Chapter 4
Four
The Accords
Peter walked into his school the next morning, not realizing what all the chatter was about.
Ned made his way over to him almost immediately and immediately asked him, “Did you see the video?” He shout-whispered.
“See what video?” Peter tilted his head.
Ned sighed and pulled out his smartphone and unlocked it with a swipe.
He pulled up Twitter and under trending was Captain America.
Ned opened one of the videos and Peter watched in silent horror what he saw the after effects of on Mr. Stark’s suit.
He saw Mr. Stark fighting against two super soldiers and losing.
He heard the conversation.
He’s my friend.
So was I.
So was I.
Their friendship was severed from this skirmish.
He watched as Captain America slammed his fist into his head, the faceplate flying off. Iron Man was holding his own against him and then Captain America disabled the suit, slamming his shield into it.
Peter’s throat tightened, his eyes watering. He knew that Mr. Stark was okay.
Ned closed out of the video with a swipe and pulled up a tweet.
Civil War consequences – is Iron Man Dead?
Haven’t seen or heard anything from SI about Stark. Is he alright?
Whoa, did Cap kill Iron Man? Not cool… No matter how much you disagree, you shouldn’t kill them over it. Respect lost.
Iron Man deserved it, he’s a snake.
“No phones!” A teacher came circling around Peter and Ned, seeing the phone. “Put it away, Mr. Leeds, now.”
Ned quickly pocketed the device.
“This is another warning!” The teacher yelled up and down the hall. “No politics in the hallways! No fighting over people that don’t even know you! Captain America and Tony Stark don’t know who any of you are and never will! They don’t care about your opinions!”
Peter huffed a laugh. He did know Mr. Stark and Mr. Stark knew him.
“Is he alive?” Ned whispered, trying not to get the attention of the teacher still yelling.
“Yes.” He whispered back. “He’s alright. He almost died though.” Peter remarked. Ned gasped.
“Really?” Ned whispered.
The bell rang.
“Come on, we have to get to Civics. I’m glad I get to suffer with you.” Peter playfully punched his shoulder as Ned smiled at him, the video forgotten between the two of them as Ned pocketed his phone and pulled on his backpack strap.
“I’m sure MJ suffers the most for both of us.” Ned remarked. Peter laughed.
“Come on, losers.” MJ snarked as she led the way her black hair flowing over her shoulders, curls bouncing unrepentant. “We’ll be late.”
Miss Crandall, Peter’s Civics teacher cleared her throat, getting the attention of the class. They settled down and she smiled gently at the class.
“I am sure that we have all seen the video that is trending across social media. This is a reminder to keep things civil and out of the hallways. We talk to each other with respect at Midtown.” Peter scoffed under his breath. Yeah, right. She took a marker laying in the tray and wrote on the board – The Sokovia Accords. “These superheroes weren’t fighting just to fight. It was about issues they were passionate about.” Miss Crandall turned to the class.
“I want you to pick a point and do your research and write a paper on a topic that you are passionate about.” Miss Crandall stated, turning back around. “Politics are good topics, as are current events in this country that you can form a paper on. This will be an opinion paper. You will research a topic, state your opinion on it and tell me about the other side of the argument. You will pick the topics now, so that I am not reading twenty of the same papers.”
“So, who is first?” Peter was shocked when his own hand shot in the air. Miss Crandall’s eyebrow rose in surprise.
“Peter.”
“I would like the biometric data, power measure and tracking bracelet topic from the Accords, please.” Peter replied succinctly.
“Of course, for or against?” Miss Crandall asked.
“Against.” Miss Crandall jotted his name next to the line. The rest of the students chose a topic. “Now, that the topics are assigned, let us start a little bit of a debate about the Accords. Who’d like to start? Michelle?” She chose her most opinionated and passionate student.
“That law-breaking individuals may be held indefinitely for trial. That is not only unconstitutional but against basic human rights. People have a right to a prompt trial. It is what our forefathers and mothers fought for and I don’t think it’s right for a document to circumvent that.” Michelle stated.
“It is a very good point.”
“Well, if you break the law then you deserve it.” Another student responded.
“Another good point. Your rebuttal, Michelle?”
“If someone breaks the law, they deserve the right to a fair and right trial. Who is the jury of their peers? Who is not going to be biased in one way or another? These Accords need a lot more time to iron out all the kinks before I think anyone should be held to them.” Michelle stated with finality.
“Okay, let us talk about Peter’s topic. Peter, what are your initial thoughts, before completing any research. The ideas may be rough in the beginning, I know you said against, but you may not know what side you will be on ultimately...”
