Chapter 83
As it turned out, the talk Toni and Steve gave Peter when he went home was a lot more along the lines of a lecture about responsibility and keeping them in the loop than it was about anything in relationship to the weapons.
And from how the weekend had gone, with not a single mention of the alien arms dealer, Peter was starting to wonder if Toni was even looking into the matter at all. Because if she was, she certainly wasn't telling him anything about it.
He sighed to himself as he entered the shop class during his free period, grateful that not too many students were in the classroom during the block.
He felt a fraction of guilt as he took the alien tech-based gun out of his bag and placed it on the table and began to slowly dismantle it. He looked up at the shop teacher, and almost smiled at the guy who was reading a book, clearly not too invested in what the students were up to.
"Oh!" he said, as he looked at the glowing object coming from the gun.
"Hey, thanks for bailing on me," Ned said, looking unimpressed with his friend. His parents had taken away his phone for the weekend, and he regretted not being able to tell Ned the truth about why he hadn't joined the party.
"Sorry, something came up," Peter said, as he gestured to the gun on the desk.
"You mean like that sort of something," Ned said, with his eyes widening at the insinuation of it being a superhero thing. "Oh, what is that?"
"I don't know," Peter said, "I saw an explosion with the same colour when I was about to join the party and decided to check it out. And some dude tried to vaporize me with it."
"Seriously?" Ned said, voice filled with disbelief.
"Yeah," Peter said, trying to sound cool.
"Awesome. Your life never ceases to amaze me," Ned looked amazed, and when Peter gave him a look, given the fact he could have died, Ned quickly back tracked, "I mean, not awesome. Totally uncool of that guy. So scary."
"Mm hm," Peter said, but he smiled despite it. He continued to dig around, "It must be some sort of power source, right? Like look at it."
"Yeah, but it's connected to all these microprocessors. That's an inductive charging plate. That's what I use to charge my toothbrush," Ned said, as he pointed to part of it.
"That means it's not pure alien tech," Peter mused, "Whoever's making these weapons is obviously combining alien tech with ours."
"That is literally the coolest sentence anyone has ever said," Ned said, a bit stunned, "I just want to thank you for letting me be part of your journey into this amazing-"
Peter brought his hammer down particularly hard, and to their shock, the core popped out of the gun, still glowing. They both glanced up in shock to look and see if the teacher had noticed what they were up to, but luckily, he was still engrossed in his book.
"Keep your fingers clear of the blades," the teacher said loudly, not even bothering to look up.
He let out a sigh of relief. He looked down at the core that had landed on the table, "I gotta figure out what this thing is and who makes it."
"Why not just ask your Mom?" Ned said, sounding a little hesitant. "Like surely she must know right? She and your Dad fight aliens like all the time. If anyone knew who was making this kind of tech it would be her."
"No!" he said quickly, and Ned looked a bit startled. "No. She was already unhappy with me for digging into this on my own. The last thing I need is another lecture about staying at home and being a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. I can do this, Ned! I can track these guys down and bring them in. Then she'll see that I'm ready for the big leagues. That I'm ready to be an Avenger!"
"Okay," Ned said, as he nodded his head, clearly understanding why Peter needed to do this so badly.
"Thanks," he exhaled, "She and Dad were pretty mad at me after everything that happened on Friday. And well if one of the suits didn't pull me up from the lake there was a chance I may not have come up. So I get it, but I can do this, Ned. Sometimes I think she looks at me and still sees that kid she asked to mentor years ago. But I'm so much more than that. I'm nearly an adult. And I need to prove to her that I can handle myself. That I got this."
"Let's do this then," Ned said with a nod, "If anyone can bring them in, it'll be the two of us. And well, I'll be your guy in the chair, behind you every step of the way. We'll bring these guy in and show them that you're capable of this, okay?"
"Thanks, Ned," Peter said again, sounding grateful. "It means a lot to me that you're willing to do this for me."
"Of course," Ned grinned, as they gathered up their stuff to head towards the library for the rest of study period. "We'll go to the lab after class and run some tests."
"Maybe then we can figure out what's going on with it," Peter nodded in confirmation, "No better way to learn how something works than to thoroughly test it and gather information."
"Dude you are such a nerd," Ned grinned.
"Thanks," Peter beamed, knowing that he meant it as a compliment. They walked out of the class and down the hall towards the library together. Most of the other students were in some class or the other, so the halls were empty.
"First, I say we put the glowy thing in the mass spectrometer," Ned said, as he glanced over at Peter.
He laughed, "First, we gotta come up with a better name than glowy thingy."
