Chapter 15: A Rebel With a Cause
Nothing will ever replace or downplay the feeling of adrenaline Peter feels as he plummets towards the city. The rush of wind bends around his suit and rushes past his ears. His body feels weightless and free. He'll never get over the feeling of being Spider-Man. As the ground approaches faster, he shoots a web to a nearby building and pulls himself forward.
"Good afternoon, Peter. Your suit's integrity hasn't seemed to improve. I recommend repairing the torn material prior to patrol. I'm glad that your wound has been tended to. Did Tony Stark assist you?" Karen's sweet voice asks.
"Hey Karen! How's it going? What's the news look like?" he ignores her question about Tony.
"I'm doing well. Thank you for asking. The news channels and radio stations are showing no interesting activity. However, your school is on TV about this afternoon's incident."
"Oh wow, really? That's kinda cool. What are they saying?" He continues swinging his way into the city, keeping his eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary.
"Principal Morita is currently speaking. Would you like to listen?" He swings upwards and flips onto the roof of a building.
"Yeah, sure." A small window opens on his mask's interface showing Mr. Morita from the shoulders up.
"No one was harmed." He can't help but scoff. "We are currently unaware of who pulled the fire alarm, but we are looking into it and proper repercussions will be implemented. We believe whoever pulled the alarm used it as a distraction to break into the Chemistry Lab. We are still looking into what, if anything, was taken. Thank you." With that, Mr. Morita disappears from the screen and Karen swipes it away for Peter. He supposes that means no one saw Mysterio, which is good?
"Thanks, Karen. Can you call Ned for me?"
"Of course." Ned's amazing contact picture pops up on his screen and his best friend answers immediately.
"Hey, Peter!" Ned greets enthusiastically.
"Hey, you ready?"
"Yeah! I'm all cued up at my desk. Your Guy in the Chair is at your service." He uses an overly sophisticated voice that makes Peter laugh.
"Thanks, man. How about checking the police scanners? Karen said she couldn't find anything on the news or radios." Peter jumps off the building and starts swinging again.
"As you wish," Ned quotes. Peter chuckles, his mechanical lenses narrowing.
"Did you just quote The Princess Bride? " Ned gasps overdramatically and Peter can hear him typing in the background.
"Inconceivable! " They both burst out laughing, so much so that it makes Peter's side ache with the extra movement.
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means," Peter quotes Inigo Montoya with a, pretty terrible, Spanish accent. They keep laughing. "Jeez, we haven't watched that movie in ages. We need to have another movie night with May."
"That'd be awesome." There's a beep in the background. "Sorry, Peter. There's nothing on the police scanners either. It looks pretty quiet," Ned regrettably informs. Peter can't help but groan. The last time he disobeyed Tony, trouble wouldn't leave him alone. Now that he's actually looking for trouble, there's nothing?!
"See. Just as I said," Karen points out.
"Yeah but another pair of eyes never hurts. Plus you could've overlooked something," Ned answers nonchalantly.
"I am a User Interface created by the genius billionaire Tony Stark. I don't overlook anything." Is Karen…jealous? Of Ned?
"Oh yeah?" Ned challenges. "Well I'm the also super smart Ned Leeds: Spider-Man's Guy in the Chair! I'm the one who hacked Iron Man's Spider-Man suit so ha!" Peter can't keep the smile off his face as the two argue.
"That was you?" Karen inquires.
"Darn right it was me!"
"Oh. Very well. I will be sure to inform Tony Stark that Ned Leeds infiltrated his multimillion dollar suit." Peter can hear the amusement in her mechanical voice.
"What?! Wait! You can't- don't- if he- he's gonna kill me with his amazingly polished metal fists!" Ned squeaks frantically. Peter playfully rolls his eyes at his best friend's sudden panic.
"She won't tell Mr. Stark. Right, Karen?" he urges. There's a brief pause, but she responds with,
"Right, Peter." Ned audibly sighs in relief.
