the trial of the spider || peter parker

chapter eight: finally official

"Peter? Peter, hey!" Peter was roughly shaken awake the next morning. "Where is she? Where'd Athena go?"

Once he'd come out of his sleepy daze, Peter realized the hospital chair in front of him was empty. Monitors were off and cords lay on the blanketed chair. Steve looked very concerned.

Bruce came in behind him and looked equally as concerned.

Peter shot up to his feet. "U-uhm I-I don't know," He stuttered. "I didn't even hear her leave!"

"She's violent without you, Peter. I don't understand why she'd just up and leave."

"I don't know. But I'll go tell everyone else. We lost her again and we've all gotta start looking. If she hurts someone, it'll look horrible."

Peter immediately left the tower on a web after pulling his mask over his face.

–Athena's POV–

I don't know how I got up here. And I'm terrified. I'm stuck at the top of a skyscraper. A literal skyscraper.

It was like a fog came over my mind. My thoughts weren't my own. But I think when I consciously realized I'm seconds from death, right on the edge (quite literally) of falling to my death, the fog cleared.

I don't have a suit like Tony. I don't have my father's superhuman strength. I'm just- me. I can't protect myself like the others can. And I'm trapped on top of a skyscraper.

My grip was slipping as my hands sweat. It doesn't help that it's one of the hottest days Queens has ever had. The metal of this railing is painful to touch let alone hold onto for dear life.

I'm so high up that even if I tried calling for help, no one would hear me. I was growing hopeless until I saw a red figure swinging around the buildings surrounding the skyscraper I'm trapped on.

I began crying, hard. Panic set in the hardest it could and that's when I really began slipping. "Athena?!"

"Peter! Please!" I turned to see him in the near distance but the second he got close enough, I slipped and started plummeting. Fast.

"I got you! C'mere, I got you," I sobbed into Peter's chest when he caught me. His strong arm tightly wrapped around my torso. "I got you. You're okay."

We landed on a parking garage roof next to the skyscraper. Peter set me down but ended up sitting on the ground with me as my knees weakened. I held onto him for dear life.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," I choked out through heavy tears. "I'm sorry. Peter, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. You're okay. I'm right here," Peter huffed in relief and buried his face into my shoulder. "I got you. You're safe now."

I don't think I had to tell him what happened. He's smart. He's probably put all the pieces together in his head already.

"It w... it wasn't m-me..."

"I know. It was that weird venom stuff," Peter whispered, still tightly holding onto me. "But you're okay. You're okay now. We'll... we'll figure this out."

"Pete, I- I'm scared..." I whimpered quietly. "I'm g- I'm gonna hurt someone... I'm gonna hurt me... the- the baby..."

"Hey, no you're not," Peter looked me in the eyes and cupped my face in his hands, the material of his suit feeling comfortably familiar on my skin. "You're not gonna hurt anyone. Listen, we'll get you back to Bruce and Mr. Stark and we'll figure something out. Okay?"

"I can't, Peter," I shook my head and sniffled. "I hurt them. I hurt my dad, Peter."

"He was the first one to notice you were gone," Peter admitted. "But you're not gonna hurt anyone. Everyone's out looking for you. We all care about you and we're gonna fix it okay? C'mon. We need to get back so everyone stops panicking."