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?

12. Remembering Old Friends

Hello there! Happy Halloween (Here in 'Merica at least xD) I split this planned chapter due to the length of just this half xD Please be aware any alerts today and the rest of the week might be me making edits!

Also, while there's not a lot of action, hope you enjoy this chapter nonetheless, next chapter I promise we'll get more Spider-Man action. (As a by, the reason I don't describe him capturing petty criminals is that I don't wanna saturate the story xD)

Again, Enjoy!

Edit 10/31/2022: Minor Grammar errors corrected

Edit 2 10/31/2022: Holy shit, sorry for this, only remembered after a small nap. I wanted to say I am appreciative of all reviews I receive, even the guest reviews that I can't respond to. At the risk of sounding like an ass I can respond to your reviews and questions on Ao3 if you don't want to have an account here on FF. Sorry it's taken me so long to remember to say this xD I feel bad since it's been a couple months since a lot of guests reviewed and I never responded xD

---

Parker Industries - Peter Parker

"Spider-Man?" Fury asked, checking to make sure Peter was still there.

'If I asked Death to teleport me, would she?' He sighed at the answer, of which it would likely be no.

"Yeah, I'm here." Peter said lamely.

"So? What do you know about the Hulk?" Fury repeated.

'What to say? What to say?'

Peter must have been thinking for another lengthy time because Fury sounded aggravated and growled out. "Parker?"

"Ugh. Look, before I say anything may I ask why you need to know?"

Fury drew a sharp breath. Peter pictured him pinching the bridge of his nose as well. "A general of the Air Force just used one of SHIELDs new experimental rockets to get rid of the Hulk by launching him into space. He failed and has the gall to blame SHIELD for the failure before demanding our help in catching, killing, or sending this creature away. If I weren't in charge of an organization designed to help protect America and the world, I'd deny him and let him fail at whatever hair-brained scheme he thinks of next. But since I do lead the world's best military organization, and while I don't answer to him, he's essentially asking for SHIELD's help, so I'm asking you for actionable data on the Hulk so I can do my job."

"I see." Peter said slowly; his thoughts pulled in two directions.

On the one hand, he could see Fury's logic; he was just informed of a 'creature' that, as far as he knew, was a menace to society. The information Peter could relay to appease Fury's current concerns might place Bruce in danger, if not of dying, then of being continuously hunted or caged. On the other hand, Peter knew that Bruce didn't want any part of heroics or the power of the Hulk. If he gave Fury information that foretold his future heroics, Fury would press for Bruce and the Hulk to start going into heroics since the Hulk was notoriously restless and would look for fights. Most notably against humanity.

'Damned if I do and damned if I don't.' Of course, the third option would be not to tell Fury anything. 'But then SHIELD agents are likely to get killed trying to capture the Hulk… Not to mention with my previous statements and heavy silence, I've all but told Fury that I do know something.'

Did he mention that he'd rather be anywhere else right now?

In the end, it wasn't much of a decision.

'Dammit. I'm sorry, Bruce.'

Peter sighed. "I know a lot about the Hulk, actually, but let me caution you with this first Fury." Upon hearing the man wait patiently, he continued. "Whatever you and SHIELD come up with? It will not permanently stop the Hulk. Nothing can. You hear me?"

Fury drew another sharp breath before his tone conveyed curiosity, mind likely prepared to absorb any data Peter would relay. "Are you sure there's nothing we can do?"

Peter sighed again, rubbing the back of his head. "I said there's nothing you can do to stop the Hulk permanently. Meaning there is be no way to kill him for good, and in all likelihood, almost nothing you can do to contain him forever."

"But there are ways to kill or contain him long enough to send him away in space?" Fury asked.

Peter physically recoiled, aghast that Fury was seemingly hellbent on solving this issue with violence, not even letting Peter finish giving his warning.

Palming his face, Peter continued. "Look, just let me finish, alright? I mentioned that to you first so that it would deter you from wanting to solve this issue with violence. The lengths it would take to contain, injure or kill the Hulk successfully would not be worth the price for SHIELD. Now I would like to offer an alternative aven—"

"—What about you then?" Fury interrupted, making Peter pause.

"Excuse me?" Peter asked, unprepared for Fury to ask about him fighting the Hulk. And then Peter felt like slapping himself. Of course, Fury would ask him to fight the Hulk if Peter tried to stop Fury from doing so.

'Dad isn't like this, and I'm sure he's seen just as much combat as Fury…'

"I said, what about you then? Could you fight the Hulk and win?" Fury restated, tone cool as ice.

"Uhhhh…" Peter thought about it, and as he pictured it, specifically the green skin of the Hulk, he felt the all too familiar feeling of wrath rush through his body. A flush of heat suffused his bones, and blood rushed as adrenaline also coursed through his body, preparing for a fight that wasn't coming.

'Woah. Okay, calm down, Peter. This would be Bruce, not… Norman.' Peter shook his head. 'Could I fight Bruce?' The answer Peter felt was a little presumptuous of him, but he consoled himself with his logic.

"Yes." Peter said after his moment of contemplation. "That's all I'll say for now. Again I just wanted to warn you about trying to fight the Hulk and the futility of doing so." Peter sighed. "What I was going to ask was, what do you feel about trying to talk down the Hulk into being a force for good?"

"Explain." Fury commanded.

Peter scowled at the tone but complied. "All I'll say is that instead of fighting the Hulk, I can try to get him to stop causing so much property damage for no reason. Instead, think of him causing property damage only because he's trying to stop a villain or… a terrorist. Look, the point is there's a way to solve this without bloodshed."

Fury hummed and was silent for a moment. Peter could faintly hear a tapping noise coming through on Fury's end. "What would you need from SHIELD?"

'Success.'

Smiling in relief, Peter noticed a text appear on his computer console; said computer was tied to his phone for notifications for when he was on call, like right now, or for when a few minutes pass without him reading said notifications. It was from his Dad.

I'm getting started on Beck. As Tessa's your new secretary, though, I left her for you. She's waiting at the reception desk.

Dad

"Before we get into the details, would you mind continuing this later in a face-to-face meeting to plan? While I trust my phone's encryption connection, this will still be easier if we meet and discuss this. Plus, I kinda have a prior engagement to clear up first." Peter asked.

Fury grunted before responding. "Agreed. You remember the base you helped defend, yes? Go there, and Natasha will lead you to my office."

Eyes widening, Peter quickly said. "Woah, hold up. You'll have to let me finish my work as Peter Parker first. This Hulk situation can wait a couple of hours, can't it?"

Fury sighed. "Yes. I thought that was obvious since I have working ears. I'm the head of the world's leading military organization; I don't have time to do field work unless it's a crisis. I'm stuck at my desk all day."

Peter paused, absorbing that piece of information before snorting. "Well then, I'll see you in a couple of hours. Goodbye."

"Bye."

After hanging up, Peter sighed, leaning back into his chair.

'That call was much more draining than I thought it would be.' He stilled and then groaned. The meeting with Fury would probably be even more draining. He hated that he felt like he needed to walk around eggshells when speaking with Fury. Unsure if he provided too much pushback or said the wrong thing that Fury would blow the lid of his superhero identity to his parents.

Peter grunted, moving to stand. That was enough contemplation; new employee to show around.

Using the elevator to head down to the reception area, Peter was greeted by the sight of Tessa patiently waiting at one of the given chairs. She was replying politely to one of the male Sable International guards stationed at the front desk but was beginning to look irritated based on the slight tightening of her lips.

Moving forward, he noted that she was dressed in a black business suit with what appeared to be a white blouse for contrast. Her hair, of course, was styled in her signature bun with bangs that framed her face.

'She knows she doesn't need to dress too professionally here, right? I swore I'd mentioned it to her before…'

Turning her head to face him as his thoughts finished and cutting off the guard's one-sided conversation in one movement, she smiled. 'I still need to make a good impression even if you will not judge me, Peter. I'd rather rumors not spread about my being hired directly under you on my first day.'

"Peter," the woman greeted quickly.

"Tessa," he responds just as quickly. "Shall we?"

Tessa smiled softly and nodded.

As Peter and his new secretary headed toward the elevators to begin the tour, he heard the other guard stationed at the desk ribbing the flirtatious guard when he believed Peter was out of earshot.

"Told you it was another one. Should have realized that when she said she was being hired as his secretary."

"You don't gotta remind me. But how many does he need to have revolve aro–"

Whatever the guard said was cut off as the thick steel doors closed, and they began their ascent upwards.

Tessa sighed once they started to ascend, and Peter thought she seemed to relax based on the slight slouching of her face and shoulders.

'Huh, she really wants to make a good first impression then if I noticed that… but she does look nicer relaxed. Shouldn't tell her about the cameras yet in the elevators.

Showing she was reading his thoughts, she stiffened and straightened out the slight creases in her suit.

Peter frowned but said nothing.

Noticing his mood, Tessa spoke to him telepathically. 'I told you I wanted to make a good first impression. Acting like I am relaxed when alone with you sets a bad one.'

Peter snorted and earned a slight glare for that. She thought even her 'relaxed' posture was too much? Peter shook his head. Hopefully, she'll drop the apparent need to seem too professional by either the end of today or the first week.

---

Peter's Floor - End of Tour

"–nd this is where you'll be working most days. Unless you're needed elsewhere for some reason." Peter finished, bringing Tessa to her new desk in a room adjacent to his office.