"Hey, didn't you say you were going to train with Tony Stark in the Tower today or something? You were barely there for, like, twenty minutes." Peter kinda of hoped Ned would be so excited about patrol that he'd forget about that part.
"Well, um, about that. Mr. Stark kinda found out about what happened at school and saw that I got hurt and he got pissed and I yelled because he treated me like a baby so he yelled back and now we kind of aren't speaking?" More like he's drinking his worries away instead of dealing with me.
"Dude you're fighting with Iron Man?! Again?! Don't you remember the last time someone fought with Iron Man?! Captain America and half of the Avengers became fugitives and then you almost died! I'm not liking this pattern!" Ned rambles out his concerns, his voice squeaking near the end.
"I know, okay? I just, I couldn't stay cooped up inside that tower. He tried to make me stay in a guest room while he gets drunk," Peter grumbles.
"When Tony Stark tells you to do something, you do it!" Ned says as if it's a no-brainer.
"Since when?! I'm Spider-Man! I can take care of myself! Spider-Man doesn't need rules or stupid guidelines. I've got my Guy in the Chair and Karen! That's all I need."
"Stop using that against me! It won't always work," Ned pouts.
"C'mon, Ned! I'm gonna be fine and you never know when the bad guys are gonna do their bad guy thing! I guarantee Mr. Stark isn't even gonna notice I'm gone before I got back. It'll be a quick patrol." Peter tries to reason with him.
"Fine," Ned huffs. "But if I get on Iron Man's shit list for this, I'll start taking New Best Friend applications." Peter smiles triumphantly at his victory.
They spend the next half hour talking about the internet's newest Star Wars theories while Peter takes care of some minuscule disturbances. There was an elderly man who needed help carrying his groceries to his car, so Peter easily carried them all for him. Then Peter had to chase a bunch of dogs who got away from a dog walker, which was slightly humiliating since it took him a bit longer than it should have. Besides that, Ned and Karen were right. Everything's quiet.
"People actually think that?" Peter exclaims with his mouth full of a classic New York hot dog.
"Yeah! They were saying that Snoke was somehow Mace Windu and I was so confused." Ned relays. Static sounds in the background. "Police scanner is going off all of sudden."
"What do we got?" Peter asks, eager to have something more meaningful to do. Not that chasing dogs isn't…important? There's a brief pause while Ned listens to the scanner.
"Sounds like some dudes are taking a joyride down East Forty-First Street. Whoa! It's, like, turning into a car chase!" Ned tries to hide the excitement in his voice, but fails miserably. As soon as he finishes, Peter starts to hear the sirens. Karen lights up a path on Peter's screen and he quickly adjusts his swing to follow it.
"I have highlighted the optimal route. It should take you two minutes or less to catch up to the vehicle. However, I feel the need to warn you that a high speed car chase is incredibly dangerous," Karen warns in a serious, unwavering tone. The kind of tone she uses when she's about to suggest help from a certain ironclad billionaire.
"I'll be careful, I promise. Better me than the police, right?" Peter reasons. She doesn't answer.
"They just turned south onto Second Avenue," Ned informs him. Karen adjusts her path accordingly as Peter flies above the roof of a building. Thank goodness Karen knows which direction that is because, let's be real, no one knows which direction south is just off the top of their head. That's what phones are for! Or in Peter's case, a highly intelligent user interface.
"Copy. Can you hack into the traffic lights?" When Peter gets onto East 41st Street, he starts swinging closer to the ground. The sirens aren't too far away now.
"Um, I think so? It's pretty simple since they're wirelessly networked. Why? Wouldn't that count as a federal offense?" Before Peter can answer Ned's questions, Karen beats him to it.
"Tampering with traffic lights would be considered a federal crime under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. One's sentence would depend on the course of action taken and the motivation behind it, but will likely lead to at least a five thousand dollar fine and up to ten years in prison." There's a brief silence.
