Saved your life
A shadow walked calmly through the Vulture's base. His gaze rested for a moment on several very familiar blueprints, as well as on a highly detailed operation plan. Different technological objects surrounded the place while the glow of the Chitauri cores shined everywhere.
The large metallic wings were in the center, connected to a computer as if the final adjustments were being made before the operation began.
Even inside the enemy base, the shadow walked calmly toward the only sound the place had.
As he moved in that direction, the sound of weapons being assembled started growing louder and louder.
Until he finally saw the figure preparing different kinds of weapons over a massive arsenal table.
The man there seemed to hear the sound of footsteps, so he slowly turned around.
"Oh. You finally arrived. You know I'm not surprised, right? I really admire your tenacity," the Vulture said rather calmly while casually putting on the jacket beside him.
The figure standing in the darkness remained silent and motionless.
"You know… a father does a lot of things for his children. Some wake up every single day at the same hour, drag themselves to miserable jobs working for miserable people, earn scraps without even being able to complain because all of us are replaceable. And then they go back home to see their wife and daughter, feeling like they really deserve so much more… but not being able to give it to them. You know? That breaks a man's soul," the Vulture said slowly while leaning against the table. "You probably think I'm some monster selling weapons to criminals. But what really makes me different from Stark? Maybe you don't want to accept it, but the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows the way teenagers see it. The world…"
Before the Vulture could finish speaking, the figure slowly stepped forward out of the shadows, finally revealing his face.
The Vulture immediately fell silent and put on a completely confused expression.
Because standing in front of him wasn't who he thought it was; Peter Parker.
Instead, it was an adult man, though still fairly young and attractive. His expression was cold. He wore nothing but a fitted black shirt and elegant dress pants, as if he had just come back from a date.
He stared directly at the Vulture, his expression icy and his gaze filled with disgust.
He looked at the Vulture quietly while loosely crossing his arms before finally speaking.
"Your disgusting words remind me of my father. A man drowned in the filth of the world who kept trying to justify himself by saying he only stepped into that darkness to protect his family. But once he became the tyrant feared by everyone… he ended up falling in love with that filthy power, caring more about it than his own family."
"And who the hell are you supposed to be?" the Vulture asked with a frown.
"That doesn't matter right now. What matters is that… you threatened a kid you never should've messed with. Ever heard the saying 'pick on someone your own size'? I'm here to represent that," Richard said calmly while staring directly at the Vulture.
The Vulture almost let out an amused laugh.
But Richard immediately drew the pistol from his waist and aimed directly at the Vulture's forehead.
The man's eyes widened and he instantly jumped to the side in panic.
Bang!
Richard fired a quick shot that hit directly into the Vulture's shoulder, forcing a pained grunt out of him. But at the same time, he pressed a cylinder he had in his hand and threw it directly toward Richard.
Richard was about to fire again, but when he saw the object flying toward him while a light blinked rapidly across its surface, he raised his gun, aimed at the object midair… and fired.
Boom!
A massive explosion lit up the room while Richard covered his face with his arm to shield himself from the blinding flash and flames.
The Vulture immediately shoved the table aside during the explosion and jumped behind it while grabbing the first weapon he could find.
At the same time rapidly pressing a remote control several times.
Then he barely peeked out once the explosion faded to open fire.
Richard noticed it and reacted quickly, moving to the side while a laser beam tore through the spot where he had just been standing.
Richard raised his pistol and saw how the Vulture, after missing, shifted his gaze toward him.
But Richard fired a second before the Vulture could pull the trigger.
The bullet tore out of the pistol and hit directly into the man's hand, making the laser weapon fall to the ground.
The moment the Vulture got injured, he immediately hid behind the metal table while quickly looking around at all the weaponry scattered across the floor, searching desperately for another weapon.
Then he grabbed a belt filled with cylinders identical to the one he had thrown earlier.
