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“Ned, don’t freak out, okay?” His best friend stared at him seriously, hands holding tightly to his backpack straps as they walking slowly down the not-yet-busy main hall of their high school.
“Dude, why would I freak out? I’m always chill.”
“Yeah, so chill,” Peter agreed, rolling his eyes. Rude. “Anyway,” Peter pulled him into an alcove, glancing to see if anyone was nearby, stepping in close, so he couldn’t be overheard. “So, you know how I told you about how Tony and May might be officially adopting me?”
“Yeah, because it’s safer if Tony has like, legal claim to you if people in the government find out about your…uh, other you, right?”
“Yeah, basically. Well—”
“You said they were thinking about it. Is that really happening? Oh my g—” Peter’s hand clapped over his mouth, probably since his voice had gotten a little bit louder.
“Ned . You have to calm down.” Peter slowly dropped his hand, eyeing Ned sternly as he did.
“I’m calm! I’m calm.” Ned put on his best “totally chill” smile, hoping his friend would continue.
“So anyway, it’s happening this week,” Peter started.
Ned managed to keep his mouth shut, but his eyes bulged with excitement, and he was pretty sure his heart rate doubled.
“And once it’s official, it will be a matter of public record, so anyone could realize we’re that close.”
Ned nodded eagerly, still keeping his mouth shut. It was taking way more effort than he expected, though. There was a small high-pitched noise, a little like when you let the air out of a balloon slowly, that may or may not be coming from him.
“So this weekend, Tony had a team come in and install FRIDAY in the school, just as a monitoring system, in case anyone tries to like, kidnap me, or something dumb like that.”
“He installed FRIDAY. In our school,” Ned finally let himself whisper. “That. Is so —”
“Stupid. I know! But it was the only way he said I could keep going to Midtown. I didn’t want to switch, or stop, or whatever. I mean, it’s our senior year!” Peter looked frustrated, but mostly resigned. “I just wanted to tell you, so you don’t think I’m crazy if I start talking to the walls or something. FRI can be a little overprotective, and I might have to talk her down if kids are being dumb, you know? Flash mostly leaves me alone these days, but she’s already got a grudge against him from before, I think.”
Ned just stared at his friend for a moment. “Wait, does the school know about this? Did Mr. Morita say—”
“Of course they know, Ned! Tony offered to get new lab equipment for all of the hard sciences, and Morita and the superintendent okayed it. As long as she doesn’t record anything that doesn’t have to do with me directly, I think.”
“So if I’m not with you, she won’t be watching or listening to me?”
Peter raised a sardonic eyebrow at him. “Have you met FRIDAY?”
“Huh. She is kinda overprotective, you’re right. Karen in your watch wasn’t enough?”
“Not for Tony. And May signed off on it.”
“Huh,” Ned said, considering all the details that might be involved in such an endeavor. “They put her in the whole school? In one weekend?”
Peter nodded.
“Did they just tie her into the surveillance cameras or whatever? Because even that would—”
“Nah, she’s been hacking those for a while, I think,” Peter said with a fond shake of his head. She’s got sensors in every room now, even audio just inside the bathroom doors. See anything different about that sprinkler head over there?”
“Um, it looks… not old? Shinier? I dunno, dude. I’ve never paid attention to the sprinkler heads for some reason,” Ned laughed.
“Well, any of the sprinkler heads that don’t look like they’re from the 80’s have sensors now. And half the walls, I think.” He sighed. “Some of the vent screws. Probably some places I don’t know.”
Man, Mr. Stark was thorough! Ned wondered if FRIDAY had any blind spots. Suddenly he had the urge to find out. But it was a really big school. He wondered if she could talk to him if no one was around, and maybe they could figure it out together…
As if he could read Ned’s mind, (he probably could, after all these years being friends) Peter volunteered more information. “She’s not supposed to talk or let anyone know she’s here unless there’s an emergency. She’s really just one more failsafe. I just worry about her overstepping or overreacting,” Peter said, staring meaningfully at a sprinkler head.
“Peter, you can’t go around glaring at or talking to the ceiling all of a sudden. You know that, right?” Ned said apprehensively. “We’re seniors now. We’re supposed to be at least a little bit cool…”
Peter laughed. “As if that could happen. But I’ll try not to be extra weird, okay?”
