Shadowbreath: The New Avenger

Chapter 8

Edit (02/01)

When Peter opened his eyes again, he was confused. He didn't recognize the cream walls surrounding him, and a slow beeping kept disrupting his line of thinking.

"Kid?" Tony. His voice came from Peter's left. His mentor closed his eyes, visibly relieved, before they settled on him again. "How are you feeling?"

Peter did a quick internal check over his injuries. His face didn't hurt quite as bad as before, and his chest and arm only ached, where last night they blinded him with pain. "Better." His voice cracked as he tried to sit up, "Can I have some water?"

Tony grabbed a bottle from the mini fridge and helped Peter take a sip. "Mmm, thanks." He rested against the pillows again. "So, did you guys find her?"

A flash of indignation flickered behind his mentor's eyes, and he shook his head. "No. But don't worry, we will. I'm not going to let her get away with this."

Confusion replaced anger when Peter chuckled. "You know, she's really not that bad."

Tony stared at him in disbelief. "Are you kidding me right now, Pete? That girl beat the living snot out of you!"

Peter shrugged, "Yeah, but she gave me a chance to walk away, and I chose not to. She also could have killed me, and she didn't."

Tony Stark did not look pleased with that remark. "Let's never talk about you dying ever again, okay? Okay. Sounds good to me." Before Peter could argue, he continued, "By the way, May is coming over after her shift."

That got his attention. Peter sat upright in the bed, causing a small wave of dizziness. "You told May? Tony!"

His mentor actually had the audacity to laugh, "Hey, you were the one who was out patrolling later than you were supposed to. I told you that you should be home by eleven every night. From what I gathered, May agrees with me." Tony raised his eyebrows at Peter. "Plus, there's no way you were going to school today. They would have called her anyway when you didn't show up."

Peter groaned loudly, covering his face with both hands, then instantly pulling them back when the movement caused a sharp flare of pain. "Wait, what time is it? Tony, she's going to kill me! Officially kill me."

"What did I say about you dying, kid?" Tony grunted, and Peter grimaced sheepishly. "And it's almost noon." The elevator doors opened across the hall and Natasha and Rhodey strolled in.

Rhodey gave him a little smile and ruffled his hair, "How are you feeling, kiddo?" Peter tried waving him off and moved his hands to fiddle with the sheet draped over his lower half. Where Tony's best friend brought a calming presence, Natasha's glare was making him uncomfortable. He didn't like the feeling of being picked apart. She must have noticed his change in posture, because her eyes grew significantly softer. He tried to give her a little smile in appreciation.

"I'm fine. I should be better in a few hours. I heal fast."

"So I've heard." He patted Peter on the leg and turned to Tony. "We still haven't heard or seen anything from the Enhanced. Sorry, man. We'll keep trying."

Suddenly, Peter's eyes widened as he remembered the details from last night. "Her name's Shadowbreath. Or, at least that's her title. Whatever that means."

All three adults turned to stare at him, which made him inexplicably nervous, so he kept talking. Word vomit might be a more accurate term. "Before we fought, we talked for a few minutes. She watches the same shows as I do. You know, the funny ones. She has a good memory, because we basically just quoted things to each other in the middle of our fight. It was kind of awesome. Her name is Shadowbreath and-" Peter started vibrating with excitement, "and I know what she looks like! After she beat me up, which hurt, by the way, I webbed her mask off. Guys, guys, guys! She's a teenager! Like, she couldn't have been much older than me!"