Peter Parker
“Good afternoon New York,” came the cry of one Peter Parker as he swung around the towering skyscrapers as his alter-ego Spider-Man.
Today was a good day, or at least it had the makings of one. For starters, Ned and he had come pretty close to finishing the Death Star Lego set. Ned was convinced they had been cursed by the number of times the thing had broken. Peter was hard-pressed to agree, at least until he looked back and realized that Ned had a point. Since they scraped together enough money to buy the thing it seemed to always find a way to get smashed apart. Yet, this time, they were going to finish it.
Not only that, but May had finally relented in her constant crusade to be on the phone with him during his patrols. Ever since she figured out he was Spider-Man, once again proving how pants he was at keeping secrets, Aunt May had been going out of her way to ensure she knew his every move when he was swinging about. She had even collaborated with Mr. Stark and had a map of all of his routes ready to go on the off chance she needed to leave the FEAST shelter to go pick him up after an injury. Peter had tried to argue that he didn’t need that, only to have his newest foe Max Dillion almost roast him alive during their first confrontation. After that, he had softened up on her constant over-shadowing but was glad all the same that she was giving him a bit more leeway to be the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
Then, to top it all off, he had a date in a few hours. An actual date. An actual date with someone that had asked him out. Granted, he only knew Bobby Drake from the few times the youngest member of the X-Men had swung by the mansion, but apparently, he had left an impression. Well, that and the fact that the young mutant had taken a shine to stalk him in Queens every now and again. Were it not for his Spider-Sense he would have been caught off-guard by the number of times the teen would come sliding out of nowhere on a stream of ice. He was a bit cocky at times, more often than not turning one of Peter’s stakeouts into a far bigger problem than it should have been. Not to mention the hero had one hell of an ego at times. That and his insistence on trying to keep Peter out of the action when things got really tough.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized he was only going out with Iceman because he had asked him.
Peter could only imagine what MJ would say about him giving in to the icy pretty boy because he asked him out by making him into an ice sculpture.
Though that had been a smooth way to get his attention when he had been swinging around one night.
All the same, a date was a date, and he would be damned if he was going to pass up the chance at his first date over a few minor issues with the teen and the way he carried himself. It wasn’t like he could do any better than a member of the X-Men. Right?
Peter and his thoughts over his date were taken from his mind as he felt the all too familiar tingle of his Spider-Sense buzzing in the base of his skull. He was still having trouble controlling it, let alone knowing how to tell what it was reacting to, but he had enough pretense of mind to find a perch to swing onto and try and parse what his sixth sense was telling him.
It had been talking with, of all people, Natascha about the nature of his sense to help him hone it into something that could be used as a weapon, as opposed to the occasional warning system he had described it as. The seasoned spy had explained how her time in the Red Room had taught her to read her opponents and react almost instantaneously to any move they could possibly pull. She reasoned that, with Peter’s super-human levels of agility and his Spider-Sense he could hit the point where he could know his enemies' moves before they even did.
It sounded silly but after a month of training with her, he found he could easily dodge paintballs fired at him with his eyes closed. Peter figured he could apply the same foundation of thought to pinpointing just where danger was coming from on a wider scale. So, he sat there on the roof and shut his eyes, blocking out all other stimuli and just focusing on his sense.
Sinking into his mind, time seemed to slow around Peter. He could feel his sense reaching out across his city. He could ‘see’ the various people going about their day. Feel small things like them about to drop an ice cream or tripping on the sidewalk. He could ‘feel’ flocks of pigeons taking flight as his sense eventually honed in on what was triggering it. It was a few blocks away, an all too familiar skyscraper. Peter opened his eyes and time resumed as he jumped into the air and took off swinging.
“Guess it's time to go pay Oscorp a visit,” he grunted as he gained some height and swung madly toward his destination.
Chaos. It was mostly chaos when Peter swung onto the side of Oscorp. For starters, his Sense was heavily off about the number of people it could detect. There were at least three dozen just milling around at the entrance, firing off guns into the air and scaring off the cops who had formed a dense barricade in front of the entrance. Both sides were taking potshots at one another, but only the bad guys seemed to be doing any real damage. Peter steadied himself, he knew he could handle these guys but that didn’t make the task of facing down a bunch of armed bad guys any more enjoyable.
“Alright Spider-Man, you can do this,” he whispered to himself before he bounced off the wall and swung down right into the fray.
“Karen, I need a web bomb ready to roll on my count,” he asked his A.I. as he swung low and kicked one of the nearest bad guys in the stomach to send him flying,”
“Right away Peter. Shall I also inform the Avengers of this particular attack,” the sweet voice of Karen asked as she reconfigured his web shooters to fire off the aforementioned web bomb.
