Aftermath
The ride in the Quinjet has been a quiet one. None of the present Avengers feel like celebrating. They defeated the Phoenix Five, but it was a hollow victory due to the loss of dear friends, shattered trust, and the frightening unpredictable future. After the fight, the X-Men decided to just find their own way home. Most of them at least. A small number of them ran because they knew they made mistakes that would not be so easily forgiven.
A few X-Men did want to come with the Avengers to collect Spider-Mans body, Iceman because he was close to him and Kitty and Rogue for moral support for him and Logan, but some of the Avengers didn't welcome their presence. And the three couldn't blame them. Only Logan was allowed to go with the hero team since he still had their trust.
And after hearing from Hope that she revived many of the lives lost except the two they would have been overjoyed to hear…
-well the feeling of guilt and shame only grew.
Said young woman is sitting in the cockpit of the Quinjet looking out the window as they fly over the mountains of China.
Her gaze is not focused on anything or anywhere, just letting it sweep the landscape as her mind is elsewhere. Trying to understand why she couldn't do what she was able to do for so many others. Why the Phoenix resisted and even fought with her on bringing back both Xavier and Spider-Man.
The only other occupant in the room that was flying the Quinjet was Natasha Romanoff, AKA the Black Widow. And she can pretty much guess what the younger of the two is thinking of.
Widow glances at her, "Don't beat yourself up kid," she says as she looks back ahead while Hope keeps her attention out the window, "You saved the world and you managed to bring back a lot of lives lost."
Not looking away from the window, Hope morosely responds, "But it wasn't enough. I couldn't bring everyone back."
Nat's face becomes blank, "It's not a perfect win, but still a win."
A moment of silence passes, "The Phoenix wouldn't let me bring them back," she says making the former KGB fully look at her for a second, "When I tried to bring back Professor Xavier, the Phoenix got so mad. It showed me how much it hated him. How it felt when Xavier locked it in a cage inside Jean Grey's mind. And how he was hurting Jean in doing so."
Widow is not surprised. She's read the SHIELD files on the late and how Charles was afraid of her immense power and tried to help her by containing it.
"And it was because of that, she couldn't properly grow into her powers."
That gets Widow's attention.
She looks at the younger girl beside her questioningly, "What do you mean?" Natasha asks as she looks back and forth between the young mutant and the skies.
Hope looks down in thought as she explains, "Jean was the perfect avatar for it. Somehow the Phoenix knew she would be able to control all the power it had," she closes her eyes and sighs, "But because of Xavier essentially stunting her growth, the power overwhelmed her," she fully turns to Widow, "That's why everyone who wields that power eventually loses their minds. Because that power was too much for them."
"And Jean would have handled it better?" Natasha asks.
Hope nods in response.
Huh. That's something Natasha was not aware of. And if that is the case then that will complicate things with Scott Summer's trial, since the man killed Xavier while he was wielding the Phoenix Force.
She can only imagine how Logan will feel about this.
"What about Spider-Man?" Black Widow asks, "I know he's had interactions with the original X-Men, but I doubt he's done anything to earn the same hate from the Phoenix."
"He didn't."
The former KGB gazes curiously at Hope as the young mutant looks at her lap in confusion, "Then why didn't it let you bring him back.?"
Hope shrugs helplessly, "That's just it, I don't know. I mean with Xavier it showed me why it wouldn't do that, but with Spider-Man…" she looks at her hands as she clenched them, "It was like I was pushing a brick wall. It wouldn't move. It didn't want me to do anything to him. And what it felt wasn't anger or anything like that, hell I couldn't even tell what it was."
Well, that wasn't very helpful. Widow knows she can't blame the kid, Hope herself barely understands what happened with her "destiny" and all, but that doesn't mean she's not annoyed.
If what she's telling her is true, then the Phoenix had no reason not to bring back Spider-Man. Which could have gone a long way in mending the torn relations between Avengers and X-Men. Then again, the Phoenix had no obvious reason not to do it. It didn't show Hope why, just that it didn't want to. And though Romanov doesn't understand cosmic beings as well as others, she does know that they do small things for big reasons.
