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chapter seven

     Peter walked down the sidewalk, shuffling past people as they rushed down the sidewalk. New York was as lively as it was everyday.
Peter had called Ned almost immediately, but he was busy. He said he had family stuff. That was fine with Peter, and he didn't want to take Ned away from time with his family. So now, Peter was left to wander aimlessly through the streets of New York. It wasn't all that bad though, he got in some exercise while at the same time exploring parts of the city he hadn't been to. He noted a drugstore, and started walking past, figuring he'd get some stuff later.
     'Actually...' He stopped, eyeing the drugstore. 'This is the best time of day to go in, and plus, I really need it.' He thought.
     As he strolled into the drugstore, pushing open the door, he thought about what he could do. 'Last time I checked, I wasn't dead; so the bullet couldn't have hit an organ or anything. I stopped the blood loss... kind of. And I have enhanced healing. Thank God for it too, I'd probably just bleed out and die if I didn't.' He thought, waking down the medicine aisle and trying to find something to help him. Peter was so distracted that he didn't even notice himself subconsciously wringing his hands as he looked at the prices. He reached into his pocket and slid out all the money he had.
$12.00
He sighed and plucked a $10.00 bottle of Advil from the shelf. 'Painkillers... This should work. For now...' He walked up to the front desk and put the Advil on the counter, returning a small smile to the woman behind the counter. He didn't pay much attention to her, and he instead focused on looking at the Advil. He wasn't much for social interaction.
"How's school?" The woman asked, trying to make some small talk as he passed her $10.00 to pay.
"It's good. How's work?" Peter asked as she handed him back his Advil.
"Could be better I guess," she shrugged. "Have a nice day!"
"You too, ma'am," Peter replied with a small wave. He pushed open the door and shivered at the cold, curling his shoulders up in attempts to sink into his jacket. It didn't work.
     He swallowed the pill, not having any water on him, and slid the Advil into his pocket. 'Does it matter if I take it with water or not? Probably not,' He shrugged to himself, which earned him a few strange looks as he walked down the busy sidewalk.
     He started walking back towards a more familiar area, considering he had only been to the area he was leaving a few times. Two, the man who had shot him, had dragged him through this part of town when they were going to the base. It also looked different during the day. Peter became uneasy, knowing he didn't know this part of town very well and that man might be near.
     'I forgot to bring it up with Mr Stark!' He suddenly realized, though he had never thought about it in the first place. 'Would he take me seriously though? Probably not. But it is important. These guys said they were like HYDRA!' He stopped in his tracks. 'But then he'd question how I knew them, and then I'd have to explain that text that I sent him was real...' Peter kicked a small rock to the side as he walked through the streets. He was warming up again from walking, but he was still a bit cold. 'Why did they want me, anyways?' Peter didn't know. 'Now that they know I'm Spider-Man, I can understand why they want me; but before I was just some random scrawny kid.' He didn't have answers for himself, so he just sighed.
     Peter walked around for a bit longer, the Advil gratefully kicking in, until he decided to do something useful. Peter turned into an empty alley, sliding off his sweatshirt and sweatpants to reveal the red suit that he was wearing. He kicked off his shoes and bundled all his things together, wrapping them up into a webbed mess. He stuck it somewhere out of plain sight and then, finally, slipped his mask over his head.
"Hello, Peter," Karen greeted him as he swung out the alley.
"Hey, Karen! Any crime around?" He asked as he perched on top of a building.
"Peter, it is not recommended that you fight in your condition. It appears you have a serious wound-," Karen started, but Peter cut her off.
"That's nothing, I'm fine!" He assured her, but Karen didn't listen.
"Would you like me to call Mr Stark?" Karen asked.
"What?! Nononono, I'm fine!" He insisted. "Karen, is there any crime around?"
Karen didn't respond at first, but she finally gave in and showed coordinates on the screen.
"Thank you, Karen," Peter told her sincerely and hopped off the building, shooting his webs as he sped through the town. "Please don't tell Mr Stark, he'll probably take the suit away, saying that I'm not responsible and then fire me. I'll just take care of it and then that'll be the end of it! You don't need to tell Mr Stark anything!" Peter told Karen. Karen still didn't say anything, but Peter took that as a win. Peter didn't know what he was getting into, mostly because Karen hadn't told him, but he didn't care. 'Surprises are fun,' He thought to himself. Though, even he felt like he was just trying to reassure himself. 'I guess I'm still a little on edge from the incident a few days ago...' he thought as he swung through the city.
When he reached the location, he perched on top of the building overlooking the area. It was in an alleyway, like a lot of crimes he'd stopped. Peter stayed low on the building since it was day and if they looked over they could see him. Peter assessed the situation and started listening in. There were three people conversing in the alley, a woman, a man, and...
Peter looked closer. Two. The man who had taken him. 'Are they looking for me?' He wondered.
"Four, you got the weapons right?" Two asked the woman. The woman, 'Four', nodded. 'Do they... Do they know their real names? Or have they been brainwashed like Mr Barnes had?' Peter wondered.
"Yeah, we need to get them back to base, and then we can get the kid." The other man said with a gruff voice. "You put a tracker on him right?"
"Relax, Eight," Two said to the man, "I have everything under control."
"Stop acting like you're in charge here, Two!" Eight raised his voice.
"Settle down boys," Four rolled her eyes. "And don't forget your place, Eight. Agent 2 is second in command."
     "He let the kid get away, I don't see why I should treat him with respect. The mission was so simple, even a trainee could do it! We're supposed  to be trained assassins and he can't even get a meager teenager." Eight shook his head.
