It had been four years since Peter had joined the Special Ops force with his friend Graham, and they had become well-respected, almost legendary soldiers. Enemies feared them. New recruits dreamed of being sent on missions with them. And occasionally, Colonel James Rhodes specifically requested them for operations.
This story takes place on one of the latter occasions. The Colonel had summoned them to infiltrate an old Hydra base that some wannabes had taken over. The agents themselves wouldn't be an issue, the Colonel assured them, but the base itself was built like a fortress and full of dangerous weapons and information, so it needed to be shut down immediately. Graham and Peter would go in alone, but they'd have backup ready to call at a moment's notice.
"There are about thirty men in there," they were told as the pilot landed the helicopter a safe distance from the base. "Sure you don't want extras to go in with you?"
"Well be fine," Graham said, gaze already fixed on the horizon. They'd dealt with worse situations before. He jumped out, and Peter followed, holding tightly to his pack against the wind from the rotors. Their ride took off again as they set off in the direction of their target, staying in alert but comfortable silence.
They'd already covered the plan so when they reached the base they split up without a word. Peter got out his picks and scrambled up the wall. He knew he could use his stickiness, but he was doing so well at hiding his secret and if anybody at all found out about his abilities it could ruin everything. If he got kicked out of the forces, he'd have nothing left. May had passed away a year ago: it was the only time he'd taken leave - to go say goodbye. Now Graham was his only family.
There were two guards in one of the hallways, but before they could sound the alarm Peter slammed his rifle over the head of one whilst pulling the forehead of the other down to slam over his knee. They both dropped, unconscious, and Peter continued on his way. He assumed Graham must be doing the same thing on the other side of the base, as no gunshots or warning cries split the air. The element of surprise would be key to their mission.
Continuing in this manner and taking out 6 other agents, Peter made his way towards the centre of the base where he'd meet up with Graham and they'd begin the next stage of their plan. He knew he was close as the corridors began to get wider, and he heard a slight scuffling up ahead - probably his partner taking out more agents. He kept his breathing low and footsteps near-silent, casting his senses like a net to work out what was going on around him.
The door to the main chamber was unguarded and locked. Staying alert, Peter spun and kicked the doors with enough force to splinter the lock and send them flying open. Instantly, his spider sense screamed at him to get down and he dodged the round of bullets that flew at him, hearing cries as they hit the men who'd been sneaking up behind him. How had they gotten so close without him noticing?
Peter raised his rifle and took out the shooter, then made sure all the men behind him were going to stay down. Graham was zip-tied to a chair, struggling frantically. "How the hell did you do that?" He yelled.
"What?" Peter asked, cautiously stepping into the room, alert for traps.
"Dodge a ton of bullets!"
"I've got good reflexes. How'd they know I was coming?"
"They caught me so they were on alert. They've got some kind of tech that makes them invisible and muffles any sounds they make. How'd you get the door down in one go?"
"Science," Peter said sarcastically as he decided there were no hidden threats and rushed across the room to free his friend. That was a mistake - clearly someone in the room was using the aforementioned tech and fired at Peter. Without thinking, he dodged the bullets again, backflipping in midair and returning fire at the same time. The hidden shooter crumpled. Graham was gawking.
"Peter, what."
"I'll explain later," Peter muttered, eyes darting around for another threat as he tore the zip-ties and the subsequent metal chains like butter and helped Graham to his feet. "You okay?"
"Am I okay?" He stared at Peter, then raised his gun and shot the man in the corner who was trying to get back to his feet. "You have some serious explaining to do."
"So you're one of the Freaks? You've been lying to me this whole time?" The two of them had finished their debrief (Graham hadn't mentioned Peter's powers so he figured he had a chance to explain himself) and were taking a walk.
"Graham... I lied because I wanted to help people, and I knew that if I got put in the Freaks, I'd be restricted and monitored. Trust me, there are a lot of people out there who don't like me." He thought about the news he'd seen when he took leave after May's death. Spider-Man had gained a lot of bad publicity for 'abandoning' New York, despite Peter's best efforts.
"You and me both. So... what can you do?"
"I have enhanced strength, senses, speed and agility, and a sense for danger. Plus a healing factor."
"No wonder you've managed to survive so many injuries." Graham shook his head.
"Are you mad at me?"
"I'm mad at myself for not realising earlier, but... no. You're doing what you think's best, and you're my brother, Peter."
Peter bowed his head. "Thank you."
