dynamics, 6
In all honesty, Peter had forgotten that Sukkot was coming up, even though Rabbi Isaacs would have almost definitely mentioned it the previous week. If not for having seen all the very green decorations at Beth Shalom when he showed up for the usual friday night service - as well as the telltale signs of a large sukkah poking out from the back of the building - he still would have forgotten. When he was younger, Peter and Uncle Ben would work together to build a quasi-sukkah on one of the apartment balconies. Ever since Ben died, though, Peter and May hadn’t done much other than go to a shul service and hang out for a meal or two in the community sukkah there. But with the extent of the decorations at Beth Shalom, it was kind of hard to miss.
There were a whole bunch of very real potted plants hanging from the walls inside, with a sign saying that once Sukkot was over people were free to take a few home with them. Drawings of produce hung from the ceilings, and there were even green LED light strips around the corners of the walls. It was... impressive. Someone had gone hard on these decorations, and Peter was almost willing to bet that it was the Rabbi’s younger son who had taken the lead on this. Peter hadn’t interacted with Teddy much yet, but could tell that he was a genuinely nice kid with a lot of motivation once he got an idea in his head.
Sukkot or otherwise, attending the kabbalat shabbat service as usual had been a nice break from studying. The half-term exam period was starting next week, with Peter having his first exam on Tuesday. He was pretty close to ready, but studying hard was taking a bit of a toll and it was good to get out. And hey, since there was a communal dinner on offer after the service, Peter decided that he might as well stick around. So he sang along during the service and listened to the rabbi’s drash and mingled a little with the people he was getting to know in the community. When the time came to head outside to the sukkah out back, Peter found himself seated right next to Rabbi Isaacs, with Teddy and Lucas across from him and Ox on his other side. The rabbi’s wife Camelia was over at another table, engrossed in a rather deep conversation about computational linguistics.
Once the meal’s initial blessings were done, Rabbi Isaacs sat down and nudged Peter with an elbow. “Peter, good to see you. How are you going with preparing for half-terms? Those are on now, right?”
“Yep,” both Peter and Ox answered simultaneously. “It’s going okay, but it’s good to get out a little and have a breather.”
“Mmm, I know what you mean,” Ox agreed. “All of my half-terms are supervised exams, so I’ve been busy.”
“Hearing that makes me so glad I skipped out on college,” Lucas teased. He’d gotten his hair redyed to an impressively flashy pink, and wore it in a messy middle part. “Seriously, I’m no good with all the academic stuff.”
“You made the right choice picking up a more practical trade,” the rabbi agreed. “And you enjoy it, which is the most important thing.”
“Sap,” Lucas bit back playfully.
“What about you, Teddy?” Peter asked, curious to see what was going on in the younger teenager’s life. “How’s school? You go to Cole, right?”
“Mhm,” Teddy confirmed once he was done gulping down an entire glass of water. “Apparently I joined at exactly the right time, too. A couple of seniors started a queer club this year, which is pretty nice. It’s not too big or busy, but Bruno and Kamala are pretty awesome.”
Peter almost admitted to knowing those two, but neither Kamala nor Bruno knew that they knew him so that could have gotten pretty messy pretty fast. “Yeah, nice. My school didn’t have anything like that, but oh well.”
“Aww, sucks,” Teddy commiserated.
“And how many detentions have you landed so far?” Lucas asked, a grin directed at his younger brother. “Ten?”
“Thirteen actually,” Teddy admitted proudly.
Peter raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“Remember how I told you this kid punches homophobes?” Ox reminded Peter, laughing a little. “Yeah, that.”
“And I’m not gonna stop,” Teddy declared, a grin on his face. His words earned an approving nod from his brother, and Teddy started working through his pumpkin soup.
Rabbi Isaacs sighed. “I can’t help but wonder who you take after, Teddy. Remember, if you want me to storm the place and set the staff right about the whole affair, just ask.”
“Dad, no,” Teddy immediately countered. “That’d be so embarassing. And obviously I take after all those new superheroes in town. I’d say they set a great example.”
Peter held a little smile for himself, and then got started with his own soup before his distractedness let it get cold. Little did Teddy know that one of the people he was talking about was sitting right across the table from him. Or that it was the boy’s own father who had given Peter the encouragement and support he needed for Spider-Man to be so openly queer.
“Indeed,” the rabbi agreed. “And as much as I would love for you to get into less fights, Teddy, I’ll never tell you to stop standing up for your community. So, do people talk much about these new heroes of ours?”
Teddy shrugged. “A little, yeah. Not enough, I reckon. Everyone at the queer club seems to like them, though. And it’s nice that they’ve all started wearing pride flags on their outfits. Like, seeing Iron Lad with his is honestly kind of a big deal for me, and my friend Janica will not stop talking about Zapdash being a nonbinary lesbian like faer. According to this girl Zoe who knows Ms Marvel, apparently she’s also thinking of adding one to her outfit sometime soon.”
