All My Life

46| Wicked Game

Tony's pov.

In all honesty, I have had my fair share of near-death experiences. Enough for a lifetime, enough for me to not need any more of those, but I don't think that's what the Universe has planned for me. Not at all. I have felt fear. After all, diving to your death through a wormhole has that effect on you but, never have I felt the cold fingers of pure terror seize my lungs, trying to rip me apart, not like I do in this very moment. I have never been afraid of dying but the thought of never being able to see Peter tears me apart. Indeed, life has a really sick sense of humour, a wicked one. How funny it is to get everything only for it all to be snatched away.

What a wicked game...

There's no way for all of us to get out in time, not when we are surrounded by groups and groups of people, each of them pointing their guns to our head, standing still like mindless robots. It feels as if time slows down as my eyes glaze upon Nat and Clint and I make a split-second decision to use the suit's inbuilt shield. "Nat, Clint. Get behind me." In no way can the shield be called fully-functional, but, there's still a minor chance that along with the suit, it might as well be able to take the blow, thus, managing to shield the two assassins.

They're worth it.

I see the pure fear that flashes by Natasha's eyes before they do as told and I pull myself together, preparing myself for the inevitable blast. The comms go completely silent, a complete contrast to my haywire thoughts while my eyes stay upon the weapons blinking red.

I have found myself surprised a lot of times, a lot of times when something turned out to be completely unexpected. Sure, there are many of these moments but without a single doubt, this moment tops all the charts as a haunting silence take over the previous beeping, the red light going off.

What?

Even though the people in front of me have their faces hidden by the masks, a similar surprise is evident in their very eyes before most of their hands tighten around the weapons. "Get down!" I yell before making a complete rotation and watch as the red lasers slice through everything in the range, making the people fall upon the floor like stringless puppets.

"What the hell just happened?" Sam's shaky voice snaps everyone out of their trances and I turn to face Clint and Nat, their face shining with the sweat trickling down their side.

"Sir," Jarvis' voice echo, successfully grabbing the attention of the three of us. "Protocol PS12 has been activated. Master Parker's vitals seem to be highly compromised. I am detecting a concerning amount of injuries. Life functions seem to be critical."

For the second time, I feel my heart being ripped apart as my breath gets stuck in my throat, my mind not able to wrap around the theme of this wicked, wicked game...

****************************************************************************

Peter's pov.

I can't breathe.

Those are the only words that my mind manages to string together and constantly repeat in my head like a tune on loop, stating the obvious over and over again.

I can't breathe.

I feel tears form in my eyes, my heart barely managing to do its work as an obnoxious beeping sound takes over the static silence. I am going to die alone, without even getting a chance to see dad. My eyes fall upon the beeping watch, surprised as to how it was still working as it continues to beep.

I feel my mind go into overdrive. Having an existential crisis while being stuck under a building is not what I call ideal, yet, here I am, questioning everything that happened. I feel my finger brush against the suit's pocket and freeze when I feel small pieces, pieces of what was supposed to be a beautiful necklace, now broken.