𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙'𝖘 𝖑𝖎𝖋𝖊! ━━━ ¹³
I got you.
AN acute pain woke Peter Parker up, it was extremely unpleasant, he felt an unshakable pressure in his brain similar to a migraine. He opened his light-brown eyes and slowly blinked, carefully he started getting up and once he tried to stand upright he swayed a little, feeling dizzy. Peter moans in pain, gripping the side of his head as if that would stop his brain from hurting so much.
"Ow," Peter whispered, the pain was slowly subsiding, but he still felt sensible. "My head."
The suit lady immediately ran a short diagnosis. "You appear to have a mild concussion."
Peter let go of his head and glanced around, he found himself trapped inside the container, slowly, memories of the fight with Vulture flooded into his mind. He had failed miserably, and he faintly remembers Teagan's words, it's too risky and reckless. Peter sighs, knowing now just how right she had been all along, but he was the Spider-Man, trying and failing was part of his journey.
"Hey, so where am I?" Peter decided to focus on the situation at hand.
"I'm not so sure." The suit lady told him, Peter frowned. "The container walls are hindering my sensors."
He quickly spotted the double doors at the end of the container, he inhaled deeply as a sudden thought crossed his mind. "Wait a minute. They must have hijacked the truck and taken me to their secret lair." He was going to body ram the doors. "Okay, suit lady, we're gonna have to fight our way out of this one." He crouches down a little, getting into a running stance. "Three, two, one."
The metal doors fly off their hinges as Peter makes it through, he stumbles forward but quickly regains his balance. His eyes widen as he looks around the open room filled with hundreds of containers. "Whoa."
"What is this place?" The place looked rich like it belonged to someone important, he turns to the right and notices the huge door seal shut. There was no way he was punching his way through this. "Suit lady, where am I?"
"You're in the most secure facility on the eastern seaboard." She informed him, Peter didn't like the sound of that. "The Damage Control deep storage vault."
Vault? Peter exclaimed in his mind. "No. Seriously?"
"The door will most likely remain closed until morning." None of this sounded good, Peter needed to be back before morning or else people would start wondering where he was.
"Morning?" Peter repeated, a conflict rising within him. "I need to figure out a way out of here before morning."
Time went by and Peter came up with nothing, instead of finding another way out he decided to get to know the suit lady more. After talking to the AI, Peter decided to give her a name. Initially he had thought of the names Liz and Rose, but given the origin of where those names came from, he decided against it. So he settled for a good old fashion name, Karen. After officially giving her a name, Peter decided that now was the best time to run the refresher course she had offered him earlier when tracking the white van. Time continued to fly by, and Peter believed at least a good hour had already passed, and the doors would open any time soon.
"Hey Karen, how long have we been here anyway?" Peter laid flat on the container's roof, wearing his Decathlon yellow jacket.
"Thirty-seven minutes."
Peter sat up and exclaimed, "What?!" He got up and jumped off the container. "Thirty-seven minutes? That's insane. I cannot take this anymore. I got to... I gotta get out of here. There's got to be something in here that I can use."
He entered the container in which he came in, hoping to find something useful, he started to look through the various baskets containing alien technology. He spots the duffle bag the Vulture guy couldn't take, he crouches down and opens it, going through its content.
"Oh, that's awesome." He holds a robot's head, spotting the similarity to Ultron. He drops the head aside and fetches something else, his eyes widen in recognition upon coming across the glowy thing. "Hey, it's like the glowy thing."
Karen intervenes. "That glowy thing is an explosive Chitauri energy core."
His blood runs cold, causing his muscles to tense up, Peter carefully drops the glowy thingy back inside the back and takes a step back. "You mean, we've been carrying around a bomb?"
Concerning, thoughts about Ned and Teagan flash through his mind and terror runs down his spine. He shudders as he realizes he had unconsciously put them in danger. "It would require radiation to transform it into an explosive state."
"No, no, no!" Peter runs out of the container, he shoots a web at the concrete door and pulls himself up before attaching it against the wall. "Hey! Please!" He screams, waving his arms at the camera to hopefully attract a guard's attention. "Please, somebody let me out!" But nothing happened, Peter shoots a web and finds himself in front of a circuit panel.
"Hey! Karen, you have to help me override that time lock." I have to get to Ned and Teagan before it's too late, he thought as he got to work.
"NEXT and final round is Java programming." Cameron Abrams, the host, announced. "Midtown School of Science and Technology vs PEECS-HS. Final contestants, please make your way to the front and take your respective seats."
