C208 Spider-Man (Patreon)
Content
Returning back to the Tower, Peter and the rest of the group watched as Frank stormed off, knocking over random valuables and furniture along the way.
“He’s p*ssed...” Jessica comments as a chair flies across the room and impacts the wall.
“You think?” Loki asks with a smirk, enjoying the destruction.
Just as Frank turned the corner, leaving their line of sight, Matt looked at Peter with a worried expression.
“Should we follow him?” He asks.
“No, he can’t leave the building and I’m sure his wife will calm him down.” Peter says with a shrug as he turns to the remaining group. “Good job, by the way. You all performed at a higher level than I expected. Just continue following Natasha's training and you’ll be full-fledged Avengers in no time.”
Hearing this, a feeling of accomplishment bloomed inside Jessica. She always wanted to help people as a hero, but her first attempt was hijacked by a maniac, so her dreams are finally beginning to form.
Her dreams of being a hero may have been deflated by Kilgrave, but with him dead and gone, everything just kept looking brighter.
As for Matt, he was coerced into joining the Avenger, though even he felt a feeling of accomplishment after their action-packed day.
After all, just the Kitchen Irish alone was a name on his checklist of gangs to fight against, yet they were completely dismantled in a single day.
Matt never thought that he could be a worldwide hero, like Spider-Man and Iron Man, so he set his sights on the small area of Hell’s Kitchen, New York.
Now that he has seen how much of an impact could be made as an Avenger, Matt found it hard to regret accepting Peter's coercive invitation anymore.
‘Maybe this won't be so bad...’ Matt thought.
“Now head home and get some rest.” Peter says as he walks out of the room, leaving the remaining Defenders behind.
———————————————
“Ugh!” Frank stormed into his family's new apartment, cradling a bloody and broken fist. “Stupid f*cking concrete walls...”
“Ahem...”
Looking up from his throbbing hand, Frank found his wife sitting in the kitchen with their children, who were currently eating grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup.
“Dad!? What happened?” Frank Jr. asks as he hops out of his seat.
“No, sit back down.” Maria, Frank's wife reprimands him as she turns to her daughter next. “Both of you stay here and finish your food.”
As the kids returned to eating whilst hiding their curious gazes, Maria grabbed Frank by his wrist and dragged him into their bedroom.
“Be careful! That hand is broken...” Frank grunts in pain as she ignores his complaints and pulls harder.
“Oh, shut up!” Maria yells in a whisper so the children don’t hear, closing the bedroom door behind her. “What is this about?”
“What?” Frank asks back, unwilling to share his current dilemma.
“Don’t what me!” Maria says as she paces over to the bathroom and brings back a first aid kit. “You come barging in like a crazy person with this...”
Reaching over she grabs his hand, causing him to wince in pain as she starts working on his injuries.
“... and then you curse in front of the kids as well! How many times have we talked about saying words like that in front of them?” Maria says as she vindictively cleans Frank's wounds with alcohol.
“Ugh!” Frank grunts as he glares at his wife for a moment before calming himself down. “Was dumping it like that really necessary?”
“Do you want it to heal without an infection?” She asks back, but he knew she was just mad at him.
“I’m sorry...” Frank said as the room grew quiet.
Maria didn’t reply immediately as she worked on fixing his hand in silence.
“I guess I’m sorry about the alcohol as well...” Maria replies as she finished wrapping his knuckles in gauze. “So what happened?”
...
Frank wasn’t talkative at first, but as most married men know, it’s hard to say no to your wife.
When Frank explained how Colonel Schoonover, his commanding Officer, was a drug dealing criminal who used his underworld contacts to put a hit out on their whole family, Maria was so shocked that she didn’t speak for a good minute.
“You know the worst thing about all of this?” Frank says with a smirk in self-deprecation. “I saved that motherf*ckers life in our last mission. When that piece of sh#t lost an arm, I took control and literally carried his a%s out of there, yet this is how he repays me? By trying to kill my wife and children.”
“It’s okay.” Maria says as she wraps her arms around Frank, resting his head on her shoulder. “We’re alive and unharmed. The kids may need a little therapy from the whole incident, but other than that everything is fine.”
She knew her husband and could tell that he was beyond furious. If she didn’t do something to calm him down, then Frank would run headfirst at Schoonover and either get himself killed or locked up.
“No, everything won’t be fine until that traitor is dead.” Frank says as he separates from his wife. “We can’t even leave this tower in fear of another attack. How are the kids supposed to go to school and live their lives?”
“Spider-Man is working on it, right?” She asks though Frank didn’t seem to be listening anymore. “Let’s just leave this to the Avengers. They’re far better equipped to deal with this... hey!”
Just as Maria was doing her best to calm her raging bull of a husband down, Frank stood up and rushed out of the room, leaving the apartment before anyone could say another word to him.
“Jarvis, are you here?” Maria hesitantly asks.
“Don’t worry ma’am.” Jarvis’ voice fills the apartment, shocking the two children. “For your safety, your family has been blocked from going past a certain floor, trapping you in the upper portion of the tower. Your husband will soon learn this as well.”
——————————————
“Come on!” Frank yells in frustration as he tried to open yet another stairwell, finding it locked like all of the others.
Before this, he tried to take the elevators down to the ground floor but soon realized that they didn’t allow him more than five floors below his apartment.
*Bang Bang Bang...*
In a fit of rage, Frank started kicking the thick metal door, hoping to knock something loose, but no amount of power that he could give would make it budge.
“That a*shole wasn’t kidding when he said this was a vacation in confinement...” Frank muttered between breaths as he tiredly leaned against the wall.
“No, I wasn’t lying.” Peter says, appearing beside Frank on the wall.
“Can you not pop up out of nowhere? It’s creepy...” Frank says as he slumps down onto the floor in defeat.
“So, planning to go and get yourself killed?” Peter asks, completely ignoring Frank's comment.
“...” Frank didn’t bother gracing Peter with a response.
“Aren’t humans funny? You would rush off in a fit of vengeance because the family you love was almost killed, yet doing so could leave them without a father and husband for the rest of their lives.” Peter says as he sits cross-legged next to Frank. “You would give up the living family you have just for the chance at revenge against someone who’s wronged you.”
“He didn’t just wrong me.” Frank tries to add more reason behind it. “He almost succeeded. Without you using your magic or whatever, all of us would have died in that park. He littered me, my wife, and my children with enough bullets to kill an elephant.”
“Don’t you think that’s a good reason to stick with your family? Why try to throw your life away?” Peter gives his thoughts. “After all, If what you say is true, then I gave you and your family a second chance at a life together, why throw it away for some slimy scumbag, who’ll be dealt with either way?”
“...” Frank let out a resigned sigh as he picked himself up and limped down the hall.
Not only did he hurt his hand by punching a concrete wall, but now his leg is damaged from kicking the stairwell door as well.
“Where are you going?” Peter calls out as Frank walks off. “You won’t be able to go lower than this floor. I’ve made sure of it.”
“I’m going back to my family.” Frank replies without turning back.
“Good.” Peter says as he stands up. “Oh yeah, Frank!”
“What?” He turns back and asks.
“Wake up bright and early tomorrow morning. We’ll be detaining Colonel Schoonover for questioning.” Peter says, shocking Frank.
“But I thought...” he mutters in confusion.
“What? That you wouldn’t be involved?” Peter asks back with a smirk under his mask. “I never said that. I just didn’t want you to throw away your life, like some brain-dead vengeful idiot.”
A/N: 1506 words. Starting a Shang-Chi chapter now, but I may sleep and finish it tomorrow. It depends on how I write this next scene because I’m unsure about how I want it to go.