Did Peter seem, I don't know, weird to you?" Tony asked Rhodey as the man came downstairs to drag him from his lab for dinner. "No, weird isn't the right word. But something wasn't right. He was…"
"Jumpy?" Rhodey supplied, leaning against one of Tony's workbench. The two spoke as Tony packed up the last part of his suit.
"Yeah. I put my hand on his shoulder and he just, flinched. Then again I haven't slept in a while, maybe I'm imagining it," Tony added, rubbing his eyes with his palms.
"No, that happened to me too," Rhodey reassured his friend. "Must be a smart kid for you to let him work in the lab with you."
With a brief laugh, Tony responded, "Smart doesn't begin to explain what this kid did today. Come here."
The billionaire dragged his friend over from the counter he was leaning on to the desk Peter was working on earlier that day. He pushed his friend to sit in a chair in front of a Stark laptop. Opening said laptop, Tony pulled up a code. He let Rhodey stare at the code for a moment.
"What is this?" Rhodey asked, confusion evident on his face.
"That, Honey Bear, is a working AI code. Written by one Peter Parker in 3 hours," Tony explained as he watched the realisation bloom on his friend's face.
"Shit."
"Shit indeed."
"So you have a genius kid," Rhodey supplies, looking away from the code and back at his friend who was now leaving against the desk, arms crossed over his chest.
"A genius kid who doesn't think he's smart," Tony added, tilting his head to the left slightly, as if thinking something meaningful.
"A genius kid who doesn't think he's smart and who flinches when anyone touches him," Rhodey finishes, the two friends looking at each other. As Rhodey stood up from his chair, he asked, "When is he working in the lab next?"
"He's going to be downstairs with the rest of the interns Wednesday and Friday and with me on Saturdays," Tony explained.
"Ok, I guess we just have to keep an eye on him, maybe he is just a jumpy kid."
"Yeah."
Tony really hoped that was the case.
——————
It was really late. Or early, Peter supposed, was a better description of the time. And it was cold, so cold, especially near the docks. Which was where Peter found himself right now.
When he heard about the weapons operation, he couldn't just sit by and let the spies take over. Besides, now that he had his suit, he could help. So he would. Besides, the docks weren't too far from his fire station anyway.
Peter perched on top of a shipping container, hiding in the shadows and out of sight. He carefully watched as people arrived, shaking hands with the person who appeared to be the leader of the operation. It was 1:45am, so everyone was here, except the shipment. Which gave Peter time to case his environment.
There was the leader, two people who seemed to be his bodyguards more than anything, as well as 8 normal thugs. So 11 in total, which sounded like a lot in theory but Peter had taken on more than that. He took on more than that by himself when his foes had powers. He could do this, he just had to wait for the right moment.
If there was one thing Peter had learned through his time as Spider-Man, it was the importance of patience. No longer did he run head first into battles, not if he could help it. In the words of Wade: "All it takes is for you to get one hit in to win a fight. But you gotta make it count," He had skated on pure luck and brute strength when he first began, he didn't have to do that anymore. He had experience and brains, so he might as well use them.
Peter focused in on his surroundings, temporarily closing his eyes to listen to what the bad guys were saying, when suddenly 11 hearts, not including his own, turned to 13. Peter carefully opened his eyes, so the spies had arrived. About time.
Following the sound of their heart beats, Peter saw them both hidden in the shadows to the left of him, a few crates away. Was he technically their back up, or were they his? Oh well, he could figure that dilemma out later. He had to focus on this for now.
In the distance, Peter could see a boat making its way to dock near them.
"That must be the shipment," Peter thought to himself.
He carefully examined the ship and he checked his web shooters and mask in preparation for the fight. From the sounds he was hearing, it seemed like Natasha and Clint were busy doing the same. The sound of an arrow being taken out of the quiver and a gun being loaded added to the mixing bowl of sounds filling Peter's ears.
Once the ship finally docked, Peter knew it was time to move. He would need to make this quick. He needed the ship to stay here, letting the ship leave wouldn't be as bad as letting these people get the weapons, but it was definitely on the list of things he couldn't let happen.
With a deep breath, Peter shot two webs, hitting two thugs on the shoulder and pulling them backwards as he lunged forward, landing on another shipping container. As he swung, he hit one of the leader's bodyguards to the side, taking their gun straight out of their hand and dropping it on the container's roof and out of their hands.
"Well folks, this has been fun but unfortunately I can't let you take those weapons. Kinda new health and safety thing, I'm sure you understand," Peter called out to the group from his perch on top of the container.
