You guys are spoilt. Two chapters within an hour?


As soon as Pepper stepped from the room, Gwen's pleasant smile turned to business.

"Right," she said abruptly. "You're probably aware that I blatantly lied when I said I was invited. The Green Goblin is coming here. It's his next target."

"What?" Peter asked. "How do you know that?"

"Intuition, Parker. No. I looked at all the places he attacked, and they form a circle through New York."

Tony's eyes followed her hand as she yanked a map from apparently nowhere.

"See?" she spread the map out across the table. It was a smallish map that might have been found in a road directory, but it did its job well enough.

Neatly written black Xs marked the places the Goblin had struck. Tony recognized one of them as marking where a nice restaurant had been. He wondered if he should feel slightly guilty that his only regret about it being destroyed was the fact that it was hard to find yiros as good as there.

The Xs trailed around in a circle. Gwen planted a finger dead in the centre, her other hand focused on removing a strand of web from Peter's face.

"See? Stark Tower. You have to evacuate. With a building this tall and full of dangerous weapon prototypes, this is bound to be the most hazardous attack."

"Why's he coming here?" Tony asked. He knew no one was going to be able to answer. "I thought he was after Spider-Man!"

Peter and Gwen exchanged a look. It was so quick that he almost missed it. The boy opened his mouth to reply, but a shattering of glass prevented any further conversation.

A blaze of heat threw Tony and the two teenagers onto the wall at the other side of the room.

"Well, hello!" A gloating voice said. Tony blinked the blur out of his vision.

The Green Goblin stood on his glider, still levitating above the ground.

It was not one classy costume he wore. The mask was frankly ridiculous, large and green and snarling, and the suit wasn't something that would win any fashion shows.

"I'm looking for Spider-Man," the criminal said, staring hard at Tony. Or it seemed like it, anyway, he really couldn't see what was going on behind that mask. "And I think you might know how to find him."

"Me?" Tony asked, stupefied. Gwen and Peter looked at him as well. Everyone in the room was staring at him. Normally this wasn't a problem, but normally he knew exactly what was being fucking talked about. "I don't think that's likely, sunshine. Firstly, I honestly have no idea who he is, where he is, nada. Secondly, Spider-Man would rather be nailed to the side of a building than come anywhere near me." He wondered if he should yell for J.A.R.V.I.S. to send the Mark 42.

The Green Goblin grabbed him by the throat and hoisted him into the air.


Well, now he couldn't yell.

"Are you sure?" the masked man snarled.

"Positive," Tony remarked surprisingly cheerfully for someone who was likely going to choke to death in a few minutes.

The Goblin leaned forward, obviously trying to intimidate him.

It didn't work.

"Okay," said the Goblin, and Tony found himself back on the ground wheezing.

When he looked up, Gwen was in his position, dangling from the Goblin's hands.


"Where's Spider-Man?" The Goblin asked again. "I will kill her."

"He doesn't know who Spider-Man is, fucker," Gwen growled. Her voice was slightly raspy from the pressure on her throat.

"No wait, stop!" Tony yelled, stretching a hand out. The Green Goblin raised Gwen higher. "I don't know who Spider-Man is! I don't! I don't know where he is or who he is!"

He could see Peter's expression growing murderous, and he grabbed the boy's arm tightly to stop him from doing something stupid.

"What? You don't want me to kill her?" He jeered. "Why don't you just tell me where's Spider-Man?" Gwen aimed a kick at his groin, but she was lifted even further into the air.

"Put me down!" she demanded. "Because I swear, there are people who can and will kill you if you hurt me." Her expression was scared, of course, but with a type of steel that she must have learned from her late father. Police officer, right?

"I am hurting you."

"I meant more!" Gwen's snarl was cut off in a squeak as the Goblin squeezed her neck.

Peter's hands were shaking. Tony could feel them trembling so hard, so quickly (way faster than was humanely possible) that they were a blur at his sides. Even without his hands trembling, Tony could tell how fast the boy's heart was beating, as the cut across his forehead began dribbling a scarlet line down his face, snaking around his features like a river travelling between mountains. Tony's grip on Peter's arm pulsed with the boy's bloodstream.

"We. Don't. Know."

Gwen's face was red, verging on purple. She was sending a look to Peter; something like don't say anything or I will kill you.

No one said anything.

Then the Goblin broke the silence.

"Well, if you don't know, then I'm done," the Green Goblin stated in a bored tone, and threw Gwen right through the remaining window.


Tony barely registered the smash of glass shattering and the sound of expletives leaving Gwen and Peter's mouths in large amounts. He could only think, I don't have my suit.

This was his fault. Gwen was going to die, and so was Peter, all because Tony had invited- no wait, she said she made that up. Well, they were going to die anyway.

And he wasn't counting on Peter leaping out the window after Gwen.

Then it was just him and the Green Goblin, standing there, absolutely bewildered.

"Did he actually just do that?" The Green Goblin asked.

"I- I think so."

"Your employee is an idiot and will die an idiot."

