Chapter 4: Aftermath
It had been a bad start to the day, and Peter knew that it was only going to get worse. By the time he flew in through his bedroom window, Aunt May was on the phone, talking to someone… whom he later found at been the police. His poor aunt then had to scramble and make several more phone calls to apologize for the panic she created.
While Peter was glad he didn't have to hide his secret from his guardian, he kind of wishes that he could just get to school in peace.
"Aunt May I'm sorry… I'm sorry," he apologizes profusely while attempting to get ready for school that he was already late for. He shoves his homework into his bag and grabs clothes from the drawers. He pushes to the bathroom.
"Do you understand how worried I've been?" she squeaked. "I was on the phone with the police half the night… I called the hospitals looking for you! Happy was scanning the streets for you and Mr. Stark is ready to deploy the drones! What happened?! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?"
"Aunt May, I just need to change, but please continue yelling at me because I know I deserve it. I respect your authority; I just have to get to school."
This leaves the protective woman speechless for a moment but then goes on, knowing they'd have an understanding. Even though he was a hero, he was still a teenager and still lived under her roof.
She continues her tirade of worry and pent-up emotions as Peter changes and gets ready for the day. He hangs on every word she says, guilt boiling inside him for putting her through this. He still doesn't know what happened after he passed out. He styles his hair in the mirror before exiting.
"I understand that you keep the city safe, but you worry me every time it happens... If you'd just been at a party, MAYBE I'd have worried less, but you're out there with armed criminals and god knows what else."
"I know Aunt May. I wish I could tell you. I was on my way home, but I ended up getting hit with the door and I guess it knocked me out…"
He web shoots an apple from the fruit bowl. He now secretly wished that he'd taken the food the stranger had given him.
"TAKE THAT OFF!" she demands. "You're not going to school with that on."
"Forgot," Peter says, removing the technology from his wrist.
"So you were in the street all night? Why did no one help you?"
"That's just it. Someone did help me. I ended up on their couch all night… even made me tea,"
May is shocked by this, but also slightly relieved that he was somewhere relatively safe. And from the looks of it, he had been cared for enough that he wasn't bruised or had any broken bones. Thank goodness for the good Samaritan who kept him safe.
"That's… interesting."
"Yeah, she seemed like a nice person. It's just that she's the one who opened the door at me in the first place."
"Perhaps she felt guilty anyway whoever it was, you owe them a thank you."
"Yeah… probably not a good idea because she saw my secret identity," Peter says.
"WHAT?" the poor woman screeched. She was being put through the wringer this morning.
"Yeah, apparently she took off my mask and left it nearby."
"Do you think Mr. Stark can help with that?"
"Maybe… sorry Aunt May, I have to go. When I get home, I promise I'll take whatever grounding you give me, but let's finish this later," he said before giving her a hug and racing to catch the city bus to take him to school.
He leaves his aunt flabbergasted, but in need to make another call.
…
As expected, Peter is late to homeroom and is forced to stay for detention after school. He decides to just continue his day like normal and face the music later. After avoiding Flash and giving a small hello to MJ, Peter heads to his next class.
He checks his phone to see a dozen messages, mostly from Ned, some from the decathlon members, and a few from MJ. All of them were about the night before… no doubt Aunt May had gone on a campaign of phone calls asking for his whereabouts.
While sitting in class, he ponders going back to thank the person who had saved him that night. The thing was… he can't understand why he felt… good.
His head didn't hurt like it should have when he crashed into the door and… his mind is still fuzzy about how he ended up on the couch. The last thing he swears happened was he was swinging and then hit a wall before everything went black. Of course, he couldn't tell this to his aunt because she'd have a heart attack, but how was he not more hurt. Sure his enhanced abilities made healing easier, but a drop from a building still hurt like hell.
He wonders if he should beg the woman to keep his secret or Mr. Stark can pay her for her silence. He wished he hadn't been so reckless, but he didn't expect to crash into a door. He knows he'll probably be grounded and that's fine, a couple of days away from crime-fighting might be best.
…
"Dude where the hell were you last night?" Ned says at lunch. "Your Aunt called me like 50 times. I didn't sleep at all."
"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I was out…" he pauses to ensure no one else is listening. "Doing the usual stuff and I ended up face planting into a door."
"What? How?"
"Bad timing. Some chick opened the door right as I swung by. I obviously didn't estimate distance and should have gone higher."
"So you got knocked out?" Ned asked, taking a bite of his sandwich.
"Yeah… the thing is… I don't know for sure if that's how it went down," Peter says, rubbing his head.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm pretty sure I talked to the girl and then tried to leave, only I think I hit another wall and then everything went black."
"So if that happened? Why are you so confused?"
"Because I woke up this morning completely fine. The girl had somehow brought me up to her apartment and let me sleep on her couch."
