Chapter 1
“Uh, Steve? What are they doing?” Tony asked. Steve looked towards the billionaire, a brows scrunched in confusion, before returning his gaze to the whatever was happening in front of him. Tony was sure that he looked just liked him, perplexed and maybe a bit weirded out at what was happening.
They were in the Avengers Compound, enjoying a quiet day of having not to save the world. Tony was just visiting, checking out the new additions to the team and how they were adapting (and maybe visit his friends, not that Tony would admit that out loud). As far as having a bunch of super heroes under one building, everything seemed to be okay.
There was Sam and Bucky fighting over who got the remote, using the training room as their battleground. Bruce was out, busy in the Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne’s lab, working with the two on the different possible uses of quantum energy. Scott and Hope was with them, acting as test subjects. Natasha went out to visit Clint’s family. Rhodey had a day job as colonel so he wasn’t always at the compound. And Vision was busy in the kitchen, trying to make what looked like stew, although Tony was going to let the others find out for him first.
The only Avengers he hadn’t seen were Wanda and, the newest Avenger, Peter aka Spider-man, aka his personal apprentice (sorry Steve, Tony doesn’t like sharing). Vision told him that Wanda and Peter were hanging out, since they were the only teens in the entire building and neither wanted to make the long travel out of the compound to go somewhere else. Naturally, Tony tried the first place he knew Peter would be, the lab, fully expecting the boy to be elbow deep in web chemicals with Wanda making sure he didn’t web the lab again (cleaning them was a bitch so no thanks).
He was half right. When Tony walked to the lab, he saw the two teens from the hallway, busy with something on the floor. Whatever they were working on was hidden from his view as Tony walked towards the doors. Tony couldn’t hear their discussion but whatever it was got them both excited. Peter was explaining something to Wanda using big hand gestures and while his mouth made sound effects mixed in. Wanda listened and laughed at whatever story Peter was giving, providing her own comments and commentary from what he could see. As Tony finally reached the glass doors of the lab, he finally saw that Peter and Wanda were in fact… drawing? On the floor? Was that chalk? What the hell?
That was how Captain America found him, staring baffled at the impromptu art project. Cap greeted him with a smile, but Tony only gave a simple wave before turning back to the two teens vandalizing the lab floors. When he asked Cap about it, he only offered his own confused reply.
“I have no idea.”
Tony and Steve watched as the two continued with- to be honest they weren’t really sure. From their vantage point, they saw the floor slowly being covered by white lines taking the form of many geometric shapes. Weird symbols were drawn in chalk, spread out at random intervals. There were even words and letters written inside some of the symbols. All of these were bounded by a gigantic circle of chalk. And through their observation, Peter was still talking to Wanda enthusiastically and unaware they were being watched.
His curiosity piqued, Tony finally opened the lab doors, Steve following close behind.
“-and then Ned had no idea what to say so he went with ‘I’m looking at porn?’”
The two teens laughed out loud at Peter’s story, Wanda trying her best not to ruin the line she was drawing in the process. She glanced at the grimoire right beside her to check her progress. She was already finished with her half of the circle, only needing to add the remaining symbols and inscriptions left. Glancing at Peter’s side, she saw that he was almost done with his too. Only a few more runes and they were good to go. Of course, it would go faster if Peter didn’t keep telling her stories that made her laugh.
“Of all the things he could have said, why porn?” she said in between giggles.
Peter shrugged and said, “Probably panicking. Ned doesn’t do well under pressure. But he is a great support guy. He’s always got my back no matter what.”
The warmth in Peter’s voice made her smile. “I can see why your friends.”
This made him look at her questioningly, “Why? Because we’re both such awesome nerds?” he replied, brushing back his hair in an attempt to look sexy.
“No.” She replied. Wanda paused momentarily before continuing, “Because you both can’t lie for shit.”
Peter made an offended sound and glared at Wanda. “Hey! That’s not true. I’ve gotten way better now!”
“That’s because Natasha started teaching you so certain intelligent friends of yours don’t figure out your other secrets.” Wanda replied dryly, a smirk gracing her lips.
