QUEENS, NEW YORK
Peter Parker walked out of an elevator holding a DVD-player and had a backpack on his shoulder. He walked into an apartment where his Aunt May was sitting on the couch with Tony Stark.
"Hey, May," Peter greeted.
"Mmm," May hummed. "How was school today?"
"Okay. This crazy car parked outside..." He saw Tony and his eyes widened.
"Oh, Mr. Parker," Tony said.
"Um..." He took out his earphones. "What -- what are you doing...?" Hey! Uh, I'm -- I'm -- I'm Peter."
"Tony."
"What are . . . what are you -- what are you -- what are you doing here?"
"It's about time we met. You've been getting my emails, right?"
"Yeah. Yeah."
"Regarding the..."
"You didn't tell me about the grant," May said.
"About the grant."
"The September Foundation," Tony clarified.
"Right."
"Yeah. Remember when you applied?"
"Yeah."
"I approved, so now we're in business."
"You didn't tell me anything. What's up with that?" May asked. "You keeping secrets from me now?"
Peter stammered, "Why, I just, I just... I just know how much you love surprises, so I thought I would let you know... wh... anyway, what did I apply for?"
"That's what I'm here to hash out," Tony told him.
"Okay. Hash, hash out, okay."
"It's so hard for me to believe that she's someone's aunt."
"Yeah, well, we come in all shapes and sizes, you know?" May stated.
"This walnut date loaf is exceptional."
"Let me just stop you there," Peter said.
"Yeah?"
"Is this grant, like, got money involved or whatever? No?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah?"
"It's pretty well funded."
"Wow."
"Look who you're talking to. Can I have 5 minutes with him?"
"Sure," May answered.
PETER'S BEDROOM
Tony bolted the door and spit out the walnut loaf before saying, "As walnut date loaves go, that wasn't bad." He noticed Peter's collection of old computers. "Whoa, what do we have here? Retro tech, huh? Thrift store? Salvation Army?"
"Uh, the garbage, actually," Peter admitted.
"You're a dumpster diver."
"Yeah, I was... anyway, look, um, I definitely did not apply for your grant."
"Ah-ah! Me first."
"Okay."
"Quick question of the rhetorical variety." He pulled out his phone which projected a video of Peter Parker in his Spider-Man outfit. "That's you, right?"
"Um, no. What do you... What do you mean?"
"Yeah. Look at you go. Wow! Nice catch. 3,000 pounds, 40 miles an hour. That's not easy. You got mad skills."
"That's all- That's all on YouTube, though, right? I mean, that's where you found that? Because you know that's all fake. It's all done on the computer."
"Mm-hmm."
"It's like that video. What is it?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah... oh, you mean like those UFOs over Phoenix?"
"Exactly."
"Oh, what have we here?"
Peter hid his Spider-Man suit. "Uh... that's a..."
"So. You're the... Spider... ling. Crime-fighting Spider... you're Spider-Boy?"
Peter folded his arms petulantly. "S... Spider-Man."
"Not in that onesie, you're not."
"It's not a onesie." Tony picked up the suit. "I don't believe this. I was actually having a real good day today, you know, Mr. Stark. Didn't miss my train, this perfectly good DVD player was just sitting there and... Algebra test. Nailed it!"
"Who else knows? Anybody?"
"Nobody."
"Not even your... unusually attractive aunt?"
"No. No, no. No, no. If she knew, she would freak out. And when she freaks out, I freak out."
"You know what I think is really cool? This webbing. That tensile strength is off the charts. Who manufactured that?"
"I did."
"Climbing the walls, how you doing that? Adhesive gloves?"
"It's a long story. I was uh..."
"Lordy! Can you even see in these?" He held the goggles to his eyes.
"Yes. Yes, I can! I can. I can-I can see in those. Okay? It's just that... when whatever happened, happened... it's like my senses have been dialed to 11. There's way too much input, so... they just kinda help me focus."
"You're in dire need of an upgrade. Systemic, top to bottom. 100-point restoration. That's why I'm here." Peter sat on his bed and looked at Tony. "Why you doing this? I gotta know. What's your MO? What gets you outta that twin bed in the morning?"
