The Stark Internship

Part 27

PETER

I raise my head groggily. I remember a fight. My head rings and an image of a car running into me as I tried to disarm someone comes flying back to me. I try to raise my hand to my head but they're tied to a chair.
I look down quickly, relieved to see that I'm still wearing my suit. Shuri's defence mode worked. They can't find out my identity.
A door opens and I try to turn to see who it is. I hear footsteps circling.
'Who are you?' I ask, 'what do you want?'
'Spider-Man.' A woman's voice comes back, calm and cold, 'I'm sorry about this, truly. You are just a...means to an end.'
'What do you mean?' I ask. She stays out of my eye-line.
'The bond you've built with Tony Stark over the last few years. It is unique, to say the least. He's rarely so attached to someone so careless.' She says, 'I've been waiting for someone like you.'
'What do you want with him?' I ask, beginning to panic. I start to think she was counting on Mr.Stark coming to rescue me.
'Would it be to cliché to say revenge?' She says. I hear her sigh slightly, 'your mentor wasn't always as upstanding as he is now. I'm one of the few who remembers what he was like before that. And I'm one of the few who thinks he deserves to pay the consequences.'
'He's changed. He's helping people. Anything he did...he's made up for it now.' I say.
'Easy for you to say, when you haven't lost your entire family to him. My town was bombed. I lost a both my arms and a leg in the bombing. My husband died. And when I managed to return to my house, my twins were gone. By boy and girl. Killed by Tony Stark's weapons.' She says. I hear the pain in her voice and I can't help but empathise a little.
I hate hearing about what Mr.Stark used to be a part of. While he didn't really know about it, and he's definitely made up for it, it still isn't a nice thing to think about.
'I'm sorry. I'm sorry about your family. But killing him won't bring it back.' I say, desperate to reach her.
'I know that. I am well aware that killing him won't change anything. But that's not what I want. I'm far from that. I don't want my children to be alive in a world so ruined.' She says.
'Then what?' I ask, hesitant.
'I want him to feel how I did. I want him to feel the loss I felt.' She says, kneeling down beside my chair. I look at her and see her arms are similar to Bucky's - metallic and, I assume, just as powerful.
She looks up at me, places her hand on my arm. The electric shock runs up her arm; I can see it effects her, but not as much as it should.
'I want to kill the closest thing Tony Stark has to a son.' She says, 'which just happens to be you.'
'You know that's crazy. It doesn't make sense. You can't...He...you know how much that hurts, why would you want someone else to feel that?' I ask, desperate for any argument. Any delay.
'Spider-Man, I don't care who you are. I don't care what your story is. This is no way personal. Keep your secret identity. You are just the person who's going to get me my revenge on Tony Stark. And then, I promise you, I'll be gone.' She says, 'that's all I want, one last bit of revenge.'