Peter's POV
I swooped down to come face to face with Hammer. This was the perfect thing to get my mind off Harley. A good distraction.
"How did you get out?" I asked him in a deeper voice than my own. He smirked at me.
"Oh come on, Spidey. I just want some fun with Anthony. Where is he?" He smiled. I didn't like the way he was looking at me. My spidey sense was off the charts. He was saying he was looking for Stark, but he seemed... pleased to see me.
"Tony isn't coming." I said as I stood my ground. Something was about to happen. I could feel it.
"Tony? You call him Tony. Guess I was right to say you two were close." He chuckled. Suddenly, as if it was something I couldn't control, I turned my head quickly to see a drone with Hammer written on the side fall to the ground. I turn back to Hammer just to have something sprayed straight into my face.
I suddenly started to feel... weird. The world started to spin and I caught myself before I fell. I started to back up as I saw Hammer stalking towards me. I tried to sense his next move but nothing. I had nothing. In fact, I could barely hear anything and my legs felt like jelly.
"W-What did you do?" I croaked out, trying to keep my balance.
I saw Hammer bring up his fist and I was caught off guard since my Spidey Sense did not register it. I brought up my hand just for it to be twisted back far enough that I heard a crack. I was weak. I could barely even hold a pathetic fist. Next thing I knew, my head was flung back and all I could feel was a stinging pain running throughout my face. I fell to the ground, because I couldn't keep myself up anymore. Hammer pulled me up by my neck just so I could see his shit eating grin. He pulled me toward him as he whispered in my ear.
"Sorry, kid. I need to get Stark's attention somehow." Suddenly I felt stabbing pain on my abdomen. He let go of me and fell straight to the ground. I heard gasps and yelling. All I could see was red. I looked down to see blood everywhere and could faintly smell that metallic smell that comes with blood. Then I looked up to see Hammer up in the air with my blood surrounding his entire body. Wait, was that my blood? It looked like my blood. Except it was... waving?
I laid my head back against the cool concrete. I looked up at the sky. I saw a flock of birds fly overhead. I know what it's like to fly. To soar. To feel the wind blow through your hair. To be free. Is this what it is like to feel completely free? No worries, no hurting. Just bliss. Would Ben be happy to see me? Would my parents?
Rhodey and Sam were standing above me with worried faces. Or were they? I couldn't get a grasp on what was real.
My eyes felt heavy. I tried closing them, but "Rhodey" ordered me to keep them open. I felt as if I was floating in the air with more red surrounding me. I focused on the sky.
For what felt like hours, I kept zoning in and out. One second I felt as if I was floating in the air and then the next I felt like I was on a bed that was rolling. I turned my head to the side to see a familiar looking A on the wall and Dr. Cho and Banner running towards me. I was on a rolling bed. I looked back up to see Wanda, the rim of her eyes were red and swollen.
I never processed the situation until now.
I was dying.
Harley's POV
As soon as FRIDAY told us Peter had made it to the lobby, I snapped out of my daze and looked at Tony, who had Pepper at his side. When did she get there?
I ignored it and dashed for the elevator. I headed straight for the medbay, ignoring FRIDAY's warnings.
I bursted through the elevator to see a wall of glass separating me for the med bay and found Peter being rolled into the room on a rolling bed, leaving a trail of blood on the floor. Steve, Sam, Dr. Cho, and Dr. Banner were rushing him to the already set up station. I tried to open the glass door to get into the room with Peter.
"PETER! PETER!" I screamed as I tried to open the door which had been locked probably by Friday. I felt Wanda's shaking hands try to pry me off the door. I continued to keep my eyes on Peter as I tried to get Wanda off of me. He turned his head to the side and I will never forget the look on his face. His eyes were glassy, his face pale white. He looked dead.
Wanda pulled me into a hug as I just cried at the scene in front of me. I fell to the floor, causing Wanda to also fall.
"I NEED TO GET IN THERE! I NEED—" I was sobbing so hard I couldn't catch my breath.
"It's okay. He's gonna be okay." Wanda's voice broke. I don't think she even believed her lie.
Steve and Sam came out and had to drag us out of the room. We passed a couple of Dr. Cho's team that came running down the hallway.
All four of us, Rhodey and Tony were sitting in the waiting room. Tony had been staring at the floor for about 25 minutes with Rhodey right by his side and everyone was silent.
I felt numb. I had no more tears left to cry. We had literally been sitting in the damn waiting room for the past half hour with no news. Steve and Sam were covered in blood. Spider-Man's blood. Peter's blood. I couldn't look at them.
The waiting room door bursted open and there was May, in her scrubs, tears still running down her cheeks.
