The Miracle
“Mr Stark, I’m done. I have confirmation that Peter was on that airport,” Vision announced.
Tony hurried upstairs, where the rest of the team was. His family followed him, curious as to what Vision had found.
“Let’s roll, Vis,” Tony said.
Vision raised his hand at the screen, and a video appeared. It was quite obviously a security camera filming at night, looking at the bad quality. “Here is a van, it’s the same one used to take Peter. The license plate matches and it has the same scratches on the back,” Vision said, and indeed, vague scratches could be distinguished. The video moved to another camera, where Peter was dragged out of the van. His Spider-Man suit was ripped and missing the mask, yet still recognisable.
“So, we are sure that Peter was there, but we don’t know for sure where they went,” May said.
“Indeed, Mrs Parker. Two planes left in the twelve hours after, but none of the security footage shows us Peter being placed in either plane. The van also left, but Peter had already been taken out of it and it went to a civilian house after. Scans show no sign of Peter. However, the airport does have a hidden underground base. My scans can’t see what’s inside, but I am sure that it’s there. It’s hidden in an already hidden basement, which I can scan, and the door inside leads to what I can only assume is this base. It’s the only place Peter can be.”
“So, we just go there,” Rhodey said.
“A good plan, Mr Rhodes. You should be aware that there are multiple explosives surrounding the base, presumably as an air defence system. You should be careful.”
“Aren’t we always, Vis?” Tony said.
Pepper looked at her husband with a doubting face. “Yeah, right.”
Peter was in the shower. He refused to look at his body, knowing what he would see. It hurt. Everywhere, it hurt. Bruises and maybe even a broken bone or two. He shouldn’t have resisted. He had been stupid. Doctor Smith had been so nice for him, Peter shouldn’t have fought when he had only tried to inspect him.
The whole team, everyone, was in the jet. Tony was planning to jump out somewhere just before the border, and Rhodey, Sam and Vision would go with him. The rest would land the jet and explore on the ground once the air team had disabled the explosives.
And so, it happened. Vision was perfect for the job, being able to make himself transparent. The other three flew around, triggering the system and then shooting the explosives out of the air, while Vision was busy disabling the whole system. It only took a couple of minutes to finish this and the jet arrived too. The air team was already scanning the whole area, something Vision had already done using EDITH’s satellites, but she had no way of taking up-close scans, so FRIDAY ran some through Tony and Rhodey’s suits. Nothing new came up, but the effort had been made.
Peter had just finished his shower, and returned to his room, only to find that his radio was missing, together with his books and notebook. They seemed so nice, but all they really wanted was to have a way of punishing Peter.
Captain America jogged through the empty halls of the airport, alert of every sound and movement. Being a private one, there was no one around, or they could at least not be seen. Steve was looking for the basement. The hologram had looked way different than the real place, but he was pretty sure he was in the right place. He turned a corner and saw two men, guards, probably. He was going in the right direction, it seemed.
The Black Widow was creeping through the airport, looking for the control room. She didn’t really expect to have to fight too hard, but she was alert anyway. Anyone making the slightest sound would be noticed within a second and dead a second later if she decided they were an enemy. She sneaked on, seeing a corner up ahead. She backed against the wall and listened. She didn’t hear anyone, but that didn’t mean so much. She grabbed her knife, stepped around the corner, saw the guard, who also saw her and threw the knife, all within a second and without making a sound. The knife hit the man in the head. She quickly stepped forward to make sure the body didn’t smash to the floor and caught it to make sure he landed softly, and more importantly, made no sound.
Peter walked around his room with nothing to do. Everything that kept him sane was gone and all he could do now was to wait. He hoped someone was coming to save him soon.
Hawkeye was sitting on the roof of the building, keeping an eye on the road. The guards had all been taken down initially, but there was no guarantee that no one else had been alerted in the process. He knew Nat would be in the control room any minute now, and that she would be able to see everything from there. He also knew that while Steve had gone ahead for the basement, Tony and Rhodey were still dealing with the guards. As soon as they had finished, they had gone after Steve to support him. Tony would probably take lead again. Hawkeye kept running in circles on the roof, as he kept an eye out for any vehicle coming from the highway or anything from the sky.
Scarlet Witch was in the entrance hall, scanning the building with her mind. She was looking for her brother. Not the brother she had lost in Sokovia, but the brother she had found in New York. The brother she had grown to love just as much as her twin. Any moment now, Tony was going to join her and she could go and follow Steve.
