A/N: I know, I know. I'm posting another one shot when I have an ongoing fiction to continue - believe me, I'm working on it for real this time. But I am having some difficulties in that one and wanted a refreshment and some warming up with something that I have been thinking of for a while now. I have this habit of swapping the gender of my favorite characters, and I wanted to write a fiction about girl Peter Parker for a change. This one-shot is just a short part of Civil War, where Tony meets the new kid Spider-Man for the first time, only it's not Spider-"Man" but a Spider-"Woman" (or Spider-Girl, more like). This was based upon my idea for another long work of girl Peter - it will be up after I work on some of the other ones first - which does not really include this particular scene of the first encounter in Civil War. But I wanted to see it, so here it goes. Also, this is in a much brighter tone from my last depressing one I uploaded a few days ago, thus somewhat of a compensation for it as well: something to distract ourselves from the broken heart we got from the newest Avengers movie. Hope you enjoy!


01. The September Foundation

It had been about 5 to 6 months since this new guy appeared in the city, and about a month since Tony actually began to show interest in him - presumably, for he was dubbed as "Spider-Man" on the internet. He did not think that much of this one, but nonetheless fascinated, for he was something different from what he had seen from his teammates. Sure, the scale of this Spider-Man's action was nothing big - just staying on fighting petty crimes of everyday lives - but he seemingly had abilities that were clearly not those of an ordinary human level. Of course, he thought of the possibility of this new vigilante a fake, since so many made-up videos and posts about supposed 'superhumans' had increased significantly ever since Avengers were introduced to the public. Still, there was something different about this Spider guy, and most importantly, all the technical factors Tony tested proved that there was not so much editing in all the videos and photos of him.

So, Tony had been keeping an eye on Spider-Man from time to time.

Of course, it didn't mean that he was all and up for recruiting this new guy in. For one thing, he didn't really have the sole authority to recruit new members, since Rogers was more of a captain than he was. And another thing was that this new guy was rather sloppy. Tony knew he meant well, and he was using his abilities for good, but the way he does things showed that he was inexperienced and rather unorganized, not to mention that he had never really got involved in big events. Consequently, Tony did not think that he would be associating with this guy any time soon.

And he had to admit, his predictions or thoughts were quite far from accurate or correct for the past few years.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, right? And this was a very dire situation - one where his good friends and trusted colleagues had become a fugitive from the law. Tony was indeed frustrated that Steve was not seeing that the accords were for their own good, and he meant it truly when he told the Captain that he sometimes "want to punch him in those perfect teeth." Still, that did not mean that he wanted any unnecessary violence or bloodshed for his friends. He needed someone who would be capable enough to face the group of superhumans with unusual powers and abilities, yet not so violent and life-threatening at the same time. Someone who would be able to simply incapacitate them.

That was why he was now looking at the file of "Spider-Man" that he easily managed to gather and organize (with the help of Friday, of course). As he looked through what he had, however, he had to double check if it was correct.

Apparently, Spider-Man was not Spider-Man.


"Hey, Aunt May!"

Petra Parker greeted as she walked through the front door of the apartment and through the kitchen. She was holding what seemed to be a small electronic appliance on one hand and was her backpack over the other shoulder.

"Hey!" May replied. "How was school today?"

"Meh, okay, I guess," said Petra. By then she did not turn her head towards her aunt until she said, "Oh, did you happen to see? There's this really crazy car parked outside-"

When she finally did turn her eyes towards the couch where Aunt May was sitting on, she froze. It was a logical reaction for her, considering her strong admiration and respect for a certain billionaire named Tony Stark, who happened to be sitting in her living room.

"Miss Parker." Tony offered with a slight nod of his head.

"Uhhh… What the…." Petra stuttered as she stared dumbfoundedly at the man. "You're… You're Tony Stark. Is…. Is this real…?"

She was so concentrated on the man that she did not see the way May glanced back and forth between Tony Stark and her niece, occasionally sending her questioning looks.

"Well, I would say it's real since it would be really weird if it was just a dream we are sharing," Stark replied.

"Uh…. Right….." Petra drawled. "So… how... What are you doing here, exactly?"

"Well," Tony said, "you've been getting my emails, right?"

"Yeah," Petra answered without acknowledging it. A part of her consciousness was awake enough to question: Emails? What emails? But she was too distracted by the fact that Tony Stark was sitting on her living room couch, eating Aunt May's walnut date loaf.

"Right?" Tony asked again, winking. At the same time, May looked at her as well, sending some signs that Petra could not exactly make out other than her confusion.

"Regarding the…?" She asked.

"You didn't tell me about the grant," May said.

"About the grant," repeated Petra, rather dumbly.

"The September foundation," Tony said. "Remember when you applied?"

"Uh, yeah…?"

"I approve," said Tony. "Now we're in business."

Okay…. Something was definitely not right here. Petra tried very hard to get a grasp of what was happening.

"You didn't tell me anything. What's up with that?" May said, looking a bit hurt and confused. "Are you keeping secrets from me now?"

Petra, for a brief moment, wondered how she should handle the situation until she decided, rather unknowingly, to play along.

