He had them. He knew that it would only be a matter of time until he'd find them. They were way too smug, way too burly not to attract attention. It had been clever to send out the Widow first, Peter would give them that, but in the end, it was inevitable for them to get caught out in the open.
He was in Brooklyn, only a block away from May's hotel. That was honestly the worst part about this scenario. He didn't want her anywhere near these people and a block was way too close for his liking. Hell, anywhere in the state of New York would be too close to his liking.
"So Tony just sends his underling in now?" Wilson clutched the fabric of his jacket in a show of fake hurt. "Does he not care for us anymore?"
"Nobody sent me here," Peter snarled.
Rogers waved a hand at Wilson, signaling him to stop.
"Just step out of the way, son." Rogers' voice was so calm it was almost insulting how little he was bothered by Peter's presence. "This doesn't concern you."
"Oh, you'll find that it does."
Rogers sighed and shot a glance at Wilson. "Why don't you go ahead and join Clint. I'll meet you in there in a minute."
The other man looked Peter up and down before he just shrugged. The door into the building was only a few steps in front of them. They wouldn't have to get past Peter but they sure would have to get a whole lot closer. Of course, Peter could have simply taken them out one by one. let Wilson get away and go after him once he had dealt with Rogers first, but why chase the bird dude later if he was in front of him right there and then? As Wilson stepped forward, eyes still on Peter as he made his way to the doorway, Peter gave his wrists a short flick and shot a set of webs at him, shackling his ankles first, then wrapped one around his torso that pinned Wilson's arms snug to his body.
"The fuck!" Wilson wiggled his shoulders, trying to break free, but only managed to make himself lose his balance. Only the Captain's quick reaction kept him on his feet.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Rogers furiously tugged on the webs, his arms bulging but not even Captain America would be strong enough to tear Peter's webs apart like that. The batch was perfect. He had made sure that it was.
"What? You think you can just do whatever the fuck you want without any repercussions?" Peter shrugged. "Well, you can't." He took a step closer to them, hands balled into fists. "I'll make sure you pay for what you did."
"For what we did?" Roger huffed out a laugh. "What is it that we did, son? We fought to keep people safe. Isn't that what you claim to do?"
"You didn't though! You didn't keep them safe." Peter couldn't hold onto his temper. He should be collected, concentrate, but he had waited for this for too long. "You got them hurt, caused chaos and put everyone else who's like you... who's different... you put them in danger too!"
"Oh, did we? Do you know what they did to the team?" He helped Wilson to sit on the floor. "Where they kept them locked up before I got them out? Where Tony Stark helped to put them?"
He tried to control his voice, his temper. How could he in the face of such blatant arrogance? "Here's an idea, maybe don't break the law and you won't be put in jail."
"In jail? Is that what we call submarine bunkers and shock collars now?"
Peter's face twitched and he was once again thankful for the mask. The Captain's arms flexed again, his hands agitated. Probably phantom pains from the missing shield.
"That's where they'd put you too and you know it's true. They'd gladly lock all of us in there and drop the key in the deepest part of the ocean." The man's head was tilted to the side a bit, his eyes narrowed. "We're the same, you and I. We fight for the same thing, Spider-Man."
"I'm nothing like you," he spat out. "I'd never do what you have done."
"You'd never fight to protect your team? The ones you love?" The Captain's shoulders shrugged. "Isn't that what you think you're doing right now?"
Peter's heart was beating in his throat. "No," he whispered and cursed himself for the weakness in his voice. "No!" he said again, this time stronger, the vibration of his voice fuelled by anger much more than fear. "I'd never do what you did."
The Captain sighed and lowered his head in what seemed to be less shame and more discontent. "I protected my brother. I freed my team. My conscience is clear, son."
"Conscience... Is that what you want to call it? Conscience? Do you even know what that is? You almost fucking killed him, you asshole!" He couldn't hold it back any longer, frustration burned in his eyes, his skin hot with rage. "How do you dare speak of your conscience when you left your teammate, someone that was supposed to be a friend behind to die on his own?!"
The Captain did take a step back at that. His eyes shifted to his left for just a moment but distinct enough that Peter noticed it. Hawkeye, arrow at the ready, was perched on a window sill two stories above them. The archer hesitated for just a second too long though and Peter shot a web to intercept the arrow first, then the man himself. He grunted as the net struck him and pinned him against the window frame.
