Peter sucked in a deep breath as Tony walked up to the podium. Hundreds of reporters stared up at him in awe, their camera pointed directly at him. Tony, who was used to such attention, appeared calm and collected, a quirky smile spread across his lips.
Before Tony could open his mouth to say something, the reporters started taking their pictures, and yelling questions at the Iron Man. Tony held up his hands, asking them to quiet down, but the questions kept flowing in. This was going to be exciting, since this was the only hero who had managed to keep their secret identity a hundred percent under wraps. Although official statements were seldom released, the public was pretty sure who had been mascaraing as the various superheroes that tried to save their lives.
"Excuse me, ladies and gentleman, excuse me!" Tony yelled at the crowd.
Everybody's chatter immediately stopped, and once again, they peered up at the genius inventor.
"Today I am standing up here with all of my colleges because several accusations have been made towards my intern, Peter Parker. I and the rest of the Avengers would like to put these theories to rest."
As Peter listened to Tony talk to the group of reporters, he compared it to the first ever press conference he'd ever watched. It was the infamous one where Tony announced to the world that he was Iron Man, the first hero people had seen in years.
Peter was only eight years old, but he insisted Uncle Ben turned up the channel to the press conference anyway. He distinctly remembered jumping up, and yelling for his Uncle and Aunt, shock coursing through his veins. Young Peter followed all the adventures of the man with the iron suit, finding himself completely fascinated with the idea of being a hero. That's why he didn't doubt his decision when he first got bitten by the spider.
He glanced over at Natasha, who was calmly staring out into the audience. Unlike Tony, she didn't have a smile on her face, just the cold, steely expression of an ex-assassin. Ever since Natasha leaked all that information about SHIELD into the public, she'd been a little wary of press conferences. Although she'd never admit it, she feared that the red of her ledger would ever prevent people to see her as someone who truly wanted to serve the world. In a way, that's why she wanted to sign the Accords, and supported them so fervently.
"I want to assure you," Tony said "That my intern is not Spiderman. Peter Parker is a valid member of our team, but not in that way. You can quote me on that."
He paused for a few seconds, waiting for all the reporters to settle down.
"Now, I would like the introduce Peter, who, like I said before, is only my intern, so take it easy on him."
Tony turned towards Peter, and gestured for him to come up to the podium. Peter gulped, his heart pounded angrily in his chest. Peter wasn't a fan of speaking in front of a lot of people, so when he learned that their plan would involve him talking out on nation television.
He stepped up to the pulpit, and grasped the edge of the podium, squeezing until his hands turned white. His mind ran a mile a minute. Tony had a left a few flash cards on the podium for Peter to follow, and even though that gave him a bit of assurance, he still felt sick to his stomach.
On top of his fear of public speaking, he didn't know how Jessica was doing. Rhodey and Vision were there to assist her in her first rid as Spiderwoman, but the fact he himself wasn't there scared him.
Jessica had taken Tony's injection fairly well. Just like Peter, she had fallen asleep, and stayed in her slumber for hours. After waking up, she said she felt different. In fact, she also looked different. Something about her seemed stronger and clearer in appearance.
XxXxXxXxXxX
A Few Days Prior . . .
Jessica shot upright in the bed.
"You're awake" Peter exclaimed.
He knelt down next to the bed, and stared up at her. Jessica stared down at him, a small smile crossing her face slowly.
"So, how do you feel?" Peter asked.
"I feel—oh my gosh—I don't know."
She jumped up, and walked over to a mirror that hung over the vanity situated across from the bed.
"You don't feel sick? Or hazy?"
"N—no, I feel great!"
Peter smiled.
"Put your hand on the wall."
Jessica raised an eyebrow quizzically.
"It's one of my abilities, sticking to things. Useful for climbing stuff."
She smiled, and dashed over the wall, and placed her hand on it just like Peter had said. Once she did that, she slowly tried to remove her hand. Just as Peter had suspected, the hand would not budge.
"Oh my god!"
"That was the first thing that happened to me. Well, except for gaining 20/20 vision, and you know, getting a six pack because—well—um—I didn't have that before."
Jessica laughed loudly, and shook her head.
"The sixth sense should be setting in soon, which is when it'll get tricky. You know, you might get some headaches from the overwhelming senses and stuff like that."
"We should practice."
"What? Now?"
"I feel amazing. Let's do it."
Peter nodded happily. This was going to be fun. Usually, it was Natasha or Tony training him, so he was thrilled that he finally received the opportunity to bestow some of his wisdom onto someone else.
XxXxXxXxXxX
A Few Hours Later . . .
"Ugh!"
Jessica crunched up into a ball on the floor, and groaned.
"Senses setting in?" Peter questioned.
He offered her a hand, which she gladly took.
"Think so."
"When you get your suit, your goggle on the suit will help that out. It's really cool actually. Tony built them into the outfit, and it takes care of a lot of the information overload."
"What about when you're not wearing the suit?"
Peter shrugged.