Abby Lee and Jonathan Enger made their way toward the front row, two girls from the opposite team made their way to their respective places. Teagan had been disqualified on the third round, the Prime girl wasn't at all upset, she had fun and enjoy every exhilarating moment of it. Her phone buzzed, and she took it out carefully, she was supposed to give her phone away, but she managed to smuggle it. A text from Ned notified her that Peter didn't show up for the competition, her heart sank, she hid her phone and got up from her chair. Taking her bag with her, she made her way towards Mrs. Davis, told her she had a girl emergency, and she needed to use the restroom.
The teacher allowed her to go since they were almost wrapping up the competition, Teagan hurriedly made her way out of the seminar room. Once out, she ran down the hall, pulling her phone out to ask Ned where he was. Teagan climbs down the stairs in a hurry, heart hammering and threatening to burst out of her chest.
I knew this was a bad idea. I knew it! I knew it! Teagan yelled in her mind.
Her phone buzzed and she checked the message. We are at the Washington Monument. Teagan made her way towards the touristic center, thankfully she made it on time, she easily spotted the students of Midtown School. They formed a line and went through the metal detectors, Teagan jogged towards them and caught the attention of Mr. Harrington and Liz.
"Teagan, what are you doing here? Where's your group?" Mr. Harrington glanced behind her, not noticing the rest of the programming team nor Mrs. Davis, his eyes flickered back to her.
Teagan inhales deeply, regulating her breathing before answering. "Back at the center. Competing in the last round. I told Mrs. Davis I'll come find you."
"How'd it go?" Liz asked her.
Teagan flickered her hazel orbs on her. "Good. What about you? Did you guys win?"
"Yes! Victory for Midtown School." Mr. Harrington said proudly, Liz chuckled. "I decided to take the kids here to celebrate, they did a pretty amazing job."
Teagan nodded slowly. "Right. I mean, who wouldn't want to celebrate their victory on a Monument built by slaves?" She chuckled sarcastically, Mr. Harrington let out a defeated sigh, and Liz seemed amused by her teacher's reaction. "I can already feel the patriotism. It lifts the spirits."
"Okay." Mr. Harrington clears his throat, behind, Teagan notices Ned talking on the phone.
Liz frowned and turned around, she walked up to Ned and ripped the phone off his hand. "Peter? Is that you?"
Teagan gasped and walked up to them, the security lady stopped her motion, she pointed at her bag. "Oh, Christ," Teagan mumbled, she dumped her bag on the tray and watched it go through the baggage scanning.
"You flake." Liz started, Teagan forgot all about her bag and tried to take the phone from the taller girl. "You are lucky we won. I want to be mad, but I'm more worried. Like, what is going on with you?"
"Liz, pass me the phone," Teagan told her. Liz glanced at her and was about to hand her the phone when the security lady took it and put it on the conveyor belt. "Scheisse!"
She walked past the metal detector, once on the other side, Teagan was the first to grab Ned's phone. But she was too late, the call had ended, Ned put on his backpack and looked at his best friend. "What'd he say?"
"I couldn't speak to him." Teagan locked his phone and handed it to him, she clenched her jaw in frustration. "I have a bad feeling, gordo."
Ned gave her a sad smile before gently guiding her towards the elevator, so they could start their trip. "I'm sure it's nothing. He sounded fine when I spoke to him. He was probably just calling to check in."
They entered the elevator. "You sure?"
"Positive," Ned said with the most adorable, dimpled smile.
HIDDEN inside the Reeves apartment was Christian Prime, stripped off his suit coat and navy-blue tie, the first two buttons of his white long sleeve shirt were opened. He leaned back against the couch in a comfortable position, dark brown orbs narrowed on the screen of his phone as he went through some digital documents. Leilani Reeves found herself in the kitchen, she had just finished making her pasta, she turned off the stove and carefully made her way toward the living room where her fiancé is.
"Always the busy man, Mr. Prime." She smiled tiredly at him, Leilani had had a restless night due to the pain in her ribs. It wasn't as insufferable as last week, but it still hurt sleeping on her side.
But there was something more, something else that kept her awake at night, and it all had to do with today's date, September 28.
Christian glanced up, and his face immediately softened, he exhaled as if her mere presence was a relief. "Never by choice." Once she was near him, he took her by the hand and pulled her down- gently, always careful with her injury- next to him. "Shouldn't you be resting? I could've cooked for you or brought you something to eat."
Leilani blinked tiredly, she cuddled to his side, grimacing slightly when she felt a poke of pain in her ribs. "Mmm, I've got plenty. Plus, lying in bed is a nightmare. I can't turn- you know I like to sleep on my side, so lying on my back is a complete nightmare."
