19

Chapter 19: a casualty and a stained floorNotes:

1) I have one more pre-written chapter before I'm back to weekly posting but I'll give you guys a heads up if I won't upload for a week or so. I have exams coming up so I'll see how bad my procrastination gets.

2) Check out the MCU x Ultimate Spider-Man fanfic I'm working on!

bruised being, healing heart

3) Enjoy the chapter and leave a kudos and comment!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

In his defence, he had trusted the officers to do their job. He really had.

Officer Davis seemed like a competent guy -okay and the other officer probably wasn't at fault- and he doubted there was any external interference but letting the European guy escape from his holding cell was really bad.

"Karen, run a facial recognition scan on the guy who attacked me," he said as he balanced on top of a fire escape.

April showers had taken New York by surprise with how much there was and the rain mercilessly beat down on him just like that terrible night in the previous timeline. Thankfully his suit didn't let any rain soak through but it was annoying to swing through New York when he slipped on random objects. Shouldn't his stickiness counter that?

Barely a week had passed since the European guy had attacked him and he had escaped. The police precinct the European guy had been held at had been attacked on the same night he had been arrested.

Now he needed to find him so he would actually be arrested and trialled. Why was he going after this man? Simply because he had committed a hit and run, two more robberies in Queens and shot someone -the woman had lived but she was currently hospitalised- in the second robbery a day ago.

Yeah, he couldn't let that slide.

Aaron had messaged him claiming that the same guy had a history of weapons dealing -apparently he was one of Shocker's lackeys- and given him an address to investigate where the guy might have gone to lie low for a bit. Apparently it was where all of the people who were weapons dealers went to chill for a bit in case their sales had caught the attention of the police.

"Identity found. The man is known as Dmitri Smerdyakov and has an American visa which ran out three months ago. His nationality is Turkish but was formerly Russian," Karen replied as he brought up the address Aaron had given him.

It was some address on the border of Queens and Brooklyn but he would make it there in twenty minutes if he didn't carry on slipping on random objects!

Swinging to the address wasn't too difficult but what he found wasn't what he expected at all. The address had led him to a derelict area with abandoned houses with smashed windows and a lot of front gardens with overgrown weeds. Everywhere stank of weed and smoke but he could see why the area had such a high crime rate.

Fortunately for him, all he had needed to do was crawl through a smashed window before he observed the house. It looked innocent enough: despite the unpleasant surroundings, the interior didn't have as many damaged things except the broken glass littering the window.

The sofa had a couple of stains on it (he hoped they weren't blood stains) but wasn't torn up, the mantlepiece was dusty but had a couple of generic pictures of nice coastlines and the wooden floor panelling was intact and didn't have any dead flies lying in the corners.

The kitchen didn't have anything suspicious in it and the upstairs had a couple of old bedrooms and a manky bathroom which he hoped no one used for hygiene purposes because it would probably give them a disease.

"Who's this place owned by anyway?" He muttered as he jogged downstairs, barely glancing at the plaster poorly covering the crack in the area that supported the stairs as he made his way to the kitchen to check for clues.

"Fisk Industries owns the entire complex," Karen replied. "Each house was built with 4 to 6 rooms depending on where it is located. This house has 5 rooms, all of which you have seen."

"Great," he murmured as he checked each cupboard for anything that suggested criminals had been in the house, even if it was a packet of pasta so he could check for fingerprints.

"Each house is built with a hollow area underneath each staircase; however, some have a door where the spandrel would be."

He paused. "Repeat that please?"

"Some of these houses have a door where the spandrel would be. These would be used for extra storage. My sources indicate that this house used to have a door, however, it has been sealed up poorly by plaster."

He sprinted to the staircase, his eyes widening as he realised Karen was right! The plaster revealed cracks that joined to make a rectangular shape and there was a patch of plaster that badly covered a hole in the wall.

"No one lives here, right?" He asked as he tentatively pushed his finger against the plaster.

"No one has resided here in five years ever since Fisk Industries bought the area."

Amazing.

He broke the plaster covering and grinned as he pulled the door open to reveal a circular panel against the corkboard-like flooring.

Bingo.

He crawled into the space and instructed Karen to turn on his night vision before he lifted the circular panel to reveal a ladder that descended into a tunnel that led into the abyss.

Okay, he was being dramatic.

"C'mon Spidey, you can do this!" He psyched himself up for a couple of seconds before climbing down the ladder into the unknown, tensing when his foot hit concrete.

Letting go of the ladder, he turned around to see a well-lit passageway. Fluorescent lights illuminated a long corridor with similar ladder appearing every twenty metres or so, otherwise there were only concrete walls and a metal grid that went along the corridor with a few grates running along it. He guessed it was for ventilation purposes as a constant humming came from the ceiling.

Breathing out, he relaxed his shoulders before jogging down the corridor at a moderate pace until he had to turn left and found a metal door a few metres down the new corridor.

"Karen, do you have a scan of this place?" He asked quietly as he dropped his spare trip mine in front of the door before backtracking and finding a metal grate he could remove in case Karen didn't have the scans. The least he could do was be stealthy considering there could be fifty guys with guns and he didn't have a bulletproof suit.

"Unfortunately no. This underground section does not appear on any maps I have so I cannot guide you."

He sighed. "Okay, thanks." Well, he supposed he would have to be stealthy for a while.

Walking along the wall before crawling along the ceiling, he pushed the grate up and crawled inside the vent before placing the grate where it had been. Goosebumps trickled along his arms as his heartbeat sped up in such a small space.

"Stop freaking out, you're not in the warehouse," he muttered as he crawled along the vent and made his way over the door and through into the next section. There were sections of metal and others of grid but at least he had somewhere to hide in case someone walked down the corridor.

He didn't reach anywhere relatively new until the vent changed direction and he crawled through until he reached a set of sparking wires. Shooting them with his taser-webs, he grinned when the wires fizzled out and he shimmied through the area with no imminent danger in front of him.

His heart leaped into his mouth when someone shouted below him -it was in a different language but the word was cold and harsh- and he retreated to the metal area where he knew he couldn't be seen. So much for no imminent danger. However, he knew exactly what to do as he reached into his pocket and found his phone.

'I hope this works,' he prayed as he activated his spider-drone, feeling something on the back of his suit shuffle before the spider-drone hovered in front of him. Activating the camouflage, he watched as it blended in with the scenery before he sent it into the room, holding his breath as it scuttled along the ceiling and found a corner to tuck itself into before he observed what was happening.

The room itself was huge -practically the size of a warehouse without the high ceiling- but was fairly plain. The walls were white and filled with various tools hanging on them ranging from a wrench to mechanical equipment he couldn't remember the name of and the lights were brightest there. There were a few stools and couches in the centre and three men were in the middle.

One was Dmitri Smerdyakov and the other two were men he hadn't seen before but, judging by Dmitri's relaxed body language as he had a bottle of beer in his hand, they were friends or at least allies. One had a gun in his hand and the other had a white mask in his lap.

"So, idiot," the one with the mask said. "Why'd you decide to pull off two heists? The police are onto you now."

Dmitri shrugged, holding his beer bottle loosely in his hand and he leaned forwards. "Use that pea-sized brain of yours. I need more money. Toomes and Schultz are gone and MacGargan has gone into hiding. He won't conduct any business outside of doing it himself. Greedy bastard took all the biggest sales and left us to fend for ourselves."

So that was why he hadn't seen Scorpion in months! He had wanted to save his own skin after months of progress and left the others to do whatever they could.

"I have half the mind to leave the business altogether and return to Russia," the guy with the gun muttered. "You know what, I will. Let me get my stuff and I'm out of here."

"What, just like that?" Dmitri asked, standing up at the same time the other guy did. "After all we've been through?"

"Karen, identify them," he murmured.

"Alexi Ivanov-" she showed a picture of the man with the gun, "-and Volkov." The man with the mask's first name was displayed as unknown for some weird reason. He would look into it later.

"I've made a small fortune over the years. It'll be enough to get out of here and to Russia and meet my wife. You two have made life in New York bearable, believe me, but I want to live a quiet life."

The other two nodded and Volkov finally stood up and shook hands with Alexi after Dmitri clapped him on the shoulder and wished him a peaceful life.

His Spidey-sense buzzed in the back of his head when Alexi turned his back, his heart dropping to his stomach when Dmitri and Volkov subtly nodded at each other and Dmitri reached for his back pocket.

Biting his lip when Volkov strode towards Alexi and tapped him on the shoulder, a sense of foreboding washed over him at the same time his Spidey-sense rang like a gong.

A raised fist.

A gunshot.

A blood-chilling scream.

Blood trickling down someone's chest from their shoulder.

Volkov collapsed onto his knees and clutched his hand over the hole in his shoulder before falling onto his face, blood slowly spreading in a puddle around him as Karen showed his vital signs rapidly going up and down as he writhed in pain.

Nausea swirled in his stomach as he tried to blink away the gory image, tensing when he couldn't do anything but look through the camera feed.

"Fucking traitor," Alexi spat as he kicked the floor near Volkov's face, careful not to touch his body as he picked up the white mask by his side and threw it to Dmitri who caught it deftly. "Can't believe you tried to kill me after what you pulled. The arrogance you have will get you killed."

Why did they have a white face mask with them? It wasn't like the medical ones used in hospitals and more like the one used in the Friday the 13th movies. The video footage used in the newspapers when reporting Dmitri's crimes showed the same mask but he doubted it was used just for hiding his identity.

"Let's be happy we killed him before he killed us," Dmitri replied as Alexi kept a tight grip on his smoking gun as he watched Volkov. "Now we can get out of here without anyone trailing us."

"Kraven will be happy to see you again," Alexi remarked as he strolled over to the wall where he grabbed a black duffel bag -wait a second, wasn't that the one Shocker had had in the hotel?- before strolling to where Dmitri was, clapping him on the shoulder. "You have helped me a lot. Thank you."

And with that, he strolled out of the room and slammed the metal door behind him, leaving Dmitri by himself as he processed what had just happened.

He barely processed seeing the red dot for his trip mine flash green as sickeningly sweet bile rose in his throat and he struggled to swallow it.

Tearing his eyes away from his phone seemed impossible with how mortifying the past few minutes had been. He had just watched a man shoot another man to get revenge. He wasn't even sure why Volkov hadn't stood up considering it was a shoulder wound. Was the bullet poisoned?

Realistically, he shouldn't be so traumatised at seeing a writhing body since he had been on a battlefield but that had been different. The things he had injured were aliens, not a living person! He had been in his fair share of fights on the streets but he hadn't seen such a one-sided stand off since he had faced Thanos.

Slowly releasing his breath to calm himself down as he recalled the drone, he decided he needed to apprehend Dmitri before he could escape to Russia. Alexi had been caught by his trip mine and he didn't have to worry about being caught unless someone else knew about the underground system.

Holding his breath as he silently pulled open the grate, he crawled along the ceiling until he was above Dmitri, who was currently sitting on one of the stools with a gun in one hand and his bottle in the other.

"I know you're there, little spider."

His blood froze as Dmitri looked up at him, his eyes blazing with fury as he stood up and pointed the gun at him. Déjà vu hit him as the black nozzle stared at him for the second time and he lowered himself using a web, keeping himself just above Dmitri's head level as he hung upside-down from the ceiling.

"How'd you know?" Tony would scream at him for his lack of self-preservation but Dmitri hadn't shot yet and morbid curiosity had overtaken any common sense. Just because he had Spider-sense didn't mean he had common sense.

"A security alert went off the second you entered the underground facility. Letting you spy on us simply gave you a visual explanation on why you should let me and my friend go to Russia," Dmitri replied as he turned the safety off.

His Spidey-sense buzzed dully as he rebutted Dmitri's statement. "If anything it gave me a good reason to put you in the Raft and not a normal prison. You're delusional if you think I can let you go."

"I was afraid you would say that." Dmitri sighed as he cocked the gun. "Prepare to join Volkov-"

He didn't let him finish his sentence as he dropped from his web to the floor and kicked Dmitri's feet out from under him. Ears ringing as a gunshot went off and deafened him once more, he dodged as several bullets were shot at him.

"There's no way in hell I'm joining that deadweight on the floor!" He exclaimed as he threw a stool at Dmitri, surprise running through him as he threw himself to the floor to dodge it before he grabbed the other stool and lobbed it at him.