“I am against the biometric data being required.” Peter said firmly.
“May I ask why?”
“You don’t think, in today’s age of betrayal, corporate espionage, untrustworthiness, that any enhanced person should trust anyone with their blood, DNA, biometric material?” Peter scoffed. “No. I wouldn’t trust, if I were enhanced…” He interjected quickly. He was getting a little heated about this topic… “I wouldn’t trust anyone with an ounce of sweat, let alone anything else that they could use to recreate the enhanced individual’s abilities.” Peter stated firmly.
“We don’t know that they’ll be used for that purpose, weirdo. What a stupid length to go to.” Flash scoffed.
“This coming from the guy who’s convinced they cryo froze Walt Disney so they could clone him…” Peter sarcastically commented.
“Boys, back to the topic at hand!” Miss Crandall clapped her hands.
“What about the power measuring? Isn’t that good?” A student answered.
“What, so they can control them even more? By restricting those who have powers that they deem too strong?” Peter scoffed, feeling more and more salty about the whole situation.
He had lots he wanted to talk to Mr. Stark about when he got the chance.
The bell rang, pulling him out of his thoughts.
“I am assigning a paper on the Accords – you know the drill, font 12, Times New Roman, double spaced, MLA format, the usual format listed on your syllabus that I gave out at the beginning of the semester.” Miss Crandall informed them. “Great conversations today everyone! Especially you, Peter. Keep it up. Can’t wait to read your papers. The opinion paper is due in one month, don’t leave it to the last minute!” She said as she dismissed them, turning to the board and wiped the eraser over the marker, making the words dissolve.
“Oh, uh, thanks!” Peter responded as he scurried out of the classroom.
Peter made his way home that afternoon, thinking a lot about the Civics class and what he was really fighting for that day in Germany. He didn’t think that the other side was right but maybe his side wasn’t as correct either.
MJ was right.
The Accords had a long way to go before he would agree to anything.
He let himself into his apartment, looking for Aunt May but didn’t hear anything. She must still be at work.
Peter thought back to the interactions that he had with Captain America.
Mr. Stark said you were wrong and you think you’re right. That makes you dangerous.
Well, he’s got one thing right.
He opened his door and he didn’t realize how much Captain America memorabilia that he had.
Time to change that.
Nothing personal, Steve, but he looked up to Tony more than he looked up to Captain America right now.
He tore down the posters, dug out his collectibles and tossed them all into a box.
Peter turned on his heel, wearing the Spider-Man suit underneath his bathroom and froze when he saw his aunt in the doorway. Her mouth was agape.
“What the…” She gaped at him.
“Oh. Uh, hi, May. You’re home early?” He rubbed the back of his head, awkwardly laughing. May’s face didn’t change.
“Please tell me you’re dressing up as him and not actually Spider-Man, because I don’t think I could take it.” May pleaded, her brown eyes searching his face.
Peter really hated lying. And to be quite honest, he wasn’t very good at it.
“Um…yeah! That’s right!” He hoped he was convincing.
May looked very unimpressed. He wilted.
“Peter Benjamin Parker, are you parading around as Spider-Man?” She shrieked, stepping into the room, her fists clenched by her sides.
“Um, yes?” He took a step back. He knew she would never hurt him but he was still wary. She was scary when she was mad, like all other women that he knew. Especially MJ.
“How?” She crossed her arms and levelled a stare at him.
“Um…A Oscorp field trip? I got bit by a spider?” He tried.
“Are you asking me or telling me?” May looked unimpressed.
“Telling.” He nodded firmly. May continued to stare at him.
“Uh huh…” She trailed off, not believing him for a second. “And how exactly did you end up in Germany when you were supposed to be in an internship?”
“Um…” He tried to stall, thinking of a lie.
“The truth, Peter, you suck at lying.” May wasn’t going to let him sneak out of this conversation.
“Yeah, I know.” Peter sighed. “Mr. Stark found out I was Spider-Man and made up an internship and needed my help in Germany. To try and stop Captain America.”
“Peter, you’re fifteen years old!” She cried out, outraged that an adult would put her nephew in such risk.
“I can handle it! I’m super strong and I heal really quickly!” He tried to defend Mr. Stark.
“Get Stark on the phone. Now.” Her glare increased. Peter walked to his desk and grabbed his phone and went through the contacts. He looked up at her. “Peter Benjamin Parker, do not make me ask again.”
Peter gulped and pressed the button.
“Peter?” Mr. Stark’s voice came through the phone.
