Chapter 6
peter limped his way through a tulip field, wincing with every step as he watched a jet fly over him and make its way to the ground, heart in his throat as he looked up at it and saw the staircase appear; "peter!"
peter stopped as he heard jack shout his name, the blonde nearly tripping on the stairs as he raced to get to the bottom and meet his friend, "j-jack?! jack, is that you?" he called, "yeah, of course its me!" the teenager replied and peter stopped walking, "stop!" he cried and jack stopped, standing a few feet in front of the plane's staircase as he looked at peter with worry.
"tell me something only you would know!"
"only i would know?"
at peter's nod, jack thought about something that he knew that nobody else would know about except peter and him; "uh......remember when we first saw each other after the snap?" jack began, studying peter's face to make sure that he wasn't going to say something that he shouldn't, "i literally ran and jumped into your arms and we both fell over onto the floor and we were both crying and laughing at the same time and people were kinda staring at us while stepped over us but we didn't care at all and we just laid in the middle of the science hall for like five minutes before we even tried moving?"
a smile made it's way onto peter's face as the memory was brought back, "and we only moved because made mister davies asked us to." he added and jack let out a small laugh before him and peter walked towards each other, the brunette practically falling into his friend's arms, "so good to see you." peter breathed out as he clung onto jack, "peter, what....what happened?"
•••
"ouch."
"sorry, haven't done this much so i'm going slow." jack apologized as he held a glowing hand over a wound on peter's back, happy coming over with a glass of water and handing it to the brunette, not even questioning the sudden healing abilities that jack had developed, "relaxing a bit might help." the blonde cooed and peter nodded, trying to relax his muscles as he ran his fingers through his hair, but it was short lived because as soon as jack moved onto another wound, it burning terribly and he winced, his entire body tensing up as he slammed his fist down onto the table he was leaning on, "oh my god!"
"peter, just try to--"
"don't tell me to fucking relax! how can i relax when i messed up so bad?!"
jack and happy froze at peter's outburst, the adult in the room just sitting down in a chair opposite to jack's and letting peter let it all out, "i trusted beck! right?! i thought he was a friend so i gave him something that mister stark made for me and now he's going to kill all our friends and probably you and half of the fucking earth! so, please, do not tell me to relax!" the teenager snapped, sitting down in a cushioned chair across from jack, gripping onto his hair and holding back cries. "i-i'm sorry, i'm sorry, i shouldn't shout.......i just messed up so damn bad."
"peter, he manipulated you. beck is a monster and he made us all think he was this amazing hero."
"you didn't believe him."
jack opened his mouth to reply but closed it again, looking down because peter was right, he hadn't fallen for beck's lies while others did, he had no idea how to respond to that and peter could tell, "since stark retired, the whole world is asking me to be the next iron man and i-i.....i'm not iron man." peter replied, voice shaky with tears, "you're not iron man and you're never gonna be iron man." happy added and both teenagers looked to him.
"peter, nobody could live up to tony, not even tony. he's my best friend and, as iron man, he was a mess; he second guessed everything he ever did and he was all over the place. but, something that he never second guessed was picking you."
peter swallowed thickly, sniffling as he looked at the man and tried not to cry, "look, your friends are in trouble and you feel like you're alone, your tech is missing......what are you gonna do about it?" happy continued and the teenager took a deep breath, clenching his jaw before standing up, "i'm gonna kick his ass." he mumbled and jack smiled at that.
"i-i mean right now, like specifically what are we gonna do because we've been hovering over a tulip field for the last fifteen minutes."
"right, i can't call anyone because he's probably tracking their phones.....give me your phone!"
happy took out his phone, handing it peter and the teen took it, "what's your password?"
"password."
"no, what is your password?"
"password, spelled out, password."
"you're the head of security and your password is password?" jack asked before peter could, his expression a mixture of surprise and disappointment, "look, i don't feel good about it either." happy stammered as peter went into his phone and went onto instagram, finding flash's account and seeing that the student was livestreaming, clicking on it.
"hello governor, a cuppa tea for you! imma be in london--"
"they're in london!"
