Going Through Changes -> Peter Parker

39.

Peter entered through an opening in the roof, slowly letting himself down by web. The hall was crammed with stolen goods and technical devices. He had finally found the evil lair he had been looking for. Multiple monitors showed plans, routes, and live feeds off the plane that soon would leave the former avengers tower. Peter looked around in awe.

This was way more professional than anticipated. The vulture's wings were parked nearby, and Peter could help but feel a shiver running down his body at the thought of what that thing had done to him.  Suddenly, there was a noise in the next room. Carefully, Peter swung over, his body tense and ready to fight. In the very back of the empty hall stood Toomes, working on a lonely workbench.

"Hey! Surprised?" Peter called out as he walked through the room. " Oh hey Pete, I didn't hear you come in.", Toomes replied calmly, as he turned around. He was wearing his villain goggles that looked way more intimidating than the old sunglasses glued to Peter's makeshift mask. "It's over. I got you", Peter made clear that he had won this round of hide and seek. " You know, I gotta tell you, Pete, I really, really admire your grit. I see why Liz likes you." Without a care in the world, Toomes but on the jacket he had been working on. Peter was still walking. That hall was just massive. "I do. When you first came to the house, I wasn't sure. I thought, 'really?'.But I get it now."

"How could you do this to her?" Peter interrupted the villainous monologue. He had stopped, tilting his head. " I'm doing this for her." "Hm, yeah.", Peter huffed, shooting a web to fixate Toomes's hand to the workbench. The man sighed heavily, leaning back lazily. " Peter. You're young. You don't understand how the world works." "Yeah, but I understand that selling weapons to criminals is wrong," Peter begged to differ. In his eyes, his youth wasn't crucial to this. He was doing what was right. " How do you think your buddy Stark paid for that tower? Or any of his little toys?" Peter rolled his eyes. Of course, this was the main argument. He knew about Stark's past.

Everyone did. But he also knew that the man was doing his best to make up for it. Toomes, on the other hand, remained a gangster. There was no noble intention behind selling dangerous killing machines to those who would even kill kids. There laid the difference between Tony Stark and the Vulture, and to Peter, it was massive. "Those people, Pete, those people up there, the rich and the powerful. They do whatever they want. Guys like us, like you and me, don't care about us. We build their roads, and we fight all their wars and everything. They don't care about us. We have to pick them up after them. We have to eat their table scraps. That's how it is."

Peter squirmed under his gaze. He couldn't deny that there was a certain truth behind that last part. But still, Toomes was the bad guy. "I know you know what I'm talking about, Peter." Peter shook his head, throwing his arms in the air. "Why are you telling me all this?" He always thought villain speeches were a thing exclusively portrait in movies, not real life. This was getting ridiculous. "Because I want you to understand. And... I needed a little time to get her airborne." With a single push of a button, the vulture wings flew through the hall, cutting right through the concrete pillars around them and almost running Peter over.

The boy jumped into the air, shooting his webs, but the thing was unstoppable.
As Peter managed to punch it through a wall, it came right back. "I'm sorry, Peter.", Toomes told the boy. " What are you talking about? That thing hasn't even touched me yet!" Peter called out, But his cockyness was only unaware of the obvious. Touching him hadn't been the plan from every beginning. "True. Then again,wasn't really trying to", the villain smiled mischievously as Peter realized that the wings were actively demolishing the building. But it was too late. Under loud din, the roof cane down on him, burying the boy under an avalanche of concrete and steel.

There was darkness, silence, pain. Peter could feel anything and nothing at once.  He could barely beat, stuck between rubble and dust that was coating his lungs from the inside, his mouth dry as the Sahara. He was confident; this was the end. He was going to die here. There was no way he would get out of here. The plane was lost, and so was his life. He felt numb, lost in this small cavity, waiting for the final strike, a movement that would cause all to collapse even further, finally smashing his weak body. He failed. This was the ultimate price he had to pay for his actions. Stark had been right; this got him killed. May was also correct. He should have lived the everyday life she had wanted for him. He was going to miss her. And there was Liam; he had given him a promise he was about to break without having had the time to be a proper boyfriend. He could almost hear him scold him, screaming at him for not coming back. Wait...

" Peter!" the voice of Liam called even louder, footsteps making more dust drizzle into Peter's hair. "Peter! Where are you?" His boyfriend sounded desperate, his smooth voice breaking away? "Peter!" He was crying. Liam wasn't supposed to cry. He was the strong one. The one that Peter looked up to. Beauty and grace....and a possible way out of here! Liam could save him; he had done it before! He would know what to do! But for that, he needed to know that Peter was still alive, just trapped. Peter groaned, wiggling his arms free to pull his mask down. He gasped for air that entered his lungs more than unwillingly. It took all his strength to gather himself so he could finally answer.

"I'm here!" It was a sad excuse for a call, horse, and quiet. But the footsteps fasted and got closer. "Peter, Peter, Pete?" Liam asked. He had heard him. " I'm down here!" Of course, he had. Peter's heart was filled with love and hoped as his boyfriend carefully rigged his way to the boy. "Peter!" he exclaimed happily as they could see each other's faces. His eyes were beaming but wet from tears.
" Liam!" Peter breathed out, so delighted to see his boyfriend. "I'm here, love. I'm right here."