"Thank you for the tour, Peter." Tessa said with a smile. "Is there anything else I need to be aware of?"

Peter hummed. "Your company credentials should be in place after such a long wait. Again sorry for that, but renovating the room and handling the paperwork took a while. Not to mention the customary background check we need to do for legal." He paused. "Actually, hold on…" He left the room, leaving Tessa alone.

She didn't have to wait long as he returned holding a manilla folder before handing it to her. "Here. New hire paperwork is the majority, but the first page should also have your company ID, email, and password. You should be able to access most of what is needed for your day-to-day work."

"Which is?" She asked, taking the folder.

Peter slumped. "Well, as I said, you'll probably have a lot of free time on your hands since I've been pretty good about managing my work schedule up to now. I could use your help when the time comes for Parker Industries to start outsourcing the PPG, as that'll be our biggest venture yet and will come with a slew of meetings or forms needing to be filled out. But unless you want to take on duties beyond a secretary, there's not much right now."

Tessa raised an eyebrow. "What sort of duties?"

Peter rubbed the back of his head. Feeling uncomfortable mentioning it since he was pretty sure she'd jump at the chance to do something.

"See about setting up meetings with the other new hires to discuss joint projects, acquiring or managing anything that can help with revenue so that I can implement some other solo projects, handling our IT security OS updates since I created it from scratch..." The young man trailed off and sighed. "Honestly, now that I think about it, there's a lot that I could do but haven't yet done due to schedules not lining up or prioritizing working on projects that I felt needed to get done. Or my outside commitments being a priority."

Tessa nodded, humming, and stared into his eyes. "And, if I said I'd be more than happy to take those tasks on?"

Peter laughed. "The meetings, I don't doubt you could get set up, and that might have been poor wording on my part since that is what a secretary does, but you're free to handle the other tasks using whatever power I have. Consider this my blessing and permission." Jokingly, he knighted her before clasping his hands forward as though in prayer.

Giggling, the woman nodded. "I'll need your credentials or my own to handle the IT stuff."

Peter winced and let out a nervous laugh. "You're right. Hold on again." He left again for a couple of moments before returning.

"Okay, you should have the credentials needed to handle the security updates, and despite my better judgment, I've listed out more tasks that I need to get done but are not time sensitive at all. I've also left a folder in your file explorer with documentation for ParkerOS."

Tessa nodded before tilting her head. "Something that I don't get now that I think about it. Why haven't you tried selling the OS? This is the first time I'm hearing about your own OS. I assume it's as user-friendly as Windows, Linux, or StarkOS. So why not put your hat into the mix?"

The young man frowned. "Honestly? It's still susceptible to being hacked into as of this moment." Seeing her incredulous expression, he hurried to continue. "That's not to say ParkerOS isn't secure. In fact, I'd argue it's ahead of any other OS in the market. It's just…" He trailed off, seeming to struggle with how to put his thoughts.

"Not where you want it to be?" Tessa offered.

Peter laughed. "Yes, exactly! Like I had the thought of eventually incorporating nano-technology to run the OS on in the future. The thought is as vulnerabilities are found by hackers or by us as a company, the internal system can rewrite and make it harder to crack as the software is fixed." He rubbed the back of his head. "That's a simpler explanation than what would actually take place, but I hope I'm explaining the idea well enough.

Tessa hummed, pleased. "That certainly sounds as visionary as the computer was when it was introduced." Her new boss nodded a pleased smile present.

Tessa felt her face heat up and coughed. "Well, I'll get myself acquainted then with my office. Can I call you if I have any other questions?"

"Of course!" Peter exclaimed, looking shocked. Did he come off as the type of person who wouldn't answer a call just because he wasn't in the office?

"Great. Well, thank you again for the tour, Peter. I'll contact you when needed." Tessa said, taking a seat in her office chair and booting up her computer.

"Yup." He turned to walk out before pausing. "Oh, and I'm heading out right now to meet with someone who's asking for a consultation. I'll still be available by cell, though, if you need me."

Tessa smiled softly. "I'll keep that in mind. And thank you for the job." She grinned. "You won't regret hiring me."

Peter laughed awkwardly, waving goodbye.

'Hopefully, this job lets her feel like she's doing something more than what Xavier's asked of her.'

Outside Parker Industries

THWHIP

"Yo!" Peter greeted, swinging down to meet Natasha. She was hunched over her usual spot of watching the front of Parker Industries, a little umbrella shade and cooler next to her already stowed away.

"Hi." The redhead greeted back. She tilted her head, curious. "Heard you scheduled a meeting with Fury. Mind telling me what it's about? All he told me was that I was supposed to direct you to his office."

Spider-Man thought about it and shrugged, seeing no problem with it. "He asked me for information about the Hulk. Told him I did but didn't feel comfortable explaining it over the phone. Asked to meet, and he agreed pretty easily."

Natasha nodded. "I see. Hopefully, what you have to share will help. From the reports, he's thankfully not killed anyone yet, but he's critically injured a few personnel and caused major structural damage."

Peter winced. "Yeah…yeah, I bet." Causing Natasha to look at him curiously.

He shook his head. "Sooooo…" Peter trailed off, rubbing the back of his head, or helmet in this case, backpack secured, probably making him look his age.

"So?" Black Widow asked, confused, already expecting him to have started moving toward the base.

"Want me to carry you there? Or do you just want to follow me?" He asked sheepishly.

Natasha raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Seeing her expression, he raised his hands. "Look, I'm pretty sure Fury would rather have this meeting as soon as possible, and it's just more efficient if I get us there. But unlike the last time, I didn't promise to get there quickly. So I'm not forcing you and am leaving it up to you. When we leave, we can go back to you following me. Sound good?"

Shaking her head with a sigh, the redhead nodded before moving into a more relaxed pose that Peter couldn't help but notice accentuated her figure.

'Why? Just why? First Val, and now her?'

Noticing his stare, she raised an eyebrow again, this time as if to say, 'Well? Get on with it.'

Thankful that his helmet hid his face, which was blushing lightly due to her pose, he walked toward her, pressing her flush to his side. Thankfully she latched herself onto him without any complaints or noise except for a sharp inhale of breath, which Peter took to mean she was preparing herself. Though, did she need to try and hold on so tight? Natasha knew he had super strength and the ability to stick to anything after all.

He shrugged mentally before leaping off the building. Ignoring how she tightened herself further against his body and how she felt pressed against him.

'At least it doesn't feel like she's scared this time. However, her heartbeat is still beating at a slightly faster rate. Must be the adrenaline.'

---

SHIELD Base

Arriving at the base, Peter landed softly inside its walls. No one was around the area when he jumped over, and other than a few cameras, no one would have seen them enter.

"Wow, where're the patrols? What if I was a spy sent to infiltrate this place? All I'd need to do is spoof your cameras, and I'd be completely undetected." Peter asked, looking around for any hint of human life. "I mean, last time there was a patrol when I landed, not to mention the squad fighting that Skrull."

Natasha sighed, and it was only now that Peter became conscious of his arm still wrapped around her and hers around his.

'That's what you get for spacing, Peter. Let me just…'

He slowly removed his arm from her side, and from seeing Natasha slinking hers back as well, he let out a quiet breath, thankful for her not flipping out or accusing him of trying something. Other than the teasing being toned down so far, and he knew she was capable of more, it was nice to see that her maturity was still the same when Natasha dealt with situations that were more out of a rom-com than real life.

"Due to you technically not having any clearance, I can't tell you precisely what our defenses are. I can tell you that we keep guards up for appearances, as you probably noticed, but tend to leave the outside of the building unoccupied in case of an attack. As for the squads you noticed your last time here? Well, I can tell you now that our initial plans for if you went rogue didn't go so well. We've obviously adjusted accordingly after this much time." Natasha stated off-handedly, already walking away toward Fury's office.

Peter made to follow her before her words registered in his head and stopped. "Wait, that was the initial force you guys were planning to send out to stop me? A couple of squads?"

Probably noticing he wasn't following her, Natasha stopped and glanced back at Peter. Whatever she saw, though, made her gain the hint of a smirk as she turned around to continue walking forward. "Technically, we only meant for one squad to engage you. The rest were there as a way of finding you faster."

Peter's jaw was agape, and he had to stop himself from gesturing wildly in irritation - she wouldn't see it anyways. He still felt massively insulted, though, and walked rapidly next to the spy to watch her face, wondering if she still had a smirk. He was annoyed that her face was blank. "So you're telling me that after beating you and seeing me capture criminals for one day, all I got was a squad?"

Natasha hummed, face perfectly blank. "I said one squad was to engage you. I didn't say anything else after the fact."

"So something else was supposed to happen after the one squad?" Peter asked, tone, unfortunately, sounding needy to even his ears.

"Yes." Natasha said, face still perfectly blank, with no hint of tightening muscle even as she motioned for him to follow her turn.

Grumbling at Natasha's lack of detail and composed nature, he assuaged his ego with her statement about adjusting their plan after this much time and fell silent.

It would also, he had to admit, defeat the purpose if he knew their exact plan for him going rogue. He couldn't help the childish pout that crossed his face but once again thanked his helmet for hiding it.

Some might wonder why he felt a bruised ego instead of the sting of betrayal. For that, he'd point to his memories. Allies being possessed, mind controlled, or blackmailed, and others subsequently being unprepared. Besides, it's not like he actually had to deal with their mediocre plan. It would never have worked anyways. He was worth more than one squad. He was worth maybe three–no five squads, at least. He had to be. Right?

