Chapter 3
His ears were still ringing as he gained focus of his surroundings and the first thing that Stiles realized was his whole body ached. He let out a groan, shifting slightly as he tried to figure out what was going on. The air smelled heavily of smoke and his head was throbbing. What happened?
He had been in the middle of a conversation with Peter when the teen had abruptly stood from his chair, his eyes wide with unbridled panic. Stiles didn’t even have a moment to question his actions before the kid tackled him, an explosion hitting them hard out of nowhere.
Holy shit. Peter had saved his life.
His eyes widened and he turned his head quickly, ignoring the flurry of pain as he searched his surroundings. Peter lay unconscious a few feet away from him, blood streaming from an unseen head wound and, Stiles noted, his left shoulder was very obviously dislocated from its socket.
Fuck.
Stiles was breathing heavily now, coughing slightly from the dusk hanging in the air, trying to take in the situation. With the obvious head injury and other physical ailments, it was definitely best to not move Peter. He touched his fingers to his own head, hissing at the sting and disturbed to find his fingers tacky with blood. Perfect, so he was injured too.
He was sure that he had blacked out almost immediately so he didn’t know how far the impact of the explosion could have thrown them. “Shit,” He mumbled, realizing that they were still basically in the coffee shop, however the floor had caved in from the force of the explosion and unfortunately, he and Peter had fallen in pretty far with it. Splintered metal and wood surrounded them and he swore that he could hear the faint sound of electricity crackling from exposed wires and the only reason why they weren’t getting crushed was a fallen beam keeping the debris from falling on them.
They were stuck.
Still, help had to be close by, right? He didn’t know how long he had been out but there had to be some kind of response to what had transpired. Stiles opened his mouth, preparing to yell for help when footsteps thudded from what was left of the wooden floor above. He breathed a sigh of relief, they were going to be okay. He went to call out for rescue when he froze-
“You idiot!” An angry voice seethed.. “You had one responsibility, one responsibility! How can we locate them in this?!”
Stiles’ eyes widened and he quickly ducked down, bringing a hand towards his mouth. This didn’t sound like help.
“I-I…I’m sorry sir, I didn’t realize the blast would be this destructive!” The second voice was much more timid.
“Ah I see,” The man said mockingly, “So I suppose that makes it okay.”
“Sir, I-”
“The explosion was supposed to be small. A distraction for us to get in, get them, and get out! We only had one chance to do this, how are we supposed to find them in this mess!” Stiles was horrified, his hand held tightly over his mouth as he prayed to anyone who would listen that they couldn’t hear his frantic breaths.
“Sir, please, if you would jus-”
“You’ve ruined our chances at intercepting them! Any moment now, the Avengers will arrive and we simply cannot wait for them by sifting through this destruction!” His voice was filled with fury. “I wanted to do this the easy way, to keep it under wraps.”
“I think either way the Avengers woul-” The second man was cut off by a sharp smack.
“We would have had time before we had to worry about the Avengers. Time that you have effectively given away.”
It was silent for a moment. “Sir, I am so sorry.”
“Right,” Now, the first voice was eerily calm. “I suppose you understand what it is I have to do now.”
“Sir, pl-pleas-”
“I cannot have this mistake happen again.”
“Please!”
Stiles stifled a terrified whimper as the unmistakable swift sound of a knife filled the air, interrupting the man’s attempt to plead for his life. His cry of pain was cut off into a gurgle and Stiles realized in horror that the man’s throat had been cut.
“Well,” The first voice said as the man’s body fell to the floor, raspy gasps being the only sound he was able to make. “That’s that then.”
Stiles’ entire body shook, the teenager unwillingly listening to the sound of a man taking his final breaths. Tears were welling up in his eyes as he took in the situation; the explosion was no accident and now he was forced to play witness to a murder.
Contrary to his earlier feeling, he was now grateful that they were stuck, hidden beneath the smoky debris. In that regard, he supposed that he should count himself at least a little lucky.
He sat in silence, his hand still covering his mouth as he listened for any sign that the assailant was still present, even though he was fully aware that the man had made a swift exit following the murder. His face was sticky as his tears had mixed with the grime already streaking his skin and his lungs burned from the dust in the air. So many things had transpired in such little time, leaving his head spinning.
Slowly, Stiles uncovered his mouth and aggressively scrubbed them against the fabric of his ruined sweatpants. His eyes once again surveying the area before falling upon Peter. The kid was still unconscious. What was he supposed to do?
