Chapter 23

Mei bounces on her chair giddily, grinning as she squishes her face as much as possible on the glass, straining her quirk to its limit so that she can get her first glimpse of the technological wonderland known as I-Island. Peter glances back and forth between her and Tony before finally asking,

"Not that I'm not happy to see you Hatsume, but why are you here?"

She doesn't take her eyes off the horizon as she answers, "Mr Stark invited me, Duh! I thought you were a genius webhead!"

He raises an eyebrow, "' Webhead'", he repeats to himself, "I figured that, but why?"

Tony, who's wearing glasses that project an interactive hologram that allows him to fill out and sign the leftover forms he needed to take care of before the trip, distractedly answers, "She impressed me kid." He shuts down the hologram and takes off the glasses.

This was enough to get Mei's attention as she grins even wider and winks at Peter, "Looks like my 'advertisement tactics' during the Sports Festival worked like a charm! And you didn't want to be a part of it." She lightheartedly admonishes.

He glowers playfully, "That's cause I was still healing from your then-latest babies surprise."

"Every failure is a lesson to succeed later!" She retorts, not losing even the slightest of her giddy energy.

Tony chuckles, "This was another factor, she's got the spirit and attitude of a true inventor! Building because you love to build. She reminds me of you kid."

The pair scowl at the armored Avenger, "In what regard?" "In what regard?"

They say together. He rolls his eyes, "The both of you have the kind of raw talent and passion that's so rare and hard to come by these days. I mean I meet hundreds of people a day who want me to give them a chance for one reason or another but, ironic as it is for me of all people to say, they don't have the heart. They only want the prestige their reputation garners for being attached to the name 'Stark Industries', as well as the generous pay rate we're able to provide. But you Mei Hatsume, and you Peter Parker, both of you build and create because it's a part of you. You two love doing it. So I'm gonna help her shine as much as I can. Don't worry kid you're still my favorite." He winks at Peter good-naturedly.

Mei snorts, "For now."

He glares, "Scuse me?"

She grins deviously, "Oh nothing," And begins rummage through her bag, "Just wondering how much longer you'll be 'Stark's golden Boy' when he takes a look at my new baby!"

Peter rubs his forehead, "Look when we get to I-Island can you please not use the term Baby. Or at least when you do, don't have my name in the same senten- what is that?"

"This is my prototype miniature accelerator! I designed this to give a boost to any power source lacking, if we hook this baby up to the plane, it should bolster our speed enough to cut the time of arrival by fifty percent!" Mei proudly proclaims.

"And you just had it in your carry on?!"

She shrugs, "It wouldn't fit in my pocket."

He smacks his forehead, "Not the point. Anyway, we can't hook it up mid flight, besides we should be there in like another half hour."

She pouts, "You're no fun."

"That's cause I care for our safety."

"Science can't progress if we play it safe all the time!"

"Neither will you progress if you put yourself into another mini coma."

Tony looks up from his work with a concerned look, "'Another'?"

She waves it off, "Slight miscalculation on the potency of a new sleeping agent I tried to create based off of Dr Banner's sedative formula."

"Those were supposed to put down his savage hulk persona." Tony points out.

"And I was hoping to create one that would be safe enough to use on people who were of similar mass, like Mt Lady for example."

"Welp can't fault you for pushing boundaries. Speaking of, is that supposed to be smoking?"

Mei and Peter glance at her miniature accelerator that looked like it was moments away from blowing up. Peter's spider sense was going crazy and they all brace… until Tony takes out a small device from his breast pocket, points it at the accelerator and presses the button. The accelerator then stops, completely dead.

Mei's eyes zoom in on his device and she quick hops to Tony, snatching it out of his hand, "What is this?!" She asks with too much excitement from being seconds away from dying.

"That is a localized EMP device I created. Only thing that can be affected is whatever I point it to so it can be used safely in a variety of environments." He explains calmly.

Peter slumps into his chair, "Oh thank god."

Tony admonishes him as Mei starts babbling about the device in a similar manner as Midoriya. "Come on kid, ya gotta give her a break. I mean I was just as reckless as her growing up… Some would say I still am but let's not talk about that. Also you can be just as reckless too."

"… Yea you got me there."

Tony smiles at Mei, "Still, it was pretty impressive. In fact it might just be what I need for my Starboost Armor I'm planning on building. Maybe I can have you swing by the lab to brainstorm the blueprints."

