There will be a little bit of Spanish throughout the chapter.
Please note I do not know Spanish and therefor have used google translate. Don't sue me Duolingo lmao.
Peter's POV
(The next morning: Saturday)
"Bye May!" I call to her as I walk into my bedroom.
"Don't have too much fun without me kiddo!" She responds happily from the kitchen, where she's making herself some coffee, as I head for the window with my mask in hand. I smile, shaking my head in response. I'm heading over to the tower for more lab time, which is awesome because Nat and Yelena are there now!
"I could never!" I call with a grin as I carefully lift my window open, "are we still on for lunch at Delma's tomorrow?"
I'll probably end up staying at the tower overnight, because time tends to escape me when I'm having a good time, and before I know it I'll be looking out the window and the sun will be rising. So I probably won't see May until tomorrow.
"Of course, I'll head there after my shift tomorrow morning." May confirms. "I'll order our usual so all you have to do is show up!"
"Awesome May, see ya!" I call, climbing out the window as I pull my mask on. I pull the window shut behind me gently.
"Welcome back Peter," Karen tells me as I leap from the window, "it is currently 10:02 am and you have a voice message from Mr. Stark as of an hour and three minutes ago. Would you like to hear it?"
"Sure!" I call, shooting a web and swinging away before I can hit the ground. I really need to check my phone more often.
"Hey Underoos," Mr Stark's voice rings through, "stop by and grab us some pop tarts on the way cause point break is coming and we all know how he gets. Alright thanks."
"Thor's here?!" I gasp, excited to see the literal god. I wonder if he brought Loki? He's so cool.
I change my direction and start swinging to the grocery store Mr Stark likes, looking forward to seeing Thor. He's not on earth very often, always coming and going between all the different realms.
***
I walk through the front doors of the grocery store and grab a basket, earning many shocked looks by citizens surprised to see Spider-Man shopping. It's not something you'd see every day, but hey, I gotta do what I gotta do!
"Hey everyone!" I wave to them happily and slightly nervous, high-fiving a little girl as I pass her. I head down the isles looking for pop tarts. I know Thor loves them, so it's no wonder Mr Stark asked me to grab some. I think we should expand Thor's experiences with earth food, I bet there's so much he hasn't had.
"Message received from Boss, who requests your presence as soon as possible." Karen's sudden voice makes me jump a few minutes later as I'm heading to the check out with five boxes of pop-tarts. I hope I got enough.
"Oh, ok Karen. Tell him I'll be right there." I whisper. I wonder what's going on? A mission?
I grab a bag along the way to the checkouts, quickly buying the pop-tarts by tapping my web shooters on the screen like it's a card. Yep, mr Stark added tap and go to my web shooters! Crazy, right?!
I wanted to have my own account linked but mr Stark insisted I use one of his. He said it might give away my identity, but I can't help but wonder if it's just because he wants to pay for everything. To be fair I have like six dollars to my name, so I would run out very quick.
As I leave the store I tie the bag up so the pop-tart boxes won't fall out, and swing towards Stark tower. It proves slightly harder because of the bag, but I manage ok and slam into a sign only once!
This time I enter SI through the public and intended entrance of the building on the first floor, waving to the security guards and small tourist group before walking through to mr Stark's private elevator and scanning my way in.
"Welcome back, Spider-man," Friday greets—she always greets me this way when I'm in my suit incase I'm with anyone or anyone is nearby (we didn't want to take any chances)—, "it's good to see you. Mr Stark is waiting for you in the kitchen. Would you like me to take you to him?"
"Sure, Friday. Thank you!" I respond. The elevator doors close, and it's not long before I'm stepping out into the Avengers shared living quarters —this floor is a few floors below the penthouse (Mr Stark's floor), and consists of a kitchen with an attached dining space, bathroom, living room and a balcony. It's really high standards, but you'd expect nothing less from mr Stark. There are apartments above and below the floors for all the avengers and any guests.
