CHAPTER 1
"What's your opinion on ghosts?"
"Like, the supernatural?" Bruce asked.
Peter gasped, loud and exaggerated. "You mean like buzzfeed unsolved Mr. Stark? Are you gonna work with buzzfeed unsolved?!"
"Oh, no way am I working with Shane again; I don't think my heart could take it." Tony replied.
"Again?! I feel like you'd really get along though." Catching onto the fact that Peter was purposefully trying to pull a story from him, Tony shot him a playful scowl instead of responding.
"Why are you asking about ghosts?" Bruce asked, glancing up over his glasses from the couch. He was comparing Peter's blood samples to his own and had stacks of research articles spread over the sofa. They were originally trying to figure out exactly what that spider had done to him, but his gamma levels were just high enough to spark Bruce's manic research tendencies.
He was also excited to encounter someone else with raised gamma levels that wasn't trying to level Harlem. Peter and Bruce had spent the last month since his return from Sakaar really getting to know each other. Peter was so star-stricken with Bruce - it was like the man had hung the moon.
"Oh, you know," Tony said, fiddling with the wrench in his hand for a moment. "Got some ectoplasm samples coming in from this super haunted town in about… ten minutes."
Silence for a moment and then, "Are you going to elaborate on that statement?" Bruce asked, face deadpan. Peter's face split into a grin to match his mentor.
"More like five minutes," Tony said.
Bruce slipped his glasses from his face, leaning back fully onto the couch to face the ceiling. He was massaging the bridge of his nose, clearly contemplating how his life had led him to this point. A few moments later he returned his glasses and stood. Tony and Peter watched him methodically collect all of his papers into a neat stack before turning back to face his friends, resigned to the fact that he would be helping in Tony's latest endeavor toward true mad genius status.
(This isn't to say he wasn't, at least a tiny bit, interested.)
Peter grinned at Bruce widely before bounding up to Tony's side. The only reason Bruce refrained from doing the same is that he never wanted to encourage Tony to continue his habit of taking on strange (crazy) projects.
"Tell us everything."
...
The hazardous green glow from the containers of ectoplasm was entrancing. It swirled and glittered behind the glass, holding Bruce, Tony, and Peter in close.
The three of them had gathered around the tubes the moment they'd been delivered, and listened as Tony explained his ghost knowledge. Peter could still feel the cold seeping off of the tubes from this distance, and a faint tingle running up the back of his neck.
"Wait a minute, Amity Park? I've heard that before," he interrupted.
"Yeah me too…" Bruce said, closing his eyes for a moment to think. "Yeah, wasn't there a presentation at the last Stark Expo? About a transdimensional portal prototype and ectoplasmic weapons? I read all the research articles from people who presented that year."
Tony turned to face Bruce fully. "You read all the papers? From my expo? Brucie that's adorable."
Bruce scoffed lightly, turning back to the ectoplasm containers, the glow only amplifying the green blush rising to the surface. "Well it's not like I could attend."
Peter reached over to pat Bruce on the shoulder while Tony poked at his cheeks, giggling at his discomfort.
"Don't worry, Dr. Banner, I attended for you."
"Please, just call me Bruce."
Peter was not going to call him that.
Tony stopped his teasing abruptly, "You what? Weren't you like, five or something?"
"More like eight, but good try." Aunt May and Uncle Ben had taken him for his birthday that year after begging for weeks. A Stark Expo comeback? In his lifetime? It had to be fate or something, and he'd told them just that.
Tony looked particularly disturbed at the thought of Peter being there but didn't ask anymore questions. He just looked back at the ectoplasm like Bruce, a small frown set on his face.
Clearing his throat, Peter continued, "They brought out a mini portal, mostly functional, but had projections and blueprints for a much larger one. They were looking for funding, weren't they? For materials and permits and whatnot."
Tony nodded, waving for JARVIS to bring up the aforementioned articles and presentation, as well as their newer publications. He also called up holographic desktops in front of each of them. Peter would never stop being shocked at the technology Mr. Stark had pioneered.
"The Fentons, nice couple, a little cuckoo but eh…" Tony found what he was looking for and projected a newspaper article up for the others to see. It featured the Fenton parents and their two children posed in front of a newly constructed portal. They seemed normal enough. It was dated almost two years prior. "I was super into their research and ended up funding most of the build and helped with patents and such. And, of course, the government was also trying to get their grubby little hands on it. So I helped them out there. We started talking a lot more the last few years though."
Bruce was already pulling up more of their research and the data they publicly reported, and Tony helped him out by giving him access to their private data as well. Peter on the other hand was going through more news articles, centering on their portal and all the issues that came with it. One such issue was an accident involving their son, but he'd apparently recovered quickly from it. This had only led the town to distrust them further though.
Tony sent him articles and relevant recordings, plus educational social media posts the Fentons had been promoting. They were getting more into community outreach and training recently. Training? Why would the community need training...
After a minute or two of this Peter spoke again. "So. I'm gonna assume that they have actual real life ghosts. They built this portal, and now there's ghosts."
"You would be correct."
"Well that's...hmm. So, why'd they send you samples?" Bruce asked.
