Captain America stood in the compound in front of his teammates, taking off his helmet (A/N: I swear I don't know what that thing is called. Helmet or mask?), transforming from Captain to Steve in one quick motion. Tossing it on the table, he stared at the large white A, avoiding the accusing looks of his teammates.
"What the hell was that out there?" Came the angry but controlled voice of Tony Stark. Finally free of his armor, he stood against the wall glaring daggers at the other man. Looking up, Steve saw everyone staring at him. Some with anger and others with confusion. Releasing a sigh, Steve sat down in the chair to his right. Running a hand through his hands, he shook his head.
"Um...hello? Anyone home?" Tony called to him.
"Yes boss. Most of the Avengers are in the building. Specifically the same room as you. Mr. Barton is approximately two feet from you to your right. Ms. Romanoff is-"
"I can see that Friday," Tony snapped as he sent an annoyed look up to the ceiling. Looking back at the blonde haired man in the chair, he repeated his first question. When Steve didn't respond, he threw a hand up in the air. "You had him right there and you let him go."
"Yeah Steve, I hate to say this but I agree with Tony on this one," Clint said slowly and the scientist turned to him and raised an eyebrow. Ignoring the look, Clint looked at his team leader. "You had Spiderman right in front of you. You could have grabbed him, we could have brought him in and Fury wouldn't be in his way over here to yell at us again."
"And why would Fury be heading over here to yell at us?" Tony wondered out loud. Before anyone could answer, he provided the answer himself. "Oh yeah, because we failed another simple mission. All we had to do is grab the guy and bring him in."
"Tony, maybe we should allow Steve to explain," Natasha said evenly.
Tony shook his head, his face twisted in annoyance. "Last time we had a mission like this, everyone was all up in arms because I didn't see Naki before I went blasting. Capsules here has the guy in front of him and he just let the guy go!"
"Kid." Steve said quietly. All eyes fell on him. He looked at everyone around the room before standing up again.
"Excuse me?"
"Spiderman is a kid. You could hear it in his voice?"
Natasha nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'd say he's possibly in high school. Judging by his height and all. Plus he did seem pretty star stuck like most kids."
"Wait am I missing something?" Rhodes asked as he looked around at the four Avengers that just returned.
"Spiderman is a kid?" Sam asked with the rise of an eyebrow. Steve nodded. Bucky looked around the room with a neutral face but his eyes narrowed in worry.
"What the hell does S.H.I.E.L.D want with a kid?"
"I don't know," Steve admitted. "Maybe It has something to do with this Parker kid." The elevator dinged causing all to look towards it. Fury came strolling out, his face calm. He looked around the room before his eyes landed on Steve.
Standing the first Avenger stood and faced the man head on. "What does S.H.I.E.L.D want with the kid?"
"I already told you that is need to know Captain and you don't need-"
"Not Parker," Tony interrupted. "Spiderman."
"That's classified," Fury said as if he were explaining the sky was blue.
"No. You don't get to have us haul in a child and not tell us why," Steve said firmly.
Nick rested his eyes on the man before speaking in a low tone. "Is that why you let him get away, Captain?"
"Yes, because I refuse to allow a child to be taken into custody for reasons I don't know of."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with the old man," Tony said as he leveled Fury with a look. Neither man spoke before Fury ran a hand over his bald head.
"Have any of you seen the news lately?" When he got multiple nods of confirmation, Fury continued, "This Spiderboy-"
"Spiderman," Steve corrected.
"He's not a man though," Tony pointed out.
"You act like a child but we still call you Iron Man," Natasha pointed out with a smirk.
Tony looked at her with a smile. "You sound like Pepper-"
"Can we focus?" Steve asked as he stared at them. They both went quiet as Steve turned back to the director. "Continue."
"This Spider-person knows where Peter Parker is. If you bring him in, he might be able to tell us where the boy is."
"He's not going to come in," Clint voiced. "The guy, kid, whatever. Spidey seemed a little spooked when we mentioned S.H.I.E.L.D."
Fury released a frustrated sigh. "Damn," he mumbled. After a few seconds of silence, he made a manilla folder appear. Holding it out to Steve, he spoke. His tone no longer accusing but almost tired. "Find him, hand him this and give him a day to decide if he's going to help us."
Steve took the folder and went to open it but stopped at the voice of the director. "For his eyes only." Nodding, he let the folder rest by his side.
