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Chapter Text

For the record I did not know I'd end up here alright? All I knew was that I was good at trivia questions! You pick up a lot of random facts when you’ve moved around the country more than Loki flips his hair. The joys of being on the run my friends. Anyway, that’s not the point. I thought a nice little trivia group would be a fun waste of time, and I was (hopefully) gonna be in Queens for a few months longer. I might even get a chance to compete at the Decathlon! I did not ever think I'd run into... his little protégé.

I recognized him from when I was lurking in the workshop. He had a whole board about him on his holographic computer floaty thing. I didn’t even think to try and read it, never thought it would matter. Besides, I was a bit preoccupied then. Apparently, it’s my fault the suit had water damage- I mean he knew it was gonna get wet, he should have made it more waterproof. I’m rambling again. Kind of a problem of mine.

I should probably explain how I got here. But be warned- this isn’t a happy, funny, little tale. This is a mean, upsetting retelling of how I ended up stuck 300 feet in the air, with the only way of getting down being to trust a 14-year-old nerd from my school.

It started back in 2001...

Chapter Text

I was born! January 3rd, in the Bronx. By the way, you can call me Aidy- I don’t like my full name, so don’t go there. My mom is called Mia, she’s nice, although I haven’t seen her in quite a while. She’s more of a friend than a mom. It’s not her fault- you'll understand in a minute. It’s quite complicated... That should be my life motto, I swear.

My dad. Well, he’s the problem. I can actually blame a lot on him. His name is Poseidon. Haha yeah, there go the alarm bells. I was almost definitely an accident. He had his hands full with another of his kids... what was his name? Percy or something. Might have been Peter Johnson - who turns out to be my brother. Half-brother. Stepbrother? I don’t know how these things work- it can get quite confusing when half your bloodline lives in the sky.

I’ve only talked to my dad once, and I basically just got told that my brother was important, I wasn’t. And I had to stay a secret because he was already in trouble for having one kid. Didn’t matter that my powers were left, brewing under the surface, powers of which I had absolutely no idea how to control. The important kid, well he had satyrs looking out for him and I had... no one. Yet.

I should have been shipped off to Camp Half-blood by age 5, literally for the safety of me and the people around me, except Chiron was busy preparing for the prophecy kid, and I was left on the side-lines.

But when I was 10, there was an accident. Even though no one had believed me when I told them, I could hear some animals talk, and one day when we went to the zoo, there was a dolphin exhibit, you know where they do tricks? Yeah, and the dolphins said they were scared about getting hurt if they didn’t do the trick right. I don’t remember exactly what happened but little me erupted! I believe I flooded the entire audience, and one little girl drowned.

Met my dad for the first time that day. He said he was sorry for letting my powers get out of control, and that he’d find me a mentor of sorts, but he had to focus on my brother because he was destined to save the world or something. Didn’t matter that I was in danger, both from my uncontrollable powers and from the monsters that would soon start coming for me. Peter Johnson came first. Or whatever his name was. That was just a fact of life- I was always second. To be honest I don’t even think I’m second, I'm pretty sure I'm quite far down the list but hey ho.

So, I got taken away from my mom to live in Manhattan. Age 10 and I was basically forced away from my mom, and the worst part is, at this point I don’t even think that’s the worst thing that has happened to me. I was obviously pretty distraught though. I went to live with a guy named Tony Stark. Yes, the Ironman. Apparently my dad left Tony a letter explaining that I had dangerous powers that he needed to find some way to control. I’m convinced it was the mist. Either way, somehow in that ditzy old- sorry, wise- brain of Poseidon’s, he chose exactly the right person. Tony made me a suit that could help me control my powers. As I've gotten older, I don’t have to fully rely on it anymore, but it sure as hell makes combat easier.

It’s a beautiful suit really, not that 10 year old me really appreciated that. It connected to FRIDAY, which meant when I got worked up, she could kind of calm me down? And she can try to help me. But now that I'm older it’s the other features I like more. For one it’s supposed to be fully waterproof – we still have occasional issues with that... It’s got fins that pop out which aid my enhanced swimming, making it easier to swim faster and further. It has some basic weapons; I'm not trusted with any big stuff yet, but I do have an awesome compartment for my two daggers on the side of each leg. The suit can identify thousands of Greek monsters and can walk me through how to defeat some of them. Also, it has a map of all the rivers in America and shows me which ones might be dangerous to swim through. There’s a lot more cool features but I haven’t got time to list all of them.

Over the years I've had a couple suits, and my most recent one has the ability to change form slightly. The metal shifts and folds over itself and the fabric sort of merges with it. I am quite confused as to how it does it, and at the moment it isn’t useful because it’s still so limited that it can barely move at all, but the possibility for future development is there. Tony is currently experimenting with something called nanotechnology on his own suit, and he said he’s going to teach me about it once he understands more. He hasn’t said it, but I think he might make a nano suit for himself... which means I might get one later too! I think that’s totally cool, even if I don’t fully get how it works yet.

Anyway, enough about future suits! I still haven’t finished talking about my current one. Appearance wise, the suit is very... blue, lots and lots of different shades of blue, and it’s mostly fabric, although it has metal too, and I have a helmet that goes with it. The helmet is a mix between Tony’s Iron man helmet and an ancient Greek warrior’s helmet. It's pretty but fierce and I like it. The helmet is where most of the tech is stored as well.

But enough about my suit. When I moved in with Stark, he had been pretty bewildered. I mean it’s not every day a demigod plonks themselves in your house mansion and starts throwing water when they get frustrated (I know, I was such a role model child). So Nick Fury called a favour in for him. A master of keeping dangerous powers under control, Dr Bruce Banner spent a week in Stark’s tower teaching me techniques, and that helped a great deal. I learnt a lot from the guy.

Dr Banner taught me techniques for control, but Stark taught me how to fight, and how to fight well. I spent hours with him every week, sparring and learning different ways to punch and kick and block. Man, when I tell you how much fun it is, I mean it’s SO much fun. Not only was it enjoyable, it was also educational. Without Stark's training I would not be able to fight anywhere near as well as I can now- He’s a really good teacher!

And so eventually I learnt to control my powers, or at least to the best degree I could. Nowadays, my day-to-day life is mostly like a normal teen’s; I go to school during the day, do a bunch of homework and then sleep. Apart from the massive swimming session before bedtime, that’s when I go out and make the rounds. There's not normally much to do, I might clean some litter out a lake, or help a lost school of fish. Sometimes there’s more interesting stuff to do though- I don’t get to do it much but occasionally if I see someone committing a crime on land, I can fight them and use any water around me to my advantage. That's my favorite part about my powers- I can use them for good.

Tony won’t let me help out with the big missions: like the battle of New York in 2012 with the wormhole, but I'm allowed to help with little quests. Although even then I have to keep a low profile, because I'm still a big secret. It couldn’t get out that Stark had a kid living with him else I might get targeted by the Avenger’s villains as well as all the monsters.

Talking of monsters there were some... funny encounters, one being when my big sister Charybdis hid in one of Tony’s cars- that did not end well for the poor Lambo. I battle monsters kind of frequently? At this point I'd say like once a fortnight. Normally they attack me when I'm in the water, which is good because that means I have the upper hand. And most of the time I can handle them myself, and don’t have to call Tony, but when I do need help, he’s always willing to lend me a hand. I mean the guy has practically raised me for 5 years, we got close.

And yes, I have met some of the other Avengers! They are very cool, although Vision gets a bit annoying when he constantly corrects people’s grammar. I think right now there’s some sort of problem, about some accords or something, I don’t know. Everything seems a bit uneasy in Stark's mansion, so I've been spending more time in the rivers- that's probably why the suit had water damage to be honest.
But my story starts during March.

--------

“I wanna help more.” I yelled over Tony’s drill. I had crept into his workshop, clutching my blueprints for my idea. He sighed and turned off the machinery.

“Say that again?” he asked.

“I said I- I wanna help more.” I stammered. I’d never asked to make something this costly before. “I had this idea...”

Tony spun around, his eyes sparkling and he lifted his goggles. “Well come here and show me then, stop lurking in the doorway!”

I scuttled over and unfolded the blueprint. “The idea was that if you could get a generator small enough with a significant amount of power, you could efficiently clean large areas of water. It could go through there... then there’s the purifier... and filter and it could go out there. And I could fit it into my suit, I think.”

He looked over my design and grabbed a pencil. “It’s an amazing idea, it just needs some small tweaks...”
He set to work and added little things with the pencil. “It’s a good idea to use a B class generator, but you’re gonna want it on the other side, else the wires are gonna get in the way.”

“O- okay...” I stuttered.

“This is a good idea, what’s wrong with you?” He asked, noticing how nervous I was.

I gulped. “Isn’t it going to be expensive to make?”

“That’s what you’re worried about? When has money ever been a problem for me?”

“I just feel kind of bad...”

“Well don’t. Yes, these are high quality items, but this machine is going to really help with clearing up the rivers, it’s worth every cent.” He reassured me

“Okay.” I said, breaking into a smile.

“Right, let’s hurry up so we have can have this done for rounds tonight, I wanna see it when you take it out for the first spin”

------

We spent the next few hours creating a final design, and Tony sent it to the robots to make. Once it was done, we started to fit it into my suit. We had a little problem with some of the wires though- turns out some of them had water damage (of course) so they couldn’t connect to the purifier and needed to be replaced. That’s how we ended up with me hanging upside down from the pipe and Tony trying to fit a wire cutter through the suit. Suddenly Pepper walked in.

“What on earth are you two doing!?” She exclaimed.

I blew my hair out of my face. “We are trying to put this purifier in my suit, but the wires have water damage, so we are trying to get them out and replace them.” I explained.

“...But why are you upside down?”

I looked at Tony. “Why am I upside down?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “I don’t know, we couldn’t reach the wire.”

“And you never thought to just get another pair of hands? Which wire are you trying to get to?”

“The gold one? Why?” He said.

“Alright then.” She put her clipboard down and walked over to the suit. “Aidy, you hold back the red wires, and Tony keep the suit still.” She stuck her hand straight into the suit and pulled out the gold wire. “See? Simple. For a pair of geniuses, you really can be stupid sometimes.”

“Ouch! We would have gotten it eventually...” Tony protested, pretending to be offended, but returning to the suit.

“Thank you, Pepper!” I said, flipping off the pipe.

“Don’t worry about it, Aidy. And Tony? The UN is suggesting a meeting with Steve.” Pepper said.

“What?” Tony said incredulously, “He won’t agree to that.” Tony put down his screwdriver and turned to Pepper.

“Actually... He already has. And he specifically wants you at the meeting.”

“Well, when is it?” Tony asked, still shocked.

“Tonight.”

“Well, Capsicle’s gonna have to wait, I’m busy tonight.” He told her, smirking at me. That made me smile- He would miss an important meeting to go patrolling with me?

“He’s not gonna like that...” Pepper warned him.

“When does he ever not moan about something?” Tony rolled his eyes. “He’ll live. You can tell him I said that actually.”

I giggled and asked, “Do you just enjoy pissing off your team?”

