Peter sat in his room mopping. It was actually quite a boring task. Just sit there and mope. Don't talk to people and mope. Be bored and mope.
He was angry and upset at Steve. He had admitted to Fury that he trusted Steve. He wanted to trust him with his biggest secret, he wanted to get close to the man and he wanted to be friends with him. All that being said, the man kept something from him! He didn't tell him that Fury wanted to see him. He didn't tell him that his arguments with Natasha were about him. He just decided that Peter shouldn't get involved. Why? Did Steve think he was too young? That Fury was a bad influence? That he'd get hurt? Peter wondered what his reaction would be when – if he found out what Peter did in his spare time.
It was probably a completely unreasonable hate towards Steve but the man had taken it upon himself to shield Peter from a man who could, essentially, make creating the antidote for Connors a lot easier. Not that he knew that of course. Peter sighed, got changed into his Spider-man costume, bid farewell to Jarvis and jumped out the window.
Steve slouched on the sofa thinking of what he had done to make Peter so angry at him. Seriously, all he had done was stop him talking to Fury. What was so important that Fury needed to talk to the kid anyway?
Steve's thoughts were disturbed when he heard Jarvis speak loudly to him.
"Sir, Mister Stark requests your presence ."
"Why?" Steve moaned.
"Apparently he wants a drinking partner and Mister Banner is not being accommodating." Jarvis responded.
Steve groaned. He thought about declining it and then thought against it, Tony would probably come up here and get drunk instead. Or he'd find some way to annoy him later.
Steve got downstairs only to see Tony trying to pass Clint and Natasha a drink. Both seem to decline with an air of annoyance. It was probably the hundredth time he offered.
"Stevie!" Tony called when he heard the lift close behind him. The others nodded in acknowledgement. Steve responded in kind.
A drink was shoved in his hand and the conversation that must have been happening before he arrived, resumed.
"I'm just saying, if we add some repulsers to the jet that are linked to my suit then I can fire while everyone else focuses on other tasks like not crashing the jet!" Tony said unnecessarily loudly.
"And what happens when you're unconscious or not in the fight?" Clint asked rolling his eyes. "I don't know how to control them and they use more power than a missile. Why not just strap another one of those on instead?"
"How about more armour instead of weapons?" Natasha said trying to be heard. Obviously this wasn't the first time she mentioned it. "What good is a jet with weapons when the jet is hit?"
"I agree with Natasha and I agree with Tony." Bruce stated. Tony stuck his tongue out a Clint. "However, I think Clint has point about energy usage. If we could find a way for the jet to refuel whilst flying then a repulsor beam would be the perfect. It's smaller and lighter that missiles and more compact."
"We could try a photosynthesis styled engine!" Tony shouted, again, unnecessarily loudly.
"You mean, take in the CO2 and deposit oxygen?" Bruce asked sceptically.
"Yeah, I've been working on a prototype for my suits. THE TREE SUIT!" Tony exclaimed.
Steve wasn't sure if Tony was already drunk or just bored.
"Just please don't paint it green." Clint begged. Bruce snorted.
"At least the big guy would have a friend." Bruce laughed.
The conversation continued in this manner. Steve occasionally put in some input but otherwise stayed silent. It was almost eight in the evening when the conversations stopped and they started discussing dinner. Tony was determined to get Chinese takeaway and the others were too lazy to cook or argue.
"Jarvis, hey Jarvis. Can you call Pete and ask if he wants anything specific?" Tony asked.
There was a momentary pause.
"Mister Parker is not here at the moment. He has gone out." Jarvis responded. Steve gawked.
"Cap, why didn't you tell us? Could have saved my voice." Tony grumbled.
"You would have found another way to waste it anyway." Clint muttered under his breath. Bruce smirked.
"I didn't know." Steve said feeling unsure.
Natasha sighed and rolled her eyes. Steve looked so unsure of himself. It was almost pathetic, she thought. Obviously they were disagreeing about something and suddenly Peter goes out by himself and he takes it to heart. It was unnecessary.
"Jarvis, did he say when he'd be back?" Natasha called out.
"No, ma'am."
"I'll phone him and ch-" Steve started.
"What are you two fighting about?" Natasha asked. Everyone sat in silence while the two of them had a staring competition.
"Jarvis! Order the norm from the Double Dragon and then keep quiet. I want to hear the gossip!" Tony instructed before leaning forwards intently. Steve glared at him before realising that everyone was listening in.