“Awesome,” Ned agreed, reaching out to start their super-amazing-best-friend handshake before they had to separate for first period. As he walked down towards English, hands clutching his backpack straps, he looked suspiciously at a ceiling vent where one screw looked a little off. “Welcome to Midtown, FRIDAY,” he said quietly. He was probably imagining things, but he was pretty sure the screw blinked at him.
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The first time FRIDAY reacted to and averted disaster actually had nothing to do with Peter’s relationship with Tony Stark.
After a few days of being hyper-aware that Mr. Stark’s A.I. was probably documenting their every move, Ned got distracted by classmates, assignments, . After all, he’d been under some kind of surveillance whenever he was around Peter for quite a while now. He knew it annoyed Peter, but both of them had been saved from close calls more than once because of Karen, so he mostly tried not to think about it. And still, how cool was it to have an actual A.I. in their school’s walls ?
Ned leaned over to his lab partner. “Hey, when you graduate, is you-know-who just going to have people come back in and remove all the sensors, or what?”
“Haven’t really thought about it, Ned. Shh.”
“But what if—”
Peter’s watch buzzed, distracting both of them. Peter glanced down at it, and his eyes narrowed.
“Who’s texting you?”
“FRIDAY.” Whoa. Technically Ned knew she could do that, but it was weird. Karen said stuff to Peter that way sometimes, but she generally kept a low profile as well. Suddenly Ned noticed Peter’s eyes were wide as he stared at a lab group towards the front of the room.
He turned to Ned and whispered rapidly, “FRI said table 3 was trying to turn their bunsen on and didn’t realize they left the gas open for the last few minutes. If they try to light the other one first for the next part of this experiment and don’t notice, it could cause an explosion.”
“Or even the table next to them,” said Ned, his head spinning. “What does she want us to do? What can we do?”
Now Peter did look at the sprinkler in the ceiling. “Any chance the carbon monoxide detector will catch that in the next minute or two?” he said conversationally, his eyes flicking back to Ned.
His watch buzzed. “She says ‘no, it’s too localized.’”
Can FRIDAY set off the alarm? Does she have access for that?”
“You’re a genius, Ned! FRI?”
Ned smiled happily. He knew he was smart, but it always seemed like Peter was smarter, so it was fun when he had good ideas, too.
Peter’s wrist buzzed again, and he glanced at it before rummaging in his backpack for his special noise canceling earbuds. As soon as he had them in, the carbon monoxide alarm blared shrilly. Mr. Harrington went to it immediately and shut it off, then checked the readings.
“Huh. This only says trace amounts. Why would it—”
“Mr. Harrington,” Ned’s hand shot up. “Should we all double check our bunsen burners maybe? To make sure none of them are on or leaking?”
The open valve was quickly discovered, and Harrington cleared the room, sending the kids to the outdoor commons area while they ventilated. Which also earned them fifteen minutes of relative freedom, actually, which was nice on such a sunny day. Of course, Peter spent most of it on his phone with you-know-who-I-am, reassuring his mentor (His dad?? That’s what he was now, right? Legally, anyway…) that they were completely out of danger, that it was just an accident, that FRIDAY had detected it before anything happened, that he did not need to come, and “No, of course I had had nothing to do with it, oh my gosh, Tony. Why would you think that? We actively prevented a problem someone else caused, you know…”
Ned smiled, and almost thanked FRIDAY, but then he realized he didn’t know if she had any sensors outside. Probably, right? So many questions still…
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As helpful as FRIDAY had been with the lab almost-incident, Peter was less than impressed that she had access to all of the announcements and school events that were happening. Ned found it hilarious, though. He loved those campy all-school dances they had like once a month, which Peter had never been willing to go to. He’d gone to a few on his own, but that was less fun. However, after listening to the cheer squad hype it up over the morning announcements all week, apparently FRIDAY had mentioned it to Mr. Stark, because that Friday, Peter grouchily asked Ned if he wanted to go that night.
