02 | A NEW THREAT

A groan escaped Peter Parker's lips as he slowly returned to consciousness. He shifted his head around on the pillow that he was resting on. His eyes felt heavy, too heavy to be bothered to open them yet he slowly peeled his eyes open.

Through his blurry vision, the teenager could see a bright light. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, almost blinded, before slowly opening them again. He blinked a few times to clear his blurry vision, waiting a few seconds.

When he could finally see clearly, his eyes scanned the room that he was in. It looked like one of those med bays similar to the ones in the Avengers compound. He was also dressed in a clean pair of loose clothes instead of his tattered suit.

A knock was then heard on the door, catching his attention as he snapped his head towards the door which opened to reveal both Barry and Kara standing at the entrance, a warm smile plastered across their faces.

"Hey, bud. How are you doing?" Barry asked kindly.

"I'm doing good, thanks to you guys," Peter replied.

"You had us all worried there," Kara said, making her way towards his bed, and taking a seat on a spare spot on the bed.

Peter smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry about that."

Kara shook her head.

"It's not your fault. I'm Kara," the blonde introduced herself before gesturing towards the speedster. "And that's Barry."

Barry waved at him in response, who mirrored his actions.

"I'm Peter Parker," the boy told them.

"What happened, Peter?" Kara asked softly.

Peter grew quiet, averting his gaze from the two older heroes. They didn't pressure him at all, which he was grateful for. Silence loomed over the three for a few moments.

"It's bad," he finally spoke, his voice raspy as he fiddled with the ends of his blanket. "It's chaos out there."

He paused slightly before continuing, his hazel eyes dulling at the memory. "There's a dangerous group of villains. The Avengers managed to stop most of them but ... Thanos, he's really powerful, and so is Blackout. And they will do anything to achieve their goal. Mr. Stark sent me here to you guys for help."

"We need you," he stared at Kara and Barry with hope. "You're the only ones left that can help me take them down."

It was quiet for a moment as Barry and Kara exchanged glances, absorbing all the information.

"It's all my fault," Peter whispered dejectedly. "It's because of me, Mr. Stark and the others got hurt. It's all my fault."

Kara's heart twinged upon seeing how heartbroken the young boy was before her. She gently placed a hand on Peter's shoulder, squeezing it in reassurance, and shook her head at his statement.

"Don't say that, Peter," she said softly. "None of it was your fault, okay? You had no control of what was going to happen."

Peter nodded, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. Kara held her arms open for comfort as he buried his face in her shoulder as the kryptonian held him tightly, allowing him to let it all out as he leaned further into her warm motherly embrace.

"We'll be beside you, Peter," Kara whispered calmly in his ear. "You won't go through this alone."

Barry came beside the two as they broke apart from their hug, a determined look in the speedster's eyes. "Kara's right. We'll help you against them and save the Avengers."

Peter nodded, a genuine smile forming on his face. "Thank you."

"Of course," Barry replied, flashing him a warm smile.

There was a somewhat awkward silence between the three for a moment before Peter's stomach grumbled and his face turned red from embarrassment while Barry and Kara chuckled softly.

"Are you alright to walk?" Barry questioned.

Peter furrowed his eyebrows in slight confusion. "Yeah, why?"

"What do you say we all head out for lunch?" Barry suggested before winking. "I'm sure you'd love to explore what another universe looks like."

Peter grinned and nodded. "I'd absolutely love to, Barry, sir."

"But, uh, I don't have any spare clothes." He glanced down to his clothes to see that they were too loose for him to wear outside.

Barry waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about that. I've got some clothes you can wear that'll probably fit you. But on one condition."

Peter raised an eyebrow in a questionable manner while the scarlet speedster sighed. "Please don't call me sir. That makes me sound like an old man. Just Barry."

Kara chuckled lightly while Peter nodded with a smile. "Okay, Barry."

Barry threw an arm around the male teenager, guiding him outside but not before nodding at Kara, who smiled at him and followed after them outside as she waited for Peter to get changed.