Chapter Text
Peter Parker stopped being a kid when he knelt in his uncle’s blood the night he died. Peter Parker stopped being a kid when the Vulture threatened his life on his homecoming night. Peter Parker stopped being a kid after going up with the Avengers in space fighting Thanos until eventually getting dusted and losing five years of his life. Peter Parker stopped being a kid after Tony Stark, the man whom he had come to know as his father figure mentor, died right before his eyes. Peter Parker stopped being a kid, and he figured it was best if he never was…
When Peter had heard about his field trip to Europe, he felt for once that maybe he could have a chance at being real again. To be a shadow of what he used to be. But when Nick Fury showed up and all these crazy Elemental monsters started plaguing every part of Europe, he once again had to take up the mantle and do what he was called to do.
And then came Quentin Beck, a man whom he thought he could trust and fill the gaping hole his mentor had left behind. Trusting him with his own personal life, he quickly began to trust this man, believing he could understand him and finally started to feel the pieces come back together.
It wasn’t until he gave him the mantle of being the next Iron Man, trusting him with the very last thing Tony Stark had given to him, that he betrayed him, tricked him into believing that he could have a normal life and stabbed him in the back, leaving him more crushed than before.
That was when he found himself bloody and clinging for his life, just knowing life was hitting him everything it got. Or in this case… a train.
Peter Parker slid open the door, bloodied fingers trailing across the glass. He stumbled inside the train, his hands shaking and grasping for the edges of the seats.
He tried to kill me. He tried to kill me.
Shaking after the very shock of the event, he stumbled awkwardly across the aisle, gasping for air as he ripped off the suffocating mask, falling into one of the seats.
He seized in pain, clutching his side as weak coughs escaped his lungs. His neurons were firing faster than he could process. His entire body became numb with cold and pain. His world spun as red, white and black throbbed and flashed before his eyes. Light and darkness blurred in and out, in and out. Reality started to blur as memories and faces started to fade and merge together.
I need to stop him. I need to stop him, I need..
Tony.
Tony.
Help me.
help… me….
…..
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Friedrich was just heading home from work, another long day at the office. The urban scenery of Berlin passed quickly across the window as the train sped across the tracks. The man unfurled his newspaper, finally able to relax as he catch himself up on the latest calamity.
The “ Night Monkey” had once again been seen when Prague had just been ambushed by yet another one of those elemental creatures. The Fire creature had been exploited thanks to the efforts of the new hero and a mysterious visitor from outside of this world called “ Mysterio”. All over Europe, these things have been popping up, and he sure hoped they weren’t anywhere near where he lived. There was also a price for whoever knew who the “ Night Monkey” was, and that the authorities would surely lock up the vigilante once he was found.
Even though he didn’t care too much for all the superhero politics and drama, he knew that it wasn’t right locking up someone just for saving people’s lives. His wife and children had vanished before his eyes, and for five years, he almost gave up until one day “ The Miracle” happened and then everything was suddenly back to the way it was. Despite gaining a few more grey hairs and a bitter, disheveled version of himself, his wife and sons were back and looked just as they did five years ago. He thanked the Avengers for their incredible sacrifice, and he would always forever be in their debt.
As the train came rushing through the downtown, Friedrich looked out and noticed all the new buildings that were in construction. Berlin was an ever growing city, always something new popping up around every corner. In fact, isn’t that building supposed to be a…
BUMP!!
Friedrich jumped in his seat, the sudden jolt causing several surprised gasps from the passengers. He figured something must have rolled under the wheels, and he peered towards the window to investigate.
They passed through the tunnel as soon as he looked up and became too dim through the passing lights to see anything of importance, so he shrugged it off and went back to his paper.
They emerged back into the sunlight as Friedrich turned his attention towards the sports section when the train suddenly lurched, making him pitch forward against the hard seat in front of him. The train screeched violently on it’s wheels. Several passengers gasped and screamed as they braced. Friedrich’s heart raced in a wild state of panic as the train struggled to slow it’s shrieking wheels to a halt, Friedrich clutching the seat for life.
For a moment, it seemed as if the train would never slow down, until the train finally settled into a stop, and all the passengers looked around, startled and confused.
