Believer

20. (Don't) Give Up

"It's hard to beat someone who never gives up."

"You guys ready for this?" Scott asked as he shrunk and climbed onto Tony's back. "As long as you don't tear into my suit again, I think we'll be fine." The billionare joked tensely. Wanda nodded at Falcon before he shot into the air, and they all gathered in the direct path of the incoming comet. Steve felt rather usless staying on the ground, that was, until he saw a black van drive by the emptying streets. It was going to opposite direction from the rest of the evacuating city.

Uh oh. I don't think so.

Nat knocked on the side of the plane to let Clint know everyone was out and on the ground. Yelling at him from that distance wouldn't do much since his hearing was so bad, so vibrations got the message better across.

Entering cloaking mode, Nat, Clint and Strange took off. "So where exactly did you put him?" Nat asked, sitting beside Clint in the cockpit and looking at Strange over her shoulder. "A secure room beneath the compound. There was only one." Strange explained and Clint and Natasha shared a worried look.

"You mean the prison cell designed specifically for powerful enemies like Loki." Clint growled and Strange raised an eyebrow. "I was unaware that was its purpose. Hopefully Peter will not be too offended."

The landed on the platform smoothly, and stalked into the compound in heavy silence. They had to descend 16 levels underground to get to the prison; while the compound looked unimposing above surface, there were enough levels of security and tech to house a new SHIELD base.

"Come on, let's take the express elevator." Nat scoffed as Strange went for the stairs. His eyebrows knit together, the stoic man's only show of his embarassment. Nat wished it wasn't such a serious situation, as the silence made her worry about the young spider even more. He'd been through a lot in the past few days, she could only hope that he was nothing more than annoyed. her heart dropped when they finally reached the cell.

oOo

Peter wasn't sure if he was even awake anymore. It was so dark, he couldn't tell if his eyes were open or closed. He would've taken a whole other sensory overload situation instead of the complete lack of senses he was subjected to now.

And worst of all, he wasn't making sense to himself anymore. He tried to reason that someone was coming for him, but the more he thought about it, the less likely it seemed. How long had he been in there, anyways? Half an hour? 2 days? For someone reason his brain was trying to convince him it had been 3 years. Why 3 years? What was so significant about 3 years? What had been 3 years, again?

Suddenly, the light snapped on. Peter jumped out of his fetal position at the sudden flash of light. He could see where he was now, and all the air rushed away from him at the relief. It quickly faded, and left him feeling numb and weak and forcing him back to his knees.

He was in a round cage, made of glass.

Around him he saw high metal walls and a long ramp stretching out in front of him. Running towards him was Natasha, Clint and Strange, but he couldn't hear them. Their mouths moved, but he didn't understand. But he was oh so happy to see them, it didn't matter.

They came. They came. He tried not to cry, he really did.

Scrambling back to his feet, Peter ran to the glass that was still smudged with his blood and pressed his crimson hands against it.

"I'm here! Oh spades, I'm here!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. He felt his throat going raw as he screamed their names and told them he was here. He was ok. He wanted out. Natasha was the first to reach him, pressing her hands against his, blocked by the glass. She looked in horror at the blood mixing with tears on his face. She was trying to say something. He couldn't here her.

"I c-can't... I don't understand! I can't hear you!" He yelled. Natasha couldn't hear him either. The stupid cell was sound-proof. Clint ran to the controls while Natsha pounded the glass.

"We'll get you out of there, Peter!" She cried, knowing he couldn't hear. Peter let out a long breath and leaned his whole body against the glass. His eyes slipped just despite himself but they snapped open a second later. As soon as his eyes closed he was trembling in the corner again. He was trapped in darkness.

But his eyes opened, and he was ok. He was ok.

"Clint! Get this dam thing open!" (Oh I know how it's actually spelled, but I'm percy jackson trash) Nat yelled, and Clint scanned the control faster. "Got it!" He announced, slamming a button and inputting Tony's go-to password. Since there was no prisoner actually supposed to be in it, the security wasn't tight.

Strange stared in horror at what he'd done. He had been trying to help Peter, but all he did was trap and traumatize the boy. He screwed up, big time.

The glass slid open, and Nat caught Peter as he stumbled out.

"You're ok. It's over."

Oh stars, it was such a relief to hear her voice again. Clint ran over and pulled out some gauze, hurriedly wrapping his hands. Peter hadn't known he carried gauze in his belt, and it made him slightly worried about the archer. Peter at least had a healing factor.

"Peter... I am so sorry." Dr. Strange breathed, and Peter looked up at him with wide eyes. "It's ok." He mumbled, and he meant it, and that made it worse for Strange. He looked away. He had never been so quick to forgive, even for the smallest thing.

"Let's get you upstairs." Nat suggested, wrapping a hand around Peter's shoulders and steering him along. He was still in his PJ's, and they were covered in blood, and he needed a hot shower.

When Peter came out of his room in regular clothes with all the blood washed away, he found Nat in the sitting room. She had a big bowl of popcorn balanced on her lap and, of all things, old episodes of Looney Tunes primed on the TV. Peter walked in with the widest grin and plopped down beside her.

"Seriously?" He asked in badly disguised excitement. Nat smirked. "I loved Bugs Bunny as a kid." She mused, not mentioning that she only got to watch it when she came to SHIELD and Fury had her wait in his office while he did paperwork. He put Looney Tunes on the big computer and she watched it for hours.

Peter sat, and Nat let him share the blanket. Clint came in a few minutes later and sat on his other side, demanding his share of the popcorn from the kernal-hoarding Natasha. Even Strange joined them, if not a little sheepishly, sitting in an easy chair while his cape floated around curiously.

Peter glanced out the window every so often, where he saw the Avengers trying to stop a comet from hitting New York. He really wanted to help, but after Nat explained the situation, he realized there was nothing he could do.

Nothing but sit in the Compound, eat popcorn, and try and predict Bugs Bunny's lines.

I wanted to end it with some fluff because I felt bad for being so mean to Peter (and I'll probably get a lot meaner before this book is over)

Thank you to everyone for being so nice and commenting on my story and actually reading it!!! You guys are beyond awesome.

I am wondering if anyone has any constructive critisism because I would like to be the best writer I can be, and you all are so wonderful I think you'd have some great pointers (and I've read some stories from some of you and they're fantastic sooooo)

Also if anyone has story recommendations I'm looking for some books to read!!!

~Meow