"Did you know him?"
She's brought out of her musing as she looks to the younger woman who is looking at her curiously.
"You mean did I know who he was underneath his mask?" Nat clarifies.
Hope nods with a smile that made it seem like the question she asked has had similar responses.
Widow muses for a moment before answering, "No. Most of us didn't know him. Couldn't exactly blame him for it either."
How sighs with a downtrodden expression, "Because of what's happened."
"Recent events are just the tip of the iceberg," Widow says, "I may be an Avenger, but I'm also a spy, so trust is not something I give or receive easily," before she can elaborate more she announces, "We're here."
Hope looks out the window and sees the temple of K'un Lun. The plane lands with a hiss and moments later some of the Avengers disembark. At the forefront, Captain America with Iron Man, Wolverine, Thing, and Thor. They see Ms. Marvel standing by Yu Ti. Black Widow decides to stay in the Quinjet.
"Captain Rogers," Yu Ti greets him, "It is good to see you are all in one piece."
The WWII vet nods in greeting, "Appreciate that," he says before his face becomes solemn, "We're here for Spider-Man's body."
Yu Ti nods in understanding, "Of course. I already sent some students to retrieve his body," he then bows his head in respect, "Please offer my condolences to any loved ones he may have."
Rogers nods and says, "We will. Thank you."
Yu ti then looks to Hope and says, "I'm glad to see you've fulfilled your destiny."
Hope's melancholy expression doesn't leave as she says, "Too bad I didn't do a better job at it."
Yu Ti shakes his head and says, "Life is never so simple. There are always moments that are-"
"Master!"
Everyone present jumps at the shout and look to see one of the monks rushing towards the Kung-Fu Master.
Seeing his frantic students face Yu Ti quickly asks, "What is it?"
"You must come quick! Something strange has happened to the foreigner's body!"
"What?!" All present heroes shout in shock, anger, and disbelief. All the flyers, which consisted of Iron Man, Thor, and Ms. Marvel took off while the rest traveled on foot.
The ones on foot got there in time to see Ms. Marvel and Thor leaning on pillars on either side of the temple with horrified expressions on their faces.
Captain America walks up to them and asks, "What is it?"
Thor shakes his head as his face slowly becomes angry and thunder overhead begins to loom, "I swear, in the name of my father, I will show whatever foul creature is responsible for this wickedness no mercy."
Cap was going to ask his fellow Avenger to explain before he heard Hope say, "Oh God."
He turns to her and sees she and the other heroes he came with on foot, which consisted of Wolverine, Iron Fist, and The Thing, are standing at the entrance of the temple with various expressions. Iron Fist a mortified one, Logan with a shocked perplexed expression, The Thing shaking in barely contained anger with tears forming in his eyes, and young Hope shocked and dismayed with eyes wide and hands cupped over her mouth.
He goes to look inside himself and is shocked at what he sees.
The body of Spider-Man is a husk with his body opened from head to crotch. Iron Man standing by it with his back turned to them.
Meanwhile, Carol goes to one of the monks and roughly grabs him by the collar, picks him up, and angrily asks, "Who did this!?"
"Carol!"
She ignores her fellow Avenger's shout and focuses on the monk she is holding who says, "W-we do not know! We came to retrieve his b-body as Master Yu Ti instructed us to and that is how we found him!"
She drops him, seeing how useless his information is, and looks to Logan, "Can you pick up a scent?"
Logan looks at her before he sniffs the air, "Might take me a minute," he says, "There's been a lot of visitors so I need time to find the one that stands out."
She growls in frustration before she paces back and forth.
Meanwhile, Cap steps into the temple to get a closer look at the body. He stops beside Tony but doesn't look at him. His focus is entirely on the body in front of them. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.
'This wasn't supposed to happen,' he thinks to himself, 'Not to someone like him. Not to a kid who has tried to do the right thing with what life throws at him.'
He opens his eyes and looks at his friend. Though he can't see his face due to the faceplate, he can assume he is dismayed and angry.