Tony did his own leap (it wasn't as graceful as Peter's) to the window and looked out, expecting to see two bloody patches (or maybe one big one) on the pavement, far below.

He didn't see that.

He didn't see anything. Anything at all. Noth- wait! There was a thin thread blowing in the slight wind. He recognized it immediately.

"Spider-Man," growled the Green Goblin. "Those kids have friends in high places."

With that, he followed Peter and Gwen out the window, and somehow disappeared too.

"Shit!" Tony yelled at a level that could have smashed the window if it wasn't already broken. Then he snarled, "J.A.R.V.I.S.! Send the mark 42!"

Within 40 seconds of Gwen's initial exit from the building, the room was empty, all occupants having departed in the same manner.


Gwen fell for only a few seconds before the horror of her imminent death actually dawned. Those first seconds were mostly filled with loud swearing, feeling cuts from the broken window, and the pissed-off thought of that fucker threw me out of the window.

Then the real terror started.

She was facing the ground, which shot up to meet her in a manner that seemed cheerful. A few pedestrians looked up and shrieked, running.

Gwen wished she could run too. But she couldn't even scream. Her eyes widened as the ground came closer, and then she shut them, because there was no way she was going to watch herself die.

Was Peter going to save her? If he was, hopefully he would have the sense to put on the mask, and to avoid dislocating his shoulder or ankle. He was an idiot.

An idiot that she was going to die for. She could barely keep back the annoyed cutting through her abject terror.

Then came the familiar arm around her waist, and her fall was stopped suddenly, making her lose her breath and making her head snap forward painfully, but she was safe, she was safe, she was safe.

She twisted her head to get a look at Spider-Man, but it wasn't Spider-Man, it was Peter. Stupid, skinny little Peter who hadn't put the mask on.

"Peter, he'll see you." She looked up the Stark Tower, not seeing where she had fallen from. But there were no heads poking out of windows, anywhere at all. She heard a few pedestrians shout, and when she looked down, a couple were pointing and directing cameras at them. "They'll see you!"

"Uh, no they won't," Peter mumbled illiterately. He swung them into an already-broken window that was much closer to the ground and they collapsed onto the carpet. Gwen could swear she heard a crack when they went through the window, which was confirmed when Peter immediately groaned. "Oh-h-h…"

Gwen immediately made a grab for Peter's previously dislocated arm. "Peter I swear to god if you have dislocated it again…"

But she couldn't tell him off, she couldn't, not when he had just risked his identity to save her life. So she just kissed him briefly, and wiped away the blood that was trailing down his face. The cut on his forehead had opened up with stress.

"My arm's fine," Peter mumbled against her hand stemming the flow of blood from his forehead. "I think I busted my ankle again though. I'm Spider-Man, I shouldn't have to deal with embarrassing injuries."

"You fucking idiot," Gwen settled for insulting him and holding him close.

"What about you?" he asked, lifting his hand up to stroke her neck. When her throat felt hot to his touch, and he spied bruises forming, he frowned. "I'm going to kill that son of a-"

"Language, Parker. Ask yourself, would Aunt May approve?"

She didn't find out whether Aunt May would have approved or not, because Tony Stark rocketed through the window, nearly tripping on the sill. He landed just as loudly as they did, leaving cracks in the floor, and a table completely demolished.

"Oh my god, you're both still alive!" Tony Stark yelled as the Iron Man suit's mask flipped up.

Peter grinned. "Yeah, we're hard to kill." The grin faltered when he tried to move his foot, and his face paled.

Stark grabbed a table leg when he saw Peter wince and hold his ankle. "How? Like how could you possibly survive that fall and somehow appear on this level?"

Gwen opened her mouth to reply with some extravagant lie, but Peter beat her to it, with the truth. Or something close to the truth anyway.

"Spider-Man!" he beamed. "I didn't see where he went after he dumped us in here, but he just swung by and saved us."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised he was anywhere near the tower after the shit Cap and I put him through."

Peter's face assumed its 'think quickly but look natural expression'.

"He likes him," Gwen intervened. Peter's eyebrow gave an infinitesimal quirk. "As in, Spider-Man's kind of got a soft spot for Peter. I think it's because Peter always takes really great pictures of him for The Daily Bugle."

"Yeah, he talks to me a lot when I'm shooting pictures," Peter said, catching on. "Like, 'can you take it from my right side, my suit's a bit ripped on the left,' and he always asked me how school was going and stuff before I graduated."

Tony's face twisted into an expression that was difficult to read. It could have been 'do you think I'm a fucking idiot', or 'that's a very interesting story'. Gwen tightened her grip on Peter's hand.

"Have you spoken to him since I took him out? I haven't seen him around as much and he looks kind bad."

Apparently that expression was actually 'I feel bad for beating the shit out of him'.

"Um, yeah!" Peter said, relieved. Gwen's grip loosened. "He doesn't actually take it that personally. I mean, it pissed him off a lot, but he figured you were doing your job, and Spider-Man said the view he got of the helicarrier was pretty cool."

