Everything is not great.
In fact far, FAR from it.
It's prom night, where he and his friends are supposed to be having a fun night, welcoming the end of the school year and middle school as a whole. Marking the beginning of both summer and their entrance to high school; a new chapter of their lives.
And instead of being happy and proud of himself for that fact, as well as looking forward to taking his date to the party, Peter is now in front of Adrian Toomes.
The man who he discovered is behind the mask and suit that makes the villain known as The Vulture. Villain who, last two times Peter saw him, threw him towards a freezing pond for him to drown and days after that cut open a ferry in two using a futuristic laser weapon when he, as Spider-Man, tried to stop a business dealing going on in there.
Luckily for Peter the ferry hadn't left the harbor yet, so everyone could get out safely before his webs gave in and the boat unfortunately sank.
And now here he is, the same man Peter saw gear up to become The Vulture standing besides his wife, who Peter very well knows is Liz's mom due to various school events he has had where a parent or guardian is required to assist, in the front door of Liz's house.
Both Peter and May have had the pleasure of interacting with Liz's fun loving and easygoing mother who he knew remarried many years ago. He'd just never imagined it would be to a villain.
"Peter, there you are! So glad you could make it" Liz's mom says happily as she leaves the baby she was carrying in her arms in a baby chair.
"Y-you two Ms. Toomes" Peter says as the adult crosses the distance between them and envelopes him in a big hug. He knows that when she remarried, Doris (Liz's mom) changer her last name to her new husband's, but Liz kept her origina legal one.
"How is May doing? Haven't seen her in a hot minute" Doris says as she finishes the hug, but keeps her hands on the boy's shoulders.
"S-she is doing great actually, she just got promoted to operation manager in FEAST" Peter says as he smiles warmly, thinking of his aunt that everyone seems to love.
"That's great, sweetie" answers Doris. She knew of Ben Parker's passing, and she had been worried about the two Parkers left. She may not be close to the older woman or anything, but they still have kids attending the same school since basically forever, so they inevitably know each other.
And despite not talking much, Doris can say that May Parker is a good woman, one she wouldn't dislike to befriend if both their lives weren't already so full.
"FEAST? That's the charity, right?" Adrian asks as he tries to remember where he's heard that before.
"Y-yes sir. That's right" Peter stammered a little in his response, tensing his body slightly at the man.
"Oh where are my manners?" Doris says as she scolds herself with a tap to her forehead "Peter, this is Adrian. My husband and Liz's step-dad".
"Yeah, but I care for her like she was my real daughter, so don't you get any funny ideas tonight" Adrian warns with a harsh glare, making Peter's whole body tense more at the threat, making Doris now note Peter's body with her hands still on his shoulder.
"Well, look at you" Doris cooed as she took a step back from Peter and checked him out after feeling his strong shoulders tensing under his suit "I see you're filling that suit rather nicely, have you been working out?".
"Y-yeah, something like that" Peter answers embarrassed, still eyeing Adrian with a side eye as the older man chuckles softly at her wife's attitude.
"Don't worry about him, he loves to say stuff like that" Doris dismisses Peter's worry with a giggle after seeing the young boy taking her husband's threat seriously 'What a funny kid' she muses in her head.
*Waaah-Waaah* when suddenly, because of the lack of attention she was receiving, the baby that was in Doris's hand starts crying.
"She's an attention hungry girl, just like Doris and Liz" Adrian says in good humor as he looks over to his daughter.
"Oh, shush you" Doris scolds her husband with a warm smile on her face as she walks over to her baby and holds her up "Peter, I'd like you to meet Liz's little sister, Tiana Toomes".
Tiana, upon seeing Peter as she is held by her mother, stops crying, and after a few seconds of Doris cradling her, Tiana starts giggling cutely while still looking at Peter.
*Chuckle* "Aww she's so cute" Peter cooes as Tiana keeps on giggling "how old is she?"
"She just turned 8 months old" Adrian answers with a warm smile on his face at the sight of his daughter and wife, not noting how each time he talked, Peter would act weirdly. Like if something, or someone, was about to attack him.
Tiana then tried to reach over Peter with her little hands, clenching and unclenching her tiny fingers in a motion that indicates she wants to either grab him or for him to hold her.
Something that mildly impressed both parents because Tiana is usually not very sociable with any other person aside from her family. Not that she's met many in her very young life, but the point still stands.
"Aww look at that Peter, she likes you!" Doris cooes at the sweet image of her baby girl trying to socialize with the boy.
"I'm glad, wouldn't want to get on her bad side" Peter says as Doris nears Peter even more with the baby.
Adrian chuckles at that "you got that right Pedro, quite the temper this one has" he shudders as he remembers her tantrums.
"Come on, don't be shy, give her your hand!" Doris tells Peter very excitedly as Tiana still tries to reach for Peter.
He hesitates just for a moment, before holding his right hand up for the baby who quickly took a hold of it.
Peter forgets momentarily all about The Vulture and the fact that he is standing a few feet from him thanks to the giggles and playfulness of the cute baby currently playing with his fingers that are just a little too big for her little hands.
This is something that Peter would want for his future.
A loving family in a nice and warm house creating memories together from the smallest of things. Having a child and getting excited from him, or her, doing the simplest of things like laughing or craving attention from the loving parents.
Growing old together with his wife as they both look proudly at their children while they navigate through the stages of their lives and making the most of their memories together along the way.
Something that Peter never got to do with his real parents. Something he's never going to do with Ben ever again…
"Hey honey, just remember I have a plane to catch and these two a party to get to" Adrian reminds his wife, who is too busy gushing over how cute her daughter looks.
And suddenly the spell is broken.
Peter is brought out of the warm feeling that a happy family brings him as he hears the villain saying something about catching a flight. Could it be him masking his activities with a joke? Just like he does when he says he's going to 'swing by'?
