Chapter 12
“Play it.”
None of them wanted to hear this, they knew it couldn’t be good, but Natasha squeezed James’ hand a little tighter. If this was going to help them find Peter, then it would be worth it.
“Friday, go ahead.” Tony spoke up, the moment of silence which followed was deafening before the video played, but the screaming was so much worse.
“Please I’m sorry! I’m sorry – please – I can’t!”
They all watched as the knife sunk into Peter’s chest, watched as the blood began to stream down his side as they cut him open. Surrounding Peter was a group of five men, all wearing masks and outfits with that stupid Hydra symbol etched into them.
How could they do this?
“Stop it!”
Peter was crying, no he was sobbing. None of them could blame him either, they hadn’t stopped at his chest, the team watched as they burn him, luckily, they didn’t brand the Hydra symbol into him, but they still burned him. Natasha saw as Peter started chocking on his breath.
“Stark please tell me you’re tracking this. I want that destination now.” She snapped, was it Tony’s fault? No, but if they had to watch this, if Peter had to go through this, it better be for something.
“Shut it Itsy Bitsy, no one even cares that you’re gone.”
“W-what?”
“No one cares about you Peter. You murdered your Uncle, your Aunt abandoned you and the Avengers never even cared for you in the first place.”
“No – no! That’s a lie they do care, they do!”
“Do they? Then where are they Spidey? You’re bleeding out on a table and they’re sat in their luxurious tower watching you. They aren’t coming for you Peter because they don’t care if you life or if you die.”
How dare they? The moment Natasha got her hands on these men she was going to tear them apart.
“Stark are you tracking it!?”
“I’m trying Red!”
“Stop please! What do you want from me?”
“We want to know what makes you tick Паук, we want to know how you work. We want to see if you can be recreated.”
“Sir, we can’t actually do that, remember? They wouldn’t survive.”
Wait, what? They wouldn’t survive?
“Bruce what does that mean?” Thank god for James.
“I – I don’t know? I mean Peter is an anomaly, he himself shouldn’t have survived the spider bite, he should have died from the radiation, but he didn’t. We were trying to figure it out before he left, we never got to the answer though.”
“So, the bite should have killed him?
“Yeah.”
Peter didn’t know how long he’d been there. The pain in his torso wasn’t going away, they didn’t want him to heal it seemed, whenever his system would kick in, they’d just cut him open again. Apparently, they were timing it each time, wanting to know if the time changed.
He turned his head and just stared. Stared at that little red blinking light. Was it true? Were the Avengers watching him? Did they care? He needed it to stop.
“Turn it off, please. Just turn it off.”
“What? Turn what off Spider?”
“The camera, please just turn it off.”
“Well then, say bye bye Itsy Bitsy. They aren’t going to be seeing you again for a long time.”
But all he could do was turn his head away once again, he didn’t want to say goodbye. He didn’t want them to leave him. They already had though, hadn’t they? Strucker said so himself. They didn’t even care that he was gone.
“How did you survive the bite then Peter? Surely you have it all figured out if my buddy Norman over there knows.”
“Well Strucker- “
“I wasn’t asking you Norman! So, shut it! I was asking our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man what he knows. So, go ahead Parker, spill it.”
“I – I don’t know. I was trying to figure it out and then I left. What do you know?” Peter turns to Norman as he asks that.
He knew that Norman knew a lot about him, that was obvious, but how did he know something about Peter, that Peter himself didn’t know?
“Norman? What did you find out about me?” Peter was scared, of course he was he’d been kidnapped but this fear was different. He wanted to know this information but part of him knew that whatever it was, whatever Norman knew couldn’t be good.
“Well Mr Parker, your parents were scientists yes?”
“I – yeah?”
“You thought they were the good guys all this time. Thought that they were scientists working for the good of the earth. Well, I hate to break it to you Peter, but they were not. They were scientists, scientists here at Hydra, their first experiment was you. You were created to be Spider-Man Peter. It was all purposeful, they altered your DNA so that the spider bite wouldn’t kill you but enhance you and as you know it worked.” Norman walked around him as he spoke, grabbing the knife on his left and dragging it down Peter’s side as he walked, not harsh enough to go through like the first cut but enough to make him bleed. Enough for it to hurt. “They also didn’t die in a plane crash Petey, no that never happened. Well, I mean we were on a plane. The point of the experiment was to create you, you were supposed to be their test subject, not their son. But they got attached, they wanted to get you out and fix everything before taking you away. We couldn’t allow that but when we disposed of them, they had already gotten you away, we couldn’t find you, until you walked into Oscorp. When that spider bit you I thought I was going to have a body on my hands, but I think you can imagine my surprise when you survived, and I knew I had found my missing Parker.”
“I’m a science experiment?” Peter whispered.
His parents had loved him, hadn’t they? Whenever he thought of them, Mary mainly, all he could feel was warmth, was that a lie? They didn’t want a son; they wanted a test subject. He wasn’t supposed to have a life.
May was right, he’s a murderer. His parents are dead because of him. Ben is dead because of him. His existence killed them. May was right to be afraid of him, but why did Ben have to die?
“You killed my parents because they tried to run. What did Ben do?”
“Well, you see, we tried to take you away, Ben intervened. He convinced May that it was safer if you were with them. He needed to be removed so we could get to you. How does it feel to know his death wasn’t worth it, you basically handed yourself over to us. His death means nothing to you does it?”
“W-what? No, no of course it does. I listened to you because of it. You said you’d hurt the Avengers; I didn’t want his death to be in vain!”
“No Peter, you betrayed everyone that you love. No wonder May wanted to get rid of you. The moment we got in touch with her she was ready to hand you over to us, you had replaced her. She is done with you. The moment you ran from the Avengers they were done too, they were happy to wipe their hands clean of you. You’re nothing but a pest Parker. At least now you’re of use.” Norman was mocking him, belittling him and Peter knew it. But it worked. May did want him gone, May had known him forever so why would the Avengers be any different?
“Alright Osborn time to get out. I’ve had enough of this conversation. It’s time to figure out how he works.” Was all the warning Strucker gave before once again slicing the knife down Peter’s torso. Peter tried not to scream but the wounds he already had were making it difficult, how long would this take?
“Bye bye Peter!” Norman hollered before walking through the door.
“Now then men, it’s time to see how he tics.” Strucker demanded.
No matter how loud Peter screamed, no one was coming.