This felt on-time. Enjoy the bits of angst and some more Spider-Boy.
IDon'tOwnMarvel
"Let it go." The Ancient One ordered again. "Now."
I shook my head, straining under the weight in my hand. "I'm gonna lose control."
"You have to let it go."
The plasma ball was heavy hovering between my shaking hands. It pulsated with energy and pushed to escape the restraints I had on it.
"We spent all this time getting control!" I shouted, "You can't ask me to lose it! What if it hits me?"
The Ancient One moved behind me and I tried to look back at her, only for the woman to give me a small shove. My hand slipped and the plasma ball shot forwards, spinning through the air and making me take a breath of relief.
"That was cheap." I looked back at her.
"You know the hand motion." She shook her head, "Sometimes you must let go again in order to get a better hold on what you want."
"I don't like when you speak in riddles."
The Ancient One nodded her head back towards where i'd shot the plasma ball and I gasped when I saw it coming hurdling back.
Right, the mirror dimension.
I tried to jump out of the way, only for my mentor to grab the back of my neck and hold me out as a human shield. I had little time to react to the betrayal before it hit me dead on while I tensed in preparation. A warm tingle rolled across my chest and then down my spine, making me frown again and drop my shoulders with a huff.
The Ancient One held a small smile when she released me.
"It's not funny." I pointed at her. "Don't do that."
"Again." She gestured vaguely at me, stopping a few feet again. "Use the correct motion this time and you will have more control."
It was tough work having to unlearn things and then relearn them in the mirror dimension in order to have more control over my 'tricks'. At first, I think I wondered briefly why I had only been taught to control the lighting thing, but then I realized who I was thinking about. The Ancient One would never let some random sixteen year-old kid possess the full power of an infinity stone just because she was technically capable of it. Her new desire to actually let me do these things did make me feel special too.
She trusted me.
Dr. Strange was sort of doing his own thing too. He would occasionally try to get all 'buddy-buddy' with me when it came to training and asked questions about how I made my magic purple. I got along with him, but I was sort of busy monitoring Peter, who had an adventure that was progressing way faster than Dr. Strange.
October tenth was when I got the email about the robbery.
'-I thought it was going to be a slow night after there was just the almost stolen bike, but then there were these guys in masks at the ATM on the corner of South 5th and 32nd street. They had on avengers halloween masks with these big blue and purple sci-fi guns-'
He used to be a lot more formal, but I think that he must've started to assume that no one was actually reading them. I really was, but I'd never responded, so he was treating it more like a diary at this point. I didn't mind since it was easier to keep up with casual reports, but I had some new ideas coming up with how I was going to interfere with Peter if ever. I figured there were only a few places where I might want to stand by just in case. The ferry and DC were just two examples.
I did a bit more training before Peter mentioned that he was going to go to a party the next night in lieu of Spider-man things. That was something I needed to be in attendance for, especially since he dropped into a lake and almost drowned in the movie that night.
I was there by the next morning and Tony pulled some strings for me overnight to get my cover. It was too easy.
"Gotcha!"
Peter sprung off the roof of the house to land on the van, only for something hard and metal to catch his foot and yank him back up. He gasped from the pressure and looked up at what appeared to be a flying man with glowing green eyes.
"No, no, no!" Peter tried to wiggle out as he was being dragged up high into the air.
He very quickly reached a point when the ground was way too far away to be comfortable and he felt like breathing was getting harder. Then, he shouted out again when a parachute deployed off his back and he was yanked back down into it. It wrapped around him in the air and he went tumbling down through the air, thoroughly disorientating him until the cold hard smack of water slowed and stopped his descent.
For half a second, he fought the strings and canvas until a flash of gold had him falling again and landing on something hard. It was…scary.
Peter kicked off the rest of the fabric and stood up fast, looking around and taking deep breaths as he was sure he was drowning not even five seconds ago.
"Ugh, river water."
Peter whipped around to look at the voice, spotting a female figure shaking out her foot with a large hood and some type of robes on. Beside her, stood someone that made this a lot more clear- Iron Man.
"Uh, hi." Peter relaxed again, looking up and around for the guy with wings in case he came back. "How'd you- How'd you find me? Who's she?"
"Uh, your Pen-Pal." Tony stated, making Peter's eyes go wide before he pulled off his mask. "And I track you."
"You're the psychic?" Peter asked incredulously, pacing a few steps closer with a big smile and then pointing up. "Did you see that- I almost had him. Really, I could handle it. You didn't have to show up."
She looked to the Iron Man beside her and shaking her head, turning to pace a few steps around like she was disinterested.
