.
"I'm home," Peter shouted. He dumped his bag on the ground. JARVIS would bring it to his room. "Dad?"
There was a loud bang, and Tony Stark ran down from his lab. He looked at Peter and paused. "Hey, Pete," he said extremely loudly with his head slightly angled back toward the lab.
Peter paused. "Fondue?" He asked.
Tony smirked. "Yeah. Fondue. I'll give you a hundred dollars to go out and do anything right now."
Peter did not think, he just held out his hand. Tony scrambled down to Peter's level. He reached for his wallet and pulled out two fifty dollar bills. "I saw the interview," Peter said, "we watched part of it in class. So, what's your game?"
"Xavier needed a break," Tony replied. He leaned back and cracked his spine. "And I felt like the Avengers hadn't been in the news enough. That first question though, that was one we needed to answer." He looked up. "JARVIS, two glasses of wine in the lab please."
"Yes sir," the robotic voice answered.
"When is the 'Peter Stark' bit coming up?" Peter asked as he stuffed the bills in his pocket.
"Oh, I have to milk it. Don't worry." Tony turned to leave and then turned back. "Oh, Thor's back in town," he replied, "so Jane and Darcy stopped by. Darcy was down in the lunch room on her laptop. You two like hanging out, don't you?"
"Yeah," Peter said, "but I was going to-"
"There isn't much you can do without me or Steve. So go out with a girl. Have fun. Good god, Pete." Tony Stark waved Peter away. "Go. Be hormonal."
"That is the exact opposite of Pop's advice," Peter replied. "Isn't it funny how you're nearly twenty year older?"
"Steve is in his nineties, Peter," Tony replied. "Now go," he exclaimed, "be normal, my web-slinging, fifteen-year old spider-child."
"Go... fondue," Peter said as he opened the door.
"I regret ever telling the two of you that," Steve Roger's weary voice came from the way of the labs.
Peter shut his door quickly before he saw anything.
.
"So, I'm totally in a fight with my girlfriend, who is not my girlfriend, girlfriend, but shee might be, since she's bi but she's totally more into guys right now," Darcy sucked on her soda and continued to ramble on as she typed into her computer, "which is weird cause I like, totally go either way all of the time and she is like, sometimes she likes guys, sometimes she doesn't."
"But...?" Peter tried to get the point.
"Shipping war!" Darcy's eyes flickered to Peter. "You know, the whole fangirl world has gone crazy since your dad's big announcement; and so I'm like totally defending the whole Iron Man / Captain America thing, but all of my friends think it's Stanner-"
"Stanner?"
"Stark and Banner," Darcy said, talking a mile a minute, "'cause they're both scientists. They're all like, 'Hawkeye is too straight, and Thor's dating your boss' and no one thinks Captain America is gay. But I know the truth, right? Except, they don't know me and Jane actually hang out with you guys all the time, they think I just did it once and that was when I was in that photo with Mr. Banner and your... what do you call him again?"
"Pop."
"Yeah, your pop, so they're all like, 'You met the guy, how can you say Captain America is gay', but I'm like defending the whole relationship thing, and when they all find out I'm right they'll be totally mad. Can I have a picture with you in your uniform?" Darcy sucked on her straw.
Peter's eyes had glazed over. He blinked. "Huh?"
"Can I," Darcy said slowly, "have a picture, with Spiderman?"
"Date me," Peter poked at his straw.
"I told you," Darcy joked, "not until you're in college. I'm twenty-two, you're sixteen."
"Bite me."
"Please," Darcy pleaded, "you have no idea how popular I am on the internet."
Darcy and Peter had bonded over the simple fact that they were the two youngest people in the world with SHIELD clearance. Due to Darcy's experience with Thor and Jane Foster, she had become an anomaly of clearance. It had to be granted to her, since she knew already what the clearance would have told her, and then when Thor introduced her, and Ms. Foster, to the rest of the Avengers by taking them onto the SHIELD helicopter, well, her clearance level just kept rising. And All Darcy did now was slack off in college, because she now had a guaranteed job as whatever she felt like in the military, and do odd things on the internet. Peter, already being under Nick Fury's watchful eye for being Spiderman, had been quickly inducted as 'temporary Avengers member' and therefore had some of the highest clearance in the entire world, just like Darcy. The two of them held secrets that even the President didn't know. Darcy knowing Peter was Spiderman felt almost normal. They both knew everything anyway.
"Aren't people going to ask how you managed to get a picture with me?" Peter asked.
Darcy jumped to the challenge. "Let's go in an alley and you can save my life."
"No."
"Please? Pretty please, lots of love, my darling Peter Stark?"
"No."
"Petey?"
"If we do, will you tell my dads that you hung out with me all night?" Peter looked at her. "That we got dinner and went to see a movie, and I was with you the whole time."
Darcy was surprised, but quickly adopted the persona of a fellow conspirator. "Sneaking out? A girl?" She smirked, "A boy?"
