F.E.A.R
Peter crossed his arms, unsure of what to do as he as he stood in the center of an underground base. The hero wasn’t aware of another person until he heard Fury introduce,
“This is Mister Beck.”
Peter stared at the man, taking in the gold and green suit. It was a cool color mixture, and made the man even more intimidating. Unsure of what to do, he waved and let out an uneasy laugh.
“You can call me Quentin,” Mister Beck spoke up, his tone professional and stance tall. “Mister Beck is a bit too formal.” Peter stared in awe as the man held out his hand, showing peace. The kid hesitantly took the older man’s hand, shaking it firmly.
“I-I’m Peter! Peter Parker,” He forced out, taking his hand back quickly uncomfortable with the amount of touching. “I know. I saw your file. Enhanced human who calls themselves Spider-Man and saves the day on basically a daily basis. We could use someone like you in my world.”
“I’m sorry,” Peter stared at the older adults in confusion waiting clarification, “your world?”
“Mister Beck is from earth,” Fury walked behind the webslinger, “just not ours.” Peter jumped, watching the man walk before returning his gaze on Beck. “There are multiple realities Peter. This is just one of many. I’m from earth 813. We share identical constants, level force senmentry.”
“Wait. You’re saying there’s a multiverse?” Peter stepped forward, a grin plastered on his face, his eyes glowing with excitement at the thought. “I just thought that was theoretical! That completely changes how the intel singularity! That’s insa-“ Peter looked back at Hill and Fury who looked completely lost and unamused. His excitement came to a screeching halt, his smile faltering.
“S-Sorry,” He sheepishly apologized.
“Anyways,” Fury announced, ignoring the nervous banter from Peter, “the snap tore a rip in our universe. Stuff from other universes are leaking in.”
Peter glanced at the director, nervous. “Other stuff?”
“Yes. I’m one of the many to fall through the tears along with...other things,” Beck cleared up. “I’m guessing not all of it is good?” Hill nodded, giving him a thumbs up. The kid took that for his answer and didn't ask any more questions.
“Not only is the tear bringing other things from other universes, it’s throwing our universe off balance. The stones are what kept it balanced, with them gone we got nothing protecting our earth from collapsing.”
This sounds like an Avenger level situation, Peter thought to himself before quickly reminding himself, there are no Avengers to take care of it. He felt worry overcome him as he thought about his Aunt. If the universe collapses, then she dies with dozens of other people including himself. He couldn’t let her die. He had to protect her, it was the only thing he couldn’t afford to fail.
“How much time?” Peter asked.
“730 hours and counting till the universe collapses,” Hill spoke up, glancing between the two heroes, her expression unreadable. “Okay, what's the plan? How do we win this?” Peter tensed up, finding being on time limit stressful.
The crew remained silent, nobody even looking the teen in the eye. Some with shame, others held pity.
Then Peter realized there was no plan.
There was no way to ensure everyone gets out alive. His mind began to spiral into an endless panic. He thought of his last battle where there was no plan. There was no insurance. There was only their courage and heroism.
There is no hope.
This world needed him to fight, they needed Spider-Man. He was supposed to bring hope to the people below but he keeps failing to do that over and over again. Time after time he keeps failing, nothing he was doing worked.
“Great…”
“Mister Parker-“ Fury was cut off premature from his sentence by Peter, use scoffed. “This is a wild goose chase. There’s no winning against the freaking universe! I should have known!” The teen turned his back, and began to storm off. He heard the anguish sighs but he couldn’t process it.
The world was gonna end and he needed a drink.
Peter sat at a bar, staring down at the glass of orange juice in his hand, moping about what to come. A month to save his world, a mission he was bound to fail. He thought of all that happened to him, the alleyway where he failed himself. Now he was gonna do the same to billions of people. All because he wasn’t strong enough. He didn’t deserve the title of hero. He deserved nothing.
“Long night, huh? First get dragged halfway across the world then gets told the world is ending. Not exactly how I’d dream my vacation away from home would be.”
Peter glanced up at the sound of Beck’s voice. He watched the man take a seat beside him, ordering himself a glass of beer. “How’d you find me?” Peter asked, shrinking in his seat in embarrassment.