He snorted. “They’re used to it by now. And at this rate, Cap’s gonna make sure there isn’t a team to piss off anyway.”

“Well, I'll tell the UN you’re busy, but you have to go to the next meeting Tony, you’re letting your pride get in the way.” Pepper picked up her clipboard and walked out.

The second she was out of ear shot we both burst out laughing.

“She got the wire so easily!” Tony groaned with his head in his hands, still laughing.

“What’s this deal with the UN anyway?” I asked.

He rolled his eyes. “The UN wants the team to sign the Sokovia Accords which would say that the avengers and other ‘enhanced beings’ can’t just do what they want, which I think is fair ‘coz we ended up killing a bunch of innocents when that thing with Ultron happened.”

“So, are you signing it then?” I asked.

“I don’t know yet. I think we need to be more careful, but I think this might be a bit far. Cap’s fully against it though and was getting all pissy over it. When Rhodey said he was being insensitive, he just stormed out.”

“Wow.” I said. “Pass me the screwdriver and tell me more?”

He handed me the screwdriver. “Why do you even want to know?”

“I dunno, it’s interesting. I care about what's going on in your life, you know.” I said, pulling out a little screw.

“Thanks kid... and that’s the wrong screw.” He quickly screwed it in and pointed at the right one. “Please don’t make my suit fall apart.”

------

Once we had put the purifier in properly without it all falling apart, we both suited up and headed to the Hudson River. There was a surprising amount of river traffic; a lot more than usual. I swam up to see what was wrong, Tony following in the air.

“Can you see anything?” I asked over the comms.

“Uh yeah. Don’t look.” He said.

“What? Why?”

His silence rang loudly.

“Alright then. FRIDAY, what’s going on?”

“It appears that Spider-man is trying to stop two people fighting on a boat.”

Chapter Text

“Sorry what?”

“It appears that Spider-man is try-”

“Yes, I heard you the first time! But why doesn’t Tony want me to see? What’s the big deal?”

“I don’t know.”

“...Really?” I hope FRIDAY can see me roll my eyes. “You are one of the world’s most intelligent AIs. You know everything.”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Of course you can’t. Who is ‘Spider-man’ anyway?”

“Pulling up database on ‘Spider-man’-”

“I haven’t got time for that. I’m gonna look for myself.” I decided, swimming to the edge of the river.

“I wouldn’t advise that.”

“Well, that’s tough.” I declared and poked my head out of the water. It was dark, so I couldn't see much, but there were 3 people standing on the boat. The one in the middle had his hands up, stopping the other two from getting to each other. It seemed like this ‘Spider-man’ dude was the one with the red and blue... suit? It looked very well made... honestly it looked like Stark Industries level, but I'd be very shocked if tony- or SI, had made the suit. Unless... could it be?

“Where’s Tony?” I asked FRIDAY.

“Mr Stark is above you.” She replied

I snapped my head up, peering through the trees, and sure enough, I could see Tony’s signature red and gold Ironman suit glinting in-between the branches.

“Tony, care to explain what’s happening?” I asked, turning the comms back on.

“Stay out of this kid.” He told me and flew over to the boat. I could see him talking to the Spider-man guy, and he looked kind of irritated.

“Fri, what’s going on? Listen in please.”

I heard a garbled noise and then we were in. Two voices crackled into my ears.

SPIDER-MAN- Is that really you Mr Stark?

TONY- Yes, who else would it be?

SPIDER-MAN- I don’t know I-

TONY- Rhetorical question kid. What’s going on here?

SPIDER-MAN- I was on patrol and I noticed....

Wow, his voice sounded young. How old was he? 10?

SPIDER-MAN [CONTINUED]- It was getting really violent, and I thought someone might fall in, so I came to stop them.

TONY- Why I- okay. Why don’t we leave these two alone so the rest of the boats can carry on.

SPIDER-MAN- But sir-

Tony lifted up Spider-man and flew to the opposite side of the river.

TONY- Sorry about him.

I heard crackling again, and FRIDAY said-

“Out of range, I can’t listen in anymore.”

“Thanks FRIDAY...” I said shakily. What did this mean? Tony knew Spider-man? I didn’t get what the big deal was, why didn’t he want me to see that- what exactly was so important about that? Before I could contemplate more, Tony’s voice rung out through the comms again.

“Stay there kid. I’ll be back in 10. The river traffic will be gone by then and it’ll be safe for you to come out.”

“Alright, but do you fancy explaining a little?” I asked indignantly.

“I will soon.” Came the reply. Did he have to be so vague? I turned to look back over at him, but he was gone, and so was the spider kid.

“What the.... FRIDAY where are they?” I groaned

“Mr Stark is en route to the tower.”

“Screw this. Let’s beat him there.” I said determinedly and sped off. Speed wise, Tony would always be able to fly faster than I could swim, but he would surely fly slower if I was taking the spider guy with him, so I should be able to go faster. I mean, I’m the daughter of the sea god, I can swim well.

“So, whilst we’ve got a minute,” I said to FRIDAY, “Look through the database for me. What’s Spider-man’s real name?”

“It appears that it is unknown.”

“Impressive- he managed to stay anonymous. What does he do?”

“He’s a friendly neighborhood Spider-man, he helps with jobs and protects the people in his neighborhood.”

“Gotchya, okay, powers?”

“... According to Mr Stark’s records, he was bitten by a radioactive spider, so as a result he has enhanced speed and strength, he can climb walls and hang from ceilings, and can make webs and sling them from his wrist.”

Bitten by a spider? Ouch. I was as close as I could get to Stark’s hou- Mansion- using the river, so I jumped out and snuck through the trees for the last 5 minutes. No-one had ever spotted me when I went this way, and today was no exception, thank god. I didn’t need any more drama!

I crept in from the balcony, trying to be as quiet as possible. Tony was probably in the workshop, so I was going to head down there. I didn’t know what I was actually planning on doing once I was down there though- how do you ask someone why you can’t meet their student?

“Aidy!” Pepper’s voice rang out. So much for being quiet. “Your suit? You’re dripping water everywhere!”

“Oh shi- Sorry Pepper!” I apologised.

“Could you mop up?” She asked.

“Well, I could, or I could just...” I threw the water back off the balcony.

“Using powers is cheating!” She told me, frowning disapprovingly, but then smiling and rolling her eyes. She walked away and I let out the breath I'd been holding. Double tapping the droplet symbol on the front of my suit to undo it, I yanked it off. Thank God I'd decided to leave a full outfit underneath.

I snuck down the stairs, and as I was walking down, I heard a smash, and a piercing alarm sounded from the workshop. I nearly had a heart attack, it made me jump so bad! But I threw my suit back on (ugh- I had just taken it off) and barged through the workshop door. It was... chaotic in there.

“I’m so sorry, I was aiming for the wall!” Spider-man apologized. It appeared he’d slung a web and hit a painting, pulling it off the wall and smashing it. There was glass all over the floor and he was frantically scooping into a pile, and some that had fallen inside an in-progress robot that Tony had been building with me- which was probably now ruined. Dammit a robodog would have been cool. It was a serious situation, but I found myself bursting out with laughter.

“Pepper is gonna be so pissed! That was one of her favorites!” It was a painting she had specifically chosen to have in the workshop, to add some color to the dull grey environment. Before she decorated the place, the only time you wouldn’t see achromatic grey scale colours was when oil got spilled on the floor.

Tony glared at me. “How’d you get in?” he demanded. He wasn’t in the suit; it was charging in the corner, so I could see perfectly well how mad he was at me- which I thought was unjust, I’d done nothing wrong. I heard a crash and an alarm and came to make sure everyone was okay... He didn’t need to know I had been planning on coming to eavesdrop anyway.

“Alarm went off so the door was unlocked.” I explained.

“Just leave.” He sighed and turned back to Spider-man.

“Why? What’s so important about this spiderling kid?” I demanded.

“Hey it’s not spiderling!” He protested, going to pull down his mask, obviously about to go off on one.

“DON’T!” Tony yelled, “Leave it on!”

I looked at him confused and shocked. None of this was fair, I deserved an explanation as to what the hell was going on. I’d understand keeping his identity a secret from the public, but I wasn’t exactly a threat, he was a friend of Stark’s evidently, so I wasn’t going to hurt him or anything.

Tony looked down sadly. “Leave your mask on too, Water Wolf...”

Water Wolf?! That was the name the media had given me- why was Tony using it? Did that mean Spider-man wasn’t safe? I shifted my stance so I could anticipate and block any attacks that might come, and started assessing possible attacks or exits me or Spider-man could make. Just like Stark taught me.

“Wait, Water-Wolf? I’ve heard about you!” Exclaimed the spider guy. “You do that thing, with the water, and you can fight like... is Stark your mentor too?”

What? Stark was mentoring this guy? So, did that mean he was safe after all? I had never noticed anything suspicious but then again, I hadn’t exactly been looking for it either.

"Mentor?” I asked and looked over to Tony. “Huh?”

“I can't explain," he sighed. "I'm sorry."

“Why can't you explain?"

"I'm so confused." Spider-man complained.

“Yeah, well me too" I agreed. "This is crazy. Why is he here? You mentor him? Why can't I know his name?"

“What's going on?”

"Because you might know each other!" Tony snapped. We all fell quiet. "You go to the same school. It's better if you don't know each other's real names.”

Okay then. I was shocked, it wasn’t the explanation I had been expecting but that’s Tony for you. If we went to the same school, I suppose I could understand where he was coming from then.

"Okay. Please don't keep me in the dark though." I was scared to be honest. I hated it when people refused to tell me stuff and hid everything from me, especially as I had been lied to for years about my Parentage.

"The plan was for you to train together, that's one of the reasons I made him a new suit. Also, because running around New York in Pyjamas looks so silly that If I hadn’t intervened, someone like Oscorp might have. Yes, I'm mentoring him. But when I realised you went to the same school, I didn't know what to do because you can't know each other's real identities. You know the drill. Besides, I don’t know what sort of connections you have with each other, and all sorts of problems could arise. And... he hasn’t proven himself trustworthy yet. Maybe in a few weeks." Tony explained.

Well, that makes sense, I guess. So, in a few weeks I might know who this dude was? I can work with that.

"So, when do I get to train with him?" I laughed, smirking. I didn't know how good this guy was yet, I had to know what I was up against.

"If... If you're careful we can go to the gym now." Tony rolled his eyes.

Spider-man and I smirked at each other. I didn’t know him, but I knew we’d get along.

------

“Right-don't kill each other and try not to injure each other. Ai... Water Wolf - don't drown him. Spider-man - don't suffocate her with webs.” Tony told us, putting his signature sunglasses on and setting up a holographic screen. He was ‘supervising’, which was totally his strong point... “Just try and spar, so you know each other's strengths and weaknesses. After that we'll go on patrol for a bit. Play nice kids."
Alright then, I can do that. We stepped up to the mat and took starting stances, waiting to begin. "Go." Tony called out, and we were off.