"No," Peter said stiffly, "crimefighting."
"Boring," Darcy rolled her eyes. "Get hormones, Peter. Then we can talk about feelings."
Peter stared. "No."
"Yes, I will lie for you," Darcy sucked on her straw, "put on the suit, big shot superhero."
.
Peter shot a web down into Ox's mouth. "So this is cow tipping," Peter quipped. He lightly jumped off of Ox's head and onto the side of the bank.
Ox ran forward, howling an articulate "Rargh!" as his head hit the wall.
"Oooo," Spiderman cooed sympathetically. "That's gotta hurt."
There was the sound of a whip snapping. Peter's eyes flipped to the entrance of the bank. He'd been trying to turn the fight closer toward the vault in the back. Even though the bank was small, the more distance he managed to lure the Enforcers away from the window entrance, where the two bank tellers and the older man were tied up, the better.
Montana snapped his whip again, inches from where the three people were cowering. "Come here, itsy bitsy."
"That was almost smart," Peter clapped his hands together, suspended on the wall by his feet. "Alright." Spiderman hopped to the floor. He knew there were only moments before Ox was unstuck and came after him as well. "Let's dance, Hannah," Spiderman spread out his arms.
Montana took the bait and stepped forward. "Hannah?" He paused.
"Hannah, Montana," Spiderman explained.
Montana blinked. The thought connected. His face turned red with rage. "Oh, you're gunna get it!" Montana charged forward, his whip at the ready.
Time it, Peter coached himself. One.
Montana was so close Peter could smell him.
Two.
A vein was sticking out of Montana's forehead. He looked really ugly.
Three.
Montana's eyes were blue.
Er.. Four and a half.
Montana was kind of slow.
Spiderman jumped.
Montana snapped his whip, and he caught Ox straight in the ass. The strong man howled, and the whip-wieldin' villain sputtered.
"It's the cliiiiii-iimb," Spiderman sang as he crawled onto the ceiling. His spider sense was killing him right now. "And something abboooout a butterfly IIIII thiiiink."
There was a gunshot, one of those wretched shots that made the ears ring. It was uncomfortably close to Peter's pinky toe.
"Yowza!" Fancy Dan's guns clicked as he jumped into view behind a teller's desk. "I got you!" He shouted delusionally.
Spiderman reached out for webbing. The webs caught on the coffee pot. He tugged. Hot coffee spilled all over the floor and Fancy Dan's head.
"ARGH!" Fancy Dan dropped his guns as steam rose up out of his skin.
Shiiiiiit, Peter winced, that must buuuurn. He backflipped down onto the floor when he noticed the Ox running for Fancy Dan's guns. Peter jumped between the strong man and the heavy artillery. "Now you may not be my type, and Dad would kill me, but please, may I?" Peter held out his arm, ready to shoot.
He felt much more confident now that his web slingers did not backfire, and his formerly cotton costume was now light, arable leather interwoven with armour that could dodge small bullets and served as a buffer against full frontal attacks. No matter how confident Peter was, however, getting whipped in the stomach knocked the breath out of him. Spiderman gasped, and Ox grabbed Peter's neck. He swung Peter around, throwing him into the wall.
Spiderman's everything was hit. Montana laughed.
Spiderman struggled to stand, but he dragged himself to his feet quickly and turned around to face his two opponents. Once upon a time, there was an idiot who said blunt force damage didn't affect superheroes. He said superheroes could get thrown threw ten walls and fall twenty stories and still get up. Once upon a time, that idiot was so, so wrong. Peter's lungs burned like hellfire, his muscles screamed, his everything was wretchedly and horribly, terribly in pain. He could barely manage to hold himself forward. He sucked in air, trying to regain his lost sanity.
Ox punched his hand into his fist, his glare looking much more menacing with the trickle of blood flushing down from his forehead. Montana snapped his whip again. Somewhere in the background, Fancy Dan was still crying in pain from the boiling coffee.
Pull yourself together, Peter ached, with great power. He leaned down, gasping. With great power. Spiderman sucked in a breath. There are three lives at stake. "With great power," Spiderman said. He stood strong, ready to keep fighting.
What Spiderman saw stopped him in his tracks. "Mother of God," Spiderman gasped in terror.
"Not gunna work," Montana said while Ox turned to look.
"Iron Man?" Ox said.
Prominent among the spectators and the policemen who had been standing outside watching the fight, Iron Man hovered in the air straight outside the window. The armor's arms were folded. And it armor could glare, then Iron Man was spitting knives from his eyes.
"Not him," Spiderman whimpered, "fuck."
Montana looked from Iron Man to Spiderman to Iron Man to Spiderman and then at Ox. "Do you get this?" Ox stared blankly.
Iron Man landed. He walked through the door of the bank, blasting open the locks. He stopped, and stared.