Her head fell between his shoulder blade and neck, she breathed his scent and cologne, despite the strong fragrance of Paco Rabanne Leilani could always distinguish his unique scent. Christian reminded Leilani of a Hawaiian flower (originally from South Africa), Bird of Paradise. Its smell was sweet and intoxicating, it smell of pink jasmine combined with juicy strawberry, pomegranate, and creamy vanilla. It was heaven, and for Leilani, Christian was her empyrean. Her sanctuary, her utopia, he meant everything to her, and she couldn't wait for their wedding.
"Oh, my sweet, sweet angel." Christian kissed the top of her head, his stubble poke Leilani, but she didn't mind. "Soon it will all be over. You know, I've been thinking, why don't you stay at my place for this week?" Leilani shifted her head in a position that would allow her to see him better. "While you recover. You don't have to do everything on your own. Let me take care of you."
Leilani smiled softly at him, her seafoam eyes twinkled with love and affection. "I thought we had an agreement, Mr. Prime."
"I'm not asking you to pack your bags and come live with me, love." He smirked, his eyes darted down at her pointy natural-shaped lips. He leaned in and kissed her, there was no rush, no lust, just gentleness, and understanding. "What I am asking is for you to come to stay with me just for this week."
Such a caring man Christian was, when the time came, Leilani had no doubt he'd be an incredible husband and amazing father. "Sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve such a remarkable man, but whatever it was, it must have been one hell of a good deed."
Christian chuckled, kissing her nose. "So, is that a yes?"
"It's a no, my love," Leilani told him and chuckled when she saw his smirk being wiped clean. "I won't wait till next week to show up for work."
Christian sighed and glanced away, closing his eyes for a moment and condescendingly saying, "Leilani."
"No, Christian. I have patients to attend to. Surgeries to perform. Health is something that cannot be postponed, and I cannot afford to stay home while ER patients fight for their lives." She argued, showing Christian just how truly devoted she is to her work as a doctor. "I just can't, love."
Christian would never hold her back from doing something she knows she has to do, but his protective side made him act worried, and that worry will unfold into stubbornness. "Leia, I understand this is hard for you. I really do." He started, looking at her with pleading eyes as he hated when she didn't take care of herself. "But the doctor said-"
"Christian, I am a doctor." She interrupted him, Christian bit the inside of his tongue and tried keeping himself from getting worked out. "And I'm telling you, I'm fine. I'm fine." He gave her a look. "Really. You have to trust me."
He licked his lips. "Is not that I don't trust you. I just don't like it when you don't take care of yourself, I can see the bags under your eyes and every grimace you make whenever you make a wrong move." Leilani pressed her lips into a thin line. "You are not ready to get back to work and if you truly want to be there for your patients, first you need to take care of yourself."
He was right and she knew it.
"You really know how to use your words," Leilani told him, admitting defeat. "It's actually really annoying, you know that?"
Christian chuckled, kissing her forehead. "I just know you." He carefully removed his arm off her shoulders and got up, making his way towards the kitchen to serve lunch. "You know, I don't know if this is traditional or if you're doing it on purpose, but you always make pasta on September 28."
Leilani slowly got up, holding her left side. "Yeah, I guess you can say it's like a tradition."
"Why? Is there a reason?" He glanced at her for a brief moment before continuing to serve, Leilani sat down on the dining table.
"It used to be my brother's favorite food dish." She told him, smiling softly at her vague memory of Ercole's face. "He disappeared on this date. September 28. Ever since then, my mother made pasta every year on this same date, to commemorate him, I guess."
Christian's heart clenched with guilt, he hated keeping such a big secret from her, but Leilani was still recovering. He wanted her healthy and better when he broke the news to her, he had no lead on him, he had nothing. All he had was the atrocities he had done, he didn't know much about him, but he bet he used to be a different person before he disappeared. The truth was a powerful thing, and it was a harsh reality, there's never a way around it just through.
"You think he's dead?" He grabbed both plates and made his way toward the dining table, he set them down before going back for the refreshments.
Leilani stared at the dish. "I don't know. My parents deny it, I don't think they can bear to think their firstborn is dead somewhere in this big blue orb."
He sets the refreshments on the table and sits down beside her, he looks at her with compassion. "I guess it would be a relief to hear something about him. Whether he's dead or alive... just something would be nice. For their sake." Leilani smiled sadly at Christian, she took her fork and stabbed it on the pasta before twirling it.
Before giving it a bite, she said, "And mine."