Peter blushed in embarrassment and turned back to his work, mumbling, “MJ figures out my secret identity once and suddenly everybody’s after me.” Which caused Wanda to flick Peter’s forehead before returning to her own side. Peter sputtered before grabbing a small piece of chalk and throwing it at her. She just made it stop in mid-air.
“That is so unfair,” Peter groaned. Wanda just flicked the chalk back at Peter, on the same spot she did before. The face Peter made caused Wanda to laugh out loud and Peter to grumble, even though he was chuckling under his breath.
The two were brought away from their laughter by the sounds of the lab door opening, Steve and Tony walking in. A smiled bloomed on Peter’s face as he stood up to greet the two.
“Mr. Stark! Nice to see you! Hello Captain Rogers!” came his eager greeting. Steve responded in kind but Tony gave an exaggerated grimace. “For the last time kid, stop with the Mr. Stark. Call me Tony. Mr. Stark just makes me feel old.”
Peter started stuttering apologies and which made Steve smile and Tony chuckle. Until Wanda said:
“So being 50 doesn’t count as being old?”
Tony sputtered before glaring at Wanda, who graced him with a raised an eyebrow and a small smile. Steve almost failed to stop the giggle that almost escaped his lips. Meanwhile Peter was somewhere between trying not to laugh and wanting to shout ‘BURN!’
“Excuse me, I’m feeling so attacked here.”
Wanda just rolled her eyes at Tony before returning to her work. Peter remained standing however.
“So what brings you to the compound Mr. St-I mean Tony?”
“Is it wrong to visit my biggest investment in protecting the world?”
“I- well not really- I mean-“, Peter stammered and face flushing in embarrassment. Tony smirked at Peter, clearly enjoying how tongue tied he still got with him. Wanda sort of found it funny too, but they still had something to do so they could embarrass Peter later.
“Lay off him Tony. We’re kinda busy at the moment.”
“Actually, that reminds me,” Tony started, “I’m pretty sure that the laboratory isn’t an art gallery. So unless that’s actually some type of calculation that I’ve never seen, you probably shouldn’t be doing that here.”
Before Wanda could reply, Peter started chattering excitedly.
“Actually Mr. Stark, this is an experiment. Me and Wanda have been trying to find the perfect configuration and symbols for the transmutation circle.”
Tony had a look of confusion on his face. He asked haltingly, “Configuration for a… transmutation circle?”
“Yeah. We’re trying to figure out create a transmutation reaction that allowed for a stable shift between elemental composition and molecular structure but also maintaining a constant transmutation change rate. We’re using it on different metals to see if we can get a stable transmutation reaction. But we couldn’t figure out which circle was the right one we had to experiment with that first. After figuring that out, we had to find which metal was more efficient in transmuting, which meant going through a lot of metals that we may or may not have ordered. Sorry for that Mr. Stark. But then we realized that maybe we were doing it wrong and maybe one metal isn’t enough-“
Tony and Steve both looked taken back at the sudden explosion of words which caused Wanda to snigger. Peter was still talking, oblivious to the speechless tech genius and super soldier in front of him. Wanda should probably rescue them. Yeah she definitely should. Poor things were going to get lock-jaw with how low their mouths were hanging. Which was why she fished for her phone, and pointed them at the two.
A camera flash woke Tony from his stupor. He turned to Wanda who still had her phone out unashamed. He scowled at her, who simply smiled innocently at him, before returning to the brunet still happily chattering away.
“-and we’re hoping that if enough dimensional energy could be rerouted without causing instability, then we might be able to create-“
“Woah woah woah! Wait a minute kid. What are you talking about?” Tony finally interrupted. Tony usually had a good grasp on whatever excited Peter. While Steve could barely understand most of the kid’s conversations, Tony could always follow what he was talking about. He was a genius that only the likes of Bruce Banner or Stephen Hawking could match. He had enough knowledge on all forms of physics, chemistry, engineering, and even biology that anyone who conversed with him could never leave him confused. Meme and Internet culture was the only thing that left him confused since it was constantly changing that even he couldn’t keep up. Well, memes and whatever Peter was doing, babbling about ‘multiverse energy’ and ‘quantum energy runes’ that made absolutely no sense to Tony.
