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Come on, Peter. You've lifted a goddamn building off yourself, you can rip out inch-thick fucking bars.
Peter kept thinking those words as he strained against the metal bars of the cell he was in. He had no idea how he’d ended up there. He had been super out of it when he first woke up, barely even remembering his own name. When it finally dawned on him that he had super-strength, he ripped the metal cuffs from his arms and legs (even though it took ten minutes), and stumbled to his feet.
His knuckles were white from how hard he’d been pulling for god knows how long. He’d already be out if it wasn’t for the probable concussion and drugs in his system that were slowing down his powers. It was definitely night wherever he was, but he couldn’t tell much more than that.
Peter’s fingers ached as he pulled again, gritting his teeth together as he pushed his feet harder onto the wall.
He was about to give up and just wait for Tony to come for him when he heard it.
The shrieking sound of metal moving.
A massive grin quickly spread across Peter’s face. He was getting the Hell out of here.
But that grin vanished just as fast as it appeared, because he heard the sound again, only further away and followed by footsteps.
“Shit.” He muttered. “Shit, shit, shit just come out already!”
The footsteps came closer, and adrenaline flooded Peter’s system as he struggled to break the loosened bars. The thought of the assholes who kidnapped him using him as ransom or experimenting on him terrified him, and that terror was enough to, just for a moment, give him his old strength back.
At last, he was able to break the bars off, one by one, until there was an open window that would probably fit him if he squeezed.
Heart pounding, Peter sucked in his gut and threw himself into the window, grabbing the wall outside and desperately pulling himself out.
And right as he finally made it out, he heard the door to his cell shriek open, followed by several furious yells that he didn't care to understand.
Shit, shit, shit- stop swearing in your head, Peter and GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!
His head still hurt like a bitch but he'd have to power through it. Attaching his feet to the wall on the building, he sprinted down, reaching the ground in a shockingly fast amount of time. His feet hit the blessedly soft grass, and he took off running as fast as his drugged body would allow him.
Peter wasn’t sure how long he ran for. It might have been a few seconds, a few minutes, a few hours, or a few years. But all of the panic and the only thought in his mind being "run" caused him to do the one thing he should never do as Spider-Man: Not watch where he was going.
And with that, he stumbled on something, he didn’t even know what it was, and suddenly felt himself rolling down a hill like he was in the Princess Bride or something.
He had no idea why the Princess Bride was his first thought, and not that he could stick to things and could have stopped his fall way faster than he did. Because by the time he finally slammed his hand into the dirt and stuck, he was almost at the bottom.
Gasping, Peter closed his eyes and let out a hysterical laugh. He’d gotten kidnapped and made it out all by himself! Of course, he had no idea where he was and would probably have to call Mr. Stark to get him home, but that didn't take away from his happiness and pride in himself. Whoever those morons were didn't know who they had been dealing with.
He decided to stay where he was for a little while, his adrenaline high quickly coming down for the point that he didn't even know if he could get up. He reached up and wiped sweat from his forehead, closing his eyes and trying to catch his breath.
As his mind and his body calmed down, Peter's thoughts suddenly turned to May. Holy shit, she would be so worried about him! And Mr. Stark was probably freaking out and blaming himself, which was the last thing that Peter wanted him to do. He had to get back to them, or at least find a phone to let them know he was okay.
“Okay, Peter.” He said quietly to himself as he sat up. “Phase One, escape abductors: Complete. Phase Two: Find a phone, which requires a rest stop or gas station. Finding one of those requires a road. So, find a road.”
Relaying his whole plan out to himself made Peter feel more confident and at ease. He stood up on shaky legs, and suddenly realized how bad his ribs were hurting. He’d probably bruised a few of them during the fall, but it was nothing he couldn’t power through.
Trudging back up the hill, Peter rubbed his ribs as he glanced around for any sign of civilization. There was the building where he’d been stuck in earlier, and he estimated it was about two miles away (wow, he had run that far?). But if there was a building there, that meant there had to be a road as well. But there was no way he was going towards that place, so he opted to go to the left of it. If he didn’t eventually find a road there, he’d turn and go the other way.
So, for what was probably an hour, he trudged through the woods that surrounded the hill to find literally any sign that there was someone or something nearby. Fortunately the kidnappers for some reason had left Peter with his shoes on. Now that he could think about it, Peter realized how totally unprepared these guys had been for him. Probably the most prepared thing that they did was take him out into the middle of nowhere. If Peter had to guess, he would say upstate, or maybe Pennsylvania, Massachusetts or Connecticut.