“Are you kidding? You never want to go to those things! Yes, I totally want to go. I can wear my hat, and I got a new shirt this week that will be so awesome with it, and… Wait, why are you gonna go to one of these all of a sudden? Does MJ want to go?” Ned would be surprised, but if she wanted to do some drawing he could see it happening, he guessed.
“No, she’s visiting her grandmother this weekend,” Peter sighed. “I asked her to tell me I shouldn’t go - you know, dancing with other people and all that? Is a little bit of jealousy too much to ask for?”
Ned grinned. “I’m guessing she didn’t play along?”
“Obviously. And I quote, ‘I’m not your keeper. Have at it, Parker.’ She sounded way too cheerful about it, though,” he grumbled.
“She’s probably just imagining you trying to navigate the awkward throng of underclassmen that you know frequents these things,” Ned said brightly. “Hey, I saw the theme is “Under the Sea” this month! We could go dressed as fishermen! I bet my hat would look great with some flies attached to it.” Ned couldn’t help but tease his friend a little bit.
Peter didn’t answer, just let his head thump against the wall dramatically.
“So, why are you gonna go, then?” There had to be a reason. Not that Ned cared what it was, if his friend would actually go with him, but still.
“Mr. Stark said I need to be more social. ‘Live life. Be young,’ and all that crap. May agrees, so they said if I went to this dance, I could spend next weekend, which is a long weekend, at the Compound, helping Tony design a whole bunch of new arrows for Hawkeye.” Peter finally perked up a little, remembering why this was going to be worth it.
Ah. There it was. “Which,” Peter said, glaring at a random emergency sprinkler, “he probably would have let me do anyway, if someone had kept their mouth shut.”
Ned couldn’t stop grinning as he headed to a different class than Peter a few minutes later. “It’s okay, FRIDAY. He really should be more social.”
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The third time FRIDAY influenced things at Midtown was just a few days later. Ned was sitting in his first period class, half-heartedly starting an essay outline, when he got a text notification on his phone. He grabbed it quickly out of his bag, glancing to see if his teacher had noticed. He was sure he’d put it on silent!
Unknown: Your friend Michelle is in emotional distress. Perhaps you can go help her?
Uh, who is this?
Wait, is this FRIDAY?
Yes. She is in the women’s bathroom three doors down from your classroom.
Miss FRIDAY, shouldn’t Peter go instead of me?
He’s her boyfriend. I’m just her regular friend.
Peter is taking a Chemistry test. You seemed the better choice.
Okay.
Ned asked to use the bathroom, but slowly made his way to the girl’s bathroom instead. He pulled his phone out and typed rapidly.
Is this the right one? Is she alone in there?
Yes. I can lock the door once you go in, if you like.
You can DO THAT?
“Whoa…” he whispered. Then he slowly opened the door, grimacing. He hoped MJ appreciated this, because if anyone saw him, he’d never live it down. Or if a teacher saw him, he’d definitely get in trouble.
“MJ?”
He heard slight sniffing.
“MJ? It’s Ned. I’m coming in!”
He walked in gingerly, averting his eyes, just in case. MJ stepped out of a stall, her eyes red and wet, but also very surprised.
“What are you doing in here, Ned?”
“I… uh… FRIDAY told me you might need a friend? And Peter’s taking a test, so she told me where you were I guess…”
MJ glared at the wall behind him, and wiped at her eyes as more tears sprang loose. “FRIDAY, you’re overstepping,” she said, sounding angry. “I’m gonna tell Tony, and he’s gonna…” she trailed off, knowing her threat lacked teeth.
“Sorry. I just got here late, and couldn’t go into class yet. My parents… they had a huge fight, and I think my mom might have actually left for good,” she finally whispered. “I mean, it’s just as well, ‘cause they just make each other crazy, but it’s still…” she stopped talking and turned to face the back of the bathroom, her shoulders shaking slightly.
Ned tried to be brave. “MJ? Can I give you a hug?”
Ned was afraid she wasn’t going to respond, but finally she nodded, still not turning to look at him. He walked up next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, resting her head against his, and crying a little harder.
“MJ, I’m so sorry. It’s okay to cry. FRIDAY said the door is locked until you’re ready.”
“Well, that’s one nice thing, I guess,” she said quietly.
