Peter Parker

"Tony," I said slowly, eyes wide as I stared in the mirror, "you're my new favorite Avenger."

"Take that, Robo-Cop," Tony shouted across the lab at Bucky, who was lounging on one of the couches reading a book. Stella, lounging beside him, raised her head and yawned wide at the shout, resuming her lax position when she realized it wasn't directed at her. Without looking up, Bucky flipped him off. "I'm glad you like it, Pete."

I did. I did like it. I loved it. I stared at the suit tight on my body, the elastic fabric stretchy enough to accommodate my newfound acrobatics, but durable enough to protect against basic attacks or acrobatic mishaps (which had happened a lot, as gymnastics was a new thing for me). It was blue and red (my two favorite colors) with a spider emblem on the chest, which I originally thought was going to be a little too flashy, but that actually looked really cool.

Tony and I had been working nonstop on my suit and on enhancing my webshooters for like a week, and we'd finally 3-D printed an acceptable suit. The fit was perfect, and Tony said it was some experimental material that was supposed to be somewhat impact-absorbent in case I took any big hits, and somewhat bulletproof.

At those words, I kind of thought Bucky was going to have an aneurysm, but we luckily avoided that.

"Can I take it to the gym to try it out?" I asked excitedly, marveling at how good it had turned out. "Since it has a high ceiling? I want to try out my webshooters, too."

"Sure, go nuts," Tony said, waving a hand. "Oh, but first. Say hi to your new AI."

Wait. No way. He could not actually mean that.

"Oh my God," I said, staring at him, the lenses over my eyes blown wide. "You did not give my own Artificial Intelligence system."

"He did," a feminine voice said inside my mask, and I almost jumped four feet in the air at the unfamiliar voice resonating in my head. "It's very nice to meet you, Peter. I'm here to help you regulate your suit, provide advice and assistance when needed, and transmit information like your vitals and whereabouts to FRIDAY and Mr. Stark."

"Oh my God," I whispered, because FRIDAY was awesome, but…did I seriously have one of my own? "Tony. Forget favorite Avenger. Favorite person. Favorite everything. Dude, this is so cool…hi AI! Do you have a name, or do I get to name you?"

"I have no pre-programmed name," the voice said, sounding pretty pleasant. Her accent was American, unlike FRIDAY's Irish lilt, and she sounded kind of like the answering machine to most stores, but more…human. "You can call me whatever you'd like."

"Can I think about it? I want to give you a good name and get to know you a little bit," I said excitedly, bouncing on the balls of my feet. Holy shit, this was actually happening. I was actually like…getting to do all this stuff. "Going to the gym! Me and my new AI are going to get to know each other!"

Bucky raised a hand in farewell, smiling, and Tony laughed. "Have fun. Don't destroy anything, please."

I raced to the gym in my new suit with a backwards shout of, "No promises!" I used my web fluid to swing down the hallways (which was really hard since the ceilings were pretty low) but I was so anxious to try everything out that I couldn't wait. I knew Nat and Clint were probably waiting for me; they'd been helping me with my self-defense training, getting me ready to go out into the field (holy shit I was actually doing this) and I'd been making a lot of progress.

Sure enough, they were sparring when I crashed into the room with a shout of exuberance, shooting a web at the ceiling and yeeting myself up to one of the lower crossbeams. "Hey, guys! Check out my new suit!"

Interrupted, they glanced at me as I swung to the beam, landing in a nimble crouch that most definitely went straight to my head. Clint grinned, cupping his hands and shouting, "Throw some white in, and you'd look like Steve's sidekick!"

I laughed, sitting on the beam and letting my legs dangle. "Okay, but this color scheme is awesome and I love it, so you don't get to make fun of it. What do you think, Nat?"

She smiled, eyes crinkling in humor. "Looks good, маленький паук."

I blinked, mentally translating. "Did you just call me little spider? Because I don't hate it."

She laughed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Good for you; you're learning quickly. I'm proud of you."

I grinned, warmth fluttering in my chest. "Thanks! Can we try some hand to hand moves? I want to see how the new suit does in motion."

"Sure," Clint said, hands on his hips. "Go easy on us. We're only human."

Nat rolled her eyes, patting him on the shoulder. "Don't listen to the old man. Go easy and you'll get pinned in ten seconds, if that."