"london, got it!" happy declared as he stood up, going to the front of the plane to fly, "wait, i-i need a suit!" peter called and happy turned to him, a smile om his face, "a suit?" he smiled before pressing a button and a wall opened up behind peter, a mini lab being revealed and peter entered it, jack's eyes wide as he watched peter get to work and a smile spread across his face, "what?" the brunette asked upon noticing and jack shook his head, "n-nothing." he shrugged and he walked over to peter as he felt the plane take off, "i'm coming with you."
"i need to do this alone."
"the last time you did it alone, beck nearly killed you with a train! i'm not going to stay out of this and you can't make me, peter."
peter took a breath, looking at his friend and he nodded, "where's your suit?" he asked, "not here, but i can go get it." the blonde replied, "okay, you still have the earpiece that fury gave us?" peter asked and jack nodded, "as soon as you get into london, contact me and tell me what's going on." he added and his friend nodded, "got it! i'll meet you in london!" jack smiled before he vanished in thin air just as happy rushed over with his phone in hand, "fury's got the coded message and your friends are at the tower bridge! i'll go scoop 'em up, okay? we're close."
"got it."
"how's the suit?"
"almost done."
"good."
"wait, wait, wait!" peter rushed out before going into his pocket, pulling out the necklace and its case, holding it in front of happy, "if something happens to me, could you please give this to jack?" he asked and the man gave him a soft smile as he took it, "you're gonna make it back and you'll give it to him yourself."
•◇•
jack landed on top of one of the buildings near the tower bridge, eyes widening as he saw the new elemental that beck had made up; a mixture of wind, fire, and water.
"peter! peter, can you hear me?! where are you?!"
"flying in as we speak, suited up and everything!"
"cool, uh, are you seeing what i'm seeing?"
"the huge not real monster thing? yep, i'm gonna go into it, you should see me gliding in and i want you to enter with me, got it?"
"got it!" jack answered before he looked to the sky, seeing mysterio "attack" the elemental and rage built up inside his chest, only adding to the anger that was already there and he turned his head, using his suit's tech to zoom in on the red and black figure that he saw in the distance, zooming in and seeing that it was peter and the blonde spread his wings, taking flight and going towards the elemental.
"it's not real, it's not real!"
jack let out a grunt as he collided with a drone, tucking his wings in and grabbing onto it, eyes widening at his surroundings; you know how in cartoon's when they enter a computer system and are surrounded by the coding and circuitry of the computer and the fourth wall gets broken in several ways? yeah, it looked like that, but really blue and with a million drones flying around.
"that's awesome!"
jack turned his head, seeing peter and he smiled, "peter! what now?" he called and the hero looked up, climbing onto the drone, "push drones my way, i'm gonna connect as many as we can!" peter replied before shooting webs and jack nodded, taking flight and using his powers to push drones near peter, who was jumping from drone to drone and connecting every one he came across.
"jack, catch me!"
jack flew over to peter as the boy took a flying leap away from the drones, grabbing onto his friend and getting them away from the majority of the drones before peter sent a shock through the webs he connected, all drones spazzing out at the random taze and the illusion around them slowly began to break, giving them a clear vision of the bridge and both of them looked directly at beck, "you see him?"
"clear as day."
jack let go of peter as the teenager jumped away, once again jumping from drone to drone and jack followed him, watching beck closely and he noticed the man begin speaking, seeing a drone come flying in peter's direction and jack picked up speed, shoving peter out of the way and taking the hit from the drone himself, it smashing into one of his wings and he fell several feet to the ground, smashing into the concrete of the bridge and he groaned in pain, coughing as he grabbed at his ribs.
"jack! jack, are you alright?!" peter cried as he swung over, bending down to his friend and offering a hand to help him back up, jack nodding as he accepted the offer and got to his feet, putting his slightly damaged wings away, "i-i'm good." he breathed out before looking up, seeing the illusion completely dissapear followed by happy's jet to fucking explode, "happy?! happy are you okay?!" peter cried into the intercom, him and jack both awaiting a response.
"yeah, we're okay, just go get beck!"
