The silence that followed the video's end was something that Peter had only experienced once before, and he wished that he would've never had to experience again. It made him flashback to the day that his Uncle Ben had died right in front of him. The silence had been the same. It was the type of silence that was slowly tearing you apart, slowly making you lose your sanity... only this time it was different. This time, Peter knew what it was like. And he hated it.

He wasn't entirely sure what he felt in the aftermath of what he just saw. It was like his body was dealing with a whirlwind of emotions and Peter was no way prepared for the aftermath of it all. He felt angry... he felt heartbroken, but most of all, in that moment, he felt more determined than he's been in awhile.

Peter felt his fists clench together and he slowly had to force himself to relax his hands before his nails broke through the suit. Instead, he took the device from Steve and used two fingers in a zooming motion to make the holographic screen appear in the air, like he's seen Tony do many times before. He placed the device on the table and began swiping through files.

Come on, come on... where is it? Peter mentally wondered until he found what he was looking for. Bingo!

"We need to go back to the tower," Spider-Man announced, not really thinking about what the others would say.

"Kid..." Sam began.

"If we go now we can get FRIDAY back online and we can find out Hammer's location..." Peter continued rambling, not caring that his voice was hysterical.

"Spider-Man," Steve placed a hand on the hero's shoulder.

That stopped Peter in his tracks. He knew that tone. The one that lingered in Steve's voice, one that Peter knew all too well. Steve was hesitant.

"What?" Spider-Man asked, looking at the soldier.

"Why don't you let us take it from here?" Steve suggested. "I have a feeling you're not going to like what you're going to find."

Peter frowned, "Why? Because I'm a kid? I thought I established that a long time ago." For some reason he felt pissed off at the fact that the super soldier was bringing that up now.

"That's no what I mean..." Steve began, holding his hands up in a defensive manner.

"No, that's exactly what you mean!" Peter argued, not really understanding where all the defiance was coming from. This was not him at all. He never snapped on someone unless it was necessary. "I'm capable of more than any of you know!"

"We never said you weren't," Natasha calmly intervened. "Steve simply means that you might not find the answers you seek."

Those words dawned on Peter. No... They couldn't really think what he thinks they're thinking, right? "No..." He took a step back.

"Spider-Man," Clint began to approach the teenager.

"How could you?" Peter asked, hating how his voice cracked. "He believed in you. He trusted you. Now you're giving up on him?"

"We never said that," Natasha shot him a warning glance. "We don't like this anymore than you do, but we have to be prepared for the worse..."

"Mr. Stark is not dead!" Spider-Man burst out. "He can't be..."

"Kid, calm down," Steve placed a hand on the teen's shoulder.

Peter didn't realize he was hyperventilating until he felt his chest start to ache. He suddenly felt very claustrophobic.

I need to get out of here... Peter's head was pounding.

Peter ducked out of Steve's grasp and ran out the door, not bothering to snag the device on the way out. He needed to get out... he needed to get some air... he needed to find answers. He heard someone shout his name behind him, but Peter just burst through the compound's exit doors and was greeted with the chilly air of the night. He used his web-shooters to swing through the forests, going as far from the compound as he could until he hit a tree and tumbled to the ground.

Peter groaned in pain as he felt his shoulder burn with a dull ache. It was then that he realized he felt the mask sticking to his skin from the tears falling from his eyes.

The last thing he had expected when he arrived at the compound was to see a video that slapped him right in the face. Peter had thought that he was prepared for the worst... he really did, but when that video played... it hit him a lot harder than he thought was possible.

At first, he wasn't sure of Mr. Stark's intentions, but as the video continued and Tony actually seemed eloquent and genuine, Peter knew what it was. Tony was never an eloquent kind of person, he liked to keep sentences short and sweet and that was that. Also, Tony rarely gave straight answers to anyone. Ever. The only time Peter heard of Tony being honest was Pepper telling him the story of Tony's message after the Mandarin attack. This wasn't a coincidence. Peter had witnessed Tony's overall goodbye message. That alone was enough to make Peter heartbroken.

Part of him wanted to curl up in a ball and cry for his loss, but another part of him refused to believe that his mentor, his friend was dead until he saw proof with his own eyes. The only way to do that is to go to the tower. Peter had to find answers. If he didn't then he'd go insane.

"KAREN, please tell me you downloaded those files," Peter grunted with effort as he hoisted himself to his feet.