Steve places a comforting hand on the man's shoulder and says, "We'll find who did this Tony. We won't-"
"Does this look familiar to you?"
Steve reels back at the sudden question and a rather odd question, "What?"
Iron Man's faceplate lifts up and Tony's face shows nothing but curiosity about what's in front of him.
He gestures to the husk and asks, "This. Does this look familiar to you?"
The war veteran was going to ask what he was talking about before it hit him.
"Actually," Captain America starts as he feels an itch in his brain about what he sees in front of him, "Now that you mention it, there is something familiar about this."
Have they seen this before? Why can't they remember? It's like there is fog blocking the memory.
"Got something!"
They both turn around and see the rest of the Avengers rushing off behind Logan.
Iron Man's faceplate comes back down, "C'mon. We don't want them tearing this place apart after these people were so hospitable," he says before he flies off with Cap at his heels.
They quickly catch up to the others with Wolverine leading them. Going through the hidden city, and in some cases being slightly rude to the denizens, they eventually arrive at an area Hope is familiar with.
The entrance to the Scrying Vessel Of Bo-Ling.
"Stop!" Master Yu Ti yells out to them just at the steps of the doors. He stops just behind the group, "Please, that is a sacred area! You cannot enter!"
Carol's hands glow with photon energy, "Buddy, our friend's corpse was just mutilated and the bastard that did this is on the other side of the door!" She points her hands to the door, "So I don't care if this is a church to the almighty himself!"
"Carol! Stand down!" Rogers shouts as he arrives at the scene.
Iron Man lands in front of the door and looks at it.
Carol lowers her hands and says, "Steve, whoever did that to Spider-Man is on the other side of this door! We can't just let them get away with this!"
"Might not be so simple Danvers," Iron says, grabbing all of the hero's attention as he lands in front of them facing the door.
"Wat are ya talkin' about chrome dome," Thing asks in frustration, clearly itching to hit something.
Iron Man turns around to face his friends, "I'm saying there might be more going on," he looks directly at Yu Ti, "You said this is a sacred place? Which means only those with permission can enter. So any chance you can give some of us permission."
Almost all the Avengers give looks that suggest they are not happy with this idea.
Yu Ti quickly comes up with the names as he steps past the heroes and stops at the doors, "I shall allow Daniel and young Hope to enter."
The heroes that arrived itching for a fight look ready to protest but stop when Cap speaks, "All right we understand. But if we hear anything that doesn't sound good, we'll have no choice but to barrel through those doors."
While that placates his fellow Avengers slightly, Yu Ti didn't like it. But after mulling it over for a second he reluctantly nods in understanding.
"Very well," he says before he opens the doors and gestures inside, "Come Daniel, Hope, let us see what is waiting for us."
Iron Fist doesn't hesitate to enter while Hope does for a second before she sets her face in determination. Yu Ti closes the doors as soon as they walk through.
They descend down the steps and Hope recollects the first time she came in here not too long ago. Sitting in front of the pool with a cherry blossom tree hanging over it. Some petals fell in with a soft wind blowing. It was a nice place to be in.
'This place confirmed that I was meant to use the Phoenix Force to restore mutants' she thinks to herself as they climb down the steps, 'And now someone is using it to hide from the Avengers,' the thought makes her clench her fist, 'If it's an X-Men who was still with Scott when everyone else pretty much bailed then they are in a world of trouble.'
She would have continued her train of thought had it not been for her bumping into Iron Fist's back as she reached the bottom of the steps.
"Hey," she calls out to him and Yu Ti who is also standing still she steps around, "What are guys-"
Her eyes widen in shock at what she sees. A massive webbed cocoon hangs on the cherry blossom tree that is by the pool of water.
"What the hell is that?" Hope asks as the three of them take cautious steps forward.
Yu Ti inspects it closely with his hand hovering over it, "I haven't the foggiest idea."
Hope steps beside him and leans forward to get a better look, but is careful to not lean in so much to fall in the pool.