If Scott were here…
At the thought, he shot up in alarm. Scott had been throwing away his trash when the explosion went off which was most likely why he wasn’t stuck down here with him and Peter. If he got out of this unscathed, there might be a chance that he could find them. (Who needed the Avengers when his super-powered best friend could save him?)
He took a deep breath, standing up straighter as he looked up. He wouldn’t be able to pull himself out of here and even if he could, there was no way he was going to just leave Peter behind. Please let his wolf hearing work.
“Scott!” He yelled, his voice hoarse both from crying and the air. “Scott, we’re down here!” He glanced around, his eyes flickering to the unconscious teenager. “Please! Peter’s hurt!” He coughed hard, his shouting only leaving his throat more dry. “Scott!”
“Wha-” Stiles startled at the word, whipping around towards Peter. The teen was blinking slowly, his face scrunched in pain. “Why’re you yellin’?” He slurred.
He moved to sit up, causing Stiles to rush forward, “Wait, wait, wait, don’t move!” He said urgently.
“I-...m’ arm hur’s.” Peter’s eyes opened all the way and Stiles cursed, his pupils were unevenly dilated. If he wasn’t already sure that the kid had a concussion, there was literally no doubt now.
“You need to stay still until someone gets here,” He looked back up, “Scott!” His voice cracked.
Peter winced, “You hav’ to pop it back.” He said, slightly more coherent.
Stiles looked at him in shock, “What? That sounds like a horrible idea.”
“It’ll heal wrong,” He groaned, “Have to.”
“I think you have a concussion.”
“S’tiles,” Peter coughed, “M’ powers…heal fast.”
Stiles stared at him for a moment, mentally connecting the dots as his face melted into an expression of understanding. “Oh! Oh! Holy shit, you heal fast!” It was both a question and an epiphany.
“Please,” Peter pleaded. There was no way he was going to be able to do this. One; he was still fairly sure that moving someone with what he assumed was a horrid concussion was a terrible idea and two; the thought of doing this made Stiles want to puke
But still, Peter had saved his life. He couldn’t just let him suffer.
“Okay, okay,” He conceded, “You’re gonna have to sit up more.” He helped Peter move into an upright position, leaning back against the collapsed flooring as he mentally prepared himself. Stiles was both fortunate and unfortunate to know how to set a dislocated shoulder. He paused for a moment, looking around before he pulled his coat off, folding the sleeve until it was a thick piece of fabric. “You should bite down on this, it’s gonna hurt.” He instructed, handing it to the teen.
Nodding slowly, Peter put the offered piece in between his teeth before Stiles grabbed his arm. “Okay on three.” With a deep breath, he began, “1…2…3!” Stiles grunted, pulling Peter’s arm towards him causing the teen to yelp in pain. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” He was quick to apologize, the shoulder now set. “Fuck, I’m so sorry!”
Peter spat out the sleeve, breathing heavily with tears in his eyes. He at least seemed a bit more alert. “It’s okay,” He heaved, “I asked you to do it, thanks.”
Stiles could only shake his head in response, pulling the coat back over to him as he tied the sleeves into a makeshift sling. “Here, put this on.”
The two sat in silence for a moment before Peter suddenly looked around, falling back against the wood as he squeezed his eyes shut. “Please don’t tell me we’re trapped under a building.” He whispered, his voice wavering.
“Uh, I mean we’re not trapped….more so, um, stuck?” Stiles immediately knew that he had chosen the wrong response when Peter flinched, his breathing picking up. “Wait, wait, wait, we’re okay! We’re okay, help is coming!”
“I’m fine,” Peter gasped, although he didn’t sound like it. “I-why were you yelling for Scott?” He deflected.
“He can hear me.” He said, his tone matter-of-fact and as an added measure, he yelled again. “Scott!” His voice slightly more frantic.
“Stiles, I don’t think tha-”
“He can.”
Peter stared at him for a moment, an odd look on his face before he conceded, “Okay, I…okay,” Stiles wasn’t sure what made him believe him but it was a win, nevertheless. There was a second of silence before they both began to shout for help.
-
When Scott came to, he did so slowly. Unfortunately for him, when he did, his nose was immediately assaulted by the smoke filled air. He groaned, his head lolling to the side as he finally blinked his eyes open, registering where he was.
“Scott!” A concerned voice flooded his ears, drowning out the intense ringing. He blinked again and suddenly Steve was next to him and Scott realized that he was lying on a gurney sitting outside of the back of an ambulance. He sat up quickly, recalling the explosion that had thrown him from the coffee shop and his blood ran cold.