And Peter gets angry; he feels the rage in his soul.
Because how dare he? How dare Adrian Toomes, with a fun loving wife, beautiful and smart step-daughter and cute and promising baby girl become a supervillain? How can he sell futuristic weapons to evil men while he himself dedicates his life to stealing banks and other places alike?
He surely has his reasons. But Peter can't accept it.
He can't accept that someone would damage what he considers to be a perfect life for greed.
But he's also nervous. What if he faces the older man again? Would he be able to fight and defeat him, sending him to jail and possibly ruining Liz's family? Can he look the other way while The Vulture keeps his evil deeds going?
He doesn't know.
"Right, let me see what is taking Liz so much, okay?" Doris says, slightly embarrassed at hogging Peter for Tiana's enjoyment and takes the baby with her to search for her first daughter.
"Sure, I'll get started on these" Adrian motions to the vegetables that needed chopping, and smiled as he saw his wife hurry for Liz with Tiana in her arms.
Adrian loves them.
Those three girls are his whole world, why he keeps on going. They are his reasons, motivations, dreams, hopes and his strengths.
Ever since he lost his company, his three family members became his entire world, his strength to keep on going in this wretched world that just seems to take and take until one is left only with the memory of what was once; left only with a burning rage towards those responsible for taking it all away.
Rage towards everything and everyone.
But Doris accepted him into her family, as broken as he was. She loved him, even if he was deemed a failure of a man by everyone he knew and the standard set by society.
She supported him when no one else would.
That's why he's going to do whatever it takes to give her and the two girls everything they deserve, no matter what he needs to do.
Money.
He needs money to live the way he wants to with his family, and no one will get in his way. It doesn't matter who he steals it from, who the weapons he sell affects or the lives he ruins in the process. The world didn't give a damn about him, why should he care about anyone else?
The only ones that matter is his family.
And if someone does, like that spider freak, then Adrian…no, The Vulture, will kill them. He will kill them dead.
Adrian's resolve and evil glint in his eye made the now angry Peter even more nervous, triggering his spider-sense to warn him even more of the man he is alone in the kitchen with.
"…you alright, Pete?" Asked Adrian, noticing the boy's nervousness as he grabbed a knife to chop the vegetables for his wife's dinner.
"Y-yeah" said Peter as he placed himself in a position that might've suggested he would run or fight given the chance.
"You sure? You're looking a little pale" said Adrian as he waved the knife near his face "You don't fancy a drink do ya? Like a…bourbon or scotch?"
"Oh no, I'm not old enough to drink, sir" forgetting momentarily about his situation, Peter answered firmly. May and Ben were pretty strict about his behavior and the things he should, and should not do.
And while one of those things was to not get into fights, rule that he breaks daily, underage drinking is different in a totally sensical way.
"That's the right answer" said Adrian with a wink and an almost proud tone as he pointed the knife at Peter, making the boy even paler.
Peter can say that he is used to having knives pointed his way. In fact, he usually makes fun of the guys who think they are going to beat him with a small one. What he isn't used to though, is being threatened by his date's dad with him not even knowing is threatening the boy.
"Wow!" Turning around, Peter saw what caught Mr. Toomes' attention "Wow, wow, wow. You look beautiful" claimed Mr. Toomes.
Entering the kitchen came Liz with a pretty red dress that complimented her caramel like skin, hair beautifully done and make up charmingly applied on her already pretty face. If Peter wasn't so preoccupied worrying for his life at the hands of the villain, he would've been awed by his date's looks.
He knows Liz is beautiful, but right now she looks breathtaking.
"Dad, please don't embarrass me" said Liz as she fixed her dress and hair as she warmed Adrian's heart by the way she referred to him.
"Doesn't she look beautiful, Peter?" Asked Adrian with a raised eyebrow at the boy's unresponsiveness, mistaking it by awe of Liz's beauty.
"Y-yeah, you look beautiful!" Peter replied a little too fast and loud to his liking, but Liz smiled at him nonetheless.
"Thanks! You look pretty good too!" Answered Liz as she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.
"Right again, that's the right answer" Adrian says a she still waves the knife around, promptingPeter to stand besides Liz.
"…is that a corsage?" Liz asks as she notices the little arrangement inside the transparent box in Peter's left hand.
Peter looks down and notices he indeed has that, but he completely forgot about it the moment he saw the older man.
Without looking away from Adrian, Peter passed the box to Liz in an almost rude way, to which she simply mutters an unimpressed "thanks".
"Well, I'm your chauffeur so let's uh, get this show on the road" said Adrian with a clear hurry in his voice, finally letting go of the knife on the counter.
"No, no, no. We have to take some pictures! Right, baby?" Doris claims while still holding and playing with a giggling Tiana.
Doris positioned Peter and Liz side by side and started snapping pictures with her free hand. Both teens looked incredibly awkward, but Peter was paler and in every picture he was clearly staring at something in particular.
In this case, at Adrian.
"Sir, you don't have to drive us-" Peter attempted to say, but was interrupted.
"Nah, nah. It's not a big deal, I'm going out of town anyway, and your school is just around my way" but Adrian dismissed it as he grabbed his jacket.
"He's always going and coming" Doris dismissed Peter's attempt with a wave of her hand as she neared Liz "have fun, okay? And he looks cute" Liz's mom whispers to Liz who shushed her awkwardly.
Peter heard her, but couldn't care about any of that. He was way too nervous to be dealing with teenage drama right now.
The car ride went pretty similar, with Peter being a nervous wreck, but not as much as to raise suspicion on Adrian. Liz had told her dad the guy she has 'a milf interest in' (unbeknownst to Peter, who thinks she 'invited' him as friends) is kind of a geek and a weirdo.
Adrian thought it was weird his step-daughter would like a guy like that, but to each their own he thought.