“Not just yet. Let’s at least give the cops some clearance. Besides, I just hit a home run,” he quipped as he detached his web line and stood in front of the rest of the goons who were a bit stunned by his sudden appearance,
“Oh wow, this is just like a Western. Should we draw on three,” he joked out loud, feeling his sense tingle as the men made to pull their triggers.
They were fast, but Spider-Man was faster.
Before a single finger could press down, Spider-Man shot off three web bombs in rapid succession, each one landing with a wet splat in the center of a few of the goon’s chests. The moment they impacted, each ball of compacted webbing exploded out, the force sending the baddies stumbling backward as strands upon strands of the sticky webbing tangled up their limbs and left them immobile. The blast had webbed up sixteen of the twenty goons standing nearby, the remaining four ran into the building to escape the onslaught.
“Hey, Spider-Man, hold it right there,” one of the cops from behind him yelled out, prompting Peter to turn to face him, “How we gonna get these guys out of that stuff to get them to lock up,”
“Oh uh, just let them sit there for about an hour. It’ll dissolve. Now if you excuse me, I got some more presents to wrap up for you guys,” his extra thick New York accent made his throat hurt ever so slightly, but it was leagues better than sounding like the sixteen-year-old he actually was.
With a flick of the wrist, Spider-Man swung back into action, sweeping over the webbed-up bad guys and right into the atrium of Oscorp.
The inside was just as messy as the outside, clearly, whoever these guys were, they had been brought in to make a mess. There were, as far as he could tell, no casualties to worry about, but the damage was still major. Various walls were crumbling from the hail of bullets and what looked to be some form of heavy concussive damage. Whatever these guys were after, they were willing to make a scene as a show of force.
The four guys that had run in were nowhere to be seen, though Karen was tracking them going up one of the elevators. The vents were the best move, and like his namesake, Spider-Man crawled along those dusty tunnels, going up and up toward the top floor.
“Hey, Karen you have any idea who these guys are? They look to be packing way too much firepower to be your everyday bad guys,”
“Running a few of their faces in my database pulls up that most of them are just small-time criminals, ones with various low to medium-level offenses. I’m not seeing any actual connection between them all other than today. Also, I attempted to contact The Avengers but it seems something in this building is jamming all outgoing signals,”
“Alright, looks like it's time for the lone spider to do what he does best. Karen, where are they going,” Spider-Man paused for a moment to check his web situation. Plenty left to hold his own for whatever may be coming his way.
“It seems they have joined up with five other assailants to the door to Oscorps R&D. It looks like they are trying to break into the door,” Karen filled Peter’s vision with her thermal readout of the building, showing a huddled mass of bodies using what looked like a thermal drill of some kind on a thick door.
“Karen, what are those other two signatures, just beyond the door,” he asked his ever-present companion, his lenses focusing in on the two figures huddled up in the room behind the wall
“Hard to say Peter, but they may be the main targets. Do you have a plan,” the A.I. asked.
Peter gave himself a moment to think, going over the options in his mind. He had already wasted the web bombs on the other guys outside. He could see that these guys also had some more serious-looking weapons, the type of things he had no wish to almost get hit by. All things considered, his best bet was to use some form of surprise. And as he traced a path through the vents to the floor that R&D was on, a plot began to form in his mind.
“Yeah, I got one. Have you ever seen that old movie Die Hard,” Peter asked, as he pulled out his little spider-drone buddy from the emblem on his chest.
The atmosphere was tense as the last ten guys left in the crew were busy trying to bust through the thick door of R&D. Within their sight was the figure of Oscorps owner Norman Osborn and his son. The guys had one job to do, cause as much destruction as possible and make off with Norman himself. So far they had done the first part of their job swimmingly. The second part, however, was proving to be far more taxing.
“Come on! I thought your guy said this Stark Tech could cut through any door in seconds,” the guy holding the drill growled as he tossed it on the ground in annoyance.
“Hey, he ain’t my guy. He contacted me same as yous. Sides’ he said this was like Stark Tech. Not the real deal,” a larger man said, hoisting what looked to be a large blaster of some kind on his arms, “Not like this beaut though. Got this from an old friend and figured I’d bring it along,”
“Who the hell do you think we were gonna run into doing this job, The Hulk? The Avengers don’t mess with Osborn like that from what I hear,”
“Yeah, well,” the larger brute began to fire up the weapon on his arm, a low frequency pulsating from the emitter on its end, “Seeing as this baby is about to peel open this door, maybe you should thank me. Knock, knock Osborn. I’m about to blow your house down,”
Just as he was about to fire off a blast, the sound of the elevator moving caught their attention.
