OKAY HI HELLO ALL YOU LOVELY PEOPLE i know this update is a little later in the day than usual, pleeease forgive me I got my second dose of the vaccine and finished exams yesterday so have been a bit discombobulated lol but thank you all so much for your patience!

Get ready for some Peter, Tony, and Karen shenanigans! And maybe some...hurt/comfort đź‘€

No TW!

Have fun and stay safe ❤️️ 💛💚💙💜

Her Highness Has Arrived

For a few hours, Peter, Shuri, Ned, and MJ all sit on Peter's temporary bed and catch one another up on everything non-hero related. Turns out, it's just the medicine Peter needed to lift his low spirits. He's still achy, but it seems like his enhanced healing is finally starting to catch up with him and do its job. That coupled with the medicine makes him feel like he actually might have a shot at fighting Gargan without being in constant pain. Or that's what he hopes, at least.

Peter's drooping eyes contradict his fast-paced speech as he relays their finals week from the end of the semester, but May and Tony recognize it almost immediately and have the teens call it a night. Peter doesn't protest much, knowing that he needs rest for his body to heal faster, but once everyone except for May has left and he's settled in bed, he can't sleep. He carefully flips to try to get comfortable, easing his body onto its side. However, the position pulls at his stitches and he flips onto his back again. With a sigh, he interlocks his hands over his stomach in defeat and stares at the ceiling. What else can he do? May needs her sleep, and her being awake wouldn't help him sleep anyways. Nothing else to do and bored out of his mind, he carefully leans over the side to pull his mask out of his backpack. He holds his breath as pain flares up, but pushes through it and successfully retrieves the mask.

"Karen," he faintly whines once his mask is on, "I'm bored." Karen's voice rings clear, just as it has many times before.

"It's 2:37am, Peter. You shouldn't be bored, you should be asleep," she corrects in an amused voice. As usual, she maintains her matter-of-fact guise and that distinguished aura of knowing what's best. Tony did create her, after all, so Peter figures he should've expected as much. "Or, alternatively, I could add Tony to the call if you prefer. I feel like he could be more persuasive." Considering Peter's exhaustion and mild pain, his patience is dwindling.

"You're living up to your name," he grumbles, bottom lip poking out. "Y'know, I came for Cool Karen, not I-Want-To-Speak-To-Your-Manager Karen." His matter-of-fact tone practically begs Karen to prove him wrong and take his side. Instead, she focuses on the former of his statements.

"I thought we already established that I like my name." Peter softens slightly as he recalls when she said her name was given to her by a close friend.

"Flattery will get you nowhere," he teases nonetheless. However, his mind wanders to that night a few months ago. God, that feels like forever ago, he thinks with a pensive breath. It was so much easier back then. Dying makes everything more complicated… I probably shouldn't keep bringing that up. He chuckles to himself, but Karen chooses to address it.

"Is something amusing?" She maintains a hushed, soothing voice, which Peter appreciates.

"I think I'm too…I dunno, casual? About what happened?" His words aren't backed by a lot of confidence. If anything, they're more dubious than they were in his head.

"How do you mean?" Karen inquires, and Peter isn't sure how to explain it to where it makes sense.

"I mean that, like, it's," he internally groans and tries again, "I'm upset that it happened, y'know? I don't go out there wondering if tonight's gonna be the night I…I die…" His nerves cause him to involuntarily swallow after he relays his stream of consciousness.

"But you know it's a possibility," Karen fills in for him, her inkling spot on, as usual. Peter slowly nods.

"You can't do what we do and not expect bad things to happen. We know that the worst could happen and then it did and…shouldn't I be having more of an existential crisis than this? Like everyone else?" Usually, he's more attuned to how he's feeling, but this time he's at a loss. He doesn't feel much of anything. Yet, it's not the same apathy he's felt prior. Maybe that's why he can't sleep? Too much and somehow not enough on his mind simultaneously.

