Chapter Text
Peter would admit that he wasn’t all that excited. Mr.Harrington had announced a field trip, of which he had terrible luck with. Like last year, being bitten by a radioactive spider and the year before getting lost at a science museum where he had to wait for May to pick him up. Not to mention the academic decathlon trip to Washington D.C. So, a surprise field trip was not on his things to be ecstatic about. The top being getting a stark internship and getting complimented by the man whose name was on said building.
Ned seemed excited so for his best friend's sake, he faked a smile and listened to Ned theorize about where they would be going. If Ned noticed the lack of enthusiasm he didn’t let it dim his.
“Alright, settle down. Return the permission slip in by Friday or you won’t get to go. The NDA too,” Mr. Harrington called as the bell rang. Peter got up with Ned who was still rambling and distractingly grabbed two of each of the forms before handing one to Peter.
“What do you think it will be?! If we need to sign an NDA it has to be some kind of science company.” Ned continued at lunch.
“Probably just Hammer Industries,” Peter responded, taking a bite of his sandwich. Ned sulked a second before thinking and shaking his head.
“Their too paranoid to allow people who don’t work there to enter the parking lot let alone the building,” Ned commented.
“I don’t know why? They don’t have anything worth stealing,” Mj said causing both boys to jump and the sudden voice. Peter put a mocking hand over his heart.
“Man, Mj, didn’t anyone tell you not to sneak up on people?” Michelle simply shrugged, stealing Peter’s apple and taking a bite. Peter glared prompting her to glare back and Peter backing down. He wasn’t afraid to admit she could put the fear of God into him, or anyone for that matter.
“Do you know where we’re going?” Ned asked. Which was smart, as Michelle knew pretty much everything that happened, whether in school or somewhere halfway across the world.
“Maybe, maybe not,” was her reply. Ned hung his head, he wouldn’t get an answer from her.
The lunch bell rang and the trio left for their next class.
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Peter, Ned, and Mj walked to the subway, continuing past the trains and into an abandoned track. Peter jumped over the fence before unlocking it for the other two to follow and pressing the palm of his hand into the wall. It pressed in allowing a mechanism to activate and slide a door to the left slightly open.
Mj walked in first followed by Ned and then Peter. The room inside was mostly black and dark reds and accented blue on tables and chair pillows. One section was a mini-lab that had various projects in development, a computer in the middle of decoding a drug cartel in Queens and an unfinished article on women empowerment while balancing the need for men to feel important.
The next area had multiple suits of different designs, like the classic red and blue he wears for patrol or the jet black with a large spider on the front and back for stealth.
The last area consisted of a couple of sofas and bean bags, an ottoman and a television. It also included a kitchenette area for Peter's super metabolism or the others if they get hungry.
The only reason this exists is because Ned could not keep a secret from his parents if his life depended on it. Leading to them confronting Peter and May and their weekly dinner dates together since Ned and Peter became inseparable. It led to May finding out and Peter staying with the Leeds till May came around, Peter doesn’t like to think about that time. So, to put May at ease somewhat and Mr.Leeds having always wanting to sponsor a superhero, this HQ had happened.
As for Mj, well she confronted him after the disaster that was homecoming and here they were now. Ned resumes his coding, Mj walks to the computer hub to look out for crime while Peter got into his suit.
He went through all the settings and configurations till he knew everything worked before activating ASTRAEA(A Snarky Technological Robot Acting Exceedingly Astute), sure he needs to update the acronym but give him a break he was nine when he created her. He had heard about Tony Stark's AI and gave it a shot.
“Afternoon Peter,” sounded ASTRAEA’s smooth Italian lilt.
“ASTRAEA,” Peter greeted, “You ready to patrol?”
“Always, Peter,”
Peter crawled to the ceiling and activated the hatch and sling-shoting through the air to greet the New York City skyline.
“Soundcheck, M?” Peter asked.
“Copy,” was Mj’s reply. She monitored Peter while in the suit and acting as an unofficial medic.
“Guy in the chair?”
“Copy, Spidey,” Ned sounded the clacking of keys in the background. He acted as a technical support and emotional well-being therapist.
“We need to get you a shorter name,” Mj spoke.
“Don’t you dare,” Ned threatened.
“Really, because I was thinking about Q, to go along with my code name,” Ned is silent for a moment considering. Peter continues swinging letting his ears train on any unsavory sounds.
“Alright,” Ned concedes.
“I knew you would see it my way,” Peter can practically feel her smirk through the comm.
“Anything yet?” Ned asks about an hour into swinging.