Tony’s question made Peter pause, finally noticing the identical blank looks on the two Avengers. He flushed in embarrassment.
“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry! I know this might seem weird and unbelievable and probably doesn’t make any sense. But it’s all based on actual scientific principles! Although some of them haven’t been properly explained yet. But don’t worry, I’m also working on developing the theories that we might need for the paradoxes and almost impossible-“
Before Peter could go any further, and leave Tony and Steve even more confused, Wanda chimed in, “Hey Peter, I think it’s best if we just show them.”
The teen’s ended his one sided conversation with the two adults and smiled widely at Wanda. “Yeah that’s a great idea!”
He rejoined Wanda on the floor, occasionally making comments and consulting the grimoire, before they finally finished. Wanda stood up to admire their work.
“Well, this looks good. Hopefully it doesn’t blow up like the last time.”
Peter dusted his hands but stayed kneeling as he answered, “You know the only reason it blew up was because you blasted it.”
“Peter you summoned a humongous Acromantula to the lab. A gigantic spider demon. I don’t even know how you managed to do that. And we had to clean the lab when it turned the place into a nest!”
Steve tried to ask “Wait, what giant spider-“ but was ignored as the two kept on bantering.
“Oh come on! The runes were so messed up, anyone could have done that by accident.”
“Still, let’s be careful not to try and summon more eldritch creepy-crawlies.”
Wanda made a motion with her hands which made a box fly from the corner and above the center of the circle, red energy keeping it afloat. A flick of her fingers and the box opened. Bars of different metals levitated out of the box and unto the center of the circle. The box was placed back in the corner before Wanda returned to kneeling near the circle.
“You ready Wanda?” he asked. She nodded, turning back to the circle. The two placed their hands on the circumference and closed their eyes. A moment of silence passed where the two teens stayed kneeling and the two adults looked on in confusion before a sudden shift occurred.
Something seemed to manifest in the space above the circle, making everyone’s hair stand on end. It was like static building, collecting itself into a bundle of energy that was making the air vibrate. Suddenly, electricity sparked to life on the very chalk circle. Large blue arcs raced across the symbols on the floor, bathing them in a bright neon glow. Then, in front of their very eyes, the metal in the center of the circle started to change. The bars seemed to melt and turn into a shiny goop, before suddenly glowing. The light got brighter and brighter until it became too painful for any of them to look at the circle. And as quickly as it occurred, the light vanished.
When he felt the energy disappear from the circle, Peter finally opened his eyes. He stared in amazement at what he saw and turned too Wanda who gave him a bright smile. Feeling for any backlash energy and finding none, he entered the circle and took a closer look at the center. Or rather what lied at the center.
What was once a collection of metal bars, there was now a sword. It was colored a deep blue, like the midnight sky, and had an iridescent sheen to it against the lights of the lab. Carefully picking up the sword, he noticed that arcs of energy spring from the ground and disappear into the metal. He bounced the sword from one hand to the next and took a few experimental swings, taking note of how light it felt despite the amount of metal they used. Peter turned to Wanda once again who nodded and proceeded to telekinetically bring the steel rods they placed in a corner of the room towards them. An excited smile bloomed on his face before he gave a loud whoop and slashed at the metal rods. Like paper, the rods were cut in half with one clean stroke. He didn’t feel an ounce of resistance as he struck. He did a few more swings until the steel bars were only few inches long. He gave a loud whoop and proceeded to jump around in joy.
“We did it! Wanda we did it!” Peter exclaimed as he danced around, completely forgetting the sword that he was holding.
“Woah be careful with that! Put that down first.” Wanda scolded even though she was grinning widely as she gently placed the pieces of metal back in the corner. Peter proceeded to put the sword back on the floor before running to Wanda and giving her a hug. His excitement seemed to be infectious as Wanda began to bounce in place as well as they hugged. Their excitement also made them oblivious to the other two Avengers who were once again staring at them dumbfounded.