"I'm here, mr Stark!" I call, walking down the hall through to the kitchen. "What did you need me here so quickly for? Is there some sort of emergency?"
I go to lift my mask off, but I notice that Mr Stark is not alone in the kitchen. Yelena is also in the kitchen, she's sitting on top of the counter reading a book that doesn't look English. I think it's Russian? As I said before, I don't want to show anyone except Mr Stark who I am under the mask. I can't risk the secret getting out. Mr Fury knows who I am but Mr Stark helped me threaten him to keep it off S.H.I.E.L.D data. And besides, I don't really trust everyone enough— I don't know them personally.
"Underoos," mr Stark nods his greeting, holding what is most definitely only his forth or fifth cup of coffee, judging by how tired he looks. I take the pop tarts out and sit them in the cupboard. "Thor's getting settled on his floor, he'll be up in a minute." I decide to ignore the fact that he didn't answer my question.
"Cool! Did he bring mr Loki?" I ask eagerly, bouncing on the halls of my feet. Mr Stark frowns, downs his coffee, and then answers me.
"That guy is a bad influence, but yes he's here."
"Aww, come on! Mr Loki can't be that bad!"
"He's killed multiple people." Mr Stark deadpans as he makes himself another cup of coffee. "Multiple times. In multiple ways."
"Yes, but, y'know that not all of it was his fault, he was mind controlled and—and besides, Thor says he's a good guy now." I shrug, waving my asks expressively. I've only seen Loki a few times here at the tower, but I haven't had the chance to speak with him. He usually keeps his distance from everyone. I'm really hoping I'll be able to speak with him this time, he looks like a chill guy if you're on his good side! I bet there's more to him than what he shows.
"The man of spiders is correct, my brother is perfectly safe to be around!" Thor exclaims, walking in dressed in casual clothes—which is weird to see on the literal god of thunder.
"H-Hi, Thor sir!" I grin happily. He nods and smiles kindly at me as he walks past and opens the bag.
"Where's reindeer games now? I don't want him messing with my stuff," Mr Stark grumbles as he takes a sip.
I turn and watch as Thor locates the pop-tarts and promptly starts consuming them. Straight from the box. Frozen. I want to look away, but I just...can't. It's like I'm in a trance, watching with wide eyes.
"Fear not mortal, I have no need for your technology." A new voice snarks, and I am able to turn away from Thor to see Loki walking in holding something that suspiciously looks like a bottle of hair dye. He catches my eye briefly, before looking away and vanishing the bottle mid air in a puff of green—which has my eyes widen in excitement. He made eye contact with me! And he used magic!!!
"Whoaaa, that's so cool!" I beam eagerly, moving towards him as he walks through the kitchen towards the living room, but am stopped by Mr Stark putting a firm hand on my shoulder.
"Absolutely not!" Mr Stark announces firmly. "That's the last thing we need."
"Awww." I pout, I then change the subject. "So, what are we doing today?"
"Training." Natasha responds, and I notice her for the first time standing in the corner. She's so quiet it's scary.
"Oh, ok miss Nat!" I respond awkwardly. "Who's joining us?"
"Anyone we can find," Mr Stark shrugs. "We'll go the the labs for a few hours afterwards."
"Ok, Mr Stark! Sounds awesome. I'll still leave for my patrol afterwards though, crime rates are a little high."
"As long as you don't get internal bleeding this time."
"Mr Stark, I said I was sorry!" I exclaim as he walks away to dispose of his coffee again. I guess he hasn't forgiven me about the ratchet thing.
***
I walk into the main training room— it's on the level below the Avengers floor—to see Mr Stark, Thor, Loki, Mr Captain America Steve Rogers Sir (!!!) (I know I've met him before, but I'm a big fan of whenever he's not dropping an airport terminal on me), Yelena and Nat in there warming up, observing, or talking.
