"Tony, we have a problem." Not the workds anyone wants to hear. Especially not someone who is called Tony and is called by his head of security.
"I mean we had a problem. Still have. Kind of…most of it is sorted. By Spiderman."
There was a loud shout on the other side of the phone and Happy had to lift the phone off his ear.
"Long story short, Vulture guy tried to highjack the plane but now he is webbed to the crates on the beach. There is note from Spiderman he says he is sorry about the plane."
"What is the plane doing on the beach? How the hell did they land it on the beach?" Was audible even from afar.
"Well, they didn't exactly land rather crashed it. It's in pieces." Happy winced.
"I don't know yet. Will have to see the footage of the security cameras."
There was a little pause from the other side before Happy looked around again looking for something.
"I have no idea. There is no sign of him on the beach. We looked. The Vulture guy was not really forthcoming with the information on where he might be but he said he left."
"No of course I don't trust him but there is no sign of him."
Happy looked up again but now he found what he was looking for as he saw the Ironsuit land right beside him an angry looking boss stepping out.
Tony looked around astonished at the wreckage rubbing a hand over his face when he zeroed in on the Vulture.
He stormed towards him and picked him up by his jacket.
"Where is he? What did you do to him?"
The Vulture had surprise etched onto his face as Stark didn't want to kill him for trying to highjack his plane ultimately crashing it but on the whereabouts of his Spider mentee.
"I didn't do anything. I was just minding my own business when he came, crashed the plane tied me up then left." Toomes shrugged trying to be nonchalant riding the wave that Stark was focused on the kid.
"FRIDAY contact Karen."
"KAREN is currently offline."
"Damnit!" Tony forgot he had taken away the suit. Letting Tooms go leaving him on the ground.
"FRIDAY Scan the area!" Tony said to his suit.
"Scanning." The AI voice replied.
"What the hell Happy? How did this happen?"
"It's my fault boss. Somehow, they figured it out but I didn't listen."
"They? They who?"
"He and his friend." Happy didn't want to elaborate more.
"I thought they were just bored and was phone bombing me with some stupid shit again and I had my plate full with moving so I shrugged them off."
"His phone is currently at an industrial park in Brooklyn." FRIDAY added.
"What the hell is he doing in Brooklyn?!"
Tony said worriedly looking around again. He felt his phone vibrate again with a message but he was too worried to notice it. "He…he… shit he did all this in his pajamas? I should have known he won't quit. I shouldn't have taken away his suit. I should have just planted a tracker on him…permanently…or I will get grey long before I'm supposed to." he held his mouth as people were around them and he didn't want anyone to get a hint who Spiderman might be.
"Boss."
"I don't care if that's illegal Happy."
"Boss." Happy said again shoving his phone into Tony's face so Tony would see the text that FRIDAY sent to their phones saying: "A Peter Parker, age 15 from Queens is being ID'd by the police right now 1.5miles north."
"Send me the coordinates FRI."
Tony said as he hopped back into his suit.
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Peter stumbled off the scene hoping to get away before the authorities got there.
With a big sigh, well as big as he could take with busted ribs, he looked around again from his perch before he slowly climbed off the cyclone. He was out of web fluids. He had no phone no money and he just hurt so much all over it would be impossible for him to climb and jump the buildings even if he had web fluids.
Walking it is.
A 15 miles hike to be precise.
Maybe he could call Ned if he can find a payphone.
Whatever he needs to start walking he thought, and started his slow track home.
He pulled the bottom of his pants out of his socks and pulled his hood up to look less…whatever and shoved his gloves and mask into his pockets.
He hung his head low as he headed home. Not like he felt ok not to b hunched over a but anyway.
Every step sent a jolt through his body…everything just hurt he just hoped people would leave him alone. Hopefully his thorn dirty look would keep everyone away.
Brooklyn wasn't the safest to walk by yourself in the middle of the night. Heck he was the one protecting people from something like this but even in pain and exhausted he thought he still had a better chance than others but he was so not looking for a fight.
There were people on the streets in the middle of the night. Low lives, addicts, whores, giving comments, offering drugs or just simply trying to rile him up but once they stepped closer and smelt his smokey smell they backed off. Nobody lokes a pyro.
So, he just kept his head down ignored them continued walking or rather limping towards home.
Cars passed by loud and fast but he never noticed the car stopping right beside him despite his spider senses and never noticed anyone approaching him.
Not until someone grabbed his arm and he reacted on instinct yanking his arm out of the hold and pushing the body away with his other. There was a loud thump as the body slammed into something.
Before he even realized what he was doing he ran.
