Hey everyone! Just wanted to say thanks again for all the support and the wonderful follows, favs, reviews, etc. Love you all 3000! We're 10 followers away from 250, so I'm thinking I might do something special when we hit that because that's freaking AMAZING and it totally deserves some kind of reward.
Also, I just wanted to add for anyone who might be interested that I finally filled out the form for an Irondad bingo card, so look forward to seeing some of those prompts from me as soon as I get that in! I've been seeing them cropping up and last night I finally decided I was going to get one. So it's a-coming ;)
So yeah! Enough rambling from me, enjoy!
Tony… kind of did feel like an ass.
He couldn't admit that to Pepper, though, especially not in front of the kid, so he had to wave her accusation off and act like it didn't bother him. He hadn't meant for Jarvis to sick all of the robots on them on their highest setting, but he apparently hadn't been specific enough for the AI to realize that. He did, admittedly, tell him to target them to the closest one, knowing it was Pepper, because he knew if the kid was actually the Spider-Man and was half as impulsive as he'd observed him to be, he'd throw himself in front of her without a thought to revealing himself.
He'd been right.
Both about the impulsiveness and about the fact that the kid was Spider-Man. The fact that he'd used his webbing was enough to disprove any doubts he had, even if that particular strategy had surprised him a bit.
As soon as he'd seen that, he headed to the gym and waited outside the door for him to finish. He felt a pang of guilt when he saw the one hit Pepper, but he knew even on the highest setting it wouldn't have hit her hard. They were for training him, after all, and he was only human too. The higher setting just meant they were faster and wouldn't stay down. She'd only been hit hard enough to leave a bruise, if that.
He'd still apologize to her later. But he'd been focused on everything else that had been revealed in that moment, and it wasn't the time for it. She'd have to cool down a bit before she would have accepted it anyway.
Then the lights went out, and any plans he'd had went out the window.
He wasn't stupid. As soon as they went out, he knew it couldn't be a coincidence, not with what he'd learned today. So the focus had been torn away from Peter as he tried to figure out the more pressing questions in that moment. Why had it went out, and was it just him, or was it everywhere? It could have just been that it was widespread enough to hit him this time, or that Malware had decided to come after him first, before he could do any damage to him.
The call from Rhodey confirmed it wasn't just him, but the truth was almost worse than that.
Still, he knew in that moment that he had bigger fish to fry, and he had to leave off with the kid. He left with a few words to let the kid know he wasn't getting off the hook by any means, trusting by how frightened he looked that he would take heed to his words. Even if that look of fear made his gut twist.
So, he definitely felt like an ass, and like maybe it had been a bit of overkill, in retrospect. But the kid never would have admitted it to him without him making him reveal himself directly, he knew. And he was honestly glad he had done it, especially with this happening now. It made him feel better to know that he would be here and hopefully wouldn't be popping up to scare the living daylights out of him when he was least expecting it again.
Of course, this wasn't true, but he had no way of knowing that yet.
He suited up and headed into the city, completely unaware of how wrong he was.
Peter was still feeling shell-shocked by the whole encounter. He helped Miss Potts get a generator and set up a little hub area on the main floor, with the open kitchen and living area, where he'd come earlier for lunch. He lugged the generator in and hooked it up as she gathered up blankets and supplies that they'd need for the night. They powered a few emergency lights and the main kitchen appliances so everything in the fridge didn't go to waste and she could still make them something to eat, and also the air conditioning, or else it would get way too hot ridiculously quickly. Everything else was left off, since they didn't know how long they would actually be out for, and they needed to conserve as much power as possible.
So he did as much as he could in a sort of daze, his mind still whirling ninety miles a minute, replaying the fight and the encounter in the gym. He couldn't help feeling like he'd been set up - it was a logical conclusion, when he actually thought about it - although he wasn't sure why he would have been, or what Mr. Stark had actually hoped to achieve by it. Had he really screwed up so bad so quickly that he had already figured out he was Spider-Man? Or had he suspected something before? He had made it sound like he was already looking into him in the car, and then there was what had happened with Jarvis… All he would have had to do was ask him what he knew and the AI would certainly have given him away.
It was hard telling until he returned and they had their little talk that he'd promised. Or maybe threatened was the more appropriate word, but either way, he knew he wasn't getting out of it.
What he hadn't decided was how much he was going to tell him. Should he tell him everything? Did he really dare to? He hadn't told anyone he was Spider-Man, ever, let alone the extent of his powers, or how he'd gotten them, or anything about it, really. Hell, even he didn't really want to face the reasons behind him becoming Spider-Man; he wasn't even sure he could, especially well enough or long enough to relay them to someone else.
