Hey there! How are you?
I recently saw Ant-Man and the Wasp (which was absolutely awesome by the way!) but I wrote this chapter before actually seeing it, so you don't have to worry about spoilers. And, you probably already knew this, but this story ignores Infinity War's events, so no spoilers from this movie neither! It could however spoil a little Black Panther (but it's not like there is any name or big revelation concerning the movie so don't worry).
gammathetaalpha, once again, I can't thank you enough for helping me correcting my mistakes! (Do I sound like a broken recorder? Yeah, probably!)
Thanks to kushio3, Ikia and sonicxjones for their reviews! :D
And let's not forget to thank Astaroth3317, Erika266, Miss Nattie Loui, RBhyat, Starrynyte04, Woah Fanfiction, babyLAY, c312698, gvivar874, popstar055, vickily, Anmol Bedi, ChrissyGleek, Katie Lupin, Silberfederling, Twinfool, poofy1024 and the black kitty for adding this story to their alert and/or favorite list! (I'm sorry if I forgot anyone ;-;)
By the way... I just noticed that this story got 50 favorites and 62 followers. Wow, I'm so happy! Thank you so much for all your support, you guys are incredible!
Enjoy :)
-000-
Being a Stark had advantages and faults. Tony could hardly tell the difference between the two.
000
Peter had the nagging feeling that he had just made one of the biggest mistakes in his life. What was currently giving him this impression? Probably the Avengers' wide open eyes. And maybe the fact that Sam Wilson and Scott Lang were gaping. The others seemed to have more self-control and had managed to keep a straighter, and more dignified face. The teenager still had managed to break the three most famous Avengers' neutral expressions, namely Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. He knew it was an exploit that few people had managed to accomplish.
Spider-Man felt like the silence that followed his words lasted for an eternity, yet he was fully aware than only a couple of seconds had lapsed before Lang exclaimed, "Goodness, you're a kid!"
"Please," Peter said, getting frustrated, "can we forget comments about my age for two minutes?"
It seemed to make Steve Roger react, because he got out of his unusual silence. His expression became friendlier.
"Sorry, um… Peter," he answered. "We were surprised. But, for my part…"
The rogue hero stopped to go through his pockets, and took out a mobile phone that looked quite old. He gave it to the boy, who took it with caution, and resumed his talking: "I promised Tony that, if one day he needed my help, I would be there. I just hope you'll understand I don't want to impose my decision upon the others if they don't want to. It's their choice."
He reached out to put his hand on Peter's shoulder. The latter had yet to realize what the adult had just said. The boy ended up looking up, feeling a huge smile stretching on his face.
"Thanks, Captain. You can't imagine how important it is to me," he announced.
"Call me Steve, okay?"
Steve shook his head, and his sympathetic face became more serious. He pronounced with difficulty, "I'm sorry for everything that happened," as if the words pained him.
"You should rather say this to Tony when we'll see him again," Romanoff piped, approaching the two men. "You can count on me too, Peter. My name's Natasha, but you probably already knew it. Sorry for the cold welcome."
"Thank you, Mi- I mean, Natasha. And, it's okay, you know. Your reaction was actually quite understandable.
Peter went silent for a few moments, sparing a sorry glance at the three other people. He was surprised but relieved to notice that they also seemed less tense, as if their attitude was copying the Captain's. Clint Barton sighed, faking annoyance.
"Well, if the two of you are decided, I can't exactly say no now, right?"
"Stop it, Barton, it's obvious you wanna help too. The kid made you completely sappy," Wilson snickered.
"Sam, I think you should shut-"
"Calm down, birdbrains," Natasha intervened, smirking. "Wilson, Lang, are you going to join us?"
Scott smiled at Peter, who smiled back, embarrassed. Steve's hand was still on his shoulder, and the teen had to concentrate and remember to breathe, because seriously Captain America's hand was on his shoulder and he had told Spider-Man to call him Steve and he was going to say sorry to Mister Stark and help save him and Peter wanted to cry tears of joy and-
"It's always a pleasure to give a hand to Captain America," Ant-Man affirmed, looking like he was biting back a laugh as he saw Spider-Man's expression. "And, after all, we exoskeleton super-heroes got to support one another, right?"
