Capítulo 8: Making it to the Big Time
Monaco happened on Sunday. I saw Whiplash take on Tony and get knocked out. And I heard about the killer birthday party he threw for himself, even though it wasn't actually his birthday. He acted like a man who had a few days to live, since he didn't know otherwise.
On Monday my homeroom told us the entire class would be going to the Stark expo on Friday for a field trip. Everyone was happy, me? I knew I was fucked.
That entire school week I was a wreck. I spent most of my time in the Baxter building creating weapons I could use to subdue the drone army that I knew was going to be unleashed upon the people.
I created a EMP gun so powerful it could fire their systems, a new batch of concrete webbing twice as strong as my last batch and just in case I also had Johnny on Speed dial. He didn't know why, but promised to come if I really needed him.
On Friday I came to school wearing my black muscle shirt and tights under my normal high school attire. I had my Spider-man jacket and web shooters inside a hidden compartment in my bag, just in case.
Class went by as usual, and after school ended we all gathered into a school bus with Mr. Dunkan, our English teacher, to set off for the expo.
I sat next to Felicia, she looked at me and huffed, "nervous?"
"Yes," I didn't bother denying it, she was much to observant for that.
"Why?"
"Because It's a Stark expo. Have you seen what's happened to him lately? The guys out of hand. I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of the day the suits of armour became sentient and started attacking everyone."
"Damn Parker that's dark," Flash laughed, "and you said you weren't funny. There's no way that can happen!"
I rolled my eyes, "better safe than sorry Flash." I felt my back pack, the weapons I made were there. Sue was really concerned I was using Baxter time to make weapons, but after explained to her what I was afraid off she was more understanding, though a little concerned about my paranoia.
We reached the expo and got off. We got a guide to take up through the expo, each room at a time. And then we got to the main attraction. An exclusive press release by Hammer Tech in the Stark Expo main auditorium.
We were seated near the back with the VIP's taking up the front few rows. I could almost feel the trap being laid out. I can imagine the drones coming out of the stage and killing so many people. I needed to do something.
I got up from my seat and tried to sneak away.
"Yo Parker! Where do you think you're going?" Flash asked drawing everyone's attention to me.
"Bathroom," I replied.
"What? Hell no man, sit down!"
"Do you want me to pee myself Flash?" I asked not bothering about the embarrassing notions the line carried.
"I-ah," Flash stammeered.
"Peter I really must insist you sit down, this is a very exclusive event I don't think they'll even allow you to leave," the teacher told me as slowly I was forced to sit down.
"You aren't' actually going to piss yourself are you?" Felecia asked.
"No," I grumbled.
MJ sat down besides me, "hey, are you okay? You really don't sound too good."
"I'm fine, just nerves I guess," I shrugged.
"Alright...if you're sure."
Soon the event began with Justice Hammer taking center stage. He gave a long winded speech about how his dick was bigger than Tony's or something like that. And then, he introduced them, the Hammer Drones.
Army, Navy, Airforce and Marines, each unit had eight drones. And then he brought out the War Machine unit. Everyone cheered at the patriotic activities, everyone, except me.
And then suddenly, Iron man came flying in and people lost their shit. They cheered for him, Tony was whispering something to Rhodes and suddenly all hell broke lose.
Tony took to the skies and the air force drones along with the War Machine unit followed him. The glass ceiling shattered raining glass on everyone.
"Get down!" I yelled as I grabbed Felecia and MJ and pushed them down, covering them with my back. The glass rained down hard, I could hear people yelling pain. Luckily for me, my bag took the sharp edges into it's stuffing.
I got up and saw the rest of the drones slowly make their way down the platform and into the crowd. They didn't seem to be focused on killing people, that was good. But in their fight with Tony people are bound to get hurt.
I looked around, "is everyone alright?!"
"I-I think so," Harry whispered.
"Mr. Dunkan is hurt!" someone cried out.
I cursed, out teacher had gotten a shard of glass stuck into his back, he was on the ground withering in pain. Liz was by his side holding him, tears running down her face.
"What happened?" MJ was horrified.
"He tried to shield me!" Liz was crying, "he saved me!"
They looked borken, horredied even. But now wasn't the time for this, I knew that. I turned to Flash, "Flash, carry him."
"What?" he asked shocked.
"We need to get out of here, the drones are coming right at us!" I pointed to the marching army of drones. People were already running away screaming, "carry him on your back, now!"
"But I-"
"-Flash! Please!" Liz begged.
"Of course!" he nodded as we carefully put him on Flash's back. I looked around, Tony was flying through the air, the drones following him.
