Arachnophobia ⇒ Peter Parker

twenty four: hotter than hell

     Peter grasped my arm and dragged me along with him. A warmth spread across me as his broad hand engulfed mine, but I quickly shrugged it off and trekked forward. We remained unnoticed by the people who were caught up in their bustling conversations, and we managed to slip away into the area that Tony had gone. Our route dragged on for what felt like an hour, we trailed through hallways and large halls.

     We followed Tony into a large room. The warmth of the facility faded away, and a layer of fear lingered in the air. The space was large and unwelcoming. Each step echoed through the room, and every whispered was magnified. The second Tony entered, he greeted the rest of the Avengers, who had been waiting patiently for him. This greeting was less of a kind hello and more of a solemn way of the Avengers acknowledging Tony's presence. They were all huddled in a corner of the office, and a pile of cabinets had spilled onto the floor near the area they were clustered in. The whole team stood crowded around a man who was shaking and sobbing. Peter and I were crouched behind a desk, and our foreheads peaked out slightly from the top.

     Seeing the man's fear caused a pit to form in my stomach, and the tension in the room hung so deeply that I felt as though a bullet would have struggled to break through the atmosphere. The pounding of my heart pulsed through my ears, and tears spotted my eyes. I was silently pleading that they would let him go. I wasn't sure who the man was, but I felt a strange sense of sympathy for him.

     Tony stood in front of the man and started the conversation coldly by saying, "Are you going to explain why you're in my office?"

     He slowly approached the man. Tony towered over his shaking frame. Contrary to the traitor's bulging muscles and deep scowl, he was pitiful at the hand of the threat. Moments like these were the ones that weren't published in articles, that never make it onto the blinding screen of a smartphone. These were the times that Isaac never prepared me for, the things he didn't dare scare me with. Tony bent down to the man's level and whispered in a tone so quiet that you could hear a pin drop over it.

     "Or am I going to have to pry it out of you?"

     At this, the spy erupted into a string of booming, but nervous, laughter, and he said, "If you knew who I worked for, you wouldn't speak so confidently. He makes you... he makes you all look like some circus."

     "Look up at me, at all of us, at the facility you're in. You lay here, pitiful, in front of the most influential people in the world in the most powerful facility in the world. But, please," At this, he had a mischievous glint in his eyes and a sarcastic smile, "tell me about how scared I should be."

     At this, Tony straightened to a standing position and began to walk in our direction. We hid under the table, and I cursed silently at the excessive fabric of my dress. Once he stopped, everything was silent. Every step he took echoed, blaring through everyone's ears like the ticking of a clock. After knowing that everyone had their attention diverted to him, Peter and I raised again to witness the scene. Everyone was observing Tony, wondering what his next actions would be. My throat felt dry, and I could barely breathe. The flicker of a fireplace sounded through the room. Why was Tony turning on the fireplace? At a time like this, his actions were uncalled for.

     "Tell me who you work for," Tony said, as he loomed over the fire. I was oblivious to what he was doing, but I could see his arms shifting. The man struggled under the grip of Steve Rogers or Captain America, and he begged to be freed. His sentences were jumbled and his phrases were unimportant. This moment was a moment for silence and action, which everyone slowly observed. It was our turn to be quiet, and Tony's turn for action. His actions were concealed by his back, and I couldn't help but speculate what he was doing with the fire. It suddenly struck me. He had grabbed his pen holder off the desk and he was looming over the fire with his hand.

     The silence was deafening, and my hand grasped even tighter around the clutch it was holding. We waited for minutes, and Tony finally turned around. I had to bite the insides of my cheeks to keep from crying out.

     Bright orange. The metal of the pen that he gripped was bright orange on the tip. Tony watched the captive with fiery eyes. He had let the logo of the Avengers simmer under the fire, and it was bright orange as a result. At my next realization, I pushed back nausea in my stomach.

     Tony was going to brand him with the Avengers logo.

     "No, no, no," The man yelled. His screams consumed the room, and it enveloped our ears. He continued through sobs, "You don't understand. If I tell you who he is, he'll find out. He 'll torture me, he'll murder my family, he'll kill everyone I love."

     This sentence struck me, and when it did I didn't hold back the sob that bubbled beneath my tongue. It didn't matter, not under the sizzling of the fire and the yells of the captive. I was in his position, knowing that if I revealed myself my whole family would die. Second-hand murder. I didn't care about a felony, I cared about them. I missed my mother's smile and my sister's laughter. I missed them, and at the same time, I knew that I couldn't tell Peter the truth.

     "Tell me who you work for." Tony's words held such threat and such sharpness, that my lips quivered. I myself wanted to yell out, to beg for him to not do what he was about to do.

     But I couldn't, and like the million other things I had to be passive about, I sat quietly and listened as a scream pierced the air around us. Peter couldn't hold back from the yell that escaped his throat, but it was inaudible beneath the eruption of noise. The scream of that man was a noise that would stay with me the rest of my life. I slowly blinked, wishing that the image in front of me could be one bad dream. My stomach sunk.

     A bright red slash covered the area that Tony had pressed the sizzling metal against the man's skin, and the whisper of hissing remained in the air, echoing off the walls. The burning of fresh meat. I pushed back my gag reflex. In reality, I was just as bad as that man, worse even, and this is what they did to him. If they ever discovered who I truly was, what would they do to me? I was against every single person in this group, and none of them knew, no one but my worst enemy. They were submissive to my mask of kind sentences and modest nature.

     Tony finished the scene off ruthlessly by saying, "Go and tell your boss that if he sends someone again, they won't come back."

    With that, the steps of the bleating man left footprints on the smooth tile flooring. He looked desperate, cowardice. Wouldn't anybody at the hands of the Avengers? You would, Rose, I told myself. I wasn't lying. If this tough man acted like a mouse in front of the Avengers, I didn't want to imagine what it would feel like to be in that position.

    Once the man was gone, no one dare spoke. The group slowly trickled out, one by one. The event was solemn, almost as though it was a funeral session. In a way, it was the death of the innocent. I would never forget the image of an 'A' imprinted on that man's arm. I couldn't help my paranoia and the searing pain that ran through my body.

     I hated what had just happened, and I knew that I would lie awake tonight, unable to sleep. It was too late, I couldn't reverse what I had just seen. Deep inside I wondered if I truly regretted seeing it, and if I would have turned back had I known what would be lying for me in this cool office room. Ignorance is bliss, but I wasn't sure if I was willing to expend knowledge of reality for a dreamlike happiness. Ignorance is bliss, a phrase never said by the ignorant, because those aware of that fact only discover it when it is too late.

     "Nice first day on the job," Tony said sarcastically, addressing the only other person he had perceived to be in the room, Steve. His words seemed strained and quiet. Steve stood with a deep furrow and crossed arms, staring deeply into the fire that continued to roar. He slowly walked over to the fireplace and shut it off. The red flames stopped dancing and receded back into the logs beneath them. Tony continued, "Any idea of who the man worked for?"

     Finally, Steve replied slowly and deliberately, "None. One thing caught my attention, a black tattoo of a scorpion on his neck."

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That was pretty intense if I do say so myself. I loved writing this chapter. How did you all feel about it? Also, I did I make the fact that the man was branded clear enough?

As always, if you enjoyed this chapter, please let me know by favoriting it. I'll upload another chapter tomorrow! Love you all.