The Avengers Weakness

Chapter Eleven

The group walked home in silence, everyone was solemn, not wanting to wake Penny or upset Peter further than he already was. Kate walked next to Peter and kept looking over at him, she was worried about the abnormally silent fifteen year old. She knew Penny was someone he worried about constantly, there was never a moment that he didn't stop worrying about her. He worried about her safety, her health, he even stressed over the things he couldn't change; it didn't matter that he was just a boy himself or that he'd never be able to change or fix those things, he still constantly worried about them and beat himself up over them. Wanda hadn't really said anything since leaving the rink, she seemed to be lost in thought, her brow slightly furrowed as she walked beside her twin brother. Eventually Kate broke the silence, it was driving her mad.

"Peter...." she whispered softly, trying her best not to grab the attention of the older two teens in front of them.

Peter didn't reply, it was obvious that he was too busy kicking himself in his thoughts .

"Peter!" she whispered a little louder as she touched his arm, effectively pulling him from his thoughts.

"Hmm?" he responded after shaking himself from his thoughts, he turned his head to face her, a slightly confused expression on his face.

"Are you okay?...." she asked.

"Yeah....I'm fine," he said, giving her a half hearted smile.

Kate looked at her best friend and frowned, "No you're not Pete..." she replied, "What's wrong? Tell me what's going on in that big brain of yours."

"I'm just worried about her..." he whispered lightly, "She has problems that I can't help her with, no matter how hard I try a-and I don't know what to do....I don't know how to help her." he replied, his voice breaking slightly.

She gently leaned her head against his shoulder for a few seconds to let him know she was there for him, she realized how much this bothered him, "We'll find someone who can..." she promised, giving him a reassuring smile, "We can't help her with everything Pete, some things she'll need special help for or she'll need to learn how to deal with them on her own...like we did....we can't fight all her battles for her, it just doesn't work that way."

"But I want to, It's my job." he replied, emphasizing the last word in his sentence.

"Peter, we cannot fight all of her battles." she repeated, " Some things and sometimes she'll have to fight for herself. Like this...right here...we can't fight off what's in her head...we can wish all we want that we can, but the honest truth is that we can't and even though it really sucks for her and for us, it's just how it is..." she paused, sighing softly, she wasn't the best at pep-talks, that was more of a Wanda or Nat thing, "We can only offer help and get her the help that we know she needs."

Peter seemed to think about what the brunette said. "Thanks Kate," he responded, giving her a small smile, "Maybe I should talk to Mister Stark about it...maybe he'll know what to do."

She nodded, even though she wished they could, she knew that they were still only teenagers and couldn't do everything by themselves; they still needed the help of someone like Nat or Tony at times, and this was definitely one of those times.

The group fell quiet again, slowly trudging along the sidewalk as they walked towards the hill that the compound sat atop of; this time Wanda spoke up, breaking the silence that had fallen upon the five of them.

"What happened to her Peter?" she asked.

"W-what?" he responded, slightly confused.