“It’s amazing what a little bit of representation can do, isn’t it?” the rabbi responded, and Peter couldn’t help but grin widely at that. It was kind of obvious that the rabbi had manufactured this part of the conversation for Peter’s sake, and... well, it was nice to hear Teddy talk about him and his friends like that. To know that queer teenagers were seeing them out and about and feeling safer and prouder of themselves because of it. “Oh yes, what was that flag on the back of Ironheart’s suit?”
“Oh, that one is basically for people questioning their queer identity,” Ox answered. “Once it gets a little traction and people start learning what the flag means, Ironheart’s gonna make a real impact with that. Showing people that they don’t have to have it all figured out. God knows how much work Julia and I are doing to try and get that idea across on campus.”
I’ll have to tell her you said that, Peter thought to himself, and then decided it was time to say something out loud. “I think it’s definitely nice to see that representation happening more. Attitudes are changing now and queer heroes are starting to be open about things in the public. It’s… yeah, pretty amazing.”
If it wouldn’t out him as Spider-Man and out someone who, as far as Peter was aware, wasn’t publicly out, he might have even said something about knowing another hero that people just didn’t know was queer - but just because Jessica Jones had been open with him about being trans and aromantic didn’t mean he had any right to share that with anyone else.
“I just wish that public attitudes about supernatural abilities would change to be a little kinder,” Rabbi Isaacs remarked. “Generally speaking, people are more than prepared to welcome and accept heroes, but anyone who doesn’t go into that sort of public service only earns judgement and distrust. It’s... well, less than ideal.”
“Here here,” Ox and Lucas both agreed.
“Yeah,” Teddy added more than a little tensely.
Several things happened next that clued Peter in on information he probably shouldn’t know but figured out anyway. Teddy, having just finished his soup, got up with harsh movements and excused himself. Lucas looked after him with concern, and Rabbi Isaacs swore under his breath.
Having connected the dots, Peter got up too, and briefly put a hand on the rabbi’s shoulder to communicate the fact that he’d handle this. He then made his way out of the sukkah and followed the sound of Teddy’s footsteps out to the front of the building. The steps had vanished there, and when Peter looked around, he couldn’t see Teddy anywhere. On a hunch, he looked up-
-and saw the younger teen sitting on the shul roof. Peter spared a quick glance around to make sure he wasn’t being watched before quickly scaling the building with his hands and feet. He could have jumped, but he didn’t want to spook Teddy.
“You okay?” Peter asked quietly once he’d hoisted himself all the way up onto the roof.
Teddy whirled. “How’d you get up here?”
“I’m sticky,” Peter answered with a shrug. Now that he knew that Teddy was a kid with powers who was justifiably upset about having to hide them, he was more than willing to share his secret with one more person. “And I didn’t want to scare you by jumping.”
“You’re-” Teddy started, and then stopped.
“Like you, yeah,” Peter answered. “Your dad knows about me too, and I’m pretty sure he kept that conversation going so I could hear about the kind of impact I’m making.”
Teddy sighed and slapped a palm to his forehead. “Ugh, he would. He means really well, and he’s been an awesome dad ever since he took me in, but sometimes he gets just a little carried away. Wait... wait wait wait, you’re Spider-Man?”
“Guilty as charged,” Peter admitted, and went to sit next to Teddy. “I guess nobody else on my team is sticky, so that was probably easily narrowed down. Did you jump up here?”
“Yeah,” Teddy nodded. “I’m just... a little sick of not being able to just exist as I am. I didn’t choose to be able to do what I can do, and I’m not ashamed of it, but if people knew... and I just didn't need that reminder right now.”
“Getting into fights and having enhanced strength makes that tricky, even if you know how to hold back, yeah. If people know, they’ll just... it’s not good. And that’s not fair, I agree,” Peter said, hoping Teddy would find some solidarity or camaraderie in his words. “Does it help, that your dad knows and isn’t mad at you about it?”
“A lot, yeah,” Teddy answered, and moved to lie back against the rooftop tiling. “And I don’t have to hide anything at home, but I just wish that it was better elsewhere. And I know my dad meant well with what he said, but... I guess it’s just a sensitive point, I dunno.”
Peter crossed his legs and turned a little more towards Teddy. “It makes sense that it’d be a sensitive point. He knows he went too far, by the way. He seems really proud of you, and he definitely wants better for you, but that doesn’t change how you feel.”
“Yeah, dad’s said pretty much the same thing to me before. He’ll listen if I talk to him about it, I just needed some air first,” Teddy admitted. “So how does he know about you?”
Peter snorted. “Oh, that’s an embarassing story. It was actually the first time I met him. My aunt always said if I was stuck and needed general advice about life stuff, a rabbi’s always a good person to chat to. So I went to talk to him about something tricky I was dealing with, and he had some pretty fantastic advice for me. But I forgot to take off my web shooters and he saw them under my sleeves and recognised what they were.”
“Because he’s an engineering nerd, of course,” Teddy realised. “Wow, so you’re really Spider-Man, huh?”
“I really am,” said Peter. “Not many people know, though. Secret identities and all that.”