"He seemed angry at me when I went to get him from Fury." Steve stated. Tony laughed at him.
"He found out that Mister Pirate wanted to see him through someone other than you!" Tony laughed.
"And? Last time he talked with Fury he was strangled! I mean, didn't you see the bruising on his neck? What if that happens every time they meet?" Steve asked furiously.
"Okay, I would like to point out two things." Natasha said, looking Steve in the eye. "Number one, you coddling him is probably going to translate as not trusting him. If he wants to see Fury, let him. He might have his reasons. If he trusts you, he might tell you."
Steve sat in silence. He was not coddling Peter. He just... he... Fury might manipulate him! Even in Steve's head, that sounded irrational.
"Secondly, has anyone else noticed how Peter's bruise on his neck has gone?" Natasha pointed out. They all turned and looked at her in shock.
"He's been wearing turtle necks for the past few days." Bruce pointed out.
"Yes, I know. But I also know that when he left with Gwen Stacy on Sunday, the bruise was practically gone. And I saw him rub the back of his neck on Monday, there was no bruise at all when he moved the shirt's neck down." Natasha informed them.
"Maybe he put make up on it." Clint suggested in an off-handed fashion. Natasha glared at him.
"No, if it was make up he wouldn't bother with the turtle neck." Steve pointed out.
"Maybe it was badly done make up." Clint suggested.
"Could it be possible that the serum Steve was given was passed on?" Bruce asked Tony slowly, as if thinking the theory through in his head.
"You're more of a genetics genius then me." Tony pointed out.
"Well, it might be true. Steve, have you noticed any strength enhancements or anything?" Bruce asked.
"Not really." Steve said thoughtfully. "But even with me it takes at least three days to get rid of a bruise that dark."
"Sir, the food has arrived." Jarvis said.
"Send it up Jarvis." Tony said before standing up and stretching. "Look, tomorrow, we can do a blood test and sort all this out. Now, let's eat!"
Steve sat for a moment longer before pulling out his phone. He started searching for Peter's number when a small hand covered the screen.
"Leave him be tonight. I warned you that he would find out and take it badly." Natasha said when Steve looked up.
"What if he's in danger?" Steve asked urgently. Natasha raised an eyebrow.
"Steve, relax. He's fine, don't worry." Natasha said. Now it was Steve's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Fury's probably watching him through CCTV or something."
"How can I tell him why I did what I did?" Steve said with a sigh.
"I'll talk to him." Natasha said. Steve gave her a smile of gratitude and they walked over to the table where Bruce quietly ate some chicken chow mien and Tony and Clint argued about weapons.
Peter had left with no goal in mind. He did his usual rounds. He checked the alleyways and he found a nice tall building to stare at the city from. The sun was setting and the lights started to turn on. Peter listened out for any cries for help.
He heard one in the sound of police sirens. Lots of them. Peter listened to his senses and swung down, looking for the cause of the noise.
It sounded like it was just over the next tall building. Before the scene came into Peter's view, there was a loud crashing sound followed by screams and more crashing.
The scene below showed a pile up of cars all around a turned over armoured vehicle. Peter allowed himself to fall as quickly as possible when he realised that three more squad cars were about to join the crash load. He tactically released his webbing to slow their collision impact without causing the passengers any damage.
Next was crowed control. Peter finally finished his decent and landed on a street lamp. He yanked people away from the cars using his webbing, even if they were trying to help.
"Hey! We want to help!" one man cried out.
"Sir, please, keep away, let your friendly neighbourhood Spiderman take a look!" Peter replied. The man muttered something but didn't approach the cars again.
Once they were out of the way, he got to the mess of cars and started ripping doors of hinges. There were two police cars in the mess and three civilian cars, not counting the three squad cars he had prevented from crashing. Peter then swung over to the main cause of the accident, the overturned armoured vehicle. Due to the strength of the vehicle, there was very little damage done to the exterior. He checked the driver's seat to find that the seat was empty. Not only that, it looked like the thing had been melted! There was a hole burnt through the ceiling leading through the concrete! Peter ran to the back and pried open the sealed doors. Steam and heat came rushing out. It was the same result, there was a melted hole in the upside down ceiling! Only two people were in there now.
"Excuse me, sir." Peter called out. There was no response. Peter scaled the wall to avoid the floor. He was worried that the heat from making that hole would burn him since the ceiling was metal – well, it was technically now the floor...