“Wh-what just happened?” Tony stammered out. The two finally pulled away and turned to the adults with shocked expressions on their faces.
“We just had a successful transmutation!” Peter declared. Tony just stared as Steve gave out a quiet, “What?”
Peter gave a small huff, remembering that the two had no idea what he was doing. “Oh yeah, I forgot you guys didn’t know. That was alchemy. What you guys saw was me and Wanda’s attempt at transmuting metal into Vibranium. And it worked!”
Tony pulled himself from his stupor when he finally registered their words. “Did you say alchemy? Like turn lead-to-gold kind of alchemy?”
“Yes Tony alchemy, but not like that. It’s way more complex than that. I know that you don’t like believing in magic even if you’ve met a god and a wizard, but try to keep an open mind with this.” Wanda answered, an amused glint in her eyes. Tony just glared at her though no heat was behind it. Peter knew that Wanda had a thing for messing with Tony. It stemmed from the complicated history the two shared, one being mentally manipulated into creating a robot that wanted to destroy humanity, and the other creating the weapons that destroyed her family and left her for dead. The fact that minor schadenfreude was the most they did to each other was a miracle.
“Wait I thought Doctor Strange was the only one who did magic?” Steve asked. Wanda was still busy smiling at Tony, while the other man was Torn between glaring at her and glaring at Peter. So Peter was the one who answered.
“Actually there’s a lot of people who practice magic. Doctor Strange has a whole club of people who train in the mystic arts.” Peter remembered meeting them when he visited the Sanctum Sanctorum for the first time. Seeing them train in that weird mix between Harry Potter and Bruce Lee was weird but enlightening.
Tony had a look on his face that was somewhere between constipated and a heart attack. “Kid, please don’t tell me your training to be a wizard.”
“Not exactly? I mean I kinda am since Doctor Strange gave me this grimoire on alchemy and I’ve been kind of experimenting with it-“
“Wait, he LEFT you a book on magic and you just decided to use it without supervision?”
“I didn’t do it alone! Wanda was with me. Plus Doctor Strange was already teaching me the basics so I knew what I was doing.” Peter replied almost petulantly. He was 15 years old, he could handle a magic trick. Albeit a very powerful one that could alter the elemental make up of matter but still.
“Unless you count summoning a giant spider.”
“I told you, anyone could have done that-“
“And the time you melted the courtyard,” she commented. Peter glared at the girl who was busy enjoying his discomfort. Traitor.
By the look of her small smirk, she heard his thoughts. Meanwhile Tony grew even more agitated by what she said. “Wait that was you!?”
“Can we please focus on the fact that Spider-man is learning sorcery? When did you even learn this? How come we didn’t know?” Steve reminded. Peter gave a silent prayer at the level headed soldier. He realized that it was weird for Steve, a full-fledged Christian to easily accept magic. Then again fighting alongside a god might have widened his world view.
“Actually I’m mostly focusing on alchemy. Doctor Strange just taught me because he noticed how good I was with chemistry and wanted to see if I could understand magic. Turns out I have a knack for it, though he said that I was better at transmutation than the other mystic arts.” At this, Peter held up his hand and circle of sparks appeared. The mandala made of light was rotating slowly in his palm. He made a waving motion and the circle became a sudden fountain of orange energy. He saw both Tony’s and Steve’s eyes widen at the display. He made a few more gestures that made the sparks disappear. Tony still stared at his hands afterwards.
“Then he gave me the grimoire and told me to study so I could learn more on alchemy. Now I can make this!” He gestured to the Vibranium sword that was lying innocently on the floor, like it wasn’t just formed by magic. Tony looked like he was halfway to an aneurysm with the way his eye was twitching. It was a wonder he even managed to ask, “So just to be clear, Peter does magic now?”
Peter gave Tony an enthusiastic nod before he turned to Wanda and asked, “Did you learn magic too?”