"Tony invented some contacts that can help with it, but they're just a prototype. Until then, you just have to get used to it. The headaches will go away soon though . . ."
"I can hear a fire-engine, Peter."
"So can I. You're hearing will get better, and then you'll be able to hear what's going on."
Peter cocked his head.
"Some teenager ate a brownie with nuts in it, and she's having an allergic reaction."
He bit his lip, and shook his head.
"I hope she's okay."
"Me too."
"So, when do I get a web-shooter?"
Peter laughed, and gestured for her to follow him.
"I've been working on it actually. Wanna see it?"
XxXxXxXxXxX
Back At The Press Conference . . .
"Hi everyone," Peter said, his voice squeaking a little "My name is Peter Parker, and I—um—I am here with my boss, Mr. Stark, to say that I am not Spiderman."
The audience started the murmur to each other, some people recording his statement while some filmed it with enormous cameras. One person, in the front row, was running a pencil over a notepad, which made Peter assume he was drawing a picture of him.
"I want you all to know that—um—I admire Spiderman. He's strong, brave, and is willing to put his life on the line to save people like me and you."
Someone in the audience cheered, which made Peter sigh faintly.
"A lot of you are probably wondering what I—um—do working for Mr. Stark and Stark Industries. I got some—err—permission from my boss to tell you about some of the cutting edge technology Stark Industries is making to help insure that this world is a safer place for everyone."
Peter glanced at Tony, who nodded at him encouragingly.
"As you all know, the Accords were signed last May in order to make a compromise between the Avengers and the rest of the world. Mr. Stark has recognized that creating more weapons and things that could potentially harm citizens of our planet. Stark Industries is now researching and making prototypes that will benefit our planet and all it's inhabitants. We're talking eco-friendly pieces of technology that will help advance the growing of crops, the cleaning of water, and most types of energy. Mr. Stark and the rest of us at Stark Industries believe that clean energy is the answer to a lot of the problems we face today, and can help provide for people in impoverished countries."
Peter paused, allowing the people in the audience to cheer. He smiled, and once again, turned to Tony, who winked at him encouragingly.
Much to Peter's surprise, the words had starting flowing off his lips easily, and his fear of the enormous, looming audience seemed to vanish.
He could imagine Aunt May and Gwen watching at home. In his mind, Aunt May would be smiling at her nephew, but could see a little doubt still looming in her eyes. Gwen might be clapping along with the rest of the reporters who had just witnessed Peter's speech. She knew the truth, and had chosen to stand by his decision.
"Alright," Tony said, walking over towards the podium "We are open to questions."
As he stood next to Peter, he reached up and tugged his ear.
Before the press conference, Tony told Natasha and Peter that an ear tug would symbolize that Spiderwoman was taking off. Currently, she had an identical suit to Peter's, hoping it would throw people off his trail.
To Peter's surprise, she caught on quickly. Within a few days, he had her swinging around on a strand of his special thread. She enjoyed it also, having the wind blow in your face, and having your stomach drop each time you flipped over your head.
Tony called on a reporter, who asked him a question about how he was going to utilize clean energy to help purify dirty water. Peter zoned out, but quickly zoned back in when asked a question about how Tony was as a boss.
"He's different," Peter said jokingly "And his methods are stranger than most, but he's a good boss and has a passion for his work with Stark Industries and the Avengers."
"Aww thank you!' Tony crooned, making the audience laugh heartily.
Suddenly, the people in the audience started murmuring to each other once again.
"Mr. Stark," someone called "There's been a Spiderman sighting!"
"Really?" he asked, a small smile on his lips "Spiderman always was the type to take a stroll—err, I mean a swing."
Once again, everybody started laughing.
"If you don't have any more questions, that will be all," Tony said.
He waved goodbye to the reporters and news people, and glared at Peter, who then copied Tony's move.
"Have a wonderful night!" Peter yelled.
As they stepped off the stage, Peter sighed in relief. Backstage, a TV was playing, which showed a news anchor talking about the press conference, and then the Spiderman sighting. In the footage shown by the news station, Jessica was swinging through Manhattan like an expert, throwing a new strand of webbing out every few buildings. To anyone who didn't know any better, it looked exactly like Peter, especially since the footage shown was taken by a man who had pulled out his smart phone excitedly.
"Well, well, well," Tony whispered to Peter "It worked."
"Are you really building all that stuff you said you were?" Peter whispered back.
"I was, and then the whole Accords thing happened. I guess I'm getting back to work on it."
He winked again at Peter as he walked off to greet someone. Peter turned back to the TV, which had his image displayed prominently on it. He knew he'd never get used to this, being on TV all the time, just like Tony. Still, it was worth it as he counted the lives he had saved and the disasters he had prevented.
Hopefully, something would come up soon.
Hey Guys! Thanks for reading! Sorry that my updates have been taking some time. I was at camp for a week, and it was a no-technology-whatsoever kind of place. It was still fun, but not so good for my writing schedule. Oh well. ;)
Please leave a review/comment/suggestion! They really motivate me to write more!
Much Love,
gotmoreissuesthanvogue