"We need to hide, anywhere but outside, the drones are after Iron man, not us," I told them, "we move out and run away from the expo, got it?!"
"Yeah," Harry agreed. As one we all took off, rushing out into the open air.
I grabbed my phone and speed dials Johnny. In two rings he picked up, "hello, what's up?"
"I need you, now!"
"Dude, I appreciate that, but I'm not-"
"-Not the time Johnny! People are dying out here! I need you to flame up and get down to the Stark expo now! Bring the others if you can but don't let the slow you down! Quickly Johnny!"
"Right!" Johnny hung up, I prayed my friend would get here on time.
"Who was that?" Felicia asked as we ran down a flight of stairs.
"Back up," I whispered. I searched for a place to change, this was the perfect time to slip away and try and stop these things. But drone weren't my specialty, I couldn't break them before they riddled me with bullets. Sadly Spider-man can't help now.
Suddenly a drone came flying out of the sky and landed in a ball of metal before us. The girls screamed as everyone jumped away. I stared at it, the arms were ripped apart, the wiring came undo and the internal working were seen clear as day. I quickly got an idea.
I ran to the drone and grabbed its arm, ripping it free from the rest of it.
"Peter! What are you doing?!" MJ cried out.
"Trying to save us," I told her as I analyzed the firing system and found the ones that dealt with firing the machine gun attached to it's arm. I grinned, "perfect."
"Parker! Get back!" Harry cried out as a drone landed next to me. I moved, lifting the broken arm I had on hand and pointed its gun at the drone, I hotwired the system causing the machine gun to automatically fire, ripping the drone to shreds in seconds.
Finally there was nothing left, the drone fell back, it's head ripped clean off. I panted, throwing the now useless arm aside before walking back to the the teenager staring at me, "let's go."
They nodded as began to run away. More drones came out of the auditorium. They launched missiles at Tony, most however failed to reach him, instead falling down into the crowded people covered street.
"We have to stay away from them! Move to the sides!" I yelled out. They listened and ran. But suddenly another squad of drones came out and intercepted us, standing before us like guards.
My eyes widened as they looked down and the whirling of guns being loaded as heard. I opened my bag ready to pull out my web shooters, damn the consequences, when suddenly the drones were bathed in orange flames.
"Heya Pete! Sorry I'm late!" Johnny called out as he flew over the drones lighting them all up.
I looked up and grinned, "not a problem Johnny, light these tin cans up!"
"You got it!" Johnny grinned maniacally as he melted the metal on the drones body, reducing them into liquid goo.
I turned to Johnny, "Sue and the others?"
"Are coming, but I won't hold my breath. I'm the only one who can fly and Ben doesn't fit in a car."
"Fine, these guys are trying to get Stark but keep missing, their missiles hit the civilians instead. Think you can blow them up before the hit the ground?"
"No idea, it'll be fun finding out!" Johnny called out before flying off.
I turned to my school mates and found them once again gaping at me. "What?" I lifted an eyebrow.
"Dude! That was Johnny Storm!" Flash exclaimed.
"Yes, and?"
"You know Johnny Storm?!"
I shrugged, "he's a friend from work, now do you want to keep talking, or do you want to save Mr. Dunkan life?"
Flash gulped and quickly nodded. We ran around the melted drones towards the parking lot. People were rushing out of the expo, we were lucky to find out bus quickly.
"So, you work with the Fantastic Four?" Felicia asked as we ran.
"Not with, for," I replied, "and yeah, I do."
"So that's the mysterious job you keep telling us about," Felecia realised.
"Yup, so you get why I don't advertise it."
We got into the bus and quickly put Mr. Dunkan down near the back with Liz to watch over him. We got the driver to start the bus, but before we could start a drone came flying down from the sky, landing right in front of us.
People were yelling in fear as the drone stood up and looked at us.
"Move!" I yelled at the driver, going up to him and pressing down on the gas. The bus roared alive and charged at the drone, pinning him down to the ground as it began firing bullets out of it's machine gun.
"Don't stop!" I yelled at the driver. I opened the door and reached into my grab taking out the EMP gun I built.
The drone eventually managed to grab the bus by the bumper and shove it to the side. The bus skidded and I quickly jumped out and rolled away.
The drone stood up and leveled it's guns once again at the bus, I ran up to it just as it took aim. I leveled the gun at it's head, "hey tin man," it stopped and turned at me, "die."
I squeezed the trigger causing a pulse of electrical energy to it's system short circuiting it from the inside out. It started to jerk it's limbs before suddenly dropping like a sack of potatoes. I was panting hard, I put the gun away and spat on the ground, "fuckign robotic peice of shit."