"Perhaps it hasn't registered yet," Karen gently offers. Her proposition comforts Peter, if only minutely.

"Maybe," he halfheartedly agrees. The reasoning is too ambiguous for him. As someone who prefers a world rooted in science, it doesn't satisfy him. Then again, he's been fighting a villain created by science. Talk about an ironic form of poetic justice, he supposes.

"Just because you don't know how you're feeling, doesn't mean you don't care." Once again, Karen proves she's the voice of reason. Peter mulls this over and ignores the ubiquitous feelings of shame and guilt that envelop the recesses of his consciousness. There's always the possibility that he's become desensitized to the idea of dying, as well. Considering he was almost crushed to death, almost fell off a plane, and almost overdosed on hallucinogenic gas, being stabbed isn't all that impressive. Huh, that's a lot of almosts. Looks like he was overdue for something to actually stick. "That being said, Tony Stark would like to connect to your interface," Karen casually alerts him in the middle of his thoughts. He opens his mouth to argue, but capitulates when he realizes there's no denying Tony at this point.

"Yeah, go ahead," he relents, accepting his fate. If anything, it'll probably be a quick scolding for being up so late, a witty remark, then a good night. Then again, Tony had surprised him in the past.

"Happy 2am, kid," Tony tranquilly greets as if it's some sort of tradition. In a sense, it kind of is.

"Hey, Mr. Sta- Tony," he quickly corrects himself. He wrings his hands together, the linen sheets tangled between his fingers as he uses the coarse material to ground himself. Tony catches onto the action just barely visible at the bottom of his screen.

"Sandman not sprinkle enough magic dust on you tonight?" Although his cadence is nonchalant to avoid tension, the underlying question is still evident.

"Not really," Peter divulges, his grip slackening amongst the sheets. There's no need to hide anything from his mentor. His friend. "I couldn't sleep, so I, uh, I was just talking to Karen to pass some of the time. I didn't wanna wake up May… Do you ever think about how concrete and glass are mostly made out of sand, so skyscrapers are just super tall sandcastles?" His toes wiggle subconsciously, adding to the sum total of fidgeting giving away his omnipresent anxiety. Not that Tony can see it, anyways.

"I didn't think about it that way," Tony softly admits, shortly followed by a breathy chuckle. He lets the silence hang comfortably in the air for a few moments, despite knowing that Peter constantly feels like he needs to fill the emptiness with endless strings of thought. "You know you use those facts to distract from what you're feeling," he smoothly puts forth. Peter sees it coming before he even hears the suggestion, but it still doesn't stop his toes from curling under.

"Yeah, I guess I do," he agrees with a gentle exhalation. It's a defense mechanism, that much he's aware of. "Sometimes it's just easier to fall back on facts than figure out what I'm feeling. It's like I have too many tabs open in my brain." Maybe it's due to the near-death experience…or technically the death experience, but he feels more willing to talk about how his thoughts are affecting him. A new, welcomed sensation. Tony snorts in a familiar, humorous way that minutely eases Peter's nerves.

"I know whatcha mean, kid," his mentor empathizes, a distinct tone of understanding in his voice. If anyone can relate to Peter's problem of his brain going into hyperdrive, it's Tony. "Close your eyes, and take some deep breaths." It takes a moment for Peter to fully comprehend what he's heard, then listens and slowly closes his eyes. When he does so, his eyelids aren't relaxed; the muscles shake with his effort to keep them closed. Orbicularis oculi, his whirring brain provides. His eyes then dart back and forth underneath their closed lids. He huffs at his pathetic efforts to relax and opens his mouth to complain instead.

