For some reason, Nora never expected a situation like this to actually happen.

The world seemed to stop as she watched her father drop to the ground. She heard her siblings scream, and she probably did too, but it didn't register. All she could see and hear and feel was her father, the man who had taken her in and raised her, on the floor with a slowly growing pool of blood.

The rest of the party cried out in either shock or protest, but was quickly silenced by Aliya's uncontrollable sobbing. Rafe was staring at the ballroom floor, tears silently falling from his eyes. Nora felt herself flinch when the man turned to them with a look of such indifference. It made her blood boil. She ducked under the cover of the table, trying to calm her breathing so she didn't have a panic attack right then and there. She brought her knees to her chest, her fingers grabbing fists of her hair to the point where she could feel some of the bobby pins slip out of place. She had to think calmly and rationally about this. She needed to get her suit, she needed to use the beacon, she needed Peter's help. Nora knew she was very outnumbered right now. There were about six assailants, all the waiters, and she knew they were armed and very dangerous. She couldn't do this alone.

Feeling her breath even out somewhat(although she believes it never will after what she just witnessed), she reached out to tug Rafe down to her. "You need to get my bag."

He wasn't registering her, just kept looking out at the floor, shaking violently. "Rafe!" she whispered, grabbing his face and forcing him to look at her. "Please, you need to use the beacon to call Peter, or use my phone, I don't care, just contact him." he nodded, seemingly back in the room, a dark glint in his eyes that meant he was focused. "Keep Aliya safe, I need to get to my suit."

As she made a move to begin her trek to the coat closet, Nora felt her brother grab her wrist. She turned back, about to question why he had done so, but with one look in his eyes and she knew. He was telling her to come back. And she would, she would for him, for Aliya and for their dad. "Make them pay." he said, viciously serious.

Oh, she would.

Right now would begin the hardest few minutes of her life. She needed to get to the coat closest undetected, and that would mean crawling through the masses of scared people who were trying to shy away from the people who held them at gun point. Nora knew to kick off her heels, in case she needed to make a quick escape. Swallowing hard, she got on her hands and knees, focused on getting to her suit.

One of the henchmen walked over to her father, examining him. Nora froze, pressing her finger to her lips to shush the elderly couple in front of her. They nodded, making Nora notice the cut on the woman's forehead. The young Latina reached her hand out slowly, brushing her fingers against the cut. The blood seeped back into the ladies skin, the cut sealing up as if it had never been there. The woman gasped slightly at the warmth that spread through her body, smiling at her kindness. Nora nodded in recognition before hearing the waiter tell the man from the lab. "He's still breathing."

It wasn't meant to be common knowledge, she could tell because of how he leaned in to tell him, but the joke was on him because she was close enough to hear him. She could feel an invisible weight lift off her shoulders at that information. He was still breathing, but for how long, that was the question. The quicker she could get her suit on, the quicker she could get to him. When the two criminals went back to the middle of the ballroom, Nora continued crawling to the coat closet.

"Come on, Mercy, just give it up. Do you want more people to die for you, just like him?"

Nora pressed on, and the only reason she did so was because of the fact that she knew he was lying. The people around her frowned as she passed, wondering what she was doing. At a point she passed Gwen who smiled encouragingly at her, despite the mascara running down her face. Nora just kept crawling. The closet was in her sights now, she could do this. Thankfully, the closet was wide open, obviously forgotten about when the men crashed the party. She could see her gauntlets positioned for her to easily grab. "You killed someone I cared about, all those months ago. Sent my boss to prison, your own uncle."

She knew what he was doing, he was trying to get her to respond, to alert him of where she was. She would respond, when her suit was on and Rafe had contact Peter. Right now, all she was focused on was getting her suit. As he droned on about how he was the victim here, how he was doing what he believed was justice, Nora just ignored him, slipping into the closet. Now came the hard part, getting out of a dress that zipped in the back and try not to garner any unwanted attention while she was getting changed.

