Chapter 15
"Come on Cat," Jessica grinned, catching Felicia's arm as she went to dart past. "You can come with the rest of us losers."
Felicia looked at Jessica as she hauled her towards Luke, Danny and Frank.
"We're gonna go drink. It's on Luke."
"You lot can't keep coming in my bar for free drinks!" Luke yelled, still following Jessica out to the street.
The group made their way to Jessica's car, pausing when they heard the sound of running on the roof above them. They looked up just fast enough to see Daredevil disappearing into the remaining bit of darkness towards Avengers' Tower.
"Is he going after Parker without us?!" Jessica fumed.
"Um.....yes.....but not the Parker you're thinking of I'm sure." Felicia mumbled sheepishly. "I may have called Peter's aunt to tell her what happened."
"What's wrong with letting the kid's family know what happened?" Frank rolled his eyes at the other's discomfort.
"You haven't met May Parker, Castle. You just haven't met May Parker." Danny sighed, continuing towards Jessica's car.
"Hope he has fun with that." Luke grinned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Matt was most definitely not having fun. May Parker was a stubborn woman, and with time she had passed that gift right on to her nephew. Making a mad dash across the rooftops of New York, he could only hope to catch her before she stormed the tower. It pained him, but Peter was possibly getting the best information on Felicia's mystery attackers. It was information every vigilante associated with Spider-Man needed.
Coming up on the tower, he got a good look at May Parker. Her leg was almost fully healed, only a slight limp remaining due to soreness. Her hair was thrown up in a messy clip, and her face full of rage as she threw the cab fare into the front window and stomped off towards the tower doors as the frantic cab drivers sped off.
Matt took a steading breath and rushed to intercept her.
"May-"
"Oh! So you do at least know where the tower is." she smiled tightly. "I started to get concerned after we hung up that none of you did. Silly me I guess."
"May he's-"
"Still in there right?"
"Yes, but-"
"Then as his legal guardian he has to be given back to me, now."
"May he's 23-"
"I'm sorry Matthew, I do seem to be developing a stuttering problem it seems. Let me see if I can word this better. He's my nephew, I'm older, he lives with me, that makes me his guardian. I demand my ward be returned to me."
Matt was positive he should keep his mouth shut, but he didn't.
"May we need information he's most likely being given in there."
"Correct me if I'm wrong Matty, I'm not a crime fighter after all, but it sounds like my Peter is being used." May said, her face portraying none of her inner thoughts.
Matt made to respond when a window towards the top of the tower flew open and a body flew out it, a web firing off onto the nearby sky scraper and swinging off. May stared at the sky while Matt caught the last faint sounds of Peter's shooters firing. They stood there a moment before what looked like Iron Man, but wasn't, flew off in the direction Peter had gone.
May turned with a huff and marched up to the tower doors.
"May?"
"That wasn't Iron Man, which means Stark is still inside this tower and I plan to speak with him."
Matt sighed, desperately wanting to chase after Peter, but not wanting to leave May alone.
"May, you're never going to get inside. Peter just flung himself out of an upper floor window. Whatever is going on at the front door is far from their concern at the moment."
"Fuck." May spat, turning on her heel and stomping back towards the street.
"Give Jess a call. She'll come get you while I go hunt down our spider."
May grumbled as she dug in her purse for her phone.
"Um, Matty?" she grinned sheepishly. "I seem to have left my phone at home. You don't happen to have yours on you somewhere, do you?"
Matt nodded as he pulled his phone out and handed it to her. May stood there, silent as she looked at the screen.
"I love you Matt, but I don't know who to call. There are no actual names here."
"Call, 'Jonesing for Spidey'." Matt ran his hand down his face.
"I need to have a talk with that boy." May rolled her eyes as she made the call.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What the hell, Tony?" Peter growled.
"I could ask you the same thing, kid. What have you been thinking all this time? As if getting involved with the vigilante crowd, especially that Daredoofus guy-"
"Daredevil." Peter glared harder.
"Whatever." Tony brushed him off, clearly uninterested in hearing anything about the devil themed vigilante. "Not only do you get involved with...him, you let yourself get involved with Deadpool as well?! Do you have any idea what that lunatic has done? He's not worth your time! It's probably his fault you're being hunted right now!" Tony shouted, throwing his arms up.
"I've been hanging out with him off and on as he comes into the city for a few years now, Tony. If something was going to happen because of me being seen with him, it would have happened way before this and you know it. You can't be that stupid Tony. This isn't about Deadpool, this is about the person behind this being Norman Osborn!
