A Million Little Things

We have made it to the beginning of the end!

This chapter marks the start of the finale. At this point, I'm not even going to try to predict how many chapters it's going to take because I have been insanely wrong in the past, but I do know this: After the finale, I am going to take a break from Stow Away. That doesn't necessarily equal a break from fan fiction in general. I'm thinking of using the opportunity to work on some one-shots and maybe even get that long overdue sequel to Blood and Water up. I just want to take things slow when I start grad school.

Then, once I've established a strong and wonderful research schedule (and once I have coherent ideas for a sequel), I'll start the Stow Away sequel.

That's not too much wishful thinking, right? ;)


Pink Lemonade: *Phew* I had so much trouble focusing at the end of that semester, I feared last chapter was awful. Graduating is highly distracting. Your suspicions are very well-placed though. That was Chapter 30's entire purpose! Fair warning: there's probably going to be a lot of cliffhangers in the future, but I'm aiming to get a lot of chapters up this summer.

AvidWriter14: Thank you! This baby is my Covid Lockdown Project and I'm glad to end it as we're getting back to normal!


Peter woke up extra early this Saturday, and that wasn't even due to the sunlight or the sound of the garbage truck outside. No, he awoke because he was nervous for today. He could already feel his circulation running faster in preparation for all the stress that was about to befall him.

He was going to present one of the greatest science fair projects of all time. That filled him with a giddy sense of excitement.

And then there was the thing that was filling him with an anxious feeling of dread. Or the many things. He couldn't attribute it to just one.

After Dr. Connors confirmed that he needed to drink juice and eat insects to remain healthy, Peter had been forced to relay the information to his aunt, and her response kept ringing in his head in silent moments like this.

'I'm so sorry, Peter. I wish there was something I could do.'

What was that supposed to mean? What did she possibly think she could do? What did she want to do? Make it so that he didn't need to eat those things?

Why did she keep saying things like that? Why did she keep making him feel like he needed to change? He was already changing. That's why he was trying to find some steady new normalcy. That's why he'd tried taking control of his diet by limiting his insect intake, only to be slapped in the face with the juice thing.

He felt . . . Peter felt like he finally had to admit defeat. He'd tried changing back, keeping things the same, but the more he tried to ignore everything the more they snuck up on him. It pained him to think that way, it really did, and maybe he wouldn't stop trying completely, it's just . . . hopelessness was beginning to set in.

His aunt wanted him to change back, didn't she? But he couldn't do that. He tried and he failed and he was so sorry. He couldn't do it.

Yesterday, when May gave him juice for breakfast, he had taken his first sip, and then guzzled half the glass before stopping himself. May had looked surprised, although she didn't comment on it. Peter appreciated that at first. Until he realized that was how she was reacting to a lot of things lately. She was always keeping quiet.

Except for the venom thing. She'd taken the time to talk to him about that.

Peter let out a long exhale as he ran his hands roughly over his face. He didn't like any of this, thinking that May was disappointed by him. Obviously, his aunt cared. That's what Ava had told him when she admitted that she had blown things out of proportion. Except Peter was probably the one at fault. Why was he always blowing things out of proportion? He didn't need to make today more complicated. He already had enough on his plate with the whole science fair thing.

It was probably his hero complex thing or whatever other mental issues he likely had. This was all in his head.

Speter wake yet? Phoebe called softly, message muddled with sleep. Phoebe hungry.

Yup, and that was in his head too, but that was a whole lot more real. "Don't worry, I was already awake. Let's get you some breakfast. And how about a science lesson this morning?"

Okay!

Giving Phoebe a science lesson was a great way to destress. He explained the general idea of robots, and Phoebe was surprisingly invested in the concept, especially when he showed her one of his spider tracers. Maybe she liked them because both they and the Iron Spider suit were representations of what spider-based things could do for the world.

They weren't all bad.

When they were done, Phoebe climbed up to give Peter a good luck hug. Speter scared, but science fun! Speter have fun.

Peter smiled. "Yeah, science is awesome, and I'm going to have a lot of fun. I promise. Can you promise me that you'll have fun too? You have all those new apps to try."

Phoebe glanced at the phone propped up in her Jungle Box. Apps fun, but bugs more fun.

"Aw, but I thought you liked the writing app? You've already memorized the alphabet."

Phoebe like write, she insisted, although there were a lot of other thoughts tangled up in that one. Peter cocked his head, trying to understand.

"What's the matter? Are you getting frustrated that it's taking so long to learn? You only started a few days ago. You can't expect everything to come easily. Keep at it, and I know you'll be able to type full sentences to Ava in no time."