"They still don't have a big enough lab to do all the tests they want and really break down the qualities of ectoplasm. Plus, I wanted to test some as an energy source compared to the arc reactor. Ectoplasm, and 'The Ghost Zone' as they call it, exist parallel to us at an unquantifiable rate. Their portal is self-sustaining, running off ectoplasm."
Peter nodded along. "Unlimited energy."
"Exactly. I also want to be as prepared as possible if ghosts ever decide to pop up here." Tony said, and Peter recognized this as a quirk of his circumstances. After being surprised so many times, it figured that Mr. Stark would want to be prepared.
There was something nagging at him though. "From what I'm reading, this has been a problem for a few years now. I mean, the ghosts aren't exactly nice, they attacked a reporter just earlier this week. Why haven't we heard about this before?" Peter asked.
"Because the government is trying to hush it up," Bruce said. He gestured upward from his screen, allowing his documents to become viewable to the rest of the room. Countless Cease-and-Desist orders and confidentiality agreements flitted through the air and Peter cringed. There was a lot of government pushback to their research; a lot of citizens that had been silenced. The whole city was basically under one giant gag order, with no media reports or even tweets about ghosts able to leave the town.
Ugh. No matter how much insight I think I have, there's always something being kept from me. Something above my paygrade. He was trying not to take it too hard because it didn't seem like the rest of the team knew either. On the other hand, secrets weren't really Peter's forte. Being let in on the secret wasn't necessarily a good thing.
"Well, of course they are. Wouldn't want people to know that the dead live side by side with us and could choose to attack everyone at a moment's notice. Wouldn't want people to be prepared," Tony snapped. He slipped on some rubber gloves and began moving two of the samples into an Elemental Analyzer for their first tests.
Peter sighed. "We're gonna need some more snacks for all of this."
Tony and Bruce nodded.
"Put on some shoes while you're at it kiddo," Tony said. Heat rose to Peter's cheeks and he glanced down at his socks: fuzzy and quite possibly, Spiderman themed. "Oh, and grab the blueberries please."
Bruce moved to the main lab table, pulling Tony with him to put on a lab coat. Bruce always insisted on proper PPE when possible. Tony wasn't exactly against it per say, he just had a habit of jumping straight into his projects without thinking past the initial excitement. They balanced each other out, Tony bringing the fun back into science for Bruce, and Bruce bringing the safety.
"Can you grab the veggie chips too?" Bruce asked. "Thank you, Peter."
The elevator moved down quickly, past his floor, because, of course Mr. Stark gave him his own floor. Of course Mr. Stark had the space and money to give everyone their own floor in the tower. Of course.
The Avengers lavish lifestyle had taken some getting used to. He almost felt guilty spending time here and leaving Aunt May by herself most weekends. Mr. Stark said she probably enjoyed the alone time. Not to mention Tony's extravagant gift giving habits that had given Aunt May the ability to indulge where she wanted.
Peter jumped up to stick his fingers to the elevator roof as it dropped toward the main kitchen and common room floor. Laughing at himself, he 'walked' his way across the ceiling.
"Enjoying yourself Peter?" JARVIS asked. His voice was softer than what he used to address the other Avengers. After the first week of migraines and overloaded senses, Mr. Stark helped Peter calibrate his own settings around the tower. This meant lower lighting, no clashing frequencies, and lower volumes. It also gave the feeling of JARVIS whispering which was nice, made him feel even more human.
"You know it," he replied, grinning up at where he could sense the camera in the corner. Somehow, everything associated with JARVIS seemed to buzz at a different frequency than the rest of the tower's tech. The buzz shifted slightly, almost like JARVIS was smiling back at him.
"I'll take you to your room on the way up for your shoes Peter."
"Thanks JARVIS. Do you know when Loki and Thor are coming back? I think they might have a better idea about this ghost stuff than we do."
There was a brief pause, and a moment where the frequency seemed to shift its attention from the elevator. "I have informed Master Stark of your idea, and he has asked me to arrange for them to visit." At that, the elevator beeped, the doors opening.
"Awesome! Thanks!" He kicked his feet back and forth before swinging out of the doors into the main room, sliding across the floor. and landing just out of reach of the main counter.
Tsking, Peter walked toward the fridge, shaking his head. These socks didn't make the cut either. Am I not swinging hard enough? Something something equals force? Momentum? Work? Ugh!
"I'll cross the Spiderman socks off the list for you," JARVIS said.
"I think that would be for the best, thank you."
Steve Rogers walked in while he was standing on the counter, arm buried to the shoulder in the cabinet as he fished for the new bag of veggie chips.
I just need… to touch it… Why are these cabinets so deep…
Peter was usually wearing his web shooters at all times, just in case, but they were part of the upgrades happening in the lab today. Just his luck. The good thing about Peter's heightened senses was that his hackles were already raised when Mr. America said, "You need some help there kid?"
"I'm good actually, thanks."
