A/N: Hey guys! So sorry this chapter was a bit delayed. I wasn't finished with it last night, but, luckily, I finished it today somehow.

Anyway, to make up for my lateness, this chapter is a little longer than usual!

Alright, have fun reading it and then don't keep procrastinating on wattpad. Go back and do your homework. Yes, I'm talking to you, person with a dozen random tabs open *definitely isn't procrastinating watching videos of tom holland playing with dogs*


"I thought this was the antigravity gun."


The van was speeding through the neighborhood as Peter desperately tried to follow it.

"Almost got you," he grunted, swinging through the trees and parkouring over the houses. He nearly lost his balance when a few slates slipped out from under his feet.

"Thought you got away from me, didn't you?" he panted, flipping over a chimney, "I got you right where I want you."

"Surprise!" he grinned, jumping off the rooftop directly onto the van. But before he could actually land on the van, something snatched him from behind, flying him up into the sky.

"What the hell?" he screamed, wrestling to pull his leg free from whatever it was that was flying him through the sky.

Instead of loosening his grip on Peter's leg, the Vulture flew him up even higher. The world spun around Peter as he tried to figure out which way was down. Suddenly, the spider on the back of Peter's suit began to beep and blink. A parachute unfolded itself from the hidden compartment and the air resistance from it ripped Peter from Vulture's grasp.

Peter screamed as he torpedoed toward the ground and the parachute became tangled around him. He struggled inside the parachute, desperately trying to break through enough to at least figure out where he was about to fall and die.

Suddenly, his feet hit something hard like concrete, but then pulled him under. The Hudson. The parachute somehow became even more tangled around him as he fought to find the surface. He was sinking fast.

Just then, someone pulled him up, out of the water.

Peter gasped, shaking his head. Was it the guy with the wings again?

"Huh?" he looked up in daze, only to see Iron Man flying him through the air, "Oh, hey."


"And then he just, he just, like, swooped down like a monster and he picked me up and, uh, he took me up, like, a thousand feet and just dropped me," Peter narrated, wringing the water out of his mask. They had ended up in a playground and he was sitting on a dome climber, shivering, "How'd you find me? Did you put a tracker in my suit or something?"

"I put everything in your suit. Including this heater," Mr. Stark said and suddenly, his suit dried instantly and steam rose from it.

"Whoa!" Peter breathed, "Whew, that's better. Thanks."

"What were you thinking?" Mr. Stark scolded. He was still floating in the air.

"The guy with the wings is obviously the source of the weapons. I gotta take him down," Peter said.

"Take him down now, huh? Steady, Crockett, there are people who handle this sort of thing," he said. Peter looked at him.

"The Avengers?"

"No, no, no. This is a little below their pay grade," Mr. Stark said.

"Anyway, Mr. Stark, you didn't have to come all the way out here. I had that. I was fine," Peter said even though he was beyond excited that he was here. After all these months of radio silence, he was finally here. Maybe they could work together on figuring out how to stop–

"Oh, I'm not...here," Mr. Stark said.

The helmet on the suit opened, revealing that the suit was empty and no one was inside.

Tony, in reality, was attending a wedding in India. Definitely not because he had to run away from Manhattan because the memories of a certain teenager were haunting him. Definitely not. At all.

"Thank God this place has Wi-Fi or you would be toast right now. Thank Ganesh while you're at it," he muttered. A man walked up to him with a drink and Tony took it gratefully, raising the glass up to him in gratitude.

"Cheers," he mumbled and the man smiled widely before walking away, "Look, forget the flying vulture guy, please." Peter looked up in surprise.

"Why?" he asked, crestfallen.

"Why? Because I said so!" he said and a woman walked up to him, holding a flower garland. Tony leaned down so she could put it around his neck.

"Sorry, I'm talking to a teenager," he mumbled to her, but she walked away, obviously not caring, "Stay close to the ground. Build up your game helping little people, like that lady that bought you the churro. Can't you just be a friendly...neighborhood Spider-Man?"

"But I'm ready for more than that now!" Peter argued. They were back at square one. In fact, Mr. Stark had never left square one when here Peter was imagining the two of them taking the Vulture out together.

"No, you are not," Mr. Stark said and his suit closed as if to emphasize his point.

"That is not what you thought when I took on Captain America," Peter said, feeling slightly hurt.

"Trust me, kid. If Cap wanted to lay you out, he would've," Mr. Stark said, "Listen to me. If you come across these weapons again, call Happy." Peter heard an engine revving.

"Are you driving?" he asked the suit. Tony got into his Audi and shut the door.

"You know, it's never too early to start thinking about college. I got some pull at MIT," he said and then turned to his phone, "End call."

"No, I don't need to go to col– Mr. Stark–"

"Mr. Stark is no longer connected."