Hatsume looked like she was seconds away from fainting at the thought of working with one of her idols. Peter did have to jump in and catch her when she stumbled. Mei's pupils were dilated as if she was in ecstasy as she whispers, "It'd be a dream come true!"

"Oh great I think you broke her Mr Stark."

"Maybe we'll have landed by the time she snaps out of it."

Mei instantly blinks and starts babbling of all the ideas she has and wants to write down, much to the pairs amusement. Eventually she settles, sitting across form Peter with a notebook in hand, a pencil in the other as she starts furiously scribbling on the pages. "You're even more excited about this than I am!"

"Of course! I mean it's been a dream to even meet The tony Stark, let alone have the chance to design an Armor with him! I-I have to start planning and brainstorming in preparationforthebrainstorm!Ihavetogivemyall,Ihavetouseeverysynapseandneuron—"

"MEI!"

She jumps, her pencil flying out of her hands, but thankfully Peter catches it gracefully in the air as it sails past his head. "I've never seen you so wound up." He comments.

She tries to nonchalantly flick her hair off her shoulder but he catches the light blush on her cheeks. "It's nothing it's-I… (sigh) I'm well aware how some people perceive my many less than successful creations. I've long since given up caring about it. But this… this is the big leagues, it could even be my future. I-I don't- I don't want it to be like-like… T-that."

Peter nods in understanding. "I think I know what you're trying to get at. It's like going on your first interview right?"

She snorts, "Something like that."

"I don't think you need to worry at all."

"What makes you so sure."

"Probably the fact that Tony Stark personally invited you to I-Island on his own private plane no less. Something tells me that that means you've already made a great first impression."

She uncharacteristically smiles shyly, probably the first one Peter has ever witnessed. "Thanks."

"No problem. And I hope you know that my jokes are just jokes. You know? Like explosions aside, I think you're pretty good at inventing."

Her shy smile turns devious, "Does that mean I can count on you for my next project?"

His grin falters, and despite his reservations, he forces out a strained, "Y-Yes."

"Great! Cause it actually involves your suit! I was thinking of some modifications! I even made something in my spare time-"

His spider sense tingles. What did I just get myself into?

I-Island

The Stark issued private plane descends to the tarmac, with it's engines turning to face upwards, causing the high tech aircraft to hover and descend with very little discomfort to the passengers. Tony gets up, fixes his tie and cracks his neck.

"Show time kids!"

The door opens and releases a platform that allows an easy path to the ground, where a few people in suits were already waiting.

"What's this?"

"This is Mr Lahey, head of a private security detail I ordered." Tony explains s he gives the man a handshake.

"Isn't this supposed to be a safe place though? What would you need a security detail for?" Peter asks.

"To give us all some privacy, I mean I'm a tech billionaire walking around with two teenagers. Tabloids at best would say you guys are my illegitimate children. I'd rather avoid the hooblah." Tony quickly explains.

Mr Lahey approaches the teens and gestures for some of his team to start loading their luggage for them, "My security detail will take your luggage through customs and to your rooms, you're free to enjoy your stay here on I-Island."

Mei grins and throws her carry on into the arms of a portly security guard who grunts from the deceptive weight. "Careful with that, I'm synthesizing Red Mercury in there. You drop it and the whole Island will go, Byyyeeeeeeeee!"

The security stares after her retreating form in horror and Peter gulps and whispers to him. "Any way you can incinerate it instead?"

He nods his head to Peter's eternal gratefulness. "Oh good, please do so, I'll take full responsibility of her wrath if she finds out."

As the teens join Tony, they witness him press a few buttons on his watch and suddenly a large capsule like machine detaches from his jet and lands in front of him opening up like a cocoon. He steps in and the capsule reconfigures itself into the Mark 46 armor.

The two watch in awe, grinning at the technological spectacle. "Oh my god this baby's amazing! Am I right to assume that all these smaller lights are actually miniature arc reactors?" Mei says as she practically crawls all over the armor, her quirk helping her catch every detail possible.

He shakes his head and peels her off and drops her next to Peter, "Right you are! You can actually credit Peter for that bit."

They stare at each other flabbergasted and start chasing after Tony who treks through customs.

"W-What do you mean Mr Stark?"

"Yea what does he mean?!" She glowers at peter suspiciously, jealous that he might've already gotten to help create an Armor for Stark.

"The Finals, when you used thousands of spiders to eat out my power source?"

Everyone, even some of the workers within ear shot shudder when they hear that, much to Peter's embarrassment. "I'm sorry ok!" He exclaims, his face burning.

