Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Yelena was breathing heavily as rubble and ash covered her vision, probably from the helicopter that just crashed. Ghost shimmered back into view, gasping as she became tangible once she was at a safe distance away from the wreckage. Whatever was happening here made it look like the 2012 incident all over again, unfortunately, as Yelena watched more and more rubble crash down from the sky, the city didn’t have those original 6 to protect them now. The small group of misfits and screw-ups did the best they could here, but there was so much all at once. She had never felt cut out for this, sure she could manage just fine in a firefight, but having to jump back and forth to save helpless civilians wasn’t a priority for the Red Room. A block of concrete nearly crushed a woman when Walker, in all his glory (or lack thereof) threw himself in the way, barely holding it steady. It must’ve been several tons in it made a super soldier strain the way he was, so Yelena quickly threw herself under the block, copying Alexei and Ghost. Bucky rounded out their little effort and actually began pushing it away.

She actually felt a little relief working with this little group, but just when John turned himself around to push, another large block crashed its way down. Yelena felt her arms about to give out, and the rest would be quick to follow. The woman scrambled away, but the rest felt the weight soon to overwhelm them. A thwip and small grunt later, the weight nearly flew off the group. Wide-eyed, Walker looked around and saw their relief in the form of red and blue spandex.

Bucky too noticed Spider-Man crouched on a car, a thread of webbing in his hand connected to the blocks of concrete they struggled with. The lenses on his mask narrowed, then widened as he looked at them.

“Start getting people towards 46th and 41st! I’m gonna guess whatever this is has to do with the group of super soldiers and spies here, so whatever you people did, make sure they don’t get caught up in it.” The vigilante yelled out, nodding at Bucky, before leaping in the air, swinging around the blocks in the area. He leapt around, weaving a wide web to catch more of the falling rubble, before covering the fallen crane arm with a healthy amount of the webbing. Without missing a beat, Spider-Man ripped doors off of trapped cars and carried unconscious civilians to safety. The rest followed his lead at helping people get to a safe distance or under the safety of the nearby buildings.

Spider-Man breathed out a sigh of relief as no more signs of rubble seemed to be crashing down, and few began clapping and cheering for the ragged-looking group. Most people looked up and cheered on Spider-Man, he was after all, the most notorious hero of New York. Spider-Man was perched on the wall of a nearby building looking around for what the source of this disturbance was. He knew about Bucky and John Walker, the disgraced former Captain America, and he only knew about the new Black Widow and Ghost from his connections on the vigilante/hero scene, but he had no clue who the other red guy was. He had no clue why these people were all here, or what any of them could possibly have in common, but he knew that whatever they’re doing here is probably the cause of this whole mess.

Peter really was hoping for an easy patrol. His week had been a complete mess so far, a lunatic in a beetle mech on Monday, an actual guy made of water on Tuesday (he had been blindsided with horror thinking Mysterio was back), and teaming up with a homeless guy calling himself Demolition Man to fight whatever the hell a ‘Living Brain’ is on Wednesday. It seemed like the amount of enhanced criminals had boomed since his multiversal calamity with Strange, and Peter hadn’t had any time to actually grieve everything he’s in between patrols, finding a job that looks the other way on legal documents, and attending classes at ESU.

He didn’t need whatever mess this was, hell he almost took today off just because of how exhausted he was, but anytime the thought came up, the sound of May’s last words to him was deafening. He spent years agonizing over the two sides of his life, but in the end, Strange was right, he couldn’t have it all. When he tries to put Peter Parker first, Spider-Man loses, and that means people die. Not anymore.

He goes through the routine, forging documents to get him into college and attends classes he could probably teach all for the sole purpose of access to resources he would funnel into work as Spider-Man. He works jobs and gets money and buys nothing but food or supplies, nothing for himself. He doesn’t interact with professors, even when they beg him to join a research lab, he doesn’t say hello to his neighbors, even though she’s a sweet old lady whose smile comforts him like May’s used to. He doesn’t ask out Debbie Whitman, even though she’s been flirting pretty hard in their chem class. He doesn’t talk to anybody on campus, even the really friendly guys like Randy Robertson or Bobby Drake.

The only thing Peter Parker is good for anymore is making sure Spider-Man is the best he can be. So he crouched out here in Manhattan, surrounded by a disaster that appeared out of nowhere next to a building that Peter still couldn’t properly look at. He saw a little girl look up at the red guy, who was clearly basking in the praise from the people, when his spider sense rang so loudly it felt like it split open his skull. He slipped down the wall a bit and looked up at a floating figure in black who lifted a hand at the girl. Before Peter even knew what was happening, the girl vanished into a shadow, as if she never existed in the first place.

Peter looked in horror as multiple other people vanished and looked up at the source. “NO!” He screamed and leaped upwards, throwing out a web towards where he thought a face should be. But this…Void made it disappear as easily as the girl. Peter felt his spider sense scream at him to move, so he quickly adjusted his trajectory with a webline to pull him midair. The Void looked at the red and blue vigilante with interest, seeing him somehow dodge his shadow. The Void moved his hand to follow the arachnid, but every time he was about to engulf him in shadow, the hero knew to dodge. He spun webs and lifted himself closer to the monster floating in the air, and Peter managed to make contact with a powerful kick. It actually managed to throw the Void backwards, crashing him into a wall, but it displayed almost no effect. It did manage to piss off the normally apathetic Void, who growled at the annoying bug as Peter tried to capitalize on his attack.

With a swipe of his hand, he managed to knock Spider-Man away, sending him careening down towards the Thunderbolts watching from the ground. Bucky looked up at Spider-Man, surprised to see him knock away whatever that thing was (severely hoping it wasn’t the same Bob who kicked all their asses). That was, until the shadowy figure got the upper hand. He watched as Spider-Man is sent flying in their direction, not able to catch himself before landing on a car, caving it in in a burst of broken glass.

Bucky swore, assuming the worst as he and the others moved towards his downed location. “Jesus…guess Bobby’s not holding back anymore. Poor guy never stood a chance.” Walker looked between the dark floating figure and the vigilante, believing the guy was dead.

“Rest in peace, little Паук. He should not have tried if not even the Thunderbolts could beat him.” Alexei shook his head.

Spider-Man’s groan was definitely a shock, if Walker’s sudden cry of ‘Damn!’ indicated. “Note to self…don’t try to kick Lovecraftian shadow people without a Plan B.” He rolled off the car, but Bucky caught him by the shoulder before he could hit the ground.

Ava looked at him intrigued. “How the hell are you-”

“Guys!” Yelena barked at them, eyes glued on the floating Void who had recovered from his scuffle with Spider-Man.

The few civilians that weren’t evacuated by Spider-Man and the Thunderbolts were either running or caught in the same shadow that was spreading around the area.

“You can’t outrun the emptiness.” It spoke eerily with a slight reverb. Its white eyes were focused on Yelena, but periodically flickered to the quickly-recovering Spider-Man.

“I think Bob’s dark side got superpowers…” Walker said sardonically, looking up at the Void. “We gotta get off the street.” He jumped into action, signalling the few people still running around to follow him away from the growing threat. The rest of the Thunderbolts followed his lead, while Spider-Man swung around picking up the few stragglers before they got caught up in the expanding shadow. He moved them toward Park Avenue west where the last few runners had gotten off the street and the rest of the Thunderbolts had gathered. All but Yelena, who willingly walked into the darkness against the cries of Alexei.

The man was dragged where Spider-Man stood, looking at the shadow with trepidation. Alexei was crying, leaning against the wall. Clearly, the two had some type of relationship. Spider-Man reached out to place a hand on the larger man’s shoulder. Alexei stiffened and looked over at Spider-Man, whose mask gave no indication of any emotion. But Peter had gotten quite adept at comforting people with the mask on, he’s even been able to talk down a few would-be criminals, he knows how to convey himself beyond the barrier of the mask.

It seemed to work as Alexei took a shaky breath and calmed himself down, not looking at Spider-Man, but nodding in thanks.

“I’m going after her.” Ava pulled out a short sword and walked purposefully towards the shadow, but was stopped by Bucky.

“And then what?” He asked rhetorically, hands on his hips.

Ava looked annoyed. “If she did that, she did it for a reason.”

Bucky grit his teeth. “Well, what if she’s dead? What if there’s no coming back?”

She paused for a moment. “What if she isn’t?”

“How do you know that?”

Walker suddenly cut in. “No, no, no, wait, hold on, I think she may have a point. When I was in the vault, I went somewhere. I can’t explain it, but…”

Alexei stepped into his line of sight. “What did you see?”

John’s jaw clenched and he looked down. “The lowest moment in my life. The shittiest I’ve ever felt.”

Peter, at this point, was able to put some of it together. “I’m assuming you all know that guy? And he showed you, what, like a memory?”

Walker looked over at Peter, hesitating slightly talking to a guy he barely knew anything about outside of Daily Bugle rants. “It was different. I was there. It was more than just seeing it, I was reliving it.”

Peter put a hand on his chin in thought. “Like how people described the whole Wanda Maximoff situation. So it traps you in your own mind?”

“‘Trapped’ is a good way to describe it.” John grumbled, eyes going slightly glassy.

Peter set his shoulders. “That means those people are trapped in there. No choice but to walk to the shadow realm. Usually it’s the opposite when you die.” He joked without much mirth.

Bucky looked at Spider-Man. “You sure you’re gonna test that? You don’t even know what’s going on.”

Peter looked back at Bucky. “Didn’t know very much about Thanos either. But people were in danger then, same as they are now. I might not be much of an Avenger anymore, but I’m not about to change what I do.” He walked towards the shadow while looking back at the group. “With great power, there must also come great responsibility. It’s time to be responsible.” Peter turned back around and let out a breath, allowing the shadow to overtake him.

Ava looked thoughtful, and nodded her head, eyes determined seeing Spider-Man step up. “Do something now, or live with it forever.” She activated her helmet and stepped forward, following the hero into the shadow.

“The Spider-Man is the hero on Wheaties box.” Alexei nodded seriously and stepped past the other two super soldiers. “For the glory… for Yelena.” And he too disappeared into darkness.

“He sounds just like Steve.” Bucky mumbled, a small smile on his face. He looks over at Walker, who looks queasy at the thought of going back to that place he was before. “Show them you’re stronger than all of it, John. All the stories, all the noise. We gotta take a stand.” And like the rest, Bucky willingly walks into the darkness.

John looked at the rest. He wasn’t suicidal, but he did just want the empty feeling to go away. “Can’t believe I’m actually doing this.” He grunted and embraced the darkness.

—

Peter gasped as he took in the sight around him. “Of course, it’d be here.” He mumbled, looking around to see the ruined lobby of a familiar building, and hearing a cackling laugh echo through his mind.

May Parker lay in a pool of her own blood, her breathing slowing as a younger, somehow more innocent version of himself cradled her. Peter took off his mask and watched with horror as she took her last breath once again. “It’s just me and you…” repeated in his mind over and over again. Bullets flew around him, as he saw himself apologizing to the corpse of the woman he saw as his mother.

It felt hard to breathe, even with his mask off. Peter couldn’t stay there anymore, he couldn’t look at the most caring, determined, and powerful woman he’s ever known die because of him. Peter’s been blocking this memory out for so long now, long enough to tell himself that he was fine, that Spider-Man had to be fine. The truth was he hated himself, hated Spider-Man, hated Peter Parker. He hated that he couldn’t sleep more than a couple hours each night knowing that he’d miss a mugging or a burglary or some sick rapist. He hated that he couldn’t accept the help of anybody around him no matter how hard they tried to get behind his walls. Hated that he burnt himself out patrolling every inch of Manhattan and Brooklyn and Queens and the Bronx and Staten Island, and still felt like garbage because he wasn’t doing enough.

Most of all, he hated feeling like despite everything he’s done and continues to do will never wash away the blood of his aunt and uncle off his hands.

So Peter runs, before he realizes what he's doing, he runs just like he did that night, and crashes through the glass of the broken front doors. He feels dizzy as he twists and turns, but quickly reorients himself to land on a wooden floor, some of the planks half-rotted in a room with dilapidated walls.

