"Baby-Bro?" Ned asked, turning to Peter. "I thought Nebula was your only sister."
F.R.I.D.A.Y. frowned. "Harley said he found out."
"He found out about Spider-Man," Ms. Potts said blankly.
"That's it? Why's everyone freaking out about that?"
"He found out that I'm Spider-Man," Peter reiterated.
"So? It's Ned."
"Is that a compliment?" Ned whispered to Peter, who shrugged.
"You're like Peter's Col. Rhodes," she elaborated.
"That is definitely a compliment," Ned said, excited at the idea of being compared to War Machine.
"More like his Happy," Nebula muttered.
F.R.I.D.A.Y. waved her off. "Either way, who cares if he knows Peter's Spidey? I thought he found out about the good stuff."
"Good stuff?" Ned asked, but she was stopped from answering by Nebula's glare. "Who are you?"
She smiled and held out her hand. "I'm F.R.I.D.A.Y."
Peter grabbed his hand before he could shake hers. "Don't tease him, Fri."
F.R.I.D.A.Y. winked and disappeared.
"She was a hologram," Peter explained. "Fri is Mr. Stark's P.A."
"Why does she call you Baby-Bro?" Ned asked, looking around the group.
Ms. Potts' expression was calm, but blank; Nebula was glaring off to the side; Peter had his I'm going to try to lie even though I'm terrible at it face on; Vittore was watching them all with an unsure frown.
"And you never explained why your uncle's here."
"Uncle," Nebula snorted before asking Peter, "When did he even meet Vittore?"
"They met when he stayed over last month while you were away."
"We had a movie night," Vittore said with a nod. "It was quite fun. We watched -"
"They don't need to know!" Peter and Ned said together.
Ms. Potts crossed her arms and got that Mom Look, which was weird. "Peter Edwin Parker."
Wow, she even sounded like a mom.
Peter ducked his head and slapped on the kicked puppy look. "We didn't watch anything bad. Just… some of the… Saw… movies."
"That explains the nightmares," Nebula growled.
"I-I didn't have any nightmares!" Peter said in a high voice.
"Vittore," Ms. Potts sighed, "next time you're babysitting, check with one of us before letting the kids watch anything with a higher rating than PG-13."
"I'm fifteen! I can watch a scary movie!"
"And check the rating, don't just take him at his word," Nebula added, ignoring Peter.
"Of course, apologies."
"I don't know if I should be more disappointed that you watched those movies or that you subjected Vis to them. He's just a baby."
Ned's eyes widened as he turned to see Tony Stark walking out of the elevator.
"Fri got me caught up," he said as he sat down next to Ms. Potts. He kissed her cheek then turned to Ned. "So, you're Fred then?"
"It-it's Ned, sir," Ned breathed, "but you can call me whatever you want."
"Don't encourage him," Nebula said as Tony Stark smirked. "He knows your name, he's just being annoying."
"Alright," Tony Stark chuckled, waving her off. "Let's get down to business."
When he leaned in, looking at Ned over the top of his sunglasses, it suddenly hit him that he was not only sitting across from Tony Stark, but also from Iron Man. An Iron Man who was probably really mad that Ned had found out about something he was trying to keep secret.
Ned shrunk down into the couch cushions.
"So Zed, you know who Spidey is now."
"Um, yessir."
"And I'm guessing you know enough about what Spidey does to realize that if anyone found out who he was, he would be in a lot of trouble."
"I-"
"And if anything ever happened to my protégé because someone couldn't keep their mouth shut…"
Ned went pale. "Mr. Tony Stark, sir, I swear, I would never do anything that would put Peter in danger! He's my best friend!"
"Good," he hummed, staring Ned down for a moment before leaning back with a smile. "Well, now that that's taken care of, Pete, I'm sure you're excited to show your friend some of the projects you've been working on. Why don't you head down to your lab until dinner gets here."
Ned blinked.
"Wait, that's it?" Peter said.
"Tony?"
Tony Stark shrugged. "What do you want me to do, Pep? It's not like we can slap him with an NDA. He's twelve."
"I'm act-"
"He knows," Peter said, standing up and pulling Ned to his feet. "Come on, before he changes his mind, or Pepper does it for him."
"I still don't get why his PA calls you Baby-Bro and why your uncle is here," Ned said as he followed Peter towards the elevator.
