╔ ——————————————— ╗
｡･:*:･ﾟCHAPTER THIRTEEN ｡･:*:･ﾟ
"the gray method"
╚ ——————————————— ╝
GRAY DIDN'T HESITATE in outstretching his hand and forcing the closed door open with a small tinge of his muscles. The room Peter had disappeared into was dark, and seemed to be made nearly entirely out of wood. In the middle of the spacious area was a woman donning all black; her features sharp and angular and her gaze seeming nearly as unfriendly as Gray's.
The boy grabbed onto Peter's bicep and pushed him a step behind him, flexing his hand. "Who the hell are you?" He demanded, his eyes narrowing.
The woman didn't even blink. "Close the door."
Gray held her gaze for a moment, before nudging his head to the side. He wasn't looking back, but based on the loud slam, he could deduce that the door followed the motion. He could also deduce that he accidentally shut it with a great deal more force than what was necessary.
Peter cleared his throat, nervously taking a step forward so he could stand beside Gray. "I'm Peter Parker," he said with a nervous smile, and Gray resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
The woman's expression didn't waver - and Gray began to wonder if this was actually one of those specially-engineered robots. Then he started to wonder if she was even sent by Nick Fury, or if he was going to have to fight this robot in the middle of a school trip he wasn't even supposed to be on.
His mind had just began to marvel over how cool that would be, when she spoke again. "Take off your clothes."
Peter blanched. He looked over to Gray as if to make sure he heard, but the boy was more focused on trying to keep his glare as intimidating as possible. "I - I'm sorry?"
"You told Nick Fury that Spider-Man cannot be seen in Europe." She spoke with an accent; but one that Gray couldn't place. He was sure Peter knew what it was the second he heard it; but the only accent Gray was familiar with was the British accent of Tony's old AI, and the accent that he had possessed until he had lived with Tony for a few years. The woman turned and picked up a black bundle of fabric, "so I made you a new suit."
Now Gray was more annoyed than on edge. Was this random lady seriously copying his suit design? Were Gray and Peter supposed to like... match now? They were going to look like idiotic crime-fighting twins. Like if Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen decided to go goth and punch dudes on the side of the street in Prague.
"Oh-" Peter accepted the suit, his face pink and his entire body language conveying how uncomfortable he was with the situation. "Um, I'm sure it fits fine, I don't have to-"
"Take off your clothes!"
"Okay!" Peter sent Gray an 'SOS' look, but the boy was kind of annoyed with him for not waiting for him before running into this random creepy shed. So instead of helping him, he just shrugged and took a step away, turning his back to the boy.
"Seriously?"
"Do you want me to watch you while you change?"
Peter seemed to take a moment thinking about what to say, before he huffed; and a rustle of fabric signified that he began to comply to the woman's order.
Gray tapped his foot against the ground, before sighing indignantly. "You know, this is a prime example of why you should just listen to me."
"Listen to you?" Peter repeated incredulously. "I was the one who tried to turn down Nick Fury. Which, by the way, is a super freaky thing to do."
"What do you think he's gonna do? Nuke Spider-Man?" Gray rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "I'm here to make sure you don't die, and so is Nick Fury... and pretty much every single other person in the world. Except for those who really do want you to die, because they-"
"Is this supposed to be like... a pep talk?"
"What? No. Not at all. This is supposed to be me telling you that if you willingly walk into a dark room with a creepy lady in the middle of it, I am going to turn you into a Spider kebob."
Gray didn't need to see Peter's face to picture him rolling his eyes. "You do realize that I am Spider-Man, right?"
Gray turned around so he could stick his finger in Peter's face, not even caring that the boy was supposed to be changing. "Yes, Parker, I do. And I also realize that-"
The door banged open. Gray jumped about a million feet in the air, pressing his hand to his chest, the other instinctively flying upwards to cover his face. In the doorway, was... Brad.
Yeah, Brad. Gray visibly relaxed. Whew, he was expecting something way worse. Like assassins or evil robots, or Nick Fury telling him that he's an idiot for getting in the way of his plan. Nope, it was just the slightly annoying Brad, whose eyes flew open when he took in the sight.