Peter glanced at Natasha. Feeling his well of curiosity grow, and maybe a bit of his still wounded ego, he couldn't help but ask. "So what's the first step of the new plan to neutralize me?"

"You don't need to know." Natasha said evenly. "Besides, you know it would defeat the purpose."

He did know that, but… "Awww, come on. Can't you just tell me?"

Natasha glanced at him, face still blank. "No."

"I need to know. Come on."

Natasha stopped and turned to look at him. He suddenly felt like a deer in headlights.

"I just told you. Telling you would defeat the purpose of any contingency in place for you. However…" The femme fatale trailed off and stepped closer, the way she strolled over, somehow pulling his gaze to her full lips, which he noticed were a bright cherry red today. He also couldn't help but notice that they looked absolutely sinful as she spoke. "If you were perhaps willing, to be honest with me about the exact reason you want to know. I might be persuaded to…" She trailed off, letting a small smirk play across her face as she reached for his chest to run her hand across, not that he could feel it, but the act itself was still alluring. "...inform you of what SHIELD adjusted. Of course," She said with a sage-like tone. "we'll have to change it when I tell you, but I think hearing your reason for wanting to know will be worth it. After all–" She pressed herself against him, her breath lightly fogging his lenses due to how close she was. "–it can't be for your ego. You're too mature for that. Surely you must have a logical reason for wanting to know."

Peter stilled for more than one reason. The first was because it just hit him that Natasha had been teasing him, which he guessed started when he pressed for information. The second reason was due to how she was pressing herself up against him. She was practically hugging him without her arms and even placed a leg between his own as she stared directly into his eyes through his lenses.

But that begged the question of why she felt the need to go this far to tease him.

He glanced around, noticing that they were still alone, and then stilled.

At the hall's end was a door with only the word 'DIRECTOR' printed on it. He sighed in relief.

'Must have just wanted to get a bigger reaction out of me before we had to get back to being professional. Heh, knew I must have been keeping my composure pretty well.'

He turned back to Natasha, noticing a slight frown now on her face, a hint of irritation as well.

"Uh, what is it?"

She sighed in disappointment and stepped away from him shaking her head. "It's nothing. Come on, Director Fury's office is at the end of this hall." She glanced at him. This time a playful smirk was unmistakable on her face. "For the record, I don't think SHIELD's new plan would work any better than the first one."

Perking up, Peter felt his confidence soar as he followed Natasha to the end of the hall.

Natasha knocked in an off-key manner on the door. On the last knock, a piece of the wall receded to showcase a camera and speaker.

"Code?" Fury's voice echoed from the speaker.

"Bravo Whiskey Alpha Oscar Sierra." Natasha said clearly before stepping away and turning to look at Spider-Man.

Jolting, Peter moved in front of the camera. "Uh. Arachnid Alpha Foxtrot."

"Thank you." Fury grunted. Faint whirring noises sounded through the walls before a series of clicks sounded, and the door swung open like a vault.

Natasha waved a hand forward. "After you."

Nodding his head, Spider-Man stepped forward, quickly noting the bulky-looking holes etched into the doorframe, which he could clearly see now were metal. Walking along more, he noticed a metal wall again in front of him.

The hero turned to Natasha, who came to stand beside him as the vault-like door closed.

"Uh, where's Fury?"

She shook her and motioned for him to wait.

With faint whirring sounds again sounding, he felt the room descend what felt like a story before stopping. The wall then raised itself to show Fury sitting at his desk in a spartan room. It was clear of any material except for a couple of monitors. Two metal chairs were in front of it. A glance to Peter's right showed a door next to what he now knew was an elevator.

"Greetings, Spider-Man. Please take a seat." Fury said.

'Welp. Here we go.'

---

Natasha Romanoff - Fury's Office

The redhead cursed herself internally as she took a seat first. She only meant to tease Peter as a distraction and took it too far. Her emotions got the better of her due to his easygoing nature.

'He just makes it so easy to poke fun at him. It's… endearing…'

She shook herself mentally. There would be time at the end of the day to lecture herself for lapsing so quickly after only interacting with him for a month.

Spider-Man clapped his hands as he took his seat; his backpack lay on the floor next to him. "So, let's not waste any time. What do you think about luring the Hulk here for a conversation?"

Fury couldn't help the look of disbelief that crossed his face and stared at Peter.

Natasha herself couldn't help but look alarmed as well. From the report from General Ross provided, the Hulk was not one to be trifled with.

Current unknown limit of strength, due to the distinct look of no strain when the creature lifted objects but assumed to be anywhere from 5 tons to 10 tons minimum. Durability limit was unknown, but small arms fire did nothing, and neither did grenades. Thankfully he was said to be slow and lumbering in his movements, but with the combined other points, it was best to keep him away from infrastructure. In her opinion, keeping him in the desert was in everyone's best interest. Wide open area to try bombarding him with missiles, and it was away from populated areas.

'But Peter wants to talk to the creature? And bring him here!?'

Spider-Man sighed and slumped. His knee was bouncing rapidly up and down absentmindedly, and based on the tensing of his shoulders, it was apparent he was nervous about something.

Natasha frowned. 'It can't be that he's speaking to Fury. His stance and behavior in their previous interaction, not to mention Peter's tone of voice, showcased a high degree of confidence in interacting with Fury. So it probably concerns the information he has to relay…'

Spider-Man folded his arms across his chest and sighed. "Look, I doubt SHIELD can divert my parents' attention again for what might take another day or two of what will essentially be negotiating. So the next thing to do is bring him to me so I can try talking to him. If you're worried about him causing any problems or damage, I think him getting here shouldn't be a problem, but once he's here…uh, well, we can work on countermeasures for that if needed."

Fury drew a deep breath and clasped his hands in front of his face. "From what we know of the Hulk and your added testimony, I find myself…doubtful of your claim that he can be transferred over here without any hiccups. In your own words, you stated that anything we come up with would not permanently stop the Hulk. Even if we go by the fastest form of travel available to us right now, not including capture time, it's a 10-hour flight minimum round trip. We could launch him into the sun if we can contain him for that long."

Peter recoiled and made to stand up before Natasha placed a hand on his shoulder. He shook his head instead. "YOU WANT TO WHAT?"

Composed as ever, Fury stared Peter down. "Calm down. It was just a suggestion since transporting the Hulk here would take longer than the time it took for him to escape our previous rocket, and my only concern is ending the threat he poses. You have to understand your previous statement, in good faith or not, was and still is a little hard to believe." Natasha threw him a questioning look, so he continued. "When you said nothing we could do or come up with would permanently stop the Hulk, I thought you meant anything we as a species could do. And since I had time on my hands before our meeting, I thought of other avenues outside human capabilities. We can hold off on that for now. I am curious, though, as to why you are alarmed at the thought of him being launched toward the sun. I mean, other than possibly being burned alive until it inevitably explodes, which could be considered inhumane if he's that durable and regenerative, I see no downsides."

Natasha grew concerned as Peter sat there, seemingly stunned at Fury's suggestion. Whatever was flitting through his mind as he stared brought back the nervousness even further. He crossed his arms over his chest while his right knee rapidly bounced.

"Spider-Man?" Fury asked, curiosity entering his tone.

"Give me a minute. I'm debating the consequences of giving you any further information." Peter said irritably.

Fury sighed. "I said it was a suggestion."

"And I really am debating continuing this conversation." Spider-Man shot back. While made to hide his face, his helmet portrayed his anger as he dipped his head and leaned toward Fury. The angle of the lenses gave off a glare as he stared. "You might just say it's a suggestion, but I've dealt with you enough to know that it's something you'll still implement." Fury made to say something in response, but Peter shook his head. "If you're going to try and tell me you aren't going to do it once I give you actionable data to subdue the Hulk as whatever number backup, don't bother. I don't need you to coddle and lie to me. I know that you're coming at this as a man tasked with handling a perceived threat. Trust me, I know your priorities, but that doesn't make it any easier for me to divulge any information I have, even if our goals align at the end of the day." The hero paused, perhaps thinking of his info on Captain America, and shook his head. "At least not when you try to suggest something I cautioned you against and was going to explain why."

Fury snorted. "Your little outburst and following silence say otherwise."

Natasha winced internally. Whether Fury was pushing Peter's buttons to get a read on him under pressure or he truly was irritated enough to move the conversation into character jabs, she couldn't say. She could say that Peter, while he had a generous capacity for patience for his biological age, with his current mood and thought process, was liable to walk out and push this meeting onto another day. The Hulk, whether he could be talked down or not, was liable to cause more infrastructure damage and potentially human loss of life if they didn't handle this quickly.

She decided to step in.

"Spider-Man." Natasha said softly, cutting off Peter's retort to Fury. Whether it was a statement to express his leaving or an insult, she didn't know. "I can't promise you SHIELD won't try and use any information you give us to make backup plans for the Hulk, but you wouldn't have been willing to meet with Director Fury unless you believed this was the best course of action for all involved parties. That said," She turned to her boss. "Director Fury, I believe it would be in SHIELD's best interest to trust what our consultant says and try not to undermine what he's offered."

Would Natasha get an earful after this? Probably, but it was much better than what the KGB would have done to her for essentially backtalking them.

Peter slumped at her words but nodded and leaned back in his chair. Thankfully, Director Fury also affirmed that her comments were accepted, with a grunt, of course. Which she knew would be the best she'd gain, and thankfully Peter did as well if his more relaxed stance suggested, though his bouncing knee still persisted.

