Former human mutate Peter Parker and his latest company consultant got off the Stark jet and entered into the tower proper. The Avengers typically met at the upstate facility now but still used the main tower in the city when needed. An aide walked up to them and provided Hank with his company credentials. Hank was unsurprisingly impressed with Stark's renowned efficiency. Like Peter he was in some awe himself.

Peter entered into his office for the first time... It had been scheduled by FRIDAY in advance. "Very nice digs Mister Parker." "Thanks doc." Peter walked up to the window that showed the perfect expansive view of the city beyond. His home borough of Queens was in the same direction... He didn't know if Tony had done that deliberately or not. Who knows. It didn't matter. It did feel good to be home again. New York would always be home.

Peter turned to face Hank. "All your needs will be met while here Hank. Don't ya worry yourself none." "I wasn't Mister Parker. Not one bit." "It's still Pete Hank." "Actually that would be unprofessional in this setting. You are my boss now." Peter exhaled; they shared a grin. "Fine."

Friday "boss; Mister Rhodes is here to see you." "Oh, okay. Let him in." James Rhodes entered. "Mister Parker; welcome to Stark. You too Dr. McCoy." "Thanks" they said. Rhodey "are you guys getting situated okay?" Peter shared a look with Hank. "Yeah; I think so." Rhodey "good. That's what we wanted to hear." Hank took note that Rhodey wasn't in uniform. "You're not in the air force anymore?" "No. I went private a year ago. Time for a change. I work at Stark full time now. Help Tony with the suits and all that business."

Rhodey then walked over closer to Peter's desk. "I just want you to know Pete: Iron Spider will always be yours."

"I appreciate that Rhodey. I do. But... I'm gonna shy away from that." Rhodey frowned. "The agreement only applies to your powers right? They're gone." That was true; but iron spider still symbolized Spiderman... and then there was Mephisto... "It's...complicated." Rhodey gave a small nod. "All right. But it will always be there for you." Pause "There may be some trouble brewing." "Trouble?" "Yeah."

The doors to Peter's office then just opened without Friday telling them. It was Fury... Peter hadn't seen him since going rogue. It already seemed an eternity ago.

"May COO Parker and I have the room" Fury said more than asked. Hank and Rhodey shared a look then waited outside.

Seeing Fury again gave Peter a bag of mixed feelings. He didn't resent Fury or anything. He'd done his job. He'd gotten Matt to work his case. Fury had looked out for Peter from behind the scenes. Still, seeing the Shield director sent bad energy down Peter's back.

"Congratulations on your new job Peter. Truly." "Thanks." Fury sensed the terseness in the young man's words. It was edgy. Understandable. "I'm sorry too about how this all turned out." Peter sighed. "Respectfully, director, I don't think you came here for that."

Fury set his hands behind his back. "We have a situation; in Harlem." "I don't understand." "Rhodes knows. He brought me up here. Apparently the recent actions in Nigeria have caused a big problem in town here. I'm working with Luke Cage to get it handled." Peter was still puzzled. "I wanna recruit you as a shield asset to handle this." Peter's brows shot up at that. "I know how that sounds..." "You can't be serious. After everything."

Fury nodded. "I know. But you had to know; I did have your back." Peter sighed. He did. "Yeah." "Look Peter, this isn't what I want either. But I need your technical expertise for this. You won't be in the field like in spider man days. Obviously not. But I also still believe you wanna fight back against this; against what happened over there." Pause "To make it right somehow."

"I'm listening." "Wakanda has spies in Harlem. Nothing new. But upon hearing about what happened they revolted. They're planning a series of terror strikes." "To what end?" "Africa won't take them back. Blacks there won't go with them. They're desperate. They're gonna fight to the death if we don't stop them." "Can't we reach out to them somehow?" "Power man's been trying to do that. No good. Cage heard word on the street many are gonna die there if something isn't done." "They'd kill their own people?"

"They'll do anything to get the world to see their pain at being exiled from their home. The Wakandans are rooted to their homeland. Religiously and culturally so. Now that they are cut off they have nothing to live for."

Killmonger and Mephisto again. T'Challa would stop this right now; but he couldn't. At least it didn't seem that way.

"I don't know what good I can do; but I'll help in any way I can." Fury nodded. "Good to hear. Rhodes is already helping with this too. If McCoy wants to help too it wouldn't hurt." "I need to tell Tony." "Stark knows. He's cool about it."

That was it then. Peter was officially back in shield. Despite everything. But no longer as an agent but as an asset. But those terms had blurred even when he'd still been enhanced. Now they would blur even more so.

The more things change... The dork of York left with the party to go save more lives. Ripple effects from an incident that had changed his life for good. Was this Mephisto directly again? Peter didn't think so. Just the byproduct of his evil. A brushfire; that could turn into another raging inferno if not put out.

He was back in the "game" again. Yippee!