"Tony-"

"Just focus on me and your breathing," Tony interrupts as if he was expecting it. "Let that genius brain relax for once," he adds lightheartedly. Peter smiles at the comment, but takes an additional breath and settles into the bed more. He hones in on the rise and fall of his chest, his steady heartbeat, and Tony's encouragement. "You can't be so hard on yourself, bud. You only beat Mysterio a few months ago and you're already fighting a new freak. If I were in your shoes, I'd be burnt out. When I died, I came back crackin' jokes with Cap. There's no right or wrong way to react to what you experienced, trust me. I've been there. If I've learned anything from this superhero crap, let yourself feel. Don't think about how you're feeling…just feel." Somewhere amidst Tony's softly spoken words, Peter feels tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.

"I was so scared." Despite his whispered confession, his voice still cracks. "I wasn't ready to go. I didn't wanna leave you guys. I tried so hard." His throat aches and he swallows against the constriction brought by the tears.

"And you did damn well," Tony wholeheartedly commends without letting any time lapse. Peter sniffs and shrugs his shoulders imperceptibly.

"Thanks, Tony," he mumbles through the tears soaking into his mask. "For this and for making sure I wasn't alone." He's regaining strength in his words, despite feeling bare and vulnerable.

"It's what I do, kiddo. I'm a giver." As usual, Tony attempts to ease the tension with a snarky, egotistical remark. It never fails. Peter briefly rolls his eyes with a small smile, tears momentarily forgotten. They both silently agree that there's been too many tears recently. "You gonna be okay?" Tony checks in, realizing the time, and Peter considers his response. He does feel more tranquil than he had before their call and his eyelids are mercifully feeling heavy.

"I think so," he answers honestly. "You?"

"If I can sneak into the bedroom without Pep ripping my head off," Tony matches his candor without fail. Of course he's not in bed yet, Peter belatedly realizes.

"Good luck with that. I'm not gonna be your scapegoat this time," he sasses back without regret. Tony gasps on the other end and Peter can all but see the mock flabbergasted expression.

"After all I've done for you?"

"Sorry," Peter says, unfazed and anything but sorry. "Pepper's scary." Tony doesn't verbally agree, but he purses his lips and nods his head ever-so-slightly.

"Can't argue with you there. Night, kid." Peter's smile broadens a bit and sighs in content.

"Night, Tony." With that, the call ends and he slips off the mask, his cheeks tight with dried tears. After rubbing his hands up and down his face, he gingerly gets himself situated and is finally able to fall asleep.

The next day, Peter would be bouncing off the walls if it weren't for his still-healing wounds and both May as well as Tony keeping him from being airborne. The pure excitement alone is enough to drive Peter up a wall and, without a physical outlet, all that energy is being channeled into his nonstop talking.

"And after we're done with the sketches and, and the blueprints, we can get started on the physical applications! I think we should start with the web-fluid, 'cause that'll take the longest to get right, but we can work on implementing the light emitting plastic layer and the fractal antenna- oh! And we should you transpirable teflon-based-"

"Woah," May interrupts, her head nearly spinning at the speed of her nephew's words. Peter turns away from his friends to face her with innocent, expectant eyes. "How about we start with English and go from there." She pats his shoulder and smiles playfully. Peter's deer-caught-in-headlights look morphs into a knowing smirk.

"What? Don't know what transpirable teflon-based temperature control is?" he questions smugly. However, May isn't one to let him get away with that, and MJ knows it.

"Watch this," she murmurs to Shuri. Ned hides his laughter behind his sleeve as May lifts her eyebrows, meeting Peter's challenging words.

"Nuh uh, you don't get to sass me until you know where your sternocleidomastoid and tensor fascia latae are," May sweetly retorts, putting him in his place. Peter huffs and concedes defeat, but being brought down a few notches doesn't dampen his mood. He spins back around to his team with a broad smile.

"Ready to go down to the workshop?! I'll show you where everything is and help set up stations and we can come up with a plan!" All the pent up energy from spending the past few days in bed has created a Peter equivalent to five hundred cups of coffee. Gittering with unspent energy, he starts inching towards the door without even receiving an answer.