"Now, Spider-Man, could you please answer Director Fury's question before delving into what it would take to lure the Hulk here?" The redhead asked calmly.

The young hero sighed, his knee ending its jumpiness. "What I have to say about luring the Hulk here is tied to my concern with the…suggestion." He sighed again. "Fury, I want it voiced that you'll try everything in your power to come up with plans to subdue the Hulk, if possible, with what I'm about to tell you."

There was silence for a moment as Peter stared down the Director, who himself stared back intently before nodding his head.

"I promise to try and subdue the Hulk if possible." Fury acquiesced.

If Natasha were any less of a spy, she'd have slumped. She couldn't tell if he was telling the truth, as the statement went against what she knew of Fury, and he took that moment of silence to still his every muscle negating her trained eyes catching his tells.

'For Peter's sake, I hope he's not.' She wasn't sure how the hero would take it if he felt SHIELD couldn't be trusted with information about the future.

"Great." Peter leaned forward. "So I'm going to treat this like a band-aid and just say it now. The Hulk is actually a man na–"

"–Hey Fury, I got us some hotdogs from th– Uh, am I interrupting something?" Captain America said, opening Fury's office door. He was wearing his uniform and shield sans mask and carried a tray with six hot dogs; to the side of them was an array of toppings.

Fury mumbled something under his breath. Peter, for his part, just laughed, tension bleeding from his form. "No, Captain. I think you arrived just in time."

Natasha's boss nodded and motioned for Steve to stand near him.

"Continue, Spider-Man."

"So again, like I was saying, the Hulk is actually a man named Bruce Banner."

The name didn't ring any bell to Natasha or Captain America, she noted by his confused expression, but then again, she wasn't sure if he even knew who the Hulk was. Fury has been slowly trying to integrate the Captain into the modern era, and distracting him with foes to fight wasn't great for his mental state if he could never have downtime or at least learn what he could when resting.

"I see." Fury said, his single eye closing in thought. After a moment, he asked. "Can you tell me why someone trusted with highly classified information and, from my understanding, a stellar scientist refused to come forward?"

Spider-Man shrugged. "I don't know. It probably has something to do with his military superior raving about ending his new personality. Oh yeah, that would be a reason, too. The Hulk is a new personality from Banner's psyche with a completely separate set of memories and feelings." He said off-handedly, as though everyone gained one.

"Explain." Fury commanded.

Spider-Man sighed. "You remember the Gamma Bomb incident?"

Natasha and Fury nodded their heads. The Captain, though…

"I don't." The man said, confused. Hotdogs forgotten for now.

Peter turned toward the man and let out a laugh. Seeing the uncomfortable expression appear on the older hero's face shook, he shook his head. "No, no, I'm not laughing at you. Just at this situation in general since not many people would be willing to slow down Fury receiving information." Seeing Captain America fail to try and hide a smirk and nod his head, he continued.

"The Gamma Bomb incident is from a gamma bomb test Bruce Banner, and a few other scientists were tasked with building under General Thaddeus Ross. Before testing was set to go off, there was an alert of human life within the testing site, and Bruce went to check and get the human to safety. From the official report, Bruce successfully saved the teenager that got onto the testing site by hiding in a divet made to protect against the blast of the bomb. In actuality, however, Bruce didn't make it in time and was hit with the full force of the bomb. I am not sure of the exact science of why he survived, but his body absorbed the radiation as he was affected by the blast. I don't think it needs to be said, but I'll say it anyway. Because of the absorbed radiation, he became the Hulk. For the personality aspect…" He trailed off and glanced at Captain America. "...I can only guess that it's a separate personality based on the actions and words he's said as the Hulk. Hence my concern about your suggestion, Fury. Not only because this is a human being that's tried his best for America, but also because there's no way we can tell if sending him to the sun will not somehow allow him to absorb any gamma radiation it lets off."

"Wait, I'm confused." Captain America interjected. "How exactly did you come to know this information? I've seen you around on the news in New York." He took the time to flash the younger hero a smile. "That's great, by the way! I think it's amazing of you to take the time away from SHIELD to help New York's finest. Secondly," He turned to Fury, a look of horror on his face. "You want to send a man to the sun?"

Peter immediately became flustered based on the waving of his hands, saving Fury from having to speak. "I mean, wow, that means so much coming from you. But uh–"

Before Peter could potentially compromise his status as a time traveler and open up another can of worms, Natasha answered for him. "–Spider-Man is not affiliated with SHIELD. We do, however, appreciate his readiness to be used as a consultant. As for how he gathered this information. Spider-Man has a network of informants and a bevy of skills for espionage. In this case, according to the report he gave SHIELD, he used an array of hacking techniques to break into the US Air Force network security on base."

Was she talking out of her ass? Yes. Absolutely. Would Captain America believe her? Based on the confused but slow nodding of his head, she'd say yes. He, unfortunately, had a gullible nature, not to mention his limited understanding of modern technology. It only took Natasha her first month out of cryo to have a rundown of all its basics. She liked to think her own personal progression into each specific field was progressing along well enough to the point where she could personally do what she mentioned. Her pride in her skills as a spy demanded it.

"I see. Well, then, I still think it's great of you to do this, Spider-Man. I've mainly been getting acquainted with all the history I missed out on living, so excuse me if I simply can't understand the difficulty of what that must have taken." Steve said with a confused grin.

Peter rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks still. As I said, it means a lot." He straightened then. Looking to Fury. "Anyways, getting back to the Hulk. I hope you can see why I'm aiming to have a sit down with him and persuade him to use his newfound powers for good. From what I've seen of Dr. Banner, he wants nothing more than to help people."

Leaning back into his chair, Fury sighed. "I can see what you mean, and as I said in the beginning, I am willing to give you what you need to succeed. I'm assuming you want us to lure Dr. Banner here under the pretense of a science project and then talk to him and the Hulk?" Upon seeing the young hero's nod, he became pensive. "I'll see about setting up something within the week. I might need to include the Parker scion to make it believable. Is this alright with you?"

Natasha hoped Peter saw the opening for what it was and sighed in relief internally at his response.

"Yeah, sure! After all, he helped the Captain here get out of cryo! Though don't keep him too out of the loop, Fury. He won't know what to say if he doesn't."

In other words. Tell Peter of any changes so he can plan accordingly himself.

"Will do." Fury said with a nod. His eyes hardened. "Now, about your theoretical ways to stop the Hulk?"

"Yes. About those theoretical…ways."

Natasha sighed at his pause, though based on Captain America's attentive face, he wasn't suspicious of it.

---

1 Hour Later

"...And that should be what's scientifically possible to subdue the Hulk." Peter finished.

Fury grunted, face glued to his monitor as he finished typing out presumably a list of materials needed to implement some of the plans Peter mentioned would work.

"I gotta say, a lot of that went over my head, but I'm glad we have you with us, Spider-Man," Steve said with a grin, hand reaching out for a handshake.

Peter shook the man's hand with a nervous chuckle, perhaps due to his humble nature. "I'm glad to always be of help." Standing up, he stretched dramatically. "Welp. About time I hit the old dusty trail. Fury, always a pleasure, though one of these days, hopefully, we can have our own meal like you and Steve are." He said, pointing to the now cold hotdogs.

Steve's face fell. "Oh no, I completely forgot about them."

Fury's eye widened before he nodded his head. "We'll have to see about that."

With that, Peter made to leave, motioning his head at Natasha.

"Natasha, stay back. Steve, can you step out as well? Spider-Man, Natasha will meet you at the top." Fury commanded as the redhead stood up to follow her charge.

Confused but acquiescing, Captain America bid Spider-Man farewell before stepping out the door, muttering something about getting warm hotdogs.

Peter stared for half a second before shrugging and entered the elevator. He waved goodbye as the walls closed.

Seeing everyone else depart, Natasha moved to stand in front of Fury's desk at parade rest.

"Sir?"

"Explain yourself for earlier." Fury commanded.

Natasha's expression became blank. "I noticed a sense of nervousness pervading Parker's being since we started traveling toward the SHIELD base. I tried distracting him on our walk here, but it only seemed to add to his mood. I planned to observe him during the conversation then. Your comment, sir, whether as a test or as a way to strike out at Parker's character, was on the precipice of pushing him away and likely pushing this meeting off again. For the sake of lives and time, I stepped in to move forward."

Fury grunted, taking a moment to think. His eye narrowed before nodding.

"I see. For your knowledge, yes, it was a test. I trust Spider-Man enough to know that he wants to save lives. However, I needed to see how far he would go for the greater good. His actions when dealing with the Skrulls denoted someone afraid to take a life, not one who was trying to capture an enemy for intel." He hummed. "I'm promoting you to a Clearance Level 9. The same as Agent Val's, after today, you will be offered missions where you will provide support unless we require your field capabilities, in which case you will accept them until your amnesty has been cleared. You will not be assigned to watch after Parker once today concludes. Dismissed."

Instead of leaving, Natasha stayed at parade rest. "Sir?"

"Yes?"

"Permission to stay watching over Parker for the foreseeable future?" The spy asked carefully.

Fury stilled again, narrowing his eye at her. "Why? Agent Val is perfectly capable of reporting and following Parker until he becomes a legal adult. The man really has no need of SHIELD protecting him, and if we weren't under contract to keep him safe per his parents' request, I'd not have even assigned you both to him in the first place."