“The hell is that,” one of the guys armed with a simple rifle asked, aiming his gun at the elevator
“It’s that spider guy. I didn’t think he’d follow us up here,” another one hissed, his eyes narrowed as the elevator got closer and closer to their floor.
“Well he is about to be one squashed bug,” the arm-cannon guy said, as he swung his weapon at the lift and fired it just as it stopped on their floor.
A massive column of air and sound struck the metal doors of the elevator, caving them inwards. Smoke and sparks were flying from the carnage. The elevator itself was groaning from the blow, sounding as if it were ready to plummet to the ground below.
Ignoring Osborn for a moment, the entire group slowly stalked over to the broken lift, weapons aiming right at the broken doors. They hadn’t heard any sounds of screams or pain, so there was no way that they were gonna run the risk of being surprised by Spider-Man. As they moved in, the ones up front never noticed as the last member of their group was suddenly yanked into the air by a strand of webbing, his voice silenced by another blast right to his mouth. Nor did they notice when another three of their numbers were just as quickly webbed up. It was only when the seventh member turned around that anyone even realized.
“Uh guys,” he half whispered, before he took was zipped up into the air by Spider-Man crawling along the ceiling.
The lead guy was none the wiser as he neared the smoking elevator, the sound of a ding going off over and over drawing him closer and closer. As he waved the smoke out of his way, he peered into the lift, finding it almost empty. The only thing in there was a small spider robot who was playfully pressing one of the floor buttons.
“The fuck,” he swore, before he had the presence of mind to turn around, and as he did so, caught the sight of Spider-Man snagging one of the others in his group,
“It’s the bug,” he shouted, swinging his arm around to fire in the air wildly.
The blast missed Spider-Man but the force was enough to send the hero tumbling down to the floor with a thud. There were only four of them left now, and they all began to unload at the hero, who lithely popped up from the ground and twirled in the air.
“Ya know if you are gonna miss like Stormtroopers maybe you should dress like them,” the joke flew from Peter’s mouth just as he barely dodged a bullet, feeling it graze right across his side, no doubt leaving some sort of a mark,
“Think about it, you’d have extra armor and would look like you all belong together. Actually, don’t do that. That would just make more work for me,”
A line of webbing snagged one of their guns and pulled it and the guy it was attached towards Peter who delivered a swift kick to the guy's head, knocking him out with ease,
“Okay Spider-Man, just three more,” he hissed to himself as he leaped onto a wall to avoid another spray of bullets. He knew his healing factor would take care of the injuries he could currently feel, but it was doing jack for the actual pain he was in.
Pushing off the wall, he delivers a swift punch in the gut to another goon, tossing his gun and webbing it up against the wall. The last two were closing in. The larger guy with the sound cannon was busy fiddling around with the gadget, yelling at his buddy to buy him some time.
“Don’t think that’s a good idea. Why don’t you take that time and like, run away or turn yourself in? Pretty sure the cops would prefer not having to unweb another bad guy today,” Peter offered
The guy seemed to think about it for a moment, before taking the smart option and tossing his gun to the side and running for the nearest stairs. He had no idea what or where those webs came from, but he already had a healthy fear of actual spiders. Getting caught by a man who behaved like one was not on his bucket list.
“Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man thanks you for your decisi-OOF,” his spider-sense went off just a moment too slow, as a concussive blast of force sent him spiraling into the locked door to R&D. And with another blast, it sent him through it.
Spider-Man felt his ears ringing non-stop, every bit of him sore and ringing out in pain. The blast had been far stronger than he had anticipated. He had seen those same gauntlets before, and been hit with the same type of blast as well. Even though this wasn’t the same guy, he was clearing using the last Shockers tech.
“Spider-Man! Spider-Man can you hear me,” a voice was ringing out in the distance above him, just enough urgency to bring him back in full with a sudden gasp.
“Ugh, wh-what happened Karen,” he wheezed out as a man reached down to help him to his feet.
“It seems like your lung may have collapsed Peter. Your body is currently healing but it will take at least two minutes before you are about minimum working capacity,”
Peter hissed under his mask at that. He could feel his spider-sense screaming in his mind. He didn’t have two minutes, as he heard another thunderous blast from those gauntlets and could see the man walking in with confidence.
“Oh, Shultz wasn’t kidding when he said these would pack a punch. Guess it’s time to see if they can put a spider in the grave,” he growled, aiming his weapon at Peter.