"You're right," Ned said solemnly, as Peter could see him start to think about other things they could call the alien based core
He stopped dead in his tracks however when they turned the corner and saw two men head through a different corridor. Well shoot.
And just like that, his spider senses activated, as Peter instantly knew something was very, very wrong.
"Crap," Peter said, as he threw himself behind a wall. He gestured at Ned, "Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on."
Ned looked confused as he shuffled across the hallway towards Peter, as Peter beckoned urgently. He peered around the corner and saw the two men coming right for them. And if the chess club going on in the room they were in front of thought anything of it, they didn't say anything.
"High schools creep me out," one of the men said, as Peter and Ned looked at them from behind the wall. "They got this funny smell, you know?"
Quickly, Peter dragged Ned back again.
"Hey, that's one of the guys that tried to kill me," Peter said, a little stunned.
"What?" Ned whispered loudly, "Really? What's he doing here?"
"He's probably here to pick up his kid," Peter said sarcastically, "Why do you think he's here, Ned?"
"For the glowy thingy?" Ned all but squealed.
"For the glowy thingy," Peter confirmed.
"We gotta get out of here," Ned said quickly, looking around for an exit they could sneak out of unnoticed.
"No, no, no, no, no. I gotta follow them. Maybe they can lead me to the guy that dropped me in the lake," Peter said quickly.
"Someone dropped you in a lake and you want to go after them?" Ned whispered, rattled, "Dude, you're only here cause your Mom pulled you out of it. What would have happened if she didn't? Like these guys tried to kill you, Man!"
"Yeah, it was not good," Peter admitted. The men seemed to be holding some sort of scanning device, most likely what led them towards the school in the first place. They turned a corner, and Peter crept out from behind the wall they were hiding behind.
"Peter-" Ned started, sounding freaked out.
"No, stay there, Ned," Peter instructed him, not wanting his friend to get caught up in this.
He gestured for his friend to stay, as he carefully tip toed towards where the men had gone.
He slunk through the hallways, looking back once, grateful that Ned had stayed behind, as he saw them disappear down a stairwell. He carefully glided down the stairs and saw the two men rummaging through a classroom.
The same shop classroom that Peter had been in just a few minutes before.
The two men looked around, trying to detect any signs of the core that Peter had in his backpack.
He quickly walked down the stairs, trying not to get spotted.
"Can you imagine what the boss would say if he knew where we were?" one of the men asked.
"It's saying there was an energy pulse right here," the second said, sounding unimpressed that he was even in the school. Peter carefully took off his bag, as he slinked under the table.
"There's no sign of the weapon. And even if it was here, now it's gone," the first man said, looking confused.
"So are we," the second said, clearly eager to leave.
He looked in Peter's direction then, and Peter's heart raced as he attached himself to the bottom of the table, hopping that he wouldn't be spotted. The man came closer and closer, until he was just a few inches away from where Peter was hiding. The man looked around, and Peter held his breath, as the man held onto his gun tightly.
To his luck, neither of the men seemed to sense anything was up, and they walked back up the stairs.
Peter reached his arm out, as he aimed a tracking spider that he and Toni had been working on, as it landed on the second man's leg, and slowly climbed up his pant leg.
And as they vanished up the stairs, Peter let out a sigh of relief.
Later, when Ned visited Peter in the Tower, they sat on his bed, as they stared at the hologram at the model of the city, looking at the tracker on the map.
"This is so awesome," Ned said, looking awed, "Dude, I'm so jealous of all the tech that must be in your life.
"I know, right," he said, as he glanced at it. Having Toni Stark as a mother had really stepped up Spider-Man's access to tech and made it so much easier to track down the bad guys.
Ned poked around at the model on the screen, trying to zoom in on the device.
"They're in Brooklyn," Peter said, glancing at it.
They left it open as they worked on their homework, trying to work through the calculus questions they'd received earlier that day.
He was grateful his parents hadn't chosen to look in on what he and Ned were doing, because in all honesty, Peter wasn't sure he had a lie that he'd be able to come up with to explain what they were doing.
"It's moving," Ned said, suddenly sitting up. Peter had been dangling on the ceiling, eating a bag of chips he'd smuggled out of the kitchen, "It's in Staten Island."
The hours ticked on as Ned started playing with his spider shooters. Toni had come in and checked on them, and they had quickly hidden the hologram as she told them dinner was ready. The two boys followed her out of the room and tried to pretend all through the meal that neither of them were up to anything. And if his parents suspected anything, they didn't say it.
When they returned to his room after a few hours of hanging out with his parents, he took a glance at the map.
"It's stopped moving," Peter said, sounding surprised.
"What's in Maryland?" Ned said, looking at the map.
"I dunno," Peter said, a bit surprised, "Evil lair maybe?"