He sees himself again, this time sitting and repairing a hole in his costume while changing a set of wrappings around his ribs. He remembers this day, he had been fighting another one of his new villains, Alex Sytsevich, a Russian thug from that Tracksuit Mafia group who underwent an experimental procedure sponsored by a newer crimelord named Tombstone. Hit him with a microdose of Gamma rays and grafted a suit of armor on his body. Turned him into a 9-foot tall walking tank with a horn on his head. These were in the early days of the memory wipe, and Peter sat alone in a cold apartment a couple days before Christmas, wondering what the point of all this was. That day he fought the Rhino, and no matter what Peter did to the brute, he wouldn’t go down. Eventually, Rhino charged him; it was gonna be a close call no matter what, but a part of Peter wanted to just…not move. The moment of hesitation before coming to his senses led to a sharp horn in his rib and an innocent person buried in rubble.

Peter was able to finally outsmart the Rhino, burying him up to his neck in liquid cement, and when he went back to where the person was buried, he found him being carted away on a stretcher. He was severely injured, but alive.

That day scared Peter, not because he almost died, but because he almost gave up. On himself, on his city, on the neighborhood. He made a vow to himself that he wouldn’t let himself get to that place again. Looking back on it, he unhealthily buried in and threw himself more determined, if not more ragged, into his duties as a hero.

He realizes now, looking at himself in the reflection of the window, that his promise to himself that night didn’t fix anything. He didn’t grow or heal, he just threw a bandaid on and pretended like everything was fine.

It’s sort of ironic, he can talk someone away from a ledge, but he never really stepped down from it himself.

“Sp-Spider-Man?” A confused voice sounded out behind him, and he saw a man with shaggy brunette hair, sitting in a room, looking at him curiously. Peter quickly tugged his mask back on and looked at the man, seeing him in the reflection of the small mirror hanging on the apartment wall. “I’m guessing you’re Bob?”

The man looked even more confused. “H-how do you know my name?”

“Met those other guys outside, figured I’d help fix whatever caused this mess.” Peter walked towards the glass.

Now he looked guilty. “Sorry about that. And sorry for smacking you around a bit.”

Peter looked at the man, seeing genuine sorrow, and a massive amount of guilt, something Peter can intimately relate to. “I’m gonna take a wild guess here and say you don’t really have both hands on the wheel here, do you?”

“Guilty as charged.” He responded self-depricatingly.

“How do we get out of here, Bob?” Peter moved closer to the glass, now understanding the man he’s seeing is just as much a victim of this as any of the others, which means it’s Spider-Man’s responsibility to help him get out.

Bob shakes his head, slightly tearing up. “I don’t know. Don’t think we can.”

Peter looked at Bob, “Hey, of course we can. We thought there wasn’t a way to fix the blip, and we did. We thought Thanos was unbeatable, and he wasn’t. We think that it’s impossible to move forward, impossible to overcome this pain and start living again, and it isn’t.” Peter blinks hearing what he just said, his head angles down and gives a small chuckle. “I promise you, Bob, it isn’t. We just have to keep getting up.”

“He’s right Bob.” He hears the voice of the Widow, Yelena, even though he can’t see her. “You need to get up, we need to stop this.”

Peter feels darkness cloud his vision, and his feet touch down in the cozy room Bob’s sitting in, clearly an attic. He sees Yelena on his left, she looks at him, gives a grimace in an attempt at a smile, then looks back at Bob.

“I try. I really do. Some days it’s good. Those days I feel like I’m on top of the world, like I’m invincible. But there are a lot of bad days. More bad than good. And I remember that nothing…nothing matters.” He smiles helplessly.

Yelena continues her intense star, taking a couple steps forward. “So, you’re just gonna let it take over?”

Bob shrugs. “Well, what else am I gonna do? This room’s nice, at least. I’ve seen a whole lot worse.”

Peter feels concerned. Knowing what type of place this illusion is, this room probably isn’t as nice as Bob makes it out to be. “Is this your attic Bob? Are we-” He’s cut off by noises coming from the floor below, shouts from a drunk older man, and the sharp cracks of slapping. Peter knows exactly what that means.

“Don’t worry about them, they’ll be done soon.” He says over the sounds of a broken woman telling young Bobby he always makes things worse.

“Shit.” Peter whispers, horrified that a person would say that to their own child. He moves without fully realizing and crouches down by Bob’s side, resting a hand on his shoulder. Yelena sits on his other side and grabs his hand.

“I’m sorry.”

Bob begins to lightly cry, years of pain crushing the poor man without any release.

“What I said to you before was wrong, Bob. You can’t stuff it down. You can’t hold it in all alone. Peter looks down, his hand retreating from Bob’s shoulder. He knows Yelena wasn’t talking to him, but…that hit closer than he’d like it to. “No one can.” Not even Spider-Man. “We have to let it out, we have to spend time together. And even if it doesn’t make the emptiness go away, I promise you it will feel lighter.”

“How do you know?” Bob asks, sounding broken. Nearby, objects rattle.

“Because it already has for me.” Yelena whispers.

Peter feels it hit him all at once. He’s been forcing himself into a self-imposed exile for close to 2 years now, forcing himself to pay a constant penance because he feels like he deserved it. And it’s made him feel horrible. Pushing people away and running himself ragged as Spider-Man hasn’t helped him. It only served to make him feel more alone.

He makes a decision, ignoring the feeling in his gut that tells him not to, he tugs on the edge of his mask, as Yelena watches. Bob turns his head too to see Peter look at him, eyes full of his own unshed tears. “You don’t have to carry this weight by yourself Bob. Let people care about you. Let them in.” Peter grips his shoulder again, looking at Bob with determination. “We can do it Bob. We can.”

Yelena looks at the hero, shocked by his youthful face. He couldn’t be much older than a college student, which would make him quite young when he had started being Spider-Man, not counting the years he had vanished in the blip. Yelena didn’t know him, not like she knew Bob, but she could tell he was just as broken. He held a pain in his eyes that promised years of suffering, but behind it all, she sees the fiercest determination she’s ever seen. She’s never really believed in heroes, she was far too jaded, but seeing that quiet determination, the unspoken promise of hope and the steadfast strength, it made her really want to.

Bob meanwhile looked up at the hero in awe. Like many others, he had heard about Spider-Man, the friendly neighborhood hero. The kind of hero he wished he had, the kind that little boy downstairs deserved. He wanted to be that hero, that’s why he went along with the whole ‘Sentry’ thing to begin with, but that quickly went out the window. For a little bit now he’d been sitting up in that room thinking that this was just proof he was as worthless as his father always told him he was, that he was as bad as his mother made him feel. Yelena, with her companionship and vulnerability, had made him want to open up. It made the dark feeling inside of himself seem a little less daunting, and it made him want to try. But seeing Spider-Man relate to him, seeing the same guilt and shame in his eyes knowing that the hero finds it within himself everyday to keep getting up makes him want to get up too. Bob wanted to feel like a hero, now he’s seeing what it’s like, and even if Bob isn’t sure he can ever get there, he at least wants to try.

At that last thought, the room violently explodes around him. Spider-Man instantly moves forward, covering the two with his body as a chair smashes to pieces on his back. A metal pipe bursts from the wall and slams Peter into the ceiling, without even triggering his spider sense. The pipe slams him into the wall, while Bob cries out that he thinks he’s causing this. Peter sticks to the wall when the pipe reels back, and Peter kicks it away when it comes back for another hit.

The curtain over the winder flies off the wall and wraps around Yelena and Bob’s necks, and Peter tenses his muscles to leap forward, but shadowy hands reach out from the wall and hold him down, while another two shadow hands reach from the ceiling and punch him in the face repeatedly. Peter starts to hear ringing when Walker appears and slams his metal taco(?) into the wall to free him. He sees Ava had cut Yelena and Bob free while Alexei tore apart a pillow screaming about evil.

“‘Lena.” He says, looking at her with relief in his gaze as the room settles down. Walker holds out his hand to Peter, with the super soldier studying his exposed face before looking away when he sees he’s been caught.

Peter grabs it and Walker helps him back to his feet. “Thanks.” He mumbles, with a stiff nod from John in reply.

“You came for us… What did you see, are you okay?” Yelena asks with worry and relief in her own gaze.

“Oh I’m fine. I have a great past, so I’m totally fine.” Bucky says, visibly shaken up. And Peter laughs a bit sadly, knowing how brutal the man’s own rooms must have been.

Bucky looks over at the maskless hero, eyes squinting like he’s trying to see something, but clearly doesn’t remember. Peter smiles sadly.

“Yeah, this place is messed up.” John has a look in his eyes like he just came back from war.

“We are here together. That’s what matters.” Alexei said and looked around the circle of broken people. His eyes widen slightly when he sees Peter, likely due to his age. All of the others can’t help but notice it, especially Bucky who sees the Steve comparison even more, seeing the young man from Brooklyn with more heart and guts than he ever had brains. It says a lot about the current situation that none of them care to mention it. Ava mostly sees herself in the hero, knowing how her life was shaped by her powers from a young age, how she became more than Ava Starr before she even really knew who she wanted Ava Starr to be.

“Thank you guys. Really” Bob spoke gratefully, seeing the number of people who put themselves through who knows how much pain to help get him out of this.

“Of course.” Ava says sincerely. “Here we are, Shane’s Elite Electronic Thunderbolts.” This she says more ironically.

“It’s not Shane.” Alexei says slightly whiny.

Peter snorts and comments. “That’s not actually your name right?”

Alexei looks slightly affronted. “What is wrong with Thunderbolts?”

Peter is ready to bicker back when John cuts back in asking how to get out. Peter realized he hadn’t bantered with anybody in years, outside of the quips he throws at the criminals he beats up, but that was always more for show and to throw off their game.

“I-I don’t know. It’s always been endless rooms.” Bob stutters nervously with everyone looking his way.

Yelena steps in front of him. “Wait, you said this was the nicest room you found and the others were way worse, right?”

“Yeah. Why?”

Peter gets what she’s hinting at. “Gotta reach the final boss somehow, right Bob?”

—

The group unofficially calling themselves the Thunderbolts moved through Bob’s rooms, with Walker slamming his former shield into Bob’s dad. They fall into what looks like a city street on a sound stage, with a chicken map swinging a sign around with incredible skill. Peter leaps over the mascot, despite himself still not getting alerted by his spider sense.

“What the hell? Bob, is that you?” The chicken batters Alexei with the sign as he cries out in fear.

“I WAS ON METH!” He screams, covering his head with his arms as the tweaker Bob rushes him. Peter attaches a web to the sign and pulls the unassuming weapon away as Bucky knocks him down with his Vibranium arm.

Another tumble through another door leads to the shadiest lab Peter’s seen in a while, and sitting a distance away was the Void that had locked them in to begin with.

“I’ve been here before.” Yelena says as they all rise to their feet.

“This is where it started.” Bob says, eyes locked on the Void in complete fear. “I was roaming around southeast Asia, thought I’d figure something out or at least find more drugs.” The doors slide closed behind them as they inch forward. Peter slides his mask back on, seeing this Void as the last true threat, ready for the inevitable fight. “Then there was this guy, starting talking to me about a medical study. A trial drug that could make me stronger. Felt like a miracle.” Peter thinks back on how many villains he’s fought lately who have a similar story. A promise for something better taking advantage of people at their lowest. It makes him feel guilty knowing he could be doing more to help them, like he’s doing with Bob now.

“I’d finally get to show everyone that I was more.” Lights begin to flicker as darkness starts to creep in. “That I was…something.”

The Void finally spoke in a soft growl. “And look what you unleashed.” It gets off the table, arms limp by its side. “And the most shameful part of it all was thinking you could be more than…nothing.” The Void was shrouded in complete darkness, all but the two white dots as the eyes.

Those two white specks seemed to turn to Peter, seemingly growing sharper. “And here you go again, somehow believing you have a chance. All because of a failed hero who can’t even fool himself into thinking he makes a difference.” He looks back to Bob. “And you think I’m a bad influence?”

Yelena steps forward confidently. “We’re leaving.”

Peter matches her in front. “So get on board, or get out of the way.” He says with a lot more confidence than he actually has.

It shakes its head, almost sadly. “No.”

The table behind the Void floats in the air and slams into Yelena and Alexei. Peter fires a few webs at the Void, wrapping it for a moment before it shakes off the webs and wraps it around Bucky, attaching him to the wall with a flick of his wrist. Peter shoots another webline, and John rushes forward to back him up, when Void send a spike to pin Walker to the wall, simultaneously pulling Peter forward and grabs him around his throat. Ava tries to phase towards Void, but a chunk of a nearby vent slams into her back, pinning her to the floor.

Bob looks at the Void, who is choking Peter with one hand, completely unphased by the hero throwing building-toppling haymakers into its face. “Stop. Stop doing that to him.” He pleads. “Just-just let them go.”

