The Trial of Spider-man
Peter was a ball of nerves. He couldn't stop fidgeting which only made the people guarding him nervous as well. Of course he couldn't blame them, given what they knew about spider-man, his strength, his agility, his reflexes… his identity. But it was more than just that he'd been outed that made people nervous to be around him. It was what he'd been accused of at the same time that got people, and every time he thought back to J.J. Jameson's announcement that day in New York, and all the events that had led to that, it just made him even more nervous which caused him to fidget more which made the guards more nervous which—
"Calm down kid." Peter stopped fidgeting at the sound of Happy's voice. "You're gonna be fine. There's no way they'll convict you."
"Don't give him false hope Mr. Hogan." That was Peter's lawyer or barrister or whatever they were called in England. Peter looked over to her. They were still in the middle of recess and they had one witness left to go. When Alice, his lawyer, had said that if this last one didn't blow the case out of the water for them then she'd give up her career in law, she'd sounded so confident. Peter had been sure she'd be able to get him out of this, at least the legal part. What came after… Well, Happy had just told him to take it one step at a time.
But now it was looking less and less like there would be an "after". Despite the string of witnesses Alice had presented all proclaiming Peter's innocence, people who'd watched him during the "Battle of London" as it was being called, even with Alice's arguments pointing out the inconsistencies in the narrative presented by that video with what people witnessed of the battle, things were looking down.
The prosecution had dismissed several of the defense witnesses, including Happy, MJ, Ned, Betty, and even Flash Thompson, something that thoroughly surprised Peter, as either having a clear conflict of interest or else being immaterial due to their lack of knowledge about the actual events. The jury had seemed to buy it. The arguments about the veracity of the video were also waved away as being based on unreliable witnesses who had themselves admitted to being so panicked that they weren't clear on all the details.
It's not like I helped things either.
If he was being honest, his own testimony really had sounded like he was trying to make stuff up just to avoid being convicted.
Upon seeing the defeated look on Peter's face, Alice's manner softened somewhat. "There's still one more witness who says he saw the whole thing," she said, trying to comfort him. "There's still a chance." She turned back to Happy then. "It's just not as certain as Mr. Hogan would like to believe."
"Look lady, I know Mrs. Stark hired you herself but the kid's just had his world turned upside down, again. He could use a little hope."
"Not if it's false," Alice replied sternly. "We have to be realistic, any false hope would only be cruel." There was a moment of tense silence before Alice spoke again. "We should be going back, the recess is almost over."
The courtroom gallery was filled with press. The judge had originally not wanted to have anyone else present but he had eventually been persuaded otherwise. The whole world was interested in the case of Spider-man, the boy from Queens. Peter had been worried at first, but Alice had said it would be good. If he was exonerated behind closed doors, and only those who'd been in court knew what had really happened, then he'd still have to fight in the court of public opinion. Nestled among the reporters, Peter could see his friends and Aunt May. Even though they were clearly as worried as he was, they still tried to put on a brave front and gave him reassuring smiles for which, Peter was thankful.
Soon, the trial had resumed and the moment of truth was upon him. A young man with short, unkempt hair that stuck up from his head took the stand. He was dressed very plainly and for all his appearance, seemed very ordinary and unassuming. But this was the man who was supposed to be their ace in the hole. Their proton torpedo to blow up the Death Star.
Alice stood to cross examine him and he gave his account of what happened that day. How he'd actually been there on the bridge, how he'd witnessed everything. How Beck had controlled the drones to attack and create illusions, how he'd tried to kill Peter several times, how Peter had taken back the EDITH glasses and shut down the drones. It matched perfectly with what Peter had testified. There was only one problem. Peter knew that the prosecution would try to make it seem like they'd manufactured the witness. Then he'd look even worse.
Only, that wasn't what happened. Peter suddenly realized what he'd heard Alice ask the witness. "And, Mr. West, do you have any proof that this was what happened other than your own word?"
"I do ma'am," he replied respectfully. "I recorded everything on my phone from where I was hidden."
"I refer the jury to the video evidence marked WW1," Alice said. Shortly after the screen in the courtroom blinked on and Peter was taken back to that day on the bridge, though this time he watched from a different perspective. This time he watched from outside the illusion, though some fragments of the hologram were still captured by the phone camera. When the video finally finished, Peter felt a sense of relief wash over him. There was no way they could convict him now. That relief only grew as the prosecution took their go at the witness with very little success.