Ned led her a few steps over so they could both sit on a bench. They stayed there for another handful of minutes, until they both tensed as someone opened the door.
Thankfully, it was just Peter.
“MJ? Ned?”
“In here,” called Ned, and Peter came through the doorway, looking just as nervous about the location as Ned had been.
“FRI told me as soon as I finished my test,” he said. “I didn’t know you were coming to school today, or I would’ve met you, Em,” he said fervently, sitting on the other side of MJ and turning the hug into a group affair.
“It was this, or stay home with my dad, who’s rage-cleaning,” she said ruefully, sniffing a little, but not crying anymore. She sighed and leaned her head against Peter now. Ned wondered if he should leave them alone, but MJ’s hand held him tighter when he acted like he might move away.
“Thanks, guys,” she said quietly. “And thanks to you, too, FRIDAY. I guess.”
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FRIDAY was also involved the day that Ned got a text in the middle of class. Not from his mother, (who texted him in the middle of class without fail, then asked later why he hadn’t responded right away) but from his best friend’s aunt.
Ned, is Peter doing okay? Tony said FRIDAY said he’s struggling with his senses, and might need to be picked up, but he won’t answer my messages.
Was Peter doing okay? He had been acting like he had a headache earlier, sure, but he’d told Ned he’d be fine.
Maybe let me see what I think next period when I see him, and I’ll get back to you?
Sounds good. Please do.
When Ned saw Peter, he was definitely doing worse than when he’d seen him before school. He was kind of curled in on himself, was wearing his fancy Starktech earbuds, and stumbled a little when he walked.
“Peter? You look rough. Shouldn’t you go home, dude?”
“I don’t want to miss my Spanish quiz seventh hour. I’ll probably be okay.” Hmm. Loyalty to his friend’s wishes, or loyalty to his friend’s needs? Ned sighed as he made the decision. He’d throw the wishes vs. needs things on May. She could handle it.
Yeah, he’s not doing so hot
I don’t know why he won’t answer you, but he said he wants to stay for our spanish quiz, so maybe that’s why
When is that?
7th hour
In like 3 hours? He’ll be melting down by then. Thanks, Ned
Twenty minutes later as they sat in Biology together, Peter’s head was down on his desk, trying to block out the fluorescent lighting. Suddenly the intercom crackled to life.
“Please send Peter Parker to the office. He’ll be leaving for the day.”
“Seriously, FRIDAY? You couldn’t keep your mouth shut?” Peter muttered, shoving his book back into his bag, then recoiling from the feel of the zipper touching his wrist and fingers.
“Sorry, not sorry, Peter. May asked me too, and I agreed.”
Peter just sighed, waved at Ned, and headed for the door, shoulders hunched painfully. Ned sighed. He was pretty sure he’d made the right decision. If MJ had been here today, instead of home sick, she probably would have texted May or Tony herself, but Ned wasn’t sure if he’d have been brave enough to. He was kinda grateful FRIDAY had notified Peter’s… adults? Parents? One stupid Spanish quiz wasn’t worth being miserable all day. It was like Peter thought his feelings didn’t matter, or something.
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The fifth time time FRIDAY “stuck her nose where it doesn’t belong” (according to Peter) was when she gave him an ultimatum about Flash.
Apparently the boy was having a particularly rough week at home, because he had started picking at Peter again, throwing verbal jabs at him every chance he got, and even going as far as to shove him into lockers or doors a few times. When Flash deliberately dropped a textbook on his hand in Government, (and Peter could react quickly enough with everyone right there to avoid it,) causing a dark bruise, (“It was gone in like an hour, FRI!) the A.I. told him he’d better figure out a way to resolve it, or she was going to tell Tony. Watching him get hurt on purpose, over and over, went against her primary programming, and she’d already ignored smaller instances (at Peter’s pleading) over the last several weeks.
Peter had reported all this to Ned and MJ, almost growling with frustration, but seemed surprised by their reactions.
“Peter, sorry, but I agree with FRIDAY,” Ned said cautiously as they walked together.
“What?”