Wilson didn't say a word but approached Peter, who tensed as he remembered their fight at the airport. The man narrowed his eyes, before asking, "Do you plan on gluing me to the ground with your webs?"
Spider-Man blinked owlishly.
"Umm, no sir," he articulated, confused.
"We're good then!"
"Oh, did Sam get sappy because of a kid?" Barton snickered.
"Let's be a little more serious, gentlemen," Steve scolded gently. "We should split into two groups. We'd be too obvious if we were to go to the address Dr. Cho gave us all at once."
"Steve is right," Natasha agreed, "two groups of three people will be more discreet. Wilson, Barton, you're coming with me. We'll go back to the safe house to take some equipment."
"Which means we're teaming up with Captain America," Scott summed up. "Isn't that cool, Spider-Man?"
Peter nodded, grateful that the man was so nice with him. He indicated, "I think we should go. Mr. Rhodes went to the compound, he should be back soon. Maybe we'll have more information when we get to the base."
"Alright then," Rogers answered. "Let's go. Natasha, Sam, Clint, you'll join us as soon as possible?"
Clint smiled. "Yes, Captain. See you later, Spider-Man."
"See you later, Sir."
He was definitely having a hard time refraining himself from jumping in excitement. The archer waved.
"Call me Clint. Sorry again for earlier."
"No problem, Clint." Peter grinned.
The teenager found himself alone with Ant-Man and Captain America a couple of seconds later. He smiled awkwardly.
"Should we go?" He asked. "It's not far from here, it should take about fifteen minutes if we walk fast."
"We're following you, Peter," Steve confirmed.
"I just need to change. I'd like to avoid walking around in my suit, it would draw attention to you."
Once it was done, the three of them began walking. The two outlaws had slipped on sunglasses and caps, and despite their simplicity the disguises seemed to fulfill their purpose. The streets were almost deserted anyway. The boy didn't dare to say anything, so it was Lang who resumed talking.
"Tell me, Cap-uh, Steve, far be it from me to criticize you, but what was it that changed your mind? One moment you were ready to attack or flee and the following minute your attitude completely changed."
"I could ask you the same thing, Scott," Steve retorted with a hint of a smile. "You call us to warn us you just met Spider-Man and you may be in trouble, and thirty seconds later you ask us to go meet him because he asked."
Lang glanced at Peter, who felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment once again. Ant-Man had probably change his mind when he had seen the younger hero panicking. Which was everything but glorious. But the man only winked before explaining, "I understood midway he was sincere."
The blond nodded. "At first," he went on, answering the initial question, "I thought that Spider-Man had decided to go after us to arrest us. Our group has been on edge since we began hiding. We trust Scott, but we didn't know if we could trust you too. Please don't take this as an offense, Peter."
"None taken," Peter reassured him.
"And yet, you trusted us enough to reveal your identity, because you wanted to help Stark. I think it surprised everyone, and.. I felt a bit guilty for the way we acted. By the way, how did you meet Tony?"
The teenager stayed silent during a few seconds, waiting to walk past a woman and her stroller, before explaining, "He went to my home to see me, after school, to ask me... well, you know the rest."
A strange expression appeared on Steve's face, and the boy hastened to add in a low voice, "Before you say something about the fact that Mr. Stark took a teenager to Germany… I was already Spider-Man before, even if it was for a very short time. I had made my costume myself, and it was really bad quality compared to the one I have now. Mr. Stark offered me a new suit, with a lot of features, and he even helps me to train. He truly helped me a lot. If he hadn't been there for me, I don't think I'd be here today."
"Maybe I was too quick to judge," the hero admitted. "I'm sorry."
"But," Scott intervened curiously, "how did you become Spider-Man then? I thought it was thanks to Stark."