"Still doesn't take away the creep crawlies I get from time to time," The billionaire shudders at the ghost sensation, "But it made me realize the redundancy of only having one power source that's also supposed to keep me alive. So I added few more throughout so that even if the main chest piece is damaged, I'll still have enough juice to finish a fight and get myself to a lab to fix me up before my timer runs out."

Peter looks away guilty. Had he not been so rash, he would've thought of some other solution that wouldn't have possibly put his mentors life at risk. Tony is quick to see Peter's reaction, "Hey I know that face! Don't feel guilty for a second! I mean come on kid you don't think I had a contingency in case that happened? I already had emergency power in my suit."

"I-I guess you're right."

The group is finally finished with customs and make to open the door when Tony stops, "Kid where's your suit?"

"Huh?"

"Your suit! You know the red and blue pajamas?"

Peter looks offended, "They are not pajamas!"

"They fit you like it, but seriously I thought I told you it's ok to bring your costume?"

Peter thinks hard and does remember taking it out but coincidentally forgot to throw it in his luggage since he ended up taking a nap until the last minute. He slaps his forehead, "I forgot it!"

Mei cackles as she starts rummaging through her bag, "Now's my time to shine!"

"What'd you?"

"Aha!" She exclaims while pulling out a watch. She snatches Peter's arm and places it on his wrist. "Ummm thanks Hatsume it looks nice and all but I didn't peg you as a fashionista."

She rolls her eyes, "Shut up and press the button on it's side."

With trepidation, Peter does as told and suddenly, fibers shoot out from the watch, destroying the clothes he had on while simultaneously wrapping itself around his body until it turns into an exact replica of his Spider suit. Peter looks down in amazement, "Whoa Hatsume! Is this my suit?!"

She grins pridefully, hands on her hips, "You're darn right it is! I call it memory cloth, in its inert state it's regularly flexible but when the watch hits it with an electric current, it realigns it's molecules into whichever design I give it. Since I made it in short notice I had to forgo adding the bells and whistles you're normally accustomed to like your heads up display. So basically for now it's just cloth."

Peter does a few movements and even crouches down and stands back up, he takes off the mask and can't help but chuckle in amazement. "This is incredible! And it's gonna save so much time instead of having to change in and out of costume all the time."

Even Tony is impressed, "You know that might actually give me an idea for the nano suit I'm currently working on."

Her grin widens evermore as she gives Tony a thumbs up, "You can always count on me!"

"Is this what you were talking about on the plane?" Peter asks.

"Well duh."

"… I thought you said you were gonna make it?"

"Noooooo, I said I was gonna need your help, as in gonna need you to test it out."

"You mean it's a prototype?!"

"You're alright aren't you!?"

"Well what could've happened if it didn't work out?"

She shrugs, "Either you got electrified or left naked."

He gives her a withering glare, "Why did you say that so casually?"

She shrugs smugly, "Cause I'm confident enough in my own ability. You should try it some time!"

Tony snorts, "She got you there kid."

Peter's scowl almost makes him burst into laughter, "What? It's true! Hahahahahahaha!"

Peter tries to subtly 'adjust' himself but it's clear as day since some of the staff snorts at his antics, much to his embarrassment.

"Alright kids, Show time!"

He bursts open the doors, to the main lobby of the Airport where people of all kinds are there, many are pro heroes or heroes in training in suits of their own, all of them making their way out the building to the wonderland that is I-Island. The place is amazing! The land seems so large to Peter, with constructs of all kinds littering the area, from hard light holographs that are creating an ever changing display from gigantic geysers to mountain ranges even into a dragon, to rings that are modeled after an atom with bubbles that are fashion like electrons for tourists to step inside, moving around the 'nucleus' like a ferries wheel. A construct that's modeled after waves shoots water that are manipulated to spell out 'Welcome to I-Island!'

Peter couldn't believe it, it's been his dream to step foot on this magnificent island, to explore all that it has to offer, to witnesses new advancements and ideas and now he's finally here. Mei loudly blows her nose in a handkerchief, wiping some tears as she says, "I can't believe I'm finally here."

Peter smiles dreamily, "Me too."

She offers the used cloth, "Need it?"

His smile falters in slight disgust, but it doesn't damper his mood for long. "I think I'm good."

"Wipe that drool of your faces kids, you act like you've never seen anything like this place!"

"…. We haven't." They reply.

