Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Chased by the Avengers
Peter pushed his way through the stampede of students, Ned and MJ nowhere to be seen. There was no sign of Flash, thank god for that. He couldn't be late to the orphanage today or Mr. Martin would beat him black and blue, not that he didn't do that on a daily basis already. The bruise on his abdomen from yesterday had barely faded. The social worker was coming today and he couldn't afford to come anything but on time. Peter had his textbook pressed protectively against his chest and when the hallways cleared up, he entered his locker combination and transferred a few items from his bag to the inside of his locker, including the textbook.
Guy in the Chair (Ned): Hey man! sorry I couldn't walk home with you,
I finally saved up enough for the lego deathstar and mom
said she wouldn't drive me to get it if I wasn't early out of
school
Peter-man (Peter): Don't worry about it, dude. Lego deathstar?
AWESOME!
Scary Lady (MJ): Hey loser. Don't wait for me, I left already. Mom and dad are
going on a business trip so I had to leave to get the house keys
from them and the whole 'don't open the door to any strangers'
sort of speech
Peter-man (Peter): I'm sure glad I've never had speech
Peter strides down the steps outside, two at a time after switching off his cracked phone when his spider-sense began to buzz. He narrowly missed a shove from Flash.
"I'm not in the mood, flash," muttered Peter.
"What? Got somewhere to be?"
"Yes, actually." He snapped.
"Aww, look. Is Orphan Penis Parker upset? Did mommy forget to draw a heart on the note she put in his lunch? Oh, wait! He doesn't have one!" Flash and his friends laughed.
Peter bit his lip to prevent a retort slipping out when he was pushed down the last few remaining steps. Groaning, he wiped the blood from his nose when the kicks started coming in.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Spiderman," stated Tony Stark, a hologram of the superhero swinging over a road on replay. "Vigilante in Queens who usually swings around at night helping old ladies cross roads, getting cats out of trees and stopping bank robberies. Suspected to be an enhanced, blah blah, what Fury wants us to do is see who's under the mask, bring 'im in, make sure he's not a threat and keep this all hidden from Ross." With a flick of his wrist, the hologram disappeared.
"Keeping this away from Ross is easy enough," Started Steve.
"But getting the identity could be hard." Finished Clint.
Natasha rolled her eyes. "We're the avengers. This is fairly easy. Just ask him 'nicely' with most the group which will probably be intimidating. If not, use force. The team against one - we'll have him in no time.
"I already had a plan in mind. Fri? Do the honours for me?" Tony cut in.
The hologram reappeared but this time showing random locations with loads of little 'x''s dotted about. Tony pointed at each individual 'x' and saying where each avenger was to be, what direction Spiderman would go for as it would seem like an unguarded spot, and the plan to catch him.
"As weirdly professional this is of you, Stark, Let's go spider-hunting."
"Thats the spirit, Legolas!"
"I swear to god if you call me that one more time-"
"Don't worry, I won't, Catniss."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter groaned again as he used his elbows to prop himself up. He would definitely be late.
'Of all days for Flash to beat me up, it had to be today, didn't it?' Peter thought, bitterly.
He picked up his backpack which had been thrown across the ground before taking painful steps back to the orphanage. Everywhere it ached and each movement sent an electrifying shock of agony through his body. The bruise on his stomach had gotten worse as his stomach was where most of the hits had been aimed.
His legs wobbled underneath him. Finally, he reached the orphanage but hesitated. Did he really want to go back? Did he want to go back to a place which lacked what it was supposed to be - safe, providing food and giving a sense of comfort of which would enable it to the title 'home'?
He shook the thought of running away out of his head before using a shaking hand to turn the doorknob.
He was met by an empty room lacking the small children fearfully but obediently sitting in their little groups on the floor, instead a small table with two people replacing them. One was Mr. Martin, who was glaring menacingly at the approaching teenager and the other person was Miss. Richards, the social worker who was beaming a fake smile at him.
"Please take a seat, Mr. Parker," she said, her soft voice drifting towards him as she motioned towards an empty chair. He walked forwards and slowly lowered himself down onto it.
"Let's begin, shall we? Peter, how has your stay been here?"
"Wonderful, ma'am." Peter lied through his teeth.
"Well, that's good to hear." Something was off.
"Care to explain your..." she gestured to his face.
"Tripped on the way... home," He shrugged, his entire posture changing as he spat the word 'home' like a bad taste.
"Hmm... you got cuts and bruises from tripping over?"
