Chapter 49
Peter Parker ignored the whispers as he went about his day at school. Thankfully, he was a senior, which meant that his course load was nowhere near what it had been the last year. However, not all was well. The Parker luck struck again that morning. MIT, Harvard, and Culver had sent him letters that they were pulling back their tentative acceptance of him into their college programs. There went his top three. The good news was NYU loved Spiderman and by extension Peter Parker more than it loved Tony Stark, even given the fact that said billionaire's son did rule the world.
Peter was personally surprised how easy world domination looked. It had taken all of four days for Planet Earth to stand united, without any national barriers.
“College problems?” MJ asked, after hiding her surprised look when Peter had muttered “fuck college”
“Yeah, Culver, MIT, and Harvard, rescinded their invitations, and then to my surprise, they include a reason, given the first two don’t really have to.”
“What did they say?” Ned asked.
“On grounds of libel and unbiased criminal accusations unto prominent members of the global community” Peter drawled sarcastically, quoting their reasons word for word.
“Really? They’re mad that you spoke out against Tony Stark,” Ned asked, flabbergasted.
“who funds like half their programs,” Michelle intejected. “That’s what i’ve always been saying.”
“Easy for you to say, you got into Yale on personal recommendation from the one and only King of Earth because you snarked at him cutely in 9th grade.” Peter snarked.
“That was uncalled for, dude.” Ned said.
“Yeah,” Peter said, coming down from his pissed and verbally spitting venom adrenaline high, as he rubbed the back of his neck, “Sorry, MJ.”
“It’s fine.” she accepted, “just don’t accuse me of buying into the corrupt elitist privileged hierarchy of the world. Either way, I’m also going to NYU.”
“Ned, did you get your acceptance letters yet?” Peter asked, changing the topic.
“Yeah, NYU as well. Good news, we’re all going to the same college” Ned said, happily.
“Yeah, good news.”
“Peter, what are you doing after school?”
“Patrol, and then I’m trying out something new.” Michelle’s raised eyebrows and unimpressed look at his vague answer were enough for him to elaborate. “Got invited to the Protectors Program by Quake, I don’t buy they’re the perfect good guys, we all thought that about SHIELD, and then the data dump it turned out they were only one step up from Hydra.”
“So then why are you joining?”
“She busted me out, she says she needs backup on a mission with nonlethal force only, which given her track record shows mostly guns being used, I’m in for. Not really joining”
“Fair.” MJ agreed, as she continued her unofficial bodyguard behaviour, namely her infamous glare that had any potential Tony Stark defenders or fangirls (or fanboys) amongst their classmates backing off more efficiently than if she had a gun to their heads.
“So you made it.” Quake said as she slowed her fall, landing perfectly on the roof of the building where Spiderman swung up to meet her. Peter had neglected to put on the mask, it had no use for him in the case of anyone shooting at him in the face, and everyone knew who he was anyways.
“Yeah. What are we doing? You only told me it’s admissions where nonlethal force might be required.”
“Briefing’s on the jet.” She said, as she launched herself back up to the quinjet hovering over the building, camouflage, so Peter only just noticed it. He launched his webs and sung up in himself.
“This is who you wanted to bring in?”
“Yeah, why not?”
“He won’t have the guts to do anything controversial.” said a guy Peter suddenly recognized as Cooper Barton.
“Let him be.” said someone else Peter definitely recognized from the news. Hermione Stark was 17 and she commanded the attention and respect of everyone there as easily as anyone else in her family. “If he doesn’t have the guts, he’ll be out. For now, it’s a trial run.”
“Where are we going?” Peter was a bit antsy around Hermione Stark, but he refused to judge her for what her father did, given she wasn’t even raised by him.
“London.” Hermione Stark said. “Sanctum Sanctorum, of the Order of the Mystic Arts. Wannabe wizards. You, Parker, are going to have your trial run.”
“And you’re all here…”
“Because it is highly likely chance you’ll either mess up, get distracted, flip sides, run away, or all four of those. We’re the cleanup crew, and the guys who will put you down if you decide the guys we’re going against make a valid point.”
“So you’re acknowledging they might?”
“I’m saying everyone has a valid point, if you look at it in a certain way.” Hermione said. “After all, my brother wouldn't be ruling the planet if your uncle had spoken out for just a little bit longer.” The subtle hints he got. She was in a position of power, she knew exactly what kind of grudge he held, and she was ready to put him down if he stood against her. He was never so thankful to have created comms that worked anywhere on planet earth and were EMP-proof with Ned, that he had right now. He knew Ned would be recording everything just in case it was necessary, for court or for his obituary.
“Are you going to kill me?” Peter asked mildly.
“No. Not yet, at least.” Hermione said. “Don’t fool yourself, though, Parker. It’s in the definition of us Starks to hold a grudge, that, and my paternal grandfathers are a near-immortal supervillain and the man who created the world’s first nuclear bombs. All of us here are super, and all of us but you are trained. Don’t mess up.”
“You’re blackmailing me with my life.”
