Aurora groaned with every unpleasant movement, and felt a little part of her fade away as the device was placed on her ankle. She wriggled against the securements, but it wasn't more than small movements. What she was focusing on now was trying to stop herself from nodding off. She could feel it, the inevitability of unconsciousness coming to claim her.

They were about half way to HQ when there was a loud thud on top of the van.

The four in the back all looked up in surprise and drew their weapons. They heard glass shatter from the front but there was no view to see what was happening. A couple gunshots fired but they heard a loud thud and the van swerved a little bit for a minute but steadied out, turning into a car garage and pulling to a stop.

The four of them looked confused, knowing this wasn't where they were supposed to be and waited, tense and weapons drawn.

—

Matt heard a few of the sounds echoing from what sounded to be a van. The sounds were much clearer, as the van had come closer to his apartment than the alleyway where the two spiders were.

-•-

Aurora flinched at the thud, although her reaction was delayed quite a bit. She couldn't tell if what she was hearing was her imagination or not, but the reaction from the four guards told her it wasn't. She didn't have much time to ponder, as her head dropped forward, unconsciousness finally taking hold.

The doors were torn from their hinges, startling the four who fired at the attacker but each shot barely dented the armor. Their eyes widened when they finally realized who was attacking.

A very, very pissed off Iron Man.

It didn't take long for Tony to beat the shit out of three of them and knock them all out except for the knife man who put his hand to his side.

"You come any closer and both of them are gonna be in a lot of pain and it'll likely kill her." He tilted his head towards Aurora. "So make your next moves carefully."

Tony saw Aurora and he felt sick. Rage filled his body but he couldn't just attack... not when he didn't know if this guy was bluffing.

"He has a device in the holsters that will recall the blades to him if he presses it, sir." Friday quietly informed him. "I'll see if I can hack into it and disable it."

"Alright, Just... don't hurt them more than you already have." He replied, seemingly surrendering to the man.

He squinted at Tony but didn't press it. He kept his hand nearby. "You and I both know I'm not gonna just let you walk away with them." He told him. "Just like you won't let me walk away with them."

"You're right." Tony agreed.

"Seems we're at an impasse then... How unfortunate."

Before Tony had time to react, a blade pierced the armor, into his upper left arm. His eyes widened in shock at the fact it had pierced the armor and quickly dodged the others that flew at him. Shit!

"Friday, update!" He hissed.

"I'm almost in, sir."

"Hurry it up!"

Matt heard the gunfire, and heard the bullets ping against something solid and metal. He let a sigh escape his lips and he leaned forward, pressing his face into his hands. He believed Tony had found them, but now he had to wait to hear if they were alright and secure.

He heard Tony cuss on the other end of the line, after hearing something that sounded like a swift ripping of metal. "Stark, what was that?"

"A damn knife!" He replied, taking cover behind one of the concrete pillars. "I don't know what the hell it's made out of but it should not have pierced my armor."

Matt heard the cracking of concrete as another knife hit the pillar.

"Or dig into a concrete pillar."

Matt cursed under his breath. "They've been developing weapons to use against armored enemies. They've developed bullets with the same technology to use against me." He explained.

"Be careful. We don't need to be losing three heroes today."

"I'll do my best-"

"I've hacked them, sir! They are all disabled! I've triple checked." Friday reported.

"Perfect." He spun out from behind the pillar and shot a stun blast at the man.

The man had thrown a knife but it was thrown off course when he was hit. He pressed the buttons on the holsters as he went down but nothing happened.

Tony sighed with relief and approached him and pulled his holsters away. "No more knives for you." He slammed him up against the side of the van. "Now," He replied, his face plate sliding up to look at the man directly.

"What the hell did you do to my kids?"

Matt caught a few words that didn't make much sense to him, as getting context from them would've made the conversation much easier to understand. Such as something needing to be hacked, and disabled?

He put the phone to the side and muted himself, calling out for Kasey and Claire. "Tony found them, the spiders and the men who attacked them."

