Jake wasn't one for panicking. Well, that was a lie, he panicked plenty, but was also good at powering through stressful situations, which was why, the moment a news alert about Spider-Man's real identity popped up on his phone, he quickly skimmed over it before quietly making his way to the evidence lockup in the precinct and calling the boy in question.
It dialled three times before he picked up.
"Jake. Oh my god, I don't know what to do. Everyone's looking for me and there's nowhere to go and-"
"Peter, buddy, I need you to breathe okay? Do you remember the place I showed you to go to if something like this ever happened?" He asked, a plan forming as he talked.
"Yeah it's-"
"Don't tell me Pete, someone could be listening in on our phone call. I need you to head there now okay? Don't move unless you think someone has seen you and I'll be there in an hour."
"Okay. Thank you Jake." Peter replied, sounding more scared than Jake had ever heard him before.
"You're gonna be fine Pete. Trust me and I'll see you soon." Jake said one last time before hanging up the phone.
He knew he was going to have to leave the precinct without anyone noticing due to what would surely be a police manhunt for the now fugitive Spider-Man, a.k.a. Peter Parker.
...
Amy was the first to figure out something was wrong. When Captain Holt first called them all into the briefing room to talk about the 'Spider-Man situation' she had looked up from her paperwork to ask Jake if he knew what was going on only to see him gone, which was strange as he would have let her know if he had to go and check something out with his current case.
Ignoring the strange situation for the moment, she made her way to the briefing room, sitting down at the front before turning to Charles and Rosa, who had taken the seats behind her.
"Hey, do either of you know where Jake is?" She asked, suspicion rising when they both said they hadn't noticed him leave. It was a long-running joke in the precinct that if Jake were to ever turn to the 'dark side' and become a criminal, he would likely never be caught, and she couldn't help but think he was putting that notion to the test now for some reason.
Holt's voice starting the briefing soon brought her out of her thoughts.
"Alright so, there had been statewide alert issued for all NYPD officers to be on the lookout for Spider-Man, whose real identity is Peter Parker, a sixteen-year-old from Queens. A recent video surfaced of Mr Parker ordering the drone attack that occurred in London last week, and so he needs to be brought into custody as soon as possible." The Captain stated, all eyes turning to Gina when she suddenly gasped as she looked up from her phone to the picture of Peter on the screen.
"Gina? Anything you want to add?" Terry asked, eyeing the brunette curiously.
"He- I mean- You can't seriously believe that a sixteen-year-old kid was responsible for the attack in London, especially Peter Parker for god's sake." She exclaimed, ignoring the shocked looks at her spluttering.
"Do you know him?" Amy asked, wondering whether this had anything to do with where Jake had gone.
"When Peter was four, his aunt, May Parker, and his uncle Ben took him in after his parents were killed in a plane crash. I know May because she's Jake's cousin and practically helped raise both of us since she's ten years older. Peter stays with Jake whenever May has to go out of town, hell he helped raise him.
Look Peter has had a hard life, but he was raised by three of three best people I know and doesn't have a bad bone in his body. He wouldn't have done what he's being accused of."
Everyone was silent at that, after all this kid, who had become a fugitive from the law in the past few hours, was close with Jake, one of the Nine-Nine's best detectives and their friend.
"Where is Jake?" Holt then asked firmly, looking around the room.
"We don't know sir, he left without anyone knowing and hasn't returned," Amy replied, anxiety building up suddenly. Jake would now be a suspect for aiding a fugitive since he was missing and close with their perp.
"I swear to god..." Holt stated angrily, glaring at the screen which held the picture of Peter.
"Jake's smart Captain, he's either doing something completely innocent, or is helping Peter, and if it's the latter he won't be caught, he's too good at his job for that," Rosa announced, appearing bored with the conversation but obviously as worried as everyone else.
...
The plan worked perfectly.
Slipping out of the precinct had been almost too easy. Everyone was preoccupied with paperwork and so didn't notice him leave, and he didn't bump into anyone he knew as he made his way to the garage to grab his car.
He then drove to the place where he knew Peter was waiting. Tony Stark had left him all his plans for every eventuality when he died, in case Peter ever got himself in trouble, and Jake had been both touched and impressed by the level of detail the man had put to making sure Peter would be safe if anything were to ever go wrong.
He arrived at the hideout about forty minutes after the phonecall, having called May before he started driving to let her know of the situation and to make sure Happy knew to go to the place they had talked about in the past for phase 2. Jake knew not to talk about locations or anything else on the phone, as he didn't know whether anyone could be listenning in.
Once he had reached Peter they had an emotional greeting before Peter climbed into the trunk of the car, stowed away under some old blankets and bags so he wouldn't be visible.
