heard round the world
Peter Parker was not a morning person. And not in the cute, I wake up at ten a.m. a little groggy, but fine after I’ve had my coffee kind of person. More like the kind who snoozes their alarm until heaven itself descends upon Earth to pull Peter from the comfort of his bed. And even then, he might press snooze again.
So he finds himself incredibly late on this Tuesday morning. With super speed, it’s not hard to make up lost time, but also not great when he realizes not only is his shirt inside out, but his shoes are on the wrong feet.
By the end of an impossibly long five minutes, he’s set for the day (his hairs not combed, and he’s wearing yesterday’s outfit but who cares, its high school). He only has a minute to spare so he grabs an apple on his way to the elevator, repeatedly pressing on the down button and knowing full well that does nothing to increase the speed. If anything it probably just aggravates FRIDAY.
“Mr. Parker, It is my recommend-----“
The elevator opens, and Peter speaks through a mouth full of ‘breakfast’
“Sorry Fri, I’ve got to go!”
The doors close and Peter uses his reflection in the doors to fix the mop on his head he calls hair. It looks like if he just got off the world’s fastest roller coaster while simultaneously getting a perm. Horrendous. He tries to flatten it, and stubbornly it just bounces back to its former glory.
Like a parquet, he’s too focused with his own reflection to realize when the elevator reaches the ground floor.
The doors slide open and Peter is still leaning in, the images of either side of his face separated by short red hair and an iconic face.
Natasha freaking Romanov.
Immediately his mind runs in a million different directions planning his next step. He could run. But no doubt that Black Widow would catch him. He could lie, again, the Black Widow would catch him. Or he could do nothing, with his mouth hanging open and voiceless words forming.
Apparently he choose the last one.
She didn’t seem upset or shocked that some teenager was using Tony’s private lift, but more so like he’d just given her the missing puzzle piece she needed. She smiled, and not politely like a normal first introduction would go, but like he was playing directly into her hand.
“I uh…” Peter started. He knows staring is wrong, but this is the first time he’s seen her in person since Germany. And the first time ever without his mask. Tony had explicitly said not to interact with anyone aside from Rhodes, and he’d positively kill him now for both being late, and being late enough to run into an Avenger.
Lie it is.
“I was just… dropping some files off for….”
“No.” She cut him off mid-sentence. There was no anger or spite in her response, but it was clear that whatever lie Peter decided on would not suffice unless he said the words ‘hey I’m Tony’s illegitimate adopt-a-super, Spider-Man.’ And yet if he said that, surely FRIDAY would plan out a lovely headstone.
“I’m his intern, so I…”
“No.”
“I was selling Boy Scout cookies and…”
“No.”
“Stealing?”
“Nope.”
Peter finally shut his mouth and just nodded. He was so screwed.
“I’m Peter. Parker. Peter Parker.” He stumbled, extending a hand that she shook in return.
“Natasha.”
“I know.”
She smiled again, but this time as if Peter had said he was seven years old and wanted to recite the alphabet for her. Now that he thinks about it, maybe wearing a mask around the Avengers wasn’t Tony’s worst idea. He knows he looks young but jeez, if even Natasha Romanov---- who at the age of like eight was kicking more ass than Jackie Chan in Rush Hour----- thought he was young then maybe he’d never grow out of his baby face. The mask added a few years.
She focused up after a few seconds passed. “Is Tony upstairs?”
“Y-yeah. Labs. Third door on the right.”
She nodded as a thanks, and made a motion to move past him that reminded Peter he was still, and more so now than ever, late for school.
“Pleasure meeting you, Peter Parker.” She added before the doors could close and Peter was yet again left standing alone with only his reflection. When he was sure she could not see him he let himself feel all the emotions that had been bubbling under his skin at first introduction. He’d just met the Black freaking Widow! Internationally acclaimed for being the best spy in the game, and according to Happy, one adept enough to even fool Mr. Stark at some point.
He left the compound in more of a hurry than usual, but not enough to break a sweat. Tardy slip or not, today was a great day.
X
A week went by where little to nothing occurred. Peter aced his Trig test, finished his physics project, and even led the high score on the Decathlon practice rounds. He came home at a reasonable hour, helped Aunt May with chores and lived as any normal teenager might.
The only anomaly being he’d still slip on the mask from time to time. But either Karen’s scanner was broken or being overridden, because every night regardless of the time, she would report to him that no major crimes had been called in. He would sometimes swing around town, but honestly his morale for things on the superhero side was a bit low. The break proved a viable reason to take a bit of a hiatus. Tony was in D.C. for some political thing, and would be back on Friday, meaning Peter could retire the suit until they could solve whatever wiring was on the fritz.
It was Thursday, and after Peter had finished tutoring a sophomore with his Chemistry homework he was walking home the long way to Queens. He was doing better since the events of last week. He’d decided to take an indefinite break from the cold shoulder of the internet, and Tony had even approved Spider-Man to take a seat at the next Avengers meeting (mask tightly on, voice modifier for every exchange). It just still kind of bothered him that he had no real refutation for the claims presented online. I mean, he had defeated the Vulture but obviously that was not something he could release to the general public. And he was still a teenager with a home and school to tend to so he really did have to juggle a lot, but if he really thinks about it, he hadn’t been doing any death defying stuff lately. Tony and May would no doubt commend him for that, but for Peter it just felt a lot like cheating.