Kasey looked up at that and Claire did too. "H-he did? Are they okay?!" Kasey asked him, moving to the doorway with Claire right behind her.

---

The knife man was panicking now. Why didn't that work?! "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" He demanded.

Tony slammed him against the van again. "Wrong answer. What did you do to them." He demanded.

"My job, damn it!" The man replied, struggling in his grasp. "Pretty well, if you ask me." He smirked at Tony, some of that panic starting to die down.

He was slammed again. "Who sent you?"

He laughed. "I'm dead if I tell you, so no thanks."

Tony snarled and pinned him to one of the pillars. "Answer me, damn it!"

He just laughed again. "Seems you all share that fiery temper, huh?" He asked smugly. "Besides, I'd be more worried about getting them taken care of. Lord knows they've lost dangerous amounts of blood." His grin was sharp and smug.

Tony's eyes widened and he turned to look at the back of the truck.

"I'm not even sure if either of them are still alive after what I did to them."

Tony turned back to him and knocked him clean out and threw the man to the ground, hurrying to check on the two.

—

Matt heard Kasey's question and put the phone against his ear once more, tuning in to the conversation. He heard the multiple crashes and winced lightly, before his eyes widened and his expression darkened. He was still on mute as he replied to the two.

"From what Tony got out of the main man, they're in pretty bad shape... He said they might not be alive after what he did."

Kasey's hand covered her mouth as her heart sank. She shook her head in disbelief, taking a step back as tears spilled down her face and she turned and tried to go back to the bedroom but Claire snagged her wrist.

"Kasey, no. You can't go out there-"

"I have to!" She argued, back with her. "Let go!" She shoved Claire away from her, perhaps a bit too roughly as Claire tripped on the edge of the coffee table and fell back onto it with a small cry of surprise.

She landed between the coffee table and the couch Matt was sitting on with a small, "Oof!" as Kasey darted into the bedroom, snagged her backpack and disappeared out the window.

—

Aurora sat where she had been secured in the back of the truck, the securements being the only thing to keep her from falling forward onto the floor of the truck. Her suit had soaked up much of the blood, with some dripped onto the floor and spilled onto the seat.

Peter wasn't much better, blood was running down both his legs and dripping from his mouth as well.

Tony's eyes widened and very slowly entered the van. "F-Friday, call Happy. Tell him to get here as fast as he possibly can." He told her.

"I already have, sir. I don't recommend moving them- They're both severely injured-"

"Shit..." He muttered. "Run scans on them both."

"Of course sir."

—-

Matt heard Kasey's reaction and tried to persuade her otherwise. "Kasey you'll go right to Tony-" But before he knew it, Kasey had pushed Claire straight out of the way and had left them both there in shock.

Holding a hand out to help Claire, he continued to call out for her. It had taken him a moment to get over the initial shock of her actions, but he wanted to try and call her back anyways. "You're only going to go straight to Tony! It will lead you right back to the tower if you go to him right now!"

Not to mention, if Tony in any way thought this was connected to them looking for Kasey...

-•-

If it hadn't been for her being completely passed out, Aurora would've been in for a world of hurt. She still had a few blades sticking out of her body, and had various wounds as well. Her heartbeat was dangerously slow, and her breathing matched it.

—

Kasey was sprinting across the rooftops, listening for their heartbeats. She heard Matt call out to her and hesitated but kept going. "I have to-" She repeated, unsure if he could hear her or not. "This is all my fault-"

---

"Interweb has multiple severe lacerations, three knives are embedded into her. One in each shoulder and one deep in her chest, just under her sternum and has punctured her liver. It is currently lodged around her spinal cord. She has gashes across the back of both her legs, one down her left arm, and a stab wound in her right thigh. Two bullet wounds as well."

Tony ran a hand through his hair, his helmet lowering as he tore his gaze away from Aurora. It hurt to look at her. "A-and him?"