"Well... I... tripped and fell into a tree?" He said, making it sound more like a question than a statement. She still looked unconvinced, and Peter didn't even know why he was trying so hard as he knew she didn't even care in the first place. "I tripped, fell into a tree, and... rolled into a rose bush." She raised an eyebrow. "Okay, then after that I... got up and walked into another tree."
Seriously, Parker!?
She looked more confused than anything. "I swear I did!" By now Mr Martin was staring daggers at him but Miss Richards just sighed, bringing a hand through her straight, long, blonde hair.
"Okay, well, assuming everything is well at school as I have seen your grades, how would you feel about getting adopted?"
Peter stilled.
"Excuse me?"
No, no, no no no no no.
Miss Richards exhaled impatiently through her nose. "There really is no way to sugarcoat this. You should be happy, Peter! It's a wonder a 15 year old kid with a record like yours has even been considered by a couple."
Peter remained silent.
"Please don't mess this up and be grateful. They are coming next week and if these people don't work out, you're in a group home for life. They are nice people, Peter. You'll see."
Peter was silent for a few seconds before he began to stutter and shout.
"Well, I, I... wait aren't I supposed to get a say in this!?"
"Peter..." warned Mr Martin.
"NO! DON'T! YOU'VE JUST TOLD ME... you've just told me... YOU CAN'T DECIDE THIS!"
"Your the child and we're the adults. We are responsible for you. Now, please try to calm down and-"
It was all getting too much. The lights were too bright, the cars honking their horns outside got too loud, the wind howling outside and the shouting drunkards, the rough, plastic chair rubbing him raw and it was all making his head hurt.
He pushed his chair back and winced as it squeaked on the floor. Ignoring their shouts, he ran to the door, pushed it open and went to the closest alleyway before changing into his suit and scaling up the wall.
On the roof he usually went to relax to, his spider-sense was a faint buzzing at the back of his head but Peter couldn't find it in him to care. Everything was buzzing after he had been told that he was going to be adopted.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When everyone went to the roof spider-man was usually on, what they were not expecting to find was him already there three hours earlier than expected. Cap quickly told Tony on comms not to come yet as they didn't want to startle the vigilante with the sound of the iron man repulsers, which would let spidey know of their presence. Only Tony was already there, which scared the heck out of Steve when he felt a metal hand tap his shoulder.
Silently, they went to their positions. Well, this was certainly a sight. The superhero had his legs dangling off the edge of the building, his mask off (they could only see the back of his head, a bunch of brown curls) and he appeared to be crying. The man's body shook with each silent sob, his mask clenched in a fist.
Clint was hidden on a higher roof, his bow and arrow in hand, Tony ready to walk out into the open and talk to the vigilante whilst the others were hidden in the corners of the roof, concealed by the darkness. At the sound of the metallic, heavy feet of the iron-man suit on the roof Spiderman's form shot up, back straight as he yanked his mask back on.
"Hello, Spiderman."
The man got up and looked behind him to see iron man step out of the shadows. Spiderman took a few steps forwards.
"We would like you to come with us, please. You know what? Scratch that. You will come with us. Willingly or unwillingly. Which one's it going to be, Spidey?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Too many thoughts ran through his head.
"Willingly, or unwillingly, I will beat your ass. It's your fault May is dead. Hear me? Your fault. It's your fault your parents are dead. Worthless. Everything will be better with you gone," Spat Uncle Ben, hatred dripping from every word.
Willingly, or unwillingly. Willingly or unwillingly.
"Hey Einstein! We always play your games, and now I'm sad. Let's play my game! See these pictures? Much better than your science stuff, isn't it? C'mon, Einstein! Let's try and copy what those people are doing! Won't it be fun!" Peter hesitated. It looked anything but fun, those pictures looked terrifying. "Willingly or unwillingly, Einstein, you do what I want." Whispered Skipp, thinking Peter couldn't hear. If only he knew...
Willingly or unwillingly. Willingly or unwillingly.
Snap out of it, Parker!
Peter shuddered.
"I'm sorry but I can't do that. Got a secret identity for a reason and I don't want to go with you and be interrogated by a bunch of shield agents. See ya around!" Called Peter with fake enthusiasm, and he added a wave for the show, but when he turned around there was Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff in his way. Peter stumbled backwards.
"Wasn't exactly asking, Spiderman." Added Rhodey, stepping out to the left of Peter. He was surrounded - a wall to his right, Black Widow and captain America in front of him, Iron man behind and War-machine to his left. When he thought it couldn't get worse, Bruce banner, holding a syringe of a drug most likely for him, filled the gap between War-machine, Cap and Black Widow.