"Woah, we get to, like, actually use Stark Industry tech?!" Ned asks, voice filled with awe and wonder. Realizing he didn't exactly okay it with Tony, Peter uncertainly darts his eyes over to his mentor asking for silent permission.

"Yeah, mi workshop es tu workshop," Tony casually confirms with a wave of his hand. MJ scoffs, obviously unimpressed.

"Thought you were a bilingual genius." She raises an eyebrow, her arms crossed, but her expression clearly portrays good humor. Bouncing impatiently on his tip toes, Peter waits in the doorway for the inevitable, egotistical speech.

"Multilingual. It just so happens that I speak French, Japanese, and Russian," Tony pompously corrects. "My Urdu's a bit rusty," he tags on the end for effect, almost as an afterthought. May waits with her hands on her hips, wondering if wasting time with banter is a tradition, while Shuri narrows her eyes.

"How did you know he spoke other languages?" Shuri shifts her genuine curiosity to MJ, a sly smile playing at her lips. MJ doesn't so much as flinch, which Peter expected.

"I have to know the enemy to defeat the enemy," she reasons without blinking. On the other hand, Ned's eyes widen.

"Enemy?! He's a superhero!" he reminds in a high-pitched voice. Normally, Peter would be all for the witty breaks, but he's been cooped up for so long that he can't take it anymore. He desperately needs to do something productive.

"All monopolistic corporations are the enemy. Comes with the territory," MJ points out, just as unfazed as usual. There's a few beats where Tony stads, unmoving, before shrugging his shoulders.

"Fair enough. Shall we?" The prompt is all Peter needs to speed out of the room towards the elevator. He's hardly able to wait as everyone gets in, then fervently pushes the floor button with his thumb.

"Easy there, Underoos. Can't beat Mac thumbless," Tony teases, bumping the kid's shoulder lightly in hopes of loosening him up. Peter smiles just enough to be seen and glances up at him.

"Thumbs are for the weak, Tony," he counters lightheartedly. Their jesting captures the attention of Shuri, who doesn't hesitate to chime in with a grin.

"He's 'Tony' now?" she questions, her tone mischevious. Peter clears his throat and attempts to stutter out an explanation, but she plows ahead. "Took you long enough. MJ and I thought it would last at least another year." Peter's eyes dart between the two, yet he probably should've seen that coming.

"My money was on six more months," May casually mentions as well, sending her nephew an unapologetic look. As if on cue, Ned adds in his two cents to complete the set of apparently secret wagers.

"I lost four months ago." Peter chuckles, baffled at the idea of them making joke bets behind their back.

"Anyone else?" he queries as the elevator doors open to the workshop floor. They all walk out, him leading the way, and enter the shop they'll be working in nonstop for the next twelve hours or more.

"Kamala was closest," Shuri answers with a knowing smirk as she sets down her plans and equipment on a bench. "She said it would happen before the end of Hanukkah." That makes sense, Peter mentally acknowledges.

"Of course she was in on it. She's so not getting any of my latkes this year," he grumbles, more so to himself than the others. Either way, May still hears it and is quick to correct him with,

"My latkes." Peter smiles sheepishly and lets it drop, knowing he wouldn't be able to dispute it. Instead, he figures he should get everyone's thoughts back on the task at hand.

"Ready to do some planning?" he lamely tries to hype them up, but falls short with a lack of confidence. Turns out, dying is a big hit for self confidence. "Man, montages are so much easier in movies." At the slight diminishing of Peter's ever-present optimism, Tony chuckles and sits at one of the benches.

"Sorry, no can do. Gotta do the work to get the results," he points out. It's a fact that Peter knew, but still begrudgingly agrees with. Hey, at least he's out of bed. He takes a deep breath, everyone patiently waiting, and readies himself. Now the fun begins.

"Okay, I have about maybe seventy-five percent of a plan. If we're lucky. But, I have a pretty good idea of how I want the suit to be upgraded. I just kind of have to…make everything work," he starts off, already mapping everything out in his head.