"Alright," Montana's voice shook slightly as he snapped his whip. He knew right away that the whip was no good against Iron Man's armor, and even Ox could only hope to match the armor's artificial strength. Montana stepped forward, showing a remarkable about of bravery for a thug.
Iron Man just blasted Montana into a wall.
"Hey! You!" Ox shouted stupidly. He rushed forward.
Iron Man blasted him, Ox stepped back, but managed to propel himself forward. Iron Man blasted Ox with both of his hands. Ox fell to the floor and did not move.
Iron Man continued to walk forward. He stopped a few yards away from a cringing Spiderman.
Spiderman swallowed. He sweated.
"Darcy said you two were at a movie," Iron Man stated roboticly. "Darcy lied."
"Um." Peter stared through his costume. So, his Dads did not know that Spiderman still crime fought without them. Apparently, Spiderman was not supposed to.
"And what," Iron Man stepped forward, "do you think," another step, "you're doing?"
"With great power comes great responsibility!" Spiderman exclaimed.
Iron Man grabbed Spiderman by the ear, and dragged him out of the bank.
The crowd of civilians stared, confused.
Iron Man looked at the crowd. "He's an Avenger," Iron Man said stiffly. He took Spiderman angrily by the shoulders, crushing Peter slightly as he did so, and flew off.
.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!" Tony had snapped. He had thrown Dummy against the wall and he was now pacing the living room, throwing anything he happened to come into contact with in any direction. The armor was gone, but somehow this was worse. Armor had diluted the true extent of Tony's fury.
Peter stood, mask off, still in uniform, in the center of the living room.
Captain America, as Peter couldn't help think of him even though Steve wasn't in his uniform, stood at attention directly in front of Peter. He stared, his eyes boring terrible holes into Peter's, and said nothing.
"GOING OUT WITHOUT BACKUP? THAT MAN HAD A GUN FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! HE SHOT AT YOU!" Tony had a lamp in his hands. The living room no longer had a lamp. "DAMN YOU, PETER! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?"
"I-"
"THERE WERE THREE OF THEM! DID YOU HONESTLY THINK YOU SHOULD TAKE ALL THREE OF THEM ON?"
"I've fought them before-"
"I DON'T CARE!" Tony's chest heaved. He stopped, about faced, and looked straight at Peter.
Peter nervously raised his gaze to meet Tony's. However, he didn't like the mix of fury, disappointment, and fear he saw there, so Peter Stark stared at his Spiderman shoes.
"God," Tony turned sharply and faced the wall, his voice quiet, he growled, "fuck this... shit."
"Peter," Captain America said sternly.
Peter rubbed his arm.
"Peter. Look at me." Captain America ordered.
Very, very, very, very reluctantly, Peter did. Captain America was stoic.
"Tony and I do not want you getting hurt." He said as his military stance, like a mask, made him rigid and awe-inspiring. "You are not to go outside and fight crime without us."
"I did before," Peter said before he realized the words were out of his mouth.
"WHAT was that?" Tony Stark jumped back. "Repeat that right now!"
"I said," Peter lifted his chin, "that I fought crime for a year before I knew you."
Tony's hands were fists. "And you GOT SHOT!" His chest heaved with emotion. "How many times, PETER, did you almost die?"
Peter did not dare answer, the number had grown past one he could count.
"You are still SIXTEEN," Tony shouted, "you have PLENTY of time before you go out and DIE FOR YOUR COUNTRY, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"
"Tony," Captain America looked at Tony Stark.
Tony still reeled with emotion, but he bit his tongue.
The Captain looked at Peter. "We are taking away your costume. You are grounded, literally. You cannot crimefight, even with us, for at least two months. You cannot use your powers except in the gym. We will keep your web shooters in our room, if you want to practice with them you will need to get our permission. JARVIS will be programmed to tell us whenever you leave the house."
Peter swallowed, blood draining from his face.
"Your Dad, myself, one of the Avengers, or SHIELD personnel will drop you off at school, take you to work, and take you home. There will be no exceptions." Captain America set his arms behind his back. "Do you understand?"
Peter mumbled under his breath. "Yes."
"I did not hear you," Captain America said
"I understand," Peter managed to say.
"Go to your room. Get ready for school. We expect you down here ready for breakfast at six twenty." Captain America looked stiffly at Peter. "First, change out of your costume and bring it down here."
Peter mock saluted, his every muscle teeming with outrage. YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME, Peter wanted to scream. YOU CAN'T JUST MAKE ME STOP HELPING PEOPLE!
He hated them, oh God, he hated them.
Peter could not just stop. He couldn't. What about Uncle Ben? What about responsibility?
Crimefighting wasn't some privilegethey could take away like his computer or an allowance, crimefighting was Peter's duty. It wasn't like Peter liked the bruises and the scars and getting shot!
WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY
Peter slammed the door to his room as hard as he could.
.