"Where is he? W-what— where is he?" Her eyes went straight to Sam and Steve's bloodied suits. She let out a gasp and stumbled back. Rhodey got up and put a steady hand on her shoulder.
"He's in surgery. We got to him early." Rhodey said. I noticed that he didn't say he would be okay.
"Oh God." She put a hand to her face and looked at Tony and her face contorted into anger. "Why weren't you there?" Tony looked up once he realized she was asking him.
He looked horrible.
"Peter... he- he hacked into my suits and, and I couldn't..." Tony took in a raspy breath and looked back at the floor. She noticed how beaten up he looked, so she let it go.
May shrunk into a seat right across from me. I kept my eyes focused on the ground until I heard the door open again. It was Dr. Cho. She must have changed before she came because she wasn't bloody anymore.
I jumped to my feet, as did May. Tony's reaction happened mere seconds after she came in. God, he messed up by this.
Dr. Cho eyes met with May's, "Are you May Parker?"
"Y-yes I am. Is Peter okay?" Her voice shook.
Dr. Cho nodded, "He's alive, but very fragile. Multiple thoracic vertebrae have been cracked. He needs a blood transfusion." Tony's head snapped up at that.
"What?! His vertebrae?" Tony exclaimed and Dr. Cho gave him a warning look. May seemed to shake the thought of her nephew being paralyzed.
"I'll do it." May answered back quickly. Dr. Cho gave her a sympathetic look and then slowly shook her head.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Parker. But his DNA has been drastically changed ever since he was bitten. Also, you aren't a blood relative and we don't know your type."
"I'm type A. Please, let me." May pleaded.
"I can't. We don't know what could happen if we gave him a normal person's blood. We do know, however, that if he ever gave blood to a normal person, that person would most likely die due to the level of radiation in his blood." She stopped for a second to let that news settle, "Steve?"
Steve looked up and his eyebrows scrunched up, confused.
"I think the best option would be you. We can't wait for his body to pump the blood back. Whatever Hammer dosed him with, it's messing with his fast metabolic and reproductive state. In fact, it's slower than even the average human. But Steve, you are the closest recipient we think that could work. You two share multiple similarities in your genetic structure. It should work, Dr. Banner's would not work since his level of radiation is way too high. You are our only hope, Steve."
He nodded, "I will do anything it takes."
"I will only need to take about 3 pints."
"3 pints?!" May exclaimed in a high crackly voice.
"It's okay, Mrs. Parker. He is stable for now. He just desperately needs this transfusion now." Dr. Cho said in the most understanding tone she could manage.
"Okay, let's go." Steve said. Steve gave one last look at Tony but Rhodey gave him a reassuring nod.
"Where is the son of a bitch now?" I spat out viciously.
Sam leaned forward in his chair and rubbed his hands together. "He is on his way to his own little isolated island that is swarmed with over 65 Marines that have had background checks, and have been in the marines for more than 15 years. They were all the top of their class and have mastered multiple different martial arts. He is not getting out for the rest of his life. In fact, this is super classified that nobody, not even the president has access to knowing where this island is."
I nodded and Tony scoffed.
"Something wrong?" Sam asked.
"Hell find a way out. He always does because he is a manipulative psychotic narcissist." Tony snapped. "How the hell did he even know that Spider-Man was close to me? Wasn't he in a federal prison that also nobody knew about? Hell, I couldn't even figure out where he was. He had no access to news, so how did he know? HOW THE HELL DID HE KNOW?!" Tony yelled as he got up and threw his chair across the room. Rhodey closed his eyes.
"Tony-" Rhodey tried.
"No! Okay? No! He wasn't supposed to get out! He tried to fucking kill a 17 year old! He tried to kill Peter! My Peter! Rhodey, I am sick in tired of the people I love becoming a target!" Tony was now crying. May was also crying, probably because of how out of control Tony was being. Tony's breathing started to become erratic and he fell to the ground and clutched his heart. Rhodey immediately got up and knelt down next to him.
"Hey, hey it's okay. You are okay, Tony. Come on, steady your breathing. Breath in, breath out."
"I can't- I can't breathe!" Tony clutched onto Rhodey's shirt and grabbed a fistful of the shirt's fabric. May got up and bent down to sit on the floor next to Tony.
Shit, He was having a Panic Attack.
"Yes you can. Tony, it's okay. Peter is okay. He's alive. Everyone is alive. Hammer is gone. My baby's going to be okay." May reassured him. At first I was wondering how she went from being freaked out to super calm and soothing, then I remembered she was a nurse. This was her job.