Phoebe pressed up against him, extending two legs to examine them. But Phoebe want write like Speter write. Speter can write like web. She sent him an image of his cursive handwriting.

"You want to be able to write script with a pen?" Phoebe nodded. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. I'm sure we can work something out though. You can try copying the words with the drawing app. Then I can see if there's any way to help you hold a pen. And—hey—have I ever told you the story of Charlotte's Web?"

No. Phoebe still no like name.

"You don't need to like the name to like the story. I'm pretty sure we have it somewhere . . ." Peter opened up his closet, climbing up the doorway to rifle through the highest shelf. "Here it is! Man, I almost gave this book away ages ago because it used to make me cry when I was little. I hope it's less sad for you, but I think you'll like the spider, Charlotte. She's one of the main characters."

Charlotte spider? What character?

"Oh, uh . . ." Peter hadn't expected needing to explain the concept of stories this morning. "You know how you play pretend with your toys? Well, a story is kind of like a big game of pretend that someone wrote down. Characters are like the dolls. They represent pretend people and animals who are part of the pretend story."

Why everything pretend? Phoebe never write pretend play.

"People write pretend stories for a lot of reasons. Sometimes they just want to write something fun and entertaining. Other times they want to spread some sort of message, so not all pretend stories are pointless. I'm sure that you could write down some of your ideas someday when you're ready."

Really?

"Sure! This can be just the first book we read. I bet it'll be fun reading books with you. Your imagination is amazing."

Moving her head in a bashful way, Phoebe crawled down to her Jungle Box. Phoebe excited for story book.

"I am too. We'll start it tonight. I'll see you then."

See later! Speter have fun, she said matter-of-factly.

"Thanks! You have fun too."

The happy feeling Phoebe left him with was enough to make him forget a lot of his worries. Peter went down to breakfast with his head held high, greeting his aunt with a genuine smile. May took notice right away.

"I can't tell you how glad I am to see you so ready for today," she said as she settled across from him at the table. She'd made pancakes for the occasion.

Peter grinned. "I feel good about today. This is finally my comfort zone to some extent. I can talk about the Iron Spider suit until my lips turn blue, and being Spider-Man has finally made me slightly more comfortable with crowds. It's nice to feel ready for something."

"That's wonderful! But as ready as you are, I hope you don't mind me giving the old checklist rundown."

"I would expect nothing less from you." Peter added syrup to his pancakes, ready to give a lot of affirmative sounds as he ate.

May went through the list. Did he have his nice shoes ready? Did he need any notes? Was his poster ready to go? Did he need anything else? Did he remember how to tame his hair with gel?

Peter had actually missed that last one. He'd done everything else except brush his hair. But that was why he appreciated May reminding him.

A few more questions later, and the 'normal' list was over. The rest of the questions were unique to Peter's situation: Did Stark send in the finished footage? Was the suit ready to be picked up? Did he release some venom yet?

That was another thing left undone, but this time Peter didn't feel so thankful about it. "Not yet, no. I don't think I'm ready."

"I thought the point was to do it before it was too late."

"But I can't do it too early either. I don't think I've even remade what I've lost." It was highly uncomfortable to talk about his venom like it was ordinary table talk, but isn't this what he wanted? For it to seem normal even if it wasn't?

"I just thought you might feel better doing it ahead of time. I don't know what sort of stress can affect it, and you're bound to be at least a little stressed today no matter how well it goes."

She wasn't wrong. Or at least, Peter was afraid she might be right. The issue was that there was more to this than she knew. Maybe he ought to tell her how he felt like the team suggested. It would be easier if they were here, but he couldn't be dependent on them either. "I appreciate that, but—um—It feels weird when I'm empty. My mouth only just started feeling better last night."

"Oh," May said softly. "Did it hurt?"

"No, it's just . . . it feels . . ." Wrong, unsafe, bad. That wasn't how it felt in his mouth. He knew all that was in his head, probably even connected to his spider sense. That was the one part of him that always seemed to insist that venom was needed for protection. But May hadn't seemed entirely convinced of that yet. "It feels a little uncomfortable," he settled on.

"My poor baby," May said, not in her usual lovingly teasing way, but in a more honest tone. "You can't live with it, but you can't live without it."

That was sadly true. Except, he could live with it though. He had to. He just needed to be more careful than he'd been so far. He'd only had his venom for a couple of weeks and he'd already bitten one person and sent himself and a teammate to the Med Bay.

Wait, had he really done all that so soon? No wonder May was so afraid of his venom. Anyone who looked at the facts would think that he had no control.