"Sir?" Peter said as he got closer. It was incredibly dark in the container. Peter was almost at him when he smelt burning. Not the burning of smell metal makes but cooking, as in, burnt flesh!
Peter looked closely at one of the men and realised that his face was unrecognisable. It had been burnt off in the shape of a hand! Peter jumped to the other man and saw this man was burnt on the neck. Exactly how it would look if someone had been strangling him with their hand on fire...
Peter wanted to be sick!
He heard the police mobilising outside and was brought out of his thoughts. He didn't know what had done this and he really wasn't in the mood to find out!
Checking the ceiling wouldn't burn him if he touched it, Peter poked his head through the melted hole and looked around. There was a third burnt body under the hole where the driver's seat was. Peter guessed this must have been the original driver. His neck looked to be angled strangely and Peter could see burn marks in the little light there was.
Other than that, Peter could see nothing. There was no chance he would find these people, whoever they were. He'd leave that to the police. Peter pulled his head out of the hole and found himself staring down the barrel of a gun. There was a police officer at the other end of it.
Instinctively Peter jumped back, out of the line of fire.
"Officer, put that gun down! I didn't do anything!" Peter cried.
The man seemed hesitant. He didn't put his gun away but didn't directly point it at Spiderman.
"What happened?" The man asked, looking at the burnt bodies.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Peter said. "There's the driver down the hole, he's been burnt too."
"What could have done this?" the officer said to no one in particular. He was staring at the hand shaped burn mark on one of the men.
"Someone sick." Peter mumbled. The officer nodded. Peter took that as his cue to leave. He didn't notice as the officer snapped to attention when he swung off, he just wanted to get away.
The accident had happened near Gwen's flat. Peter decided to give her a visit. He could do with a good old rant.
He swung down and looked in the window. He curtains were partly closed and Gwen lay, reading on her bed. Peter knocked on her window. He was almost a little sad that she didn't jump. He used to enjoy popping by just because she would jump when he knocked. Obviously, she was used to it by now. Gwen lay still for a second, listening to her surroundings. A moment later she got up and opened the window.
"Hey Spidey." She whispered with a smile.
"Hey." Peter said yanking of his mask. He smiled back. Gwen's smile dropped.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"What? Nothings-"
"Pete, don't lie."
Gwen glared at Peter before leading him into the room. She sat on her bed and Peter sat on her desk chair.
Peter told her about seeing Fury and how Steve was keeping it from him. He told her about how angry he felt and she sat and listened.
"You done?" she asked. Peter nodded. He had nothing more to say. Gwen burst out laughing, trying to keep it quiet in case someone came by.
Peter stared at her, unsure as to why she laughed.
"Pete, you're too sensitive." She laughed.
"Oh come on! You'd be upset if someone you were beginning to trust lied to you!" Peter exclaimed. Gwen stopped laughing and gave him a look that said 'seriously'.
"You want to talk to me about lying?" she asked incredulously. "Where shall we start? 'Hey Gwen, I'll be late for science, can you tell Sir', 'hey Gwen, I'm fine, can we go on a date some other time', 'hey Gwen lo-"
"Okay, okay, I get your point."
"Peter, you have given him no reason to believe you can look out for yourself. The guy thinks you're a normal teenager. No, wait, he thinks you could be a china doll in comparison to him." Gwen stated.
"Yeah, but how am I meant to trust him with my Spidey secret if I can't even trust him to be straight with me? I mean, he'll probably ban me from ever putting on spandex again!" Peter claimed, throwing his hands about.
"I don't know, maybe he can relate." Gwen suggested. Peter stared at her like she had two heads. "Seriously Peter, have you read nothing about the man? He joined the army after being rejected loads of times. He wanted to help. He was too young, too small, asthmatic and to top it off, he had not muscle what so ever."
"But-"
"Peter, the man might see you in him. You both have the most important thing, a good heart. You both do what you do to protect people. I'm not saying he'll see it at first but truthfully, I think he'll appreciate it later." Gwen stated.
Peter and Gwen chatted for another half hour before Peter left. He did a quick sweep of the city before ending up on his bed, completely exhausted. He got changed, hid his costume and lay on his bed, contemplating what he should do next. He could work on his serum for Doctor Connors but it might be better to wait for the DNA first. He could-
There was a knock on his door. Peter hoped it wasn't Steve.
"Come in." He called grumpily. No matter what Gwen said, he could be grumpy at Steve for as long as he liked.
