It was late at night, as Spider-Man quietly sneaked into his quiet home in Queens. He carefully opened the window to his room, and crawled inside, looking around to make sure the coast was clear.

It was. The room was dark, since he turned the lights off before he left. The moonlight was his only source of light, as he saw his desk covered in school papers, his backpack in the corner, his picture of Einstein sticking his tongue out on the wall, and some clothes on the floor.

He started changing his clothes, taking his mask off, and then grabbing his web shooters off from his wrists. Holding the devices in his hand, he checked the web fluid inside, to see that it was getting dangerously low.

"Better get a refill," he said, half in his normal pajamas, and half in his costume. He turned towards his desk, until he heard some footsteps coming up the steps outside his room.

"Shoot!" He whispered to himself, as he quickly dropped his web shooters and kicked them under his bed.

"Peter?" He heard his Aunt May calling from outside the door, as she knocked. "Are you up?"

"One second Aunt May!" He called back, as he quickly put his pajama top over his costume, hiding it from sight. "Ok, come in!"

The door creaked open, to show Peter's old, dear Aunt, concern on her face. "Are you ok, Peter?"

"I'm fine," he gently told her, a caring smile on his face.

"Are you sure?" She asked, as the old woman came farther into the bedroom. "You went straight to sleep when you came home today."

"Uh, yeah, I was just really tired. You know, with school and the Daily Bugle, I have a lot to do."

May gave him a tired smile. "I'm so proud of you, Peter. Always keeping busy to improve yourself."

Peter rubbed the back of his neck. "Heh, well, you know..." he awkwardly said, embarrassed.

May looked over at his bed, and raised an eyebrow. "Peter, what is that?"

Panicking on the inside, Peter turned towards his bed, hoping he didn't leave any Spider-Man stuff out in the open. He didn't, but instead found that his aunt was referring to the large lump under his bed.

Peter mentally scolded himself. He left that there in case Aunt May came into his room, so she thought he was there. "It's...pillows..." he answered.

"Pillows?" She repeated, confused.

"Uh, yeah. My back was a bit sore, so I laid on a bunch of pillows," he lied, amazed with himself that he was able to think of that.

Aunt May suddenly got a large flash of worry across her face. "Oh dear, was it those nasty bullies again?"

"No no, they've actually been leaving me alone for a while now."

"If they're still bothering you, you could ask Flash Thompson for help. You two were such good friends growing up, I'm sure he'd love to help."

Peter inwardly groaned. If she only knew. "Seriously, I'm fine Aunt May, don't worry."

May looked unconvinced, but decided to drop it. "Ok dear, how about you come downstairs for dinner? I made meatloaf," she told him, as she turned around and left the room.

Peter licked his lips. He loves her meatloaf. "Sounds great!" He exclaimed, following his guardian, happy to eat something after the night he's had.

The elevator dinged inside Stark Tower, as Pepper decided to check on Tony in the living room. She thought about checking his lab first, considering he has a bad habit of not listening to her, but figured that she would give him the benefit of the doubt. She walked out of the elevator, and into the large living room.

To her surprise, she was actually right. There was Tony Stark, billionaire, former playboy, philanthropist, sleeping soundly on the couch.

Pepper smiled at the display, happy that her boyfriend was finally getting some rest. She decided to just leave him on the couch, and not disturb him, as she made her way to the bedroom to go to sleep.

When the door shut behind her, Tony cracked open a eye to make sure she was gone. Satisfied, he quickly hopped off the couch, and went inside the elevator. The doors closed as he went straight to his lab.

"Sir," JARVIS spoke, "I'm not sure Miss Potts will appreciate you being up."

"Well, as long as a certain AI program doesn't squeal on me, I should be fine," he retorted, as the doors opened to his lab.

"Sir-"

"Don't be a rat, JARVIS," Tony told him, "And bring up everything we have on this Spider-Man guy."

"Very well, sir," he responded, as a variety of holographic screens suddenly appeared in the air, all with various pictures of Spider-Man on them, accompanied by texts of information. Tony started swiping through it, trying to find something of use to him.

"What are the facts about him?" He asked his computer butler.

"The first reports of him first started 15 and a half months ago. He has appeared to fight several enhanced criminals, ranging from large men in rhinoceros costumes, to robots designed specifically to neutralize him. He is currently at the top of the NYPD's most wanted."

That piqued Tony's curiosity. "For what?"

"Vigilantism," the AI answered.

Tony scoffed. "Figures. Like there isn't any actual problems they need to deal with. How about theories? Anything we can speculate on the guy?"

"There's only a few, and sir, they don't seem to be that reliable."

"Oh yeah? Try me," he asked, as he continued working.

"Some say that he's a myth, while others are saying that he's some sort of spider-like creature from Mars."

Tony paused. "That is pretty stupid."

"Told you."

Suddenly, a screen popped up in front of Tony's face, as a ringtone jingled. It had a picture of Steve Rodgers on it.

With a slight sigh, Tony tapped the screen and pushed it away. "Capsicle, any chance this can wait, I'm busy."

"Tony? Are you there?" Steve asked.

"Yeah!" He called, still scanning the information. "Right here, buddy."

"Tony? Hello?"