Teddy didn’t say anything more for a little while, instead just looking up at the cloudy, darkened sky. He hadn’t asked Peter to leave, which made it an easy decision to hang around and just keep the kid some company for a little while. Since Peter was only joining a group patrol in a couple hours, he wasn’t in any rush.
“Sometimes I think about taking up the whole superhero gig, but only when I’m older,” Teddy declared after a couple of minutes, breaking the silence. “I’m too young now, I’m not even fifteen yet. But it feels like a way I could really make a difference. Maybe be like you guys, an openly queer hero that lets people know it’s okay to be who they are. And... well, maybe the same for other people who have bodies like mine.”
“Oh yeah?” Peter didn’t want Teddy to feel pressured to explain the last bit of what he’d said, but the offer was there for the boy take if he wanted it. “You know, maybe we could talk to your parents together and see if they’re okay with you coming around for some training every week or so at my team’s facility? If you want, I mean.”
Teddy hoisted himself upright and looked at Peter, his eyes practically shining with eager excitement. “Really?”
“Sure, why not,” Peter said to reaffirm his offer. “I mean, if this is something you really want to do, it would help to have some proper training to keep yourself safe when you feel old enough to start. I don’t really have much room to talk when it comes to how old is old enough since I started being Spider-Man when I was fourteen, but... the offer’s there. If your parents agree.”
“Huh. Okay, that would be awesome,” Teddy exclaimed. “Hey, can I show you something? One of my powers.”
“Go for it,” Peter smiled. “Nobody can see us up here so it should be fine.”
And then Teddy’s skin turned green. “I, uh, have to shapeshift to not look like this.”
“Ah,” Peter responded. “The body thing, I get it. Yeah, you could really make a difference for others like you. I mean, Hulk and She-Hulk are around but kind of not making much of a difference there because of how they present themselves to the public.”
“So you’re saying Hulkling probably wouldn’t be a great hero name?”
Peter laughed. “It couldn’t hurt to think of some other options, maybe. It’s a cool name, just depends what you want people to think of you.”
Danny and Camelia Isaacs, of course, had no problem with Peter’s offer, and plans were made for Teddy to start training with Peter for a couple hours a week on Sundays - starting after mid-terms were over, though, because Peter really needed to study.
To say that Gwen was excited for the day ahead would be an understatement. It had been almost a year since they'd been on any kind of proper fun date; even platonic dates with Harry were mostly put on hold in favour of more time to study during their senior year. It was a worthwhile sacrifice since both of them had made it into MIT, but it had definitely left Gwen wanting. And now, Riri was taking her out on a proper date. There was only one thing Gwen still needed to do before she was ready - hard-boil some eggs. They were commandeering Daisy's kitchen for this task, mostly as an excuse to hang out. A timer dinged right when Daisy returned from the bathroom, reminding Gwen to take the eggs off the stove.
"I still don't know what to make of the whole egg thing," Daisy said as she walked over to the kitchen counter and sat down on one of the bar stools. "You're going axe throwing, how are they gonna stay intact?"
Gwen rolled their eyes. "Obviously we'll put them down somewhere safe for that, but it's supposed to be fun. Draw faces on the eggs and stick some decorations on too, get overly emotionally attached and see who can protect their egg the longest! It doesn't have to mean anything more than that."
Daisy clicked her tongue. "Alright, if you say so. Eggs aside, I'm glad you and Riri are going out today. You deserve something nice like this, after... well, you know."
"Yeah," Gwen sighed. "I know Riri probably asked if she could plan the date just because she likes taking the lead with things, but... that alone is doing me a world of good right now. My therapist has been saying that I should let people take care of me more for a while, so- well, it was more like her saying that I should let people care for me in a way my... the Stacys never did. Or something."
"Sounds about right," Daisy chuckled. "Did you end up deciding what you want to do about that surname, by the way?"
"Yup," Gwen responded a little heavily as she set the pot down in the sink. "I'm keeping the Stacy name, actually. Figured it'd be an even better way to stick it to them, by doing something good with it. Plus, as nice as Norman's offer was, Gwen Osborn just doesn't have the right kind of ring to it."
"He's really been cleaning his business up these last few years. No more dodgy suppliers or military contracts, complete divestment from fossil fuels, increased wages for every employee and so on," Daisy remarked as she gently levitated a pen above her hand. "Following the Stark approach, even if it took him a little longer to get there."
"He's not perfect, but he's good," said Gwen, the words coming easily with all their truth. "I've honestly lost count of how many times the Osborn family hospitality has picked me up when I needed it most. Honestly, I'd love to see about introducing you sometime, if you want?"
"Sure, sounds like fun," Daisy agreed, and then paused. "You know..."
"Hmm?"
"I'm proud of you. Like really proud of you, Gwen. You're healing so much and taking the time to look after yourself and work through a decision you never should have needed to make."
Gwen froze, almost dropping one of the eggs in the process. They still weren't quite used to having someone other than Harry to have these kinds of heartfelt conversations with, and even with Harry it was tricky territory. So, the usual strategy: deflect and try to take in the sincerity of Daisy's words later. "And almost failing my classes while I'm at it!"
