Marvel Imagines ;)

peter parker - hero

You've always loved ferries.

There was just something about the wind running it's wild fingers through your hair, water blowing a biting mist onto your cheeks, and the sheer openness that you couldn't get enough of. It was times like that when anything felt possible. Which was why you had skipped school to make the ferry at eleven. If you were being honest with yourself, you were running away. Like a damn coward.

Your moms new boyfriend was a tool, and from the way he was looking at you, leering ... you knew you had to leave. Had to take care of yourself. Because if that man wanted to try something, which you were sure he would eventually, you knew your mom wouldn't do anything to stop him. After your father was killed in the Battle of New York, she'd become someone else entirely. You barely recognized her in the husk of a person wearing your mom's skin. So, yes. You were running. But, really, you had no other choice. And the ferry was a perfect escape.

Or, at least, it would have been.

You'd seen heroes before. On your phone, or on TV. You had even seen Iron Man once before, in New York. After a chitari had torn out your dads throat. You were laying beside him, trying to stop the bleeding. Not caring that more chitari were coming. The blood was everywhere; you never know how much blood the human body can hold until you see it. The red liquid was coating your hands, a sensation you swore you could still feel in your nightmares, and was spreading out around your dad's corpse. A halo of blood.

Iron Man had flown over you, blasting the few chitari that had surrounded you and your dad. And then he was gone. No words of consolation. No attempt at saving your dads life. You weren't stupid. You knew he left to save those who weren't already on the brink of death. And yet ... You had never really been able to forgive him. Them. You knew it wasn't their fault, not like with Ultron and Sokovia. But you couldn't shake the betrayal you had felt when you'd seen him, the man you had looked up to your entire life, watch you fall apart beside your dead father, and leave.

Eight years later, you still hadn't found it within yourself to forgive. Or forget. So, imagine your surprise when, on the exact day you chose you leave all of that behind, Spider-Man shows up. In all of his spandex glory.

And where a hero goes, death follows.

"The other guy was way better with that thing!"
The voice had come from your left. And it sounded ... young. Too young, to have people's lives weighing on those shoulders. "I'm ... I'm honestly shocked!"

You turned, just in time for a man to push you against the ferry railing. "FBI!" The unmistakable sound of guns being loaded sounded. You pressed yourself further against the railing, inching away from whatever fight was about to go down.

God, how had you ended up in this situation again?

"No, no, no, no, no. Get out of the way!"
The FBI agents weren't listening, their guns trained on ... you had no idea what that was. You felt your entire body tense up in fear when you initially glimpsed it and thought it was a chitauri, but ... No, this was a man. A man with giant, metal wings sprouting out from his back.
A blast sounded, and you threw your hands up to block your face.

"You're messing with things you don't understand!"

Spider-Man was trying to web up some sort of weapon the winged-man had tossed onto the ferry.

You though he said a response, but you could barely hear it over the ringing. The loud pitch was becoming unbearable, but... There was something else. A voice, calling out. "Mommy?"

You scanned your surroundings, looking for – there. The girl was directly in the line of fire, clinging to the ferry railing.

Before you knew what your body was doing, before you even had the chance to think twice about it, you were running across the balcony, straight for that little girl.

"Stop!"

Just as you had reached the screaming girl, putting your arms around her and using your body to shield her from the oncoming blasts, the world shattered.

Your body was on fire, every single nerve, every single cell, screaming in agony.

You held on tight to the girl, until your body went slack, and you fell to the floor.

"No, no, oh god, please don't be dead, please."

"Pete, get out of the way!"

Cold, hard arms went around you. And the last thing you saw before everything went dark was that little girl, a women who you could only assume was her mother, lifting her into her arms and crying with joy.

But then everything went cold. And dark. And you couldn't see or feel anything beyond pain.