"I got bitten by a radioactive spider. My DNA mutated."
The same grimaces crossed the two adults' faces, and the rest of the journey was silent.
000
The Commander had to get out of the room for a few minutes so he could calm down. It didn't sound good for Tony, who was still not able to spot the door. He hadn't even tried to loosen his bonds, because they were way too tight. Trying would have only resulted in hurting him more than he already was.
Corll came back soon after, his attitude icier than ever and once again accompanied by to of his minions.
"Let's get to the serious matter," he grumbled.
The engineer didn't answer, waiting for the other man to continue. That's what the foe did.
"I think you're aware that HYDRA made a point to make this world better. To do so, we need to get back some… elements, that rightfully belong to us and that were taken away."
Ronny hadn't even been talking for five seconds and Tony had already understood what the other was talking about. He rolled his eyes.
"Which means, Stark, that I want you to tell me where to find the Avengers. I also want any detail that could have a link, directly or indirectly, with them."
Oh, what a surprise. The mechanic smirked, before mocking, "Seriously? I think you got the wrong person to question, Commander. Did you, by any chance, miss the events of these past months?"
"I perfectly know what happened between Rogers and you," Ronald crooned, in a sickening sweet voice. "That's why I consider you as the best person to provide us answers. Don't you seek justice, after all?"
"If I hadn't been attacked, kidnapped, and tied to this chair, I might have accorded a few nanoseconds of thought to this proposition."
It was a complete lie, but his foes didn't need to know this.
"Aren't you fed up with being always the one to blame?"
"Ronny, stop playing on my soft heart, you're going to make me cry."
Corll's right eye twitched, a sign of obvious annoyance.
"If you show some cooperation, I'm certain we'll manage to find you a more comfortable room."
"Of course, Ronny. But, come on, did you really imagine I had the least idea about their location? I don't have any news from them, and it's probably better this way. Believe me, if you try to target them, they'll make you bite the dust."
"Is that a threat?"
"A warning," Tony corrected.
"Don't think for even one second that I didn't think about how to make you talk if you refused to do it genuinely."
"Look at me, I'm so scared. I'm shaking like a leaf."
"I'm going to give you another chance, Stark. Don't waste it. Where are the Avengers?"
One guard approached the inventor, doing his best to look menacing. Tony rose an eyebrow, looking at him, to show he wasn't exactly intimidated, and retorted, "Sorry, Chief, but that's a trick question you're asking me. I have no idea. But I have one question for you, too. How did you manage to get by my artificial intelligence? I'm quite upset about that."
"I'm afraid that'll stay a secret, Stark." Ronald grinned, visibly satisfied that he had outsmarted the genius.
"Wakandan technology, right?"
A new twitching confirmed his theory, and the Commander frowned. Tony sighed.
"I really have to update F.R.I.D.A.Y's system."
"Stark, I think I asked you a question."
"And I think I gave you my answer, Captain."
The mechanic received a blow to the stomach, and he tried vainly to move his arms to his abdomen to protect to. Breathless, he tried to refrain from groaning in pain.
"My patience is limited, so don't be too cheeky or you'll regret it. You're not in a favourable position.
"No, really? I didn't even realize that!"
The guard hit him once again. Tony could't hold back a whimper as he felt one of his ribs crack.
"We tried to lure them," Corll began again, hissing in disdain. "One of our suppliers began selling powerful weapons to mere criminals to create some chaos, but we didn't get any result. We thus decided to take drastic action. With only a few gadgets from Wakanda, that wasn't that hard."
The mechanic had the elusive vision of Steve at the supermarket, followed by a suit becoming ashes.
"You also deactivated my armor with your so-called gadgets," he understood.
"How perceptive you are," his foe mocked. "I expected nothing less from you. Unfortunately for you, we're not here to test your intelligence."
"Not that I really needed to test it."
"Goodness, silence him! He's unbearable!"