Daisy snorted. "It's okay if you fail some classes and take them again, you know. I may not have gone to college, but I've had plenty of friends who did and it was never the end of the world for them."
"In theory I know you're right, but in practice that's going to be several more sessions of therapy I don't have the time for yet," Gwen joked. Except it was only half a joke, because their sense of self had been so deeply grounded in academic performance for too long now. Sure, they might not have cared enough to work for top grades, but getting consistent A's in school was just a part of Gwen's life that mattered for the last few years. It wasn't just with her ex-parents breathing down her neck about schoolwork, but also that getting good grades were part of the path Gwen traveled to escape. Even now that they were free, it still felt like a necessity.
"You'll get there," Daisy assured her. This once, Gwen worked to accept their sister's more serious encouragement straight up.
"Yeah, thanks," they managed. The rest of the eggs made it safely to a soft towel where they could be gently dried. "I'm still getting my head around the fact that you're here, that you exist, honestly."
"Me too," Daisy admitted. "I mean, that I actually found you."
"I'm glad you did. Geez, I really lucked out on the family upgrade plan."
"Speaking of, I heard from the neighbours at the other end of the hall that they've found a new place. They're gonna be out of here in a week or so. It's a two-bedroom, maybe some of the others could move in if they wanted to," Daisy suggested.
The idea had been floated around before, but less directly than this. Gwen liked the thought, and it would definitely make her very happy if any of her other friends chose to move. It wasn't going to be Riri or Harry with the former having her own apartment right near her workshop and the latter having already discussed the idea of moving in with Gwen before the year at MIT even started and deciding instead to stay with his dads. "Maybe Harley'd want to. He likes to complain sometimes about how the dorms are way too noisy, and the only saving grace was how he lucked out on a single bedroom without a roommate."
"Think Peter would want to move as well?" Daisy asked.
Gwen let out a huff of laughter. "I'm placing my bets that those two will be perfectly happy sharing a room sooner or later. They have-"
"Absolutely got some chemistry going on between them, yeah," Daisy finished the sentence. "But they're not there yet. Give them some time, it'll happen."
The doorbell rang.
"You guys can have the apartment, I'm gonna go hit up the hardware store and run some other errands," Daisy offered. "Just clean up if you fuck."
Gwen went beet-red in a second. "Sex is on pause for now, and even if we did we'd go back to my place!"
"Uhuh." Daisy snorted, and it became clear to Gwen that their sister said that just to get a reaction. "Either way, enjoy. I'll go let Riri in on my way out."
A minute later, Riri was sitting down at the dining table with a small messenger bag set onto the chair beside her. She was investigating the various simplistic craft supplies with a curious look on her face, a small grin betraying the excitement she held for the day's plans. Gwen, too, was grinning as she brought the eggs over to the table - and not just because of the mischief she had cooking up in her mind. But before any of the plans could take place, Gwen simply had to stop and take a moment to observe and appreciate their date's outfit.
Riri had her hair done up in the usual cornrows, which Gwen had definitely thought looked pretty amazing the first time she saw them. She had a light blue hooded denim jacket over a red top, and tight jeans that brought the whole outfit together. They'd also seen her boots, which were freshly fitted with spikes, as she walked in - and damn if that didn't make Gwen fall just a little more.
Gwen herself felt reasonably confident that her outfit was working well too. With Daisy's help they'd freshly redone their side shave and undercut, and had dressed themself with a cropped leather jacket that would look hot and keep them warm, below which they wore a crop top. Their ripped jeans were accented with fishnets that rose up over part of their exposed midriff. Ergo, Gwen looked gay as hell in the punk style she typically leaned towards. Her new-ish helix piercing still wasn't quite healed, but they'd been extra vigilant with caring for it in the past week as an almost ritualistic form of self-care. It stood out nicely below their shaved side without any redness or bumping.
"So," Gwen started, as she set down half a dozen hard-boiled eggs in the middle of the table, where they were now surrounded by markers, glue, straw, colourful pipe cleaners and little coloured balls of low-quality fluff. There were even a few little metal balls that Gwen had found lying around, which she had the perfect plan for. "Date. And here's my little bit before you take me axe throwing. Which, holy shit. That's amazing. How are you feeling? You look hot as fuck, by the way."
Riri grinned a little wider. "You do too. Those fishnets are really pulling everything together, dude. So, you prepared an arts and crafts session? I'm... a little confused."
"I should probably explain, shouldn't I?" Gwen laughed, and then continued. "It's honestly just for a silly little bit of fun. Fuck around with whatever you see here and design your egg child. You must then protect the egg child for the duration of the day, and whoever's egg survives the longest without cracks wins."
"What do I win?" Riri asked. "Y'know, when I win."
"When you win?" Gwen questioned with a playful kind of mocking scorn. "Please, as if. But to answer your question, the prize is glory."
"Damn, glory. Now I gotta win," Riri declared. "And, of course, I'm gonna."