"Oh… Right… Let's uhh, let's start the tour shall we?" Tony awkwardly offers. "One of the good things bout here is that it ain't so uptight as most of the world, you can use your powers as much as you'd like. Within reason of course."

"Good to know!" Mei says, using her quirk to experience as much of the island as possible, getting so wrapped up in it that Peter as to pull and guide her along.

"We could always go to the pavilion to start—"

"Where's the science exhibits?!" Mei asks intensely.

Peter grabs Tony and asks, with the same intensity, "Can we see the lifeform they discovered!?"

Surprised but rolling with it, Tony answers, "Yes and no. We can go to the exhibits right now but unfortunately we won't be allowed to see anything alien cause of the galactic regulations."

"Damn, I knew it. But hey worth a shot! Let's go!"

They only have 15 minutes undisturbed before someone finally recognizes the armored billionaire, "Is that Ironman?!"

"It's Tony Stark!"

"Let's get a picture!"

The crowd starts swarming them, mainly Tony but the two teens are caught up in the crowd and struggle to escape it. Tony does his usual thing and charms the crowd, "One at time people!"

He pops open his helmet and smiles for as many photos as possible.

"Blow something up!" One person yells.

"Blow something up? I already did that, any other questions?"

The crowd all raise their voices at once and Tony grins and shakes his head. He spots Peter and Mei in the distance and yells, "I'll deal with this, you guys go ahead and explore!"

The two shrug and start their journey. Unbeknownst to them, a man wearing a blonde wig and sunglasses watches them in the distance, his cold blue eyes turn yellow and his grin wide and maniacal as he cackles to himself. "Hello Peter."

"And did you know that the entire Island is man-made?!"

"Yes Hatsume I did."

"And did you know it's actually levitating above the water to keep it moving?!"

Peter smirks exasperatedly, "Yea I did."

"What's with that face Parker? Am I annoying you?" She elbows him cheekily.

"Nah, to be honest I'd be doing the same thing as you right now." He explains as they walk into the Exhibit.

Mei whistles, impressed, "Wow. Just imagine, couple more years and this place will be littered with my babies!"

"You sound borderline arrogant." He points out.

She shrugs, "You saying I can't back it up?"

"I don't wanna answer cause your head is big enough."

She sticks her tongue out at him, making him chuckle. Then he spots something in the distance. "Hold the phone."

He jogs to the familiar face, "Midoriya!"

Said green haired teen jumps at the surprise but relaxes when he recognizes his friend, "Parker! I forgot you were coming here too!"

"Geez gone for a day and I'm already at the back of your mind." The American teen dramatically wipes away fake tears.

"N-No it's not like that!"

"You're really gullible, I was just kidding!"

Izuku scratches his head in embarrassment. The sounds of giggles allows Peter to realize that his neighbor was not alone. Standing not so far from him was a tall beautiful blonde woman who's dressed smartly and watching the pair interact fondly.

Peter looks two and from the two, "So, am I missing something here Midoriya?"

Stammering he replies, "N-No, thi-this Melissa Shield! She's the daughter of—"

"David Shield! The world's premier support scientist!" Mei exclaims, hounding onto Melissa.

Izuku laughs, "Am I missing something?"

Peter glowers, "It wasn't my idea."

Peter pries Mei from the hapless teen, "Sorry she gets excited."

"Hey I'm not a dog!"

"Coulda fooled me!"

Melissa giggles, "It's no problem! She's not the first person to hound me about my dad."

They all cringe, "Sorry about that."

"Oh it's fine! I take no offense to it. If anything it makes me proud of how high he's set the bar."

Peter stares at her in awe and turns to Midoriya. "You see this is a healthy mindset. Why can't more people in UA think like her?"

Izuku's only answer was a shrug. Then Peter asks, "So I take it All Mi—"

"AAAAHHHHHHH!"

Izuku scrambles to pull Peter away from Mei and hisses, "Don't say that so loud!"

"Why? You already told me All Might invited you here with him?"

He wildly gestures to Mei, who's begun her rapid fire interrogation to Melissa once again, "Hatsume-san doesn't!"

"Oh right… Geez I have been hanging out too long with you and All Might, now I'm having loud conversations about super private secrets within ear shot of the entire world." He sarcastically comments.

Izuku stops, "How many times have we—"

"Too many times Midoriya. Waaaaaay too many."

"look just please keep it a lid on it?!"

"Of course, what kind of friend do you think I am huh?"