Didn't he have control? He was supposed to, but after how he'd felt after Rhino's attack, he wasn't so sure.

"Do you need more juice?" May asked, changing the topic so suddenly that it took a moment for Peter's brain to catch up.

"Um." He looked down at his two glasses. His milk glass was still almost full while his juice glass was empty. He'd meant to drink the milk first, but the conversation had thoroughly distracted him. It was disheartening to see another result of his instincts. "No thanks. I still have my milk."

"Okay." And that was where May left the conversation. Peter wasn't sure if he was glad about it ending there. He decided it was fine. He didn't want to worry about any of that for the rest of the morning, and in the end, he just wanted everything to be okay.


Officially, Sam was the only one who was forced to help transfer the Iron Spider suit from the Helicarrier to the school. However, the rest of the team still wanted to help Peter too, so they were all waiting in the lab when he arrived.

"Good morning, everyone," Peter greeted, sounding pleasantly surprised. "You didn't all need to come so early."

"Yeah we did," Luke insisted. "This is your big day."

"You deserve support," Danny added.

"And you're going to let us be the first to see your video," Ava clarified their intentions with a grin. She enjoyed pretending like she was self-serving sometimes, but only when it wasn't true.

"Ah, of course." Peter rolled his eyes.

Sam pointed at the team. "Ha! Let it be known that today I was the only one to help you without personal gain!"

"This was your idea in the first place. I'd be upset if you weren't helping right now."

"Details, shmetails," Sam refuted.

They got to work doublechecking the bulletproof glass containment unit around the suit and getting it onto something with wheels, which didn't take very long with multiple super strong individuals. Ava reread the poster one more time to make sure they hadn't left any typos. Even though she wouldn't get any credit for this project, she didn't want it to be flawed.

"I'm surprised Fury isn't here to give me a lecture on protecting this thing," Peter noted when they were done.

"He's busy with the security detail," Luke explained. "He's not taking any chances."

"He never does." Peter chuckled. He was about to leave, pulling the large suit display with him, when he paused in the doorway. "Hey, um, did Dr. Connors tell all of you about my new juice thing?"

Ava nodded with everyone else. It'd been quite the surprise since she hadn't known spiders ate anything but bugs. Yet, once she thought about it, she realized she had seen Peter drinking juice as often as she ate meat. Which was to say, very often.

"Do you think it's wrong that I can't control my diet?"

If the juice thing had been a surprise, this question was a shock.

"No! Why would we?"

"Diets are nothing more than what you need and want to consume."

"It's literally just juice, Webs."

"I eat raw meat all the time!"

Peter held his hands out to signal them to calm down. "Okay, okay, thank you, I appreciate all that. I just wanted to know. Like—I was going to ask about my venom too—"

The team was about to dissolve into another round of refutes, but Danny stopped them before they started. "Why are you asking these questions?" Danny asked. "Is your aunt misunderstanding again?"

Ava wanted to smack him. She'd forgotten to tell the guys that she'd been wrong about May. Or maybe she was avoiding the issue. It had been hard enough to admit she was wrong to Peter. However, she was appalled to see Peter was nodding his head.

WHAT?! She screamed internally. May was still giving him trouble? Ava had been right all along? Rage and sadness and vindication coursed through her all at once.

As well as guilt. Just a few days ago she had dismissed Peter's worry because she thought she'd been wrong. No wonder he had sounded so disbelieving then. He hadn't been surprised that Ava was apologizing; he'd been shocked to hear her go back on her word, and the truth. Why hadn't she stuck with her gut like she usually did?

Because she had thought she'd been too harsh, too judgmental, too feline. Maybe she was only wrong in thinking those things were a problem.

"What did May say this time?" Sam asked.

"It's complicated. I don't know." He rubbed his neck as they waited patiently for him to continue. "She seems sad about it. Not necessarily in a bad way. She says it's because I used to like soda so much, and I haven't been drinking it lately because . . . you know."

"What's wrong with that?" Ava demanded. "You like juice more than soda now. You do like juice, don't you?"

"I do. I really do. That's part of the problem—"

"Stop saying these things are a problem," Luke said.

"But—" Peter looked at them, and the defiance in their eyes must have taken the argument out of him because he sighed. "I don't want to be late for the science fair. How about we pick up this conversation tomorrow?"

"Why not tonight?" Danny asked. Ava's eyes widened. After all of his insistence about patience and being calm about this, he should have been the last person to try to rush the continued conversation. Was he sensing something in Peter's Chi that was worrying him?