I laughed, attaching a web to the beam and lowering myself to the mat, dropping onto it quietly. "Let's go. I've been practicing."

I had been—really hard, with everyone who would spar with me. Bucky and Steve were normally my opponents, since they could keep up with me without risking hurting me. Thor was worried he wouldn't be able to control his strength (which, obviously, made sense) and Bruce didn't really fight anyways. The others were only human, and I wasn't too confident in my ability to restrain my powers just yet.

I'd improved a lot thanks to my newfound reflexes and agility, as well as all the extra time I'd been putting in, I had no illusions of beating either of them. They had so much experience on me, but I'd been working really hard to earn their approval for the field, so I hoped I'd at least get kind of lucky and maybe last a while against them.

"Good luck, Peter," the AI said, her voice pleasant and reassuring. "Would you like me to help you analyze their fighting patterns?"

I blinked in surprise, turning my head on instinct before I remembered there was no one there. "Oh, uh…you can do that?"

"Of course," she said as I dropped to the mat from the beam, using a web to slow my descent. I blinked, and suddenly my lenses were filled with holographic statistics and data points overlaying Nat's and Clint's bodies, tracking their movements. "I'll start now."

I grinned, whispering a thanks and squaring up with Nat. My AI's confidence in me and her helpful little graphics might have been…a little ego-boosting. "I think I'll surprise you!"

She raised an eyebrow, smiling slightly. "Someone's confident. Okay, let's see what you've got."

After a few tense seconds, during which Clint wisely removed himself from the mat, Tasha sprang at me with a soft grunt, aiming a pulled punch for my solar plexus. I'd seen it coming from a mile away, my AI's systems alerting me on my lens, and I dodged, returning with a spinning kick to her side. I pulled the power on the kick as much as I could without leaving it ineffective, but she deflected it easily, swinging her body with her momentum.

She landed a kick on my forearm that I was sure would bruise—I guess she wasn't holding back as much now that I had powers and super-healing—but before she could dart away, I used my super reflexes (which were so freaking awesome) and grabbed her ankle, mentally willing my sticky fingers to work reliably for once.

They did, and her eyebrows shot into her hairline when she realized she couldn't get her ankle out of my hand.

I grinned, though she probably couldn't see. Well, she probably knew anyways. She knew everything.

I wasn't expecting her to smile, too.

"Looks like I can have a little more fun with you now, Peter," she said with a smile, and then she exploded into motion.

With the grace of a ballerina, she vaulted herself towards me, using my sticky fingers against me and planting her free foot on my shoulder, twisting her body around and dropping behind me. I felt my arm pull up and behind my body, my shoulder twisting in the socket before I finally forced my sticky fingers to disengage.

Oh, that was cool. I'd have to tell Steve I was getting better at controlling it.

The momentary distraction let Nat get a shot into my back, and I stumbled forward from the force, slamming into the ring's corded walls. I wheezed a laugh, turning back to face her. "Warn a guy before you go into assassin mode," I joked, preparing for her next attack.

During the short lull, my AI buzzed quietly in my ear, multiple specs and notes appearing in dull green text on my lenses. "I've partially analyzed her fighting pattern, though hers is somewhat difficult to accurately predict. My advice is to watch her shoulders above everything—they twitch slightly when she's about to throw a punch."

I blink, surprised by the new information. I knew to watch her hips, because they'd give her away if she was going for a kick, but the shoulders were new. "Wow, thanks, AI lady. "You're super nice and helpful."

Natasha cocked her head, narrowing her eyes. "AI lady? Is FRIDAY helping you?"

"Oh, no, actually," I say, relaxing my posture and taking off my mask, grinning. "Tony made me an AI to go with my suit! I haven't decided what to name her yet, but she was helping me analyze your fighting style. To help me know what to do and stuff. She's really nice so far—she kind of reminds me of you. When you're not, you know, kicking the crap out of me."

Tasha raised an eyebrow, smiling. "Really. Did the analysis help?"

"Kind of," I shrugged, the mask still in my hands. It feels really awesome to be holding a mask knowing it's mine. "She said to watch your shoulders because they twitch when you're about to punch."

Tasha's smile fell, eyes narrowed in concentration. "You don't say."

"Thank you, little dude," Clint said with a grin, leaning his chin against one of the lower cords of the ring, waggling his eyebrows at Tasha. "I think I'm going to have a great time during our next sparring session, Nat."

