The Greatest of Them All

by Kazama Yokaze

Peter was tired of being the universe's punching bag. Couldn't the poor guy catch a break? After the events of Kindred, a nice calming patrol seems like a great idea. Nothing could go wrong so soon after right? Norman is reformed, Kingpin as far as he knows is keeping his hands clean. No super world ending events on the horizon...a patrol sounds nice. After all what could go wrong?

6. A Quiet Debut

Hello hello! I'm glad I got this chapter out as fast as I did. I hope it bodes well for the story moving forward. I hope that everyone enjoys the chapter. That is all.

---

Peter's Home (Queens)

'Today's the day. I can feel it'

Peter thought to himself, finishing his morning habituals as he dressed in a casual black T-shirt (With the quote May the Force be with you, with the equation for force written on it – whoever spread that rumor that he hated Star Wars was a liar.) and jeans before putting on white socks and red tennis shoes. He planned on dropping by Midtown High after heading to the Baxter building and didn't want to look too out of place among those his biological age.

"Morning Sweety!"

"Morning Sport!"

"Hi, Pete."

His family greeted him from the dining room table, as he descended the stairs. Eating breakfast: the staple French Toast and eggs with bacon combo his mother and father loved.

His father was dressed in business casual attire of black and navy blue and was looking like he needed to shave soon.

His mom was dressed in a more business professional attire with a white blouse and black knee-length skirt and looked fresh as a daisy.

Teresa was dressed as casual as he was and wore a red shirt with a pink jacket and a denim skirt.

It looked like he woke up late today 'Must have slept through my other alarms.' Normally Peter was one of the first ones up along with his parents as they did their morning workouts and he studied more or participated as best he could.

He had wanted to be up and at the building at 6 AM but whatever residual growth he was missing must have affected his sleep, even though he was a teen nearing adulthood.

"Morning everyone!" Peter greeted as he moved to sit at the table where his plate sat.

As Peter was noticeably excited, Mary gave a raised eye-brow to her husband. He shook his head just as confused.

"So? Something exciting happening today Peter?" Richard asked his son.

"Huh, oh yeah you said those potential employees I recommended, accepted right?" Peter asked before stuffing his face with some syrupy french toast.

Richard nodded his head, waiting for his son to extrapolate.

"Well," Peter continued, eating a bite of his breakfast in between his words. "I know...they aren't...starting...today. Mm, mmph this is good. Did you or mom make this?"

"Peter, you know it's impolite to eat with your mouth full or while you're constantly eating." Mary chimed in. "But yes I made it this time."

Peter beamed at his mom. "Sure thing mom, it just tasted so good I couldn't stop." He drank a glass of milk. "Anyways, yeah dad I'm just excited that my recommendations are all accepted. Not to mention you being willing to go through with it."

Slightly confused, Richard said, "...But that was last week son."

"Oh." Was Peter's perfect reply.

"I mean, there's also that science expo today! You know from General Techtronics?" He continued, looking expectantly at them both even Teresa as if to say 'back me up here'.

At seeing his parent's disbelieving stares and his sister's growing smirk, he continued "Look I just feel like today's going to be a good day is all."

Teresa mumbled something before taking a bite of her breakfast.

"What was that honey?" Mary asked.

Blushing, but no less smug Teresa repeated "I said, maybe he just wants to spend some more time with Silver."

Now it was Peter's turn to blush, "I'm telling you, Teresa we're just friends...at least I think we're friends... We're friends right, dad? You can be friends with your bodyguard?"

Richard let out a chuckle "Yes, Peter. You can be friends with your bodyguard. Though," his tone reached one of mock chiding "if you're using her time as a bodyguard to take her on dates you should stop. Totally an improper use of company funds." He finished with a wink.

Mary raised an eyebrow as well with a teasing look.

Peter raised his hands and smiled sheepishly "Look, we're just friends don't worry about stuff like that."

Teresa raised her hand and lowered a finger for each name she included. "MJ, Susan, Felic-"

"Oh look at that! I finished my breakfast. I'll catch you all later. Love you all. Do good in school sis. I'll see you both in the building later mom and dad…maybe…byeeeeee." Peter interrupted before rapidly moving out of the room and towards the door.

"Wait who's driving you there first?" Mary asked.

"Sue is taking Johnny and me!" Peter yelled back.

"Okay, love you, sweety!"

"Bye sport!"

"Bye Peter!"

Sounds of laughter followed him as he left the house causing him to sigh.

'Well, I tried telling them sort of why I was excited. But if that's what they wanna think I'm doing that's better for them I'm sure.' Peter thought to himself as he moved down the path towards the driveway and waited for Susan to pick him up.

As he waited, Peter took the time to reflect on the changes he inadvertently made to the flow of time.

Saving his parents was inadvertently the domino effect for a lot of stuff to change, having the Storm parents all be at the hospital instead of home already which lead to Mrs. Storm not dying. Which then meant Susan and Johnny did not have to move in with their aunt.

'And since that never happened Sue never fell in love with Reed…' Peter thought to himself frowning.

Ignoring just the potential non-birth of his nephew and niece (in spirit, not by blood). Sue never went to California to follow Reed.

Meaning the Fantastic Four wouldn't form. Or at least, they wouldn't form before, Peter hopefully became Spider-man again.

Susan still got her doctorate in Biotechnology, and she went a step further and aimed for a doctorate in Biophysics...He's not sure why she went with that last one. Seemed more like his field of interest.

Before he could think more on the topic, a honk interrupted his thoughts. Susan had pulled up, Johnny was in the passenger seat, and the window was rolled down showing his grinning face. "Heya nerd you gonna get in or what?"

Peter grinned back "And get the stench of a grease monkey all over me? Fat chance."

Contrary to his words though he opened the back door nearest him and slid himself in. The door closed with a satisfying THUNK.

"Thanks, Sue, Johnny. I appreciate the ride." Peter said with a smile.

"No problem bro."

"Anytime, Peter."

The brother and sister duo responded each with their own smile. Or in Johnny's case a full-on grin.

"So, what's got you lost in the sauce, my dude?" Johnny asked as his sister pulled them out of the driveway. Susan also shot Peter a curious glance in the rear-view mirror.

"Oh uh, nothing just thinking about a lot of stuff. New hires accepted our job offers, that expo later this evening, and just – plans you know." Peter tapped his temple. "Gotta make sure my noggins always working to help people ya know?"

"Is that all nerd?" Johnny said with a relieved smile. "I thought you were contemplating the secrets of the universe or something."

"What are you talking about? I have the fumes from when you're working on a vehicle to do that." Peter cheekily said with a grin.

"Oy! Don't make me make my sister toss you out." Johnny retorted, trying and failing to hide the grin on his face.

Peter just pat Johnny's shoulder chuckling, before looking outside the window, content to bask in the company of good friends. Guilt abated for now.

Susan smiled fondly at the interactions of her brother and friend. More than happy to let them tease each other and laugh.

Though she wasn't above joining in and teasing as well.

"I don't know Johnny, I feel like maybe I can toss you out instead. Move Peter up to the front."

Johnny stared at his sister aghast. "Cold sis. Cold."

---

The Baxter Building (Parker Industries HQ)

"Have a good day at work bro!"

"Make us something great today, Peter!"

The Storm siblings said with a wave as they left after dropping him off.

Peter waved at the leaving car, Sue needed to take Johnny to his high school and then probably come back to work with her father on theoretical nanotechnology for bone replacements. 'Yet another change, as Johnny didn't feel the need to complete school as quickly now.'

Sighing, which he noted absentmindedly that he's been doing that a lot, Peter stepped through the revolving door to the building's reception area. Seeing the 'Silver International' symbol next to the Parker Industries abbreviation on the guards in charge of this area.

He waved happily at them and moved to the elevator; taking it to his own floor of the building.

His parents shared a floor that was mainly for the administration side of things while his floor was where he could work on personal projects, and those that the company was contracted to make. The other floors were either recreational floors or housed their other employees; where they were able to work in their own rooms on shared floors.

Arriving on his floor, Peter made his way to his office.

Peter's office, located in the center of the entire floor, was pretty spartan. Thanks to his parents handling the logistics and most of the paperwork of the company Peter only had a single pile of papers, mainly requisitioning and support based, he was required to handle and a quick glance through his company email showed a limited amount of meetings or emails he would need to be a part of, none of which were today. 'Awesome. Should be all clear like I planned.'

Finished with his small amount of work Peter debated contacting one of the guards to accompany him outside of the building towards a deemed 'unsafe' area as required by his parents or if he should wait for Silver. He was getting antsy wanting to complete his required tutoring hours for his degree. And if he was being honest, he missed his friends.

Sometimes being all alone on a floor made a guy feel lonely, go figure.

'Man, I really hope that's not presumptuous of me. Our social dynamic at Midtown isn't the same as it was before.' Peter thought, with a melancholic smile.

He was mentally aware of what to be prepared for, but he underestimated how much he missed spending time with his 'group'...even if high school could have been better.

