Chapter Text
The concrete foundations of the warehouse shook from floor to ceiling to sky. Rattled all the way through with the howling wind, sheets of ice-cold rain, and cracks of thunder, burst to life overhead with every last breath.
And, breathless, heart-stopping, blood-boiling rage.
Hammered into the warehouse with every blow.
"Give them back! Give them back!"
"You took them from me! You t-took- took EVERYTHING!"
"GIVE THEM BACK!"
Another blow reverberated from the thunder in the skies above down to the very root of his spine. The whole of the entire ruined building shook and rain whiplashed overhead, sheeting downwards through the new, crumbling hole, worn right there in the roof.
Give them back give them back givethemback givethemback NOW givethem-
"Peter. Peter!"
NO!
"Stand down, kid. It's okay, stand down. You got them."
"No!"
"Listen to me. Peter, right now, you listen to me."
"They killed them! They killed them!"
"No, they-"
"THEY'RE GONE AND IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT!"
A hand caught his next fist, mid-swing through mid-scream. Something was wailing. Something was wailing, panting, screeching, shouting, writhing; something-
"-kill them I'll kill them I'll kill them I'll-"
"Shhhh, nope. Nope, nope, nope. You don't wanna do that, kid."
"No." Hiccuping, gasping, shaking, sobbing. "No, I don't, I don't. I don't. But-" Deep inhale, and suddenly it was back, it was all back; the heat, the blood-boiling, heart-stopping, breathless madness, the- "t-they-"
"Listen to me right now, Peter Parker, or I swear I'll tell Karen to shut you down. I'll do it. You'll lose your walking privileges, and I'll have to carry you home like a baby, and you'll never hear the end of it, and that's not what you want, is it? Is it? No, I know it's not, kid. Come on. Easy does it."
"T-they... t-they killed-..."
"No, they didn't. That's what I'm trying to tell you, kid, you listening? You listening?" The hand dropped his fist, his bloody, dangerous, murdering fist because they killed them but it grabbed his shoulder instead, two warm hands that braced him upright and rattled the scream tearing him apart from the inside out. "It was a trick, it was all a trick. It was just a trick and I'm sorry, it was just a trick. And I'll tear them apart for it but no one's hurt, Peter, this is all about you. Come on, Peter, you don't want to do this, I know you don't. You're better, you're so much better than this. Come- come on, kid, don't you do this, I know you don't want to, Peter, you're so good-"
"No. No! No! No! NO!"
"Peter-"
"'S not- it, it's not- 's not-" real it's not real it's not real "t-they- Aunt May, and N-Ned, and, and MJ, and- and- and-"
"And me. I know. But I'm here, right here, aren't I?"
"Mr. Stark-"
"Listen to me. They drugged you, they lied to you, they-"
"I-"
"-it's finished, now, it's done, and we're going home, and you're going to see everyone and we'll watch Star Wars together and it'll be fine, but you have to-... Peter. Peter?"
"I d-don't..."
"C'mon, kid. Kid. Talk to me."
"I... I d-don't want to... to kill them, Mr. Stark, I... I d-don't... want-..."
"You don't have to. You didn't. You- christ, Peter. Look at you, look at this. You did so good, you did this, all on your own. So proud of you. Reckless, crazy, stupid-amazing, that's your brand, Peter, stupid-amazing, and you're good at it, so proud of you. Come on. It's over, now; don't have to do anymore. Come on, Peter- that's it..."
The scream caught in his chest tore itself all the way free, ripping violently outwards to leave a festering, bleeding wound behind, and vanished itself all the way down into a cloth shoulder and a suddenly squeezing and tight arm.
"Oh, shit. Good boy. Good boy. That's it."
"Mr. S-Stark-"
"Nope, shhh. None of that. We're going, right now. Come on. Spider-crawl this way. Web them up if you want to. Come on."
But he couldn't. He couldn't spider-crawl anywhere; he couldn't web anything up. Couldn't move his arms, couldn't feel his legs, and suddenly he wasn't stumbling, suddenly he was falling and being pulled up and half-dragged, and he couldn't stop it and couldn't even want to. Suddenly there was a hand in his hair and he slipped and flailed to fall, right over the blood.
"Nope. Nope- atta boy, that's it. This way. This way. This way, kid. Stay on your feet, just like that; you're a champ, kid, shit you're amazing-"
"T-they said they killed... they. They said. T-they said they'd... that..."
Another slip and tumble over a blood-slicked floor, and the world finally stopped tilting. Not all the way, not everything, the wind and the rain and the massive, hungry world still tilted and turned around them but here and now, just under his feet, his scraped and bleeding fists, it went frozen and choked and still. A hand pressed to his shoulder, a face to the back of his head, and-
"Come on, kid. You really think anyone could take me out so easily? I'm Iron Man."
Roll of angry, disastrous thunder. Rain. Rain.
"And you, Mr. Peter Parker, are Spiderman. Which is why we're gonna get out of here, and when the cavalry shows up to take care of those low-lifes back there, you're gonna web-swing me back home, because you can't be a friendly neighborhood Spiderman from all the way out here in the middle of nowhere."
...
"Peter?"
...
"Peter, just as a reminder, I'm not wearing the suit right now, so please don't break me in half when I hug you right now, please and thank you."
Mr. Stark hugged him, long and tight and hard, and the rain poured, and Peter did not break him in half.