An Unfortunate Day
Peter woke up to the distant city sounds, his headache now dulled and sight blurry from sleep. Sleep? When did he get to sleep? Sitting up, the teenager realized where he was, a safe house he used to have on the edge of Queens. Had he run all the way here? His instincts and spidey sense were much stronger than before. If that was the case, they would lead him out of harm before, but taking him somewhere like this? Like a weird homing mechanism. When he had first gotten bit, he did research and compared his abilities to actual spiders, so he was aware they had an internal homing ability to find where webs or food was stored. So, his body HAD changed, it wasn’t just him going back in time and Strange had said there was no Peter Parker. So maybe it was a type of reversal that made his spider biology take place at an earlier time? So more mutations… like, spider puberty.
…
Frankly, Peter was done with the complexities, he would research it later. For now he should focus on basics like clothing, food, and information, since he had shelter. He didn’t want another migraine or sensory overload, it wouldn’t help his situation. So, Peter combed his hands through his hair tiredly, his fingers catching on the semi matted knots. Clothing, food, information, and a shower. Getting up tiredly, Peter yawned and stretched, a pop coming from his back.
For the first time Peter looked around the safehouse, and yep same as when he first found it at 15. He was on the top floor of the condemned apartment building, away from the prying eyes of the public. Sure, the building was decaying at a rapid rate, but it could be worse and it was a good option for him since he didn’t know the similarities of this world and his. The first step for living here would be to sweep and get something soft to sleep on, bring food and water up, but that would be after he got some clothes that could hide his face first. Not that it mattered much, since Peter Parker wouldn’t have existed here. That still raddled him to his core.
First thing was first then, go get some clothes and information. He could probably use the local library for the information, computers had a guest account you could use from the libraries main server so his lack of ID wouldn’t be a problem. As for clothing, he wanted to avoid stealing, so… people dropped off bags by the local thrift stores after they closed sometimes, he knew because he would help vagrants sort through options back when he first became spiderman. Helping the little guy was always good, and its not like he hadn’t done stuff like that when he was in need of a change of clothes after a particularly ugly fight as spiderman. Dumpster diving was also an option he wasn’t above, but for clothing he definitely had a better shot with the thrift store.
Peter walked over to the stairs exit that led to the building's roof, an alley next to the building allowed him to crawl down the wall without drawing attention. Leaving the alley, Peter made his way through the city's sidewalks, weaving in between strangers unintentionally. His instincts had definitely improved, making him wonder what else had changed or will change with his powers. As he walked, mindlessly weaving as he thought, he made it to the local library. Walking in, he ignored the calculating glance of the librarian. Right, it was-
He sat down and logged into a computer with the library's guest account, glancing at the clock, 11:37am, Monday May 13th.
A school day and a time when a kid his age should be in school, but technically, Peter had already graduated. He would take his GED when everything got settled, although his age would probably be an issue, and lack of ID…
‘How to get a fake ID?’
Peter typed in before stopping himself, he was already being watched by the librarian and that was probably one of the stupidest things he could search up, getting CPS called on him immediately. Gotta remember he is 14 again. No, he had to get information on the Avengers first and then he would come up with a plan, if this world was as similar as he feared. The first signs of Thanos could already be present. He couldn’t have the accords happen, he couldn’t have the Avengers split up, the snap, Mr. Starks Death, Quinten Beck, and he couldn’t fuck with the multiverse.
‘Tony Stark’
Pressing the answer, Peter was greeted by Stark Tech, the Avengers, missions of heroes. Scanning through the wiki, everything seemed.. The same? Which was alarming.
‘2012 alien attack, avengers.’
Low and behold the countless articles on the Chitauri’s attack on New York stared back at him. This was bad.
‘SHEILD security division’
Peter pressed enter, his spidey sense pricking the back of his neck. He knew it was risky, but he needed to know if the leak had happened already. It had. SHEILD had been revealed to the public… the accords were already going to become an issue, but maybe- just maybe he still had time. It was 2014, the Civil War happened in 2016. His options were limited and time sensitive and the avengers must be in the process of disbanding. Peter's hands shook as he searched again.
‘Peter Parker’
No relevant results.
‘Spiderman’
No relevant results.
‘Thanos’
No relevant results.
What- what had set it off, what had started it? The Winter soldier.. Bucky Barnes, right?