“Woah, easy there son,” Steve said as Scott looked around frantically. He was disturbed to realize that he was actually thrown pretty far from the wreckage and that the buildings adjacent to the coffee shop had been victims of the blast as well.
Where the cafe had sat was now ground for the rubble, only a quarter at the front of the building was still standing. The rest was completely destroyed. Stiles and Peter were still in there.
His eyes went wide and it took everything in him to control his panic. Panic would only lead to him wolfing out and he couldn’t afford to do that right now. His heart was racing in his chest, he needed to save them.
“Scott, you need to breathe.” He found himself shocked as he realized that Tony and Doctor Strange had joined them, his panic blinding him from his surroundings for a moment. At Tony’s words, he became aware of how his own breathing has become erratic and he was eerily reminded of his childhood asthma attacks.
Scott met the billionaire’s eyes and was unhappy to see that the man was equally as distressed at the events that had transpired and he imagined that the three adult men were aware of the fact that Peter and Stiles were buried somewhere within the rubble.
“We need to find them.” He whispered, trying to keep the waver out of his voice.
His words seemed to evoke something within Tony, the man cursing as he ran his hands through his hair, “The explosion was an EMP, all electronics within at least two miles got wiped.” At his explanation, Scott realized that Tony was missing the Iron Man suit that they had seen the night before. Both he and Steve were in their civilian clothes, the only person that seemed to have changed into a more superhero-y outfit was Doctor Strange.
“Strange, can you use your magic to locate them?” Steve asked, his voice commanding.
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Even if I could, I don’t have the materials needed.” Scott pursed his lips. Great, the literal superheroes seemed to be of no use. He took in a deep shaky breath, weighing his options. Stiles was usually the one to come up with the plans.
“We have backup on the way and hopefully FRIDAY will be up and running by then. The coffee shop that you guys wen…” He tuned out Tony’s deductions, focusing on the activity all around him. He couldn’t exactly find Stiles through scent, the air was too full of smoke and ash, it was too overwhelming. He debated using his eyes (his wolf eyes) to spot him through the debris but he wasn’t sure if that only applied to beings with supernatural auras.
Alright, hearing it was. He shut his eyes tight, trying to drown out the noise around him and focus his hearing on any sign of Stiles or Peter. He was past the point of caring that they would figure out what he was, his secret wasn’t as important to him as finding his best friend alive. His ears pricked, picking up a faint yell.
“-down here! Scott!” He opened his eyes immediately, his entire body straightening with alarm. It was Stiles. He went to focus his hearing again, to try and pinpoint his location, only for it to go interrupted by the men now debating the best course of action.
“Stop!” He yelled, a little bit of his alpha voice peaking through.
This gained the attention of all three of the adults and they were all looking at him with identical startled expressions. Steve’s eyes were scanning his face, the man’s eyebrows furrowing as if he spotted something unusual.
It was at that moment that Scott realized that he had blood on his face, yet there were injuries to match. In the time between the explosion and now, any cut or bruise that he had obtained had already healed.
He shook his head slightly, he couldn’t focus on that right now. That was a problem for later. “I can find them,” He announced.
Tony was looking at him with his own scrutinizing expression however Scott could tell from his heartbeat that the man was internally freaking out, “How do you expect to do that?” He questioned, crossing his arms.
Scott took a deep breath, “I could hear Stiles.” He said simply, “I-...look, I promise that I’ll explain everything later but I can hear him and I can find them. I just need you guys to be quiet.” With that, he closed his eyes again, hoping that they were taking his request seriously as he attempted to focus his hearing once again.
“Scott!” His eyebrow twitched as he picked up on both their voices, “Scott!” He could hear how frantic Stiles was, however the elevated pitch of his voice was aiding his ability to locate them.
“I know where they are.” He opened his eyes, giving them barely a second to react before he took off into the direction of the coffee shop debris.
“Scott!” He could hear someone call out after him but it was lost on his ears, the teenager too focused on locating his missing friends.
“Stiles! I’m coming!” He yelled as he sprinted with supernatural speed, using his enhanced strength to remove obstacles in his way. They were buried somewhere beneath the rubble and as he grew closer, their voices grew louder.
Scott slid to a stop in the quarter of the building that was still standing. He was so close, he could hear their heartbeats, it was just a matter of what to move to get to them. He opened his mouth to call for his best friend again, only to freeze in his tracks when his eyes fell upon a body laid out across the floor.
It was a man, his eyes wide and his face fixed in a horrified expression. And, Scott paled at the sight, his throat was slit and blood pooled around.