"That's what you have us for," Ned speaks up with an encouraging smile.

"With our brains, I would say we'll be at least six times faster than if you were to do it alone," Shuri concurs proudly. "Plus, I brought some Wakanda tech to help as well." She pats the equipment sprawled across the table MJ is leaning against.

"And we'll help keep you in the realm of sanity. And make sure you eat," May not-so-subtly reminds. "So, what's first on the hero agenda?" Peter brightens up, feeling a tad lighter now that it's fully sunk in that he doesn't have to do all this alone. Evidently, it's the contrary.

"Actually, I had some pretty cool ideas. But what we really have to work on most are the multispectral camouflage panels and, like, ten extra Droneys. Oh! And the web fluid formula. Then we can worry about the stuff like temperature control and mechanical self-repair would be kinda neat." Ned blinks at the onslaught of information, but grasps the important aspects.

"Army of Droneys…badass." Everyone seems to follow his train of thought somewhat successfully, May seeming to be the most disconcerted, while Tony holds up both his hands.

"Alright, one bundle of chaos at a time. What do you need the multispec panels for? Last time I used it was for the plane," he reminds with his eyebrows creased together in uncharacteristic confusion. The plane that crashed, goes unsaid, yet it's very much implied.

"Camouflage. Duh." Peter throws back with a smirk.

"If you wanted a disguise, I would've just given you a hat and sunglasses," Tony returns in a vexing manner, but Ned is the one who responds.

"How would that fool anyone?" he asks, rightfully curious. Tony blinks and then shrugs his shoulders.

"It worked for me and Cap back in the day." Peter snorts at his wording and can't hold back the laughter.

"'Back in the day?' Now you're even talking like you're old. C'mon, Tony, keep up," Before his mentor can rebut or May can reprimand his tone, he hops back onto his previous idea. "You're gonna love this. It's so full-circle, like I couldn't've even planned how well this works out! Seriously, I-"

"Parker," MJ interjects to get him to his point.

"Right. Remember how Mysterio used all those illusions and hallucinations to make my Spidey Sense go all nuts?" Despite Peter having come to terms with everything related to Mysterio, it appears as though the rest of them haven't. Almost everyone's faces either harden or fall.

"I'd prefer not to, but yes," May vocally confirms, her lips pulled into a tight, forced smile. On the other hand, Shuri looks amongst the group before shaking her head.

"Can someone fill me in?" she requests, sensing the more than abundant tension suddenly enveloping the room. "I'm aware of the villain, but I feel like I'm missing something." It was before she was in their friend circle, so she knows what the media knew. The media didn't know about the details, like Peter overdosing on the hallucinogenic gas and his Spidey Sense being virtually useless.

"We didn't exactly have the smoothest run-in with him," MJ blatantly states, her cold, guarded eyes unmoving. Peter stares down at his hands as he distractedly rubs a thumb over his palm. The past guilt momentarily wells up, but it's in the past. He has to let it go. Still, something prevents him from speaking.

"The illusions messed with his senses," Tony borderline grinds out, clearly not over it. "What does that have to do with Mac?" Peter perks up at the question and his grin returns as if it never left.

"Remember? He's like me!" he practically shouts with enthusiasm. He's so excited to get his ideas across that he sort of forgets a few steps in between.

"And…" May slowly says, hoping Peter will elaborate before she can continue. When all she gets in response is Peter's wide eyes, willing her to understand like he does, she carries on. "You're going to make him hallucinate too?" she takes a shot in the dark. Peter immediately shakes his head and starts stuttering out a jumbled explanation, but none of it makes sense. With a look of confusion coloring her face, May shakes her head, not yet grasping the concept. Finally, Tony sighs.

"I get what you mean, bud." He looks mildly exasperated, but his recognition is enough to get Peter fired up all over again. "You want to use holograms." Peter nods vehemently without hesitation.

"Exactly!"