“No, I just helped him in figuring it out the alchemical formula. And I’m working with Doctor Strange on figuring out the rest of my powers. So that I’m stronger next time…” She gazed quietly at her hands as she said this, red wisps of light dancing on her fingers. Peter felt a stab of sympathy for Wanda. It was no secret that her powers were strange, even compared to magic. Because of its origins with the Infinity Stone, the possibilities her abilities presented were limitless. As were the questions that it posed. She still didn’t understand the scope of what she can do. Something that scared Wanda more than she was willing to admit.
Peter couldn’t read minds, but he understood Wanda. He knew that Lagos still haunted her, that she still blames herself for everything. It didn’t matter how long ago it was, how much they told her otherwise, that it wasn’t her fault, that she did what she could at that moment. All she accepted was that she could have done better, that she had the power to do so, and she didn’t. And people lost their lives because of it.
That was how they became friends to be honest. That mutual self-loathing helped them understand each other. Which was why Peter always did his best to pull her back whenever she began hating herself too much, just as she would do for him. Peter brought an arm around Wanda, knowing how much hugs helped her. She gave him a small smile as thanks. Steve patted her on the shoulder and even Tony comforted her, in the way that only Tony Stark would.
“Kid, you’ll figure it out eventually. The only thing that would stay a mystery about you is your weird obsession for the color scarlet. Seriously, you’re taking the title ‘Scarlet Witch’ way too seriously.”
Peter saw Wanda sigh like she was exasperated. But the way she was smiling told him that she was feeling better now.
“Says the man who uses red and gold together? What are you a super hero or a Ferrari?” she fired back.
Tony placed a hand on his chest like he was personally offended by her comparison. “I’ll have you know that I won’t accept such an insult to my suit. They are closer to an Audi for your information.”
Wanda just rolled her eyes at Tony’s antics before turning her attention to the Vibranium sword, making it levitate into her open hand. She let her energy flow through the sword, and watched as the red wisps of light disappeared into the metal.
“You know I think we should get this tested and see how much of it is actually Vibranium.”
“Well technically it should be all Vibranium like Cap’s shield. That’s what I designed in the formula.” Peter replied confidently.
“Actually that brings me back to an important question. Why did you make a Vibranium sword? Why did you learn magic? Peter please don’t tell me you’re gonna mix magic with your crime fighting.” Tony asked, trying to scold him through eyes alone. It wasn’t working that well though since Peter just smirked at Tony.
“No I won’t use magic as Spider-man. Besides Doctor Strange told me that I wasn’t even ready for the battle magic yet so I won’t have any spells to use. Besides, magic is cool so why not?”
“Okay, but why the sword?”
“Because swords are cool? And Vibranium is cool. And I proved that it is possible to make Vibranium on your own. Plus who wouldn’t want a Vibranium sword?” He, and even Wanda, gave Tony a condescending, raised-eyebrow look.
Tony didn’t appreciate that. “Well you’re not going to play with it for one.”
An indignant shout came from him in response. “Oh come on!”
“We’ll have to test it first to see if it’s safe. And if it is, then we’ll talk about letting you use it.” Steve cut in, once again acting as a level head in any situation.
“You do know if you won’t let me use it that I’ll just make a new one right?”
Both Tony and Steve gave him disapproving stares, an obvious warning of ‘Don’t you dare’. Peter brought his hands up in surrender.
“Just joking! Please don’t make me stop using magic!”
Both Steve and Tony continued on staring Peter down. Steve was the first to stop as he sighed. “Look, as long as you’re responsible with it and train with Doctor Strange, then I don’t see a problem.”
Tony looked at Steve like he was crazy before his shoulders fell and he started massaging the bridge of his nose. “Same here I guess. Just don’t do anything stupid like telling people you can make Vibranium or post videos of Spider-man doing magic tricks. The media circus for that would be wild.”
Peter decided not to mention the other ideas for mixing magic with Spider-man. Maybe Shuri would be interested?
“By the way, Peter it’s time for your training. Hand to hand combat. You’re up against Bucky again.”
