An explosion knocked Peter out of the sky. He managed to control his fall by shooting webbing at a passing tree, which enabled him to land on the grass instead of the cement. He rolled to a stop, backflipping at the end so that he was in what he called his "superhero landing" stance with one hand on the ground. That would leave a mark.
"I'm okay, I'm okay!" He said excitedly into the comms, before he swallowed down his emptiness.
There was no one on the comms. No one would notice if he had a few bruises from the fall. Everyone was either unavailable, unreachable, missing, or... Peter quickly shook his head at the memories of Mr. Stark's funeral. This isn't the time to get emotional, he's fighting a Dino-monster! Some memory in his head tells him he should have come up for a name for the monster by now, but that just seemed so... childish. Though Peter would never admit how much he's changed since everything happened. Soo, maybe there was some unprocessed grief going on in Peter's mind, but he could deal with that later. Later, later, later, he always told himself. Later sounds good.
The roar in the distance justified his personal-dilemma of procrastination, and he was grateful for the easy escape from it this time (usually he overthinks himself into a panic attack), and he stood back up. This was when he first noticed a kid standing about 10 years away. He winked at the boy, who couldn't be older than 8 years old and was frozen in awe at seeing his hero in action right in front of him. The hero who had just tumbled to the ground. Maybe that explained the look of worry on his face.
"I'm okay," Peter said again, thankful there was someone listening this time. "I just got spider-yeeted, is all." The boy's expression broke into a grin, and he laughed. Peter smiled. At least this boy appreciated his humor. Mr. Stark never quite—
Another roar rips him out of his thought process, and he starts running back towards the monster. He turns, running backwards, and points at the kid. "You go find your parents, okay kid?" Peter chokes on the words even as they leave his mouth. He manages to wave to the boy, thankful no one could see his face.
"Bye Spider-man!" The boy waves, before turning and running back towards the buildings.
He fights the monster with a lot less dialogue after that, bringing the ancient Godzilla-looking scaly monster — apparently a cursed-pet-gone-wrong situation, back under control.
Maybe it should have caught his attention how the OsCorp scientists and archaeologists were so eager to have their "pet" back, but Peter was just glad to pass the responsibility to someone else's capable hands. His head was out of tit a today for some reason; usually he could control the memories and feelings, but these overwhelming days were happening more and more often with more and more power over him each time.
Ever since Tony's funeral, the weight and responsibilities Spider-Man used to have haven't felt the same to Peter. Whereas before he was comfortable keeping his patrols mainly in Queens, immediately after the funeral he'd felt like the barrier and protection that Mr. Stark had provided by living in New York had gone, leaving the protection of the entire city on his shoulders.
That was, until Quentin Beck had messed that up, as well. A new wave of worries, stressors, and guilt had washed over him after that experience, but this wasn't a regular wave. This was a wave that took a seat on his shoulders, popped up a tent, and made itself comfortable. And this wave didn't just reside in New York City, but rather the world.
Peter's new reality was one where he had set up protocols for the AI's to alert him when any major threat occurred anywhere in the world. He spent his free time listening to international police channels, reading through news articles, and watching tapes of disasters. Looking for something evil. Something extraterrestrial. Something that resembled a pattern. Something that might be foretelling of a new dangerous event. Peter now held the ability to watch these things, and in line with his M.O., he felt the responsibility of the world's safety on his back.
It was no wonder that Peter seemed like he'd matured 10 years within a just few months; May, Happy, MJ, and Ned had all noticed, of course, but he'd brushed off their comments and complaints, distancing himself. After all, being compared to Tony was a good thing, right? Of course it was. Even if Happy, Rhodey, and Dr. Banner wore worried expressions when they approached him about it.
Peter slumped forward on the bus, his gaze wandering across the skyline as they rode on their way to a field trip, yet his eyes were focusing on the information EDITH was undetectably supplying him with through the glasses he was wearing. Ned and MJ sat on the row in front of him, turned towards the center of the bus, and a couple kids he didn't know (either freshmen or non-blipped kids) were sitting across the bus's aisle listening in awe as Ned rambled on about their past field trips and how "lucky" they've been with running into adventures; this class in particular seemed to have the inability to go on a normal field trip without any major event happening. But the school seemed insistent on breaking that streak, so here they were, on their way to tour OsCorp Industries.