“Um, hi. You’re on speaker. Aunt May found out.” Peter wished the ground would swallow him up.
Mr. Stark sighed.
“Hello, Mrs. Parker.” He greeted her, his voice falsely bright.
“Cut the bullshit, Stark. How could you?” Much to Peter’s horror, her voice cracked with emotion, tears gathering in her eyes.
“Mrs. Parker…” Mr. Stark started to say.
“No! He’s the only person I have left!” She shouted. “Ben’s gone, I have no family, Peter’s it! And he could have died!” She stopped her yelling to bury her face in her hands.
Peter moved forward and wrapped his arms around her, her arms winding around his back.
“Mrs. Parker.” Tony seemed very uncomfortable. “When I found out about Peter, he was swinging around in pajamas and self-made web fluid.”
Peter stepped back and glared at the phone.
“They were not pajamas!” He cried out.
“Uh-huh and I’m not Tony Stark.” Mr. Stark’s voice was deadpan. “Mrs. Parker, I gave him a multi-million-dollar suit, protection – a lot more that he would have been able to get for himself – ways to get in touch with me, lab time with me to improve the suit in ways that he had found lacking… He has a lot more benefits than he did before.”
“That doesn’t explain Germany.” May wiped away some tears from her face.
“No, it doesn’t. Look, I think we should talk face to face about Peter and superheroes and all of it. Some things I don’t want to talk about over the phone. Any time you want.” Mr. Stark offered.
“Thursday. 4 pm.” May informed him.
“Sure. No problem. We can talk then.” Mr. Stark agreed easily.
“Sorry, Mr. Stark.” He apologized.
“Don’t ever apologize for having people who love you. You’re very lucky, Peter.” Mr. Stark’s tone made him look at May’s glistening eyes. Her eyes showing her love for him and he knew that’s where the anger came from. A place of love.
“Can I still go talk to Mr. Stark tomorrow, Aunt May? I had some questions for him.” Peter pleaded with his eyes.
“Very briefly. No superhero talk until our meeting.” She said sternly.
“You heard the woman, Pete. We can talk about other things. Like science.” Mr. Stark agreed amiably.
“Okay, bye Mr. Stark, see you tomorrow.” Mr. Stark said his goodbyes and May remained silent, her eyes still red from the tears.
“So…” She tried, her voice clogged. She cleared her throat and tried again. “What is the box for?” She asked.
“It’s my Captain America stuff, I don’t want it in here anymore. It’s going into my closet.” Peter gestured to the space he made on the shelf in his closet.
“Is there a reason?” She twirled back to face him after seeing what he was pointing to.
“Have you gone on Facebook or anything? He’s all over it.” Peter sighed.
“Yes, but who knows if that was real… Anything can be faked. I thought the YouTube videos were fake.” May let out a bitter laugh. “Stupid.”
Peter swallowed.
“Well, obviously, I was in Germany and I fought against Captain America. It was crazy. Mr. Stark wanted me to web up the Captain America side – not get involved. They were supposedly all friends…well, they were…Not sure about now.” Peter trailed off, thinking back to the battle. He shook himself out of his thoughts. “I mean, it was kind of cool. I stopped a super soldier’s punch from a metal arm. I stole Captain America’s shield, but then again, I also got an airplane hangar dropped on me…” He trailed off.
“What!” She shrieked.
“Anyways…” He hastily changed the subject. “The video was real. I saw the suit afterwards, Mr. Stark almost died. He would have, if I wasn’t there.” He shrugged. “I’ll take whatever punishment you want to give me, but I think I did the right thing. And I don’t regret my decision.” He stated firmly.
May stared at him and her eyes started tearing up. Peter wilted and surged forward and wrapped her in a hug.
“Oh, May, don’t start crying again. You know Ben and I could never handle that…” Peter pleaded. May laughed wetly.
“No, you two never could.” She pulled Peter’s face up, so she could look at his face. “How could you go from being at a Stark Expo facing up against drones to being such a mature teenager…God, I wish Ben could be here to see you. He’d be so proud. Angry but proud.” She ran her fingers across his skin, memorizing his face. The time goes by so quickly. It seemed just yesterday that he was just a child.
“I wish he could be here too.” Peter looked down. She knew he was deeply affected by Ben’s death. May thought over the changes her nephew had undergone over the last few months.
The field trip, if she remembered correctly, was the day before Ben was murdered by a robber. Peter being depressed and angry and then one day something changed. He was happier, she just thought some grief from Uncle Ben passing had waned. But it seemed that someone else had entered his life.