“No, Ned, still nothing in the last five minutes,” Peter responded, slightly annoyed. He knew Ned wanted the action but Peter was fine with a quiet night, it meant less trouble, meaning less people to save.
“Sorry,” Peter felt slightly bad but he didn’t get to apologize as a silent alarm was set off nearby. Peter swung his way over as ten men entered a classy restaurant. He perched on the side of the neighboring building thinking of a quick strategy. Make a plan, execute the plan, expect the plan to go off the rails, and throw away the plan. His uncle Ben had told him after the Stark Expo, nothing works out the way we think.
Taking a deep breath he asked for ASTRAEA to highlight the targets before entering. The bell chimes and the intruders turned to the sound. Peter quietly snickered, no one ever looks up.
“What was that?” Peter silently named the thief Hugo, asked. The others merely shrugged and they continued. The thieves spread out and Peter followed a lone guy till he could web him up. He waited for the perfect moment before covering the man's mouth while simultaneously attaching his web to his torso. He used a bit of strength and pulled him up, punching him in the face, knocking him unconscious and muffling the surprised noises.
He continued till half were down. He tried for the next one when another person walked in as Peter fired a web. The second one followed the line to him shouting for his friends and shooting at him. “Man, you couldn’t just keep your mouth shut. Always nice to meet a fan, but sometimes I don’t want the attention,” Peter rambled. He hated guns. Well, guess the plan went off the rails.
Peter quickly dodged out of the way, narrowly missing multiple bullets in the process.
“Hey! The bold colors are not for target practice!” He exclaimed. He was grateful M and, he guessed now Q, didn’t talk while he was fighting as it tended to distract him. The only time M said anything was to inform him the police were on their way. He needed to end this quickly.
Peter shot off a web grenade, trapping anything moving to the wall.
“Well fellas, I’d say it was nice to meet you, but that would be lying and I have an image to uphold,” Peter gave a single wave and walked out the door. He made it back the building adjacent just in time for the police to arrive.
“Good job WebHead, almost minimum damage,” M complimented, sorta. Peter grinned, originally he hadn’t thought about the damage but Mj had quickly set him straight.
A few hours later and a couple of purse thieves, a stolen vehicle car chase, and more than a few burglaries and Peter called it a night.
“Heading back,” Peter informed the couple back at HQ.
“Copy, try not to make any pit stops this time,” M’s voice monotone.
“It was only twice, those puppies needed a home,” Peter defended.
“Yeah, yeah, loser. Just hurry up, I have a rehearsal dinner to ditch,”
Peter nodded and watched as ASTRAEA sent the gesture to M who replied with the middle finger. He grins and speeds up. Loving the thrill of catching himself last second before he hits the ground and pulling himself up till he is higher than most of the skyscrapers.
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Peter made it home in time for dinner with May by nine. She had the shift off today and Peter was grateful to spend more time with his only remaining family member.
“Hey, May, I’m home!” He called, shutting the door behind him.
“Hi, you ready to go,” May was dressed with her hair down and wore a red shirt and dark blue pants.
“May...” Peter whined.
“What is it too much? I thought I could subtly support you,” Aunt May joked, she was trying really hard to be supportive but the color scheme was a bit much,” I could always go grab the spider-man t-shirt I have,” Peter groaned making May laugh.
“Can we go?” Peter pleaded. It only served to make her laugh louder.
They ended up eating Thai.
“How was your day?” May asked, taking a bite out of her stir-fry.
“It was great. Stopped a few thief’s and got into a car chase,” May’s eyes grew wide and Peter quickly backtracked,” it was fine, not a single bruise! And I also need you to sign a permission slip for a field trip this Friday,” Peter finished lamely. May nodded but her eyes raked over his form making her own assessment to make sure he really didn’t have a single scratch on him. Which to be fair he usually wouldn’t tell her if he did. He would have Mj take care of the medical part till it was safe enough to go back to their apartment, so as not to worry her more.
“Besides, ASTRAEA is programmed to alert you if I get so much as a paper cut,” Peter reasoned.
“I would say I didn’t trust you to have added that but it’s been that way since you created her,” May said appeased. Peter had made a watch and put her on his phone and spider suits as soon as he thought of it. It included May and formerly Ben having been informed of anything happening to his person.
Dinner finished with May talking about her shorter shift at the hospital, Peter’s updates to make the suit more bulletproof, and about the new LEGO sets that Ned had gotten. They had made a spider-man one that Ned found hilarious and had to buy it. It was a goal of Ned’s if he couldn’t get LEGO to make one of himself his best friend getting one was the next best thing.