“I could smell the teen angst coming off of you for miles,” Beck teased lightly.
The incredulous teen stared at the foreigner, unsure of how he could joke at a time like this. To be so easy when the world was in danger.
He was once like that.
Then life came in the form of giant purple dick that taught him how to lose. Now he saw that he wasn’t invincible. Being an enhanced human wasn’t enough to save the world. He still could fall like any other human in the world and face the same consequences.
“How can you be so calm when you’re stuck in another universe that’s gonna disappear in a week with you in it with no plan to save it?” Peter asked wholeheartedly, circling his finger around the top of his cup defeated.
“What do you want Peter?” Beck suddenly asked abruptly.
“I want things to go back to the way they were. I’m just a kid and I’m not ready for this....” Peter’s finger tranced the edges of his glass cup, feeling the smoothness along it. He couldn’t bring himself to look at the other hero’s disappointment. He couldn't face anybody.
If Ben could see him now. His loser nephew was running away from his problems again. He’d be so disappointed.
“You’re right,” Beck nodded, “You may not be ready, but this is my responsibility.” Peter hated the crushing weight responsibly had on him. It broke him down, left him lying bloody and bruised. “It’s my job to save the world even if I’m afraid. Sacrifices have to be made, kid. Hero’s have to make them for the greater good,” A dark shadow fell over Peter’s eyes, “Sometimes people will die and you’ll lose things. You can’t stop it.” Peter’s gaze fell dark, a shadow casting over his eyes. “As long as there’s evil in the world, there will always be a sacrifice.” The words resonate deep in his heart, wrapping him around in a tight hold, squeezing him until he suffocated.
“Well, it’s late. We aren’t going to get anything done tonight. Let’s head back, tomorrow we’ve got a big day ahead of us.“
Peter nodded, picking himself up slowly, his mind still focused on the words he was told it was a riddle in need of solving.
“As long as there’s evil in this world, there will always be a sacrifice.”
These words meant something to him, and dug deep into his core, releasing a virus inside of him, infecting him with words.
The two walked out of the small bar, shoulder to shoulder when Peter felt a strange compel to look across the street. There he saw a familiar floating figure watching, hovering in the middle of foot traffic, just starting over at him.
“You okay?” Beck asked.
“Y-Yeah…” Peter looked at the other hero. “Just a little on edge I guess...” The hero kept walking, ignoring the floating figure and ignoring the painful memories it brought with it as much as he can.
“You’re in danger.” Peter stumbles backwards when the floating figure appears in front of him, nearly bumping into him. Beck didn’t seem to notice and kept walking.
“You can’t trust anything,” The figure went on despite Peter pushing past him, pushing him to the side. “Please listen-“
Peter refused to listen, snapping, “Leave me alone!” By the time the kid look back, the figure was magically gone.
“What?” Beck asked.
“N-Nothing!” Peter squeaked, his eyes wide. Beck gave him a strange look but ended up ignoring it. They kept walking in quiet, leaving Peter to wonder what floating man was warning him about.
“Smart idea bringing a highly unstable emotional teen with us huh?” Hill asked, peering over at the unconscious teenager. Her eyes full of amusement but the rest of her solid.
“Technically that kid is twenty one,” Fury pointed out, flipping through data collected.
“If that helps you sleep at night.” Hill smiled, taking her eyes off her boss for a moment to pick up a package. She tossed it on the table saying, “The lab says Merry Christmas.”
Fury examined the box, taking a moment to examine the dark plastic case before unhinging the latches and opening it.
“It’s the reader you asked for. They managed to complete it early. It’s designed to pick up on specific infinity energy now.” Fury picked up the small device, rubbing his finger against the cool metal. His finger trailed down the side before it reached the on button. He pressed it and listened as the machine turned on.
He walked around impressed, noting to himself to give the creator’s a raise. He was about to switch it off when he passed Peter’s cot and the small arrow on the device suddenly flew towards the red. Hill looked up, surprised.
“The lab said it still has some kinks,” Hill shrugged off.
Fury glanced at the sleeping teen, watching him breath in and out before watching the device go haywire.
“Boss?” Hill glanced between her boss and the machine, put off by his serious glare.