"We'll see about that," Gwen smirked. "The extras are in case any get broken in the design process, and otherwise as a snack."
Riri grabbed an egg, and a red marker. "I never thought I'd be a parent, and I'm pretty sure glory isn't a good motivation to raise a child but time for my very first kid. He shall be known as the Iron Egg."
Gwen grabbed an egg of their own, and a black marker. Immediately they started drawing a face onto the egg. "The Iron Egg, huh? Of course, I assume you're not making that into a Stark Industries product, what with your whole thing about outdoing the big corporation."
"Exactly," Riri confirmed. She grabbed some black fluff balls and started gluing them together until they were formed into an afro for the already armored egg. "And my son will do me proud."
Gwen glued down two metal balls over where she'd drawn one of her egg's eyebrows. They turned to show it to Riri. "What do you think, should I get an eyebrow piercing next?"
"Absolutely," Riri answered immediately. "It'd definitely suit you."
Next up was the straw hair, which was harder to put down than Gwen had originally expected. But once that was done, so was her creation. "Behold, the Gwegg."
"Beautiful," Riri complimented it. And then, "your Gwegg-child is going to die young."
"Morbid," Gwen responded as she raised an eyebrow in amusement. "But I'm sorry to say it'll be your Iron Egg that falls first. Also, no intentional sabotage of the other's egg."
"Tsk, damn," Riri grinned. "Well, shall we?"
"We shall," Gwen smiled back. They got up and led Riri to the door. Once out in the hallway, Gwen held their hand out for Riri to take. When she did, and their fingers interlocked, Gwen's heart soared. Of course, if anybody asked if their electrical abilities went haywire and almost overloaded into their body, Gwen would deny the notion outright.
It turned out that axe throwing had a way of making people look ten times hotter, and Gwen was so glad that Riri had made the move a week ago to ask her out. There was just something about watching the act of Riri pull the axe back, hurl it and land it right in the middle of the target that made something in Gwen's heart yearn. It had been Riri's tenth throw and her first bullseye, and Gwen couldn't help but leap up and wrap her date in an excited hug.
Crack.
Gwen's entire face went red. "Oh, shit."
Somehow, they'd both forgotten to take their eggs out of their pockets for this particular activity - and yet they had survived the axe throwing without issue. It was only when they embraced that the jacket-padded eggs had let out a resounding crunch of breaking egg shells. Both Gwen and Riri were swift in checking their pockets and retrieving the Gwegg and Iron Egg respectively, inspecting the damages with a passionate fervor that came from being invested in the crafty creations.
"Does this mean it's a tie?" Riri asked. "Because I can accept a tie."
"Hmm," Gwen hummed, frowning. "I dunno how I feel about there not being a winner. I reckon we should decide based on which egg is more intact."
"Of course you'd say that," Riri groaned, turning the severely cracked Iron Egg in her hand.
Gwen looked down at the Gwegg, which had two jagged lines running through it but no damages beyond that. She leaned in, her lips drawing close enough to Riri's ear to easily be heard at a whisper. "Gwegg supremacy."
Riri's breath hitched. "I'm letting you know now that you whispering in my ear like that holds a lot of power over me, so you'd better do that heaps more. And second, are gonna kiss me to make up for stealing that win away from me or what?"
Gwen laughed, careful to draw back enough that the noise wouldn't hurt Riri's ear. "I can do that."
Somehow, kissing on a date like this was far sweeter than anything Gwen had experienced with Riri back during that first week of classes.
The Boston Athenaeum was an interesting place that Peter probably wouldn't have spared much thought towards if it wasn't being robbed. It was self-described as a library, museum and cultural centre all in one - though in Peter's opinion, calling itself a cultural centre was a little redundant when it was already both a library and museum. It had all sorts of art, books, sculptures and more, with frequent exhibitions about Boston's history or whatever art was currently being put on display. There had recently just been an exhibit on how the original attack on New York in 2012'd had a ripple effect on the rest of US society, full of paintings and both digitial and physical accounts of peoples' experiences. There was supposedly nothing of Chitauri origin there, or anything that should have been of note, and yet... it couldn't have been a coincidence that the Athenaeum had been raided with a gang possessing chitauri technology and weaponry so soon after. This was going to be tricky.
"The cops are sayin' that the group is still inside the buildin'," Harley said as he grabbed both Peter and Harry and took off into the air from the workshop's rooftop. "We'll be able to make it in time. We will. I've called for backup, so whoever's free will come when they can."
Harry groaned as the air whipped at his hair and messed it all up. "Just because I can't fly as fast, this is what I get?"
"Yup," Harley teased. They still had a minute or two for banter before they arrived on-site. "You're the one who wanted your suit to leave it exposed like that, Witchboy."
"I put good work into my hair," Harry countered. "And you know, I think the name might be starting to grow on me."
"I think this exam stress might be starting to grow on me," Peter grumbled, because he'd just finished a study session for his upcoming chemistry exam and there was way too much multiple choice in the practice tests.