I looked over to Wanda who had her hand covering her mouth as tears streamed down her face. Sam was rubbing her back, trying to soothe her. She was scared. The most scared I've ever seen her.
Also, this was the first time I've witnessed Tony having a full on panic attack. I heard they started after what happened in New York, but I didn't know they got this bad.
Tony stared into May's eyes as he was instructed and breathed with her. He slowly started to calm down and when it was over, May pulled him into a hug, which he hesitantly accepted.
She must have been a calming presence, since she is the closest thing Tony can get to Peter right now.
I started to do the breathing exercise with them, trying to gain some control of my racing heart.
Peter was going to be okay. So why did I still feel so anxious?
Pepper walked in and bent down to help Tony up. Rhodes must have texted her or something.
"Come on, Tony." Pepper tried.
"I cant leave him, Pepper."
"Morgan needs you right now. She may be five, but she is not stupid. After all, she does have Stark's genes." Tony gave her a small smile at that. "Peter would not want you sitting around, blaming yourself."
"I have to be here when he wakes up." He shook his head.
"You will be the first person I notify." May said. "Go home. Spend time with your family. Go eat and take a shower at least."
Tony nodded in agreement.
Tony looked at me and motioned for me to follow, "You too."
Now it was my turn to argue.
I furrowed my eyebrows, "No I'm not leaving."
Pepper gave me a stern look, "Harley." I felt the anger bubble up and the dam broke.
"NO! Ok! You don't understand. It wasn't Tony's fault. It was mine! I got in a fight with Peter so he didn't show up to work." I let out a little sob, "Oh, God. It's my fault. He almost died because of me." I felt an overwhelming wave of guilt crashed down on me.
"Harley. We can't blame ourselves. It doesn't do anything but hurt us. It doesn't help anything." Sam explained.
"Also, you have school tomorrow." Tony explained, looking exhausted. Sam turned his head and gave him a look.
I scoffed, "School? You can't be serious!"
"Yeah I am. If Peter can go to school a day after having a building dropped on him, you can go to school." Tony argued.
"Wait, what?" May demanded.
Tony shook his head as if it wasn't that big a deal, "He was fine. It was before you knew about him."
"Tony—" I tried and he gave me a warning look and I just rolled my eyes and stomped my way out of the room, pushing my way pasted my two guardians. I continued down to the elevator and told FRIDAY I was going down.
"Where are you going?" Pepper sternly demanded.
"Don't worry. I'm not gonna get myself killed. I'll be back by 8:00." I explained, irritated.
"No, Harley." Tony and Pepper tried to get to the elevator before it closed. They didn't get to it in time. I half expected Tony to order FRIDAY to bring me back up, but he didn't. I suddenly felt bad. He is dealing with the same thing I'm dealing with. But I wasn't about to go back up. I went through the back and made my way to Queens. The sun was setting and I know walking alone in Queens was dangerous, but I couldn't care less.
I made my way to the alleyway Spider-Man saved me in. I made my way up the fire escape to the roof of the building we had our first "date" on. I sat on the edge and let my feet dangle down. I closed my eyes, letting the wind blow against my face. I smiled as I opened my eyes to see the sunset that looked very familiar to the one we watched together. I just sat there, watching the sun go down and the sky get enveloped in darkness. It was beautiful and calm. I thought back to everything Spider-Man and I talked about and laughed at myself. All the signs were there to point to Peter.
His father's name was Richard. Both his parents were gone. He was young. Had the same order from Delmars as Peter. Same with coffee. His voice, was so familiar. The lips—made me laugh. Those lips made me so curious because they looked so familiar. Everyone always complained about how Peter always would run away during field trips. Ned and MJ were always super suspicious... Peter shared the same energy towards people as Spider-Man. Spiderman was there when Peter's uncle died. It was back when Peter first realized he had powers. He didn't know what to do. He blames himself.
And it was kind of ironic to think back to him talking bad about Spider-Man. He— Peter doesn't think he is a hero. And that is what makes him even more of a hero in my opinion. Makes him even better and greater than I ever could have imagined.
I started to smile. I couldn't stop. I had a crush on a fucking hero. A hero that was super nerdy and such a dork. A hero that made sure everyone thought he was just a clumsy weirdo. A hero that genuinely cares and isn't super arrogant like all the other ones I know. A hero that has had so much trauma in his life, yet still he goes out of his way to help and save others. Not to mention how hot he is.
I thought about it for a second and realized I wasn't describing Spider-Man. I was describing Peter. Peter is a hero. Spider-Man is the disguise, but not the hero. Peter, the stunningly cute guy behind the mask is the hero.
He is my hero.