"Queens," Steve nods at me before turning away from his punching bag to face the group, "now that we're all here, I'll go over today's training!" We all walk up closer to listen to him and he continues. "Training today will be simple. We'll start one on one duels, before coming together as a group to practice against each other. Remember, this is about working on individual weakness not being the best. We're joined today by Yelena and Loki so we have odd numbers. We'll have someone stand by watching, until someone loses in a duel so they can step in to replace them."
"Yeah yeah, get on with it!" Mr Stark rolls his eyes, "we don't have all day."
"Just for that, you're fighting me." Mr Steve responds and grabs his shield, "everyone else find a pair!"
"You're on," Mr Stark smirks, his nanotech suit forming around his body. As much as I'd want to stand and watch, I should find a partner. I turn my head, just to be face to face with Natasha.
"You and me." She states. It's not a question, it's a statement. Which means "No" wouldn't be an option, even if I wasn't scared to say it.
"Okayy!" I respond excitedly and a little nervous, giving finger guns, before I step back and get into a fighting position. I glance around to see Yelena standing aside watching with a bag of chips, and Thor in armour, standing next to Loki—who's also in battle armour(So cool!!!).
"Go!" I hear Steve shout, so I turn back to Natasha just as she launches towards me. Thanks to my Spidey sense, I'm able to avoid her first few punches, but she's just as quick as avoiding any of my moves on her. "Whoa! You almost got me!" I laugh as she swipes my legs from under me, but I shoot a web at the roof and swing around her. "Don't they say female spiders eat the males? Or is that praying mantis?"
Thirty seconds later I'm face down on the ground with Miss Nat sitting on top of me restraining my hands. Don't get me wrong though, I got a good few hits in on her and I got very close to winning more than once. "You're not bad for a kid," she tells me, standing up and allowing me to do the same.
"Oh than—Pfft, I mean, I-I'm not a kid!" I exclaim, barely catching myself. "Yeah, I'm an...adult... I do adult things. Taxesss." I put a double thumbs up. I wonder if she's onto me.
She raises an eyebrow in response and I chuckle nervously. A crash sounds through the room, and we turn to see Loki on the ground. He groans. "You're a cheater, brother," he looks up at Thor who—despite having a knife sticking out of his side—is laughing smugly. "I think I'm rubbing off on you!"
"Oh don't you worry brother, I won't steal your spotlight." Thor responds teasingly.
"Alright," I hear Steve call sounding rather winded, and I look over to see him stand up from the ground in front of Mr Stark, who has wasted no time and has began bragging over his win and the fact that 'Capsicle' must be getting old. "Five minute break, then we'll go all for all."
While I walk over for my water bottle, Nat and Yelena start sparring. It's quite fascinating to watch, as they fight so quickly and so similarly. Fast and deadly. Damn, I cannot stress how lucky I am to have Spidey senses fighting her.
"Are you going to let me up, brother, or am I going to have to poison your drink again?" Loki huffs up at Thor, who half heartedly takes his foot off Loki's chest. Loki quickly gets up and fixes his clothes. "I'll get you next time, brother."
Thor shrugs him off dismissively and turns to watch Nat and Yelena spar. I do the same, just to flinch as Badass Nat slams Badass Yelena to the ground, with her legs.
"Whoa!" I gasp, just for my eyes to widen even more when Yelena twists Natasha around so the role is reversed.
***
Some time later, Cap calls us all to compete in the all for all.
"Oh, mr cap R-Rogers sir? I have a question." I pipe up, jumping up and down in anticipation as he's giving the briefing. He nods at me so I continue. "Can we use weapons?"
"Sure," he continues the speech he's been saying, "I know tensions have been high these last few months—"
"Mr Cap, just to clarify can I use my webs?" I interrupt, bouncing excitedly. "Cause I know they're not necessarily weapons unless I—"
"Y-Yes, Spider-Man... anyway, I'm not sure how well we've all been keeping on top of our physical and mental conditions so this will provide an excellent opportunity to assess that—"
"Hey cap,"
"What now?" He's looking a little annoyed, so I decide to take the opportunity.