The first thing I did was call some water to my hand and threw it at him. He yelled out in surprise, now soaking wet, and shot a web at me. I ducked and rolled, kicking out his legs from under him so he hit the floor. He shot another web at me, this time catching my hand, and pulling me to the floor too. Those webs were certainly annoying- and obviously a strong point of his. He was very good with them. They looked like mechanical shooters on his wrist, so I wondered if I could take them out.

We sprung to our feet and I threw a little ball of water at his web shooter, but he moved his hand up and went to punch me. I blocked and went to punch him too, but he blocked as well.

We carried on for ages. Either one of us should have tapped out at least 10 minutes ago, because we were so out of breath, but I think we were both too proud. Instead, we continued for a while, neither of us winning, just getting slower and slower. Tony took great pleasure in laughing his head off at the webs in my hair, although I felt a bit better when he also laughed at Spider-man continually getting soaked. Eventually we both just looked at each other and flopped on the floor, admitting defeat.

"Done?" Tony asked.

"Yeah” we said in unison, still trying to catch our breath.

“You're good." Spider-man said, rolling over.

“Thanks.” I said, "So are you."

"Thank you. I've seen you on the news before." he said, scooting over to pull some webs out of my hair. It probably should have been awkward, but I was too tired.

“I've seen you too." I cast away the water soaked into his suit. "Your webs are cool. I presume you make them yourself- what's in them?" I asked him, trying to pull said webs out my hair too. He was a good shot- It most likely looked like I’d dyed half my hair white.

“Salicylic acid, toluene…. methanol, uhm.... carbon tetrachloride, potassium carbonate, aaaand ethyl acetate.” He explained.

"That... that actually makes a lot of sense because the methanol would... yeah that’s really cool!” I smiled at him “And Tony? If we are going out on patrol, I presume you want to actually try out the purifier this time?"

"Yeah?" He replied hesitantly

“Well, your Bug Boy broke it, so we'll have to fix it first." I said, rolling my eyes.

“Bug Boy. That's amazing!” Tony laughed

“Look I'm sorry for breaking your puri-thing but please don’t call me bug boy!” Spider-man moaned.

“Too late!” I declared.

“We can fix it easily, don’t worry.” Tony reassured, “And Bug Boy will stick.”

“Let's go fix it then” I giggled.

-----

After fixing the purifier, we went back to the Hudson – this time there wasn't anyone holding up the boats, so it was empty. Spider-man stayed on the shore, not wanting to get soaked again, and Tony hovered above the water. I was in the water of course. We were about to finally test the purifier.

"Okay FRIDAY," I said, "Currently how safe is this water to drink?”

“Analysing. 63%” She replied.

"That is so gross!” Spider-man said.

“You’re right, that's disgusting. Turn it on then." Tony called out.

We'd put the purifier on my wrist, and Tony had rigged it so it was movement activated. That meant that surely... Yes! I flicked my wrist and pushed it out, the gold disk whirring to life, spinning quickly.

"Hey, it actually turned on” Tony exclaimed, genuinely surprised we’d gotten it to work. “Ok so maybe just start with a small section and we can see how that goes?"

"Yeah, good idea" I replied, working methodically in a small 2-metre cubed area, and after only a minute I was done. "Ok here goes... FRIDAY, how clean is this water now?"

“Analysing... 94%"

"Yes! We did it!" I yelled, and Tony started to cheer too.

"It works!" Spider-man whooped.

“Okay so the next step is to install one on the other wrist. This time we should refrain from having to flip upside down...” Tony said. Spider-man turned his head in confusion, and I blushed embarrassedly, not that he could see. I still can’t believe we were so stupid we didn’t just ask someone to help from the start to be honest. Pepper did it so easily!

“Long story... We could also speed up the process in general. Maybe upgrade the chip to a class B?” Tony thought out loud.

“Shall we head back then?” The spider guy asked. “I’m ready for hot chocolate!”

“You can have one if you pour me a cup too." Tony decided and spun to fly off but turned back. “Oh, and you two?”

“Yeah?” We chorused.

“Race ya!”

We all shot off, Tony through the air, Spider-man through the trees and me through the water, all racing to get back to the workshop, with the biggest smiles on our faces.

Chapter Text

I’d seen the poster at school- Mondays and Thursdays afterschool for an hour. An Academic Decathlon trivia team. It sounded like fun and why not? Tony wasn’t moving his stuff to the compound for a month, so I had a lot of free time. Plus, it was a quiet club; not many people. Liz was the team captain. Her dad was like, rich rich, but I don’t remember why. She’s an amazing captain- the perfect combination of firm but kind. We could joke around but she made sure the work got done, and we practised enough. Hats off to her for that.

There were also a couple nerds like Ned and Peter. They seemed like nice people, but mostly kept to themselves. There was a douchebag called “flash”. Yeah, I know, stupid name, but that’s what he calls himself. Stupid name for a stupid person. He was kind of a bully. There was also a scary kid called MJ. I mean, her hobby is drawing people in crisis? I don’t know her too well, but she seems cool. She doesn’t say too much either, although she was very clever- and morbid.

I got most of my questions right, and Liz said I was a great addition to the team! Mr Harrington started talking about the field trip they were due to go on, so I stopped listening. I was new to the team so I was only a reserve and wouldn’t be competing. I mean, let's be real- this was a school for nerds and the Acadec Team was a collection of the biggest nerds of the lot, none of them would skip out on the competition. I wouldn’t be needed.

I was sitting next to the Peter kid. He was doodling in a little notebook; a spider. Cute. He seemed a little familiar, but as far as I knew he’d never been in any of my classes. Everyone either said he was an intern at SI or said he was insane and made up stories about it. Personally, I didn’t know, I didn’t go to the intern floors very often. He was quiet, but whenever Liz asked him a question, he almost always got it correct.

I had bigger things to worry about anyway- I was going patrolling with Spider-man again tonight. It was exciting but also, I felt kind of... scared? I was excited because patrolling was always fun for one but also because it would be cool to make a friend. I'm not saying I didn’t have friends, because I did. Just not any close friends, none that I could talk to about anything in my life. And this Spider-man guy seemed nice.

I was nervous because now if I made a mistake, he would be watching and judging me. If I soaked the wrong guy, he'd laugh. I’m sure he would be cool about it, but I was still worried.

Peter interrupted my thoughts. “You’re Aidy, right?” he asked, holding out his hand.

I shook it. “Yeah... you're Peter?”

“Yup!” he smiled. “Peter Parker”

“Nice to meet you, Peter Parker. Have you been on the team for long?”

“Yeah, I joined a few months ago. It’s lots of fun, you just gotta watch out for Flash. He’s not too bad, just can be a bit of an asshole.”

“Thanks for the warning, I’ll keep that in mind." I replied. I was a firm believer that you shouldn’t judge anyone without knowing all the facts, and chances were there was probably a reason Flash was an ass sometimes. He was only in my Chemistry class, but I knew he came across a bit... arrogant?

“No problem! You only joined this week, right? What’s your insta? I’ll add you to the group chat.” Peter offered.
We swapped Insta details and descended into giggles as he dropped his phone on the floor with a loud bang, cursing and smashing his head right into the table as he reached to grab it.

“Ow!” He exclaimed. “Dammit it’s a new phone!”

“Is it cracked?” I asked, trying to contain my laughter.

“No, thank god.” He sighed.

“Peter, Aidy!” Liz said, “Stop flirting and pay attention.”

We started spluttering and protesting, “He just dropped his phone, we’re not flirting!” as the rest of the team laughed at our bright red faces.
I could already tell I was going to love this team.

------

After school I went straight back to the workshop and started tinkering with the robot Tony had tasked me with building. I wasn’t particularly focusing, I just wanted something to pass the time. After all, idle hands are the devil’s playground, and I didn’t really want to slip back into old habits. If I'm being honest, it was fun to just work for a few hours, getting distracted from the world by the cogs and gears shifting under my fingers. When Tony lazily strolled in, it was about 6.30pm.

“Knock Knock Water drop!” He yelled over the noise of my Bunsen burner heating the steel. I jumped; I had been completely absorbed in what I was doing. I flicked off the Bunsen and lifted my goggles.

“Water drop? That’s a new one. I’ll add it to the list.” I rolled my eyes.

“That’s quite an attitude to show to your elders!” He complained in mock offence.

“Sure thing, Tin Can. Whatsup?”

“Spider-man is on his way, so suit up.”

“Alright thanks Tony.” He smiled and started walking away. So, I was going patrolling with Spider-man. By now, any excitement I may have had earlier was completely erased by nerves and fear. I didn’t know this guy at all! He could be dangerous but also... he could not like me. He might not have time to patrol with me or he might just not want to.

“Wait Tony...” I trailed off. Shit, I should have stayed quiet.

“Everything okay, Aids?” He frowned.

I looked at the floor, regretting speaking. Why did I have to open my stupid mouth? Tony was too busy for a panicky teen. Liked he’d care about me not having close friends or anything. What was I thinking?

“Aidy, what’s wrong?”

“I....” I gulped, fighting back tears. Damn it, these stupid emotions.

“Aiden.”

I looked up at him through watery eyes, sniffling. He walked back over and stuck his arm around my shoulders.

“What if...” It all started to spill out, “What if I mess up and he laughs? What if he doesn’t want to work with me, or be friends? I don’t have any close friends and I thought he could- … But he might hate me. And, and you said he wasn’t trustworthy, so what if he tries to hurt me or worse, what if he hurts you? He’s strong and I'm sure he was pulling his punches the other day, I could tell, so I don’t know how I’d protect you or Pepper. And what if-”

“Stop stop stop, this is all bullshit!” Tony interrupted. He stepped in front of me, bending to my height and putting his hands on my shoulders. “I’m sure he’ll want to work with you, there’s a lot of people that do. You know that Nat and Clint said I had to bring you on more missions. Even Fury, the old grump, said you were an asset to the team. And about him not being trustworthy- he is. I’ve been keeping tabs on him for months, I mean, I gave him his suit in what? February? Not telling each other your identities is mainly because you might know each other, plus it doesn’t hurt to be cautious. Better safe than sorry. And if he EVER tries to hurt you, I will personally make sure he can never walk again. Mkay?”

“Really?” I whispered.

“Really. I promise, everything will be just fine. Now come here kid.” He pulled me in for a hug and I slumped against his shoulder. I was safe. But... he distinctly smelt of burnt toast. I sighed and pulled away, narrowing my eyes at him.

“What did you set on fire?”

He blushed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know what you’re on about. I’m the definition of careful!”

“When you made your first Ironman suit you decided the best thing to do would be to fly straight up until it literally iced over. You are the opposite of careful, old man.”

“He blew up a drone because he installed a cup holder on the weaponry release.” FRIDAY announced.

“Fri you fucking snitch!” Tony yelled, dropping his head into his hands.

“Language.” The AI chirped.

“Who taught you that?” gasped Tony. Whoever it was deserved an award.

“Steve Rogers.” If FRIDAY had a face, she would be grinning from ear to ear right now. Just like I was.

He groaned. “Of course he did! Of course, he fu-”

“Tony!” I interrupted, “Focus! How much damage?”

“Dum-E2 needs a fire extinguisher refill?” He shrugged.

