Chapter 3
Sunday had wound up being the same as Saturday, with Peter going to his internship and then immediately swinging out as Spiderman.
Monday was when things got interesting. Since his success at the expo, and the very public announcement of his internship, Peter had gained something akin to respect among his peers at school.
He wished sometimes that Aunt May would just let him graduate early, but then he remembered that he wouldn't get to Ned or MJ nearly as much, and that wish went away.
But no matter how many accolades and awards he won, Peter would never be free of Flash Thompson.
The other boy was twice Peter’s size and less than half his intelligence.
A prestigious internship meant nothing to someone who couldn't spell prestigious or internship.
Flash threw Peter harshly against the lockers before strutting off while laughing with his friends (cronies).
Of course, Peter had been on the receiving end of much worse, but Spiderman could just swing back up and land a flying kick to the prick’s face. But Peter had to stay down for at least thirty seconds before it was deemed ‘safe’ for him to get up. That too with the help of MJ and Ned. The passing crowd of sympathetic and amused faces was the worst part.
But Peter Parker was weak. Spiderman was strong.
‘Tis the way of the world.
“It's ridiculous that nobody says anything to Flash.” Ned says angrily. “Everyone sees him picking on you and even the teachers don't say anything.”
“It's fine, Ned. I can handle it.” Peter insisted.
The truth was that it was better that Flash stayed at their school, with his gaze fixed firmly on Peter. His bullying could do serious harm, both physical and mental, to someone without Peter’s abilities. Flash picking on Peter just meant that he wasn't picking on anyone else. And that's just the way Peter liked it.
Beyond some teachers praising Peter, school was the same it had always been. Boring and way below Peter’s ability.
He was literally counting down the minutes until he could leave and head for SI. The second that last bell went, Peter was rushing for the door.
His spidey sense warned him, but side-stepping Flash’s oncoming shove would've been suspicious, so Peter braced himself and protected his head just in time for the blonde bully to side tackle him into the ground.
“Headed for your internship?” Flash asked from above him, locking his head and grinning.
“Yeah Flash.” Was the opted response as Peter got to his feet with a groan.
Flash shoved him down again. “What's it like there? Surrounded by other people nobody likes.”
“It's fun.” Peter said, getting up again before being shoved back onto his ass.
Flash gripped his shirt collar and yanked the smaller boy. “You getting smart with me?”
“Can you please just beat me up already. I'm gonna be late.” Peter said impatiently.
“Well since you asked so nicely…” Flash said, raising his fist back.
A loud smack echoed through the hallway, and there stood Michelle Jones, chemistry book raised for round two.
Flash straightened up to face MJ as Ned helped Peter to his feet.
“What?” MJ said, looking up at Flash, chin raised defiantly. “You already beat on people half your size, why not add hitting girls to the long list of reasons you're a dick.”
Flash looked around the hall, and quietly chose to walk away. For all Peter’s insults that he was stupid, he wasn't clueless. Flash knew that Peter was one thing, but if he hit a girl, big and strong as he is, expulsion was a certainty.
More than a little fucked up, but that's the way of things.
MJ and Ned decided to walk Peter to the SI building seven blocks away. They spent the whole walk there bitching and moaning about Flash and his cronies. They seemed hellbent on getting Flash in trouble for how he was treating Peter, but Peter couldn't risk him moving on to another target. So he'd have to stop them from doing so.
Another day.
Today he would just enjoy the fact that he had friends so willing to go to bat for him.
Luckily he got to the lab just a minute before he was considered late. With Oliver and Tyler ribbing him about cutting things close. Gemma gave him a warm smile and began some small talk while gathering supplies. She talked about her twin toddler boys and her oldest daughter who just started school.
Peter responded with talk about his own school, though he left out the part about Flash, and mentioned his movie plans with MJ and Ned for that Saturday.
It went like that until Thursday.
The four of them had the lab to themselves, and got engrossed in the science and experimentation, Tyler put on her playlist and they worked for hours. Talking and working with Chappell Roan blasting in the background.
Eventually the vibes would die down as The Bosses*TM - Stark and Banner - came down to work with Peter.
But that Thursday, instead of coming down to work with Peter, an assistant called Peter out and had him follow him to the top floor.
Ms. Potts’ floor.