Ava could only barely smell fear sometimes (or sweat and a mixture of other things that meant fear), but that was more of a primal life-or-death fear. She still had to identify normal emotions in the normal human way of observing a person. And, although Peter looked a little distressed, he seemed calmer than the last time they discussed this. To her, at least.

Why were social understanding and tact so much harder to learn than advanced fighting techniques?

"Aunt May wants to take me to dinner tonight to celebrate. Speaking of which, you guys are welcome to come too if you want."

"Oh yeah, and my parents want the team over for dinner tomorrow night," Luke said.

"Two dinners in two nights?" Sam asked excitedly. "I'm so down!"

"This is going to be a great weekend," Peter agreed. "Just grant me one more calm weekend, please?"

"We've already been waiting for days, and you've had to explain some of these things to May all by yourself a few times," Ava pointed out.

"But what could happen in just two more days?" Peter asked innocently, garnering many doubtful looks. "C'mon, plenty of stuff has happened already, and there's going to be mega security at school today. There's a chance everything will go well!"

Sam facepalmed. "And now you just jinxed it."

"I don't jinx things!"

"Experience would say otherwise," Danny said only half teasingly.

Peter rolled his eyes, glancing at the time. "I really need to go now. See you all later?"

"I'll bear the nerd fest for you, Webs."

"And remember you've got to let us know the first time you play the video."

"Yes, and try not to make up words when you forget the proper terms for things."

"And enjoy yourself."

Ava watched Peter go, wondering if Peter really did need this weekend to be calm and collected. He kept begging for more time whenever they brought this up, and he only ever insisted on things he really needed.

Well, borrowing from Danny's eternal pit of patience, Ava could wait. She could use this time to reassess her thoughts. She already knew that Peter would forgive her for briefly dismissing this idea about May misunderstanding, but she wouldn't forgive herself until she understood where she had gone wrong. What made this problem so difficult to pinpoint? There were quantum physics questions easier than this!

But quantum physics usually only focused on one or two particles at a time. Social issues had so many moving parts, a million little things to notice and account for.

Ugh, life was complicated.


Setting up his spot for the science fair was fairly simple.

Fairly. Accidental puns were Peter's favorite.

Anyway, all he had to do was roll the suit's cylindrical containment unit to his designated spot in the gym, and stick his poster to the easel already propped up at the site. Hanging above the suit, a huge TV screen was hooked up and ready to begin playing his video. Peter planned to have it on a continuous loop since this project would likely attract a big crowd.

It was exciting. Even after years of science fairs, plenty of which he'd won, Peter had never earned too much attention. Normally, only the teachers and a few nice parents would comment kindly on his work. Other students had a tendency to be jealous, and there were parents that could act just as childish. Today, though, there were rumors that this fair would have the biggest turnout Midtown had ever seen. Nearly everyone was bringing their friends and family to see the main attraction.

Which was Peter. In all aspects, the main attraction was Peter, both his hero and civilian self.

It was so wild; he was still having trouble coming to terms with that.

Despite all of the attention Peter knew he would get, what he was looking forward to most was his own friends and family. MJ had promised she was coming, and she was going to feature him in her story for the school paper. Harry had set aside his feelings for Spider-Man long enough to not deny he was coming, although it wasn't really guaranteed that he would be here. The team of course would come. And Dr. Connors. And, most importantly, May.

May had actually been to less science fairs than Uncle Ben. They had always tried to come together, but their jobs often only allowed one to take the day off. Since Ben was usually the one to help Peter with the tools, he was most excited to come, so when she had to, May went to work and let him accompany their nephew. Ben took the opportunity to fully accept his role as supportive and overly enthusiastic father. Every time Peter acted the tiniest bit humble, Ben would start boasting loudly about how Peter designed everything himself from start to finish. 'I'm just the hands that hold the blowtorch,' he would joke. 'Petey's the brains behind the whole operation.'

Peter had long since grown enough to use most of the tools on his own. He wouldn't mind the extra support though.

His aunt was enough though. More than enough. He was just a bit sad that Ben wouldn't be here for his biggest project yet.

Peter blinked away the blurry wetness in his eyes and decided to check out the refreshment table. He might as well grab a few bottles of water now before he started talking for hours on end. Ooh, and there were some cookies too. And juice! No, wait, he already had some juice today. He didn't need more yet. He resolutely stalked away from the table with only water and cookies in hand.

He came back to his spot to find that one of his neighbors had a bug collection with larger insects than Peter had ever seen in New York. Despite the good breakfast he'd had, he found himself staring at the collection for far too long.