Then the suit flew off and Peter slouched with a heavy sigh.

"That's awesome," he mumbled to himself. A moment later, he pushed himself off the dome and landed on the wood chips. He kicked at them and then sighed again, walking out of the playground. He stuck to the sidewalk, making his way down the neighborhood. He pulled his mask on.

"Stay close to the ground? What is he talking about?" he muttered to himself, kicking at the ground.

Suddenly, something glinting in the grass caught his eye. He stopped walking and cautiously walked towards it, crouching down. It was a piece of the damaged weapon that had fallen out of the van. He carefully picked it up into his hand, flipping it over.

"Whoa," he whispered in awe.

Just then, his phone began ringing again. He answered it without glancing at the caller ID. He knew it was Ned.

"Hey, man, what's up? I'm on my way back," he said, staring at the glowing weapon in his hand.

"Actually, I was calling to say maybe you shouldn't come. Listen to this." Peter waited, listening.

"When I say "penis," you say "Parker." Penis!"

"Parker!"

"Penis!"

"Parker!"

"Sorry, Peter. I guess we're still losers. I'll see you tomorrow," Ned sighed. Peter didn't feel as bad as he would have, however. Considering everything that had happened tonight.

"I'll see you tomorrow in school," he said, hanging up.

He held up the weapon, looking at it determinedly.


Adrian landed on the platform with a loud thud, still in his Vulture suit. He stepped out of it and walked down the stairs, stomping angrily as he mumbled something to himself.

"Idiots. Idiots," he said and snatched his helmet off his head, hurling it at the wall, "Idiots!"

Mason the mechanic looked up at his boss having a tantrum and then glanced over at Flint, pursing his lips. Flint studied Adrian carefully.

"Boss," Mason said, "Your wife keeps texting you. Something about a brake light?" Adrian turned to him, his face twisted into an angry expression. Mason looked unaffected.

"What'd I tell you about looking at my phone?" he hissed.

"Oh, sorry. You left it out. You know I'm a curious person by nature," Mason shrugged. Adrian snatched the phone from his hands, glancing at it for a moment before looking up at Flint who was messing with a new sort of gun-type weapon.

"I finished designing that high-altitude vacuum seal," Mason said.

"Huh?" Adrian mumbled, not really paying attention.

"In case you want to, you know, go for the big one?"

"You're still on that? I told you, no. The answer's no," Adrian said firmly, "Forget it."

Just then, a van pulled into the warehouse. Adrian shared a look with Mason before turning away towards the van as Brice jumped out from the back of the van.

"Whoo!" Brice whooped, grinning, "I mean, that was badass." Annoyed, Adrian walked toward Brice.

"How many times have I told you not to fire them out in the open?" Adrian hissed, feeling his anger rising again.

"You said, move the merchandise," Brice shrugged carelessly, walking past him.

"Under the radar. Under the radar!" Adrian shouted after him, "That's how we survive. If you bring Damage Control or the Avengers down here, we're through. You're out there wearing that goofy thing, lightning up cars, calling yourself the Shocker. 'I'm the Shocker. I shock people.' What is this, pro wrestling?"

"Ah, whatever, old man. Come on," Brice rolled his eyes, messing with something on Mason's desk. Mason didn't look too happy with it and he slapped his hand away. Brice gave him a dirty look, stealing his beanie off the table.

"Look, look," Adrian said, following him to the desk, "I know you don't give a crap about anything. But I do. I built this whole place because I got people I have to look after."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," Brice mumbled carelessly, rolling his tongue over his front teeth in a bored manner. Adrian stared at him, his expression cold.

"You know what? I can't afford your bullshit. Get out of here," Adrian said and Flint looked up, glancing between the two.

"What?" Brice said, finally listening.

"You're done. You're off the crew," Adrian said coldly.

"Yeah, all right. All right. Wonder if you can afford me out there, though, right?" Brice shrugged, walking away. He stopped, looking over his shoulder, "With everything I know."

"Excuse me?" Adrian said.

"I'm just saying..." Brice said suggestively, "...maybe your wife would like to know where you really get your money from."

"You know what?" Adrian said, narrowing his eyes.

"What?" Brice said.

"You're right," Adrian said and then turned to Flint who still had the giant weapon in his hand, "That work?"

"I don't know," Flint shrugged and Adrian took it from him anyway. He aimed it at Brice.

"I can't afford that," Adrian said, firing the weapon. A blue ray zapped Brice, immediately burning him to ashes. His gauntlet clattered to the ground and for a moment, the warehouse was silent.

"Damn," Schultz mumbled, staring at Brice's ashes.

"I thought this was the antigravity gun," Adrian told Flint.