"Tell you what. Give me permission to come distract you on Monday, I'll make sure you get a proper break," Harley offered. His masked head tilted downards. "They're out of the museum now, headin' down Beacon St towards that big ol' park. Let's intercept them there and drive them into the park?"
"Sounds like a good plan, on both counts," Peter agreed. He took in a breath and relaxed his body, ready for Harley to drop him over the enemy. As they got closer, Peter could see two vans making their way down the road. A few blocks away, the police were starting to approach - which meant it was important to arrive first before they could get in the way and get even more people hurt. "Cut them off and drop me in their way."
"Yessir," Harley acknowledged, and two things happened in quick succession. First, he let go of Peter and Harry, and then he fired heavy blasts from his palms right ahead of the vans, forcing them to screech to a halt. Peter braced himself for a landing - from as high up as he was falling, he could land well without hurting himself if he did it right. Behind him, Harry was floating down and readying his magic to stay on the defense. After all, Harry didn't want to hurt people even if they were the enemy, but he was damn good at protecting bystanders and stalling or blocking attacks.
The tarmac below Peter's feet crunched a little from the force of his landing. Before any of the passengers had a chance to exit their vans or fire out the windows, Peter reached underneath one of them and pushed it up as he rose to a stand. In that one motion, the first of the two vans lifted into the air and tumbled into the park, which Harley had already flown into and started carrying civilians out of.
The barrel of some kind of weapon peeked out of the driver's window of the second van, and glowed a bright blue. Before it could fire, though, a shadowy tendril ripped it away. Peter took a breath. The back door of the second van hurled open, but Peter wasn't going to let any of these thugs escape until they were away from the main street. He darted forwards, grabbed the underside of the second van and hurled it into the park after the first. As the vehicle flew, it ripped an entire branch of a tree as it continued its motion, too heavy for the tree to even stand a chance.
"Okay, step one done," Peter declared. "Now let's round these guys up and take them down."
Harry let out a sigh from behind him. "I don't know how long it's going to take me to get over the fact that you can just do that."
Peter was still getting over the fact that he could just do that. Before Thanos- no, before his big mistake, he'd never willingly used his full strength like that. It was just a rule that he held back, that he never showed anyone what he was truly capable of. The only real exception to that was when he was trying to hold that ferry together. But after his mistake, there was a time he'd just stopped holding back as much. Only then did he learn true control, and start to understand when he should use all of his strength like that. This was one of those times. The people inside the vans would survive even if they came away injured, and it was better to take less chances when it came to Chitauri tech. For all Peter knew, they had something in there that would prevent them from being hurt at all by the force of being thrown.
Judging by the green lights emanating from the vans as they landed slowly, they did.
"Okay Iron Lad, update?" Peter called into comms as he and Harry respectively ran and flew into the park.
"Civilians all clear, and I've had Darlene send out a request to the local emergency services to work on keeping the wider area clear. Police will probably be useless but the Fire Department are on their way," Harley quickly listed out. Peter could see him hovering above the two vans - one of which lay on its side and the other upside down with a branch jutting out of one of the wheels -, with his palms held open and pointed towards them, prepared to react to any signs of movement.
"They're almost too quiet," Harry muttered. "Like they're preparing or-"
Bang.
The upside-down van's back doors were ripped away from the vehicle as something large and bulky shot out of it and landed a few metres away. Given the darkness and the way Chitauri energy worked with heat generation, Peter slapped a touch sensor hidden right next to the eyes of his mask to switch on his thermal vision overlay. Whatever had just burst out looked humanoid, but encased in something thrumming with energy. An exoskeleton of some kind, with a long tail-like appendage running off the end.
"What the fuck is that thing?" Harley hissed, now with one palm trained on the van's escapee and another inbetween the two vans.
"I dunno, but they look kind of green," Harry responded. "Kind of shaped like a scorpion's tail."
Peter couldn't see that level of precise detail with his current display. He knew Harry was using some kind of spell to enhance his vision in the dark, and that it wouldn't work for anyone but Harry. They'd discussed it on a past patrol to see if it might be a useful temporary enhancement for the rest of the team.
"That's right!" The exoskeleton-clad enemy snarled, having apparently heard Peter, Harry and Harley's conversation. Whatever it was this person was wearing, it had a way of functionally enhancing their hearing too. Noted. "You lot fuck with the Scorpion and you'll get what's coming for you. Boys!"
The 'Scorpion' stood upright while a dozen goons flooded out of the vans. Even as Harley started raining energy blasts on them they were unperturbed, a protective energy field rushing out to protect the escaping enemies. All of them were armed with various weapons, and a great deal of them looked familiar.
"Well well well, if it isn't Spider-Man," Scorpion huffed, his arms raised into the air in some twisted rendition of triumph. "You might not remember me from when you did me and my boys in on that fucking ferry, but... let's just say the Vulture sends his regards."
