Peter felt a tad miffed when May came home from work, took one look at him, and burst out laughing hysterically.
In her defense, when she had left home Peter had been a brunette, and now he had pitch black hair and a streak of red.
Once she got over her amusement, she managed to ask...
"You're not turning into one of those goth theater kids, are you?" she said, wiping the tears of amusement from her eyes. "Also, I'm not going to find a mess in the sink later, am I?"
Peter snorted at that.
"I went to an actual stylist. No way I get a proper red streak without screwing it up somehow."
May observed him properly, and saw that he did have a new hair cut. It was stylishly messy, if one could call it that.
"Why the change?"
Peter thought of how to phrase this, before he settled on the actual reason.
"I don't trust Stark, and odds are that he'll try to drag me into the Accords since he blackmailed me into that mess. Governments attempting to regulate people with powers never ends well," said Peter simply. "Especially considering the fact that making a list of empowered people will end very, very badly in the long run."
May blinked at that.
"What do you mean?"
"We have entire churches who hate others simply for having the 'wrong' skin color or for liking their own gender. What do you think is going to happen when they suddenly have a list of people with powers and 'unnatural' abilities that they have limited control over to aim their bigotry at? And don't get me started on how much crap the X-Men and their lot have to go through for simply existing."
May winced, as she hadn't thought of that. Peter had a solid point after all.
Peter despised politics, and this was politics on a level that he couldn't handle. Not in this life anyway. He was just a 'powered teenager from Queens', not the Chosen One or any of that crap he could have used to get out of this mess. And the less said about how vulnerable May was for being his legal guardian, the better.
All it would take was one bad day, and he'd be at the mercy of an already broken system. Worse, one of the heroes who actually agreed with this mess might take him in and trap him in his own personal hell.
So Peter was going to activate as many contingency plans as he needed to get out of this until people realized exactly what a horrible idea the Accords were.
Besides, Stark likely expecting him to work like a vigilante, saving people left and right rather than trust the cops to do their job.
He wasn't going to expect what Peter had in mind instead.
"Aunt May, could you introduce me to someone who can certify me as a field medic?"
May blinked at the odd request. But it wasn't like Peter was asking for anything illegal, and teaching him how to save lives might prove useful.
"Of course sweetie," said May. It was nice to have something to bond over with her nephew.
"So Shrike, what's with the new patch?" said Domino.
"I'm working towards a certification in search and rescue, as well as a field medic. I pretty much have the second in the bag, but the first will take longer," said Shrike.
"Rescue? Who needs rescuing?" said another merc with a laugh.
"Laugh it up Dave!" snarked Shrike. "But ever since that asshole Stark helped to push through those stupid Accords, anyone with powers is screwed if they get identified. I don't know about you, but I don't trust a politician to actually help people unless it benefits their damn bank account."
Domino stared at him.
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
Shrike rolled his eyes.
"Look over the actual wording of the Accords. Anyone who gets identified with powers has to register themselves, and god knows who has access to that list," said Shrike flatly. "And last I checked, there are enough assholes in the world looking for someone to blame, and who better a target than someone who's possibly a mutant."
If Shrike noticed the way the bar quieted down at that, he said nothing.
"You serious, Shrike?" said Weasel.
"Let me put it this way. You remember that big fight in Germany, the airport?" said Shrike.
"Hard to miss," said another merc.
"Here's a fact the news didn't tell people. Stark blackmailed a literal minor in that fight after identifying him as someone with powers. He wasn't even old enough to vote, for Christ's sake," said Shrike.
"And how does the baby face Shrike know all this?" said Deadpool.
"I've met him a couple of times, and last I checked, no one over twenty calls Linkin Park or Nickelback classic rock," deadpanned Shrike. That got a snort from several of them.
When he got home later, he found several books on the table. May had delivered what she promised, and had asked around about the requirements to be registered for search and rescue. It was a pity he couldn't get a dog...yet...but that was a small price to pay. May was already more than a little worried about why Peter was so knowledgeable as a field medic.
Once he got home from school, he switched into different clothes. It wasn't just books May had gotten him...she had also found the contact information of an ex-army handler. Searching for bombs wasn't exactly the same as search and rescue, but some of the training was the same.
It was a good thing that the soldier's home was on a bus route.
It took him little over an hour to reach the address his aunt had gotten. He saw a man sitting outside on his porch, with a German Shepard sitting next to him. He was reading something from the looks of it.