“Tony...”

“It set Bruce’s lab coat on fire...” He mumbled.

I blinked at him. “Oh my gods. You’re kidding right? Please tell me you’re joking.”

“He’s telling the truth.” FRIDAY declared.

“Fri I am not afraid to change your coding!” He threatened. In all fairness, he used to say he’d donate Dum-E to a community college, and I haven’t seen him for a couple years....

“So let me get this straight. You let a kid smash a painting that Pepper specifically chose out for you, then you set your buddy on fire? Your buddy that sometimes turns into an enormous green rage monster when he gets suddenly shocked? Are you trying to piss her off?” I asked incredulously.

“He wasn’t wearing it!”

Suddenly, I noticed a familiar frown from over Tony’s shoulder. I almost laughed if not for my fear of the wrath of angry Pepper. She is scary. I raised my eyebrow at Tony and nodded to his girlfriend behind him.

“Shit...” He uttered; eyes wide.

“Want to explain?” Pepper strutted over, her heels clacking on the tiles with every step, and Tony gulped.

“How long have you been there?”

“Long enough. Go clean your mess. Now.” She ordered.

“Yes ma’am.” He scuttled away and stood in the doorway pointing to me and pouting at Pepper.

She rolled her eyes and turned to me. “Aidy, would you mind supervising him for me? I would, but I have to go sort out Vis and his latest lawsuit.”

“Another? What did he do this time?” This wasn’t unusual. Whilst Vis wasn’t the first Hero to be thrown into our city with no idea how society works (Cap and Thor) Vision certainly struggled with knowing when to stop. His perfect logic meant he always had to be right in an argument, even with a normal civilian.

“Wanda took Vis to a restaurant, and he floated through the walls of the girl's toilet. His justification is that the Kitchen was behind them.” She sighed.

I chuckled. “Someone has to teach him to stop flying in public spaces.”

“I think we should volunteer Tony for that job.” She smiled and picked up her StarkPad.

“Well, that’s just not fair!” Tony protested from behind her, “What did I do?”

“You did make Vision.” I shrugged.

“That is- That is true but still not fair!” He scrunched his face up and got in the elevator, with me on his heels. Fri already knew we were going to Bruce’s lab, and she took us straight to his floor. It looked like Bruce’s lab coat was only considerably charred, just needed replacing.
As I reached forward to grab the coat off its hook, FRIDAY’s chirpy voice sounded. “Boss, you have an incoming call from Karen. Shall I patch her through?”

“Go for it.” Tony’s face furrowed in confusion and worry. I was only confused- who was Karen?

“Mr Stark. I believe something is wrong.” Another jovial voice announced. So, Karen was probably another of Tony’s AI. What was this now, the fifth one? I mean yes, his first was terrible, his second got put in a half robot’s body that his homicidal ‘shield around the earth’ was trying to birth and his third was currently in mine and his suits now. The fourth was a joke for Rhodey’s birthday, input an AI into War Machine that spoke in such a heavy Scottish accent that you couldn't understand anything, then watch him panic mid-flight when he couldn’t turn his repulsors off. Horrible birthday present, but extremely funny. And now he had a fifth one? Excessive but hey, that’s Tony’s whole personality. Talking of Tony... His face was set in panic now and he stood up straight.

“Report?” He asked. His voice shook in a way it only ever did when someone he was close to was in danger.

“He is currently passed out in a river. His ankle is fractured.” The happy voice replied. It was quite unsettling, his AIs were always happy, even if someone was hurt. He should probably change that.

“Who?” I asked. If someone was in trouble in a river, I could get to them fast. That was literally my job description.

“Spider-man.” Tony looked at me, silently pleading. He didn’t have to say anything, he knew I would understand.

“I’m on it.” I flicked my internal switch, my mask on before I could even grab my helmet. I wasn’t Aidy- Sarcastic teen anymore, I was Aidy -Demigod, ‘Water Wolf’, if you must. I ran to the elevator, and started firing questions at FRIDAY as she shot me back to the workshop. “I’m gonna need a map in front of me with his suit pinpointed. He’s still in his suit, right?”

“Affirmative.”

“Is he going to drown?”

“Currently his head is above the water, but it is not guaranteed that will not change.”

“Right. Distance from tower?”

“1.4 miles if you take your usual route through the woods.”

I groaned inwardly. That was too far, it would take too long, and he needed someone there quick. I didn’t know if he was currently in danger, but I needed to get to him fast so that no one else got there first. I guess it was time to pull out all the stops.

Stepping out of the elevator and rushing to put my suit on, I asked, "Distance if I flew?”

“0.8 miles.”

“Open the pool roof then.” I yanked my helmet on, displays lighting up beneath my eyes. It always gave me a buzz, every damn time. It was quite an exhilarating feeling.

“Tony, you there?”

“Right here Aids.” The answer came. I leapt up the small flight of stairs and out the door, to stand beside the pool.

“I’m gonna try it.” I gulped.

“Don’t strain yourself. I don’t need both of you passing out.” He was (mostly) joking around but I could hear the fear under the façade. Poor guy. I wish he knew he was allowed to be scared; allowed to have feelings.

“Don’t worry, I’ve been practising with Bruce. I’ve got this.”

“Just be careful.”

“Always.” I promised.

Vaulting into the pool, I took a shaky, deep breath. I’d only ever tried this trick when I was surrounded by safety mats, and I wasn’t particularly fond of the idea of me splatting my face on the concrete. I quite fancied not breaking my nose. And yet, as much as I wanted to stand and doubt myself for the next hour, someone needed me. I muttered a quick prayer to whoever was listening and summoned all the water around me to levitate.

It was heavy.

And exhausting.

But I did it. The next part was to move. I rose up above the treeline and moved south-east, making a beeline for the blinking blue dot on my map. It took only 37 seconds to race to the river, but it felt like 5 hours, and the longest 5 hours of my life as well. I plopped in the water with a sigh and tried to stop panting and regulate my breathing, but I didn’t have time to wait. I sped down the river, as fast as I possibly could. Thank the gods, it didn’t take me too long to find him slumped on the banks. He hadn’t drowned! His chest grew way too much with each breath he took, and he was shivering in the cold, but he wasn’t dead. Always shocks me when I remember that most people get cold in the water though.

“Spider-man?” I asked tentatively.

He jolted awake and scrambled up the bank. Hunching himself into a crouched ball, I could hear his already deep breaths turn into hyperventilation.

“Tony, something is wrong.” I whispered through the comms. Spider-man whimpered and I winced at the sound of it.

“Okay, bring him back to the tower.” He replied.

I nodded to myself and swam over to his shaking body. I reached to touch his arm so as not to make him jump or anything, but he backed further away.

“What’s wrong?” I hesitated. He groaned and covered his ears. Ok so... no speaking. I wondered if he knew sign language. Worth a try.

A: Are you okay

S: Not really

Aha! He did know ASL. I’d learnt because Clint; a lot of us had.

A: What can I do?

S: Tell Mr Stark everything is eleven.

Eleven? Sure, why not. I turned and went to whisper to Tony again, but I guessed he’d been watching because he spoke first.

“Of course, it was, why didn’t I think of that sooner?” he groaned directly into my ear.

“First of all, you don’t need to watch me, stop panicking. Second, why do you always feel the need to increase the volume through the speakers when you’re talking? I can hear you perfectly fine.”

“Really? Why do you keep ignoring what I say then?” He retaliated. I opted to ‘not hear’ that painfully true statement, which only proved it, but who cares.

“What does eleven mean?”

“Well since his senses are enhanced past the usual humans are, sometimes they can go into overdrive, and he says it feels like everything is at eleven. The lights are too bright, he can hear what happens three blocks down and smell everything around him. All the information is given to his brain at once and it ends up quite painful.” Explained Tony.

“Ouch! So, what am I doing?”

“...How tired are you?”

For the love of all that’s holy, unholy and all the grey areas in between. (Read: For fuck’s sake.)

“Not very." I lied.

“Well, you can’t touch him without it hurting him more, so can you try lifting him and the water around him?” The annoying reply came.

“Politely fuck off. And yes, I’ll try.”

“Politely? That’s new.”

“I’m only doing this on the condition that I get to decorate the next robot we make.” I chanted in a sing-song voice.

“Are you- sure why not? It’ll be fun” He sneered sarcastically.

“See ya in a bit then Tin can.”

I switched off the comms so Tony could stop freaking out for a bit. “Fri is there anything you can do to dim Spiderboy's eyesight?”

“Karen can.” Spider-man looked up as (I presume) his lenses dimmed.

A: Ready?

S: For what?

A: We’re going back to Tony.

S: Okay but give me a minute I can’t move yet?

A: You don’t have to, silly

S: I’m not silly!

A: Shut up

S: I didn’t say anything.

Dammit and he was funny too! I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath, because this was going to Ache tomorrow- capital A, Ache. (For me and him). I carefully lifted him back in the water, and he let out another whimper.

I whispered, “Yeah I know, I’m sorry but I can’t move you until you’re in the water.”

He nodded, still shaking. He was probably freezing so we had to hurry. We got down the river with no problems (even if it made my arms throb.) When we had to get out, it got a little tricky. It was by some miracle there wasn’t anyone around to gawp at us or upload us staggering around looking drunk on YouTube like the rest of our lives. He’d calmed down a little and wasn’t hyperventilating anymore, but every slight sound or movement still made him flinch. He tried to walk, and successfully managed nine steps before gracefully passing out face first in the mud.

“Tony...” I started, but I interrupted myself by following suit and passing out next to him. Using my powers was exhausting, okay?

Chapter Text

I already knew it was coming, because her vitals had started beeping warningly at me, but I still didn't expect her to drop down so quickly. Groaning, I stepped into my suit and waved my hand towards the ceiling, and FRIDAY slid the roof back. When I found them, they were slumped in the least graceful way possible, and I made a mental note to retrieve the footage off FRIDAY's cams in the suit. Never know when something like that might come in handy…

I rolled my eyes and grabbed them both by their elbows, flying them back to the workshop. Aidy was fine, just exhausted- that was always a possibility to be expected. Using her powers often tired her out quickly, and she'd just lifted whole humans in the air using only her mind. When she wakes up, I can send her to bed with a bowl of custard (Don't even, I know it's weird but the smile it puts on her face is totally worth using a whole shelf of fridge space to store it.)

Peter on the other hand- I didn’t know what to do. He'd told me that ever since he was bitten by that spider, sometimes his enhanced senses went into overdrive. Everything was too loud, too bright and he could smell things from at least two blocks away. It sounded extremely painful, and the best (worst) part was that it was completely random and unpredictable. Sometimes he just wakes up in excruciating pain and there is nothing that can be done to help him other than a dark, soundproof room. We don’t have a soundproof room in the tower, and I doubt there was one in the compound. There would be by the end of the week though, I'd make sure of it.

I put Aidy on the couch and carried Peter to the elevator. For the first time since I'd invented JARVIS, I pressed the button for Bruce's floor, instead of calling out to FRIDAY. When the elevator dinged, Peter stirred and whimpered. I think my chest physically panged at the thought of him being in pain for something he can't even control.