"I'd like to let you know I will not hold off from taking you out by the legs,"
"This again?!" He looks exasperated and not impressed.
"Well, I can't help it that your shield is the size of a dinner plate," I tease.
"Spider-man." He warns me. Winding him up is UNBELIEVABLY fun.
I just smirk under the mask, miming how small I think his shield is with my hands. Mr Stark snorts in amusement.
"Moving on," Cap looks at me pointedly, "once someone taps out that's it, they're done. Last man standing wins." Everyone perks up, seeing as we're able to begin soon. "But, hold off from actually killing or seriously injuring anyone. I want no unnecessary rips to Medbay."
"What a shame." Loki sighs, admiring his shiny daggers.
"Count us in Fri!" Mr Stark calls, and everyone assumes positions around the room.
"Certainly, boss. Five,"
Cap grabs his shield from his back and has it at the ready.
"Four,"
Mr Stark flies up in his suit, his helmet down. Miss Nat and Miss Yelena stand at opposite corners, battle ready.
"Three, "
Loki walks forward and unsheathes his daggers dramatically. Lightning crackles over Thor's body.
"Two,"
I run and bound off the wall, landing on top a punching bag in a classic Spidey pose.
"One,"
Everyone tenses up.
"Begin!"
Immediately, it's chaos.
I'll spare you the details, but basically everyone was attacking everyone in sight. Like civil war but everyone is on their own team and there are smaller stakes. Everywhere you looked was some sort of fight. I got to attack almost everyone, getting a fair few good hits in with my webs and Spidey sense. if you're wondering, yes I did go for Cap's legs and yes he was not happy about it.
***
"Good job everyone, a little sloppy here and there but that's nothing that can't be fixed with training." Cap calls out.
"Well, some of us more than others." Thor jokes, walking by with not even a scratch. "I, however, am mighty."
"Mighty annoying, maybe." Loki scoffs, sitting up from the ground with a dramatic hair flip.
"You know, I nearly had you, mr Stark!" I tease, lowering myself down upside down near him using a thread of web.
"Says the one who swung face first into the wall." He retorts.
"Hey!" I whine. "I-In my defence, your repulsor blast got me off guard! Nearly took my head off."
"Oh come on, kid, it's not that bad. It was set to stun."
"Ha! I told you he was just a kid." Nat whispers, but thanks to my hearing I'm able to catch it.
"Miss Nat, it's a nickname." I respond hastily, doing my best to cover up my identity.
"Sure kid. We believe you," Yelena replies sarcastically, waving her fork at me dismissively. When and where did she get Mac and cheese?
"Alright, who's hungry!" Mr Stark calls, his suit retracting as he walks towards the private elevator. "I'm ordering Shawarma."
"Yeah, I'll take some." Steve calls with a shrug as he hangs up a punching bag. Guess he's not done training.
"I too would enjoy some of the delicious mortal food." Thor beams. "Brother you should try it!"
"I'll pass." Loki responds with an eye roll, vanishing in a puff of green.
"I got my Mac and cheese." Yelena pipes up, seeming quite content. "Do you want some? I took it from some woman's place. She only had one fork. But it's really good." She asks Nat, who shakes her head no.
"Kid?" Mr Stark calls and I turn to face him. "Want some?"
"It would be wise to take him up on the offer, Peter. Your advanced metabolism requires frequent nourishment." Karen speaks up but I ignore her, I don't wanna be a bother to Mr Stark after all.
"Oh, no thanks, I'm good mr Stark." I respond, shaking my head dissmisevly.
"Too bad, you're getting some anyway." Me Stark responds, typing on his phone. "I know you haven't eaten in a while."
"Wow. You snitch, Karen." I whisper teasingly.
"Just doing my job," she responds with a hint of playfulness in her voice.
"What's the time, Friday?" Steve asks curiously, wrapping his hands ready to punch the bag.