Either way he was very busy tonight.
He got intel that one of Stark's private planes is going to leave New York tonight, in order to deliver some of his suits and even some tech belonging to other Avengers at his mansion in Malibu for safe keeping.
And The Vulture is going to hijack that plane.
During the trip towards the school, Liz and Adrian were discussing what Adrian was up to that night, at least what Liz was aware of.
The key words that stuck to Peter were 'flight', 'Malibu' and Adrian's very obvious dislike of the Avengers.
'He's going to hijack the plane!' Peter screamed in realization. During the last couple of weeks, Tony Stark had said on TV several times that all the Avengers are now living together in what he very originally called The Avengers Mansion, and in one of those he mentioned very briefly that everything that they couldn't store here in New York would be placed in a safe location in California.
'That plane must have tons of technology that would be dangerous in the wrong hands! I have to warn Tony Stark or-or the Avengers!
But how? I bet they get false calls all the time, and even if they did listen to me and stop The Vulture they will want answers as to how I knew what I know.
I-I can't let them know my identity as Spider-Man… I-I can't do that to May and-' Peter's rambling stopped as the car finally stopped. Peter looked towards the school where all his friends (minus Chat and Emma) were already there talking to each other.
Peter only now realized that he was stuck in his head, replying to everything that was told to him in autopilot. Thankfully his social status prevented him from looking suspicious in the eyes of Adrian.
"Thanks daddy" Liz said as she squeezed her dad's shoulder gently with gratitude and a soft smile on her face "let's go Petey".
"You go in there gumdrop, I'm just going to give Peter the dad talk" Adrian says in a playful manner as Liz rolls her eyes.
"Don't let him intimidate you" she tells Peter in a bored tone, but with clear enjoyment in her face at Peter's panicked one, finding it cute and funny.
"Love you gumdrop" Adrian says as his daughter leaves.
"Love you dad, have a safe flight" Liz answers as she kisses her dad's cheeks and leaves the car, going directly at her clique that is waiting together with Peter's friends.
'Oh god, does he know who I am?! Is he going to threaten me and everyone I love?! Am I royally screwed?!' Peter's thoughts ran wild as Liz exited the car.
"Okay Pedro, hands not going beyond her waist in the dance, no alcohol, if she asks you to get her home you call her mother immediately and… what else… what else… oh, respect her at all times, obviously…" or Peter could be entirely wrong and genuinely receive a lame 'dad talk' from the much more intimidating man.
"Y-yes sir, I understand" Peter answered, still shocked by relief of the older man not knowing his identity.
"Great, now you go out there and show my daughter a good time, okay? … just not too good" Adrian says as he looks at Peter over his shoulder. His gruff voice makes Peter simply nod and get out of the car quickly.
He then stares as the car he was in drives away into the distance, wondering just what he is supposed to do now until he finally loses sight of it when it does a left turn.
"Well Tiger, I gotta say you dressed up nicely" MJ, being the first that noticed Peter out of the car, approached him before anyone else, leaving his and her dates behind.
"Wow MJ, you really do look beautiful" Peter snaps back into reality, momentarily forgetting everything about his responsibilities as a hero the moment he laid eyes on Mary Jane. Her red vibrant hair and emerald green eyes were complemented by the black dress she's wearing, while her beauty is only highlighted by her carefully applied make up which made her look like a real movie star attending a gala event.
"Thanks…" she mutters while blushing. She is now more shy than usual because she imagines what it would be like to be here together with Peter, rather than being just friends with different dates.
That's why she silently curses Liz when she approaches and hugs Peter's arm tightly and asks him "sooo, what did he say to you?"
Flash, seeing upset at how Liz chose Peter over him, hugged MJ by the shoulder. But he quickly let go when he noticed how she tensed and grimaced with his touch.
*Ehem* "It's great to see you both guys, we were waiting for you" said Gwen as she interrupted the silent teen drama.
"You guys wanted to wait for this nerd, I'm only here for Liz" replied Sally Avrill in her usual mocking tone paired with her scowl.
"Hey now be nice, we should go inside everyone" Randy looked at Sally disapprovingly by the way she talked to Peter. He wouldn't consider himself a friend of Peter, but Sally's hatred for the guy weirded him out.
Despite Peter's awkward and needy self, he was actually a pretty okay dude, and Randy knew that most of his clique agreed to that. Even Flash and Kong who were the most vocal in their distaste for Parker sometimes seemed to be okay with the brown haired boy.
"Yeah, come on man. I told you I could've picked you up in the limo if you asked nicely" said Harry tired of waiting for Peter. He wanted Peter to 'beg' him to allow him to use his limo and let him and Liz ride with everyone else.
Instead Peter didn't bite, and said he didn't want to be a bother, so he never asked. So thanks to that Harry now looked like an asshole in front of everyone and now they were all late.
"…" Peter instead of answering just looked lost in thought with worry clear in his eyes. His gaze was lost in the front doors of the school while his breathing started to quicken slightly, but enough for everyone to notice it.
"Petey? You okay?" Because Liz was hugging Peter's surprisingly strong arm, she was the first to notice his attitude.
But she was not the only one. Everyone that has any sort of relationship with Peter has seen how he's changing. The once bright nerd that participated any chance he got in classes, who would always have a smile on his face despite everything and be the first in and last out of the school was all but gone.
Since Peter's uncle passed away, Peter began to look more gloomy, rarely being outside his own head, always late and always tired.
Many had their theories on why this could be, the main one being grief; while others who don't care much for Peter say it was drugs, which is usually discarded as something ridiculous by everyone else.
But everyone could still see that Peter Parker is not the same that he has always been.
And how he is here, with an expression never seen before on his face, ignoring everything around him as his eyes began darting from side to side as if he was searching for something within himself, was just confirmation of his sudden change.