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Thalia Bishop was cranky and hungry. John was aware of that but at least they have coffee now so he might just survive the next half an hour until they found something to eat.
They were patrolling the Brooklyn area when units were called in to a massive accident on Cony Island where a cargo plane crashed. They weren't needed as plenty of officers were at the scene already with the FBI and whatnot but they still took a swing in that direction curiosity taking over.
It was massive.
Half the beach was on fire. Wreckage littered everywhere. Luckily it was a sandy beach and there was nothing the fire could spread to but still seeing the huge plane scattered across the beach like that looked like a scene from an action movie.
Their colleagues said the plane was on autopilot, a Stark plane, so there was no pilots and therefore no causalities. A villain was tied to the cargo though and there was something about Spiderman being involved webbing up said villain to the secured cargo.
God, he wished he was spiderman sometimes. John thought. Fighting crime with enhanced abilities roaming the night undetected until he was where he needed to be. John had no idea how, but he was always at the right place at the right time.
"Do you think Spiderman has a day job?" John suddenly asked.
"What?"
"You know he never actually fights crime during work hours I was wondering if he had a day job."
"Or the crime is worst at night and he needs to get some sleep as every normal person does sometimes."
"Well, he is not exactly normal, is he? I wonder why he is keeping his identity a secret. Tony Stark was all over the news and the Avengers don't seem to mind either."
"Because he is a reasonable human being doing what he does to help not to be in the center of attention."
John thought about that.
"Would you tell the world if you were Spiderman?" Thalia asked but John's attention caught something.
"Stop the car." He said.
"What is it?" Thaila asked as she slammed on the brakes switching to alert mode putting on the police lights on not knowing what John saw.
John was looking into a rearview mirror before getting out of the car.
Thalia saw a few goons here and there but none of them seemed to be disruptive and they all scattered as the police car stopped. She got out of the car ready to back up her partner just in case.
John approached a hunched figure limping past them reeking of smoke without really noticing them, head held low, hood pulled up to his head one arm circling around his chest the other deep in his sleeveless hoodie's pocket. His thorn dirty singed hoodie's pocket.
Another beaten up druggie Thalia thought.
"Hey. You, ok?" John asked approaching the figure calmly but he didn't break his stride or look up. He just hunched his shoulders more trying to avoid the person in his way and kept on walking.
A true New Yorker it seems.
"Hey kid would you stop for a second? I'm officer…" He grabbed the kid's arm and like he just noticed the man was there he looked up eyes wide and John just had a second to recognize it was indeed only a kid before he was pushed back.
Hard.
Harder than expected from a scrawny kid as he flew backwards into the police car.
The kid bolted.
"Police! Stop!" Thalia had her gun and flashlight out in a second ready to bolt after the person but the he froze the second she shouted police, his chest heaving as he slowly raised his arms and turned around to see the police car and the two officers like he had just noticed it now.
He seemed to sag in relief.
"Hey! Hey it's ok!" John regained his footing waving at Thalia to lower her weapon before he approached the boy again now that they had is attention.
"I'm sorry sir so sorry. I.. I thought…" The kid had his palms up towards John leant forward a bit now he couldn't support his ribs.
"Hey it's ok kid. We just wanted to know if you are ok."
His hunch was correct when he had the car stopped.
He was just a kid. And he seemed hurt.
The kids body shook with minute trembles despite the warm evening.
"No harm done I scared you it was my fault only." John said as he looked the figure up and down. "I'm officer Nolan and she is my partner or rather boss officer Bishop. What's you name?"
The kid took a second to reply his raised hand touching his head for a second before he looked down on himself swaying with the motion before he looked back up concentrating on one point until he regained his balance.
"I'm I'm Peter. Peter Parker."
"Nice to meet you, Peter Parker. You can lower your hands now we just wanted to know if you were all right."
His hands came down and immediately found themselves wound around his chest again.
"You, ok?"
"I'm fine sir." He said not too convincingly as he swayed where he stood.
Thalia approached them with a flashlight turning the light into his face.
"Where do you live kid?"
He flinched away from the light stumbling backwards a few steps one hand flying up to his head a small wine escaping his lips. Thalia reached after him but he regained his balance before she could actually touch him. They both saw the pale complex and the blood dried on his face.
They shared a quick look and tried to approach the situation with more caution.
"Can you tell me what happened kid?" Thalia asked trying to brace the kid with a hand on his elbow but he yanked his arm out with a hiss from the touch. Thalia quickly held up her hands in a placating manner indicating she is not going to touch him again.
"I'm fine." He repeated, hissing through his teeth but he seemed to be able to reel in the pain he felt as he looked up again.
"Did someone hurt you?"