‘Bucky Barnes.’
The only results were on the missing soldier, nothing related to the winter soldier. Okay… so information was limited to the public, Peter didn’t have much- the back of his neck suddenly prickled and he shot up in his seat, turning to face a woman who was looking over his shoulder. She had red curly hair and was wearing a black sweater, dark jeans, and some tennis shoes. She had on a pair of glasses, having fallen to the tip of her nose as she glanced down at the computer screen before calmly traveling to Peter.
“You’re-.” Blackwidow, Peter had seen her before in passing when he was going through some files with Mr. Stark, when he fought Captain America's team, she had died during the initial struggle to get the infinity stones. There- she was staring critically at him. His senses had been tingling but he thought it was just his anxiety or the librarian watching him, when had she- how long had she been watching him.
“You know some very interesting things, little solider.” She spoke, her voice hushed as she leaned over, deleting all the search history off of the computer before turning back to him.
“Although… something makes me doubt you are trained properly… so… who are you?” She narrowed her eyes as she pulled him over to a section behind a bookcase, away from the prying eyes of the passersby.
“... you… I- I’m just researching for a school project-”
“Aren’t you supposed to be IN school?” Natasha quickly responded, grabbing a knife from her belt and going to press it against his throat.
Driven by his instinct, Peter managed to catch her hand without realizing. He froze, staring at the knife and then up to her before letting out an undignified squeak and letting her wrist go, holding his hands up.
“I didn’t mean to miss Black Window ma’am.” He whispered as he took a step back.
Natasha stared at him, looking back to her knife then to him.
“... Who trained you?” She raised an eyebrow at his contrasted demeanor and clear skills. Was it just a good act? She couldn’t tell. He was just a kid- but then again, so was she when she started.
“... You aren’t hydra, you wouldn’t have been nearly as reckless to search them up.” She muttered, narrowing her eyes.
Peter's eyes widened and he shook his head.
“No- no Im-” He froze and realized something.
Thanos was coming- he could feel it… maybe if he warned the Avengers about breaking up he could stop it? But no, it wouldn’t be that easy. What could he do?
Natasha put a hand on his shoulder, drawing his attention back to her.
“You should come with me, so we can talk.” She whispered with narrowed eyes as she stared down at him, making him gulp in fear. It wasn’t an ask, he knew that.
“I’m-” Should he? See Mr. Stark? See everyone and explain everything? No- it was too risky… too risky for a friendly neighborhood Spiderman… he had to be something different. Find a way to save the Avengers and bring them together. Peter was going to save them in this universe, he would make sure of that no matter the cost.
“Okay, let's go.”
Natasha nodded at his acceptance and led him out of the library, holding his wrist as he walked. The librarian glanced over before snorting, probably assuming the woman was his mother and he had gotten caught skipping. Now that Peter thought about it… Black Widow really did remind him of May. Strong and scary when she wanted to be. The thought stung a bit but he pushed it aside as they walked.
Opening the door to her car, Natasha motioned for him to get into the passenger seat as she got into the driver side. He did and shakily buckled his seatbelt, earning an eyebrow quirk from the woman next to him. He… recognized this car. It was one of Mr. Starks-
Peter couldn’t help himself as he reached forward to the consol and tapped the screen, resulting in a holoprojection showing up. It was in the earlier phases, Mr. Stark hadn’t fully implemented the tech into his vehicles until 2015 after all- Peter had been the one to help him with some of it when Mr. Stark decided to teach him more about engineering… he missed Mr. Stark.
“How did you do that?” Natasha asked, her brow furrowed as she started to drive, glancing to the side at the young boy.
Being brought out of his thoughts, Peter remained quiet before taking a deep breath.
“I designed a few things like it…” he muttered out, shakily altering some of the settings on it, resulting in the hologram's picture clearing. It wasn’t much, but it may help prove his claim.
“Or did you hack into Starks files?” Natasha asked accusingly, her eyes on the road, although she seemed sure he had some sort of motives.
“No… well- yes… once, but it wasn’t this stuff.” Peter stuttered out, referring to the training wheels protocol before he paused, realizing he technically hadn’t, at least not in this universe.
“... Nevermind.” He was too caught up in his memories.
Natasha hummed, the rest of the rise going in silence as they pulled up to the tower, she got into the parking garage before leading him inside. They got into the elevator.