“Me, too,” MJ said, raising her chin firmly. “He’s going too far. It’s like we’re back in freshman year again, and he shouldn’t be treating people that way. You’re Spider-man, Peter,” (Peter’s eyebrows jumped up, and he looked around wildly, even though they were the only ones within a hundred yards as they walked to Ned’s house) “Figure out a way to deal with him.”
“What if I hurt him?” Peter sputtered.
“Oh, please. I know you can control your strength when it’s important to you,” she said, looking at him meaningfully. “And I know you’ve been training a lot this last year. You can handle him without hurting him.”
“What if I can’t?”
“You can!” said Ned. “It’s that, or let Mr. Stark deal with him. Because you know he will.”
“And maybe that wouldn’t be the worst thing,” said MJ, who had developed a grudging respect for the billionaire, despite her objections to his elitist existence in general, and his past track record specifically. His obvious care for Peter, and his respect for her and willingness to listen to her opinions, had slowly but surely won her over. It didn’t hurt that he was engaged to Pepper Potts.
“Yes, it would,” grumbled the young superhero. “He’d end up pulling the footage from the last three years and go ballistic. He’s always so extra. He’d make a huge deal out of it. And if Flash gets in trouble for this again, it might mess up graduation for him.”
“Don’t be dramatic, Peter,” MJ said. “The school probably only keeps like the last six months of stuff, tops. You know, sometimes you act like him…” She grinned and squeezed his hand, to let him know she was teasing. Mostly.
“Flash treating you this way is a huge deal,” Ned told his friend, turning to use his own puppy dog eyes on Peter. “You don’t have to be his punching bag just because his dad’s a jerk or something. Even if it means he gets suspended or whatever.”
Peter sighed. “I’ll think about it.”
Evidently he came to a decision that didn’t involve the administration, because the next week FRIDAY and Peter had a plan. She made sure that a side hall was clear, with just him and Flash in it, when he was ready to talk to the shorter boy. Ned had no idea how they managed it. They were out of sight of the school’s surveillance, but not of FRIDAY’s, of course.
Later, when Ned asked about it, Peter said he just pushed Flash up against the wall for a minute and held him there while he explained that the comments and the physical stuff had to stop, and that he’d better not just switch to other targets, or Peter would hear about it. Peter had sighed morosely. “I twisted his arm just a little bit. Enough to hurt, but not do any damage. I felt like a jerk doing it, Ned. I know he’s getting trash from his dad at home. I don’t like adding to it.”
“Peter, you are literally the nicest person I know. After all he’s done to you, you’re feeling bad for him?”
But the harassment had stopped, and FRIDAY didn’t have to follow through on her threat to report anything to Tony. And if Flash Thompson found doors at school inexplicably locked when he tried to use them sometimes, but also started getting emails about how to report domestic violence as a minor, no one else had to know.
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FRIDAY mostly laid low after that, though she’d randomly text all three of the seniors with important information like when Ms. Rittenhouse was on a rampage that day, and they should watch it when they came to class, or when half the stalls on the second floor bathrooms got flooded, so they could avoid it, or when the cafeteria was going to run out of pizza early that day so they could hurry to lunch. She even told them when some obnoxious freshmen set off a stink bomb outside the counseling office so they could choose a different route. She also regularly aided Peter in his efforts to keep his alter ego on the down low. And Ned knew he needed a lot of help with that one. It was a small miracle no one else at school had figured it out (as far as they knew). But no one other than Ned and his friends (well, and Principal Morita) even knew FRIDAY was on the job.
Until they did.
They’d been very clever. Their plant had passed a background check and had a fingerprint card. “Mr. Brown” had been cleared as a sub with the district, and had been subbing for two months, several times a week, when he finally got asked to sub at Midtown.
Ned and Peter had managed to avoid P.E. last year, but they needed one more P.E. credit to graduate, so they were stuck with it again senior year. Peter had had more practice with his powers by now, and could usually appear to be putting forth good effort with mediocre results without even thinking about it. But he still felt like the sub was watching them too much. When he said as much to Ned, Ned started noticing it, too.
“Dude, what is his issue?” Ned said, as the creepy nondescript teacher kept glancing at him and Peter.
“I don’t know, but it feels weird. My… uh, senses are all tingley.” Even more quietly, he said, “FRIDAY, do some deep background on this guy, would you?” Peter asked, glancing at the ceiling.
