New Recruits

8 | four grueling days

Everyone was dead silent the entire ride home. The only sounds were the hum of the jet and El's heavy breathing. She was laying on a cot in the back of the jet, staring at the wall. She couldn't process anything that had happened. Peter was gone. Taken from her life as quickly as he had entered it. He hadn't died, not yet at least.

--

Day One: 

El sat at the kitchen table in silence. It was the first time she had left her room since last night, when they got back. She hadn't spoken to anyone, not even her best friends. 

"El, do you want some tea?" Pepper asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. El tensed at the sudden contact and Pepper moved her hand. She only nodded in response. A few minutes later Pepper handed her a black mug with peppermint tea in it. El took it to the couch and sat down. She looked down at the mug and saw the handle had a small tag on it.

"property of peter parker." She saw it and had to put the tea back. She set it down by the sink and walked away, going up to her room. 

She walked up to her room but stopped before she opened the door. She turned and saw Peter's door, slightly open. He must've forgotten to close it the morning before the mission. She pushed the door open the rest of the way and walked into his room.

Everything in it was so... him. It was pretty neat, but there were books sprawled across his desk, along with notebooks with cracked spines that were filled with new web fluid ideas, and his bed was made except for the corner, which he had clearly jumped out of last minute. He had pictures of his Aunt on his desk. She was as beautiful as Peter had described her as. He had the grey sweatshirt that he always wore folded and neat at the end of his bed, clearly just washed. She rested her hand on it. Not being able to handle being in his room, she left and returned to her room, where she walked up the wall and sat criss-cross on the ceiling. 

"They hung out a few nights ago. Watched a movie or something," De explained. "I saw her coming out of his room at like, three in the morning." De, Thalia, Hailey, and Wanda were all sitting in Thalia's room. The morning sun was shining in through the window, reflecting off of Thalia's suit, which she was tinkering with on her desk. 

"Damn," Hailey sighed. "She meets one person she actually clicks with and then they're kidnapped."

--

Day 2:

"Find him?" El asked, walking into the living room.

"Nothing yet," Steve sighed.

"Ok," She sighed, walking out of the room and back to her room.

"We've gotta find him," Steve sighed.

"It's tearing her apart." Hailey put a hand on her forehead. "It's tearing all of us apart." El might've been close with Peter, but so were the other girls.

"Where else are there HYDRA bases?" Thalia asked.

"We don't know. We thought we infiltrated and destroyed all of the bases. The ones on our radar, at least. They may have an underground system." Steve sighed, rubbing his temple. Everyone's face fell. They didn't know how they were going to get Peter back.

El only came out for meals, where she didn't eat much - just enough to get by and to ask if they knew anything about where Peter was. They were all worried- it had only been two days but the longer it took for them to find Peter the longer El would barely eat and barely leave her room.

"I have Agent Hill looking for possible locations, and JARVIS is trying to find other bases. There's nothing else we can do right now." Tony sighed. It was clear this was tearing him apart too. Peter was like a son to Tony, and was like an older brother to Lily. Pepper had taken her to her godmother's house to avoid her realizing that Peter was gone.