“Alright, that’s enough,” the voice of the man helping him shouted. It was enough to clear the fog in his mind as he realized it was Norman Osborn standing beside him, “You’ve caused enough damage. Whatever it is you want I don’t think you’ll be able to make it out the building with. So just turn yourself in,”
The Shocker wanna-be started to chuckle before it became a burst of full-blown laughter. He shook his head as he dried a few tears coming down his face.
“Oh, you have no idea why that’s funny. All of this was to get you. Some guy paid us all top dollar in crypto to come to nab you and cause a bit of destruction. But, I guess you have a point, I’m not leaving out here with you now. Though, maybe mini-Osborn will do,”
Norman’s son, who had been trying to scramble past Shocker was quickly grabbed by the man, who pressed his gauntlet right against his head,
“Don’t even think about moving Norman or you’ll be picking up fragments of your kid's skull for weeks,”
Peter felt his face go white hot with rage. He was still sore, but he wasn’t about to let a little bit of pain get in the way of stopping this guy. His eyes looked beyond the broken door and to the spider-bot that was still pressing the button to the elevator. Karen seemed to pick up what he was thinking as she quickly took control of the drone.
“Wait, you got paid in crypto,” Spider-Man joked as he struggled to his feet, pulling in gulps of air to deliver his own laugh at that, “Pretty sure whoever paid you just scammed you. Also, does Herman know you overclocked his gear? I know he isn’t gonna like that,”
His words had the described effect, drawing all of the guy's attention to him instead of the hostage he had in his arms.
“What are you on about bug? My guy said that the coins he sent us were worth millions. And with the rest of them, all packed up, I’m sure that means my share is gonna be even larger,”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna work out. I mean, you are better off getting paid in old subway coins, at least you could sell those. What coin was it,” Peter kept on talking, watching as the spider-bot was getting closer and closer to the new Shocker.
“I dunno, something called Mysterian or some nonsense. Doesn’t matter, I saw the numbers. I’ll be set for life. All I gotta do is just get out of here with little Osborn and I’ll be living it up in the Keys,”
Peter winced as he squeezed a bit too tightly on Osborn’s son. The teen was already turning a bit blue from the hold the man had around his neck.
“I don’t think they have keys back in prison. At least not the kind you’ll ever get to touch,”
“The fu-,” the man was cut off as the drone delivered a shock right to the man's back, sending enough voltage to lock up his muscles and drop him to the ground.
Spider-Man ran forward, quickly ripping off the gauntlet and looking over a coughing Harry Osborn.
“Th-thanks Spider-Man,” the teen huffed before he was helped to his feet by his father.
“Don’t mention it. Just a part of the job,” Peter rolled his back as his healing factor finally took care of the worse parts of the damage. He was going to soak long and hard tonight at the mansion. Maybe Ms. Natascha would let him use some of those salts she had.
“How can I ever repay you Spider-Man,” Norman broke Peter out of his thoughts as the man clamped a hand on his shoulders, “Name it and I’ll make sure you’ll have it. Trust me when I say I can have deeper pockets than your buddy Stark does,”
From underneath the mask, Peter rolled his eyes. He had heard plenty of the rich boy rivalry Norman and Tony had for ages now. Mostly from Mr. Stark whenever they were tinkering late into the night.
“No need. Kinda goes against the whole ‘Friendly Neighborhood’ thing I have going if I get gifts from someone as big as you Mr. Osborn. Just keep doing good for the city,” Spider-Man gave the man a quick nod before jogging out of the ruined room and taking a running leap out of one of the broken windows.
Peter breathed a small sigh of relief as he found himself swinging around the city once more. Helicopters buzzed by him as the police and news crews converged onto Oscorp. No doubt there would be something on the news about him, which meant getting another hit piece from the Daily Bugle in the morning and an earful from Mr. Stark once he got wind of it back in London.
Taking a moment, Pete swung in low and made his way onto the ground of an alley right behind FEAST. Once he was sure he was out of sight, he slipped through the backdoor and made quick work of the stairs that led up to his Aunt’s office. She wasn’t there, but she had taken to making sure he had a spare set of clothes to change into if the need ever came up. After his day so far, he was more than ready to take a break from patrolling for the day.
“Hey Karen, let Mr. Wilson know he can finish up patrol for the day. I gotta get ready for this date,”
“Will do Peter. Enjoy your time with Mr. Drake,”
Peter was not enjoying his time with Bobby. At least at first.