"Weird," she states as she goes to touch it, "Is this some kind of-"
It jerks violently and the three of them take a huge step back. They hear some squelching sounds from the cocoon and not a moment later it starts to swell. Blood and other liquid substances begin to leak out into the pool. The three of them are disturbed by this but become truly aghast when something bloody pops out and falls into the pool along with what looks like chunks of meat.
Hope vomits a little in her mouth, while Daniel and Yu Ti merely look on. Waiting to see what fell in the small body of water.
Dying hurt. It hurt like hell. He had a hell sword plunged through his chest by a mutant magician. And as weird as that was-
-having being born again as a grown man is weirder.
And way more painful!
Splash!
The cold water is certainly soothing some of the pain. Until after a few seconds later he needs to breathe for the first time in his new life.
He quickly stands up, takes a deep breath, and shouts, "AARGHM AALLIIIIIIVEEE!" Peter then feels the cold wind hit him and wraps his arms around himself, "Oh g-god that's-s cold!"
He just remembers that K'un Lun is hidden somewhere high up in some snowy mountains, so the cold was to be expected.
"C-c-could've at l-least p-put me in the h-hot springs," he mutters to himself as he looks around the area to see where he is, "A b-botanical garden, while a n-nice place, it's-" Peter stops talking as he sees who is standing behind him.
Iron fist and Master Yu Ti with surprised expressions on their faces, 'At least I think so, hard to tell with Yu Ti's face covered,' and Hope, who looks shocked too, has her eyes covered thanks to Danny placing his hand over them, 'Why would he-oh right.'
He looks down and sees he is naked as the day he was born, and the irony of that is not lost on him, and standing in the middle of a small pond that he assumes is sacred to this place. So Peter does what he does best.
"E-excu-cuse m-me," he tries to say but the cold wind makes it hard, "This is n-not a p-peep show."
Bad humor with poor timing.
'Yeah, my sense of humor definitely had a part in me being killed.'
(Death's Realm)
In the realm of Death, the embodiment of such is sitting on her throne of skulls in silent thought. Her mind is on what had transpired at the trial. On what she did.
Does she regret it? Death does not regret anything. She was at the beginning and she will be the end. So regrets are not something she has the privilege of.
Still, it does bother her. For some unfathomable reason, it bothers her. The original plan that Mephistopheles had, while obviously more for him, still would have been beneficial for her. Yet that plan went out the proverbial window the moment she did what she did.
She is taken out of her thoughts when she senses Uatu entering her domain. What could he possibly want?
"Mistress Death," Uatu greets politely.
Death does not respond, merely waits for him to explain why he is her domain.
"I came to thank you for your assistance in the trial."
She rolls her eyes. Of course he did. The fool thinks that whenever earth life is preserved then it should be celebrated.
Perhaps that is what bothers her. She is Death and she assisted in preserving life. And after mulling over it some more she realizes while she feels like that might be a big part but it's not the only reason.
She stands from her throne and descends the steps, "If you'll excuse me," she says as she reaches the bottom of the steps and walks past him, "I have some business to attend to."
With that, she leaves. Not waiting or even listening for a response, with a destination in mind.
Hell.
(K'un Lun)
"Ya ever croak on me again!"sniff" I'll come straight to the afterlife an' beat ya senseless for being so stupid!"
The scene in front of the doors that the Avengers team were ready to break down was one of Ben Grimm hugging a recently revived Spider-Man as hard as he can.
Said hero, covered head to toe in webbing to conceal his identity along with his modesty, is having a hard time breathing.
"Ben," he tries to choke out to his long-time friend, "I'd like to keep that promise. But you're making it kind of hard by making my spine touch my chest."
Iron Man places a hand on The Thing's shoulder, "All right big guy. Ease up on the dainty little spider."
Thing lets go of him and Spidey drops to the floor like a sack of potatoes. While the rocky hero rubs his eyes to clear his tears, Spider-Man is helped back to his feet by Captain America.
Steve pats him on his back with a soft smile on his face, "It's good to have you back soldier."
Spidey smiles back, "It's good to be back Cap," before looking at the billionaire Avenger and giving him the stink eye, "And I resent the dainty little spider comment."