She tried to do her best and she thought she did a good job. Peter was a good kid, he got good grades, he didn’t party, he enjoyed Star Wars and not Star Trek – all good indicators that she did her job.
But if she was really honest, she knew that this meeting with Stark was going to change her viewpoint for better or worse.
Pepper rubbed her forehead, still regretting how she handled the phone call with Tony. As much as she told her friends that she was fine, that they were still friends…Real life was much more complicated than that.
She had been through a lot being with Tony and it wasn’t all bad.
Of course, getting their Malibu mansion blown up by the Mandarin and being injected with Extremis wasn’t exactly a walk in the park but Tony loved the crap out of her and she knew it.
She knew that it might be a downward spiral for him if she broke things off.
He was always showering her with gifts and food and cars – lord, the cars he would gift her. She knew he meant well, that he showed his affection with physical things, possessions in lieu of talking about feelings.
But it got to be too much. To have to watch the man she loved get thrown to the ground, see him get back up, to keep fighting. It was hard to watch him throw back Tylenol and Advil like they were Tic-Tacs and swallow with a swig of coffee while working on something for thirty hours straight.
Hard to wake up in the middle of the night by his night terrors, facing a repulsor aimed at her.
She didn’t blame Tony, she knew he had a lot going on in his mind that he didn’t want to talk about, not with her and certainly not with a therapist. Who was going to be trust worthy enough to speak to Tony Stark and not have little details find its way into the media, NDA or not.
She sighed and dialed the familiar number on her desk phone, pressing a button on her ear piece.
“Stark.” He barked through the phone.
“Look, Tony. I’m sorry about earlier. Can we meet up for coffee and just talk?” Pepper pleaded. There was silence on the other end of the phone before he sighed.
“Yeah, alright.” Tony agreed. “No where we can be overheard.”
“I can come up to the Penthouse when I’m done here.” Pepper offered.
“Yeah, that’s fine.” Tony agreed.
Pepper made her way up to the Penthouse via the elevator and when she stood there for a second and nothing happened, the pressed the button, sighing.
FRIDAY was still upset with her.
FRIDAY wasn’t malicious but she was definitely defensive of her creator. And she must have perceived Pepper breaking up with Tony to be warranted to being on FRIDAY’s shit list.
She wouldn’t say anything to Tony about it, she wasn’t stopping her from doing her job.
The elevator doors opened soundlessly and Pepper made her way to the kitchen, where Tony was standing with a mug in his hand, staring out the window.
“Tony.” Pepper said his name. He broke out of his daze and gestured to sit.
“Coffee?” He asked, turning away and pulling out a flat tray of coffee pods for the Keurig. She pulled one out and dropped it into his palm.
“I’d rather wine. I left some here, I think?” She gestured to the bar.
“Yeah…” He drew out the word. “About that.” He rubbed the back of his head. “I wasn’t in a good mood after our phone call, so I got rid of your wine.” He shrugged.
“Oh, that’s alright.” Who cares, it was just wine. “I’ll take some of your Scotch then.”
“I got rid of all my alcohol, Pepper. I only have coffee, tea and water. Limited selection, FRIDAY’s having more delivered tomorrow.” Tony pressed a few buttons on the Keurig and it started brewing.
“Oh.” Pepper replied. “That’s great, Tony. I’m so proud of you.” She said warming up her tone.
“Thanks. I did it because I’ll be seeing more of the kid. Peter.” Tony shrugged. “The one I called you about.”
“Tony…” She felt bad. “I’ve been around you when you’ve been absolutely smashed. You would never hurt anyone.” She reassured him.
Tony handed her a mug with one hand and some creamer pods and sugar packets in a bowl in the other hand.
“I won’t take any chances.” He firmly stated.
Pepper stared at him as she took her mug and selected her sugar and creamer. She took the spoon that Tony handed her.
She swirled her coffee around, dissolving the sugar. It was decisions like these that made her think that Tony would be a good father. He really loved being around young children and teens alike, effortlessly communicating with them, making them feel comfortable at any public function. She used to think that it was because he was so immature that it took him no brain cells or sobriety to be like that but now she thought that maybe there were sides to Tony that he never let anyone see at all. Not even her.
She took a sip of coffee and set it down quietly.
“I think that we both handled the phone conversation badly.” Pepper started the uncomfortable conversation that she knew they needed to have.
“I would agree.” Tony agreed with her.
“Tony, I’m so sorry I hurt you.” Pepper reached out her hand and placed it over his.
Tony swallowed. He needed this closure.
