Spider-Man: Unmasked

Chapter Twenty

Peter was in his room, wanting to claw his brains out. It was the afternoon after the incident and his dads hadn't told him anything. It was killing him. His dad created a killer robot and he didn't get to know anything about it?

He should've been able to help. And he did, when it came to the robots. But his dads didn't care. Or, they did care, but too much. Peter and Tony had gotten in an argument about it earlier.

"You have to let me help, dad!" Peter had insisted when Tony refused to tell Peter anything.

"Really? Do I?" Tony had replied, not looking at Peter.

Peter stared at his dad. "Dad! You know that I am capable! You wouldn't have been able to defeat Carnage without me! I have fought bad guys before! Why don't you trust me?"

Tony turned to him. "I do trust you, okay?  But, I don't trust Ultron.  I don't trust those creepy twins."  He looked down and muttered so only he could hear, "I don't trust myself."

Peter shook his head.  "I can fight!  I've fought worse than creepy twins.  Is this about what happened on that mission?  What happened?  Why are you so shaken about it?"

"That's none of your concern, Pete!"  Tony rubbed his forehead, exasperated. "Gosh, don't you think I would have told you if you needed to know?"

Peter was filled with anger.  "Oh, so since you create a killer robot, I get to sit on the sidelines and watched you get killed?!"

"I won't get killed.  I am not a fifteen year old boy who is in over his head!  I have been doing this for years!  I know when to quit!"

"Do you?"  Peter spat.  "If you did, then you would have quit before making a killer bot!"

"Oh for the love, Peter!  Stop calling it that.  Do you think I meant for this to happen?"  Tony shouted.  "Do you think I meant to put you all in danger like this?"

"I don't know, it's hard to tell with you," Peter snapped. 

Tony looked furious.  "You are not fighting them. End of discussion."

Before Peter could say anything, the other Avengers had come in and Peter had been forced to go back to his room.

Now, Peter had had enough. He was going to help. He snuck over to his door and opened it quietly, peering out to see if the Avengers were close. He went into the hall and soon saw the Avengers around the table.

He stayed hidden in the hallway and listened in.  He was shocked at the first thing he heard. 

"Ultron killed Strucker." He recognized his pops' voice. Who the heck was Strucker? He shook his head and zoned back into the conversation. 

"Why send a message when you've just given a speech?" He heard Natasha ask the group.

"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss," Tony said, as if it were obvious.

"I bet he..." Natasha seemed to be on the computer by the sound that followed. Peter's thoughts had been confirmed when he heard her say, "Yeah. Everything we had on Strucker's been erased."

"Not everything," Steve said. The group seemed to realize what he meant and agree, mumbling their agreement.  They all left the table, going to another room. Peter tried to hide better in the shadows in case they came his way, but they didn't. (Probably best they didn't, anyway. He wasn't as hidden as he'd hoped, but that didn't matter.)

He went to the table.  He immediately regretted what he saw.  On a tablet, he saw a man, murdered in a room that looked like a cell.  There was what looked a robot at the edge of the photo.  Even worse, on the words, written in blood, was the word 'PEACE'.  It was awful.

He found himself staring at it in horror.  He finally looked away, feeling sick after seeing it.  He looked at what else they had on the table.  Nothing else all interesting or related to the Ultron attack it seemed.  The computer that Natasha had used was there, but it just said 'record deleted', most likely referring to their records about whoever Strucker was. 

"Woah," Peter muttered.  "This Ultron guy really means business."

Was it bad that he couldn't help but feel a bit of joy?

And no, not about a man getting murdered, not about an evil robot being loose, none of that.  He's not a psycho.  Now his dads had to let him help, right?  This guy was insane.  And if those weird twins were involved, it seemed like they would need help. 

He had been standing there longer than he had realized.  He suddenly heard his dads and the others heading back.  He froze before rushing to his room, closing the door as quietly and quickly as he could.  He sat on his bed and pulled his math book onto his lap as he heard steps heading towards his room. 

He looked up as the door opened and Natasha walked in.  "We're going on a mission," she said plainly.  Peter nodded, slightly surprised and disappointed.  He looked down expecting her to leave or say something like be back around eight, pretty sure there is pizza in the fridge. 

He was confused as Natasha quietly closed the door and walked over to him.  She took the math book off of his lap and placed it on his desk.  He looked up at her.

"Look," Natasha said in a hushed voice.  "I know you want to help.  And, though your dad and even your pops won't admit it, we need more help.  So-" she looked at the door and said in an even quieter voice, "I know that your suit is in your dads lab.  Might have to look little harder, but it's there.  I can stall jet takeoff, but not for too long.  If I stall it too long, we'll miss our chance to get this guy.  You don't have much time to do so.  When I leave the room, wait a few minutes before leaving to the lab, got it?"

Peter nodded.  He couldn't believe it.  Natasha really was the best.  He smiled softly, causing Natasha to smile slightly back. 

"Now.  In case you don't make it onto the jet-"  She pulled a small paper out of her pocket and put it in Peter's hand, closing it into a fist around it.  "This is where we are headed.  It might be hard to get there without the jet, so you might want to be quick." 

She stood up and cleared her throat.  "Be back around eight," She said louder, heading to the door.  "Pretty sure there's pizza in the fridge."

"Thank you," Peter said quietly and sincerely, looking up at Natasha.

"You're welcome," Natasha said quietly, opening the door.  And with that, she left,  leaving Peter sitting on his bed in awe. 

After a few minutes and hearing what sounded like an elevator ding, he read the paper quickly and shoved it into his pocket.  He stood up and rushed out of his room.  He hurried down to Tony's lab to get his suit.

Soon enough, he would be Spider-Man.

Spider-Man would be back.  And he wouldn't be taken away again, no matter what.