Iron Man just shrugs, "Get thicker skin."
The rest of the Avengers say their 'welcome back' and 'happy you're alive again' speeches while Spider-Man just takes it all with a happy smile. And while they all are doing that, Wolverine stands on the side looking at the revived hero with suspicion.
Steve Rogers notices this, "Logan," he says grabbing everyone else's attention too, "What's wrong?"
The feral mutant keeps his sights on Spider-Man as he responds, "How do we know this is actually the webhead and not one of his or our enemies messing with us?"
Spider-Man doesn't immediately answer but through the web masked it appears a smile is slowly forming on his face, "I heard you cried."
Wolverine stays silent for three seconds before he turns and walks away, "Okay it's him."
All the heroes smile in amusement, a few try to cover their mouths, while Spider-Man shouts, "You cried for me."
"Shut up."
"You love me!"
"I will stab you!"
"You missed me!"
"Not anymore!"
Spidey watches his friend walk away with a big smile under his mask before looking at his fellow Avengers, "He missed me."
While most of them smile at his antics and are convinced that this is the real Spider-Man, Captain America looks at him with both an exhausted and happy smile, "Why do you feel the need to do that?"
Spidey shrugs, "I don't have anything better to do."
"Well nice to know that not even death can cure that bad sense of humor of yours," Iron Man says before he walks away, "I'll be in the Quinjet when you all are ready to leave."
And on that note, the heroes begin to leave.
"Spider-Man."
Master Yu Ti calls out to the revived hero. He walks to him with his hands behind his back.
"Yu Ti," the hero greets him politely. After he came back to life, the master martial artist just stayed behind at the pool after telling Hope and Danny to escort the webhead outside. While they did so, they told him what Yu Ti did for his body.
"Listen," Spidey says as he sticks his hand out for a handshake, "Thanks for taking care of me when I was dead."
Yu Ti looks down at it for a quick second before saying, "It was the least we can do for everything you've done."
The Queens-born hero blushes a bit and rubs his head bashfully with his other hand, "Aw shucks, you don't have to-" Peter stops talking when he feels and then sees Yu Ti placed a pole with a bag in his hand, "What's this?"
"I believe they call it a pool skimmer net in America," Yu Ti says as he also hands him a bucket, "You left quite a mess in the Scying Vessel of Bo-Ling."
"Wait what," Spidey looks back and forth between the tool and the martial artist, "You want me to-but I didn't-and it wasn't my-"
The green-garbed man decides to interrupt him, "I suggest you hurry before the meat gathers insects and the blood dries."
The man walks away, leaving the poor hero looking at him and the object in his hands incredulously. Spidey looks to his fellow heroes, Iron Fist Thing, Thor, Captain America, and Hope, who look very amused by this.
He gives them a dirty look as he says, "Yeah sure enjoy my misery while you can cause you guys are helping me clean."
Their smiles don't leave as they look at him questionably and Thing asks, "And how do ya figure dat."
"I died to save your lives!" Spider-Man says and dramatically points at them, "You owe me!"
He doesn't really mean that, but still. The fact that they are not even considering helping him after what he did is just mean.
And it seems Ms. Marvel picks up on that if the nod is any indication, "You know guys he's right. He did save our lives," the words are great but the tone does not fill him with confidence, especially when he often makes when he thinks he's funny appears on her face, "And someday we'll find a way to repay him. Bye!
"Farewell!
"Enjoy yourself!"
"Be sure to visit the kids!"
His jaw drops as he watches his supposed friends walk away without even looking back at him.
"Of all the-" he starts before he takes a breath before he lets out a humorless laugh, "Okay you know what, no. It's fine. It's fine. The next time you're all trapped in a cave WITH HELL WORMS SLOWLY FEEDING ON YOUR SOULS I WON'T COME AND SAVE YOU! OH NO, I WILL JUST SIT BACK AND GIGGLE LIKE A SCHOOLGIRL!"
He pants heavily after his rant that frankly he and they know is just an empty threat. Because he can't help but want to help.
