Reborn From The Void

Chapter 21 - Frozen in Time

(Peter's POV):
I watched, incapacitated by the enhanced's power as he and (Y/N) spoke. I would've given everything in that moment to trade places with her, to keep her safe. But no, I had to be rendered useless by the man's power and I couldn't protect her from him.

Her eyes fell on me, piquing my attention as she spoke, "let's take Spider-Man, for example. He doesn't have many weaknesses, I managed to exploit his only one when I first captured him, weakened him enough to get him to a safe house. You better have an advanced version of that if you are going to kill him."

I racked my brain to figure out what the fuck she was talking about. I mean, I was certainly not as indestructible as she was laying claim. There had to be something about the time that she captured me. It had been so long ago, but I would never forget the fear that felt when I awoke in an unfamiliar room after having been knocked out by a gas.

That must have been it. This man, Alfred has boasted that if she were to touch him then we would all be dead. I immediately muttered under my breath to be picked up by the comms, "Mr. Stark, I think that he's going to release some sort of gas into the air to kill us."

"Like at the abandoned base," he replied, making me wonder what he was talking about. Before I could ask he continued, "hey Wanda, could you trap the gas to make sure that it doesn't kill any of us?"

Her lips barely moved as she said, "it will be just like in Lagos."

Mr. Stark then raised his voice to address (Y/N), "you know, (Y/N), you should have been there with the Avengers in Lagos. With that I'm-not-going-to-listen-to-a-word-this-villain says attitude they would have been in and out in no time. But I suppose Wanda was able to deal with everything thrown their way."

This caused Alfred to snap, "who gave you permission to speak?! You know what, I've had it, you're taking too long. Either come with me, or watch all of your friends die!"

(Y/N) began to push him and I questioned if she knew what she was doing, but her air of confidence did at least somewhat assure me. However, Alfred was royally pissed off and decided to use me as punishment. A handful of H.A.M.M.E.R. soldiers advanced on me but I was still unable to move a muscle no matter how hard I tried.

My eyes widened in fear as one of the agents drew a blade, gently tracing it over my suit as a warning. (Y/N) snapped, her body enveloped in electricity, a sight I had only seen once before: when Harry died. It had scared me then, but now at least I knew that she was on my side.

"Wanda, now!" I heard Mr. Stark call out as (Y/N) made contact with Alfred, breaking his control over us. Vision moved to protect Wanda as she concentrated her energy on capturing the gas.

Mr. Stark then turned to Thor with a sarcastic remark, praising (Y/N)'s electricity, "can you do that?"

I focused my attention on the agents sent to torture me, webbing up them up in self defense. The blade pierced my skin, but I only allowed a scratch before the assailant was rendered immovable by my webs. More agents moved on me, but I tried to keep them back while I sent worried glances to (Y/N).

Alfred's chilling laughter could be heard across the battlefield, over the gunshots, the thrusters, the sounds of people dying. And (Y/N)'s electricity seemed to be getting more intense and brighter even through Wanda's red magic, making me wonder how much more she could take.

I fought my way to her side, but it seemed I had become a major target and found it difficult to take two steps without having to stop and fight. Suddenly the electricity faded away and (Y/N) was once again visible, her body teetering slightly and her hood had fallen off, allowing me to see the exhaustion imprinted on her face.

No longer caring if I got hurt, I screamed out her name and ran to her through the thicket of agents, although their numbers were dwindling. I caught her just before she fell to the ground, holding her tightly to my body as though I could keep her from crossing the threshold over the the other side if I had a firm enough grip.

"(Y/N), it's going to be ok," I assured her, running my fingers gently through her hair.

"P-Pete?" She asked, her breathing labored.

"I'm here, you're going to be ok," I repeated, not sure what else to say. All that mattered in this moment was (Y/N) and I barely noticed when Mr. Stark landed beside us to keep any stray agents from attacking.

"I-I'm sorry, Pete," she strained to get out, grasping at my hand.

I wrapped my fingers around hers and fought back the tears trying to well up in my eyes, "shh, you don't need to apologize, not now. There'll be plenty of time to do that later."

Something wasn't right. Why was she having trouble breathing, it didn't make sense if all she was just overexerted. I understood if she were panting, I supposed, but it seemed as through her airways were blocked.

"I'm dying, Pete. I want you to know that I'm sorry."

The poison. It had to be the cause for her symptoms. I interrupted (Y/N) to call out to the Avengers, "the gas, she's must have breathed in some of the gas!"

"Pete, there's no time," she struggled to get out, her eyes betraying how much pain she was in. "W-we have no-no antidote. I'm sorry, Pete. I'm so sorry. I-I love-"

She cut off as ice began to envelop her body, causing me to jump back in shock as I watched her get frozen in time, preserved perfectly in a casing of ice. I looked up to find Loki standing above us, his skin a deep shade of blue with raised markings on his skin. The color faded back into his normal pale skin, but I knew I wasn't going crazy.

"Loki, what the hell did you do?!" I demanded, anger surging through me like a violent storm.

"I tried to stop the gas from killing her," he replied simply, straightening out his tunic.

I leapt up from my spot and charged at him, "by freezing her to death?! Why would you do that?!"

Someone was trying to tear me off of Loki, but I struggled against their grasp, needing to punish him for what he had done. Mr. Stark spoke in my ear, "kid, I don't like this either, but give him the chance to explain."

Loki picked himself up and brushed his clothes off before turning to me, "I was trying to save her, Spiderling. If all goes as I hoped, she should be preserved in the ice. The poison should halt in her system so that we have the time to create a cure."

"And if your ice didn't work?" Steve spoke up, knocking the last agent out with his shield.

"Then she was going to be dead whether I tried to help her or not so it doesn't really make a difference."

-

(A/N): He-he no one can tell that I absolutely adore Loki, right? Also Peter swears a lot in this chapter but you know he's under a lot of stress and like college corrupted him, ok?

And now onto your weekly review to which I will say it was an amazing episode tonight, as much as I would have preferred that Nathaniel were dead, but you know they gotta have a villain so I understand. However, I was nice and happy seeing Daniel watch Daisy as she went into the healing pod, watching her with a caring a protective gaze (also confirmed Simmons is a Daisysous shipper) and I would have been so content to have that be the last shot we got of him. But NO they had to have that stupid preview where they were like he's gonna get hurt and maybe even d*e (but he won't because then Marvel's gonna have to pay, we have an army)

And I will leave you with this that will make absolutely no sense unless you watched the episode: