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caffeinated-mendes · 5 years ago

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Failed Mission - Peter Parker & OC - Chapter 4

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synopsis: Eliza Brooks, an eighteen-year-old Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and friend to Tony Stark is given a mission after Tony’s death: Attend Midtown Tech and keep an eye on Peter Parker. With the use of her mysterious powers, Eliza had never slipped up on her assignment. That is until Peter’s life is in danger, and she has to save him. The cost of her exposing her identity could very nearly mean the end of her mission, and the ending of her chance to become an Avenger.

word count: 2.4k

a/n: Hi guys! It's been a little bit since I updated, but hopefully they'll get more frequent on this fic once summer comes. Thank you for reading! Comments, likes, and reblogs are always appreciated <3

warnings: none

*if you prefer, you can read this on my ao3 instead of here

“Eli! I’m coming! Eliza?” Peter scrambled off the top of the cathedral, ignoring the shocked screams and gasps of the people sitting in the town square. He dropped himself next to the bench with the flashdrive on it, and snatched it up before someone came to collect it. Turning back around, he bolted into the cathedral. Everything was silent as he ran down the pews, no one in sight. “Eliza?” Peter looked down at his feet, and grasped the black and blue mask at his feet. Great, he thought, I’ve let Eliza get kidnapped, not only screwing up her chance at becoming a part of SHIELD, but I also have increased her chances of dying!

Peter took a deep breath, and ran back out of the cathedral, mask in hand as he webbed himself up unto a balcony. “Karen?” He asked, and suddenly a ring sounded through his ears.

A familiar, automated voice replied, “Yes, Peter?”

“Can you do a scan for any underground tunnels within a hundred-mile radius of this point?”

“Sure, Peter.” Peter watched before his eyes as his vision turned black, now illuminated with a visual blueprint of the town’s sewer system. The electric blue lines surrounded himself, a tiny dot on the map. “There is a hollowed out tunnel that is five miles from here that leads into a bigger cavern. The tunnel spans across the whole city, and an entrance is within thirty feet of you.”

“Where is it?” Peter turned his head, but his vision was still blocked from the map.

Karen responded, “Under that fountain. I’ve scanned the carvings in the marble. If you press the eye of the figure on the top, it should open and lead you to the entrance.”

“I knew it. Wait till I shove it in her face. It’s exactly like Harry Potter! Thanks, Karen.”

“Happy to help, Peter.” Peter’s vision turned back to normal. He vaulted himself over the balcony, and landed right next to the fountain. Every civilian had cleared out of the square after they saw Peter jump down and run into the cathedral, so he stepped into the water, soaking his clothed feet. He was suddenly very glad that his suit had warmers that could dry him up. Peter was met face to face with a lion, spewing water from the top of the fountain.

Peter pushed his right eye, and it glowed an eerie shade of green before the entire column that held the lion folded in on itself, and fell into the middle of the fountain, revealing an enclosed tunnel with rungs of a ladder. The rungs led to the bottom of another space Peter couldn’t see.

Stepping carefully down each rung, Peter made it to the bottom. He turned around, and saw an endless expanse of concrete tunnel, almost like a sewage pipe (minus the sewage). From what he saw on the map, he had to go straight for four miles. Then, he’d ask Karen to lead him down the winding path into the scary enemy lair. Sadly, the spidey suit didn’t have super speed, so he’d have to go at a light jog for a bit and take some breaks to make sure he could save Eliza and not be completely exhausted. Peter wished he could be like Eliza, and turn into a mountain lion, or some other animal that was fast.

Peter suspected Eliza wasn’t awake, because she would have escaped already and would’ve contacted Peter or SHIELD. It was easy to turn something small and run away, Peter knew that. The radio connection was cut off from Eliza because she left her mask behind, so he was entirely on his own. Taking a deep breath, Peter started to jog down the tunnel, leaving his mind to wander on its own.

At around a mile and a half in, Peter heard clunking noises from above himself. It must’ve been construction, still, it scared him. He’d tried to contact Happy while he was running, but the metal all around him had cut off his connection. Wheezing for breath, Peter stopped at two miles to walk for a bit. He couldn’t believe that Black Widow had trained Eliza. It made sense: her skill at self-defense and a ton of other martial arts Peter couldn’t name explained that. He’d seen her teacher on the battlefield, once in Germany and right before the blip. That was the last time he saw her, but it made Peter wonder, when was the last time Eliza saw her?

There were a lot of things about Eliza that Peter questioned. Where were her parents, if they were alive? How did Tony find her? Did SHIELD get Black Widow to train her? What were those scars on her neck? What happened to her parents, if they were dead? The questions never really stopped, but Peter somehow knew he could trust her. Maybe his trust meant nothing. Nevertheless, he couldn’t let her die.

After jogging some more, Peter asked Karen where to go next. “Take your first right, then walk for .4 miles.” Peter followed her directions, and was faced with another cement tunnel, with four openings on each side. “I detect a threat in the tunnel that leads the quickest way to the cavern. You can take another route, but it will reroute you, and you will have to walk another three miles.”

“Can you detect what the threat is, Karen?” Peter asked, hearing his voice quiver.

“A human, he is armed.” Peter saw an x-ray vision down the first tunnel on his left. He could see the gun the man was holding and his body heat on the thermal scanner. He seemed to be guarding the door to the cavern. Peter nodded, and turned left, going at a run. He followed the tunnel as it curved, and saw the man with the gun, who was caught off guard screaming in Portuguese. Peter tapped his web shooter, pulling the gun with his arm. It clattered to the ground. The guard ran at him, pulling a knife from his belt.

The LED lights above Peter flickered, and at the very last second, he jumped through the legs of the guard, catching him off guard again. Peter grinned to himself, feeling way more confident. Maybe he did have a chance at beating Eliza when they would spar, he thought as he dodged the jabs of the guard’s knife.

He disarmed the guard with a simple kick to his arm, and he rammed his foot into the guard’s chest, watching the man hit the concrete hard. The guard’s eyes lolled to the back of his head, and his head fell back with a plunk on the concrete. Once Peter saw that his chest was rising, and he was breathing normally, he looked back to the door that led to the cavern. It was bolted into the cement across every inch of the doorframe, and it had a small device next to the rodded handle that looked like an entry for a passcode.

Peter walked back to the unconscious guard and checked his pockets for any slip of paper that had a code. Hopefully, the man had a bad memory. After scouring the front pockets, Peter grabbed at his back pockets and threw out a used tissue in disgust. Then, he realized the tissue wasn’t used, and that black ink was visible through the fabric. Peter plucked it off the ground, and almost jumping up and down in excitement, saw the six-digit code for the door.

After every number was pressed, the door clicked, and Peter was able to swing it open with ease. The door led to another hollowed out tunnel that looked almost like a cave system. Peter was really starting to get tired of tunnels. He shook his head and exhaled, carefully stepping on the gravelly floor. Karen directed him down the tunnel for another five minutes when it finally began to open up. No one seemed to be close to him, as all he could hear were his feet shuffling on the ground.

Peter neared the cavern, and from the tunnel, looked to see wisps of blonde hair on the ground. He ducked his head, and saw Eliza, her eyes closed and her arms sprawled about as if someone just dropped her and left her on the floor for later. Peter scrambled to her side, laying her head in his lap, checking her pulse. He pulled his mask off, his face hit with a musty smell. Eliza seemed to be unscathed, so Peter began shaking her. “Eli, Eli, wake up.” He lowered his voice as much as possible. After a few more shakes, Eliza’s eyelids fluttered open, and Peter got a feeling of deja vu as her pale blue eyes glowed again, an electric blue that paralyzed Peter the same way he had felt before.

The glowing subsided, and Eliza moaned, “What happened?” She pushed herself off of Peter and sat up, looking pale.

“I don’t know. You were screaming for me but when I came into the cathedral you were gone.” Peter watched as she looked around the gray cavern. Oil lamps illuminated the humid area. “Your eyes glowed again.”

Eliza gulped, and tightened her ponytail. “Why does that keep happening?”

Peter shrugged, “You tell me,” He handed Eliza her mask, “Let’s see what we can find in this place. I have the flashdrive, but I want to look for more information.”

“Okay,” Eliza put on her mask, and Peter did the same, “Have your AI system scan your surroundings.”

“Her name’s Karen.” Peter felt a grin tug at his lips. He could almost see Eliza roll her eyes.

“Fine, have Karen scan our surroundings. They’ve got to have a computer, files, something that gives us an idea of their plans.” Eliza spoke to her AI system, trying to call Happy.

Karen pulled up another scan, and Peter saw other shapes past the rocky walls, “It won’t work. I’ve got no signal down here. It’s the metal from the pipes.”

“Pipes?”

“Yeah, I had to run four miles of tunnel before I got here. And guess what? The entrance was in the fountain. Just like Harry Potter!” Peter laughed.

Eliza shook her head and snorted, “I guess you proved me wrong. Feels good, huh?” Peter walked closer to the wall, running his hands along the surface, looking for another secret door of sorts. “Hey, thank you.”

Peter turned back around at Eliza. “Yeah, of course. I couldn’t let you get hurt.” The two of them jumped as they heard a creak close by. Eliza disappeared from Peter’s sight, and Peter scream-whispered, “What do we do?”

“Hide!” Eliza scream-whispered back. Peter looked at his surroundings. There was absolutely nothing he could hide behind. The cavern was empty. Thinking quickly, Peter shot a web above his head, and pulled himself up, sticking every limb to the top of the cavern wall.

Peter held his breath. The same man that Peter and Eliza had seen from the town square came into the room. When he saw that Eliza was missing, he ran back through the entrance. The two of them could hear him howling orders in Portuguese to other people. He exhaled and took another breath after the man was gone for a minute or two.

He dropped down onto the floor, and Eliza reappeared. She whispered. “My AI found a room. It’s right below us, but we can’t walk out of here to get there.”

“What do we do?” Peter said hoarsely. He had said that a lot today.

Eliza pulled something from her belt. Peter realized that it looked very similar to Natasha Romanoff’s. It was a ballpoint pen, but when Eliza uncapped it, a red laser burst out of it noiselessly. In less than twenty seconds, Eliza cut a hole through the floor of the cavern, and a crash of rock hit the tiled floor peering through the hole. “Let’s go.” Eli instructed, dropping through the opening. Peter followed her, and when he hit the ground, he instinctively dropped to a squat, his hand touching the floor.

Bright lights blinded him for a second. Peter blinked a few times, his eyes adjusting. The room around them looked like a normal office. Desks were pushed to the walls with ancient-looking computers on them. The walls themselves were a beige color, cracks in each corner. Peter felt a tingle run down his spine as he saw dust and cobwebs coating the overhead lights. Eliza parked herself right in front of one of the computers, and groaned as Peter watched her realized there was a password on it. “Hand me the flashdrive and watch the door.” Peter did as he was told, and heard Eliza clacking away on the keyboard behind him.

“Did you, like, go to a hacking class at SHIELD along with training lessons?” Peter folded his arms, bouncing between his feet as he observed the chipped wood of the door.

Eliza’s eyes scanned back and forth on the monitor, “Kinda,” she began to open multiple files that looked like detailed floor plans, “I begged my parents to let me be an agent like them. They talked to Hill about it, and she taught me code while Nat taught me basically anything that had to do with fighting.”

Peter was surprised. He meant his question to be a joke. “Oh. So, you were basically an assassin from the age of…”

“Nine.” He saw Eliza huff out a breath, and with a tap of the finger, he watched as something began to upload onto the flashdrive. He guessed they would open everything later.

Peter wrung his hands together, “Right.” All of a sudden, screams burst out from above them, and Peter realized that it would be pretty obvious if there was a hole in the cavern floor. In a panicked voice, he said, “We gotta go.”

Luckily, the computer finished uploading the files just as he said it. Eliza ripped the flashdrive out of the computer, pushing Peter to get him to open the door. “Uh huh,” She said, obviously worried as Peter pulled the creaky door open, “Run.”

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