"Listen, Spider," the Captain had his arms stretched out in a calming gesture that was almost mockingly easeful. "I don't know what Stark has told you—"
"What he told me? He couldn't really tell me anything while I was waiting for him to wake from his coma."
Rogers took another step back, this time didn't hide the glance he sent up to Hawkeye. "That's not—"
"10 days," Peter snarled following the Captain's movement, taking a step towards him every time he retreated. "For 10 days we didn't even know if he was ever gonna wake up again, but I guess that's just the price you have to pay if you oppose the wise, omniscient Captain America. The pillar of morality. The man who has no qualms about beating his teammates into submission."
"That's not..." Rogers shook his head, eyes wide. "I didn't—"
"What? Do you really want to pretend that you're shocked? Do you want to pretend like you forgot that he's only human underneath all that titanium that breaks like paper under vibranium assault?"
"You need to calm down, Spider." Rogers held his arms out wide what was surely meant to be appeasing but every move the man-made just riled Peter up even more. "There was a fight, yes. But he was fine when I left. I would never—"
Peter couldn't take it any longer. "Karen, taser webs." He fired at Rogers, two, three webs in a row, but he was too angry to place them accurately, his movements too sloppy.
#
"Call him, FRI. Call him right now!"
"Satellite functions of the Spider-Man suit were disabled, Boss."
"Fuck. Fucking shit. Fuck, fuck, fuck!" His own suit assembled around him and he shot off the Tower's balcony into the New York City sky. "Scan the city. Hack the damn NYPD, I don't care. Just fucking find him!"
Tony had disconnected the call with Ross less than a second after he finally understood what was happening. He might make it in time. He was lucky that he was at the Tower, not the Compound. If they were anywhere in the city he might make it in time.
"Brooklyn, 14th Avenue on the corner of 51st street."
The suit adjusted directions while FRIDAY was still talking before Tony could even move a finger let alone give her the order to do so.
"Our satellites have picked up the suit's signature energy pattern. Sir, It's the backyard of an old print shop."
"Break me through that coding into the kid's ear now, girl."
Buildings were racing past beneath him. It only took moments for him to get there. Brooklyn was just across the East River, a little further south past the zoo and a few blocks of residential areas. He had to be faster. He needed every second to get them out of there in time. Tony's pulse was throbbing in his ears as the suit smashed down in the backyard. All he could see was how close Rogers was to the boy.
"Hate to break up the little reunion but everyone needs to go home now."
All he wanted to do was grab the kid and fly out of there but he had no idea how close Ross' unit was. Rogers' eyes were dark, forehead furrowed at his sudden appearance until he ducked out of the way of one of Peter's webs.
"Spider-Man! Stand down now." He felt sick. This was going to cost them. "Get out of here, now!"
"Tony, just calm down for—"
"Shut up, Rogers." He was aware of just how much his voice was wavering, but there was nothing he could do about that now, about the fear of what they could do to the kid. Or even to him. Well, better him than the kid. He could only hope that the suit would distort his voice enough for that terror swinging along with every word to be unrecognizable.
Unfazed by what the sheer sight of him was doing to Tony's pulse, Rogers stepped closer, eyes intently on him. "Tony, we need this intel. People's lives are at stake."
"Didn't you hear him?" Peter yelled out. "Shut up, asshole."
"Boss, comms to the Spider-suit are open now."
"Leave. Leave right now. You hear me, Pete?" The boy visibly twitched as Tony's voice was projected right into his ear. "You get out right now! Ross' people will be here any minute."
Instead, the kid shot another web in the direction of the Captain but hit Wilson who had crept up behind him. The man shook and went to the ground with a thump, twitching as he fell. Tony stared at him, the sparkles that came off the strings striking in the dark alleyway. His jaw dropped. That was not a regular web. Taser-webs. The kid hadn't just turn off the tracker. This... this was a lot worse.
Before Tony could even react the kid jumped forward and shot a similar web at the Captain, but missed. Electric static buzzed as the web hit the back wall instead of Rogers.
"Peter!" The kid jerked as his loud scream was transmitted by the comm directly to the mask. "Stop! Fucking stop!"