Resignedly, he went back to the refreshment table to take a bottle of juice. He hoped Connors was right about it making him crave insects less. He didn't need to be distracted by his spidery tendencies when he was supposed to be flaunting the idea that he wasn't Spider-Man.

It didn't take long after that for the event to officially start. The gym gradually filled up with all sorts of people, and, just as Peter expected, a lot of them made a beeline for him. To his relief, the team and May were at the front of the crowd, likely having pulled some strings in Shield to be the first inside.

Grinning widely, Peter let the crowd 'ooh' and 'ahh' for a moment before beginning his presentation. And when too many people asked for a demonstration, he started the video.


Ava watched as the screen next to Peter lit up. Next to her, the guys started whispering excitedly. Ava was still a little preoccupied by the discovery that May was still acting strange towards Peter, but she smiled along with them. Peter kept glancing at them, and she didn't want to distract him.

The screen was first filled with the Stark logo, because of course Iron Man wanted to remind everyone who the sponsor of this project had been. The logo faded to Tony sitting in one of his labs, his name unnecessarily gracing the bottom of the screen in gold lettering along with his many titles (at least the more positive ones). There were whoops from the crowd.

"It is I, Tony Stark the Iron Avenger," he greeted with his friendly yet self-righteous air. "I'm sure you're all familiar with most of the others, and maybe even the newbie we took under our wing a few months ago: Spider-Man." A small video showing highlights of Spider-Man's career popped up to Stark's right. "Even though he didn't really get to enjoy his trial period with us—" Ava snorted at the understatement. "—he still earned himself the right to be one of us, and he also earned my interest. I decided to make him an Iron Suit to make amends. When I came to him about the idea, he accepted my generosity, but with a catch." Stark wiggled his eyebrows in a way that had several girls and women nearby sighing. Ava made a disgusted face. "He requested that I use the opportunity to assist other newbies. Young, bright minds who could also benefit from the chance to work alongside me. I agreed, which gave rise to the SI internship!"

Ava cocked her head, curious. Stark Industries Internships were real? Peter wasn't the only one? When had this happened? Mutterings from the crows suggested they hadn't heard of it either. What was Stark thinking, spreading obvious lies?

Tony on the screen smirked. "And cue the skepticism! I'm aware this is probably the first SI project I've ever kept quiet about for so long. But over several months, two lucky students earned the chance to be part of our pilot program. Harley Keener was given a project including my green technology, and the young Peter Parker here was given the Iron Spider suit project!" Stark gestured to the side, and the camera panned to show Peter waving nervously next to the suit. His name appeared in the same graceful gold lettering.

Ah, so this was actually a good cover story. Not bad.

From that point, Peter was the main focus of the mini documentary. The explanation given in the video was short, but covered different facts than he had covered in-person here at the fair. Not too long into it, Stark came back into the frame to insist that a demonstration would reveal far more than words ever could, which earned him several more cheers from the crowd. Spider-Man walked through the sliding doors of the lab, and the crowd cheered louder.

Peter and Spider-Man exchanged polite greetings, but generally didn't interact much verbally. The cool part was how it looked like Peter helped Spider-Man put on the suit. Ava wondered what sort of program was used to make it look so real.

The demonstration itself probably seemed plenty impressive to the crowd since there were more gasps and mutterings. For Ava it looked like normal training. Spidey was currently about to demonstrate the new and improved web grenades installed in the suit.

Interestingly, Hawkeye marched in then yelling to Tony about giving him a prank bow, stepping right into the blast radius of the web grenade.

There were laughs from the crowd as Spider-Man, Peter, and Tony all rushed to Hawkeye's side. Spider-Man apologized profusely, but Hawkeye cut him off, saying "Oh don't worry, I'm blaming Tony this time."

"You're the one who walked into my lab uninvited," Tony reminded him.

"Yeah, well . . ." Hawkeye paused to think of a scathing response, but was distracted by Peter's presence. "Who's the kid?"

"I'm—um—Peter. It's an honor to meet you, sir." Peter nearly extended his hand for a handshake despite the fact that Hawkeye was completely trapped in the mound of webbing.

"I like this kid," Hawkeye decided. "Tony, you need to surround yourself with more respectful people like him."

Ava tried so hard not to crack up at that, and judging from the guys' shaking shoulders, so were they. Everyone at Shield knew that Hawkeye and Spidey couldn't stand each other. Or, at least Hawkeye couldn't stand Spidey. Peter tried to be friendly sometimes, but could just as easily end up in an argument with the other.

