(Mind Games) - I Don't Know Which Way It Is
Peter woke up to an empty room. He blinked and looked around, trying his best to find Tony. Peter sat up swiftly, waiting for the pain to hit him, but he looked down when nothing came. Blinkinly forcefully, Peter stood up and was amazed when he didn’t collapse to the floor in agonizing pain.
“What the hell?” Peter asked himself as he walked over to the door. He tried to push the door open to no avail.
“Tony!” He screamed, surprised at how loud and clear his voice came out. He backed up, preparing to slam his shoulder into the door when he saw Hammer’s face in the window.
“Mr. Parker… are you alright? We heard you screaming for Tony, did something happen?” Peter tried to read the man’s face, watching for any hint as to what the man was playing at.
“Where is he?” Peter asked forcefully. “Where is Tony?” Hammer squinted his eyes and cocked his head.
“Well, it’s around twelve o’clock, so I’m guessing he’s having lunch with his wife and kids.” Hammer said nonchalantly. Peter felt his breath catch in his throat.
“No - no - no - where is he?” Peter asked again, knowing exactly what was happening. He had known he was sick. He had known he was going crazy. He had known that at some point he was going to start hallucinating, but he hadn’t accounted for how real it would feel. He hadn’t known that he would feel every single finger as it ran through his hair, or the comfort that he would feel as he had imagined the man’s voice.
“I’m sorry, Peter… Tony took Morgan back a week ago, and he hasn’t contacted us since then.” Peter began to shake his head, backing up until he ran into the wall. He looked down, lifting up the grey t-shirt that was clean and unstained and looking at his unscather body. He rotated his shoulder and felt shock running through his body when there was no pain.
“No, you’re lying! You’re lying!” He put his hands on his knees and took deep, forced breaths. Hammer just chuckled quietly.
“I’m afraid to tell you that I’m really not.”
“No, you are! You are!” Peter looked up at the man, and he made up his mind. He braced against the cinderblock wall and then pushed off, crossing the short span of the room and turning his right shoulder in as he ducked his head. He hit the metal wall at full force, and it blew off the hinges. Why hadn’t he done this before? He heard Hammer coughing and crying out as he hit the ground and rolled into the wall opposite of his cell.
Peter rolled onto his feet, and faced the man who was running his tailored suit over his bloody nose. Before Hammer had any chance of fighting back, Peter threw a fist straight into the man’s jaw, and the man was out cold.
Peter turned a wild out, looking around the hallway in a panic, his heart racing. He began to run, his bare feet carrying him swiftly across the room to the window. Looking out the foggy glass he took his fist, and in one hit, the glass was shattering around him. Peter winced from the pain of the glass he pulled himself out of the window. Climbing down the side of the wall, he felt his feet touch the ground and he began to run. He could hear the sound of traffic and people and he ran straight for it. He felt pain running up his feet from the glass but he didn’t stop. He couldn’t stop! He was so close!
-
Peter woke with a start. He was chained to the wall, and he shook his head as he looked around the cell. He jerked his arms and winced at the pain that ran down his back.
“What the hell?” He asked as he pulled himself up. “Tony? Tony! Mr. Stark - please!” His voice broke as he rested his head on his chest, taking in deep breaths as he braced himself against the wall. He knew there would be no response. He knew that no one was going to be there. Tony wasn’t going to be here - Tony was at home with his family, safe and warm and he wasn’t going to be tied up with Peter while Justin Hammer of all people taunted them from outside.
With one swift jerk, the chains were pulled straight off the wall, and Peter hit the door with his shoulder, busting it straight off the hinges. He looked down the hall, shocked to see that there were no windows.
Turning, Peter found the staircase, and he bolted straight for it. He burst through the door, and sprinted down the stairs three at a time. When he made it to the bottom floor he shoved it open and came to another hallway. To the right he heard yelling, then Hammer and his two goons came running out of what Peter assumed to be the office.
“Peter!” One of them screamed at him as he bolted to the right, finding a door that was dead-bolted. He flew straight for the door, and ducked his shoulder again. He hit the door and ran blindly, the brightness of the sun hitting him with a blaring headache.