“You think they actually care about you?” It throws Peter to the ceiling, where more of the shadow hands hold him in place. “You don’t matter. To anyone.”

“That’s not true!” Yelena shouts, and a wire sharply wraps around her throat.

“Don’t hurt her!” he says a lot more sharply.

“Robert the hero.” It mocks. “The friendly neighborhood Sentry.” It looks up at Peter who’s struggling against the bonds holding him. The Void would be surprised if it actually felt anything, seeing Spider-Man actually put up a decent struggle against the shadows.

“I’m stronger than you.” Bob spits hatefully.

“Let’s see.”

And like a switch being flipped, Bob stalked towards the Void and threw wild punches. The Void responds, knocking him to the floor.

“Get up Bobby.” Walker grits from his place on the wall.

The Void continues to mock Bob. “You thought you were going to be some great man? Some savior.” Bob grits his teeth and rises back to his feet. “You can’t even save yourself.” Bob throws out a punch, slamming into the Void’s face, and follows up with a wide haymaker. The Void weaves and hits Bob in the gut, sending him keeling forward. Grabbing him, Void throws two more brutal punches before knocking him down once more.

“We will always be alone. And we will never get back up.” The room slides away, pushing all the other Thunderbolts further away. With another angry grunt, Bob tackles the Void and rains punches down, being met with nothing but dark laughter as the shadows begin covering Bob as well.

Bucky sees the room splitting apart at the seams. “This isn’t right.”

Yelena cries out to get Bob’s attention, and with Alexei’s help manages to get herself free. She crashes into Bob’s back, holding him close to tell him. “I’m here.”

“It will always be just us.” The white dots appear almost sad, the Void’s voice wavering with pain and loneliness.

With a roar, Peter tears himself free and embraces Bob, holding his arm. “You’re stronger than this, Bob.” One by one, Walker rips the spike from his shoulder, Bucky’s arm tears through the webbing. Ava frees herself from the vent, and Alexei smashes the table down with a roar.

The Thunderbolts jump on each other in a mess of limbs and Bob hears Yelena whisper. “You’re not alone.” and hear Spider-Man whisper. “You’re stronger than you know.” And like a breaking dam, the tears burst out in raw pain and grief. They fall backwards, wrapped up in each other and laying on the floor, a floor which feels changes from a cool linoleum to rough concrete.

The group slowly sits up to see the mess around Park Avenue, everything back to the way it was, with the sun peaking through the darkness, the people caught in the mess returning back to consciousness. The group looked around in confusion while the newly-returned civilians looked around in a daze, clearly recovering from whatever they all saw.

“You were great in there, Bob.”

“Thanks Walker. But, uhh, where are we talking about?” He asks with a confused smile, making the others reel back. “Woah, Spider-Man! Sorry, I feel like I kinda know you, but I’m having trouble remembering how. Actually, I’m having trouble remembering a lot of stuff, it’s feeling a little fuzzy.”

They all stood a bit dumbfounded. “You’re joking, right Bob?” Spider-Man said with a deadpan, while Yelena asked if he was ok.

“I…I’m doing alright.” He looked at Spider-Man, feeling a sort of relief at seeing him. “I’m ok now.”

“Yes. I need an extraction right now.” Everybody turned at that voice. Peter looked at where they all did and saw a fairly familiar figure, but he couldn’t exactly place where.

“Why are we all looking at her?” He stage-whispered to Ghost who was next to him.

Ava stared at her with a grimace. “Valentina. Bitch is the reason all of this happened in the first place.”

“What? No, I don’t have backup. I need help!” She screeched into a radio.

Peter’s lenses squinted. “For real?” He looks at Bucky.

If looks could kill… “Yep.” Bucky grits out.

They start to step forward. “I’m going to kill that person.” Alexei deadpans.

“Wait, hold on, what happens if he regains his memory.” Walker cuts in. Bucky and Alexei seem to be walking ahead when Yelena makes up her mind.

“Ok, come on.” She wraps her arm around Bob, who follows like a happy little golden retriever. “Ah ah, you too.” She points at Peter, who is slowly creeping away from the group. Make sure he doesn’t leave, yes? We stick together from now on.” She points at Ava who grabs Peter’s arm the same way Yelena grabbed Bob’s.

“I still don’t really know you guys like that.” He says rubbing the back of his neck, but allows himself to be pulled along.

“‘Let them in’ that’s what you said, no?” Yelena asks without expecting an answer. “Yes, I made up my mind, you stick with us now, ok?”

“Besides.” Ava said from his side, slightly smirking up at him. “You have a ‘responsibility’ to catch the bad guy with us.”

Peter grumbles good-naturedly as Bucky speaks up front. “Yeah responsibility, meaning we can’t kill her, gotta take her in.”

Alexei is still laser focused on the retreating woman who caught sight of the group. “Breaking bones isn’t irresponsible, maybe I break a few when I take her in.

Ava released Peter from her grip, seeing he was willingly walking along. “I’d like to kill her though.”

Peter raises a hand. “I’d really prefer if we didn’t.”

Walker grumbles next to him, messing with the taco shield. “Maybe when he gets his memory back he can fix this thing.”

Peter looks at it. “May I?” Walker shrugs and hands it to him. Peter examines it before sticking his hand onto each fold. He grunts and slowly begins pulling it apart. It’s nearly back to the same shape when Peter lets out a breath and lets go. It’s not perfect, but better than before.

“Is that Carbonadium?” Peter asks, intrigued.

Walker stares, mouth hanging open, and Ava’s eyes widen next to him.

“Damn. That was badass, Spidey.” Bob says cheerfully from the back while Yelena looks ahead with a smirk.

Alexei is still needling Bucky about breaking her legs, as Valentina stutters out, looking at the group. “Ok, guys, hold on, I know we’re having a lot of feelings right now. I am too, I get it.”

Peter snorts. “Yeah, she sounds like a politician.” Ava actually lets out a small laugh at that as the group pushes through a wall of linens and canvas only to be met with another wall of reporters and cameras. They all freeze, especially Peter, who hasn’t been face to face with this many cameras since his identity was first leaked.

“Are we live? Great.” Valentina says with a smarmy grin. “For years, I’ve been working secretly to develop a new age of protection, even working with our beloved local heroes.” She pointed towards Spider-Man, who was thrown aback by her quick improvization. “Today, the citizens of the United States needed that protection. And thanks to my hard work, they got it.”

Peter looked to his sides to see the others looking just as shell-shocked as he was. Next to Valentina, a younger woman stood watching with a look of trepidation, an assistant, Peter guessed. He made eye contact with Yelena who looked confused, and a bit apologetic.

“Ladies and gentlemen… meet…the New Avengers.”

The press cheered, cameras flashed, Bob was confused but supportive and clapping along. Valentina squirmed behind the podium. Ava looked side to side, John squinted in apprehension, Bucky looked tired, and Alexei looked a bit excited. Yelena stepped forward and whispered “We own you now” to Valentina.

Only one response came to Peter’s mind, he whispered: “What the fu-”

Chapter Text

A soft chime signals the elevators opening to the penthouse floor of the Avengers Tower New Avengers Watchtower, as Yelena and Bucky lead the group into the bustling mess of construction. Foremen laid out plans for projects throughout the tower, repurposing what was supposed to be Valentina’s tribute to her own arrogance into a command center for the next team of ‘elite heroes’. Bob looked around in childlike wonder, while Ava and John looked rather skeptical. Alexei, meanwhile, looked absolutely giddy.

“Look at this, the Red Guardian taking control of Captain America’s former residence.” He put his hands on his hips. “I always knew the ‘Soviet Super Soldat’ would someday hold the same high esteem.”

“I don’t know about all that.” John raised his hand in a ‘stop’ motion. “They’re mostly calling you a puppet for USSR propaganda. At least when they’re not calling you incompetent.”

Ava shot him a scowl. “Very classy, Walker, but I don’t know if you wanna go down that road Mr. ‘government shill’.” John scoffed and shook his head.

“A bit hurtful, that is.” Alexei looked a bit put out, some of his enthusiasm dimmed.

Bob’s enthusiasm, on the other hand, was still pretty lively. “So the Avengers actually lived here? Wow…”

Bucky was looking as uncomfortable as he felt. “I know a couple did, like Stark and Banner, but I don’t know about the rest.” He did know about Steve’s apartment in Brooklyn, but he wasn’t exactly in any state to say ‘hi’ in those months following the whole collapse of SHIELD.

Yelena hummed, a slightly sour look on her face. “This is weird. It feels like ghosts are all over this building.” Ghost raised an eyebrow at her with a smirk, Yelena rolled her eyes. “Does anybody know where Spider-Man is?”

Walker shrugged. “Booked it as soon as the cameras were off of him, didn’t exactly have time to grab his number. If he doesn’t wanna be a part of this, who cares? Let him stick to street crime if he really wants to.”

“Lots of people care.” Valentina’s voice cuts over them. She walks past the construction, heels clicking along the floor, with a tablet in hand and purpose in her walk. “Focus groups show Spider-Man pulls in the widest target demographic range, and polls show 79% feel more comfortable with this group when he’s with you than without.”

“You’re polling us? Really, after everything we have on you, you think there’s anything you can contribute?” Bucky as sarcastically, having dealt with the headache that was polling when he fought for his seat in Congress.

Valentina smirked, clearly being more prepared to meet them head-on after a week of planning. “It’s not me you’ll have to contend with. The US government is your best friend now, and the US government is beholden to public opinion. I know none of you are as smart as Banner or Stark, but you should be able to do the math. No Spider-Man, means no public support, which means no government support.” She looked at Yelena, a vindictive gleam in her eye. “You wanted a role in the spotlight, so you gotta play ball.”

Valentina moves towards the elevator, Alexei and Ava staring her down as she walks past. “Find Spider-Man, convince the poor sucker that he needs to be on this sorry excuse of a team, or there’s gonna be a shitstorm. And trust me, I can survive it better than you could.” She smirks as the doors close.

Alexei clenches his fist exaggeratedly, “I just want to break one bone, that is all.”

“God I hate her.” Walker’s lips curl into a sneer.

Yelena shrugs her shoulder. “She’s right though. None of us really know how to be heroes. He does, probably better than all of us combined.”

Bob looks hopeful. “So, Spidey’s actually gonna be on the team?” He still didn’t fully remember why, but he felt like he could trust Spider-Man, nearly as much as he trusted Yelena. Probably had something to do with the whole ‘Void’ thing they kept telling him about.

Bucky sighed. “Maybe? No reliable way to contact him, means I’m gonna have to stake out his patrol. And knowing how much he covers, it’ll probably take some effort.”

“We can do it.” Yelena cuts in, moving to look out the window, which had been replaced after Bob threw Alexei out of it. From the little time she had heard him talk in Bob’s ‘shame room’, she got the sense that the web-slinging hero needed people to rely on, needed someone to open up to. And who better for that than the group of people who are just as messed up as he is. “I’ve tracked down former Black Widows by myself, together we can find the most commonly seen vigilante in New York.”

Alexei smiled with pride and puffed up his chest a bit. “Look at my dear Yelena, stepping up to be leader like you were always meant to.” Yelena looked at him weirdly at that.

“Uh, who said she was gonna be the leader? I mean, no offense, but it’s not like you were calling the shots last week.” John cut in, waving his shield around as he talked. It was still slightly more curved than it used to be, but thanks to Spider-Man, he wouldn’t have to live with it being a taco.

Ava snorted derisively. “Right, and you did what exactly? Do you have a better idea?”

He gave her a flat stare in return. “Probably someone with actual experience working in a combat unit.” He gestured to himself and Bucky.

“I would not mind the Winter Soldier being leader.” Alexei hummed thoughtfully.

Bob raised his hand. “My vote’s for Yelena.”

Walker looked at him once before shaking his head dismissively. “When you can safely use your powers again, you can maybe get a vote.”

Bucky looked over at Yelena. “You really wanna keep this going?” He asked rhetorically before stepping forward to cut into the bickering that started between the group. Yelena just looks on, hoping she hasn’t made a massive mistake in doing this.

—

Peter walks out of his biophysics class in a bit of a daze, not really remembering anything from when class started until their professor dismissed them. Peter had been walking through the whole week like that, ever since that bait-and-switch that put him on the forefront of a new superhero team, a team full of people that he saw firsthand how screwed up they all are. He walks past people talking about the New Avengers, plenty talking about the Winter Soldier, the new Black Widow, and John Walker, but most were talking about him, about Spider-Man.