"Inside joke," Tony Stark said. "Considering Pete's age, he's like a little brother to some of those in the know. Fri just likes taking it a step further. We'd planned on not letting you in on how close Peter was to everyone, but apparently, no one thought to update F.R.I.D.A.Y.
"As for his uncle, that's simple. He isn't Pete's uncle. That's just the excuse they use for babysitting. Easier to say he's an uncle than a fellow superhero."
"Tony!" Ms. Potts admonished as Nebula placed her hand on her neck with a pinched expression. Vittore stared at him with wide eyes and Peter made a squawking sound.
Tony Stark rolled his eyes. "Vis?"
Vittore glanced between the other three adults before his skin began to change to -
No way! Vittore is Vision! Ned had a movie night with Vision!
Peter was babysat by Vision!
"Dude, what is your life?" Ned asked, not even caring that he was openly gaping.
"Come on," Peter groaned, shoving him out of the room.
"What were you thinking?" Pepper tisked as soon as the kids were gone.
"Like I said, the kid's fourteen."
"Why did you tell him about Vision?" Nebula groaned.
"He's a nosy teenager. If we didn't give him something he would have kept asking questions, which means he'd find out the truth eventually because either Peter's horrible lies would give it away or he'd give in to the guilt of keeping secrets from his best friend. Like Fri said, he's Pete's Rhodey."
"I still don't understand why we can't just tell him," F.R.I.D.A.Y. said as her hologram form appeared next to Nebula on the couch.
"Let's just see how he does with the Spidey secret first," Tony suggested, wrapping an arm around Pepper's waist. "Now, what should we do until dinner?"
F.R.I.D.A.Y. immediately disappeared and Nebula stood up and left.
Pepper snorted and got up as Vision made to follow. "I have paperwork and you have Baby Monitor footage to study."
Tony pouted as she walked away. "Yeah, the protocol's name sounds weird when you say it like that."
"Next time don't choose names for your protocols specifically to tease your kids," Pepper hummed, slipping into the elevator.
"It's his punishment for the lies!" Tony called before the doors could close.
"Would you like some assistance going over the footage?" Vision asked from where he was hovering halfway through the wall.
"Sure, the more the merrier."
"Dinner's here, kids," Tony called as he walked into the lab to see the two teens hovering over Dron-E Mark III.
Apparently, the drone wasn't spider-like enough if he couldn't walk like one so Peter was working on an upgrade.
"Sweet," Ned said, hopping off his stool.
"You could have just had Fri tell us," Peter said, looking suspicious.
"You and I need to have a word real quick," Tony said. He gestured towards the door with his thumb. "Go on, Red. Fri will show you the way."
Ned gave his friend a concerned look, but headed out the door. Tony got a brief glimpse of him being startled by F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s sudden appearance before the door shut behind him.
"What's up?" Peter asked, fidgeting with a stylus.
"Vis and I watched the video of the atm robbery," Tony said, walking over to sit on the counter next to his son. He held up his hand before Peter could say anything. "I'm not mad, but you should have called in for backup as soon as you realized the kinds of weapons they had."
Peter nodded with a bowed head. "Sorry. It just all happened so fast."
"I know, kiddo. That's why I think you need to have someone watching your back from now on."
Peter frowned. "You mean having Uncle Rhodey or Vis following me around during patrol."
"I was thinking more along the lines of an AI sidekick."
"I've got Jay with me."
Tony shook his head. "Jay's already got enough on his plate: running my suit, the Tower's security, and working with Fri in keeping an eye on the SI servers. Besides, he's used to me. You need someone a little more… personalized."
"So what, Fri or one of the triplets then?" Peter asked, confused, then his eyes widened. "Wait…"
Tony smiled and opened a program on a holo-screen. "Say hello to your new baby sister."
"Hello?" Peter near whispered, staring excitedly at the screen.
"Good evening, Peter."
Tony smiled as he started to bounce in his seat. "Hi!"
"This is S.I.L.K., the Spider Interactive Learning Keeper," Tony explained. "She's going to help you out during patrol. I actually finished her about two months ago and was just waiting for you to get a little further in your training before activating her."
"Nice to meet you, S.I.L.K."
"It's nice to meet you as well."
"This is so cool!" Peter said, throwing his arms around Tony. "Thanks, dad!"
"Yeah, yeah, just be more careful, please. S.I.L.K.'s programmed to call up Rhodey, Vis, or I if something happens, but I'd rather it not get to that point. You see guys with those kinds of weapons again, you back off. Okay?"