Unfortunately, Scott was no stranger to death but there was something about witnessing a body that was a victim of a gruesome murder that had him frozen in his spot. He flinched violently as a hand landed on his shoulder and he whipped his head around to find Steve.
“Tony was able to locate them with the suit,” He said and Scott was vaguely aware of the Iron Man suit touching down around them.
“I can-” He fumbled for words.
“He’ll take care of them,” Steve insisted, “We should get you out of here.” How was Scott to explain that he had seen a dead body before? That the blood didn’t phase him because when Allison died, he-
His breath hitched in his throat at the memory of Allison’s death and he could see the way Steve was growing increasingly worried. The man didn’t relinquish the grip on Scott’s shoulder, instead opting to gently lead Scott out of the debris filled area. At this point, Scott was in somewhat of a daze. It was like the events of the past few weeks were just hitting him at the sight of the man’s body and his brain was moving to autopilot.
(If he focused for a second, he could make out the sound of Doctor Strange and Iron Man pulling away the rubble to rescue Peter and Stiles.)
He found himself sitting back on the gurney, under the watchful eye of Steve Rogers, lost in his thoughts. In the past year, he and his friends had witnessed and experienced things that most people his age could only read about. His life recently has been one traumatic event after traumatic events and Scott had been continuously learning how to cope but for some reason, it was hitting him hard right now. “Scott?” At the sound of his name, he looked up, his eyes landing on Stiles.
His best friend was looking at him with a small smile and Scott took in his appearance. To be honest, he’s definitely seen better days. His face was streaked with soot and blood, his eyes puffy. Despite his smile, Scott could tell that he was shaken. He stood up almost immediately with no word, stepping forward to pull Stiles into a strong hug, the embrace obviously something that they both needed.
-
Steve was worried.
When he was summoned from the Avengers Compound to the Tower in the middle of the night, he was not expecting to be met with two fresh faced teenagers. What he expected even less was to find out that these kids belonged to a whole different universe. Honestly, he couldn’t blame Stiles for freaking out, Steve knew the feeling of waking up in a different time.
He’s experienced some pretty weird things in his long lifetime, most recently being the intense battle with Thanos that was fought both in space and in Wakanda. The Big Three, as Sam had called it, had all come together in defeating the mad titan and the Avengers Initiative received some new recruits and powerful connections.
One being Doctor Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme. Steve had been quite confident when they sought out the wizard for help, he had to have some way to get these kids back, right?
Wrong. Even after Tony had sent Scott, Stiles, and Peter from the Sanctum Sanctorum, Doctor Strange stressed the fact that despite his abilities, there was no possible way for him to open a portal and send them on their merry way- apparently things didn’t work that way.
(A purple alien collecting six stones was possible but opening a multiversal portal wasn’t? Okay.)
Luck just didn’t seem to be on their side right now.
And then there was the mystery that was Scott and Stiles themselves. The question of how exactly the two teenagers arrived in their universe hung in the air and Steve wasn’t completely certain that they could be trusted. Sure, they were kids but they knew next to nothing about them.
He only grew more suspicious when the wounds that were once on Scott’s face seemed to heal right before his eyes, followed by the teen seemingly admitting to having enhanced hearing. Among other enhancements, apparently, including speed and strength.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out what he was. Obviously, their world had its own version of the super soldier serum and for some reason, it was used on a teenager.
For the time being, he kept his revelation to himself. There was too much going on and he wanted to share his thoughts with Tony first, as he was still working on earning back the trust of the billionaire. With Peter injured as a result of the explosion and the emotional reunion between Scott and Stiles, it wasn’t exactly the right time.
That’s why he found himself sitting in the corner of one of the rooms in the med bay, arms crossed and supervising. Despite his claim that he was fine, Stiles sat on the hospital bed, a butterfly bandage covering the stitches that ran along his hairline and a bandage wrapped around his wrist. Scott was sitting right beside, the worried look having not left his face since they found Peter and Stiles.
He refused to let the two out of his sight (the last time he did, a building literally exploded) but now he felt like he was intruding on a personal moment, watching the boys whisper to one another. He toyed with the idea of using his own hearing to listen in on the conversation but there was a part of him that was worried that Scott would catch on. Steve sat up straighter when Tony entered the room, the billionaire looking equally as stressed. His attention wasn’t the only that was gained, both Scott and Stiles’ heads immediately turning to the newest occupant.
“How’s Peter doing?” Stiles asked immediately, concern dripping from his voice.