"We can take them, Mr. Stark. They don't have the witch with them. We can take them out together." The boy ducked, just barely avoided the wooden pallet Rogers had thrown at him.
"Leave him be, Capsicle, I'm warning you." His hands were numb. "Ross's people are on their way right now, so unless you want to reacquaint yourselves with the Raft, I'd suggest—"
"On their way?" Wilson snarled, still too shaky to get to his feet, his arms still tied to his body. "Looks to me like they are already here."
"Peter!" Tony made sure only the kid could hear him. "Get your damn ass to the Tower. Now. Ross knows you're here."
The kid did look up at that.
"They are coming in from the South East and North Western streets, boss."
"North East's the way out," he told them, then looked at Peter. "Go, now!"
"I'm not gonna leave you alone with them!" He didn't even bother to use the comm but Tony was not gonna let the Rogues overhear more of their conversation than he had to.
"If they find both of us here, we'll be cellmates by tonight. Get the fuck out now!"
That seemed to sway the kid after all. Reluctant he pulled himself up to the rooftop of the building and disappeared behind it without another look at the Rogues.
"What?" Wilson spat out. "Running away, Stark? Afraid you can't take us all?"
"Sam, stop it. Let's just... let's just go." Rogers pulled out a knife and cut through the last of the spider webs.
"Is that really who you want to be Tony?" His eyes shot up to the side of the building where Barton too was working his way out of one of Peter's webs. "That the side of history, you want to be on?"
"That's enough, Clint." It looked almost like Rogers was going to step closer to Tony, say something but then they retreated into the shadows of the alleyway.
Tony's pulse was racing, he was out of breath, felt like he'd just done a 5K after a long winter. "I need some fire, FRI."
Quickly, precisely, he melted away the remaining pieces of web, watched them frizzle up and disintegrate into their elementary components. The smoke had barely lifted when the SWAT team stormed around the corner. In his head-up display, FRIDAY was marking off snipers that appeared on the rooftops.
"A little late to the party, gentlemen. And ladies... I presume." His limbs were still trembling but with the suit, nobody would ever be able to tell.
"Chief, only Stark's here." The unit leader didn't even bother to address Tony, just pointed to four of his men. "You, down that ally. I want the whole perimeter secured." Then he tapped his helmet again. "Team Delta, search those rooms. Everything and everyone gets cataloged." He looked up at Tony and even with his face hidden behind the tinted visor of his helmet Tony could feel the aversion of the man pierce him to his very bones.
"FRI, tell me that the kid got out."
"Peter is currently crawling along the bottom of the Brooklyn bridge. He does not seem to be pursued by anyone."
"Tell him, parking garage and elevator. He can't be seen scaling the Tower."
"Right away, Sir."
The group of officers in front of him parted and the NYPD's chief stepped forward, an eyebrow raised as he looked around the backyard.
"Well, well, what's with the smoke?"
"Clarke. Your guess is as good as mine."
"Those almost look like spider webs up there on that window sill."
Tony didn't even bother to look where the man was pointing. "You'd know better than me, Chief."
He huffed a dry chuckle. "This was a close one, huh?" He stepped close to Tony, no visor hiding his contempt. "I'll get him. I've gotten close before. It's only a matter of time and it'll be my pleasure to make it a double deal."
Tony crooked his head to the side. "Not sure what you're implying here, Chief. You seem like you need a hobby. Too much work is not good for your soul." He looked around the place pointedly and sighed deeply. "Well, seems like there's nobody here for me to bring back for Ross. Darn. I guess I'll be on my way."
"Cut the crap, Stark." The man stepped a little closer to him but stayed at a respectable distance. "You're coming to the station with us. You have some explaining to do!"
"Do I? And on whose orders am I doing that?"
"Mine! My orders!" Clarke's face was turning red and despite all the adrenaline, all the terror that still rested in Tony's bones, he couldn't help but get some satisfaction out of the chief's desperate attempt to rule his power over him.
"Your orders? My, my, Chief Clarke. Is there an actual UN mandate those orders rest upon or did you just pull that authorization out of your ass?" Tony wouldn't even pretend that the sight of the chief's head this close to combustion wasn't a mental picture he would treasure for a long time, but the prize they would have to pay for this whole shitshow still wasn't worth that small personal triumph. "Well, gents, laters."