They walked back to the camp in comfortable silence, a new layer of understanding between them. Peter frowned, his enhanced hearing picking up shouts from ahead. "Something wrong," he said, and both soldiers broke into a run until they burst through the tree line. One of the sergeants waved them over, looking relieved and terrified.
"It's the Colonel - he's been taken."
An hour later, Peter and Graham were geared up again and in the back of a truck full of soldiers heading for the place Colonel Rhodes had been taken to according to the ransom that had been issued. The Freaks were going in first, and they were the backup. Peter and Graham held each others eyes, having a silent conversation as they waited for the signal.
A radio crackled. "Yes?" The commander barked.
"The Enhanced Force is down, sir. Over."
"All of them?"
"Yes, sir. Just dropped like stones."
"You heard, team. Get moving."
They didn't need prompting twice - they were up and streaming out of the camouflaged vehicle within moments. Rifles at the ready, Graham and Peter fell to the back of the group, letting the enemy guards break against the bulk of the soldiers ahead of them. On the way in they stepped over the unconscious bodies of the Freaks, who had all collapsed with no visible injuries. Graham glanced at them with worry, and back to Peter. "Are you going to be okay?"
"I don't know," Peter responded with brutal honesty, and then they were through the doors and fighting their way to the Colonel. The rest of the team split off to take down any other guards whilst the elite pair made a beeline for the room where Rhodes was being kept. They paused outside the door, listening.
"You see, James, your men are outmatched. My guards are everywhere, none of your soldiers stand a chance. As for those superpowered freaks, I found a cure for them. In fact, some of them might be waking now, I think it's time to put a stop to that, eh?" the was the distinct beeping of buttons, and a rush of panic from his spider sense went through Peter, but he still managed to shoot a guard as he came around the corner. Graham was watching Peter worriedly as he picked the lock, then an explosion of intense high-pitched noise slammed into Peter and his mind short-circuited. His legs crumpled and everything went black.
~
"I thought being kidnapped was my thing, Honeybear."
"Yeah, well, you're meant to be dead, Tony."
"You make a valid point, but not necessarily for long. Pepper thinks it's time to tell the world I'm back." Tony Stark leaned back in his chair, watching a grin spread across his best friend's face.
He'd died on the battlefield when he snapped away Thanos's armies, but the Avengers had decided he deserved to live and Bruce had perfected his kind-of time machine, sending Tony's mind into his body from a year before. Unfortunately, the process hadn't worked perfectly, and Tony had been in a half-alive comatose state for almost seven years whilst his mind readjusted to being alive. He couldn't think about it too hard without freaking out, but joking with his friends helped.
"That's great, Tones. Seriously. The world's missed you, so much. Are you sure you're ready for it, though?"
And there it was - the concern. Everybody had been tip-toeing around Tony's delicate mental health, and he couldn't tell them that he just needed them to act like everything was normal again. He'd met his daughter, who was turning 13 soon, and been living in hiding for nine months. A huge amount of this time had been spent searching for Peter, in vain. He'd been distraught when he asked what had happened to the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, only to hear that he'd quit and never been heard from again. Peter's apartment belonged to someone else, and May had passed away a year ago. He wasn't registered with any university or job that Tony could find. His only hope was that he hadn't found a death certificate, either.
"Ready as I'll ever be," Tony lied. Pepper had insisted this was the best way for him to regain confidence, but he was only going along with it in the hope that it would draw Peter out of hiding. How old would he be now? 24? 25?
"Actually, before you do your big reveal, I was wondering if you could do me a favour."
"Sure, anything."
"Part of the team who rescued me was a guy called Graham Rayler. He was the one who actually took out the kidnapper, but he and his partner - Parker - have been huge assets for years, and I've already given them almost every medal that exists. So I thought, what better way to thank them for their services than to let them meet the great Tony Stark before you reintroduce yourself to the land of the living."
"It'd be my pleasure to meet your knights in shining armour, Princess."
"Yeah, yeah. Besides, I thought it might be a good way to test the waters before the press come after you."
And there it was again. Tony gave a close-lipped smile and let his mind wander away from he conversation.
~
"So," Graham grinned stupidly at Peter where they sat in the back of a fancy car two weeks later. "Where do you think we're going?"
"No idea," Peter admitted. "Any clues, Colonel?"
Colonel Rhodes glanced over his shoulder. "You'll see soon enough."
Peter had been taken out by the blast but woken a few minutes later with a splitting headache, just in time to guard Rhodes's back as Graham escorted the Colonel out of the room. The official story was that Peter had had a badly timed seizure just outside the door due to a head injury he'd sustained whilst storming the base, but he and Graham were both being rewarded.