The two share a smile and return to the brainiacs but Peter stops dead in his tracks when he sees someone new has joined them. Another all too familiar pair of blue eyes that used to tie Peter's stomach into knots, belonging to a gorgeous Blonde who's holding her knees panting as Melissa bows apologetically, "I'm so sorry! I forgot you were with me when I took off with my pogo!"

"It's (huff) ok. (huff) I needed to get my steps in today anyway—"

She makes eye contact with Peter. "P-Peter? Peter Parker?"

"Gwen?" he says breathily.

"OH MY GOD!"

"OH MY GOD!"

They two run tog each other and hug tightly, with Peter twirling her in the air for a bit before setting her down, wearing a big grin, "I-I can't believe it! Last time I saw you, you were going to MIT! What're you doing here?!"

"You know me, my big brain got me far and wide! I became head intern at Roxxon in the energy Division. I guess I impressed them enough that my mentor, Rick Mason, invited me to accompany him to I-Island." She explains.

"I can't believe it!"

"I couldn't believe you! Last time I saw you, you were toughing it out in midtown and next thing I know, you're kicking ass in the Sports Festival!?"

He's flabbergasted, "H-How did you know that was me?"

She rolls her eyes, "Peter, we grew up together. Even with a mask, I can recognize you anywhere. Plus only an idiot wouldn't know who they're talking about when the announcer literally said, 'Peter Parker from Queens'."

Flash Thompson suddenly sneezes while watching TV. Kong gives him a bored look, "You alright?"

"I don't know. Suddenly I feel annoyed about something."

"And you're still in red and blue tights."

Peter looks down at his spider suit and feels his face heat up. "Ah. Yea. That makes sense."

"Anyway, Melissa had volunteered to show me around… until she didn't."

Peter witnesses her give 'The Look' to the apologetic teen. "I'm sorry."

She quickly drops into a kind smile. "It's ok, no harm done."

He shivers, "Yikes, guess your 'Look' still hasn't lost its intimidation factor."

She gives him a glare, "Good. Means I can use it on you as much as I want."

She gives him, 'The Look' again making him flinch and hide behind Izuku. "Wh-why?!"

"It's been two years Peter! I haven't heard from you since I moved!"

He hides his face behind Izuku's head. "You know why." He answers sadly.

Midoriya clears his throat, "Uhhh, Parker, who is this?"

"Oh!" He pops up from behind his friend, "This is Gwen Stacy! Best friend, well one of my best friends, from childhood!"

"Also smarter than him." She offers Izuku and Mei a handshake.

Peter scowls, "Says who?"

"Says the MIT recruiters that gave me the offer." She smirks smugly.

"… You're mean."

"And you're a sore loser."

"Takes one to know one."

"Shut up!"

"You shut up!"

They start laughing again. Mei decides to intervene, "Well we can see that you have plenty of catching up to do so, I'll just take Melissa and Green bean out the way for you Byeeeeee!"

"Gree-AAAAAAHHH!" Izuku screams as Mei pulls him and Melissa away with a surprising amount of strength.

"Finally have a break." Peter sighs, running his hand through his hair.

They two stand awkwardly, unable to start a conversation before Gwen offers, "Wanna check things out?"

"Uh sure."

She leads him to one exhibit, an aquatic suit. "This is one of Roxxons newest inventions. This model was the prototype but it's supposed to allow land based pro-heroes to access the ocean deeps. It's sealed so completely that water can't enter it even at an atomic level. Temperature controlled too!"

He whisltes, "The latter I definitely need for my suit."

"What you're scared of shrinkage?"

He sputters, "Well now I am, thanks a lot!"

She laughs, making him happy to see her again. "You planning on visiting Atlantis any time soon?"

Her eyes brighten up, "I wish! But unfortunately, these suits are strictly for pro hero use only. Besides Queen Regent Namorita has restricted visits from the surface world after pulling a Coup on her Cousin Namor."

"Why was that again?"

"He felt slighted by Wakanda and sent a Tsunami to them. Thank god She and King t'challa worked together to take him down or else the whole world would've been torn apart by that war."

Peter exhales wistfully, "Man what I'd give to get even a glimpse of Wakanda."

"Probably won't happen in our lifetime since they closed their borders again after that incident, hey check this out!"

They go to a table that has panels that are constantly moving and changing their shapes. "Wow, shape-memory alloy!"

"It's a meta material that was created by Mr Masons team. It uses phononic bandgap to keep its shape whenever it changes. Sadly this is as far as it'll go."

"Why? Lack of ideas?"

