Previously, on The Amazing Spider-Man: Team Up-

Spider-Man is ambushed by SHIELD agents led by the Black Widow. He manages to take all of them down, but captured due to a clever deception by Hawkeye.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. All rights go to Marvel.

The Amazing Spider-Man: Team Up

Chapter 2

A Binary Choice

Location: S.H.I.E.L.D Central, New York

"What happened Romanoff; I don't remember telling you to get him bound and trussed like a criminal. I specifically said we need to gain his trust. He could be very important to S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Sorry about that. But he was proving difficult."

Spider-Man heard them, having regained consciousness very early but lying still to take in his surroundings. He was in a room, a high tech lab kind of room, strapped in some kind of body cuffs.

He was sure he was being watched so he didn't show too much signs of activity. Now he was able to hear voices outside the door. One of the voices he recognized as of the Black Widow. "They need my trust, he thought, very much amused by their way of gaining trust. "I'll show them I'm not some kind of tool."

"Agent Hill, what about his mask?"

A third voice, unrecognizable to him answered," No sir, its stuck…how we don't know but it's attached to his face."

Such hopeless people, even first graders can tell spiders stick.

"Any possessions found on him? Possible clues to his identity?"

"Nothing, Sir. He's got nothing except than that red-blue spandex suit."

Spider-Man breathed a sigh of relief and thanked God he had forgotten his phone back at home. And he hadn't gotten a chance to get his bag back. So he was safe for the time being.

"Ok then maybe he will throw some light on himself."

Spider-Man watched as the voices neared and the door opened. He had seen many strange people but none as strange as the man that now came into the room, followed by the Black Widow and another woman, probably another official.

"You have recovered very fast, Mr. Spider-Man."

"Thanks to you that I even needed recovery in the first place. Who are you, by the way?"

"Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, Strategic Homeland Inte-"

"Yeah yeah whatever. What's with that fancy eye patch…"

"That's none of your concern. The question is…are you willing to co-operate or not?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"No."

"There you go. Is this your standard procedure to recruit someone? Kidnapping people off the street?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D only takes the best individuals who train for this type of work. Even after training, they have to take an oath of complete trust and no betrayal. It should be an honor for you that we are asking you to help the planet."

"If this is so big, why haven't I ever heard of it before?"

"If you heard it then what would be the point of spying secrecy…use your brain. After the Lizard mishap, you've come in the eyes of everyone. Now the officials are scared because they don't know about you and your potential. You could be a threat, Spider-Man."

"That's what I get for saving the city? To be considered a threat?"

"I don't believe so kid. But everyone else thinks so. You are so young, you can go the wrong way very easily."

Now Spider-Man felt anger rise within him. Weeks after stopping crimes in the city and saving the city from a disaster, this guy still felt he was some crazy boy who would suddenly turn into a super villain.

"I am not a threat, Director. Let me make this clear. I know of my power, and the responsibility that comes with it. But if you think I can convince me to join this spy business, you are wrong. I will not-"

"I am not asking you to spy; though you could be a great aid in infiltration…I am offering you, a spot in the Avengers."

That caught Spider-Man offhand. Avengers, so cool. But still he knew he would have to reveal his identity to the world if he wanted this. On one hand, it was great to have backup and meet his heroes like Captain America and Mr. Stark. But he didn't want to endanger Aunt May or Gwen or anyone he loved. This was a decision he had been thinking ever since he got his powers, and even more after the Lizard incident. He simply could not reveal himself to the world. He wanted to ask Fury if he could be a free recruit, helping from outside. But he knew it wasn't even worth considering. This was a binary choice. He could either take it or leave it. There was no middle way.

"Sorry Director, but I'm not interested. I don't wish to reveal my identity, as I told Ms Romanoff earlier, "who glared at him," so I would ask you to forget about me. Take me in as someone who will always be there to help, but not in the team. I am not a team player."

"Got attitude like Stark", Fury muttered.

"Sorry?"

Suddenly Fury put on a smile that looked more like a grimace to Peter.

"Of course, Mr. Spider-Man. Though I would like you to reconsider your decision."

"I clearly understand my decision Fury, and believe me, I also want to join. But not as your puppet."

Fury's visible eye hardened and he whispered something to the lieutenant type woman. She nodded and went away.

"Now that pleasantries are over, could you please remove this cuff? It is making me very uncomfortable."

Fury again muttered something, and another agent came in through the door to free him.

Once he was free, Spider-Man stood up, eyes meeting Fury's, although Fury couldn't meet his; the reflective lenses were great.

"Can I go now, Mr. Fury? I also have a home to go back to. My people would be worrying."

"Of course, but can you tell me how that mask of yours is stuck…We were prepared to cut it off."