Peter walked into the conference room to find Tony Stark, Pepper Potts and Bruce Banner sitting opposite Justin Hammer.
“Peter. Please make yourself comfortable.” Ms. Potts said warmly.
“Ma'am, can I ask what this is about?” Peter asked as he sank into the chair beside Hammer.
“Mr. Hammer here wanted to speak with you regarding an opportunity.” She responded evenly.
Peter turned to face the man as he spoke.
“Peter, I understand now that you are uninterested in selling the BARRY tech, so I've come to offer you an internship at Hammer Technologies.” He said.
Tony scoffed.
“Uh, Mr. Hammer, I've already got an internship at SI.” Peter said, pointing out the obvious.
“Yes, an unpaid internship. Hammer Tech can offer you a full salary, with the promise to cover your college fees and a guaranteed job for when you graduate.”
“We already-” Tony said, indignation in his voice until Pepper squeezed his arm, cutting him off.
“This is for Peter to decide and deal with. We are only here as he is a minor under our watch. We don't interfere.” She said, making it clear. Then gestured for Peter to speak.
“Mr. Hammer, SI has already offered what you did. And as for the salary, if I felt I needed or even wanted it, I would've negotiated for it in my contract.” Peter said, his voice becoming a little more confident.
“Why didn't you, by the way?” Bruce asked.
“I thought about it, but Aunt May pointed out that it would make it more about the money and less about the science.”
“Also you can totally renegotiate that next year.” Tony said quickly, hissing when Pepper elbowed him in the ribs. “Just saying.”
“Young man, I think you're wasting your potential here at Stark Industries.” Hammer said. “And I don't think your aunt, precious as she is, understands a business venture properly. Why would she steer you away from making money?”
“Because maybe not everything is about money.” Peter said, his tone shorter now. He felt a surge of protectiveness over his aunt.
“Can you really say that Peter? With your family history?” Hammer said with a condescending smile.
“What does that mean?” Peter said slowly.
“I'm just saying, someone in your situation, you ought to think more carefully on your financial status.”
“Mr. Hammer, please speak clearly.” Peter requested, feeling his anger spike.
“Come on Peter!” Hammer yelled. “You're smarter than that. Parents dead, uncle shot and killed, just a teenage boy and a woman. All alone. You're a goddamn orphan! Some money would do you good, and-” Hammer was cut off by Tony yanking the man to his feet by his suit collar.
“Y'know what would do you some good, Justin? A soul, perhaps some empathy to go with it. Get out!” The man demanded.
Hammer opened his mouth again, but this time was met with Pepper's chilly voice.
“Leave, Justin.” She said calmly.
“Peter-” Hammer started before Pepper cut him off again.
“No, you don't talk to him.” She stated. "You talk to me, his boss. Or May Parker, his legal guardian. Get out.” Her voice held no room for discussion, and Hammer eventually linked off out of the building.
Peter just let the silence wash over him for a moment, as he always did when he was reminded of his parents and Uncle Ben.
Uncle Ben was the one that always stung, no matter what. His parents however, Peter doesn't remember much about them. Just that his dad wore glasses and his mom had a nice voice.
“Peter, are you okay?” Pepper Potts’ gentle voice asked.
Peter looked up at the woman and smiled, as genuinely as he could in that moment. “Yes ma'am. I'd like to get back to work now, if that's okay.”
“No.” She said, Peter's smile faltered. “No. Take the day. That was unacceptable and you shouldn't have had to deal with it in the workplace. So, you will take the day.”
“Thank you.” Peter said, smile back in full force. “By the way, do you know why he came here to talk to me? I would've thought he'd go to my house.”
Bruce chuckled. “He went there first, your aunt apparently slammed the door in his face.”
Peter chortled. “That sounds like May. Anyway, I'm going to get going now. Goodbye. Have a nice day.”
The three adults waved as he left, waiting until he was on the elevator to speak again.
“Tony, do you think you could do some detective work for me?” Pepper asked.
“Of course. What do you want to know?” He responded.
“Hammer's obsession with getting Peter to work for him goes beyond poaching an employee from you. It's deeper than that. Find out why.”
“And in the meantime I will continue to help Peter develop the BARRY technology.” Bruce said.
________
Bucky watched intently as the well dressed man entered the glass skyscraper. He watched as the see-through elevator carried him up to the top floor, where he disappeared from Bucky’s line of sight. His neck stayed craned, glaring at the sign reading ‘HAMMER’ which sat in bronze and gold atop the aforementioned skyscraper.