“Jarvis, bring me to the team. Tell them to be ready for an interrogation.”
Peter paused, hesitating before forcing himself to relax. At least she wasn’t trying to hide it, although it didn’t let his nerves fair any better. He stayed silent before thinking again.
“Jarvis?” He mumbled quietly as the elevator went up.
“Starks AI, thought you would have known all about it.” She narrowed her eyes carefully.
“... That's it-” Peters eyes widened and he looked up at her.
“I have information I can give you- information you need.”
Natasha studied him carefully, confusion clear in her features as she nodded.
“... save it for the interrogation, unless its about-”
“No- I don’t know anything about you, honest- or Hydra- or SHEILD. But- I do know I can help with what's coming.” Peter managed, scared he wasn’t doing the right thing.
“... alright.” The elevator opened and they walked out, Steve Rodgers, Tony Stark, and Clint Barton were there, talking with a meeting room cleared out behind them. They clearly didn’t exactly have an interrogation room, so they were making work with what they had.
Steve was the first to speak up.
“Nat, whos the kid-”
Peter walked in next to Natasha, glancing up. His gaze locked onto Tony and his breath hitched as he stared at the man with wide eyes, holding back tears.
Tony shifted and gave Peter a confused and uncomfortable glance.
“Why’s he looking at me like that-”
Natasha grabbed Peter by his shoulder and left him to the room, sitting him down before she leaned against the wall.
“I just so happened to be at the library, when I saw him searching up some very…. Concerning things. The librarian assumed I was his caretaker for some reason since I came in after him.” She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
“He knows a LOT about Hydra, Shield, and for some reason, I think he knows about Barnes.”
Steve froze, glancing at the kid carefully.
“Is he Hydra-”
“No, he's sincere. He's smart, but…” she glanced over to Peter.
“A shitty liar.” Natasha said before holding up her wrist which now had a hand shaped bruise forming. The bruise that Peter had grabbed-
“He has powers, super strength.”
The room froze, staring at Nats wrist and the kid.
Peter paused, looking at her wrist.
“I am- so so sorry- sometimes I don’t know my own strength and you did pull a knife on me-”
“You pulled a knife on him?!” Steve suddenly yelled, running a stressed hand down his face.
“He’s fine.” Natasha glanced back over to Peter.
“Name, now.”
“Oh- um… Peter..” He said quietly, not looking up as he couldn’t bring himself to look at Tony or Natashas wrist.
“Last name kid. Jarvis, search up any missing kids that match his description.” Tony spoke up
“No records matching the child's description.”
Tony walked over and narrowed his eyes.
“So he's a liar.”
“I’m not-” Peter was interrupted, looking away nervously.
“Who are you.” Natasha said simply, her gaze piercing as she stared down at Peter.
“Explain.”
“I’m not fro-” Peter cut himself off as he felt his spidey sense go off.
… he wasn't in danger. No, it was the same as when he had started to search up stuff on the library's computer, he was making a mistake.
“... I have access to a lot of information… for reasons I cannot explain. I just… know you need to stay together, if the Avengers split up, you’ll lose so much- everything.” he whispered before suddenly standing up, it felt as though the world around him slowed down as the hero's eyes widened at his sudden movement. He jumped up, attaching his hand to the ceiling before gripping a vent above him and breaking it, climbing up. He felt a sickening crunch as something hit his leg when he climbed up but his adrenaline was keeping him going. He climbed through the vents before reeling back and using his undamaged let to kick out of the side, throwing himself out, he ran on instincts before he realized he didn’t have enough time to crawl down before the iron suit would get to him-
His neck tingled and he launched himself off the side of the building before aiming his hands at a nearby building and- he shot webs, swinging through the city at fast speeds before he his senses went off and he suddenly darted into an alley, running and weaving in between buildings as an ironman suit flew by. He pulled himself up and ran until he made it to his house. His senses finally stopped and he laid on the floor, trying to catch his breath. He just ran from the Avengers, from Tony. But it wasn’t his home- he couldn’t be risky like that. A coincidence like that was dangerous, could harm the timeline, make things worse. He already messed with the timeline once, with the universe once- Peter had to be more careful. He needed to disappear and find a way to help from the shadows.
… his stomach rumbled painfully, bringing him out of his thoughts.
He still needed a change of clothes and that food first.