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Peter woke up to the sound of crying. It was loud, piercing, a sound Peter only associated with someone young, and someone scared. He groaned, opening his eyes, feeling a sharp pain in his head as he did so. Arms shaking, Peter lifted his body up from the ground, shifting so he could see where he was.
It was dark. It took a minute for his eyes to adjust to his surroundings, but it looked like he was trapped in a small crevice of a destroyed building. Memories came rushing back. The alien attack, Peter as Spider-Man helping the Avengers. He rushed into this building to save as many people as he could, and then…nothing.
The building must’ve collapsed while he was in it. It was probably all ruins now. But where was the crying coming from?
Peter looked around. In the corner of the crevice was a little boy, covered in dirt and grime, wrapping his arms around his knees. He was sobbing, his small body shaking.
“Hey kid.” Peter said, coughing, His chest ached, as if someone was holding it in a crushing grip, but he continued. “You okay?”
“Sp…Spider-Man?”
“Yeah. It’s me. Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
The kid looked up at him, his eyes shining with tears. Peter wondered if the kid could see him, if there was enough light that his eyes could make him out.
“My mom.” The boy said weakly. “I want my mom.”
Yikes. She was probably trapped too. But right now, Peter could see a way around the rubble. He wouldn’t be able to look for her.
“The Avengers will find her.” Peter said firmly, confidently, despite how uncertain he truly felt. “She’ll be okay. In the meantime, I’ll be here, okay?”
Peter shifted, and felt a sharp pain in his left ankle. He inhaled sharply, waiting for the pain to subside, internally fighting to stay silent. He didn’t want to worry the kid.
“What’s your name?” He finally managed to ask, closing his eyes briefly.
“Leo.”
“Leo. Great name. Well, Leo, we’re going to have to wait here until the Avengers find us. But they’ll be here soon.”
The boy shook his head, hiccupping. He wiped his face with his long sleeves. “How do you know?”
The kid had Peter stumped. He wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Peter wasn’t ever bad with kids, he had helped quite a few of them as Spider-Man, but most of them never second guessed what he said. He didn’t have to explain the words he said. Now he had to.
And he was a kid not that long ago. He could just say that Leo should just trust him. It always left a bad taste in his mouth whenever older people used that explanation on him.
“Well, I have a tracker in my suit. Iron Man knows where I am all the time.”
Trusting that the tracker still worked. Trusting that the signal could get through all of the rubble. Trusting that Mr. Stark was still okay and was able to find them. If he was stuck under the rubble too…Peter didn’t know what would happen.
Leo nodded, curling in closer to the wall. Peter took a minute to try and find a gap in the concrete and rubble that surrounded them. Nothing. Something inside of him shifted, and his heart raced.
He didn’t like this. It was too much like the warehouse he was stuck under, all those years ago. Breathing became even harder for him, as if his throat was being crushed under someone’s fist. But he couldn't fall apart. He had to help Leo. He had to keep the kid calm and make sure Leo made it out of here.
Quickly, Peter checked if Karen or his communication system was working. Neither was. Peter just hoped that the tracker was still active.
“Does anything hurt?” Peter asked, looking over the kid carefully. He didn’t see any blood, but so many injuries could occur under the skin, even the life threatening ones.
“My…my head.”
Head. Yikes. Peter forced himself to remain calm.
“How bad? On a scale of 1-10.”
“Three?”
“Let me know if it starts hurting more, okay? Can you do that?”
“Yeah.”
Peter was about to move over to him, hoping that his presence could ease the kid’s worry, but before he could his spider-senses rang in the back of his head, screeching at him. Instantly he threw himself over the boy, covering Leo as hundreds of pounds of concrete fell on his back. He screamed, keeping his back arched as much as he could, while falling to his hands and knees. Leo began crying, and Peter’s arms quaked. His muscles surged with agony, throbbing restlessly.
“Spider-Man!” Leo exclaimed, and Peter grimaced. The kid was scared. Peter was scared too.
“I got you! I got you!”
And just as quickly as it started, the rubble settled around them, leaving Peter’s body quaking. He felt something heavy on his back, digging into him, and he knew that if he couldn’t hold it up, the kid would die from the weight of it.
Peter’s chest was heaving. Sweat poured from his forehead into his eyes. Everything hurt.