Seeing Hawkeye admit that he liked Peter Parker even as he rebuked Spider-Man was like the ultimate inside joke. Had he known at the time that they were the same person? He must have. Ava couldn't fathom any other way to set the scene up without him being in on the joke, although she sincerely hoped this was entirely serendipitous. That would make it so much funnier!

As the screen briefly switched to a technical difficulties screen featuring a clawed robotic arm wielding a fire hydrant, the crowd collectively laughed, so Ava allowed herself to laugh a bit.

The video was pretty good, she decided.


Several hours later, Peter had somehow managed to give his little science pitch to most people who were interested in listening. Now, most of the crowd just wanted to watch the video and look at the suit and take selfies with it. Peter took advantage of the small break in questions, stepping out of the way and taking a drink.

It was going pretty well, he thought. Everyone he'd hoped would come did. MJ had waved to him about half an hour ago, and Harry had given him a mostly happy smile! And watching the team laugh at the video was great. And May had looked so proud Peter could just burst. And Dr. Connors had given him a thumbs up. He held everyone's images in his mind for a moment, relishing it.

Peter was distracted by the feeling of someone coming close behind him. He turned around, finding a strange man with a stranger moustache and a cap with the word 'Thinking' printed on it. Despite his odd appearance, Peter thought he seemed awfully familiar.

"What's up, kid?" the man greeted with an exaggerated New York accent. "I was in the neighborhood, and I thought I'd drop by, ya know?"

Peter narrowed his eyes, trying to pinpoint who this was. This was obviously a disguise, and there were a lot of other little things that seemed so familiar. The voice, the build, the sunglasses, the faint scent of engine grease, the low electric hum near the heartbeat—

Oh.

Oh!

"Mr. Star—" Peter nearly exclaimed excitedly before the disguised Tony put a finger to his lips.

"Are you kidding me?" Tony asked. "I go through all the effort of making this disguise, and you're just about to yell my name for the world to hear?"

"Sorry, Mr.—uh—"

Stark sighed. "If you insist on using a proper moniker, use—um—Mr. Staunch."

Peter snorted. "Oh, yes, you're certainly the staunchest member of the Avengers."

"Now I am deeply and utterly offended," Tony said, not sounding offended at all. "I thought I was here to congratulate the polite Mr. Parker."

"Sorry, Mr. Staunch."

"Eh, at least you didn't think of Mr. Stank."

"I'm not so cruel." Peter smiled cheekily. "You didn't need to come. I know you're busy."

"That's exactly the problem. I'm always too busy. Taking time away from SI and the Avengers to help you is like a mini vacation." He paused. "Which is kind of sad since I used to take proper vacations in the Bahamas."

"Well, I appreciate you being here. And for giving me the chance to make and use the suit. And the video. The video was awesome. I couldn't have done any of that without you."

"It's almost so seriously nothing, kid. You did all the hard work of thinking and planning. All I did was give you the massively expensive equipment and state-of-the-art lab."

Those words were so close to what Uncle Ben used to say. Peter had never expected to hear anything like them again, to find someone else so willing to help him like Ben had . . .

"Oh my god," Tony said, sounding slightly scared now. "I'm making the kid cry. I spend five seconds talking to him about something other than science and superheroes, and he's crying."

"I'm sorry!" Peter hurriedly wiped his eyes. "I'm so sorry! It's just, you reminded me of my uncle and—I'm sorry, Mr. Star—Staunch."

"It's okay. I guess I should be the one apologizing if I said something wrong."

"No, you said something exactly perfect."

Stark's eyebrows shot up. "Wow, I don't think anyone's ever said that to me." He looked around furtively and sighed. "I hope you don't feel like I'm leaving now because of you and icky emotions, but people are starting to stare, and someone is bound to be smart enough to see through my genius disguise."

"Right, I understand. Thank you for coming."

"Surprisingly, my pleasure." Stark offered him a parody of Spider-Man's goofy salute as he disappeared back into the crowd.

Peter stayed there out of the way for a few more minutes. He needed some time to collect himself before he went back to answering questions.

This day was turning out to be ten times better than he had ever dared to hope. It was like everything was going perfectly!

Which was kind of fishy. Something was bound to go wrong now, wasn't it? Well, even if it did, it couldn't go too wrong. No anti-Spider-Man fanatics had shown up, and there were still plenty of Shield agents around. The rest of the day still had a chance to go well too.

It was then he became aware of the sad cadence of the crowd's muttering now. What was going on?

Nothing too bad. Peter assured himself of that as he went back to his spot.

No, it was bad. The Iron Spider suit was gone, secure containment unit and all.