She flipped him off. "I'll break that habit before then, Barton. Don't you worry." She turned back to me, hands on her hips. "I'm inclined to label that cheating."

"What? But I'll have her in the field!"

"Will you still have her if you get hit by an electromagnetic shockwave? Or a signal jammer, or something similar?"

"Um…" I scratched my ear, blushing. "I guess not."

"Mm-hm," Nat affirmed, smirking. "No AI's during practice. Nice try, though."

I sighed, handing my mask to Clint. "Fine, fine."

We practiced for a bit longer, and I held my own pretty well, all things considered. The AI was right—Nat's shoulders did twitch, though I could tell she was trying to make herself keep still before she threw her punches. I was so close to pinning her, too, but then Steve came in and said it was time for dinner. His entrance and shout was enough to distract me, and Nat pinned me in two seconds.

"Seriously?" I yelled at him and I scrambled up, and he blinked in surprise at my indignance. "I almost had her! I was this close." I put a millimeter of space between my thumb and index finger to dramatize just how badly he'd botched my imminent victory.

"Keep dreaming, squirt," Tasha said as she ruffled my hair in passing. "You are getting much better, though. Proud of you."

Natasha was always supportive and encouraging, but she didn't hand out compliments unless she meant them, and she'd just told me she was proud of me twice in one day. I guess I really was getting better.

I might have glowed a little. I couldn't be entirely sure.

I slipped my mask back on before I followed the others to the kitchen, to tell my AI goodbye for the day. "Thanks for your help!"

"You're very welcome, Peter," she said. "I'm glad I could be of assistance. Can I do anything for you before you log off?"

"Um, I don't think so," I say, making my way to the door and following the familiar hallways towards the smell of food. "You're really nice. How did Tony program you?"

"Well," she said thoughtfully, "he programmed me to provide you with any assistance and encouragement you may require. He programmed me also to be kind, and compassionate, and caring."

"Oh, you're definitely all of those things," I said in agreement, stopping outside the dining room to finish my conversation. "Oh, I've got it! What about Karen, for your name? Cause you're, you know. Carin'."

That was totally perfect for her. I saw a bunch of videos online making fun of "Karen Energy" but I also knew a lot of really nice Karens, and my AI definitely qualified.

"I like that very much, Peter," Karen said, sounding pleased. "Thank you for the name."

"Of course!" I said with a grin. "Nice to meet you, Karen. I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks again!"

"Goodbye, Peter."

I took my mask off, then, pleased to find that it didn't leave me sweaty or anything—the whole suit actually felt really, really good. Not clingy or gross or anything, even after I'd been moving around so much. Tony was awesome.

I walked into the room kind of feeling like a million bucks (probably because I was wearing a multimillion suit) and was excited to see what everyone else thought of it.

"There's another American flag in the mix," Sam said as soon as he laid eyes on me, munching on a pretzel as he put plates on the table.

I faltered, sighing in exasperation. "You're supposed to be in awe. Be astounded. And impressed. Tony and I spent days on this thing."

"And it looks great," Steve said with a smile, ruffling my hair as he passed me. "Sam's just picky when it comes to color schemes. He even got pissed when he realized both he and Nat had red and black costumes."

I shot Sam a look as he blushed, flipping Steve off with a curse under his breath. "Seriously?"

"It bothers me when there are color doubles, okay?" He said, shrugging. "You have a million and sixty quirks I could list right now, kid, so don't act smug."

I laughed, going to the kitchen to grab the silverware, and got much more satisfying reactions from Rhodey and Thor and Bruce. Bruce was especially impressed, as he'd been helping Tony and I some with the composition of the material. We'd taken from notes from my stretchy pants to help with my agility, and Bruce had experimented in melting a small amount of vibranium and coating the threads in a fine layer to help with the durability. Which was super cool in itself.

Whatever was for dinner smelled amazing, and I all but skipped to the dining room with the salad and utensils in hand as everyone filed in from their various places in the Compound. Rhodey dragged Tony in a couple minutes late, having had to pull him bodily from his lab, but that was normal.

I mixed up some wet food for Stella, who had ridden Bucky's shoulders from the lab to the living room and then to the kitchen, her tail flicking lazily against his neck as she rested there. I took her when he handed her to me and hugged her (because as I said, she's so freaking huggable) and then let her down, where she immediately pounced on her dish.