I got back on the bus and looked around, "is everyone okay?"
They were staring, again, I really didn't like this staring thing, didn't they have anything better to do?
"Y-yeah, we're fine," Harry squeaked out.
"Alright," I nodded turning to the driver, "please get us out of this fucked up place."
"Sure thing boss," he nodded driving off into the road. As we left I saw the drone I left behind explode into a giant fireball. Everyone gasped as we watched the Stark Expo turn into a visual representation of hell.
I prayed that everyone in there was alright. I was really regretting not being able to be there as Spider-man, but I knew Johnny and the others could handle it just fine on their own.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm never going on another field trip again," I chuckled. They all looked at me like I was mad, "what? Bad time?"
Felecia got up, "you noble bastard," she jumped on me, acting on instinct I caught her by hips as her lips suddenly locked themselves over mine. Her fingers ran down my hair and her legs locked around me.
I was beyond surprised but shrugged it off, wrapping my arms around her, pushing into her lips. She moaned, licking my lips to gain entry, attacking every corner of my mouth she could.
"Damn," I heard Flash whisper.
Finally she broke the kiss and pulled back, a line of saliva bridging the distance between our lips. She was panting, emerald eyes looking deeply into my own, "damn."
I agreed, "damn."
"You're a good kisser."
"Thanks."
"Want to do it again?"
I nodded, "oh God yes," I initiated it this time, holding her up with one hand while the other ran through her hair. I think everyone there was looking at us, but I honestly couldn't care less. She tasted like vanilla, I like vanilla.
We drove to the hospital and got Mr. Dunkan into the ER immediately. We were then all brought back to the school where we were surprised to find out families waiting for us.
Everyone got down and quickly ran to them. I was the last and immediately I spotted May and Ben.
"Oh Peter!" May cried out grabbing me into a tight hug, "are you okay? Did you get hurt? Did anything happen?"
"I'm fine aunt May, I promise, everything's fine," I assured her with a smile.
"You sure Pete?" Ben asked.
I nodded, "yeah. We all got out safe. Only Mr. Dunkan got hurt trying to save Liz's life. Guess field trips and I don't get along huh?"
"Peter! How can you make jokes about this?" May gasped.
Ben smiled, "let him be May, you know that's how some people process things." May sighed but nodded.
"Let's go home," May sighed pleadingly.
I nodded, I looked up at the sky and saw a fireball heading right for me. "Actually, could you wait for a second? I need to talk to someone."
"What? Who?" Ben asked.
Slowly everyone turned and watched Johnny fly down and before me. He grinned, "hey, glad you're okay."
"Thanks, how's the expo? How many people got hurt?" I asked ignoring the people staring at me.
"Not many, I think maybe one or two got hit really bad by the drones self destructing, but Ben managed to save them from the worst of it by shielding them."
"The others reached on time?" I was surprised.
"Yup. Sue and Reed managed to stop the whole place from blowing up, I think they got like 50% of the drones offline before they exploded."
"Good, that's good," I nodded, I looked behind me, Ben and May were staring, I smiled, "Johnny, this is my Uncle Ben and my Aunt May. Guys, this is Johnny Storm, part of the Fantastic Four, he's a friend."
Johnny waved, "heya Aunt May, Uncle Ben! Nice to see you! Peter's told me a lot about you! You guys should really stop by sometime! We would love to have you over!"
"Y-yes, thank you," Ben responded while May couldn't bring herself to say anything.
Johnny nodded before turning to me, "anyway I just came to see if you made it alright. I have to go back and help with the clean up."
"Can I do anything?" I asked automatically.
"Yeah sure, we could always-"
"-No, I don't think it's a good thing Peter," May said in a quiet voice, "that's enough for today, let the police handle it."
"But-" I wanted to argue, but one look at Ben and I decided against it, "right sorry."
Johnny chuckled, "well then I'll see you on Monday Pete, take care!" He then flamed on and took off into the air.
I sighed and turned to my uncle and aunt. We moved to leave when Anna and MJ came up to us.
"Anna dear," May smiled, "I'm glad to see Mary Jane's alright."
"Yes she is, thank you for taking me with you, it would have taken much longer if I had to come by the bus. But apparently we have Peter here to thank for MJ's safe return!" Anna exclaimed.
May and Ben looked surprised, "what?"
"He saved us May," MJ whispered, "he saved all of us."
Ben and May turned to me. I shrugged, "great power, great responsibility."
Ben gapped, "Peter, that isn't exactly what I meant."
