sixty-five.
"Please don't make me do this... Please don't make me hurt her anymore. S-She's innocent."
Peter's pleading made no difference to the man whatsoever. He continued to literally force the boy's hand through the process of whatever they were doing. Peter didn't know what they were doing, just that May was bleeding profusely at this point from the cuts Peter made. The man yanked him away from her and instructed that he drop the scalpel. Peter let go as soon as he could open his hand.
The man then picked up what looked like a large pair of bolt cutters. Peter didn't want to know what he was going to be forced to do with those...
In the end, he was forced to cut May's ribs that covered her heart, and he cried while she screamed. He didn't want to do this, but with the man holding his hands and without the strength to fight back, he didn't really have a choice. The man was pressed against his back and every couple of minutes or so he'd hear a grunt in his ear, but he couldn't pay any mind while he was breaking May's ribs.
The ribs were tossed onto the floor like they meant nothing, and to the man, they didn't. Peter didn't know how May was still alive, but he figured it out when he saw what he thought was a regular IV, and it turned out to be a steady drip of adrenaline. Peter knew it was keeping her awake, if not keeping her heart pumping at this point. He wanted to rip it out and just let her die already so she didn't have to suffer anymore, but he couldn't.
He didn't want to see her die, didn't want to live with killing her. He couldn't even get his hands free. Even if someone else was making his hands move, they were still his hands, and the literal and metaphorical blood was on his them.
Her eyes looked heavy, like all she wanted right now was to sleep, but the steady drip wouldn't let her. She was being kept awake. She was meant to suffer. They wanted her to feel it, but why? What had she done that was so bad?
"Why are we doing this? What did she do? Does she deserve this?"
The man laughed quietly into his ear, he was so close Peter could feel his breath fanning over his neck. "It doesn't matter... She's here to send a message. To you... To your superheroes... Your parents... They're all going to see that Hydra isn't to be crossed."
Peter, still just barely remembering that somewhere he has people that will fight for him, says, "They'll kill you... They'll kill you all and I'll help."
The man just laughed as he threw Peter across the room, letting him fall like a sack of potatoes onto the concrete floor. "Oh, Peter. Don't you understand? They aren't coming for you. The people you think will save you? We have them under our belts. They work for us... They won't save you. Nobody will." The man crossed the room to grab a small knife, twirling it around while he stood between Peter and May.
"Your parents crossed us and we made them disappear. Captain America was a threat, so we brainwashed his best friend and lover. Tony Stark asked too many questions, and we put operatives in his path. We took the girl and made her into a weapon of the highest efficiency. The Avengers got too close, so we hired the mercenary to kill you. He didn't follow through, so we had to take matters into our hands. We dampened your healing abilities, but you just won't die. They should call you cockroach-man instead."
Peter shook his head, "But why May? What'd she do?"
He laughs like it should be obvious, "She hid you from us after your parents went missing... She wouldn't hand you over... And then you started looking into your parents, and we couldn't have you asking her questions. We had you, too. We made you think the mercenary took her."
Peter furrowed his brows, briefly remembering a video clip of who he thought was Deadpool taking his aunt. "You mean he didn't take her?"
The man shakes his head. "No... I took her. You believed the mercenary stole her, it made you hate him... It brought you right to us."
The man then turned around once more, gently brushing May's hair from her face with the blade of the knife. She whimpered and turned her face away, making the man scowl before turning back to Peter.
"And now, you're going to come here, or I'm going to kill you." The man's threat made Peter stand quickly and walk over, expecting to be delivered some kind of punishment of his own... It didn't come in the form that he thought. The man put the knife into Peter's hands, and he was instructed to slice his thighs, or he would strangle May with her own IV.
Peter, thinking May could still be saved and be spared, pulled his hospital gown up and dug it none-too-gently into the skin of his thighs, not that he was currently anything more than skin and bones anyway. He sliced this way and that, allowing the blood to drip down his legs until the man told him to stop and put the knife down. Peter did all that he was told and looked up to see the man standing with what looked like nothing more than a metal hook with a wooden handle. That's really all it was.
He put it into the boy's hands and watched his confused face at the tool he was given. It was clear he was unable to put the clues together, and the man's sinister smirk did nothing to help this.
Until he pushed the boy towards May and spread the sliced flesh of her abdomen apart. "Hook it to whatever organ you can find."
Peter hesitated and the man lifted the knife. "Do it, Parker, or I will kill you right this goddamn second!"
May insisted that Peter do whatever is asked of him in order to ensure his survival... With trembling hands, he did as he was told. Tears began falling down his cheeks again as he realized what he was about to be forced to do and May, seeing his distress, promised him that everything was going to be okay and that it would all be over soon. The man told him to pull, and with a sob, he did. He knew the slower he pulled, the more it would hurt her, but he only had so much strength and leverage.
She screamed, but even through the pain, she was assuring Peter that he'd be alright. She was crying, promising that no matter what they'd be together again and even as he was ripping her apart she was telling him that she loved him. He sobbed, wondering how this woman could say that she loved him when he was literally gutting her as she spoke.
He pulled until he was told to stop, and he dropped the horrible tool the moment he knew he could. He curled towards himself, sobbing as he reached out to take her hand in his own. The man handed the knife back to him.
"She's suffering now Peter... She doesn't have long before the shock and blood loss kill her. Put her out of our misery."
He takes the knife with shaking hands. He doesn't want to kill her but he knows the man is right. He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to hurt her. He did it. He's a monster now. He tortured the only family he had and now he has to kill her. He doesn't want to. He has no choice.
Even though she knows what's coming, May's still being as sweet to him as ever. She's touching his face and smiling at him. "My strong boy... I'm so sorry this happened to you. You have to do it now, Peter. But it's okay... I know we'll see each other again one day, I promise you we will... Oh, my strong boy. I know you can do it. I know you can survive this... You're so strong, so brave... Peter, I love you so much, I... Please, Peter. Let me go now, it's okay. I love you, Peter. It's okay."
She was trembling as Peter readied the knife. She took his hand once more and urged him to hold eye contact with her... And he did. He swung down with a sob and watched the look of pain cross her face... And then the look of peace.
With blood on her lips and the life draining out of her, she used her final words to cough out, "Bayside... Bayside. Remember... Love..."
The sobs leaving his lips were uncontrollable, bordering on hysterics, as Bucky ran into the room. Friday had seemed oddly panicked for an AI as she alerted them to Peter's heart rate and general unresponsiveness. Steve didn't think he'd ever seen Bucky clear two floors that quickly. He skidded to a stop and knelt next to Peter on his bed.
Peter's eyes were wild as he tried to focus on the man in front of him. He could hear that he was being asked questions about what happened but he could barely breathe enough to respond. Bucky worked on calming him down for a minute while Steve and Wanda hovered by the door. They didn't want to crowd the boy or make him uncomfortable, but they didn't want to leave him either.
When Peter was finally calm enough to get a breath of air into his lungs, he quickly expelled it with a cry of, "I killed her!"
And the whole room seemed to stop. There wasn't a single sound in the air aside from the vibrating of Peter's watch and his heart-wrenching cries.