"Yeah, you definitely looked like you had it handled." The suit landed on the grass. "And I'm not…here."
Peter's face dropped a little in disappointment when the helmet flipped up revealing an empty suit. "Oh."
"Look, forget about the bird guy," The suit waved a hand, "It's not in your job description. Just stick to the little things like bike thieves."
The Psychic stopped to stare at Peter too and then picked up her arms to motion with them. He looked up when a new light illuminated above him and stepped aside, watching the gold magic light up in a weird pattern. It glowed a little then, lighting up a circle on the grass.
He looked back at the woman who gestured him to move back under it.
"Mr. Stark, it's just the vulture guy who's obviously their leader." Peter tried to explain, reaching out a hand carefully under the light before feeling the heat it let off. "If I could just take him down-"
"Oh, take him down?" Tony scoffed at that, "No, you won't be taking people 'down'. Can't you just be a…friendly…neighborhood Spider-man?"
"I'm ready for more than that!" Peter insisted, "Really. I know I have a purpose and this has to be it. She chose me for something."
"Move under the lamp." The woman gestured him again and Peter listened this time, releasing a shuddering sigh when the chilly air of October disappeared under the light.
"You're not ready for anything like that." Tony continued, "She doesn't want you hurt. That's why she's here. She doesn't go out giving all-knowing wisdom randomly. She's here because at some point we will need you. Now is not that time."
Peter took a careful breath then and looked away.
"Take it easy, okay? Don't hurt yourself." Tony waved him on. "You know it's not too early to start thinking about college. I have some pull at MIT."
"Mr. Stark, I don't need-"
"Offline." The suit helmet went down again and it took off in the air, leaving Peter behind in the park with the Psychic.
He huffed to himself at that and shook his head. "Does he do that to you?"
"All the time." She waved a hand at the magical heater above him, dissipating it into just gold sparks again. "Your suit has a heater too. And you might want to re-pack your parachute if you can."
"Right," He nodded, looking over at the heap of soaked cloth on the ground. "Am I really supposed to do nothing? I'm supposed to be able to help."
She shrugged lightly, waving her finger in a circle and dropping the soaked cloth through a different portal and making it disappear.
"What is that?" Peter asked too, pointing at the new sparks that disappeared easily. "Is that your other superpower? Like Scarlet Witch?"
"No," The woman's eyes crinkled up a little indicating a smile under the mask and hood. "Peter, I can't stop you from chasing after the Vulture. Well, I really could if I wanted to, but I've got more vital things to keep an eye on."
Peter ran his fingers through his damp hair with a small sigh, "Okay. Should I be preparing for something, ma'am?"
"Lincoln," She waved haphazardly at him with a hand, "And not really. I just need you to know something very important."
He looked back at her again.
"Don't get hurt." The woman ordered, giving him a serious look. "You want to chase after bad guys on your own time? That's fine. But you need to be safe because if you get hurt, it's not just on you. It's on me, and Tony, and your Aunt May, and believe it or not- it could reflect back on the very timeline of this universe."
He nodded confidently at that. "I got it."
"Yeah?" She reached for her pocket and pulled something out to toss at him, "If you get hurt, call me. I'll fix it. I can't have a kid on my conscience, okay?"
Peter looked at the burner phone and smiled a little. "I will."
"Good," She made a new portal behind her leading back to a strange room with a bed, "Don't do anything stupid, buddy. And riddle me something- What happens to a wide area building when you slice all the internal support beams?"
"It…collapses in?"
She nodded and stepped into her portal with her eyes crinkled up again before she winked and gestured with her hand again. Something heavy and cloth-like fell on his head. By the time he was able to pull the fully dried parachute off himself again, she had disappeared completely.
Was that a hint? He looked around before starting to bundle up the parachute in his arms again with a smile.
She knew about the Vulture guy. Clearly Peter was destined to take the guy down at some point. He'd just have to try and make sense of her 'riddle me this' along the way. And, of course, he'd remember to be safe. She was right about Aunt May. He really didn't know what he would tell her if he got seriously hurt.
Having officially met Peter as Wisteria, I felt a little better. He just looked a lot younger in person than I expected. Though, it was the 'actor' that I expected, the same suit, villain, and location, so my memory was still sharp as ever. And, naturally, as Stephen Strange was taking his time with his first adventure in the superhero world, I was told that I could spend more time watching over Peter while Natasha was just recently sent out on a 'top secret' mission. She asked me a few suspicious questions on what I knew about her family over the phone before abruptly hanging up. It sounded important though.
