A Different Kind of Family

Chapter 1: A Loss

The ringing bell drew Peter out of his thoughts. Already people were packing up and scurrying towards the door. Not wanting to be the last one out he quickly went about stuffing his books and notebooks away; but not fast enough. Flash's crew were already outside the door waiting for him, smirks plastered on their faces. "Where to so fast Penis Parker?" Flash said with a grin. His Spidey senses told him to dodge but he fought back on the instinct as Flash's fist connected to his eye. He could already feel the bruise forming underneath his eye but he refused to show he was hurt. He slowly brought his head back up and just simply glared at Flash. This only made Flash smile even bigger, the group behind him chuckling, "Trying to act tough now, are we?" This time Flash aimed for his stomach, a body blow. Peter held in the yell he wanted to release. By now Flash's gang had gone behind Peter and his friends joined in, pushing and punching him until he found himself on the floor with a bloody nose and busted lip. He heard Flash scoff and then the faint sound of footsteps walking away. Aunt May was going to kill him when she saw his face. So he did the one thing he knew best to do when cooling off and blowing off steam. He went to his backpack and ran to the school's alley to change into his Spider-man suit. The pain from his beating was already fading away into the back of his mind.

Peter sat on top of his favorite building when he heard the sirens. He had already jumped up and was on the ledge when he saw the ambulance speed by. Where were they going in such a hurry? The ambulance was followed closely by multiple cop cars and even a firetruck. Now Peter's spidey senses were tingling and not in a good way. The emergency unit was heading straight to his apartment building which he could now see was engulfed in flames. Without even thinking he was swinging as fast as he could towards the stream of people running from the mayhem. But all he could think about was his Aunt, was she safe? Was she out of the apartment? His thoughts now jumbled he barrels through his bedroom window and begins to frantically search for his aunt. By now his apartment was an inferno and he could barely see in front of him, much less even breathe. "May..!" He was barely able to choke her name out in the blaze. But he saw no one, he checked the bathroom, the living room and then her bedroom. He felt the color drain from his face. His aunt May lay on her twin bed, not a single scorch mark on her, only one big gaping bullet hole in her chest. Forgetting about the raging fire closing off his exits he stumbles over to her. Her brown eyes stare lifelessly at the ceiling, her hand grasped against her chest, the book she was reading still open on the page she was on. By now the tears were falling faster than he could blink; his last relative. The last family member he had. Gone. And he wasn't there to stop it, again. If he had just been home, if he hadn't been so lost in thought. If he had gone straight home. He could have stopped this, he could have stopped all the screams from happening. By now the flame has trickled into his only safe haven, the warmth of the flames licking at his heels. The burns hurt, but not as much as his heart. For a moment he just simply sat there letting the fire consume and burn his legs until he found the courage to shakily stand to his feet, cradling his dead aunt in his arms. Her body was so cold. So cold he could barely feel the flames eating away at the bottom of his suit slowly licking at his arms. With a choking sob he leaps through the only window in his aunt's room and lands by the first respondents causing a gasp to come from the gathered crowd. Forcing his gaze to stay on the blinking lamp post he gently lays his aunt May on a stretcher, the tears never ending as he slowly closes her eyes. Without another word to the shocked crowd he swings away into the night. He had no destination in mind, he just simply swung until he no longer had the energy for it. Before he knew it he had collapsed onto the balcony of the Avengers tower. The breeze from being so high up felt nice to Peter; as if the wind was trying to hug away his pain. Feeling in a safe place the sobs came. He couldn't stop the tears from falling, from the screams escaping his mouth. He curled into himself laying on the smooth cool surface of concrete. By now he could feel the burns hissing at his sudden movements; his injuries now just coming into light. But still he laid there in his fetal positions, the sobs never once stopping, not even when the door to the balcony opened.

Tony saw the kid before anyone else had. Friday had alerted them of a possible intruder on the tower's balcony which brought baffled looks to the Avengers, but nonetheless, they made their trek up to it to find the boy sobbing his heart out. His suit ripped and burned. Before anyone could ask what was going on Tony already had the boy in his arms, the boy never even seemed to notice that he had been picked up, let alone touched. The Avengers parted and let the man walk through them without any questions. Bruce slowly following after him. That was when the rain started, as if sensing the storm in the boys heart it poured and drenched everything in it's way.