Her back was turned to the door for two seconds before she heard it click shut ever so softly. Obviously someone must've seen her and decided to give her a little more stealth. She stood up, trying to reach the zipper on her back. Struggling with it for a few moments proved fruitful, as her dress slipped off of her after a few seconds. She threw on the gold under armour, the boots and then lastly, the gauntlets. It was agonisingly slow, how long it took for the plates of armour to unfold. As the plates moved up her neck, forming the mask, she could hear a few screams coming from outside. She needed to move faster, she needed to save people.

Once the armour clicked together, fusing to the under armour, she cracked open the door to see to her horror, a line of people kneeling on the floor. More people were crying now, and all the strange looking guns were trained on the hostages. Nora's eyes narrowed as she saw the man from the lab begin to rage. "I'm serious, you need to show yourself to me or all of these people are going to die."

She caught sight of Rafe seconds later, who was wiggling the beacon in the air. He had gotten through to Peter.

Nora took a breath, if this guy wanted her to show herself, than she sure as hell would.

-

A few minutes earlier, in the Parker apartment, Peter was in his room, finishing up the last bit of homework he had to do that night. His phone was beside him on the desk, something in him still hoping that Nora would respond again to the him. All he'd gotten was a smiley face, and while he should've been happy that she had at least replied to him, the selfish part of his brain wanted her to reply again. he just wanted to make sure things were as awkward as they were anymore. He didn't care about the romantic prospect at all, all he cared about was not losing his friend. He knew Nora still wasn't very happy with the circumstances, neither was he if he was being honest, but he really did not want to lose her, in any way.

He put his pen down with a sigh, answering a text from Ned about something nerdy, when he heard something vibrate in his room. He frowned, standing up to find the source of the noise. His room was a mess, especially after his fight with Nora when he had what Ned would call a 'hulk out' moment where he just trashed his entire room. His clothes were strewn across the floor, his books were in a pile and he had no desire to clean any of it up. So, scouring through the mess was a bit annoying, but eventually he found the source and his heart sank to his feet. The beacon, the stupid thing he had created that had caused this whole mess in the first place, was lighting up, telling him where Nora's location was. He would've turned the thing off and thrown it back into the mess, thinking it was another false alarm, if May hadn't burst into his room, panic written all over her face.

Peter was alert in an instant, gripping onto the beacon. "What's wrong?"

"Come look." she said, running back into the living room. Peter hurried after her, worry sucker punching him in the gut at what had gotten May so panicked and why Nora was asking for him. When he got to the living room, May had the tv on, displaying the news. Peter felt his knees grow weak at the sight in front of him. On the news was a report that the NYPD's ball to commemorate those lost in the Battle of New York was taken hostage, with one casualty already confirmed. Beside him, Aunt May chewed on her nail before turning to her nephew. "Wasn't Nora supposed to be there?"

He felt his heart stop for a second, flinching as his nails dug into his palm. She was supposed to be there, and from what the news camera's could pick up, he could see her brother and sister in the corner, cowering together. His eyes scanned the grainy footage for any sight of Nora, but she wasn't there. He couldn't see her in the main area, but she had pressed the button, she was obviously in trouble and needed her help. He had to get to her. Peter still held onto the sentiment that he wouldn't know what he would do if he lost her, and now it was doubled with the fact that Mercy was also Nora. If she was hurt....he didn't even want to think about it.

(He also didn't want to think about the fact that he might not be able to save another person he loved, so he shoved that thought to the side)

"God." May breathed, shaking her head at the screen as it showed the criminals lining people up.

Peter knew what he had to do, his suit was back in his room, he could slip out and help. He had to help her. He just needed to find a way to sneak out without May noticing. Not to mention the ballroom was miles away, and his web shooters could only make him go so fast. He knew she could handle herself, but one person against six heavily armed people was a tough battle. She needed backup, and obviously she knew, because of the activated beacon still in his fist.