For a moment, Gray was confused. Then he saw why. During their turned-back argument, all Peter had managed to do was half unbutton his shirt and pull his jeans down around his ankles. That normally would have been funny to Gray - if it wasn't for the fact that Gray was standing directly in front of him; with the angry possible robot lady behind them.
Gray didn't catch anything else, other than the flashing light of a photo being taken, and Peter's frusterated - and flustered - groan as he hurried to re-clothe himself and follow the boy out the door.
Gray stood there for a moment, sighing as he shot the woman an annoyed look. "Seriously? I'm just trying to make my dead father proud, and you pull this shit?"
Normally, people get uncomfortable when he says something like that, but this woman just shoved the black suit into his arms with a steely expression. Gray rolled his eyes again - a habit that was beginning to grow on him - and turned so he could shove it into the pocket of the backpack that held his fake passport and a few other Pepper-packed essentials.
Without another word, he stalked out of the small space with a few annoyed Spanish mumbles under his breath. He stepped out into the fresh air and inhaled deeply, running a hand through his hair. Not a second passed before Peter had materialized at his side, shaking his arm as if it would diminish his own nerves.
Gray shot him a look, "what?"
"What? Are you serious?" Peter's eyes were wide and his face was red. "Did you see that picture Brad just took?"
"No, I didn't really have the chance to ask him for a copy."
Peter groaned and buried his face in his hands. Seconds later, his raised his head and shot Gray an incredulous look that made him sigh.
"Listen, Parker. I don't know what you think that asshole is going to do, but I'll have you know that you would be lucky to hook up with me in a creepy European shed."
Peter's face only turned more red, and he stumbled over his words for a moment, gesturing aggressively with his hands as he spoke. "What about that European lady?"
"I mean, she's not really my type, but-"
Peter groaned, which made Gray chuckle. He decided that teasing the boy was only going to make things worse, so he put a hand on Peter's shoulder and forced the grin off his face. "Worse comes to worse, you resort to the Gray method."
Peter seemed afraid to ask. "What's the Gray method?"
"You punch him in the face and steal his personal belongings." Gray clapped, outstretching his hands. "It works every time."
For a moment, Gray thought that he had pushed Peter to the edge. The boy's face went completely blank, and he bought a hand up to slowly run it across his jaw. Finally, he spoke; and his tone was tired, as if he was reprimanding a child. "Okay, I know you're not used to the whole 'school' thing, but we can't just punch people in the face when they make us mad."
"Why the hell not? This isn't my school."
"Well it's mine!"
"Boys!" Mr. Harrington called, and Gray and Peter turned around in nearly perfect unison to look at the man. He gestured to the bus, "time to go!"
Gray nodded, turning to Peter and shooting him a small smile. "Don't worry, Parker, I got you on this. I'll make it mysteriously look like his phone flew out of a coincidentally open window. And if not, you can just use your Tony-tech sunglasses to help you out, right? Hotwire his phone or something. Oh-"
He took a step forward and grabbed the front of the boy's shirt, yanking him forward and holding a finger out in front of his face. He narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice to a threatening tone. "And don't you think for a second that I'm just here for a fun vacation. I will make sure you're safe, and you're gonna help me by not going anything stupid and risky, got it?"
At the small nod he received, Gray released the boy and shot him a smile, patting his cheek. Then he grabbed onto his wrist and turned to march towards the bus, hoping that Peter would take his advice and not do anything too stupid.
***
OKAY, APPARENTLY PETER'S entire personality was based off of doing stupid shit.
He figured it out about five minutes into the long, winding drive of the European roads. Gray was just trying to nap - and by nap, he meant he was trying to quietly judge every single person on the bus. This was based on who was most likely to least likely to somehow discover his identity and try to sell his organs on the black market. So far, Ned was number one; but those statistics could change at any time.
Fine, maybe Gray was a little bit over-anxious sometimes. Everyone has to have flaws.
His judging session was interrupted by the bus suddenly veering to the side of the road. Gray almost smacked his head off of the window, but he managed to catch himself on the window before he could concuss himself. Others were not so lucky, as a loud array of shouting and cursing filled the bus at the abrupt movement.