Then he tossed it over his head while activating one of them, sending it flying over the table straight toward Richard.
Richard saw the object flying toward him while running forward, trying to close the distance with the Vulture.
And in one quick movement, he caught the belt midair.
Then spun around to throw it back.
But right at that moment, enormous metallic wings burst through the wall destroying it and lunged straight toward him.
In that microsecond of thought, Richard changed his plan and threw the belt directly toward the Vulture's wings as they came rushing in to ram into him.
At the same time, he raised his weapon again, gripping it with both hands.
The moment the belt barely made contact with the wings, Richard fired.
The bullet shot forward in a flash and struck directly into the only explosive that was active.
"BOOOOOOM!"
A massive explosion that tore through everything in its path thundered through the area while Richard threw himself backward to shield himself.
Thanks to the explosion, half of the Vulture's underground workshop base immediately collapsed.
As everything started caving in, the Vulture tried to step out from behind the table while holding a massive anti materiel rifle in his hands, attempting to force his way through the collapse while his shoulder and hand kept bleeding.
But the moment he turned around, someone was already standing there.
And greeted him with a punch that sent him crashing to the ground before stomping directly onto his foot.
"AAAAAAH!" the Vulture screamed while hearing how his foot was practically about to break.
The Vulture tried to grab the rifle again to shoot the unknown man, but Richard kicked his hands, sending the rifle flying away before driving another kick into his chest and then stomping down onto his torso with the same force.
"AAAAAH!" the Vulture kept screaming while trying to breathe. But the pressure on his chest only kept increasing while the man's gaze remained completely cold.
But then Richard slightly relaxed the pressure and crouched down while raising his pistol and smashing it several times, hard, against the head of the man lying on the floor.
"Hey. I just saved your life. What do you say?" Richard said with complete disdain in his voice.
The Vulture looked completely confused and was also completely furious.
But he understood it literally a second later when a voice echoed from within the rubble.
"Well. You finished pretty fast, Ricky," a voice said while faint red energy slowly pulsed across his body; Owen having appeared out of nowhere while walking toward them before casually pushing aside a piece of debris with his foot, the rubble instantly disintegrating into dust the moment it brushed against him.
His body was still covered in bandages, but that didn't stop the dangerous aura around him from being felt.
Owen.
Immediately after, the sound of a turbine echoed through the sky while one of Iron Man's drones flew out and started scanning the surroundings.
Iron Man slowly appeared, making sure nobody else was nearby while also locating every object containing Chitauri cores.
Wanda appeared wrapped in a crimson mist, also wearing a rather serious expression, and lightly moved her hand, causing part of the destruction to slowly rebuild as if time itself were reversing.
Meanwhile, on the rooftop of a nearby building, a flying motorcycle could briefly be seen while a blond man held a massive rifle, still aiming directly toward the Vulture.
"So this is the idiot who messed with our brat," Tony said with disdain while hovering above the Vulture, finally revealing his face. "And he gave you this much trouble before?" he asked while looking toward Richard with slight mockery.
"Your gadgets couldn't track him. He must have a pretty good engineer. Peter and his friend tracked him down using nothing but a phone and a school computer," Richard added, the mockery toward Tony's technology impossible to miss.
"So…" Owen interrupted while walking closer to the Vulture and staring down at him, his expression far from kind. "This is the guy who threatened to kill Peter and everyone he cares about?" he asked while his eyes slowly turned cold.
But before he could do anything, hurried footsteps suddenly echoed nearby.
"It's over! I got him already!" said the person who had just arrived while finally becoming visible to everyone, instantly drawing everyone's attention.
It was Peter.
Still wearing his Spider-Man mask and his elegant suit.
The moment he saw all the familiar faces staring directly at him, he froze for a second.
Then he looked toward the Vulture lying on the ground, still trapped beneath Richard's foot, completely immobilized.
"Well… I guess it was completely pointless for me to come here," Peter said.