The thrusters of his suit ignited and he was out there just as fast as he had gone in.
#
Everything around him seemed way too calm. So much calmer than it should when his body was still vibrating with adrenaline and as the unique sounds of New York City's streets were still rushing in his ears. Even his heart was still racing as he paced up and down on the Tower's balcony, mask clutched in his hand. That too must be the adrenaline. Or maybe nerves.
As the elevator doors had opened into the penthouse there had been a part of him that wanted to just go hide in his room, put his head under the covers and try to ignore the mess he had just made. He was in trouble. He knew that. So much trouble. He should have stayed out of sight. Knew very well that Mr. Stark didn't want him to engage. He should have never tampered with the suit, but how could he stand down when it came to the Rogues. After everything they had done.
The familiar sound of Iron Man's thrusters reached him on the balcony, reflected from the bottom to ceiling glass fronts lining the penthouse suite. The noise tore him out of his thoughts and echoed painfully in Peter's ears. The technical marvel of how FRIDAY systematically stripped the suit from Mr. Stark's body usually never failed to amaze him. But now, well, his mind was a little preoccupied with the situation he had landed himself in. Mr. Stark didn't even look up as he stepped off the landing platform onto the balcony. Then there was silence. A long silence. His mentor's breathing was deep, forcefully slow. Not good.
"Inside." Mr. Stark's voice was low. Not the calm low that Peter knew all too well from when the man would explain something in the lab. No, a different kind of low, bottled up ready to burst. Peter jumped into action, followed him into the penthouse at a respectful distance. Not that that was gonna help him.
"We had a deal, kid."
Peter swallowed hard. "I... I know, Sir."
"I told you to stay out of the spotlight. I told you to stay away from them!"
"I know, Sir."
"What the fuck, Parker!"
Peter flinched. Mr. Stark's eyes were squarely on him now, furious. His hands flexing by his side.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark. I—"
"You disabled your tracker so you could intercept them without FRIDAY tipping me off when I specifically told you to stay the fuck away!"
Peter pulled himself together, looking for that flame of anger inside himself that had given him the courage to go after the Rogues in the first place.
"I tried to tell you but you wouldn't listen," Peter blurted out through gritted teeth. "I told you they would come and that I could help you and—"
"I listened, kid." His voice so low it gave Peter goosebumps. "That's why I kept the authorities occupied and as far away from them as possible."
"But... I don't—" he frowned, confused.
"Not that I'd expect a 14-year-old kid to understand what the fuck is going on here."
Peter's eyes stung as his anger was bubbling up again. "I'm 15!"
"No, this is where you zip it, alright! The adult is talking!" Mr. Stark pulled back his shoulders, back straight and didn't give an inch. He had him locked with a stare that Peter hadn't seen on his face before and got even closer to Peter. "What do you think would happen if you have a superhero fight in the middle of Brooklyn? What if somebody had been hurt tonight because you decided that you want to have it out with Captain Spangles, huh? Just a bit of collateral? A brick that hits an old lady? A building that collapses because a sack of meat smashes into the wrong part of it? What if somebody had died because in some fever dream you thought you could take on Rogers and Wilson and Barton, huh? That'd be on you."
The finger Mr. Stark was pointing at him made his chest hurt as if he'd actually been struck. The hair on his neck stood on edge. Mr. Stark had gotten so close and in his face, Peter was forced to take a few steps back. The angry force of his mentor's voice literally pushed him away.
"And what if you had died tonight, huh? What if you fell out of the sky and broke your back? Had your head smashed against a brick wall? What if you died after you hacked the very suit I build to protect you, thinking you could take on fucking Steve Rogers, huh?" Mr. Stark stopped and took a few breaths, an open attempt to reign in his temper. "I feel like that'd be on me and I don't need that on my conscience, Peter."
"Sir, I... I just—"
But his mentor wasn't done.
"You think I don't know where they are? They fly around with my tech! But if Ross knows where they are he will make me round them up and put them in the damn raft."
"Good." Peter pursed his lips. He couldn't help himself.
"Excuse me?!"