Natasha held back a grimace, careful to keep her proposal simply professional. He was right Peter didn't need her or Val to watch over him. That didn't mean she wanted to stop. Her burgeoning feelings notwithstanding, what would she be doing if she didn't have to watch over Peter? It's not like SHIELD needed her support; it'd be a waste of her talents. People like Clint were better suited to giving support until their skills were up to snuff. Besides…

"I believe Agent Val and I can train Parker to further his espionage skills and help him learn the limits of his powers. From my understanding from talking to him, he hasn't thought of testing his powers' limits and training them further. While I believe he has the mental capacity to do so himself with but a suggestion, I think it'd be efficient for Agent Val and me to oversee training him further with unbiased views and save him the time of coming up with ideas for himself."

Silence filled Fury's office as he mulled over Natasha's reasoning. "Does he have that much potential still? From your reports, he already has a passable skill in stealth and has a great understanding of his limits."

Again, true, Natasha admitted. But she couldn't help but feel there was more to what Peter was capable of…

"He does, sir. If it would help, we can give this a six-month trial period and see if he grows. If SHIELD has any critical missions for me during this period, I will, of course, accept."

Fury frowned in silence for another moment before releasing a sigh. "Six months. I want marked improvement in his movements and knowledge by the end of it."

Holding back a grin, Natasha nodded. "Of course, sir. I will plan with Val later. If that is all…"

He nodded once more. "Dismissed."

Exiting the same way Peter did, Natasha was greeted by the sight of said hero playing some card game with no cards as he sat crouched on the wall, backpack tightened securely now. Noticing her, he moved an arm in a cutting motion before jumping down from the wall.

"You didn't get chewed out, did you?" He asked, concerned.

Unbidden, she felt a playful smirk cross her face. "I actually got promoted."

Peter recoiled, jealousy clear in his tone. "You're kidding me? What else? Did he give you the key to the city?"

"Maybe."

"Really? What else did you get then?"

"Permission to train you in the art of espionage like a SHIELD agent. Which means we can use SHIELD training facilities."

Natasha noticed him stiffen before he forcibly tried to relax, trying to play her words off.

"Look, I know I'm not the best at stealth. But you and Val have barely seen me try to go for the stealthy approach. I promise if you bo–"

"–I don't actually think you need stealth training." Natasha interrupted. "To be honest, I think you do just as well as can be expected for someone who, I believe, hasn't had actual training in stealth. I mainly asked for permission so we could use SHIELD training facilities as an excuse to train your powers."

She frowned. This time Peter didn't bother trying to hide his discomfort at her words but stayed silent.

"Have I upset you in some way?" She asked carefully. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt Peter's ego. While he did make it easy to tease and poke fun at him, she didn't want to take advantage of that. She took his easy-going nature as a way to build rapport. Not as a way to tear him down.

'Perhaps he's simply sensitive about his powers? I…am not sure why that would be. Regardless…'

"I understand if you feel differently. Perhaps after you complete your patrol, we can discuss my opin–"

She stopped herself as he held up a hand.

"Let's get out of here first." He stated evenly before walking away.

Not arguing, Natasha nodded before pausing behind him. She was hoping to ask him to carry her as a chance to tease him. Should she still bring it up?

'If he's angry with me, then probably not.' She thought to herself, moving again to follow.

Making it to the wall, he stopped to look up and then looked at her. "Do you mind if I carry you to the city? It's a big wall, and there's a good bit of space between here and any other building."

She nodded. "That would be best." Instead of teasing him, she reached out for him this time. It was amusing to see him flustered earlier, his muscles tense as he stalked forward. But with his current mood best not to add more stress.

Arm reaching through the small opening between his backpack, she gave him a nod and felt his arm wrap securely around her. Preparing herself for a jump, she was surprised to see him walk up the wall instead. Assuming it must have been so he could gather his thoughts, she stayed silent.

"Hold tight." Spider-Man said as they reached the top, barely giving Natasha time to tighten her hold as he launched them over the large street and shorter buildings surrounding the base. For a moment, she marveled at the feeling of their speed and height; her own legs, let alone her own swings not able to give this kind of output. Their descent to the ground began then, and she felt the rush of blood in her ears as Peter, whether he meant to or not, chose to SNAP them forward with his webs at what couldn't have been more than 20 feet from the ground. He twisted forward, dispersing most of the inertia her body should have been assaulted with, and continued snapping forward with his webs until they reached one of New York's high-rise buildings.

Snapping one last web line to the top, he landed on top. And unlike at the base remembered he was holding Natasha…unfortunately, so he released his hold on her. With no flimsy reason to continue holding him, she released him and stood nearby, waiting to hear what he had to say.

---

"Sorry about that. I don't want SHIELD to overhear about my Spider-Sense, as it will inevitably come up if we're discussing my powers." Peter said, stance more relaxed but still guarded.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you still seem uncomfortable discussing this? May I ask why?"

Peter sighed, his shoulders sagging. "Honestly? It's a combination of pride, feasibility, and fear."

Natasha expected pride, but she was confused about what he meant by feasibility and fear. "Can you explain the last two?"

"By feasibility, I mean the possibility of my powers being trainable or growing. Besides my strength, which I always attributed to age, I never noticed any growth from my years as Spider-Man, which you'd think would have happened. For one, I'd think that after years of using my Spider-Sense, I'd have seen improvement but never really di–." He paused as though something had come to mind before shaking his head.

Natasha frowned. "What is it?"

"I'm just going over every time I've felt it activate recently and how it's acted in the past. And I mean really thinking it over." He finished with a self-deprecating chuckle.

'Did he not do so before?' What was she saying? His possibly not thinking about it was one of the reasons she felt the need to bring this up.

He continued unabated, thinking aloud. "But yeah, I guess it's improved slightly. I've used it to track an enemy a time or two. Not to mention just recently, I've been able to 'see' beyond just a single attack or blast. Like a glimpse of the future almost… There's also some other stuff, like a 'daughter' of mine being able to magnetize objects using our wall-crawling ability. She messed up that bunker floor pretty good…"

Natasha felt her blood freeze. He had a what? That could do what?

'Does he have someone in mind for a relationship? Will he try and pursue this woman again for a chance at this daughter? Would he be satisfied with having kids with someone else?' She absentmindedly placed a hand on her stomach. 'If he did, it's not like I can try to tell him I can…' She didn't let the thought finish. It was simply a crush right now, anyways. There was no need to concern herself with thoughts of a family. It was just a crush…right?

Not noticing her shock, he continued. "There's also that thing Kaine does with his hands… and he could carry stuff on his back." He paused. "Or anywhere now that I think about it…" Unbidden, he took off his helmet. His eyes were haunted, mouth pressed into a frown. He placed his helmet on his chest. It slid down before he caught it and glared into its lenses.

After a moment, Peter placed it again on his chest, but it didn't move this time. It jutted outward as though he had another head growing on his chest. Instead of showing pride at this apparent new feat, his face went to stone. He placed his helmet back on his head.

"Well, I guess you can cross that point off. But that still leaves fear…" He trailed off, voice small.

Still reeling from his earlier words, Natasha stayed silent. Letting him speak his mind.

"I… I can't afford to take some time to train."

The spy shook her head. Deciding to ask him later about her concern, she asked. "Why is that?"

He gestured out toward the city. "Because of them! Who else do they have?" He started pacing, his hands clenching and unclenching. "In the past, by this point in time, there was the Fantastic Four." At seeing her confused face, he explained. "Team lead by Reed Richards, they became the world's first team of superheroes. But that's beside the point. Before I entered the scene, New York had an entire team to look after them."

Wary at his agitated movements since there wasn't much she thought he would be comfortable with her doing to try and calm him, she asked. "Is it possible to look into why they didn't come about this time? Are there many world-ending events coming up that they solved and you are preparing for? "

He shook his head. "I know why they didn't form." His voice was pained. "It was my actions that did it. Two of the members…I–their parents are alive, which inadvertently prevented them from meeting Reed later in life. And the accident that gave them their powers, yes it was an accident. I stopped it before I was Spider-Man. My company… we got asked to review Reed's rocket. I put in feedback for more robust shielding from the cosmic radiation they would be hit with… his rocket still failed, but Reed and his pilot were saved, and Ben didn't look like a rock, so I knew it worked." He took a breath.

By this point, Natasha was slightly regretting this line of questioning as it seemed to cause more than just a wounded ego. And she doubted Peter expected this to derail into what sounded more like a venting session, so she was sure he'd feel uncomfortable after this.

She found she didn't mind the venting but was more bothered by the setting it was taking place in and the empathy arising from Peter's distinct hurt. It made her question herself and keep bringing up the burning question she wanted to ask. Which made her chastise her mind for daring to flit that question across her mind when the man she was talking to clearly needed someone to talk to, not be questioned to satisfy her own feelings.

Again not noticing her inner turmoil Peter continued. "Anyways, there are no world-ending threats… at least for right now." He paused again. "Well, I didn't deal with– Argh! I'll check my memories later with Charles, but I'm positive there was nothing world-ending happening right now." He shook his head. "That's beside the point; it doesn't matter if the world's ending or someone's store is getting robbed. They," He gestured again at the city. His tone was dogmatic. "Need someone to be ready just in case. I…I can't be selfish. Not again."

Natasha felt a cold pit form in her stomach. "Is that how the end of the world happened? You think you made a selfish decision?"

