It all happened so fast...

One minute he was laughing and smiling...

The next...

He was gone...

{•••}

Peter Parker Stark woke up early this special morning. One year ago today, he was adopted by Tony Stark! And well, basically the other avengers too.

And when he says the 'other avengers' he means the ones that are still around. Like Steve, Bucky, Nat and Clint.

And by 'early'... well he meant 10 am. But whatever he's a teenager and teenagers are supposed to sleep!

He stretched and went to his closet to pick an outfit for the day. He shrugged and decided on a science pun T-shirt and some comfy sweatpants.

He combed his messy hair and brushed his teeth, then went downstairs.

He walked into the room full of his family. They stepped aside to reveal a big stack of pancakes that had, written on top with chocolate chips, 'Happy Gotcha Day Peter!'.

Peter smiled at his family and ran up to hug his dad.
"Thanks guys! You're the best!"

They smiled, and Tony chuckled as he ruffled Peter's hair.
"No problem kiddo, now dig in!"

Peter went to go take a bite out of the first pancake when the avenger alarm sounded.

"Boss Code Spider down in Central Park." Friday said. The team jumped up. Friday only called for code spider when there was something really bad that they couldn't handle on their own.

"Alright avengers, and Peter, suit up!" Steve commanded and they all ran to get their suits on.

They made it to Central Park in record time, however chaos had already taken over by the time they arrived.

Mini explosions and flying benches were all over the park, but in the middle of it all stood one man that none of them actually knew. All except for one.

When Peter saw the man in the middle he groaned loudly. The avengers looked at him confused.

"What is it spidey?" Clint asked. Peter sighed.
"That guy, the one orchestrating this fiasco, yeah he's like the worst."

Bucky looked at him.
"Who is he?"
Peter glared at the villain who had his back turned.
"That's the Jackal. He's literally pure evil."

Nat looked at Jackal.
"Wait so you've fought him before?" She asked. Peter nodded.
"Yup, barely made it out of that one."

They looked at him in shock and he chuckled.
"It's fine! Just make sure you avoid the pumpkin bombs, cause those things hurt, and he doesn't really have any weak spots so just try to catch him off guard!"

Tony sighed.
"Pe- Spidey, I don't think you should be in this fight. Clearly if you've fought him before, and he might be out to get you." He explained.

Peter waved him off and rolled his eyes.
"Everyone's out to get me dad."

Tony was about to say something else when a flying bench just nearly missed their heads. Peter turned around and threw his arms up in annoyance.

Jackal glared at him and flew over on his hoverboard. (K I know that goblin is the one who uses this but just for the sake of the story we're just gonna pretend jackal uses one too.)

"Hey Jackie! I see you've escaped prison huh? Having fun throwing all these benches around?" Peter asked.

Jackal growled at him.
"Spiderman..." he hissed.

Peter gave him a thumbs up.
"Yep! The one and only! Since you know... all your experiments failed."

Jackal growled more.

"Ooh Sorry is that still a soft spot for you?" Peter asked and Jackal just growled more.

Clint walked up and tapped Peter on the shoulder.
"Uhh kid, are you aware that you're just making him more angry?" He asked.

Peter nodded.
"Yep! It kinda comes with the persona, that I just annoy every villain that attacks me." He shrugged.

Clint nodded and stepped back. Peter felt his Spidey sense go off and he turned around to catch a small dagger that was headed straight for him.

He looked at it and threw it to the side.
"Would you just wait a minute Jackie, I'm trying to have a conversation here." He said sarcastically.

Peter turned back around to face the avengers.
"Wait, what's a pumpkin bomb?" Steve asked.

As if on cue, one of Jackal's signature bombs came flying into their circle and Peter's eyes widened when he saw it about to detonate.

He picked it up and threw it back at Jackal, causing him to falter slightly as it detonated.

Peter pointed to where the bomb just went off.
"That's a pumpkin bomb."

Everyone nodded and they split up to start the fight.

They were totally overpowering Jackal. 6 of them against 1, it was easy. Peter kept thinking about how he wished they were here the first time he fought Jackal.

But the fight was taking along time. Yes, they were overpowering the Jackal, but it was happening so slow, that they were all losing energy.

Peter noticed this so he decided to give them a short break. He opened his comm.
"Hey guys, I'm gonna take all the fire from Jackal, you guys sneak up on him okay?"

They seemed hesitant but replied.
"Fine, but don't get hurt." Tony said.

Peter swung over and landed by Jackal to distract him from throwing bombs at Bucky.

"Hey Jackie! You must be getting slower with old age huh?" Peter taunted. Jackal growled.

"Oh Spiderman, always so full of words, yet they're only a cover for your poor fighting skills." He smirked.

Peter rolled his eyes, not like anyone could see but the attitude was enough.

"Whatever man, at least I don't have webs in my eye." He said, then fired some webs in Jackal's eyes.

Peter's distraction was working, the avengers were so close to Jackal that with one hit, he'd be gone.

But...

That didn't happen.

Jackal spun around and saw all the avengers merely a few inches away from him. He growled and they stood frozen in shock, not knowing what to do.

Jackal took his long arms and super strength that was too much to handle for the weak avengers and punched them in one swift motion, causing them to fly back, unable to get up.

Peter panicked. Okay, so it was 1 on 1 now. Just great. He gulped as Jackal charged at him. Jackal threw a bunch of bombs at him, all of which Peter was able to dodge. Peter ran up to Jackal and punched him in the gut, sending him back a bit, but not enough.

