Of Apocalypses and Revenge

8

There was a shout, and then a low, rumbling growl. It wasn't one of those creatures, Peter could sense that, and it was most likely a wild animal.

The sounds were coming from his left. Peter quickly sprinted towards the scene and summoned the Force.

When he arrived, he nearly laughed out loud.

Leave it up to fate to make the worst possible things happen at the worst possible time.

Somehow, a pack of really, really hungry wolves had found Tony, who was presumably walking in the woods and had attacked him. Tony, being the genius he was had scrambled up a tree. He was currently sitting on the cracking top branch, waving a twig at the pack and yelling 'if you come up here I'll stick this up your ass' and 'please, any wolf god who's up there please save me!'

Peter grinned from the shadows and kept on watching.

Tony was really panicking now, the wolves were trying to jump up onto the tree and they were dangerously close to reaching Tony, who was now screaming like a little girl (Clint) and was pulling handfuls of leaves and throwing them at the wolves like they would do damage.

Then the branch cracked and Tony shrieked as he fell. Peter caught him with the Force again and the moment he stepped into the clearing, the wolves howled and disappeared back into the woods.

"Great weapon you've got there, Stark. A twig that will go up a wolf's ass and a bunch of extremely dangerous leaves. Impressive. The wolf gods must love you so much."

Peter walked up to Tony and offered a hand. He helped him up.

"That, is the second time this has happened. Peter gave a small smile, even though he was feeling a bit concerned deep inside but didn't show it.

Tony quickly brushed himself off, stuck both hands in his pockets, cleared his throat and turned away from Peter.

"Um, yeah." He said, feeling embarrassed.

"It's alright. I won't tell anyone." Tony turned and looked at Peter in shock.

"You won't?"

"No," Peter replied. "So, what were you doing in the woods this late?" He inquired.

"Uh, I, um, I-, I just wanted to take a walk." Tony said nervously.

Peter raised an eyebrow.

"Is that so?"

"Y-yeah."

Peter didn't press it when he swore he saw tear tracks on Tony's face but didn't say anything. It was probably just him being sad about not seeing Pepper for a while or something.

'Or maybe he was sad about not seeing Keener for a long time.' Said a voice in his head.

Peter immediately stopped thinking about that. He did so by replaying the events from a few minutes earlier in his head. Man, he really wanted to burst out laughing.

But he didn't, he held it back.

"Hail HYDRA."

"Do not show any emotions."

"HAIL HYDRA!"

"Or you will be punished."

"Yes sir!"

The memories came and went quickly. Peter shook his head slightly, clearing his thoughts again.

"Come, we should get back."

<•>

They arrived at the camp without any twig-up-the-ass wolf problems or the need of those extremely dangerous leaves. Rhodey gave Tony a pointed look when he saw them together and Peter felt confused. What was up with them?

Tony quickly speed-walked away from Peter who strolled towards his little tent. It was pitched away from all the others' tents so he could at least get some rest every night. The others snored a lot and it was not good for a teenager who wanted a good night's sleep, not that he could get one.

Wait, teenager?

Peter had never thought much about his age. He only knew how old he was and that was it. It never occurred to him that all the shit that had happened to him had happened when he was still a teen.

A teen.

Usually, teenagers would hang out with their friends, drink, and flirt. Not Peter. He was different and he never said he liked it. He had always wanted to fit in somehow but never managed to. Ever. From when he was young, the kids at his school would avoid him like he brought death and destruction everywhere since he had no parents. Well, now Peter did bring death everywhere. And yeah, destruction. After all, this apocalypse happened because of him.

It was just pretty depressing that Peter had no 'normal' friends.

No, Ned and MJ weren't his friends anymore. They would never accept him in the state he is now. Peter sighed and walked into his tent. He lay down and began to imagine his life after the apocalypse. When HYDRA and the creatures were gone and the world was cleansed.

No matter what he thought about, Peter always knew that he would never have anywhere to go.

<•>

Tony sat down with Rhodey at the campfire. His untouched dinner was handed to him and this time, he dug in.

"So... what happened with you and Peter?" At first, Tony thought Rhodey had suddenly turned stupid and had gotten amnesia.

Then he thought it over.

"Oh, uh, in the woods we kinda met." Tony replied a bit too quickly.

Rhodey didn't question it any further since the other Avengers came out of their tents and came towards the two. They all sat down on the ground.

"We saw Peter come back with you, Tony. What were you doing?" Wanda asked.

Tony sighed.

"We met in the woods. We were both taking a walk. That's it." He lies again.

"Do I need to look into your mind, Stark? Are you still not telling us everything?" She threatened. The Avengers did not trust Tony as much since Harley had 'corrupted' him and they knew exactly when he was lying, like now.

Tony felt bad about lying since he had been a terrible teammate since Harley had come over to the Tower and now he panicked. Red energy had erupted from Wanda's fingertips and was reaching towards his head when all of a sudden, they were gone, replaced by black energy. The Avengers looked up to see a lone figure standing at the edge of the campsite.

"It is his privacy. Do not interfere unless he agrees." Peter said looking straight at Wanda before disappearing into his tent once more.

Tony let out the breath that he had been holding. The others looked at him in confusion but didn't do anything. Rhodey put a hand on Tony's shoulder and guided him away from the crowd.

"I told you he still cared." Rhodey said once they were out of earshot.

Tony, for once, was silent. He didn't speak for a while until Rhodey broke the silence once more.

"You okay man?"

"Y-yeah. I'll be fine." Tony answered automatically. He was still thinking about why Peter had protected him and his responses were still from 'autopilot mode'.

He slowly turned and walked away towards his tent. There, Tony lay down and pondered again. Did Peter really still care? Why would he?

Oh, he thought: it was because Pete Thad promised to not tell anyone about the 'wolf incident' so he didn't allow Wanda to read his mind.

Tony sighed again, rolled over, and fell into a restless sleep.

~•~

Big battle coming soon brace yourselves humans.