Spider-Man laughed and said, "Director, I have spider abilities as you can clearly see." "Spiders stick to almost any surface with enough friction", He whispered. They got out of the base, whole of the time Fury trying to let Spider-Man slip something and the latter guarding his replies even more solidly. Finally, they got out of the building, Fury looking smug and Spider-Man looking relieved.

They took off in a helicopter as Spider-Man noticed that the base was set up far from the city, but he guessed that was natural. The base showed signs of destruction and rebuilding. Spider-Man wondered if the destruction was caused during the alien invasion.

Suddenly Fury said," You should know this Mr. Spider-Man, that I am a spy. My work involves uncovering identities of people, and I am very good at it. Somehow, I'm gonna find out who you are, and then maybe you will join us."

"So your ideology is 'either you're with us or against us'?

"Exactly."

"Good luck with that."

"What?"

"Uncovering my identity, what else"

They reached the site where they had first ambushed Spider-Man. "You want me to jump? Just like that?" Spider-Man asked incredulously.

"Of course. You are a spider, you said. Spin a web."

He grinned from inside the mask.

"Until next time then, Director. Don't forget that I am an ally, not a threat."

Fury placed a hand on his shoulder and said," I just want to know that if the world is in danger and people need your help, will you be there?"

"Yes…I will be."

"Good, but please reconsider again…we are the good guys, kid."

"So am I Director. Seeya later." They shook hands.

Spider-Man jumped from the helicopter and took in the pleasure of free falling. When the buildings were near enough he snagged a web line and swung away, desperate to avoid the anger of Aunt May.

Director Nick Fury tapped into his earpiece and said, "Agent Hill, I've placed a tracker on his shoulder. Get the signal and find out where he is going.

"Sir, the signal is coming from your location only, inside the helicopter."

"WHAT?!" He was stumped for a second but then he saw the tracker attached on his hand.

"Sonuva… Agent Hill, I need men following his every move, every appearance. I shall not rest until I find who this boy is. Did you check his DNA?"

"Yes sir. But we've found no match in our record."

Fury swore loudly but in his heart, he was impressed by Spider-Man. Not many people were able to hide from him. He was very much taken by the fact that he was taking care of the criminals alone, he sounded like a normal teenager. I like this kid, he smiled, which was a rare phenomenon.

Peter sat in his room, bent over a mass of wires and stuff. He was trying to create a complex circuit that could create a mini GPS of the sort for New York. After that he could make his own trackers. Fury's trick had amused him; he wondered how many people the grim Director had fooled by that show of politeness. But Fury had his own faults, maybe once he swallowed that he was not any erratic kid he might see that Spider-Man was not the one to trick or trap.

He wiped sweat off his brow and looked at the work so far. That tracker thing had inspired him to make this, as he figured out it would be handy if he was not unable to chase down someone and BINGO, he would fire his spider tracer, fall back and trace him leisurely. Yep, that will definitely help, now I don't have to search in dirty sewers, these will tell me the exact location.

The only teen aged superhero and boy genius admired his 'Parker creation' as he liked to call it. He had made small spider shaped tracers with eight legs to attach to any surface. For the adhesive he decided to use his web as it was the best option. Then he looked at the receiver in his hand which blinked and showed him the location of the tracer. So much for the near range.

He figured out he had to place amplifiers-cum-signal broadcasters at strategic locations in the periphery of the city if he wanted to get maximum range. Then he looked at the clock and realized he was getting late for school."Shit Parker, you have done it again." He ran down the stairs, only to be greeted by Aunt May. "Morning, Peter," she said in a cold voice.

"Morning, Aunt May", Peter said sheepishly.

"Where were you last night?"

"I…I had to get something for a science project", Not a complete lie I guess. I hate lying to Aunt May.

"And you forgot to take your phone with you."

"Yes...I didn't know so many shops would be closed."

"You better are working on that science project only, Peter, otherwise you don't want to see my anger…

"Ok" he gulped.

Peter got into his daily routine; things took an upswing in Midtown Science High School as the nerd turned superhero paid attention to his classes and got his grades back up. He was almost convinced that now his life was going to be normal as even Spider-Man did not have any pressing matters. After setting the amplifiers at three towers around the city he decided his tracer invention was a success. He hadn't got an opportunity to use them so far, not that he wanted one. It was just a helpful precaution, so that no one escaped him.

Their teacher told them that the graduation ceremony was next week's Sunday. Peter had decided on the Empire State University and was surprised to note that Gwen was going there too.

"But, you could get any college. And you take the nearest one."

Gwen laughed and replied," It seemed like the best choice to me, you don't seem happy at the fact that this allows me to stay near you."

"It's not that- hey."

"Besides, I thought that I should stay close to my family after these events", she said in a solemn tone.

"Oh…I did not think of it that way."

"When do you think Peter..." she smiled and conversation took off from there and finally ended when Peter took out his radio, set at police frequency which now alerted him to gunshots fired in a bank, not far from his location.

