Hello everyone! I am still looking for a beta reader for this story if you are interested please PM me.
Peter
The Avengers hadn't made a move in three days no sightings around the city no word from them though any media out let since this whole thing began explain to the public why they wanted spiderman nothing. This was what Peter wanted right the Avengers to give up and leave him alone, maybe they finally got the message. when he left Ant-man at the construction site since he hasn't seen any of the avengers since then. But after three days of nothing was really starting to set him on edge just waiting for the other shoe to drop and they came after them again wondering what they were planning. Over the weekend he watched the Avengers going over some files and were talking about what they planned to do next but after three days they still haven't made a move. He was aware that Avengers or at least some of them were looking into Gwen and her father but he didn't know what came out of that and it freaked him out a little bit not knowing.
"Peter are you still with us?" Peter's head snaped up he hadn't herded the question from his honors physics teacher. The look on his face must have said enough because Miss Massy Sighed. "Ok how do we calculate linear acceleration between points A and B?"
"Umm yeah mass cancels out so which is gravity times sign." Peter answered seeing the equation on the board
"Very good." She smiled and continued on with the lesson. Peter tried to listen he really did but his spider sense gave a slight buzz which had been happening a lot recently with his rising anxiety. the door opened to the class room and an office aid walked in. Miss Massy stopped to read the note she frowned slightly
"Mr. Parker you are needed in the principal's office." She announced making Peter freeze with confusion. Some of the class snickered Peter ignored them trying to figure out what he did wrong now to be summoned to the principals.
He tried to rake is brain at anything he had done in the last couple of day but kept coming up blank. He didn't have many friends well he had one kind of friend more of an acquaintance then a friend because they barley talked outside of class. He was still the subject of bullying but desperately tried to keep a low profile.
All to soon he made it to the principal's office he took a deep breath and walked in.
"umm the principals wanted to see me?" Peter asked timidly to the front desk worker
She smiled at him kindly "yes he is waiting for you in his office." Peter nodded his thanks and walked to the office dreading every step he took. He really didn't need to get yelled at today…
He opened the door to see four of the Avengers all in casual clothes and all were staring at him.
Now peter really began to panic was this about Spider-Man did they find out it was him when they were looking into the Stacey's? should he run?
"Mr. Parker these two scientists came all the way here to talk to you about a scholarship." The principal stated happily and then went on the telling the four avengers how Peter was his brightest student. He sounded like he was personally responsible to how smart Peter is.
The principal's ramblings gave peter a chance to think. They were in casual clothes so they must not be here to fight. Plus, he was pretty sure neither Gwen or her father wrote down that he was Spider-man. Of course, there was also no way he was going to believe they were there to talk about a scholarship.
"Mr. Parker"
They were probably here to ask about Gwen yeah that must be it, they don't know anything… 'be cool Pete be cool' the thought
"Mr. Parker"
He was just in a room with four Avengers and two of them were some of the top scientists in the world yeah I can totally do this..
"Peter"
"Umm yeah I'm sorry sir." Peter jumped Tony seemed to have a small smile on his face and Widow look to be glaring.
"Did you hear a word I have been saying?" the principal asked seemed a little embarrassed at Peters behavior
"it's fine he is just probably in shock at seeing us here without any warning." Tony said to the principal
'You got that right tin can' Peter thought
"Your principle was just talking about your application into the young minds of science from the last Stark expo." Tony Stark explained turning now to address peter.
"If you don't mind could we talk to young Parker privately?" Dr. Bruce Banner asked kindly. It was clear the principle didn't want to leave but he nodded and took them to the next-door conference room.
"Holler if you need anything." He said as he closed the door. Everyone moved to sit down Peter was uncomfortable and in all honesty wanted to run for the hills but he sat down away.
"Umm may I ask what you are really doing here?" Peter timidly asked not looking any of them in the eye after almost two minutes of awkward silence.
"We told you it is about the application you sent in." Tony began
"I am sorry sir but I didn't submit any application or project to the Stark expo, you must be confused by someone else sir." Tony raised an eyebrow at being called sir but before he could respond Banner took over
"We are sorry about the preamble but it was the only thing we could come up with so your principal would let us talk to you." Dr. Banner stated he seemed a little nervosa to has far as Peter could tell but was unsure if it was because he was the Hulk or something else.
"We actually needed to talk with you about Gwendolyn Stacy." Steve stated
"She died almost a full year ago." Peter stated sadly it still hurt him that Gwen was dead and it was all his fault "and I am not sure what the Avengers could need to know about Gwen?"
"It is not really about her; we need information. we actually wanted to ask if she confided in you about Spider-man"
"I watch the news I know you are after Spider-Man but I don't know who he is or how you could find him." Peter stated looking up for the first time but still not meeting anyone's gaze. His heart beat was going a mile a minute still unsure where this was going to go.
