Spiderman was enjoying a rare night off...mostly. He didn't have a shift as Sister Margaret's. He didn't have training because Adrien and Bandit were off for a family reunion for the next three weeks. May was busy because a new batch of freshly minted nurses had just been assigned to her hospital. And he had no homework to speak of that hadn't already been taken care of the second he got home.
And honestly, he had damn near read all the books in the New York sanctum as was politely requested to avoid the main base because a rather dangerous ex-Mystic had stolen something that had the Ancient One worried. Well, that and a new recruit who was a bit of an asshole and would likely recognize him was being trained.
Wong had called the man...insufferable, to say the least.
So here he was, lazing about as Spiderman in the ridiculous suit that Stark had given him. He didn't even like the thing...it was too tech heavy, far too form fitting, and the less said about the name he gave the AI, the better.
Peter refused to trust anything named "Karen" on principle, especially when it came with something called "baby monitor protocols" attached to it.
There was a reason why he preferred to go out in the suit he had sewn together using his own thread which he enchanted to hell and back. Between the spells, and the naturally tough spider silk which felt more like a second skin, he felt more at ease than he ever did in the Stark Suit.
He was finishing the sandwich he picked up at Mr. Delmar's when he heard it. The emergency scanner going off.
As much as Peter found smart phones to be irksome at times, he would admit he did enjoy the perks that came with them. Easier communication than a fire, the games, and more importantly the various apps like the emergency scanner.
Sure, he could have gone with the police scanner...but he honestly didn't feel like doing their jobs for them, and he knew that sort of thing had a habit of pissing the cops off something fierce when a hero did that.
The emergency scanner though...that tapped into all the frequencies, not just the cops. Peter had it set to filter out the police and mostly listened to the paramedics and firefighters instead. When they were on the scene, it was more about saving lives, not catching someone who had misbehaved.
Besides...paramedics and firefighters didn't carry guns as a standard part of their gear. Police did.
Sighing, Peter tapped the phone and it went to the bluetooth that was part of the Stark suit.
What he heard had him sitting up, tossing his bag and everything else to his room via a portal, and immediately leaping off the random skyscraper and start slinging himself towards the scene.
By the time he got there, the building was already burning well out of control, and the firefighters were focusing on getting as many people out and containing the blaze. Paramedics were already on scene treating people for smoke inhalation and second degree burns. It was a mess.
Spiderman went straight to the one who looked to be in charge.
"How many people left?"
"Look kid, we have this," said the chief, irritated.
Spiderman stared him down.
"How many, and which floors are they on?"
"I'm not sending a minor in to do..."
"I can reach the higher floors faster than your men, and I can carry gear to help get people down to your guys before they die from smoke inhalation," said Spiderman bluntly. "With how bad this fire is going, anyone on the upper floors have minutes if they're lucky, and one of my abilities is enhanced strength. Besides, the suit would protect me from any burning material for a small time."
The fact he could give less of a damn if it were damaged was a bonus.
The fire chief stared him down. This wasn't some kid rushing in to be a hero...this was someone who had the ability to help and was offering it freely.
Something passed between them, and the chief reluctantly said...
"Three people that we know of, one's a kid on the top floor. The fire's too hot for us to reach the girl, and I got word that the inner stairwell is heavily damaged from the blaze. Bastards who built the place didn't do it up to code, or never maintained it properly," he said evenly. "Look, I can't have some kid rushing into a blaze like this."
"Could you really stop me if I did?" said Spiderman calmly. He was already heading to the fire truck to get the gear he needed. The chief watched warily, but with some approval as Spiderman only grabbed what would be needed. Especially the two masks that would allow them to breath through the smoke for a short period. He also grabbed a fire blanket to protect the kid once he was in.
Armed with the borrowed gear, Spiderman used his webs to scale the building. The chief had given him a general location of the girl, nothing else. He clearly wasn't happy about it.
The little girl was still there, clutching a rather ragged looking cat who was very unhappy. She looked terrified.
Spiderman could see that the door was closed, but the smoke coming under it was a pretty good indication that opening the window would be a very, very bad idea.
The last thing he needed was a flashover to kill the kid and the furball by accident.
So he began scaling around to the other side of the building. Fire would go towards any source of oxygen it could get to. He broke the window, and was heartily grateful for the flame freezing charm because that fire was everywhere. It engulfed the window before he had a chance to move out of the way.
Spiderman could hear the cries of alarm from outside. He started moving, heading towards the door where he saw the little girl.
He pulled out the radio he had borrowed when he took the gear and after a few minutes was able to get on the channel they were using.
"This is Spiderman...avoid the upper floor, the stairwell is too engulfed to take an adult's weight," he warned them.