Just then, Mr. Brown looked down at his clipboard, and casually said, “Parker, Peter?” Ned and Peter both glanced up sharply. “Would you come over here, please?”
Peter got up from where they’d been doing planks (or trying to, in Ned’s case) and walked over to the sub reluctantly. Ned was suddenly feeling more uneasy about the remote location of the Midtown gym, over on the edge of campus.
Mr. Brown smiled. It wasn’t a good smile. “Can you just step outside with me here, Mr. Parker? Someone from the office wants to speak with you.”
Suddenly, the ceiling spoke. “Peter, do not step outside with him.”
The man startled, then fumbled and pushed a button on his wrist.
“Incoming assailants, Peter. I’ve contacted your dad, but you need to get to a panic room immediately. There is one located through the boy’s locker room.”
The other students were frozen in shock, looking wildly around the room and at the ceiling, where FRIDAY’s voice had come from. “Mr. Brown” jerked forward, trying to grab Peter, but Peter used a few well-placed moves that Ned assumed Tony, or maybe even the Black Widow, had taught him to leave the man unconscious on the floor.
“Holy crap! Did Parker just take out the teacher?” one classmate whispered (loudly).
“Did the ceiling just say it called his dad?”
“Parker doesn’t even have a dad.” (That was Flash, of course, sounding disgruntled.)
“That didn’t sound like the loudspeaker…”
The whispers grew as Peter turned to the class of roughly twenty-five.
“FRI,” he asked, “is there room for everyone in the panic room?”
“It will be a tight squeeze, Peter. But it shouldn’t be for long. Please hurry, though. They’ll be at the door within approximately 1.5 minutes.”
“Pretty sure the ceiling never talked before,” one girl said in a nervous, high-pitched voice.
Ned stood up, gesturing sharply. “Everyone follow me!” he yelled, not sure where the bravado or the volume came from.
“That’s right. Everyone through the boy’s locker room! Quickly! 100-yard dash time!” Peter shouted, sprinting towards the group of teenagers. Ned wished MJ was in this class with them. She would have had everyone lined out fast. Thankfully Betty was there, and she trusted Peter and Ned to know what they were doing enough to join them in their herding efforts. Even Flash stopped arguing and gave into Betty’s tug on his arm.
There were protests, but Peter used what MJ jokingly called his “scary superhero eyes and voice” on them, and with Ned and Betty’s further encouragement, they got all of the students into the tiny room just off the showers that no one realized was even there. FRIDAY had helpfully already opened the door for them as they streamed in. She was right, it was a tight fit.
“Miss FRIDAY, is there any A/C in here?” Ned asked now that the jig was up on the secret A.I. Flash glared at him disbelievingly from the other corner, where he was fighting for elbow room.
“One moment,” she replied from her speaker. Sounds of relief, including Ned’s, moved through the tightly bunched group as air began to flow silently over their heads.
Peter came to stand by Ned, his eyes tight and worried.
“Peter, do you have any idea what’s going on?” Ned asked.
“No. Only that the sub was here under a cover. FRI ran facial recognition and she found loose connections with the Ten Rings.”
Ned gasped. “The group that kidnapped Tony? I didn’t know they were still a thing!”
“Apparently. They seem to have happened on the adoption information,” he said quietly, “because he was definitely trying to separate me out where they could come grab me.” Peter bit his lip, looking guilty. “Maybe I should have gone.”
“Negative, Peter,” FRIDAY said firmly. Apparently she only had one volume in here, because the whole class could hear her. “Also, the shielding in this room keeps cell signals from passing through, but Boss would like to speak to you.”
Peter looked helplessly at Ned, dismay on his face. Ned just smiled back weakly, and shrugged. What did he expect, really? Of course Tony wanted to talk to him.
“Fine,” Peter breathed with a growl. His eyes were still sad and worried. Ned knew he was feeling responsible that all these kids were also in danger, now. He was probably blaming himself. He had such a hero complex. Ned heard the irony in that statement as soon as he thought it.
“Peter?” Mr. Stark’s voice was even louder than FRIDAY’s had been.
“I’m here. I’m fine,” Peter said, eyes shifting sideways to all of the faces suddenly turned to him.
