Affliction (P.P.)

Part 7

(Peter POV)

"GAH!" Charlotte grips onto me. I try to move my hands around to shoot another web but I can't without dropping her. Before we hit the ground, a loud woosh sounds from behind us, and we land in the cold metal arms of Iron Man. "Hey kiddos, lets not try that ride again okay?" He sets us down again, then zooms off to fire at the giant alien. "Lottie please go home." I beg. She grabs the sides of my face. "It's gonna be okay. Just- trust me?" She says, her green puppy eyes blinking at me through her mask. "Just please be careful." I say for the hundredth time. She smiles and nods. We turn back to the battle, and go full into it. Everyone is fully taking all of them head on. I lose sight of Lottie for a few minutes, but I'm distracted by a few aliens so I forget about it for a minute.

"Charlotte! Be careful!" I hear Steve say through my comm. I keep going at the aliens in front of me, praying all the while that Lottie is okay, and that we'll make it through this craziness. "Somebody get over there to help her!" Clint shouts. "What's going on?!" I ask. I kick and web up a few more aliens. "She's holding back the big one!" Tony says. "What?! How?" I ask, whipping my head around to find Charlotte. I spot her a few yards to my left. She's shoving a weird spear thingy into the green beam. "What is that?!" I call out. "It's some sort of key thing they used to close the portal earlier! Miss Charlotte got ahold of it!" Thor yells. He's been summoning lightning here and there, zipping groups of aliens out one by one. I run over to her, and try to help...

(Charlotte POV)

Oh wow this is a lot. This is a LOT. These things are insane. I was sticking with Natasha, and fighting like she taught me, but wow it's starting to take its toll. I'm getting jittery again, feeling slightly shaky, and a little light headed. But I'm not stopping. I'm not gonna quit yet. I refuse to let that happen. I keep fighting. I roam around, hitting and punching and kicking a whole bunch of alien dudes. I notice one standing by the portal, his back to me. He has a weird spear thing, and is holding it near the portal. Maybe that's important. I run up behind it, kick it in the head. They're really short, so kicking is the best way to go. I kick him a second time and he's gone. I grab the spear. It's connected to the portal. I push on it. The portal gets slightly smaller. It closes it!

I push on it harder. They made this really difficult. I push as hard as I can. The lightheaded feeling is getting worse. I'm not gonna faint, I'm not gonna faint. I think about Peter. List good things about him. His curly hair. His eyes. He's funny, he told a great joke in chemistry class the other day. I don't remember what it was exactly, but I know we had a good laugh over it. He's always so sweet too. Him being all protective and everything. I push harder on the staff. I can feel beads of sweat rolling down my face. This is starting to hurt. "Lottie, hey! Can-" I faintly hear Peter's voice. White specks start flashing in my eyes. No. Not yet. It's almost closed. Someone starts to pull me away. "NO!" I scream, even pulling away hurts. Whoever it was let's go. I'm pushing so hard, my arms are going numb from the pain. I feel tears start to leave my eyes.

(Peter POV)

I want to help her, somehow, anyhow. "Lottie, hey!" I try to get her attention. Sweat is rolling down her face, and she's pale. She's not good. I have to get her out of there. I start to pull on her waist. "NO!" She screams. Tears start streaming down her face. "Charlotte let go!" I yell, but she doesn't listen. She's shaking, pushing with all her might. I try to push with her, but she yells in pain when my weight is put onto her. I can't do anything, all I can do is stand there and cover her, but the other Avengers pretty much have all the other little aliens under control, and are taking down the big one. I just put a hand on her shoulder. "You're almost there! You got it! You can do it! Look how far you've made it!" I try to shout encouragement. She lets out a short, pained sob. The portal is almost closed.

Just a foot or so left of it open. I try and grab the end of the spear, and even though she lets out another cry of pain, I push with all my strength, and the portal closes completely. Charlotte falls forward a little, but I hold her up in my arms. "You did i-" I start to say, but she looks up at me, and her eyes are glossy, and she can barely hold them open. She blinks up at me slowly. "Peter- I'm-" But she doesn't finish. Instead, her eyes roll back in her head, and she falls limp in my arms. "Lottie? Charlotte? Hey hey," I lower us to the ground, and hold her in my lap. "Charlotte, hey, wake up. We won." I shake her gently. She doesn't stir. "Lottie? Wake up. Come on." I shake her harder. "Charlotte! Wake up." I pat her cheeks. I listen for her breathing, it's shallow, but there. "Charlotte! Wake up! You're okay come on!" I keep shaking her.

"Guys! Somethings wrong! She always wakes up right after, it never takes this long, she won't wake up! Somebody come help!" I call to the other Avengers. Natasha runs over. I keep shaking Charlotte, trying to get her to at least move a little. "We need to get her to medbay." Natasha says. I don't move. I keep trying to talk to Lottie. "Peter! Listen to me!" Natasha jerks my chin so I look at her. "We have to help her. Let go of her so Steve can get her to a quinjet." She says sternly. I let go, and Steve picks her up gently, walking away to the quinjet. I sit there for a minute, letting the adrenaline from the fight slow down, when my Spider Sense goes off. I look towards an alley way. A shadow of a man stood there, but quickly turned away. I stand, and move to follow it. I get in the alley, and at the end, is a cloaked figure holding a staff with a glowing gem on top.

It looked a lot like the spear Charlotte used to close the portal. I sneak up behind the person. He must've sensed me there, because he abruptly turns around, and tries to jab at me with the staff. Before he even gets the chance, I kick him away and web him to a wall. The staff clatters to the ground. "Guys, I found something, er- someone." I say into my comm. Clint and Thor come up behind me, Clint with a flash light. He clicks it on, and shines it into the face of who I webbed up. "Is that...?" Clint starts. We all gasp. "It's-" We say in unison. Standing before us, in a full dark green cloak, long black hair slicked back, and eyes glaring menacingly, is none other than- "Loki."