After having punched the billionaire another time for good measure, one of the HYDRA agents left the room to come back soon after, with a piece of cloth in his hand, using it to gag the prisoner.
Tony puffed loudly, annoyed. The Commander scrutinized him with a smile that wasn't exactly reassuring, and ordered his subordinates, "I want one of you to get Stark away from this chair and drop him on the ground, it'll be easier that way. The other'll have to warn the intervention unit to get to work. Go catch that Spider-Man."
As the two guards obeyed, Tony felt dread filling his stomach. But he wasn't scared for himself. Ronald snickered.
"We'll make you confess everything you know, Tony. If you're not cooperative enough, then I'm certain our favorite spider will manage to make you more talkative. Am I wrong?"
000
"Peter? That's a laundromat."
The teenager turned to Scott, with a hint of a smile, as he answered, "That's exactly what I thought when I first came here. Come in."
He guided his two companions to the back shop, where Doctor Cho was waiting for them. Her face brightened when she noticed the newcomers.
"It's nice to see you again, Steve. And nice to meet you, Mr. Lang," she greeted. "I'm Dr. Cho, but you can just call me Helen."
"Hi, Helen," the blond hero greeted back as Scott shook her hand, looking slightly embarrassed. "Natasha, Clint and Sam should be arriving soon."
"I can't thank you enough for coming. Thank you a lot for your help, Peter."
The boy smiled sheepishly, and the doctor guided them to the underground room where they had reconnected F.R.I.D.A.Y. Pepper and Colonel Rhodes, still in his armor, were there and were talking rapidly.
"-nothing, Pepper," they heard him say. "The only things I found were the remains of Tony's homemade traps. There was nothing else, not even outside."
The billionaire's two friends noticed the newcomers and turned towards them. If they tensed at the sight of Rogers, they didn't let any other mark of discomfort appear in their attitude and greeted the group before summarizing the situation.
Stark's hidden cameras had already told them everything, even a thorough search of the compound didn't permit another discovery.
"We're back to square one," Rhodes concluded.
"Peter told us about an address," Scott intervened, which brought attention on him. "Which could have been a sort of trap."
"That's right," Pepper confirmed. "Tony sent his armor there, but we lost all contact with it."
"Couldn't we go and have a look ourselves?"
Even though Peter thought Ant-Man's idea was utterly logical, it provoked a few grimaces. Pepper voiced, probably confirming what everyone was thinking about, "It'll probably be dangerous. We don't know what could be waiting for us there."
"But it was the same situation with the compound," the Colonel reminded. "If we avoid everything that's dangerous or risky, we won't be able to progress. Lang's right, it's worth the try."
"We could go in a group," Peter suggested, ideas whirling in his mind. "If we think about the fact that there could be the armor or HYDRA agents, it would be for the best. But we can't go there with the intention to fight, as you did for the compound, Mr. Rhodes. We should rather act discreet to get a maximum amount of information, because it's possibly our last chance to get some. If we were to fail, we wouldn't have any trail left and it would make everything harder. Three people would be the ideal number. Oh, and the persons that go will have to have equipment able to record everything so the others can know what's happening too in real time."
The boy stopped talking, feeling the adults' gazes on him. Rhodes smirked.
"Come on, Mini-Stark," he encouraged the teenager. "Tell us who you are thinking about."
"Hum," Peter answered unintelligibly as he tried to ignore the nickname that was making his cheeks heat up with embarrassment. "Well, Mr. Barton, Miss Romanoff and myself. Because, if I remember correctly, Hawkeye and Black Widow are really skilled at being discrete. Also, with my suit, I can record everything and I'll also be able to neutralize agents without hurting them so they can be interrogated. Actually, we could also count on Ant-Man because he's able to shrink. But four people may be too much, and it won't be necessarily useful. We could always use a back-up team instead."
"That's a good strategy," Steve approved, which made the teenager blush even more. "I don't know what your opinion is on this plan, but I think we could try what Peter proposed. Clint and Natasha will surely agree to participate, so we just need them to get there."