“You can ditch at any moment. Only thing I can promise you then is that you’ll be blacklisted from not only your favorite colleges, but also Planet Earth as a whole.”
“Dude, she’s dangerous.” Ned hissed through his earpiece.
“Like father, like daughter, I suppose.” Peter said.
“Like mother, like daughter.” Herimione said. “Like aunt, like niece. My father is a cinnamon bun, no matter how lethal the weaponry he can make, Parker, so I'd advise you to keep your snarky mouth shut. You’re on thin ice as it is, given it’s only my mother's word keeping me from extracting revenge.”
Peter was going to say something else, but Cooper Barton pinched the side of his neck, and Peter grasped his throat. He could barely breathe, much less talk. “Aunt Nat taught me the proper pressure points to disable anyone the right way.” Cooper said by way of explanation.
In the end, Peter didn’t have that much difficulty following instructions. Sure, the wizard’s portals tried to chop him in half a few times, but his webs held them, and he thanked his luck that he had improved his webs the last week before chaos decided to rule his life.
“Not bad, Parker.” Hermione Stark said, eyebrows raised, dark chestnut hair spilling over her shoulders.
“Glad you approve.” There had been only two wizards, as they called each other, Peter had seen they called each other Wong and Strange.
“Now what do we do with them?” Quake asked. Peter realized she was probably the oldest of them, yet by her vocal patterns Ned had identified her as in her late twenties.
A dagger slid into Hermione’s hand as she cut the webs holding the two wizards. Before they could escape though, a violet and emerald swirling energy halo came from her and enveloped the two. The sparks they had produced to make their portal thingies, the sparks fizzled out before they could go anywhere.
“What dark magic are you messing with, girl?” The one referred to as Wong asked.
“There’s no such thing as Dark magic, all magic is about intent. The purest of light magic,” she said, as she flicked her finger and Wong was lifted up, floating in the air, the visible halo gone but Peter’s spider-sense going off the rails, “could kill you if I lift you high enough. And the supposed dark magic I’m using? It’s simple magic nullification. My magic is stronger than whatever fake magic you’re using, so I can cancel yours out. It’s a simple thing of me being stronger.” She said, “Now, your little order has been a bit of a pesky menace for my family and the Order of the Phoenix. Hiding an infinity stone, attempting to meddle and disrupt my mother's wards, etcetera. I have so any better things to be doing, but you’re getting in the way.”
“So you’ll murder us in cold blood?” Wong demanded.
Peter was about to say no, they were, not, under any circumstances, but his voice was still blocked.
“No.” Hermione said. “I’ll just fix you up. Quake, hold them, Cooper, get eyes in the air in case they have backup. Parker, don’t mess anything up.”
“Are you going to kill them?”
“No.” she said. “There are other ways of making sure someone doesn’t get in the way.” she said, as Quake’s vibrations were alerted to by Peter's sixth sense, as she encased the two wizards in two-way vibrations, both to keep them in place but also to cut out anything they might try to pull.
Hermione let a tendril of her magic turn visible and reach each of the two men, as it wrapped around their heads and sunk into them, as their eyes flashed the color of her magic, then it faded from view.
"Did it work?" Cooper asked.
Hermine tilted her head as she flicked here finger, then opened her eyes. "Yeah, it worked."
"What worked?" Peter asked.
"I'm transferring it to the control hub now." Hermione said. "Quake,"
"The jet is on the roof." She said. "We're good."
On the plane trip back, Peter had to know. "What did you do to them?"
"Nothing much, they just won't be getting in our way, and an open avenue for access if need be."
"Mind control."
"Passive. Their free will is their own, I don't change their actions, full time control like that is not something anyone would want to do." Hermione explained. "But there are some things they'd be repelled from doing."
"Repelled means they wouldn't stop much not be able to do it but they'd remember something else to do instead or run into an obstacle, or something of the like. It's more subtle the an outright blocking them." Cooper explained.
"Fine. It's better than locking up the bad guys." Pirate acknowledged.
"Great." Hermione said, as she checked the text that had just come into her phone. "Because Ron is off world, mom is busy, so I have to go as Teddy's second to a diplomatic negotiations thing that has the potential to turn bad really fast."
"What is it? Cooper asked worriedly.
"Wakanda* decided it's too high and mighty to accept that they aren't really the ones in charge of their land anymore."
"Isn't that a third world African country?" Peter asked.
"It's an open secret they're hiding a high tech uber-society." Quake said. "I hacked their servers once and that took almost as long as hacking JARVIS."
"You hacked JARVIS?" Hermione exclaimed.
"Yeah, to stop your dad from blasting Parker out of the tower." Quake said
"Fair." Hermione acknowledged. "He would have had stormtrooper level aim, but he would have taken the shot."
"You've spent a running total of two hours with him thus far."
"He's not at all hard to read.” Hermiones phone rang, and she picked it up. “Yeah, Teddy.” Peter suddenly realized she was talking to the newly crowned fucking king of earth. “K.” She said, as she hung up. “Turned the plane around, South East while I send the coordinates”
“I’ll take the shift.” Cooper said, as he clambered into the cockpit of the jet.
