Secrets And A Spider

-9-

"What happened to her?" Bruce asked as Tony ran in, holding Riley's trembling form. "I don't know, she got trapped inside of an empty room, by the time I broke in she was in the corner......we need to help her." Tony explained unable to bear thinking of the state his daughter was in, the same girl he always swore he would protect, the same girl who now was in the worst pain possible. "Put her on the bed." Bruce said and Tony nodded, but Riley wouldn't lay down, she was stuck in the ball of fear, too afraid to open her eyes and see the dead friend. "Riley, its me. Come on Toot, it's your dad. You're safe, we're home." Tony spoke as he placed his hand on her knee, she just moved back and shook even more. "Please, Riley. What happened?" He advanced again and like before, she moved away. Bruce stepped forwards to prevent Tony advancing any more, "give her space, she's traumatised Tony. Whatever happened in that room is going to take time to clear. Just look at the way she's shaking." He said and Tony removed the doctors hand from his shoulder. "Don't you think I can see that! I had to carry her here, I felt her shaking through my suit Banner, so don't tell me what to do!" He burst out of the room and retreated to his bedroom where he sat in a fit of rage.

Riley's POV
I sat and stared, all I saw was red, all I saw was blood. The image was branded into my brain, I was incapable of forgetting, of breaking free from the chains. Guilt. Sadness. Anger. Pain. Loss.
It all weighed me down, slowly I was drowning but it was my own demons pulling me under, after all, you can't drown your demons when they know how to swim....

---2 days later--No ones POV--

Peter sighed, once again, Riley hadn't turned up to school. He tried texting, calling, but nothing came back. Not even the tick to say she had read the message, so tonight he decided to go visit, as Spiderman. He scrambled into his suit before swinging off in the direction of the facility, arriving within the hour. He silently crawled along the wall until he reached the familiar window of the girl he had fallen for. He knocked on it, nothing. He knocked again, still not a sound. So, curious he opened it, silently celebrating the fact it wasn't locked as he entered the room. He walked over to the bed, she wasn't there. "Riley!" He called knocking on the en suite door, the room was silent. He sighed sitting on her bed, the spider picked up the picture which sat on her table and smiled. Since his last visit, there was a new picture next to the one of her and Sally, it was him. It was the picture with her upfront and him in the back, covered in ice cream and laughing at her.

Suddenly, the door burst open and he had to use his webs to stop the picture smashing on the ground. "What are you doing here?" Tony questioned, clearly angry. "Mr Stark...I. Um, Riley wasn't in school and I wondered what happened." Peter swallowed a lump in his throat as he took off his mask. "She's just ill." Tony snapped ushering him out of the room. "Then where is she? And why hasn't she answered my messages?" Peter asked as he was slowly pushed towards the exit. "I don't know, just leave and don't let me catch you here again......wait, how did you know which one was her room?" Peter looked away, too scared of the already angry Stark. "You've been here before haven't you?" Tony balled his fists but didn't dare take out his rage on the teenager who his daughter had become so fond of. "Yeah, we're friends." Peter mumbled.
"Does she know it's you under the mask?" Peter shook his head in reply. "She knows I go to Midtown, but that's it." Tony stopped walking, and thought for a minute. "How much does she trust you? What has she told you?" He asked. "Um, a lot. But I don't know if I can tell you Mr Stark, I wouldn't want her to hate me." Peter took a deep breath as the billionaire stayed silent, before motioning for him to follow.

Tony lead Peter down the corridors until he stopped outside of a door, "I'm warning you, Riley isn't herself. Just, please. Try." Tony said.
"Try what?" He didn't reply to Peter's question, instead he opened the door and allowed Peter to walk to the other side of the room where Riley sat in the corner, still rocking herself back and forth. She was attached to a drip which gave her everything she needed to survive.