"Peter." Pepper's gentle voice pulled him from his thoughts as she approached, putting a hand on his shoulder. Once they'd gotten their little hub area mostly set up, she'd taken to the stove to start something for dinner. He had somehow ended up at the glass wall, staring out towards the ocean, lost in thought. He knew he probably looked like a moody teenager, sulking by the window, but he didn't care at the moment.
He jumped a little when she touched him. He'd been so lost in thought he hadn't even heard her approach, which was weird for him. He turned to look at her, and she smiled a bit back at him. "It'll be alright, you know."
He sighed, looking back out the window. "Logically, I know that, but… I've never told anyone the truth. About… who I am, or any of it. And I just feel like… he set me up."
"He did," she confirmed quietly, and he whipped around to look at her. She sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't know what he was planning, but I definitely knew he was planning something when he sent me up to get you. I think he just knew that you wouldn't tell him any other way."
Peter looked down again. It was true, of course; even if he'd busted him dead to rights with the suit, he probably wouldn't have wanted to admit it. He'd have tried to cover it up somehow. "I know. I just… why does it matter to him? And how did he figure it out so quickly?"
"I can't answer that, Peter. I don't know. He's a genius, and that's the best I can tell you." She squeezed his shoulder, walking back to the stove to stir the food. "But you should try to look at the bright sides."
"There's bright sides to this?" he murmured, but she either didn't hear him or acted like she didn't.
"Your downfall could also now be to your benefit: he's a genius. And believe it or not, Peter, he cares more about the people around him than he pretends he does, and if I know Tony, he'll never let you completely out of his sight now, so to speak. And now that someone knows, you'll at least have someone to go to if you ever need to, without having to worry about exposing yourself." She paused, and when he didn't say anything, added, softer, "And I'm not just talking about Tony."
He exhaled a breath that he didn't realize he'd been holding. He was hoping she'd say that, even if he felt it wasn't really fair for him to expect it of her. After all, she barely knew him, and that was a serious amount of responsibility to just be willing to offer him. She wasn't his parent, or even his aunt, and yet… it was almost as comforting as telling May, and he was glad of the reassurance. Both that she would be there, and for the hope that maybe Mr. Stark finding out wouldn't be as bad as he feared. "Thanks, Miss Potts," he whispered.
She just smiled kindly at him. "I think it's time enough you call me Pepper."
He glanced back at her, surprised. "Time enough? We've known each other for a few days! Besides, it's just… respectful."
"Well, it's taken me a few days to get to know you better than almost anyone else, so I think it's only fair," Pepper retorted, clearly not swayed by his discomfort.
Peter just sighed and settled on not answering, knowing this was an argument he couldn't win, but couldn't keep a small smile from growing on his face. He didn't even realize that she'd successfully distracted him from his worries and lifted his mood.
He turned away from the window, settling down on the couch near his pile of blankets and pulling out his phone. He frowned when he tried to access the news and realized it was basically worthless. Duh. He'd heard Rhodey say that, he'd just been too panicked to actually register it in the moment. He sighed. "Hey, uh… is Jarvis still... active right now?" he asked, hesitating as he searched for the right word.
She was silent for a moment as she thought about it. "Most of Tony's technology is… well, just that. His technology, and it runs all on his security and his systems, so… he should be." She shrugged, raising her voice just slightly. "Jarvis?"
"Present as ever, Miss Potts," the AI responded almost immediately.
Pepper just looked at him and shrugged. Peter tossed his phone to the side and settled back into the couch. "Oh. Uh, cool. So, do you, uh, know anything about what's going on out there, Jarvis?" He wasn't sure how to ask what he wanted to know, or if the AI would even answer to him.
"It seems that the entity that the military is calling Malware has struck again," Jarvis answered, after only a brief moment of awkward silence where Peter wondered if it would answer. "All types of communications and electricity appear to be shut down within the radius of the city, at least. I can determine the state much farther out than that."
Peter nodded once, then frowned as a thought occurred to him. "Aren't you the same AI in Mr. Stark's suit? Are you talking to him right now, too? How does that work?" he wondered aloud.
The last question was more him thinking out loud than him actually expecting the AI to answer, but he did anyway. "I am... a software program, in essence, Mr. Parker. I have no consciousness, so I can be in multiple places at once. Think of it like a computer with multiple tabs open."
Peter blinked. "Oh. That makes sense," he blurted. He laid down, letting his head rest on the arm of the couch. "So it's not, like, interfering with him if I talk to you?"
"Not at all." The AI sounded almost like it was trying to reassure him too. Could it even do that?