"But what about stopping those guys?" Peter asked, pulling back. "We can't just let them go!"
"I've already contacted the FBI and they've set up a team to track down whoever is selling those weapons. If you see some more, let me know and I can pass on the message, but otherwise leave it to the professionals. Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, remember?"
"Yeah, okay," Peter sighed.
"Hey," Tony set his hands on Peter's shoulders. "I know you want to do more, but you need to take it a step at a time. Get used to S.I.L.K. and focus on your training and schoolwork."
"Then I can be an Avenger?" Peter asked, brightening up.
Tony snorted and hopped down. He ruffled his son's hair as he passed. "We'll talk about that when you aren't accidentally revealing your secret to random teenagers."
"He's not a random teenager!"
"And when you're not handing out spare keys without permission," Tony added, pausing at the door.
"I was kind of hoping you forgot about that," Peter muttered as he joined him.
Tony shook his head and wrapped his arm around the kid's shoulders.
"Peter knows Spider-Man!"
Well, being alive was nice while it lasted, Peter thought as everyone turned to look at him and his best friend. Hopefully, Nebula will make it quick.
He sent Ned a look, then climbed to his feet. "Uh, no, I don't. No, I-I-I mean…"
"They're friends."
Ned, shut up.
"Yeah, like Coach Wilson and Captain America are friends," Flash shouted.
"I-I've met him," Peter stuttered, scrambling for an explanation. "Yeah, a couple of times. But it's, um, at my sister's security job. Mm-hmm, yeah, well," he turned to Ned and growled, "I'm not really supposed to talk about it!"
"Well, that's awesome," Flash said sarcastically. "Hey, you know what? Maybe you should invite him to Liz's party. Right?"
"Yeah," Liz said, caught off guard. "Um, I'm having people over tonight. You're more than welcome to come."
"Having a party?" Peter breathed.
"Yeah, it's gonna be dope. You should totally invite your personal friend Spider-Man."
Peter was shaking his head immediately. Nope, he'd heard way too many stories that started like this from Uncle Rhodey and Dad and they all ended badly. At best. "I-Sorry, Liz, but I'm grounded this weekend." He shot Ned another look because it wasn't entirely a lie. No one actually said the word grounded, but Mom had heavily hinted at it with a telling comment about Peter spending the weekend training with Vis.
"How unfortunate," Flash snorted disbelievingly.
The bell rang and everyone started leaving.
Peter spun on Ned. "What are you doing?"
"Helping you out," he whispered back. "Did you not hear her? Liz has a crush on you."
"No, she has a crush on Spider-Man, who no one can know is me."
"Dude, you're an Avenger, kind of! If one of us has a chance with a senior girl, it's you!"
Peter shook his head. "I don't want her to like me because I'm Spider-Man. I want her to like me because I'm Peter. If they don't like the real you, then they're not worth your time. Family motto."
"But you are Spider-Man!" Ned whispered, bemused.
Peter didn't know what to say. How could he explain growing up hearing horror stories about his dad being used for his money and-or power all his life, about him being betrayed or tossed aside time after time once they'd gotten what they wanted?
"It's not happening."
"Do you think I made the right choice?"
"Your logic seems sound, but if you love her, shouldn't you try everything to get her?" S.I.L.K. asked.
Peter blushed and rolled off the edge of the building he'd been taking a break on. "I didn't say I love her! I just… She's really smart and nice and pretty and -" He cut off when he felt something.
"Is something wrong?" S.I.L.K. asked as he landed on a fire escape railing and looked around.
"I don't know," he said, frowning. "Something's setting off my danger sense, except… it doesn't feel dangerous, exactly. But it does, kind of. Does that make sense?"
"Not at all."
Peter bit his lip and tried to focus.
Twitch.
He jumped off the railing a second before he heard someone drop onto the fire escape. He landed on a passing bus and spun around just in time to see them spring off the platform onto the other end of the bus.
It was a woman with dark hair wearing a red and black leather jacket, form-fitting black pants, and red boots. More eye-catching, though, was the yellow and black spider design on her chest and her red and yellow face mask.
"How many of you has Stark made?" the woman demanded.
"Mr. Stark? What are you talking about?"
"How many super soldiers like you has Stark made?" she said slowly. "And are all of you children?"
Peter scowled and crossed his arms. "First of all, I'm not a child. Second, Mr. Stark hasn't created any super soldiers."