"This is about you being back where you belong! You're little rag tag team out there can't help you like we can. We have access to information they'll never get! We may not have known immediately, but I can guarantee none of your 'friends' know about it at all! Fury is all over this because, yet again, he's got an infiltration problem. Here! This is where you need to be!"
"And you know why I won't!" Peter shouted, slamming his good hand down on the table, splitting it down the center and finishing it off. "I won't come back here Tony! I left all of this for a reason! I'm fine where I am! I don't need you and all your rules!"
"And look at where all that 'freedom' got you! You're in serious danger! This isn't some run of the mill villain, Peter! These guys are actively after you! Catching you isn't just a bonus, it's the sole intent!"
"It isn't the first time Tony! After I went after Norman, he changed his tactic to luring me out to catch me! I've handled Norman before. He's my problem. You need to stay out of the way."
Tony grunted as he bent down to pick up a manilla folder that had fallen went Peter broke the table.
"Here." he said, shoving the folder into Peter's chest.
"What's this?"
"Just look."
Peter raised an eyebrow skeptically as he opened the folder and flipped through the contents. Page after page of new Spider-Man costumes stared back at him.
"You've got to be kidding me. I thought that Harley guy was full of shit when he said you had a new suit for me."
"I know the top part of your suit was ruined in-order to cast your arm. You'll take one of the new suits I've made you and you'll stay at the tower while we figure out our next move." Tony crossed his arms as he stared Peter down.
"No."
"What?"
Peter glared as he lifted his eyes from the papers and took a deep breath.
"I'm not staying here Tony. I have all the information I need so I'm leaving. I'll make a new suit on my own. I'm not taking one of yours where you can monitor me. I'm not a kid anymore and I'm not your mentee!"
Tony watched in shock as Peter shoved a corner of the folder into his mouth and held it, using his free hand to rip the folder and all it's pages right down the middle.
"I never wanted it to be this way Tony, but do I really need to remind you what happened between us? You came in to my home, invaded my life and blackmailed me into going to fucking Germany because Captain America didn't do what you wanted him to! That wasn't my fight Tony! Looking back I feel so stupid that my hero worship for you got in the way of me actually realizing it was blackmail and went along with whatever you said. I went into a fight for you that I wasn't ready for! I told you I had only had my powers for six months but that didn't matter to you! You didn't care that Steve just wanted to help his friend! You didn't care that Steve had already had his trust with any organization destroyed when he found out S.H.I.E.L.D was Hydra!"
Tony's eyes widened as Peter continued to rant.
"Yeah I know all about it, Tony! I've gotten really good at hacking into files I shouldn't be able to. How dare Steve not want to hand over his freedom to another organization that could abuse his trust. A group of highly skilled and enhanced people at the mercy of a shady man in charge who didn't even like them!"
"I stand behind my feelings at the time. We needed to be held accountable Peter! Signing them also meant we'd still be able to act as a team because it was that or retire! Did your little hacking skills tell you the accords are still being thrown around? This time I am against them because it's branching out from just involving the Avengers!"
"I don't have to hack anything for that Tony. I'm friends with The Fantastic Four! They're on the chopping block too. I don't care how you feel about them now! You got me involved with that crap when I was 15! I almost had to sign that bullshit regulation because you drug me into Avengers' problems! I just wanted to help out with smaller scale stuff! Protect the everyday people on the street from having to experience what I did when Uncle Ben was shot and killed! Did you even care about me at all when you took me with you or were you so consumed with anger at Steve that I didn't matter at all?"
Tony's wide-eyed stared narrowed as anger at Peter's accusations started to rise.
"I took you out of the fight didn't I? I told you to stay down. I gave you a suit that was made for fighting to keep you safe! I put all kinds of precaution measures into it as well! I had you check in regularly! I had a tracker in your suit and monitored your vitals so I'd know if you were in danger! I put faith in you as a 15 year old rising super hero and then I saved your hide at the ferry! See what happens when you think you know better than someone who's been doing this longer than you?"
Peter froze at the mention of, to him, his greatest failure. He could vividly remember the burn of his muscles as he tried to hold the ship together. Swallowing hard, Peter took a breath.