And no one liked it.
They were used to the old Peter. They somewhat liked the old Peter. This new Peter was… kinda scary in an uncanny way.
But he was indeed searching for something, and that is the answer to just what is he supposed to do now 'I can't call the Avengers; the police and 911 will most likely not listen to me and he is getting farther and farther away.
What should I do? What can I do?
Should I just ignore it this once?… I'm sure that Mr. Stark has contingency plans for situations like this; it's not like The Vulture would be too much of a problem for the Avengers.
I've done my fair share of crime fighting and so far I've been doing an amazing job at it! But this guy already almost killed me twice!
Isn't this above my pay grade? Am I way over my head in this whole hero business?
Don't I deserve a night off!?
Can't I let this be someone else's problem!?' Peter widened his eyes in realization as his chest got tighter at the thought. He remembers how his uncle died because he didn't want to deal with someone else's problem.
How he became a hero because he has the responsibility of doing everything he can to avoid something like that happening again. He has the burden that comes with his powers.
He promised Ben.
He promised himself.
'No… I don't deserve a night off. I have to fight him… and I have to do it alone' Peter reached his conclusion with a mental sigh. He's been ditching his friends in plans lately, and Peter can feel they are starting to resent him for it, this will surely bite him in the ass later, hard.
That is of course if he doesn't die.
So with his mind made up, Peter turns to Liz with a face full of regret and shame that causes her to untangle her arm from his, making her feel small with the look he's giving her.
"Parker?" Surprisingly it was Kong this time who asked Peter what was going on.
"I'm sorry Liz I can't… I have something to do and I shouldn't be here, I… I'm truly sorry Liz, everyone I'm so sorry" Peter said as he looked at everyone's faces.
Some were angry like Harry and Sally, some dumbfounded like Kong, Randy and Flash and the rest were looking very worried for him.
"You don't deserve this" he finally muttered, avoiding looking at anyone directly to their faces as he started to turn around. Who did he told that to? Many would think he was saying it to Liz, but for some reason that felt wrong.
"Peter wait!" Yelled both MJ and Gwen as Peter turned his back to his friends, running away from them.
He wanted to stay, he really did. But he had a job to do.
"Is he okay?" Glory, Kong's date and MJ's and Gwen's bandmate asked out loud to no one in particular.
"…I don't know, he's been so distant lately" answered Gwen, still looking at the direction where Peter went off to.
Everyone else turned to look at MJ, to see if she had some sort of answer. But the betrayed look on her face while clutching her dress in front of her heart made everyone think twice about asking her.
Harry burrowed his eyebrows further in anger, seeing how Peter is once again the center of attention with his eccentricities and whatnot "He ditched Liz, that's messed up. Let's forget about him and go in already" he said as he grabbed Gwen's hand somewhat rudely, making everyone wince at Gwen's reaction of slight pain.
Many were about to tell Harry off for what he did and said, but no one did. They all agreed that it was messed up to leave their date for whatever reason Peter may have had, so they all followed Harry and tried to forget about Peter for that night.
Although no one could, they were all worried about Peter one way or another.
Especially MJ, Gwen and Liz, who despite being hurt by being left behind, knew that Peter must have a pretty good reason, or at least they hopes so.
The three girls stayed behind just for a second longer, looking towards where Peter darted off to with uncertainty in their faces.
With Peter
Peter swings quickly through the city after changing into his spare costume he keeps on school grounds behind a locker.
Before heading straight to the plane, he needs to go where he hid his plan against The Vulture for safe keeping. Luckily it was near the Stark tower from where the plane is leaving.
Using his scientific mind, Peter concluded that The Vulture's suit worked with a special electromagnetic harness that allows him to fly and grants him his super strength. Meaning that the wings are for steering and double as a weapon.
With that in mind Peter built an anti-magnetic inverter to disrupt the harness, taking away its power and rendering the adult useless.
Peter quickly grabs the little device of his own making from wherever he hid it, and secures the little gizmo in his small utility belt.
Now completely in his Spider-Man persona, Peter swings towards the huge building which surprisingly has a freaking plane parked on it. How did they manage to do that? Only Stark and his employees get to know.
Now he only needed to find The Vulture.
And as if it was on queue, the plane took off, and together with it The Vulture was close behind, so Peter swung between buildings until he shot a web to The Vultures feet, who luckily didn't notice him.
Once they were close enough to the plane, Adrian flew ahead to the cabin, where he's going to initiate his assault.
"What the… is that a bird?" Asked the copilot, getting the attention of the pilot, whose eyes widened in fear at the sight of the bird-like creature with glowing green eyes.
Before either one could even scream in terror, The Vulture flew with an impressive speed towards them; breaking the glass and stabbing each one with his huge wings directly at their chests; making both of them unable to even scream in pain due to all the air from the cockpit leaving as soon as The Vulture broke the glass.
Adrian's wings, now filled to the brim with the blood of the two men, left the body's with a nasty *SQUELCH* sound that went unheard due to all the air rushing in from the broken windows.
Once the wings were free, Adrian used them as makeshift barriers for the entering air, so that he could take his helmet off and get on working.
"Sorry gentlemen, just business" muttered Adrian as he started setting the new coordinates in the plane and throwing a little drone that had the shape of a little bird that slipped through the left wings 'feathers'.
Spider-Man meanwhile was stuck to the under belly of the plane. This happened because when The Vulture flew in front of the plane, Spider-Man decided it would be a better idea for him to try and sneak around it until he could find a hatch or something.
But what Peter wasn't considering was the security of the plane, which has cameras that noticed and alerted him of being outside.
"That fucking-!" *NGH* Adrian let out an angry yell. "You're not going to mess with me again Spider-Man!" He yelled as he placed his helmet back on and flew out of the cabin once more.