Tony pursed his lips, giving the two a scrutinizing look, “Better.” He said simply before pulling off his glasses, “Thanks to you, I suppose. His shoulder healed nicely.”
Stiles sagged in relief, “What about his concussion?”
“Not as bad as it could be.”
Scott was the one to question this, “What does that mean?”
Tony glanced towards Steve before speaking, “You know, I have a few questions of my own. For you, Scott, specifically.”
Maybe Steve didn’t need to make Tony aware of his suspicions, the genius already had some of his own. Granted, Scott had made his enhanced hearing quite obvious but maybe he would spell out for them what they were already suspecting.
He could see the nervous look that the boys shared, picking up on the nervous ticks they were exhibiting, “Yeah, I kind of figured,” The teen in question trailed off. “It’s actually a long story, ya know?”
Tony walked over, taking a seat in the chair beside Steve, crossing one leg over the other and resting his clasped hands on top, “Go ahead, I’m listening. We have time, don’t we Cap?”
Steve cleared his throat, settling back as he tried to give off the same, nonchalant vibe, “Yes, yes we do.” He nodded.
“Maybe you guys should just ask a question,” Stiles chimed in, “You’re kind of giving off a little “good-cop-bad-cop” vibe right now but ya know, it’s not really working.”
This earned a snort from Scott and Steve was suddenly realizing that he wasn’t as intimidating as he was trying to be.
“Oh you want a question?” Great, Tony was taking this as a challenge and Steve really didn’t have the patience for multiple snarky people. “Alright, why don’t you tell me what this is?” He pulled something out of his pocket, holding it between his fingers.
“What the hell man, did you go through my room?” Stiles asked indignantly, although both his and Scott’s eyes were wide with shock.
“That’s funny, I’m pretty sure that I own this whole building,” Tony waved his hands around. “But actually, this was found in Scott’s room.” He unfolded the paper, putting his glasses back on and made a show of squinting at the text. “Hmm, interesting. Don’t you think, Capsicle?” He asked, handing the paper over.
SEAN WALCOTT 250
DAVID WALCOTT 250
CHRISTINA WALCOTT 250
MICHAEL WALCOTT 250
LYDIA MARTIN 20
SCOTT MCCALL 25
Steve tore his eyes away from the paper, looking up in alarm, “What is this? Is this a-”
“A deadpool? That’s what it looks like.” Tony nodded. Both boys looked utterly perturbed, staring at him in a stunned silence. Why in the world would they have a deadpool? What was going on?
“Look,” Scott said slowly, “We can explain.”
At the same time as Tony said for him to go ahead, Steve spoke up, “When were you going to tell us that you were a super soldier?” Three pairs of eyes turned towards him, Tony raising his eyebrow in question.
“I’m sorry, what?” Stiles laughed dryly, “Scott? A super soldier? Please.”
“Hey!” Scott’s mouth dropped in shock at his friend’s words.
“You know, I can see it.” Tony said, looking at Scott curiously.
“The hearing, the speed, the strength. It all makes sense.” Steve said slowly. “Unless your world calls it something else, it’s all signs of the super soldier serum.”
Scott’s head cocked to the side, the teenager giving him an odd look, “No…I’m not a, um, a super soldier,” He said the term as if it were a foreign term.
“He’s a werewolf.” Stiles cut him off and Scott immediately yelped, his eyes opening so wide it was almost comical. Except it wasn’t. At least not to Tony and Steve, they seemed to be the only two taking this situation seriously.
“Okay, I’m going to need you two to cut the shit and give us some actual answers.” Tony’s frustration was obvious, the man leaning forward in his seat. “Because in the twenty four hours that you have been here, you got my kid blown up and my team finding a fucking deadpool in your possession! This isn’t a joke!”
Surprisingly, his outburst had little to no effect on the teenage boys, both of them staring at him blankly. Stiles had a smug smile on his lips and honestly, it was a little unsettling to Steve, “Scott?” The boy leaned his head. “You wanna chime in here buddy?”
Scott sighed, dropping his head into his hands, “I can’t believe this is my life.” He mumbled.
Their procrastination was bringing out the vein in Tony’s forehead, something that Steve has only really seen directed at him. Oh, this was not going to end well.
“Scotty, anytime now.”
With a dramatic groan, Scott lifted his head out of his hands, giving Steve and Tony an annoyed look before he leaned his head back and shut his eyes. “This is such a bad idea.” He said, opening his eyes and flinging his hand out in front of him and Steve’s breath caught at the sight.
Scott was looking at them with blood red eyes and sharp claws had unsheathed from his fingertips.
“What the fuck?”