Monsters Unleashed in Venice
Summary:
After seeing the kid fall into the water after getting hit, Quentin dove in right after him after a few seconds of waiting for him to return back to the surface. But after a hit like that, he was sure to be unconscious… or worse.
Worry gnawed away at him as Quentin dove in the water, his eyes frantically searching the water below for any sign of the kid’s red and blue suit.
“Come on, kid… where are you?” He mumbled to himself as he swam faster and deeper.
“I don’t think this is working! It’s getting stronger!” Peter yelled over the roar of water as he swung up from his web, narrowly avoiding getting hit by a watery fist.
“I know… this one’s not like the elemental creature from my earth… it’s stronger than the others.” Quentin’s strained voice came from the com in Peter’s right ear.
They’ve been fighting the water monster for at least an hour now and they were getting absolutely nowhere. Whenever they punched or threw something at the thing it did nothing and they were running out of options.
Peter grit his teeth as he shot a web at a large wooden box and pulled, hurling it at the water monster. The creature roared as the box collided into its head, snapping it’s head in Peter’s direction before making a swing at him again with one of it’s fists.
“Kid, I have an idea. You go on it’s left and I’ll go right. I’m going to try to hit it again.” Beck ordered in his ear.
“Got it!” Peter yelled, letting go of the web in his hand and backflipping in the air before shooting off another web, heading on the left side of the monster.
Mysterio flew up to the monster’s head and shot his green smoky blasts at it, blasting a hole in the creature’s right side of it’s face as it furiously roared in rage.
“Water you so mad about?” Peter yelled to the creature as he threw another large wooden crate at it’s head before the holes filled back up.
“Really? That’s the best you could come up with?” Quentin dryly asked.
Peter smirked under his mask. “Well, yeah. You don’t have to be so salty about it.”
He could hear a faint chuckle from the man on the other end. “Just focus, Spider-Kid. Keep hitting it, I think it’s working.”
“On it!” Peter called, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips a few moments later. “I’ll just go with the flow.”
“Kid…”
“Right. Sorry. I just had to. I’m done now.”
As the minutes passed by, Peter was web slinging every which way, throwing whatever he could at the creature while Mysterio shot at it, enlarging the holes they were making on it. Finally… they were getting the upper hand.
“Yes!” Peter cheered with a smile, as he swung around the creature after throwing another wooden shipping crate at it, splinters and water flying in the air from the impact with the monster’s face.
“Nice work, kid.” Quentin complimented, flying over his head as he shot another round of blasts at the monster.
Peter froze at the man’s words, feeling his breath catching in his chest as a memory came back to him.
He was down in the lab at the Compound sitting beside Tony at one of the work stations, and Tony was showing him how to fix the wiring in one of the old, broken down Iron Man suits that had gotten damaged in a fight.
“So I just have to connect it here?” Peter asked, holding up a blue and green wire.
Tony nodded. “Yup. You always wanna make sure that those two are connected because they connect the suit to the arc reactor.”
Peter licked his lips, his face setting in concentration as he adjusted his grip on the pliers in his hand, bringing them closer to the wires. The first time he did this he got shocked and his fingers were still tingling a bit from it.
He crossed the wired over each other before bringing the pliers down, pinching them together as he twisted them together until it they were secure. Putting the pliers down on the table, Peter carefully took the wire between his fingers and slid it between a bolt.
Tony silently passed him the proper screwdriver to tighten the bolt down. Once the bolt was tightened, the arc reactor came to life, the blue LED lights shining on Peter’s face, lighting up the darkened lab a little.
“Would you look at that.” Tony said, a fondness in his tone as he placed a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Nice work, kid.”
“KID!” A voice yelled, snapping Peter out of the flashback and back into the present.
The only warning he got was his spider-sense flaring up at the back of his head before something slammed into his back, sending him flying towards the water below at an alarming speed, not allowing him any time to shoot a web off to break his fall.
Peter felt himself slam into the frigid water before he knew nothing more.
…
After seeing the kid fall into the water after getting hit, Quentin dove in right after him after a few seconds of waiting for him to return back to the surface. But after a hit like that, he was sure to be unconscious… or worse.
Worry gnawed away at him as Quentin dove in the water, his eyes frantically searching the water below for any sign of the kid’s red and blue suit.
“Come on, kid… where are you?” He mumbled to himself as he swam faster and deeper.
Not even a second later his eyes landed on a bright red and blue figure, sinking down to the bottom of the canal. Quentin threw his arms out to his side and propelled himself towards him, grabbing onto one of the kid’s dangling arms, pulling him to his chest.
“I gotcha kid.”
Twisting around, Quentin pushed himself up, wrapping both arms around the kid’s limp form as his suit’s repulsors kicked on before they both shot up, heading towards the surface, the top of the light blue water shimmering in the sunlight.
Once they broke through the surface, Quentin readjusted his grip on Peter and held him in a bridal carry. The water creature was nowhere in sight now but he’d have to worry about that later. Right now, he had to make sure that the kid was alright.
Taking off into the air, Quentin flew to a tall stone building with a large balcony and landed on it, kneeling down to the ground as he carefully lay the teen down. Quentin disengaged his helmet and looked down at the teen’s too-still form. It was obvious that he was unconscious from the mask’s lenses being in slits, showing almost no white and not to mention how silent the kid was.
“Kid, you with me?” He asked as he reached a hand out and carefully pulled the mask away, revealing a too-pale face. “Peter?”
The kid’s face was slack, water droplets trickling down the sides of his face from his wet hair that was plastered against his forehead. If he didn’t know any better… he’d say he was dead.