"They have a lair?" Ned said, sounding shocked.
"Dude. A gang with alien guns run by a guy with wings? Yeah, they have a lair," Peter said, matter-of-factly.
"Badass. But how are you gonna get there if it's, like, 300 miles away?" Ned said, "No way your parents wouldn't notice.
He glanced down at the permission form they'd gotten a few days ago for the Academic Decathlon meet. He hadn't been too sure about going.
But what if?
"It's not too far from D.C.," Peter mused, as he looked at Ned.
"It could work," Ned nodded.
"Looks like we're taking a field trip," Peter said, as the two of them broke out into wide, excited, smiles.
Toni Stark-Rogers felt guilty.
When Peter had handed her the permission form and asked nervously if he could go to D.C. for a decathlon met, she'd stared down at it wondering why it was the first time she was hearing about any of this. Given the meet was this weekend and Peter hadn't bothered to tell her about it until a few days before.
And why did he look so nervous as he asked her to sign it? She knew he was still wary spending her money but she had hoped that he was starting to get over that slowly, as he grew accustomed to living with her and Steve.
Her husband had tried to convince her that she was overthinking it, but she knew Peter. She could read him, especially given that he was her son. And when he'd packed his bag for the weekend, she'd watched him carefully fold up all his stuff and put it in his bag.
She'd sighed and hadn't pushed too hard on it. Clearly her son didn't want to talk too much about it.
She'd driven him to the school that day, wanting to at least be there for that much for him,
Was she failing him? Was that why he was so nervous to ask for something as simple as going on a field trip? Was that it?
"Peter, you know it's not too late for me to come, right?" she offered, "I can have Happy fire up the jet and be there in time for your meet. Steve and I can come watch you guys compete. It would be nice to see you guys in the competition, especially given that I know how hard you worked to get here. Just let us know if it's okay with you and we can get things together in about an hour or so and meet you guys in D.C."
She glanced over at her son as she pulled into the school parking lot.
He quickly shook his head, looking panicked, and she tried not to let the pain hit her too hard at the idea that her son didn't want her or Steve to watch him compete.
"No, it's okay!" he said quickly, trying to recover. "Don't worry about it, Mom. It's really not that big of a deal, I promise. And I don't think any of the other parents are going to be there so it could be a bit weird if I'm the only one, you know? And like I mean, it's not like you'd exactly be able to keep a low profile or anything. Not that that's your fault or anything. But like I also don't want you to feel pressure to come. This isn't all that big of a deal."
For not the first time in her life, she felt a sense of guilt. Guilt that she couldn't provide her son with a normal life. And guilt that just her presence at an event would detract all the attention from her son and his team competing in a national competition; something which was a really, really big deal. All because she was in the room.
And he was right, wasn't he? If she showed up, then the entire thing would turn into something about her. People would want to know what she was doing there. They'd want to know more about that, and no matter how hard she wanted something to be about her child, didn't mean that the media would give her a break enough to celebrate her child.
So she simply sighed to herself. She got out of the car, and as Peter got out, she walked over to where he was, and wrapped her arms around him. She kissed him on the forehead, knowing that they were just out of view from the rest of his classmates.
"I love you, you know that, right?" she asked him gently. "I'm so proud of you for going to this competition. I know that you were reluctant to join up again this year, and I'm glad you're not giving up the things you love out of a sense of duty. You're a brilliant child, and you deserve to shine."
"I love you too, Mom," he told her, as he hugged her back, "I promise I'll text you and Dad with regular updates, okay? Please don't feel too guilty about it. It's not a big deal, I promise. Half the kids parents here don't even care that their children are going away for a weekend. It means a lot that you wanted to drop me off."
"Of course," she told him with a smile. "And I hope you know that your father and I are going to be cheering you on from the sidelines. We're both extremely proud of you."
"Thanks, Mom," he said, pulling away as he slung his bag over his shoulder, "Do you want to come meet the team?" he offered her.
"I'd love that," she smiled widely, as he led her over to where the bus was.
"Mr Harrington," Peter greeted, "I wanted you to meet my mom."
"Mrs Stark-Rogers," Mr Harrington said, eyes widening. "I promise nothing's going to happen to Peter in my care. He'll be safe the entire time."
She saw Ned on the bus, and she smiled up at her son's friend. A few rows away another kid was glaring down at them, and she wondered who he was.
"Oh I have no doubt he'll be safe in your hands," she told him, "I just came to wish you all good luck. I know you're all brilliant minds and I'm sure you'll do well in the competition."
"Thank you," Mr Harrington said, still looking a little stunned. "We'll do our best."