'Senior year and junior year actually weren't that bad.' He thought, remembering how everyone started to mature and acted more like they did when they were all kids. Nothing to do but have fun and play games with each other. No worries, no stress. Just friends.

A wave of emotion suddenly swept over Peter, his eyes watering. 'Woah. Where's this coming from?'

That was rhetorical he thought to himself. He knows he was still affected by Kindred what with raising all of his dead friends and family to torment him with. Not to mention the knowledge that his remaining friends died with the rest of the multi-verse…was it too quiet in here?

He wiped his eyes and made to busy himself. Deciding he'd rather wait before going to look for Silver.

It would give him time to compose himself. Give his mind a decent distraction.

Peter worked for around 30 minutes and was getting into the groove of things. Formulas and equations flew through his mind as he edited the makeup of his web fluid and worked on his web shooters.

'Don't want what happened with Norman when I was at my peak technology-wise again…'

Peter became engrossed in his work. To the point where he didn't notice as a figure silently opened a vent above him.

Dressed in a form-fitting black outfit from head to toe the figure descended on a rope to hang behind Peter and moved his hand holding a silver cylinder, to Peter's head.

Peter's office door slid open with a snkt. Surprised Peter peered over his monitor and saw a glaring Silver with a raised gun aimed in his general vicinity.

Alarmed Peter made to ask what was wrong, but before he could get a word out she aimed slightly above him and shot.

The sound of a human going slack and hitting the floor made Peter wince in sympathy.

He turned around to see the black-clad figure laid on the ground in a cartoonishly awkward fashion, with their limbs splayed out. The small pellet that previously contained a paralyzing liquid still was connected to the man.

Peter squinted slightly as he could see a tuft of platinum blonde hair hinging on white, though it could be gray, peeking out from the mask of the man laying on the floor.

"Uhhh, Walter? That you?"

A grunt of what sounded like affirmation sounded out.

Chuckling Peter moved to open a drawer on his desk as Silver huffed and walked towards them both.

"You came closer than your senior, Mr. Hardy." Silver said to the man.

She received a grunt in reply.

Finding the antidote to the paralyzing liquid Peter prepped it for injection before tagging Walter with it.

For a few seconds, nothing happened before the man was able to twitch and slowly move his limbs until he could right himself and stand. Stretching out his limbs.

The now named Walter Hardy raised a hand to pull off his mask showing a middle-aged man with a clean-shaven face as he stretched. "That venom you came up with works fast."

Peter hummed as Silver nodded in agreement.

"It still wouldn't penetrate body armor though. You feeling alright?" Peter asked concerned at all the stretching.

Walter waved his hand. "It's fine, better than being electrocuted." His next stretch released a crack from his back. "Just took a fall from a decent height in my old age. I'm bound to be feeling it."

"You uh, wanna take a small vacation then?" Peter offered.

Chuckling Walter shook his head. "Maybe once I find someone who can do Fox's and I's job."

Sighing Peter nodded his head "It's your funeral. But really, I want you to take a break. Don't try another stunt like this till next week. You and Fox should spend this time just writing up a report on what's vulnerable and planning for what to do better." He finished with a smile and a pat on the back.

Noticeably better now after stretching Walter threw a couple of finger guns at Peter "You got it, boss. Ms. Sable" He said with a nod as he walked past her. She gave him one back.

As Walter left the room to meet with Black Fox, he never went by any other name and worryingly had that as his official name according to the checks written for him, to go over their job as the 'Red' team of Parker Industries Peter turned to Silver Sable, leader of the 'Blue' team.

"You know, he really did get pretty close to tagging me." He shook his head solemnly. "For shame Silver. For shame. I almost had pink hair for the entire day." He finished, referring to the silver cylinder that was in the man's hands, now on his desk.

Affronted and still getting used to teasing, as noted by the red dusting her cheeks, Silver retorted "You can't expect me to do all the work. What about you? I know you have some form of skill from your parents. Why did it take me rushing in here to save you?"

Peter shook his head sagely, eyes closed. "Ah but you see my silver-haired warrior friend. I am but the client; it is not my job to be alert at all times like yours is. Why don't you take this as a learning experience?"

Silver glared up at him with a huff before looking at the silver object on his desk and towards his hair, then looked back towards the object with a smirk.

"I understand you are still new with being in charge of guarding a clie-' Peter opened his eyes, wide-eyed. "What are you doing with that?"

With a cold smirk, hair color changer in hand, she responded "Regrettably I was too late to do naught but have revenge for my client's bed of hair."

Peter blanched and backed away slowly "That doesn't sound like someone with a 100% protection rate would have happen."

"Oh, woe is me. I guess I'll have to settle for a 99.9% protection rate." Silver said straight-faced. Unaware of the joke she just said.

Peter though was not. "Was that a condom joke?"

Silver tackled him with a yell of fury.

Silver's tackle evolved into an impromptu spar, partly because Silver wanted to knock some sort of sense into Peter, and partly because she wanted him to be able to handle himself if she or her company were not there. Peter was just thankful the hair color changer got lost in the scuffle.

Peter's breaths came out in rapid huffs as he lay over-dramatically on the floor. "You are scarily good with your limbs."

"And you are doing better...for a teenager." Silver said as she stretched next to Peter. Her breathing was noticeably calmer but still somewhat rapid.

Peter grinned, glad that he was able to have this type of bond with Silver. Was it a drastic change from how she behaved before? Probably, but Peter liked to think it was just her being able to be more open with Peter.

'Plus her dad's left her in charge of the American branch ever since she turned 18. She was able to grow without the stress of leadership for a while.'

Peter turned his head to look at Silver who was now resting.

"You remember how you were when you got here, Ice Queen?" Peter teased.

Silver rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure to anyone else I would simply come across as professional. I still do actually." She said with some heat.

Peter raised his hands in surrender. Knowing she took pride in coming across as the cool collected professional mercenary.

"I'm just mentioning it because I'm glad is all," Peter said with a laugh, a wistful look overcoming him.

---

Three Years Ago (Peter's Memory)

Peter followed his dad around as they moved around the newly-owned and occupied Baxter building towards his dad's office.

"You alright there Peter?" Richard asked his son.

"Yeah dad, just taking it all in."

Richard hummed. "I was preparing for you to shoot all types of questions my way."

Peter shrugged "I like to pay attention. We're here to meet potential bodyguard/mercenary companies right?"

Slowing down to pat his son on the head Richard nodded "Righto Pete."

They arrived at Richard's office. Two temporary guards, that Peter was almost positive were S.H.I.E.L.D. agents gave them both a nod.

Peter sat in a chair to the side of his father's desk. He was here to offer some insight or his thoughts concerning anyone that came in.

His mom and dad were surprisingly, but he was no less appreciative, open to his input on a lot of things after he opened up to them about an excuse for his mannerisms simply 'viewing' another life as a sort of precognition. It probably helped that due to the nature of how his memories and experiences as an adult affected his current body. Lending a sort of credence to his words.

'I was bound to screw it up if I didn't have some sort of out eventually, at least this way it's easier to maintain that sort of image.' Peter thought to himself.

A few different men in suits came in throughout the day, none of which were notable to Peter until a Silver-haired man dressed in a silvery-white suit and a similarly hair colored and dressed teenage girl entered.

"Good afternoon Mr. Parker." The man greeted.

"Afternoon Mr. Sable," Richard responded with a grin. "And good afternoon Miss...?"

"Ah, apologies you met her when she was a little girl, this is my daughter Silvija, but please call her Silver," Ernst said looking at both Richard and Peter meaningfully.

'Oh, so she's taking on the title already.' Peter thought to himself.

"Now, I believe we have a possible contract to discuss?" Ernst continued.

"Yes, yes of course. Now tell me Ernst why do you think you should be the security team I should hire?"

Needless to say, the interview went over very well. And Peter agreed wholeheartedly, if not for the nepotistic reason of him being familiar with Sable and so already biased towards her, their glowing resume of Asset/VIP Protection and Perimeter Security would have sold him.

"Great, now I can tell Fury the good news that he doesn't need to worry about us here," Richard said with a now more noticeably relaxed posture.

"So, how bout lunch?" Richard offered.

Ernst glanced at his daughter who stood at a parade rest position, waiting for her father to decide.

"Sure, do you know any good places to eat? I've mainly been only around the Symkarian embassy and will admit to not knowing many places to recommend."

Getting up from his chair and motioning to Peter, Richard said "You're in luck, we already have the cafeteria stocked and running, I hired some retired chefs that were in our country's navy for our submarines. Trust me we're probably the best place to eat for miles."

"Really? I'm not familiar with their skill level."

Richard was more than happy to explain. "Oh really? You see its because our submarine operators stay out of contact for at least 9 months at a time under the ocean and –"

As his dad started getting into and praising the glorious skills of Navy submarine chefs. Peter took the time to glance at Sable. Other than the white band to keep her long hair from falling in front of her face she let the wavy locks wild and free. The determined stare that he knew well was already on her face as she kept her head on a swivel. At his current age of 12, he was slightly shorter at 5'3 to her 5'5.