"I just…. I just know how much you love surprises, so I thought I would let you know… with…," she stuttered, "anyways, what did I apply for?"

"That's what I'm here to hash out," Tony answered.

"Oh, okay. Hash… hash out. Okay."

Tony then looked to her aunt as he said, "It's so hard for me to believe that she's someone's aunt."

Aunt May laughed in a seemingly nervous way. "Yeah, well, we come in all shapes and sizes, you know?"

"This walnut date loaf is exceptional," Tony said, holding up a piece of the said food.

Petra decided to interrupt, anxious to know what was happening - and, of course, to stop the man from flirting with her aunt, too.

"Let me just stop you there."

Tony turned his attention back to her. "Yeah?"

"Is this grant, like, got money involved or whatever? No?" Petra asked carefully. This was actually the most important part for her.

"Yeah," Tony said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Yeah?"

"It's pretty well funded. Look who you're talking to."

"Wow."

Then Tony turned to her aunt. "Can I have 5 minutes with her?"

"Uh," May answered, "sure."

And Petra found herself, still in awe and a bit of a daze, leading Tony freaking Stark to her room. Once they were both in her small bedroom, Tony subtly yet not so subtly closed the door behind them. He then approached the trash bin in one corner and spat out something.

"As walnut date loaves go, that wasn't so bad," he said quite casually. He then looked around the room. Petra knew that it was such a plain and rather dull room for a girl to have, considering how typical girls have posters of their favorite celebrities, stuffed dolls or cushions, and cosmetics scattered around. She watched Tony look around her messy room filled with different gadgets and technical things with an apparent fascination. "So you're a tech girl, are you? I have to say, I'm quite surprised."

"Yeah, well," Petra answered, quite defensively, "I'm not… like the other girls. I like disassembling machines rather than playing with a dollhouse. It's just… it's just who I am."

Tony turned to look at her. "God, that did sound sexist, didn't it? I'm not trying to judge you or offend you or anything."

He then resumed looking around. His eyes stopped at her desk. "Oh, what do we have here? Retro tech, huh? Thrift store? Salvation Army?"

"Uh," Petra said sheepishly, "the garbage, actually."

Tony raised his eyebrows at her. "You're a dumpster diver, then?"

"Yeah, I was…," Petra began. "Uh, look, um… I definitely did not apply for any grant and-"

"Ah-uh! Me first," Tony cut through. He pulled out what seemed to be his phone. "Quick question of rhetorical variety…."

The phone made a holographic projection of a video of Petra being Spider-Man. Usually, she would have been thrilled over some high-tech like it, but the fact that he had brought up her secret activity was weighing more on her to be distracted.

Tony eyed the way Petra was obviously trying to hide her panic. "That's you, right?"

"Um, no," Petra stuttered. Well, that was lame. "What- what do you mean?"

"Yeah?" Tony briefly threw a short glance at her as he opened up another video of her stopping a car from colliding with a bus. "Look at you go. Wow! Nice catch, 3,000 pounds, 40 miles an hour. That- that's not easy. You got mad skills."

"I- I don't know what you're talking about." Petra blurted defensively (and rather pathetically, in her opinion) as she tried her best to pass Tony very casually - which she was sure was a complete failure. "You- you found that all on YouTube, right? Because you know those are all fake. Editing and graphics and stuff, you know?"

"Mm-Hmm." Tony mused. He was clearly not buying it.

"It's like that video. What was it again?" Petra tried hard to think of an example, but she was too panicking to come up with one.

"Yeah, yeah…. Oh, you mean like those UFOs over Phoenix?" Tony said. Petra was trying hard to hide her such obvious panic that she had completely turned her back to him.

"Exactly like that," she said, without turning to look at him.

Then there was a sound of two solid objects softly clashing - "Oh, what have we here?" - followed by something, a fabric of some sort, falling. Petra's heart leaped and she immediately turned around to leap towards her suit (now hanging from the ceiling) to get it out of his view and into her closet space.

"That- that was… uh…." Petra said as she leaned on the wall with her arms crossed, acting as if nothing happened. "That was just…."

"So, you're the Spider… ling," Tony said, facing her. "Crime-fighting Spider. Spider-kid?"

"I'm S- Spider-Man," Petra admitted, in a rather grumbling manner.

"Well, you're not a man, for one thing." Tony retorted.

"Yeah, well, I didn't get to choose the name they gave me on the media," Petra huffed. "Kinda sexist, the way they just automatically assume that a hero is always a male."

"Well, I was one of them," said Tony.

"I guess it's my yet-to-mature body and the baggy suit that made everyone think I'm a guy," shrugged Petra. "Then again, I just decided to go with it, since it hides my identity even more."

She then straightened herself and walked towards her desk, shaking her head.

"I can't believe this," she muttered. "I was having a really good day, Mr. Stark. Didn't miss my train, found a good DVD player just sitting there, and…. Algebra test. Nailed it!"

Tony watched her movements for a brief second before asking, "who else knows?"

She shook her head. "No one."

