Hello fellow humans, this is my first fic here on FF and I am excited to hear feedback from you guys! Any constructive criticism or comments are welcome. I have many plans to come as I continue to write more chapters. Please R & R, enjoy my lovelies!
It was a strange afternoon for Peter Parker. His eyes quickly surveyed the area, catching ever so often on the busy and lost souls of New York; he found nothing of interest. There were few crimes on the blistery hot afternoon, all the teenagers were busy partying away the dog days of summer. Peter had better things to do than spend his time intoxicated and surrounded by cringy dance moves. Peter had a purpose: make the world safer for the little guys.
Subconsciously, he tugged on his sweaty Spiderman suit letting in a swath of cooler air. Peter could feel the sweat dripping down his lumbar spine. Despite the eerie silence, his spider-senses were fairly quiet and for that, he was glad.
Thwip-thup, he swung from his perch on a high-rise building in the Queens area heading towards downtown where there is bound to be trouble—per usual. The methodical swinging filled him with ease and comfort as he sighed. The wind rushed past his ears racing past his slim form, cooling his overheated body.
As Peter adeptly turned the high-rise corner, he hears a faint cry for help a few blocks down—bingo. Not that crime is a good thing, but perhaps it would make his dull afternoon a little more exciting. He immediately stops swinging and focuses his ultra-sensitive hearing in the direction of the cry. From Peter's experience, it was a mugging in action, and he is just a few blocks away.
Without a second thought, Peter begins swinging his frame towards the ruckus. Thwip-thuck. This is what he was made for, lowering petty crime and helping old ladies cross the street. There are even a few times during his rounds when he stops to do tricks for the kids at school. Yet, even those have become few and far between with the heightened police presence and his wanted name in neon plaster at Times Square.
Before Uncle Ben died, Peter went out as Spiderman but holding back on the more dangerous crimes such as bank robberies, drug dealers, and prostitution rings. He greatly cared for Uncle Ben and Aunt May; they took him in when his parents died. Peter fondly thought back to the good days with Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Those were the times.
Unfortunately, May had passed in an accident shortly after Uncle Ben was shot, leaving Peter with frazzled CPS workers. Child Protective Services showed up at May's funeral; it was beyond what Peter was capable of processing at the moment.
So he did what he knew best, put a pin in it. Peter was in no emotional state to fight off adults who took ahold of his spiraling life. Shuffling papers, making phone calls, and exasperated sighs at the station, CPS workers were at their wit's end. Unwilling to look Peter in the eye after that gruesome day, yet they tried one last call for the night.
CPS temporarily placed a hold on Peter's Spiderman outgoings, but not for long. He was determined to continue fighting crime whenever possible. The CPS workers had called a distant relative who wanted little to do with Peter, a scrawny fifteen-year-old parentless and possibly troubled, youth. Nevertheless, CPS pressed his unwilling relatives until they finally agreed to take him in, mainly for the paycheck support benefits. Peter never saw a dime of his support money. They hated Peter before laying eyes on him.
Shuddering at the grim memory of the dark station, Peter vicariously remembers feeling the disgust in their gaze when they came to pick him up that evening. They wanted nothing to do with an extra mouth to feed, much less a teenager with a mind of his own.
The CPS workers came to an agreement that since May and Ben's apartment was left in Peter's name, he would legally be allowed to claim it after he turned eighteen. Despite the situation, Peter saw this as a light at the end of the tunnel. Thwip-thuck.
He was nearly at the scene of the crime. Peter's hearing perked up as he pushed the unwanted memories back down. His fears had a tendency of bubbling up and catching him when he least expected them. He was well —errgh—working on it. At least that is what he told himself. Good days never last, with boredom comes time to think. Time to think can sometimes warp itself into unpleasant memories.
Peter realized this a while back and always tried to keep himself busy with schoolwork, second jobs, and being Spiderman of course. His relatives decided he was well set up at Midtown High School and had no intention of packing an apartment to put in storage in addition to adding a nuisance into their home.
Every other weekend Peter would get a visit from his relatives. They would check to make sure he was alive and then leave with whatever they wanted to take from the apartment. Mostly expensive things like glass plates, the television, and other items that could catch a price at the local pawn shop.
It was ideal for Peter though, he stayed in the apartment, went to school, and got to continue his work as Spiderman. He could deal with the rest later. As time passed, Peter became bolder with his crime-fighting. Now it was just him against the world, and occasionally his history teacher. Peter started to fight more elevated crime, the bank robbers and kidnappers, or at least until he caught the attention of the police and the Avengers.
He stopped swinging forward and pulled his torso towards the side of a building, crouching on its corner. The cry had gone silent. Peter mentally berated himself, he needed to focus on the present, not the past. Thwip-thuck. He quickly picked up the sound once more and propelled himself forward.
He pondered if his luck would hold out until his Spiderman shift was over—it didn't. Recently he had been in an odd, tension filled semi-rivalry with the Avengers. Tony Stark saw his actions as causing havoc in New York rather than saving good innocent people from muggings and crime. It was one of his worst fears, to be on the wrong side of the police and much more, the Avengers. Although publicly denounced by Tony, Peter presumed the rest of the members were not entirely on board.
Thus far, the Avengers as a collective whole have not released any statements when asked about Spiderman in the media. The police, on the other hand, had been much more direct in their methods, going as far as to post a warrant for Spiderman's arrest due to public safety issues. Humph. Peter rolled his eyes at the thought, he was more careful than the Avengers when it came to public safety.