"Okay Gwen, take care."

"It should be me saying that, bye."

Spider-Man perched at his favorite location, on top of the Empire State Building. He was able to see up to a great distance from there, and he was happy that his efforts had reduced the number of crimes in New York. He had not faced a single bad criminal in the past two days, only small thieves who he set right by using a little fear. He remembered Uncle Ben's belief in second chances. He never wanted to ruin anyone's life. But he knew that crimes were still committed in the hundreds. He was only able to solve the heinous ones; he tried to convince himself that he was no God delivering judgment here. He could only try to prevent more losses.

He took out his spider tracer, an idea forming in his mind. If I tweak the settings so that it emits the same frequency recognized by my spider sense, I could sense the tracer even if it's not a danger to me. This should be done now. He dropped from the building and swung his way to the nearest subway station, but not before changing his clothes in a dark alley.

Peter had managed to set the frequency at his spider sense level. It had taken a lot of experimenting on him to even get close to know his spider sense emitted which frequency. But in the end, he had decided to go with trial and error. So far, the tracer worked fine and he would be able to sense it when it was destroyed or stopped functioning. He had quickly ignored and tried to forget the S.H.I.E.L.D. encounter. He had a more important task at hand.

His body quivered with emotion and pent up rage as he saw the sketch of the murderer pinned to his wall. The Lizard incident had forced him away from his primary focus. Now he was not at all sure if he could even get his hands on him. The killer of Uncle Ben was gone, gone where he had negligible chance of finding him. But help came to him by an unexpected source.

"Peter, Peter…wake up and get ready. We have to go to the police precinct."

Peter got up rather tiredly and asked," What happened Aunt May? Please let me sleep… it's Sunday."

"They have got information on, on…Uncle Ben's murderer."

This caused Peter to sit up straight. Finally.

Location: Police Precinct, NYC

The new captain of NYPD was a very serious looking woman. She introduced herself as Jean DeWolff. She was a former detective and was promoted due to her incredible record. She said." People keep telling me you are the first one to rise so quickly in ranks, you need to be careful. I tell them there is no one more careful than a woman. Mr George Stacy was a great friend, and he was a better captain than I can ever hope to be."

Then her tone got serious and further said," A few days ago we got a lead on him and we were able to get his location but before we could arrest him he disappeared."

She put a photograph on the desk. The same blond man; Peter was suddenly feeling vengeful. His eyes seemed to sneer at him.

"His name is Dennis Carradine. He has many cases of theft and probably murder on him, but he always clears away from the crime scene, leaving no evidence at all. He mostly lives in the shadows, not a single appearance after he killed Mr. Parker. Then last week he robbed another shop and hopefully we had an eyewitness."

Peter looked incredulously at the new captain. "And you let him get away, again."

"He somehow got forewarned about our detective after him."

Peter raised his voice," You let the killer go away, so easily. Mr. George Stacy had his chance, you have had yours. Now if you can't do it, why not try harder, its your job and you have to do so."

Her eyes lost the warmth and she said sternly," Be quiet, Mr. Parker. We know what we are doing and hopefully he should be caught in a few-"

"Hopefully." Peter repeated.

"If you are only hoping then I don't think it's going to work."

"It's easy to put allegations and another thing to do that kid."

"Fine, then I'll do just that", and then he stormed away, his rage getting the better of him.

"Peter, come back here," Aunt May sobbed.

"It's okay ma'am, give him some time to cool down."

"He isn't like this. He is too soft spoken. But this affected him a lot."

"I understand. Having someone die in your arms is a big blow. But I assure you, we'll have him caught as soon as we can."

Spider-Man whipped through the air, determination pulsating in his body. He had to find the killer. He just had to.

The police suspected that he was currently hiding somewhere in Brooklyn. Spider-Man reckoned he was biding his time till everything calmed down and the police were off his trail. But he would not be able to escape from him. He was going to bring out the rat from his hidey hole and make him sorry that he decided to steal and kill.

He scoured the area for four days, looking for any kind of trouble. But in the end he was forced to reconsider his strategy. He tapped into his receiver and used his spider sense to find out criminals. During those days, Brooklyn almost became a crime free zone.

I am not doing this right. I am neglecting so many crimes of NYC, just to concentrate on one area, that too for getting revenge. This will not work…it didn't work when I was new at this. Spider-Man sat dejectedly on the edge of a building, cursing his 'Parker luck'. That was when he noted a disturbance and swung away to investigate.

"Just give me your car or else…"

"But but…no, please"

"Get out of the car or I'll shoot you." Then the masked man fired into the air.

"Okay...but please don't shoot."

The short middle aged man got out of the car, his legs shaking badly.

"Good for you mister that I only wanted to get away from the city, otherwise you would be going home a robbed man, and maybe a dead man also." He laughed. "Wait." He saw the man's phone dropped on the floor mat. He bent down to pick it up, and saw that a 50 seconds call to 911 was in progress. He snarled and disconnected it, shaking with anger.