"That's why you want the extra Droney," Ned also catches on, which in turn causes MJ's own realization.

"You're going to throw him off like Mysterio threw you off," she verbalizes her epiphany. Her eyes meet Peter's delightedly passionate ones.

"If it messed up my Spidey Sense, then it'll mess up his," he affirms as he glances around the room to make sure everyone's getting it now. They're all giving him their full attention, so he barrels through. "Droney can scan things, make the Spidey signal, and project holograms. If we can just expand his range and make a bunch of him, then we can hypothetically make it seem like things are there. Just like Mysterio would do, except I know how to beat them and Gargan doesn't! The multispec camo will help even more, too! When his senses are going all crazy and stuff, I'll be phasing in and out so he won't know where I'm coming from!" He takes a few moments to catch his breath after his long-winded explanation and eagerly awaits their thoughts. One thing he does realize is that Tony has something akin to a prideful smile, which mirrors MAy's wider one.

"That…could actually work," Shuri agrees, much to Peter's relief. If they all work on this, then he might have a shot at finally beating Gargan. "Besides, you have my secret weapon." She pulls out a vial and rolled-up blueprint that she expands across the table beside her. As they gather around it, Peter immediately begins to recognize the chemical composition.

"Oh my god, are you serious?! You figured it out?!" He gawks in pure astonishment at the equations littering the page. Some of the notes are his while others are obviously Shuri's, who holds her head up a tad higher at the praise.

"With two geniuses working together, it was only a matter of time," she modestly deflects. Meanwhile, Peter takes a moment to simply take in the sight of all their calculations. He had no idea she was writing them down, but the entire web fluid formula is sprawled out with slight changes and substitutions here and there. It's what he was trying to do before the stress of everything burnt him out.

"This'll increase tensile strength by at least thirty-five percent," Tony thinks aloud, nodding his head almost imperceptibly in approval.

"Nylon makes so much sense! It's a long-chain polymer with flexible microfibers that'll coil super tight and be even more adhesive! This is gonna be awesome, it'll even make the dissolving time faster. If we use a diamond nitrile overcoat we can even make it chemical resistant. The acid won't affect my webs anymore!" It's safe to say that Peter's rambling is a telltale sign that his spirits are much higher. So much so, that he already starts mapping things out in his head. If I epitaxially grow the diamond nitrile crystals in the lab, the adhesion will increase and I might even be able to implement it in the suit to make iit acid-resistant.

"It'll take a lot of work, dude. We'll probably be here, like, all day," Ned wearily points out, cutting into Peter's internal musings, and it's true. They have no idea when Gargan will attack next and, for all they know, it could be tonight. They've already had to wait this long; they don't have the luxury of waiting any longer. "But I think you're totally gonna kick ass. We've got your back." He puts his hand on Peter's shoulder as a sign of encouragement, to which Peter smiles and greatly appreciates.

"So, Spider-Man, what do you need us to do?" MJ elicits a plan of action, accompanied by a supportive undertone. Turning around to face the team, Peter gets down to business with a renewed sense of determination.

"Shuri, we'll start working on upgrading the webfluid. Ned, you know Droney best, get as many Droneys made as possible. All the machinery you'll need is in the far corner and the robotics components are in those storage drawers." Ned immediately nods and rushes off to begin his tasks. "Tony, can you get what's left of the multispec panels for MJ so she can start dismantling them? And get the teflon out, I wanna test something out." Tony humorously scoffs at being told what to do, but listens nonetheless. "You have the most patience and best attention to detail, MJ, and I know you'll be able to incorporate the camo tech into the suit." MJ softens ever-so-slightly at the compliment, then follows after Tony. "May, can you write down everything you know about white blood cells and self-repair? I wanna see if I can make something like that work with the suit." Peter looks hopefully at his adoring aunt, who doesn't doubt him for a second.