"Do you know how long they should take to arrive?" Pepper asked.
"I'd say about three quarters of an hour."
"Then you should get some rest meanwhile," Helen advised. "I'll warn you if something happens. There are rest areas, you can go and sit down if you want to."
She designated an area with couches and chairs, but Peter's attention was quickly directed towards the Colonel, who approached him while getting out of his armor. His artificial legs where whirring softly and the boy resisted the urge to examine them for too long.
"Hi, sir." he greeted.
"Hey, Peter," Rhodes answered. "Didn't I already told you you could call me James? Or, if you prefer to imitate Tony, Rhodey. However I'd really appreciate you avoid calling me 'Honey Bear". That would be greatly embarrassing."
"Yeah, I think I can do that."
"Don't call me Sir, alright?"
"Understood, Colonel."
Rhodes sighed loudly. "Exactly what I was saying. A true Mini-Stark. But, more seriously, how are you?"
"I'm fine," the teenager said, not really sure about whether he was telling James this to reassure him or if he was trying to convince himself. "I mean, I just met the Avengers, which was really cool, and they're super nice, but… I'm still worried for Mr. Stark.
"Me too. He always manages to get into trouble. What's also worrying me is the fact that HYDRA got their hands on Wakandan technology, which could mean there's another weapons dealer in Wakanda."
Peter didn't know what to answer, too busy thinking about what the Colonel had just said. He hadn't thought about this, and, clearly, it was one more problem. The sight of his destroyed suit came back into his mind.
"Go get some rest," James ordered softly. "You look exhausted, and we need a Spider-Man in top form for the mission."
"Okay, Si- James."
"Nice catch up."
The boy went to the corner Helen had showed, where he found Scott sitting on one of the couches. The latter waved at Peter, beckoning him to sit down at his side.
"Where are the others?" Peter asked once he was comfortably installed on the couch.
"I'm not sure. I think Captain went to talk with the doctor and Ms. Potts. Wanna try to sleep?"
"I don't know if I'll be able to," the young man admitted. "By the way, about what happened earlier, when I thought you had left…"
He trailed his sentence, not daring to end it, but the adult seemed to immediately understand what he was talking about, and reassured him.
"We're all allowed to panic from time to time. It's not because you're a superhero that you can't get scared. The most important thing to do is to not let fear paralyze you and prevent you from moving forward. Wow, don't you think I just sounded like Captain America right now? I think I'm spending too much time with him. Not that I'm saying he's annoying."
The teenager smiled, greatly enjoying Scott's babbling.
"Oh, I got an idea! If you don't want to sleep, would you like me to tell you some anecdotes? Let me tell you that, when you're living with THE Avengers, you learn a lot of things!"
Lang started his long tale, and Peter listened attentively, happy to be able to concentrate on something else other than the current situation. Scott began telling him how he had become Ant-Man, and talked in detail about his daughter Cassie. He then mentioned how he had gotten stuck in the quantum realm, the world of infinitely small and took the care to explain in detail how scared he had been, and how the thought of this strange world was still making him feel uneasy. It was as if the adult tried to reaffirm what he had said about fear earlier (that was probably the case).
He also explained how he had met the Avengers and what had happened after the fight in Germany. The fugitives hadn't only been hiding, they had decided to chase after HYDRA agents all around the world.
"We didn't find a lot of them," he explained, looking contrite. "But it did lessen the number of agents."
"What about Mr. Rogers' friend? Is he alright?"
"He's safe," Scott smiled.
Understanding he wouldn't get any more detail, Peter didn't attempt to insist and easily steered the conversation away, asking his interlocutor how it was to live with the Avengers. Scott's eyes brightened.
"In their daily life, they're actually quite normal people. That's weird, because they're superheroes, right? But they all have their habits, which is really funny, and- Ah, look, here they are."
The teenager followed the other's gaze and noticed Falcon, Hawkeye and Black Widow, still in their normal attire, coming into the immense underground basement and greeting Rhodes.