Peter groaned in recognition. He knew exactly who this was, now. After Peter had taken down Toomes and been welcomed back into Mr. Stark's life, the two of them had combed over records of everything that had gone down with Toomes, Gargan - apparently also known as Scorpion now - and their weapons deals and heists. The objective had been to learn from it - what could have been done better by both of them, what skills were worth training, and any associated lessons to be had. "Mac Gargan, huh. They let you out?"
Scorpion snorted. "Let is a strong word there. Now, I'll give you and your little friends here one chance to walk away and let us get on with our business."
Peter rolled his eyes, and took a step forward. Not a large one, not one that would aggravate this group of dangerously armed enemies, but a subtle one he could get away with to position himself better. "Even if you were the type to let someone go instead of shooting them when their back was turned, you know we can't do that."
Scorpion clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth. Peter was wary of that - suspicious that it could be a confirmation of the possibility that Scorpion knew about Peter's enhanced senses. One of the lessons he and Mr. Stark had discussed those years ago was that when you put away a particularly powerful or resourceful enemy, there was always a notable chance they'd come back with a very trained vengenace. Mr. Stark had always been wary of Justin Hammer in particular, even though he was still incarcerated for assisting a known and dangerous terrorist while trying to secure federal defense contracts. Ergo, if Scorpion held a grudge towards Spider-Man, he'd probably done his research. Chances were that he knew about Peter's new allies, too. So, no careless moves.
"Well then, I guess it's time for a slaughter," Scorpion yelled, his followers joining with rallying shouts of their own.
"Assume he knows more than most about what each of us is capable of," Peter whispered. There was no time to catalogue all the weaponry the enemies possessed. Only to take them down as efficiently and carefully as possible. "Iron Lad, Witchboy, you guys take care of the horde. I'll deal with Scorpion."
"Roger that," Harley acknowledged.
There was no way that Harley or Harry were going to be able to move the dozen armed thugs away from this area, which meant it was up to Peter to be the one to separate Scorpion. So, he leapt over the van, latching a rope of webbing onto a nearby tree to swing in a curve around to Scorpion's side, and swung at the enemy with his legs outstretched.
Scorpion's clawed hands latched on, dense metal digging into but not breaking through the skin of Peter's ankles. It hurt, but at least Scorpion was holding on, and wasn't heavy enough to halt Peter's momentum all that much. Pushing through the pain, Peter lashed out two more webs to a couple of taller trees ahead, and yanked to keep carrying Scorpion further into the hilly park. This time, he bucked with his hips and threw the bulky enemy off of him. Scorpion soared forwards, landing upright in some kind of shallow recreational pond with a water fountain spraying water upwards in the middle. There were still some people here, but Peter could see a group of firefighters hurriedly working to clear them out. Before landing in the water, he gave one of the firefighters a quick salute before turning his attention back to the threat at hand.
"You go on and have a little play in the kiddie pool, I'll be back in ten minutes to pick you up," Peter taunted as Scorpion wiped at his face and grimaced. He wanted to rile Gargan up so that he would show exactly what this exo-suit was capable of. It clearly enhanced his strength and durability, but Peter needed to know the capabilities of that heat-exuding energetically active tail.
"Fuck you," Scorpion hissed. "You gotta be strong, carrying me here like that - but that ain't news. I knew this creepy blood painting heist would lure you out, and now I can fucking kill you after all these years!"
"Is that any way to treat family?" Peter shot back. "Scorpions, spiders, we're both supposed to be arachnids. Won't you play nice?"
The heat readings from the tail grew. Peter hadn't seen Scorpion gesture or press any buttons, so the control must have been from some kind of neural implant. He knew Harley was working on the final touches for a neural implant of his own, building off the notes Mr. Stark had left and adding personal variations - and that meant he knew that the available neural technology for controlling stuff like this was potent and precise. "Right, I forgot that you were an annoying little shit."
"Just to people who deserve it!" Peter yelled. A beam of energy lanced out of the exo-suit tail, and Peter twisted his body harshly to the left to avoid the blast. The tree right behind him now sported a wide hole straight through the trunk. Okay, yeah, that tail was definitely very dangerous. Peter didn't have the right skillset to enhance the defensive properties of his own suit, so if something like that hit him, it was gonna hurt. "Wowzers, I don't think tails are supposed to do that! Maybe you should hit up a re-tail store and see if you can get a replacement, huh?"
"Oh shut the fuck up," Scorpion snarled, firing another blast towards where Peter stood. This time, he leapt up and shot a line of webbing straight towards the exo-suit tail, intending to test just how effective his webs could be against this suit.
"Hey Gargan, how do you stop a scorpion?" Peter called as he started circling the enemy. The web had landed and he was trying to pull at the tail while he ran, but a simple slash of Scorpion's claws cut straight through the web, severing it. "You just set it to scorpi-off!"
Another fire of the tail-blaster ripped through the air towards Peter, except this time Gargan moved the tail while it was firing, tracing a very dangerous path through the air that Peter was barely just able to dive under. He had to get up close and find a way to disable that tail, and webbing alone wasn't going to cut it. At least, not to directly disable the tail itself. Instead, Peter flicked his wrists with his ring fingers down, just enough pressure to trigger the manual web-splitter mechanism. Shots of webbing splattered across Scorpion's hands, which were then quickly balled into fists once he realised he wasn't going to be able to tear them off easily; not when the claws themselves were restrained like that.