"What? No, that's that one," Mason said, pointing to another weapon. Adrian dropped the weapon in his hand onto the table and walked over to the heap of ashes on the ground. He picked up the gauntlet and dusted off the ashes. Flint was watching him carefully. Then he tossed it to Schultz.

"Here. Now you're the Shocker. Go out there and find that weapon he lost," he ordered.

"All right."


Adelaide knew something was up.

After what had gone down in gym yesterday, she knew something was fishy. And being nosy was one of her best qualities so she had decided to poke around a bit.

Ned had said that Peter knew Spider-Man. Now that could mean two things.

Either Peter had convinced him that Spider-Man was his friend like she had convinced them that Timothy Lark was her uncle. Or Ned knew Peter's secret. But what she couldn't understand was why Peter would tell Ned. He'd been Spider-Man for almost a year now and he had never even told her – until he had to. So did Peter tell Ned or did he find out like when he had found out about her being the Blue Phantom? Did Ned know at all?

Being as curious as she was, Adelaide entered World History prepared.

She took her seat beside Ned, staring straight at the board. He was onto her immediately.

"So?" he asked, leaning forward expectedly. She turned to him.

"What?" she asked.

"You know – Vivian. Did you talk to her about...you know?" he asked excitedly. Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"Ned, I've known her for a total of two days. We're not braiding each other's hair at this point," she said. Although, certain people were giving certain people burn cream. Adelaide shook that thought away.

"But girls bond really fast, don't they?" he asked with a frown.

"Not true," she said, "Anyway, I wanna know what happened yesterday in gym."

"Uh...what?" Ned asked, leaning back into his seat. Oh, yeah he was definitely hiding something. She knew him well enough to be able to tell just by the look on his face. She'd have to be careful, though. If Ned really didn't know Peter's secret, she didn't want to accidentally tell him.

"'Peter knows Spider-Man'? What was that all about?" she pressed.

"I-I don't know," he stuttered, eyes darting around, "Do you think Viv would go to Homecoming with me if I asked her?"

"Viv?" Adelaide asked, raising her eyebrow. Ned shrugged, looking away dreamily.

"I feel like she could wear a purple dress and then I'd wear a purple tie and hat to match. We could slow dance to that one song by the Beatles," he sighed. She was losing him.

"Ned. Ned," she said, snapping her fingers in front of his face. He blinked, looking at her once again. "You didn't answer my question."

"I-It was nothing," he said. He had already contemplated telling her the day after he had found out, but it had just felt wrong. But it was so hard to keep a secret as big as this inside. Especially from one of his best friends.

"Fine," she said, obviously not believing a word.

She would just have to find out on her own.


"Today we will be continuing the Captain America Fitness challenge," Coach Wilson said.

Adelaide glanced at Michelle. She had picked up a new book, Making Yourself Invisible. Adelaide blinked at the cover, wondering if that was Michelle's way of sending her a message or if she really was studying to become invisible. In all honesty, she wasn't doing such a bad job of it already. It was so easy to forget that she was there to begin with sometimes.

"We're going to be repeating yesterday's exercises, except I want you to switch up partners so it's not the same two people," he said and then blew his whistle, "Let's get into positions!"

Adelaide turned to her only other friend, but he was already talking up Vivian who nodded with a smile. She let out a breath, turning around. There was Michelle, standing with Lee. Adelaide sighed. She really needed to make more friends. To use as gym partners at least.

"Adelaide?" Coach Wilson said, "Where's your partner?"

"With someone else," she mumbled under her breath, glaring at the back of Ned's head who was oblivious.

"What's that?" Coach Wilson said. Adelaide sighed.

"Nothing," she said.

"Alright you're with Parker, we need to get moving. Quickly!"

"But—"

But he was already walking away, yelling at Flash for throwing a frisbee around. Adelaide slouched, rolling her eyes. When she turned around, Peter was already walking towards her. She glared at him.

"Come on," she groaned in mockery, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Not my fault," he snapped, coming to stand beside her. She looked away.

"Shut up," she snapped back. Wilson blew his whistle again.

"Get into position! We only have an hour," he said and everyone scattered. Adelaide dragged herself to the sit-ups station, finding a mat for herself.

"I'll go first," Peter mumbled, getting on the mat. At this point, even his voice was making her angry. And for some reason, so was his hair. Especially that one goddamn curl that was always hanging in his forehead. So annoying. She just wanted to push it off his face and back into his hair.

He laid down and she sat down in front of him, holding down his feet.

Peter looked away with an angry sigh. God, why were her eyes so blue? Even that was annoying him.

Wilson blew his whistle, "Start!"

He began doing sit-ups, remembering to go slowly this time. Adelaide chewed on her lip, contemplating on whether or not to ask him about the incident yesterday. Ned was obviously not going to tell her.