"No lack of funding. Investors didn't want to put their money on ideas that seem too 'fantastical'."

"Like what?"

"With some elbow grease, Rick was hoping to turn it into programmable matter."

Pete'rs jaw drops, "With all the advancements we've made, they thought that was out of touch with reality?"

She snorts, "Rich people am I right? They don't want to take risks or else they'll lose their money."

"Well not all of them."

"Yea I heard about you doing an internship with Tony Stark too. You're really moving up in the world aren't you?"

He rubs his neck sheepishly, "I-I guess."

"How did this even happen? I thought you were quirkless."

Peter stammers, "I-I Turned out to be a late bloomer!"

"… Why didn't you tell me? Or even talk to me?" A hurt expression takes over, making Peter feel guilty.

"I'm sorry. It's just, with wh-what happened. How I hurt Harry. Every time I tried to call you, I just couldn't help but feel too guilty to do it."

"Peter, we both made mistakes. It wasn't only you. And Harry, he made mistakes of his own. First one was thinking that he could decide for me."

"But Gwen-"

"Peter." She interrupts him firmly. Then gently places a hand on his, "No one makes decisions for me. Not Harry and not even you. It was my choice."

"It still doesn't make me feel any better." He looks down at the floor glumly.

"His jealousy is not either of our responsibility Peter. It took a while for me to accept that. You should too."

"Hh, When did you get so smart?"

She smirks, "Always have been. You've just been a little slow on realizing it."

"Oh ha ha."

She giggles. Then she looks somber. "I also heard about Ben. I'm so sorry Peter."

Tears well up in Peter's eyes, remembering the tragedy. It feel even worse since soon it'll be the first anniversary of Uncle Ben's death. "He always loved having you around you know?"

"I always loved being around him. He was a good man. And he'd be proud of you Peter."

He looks her in the eyes with a smile, "Thanks Gwen."

They stare for some time until… "Parker-kun?"

Peter freezes, his hair stands on his neck and he slowly turns to see Izuku, with Mei, and Melissa, and Jiro, and Uraraka… and Momo, who's smiling somewhat dangerously. "Yaoyorozu." He squeaks and snatches his hand away from Gwen.

"What're you doing here Parker-kun….And who're you with?" The smile not faltering, but looking more and more dangerous as she tilts her head slightly.

He gulps and starts stammering, much to Gwen's amusement. "This is—and we-she's my uhh-"

Gwen decides to take over and offers Momo a hand shake, "Gwen Stacy, I'm an old friend of Peters."

Momo takes her hand, "Oh, I had no idea."

Gwen's eye twitches, "That's uh, that's a firm handshake you have."

Momo snaps out of it and bows apologetically, "I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"Fancy seeing you here Parker and with company." Jiro says, a slight scowl made more menacing with her ear jacks slithering like snakes coiling to strike.

Uraraka watches him suspiciously, "You too huh?"

Peter double takes, " 'Me too?'"

He looks to Izuku for some type of explanation but the green haired teen shakes his head.

"I have an idea, how about we all grab some tea at the café, then we can all have a proper greeting?" Melissa asks sweetly.

"Oh boy." Peter groans.

"So you arrived here with Parker-kun?" Momo asks Mei.

Who grins obliviously, "Yup! It would've been a boring flight if the webhead didn't keep me so entertained!"

Peter spit takes his drink when he hears her scream her reply loud enough for everyone to hear. He groans, "I'm so dead."

Back to the girls, Momo's eye twitches, "How so?"

"We had a competition to see who could impress Tony Stark the most. Spoiler alert, I won!"

"Oh." Momo almost sighs in relief.

"It's so cool that you're all meeting all these heroes in person!" Melissa exclaims, "And you even got to go out on the field with them too!"

Uraraka shyly tries to downplay herself, "Just some normal training and a few patrols."

Jiro smirks, "I helped out with a hostage crisis, but only the evacuation part."

"that's still amazing though!" Melissa praises them.

Peter glances at them then ducks his head back as he sits with Izuku. "At least we won't be interrogated for now." Peter sighs.

"We're saved. By the way, you said Gwen was an old friend?"

"Yup, about the only friend I had growing up, alongside H-harry."

"Is he gonna be here too?"

Peter shakes his head, "I don't think so. Last time I saw him we had a… bad falling out. It was a big mess. I still feel guilty about it honestly."

"What happened?" Izuku asks, good naturedly.

"I—I'll tell you later. I don't really feel up to explaining it right now."