He went back into his room, focused on getting to her. He opened his hand, looking at the little white dot showing him her location. She was definitely still in the building, which both eased his nerves and attacked them. If she was still in the building, that meant she was still alive, but it also meant she was in danger. He grabbed his suit, clutching it like it was a life line. Could the two of them be enough for these guys? They seemed prepared, and they certainly were not. He felt incredibly inferior to their tech and plan. He needed backup, he needed someone who could take this on better than anyone else.

He knew exactly who to call. If only he would pick up this time.

-

Nora was able to slip out of the coat closet with ease, no one spotting her as all the hostages were facing the other way. This was good, that meant she had the drop on them. Still, she wanted to make her presence known, so she crossed her arms. "If this is your way of getting my attention, then you are doing a poor job, sir."

A devilish smirk hit his face. "Ah, so she appears."

Nora was in no mood for his try at banter, so she just cut to the chase. "Let these people go, it's me you want." she pointed to her father, trying to stop the shake in her hand. "This man needs a doctor."

There was the sound of sirens outside, red and blue lights flashing outside to alert them all that more police had shown up. The sound of a helicopter humming above them told them that the news channels were here too. They had an audience, and it seemed the man hated it. "You're not going to hurt us? Like you hurt my friends and colleges?"

Rage bubbled in her stomach. Was this man delusional? "Is this all that this is about, you wanting revenge for hurting people you know? Do you realise what you were going to do to me, what you were doing to all those subjects?"

Whispers of confusion were spread throughout the crowd. Nora clenched her teeth as she thought back on those events, the boy in the shock collar, the woman who wanted to break her hands. All of it came rushing back and it made her want to scream. "You were torturing people, children, anyone you could get your hands on! You were going to torture me, and you expect me not to fight back?"

There was too much talking, she knew something was wrong in that regard, and the itch to get to her father was becoming overbearing. She hoped Aliya had composed herself enough to try and help him. The man just gripped his gun tighter, a weird laugh escaping his lips. "Fight back, huh?" at that, she felt two men grab her arms, kicking her down so that she was kneeling. "How about you fight back now?"

She didn't have time to question what he meant, because there was a loud crack and all feeling in her arm was severed. Nora let out a high pitches shriek of pain, feeling the bone snap. Already she could feel her body mending it but it would take some time with the man still holding her arm in an awkward position. Sweat began to bead on her forehead as she could hear her father's pained gasps, watching this go down in the corner of his eye. They wanted him to see her hurt, whether he was alive or bleeding out was just a fifty fifty chance they took.

Nora looked up from beneath her hair, eyes following the man as he walked slowly over to one of the lined up hostages. He pressed the gun to the man's head, the purple sides lighting up. "I don't see you fighting back?" He said. She struggled in the two men's grasp, crying out as she tugged her broken arm. Using her good arm, the black sludge traveled up to her elbow, attacking the second man's hands like a flesh eating virus. He yelled out, letting go of her which gave her time to press her hand against the other man's face, the virus hitting him as well. The onlookers screamed out in terror as they both fell to the ground, twitching and unable to stop their flesh from peeling away.

The other waiters cocked their guns at her but all she cared about was getting this man's gun out of his grasp. He looked at his henchmen in horror, before being forced to watch her put out her twisted and deformed arm, eyes widening as it twisted around. He flinched at the sickening cracks before her arm was perfectly functional again. He growled, this girl had gotten stronger since last time. She took two steps toward him and he wasted no chances, pulling the trigger and shooting the man in the head.

Nora froze, mouth opening at the violence in front of her. People around her screamed, but she didn't, she just stood in shock at the fact that he was able to do that so easily. Her head twitched slightly, feeling whatever attached her to kindness break right then and there. She was going to show this man a pain he had never experienced before. He was going to wish for death when she was done with him.

Letting out a guttural bellow, she charged for him. Her fist connected with his face, making blood spew from his mouth and his whole body push back from her. She towered over him, chest heaving, eyes almost black with rage. This was the Mercy he knew, the girl who was practically a demon in disguise. He was about to laugh when her boot slammed down onto his diaphragm, making him lose all breath.