"Any information you have could be helpful."
"I'm sorry but I don't know anything." Peter stated and made to leave the room trying not to make it look like he was desperate to get out of there and as far from the Avengers as he could.
"Sit down parker we are not done here." Natasha ordered and Peter sat back down shifting uncomfortably in his seat
"Nat no need to scare the poor kid can't you see he is nervous enough?" Steve sighed then gave peter a reassuring sympathetic smile. Peter tried to smile back but he just got phantom pain of Caps shield ramming into his back. It felt like his brain was short circuiting he should have seen this coming when they were looking into the Stacy's he should have been better prepared. He just hoped that he didn't let something slip.
"Yeah a little too nervous if you asked be he is hiding something." she glared at Peter and his heart skipped several beats and he had the sudden urge to tell her everything and run as far away has he could. 'Stop it Peter your Spider-man you have fought the Avengers and won play it cool' he ordered to himself
"Mr. Parker." he turned away to face one of his scientific idols. If he wasn't freaking out so much he might have been over joyed to be face to face with the man.
"You can call me Peter, Dr. Banner." He said quietly and giving an awkward smile.
"You know who I am?" Banner asked a little surprised he was recognized. Normally people only recognized the hulk when he was green and well angry but as dr. Banner only people in the hero or scientific world new his name.
"Umm yeah I read you papers on Gamma radiation I also read your theses on regenerative ration of Gamma Particles. Your theories were brilliant and I umm…" Peter faltered he blushed slightly and tried to hide his face. 'Way to keep it cool Spidey' he thought to himself.
"that's impressive I didn't think anyone your age read my papers let alone understood them." Banner praised Peter just shrank back further into his chair trying desperately to hide his embarrassment.
"Have you read any of my papers?" Tony asked now getting a little curious about this shy teenage boy. Peter just nodded Tony was practically jumping in his seat wanting to question this boy. "Did you understand the part of the-"
"Peter do you have any information about how the Stacy's knew Spider-Man and or if they knew who was under the mask?" Steve cutting Tony off and deflating the billionaire's excitement.
"Not really sir." Peter said he had to get the Avengers off his scent and the further the better but his stupid brain was having trouble coming up with anything helpful.
"Any info could be of help." Steve continued patiently his voice remained calm and reassuring peter realized Steve was just seeing him as a child.
"Frankly I don't care much for Spider-Man... sir." Peter said trying to buy himself time to come up with a plan. He was terrified he would slip up and they would try to arrest him here at school.
"I bet one of the Avengers is one of your favorite heroes namely me right? It is me isn't?" Tony asked with a smile seeming to enjoy this a little to much
"Do you mind elaborating on that?" Bruce asked ignoring Tonys statement
"Well, sure he is a good guy and has saved a lot of people but I also think he causes more harm than good." Peter continued trying not to hang onto the self-loathing or beating himself up for the path he was going with. "Gwen would talk a lot about Spider-Man actually she mostly talked about how he saved her a couple of times and how she helps him out."
"How did she help him? And what was Captains Stacy's involvement?" Natasha asked or more demanded
"umm I am not sure" Peter stammered not sure where he was really going with this " Gwen was really smart actually she was one of the top students in school I think Spider-Man asked her for help when it came to defeating some of his more difficult enemies. As for Captain Stacy I know his stance on Spider-Man changed around the time Gwen was Kidnapped and Spider-Man saved him from some sort of blackmail and Gwen of course." Peter thought back to that day remembering the cold water and the feeling of being trapped helpless as he tried to save Gwen that was when he defiantly pushed his limits and saved Gwen from drowning and stopped the whole blackmail thing for Captain Stacy. Who was still a little hesitant to trust Spider-Man but untimely stopped pursuing him and just accepted he was trying to help.
"It seems you don't think Spider-Man is a menace?" Bruce asked getting peter out of his memories
Peter shook his head "no I just don't like him much because I don't know I guess he wasn't strong enough to stop them from dying. I know it is stupid to think that because it was Gwen's choice to help him and he can't protect everyone and fight bad guys… but." Peter sighed feeling the weight in his chest sink down to his stomach
"That is a wise stance on the matter it must have been hard not being able to help her but you aren't blaming Spider-man for not saving her either." Steve stated smiling a little at how impressed he was that despite losing his girlfriend he wasn't blaming Spider-man, when most people in the same situation would gladly call the wall crawlers names and hate him for something that was probably out of his control.
"you're also a smart kid did you help Spider-Man out?" Natasha asked Peter didn't know how to answer that question. So, he just nubbly nodded
"Could you tell us about your interaction with him?" Tony asked
"There isn't much to tell. Honestly I don't think I was all that helpful but he seemed nice and he let me take a few pictures of him to earn some extra cash for the newspapers, as thanks for the help but Gwen did most of the work." Peter again thought back to Gwen how many times she had help patch him up after a bad night or help him clear his head if he was fighting someone he didn't know how to beat.