Peter went through his whole revelation to himself about opening up to people and committing to wanting to live for himself more, but most of that completely left his mind at the sheer panic he felt being called an ‘Avenger’ again. So he ran, not exactly the bravest thing, but it was the only option he had without making a big scene in front of journalists and national television.

“Thank god for Spider-Man, don’t know how I’d feel about a bunch of super criminals running the world without Spider-Man to keep them in check.”

“A menace teaming up with terrorists, how fitting.”

“Can we actually trust a masked vigilante to work with government agents? How do we know Spider-Man won’t cause an international incident?”

“I like Spider-Man, he’s a good guy. Don’t know if he’s Avenger material, but he’s probably better than those other people.”

Peter’s hearing, like all of his other powers and senses, had continued to develop throughout the following years. Despite it still not holding a candle to Daredevil’s, he was easily able to hear the conversations around Empire State University’s campus. He noticed Randy Robertson approaching him with his phone out.

“Hey Peter! You saw the news? My dad published an editorial piece, apparently the New Avengers are shacking up in the original tower. Kinda makes them more legit, right?” He showed him the Daily Bugle editorial piece written by Joseph Robertson.

“Depends on what you mean by legit.” Bobby Drake sidled up on Peter’s other side. “I mean, everybody knows these guys are the real deal, but I wouldn’t put them on the OGs level, ya’know?” He looked over at Peter, nudging him with his elbow, as the trio walked through the campus.

Normally, Peter keeps to himself during these conversations, something giving a one or two word answer, but he’s felt a tug in his head to start opening up again. He greeted his neighbor, Mrs. Wingate, a sweet older lady, who was always very kind to Peter, he even helped her with groceries earlier that week. He’s been looking around ESU’s website for clubs he might be interested in. He figured he might as well interact with the two guys on this campus who gave a shit enough to try talking with him.

“They don’t seem too bad. Besides, it's not like all of the original 6 had squeaky clean records, right?” He didn’t notice the other two boys stop and look at him with widened eyes. “Figure we could give them a chance… what?” He turns around and questions their confusion.

“He speaks! Finally! I knew we’d crack that shell of yours eventually!” Bobby lets out a laugh, while Randy flashes a kind smile. “It only took half of New York going through a trauma dump, but we got there!”

Peter gives a small smile. “Only because it took that long to get used to you, Drake.”

Randy laughs. “Good to see you have a sense of humor, gonna need it if you wanna keep hanging around this guy.” He jabs his thumb towards Bobby, who chuckles good-naturedly.

Peter laughed. “So, you guys wanna form a study group? Maybe invite some other people if they wanna join? I’m…trying to open up a bit more.”

Bobby and Randy both smiled kindly. “Sure, but with your grades, it’s not like you’d need it. Probably half the class is gonna try to join just to copy off your homework.” Bobby joked and walked up to Peter, swinging an arm around his shoulders.

Randy joined the two as they walked ahead. “Seriously, how are you only an undergrad? Even the teacher asks you when she doesn’t know something. Are you, like, a post-grad doing a class performance review or something?”

Bobby pointed at Randy. “Right! Wasn’t he reading that genetics paper for fun last week? Who does that?” He teased.

Peter raised a finger. “Moira MacTaggert is a leading geneticist in the field, only people like Hank McCoy ever come close. It’s not weird to study the best of the best.” He didn’t notice how Bobby lightly jumped at each name.

“Regardless, you’re like the smartest dude in the school, no matter what Debra Whitman says. If we say you’re gonna be in a study group, everyone’s gonna be there.” Robbie said.

Peter blushed. “Well in that case, yeah…we can invite some people from the class. Anybody you know that won’t slack off, I guess.” Peter quickly felt himself getting overwhelmed. He didn’t realize how tough it’d be to get himself comfortable with being friendly with people again. “Anyway, yeah, I got something going on, I’ll just, uh…yeah I’ll see you guys later. Let me know the whole study group situation.” He rambled on and waved goodbye. They waved back with slightly amused smiles.

“See you tomorrow, Pete.” Randy waved.

“Good luck with your ‘something’.” Bobby snickered.

And despite how awkward he felt in the moment, he felt strangely accomplished. He put himself out there, and didn't die of embarrassment. He’s hoping all of this is a good sign, but he’ll hold his breath until the other shoe drops. No better way to clear his mind and shake out the tension than some time as the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

—

 

Peter took a breath and leapt from the Chrysler building, pulling his limbs towards his body, and plummeting down towards the city of Manhattan. Just as he passed the normal city skyline, he raised an arm, and fired a web, then letting go once he swung to its fulcrum. He flew through the air at speed that could outpace a chopper, focusing on a blend of his sharp hearing and spider sense to monitor his surroundings, while the police dispatch frequency was playing in his ear. As much as Peter hated it, he couldn’t be everywhere, not enough to take care of every little crime or accident to plague a city as big as New York, so as he swings he has to compartmentalize.

Since he was a kid, Peter’s always been good at multitasking, freakishly so, to the point where even before the spider bite, he could take care of his math homework, study Erskine’s Theories of Genetic Plasticity, and learn how to disassemble and reassemble Ben’s motorcycle engine all at the same time. Once he became Spider-Man, everything changed. So much of his brainpower went into the sheer logistics of his patrolling, calculating angles and contingencies for swinging from different anchor points around the city, receiving police dispatch signals, and deciphering code numbers while determining distance to it from his current location, actively keeping tabs on local vigilantes who would be most likely to deal with any reported incident.

When he gets into a scuffle, he’s constantly monitoring his movement and strength, managing to be able to knock a thug out, without taking their whole jaw off. It was tricky to balance, but luckily his balance has been nearly perfect since the bite.

Peter snorts to himself, realizing that he can’t turn off the corny quips even in his thoughts, as he feels a nudge in his brain a couple blocks east of himself. With the fluidity and grace acrobats could only dream of having, Peter twists his body, altering his trajectory and moving in the direction his spider sense is pointing. He sees a jewelry store and rolls his eyes. Some of the other vigilantes may not be as mobile as he is, but he still thinks it’s downright stupid to think you can get away with a public crime like this in the superhero capital of the world.

Regardless, Peter swings down, landing on the wall right above the entrance. Peeking down, he can see four masked thugs, three men and one woman, smashing open glass cases and filling up bags. They had hostages tied up in the corner of the building, a few wealthy clients and jewelers. The security guard laid on the floor, blood staining his head. Peter could see the slight rise and fall of his chest, so he was thankfully only knocked unconscious.

“We gotta go! Holding off the silent alarm only gave us a couple more minutes!” One of them, a wiry looking man with a slightly warbling voice called out. ‘Perfect’ Peter thought

“Alright, yeah, pack it up guys, let’s go.” This guy was a lot bigger, both in height and muscle mass, and he spoke with the easy confidence of a leader. “No need to worry about the cops though.”

“Took the words right outta my mouth. Love it when a criminal knows what’s up already.” Peter swung through the broken glass door and landed in his classic three-point stance.

Now in full view of the burglars, he could see the differences between each of them more clearly. The first man, thin and wiry, was shaking a bit as he saw the hero, looking between Spider-Man and the other criminals. He wore a padded suit, with pronounced shoulder pauldrons, and a helmet styled like an F1 driver. The second man he saw, the leader, was tall and broad-shouldered, with a red bodysuit and metal chestpiece. His metal helmet had a cowl-shape, with his mouth and chin being covered by the same red fabric as the rest of the suit. The third man looked a bit twitchy, and held a skin complexion that was vaguely yellow, with a forest green, baggy bodysuit. Round goggles rested over his eyes, and a large metal harness was wrapped around his shoulder. The woman had a white bodysuit and a blue overcoat with a bandana pulled up to her nose. She let her red hair flow freely down her shoulder, and a head band with two small rabbit ears.

These weren't the weirdest looking criminals he’s ever laid eyes on, but they were certainly unique. “Oh a costume party! Glad I came prepared. Hope you guys are willing to take this party all the way to Riker’s.”

“I thought you told us not to engage if we spot a hero-type, ‘specially not an Avenger!” The wiry man stuttered.

“I was hoping it’d be Daredevil.” Rabbit-ears huffed and stomped a foot in tantrum.

Twitchy looked ecstatic. “I’m happy with the spider. Yesss.” He licked the corner of his mouth in a repeating tic.

The leader wagged his finger. “I said avoid it if we can. Unless you can think of another way to get around him, it looks like we gotta go through him.” The guy reached into his pocket, Peter thought for a gun, but it didn’t set off his spider sense. Still, better safe than sorry.

Peter shot out a webline to catch the guy’s hand, but the rabbit girl intercepted it with…a razor tipped carrot? Clearly it was shot from the umbrella she had in hand, but Peter could for the life of him remember seeing her carrying it before.

The leader pulled out a small rock and chuckled before crushing it to powder in his hand. Fumes wafted into the air, and the man inhaled it like a drug. At the same time, the twitchy guy pulled a cord, and lightweight, membrane-like wings unfurled from his back. The wiry guy didn’t pull out any extra gear, but kept looking over towards the street.

The leader, the head Looter, laughed and pounded his chest. “Oh yeah! Let’s kill us an Avenger!”

The fly guy shot towards him at unbelievable speeds. Peter jumped in the air to avoid him, but the fly turned mid-air and grabbed his ankle, throwing him into a glass casing with enhanced strength. Peter listened to his spider sense again to roll to the side and avoid the heavy metal umbrella slamming to the floor where his head was, a spiderweb of cracks spreading over the linoleum. “Damn! Like playing a game of whack-a-mole. Just as fun too.” The woman giggled.

“I don’t even really know you guys yet, this isn’t how we’re supposed to do vigilante banter.” He weaved around her next few swings before flipping over her head and kicking her into the cash register. The leader guy charged him like a bull and his spider sense had him leaning almost completely towards the floor, where the guy missed him and punched a crater into the solid concrete wall. “Woah, big shot Looter’s been eating his wheaties!”

“And you’ll be eatin’ through a straw once I’m done with ya’!” The big guy grunted, throwing a few more punches. Some Peter had to block, feeling the full force of the guy’s considerable strength.

“Well, that wouldn’t be eating then, now would it?” Peter rolled under his legs, while webbing his feet and pulling, sending the guy falling face-first.

“Gotta get to my gear!” The wiry man shouted to the rest, looking as helpless as the hostages while the rest fought.

The rabbit woman shot more of her carrots at him, each one planting firmly into the walls as he dodged, while avoiding the fly man’s dive bombs. “I kinda like that name for you, big guy, the Looter! It’s simple, just like you!” He mocked while webbing the flying man and throwing him at the wiry man who tried to run for the exit. “Not so fast there, dude. Haven’t finished naming you all.”

Looter roared and threw two large class casings at him, forcing him to avoid and web up the flying objects as he went by, unfortunately leaving him vulnerable to a heavy kick from the Looter. He felt his rib crack a little, but it wasn’t a full break. Definitely couldn’t let these clowns know, so he leapt and stuck on the wall and kept on quipping. “Let’s keep the theme of simplicity, yeah? How about the Human Fly for the Simpsons character over there, and maybe…White Rabbit for you, red?”

The Human Fly and Looter charged him at the same time. Peter shot a ball of impact webbing into Human Fly’s face and jumped onto his back. He grabbed onto the wings, and forced them to the right to make him fly into the Looter. He then wrapped the two membranous wings around Looter and webbed the pair together while hanging them from the ceiling.

“Like modern art, it brings a tear to my eye.” He wiped at the lens of his mask. “Now wasn’t there-” He ducks his head to the side, dodging the blade of the umbrella stabbing at the back of his skull.

“Miss me already Spidey?” She said in an overly-saccharine voice. “I wanted DD because he’s got a manly sexiness about him, but this spandex is certainly doing you some favors.” She grunts as she flips backwards while throwing small metal rabbits at him, each making his spider sense ring as he jumps into crazy contortions to dodge the miniature bombs.

“Cool it with the rabbits! And the spandex is a uniform, not a thirst trap!” He swung himself further in the air using a webline, then quickly swung around and kicked her in the back, sending her flying forward. She roughly hit another register, causing him to wince. “Ooh, my bad on that. Piece of advice though, you wanna find a man, plenty of dating apps out there.” He webbed both her hands to the floor and rested his hand on his hips.

Sirens rang around the block as Peter jogged over to the hostages and tore the rope apart. “Everybody okay? The police will be in soon, just gonna go and pick up that last guy.” The clients looked at him a bit shell-shocked, having witnessed the destruction around the building, but otherwise looked alright. Peter ran towards the front and leapt through the broken doorway once again. “Now where did you-?” The sound of metal shifting and tire-scraping cut him off, as he turned around to see the goofiest thing he’s probably ever witnessed.