     "The kid is Spider-Man, cut Two some slack," Four replied cooly, though Peter could see she was getting annoyed. 
     'Oh, so they're definitely looking for me,' Peter thought.
    "Whatever," Eight walked out of the alley. "I'm going to the van." Two and Four exchanged a glance before following after Eight.
     "You're recording this, right Karen?" Peter whispered as he silently leapt from one building to another.
     "Yes Peter," Karen replied flatly. 'Oops,' Peter thought, 'she's annoyed that I didn't tell Mr Stark.'
     "Thanks," he whispered again as he watched the three get into a van parked by the curb. He peered over the building, trying not to reveal himself. 'If only they were doing this at night!' He thought. 'I could get spotted so easily right now!'
And right as he thought that, Four swept her gaze around the area, locking eyes with Peter. Peter frantically ducked, but he knew it was too late, and that the woman already knew he was there. Peter leapt up from his hiding spot, webbing to another building and dropping onto the van mid-swing. "Guess you ruined my surprise entrance," Peter said nonchalantly, though his stomach swirled with dread. 'I could've gotten their base location! Stupid Peter,' he internally sighed, though he kept his composure in front of the bad guys.
"Well if it isn't the famous web-slinger," Two crossed his arms with a smirk. Peter eyed Eight's hand, which was rested on a bulk in his pocket, where Peter could see the handle of a gun sticking out. 'Bad news,' Peter thought.
"That's me! You want an autograph or something?" He asked cockily, trying to come up with a plan. Four just smirked up at him while Two scoffed, though he was smirking in amusement. Eight's cold stare remained trained on Peter, making Peter slightly shift uncomfortably. "So, anyways, how have you guys been? You got any more information I can leak?" Peter asked casually.
     "Get off the van, then we'll talk," Four negotiated. Peter hesitated before dropping down onto the ground, landing in a crouch and then quickly standing again. He knew he probably shouldn't have complied, but what choice did he have? He wasn't going to get information by beating them up. "Good," Four nodded. Peter stole a quick glance at Eight; and Peter noticed his grip on his gun was tighter. 'He's not afraid, he's prepared.'
     "Look kid," Two stepped closer, making Peter step back in turn. "If you come with us, it'll make this whole thing so much easier. We're not the bad guys." Two said, earning a scoff from Peter.
     "What do you want me for? You said you're like HYDRA, what's your motive?" Peter asked, stepping one foot back so he could quickly get into a fighting position, which he assumed he would need to do.
     "That's classified," Eight spoke up gruffly.
     "You want me to believe you're not the bad guys but you won't tell me what your little 'program' is all about," Peter scoffed again, making air quotes when he said 'program'.
     "Do you want to do this the easy way, or the hard way?" Four pulled out her gun, aiming it at Peter's masked head. Peter resisted the urge to book it, and he stood his ground.
     "I'm up for a challenge," Peter replied, and then quickly shot a web onto Four's gun. Four released her hold on her gun as Peter took it and threw it on the ground, and quickly pulled out another. As Peter was turning, she aimed and shot at his shoulder. Peter's spidey-sense spiked, and he dodged to the right before she shot. However, after a closer look, he could see it wasn't a lethal bullet. The gun was a tranquilizer. They wanted to knock him out. "Are you trying to kidnap me again? Not cool!" Peter said, masking his worry with an offended tone. With Peter stopping for even a second, Four raised her gun again, and everyone positioned around him. Their guns were all aimed at him. Two also had a tranquilizer gun, but Eight's gun was definitely full of bullets.
     "Woah fellas, we can talk this out," Peter said, putting his hands out in front of him. Peter's spidey-sense prickled at him, but he dismissed it. 'Well duh I'm in danger!' He thought, annoyed. 'Is my spidey-sense broken? It should've been doing something earlier!'
However, he finally understood when he heard a click and then he felt a small dart dig itself into Peter's side. Peter stood in a still panic as he realized what had happened. He looked up at Four, who's fingers were wrapped around the trigger. 'Okay okay okay, it was just a tranquilizer bullet.'
     He knew it would take a couple minutes to set in, so had to make a decision. He hesitantly stood still, trying to figure out what to do. 'Should I fight, or should I escape?'
"Peter, it appears you've been shot with a tranquilizer bullet," Karen stated.
     "Yeah, I noticed," Peter mumbled, shooting his web onto the side of the building that their van was against. More gunshots rang through the air as he lunged through the air. He landed sloppily on the van and turned, ready to fight. He hooked a web onto another building and swung low through the air, knocking down Four and standing on the ground. His spidey-sense pricked as Two came up behind him, attempting to put him into a headlock. Peter gripped Two's arms and ripped his hands off easily, —thanks to his super strength—, whipping back around and uppercutting him.
     Time was ticking as Peter fought, and his moves were getting sloppier. Once again, Peter found himself surrounded by Eight, Four, and Two. Their guns were raised at him; and Eight's with real bullets. Peter knew it must've been ten minutes already, and his plan to take them all out and leave hadn't worked. Now, Peter was left to raise his hands in defense against the three menacing agents. Peter blinked as a blur of darkness crowded the edges of his vision. He stumbled as he tried to back up, but he was met with a hard wall. He made one last attempt to shoot his web at them, but he missed completely as he tried to regain his balance. The agents all stood still, their guns aimed at his chest. The darkness on the rim of Peter's eyesight was closing in on him, and Peter grew weak. He couldn't exactly recall what happened as darkness enveloped him and he fell to the ground with a thud.
The last words he heard were from Karen, and they were:
"Calling Tony Stark."

author's note;

sorry this update is kinda late!
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