"You…. You called them...I am going to kill you you bastard. This will probably knock some sense into people that they should get away while they still can." He pointed his gun at the man as he scrambled backwards trying to escape. He coldly pressed the trigger.

Spider-Man hurried, trying to pinpoint the location of the danger. The first gunshot gave it away. He reached there just in time to see a man cowering on the ground and a masked thug pointing a gun on him from inside the car. Be quick, Parker.

He pressed hard on his web shooters as a web line snagged onto the back of the fallen man. Then he pulled, putting all his strength in that heave. The man was airborne as he flew towards him. Spider-Man caught him in his right arm, before landing softly on the ground and letting him down. "Don't worry, sir. You will be alright." He saw that the bullet had just grazed the shoulder of the man, and he was bleeding a little. "Now wait sir, this could sting a little bit." He webbed up his shoulder to stop the bleeding, and heard a soft gasp from the man. Then he decided to attend to the masked man but SPIDER SENSE

He heard a shot as the thug had apparently decided to take a shot at him before trying to get away in the car. Again time slowed down and Spider-Man decided to leap aside but then he noticed that he was standing in front of the man and his dodging the bullet would lead to the man getting shot. He weighed his options whether trying to pull him away also to safety could be possible. Then his spider sense nudged him as he realized that the shot was fired high in the air. All this happened in a fraction of a second. In the end, he just bent his front and let the bullet pass over him which struck a wall.

Then he saw the carjacker trying to get away as the engine whirred and the car dashed away. He fired a web line and rose high in the air, to chase the car at his maximum swinging speed. The man was surely a good driver, as he took wild turns and drove at a speed which was almost impossible in the city. But still, he had an upper edge in the form of air travel.

Spider-Man urged himself to go faster. When he was on top of the car he dropped freely; and on coming within range he ziplined himself to its roof. The man heard him and shot at the roof. He rolled to avoid the bullets. Then he used his superhuman strength and pulled out the door of the car. He threw it away and grabbing the man by the scruff, pulled him out and jumped high, as the car swerved and hit a wall.

Spider-Man dropped the thug on the ground, heavily webbed. He unmasked the man, to be rewarded with blond hair and same features. He stepped back in surprise, and ripped off the webbing a little to reveal his hand and the star shaped tattoo on his left wrist. The satisfaction he felt was immense, he had the man at his mercy. His revenge could be complete, no one to stop him. Dennis Carradine had played straight into his hands by deciding to run away.

"Please, don't kill me, have mercy."

"Did you show mercy when you killed that old man last month, after looting the shop?"

"He deserved it, that meddling old fool, the s** o* a b**** was trying to get me caught", he said visibly angry.

"Then by your own rules you deserve to die by my hand pal. You interrupted me in my work, that is saving NYC and you have made me really angry."

"I didn't want to do it. I just wanted to get some money and he stopped me so the gun went off by accident. I only wanted to commit a small crime."

"There is no such thing as a small crime", Spider-Man raised his voice, now unable to keep his anger in check. He ignored the man's screams and webbed his mouth. Then he took him to the top of a building and dangled him down.

"An accident, you said. Now this is a real accident. Falling off a roof."

But he stopped himself. It was so easy; he just had to loosen his hold. But he couldn't do it. If he did so, he would be no different from the killer in front of him.

"This guy...this guy deserved it."
"Did he?"

"So all this is about getting even? If so, I guess you must feel pretty good about yourself now, right? Am I right or wrong?"

No, he couldn't do it. He let out a breathe he had been holding for a long time. Suddenly the sound of police siren brought him back to reality, but in the moment the hand of the man slipped out of his hand and he plummeted downwards.

Oh God what have I done, no…I have to save him.

He watched as things seemed to go in slow motion, the man falling down, screaming silently; his hand outstretched for help, the star tattoo clearly visible. This was the hand that murdered…no.

He fired a web line as the fall slowed and the man came to rest a few feet above the ground and bobbed a little. The police cars gathered at the scene and Spider-Man turned away from the roof. He slipped away, unnoticed by the police but he did not want to be noticed by them. They seemed to hold a grudge, as he was beating them in their line of job.

Not realizing that tears had come to his eyes, he swung away, the loss of Uncle Ben surfacing and hitting him hard again; but he felt satisfied that he had done the right thing. Uncle Ben, thank you for everything you've taught me.

End of Chapter-2

(A/N): Thanks for reading. Please take an extra few moments to review if you liked the chapter. All suggestions are welcome. You can also PM me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Next Up, on The Amazing Spider-Man: Team Up-

Peter tries his luck at photography to find a job. Rise of a new enemy. The Avengers are advised to stay on a daily alert basis by Director Fury