"It wouldn't have happened at all if you'd gave enough of a shit to tell me you not only believed me, but had already told the FBI and I needed to back off unless it got bad. I had no idea I had someone on my side! I did what I did because I had no way of knowing I shouldn't! What did it matter though when in the end I wound up having to stop Adrian anyway?! You stand there acting all high and mighty but you basically abandoned me after we got back! I once told you I was nothing without that stupid suit and you told me if I thought that I shouldn't have it. Congratulations Tony, you were right. I didn't need that suit. I've been doing just fine without it. Oh and as for 'taking me out of the fight', thanks for doing it after I was hurt!"
"Look here kid-"
"No! This is where you zip it! I'm talking!"
Tony blinked in surprise as Peter advanced on him, his face red with anger.
"I got over that hero worship for you a long time ago Tony. I have a life out there. I have friends. I have family. There's nothing you can offer me. It's so frustrating to deal with you. You crawl your way inside someone's world and completely reshape it. You make yourself the center of everything because that's how you like it. You like the attention. You thrive on it and honestly, I don't want to give it to you."
The two stared each other down, both angry and full of more arguments. Peter had so much he wanted to say to Tony, eight years worth of stuff.
Tony took in the boy no, man, before him. This wasn't his Peter. His Peter was sweet and awkward and, for the most part, listened. His Peter was lost the day Matthew Murdock stepped into the picture. No doubt the man had filled Peter's head with how great vigilante life could be over being a recognized hero with the Avengers. What was so great about him anyway? What could he possibly offer Peter that Tony couldn't? Murdock wasn't the great mentor he saw himself as. He was careless with a highly impressionable child. He let Peter jump into trouble without any regard for his safety! Then again, of course Peter would like that. It was every thing Tony had tried to prevent by closely monitoring him. It was this lack of concern that furthered Tony's belief he was right in his decision to bring Peter in to the Avengers. Peter needed a real team to watch his back and encourage him. He needed Tony to guide him away from the shadows of untrusted vigilantism and into the light of respected hero. He was who Peter should be taking advice from.
If Tony Stark was a more honest man with his feelings, he'd admit he was jealous of the devil themed man. Tony Stark though, wasn't honest.
"There's nothing I can offer you hu? Well let's talk Peter. What can Matthew Murdock offer you then? He is Daredevil right? Of course he is, why am I asking? What can the devil of Hell's Kitchen offer you? I'm offering tech, a team, and protection. May would be taken care of-"
"You already took care of her when you paid our bills! Who do you think you are doing something like that? Parker's don't just do charity Tony. And don't you talk to me about Matt. He's been an excellent mentor to me! He's had me trained in various fighting styles, learning detective work, and most of all, he's there for me! When I need advice I can go right to him. No Happy to have to go through first. Matt makes time for me! He checks in regularly if I don't see him! He checks on May when I'm on a mission or helping out Dr. Strange! He..He-" Peter struggles to get out as small, fond chuckles escape him with his next words. "He made me lunches to take to high school and college because I couldn't afford to spare the money to buy any. I have my own room in his apartment and I'd crash there and he'd have me a lunch ready to go the next day. He'd ask how my day went and did my classes go alright. He'd ask me about tests I stressed over. He's supported me with my job at Oscorp-"
"Oh I bet he has. Of course he'd be happy you ended up there than at SI. I'd give you any position you want!"
"I believe what you offered me was an internship." Peter deadpanned.
"I won't even lie that that was just to avoid suspicion on hiring a kid straight out of college for a high level position. Of course you'd be given an actual job. You'd be right under me in the R&D department. Free reign!"
"We're not discussing job opportunities Tony. This is about your freakish control issues. Why won't you just leave me alone? I think I've been pretty clear about it."
"Because I'm Tony Stark and I do what I want, and what I want is to have you in the Avengers and at SI and let me be the mentor you're going to need. You have so much to offer kid, and I can help you. The current Avengers are gonna retire one day Peter. They're going to retire and someone will have to pick up the mantel. Thats you, Peter, it's always been you. You'll be the next Tony Stark of the Avengers."
Peter froze. Surely Tony wasn't serious. How could he ever think Peter would want that? Then again, did Tony ever think about what Peter wanted?
"That kid out there, Iron Lad, Harley, he's a perfect match for you Peter. He's a smart kid and perfect Avengers material. He'll be your right hand and the two of you will lead the next team. Just give up the vigilante crap and pick a bedroom here at the tower. May can come stay to until we take care of this Norman situation. Steve, Nat, and Bucky like to train early in the morning so I suggest getting to sleep early. Currently Harley is filling your role here at SI, but it's a job that can be easily split-"
"Tony."