Tony scratched his head with the leg of the table that was going to become Peter's splint. "And his injuries are healing up?"

Gwen nodded, taking over. "Yeah, he heals much faster than Peter here," she patted his arm. It was a lie, since Peter was only healing a little faster than the average human, considering the extent of his injuries. It seemed to have thrown off his superhuman healing by a large amount.

Peter joined in again. "He's actually a really big fan of you, Mr. Stark." Gwen shot him a warning look that Tony missed.

Tony twitched. "Seriously?"

"And Cap. And Dr. Banner. Basically all of you Avengers. He made his web shooters using some old stuff and a bit of your tech. He's very proud of them. He shows me how he's updated them all the time."

Tony's eyebrow, which had lowered earlier, shot up again like an alert.

Gwen pinched Peter's arm. Too much, genius, it seemed to say. Remember this guy made an arc reactor in a cave.

"You're his confidantes." Tony's brain skills were demonstrated. "You help him get around, help him fight crime, keep his secrets, help him. You're both really smart, so it's probably you two who design his web-shooters and stuff. How else would you know all the stuff about him? I'm not stupid. And Peter, who were literally making a webshooter ten minutes ago."

There was a pregnant pause.

Well, he was nearly correct. Except for the 'stupid' part. It wasn't even a decent lie and it fooled him.

Ah, well. Gwen's and Peter's genius intellects were rare crosses to bear. They might as well play along.

"Yeah, okay," Peter sighed.

Gwen exhaled heavily from her nose. I hope you know what you're doing, Peter. "Yeah. For quite a while now."

The eyebrow wiggled menacingly.

"Well, it's not like we were just going to tell you we know him!" Peter said defensively. "That would be a blatant abuse of trust!"

Tony sighed and his eyebrow dropped to its proper place. "Okay. Well, I guess that wasn't completely unexpected." He handed over the table leg that everyone had forgotten about.

Gwen gently and surreptitiously elbowed Peter in the side. "And Spider-Man asked Peter to deliver a message. It was going to be anonymously, but since you know about us, then he might as well just say it." She started ripping up a random lab-coat that was hanging over a chair into strips, waiting for Peter to respond. Gwen laid the table leg parallel to Peter's and began bandaging them together.

"Spider-Man wants - ow- to talk to Fury. He's considering working for- ouch, jeez- S.H.I.E.L.D. as long as he doesn't have to give up his identity to anyone, including- OW mother-fu- that eye-patch guy. I mean, the dude hasn't even told us who he is. Privacy and all that stuff, I guess."

Tony shrugged. "Yeah, all Fury said he wanted was to know for sure that Spider-Man was on our side. Do you want me to pass on the message to Director Douchebag?" he asked.

"Yeah. Demand that no weapons be around to- FUCK- sorry, because he's really not comfortable talking to you guys if he thinks you're about to blow him up."

"Makes sense."

A low explosion shook the room and more glass fell from the window like paint flaking away.

"What happened to the Green Goblin?" Gwen asked nervously, tucking the end of the final strip of bandage away. "Please tell me you got rid of him." She brushed some shattered glass out of Peter's hair.

"Sort of," Tony said. "He pissed off pretty quick once you made your swan dive," he gestured to Peter. "He went off looking for Spider-Man. Hope he's okay. And why did you make a leap for it? That was the dumbest thing I've ever seen."

Gwen bristled slightly, but Peter replied. "I don't know, everything kind of went a bit blank. I guess I thought that there might be the slight chance I could save her, by cushioning her fall or something." He absently lifted his hand and rubbed his cut, which had stopped trickling persistently.

Tony winced as an awful image of Peter crunched against the pavement with Gwen's unconscious body sprawled over the top of him stubbornly planted itself in his brain. He shook his head to get rid of the unpleasant thought.

"Well, it's a good thing that Spider-guy did save you. I'd hate to be the one to tell your families that a super-assassin got you." He grabbed Peter's shoulders and hauled him up, Gwen glued to her boyfriend's side supportively.

"Ow," Peter muttered.

"Relax, Parker," Tony said. "We're going someplace very safe, where you can all the medical treatment your little ankle requires without rude interruptions from super-dicks."

"Naw, it'll be fine," Peter said. He moved his ankle around in a circle and there were popping sounds and two cracks that made Gwen squeak. He leant over and pulled the splint away, the makeshift bandages pulling away too.

"Peter! I just splinted that for you!"

"Ow. Eh, it's fine. The bones were just popped out of place. I've just gotta stay off it a while."

"You could have said that before," Gwen muttered. She wrapped her arms around Peter's waist as his foot slipped and he stumbled. "Please tell me we're not going to the helicarrier, Mr. Stark."

"Yes, the helicarrier," Tony announced. He grabbed the two and squished them up against him, arm wrapped firmly around them. "Clench up and hold on."


I told you I wasn't a total bitch. I can promise updates will not be that quick in succession.