Friedrich rubbed his aching forehead as he felt for his glasses, thankful they weren’t broken. He set them back on the bridge of his nose, breathing a shaky sigh of relief, and wondered what was going on. Besides the slight bang on his head, he seemed to be alright.
After a few minutes of calming himself down, he looked around him and took in the situation.
A train going at that speed could only have one reason to stop in the middle of the tracks: Someone must have pulled the cord and needed help.
He immediately got up from his seat, checking to see if anyone was hurt. No one seemed to be in distress except that they were frightened and just as confused and frazzled as he was.
As he nervously settled back into his seat, the adrenaline already dying down, he spotted the engineers outside throwing up their hands in an heated discussion. One of them seemed frantic, trying to convince the other of something as the engineer wouldn’t listen, briskly brushing him off as they strode off past the car.
Friedrich wondered if he should remain in his seat until he then realized he had to go to the bathroom. He slowly picked up his briefcase, glancing briefly around the passengers, then headed straight towards the back of the car.
He slid open the door, and crossed over to the next car. Moving on through several more cars, he searched in vain until he arrived to the car just before the back of the train.
No one was there so he glanced around the back for a compartment when he noticed the unmistakable red shine of blood. Friedrich blinked and wiped his glasses, rubbing his fingers beneath the lenses and he looked again and there it was: red streaked across the window of the back door of the car dripping down towards the aisle.
Friedrich froze, unsure of what to do. He automatically started to turn and walk away from this potential horror movie scene when he heard a small, unmistakable noise.
He stopped short in his tracks, tuned his ears to listen, and sure enough he heard it again: a faint, agonized whimper. A human.
Friedrich glanced around the car with bated breath, when he spotted a slumped black figure near the very back of the car. He inched his way closer, eyeing the maroon trail on the aisle that led all the way to a boy, no older than 15, slumped in a chair and bleeding.
Gasping, he immediately dropped his briefcase on the ground and knelt before the boy. The boy had cuts and bruises all over his face, his hair unkempt and tangled with specks of red. His black suit was all torn and snagged( what was he doing in a ski suit this time of year?). The worst of it was the dark red spot steadily growing at his side.
The boy mumbled something under his breath before he turned to him, his eyes half-mast, as he cried in a raspy voice,
“ help me.…h-help me…”
“ Hey, hey, it’s alright! It’s alright. You are okay,” Friedrich replied immediately, putting a hand on his cheek to still his head. The boy wriggled his head back and forth, muttering something about “ Beck” and “ Stop him”, until his eyes rolled in the back of his head.
“ Hallo? Hallo?!”
Friedrich tapped against his cheek frantically, startled at how cold and clammy he was. The boy barely moved, his breathing shallow and frail. His face was unusually pale and a sheen of sweat was fresh on his skin. He was losing blood rapidly by the minute.
What was a young American boy like this doing in the middle of Germany alone? Was he with some friends and got lost? And where was his family? He had to stop the bleeding!
Friedrich tried to rouse him again when he noticed the boy’s mask entangled in his bloodied fingers. He looked closer and immediately recognized the signature white eye lenses.
The Night Monkey!
Friedrich gasped and looked around, making sure no one was looking. He pried the mask gently from the boy’s delicate fingers and stuffed it quietly into his pocket. No matter how the world thought of rogue vigilantes, those individuals saved his family’s life. And now he was going to return the favor.
“ Don’t worry, mein kleiner held. You will be alright,” he whispered in his best of English, quickly patting the boy’s sweaty curls.
The boy didn’t respond as he moaned in his sleep, his small body quaking in shivers. Friedrich took off his overcoat and laid it carefully over the boy, tucking the soft layer around the boy’s shaking body. The boy instinctively snuggled into the warmth, his body slightly relaxing. All of a sudden he looked more like one of his own boys at home.
Friedrich rushed from the car and ran out to get the engineers.
Not ten minutes later, a small crowd gathered around the stopped train as a stretcher was brought out and carried the injured boy across the tracks to the ambulance. The passenger insisted on going with him.
As soon as he was wheeled immediately off to surgery, the passenger went to inquire of the local authorities for any American tourists missing with his description…