Peter hummed in thought, 'That's as tall as she gets if I remember correctly.'

After getting their own meals and eating Ernst muttered something to his father, to which Richard nodded, and then asked if Peter could give Silver a tour while the adults discussed something.

Other than Silver's tightening of her face, she gave no thought to what was probably considered babysitting in her mind while the adults spoke to each other.

"Sure, Mr. Sable," Peter said with a grin. "My dad can let me know when you want us to come back. We've both got a shorthand radio."

And with that Peter moved away Silver following at a sedate pace.

After 5 minutes of silence as Peter continued pointing out rooms, Sable refusing to give anything but short terse answers but noting and nodding to herself for each room he pointed out, Peter had enough.

Stopping in front of his designated testing room Peter turned to Silver.

"Before we continue, I wanna know. Do you have a problem with me?" Peter asked with irritation.

Silver's face shifted into one of hesitation before giving a small sigh and shaking her head. "No sir. I simply don't like being kept out of the dark like we are right now with something that could have waited until our employment under you became official."

Sighing again she continued "This isn't the only time my father has done this to perform a sort of middle ground between what my mother wanted and what he is willing to train me in. That and…" She trailed off after glancing at Peter and grimaced.

"You're being told to essentially babysit a kid?" Peter finished.

Silver's grimace deepened. "In a nutshell yes, at least at first. I can tell now that I was wrong on the second point, but I still find myself irritated at my father. I apologize if I offended you, sir."

Now it was Peter's turn to grimace. "Okay, first, can you stop with the sir. At least with me. Call me Peter. As you just said I'm a kid. Even if my family is soon to be technically employing you and your father's company. I hate formalities and would rather get away with them entirely if I could."

At seeing her slow nod Peter continued "Second, You seem to already respect me somewhat. Which I'm kinda glad for. May I ask what changed?"

Nodding Silver responded "I expected to have to listen to a rambling child or deal with an angsty pre-teen, even if you weren't rambunctious at the hospital. your height didn't help much to dissuade me from that notion. And until you showed me that you were mature I expected your gait to mean you were arrogant."

"Wait my gait?" Peter ask confused.

Confused herself Silver continued "Yes, you walk as though you are assured of yourself already at a young age. I assumed your father and mother either trained you or sent you to receive training in some form of martial arts and therefore were confident in having some form of power. That or you already let your company's wealth go to your head"

Peter winced unaware of how he was carrying over his natural gait from when he was older. "Uh, something like that. Actually," Peter said with a grin before continuing, "I think I know of a way to help distract you from simply just waiting. Follow me" Peter finished before opening up the door.

Leading her inside he moved to a black case. Opening it he reached inside, grabbed the prototype weapon, and moved back to hand it to her.

"Here, we can just stay here and test out these weapons while waiting. It'll be a lot more fun than just leading you around when we can do that another time." Peter said smiling.

Silver grimaced and hesitated while taking the white weapon in her hands. "I don't think that would be proper. Even though I'm not technically employed watching over you and learning the building layout is my job right now."

Peter rolled his eyes before gently pushing for her to stand behind the designated range area. "Well then as a subset of watching over me you can test these weapons before I start shooting them myself and potentially get hurt."

Silver kept her look of hesitation before taking stock of the weapon in her hands. It looked like a bulky version of what could be called a taser, but it had a trigger and some rudimentary iron sights above. A digital bar was on the side of it, four blue blocks shined brightly.

She took a look at the boy she was supposed to be following and seeing him look at her expectantly she sighed, before shouldering the rifle and aimed a mannequin about 30 meters away.

She squeezed the trigger, and a bolt of electricity shot out of the barrel and slammed into the mannequin the electricity rolling over it before it fizzled out of existence. A piece of metal lay at its feet. The side of the rifle showed that there were now two bars before it slowly filled back up.

Underwhelmed she turned to Peter to ask him if that was it before he grinned and spoke first.

"That was just the stun setting. Here watch this." He said, showing her a switch that if she guessed this weapon was not a prototype would be a safety hazard for its ease of access.

The bars on the side of the rifle slowly glowed a menacing red.

"Okay, it should be finished charging to a higher amp. Try shooting it now."

Curious Silver aimed and fired the rifle again, this time a larger bolt shot out and when it connected with the mannequin it turned into, at least partially, melted slag. A glowing red piece of metal embedded inside.

Silver grinned. "Do you have any more weapons to test out?"

Peter grinned back in equal measure. "Tons. Here let me see that."

Peter and Silver continued for at least another thirty minutes before Richard radioed for Peter to bring Silver back.

Slightly disappointed, Silver handed Peter the latest weapon he asked her to try, a prototype foam gun that was to expand and become as hard as a rock.

Smiling, Peter asked "So did you have fun?"

Giving a small smile in return Silver nodded brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear as they made their way back "I did yes...Thank you."

Peter grinned at her response.

---

Back to the Present

'Thank God I'm taller than her now, having to loo- Ow'

A cold water bottle pressed against his neck jolting Peter out of his daydream.

Peter hissed "I was dreaming there you know."

"You need to stay hydrated." Silver said coolly. Pressing the water bottle against his cheek, though more gently now that he was responsive.

Peter sighed at that response as she was right, taking the water bottle. Though he wondered if she tried to get his attention before resorting to shocking his nervous system.

"Sure sure, what time is it by the way?"

"It's currently 1300. Why is there something happening today?" Silver relayed.

Peter paled. 'Ugh that's a lot later than I thought it would be to start heading over to Midtown...I'll just make it up to them next week. I just hope Liz doesn't kill me...or Jessica.'

Peter sighed before moving to stand up, taking a drink of his now opened water bottle.

"Well I wanted to go to Midtown, but I don't wanna miss the exhibit. Speaking of, do you wanna go with me?" Peter asked.

Silver raised an eyebrow amused. "You know I'm contracted to follow you anywhere for your business or company right?"

Peter scowled "I'm just being polite. But fine. We're going to watch some exhibits from General Techtronics, it was supposed to be about the handling nuclear waste material but now it's about handling dangerous waste material in all aspects of science."

"Um, I'm not as scientifically inclined as you, but why do they need to showcase that exactly?" Silver asked confused.

"Oh, they say it's to showcase how to handle waste material but really it's a chance for them to show off their own inventions and technological breakthroughs. You see they have a genetics division…" Peter explained before going on a ramble as they moved to leave. Happy to explain the reason why science exhibits sometimes use a boring reason to do something "cool".

Peter continued rambling the entire drive there. Not because he actually had that much to say, no he finished that spiel within the first 5 minutes of talking to Silver. Now he was rambling just to ramble.

If someone were to ask him why it was due to two things. One, he liked testing individuals' breaking points, for in their words, his annoying voice. And two, he knew that if he didn't talk Silver would be content to simply drive them in silence or listen to the radio.

"...so if the multiverse is real it should be possible to travel to other worlds. Especially when there are nexus points not only in a 3-dimensional space but on the debated 4th dimension time. So if-"

"We're here." Silver interrupted gently as she parked their car in an empty parking spot to Peter's surprise.

'Well that's new, I must be losing my touch.' Peter thought to himself with a pout before moving to exit the vehicle.

Peter took a glance to see that Silver was noticeably relaxed and had the hints of a smile on her face. He scrunched up his face.

"Okay, what gives? You are too relaxed right now. If you weren't the one to drive us here I would have thought you napped on the way here." Peter asked.

Silver laughed. "I simply feel calm and relaxed surely there doesn't need to be a reason for that?"

Peter grumbled, "I was talking the whole time how has that not at least gotten on your nerves?"

Silver hummed in thought before shrugging as Peter lead them inside. "You always sound amazed or excited when you ramble. I've simply learned to enjoy when it happens."

Peter snapped his head around to stare dumbfounded at Silver's words.

"Ex-fuc- OOF" Peter was forced to stop his dramatic swear as he slammed, or more accurately barreled over a teen girl around his age to the floor.

Panicking Peter reached down and helped her up before he babbled "Woah, hey I'm really sorry. My friend just told me something surprising and I didn't watch where I was going because of it. I would never just bump into someone. Especially a cute girl. WoahokaylookI'mnottryingtoflirtoranythingjust–"

The girl, now smoldering at Peter, narrowed her eyes as he spoke before letting out a huff and raised a hand. "Look, it's nothing I haven't had, happen to me in hockey before so you can stop with the rambling. Plus I should have been aware of where I was going as well. I'm partly to blame."

Peter, hearing her words sighed in relief before nodding his head and gave a smile. "Thanks for being understanding. I really am sorry though. Is there anything I can do? Pay for your lunch or -"

"CINDY! Stop flirting before I tell Hector. The teacher says we're visiting the technology exhibit first before going to the genetic one." A random teen yelled at Cindy.

Cindy gave a huff before shaking her head at Peter. "I gotta go, I'll take you up on that offer some other time."

She left with a scowl on her face towards who was presumably a friend "I told you Hector and I were through."

