If We Must - Fully Rewritten

Chapter 10

Peter did not have a plan aside from Get MJ Out of Here or Die Trying. It was a bad plan, he'd admit that much, but as soon as Mr. Hide-A-Name realized he'd succeeded with whatever he'd done to Peter's blood, they were both done for.

It was totally unfair to MJ and he had every intention of apologizing for the rest of his life if they made it out, but they didn't have many choices. He'd had days to adjust to the heightened senses and the strange prickling at the base of his neck. MJ had only had hours.

The door swung open and Peter jumped forward. Mr. Hide-A-Name was as unprotected as ever, making him a much too easy target as he stepped into the room.

Mr. Hide-A-Name went down easy. Peter didn't pull his punch and the man went flying back into two of his guards, knocking them both down like bowling pins. None of them stood back up, but Peter didn't bother double-checking they were out before moving on to the next nearest guard.

A gun went off and Peter's eyes darted toward MJ, but she was slipping between guards just as smoothly as before. She'd even snagged one of their batons but before Peter could warn her to go easy, she swung and broke the baton in half over a guard's head. His helmet cracked and he dropped without so much as a groan while MJ stared at him with wide eyes.

"Super strength," Peter explained with a grimace.

There was a buzz of electricity from his left and Peter dove out of the way, reaching for MJ in the midst of the remaining guards.

"The door!" a guard shouted. "Shut the―"

MJ interrupted him with a kick, sending him flying out the door and into the opposite wall. He took the door with him, solving the problem of a locked door but also revealing many more guards waiting outside.

"I could get used to this super-strength thing," MJ murmured.

Peter's neck prickled and together, they spun out of the way of a ray of bullets, landing on opposite walls.

"That's crazy!" MJ gasped. Peter nodded. "Do you think it'll work for―"

"We'll talk later, yeah?" Peter said. He leapt across the room, clinging to the wall beside her. "Let's get out first."

"Yeah, good plan." MJ wrapped her arm around his shoulders and with a muffled yell, they swung through the recently busted door and into the hallway.

"Run," Peter said, setting her on the ground.

Without question, MJ did as told and they took off through the hall as the remaining guards stumbled after them. It wasn't until they rounded a corner that they realized there was an alarm sounding through the building.

"You don't think we did that, do you?" MJ asked, grabbing Peter's arm and slamming them both against the wall. Bullets whizzed past them and Peter glanced up to see a pair of guards closing in on them.

"No idea," Peter said. "You get the left one."

He webbed both the guards in the face then launched himself at the one on the right. While he pulled his punch, MJ left a human-sized dent in the wall and he grimaced.

"We'll work on that later," he muttered. MJ scowled at him.

"If I wanted to pull punches, I would," she argued, grabbing his shoulder and shoving him down the hall. "I don't need training."

"We'll talk about that too," Peter said. Before MJ could rail into him about that, they both stopped short.

They were still underground―of that, Peter was sure―but he could hear a familiar hum of Ironman's thrusters. MJ must have heard it too, but unlike Peter, she wasn't as familiar with the sound from so far away which led her to turn to Peter with wide eyes.

"What the hell is that?"

"Tony," Peter answered, trying to determine which direction the sound was coming from. "He's here. Come on!"

He raced to the right with MJ at his side. They scaled a wall when they encountered a broken staircase, something that Peter quickly learned was not a spider-gene ability that MJ appreciated. Fortunately, it was the only time they were left hanging above the floor before they―quite literally―stumbled into Tony.

"Mr. Stark!" Peter shouted, waving as he and MJ shot into view. "Mr. Stark! Hey!"

Mr. Stark glanced at them, faceplate off, and shot down the remainder of guards around him before turning to them fully.

"Kid?" He frowned. "You don't look very kidnapped."

"Trust me," MJ muttered, "we definitely were."

Peter's neck prickled and both his and MJ's attention darted past Mr. Stark. Mr. Stark's eyes narrowed, following their gaze.

"You both do that freaky spider-tingle thing now?" he asked, waving a finger at them.

"Yeah." Peter glanced down at his web fluid gauge. "We'll, um, we'll talk about that later, though, yeah? Cause like, there're about a dozen guys coming our way and I don't really feel like now is―"

With a roll of his eyes, Mr. Stark turned and shot off down the hall, beckoning for Peter and MJ to follow him.

He didn't have that much web fluid left, but Peter wasn't exactly in the mood to run. Wrapping MJ up in his arms once again, Peter swung down the hall after Mr. Stark, his frown deepening with every swing that brought them closer to the growing sense of danger that buzzed through his skin.

It may have been luck, but it may have also been a trap that brought them past a laboratory. Mr. Stark flew right past it, but Peter stopped, dropping both him and MJ in front of the door.

"Peter," Mr. Stark said, turning to face them, "we gotta go, kid."

"They took my blood," Peter said. He gestured toward the lab. "They separated the spider-gene and we can't just―I need to destroy it."

Mr. Stark didn't look thrilled about it but he nodded.

"MJ: go," he said, nodding toward the room.

MJ ducked into the lab while Peter turned to Mr. Stark with a frown.

"Mr. Stark―"

"We've got incoming, kid," Mr. Stark interrupted, "and I know you hear them. We'll keep them occupied, MJ will clear the lab, then we split. Got it?"

Peter groaned, but swung down the hall where he could hear the incoming guards with Mr. Stark on his heels.