She gave Peter a quick side hug, not wanting to embarrass him too much in front of his friends. "I'm sure you guys need to head out. Have fun you guys!"
Peter smiled at her as he boarded the bus, and she turned to leave. She didn't want to impose too much on him, and she was grateful that even if she couldn't be there to watch him compete, that she could still be there to offer her support from the sidelines.
"Miss there is something you need to see," FRIDAY came on over the speakers. She had been tuned into the livestream for the Academic Decathlon meet and had been surprised to see that Peter was not competing with the rest of the team. And when her son had failed to respond to any of her messages, she'd felt a sense of worry about just what could have happened to her son.
Steve had been beside her as the television turned on.
"Welcome back to ABC News. We had received reports that Spider-Man was spotted in the Nation's capital, at the Washington Monument, a far distance from his usual sightings in New York City. Spider-Man appeared to be trying to enter the monument from the roof, and as Military helicopters approached, he seemed to pay them no mind," the female anchor said. "Our man at the scene has more to report."
She glanced at her husband in confusion, as the camera switched to a man in front of the Washington Monument.
"Thanks, Nancy," the male said, "As you can see behind me, Spider-Man is currently attempting to enter the Washington Monument. He appears to have breached the perimeter by breaking a window, and has entered the building. There have been reports of an earthquake at the monument, and you can see a small crack in the tip behind me."
"JARVIS scan the monument," she demanded, "What is happening?"
"Toni," Steve said, looking worried.
"I know," she said.
"The building systems seem to be failing," JARVIS reported. "An elevator has been reported as down, and they are working to evacuate everyone inside it."
"Oh Bohr," she said, shock filling her.
"The elevator is falling," JARVIS said, as her AI sounded worried.
"As you can see behind me, firetrucks and ambulances have approached the scene," the man said on the tv. "We have reports of the building having a complete power failure, and we do not yet know if there have been any casualties."
"He's going to be okay," Steve said, trying to reassure them both, as they saw on the screen people were being evacuated out of the building.
"FRIDAY contact Karen now," she demanded, "I need to talk to Peter."
"Mom?" Peter said, as he let out a pained sound.
"Peter, what happened?" she asked, "Where are you?"
"There was an explosion at the Monument," he said, "I couldn't leave them all in there. I'm so sorry, this is all my fault. If I never brought the alien tech with me none of them would have nearly died. I'm so sorry, I should have listened to you."
"Peter, where are you?" she repeated, as she tried to process whatever it was her son was telling her.
"I'm fine," he told her with another wince, "I'm at the bottom of the monument. I might have fallen after helping everyone get out of the elevator."
"Are you hurt?" she asked, as Steve wrapped his arms around her, "Do you have any broken bones?"
"I'm fine," he told her, and she prayed he wasn't lying to her right now, "Just bruises mostly. Nothing that won't heal in a few hours."
"Peter," she said in a warning tone.
"I promise," he said, trying to sound convincing, "I'm fine I promise."
"I'm not sure if I believe you," she said with a sigh, "I'm going to have Karen scan your suit now, okay? She's going to report if there are any injuries."
"Peter is mostly fine with the exception of bruised ribs," Karen told them helpfully, "He should make a recover in approximately two hours, assuming he does not further injure himself."
"I should fly there and take you to a doctor," she said, pulling out her phone to try and start making arrangements.
"No I'll be fine!" Peter said, sounding panicked, "I promise, I'm going to be fine. I'll just stay safe for the rest of the afternoon and I'll be home by tomorrow evening. Nothing is going to happen to me, please you don't need to come."
She glanced over at Steve who sighed and nodded in agreement with their son, and she wanted to shake her head in protest. But they were right. He would be fine.
"Fine," she said, displeased, "But you call me if you start to feel worse, okay? I want to know if you feel worse."
"I will," Peter said, "I gotta go. Don't want anyone to find me down here."
"Stay safe, Peter," she said, as the call ended.
"He could have been seriously hurt," she said, as Steve wrapped his arms around her.
"His friends were in there," Steve said, trying to reassure her, "You know as well as I do that, he couldn't have left them there if something happened to them."
"I know," she sighed as she buried her head in his chest, "He's a lot like you in that sense."
"You say that like it's a bad thing," he teased.
"Of course it's not," she said, as he cupped her face, "You both would do anything to protect the people you love. But doesn't make it any easier to watch you risk your lives."
"I know, Darling," he said, as he kissed her head, "But all that matters is that he's safe now. We'll have a long discussion with him on what he meant by bringing alien tech with him when he gets home. But for now, he's safe, and that's the important thing."
She nodded, knowing her husband was right.
As long as Peter was safe, that's all that she cared about.