"Oh of course! I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable!" Izuku stammers.

"It's alright, you didn't. I was already a mess before you arrived anyway." He whispers the second part as he glances at Momo, admiring her for a second before turning back. Something that was caught by Gwen.

"Thanks for waiting!"The waiter says as he places their drinks on the table.

Peter goes to thank the waiter until he sees who it is, "Kaminari?"

"The one and only!" He winks.

"You're here too!?"Izuku asks.

"He's not the only one!" Mina says as she slides into view, that acid at her feet allowing her to perform he stunt gracefully.

"Mina too?!"

"Yup! They needed extra wait staff, and since I lost my first chance of experiencing the island." She directs a smiling but chilly look to her friends, "This ended up being the next best thing!"

" What, is the whole class coming here too?" Peter wonders.

Kaminari shrugs, "Mineta was going come along too, but then he tried hitting on the recruiter and was kicked out instead."

"Thank god that creep isn't here." Mina mutters.

Peter understands that look, "He tried pulling something on you too, didn't he?"

"I almost turned him into a puddle!" she seethes.

As they talk, Momo decides to ask, "So how well do you know Parker-kun?"

"Very! We grew up together so I know him better than he knows himself. Including all his most embarrassing secrets." Gwen wiggles her eyebrows menacingly.

Jiro smirks, "Now this I need to hear!"

Mina appears though, "Knowing each other so long, you guys must've gotten close."

Momo take a deep breath, "Mina?" she asks sweetly.

But the pink haired teen ignores her as she presses, "Just how close did you two get?"

Gwen gives her a look, "I know where you're going with this."

Mina smiles shyly, having been caught. "What're you talking about?"

"You're really not subtle."

Mina starts to cry dramatically, "Come on! I'm here slaving away for hours, give me something that could give my heart some reprieve!"

"Oh alright. Well, gr-growing up Peter and I did get close. We did everything together, science fairs, study sessions! The works. We even put a bunch of time capsules all over new york so that in a few years we can look back on them to remember the good times." She smiles fondly at the memory, then she starts to blush.

Mina, like a shark smelling blood, catches on, "And what else?"

"W-Well, as time went on. We- we got closer. Maybe even developed a mutual crush… We also, maybe sort of, definitely, were each others first kiss." she reveals to the groups utter shock.

Momo suddenly crushes the tea that was in her hand, spraying her and Jiro with the beverage. "What?" she asks in a cold and monotone voice.

Peter feels his spider sense go off. "Crap baskets."

Authors note: No Ultron, just wanted to remind everyone.

Sorry it took a while, got started with a new job and needed to adjsut to it. Honestly i'm going to post the rest of the arc all at once on the next upload, don't expect it too often thoguh cause again, real world responsibilities and all. But I'll still be updating anyway, enxt up will reveal what happened before Gwen and Harry left as well as the sinister six line up and the battles afterwards.

Superjoeyf721: Can't wait for everyone to see it, and yes i wanted to reference Power rangers in some way lol. Although you'll have to wait and see what happens during the camp arc.

AnimeKing6: Who knows if things pick up for Peter, especially with that Parker luck he's got!

Guest: Thank you! I jsut wanted a moment for PEter and Momo so had to bypass her shopping, and yea she's gonna have a hard time seeing PEter with Gwen! lol.

spider of the leaf: You'll see how they hook up lol, but don't worry I won't make everyone wait too long. I can promise that they be together at some point in season 3. And thanks for the reminder on speedball! I forgot how disturbing penance was, yikes!

kokomo: honestly i wasn't planning on them appearing at all. Maybe mentioned but not seen.

PixelBerries: I try too lol and yes, let's see if their relationship can handle pressure