Peter checked the time on his Stark Industries watch, then quickly pulled his sleeve back down to cover his bruised wrist. The field trip shouldn't last longer than a regular school day, meaning he'd get to get home and start his actual hero-work early. Plus, it was Thursday, and tomorrow was a parent-teacher day or something, so he'd have the 3 day weekend to work.
Once they walked in the doors to the tower, Peter froze, causing the kid behind him to run into him. Peter, of course, had a personal history with OsCorp. A connection he'd somehow managed to forget until he was in the same building that had given him his powers those short years ago. He gulped, stepping forward and apologizing to the girl who'd run into him.
This was going to be a normal field trip. A normal field trip in an only semi-normal building in a maybe not-so-normal lab which happened to collect a giant lizard monster from the street yesterday and also happened have radioactive spiders at one point in time. But today, this is a normal field trip.
And it almost was.
They made it through the entire building, nothing weird happening; Peter's spider-sense didn't flare up once throughout the tour.
In fact, it wasn't until they had left the building that there was a commotion from within. They were all filtering out through the spiny doors (to the annoyance of Mr. Harrington, who couldn't get anyone to take the normal set of doors placed adjacent to the spiny ones) when a man flew out of the normal doors, running into the students. Peter heard people running and shouting inside the building, so he knew something was definitely wrong even though no one else could hear the sounds of the security guards following the man.
The man was masked in a black ski mask, and was carrying two wooden boxes, and tripped when he ran into the same girl who'd run into Peter on the way in. He dropped the boxes, causing everyone to turn and look at him, but he only glanced behind him at the doors before he started scooping the contents back into the boxes.
Someone ran out of the building, a security guard. "Stop him!" He yelled, as the man stood up and started running with the one box he had. As he passed Peter, Peter stuck his hand out, lightly touching the box. Normally this action wouldn't have done anything, but Peter stick his fingers to the box, causing it to pull out of his hands as a confused and angry expression took over the man's face. From everyone else's point of view, the man had just run into Peter and clumsily dropped the box. The man cursed at him, and paused. Peter saw him weighing his options as the security guard advanced. Peter knew he didn't have time to collect anything, so he'd have to leave empty-handed to avoid getting caught. But to Peter's surprise, the man knelt down and picked up the three closest items to him, closed his eyes, and held them to his chest.
He started speaking really fast and quietly enough that Peter was sure he was the only one who was able to hear him. "I want to be uncatchable. I wish I could get away with whatever I want."
But whatever fairy godmother he was praying to didn't come through, as the security guard suddenly grabbed the man's sleeve and yanked him up. "Gotchya," he said, yanking the man's mask off (Peter caught himself involuntarily wincing). A few other security guards came up to help control the man, though Peter wasn't sure he needed the extra help. The man's face looked crestfallen, and he through the items down. Peter half expected them to break based off of how old they looked- he couldn't even make out what they were, but they just bounced on the sidewalk.
All of a sudden the students were stirred up again, and they all started moving and whispering amongst themselves. Peter looked up to see that Norman Osborne himself had just exited the building, and he knew this was his only opportunity. While everyone was looking and wandering towards the man who was so often compared to Mr. Stark, Peter slung his backpack to one shoulder before kneeing down, grabbing the oldest-looking relic. It was heavier than he'd thought it would be, and colder, but he quickly slid it into his backpack before standing and shouldering it again. He made eye contact with Ned, who excitedly mouthed the words its Norman Osborne! A good thing, meaning he hadn't noticed Peter's move. Peter smiled encouragingly and gave him a thumbs up. If anyone questioned his lack of enthusiasm or suspected bad acting, he could just tell them he was loyal to Mr. Stark. They did have an unspoken and "friendly" competitive agenda between them, mostly egged on by the media. Norman led the pack of students away from the scene, and with a smile that gave Peter chills began asking them questions about their day, the tour, their favorite part of his labs, and if they had all filled out the application for the OsCorp Summer Internship Program yet. Peter wasn't interested in what he had to say, and instead turned back around to see a bunch of scientists in thick gloves picking up the relics and placing them into cushioned metal boxes. They were surrounded by men in suits wearing black sunglasses and wired earpieces. Peter could only hope that the students that had been next to him had blocked the view of the security cameras, as he saw the level of care they were providing to the relics, as tough as they may be.
