All Good Devils Masquerade Under The Light
Age of Ultron.
That’s what the civilians labeled it as. A scare to the world. Everything around them were progressing.
To Peter, it wasn’t just some distant scare. It was a living nightmare.
One minute he was watching Tony and the Avengers try to lift Thor’s hammer, then suddenly a broken robot came in, yelling. It was terrifying watching the Avengers fight firsthand. It made Peter want to throw up.
Every morning he would wake up sick, gasping for air. The events of what had happened flashing behind his eyelids with every blink. Flashes of flying robots and two twins with powers haunted him.
Peter was in high school now, the first semester actually. Spider-Man was big now and he was already doing great in school. He was reunited with some of his old friends, who said hi but it was mutual that they wouldn’t fully reconnect.
Ned noticed the next day that Peter wasn’t okay.
“What’s wrong?” Ned asked.
“I… Ned it’s horrible. It’s getting worse.” Peter leaned on his desk and sighed.
Ned didn’t hesitate to lean in and hug his best friend. Ned gave him a nice hug before backing off.
“Buddy, you’re gonna be okay. I promise. They’ll fix this.” Ned pat Peter’s back.
Across the room, Ned’s eyes connected with Flash Thompson’s.
Ned had known Flash since they were in middle school. Ned knew things about Flash that others didn’t. Flash didn’t have a soulmate. Neither of them. He knew that Flash knew Peter since they were small children. When he found out that Peter’s platonic was Tony Stark, he started to hate Peter. He was jealous of the fact that Peter had both soulmates and one was a famous person. A superhero.
Flash had over the years gotten over it, but wasn’t able to reapproach Peter. So he just kept the same act up.
Ned felt bad for the guy, but at the same time didn’t. MJ had told him that if Flash wasn’t good enough to man up and make up, then fuck him. He didn’t know that Peter was Spider-Man like they did (which they both figured out quickly and didn’t want to tell Peter). Flash would tell everyone. Ned knew MJ was right, but he still felt bad.
Flash quickly looked away and ned focused back on his miserable best friend.
-
Tony watched as Peter ran down the street. He had grocery bags in his hands, full of supplies for a science project. Peter kept up a decent pace until he tripped and fell. Tony snorted on the inside as his vision was faced with concrete, then a hand.
“Are you okay?” A voice asked. The owner of the hand.
Peter took the hand and was helped up with ease. Peter looked up to see a man in a suit and sunglasses. He had a cane in the hand that didn’t pick Peter up with. He has a five-o-clock shadow and small cuts on his face. He was blind.
“Yeah. I tend to trip a lot.” Tony could feel Peter’s smile. “Do you need any help. I uh… didn’t mean to get in your way.”
“No, no. It’s fine.” The blind man smiled at Peter and somehow managed to get his hand on Peter’s shoulder the first time. “I wouldn’t mind help getting back to my work though. Sometimes I lose track of where I am.”
“Oh! Yeah. What’s the address?” Peter asked. The man gave him the address and Peter typed it into his phone. A law firm. “You’re a lawyer?”
“Sure am. Matt Murdock.” Matt shrugged.
“Oh! You took down Wilson Fisk those times and went through trial with Mr. Castle!’ Peter gushed and started to lead Matt through the streets.
“Well, yes. I did it with the help of my partner and assistant.” Matt seemed to not like all of the praise put on him. Respectable.
“Ms. Page and Mr. Nelson, right? I read her reports sometimes. She’s really talented.” Peter kept going on with his praise. It seemed to help pass the time. Tony could feel something though, that he normally wouldn’t feel if it was him. A warm tingly sensation on the back of his neck. It wasn’t bad, but more of a feeling. Tony couldn’t place it.
“Wow. You know your way around with Hell’s Kitchen, don’t you?” Matt humored.
“I’m really big into vigilantes and crime.” Peter confessed. “I uh, have a lot of tragedy in my life. So I need something to do.”
“Tragedy?” Matt asked.
“My parents died when I was a child. My uncle that had custody of me… he just died. I live with my aunt now.” Peter looked down. Matt tensed.
“You are an orphan?” Matt asked. “Why don’t you live with your soulmate?”
“I love my aunt. I wouldn’t abandon her. And he’s… a really busy important man. I couldn’t do that.” Peter sighed. “What about you?”
“That’s something for another, day kid.” Matt and Peter stopped in front of a door and Matt pulled out a business card. “Here, if you ever need me.”
Peter took it and smiled.
“Thanks, Mr. Murdock.” Peter puts it in his pocket and looked back up to Matt.
“You’re welcome. See you later, Peter.” With that, Matt disappeared into the building.
-
Peter had gotten a new suit for Christmas.
“Open by yourself.” The note had said. So he did and it was a beautiful new suit.
Of course, he went out that night once May went to bed. It was great. Karen was built in and she was able to easily guide him to crime with her new update.
“Hey, Karen.” Peter asked while he sat on the roof of a deli, eating the sandwich the owners offered him.
“Yes, Peter.” Karen replied.
“You know that business card I made you process the other day?” Peter said through a bite of meat.
“Yes. The Nelson and Murdock one?” Karen pulled up the information.
“Yes! Can you make a route there? I wanna ask Mr. Murdock something.” Peter said. Karen created a route and he grabbed his backpack and swung off.
As Peter swung, he thought of his situation.
Tony was stressed out as the UN was suddenly up the Avenger’s ass. There had been scares over his apartment. His life was just… hard. Peter wanted to know if there was any way to help May and Tony at the same time. Matt might know something.
Peter swung into the alley besides the firm and changed into his normal clothes, shoving what he didn’t need into his bag. He then ran around the building and went inside. Finding the firm’s door wasn’t hard. It had a nice plaque with Nelson, Murdock & Page carved on it in nice font. Peter saw lights on inside and opened the door.