Peter felt his spider-sense scream at him, causing him to look up to his right just in time to evade one of the Vulture's wings that cut open part of the plane with its sharpness.
"Woah!" Yelled Peter as he let go of the plane, shooting a web towards Adrian's back where something akin to a dog fight started again. Similarly to the first fight he had with the man that ended with him crashing down to a pond.
Eventually Adrian saw that Peter had learnt from the last time where he threw him off, so he sat atop of the plane where Peter finally let go of him.
"I don't know if you can hear me, but if you do, know this is where you die! And you die, because you couldn't leave me alone!" Yelled Adrian as he stuck himself to the plane with his talons, directly across from Spider-Man who landed in front of the up-top turbine.
"If you can hear me, know that I'll stop you, you bird brain!" Answered Peter as he got into a fighting stance, having heard Adrian with his super hearing.
*AAARGH* yelled Adrian as he cut two pieces of metal out of the plane with his wings, to then quickly grab each one with one hand each and throw them at Peter's sides.
Peter didn't even have to evade them, since they were too away from him to his side for him to do so.
"Your aiming sucks!" Yelled Spider-man as he watched the metal pieces fly away from him.
What Spider-Man didn't see coming was how Adrian launched himself with his talons first at him. His spider-sense flared up with more intensity than they ever had before at the sudden attack.
But Peter couldn't do anything. The Vulture was already too close to him to even place his hands in a defensive spot, so he saw in slow motion as the mechanical feet of his date's dad cut open part of his chest, to then send him hurling towards the turbine.
*ARGH* Spider-Man screamed in pain, clutching his chest as he still felt time slow down. He looked to his back where the turbine is, waiting to receive and shred him apart.
Peter felt scared, he was definitely going to die if he didn't do something, but what can he do now? His webs will be torn apart if he tries to web it up, just as he is going to be if he doesn't think of anything.
But there's no time for anything else, so Peter could only brute force it.
Peter only screamed in fright as he raised his right hand and clutched it into the tightest fist he's ever done before, preparing himself for the right moment to strike one of the spinning blades.
"NOW" Trusting his spider-sense, Peter threw the punch with all his strength. The force behind it was such that all the turbine exploded as Peter was sucked into the ball of fire.
*Huff…*Huff* "Jesus Christ" Adrian didn't say much. The setting he was in, as well as his heavy breathing didn't leave him with much choice on the matter. Still, his plan worked and he killed the hero; but even then he had to admit the way he went down was brutal even for him.
Either way a smile crept into his mask-hidden face, sure, the plane was now compromised and it would probably fall down, but not before he got at least some of the goods.
But before Adrian could turn away, he saw out of the corner of his eye that Spider-Man had stuck himself to the plane's right side with a single strand of webbing.
Frustrated and honestly a little bit scared by the hero's resistance, Adrian entered the plane through the cockpit once more, running towards his prize 'I ain't leaving empty handed!'.
Peter meanwhile, using his left hand he closed the distance between him and the plane, landing in the side with some parts of his suit still burning even with the wind hitting him as hard as it is.
Peter looked at his right hand, now mangled by the blades, barely feeling anything but numbness he knows will turn into unbelievable pain once his adrenaline runs out.
Peter's breathing got heavier and he closed his left hand in anger, leaving noticeable finger shaped dents on the plane's haul.
'I'm gonna win, one way or another!' Thought Peter darkly as he eyed the turbine closest to him. So he stood up at the plane's side and ran till he was underneath the plane's wing, a dumb plan formulating in his head.
*UMF* Spider-Man exclaimed with effort as he stuck his palms to te wing and started kicking the turbine with some effort, until he finally managed to rip it off the wing.
The turbine fell in the water as the plane started to fall with Liz's dad still inside the plane. Peter used his good hand to launch himself, maneuvering his body to end up standing at the plane's tail, where he saw the plane going straight towards some building
"OH GOD!" He screamed in horror. He figured that he preferred the cargo of the plane to end up crashing in the sea rather than being in Liz's dad's hands. He didn't mean to endanger the lives of hundreds or thousands of people!
Guess he shouldn't make decisions when at a high altitude with low oxygen, angry and while mortally in danger.
Go figure.
Calculating what he should do, Peter began to manually control its descent by webbing the ailerons and flaps and working them as if he was a puppet master. His hand killing him as he did so because of it's mangled state.
"COME ON! COME ON! COME ON!…" screamed Peter again and again as he steered the plane towards Coney Island, hitting a small attraction tower that took the plane's wing off, just in time for Adrian to cut open a side of the plane to try escaping it.
Only to fail, as the plane finally crashed, causing Peter to skip through the now burning sand like a rock skipping in a pond.
*CRASH* The sound of the plane hitting the sand could be heard all over the city, as well as the fire and smoke could be seen by everyone.
Avengers Mansion
"Holy shit… HEY, THAT'S MY PLANE!" Yelled an outraged Tony Stark from his lab, where his AI companion JARVIS told him he needed to see something urgent.
The AI assistant turned on his TV screen before Tony could agree or disagree to it and there he saw the news about a plane that was going down in direction to Coney Island, a plane that Tony knew very well.
"Who has the balls-?!" Tony started to murmur to himself angry incoherencies as he got up to the elevator leading to the mansion's living room, where Hank was watching some fashion show with his wife and hero partner Janet (much to Hanks's annoyance) and Captain America who was reading some magazines about pop culture.
"Stark? Is something wrong?" Asked Hank. Seeing the usual 'cool headed' genius so worked up about anything always weirds him out.
"Someone's trying to steal our stuff, they blew up my plane!" Answered Tony with indignation, surprisingly everyone in the room.
"What?!" Hank asked in disbelief as he stood up violently "I told you it was a bad idea to send our things to California, dammit Stark!" Hank matched Tony's indignant tone "Are you sure it didn't just blow up on its own?"