"Where the hell did Spiderman get one of our radios?"
"Stay off the comms kid, this isn't your fight!"
Spiderman ignored them, and found an extinguisher that was partially blackened from the blaze. He aimed it at the door where his spider-sense alerted him to go. The handle cooled enough to open, and he could already hear the girl crying.
Finding more fire near the bedroom, he aimed the extinguisher at the blaze preventing him from entering.
The girl whimpered at the sound.
Spiderman entered, and went to her side.
"Easy, easy," he said soothingly. "You're going to be okay."
"No I'm not. I did a bad thing, and he's going to be so mad at me," she whimpered. She clutched her cat tighter, to it's protest.
Spiderman observed the surroundings, and winced. Somehow, he had the feeling this fire was not accidental.
"It's okay. First we need to get you out of here, along with your friend."
He made slow, careful movements and made sure the little one saw what he was doing. She flinched slightly, until she saw the mask.
"Here, put this on. It'll make it easier to breath, okay?" he said soothingly.
The little girl nodded slowly, and slid the mask on.
"I'm going to pick you and kitty up, okay?" he said. She nodded again, and Spiderman was glad for the stupid mask because it covered the massive frown on his face when she openly flinched. He could tell just by looking it wasn't from fear, but from pain. He was already pissed because he could feel her ribs under the shirt.
"Hold on to your kitty for me, okay?" he said.
"Okay Spiderman," she whispered, scared. She curled into him closer, taking comfort in his presence. He didn't want to scare her by going down the same way he came up, so he opened a portal instead.
The fire chief's expression seeing the blaze behind them, and the little girl holding the cat was priceless.
"You...how..."
"I can do more than sling webs or climb walls," said Spiderman dryly. "Can you tell your men the girl is safe? That stair well was already pretty much gone when I got there."
"They have the other two people out," said the fire chief. At this point he wasn't going to question it.
The girl flinched when an older man came into view. Spiderman was already very suspicious about what was going on.
"Look, I can see you're overwhelmed here with the adults. Do you mind if I drop her directly at a hospital to get treated? I can take any other severe cases to make sure that your EMT's aren't completely overwhelmed."
"You can do that? Of course you can do that, I just saw you walk through a freaking portal from the fourth floor," muttered the chief.
The EMT's were very happy for the offer, especially when Spiderman proved he wasn't joking about the quick trip. Three people had severe smoke inhalation and needed more than what they had in the van, and two more had third degree burns that could lead to something serious.
To say the doctors and nurses were very shocked to see random portals opening up in their ER and EMT's swiftly moving patients in was an understatement. However they knew their job, just as Spiderman knew his.
May gave her nephew a Look when he made a portal to her wing of the hospital carrying a scared little girl and a very unhappy cat. Spiderman made a point of delivering the kid to a different hospital from her father.
Once the little girl was being treated, May quietly wandered over to the 'hero'.
"Why bring her here?" asked May.
"Hospitals are mandatory reporters. She flinched from sudden movements, I could feel her ribs and she showed she was in pain when I picked her up. And there were little signs around the room that make me think her home life isn't the best," said Spiderman simply. "Taking her here means her father can't talk the nurses out of any treatments, since it'll take a while before he finds out where she is. More than long enough to get CPS involved if necessary."
May was both proud of her nephew, and sad that he knew what signs to look for enough that he could guess at a bad homelife so fast.
"I...should probably return the gear I borrowed."
"Be safe," whispered May. He nodded quietly back.
The fire chief looked at Spiderman with new eyes. The fire was mostly contained, and the people inside were safe and being taken for treatment. He accepted the gear Spiderman borrowed.
"Good job. But we can't exactly have vigilantes running into burning buildings."
Spiderman saw how the firefighters were looking at him.
"Would it make you feel any better that I'm actually trying to get search and rescue training, and that the only reason I interfered was due to how bad the blaze was getting? If you already had everyone out, I would have left it well enough alone," said Spiderman. "Not all heroes have to wear capes or have some fancy power or suit."
"Question...how did you know about the fire?" asked one brave soul.
"Emergency scanner. Have it set to filter out the police broadband and focus on the rest. Cops already hate capes with a passion, no need for them to hate me," said Spiderman cheerfully. "Besides, most cops carry guns and I'd rather avoid being shot."
That got a snort from the firemen around him. Spiderman might be a 'cape' as he put it, but at least he was showing more common sense than most did.
And, as it later turned out the fire was an electrical one...started from the top as the girl had plugged in one too many things that caused a short. Spiderman was not surprised that the kid was moved to her aunt's custody after May reported injuries that were before the fire.
CPS was just glad to have something concrete to pin on the father, since he was unable to stop the nurses from doing their job by refusing treatment again.