Finally, after nearly tripping over seven tree roots, and getting into a brief standoff with a raccoon, Peter heard the sound of a car driving on cement.
“Oh, thank god.” He whispered as he peered through the trees and saw a road. A road meant there had to be something else nearby. There was no way he was going to walk directly on the side of it, though. For all he knew, the car he heard was the people who kidnapped him.
So, he stayed just out of sight, walking in the opposite direction of the building he was in. The sky showed no signs of morning approaching, so Peter estimated it was around one or two AM. Gas stations would probably still be open, but Peter would have to ask whoever was half asleep in the store for some cash to call for help.
After another hour, Peter was getting exhausted, his only motivation to not pass out being the urge to tell May and Mr. Stark that he was okay. The thought of them being worried out of their minds made his stomach hurt. May had already freaked out enough at him being Spider-man, so Peter didn’t want to imagine how she had reacted to him being missing. And Mr. Stark had literally said that he’d blame himself if something happened to Peter, which he was probably doing right at this moment.
God, he really needed to find a phone.
At last, after hearing utter collapse, he saw it.
A fucking visitor center.
He could have cried at the sight of actual civilization, but he also remembered the assholes who took him were probably looking for him. So, he approached the tiny building slowly, readying himself for a potential fight. He waited for his spider-sense to tell him someone was nearby, but to his great surprise and relief, it never did.
Sighing, Peter went over to a little stone square filled with four vending machines, one of which he totally didn't tip over to get a bag of chips, and slouched against the inside wall. He really needed a minute after spending God-knows-how-long walking through the middle of nowhere while getting off of whatever drug he'd been on.
After finishing the totally not stolen bag of chips, Peter was about to get up and find some change to pay for the phone he saw outside, when he heard the third thing that made his mind explode with relief.
Iron Man's repulsors.
He waited for a few seconds before standing up, peering out the doorway to see Iron Man landing not twenty feet away from him. But what was even more shocking was to see the faceplate lift up, revealing Mr. Stark himself. Tony Goddamn Stark had come to find Peter.
If Peter could tell himself that two years ago, he would have been laughed at forever.
“Rhodes,” Mr. Stark said in a voice that sounded shockingly terrified. “Stop any car that comes by and search it. We have no idea where those bastards could have hidden him, and they could have secret compartments or-”
“Mr. Stark?”
Peter cut Mr. Stark off before he could go into a full-on panic attack. Mr. Stark whirled around, powering up his repulsors, and Peter quickly raised his hands up in surrender. “Just me! Just me, sorry.”
Tony’s jaw dropped when he saw Peter, as did his repulsors. Peter quickly tried to come up with some kind of explanation or apology for making him worry, but not five seconds later he felt strong metal arms envelop him in a hug.
“Oh, thank God.” Tony murmured, clutching Peter tighter. Peter quickly wrapped his own arms around Tony and buried his face in Tony’s shoulder, feeling completely safe for the first time all day.
After a minute or so, Tony shakily pulled away, eyes raking over Peter’s body. “Holy fuck, are you okay? Are you hurt? What did those assholes do to you?”
“Nothing, nothing, I’m fine.” Peter said, trying to reassure Tony, who looked like he was going to pass out from worry and relief at any second. “I think they just drugged me so they could get me out here, but they must not have known I was Spider-man ‘cause it wore off pretty fast.”
Tony sighed, keeping his hands on Peter’s shoulders. “God, we thought we knew where you were, but we searched the entire building, and there was no sign of a super-powered, pop-cultured obsessed teenager. So we figured they saw us coming and took you away, or-”
The man gulped, not having to say anything more for Peter to know what he was thinking. Peter looked down, his face turning red. “I’m sorry I made you think that. I just- I panicked and didn’t know if you were coming, so I figured I had to get out of there on my own and-”
“Nope.” Tony said, clamping a hand over Peter’s mouth. “You may have scared the living shit out of me, but you also saved yourself before they did something much worse than drugging you. No apologies necessary. In fact, no apologies allowed. Got it?”
Peter nodded, and Tony took his hand off his mouth, pulling him into another hug and speaking into his comm. “Rhodes, call it off. The kid got out of there himself and he’s here with me.”
After a moment, Tony chuckled. “Good thing I found you now, kid, because Rhodey just stopped a car with a woman who had gone into labor inside.”
Peter laughed. “Holy shit, that poor woman and her child.”
Tony released Peter, patting his shoulder. “I’m proud of you, kiddo. You ready to get out of here?”
Peter smiled. “I thought you'd never ask.”