He turned the corner of a street and he saw his out! It was a police car, sat parked at the end of the street watching for speeding cars! Peter began to run faster! To hell with the cop finding out that he was Spider-Man he was so close to safety he could taste it!
-
Peter jerked awake, gasping in terror as he whipped his head around the room.
“No - no - no - no - no - no - NO!” He screamed out as he slammed his hand into the wall beside his head. “COME ON!” He screamed as his heart continued to bound against his chest.
Peter felt around the dark room until he found the door. When he touched it he felt a give, tilting his head as frustrated tears came from his eyes. The door creaked open, hitting the cinderblock wall behind him. The hallway was dark, except for one, damaged, swinging light at the end of the hall.
Peter’s heart stuttered as he saw a figure against the wall, the shadows of the light shifting as it swung. Peter walked forward carefully, stepping over pieces of glass and broken light fissures.
“Oh God-” He said before he turned, his arms bracing him against the wall as he threw up over the grimy floor. “No - God - please no…” His voice was barely as whisper as he stumbled the last few feet and fell to his knees, glass cutting into his flesh, but he didn’t care. He put his hand on Tony’s chest, as a sob was ripped from his chest.
Tony was staring past him, not looking at anything, and his chest was a mangled mess of blood where the arc reactor had been ripped straight from his chest.
“Please- no, Tony.” Peter rested his head on Tony’s shoulder before he heard a door at the end of the hall slam open and he turned to see Hammer walking towards him slowly.
“You know, Peter - you did this to him.” Peter shook his head as he blocked Tony’s body from Hammer’s view.
“No - no I didn’t-”
“If you had just been able to handle being here alone, he wouldn’t have tried to come save you, and I wouldn’t have had to do-” Hammer waved a loose hand at the two of them.
“That.” He finished, as though it disgusted him.
“You didn’t - you didn’t have to-” Peter stopped because he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breath. He watched as Hammer came towards him, and he knew. He knew he would rip this man apart. From limb to limb with no mercy, he would rip this man apart. “I’m going to kill you.” He muttered, with deadly seriousness.
“No, Mr. Parker. You’re not.” He said, and Peter hadn’t been able to see it because it was so dark. And with no hesitation, and no warning, a gun was fired, and Peter fell back against the wall with no life left in his body.
-
When Peter was dragged back into their room Tony felt his entire heart shatter, as though it was made out of glass that had been dropped onto a concrete ground.
He was - no matter how much he hated it - used to seeing the kid in physical pain after Hammer’s sessions with him. But this - the kid was awake, but he wasn’t seeing anything in the room. And he was sobbing. His entire body shaking with the effort of his cries, like waves billowing through his bloodstream, and breaking over the shore as they tore from his throat. The men had the decency to drop the kid on the cot as Tony waited in the corner, with their daily rations of a sandwich for Tony, potato for Peter and two glasses of water in hand. He set them down quickly, knowing that something was very wrong with his kid. Something that took precedence over the infection and the pain that he was in.
Tony sat down on the cot, back against the wall as he pulled Peter’s back up against his chest, tugging the blanket’s up the kid’s body as he rocked them slowly, running his fingers through the kid’s hair and over his back.
“Hey, I’ve got you Pete. They’re so close. I know they’re so close.” He whispered into the kid’s ear. He hated not knowing what Hammer had done. He hated it, and he wanted to murder the man.
“N’- no.” Peter’s voice was more broken than it had been before - evidence that he had been screaming brutally.
“You’re okay. You’re with me now, bud. I’ve got you.” Peter shook his head sloppily, and left it resting on Tony’s shoulder.
“It’s not- you’re not-” His voice broke as he sobbed again, his breaths hiccuping against the irregularity.
“I’m not what, pal?” Tony encouraged, needing to know exactly what was going on.
“You’re not here - this isn’t - this isn’t real.” Tony felt tears in his own eyes this time, as he wrapped his arms fully around Peter’s chest, continuing to rock him, hoping he could
get the kid to sleep pretty soon.
“I am, Peter. I am here. I’m real, I promise.” But Peter just cried and cried, shaking his head in disbelief.