He'd been watching Peter’s meeting with the man through the backdoor connection into the cameras that he'd convinced Shuri to secure for him.
The Princess still had a soft spot for her ‘broken white boy’ after all.
The whispers of a presence behind him had Bucky swinging his metal arm outwards, only for his stalker to duck and respond with a kick to his face, which he caught.
Bucky and Natasha stayed staring one another down in the alleyway across from Hammer Technologies; a loud crunch alerted Bucky to Clint's presence. The archers stood in his civilian clothes, leaning on the brick wall of the alley and chomping on a bag of Hula Hoops. The blue ones.
“What are you doing here?” Natasha asked Bucky.
“What are you doing here?” Bucky asked with a shrug.
They stood there for a moment longer, locked in their seemingly impenetrable standoff. Then Clint groaned and spoke.
“I swear you guys are worse than Cooper and Lila. Stark asked us to look into Hammer and why he's so obsessed with getting the Parker kid to work for him. Your turn.”
Bucky sighed. “I wanted to see if Hammer is a threat to Peter.”
“Why?” Natasha demanded.
Bucky shrugged. “Something to do.”
“Buck.” Clint groaned.
“I owe the kid this much at least.” He said after a while.
Clint nodded, while Natasha made and held eye contact. If Bucky wasn't mistaken, he was sure he saw something akin to understanding in her gaze.
“We're about to break into the building to plant bugs and snoop through files. If you'd like to join us.” Clint offered, finishing off his bag of chips.
“Sure.” Bucky said with a shrug. It's not like he's got anything else going on.
_______
“If Hammer keeps going like this we'll probably have enough for a harassment suit.” Foggy said happily. “Do you think your bosses will testify?” He asked Peter, who was sipping on a can of cola that Karen had gotten him.
After leaving the SI building, Peter decided to see if Matt wanted to poke around the human traffickers' last known address. But the lawyer wasn't there, apparently off with a client. At least according to what Foggy and Karen were willing to tell him. While they knew that Matt was Daredevil, they had no clue that Peter was Spiderman.
“Mr. Stark definitely will.” Peter said, taking another sip of his drink. “Might even lie on the stand to screw Hammer over.”
Foggy laughed. “Seriously, what is his problem?”
“I don't know and I don't wanna know.” Peter said, groaning as he sunk into the leather couch in Foggy's office.
“Whatever it is, Hammer needs to back off.” Karem said, stacking files, clearly pissed off. “He crossed so many lines. Going to your internship, mentioning your parents, your uncle! Ugh! I hate him.”
“Karen, I think you're taking this worse than I did.” Peter said, touched that the woman is getting so mad on his behalf.
“Peter, honey. Someday, you are going to realise what a beautiful human being you are. Today is not that day.”
Peter smiled and craned his head when he heard the door to the office open.
“Foggy, Karen.” Matt called out.
“And Peter.” Foggy told him.
‘He knew that already’. Peter wanted to say. Instead he settled for, “Hello Matt.”
“Hey, Pete. What's up?” The lawyer asked.
“Nothing really-” Peter was cut off by Karen's loud gasp.
“Guess what that asshole Justin Hammer did today!” She exclaimed, before launching into the story that Peter had told her and Foggy.
“He keeps this up, we can file a harassment suit.” Matt commented once she was done.
“That's what I said!” Foggy said happily.
“I don't wanna sue him.” Peter commiserated. “I just want him to leave me alone.”
“Suing him is unironically the best way to do that.” Foggy said, signing something or another.
“I need to get home before Aunt May worries.” Peter says, tapping his foot in a rhythmic pattern.
It was a code that he and Matt created in the early days of their on again - off again ‘partnership’. That rhythmic tapping means that they need to speak alone.
“I'll go with him.” Matt says.
________
“Any updates on the traffickers?” Peter asks as he's sitting opposite the lawyer in some old diner.
“Yes, but we should wait for-” Matt's sentence was cut off by Frank sliding into the booth next to him.
“Hey.” He said. The older man was wearing the wig and fake beard he donned in his civilian life.
“You're late.” Matt said.
“Had to shake my tail.” Was Frank's response. “This shit is getting annoying.”
