lacuna || Peter Parker (Spider-Man: Homecoming)

05

As Tony and Rhodey fought their way through the large, solid-iron doorway, Davis snapped his tired head to attention. He was sitting in front of the door that lead into where Peter lay, dying. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy, though Pete had made a mistake by calling for Stark.

And now Stark was here. Davis jumped to his feet, frantically feeling his belt for his voice transmitter. 

"Toomes! Stark is here!" He yelled through the walkie-talkie. There was a crackle and a few inaudible words came through. Aaron sighed, and cast the device to the floor.

"Ready, push!" Tony yelled, and he and Rhodey shoved the door as hard as possible. The creaked loudly, then fell open. Tony flew in and Rhodey followed, somewhat less gracefully. The billionaire looked around for a moment, before speaking to his suit.

"FRIDAY? Search for hot-spots." He was too scared and determined for his mouth to obey what his mind was telling him. Instead, he used words like; hot-spot and search - he wasn't being professional! But that didn't matter - Peter was in danger.

Detecting, FRIDAY said. Then, a few seconds later; Detected a mass upstairs and one a hundred metres to your right.

Tony nodded and turned to Rhodey.

"OK, so it seems The Vulture is upstairs with the rest of his crew. One just near here - it could be Peter." He informed him, and Rhodey nodded in understanding.

Tony turned of his boosters, and landed swiftly on the floor. He walked as quietly as possible down the narrow corridor to his right. It was long and dark, but - in a strange way - Tony anticipated what he would find at the end. Rhodey followed closely behind.

What he found wasn't what he had been expecting.

"Stand down!" Came a scared yell, with a thick American accent. Iron Man turned the corner to find a young-ish man in his early twenties waiting for him. He stood in front of a much smaller door, that had no security. Stark paused, confused. FRIDAY had detected one person - and it wasn't Peter.

"Who are you?" Tony asked rudely, after a moment of silence.

When there was no reply, Tony continued to push.

"Where's Pete . . . um, Spider-Man?" 

"Don't know." The man gulped.

"You're lying! Tell me where he is, now!" Stark yelled, gaining more control.

He waited a second, barely giving Davis enough time answer. Then he sped forward, slamming the American against the far cement wall, metal gauntlet clutched around his neck. Not enough to suffocate him, but enough to scare him.

"I-I . . . he's in there! Please!" The guy whimpered, pointing shakily toward the now unguarded door. Tony smiled; it was always too easy.

He dropped the man, who crumpled to the floor, shaking. 

"Rhodey - could you watch him? Make sure he doesn't do anything rash." Rhodey nodded in agreement. 

Then Stark stepped out of his Iron Man suit, knowing confronting Peter in all his armour might startle the fifteen-year-old. He raced to the door and twisted the knob, dreading what he might find when he finally pushed the door open. Normally, he wouldn't have been this rushed, but Peter was probably dying and that was something worth rushing for.

He coughed at the dense, dust-filled air, as he opened the door. Slowly, the dust settled, and Tony saw Peter.

He was limp and unmoving, chained to the wall cruelly. He was still in his full suit, which relieved Tony a bit - maybe they didn't know who he was. But there was a deep red against the already red suit, around his upper leg. There was scabbed and unhealthy burns around his wrists and ankles, where the cuffs rubbed and the suit burnt, and his face was covered in blood - some from a deep wound on his forehead.