Peter was happy to be outside enjoying some much-needed sun. Between his nighttime outings and being stuck inside for his Stark internship during the day he hadn't got to see much of it that summer.

A week into August and he was starting to think of his senior year of high school. There was a lot of pressure from Tony and May for him to do well and get into a good college. Tony seemed oddly sure he would be attending MIT even though he had not even applied yet.

With August came another important milestone for the young superhero, it would be his first birthday with Tony around. He didn't want the billionaire to dote on him, or get him some ridiculously expensive gift, he just wanted someone besides his aunt to hang out with him for the day. Ned and MJ were gone with their families on vacation and besides the Avengers, there was no one else he wanted to share his 16th birthday with.

The problem was he didn't know how to bring the topic up with the man that didn't make it sound like he was looking for something.

He was thinking this over when he heard some loud voices coming from his right. When he turned down the street to see what it was about a large group of people were standing around a newspaper stand. They were voicing their opinions on the front-page story.

The title read "Top Minds meeting in NYC to discuss the Mutant Registration act!"

Peter frowned as several of the adults spouted off random bigotry to try to make their point. He pulled out his cell phone as he walked away to read the story without having to listen to that crap.

After finishing the story, and reading several more, he had a bad taste in his mouth, and had several questions. His own classification in such registrations being a major one.

Although technically not a mutant his genetic makeup was still altered, and he did posses superhuman abilities. Would he have to walk into one of those registration buildings and announce who and what he was? Would he have to allow them to take his DNA and wear a tracking bracelet?

The very thought made him shutter; he would be treated worse than the criminals he caught every day.

He didn't say much as he walked into his apartment and flopped down on his bed, his birthday was suddenly the last thing on his mind.

Later the night once May had gone to bed Peter pulled on his suit and slipped out the window. Nothing like stopping some villains to better a young hero's mood.

Spiderman effortlessly swung through the city keeping a keen ear and eye open for any disturbances. There were several protests for and against the registration around downtown but so far, they were peaceful. Closer to the Ritz-Carlton, where all the dignitaries were staying, things were surprisingly quiet.

With Spidey-sense on high alert he perched on a nearby building and studied the surroundings. Something was very off.

A split second before the dart would have found his neck Spiderman leapt up to stick on the side of the wall.

"Whoa, easy there quick draw, I wasn't doing anything!" He quipped as he looked down at the three men in black suits and earpieces.

"Right, like we would believe that mutant scum!" One snapped. It was fortunate the young hero had quick reflexes because the next three darts came too close for comfort.

"Just gotta say, you boys are wasting your time here, I was just making my rounds!" He web-shot the guns onto a nearby wall. "If you run into real trouble, you remember 911 cause this friendly neighbor Spiderman is outta here!"

There were some more profanities flung his way but he didn't mind, those security guards didn't amount too much in the grand scheme of things. The super teen had only swung a few blocks when the back of his neck exploded in his Spidey-sense.

He sprung off the closest building to land on the edge of a tall tower. Looking back, the way he came he had to give his head to shake to make sure he was seeing what he was seeing.

Metal antennas and the fire escapes around the hotel were all twisted inward, as if drawn but some powerful source. The guards he had just dealt with were unconscious and dangling like grotesque puppets over the street. Below three figures were strolling casually forward.

Spiderman usually dealt with clean cut criminal cases. A man just held up the old lady at gun point. Cut and dry he was a robber. That group of thugs were kicking the crap out of a guy. Yup, there were guilty of assault.

What ever was in motion in front of him was not like that. There was a political element that complicated things and made the young hero question his involvement.

His conscience won out in the end. Whatever these three had on their agenda it was not going to involve harming people in his city. He was planning on swinging in and engaging the lead man but before he got within fifty feet several metal objects and sharp poles struck out in his direction. Spiderman was able to avoid most but one bar snared his ankle forcing him to miss his next shot and fall to the cold pavement below.

The three didn't even look in his direction as he hit the ground with a thud.

"OK, that hurt." He muttered before snapping up to his feet. "Whoa! Wait up guys. I am pretty sure I need to check your ID's to make sure you are guests at this fine establishment." They didn't acknowledge he spoke so the teen did the only thing he could think of to get their attention. With several precision shots he barred their way through the front door with several sticky strands of webbing. It might not look like much; but the textile strength of the substance rivaled any other material of the same diameter.

Landing lightly in front of the three, Spiderman got his first look at who he was facing. The lithe male in the back was a few years older than himself, his dark hair was slicked back, and his clothes were well worn and charred in places.

The female was pretty but not in a way that would stand out. Simple, classic beauty that would turn a few heads but would be just as quickly forgotten. Still, something was wrong. Something about her eyes not matching the rest of her.

Then there was the lead male. Older gentleman, with silver hair, cold calculating eyes, straight back and superior stance. His grey suit was pressed with sharp line, and on his head was a helmet that looked like something that could have been off an old-time knight.

"Sorry, we are closed. Feel free to take a number and try back again tomorrow!"

His humour was not appreciated.

"I am only going to tell you this once pup. Walk away. This fight is bigger than your little vigilante act."