"Hey," Steve said when I was about to sit down, eyebrows narrowed. "No suits at the table. Go throw on a sweatshirt or something."

I stopped, blinking, and looked around. "Is he serious?"

I got a couple exasperated nods. "Yep. When have you literally ever seen us in the dining room with our suits on?" Rhodey asked, shrugging. "He likes to keep work and this separate, and we agree. As a mini superhero, you have to follow all the rules."

"Aye, Peter," Thor affirmed, his face serious. "Only trouble comes from mixing work and one's personal life. This is a small boundary we respect to keep the balance."

Well, that was…insightful. "Um…okay," I conceded, quickly grabbing a sweatshirt from my room and stuffing myself into it before sitting back down. "That was weird. I need, like…a list of random superhero rules or something."

"Haven't you learned anything from watching us flail?" Tony asked with a grin, digging into the Indian food Bruce had made. "There's no list. We'll help you, bud, but in the hero business, you get thrown in the deep end without a floatie and wing it."

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's…not it at all."

I laughed as everyone began to throw in their two cents, accompanied with a lot of funny stories about their first adventures as heroes. Including how Tony had almost been shot down in a US no-fly zone, which was kind of funny after the whole almost-getting-shot-down thing. And of course, hearing about Budapest was a great time.

Even as the heroes around me recounted their failures, I couldn't feel nervous, or unsettled. I just grinned and listened, feeling lucky to have such awesome mentors to help me with all this.

It was going to take a while, and I knew that, but I was getting stronger. Faster. And I think, a little…braver, too.

With every day, I was feeling more like I was earning my place here, surrounded by these amazing people who loved me so much. I hadn't done anything yet, but I could feel the day coming. It was a buzzing in my fingertips, an energy in my blood. I was becoming a better person.

I was…becoming a hero, I think, and it was all thanks to them.

A/N: Short? Yes. But I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer. Hope you don't mind :)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

So…I'm thinking three more chapters, around that. I can't even tell you how much that freaks me out, but NOT TO FEAR! Moving on to another announcement…

Go check out my bio if you want, but I'll just tell you now, too. My imagination went, um, WILD the other night, and I kept thinking of more and more things I could do with these characters I love so much and this universe I've made by changing so many important things…so…yeah. As of now, this is story #1 of…seven. Yeah. Wow. I'm really hoping they'll all happen. I have concepts for each of them and I've picked the villains, and I'm really excited!

These are the titles in order (they're all song titles): Whispers in the Dark, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Arms of the Angel, Everybody's Somebody's Fool, A Place for My Head, The Times They Are A'Changin, and Stand by Me. What I'll do is provide the summary for each at the end of the preceding story, and post on the preceding story when the sequel is up. Probably.

Also, I PRAY they're not all as long as this one. This one has taken me almost two and a half years, and yeah, I don't have time for that XD but I hope you'll stick around regardless :)

Also this is kind of a personal thing but go check out Queen of Crystallopia's stories for me, because this is an author on this site that I really admire and am inspired by and I feel like she does NOT get enough love for her incredible work. Go check out her stories if you want something to read during my ridiculously long waits!

So, I hope those were exciting announcements! Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

To all my followers and favoriters, you continue to blow me away with your amazing support, and I adore you!

PS: A lot of people have stopped reviewing since my extended period of nonexistence (which is totally fine! You do you!). All that leads me to say is to the people who are still reviewing every chapter, I so appreciate you guys and all your constant encouragement and support!

That being said, to all my reviewers, you're so encouraging and wonderful, and I can never get enough of your wonderful comments: BabyPinkPuppy, alltheAinnersandalltheSaints, Melancholy's Sunshine, Megan844, DarylDixon'sLover, TheRedScreech, xSapphirexRosesxFanx, SongNoFound, Redfoxshadow, xsheepix, Nimrodel101, and Guest!

Xsheepix: hahaha me too! Thanks!

Guest (26): Hahaha same bro I was mad at myself writing it

Guest (27): I know right I'm the WORST

Guest (30): Hahaha no worries, I totally get it! Don't worry I've had MUCH more aggressive reviews and I love them all XD

Guest (41): hahahahaha idk about that but that would be fun

Thanks so much to all of you for staying with this story despite the ups and downs, and I hope you're as excited as I am for what's to come!