'Because that's just the kind of person you are,' slumps at the sad thought. He turns around and sees Captain America and Hope still standing there.
Steve gives him a small smile, "I'll ask Yu Ti if he has any more skimmers."
"And I'll ask if he has any more buckets because I am not touching anything that came out of that cocoon of yours," Hope says with a look of disgust when she thought about his rebirth.
Peter's eyes water a bit before he goes to hug Hope, "You are now my favorite student."
"I'm your only student," she replies with her face smooshed into his chest and not returning the hug.
"Not true, I used to be a teacher," he tells her before he lets her go and hugs Cap, "And you are now my favorite Avenger."
Steve chuckles a bit as he pats the younger man's back, "Heh, okay Spider-Man. Let's just clean up whatever mess you made so we can go home."
Spidey lets go, and while Cap walks away, he turns his attention to Hope, "Okay my young padawan," he says with white a smile while Hope gives him an annoyed frown, "Time for you to apply what I taught you."
"You know damn well that other than your speeches you did not teach me a thing."
(Funtime, Inc. A Stark Enterprises Subsidiary)
Tony Stark sits in the Illuminati meeting room waiting for his fellow members to arrive. Rogers sent a message to him to call in Stephen Strange and Reed Richards for this since they were essentially the only members left to call. And the reason for the meeting is that Spider-Man needs to tell them something important.
And in that thought process, Tony goes back to what he went through when he saw the webhead's corpse. How it broke him inside to see him lifeless in Cap's arms.
He didn't understand why at first. Until it felt like some repressed memories were trying to come to the surface. He remembered working with some guy, whose face was a total blank, on some suits. He remembered how that same guy came to him for personal advice on his love life. And he remembered how that guy slipped on some spandex and became Spider-Man.
He remembered being a father figure to that guy.
And that's when it hit him, once told them that he cast a 'forget me' spell on the world so that everyone forgot who Spider-Man was underneath that mask after he revealed his identity because Tony convinced him to during the whole superhuman registration debacle. It hit Tony like a ton of bricks, and he would know what that feels like, that he lost the trust of someone who was like a son to him because he thought he knew better. And worse still he got that same kid killed because he thought he had another brilliant idea to save the world.
And frankly, it hit a little too close to home. Tony's relationship with his father was horrible. The man was an abusive drunk. Despite all the praises he's heard from people like Steve and Nick Fury, Tony never really got to see the best of his father. The man even thought he knew what was best for Tony and aimed to micromanage his life since he was a kid.
And the worse part is how much Tony is like him. Granted he may not be drinking anymore, but he still thinks like his old man. He still thinks he knows better and makes sure everyone knows it too. Hell, the Illuminati is a prime example of him thinking he can run the world better than anyone. All of this is an example of why Tony never wanted to be a father. Because he was afraid of how much he would be like his own.
Life certainly threw him a curveball when it came to Spidey. The memories, recently recovered they may be, showed how close he got with the kid. How much he mentored him in so many different ways. And how he blew it up by convincing the guy to side with him over Rogers in the Superhuman Registration act, and his life started to go to hell. He doesn't remember the specifics, he just knows it didn't end well.
"Doctor Stark."
He's brought out of his musing when he hears his name called out by a familiar voice.
"Doctor Richards," he greets back as he turns to look at his fellow genius and notices some redness in his eyes, "You look like you had a rough day."
Reed gives a hollow chuckle, "It's been a rough few days."
He was going to elaborate more when a portal opens up and they both know that means Strange is coming. They weren't expecting him to have company.
The first to come through is Steve Rogers, who seems to have gotten wet if the splotches on his suit and wet hair are any indication.
Followed by him were Spider-Man, who had two buckets in his hands, and they seem like they were in conversation, or is it an argument?
"I'm just saying if you waited that long you could've lent a hand."
"And I'm telling you I'm not going keep being your personal janitor. Clean up your own messes."
"Cheap shot."
Tony looks at the two with a raised eyebrow, "And what exactly are you two talking about."