Leo began crying, swinging his arms around in panic, looking at the rubble around them with wide eyes.
“Leo.” Peter said weakly. “Leo, you have to stay calm. We’re okay.”
“No! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!”
“Hey! We’re not gonna die. I promise.” He tried to make his voice sound confident, but it quaked from the exhaustion that clung to him. “We’ll be okay.”
“You’re lying!”
“I’m Spider-Man, remember? I save people. I’m gonna save you, too.”
Leo nodded, tears falling down his cheeks, and slowed down. His arms ceased their flailing, and Peter let out a short sigh of relief. Good. Now he just had to hang on until Mr. Stark found them.
His back continued to ache, the pain growing more and more intense with every breath. With a quick push up, he tested if he could get the concrete off of him, but it was too heavy. He stifled a groan, closing his eyes firmly. His fingers curled into the ground, the rough concrete digging into his skin through his suit.
“What do you like to do for fun, Leo?” Peter asked, his voice hoarse.
“I…umm…”
“I like building LEGOs.” Peter added. “And watching Star Wars.”
Leo spoke up softly. “I watch Star Trek with my mom.”
“Yeah?” Peter didn’t know much about it, but he needed a distraction. “Do you have a favorite character?”
“The guy with the pointy ears. I went as him for Halloween last year!”
“Fun! Who are you dressing up as for this Halloween?”
“Snoopy.”
“I like Snoopy.”
Peter opened his eyes, and fought the nausea that swirled in his stomach. His fingers had started to tingle. He locked his elbows, hoping that they wouldn’t collapse from under him.
Leo fell silent after that, and as much as Peter wanted to spark up more conversation, couldn’t. Even thinking became difficult, and eventually all Peter knew was that he needed to hang on.
“Spider-Man.” Leo breathed out after a while. Peter squinted at him, and saw him look happy, and hopeful. There was natural light shining on his face.
“Wait一”
“It’s Iron Man!”
That’s when Peter heard it. The whirr from Mr. Stark’s suit. It was above them, to the left.
“Spider-Man!” Mr. Stark said, his voice warped because of the suit. “I’ll be there in a minute! There’s a lot of debris we need to move to get to you.”
“Could you maybe go faster? I can’t…” Seeing Leo’s worried face made Peter change his words. “I need to go pee.”
Leo laughed, and Peter’s hand nearly slipped. Peter groaned, shaking.
“Just a little longer, Spidey.” Mr. Stark said. Peter didn’t have the strength to reply.
In what felt like hours, Iron Man, Black Widow, and Captain America were by his side, Natasha grabbing Leo and moving him out of the way, while Mr. Stark and Steve set their hands and backs against the concrete.
“Okay, we push up on three.” Steve said firmly. “We’ll lift it off you and push it back; Hulk cleared a spot for it to land.”
“Got it.” Peter said, taking as even breaths as he could.
“One…two…three!”
Peter screamed as he pushed up with his back, his legs trembling tremendously. Mr. Stark activated his repulsors, while Steve’s arms flexed with the effort. And the rubble began lifting. Soon it was high enough that Peter could get off of his knees, picking his hands off the floor and pressing it against the concrete, now using his arms and legs to use more strength. His hurt ankle gave out, pain shooting through the joint, and Peter stumbled, only barely staying standing.
His vision blacked in and out, and with one final push, the concrete fell back with a slam, all the weight gone in an instant. Peter breathed out a sigh of relief before collapsing to the ground, his chest heaving.
“Peter!”
Mr. Stark was by his side, grabbing his shoulders and lifting him to a sitting position. Peter’s head fell to Mr. Stark’s shoulder, too heavy to lift himself.
“You did great, kid, you did great.”
“Leo…his mom…” Peter stuttered out, fighting for breath.
“She’s okay. They’re both okay.”
Peter didn’t even have the strength to nod. Swiftly, Mr. Stark picked Peter up bridal style, holding him tightly.
“Let’s get you back to base.”
“Where I could sleep for a week?”
Peter couldn’t see him, but he could promise that Mr. Stark was smiling. “Yeah, kid. I’ll make sure you have everything you want to eat, too.”
“Lasagna and cheese cake please.” Peter's eyelids drooped closed, and the last thing he heard was Mr. Stark’s chuckle. It didn’t matter though. Leo was safe, and Peter knew that he himself would be okay.