Jackal ran up and grabbed Peter's throat. The injured avengers watched helplessly as their boy was lifted into the air and choked by this monster.

Peter thrashed around in Jackal's grasp. Just as his vision became blurred he sent a knee into Jackal's gut several times until he let him go.

Peter fell to the ground and coughed as he tried to stand back up again.

When he did, he wasn't ready for the extreme spidey sense that blared in his head. He looked up to see a pumpkin bomb headed right to him.

He tried to dodge it, but failed as he was hit with the bomb, sending him flying back into the dirt.

The others shouted when they saw this and tried to stand but fell over from their injuries and tiredness.

Jackal stomped over to Peter, who was laying on the ground and kicked him several times. Peter felt his ribs break from the force Jackal was using, but he managed to stand back up again.

Peter panted as he was face to face with the Jackal.
"You know you're not going to win this fight Spiderman." He hissed.

Peter rolled his eyes.
"You may have managed to take down the avengers, but I know your tricks Jackal."

Jackal laughed evilly.
"Oh, but you can't stop me, and save Captain America."

Peter's eyes widened. Time began to slow as he saw Jackal throw a huge pumpkin bomb in Steve's direction. If it hit him, he would definitely die...

But then he saw Jackal start to run and Peter sighed. He knew what he had to do.

He shot a web at the bomb, pulling it over to him just before it detonated. The bomb blew up  just before it reached him, causing him to fly back into a large rock.

The avengers screamed as they saw Peter get thrown into a rock by the detonation.

"PETER!!!"

{•••}

Now we're back to the present. The avengers sat in the compound hospital waiting room as they waited for any news on Peter.

6 hours after they came back, the doctor came out to tell them some news. He looked sad, which always meant bad news. Tony and Steve were the first to stand.

"How is he?" Tony asked desperately. The doctor sighed.

"His injuries were so severe, even someone with his healing ability would have a near impossible chance to fight them off. Peter flatlined many times during surgery, which increases his risk for brain damage if he wakes up. He's currently in a coma, but by my diagnosis, he's not going to wake up."

Everyone was in shock. Tony shook his head as he was trying to convince himself this wasn't real.

Suddenly, Bucky looked up with tears in his eyes.
"Is-is he in pain?" He asked broken-heartedly.

The doctor looked down sadly.
"Although he is most likely brain dead, his nerves are still intact therefore yes, he can no longer move, speak, hear or breathe on his own, but he can feel the tremendous pain from his injuries."

The doctor looked at the broken avengers then continued solemnly.
"He is currently being kept alive by a ventilator, there is a very high chance that he will not wake up again, so I'm leaving you to discuss if you'd like to unplug him."

Tony looked up as the doctor walked away.
"N-no... you heard what he said, Peter's still alive! We can't kill him. My kid is strong, he'll get through this!"

Bucky looked at Tony and shook his head.
"I'm sorry Tony, but no matter how strong Peter is, he can't recover from being brain dead."

Natasha nodded.
"Plus, would Peter really want to live the rest of his life in horrible pain and not being able to do anything?" She added.

Clint scoffed.
"We don't know what Peter would want!"

Tony nodded in agreement with Clint.

Steve spoke up for the first time.
"He wants to save people..."

They looked over at him in confusion. He continued.

"All Peter ever wanted was to save and help people. He sacrificed himself to save me... it should be me in the hospital bed, not him... but now that we have this horrible decision to make for him, I think we should think about how Peter would feel...

How do you think Peter would feel knowing he's alive and has these powers, but can't help anyone with them because he can't move? How do you think Peter would feel not being able to speak, when that's one of his favourite things to do? How do you think Peter would feel, being in constant pain, with no way to stop it?"

They all looked down.

"How do you think Peter would feel... if he knew that we were arguing about him right now..."

Tony looked up with tears streaming down his face. No one said nothing since they were all crying. They walked over to Peter's room and saw the practically lifeless body of their son laying there, connected to this huge machine beside his bed.

Tony walked over and studied the machine. Then he kneeled down beside Peter and took his hand in his. It was cold...

Tony sobbed as he looked at his only son's injuries that covered his body.

"You don't deserve this Peter... you're too good of a human being to deserve living like this... I love you Peter, we all do, so much. And we're going to do this, because we think it's what you would want. I'm so sorry Peter... I'm so sorry I let this happen to you..."

The doctor walked into the room.
"Have you made a decision."

Tony looked at the ventilator, then at Peter, then at the monitor showing his steady heartbeat. He was alive, yet, he wasn't... and he never would be again...

Tony nodded to the doctor and as the doctor unplugged the machine, the broken avengers listened to the monitor beep fade into a solid beep of no pulse.

Tony squeezed his sons hand one last time, and ruffled his hair.

"Goodbye Peter..."

{•••}

Tony walked upstairs to the common room alone. The others had all gone their separate ways to their own floors to mourn Peter.

When Tony entered the kitchen, he saw the cold mushy pancakes still sitting in a stack on the counter with the happy message in chocolate still on top.

Tony cried as he remembered how happy Peter looked only a few hours ago this morning...

And how now he's gone...

Gone.

Wow that was sooo much angst guys. I'm sorry I haven't given you all a break from the torture! But I have an even worse chapter planned next so get ready for that! Thanks for reading!!
~Taco