"Of course I did, Peter," KAREN replied. "I knew you'd want them on hand."

Peter sighed in relief. "You're the best."

"Why, thank you, Peter," KAREN said. "Are you feeling better? Your vitals are slowly returning to normal and you've stopped hyperventilating."

Peter winced. Was it really that bad? "Yeah, I feel better," Peter felt guilty for making his AI and even the others worry about him. He did kind of lose it bad there, didn't he? His attitude... his outburst... he felt totally embarrassed at the uncalled for reaction. Peter just hoped that the others could forgive him. Right now, though, he had work to do. He could afford to worry about apologizing later.

When Peter arrived at the tower's landing platform, he ran inside and made his way down to the lab. When he entered the lab, he didn't hesitate to go to the main holographic computer to pull up the login screen.

"KAREN, show me the instructions to turn FRIDAY's mainframe back online," Peter requested.

KAREN complied and within twenty minutes, a message came across the screen that said 'REBOOT SUCCESSFUL'

"Did it work?" Peter wondered aloud.

"Indeed it did, Mr. Parker," FRIDAY's voice startled the wits out him.

Peter jumped. "FRIDAY? Please tell me its really you."

"I can confirm that it is me," FRIDAY replied. "I see that you found the message without any trouble?"

You have no idea, Peter thought. "I found the message, alright. I can't say that I necessarily was excited with its contents."

"I'm guessing you're wanting to know what really happened that night?" FRIDAY guessed.

Peter frowned, "How did you know that?"

"Mr. Stark programmed me to read human emotions, Peter. Plus, I have access to KAREN's conversations," FRIDAY said.

"Somehow I'm not completely surprised by that," Peter sighed. "What happened, FRIDAY?"

"I'll pull up the cameras," FRIDAY informed him.

A video feed appeared on the screen:

The feed began with Tony working away in his lab. From the messy hair, tired posture and the bags under his eyes, Peter guessed that the billionaire hadn't slept in awhile. What caught Peter's attention, however, was when Tony grabbed Captain America's shield and began tinkering with it.

The billionaire must've dozed off while working on it because he was suddenly startled awake by a loud smashing sound upstairs.

He was instantly on alert. "FRIDAY?" He glanced at his watch.

"There's five intruders upstairs, sir, shall I sound the alarms?" The AI's voice replied quickly.

"No" Tony sighed. "If it's five goons I can take care of it." Tony summoned his armor and he flew through the ceiling.

The billionaire landed in a kneeling position with his fist on the ground and as he stood up, he slowly looked around the darkened exterior of the Tower, the only glow coming from his suit.

He stood up straighter, holding one of his repulsors out, ready to shoot first and ask questions later. "Show yourself."

There wasn't a response. It was too quiet. Walking further into the room, he stopped dead in the center of the entrance hall. There was a split second of utter silence before Tony spun around, shooting up at the second floor railings. A body fell to the ground and weapon fire broke out. The only thing that was weird was the fact that the guns seemed to shoot electrical pulses at the billionaire's armor instead of shooting just plain ammo. Tony shot down three of them before he fell to the ground; his armor deactivated from the pulses shot at him.

"FRIDAY!" Tony barked.

"System Reboot failed, sir. I'm afraid whatever was in those guns has disabled all the suit's functions," FRIDAY's voice replied in a static tone.

Peter witnessed Tony's attackers insert something into the suit as the Iron Man suit's light fizzled out.

"Search the lab," One of the goons ordered. "You know what the boss wants."

Another goon ran off as the other mumbled something into what seemed to be thin air before picking up the Iron-Man suit like it weight nothing.

That's when something bright flashed from the goon's face.

"FRIDAY, pause the video," Peter blurted out as FRIDAY complied and the feed paused. Peter zoomed in only to see that the object that was the source of the flash came from underneath the torn skin of the goon's face.

Shit, Peter's eyes widened. "FRIDAY, is that what I think it is?"

"Indeed, Mr. Parker. They weren't human," FRIDAY confirmed.

"EXTREMIS?" Peter asked.

"No, before my mainframe was shut off, I managed to get a scan of their vitals," FRIDAY informed.

"Were they normal?" Peter asked.

"That's the thing, Peter. They didn't have any vital signs," FRIDAY revealed.

"So they're what, robots?" Peter rhetorically asked.

"Close," FRIDAY replied. "They're indeed some kind of android."

