Chapter 48: Chapter 48: Meeting an Armored Avenger II
"Make yourself comfortable, we got a lot to get through," Tony said as he opened the door to his private booth, Peter instantly getting hit with cold hair once stepping into the room.
It was everything he expected for a billionaire to have, cushioned leather seats, a TV that spread nearly an entire wall, an AC, a fridge behind a counter along with probably the best view of the stadium behind what looked to be one-way glass.
The boy looked below into the stadium and saw some of the kids that didn't make it into the next round doing some recreational games that no one was paying attention to.
Weird backdrop to what was happening to Peter right now, but whatever.
Tony pressed a button on his watch that made a beeping sound, the two seats in the room rotating to face each other as a small table rose from the ground between them.
He waited a second before taking a seat, Peter took a bit longer before doing the same.
They sat in silence, Peter simply waiting for the man to say something that would begin to explain what was happening.
"Can I interest you in anything? Water? Soda? Can't offer you alcohol since you're 15 and all." The man asked nonchalantly, running a hand through his hair.
Oh my god, seriously?
This guy was deflecting!
"Look, I don't wanna be rude or anything but can we get to the point? As in, me being an 'illegal genetic mutation'? What does that even mean? And how do you know about the spider? I killed it after it bit me!"
There was a bit of heat in his voice, Peter pointing at the man across from him with his unhurt hand.
If these people had been spying on him for over a year, then there better be a damn good explanation as to why.
A dry chuckle escaped Tony, the man taking off in glasses and placing them in his breast pocket.
"Damn, you're not gonna make this easy for me, huh? I can't blame ya for that, Parker." He began, rubbing his eyes for a moment. "Basically? There's a lot about quirks that the public doesn't know."
Great, of course, that spider threw him into some huge coverup scheme!
God, this was gonna be a mess.
"The general consensus of quirks is that they are a genetic phenomenon that grants people wacky abilities and mutations, only obtainable at birth." He said, leaning forward in his seat and lacing together. "They're mostly right, but there are exceptions when it comes to that."
Exceptions? Like, he was bitten by a spider to get his quirk but an actually recorded exception when it came to obtaining quirks was… unheard of.
"Exceptions like you, because for all intents and purposes, you don't have a traditional quirk, you have abilities so enhanced that regular quirked people won't be able to match for at least a few more generations."
Taking a moment to pause, Tony continued his explanation.
"Have you ever wondered how you don't have the weakness of a spider like how other people with animal quirks have? Or how those spider traits of yours got taken to such extreme levels of strength? That's because the rules that apply to the quirked don't apply to people like you, kid. That's why we refer to you as mutates."
Well, Peter had wondered about it sometimes but didn't think about it that much since it always helped him out.
"Mutates? Wait, wait, so there are other people with spider powers out there?" Peter asked, flexing his fingers in his hurt hand.
Tony said others like him, did that mean that there were other spiders like the ones that bit him?
Like, was there a whole army of spider people that nobody knew about with super-enhanced quirks?
The room was silent for a moment, the two looking at each other before Tony broke into laughter, going on for a good minute before finally calming down.
"Pfft, no! That's stupid! I meant that there were people who got quirks through similar circumstances like yours, things like accidents and experiments."
...
Yeah, that made a lot more sense.
"So… you're telling me there are people out there with quirks made by science? Like, lab experiments and stuff?" Looking at the man, Peter tried and failed to read his expression.
He got up from his seat, going behind the counter before grabbing a glass and a bottle of what Peter assumed to be alcohol.
"You sure are smart, huh? And yeah, there are people out there who have abilities like you, people who hit the genetic lottery, you know? Some of them don't know the stuff that I'm telling you and some do, but we like to keep it hush hush if we can."
Alright.
So one of the biggest facts when it came to quirks was just a lie? There were people with abilities like him just… running around? And barely anyone actually knew?
This was just a huge conspiracy theory at this point.
"Ok… who? Like, famous heroes? And why did you call me an 'illegal genetic mutation' instead of a mutate if that's the name for people like me?" Peter asked, his leg beginning to bounce unconsciously.
Tony hummed, pouring the drink into the glass without even paying him a look.
"Not at liberty to tell you who, kid. But as to why I called you an 'illegal genetic mutation'? It's cause that's what you are, an illegal mutate." He responded, shaking his drink a bit before bringing the glass to his lips.
The word 'Illegal' was really not striking him as good right now.
"As in, unregistered, unaccounted for, as in what happened to you wasn't planned, as in a potentially dangerous individual if left unsupervised," Tony responded, his face growing serious as Peter felt himself tense. "We had to make sure you didn't turn yourself into a threat, given how we technically own you and all."
Peter froze, a horrified look on his face as Tony poured more alcohol into the glass.
" Own me? What the hell does that even mean? How does getting bitten by a spider lead to you owning me?" Peter asked, voice growing angrier as Tony simply drank from the glass.
He had been angry before, then he was slowly starting to come to an understanding with everything that was happening but now?
He just…
He just didn't want this.
"You're an illegal genetic mutation, I don't dabble in the whole shadowy organization stuff that much, but they're specifically in charge of dealing with mutates all over the globe. Once you turn 18, they'll decide what to do with you. People in your situation have the potential to be incredibly dangerous to themselves and the general public, we can't just let people like that run around without them being monitored to a degree. But un-"
Peter shot up from his chair, cutting off Tony mid-sentence, with the man not even reacting before simply starting to put the bottle away.
"I didn't ask for this stuff, these powers! You guys just get control over me cause some dude didn't keep track of a spider? Man, you're Tony Stark! You're supposed to be a hero, and you just drop this me?" He yelled, Tony only standing there calmly.
God, this sucked!
Some shadowy organization just had ownership of him? He just wants to help people! What does it matter how he got his quirk?
And not only that, but it was Tony Stark telling him this? And what, was he supposed to be fine?
Was he supposed to understand?
"Kid, you didn't let me finish. I was saying that your case was a bit different from what normally goes on. We see… potential in you, potential to be something beyond what you could achieve on your own. You're not that bad in this line of work at your age, and I believe you can be part of something really special when you grow up."
… What?
What the hell did he just say?
Did he just tell him about the fact that super-enhanced quirks existed, how he was part of the group of people who had them, about how he was technically owned by some shadowy organization just for some sort of vague sales pitch?
No way, there was no way that this was what it was all about.
There was just no way.
Peter stood there slack-jawed before sitting down in his seat and dragging his hands down his face.
"So what, did you come here to recruit me to whatever you got going on? To tell me about how some unseen group of people has been watching me in case I become dangerous? About how I'm technically their property because of how I got my quirk? " He asked, scowling at the man.
In response, Tony just shrugged and stepped out from behind the counter and into his seat in a relaxed manner.
"Eh, think of it as more of a head's up for the stuff going around you! You had to find out about this big boy stuff sooner or later."
Stuff going on around him? He hadn't even heard of any of this until today!
Until he showed up!
"I don't want to be part of-of anything you just said! I don't want anything to do with this 'big boys' world of yours." His hands balled into fists, Tony's face turned into a small smirk.
"Sorry to say that you don't have much of a choice right now, kid. You're in this now whether you like it or not, you can't take back that spider bite, that's just how it is."
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