Gray sat up straight, his eyes wide; and he clenched his jaw as he saw that Peter was standing at the front of the bus, the EDITH glasses perched haphazardly on his face. Gray stood up and leaned forward, speaking in perfect unison with Mr. Harrington.
"Peter, sit down!"
As the two turned to give each other quizzical looks, Peter turned and pointed to the mountainside with more enthusiasm than Gray would deem normal. "Look at the baby mountain goats!"
The group turned, Gray taking a moment to wonder just how stupid everyone on this bus was. It only took a few seconds - but Peter lept upwards through the emergency exit on top of the bus. Gray was just about to yell something that would definitely involve more than three curse words, before the boy landed neatly on his feet. His hair was messy, but he managed to act nonchalant surprisingly well as Mr. Dell shot him an annoyed look. "I don't see any mountain goats."
Peter was out of breath, but he mustered a small shrug. "You missed them."
Betty was the next one who spoke, and she did so with an insinuating edge to her tone. "I know you think none of us have noticed, Peter..."
The boy leaned forward with a panicked, "what?" And Gray leaned back into his seat. The potential disaster of whatever Peter had done had passed, and Gray was free to judge him for losing his composure. Rookie move. Still, he was intrigued to hear what Betty would say.
"But your new look? I love it."
Peter visibly relaxed, and the atmosphere on the bus went back to normal. Gray took his opportunity to slide out of his seat and jog to the front of the bus. He slipped into the seat next to Peter, who slumped his head on his hand. Gray tapped his arm to get his attention, and then leaned forward to flick his forehead. "What the hell was that?"
"I tried to use EDITH like you said, and it... didn't go as planned."
Gray could tell the boy wasn't going to elaborate on that, so he just crossed his arms and plucked the glasses off of his nose. He held them out in front of him for a moment, analyzing the frames as Peter shot him a nervous look. "What are you doing?"
"I'm proving that you're an idiot." Gray reached up to place the glasses on his nose, muttering the name of the device under his breath. Subsequently, the lenses lit up; highlighting various numerical codes and information sources in blue lettering. A picture of his face flashed across the screen, and a robotic voice that reminded Gray of FRIDAY spoke as if it was whispering in his ear.
"Hello, Grayson. It's good to see you."
Gray slumped down further in his seat, hoping that no one noticed him talking to himself. He wasn't sure what to say - how do you exchange pleasantries with an AI? He settled with clearing his voice, his voice slightly nervous. "Hey, there."
"Tony has granted you access to my archives. However, he made sure to make it known that you are not to hold any important decisions over their contents."
Gray had no choice but to chuckle at that, putting his finger on the rim of the glasses. "Yeah, seems fair."
"What can I do for you?"
"I'd like to delete a photo from Brad..." he turned to Peter, who leaned over and whispered;
"Davis."
"Davis's phone."
"Accessing ..."
Gray turned to shoot Peter a pointed look as images of Brad's phone flashed in front of his eyes. Luckily enough, the picture was at the front of the boy's camera role. So Gray said, "yup, that's the one," as EDITH's light settled on it.
"Deleting..."
The picture disappeared seconds later, and Gray grinned triumphantly to himself. "Thanks, EDITH." He said, before slipping the glasses off and handing them to Peter. "See how easy that was, Parker?"
Peter snatched the glasses back. "I can tell that you're making fun of me, and I don't appreciate it."
"Then maybe don't do stupid shit all the time."
The boy crossed his arms, leaning back into his seat. "Whatever. Crisis averted."
"Yeah, right." Gray smiled at the boy as he fiddled with EDITH, settling the device back into its case. He didn't understand why, but there was something about Peter Parker and his idiocy that was more endearing than frustrating. Maybe it was because Gray was beginning to see him as a person rather than a concept. "Protect Peter Parker" was a simple objective, but it became more complicated if emotions get involved.
Gray was never good at not getting emotions involved.
But it didn't matter. At least not now. So instead of voicing any of his concerns aloud, he just folded his hands on his lap and shot the boy a teasing look.
"Just try not to cause any more."