"No, that's is exactly what you meant, and you know it," I told him, "I just scaled up the model a bit."
"But how?" May asked.
"He used a gun or something!" Flash yelled out. I turned to him and glared, stupid blonde idiot.
"A gun?!" Ben yelled out.
"It's not a gun," I said, sending Flash another hate filled glare, I took out the emp gu-machine and presented it to them, "it's something I made at work. Sends an EMP strong enough to knock out the drones."
"Peter, why did you even make such a thing?" Ben asked.
"Simple, the last time Tony Stark did anything he was attacked by a madman with lighting whips. The time before that it was a guy in a suit of armour. I figured I shouldn't risk it, after all Hammer tech was the one who designed the Rhino suit, I figured someone might try and pull something in the expo tonight. So….EMP machine."
They all looked at me like a grew a third head.
"How could you possibly know this?" Liz asked.
"I got a job working with Reed Richards, did you really think I'm an idiot?" I scoffed.
"Well I for one am impressed," I heard a familiar voice that sent a shiver down my spine. Norman walked up to me and smiled, "Peter, once again you've impressed me. May I?"
Hes gestured to my EMP machine. I nodded and slowly gave it to him. He looked it over and raised an eyebrow, "I have the smartest minds on the planet working under me, though I'm not sure anyone could have built something so….efficient. Truly impressive Peter."
"T-thanks," I gulped.
"Excuse me, but who are you?" Ben asked standing between me and Norman, guess he ntoiced how scared I suddenly became.
"Oh, I apologize, I'm Norman Osborn, Harry's father," he gestured to Harry to stood a good distance away looking at the ground like he was being punished, "normally I wouldn't involve myself in my son's life but….well, let's just say I'm glad I did. You are Ben Parker correct?"
Ben blinked, "yes."
"Well you have raised your nephew to be a fine man Mr. Parker. I would offer him an internship at my company, but I don't think he would be interested, yes?" he looked at me and smiled.
I nodded, "yeah, sorry."
"Oh please, it's no fault of yours. It's mine for not recognizing the talent you hold. This is twice I owe you for protecting my son Peter, I don't forget my debts I owe. If you need anything, call," he gave me his card and walked away, "come Harry, it's time for dinner."
"Yes father," Harry bowed, he actually bowed, and followed Norman into a long black limo.
"Well that was...something," Ben cleared his throat and turned to Anna, "are you two ready?"
"Oh yes," Anna nodded, "come MJ, Peter, let's go home."
I nodded, as we walked away though I noticed Felicia talking to a woman dressed in a fine dress gown with a diamond necklace and long silver hair that matched hers. Felicia looked up and gave me a small smile, she waved goodbye before leaving with the woman, who I guess is her mother.
We drove back home quickly, guess Ben was anxious to put this day behind him. Ben pulled up onto the driveway and quickly we got out. MJ gave me a confused look I couldn't quite understand, but she didn't say a thing as she went home.
I sighed, it was a long day, but it was done. I survived it and am now all the better for it. I doubt I'll still be called that skinny weird kid in school anymore, which is both a good thing and a bad. People will notice me now, I can't just sneak out or act weird, I need to be alert, hopefully I can still be Spiderman and Peter Parker.
The next day was Saturday, after begging Ant Man and Uncle Ben, I finally got their permission to go and try and help out in the Stark expo recovery efforts.
I did go, but as Spider-man. I swung into the scene and immediately people noticed me. I walked up to a fire man trying to lift up some ruble out of the way, "need some help with that?"
The fireman smiled, "sure. Think you can handle it?"
"Let's see," I grabbed the concrete and lifted it over my head, "yeah, I think I can."
The man smiled, quickly I became involved with the clean up crew. I helped carry around the heavy stuff, if we managed to find something to hot to touch of dangerous to hold, I would use my webbing to insulate it.
Soon though I wasn't alone, the FF arrived, Johnny flew in, Sue and Reed took Sue's car, a landrover, and Ben just kind of walked, which took him a lot longer to reach.
The also began to help clear things out, Sue, Johnny and Ben helped carrying stuff around while Reed and I leant a hand whenever we could.
Around mid-afternoon we had managed to clear everything up, and I was hungry as hell. My stomach growled loudly and the workers there laughed.
We quickly got to eating, Johnny went out and got us take out from a Chinese place down the road. We sat in around with the workers and ate, they didn't treat anyone of us any differently, which was a great thing considering they were literally sitting next to a guy made out of rocks.
"So ah, what's with the name?" John, the manager of the clean up crew asked.
I blinked, "are you asking me?"
