably an Avenger," said one of them. 

"Either that, or she's superhuman."

***

Riley woke up with a start, out of breath and panicking. She needed to find her father. She was in an unfamiliar white room and rushed towards the door, swinging it open. She made her way down the hall, looking at nurses, most of them frantically rushing around to different rooms. She went out to the waiting room to find her father talking to one of the receptionists, looking flustered. 

"I need to know if my daughter is okay!" Tony said loudly. 

"Dad!" Riley called out. "Dad, I'm right here!"

Tony didn't look her way. "Sir, I'm sorry, the doctor will be with you in a moment, she is about to be moved to the ICU."

Tony sighed. "Will she be okay though?" 

"Sir, that is not my question to answer, but if she could survive that crash, she can survive just about anything," the receptionist said. 

Riley paused in front of her dad, realizing what was happening to her. She was in some sort of limbo. It was clear that she was perhaps having some sort of out-of-body experience while she was in her coma. It wasn't clear how long it would last. What the hell had happened to her?

She stood in denial, not knowing what to do. Would other people be here? In the void with her? Or was this all a dream? She followed her dad to where he sat down in the waiting room. Hours passed. How badly she wanted to comfort him, but it was impossible. She needed to stay alive, for him. Riley wasn't sure if he could handle her death. Then, a woman with strawberry blonde hair walked in, looking around for Tony. When she saw him, she rushed over to him. 

"I came back as soon as I heard. Is she okay?" she asked him, embracing him in a comforting hug.

"I-I don't know, Pepper," Tony said, closing his eyes, crying. Apparently, this Pepper girl was closer to Tony than she remembered.

"What happened to her?" Pepper asked. Riley was standing with them, wondering the answer. 

"Carolyn was on her way to the supermarket after picking Riley up from school. Some idiot blew a red light and hit them. Riley is in a coma and-and Carolyn didn't make it," Tony explained to her, taking dramatic pauses in between certain words. Then, something clicked inside me. I was in the past.