It had been years since he'd last seen it in a pile of rubble, but Peter's eyes widened in recognition as they turned onto a long drive and a building came into view. It had been rebuilt and looked just the same as it had before - a pristine white haven out of the public eye. Rhodes told them to wait and got out of the car.
"Any idea where this is?"
"That's the Avengers Compound," Peter breathed, staring out of the window. Graham squinted skeptically.
"The Avengers aren't really a thing anymore, though. How do you know what it looks like, anyway?"
Peter stared at Graham, biting his lip. His friend had already lied and kept Peter's secrets. He might as well trust him with the full story. "Because I've been here before."
"You've met the Avengers?"
"I was an Avenger."
Graham's jaw went slack. "You... what?"
"Only for like, a day, but it counts."
"A- you- what? Go back to the you were an Avenger."
"That's kind of it. I mean, I'd met them before, but we were fighting then and I guess it didn't count but when Thanos came and did his thing I fought him and-" he was rambling and he knew it.
"Peter."
Peter met Graham's eye. "I was Spider-Man, Graham."
Graham blinked. "Okay. That... that makes more sense than it probably should. That was why you quit, right? I saw that video. Everybody thought you were abandoning them, but instead... you decided you could do more this way."
"Exactly," Peter said, relieved that someone understood. He'd been so alone since May died.
"This is insane. So why do you think we're here?"
"Still no clue," Peter laughed, as the door opened and Colonel Rhodes ushered them out.
"He's ready for you."
With a wary but excited glance, Graham and Peter followed him into the building and into a room. A wave of deja vu hit Peter - he was pretty sure this was the conference room from when he'd first declined being an Avenger. A man was stood with his back to them by a large window, silhouetted by the sky. Peter stumbled in shock. It had been years, but he'd know that silhouette anywhere.
"Soldiers, meet Tony Stark. Tones, meet Rayler and Parker, my top recruits."
Graham looked just as dumbfounded as Peter felt. Tony was dead. Peter had watched him die, had seen the light fade from his eyes firsthand. But this man... The way he stood, the way he looked, the way his heart beat...
"This is probably a bit of a shock," Tony told them without turning. "I died seven years ago, right? Well, not really, I was just in a coma for most of it, but I'm about to make my big return and Rhodey here wanted to let you meet me first as a thank you for saving his a-" Tony turned around as he spoke and stopped speaking abruptly as he saw his guests.
Peter stared at the man who'd been his mentor and hero, unable to form a coherent thought.
"Tones? You okay?" Rhodey asked gently. "We can try again later if you-"
"Peter?" Tony asked, voice devoid of the bravado from moments ago.
Peter swallowed. "Mr Stark. Long time, no see."
"Kid... You're not a kid anymore, though, are you? You got old."
Peter choked. "I got old? Have you looked in the mirror recently? What are you now, eighty?"
"And here I thought you'd have missed me," Tony grinned, but those were tears shining in his eyes.
"I did, Mr Stark. So much."
"Still calling me Mr Stark, huh?"
"I'm think I'm missing something," Rhodes muttered to Graham, who just seemed shell-shocked. "Tony, how do you know one of my best soldiers?"
"You've met him before."
"Yeah, lots. Medals, remember?"
"No, before he joined the forces. No idea why you did that, by the way, I've been looking for you all over. In Berlin, Rhodey."
"I've been to Berlin many, many times."
"Try the time we trashed an airport."
Understanding dawned in the Colonel's eyes. "He's the Spider-kid? The one Cap dropped an airbridge on?"
"Captain America dropped an airbridge on you?" Graham asked blankly. "You failed to mention that."
"Many people have dropped many things on me. But yeah, that one was a highlight."
"Back up, soldiers. You knew, Rayler? Parker, why didn't you apply for the Enhanced Forces?"
"With all due respect, sir, they never get to do anything. I just wanted to make a difference, like I always have."
"In my defense sir, I only found out he had powers two weeks ago," Graham added hastily.
The Colonel stared at them both in disbelief. "Well, I don't suppose I can kick out my two top soldiers, can I?"
Graham grinned in relief. "Thank you, sir."
"Please, I think we're past the formalities by now. Welcome to the family, boys. You're going to regret this meeting for the rest of your lives."
And that's a wrap! Thanks to GloriousPurpose1 for inspiration on this part (he also has a one shot book so go check that out) See you next time :)
Update: he's now written a part three for this series so you should absolutely go and read that if you're not ready for the story to end! https://www.wattpad.com/1258490282-mcu-one-shots-military-3