Hey Guys and Gals. Chapter two is here and I feel like it is way better than chapter one. Please Review I want to know what y'all think about the story so far. Happy Reading!
Silence, Peter decided, truly was golden. Well at least it was when you had a massive migraine from a concussion you received from falling fifty feet into a parked car. Which was why the teen was perfectly fine sitting silently in the back seat while the stoic buzz cut federal agent type dude that Happy had sent to pick him up kept his eyes straight on the road and barely acknowledged the teenaged hero's presence. Normally Peter would take this as an opportunity to annoy the absolute crap out of the man until he cracked, but due to the aforementioned concussion,the throbbing in his left leg, and the fifteen minute lecture he had just received from Aunt May he decided to just let the man be. May wasn't that angry all things considered, she was more or less lecturing out of worry which the web shooting hero was more than used to. She knew that Peter took his responsibilities as Spider-Man very seriously, so she understood him going off to help. What she had a problem with was the fact that he didn't even so much as shoot a text to let her know so she could have covered for him with the teen knew he had already missed way too many classes this semester since being snapped back, and was seriously considering just testing out like many of his old classmates had already done. That was one of the many issues that had to be tackled after half the Earth's population was suddenly back not having aged a day, what do you do when suddenly every school had twice as many students. The solution the department of education came up with was offering those who were snapped back and were over the age of sixteen the opportunity to take a comprehensive test of whatever grades they had left in was basically a specialized GED, and Peter had zero doubt he would ace it. The only reason he had elected to go back to classes instead was that with so much having changed in the past five years he just wanted to cling to that sense of normalcy that came with attending school everyday like he used to. Unfortunately it seemed that ship had sailed as the school had called May earlier that morning and informed her that Peter had missed too many classes to pass the semester let alone the school year so she scheduled the teen an appointment to test out the following monday. All things considered Peter wasn't that heartbroken about it. School sucked, especially since his two best friends Ned Leeds and Michelle Jones hadn't been snapped and had already gone off to attend still texted occasionally, but all three were busy with their own lives and had drifted apart. The arachnid hero was drawn out of his musings by his door being opened for him by captain buzz cut. He hadn't even noticed they'd stopped moving. As he stepped gingerly out of the car he was immediately greeted by two doctors pushing a stretcher and Happy. "Geez kid you look like you got hit by a bus" Happy said worriedly as he took in his beat up appearance. "Actually it was a toyota, and technically I hit it." Peter quipped back lightly causing the man to give him a look of exasperation. "Well whatever it was we gotta get you checked out and then you'll need to do a debrief with Cap" the older man said as he helped Peter get on the stretcher and then walked alongside as the doctors took the teen to the med bay.
One MRI and and several stitches later revealed that Peter did have a mild concussion and three 2 inch long pieces of steel in his leg. His accelerated healing had almost completely taken care of the concussion by the time he arrived at the compound. The healing factor proved to be a bit of a problem though for his leg though, the wounds had already closed and had to be re-opened for the shrapnel to be removed. Luckily after fighting crime for several years and literally having his entire being be shredded down to the last atom, his pain tolerance was pretty high so the minor surgery was handled quickly and without anesthetic. While the doctors were fixing him up he thought back to what Happy had said earlier about a debrief with Cap. As far as he knew Steve Rogers AKA Captain America had done some wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff and was now ancient, but the man had passed on his shield to The Falcon AKA Sam Wilson. Peter hadn't heard of the man making the name swap because if he had he would have already made soooooo many Captain Falcon jokes. Then again the teenaged hero had been avoiding this place and the other avengers like the plague since the funeral so it could have easily happened and he just wasn't made aware. It was then that Peter realized that in his effort to distance himself from all things painful he had completely cut himself off from the Avengers entirely. "What if I don't even have a spot on the team anymore?" he thought to himself. That possibility bothered him more than he thought it would. "No sense worrying about it now Parker" he mused to himself, he would just have to take it up with whichever Cap debriefed him. "Alright Mr. Parker you're free to go. Just take it easy on that leg for the next twelve hours and you should be fine" the pretty asian doctor who if Peter remembered correctly was named Cho told him as she finished bandaging up his leg. Peter thanked her and after a few test steps left the small med bay.