Soon after the verdict of "not guilty" had been given, Peter found himself trying to push through a throng of reporters, all jamming cameras and microphones and smartphones in his face. All trying to get a statement. As he felt the walls closing in around him, Peter wanted nothing more than to just leap over the mob and toward the car where he knew Happy and Aunt May were waiting for him. But he kept his cool. It wouldn't look good if he did that right after his exoneration. So he soldiered on, declining to comment as politely as he could and steadily making his way to the street.
When he thought he'd made it at last, he found his path blocked by just one more reporter who unceremoniously shoved her phone in his face. "Care to comment Mr. Parker on the results of the trial? What will you do now that you've been outed as Spider-man?"
Peter suppressed a sigh with moderate success. "Look, miss, I really just wanna go home—"
"Peter." His Aunt May's voice drew his attention and, thankfully, gave him the perfect excuse to leave.
"I'm sorry," he said not feeling sorry at all. "That's my Aunt May, she's calling for me." With that Peter dashed away before the reporter could ask anything else and Peter soon found himself seated comfortably in the backseat of a cab headed for the hotel Aunt May and his friends had been staying at. As soon as the vehicle began to move and they were safely away from the press, Aunt May pulled Peter into a relieved embrace which Peter couldn't help but return.
Okay, don't cry Peter, don't cry.
But as soon as he realized Aunt May was already crying, he couldn't stop himself and soon the waterworks were flowing. From the other side of Aunt May, Happy spoke up. "See, what'd I tell you kid. I told you it'd turn out alright."
Peter pulled away to look at the Stark Industries head of security and gave a slight nod as he sniffled somewhat, wiping the moisture from his now red eyes. The rest of the way to the hotel was spent in companionable silence and when they arrived, Peter found Ned and MJ waiting for them in the lobby.
Ned came up to him first and pulled him into a bro-hug. "Good to have you back man."
"I didn't go anywhere, Ned," Peter replied, though not harshly, as he reciprocated.
"Just to jail, in England. Possibly for the rest of your life."
Peter looked up at MJ's remark and couldn't help but smile. Even after everything, she was still the same old MJ, snarky as ever. After an awkward moment the two of them hugged each other as well. "Well," Peter said, pulling his head back so their foreheads rested against one another. "It's not like I haven't been in jail before."
MJ actually laughed at that before replying. "A drunk tank in the Netherlands doesn't count."
"Okay everybody," Happy interrupted, drawing everyone's attention. "I know this is a big deal and everyone's back together so why don't we celebrate with dinner." They soon found themselves in the hotel restaurant, eating and laughing, and it was almost like nothing had happened.
"You should have seen it," Ned was saying. "Flash like this, total mental breakdown when he found out you were Spider-man."
"Really?" Peter asked. He was still kind of surprised Flash had agreed to testify for the defense.
"Yeah, and you know how he's always posting stupid stuff on social media?" MJ added. "Well, when he finally got it together he kind of started a movement."
"#FreeSpiderman," Ned put in.
Now that was surprising. Peter hadn't really known what was going on outside his high security prison cell. His contact with the outside had been pretty limited. It had really just been Alice who'd been allowed to see him until the trial actually started and even then she'd been pretty closely watched herself.
"Here, I'll show you." Ned pulled out his phone and showed Peter a screen displaying one of Flash's many posts. This one relayed a 6ejco video analysis comparing various clips from the Battle of London with the footage that had been aired by the Daily Bugle two months ago. The comment read, "This proves the Mysterio footage is fake and JJ is a hack!" Below the post was a fervent back and forth between the pro-Spider-man posters and everyone who thought he was guilty. Most of the comments were from Flash and Jameson himself. What really surprised Peter was how many people had actually been on his side.
Dinner continued cheerfully, with Peter and MJ furtively stealing glances at each other, until Alice made an unexpected appearance. "Alice," Aunt May said, standing up. "Thank you so much, I don't know what we would have done without you, and that last witness. If you could thank Mr. West for us too—"
"There's no need to thank me Mrs. Parker," Alice interrupted. "Mrs. Stark is doing that by paying me." Alice didn't seem to notice the taken aback and somewhat hurt look on Aunt May's face. Instead, the lawyer continued on. "In any case, we're not done yet. We still have to consider next steps, what comes after the trial."
"If you're talking about the kid's identity being outed—"
"Actually I was referring to EDITH, specifically," Alice said, interrupting Happy. "It's still being held as evidence by the crown and given the nature of this evidence, there may be some difficulties in recovering it. It's likely military intelligence will be attempting to obtain control of it so we need to discuss how we plan to respond."