I stepped out of the suit and the metal plates slid off my arms and legs. I walked into the lab, laid Peter in a chair, and then pointed at the lights on the ceiling. FRIDAY dimmed the lights and turned them off for me. I'm glad I made her so clever- she really puts the intelligence into artificial intelligence. Bruce spun around to say something, but I put a finger to my lips and nodded to Peter slumped in the chair. Might as well make use of all that ASL we learnt for Clint, right?

T: Sign

B: Tony?

T: I need your help.

B: What’s up?

T: So this is Spider-man.

I gestured to Peter in the chair, and he weakly nodded his head in greeting.

B: I can see that. What’s wrong?

T: Due to his enhanced senses, he’s in severe sensory overload.

P: It’s pretty painful.

T: I would give him pain medication, but his metabolism burns them off faster than we can give them to him.

B: What about Cap’s pain meds that Helen made? Could we modify them or just give them to him?

T: That’s what I was thinking.

“Would you like me to alert Dr Cho?” FRIDAY asked, quietly, thank goodness.

“Yes, thanks Fri.” I murmured in reply.

B: We shouldn’t have to change them too much and can probably give them to him as they are.

T: Best to check with Dr Cho though. Oh and he fractured his ankle.

P: It will be healed in a few hours

T: Better to have it checked though.

P: I’m fine, I just need to lie down for a minute. You guys don’t have to do this for me.

T: Shut up kid.

B: Kid?

At the moment, none of the Avengers knew who Peter was, or how old he really was. Only Fury knew. It wasn’t my place to talk about it, I knew that it was up to him. The public couldn’t know for legal reasons, but certain trustworthy people could know, if he wanted. I wouldn’t be the person to take the choice away from him though, so I tactfully ignored Bruce.

T: You saw that then? We are going to give you Capsicle’s medication.

Peter just feebly nodded and flopped his head on the back of the chair. His chest heaved with each breath, and he still twitched at each little sound. I’d never had a full discussion with him about his powers. His senses were enhanced, any fool could work that out, but what I didn’t know was to what extent. For all I knew, he might be able to hear a conversation from a few blocks away, like Steve Rogers, or he might be able to hear further, or less.

And it wasn’t just his hearing, it was all his other senses too. Steve could see tiny imperfections on a painted wall 500 metres away (a hilarious experiment, I assure you) but that was Steve. It was no use comparing the ‘great Captain America’ to Peter, when there was no scientific proof to link one enhanced being to another. They got their powers from completely different circumstances so therefore there would be entirely different outcomes.

I’d have to talk to the kid about powers soon. Yes, out of curiosity. Also, because although I’d like nothing more than for him to stay and help elderly people cross the street, in the line of work we were all in, it was inevitable that he’d get badly injured at some point. When he did, I’d need to know how to help him. There was a lot I didn’t know about Peter. I mean, sometimes it felt like I'd only had three conversations with him. I felt bad - I’d given him his suit months ago, and then shoved him onto Happy- I was the one that was meant to be mentoring him, not Happy’s voicemail.

“I’ll go see if Helen is coming.” Bruce announced, and left.

Peter winced at him talking. Poor kid. He didn’t deserve any of this. Of course it was Oscorp that messed up and did this to him- I wasn’t surprised they fumbled a secret project. We were competing companies and we’d been enemies for quite some time. Stark Industries has always been better though. It was typical that it was their fault.

But I suppose Pete probably saw it as a gift. I understand why, he gets powers and the like, but he’s 15. He doesn’t deserve that responsibility on his shoulders. He goes out every night to ungodly hours, watching and waiting for a crime. He’s a teenager for crying out loud, he should be staying up late finishing an essay for first class tomorrow, or trying to confess his love to someone, heck, even getting drunk! Not trying to stop gangs. That’s an adult’s job. That’s my job.

It’s obviously affecting him negatively. The sensory overloads are most likely caused by pure exhaustion and lack of energy. And the kid barely has any friends according to Happy. His grades are slipping, he’s quitting clubs, he’s missing lessons. He used to always be a model student, but now he’s in detention every other week for missing homework deadlines. (I have not been tracking him at all.)

Being Spider-man has consumed him to the point he has no time for anything else. I bet if I check Karen’s records, she will show that he has been up and patrolling late every day of the week. Sensory overloads are just the start. If he carries on like this, he’ll go into full burnout.

The worst part is that I can’t even be mad. Was that not exactly what I’d done? I had thrown myself into work after the wormhole incident. Over 30 different Iron man suits had been made in the space of a year. I was barely sleeping because I didn’t want the nightmares to come back, and I didn’t leave the labs for days at a time, so I wasn’t eating. Looking back, I had definitely developed PTSD, and at the time I had drowned myself in Iron man in a failed attempt to flee the flashbacks.

I wondered if the kid was in a similar situation. I know he’d lost his parents at a young age, and his uncle had died in front of him- that must have affected him. You don’t just get over something like that.

He wasn’t the only teen I was worried about. Aidy wasn’t a normal kid. That had been obvious from before she even walked through my front door. I knew she wasn’t a normal kid when her father appeared in my workshop. Yes, appeared. He literally shimmered into my Porsche. I was about to shoot the repulsors at him but let him speak first, because I was quite fond of my car, and I didn’t want to ruin it yet. I didn’t know then that repulsors wouldn’t do shit to him.

He called himself Poseidon... which I'm pretty sure I laughed at. He then said I was clear-sighted and that meant I could see through something called 'The Mist'. He went on to talk about the 12 Olympians, and a bunch of Greek mythology. I’d never believed in something like that before, but I still let him talk.

Poseidon also said that after hearing a prophecy, The Big Three- Zeus, Hades and himself- had made an oath to not have any more demigod children, but he had broken the rule. He had two children. One of them - Percy- was due to become the prophecy child, the one to save the world. The other- Aiden- wasn't important to the prophecy, but was just as dangerous. She'd accidentally used her powers and was now at risk of monsters attacking her. She needed to be able to control the powers so she could fight.

Apparently, that’s where I came in. She couldn’t go where most demigods went in case she interfered with the prophecy, but she still needed to learn how to fight, and not blow-up fish tanks when she’s upset. He said I would be able to make her a suit that would help. Then I asked if I could see this mystery child first before signing away my life, and I’m pretty sure I screamed. She was 10.

She was 10.

10, and being chased by monsters for existing.

10, and being snatched away from her mother.

10, and having the powers of literal gods in her hands.

10... and being given to me?

In all fairness I had been very confused. Why me? I was a textbook narcissist, if I do say so myself. I would be a terrible father- after all, my only experience was Howard Stark, who was never home. Not exactly a great example. I had decided then and there, whatever happened I would try to at least be a mentor- and a good one. Better than my own father. I had to be better. I had to be better than Aidy’s real father too. He was a terrible dad to both Percy and Aidy. What father sends his children off on ‘quests’ to save the world before they even turn 18? They are literal children. Aidy wasn’t even a teenager. And the gods sent them off on missions that could very easily kill them, just so they didn’t have to lift a finger. Poseidon had also completely abandoned Aidy, just because she wasn’t the ‘special prophecy child’. It didn’t seem like he truly cared about either of his children.

Between then, when she was 10, and now, as she's 15 he visited her once. Once in 5 years. Even then, it was only because she got badly injured- from one of his monsters, mind you. He dropped off some ambrosia and nectar, with specific instructions to only give it to her, and use it sparingly. He didn’t even wait for her to wake up, he was only in the tower for 36 seconds according to JARVIS. Of course, he hadn’t thought to drop off these literal lifesaving ingredients when she originally came to the tower, no, he waited until she needed surgery to repair internal injuries.

Aidy had always been a stubborn one. She bullied me into letting her patrol when she was 14. There was no point in me trying to stop her- She was going to help people whether I let her or not. To be fair, she could hold her own against creatures that came from hell, I thought she could handle a bike snatcher. She’s pulled herself back from the brink of... tough things- she was strong. And she does this thing where if she can’t get a move, she’ll practice it over and over and over until she gets it right. One time, she was in the gym for 4 hours practicing the trick Nat does where she swings onto someone's shoulders.

That day, Aidy exploded the pipes in the wall. I wasn’t mad or anything, it was an accident, and she did clear it up without being asked... But the fact that she worked herself to the point of exhaustion where she lost control of her powers... I'd be lying if I said that didn’t worry me. But she could stand up for herself. She wanted to help people, and she could, so I let her.

I sighed. This wasn’t helping anything. I knew Aidy and Peter had problems, but just thinking about them did nothing, I needed to do something, to fix something. It was at this point Aidy walked through the door, yawning.

“FRIDAY said you were in here.” Aidy said.

Peter jumped, and her eyes widened in shock. I quickly ushered her out the room and closed the door behind me.

“Is he okay I didn’t reali-” She started to say, but I cut her off.

“He's fine. You should be asleep.” I gave her my best stern look.

“FRIDAY said, but I had a glass of water so I'm fine.” She pulled her helmet off and rolled her eyes.

“So you should still be in bed. You need your sleep, you know that.” I didn’t want to lecture her, but her lifestyle and not sleeping was a dangerous mix. She’d get too tired out and make a mistake on patrol. It was so easy for her to get really hurt!

She raised her eyebrows at me. “Bit rich coming from the guy who slept a grand total of 3 hours one week.”

Oh, so she was going to be a bitch? Well, me too. “Yeah, I'm rich. Cry about it.”

“What, like you at Marley & Me?” She retorted.

I scoffed. “You’re spending too much time with me. You’re throwing out more quips than me drunk.”

“You drunk would be a funny thing to see.” She laughed. If only she knew. I spent years dragging myself out that fucking rabbit hole and it was- but she didn’t understand. I hadn’t told her, and I didn’t plan on doing so. She didn’t need to know that particular part of my history.

“You’re changing the subject. Go to sleep.”

She protested, “It’s literally 8pm. I’m not a baby!”

“Stop acting like one then! You’re honestly throwing a tantrum. I thought you were 15, not 5.” I grinned.

“That’s such a cliche parent line!” She groaned but turned and stomped to the elevator again. She was such a stereotypical teenager sometimes. Speaking of teens, I needed to talk to the other one. I slipped back into Bruce’s lab where Peter was sitting in the exact same position just with his mask off. Poor kid had barely moved a centimeter. His head snapped up when I walked in, and he gave me a small smile that looked more like a grimace, but I knew he meant to look happy. Or at least I hope.

T: How are you doing buddy?

P: I’m okay

I nodded and he gave me a funny look.

P: She never figured it out then?

A small noise of shock slipped out and I quickly shut my mouth. He heard? I inwardly groaned- of course he heard, he has flipping superhuman hearing! And... He knew?

T: You did?

P: Wasn’t hard to see you were smashed in every interview on TV. Anyone could figure it out. Lots of people did. Search it up if you want.

T: Are you for real?

P: I mean, kudos to you for you doing a lecture on thermonuclear astrophysics whilst being wasted.

T: The one in 2013? I wasn’t actually drunk I was-

P: Stoned.