"Don't worry! It's for the greater good! I'm sure they'll understand. Besides, you're only in trouble if you get caught!" Peter encourages as he lands on a car that turns onto 2nd Avenue.
"I don't think you should be quoting Aladdin right now! He isn't exactly the best role model!" Ned counters. Peter's mask highlights the car crazily weaving between traffic just ahead of the blaring cop cars.
"Ned! Focus! I need you to turn all the lights green for these psychos. If anything's red, they're gonna run it anyways and I don't want them hurting anyone. Can you do that?" Ned quickly snaps out of it, always confident when it comes to his tech.
"I'm insulted that you underestimate my skills." Peter shakes his head with a smile before swinging off the car. He swiftly moves past the cop cars, his mask automatically dampening the screaming sirens and flashing lights. As he speeds past them, he realizes that the intersection they're rapidly approaching has a red light. Uh oh.
"Ned I kinda needed that green light, like, yesterday!"
"I'm trying! I'm trying!" Ned defends. Peter shoots out another web and swings close to the ground so that he's at the same level as the rogue car's window.
"Sup guys," he greets nonchalantly. The guy in the passenger seat jumps and the whole car swerves in surprise. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you're going forty in a twenty-five zone." The passenger wastes no time in pulling out a gun. Peter lets go of his web to stick onto the back door as the man fires out the passenger window. When the firing pauses, Peter webs the gun and yanks it out of the man's hands.
"Fuck!" the man exclaims, ducking back into the car and rolling up the window. Peter uses his left hand to stay adhered to the car as he uses his right hand to punch through the window.
"Hey man, I'm a family friendly superhero, so I'd appreciate you keeping it PG-13," Peter says politely before pulling the man out through the window and slamming him onto the roof. The top dents slightly at the sudden weight and Peter webs him in place. "Hang out for a sec and I'll get back to you." Peter attaches a web to the top of the car for support as he leans to the side to peer in at the driver.
"Got it!" Ned exclaims as the traffic light shifts to green. Not just the one in front of them, but all the following intersections light up green in their favor. Peter pumps his fist in the air yelling,
"Heck yeah! Thanks, man!" They race through the clear intersection, but the driver still swerves in attempt to get Peter off. Peter pokes his head inside to look at them. "You do realize that auto theft is against the law, right?" The driver, a woman, whips out another gun. Where do bad guys get all these guns?! She immediately starts firing and Peter pulls himself away from the window as the bullets whizz past his head. Peter hops onto the top of the car, hearing the muffled protests of the other thief. "Nope, it's not your turn yet." Peter crawls past him to the other side of the car as they speed through an intersection. Thank god Ned changed the lights so we can't get t-boned. The woman frantically whips her head between the passenger window and the road. All this work for a crappy Honda Prius? Peter webs the remaining gun and flings it out onto the side of the road. The remaining thief turns her head around to Peter and her face quickly contorts into a glare.
"You piece of-" Peter shoots a web over her mouth.
"Cake?" he finishes for her. "You're right. This is a piece of cake!" A tingling sensation suddenly grabs the back of his neck. Danger. Danger. Danger. Danger. His head snaps up towards the street in front of them. Someone's in the crosswalk.
"Ned, I thought all the lights were green!"