"Hey nothing I make 'just blows up on his own'… most of the time. Besides, it crashed in Coney Island, that part isn't even in the trajectory to California!
Someone definitely did something to it, and it didn't work out too well for them, so don't go blaming me or my stuff!" Tony got into Hank's face.
"But I told you we should-!" Hank matched Tony's intensity, only to be interrupted by Captain America.
"That's enough from the both of you. It's no one's fault that someone wants to steal dangerous technology, but it will be our fault if we don't deal with this now.
Let's gear up and head to Coney Island, luckily the evil doers will still be there by the time we arrive.
And you two apologize to each other and start behaving like the adults, teammates and heroes you both are. Let's go!" Captain America, being the voice of reason as always, managed to get both geniuses to mutter some apologies to each other as they all went to the hangar.
In there everyone but Stark, who has his suit, got into the Quinjet ready to deal with whatever happened.
With Spider-Man
Peter opened his eyes groggily, feeling unbelievable pain all over his chest and right hand, his ears ringing like never before and all his body screaming at the hot temperatures he's being surrounded by.
When out of nowhere his spider-sense roared at him to move.
"SHIT!" exclaimed Peter as he dodged the attack from The Vulture, who came through the smoke and stomped the ground, wanting to crush Spider-Man under his talons.
"YOU SEE WHAT YOU'VE DONE?! YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!" Screamed Vulture at Spider-Man, as he flew once again at incredible speeds wanting to behead him with his wings.
'If I don't ground him, he's going to kill me!' Realized Peter as he saw just how angry the villain was, attacking him again and again with the intent to kill.
'The anti-magnetic inverter!' Peter had forgotten about the gizmo in all the commotion, only for him to feel it in one of his compartments for web fluid when his left web shooter ran out.
"AAARGH" Peter baited Adrian, letting himself be stabbed in his right shoulder by one of his feathers, giving The Vulture a fake sense of security.
"All this for nothing, you achieved nothing! *HUFF* You fought well, you really did, but now you die!" Adrian got in Peter's face, towering over him while slightly hovering in the air, his left wing still inside Peter's right shoulder.
When Adrian raised his right wing to deliver the killing blow, Peter threw the anti-magnetic inverter with his left hand, sticking it to Adrian's stomach, where the harness is most likely to be. .
"What?!" Yelled Adrian in disbelief as his super strength suddenly banished, his hovering above the ground was over and he fell to the ground like a lifeless doll.
*NGH* "Dammit, that sure hurts…" exclaimed Peter calmly as he easily took the windfall off from his shoulder with his left hand. Seeing his little science project work relaxed everything in Peter, making Adrian even more unnerved by everything happening.
"W-What did you do?!" Adrian demanded an answer from the seemingly unbothered hero that was patching his injuries with his webs, completely encasing his right hand, stab wound and other scrapes and burns he had all over his body with the white fluid.
Adrian tried to move, but his exhaustion paired with his sudden absence of strength left him unable to move his body.
"I figured out how your harness works, and made something to stop it from doing so" Said Peter sounding tired, but that somehow managed to make him more menacing.
"Y-you're lying! This is my life's best work, someone like you couldn't have possibly done it!" Adrian tried to stand up, only to be grabbed by the collar of his suit by Spider-Man with little effort. The hero carried the older man until he left him against some crates that were far away enough of the burning rubble that was once the plane and webbed him against it.
To finish it he grabbed Adrian's mask and took it off, throwing it behind his shoulder in disinterest.
"Your life's work? Dude, I spent like what? Three days to figure out how your suit works and make a counter for it? Honestly I'd call your work mediocre at best" Peter, when masked, is someone who doesn't shy away from quipping with his enemies to throw them off and perhaps piss them off so that they mess up.
Here however, he decided it would be best to shit talk and outright insult the man, even if he was lying about the time period the needed to figure everything out.
But given the situation he found it appropriate to make fun of the guy that tried to kill him several times that day at the cost of his prom and the expense of the man's family.
"Mediocre!? Listen here you little son of a- *mph*!" Adrian got silenced by Peter, who shot a web to his mouth.
"I honestly don't care if you want a cracker Polly, what I do care about is my exit scene, seems like the heavy hitters are going to be angry at someone and I don't want that someone to be me" Peter saw how something akin to a rocket shot up from the ground at incredible speeds all the way from Manhattan, only for it to head their way.
That was undoubtedly the Invincible Iron Man, and while Peter would love to meet one of his all time heroes right now, he knew he would be interrogated and maybe even blamed for this; if they listened to the Daily Bugle slander of course.
"I gotta say, I'm not so sorry about this" said Peter as he bent over so that he could see Adrian eye to eye. Adrian could've sworn he saw behind the white lenses that this man's eyes were glowing an eerie red.
Only to be punched harshly straight to the jaw, which knocked him out. The last thing he could feel was the taste of iron in his mouth and something liquid running down his face.
'… I'm sorry Liz' Peter mentally apologized to his friend whose life is about to change drastically as he looked at the man before him, now knocked out with blood streaming down his mouth.
After that he grabbed his little gadget he used to defeat the villain and pocketed it where it was before, in case he shows up again.
Then, powering through the pain of his mangled hand and aching body, Peter stuck two webs to the ride beside them and used it as a slingshot, getting away from the mess he made as fast as he could manage to.
*Whoosh* *THUMP* sounded throughout the sand when IronMan landed, being closely followed behind by the Quinjet that hovered over the wreck while Captain America, Antman and The Wasp jumped out from it with 'superhero landings'.
"Nice of you to show up to the party guys, but it seems we're late. Our little thief seems to be already defeated and knocked out" said Tony as he stood in front of the bloodied man.
"Eww, what is that?!" Asked Janet, disgusted by the white stuff covering The Vulture's body.