TheGreatGodzilla: You'd be surprised how many actually don't want to see Izuku do anything to Bakugo. In fact there was one woman i came across on tiktok who is adamant that Izuku was the true Bully and that he emotionally manipulated Bakugo, which is of course bullshit but hey some people just don't have common sense. I do like what you're doing with lady nagging. I didn't make the connection between lady nagant and project insight, honestly i thoguht it was inspoired by one story in Ultimate x men where Professor xavier secretly sends Wolverine on missions to kill mutants that are too powerful or would be dangerous to his dream. I mgiht do a twist when i come to it, but we'll see. Wow in a way you're almsot making AIM like the federation in star trek, where they baswically have control of all aspects of life! Pretty cool honestly! No problem though, I'll check out your latest chapter in a bit, cant wait to see! Yea i forgot to add that in so, when they do talk about stain or at least when he and PEter talk at some point, it'll be brought up. I'm even thinking of many some vids were found on the dark web that were journal entries where stain explains his ideology and he brings it up. Not planning on bringing in anythign with the new MCu shows, i havent been impressed by them, other than the acting. Though, John walker actor was phenomenal, i feel bad that people sent him death threats though. Yea, i wanted to reference the marvel universe, msotly from the comics though sometimes the mainstream or ultimate. Like i said, i headcannoned MHA to be the natural progression of the marvel universe so i'll try to draw as much inpsiration from the comcis than the MCU, since there's a lot mroe to it. No, Norman will strictly be the main antangonsit especially with what happens to Peters parents. He'll soon learn the circumstances as well. Awesome I'll check it out soon!

fanalis1995: Thank you! It was sorta what i headcannoned so i just rolled with it lol

PrudishSet: Thank you! I'm honored you consider my story so good ! 1) symbiote spiderman will be i would say 25-30% more powerful than he normally is, especially when he starts to hold back less... 2) he definitely will experiecne tragedy nd pain. Unfortunately all spider people have to go through it, but he'll be one of the lucky few with a good support system, if he lets them help him. 3) sooner than you think!

Crossoveraru: Glad you enjoyed all of it! YeaI felt that the Spectacular spiderman version of the symbiotes introduction would work better here without it being a random meteor that coincidentally lands near Peter. Also i didn't want to do the whole venom being created on earth thing, i'm already handling the whole quirk formula thing and if someone created a sentient being like venom, personally i'd say it would eclipse the importance of the formula. One of spidermans clones did have that ability to summon spiders but the original Peter also had that power too and i rmeebred it better. I will address that weakness when the time arrives, though his class may find it amusing lol. Also if theres anyone that could drop the mic on Bakugo, it'd definitely be Rocket! And yea his relationship with momo is at a standstill, we'll see where it tips as time goes on but i'm gonna play the whole will they won't they crap for long. And also i wanna portray it as healthily as possible, even with Spidermans issues, which i always was annoyed by the wirters of cause it feels like they inexplicably try to turn PEter and MJ into Ross and Rachel or something. And yea Peter's negative emotions are gonna get bigger and bigger! just wait until what happenes after the Two heroes arc! Though i can't tell you what happens to peter when he has venom or if the heroes will realize whats going on in time... anwyay thanks again!

Zero-X: You'll enjoy what heppens when PEter works with Mirko, May might even surprise her too!

Noob 86: I'm honestly not sure what you mean here.

Chadforever: It's kind of hard for me not to interpret it that way honestly, i mean i went back to check your comment and only with the context you gave me now, would i realize that that's what you were trying say. But yea i did watch it and i'm loving the, sadly, last times we see him, especially durign the zombies episode, it really felt like he was talking about himself. But here's hoping we hear him one more time in the coming episodes

Anthonymon: No. Later on, we'll see some marvel heroes but very few and far in between.

Caddy: I wasn't a big fan of the flag smashers stuff. Honestly compared to the netflix marvel shows, i haven't really enjoyed the disney+ series, except Loki and what if. Sam and bucky won't be appearing in my story, they were alive during Steve rogers presidency but have long passed.

RainbowRapterDash1: Yup! i just couldn't help myself with that one XD

Random dude: Rest in Power

rgriffin8999: i have her planned for the future fic, i have other people in mind, especially when they visit the xavier Institute.

Chirs: I honestly forgot.

DeathGrimm79: I chose someone else for venom, i couldn't fit Eddie organincally but i did find someone that would fit perfectly to Eddie's descent.

Ian05: Not what i had planned honestly. i have something else in mind for Peter's work study with Mirko.

MysticWolf087: I was waiting for someone to catch that ! XDXD

Big Red 1215: I wasn't planing on having AIM at all and i have a different group in mind for season 5.

MRBEAST20: No she's not. She normally prefers to works alone from what i remember, which might be something that'll rub off on Peter, or not.

Kingofcrowns: I sleep well for now knowing that this isn't even the worst that'll happen to him lol

Guest: Hell yea! I can't take all the credit though cause that was at the suggestion of another commentator who unfortuantely i can't find, but i'll credit it in the next one!

Stan 18 lee: RIP to those we lost on that tragic day.

Myla Byers: Here it is!

Chief: here

Chadforever: the best girl lol

Guest: All love to Queen Momo!

Till the next one guys!