“Yeah…” Fury prolonged the ah part, his mind elsewhere for a moment. “Just a kink,” The director muttered suspiciously, shutting the device off.
Strange felt frustrated.
In all his time being a sorcerer, never had he thrown a chair against the wall in frustration. He was usually well formed, barely showcased his emotions. However this situation managed to crawl under his skin.
Locating the kid proved to be tricky. He somehow managed to mask him from his magic. He was in no way traceable. He spent hours searching and slaving over books trying to find a spell that’d make him scream hallelujah. However he failed to hit a lead. To make matters complicated, Stark wasn’t speaking to him especially after he delivered the news of his precious wards disappearance. The man built his walls and made damn sure Steven was on the other side. After all he was dragged through, Stark still didn’t show trust in him. Though he didn’t quite blame him.
“I underestimated him. He’s no longer just a nuisance, he’s becoming one of the universe's biggest threats.”
“You’re wrong. Pete’s the lightest shade of vanilla cream I’ve ever seen.”
There conversation after that was when it all went wrong.
Strange, as usual, confronted Tony headfirst with his findings. He spouted the truth with no cushion to the distressed man, ignoring his horrible appearance.
“That boy is gonna be the death of us all!” Strange has all but yelled at the man, trying to make his point clear.
“You may be too naive to see it but he’s already become an alpha level threat! Soon he’ll become way past our resources…” It was blunt but Strange wouldn’t do it any other way. “I don’t want another Thanos threat so soon after the first one or preferably ever.”
Stark clenched his teeth, gritting them at the mention of the titan. It was common knowledge to never speak of Thanos around the retired hero but frankly Strange thought higher of him. The billionaire wasn’t a child, he was well loved hero. He deserved more than to be walked around on eggshells on. He needs a dose of reality in the situation. This wasn’t some game that when they find Peter this will be all over. As long as his power kept growing, there will always be a price of the purple bastard taunting them.
“If you compare my kid to that monster again I swear to god I’ll blast your ass back to 2018,” Stark threatened in low growl, warning the wizard to back down or else they’ll be trouble.
“Try me,” Strange fires back, standing in his spot.
Stark nodded, knuckles white from clenching his fist too hard, and gritted teeth from effort to remain silent, his hunched form forcing an animosity that was like acid - burning, slicing, vigorous. His face was red with suppressed rage, and just when Strange began to believe the man was gonna contain himself, he swung around and mentally snapped.
A hot punch knocked the wizard back a few steps, grabbing onto his throbbing cheek. Though initially taken off guard, he wasn’t surprised at the act of violence. He was told that he was a very frustrating human.
“Feel better yet?” Strange asked, spitting out blood.
“Just a little,” The billionaire shrugged, shaking off his hand.
“You know deep down I’m right.”
“And deep down I don’t give a shit about what you think,” Stark snapped. His anger simmering dangerously.
“I guess it’s too much to ask for you to contact me if you find him?”
“Get out.”
Strange tried and reason wasn’t getting him anywhere. He was still stuck in box one waiting for a tip. He grew desperate. Despite his gut telling him not to, the billionaire left him no choice. He bugged the Stark residence with spells that’d let him know if anything important to his search comes up. For a while it was just a big load of nothing.
Until right now.
“Two agents came and told me Shield had my baby. They’re using him Tony. I don’t know why but they are.”
Shield. He knew them. The director, Nick Fury, had visited him. Something about need his help. However he made clear that he wanted nothing to do with the problematic agency. He threw them out as fast as they came in. Now they had Peter. This was a lead. The first one he had and it practically pointed with a big red hand where the kid was. Find Fury, find the kid. Now that wouldn’t be too hard. He just needs to track down a one eyed man who would probably kill him if he approached. He needs something that belonged to the man like a hair (good luck with that) or a personal item.
“Or you could just call. He left you his number,” Wong walked into the room, past him, eating a tuna sandwich and wearing headphones.
“I told you not to read my mind anymore!”
“Then don’t exert your thoughts for every sorcerer in this universe to hear.”
Strange groaned, face palming, suddenly wondering why he even bothered. He could hear the other man laugh which reminded him to throw up his mental barriers.