"Spider-man has a blade in his left thigh and a broken one in his right knee area. He-" She stopped, having to double check.

"Fri?"

"... His throat is slit, sir..." Her tone lowered. "His vocal cords are seriously damaged."

Tony stared in horror and his eyes softened. "Kid..." He felt horrible about not getting there sooner...

In her mind, Aurora last remembered being thrown into the back of the van. After that it was all void. Of course, she wouldn't remember any of it until she regained consciousness.

Tony sat down on the edge of the van with a sigh. "Just... keep monitoring them. Tell Happy to hurry up." He felt horrible. This never should've happened...

—

Matt continued to try and persuade her, not wanting her to make a mistake and get herself in trouble. "Kasey, it's not your fault. They went out on their own, and they decided to split up on their own. You weren't in control of them."

"They wouldn't have had to if I hadn't run off!" She argued with him, pausing to try to listen for them but everything was just so loud-

"You had to do what you had to do to get out of that tower! It is not your fault for wanting better for yourself!" Matt rebutted. He was trying to keep his own voice steady, the sound of Friday's voice coming through the phone. His mouth went dry as he heard the descriptions. If he told Kasey that now, she surely wouldn't come back. So he decided against telling her, for now.

Kasey slowed to a stop, tears flowing down her face. "I-I-" She sunk to her knees as she cried. "They're a-after me- They wouldn't be hurting them if it weren't for me-" She sobbed.

Claire watched Matt with a bit of confusion but waited.

Matt motioned to the phone in response to Claire's expression. He'd tell her too, when he got the chance too. It would be a hard pill to swallow.

"You can't blame yourself for the actions of bad people, Kase. Your friends had the best intentions going out there. No one could've predicted this would happen." Matt explained, in an understanding tone.

"..." Kasey was quiet as she cried on the rooftop alone. "...What if they're dead Matt?" Her voice was quieter as she cried. "If they die because they were looking for me Matt-" She shook her head and wiped at her face. She left the rest unspoken.

---

"Happy is five minutes away." Friday informed Tony.

"Thanks, Fri..." He had honestly forgotten that Matt was on the call still. He sighed and leaned back against the side of the van when he heard movement coming from inside and he spun to see Peter starting to stir. "Kid!" Tony quickly was at his side and Peter, jerked his head up but made that strangled noise when the pain flared through his throat and coughed up more blood, his body shuddering.

"Shit, kid... Just- Just stay still, okay? Happy is on the way, we're gonna get you home."

Peter tried to reply but coughed more blood up instead, unable to speak. Not even the start of a noise.

At the sound of the choking, Aurora almost stirred, but her body pulled her back under. It would force a shutdown if it meant preserving what blood and energy she had left.

Tony and Peter glanced at her and Peter's body shuddered at the sight. It made him feel sick and he looked away.

Tony sighed. "We're gonna fix this, kid. I promise. I'm getting both of you out of here." He carefully worked on getting the restraints off of him and once Peter could move, he leaned against Tony's side and Tony just rubbed his back gently while they waited for Happy.

—

"It won't be your fault." He pressed her. "Tony will get them out of there and get them taken care of."

He heard Tony speaking on the other end of the line and breathed a sigh of relief. It sounded like he was talking to one of them, but he didn't hear a response from the spider. "He's speaking to one of them, so one of them has to be alive."

Kasey rubbed at her face again. "They're some of the only family I have left- I can't lose them-"

"I know, Kasey, I know. Just come back to the apartment and wait. Tony will probably inform us if anything major happens." All this while, he kept a level head and kept his voice from wavering. Whatever happened on the other end of the line, he had to focus or he could push Kasey away.

---

Tony looked up when Happy pulled into the garage and sighed with relief as he got out and hurried over but stopped at the sight of them.

"Holy shit." He muttered before looking at Tony. "How do you want to do this?"

"Do you think you can carry him? He's got two blades in his legs." Tony explained.

Happy nodded at that and Tony helped him pick up Peter.