They hadn't been alone in a room together since the Rogue Avengers came back last month. In fact, Peter had been avoiding being alone with the soldier. After hearing how Tony had been left for dead in Siberia, he wasn't too keen on getting to know him. Clint and Natasha were different, not emotionally involved in the Civil War like Captain America was; none of their actions were personal, just doing what they thought was politically correct in the situation. And they didn't have a hand in emotionally scarring his mentor or lying to him about his parents' deaths. Or legit abandoning him in another country.
The whole situation was stupid and ugly and could've been avoided if everyone had been honest from the jump. Anyways, Peter wasn't too keen on being friendly with him. At least not until he took responsibility.
"It's Peter right?"
"Sure."
"You know, he shouldn't have you doing this Peter."
Peter scoffed, casting an incredulous and incredibly annoyed look over his shoulder just as the tips of his fingers caught the chip bag. Thank god. He pulled the bag out before turning to face the Captain fully, "Doing what? Get snacks?"
"You know what I mean."
He was slowly coming further into the kitchen and Peter felt goosebumps rise to the surface of his arms. Not an actual Spidey Sense warning, but a human reaction to getting caught in a situation you don't want to be in. A feeling of being trapped within your skin.
Peter's voice was low when he responded, hesitant, throat closing over the words.
"The one time he stopped helping me, I nearly died."
Closing the cabinet, Peter cast a long look at Steve, trying to convey the sincerity of this statement. Trying to get across the desperation of the situation he'd found himself in with Toomes last year. "I was doing this before Mr. Stark, and I'm gonna keep doing this after him. No matter what."
Peter moved to sit on the edge of the counter for a moment before jumping down to stand before the Captain. "At least this way I can be tracked and checked on and I can ask for help. He's just protecting me."
Peter sidestepped the man, moving over to the fridge. He dug out blueberries and pizza rolls and was caught between anger and defensiveness.
I can't believe this all I wanted was some snacks this is what I get for not restocking the lab fridge yesterday like I was supposed to. I can't believe this guy! Just making assumptions about why I'm here, does he think Mr. Stark is coercing me or something? Paying me to be Spiderman? MJ will probably be upset I didn't punch him but punching Mr. America without web shooters sounds like a one-way ticket to the hospital and then Mr. Stark will be mad and stressed and oh gosh why is he walking closer again what does he want-
Captain America placed his hand on Peter's shoulder, giving a deep sigh.
"Son-"
"Don't call me son." Peter brushed off the hand with a bit more force than necessary, turning to face the man that loomed a good foot above him. Several boundaries had been crossed in succession by someone whose hypocritical nature lent no backing to their words and Peter was, quite frankly, tired of it.
Steve continued speaking as if nothing had happened, "-if he was protecting you, he would be fighting these battles himself. You're just a child and-"
"What is it you were doing at my age? Picking fights with people bigger than you? Lying to the government so you could enlist in the military? Is that it?"
"That was different. I was older than you and they needed recruits."
"And I'm needed here. Plus, I'm stronger than you were, I've already got my superpowers. It would be a waste if I didn't use them to protect people." Uncle Ben came to Peter's mind, like he always did. Inaction simply wasn't an option.
The Captain sighed again, rubbing a hand over his face. "Look kid, Tony- Tony has always been willing to let dangerous situations occur when he thinks it'll benefit him and you-"
"Why are you pretending you know anything about him? Or me? It's not like he left me stranded and injured in another country-"
The swoosh of the elevator doors opening interrupted them. Dr. Banner walked in, looking directly at Peter without acknowledging Steve at all. As relaxed as ever, he stepped next to Peter, peering around him into the fridge.
"What snacks you grabbing Pete?"
Thank goodness. "I um- well… Just some pizza rolls."
"Mmm. Sounds healthy."
A small smile graced Peter's face. "What'd you come down for?"
"Tony wanted you to make sure you grabbed enough to fully restock the lab fridge. There's a lot of work to be done, he doesn't want you to waste too much time down here."
Peter suppressed a smile. That was him being diplomatic and translating what was probably a much more strongly worded message from Mr. Stark. They'd probably watched the entire interaction.
Bruce shut the fridge doors, moving a stack of blueberry containers and extra pizza rolls into Peter's arms. "We also have some incoming energy readings he wants you to help with." That perked Peter back up. "Besides, you're on company time, kid. Grab the elevator for us, I'll be there in a minute."
Of course, JARVIS was already waiting to open the doors for him when he arrived. Peter stepped inside, then leaned forward to peer out at the kitchen. Bruce lingered, grabbing a few items from the cabinets, before turning to face the Captain.
"What Tony, or Peter, or anyone else in this tower does is none of your business. I might not have been here, and maybe I only have Tony's side of the story... but I know that he didn't deserve to be treated like that. Especially by someone he considered a friend."
Bruce turned sharply on his heel to the elevator without waiting for a response, and Peter looked at his socks like he hadn't just been eavesdropping. The doors closed firmly between the pair and Steve, and Peter felt he could breathe a little easier. His stance relaxed and he settled, enjoying the silence and peace the doctor brought with him.
"Thank you Dr. Banner."
Bruce smiled, "Anytime. And seriously, call me Bruce."
Peter finally brought his eyes up from the floor. He smiled back, "Thanks Bruce."