His henchmen flew into action, but they were cut off by a whistle. Everyone turned their heads to see a person dressed in red and blue hanging from his hand on the ceiling. Nora was the only one who didn't turn, for she didn't care what was over there. All she cared about was hurting this guy.

"Hey, fellas, don't you know it's wrong to hit a girl?" he snarked, jumping down from his spot. Then there was sound of a scuffle, and the sound of his web shooters before the two were webbed up on the floor. "Yeah, I wouldn't normally hit girls, but you two are the exception."

"Stop...them!" the man panted and the remaining four henchmen began charging for them. Nora was tackled off of the man, splitting the line of hostages down the middle, making them scatter back into the crowd. She grunted as she hit the ground, the tackle forcing her head upside down so she could see Peter in his own battle with two others.

There was enough room for her to bring her knee up and shove it into the man's crotch. He fell off of her, the other assailant making this his opportunity to swing at her. She caught his fist, striking fear into the man with her steel plated gaze. It was true, her eyes were almost black and it was the most terrifying sight the man had ever seen. She snarled, her other fist connecting with his chin, kicking his entire jaw off it's hinges. Sludge dripped from his jaw as he fell to the ground trying to collect it in his hands.

Peter ran to her, after his attackers were tied up. "Mercy, are you okay?" she didn't answer. Just walked over to the man who was still trying to gain his breath back. "Mercy?"

She kneeled down, balling his shirt in her fist and lifting him off the ground. Blood poured from his mouth as he asked. "So, are you gonna kill me, like you did to my friends?"

Peter almost staggered back at his statement. "No, Mercy don't!"

"You want to die, don't you?" She growled. "So you can get the satisfaction of proving me right." he didn't answer, just stared her down. "I'm not gonna kill you. I didn't give myself this name without a reason. I'm giving you mercy, respect it."

She dropped him, but she made him stare at her again. "But I didn't say I wouldn't make you suffer." She pressed a hand to his head, feeling the sludge travel through her fingertips and into his head. It seeped into his forehead, the veins turning a sickly black colour. Nora stood up, her eyes returning to their normal mocha brown.

Peter ran to her. "What did you do?"

"Nothing yet, but I'm sure he's gonna love the blood clots in a couple of weeks." She smirked for a second before a more pressing matter needed to be addressed. She pushed Peter out of the way, running to her father's side.

Thankfully, Aliya was at his side, using some of Rafe's sleeve as bandages. Blood was everywhere, and the doors were now open. "Everyone, if you could please listen to me, my name is Agent Tanner, we're here on behalf of Tony Stark."

"So he did get my call." Peter said, smiling to himself. Tony Stark had a heart.

"Dad." Nora said, checking his neck for a pulse. There was on still there, but it was thready at best. Her hands lit up with a golden glow, before she placed them in his hands. "Wake up."

Her suit was still on, but at this point, she didn't care if he knew. As his eyes drifted open, all his kids let out relieved breaths. "Dad." Aliya said. "It's us."

"My heroes." He said, the warmth of his daughter's healing powers doing some good. But the wounds were too advanced. Nora had never seen the type of weaponry he was using in her life, it was something completely out of left field. His face was pale, sweaty and horribly frail. He looked like he was going to break at any second.

"Um, ma'am?" Someone said to her, probably a paramedic. "We need to take him to a hospital."

She wasn't given a choice whether she could go with them. She had to stay back and get changed, she knew going to a hospital dressed in her suit was a bad idea. So, as Aliya walked off with the paramedic, listing off all the injuries he had sustained. Peter had slipped away, obviously to avoid the attention, but she knew she would see him at the hospital as Peter. Rafe walked up to her, phone in hand.

"Remind me never to piss you off."

Somehow, through all of this, her brother made her laugh.

-

She didn't know what she expected to hear when she got to the hospital.

Nora arrived with her dress back on, but with sneakers instead of heels. Aliya was off to the side, a nurse leaving her as Rafe and Nora ran to her. "Well?" Rafe said expectantly.