"We need this spider guy. We need to find Parker and we need to find him now. I've got a few higher ups breathing downy neck."
"So this goes higher than S.H.I.E.L.D?" Bucky asked. All eyes rested on Director Fury.
"Yes, it does."
Tony looked up at that. Narrowing his eyes, he sucked on his cheek. "Now I'm interested. What does the government want with a fifteen year old boy?"
"Classified," Fury said once more. Looking around at the Avengers, he said two words before leaving the room. "Find him."
Silence blanketed the room long after the elevator doors closed behind Fury. It was Tony who broke the silence. "Are you going to open the thing or not?"
Steve looked at him as if he just gave birth. "Fury just said it was for Spiderman's eyes only. So no."
Tony rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Now is not the time to be following rules Stevie. The government wants this Parker kid and if this Spider guy is supposed to lead us to him we need to know what we're dealing with."
"No."
"God, I forgot how morally righteous you are."
"And least one of us is," Steve shot back.
"Would you rather go in without knowing what we're dealing with? Risk the chance of getting hurt?" Tony questioned with his eyebrows pushed down and a clenched jaw.
Steve ran a hand over his face. "No Tony."
"Exactly, so that's why we-"
"No. I meant no we're not looking in the file." Everyone looked back and forth between the two team leaders as if they were watching a tennis match. The ball was currently in Tony's court. The scientist took a deep breath before throwing his hands up. He opened his mouth but before he could get a word out the elevator dinged. All eyes turned towards it and a redhead walked through.
"Tony, have you seen- Sorry I didn't know you had company."
A chorus of hey's lifted into the air. Tony looked at her and immediately the tension in his body slowly started going away. "Have I seen what?"
Pepper waved at everyone before looking at him. "It's all over the news. Someone managed to get a video of Spiderman webbing you up and then escaping. The public is in a panic. I have the media blowing up my phone."
"Friday, turn the news on." Seconds later the dark screen lit up and once again a shaky video played before them. Despite the shaking, the picture was clear. The news anchors voice floated out of the screen.
"The Avengers were pardoned but it doesn't look like everyone is on board with this ruling. Spiderman, the vigilante and what some are calling New York's new guardian angel, can be seen taking down Tony Stark also known as Iron Man. The altercation happened a few hours ago. A witness captured the incident on camera and sent it to our news team. The public has many questions. Tony Stark could not be reached for comments and neither could his finance and CEO of Stark Industries, Pepper Potts."
"This video has been uploaded to social media and has been viewed over 100 million times already. People are commenting on the video as well," Pepper explained. Tony ran a hand over his face as he and the rest of the Avengers pulled out their phones to pull up the video.
Sam snorted as he read a comment. "Spiderman delivering Justice to the Avengers. They deserve it."
"We need to get ahead of this. If the people think that this guy is better suited to protect them then-" Bruce started to say for the first time.
"Yeah, I know. What the hell are we supposed to say to the press. Hey sorry, this Spider-guy is out of his mind. Pay him no mind." Tony questioned as he looked around.
Natasha rolled her eyes. "Go ahead and say that and see if this kid helps us. Even with that file in Steve's hand, if we go out there and accuse him of something he'll swing away without a backwards look."
"We could say that he's working with us," Rhodes said evenly.
"But he's not, and what if he doesn't want to."
"Well whatever you're going to do it needs to happen soon. The more we allow this to wait, the more the press and the public will feed into this whole Spiderman bringing justice to the Avengers nonsense. It's not a good look for you and not for Stark Industries either." Pepper announced watching the stress spread across Tony's face.
Steve looked down at the folder in his hand before looking up. "Hold off on the media."
Tony spun around and gave the man an amused look. "Did the ice damage your eardrums? Did you not just hear what she said?"
"I heard what she said. Just hold off on the media for a while."
"For how long? If I hold off, I need to be able to give them a timeline on when to expect something," Pepper said politely.
Running a hand through his hair, Steve thought about it for a moment. "A couple of days."
"I can give you four days."
"That works."
"Okay," she said as she pulled out her phone and walked away. Steve nodded as he put his helmet on and grabbed his shield, before he walked towards the elevator.
"Where are you going now?" Natasha asked. Steve stepped in the elevator and held up the folder.
"I'm going to catch a Spider."
A/N: I have internet now and have updated chapter 1 to include full summary.