"Yeah. Why Spider-man?"
I shrugged, "I got my powers from a genetically engineered spider. Hence, Spider-man. Plus it goes with the whole theme I'm working on, shooting webs, climbing on walls, stuff like that."
"Can you like communicate with spiders and stuff?" one guy asked.
"No."
"So what about you?" they asked Ben, "what do you call youself?"
"Ben," he muttered.
"No, I mean like you're superhero name."
"Oh...I suppose you can call me 'The Thing', Johnny does that sometimes," Ben shrugged uncaringly.
We talked some more, the FF really made an impression on these guys and in the end I think Spider-man got a few brownie points from the public.
But there was another reason for me to do all this. Every time I found something interesting, like a part of a drone, a still intact arc reactor or anything I think I could use, I hide it away in the sewers. I tid them up in a sack made from my hardest webbing fluid, should last for 24 hours.
I went home at day and waited until nightfall to come back to the Expo. It was empty, the people had all packed it in for the night. I was about to go in and get the items I stashed away when I saw a figure standing on a rooftop overlooking the destroyed expo.
I recognized her immediately, I could know that silver hair anywhere. I landed on the roof behind her startling her to my precise, "hey Cat, fancy seeing you here."
"Spider," the Black Cat nodded, "what are you doing here?"
"I was helping them clear out the wreckage in the morning, I left a few supplies behind. And you?"
"I...I was here last night," Felicia admitted sounding more scare than I have ever seen her before, "my friend and I...we almost died."
"I'm sorry that happened," I apologized.
"Where were you? Aren't you supposed to be a freaking hero or something? Isn't that what you always say? I'm a lowly thief and you're the gallant hero?" she spat out.
She was angry, I knew that, so I let her have that one, "I was on the other side of the city helping where I could. By the time I heard what happened...I really regret not getting here on time."
"So is that why you helped clean out the place? Because you felt guilty?" the Black Cat all but demanded and answer.
"No, not really. I can take the guilt, I did it because I knew it was the right thing to do. People needed help so I helped them. There isn't a deeper meaning for why I do the things I do, I just do."
"Then you're a bigger fool than I thought," Felicia told me.
"Sorry to disappoint you," I shrugged.
Silenced came down on us for a long time. I knew she had more to say so I just waited, keeping silent.
She finally did speak, "there's a guy who was with me. I...I didn't think much of him, he was interesting enough but that day….he saved me. He saved all of us."
I raised an eyebrow, was she talking about me? Oh yeah, she was! I coughed, "so ah, that's nice."
"He's the real hero, not you."
I winced at her tone of voice but shrugged it off, "maybe, he is. What's he like?"
"Kind, he tries to act aloof but I see right through him," she smiled. Right, you can totally see right through me, that's why you have no idea I'm standing right next to you. "He's smart, like scary smart, I almost feel like sometimes I can't even hope to keep up with him. He's brave and loyal and….a great kisser."
I smiled under the mask, "hey, if you like him so much why don't you ask him out?"
Cat looked me and smiled, "maybe I will. Bye Spider, try not to be late next time the world needs saving." She left, jumping from roof to roof. I'll admit, for a girl with no super powers she sure can run.
I went down into the expo to grab the stuff I hide away and swung back home, sneaking into the basement. Everyone was asleep, time to have some fun.
I took a look at what I had. Two forearms from a Navy drone and an Army drone, two arc reactors that have been shut off and one leg from a drone until I couldn't identify. It wasn't much, but it would be enough.
I began first with the arc reactors. I needed to find out how they worked. I knew two things, one, it was radioactive, I knew as much since Tony was dying from having it inside his body for so long. And the other, it can produce high amounts of energy.
It took me all night, I think it was around 4 in the morning when I finally began to understand what Tony had built. The radioactive material would first break down and be spun around to collide into themselves.
It means there are charged particles moving in a circle, contained by a magnetic field. High-energy particles usually have high energy because they're moving very fast, and magnetic fields can curve the motion of charged particles. Curving the particles' motion into a circle keeps them in one place long enough to get them to collide.
This also produced gamma rays as a result of the molecules colliding and releasing a loose neutron. There was a complex radioactive decay going on inside the arc reactor itself, one that I was just starting to understand.
This in the end increase the motion of the magnetic field, alternating it as the lose neutrons began to move around. This in turn cause the magnetic superconductive wire to generate high amount of alternating current.
I finally put down the arc reactor and sighed, rubbing my head. I'm so glad it's Sunday because I'm exhausted. I hide the 'acquired' items away. I could fit the arc reactors in the loose floor board I used to hide stuff, but the others were too big. So I just shoved them into storage. Ben and May rarely come down here so it was relatively safe.