"Seems like some sort of webbing, similar to the ones that spiders have" Hank mused as he knelt beside Adrian, analyzing the substance.
"JARVIS, can you analyze what that stuff is made of?" Tony asked his AI, showing a bright blue light that works as a scanner illuminating the thief.
"I'm sorry sir, it seems I'm unable to have a proper read on whatever the substance is" said JARVIS, sounding almost apologetic.
"You can play scientists later, let's focus on this man for now" advises Steve while giving a small nod to Janet; who smirked before shooting one of her stingers to the unconscious man, waking him up abruptly.
"AH, what the f- oh, it's you" exclaimed Adrian in pain as he woke up from the stinger, letting out a defeated sigh at the sight before him. Instead of scared he seemed to be annoyed, which was weird to all four of the Avengers present.
And don't get him wrong, he'd normally be terrified at having four of the Avengers standing in front of him with stern faces, but compared to the emotion of the high altitude fight, then crash and another fight he had with the spider themed hero, this honestly seemed light for him.
Then the usual hero interrogation began, where they asked his motives, plans, means, etc, etc.
"And who left you looking like this, dude?" Finally Janet asked the question everyone had but didn't want to ask but was on everyone's mind. Who had done their job?
"Really? Who left me stuck in webs? Is that really something you asked me?!" Questioned Adrian with a deep scowl on his face. Spider-Man has been active for several months now, doing the job the 'mightiest heroes on earth' won't do because they surely believe it's too low for them "Moron" mumbled Adrian under his breath, but loud enough for everyone to hear.
Adrian may hate Spider-Man to death, but that doesn't mean he doesn't respect him. After a fight like this, where a man shows his resolve, strengths and even genius, Spider-Man proved a worthy rival for him.
And he won't allow his now sworn enemy be made light of. It would be as if he was mocking himself after all.
"I'm not a moron" mumbled Janet embarrassed with a pout on her face as she crossed her arms as realization hit everyone.
'Spider-Man' thought everyone but Janet who was still pouting.
"Spider-Man was the one that stopped you? But I thought he was a villain, considered a menace in the news and everything" exclaimed Captain America dumbfounded, recalling all the times he'd seen the news talk about the man, most notably the man with the worst taste in mustaches currently alive.
"You can't believe everything the media tells you Cap, we've talked about this" Half scolded/ half reminded Tony to his older friend in a whisper, tired of repeating things like that.
After that a small argument took place, where each hero discussed Spider-Man's position as if they were in their living room and not in the middle of a plain wreck.
Until the police sirens finally snapped the heroes out of their conversation. The policemen, together with some firemen and news crew arrived at the same time, each doing their job.
But first, one of the firemen yelled "WOOH YEAH, AVENGERS!" with clear cheer in his voice, prompting everyone else to cheer and applaud for the heroes who huddled up and waved their hands for the crowd. At least Tony and Janet did.
Until a nervous but very muscular looking policeman neared the heroes and villains together with some reporters.
"A-avengers, sirs… and ma'am. I'm Sargent T-Terry Jeffords and I-I would like to thank you for being here and everything. But I also need to know wh-" the nervous police sergeant stammered as the four heroes laid their eyes on him.
"Barry Fink, of the Daily Globe. What do you have to say to the people who want answers about the plane that flew out of Stark Tower, and suddenly crashed here?" Interrupted a brown haired man asks as he nears a microphone at the heroes faces with his crew behind him.
"Caxton Ford, New York bulletin. Who is the man standing behind you with a winged-suit? Is he the cause of this?" Asked a black haired man with glasses in the same professional voice as the other.
"Sally Floyd, The Daily Bugle. We know that you so-called heroes love to show off, but isn't this dangerous for the people you claim you want to protect?" A haughty black haired woman asked as she butted her way in between the other two reporters.
"Thank you, thank you everyone, and I gotta say I'm impressed and relieved by you guys' quick response, so congratulations to you people!" Taking the stage in front of the camera, Tony took off his mask and showed off his practiced smile for everyone to see while he motioned with his hand the working firemen and policemen.
"And while I thank you sergeant for your kind words, it would be wrong of me to take credit, after all it wasn't us who stopped the bad guy this time. It was Spider-Man" Tony almost chuckled at how everyone's eyes shot open at the same time.
After some Q&A of what happened and the involvement of whom, Tony grabbed Adrian from the webbing and ripped the harness apart leaving only the man in his undergarments.
The reporters also got to talk with The Vulture, who thanks to Stark's face recognition scanners, told the whole world he is Adrian Toomes, the last question was "Mr. Toomes, any statements you'd like to give before you're taken by the police?"
Adrien thought of it for a moment, thinking of his wife, daughter and his recently born child. He should've apologized, made a promise of some kind or even just give a message to his family.
But his rage got the better of him "Spider-Man if you're seeing this I want you to know… you're a dead man.
You hear me?! YOU'RE DEAD, YOU FUCKING BASTARD! DEAD!" Yelled Adrian with a maniac look on his face as he was shoved into the police car.
"Well, that guy sure has an attitude" said Janet, still with her pout on her face.
"Will Spider-Man answer for all this destruction?" Not so surprisingly, the woman working for the Daily Bugle asked with a scowl on her face. Clearly sharing her views on the arachnid themed hero with J. Jonah.
"You were all just congratulating us for saving the day, why the sudden change with Spider-Man?" Asked Hank, more intrigued than offended since he didn't care much about the guy. The change of attitudes was interesting though.
Everyone aside from the heroes got into a heated argument right then and there, all talking at the same time. Some cops and most of the firemen were on team Spidey, while the rest were against him.
Captain America disliked what was being said, because even though he too had judged Spider-Man based on the words of other people rather than making his own opinion of the guy, the actions of Spider-Man being for the good were indisputable on this night.