Even by her stance, Nora knew something wasn't right. She opened her mouth to speak, her voice breaking as her bottom lip quivered. "His injuries, they were too severe. He's in a medically induced coma. They don't know when he'll wake up."

No amount of pain she had endured that night had set her up for that blow.

Rafe practically deflated beside her, denying her statement over and over again. Nora felt her chest rise and fall, her heart beat, but it was like she wasn't there. "I want to see him." She felt her mouth move to say.

"He's not— Nora!" she had bounded into the room, walking to the bed and shoving the curtain to the side. Her father was lying on the hospital bed, connected to as many machines as she could count. He looked mechanical, like he was not real. The nurse tending to him stared at her.

"You're not supposed to be in here!"

Nora gave the entire room a once over before darting back into the hallway, clinging to the wall as she struggled to keep her breathing even. Her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest, her mind was struggling to find a way to fix this. She needed to heal him, she had to, that was the only thing she was good at.

The elevator dinged, revealing three people she knew, but could recognise.one must've been Aliya and Rafe's mother, because they both collapsed into her, while one of them came rushing towards her.

"Nora." It was Peter, of course it was Peter. Somehow he had managed to get back to his apartment in time to change and not alert May. That boy was something else entirely. She felt her knees buckle and he reached out to catch her. "It's okay."

Aunt May walked over to them. "Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry."

Nora felt the tears arrive now. They slipped down her cheeks as she shook in Peter's grasp. "I'm sorry." She said to him. "Whatever I said, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean any of it."

In the grand scheme of things, what she had been so mad about a week ago was now so futile. She could've died tonight, hell her dad nearly did. Their fight was now completely inane. It didn't mean anything anymore. Not when he came to help her, not when he was so willing to put himself on the line for her.

He was shocked to hear this, but he nodded. "It's already forgotten." she found herself feeling a sense of bliss before she wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face into his shoulder. He just held her there, smoothing down her hair as she sobbed. He could've lost her tonight, so this was as reliving to him as it was to her.

"Do you guys need anything?" Aunt may asked her siblings and their mother. "We'd be more than happy to help."

Lily smiled as best she could, but she was also hurting. "Thank you, but we're alright for now. I think we just need time to process this."

"That man," Peter whispered into her hair. "You said he was going to torture you, what did you mean?"

Her fingers tightened in his coat. "That's a story for another time." When she felt her chest reset, rising and falling at an appropriate speed, she looked up at him. "Thank you, Peter." she said genuinely.

"I told you, I don't know what I would do if I lost you." He smiled down at her, eyes twinkling. Her hand came to cup his cheek before she pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. The kiss didn't last long, but it was long enough for Peter to know what she was trying to say. Their relationship hiatus was now over. Their foreheads came to rest at each other's, the two just holding each other.

Peter took a deep breath. "Nora, I need to tell you something."

"Would Nari Moon please come to room 3B7, please? Nari Moon to room 3B7."

The two teens stared at each other incredulously. That wasn't right. They must've misheard. That name, that was Cindy's mother's name. Did that mean that Cindy was with her? Peter took her hand and together they rushed to that room.

Something akin to excitement filled her body. It would be a miracle if Cindy was alive and well. With everything that had been happening to her, she needed a goddamn miracle. She pushed the door open, seeing none other than Nari Moon standing there, her daughter in the bed. Both woman looked at her in confusion.

Nora let out a laugh. "Cindy, oh my god, it's you!"

She felt so elated, finally something turning out right for her.

Or maybe not.

"Who're you?"

END OF PART ONE

A/N: guys, I did it, I finished part one of Mercy with ten days of summer holidays to spare. Someone hand me a fucking medal. I've been waiting to write that hospital scene for weeks, I hope you guys liked it. Now, Nathan isn't dead, he's just in a coma and that man from the lab is now plagued with blood clots for the rest of his life! Huzzah!

I'm so tired, but I want to thank you guys for sticking with me through part one! I hope you'll stick around for part two. That's come soon, after I give my other oc's the amount of love I gave Nora.

Comment, vote & follow! - Emma