Peter stared at her back for a bit before turning to look at Silver who was characteristically silent with no emotion on her face.

"What do I have something on my face?" Peter asked faux affronted at her stare.

Silver continued staring.

"What? What is it?"

Seeing her continue staring at him Peter huffed, unnerved a little before motioning for her to follow him. The sooner he got bitten by the spider the sooner he could go home and relax.

'Cindy is here though so that should reaffirm what was needed.'

They entered the exhibit succinctly named 'Particle Accelerator Testing – How to Handle Nuclear waste'

Standing as close to the exhibit without crossing the guard rail Peter waited, aware Silver was behind him and due to his behavior watched curiously also.

As the accelerator lit up Peter's breath hitched, a bout of nervousness suddenly hitting him. 'Ezekiel told me I was chosen, but this still seemed like random chance. If he's right though, who's to say I'm worthy again?'

The device's light show went on for a few more minutes as presumably the head scientist for the project spoke to the assembled audience. Peter ignored his words captivated by the lights of the machine.

The machine powered down and Peter waited with bated breath knowing that any moment now he would feel the bite of a spider. He waited.

Waited.

And waited.

Silver's hand on his shoulder shook him from his stupor. His face fell.

'I wasn't chosen.'

Peter was listless as he heard Silver say something about checking out the Genetics exhibit. Something about not wasting their time. He nodded in agreement on instinct. Not willing to cause a scene but still unable to hold back the despair that was now filling him.

'That's it then? No more Spider-man. What...what am I supposed to do now? How am I –' Peter shook his head, his eyes gained a determined edge.

'It doesn't matter. I'll just have to pull a Tony Stark and be like Daredevil or the other street-listers. I won't let this stop me. I can't.'

More cognizant of his situation Peter realized he was standing next to Cindy who was warily looking at him and Silver behind him.

He smiled sheepishly before turning to look at Silver and mouthed an apology for possibly ignoring her.

Seeing a nod in reply he turned back to see what he vaguely recalled being an Isotope Genome Accelerator, start-up as a white rat was placed in a clear glass case between the machine.

'I forget what this does exactly…'

As the rat was subjected to the genetic restructure of the machine Peter saw Cindy flinch and look at him with a glare then at her hand. Peter looked as well seeing nothing.

He looked back up to ask her what happened and froze as what might be happening registered before he felt a long pinch on the back of his neck, a wave of dizziness and lethargy suddenly taking over him.

Peter stumbled backward, reaching behind his head to gently grab the spider. His mind was half-aware that Carl King ate it before.

'Though he hasn't followed us here...best to…make...sure...no one...else…' Peter shook his head.

He tried walking as measured as he could back towards the car they arrived in. He needed some air. He felt a soft and strong hand grab his arm and walk in front of him.

It took about a minute of staring at their back for him to realize it was Silver. The glint of her hair mesmerized him as his vision narrowed.

She was being held down by The Rhino. His imposing form moved to block her from view.

"GO! Spider-man G-"

Peter blinked he was sitting down in the car. Silver's mouth was moving but no voice escaped her lips, her face was marred in concern.

He blinked again.

"Peter, what's wrong? Let me know so I can help."

"I-" He trailed off. His mouth felt dry.

"What's that in your hand?" Silver asked now staring at his closed hand.

Peter stared as well before releasing his fist slowly into a cup faced towards him to show a surprisingly intact spider though it lay still 'A black widow?'

He shook his head and closed his fist. "Sorry, sorry. I think the combination of lights and atmosphere got to me."

Silver pursed her lips. "Do you need to go to the hospital?"

Peter shook his head. While his body and organs were either aching or burning and his nerves felt like they were on fire he knew it was just his body undergoing changes… The alternative would mean he wouldn't be alive and Cindy would be hospitalized. A sobering thought.

"No, I don't need to go to the hospital." He tried giving a smile but it came out as more of a grimace. "Though I do think it's time I went home. I need to sleep."

Silver gritted her teeth and looked like she was about to fight his obvious lie before she calmed herself with a huff.

Giving a stern nod she motioned for him to buckle up before moving to get into the car from the driver's side.

The whole ride back Peter felt tense, not just because Silver was giving him the silent treatment though he was expecting that to be talked about when he was "better", but he felt his spider-sense start to come back to him.

And, as was similar to when he first gained his powers, it was going haywire as though it was calibrating threats.

Needless to say, he had a migraine and couldn't put forth the effort to fight Silver when she mentioned walking him to the door as though he was a little kid.

'It's just a headache and some body aches, nothing I haven't had, happen to me before that my parents haven't seen.'

As Peter fumbled looking for his key to the house hampered by his spider-sense ringing at the weapons carried by the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents over watching his house, Silver who was getting impatient knocked instead.

His mom answered the door with a smile that quickly turned into a frown tinged with concern. "Is something wrong Peter?"

"Nope, I'm fine and dandy mom," Peter said hastily before moving to hug her and turning to give Silver a shaky wave and grimace before heading up the stairs to his room.

Peter started stumbling as soon as he made it to his room, he searched for a container to place the spider in before closing and hiding it in his closet and made his way to lay on his bed.

His mother's voice was too loud. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure, he was fine up until the first exhibit was shown, some sort of particle accelerator? But then he seemed defeated after it was completed, the scientist showcasing the exhibit called it a success." The sound of hair brushing against Silver's uniform drowned out her voice temporarily.

"...poisoned?" Fury's voice came out with a hint of metallic tin meaning it was from a radio.

"Maybe sir, Ms. Sable is relayin-…" The unknown operative's voice drifted away.

"...carrying something in his hand. I couldn't get a good look at it."

Peter's eyes rolled up into his head as he passed out.

---

The feeling of having soft feminine fingers comb his hair was something Peter was never going to tire of. If he did, someone shoot him.

"Wake up, my champion. Your body should be done with recovering and on its way to strengthening you further." A kind silvery voice whispered in his ear, their body lightly pressing into his from above before moving away.

Peter groaned, his pillow was just as comforting as the voice was if not more so with his current state.

He tried moving a hand underneath said pillow, which was of a more velvety texture and warmer than what a pillow should be, moving it up to sneak a hand under and subsequently wrap his arm from beneath it, just as easy and light as a pillow, even if there was a weird crevice down the middle that left part of his arm feeling cold. His head weight squashed the pillow enough for his arm to then be buried fully under though negating that concern as it started to warm.

"Hm, what an unorthodox way to try moving away from a gentle speaker rousing you from rest. Burrowing deeper into them." the voice continued, amused at Peter's movements.

Peter sighed internally as his brain and senses failed to rest at the voice continuing to speak before the voice's words were comprehended by his brain.

Peter's eyes snapped open, pale flesh, 'Legs.' his brain helpfully supplied, took up the majority of his vision. Based on the background, his room walls, and the hints of his blanket under the legs Peter knew he was still in his room.

Deigning to raise his head and turn to look towards whose thighs he was resting on Peter saw Death's curious face gaze down on him.

'That explains the "my champion".' Peter thought in self-ridicule. Speaking of ridicule…

"Are you going to cause me bodily harm for using your thighs as a pillow and…" Peter said poker-faced, tested moving his arm underneath, the flesh yielding to his movements easily. "groping your thighs?"

Death raised an eyebrow before shaking her head. "I was the one to put your head to rest on my thighs. Your memories showcase your mates did this for you for optimal rest. It was also, cute? I believe is the word used by many of your human females."

Peter for his part nodded once before closing his eyes to sigh. "Please excuse me then while I freak out."

Rapidly moving away from Death to stand, Peter, paced his room muttering up a storm. "I am so so sorry. IknowyousaidthatitwasyourfaultbutIshouldhavebeenmoreawareofwhereIwasandgotupassoonasyousaidtowakeup."

Before Peter could get into more of his tirade Death sighed holding up a palm to silence him. "Please stop, my champion. As I said I was the one to put your head in my lap and was aware from your memories that your hand reaching was another possibility. Now would you please calm down so that we may discuss."

It took another second as Death's words reached and were processed in Peter's mind before he gave a slow nod, taking deep breaths to calm himself.

Now calm Peter took the chance to take in his own appearance, he was still wearing his outfit from yesterday, though his shoes were neatly placed by his door. His mom must have checked up on him after he didn't make it for dinner.

He then looked at Death wondering how she was able to interact with the material world based on how he was using her lap as a pillow. She was wearing the same cloak as before though it was displaced slightly from his movement.

Stopping his mind and vision there, he moved it to look at the clock. The time 7:04 AM in bright red showed that his parents would be up themselves either working out or making breakfast. They wouldn't be bothering him.

'Or they might since I don't think I was able to eat dinner last night.' Peter thought worryingly.

"Um, so is there a reason why you chose now to show up? Or were you not able to speak with me until now or something, I thought you said you would contact Madam Web if you weren't going to bring me somewhere?"