"They are!" Ned confirms frantically. Don't have time. No time. Peter pulls the driver out through the window as he webs her accomplice with his other hand, only sticking to the car with his feet. Ned's trying to talk to Peter, but his Spidey Sense is screaming louder than any noise around him. Faster. Faster. Faster. He cocoons the soon-to-be-inmates together in webbing, then throws them towards a lamppost as they speed by. As soon as the criminals make contact, the cocoon cushioning the collision, Peter shoots a web to stick them to the pole. The pedestrian in the crosswalk has wide eyes and is frozen with fear. There's not enough time to stop the car. We're too close. It's gonna, it's gonna-
Peter flips off the top of the car without thinking and lands in front of the pedestrian. Then, he braces for impact. His senses only increase in their intensity as he puts his shoulder forward. The sudden, brutal impact jars his entire body. A shockwave seems to rattle him to the bone, but it's nothing compared to the car. The hood of the car crumples and bends around him like a crushed can. The metal whines and he can feel the heat radiating from the engine as smoke rises from the damaged hood. Every muscle in his body screams as he does his best to keep the rogue car from advancing. I gotta shield the pedestrian, is all he tells himself. His feet dig into the asphalt, causing it to crack and break apart. Just a bit more. Stronger. You have to be stronger. C'mon, Peter.
The car screeches and he can smell burnt rubber as the tires melt against the asphalt at the sudden friction. Still, the car gives way. The back end of it tips up before smacking back to the ground.
He stopped it.
"Holy shit," he breathes. He removes himself from the dent he's created in the metal and takes a deep, steadying breath. He turns around to face the pedestrian, who's now on the ground looking terrified. The guy, seemingly not too much older than Peter, has his gaze glued to Peter in a mixture of awe and terror. Peter can't blame him, the guy was almost flattened. "You might wanna look both ways before crossing the street. Y'know, left, right, and left again. Are you okay?" Peter rambles, trying to get the suddenly overwhelming amount of adrenaline out of his system.
"I, I think so? Dude, that was, that was insane, man!" The guy is shaking slightly, but he doesn't have a scratch on him so that's good.
"He has no bodily harm. However, I suggest treating for shock in case his mental state worsens," Karen speaks up.
"Okay. Okay, um, call an ambulance if one's not already on its way." The pedestrian isn't the only one taking shaky breaths.
"Peter!" Ned screams into Peter's ears, making him practically jump out of his skin.
"I'm okay! I'm okay! Just had to…stop a car. No sweat," Peter reassures.
"You stopped a car?! Like in the YouTube video?! Are you okay?!" Peter groans and throws his head back at Ned's over exaggeration.
"I just said I'm okay! I don't have a scratch on me. I promise everything's f-"
"Incoming call from Tony Stark," Karen's suddenly daunting voice interrupts him. Less fine. Before Peter can even think of asking her to deny it, Tony appears on his interface. Tony looks like the farthest thing from pleased. He's not standing still either. Instead, he seems to be rushed and disheveled, which definitely aren't typical descriptors of Tony Stark.
"Where are you?" Tony's voice is dangerously low and he isn't even looking at the camera as he paces. Peter's instincts immediately scream at him to lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. But he knows how well that worked last time. "I asked you a question and you better answer before I get in my suit and track down yours!" Tony erupts, making Peter's ears reverberate.
"I'm busy, alright?" Peter grumbles, deciding that ignoring Tony's demand is better than lying.
"No, not alright. I told you to not leave the Tower. I'm not going to ask again and if I have to come get you, you bet your ass I'm going to drag you back here and take joy in embarrassing you while I do it." Peter can tell Tony is trying to hold back his anger, but Peter doesn't care. He doesn't care because Tony doesn't get to be mad. I'm the one who's mad! I'm the one ignored! I'm the one who's never taken seriously! Peter's hands ball into fists without a source to release his frustration. Still, the fact that Tony didn't instinctively track him is a plus. Peter scoffs and wonders, when did basic personal boundaries become a luxury?
"Fine. I'm coming back." Peter immediately ends the call. He knows he's in a heap of trouble, but he can't bring himself to care. "I'll call you later, Ned," he mutters.
"Okay…sorry, Peter," Ned apologizes regretfully.
"It's not your fault. We'll hang out soon." After Peter hangs up, he huffs and starts making his way towards the dreaded Tower. His lackadaisical swings carelessly pull him closer and closer towards what feels like his impending doom. As soon as he lands on the penthouse balcony, Tony is practically stomping towards him.