Dr Smith walked, scaring Peter. The beating had apparently not helped his Spidey sense. It was either that or not even his Spidey sense could pick up anything through those goddamned walls. Peter didn’t know which one worried him more. It was bad either way.
“Hello, Peter. How are you doing? I hope you’re not hurt too bad,” the doctor said.
“Uhm… I’m not too bad,” Peter said. He wasn’t sure what response Dr Smith wanted. Judging by his reaction, this was a good one.
“That’s good to hear. I hope that won’t be necessary any other time. Anyway, where were we? Ah, yes, we do still need your blood. You see, the spider that bit you was not accidentally there. Admittedly, the spider escaping was not a part of the plan, but the scientists at Oscorp who developed it were in contact with us. They didn’t know yet what would happen with the bitten person, but when Spider-Man showed up, we knew.” Dr Smith smiled. “It was waiting for you to reveal yourself before we could draw your blood, but you kept stalling. The Spider Project was put on hold, but once you revealed yourself, we got to planning again. Unfortunately, your blood is the only thing in the world infected. Your spider was the only one. That’s why we’re here, to get more from you.”
Peter’s mouth fell open. They wanted more Spider-Men? More like him? Peter had no idea what that would mean, but he knew that it wouldn’t be good.
Dr Smith called for guards. Peter knew what was going to happen. This time, whether he resisted or not, they were getting his blood.
Iron Man was still busy with the guards that were following him and Rhodey. Annoying bastards. Iron Man flew around, hitting as many guards as he could. Rhodey was by his side, supporting his friend, both in battle and mentally. Occasionally, Clint backed him up with an arrow, but he was also busy looking out for any unwanted vehicles.
After a ten minute fight, they finally succeeded in getting all the guards down. He knew, consciously, that that was a quick one. Yet, no matter how fast they dealt with all of this, it wouldn’t be fast enough. He wanted his son back.
“The entrance is secure,” Rhodey’s voice blasted through her earpiece. That meant Tony, Rhodey and Vision would join Wanda, and that they would follow Steve right after. “Where are you, Steve?”
“I’m almost in the basement. A lot of guards around here,” Steve said. That would be logical since that’s where the main part of the building was.
“The control room is almost secure,” she said. Natasha knew that just around the corner was said room, but she also knew that there were a whole lot of guards around.
She stepped around the corner and immediately punched the first guard, who had barely seen her. The second was out after a kick in the stomach and a shock from her Widow’s Bites. The third was easily dealt with after she kicked in his private area and punched him in the face. The fourth had just come out of the control room, but couldn’t handle her Widow’s Bites, followed by a sixth, who didn’t appreciate her jumping on his shoulders. He was out just a couple of seconds.
Natasha stepped over a body and entered the control room. It had surprisingly poor security, not even needing to enter some sort of passcode. “Control room is ours. Clint, I have a view on the surrounding roads here, you can leave your post. JOCASTA, keep an eye on this and alert me when anyone approaches.” Natasha pulled out a USB containing JOCASTA and let the AI take over the system.
“Of course, Ms Romanoff,” she responded.
“I’m coming to you, Nat. You going to the basement too?” Clint asked.
“Yes. I’ll be waiting in the entrance hall for you.” Natasha ran away, trusting JOCASTA to do her job. She was in the entrance hall in no time, and Clint was only a couple of seconds later.
The two friends ran to where they knew the basement was. Only five minutes later, the whole team was completed. “Okay, we’re here, let’s go!” Natasha shouted.
“We can’t yet, Nat. FRI’s busy getting in. It will only take about one more minute,” Tony said while concentrating on the lock.
“Can’t we just kick it in?” Anything to get Peter back.
“Too obvious, they might get a warning,” Steve said for Tony.
“And all these bodies aren’t enough warning?” Natasha challenged.
“We’re not in there yet, they might not have noticed us yet.” Steve send a pointed look to Nat.
“Alright, stop it. We have 10 seconds left. Prepare,” Tony said.
The team got into their positions.
“10… 9… 8…” FRIDAY counted down. Natasha checked her Widow Bites, Steve readied his shield and Sam pulled out his guns.
“7… 6… 5…” Wanda’s hands glowed red, Rhodey’s and Tony’s repulsors charged.