“My father hit my mom. A lot.” He started. Pepper started and looked at Tony closer. He looked off to the side, lost in the memories“He got her so drugged up, she had depression, you know what mental health was like back then, and she was so gone most of the time that she had no idea what was going on.”
“Tony, I had no idea… I never heard anything about this…”
“And you wouldn’t. It was hidden by Howard and by Obie.” He stared off into space. “He would leave bruises on her, hidden under her clothes. He would hit me too, if I didn’t move fast enough, if I was in the way. But seeing how they acted, how he treated her…I never wanted to get that angry, be that mean, to lay a hand on a woman I claimed to love or any children that were around me.”
“You never have…” She tried to interject.
“I know I haven’t. But there were a lot of things that happened in my childhood, my young adulthood that made me who I am today. I’m not a good guy, I’m a hard person to deal with, to be in a relationship with.” Tony took a sip of coffee. “I never got close to anyone I had feelings for, I didn’t want to be disappointed. But I really thought we could do it. That we could make it.”
“Tony…” She pleaded.
“I’m not trying to make you feel bad. I get it. I’m just saying, that’s where some of the anger was coming from. I was serious about you, Pepper. I destroyed my suits for you…Anyways, I thought you could hang but it’s a lot to ask of anyone, let alone a woman as good as you.” He sighed. “You shouldn’t have to worry about me going on a rampage or acting out, I’ll be alright. I just need some time.”
“Tony, I don’t care about what was in the media…” Pepper tried. “I care about you.”
“I know, Pepper. Maybe we can just have work discussions and work our way back into being friends. I have a lot of personal stuff going on right now so SI related talks or emails might be all I have time for.” Tony said honestly.
“Did you need to talk about something?” Pepper asked. “I’m always here for you, Tony.”
“I know. I just need to work on some stuff by myself for a while.” Tony smiled tightly.
Their conversation dipped back into SI related issues.
“Oscorp? Pep, are you kidding me?” He cried out when he heard what her latest contract was. “Nix it. I don’t want that goblin anywhere near my people.”
“Is there a specific reason? A reasonable cause?” Pepper arched a brow.
“It’s cause I hate him!” Tony wrinkled his nose. “Yes, an actual reason, but I am not allowed to tell you and another reason is I don’t like him.” Tony stuck his nose up in the air as Pepper laughed.
She looked at her watch and sighed.
“I should get going, investor meeting tomorrow.”
“Fun.” Tony remarked.
“You could go for me, you know.”
Tony smirked.
“That’s why I made you CEO. Buh-bye, Pepper. Have Happy bring you home.” Pepper froze.
“Uh…sure.”
“Happy already told me you two were dating. I’m not going to go off the handle.” Tony admonished her.
“Tony…I just didn’t know how…” Pepper started.
“It’s fine, Pepper. Seriously. Get home safe.” Tony walked her to the elevator, and they said their goodbyes.
She watched him walk back to the kitchen as the doors were closing, closing on a chapter of her life.
Tony exhaled. He didn’t tell anyone about his conversations and meetings with Dr. Helen Cho. He didn’t want anyone to know, especially Pepper.
She was so relieved when he got the arc reactor removed after the Mandarin incident, but he really felt that he would rather it back. It saved him a lot more times than he could count. But he understood why Pepper wanted it removed. It stopped Loki from controlling him with the scepter, it helped keep him alive since its implementation, constantly keeping the shrapnel away, it had a lot of pros… He kind of missed the soothing blue light in a weird way.
“Are you ready, Dr. Stark?” Helen asked him with a mask in her hand, hooked to an anesthesia. He exhaled but nodded.
He was quite nervous about going back under the knife but spoke with Helen about the challenges of Extremis and that he wanted to have the arc reactor put back in to keep some nanobot technology that he was messing around with, he was almost onto a breakthrough with it, definitely good enough to keep some extra parts in so he could be ready to defend himself wherever he went.
Then he felt nothing and everything grinded to a halt.
And then he gasped and was suddenly awake, the Extremis metabolizing the anesthesia quicker than he expected but thankfully the surgery was completed.
“Dr. Stark.” Helen pushed him back to a laying position. He willingly went, recognizing her voice immediately.
“Did it work?” He asked, his brain coming online very quickly. It was a little disconcerting having to be closed off from the internet, his mind having acclimated very quickly to it.
“It went perfectly.” Helen’s voice was soothing.
He sighed, relieved and laid down.
“I’m still kind of sleepy.” He told her, surprised.
“Extremis did a lot of healing, let your body rest. It worked perfectly, no complications.”
Tony nodded and fell into a natural sleep, his Extremis continued to heal as he dreamed of nothing.