"How are you guys going over there?" Peter queried over the comms line.
"We've got it covered," answered a voice that definitely wasn't Harry or Harley, which came accompanied by several screams. It took Peter a moment to place it, but a smirk wrought itself onto his face when he realised that it belonged to Daisy. "Need any help over there?"
"Shit," Peter cursed and sprung upwards as Scorpion barrelled towards him with frankly impressive running speed. "Yeah, can't hurt. Old pal Scorpion here has a nasty case of the laser tail."
A gasp came from yet another voice. "Oh my god, a laser tail!? I'm on my way! I wanna see that!"
Yet another laser blast chased Peter through the air, which Peter attempted to dodge by latching a web onto a nearby tree and yanking himself out of the way. Fortunately his leg only got a little singed, and he was able to stick a safe landing back on the ground.
"You think bringing your little friends with you is gonna save the day?" Scorpion barked out. "Ha!"
"Honestly? It's more of a precaution than anything," Peter answered with an air of confidence that he hoped would throw Scorpion off, if only a little bit. "And for that matter, playtime's over."
Peter ignored the burning pain in his leg as he dashed forward, weaving side to side every time a blast from the tail tried to intercept him. He made it in close quickly, and ducked under Scorpion's left fist that had swung out to meet him. Between him and his incoming assistance, Kamala had a way better shot at truly locking down that tail, so Peter's job was now to keep Scorpion occupied and try and get in a few solid hits.
His right leg swept out and crashed into the side of Scorpion's left knee with enough force that it didn't hurt too much to strike the dense metal so hard. He heard a joint in the suit creak and fracture. Good. When Scorpion brought down an elbow to try and crush Peter into the ground, Peter latched his hands around his opponent's bicep and deftly swung himself onto Scorpion's back - which was dangerous territory, but he wasn't planning to stay long. He dropped his body weight down for just a moment, long enough that he could shove downward as he leapt off it and soaring up to meet Kamala in the air.
"See if you can encase that tail of his, right when he tries to fire," Peter quickly instructed before he started falling back to the ground. "I'll bait it out."
Kamala barely managed a quick "got it!" before Peter fell and used a string of webbing to lunge right into Scorpion's back again. He swerved past a swipe from the jagged tail, and leapt back in front of Scorpion to try demand his full attention.
"Still confident?" Peter baited. "That suit of yours is pretty tough, but I dunno how long it'll hold up."
"Please, this is just more and more good data for my supplier," Scorpion retorted. He'd already figured out that if he tried to run and put pressure on his leg, the exo-suit's knee joint would completely break. Instead, he was holding his ground. Peter fired a single shot of webbing towards Scorpion's eye, which was snatched out of the air by his already webbed up hand. So, his reflexes were definitely pretty good too, even if they couldn't keep up when Peter was in particularly close range.
"Oh, so there's a supplier, huh?" Peter grinned, filing away that free information for later. "Wouldn't happen to be the Manufacturer, would it?"
Scorpion snickered. "As if I'd work with a shifty bastard who won't arrange a face to face meeting. Now, you said something about playtime being over?"
The tail charged up. Peter watched the energy collect through his thermal vision overlay, well aware that far more heat was building up than before. This was an opportunity.
"Ms Marvel, now!" Peter yelled, and charged towards Scorpion with every intention of spooking him into firing.
The telltale sounds of the laser beginning to release its energy pierced through the air, far harsher than before. There was a familiar sort of gentle noise - more drawn out than usual - as hardened light encased the end of the tail in a large ball. A moment later, the ball shattered - but no laser shot towards Peter. Smoke and light erupted in a small sphere, and the melted remnants of the tail's tip fell to the ground with a thud.
"Game over, buddy," Peter declared, and slugged a fist into the side of Scorpion's head. It too was protected by the exo-suit, if only partially. Now that Peter had a sense for how much the suit could take, he knew just how much force was needed to knock the man out. Scorpion went down for the count.
"Oh my god, that was awesome," Kamala exclaimed, landing on the ground beside Peter. "And you should have seen the fight back there, with all these lasers and Iron Lad and Witchboy were holding them off but then Quake and I showed up at about the same time and then Quake just slammed into the ground and sent them all flying oh my god!"
"Yeah, she does that," Peter chuckled. Kamala wasn't just a great addition to the team for her skill, but also her ability to seriously lighten the mood. "Do you know if the others found whatever was stolen?"
"Yeah!" Kamala confirmed. "They stole some painting that was apparently laced with Chitauri blood and some buyer wanted to study it or something? I think Witchboy was going to take it back to the Athenaeum."
"Any injuries?"
"Nup, but I think part of Iron Lad's suit got a bit busted up."
"Sweet," Peter sighed, and gently massaged the back of his leg. It'd heal in a day, but that didn't stop it from fucking hurting now.