He swallowed hard, not sorry at all. The Rogues had brought this on themselves. It was because of them that Peter as well as Mr. Stark himself had to fear the very people they were trying to protect. It was because of them that his mentor's best friend was relearning how to walk, that Mr. Stark had been in a coma for 10 long days.
"Good! That's where they should be. They are criminals!"
The man's eyes narrowed. "That's not for you to decide."
Peter couldn't hold onto himself any longer, he had kept the anger he had harbored for them bottled up for weeks and it was finally overflowing. "Well, someone should decide! They are ruining the lives of everyone who is different. Because they don't want to listen to anyone they make us hide in the shadows. I'm not gonna stand by and just let them do it. I'm not! Not again. Nobody is going to die just because I waited too long to do something about it. They are not above the law. That's what you said yourself! They are not! And Rogers almost killed you! He left you to die! They need to pay for what they did."
Mr. Stark had fallen completely silent, his hand had fallen down with his arm dangling by his side. His eyes that had been narrowed on Peter in irritation went wide, his eyebrows up. Everything around them was quiet. It wasn't the adrenaline that blocked out everything around him as he had thought, no. There was just stunned silence. Silence and Mr. Stark's deep not so collected breaths that easily stuck out.
"What did you just say?"
"I..." Peter tried to swallow his nerves. What had he just said? "They... you were hurt. They... they should have had your back. They were your teammates and they didn't... didn't have your back!" The hair on the back of Peter's stood tall, electrified with tension. "They... Someone had to stop them. It's their fault. They didn't—"
"Why do you... No." Mr. Stark shook his head. "You said Rogers."
Peter's eyes widened. "I—I didn't mean—I mean you have the shield. I—I know you have the shield and—and the suit was destroyed. I mean it could only—it could only..." His mentor's eyes didn't waver from his face, dark and bottomless. His face slack, no sign of emotion.
Oh god.
"You know." Mr. Stark whispered, his voice rough and dark. "How the fuck do you know, Parker."
Peter's heart jumped in his chest. He could deny it. He had to. Or make up something but he had to do it fast.
Mr. Stark took a deep breath, eyes narrowed. "I know. Rogers and Barnes know. How the fuck do you know?!"
Peter's lips moved but no words made their way out of his mouth. His mind was blank. How could he save this? What could he say to make this better and not worse? Maybe Rogers had said something? Maybe that's how he had figured it out? His mentor's eyes were still on him, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths, lips pressed flat and Peter couldn't think. The disapproval in the man's eyes had him frozen. It was like nothing Peter had ever seen on him before, not even in Leipzig. Utter betrayal.
"There's no record of this, nothing! Only the—" Mr. Stark's face went blank. "The code for your suit is stored on my server. You... you snooped around on my private server." His voice had lost all of its anger just like his features.
"I... Mr. Stark, I wasn't—wasn't snooping, it just—" Peter felt close to hyperventilating. He hadn't gone looking for any of that. It had just kind of fallen into his lap. "I tried to—When you were in... in the coma, I just wanted to make sure that the suit—that I couldn't be found by any of the people who might—"
"FRIDAY, I want a list of everything Peter had access to when he hacked my system."
"Mr. Stark, I didn't—"
"List compiled, Sir."
Peter's eyes shot up to the projection in the middle of the penthouse's living room. The entire ghost drive that the suit's backdoor had granted him access to, was listed in front of him. Coding for his own suit, coding for the Iron Man suits, the nanotechnology research, notes and reports from private investigators, and of course, Mr. Stark's personal files. All the videos that had been stored on that secret server.
"I didn't—" He took a step closer to Mr. Stark, desperate for him to know what really happened. "Sir, I didn't look at most of this. I just—It was an accident. I didn't mean to find all of this. I just—I just wanted to make sure the suit couldn't be traced if anyone was going to access your systems while you were in the coma, I just—"
"FRIDAY, give me a list of the access data." His mentor wasn't even looking at him, eyes fixed on the projection.
"The list sorted by accesses count, Sir."
Peter gulped. He could even tell the disapproval carried in FRIDAY's voice. He had looked at a lot of that. He knew that. He shouldn't have but it was all right there and there was a perverse curiosity inside of him. He just hadn't been able to look away. The Iron Man suit's video files from the fight in the Siberian bunker were on the very top of the list. He hadn't been able to stop watching it, the images were burned into his retina. 21 times the counter said. Mr. Stark was silent. This was worse than when he had been shouting at him. This was so much worse.