The hero snorted. "Actually, I wanted to patrol when I could have used some bed rest. I– you don't need to hear this, but that's probably one of the only times where being selfish was not to my detriment… if I didn't do that, there's no telling that I would have been there and gotten a chance to come back. But being selfish… it doesn't matter, since that event technically didn't happen… or won't happen."

Natasha frowned but decided to move on. "Then why do you think training would be selfish? If anything, I'd argue that training would save more lives."

He shuddered before moving to sit against the building edge. "That's my hang-up. If I'm training, there's a chance someone will need my help. And if I'm not there, is it right for me to say I was training? That old argument about the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few comes to mind. I know people like Fury choose the former almost constantly, but me? I– I can't stand the thought of condemning the few for the many. That's what it will be now that the city knows about me. So I can't, in good faith, put off patrolling to train, even if I can potentially save more lives in the future with the growth it'd entail. They all matter to me."

Natasha paused, taking a deep breath before sitting next to him. She appreciated that he at least was waiting to hear her possibly rebuttal his points. Whether that be because he wanted to listen to a reason that would assuage his guilt or because he needed time to steady himself, she didn't know. But the silence helped her gather her own thoughts.

'If he's viewing his work through that lens, I think there's nothing I can say right now to get him to want to train. It doesn't help that I don't know the cause of this… zealotry. From his tone, it was scarring; it being tied to heroic deeds can mean he was not heroic before. Or believes he was not heroic enough. But if he's worried about the people of New York being safe…'

Natasha reached out to grab his hand, hoping to provide some form of comfort since he seemed to be vulnerable. He thankfully didn't pull away.

"Is it possible you'd feel comfortable training for a few hours a day if SHIELD provided some agents under the direction of Val or me to perform patrols?"

Spider-Man glanced at her before shaking his head. "No. I can't ask you or Val, let alone strangers, to step in for me. And not that I don't appreciate you both patrolling with me, but I know you both would rather be doing whatever you ladies do in your off time or what SHIELD gives you."

Natasha frowned; while she couldn't speak for Val, over this past month, she's felt more fulfilled than at any other time in her life. With the KGB, she had a sense of pride in her nation and people…until she became disillusioned with where her country stood at the time. Of course, she paid the price for that when they found out. She mentally shook her head; she was getting off track.

She squeezed his hand gently. She found a spark of joy at him squeezing back. "Don't count me out of finding fulfillment from heroics. However, we can continue this conversation another time if you'd like. The only other thing I can think of is to recruit heroes to give you ease of mind. But I take it from your earlier words that there are no active heroes other than you, making it hard to do right now."

Peter began nodding his head before pausing. "Well, I know later that there's Thor and Ant-Man around this time from stories later in my life."

"Wait, as in the god Thor or someone who named himself that?"

"Well, he's not really a god, just a long-living alien humanoid from another planet, you see. But yes, the one from the mythical tales. And Ant-Man is Henry 'Hank' Pym; he utilizes Pym particles to shrink or enlarge himself to the size of an ant or giant - I'm talking twenty feet tall here - to fight criminals and terrorists."

Natasha frowned. "Henry Pym is a SHIELD scientist right now. Are you saying he's taking time away from SHIELD projects to battle crime without our backup?"

Peter shook his head, tone laden with sadness. "As I understand it, he lost his wife and, in turn, lost himself in his work to help humanity. Eventually deciding to become a hero."

Natasha nodded. "Then he has not become Ant-Man yet. From what Clint says, he can't stop talking about his little girl."

Peter nodded, relieved. "That's good. Hank deserves a chance to do good without the tragedy."

Natasha sighed, making to get up. She'd bring this up again later. She paused. "You sure there's no one else you can think of? Right now, it sounds like your memory isn't the best, probably due to stress. So I'm just making sure by asking, so you actively think."

Peter made to shake his head before letting out a gasp. "Oh. Oh no. Shit. Shitshitshitshit" He stood up. Pulling Natasha with him. "Hold tight."

Natasha stared, alarmed at his frantic motion, before letting out a yelp as he launched them deeper into the city, his hold on her the tightest it's been so far. They quickly passed Central Park, then Parker Industries, where Natasha swore she saw a red figure begin chasing after them a moment after they passed. It was hard to tell as everything quickly became a blur; all she could do was hug Peter tighter. They swung by New York's Empire State and Flatiron buildings before she knew it, they landed on a high-rise building near the Brooklyn Bridge.

---

'That…what…where are we?'

Releasing her slowly, Peter kept ahold of her. "I'm sorry, but I need to check something inside here. It's urgent…what I'm doing is illegal, so I understand if you would instead not come with me. And sorry about the speed; I tried keeping your safety in mind, but traversing 20 miles in under a minute without some form of gyro stabilization is bound to give you some disorientation even if I dispersed the G-Forces to safe amounts." He made to let her go, but Natasha clasped her hands over his, both to prevent him from leaving and to help ground herself.

"Wait. Please." She gasped.

He tilted his head concerned but nodded.

Holding onto his hands, Natasha drew in two deep breaths. Her heart calmed down shortly after. "Thank you." She released his hands. Frowning internally that he dropped them quickly subsequently. "Where are we?"

"Building named WebCorps. Before you ask, unaffiliated with me. I'm about to perform some good ol' corporate espionage to find out if they are holding someone." Spider-Man said quickly, divesting himself of his backpack and webbing it to the roof of the building. "I shouldn't be long; I just need to find their server room and its corresponding terminal. Should be done in 2 minutes." The hero said, moving to an industrial-sized vent, placing his hand on the screws, and removing them.

"I'm coming with you." She said, moving to follow.

He glanced back. "Sure. Hope you don't lose your promotion over this."

She smirked, not that he could see it. "I'll say I had probable cause."

The hero shrugged, opened the vent grate, and entered. His body made no sound as he crawled through.

Natasha followed suit and was unprepared for the dust permeating her nostrils -which she should have prepared for in hindsight- and the sight that awaited her.

'Oh.'

The redhead had an unfettered view of Peter's ass. Clothed, of course, but his tight-fitting undersuit did nothing to hide his glutes as his legs moved forward. She quickly felt the annoying heat emanate from her core as blood rushed through her body, preparing for something that would not happen anytime soon. The spy paused, taking a moment to calm herself, thankful Peter couldn't turn around and see what must have been her flushed face.

'Just use it as fuel for tonight… Get it together, Natasha. For Christ's sake, you're a professional spy.'

She usually wasn't one to ogle her coworkers, especially on what was a mission. She must be feeling tired from the day's events and revelations. Accepting that reason and not deigning to look into it further, she moved forward, though this time she ensured she wasn't following Peter close enough to give her the same view.

Following him through the vent's exit, she paused as he raised an arm for her to stop. A moment later, her earpiece crackled to life, startling her.

"I started your earpiece remotely so I could speak to you. I'm checking to see if there are any cameras I need to shut off or loop remotely." Peter's voice whispered.

Nodding to herself, Natasha reached to tap his calf in the affirmative.

A couple of moments later, Peter pushed the grate forward, making a horrible wrenching sound that had Natasha wincing. She tapped his calf rapidly.

"Cool it. I checked the room's camera and hallway camera. There's no one nearby, and the cameras will be on a loop for the rest of the day." Explanation given, he quickly exited the vent and landed inside the room.

Natasha followed, landing gracefully. She glanced around the room and noted that it was simply an empty office room. There were only cubicles placed inside, no desktops or monitors. Opening a drawer, she was not surprised to see that it was also empty.

'Perhaps this is prepared in case the company needs more employee space?'

Spider-Man quickly moved to the room's door, a simple metal door with a single glass window looking out into the hall. He tried the handle, and it swung open easily.

"Let's go. It's two floors down. There's a staircase down this hallway to the left. There doesn't appear to be anyoneon this floor or the floors below. I've spoofed the camera's visual and audio feed. We should be clear." He said, holding the door open for her.

Nodding, the spy followed. Walking down the hallway, Natasha had to amend her earlier theory about the room possibly being for extra employee space. Every room was either completely empty or had cubicles, but there were no other objects. "What does this company do exactly?" She asked.

"It's a shell company inside of a shell company, insi–" He shook his head. "Sorry, that won't tell you anything. It's a front for this group called the Spider Society. Again, no affiliation. They are in an ideological war with another group called the Sisterhood of the Wasp." He noticed her confused expression. "They're a private mercenary group essentially. Sort of like a cult too…" He trailed off.

Natasha frowned. "So why breach this building? It sounds like they use this to launder money through the company."

Entering the stairway, the hero shook his head. "They store multiple things in buildings like these. This one houses a particular bunker, one made to prevent a predator from sensing a Spider-Totem."

"A what?"

"Sorry, forget you don't know this. I'm a little distracted, kicking myself over and over mentally. A Spider-Totem is someone who's been bestowed Spider-themed powers. There are some beings that feed on Spider-Totems or pretty much any animal totem. The bunker is laced with something, either a spell or material, that blocks the scent of a totem, preventing these predators from finding them." They exited into another hallway then, one that again looked as bland as the previous one.

"I see. And yet this building also has a server room? Not just a bunker."

"Ezekiel, the owner of this building, still runs some sort of corporation even if it's a front, but the servers mainly are used as a backup for the data of other companies he runs. But it also houses the camera record data for this building. I need to know if she's here."

"She?" Natasha asked.