Fury had trusted him to keep an eye on the kid and keep him out of trouble. Peter was just a kid, far too young to be involved in any of this. He was a good kid with friends and a family waiting for him back at home in New York. What would happen to them if they found out that he had died overseas?
Dread pooled in the pit of his stomach as he raised a hand to Peter’s neck, feeling for a pulse. And there was one, thank God. It was slow, but steady.
Quentin took in a breath before raising a hand to his ear and tapped on his com. “Fury, Spider-Man’s down.”
“What do you mean he’s down?” Fury’s angry voice came not even a few seconds later.
Before he could respond, a choking noise came from the back of the kid’s throat. Quentin rolled the teen onto his side just before he began to violently cough up water. Peter groaned and rolled onto his back once again, his brows pulling together as he tightly squeezed his eyes shut.
“W-What happened?” He hoarsely asked.
“You took a bad hit and fell in the water.” Quentin told him. “You alright?”
Peter slowly nodded, wheezing out a breath. “Y-Yeah. I… I didn’t see him.” He said as he began to push himself up onto his elbows.
“Beck?” Fury’s voice snapped from the coms.
“He’s alright.”
He heard Fury breath out a relieved breath on the other end. “Come back to base. We’ll go from there.”
Quentin nodded. “We’re on our way.”
Peter blinked up at him in confusion, now sitting up. He was shivering but color was thankfully coming back to his face now that he was awake.
“Fury wants us back at base.” Quentin explained. “You feeling alright?”
Peter jerkily nodded his head. “Y-Yeah, I-I think so.”
Quentin helped him stand to his feet, bracing a hand on the teen’s shaking shoulder in case his legs crumbled underneath him. Peter reached a hand up and brushed his wet hair from his forehead.
“Thanks for saving me there.”
“Anytime, kid.” Quentin slightly smiled, engaging his helmet once again. “Ready to head back?” He asked, handing the kid his mask.
Peter nodded and grabbed it, sliding it over his head. He was clearly still shaken up from the whole ordeal. “Ready.”
Hours later, Peter finds himself sitting on a rooftop, on the edge of a balcony, feet dangling down to the cobbled street hundreds of feet below. He’d got cleared by SHIELD medical after the fight with the water creature hours ago and him almost drowning, which was scary.
Peter let out a long sigh and closed his eyes. It was strange being here in Venice with how quiet it was compared to New York’s loud streets and blaring police car sirens. He missed it. He missed the familiar, comforting sounds of the city. He missed May and all he wanted was one of her warm hugs right now.
“Hey, I’ve been looking for you.” A voice broke the silence of the night.
Mysterio flew up from below, hovering a few feet away from him, his fishbowl helmet glowing a smoky blue in the darkness.
The color reminded Peter of Tony’s arc reactor.
How it flickered dimly before going black when he died.
Peter swallowed hard around the lump forming in his throat and turned his head away from the man. He didn’t trust himself right now to talk, the threat of breaking down loomed in the air.
Mysterio silently took a seat beside him, warmth radiating off of him. Peter didn’t even know that he was cold until now. He pulled his flannel sleeves down further, covering his hands a little. The two of them were silent for a few moments before Quentin broke the silence.
“You okay? You got pretty shaken up earlier.”
Peter slowly nodded, looking down at his hands. There was something about Quentin, a wiseness maybe, that made Peter want to talk to him. Their conversation the other day, on this very balcony, had helped him feel a little better. Quentin was a really nice, caring guy and a good listener. Peter really liked the guy but there was something at the back of his mind that warned him about getting too close to someone who had the potential of becoming a mentor figure for him… like Tony had been. And now… he was gone.
“You miss him.” Quentin spoke, sounding more like a statement than a question.
“Yeah.” Peter answered thickly, nodding his head.
“I get it. Losing someone close to you… it hurts.” Quentin spoke in an understanding tone, silent for a few beats. “During the fight today… you kind of froze up before you got hit. What happened?”
Peter breathed out a sigh and closed his eyes, shaking his head. “I don’t know I just… I had this… like, a flashback or something.”
“What was it about?”
Peter opened his eyes, his brows pulling together. “Tony.” He answered, hating how the name sounded heavy on his tongue. “We… we were just hanging out in the lab fixing one of his suits. You… you said something that reminded me of something he said to me, so I guess that’s what triggered it?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean-”
“No no. It’s not your fault.” Peter shook his head. “I just… I can’t stop thinking about him. I get these flashbacks things all the time now and just about anything sets them off I guess.”
“I get that too sometimes.”
Peter turned and looked at the man. “You do?”
Quentin nodded, humming at the back of his throat. His brows pulled together, a sadness washing over his features. “My family died at the hands of these elemental monsters back on my world. So… I guess I feel where you’re coming from.”
“I’m sorry.”
Quentin’s lip turned up a bit as his eyes met Peter’s before he looked back to the city in front of them, letting out a sigh. “This life isn’t easy. Sometimes you just want to hang up your cape, well, in your case your webs, and just be done with it. But something always happens that makes you go back in.”
“Yeah.” Peter quietly agreed.
He had originally planned on just having a relaxing summer break with his friends but when Fury stepped into his life and asked for his assistance with saving the world… those plans went right out the window.
The two of them fell into a silence for a few moments before Quentin turned to him with a small smile.
“Tell you what, how about we grab a drink? Maybe even see a few of the sights around here? Let’s just take the night off and tomorrow… we’ll worry about the elemental creatures. Sound good?”
Peter smiled with a nod. “That sounds great.”