The last criminal, the nervous wiry guy, seemed a whole lot less nervous now that he obtained his ‘gear’. The gear in question being a single, giant wheel the size of a monster truck tire, reinforced with thick metal plating, and armed with large turrets. A smirk rested on the last thug’s face as he pulled some levers in the cockpit. “You’ve gotta be shitting me.” He deadpanned as the motor let out a deafening growl tearing off through the Upper East Side.

—

Yelena had been watching the incident from the start, seeing how Spider-Man dealt with the group of silly, but surprisingly remarkable criminals with incredible ease. Sure, they were not exactly major threats, and there were a few ways Yelena would’ve done things differently, but he handled himself better than most of the rest of the team would’ve. She shook her head when the last criminal ran outside while he dealt with the other three–it was a fair idea, as this man clearly wasn’t a threat, or so she thought. With the press of a remote, the small seat that resembled a motorcycle sidecar began to grow and expand, forming a large circle. Treads were rolled out along the perimeter of the circle and the engine roared to life.

“Bozhe moi…” She muttered as Spider-Man jumped outside, looking as shocked as she did by the sight in front of him. He quickly recovered as the Big Wheel shot down the street, leaping in the air and following at tremendous speeds. Yelena moved quickly as well, using her grappling hook to lower down to the street and hopping on her own motorcycle.

She followed the action as best as she could, watching in awe as Spider-Man easily kept up with the vehicle, her own juiced-up motorcycle (which apparently had top-of-the-line tech according to Valentina) barely keeping up with the two. Even then, she had to take constant shortcuts to even keep them in visible range, but she noticed how well Spider-Man prevented collateral damage and swooped in to save any civilian caught in the warpath. He constantly switched between destroying the turrets that littered the rim of the Big Wheel, and spraying webs to gunk up the motors and mechanisms. She began to catch up as the webbing took a toll on the wheel and slowed it down, and Spider-Man capitalized immediately, the two turning a corner. She heard an explosion and quickly followed, but cursed as she saw a civilian panicking in their car, clearly having been rammed to the side by the Big Wheel.

The trapped woman was bleeding from a hit on her forehead and a fire grew around the engine of the car. The door was warped on the driver side, impairing the ability to open, and the passenger side was jammed against the wall of the building. And of course, it was a two door. She knew she would lose sight of her target, but if she was going to commit to the Avenger bit, she should at least try to fulfill the role.

She brought her bike to a quick stop and got off to run to the trapped bystander. The scared victim saw her, and apparently recognized her as she screamed for Yelena’s help. Yelena shot her grappling hook to attach to the door handle and pulled with all her strength. She was no super soldier, but the Red Room spared no expense in their training and muscle modification for their agents, so with a bit of effort, she tore the door open. Running to the woman, she heard the hiss of gasoline setting ablaze, so with one arm around the woman, she shot her grappling hook towards another building and swung the two away just as her engine combusted. The two landed rather roughly, but Yelena rolled to her feet and checked on the woman, who was thanking her profusely.

A few moments earlier, Peter dodged a rocket shot from the machine and turned his body, keeping up his swing with one arm, while attaching a web to the rocket with the other. At the apex of his swing, he yanked with his other arm and threw the rocket back at the mounted gun it was fired from. The explosion rocked the wheel and launched shrapnel towards the nearby building. Reacting quicking, Peter bent backwards midair and strung up a net in front of the building that caught all the flying debris, but he failed to notice the civilian stuck in the car as he kept pace with the wheel.

“Damn it! No, come on, baby, come on!” He heard the driver shout as he noticed the engine start sputtering. Seeing the opportunity and the lack of any more weapons firing on him, Peter landed on the side of the wheel planted his hands on the side and swung his legs to kick through the protective glass, shouting as he did it, “Worst part is, if you got a license plate, this thing would probably be street legal!”

Peter shot another net of webbing to catch the guy, and threw him out the window at it. Peter jumped back out and kicked near the bottom of the wheel, making the whole rig wobble and eventually flip into the air. Peter quickly grabbed onto it, and felt his arms and back muscles strain trying to hold the massive vehicle in the air, without letting it smash down behind him. A giant wheel made of close to 10 tons of steel and titanium traveling at a little over 44 m/s2 meant about 40000 Newtons of force slamming into him. He definitely felt his muscles tear a bit, but couldn’t afford to let go, so he held on and only dropped it once he felt he brought it to a stop.

“Oof, who knew the getaway driver would give me the most trouble?” Peter was huffing, his arms dropping limply by his side while people cheered around him and police caught up to the chase. Peter began moving to help the police get him down when he heard an explosion a block away. “Oh god…” Despite the burn in his arms, Peter launched himself towards the sound, hoping desperately that nobody was hurt in his carelessness. Frantically, he looked around seeing a smoking, recently exploded car and cursed to himself, hurrying towards the damage.

He let out a breath seeing a lack of a burnt body, but looked around curiously wondering where the owner of the car was. “She’s fine, Spider-Man. With a paramedic.” He jumped slightly (more than slightly) and looked to see Yelena Belova looking at him with a raised eyebrow. “Did you really just jump?”

Peter ignored her question. “I completely missed her. Usually I’m better about that." He clenched his fist, angry at the possibility of what could’ve happened.

Yelena shut down the thought before Peter could voice it. “Getting angry at yourself for something that didn’t happen is very silly. No guilt complex here, yes?” She rapped the side of his head with her knuckle. “You cannot expect to be perfect. I’m certainly not. Come Spider, we’ll talk on the roof.” She fired her grappling line and quickly launched towards the roof of a nearby building, with Peter quickly following her. Yelena was leaning against an HVAC unit as Peter landed on the ledge without a sound.

“You’d be very good as an assassin, you know that?” She nodded her head in approval.

“I’ll take that for the compliment you meant it to be.” He dropped down into a seated position. “I’d say ‘what’s up?’ but I have a good feeling you’re not the pleasantries type.”

“And you’d be correct. I’d start off with my pitch, but I think you’re smart enough to know what I’m going to ask. So instead I’d like to ask why you’d say no.” Yelena countered.

“Hmm, I wonder why I’d say no to being railroaded into working for a corrupt politician-slash-former CIA director on a team of government assets and mercenaries. Being blindsided by a nationally televised press conference didn’t exactly smooth over the deal.” Spider-Man rubbed his chin in faux-contemplation. “Whatever business you people have with that she-devil is your problem, not mine.”

Yelena simply raised an eyebrow. “You are done now? Ok, you were an Avenger before, no?”

Peter’s mask, though mostly static, had remarkable expressiveness. The mask lenses narrowed. “‘Before’ is the key word there. Before Thanos wiped out the compound and before 3 of the founders died.” Peter was impressed Yelena didn’t flinch knowing her sister was one of them. “Since then, my life has been mess after mess with no other ‘Avengers’ having my back.”

“Really? Because I could’ve sworn it was us ‘government assets and mercenaries’ who had your back against the Void.” She tilted her head, mimicking his contemplation. “And today showed that no matter how good you think you are, you could always use some help. If we were at that jewelry store with you, there wouldn’t have been a Big Wheel chase to begin with.”

Peter face-palmed. “Big Wheel! That’s the perfect name to go with that bunch of weirdos! Simple and goofy, just like them.”

“You will not distract me, Spider-Man. We just had a whole dream-world therapy session about opening up. Why are you being so stubborn?” Yelena pushed off the HVAC, approaching him with her arms crossed.

“Bad stuff happened, stuff that showed me why it’s better to work alone and stay closer to the ground.” He shrugged his shoulders, doing the best he could to remain nonchalant. “I’ll be there if there’s another alien invasion or something, but I’d rather be down here in the mud than up in the ivory tower. Or should I say Watchtower. Pretty good name, by the way.”

“We’re not trying to take you prisoner. You can still patrol the streets all you want, all we want is for you to keep us in the loop.” She gave him a piercing look. “You make it seem like everything’s under control, but I can see you’re breaking inside just a little. Bob misses you too, just so you know.”

Peter grumbles and looks to the side. “Don’t use Bob against me, that’s unfair. Besides he has you guys, he doesn’t need lil’ ole Spidey.”

“You’re right, he needs the Amazing Spider-Man. He doesn’t know how to use his powers for the right reasons, and you know better than any of us. When the Sentry comes back, that’s his hero name by the way, he’ll need someone like you to show him the way.” Her piercing look shifts to imploring. “We can’t do this without you.”

He still won’t look at her. “I…I just can’t.” He whispers. “You all… you’ll keep them in line Yelena. I saw it that day, how you were able to inspire them. You had the bravery to step in the Void before any of us. I believe in you guys, and you’ll be better off without me.” He hurriedly leaned backwards and fell from the roof.

“Spider-Man–” She called out, and watched as he quickly swung away. She sighed and pulled out her communicator. “You there Bucky?”

Static crackled through the device before Bucky’s voice filtered through. “Something really bad happened to him, worse than Stark’s death, and I could tell those two were close. Something happened with Strange at the Statue of Liberty back in November, that’s when everything about him, costume and all, completely changed.”

Yelena hummed in thought. “Guess we know our next stop then. I’ll talk to you soon.” She turned off the communicator and looked back at where Spider-Man swung off to. Now, more than ever, she could see that Spider-Man truly fit in with the rest of her little band of misfits. And it looks like he needed them just as much as they needed him.

—

Norton Fester, now humiliatingly known as ‘The Looter’, sat in the back of a prison transport headed to Riker’s Island, the strength gained from the mist of the meteor he collected having long since faded. He discovered the meteor about a month ago, experimented with the gas molecularly bonded to the structure of the rock itself. He had pleaded and begged for grants to continue his research. Rand Corporation, Roxxon, Alchemax, Hammer Industries; none would give him the time of day. They’d tell him to try a bank, the bank tells him to try the science corporations, so Norton decided to cut out the middle man and test out the rock himself.

He didn’t even know about the gas at first. It was incredibly reckless–who knows what kind of pathogen he could’ve released on earth–but when he chipped off a piece of the rock, and the gas hit him in the face, he felt strong for the first time in his life. He could easily lift a truck over his head, run faster than a car, and jump high enough to reach a couple stories above him. His discovery demanded more research, and he’d be damned if one of these crooked companies stole his research for themselves. So once again cutting the middle man, he found connections over the dark web, and joined a small crew looking to rob a jewelry store.

Said crew had advertised themselves as a group with enhanced capabilities, and seemed quite picky on who they chose, and sending them a demonstration of his gained abilities had immediately granted him a spot on the crew. Seeing the sorry state of the three fools he teamed up with had naturally pushed him towards leadership. Some good that did, considering Spider-Man dismantled them while making fools of them. Now he was on his way to a prison while his precious meteor sat rotting in his basement; if he ever saw the damned spider again, he’d break every bone in the fool’s body.

As the thought crossed his mind, the transport he sat in rattled and tipped over. He heard yells and the blast of a shotgun, but eventually, everything was silent. Norton was stuck at an awkward angle now that the containment was flipped on its side, and he was still chained to the bench. He then heard the groan of metal as the door began to bend and was eventually ripped off. A shadow loomed outside, and Norton angled himself to defend himself, but the shadow moved to reveal a slightly smaller figure. Said figure walked forward to where Norton could see him better, but the man’s appearance was no less intimidating. Pale skin, practically grey in complexion, flattop hair that was stark white, both contrasting against the clean, black three-piece suit. His eyes were dark as the night sky, and his predatory smile revealed sharpened teeth.

The man reached forward and Norton thought for sure he’d attack, but the man reached for the chains and snapped them with one hand like they were made of wet paper. Norton tried to scramble away, but was grabbed by his ankle and dragged out of the prison transport. The street was surprisingly empty, but Norton could see cars with armed gunmen up and down the block, presumably to make sure they were unbothered. Surrounding the man was an assortment of five other freakish-looking people.

The first one he noticed was the giant in a grey suit of armor, topped with a horn, the only human aspect was the man’s visible face, which was curled into a snarl. The door of the transport was on the ground next to him, so he assumed it was him who caused this whole situation. He easily identified this guy as the Rhino, the monstrosity who wreaked havoc across Midtown back in December.

Next to him was a tall blonde man, with a glowing blue harness on top of otherwise casual clothing. Nothing about the guy indicated anything especially dangerous, but water dripped from his fingertips.