"Not even your…," Tony began but hesitated for some reason, "your aunt?"

Petra snapped her head towards Tony at the mention of her aunt.

"No. Nuh-uh. There's no way she's finding out," she shook her head. "If she knew, she would freak the heck out. And if she freaks out, I freak out, and that means no more personal activities, ever."

Tony was now sitting on a chair - or a box, or whatever - looking at a small cartridge in his hand containing white fluid.

"You know what I think is really cool?" He asked. "This webbing."

He threw it lightly towards her, who caught it without even looking at it.

"Tensile strength is off the charts," he continued. "Who manufactured it?"

"I did."

"Climbing the walls? How are you doing that? Cohesive gloves?"

Tony was now looking at the home-made suit that she had pieced together from her old clothing.

"It's not the gloves. It's a long-"

"Lordy!" Tony exclaimed, looking at the lenses on the suit. "Can you even see in these?"

He placed the lenses over his own eyes, making incomprehensible mocking sounds. Petra was both embarrassed and irritated that she walked over to him and snatched the suit to throw it into one of her clothes boxes.

"Yes! I can- I can see in those!" She ranted. "I just…. It's just that…. When whatever happened happened, my senses were…. They were like, dialed up to 11 or something. There's just way too much input, and I couldn't- They kinda help me focus."

Tony was now back to his serious self as he looked at her.

"You're in dire need of an upgrade," he said. "Systemic, top to bottom. A hundred point restoration. That's why I'm here."

Petra walked over to her bed and sat on it, facing Tony.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked. Petra raised her brows in question, and he continued. "I gotta know. What's your MO? What gets you out of that bed in the morning?"

Petra bit her lips.

"Well…," she began."Because…. Because I've been… me my whole life, and then suddenly I have had this power for like, 6 months now."

Tony hummed and waited for the girl to continue.

"I read books, I build computers…. And- well, yeah I have things I want to do. I've wanted to do some activities, you know? Like cheerleading, or- or be a gymnast, play basketball or volleyball. But I shouldn't, 'cause I couldn't do those before."

"Right, because you're different."

"Exactly. But then I really can't tell anybody about this, so… I'm not."

There was a brief moment of silence as Petra stopped to think of how to put her thoughts into words. Tony waited patiently. Petra fidgeted her fingers before licking her lips and continuing. Tony noticed a hint of tears in her eyes but decided to pretend he did not.

"When you can do... the things that I can, but you don't…. And if the bad things happen… it's because of you."

Tony was affected by her words. The girl was young, true, but was very deep and insightful. It was just a few words that she had said, and Tony could instantly see that there were so much more to her and her mindset. He didn't say anything immediately but took some time to choose the right words before opening his mouth again.

"So, you wanna look out for the little guy. Do your part? Help people, make the world a better place and all that, right?"

Petra nodded. "Yeah. Just… just looking out for the people, the little guys. That- that's what it is."

And that was it for Tony. Just one little speech and he could see the unlimited potential the kid possessed within her. He already knew she was smart, from her level of intellect and school grades and all the records backing it up, as well as having physical abilities. But what really consisted this girl was neither one of he two.

He got up and approached the teen to give Petra a pat on the shoulder. The teen looked up.

"Mind if I sit here?" Tony asked, gesturing to space on the bed next to her. She shook her head and moved her legs so that Tony could seat himself.

"Do you have a passport?" He asked. Petra looked at him, frowning with evident confusion.

"Um, no," she answered, "I don't even have a driver's license."

"Have you ever been to Germany?"

Petra eyed him with a deeper frown. "No…?"

"Oh, you'll love it there," Tony said in a very light tone

"Are you-" Petra stuttered. "I can't just go to Germany!"

"Why not?"

"I- I've got homework," she blurted out hesitantly.

"You did not just say that," Tony muttered. "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that."

"I'm serious, Mr. Stark!" exclaimed Petra, looking at Tony as he stood up. "I have school and homework and decathlon-"

Tony walked towards the door and placed his hand on the handle.

"I'm gonna tell your aunt that you're audienting-"

Psshht!

As Petra stood up, something - a white substance to be precise - shot out and glued Tony's hand to the door, preventing him from reaching the handle. And frankly, Tony was quite impressed by the quick reflex and accuracy of aim, as well as the speed the girl had.

"Don't," she said, "don't tell Aunt May. Please."

"Alright, Spidey," Tony said. "So you're coming to Germany, right? I could use your help."

Although it was very quick and momentary, he caught how Petra's eyes shone with excitement and smiled inwardly.

"Uhm…. Okay," she said. "As long as you don't tell her the truth."

Tony quirked his brow teasingly at the teenager. "Are you telling me to lie, kid? What a naughty girl."

"If she knew, she would never let me go with you," she retorted. "And totally whip your butt."

"Fair enough," Tony shrugged. "So I guess now we're really in business."

Petra looked quite proud as if she was dignified with somewhat of a partner-like relationship with Tony. He let the girl have her moment, rather amused, before he pointed to the webbing with his free hand.

"Get me out of this."


A/N: Thank you for Reading! Please feel free to leave your review :)