"What on Earth were you thinking? I remember strictly saying for you to stay put! Despite what people say, I don't talk to just hear myself speak. Instead you take my suit while you're injured and decide you're gonna throw yourself in front of a car?! For a kid genius you're pretty dense!" Tony shouts, still trying to reign in some of his anger. Peter doesn't react to his yelling. Instead, he takes his mask off as he walks past Tony. Tony's strong hand grips his shoulder and spins him around. "Walk away from me again while I'm talking to you and I swear I'll have your aunt on the phone before you can even say 'I'm sorry, Mr. Stark.'" Peter laughs humorlessly and shrugs his hand off.
"Funny that you think I'm going to apologize for anything," Peter snaps bitterly. Tony actually looks shocked for a second, but it quickly shifts back into anger.
"You wanna be a smartass? Fine. You can do that on your own time, but not in my Tower. I don't need your teenage attitude! Go change out of the suit." He crosses his arms with his jaw set firmly.
"Oh so now your just going to blame my age?! Peter's upset, it must be those teenage hormones. Peter's angry? Must be that teenage attitude of his! Peter can't take on the villains, he's just a teenager!" By the time Peter finishes, he's screaming out of pure anger. "I can't be upset or, or mad because it's just because of my age! Blame how young I am! It's definitely not because I can't sleep at night without waking up screaming! Or how I can't go into a basement without feeling like the room's gonna collapse! Or how every time I close my eyes I see Toomes smiling or May disappointed in me or you upset with me! I'm sick of it! I can't! I just can't!" His breathing starts to sound more like harsh gasps and he knows that he's edging towards panic, but he couldn't care less. If he doesn't get these emotions out now, he's not sure he'll ever have the courage to again. Tony is frozen. Frozen in a way where Peter can tell he doesn't know whether to respond with more anger or just leave.
"Maybe you weren't ready for this." Tony says through clenched teeth, glancing down to Peter's torn suit.
"No! You can't just take away the suit every time you don't know what to do or how to deal with me! Maybe if you actually tried to work things out and used your emotions, you wouldn't have to do that! The only reason you take it away is because you can't handle conflict! You can't just do that! You can't buy me the way you buy everything else! I'm a human being! Stop treating me like some charity case whenever it benefits you! You can't just come into my life whenever you feel like it! Do you know how much it hurts every time you just leave out of nowhere?! How I can't sleep because I don't know if you left because you don't want to deal with me anymore or don't think I'm important enough or just don't care?! You don't know how much that hurts, Mr. Stark!" Peter grips the fabric on his chest and tugs at it, tempted to rip it just to feel like he can get more air. The suit is suddenly constricting and the mere feeling of the fabric against his skin is almost too much to handle. The fact that Tony takes a deep breath only makes Peter envious that he can do it.
"Alright. I get where you're coming from, I really do. What you need to understand is that you have limits like the rest of us. I'm not just saying that because you're a kid, which you are, but that's not my point. I don't go rushing into battle with a damaged suit. None of us do what we do with damaged equipment. Okay? Especially not with injuries, if we can avoid it." Tony does his best to reason with Peter, noticing his panic. Part of Peter doesn't want to listen to what Tony has to say, but he knows how hard it is for Tony to not explode too. Tony wouldn't ever admit it, but he was scared. Scared that he saw a kid jump out in front of a car without hesitation. He's pissed, and he's not going to let Peter live this down, but he's trying his best.
"You say you get it, but do you? 'Cause, I just, I just can't keep doing this. I don't want to feel disposable." The unspoken words that bounce in Peter's head are that he doesn't want Tony to leave again. No matter how stupid it makes Tony feel, he's a role model to Peter. And Peter has already lost so many of those. Tony's anger starts to dissipate, but it leaves behind a crushing ache in his chest.