"Alright, listen up everybody! What we saw today is someone who wanted to do something bad and another person who did something good. I don't think it takes a genius to realize that, at least today, Spider-Man did the right thing.
And I like to believe that anyone can do the right thing without expecting praise or fame, but please do not discourage someone trying to tread the path of righteousness as you are doing tonight with him.
I personally wish to extend my thanks to Spider-Man, even if his methods could be worked on, he did right by us. Goodnight ladies and gentleman" No one interrupted Captain America and everyone acknowledged each word and some even felt shame at being called out by the older hero.
The hero's too stayed quiet after that, except for Tony who was reassuring everyone that he would pay for the damages and whatnot. Also paying respects for the lives of the pilot and copilot who were lost during this, promising compensation to their families as an attempt of an apology.
When the heroes saw that there was nothing else for them to do, they climbed up to the Quinjet and headed home for the night.
Soon after, Tony followed after his team, hearing as his intercom started going "sooo, are we going to do anything about this Spider-Man?" Asked Janet to everyone listening to her.
"I'd say we let him be, see how he acts from now on, maybe if he proves to be good enough of a hero he could even join us. Like a test of some sorts" Suggested Hank.
"You want to test him?" Asked Captain America skeptically, not really liking the idea.
"It wouldn't be so much of a test actually, we could just let him run free and see how he acts… what do you think Stark?" Hank asked Tony, hoping that he would agree with him.
Luckily for Hank, Tony did "I think that's the right idea Cap, we judge him based on his actions and if he's a good guy we invite him… god knows we could use an extra hand.
Just please don't believe those newspapers anymore, we judge him based on our own opinions, how's that?" Tony reasoned as he asked JARVIS off coms to gather all footage he has on Spider-Man, which is surprisingly too scarce.
The only real footage of the web head are blurry videos of him swinging through the city and some photos taken of him, mainly from The Daily Bugle.
"…fine" thinking about it, Steve finally conceded in 'spying' the hero's behavior while he's unaware of it. It's not like it would harm him or anything after all.
So the decision was made.
With Peter
Peter, when he got home almost passed out due to the pain and exhaustion he was feeling. He however had enough strength to get off his suit, take a shower and bandage himself.
Bandaging he really needed, especially to his shoulder and hand.
He was lucky that May was not home that night, taking a night shift at FEAST while Peter is out having 'fun in his middle school prom', so he was able to grunt and even yell when applying alcohol to his wounds to clean them so that he doesn't get an infection.
He was ready to sleep until next year, but his brain nagged him to see how his friends reacted to his disappearance. He could easily conclude that they will definitely not be happy with him.
And surprise, surprise, he is right.
Many missed calls, unanswered text messages and a lot of questions that Peter doesn't know how to answer. His focus shifted when he started seeing new messages popping up from his various text groups with his friends and schoolmates talking about the plane that went down and Liz's dad revealed as a criminal..
Peter sucked in a breath, preparing himself to hear all about what a menace he is and all that. And he did get it, courtesy of his employer obviously; but other than that, he got recognized as a good guy by the Avengers!
And not any Avenger, but his two favorite ones, Captain America and Iron Man!
This was everyone's childhood dream coming to reality for Peter, and while he can be almost sure he's practically friendless now, he can be a loner who got recognition from his heroes with a smile on his face, knowing with pride he did good tonight.
Because he did good, right? Liz's family wil obviously take a heavy hit from what happened to Mr. Toomes tonight, being revealed as a villain and all, but he surely saved countless lives and stopped the Avengers' tech to be sold to the black market.
Definitely a good thing.
His stomach did churned when it was confirmed there was a pilot and co-pilot onboard, and it was confirmed that they were killed before the plane crashed; stabbed to death.
Peter wondered during the whole fight what was on Adrian's wings that looked red; now he knows.
And Peter could blame himself for the loss of those lives. If he acted sooner, maybe they would've been saved after all.
But he can't think like that. If every death he encounters as Spider-Man is suddenly his fault, then he will drown in guilt and sorrow.
No… today he won.
Sadly it seemed that a victory for Spider-Man meant a loss for Peter Parker. Peter could only hope that this happening was a one time occurrence.
And with that in mind, Peter got ready to sleep, still ignoring his phone and everyone. He deserves that at least after all of what happened that night to him.
The next week was probably in the top 5 worst weeks of his life.
It was summer vacation, but he knew through gossip that he was criticized by everyone for leaving Liz the night her step-dad was revealed to be a killer and a supervillain.
In Peter's defense, he couldn't have possibly known that that would've happened to Liz. I mean, how was he supposed to know her dad is The Vulture!?
Thankfully for Peter, he was out of everyone's mind regularly, so compared to 'my classmate's dad is a villain', the gossip about Peter died quickly amongst his classmates.
Who didn't forget about it though was MJ and Gwen, who seemed to be giving him the cold shoulder ever since he refused to tell them what he was up to that night.
Harry as well but he seemed to be ignoring Peter for different reasons.
Still, Peter trusts them with his life, but he would rather avoid telling them 'Oh yeah girls, I have these freaky spider powers since a few months back, accidentally got my uncle killed and after some time fighting crooks, I crashed a plane and got Liz's dad arrested. Y'know…puberty or something'.
Peter shuddered thinking how that conversation would go in real life.
Aside from that his body still aches terribly. Most of his wounds appeared to be gone, and with the excuse that he fell down the stairs because of his clumsiness, no one batted their eyes twice at his various bruises and scrapes. It also explained why his hand was always wrapped in bandages and his shoulder aches all the time.
Peter had honestly thought that he would have his hand amputated or something, but along the week that has gone by, his hand seemed to be doing a remarkable progress with the healing.
The idea of having a healing factor came as a huge relief to Peter.
Now he only has to mend his relationship with his friends and he has all summer to do so, what can go wrong?