"Well," Dmitri chuckled as he dodged the stool and it broke against the wall. "At least we can agree on something."

Three more gunshots rang out but they all hit the couch he dove behind before he rolled forwards and shot webs at the gun, yanking it out of Dmitri's hands and webbing it to the ceiling. He smirked for a second before his Spidey-sense rang out and he dodged the wrench that was aimed for his head.

White mask in one hand and hammer in the other, Dmitri charged towards him as he scrambled to his feet. He dodged Peter's first punch but didn't expect the jaw at his midriff. As Dmitri doubled over, he took advantage of his weakness and shot webs at his feet.

His jaw dropped slightly as Dmitri dodged and stumbled backwards, his hammer still in his hand as he grabbed his beer bottle from the floor and shattered it over his head.

Pain exploded in his skull as he doubled over, black spots flashing in his vision as he moved backwards, backwards, backwards, until he hit something hard and slid against it. Was it a wall? God, he hoped it was a wall.

Hissing in pain, he squinted as he looked forwards and waited until Dmitri was close enough and he sprung up and shot his webs at the other man's chest and yanked him towards him, quickly sidestepping him as momentum built and Dmitri slammed against a wall, his man bun unravelling as he clutched his head.

"You'll pay for that," he groaned as he pulled something out of his pocket too quickly for Peter to react and threw it at the floor.

Smoke burst out in thick waves and obscured his vision as he choked on the rapidly thinning air as Dmitri's figure faded into the distance, his eyesight blurring as smoke infiltrated his mask and made his eyes water.

Shame burned inside of him as he crawled forwards, his arm outstretched at times in case there was an obstacle. His lungs ached as Karen directed him towards an exit and instructed him to stay close to the ground as smoke rose towards the ceiling.

He grappled at the door handle until it bent down and the door gave way, smoke pouring into the corridor as he staggered forwards, leaning against the wall as he panted. Black spots swarmed his vision as oxygen deprivation made the corridor spin.

By some miracle he made it to the corridor with several ladders and he climbed up the first one he reached with shaking limbs, somehow pushing the circular panel off of the top and stumbling out of the house on the other side of the complex to the house he had first entered.

"Incoming call from Tony-"

"Let it through," he wheezed, coughing viciously as Karen let the call through.

"Kid, what the hell-?" He barely filtered Tony's pissed off voice before he started to spew apologies.

"T-Tony," he coughed. "I'm so sorry, I thought I could do it b-but I was stupid a-and now the world is spinning-"

"What?"

The world spun even faster as he collapsed into the overgrown grass and coughed as mucus made its way up his throat. His mouth was dry but he couldn't breathe enough clean air. Whatever Dmitri had used was wreaking havoc upon his lungs.

"Underoos, where are you?"

"C-can't-"

"I'm tracking your location, hold on." His vision blurred and he didn't make out whatever Tony said but his calm tone indicated he would be okay. "Kid, stay awake."

"I'm sorry."

"I know, just hold on until I get there, okay? I'll be five minutes."

His memory was hazy from there. Panicked words filtered into his ears but his brain did not process them properly and all the calm-but-panic tinged voice received was slurred responses as his heartbeat slowed down. Was it slowing down because he was dying or because he had been functioning in overdrive for the past ten minutes?

Blearily, he hoped it was the latter.

Dmitri was long gone and it was his fault because he had been too hasty about apprehending him like Toomes, Shocker and Shifter. He hadn't thought it through and had been relying on pure luck.

"Underoos?" A familiar voice exclaimed as clanking metal turned into softer metal and a face appeared above him before a finger started tapping him on his face. "Kid, come on. You're not allowed to die on me."

"…T-Tony?" He wheezed, everything hazy as he focused all his energy on looking at the billionaire, confusion passing through as he realised Tony was wearing his square glasses. Oh…he was wearing the EDITH glasses.

"Christ, you're definitely going to medbay."

He groaned but didn't object, subconsciously aware that whatever Dmitri had used against him had fucked up his system to the point he had collapsed. He had been doing so well too…

Notes:

Anyone a fan of Steve/Bucky (as a romantic ship?)

If Shuri and Peter were to create something in Wakanda, what would they create?