Peter flinched at the movement, a small hiss coming from him but let Happy carry him to the car.

Tony turned to Aurora and took a deep breath. He very gently pushed her so she wouldn't fall forward and started removing her restraints.

She groaned in response, the pain still registering even if she was out.

Tony flinched but finished releasing her and as gently as he could, he picked her up and carried her to the car.

Peter and Happy watched him climb inside with her and held onto her while Happy handcuffed the guys to the van to deal with later.

Happy climbed back into the car and looked back at Tony. "Where we headed?"

He hesitated looking over at Peter who finally pulled his mask the rest of the way off and looked pale and exhausted.

"The tower."

"Right away." Happy agreed as he started the car.

Although Aurora didn't know that Tony had her, she had relaxed in his grasp. She had been tense when everything was going on, and had remained that way, subconsciously on the ride back to the tower.

—

Kasey slowly nodded, pushing to her feet. "O-Okay... I'm on my way..." She agreed, turning to head back, taking a deep breath to calm down. As she pushed her anxiety down, the dull noises of the city suddenly became much sharper and louder.

Her eyes widened and she covered her ears at the sudden attack on her senses. She had been so focused on one thing that she had blocked almost everything else out. Now that she wasn't- It all poured over her like waves crashing onto her and pulling her under.

It was piercing and loud and her head was spinning trying to process it all as she collapsed back down to her knees, pressing her hands tight over her ears.

Matt let out a small sigh, glad that she agreed to turn back. He hung up his end of the line, having heard that they were headed to the tower. He figured Tony would deal with that from here on out.

Shortly after he heard a soft thud, like the sound of someone falling or something alike. "Kasey, you still headed back?"

Kasey did not reply to him as she curled up in a ball on the roof, trembling as everything was just overwhelming her. All of her senses were going haywire, everything just crashing around her. Too many noises, voices- Too many conflicting smells- even just the touch of her hair and fabric and skin on skin contact made her feel sick.

Too much- Please! It's too much! She cried as she tried to make it stop.

Matt frowned and grabbed his crutch, pushing himself up and off of the couch. He limped over to the window that Kasey had previously leapt out of, sticking his head out to listen. He heard her cry and flinched.

"Kasey! You need to relax, panicking will only make it worse!" He warned, worried for her.

Kasey tilted her head towards Matt's voice, tears spilling down her face. "There's so much-" She replied, squeezing her eyes shut. "It's too much-"

Matt spoke softly, but loud enough for her to hear. He didn't want to risk overwhelming her anymore than she was. "There's going to be a lot of sound, a lot of just... stuff going on around you. Trust me, I know. But you need to relax, and breathe."

Kasey listened to him but it was hard to keep focused on it with all the noise. She tried to calm down and do as he said. Breathe. She took a shaky breath and held it then slowly released it.

In... out. It was still loud. In... out. It felt like it was getting louder, starting to ring loud in her ears making her whine at the screeching of her senses, pressing her hands harder against her ears, eyes squeezed shut as she curled up into a ball.

In... Out. She forced the deep shaky breaths through the noise. In and-

Suddenly it was all silent.

Kasey held her breath and very slowly started to sit up. Confusion flared through her system as she very hesitantly lowered her hands.

It stayed silent. Like... deathly silent.

Not a single noise reached her ears. She felt her heart start to race as she called out to Matt. "M-Matt?" Her voice shook with uncertainty but when she didn't hear her own voice, her heart skipped a beat.

Matt's face whitened as realization dawned on him. Either she couldn't hear him from where she was, which was highly unlikely, or she couldn't hear at all.

"Kasey!" He called out, praying she would be able to hear him. He had encountered this sort of situation before and it was terrifying for him. He could only imagine what it would be like for a kid like her.

She didn't reply to him again as she started to panic. "M-Matt?!" She tried again but she couldn't hear her own cry and choked out a sob.

She couldn't hear anything.

And she had no way to find her way home.