"Because..." he fiddled with his fingers, "because l've been me my whole life, and l've had these powers for six months."
"Mm-hmm."
"I read books, I build computers... and -- and yeah. I would love to play football. But I couldn't then so I shouldn't now."
"Sure, because you're different."
"Exactly. But I can't tell anybody that, so I'm not. When you can do the things that I can, but you don't..." Tony leaned closer, "and then the bad things happen... they happen because of you."
Tony looked affected by Peter's words. "So you wanna look out for the little guy? You wanna do your part? Make the world a better place, all that, right?"
"Yeah. Yeah just looking out... for the little guy. That's -- that's what it is."
He slowly stepped over to Peter whose leg was stretched out on the bed. Tony looked down at it. "I'm gonna sit here, so you move the leg." Peter moved along. Tony sat beside him and raised his hand. He hesitantly clasped Peter's shoulder. "You got a passport?"
"Uh, no. I don't even have a driver's license."
"You ever been to Germany?"
"No."
"Oh, you'll love it."
"I can't go to Germany!"
"Why?"
"I got... homework."
"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that."
"I'm -- I'm being serious! I can't just drop out of school!"
"Might be a little dangerous. Better tell Aunt Hottie I'm taking you on a field trip."
Peter webbed Tony's hand to the door. "Don't tell Aunt May."
"All right, Spider-Man." They shared an earnest look before Tony returned to his usual attitude. "Get me out of this."
"Sorry, I'll get the..."
AVENGERS HQ - NIGHT
Vision floated above the floor. An explosion in the distance lit up the room for a moment. Vision and Wanda looked out the window.
"What is it?" Wanda asked.
"Stay here, please," Vision instructed, leaving. Suddenly Wanda compelled a knife across the room. It stopped dead in front of Clint's head.
"Guess I shoulda knocked," Clint said.
"Oh my God!" Wanda cried. "What are you doing here?"
"Disappointing my kids." He shot arrows to both sides of the room. "I'm supposed to go water-skiing. Cap needs our help. Come on."
"Clint!" Vision called and Wanda and Clint stopped. "You should not be here."
Clint turned around. "Really? I retire for, what, like five minutes, and it all goes to shit."
"Please consider the consequences of your actions."
"Okay, they're considered. Okay, we gotta go." Vision was held in a force field, crackling and sparkling between the two arrows. "It's this way."
"I've caused enough problems," Wanda said.
Frowning, Clint ran back from the door. "You gotta help me, Wanda. Look, you wanna mope, can go to high school. You wanna make amends, you get off your ass. Shit." Vision broke the force field with his mind stone. He punched Clint to the floor, who recovered quickly. "I knew I should've stretched." He extended a baton and tried to hit Vision, but the blows went through him. Clint resorted to punches, then tried the baton again. It broke. Clint tried to kick Vision, but his leg went right through him. Vision got Clint in a headlock.
"Clint, you can't overpower me," Vision told him.
"I know I can't. But she can."
"Vision, that's enough," Wanda ordered. "Let him go. I'm leaving."
"I can't let you," Vision said.
She held her hands apart, glowing with energy. Clint slipped from Vision's grasp. "I'm sorry."
He faltered. "If you do this... they will never stop being afraid of you."
"I can't control their fear, only my own." She moved closer. Vision glowed from within and crashed through the floor, and several floors beneath. Wanda and Clint stood over the holes in the floors.
"Oh... come on," Clint said. "We got one more stop."
JOINT COUNTER TERRORIST CENTRE
"It's just a matter of time," Attache said. "Our satellites are running facial, bio-metric, and behavioral pattern scans."
Security Chief spoke to Natasha who was standing in their way, demanding, "Move, or you will be moved."
"As entertaining as that would be..." T'Challa trailed.
"You really think you can find him?"
"My resources are considerable."
"Yeah, it took the world 70 years to find Barnes... so you could probably do that in about half the time."
"You know where they are."
She gave a single nod. "I know someone who does."