"Cindy Moon, teenager. The spider that bit me bit her as well. Same as it did last time. I should have guessed her life would play out as it did last time, even if the way we got bit was different." He said, clearly frustrated.

"Is she being experimented on or something while being protected? Was this all with her consent?" Natasha asked, trying to understand why Peter would sound frustrated.

"No. She actually has a T.V., DVD player, food, clothes, bed, and restroom. So pretty much it's completely furnished with multiple rooms. I think there's also a slit or something in the room that allows for items to be deposited as well, but I can't be sure. It's been a while. And yes, this was her choice. She did it to protect herself and her family."

Natasha frowned. From the information given, it sounds like Ms. Moon decided with a sound mind to protect herself and her family by isolating herself.

"Forgive me, but why are you trying to see if she's here and presumably plan to break her out if she is? From the information given, it sounds like this is simply a civilian taking steps to protect herself." Natasha asked carefully, mindful of his emotions.

Before Spider-Man could answer, they came upon a door that held a room filled with actual objects. It was the server room. As Peter opened it, the loud whirring of power supplies and A/C fans running to cool the servers assaulted her ears.

Entering the room, Peter spoke up to be heard above the noise. "She was stuck in the bunker for thirteen years." Natasha's eyes widened. Peter continued making his way to the room's terminal, the familiar background of a LinuxOS greeted them. "She would have been stuck in here even longer if I didn't find out about her then." His lenses glowed blue, the terminal rapidly opening command line terminals and running commands, the screen quickly becoming a rapid display of characters.

"I see. And I guess the predator she was worried about was dead years before? Probably shortly after, she was placed in the bunker. Did Ezekiel die, and so no one knew about her?"

"Ezekiel died, yes. Finding out about her took longer than it should have, but the predator she was warned about had come here. Multiple times. After me specifically."

Natasha frowned, taking that information for what it was. Her first instinct, the cynical part of her, was to wonder if he planned on using the girl as bait to kill this predator, which went entirely against what Natasha knew of Peter, and his mood and actions leading up to this. The likely reason for Peter's actions was to prevent her from being in the bunker for too long this time.

'But why not leave her here while dealing with this predator first? Surely the safety of a VIP is paramount, even when taking out the hostile force preemptively.'

Before Natasha could ask another question, a video started on the terminal.

Peter and Natasha were greeted with a hallway pointing toward a vault with a digital lock and voice com attached. Very quickly, two figures entered, traversing the hallway. One was an elderly-looking man, his gray hair was brushed back, giving him a small wild mane. He was dressed in a black suit with a green undershirt. His face looked solemn but determined as he opened the bunker door. Next to him was a Korean teen wearing jeans and a red t-shirt. Natasha only caught a glimpse of her face, yet it was enough to show fear as the large door swung open. It opened to reveal another hallway with another smaller vault-like door that led into what looked to be a carpeted floor.

"I am sorry for this, Cindy," Ezekiel said. His voice sounded aged.

The Korean teen nodded, voice taught. "It's okay, I understand. It's the right thing to do. You'll look after my family, won't you?"

"Of course. I give you my word." Ezekiel said. Peter let out a growl upon hearing that.

Hugging the elder man, Cindy stepped into the bunker, giving a small unsure wave. Ezekiel nodded and closed the door. With a loud hiss the door closed. Waiting a moment at the door, Ezekiel sighed. "Cindy?"

A moment passed before her voice came faintly on the other side of the vault door.

"Yes?"

"You know what you need to do. Morlun will come when your Totem fully manifests." The man said, voice still saddened but patient.

A sob came through the door. "I know, I'm just…scared."

Ezekiel was silent before saying. "Please go through the next door, Cindy."

Some time passed before a hiss and beep sounded through the hallway.

"Zone 2 Locked and Secured. Zone 1 Locked and Secured."

"I'm sorry again," Ezekiel whispered, this time to himself. He turned around. "I can only hope Peter understands just as well when the time comes."

The video cut off then as Peter snarled. His fists shook with rage before he breathed deeply. "I knew he lied about it."

"About what?"

"Morlun didn't come after me until about ten years into my stint as Spider-Man. The first time, Ezekiel found me and told me he had created a bunker just for me that year. For my protection. I always suspected he made one for both Cindy and me as soon as he knew of our Spider-Totems and what they stood for. But I think he only confronted me after so long because it took forever for my Totem to activate. Which makes it all the worse that Cindy was the one to activate hers so early."

Natasha nodded. "So what's the plan? Do you want me to call in SHIELD, get a warrant and open up the vault? Are we going to the bunker right now and opening the vault? If we do either, I want to caution that you've admitted to this Morlun being a predator to you and Ms. Moon. Is it worth taking her out of here before he is dealt with? She's not like you, someone with experience fighting."

Spider-Man turned to face her, his stance defeated. "I don't know. Part of me wants to say to hell with it and open the door right now. Call it overconfidence, but I've handled Morlun plenty of times now. I can do so again if need be. Cindy doesn't deserve to spend the rest of her life locked away. Ezekiel, for all his good intentions, made the wrong call."

Natasha sighed, closing her eyes, resolving to support Peter. "I understand. So do you want to head to the bunker right now?"

Peter made to nod his head before sighing and shaking his head. "No. Not right now. If I did, Cindy and I would be liable to tear each other's clothes off, even with you right next to us. And I do not want to feel like I'm taking advantage of a teenager." He paused, sounding alarmed as he continued. "Oh yeah, you probably shouldn't be too close to me when she's released. She can get…territorial."

Natasha stared flat-footed. "Come again?"

Peter chuckled nervously. "Due to us being bit by the same spider, Cindy and I have this… primal bond. Our bodies emit pheromones that affect each other as well. It drives us crazy with lust. I'd rather build a filter for me to wear when the time comes for her to be released. That way, we can all act rationally…" Peter continued speaking, but Natasha wasn't too focused on what he was saying further.

'Is this the woman that births his daughter? From the sounds of it, it would make sense; whatever force gave them their powers clearly meant for them to mate. Is he going to wait until she's an adult before confronting her then?'

The thought drew a pit in her stomach… Screw it. She was going to ask now. Appropriate or not.

"–bly buy WebCorps while I wait. If you want though, SHIELD can he–"

"Is she the mother of your future daughter?" Natasha asked, suddenly cutting Peter off.

He gasped before starting a hacking cough. Natasha patted him on the back.

"Is sh– What the– How'd you– Say that again?"

Natasha forced her face to remain expressionless, not wanting to convey anything but a professional front. "I asked if she was the mother of your future daughter. It would explain the fervor you are displaying at trying to rescue her."

Spider-Man continued staring at the spy. Based on his slackened arms, she imagined his jaw hanging open. He straightened before sputtering out. "NO! I didn't have any kids. What gave you that idea?"

Natasha let herself frown. "You stated earlier you had a daughter?"

"I mean, she can technically be my daughter? My Ex-Fiance and I never got married, but according to that universe, we might have had a daughter if we did. Then again, I don't know for sure. That universe had events from here happen about 15 years earlier, so it's weird to wrap my head around. It's just as likely that our genes are as different as yours and mine are." He sighed. "Look, I used that phrasing only because I was thinking aloud, and since I like to think my counterparts are me still in some shape or form, I just thought that way. Honestly, during my time with her, she made it clear she didn't consider me her dad at all. And while I would love to have kids, I'd prefer it be down the line when I'm… not a teenager. I was about to say wealthy or mature enough, but I like to think I have those two in spades now."

Absorbing the information, Natasha couldn't help the spread of confusion on her face but nodded her head all the same.

"But yeah, Cindy and me, I… I don't know why it didn't work out. But we certainly never had kids." He chuckled before catching himself. "At least… I hope I didn't. I wish she would have told me if we did." He clutched his helmet. "Look, enough distractions. Let's get out of here. I need to start building two breathable masks that block the scent of Cindy and mine pheromones for when I release her. And I think my idea about buying WebCorps would be the cherry on top of this." The hero said, moving toward the door.

Following, Natasha listened as Peter rambled, his earlier anger seemingly abated for now due to her spurred question. And ignoring the confusing information about other universes, she felt a huge sense of relief at having that burning question out of her mind.

'Maybe there's a chance then… if he doesn't mind someone like me…'

---

Minutes later - Outside WebCorps

"–it to see Ezekiel's face if I step in his office an- Who are you?" Spider-Man asked, quickly moving to pull Natasha out of the vent.

A red feminine figure arose from their meditating position next to Peter's backpack. A simple katana lay at her feet. She wore a red shinobi shozoku and a matching red scarf to cover the bottom half of her face, leaving her striking blue eyes and black hair open to the air. Attached to the woman's hips was a black belt with pouches, two red sais on either side of her waist, and a grappling gun near her groin.

'Someone's playing ninja.'

The scarf must have been thicker than meets the eye as the woman's voice was muffled enough that Natasha couldn't detect an accent of any origin. "I come in peace. My name is…Theia–" The pause was not for dramatic effect, Natasha noted as the woman's eyes widened, whatever her slip was causing her some panic. "Uzume. You may call me Uzume. Please ignore that last name."

Unimpressed, Spider-Man sighed, motioning for the woman to move as he ripped his backpack from the webbing, uncaring of the flakes still attached. "Look, Uzume. Whatever it is you need, can you make it quick? I need to get started on my patrol."

Uzume looked confused but quickly nodded. "Of course. I wish to join you on your patrol. I promise I won't slow you down. I've seen your exploits this past month and felt inspired to join you."

