Chapter 3
Peter felt strangely detached as he exited the Compound and hailed a cab. He looked out of the window as it started moving away from the Compound; it was a beautiful day. If it was any other day, he would have just been let out from school. He continued to stare blankly ahead as the cab entered Queens, passings cars, shops, and people.
When he reached his apartment, the reality of his actions finally began to set in.
He had just argued and walked out on Tony Stark.
Who still had the suit he made for him.
Great.
A part of him was saying that he should go back and apologise, but that wasn't happening.
He was done licking Stark's boots.
He had meant every word of what he said to Tony.
He didn't need him.
He was Spider-Man, and not having a suit wouldn't change that.
He entered his apartment and was immediately engulfed in a hug by May.
"Peter!" she cried.
He chuckled. "Hey, Aunt May."
She stepped back and glared at him. "Don't you "hey, Aunt May me," mister. You just disappeared. You could have at least told me that you had to stay at the Compound for the night!"
"Sorry, Aunt May. I guess I just forgot," he lied in a sheepish voice, rubbing the back of his head.
She looked unimpressed. "Well, next time you "forget" something, maybe extra chores will help you remember."
"What?!"
"It's just a warning this time, Mister. But don't forget to inform me next time or you'll regret it!"
"Duly noted," he said cheerfully and headed off to his room.
As soon as his door closed, he sunk against the wall and buried his head in his hands.
This was a mess.
Peter had never considered himself a vigilante. Before Tony, most people just knew him as the Spider-Guy from Youtube, so he wasn't that much of a bigshot to be considered a vigilante. With Tony, he had kind of considered himself as some sort of honorary Avenger. But now, he was 100% vigilante. Now, he might be new to this, but he wasn't stupid. He knew that word travelled quickly on the underground grapevine. Word of his bust of the Vulture must have already gotten around, and he knew that criminals would start to take him more seriously.
He needed help, but who could he trust?
Tony was out, and that meant he only had Ned and May. Ned already knew, and May . . .
He had to tell her.
He needed the assistance of an actual adult now, and Mr. Stark was out of the picture. Plus, her medical experience would probably be pretty handy.
It sounded logical in his head, but . . . he couldn't make his legs work.
"This is worse than fighting the Vulture," he mumbled, and he wholeheartedly meant it. He sighed.
"May?"
She came in an instant. "Yes, Peter?"
"Um, you might want to sit down," he said nervously.
She did, looking confused.
"I'm Spider-Man," he blurted out, and cringed instantly.
May didn't move, didn't blink, didn't react at all.
"Uh, May . . . ?"
She snapped back to life. "You're Spider-Man," she said disbelievingly.
"Yep," he answered, biting his lip.
She let loose a hysterical laugh. "You're kidding, right? You're kidding?" She took a long look at him. "No, you're not kidding. Brilliant."
He expected a major freak out, but she just asked, "Why?" in a relatively calm voice.
"I'll start from the beginning," he said. "Remember the field trip to Oscorp? Well, I got bitten by a radioactive spider on that trip, and it have me enhanced healing, enhanced senses and strength, an enhanced metabolism, the ability to stick to walls, and this precognitive sense that warns me if I'm in danger, I call it my spidey-sense."
"A radioactive spider bit you," she repeated faintly, "and what? You've been Spider-Man ever since?"
"Not really," he answered. "I started after Uncle Ben." He heard her breath hitch. Both of them barely mentioned Ben, the name had almost hurt too much to think about.
"How come you started after Ben?" she asked quietly.
"It was because of his death that I started," Peter admitted sadly. "The day he died marked two weeks since I had gotten my powers. We were both out and I was at a store. A guy came in and said he was going to rob the place. I could have stopped him, but I didn't. He robbed it and left, and Be-Ben was there. He tried to stop him and the guy sh-shot-" He had to stop himself there because tears were starting to leak from both his and May's eyes. May worldlessly reached out and scooped him into a hug, which he sank into gratefully. They sat there for a while before Peter was able to continue.
"Anyway," he said, his voice shaky, "I ran over to him, but he was- he was bleeding so much, I knew he was going to die. I told him about my abilities and he told me With great power comes great responsibility. "
"Oh, Peter-"
"I have to do this, Aunt May," Peter said firmly. "I was given these abilities and I can't ignore them. Cause if I do? The bad things that follow happen because of me. "
May sniffled. "You sound just like Ben. He used to say things like that all the time too." She wiped her eyes. "I tried to get him to quit, you know that? I was scared. Scared that he wouldn't come back home every evening. He and you, you're both so similar. You have the same look in your eyes right now that he did then. I doubt I could make you quit even if I wanted to. Just-just promise me you'll come back."
Peter really, really wanted to, but he couldn't.
"I don't want to lie, Aunt May," he whispered, "so I promise I'll try.:
She sighed. "Well, I guess that's all I can ask." She got up and started to leave before turning back around again. "Hold on. Is Spider-Man the reason Tony Stark came here?"
Peter sighed. "Yep. He wanted to recruit me for this thing . . ."
And he proceeded to narrate the story of Germany and the events that followed.
"So yeah, I was brought to the Compound last night for medical treatment and here I am," he finished.
"How come he didn't come with you?" she asked.
"He was busy," he said, avoiding her eyes. He didn't want to tell her about the fight.
"But you came in a cab," she pressed. "Last time he had his driver bring you over. Why didn't he do that last time."
Peter sighed. "Well, I kind of may have shouted at him before walking out and leaving the Compound by myself." He told her about the fight.
"Do you think I was wrong?" Peter asked unsurely after he finished telling her.
"No, Peter," May said fiercely. "You were not wrong. You were absolutely right. Stark hadn't helped you at all, and if you hadn't chewed him out, I would have. Actually, I think I still will."
Peter laughed and May pulled him in for another hug.
"I'm proud of you, Peter," she whispered. "I want you to know that, ok? I'm proud of you for defending yourself, for being Spider-Man, for all of it. And I'll do my best to support you any way I can."
"Thanks, Aunt May," Peter murmured. "I larb you."
"I larb you too," she said, smiling as she pulled back. "But there is still one thing. I said I'll do my best to support you, and I will. But I have zero experience with anything related to this kind of stuff, so you'll need someone else."
"Well, I was thinking of reaching out to other street vigilantes," Peter said.
May nodded. "That's a good idea," she said, " But I think-" She cut herself off and sniffed the air. "Damn it, it's burning!" She raced out of the room, leaving a bemused Peter behind.
He tried to think of other vigilantes he could potentially reach out to, but he didn't really know much about others. He had heard about a few, but to reach out to them-
BANG!
Peter jumped and turned around to the window, where the crash had come from. He hurried over and peered out the window to find . . .
Well.
Looks like he didn't need to choose a vigilante now, since one had dropped right outside of his apartment.