A flash of…something, crossed over her face before it disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

"On the contrary, I always could oversee and speak with you at any time. I just chose not to do so as a courtesy. Also, you were not able to do what you are now, contacting Madam Web before you gained your powers would be pointless. So the only way to give you any information before now was to talk to you directly. Though your mannerisms showed me that you would be averse to this. So I thought it best to hold off on conversing with you until you were able to perform tasks that require your intervention. Though I see I probably should have still just relayed this information through her. Would you rather I do so now?"

Peter winced. While he tended to be a loner, a consequence of his past, he didn't necessarily want to alienate one of two beings he can discuss the previous timeline with.

"Uh about that, while I appreciate the thought of waiting till I had power and even trying to relay information through Madam Web, I don't see a problem with you visiting to speak. Though some form of notice beforehand would be appreciated. So please, feel free to stay." Peter said.

He shook his head "Now what did you want to say to me?"

Death nodded a faint smile present. "I'll keep your offer in mind for the future. As for what I wanted to discuss with you, it was more a matter of updating you on the state of keeping the One-Below-All contained."

"My siblings have done what they could and strengthened the barrier between the 'Below Place' and the rest of reality. Except, of course, those that are gamma-mutates are always potentially at risk of weakening said barrier." Death continued.

"Wait, gamma-mutates will weaken the barrier why?" Peter interrupted.

Undeterred, Death replied "The radioactive energy that the Hulk's and other beings of now and in the previous timeline are touched by the One-Below-All. They are not inherently a pawn of the One-Below-All, but if they interact with a magic-oriented form of gamma radiation or enter the Below-Place they are susceptible to being put under his influence."

"So...the Normans were under One-Below-All's control?" Peter asked.

Death shook her head, "No from your memories they were under their own faculties. More likely they were simply experimenting with gamma radiation and found out about the 3rd form of gamma radiation and, became willing pawns of One-Below-All after he reached out to them. I doubt we will know their actual reasons."

"Got it, so make sure Bruce and his family or others don't mess with the third form of gamma radiation," Peter said, more so for himself.

"We also have notified your Sorcerer Supreme of the timeline's previous demise, so he should be watchful over any magical points of error. With this, the One-Below-All should be unable to get a grasp to the multi-verse."

Peter blinked. "Wait that's it? This seems a little...too easy?"

Death sighed "Not every solution needs to be as convoluted as you and your compatriots make it out to be. Also, these aren't perfect stop-gap measures. Your sorcerer supreme is still a mortal with limited sight, and unfortunately, gamma-mutates are not the only possible points of failure for the One-Below-All to gain access to the greater multi-verse again."

Staring into what seemed like his soul, Death asked "You remember your string of nightmares around 6 years of age correct?"

At Peter's nod, she continued "That was actually due to the entity known as Nightmare. I know not why the One-Above-All waited as long as he did, but regardless Nightmare has come to know of the previous timeline and is bound to spread this information to an unknown amount of entities or gods and goddesses or his own followers for his own benefit. Whether that be a gamble to distract those that would prevent the weakening of the barrier or even trading of your knowledge of events to get some other beings to help."

"Waitwaitwait. WHAT?" Peter shouted

"You mean to tell me that I'm not going to be able to have one over on any enemies I might fight?" he continued aghast.

"Yes, though Nightmare is not one to meddle in every conflict. I would guess that he will mainly consort with beings around his level or just below him in power. Not every enemy you have fought will be notified." Death paused a look of contemplation on her face, she continued "You did tend to stay around your city only anyways, so you only deal with beings low in power."

"But that doesn't mean some big shot won't try and meddle or target me for some kind of power play!" Peter argued.

Death's face morphed into one of perplexity. "What do you think is another benefit of being my champion? Many beings bared witness to my selection of you as my champion. That will dismay a majority of beings from interfering with your life. In fact, you may find yourself being approached with offers for your favor."

Peter was appalled, he didn't have time to start dealing with powerful beings trying to "win his favor". 'Knowing my luck I'm going to start a fight just by being in the same room as multiple beings.'

Seeing Death's expectant face Peter sighed "Okay. I'll just deal with that as it comes." He then joked "If needed can I expect to call you to help me deal with them?"

She nodded "Of course my champion. What kind of patron would I be if I wasn't willing to be there when you called?"

Peter was floored, not expecting her to take his question so seriously, and definitely not expecting for her to be willing to come to his aid when called.

That sounded awesome. Peter could just call Death to fight by his side whenever something was too big for him to handle. He could see it now, watching as his enemies cowered in fear and surrend–

"Though not for battle unless said being is breaking the laws set by the Living Tribunal, but facilitating meetings for you and being present for said conversations I will be more than happy to do so."

'Aaaaaaand there's the catch, no battle assisting. There goes any visions of Death intimidating my enemies into submission.' Peter thought irritably.

"Anyways, it sounds like everything is pretty much handled on the world ending stuff...which I still say is too easy. –"

"And my siblings and I will be constantly vigilant. As should you." Death interrupted.

Peter nodded with a sigh "I will don't worry. So…" Peter trailed off.

Death waited patiently for Peter to continue.

At seeing her silence Peter coughed "Um is there anything else you needed from me?"

Again a flash of emotion appeared on her face but Death composed herself. "No, apologies I did say I was only here to relay information." Death stood as though making to leave.

"Wait, actually real quick would you have anything to do with why my family hasn't barged in here? I did scream a few times." Peter asked curiously while looking at the door.

Death relaxed at his question. "Ah yes, I put us in a time bubble. There is no worry of your family being aware of our conversation unless you want them to?" She finished questioningly.

Peter paled before rapidly shaking his head "No no no it's good that they aren't aware." 'That would not go over well, I can just imagine the reactions they'd all have if they found out I was talking with Death.'

A moment of silence passed Death stayed looking relaxed as she stared at him.

At seeing her relaxed Peter fidgeted 'What's happening here?'

"Um, Death?" Peter began.

"Yes, my champion." Death responded.

"Can I go now? Last time you just tossed me out so I'm kinda unsure if you want me to leave or something." Peter said wincing. 'And that's another point for the Peter is socially inept board. The score is still topped at 999 to the power of infinity.'

"Ah," was Death's perfect reply. "Apologies my champion, I can see why that may have given you the wrong perception. Your memories showed that you were uncomfortable with speaking to a large group of beings, not to mention your concern with heading back to the material realm. I saw no need for you to stay as I finished announcing you as my champion to those who follow Death and Destruction."

"I see," Peter stated evenly. 'So what in the sam hell is happening here.'

He sighed internally 'You know what, fuck it, Time bubble or no I don't want to process this right now.'

"Death, I am going to be blunt. I have no idea what is going on." Seeing her confused he continued "Would you mind if we continued this tomorrow around lunch or dinner time?"

For some reason, she beamed radiantly "Of course my champion." She moved closer to him and before he could question what she was doing she tip-toed to capture his lips for a kiss eyes closed.

'Whaaaaaaat the fuuuuuuuck.'

Unlike last time Death did not wait for Peter to reciprocate and backed off after a moment, a vixenish grin now on her face. "I quite like saying farewell this way. I will notify you when I will arrive to palaver my champion."

'Seriously. What the fuuuuuuuuuuuck' Peter thought to himself in the silence as Death disappeared.

---

Peter stayed there for at least 5 minutes according to his clock, and he didn't notice before but he was able to hear extremely well. Too well in fact. 'I'm building noise-canceling earphones and headphones again. Today. I did not need to hear my parents in the shower.'

Thankfully his radio worked to quickly drown out all noises playing a rock station, though he broke the volume knob in his haste cursing himself before patching it up quickly. He expected someone to question why it was so loud if they were awake. 'Just say you like music blasting your ears. It'll be fine. It'll be a great excuse for building the earphones.'

Peter moved to head downstairs after content to make himself his own breakfast on the weekend before stopping. 'Wait, the spider…'

Peter moved back to open his closet. Wincing at how easy it was again to break stuff as he held one handle of his closet door. 'How strong am I now? I know I could easily lift 10 tons as a solid base but…' He trailed off reflecting on his own feats. 'Wait that was the case when I started out but it's changed now.'

He paled. 'I can't hit anyone, I'm going to have to be extremely careful. Fuck and my web-shooters. I hope to God I don't break them.'

Feeling crabby about potentially having, no, most likely having to build more durable web-shooters Peter placed the broken handle down and as gently as possible looked to see the spider lay still in its container.

'I gotta take you to the lab, and then I have to test my blood.' Peter thought to himself before looking for some cloth to wrap it around.

Heading down the stairs with said container and radio Peter was surprised yet thankful to see no one was downstairs. Before he remembered why he was carrying the radio and stopped to stare at it in admiration.

Shaking his head Peter made to head to the kitchen before changing his mind and quickly moving to leave the house, turning off the radio. He exited the house before his ears could filter any noises within. 'I'll just text them when I get into the office. They and Teresa will stop by at some point'

Closing and locking the door Peter made his way out of his neighborhood.

"V.I.P. 3 is leaving the house on foot." a cool feminine voice sounded from Peter's left.

