I Am Karen - Spider-Man / Peter Parker [1]

Chapter Nine - The Fallout

"What were you two thinking?" the voice of Tony Stark came through loud and clear, and angry. Maria knew they were in hot water this time.

"Hey Dad, how's the wedding?" Maria replied with a smile hoping to defuse the situation by some degrees. She knew her father was in India attending some sort of wedding, Maria couldn't remember whose but it was someone that meant a lot to Tony.

"Hey, pumpkin, it's beautiful" Tony said back before he lifted the Iron Man suit's finger and pointed it firmly at her. "You're still in serious trouble." Maria knew better than to argue with her father when he was like this. She knew basically every one of his tones by this point and at that moment, he was pissed off. "We will talk about this when we get home. Now back to the issue at hand, what were you doing?" Peter's gaze flickered between the suit and Maria, he could tell from her face that Tony was fuming.

"The guy with the wings is the source of the weapons. I gotta take him down" Peter replied. To him it was as simple as that, however, Maria cringed beside him.

"Take him down now, huh?" Tony repeated mockingly. "Steady there, Crockett, there are people who handle this sort of thing."

"The Avengers?" Peter questioned, a hint of awe in his voice. He had met them before but that didn't mean he wouldn't want to met them again. He had fun last time.

"No. This is a little below their pay grade" Tony remarked. Maria knew what was coming, her father always did this. He went from being nice and talking to you like an adult to 'you are a child and I am going to scold your ass'. "Now you are damn lucky that my daughter decided to tail your ass, she isn't lucky but you are." Peter's gaze moved back around to Maria who was sat silently listening to the events that were unfolding in front of her. Peter was in trouble with Tony but Maria knew that she was in even more after all she had practically broken ever main rule her father had ever set her. "Look, forget the flying vulture guy, please."

"Why?" Peter whined back in teenage fashion.

"Why? Because I said so!" Tony loudly argued back. It wasn't like Maria had never heard that one before. "Sorry, I'm talking to a teenager." Clearly, he was talking to someone at the wedding. "Stay close to the ground. Build up your game helping the little people, like that lady that bought you the churro." Peter was shocked to discover that Tony knew about that, of course Maria wasn't after all she was the one who had to send him the files from the Spider-Man suit. "Can't you just be a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man?"

"But I'm ready for more than that now" Peter argued back causing Maria to frown. This was the first time that Maria was really seeing Peter's change in attitude first-hand – seeing his change in opinions on being Spider-Man.

"No, you're not" Tony repeated back.

"That's not what you thought when I took on Captain America" Peter retaliated. He was so determined to do more, be more and it really worried Maria. She knew he had a learning curve, that he had things he had yet to experience but she was more and more strongly getting the feeling that he was trying to run before he could walk.

"Trust me, kid. If Cap wanted to lay you out, he would've" Tony explained. Maria remembered that fight well, bringing it up brought back bad memories for Maria. Her family was destroyed by that stupid battle. Sensing his daughter's distress, Tony quickly changed the subject. "Listen to me. If you come across these weapons again, call Happy. Maria?"

"Yes?" Maria replied, finally speaking for the first time in a while.

"Get in the suit" he ordered. Maria and Peter watched as the metal suit in front of them, opened up allowing someone to walk into it. Maria sighed, she knew what was coming. Maria watched as Peter climbed down the climbing dome before he turned around and offered her his hand. She immediately took it and he began to help her down. Peter effortlessly, lifted her off the bottom of the climbing frame by her hips and placed her on the ground in front of him.