"Between the two of you. You can both get to know each other better and figure out a groove for teamwork-"
"Tony."
"You'll be the new Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, just hopefully without the team splitting then getting back together part."
"Tony!"
Tony stopped and looked at Peter's pale face. His chocolate eyes wide with shock and...fear? The couldn't be right. Peter had nothing to fear anymore. He'd have everything he could ever want and May would never have to worry about financial security ever again. There was so much waiting on him if he'd just realize Tony just wanted what was best for him.
"I don't want to lead the Avengers Tony! Why would you ever think I'd want that? I work alone and if I do need help, I have a whole crew of people out there willing to step in! I don't want or need a permanent team!"
Tony frowned, then sighed.
"Why do you always have to fight me kid? Why can't you just let me help you?"
"Because you're not helping me! You're trying to put me in a mold that makes you happy!"
"Because it keeps you safe!"
"There's nothing safe about what we do!"
"Not when you insist on going out of your way to throw yourself in to it! Do you have anyone that questions your judgement? Anyone that might ask you if what your doing is a good idea or not?"
"Other than the Spidey angel and devil that sits on their respective shoulders? Depends on when and where I am at the time." Peter rolled his eyes, itching at the cast as he could feel his arm healing underneath it. Now that he thought about it, how had it even broken it at all? It wasn't like it was a hard hit and he'd been slammed in to walls and worse. Then he remembered the feeling of Iron Lad rolling over and bending his arm backward over the roof ledge. The weight of the suit and the angle just enough to snap it. Not enough to keep him down though as the tingle under his skin informed him it healing at a more rapid rate than the other times he had broken anything. Maybe Friday hadn't told the whole truth about how not bad his break was. He wouldn't put it past Tony to have Friday manipulate a situation to his benefit.
"We'd give you that. We're give you the opportunity to always have someone to check in with for an opinion. We all have communicators we use to do just that. Harley-"
"Why do you keep pushing him on me? I don't even know the guy and after that little show he put on I don't think I want to. It's obvious you've been playing 'wounded mentor just wanting his mentee back' very well. Don't think your gonna get your happy little replacement team." Peter smirked.
"What do you want Peter? Do you want me to beg you for forgiveness? Do you want me to tell you every thing I did was wrong? Is that what you want? Well that's not happening. You made mistakes that nearly got you and others killed. You didn't listen and had an attitude about it that needed to be kept in check. You weren't easy to work with Peter. You though you were better than you were at the time. You would have been dead if not for me. Me finding you was a blessing for you and I'll never apologize for anything I did. I was right and you were wrong. End of story."
"You obnoxious ass! I never asked you to find me! I was doing just fine without you! Did it ever occur to you that I knew my place before you got involved? I was a 15 year old kid that had been drug into things outside his skill level and felt I needed to prove myself to stay there! A man I once idolized had, or I thought, felt I was good enough to be bigger than the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. I was good enough to fight Captain America, why wouldn't I be good enough to take on Vulture? I needed to impress you! I wanted your attention and the harder I tried the more you made sure to tell me how bad I did. Couldn't give me an honest compliment but you sure could tell me about my failures!"
Peter could feel a weariness creeping into his bones. He wanted to believe Tony just had a shitty way of showing concern for him, but he was to tired to even try deal with it. They were going in circles as this point. Tony wasn't going to admit Peter was right and Peter wasn't going to back down. If Peter had ever had a deeply buried desire to, at the least, have a civil relationship with Tony, it was slowly dying. Was it worth the constant fighting? If he agreed to at least be civil with Tony and the other Avengers, he'd be pressured into accepting Tony's offer to be the leader of the next set of Avengers. That was not a position Peter wanted, but he had a feeling Harley would jump to take it if offered.
"Peter," Tony sighed. "We both made mistakes. I stand by some of my choices and some I would tweak-"
"Tweak?!"
"Yes, tweak. Everything I did was what was best for you. Maybe I didn't do it just right, but at least I cared!"
Peter's brain shut down temporarily as he took in Tony's words.
"Are...are you saying Matt doesn't care?" Peter asked, his brain finally coming back online.
"Honestly I don't know why May would encourage you to be around him and his 'friends'."
"Are you judging May's judgement?"
Peter was desperately trying to keep up with the conversation as his brain's reboot hadn't seemed to fully restore everything yet.
