Marvel's The Avengers: Hydra's Little Spider

Chapter 7: From South Africa to South Korea

A loud voice startled Peter and his sudden movement woke Wanda up as well. Her head jerked up and she looked around confused, not knowing where she was, before she remembered, that she and Peter were on their way to South Africa with the Avengers.

“Nice of you to join us again, Spiderling and witch-lady”, Stark remarked from the cockpit. “We are going to land soon, so you better get something other to wear because I sure as hell won’t let you join a fight in your street clothes.” Stark motioned to the bag Natasha brought with her when they boarded the jet. “I think the lovely Ms. Romanov brought some spare stuff for you.”

Peter looked at the bag and shook his head. “I only want a mask. I always worked with one and that won’t change simply because I am with you guys right now.”

Stark looked at him as if Peter had grown a second head. You could definitely see that he was not used to being refused things, even if they are as simple as offered clothes and gear. “Well I guess we can look if we have a ski mask laying around somewhere”, Stark said before he turned his attention back to flying the jet.

Natasha looked at Wanda, asking her if at least she wants better gear. “No I’m good. Besides, these pants are really comfortable and look great, don’t you agree?” Wanda asked Natasha.

The former spy stared at the black leather pants with a suspicious look on her face before she let out a sigh and turned back to Peter. “Come on Parker, let’s at least see if I can find you a ski mask”, she said and walked towards the back of the jet. After a few short minutes of her searching for a mask, all while Peter awkwardly stood behind her, she finally found something. Wordlessly she threw the old mask at Peter, who caught it effortlessly and tired it on right away. Wanda stepped up to Peter to check his now masked appearance out and gave him her approval.

Encouraged by Wanda’s approval, Peter took off the mask and sat back down for the landing of the jet. The landing process was over in less than two minutes, which left Peter impressed. Noticing the look on his face, Wanda, who never used a plane before, asked: “Why the impressed face? Did you not say that you used a plane for many of your missions with Hydra?”

Smiling, Peter looked her in the eyes and answered her: “It’s just that this is a really advanced jet. I only used either normal flights or at most a private plane. But nothing compared to the speed and agility of this one.” His smile grew even wider. “I’ve got to say though, for your first flight you handled the ride really well.” Wanda laughed at his teasing and playfully punched his arm, which Peter instantly held in mock pain.

“Stop flirting you two and get ready. If we are lucky Ultron was not here yet and we can get him right here”, Steve said with his usual commanding voice and motioned them out of the plane, where Stark (already in his Iron Man suit), Thor and Banner already waited. From what Peter understood while he waited for Natasha to find a mask, Banner would stay behind and only follow them in an apparent emergency.

Quickly they made their way to a stranded ship, from which Stark apparently detected unusual levels of activity for a ship that was meant to be wrecked. Peter, now masked again, followed Natasha together with Wanda, since the Russian likely had the most similar fighting style to Peter’s. They entered the ship through a door on the side, which strengthened Stark’s feeling that this was not a normal shipwreck. However, once all of them were inside, they were surprised that there was not a high level of activity as Stark’s scans suggested. In fact, the whole inside was nearly abandoned, despite the fact that it definitely served as a hideout of some sort.

The groups then split up to search the inside of the ship for any clues on what happened. Peter and Wanda, who, according to Stark, could not be trusted to search on their own, followed Natasha deeper into the ship. Suddenly a distinct scent came across Peter and he reached out to stop Natasha, who was walking in front of him.