The Scattered Stories of Spider-Son and Iron Dad

The Vulture Incident - Paging the Avengers

Steve was standing in the kitchen, looking over a handful of recipes. They had the ingredients for all of them, even though he needed to triple whatever the recipe called for, and now was just trying to make everyone happy. Natasha wanted noodles, Bucky wanted something spicy, Sam didn't care (Which wasn't actually that helpful), and Tony wanted something Italian--something about feeling nostalgic lately. Steve was leaning towards a Cajun Chicken Carbonara, when FRIDAY paged him.

"Captain Rogers, Merlin is commanding you to join him in the hallway, there seems to be a medical emergency."

Contrary to Societies' belief, Steve Rogers was incredibly intelligent. He was a master strategist, and was more than capable of doing a number of calculations in the moments between breaths if need be; So when he heard FRIDAY say that Merlin commanded his help for a medical emergency, he knew that it was as close to a 'Code Red' as the compound was going to get. The soldier bolted for the door, and looked from one end of the hallway to the other before running toward the pair swaying at the far end.

He slowed only slightly as he neared, taking in the situation as best he could: Merlin was standing in the middle of the hallway with a much younger person, clinging to him as they stood there bleeding onto the carpet. Whoever this was, Steve knew that Merlin was more than capable of giving them emergency medical attention. But Steve saw the problem with only a glance at the older man; Merlin was white as a sheet and looked like he was barely holding himself up as it was, while also supporting the weight of the boy in front of him.

"I'm fine, but he needs help."

Steve was startled by the sudden voice, but didn't visibly respond aside from looking up to meet Merlin's gaze. His eyes were almost glazed over, lending very little weight to his words; that coupled with the unfortunate gasping breathy quality of his voice led Steve to believe Merlin was in a state of shock. He took his final few steps toward the duo as though he were approaching a skittish animal; They both looked like they could collapse at any moment, and he was trying to figure out how to catch them both without aggravating currently invisible injuries. Merlin was not amused. He pulled in a breath and rolled his eyes a bit. This unfortunately allowed Steve to see the face of the boy leaning on him much more clearly: Peter Parker. Spider-Man, and the world's first ever ASI.

"I am not injured, Steve: He is... projecting and I can feel... everything. He doesn't know he's doing it... He's is this close to passing out... I can feel it. Just do me a favor... Catch him when I put him to sleep... then run... you run to medical... FRIDAY has already paged Cho to the incoming patient. Okay?"

Steve had gotten as close as possible as he listened to Merlin speak, the stuttering whisper such a sharp contrast to his regularly steady timbre. He nodded, and watched as Merlin gasped in another breath, and his eyes were ringed in the familiar warm gold, looking so out of place in his shivering pale face.

"Peter, I'm going to count to three and then you are going to let go. Okay?"

Merlin's voice was much more steady, but it seemed to reverberate throughout the hallway as he spoke. Steve watched as Peter's head jerked slightly, and Merlin took it as a nod. Steve didn't hear Merlin say anything else, but he watched as they both took in a deep breath, and stood a little straighter. They seemed to pull apart for only a moment before Merlin reached up and touched Pete's temple, his hand coming up to hold his face as he swayed for a moment.

Steve saw the gold fade is his periphery as he swept Peter into his arms, catching him as he went completely limp. He stood with Peter tucked softly into his arms only to stumble as Merlin fell to his knees, gasping as he caught himself from faceplanting into the carpet.

"No... Run!" He said as he leaned to the side and hit the wall next to him, waving weakly down the hall.

Steve needed no other orders, and took off running down the hallway. Leaving Merlin on the floor, Steve didn't slow again, until he neared the automatic frosted glass doors of the med wing.