"Leukocytes, erythrocytes, and platelets. Got it." At May's confirmation he turns to get to work, but feels a kiss on the top of his head instead. "Proud of you," is all she says before going her separate way. Peter tucks his head down to hide his warm face and clear his throat, then begins his task with a warmth in his chest.

That's how they work for the next thirteen hours; coming up with new web settings, making functional drones, implementing the camouflage, and anything and everything they come up with along the way. While the diamond nitrile crystals grow in the expedited process of deposition, Peter and Shuri brainstorm new features for the webbing. The first thing that comes to Peter's mind is his previous idea of retractable webs, to which he elaborates:

"Like those cheaty, beginner yo-yos! Or a frog's tongue. Same concept." After that, he mentions how difficult it's been trying to immobalize Gargan, who continues to break out of whatever tries to hold him back. Shuri mentions that the increased tensile strength will help him in that department, but also recommends upping the adhesion factor to make an extra sticky web. Two designs down, he also recalls having to run around villains to cocoon them in his webs on more than one occasion. That in mind, he posits a tendril webs scenario that will shoot multiple, separate webs and cocoon the target for him. With too much to do and such little time, they cut the ideas off there and get to work on the overall suit. Shuri focuses on applying the diamond nitrile to the webbing while Peter starts on the suit-making process. Tony stands nearby in case he needs an extra hand, but other than that he lets the kid do his own thing. He's earned it.

"I like the red and blue…but it's too flashy for some of the covert stuff. Especially at night. I'm thinking maybe a deeper red, less bright, and maybe black instead of blue? Or a navy blue? All black?" Peter bumbles through his thoughts, more so voicing his opinions than expecting answers. "Oh! What about a reflective, iridescent kinda material? That way in the sun it'll look like a shimmery blue, but in the dark it'll look black!" Not waiting for a response, he starts scribbling out a design with all the fervor in the world. Tony patiently looks over his shoulder, smiling at the earnestness.

"Sounds good to me, kid," he easily supports. Peter doesn't change the mask, since you can't possibly mess with perfection, and instead moves onto the layers of the suit. And man are there a lot of layers.

Were there seriously this many layers? I miss when all I had to worry about was one layer and it was the scratchy layer of second-hand sweater fabric. Despite being minutely overwhelmed, he takes it in stride and goes one-by-one over the next few hours. Okay, the transpirable teflon temperature control layer will make sure I won't get hypo or hyperthermia. Then we've got the conductivity control so the electrical impulses don't give away my infrared signature. After that there's the self-repair layer for fixing the suit and, well, me. First aid is important. The usual communications are in with all the band receiving GPS and ELF. Check. Impact Layer with heat-resistant Kevlar micro-fibers. Getting shot is bad. Shear detection for seeing the infrared and ultraviolet electromagnetic spectrums and a fractal antenna for simultaneous wavelength propagation. Can't forget Karen's synthetic aperture camera layer, either. What are words anymore? Oh! MJ finished with isolating the multispec panels into light emitting plastic! Sweet! There's the last layer.

Finally, finally, after being hard-at-work sorting and on the layers for longer than his mind can comprehend, he's able to focus on wiring the layers into one cohesive unit. Circuitry is much more in his comfort zone.

"I'm not sure how I wanna do this...I mean, the voltage is flowing through the conductive path to the resistor here, but I feel like it's being stunted over here. What do you think, Mr Stark?" He looks over his shoulder to look up at his mentor, who was working on making the Web-Shooters expandable before being called. Tony raises an eyebrow and saunters over, peering over Peter to get a look at the circuits.

"Well, personally, I would focus on the overall base structure before getting too wrapped up in the details. You need the whole thing to function," he points out, but Peter gazes back to his work, unconvinced.

"Yeah, but what if we plan out the details ahead of time so that we know where we're going? That way I won't have to rewire anything to make it work better. What if I can't draw a high enough current?" Tony considers his words, but Peter is too hyper-focused on trying to figure it out that he isn't particularly gathering any outside information.