"Well mister magic here," Spidey responds, and Stephen gives him a look that says he is not fond of the quip, "was waiting for me and Steve to finish up cleaning my placenta and I said it would have gone faster if he helped."
Stephen walks past the web-slinger in silence, obviously done having this conversation, and takes his seat.
Spider-Man looks to the other person in the room, "Hey Reed. It's been a minute."
Everyone becomes a bit surprised when Reed hugs Spider-Man with some tears leaking out.
The webhead himself is too, evident by his slightly wide eyes, "I guess Ben told you the good news."
Reed nods and lets him go but keeps his hands on his shoulders, "When Ben told us what happened, Sue and I were devastated. It became worse when we discovered that Franklin and Val were listening in."
"Oh god," Spider-Man says in dismay.
He loves those kids and they love him. Hell Franklin says that Spider-Man is his favorite all-time hero. The kid practically worships him. To hear that his favorite hero and surrogate uncle was killed, well it's not all that different from what he's been through.
"I'll come by to show them I'm okay as soon as I can," he tells Reed.
Richards smiles in gratitude, "Thank you. In all honesty, we were very worried when they started to devise doomsday weapons to use against the X-Men."
"Ooh that does not bode well for the X-Men," the young hero winces at the possibilities, "I've seen what those two can do when they try to help. I can only imagine what'll happen when they want to hurt someone."
Reed smiles in morbid amusement.
Meanwhile, the three men who are not part of the conversation merely watch on in silence. Steve and Stephen are slightly amused by this, but Tony isn't all that amused. He's more hurt than anything.
From what he can tell, he's the only person in this room that doesn't have Spider-Man's trust. Granted he understands why, but it still hurts him on a certain level. Especially with those incomplete memories he has that he kind of misses.
"Well," Tony says, grabbing everyone's attention, "as touching as this is, can we get to the reason you wanted to talk to us webhead."
He wants to roll his eyes at the tired looks he gets from the remaining members of his secret order but doesn't since he's kind of used to that. He's kind of surprised when the youngest one in the room doesn't give him a tired look but instead, it almost looks like he's amused.
"Sure thing Tony," Spider-Man says to him with a light tone, "But before that, I need to do something."
He walks over to stand in front of the billionaire genius and does something that shocks everyone in the room.
Spider-Man removes his web mask, smiles at Tony, and sticks his hand out, "My name is Peter Parker. Nice to meet you again Tony."
Tony is stunned silent at this. Not only because he can suddenly put a face on all the resurfaced forgotten memories, but also because he has the trust of Peter again. Yes, Peter Parker. Wisecracking genius goofball hero.
Not sure what to say, he just shakes the younger man's hand and tries not to choke when he says, "Nice to meet you again too kid."
Peter just smiles a happy smile.
The other three men in the room are just shocked at this. For as long as they have known the young hero, he has always been so reluctant in trusting others with his identity. Hell, when his identity was known worldwide he asked Strange to cast a spell for a mass mindwipe. And the only way someone can know who he is, was if Spider-Man willingly revealed his identity.
And he did not do that easily, even when they were fellow heroes, because he felt that that would put his loved ones in danger. And they did agree on some level, they had to deal with such things themselves, they still believed it would be better if he trusted his fellow heroes more.
And seeing him do that with Tony Stark, who while a great hero was also semi-responsible for the mass mindwipe, makes them wonder why he's suddenly so willing to trust the genius inventor again.
And they are not alone in this as Tony clears his throat and regains his bearings he asks, "So, not to say I don't appreciate this Pete," 'it feels weird to say his name again', "but what brought this on."
Peter's face becomes somber as he walks over to the front of the table and says, "Well there are some things that I need to tell you guys that I wouldn't be able to without trusting you and vice versa."
"What do you mean Peter?" Reed asks with a hint of worry.
Peter leans on the tables with his fists and takes a breath, "Me dying," he starts, "It was planned."
The Illuminati group members are surprised at this, "What?"
He lifts his head and looks at them with a stony expression, "The Phoenix was told to kill me by the Living Tribunal."