"Dude!" Ned says, he was intrigued by the story but was also impressed that he'd spent the night in a girl's apartment, his teenage mind still the same no matter the circumstances.
"I know. She even made me tea. It's just that how did I fall from up high and not have any broken bones?"
"Don't your… you know what allows you to take more hits?"
"Yeah, but even then I can still be pretty banged up. Like I have no bruises or anything. You'd think I'd have a concussion for sure."
"Maybe you're just a fast healer," Ned suggests.
"Maybe."
"Wait if you were on her couch last night, did she… see your face?"
Peter bites his lip and nods.
"DUDE! You can't… you can't… HOW?!"
"I know, but she never got my name and New York is a big city."
"But how many of those people dress up in a red suit and swing around the city as a spider-themed hero."
"Good point, I'm hoping that Mr. Stark can track her down and pay her off."
"It's the only way your identity won't end up in The Daily Bugle."
…
Before detention, Peter let Aunt May know of the situation and she texted him to ask where this incident occurred, likely so that someone could track down the witness. He said somewhere in Manhattan, near the financial district if he can remember correctly, and then enters to serve his time.
…
"And he's sure she saw his face," Happy asks over the phone. He's driving back to Stark Industries after doing a few errands for Tony.
"That's what he said," Aunt May says, pacing the kitchen, waiting for Peter to return home.
"Did he say where?"
"Manhattan, financial district."
"Okay, well I'll let Mr. Stark know so he can work something out."
"All right," Aunt May says before hanging up.
…
"There's no doubt?" Tony asks Happy.
The genius billionaire philanthropist is cursing under his breath about making modifications to the kid's suit, forcing the teen to wear a standard removable mask, rather than the retractable one that came with his suit.
"None. She let him crash on his couch and she even made him tea."
Tony frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Weird."
"Too weird," Happy agreed.
"Or she was just being nice," Pepper suggested. "Taking care of someone in distress."
"As nice as that is honey," Tony says. "She could still blow the kid's cover and his face could be all over the papers by tomorrow…"
The hero known as Iron Man leans forward and thinks about what might need to happen. He needed more details because there were doubt thousands of women who lived in Manhattan's financial district.
"I'm going to need to pay the kid a visit," he finally says.
…
After coming home, Peter accepted the rest of his lecture and his grounding. There was a condition that Spider-Man could be sent if the job became more than police and other rescue personnel could not handle. Aunt May agreed to keep an eye on the news and Peter apologized again before heading to his room for homework.
That didn't last long until there was a knock at his door.
Instead of Aunt May, Tony Stark walks in.
"M-Mr. Stark?" he says in surprise.
"Hey kid, you okay?"
"Yeah."
"What happened last night?"
"Wish I knew, still a bit of a blur."
"Okay, well Happy and I are here to do damage control. He's keeping her busy and I need your mask from last night."
"Over there," Peter points. It lay on his nightstand after he had removed it to get ready for school.
Tony doesn't waste any time, he gets out one of his many devices and hooks the mask up.
The A.I. was still functioning, the batter was a little drained.
"Can't believe that this happened. Of all the times I do upgrades, you end up on someone's couch."
"It's not your fault. It's mostly mine, didn't estimate the swing correctly."
"You're right it is your fault, and whoever did this. I need to see her face in order to find out where she lives," Tony says. "Fortunately, K.A.R.E.N. has microscopic cameras in the eyepieces…"
However, the A.I. is not responding correctly. Tony grimaces in confusion and continues fiddling with it, trying to make it obey. He keeps trying to access its video feed and memory with little success.
Eventually, something comes up, but the video is grainy and lots of the footage is scrambled for some reason.
But, the image of a woman, fairly young… late teens or early twenties by the looks of it, with light eyes and dark hair stares at the cameras in the mask, no doubt examining the mask she'd removed from Peter.
"Well, that is helpful, facial recognition will doubt help, but I'm still going to need all the video feed, it's just K.A.R.E.N doesn't want to show it."
"Is it because of the impact?" Peter suggests, getting a good look at the woman who helped him.
"No, she's designed to withstand impact speeds 1000 times more powerful than a simple crash into a door or wall. She could survive it, even if you couldn't."
Peter swallows, not exactly comfortable with this information.
"Anyways. Take it, easy kid. Your aunt told me you're grounded, so I'll monitor the streets and news for her, keep the stress off her mind and if I'm away and can't take care of it, then Spiderman is in charge."
"Yes sir," the teen nods.
"Meanwhile, I'm going to track this woman down and find out what it will take to get her to keep the lips zipped."
"Thank you again, Mr. Stark. Just one more thing…" He turns to his homework to ask a question from his homework.
But when he turns back, the man behind Iron Man is gone.
Peter sighs and goes back to his work.
A/N: Please follow and review.