Peter let out a groan. Great, another his-ass-getting-kicked session. He could last a fight against Bucky as long as he had his web shooters. Without them though? It was a promise of pain. He mentally reminded himself to grab ice packs in the lounge after the training. He and Wanda wiped the floor of the chalk drawings before parting ways, Peter headed to the training room and Wanda to Vision after finding out he was trying to cook again. Peter noticed that Steve and Tony stayed behind and was about to call for them until he saw Steve gesture him to keep walking. So he did, leaving them in the lab and headed for another ass whooping by the trainer from hell aka Bucky Barnes.
Steve watched as Peter was out of sight of the lab before turning back to Tony. And on the possibly-vibranium sword. A sword that was made by a teenager drawing symbols on the floor and using magic. Steve wasn’t sure if he should still be surprised anymore.
“So...”, he started “Peter knows magic.”
He heard Tony groan beside him, causing him to chuckle. Tony gave him a flat look as he kept on laughing.
“You know you probably shouldn’t be laughing since a hyperactive teenager with a genius intellect and too much of a penchant for mischief now knows how to bend the laws of physics to create the most expensive metal in the world.”
Steve just looked at him in disbelief. So the mentor (who didn’t want to share) was against this? “Okay, so there might be some possible economic and political implications. But he’s a good kid Tony. Cut him some slack.”
Tony agreed with Cap. Peter was pretty much Steve Rogers if Steve had a thing for science and had spider-powers. Peter was as annoying as Cap sometimes, yet he also had the heart of a saint. But that wasn’t the issue here. As nice as Peter was, the kid also had a tendency to prank people on the daily. And it wasn’t simple replace-Oreos-fillings-with-toothpaste kind of pranks. It was the heavy duty hack-into-the-compound-sound-system-to-make-ghost-sounds-everywhere kind of pranks. Too many prank wars have started because of Peter and he was not keen on having a repeat of the ‘Iron Kitty’ incident.
“Hello Captain Responsibility-and-justice, shouldn’t you be the one not on board with this? I know he’s good, I am his mentor. All I’m saying is that he could already give Loki a run for his money when it comes to pranks. Imagine what he could do with magic.”
“Wanda did mention something about accidentally summoning a giant spider. You don’t think...”
“Cap, please don’t. I want to be able to sleep tonight.”
A moment of silence stretched between them, both envisioning the horror that they may or may not have allowed to exist that is Peter Parker with magic. The quiet stretched on until Steve broke it with a voice filled with pride.
“Still, you gotta admit it was cool what he did.”
He turned to Tony, expecting a similar look of pride on his face but instead got a surprised look directed his way.
“What?”
Tony didn’t say anything at first, until he started giggling. Steve looked at him in concern until Tony managed to stifle his giggles.
“Did-did you just say cool? Like an actual person from the 21st century?” he said in between laughs.
“Tony.” Steve said flatly. This just caused another round of chuckles from Tony before the man finally calmed down enough to reply.
“Yeah yeah I know,” he said, wiping a tear of mirth from his eye, ”And yes it was cool. Scratch that, it was amazing.”
“Kid’s really smart. I’m surprised he managed to do this.”
“I’m not,” said Tony, a look of pride finally gracing his face. “Always believed he could do great things.”
Steve silently raised his eyebrow at him. “Says the guy who didn’t want him practicing magic.”
“That was me trying to be responsible!”
“There’s a difference between responsible and paranoid.”
Tony just huffed and crossed his arms, a grin still gracing his face as Steve patted his shoulder. He then left the lab and waved a goodbye to Tony, who was gonna have the sword tested, and headed to the training ground, ready to enjoy the chance of acting as a mentor to the kid (no Tony, you do not have a monopoly over Peter.) On his way, one of the things Tony said suddenly came back to him.
“Always believed he could do great things.”
Tony was right. Peter was meant for great things. He knew it the moment he met the kid face to face. The sword, magic, and spider powers was just an added bonus. It was the intelligence, his drive, his passion for science, the golden heart, all of it were signs that he was headed for greatness. And maybe a sign of his strength and responsibility.
After all, once Steve was gone, once all of the original Avengers were gone, they were going to need a new leader. And he could rest easy knowing that the new generation had someone that could fulfill his role.