The Avengers never took days off from saving the world, so why should Peter?
Regardless, he was playing bystander now. Listening to music and enjoying the nice March weather as any other NYC resident might.
He was just crossing the intersection between 10th and Griffins when he felt it. The hairs on his arms stood up and slight ringing in his ears confirmed that danger lurked here.
Quickly he slipped into the shadows of a side street dumpster, crouching low to avoid any possible wandering eyes. The ringing was only getting louder by the second, morphing into a dull headache by the time his mask sat properly on his head.
“Hello Peter.” Karen greeted.
"Karen. Anything on the scanner?" He asked. Flying usually gave him some clarity of mind, but this spidey sense thing was really killing the rush.
"No reported crimes."
"No reported crimes, yeah, I know." He repeated. As he stuck the landing on some dingy Queens top terrace he could he the scuffle below. He crawled to the edge to get a better look.
"D-don't fuck with me. I'll do it, I'll shoot!" There were two guys below in the alleyway. One was somewhere in his thirties, with a heavy green camo over his shoulders, and a gun between his hands that was shaking like mad. "You killed them. It's time to pay up."
THe other dude was the outlier. In a situation such as below it stands to reason that: guy with gun= power and guy empty handed= scared. But somehow the power dynamics had completely shifted and this one... a young teenage face and buzz cut short blonde hair was smirking like this was his favorite game. "You gonna shoot me, Reg? You know what I think?" He took six steps forward. The barrel of the gun now rested directly between his chest. "I don't think you have the guts."
"Karen, can you stop updating?" The screen in his mask was constantly blocking his view below, and everytime he wanted to shoot his web something would pop up and block his line of sight. At this rate he'd be better with the hoodies and goggles he'd had when he was first bit.
"All systems down. I recommend not engaging, the police have been notified."
But they'll never get here in time. Peter wasn't sure if that was his voice or the dude from the other day's in his mind but it sounded the same regardless. He was right, they'd never make it. While 'Reg' was still sweating through his beanie, buzz cut had taken a knife from his back pocket. The distance between them significantly smaller than when Peter first arrived.
He made his move not a second too late. Camo shot the gun, but not before Peter's web had wrapped around it, effectively encasing the bullet mid shot. With another move, he tied down buzz cut's right hand, the one wrapped around the knife and landed in the spot formed by both of the men jumping back in surprise.
"What the hell are you supposed to be?" Buzz cut asked, looking at his webbed hand like Peter had chopped it off.
Seriously? Did the spider emblem do nothing for his image.
"Come on, dude! I'm Spider-M---" Apparently Camo had taken this moment to charge, aiming for Peter's face with a nasty right hook. He ducked just in time, the whiff of air going over his head to remind him he was going a bit slow. Peter took the moment to attack back, aiming for some way of restraining this man. He was confused, or angry, or shocked, or some horrible mixture of the three but he was so haphazard about his attacks that Peter had no way of predicting them.
The guy landed a punch to Peter's right side, but that presented enough opportunity for Peter to web his face. While he struggled with that, Peter tried to nail down his hands, but with all the flailing his shots only stuck to the grimy alleyway wall instead. With a roar of frustration the guy had torn most of Peter's web off, and when Peter backtracked to get a better shot, the dude took the opportunity to kick Peter right in the sternum. Being part spider he heals fast, but Jesus.
"You should mind your own business." The dude said. He took three distinct steps forward towards Peter. Karen notified Spider-Man that his right web shooter was shattered from the fall and while he calculated how the hell he was going to stop a dude 3 times his height and weight, several things happened at once.
First, Camo wound up the punch. He was going for the eye, or the mouth, or just anywhere on the face that would leave Peter feeling the sting for days. That would have been true had he not tried to fire his faulty shooter anyway, and the tangled wattery mess of 'web' hit Camo directly in his eyes. This resulted in the second event, catching the dude by surprise, and suspending the use of his hands. And third, and this is where things start to get hazy in the memory of Peter Parker, a gun goes off.
The rest all happens in slow motion.
Camo screams. And not like they do in the movies, it's blood curling and haunting. Peter has mere seconds to catch a glimpse of the look in his eyes as he processes what pain he's feeling, and it's something that'll stick with Peter Parker forever. Camo falls with a sickening speed and despite knowing there was no way to reverse time he's begging for it to stop. His lips, his teeth, his torso, there's blood everywhere where there was once nothing.
And standing above Camo's now crumbled form is the third party member Peter had all but ignored until now. His eyes are dark and merciless, and he holds the gun now like he's debating with himself whether or not to leave a witness.
Peter says a silent prayer.
In that split second, the sound of sirens makes the call. Buzz cut drops the gun where he once stood and runs like hell in the opposite direction. Down the alley, the police run onto the scene now, yelling things about 'man down' and 'needing the EMTs.' It all sounds muffled in his ears anyway. He can only hear the dude----Reg's sunken calls for the pain to stop.
Peter is trying desperately, and perhaps without hope to keep pressure on the wound that is now making it hard for Reg to breathe. When the police finally make it to them, it's to rip apart of the embrace. And although Peter tries to follow wherever they're taking that man, a cop whose face he'll never remember stops him in his tracks.
"I think you've done enough." He says, before pushing Spider-Man off the scene.