Right off the bat, the teen was late, arriving almost an hour behind when he was supposed to meet Pete at the diner. Peter had been waiting on a bench, ready to take the bus home when he heard the roar of a motorcycle. Riding atop it was Bobby, wearing a painfully bright yellow and black leather jacket with the symbol of the X-Men plastered across the zippered front. He watched as Bobby poorly parked the thing and swung off in an attempt to look cool.
The attempt failed utterly as he stumbled to catch his footing.
Bobby explained that Logan was letting him ‘borrow’ it while he was out on a mission somewhere in space with the rest of the core X-Men. Of what little bit Peter knew of the rather violent X-Man, he wasn't generous with letting people use his stuff. Let alone his bike of all things. Or his jacket that just barely fit Bobby.
Then came the actual dinner part of their date. While Bobby may have been a bit on the cute side, that cuteness didn’t seem to extend to his personality at times. He was rather loud and boisterous as they talked about their day. He seemed to think that talking about how he spent a few hours in the Danger Room on the highest setting would impress Peter. Considering he had no context, all it did was get them both confused looks from other patrons who had no idea what they were talking about.
“You are so…open about being an X-Men,” Peter said in a half-whisper. While he had his own secret identity to worry about, he still didn’t want to talk too loudly about their hero work so out in the open.
“Well yeah. Being an X-Men is the best thing that happened to me. Granted I’m still like, only allowed on the less dangerous missions but all the same it is a far cry from still being home. At least on the team, I don’t have to deal with folks that think I’m a mistake or something,”
“You mean for being a mutant,” Peter asked quietly,
“No. For being gay. I mean yeah, when they found out I was a mutant they weren’t too happy, but they were already pissed at me when I came out. They spent a lot of time trying to beat it out of me,”
His words were said with a bit of a dismissive tone, but Peter could see the pain hidden behind those blue eyes. It was there for a moment but gone just as quickly.
“Besides, I’ve gone on more dates since joining going to Xavier’s school and joining his team. Lot easier to date folks that can understand your entire deal, ya know,” he took a big gulp of his soda, kept icy by his fingers gripping the glass.
“I guess. This is probably the first date I’ve had in…well a while. Okay, actually in ever. Just afraid to get involved with other people who-,”
“Who don’t know you wear spandex when you aren’t going to class or anything? Yeah, that’s what I mean. Trying to date anyone normal just…it just doesn’t work. Trust me, I should know. First guy I went out with when I moved up here didn’t know anything about my powers until I sneezed and frosted up his entire living room,
“That was all it took for him to go from being an okay guy, to spouting off all of this stupid anti-mutant hate. Jean took away his memory but ever since then, I stick to going out with my fellow spandex wears like yourself Pete,”
While Peter couldn’t fully relate to Bobby, he could at least understand to some degree. He still had to deal with hate from people like Jameson and even the police. Yet, he could always take off the mask, Bobby couldn’t. Maybe that was why he was the way he was. The world was already gunning against him, may as well be as true to himself as one could get.
The date seemed to mellow out a bit after that. The conversation went from talking about hero stuff to basic gossip. Bobby loved the pictures Peter had of Tony passed out on his workbench and drooling into his arms. Bobby was more than happy to inform Pete that Cyclops was just as dorky as his bodysuit made him look. All of this was done with quiet voices in the back of the diner, the other patrons paying not a lick of attention to the two. At least almost nobody, as a man dressed in a t-shirt and jeans watched for a moment, before slipping out the door.
Peter was content to let the date go on just a little bit longer, at least until he heard a chirp coming from the pocket of Bobby’s jacket. In an instant, the teen mutant turned to literal ice as the sound went off again.
“Oh, crap baskets,” he muttered under his breath before slowly pulling out a small communicator.
“Crap baskets is right bub,” came the gruff and unmistakable voice of The Wolverine growling through the device, “Did you really think I’d be in space long enough for you to get away with taking my bike,”
“I mean I had a date-,” Bobby tried to reason before he was cut off by a growl so threatening that even Peter shivered in his seat.
“You always ‘have a date’ Bobby. Now your next date is going to be with a mop and a bucket. Now get my bike and yourself here in one piece,” the call cut off violently enough that Peter was sure the man had actually crushed his communicator into pieces instead of just disconnecting.
Peter and Bobby looked at each other for a moment, before breaking out into uncontrolled laughter.
“So, I guess we’ll have to pick this up another time,” Peter asked hopefully as Bobby, thankfully, tossed money on the table to cover both of their meals and a tip.
“We shall see. Pretty sure Logan is gonna ground me for like, ever after this. IF I’m not shaved ice by the next time I see you, then maybe we can pick this up again,”
The cold hands of Bobby slipped into the far warmer hands of Peter, making Peter shiver and blush all at the same time.