“Hello?” Peter called out into the office space and looked around. The light was in two of the side offices. The door one of the offices slowly opened and a woman stepped out. Karen Page. He looked at Peter with a small look of surprise, her mouth opening and closing in a tight frown before smiling.
“Hi. How can I help you?” Karen asked.
“I’m uhm… here for Mr. Murdock, Ms. Page. Is he here?” Peter asked with a small smile.
“Oh, for Matt?” Karen turned as the other door opened and Matt stepped out.
“Yes?” Matt asked to the room.
“This kid is here for you, Matt.” Karen said before turning back to her office.
Matt just nodded before turning to Peter.
“You’re the kid that helped me the other day, aren’t you?” Matt asked and waved Peter inside. Peter followed and sat down in a chair.
“Yeah. My name is Peter. Peter Parker. I uhm… wanted to ask you about things.” Peter fidgeted as Matt sat in his chair.
“Well, Peter. I’m here to help you.” Matt smiled.
“I… my soulmate is getting in trouble with the law. Like… international law. And my aunt is having trouble with money. Is there a way I can… intervene?” Peter confessed.
“International law? What are we talking about here?” Matt frowned and leaned his elbows on his desk.
“The… I shouldn’t be saying this to you.” Peter sucked in a deep breath.
“Here… give me a second.” Matt fished out a notepad from God knows where on his desk with a pen. He wrote something on the paper and signed it. He then slid it over to Peter. “Confidentiality. You don’t have to pay me persey. I’ll take your help the other day as payment. I won’t be able to tell people about whatever legal trouble it is. Okay? Client confidentiality.”
Peter took the paper and looked it over. It just said that Peter and Matt were consulting and he wasn’t allowed to talk. Peter took the pen and signed it.
“Okay.” Peter handed it back. Matt ran his fingers over it to see that Peter did sign something and sat it down.
“Now, Peter. Talk to me.” Matt offered a smile.
“The UN.” Peter saw Matt’s eyebrows raise. “The UN is giving him trouble. Him and… his coworkers. They accidentally started something and it escalated. But like… it wasn’t entirely their fault?”
“How does one get in trouble with the UN?” Matt sighed.
“You make a robot AI that becomes self conscious and wants to destroy you then the world. It makes a city float and then drops it.” Peter rambles.
“Are you talking about the Avengers?” Matt realised.
“Yes.” Peter sinks in his seat. “My soulmate, platonic, is Tony Stark. In my dreams I see what is happening and how much he just wants to help. It’s tearing them apart… the UN is tearing his family apart. I can’t… I can’t watch it.”
Tears filled Peter’s eyes as his emotions got the best of him.
“May is also struggling with her job. They raised minimum wage to 15, which was what she was making and now everything else is raising. We… we’re barely making it. The influx is hurting us. We might lose our apartment and I can’t turn to Tony and ask him on top of this. What do I do?” Peter bit his lip.
“There’s… only so much you can do legally. Your aunt can apply for many programs and help. I think… that with Stark you can either help or make it worse. If the UN recognizes that he has to suddenly take you in and shift his life to accommodate a teenager, they might lay off. Normally soulmates with underage children overcome anything since the children laws have come to protect more.” Matt rubs his face. “You can approach him and ask about it. His team might also be willing to help him. Give him leisure.”
“Do you think… it’ll work? That if I try and reach out that it’ll help with the UN? Showing humanity from Tony?” Peter asked.
“It worked with others. Why not now? You can also testify. You barely have contact other than dreams and probably gifts, correct?” Matt asked.
“Yeah. He has access to my AI, suit, and computer. Baby Monitor Protocol it’s called.” Peter rambled shortly and realized what he said. Matt seemed to ignore it or didn’t catch it.
“Then you’re untampered. He has no influence on you.” Matt shrugged. “That means you can go in front of a judge and postpone everything.”
Peter nodded and sighed. Matt was telling the truth. He could just… go and try to smooth everything over. Be a reason why they’re good. He can testify.
“Thanks. I… this means a lot to me, Matt.” Peter smiled. “Also… you never told me about your soulmates. You don’t have a timer on your wrist like I do.”
“Foggy Nelson is my romantic soulmate. He had to tell me after I got slapped in the face with the feeling of meeting my soulmate.” Matt smiled. “And Claire… I saw through her eyes for years. Then one day I was knocked out in a dumpster. A kid pulled me out and I saw myself through her eyes. She knew automatically it was me from what she’s seen through my eyes. It works out pretty well.”
Peter noticed how fond Matt was as he talked about them. It held that pure love that could stretch and keep the world together.
“I’m glad you coul-”
Before Peter could finish, the door busts open, making them both flinch. Karen stood there, breathing hard from running across the office.
“The news... oh my god!” Karen gasped for air.
“Karen. What’s wrong?” Matt stood up.
“The king of Wakanda is dead. The UN blew up. They’re blaming it on the Winter Soldier!” Karen looked panicked. Peter could hear her heartbeat. It was quick and frantic. “Captain America just went rogue after him!.”
Peter felt panic course through him and he stood up suddenly.
“I have to… I have to go.” Peter grabbed his bag and went towards Karen.
“Peter, wait.” Matt called after him.
“I have to… My aunt is probably panicking. It’s late also.” Peter used the excuse to just leave.
Karen moved out of his way as he sprinted out of the law firm.
Karen and Matt stared at the doorway Peter disappeared through and held their breaths. Karen spoke first.
“Was that the kid?” Karen asked.
“Yes.” Matt swallowed silently. “The sad part is that this is more complex than it should be, and it is out of our hands.”