I'm Not Okay

Sunday, December 24, 11:23 AM.

“Okay, I have no idea if this is gonna work,” Harley said, hooking up the last wire to the makeshift gauntlet. He’d made something he’d remembered Tony using when they’d first met. Just a round disk strapped to the palm of his hand that was powered by the arc reactor he’d strapped to his chest.

Peter was watching him from his chair. A worried look was permanently painted on his face.

“Alright… Ready?”

Peter shook his head. Harley took a deep breath before aiming the palm of his hand at the metal chain attached to his arm.

“Three two-” There was a familiar sound of high-pitched whirring indicating that the blast was powering up. “One!”

It was way more powerful than he’d thought. So powerful in fact that his whole right arm shot backwards dragging the rest of his body with it. He landed a few feet away. The chain was nothing more than a pile of scrap metal.

Unfortunately, the blast had also knocked the table over. The sound of hunks of metal and tools clattering to the ground echoed through the facility for a few minutes. Someone had to have heard that.

Harley was on his feet instantly. There was no time to waste. “Alright. That worked better than I thought. Are you ready?”

Peter somehow looked more terrified.

“Relax okay? I just wasn’t expecting that much juice. Ready? Three two one.”

The blast was just as powerful. Harley was pushed back a few feet but he kept his footing and only fell on his ass a little bit.

Peter hardly felt a thing thankfully. Harley had pretty good aim with that gauntlet. The chains and a good chunk of the chair were destroyed. A little bit of Peter’s sweater was burnt and probably a lot of arm hair too. But otherwise, he was all good.

“I’m fucking Iron Man dude!” Harley had never felt so cool.

Peter rolled his eyes but smiled a bit at the remark. “You can be Iron Man when we actually make it out of here.”

Harley pushed himself off the ground and dusted himself off. “Speaking of, did you figure that out?”

“No. This place is huge though. We could probably find a way out before they get here.”

There was a slight burning sensation on Harley’s palm. It took him a moment to realize why. The makeshift gauntlet must’ve short-circuited and was now frying the skin of his palm.

“Ah! Shit!” He exclaimed. He quickly shook the disk off his hand and kicked it away.

The palm of his hand was messed up. A large circle was burnt into his skin and huge white blisters were forming in its centre.

“Well... My plan was to blast through the wall and make a break for it. I guess that’s not an option anymore.”

There was a moment where neither of them moved. Peter kinda seemed like he was frozen in place. Harley’s breathing slowed. A cold feeling climbed up his spine. Everything stopped before he was hit with a realization. He breathed out. Peter began to move again as if he didn’t feel the same weird thing. Harley stumbled a little, all the blood rushing to his feet. He nearly screamed when a door slammed open. Peter was instantly prepared to fight. But nobody entered the room. It was just a dark staircase.

“That’s the way out,” Harley breathed.

Peter hesitated. “What do you mean? How do you know?”

“I just do okay? Let’s go!” He grabbed Peter’s arm and with no idea how he’d figured it out, bolted towards the stairwell. They ran down two levels and then out through a hallway. Harley had no clue how he knew where to go. Something in him just knew that it was the right way.

As they walked the hallways grew darker. Lights would flicker and burn out or not turn on at all. The floor was also torn in places. Like someone burned it with a laser. The walls were singed black and charred in places. The tile floor was stained black in huge splotches like someone spilled ink. Something big went down in there. He hoped they didn’t find out what.

Harley stopped when they entered an old lab. In the corner of the room was a glowing red sign that read; ‘EMERGENCY EXIT’.

Harley nearly cried. He somehow led them to the exit. Peter looked just as shocked but also impressed.

“Who’s got the spider-sense now?” Harley bragged as he tugged the door open. “Oh shit.”

His stomach dropped. He was standing face to face with Justin Hammer who was waiting for them in the staircase. How the hell did he know where they were? Gethrow seized Harley and forced him onto his knees. His arms were secured behind his back by the large man before he could reach into his pocket. He understood why Peter lost the fight against Gethrow. He was strong as hell. Stronger than the other goon even.

Peter was grabbed by the other goon and forced into the same position on his knees. Harley finally noticed how beat up he was. He had bruises all over the side of his head and cheek. His nose was bleeding and his eyebrow slit.

“Harley… I’m very disappointed in you. I thought you understood that your actions have consequences. I guess you don’t have what it takes, ” Hammer sighed.

“Why don’t you get off your peacocking ass and build it yourself-” Hammer punched Harley surprisingly hard across the face. Gethrow released his grip on his arms and let him hit the disgusting floor.

Harley groaned and pushed himself up onto his elbows. Hammer kicked him hard in the stomach. Everything went white for a minute. A loud ringing and bright white light. That was all interrupted when he was suddenly aware he was coughing on the disgusting floor beneath Justin Hammer.

“Do you know how much you cost me?” Hammer shouted. “I’m a dead man walking! I promised big results to big people and now I have nothing!”

Harley had just barely managed to push himself off the ground when Hammer stomped hard on his back. He slammed back onto the floor. His teeth clattered as his chin hit the ground.

“Stop!” Peter yelled. He yanked his arms free from the goon’s hands and punched him in the face. The goon stumbled for a moment before squaring up to the boy.

Peter launched himself at the goon using the man’s huge knee as a step up to kick him directly in the jaw. He hit the ground spectacularly hard and crumbled at Peter’s feet.

Hammer and Gethrow stood shocked. Gethrow snapped out of it first. And from then on, he was in fight mode. His fists were raised before he was even within punching range of the boy.

As Harley watched the two prepare to fight, another powerful kick landed right at his side. He wasn’t completely sure how it happened but the next time he looked up, Peter was lying face down on the concrete. Gethrow grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into the nearby wall. His grip around the boy’s neck tightened. Peter kicked his legs and pounded his fists against the man’s massive hand. He hardly flinched.