T: ... Yeah

P: Still. I got caught within 10 minutes when I was hammered. It’s impressive you never got caught.

T: I’m a billionaire no one would dare confront me. You’re 10.

T: ...

T: Wait, why on earth were you drunk?

His eyes flew wide open in panic. He started stumbling over his signs.

P: So funny story Mr Stark! I was at a party and I asked for water, but Flash spiked it! So, it wasn’t my fault I was tanked.

I raised my eyebrows. If I’m being honest, he was probably telling the truth. He was too much of a goody-two-shoes to actively drink alcohol underage.

T: Why are there so many signs for getting drunk? And why do you know them all?

P: There’s more, don't worry Mr Stark. Bashed. Totaled. Lit. Potted. Slashed. Pissed. Stewed.

T: I can’t figure out what half of them are in English.

He shrugged.

P: How has she not figured it out though?

T: I didn’t want her to.

P: Mr Stark-

T: And you’re not going to tell her either.

P: But-

T: Peter.

P: Okay but-

T: Get some sleep. Bruce and Helen are discussing giving you Cap’s meds, and if you still need them, you can have some.

P: ... Thank you. You should get some sleep too, Mr Stark.

T: ... I’ll be in the workshop if you need me.

I smiled and left the room again, heading straight for the workshop. He was right, I did need to sleep, but the day you catch me following my own advice is the day I'm be nice to Fury. And that will never happen. The elevator dinged and I sauntered out into the familiar room. I may not be able to stop Peter’s sensory overloads, but you’ll be darned if I didn’t try.

First on the agenda would be to reduce their severity. Sight was easy, Sunglasses could fix that. I made a quick design with red and blue arms and frames. I also made it a one-way tint so he could wear them in classes without them looking like sunglasses. Once the design was finished, I sent the prototype to the robots.

Then I moved on to ear buds. They were more difficult, because they needed to limit sound but shouldn’t block everything out. They needed to be little, like hearing aids. If they looked like air pods, he would get them confiscated at school almost instantaneously, and that was no good. But hearing aids might be embarrassing, so I put the design default into a nude colour. They took longer, but once I was done, I sent them to the robots too.

All in all, it only took about 2 hours, even though I had to reprint the sunglasses with a different type of red paint, but I felt happy knowing I did something to help Peter. They were far from finished; this was only an initial prototype. But I was doing something. I was finally doing something after letting Happy do all the hard work for months. I was being as good to him as I was to Aidy. I wouldn’t stop there.

I’d do better. For my kids.

Chapter Text

When I woke up I was still in Dr Banner's lab, only someone had put a blanket over me. I sat up groggily and started looking around. I felt a bit dazed, but overall, much better. Last time this happened I was wiped out for days, even May’s disastrous chicken soup was a comfort.

“Hello Mr Parker.” FRIDAY greeted, “Boss told me to let you know that you took some of Steven Rodger’s medication after Dr Helen Cho approved. He said you were ‘pretty out of it’ and he doubted you'd remember. He's currently in the lab if you'd like to visit him.”

“Thanks FRIDAY.” I replied, “Could you help me find his lab? I've only been in the workshop.”

“Of course Mr Parker.” She assured me cheerfully. She reeled off a list of directions which I tried my best to memorize as I stumbled to the elevator.

Now listen. I knew Stark Tower was massive. I have eyes. But I never expected the sprawling expanse that lay before my stunned face. I went down a corridor, up 17 floors in an elevator (17!?) Then down another corridor, turn left, down a set of stairs and then right. It's like a maze! I’m 90% sure Mr Stark asked FRIDAY to send me the most convoluted way she could think of.

At one point I bumped into Miss Romanoff (I know right, THE Black Widow) and she told me I was on the wrong floor for Mr Stark’s lab. So I got into the elevator and went to the floor below, only for FRIDAY to tell me she had been pulling my leg, and I had been on the right floor. But it’s okay because she called me her ‘fellow spider’!

“Hey Mr Stark!” I waved to him as I walked into his lab. He was hunched over a table, staring at a StarkPad.

He looked up. “Hi Kid, you okay?”

“Yeah! I feel great now.” I fibbed.

“The meds did their job then?” He asked.

“Yeah! Thank you Mr Stark.”

“Don’t sweat it kid. Your ankle healed I see.”

I looked down at my foot. I had completely forgotten I had fractured my ankle. It must have finished healing whilst I was asleep- that’s good because it means I can go back out on patrol tonight. It was surprising it wasn’t aching, but I guess that was Captain America’s medication doing its job. “Yup.” I replied.

“Good. I’ve got a surprise for you.” He said, walking towards me.

“Really? Is it a mission? I’m so ready for a mission, I’d love to go on one Mr Stark, is that it? I know you said I wasn’t ready for a mission ‘cus i was a baby, but I’m not a baby, I'm 15, and I’d be careful, so you should definitely bring me on the mission.”

“Breathe kid, it’s not a mission.” He rolled his eyes.

I sighed. “Oh.”

“It’s in the workshop.” He said, and strutted past me to the elevator. When he realized I wasn’t behind him, he swiveled on his heel and gestured for me to follow. “I’m not bringing it back for you, princess. You gotta come with me.”

I hastily scurried after him and fidgeted in the sudden silence of the elevator. It seemed really awkward to me, but when I risked a quick glance at Mr Stark, he seemed unbothered as his usual confident businessman face shone forward. The elevator dinged and I shuffled out behind him into the room. Tables, robots, unfinished projects and scrap parts littered the whole place. It seemed strangely homely and somehow cozy, which made sense because I knew how much time he spent tinkering away in here. It was messy and yet organized- almost as if it were a reflection of Mr Stark’s brain, and we were peering right into the inner workings of his mind.

He swung around to face me. “Here.”

He put a little box in my hand, and I carefully opened it. There was a pair of red and blue glasses and a small pouch. “Put them on.” He told me, and so I grabbed the glasses and pushed them on. My jaw dropped. Immediately everything was a little darker. Anything in the background blurred, so only Mr Stark and the surrounding area were in focus. Immediately, I felt my eyes relax. They worked a little like sunglasses, but also they didn’t. I could tell he put a lot of thought into them, because they were exactly the right size and also because from the front you couldn’t see the tint, so they didn’t look like sunglasses. Also… they were my colors.

Mr Stark smiled. “I take it they work?”

“Are these for me?” I whispered in astonishment.

“No, I gave them to you to try on just so I could take them again for another enhanced brat to wear. Of course they’re for you!”

“They’re amazing!” I breathed.

“They would be. I made them.” He said, like it was the simplest fact in the world. He wasn’t wrong though. They were brilliant!

“Thank y-”

“Shh. Open the pouch.” I looked down at the little silver pocket and pulled it open. Inside were two small earbud/ hearing aid looking things. Mr Stark gestured for me to put them in, so I did and-

Silence.

3Everything- EVERYTHING stopped. I couldn’t hear me shuffling, I couldn’t hear Mr Stark moving around, I couldn’t hear DUM-E2’s quiet whirring, I couldn’t hear buzz of the lights, I couldn’t hear the elevator outside the room, I couldn’t hear the little fly in the corner of the workshop, I couldn’t hear people talking on the street, I couldn’t hear cars, I- I couldn’t hear anything. Nothing at all. For the first time in months and months it was truly quiet.

I’m not ashamed to admit my eyes started tearing up a little. Okay, I’m a little ashamed, but it's too late to take it back now. Mr Stark walked forward and pulled me into a hug, and I buried my head into his shoulder. He smelt like motor oil, metal and… burnt toast? Whatever, I wasn’t going to question it. He was a billionaire, he’s totally allowed to not be able to toast bread. In fact I doubt most rich people can cook. Wait, is that stereotypical? It’s kind of mean and presumptuous. I take it back. I’m sorry rich people!

I pulled away. “Thank you so much Mr Stark. Truly I… Thank you.” I slipped them off and wiped my eyes.

“You gotta wet patch on my shirt, kid. You know how much it cost?”

I looked at my feet. “Probably more than my apartment.”

“Damn right. Thank you, I didn’t like this one, but Pepper picked it for my conference tonight. Now I have an excuse to change it!” His eyes wrinkled at the corners as he smiled.

Sniffing, I grinned. “Glad to help then.”

“Now scram! Go have fun. Don’t set anything on fire though, we need to go at least a week without having to use DUM-E2’s extinguisher.” Mr Stark told me. I didn’t question who’d set what on fire- I’d learnt that around here, sometimes it was for the best to not ask questions. But just because I’d learnt that, didn’t mean I did so, and I always seemed to find myself asking three times the amount of questions necessary.

The rest of the day was pretty cool. In the morning, I nipped home to grab some clothes (since I only had my Spider-man suit) but May was at work, so I went back to the tower once I’d grabbed them. I spent the majority of the day bouncing between the lab and the workshop. Occasionally Mr Stark popped by, but it was mostly just me and Water Wolf. By one o’clock, I had made a fresh batch of my web fluid because I was running low- Which she was quite interested in, surprisingly. She said it was fascinating how it was so flexible considering some of the reactants I had used. At some point we went to the workshop, where we absolutely did not leave Reddi-Wip inside Mr Stark’s chair so that when he sits on it, it seeps through and covers him…

We also started a little project- the idea was this little ball that you put your drink in and it keeps it warm or cold depending on what drink it was. We were debating putting wheels into the design so it could follow you around, but instead we added retractable stands so it wouldn’t fall over, and you could put the stands away and hold it. We split up, and I worked on an adaptive gel that could quickly change temperature and then hold it, whether hot or cold, and Water Wolf worked on the mechanisms for the retractable stands.

We are calling it Beep.

I asked how her water powers worked. She got all quiet then, and said she couldn’t really talk about it. I swear her whole face dropped, not that I could see very well. She’d kept her helmet on all day, and I’d kept my mask on. I would be lying if I said I never wondered who she was underneath the helmet. Just because we went to the same school didn’t mean I necessarily knew her- she might not even be my age. Imagine if she was… 12 or something? Or like, 18? I truly knew nothing about her, apart from that she likes water and daggers. I don’t really think I know any who likes daggers but that’s not a thing most people talk about. Or maybe they do and I just don’t hear them. Maybe there’s a club at my school to discuss people’s favorite daggers! Probably not. But you never know.

We also had a 20 minute debate about which science was the best. Water Wolf said it was easily physics, but I disagreed and said biochem, and chemistry if I had to choose. Pepper ordered some pizza: lots of pepperoni with extra cheese. She said that we couldn’t turn into Tony and forget to eat, so she got us some food. When I mentioned it, Aidy said pineapple on pizza was a crime and anybody who stuck up for it was a disgrace to all pizza-eaters. I stayed deadly silent. (Hawaiian pizza rocks)

After that we played a deathly match of Tetris, which May calls ‘the ultimate nerd game’. She’s probably right. Water Wolf always managed one extra level more than me, which was super annoying but it was fine because I got her back when I beat her at a trivia game. All that AcaDec practice paid off I guess!