"No. It's really ok. I just need to get home."
"Where do you live kid?" John asked trying a new approach. The kid clearly didn't trust easily.
"Queens sir."
"You are quite far from home kid. What are you doing in Brooklyn so late?"
Peter didn't have an answer for that just looked back towards the way he came from.
"Are you in trouble kid?"
The kid looked at him for a second contemplating his answer but he shook his head again uncertain.
"No Sir." John saw that was an obvious lie but didn't push for now he was just happy the kid wasn't hurt too much to be confused or forget basic information.
Thalia was back with a tablet looking for the kid's ID.
"How old are you?" John kept the conversation up as Thalia searched for the data.
"I'm 15 sir."
"Aaah the age of 15. I loved to sneak out with friends in the middle of the night but I lived in a town not a big city. We used to sneak into this closed off military area they had an awesome lake there and we could take out bikes to the dunes there it was awesome."
The kid just looked at John in confusion.
"Where are your friends kid?"
"At…at school." He said honestly. He seemed like a nice kid John had no idea what business he mixed himself in.
"At school? At this time?" Maybe the kid was confused.
"Homecoming."
"Oh. And why are you not there?"
The kid just looked away.
Then the smoke clicked as a puff of wind took the smell of the smoke from the beach. He didn't put the two together before it was too big a deal for a kid but now he wasn't sure. There were no other reports of fire in the region.
"What happened to your clothes?" Bishop asked seeing the burn marks on his clothes.
Peter looked down on himself and tried to brush off the dirt and ash as it was just some dust and swayed again as he looked down. Seems like a concussion, John thought.
John held out his arms just in case but the kid rightened himself again. He looked up exhausted.
"Where are your parents kid?" The kid was forthcoming with private information might as well just push it a little.
"I live with my aunt." He looked at John tiredly trying not to cradle his ribs too hard but John also noticed he was favoring one leg.
"Do you want us to call her?" Thalia asked already cross checking the information she had in the system.
"Nonono please don't. She…she is at work."
"Where does she work?"
"At the hospital."
"She a doctor?"
"Nurse."
"Would you like us to take you to her? I'm sure she would…"
"Please don't. I'll just head home. I promise."
"Look kid if you are in trouble…"
"I'm not in trouble. I'm…, just…just…" Peter couldn't come up with a good explanation.
What would this kid do there? In his pajamas none the less? Was he and his friends doing something on Cony Island when the plane crashed? Did they scatter everybody fending for themselves? They did something wrong? The kid was definitely walking from that direction.
"Look kid. I need to know what were you doing on Cony Island?" John bluffed on his hunch started to become worried so he needed answers and worried they will have to find some burnt teenagers under the wreckage or something.
Peter looked up quickly the color draining from his face. Jackpot. And his eyes just promptly rolled back.
John quickly stepped forward and caught the kid before he hit the ground feeling how cold his skin felt despite the warm evening. And the kid grabbed his uniform with and his arm leaning into the support. So not totally unconscious just faint.
John quickly sat the kid down in the backseat of the patrol car pushing his head low.
They needed answers.
Now.
The kid had a fierce grip on John's arm as he tried to anchor himself and John winced from the hold.
"Kid I need to know were there others with you on the beach?"
The kid just shook his head no and nearly fell out of the car. John bracing him.
"I'm calling in an ambulance." Thalia said
That the kid heard that and panicked again head shot up getting even paler then before.
"Nonono please don't I'm I'm fine I promise." John just pushed him back down.
"It's ok. No one's calling an ambulance for now but you need to tell us what happened. Why were you on Cony Island? What happened to you? Did someone hurt you?! Are other people hurt?"
Peter didn't give an answer just covered his head with an arm.
"Look you are not in trouble we just need to know if we need to look for someone else in that chaos."
"No. I was alone." The kid admitted.
John was crouching in front of the kid rubbing circles on his back when he looked down and saw a red piece of cloth that probably fell from the kid's pocket and picked it up.
And he was shocked at what he saw.
No way.
He could have thought it was just s copy costume if he hadn't watched the videos of Spiderman a thousand times and hadn't felt the kids grip on his arm just now.
But his mind refused to accept the conclusion.
You gotta be kidding right? His mind supplied.
But the picture was complete. Apart from the kid part. He wanted to believe he was just a fan but he felt the bruise forming on his back from hitting the police car and his chest where the hand pushed him a few minutes ago.
And there was only report of two people in the island. The guy tied up and Spiderman.
"No way." He muttered under his breath. That is just impossible.
"You're just a kid…" he muttered looking back up at the kid who now sat up and leant sideways at the back of seat his eyes closed trying to even his breathing out.