“Thanks.” Said Quake, as she moved back to the main part of the quintet. “So where are we flying, if we're not dropping Spiderling back in Queens?”
“It’s Spider-Man.” Protested Peter.
“We’re headed to Wakanda. Quake, activate your bugs in their servers. About time the world realized bluff and Stark don’t belong in the same sentence. ”
Shuri typed furiously as her brother entered her lab. He had only been King for a year and a half, since their father had passed away in his sleep.
“What are you busy with, Shuri?”
“Shh!” She hissed at him. “I’m fending off hackers and I really need to focus.” Not knowing anything except that his sister was right, judging by the lines of code running across her screen, he quietly exited her lab.
His nervousness about Shuri requiring so much focus for hackers was proven true when she stomped out of her lab, seething and furious.
“T’Challa, you need to raise the force fields. It’ll buy us time.”
“What do you mean, Shuri?” Ramonda asked.
“The Order of the Phoenix is sending what they are calling a peacekeeping force, but they’re coming intending anything but peace. All enhanced, all trained, all with unbreakable loyalty.”
“Why are they warmongering now?” Ramonda enquired.
“Do you not watch the goings on outside our borders?” T'Challa asked. “Edward Stark has been declared,” he hmphed, “King of Earth, backed by both his parents, all the other nations have bent their knees or been forced to do so. We are the only ones left standing.”
“I have heard. I am merely surprised they could spare people to attack us, given they just started a war.”
“They have Stark the elder churning out nuclear weapons and Jericho missives faster than ever before. I’d say they can spare troops.”
“From what I have seen, they are not sending troops.” Shuri said. “They are not sending soldiers, but rather a team more along the lines of the Dora.”
“The Dora Milaje are the best.”
“But they are only human. These people are not.”
T’Challa suddenly froze. “They are attacking the force field.”
“Who, how many, what do we do?” Shuri asked. She might not be the Black Panther, but she had a small army of remote drones, Kamikaze Minis she called them, they were made easily to explode on contact.
“The force field is down, Shuri. They have a jet landing, let us go see who it is.”
Out of the jet came a man who looked more like a boy, but as he finished talking to the blonde woman by him, he shifted a little, and he was suddenly recognizable as the press photos of Teddy Stark I, brand new King of Earth. The shape shifting cemented his identity more than it denied it.
“Mister Stark.” T’Challa pointedly greeted.
“T’Challa of Wakanda.” He conveniently forgot the title too.
“Your force field barriers might have been too closed, but surely you’ve heard by now there is no more need for such things as national borders?” Said the woman, who T’Challa recognized as Natalia Romanova, who had bowed first, as if she had expected it, and had been allowed to keep direct rule, albeit under Teddy’s official supervision, but she was still Tsarina Natalia Romanova.
“Wakanda will not bow to your dictatorial seizing of the world.” T’Challa said firmly. “No matter which army you choose to bring.”
“Don’t worry, T’Challa of Wakanda. I won’t harm your innocent citizens because of the stubbornness of their monarch.” Teddy said, “I was trained in statesmanship from a professional. You are simply a landlocked country with not even a mile’s height of airspace, no way of exiting the planet vertically, and no way of exiting your country horizontally. I will simply treat it as what this is, a rebellion of nobility refusing to bow their lands to their rightful ruler, and forcing their citizens to suffer with them. The only thing Wakanda exports is Vibranium, which we can do perfectly well without, we have three substitutes, adamantium, goblin steel, and uru. You import a lot, and given rebels don’t get the luxury of importing from the rest of the orderly world, I'll give it at most a year until you bow.”
“You have a lot of patience for a man who has only sat on his throne for a week.” Shuri said.
“I have only been in the spotlight for a week. This throne, as you call it, though I don't have a literal throne, there’s no point, has been in the works since I was an infant. I was raised for a throne just as you have been, a second generation ruler of the world, even though it has taken until now for the world and all the rest to know it. Thank you, Lord T’Challa of Wakanda, for your cooperation.”
“You're welcome, feel free to return to your ship at this point.” T’Challa said, radiating passive aggressive energy. As much as he hated it, Teddy Stark was right, and his method would work. Wakanda had many rivers, it didn't need to import water of any sort but food? They imported over half of their food, and their current stocks might, if they were lucky and had nation-wide rationing and a panic to go with it, last them a year. In truth, the chances of that were really slim.
“Thank you for your permission, though I have no need of such.” Teddy’s high-class English accent was coming out, as was formalized speech. “Though, you’ll thank me for this later, I’ll be back, it is in everyone's best interests to end this rebellion as soon as possible.”
The Dora Milaje hefted their spears as one. “If you return with your hostile intent and your weapons, we will not hesitate to defend our King, Queen, and Princess.” Okoye said.
“Feel free.” Teddy said, waving his hand. The spears were jerked out of their hands as one as they were each hit by bursts of red energy. “You’ll find I’m not the type of king that is useless at anything but sitting on a throne. I’ll visit if and when I feel like doing so. You are after all, a territory of the United States of Earth, and you’ll be treated as such.”