"Where's my suit?!" Peter asked the nearest people. "Did you see who took it?"

A student spoke up. "The janitor—I mean, the principal took it. He said Shield revoked your right to display it."

Peter frowned. Stan had taken it on Shield's orders without telling him? Fury had assured him that he was allowed to have the suit here the entire day. What had changed? Did they notice someone was trying to steal it? He needed to know if a battle was about to ensue. "Did you happen to see which way Stan went?"

The student pointed to one of the doors that led into the school. Peter jogged to catch up to Stan, worries bunching up in his head. There was something he didn't like about this. Or a lot of little somethings. Why hadn't anyone warned him? Why didn't he have any messages on his communicator? He understood that he couldn't answer it in public, but he would have appreciated a heads up.

Stan hadn't gotten too far. He was strolling leisurely to one of the exits.

"Hey, Stan!" Peter called as he caught up. "Why'd you take the suit? What's going on?"

Stan turned his head to look at him. "I'm sorry, Peter. Fury requested that I remove this immediately."

"What's the threat?"

"I don't know, but we always knew there was a chance some scandalous scum would try to steal the suit today."

Peter nodded, conceding the point. "Who's the scandalous scum today?"

"Fury wouldn't say. Would you come with me, Pete? You might be in danger too."

Well, if villains could be interested in Amadeus for his brains, then Peter could see how his civilian self might be a target here. "Sure, of course." He nearly asked if he should suit up, but there was a little nagging doubt that made him wait.

They kept walking. The farther they got from the echoing sounds of the gym, the quieter it became, and the more suspicious Peter felt. Why hadn't Fury told him the exact threat? The identity of a threat was extremely crucial info that Fury would never leave out, especially not with Stan. Stan was one of their oldest and best agents, even if he was semi-retired.

"Oh," Stan said. "Fury did say that there might be a gas attack. Put this on." He handed Peter a small gas mask.

As Peter started pulling his over his head, his spider sense tingled. Something was wrong. He took it off, and the tingle decreased.

Heart beginning to race now, he quickly and subtly examined the mask. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, he turned to watch Stan. There was something wrong with him. He looked a little too tall, and his heartbeat was too strong for his age, and his smell was all wrong. There was a scent of leather that couldn't be traced to his suit or shoes.

Unlike when he started to notice similar odd clues about 'Mr. Staunch', these didn't make him feel better, especially because his spider sense was amping up again little by little.

"Please put the mask on, Peter," Supposedly-Stan requested without breaking stride. They were almost to the door. "You don't want to be in any unnecessary danger."

Peter swallowed. "I'll put it on in a minute. How about I take the suit from here? You'll be needed here to guide the crowds if anything goes wrong."

"Fury requested that I be the one to bring it out."

"And I'm insisting I do it now." Peter grabbed the handle of the pushcart, sticking on slightly so it couldn't be easily pulled from his grasp. He suddenly regretted talking so openly about Shield and orders before. If this wasn't Stan, then who was it?

"Why are you disrespecting authority? You're an upstanding student."

Swallowing again, Peter quickly wondered how to answer. He decided to bite the bullet and admit his suspicions. It wasn't like he could just pull out his whole 'I'm Spider-Man' thing with a probable stranger. The best he could hope for was to surprise him enough so he could make a break for it. "You're not Stan. You're not authority."

Not-Stan cocked an eyebrow, which Peter realized was impressive since that was probably a mask or something. As expected, Stan let go of the pushcart. Peter held on tighter and started to run—

And quickly came to a stop when his spider sense screamed in his head. Not-Stan had grabbed him. His grip wasn't hard and there were no weapons in view, but Peter's spider sense insisted something was poised to hurt him, so he held still.

"How did you know?" Not-Stan asked, still using Stan's voice.

Peter realized too late that he had no acceptable excuse aside from the truth about his super senses. What could he say instead? "Um—Stan and I spoke with Fury before he let me take the suit. He made us promise not to remove it from the gym until everyone else had gone. The real Stan wouldn't have broken a promise." That was good. That made sense.

"That is a lie," Not-Stan stated matter-of-factly.

Peter's breath stopped in his throat, but his brain went wild.

What should he do what should he do what should he do?!

"Calm down, Peter," Not-Stan said softly, almost gently. Was he trying to be nice? "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to save you."

Save him? Who was this? Who would try saving him while in a disguise and setting off his spider sense? Could he just ask? "Who are you?"

Not-Stan shifted his grip so he could put a hand to his head and rip his face off. Or rather his mask. Peter couldn't help but gasp when Coach Yaeger's face was revealed.