The door creaked open and in walked Natasha. She had a slim, metal briefcase in her left hand. Peter jumped up to greet her.
"Fury told me you were expecting this." She said formally. Peter nodded and took the briefcase from her. He then shoved it under his bed. When he turned around, Natasha was still there.
"Um-" he started.
"I hear you're pissed off at Steve." She said bluntly. Peter sighed. Natasha walked over to his desk and sat down. "I warned him it would happen, that you would find out and be grumpy about it."
"Why was he so against asking me even knowing?" Peter asked, realising Natasha probably wouldn't go away until they talked.
"Fury's manipulative. I guess Steve just didn't want you caught up in his world. He wants to keep you safe." Natasha replied.
They sat in silence.
"What does Fury want from you?" Natasha asked finally.
Peter sat there contemplating what to say. He could admit it all and be done with the secrecy... Well, some of it. Or he could say he was helping Fury. That wouldn't really help on the 'I swear Fury isn't manipulating me' front.
"I- um," Peter stuttered.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, just know, secrets don't last long and you can save yourself a lot of hell if you admit them instead of others finding out." Natasha said. Peter nodded and watched as she stood up and headed to the door.
"One more thing, Pete." She said. "The old Cap's a little rusty but he's a good guy and he likes you. I know the rest of us do too. Whatever you're doing, don't do anything dumb and if you need help, just ask."
Peter nodded once more before waiting for Natasha to leave.
Ugh! Now he felt guilty about being rude to Steve!
And if I keep being grumpy at him, Peter thought, I'll just feel even more guilty!
Peter decided to delay sleep and work on his serum with his newly acquired gift from Fury. It had exactly what he asked for; the blood sample, the skin tissue and a note?
In scrawny handwriting, tucked behind one of three vials of blood, was a small note.
Thanks Peter. Your dad would be proud.
CC
Peter smiled before hiding the note in his school bag. He then navigated his way around the building to his secluded lab with the DNA.
He felt a yawn coming over him after what seemed like an hour of working. Peter looked at his watch, it was nearly two am! He crept to the door and was going to leave when he heard movement on the other side.
"Jarvis!" Tony shouted. "Bring me the specs for the green suit. I want to start outlining the weapon specifications."
"Surely that counteracts the good your suit supposedly does for the environment." Jarvis replied.
"Since when did I programme you to argue back?" Tony asked rhetorically. Peter watched through a crack in the door as holo screens appeared in front of Tony.
"Sir, might I suggest working at a more reasonable time of day?" Jarvis asked.
"No you may not." Tony muttered while scanning his work.
"How about when you are less intoxicated?" Jarvis suggested.
"Why is this any different from any other time I've worked like this?" Tony asked the ceiling, prying his eyes from the screens.
"I'm merely suggesting this since Ms Potts is back from her business trip in the morning." Jarvis pointed out.
"She'll kill me if she thinks I've been up all night!" Cried Tony.
"Should I hide the specs, sir?" Jarvis asked. Tony stared at the ceiling, he looked taken aback, unsure if he had heard a hint of amusement in Jarvis's voice or not. He let it go with a shake of his head.
"Yes, yes. And if Pepper asks, I was not here at this time, I was in bed." Tony said.
"Of course, sir. Also, Director Fury would like to speak to you in the morning." Jarvis said.
Tony grunted in response and then wandered off.
Peter sat by the door he hid behind, listening for any sound of Tony. He decided to count to 100. But what if Tony came back after he'd finished counting, what if he'd forgotten some-
"Mister Parker, Mister Stark is gone, you are able to leave." Jarvis's automated voice said, ringing loudly through the empty room.
Peter jumped up in fright.
"Any chance of some forewarning next time?" He asked sarcastically.
"Sorry, sir." Jarvis said.
"Anyway, thanks Jarvis." Peter said as he quickly walked through the maze of work tops.
"Goodnight, Mister Parker." Jarvis responded before shutting the lights off in the room.
not my best chapter ever, I'll admit. I know it feels like a filler but I need to get a few things in for story progression.
1. Who do you think was in the van?
2. Did Natasha reach expectations for those who asked for her to have a one on one with Peter.
3. Was this chapter totally rubbish or is that just my imagination
(answering 1-2 is fine)
sorry to those who'. Reviews I did not respond to. I thank each and every one of you who reviewed. And 1000 followers - people, when I saw that I almost cried with joy! Thank you