Chapter Text
Peter hadn’t resisted when they’d burst through the front door of his home. He knew they were coming. He knew hiding would be useless and he didn’t want to delay the inevitable. They hadn’t even bothered knocking.
Peter had been sitting on the couch with May holding his hand. His face had been steely and expressionless because he knew he had to be strong for May who was crying beside him. He’d called Happy and Happy had advised him to not resist and that they were going to sort it out. This wouldn’t last forever. Peter would one day walk free.
In the meantime, he knew he would have to submit to the government.
When they’d burst through the door, he hardly even flinched. He’d heard them coming and he and May knew to get themselves ready. The news was playing on TV, the same clips repeating over and over again as the police broke down his door, their guns raised.
“Hands up where we can see them!” They seemed to scream in unison as Peter stood and turned to face them. He raised his hands showing them he meant no harm as they charged forward, a group of eight sturdily built police officers dressed up to the max.
“Peter Parker, we’re placing you under arrest for the murder of Quentin Beck a.k.a. Mysterio, terrorism, and breaking the Sokovia Accords,” the second officer told him as he continued to recite his Miranda rights to him.
The first officer was quick to clamp his hands tightly into cuffs, and despite knowing not to resist, Peter couldn’t help the panic that was slowly starting to build inside of him. He was afraid.
“It’s going to be okay, Pete. We’ll get you out of this.” May called to him as he was dragged from the apartment. May followed them close behind, trying to get to him, the tears streaming from her eyes.
Peter looked back at her in panic as the first police officer tugged on the chain of his handcuffs harshly nearly tripping him up.
Out in the hallway, crowds had gathered from their apartments. They had all heard the commotion and had come to see Peter being dragged out of the apartment.
Like a procession, they made their way out of Peter’s apartment building and down to the street where vans were waiting for Peter. People had crowded the streets, and Peter watched as people recorded his arrest.
“I love you, Pete. This isn’t going to be forever.” May shouted as the first police officer roughly tugged on his arms again.
“Shut your mouth,” another police officer told her as he shoved her away causing her to fall to the ground.
“May!” Peter shouted as he pulled his hands out of the first officer’s grasp and ran back to help her.
Before he could get any closer to her, a harsh pain exploded across his back and legs and he fell to the ground. Unable to stop his fall due to his cuffs, Peter felt his arms and chin scrape up in the fall. He turned his head to look at the police officer and saw the man had switched his gun for a baton and realised that was what had caused his pain. The officer raised his arm to strike him one more time.
“Stop!” Someone in the crowd called, “he was just going to check on his family. You don’t need to hit him anymore.”
“Peter, I’m okay. It’s okay.” May whispered to him, wriggling closer to him from her place on the ground. “Remember to ask for your call and a lawyer. Happy’s gonna get you the best of the best.”
“I love you,” Peter told her as a few tears slipped down his cheek.
“I love you, too,” May replied as Peter was hauled to his feet and shoved roughly into the back of the van.
He was only sixteen, but it already felt like his world was ending. Even if he got out of this mess, his life was never going to be the same again.
Peter was shaking as he sat in the back of the police van. Two officers sat in the front of the van, whilst four sat around him in the back of the van. Despite everything that he knew he could do, he was terrified. He desperately wished Tony could have been with him at this moment, knowing that Tony would have had a solution for this. This would have never happened if Tony had been here. Beck would have never happened with Tony.
He leaned back in his seat in the van and wondered about Ned and MJ. He’d left MJ in the middle of the city surrounded by so many people. She’d screamed for him to run, to get out of there as the crowds had gathered around the lamppost he’d been standing on.
When he’d swung away, he’d known he wouldn’t have a lot of time before they’d come looking for him. He’d called Happy, but Happy was already on it. He told him to go home and that they would sort it.
After that he’d called Ned. It was the quietest conversation he’d ever had with Ned. The other boy had wished him luck, and told Peter that he would always be there for him and would always be his guy in the chair.
Thinking about it all made tears want to spring to his eyes, but he wouldn’t let these men see him at his weakest. He may only be 16 years old, but he was Spider-man. He could do this. He would survive this and he would come out the other side an innocent man.
“They beat him as he was being hauled into the van,” Pepper replied calmly into the phone as the news played quietly in the background.
There were voices of defence that could be quietly heard on the other line.
“He wasn’t resisting arrest at all. He was checking on his aunt, which your guys pushed to the ground.” Pepper sighed, frustrated. “Well, whatever you say, that footage is not being taken down. I don’t even know why you called me about it.”
Pepper hung up the phone and heaved a breath. When she woke up this morning, this was not how she planned on her day going.
Morgan peaked from behind the wall, and Pepper replaced her frustration with a smile. Happy had gotten in touch with their best lawyers, so she knew Peter was in the best hands for now.
“Mommy?” Morgan started unsure. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, sweetie. Peter is just having a hard time now,” Pepper explained and opened her arms for a hug she knew Morgan would be jumping into.
“Peter will be okay?” Morgan asked.
“For sure. Uncle Happy is looking after him.” Pepper reassured her as she placed a kiss on Morgan’s head. Pepper was going to look after the kid no matter what it took. He wasn’t going to go down for this.
Peter had been in police stations before. He’d come in before when Ben had died, and he’d needed to answer questions, but he’d never been the bad guy at the police station before. He’d never needed to see the looks people had given before as he was walked in to be booked. The scrapes on his body from his fall were itching, but he knew that was just because they were healing.