On the other side of the Rhino was a man in a flying mech suit, wings rapidly flapping. At first he thought it was Deacon, or as Spider-Man dubbed him the ‘Human Fly’, but this suit was much more advanced, and the rapidly-flapping wings seemed to be much thinner.

Crouched next to the grey man was a horrid-looking creature; large ears and fangs, excessive drool puddling on the ground, a long, thin, fleshy tail, and fur covering its entire body. It had the shape of a man, but it was clearly much more of an animal. The tail reminded Norton of a giant rat, and the creature snarled when it noticed him staring.

A shadow grew over Norton, and he turned around to see a bulk of green armor perched on the overturned truck. Only the man’s jaw was revealed, as it watched him with its glowing orange lenses and an eerie smile, large metal claws digging into the truck and warping the metal. A tail sprung from this figure too, made of the same metal as the rest of the suit, and tipped with a long blade and a glowing lens at the tip. A man, the prison guard, was wrapped in the tail, his eyes glassy, seeing nothing more evidenced by the bleeding hole in his body.

“Mr. Fester,” The grey man drew his attention. “I’d like you to meet some associates of mine, just a few people who I’ve decided to imbue with a wild assortment of abilities. Call it an investment into my future. You seem to have a little investment of your own down in that basement of yours.”

Norton’s eyes widened. “How do you-”

“I just broke you out of confinement Mr. Fester.” He interrupted. “I got the spider and Luke Cage distracted with a small gang war up in Harlem, but it won’t be long till they hear about this. Do you really wanna waste time on silly questions?”

“Who are you?” Norton asks, standing up on shaky legs.

“Ah, now that’s some info you’re never gonna get. From now on, you can just call me Tombstone. As for what I want…if you help me kill the spider, I’ll fund every little project you want with that little rock of yours.” He held his hand out with a shark-like grin.

Norton glared at the name. “You had me at killing Spider-Man.” He shook Tombstone’s hand eagerly.

“Looks like we got our last man. Come on gentlemen, we got a bug to squash.” A helicopter lowered down, and the five other men eagerly hopped on, with the scorpion man carelessly tossing the prison guard to the ground. Tombstone and Norton were the last to get on, quickly fleeing the scene as sirens became audible in the far distance.

Chapter Text

“I’m already getting the creeps. Feels like we’re walking into enemy territory.” John commented as he stood on the steps of the Sanctum Sanctorum, home to the Master of the Mystic Arts. Accompanying him were Yelena, Bucky, and Ava. The group had collectively decided that Alexei and Bob would be a little too…excitable to interact with such an abstract character as the man they were meeting with. All four of them were dressed down in more casual clothing, hoping to avoid attention as much as they could. “Isn’t this guy like the top dog of the big three?” He asked, looking at Bucky.

Bucky looked back at John. “What’s the matter John, nervous?” He teased with a straight face.

He looked scandalized. “What? No, c’mon, this place is just giving me a weird vibe, like I can feel the energy being off. And not in a hippy way either.”

Ava rubbed her arm. “I hate to agree with Walker, but he’s right about that feeling at least. It’s making my quantum energy feel particularly reactive.”

Yelena brushed past the other three. “Well we have business here so we’ll tell Dr. Weird to turn the bad vibes off, ok?” She lifted her fist to knock at the door, but all four felt strange, like their insides were inverted, then righted again. Yelena saw white in her vision, and when it cleared, all four stood disoriented in the foyer of the mystical manor.

“What was it they called you again? The New Avengers?” A new voice called out from above them, and Dr. Strange, in his blue robes and yellow gloves floated down with the red Cloak of Levitation flared around him. He made a few hand gestures and the artifact hanging around his neck shifted, a slight golden glow peering from within the iris of the object. “The Eye of Agamotto tells me you’re not here on behalf of your government sponsors, so may I inquire what brings your troupe to my home?” His voice was authoritative, but casual, with a hint of condescension, a very unique blend to pull off.

“We just need to ask you a few questions, Mr. Strange.” Bucky stepped forward and lifted his hand to shake.

“Doctor. I did obtain my degree before I ever started practicing magic.” He did oblige Bucky with a handshake in return.

“His name’s actually ‘Strange’?” John whispered incredulously.

Ava kept her arms crossed. “Ya’know, the way he talks reminds me of you a bit.”

John squinted and looked at her. “Well that seems like a questionable comparison.”

Yelena jumped in, “You’re right Walker, he’s a bit more charming.” Her and Ava shared a laugh at his expense before she turned back to the sorcerer. “No games here wizard doctor, we are here for one of our teammates.”

He turned to her, his cape flicking around slightly, displaying the patch of blue in the middle of the sea of red of the Cloak. Stephen was a bit taken aback by her abrasiveness. It actually reminded him a little bit of Stark’s attitude in their first meeting. “Now, are we talking about the Russian has-been or the junkie reality-warper?” Never let it be said that Stephen Strange was above a good verbal joust. “Your friend’s little incident blew over the Sanctum too. Luckily our wards were made to survive the destruction of the planet.”

Walker took an aggressive step forward. “Hey, watch your mouth.” He growled, oddly protective of Bob, despite mocking him just earlier that morning.

Yelena’s right eye twitched, her thumb seemed to inch towards the trigger for her Widow Bites, and Bucky decided to intervene before Strange gave them all a blood curse or something. “Let’s calm down.“ He lifted his arms between the two and looked imploringly at Yelena. He then turned back to Strange. “We’re here about Spider-Man.”

Strange’s expression immediately and noticeably shifted, for once letting the mask of control and composure slip. “Yeah, I…had forgotten he was announced with the rest of you. With what little I know of him, I’m surprised he would be so quick to join.” He looked away, with a slight expression of remorse.

“That’s the problem, doctor. He kind of isn’t.” Bucky turned to face him fully. “And we know it has something to do with you.” Strange’s eyes snapped back up to Bucky.

“I never told him whether or not he should join you. We were never close like that.” Stephen’s look was now more guarded.

Yelena stepped alongside Bucky. “Right, how exactly do you know him again?”

Stephen sighed and walked away, waving his hand to summon a mug. “He traveled with Stark and I to the planet Titan during our first confrontation with Thanos. We fought together with the Guardians of the Galaxy, then again during the Battle of Earth. I’m sure you remember that whole mess, Sergeant Barnes.”

Bucky seemed to be in deep thought. “I… remember seeing him exit that portal with you. Honestly don’t remember much else until Stark… Well, I remember Spider-Man having a bad reaction.”

“He went to space?” John questioned with a disgruntled look on his face. “You think that’d be the kind of thing that comes up during a Void nightmare sequence.”

“Spider-Man is remarkably adaptive. He understood a concept as impossible as the mirror dimension in minutes. You wouldn’t believe he’s as young as he is.” Stephen answered John’s rhetorical question.

“But what happened last November? The whole Liberty Island situation.” Bucky refocused the conversation.

Stephen’s face grew pained. “There was… an error. On both our parts. It led to a major threat to the universe, and Spider-Man gave up everything to correct it.”

“Enough with the flowery words Strange. What happened?” Yelena grit her teeth and spoke with a hard tone.

Strange looked like he tasted a lemon the way his face tightened. “I don’t even know if you’d understand, but the multiverse was collapsing. Holes were tearing in the space-time fabric. And it was because of a spell meant to erase the world’s memory of his identity. In order to seal the tears, we had to create a new spell, one that erased his very existence from all memory in the universe.”

Ava’s eyes widened. “But, we all still know Spider-Man. Would that mean…?” She asked slightly worriedly, knowing the answer, but hoping she was wrong.

Strange sighed. “Yes, his civilian identity was completely deleted. Anybody who knew and loved him… simply wouldn’t anymore.”

Bucky stared, trying to process the sorcerer’s words. If what he was saying was true, Spider-Man gave up more than any of them would ever know. Literally. Bucky was horrified at the thought of his mind, his existence being subsumed by the Winter Soldier persona, but to have your history and your life erased and not being able to do a thing about it… Bucky couldn’t think of a worse fate than to be a living ghost in a world that doesn’t even remember your life.

“Jesus.” Ava whispered, hand going over her mouth.

“Never could have imagined.” Walker muttered looking down at his boots.

“I don’t believe you.” Yelena snarled. “Unless Spider-Man knows magic, and I’m sure he doesn’t, there’s no way he could’ve known the consequences. And he wouldn't be dumb enough to risk it if he did.”

“I warned him!” Strange snapped. “I told you, you wouldn’t understand! People made it through the cracks, and I had everything prepared to seal them right away! Spider-Man learned of these horrible, murderous people’s fates, but his conscience wouldn’t let him live with that!” Strange stood up and walked towards a box sitting on a stand, a box which looked like it had been split into pieces and sealed back together again. Strange put his hand on it and grimaced.

Steven repaired the Runes of Kauf-Kaul once Spider-Man had filled him in on the details. He kept it displayed as a reminder to himself, a reminder of his mistakes and a vow not to make them ever again. “He defied me to help them, to cure them. And it worked. He never told me what it cost him, but he saved all five of them. And if I had trusted him from the beginning…”

Everyone sat on that thought for a few moments, taking in the idea that Spider-Man risked and sacrificed everything to help people that didn’t deserve it, people like them in a way. For Yelena, it only reaffirmed her initial assessment of the hero and her determination to bring Spider-Man into the fold.

“He’s really been alone all this time…” Ava mumbled, looking thoughtful. She had already felt like Spider-Man was a bit of a kindred spirit, and she was impressed by his sense of duty during the whole Void situation, but to hear how he gave everything up shed a new light on the vigilante.

Yelena stared at Dr. Strange coldly. “So it’s your fault that he forces himself to be alone. A true hero, more than any of us in this room, forced to live the rest of his life disconnected from everyone else. No, I will not accept it.”

Bucky clenched his metal fist, mechanisms whirring. “We’re gonna bring him in, he’s not gonna live like this any more.” He relaxed the fist and let out a breath. “We’re gonna make sure he knows he has a place with us.”

John sneered at the sorcerer, who was still looking at the metal box in shame. “The guy deserves better. Can’t believe a guy like you was an Avenger.” He walks towards the door and Bucky follows. Ava remains staring at the doctor, a look of anger marring her features.

Yelena walks over and places a hand on her arm. “We have better things to do Ava. We have a teammate to find.” She walks towards the door.

Before walking away, Ava muttered. “If we weren’t doing this for him, I’d kill you where you stand. You’re lucky he’s better than me or you.”

Stephen was about to scoff, but looked away shamefully. He didn’t remember what his relationship with Spider-Man had been, he couldn’t, but he could feel the weight of his actions, the sadness at knowing that such a bright light was dimmed ever so slightly because of him. It’s something he’ll work the rest of his life to atone for, anything to make it up to the boy–no, man–who saved the universe.

—

The cracks of gunshots echoed around the docks in the Upper West Side district of Manhattan, mixed in with yells and grunts. A large black van swerved to a stop as multiple men and women in various suits and formal wear jumped out with an assortment of different guns. On the other side of the docks, several masked goons wearing various clothing ran out of a nearby warehouse with their own assortment of weapons; the one unifying trait was the rose emblem embroidered into their clothing. These two groups ran towards the gunfire to face each other in war, but said war seemed to be put on hold to face a common threat. Said threat weaved through automatic fire like he was performing in a circus act and knocked out or otherwise incapacitated every gang member in the fray while cracking humiliating jokes.

“What a cute little rose! All you vicious gang members are so adorable with your matching flowers.” He jumped between three different members of ‘The Thorns’, the gang under the employment of a crime boss named the Rose, and knocked them out in quick succession.

“Jesus…he’s way faster than the Devil!” One of the finely dressed Maggia yelled out, firing out a burst from his Uzi.

Spider-Man plugged the weapon with his webbing before too many bullets could fire. “Oh trust me, you’re lucky he’s not-” A billy club suddenly crashed into the Mafioso Spider-Man was speaking with. “-Oops, spoke too soon!” The club flew back into the hands of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, dressed in an all-black reinforced suit, with a red ‘DD’ carved into the armor’s chestplate.

“Spider-Man.” Daredevil nodded to the web-slinging hero as he threw a side kick into another Thorn’s face.

“Horn Head. I’d say ‘speak of the devil’, but that’s low-hanging fruit even for me.” Spider-Man nodded back as he backflipped over a Maggia swinging at him with a metal pipe, landing on the man’s shoulders and throwing himself backwards to fling the guy into another group of mobsters. “Thorns and Maggia. This is the third time these two in particular were acting up this week.”

