The next few hours were unbearable. McKenna would come in sometimes with water and she would try to talk with him, but he didn't pay attention. He was thinking of how to get out of there. But everything required McKenna to untie him, which she seemed totally against.

"You don't have to leave with me," Peter said, begging for her to let him go. "Just untie me."

She had just shaken her head and stayed silent. She then helped him drink the water she brought, considering Peter couldn't drink it on his own with his hands tied up. It was awkward.

He hadn't seen Andrei again yet, which worried him. Was he already there? Were his parents already dead?

No. He couldn't think about that. He had to focus on getting out of there. Negative thoughts were going to get him nowhere.

When McKenna left again, Peter started moving around in the chair as much as he could. He threw himself around as much as possible. Considering the chair was attached to the floor, it wasn't doing much, but it was doing something, no matter how small.

He heard a slight groan from the chair and grinned.  Why didn't I think of this before?  He had focused on his hands and the ropes before, but he didn't think of his body and the chair.  Kind of sad that the ropes seemed to hold better than the chair.  He continued to thrash about. 

He heard a pop as one leg of the chair came undone.  He was about to work on it more when he heard the door.  His eyes widened and he stopped, trying to look as normal as he could.

McKenna walked back in, her eyes filled with shock.  Jeez, what had she just seen that had left her so shocked?

She looked at Peter and seemed to make a decision.  She glanced at the chair leg, shook her head and walked over.

Peter's eyes widened as he saw her bring out a knife. A big one.  "Woah, McKenna.  Easy.  I'm sorry!  I just want to-"

She went behind him and Peter squeezed his eyes shut.  At least if she killed him, he'd be able to see his dads. 

He was shocked as he felt the ropes loosen around his him. He opened his eyes and looked down to see the ropes gone. He gasped and looked back at McKenna. She wore a ghost of a smile.

Peter stood up. He moved his arms around before rubbing his aching arms, thankful to be free. "Thank you. Thank you so much. Come on, let's go!"

McKenna shook her head. "There is a vent in the hall. I can keep it empty and I can get the cameras shut off for a good two minutes. I can cause another distraction after you get into the vent that should buy you enough time to get outside. We don't have much time. My grandfather will be leaving to go oversee your parents death in less than an hour."

"What changed your mind?" Peter asked, following her as she walked to the door.

"I just saw... I saw some things I didn't sign up for." She looked down. "Granted, I didn't sign up for this."

"But - they could kill you. If they find out that you helped me escape, they might kill you, whether you're your grandfathers grandchild or not."

"I know." She looked him in the eye and Peter took in the message she seemed to send him.

"Okay. Okay. Thank you." Peter hesitated before giving her a hug. She needed it. She hesitated, seeming shocked. She eventually gave in and hugged back.

Voices could be heard down the hall. McKenna quickly pulled away and went over to the door, opening it quickly. She looked back at Peter.

"Good luck."

And with that, she was gone.

Peter paced quietly until the voices in the hall disappeared.  He hesitated before opening the door. Once he had made sure that there was no one, he started moving towards the hall.  He looked at the vent above his head and started to make his way up the wall.  He managed to pry the vent cover off and squeezed in.  He started shimmying down the vent, trying to navigate his way out, which was hard, as you could probably guess.

He nearly jumped out of his skin every time he heard a voice underneath him, even though he knew they couldn't hear or see him at all.

He crawled and crawled in the darkness for what felt like forever until he saw a light in front of him.  He grinned and crawled the final stretch.  He could see sky outside.  It was sunset, but nonetheless, still light.  He grabbed the vent cover when he reached it and pushed it forward.  He pushed and pushed until it popped off.  He hesitated before crawling out.

He saw men in groups below, looking around everywhere but, thankfully, Peter's direction.  He highly doubted his luck would last and prayed McKenna would get her distraction started.

Almost as soon as he thought this, he heard an alarm go off, nearly making him drop from his spot.  The men looked surprised and started running into the building.

Thank you, McKenna, Peter thought as the last man went inside.  He dropped down and started running.  Running as fast as he could.

Running to Avengers Tower.

——————

It was a disaster.  The entry was broken in from men kicking it down.  The windows around the outside were broken in random places.  The bodies of some of Richards' men littered the floor.  His suit was gone.  FRIDAY wasn't working.

The Avengers were nowhere to be found.  Peter had ran all throughout the building and had found no one.

It couldn't be.  It just couldn't be.  They had to be there.  Where else could they be?

Peter had started to look for clues.  Anything that could hint of where they were.  So far, nothing. This was looking hopeless.

He made his way back down to the lab, on a clue hunt. He took everything in. Some tables had been turned on their side, and lots of tech was thrown around.

He was about to dismiss it, when something caught his eye. He turned back and walked to one of the only upright tables. On the table was Tony Stark's phone.

Peter picked it up and looked it over. He saw lots of unanswered calls to Peter and felt guilty. If he had stayed home, none of this would have happened...

A lightbulb went off in his mind. He held the oboe close before running over to the one last functioning computers. He began working as fast as he could.

The phone - just like a lot of his dads' personal technology - was connected to his suit. Ergo, if Peter was correct, he could find a way to track them, using the phones connection to the suit.

His fingers flew across the keyboard at 100 miles a minute, the need to find his family before it was too late fueling his passion.

He typed in a few final codes and - bada bing, bada boom, a map was pulled up on screen.

Peter smiled. "Oh thank goodness," he muttered, taking in the location.

Hell's Kitchen. Seemed appropriate. He could find his way. He knew this place like the back of his hand.

He rushed out of the lab and up to his room. The room was also a disaster. Things thrown about. Not a pretty sight. He ignored it and threw open his desk drawer. He grabbed his trusty spare web cartridges out and placed them on his wrists. He started to make his way out of the tower.

He was doomed. He had no suit, no family backup, no chance.

But he'd do it. Because family is worth fighting for. He'd do it for them.