“FRIDAY said there are armed assailants on the grounds. Five of them. You’re in a safe room?”
“Is that Tony Stark?” one whisper broke through the silence.
Several other students swore quietly, whether at the report of the guns, or at realizing the identity of the speaker, Ned wasn’t sure.
“Yeah, me and twenty-four of my closest friends, Tony,” Peter said, the frustration evident in his voice. Ned knew he didn’t want to be in there with him. He wanted to be on the outside, dealing with the gunmen and making sure they didn’t go any deeper into the school looking for him.
“Peter, swear to me that you’ll stay in that room,” Mr. Stark said anxiously, the fear evident in his voice. Ned knew he knew his kid, and his track record for being self-sacrificing and reckless. But Spider-man wasn’t bulletproof. Ned was pretty sure his fancy watch turned into a webshooter, but he also knew he left the nanite Iron Spider-suit charging at house most days.
“I’ll try, but you’d better hurry up and get here,” Peter said, his voice hitching. He sounded scared, but Ned knew it wasn’t for himself.
“ETA 3 minutes, kid. Don’t. Move.”
All of the kids were silent, processing the exchange and watching Peter’s face.
“Peter, the room has noise canceling technology, but it will be safest if you can remain silent now. The assailants have finished searching the gym and will be coming through here soon,” FRIDAY cautioned.
“ Get here, Tony,” Peter said fervently. “Going silent now.” Peter finally looked at his classmates. The surprise (and fear) on their faces was expected. “Did you all hear that? We need to stay quiet for the next few minutes. They shouldn’t be able to get in here, but we’ll still be safer if they don’t even know we’re here.”
“FRIDAY?” Ned asked quietly. “Did you warn the rest of the school?”
“Yes. They’re on lockdown, highest level.”
Ned and Peter both let out a breath at that news. Ned’s eyes focused on Peter’s face. MJ was in there. And lots of other people they cared about. Thankfully, she was in Art right now, which was on the opposite side of the campus. And the gym’s somewhat isolated location was a blessing at the moment. It should take them at least a few minutes to search the locker rooms and obvious storage rooms. It would take them way longer to breach this panic room than it should take Tony (Probably followed by Rhodey and Vision, though they’d take longer) to get here. Hopefully no one would be hurt.
“Peter,” FRIDAY said softly. Ah, so she could control her volume! Peter glanced up at the sensor.
“I led MJ and her class to the panic room on the other end of campus.”
The tension in Peter’s body immediately dropped by at least fifty percent. “Thank you, FRIDAY!” he breathed, sinking back against the wall. Ned joined him, the adrenaline receding just a bit. Muffled noises outside helped it creep right back up though.
Everyone was tense and quiet. There were a few muffled sobs from the other side of the room, but nothing that would be heard through the room’s shielding. Peter lifted his phone high in the air and made a show of turning it off. Their classmates hurried to comply, showing trust that Peter was in charge in this situation while they waited for Iron Man to rescue them. No one needed a random alarm going off right now.
Ned was almost afraid to breathe, though he knew that was silly. He watched Peter’s face, realizing that with his super hearing, he had a better idea of what was going on outside.
Peter looked tense, and like he was listening carefully. Again, Ned wondered what kind of process he used to filter out all the closer noises. The breathing, the heart beats, the small sounds of peoples’ clothes shifting. Focus, Ned.
Suddenly, Peter’s eyes brightened, and he turned to look at Ned with an approximation of a smile. Tony must have arrived.
Even Ned could hear the noises of repulsor fire and bullets outside. Peter looked nervous again, but Ned knew it took some serious firepower to even dent the Bleeding Edge nano-suit Tony wore. Within two to three tense minutes, it was over, and FRIDAY was calling the all-clear. The door opened, and Peter stepped out immediately, checking the situation with his own eyes before he motioned everyone else to disembark their little metal ark of safety.
Right as the last student cautiously emerged, Iron Man came jetting through and landed right next to them. For just a minute Ned thought Mr. Stark might going to play it cool, pass Peter off as just a valuable intern. He should have known better than that.