The duo tore through the rest of the enemy gangsters with astonishing efficiency. As two of the most experienced and accomplished ‘street tier’ heroes, they had a synergy without equal when it came to a fight. Soon enough, squad cars and SWAT vans along with specially marked vehicles for the Anti Vigilante Task Force. A few outlier gangsters ran off at the sirens and lights, but most were wrapped up for another major arrest that was sure to fill the recently-expanded Riker’s Island.

Peter scoffs, “They have this kind of response time, yet we’re the ones they wanna arrest?”

Daredevil inclines his head towards Peter. “I’ll meet you three blocks down. We really need to talk.” The grappling hook modified into the billy club launched Daredevil into the air, and with acrobatic grace, Hell’s Kitchen’s vigilante disappeared into the city. Spider-Man quickly follows him with a jump and a fired webline.

As he’s leaving, Peter flicks out a card, a funny little joke he’s been using to get under the skin of whatever cops turn up with the task force, ‘Courtesy of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’ it read, with a little picture of his mask. It lands right on the webbing wrapping up one of the Thorns just as a member of said task force approaches.

Sergeant Vin Gonzalez sees the card attached to the webbing just as he walks up. He growled behind the face mask of his Anti Vigilante Task Force-designated riot gear and yanks of the card while looking up for signs of the wallcrawler. “Damn Spider-Man, no respect for the cops or the system. Jameson was right about you!” He yells out, thinking Spider-Man could still be nearby.

“You gonna give us a hand here, Gonzalez, or keep flirting with your secret admirer?” The sarcastic voice of Captain Yuri Watanabe called out. She was in much more casual clothing, with her NYPD captain badge proudly hanging from her neck. Unlike the rest of the task force, Yuri quite respected Spider-Man’s efforts.

“Fuck off, Watanabe. You’re not my captain anymore, remember?” Vin snarled back at the unperturbed Yuri.

“No, the Kingpin of Crime is, if I remember correctly.” She shot back. Vin moved towards her, but was held back by Cole North. The man was still alive after the fight in Matt Murdock’s apartment, but the significant burns across his face showed he didn’t quite come out unscathed. He was still decked out in his riot gear spray painted with the Punisher logo.

“Leave it Vin, we’ll get our moment.” The two nodded to each other and turned away to deal with the Thorns and Maggia, while Yuri scoffed. All the talk about the thin blue line, but all these thugs would rather work for the biggest crime lord of them all than stand with their own. Maybe that’s why she was ok with a guy like Spider-Man–he may not be one of them, but he definitely stood up for the same values the NYPD should have. Her dad would’ve liked him at least.

Yuri sighed and controlled the craving for a cigarette, walking towards the rest of the cops to help with the arrests.

—

Matt touched down with barely a sound, knees slightly aching at the landing. It had been a long week so far, and Matt had been more tired than he’d ever been before. It’s been a war on two fronts, fighting against Fisk and his grip on the city, while trying to manage the underlying power struggle in Fisk’s absence. He’s been keeping tabs on people of interest: the big players they need to work to take down, and the allies they’d need to fix this crooked new system. Luke Cage and Danny Rand were easy sells; Luke was already involved, given his status with Harlem’s Paradise, and Danny is too good of a person to not be involved. As soon as Danny was on board, Colleen Wing was quick to follow; similarly, Misty Knight was quick to step up alongside Luke. Jessica Jones was his toughest sell, but a few words about Fisk illegally locking up vigilantes quickly convinced her, as it reminded her too much of Killgrave.

Tonight is gonna be his toughest sell. Spider-Man’s been dealing with more of this on his own than any of them have individually with how fast and mobile he is. Not to mention what he represents: a universe-saving, space-travelling superhero who still fights for the people. You get a guy like Spider-Man on your side, you’ve won the people over, and that’s the only way they can win against Fisk.

“Heh, could have sworn I lost you back on 59th Street.” Matt chuckled hearing Spider-Man’s heartbeat on the other side of the rooftop.

Spider-Man flipped and landed near where Matt was crouched. “You almost did, had to slingshot off a bus just to keep up.” He held up his fist, which Matt met with a fist bump. “This has to do with all the new gang violence popping up, right? It’s not just me that’s noticed it?”

Matt grimaced. “This is the fourth skirmish I’ve taken down in the past two days.”

Peter clicked his teeth. “Seven for me. Noticed a pattern with it yet?” He hadn’t exactly been keeping to close with the gang politics, just enough to not be caught unaware.

“Maggia’s been especially loud, and the four heads are actually under the same banner. The Rose has been recruiting outside of the city. The Five Weapons Society has gotten really aggressive across Chinatown and has their own separate problems with the Hand. A few newer players are making waves, a racketeer calling himself ‘the Big Man’ and some new money going by Tombstone. From what I’ve heard, the latter has been picking up a lot of enhanced.” Daredevil leans back and begins to list off the biggest marks.

Peter’s nodding along, recognizing most of the names. He was most surprised to hear about the Maggia; Hammerhead, Silvermane, Count Nefaria, and Madam Masque–the four heads and main families of the Maggia–were notoriously too territorial and bitter to regularly work together. All four actually coming together must mean something big.

The Rose and the Big Man were a couple of crime bosses he felt more comfortable dealing with, both being very typical gangsters with quite low aspirations. The Five Weapons, on the other hand, seemed to constantly be reaching far beyond their status, meddling in magic and spirituality to try forcing their control over New York and they must be meddling in something powerful if the Hand decided to come out of the shadows again. “I’ve been looking into Tombstone. He attacked a convoy with a prisoner I helped lock up while I was busy helping Luke with some smaller players, the Slug and the Owl I think. What’s with all the animal names lately? I feel like a bunch of ‘em popped up outta nowhere. Anyway, it means that Tombstone’s watching me, probably some of the others, so I’d keep an eye out.”

Matt tilted his head. “Good to know. But these are all just symptoms of a larger problem, you know that, right?”

Peter sighed. “Yeah, I know all about Big Willie. I’m trying to do what I can to trip up that task force of his, but coming at him directly is almost impossible right now.”

Matt saw his green light. “Maybe not. I’ve brought a few people together, people who are willing to go the distance fighting Fisk. We have an actual shot working together.”

“Luke gave me the same pitch. Different wording, but the same idea. You know I’ll always be there when you guys need me, but I don’t like the sound of a team.” Peter looked away, taking in the humble sights of Hell’s Kitchen. He means what he said; he’ll always be there if any of them call. It’s not the first pitch he’s heard–other vigilantes like Luke and Colleen have given him the same offer–and even Captain America has approached him about his new global initiative. Contrary to popular belief, he’s not neurotic enough to refuse working with others for a common goal, and he’s not dumb enough to think he can do it all alone, but the idea of making it official ties his stomach in knots. It’s why he told Cap to keep him as a reserve, and why he pretty much ghosted the ‘New Avengers’ since the press conference.

“I’ll pool any info I pick up, and if you guys make any moves against Fisk, I’ll be there.” And it’s why he’s keeping Daredevil and the other vigilantes at arm’s length.

Daredevil sighs, almost disappointedly. Matt knows pushing any further would only cause Spider-Man to retreat even further, and he heard the almost-imperceptible change in his heart rate when he brought up the team he was building. “Always good working with you Spider-Man.” He lifts his hand for a shake, hoping he would chip away at those walls of his over time. “I’ll let you know what the plans are.” Daredevil nods and jumps off the roof with a flip, firing his grappling wire with a flourish, and swinging out into the night.

Peter rolled his shoulders and leapt into the opposite direction, continuing his patrol over Manhattan, and moving towards Brooklyn before getting in lunch. He kept listening to his spider sense and stopped any crime along the way, knowing how much worse things got around New York while organized crime was in disarray. While patrolling, his mind kept drifting back to his talk with Daredevil, specifically about the sheer amount of build up to what was looking like an all-out gang war. He’d read about the blip disrupting normal operations within New York, and gangs like the Five Weapons Society and the Thorns had finally been given space to grow, while formerly-defunct organizations like the Hand had been given time to regain strength. Wilson Fisk, despite having a whole new grip on the city, had left a wide open power vacuum that his wife, for all her conniving, just couldn’t completely fill, especially with the boom in vigilantes and enhanced after the Battle of Earth in 2023.

Tombstone has been a special new problem, dealing almost entirely in biological and technological enhancements, trafficking scientists and technology over guns and drugs. More than a couple of Spider-Man’s toughest fights over the last couple years have led back to Tombstone, but the crime lord was dug in way too deep in New York’s seedier depths that there was practically no trail to follow. He does know that the recent prison transport breakout had something to do with him, but he had no clue what.

He came to a decision as he breezed through the city, casually webbing up an attempted burglary and sending the location to the police. He would do what he could to find a lead on Tombstone, try to cut off what could be a more severe threat than any skirmish between gangsters. Perhaps getting more info from ol’ Tomby’s operation would shed some light on the larger plans Fisk had for the city; if Peter was a betting man, he’d put money that the guy stockpiling enhanced would either be in conflict with or working alongside the man trying to control vigilantism on the streets. Messaging a contact he has on the streets seems to be the best place to start, and knowing the guy for a few years, he had a good idea of where to start looking for him

He found just the place: The Bar With No Name. The infamous criminal bar. The place where you can hide out from any major heat, recruit goons to your heart’s content, or plan your own ‘ingenious robbery strategies’ while enjoying a few pints with your buddies. It’s also a place that will outright try to kill you if you even think of wearing a wire. Superheroes and their informants are especially off-limits to a place like this, so Spider-Man was risking a lot by stalking this joint in particular.

He saw plenty move in and out of the bar while Peter had his stake-out, observing quite a few criminals he knew should be behind bars right now, but got off scott free due to either internal NYPD corruption or individual favor with a particular crime boss. Peter held back the urge to web them to the ground knowing it would just make everything he’s doing here more difficult, so he resigned himself to keeping tabs on them for the foreseeable future.

He finally caught the guy he was looking for close to sunset. The man was doing everything he could to look inconspicuous, and to be fair, he looked extremely lowkey, but Spider-Man knew better with this guy, he had known him for years. Leaping down he approached the man overhead as he walked through a nearby alley.

“Well, well, look who I found prowlin’ around?” He called out, making the man flinch and look up with what seemed to be reluctance. “How ya’ doin’ Aaron?”

Aaron Davis, very much a small-time crook and con man, looked up at Spider-Man with a tired look on his face. Since he met the guy looking for info on the Vulture, he was more like a cockroach to Aaron than a spider, constantly hounding him for tips and information. Somehow, unknown to Aaron himself, he had become Spider-Man’s unofficial informant, an association that’s made him increasingly undesirable to many of the ‘employers’ he had worked with in the past. It’s made even worse by the fact that his nephew is a die-hard Spider-Man fanboy.

“Look Spidey, I told you that tip on Morrie Bench might not be legit. I only met the guy like twice, how the hell was I supposed to know he turned into a water man?” Aaron did what he does best, and covered his ass.

“Hydro Man, actually, but I don’t really care about that specifically. Well, he’s certainly involved if what I’m thinking’s correct, but I thought I’d make sure with you.” Peter crawled down the wall, keeping his eyes on Aaron all the while, which really freaked him the hell out.

“You wouldn’t happen to know anything about a… what was it? Gravestone?” Aaron’s eyes widened in pure horror, and Peter knew he struck gold. “Oh, that’s right. Tombstone!” He snapped his fingers in faux-realization.

“Nah man…you don’t know what he’d do to me, to my family. I respect what you do, Spidey, but not that much.” He shook his head and took a few steps backwards. “You’re on your own there.”

“Aaron, hey!” He jumped and landed behind the guy just as he turned around. “I don’t need his life story. Just a location where I can get some more info. Nothing that would lead back to you.” He holds his hands out in a calming gesture. “Trust me on this, we’re not being watched. You know I wouldn’t put you or Jeff or Miles in danger.” He was being completely truthful. His spider sense had been honed a lot since his early days, going from a simple detection of physical danger, to an awareness of his surroundings to an almost supernatural degree when focused. He was able to feel when people had eyes or cameras on him, like small ants crawling around his brain, and when his identity was at risk of exposure, it grew to a ring.

Aaron stared at him for a few moments, both staring at each other with tension. Aaron’s eyes seemed to be pleading for Peter to let it go, but Aaron would have to get over it, because this is something Peter won’t let go. Aaron seems to realize that, as his shoulders slump down in defeat.