He jolted and looked to his left warily wondering why his spider-sense didn't go off but saw nothing but quiet houses in the early morning.

"V.I.P. has stopped. They look guarded. Potentially wary of something due to yesterday's events." the voice continued.

"Continue, trailing. Keep us notified of anything of note." a metallic tinged male voice ordered.

Relaxing somewhat, Peter assumed it was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, before quickly becoming disgruntled. He thought they were only watching his family's house not tailing his family as they went about their lives.

'I'll bring it up to mom and dad later. For now, I have a shadow to lose.' Peter thought to himself with a smirk before walking onward, noting out of the corner of his left eye a lithe humanoid figure occasionally running or jumping from the houses on his left.

'Enhanced maybe?' Peter thought absentmindedly before he reached a busy New York street. Noting how the figure hung back out of sight before nimbly climbing a building. Like he did, or can. He almost forgot he had the same power set as before

Amazed Peter tried sifting through his knowledge of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that should be employed due to his current age but drew a blank. 'Must be a different recruit? I know my parent's successful mission changed a surprising amount of different outcomes but it's thrown me for a loop on who I know is supposed to be in S.H.I.E.L.D.'

Calmly walking onward towards the path to Parker Industries, Peter heard the voice relay as such, he switched to instead walk as though he was leaving towards Xavier's school.

"Objective has changed to walk a known path to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters" the voice calmly relayed.

'Objective? Why the title change? They get bored of V.I.P.?' He thought with a snort.

At seeing the next alleyway come up and knowing his tail was up above Peter made to tie his shoe and as he inevitably had people walk on past him ducked into the alleyway and ran.

"Objective stopped to tie his shoe a minute ago…" The voice trailed off, "I've lost visual." the voice said, annoyance bleeding into her tone.

The male voice came back surprised but also amused "Really? Guess you're losing your so-called touch."

Peter smirked as he slowly tried crawling along the alley wall, thankful that his ability to stick to anything was working just fine.

"Attempting to move along the path tow…" the voice trailed off as it got further away.

Peter couldn't help but let out a satisfied chuckle at losing whoever was following him and continued climbing up to the roof and stretched.

'Go time.'

Jumping off the building he winced at noticing the cracks he left behind, he reached further than he normally would in a single leap even above what he was capable of as an adult. 'MY SHOES! God, I need to do a full physical.'

Landing was thankfully not an issue though Peter had to be careful to try and not overshoot his jumps. His shoes looked thankfully alright. 'Why in the hell are they alright? Did I subconsciously keep the molecules of it together by my feet?'

His phone vibrating caused him to stop for a moment. He tried to gently grab his phone before pausing to instead use his wall-crawling ability to pick it from his pocket and hit 'answer' at seeing it was his mom.

"Yellow, morning mom." He greeted.

"He answered? Where is he?" He heard his dad ask in the background.

"Yes he did – Hi honey, you didn't stay for breakfast is everything alright?" Mary asked worriedly.

"Oh yeah mom, just after yesterday I came up with a new idea and want to complete it asap," Peter said waiting for his mom to do as his dad asked.

"So you're heading towards the company building?" She continued worry still bleeding from her tone.

"Oh yeah, in fact," He paused as he landed on a building 2 blocks away and started walking down the side toward an alley. "I'm about to be heading inside I'm 2 blocks away."

"...you are?" Mary asked surprised. "That was...quick. Or did you just leave the house early? You left your radio near the front door."

"Ah yeah, uh I left around 7:15 or so? And I needed to use the radio to have something to listen to." Peter continued.

"...Honey it's 7:30. How did you get to the building so quickly? Did someone pick you up?"

Peter stopped, mind racing "Uh no, I walked here, though I did start running here after I stopped to tie my shoe. Just felt a burst of energy you know?"

"He ran?" He heard his dad say.

"I guess?" Mary said aloud, Peter was unsure if it was to him or his father.

"Anyways please let us know that you get something to eat. And don't stay on your floor all day. I will haul your butt out of there if you try and stay inside." She finished chidingly.

Peter laughed "Of course, mom don't worry I'll make sure to get in some exercise" 'Stopping crime, free-running, and web-swinging is a decent workout in my opinion'

"And talk to Silver, you worried the poor girl. And your father and I as well." Mary said wrapping up the conversation.

"I will mom, don't worry," Peter said before pausing at the doors of the building hearing labored breathing.

"Subject is hah, stopped outside the doors hah. Subject is not hah, out of breath." the aggravated voice let out.

"Impressive, you traveled 30 blocks in 4 minutes." Fury's distinctive voice calmly stated.

Peter turned to look behind him up above and saw a flash of red hair against alabaster skin duck behind an air conditioning unit.

"Черт (Shit). Subject may have spotted me." The woman's voice growled in anger.

He heard his dad laugh before his mom shushed him.

"Honey is everything okay?" His mom asked.

"Yeah, everything is okay. Just thought I heard a bug buzzing near my ear it's gone now. Is dad with you?" Peter said.

"A what?" The woman let out in anger.

His dad laughed again and his mom must have glared at him because it cut off quickly.

"Yes your father is here, you're on speaker… A bug?… Did you… notice what it was?" Mary asked, letting the question be as vague as possible for some reason.

Peter wondered why until he thought over the information he gave his mom, as well as tried to think of it from her view. 'Oh...that works.' He smirked though no one but the random pedestrians could see it.

"Yeah I was messing with the radio at home and heard a bug inside of it but it seemed like it was following me outside as well. I think it's red and black." Peter lied.

While he normally was one to be honest with his parents, or at least as honest as possible with his parents, this was too good a chance to play a light prank on S.H.I.E.L.D.

"You'd think the bug would care to fix its frequency to a more inaudible level or something. We don't tend to hear bugs around our house as much." He continued.

A squawk of indignant fury released from the woman above. While Fury hummed through the earpiece the agent wore, though Peter had to strain his ears to hear him.

His dad let out a boisterous laugh at that statement. His mom sighed giving up. "We're sorry for not telling you before, it's partly why we ask if Silver or someone is with you so that 'they' are unneeded." Still being purposefully vague, though Peter did not know why.

"No problem mom, though I swear I can hear another bug buzzing on your end. Is it dad? Or is it just static?" A squawk came from his mom's end, his parents amused.

The sound of Fury muttering came into being from above him though muffled.

"Anywho, I'll talk to you later mom. Think I'll come up with some bug deterrent in the technology lab today." Peter said offhandedly, greatly entertained at making all parties think he cracked S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radio encryption.

"I'd rather you not honey, the 'bugs' around our house help keep actual pests away. But I'll let you go. Make sure to eat. I love you." Mary said carefully.

"I love you too, you as well dad," Peter said. After hearing his father reply in kind he hung up.

Angry muttering erupted from above as Peter heard Fury and whoever the agent was talking back and forth in another language 'Russian? So Natasha?...but Black Widow isn't...'

He shook his head, he'd deal with it another time. Heading through security, 'Need to build scanners that will detect what's being carried by someone. Hm, but I can't make it too intrusive...'

Peter made his way to his office. Needing to drop off the container before he could think of getting food.

Depositing said wrapped container on his desk Peter sighed happily. Step one, complete. Step two, attain sustenance.

With a plate of pancakes acquired, and eaten painstakingly slow so as not to break any of the silverware, Peter made his way back to his office. Where he saw Silver looming over the container with the dead spider.

"I thought you, out of all people, would know not to touch something that's not yours" Peter chided jokingly as he walked in.

Instead of surprise Silver emanated concern as she turned around "I'm sorry. Is everything alright with you?" She asked, brows furrowed.

Peter laughed awkwardly, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I'm uh, sorry I worried you. I swear it was just a combination of lights and nerves."

Silver gave him a look as though she didn't believe him and might have pressed for more until her radio crackled to life.

"Mr. Fox is trying to crack open Parker Sr.'s dummy safe." A guard manning the cameras for the building stated to Silver.

Rolling her eyes in exasperation, she reached up to respond. "Acknowledged. I'll head there now. Prepare to review recordings or logs that coincide with his eventual report of how he got in."

Silver sighed before glaring at Peter "We aren't done here got it?"

Peter nodded his head "Crystal, I'll schedule a 30-minute slot for a solid interrogation from one Silver-haired warrior."

Silver snorted before softly smiling, "Make it an hour and then schedule a sparring session to get your ass kicked."

"Hahhh, sure Silver. You know just what to say to make a guy feel special." Peter said with a dramatic wilt.

"Always do." She said as she walked out.

With Silver gone Peter quickly moved to test the dead spider.

'It died last time due to radiation, but this time I was bitten as the project was being run. I doubt it died for the same reason.'

With that, Peter lifted the lid and quietly stared back at a living black widow.

'What is going on today, seriously. What the fuuuuuuuuuck.'

Seeing the spider move Peter closed the lid. His face was stony. 'I'm not dealing with this right now. This is future Peter's problem. So, it obviously did not die due to radiation. I'll test it later.'

Peter lifted the clear container to stare back at the spider who was still looking at him.