I slept until noon and got up exhausted. I wanted to go back down to get back to work but when I did I found Anna and MJ sitting int the living room, chatting with May and Ben.
"Morning guys, how've you been?" I asked yawning.
"Ah, so he finally stirs," Ben chuckled, "morning champ, up late?"
"Yeah, working on a new project," I admitted freely, "hopefully I can get it to work."
"Peter, why don't you take MJ and talk to her for a while. Anna, Ben and I have something to discuss," May oh so subtly pushed MJ my way.
"Ah, right, come on MJ, I need to get something to eat," I grumbled walking to make myself some cereal.
MJ sat next to me watching me munch down on my brunch. "So ah, you and Felecia huh?"
I shrugged, "I don't know."
"You don't know? What do you mean you don't know?"
"She just kissed me," I shrugged, "didn't plan on it or anything."
"But you kissed her back!" MJ yelled out. Our relatives looked at us, we lowered our heads and whispered.
"Yeah well, why wouldn't I? It's not like I have girls lining up to kiss me. I take what I can and besides, she's pretty cool, you think so too right?"
"I-I….you still kissed her."
"Yes, yes I did. Why? Did you want me to kiss you instead?"
MJ looked away pissed, she didn't say a thing. I sighed, "sorry MJ, just teasing."
"It's fine," she shrugged.
Just then my phone began to ring. I picked it up, "hello?"
"Peter, it's me Marcus! Colleen sensei is having another training session, you coming or what?"
I blinked, "wait, today? I didn't know! How much time do I have?"
"Can you be here by 2?"
"Yeah I can but," I looked at MJ and sighed, "sorry I'm actually with a family friend. Rain check?"
"Damn, sensei won't like this man."
"I know, tell her I'm sorry." I sighed, "bye Marcus."
"Bye man," he hung up.
"Who was that?" MJ asked.
"A friend from my dojo, he wanted me to come over for a training experiences, I told him I couldn't," I took the used bowl and washed it.
"You didn't have to do that for me," MJ whispered.
I shrugged, "don't worry about it. Anyway, want to go up to my room?" MJ nodded, I guided her upstairs and closed the door behind me. She plopped down on my bed while I sat on my desk chair.
"So how's life?" I asked her.
"It's….weird to be honest. Friday was so freaking weird. I mean one moment we were on a perfectly ordinary school trip and the next..."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"What's there to talk about?" she asked with a shrug, "robots attacked us, Iron Man flew in and saved the day and you basically made sure everyone I knew didn't die and saved our lives."
"I didn't do much."
"Peter you single handedly took out a drone, and if you hadn't called in Johnny Storm, who you're buddies with by the way, then who knows how many people would have died? Face it Tiger, you're a hero."
I chuckled, "thanks MJ, I'm glad you think so."
"What do you mean I think so? I'm not the only one! I was on the phone with Liz all day yesterday, the whole school knows about you Peter! They all think you're a hero! Hell I heard Liz mention half the cheerleaders like you now!"
I blinked, "huh….well that's interesting."
"Yeah," she looked unsure of herself and I honestly felt bad. She wasn't a bad person per say, just a little childish.
"So MJ, are you going to audition for the school play? I heard they begin on Monday right?"
MJ looked surprised, "y-you remember that?"
"Of course I do silly, I'm still you're friend right?"
"Y-yeah, right."
"So? Are you?"
"I don't know Peter. Liz keeps telling me it's a bad idea and I'm not going to like it. It's supposed to be long and gruesome and-"
"-Of course it's a long and tiresome task MJ, it's not worth doing if it was easy! But that's no reason to give up!"
"But Liz said-"
"-Liz doesn't know you, I don't think she bothered to even try, because if she did she would know how much you want this. So shut up about what Liz thinks and tell me what you think."
MJ was silent, she looked hard pressed for an answer before sighing, "you're right."
"I know I am," I grinned.
"Careful Tiger, girls don't find an ego impressive," she snorted.
"I'll keep that in mind."
"It's just," MJ sighed, "she wanted to focus on Homecoming instead, said we barely have any time left to prepare. She and Flash are going together but I'm not sure I'm even going at all."
I raised an eyebrow, "holy shit, that's right, Homecoming's this week. Damn, I actually forgot about that."
"Really? You did? Oh what am I saying, of course you did," MJ rolled her eyes.
"I'm surprised someone hasn't asked you out yet."
"Actually Harry did ask me out but...I'm not sure if I should go."