It was a really nice day. She’s a lovely person and I really enjoyed spending time with her. I think we’re going to be good friends- or at least I hope. She’s super funny and so clever. And… She gets it. She understands what it’s like to have this amazing life that you can’t tell anyone about, and she gets how everyone always asks who you are. She knows the race to finish all your homework so you can get out and patrol for just a little bit longer, and she gets the same feeling of the rush when you help someone out. It was a little weird knowing so much about a person, and yet so little at the same time.

After our trivia game, Water wolf left to go clean her suit and get ready for patrol. I was bored, and was going to work on Beep, when my phone dinged.

TheA1dyThompson

Hi Is this Peter?

Park3rPeterGuy

yeah!

Aidy?

TheA1dyThompson

The one and only:)

What day is the trip? I know it’s ages away but I want to stick it in the diary

Park3rPeterGuy

September 14th is the comp, we leave the day before :)

TheA1dyThompson

Thank you!

Park3rPeterGuy

have you been put as a reserve?

TheA1dyThompson

Yup

Park3rPeterGuy

what were your topics?

TheA1dyThompson

Engines, horses and natural disasters (I wanted to do marine biology but I ran out)

Park3rPeterGuy

nice!

my 3 are biochem, robots and spanish

TheA1dyThompson

You speak spanish?

Park3rPeterGuy

yeah my aunt taught me Italian and I loved learning it so I taught myself spanish. plus I took it this year

do you know any other languages?

TheA1dyThompson

Yeah, fluent Greek and confident French

Also ASL

Park3rPeterGuy

heyyyy that’s cool!

I know ASL too

TheAidyThompson

Do you ever just swear at a teacher under your breath but in a different language, so even if they heard you they wouldn’t understand?

Park3rPeterGuy

no but that’s an amazing idea and i will 100% be taking that and using it

you said you liked physics at acadec?

TheA1dyThompson Yeah, and you liked biochem?

Park3rPeterGuy absolutely it’s awesome. especially chemistry

TheA1dyThompson

IDK about awesome…

Park3rPeterGuy

what do you mean? chemistry is fun!

TheA1dyThompson

Chemistry? Fun? It’s so boring

Park3rPeterGuy

no!

i can’t believe my eyes!

i guess we cant be friends after all

TheA1dyThompson

Oh no I must go revise relative formula mass and who Neils Bohr is!

Park3rPeterGuy

to be honest the chemistry lessons are really boring this semester tho. Miss Warren refuses to let us do any practicals.

TheA1dyThompson

Why?

Park3rPeterGuy

well there's a tiny chance i spilled toluene in a drawer… this is a tiny hypothetical chance btw

and someone left the drawer open next lesson and just passed out

TheA1dyThompson

Peter… That’s bad…

Park3rPeterGuy

and now we can’t do practicals!!

TheA1dyThompson

I wonder why!

We’ve already done 3 experiments this semester

Park3rPeterGuy

that is so not fair :)

TheA1dyThompson

Do you wanna hear some little known wisdom, Peter?

Park3rPeterGuy

sure

TheA1dyThompson

Sometimes, life isn’t fair.

Park3rPeterGuy

wooooah

i’ve never heard that before! so original!

TheA1dyThompson

I know right?

Park3rPeterGuy

you should win the smart brains award for good thinking

TheA1dyThompson

You mean the Persuasive English Creativity Award

Park3rPeterGuy

...is that a real thing?

TheA1dyThompson

No of course not idiot i made it up on the spot

Park3rPeterGuy

how dare you call me an idiot I take great offense to that i am not an idiot

[Blurry photo of Peter. He is balancing six metal cogs on his head. It’s a dark background, and he is covering his face with his hand, which is doing a thumbs up. It looks like he might be sporting his goofy smile.]

TheA1dyThompson

Why-

Why are there six cogs on your head?

Park3rPeterGuy

ah yeah.

them.

well

YOU SEE

i was b o r e d.

TheA1dyThompson

🤦♀️

Park3rPeterGuy

whaaat i was working on my project

TheA1dyThompson

What’s your project for

Par3rPeterGuy

the physics mechanical challenge

TheA1dyThompson

What are you doing for it?

Park3rPeterGuy

i cant tell you, what if you cheat and copy my idea?

TheA1dyThompson

I’ve already finished my project

Park3rPeterGuy

what did you do?🤨

TheA1dyThompson

What if you copy MY idea?

Park3rPeterGuy

what if

TheA1dyThompson

Yes what if

Park3rPeterGuy

what if you came over to my house and brang your project

TheA1dyThompson

*brought, Your a genius at a school for geniuses you should know that

Park3rPeterGuy

*You’re, You’re a genius at a school for geniuses you should know that

no but seriously wanna come over and work on our projects together

TheA1dyThompson

Aw is petey struggling and need help

Also i?? Finished mine?? So…

Park3rPeterGuy

[Another photo of Peter, but this time the cogs are blurry as they have slipped down his face. The whole photo is shaking and one hand is clutching at the two cogs left on his head]

TheA1dyThompson

Get the cogs off your head!

I’m surprised you kept them your head on for so long to be honest

Park3rPeterGuy meanie

TheA1dyThompson

Meanie?

Park3rPeterGuy

meanie bean?

meanie been.

TheA1dyThompson

Absolutely. I honestly think that’s a compliment

[Park3rPeterGuy has changed TheA1dyThompson’s nickname to ‘Meaniebeen’]

Meaniebeen

…dude.

Park3rPeterGuy

🤷

[Meaniebeen has changed Park3rPeterGuy’s nickname to ‘coghead’]

Coghead

yeah thats fair

so.

Meaniebeen

So?

Coghead

are you going to come over and help me?

Meaniebeen

Sure

Tuesday after Acadec?

Coghead

yeah i dont live far we can walk together:)

Meaniebeen

nice:)

See ya coghead

Chapter Text

Once Water Wolf came back, we pulled on our suits and headed out. We sat on a rooftop near the river because it was in Queens- My area- but all we had to do was cross the river and we’d be in Manhattan- Her area. I clicked a fresh canister of webs I’d made earlier into my shooters and she tightened her new purifiers on her wrists (I was still super impressed about what those could do)

“What’s that?” She inquired, gesturing to the device in my hands.

“Oh it’s this thing my friend and I made. He’s my ‘guy in the chair’- or at least that’s what he calls himself. I think it’s a silly name but it makes him happy… so yeah, anyway, this is sort of a vamped-up walkie talkie. He hacked into the Police system and found out which frequency they use for their handhelds. When there’s a problem the Police have to radio it in, but I hear it too, so now Spider-man can be at the scene before them.” I explained, wiggling the little dial. It had small red and green wires sprouting from the back to the top of the antenna, and a power box on the bottom with the flashing blue light which told me the enhancer was working.

She smiled. “Hey, that’s pretty handy!”

“Yeah.” I agreed, “ Of course, when Mr Stark saw it, he insisted on improving it. He boosted the range.”

“Sounds like Tony. He’s always doing stuff like that. He updates my suit at least once a fortnight I swear.” A fond look slipped over her face (Or at least, the small part I could see.) She really did seem to know him well. I thought it was a little odd; I’d heard the rumors that Water Wolf seemed to be at the tower more than the other Avengers but I had figured it was just that- rumors. Now, I suppose Mr Stark is mentoring her, but it does come across that something more is going on. It feels like there’s a really simple explanation that’s right in front of me, I just haven’t noticed it yet.

“Are you two close then?” I asked.

“I guess… I- I don’t know how much I’m allowed to tell you.” She shifted uncomfortably. All these secrets! What exactly did Mr Stark expect me to do? I’m a fifteen year old with an excessive amount of homework, not an aged criminal with a prison record. He had said all that stuff about me not being trustworthy, which I frankly thought was sort of mean because what did I ever do? And how do I know he can be trusted? I’m the FRIENDLY neighborhood Spider-man after all. I don’t want to hurt anybody. I can be trusted! And then he gave me those gifts and I don’t know what to think anymore. Is he being nice to me? Does he trust me?

“I don’t know why Mr Stark said-”

“Doctor.” She interrupted.

“I wasn’t trustworthy because I am, I-” I blinked and looked at her. “What?”

She looked down at her feet nervously. “You said Mr Stark. He-” Water Wolf cleared her throat, straightening her back and looked right at me. An angry and threatening look flashed across her eyes which were peeking through her helmet. Her eyes were the strangest I ever saw- they were all sorts of greens and blues, and reminded me of the ocean. It looked like they were swirling and ever moving. But right now, they were upset, like a restless sea. An angry, protective sea.

“He has three Doctorates, and you would know that if you knew him. You should recognise his doctorates, and the fact you don’t proves that you don’t know him, and he doesn’t know you. All sorts of stuff has happened to him and he’s been through a lot. I’m sure if you were kidnapped for months and betrayed by your mentor you wouldn’t trust everyone so easily. He has every right to be a little suspicious of you, you can easily hurt him or the people he loves, and you’ve done nothing to prove you deserve his trust.”

She stared at me again, challenging me to argue. I wasn’t going to- I couldn’t. Everything she said was true.

“Just because you can be trusted doesn’t mean he will trust yet.” She finished.

I didn’t know what to say. I had no argument- she was right. I was being unfair to him. And it wasn’t like it was affecting me or anything. When she laid it out like that, I didn’t really know why I was upset in the first place. I needed to apologize, but I didn’t know how to phrase it to make it sound genuine. She’d truly left me speechless. All I could do was drop my head and nod slightly. Before I could say anything she shook her head and spoke up first.

“Your Walkie Talkie is beeping.” She nodded to the device in my hands. (Which I totally hadn’t forgotten about.)

“Right, yeah…” I muttered, and flipped it over. I hit the button and turned up the sound so she could hear it too. There was a little static, then a voice crackled out.

“Fire on 55th and 7nd, Manhattan. Two civilians trapped inside the apartment. Fire department is sending 3 teams…”

“Let’s go.” I said and gulped. I pushed any resentment from our argument to the back of my head- It didn't matter right now if we were going to save someone. I stuck out my hand to Water Wolf. “You want a lift?”

She hesitated before taking my hand. “Thanks.”

I grabbed her with my left arm and we ran to the edge of the building. We lept off the side and I pivoted in the air so I could throw a web to the top of the building with my right hand. We landed on the sidewalk and I let her go. Well- she snatched her hand away.

“You good to get there yourself?” I asked, but she just rolled her eyes and sprinted away from me, darting between pedestrians, a flash of blue in between the dreary New yorkers. And Jesus Christ that girl is fast! I quickly started swinging again, and in my race to keep up with her, I nearly hit at least three trees. I could smell the fire before I could see it, so I swung onto a nearby rooftop once I was close. The flames licked the side of the apartment and smoke filled the sky. Unfortunately, the Fire Department was still a few minutes out, especially with all the traffic, and whoever was trapped inside that apartment did not have that long- the south side of the building was creaking and looked dangerously close to collapsing.

“Hey uh, Water Wolf?” I asked through the comms, “What’s our plan of action?”

“Well I can start dousing the fire, but it will take a while and there’s civilians inside, so they’re the priority. Is there a way for you to get inside from the top?” She replied.