“Peter Parker,” One of the officers told the officer behind the reception desk.
“Parker,” The officer called, and Peter read his name tag, noting the name of Rogers.
“Yes, sir,” Peter answered as his eyes travelled to look at the face of the man who was going to book him into the police station.
“Can you confirm your full name for me?” Rogers asked.
“Peter Parker,” Peter confirmed, his throat suddenly feeling dry.
“And your date of birth?” Rogers continued.
“August 10th, 2001.” Peter answered, automatically.
“Okay, Peter. You’re officially being booked in for the murder of Quentin Beck, a.k.a. Mysterio, terrorism and breaking the Sokovia Accords, do you understand that?” Rogers asked him, and Peter could hear the gentleness in his voice.
“I do.” Peter answered, “but I didn’t do it.”
“That’s for the courts to decide, unfortunately.” Rogers told him, before proceeding to ask him for any personal properties such as his phone and watch. Peter handed over everything as he was asked.
Rogers explained to him that he would now be led into the back rooms where he would get his picture taken, finger prints, health screenings and body searches completed before they would place him in a cell where he would await his lawyer and his court hearing.
“Do you understand?” Rogers asked.
“I do,” Peter answered shakily as he was led to the back rooms.
Peter stood still as his picture was taken and his fingerprint taken, but stopped dead when he was ordered to take off his clothes.
“Why?” Peter asked nervously.
“We need to do a body search to make sure you aren’t concealing anything.” The officer explained to him, as he pulled gloves on his hands.
“I’m not concealing anything.” Peter told him quickly.
“If I believed everyone who told me that, then there wouldn’t be any point to this.” The officer huffed in reply.
“Isn’t there some rules? I’m a minor.” Peter replied, not wanting to get naked in front of this man.
“We have to perform this search if we believe you could be concealing anything.” The man replied gentler. “Let’s make this a bit more comfortable. My name is Nick Allam, no one else is looking in here, it’s going to be just me and you.”
Peter looked at the two officers flanking him, and gulped.
“They’ll leave. No matter what kind of person you are, everyone deserves as much dignity as possible.” Nick told him.
“I don’t have a choice, do I?” Peter sighed, his breathing quickening slightly.
“Unfortunately not,” Nick told him. “Right, guys, out for now. I’ll call for you when it’s done.”
The officers grunted and quickly walked out of the room. Peter knew they would be hiding just on the other side of the door. There really was no escape from this situation.
“Let’s start, shall we?” Nick asked, prompting Peter, “take off all your clothes, including underwear and socks, please.
Peter sighed as he started undressing, feeling his cheeks heat up as he started pulling his boxers down. He was humiliated as he was led to the plastic examination bed. He knew this was a moment he would never live down. He wanted to be so angry. Angry at Beck, angry at the police, angry at himself, but all he could gather were tears. He wanted Tony and he wanted to go home.
“Peter Parker placed under arrest and has been detained,” the newscaster read as the footage replayed of Peter being arrested. Ned had been watching the same footage for hours. Peter had been captured, people had been arrested. His heart pounded heavily in his chest. His mother sat next to him, still and silent. Ned couldn’t work out what she was thinking. His mother had always been pretty vocal in all her opinions, but this one seemed to silence her.
Ned felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, and knew it was the Academic Decathlon group chat. It had exploded when the news had been announced about Peter was Spider-Man and hadn’t stopped since. Ned turned his eyes slowly from the screen and looked at his phone.
Betty: What are we gonna do?
Abe: Is there anything we can do?
Cindy: Ned? MJ?
Betty: yeah, any info? What’s happening?
Ned sighed. He had no information. Nothing more than what they knew. He knew Happy and Pepper were working on it. May was keeping him as updated as she could, but this was a hard situation for her, too.
“Did you know about him being Spider-Man?” His mother eventually asked, breaking the rhythm of the newscasters.
“I did,” Ned answered, not seeing the point in lying.
“Did he do it?” His mother asked.
“Kill Beck?” Ned checked, he was nervous and waited for his mother’s nod, “no. Peter’s not like that. Beck got shot by his own drones.”
His mother nodded and suddenly stood.
“Let’s order out for dinner today. I don’t want to cook.” His mother told him and walked away to grab menus.
His phone buzzed.
It was May
May: Peter’s court hearing is set for tomorrow at 4pm. Happy will pick you up at 2pm.
Ned: okay. Is Peter okay?
May: they won’t tell us anything. His lawyer just spoke with him and said he was shaken up. They insisted on a full body search.
Ned: What??!!
May: my thoughts. See you tomorrow.
Ned stared at his phone in shock. He wasn’t even sure he could eat anything as he listened to his mother order food on the phone next to him.
Ned: May just text me.
Ned replied to the Academic Decathlon group chat.
Betty: and?
Ned: his court hearing is tomorrow at 4pm. May said he was shaken.
Abe: nobody messes with the acadec team and gets away with it. Are you going?
Ned: yes.
Ned closed the group chat and opened his messages to MJ.
Ned: come to my house for 1.30pm tomorrow.
MJ: I’ll be there
Ned put his phone down and turned his eyes back to the TV. All this for his friend. Tomorrow he would see his friend and he would let him know that everyone stood beside him. This was not the end.