Chapter 7
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To say that Captain America was pissed that Peter had made it back inside of The Tower after the end of school would have been a gentle understatement cushioning the blow of reality.
The man had been infuriated.
"I thought I told you that if you left you wouldn't be allowed back in?" The man had growled.
"That's not your call to make. I'll have a talk with Fury about it if I need to and see what sort of compromise he can come up with." Peter let the underlying subtext of a threat dangle in the air. He could see Captain America working through the realization of how screwed he and some if not all of the others would be if Peter tattled to Fury.
"Well if you're staying here and having to leave for anything at all I suppose the adults within The Tower should set some ground rules. Like setting a Curfew and punishments for breaking Curfew, for instance."
The man tries to act like it was a real threat.
Peter tried not to, he really did, but he snorted a laugh that turned into giggles. "Oh that's funny." Peter replied with a slight wheeze between giggles. "I guess I'll have to talk to Fury about that too. Let him know Captain America thinks he can give me rules and assumes he can attempt to try to punish me if I break them."
"Well, you're a child and we're adults and Fury said to involve you in The Team Dynamic and as The Leader of The Avengers I have the authority to..."
"I would stop talking if I were you " Captain America tensed at the realization he had been caught at the sound of Fury's voice.
The man looked behind him then around the room and was puzzled at how close Fury's voice sounded yet the man wasn't even in the room.
"Where are you? How'd you get in here?" Steve asked trying to see where Fury might be hiding.
"Oh, I'm not there. I'm actually in Singapore. But that doesn't mean I can't be patched in via audio of The Tower's speakers. Peter called me and had me on Speaker the second you started chastising him for being back in The Tower. What was that bit about you thinking you could lock him out again? And don't try to skirt around the truth Peter had me on Speaker this morning as well. I think if anyone is in need of some kind of punishment it would be anyone involved in your hair brained scheme to try to lock Peter out of The Tower. Then add on top of that some kind of punishment for the way you basically just attempted to subtly threaten a child with senseless abuse if he can't follow an arbitrary rule you're attempting to set. Oh and how you just assumed you have the authority to attempt to carry through on your threat. I believe you just called yourself The Leader of The Avengers? Under whose authority are you Leader, exactly? Because from where I'm sitting those weren't the words or actions of any sort of Leader. As of right now none of The Original Avengers deserve the Title of Leader. So, as of right now none of The Original Avengers get to hold that title."
"You can't possibly be serious?" The man's voice pitched in angry inquiry "You're not really gonna let some kid off the street be The Leader of The Avengers?"
"Maybe that's exactly what I'm going to do." Fury replied with a hardened voice. "After all with you off The Team.."
"Wait... What?" Captain America asked. "You're not serious? You can't be."
"I can be and I am. I told all of you what would happen if you didn't start treating Peter like an equal that earned his place amongst you and deserves to be there. Attempting to give him rules you have no authority to give him and threatening to punish him with punishments you have no authority to carry out isn't how you should or would treat any of your other teammates and you know it."
"So, what exactly am I supposed to do, then?" Captain America asked.
"I don't know. Take art back up or something. You're going to be having a lot of free time since you're no longer part of The Team after all."
"You're really serious about kicking me off The Avengers Team?"
"I am."
"Look... What if I apologize? And try to.. Be better towards the kid?"
"I don't think I can trust you enough to not attempt to pull something especially since it appears the very first second you thought you had a chance to do so, you tried to pull something.." Fury's gruff voice replied"I don't know.. As Team Leader it's now Peter's call. Peter do you want to give him another chance?"
"Oh.. Uh.." Peter was dazed to be addressed as The Leader of The Avengers. "Yeah?... I guess? It'd feel kinda wrong to not to.."
"You are going to keep me apprised of the situation and let me know the second you change your mind. If Steve nor any of the others respect you as Leader you let me know the second they step a toe out of line. I'm done playing with all of them and I won't hesitate to kick them off The Team and out of The Tower and show them exactly what it feels like to be without a home if they keep up their behavior."
"Oh... Uh.. okay.. yes, Mister Fury." Peter stammered unsure of himself and not entirely ready to be confronted by all of The Avengers once they realized Fury had made Peter the person that was going to Lead them all.
"This is utter Bullshit!... ugh!.." Captain America exclaimed in frustration when Fury had ended the call.
"Don't go thinking any of us are gonna treat some baby in a onesie like they have the authority to give us orders." Steve said along with throwing a small tantrum as he grabbed the back of a chair and tossed it at a wall.
Peter just gave a chuckle "Maybe we should have a training session together as a team. Let you work through your anger issues."
"Whatever." Steve said with a growl. "I dare you to try to train with us without your little suit. You'll get flattened within the first few seconds."
"You really think so?" Peter asked.
"I think you'll be useless and amount to absolutely nothing without the suit."
"Wow.. okay.. I guess we'll see, then. FRIDAY tell everyone to meet in The Training Room." Peter told The AI.
"Of course, young boss. Would you like to add anything else to your Command?" FRIDAY replied.
"No thank you FRIDAY. I think they'll all get the entire message that needs to be delivered soon enough." Peter replied while giving Steve Rogers a steely look of challenge.