Survivor

23. Mountains

"The man on top of the mountain didn't fall there."

"Excuse me?!" Cap balked once Scorpio revealed his purpose, everyone else being to shocked to speak at that moment. Well, except for Scott who was never to shocked to speak.

"You mean you didn't just randomly pick a room to crash through? This was planned? That's pretty..." before he could say 'cool' Sam elbowed him in the side. "...crummy. Wow, what a terrible thing to do." Scott coughed instead.

"Just stop him." Natasha sighed, annoyed by this trivial conversation and, honestly, also worried about Spiderman. As much as she refused to get attached to any new team mates - Scott, for example - she was already endeared to this teenager.

Tony, gingerly holding Peter, stood slowly, clearly seething. "Deal with this trash. I'm taking Peter for help." He explained over the comms through clenched teeth. "Calling Helen Cho." FRIDAY was the first to respond, having already taken Peter's vitals into account.

Meanwhile, Cho looked at her watch that was buzzing with a call from Tony Stark and groaned. "They seriously need more than one doctor." She decided, grabbing her lab coat and answering. "It's Peter, isn't it." She asked as the call clicked. "Yes, how did you guess?" Tony asked, though none of his usual charm was there. "You haven't called me for 6 months, though I know the Avengers get hurt all the time. I'm only called when I'm directly in the compound. Suddenly this teen comes in and he becomes priority number one." After a second, Cho laughed. "Not that I can blame you; he's a special kid. Crazy, but adorable. Is he ok?"

"You tell me. What do you know about Scorpion poison?" And that made Helen run.

"Hang in there." Tony muttered as he lowered Peter onto a gurney and took his mask off. In response, the teen groaned, opening his eyes. "Woah... what happened?" Peter asked, and Tony's eyebrows shot up. "Um... shouldn't you be... unconscious right now?" He asked tentatively, but Peter shook his head.

"I don't know..." Peter responded worriedly, when suddenly the comms screeched in Tony's ear. Seeing the man's response, Peter grabbed his mask and pulled it on.

"Tony, we're going to need all the people with metal skin that we can get!" Rhodey yelped, clearly in the middle of combat. "Wanda and Sam are down!" Natasha followed. "On my way."

"Our way." Peter corrected his superior, jumping up. "Uh, yeah, no." Tony growled, placing his hand on Peter's chest. "You just got injected with some weird poison thanks to that psychopath upstairs who, coincedentally, is here to take you to Thor knows where and do Loki knows what. You're done."

Peter leveled his gaze at Tony and set his jaw. "I feel fine. I can't keep being a dead weight around here. Like you said; this guy is here because of me. That makes him my responsibility." Before Tony could say anything else, Peter spun around and dived out the window, shooting a web.

"For the love of... Peter!" Tony engaged his suit and followed the rebelious teenager.

oOo

Peter was done being a nuisance. All he was seemed to be a bother to the Avengers. He would deal with his own villain, and then he would be out of their hair. Peter flipped through the gaping hole in the wall and caught Scorpio's tail in his webs seconds before it could dig into Clint's face.

"Look who's back." Scorpio sneered, seething at his tail being trapped. "Peter! What are you doing here?" Natasha hissed, raising an elbow to block Peter from getting into the action. "I'm dealing with my own problem." Peter explained bitterly, spinning away from Nat's grip.

"This is bigger than you." Natasha tried, but Peter scoffed. "Maybe. But he's here for me, and he's hurting everyone else. Pretty sure that's my fault." Before Black Widow had another chance to tell him off, Peter launched into the fight beside Cap.

"You shouldn't be out here." Cap said while blocking Scorpio's blows with his shield. "Pretty sure I should. This guy is here for me."

"Which is why you should be as far away from here as possible." Scott said on Peter's other side. "What if that guy got you?"

"I. Don't. Care." Peter hissed, managing to web Scorpio's arms to his sides. Tony was helping Vision take Sam and Wanda down to Dr. Cho, but he shot Peter a warning look anyways.

Peter was done with this. Rhodey had managed to blow the rest of Scorpio's mask off, and Peter vaguely recognized the guy from the ferry he had nearly destroyed. He had caused enough trouble for his lifetime.

"This is over." Peter said, looking at Scorpio. He sprang forward, ignoring the protests of his team, and hooked a web on Scorpio's tail. "What are you going to do, Spiderboy?" Scorpio tempted with a smirk. "This." Peter returned, yanking the tail so it hit Scorpio's own exposed neck. The scorpion themed villain yelled in protest of being defeated before paralysis took over and he dropped.

The Avengers looked at Peter in shock, but he simply turned away in disgust. They didn't think he could do it...

They had no reason to. Peter let his shoulders slump as he turned back to his 'team'. All he'd ever been to them was a burden. "A-anyone hurt?" He asked sheepishly as Rhodey came in. "Helen is looking at Sam and Wanda now. She and Tony both insist you come in for a check up." He explained.

"No." Peter said suddenly. "Thanks, but I'm fine. In fact, I should be going. Thanks for letting me chill." Peter explained curtly, looking over at Scorpio. "You might want to send him into SHIELD or something..."

"Hang on." Tony said suddenly, flying in. "You're not going anywhere. First of all; you could be injured or still affected by that venom. You're not running off when there's a chance you're unwell. Second; there are people after you, Peter. You can't handle this by yourself. I couldn't even handle that by myself and I wasn't a 16 year old kid with bigger issues than a super life. We can help you." Tony stepped forward and put a hand on Peter's shoulder.

"Let us protect you."

Yay! Is Spidey going to let the Avengers help? Will this lead to more Avengers fluff?
Next chapter awaits!!!

~Meow