"Sam still feels guilty for the Colonel's accident," Scott indicated in a low voice, all trace of humor disappearing. He considers it's because of him that it happened."
"But there were several major factors to take into account, right?"
"It's often easier to blame someone. Sometimes, we blame ourselves."
They silently observed Rhodes, who had probably felt Wilson's discomfort, greeting him and discussing warmly with him.
"It feels weird," Peter commented. "When we look at them… it's like nothing ever happened."
"You're right. I think that everyone mainly try to temporarily put the past events aside so they can concentrate on the current mission. I can't say I really know Stark, but it means that, despite the conflicts there were, people care for him. It's a good sign, don't you think?"
"Yeah, that's true. But that'll be strange once everything's over, because nobody will know how to act."
"Exactly! How do you think Stark'll react?"
"I have no idea. But he's not going to arrest you, if that's what you're scared of."
"That's not what I was saying," Ant-Man smiled. "You already made that point clear, didn't you?"
"Did I?"
They were interrupted by Clint, who approached them. He had sunglasses on his nose, which he removed with a hand when he got near them. He was also carrying a stuffed backpack on his shoulders.
"Hi again," Barton saluted. "Steve told me about the plan. You're going to team up with Romanoff and me, Spider-Man?"
"Yes, Sir. So you already know everything?"
"Clint, not Sir."
"Oops," Peter said, faking being sorry.
Clint snorted.
"In general, yes, but not specifically the details yet." He indicated, "We'll probably have a short meeting, so we can make things clear for everyone, but it'll probably be fast. We don't have enough time to keep bracing ourselves for the action and wait for it to come to us."
The archer was right. The gathering was extremely quick, and was only done to check everyone agreed with the plan they had to follow. About half an hour later, Clint, Natasha and Peter were equipped with their weapons (and in his suit for the latter) and driving to the warehouses. They were followed by another vehicle, in which were Scott and Steve. Falcon would patrol their surroundings to spot potential suspect activity.
They arrived at their destination soon after, and took the care to hide themselves at a reasonable distance from their target.
"Karen, do you detect cameras?" Peter asked to nobody, which elicited curious glances from his teammates.
"Yes, there are twelve. Four of them are located outside the building," the artificial intelligence answered quickly by connecting to the car's radio, thus letting the two spies hear her explanation. "They are old models, so I can hack into them. Would you like me to do so?"
"That would be perfect," Natasha nodded, having quickly understood what exactly Karen was. "You have your own artificial intelligence, Peter?"
The boy nodded. "Mr. Stark had integrated it into my suit."
Once Karen had told them she had hijacked the images recorded by the security cameras, the three got out of their car and approached their objective gingerly. The warehouse looked like it had been abandoned for quite a long time. The paint was faded, worn down by years of fierce winds, rain and tempests. Weeds had managed to get through the tar, and had literally invaded the surroundings. The only evidence that proved a recent activity there was that said weed had been flattened before the large doors of the building.
"There's an aperture through the roof," Falcon announced through their radio. "But be careful, there are people inside. I see three thermal signatures, all gathered around something. I can't identify it."
"Got it, thanks, Sam." Clint answered in a low voice.
They got near the walls slowly but didn't pay more attention to the cameras they noticed, knowing Karen had taken care of them for the team. Natasha murmured to Peter, "Go, Spider-Man. Go to the roof, but don't get inside, we'll join you as quickly as we can."
Peter obeyed silently and easily climbed the walls. He immediately spotted the entrance Wilson had talked about. It was actually more of a hole than a real entrance; one of the zinc-plated sheets that the roof was composed of had probably been teared away by a violent tempest, and nobody had cared enough to replace it. Spider-Man glanced inside warily. He distinguished three silhouettes, and, as Sam had said, they were gathered around a fourth inanimate and humanoid form. He immediately recognized what it was.
"There's the armor," the teenager whispered for his teammates to hear. "That's what these three people are looking at. I think.. They're trying to open it."