“Ye-yeah. I’d like that. Just don’t let Mr. Logan get those claws in you,”
“I’m so gonna tell him you called him Mr. Logan. You swing safe tonight Pete. Catch you around,”
With those words Peter watched as Bobby slipped out of the diner and swung back on the motorcycle, letting it roar to life before speeding out of the parking lot and off to wherever the X-Men worked out of.
With a sigh, Peter slumped down in his seat for a moment and let everything that happened play through his mind. Despite his still sore body, he was ready to call this day a complete success. Bobby was still a bit too rowdy for his liking but there were enough soft edges that Peter was sure he could deal with the rest of the teen.
As he took his leave and walked over to the nearest bus stop that could get him as close as possible to the Mansion before he would have to call for a ride, his eyes roamed around the world before him. For a moment his eyes passed over some guy sitting in a car and a rush of his spider-sense went rushing down his spine. It was sudden enough to make him stiffen slightly, his gaze still locked on the guy sitting in the car. That moment was enough for them to lock eyes with each other and Peter didn’t like the fact that his sixth sense was practically screaming at him to swing away.
Can’t run, not like Spider-Man. Just gotta get somewhere safe, he thought to himself.
As casually as he could, Peter pretended that he didn’t actually notice the man in the car and began to walk down the street, right past his bus stop. If this guy was bad news he had no intention of getting anyone else involved in what could happen. He had no idea why his spider-sense was even going off. He had never seen the guy before, not to mention he was sure that there was no way he could know he was actually Spider-Man. Whatever the reason for the warning, Peter kept his head low and just kept walking.
In the back of his head, he could sense the sound of the car’s engine turning over and the driver starting to follow him.
Peter reached into his pocket and fished out his phone. There weren’t many numbers he had on speed dial. Mostly just Aunt May, Mr. Stark, and Ned. He was not going to risk getting his Aunt involved in anything and Ned was an instant no. Instead, he went to his text and quickly sent one to the only man who never really answered his calls but was more than likely screening them at the behest of Tony. Hell, Peter was willing to bet he had the man following him all the time in some shadowy black car.
As he sent the text, Peter took a quick left, trying to make sure he was as out in the open as he could possibly be. There was not a lot of traffic down this street, but hopefully, it would be enough to keep him safe. Especially when he felt the car turn the same corner and start to slowly creep towards him.
Peter had to fight every bit of his body to not leap up onto a nearby building where he knew he could be safe. He wasn’t Spider-Man right now. He was Peter Parker, a teen with no way to protect himself from the guy that was very clearly following him for some nefarious purpose.
He could feel the heat of the headlights as the car began to keep pace, and his heart started to hammer in his chest. He could taste the faint sensation of blood on his tongue as he felt his heart pounding away in his head.
Run. Jump. Swing. Escape.
The words were thundering in his brain in response to his spider-sense. It wasn’t safe on the ground. Not as the car got ever closer.
Then, from off the road ahead of him, blinding lights filled the small street from the other end as a black SUV came driving forth, just barely obeying the speed limit. It seemed to be enough to scare off the car stalking Peter as the driver suddenly floored it down the opposite lane. Peter couldn’t even turn his head to get a clear look at the guy, his eyes just staring ahead at the arrival of his savior.
“Hey kid, hop in before end up on the back of a milk carton,” came the disgruntled, but clearly relieved, the voice of one Happy Hogan.
Peter didn’t waste a single second, getting into the car and letting go of the breath that had been logged in his throat for so long. All that tension and urge to run was slowly leaving his body, the sudden absence of superhuman adrenaline leaving Peter feeling all the more tired than he already was.
“Thanks, Happy. Could you not mention this to May or Mr. Stark? I don’t need them to freak out about this,”
“And why do you not want me to know you were being stalked by some weirdo wearing a creepy mask in his car,” the voice of Aunt May cut right through Peter like a knife, making him jump.
“Jesus, May why are you here? Are you following me like Happy is now,” Peter asked slightly incredulously. Not that it would have surprised him.
“No. I just happened to be with Happy when he got your text. I hope that wasn’t the guy you went on a date with. I know you have super strength but you gotta be careful when going on dates with rando-,”
“May, I’m fine. That wasn’t Bobby. Just some weirdo who was following me. Pretty sure it was nothing. Also, since when did you and Happy just hang out,” Peter cocked his head to the side as he looked at the two adults in the front seat.
Both Happy and Aunt May liked at each other, stammering as they tried to come up with some sort of story that they both agreed on.