"Really? Osborn? Again? You do know they are all creepy little shits right? Harry might be decent enough, but his dad's totally up the walls fucked up."
"Really? How do you know so much about him?"
"I used to be his BFF remember?" I scoffed, "his dad always gave me the creeps, now ever more so."
"Because he showed interest in you?"
"Exactly. He saw me as a toy to add to his collection, nothing more. He treats people like toys to be added and I...I don't want Harry to think of you the same way."
"Peter he won't, he's not that bad."
I shrugged, "so you say...anyway, are you going to accept or what?"
MJ shrugged, "I don't really know."
"Alright tell you what, if you want I'll take you to Homecoming, only if Harry's too much of a pain to deal with. What do you say?"
"What about Felicia?"
"I don't know. That girl's complicated, I doubt she actually likes me let alone wants to got to Homecoming with me," or rather I know she has a thing for me, but I can't act on it unless she admits it. Stubborn Cat!
"Of course she likes you Peter, why else would she make out with you?"
I chuckled, "because she was turned on by what I did? Honestly I really doubt she's into the whole serious romance angle, and I highly doubt she wants to go to some dance. So? What do you say? Want to go to Homecoming with me?"
MJ blinked, "I-I, ah….tell you what, you talk to Felicia and I'll talk to Harry, if neither of our dates are like we want them, then we'll go together. Deal?"
I grinned, "deal. Now, what exactly are you going to do about the play? Do you like have lines to do?"
"Well they are doing Midsummer Night's Dream this year and I really want to play Helena," MJ smiled.
'The girl who love a man that has no interest in her? Damn Mary Jane, subtle you are not,' I shrugged, "okay, do you want to practise?"
"Really?"
"Sure, I'll just download a PDF onto my phone and we can get started."
MJ was happy at my offer. She began slowly, she took a while to get into the role, but I encouraged her to keep going. Soon it became dark outside but Anna didn't seem to mind MJ staying over. We worked on her script until dinner, where MJ joined me, Ben and May.
It was honestly a nice Sunday, I got to kick back and relax for a while, something I haven't done in a long time. MJ and I were a lot closer now, it was nice to have my friend back. And I wasn't lying about Felecia, I really didn't know the first thing that was on her mind.
Later in the night I returned back to my basement and worked on the arc reactor some more until I was sure I could reproduce it or at the very least understand it. I soon got bored though so instead I took out the drone leg I had in storage.
I began dissecting the thrusters, finding out how they worked. I began to understand the design, which I'll admit was ingenious. It used concentrated Muon particles, an elementary particle similar to electrons but with a much denser mass. They could be adjusted to increase it's density or decrease it allowing for flight or as a physical weapon.
The repulsor technology was amazing to study, I swear, this was a copy of Tony's tech and I was already learning so much about it, imagine what I could do with the real thing!
It got late pretty quickly for me and I decided to call it a night. Putting the drone leg away I went back to bed exhausted. I walked in a yawned, removing my shirt and got ready for bed, but just then I heard a low whistle.
"Impressive Mr. Parker. For a skinny guy you sure are packing."
I moved on reflex, jumping towards the voice with a kick aimed at his chest. He grabbed my leg but wasn't able to stop the force behind the kick to push him up against the wall. I grabbed a stapler and charged the man, pinning him against the wall by the throat with the stapler pressed against his bald head.
I looked at the man properly for the first time and realised he was back and was wearing an eye patch. I blinked, I recognized the man immediately, Nick fucking Fury, head of SHIELD. Oh I have done fucked up.
"Very impressive," he chuckled, "mind losing up? I can't breath."
I lost my grip slowly, I needed to play dumb, he's the greatest spy on the planet, no high school kid had no business knowing he existed let alone know his name.
"Who are you, how did you get in here?" I growled.
"My name is Nick Fury, I'm the head of SHIELD."
I raised an eyebrow, "you're supposed to be a spy?"
"Exactly."
"Then why are you in my bedroom?" I growled pressing the stapler against her cheek.
"Are you seriously going to threaten me with a stapler?"
"I can pin a staple into your eyeball how about that?"
"No, I don't think you will," I heard the click of a gun and I felt something cold and metallic stuck between my ribs. I looked down, I didn't notice him draw his gun, fuck, rooky mistake. "Now, can we talk like civilised people?"
"You don't get to trespass into my house and then preach about civility pal," I growled, but slowly backed away, my eyes never leaving the gun. My spider senses weren't tingling so I knew he wouldn't hurt me, but better safe than sorry.
