Shifter

The sight of the HYDRA scientist makes your body freeze in place, ice running through your veins, and your assured grip on your ‘gun’ starts to tremble. You can tell Peter recognizes him too – the way his hand comes up and holds your shoulder, partially steadying himself, partially comforting you, and when you glance back at him you can see the anger in his eyes. You start to shake your head, slowly, your jaw clenching. “What did you – How?” You manage, but your voice comes out strained.

He ignores your question. “I wouldn’t worry about your friend – Or whatever he is to you. Boyfriend? Room mate?” He teases, and you tremble more as you realize you were being watched the whole time. “Whatever he is, the serum in that dart only sedated him – partially. He won’t be climbing up walls anytime soon.” You feel Peter freeze behind you as well. HYDRA knows who he is.

“What do you want?” You manage, only now catching sight of the eight men in black combat outfits flanking the scientist.

He tsks, shaking his head as he steps closer to you and pushes your hand down, and to your dismay you find that you can’t make yourself step backwards or resist him. “I believe you can figure that one out yourself, my dear. I mean, we were making such progress, until those stupid –” He stops himself, but you can see the hatred and disgust painted on his face as he continues. “Until the Avengers took you away. I mean, three more sessions, and you would have been complete!”

“Complete?” You ask, using the distraction to pull your hand back and grab Peter’s, giving you some semblance of calm. He smirks, and it makes you feel sick.

“You were so close to being a perfect weapon. If we’d finished, that would have been a real gun that you’d just held up.” He reaches forwards and strokes a hand down your cheek, and you feel Peter lunge towards him from behind you.

The scientist chuckles, snapping his fingers, and two of the agents behind him step out of line and stalk towards Peter. Your eyes widen, and you whip around and try to defend him, but they pull him away and hold him tightly. In his drowsy state he can hardly fight back, but you can barely mask the panic painted on your face. “Let him go.” You demand, rage fueling you, and he rolls his eyes.

“You can not make demands right now. It is rather I, who has the power over whether your friend lives through the night, who makes the demands.”

His words make your eyes well up, but you clench your fists. “So what? You take me back, complete me, turn me into a weapon?” He nods once.

“That is, essentially, it. You come with us, willingly, and your spider-friend lives. And we call off the team currently distracting your Avengers.” You narrow your eyes, faltering.

“What?” You manage, almost a whisper, and he laughs out loud.

“You truly don’t know anything. Did you think that bomb this morning was a real attack? It’s a distraction.” He sighs, obviously pleased with himself, and then turns and nods at one of the agents abruptly. “We’re done here.”

The man on Peter’s left kicks his knees in, causing him to drop, and whips out a gun in the blink of an eye. You jolt forwards, but two more of the men come and restrain you. “No!” You shout, and you can see Peter shaking his head. “No, don’t – Don’t. I’ll come with you.”

He shakes his head harder. “Y/N, don’t go with-” The man presses the gun into his head harder.

“I’ll go with you.” You turn to the scientist, who cocks an eyebrow.

“Good choice. I’ll give you a minute – I’m not a complete monster.” He mocks, turning and signalling at a black van, hidden in the street.

The men let go of the two of you, and you simultaneously run at each other. “You can’t do this.” Peter warns, his hands finding your arms and holding you in place.

“I don’t have a choice.” You breathe out, enveloping him in a hug, before being tugged away abruptly by one of the men. “Find me.” You mouth, stumbling backwards, and before Peter knows it you’re gone.

He curses, staring blankly at the back of the van driving away, and manages to stand up – although his vision is blurry, and swaying, he forces himself to piece it together enough to reach his watch, the one Mr. Stark gave him, and call the man himself. “Pete, I gotta say –” He hears the man’s static-y voice, and breathes out in relief. “You have terrible timing.” The sounds of fighting fill the air, and Peter chokes on his words.

“Y/N – they took her. HYDRA. They- I’ve been injected with- There was a scientist- They’re gone.”

There’s a pause, and Peter’s heart drops, fearing the worst, before Tony replies. “Where are you?” His voice is dangerously low, and once Peter tells him the call ends. The boy feels the spot where the dart entered his neck and curses – if he’d been a little more alert, if he’d sensed them coming, maybe you’d still be there. Before he can beat himself up too much, a red and gold streak in the sky causes him to look up, trying to focus.

“Kid, you okay?” He hears Tony as he lands, and Peter manages to nod. “We’ll find her.” Tony reassures, his mask coming down to reveal his face, but Peter can tell – the billionaire is trying to convince himself more than Peter.

The second you sit in the van, a needle is in your neck, and you barely have time to gasp before you fall unconscious. When you come to, your eyes are heavy, but you manage to open them enough in order to take in your surroundings – and when you do, your heart drops. It’s the exact same cell you’d had countless nightmares of. You’d screamed and kicked and fought when the soldiers had dragged you in here the first time, but now you have no energy. Shuffling, you scoot yourself into the corner, finding some comfort in the fact that you’re still in your own clothes.

When you peer around the cell, you lock eyes with a man – a soldier, probably – peering through the bars – who pulls back, coughing uncomfortably and turning so you can only see the back of his head. “Why did they need me to cooperate?” You ask, out loud, and you see the guard shift uncomfortably at hearing your voice. So you push on. “Why not just tranquilize me and throw me in the back? Why… Why threaten Peter?” He finally turns around, squinting his dark eyes at you.

“Shut up.” He warns, and you raise a single eyebrow.

“Or what? You can’t hurt me – then the experiments won’t work. So what’ll you do?” You throw back, and he clenches his jaw.

“Why?” You ask again and he shakes his head.

“I’m not answering your questions.” You give him a look.

“I’ll shut up if you answer me.” You can see his thought process, as he glances down the hall for other people, before he groans and turns back to you. “Ander says you have powers you don’t know about yet. Powers that could have wiped them out back there.” He states, voice low and quiet, but it’s enough to make your mind flash back to the video of the experiments, wondering what exactly your powers do.

“Who’s Ander?” You ask, and the soldier looks like he’s about to scold you, when a cold voice comes from just outside the hallway.

“I’d have thought you’d know my name by now.” The scientist’s voice comes from the doors, and the soldier straightens, turning to open the door for the scientist. You push yourself farther into the corner, knowing what it means for the scientist to come for you. “There is nowhere to go, Y/N. It is time.” He sighs, and you clench your jaw as two of the soldiers approach you, tugging you to your feet. “It is a shame, though. Your friend, Mr. Stark… I must applaud him.” You frown, turning to face him, and he smirks horribly. “The serum he made was working on you, it appears. Too bad you never got another dosage.” And at that, they tug you down the corridor, towards the lab.