“Yeah, but we can't risk them following you to us.” Peter said.
“What new information do we have?” Matt asked, all business like.
“One of the guys from the dock that night had a ledger.” Frank said, Peter nodded. Remembering the list. “Well, once I had Micro decode that ledger, it turned out to be a list of buyers.”
“Aren't all the buyers overseas?” Matt asked.
“Yes, but-” Frank was cut off by the waitress coming to take their order.
“What can I get y'all?” She asked in a southern drawl.
“Black coffee for me ma'am.” Frank answered.
“Nothing for me.” Matt said politely.
“And does your son want anything?” She asked, not looking up from her notepad and missing Peter’s amused snort.
“Uh, yes please ma'am. Can I have the hamburger with sweet potato fries and a sprite?” Peter asked with a smile.
The waitress smiled sweetly at the young man and nodded.
“It'll be about seven minutes on the food.” She said as she poured Frank his coffee.
“Yes ma'am.” Frank responded, shaking his head at a grinning Peter.
“So, the buyers?” Matt asked once the lady was gone.
“Yeah. The buyers are all overseas, but a lot of them have branches of their organisation right here in the city. So I figured we could pay a few of them a visit.”
“What organisations?” Peter asked.
“Yakuza, Triad, and one I've never heard of before. Uh, Nemean.” Frank said, sipping his coffee. “I have no clue where they're based.”
“All right. So where can we find them?” Matt asked.
“Yakuza and Nemean are locked down tight in the city. It'll take weeks to come up with a plan to get into their bases. But Micro found out that the Triad in New York had just suffered a major setback. One of their senior members just ran off with like, 90% of their money. They're in shambles, scrambling to get back on their feet before the main body back in China finds out.”
“They're vulnerable.” Peter said. “We should go tonight.”
“That's what I was thinking.” Frank responded.
The waitress came to give them the food, smiling and ruffling Peter’s hair when he thanked her.
________
Under the blanket of night, the New York City lights glowed and glistened. They drenched the three vigilantes in red light, the outlines of their silhouettes the only indication of their presence.
Daredevil entered through the back entrance, keeping his footsteps light and his presence secret.
Spiderman crawled in through the cracked skylight, lowering himself above the group of men silently.
They wait for the Punisher to give the signal.
The front door of the warehouse is kicked in hard, and a single gunshot rings out. A man goes down.
There's the signal.
This fight, like their previous ones, is quick and brutal.
Only ten men were on duty that night, and nine were taken down quickly enough.
The tenth groaned as Daredevil punched him again. And again. One more time.
“Okay, okay.” He said in slightly accented English. “I'll tell you what you want to know.”
“Who are you trafficking for?” Daredevil asked.
“I don't know.” The man said. Punisher made a start at him, before he raised his hands in surrender. “I don't know! All I know is that they want different types of people for some experiment.”
“They?” Spiderman asked. “You're telling me they're all working together?”
“Yes!” The gangster said. “Triad, Yakuza, Namean, all of them.”
“Why?” The Punisher demanded.
“I don't know. I really don't.”
“What is Nemean? I've never heard of them.” Daredevil asked after a moment.
“New player on the scene. Showed up about a year ago. Some serious financial backing.”
The vigilantes looked at one another and nodded; Daredevil knocked the gangster out with a solid punch, and quickly contacted the police.
________
Natasha, Clint and Bucky were sitting around in the lounge just shooting the shit when Tony walked in.
“Hello assassins.” He said cheerily. “Do you have anything for me?”
“Yes.” Clint said, retrieving the file they'd copied from Hammer's offices earlier in the day and handing it to Tony.
“Turns out, Hammer is almost out of money.” Natasha said, biting into a plum.
“Ha! He's broke!” Tony exclaimed happily.
“Yeah. It looks like he sunk all his money into some genetics project, even borrowed some from somewhere and has nothing to show for it.” Bucky said. “We think that's why he's after Peter. The kid's tech has been proven to have medical applications.”
“And with some tweaking it could be altered to a genetics programme easily.” Tony finished.
“We checked out Peter’s patent, that thing is water-tight. He's desperate to get Peter over there so he can use his tech.” Clint said.
“Yeah.” Tony said absently. “We need to look into this project.” He looked at the front of the file. “Project ‘Nemean’. That's a stupid name.”
________