He pushed the thought away. "Great. So, can you, like, tell me what's happening? I would ask if you could show me, but with the tv and stuff…"
"I don't need the tv." A holographic screen appeared between Peter and Pepper, making him start. The footage it showed made his jaw fall open. Not because of what was on it, but because…
"I… I didn't mean… you can see through his suit? That's so cool!" Peter sat up, leaning towards the holograph. He could tell immediately he was seeing through the eyes of the suit that Mr. Stark was currently in, and he could actually see the displays popping up in the man's suit as well. He was fascinated by it for all of a minute before he leaned away again, a sudden pang of guilt and worry rising in his chest. "I, uh, don't know if I should be seeing this, and I actually just meant the news, so maybe you should-"
"There is no news currently, Mr. Parker," Jarvis interrupted, but not harshly. "All outside communications are down, including tv and broadcast signals."
"Oh," Peter muttered. "Right." So it was watch through the suit and risk Stark being mad for him basically spying on the older hero, or sit in the dark until he got back.
Oh well. He was already in deep shit. He couldn't get a whole lot deeper.
Watching through the suit was both fascinating and scary. It was almost like he was there himself, but he couldn't do anything about anything he saw. At one point he asked Jarvis if it would be possible for him to hear what was going on as well, but the AI responded by telling him that audio to the suit would be two-way, and so he immediately dismissed the idea. Aside from the fact he'd be busted dead to rights if he so much as breathed too loud, he didn't want to say or do anything that could distract Mr. Stark, especially if it resulted in him getting hurt.
So he sat there for a while, content to watch and make educated guesses based on the situation. At least he was until the footage cut off.
It happened all of a sudden. One second, he was watching Mr. Stark fly over a massive intersection piled high with cars that had crashed when the traffic lights failed, and the next, there was nothing. The holographic screen was still there, but the footage just… winked out.
Peter was stunned for all of a second before demanding, "What happened?"
"The connection with Mr. Stark's suit has been lost."
Peter gaped, looking at Pepper. She was still sitting in the kitchen, but she too was looking at the empty holographic screen with worry. "What do you mean, Jarvis?" she demanded, her brows furrowing together with worry.
"My access to Mr. Stark's suit has been cut off." Hell, even the AI sounded worried.
Peter looked at Pepper, who looked like she was trying really hard to find a reasonable explanation and not totally freak out. "Has that ever happened before?"
"No." Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Peter stared at her, then jumped to his feet almost before he knew what he was doing. "I'll-"
"No. No, you won't." She was at his side in an instant, putting a hand on his chest to block his path, as if that would stop him. "You're not going to do anything but stay here."
"But if his suit went down, that means-"
"I know what it means, Peter," she interrupted, not quite able to meet his eyes. "Believe me, I've been here since the beginning. I know what it means. And I'm telling you that for you, it means it's too dangerous for you to go swinging in there. If something took out Tony…" She took a steadying breath, looking up at him. "You can't go. It's that simple."
What was he just thinking not that long ago about her not being his parent? She sure seemed to think she was now. He sighed, frustrated. He knew she was just trying to help, and that she was just worried about him and didn't want to risk losing them both, but…. "I have to." She was shaking her head still, but he pressed on. "If he has no connection to Jarvis and everything is really out, how is he supposed to call for help? If something is really wrong and I don't go after him… no one will even know. Please, Mi-... Pepper," he corrected himself, hoping fixing the slip up and calling her what she'd asked would help his cause.
Pepper looked away, and he could see the war of logic and emotion raging in her face. "I… am not giving you permission, but I can't stop you. But I swear if you come back with so much as a scratch, Peter-"
He wasn't listening, not really, not after the point where she'd said she couldn't stop him. "Yeah, got it! I'll be fine, promise!" He flew passed her, bolting into his room and grabbing the suit from its hiding place in his duffel under the bed, practically tearing off his clothes and pulling it off at an alarming speed. Then he bolted back out, heading for the balcony.
Pepper was waiting for him there. "Wait," she called, and he stopped with one foot out the door, his heart sinking slightly. She wasn't going to try to stop him now, was she?
But she didn't. Instead, she approached him with what appeared to be a watch. She took his hand and fastened it on his wrist, just below his webshooter. "My watch," she told him. "It's Stark tech, so it should still work, and I have admin access to Jarvis, so you should be able to communicate with him, find your way there and back. But be careful, Peter." She squeezed his hand, looking like she wanted to say or do more, but didn't.
"I will. I promise." He squeezed her hand back, then pulled away, letting the first web fly and starting to swing his way towards the city.