"Sure Parker," she snorted.
Peter's eyes widened. "Parker? Who's that?"
"Should I alert Vision that you require assistance?"
The woman smirked and walked towards him. "Nice try, kid, but I've been watching you for weeks now. I know who you are, where you live, and how often you're brought in to Stark."
"I'm contacting Vision."
"Now, how many of you has Stark made?"
Peter glanced around for a building to swing to and frowned when he saw the bus heading into the suburbs. He aimed for the closest building and she jumped at him. He dodged, but had to release his web as a result.
"Can't you take whatever this is up with Mr. Stark? I don't even know who you are!" Peter quipped as he dodged another grab.
"Oh, I'll deal with Stark soon enough." She ducked to the right, but it was a feint and she kicked Peter's feet out from under him. She pinned him against the roof on his stomach, saying, "But first, you're going to tell me what you know."
"Look, Spider… Woman? I told you already. Mr. Stark didn't do anything!"
"You think I don't recognize his tech on you? Or know he was the one to bring you into the fight in Germany?"
"For the record, I wasn't actually supposed to fight. I was just supposed to stay back and web them up, so please don't remind Mr. Stark about that. I don't want to get in trouble again. Also, I was already Spider-Man before Mr. Stark found out about me during Rogers' temper tantrum. So, again, Mr. Stark didn't do anything!"
Spider-Woman flipped him over and tore off his mask.
"Hey!" Peter froze as their eyes met. "You-you're like me," he whispered. He wasn't sure how he knew, he just knew. It was like his danger sense, but different. "You really are Spider-Woman!"
"If Stark didn't do this to you, who did?" she growled, glaring down at him through the yellow-tinted glass.
"No one. I mean, technically a spider did, but he probably didn't mean to turn me into Spider-Man when he bit me," he rambled, still caught up in the idea of another spider-person.
She looked unimpressed, but before she could say anything the sound of an explosion reached them and they both turned to see a plume of blue fire fading away.
"That didn't look good," Peter said.
"I'm calling someone in," Spider-Woman said, frowning.
"That will not be necessary."
Peter smiled and tilted his head to look over her shoulder. "Hey Vis!"
"Spider-Man," the android acknowledged with a nod. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine."
"He's fine," Spider-Woman said at the same time. She stepped away and turned to Vis, gesturing towards Peter. "Maybe you can tell me why Stark is making child super soldiers."
"Mr. Stark has done no such thing, Ms…"
"I've been calling her Spider-Woman," Peter supplied when she didn't immediately answer. "Hey, can you two deal with this while I figure out what that explosion was?"
"P.L.A.T.O. is already investigating," Vision said.
"Plate's back in town!"
"Their armor required repairs. They should be here until Monday."
"Cool."
Spider-Woman cleared her throat. "You're as distractible as Stark.
"Apologies," Vision said as Peter said, "Thanks!"
"Not a compliment, kid," she snorted before focusing back on Vision. "If Stark didn't make him, who did?"
"That information is classified."
"By whose authority? The Accords Panel doesn't know."
"Are you with the Accords Panel?"
The woman studied him for a moment before bringing her hand to her face mask. With a press of a button, it folded away until it appeared to be nothing more than a pair of yellow-tinted sunglasses. "Not exactly, Mr. Shade."
Peter's eyes widened as her English accent was replaced by an Irish one, though Vision didn't seem surprised.
"Agent Drew, would you mind explaining why you felt the need to attack Spider-Man instead of bringing your questions to Mr. Stark?"
"Wait, Agent Drew? The Europol agent? Oh man! Is this why you called yourself Arachne? Mr. Stark said you were enhanced, but he didn't say you have spider-powers!"
"He didn't know," she said. "No one did."
"Did you get bit by a spider too?"
Agent Drew sent Vision a look. "Am I really supposed to believe the kid got his powers from a bug bite?"
"It is admittedly a little more complicated than that, but that is the basics of what happened," Vision replied. "Perhaps we should take this conversation to the tower? I'm sure Mr. Stark would be happy to answer all your questions once you explain yourself."
She narrowed her eyes at him, but nodded. "Fine, but the kid stays with me until I'm sure your boss hasn't turned him into a lab rat."
"Technically it'd be lab spider. "
They both ignored Peter.
Rude.
"I need to get my car, so we'll meet you there."
"We can both accompany you on your trip to the tower," Vision offered instead.
She shrugged and reengaged her mask.