"Last question I am sure you want to be getting back to class." Steve said kindly seeing the sad look in the teen's eyes "when you and Gwendolyn helped him how did you get in contact with him?"
Peter began to panic again what was he supposed to say just that he knew where Spider-man was going to be… because he was spider-Man?
"Umm the first time he kind of found us or really it just happened by accident." Peter began to tell a story about Gwen and him witnessing a fight between Spider-Man and one of his enemies and Gwen shouted out a helpful tip to neutralize the villain's power. Most of the story was true but he added some more Parker help to the story and made it was believable as he could. He told them how he and Gwen helped Spider-man ground Electro and made some tech that help he contain another of Spider-mans villains.
"And the others?" Natasha pressed
"He gave Gwen his number." Peter blurted out not sure why he said that and beating himself up because of that. Frankly he couldn't come with anything better to say. There were several people that had Spider-man's number Captain Stacy had even given it out to some of his most trusted officers and detectives before he died.
"You have Spider-man's number?" Tony asked now getting excited again Peter shied away a little at the outburst
"Can you give us the number son I promise our aim is not to harm Spider-Man." Steve asked Peter resisted the urge to roll his eyes
'You already hurt me' he thought bitterly. Thinking of the last fight and how now the city hates him even more now that they think he's the Avengers enemy.
"Umm okay I think I still have it saved in my phone." He said pulling out his phone he slowly scrolled to the contact thinking it was too late to stop this train wreak now thinking that the Avengers would never believe him that he had lost the number or didn't remember it. stupid Parker stupid
"Found it." he said after a minute of scrolling now just wanting this hole encounter to end. he dug thought his backpack for a piece of paper and a pencil and scribbled down his alter egos phone number hoping this didn't bite him in the butt later on. He handed it to Bruce who was sitting closes to him.
"Thank you for all your help Peter." Dr Banner smiled
Peter just nodded "umm does that mean I can go now?" he asked not wanting to look at Widow just in case she was still glaring. The Avengers nodded and Peter awkwardly walked out the door leaving the Avengers alone.
'Stupid, stupid' Peter repeated in his head he was trying to stay away from the Avengers and what did he do he handed them his phone number. Yep stupid Parker luck…
Avengers
"Well, I also think that ruled out that Parker kid being Spider-man" Tony stated as soon as the door closed "I mean they act nothing alike"
"let's get back to the compound" Steve said as they all made to leave but was delayed another half hour because the principle was a fan.
On the ride back to the compound Tony's mood had seemed to improved but it was unclear if he was excited to have Spider-man's phone number or if he was happy to get away from the school principal.
"How did it go?" Rhoady asked when they walked into the common room which only Rhodey and Sam were present.
"Nothing much but we did get Spider-man's phone number." Tony announced holding up the piece of paper like it was some trophy.
"You really got his phone number how?" Sam asked skeptically
"That kid we went to talk to apparently Spider-man had given it to them since they helped him out." Tony stated "it is a little surprising though that Spider-man dared to make that jamb at me the other night when he has to ask highschoolers for help." Tony smiled coming up with comeback when he ran into Spider-man again.
"That Parker kid seemed a little suspicious to me." Natasha stated sitting down on the couch
"doesn't everyone seem suspicious to you?" Sam asked only to receive a glare which had him holding his hands up in surrender.
"the kid is smart and apparently big greens fan." Tony continued pointing his thumb at Banner who was greeting a cup of tea to calm his nerves form being in a school full of kids and glad he didn't Hulk out.
"As in the fan of the hulk or-"
"No, he recognized Bruce as a scientist he started to come out of his nervous shell when he was talking about his work." Steve explained
"So, the kid likes science why do we care?" Clint asked coming into the room having only heard that part of the conversation.
"He had some information on Spider-man. Stark can you track his location with the number you got?" Steve asked
"Who do you think you are talking to of course I can." Tony got up "be back in a couple minutes with a location and if I am lucky with a name and address." He stated with a wave off to his lab. Well, a few minutes turned into a few hours
"Jarvis can you tell Tony it is time for dinner." Rhoady ordered
"He is not answering sir he seems to have hit a road block with the number he was trying to track." Came Jarvis British robotic voice a few seconds later.
"What kind of snag?" Scott asked looking up at the ceiling as if he could see the robotic voice
"I think you would like to see for yourselves." Jarvis replied the group looked at each other than Clint shrugs they all started heading down to the lab their curiosity replacing their hunger for a moment. When they got to the lab they saw Tony yelling at a computer screen with a spider-man logo flashing almost mockingly on the screen.