"I'll feed you later. Maybe get you a terrarium as well. For now, you're going to have to deal with being bored." Peter explained, as though the spider could understand him.

It of course did not reply, but he decided to keep the container with him while he tested his physicality. Out of some sense to keep it occupied with a show.

'Wait, but its eyesight is poor…' Peter thought to himself before shrugging. The spider was already placed down, time to do a test of what his body was actually capable of.

---

Peter was annoyed, he didn't have any tools to perfectly capture the data for his outrageous physicality and instead spent the rest of his time fine-tuning his suit and web-shooters while getting used to holding things like a normal human being.

All he could theorize so far was that his strength limit was at least 3 times what it was before, but that was him starting to strain. Until he got access to better equipment he was shit out of luck pushing his limits. He also couldn't measure his reflexes as accurately. 5 ms was his old norm before adrenaline kicked in but other than feeling faster than that his machines weren't made to record what was probably microseconds now. His tendons on the other hand were easier to record at a baseline of three times the recorded elasticity of a human athlete. For his stamina he only tried holding his breath, at least half an hour now was his limit before his lungs burned, as trying to operate at his peak could be for several hours and would be even longer now to test.

And that was all Peter felt he could record, he didn't want to damage himself to test his durability and in the same vein, did not want to test the limits of his healing factor.

'Trial by fire it is. Woooooo.' He thought to himself tiredly.

Peter whipped out his phone. 'Better call mom before she makes true on her threat.'

After waiting a moment for the call to go through Mary's voice let out "Hey Peter. Are you calling me to tell me you're leaving the lab?"

Glancing at his disassembled suit Peter replied "Yup I'm almost done here. Wanted to ask if you needed me home anytime soon."

His mother quieted for a moment. "…No, but I thought you could use this time to be with your family. You've been busy this entire year it seems."

"Ah, yeah I have." Peter agreed. As soon as the new year hit Peter began going through each iteration of web fluid and suits he's used over the years, going over each design iteration. Unfortunately, he was unable to reach his Mk IV suit due to budgetary concerns for his family's company.

'Nanotechnology, I swear I will build you as soon as I am able.'

"I'm spread thin I think mom. But I'll try to be more interactive with everyone. I won't be in the lab as much."

Mary hummed. "I'll hold you to it. What are you doing for the rest of the day?"

Grinning to himself he replied "Oh nothing much, I planned to just drift around the city. What time would you want me back?"

"Drift around the city? Um, are you taking Silver with you? Are you going on a date with a girl from school?" His mom asked confused.

"Oh, no no no, I was just going to walk around try out some gyms, that bug or others like it, I assumed would keep me company. So no Silver, plus you know the girls I know are just friends mom." Peter said exasperated.

"Hm, your sister would beg to differ. But is there a reason the building's gym isn't good enough?" Mary asked confused.

'Oh, crap.' Peter thought. He paused for a moment. "You know, you're right mom, our company gym would be loads better." he sighed "I think I just want to stretch my legs and walk around honestly, my mind is a little tired constantly thinking."

Mary was silent at her son's answer. "I guess I can see the need for that, but while I would rather you spend time relaxing with your family I get wanting alone time. I want you home by 9 PM though buster." Mary commanded.

Peter glanced at the digital clock centered in the middle of the room on the wall. It read 03:30 PM 'Five and half hours of being Spider-man? No problem...Though this doesn't bold well for my future outings as Spider-man till I move out. I'll need to think of something.'

"I got it, don't worry, I'll let you know all about my day when I get back. Okay?"

"…Okay, let me know if you aren't going to be making it to dinner. I love you."

"I love you too mom, bye!"

"Goodbye."

Peter looked at his finished suit in a mirror. Assembling it and then putting it on was easy, but he hoped the internal components never broke anytime soon. It would be a pain to recreate them.

He debated heavily up to now on which suit to recreate with his current resources. With Parker Industries currently netting him the same level of resources at his time at Horizon Labs, he debated creating his Mk. III armor or his original suit with Otto's internal upgrades, minus the talons of course.

He eventually settled on mixing the two. Due to his increased strength 'Death's warning did not foreshadow how much it would suck.' he had to remake his web-shooters out of carbonadium and slimmed down his Mk. III's gauntlets, but otherwise kept the same appearance outwardly.

He kept the scheme of no web pattern on his red helmet, carbonadium of course because why just keep Otto's back plating only. His armor's shoulder guards, leg plates, and belt were finally colored dark blue as he intended, slimmed down for more maneuverability. Meshing well with his black and red plated undersuit in his opinion, getting rid of the blue along the tricep formerly on it to save some time on production leaving the undersuit mainly black. He kept the enlarged black spider on the front with its limbs leading into the black parts of his suit and the enlarged red spider on the back leading into the red parts of his suit. All in all, he'd say he looked ready to go.

'It was this or just make Otto's suit, but I don't have the materials to make the upgrades I would want to it.' Peter thought to himself with a huff. Annoyed that he would now always think of Otto's suit looking better aesthetically, except for the gaudy goggles. He refused to make it without making his own changes.

Taking another look at himself Peter sighed. He'd need to start carrying a backpack for the bulkier parts. 'At least until I can make myself some sweet sweet nanotechnology armor.'

Peter turned to the spider in the container. "How do I look?" he asked before wilting at himself for asking an animal. Turning away he didn't notice the spider wave two of its limbs in a manner resembling a '10'.

'Well, New York prepare to meet Spider-man!' Peter thought, trying to hype himself up, before paling 'Oh God how am I supposed to leave the building…'

Peter decided to exit through the top of the building, he just had to hack and edit his time slot of leaving the building, and with his own schematics of the layout of the building, leaving from the top was trivial.

Standing atop the Baxter building Peter took a breath of filtered air. 'It's good to be back!' He thought while jumping off, shooting a web-line. 'Lets gooo-'

SPIDER-SENSE: WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS? ' Widow Line' INCOMING, ALSO I'M BAAAAACK

Peter's spider-sense screamed at him to release his web line which he did, turning around to see that the redheaded S.H.I.E.L.D. agent tried to clasp onto his own web-line. He shot a web-zip towards a nearby roof landing with a flip.

"…-edged. Moving to detain." the woman muttered as she used her other wrist to zip-line to his roof.

Peter's eye twitched under his helmet. 'The Lion, the Witch and the audacity of this bi- Oh shit' He thought as he dodged a shot aimed at his leg.

"HEY!" He screamed, voice changer helping to deepen his voice. "WHY ARE YOU SHOOTING ME, LADY! ALSO, YOU TOTALLY STOLE MY GIMMICK! NO ONE LIKES A COPYCAT!"

He was greeted with silence as the woman stared him down before she brought another pistol up and unleashed targeted shots mainly towards what he assumed were non-lethal points to his body. 'She's that accurate right?'

Spider-sense: Gunfire? Child's play.

Peter growled as he continuously dodged her gunfire for a few seconds before screaming "Woman would you stop shooting me! There are civilians below us! I have to than-"

Black Widow stopped as soon as she registered the word civilian, nodding to herself before dashing forward. Causing Peter to squawk as he started deftly dodging her blows.

'Certainly looks like Natasha, but Widow was still working for Russia around this time from what I remember…' Spider-man thought to himself with a hum as he took in the voluptuous figure in front of him. She looked a little younger. 'She has to be binding her breasts right? They already look large but they stay so still… Get your head out the gutter man.'

"Say, would you happen to be related to this smokin' Russian spy? Goes by the code name Black Widow? You got the redhead part down, but you're a lot less…experienced than I would imagine." Spider-man said dodging the woman's now furious blows.

Spider-man of course received silence in reply. But her eyes did narrow along with the mentioned fury coming from her blows.

"Not much of a conversationalist are you. That checks out." Spider-man said with a sigh, dodging under a kick aimed for his neck before deciding to snap an arm out and catch her leg.

"Now would yo- What are you doing?" Spider-man asked as the woman, 'Definitely Black Widow with those moves,' wrapped her other leg around his knees in an attempt to compromise his balance but instead she ended up looking like a weird human pretzel as she squeezed her leg around his own two.

Squish squish. The sound of leather and his suit's polymer fabric ran against each other.

Spider-man stared, "You uh, like what you're feeling there?". She tried putting more and more power into it her squeeze before huffing and made to jab an arm towards his neck.

Spider-sense:… at least she's trying?

Grabbing the offending limb before it could reach its target Spider-man sighed before promptly letting go of her raised leg and reached down to wrap it around her stomach and pull.

Now, Spider-man knew that while Natasha was an enhanced human, not even on her best day could she make him struggle in a contest of strength, especially now. So with a cute yelp from her and not even a grunt of exertion from him, Spider-man yanked her off of him and tossed her to the ground, webbing her before she could recover.

"Thank you for your cooperation." Spider-man snarked as the woman glared at him.

"Agent Widow report. Have you subdued the target?" a male voice asked coming from her right ear.

'Oh yeah S.H.I.E.L.D...YOINK!'