"Last chance," warned Captain America.
"No." Peter said firmly, trying his best to stop his lip from wobbling. That was when arrows started being shot in his direction from the roof the wall to his right was supporting. With a yelp, Peter dodged them all and lunged in the area between Iron Man and War-Machine.
If only they knew it was all a plan.
Captain America was using his enhanced self to jump across the buildings whilst running at a rapid pace, Black widow doing the same but only slower as the gap between the buildings was only around a half a metre. Bruce banner carefully stepped over each gap, making sure to not drop the syringe whilst Hawkeye travelled a few roofs, relying on his bow and arrow to shoot far enough. He stopped aiming though when spidey began to swing away from the buildings. Peter shot a web Rhodey's repulsor, making the beam coming out of his hand stutter, forcing him to lower himself onto a nearby roof to avoid a crash landing. Tony meanwhile was struggling to keep up with the vigilante. He shot burning beams out of his repulsors, leaving a steaming circle of whatever it landed on burnt. Eventually, when Peter took an unexpected turn back towards the buildings, he lost Iron Man.
He began to slow his pace whilst swinging, heart threatening to beat out of his chest as it thumped against his ribs. In his relief, however, he didn't see Captain America's shield. It sliced through his web, sending him flying onto the roof of a building and sprawled there. Groaning he tried to get back up when he felt the one and only Steve Rogers jump onto him, pinning Peter to the ground. Cap held Peters hands behind his back, trying not to put his entire weight on the vigilante or it would squish him.
Peter heard cap talking into his comms. "I've got Spider-man."
Peter struggled under the strong grip, squirming. "Get... off of... me!"
Cap noticed a faint Queens accent. "No can do, Queens. We have to wait for the others."
Oblivious to this, Peter began to panic.
"Get off of me! I don't like it! I don't-" His voice was cut off by his own sobs. Skipp was holding Peter down on his belly so that he couldn't move.
"We always play your games, Einstein, we never play my games!"
The six year old just cried harder.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve grunted whilst trying to keep the man held down.
"Get... off of... me!" Spiderman said, his voice strained as he continued to try and twist his wrists free.
"No can do, Queens. We have to wait for the others."
He stilled for a few seconds before he began to hyperventilate, pulling at his wrists more, kicking his legs harder. Spider-man was thrashing about beneath Steve.
Steve had seen Tony when he was about to have a panic attack and from what he knew, Spidey was panicking right now. On the verge of a panic attack.
"Stop! I don't want to-" He head the man plea silently. "STOP!"
"Uh... can you just hurry up?" Asked Steve into the comms. "The spider's gone crazy. What are the signs of going mental again? Signs of Schizophrenia..?"
"I won't be there anytime soon. I don't jump from roof to roof crazily fast due to enhancements, dumbass," said Natasha, sounding out of breathe.
"I don't know where you are so I can't come with the drug," Steve heard Bruce.
"Don't know where you are either." Said Clint.
"He webbed my repulsor. I can't go anywhere unless I walk which is tiring," said Rhodey, earning an eye roll.
"I'll take ages. Fri is acting up and isn't tracking you. Just take off the mask, scan it with the Stark Tech I gave you and run facial recognition."
Spiderman's voice no longer sounded all broken, scared and frantic. He had probably snapped out of it, but he still sounded young.
"Don't touch me! Gerroff!"
Steve reached for the mask.
"Hey!" called Spiderman, trying to move his head out the way. He was wriggling about trying to get away from Steve. To stop the kicking, cap put one of his legs against Spiderman's, holding them down whilst the other tried to hold Steve up so that, again, his entire weight didn't crush spidey.
It might've helped the situation if he wasn't so forceful when pulling the mask off to be met by young, wide, brown doe eyes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was a nightmare. a literal nightmare.
He felt as the barrier protecting his skin from the harsh wind was removed, the cold breeze smacking him. But that wasn't his priority right now. He had locked eyes with Captain America with no mask on. Captain America knew what he looked like.
"Your a kid," he said, gawking. Peter struggled more. He needed out. "How old are you?" Steve suddenly demanded. "Who are you!?"
"None of your business, cap. I thought the great Captain America was all about personals rights and boundaries?"
Staring at the young face, Steves grip softened which is when Peter took his chance. He punched Steve bang on in the nose, snatched his mask and jumped off the edge of the roof, swinging his way over to Ned's.
Well, shit.