Those who hadn't been knocked down quickly spun around to look at him. Anger filled the leader's face as the others turned awaiting his instruction. Somewhere in the darkness, Hawkeye and started to move forward to join the fight only for Black Widow to hold him back.
"Wait," she spoke lightly, curious about the situation and the new hero speaking.
"What the fuck is that!" The leader called out, talking about Peter.
Feigning sadness, he responded, "I'm hurt. Well if you must know, the name's Spider-Man."
As the three who had been knocked down finally made their way back onto their feet, the leader called out to his cronies:
"Squash the insect."
Suddenly the group launched into battle. It was at this moment that Clint and Nat joined the fight, with Nat joining Peter with face to face fights and Clint making his way to perch on top of a shipping container for a birds-eye view of the fight.
From the outside, it would look as though everything in the fight was moving at insane speeds, but from the inside Peter felt like it was moving in slow motion.
While Nat took immediate focus on trying to take down the people, Peter focused on not only taking them down but getting rid of their guns. He didn't want to just knock them down, he wanted to stop them from hurting others. The docks were an open space, him and the other heroes weren't the only ones they could hurt. As he fought them, he snatched away their weapons and webbed them to a shipping container, safe out of their reach.
Soon, most of those they were fighting had been taken down, with the ones Peter took care of webbed to the ground to ensure they didn't get back up. While Nat and Clint were preoccupied with the last 4, which they looked like they were almost done with, Peter noticed the Leader slowly backing away from the fight.
"Shit, can't let him get away," Peter thought to himself.
The spies had the last few cronies, Peter would take on the leader. When said leader noticed Peter looking at him, he picked up his pace and began to make a break for it. With determination not to let him get away, Peter shot out a web and swung over to the man.
Peter made a fist with his hand as he landed, punching the leader in the face and sending him to the ground and causing him to drop the briefcase he was holding. The briefcase slid away from the man as it fell, hitting the ground with a loud thump.
The man tried to scrabble towards the case, reaching out his left hand to grab it. But, Peter put his foot on the case to stop him from taking it back. The leader looked up at Peter, fear evident in his eyes.
"Sorry man," Peter said. "Fight's over. No briefcase for you."
Using his web shooters, Peter webbed the man to the floor. Just in case. He then bent down and carefully opened the briefcase to see what was inside. As the case opened, Peter found piles of money inside, all of 100 bills. There had to be at least a couple hundred thousand in the case.
Peter heard the two spies approaching in the distance and in a split second choice, against his morals and better instinct, look 2 bills and slid them into the pocket of his suit. It was stealing, yes. But stealing from a bad guy, so it couldn't be that bad of a thing to do, right? May would be so mad. But it was too late, the deed was done.
Behind him, Peter heard the sound of a gun cocking and he whipped his head around to see Nat holding a gun at him.
"Who are you," She asked, straight faced.
"Woah woah woah, easy there. I'm a good guy, no guns required here," Peter tried to defuse the situation.
"Who are you," She asked again, Clint standing just behind her right shoulder.
"Spider-Man, kinda new but as you can see from the fact that I just helped you take down some bad guys, I am one of the good guys," Peter added, looking between the two Avengers as he talked.
After a moment of tense silence, Nat put the gun back into her holster. And Peter let out the breath he was holding, closed the briefcase and got back onto his feet. Dusting off his suit, he handed Clint the briefcase. When the spy gave him a questioning look Peter explained.
"The leader guy had it, I think it was money for the weapons transaction. Thought you might need it for when the cops arrive. I don't plan on staying long enough to see them."
With a thoughtful expression Nat added, "So this wasn't random, you knew about the weapons deal. How?"
"I know people," Peter explained.
"You know the kid from the bar," Clint stated.
With an affirming shrug, Peter replied "You're not the only one with connections. He said he also told you about the deal, for a moment I thought you weren't going to show."
When Peter heard the sound of police sirens coming towards them, Peter quickly wrapped up the conversation.
"Well this has been a blast, but I really should be going."
Peter turned to swing away, only to hear Clint call out for him, "Wait!"
Lowering his arm from where he was about to shoot a web, Peter looked back at the spy with a questioning glance.
"The kid at the bar," he began, "is he safe?"
Peter thought for a moment, different answers all screaming in his mind to be the one said, until he finally decided on:
"Yes, for now. He's a good kid, if he needs help, he'll get it. You just have to trust him. He tends to do things on his own, but when it gets bad he'll let people help him."
And with that Peter turned and swung off into the night, not staying long enough to hear Clint's reply.
Besides, for once he told the truth.