"The time is 12:04 pm." The AI responds. Steve nods and starts punching.
"Lunch will be here in a half hour. Underoos and I are going down to the intern labs, they've got a presentation for us." Mr Stark informs the group as he presses the button to call the elevator. "We'll be back up for lunch."
"This is gonna be fun," I beam, walking up to Mr Stark. It's probably been nearly a month since I was last down there. "The interns are sooo cool."
"Careful, sounds like they're trying to steal your kid, Stark." Nat exclaims, amused.
"Psssh, that could never happen. I'm too awesome. Right kid?"
"You never know," I smirk under the mask, "they are like the smartest people I've ever met. And they're funny." I tease.
"I'm wounded," Mr Stark puts his hand on his heart and shakes his head. "I thought you was my biggest fan." The elevator dings and the doors open, so we walk in.
"Hmm, guess not." I tease as the elevator door closes. "To the higher interns, fri!" I announce for us.
"Of course," she responds and we start moving down.
***
"Spider-man!" Several of the interns cheer as they spot me.
"Hey everyone!" I wave sheepishly.
"Wow. Not even greeting Iron man these days. I see how it is." Mr Stark fake sighs, which earns some laughs.
"I know sir, but it's been so long since Spidey's been here." One of the head interns, Amelia, responds. She's been in this position for like five months now. Super friendly, super smart.
"Yeah, we miss him." Another intern, David, responds. He's been here for years apparently. Very friendly, he likes StarWars which is good.
"Yeah, yeah." Mr Stark waves them off. "Show us the presentation, then!" He slaps his hands together.
Immediately the interns gather around the front desk, with one pulling up a hologram. "So as you know, we've all been working on new features for the new Stark phone." One begins.
"And we've narrowed it down to three." Amelia adds, and three different objects pop up.
"This one is a safety app, where the user can hold a button down when they feel unsafe. The app will send out a traceable signal to the police when the button is released and a code is not entered—the code acts as a cancel function. This way, the user can have the help they need..."
***
Around twenty minutes later the presentation ends, so Mr Stark and I say goodbye to the interns and head up to the Avenger's floor. I make a mental note to return to the interns sometime soon to help out, they're all so smart and although they don't know who I am under the mask, they treat me well— like an equal.
After a quick lunch of the food mr Stark ordered—which I feel slightly guilty taking but mr Stark insisted that I eat some, and I was becoming hungry anyway—we head down to Mr Stark's lab.
"What are we doing today, mr Stark?" I ask eagerly as we walk in. His lab, as usual, is littered with all types of gadgets—like half assembled car engines, prototype phones, several iron man suits, robot pieces and more—as well as, of course, DUM-E and U. Speaking of DUM-E, he's currently about to drop what appears to be a very breakable test tube.
My spider sense tingles and I leap forward, catching the vile before it can touch the ground—which is good because whatever is inside it probably would have exploded or something. "Phew." I exhale, placing it safely in a beacon holder.
"We'll work on the Mark 65 for a while, I notices some faults in the regulator that are impacting its performance. Then we'll go over your suit and work on those web shooters—I have a feeling we can increase the web density for combination 4 and the overall firing speed." Mr Stark explains, (don't sue me I'm not smart lmao) finally answering my question. Him mentioning my suit reminds me to pull off my mask, a welcome change now that we're alone.
"Sounds good, Mr Stark!" I respond. The Mark 65 is his latest suit, it's nanotech of course and is obviously better than all his others but it still has its issues.
A half hour later, I'm working on a hologram displaying the Mark 65's repulsors and mr Stark is working on the regulator, with us both working in silence until mr Stark breaks out into Spanish rage.