"I promise I understand, but you have to realize that what you did isn't okay." His voice is tight and stern. He can tell that Peter is starting to deflate, but god he hopes the tears don't come with it. He's trying to be reprimanding, but he can't stand it when the kid cries. He just doesn't know what to do when that happens. Peter clenches his teeth. He knows he shouldn't have gone out, but he was just so mad.
"Maybe you shouldn't have been drinking then." He hates the way his voice wavers and he has to force the tears to stay back. The worst thing is when he cries when he's frustrated. He doesn't start crying because he's sad, he involuntarily cries because he's enraged. People always get the wrong idea. Tony pulls his eyebrows together and blinks in confusion.
"Kid, I haven't had a drop of alcohol in months. Unfortunately," he mutters the latter. Peter tilts his head and narrows his eyes.
"But, but I saw you pour something at the bar." Tony sighs and rubs a hand over his face.
"It was apple juice. Rhodey and Pep made me get rid of all the alcohol in the penthouse. So to make myself feel better, I still use the bar for mundane, less comforting beverages," he grumbles. For some reason, a huge weight is lifted off Peter's shoulders and relief courses through him.
"You weren't trying to get drunk?" Peter asks sheepishly, all anger and spite gone. Somehow, his suit and the space around him feels more bearable.
"Nope," Tony admits, popping the "p." He shoves his hands in his pockets nonchalantly, but Peter can't meet his eyes due to his own internal conflict. Peter wants to be mad. He wants to be so mad that he screams and yells at Tony for everything he has had to go through for the last six months. But he can't bring himself to do it anymore. His tense, defensive posture relaxes and his shoulders slump forward.
"I just thought that, that…" Stop sounding like a baby.
"I'm not exactly the greatest role model, but I wouldn't drink myself into oblivion with you here, kid. I don't wanna screw you up more than I already have." Tony's voice gets closer the longer he speaks and by the time he stops, he puts a firm hand on Peter's shoulder. It takes every ounce of Peter's self-control not to grip onto Tony's arm to ground himself. Before he can argue with what Tony said, the man continues. "What exactly happened out there anyways? I know your track record shows you like getting hit by cars, but really? You okay? Then again, you'd say you were fine even if you were skewered." Peter notices that Tony quickly glances him over.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Peter mumbles, lowering his head. "I've stopped a bus, remember? A Prius is nothing." He shrugs as if it's not a problem.
"The bus wasn't speeding and definitely wasn't left looking like a crumpled soda can. There had to be more efficient ways to stop it. Ever heard of breaks?"
"I would've if I could've. There wasn't enough time to stop the car and save the guy." Tony's grip tightens on his shoulder.
"What?" Tony asks, borderline baffled. Peter looks up at him, only to see how confused he is.
"The guy. He didn't look before he crossed, so I had to stop the car. I mean, who doesn't look both ways when they cross the street?" Peter attempts to chuckle to break some of the tension, but his voice cracks. His nerves are kicking in. I can't believe I screamed at Mr. Stark, he has to be so angry at me. He clasps his hands together to keep them from shaking.
"Hey, what've I said about overthinking?" Tony raises both his eyebrows expectantly.
"To…not?" He pats Peter's shoulder.
"Good. Now go get changed and we'll work on repairing this mess of a suit down in the workshop." Peter's eyes widen in disbelief.
"Really?!"
"Really. Just don't go jumping out of my window again." Tony gives him a pointed look and all Peter can do is nod. Peter goes to leave with his hands gripping his elbows, but Tony doesn't loosen his grip on his shoulder. "I just want you to know that…" Tony stops for a moment, intently staring at Peter. "Even though I have a shitty way of showing it sometimes…okay most of the time, I care and all that jazz." He breaks eye contact to vaguely gesture to the air. He's trying not to make it all mushy, but he's also trying to be sincere. Tony's words make their way back into Peter's mind: and if you died, I feel like that's on me. Peter smiles to himself.
"I know, Mr. Stark." He cares.