For a terrifying moment, Peter was afraid they might stop and screen the students before letting them go. But then Norman made eye contact with one of the men in black and nodded, turning back to the students with a few fake-sounding farewell sentences.
Back on the bus, Peter rolled his eyes. His classmates somehow thought that their class was just lucky enough for the Norman Osborne himself to come out and greet them. No; obviously, the items in the boxes were important. But, he wouldn't spoil their fun. Besides, the lack of Acknowledgement on their part set him up for an easier alibi, should he need one. He did smile at the look of relief on Mr. Harrington's face once they made it back into the school building, all students accounted for, no phone calls to parents needing to be made, and no newsworthy emergencies.
"Peter!" Ned called him as he walked away from the bus. Peter turned back and smiled at his friend. "Hey, Ned."
"Do you want to hang out?"
"When?" Peter had to go check the news, and was planning on studying his new relic toy for his free time.
"Uh," Ned looked around. "Now? We've got the whole long weekend off! We can build my new life size baby Grogu lego set!"
Peter gave his best impression of a disappointed face. "I'm sorry Ned, I can't."
Ned's face, in addition to looking sad, had an underlying emotion in it. Was it a being let down look? Or did he know Peter was lying?
"I'll text you when I have a minute," Peter said, "I promise I'll make time next week to hang out though."
They parted ways, and Peter cringed at the thought of having to squeeze a time in with Ned next week. Part of him felt bad, but he did his best to push that part of him down.
Back at the apartment, he took out the relic. Again, he was surprised by how much heavier it was than it looked. It looked like a rounded piece of driftwood, but upon closer inspection he was able to see that it was actually a rock. Peter felt disappointed. He was hoping it was something more important than a rock. Something worth investigating OsCorp Industries over. Something cooler.
That is, until he saw some markings on the side of the rock. Curious, he took out a washcloth and scrubbed the rock clean.
Satisfied with his work, he set it on the table. Now, he was impressed. There were cool ancient-looking writings all over the rock.
Now this called for his computer. Time for internet searches.
After nearly four hours of searching, transcribing, and translating, he'd found practically nothing. He was almost tempted to call Ned, who he was sure would be able to figure out three times the information in less than half the time it had take n Peter to figure out the little he knew.
All he had found was a few pictures of people holding the rock in their hands, and a sort of title: the wishing rock. The Wishing Rock was a pretty boring name, but Peter reminded himself that he didn't name things like that anymore.
So regardless of how dumb it was, Peter knew two things:
1.Not all of the rocks OsCorp had actually worked, if any, as evidenced by the guy who'd tried to steal them.
2.The wishing rock was very valuable to OsCorp Industries, regardless of it was real or not.
Besides, there at least 15 rocks that had called from those crates on the street, so his odds of choosing the right one were pretty low.
He picked up the rock. He wondered how the Wishing Rock worked. Were there three wishes? Unlimited wishes? Just one?
If there were only one thing he could ask for, what would it be? World peace was the first thing that came to mind, and he laughed; of course that would be good, but he didn't want that to be his test run. Maybe to see his parents. Meet them. He hardly remembered them. He frowned; looking around the room, he almost felt guilty. He would be bringing them back to somewhere they didn't seem to belong. Would they want that? He gazed out the window, zoning out. He wished he had someone to talk this out with. Someone who belonged here. Someone smart, who knew what to do, someone who knew Peter. Someone like—
Someone like Mr. Stark.
He looked at the rock. "I- I wish Mr. Stark was here," he whispered.