Clint and Natasha joined him a few seconds later, and looked through the hole too, while being cautious not to create a shadow on the ground.
They began communicating by making signs, something they had quickly taught the teenager so he wouldn't feel too lost when they did so, and slipped without a noise inside. Nobody noticed them. Peter scrutinized the armor, and spotted an unusual element, that didn't belong to the billionaire's armor. He showed it to the two spies. It was a sort of black disk, stuck on the metallic frame's abdomen.
"That's probably the thing that deactivated the armor," Steve declared, who was looking at the scene from Peter's lenses that recorded everything. "F.R.I.D.A.Y is trying to analyse it, and it looks like Wakandan technology."
But Captain America quickly went silent, because one of the men trying to pry the armor open began talking to the two others.
"Y'all got the instructions?"
"Yeah," another answered with a sigh. "The Commander wants us to go to Queens."
"I didn't even understood why we had to do this."
"I heard that it was to make Stark speak. He's fond of that scrawny spider and, currently, he's not very talkative. Someone said he's getting on Corll's nerves."
Peter tensed, suddenly extremely more attentive to what they were saying. He felt his two teammates do the same at his sides.
"But how are we supposed to catch an almost flying guy, in a red suit, and whose identity is unknown by everyone?"
"That," the third groaned, "isn't Corll's problem. It's up to us and the rest of the team to do what we can."
Natasha gently tapped Peter's shoulder, who turned around to look at her, and motioned him to get outside. The team left the building, carefully resting on the roof. The boy asked soflty, "They were talking about me, weren't they?"
"I don't know about you, kid, but I don't know a lot of red spiders flying around in Queens," Clint scoffed. "But at least we got something."
"The thing is," the female spy intervened, "that now they're really after Spider-Man. It's not a bait for Stark anymore."
The teenager stayed silent for a moment, musing, and an idea crossed his mind.
"I got an idea, I think it could work."
"We're not letting you get yourself captured by these goons, Peter," Scott immediately protested in the radio.
"No, I wasn't thinking about this," the young hero defended himself. "I only wanted to give them one of my gadgets, like one of my web shooters. If I put a tracer inside and abandon it near them, they might take it to their base, possibly where Mr. Stark is, to examine it and try to get more info about Spider-Man. Even if it's not the right base, it's always one more HYDRA safe house to destroy."
"Well," Falcon voiced, "You're definitely full of good ideas, kid."
"And how do you plan on doing that, Peter?" Pepper asked.
"I could get noticed on purpose inside. I would act like I was looking for Iron Man's armor, then try to run away and make something fall in the heat of the moment."
"Meanwhile," Clint added, "We could also hide tracers in their vehicles. But if the least thing goes out of control and becomes a risk for your security, Spider-Man, we get out of our hiding spot and attack, is that clear? Is everyone okay with this?"
If some were at first reluctant, aware and worried of the danger this idea represented for the teenager, they all ended up agreeing to the plan, after having been reassured multiple times by the two spies that they would intervene if something were to go wrong. Natasha cleaned conscientiously the web shooter Peter gave her, erasing all traces that could give away a hint about Spider-Man's identity, and gave it back to the boy.
Peter thus entered the warehouse once again, his heart racing. He moved silently, walking on the roof head upside down, and positioned himself just above the armor. He shot a web on it to attract the strangers' attention to him, and pulled slightly to test the object's weight.
He certainly didn't expect the whole armor to come to him. Surprised by its lightness, or maybe by his own strength he had miscalculated, he almost let the Stark suit fall back to the ground. The teenager caught it by the ankle, and exclaimed, "Sorry, guys, I don't think this belongs to you! I'm confiscating it!"
The boy ignored the surprised shouts of the three HYDRA agents and dashed towards the still closed doors, preferring to avoid getting outside by the roof, which would have compromised Clint and Natasha's safety. His sixth sense provoked a shiver in his spine, and an unpleasant tingling in his neck, so he swung to his left and dodged flying bullets that were shot at him. Peter took advantage of this movement to let go of his bait, which fell to the ground almost inaudibly. Someone shouted, "Get him!", but the words were quickly muffled by the brouhaha of shooting guns. Spider-Man avoided all the hits easily.