And not to mention the whole ordeal with the high tech weapons he had been talking about the night of the fire. What did he mean by high tech weapons? Were they dangerous. They had to be if criminals were using them.

"You're supposed to be counting," Peter grunted, doing another sit-up. Doing sit-ups slowly was actually harder than doing them at his normal pace.

"I would, except you wouldn't trust me to count right," she muttered.

"It's hard to trust people who lie to you," he snapped.

"Says the person lying to the whole city about being a friendly superhero," she hissed. He sat up again with a force, coming too close to her face. She didn't back away and he didn't back down. God, she hated that stupid crooked eyebrow of his. It bothered her more than it should have. He hated the little bits of gray in her blue eyes. So much that he had to force himself to look away.

"I don't let killers run free, unlike you," he snapped.

"So you kill them instead?" she said. He gritted his teeth.

"I don't kill anyone," he said, pressing his lips into a thin line.

"Oh, that's right. It's only right to kill someone for revenge, isn't it?

"That's not what I said," he said, level. Adelaide swallowed and narrowed her eyes, leaning closer without caring about their proximity.

"I hurt you too. Are you going to kill me too, then?"

"Why do you always twist my words!" he said, nearly shouting. A couple people turned to look at them. Adelaide leaned back, still glaring at him.

"Alright, alright, let's break it up," Wilson said, walking past them, "Switch."

Adelaide stepped back and waited for Peter to get off the mat before lying down herself. He held down her feet, looking at her. She sat up, coming to eye level with him.

"You're making a mistake," she said quietly.

Peter didn't answer.


Ned sat with her at lunch.

Which meant Peter followed him there too. He sat down across from her, glaring at her. She rolled her eyes, turning away from him.

"...joined the Decathlon team," Vivian said.

"Wait, really? I'm on the team too!" Ned said, nearly losing control over his excitement. He caught himself and cleared his throat. "I mean, that's such a coincidence."

"Yeah," Vivian said. She caught her eye across the table and gave her a smile like you would give a friend with an inside secret. Adelaide gave her a tight smile before looking away. She glanced at Peter who was staring at something behind her, holding his head up with his hand.

She casually looked over her shoulder, only to find Liz standing there, talking to Betty and laughing.

Adelaide gritted her teeth and turned back to the table.

"So, Ned, how was the party? Did Spider-Man really show up?" she asked. Ned's dreamy smile disappeared and he glanced at Peter from the corner of his eye. Peter studied her curiously. Did she know that Ned knew? Did Ned know that she knew?

"No, it was just Ned in a red shirt," Michelle said, her eyes still trained on her book, "Had great toast though."

"Y-Yeah, what she said," Ned stuttered. Adelaide turned to Peter.

"What, was Spider-Man too busy to come? I mean, he probably has so many criminals to kill every night," she said. Peter gritted his teeth. She was going out of her way to be snarky and it was starting to get annoying.

"He didn't say," Peter said, aware that Michelle and the other girl were watching.

"Hm. Sounds irresponsible to me," she said, leaning back. Peter bit his tongue.

"Wait, do you know Spider-Man?" Vivian asked Peter. Peter had no idea who this new girl was. He glanced at Ned who merely shrugged, giving him a sheepish smile.

"Um, yeah, I guess," he said, "Through the Stark Internship."

"Stark?" Vivian asked with a frown. Peter looked up.

"Yeah, Tony Stark," he said. Vivian looked confused.

"Who's that?"

Even Michelle looked up from her book. It was one of those instances where everything was suddenly silent and in slow motion. And everyone was slightly gaping. At their table at least.

"You don't know who Tony Stark is?" Adelaide finally said, breaking the silence.

"Um, should I?" Vivian asked, biting her lip and looking around the table at everyone's faces. How could someone not know who Tony freaking Stark was? Even Adelaide knew him and she had had her memories wiped.

"You actually live under a rock," she said, blinking unbelievingly.

"Well, my dad never really let me watch tv," she shrugged. Adelaide rolled her eyes. Of course. That cranky old Scrooge.

"Yeah," Adelaide mumbled, "It shows." There was a beat of silence. Michelle turned a page.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know who..." Peter started, looking at the dark-haired girl.

"Oh! I'm Vivian," she smiled, "I'm new here. Adelaide's actually my neighbor."

Adelaide let out a long sigh.


A/N: Sooo brice got what he deserved. I wanted to include flint more in that scene, but I couldn't fit him in there so next time I suppose.

But let's talk about that sExUaL tEnSiOn like jEeZ Parker just kiss her already c'mon you know you want to. Unfortunately, they won't be kissing anytime soon. However, once they do, they won't be able to stop ;) I'm sooo excited to write them as a couple lol, I already have like a million scenes of them literally just making out sksksk

Question: What was the saddest scene in this story so far?