“4… 3… 2…” Clint readied his bow.
“1… GO!” The door broke open, and immediately, a couple of guards came running up. Tony and Rhodey immediately blast them away and the next couple were hit by Wanda’s force. The team ran through the hallways, keeping their weapons ready. Clint fired his arrows, Wanda telepathically threw men against the walls and Nat kicked down everyone that got into their way.
The first door was kicked in, revealing another hallway.
“Okay, Tony, Rhodey and Wanda go there, Nat, Clint, Sam, you’re with me,” Steve said.
The hallway ended very soon, leading to a couple of bedrooms. The bedrooms were mostly empty, except for one, where a man was sleeping. Wanda made sure he wouldn’t wake up until they were gone.
“All clear here,” Tony said through the comms. “We’re coming back to you.”
“Alright, we split up, Sam and I went left, Nat and Clint right. It should be obvious where we split,” Steve said quietly.
“Who needs help?” Wanda asked.
“Nat and I are fine, we can handle this,” Clint said.
“We could use a hand,” Sam said.
“Okay, coming right up,” Tony said.
Tony and Rhodey flew away and Wanda ran after them. She used her power to keep up with the men. They got to the split and turned left. Soon enough, they saw Sam and Steve.
“How can we help?” Wanda asked.
“Get them away from here!” Sam yelled. Now, they saw their opponents. A couple of birds was continuously and repeatedly attacking them. Rhodey doubled over in laughter.
Wanda used her magic to get the birds away, and Steve and Sam got up.
“Rhodes, stop laughing at us. We have to find Peter!” Steve said.
And so they went along. All five of them were focused.
“Guys, problem here. We found five guards and knocked them out, but 20 more are coming for us. We would appreciate some help,” Nat whispered through the comms.
“Okay, Rhodey and I will continue on this path, let us know when you find anything or if someone dies,” Tony said.
“Okay, we’ll keep you updated!” Wanda ran away with Steve and Sam following her, both of whom soon passed her.
Once Nat and Clint were ‘saved’ (Natasha refused to admit she had needed rescue, apparently, she only called for help because she didn’t want to make too much noise and then even more guards would get there, which would lead to a very unfortunate situation, or so she said), the group continued. Sam, Steve and Wanda stayed with the spies until Tony or Rhodey called them.
“Look, another split. You guys left, we right?” Clint said, gesturing to him and Nat.
Steve just nodded before turning left.
“Tony, Rhodey, we split up once again, Romanoff and Barton went right, we went left. If we need help, we’ll yell,” Sam said.
No response.
“Tony, Rhodey?” Wanda said. “FRIDAY, where are they?”
“No need to worry, some men were bothering us,” Tony said.
It took another ten minutes before Tony and Rhodey found Peter. Only problem: it was on a computer screen in an office. The name on the desk said, Dr Simon Smith. FRIDAY identified him, but all she got was a picture. At least now they knew who they were looking for.
Tony looked at his son while Rhodey informed the team of everything they found. Peter always looked so much younger when he slept, just like he did now. So peaceful, if it weren’t for the bruises all over his body that were so hard to ignore. So innocent, if it weren’t for the way he held his arm, as if it was broken. So beautiful, if it weren’t for the rags that could maybe be called clothes and the tears that were visible even on the low resolution of the video.
Tony wished he’d kept a better eye on him and that he had taken his son with him on the suit. Tony wished he had been a better father. But that wasn’t too late. Peter was still alive, and once he was free, Tony could be the father Peter needed.
Rhodey snapped him out of his train of thought. “Come on, FRI connected into the system and found Peter’s hiding place, let’s go!”
“FRIDAY, get the information to the others, we’ll go ahead. If they find Dr Smith, take him along.”
“Right away, boss!”
“Thanks. Go!” Tony said, hyped up from everything.
The two best friends ran out, followed the route FRIDAY had mapped out for them and fought everyone they saw, simply because everyone they saw wanted to kill them. Soon enough, the rest of the team joined them and all of them went on even faster. Eventually, they reached the door behind which Peter was supposed to be.
Tony tried to open the door, but it was locked. He should’ve known. He looked at Wanda, who nodded. She stretched her hands and the door swung open, revealing Peter. Tony ran. He ran towards his son.
Peter woke up in his father’s arms and he knew everything would be alright.