Regaining momentum, he swung towards the exit and gave the doors a powerful kick, ejecting them to the ground. With the armor still in his arms, he glanced behind him and shot a web at the three men trying to chase after him. The projectile reached its target and webbed them together. After having landed smoothly on the ground, Peter resumed running and quickly moved away from the warehouse, to find soon after the vehicle Scott and Steve were in.
"Surprise! Look at what I got!" Peter exclaimed, breathless but overjoyed.
He could still feel his muscles shake because of the adrenaline, and despite his urge to go back with Black Widow and Hawkeye in case they needed his help, he sat in the back of the car, posing the armor at his side. The two adults turned around to look at him, gazing at the boy and his trophy.
"I thought you only had to leave a bait and create a diversion?" Scott asked.
"Yeah, me too," Peter admitted, "but it just… happened. The armor was way lighter than I believed it to be, so I took it with me."
"You did good," Steve declared softly with a smile. "It's another advantage for us, as well as one less problem. Good job. Clint, Natasha, is everything alright for you?"
"Perfectly!" the archer's voice resonated through the radio. "We hid tracers on all of their vehicles, and we saw the guys take the web shooters. Mission accomplished!"
"We're going back to the safe house with Peter. Are you following us?"
"We're already in the car, we're on our way!"
The drive was almost entirely silent, and after doing a high-five with Scott, the teenager concentrated on trying to remove the strange disk from the armor. But, even if he tried to pull strongly on it, he didn't manage to do so. Peter didn't dare to put all his strength on the armor, fearing he would damage it. Since Captain America was driving, Ant-Man turned to Peter and tried to have a look at the device but looked as lost as Peter about how to remove it.
"We'll see that when we get to the base," he ended up declaring, confused.
Steve parked the vehicle in the laundromat's backyard, so they wouldn't get too much attention from curious bystanders. He asked to carry the armor, and even if it was quite a simple question, Spider-Man understood by observing the blond's expression that the latter was trying to help as much as possible, especially if it concerned his mentor, even if it was only carrying armor for a few minutes. Peter did it with a smile.
The fact that they had retrieved the armor made more than one person happy. The most relieved were visibly James and Pepper, and the latter hugged tightly the teenager, thanking him warmly.
They all gathered in the room F.R.I.D.A.Y was installed in, room that now seemed a lot smaller. The adults were discussing together, waiting anxiously for the artificial intelligence to give them news of the tracers.
"The sprint you made was not too bad, you know, Spider-Kid." Someone voiced behind him.
Peter turned around, and came face-to-face with Wilson. His mechanical wings were folded, but the man was still wearing his equipment.
"It was." Falcon retorted with a smirk.
"I already feel relieved then."
"I'm actually mainly happy that you didn't ground me with your webs again, or that you didn't shoot a sticky web in my face."
"Come on, I only did it once!" The teenager protested, groaning.
"Hm. Maybe I'll be able to trust you then. Moreover, Tic-Tac seems to like you.
"Tic-tac?"
"Ant-Man," Wilson explained as he mimicked a shrinking with his fingers. "But, actually, he's not the only one. I think everyone adopted you. You've poured some love potion in our drinks when we weren't looking, right? I knew you were a sly little brat."
Peter felt his lips stretch in a smile, understanding with a certain happiness that the man was trying to sympathize with him. But he didn't have the time to retort anything, because F.R.I.D.A.Y's voice suddenly resonated through the air, and cut short any discussion in the room.
"The tracers are moving."
Everyone's attention was directed to the holographic screen, which represented a point blinking and moving out of New York. Helen declared, "I guess it's up to us now."
"Let's hope it's the base Tony is kept in," Pepper added.
Peter could only hope that, too.
-000-
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