“Well you see, Happy wanted to help out with FEAST so he was working the phones,” May started
“Yeah. And you know how big I am on helping people,” Happy said with probably his worst faux smile plastered on his face.
“Happy, you hate talking to people on the phone,” Peter said plainly, watching as Happy tried to find some way to refute what he had just said.
“How about this,” May chimed in, saving Happy from what would have been a horrible explanation, “We stop by the store to pick up some snacks for you to bring to movie night. Isn’t it Steve’s pick tonight? You know how he loves his gummy worms,”
It was a distraction that Peter saw right through but didn’t call her on it. Instead, he just gave her a small smile and nodded. It had been a while since he had seen her so happy with someone and Peter wasn’t going to do a thing to ruin that for her. Not a thing at all. Though Happy wasn’t going to be spared.
“Yeah, that sounds like a plan. I wonder, does Happy know your favorite movie snack May,” Peter asked smarmily, watching as Happy turned beet red and flooring it down the road.
Yeah. He wasn’t going to ruin this for May at all.
Steve was adamant when Peter got out of his long soak and dressed in comfortable enough clothes for the night, that tonight was going to be the night he finally finished ‘The Lord of the Rings’. He had finally finished ‘The Two Towers’ when it was his last turn at movie night and now he was determined to see it through to the end.
“I had to do a book report on this when I was your age,” Steve bemoaned as he settled onto the sofa in the communal room in the mansion, gummy worms in hand, “Never would have figured I’d get to see it ever like this, would have lost my mind if I saw Mordor as a kid,”
“Didn’t you get a D on that book report? I remember you complaining about it when I pulled your ass out of the middle of that fight you found yourself in,” Bucky chimed in as he settled beside Steve with a bowl of popcorn
“Yeah, and I am still sour about it. I spent all night writing that thing,” Steve mused as Bucky chucked a kernel at his paramour.
The two had been more than happy to find out that this time period was far more kind to their relationship than the world was when they were younger. Since they had been back at the mansion, the two were practically joined at the hip most times.
“Well considering the fact that your teacher is probably dead by now, I don’t think you need to still be so salty about it,” Natascha had joined the fray, bullying her way next to Peter on the other end of the sofa, “Besides, movies are always much better than the book,”
Natascha and Peter had become rather close since she had come back alongside the other rouges. It had been ages since she had someone to teach all of her moves to, with Clint and Steve already being skilled in their own right, and Scott being less than enthusiastic to learn from her. When Peter asked her about honing his spider sense she had been more than onboard with giving him a hand. Through all their training sessions, she had become almost like his big sister on the team. More than willing to mess with him but always there to give him a hand or advice.
Soon the rest of the team still at the Mansion came in. Sam shot Bucky a withering look before he too took up a spot to the left of Peter, leaving the youngest Avenger squished between him and Nat. Pietro came speeding into the room holding some odd-looking snack he said he went over to Sokovia to grab, while Wanda was all but carried in by Vision who took them to the only love seat open.
While it wasn’t the full team, with Rhodey off doing a tour with the government and Clint, Tony, and Scott still in London for their mysterious mission, it was still a warm feeling all-around. Peter couldn’t help but sink deeper into the sofa as he got cozy among his teammates and friends. It was so odd, sitting there with them all. Not too long ago they were at each other’s throats. Now, with the Accords changed and all sides happy, they could actually be the Avengers they were supposed to be. It still blew his mind that he was part of the team, and Peter wouldn’t trade any of it for the world.
They had only been watching the movie for a scant forty-five minutes when the low sound of thunder shook the compound, bringing with it a tingle from Peter’s spider-sense.
“I didn’t know there was supposed to be a storm rolling through,” Sam chimed in, as he sat up while Steve asked FRIDAY to pause their movie.
“I don’t think that’s a normal storm guys,” Peter hissed, as he got up, his eyes narrowed as he looked out the nearby window.
Out on the horizon, the skies were clear, but just on the edge of the Mansion’s lawn, a cluster of clouds was starting to gather.
“Maybe Thor is finally back,” Bucky added hopefully, though he was already reaching for the gun in his waistband.
The collective Avengers rushed out of the Mansion and looked up at the sky. Peter opted to jump onto the Mansion’s roof for a better view, as from the dark clouds he could just make out what looked to be a bright rainbow of some kind.
“Uh, guys, I think we got incoming,” he shouted down below as the beam struck the ground, vibrating the very air around them with some unknown type of energy.
Peter watched from the roof, web shooters at the ready, as four figures materialized from the rainbow beam that suddenly vanished, leaving behind only scorched Earth in a particular pattern.