"I'm so sorry, Sir. I..." He couldn't keep the tremor out of his voice. "It was an accident. I didn't want to find all this but you were... I couldn't talk to you about any of this and then you wouldn't tell me anything that happened and it—it was just right there. I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, please, I—"
"FRIDAY, last time Peter accessed this drive."
"Today at 1:05 pm he accessed Project Sojourner, activated protocol 11B-part2 and deactivated GPS tracking as well as the satellite connection."
Mr. Stark's breaths were long and deep, his eyes still fixed on the top of the list that FRIDAY displayed in front of them. Peter couldn't look at it though, he kept his eyes firmly on his mentor.
"How about the video files."
"Two days ago, Sir. August 13st."
Mr. Stark's eyes went over the file names. It wasn't just Siberia and Mr. Stark knew that. It was plain on his face. Mr. Stark knew what all of these file names meant, knew what it was that Peter had seen.
"Mr... Mr. Stark, please. I'm sorry. I—"
"You lied to me."
Peter hadn't even realized that he was crying until his vision was blurring. "I wanted to tell you, Sir. I just, I didn't know how. I didn't know how to explain and—"
"Take off the suit."
Peter's heart stopped. "Sir—"
"Take. It off."
"Mr. Stark, please—please just let me explain."
The man turned to him at last, face carefully blank but the anger was tugging at the corners of his mouth, his eyes were dark, bottomless pools full of rage. "Explain? Explain why you went behind my back, lied to me, went out to confront Rogers against my explicit order not to, hacked my private server and poked around my personal files? My son's file? You think there is an explanation that would excuse any of this?"
Peter had to turn his gaze down to the floor. He couldn't bear the look on his face, because he knew that the man, that his mentor was right. There was no excuse. It was why he had tried to keep it quiet in the first place. Why he hadn't confessed to what he had done. It was a betrayal that few people would forgive and Tony Stark wasn't one of those people.
"I'm sorry, Sir." He forced his eyes back up, hoping that maybe his sincerity would be written all over his face just like he felt it was radiating from his very soul. "I know it was wrong. I... it was a mistake. If I could undo it I—"
"Don't even fucking try, Parker. Don't even— This ends here. It's over."
"I'm sorry. I... I am! I'm sorry! Please, I didn't—"
Mr. Stark turned away from him, strutted down the corridor to the room he had been referring to as Peter's room for months now and returned with a small stack of clothes. He flung them across the room at Peter's feet.
"Take it off. Now."
He could only stare at them, frozen to the spot he was standing in. He couldn't give up the suit. He couldn't give this up. He had nothing if he had to give up Spider-Man.
"Don't make me take it off you, Peter."
Peter couldn't help the tears falling from his eyes as he pressed the spider emblem on his chest and the suit slowly widened around his body. Mr. Stark had turned his back, arms pointedly crossed, just waiting as Peter pushed the fabric from his shoulders. His hands were shaking, his stomach was heaving with suppressed sobs. He had never thought that he would find himself in a more painful humiliating moment in this very room after that night he had been stabbed and almost bled out on Mr. Stark's penthouse balcony. He quickly pulled on the jeans and t-shirt, then took his phone out of the suit's hidden pouch. The fabric was soft to the touch. Just the feel of it would never have given away how durable and protective it was. How would he ever wrap his mind around never touching it again? He carefully folded the fabric into a neat package. The suit was not even the most painful loss he would have to stomach.
"They tried to kill you." Peter cleared his throat. His voice was weak and pathetic and he wished he could make more of an impact than he likely would. "They tried to kill you and you didn't even do anything about it. I was trying to protect you because nobody else does."
Mr. Stark turned towards him, arms still crossed. "You're a child. I'm not yours to protect. I told you what would happen if you lied to me. If you went behind my back." He was standing on the other side of the room, kept his distance, but the tone of his voice hit Peter just the same. Made him shudder all the same. "If I see as much as a picture of one of your webs on social media I will come for you. I have to now because Ross will hold me in contempt if I don't. You're done, Parker. Go home."