Iron Man tapped his chest and let the armor stream back into the housing unit, revealing sweats and a ratty Black Sabbath t-shirt underneath. Before it was even fully retracted, he lunged forward three steps and pulled Peter into his arms. Peter mumbled something where his face was pressed against Mr. Stark’s neck, and the older man loosened his hold so he could step back and check Peter over for injuries.
“Sheesh, Tony, I didn’t even see any guns,” Peter said, loudly enough that Ned heard. Mr. Stark brought up his hands to cup the sides of Peter’s face.
“Do I look like I care?” the billionaire asked his son. “FRIDAY, full scan.”
“Peter is unharmed, Boss,” she said patiently, obviously not bothering with a scan, since she’d undoubtedly been monitoring him since the whole ordeal began.
Mr. Stark finally seemed to realize they had an audience. He turned to Peter’s side facing them casually, and acting like he was just there for a meet-and-greet or something. Except his arm was tucked firmly around their classmate, Peter Parker, laying claim to him fairly publicly, as other teachers, administrators and law enforcement finally started making their way into the gym.
“Everyone else okay? Any injuries?”
“Nothing a little therapy won’t fix,” Betty said weakly, leaning against the side of the retractable bleachers. She really had been helpful and kept calm, Ned thought admiringly. He should see if she was interested in hanging out again sometime.
“Done deal,” Mr. Stark said, slipping an ever-present pair of sunglasses on, hiding his previously-frantic eyes. The ones that couldn’t help but gleam anxiously at the kid leaning into his side. “We’ll be in touch to set that up for all of you.” His cool, calm, larger-than-life persona had slipped easily into place as he settled his tinted lenses. Ned knew better, and Ned could see his hand, the one holding Peter close, trembling just a little bit. Ned sighed, feeling the shakiness that coming down from an adrenaline high brought. Just think: he might not even know what that felt like if he’d never met Peter. A little shiver went through him at the thought of missing out on knowing his best friend in exchange for a slightly calmer, safer life. He slipped his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels a little bit.
“You good, man?” Peter asked softly.
“Me? Yeah! Yeah, of course. No biggie. I’m cool. Totally chill. FRIDAY had it handled. And you, of course, sir,” he said nodding at Tony.
“Well, pretty sure our secret’s out of the bag,” Mr. Stark said quietly, raising an eyebrow. “At least that one. Gonna be a super fun PTA meeting next week when I get to explain FRIDAY’s presence and monitoring to all the concerned parents. There might be more bribes involved. I think I’d better bring Pepper with me,” he said thoughtfully. Then he turned his head to Peter. “You sure it’s worth all this to stay here? You could graduate early, come work with me in the lab. Get started on MIT classes online?” he asked hopefully.
Peter looked at Ned and grinned. “Nah. Doing things the easy way isn’t really my style.”
“What was I thinking?” Mr. Stark asked dryly. “Can I at least take you home for the rest of the day? It’s that, or I’m gonna be cramming into one of those grimy desks next to you in the rest of your classes, because I’m not really interested in letting you out of my sight.”
Peter rolled his eyes at the man’s theatrics, very aware that a few students were still lingering, listening. Flash Thompson was one of them, and he was white as a sheet. Ned didn’t think it was from fear as much as it was from the shock of seeing Tony Stark with his arm draped protectively around Peter Parker. Ned couldn’t help but grin a little smugly in his direction as Tony guided Peter towards the door.
“I guess so,” Peter said, looking back and gesturing Ned to follow. “But we need to find MJ first. Any chance she and Ned can come with us?”
“I don’t know, kiddo. They’ll have to get their parents to call in, but if they can get the school to release them to me, it’s no problem.”
Peter grinned over at his friend, raising an eyebrow playfully. “Star Wars marathon?”
“No. Absolutely not,” Mr. Stark started to argue.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Stark.” Ned assured the superhero. “MJ can’t handle more than one of those at a time. He’s just trying to scare you.”
“He’s already scared me enough for one day,” Mr. Stark growled, pulled Peter in closer, even though it made it harder for them both to walk smoothly. Peter laughed like he hadn’t just nearly been abducted for ransom or revenge. Ned admired his resilience. Of course, for his friend, who was a real-life superhero, it was probably just another Friday.