There was an awkward silence for a moment before Peter realized that Alice had been talking straight to him and that she expected an answer. "Um, yeah… How about tomorrow morning."
Alice didn't look happy with the suggestion but it did seem like she understood. "Very well, though sooner would be better Mr. Parker. If we can be proactive it gives us a better chance of recovering EDITH" With that, Alice turned and left and the conversation resumed.
The problem was, Peter didn't feel much like talking anymore. Alice had brought up the elephant in the room. He'd kept it at the back of his mind ever since Happy had told him to take things one step at a time. It wasn't just getting EDITH back. It was what he'd do now that everyone knew who he was. It hadn't seemed to be a problem for Mr. Stark, but then again, Mr. Stark was a billionaire. He could afford to protect himself and his loved ones from his enemies. Peter, on the other hand… Well, he was just a boy from Queens.
"I think I'm gonna go to bed guys," Peter said at last, excusing himself from the table.
"Okay. Good night, Peter."
"Good night, May," Peter replied. He bid everyone else good night and went up to his hotel room. He lay on his bed for several minutes before deciding that he just couldn't sleep and so he climbed out his window and up to the roof of the hotel. Out of habit he'd gone looking for his suit so he could conceal his identity, but then he remembered that that was evidence too and, there really wasn't much point in wearing a mask anymore.
There Peter sat, gazing out at the lights of London, the wind ruffling his hair, his feet dangling off the edge of the building. A million thoughts raced through his mind as he did so, but his musing was interrupted by the sound of the roof door opening behind him. He turned around to see MJ walking toward him. "Ned said you weren't answering your door so I figured you'd be up here." MJ sat down next to him and gazed out at the city for a little while before turning to face him. "So what's up?" she asked.
Peter met her eyes before laying back against the concrete of the hotel room. "I just…" Peter sighed. He was frustrated that he couldn't find the words to describe what he was going through just now.
"You're worried about what happens now that everyone knows you're Spider-man."
"Yes," Peter replied with some exasperation. "And EDITH and… I know I should be thankful and relieved that I got through the trial alright but I can't stop thinking about what comes next."
There was a moment of silence before MJ said, "Neither can I."
Peter sat up and faced her again.
What did that mean?
"Do you still…"
"Do I still what?" Peter asked. Peter noticed MJ looking at him carefully and it seemed to be part careful observation, like she was known to do, and part just taking in the sight of him after being nearly two months apart. Peter couldn't help but do the same. Sure they'd seen each other a couple times during the trial, like when she'd testified, or when he'd passed her in the gallery. Hell, they'd just had dinner downstairs. But there seemed to be something about being alone that made it different.
"Never mind."
"What do you mean, 'never mind'?" Peter asked, still confused as to what she'd been going to ask.
"I mean that I don't need to ask the question."
"Why?"
"Because I already know the answer." MJ turned back to face the city once more and Peter continued to look at her for a moment longer. Eventually, he followed suit and they sat in companionable silence. After a while, they found that they were holding hands and Peter decided that this entire summer may have been an ordeal for the both of them, but at least some things were going right.
"You know, we never did get that second date."
Peter smiled at the remark. "No we didn't. It's not like our first one ended all that well either."
"Maybe we can try again," MJ suggested.
"Sure, when were you thinking? I mean I've still got a lot to figure out apparently what with EDITH and—"
"How about now."
Peter halted at that. "Um, y-yeah. Now's good," Peter replied nervously and, despite the speed with which she'd made the suggestion, Peter could tell she was nervous too.
MJ stood up then and began to walk away from the ledge.
"W-where are you going?" Peter asked.
"Come on," she called back to him, only turning to face him once she was in the center of the flat roof. "Let's dance."
"Um, I don't really know how to dance," Peter replied nervously, worried that he was going to make a fool of himself.
"You can do backflips and swing around New York on a web you made in chemistry class but you can't dance," MJ shot back teasingly.
Peter felt his face flush with embarrassment but got up to go to her anyway. MJ put on some slow dance music from her phone while Peter took her free hand and awkwardly, they began to sway to the tune. As they did, MJ leaned into Peter's ear and whispered, "That's okay. I don't really know how to dance either." Peter smiled and he suddenly found himself more comfortable with the situation.
Unfortunately the moment was soon ruined by an unexpected arrival.