"I really don't know?" I frowned, sitting in my office with the two desks and stacks of computers. "I'm gonna be totally honest with you, okay?"
Nat sighed over the phone. "Shoot."
"I hadn't watched it yet, okay?" I winced, "It was me and Ellie's thing to watch these movies and then the movie came out a month before everything and I couldn't bring myself to watch it. I've heard theories and names from friends…but I don't think I know anything useful if that's what's happening right now. It was the same thing with WandaVision."
"How would I know it's happening?" She demanded, sounding like she just knocked someone out with a quiet grunt.
"People mentioned…" I glanced back at Megan before holding my phone closer and lowering my voice. "A sister, Yelena. And your mom and dad- er, not real mom and dad, but the ones you were assigned to. I know they're involved. There was some rant that Julia went on about pheromones too? I think some guy that runs the red room has you programmed not to attack him. I really don't have much. I didn't write anything down because I didn't think anything would be useful."
I sighed dejectedly at that. "I'm really sorry, Nat."
"I'll manage." She huffed, "It's more than the bunch of nothing I had five minutes ago."
"Happy to be of help." I shook my head, "Try not to die. I know you shouldn't, but, seriously, be careful."
Natasha was off doing her own thing right now and actually didn't call back at all that day. Tony assured me that the suit he gave her read her as alive though for the rest of that day.
I was a little jealous that everyone got new suits recently and Tony was still working out the kinks on his nano-tech. Little old me was rocking the casual robes of the sanctum during personal time, and a navy blue button down with khaki pants for my 9-5. Well, it was more like seven thirty to two thirty since it was a school, but that's against the point.
Tony had taken the time out of his busy schedule to set me up as IT support at Peter's high school. Apparently they were short and I had a fake degree from MIT with significant knowledge on how to work around a computer. I mean, not to brag, but I did manage to hide from the most technologically advanced government agency in the world. I may not have gone to MIT, but I knew more than enough to be able to work at a school.
I started my days on New York time now and had to do some of my training in Kamar Taj at three in the morning before promptly knocking out at five am and sleeping my eight hours. Then I'd get up and do a little more training before work. It was weird, but it made more sense when I'd show up bright and early for work in New York City. That very job put me in close proximity with Peter Parker and allowed me to join up to his Academic Decathlon team. Mr. Harrington was happy to have another administrator that actually wanted to sit around and listen to kids list trivia and math questions for an hour every Tuesday and Thursday for an hour after school.
To be fair, it was a little boring, but the kids were sweet and 'welcomed me to the team' with a few questions about my age and qualifications.
"MIT?" Flash asked, looking delighted, "My dad went there. You probably heard of him. He's a famous alumni."
"I can't say I do." I shook my head, sitting back in my seat with my schedule on my lap. "I'm not that old, okay? I graduated early."
"You graduated early to work in a school?" Betty frowned at that with Peter also giving me a skeptical look. "That sounds weird. Anyone with a degree in 'Computers 101' can work in school IT."
"Well," I smiled a little at the insistence of high schoolers, "Maybe I just love teaching the next generation. I'm supposed to take over for Mrs. Rosado in Cybersecurity too when she goes out on maternity leave."
"Oh, I'm in that class." Abe smiled too. "She's having twins."
"That's still kind of boring for an early graduate of MIT." Flash mentioned, glancing at his classmates to make sure they agreed with him.
It was odd being on the other side of his problems with Peter and seeing how insecure and nervous of a kid Flash really was. Sure, he had his proud moments, but not unless he knew there was at least one other kid around that was laughing or with him. High schoolers were weird like that.
"Ms. Rogers is working for a private company too." Mr. Harrington filled in, making me give him a hesitant stare.
"I am?"
"She is?" A few kids echoed.
"Yeah," He narrowed his eyes back at me like he was confused by my own confusion. "Stark Industries."
"How do you know about that?" I laughed a little, while a few of the kids gasped.
"Morita told us?" He shrugged back, "It was in your introduction email."
"Huh," I tapped my pen on my clipboard and looked back at the rest of the kids. "I didn't read that."
"You work for Tony Stark?" Betty asked incredulously, "No way!"
"That makes way more sense though, Ms. Rogers." Sally chimed in, "Do you get to meet the Avengers?"
"Are you related to Steve Rogers?" Charles jutted in too, looking just as excited with the others.
"Not really, and no." I chuckled again, "I won't say I haven't passed by a few of them, but they're not very conversational. I work closer with Pepper Pots than I do with Tony Stark."