"Goddamn it, you estúpida máquina te venderé por sobras!" He shouts, and I look over to see him scolding DUM-E who appears to have dropped a box of spanners right onto mr Stark's feet. (Stupid machine I'll sell you for scraps)
"Pila intolerable de tornillos que debería donar!", he hisses as he shoos the robot away and then proceeds to clean up the mess, still muttering Spanish under his breath. (Intolerable pile of screws I should donate)
I let out a quiet chuckle as I return to my work. I know all his talk is cheap, because he loves DUM-E and I doubt he's get rid of him. Yeah, I know a bit of Spanish. Italian too. Not heaps, but I know enough for Duolingo to be proud of me. Especially when I roast people like Mr Delma. Aunt May has been teaching me for years, which is great because at least she doesn't threaten to kidnap my family. Yeah, I'm looking at you Duo.
***
Sometime later, I'm working on the lenses of my mask to repair a few loose threads and a small dent in the left one. There's music playing in the background, pretty sure it's Led Zeppelin (it's not), and Mr Stark is leaned over another Iron man suit messing with its wires.
Suddenly, the music pauses and FRIDAY's voice speaks up, "Boss, Miss Potts has requested your presence at the board meeting, as it is 4:23 meaning you are over twenty minutes late."
Mr Stark goes to speak up, but FRIDAY continues, "she would like to inform you that you will be sleeping on the couch if you are not there in the next five minutes."
Mr Stark groans, putting the loose wires he was holding down and straightening up.
"Sorry kid, Pep makes the decisions in my relationship." Mr Stark states. "She once took away my coffee for three days because I missed an 'important' meeting." He makes air quotes on 'important'.
"Oh, it's ok mr Stark! I should go patrol anyway." I respond, picking up my mask to admire my work. Yep, all good. I pull it on.
"Hello, Peter. Ready for patrol?" Karen asks.
"Sure am!" I reply, excited.
"Alright underoos," Mr Stark says as he walks towards the private elevator, "Don't die on patrol."
"No promises, mr Stark!" I exclaim jokingly. I then run towards the windows—luckily FRIDAY opens it or it would have been very embarrassing. I flip out the window and plummet through the air, whooping loudly in joy and shooting a web somewhere near the bottom of the tower before swinging off.
"What do we have, Karen?!" I shout as I swing effortlessly away from the tower.
"Police scanners are picking up reports of gunshots in a hotel lobby four blocks away. Would you like me to highlight a path?"
"Yeah, yeah, show me the way!" I exclaim, changing directions as a yellow path is highlighted in my path. It doesn't take long to get there at all, and I drop down through an open window three stories up.
Quickly, I make my way down towards the ground floor but don't go right in. Instead, I climb up to the ceiling and listen carefully.
"Quiet! Or he starts shooting, starting with her!"
"No, don't hurt her! Please...please don't."
"Then shut up! Hey, you, where's that money!"
"I-I, I'm try—trying, it has a-a time r-release..."
"Then try harder, or this one gets a bullet in the skull. The police will be here any minute, if you don't hurry up—"
"I-I'm trying!"
Alright, I've heard enough.
"Karen, how many people are in there?" I whisper.
"Eight heat signatures detected. Five clustered together, one behind the counter and two standing in the middle of the room." Karen responds after a short pause.
The five must be the hostages, I'll have to be extra careful. I climb down to the open doorway and slowly peer in. I'm able to get a view of the people. The two people in the middle of the room are dressed darkly and hold guns—rifles by the look of it. The person behind the counter seems to be a citizen, with how much he's shaking as he tried to get the cash register open. The five people are all sitting together on the ground, one of the guys among them is holding his arm which seems to be bleeding—a bullet perhaps. The robbers are not facing me, so I carefully climb into the room and up to the roof.
"Please, let us go!" One of the five people pleads, a young woman by the looks of it. "Just let us go."
One if the guys snaps at her, "I thought I told you to shut up!" He exclaims, raising his gun in her direction. Quickly, I crawl forward and shoot a web at his gun.
"And I thought you were taught not to play with guns!" I retort, yanking the gun away and into my arms. They all turn to face me just in time to see me snap the gun in half. "Oops." I smirk.