Peter blinked. "I was kidding."

"And I am not," FRIDAY said.

"So what, Hammer's experimenting with androids?" Peter frowned, confused.

"It wouldn't be the first time that Justin Hammer had done so," FRIDAY pointed out.

Tony's words flashed in his mind:

"His plans are something that needs to be stopped before something terrible happens."

For some reason, those words sparked a memory that Peter had buried a long time ago.

But this situation seemed oddly familiar and Peter didn't exactly know why. After all this can't have anything to do with something 8 years ago, right?

"FRIDAY, are they androids or are they drones?" Peter asked hesitantly.

"I think you already know the answer to that one, Peter," FRIDAY answered.

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that," Peter sighed. "Things just got a whole lot more complicated. FRIDAY, Mr. Stark said that you know Hammer's base location?"

"Indeed," FRIDAY confirmed.

"I need to know where Hammer is, what is he up to?" Peter asked, cursing himself for not taking the time to read the documents that KAREN had downloaded.

"Justin Hammer is currently in an abandoned building that's a few blocks away from Flushing Meadows Public Park," FRIDAY replied.

Flushing Meadows... Why do I know that name? Peter frowned. Then his eyes widened. "FRIDAY, where was the 2010 Stark Expo held?"

"Flushing Meadows," FRIDAY answered.

Why are villains always so predictable? Peter shook his head. "Send KAREN the coordinates, FRIDAY," Peter requested.

"You're going alone?" FRIDAY asked.

"Seems so," Peter replied, not missing a beat.

"Don't you think that's a little reckless?" FRIDAY reprimanded.

"The others don't understand," Peter shook his head.

"I think they understand more than you know," FRIDAY told him. "Why do you doubt them?"

Peter hesitated. Why did he doubt them?

"I think you and I know what's really going on here, Peter," FRIDAY gently stated. "After all that you've done, you still feel the need to prove that you're worthy. You seek to show people that you're not a kid."

Peter shook his head, "They were going to make me sit out. I can't sit out of this, FRIDAY. Especially not now. If this is going where I think it's going, I know more about this situation than anyone else."

"No one can force you to do anything," FRIDAY reassured him. "Yet, wouldn't it be a lot safer to have a team rather than going into a situation like this solo?"

"Why do you sound so much like him?" Peter sighed.

"Mr. Stark designed me himself," FRIDAY simply stated. "I can't make you seek out help from the others, Peter, but at least take some things that Mr. Stark left for you."

Peter frowned, "I'm sorry?" He didn't quite understand what the AI was talking about.

There was a hissing sound and Peter turned around to see the wall at the other side of the lab open and a platform was pushed out. Peter's eyes widened.

There were things for everyone in there.

Peter was only focused on the suit. It was the suit that Tony had left for him when he first got to the compound after his fight with Vulture. It was the suit that he turned down. Why did Tony leave it for him now? Unless the billionaire knew the fight that they were about to get themselves into?

Unlike before, though, Peter took the suit off its rack without hesitation. It took Peter a minute to switch suits, but when he finally pulled on the mask, he felt like brand new. The suit was pure armor, but it was thin enough that it was flexible. The colors were the same, too, but the red and blue were a little darker and there was a gold outline that traced the spider on Peter's chest. He felt more powerful, but he also felt more protected. Man, he wished he accepted this suit beforehand.

"KAREN?" Peter asked.

"Right here, Peter," KAREN reassured him.

"Man this feels awesome," Peter chuckled as he looked at his hands, seeing how his monitor scanned over to hidden web-shooters.

"Are you ready, Peter?" KAREN asked.

Peter paused as he thought about that for a moment. Was he ready? It only took him a moment before he began to walk back up to the main room where the launch bay was.

"Let's do this," Peter stated.

Things are starting to get more interesting, huh? I hope you enjoyed the chapter, this one was definitely an... interesting chapter to write. Although, the frequent updates are because I'm so excited that I've finally got to this part of the story. I could not wait to get to this part and now that I have I can't stop writing!

Anyways, was it good? Was it bad? Feel free to let me know?

Questions To Ponder:

1. Do you think Peter's really going in solo? Or do you think he's got something else up his sleeve?

2. Do you think Hammer's expecting Peter?

3. Is anyone confused (If so I'll make sure to explain a few things. It's my first story so I'm still learning as I go along :P)

See you guys next time!