The moment Peter entered the dog's territory, it took notice, but didn't move.
"You Peter?" the man asked, not looking up from his book.
"Yes sir," he said calmly.
He lowered his book.
"Your aunt said you might be comin'."
Peter said nothing. He could tell just by looking at the man he'd have to earn his respect, and right now he was an untested recruit.
The soldier slowly stood up, and Peter could see his left leg was fake. He held the man's eyes, as he could guess what happened to it.
"Let's sit and talk for a spell," he said calmly. Peter walked past the fence and onto the porch. "So...why do you want to learn search and rescue?"
Peter thought about what to say, but something about the man had earned his silent respect.
"Far too many heroes thing that just because you suddenly gain powers or a fancy toy, that means you have to put the whole world on your shoulders," said Peter after a moment. "Not all heroes wear capes."
The man stared him down.
"That's not the real reason, is it?" he said evenly. However Peter knew he had won some slight brownie points with his answer.
"I awakened a mutation, shortly before my uncle was killed," admitted Peter. "Normally, I'd keep a low profile and keep my head down, so I won't attract any of the idiots who seem to think powers give you an excuse to do what you want, regardless of who you hurt. But one of the Avengers who side with Stark noticed me, and well... I don't trust the Accords in the slightest."
"You don't like Tony Stark?"
"I'd rather side with Captain America, if I had to chose," said Peter without hesitation. "I actually feel pity for the Winter Soldier, because it's pretty damn obvious the guy is a war prisoner who was brainwashed and tortured into becoming a weapon against his will. He needs therapy and rehabilitation, not a prison cell."
He could sense that the man's estimation of him went up again, just a bit.
"What about Stark?"
"Stark is an egotistical man-child who can't seem to get it into his bloody head that actions have consequences, and that he can't pay his way out of everything," said Peter with no small amount of annoyance. "The man is letting his own ego and pride cause no end of headaches and suffering because he thinks he alone can 'save' everyone, rather than realize that bad things happen and sometimes there is no right way to do things. All you can do is what you can and hope like hell things turn out right in the end."
The ex-soldier gave him a measured look. He seemed to be searching for something in Peter's gaze, and whatever he found convinced him that Peter was serious.
"This here is Bandit."
Peter looked at the dog, who let out a single bark. Peter didn't bother to pet it, as it was clearly a working dog.
This was going to be fun, he could tell.
Shrike found himself eating a burger across from Domino, who had just come off an assignment and happened to run into him outside work. Knowing her, it was simply that her luck told her to do it.
"There's one thing I don't get. You said Spiderman was blackmailed into that mess in Germany, but how? He was pretty low-key, if you could even call it that, when it comes to heroics."
Shrike made a face.
"Spiderman missed the bus one too many times, and got lazy when it came to getting to school on time. That's how Stark busted him."
Domino stared at him, Shrike stared back.
"You're actually serious. Iron Man dragged a minor into a mess he created because the kid was a little lazy about how he got to school on time?"
"Yup," said Shrike in disgust. "As if I didn't need more reasons not to respect the asshole."
Domino shook her head in disbelief. She respected Spiderman, just a bit, after some random journalist had the fortune of running into them while looking for a story, and just happened to ask the hero about his feelings towards Iron Man and the rest.
By this point, the fact Spiderman was very much a minor was well known. He hadn't exactly tried to hide it, and openly admitted as such when asked. King T'Challa had not been impressed with Stark on learning this fact, and neither had anyone else.
Spiderman hadn't hesitated to go into depth why he considered the Sokovia Accords an absolutely horrible idea, and gave some solid reasoning behind it.
Yes, on the surface forcing the Avengers and other heroes into accountability sounded like a great idea, and so did the idea of a 'list' of what they could do.
In reality, it was a recipe for disaster especially with what a hot button issue mutations were.
People were already very divided over mutants and other super humans, and that was before they got into the hero scene. Forcing them to out themselves because they had a unique gift that could be used in the field was an absolutely horrible idea because it painted a very clear target on their backs as well as their families and friends.
Spiderman hadn't hesitated to make some very pointed remarks that it sounded far too much like the same nonsense the Nazi party pulled when they started sending the "undesirables" to camps "for their own good".
That had really set the niffler in the vaults, especially since the one opposing the entire farce was a known World War Two veteran who vehemently disagreed with the Sokovia Accords on principle.
If Tony wanted those accords to be accepted by the public, he was going to be in for a nasty fight. Especially when someone made a comparison like that.