The kids were very excited to hear this information and asked lots of questions about how I got the job which led to some bullshitting about my grades and test scores. It was about what I could expect from a room full of really smart kids with parents that wanted great things from them. Flash tried to ask about Peter's 'internship' which made the kid nervous, but I assured him that it was a massive company, so the chances of me running into him were low already.
Peter looked even more relieved when I mentioned that I knew about this initiative to bring in some smart kids before they were out of high school to try and push them into completing college and working for the company in the future. The other kids thought Peter was a little cooler then and I think a few of them might've been less skeptical about his 'internship', so my job was done there. The kid had enough stress on his shoulders already. He didn't need to be constantly trying to gain the approval of his classmates all the time too which, of course, is a thing teenager's tend to try to do a lot. It put a lot of unnecessary pressure on them.
You know, working as an administrator at a school kind of puts the whole experience of high school in a different perspective. They're really all just kids, no matter how grown up they try to act or even look. This revelation about teenagers made me feel worse about Peter's situation with superpowers.
"No kid should have to deal with that kind of pressure." I insisted worriedly, pacing in front of the Ancient One while she sat silently with her tea. "I didn't think about how awful that is until now! Like, he's fifteen years old and I have to expect him to put his life on the line for other people. I have to let him make traumatic mistakes because if I don't…"
"The timeline changes." She whispered, looking away. "You were not much older, Lincoln."
"That's different though!" I shrieked, "I'm way more mature. I've been more mature and I've learned to deal with it. Just because I made it through some rough things does not mean that I think some child can handle his own traumatic problems. It was different with everyone else and now I have to let a kid do these things that are going to scar him for life!"
"Your job was never meant to be easy."
"He's so young." I choked back tears, taking a careful breath so I wasn't yelling at my mentor anymore. "I just- I didn't expect him to look so little. He's not supposed to be doing anything other than graduating high school and having fun. Now his teenage years are going to be spent with nightmares and back and shoulder problems because he's anxious all the time. How do I protect him from that?"
The Ancient One nodded solemnly at that. "The world is not going to be easy on Peter Parker. It never has been."
"Jesus." I put my hands on my knees with a shaky sigh, "His parents and then his Uncle Ben. Now this nightmare."
"He's hopeful, Lincoln." The Ancient One continued quietly, "That is what he carries. You gave him hope that he has a higher purpose in this world. You can't protect him from his fate, but you can protect him from being alone while he grows."
"So, what?" I stood upright again, feeling nauseous again from the guilt and running my fingers through my hair. "I show up more? I don't know if I can do this. I can't watch him make these mistakes and hurt himself."
"You have to."
"I can't!"
"You will learn." She pushed, standing up then. "Lincoln, the consequences for helping him with everything may far outweigh the pressure he has to hold at that age. You can't carry everyone's pain. And the world will never be kind to the extraordinary."
"I just wanna carry his." I looked away, my heart lodging in my throat with my eyes blurring over with tears. "I can't watch him get hurt."
The Ancient One sighed a little, reaching out to wipe a tear off my cheek with her thumb. "It's not an easy job, but some of us have to learn to care from a distance."
I looked up between her eyes and then away again. "Oh, you mother..fuck."
"I know." She whispered, "I haven't enjoyed it either."
"Hydra-"
"Everything." She confirmed, clenching her teeth and watching my reaction carefully.
I fell into actual crying from that and my legs gave out so I was just sitting on the floor helplessly
"I'm sorry," She knelt down to my level, looking on sadly as my chest heaved from the sobs. "I've taken too many chances with the ones I care about. I should never have helped Kaecilius, but I took the chance and you know what he became because of my lies. I couldn't risk that with you."
I understood that.
That was the shitty part. I knew exactly why she had to let me experience what I did, but it was not a truth that I liked being aware of. I'm sure somewhere I knew that she had a path for me, but when she admitted the pain she felt having to watch me fall apart all those times, I was even less enthused to be around Peter Parker. He didn't deserve the cards he'd been dealt, but if I was going to live by the Ancient One's methods, I knew how I could be present for him now. This was going to be the worst plot I'd experienced so far though. It felt like they were just getting worse as the years went on.
Days later, I was planning classes based on the curriculum I was given for cybersecurity. I was honestly just happy that most of the kids at this school were already really smart, so I didn't have to worry about computer 101 with them. Plus, they'd already started the course with Mrs. Rosado before she left to give birth.
I had a lot of respect for that woman too. She was doing something I would never be able to bring myself to do: raise children. That had to be one of the hardest full time jobs out there and I was nowhere near cut out for that work before or after showing up here. She was really excited to be a mom though from the few conversations I'd had with her, so I guess she was ready, but I still sent a short prayer up to anyone that might listen anyways. I always felt like new moms might need that, especially with twins.