"We should really call an ambulance. He is a minor. He…" Thalia started.
"No Officer Bishop wait." He turned off his camera.
Now it was Thalia's turn to look confused.
John looked back at the kid. There was no other explanation though.
"Hey kid. Is there someone I could call?" He lowered his voice. If he was right, they were way over their heads.
The kid just shook his head no before clutching his head. Yeah, concussions suck!
"How hurt are you?" John looked into the kid's eye trying to convey he could trust him.
"I'll be fine I promise." The kid said honestly.
At that second, they both heard the sound of repulsors as Iron Man landed near the patrol car and stepped out of his suit.
The kid sat up right away swaying even sitting.
"Mr. Stark I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. I promise no one got hurt. I'm so sorry…"
"You zip it." Mr. Stark pointed a finger at Peter, relieved to see that he was safe if not completely uninjured but he didn't want the kid to blabber around strangers and reveal his identity by accident.
"Mr. Stark. Officer Nolan and my partner Officer Bishop."
"Is there a problem here officer Nolan?"
He asked casually.
"I gather you know Peter?"
"He is my intern."
He looked at Peter who sat rigid as his shivering got worse.
"We have been looking for him. He lost his phone somewhere and we couldn't reach him. He is supposed to be at this Homecoming dance not roaming the city."
Peter was panting now and he became even paler than he was before. John's protective instincts flared up and tried to shield the boy from Stark when he swooned from the open door again.
Tony rushed to his side too kneeling on the ground by John the cocky demeanor dropped and looked genuinely worried as he looked at Peter holding him up.
Peter righted again pushing himself away from the officer and reaching for Tony so John stepped back giving them space curious how it will play out. Peter rested his head against Tony's shoulder relaxing into the hold even is his breath stuttered in a hidden sob like a kid would to a parent when they knew they did something wrong but were also frightened of the outcome and the fear overlapped the fear of punishment as he muttered to the billionaire.
"I'm sorry Mr. Stark I'm so sorry. I couldn't reach anyone and I had to and the building fell and I…"
"Ssshh it's ok we'll sort it out underoos." Tony whispered back into his ear patting Peter's head with one hand and holding the kid up with the other.
John relaxed at the display glad that someone was here who was obviously aware of the situation better than they were and the kid seemed to trust Stark.
"FRIDAY call Happy to pick us up."
"Mr. Hogan's ETA is 1.2 minutes." Said an AI voice from the suit.
God Tony loved the man.
"We should really call an ambulance for him sir. He is a minor we will need to get a guardian to take him."
"I'm his mentor. His aunt is at work and I have a perfectly fine medical facility at Stark Tower probably better equipped than any hospitals in the town to check him out." Tony turned to John.
"If we are done here and it is ok for Peter to leave."
Tony asked but it was mostly a formality. It's not like Stark couldn't do whatever he wanted in this town but even for him kidnapping a kid would be something else.
"It's fine Bishop. They can go."
"But…"
"Let them go."
A black car pulled up behind the police car just a few seconds later and a chubby driver stepped out.
"Ok our ride's here. You think you can stand kid?" Tony asked and after a nod against his shoulder he lifted the kid out of the car who swayed precariously as he stood.
"Are we ok here officer Nolan?" He looked back at John.
"Yes, we are."
"Thank you for finding him." Tony reached a hand out to shake the officer's hand.
"It's our duty." He shook the hand before handing Tony the mask with the other and lowered his voice.
Tony looked up in with a closed off expression for a second.
"It's amazing what he does but he is way too young to be in this line of business. Try to…I don't know…set some boundaries or at least a damn curfew."
Tony looked surprised but a tension left his shoulders.
"I'm trying officer. Believe me I'm trying." Tony said letting his worry and tiredness of a father seep through in an honest sigh.
"Yeah. Well teenage years suck."
"Tell me about it." Tony grumbled playfully before nodding at the officer and led the kid to the waiting car. The ironsuit closed behind the officers and took off by itself leaving the police officers alone again.
"What was that all about?" Bishop asked.
"That kid will be fine with Stark and I'm sure we will be seeing this boy in the future."
"Was that Tony Stark's kid?"
"No. Well I don't think biologically anyway."
Bishop luckily dropped the subject trusting her partner and John felt a different kind of pride towards Spiderman now.
He wasn't envious of him anymore rather than developing a protective worry over him.
He started to keep tabs on him whenever he was on the radio or heard he was out on patrol and tried to keep to those areas where the kid was patrolling so he could keep an eye on him. If his partner ever noticed she never mentioned it.
He was one more adult who worried about Peter Parker and tried to keep him safe as he kept the city safe with them.
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