"I think she thinks you're with good people but does she know everything you get up to? Does she know how you've been 'trained'? Does she know about any of their backgrounds? I feel like a broken record here Peter! We're the Avengers! There's so much more for you here Pete, and I want you to have it. I want all the best things for you. I want you safe! Once again, I'm offering you a team! People that will always be available to help you! I've seen how the vigilante's work. You each have your own areas to cover and generally don't cross into someone else's territory without and invitation. Who knew being a vigilante involved office politics?"
"Don't..don't call me 'Pete'."
"What?"
"Don't. Call. Me. Pete."
"And why not?" Tony huphed, crossing his arms.
"Because that's what Matt calls me."
Tony felt his face heat up in anger. So what? He couldn't call Peter a nickname if Murdock did it?
"I'm done here." Peter said, pushing past Tony to head towards the door.
"Peter," Tony scoffed. "No matter what you think, you're still in danger and so is May. If Norman finds out who you are that's it. There's no place safer than here. I know I can't keep you from going after Norman, but I can keep May safe."
Peter paused in his step. Of course Tony would use the biggest weakness Peter had. May's safety was his top priority, even over his own. As much as he hated to admit it, Tony wasn't lying. Avengers' Tower was the safest place in the city. The only problem, if Peter was even willing to take Tony up on his offer, was that May would never agree to it. Suddenly, a wonderful thought popped into his head, and before his brain could catch up to his mouth, he blurted out his thought.
"Deadpool is watching out for her!"
There was silence between the two as Tony stared blankly at Peter.
"I'm sorry, did I hear you correctly? Did you say Deadpool was watching after May?"
Peter internally groaned as he told himself to insert foot A into mouth B. However, he was already in the shit now, so might as well continue.
"Yes, I did."
Surely Wade wouldn't mind a little guard duty....right?
“You’re entrusting the safety of your aunt to a mercenary over me?!”
“Looks that way. I won’t owe him anything.”
“If I was going to call in favors kid, I’d have called them in when I started taking care of your financial problems. As for him, oh, I’msure he’ll get something from you.” Tony hissed.
“Are you suggesting I’m whoring myself out to protect Aunt May?” Peter growled.
“I’d never think you’d do something like that Peter but I don’t trust him to not back you in to a corner over it. He was all over you on that rooftop! He was trying to take advantage of you!”
“You can’t take advantage of someone who wants it!” Peter shouted, throwing his hand over mouth in surprise.
Tiny stared at him wide-eyed.
“You can’t be serious.”
“I’m not going to stand here and discuss my personal life with you.”
“Why not?! I want to have you back Pete! I miss you kid! I want things to go back to how they were!”
“What are you talking about?!” Peter glared. “There’s nothing to get back! Tony you didn’t have anything to do with me! You were always gone and I had to check in with Happy! You didn’t do anything with me! I told you that’s what makes Matt my DAD!”
Tony froze and Peter panic. Pushing past Tony, Peter didn’t bother trying to open the door, he yanked his mask back on as he kicked it off the hinges in order to make a faster escape.
Peter said a silent thanks for soundproof walls as the shocked faces of the rest of the Avengers took him in as he stepped out into the hall. The door he had kicked off it’s hinges was nestled into the wall from the force.
“I’d like to say I enjoyed our visit, but I think I’m gonna give having any more a hard pass.” Peter said, brushing past.
“That’s my shirt.” Harley sneered. “Don’t think you can come here and just accept our hospitality then act like an asshole and leave.”
Peter stared at Harley as he glared. This? This hot head was who Tony wanted to pair him up with? Without a second thought, Peter tugged the shirt up and off, handing it back to the man.
“I’m sorry if my assholeness rubbed off on it.”
“Spider-Man,” Tony’s voice wavered behind him. “Where...where did you get that scar?”
Peter turned slowly, realizing just what scar Tony was referring to.
“That scar across my whole back? I think I got that when an entire building collapsed on my back. I didn’t have any real suit support at the time.”
The “because you took my suit away” hung in the air between them.
“Here kid.”
Peter turned to see Bucky holding out his own shirt.
“It’s clear you’re leaving regardless of what we say but I can’t let you leave half dressed. Take this for the sake of my conscience.”
Peter took the shirt, fully aware he owed Bucky at least this much for the warnings he had given Peter previously. He slid the shirt on, covering his scared back.
“Kid, we really need to talk about-“ Peter didn’t listen. Noticing the large window at the end of the hall, he made a mad dash and F.R.I.D.A.Y flung it open before he could crash through it. As he fell he fired off a web and swung out into the night.
Caught up in Spider-Man's escape, no one noticed Harley sneak off and follow after him.