The New Avenger

Choices

Peter's POV:

"What's going on?" I bombard Mr. Stark as soon as he exits the room where they're holding Percy. He's angry, that much is immediately obvious. 

"Apparently I am no longer welcome in my own tower." He growls. 

"Why?" 

"Apparently I'm being to hard on the kid. Banner seems to have forgotten that we're holding him for mass murder."

"What's Dr. Banner doing to him?" 

"I don't know. Bruce kicked me out." Mr. Stark gives me a look, as though such stupidity coming from my mouth is a personal offence.

"I'm going in there." It's not a question. I don't leave any room for arguments. But I need to go into that room. At this point I'm not angry at Percy. I don't want to hurt him. I just want to know why. And if it wasn't him then I need to know who it was. Because my friends deserve better than this. They deserved better than me. 

"No, you're not." Mr. Stark's statement doesn't leave any room for argument either, "I'm not giving you another chance to murder him, even if he does deserve it."

"I'm not going to hurt him." 

"I'm sorry kid, but Cap just had to pry you off him to stop you from beating him to death. Now I'm not saying that he's innocent, despite what other people seem to think but you can't punish the dead."

"Please." I'm practically reduced to begging but I need to see Percy. Guilty or innocent, I don't care. I just need to know which it is, I need to know if I was really this wrong about him. 

"Bruce won't be able to pull you off him without Hulking out and neither can I without my suit. Cap is still at the park, so I just can't let you in there Peter. I'm sorry." The worst part is if I were him I wouldn't let me in either. But he needs to let me in. Now I need to convince him to let me in, convince him of my intentions. Not just for me, for my friends as well. And for my aunt. For Percy too, because if he really is innocent then the truth needs to come out, whatever that truth may be. Because what would cause someone to admit to a murder they didn't commit?

"Mr. Stark, I understand why you don't want me to go in there. Earlier when I attacked him I was so angry. At that time I thought he'd murdered my only friends and abducted  Aunt May. But now I realize that's impossible. For him to do alone, at least. Finding my aunt, and my friends killer, is more important than revenge. I see that now. Right now I'm begging you to let me in there, because whatever happened Percy does know something. I'm his friend, so he might be willing to talk to me." 

"Even after you attacked him?" Mr. Stark is skeptical, but caving. 

"You have to let me try." And just for a moment I let my emotions show. I let my throat close up, my voice tremble, my eyes fill. To show him that just because I'm not broadcasting my emotions doesn't mean I a secret ball of rage. 

"I will have a tranquilizer dart ready and waiting if you even try to hurt him." 

"Thank you Mr. Stark." I'm in, and one step closer to finding out the truth.

The door opens tentatively, slowly, unsure. Inside monitors are beeping away, the room otherwise quiet. It seems like I interrupted something, unfinished words hanging in the air like a fog. Dr. Banner is giving me a nervous look, as if I'm a bomb about to explode. Or maybe he thinks he might be the bomb, and I the one to make it explode.

And then there's Percy. His right arm is terribly burned, a lot like Radi's body. The image burned onto my eyelids. It needs to be gone. It must not control me. I must control it. I force my eyes to move away, to somewhere safer, like his face. Except that to is injured. By me. His nose looks like it was broken, he is sporting two newly blackened eyes and there is a large gash on his forehead.