“You know I’m very disappointed in you Harley. But I did make you a promise. I said I went easy on the guy I hired before you. I think I’ve gone fairly easy on you so far,” Hammer landed a powerful kick to Harley’s jaw.

His mouth filled with something thick and warm. He opened his mouth and drops of blood leaked onto the already disgusting floor. His mind was focused on Peter though. He could hear him struggling and had to help him before it was too late.

“Anything to say?” he crouched down beside the boy panting and sputtering on the floor and grinned.

“You’re a fucking bully,” he reached into his pocket and pulled out the small metal cylinder. He flipped onto his back and pointed on the end of it towards Hammer. He pressed the button on his end and shut his eyes as tightly as possible. He only hoped Peter did too. There was a loud screech and a hell of a lot of thuds but he kept my eyes shut. He had no clue how long the effects of the flash bomb lasted.

When he opened his eyes, Hammer was on his knees rubbing his eyes. His little rectangular glasses were discarded onto the floor. Harley grabbed them and threw them down the hallway before turning to where he last saw Peter. Gethrow was leaning against the wall, opening and closing his eyes rapidly. The third goon was also nursing his eyes. Unfortunately, so was Peter. Harley grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him to his feet. Peter didn’t fight so he must’ve known it was him.

“What the hell was that?” Peter breathed, as Harley tugged him towards the emergency exit.

“Pinata for a cricket. Now move it, Parker,” The two raced up the stairs for what felt like forever. Peter blindly stumbled along asking millions of questions that Harley left unanswered. He was more focused on getting the hell out of there.

He nearly cried when he saw a door marked EMERGENCY EXIT. He burst it open and felt the cool winter air on his face. The sun reflected on the snow off the snow causing it to glow a bright white. It burned his eyes but he didn’t care. “Holy shit, we’re-OOF-”

Something slammed against Harley’s back and knocked him face-first into the thick blanket of snow. He heard the door slam behind him. He flipped onto his back and saw Peter holding the door shut. A loud bang rang out from behind the door. And then another. And another. Peter was the only thing keeping Gethrow from busting the door open.

Harley pushed himself onto his feet. “We should go. Now.”

Peter hesitated. “You go. Get a head start. I’ll catch up.”

“Are you crazy? That dude almost killed you!”

“And he’ll kill us both if you don’t run now!”

It wouldn’t have been his first call, but he couldn’t argue. They didn’t have time. He took a quick look around at his surroundings. They were in the middle of nowhere. No roads in sight, just trees.

“If you die, I’ll kill you, Parker!” Harley shouted before taking off into the woods. Snow and sticks crunched under his feet as he swerved between the trunks. He could still hear Gethrow banging on the door, but it soon faded to silence the farther he got.

Freezing cold air burned his lungs but that didn’t slow him down. The only thing that did was the thought of Peter backed up against the door.

He needs me to keep running. He’ll catch up. He can run twice as fast as me. He’ll catch up.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he heard something. His ragged breath made it hard to hear but it sounded like a motor. He listened to figure out where the sound was coming from. It could be a road and that road meant people and people meant help. It took him a while to realize the sound was getting closer.

It didn’t feel right, though. He had a sick feeling in his stomach the louder the sound grew. It didn’t sound like a car. It was more like a weed trimmer.

He turned around and saw movement behind him. Shit. Run now. He took off again deeper into the trees. The sound only got closer though. He could hear shouting too then.

Snow crunched behind him closer and closer. He glanced quickly behind and saw Peter running full speed toward him. His excitement quickly died when he saw someone on a snowmobile trailing close behind him.

Peter’s face twisted from fear to pure panic.

“Watch out!” he shouted. Harley whipped his head forward but not in time. His stomach dropped when his foot didn’t hit the ground and instead sent him tumbling down a steep hill. He dropped to the ground and tried to slide down on his back. His t-shirt instantly filled with snow before being dragged off completely.

He fell a few more feet before sliding to a stop. He stood immediately and shook as much snow as possible. It didn’t stop the biting cold.

Peter was much more graceful on his way down. He slid easily down on his feet like he was snowboarding and came to an easy stop beside Harley. “So, you managed to get your shirt off.”

"What?"

"You know from Galaxy Quest?"

"God, you're such a nerd."

The snowmobile guy was staring down at them from the top of the hill. The trees were too dense for him to make it down on the snowmobile. Still, he could make it down on foot. The boys didn’t wait for him to make a move. Peter took the lead deeper into the woods.

“Was that Hammer?” Harley asked.

Peter shrugged. “He just came out of nowhere so I ran. I don’t know if anyone else followed us.”

“What’s the plan?”

“Find a road or a person with a phone. Call Mr. Stark.”

“Do you hear anything?”

They both stopped and listened around them. Harley didn’t hear anything other than his own breath and the shaking trees. He did notice how increasingly cold he was getting. His pants were completely soaked and he couldn’t feel his feet. He’d finally begun aggressively shivering.

“I can hear cars… there,” Peter pointed toward nothing.

“How far?”

Peter shrugged and began jogging towards the source of the sounds. Harley had no other choice than to just trust Peter’s ears and follow.

It was the longest walk of his life. It was probably only a few miles but the cold slowed them down significantly. It was nearly dark by the time Harley could hear cars in the distance. He had no clue how long they’d been out there or how much longer they could stand to be out there. Peter had slowed down a lot more than Harley. He was trailing behind just a few feet. He didn’t look good. His lips were a deep blue and his arms were tucked tightly around himself. They had both stopped shivering a while ago. Harley knew that wasn’t a good sign.

“I hear the cars! We must be close,” Harley shouted behind him.

Peter nodded weakly. He took a few more steps before falling face-first into the snow.