"What about-"

"But what if the amps flow down the wrong current and the voltage gets diverted?"

"Sure, I guess, but-"

"No, you're right, I shouldn't second-guess myself. Details it is!" In the blink of an eye, he's back to work and Tony is left a few mental leaps behind. Even though he's eaten at every meal, including snacks and staying hydrated in between, he's forced to take a break for dinner and the hanukkiyah lighting before being allowed to continue. He's fully cut off at midnight by May and Happy tag teaming, since the only other adult was just as engrossed in his work as well and the other kids show no signs of stopping otherwise. With his body still recovering from the last fight, he's slightly stiff but it's nothing a full night's sleep can't fix. Ideally. Well, that was the plan until a voice sounds from above as they're heading out of the workshop.

"Spider-Man has been mentioned on a news broadcast, the Fact Channel, by J. Jonah Jameson," F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s voice rings throughout the emptying workshop, halting their conversations. Peter and Tony make brief eye contact before warily looking back to the ceiling.

"Go ahead, F.R.I.D.A.Y.," Peter acquiesces and braces himself for the worst. What comes next surprises him.

"-willing to make a deal, Spider-Man," Jameson's uncharacteristically tame voice fills the room. "Meet me after hours at the Bugle, and I'll call a truce. Just us. No reporters. No cameras." As Peter stares, taking in the information, Ned and MJ's eyes travel to him to see how he's reacting. "I'd take it if I were you. Your reputation is already in the gutters! If you care about this city, then you'll show up! People want the truth, and it's my job to give it to them. You don't show up, then you're pleading guilty to everything we know you've done! If-"

"Fri," Tony wordlessly orders, the feed almost instantaneously cutting off. Before Peter can argue his case for his already-made-up mind, he's interrupted. "No. Absolutely not. I don't want to hear it."

"You heard what he said," Peter argues anyways. "If I don't go, everyones gonna think Spider-Man's guilty! They'll, they'll actually believe everything that's been in the papers and online!" He looks to the rest of the group for backup, but is met with unease.

"Peter…" Ned cautiously begins, "it sounds like…"

"A set-up," Shuri finishes directly, voicing her disapproval of the whole situation.

"And didn't you say you think that psycho might be teamed up with the other psycho?" Happy reminds in a bemused tone to mask his concern.

"Sweetheart, I don't like it," May tags on. Peter huffs in frustration, closing his eyes to gather his thoughts, then works through his thought process.

"No. Maybe. JJ screwed up and now Gargan wants to kill him for it. They're not teamed up anymore, if my theory's right," he reasons out. He's trying to make the point that if Jameson is willing to talk, this might give them the edge that they need to win.

"And if you're wrong?" MJ challenges, but there's no gusto behind it. Only a hint of concern.

"Then I'll have you guys backing me up," Peter counters honestly, giving them a reassuring smile to alleviate their worries. "And what's the worst he could do? A supervillain is after him and he owns a newspaper company. He needs all the Spidey help he can get." The nonchalance coupled with a hint of humor seems to do the trick. "Guys, this might be our only chance at finding out what happened to Gargan. If we can do that, we can beat him. We don't have any other leads and going in blind hasn't worked out too great so far." He knows he's made his point when Tony lets out a frustrated sigh.

"We prep you tomorrow and stuff you with as much safety protocols as humanly possible. I want to know the second something starts to go wrong. You hear me? You feel any tingling and you get out of there so I can come kick some ass. We clear?" He's obviously not happy about it, not in the slightest, but none of them are. Peter immediately nods and crosses his heart.

"We're clear." It's not like he wants to do it. He just knows he has to in order to fix everything and take a dangerous person off the streets. There's a lot he's unsure of., but what he can't second-guess is that he has to meet with Jameson tomorrow.

NEW SUIT AND EMOTIONAL HEART-TO-HEARTS INCOMIIIIIING
I've actually drawn the new suit, so that'll be coming along with next week's update!

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