"Stark didn't you hear the call for dinner?" Scott shouted
"can't you see I am busy!" Tony shot back now typing furiously on the holographic key pad "Jarvis run it again." he ordered
"It failed sir." Jarvis stated again
"How?!" Tony shouted frustrated
"What is wrong are we in danger?" Steve asked eyeing the flashing red Spider-man logo warily
"I don't understand why this is not working." Tony hiss frustrated
"Did that parker kid give you a fake number?" Natasha asked her suspicions about the teen resurfacing. With the look on her face for what she had planed if she ever saw that teen again.
"no if it was a fake number I would have discovered that ages ago. The problem is the web head has awesome security when it comes to anyone tracking this number it seems even Jarvis is having trouble tracking the ID." Tony gave a frustrated sigh
"How is that possible you said it yourself that Spidey needed highschoolers help when it came to defeating some of his villains but now you're saying that even Jarvis can't hack his phone?" Sam asked
"That is exactly what I am saying." Tony shouted frustratingly waving at the flashing spiderman logo like it was laughing at them
"Do you think those two teens helped him with this too?" Bruce asked
"If they did then why didn't Parker tell us about the system?" Natasha asked as if this was comforting her suspicion on the teen
"I told you he was still hiding something he hesitated when we first asked him about Spider-man I wouldn't be surprised if he is still in contact him the masked vigilante." Natasha stated everyone grew silent
"Do you really think a highschooler could out smart Tony or Jarvis for that matter?" Rhoady asked skeptical again everyone was silent shaking their head this was too confusing
"Well on the bright side we have his number do you think we can just call him and tracking him that way?" Scott asked everyone turned to him in surprised "what"
"I don't know why I didn't think of that… Jarvis." Tony said Jarvis dialed the number everyone patiently waiting to see if anyone was going to pick up.
"Your friendly neighborhood Spider-man here." A familiar voice filled the lab
"Spider-man?" Steve asked
"Yes who is this?" they all looked at one another wondering what to say seeming unprepared not really expecting him to pick up
"It's your pal Iron man" Tony stated Steve face palmed and everyone was expecting Spider-man to just hang up. After a starch of silent they thought he had
"How did you get this number?" Spider-man finally asked he voice sounding a little less cheerful
"I'm an Avenger we have our ways." Tony continued he started typing again he did a hand motion 'keep him talking'
"Spider-man we what to do this as peacefully as possible we do apologize for attacking you that night but we really do nee—
"You what my identity and I told you the answer is no I like to keep my secrets thank you, and Stark I would stop trying to trace this number you don't have the time and I don't plan on staying on the phone long enough for you to track me." Spider-man said
"Could you give us a hint on where you're at please I do know you are not in China, Portugal or the united kingdoms." Tony said the map of the world showing Spider-man signal jumping all over the place.
"Maybe I decided to go on a trip." Spider-man quipped.
"Spider-man"
"Sorry but I got to run you know being a hero and all. hope not to see you around." And with that the line went dead and the map with the signals also disappeared
"Dang it I needed just a little more time." Tony muttered
"Look on the bright side he picked up the phone." Scott stated
"I'm hungry and our food is getting cold let just call it for now and go to our plan-C tomorrow." Clint sighed waving his hand as he stared to head back upstairs. The other reluctantly followed all with different thoughts on Spider-man.
Elsewhere
"Those incompetent Avengers they can't even catch on pesky spider." A woman hissed banging her fist on a table. The most resent Shield report lay next to her.
"Spider-man is proving more formidable than we originally thought." stated a gentleman in a dark red suit a few seats down.
"This could be a problem for our plans." Another man said on the opposite side of the table his head resting in his folded hands
"Why do you think we ordered Shield to arrests him? we can't afford any mistakes especially not now. we have been planning this for far to long to have one lose cannon what-a-be superhero messing it all up." A different woman spoke in a bored tone her sharp nailed taping on the convergence table.
"Spider-man is a slippery bug I should know he has been messing with my operations for years." Another figure spoke in the dark room
"If you had taken care of him when he was new we might not have to jump though all of these hoops." The first woman snapped and the shadowed man.
"Many people have tried to take him out over the years but he just keeps coming back. He is far more resistant and skilled then we ever expected." The same man answered not seeming bothered by the woman's tone.
"I don't know why we are so conserved with one masked vigilantly there is no way he could stop our plans… especially not on his own." Someone else spoke
"Idiot, Spider-man has been a thorn in our under-dealing for years. He probably doesn't even know how much of a thorn he is. Not to mention he has stopped very super villain that has come up against him with relatively easy."
"He had also won a fight against the Avengers which is also concerning." Another man spoke from the shadows.
"We are also nowhere closer to finding out who is behind the mask or the secrets behind his powers." The room fell silent at their growing frustration and hatred for Spider-man "he is to much of a unknow that he needs to be captured or taken out he can not interfere."
"SHIELD and the Avengers don't seem up to the tasked of riding us of this Spider I think it is time we put more heat on the fire and take care of this ourselves."