The Call
Steve could feel the tension in the room like a ticking time bomb. The other members kept casting him looks of disbelief, clearly questioning his sanity. He knew he was taking a huge gamble calling Peter. The young man was right when he called Steve desperate, hopefully his desperation would pay off.
“So,” Peter started kicking his feet up on the desk, lazily leaning back in his chair. “Are we going to talk business or did you all just want to keep staring me like I slapped your grandmas?”
The Avengers exploded with angry shots and curses, Peter only leaned further back and grinned at the chaos he caused. A voice rose above the rest. “You can’t seriously be asking this lunatic for help,
Steve.” Clint narrowed his eyes at Peter and the kid waved and blew a kiss. “He lost all his marbles the day his dad died.”
“Aw, I missed you too Tweety Bird.” Peter’s grin grew impossibly wider when Clint lunged over the table. Steve rushed forward and caught his friend around the torso, holding him tightly as the man struggled to reach the kid.
Steve grunted when an elbow collided with his face. “Stop it now!” Clint froze and Steve took his chance to talk some sense into the archer. “I know there is many unresolved issues here. but we have bigger problems now.”
Clint sagged in Steve’s hold know that the soldier was right. Steve slowly released his hold and once he was sure that Clint wasn’t going to go for Peter he looked to Bruce and nodded. Clint brushed past Steve and took a seat as for from Peter as possible.
The scientist slowly stood from his seat and shuffled to the head of the conference table, wringing his hands nervously. “Hello everyone, as you know I have been missing for quite a while. Long story short the ship I was in crash landed on an alien planet and left me stranded.” Bruce cast an apologetic look at Natasha before he continued. “I ended up meeting Thor and we escaped on another ship. We were on our way back here when we were attacked by a mad titan, Thanos."
Peter sat forward as Bruce pushed a button and a hologram of six multicolored stones flashed above the table. “Thanos is after these infinity stones.” Bruce explained gesturing to the hologram.
“These stones hold the power of the galaxy inside them, and he already posses two of them, maybe three.”
Bruce’s voice started to drift off into the background as Peter stared at the stones hovering above him. His skin warmed as an unworldly attraction flowed into his veins. Something about these stones was calling to him, like they were calling his name and welcoming him home.
“Peter? Peter!”
“Huh, What? I didn’t do it!” Peter blinked whipping his head towards the sound of his name.
“Did you hear what Bruce said?” The captain asked brow furrowed with annoyance and a touch of concern.
“Pfft,” Peter puffed, turning his chair away from the stones. “Every word.”
“Oh yeah,” Natasha challenged, crossing her arms over her chest. “What did he say then?”
Peter waved his hand nonchalantly. “Something about the something with the angry purple guy and his need to accessorize. Do I get an A+?”
Bruce slammed a fist into the table causing everyone to jump. Peter half expected him to Hulk out with the anger radiating off the man. “This isn’t a joke, Thor’s gone, and this madman intends to wipe out half of all living things!”
Peter sobered at that. He also thought of Thor as the strongest Avenger, and if he was easily killed, this was no ordinary villain. “Ok, I’m listening. What do we need to do?”
Steve stood to stand next to Bruce pushing another button. A picture of Vision and Wanda appeared. “We need to get a beat on Vision, both he and Wanda missed their last scheduled check in.”
“You let my dad’s superbot wander off and then lose him!” Peter scoffed in disbelief. “He could be anywhere by now!”
“And that’s why you are here.” Steve quipped without looking at the young man. “You knew Tony better than anyone, you know how his brain worked.”
Peter crossed his arms, the urge to punch the soldier in his perfect teeth rising. Peter didn’t like people mentioning his father especially when they wanted something from him. “Tread carefully Spangles.”
The other heroes in the room tensed noticing the change in Peter’s demeanor. Peter’s spider-senses sent him a warning of the potential danger that he ignored. He was focused on the captain, Steve’s next words deciding on how the next events would play out.
Steve slowly raised his eyes, Peter sat on the edge of his seat, a balled fist sitting on the table. The kid was ready to attack and that made Steve sad. Sighing Steve flicked another webpage into the center of the table. “This is a tracking algorithm your dad made in case Vision ever went missing.” Steve explained. “Your dad being who he was heavily encrypted this and none of us can figure out how to crack it. You’re the only one smart enough to find Wanda and Vision.”
Peter studied the code running across the screen, patterns popping out here and there. Peter stood and pushed Steve aside as he muttered to himself. Back before Tony had been kidnapped, he and Peter would create computer codes. The contest was to see who could hack the others the quickest. Peter discovered his dad was an amazing hacker, but Peter was a quick learner and soon he was a capable hacker in his own right.
Steve and the other’s watched as Peter’s fingers flew across the keyboard. Soon other screens popped up, different codes running over them. To Steve it was nothing but gibberish, a mix of letters and numbers, he never would have understood it.
A loud ping shattered the silence in the room. “There!” Peter said, with a crack of his knuckles. “Your missing bot looks to be in Scotland.”
Steve let out a sigh of relief, he knew Peter would do it. “Alright team we have the coordinates, suit up!” The sound of chairs scuffling against the floor echoed through the room as the members shot up to follow the orders.
Peter watched them go with little interest, he wasn’t expecting a thank you, but some acknowledgment would be nice. A shadow fell over him and he turned to see Steve standing over him. “Am I done here now?”
“Do you want to be?” Steve asked, studying the boy carefully.
Peter smirked, of course the captain would want to play this game. “I’m no hero. I don’t play by your rules.” Peter crossed his arms to match Steve’s stance. “Are you sure you can bend your righteous morals to have me around?”
Steve pretended to think for a moment before answering. “I don’t think at this point we have much of a choice in this. The only thing I ask is for you not to put innocent people in unnecessary harm.”
Peter rolled his eyes slightly offended. “If you hadn’t notice I only hurt the bad guys.”
“Trust me I noticed. That is my offer take it or leave it.”
Peter was close to telling Steve to shove his offer where the sun doesn’t shine. Then he thought back to the infinity stones and the strange power that was calling to him. He needed to know what that was, and why he needed to be a part of it. “Fine, but you don’t tell me what to do, I refuse to be one of your groupies. I’m not an Avenger.”
With that Peter brushed past Steve and headed towards the boarding bay. Steve sighed softly and ran a hand over his beard. This had gone a lot better than he had hoped. Peter was here and he was willing to help. The young man was still impossible and lost in a lot of ways, but this meeting had shown that his goodness wasn’t completely gone. If Steve played his cards right hopefully he could help Peter unbury Spiderman and become the hero Tony knew the kid was meant to be.