With my new schedule, it'd been a little bit since I'd seen my friends at the compound. This thought came up a few days after I was learning with Mr. Barlow about robotics. I wanted to learn more about it since it never made tons of sense to me growing up. Coding was always more my style, so fitting physical parts together and trying to make sense of what they were doing sort of fell short in my head. But, after deciding to befriend a coworker by my second week to learn more about it, I started thinking about Tony then and realized that I might need to visit again soon.
I missed him sometimes.
Steve too, but he didn't need to know that even as I took some of my limited free time to re-do my bedroom at the compound and employed his help. Maybe it was because he was a super soldier and could move furniture with one hand, or maybe it was because I missed him. It wasn't important. All that mattered was that he followed me back to my room and helped me set up a bed that I bought myself for the first time. He carried my new mattress too. This was all after we painted the walls with my music on in the background.
"You should help me with my bedroom." Pietro said, laid out on my new carpet where he'd been since we set it down.
Steve just passed him a small annoyed look before grabbing another screw to help secure my new bookshelf to the wall.
"He doesn't love you, Pete." I hummed quietly, "He's not gonna do shit for you."
"That's not why." Steve shook his head at the wall. "He hasn't been to PT in three months."
"So if I start exercising on your time," Pietro rolled his eyes, "Suddenly I must be worthy of attention? That is stupid."
"Your sister goes."
"My sister is stupid." He defended with a small smile, "What does she do? Wave her hands around?"
"She exercises." Steve huffed quietly, "Because it's good for you. Not everyone has the privilege of an able body."
Pietro mimicked him with a face, making his hand talk and looking away. "Whatever."
Steve passed me a tired smile at that. "I'll get him eventually. Are you doing okay with your new job?"
"It's alright," I dismissed the topic casually, "Just a bunch of kids who really like learning about how to protect themselves from hackers."
"Kids." He repeated to himself before giving me another playful smile, "High school age ones are rough. I would know. I've worked with one."
"Haha," I shook my head and looked away with a smirk. "Be lucky you don't have to work with the elderly. I know this guy who's ninety seven and he's a real pain in the ass."
"Sounds like it." Steve chuckled, putting in the last screw and then stepping back to look over his work. "Need help with the books?"
"I can do books." Pietro sat up then, smiling like an idiot.
I gave him a skeptical look before nodding him at the shelf. "Do you want to?"
"I will get them."
That was the last thing I heard before I'm pretty sure I blinked and my shelf was full with my hair being caught in a bit of wind. Steve just sighed a little, giving Peitro a look while the guy who was soon-to-be-twenty smiled at his work and stood beside me. To be fair, it didn't look bad and he set up my pictures very carefully on there too with the Iron Man helmet making the shelf too.
"I am, ah," He grasped for the word with a hand before elbowing me. "An interior designer. Clearly. Steve could never organize like that. You should have seen his apartment."
"It looks nice, Pete." Steve replied, not bothering to humor the insult.
I nodded, "Yeah, I'm surprised you actually did it. I thought you might dismantle the shelf and then run off."
"I don't remember being that mean." He huffed to himself, tilting his head at the shelf and then moving the Iron Man helmet in between two book stops. "Do you like it?"
"Yeah," I confirmed with a smile and patted his shoulder, "Thanks. Now I just need 'Freez-e Pops' to bring up my computer again now that we're done moving heavy shit around."
"Right." Steve nodded too, looking back at the door. "You're going to have to remind me how to carry it. I don't want to break that thing."
"You might be more likely to break your back, old man." Pietro snickered, getting a snort from me too before we all started for the door. "You can show him and then I have to show you something in my room."
"I don't know if I want to follow you there." I muttered back, "Who knows what you have hiding in there?"
"Just a bed." He smiled innocently, "And the bucket of paint that will drop on your head when you walk in."
"Oh I knew it." I smiled too at the playful attitude, "I never should've trusted you."
I carried my monitor back into my room with Steve bringing in the case of it's brains. He was very careful with it which was nice, even though I was sure it couldn't weigh a whole lot by his standards. He just set it down on the stand under my desk nervously before backing off again while I set down my monitor on the desk. Pietro ushered me along to his room too while I was still trying to get Steve to bring up all my cables too. I think he got the message, but Pietro was very insistent on showing me something.
It was totally worth leaving Steve hanging though.
"You can not tell Fury." He smiled deviously, "He might try to take her away."
I held out my pinky for him. "I won't say a word."