Oh, Peter was in so much trouble. He could barely keep Taskmaster at bay in a fair fight between the two of them. Here, he was already stuck in Taskmaster's grip, and now he was fairly certain that his spider sense was warning him about a dagger held behind his back or something equally sneaky. And Taskmaster seemed to know about his powers! It was the end of the world!

Wait, if he knew about Peter's powers, then couldn't Peter just throw him off? Nah, that probably wouldn't work. Taskmaster would be expecting that. He pretty much expected everything.

"I see you remember me from class," Taskmaster noted. "I hope that helps you trust me as I help you."

"I don't need your he—" Peter was cut off as Taskmaster put the gas mask over his face. It ejected some sort of gas the moment it was against his nose. Peter struggled, managing to elbow Taskmaster hard enough so he could get away. He coughed, his vision already blurring, and not because of his selective focus mode. That must have been a sedative made for super metabolisms, which solidified his fear that Taskmaster knew who he was. "What did you do? What do you want from me?"

"I'm here to help you," Taskmaster repeated. "It may not seem like you need help, but trust me, you do."

"W—What d'you mean?" Oh great, he was already slurring too. Was he confused right now because of the sedative, or because he wasn't sure why Taskmaster was trying to trick him again? He'd said something similar back when Spider-Man realized the Coach Yaeger identity was fake. He couldn't pull the same trick twice, especially when it failed the first time.

Taskmaster started walking towards him, arms held out, apparently weaponless. Peter tried taking a few steps, but wobbled, falling to his knees. "There's more to Shield than meets the eye, Peter," Taskmaster said. "They're pretending that they're helping you, but they're only serving their own purposes."

"Don't care 'bout that. I know ye're bad. Stay 'way." Peter tried to press the SOS button on his communicator, but the world was spinning so badly that he couldn't even find where his wrist really was as it twirled and twirled.

"Those are lies. Shield only ever deals with lies. I'm here to show you the truth." Taskmaster was close now, a fact which Peter felt with his spider sense more than he saw at this point. Firm hands grabbed his arms, pulling him back to the pushcart. Peter's last struggle was only a slight squirming. His final rebuke was so soft it came out more like a hiss.

His world stopped spinning only when it turned to black.


Taskmaster stared at the boy as he hissed like a weak and cornered animal. It sounded almost like Spider-Man, except it was far more interesting to see a human face emit the sound. It was a shame he hadn't put up much of a fight though. Taskmaster would have appreciated a preview of his powers.

He hoped Peter Parker would live up to his expectations.

Placing the now limp boy on the pushcart with the Iron Spider suit, Taskmaster continued on his way with his two prizes. He knew he wasn't out of the woods yet though. He pulled his principal mask back on as he headed outside. The Shield agents who had previously been guarding this exit had been dealt with a while ago, but one could never be too careful.

Fury's little security detail was laughably easy to work around. The old pirate should have known better than to do it himself. Taskmaster knew him too well.

He went to his van and loaded the containment unit and the boy, then he walked several yards away to hide the pushcart behind some bushes. He paused for a moment, taking the time to let Black Cat know that Operation Spider had been a success. She would be in charge of running any diversions as he made his way back to their base.

Once he was alerted that a third weight had entered the van, he went back and closed the door, hearing the soft sounds of a slightly panicking teenager inside.

Amadeus Cho's little plan hadn't been too bad. Taskmaster had monitored him all day since he subtly tipped the boy off about the theft. As predicted, Cho had chosen to take things into his own hands rather than take his knowledge to the authorities. So here he was, stowing away in an enemy van in the hopes of hacking into the containment unit so he could use the suit to fly away, simultaneously taking it from the 'unworthy' Spider-Man and 'saving the day'. Taskmaster supposed that, under different circumstances, the boy would have succeeded.

The trouble was, he had left one crucial piece of information out of the conversation Cho had eavesdropped on.

There was a yelp of pain from inside as Cho inevitably made an error in his rush to hack the containment unit. Its defense system involved a rather strong taser.

With Operation Stow Away now complete as well, Taskmaster hopped into the driver's seat and began his long, peaceful drive to the boys' new home.

It was a good day when everything went according to plan.


As nearly perfect as Taskmaster was, he wasn't absolutely perfect. Of all the million little things he had accounted for, exactly one had gone awry, and that one was a rookie mistake that he would have been terribly embarrassed about.

Hiding in the hedge outside the school regardless of how it dirtied her new business casual clothes, a girl watched with frightened green eyes as the van took her friend away.