"Spider-man," one of the men—I'm going to call him Minty because of his obvious need for them—growls. "This is none of your concern."
"Hmm, see I don't know about that!" I respond, lowering myself down upside down with a web. "I think you're a criminal—which means this is exactly my concern, mr criminal."
The men glare at me and Minty, the one still holding his rifle, points it at me and fires. My senses blare and I drop down, just in time to avoid being shot. "Careful, man! Nearly hit me." I tell him teasingly. The other criminal, with his obvious anger issues it only seems right to call him Temper Tim, pulls out a pistol and starts firing at me, so I shoot a web to a table to the side and yank, which sends the table into the men and knocks them over.
A few minutes later I've safely taken down Minty and Temper Tim—except for a knife meeting my body, but we don't have to talk about that— and webbed them up for the police.
I look at the criminals with my hands on my hips. By now the police can be heard outside. "Now, you need to think long and hard about your decisions, mr criminal! Stabbing people is not polite." I finally pull the knife out of me and stab it into the upturned table, ensuring it's out of reach of course.
I turn my attention to the hostages and help them stand up. "Are you guys ok? Police are here, don't worry!" I tell them.
"Oh my god, oh my god, thank you so much Spider-man." One man exclaims.
"Hey, don't worry it's what I'm here for!" I exclaim.
"Y—you're hurt." The guy who's been shot observes, concern evident in his voice.
"Oh?" I look down, only now remembering that I was just stabbed. "Oh, yeah. That. Don't worry, it's fine. You however need medical attention."
I walk away and open the front doors, waving the policemen in as I walk out.
"Sorry guys, can't stick around. Also send a medic, one of those hostages was hurt before I got here." I tell them when they ask me to stay for a statement.
"Ok Spidey, thank you!" One of the policewomen tells me gratefully.
I give her a wave as I shoot a web into the distance and fly off.
"Peter, your side requires proper medical care. Large movements will worsen the wound and may lead to extensive bleeding and further damage." Karen warns me.
"Oh yeah, don't worry about it Karen I'll take care of it soon." I respond quickly as I swing.
I spot a group of kids standing under a tree, looking up at it. I follow their gaze to see a soccer ball stuck up it. As I swing by, I swing low and am able to pull the ball from the tree. I toss it down to them, "there ya go!"
"Thanks spider-man!"
"Stay in school!" I yell as I swing away.
About half an hour later I'm perched on top of a building near Central Park. I've taken care of the wound to shut Karen's whining up— a passing police officer insisted I take some bandages. So for now the wound is safe. Since the hotel robbery at the beginning, I've stopped two muggings, brought back one runaway dog, helped one diabetic lady get her insulin, stopped two guys who were trying to steal a car, and stopped a bus from hitting a parked car. And it's only—
"What's the time Karen?" I ask.
"It is 6:54 pm."
"Any activity?" I ask, looking around what I can see of Queens. From what I can tell everyone seems to be going about their usual day and no one looks suspicious.
"Not currently, shall I broaden the search?"
"Sure," I respond as I casually drop down into the street. I might buy myself a churro from the stand over there.
I make my way over, only stopping for a quick selfie with some passing teenagers along the way.
"Hey man," I greet the man behind the stall cheerily, "busy day?"
"Nah, pretty quiet for once Spidey!" The man answers with a smile, "can I get you anything?"
"Yeah, just a churro."
"Excellent choice!" The man nods as he grabs one. "Everyone seems to go for the churros around here."
"Of course! Can't swing on an empty stomach, after all!" I reply. "You take card?"
"Yep, although this ones on the house. I know what you do for us." He hands me the churro.
"Wow, thank you sir. You're sure?"
"Please, I insist!" He waves me off.
I smile, not that he can see, and give him a little wave. "Thank you!" I tell him, before swinging off. A block or so away I stop and eat the churro, grateful for the snack as the last time I had eaten was lunch.
