Trapped in the Shadows

Chapter 41 - Pain

Peter's POV:
A bloodcurdling scream reverberated off of the basement walls and I froze, knowing that it had originated from (Y/N). I was held up by the experimental creatures that (Y/N)'s intelligence had told us about called the Hydra Four. While I held them off for (Y/N), I hoped that she would be able to escape unharmed, but clearly allowing us to be split up was not turning out in my favor.

"Karen, I need to get to (Y/N) right now," I spoke as I tried wrapping a web around the creature trying to replicate Thor. I don't know why I had thought that I was skilled enough to go up against four Avengers at once, but it was clear that nothing I was doing was actually taking them down. I was however giving (Y/N) time to escape as well as time for the real Avengers to get down to the basement.

"I have charted the path to (Y/N)'s tracker. Might I suggest use foam webbing to make your escape?" Karen replied, my brows furrowing. I hadn't used that combination yet and wasn't entirely sure what it would result in. However, I trusted that my AI knew what she was talking about and changed over to that web, aiming it at the four creatures.

They were submerged in a layer of web fluid, causing them to stick to the floor. I widened my eyes and cried out, "that was insane, Karen, why didn't you tell me to do that earlier?"

I watched the creatures fruitlessly struggle to free themselves as she replied, "because it uses up all of your web fluid so it should only be done in extreme situations or when you have extra fluid on hand."

"Great, so I'm out of webs for the rest of this mission," I muttered, testing out my webs and discovering that she was telling the truth. "Alright, just get me to (Y/N)."

Karen gave me instructions through the labyrinth, allowing me to catch up to (Y/N). I heard someone's footsteps and decided to climb up the wall so that I could use the ceiling to keep me from being seen as I didn't have many options to left when it came to fighting. The footsteps belonged to a man who was now kneeling next to (Y/N)'s body and checking her neck for a pulse.

He sighed, "a shame, you would have made an excellent leader for the Hydra Four. Oh well, I would rather have you dead than against us and we do have contingency plans."

I didn't even have time to process the heartbreak caused by hearing him tell me that the love of my life was dead, my mind went immediately to rage. I noticed (Y/N)'s hunting knife lying a few inches from her fingertips and dropped down from the ceiling to grab it before the man had a chance to react. I then plunged the knife into him, causing him to gasp and stumble back in pain.

"You killed her!" I cried as I stabbed him again. I continued plunging the knife into him until he stumbled against the wall, blooding seeping through his shirt.

"So your Peter, huh? Got to say, I didn't really see that coming. Although I suppose it does make sense, it would explain why she had been so attached to Spider-Man and what had made her fall in love with a geek like you," he responded with a small smile, as though trying to cover up the fear that he was dying. However the blood that was trickling from his mouth and the panic hidden in his eyes ruined that facade.

I growled in response, stabbing the knife in one last time and watching his body crumple to the ground and bleed out. He was only able to whisper one last "hail hydra" before his life left him. (Y/N)'s knife clattered to the ground and I ran to her body, desperately checking for a pulse myself. The roar of one of the Hydra Four I had webbed up resounded throughout the halls as I began to perform CPR on (Y/N), a last ditch attempt to save her.

"Peter, the creatures are breaking loose, you have to get out of there. You can't save her, but you can save yourself," Karen warned me and, despite my desire to argue with her, I knew that she was right and (Y/N) would kill me if she saw me sacrifice my life when she was already gone.

I picked up (Y/N)'s body and sprinted out through the hanger, following Karen's instructions on what paths to take. The creatures were gaining ground on me, their footsteps getting louder and louder as I ran for my life. Once I made it to the hanger, I communicated with the other Avengers, "assistance is no longer required in the basement, but I'm kinda in desperate need for the quinjet if you could possibly send it my way."

"Copy that, Spider-Man, it has just taken off and will meet you soon," I heard Tony's voice respond, causing me to falter slightly. He had no idea what had happened, he had no idea that his daughter's corpse was in my arms.

However I needed to get out of the base before the hydra four caught up with me, so I tried to swallow the pain as I climbed up the wall and slipped through the ajar hanger doors. The quinjet was lowering itself a few feet away and I ran on board, glancing back at the hydra four, who had followed me out of the hanger and were getting dangerously close to the quinjet.

"Any chance it could go invisible and lose a tail?" I asked into my comms and the quinjet did just that, almost knocking me over with the turn that it executed.

The creatures continued their pursuit for a minute longer, but retreated once they realized that the trail had gone cold, causing a sigh of relief to escape my lips. But with that sigh, everything that had happened caught up with me. I shakily placed (Y/N)'s body down on the medical bed, checking her pulse one last time in vain hope that she would no longer be dead.

"(A/I), report her vitals," I choked, trying to keep my tears at bay.

"(A/I) has shut themselves down," Karen responded instead. "But I cannot detect a pulse. I am sorry, Peter."

That broke that dam that I had been trying to maintain and I took (Y/N)'s limp hand as I sobbed over her body. When she had gone missing, part of me had hoped that she had died, but now seeing her actually dead before me made me change that opinion. It was an unbearable pain that I had experienced only twice before - when my parents had died and when my uncle had as well. Why did everyone I cared about have to die? Why couldn't, just for once, it have been me? What did (Y/N) do to deserve this, any of this?

"Kid, are you good with the quinjet? Can you let us know what happened?" Tony's voice broke through my sobs.

"I-I'm sorry, Tony," I managed to get out, not sure how I would be able to tell him what had happened. "(Y/N), she- I couldn't save her."

Silence was the only thing that came through the comms afterwards as my heart broke even more, if that was possible, by verbalizing my loss. You could still see the ghost of fear and pain in (Y/N)'s eyes, which I closed for her when finding it unbearable to look at her in so much pain, even at the end.

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(A/N): Now the real question is did the injection work or are you really dead? Also I just found out that my college's theatre department is going to shit and downsizing even though the program has been growing more popular so I may have to go through applying for colleges/auditioning again unless I can scrounge up enough money to go AADA next semester so whoo we love that! Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter (I wished that I was able to capture the pain better but my brain isn't really processing anything right now and I didn't want to make you wait)