A Day of Unfortunate Events

Chapter 7: Heartbeat

*Preview*

      He raised his good hand towards his watch, he could see Bucky and Steve coming towards him from his periphery. He touched the cool surface of the watch. It was still blinking green. His shaking fingers finally able to press the side button three times. A loud Bang sound came and the metal doors started to part. His eyes gazing at the NY sunset. It felt nice, passing away during the Twilight. While his eyes were staring at the playful but peaceful game of hues. He was proud that he was able to fulfil the last of his duties.

      He was taking his last breaths now. His vision and brain went blank as his last thoughts were filled with his family, the feel of their hugs and love, Ned’s bear hugs, MJ’s lip’s touch on his, her smile…… In the end it was worth it, for him.

#

Outside the tower:

      Bruce was looking out of the helicopter, he had given Peter the signal almost half an hour ago, but he was still staring at the metal doors. His leg was dangling out of the helicopter, ready to go in from the broken wall the second the barn door would open. Bruce’s heart was in his throat now, every muscle, tendon and whatnot marinated with worry. He was still having trouble processing that Peter was in there, fighting his teammates for life or…. Who was he kidding? This was Peter , he would stub his toe by a chair leg and say sorry to the chair. He was dangerous, yes, but only to his enemies; not his family. He would never hurt them.

      A slender arm came on his shoulder, grounding him. He hadn’t even realized that he had been shaking. He let out a sigh while closing his eyes and looking down, taking a moment to collect himself. After a moment or so, he looked up to see Wanda. Her eyes were mirroring his. Both of them wanting their spidey to be safe, while knowing deep down that it wasn’t the case inside. Wanda had been frantic when she found out that Peter was in there and had readily volunteered to put them all to sleep so that the SHIELD team can inject them with the antidote.

      Just then a big whirring sound came and the metal doors roared to life. Time seemed to slow down for Bruce as he saw the metal doors parting. It was panicking to think what was going to meet him on the other side. He had wanted to go in and help since the very start of the whole ordeal, but now, seeing it actually happening drained him of any resolve he had. He really didn’t want to find out what was waiting for him.

      Bruce jumped down from the helicopter with a bunch of SHIELD agents and Wanda. Adrenaline rushing through his whole body. He ran from the Heli- pad towards the once glass wall. The scene in front of him made him stop dead in his tracks. Even from outside he could see blood. Lots of blood. And could hear someone’s stomping. He rounded the corner slowly and peeped in the room.

      Blood never made Bruce queasy, but… this was different. Blood was splashed in splotches on the walls. Trails and Trails of blood were there on the floor. Drops of blood were on the upper roof too. He was barely registering the metallic smell and blood when he saw two figures coming towards him. Steve and Bucky. Both of them had blood all over them and they were carrying a kind of distant and foggy look in their eyes. They were coming towards the window even before he came into view and Bruce knew that. Just then he looked on the floor, and there he was, sprawled a few feet away from the once glass wall. A cold shiver went down his back as he took in the view of the boy.

      He stood frozen in shock as his mind went into overdrive. Peter was red. Literally. There was a big pool of blood around him, his leg was nowhere in view. His hair were sticking out and more than that, his hands were sticking out in weird angles. His face was botched and lumpy and even the bones in his face seemed broken. He looked dead.

      What happened next was a blur for everyone. SHIELD agents caught up and directly shot the antidote tranquillizers at both Bucky and Steve making them charge at them instead of Peter. But Wanda stepped up and took control, having recovered from the initial shock of the room. She still hadn’t seen Peter. The uproar bought Bruce back too, and he ran towards Peter. He desperately tried to ignore the splashing sound which came when his boots met with the puddle of Peter’s blood. Peter’s eyes were closed, and he had a ghost smile on his face. A painful memory of a smile which usually used to be etched on his face.

      Bruce scrambled to his knees, took Peter’s hand in his and went for his pulse. He again tried to ignore how his fingers were all messed up. He waited and waited. There was no pulse. Bruce took pride in saying that he managed to stay calm in the most emotionally challenging situations. After all, He would rage out into the big guy if he couldn’t. But seeing their young spiderling in such a condition was heart wrenching. He knew that he was crying and trembling a lot but it was Peter in question.

      He distinctly registered himself shouting at the paramedics to bring out the Defibrillators. Even though he knew that there was a chance that this can do more harm than good. Peter’s shirt was tattered and sticky. Bruce took on the hem of the shirt and tore it through the front. The view made him gag even more. His usually pale and smooth front was laden with different hues of green, blue, violet and even black at some spots. There were these weird lumps along his chest area which indicated that his ribs were far more broken than Bruce had originally imagined. He felt the paramedics coming towards him and some of them even gasped at the scene.

      Then he thought of what the paramedics would be seeing right now. For him, it was Peter Parker, young, genius, compassionate, sharp, curious and whatnot. But for the NDA signed paramedics, it was just a baby faced 16 year old who also happened to be Spiderman. They quickly surrounded him and started to resuscitate him. Or at least try to. Bruce watched as they threw commands here and there. There were several complications, one of them being that his ribs were broken and had most likely impaled his lungs, which may have caused some internal bleeding there or even could have collapsed the lung. So they first started doing CPR, which went on for another 4 minutes. Yes, Bruce was counting the minutes. Because it was how long his brain was without any oxygen. During that time some of the paramedics had started to tend to his open wounds. After the 4 minutes, it became clear that CPR was doing nothing for the boy. So, even though they weren't sure, they had to use the defibrillators on him. Bruce closed his eyes when the first shock was given.

      It’s ok, it's gonna be ok…….

      Second shock

      Another shock

      “Raise the power to 50 percent!!” was shouted.

       Why didn’t I say no when he suggested the barn door protocol

      There was a lot of chaos but Bruce could hear the sound of the shocks pretty clearly

      The level was going on increasing

      And increasing

       He is just a kid, just a kid, a freaking school going kid

       Another shock

       He’s just a kid

      Shock

       I am never going to see that goofy smile again

       Shock

       I will never hear the nerdy rambles again

       Shock

       I should have said something to him to stop him

       “Raise the power to 100%!!!” was shouted loudly and another few sickening shocks were heard.

       He’s just a kid…..

      “There is a pulse!!!

•••••~•••••~•••••~•••••~•••••
(A/N)

Did you like it? I hope you did.

I wanted to make few thing clear, i.e., The last day of the academic midtown year was going to be the next day of the attack. The submissions and test mentioned were for a few extra credits.

Have a good day :)