"The police are chasing a hit and run perpetrator five blocks away," Karen announces. I perk up.
"Show me the way!" I exclaim, taking off from the lamp I'd been sitting on.
***
"...It's all in the timing, really."
The young police woman shakes her head, still seemingly in awe. "Yes but you caught the car so effortlessly! Now that little girl will be able to live the rest of her life. You did that."
"That's why I do it, to see people safe and happy." I shrug. I'm outside the Metropolitan museum of art—fun fact, the name has always reminded me of the Neapolitan ice cream! "Have a good shift, mam."
I swing off and start travelling through the streets, not seeing too much. I high-five several people on the streets and even do a few flips for fun.
"Anything happening, Karen?" I soon ask as I pass by Central Park.
"Nothing has been reported so far, although boss has asked for your dinner preferences."
"Tell him I would prefer the souls of the unfortunate with a side of coffee dark enough to match my soul." I smirk, doing a front flip off a street sign.
"Message sent."
Only now do I notice how dark the clouds are becoming. "What's the weather prediction, Karen?" I ask, looking up at them.
"The weather bureau has just reported a ninety percent chance of rain with thirty miles an hour wind. The temperature is currently 37°F with predictions for it to drop to 24°F. There is also a high chance of thunder and lightning." (Is that too cold? Too warm? I don't know the Fahrenheit system sorry.)
"Wow. Ok. Uh, activate heater," I respond, finally noting how cold it is. The heater activates and I breathe a sigh of relief at the warmth rushing over my body. "Remind me in an hour to get back to the tower if I'm not already headed that way."
"Certainly. Mr Stark wishes to inform you that he has a warm glass of milk waiting to match your 'pure soul' and that while he can't acquire the souls of the unfortunate, ms Potts plans to cook lasagne."
"Wow, he really did me dirty like that!" I chuckle. "Tell him I'm looking forward to the meat cake and should be back in an hour."
"Mr Stark wishes to tell you that he is horrified at your choice of words and is open to booking a therapy session for you." Karen speaks up after a few seconds, which has me chuckle quietly to myself.
However, the smile is wiped off my face when a drop of water lands on my shoulder, which is quickly followed by many more drops as the rain begins to pour. Already everyone on the streets are pulling out umbrellas and picking up their pace, wanting to get out of the rain.
I swing around the streets carefully, keeping an eye out for anyone needing help. However, as the minutes progress the rain gets harder and it even starts to thunder. Lightning strikes across the sky every few seconds, illuminating the streets surrounding Central Park.
"Wow, they weren't kidding when saying there was gonna be a storm." I mutter. I really hope rain can't ruin my suit and it's electronic aspects. Plus, even with the heater blasting I am starting to feel the dampness.
"How is your side feeling? I advise that the bandage should be changed soon as you have done a lot of strenuous activity despite my clear instructions not to."
"It's fine, Karen. Besides, I haven't gotten hit since the stab! It'll heal up fine."
"If the wound is not properly treated it may get infected. In weather like this, where you struggle to thermoregulate, I strongly advise that you seek shelter and medical treatment."
"You're bossy, Karen." I chuckle. Lightning flashes across the sky in front of me.
"Well someone has to keep you from self destructing." She teases back. Man, I love sassy AI's.
I flinch when a huge bright light flares across the sky, hitting nothing in particular but still lighting up the ground below. "Whoa!" I exclaim, blinking rapidly to try and clear my vision. "W-What kind of lightning was that?!" I look up, just to see the light shrinking. But, that's not what catches my attention.
It's the shape falling out of it, down towards the ground. "Oh my god!" I yell, shooting a web and swinging towards it quickly in order to get a closer look despite Karen's protests. "What is that?!" I look at the rapidly approaching shape, dark and small. Like the size of a car or something. I catch a glimpse of some kind of...of man like figure before it's swallowed by the large shape. Holy crap what do I do? What the hell do I do?!
"Calling Mr Stark."