“Friends!” came the boisterous voice of Thor, echoing just as loud as his thunder, “I have returned with great tidings in tow,”
All eyes were on the other people with Thor, as among their numbers was a sheepish-looking Bruce Banner who was giving a half-hearted wave to the team.
“Hi, guys. Been a long time,” he tried to joke to alleviate the tension.
Sadly, it wasn’t going to happen as the very appearance of Loki before them all had everyone on edge. Steve was already poised with his shield, ready to throw it at a moment’s notice.
“Fret not, I come in peace,” Loki tried to say, only for Natascha to take a potshot right over his head
“Yeah, well we don’t share that sentiment. So why don’t you run back to Daddy before we send you running with your tail between your legs again,” she huffed, taking aim once more at the god.
“Natascha, I know that my brother and you did not part on good terms-,” Thor attempted to mediate,
“He did lead an invasion that destroyed New York and killed like, a lot of people,” Peter shouted from the roof, before jumping down to stand alongside the rest of the team
“Wait, are you the child that my brother speaks of? The one he had with Stark,” Thor suddenly looked jubilant as he walked over to give Peter a clap on the back that sent him stumbling
“Already joining the team like your father and myself. I will be a very proud Uncle,” He continued
“Mr. Stark isn’t my dad,” Peter responded, to which Sam added a ‘Could have fooled me' under his breath that Peter most defiantly heard, “For that matter, what do you mean Mr. Stark had a kid with Loki,”
“So that wasn’t a joke then,” Steve hissed, and all eyes turned on him, his face turning red,
“Tony was shouting about having slept with Loki a few days ago. I thought it was just him being stupid. You know I don’t get that man’s humor,”
“Well, my patriotic fellow,” Loki started, and all eyes were on him again, alongside several weapons, “It seems to be the truth. An incident from when I was playing human years ago. Now, I don’t see Tony among your numbers. Is he buried in his lab tinkering on some metal monstrosity,”
“That’s really none of your business, even if we did believe you slept with him,” Natascha was clearly on the warpath, her determination only stymied when she caught the eye of the fourth person who arrived alongside Thor and Bruce, “And who is this? Someone else you’ve brainwashed like Thor,”
“Brainwashed? My little brother could never hope to overtake my mind, even with that little scepter he had been gifted. Being the Goddess of Death has its perks,” the woman said, looking rather deadly in the green outfit she was sporting.
“Sister, well let’s hope that crazy doesn’t run in the family,” Natascha added, trying her best to ignore the wink the supposed Goddess of Death just gave her.
“My friend, I promise you my brother and sister mean you no harm," Thor finally seemed to get the Avengers to relax a bit, "They have recently renounced the All-Father as their…well father and have come here to seek a new way of life,”
“You did too, Thor,” Bruce added from beside Loki, to which Thor merely waved his hand
“That’s not important. What is important is that we must find Stark and my brothers’ son. It would not do us well to dwell any longer on our goal,”
“If it helps at all, I was, myself, under someone else’s control when I invaded Midgard. Not only can my brother vouch for me, but there is no way I would have lost to you all if I had any control over my full mental faculties,” Loki added, trying his best to look sinister.
A single beat passed before every Avenger, Thor, and Bruce included, broke out into laughter.
“If you say so Wizard of Oz,” Bucky shouted from behind Steve while Sam shook his head either in annoyance or disbelief.
Peter looked over at the team, unsure of how to go from there. While it was clear that they were all still on guard, they seemed to relax, if ever slightly at the appearance of the four.
“Alright, Thor as long as you promise to keep an eye on your…family, I think we could take this conversation inside. I have some questions that I really want to ask,”
Steve, being the de facto leader, seemed to have the final word and the others went along with it, though Peter noted that Natascha didn’t put away her gun, and though he couldn’t see them, he had a feeling that Vision, Wanda, and Peitro were lurking about somewhere. Between them all they could hold their own against the God if need be.
“Should we order some extra food,” Peter pipped up, “Seeing as we have a few new folks around,”
“I’m sorry, but seriously kid, if you aren’t Tony’s why are you here,” Bruce asked, sounding more worried than annoyed.
“Oh, well I’m Spider-Man. I’m a big fan of your work by the way. Your research into Gamma Radiation is groundbreaking. I’d love to with you about some questions I had,”
Peter had started to ramble, though Bruce seemed more than happy to talk science with him. It was enough to keep them both preoccupied as the rest of the team ushered in Loki and his sister for what was probably going to be a very enlightening conversation.