"peter, run!" jack shouted as a bunch of drones came their way and peter grabbed jack's arm, "hang on!" he ordered as he pulled his friend closer and the blonde grabbed onto peter as tight as he could, watching as peter shot web after web and carried them away from the drones, jack turning his head and sending an energy blast at the drones and managing to knock some of them down before peter landed behind an abandoned car on the bridge, the two of them taking cover.
"happy, say something, please!"
"i'm here, jack, i'm here."
"oh, thank god."
"i bought us some time, but not much."
"we're trying to get to beck, but the drones just keep coming!" jack replied, letting his wings back out as peter grabbed the car and shot a web up, pulling himself up and jack followed, eyes wide in amazement as peter kicked the car into a bunch of the drones and killed them in a huge explosion, jack and peter going to the top of the bridge briefly stopping before they both ran away from a few drones as they suddenly began firing, diving off the roof and flying away, peter's suit and one of jack's wings catching fire and they glided against the water, putting themselves out.
peter began circling the bridge, shooting webs at drones and attaching them all to each other before he yanked them down, the drones that weren't attached firing after peter but only shooting the drones that he collected and causing an explosion, the teenager landing on the bridge and jack gasped as another set of drones sent a wave of energy at peter, causing cars to crash into him and push him off the bridge, sending him into the water.
jack flew down into the water, grabbing peter's arm and bringing him back up onto land, putting his wings away to stop them from further damage, "peter, are you okay?" he asked and peter nodded, going for his webshooters and cursing as they were broken, drones circling in the air a few feet away above a malfunctioning drone catching his eyes and he looked around, spotting a doll and picking it up, tossig it at the drone and it shot a wave of energy into the air, sending the doll up and a few of the drones shot at it.
peter jumped up, grabbing a busted drone and ripped it apart, grabbing the motor out of it and tinkering with it before ripping a seatbelt from a bar, tying it around the motor and grabbing the "TOWER BRIDGE" metal sign from the bridge, holding it like a shield, "jack, i need you to get into the bridge but don't let beck see you."
"what are you doing?"
"just do it, okay?"
jack hesitantly took flight, watching as peter ran towards circle of drones, using the sign as a shield from the bullets before he launched the motor into the swarm, the drones firing at it and making it explode, the blonde barely dodging it and getting into the tower infront of beck, sneaking inside and hiding behind a wall, waiting for peter's call.
suddenly, peter came up through the glass floor, grabbing beck and holding onto the man's collar, "your lies are over, beck." peter spat, "this certainly isn't ideal, but i have contingencies. edith?" the man called, edith triggering a drone and it shot at peter, sending him flying back and jack went to help, "jack, stay there." peter spoke through their intercom and the blonde listened, staying where he was but ready to attack if he needed.
"just give me the damn glasses!"
"you want these? come and get him!"
several more drones came in, using illusion tech and making jack's and peter's world nothing but darkness, the hidden teen waiting to see what would happen and it didn't take long before peter began destroying the drones around him with just his sixth sense, jack slowly comimg out of hiding as he saw peter grab a drone as a shield, knowing that the robot wasn't going to protect him enough.
"fire all the drones! now!"
drone after drone shot at peter, the broke drone in the hero's hands doing good for now before he launched it away, causing another drone to turn around and shoot beck, peter destroying the machines that came his way and he ducked down, thinking that was the end of it but jack saw another drone come up from above and it was bigger than the others, more weaponry attached to it and peter looked up just as it locked onto him.
"NO!"
peter turned his head at jack's cry, being knocked over by his friend as the boy charged at him, spreading his wings and covering peter's body, jack screaming in pain as several bullets fired into his wings and back, the golden-dipped raven feathers ripping and flying off as more and more damage was made, "jack! you have to--"
"if i move, then you fucking die!"
the drone stopped and jack pushed peter away with a blast of energy, sending him closer but still far away from beck and jack looked up just as the drone got ready to fire again, the machine sending a self-destructing blast so powerful that it broke the bridge and jack fell through, his wings too damaged to be used for flight and he just kept falling.
"jack!" peter cried as he looked through the hole in the bridge, watching jack fall dozens of feet and crash into the concrete below them.