"Oh for God's sake, he has it on mute again. JARVIS?"

"Overriding the system now, sir," the AI stated.

"Hello?" The living fossil asked again.

"Steve, how many times do I have to tell you, don't press the blue button when you make a call."

"Right, I know," he said. "It's just right next to the other one I have to press."

"No it's not!" Tony scoffed. "It's on the other panel!"

Cap went silent for a few seconds. "Can we just get to business?"

"We have business?"

"What are you doing?" He bluntly asked.

Tony feigned ignorance. "I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"You've just accessed the SHIELD database for the first time in months," he said, direct.

"Soldier, have you been spying on me?" Tony teased.

"No, you've set off a whole lot of alarms, because you don't have access to those files."

"Hasn't stopped me before," he bragged.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked again.

"Have you ever heard of Spider-Man?" Tony asked point blank, shoving some more virtual files away from him.

"The vigilante?" He asked. "Sure, what about him?"

"I've decided to study him."

"Tony, no."

"Steve, yes."

"We have little to no information on the guy. He is potentially very dangerous," Steve warned.

"Yeah, but he's also spending his free time beating up street punks and saving cats from trees. In my book, he's aces."

"Tony, I don't like this."

"Well, too bad. Cause in the time we've had this conversation, I've been able to estimate his age, race, height, weight, and living radius. So, bye."

With that, Tony tapped the screen again, cutting off Steve's protests. "JARVIS?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Clear my schedule for tomorrow," he ordered.

"Of course, sir."

"Peter? Come on man, wake up."

Peter, who was at school, resting at his lunch table, lifted his head up, to see a teenager with short, red hair. His best friend, Harry Osborn.

"Oh, hi," he lamely greeted, falling back down.

"Dude, you ok?" Harry asked, sitting down next to him.

"Yeah," He responded, "Just real tired." It was lunchtime at Midtown High, as a lot of Peter's classmates loudly chatted and ate in the cafeteria.

Suddenly, Peter felt something wet hit him in the back of the head. He raised his head, and grabbed the wet object to see that it was a sloppy cheeseburger.

He turned around to see Flash Thompson and Kenny Kong obnoxiously laughing. "Enjoy your lunch Parker!" Flash sneered, before the two bullies walked away.

Harry gritted his teeth, as he started to get up from his seat to follow them only to get stopped by Peter putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Let them go," he told his friend. "They're not worth it," he stated, as he cleaned himself up using a napkin.

Harry crossed his arms. "They're only going to keep doing it if you don't stick up for yourself."

"Ok, so I'll stick up for myself. But you, sit," Peter ordered, pointing at Harry's seat, and making him groan.

"Fine," he complained, as he took a bite of his food, munching slightly.

"So, how's it going with your dad?" Peter asked, knowing how difficult the relationship between the two can be.

Harry shrugged. "Same as usual. Stormin' Norman is busy being Stormin' Norman. Apparently he's doing government contracts now."

Peter was about to press on, but was interrupted by the whine of the PA system. "Uh, attention students, attention," the principal of the school said, his voice sounding unsure.

Peter raised an eyebrow. His principal never sounded like that. Not even when he was arguing to make the school year longer, to overwhelming disapproval.

"Uh, we will be having a surprise assembly in the gym, right now. All students are to report to the gym now for a, uh, special speaker. Thank you." With that, the PA had cutoff.

Peter and Harry looked at each other, as the lunchroom started to file out. After sharing a confused glance, they followed suit, walking down the drab halls of the high school, eventually making it to the large gymnasium, the bleachers filled to the brim with unruly students.

The two scanned the area, before seeing a beautiful, redheaded girl, and an equally beautiful blond girl waving to them.

"There's Gwen and MJ," Harry pointed, before the two made their way up to them.

"Saved ya a seat, tiger," Mary Jane Watson said, calling Peter his nickname.

"Thanks," Peter said, before waving to the blonde next to her. "Hi Gwen!"

"Hi," Gwen replied back, a light blush on her face.

The four sat together, as they all discussed the possibilities that could of caused the surprise assembly. Usually, everyone in Midtown knew at least a week in advance when there was going to be an assembly, making this really strange.

"You think Principal Beck is resigning?" Peter asked.

"I hope so," Harry answered. "The guy's a jerk. 'Oh, I use to be in show business, ooooooh.' Pfft."

Principal Beck then walked up to the podium that was set up in the middle of the gym floor, as he tapped the microphone a few times to gain the student's attention. "Hello, everyone. Now, I know some of your are wondering why we are having this assembly."

Peter nodded. He WAS wondering what was going on.

"Well, to be perfectly honest, it came as a complete surprise to us too. A man walked into the office, and asked to speak to all of you. That man, is someone who I am sure all of you are quite familiar with."

The entire gym started speaking in low tones to each other, openly wondering who it could be.

"He is a billionaire, a scientific pioneer, and a man who has saved the city, not to mention the world, dozens of times. Please welcome, Iron Man himself, Tony Stark!"

Tony freaking Stark himself came out, wearing a suit and sunglasses, and waving to the crowd. They responded in unbelieving silence. He walked up to the podium, shaking Principal Beck's hand, before grabbing the microphone and putting it to his mouth, smirking.

"Hiya."