"What brings you here?" She asked. "I wish I could say..." she nodded. "That's right. You're with the government now." "Yeah." She studied him as people passed by them on the street with fascination. "I was kind of surprised that you went public." He nodded. "So was I at first. But..." "aunt may?" He nodded again. "We all miss her dearly Peter." "I know. She was my Yoda in life." She studied him more intently now. "You look... different somehow. Is everything all right?" "Mostly." She knew him well enough to know that things weren't ideal. "You can't talk about it though?" Actually he couldn't. It was all shield related; now meaning it was classified. "That's right."

She nodded and dropped it at that. "I read the review on you after you went public. Your parents were spies. Really?" "Yeah. They were heroes." "Wow. And here we thought they just died in a plane crash..." "I know. Crazy world isn't it?" "Yeah. But it explains a lot. Beyond random radioactive spider bites of course." Of course the bite hadn't been random after all... but again, all classified now.

"How's the career going?" He asked. "Great. I'm fully slated for a whole year's worth of gigs." He smiled. "I'm happy for you MJ. I really am." "Thanks Pete. I uh, found love too." "Really? Do I know him?" "You know of him in all likelihood: colonel John Jameson." "Jameson's son the astronaut?" "The same. He's wonderful Pete." "Wow mj. That's great. I'm really happy for you." "And you?" "I found someone too." "Would I know her?" "Of her. Black widow." "The Avenger?" "Yep." "Wow Pete. Looks like we both did well." "Yeah. We did. Look, we should catch up more sometime, but I gotta go." "Okay. It was nice to see you again." "Likewise."

She walked off. That was interesting. He enabled the suit again and flew off for Stark tower. He decided that checking in with the avengers wouldn't be a bad idea. They might have added intel on the mutant situation in addition to anything else Mephisto might be up to.

Xxx

He arrived and found someone there he hadn't expected to. Rogers. He was obviously still doing his superhero role; but still in a very different light. He had on his darker blue variant uniform with his new Wakandan shield gauntlets affixed. He also wore a full beard unlike before. The new look I guess. Nomad.

"Parker. Been a while." "Captain Rogers. It has." They shook hands. Peter "I heard about everything. I'm sorry." Rogers nodded. "So am I. America's not what she was anymore. Falcon was willing to be the new cap but we ultimately agreed it was best to retire it for good. It was from another era. And that era is long gone." Peter nodded.

Rogers went to the fridge and pulled out a soda for them both. "You've been through a lot of changes yourself." "You can say that again." "I'm up to speed on things," cap hinted. Peter nodded slowly while taking the offered beverage. "Right. Yeah. It's still ongoing." "If you need any help..." "thanks cap. I'll definitely ask." He was still "cap" because he was a retired army captain. So that part would always apply. Peter now thought that retiring Captain America had been the best move of all. Superheroes should be apolitical wherever possible. It was now a nonissue. Just doing what was right for all was what mattered most. That was a superhero's first duty. Being nomad would help cap do just that.

They sat on some stools. "I was just here the other day to visit Tony." "He's out if you wanted to see him." "No I'm good." Rogers nodded then smiled a little. "You and Romanoff eh?" "Yeah."

It was only then the memories of sleeping with agent 13 came back to him with a vengeance... oh my god! So much has been happening I totally forgot about that! Cap will kill me...

"Something wrong Pete?" "No sir. Nothing." Rogers then sighed. "I know about you and Sharon." Peter almost spat out his mouthful of soda. "We talked it over before it happened." Peter was terrified.

"It's okay." He didn't believe it. "Really. I get it." Peter was still silent. He just blinked his eyes in terror. "You're a spy Peter. Spies do what's needed. I'm a soldier; but I get it. In war you do what you have to do to win. Trust me. I've been there."

"You're... sure...?" He said weakly. Rogers nodded and laughed. "We're good. Believe that." "Okay..." "so you and Romanoff eh?" Peter sighed great relief. "Yeah. I'm still processing it. It's getting serious." "I'm happy for you Pete. Good to see the nice guy win for a change. And Nat can really benefit from someone like you in her life." Peter nodded. "She's very special. I wish you... and agent Carter... well too." "Thanks. We're doing good."

Phew!

"Are you aware of my current assignment?" "I am. Fury had us on standby given the nature of the threat. Given that it's Mephisto we're dealing with he'll likely use agents as well." "Yeah. X-men think that too."

"I don't know all the facts but rumor is Thor is having a hammer made for you." "Hammer?" "Yeah. Like his magical one." Peter frowned. "What're you talking about?" "Well, there are other beings out there that have similar items; like beta ray Bill and others. The idea will be that you will have the powers of Thor too."

Peter was stunned. Rogers "this will better able you to help save your sister." Now it started to sink in. Fury had asked Thor for help. Now it seemed like something big was gonna happen.

My own Thor hammer? It was all badass of course. But that was a ton of power. So long as it could help him save Teresa he didn't care otherwise.

Whatever it takes.

Rogers "come on. I'll show you what intel we have on the purifier situation."