Peter looked at Natasha as though exasperated, and she couldn't help but snort. Maybe the universe was trying to create new heroes in place of the ones Peter prevented from arising. Not that Natasha trusted this unknown, but the thought was amusing to consider.

"Look, I usually work alone. Company notwithstanding, but that's due to outside circumstances requiring her to follow me. I won't stop you if you want to be a vigilante or hero like me. But I will warn you that I do stop killers. Regardless if they are killing criminals or not."

Uzume hesitated before bowing. "Please reconsider. I do mean it when I say I won't slow you down. Surely someone who can keep up with you would be a boon to your efforts to help the city."

Spider-Man sighed, placing his backpack down.

"Okay. Are you willing to have a quick spar about this? I'll rescind my statement and take you on if you can land even one blow on me."

Natasha raised an eyebrow, wondering where Peter was exactly going with this before noticing his back was tense.

'Is he about to wail on her? He hasn't given me any indication that she was a threat. Is he just letting loose?' The memory of how Peter thrashed Orini flashed through her mind and she paled. She hoped to God that Peter wasn't about to unleash that kind of pain on the woman. Regardless of her cosplay and shady motives, that amount of brutality was not needed on an average human.

Uzume paused before nodding, picking up her katana and readying herself.

"You start us, Tasha." Spider-Man said.

Feeling a small amount of heat flush her face, Natasha let a moment pass. "Begin!"

Before her mouth finished closing, Peter disappeared in a blur; a feminine yelp was let out as Uzume was now pressed to the ground, Peter looming over her, with her arms both captured in one hand, the other keeping himself upright so as not to press against her. His feet were wrapped around hers. Not an official pin, and if it weren't Peter performing it, his opponent's feet would be able to break free to gain leverage.

'Thank God he held back enough not to turn her into paste…'

"Can you get out of this?" Spider-Man asked playfully, a tinge of anger present in his tone.

Uzume looked panicked, her breaths coming out rapidly as she struggled to move. She found no give to the man holding her down. Narrowing her eyes, she grunted as she tried headbutting the hero. Laughing, he dodged by moving his head just out of range, pulling her arms up so she didn't hit her head as gravity carried it back.

"Well, you certainly got spirit. Do you yield?"

Trying for another lunge, Uzume yelped instead as she was pulled up suddenly as Peter stood, Uzume's feet sticking to his. Suddenly they weren't, and she was placed back on the ground standing, her arms released.

Uncaring, Spider-Man reached back for his backpack. Uzume tensed, and Natasha thought she was about to attack Spider-Man before she noticed her legs squirm in nervousness or...

'You've got to be kidding me.'

The shinobi woman bowed, her hair hiding what little of her face would have been visible. "Please teach me then until I can stand by your side."

'... Okay, so just nervousness…'

Peter paused, hearing those words before sighing again. He stared upward at the sky then. Leaving Natasha and the red-clothed woman to stare at him.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." He muttered. "He better not try to beat me senseless later if he finds out about this." Spider-Man nodded, stating loud enough for Uzume to hear his following words. "Fine. I want you to meet me in front of Parker Industries' nearest front-facing building around 3 PM every Wednesday starting next week. I'll patrol the surrounding area with you and show you the ropes."

Uzume's eyes panned downward, and she coughed. "I've got college classes to attend at that time. Is there another time that works for you?"

Peter sighed. "Okay, what days do you not have class?"

"Fridays or Mondays work best for me as I am free all day."

"Okay then. Friday at 3 PM. Once a week? Got it?"

"Crystal."

Spider-Man nodded, moving toward Natasha. "Okay then. I'll see you then. And for what it's worth, I do apologize about the overkill there. You caught me in a bad mood due to some unpleasant information I was made aware of."

Before Uzume could reply, Peter had already picked up Natasha, swinging them away.

---

Parker Industries - Peter Parker

Landing gently back onto the future building, Peter would be training Elektra; that Theia name did settle his suspicions about who it was, he set Natasha down.

"Sorry about the abrupt leave there. I want to get back to patrolling, but I want to say thank you quickly."

"For what?"

Peter laughed. "For being here for me, Nat. I appreciate you respecting my feelings and listening to me. Seriously. You don't know how much that helped. If there's anything you ever need from me. Don't hesitate, you hear?"

The spy flustered before her training kicked in to keep her face professional. 'Hah, flustered the unflusterable. You still got it, Peter.'

She reached to squeeze his hand. "I'll keep that in mind."

Peter smiled beneath his helmet. "Great. Then let's capture some criminals, though hopefully, they all decided to stay home doing nothing today."

1 Week Later

The rest of the day Peter met with Fury went by quickly. Tessa called him two hours later near the end of the work day to let him know she was beginning to prepare meetings with both Beck and Doctor Octavius. Beck was definitely one Peter wanted to meet with to finish his augmented reality idea, but Otto must have been for a new project. He's honestly not sure what he wanted to work with Peter on. Tessa also dropped the bombshell that she finished the OS security updates for all the Parker Industries desktops and servers. She also mentioned if she could put forth the paperwork to acquire brand names that Parker Industries could use. Citing other project leads and maybe even Peter himself would want the hassle out of the way. He agreed readily if only to give her work that should keep her occupied.

The rest of the week progressed as normal. Flash was the same subdued ball of teenage angst ever since Peter brought in those pizza boxes. The midtown girls though, all seemed like they were progressing in their studies and personal lives. Jess even mentioned her father was getting a promotion to work as an Engineer project lead under Tony Stark! Peter hoped for her sake, that her dad did a good enough job to earn the position permanently.

His day at Xavier's was thankfully just as calm, though when he said calm he mainly meant hanging out with the male youths of Charles' house. The girls quickly pushed everyone away to talk with Tessa. Apparently, this was the new norm ever since the Balkan woman started working under Peter, and he had no idea why. When asked, Jean and Emma quickly assured him that they'd be back to normal by the end of the week.

The other thing to note was his family. Specifically, his parents as they came to him two days after his meeting with Fury to speak with him about consulting for SHIELD again, they were amicable to the offer and asked Peter if he wanted to accept. He, of course said yes. His parents then asked if he'd mind if his dad accompanied him. Not seeing a reason to say no as Peter Parker, the Parker scion he said yes with what he hoped was not gritted teeth. He hoped Fury would be able to come up with something to keep his father occupied.

And that brought him to today as he sat in his office, finishing up the schematics for a breathable mask that would hopefully block Cindy and him from breathing in pheromones. It was tricky creating the chemical compound that would destroy any of the molecules that were pheromones, but he'd need to test it out before calling it a success. He was also waiting for the finalization of brand names Tessa had already staked their claim on. He just would need to sign.

His phone vibrated, waking his black widow from her slumber, and she moved to stare at him. He felt as though she was glaring at him. He looked and saw that Fury's name was presented as the caller ID.

'It's not my fault Fury called me… it is my fault for the vibrations though. I know spiders are sensitive to them.' He winced.

He answered the phone. Hoping his spider would forgive him.

"Yellow?"

"Sorry for the delay. General Ross wanted to bring what appears to be a regiment with him."

"Wait, why's General Ross coming here?"

"You think he's going to let his best scientist leave him when he's got a monster to catch?"

"...Good point."

"Anyways. It's today at 6. I've set it so that Richard and you have access to the Air Force base, just let Richard handle it. If for some reason you can't meet today let me know at least two hours ahead of time."

"I should be good for today."

"Perfect. The setup for if the Hulk lashes out is also ready for your information."

Peter winced. He hoped it didn't come to that. "Understood. I'll see you later today then."

"Goodbye."

Hanging up, Peter let out a sigh, his life was becoming hectic once again. He straightened. It was time to go convince a very angry being that maybe he can be angry toward those that deserve it. You know, instead of at the world.

'God I hope he doesn't get angry at me.'

---

Aaaaaaand done again! Glad I got this done under my self-proclaimed goal of a month, especially with the delay of the last chapter. Again, apologies on the lack of action, it's a setback of being so early in his career right now xD I hope the character interactions and burgeoning romance helps allay those wants nonetheless!

No rant today because well, October was not much of a month for Spidey IMO. I never started to read the Edge of The Spider-Verse Vol 2 and I don't plan on it xD The new (planned storyline) looks interesting, and by God does Shathra look thicc in it xD But I'm worried they're about to focus on all the new Spider-People coming in...not something I really wanna read.

Anyways! Expect the next chapter uh...sometime next month, hopefully a lot sooner than this one, but for your sakes don't hold your breath xD Replaying Elden Ring with mods has sucked my free time because I'm not as disciplined as I want to say I am xD I do want to get better, though. Maybe I'll stream my writing this so that I need to focus. It won't be with spoilers, maybe I'll let the screen show the word count, but it'd just be a way for me to have to focus on this more instead of the small spurts I do xD

I debated making a small 'Omake' but didn't know if you all would appreciate those, I'd state if they were canon or non-canon and they'd be after these Author Notes (Or a couple spaces down in AO3) If you decide to leave a review, let me know!

Almost forgot, I did create (on Ao3 since I'm unsure if FF would allow it/report it) I did create a 'list' of the women so far introduced and who's with Peter. It'll be updated as the story progresses, so it's pretty barebones now. But a lot of you were asking me about the list xD Just search for me or The Greatest of Them All on AO3 and you should be able to find it!

Thanks for reading! And Happy Halloween!