Happy was waiting for Peter outside the door talking to someone on the phone "yes dear I will let you know as soon as I know anything.. Uh huh.. Yeah love you too" he stated, the last part a bit rushed as he hung up the phone and turned to Peter. Having not known that Happy was seeing anybody and being an inherently nosy teenager he couldn't help but ask "Who was that?" "Who was what? Happy asked seeming oddly nervous. Peter didn't need his spider senses to know that something was off. "On the phone earlier, was that your girlfriend?" the teen asked. "Girlfriend!" Happy practically shouted. "Girlfriend? What? No no no that was my.. Mother" The spider teen just stared at him. "You call your mother dear?" He asked disbelievingly. "Uh yeah… Yeah she's very..dear to me' The older man spouted lamely." Look forget about that we've gotta get you to the conference room for your debrief, and you need to memorize this packet." He said quickly as he handed the teen a manila envelope and started walking down the hallway. Peter would definitely be returning to the whole "dear" thing later but for now was sufficiently distracted by the hefty pack of papers in his hand. "That is a map and any and all pass codes and ID that you will need to get where you need to go throughout the compound" Happy explained when he saw Peter's questioning look. "That's a pretty big packet for just that stuff" the teen said confusedly. "Well there is a little coupon book in the back for some of the local shops. My Idea" the older man stated proudly. "Uh huh" the teen said slowly. "No offense Happy but why are you giving me all this? I know you were my handler for Mr. Stark but he's.."the teen trailed off somberly. "Well if you had been answering your phone for the past six months you would have known that I got a promotion." the older man snapped with no real heat." At seeing Peters confused look he continued "After The Avengers brought everyone back the accords were thrown out the window, which was both good and bad for the team. Good because those that were fugitives were now free and and could operate as they saw fit but bad because without Uncle Sam as a backer they had no funding. So Pepper as CEO of Stark Industries decided to partner with the Avengers so they could stay funded and supplied with proper equipment." Happy then paused as he flashed his badge at a security checkpoint, while Peter nodded. "So you got promoted to what? My avengers handler as well?" The teen asked teasingly. "Ha Ha Ha you wish Kid, but no for your information I am now Stark Industries' official liaison to the Avengers." the handler turned liaison said smugly. "Wow Happy that's awesome I'm glad for you man" Peter said impressed all teasing gone from his tone. He meant it, the former driver had been working his absolute hardest to move up at Stark Industries so the teen was happy all of the man's effort had finally paid off. "Thanks kid" Happy responded as they rounded another corner and started down another seemingly endless hallway. "You know a lot has changed around here while you've been away, people have been wondering where you were." Peter grimaced "So I guess that means my absence has been noticed" the teen stated more than asked as he looked to the floor. "Yeah several members of the team have been curious about why you haven't shown up to any meetings or answered any summons for missions, but I took care of it. I told them you were handling official Stark Industries business." Happy said matter of factly. Peters head whipped up " you did?" he asked. "Happy you didn't have to do that I.." the teen was cut off before he could continue by Happy's next statement "I know I didn't have to Pete, I did it because I understood" Peters face morphed into a frown and Happy seeing that the teen wasn't going to respond continued "Look Pete Tony was like a brother to me, a brother that signed my checks but a brother none the less. I know how close the two of you were, like it or not he was the closest thing you had to a father figure. Of course you were gonna need a little time, I was planning on bringing you back in three months ago but then May told me about the panic attacks so I decided to let you come back on your own time." Peter was shocked he'd honestly never thought that Happy cared for him very much. He'd always assumed the older man viewed him as more of a nuisance than a friend. "Thanks Happy" the teen said quietly fighting desperately to stop the moisture building in his eyes. The older man looked down at the teen and while patting his shoulder somewhat awkwardly answered with a sincere "Don't mention it kid". The tender moment was brought to a quick end by Happy saying "Alright kid here we are conference room B, just go on in and the Captain should already be there waiting for ya." As the liaison turned to walk away Peter realized something Happy had said earlier. "Hey did you say you talked to May?" Peter called out after the man. Happy turned around slowly and seemed to be measuring his words very carefully before he responded "Yes I did… Uh I had too you weren't answering anything and I had to get updates somehow." Peter felt like the man wasn't being completely honest but after everything he'd been through today he was too tired to question it so he just threw him a short ok and a wave watching the older man turn the corner to another hallway and making sure he had collected himself from the previous conversation the teenage hero steeled himself and walked into the conference room. When he entered he was greeted by the face of someone he had seen in his dreams several times over the past few months, and an almost melodic voice repeating the same words that he has replayed hundreds of times in his mind since he first heard them " Hey Peter Parker, you got something for me?"