"Sorry Pops. They might have been assholes but dangling New York city residents over pavement just doesn't sit well with me."

With a little twitch of his hand, the man sent a sewer cover straight into the Spiderman's sternum while simultaneously pulling the entrance of the hotel apart like a tuna can.

The metal disc slammed the teen back into a brick building, he grunted and dropped to his knees, struggling to get a breath back in his deflated lungs. Sirens sounded a way off alerting the superhero to the cops approaching.

From what he saw the last thing he wanted was the cops pulling up in their metal cars giving this psycho anything else to use as a weapon.

As soon as he had oxygen back in his body, he was back to his feet and in pursuit. Instead of using his normal tactic he switched it up and web-shot both the older man and the woman pulling them to an abrupt halt before using his adhesive footing and super strength to sling shot the two back out the door. His Spidey-sense alerted him to the attack of the second man.

The teen didn't have time to comprehend that the human before him was shooting flames from his hands, or that he could manipulate the inferno to lash out much like a whip. He just knew he had to move if he didn't want to become a toasted Spider!

In the haste to escape the heat he lost track of the other two. His game of tag with the pyro turned into dodgeball as several metal objects come flying at his head. In his distraction his right arm caught on fire forcing him to retreat to put it out.

"Help me!" Came a distressed cry. Spiderman jumped back in, actively looking for the source of the call. Finally, he saw a small child frantically scrambling to get out of the chaos.

Shooting his web to the ceiling the young hero swooped in to grab the child, putting his back in the line of fire literally. Outside Spiderman used the brick building to smoother the flames on his back.

"There ya go kid! I suggest you get out of here. This is gonna get ugly!" He said to the little boy. There was a briefest of a pause where he wondered why a child that young was awake and by themselves in a hotel lobby before the six-year-old sprouted full, blue female legs that easily wrapped around his throat before fully morphing back into the female assassin, taking him to the ground completely.

Using his strength, he managed to throw the woman off before having to dive for cover behind a block of concrete as flames engulfed the area. From his hiding spot he only caught a glimpse of the older man's form ascend the elevator shaft. Fearing what would happen if the man reached his destination Spiderman leapt out and shot a web to the ceiling. He used his momentum to swing across the room and dive headfirst into the opening, catching a grip on the inside wall.

As fast as his arms and legs could take him, he bolted straight up. Not even his spidey-sense had time to warn him of the sudden elevator speeding down towards his head. There was no sound, and the way it moved indicated it was no longer on its cables and the man had dropped it purposely to stop him.

Normally he would have been quick to jump out of the way, but something told him the elevator wasn't empty. A feeling in his gut.

The teen didn't know if he could stop the elevator, or if it was just going to crush him but he had to try. He let the metal smash into his back before shooting webbing out as fast as he could. It took several scary moments and almost all his cannisters of webbing to stop the descent, thankfully before he was squashed at the bottom.

It was fortunate his powers were maturing with him because if he had tried this stunt even a few months ago he would have been torn to shreds, fortunately with time his very skin was toughening up enough he only came out with some, admittedly bad, bruising.

Carefully he pulled open the doors and peered inside. There on the floor was an unconscious hotel worker. Spiderman carefully lifted the woman free and brought her to solid ground. There were several people peeking out their rooms to see what was going on.

"Hey! You! Yeah you come here and make sure she is comfortable and phone 911!" Spiderman demanded at the closest head he saw.

Finally, he made it to the roof to see that the ones he had been fighting were no where to be found. He cursed and took a moment to think. The building was starting to be surrounded by cop cars now and a figure on a nearby roof caught the young man's attention.

Quickly he made his exit to a safer location where he met up with the shiny red and gold Ironman.

"You alright kid?" The metal armour demanded.

Spiderman tried to take stock of what damage was done but his disappointment of letting the bad guys go was overriding his brain.

"Ah geez Mr. Stark, that was so messed up! I tried. I mean I thought I had them on the ropes for a minute but then that lady tricked me into thinking she was a kid, and I can't just leave a kid! And that fire dude! But when metal-head dropped the elevator on me! That was it, I lost them, and they got away and…"

The Ironman suit opened and a half-amused half-stern Tony Stark stepped free which caused the teen to stutter to a stop and wait for the lecture.

"They did get away, grabbed one of the senators as they went but we are on it, kid. Rogers is on the trail with some outside help." He paused to give a little grin. "I must say though, you fared better then most. Whole teams of mutants have tried taking on Magneto and lost."

"Mag-what? You know that guy? What outside help? Why are you here instead of with them? Don't tell me you came here just to check on me? Mr. Star…"

Tony raised an eyebrow and Spiderman physical flinched and shut up again.

"Come on Underoos, use that big brain of yours. What use is Ironman against a man that can manipulate metals?"

The teen's cheeks burnt red under his mask.

"And of course, I came to check on you. You mentioned having an elevator being dropped on you? Come on, back to the tower, I'll patch you up and we can wait for news together."

The young hero perked up at that thought and eagerly followed Ironman back to Stark tower.