I quickly scanned the building and saw a column of windows that was a few meters away from the fire. “Yeah I can get in. Do you want to ask the people on the street which floor the trapped people are on? I sorta want to spend as little as possible inside there.”

“Yeah, sure.” She said, “Or I could just ask FRIDAY to scan for heartbeats.”

I sighed, “Yup that’ll work too. Why don’t I get fancy stuff like that?”

“Because helmets are still better than masks. Go to the fifth floor.”

“On it.” I swung down to the fifth floor and wriggled through the conveniently open window, rolling once I was inside. It was really warm in there, and it stank of smoke, but I couldn't see any fire yet. I’d entered on the north facing side of the building, and the fire was mostly on the south, so I’d be alright for the moment. I began to methodically check each room and make sure no-one was still in. When I turned the corner, I spotted the fire at the end of the corridor, and carried on working my way, door by door, towards it.

“You know, your voice went higher when you spoke to that lady.” I remarked.

“It did not!” Water Wolf said indignantly.

“Totally did.” I was now looking directly at the fire, because there was only one apartment left. The problem was that the door was on fire. Only a small problem, you know?

“At least my voice isn’t high-pitched 24/7.” She scoffed. I could hear her roll her eyes when she said that.

“Hello?” I yelled, “Is anyone trapped in here?”

I heard a crash and a shriek from inside the apartment, and then two people screaming, “Help!”

“Hey Water Wolf, I don’t know how your powers work, but I found the people, there’s just this little issue of the door being on fire… I could do with some water magic, you know?”

“Fifth floor?” She confirmed, “I’m on my way up.”

I gulped and took a step back. The fire was creeping its way across the ceiling, getting dangerously close to where I was standing. It was like it was taunting me, daring me to step to close. I knew my suit was fire-resistant, but it wasn’t fire-proof and I didn’t quite fancy being cooked into a red and blue spider cake. 30 seconds later, I heard a window smash behind me, and I turned to see a familiar blue suit walking down the corridor with a trail of water following.

“Why’d you smash the window?” I asked.

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because why did I need to?”

“Because it’s fun!” She had reached for me and playfully shoved my shoulder, our argument forgotten.

“Being cooked alive isn’t. Fancy extinguishing the door?” I said in a mocking voice, taking another step back and gesturing for her to carry on.

“It would be my pleasure.” She returned with her own funny voice. (She was so the sort of person I’d be friends with at school)

She directed the water to the door, and it sizzled on impact, but put the door out nonetheless. I kicked the blackened wood down and crept into the apartment, keeping low. I saw the source of the crash from earlier- It appeared part of the ceiling had already caved in, blocking off the kitchen off the apartment. A woman with brown hair was crouched in the very corner of the room, a child roughly five years old clutched to her, her head hidden in the crook of her neck. There was also a man with slightly curly hair who was sitting next to the lady. He was holding a towel over his mouth and had a hand on the little girl’s shoulder.

“Do you want to try and-” I started to ask but Water Wolf cut me off.

“Yeah, yeah, just get them out.”

She started directing the water to the ceiling, and over to the window on the right of the family, slowly but surely putting out the fire.

I crawled over to the corner. “Hi, I’m Spider-man and I’m going to get you out of here. Your landlord pays for the damage right?” I asked, gesturing to the window.

“Do what you gotta do, just get them out.” The man told me. I nodded and stood up. I quickly stuck my foot out to the side and ducked again as the glass shattered.

“I can only safely carry one person at a time so-” Before I could finish speaking the lady pushed her child into my arms. I always admired how parents never hesitated in making sure their kids were safe first in situations like these. I picked up the kid and shot a web at the apartment floor, then turned and stepped out the window. I started walking down the wall to the floor, slow enough she wouldn’t get whiplash or be scared, but quick enough that I could get to the floor and back and grab the next person as fast as possible.

“What’s your name?” I asked between breaths.

“Estelle.” She sniffled, and paused. “Will you make sure my mommy’s okay?”

“Of course.” I assured her as we reached the ground. Everyone on the street cheered, but I didn’t have time to say anything, there were still people inside. I passed Estelle to a policewoman and quickly swung back up the building. Repeating the process with the man, I found out his name was Paul, and as we reached the ground he ran and enveloped his daughter in a big hug. All was going well, until I made my way up the wall again and I heard Water Wolf yelp.

“What’s going on?” The ceiling groaned and I looked up to see a blanket of water across the whole top of the room, which was bending in very unnatural ways.

“The- the rest of the ceiling collapsed, I’m holding it up.” She gasped.

“What the- What do you want me to do?”

She yelled, “Get Sally out!”

I quickly lifted the lady and started walking down the side of the building with her too.

“You know each other?” I questioned, because Water Wolf already knew her first name.

“We talked… I knew her dad.” The lady (Sally?) replied. We got to the floor and she smiled at me. “Thank you… talk to us once you’ve got your friend.”

“Thank you miss!” I called as I sprinted up the building for the fourth? Fifth time? I threw myself through the smashed window and somersaulted on impact towards Water Wolf.

“I can’t move- the second I try to get out the window, it’s all going to crumble and I can’t hold it much longer!” She shouted. Her arms were thrown up to the ceiling, but were bent like she was holding something heavy… which I suppose she was.

“What if you let it go and I throw webs behind us? We can maybe get out the window in time?” I proposed.

“You really think the webs will be enough to protect us?” She said uncertainty.

“I’d say we’d have about 5 seconds to get out.”

“Well we haven’t got another choice. Jumping it is. On three?”

“On three.” I agreed.

“One. Two- Shit GO!” She yelled as the roof caved in.

I sprayed the ceiling with as much web fluid as I could, and then turned for the window. We sprinted and both lept out the window into the brisk night air. Mid-air I panicked because I couldn't catch her before we hit the floor, but she caught herself on a tree branch and swung round once before leaping off and hitting the ground rather gracefully. I flung a web to the building on the other side of the road and lowered myself to the floor. We collapsed next to each other, panting deeply, both very out of breath. When we turned to look at each other we burst out laughing, probably at the sheer euphoria that nobody had got injured. But I winced as the building creaked again.

“We should make sure the family is okay.” We got up and walked back over to the gaggle of people gathered on the street.

“Is everyone okay? Yeah?” We got thumbs up and nods from everyone, even some cheers, so I tapped Sally on the shoulder.

“I’m sorry about your apartment, ma’am. Have you got somewhere to stay tonight?” I asked.

“Thank you for saving us.” She replied, ignoring my question. She patted my arm with the hand that wasn’t holding her daughter.

“Are you alright, little one?” Water Wolf asked the kid.

She giggled, “You’re like my brother!” Paul and Sally went stiff and I turned to my partner(?). It seemed like I was missing something important. Again.

“Is that meant to mean something-” I started.

The nice lady quickly recovered and stroked Estelle’s head. “Remember what we said about that, baby?”

The kid laughed again, and put her finger to her lips. “Shhh!”

“That’s right, Es.” Paul smiled thinly.

“We should probably be off-” I began before Water Wolf interrupted me again, (Seriously, pretty please could I finish a sentence today?)

“Will you be okay tonight?” She asked the little family.

Paul and Sally looked at each other- they seemed to have a whole conversation without saying anything. “I guess we’ll stay at a hotel or something.” Sally decided.

“We’ll have to go down to the bank, our cards were in the apartment.” Paul muttered to her.

Water Wolf shook her head. “Nonsense. Your place just burnt down, you shouldn’t have to pay for a hotel too. I’ll talk to Tony.”

I looked at her confused. “Would he do something like that?” I murmured to her.

“Of course. It’s Tony.” She replied. Yet again, she was proving how little I really knew Mr Stark. She rang him and turned away to talk to him, but I still heard what she said because of my enhanced hearing. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop but I can’t really help it. She mentioned the fire, Sally and Paul, and that they had nowhere to stay. Then she said ‘I’m fine.’ three times, each one getting more frustrated. I guess Mr Stark was worried about her. I would have been sour, but then she muttered ‘He’s okay too.’ which I hope is about me so all is good. At the very end she mentioned that they knew her Father, which only made her frown, and after that they quickly ended the phone call.

Water Wolf turned back to the group and grinned. “You’re all good to stay at the Tower, just like I thought. Happy is on his way to pick you up. Do you want us to wait with you?”

Sally had teared up a little, but she was hiding it. “It’s okay, sweetie.”

“Well, we’ll be off then. We’ll pop in to see you tomorrow.” Water Wolf assured.

“Okay, bye. And… Thank you.” Paul said.

“No problem. Just doing what’s right.” Water Wolf assured, and then we walked away, back to the rooftop we’d been on at the start of the night. Now we weren’t busy saving someone, the atmosphere went straight back to awkward, as all the memories of the previous row flooded to the forefront of our minds once more. I could hear her voice echoing in my head, saying I could ‘easily hurt him or the people he loves.’ She fidgeted restlessly, and I dangled my feet on the side of the building, swinging back and forth. After a moment she dropped next to me. Words flooded through my head, guilt swirling around like a tornado until I couldn’t stand it any longer.

“I’m sorry about earlier. You’re right, I really don’t know him.” I admitted.

“It’s okay, I was overreacting. This must be so confusing for you. And for the record, I trust you.” She responded.

I beamed, not that she could see. “I trust you too.”

We sat in silence again, this time a comfortable quiet. We just relaxed and breathed, at peace with existence. The night took our words and held onto them, keeping our confessions safe in his starry hands, away from the prying eyes of the nosy city.

Eventually, she murmured, “I’m going to text my friends, make sure they’re all okay. I’ll say something about the news, I don’t know.”

“Yeah. I can just say I walked past.” I agreed, pulling out my phone. I opened up the Acadec group chat and typed:

hey i just saw a fire in an apartment on 55th. everyone alright?

As I sent it, Aidy also said:

Hii saw the news about the fire, y’all okay? :)

“Huh. That’s cool.” Water Wolf muttered.

“What?” I inquired.

“Apparently my friend was in the area when it happened. I wonder if he saw us.” She remarked.

“He probably did. You should ask him and see if he liked your moves.” I laughed. “My friend saw it on the news.”

Our faces dropped in synchronization. The realization engulfed our faces.

“No way…” She whispered. “Peter?”

I gulped and slipped my mask off, the cold spring air biting at my face. “Aidy?”

She pulled her helmet off and smoothed down her hair. A familiar face looked back at me. I didn’t know it yet, but this moment would change the course of my life.

Before either of us could say anything else, we heard a shuffle behind us, and whipped around to see who it was. Three people stood in a row: The one on the left was standing tall, proud, holding a small knife in her hand, she had a backpack with a yankees hat hooked on the side; the one on the right had a mop of dark curls, pale skin and was dressed in a thick, old-style jacket, and his hand- which was holding a jet black sword- had a small skull ring on his finger; and finally the one in the middle had brown hair and blue, blue eyes, much like Water Wolf’s, and was holding a inscribed, glowing sword in one hand and the girl’s hand in his other.

The boy in the middle said, “Your name’s Aidy? Cool, mine’s Percy. I’m your brother.”