Peter could feel it though. He would occasionally feel prickles in the back of his neck, his little hairs rising when he was being watched. It was the little things like a car pulling away after he fought off store robbers or a strange man dressed in black turning corners. He knew this was not the regular police but the FBI on his tail. His spider senses would buzz in the back of his head if when he was being watched or followed or in danger of any kind. Nowadays it happened more often than not, today was one of those days.
Finally, he arrived in the dark alley corner of Queens. Peter's spider senses lightly buzzed; he was aware of his space but not in any danger. His night had been fairly fluid so far. Peter was able to stop a woman's mugging, return a lost child to its mother, and now hopefully stop a group of two men from robbing an older gentleman. Simple is as simple can be, right?
He paused on the corner of the building analyzing the scene for a split second before swinging down behind the two men without a sound.
"Give us your watch," a towering, bulky figure demanded his voice angry. The second figure, a short heavy-set man, stood holding a two-foot metal pipe in his hands.
"Come on old man, we don't have all night." The second man chuckled.
Peter stood there for a few seconds before making his appearance known, waiting for the opportune moment.
"Ahem.." Spiderman subtly cleared his throat. Three heads whipped over to where he was hidden in the shadows as Peter emerged into the dingey alleyway light.
"If it isn't the neighborhood bug looking to get squashed" insulted the assailant closest to the old man.
Peter quickly scanned the older gentleman, and besides a small scratch on his cheek, he seemed otherwise unharmed. Disregarding the absolutely terrible bug comment, Peter fired back.
"Well, if it isn't your average idiot looking to get webbed? I'd say you have a good chance of getting caught." Peter retorted in a sarcastic voice.
He could hear the police sirens a block down making their way closer to the scene. His spider senses started to pulse at the nape of his neck. Without warning, Spiderman swung his right leg over to the man's closest attacker and knocked him on the side of the head. The man hit the wall with a surprised yelp, Peter activated his web-shooters and pinned down the flailing man's arms and legs, successfully webbing him.
Before turning towards the remaining attacker, Spiderman's senses blare in his head as he ducked his head in time to miss being hit by the second man's metal pipe. It was too close for comfort. Spiderman then swung his leg back in a semi-circle while still crouched down and successfully knocked down the second man who crab crawled towards the wall in fear. Spiderman nimbly pinned the second thug to the side of the brick wall.
Sirens blared and Peter could see two NYPD police officers pulling out of their vehicles with weapons drawn about fifty meters from his position. Yet, what was is even odder was seeing two Avengers, Hawkeye, and Black Widow, turning the corner at the same time; they looked beyond enraged. For a moment, Peter swore he caught a glimpse of excitement in their eyes. He shivered at the idea of being excited about violence.
Momentarily confused, Spiderman paused and quickly scanned the alleyway to find the source of his outing, a security camera from the apartment complex. From above Spiderman could faintly hear jet engines which could only mean one thing—Iron Man.
Peter's thoughts were racing in his head. How did they find him so fast? Why did both the police and the Avengers have to show up at the same time? They couldn't arrest him, right? Technically, he didn't do anything wrong or illegal.
His adrenaline peak with caution, every hair on the back of his neck stood on end. A small feeling of fear crept into the pit of Peter's stomach. Before this moment, Spiderman had only ever been approached by either the police or the Avengers, but never both at the same time.
Dammit, Peter thought. I should have been more careful. He cast a glance at the retreating victim.
"Thank you for helpin' me son," the gravelly old voice broke Peter out of his swirl of panic, "but I think you better get outta here," his New York accent thick in the reply. The gentleman nodded towards the two figures approaching rapidly and then quickly moved towards the police units at the alleyway's entrance.
Spiderman was frozen with shock for a few seconds while staring at the two approaching figures who continued to narrow in. He was unable to pull his paralyzed muscles away from their stance. His temporary shock paralysis abandoned him when the two NYP officers fired at will. Spiderman's instincts took over immediately.
The sound of a ricocheting bullet pulled Spiderman out of his panicked thoughts deeper into fight-or-flight mode. Spiderman dove into the corner of the alleyway shielding himself from the hail of bullets that followed suit. In a different time and place, his propelled jump would have made any professional soccer player jealous.
Peter wracked his brain for an escape route. Bingo. If he could get to the ledge of the apartment building across the alleyway, he could easily lose the entourage of law enforcement and the flightless Avengers.
Spiderman stole a glance from behind the dead-end wall he shielded himself behind. A bullet was aimed at the exact location his head was a second earlier.
Crap. Crap, crap, crap, Peter swore and mentally berated himself. This wasn't the first time he had an incident with police, it was just the first time he was caught off guard with a no exit alley. Suddenly, the rain of bullets ceased. Spiderman listened to the footsteps of the avengers slowing down about ten meters from his location behind the half wall covering his frame.
The police stopped firing to avoid hitting the two Avengers. Peter's heart was pounding in his chest like a wild animal, his fearful heartbeat vibrated into his ears where he could hear his blood pulsing. Spiderman felt the sweat drip down his forehead through his mask. This was his chance to escape.
Without hesitation, Spiderman took two massive steps and propelled himself into the air. Thwip-Thuck, he aimed for the wall across the way when suddenly, all hell broke loose.