As he had expected, there had been two beat cops at the end of the road leading out of the city, stopping cars to ask questions and check passengers. Jake had never been more glad for his badge at that moment, getting himself out of what would have been a very compromising situation by using his superior rank.
Once out of the city he then drove to a prearranged location, chosen for its lack of security cameras and little use. It was there that Peter was transferred into Happy's - thankfully larger - trunk, who then drove off while Jake switched cars, knowing that it was only a matter of time before people realised his connection with Peter and noticed his disappearance.
Happy and Jake then both drove several winding routes, doubling back and switching cars once more in order to throw off any suspicion, before they both arrived at their final destination - Happy and Peter admittedly an hour before Jake - the Stark's lakehouse.
May had to stay behind in Queens, knowing that it would be too obvious if she left and that people would already be trying to track down Jake. The more people directly implicated, the harder it would be to keep Peter safe.
...
Rosa was torn.
On one hand, she was angry with Jake for disappearing, putting his dream job on the line and not trusting them enough with the knowledge of what he was planning.
On the other hand, she was proud. Not only had Jake risked everything for Peter, but he had also very easily escaped from the city and was untraceable. They had followed his trail until they happened across his car, parked in an area with no cameras, obviously having changed vehicles.
With Jake's ingenuity though, came pressure from government heads who wanted both Peter and everyone who helped him leave the city in custody. Both Peter's aunt and friends were being protected by Avengers and ex-SHIELD agents alike and were damn near impossible to reach, and Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan were both unreachable, solidifying the idea that this had been a team effort.
"I am sad to announce that Detective Jacob Peralta is hereby a fugitive of the law and wanted for questioning." Captain Holt announced, after a heated phonecall with the higher-ups at one police plaza.
"What will happen to him if he's caught?" Boyle asked, hair already starting to turn white again due to the stress of losing his best friend.
"He will be questioned upon detainment, before being sent to prison. He's facing at least one year, but likely more due to the high-profile nature of the case."
A phone ringing suddenly broke them all out of their shared melancholy, Amy walking to her desk as she realised it was her phone while everyone else started to disperse.
"Detective Santiago."
"Amy, it's me." Came the unmistakeable voice of Jake Peralta down the line.
"Jake?" She asked in disbelief, noticing the way the bullpen fell silent while someone quickly scrambled to a computer to trace the call.
"Before I say anything else, just know that I'm sorry for doing this to you, but Peter is my family and I won't let him get locked up for something he didn't do."
"There's video footage of it Jake."
"So? Footage can be doctored. Mysterio know that by releasing that video after he had died, supposedly a hero, then no one would question it, after all it's Peter's word against a dead man's."
"But-"
"Amy, I only called because I wanted to let you know that I love you and to ask that you trust me. I'll see you soon Ames." Jake said before hanging up, Amy instantly turning towards Rosa who had been tracing the call.
"I was unable to pick up a location, he must be using some pretty advanced tech that can't be picked up by the system as I didn't even get a general search radius." She stated, smirking slightly, obviously glad they couldn't track him.
"What did he say Amy?"
"That he believes the footage was doctored, and to trust him."
...
Two days later New York was thrown into chaos.
Somehow Peter Parker, Jake Peralta, Nick Fury and Pepper Potts-Stark had all managed to get into Manhatten undetected, where they then made their way to Stark tower and broadcast a video to the world, showing the full fight between Peter and Mysterio in London from EDITH.
Unsurprisingly they were detained upon the conclusion of the video, where they spent a day being debriefed before being publicly pardoned.
...
The moment Jake stepped into the bullpen the day after his return to New York, he was swarmed by his colleagues instantly.
"Woah guys, calm down. God, I'm gone for less than a week and you all act as though I died and was brought back to life again." He joked.
Rosa was the first to speak.
"How did you sneak him out of the city, there were cops everywhere?"
"Well, as you can probably guess, I knew Peter was SpiderMan, mainly because when he was staying at mine once he came through the wrong window after a patrol, wearing his suit and scaring the shit out of me.
Anyway, since Tony Stark was Peter's mentor and cared for him like a son, he came up with plans for all eventualities, regarding an identity revel or if he should ever find himself in trouble, for example with the law. When he died he left all the plans to me, trusting that I would carry them out in his stead.
I met Peter at a prearranged location, putting him in the trunk of my car before driving out of the city. I used my badge when I was stopped to avoid my car being searched and then drove to where I see you found my car, seeing as it's in the garage right now.
There I met Happy Hogan, and Peter transferred into his trunk while I swapped cars. We then both drove around for a few hours, doubling back and making our trails as untraceable as we could while also changing cars a couple of times just in case, before we ended up at the Stark lakehouse, which luckily no one but the Avengers and their associates know the location of so is basically a safe house."
"Damn Peralta, I always knew you would make a good criminal."
"Thanks Rosa, truth be told it was laughably easy."