Spider-Man: New Home (18+)

Chapter 31: Lean on Me

Peter opened his eyes with a groan, his body sprawled face down on cold, wet concrete. The entire front side of his body ached as if he had falled from twenty stories up. He winced from the intense pain as he slowly picked himself up off the ground. He was shocked and confused to see that he was standing in what appeared to be a massive, dimly lit parking lot. The ceilings appeared slightly higher than normal and rusty pipes jutted across the ceiling, dripping dirty water into large puddles around the area. However, no cars or people could be seen or heard all around him. His surroundings gave off a bone chilling kind of silence and Peter immediately felt uncomfortable. He couldn't remember how he had gotten here or where he had been before being in this place.

He looked down at the suit he was wearing, which was red, black, and gold. He tapped a button on his wrist and heard a small droning beep in his ear.

"Stark network offline." A robotic female voice said to him.

"Great." Peter groaned to himself, then looked up at his surroundings in confusion. "Hello?! Is there anybody there?!" He called out, but was greeted only by the same deathly silence and the slight buzz of the florescent lights, lazily strun about the space, creating thick shadowy areas that took up massive portions of the room.

After waiting for a response for a few moments and being satisfied assuming he was alone, he decided to try and find a way out. So Peter started for the ramp, heading to the lower floors. The ramp itself had no light, appearing as a tube of blackness in front of him. Peter gulped to himself and reached for his wrist again, trying to activate a light at the very least.

"Stark network offline." The robotic voice said to him again.

Peter groaned to himself, before taking a deep breath and walking blindly into the darkness with his hand held out. As he walked down the ramp, he could hear the sounds of his footsteps echoing all around him along with the occasional dripping from the pipes above his head. As he reached the bottom his heart skipped a beat when he could have swore he heard a second set of footsteps directly behind him. He jumped in place with terror and looked around behind him, only to see more darkness.

"Hello?!" Peter called out, shakily. "Is someone there?!"

Still nothing could be heard around him, except for the rhythmic pitter patter from the pipes. His heart racing a million miles an hour, he decided to turn around and keep going. Finally he reached the lower floor, still drenched in darkness, except for a single light hanging above a metal door. Peter quickly shuffled across the room, eager to get himself out of this perpetual darkness. As his feet crossed over into the light, he nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the sound of heavy breathing blowing into his ear.

"AAAAH!" He screamed, pinning his back against the door, prepared to fight. "Who's there?! Show yourself!"

Peter was only greeted in return, by the cold darkness of the room and the silent judgement it brought upon him. He shakily reached back and opened the door behind him, keeping his eyes on the darkness, ready for something to attack. He quickly shuffled into the room behind him and slowly closed the door, peeking through the crack to try and see who or what was following him.
As the door latched shut behind him, he was greeted by an even more disturbing sight. The white concrete walls of the hallway stretched for a few yards in front of him. Orange lights buzzed overhead, just far away enough to cast dark shadows between them. At the end of the hall he could clearly see an exit sign glowing green in the darkness near the ceiling. However, the space did not provide him with an exit to project himself to. Instead stood the flat wall, meaning Peter would have to go back the way he came.

He swallowed his fear and slowly turned around to face the door, but was shocked to find that the door was gone. Instead the hallway stretched on further in the opposite direction, with a sharp left turn at the very end. He wondered if he remembered the way he came wrong, or if he black out at some point.
This place made no sense at all.
He shakily crept down the hallway, toward the end. As he neared the corner he could start to hear something in the distance. A sort of whistling, like wind blowing through the trees. As he reached the corner the sound could be heard louder than ever and Peter's heart soared, assuming he had finally found his way out.