The day after Peter's snap in the conference room, he had left the Stark Tower with barely a word or a glance over his shoulder. But what he hadn't seen was the new look of respect that even Tony was giving him. Natasha and Steve had immediately stepped forward to help the teenager train, with a reluctant Clint soon behind them. They agreed to have Peter over the next day when he was able to come, and Peter had simply nodded at the request. When he had left, Steve turned to look at the others,
"Does anyone else have a feeling that he doesn't usually act like that?" Natasha murmured quietly as Steve moved to start picking up the shards of the mug on the ground,
"We can't force him to do anything he doesn't want to though, he's a stubborn one." Bruce stated off to the side, giving Steve a trash bin to put the shards in,
"But I'm just saying, he seems like a kid that can't even talk to a girl without getting awkward." Natasha pointed out,
"That's all men." Tony muttered, the first thing he had said since the conversation had started. Clint chuckled off to the side, and Natasha threw a death glare in the direction of the men,
"You know what I mean!" She hissed, and Tony sighed, giving up on trying to joke around her,
"Either way," Steve murmured off to the side, "He still needs to be trained and assessed if he's going to be a part of this team."
And for the first time in a long while, the Avengers could all agree. They had had their arguments, but Peter was something they could all have a say on, and he was something they all wanted to protect.
The next day, after the usual tiring antics surrounding Peter's life, he managed to slip out of the house, with a yell over his shoulder to Aunt May that he had a science project to work on with some friends. At the word 'friends' she gave him a knowing look, and all he could was shrug as he grabbed his skateboard that leaned on the wall next to the door, slipping out the door before she could protest. He quickly got into the rhythm of his skateboard, leaning lazily from side to side to turn or avoid the crowds that had somehow magically appeared on the downtown sidewalks. His mind was not truly there though. It was in a distant world, where most of his thoughts and unanswered questions resided. There was a simple one that had haunted him since his experience of meeting The Knitter, and that was: why hadn't he killed Peter? It would have been so easy, but the strange villain hadn't even given him a scratch. Killing or even just kidnapping him would have put one of the many protectors of the city out of commission, giving The Knitter a pretty clear shot to whatever he wanted. Even with the Avengers close by, they still had their own set of orders, and in a sense they were on a simple leave while Fury looked for something for them to do.
Peter's thoughts were momentarily broken when he almost ran over a boy of about eleven as he ran in front of Peter, calling out to his friends close by. He stepped off the skateboard, stopping and watching the group of four boys, and a tiny girl, run off along the sidewalk. A smile wormed its way onto Peter's face, before he started back up, pushing off and heading down into the more busy streets of Manhattan.
The next question that came up was the most frustrating: who the hell was The Knitter? He acted like he had the world wrapped around his pinky, and had nothing to lose. It reminded Peter of the preps at school, thinking that just because their parents were rich or because their parents had a nice job that everything would be handed to them.
He shook his head, nearly running into a light pole in the process. The rest of his ride to the tower was done in silence, and even Peter's hyper-active senses managed to calm down enough for his headache to fade away for several minutes. It was ruined by the time he entered the tower and made his way to the 25th floor. Bruce and Natasha were arguing, with a nervous Clint and Steve nearby. The room was filled with different pieces of equipment, including what looked like a stack of plates, a large set of throwing knives, and a strangely arranged array of targets along the back wall,
"He's injured as it is, I shouldn't even be allowing him to go to school, let alone train with you two." Bruce snapped, and Peter's eyebrow shot up. His injuries were practically gone, besides a scratch or two, and the fresh bruises on his jaw and ribs from Flash's latest fun,
"He's stronger than he looks, he'll be fine." Natasha snapped back, hands on her curved hips. Bruce looked like he was starting to shake, from anger or concern, he couldn't tell. He chose that opportunity to clear his throat, catching everyone's attention,
"Peter...how long have you been there?" Steve asked, and Peter shrugged,
"Long enough." He muttered, turning to Bruce, "I'm fine, really. Besides I want to do this, I haven't actually trained with anyone on my...abilities." he said, rubbing the back of his neck while setting his backpack and skateboard on a bench next to the elevator. They seemed to believe him, at least enough to relax. Bruce simply shook his head, walking towards the elevator,
"Fine then, just don't come screaming to me when one of you gets hurt." He muttered, practically punching the bottom to bring the elevator to the floor, going up,
"We won't have to come to you." Natasha muttered, while Steve sighed softly in relief, turning to walk off while the elevator doors opened, and Bruce took his leave,
"I really have no idea what I'm doing here, thank you very much." Clint muttered off to the side, and Natasha rolled her eyes,
"Come on sissy, we have a spider to train." She said, grabbing Peter's arm to start dragging him towards a boxing ring that he hadn't noticed before now.
You guys probably hate me for taking so long with this chapter, then to find out that's its so short doesn't help things. But I have excuses! I do! A few weeks back my computer decided to get up and die on me, cutting me off from all internet connections...
A close friend is letting me borrow a phone that can type out chapters, and connect to the internet until my computer is fixed, but today I found out I won't be getting it fixed. The harddrive and the battery are fried, and it would just be cheaper to get a new computer, which I don't have the money for (thanks a lot fandoms) so I'm stuck to writing short chapters in my spare time between reading fanfiction and doing homework for school that just started.
Anyway don't hate me too bad, I'll try my hardest to keep up and speed up the storyline -