"Now then, I'm here to talk to you about the Avengers initiative," Fury smiled.
I kept my facial expression under control though on the inside was I shocked and surprised all at the same time. Avenger? Me?! Holy shit?!
"What's an Avenger?" I asked doing my best to seem dumb.
"It's task force I'm assembling together that will take on the threats that are beyond the limits of ordinary men and women."
"And why would you want a teenager like me to join your secret club?" I asked, fearing the answer I knew he was going to give.
"Come now Peter are we seriously going to pretend like you're still just an ordinary kid?" Fury raised an eyebrow, wow he is really good that doing that.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Sure you don't Peter...or should I say, Spider-man," Nick smirked as I looked horrified.
"You are crazy man, get out of here before I call the cops," I hissed, I knew resistance was futile, but I had to try right?
"You do that, and I'll tell them about how you constantly break the law trespassing and acting as a vigilante."
"With what proof?"
"We have video of you changing into your costume and have several images of you dead lifting steel beam in that abandoned train yard you like to visit."
I raised an eyebrow, "wow, I didn't know SHIELD had that many cameras in Queens...unless you hacked the cameras and obtained the so called evidence illegally which would be inadmissible in court."
Fury smiled, "you're smart kid, I like that. And you're right, we can't actually throw you in jail, but taking you into trial will reveal your secret to the world, do you really want that?"
I growled, "so that's how it is huh? Join you or you'll tell everyone I'm some kind of superhero? Blackmail thy name is Fury."
"You're honestly not giving me a lot of choice here kid," Fury admitted, "if you join us though I promise you won't regret it. We can give you the state of the art training and tech. We can train you to be better, smarter, the ultimate Spider-man."
I knew the offer, I had already expected Fury to pull this card on me sooner or later. He was applying to the poor kid inside of me that had no friends that was desperate for recognition. Sadly for him I wasn't that kind of Peter Parker any more.
"Tempting offer, but I'll pass. I already have everything I need."
"Learning hand to hand combat from a dojo in China town won't do you any favours kid. We can train you with the best, people who are the best at what they do."
"And in return?" I raised an eyebrow.
"In return? In return you work for us, we'll give you mission, assignments you'll have to carry out."
"People I'll have to kill?" I raised an eyebrow.
"We don't do that."
"Then? What do you do?"
"Infiltrate drug rings, terrorist organizations, find and contain threats to national security," Fury explained.
"Sorry Fury, but I don't really have time time to be an international spy. I have a job and family to take care off. Most importantly I have a city to protect."
"You think you're the only superhero in tights crawling around? Everyday I hear about someone new out in the night trying to fight the good fight. The kid survived before you came kid, it can survive without you."
I raised an eyebrow, "and school? And my job?"
"We both know you're hours at the Baxter building are flimsy at best. And well..I'm sure we can find ways for you to switch between work and school. You won't miss prom or anything like that."
I was silent for a long time, I need to push him, I wanted to see what he did when he got mad in order to understand what type of man I was dealing with. "Tell me Fury, do you have any other child soldiers working for you? Or am I the only one?"
A dark scowl came over his face, "you think I do this because I want to kid? If I had my way you wouldn't even be near the field. But you got too big too fast. People are starting to take note of you, and if you continue the way you are...people will come after you and hard. I'm giving you the option of less evil, I suggest you take it."
I was silent for a long time I finally spoke it, "can I have some time to decide?"
"Yes, you have a week," Fury took out a folder and placed it on my desk, "here, everything you need to know about what I'm offering you. Good night Peter." He walked out my door and I didn't see him return. I have no idea how he did that, but I couldn't even hear his footsteps.
I let out a gasp I didn't know I was holding. I looked around, my entire room could be bugged, no, fuck that, my entire house!
I grabbed the EMP gun I mad and switched up the settings and connected it to my phone. I began to scan the room for bugs using the micro transmitter in the EMP and quickly found five. I switched the EMP pulse into a short range curst and quickly took them all out.
I then went up and down the house three times over, finding a total of 25 bugs put in place. I took great pleasure in destroying each one and gathering them into a paper bag. I dumped the bag on my front porch with a note that read;
'Bug my house again and I'll fucking shove them up your ass Fury.'
I walked back inside my house and to my room. I looked down at the porch and found the bag gone. Good, I hope they learn their lesson.
I picked up the file and gave it a once mover, pretty basic stuff. I couldn't get into the detail though, I was too damn tired. Things have been moving so fast I couldn't even begin to understand everything that was happening to me.
I laid down in my bed and prayed for a quick sleep, I so was not looking to deal with this bull shit in the morning.
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