Spider-man's lenses flashed blue before fading back to white. "Hello hello, testing testing." he said with a jovial tone.

At seeing Widow's wide-eyed stare Spider-man could safely say he actually did crack S.H.I.E.L.D.'s encryption for real this time. "Well, that look right there shows me all I need to know. Howdy, just wanted to say that no, Widow did not subdue me. Though she is being abnormally quiet for a perfectly conscious lady. Anyways you guys can pick her up in about two hours. Webbing should dissolve by then."

"Who are you?" Fury asked, his voice coming out of the comm-link he set up inside the helmet.

"I'm Spider-man," he said with pride.

"Your goal?" Fury continued. 'Probably trying to buy time for backup.' Spider-man thought. 'Not that it will matter. Unless they have another enhanced near here.'

Spider-man smiled, though no one could see it. They could hear it in his voice though. "To be a hero. Now, I think it's about time I dipped, but I'll leave your agent here a peace offering. Maybe build a small sunshade as well. Ciao."

"Wai-"

Spider-man grinned. 'Hanging up on Fury. I feel giddy. Always felt too scared of the guy before to really mess around as much with him.'

Turning back to Black Widow he shrugged. "Anyways I'll be right back. But first…"

Gathering up some leftover cardboard and using a small amount of webbing, Spider-man made a makeshift sunshade to cover Widow's head from the sun. "There we go, wanna make sure I don't give you skin cancer."

At this point Black Widow wasn't glaring at him, instead just staring at him warily but she still refused to speak. 'I'm not that intimidating in this am I?' Spider-man thought to himself dejectedly. Where was the banter?

He sighed as he walked to the edge of the building and walked off with a salute towards Black Widow.

Spider-man was back within 2 minutes, a cold water bottle and two granola bars in hand.

"Told ya I'd be back, took a bit longer what with the cashier not knowing who I was until I told him it was cosplay. Anyways, Imma just leave this right here." He warily stated as she looked annoyed at his thoughtfulness, the items placed near her head.

"Anyways, tell Fury that I send my love. And I hope you don't hate me for today. Okaycoolbye." Spider-man said as he web-zipped out of there, not just because he needed to start his debut, but the silent treatment was getting to him. 'What crawled up her butt? She always was a little cold, but she bantered with the best of them. Nerves?'

He shrugged, he had people to save crime and crime to stop. 'Guess who's back…back again. Okay, gotta stop that.'

Peter forgot how boring it could be on patrol. Could it still be called a patrol when it's technically his first outing? Eh, semantics. He saved a few purses though and got stares in return as he handed them back and one lady who actually screamed at him in fear. But he did get one thank you! From a kid of course, for saving their cat. All in all a pretty productive day.

---

"That'll come out to be $71.22 please." The clerk said to Spider-man.

Spider-man gaped though no one could see it. "That's high-way robbery and you know it." He said with a raised pointed finger, while his other counted out the cash.

Seeing the man bring out a wad of cash, the cashier wasn't worried and stated "I don't make the prices sir."

Spider-man paused, staring at the cashier's name clearly reading "Steve". Then stared at the sign above him with the title "Steve & Stans's Odds and Ends"

"I somehow doubt that." He said, annoyance bleeding into his tone as he handed slightly over the required amount. "Keep the change."

Spider-man then calmly, he wouldn't let anyone else say otherwise, grabbed the black and sturdy backpack from the counter as the cashier grinned widely.

"Pleasure doing business with you, come back again."

Spider-man waved halfheartedly "Yeah yeah if I need to get robbed from buying just a simple item I'll come back here."

Grumbling he moved a few blocks away towards an unused alley. He never received a call from either of his parents but he knew he was coming up on the time frame his mom imposed on him.

'That's gonna need to change if at all possible. 9 PM is not a good time. A lo-'

SPIDER-SENSE: Someone's watching. South-East. Drone.

Spider-man's head snapped and saw a drone silently watching from above the building before moving at seeing him spot it.

With a growl, he quickly bounced from wall to wall to throw its vision off before webbing it down and then crushing it with his foot.

Looking over its remains he couldn't see any signs denoting its owner, but he highly doubted it was civilian. The slightest resistance of its material made him confident in that assumption.

Humming in thought, he finished taking off his suit and stored the more bulkier parts in his newly bought backpack first, he planned on eventually keeping the plated suit under his clothes, it was thankfully thin enough not to look out of place, he just couldn't wear thin light-colored clothes. He'd have to start moving to wear long-sleeved clothes as well until he was able to utilize nanotechnology so as not to look out of place.

Moving out of the alleyway Peter almost immediately headed home before walking towards the nearest pizza shop. Stomach grumbling.

"Gotta eat first. Then I'll head home."

Pizza box in hand, backpack on his...back. Peter made his way up the path towards his house, smoothly sliding his house key in, and entered.

"V.I.P. has returned to the nest." a male voice whispered.

"Really? Clint, why are you so dramatic? Just say home." a separate tinny female voice asked in response.

Peter heard the pout "It's not as exciting."

"I'm back!" Peter shouted to his family.

"Welcome Back, I'm Dad!" Richard shouted back.

"Seriously Richard?" Mary muttered under her breath, "Hey honey welcome back!"

Teresa giggled "Hi Peter!"

Peter grinned as he came upon his family "Pretty sure I missed dinner so I bought me a large pepperoni pizza. Does anyone want a slice?"

His parents shook their heads, while Teresa grinned. She looked at their parents first and at seeing them nod bounded over to grab a slice.

"Woah there, grab a plate first and wash your hands," Peter said as he raised the box higher than she could reach.

Teresa pouted, "Fine." She walked off towards the nearest sink. Their parents chuckled.

Peter sighed in exasperation before letting out a laugh. 'Having a sibling is a nice change.'

"I'll be right back. Just gonna drop off my new backpack." Peter said with a wave to his parents.

"Sure son," Richard said with a wave. "We'd like to hear of your day after though."

'Crap, the consequences of having parents that actively want to hear of your life.' Peter thought exasperatedly.

"Sure, Dad," Peter said with a strained smile, or at least the muscles of his face felt like they were as his parents didn't look like they were able to tell the difference.

Storing his gear-holding backpack in his room's closet and then heading downstairs Peter smirked tiredly at seeing Teresa with two slices of pizza and cheekily waving at him with a stuffed face.

"I see you didn't wait for me, sis," Peter said faux-dismayed.

Teresa, 'The little hellion', grinned. "You said I could have some."

He shook his head good-naturedly "I said a slice and you know that. Regardless…"

Peter sat himself down, moved the box in front of him, and grabbed a slice straight from the box, using it as a plate. Groaning in delight.

"Soooo…" Mary began, looking expectantly toward Peter to start.

Peter sighed 'Curse you both for being good parents, now I need to lie.'

"I left the Baxter building shortly after I called you mom, then I honestly just walked and drifted around. Mainly around parks and the tourist attractions. It was great."

Mary hummed glancing at her daughter who was eating without a care in the world. "And the fact that no one was able to follow?"

Peter cringed internally 'What's going to be the most believable?' Peter has been the easiest child to raise compared to his sister, at least, he sincerely believed that by listening to them. Starting the company might have been the most stressful thing he's actually caused them as far as he was aware.

"I don't like being followed." He said with a shrug, trying to play it off as teenage rebelliousness.

Mary glanced at her husband. Causing Richard to sigh "Look, Peter, you're a smart kid. We're sure you can guess why we need to be aware generally of where you are yes?"

Peter nodded his head tiredly. "Yes. I do. I just…When I became aware I got jumpy, I would have thought that they'd be gone by now and unneeded. At least outside of our homes."

At seeing Teresa now looking confused and more aware of the conversation Peter asked "Look, give me a couple of days max to think over it. I think I can come up with a solution that will give both of us what we want Mom and Dad. If not I'll accept wholeheartedly their presence." He finished with a disarming smile.

His parents looked at each other before turning back to nod in agreement.

Beaming Peter turned to Teresa, "So let's move on, how was your day sis?"

Taking a deep breath she began, "So I had Dad drop me off at Uncle Ben and Aunt May's house and got to hang out with MJ! We did…"

As his sister continued speaking about her day Peter couldn't help the feeling of contentment take over him as it did before. He loved his family. He wouldn't squander this chance. He could be more proactive now.

He'd save everyone.

'Oh crap, I didn't make those headphones except for my helmet. Noooooooo.'

---

Aaaaand that's it for now! I hope it was a satisfying enough read for you all. Peter for his debut never really had to deal with any super villains at the very beginning. Don't worry though, he'll have more exciting fights in the next chapter. Black Widow can only do so much, especially without her Widow Bites to an enhanced human. Especially one with a martial art that should make him untouchable. I also hope I'm portraying other characters well enough from Peter's view for now. Again I am debating moving to a 3rd person omniscent view occasionally, I'm sure many readers might have questions like "Why is Widow younger and with SHIELD already?", "Why are Silver and Death, more so Death, being incredibly forward?"

Anyways, thanks for reading!