“A bunch of scientists are constantly being moved in and out of the East Village, the type of guys that stand out with the muscle Tombstone hires. Kips Bay near the Flatiron building, a meat-packing factory about a block east. Don’t know much more than that.” He points at Peter. “And nothing better happen to my people, or I’ll kill you myself.” He said with a dark glare. Aaron was usually a pretty laid-back kind of guy, but he has his moments where he shows a darker side.

“Relax, Davis. I got it under control.” Peter walks around him and is about to jump away. “Thanks.” Peter looks over his shoulder to see Aaron already booking it away from the alley and sighs. “Whatever.” He jumps into the air and moves towards this new lead of his.

—

“Need a smoke, be right back.” Tommy said with a gruff voice, stepping around the corner from their post. Joe nodded back at him, adjusting the harness of his holster and looking back at the perimeter of the fence. Joe couldn’t say he was a fan of this type of work, but it was simple, and it paid pretty well. Working for Tombstone was definitely better than what his cousin was doing with the Maggia; last he heard that freak Hammerhead killed his own men if they pissed him off enough. Yeah, better to be bored than walking on eggshells around a freak with a fivehead.

Plus he gets to look at weird new tech every week, makes working in a place that always smells like tri-tip a little bit better. Working for Tombstone was good-

Joes is suddenly yanked into the air and wrapped up in a rope that feels sticky. Just as he was about to cry out, his mouth is covered with a thwip noise, and he’s left hanging on the wall of the factory, watching helplessly as a familiar red-and-blue vigilante crawls along the wall where Tommy disappeared. He couldn’t even warn him before the sound of more thwips signalled Tommy falling into the same predicament. I guess the one constant no matter who he worked for is dealing with pain-in-the-ass wall-crawlers tying you up in his white gunk.

At least in the Maggia you get to wear a nice suit while you get arrested. Maybe he should’ve joined up with his cousin after all.

Spider-Man, meanwhile, finished disabling the perimeter guards before slipping in a window to the meat-packing factory. Everything about it screamed abandoned, which usually meant it was the bad guy’s headquarters. Swinging around the rafters, he listened around to try and get some semblance of a lead, a guy like Tombstone wouldn’t have a bunch of guys guarding an empty factory, right?

Peter just grew more and more suspicious as the dark building showed no signs of life, barring a single light turned on near the manager’s office, which sat on the second level of the factory. Figuring that must be something notable, and about 50% sure there was something fishy about this place, Peter swung over to the office. Deciding against walking through the door, Peter pulled open the window on the side of the office, a window that nobody but him would be able to reach given it was a window high out of reach. He climbed in and immediately felt something was off, immediately noticing the large monitor on the wall that looked out of place is such a run down factory. He heard a very low ringing, something he normally would’ve associated with his spider sense, but the ringing sounded like it was external. Looking around, he saw a small device on the wall by the window, and after a few seconds studying it, realized it was an infrared laser tripwire. Easily disrupted, but beyond the visible spectrum, Peter cursed at his carelessness. The monitor flickered on with a click, and a shadowy figure was silhouetted on the screen.

“‘The Spectacular Spider-Man’, how good to finally meet you!” The figure said mockingly.

Peter looked around for a camera. “You must be Tombstone. Don’t wanna show your face?”

Tombstone’s chuckle was a gravelly rumble. “Don’t think we know each other enough to meet face-to-face yet. Or I should say, you don’t know me enough. I know plenty about you.”

He found what he suspected was the camera. “Hmm, I bet it’s because you look like the walking dead. That’s how you got the name Tombstone, wasn’t it?”

The figure didn’t move, but he heard knuckles crack. “I guess they were right about your mouth. I was gonna go into a whole spiel about what I’m gonna do to ya’, but I ain’t gonna show the courtesy to a youngster with a bad attitude.” Peter’s spider sense rang loud enough to make him flinch. He instinctually looks out the office window to see the factory floor split in half. Slowly, the floor opens up as he hears the sounds of metal slamming into concrete.

“Spider, meet the Slayers. For your sake, I hope you die here. It’ll be a lot cleaner than what I’m planning to do with you.” Peter turned around to see the screen flicker off, and looked out the window in time to see a giant metal spider leg reach out from the pit in the middle of the factory, with a head following. The head alone was as large as a midsize SUV, and three more heads seemed to join it peeking out of the pit. They seemed to lock onto his position and shifting metal around the spider's ‘eyes’ allowed turrets to open up.

Peter heard the ignition of rockets and quickly kicked the nearby metal desk into the air. “Shit!” He yelled just as several missiles slammed into the office and blew Peter right out of the building in a shower of flames. He crashed into the street outside and groaned as he picked himself up off the ground, several parts of his costume were torn up or singed, but the lenses were luckily still intact.

The Spider Slayers crawled along to follow him, demolishing the concrete walls of the factory as if they were made of wet paper, all of their optic lenses were still completely focused on him. The Slayer that fired the missiles had smoke billowing from its turret. This one was completely silver, with eight large hydraulic legs leading up to a massive rounded body. The metal of the arachnid chassis was constantly shifting as metal plates covered internal circuitry like an actual exoskeleton. On its left was a slightly smaller, red model that stood on six similar hydraulic legs, while another two were raised in the air, capped with pincers, one being bladed and serrated, while the other was more suited for gripping. On the furthest right was the bulkiest of the three, with a body that closer resembled a crab, with a large, box-shaped body and a smaller undercarriage. This one stood on four legs, while a hind pair curled into the air over its body, emitting a light from the tips, while the fore pair were tipped with hard-light energy blades.

Peter stared at the three and hesitated, looking around at the webbed up Tombstone thugs he had incapacitated earlier. They all looked at the three robots in horror and were manically struggling to free themselves from the webbing. This district seemed to be surrounded by other warehouses and parking structures, so he was grateful for the minimization of potential casualties, but his primary focus was on making sure those trapped men were safe. The robots seemed to be focused on him, so he had to keep in mind to not let any of them get caught in the crossfire.

Running to try and free them would put them more in the action than they needed to be, so as much as Peter hated the idea, they had a better chance staying safe where they were. “The Slayers? I totally call that for my punk rock band name.” He joked to himself.

The bulky Crab Slayer whirred with energy as the lights on its rear legs lit up much more brightly. With a tugging from his spider sense, Peter leaped into the air to avoid the beams of pure plasma that scorched a hole into the pavement where he was previously crouched. He fired a webline to pull him to the side and contorted his body to avoid the continued blasts.

“How’d a street thug get his hands on freakin’ plasma?!” At the same time the Spider Slayer unloaded a hail of bullets from another turret, forcing him to weave through the automatic fire. The dual assault made him overextend, which caused a bolt of plasma to clip his side, knocking him off course with a yell of pain.

This was followed up by the Small Slayer batting him to the ground with its blunt pincer, and it tried to follow up with a downwards stab. Peter fired a web from his prone position and pulled himself sliding along the ground until he was under the Small Slayer’s body. “Three on one and I’m still soloing!” He pushed himself off the ground and stuck to the undercarriage to give himself a moment to breathe, but the Small Slayer jumped into the air and completely rotated its body. The world spun around as Peter suddenly found himself on top, while the hydraulic legs reversed to reorient itself. “Haha I didn’t know you could do that. Awkward…”

Peter leapt out of the way from a hail of bullets, and kicked the approaching Crab Slayer right in its head, sending it flying a few meters away. The ignition of rockets once again alerted Peter, as he put some distance between himself and the Spider Slayer with a back handspring. He jumped in midair and attached a web to the missile, flipping around to throw it right back where it blasted the missile launcher to pieces. The Small Slayer reappeared and jabbed both pincers at the same time, forcing Peter to dodge the serrated claw, but was still grabbed by the crushing force of the blunt claw. He felt his ribs start to crack, and a couple fully break, but Peter placed both of his hands in the available space and pushed against the hydraulic press of the pincer, the metal groaning in protest. “Clingier than my ex.” He managed just in time as the Crab Slayer approached, slicing a plasma blade at his trapped form. Peter kept a hand on the blunt claw and pulled as he flipped away, making the blade slice through the blunt pincer like butter.

Peter wasn’t able to fully avoid it, the blade being just long enough to cut into his stomach, followed up by two plasma bolts to the chest.

“GAHH!” Peter yelled as he was blasted to the ground. He looked up, one of his lenses finally shattered, and one brown eye opened wide as the three giant robots approached, unperturbed by any damage. The Spider Slayer’s remaining turret began to spin, the Crab Slayer’s lasers began to charge up, and the damaged arm from the Small Slayer produced a flamethrower in place of the blunt claw. Thoughts ran through Peter’s mind on a strategy, a solution, some way to survive, but it was coming up blank. All three fired and Peter faced what he thought was his last moment.

…

…

Plasma bolts dissipated on a blue ethereal wall, flames travelled into an open portal, and an arrow pierced the spinning turret and exploded into a thick green putty, which emitted some kind of acid that immediately ate away at the metal.

“Let’s get ‘em, Champions!” A young voice called out, startling Peter to turn around, there he saw an eclectic group of teenagers and young adults jumping into battle. They were led by a girl wearing a blue and red suit with a silver lightning bolt travelling over the front, who seemed to be the one to call out, and next to her was an older boy in a blue tunic and a red cloak around his neck, with a blue diadem surrounding his head. His hands were raised and formed a motion he had seen from some sorcerers, and he seemed to be the one who produced the blue shield.

On her other side was a girl in casual clothing with a denim jacket stylized with the American flag. Her glowing white eyes faded to normal just as the opening portal vanished. Running past her was a girl in a purple version of a suit he had seen Ant Man and the Wasp wearing. As she ran she pressed a button and grew to a fairly large size, kicking at the Crab Slayer, sending it flying into the factory.

“Hey! There are people still there!” Peter yelled and jumped towards said people, figuring the Slayers would be distracted by the odd newcomers.

“I’ll help him, focus on these things!” Another voice shouted, followed by the appearance of another teen in a very patriotic getup: a blue jacket decorated with white stars, white army fatigues, red gloves, and a red domino mask. To finish up the Captain America inspiration, the boy had a heater-style shield similar to the Captain’s original shield. “Hey, how can I help?”

“There are three other guys on that side of the building. You have super strength or something?” The boy nodded. “Well it’s been long enough that you should be able to pull the webs off of them with enough force.”

He had a confused look on his face. “Why were they webbed-”

“Who cares?! Help them!” Peter snapped, sending him jolting into action. Peter ran the other way, got the thugs out of their confinement, and jumped nearly a block away with the three webbed felons in his arms.

“What the hell, man! Tombstone never said nothin’ ‘bout big ass spider robots!” One guy complained, running away. The two others hesitated, seeing Spider-Man looking at them.

“Get outta here! But if I catch either of you working for another boss, I’m gonna leave you to deal with the deadly robots.” Peter turned away from their scrambling forms and jumped back to the fray.

The battle was going better than Peter expected it to. The Small Slayer was practically flattened, but seems to have knocked down the giant girl, who was being helped by lightning bolt girl using hard light platforms Peter would normally be fascinated to look at.

Magic boy was flying around the Crab Slayer, hurling orbs of magic that seemed to chip off more and more of the armor, while dodging the plasma bolts fired in return. One of its blade arms lay detached on the ground.

Another boy who Peter didn’t see before dodged the Crab Slayer’s other blade and threw a punch at its body, denting it with strength Peter was surprised by. This boy was dressed in medieval-looking armor, and had a golden helmet with two prongs extending into the air on each side of his head. The most unique thing about this boy was his sparkling golden eyes.

The Spider Slayer, was the lowest threat of the two, with both of its long-range weapons destroyed, it relied on its hydraulic legs, which it jabbed at its three other opponents. One was the jean jacket girl who stepped through portals to dodge and reappeared with deceptively powerful-looking punches, the Captain America Jr. from earlier who blocked attacks with his shield and leapt around with impressive agility, and a figure blocked by the body of the Slayer, firing arrows into the chinks of its armor. A Hawkeye copycat apparently.

Peter went after the bigger threat and swung towards it on his webline, sending a powerful kick to its side and knocking it over. “Don’t forget about your original target, Slayers!”

“Spider-Man!” The armored boy yelled excitedly, waving at him. Peter waved back and noticed the boy couldn’t be older than a pre-teen. He’s not in any place to talk considering when he started, but being on the other side of the age gap made him understand Tony a bit more.

“So you’re a chatty type, huh?” The magic flying boy asked rhetorically.

Peter answered anyway. “Better than broody. You seem like you’d know all about that.” He teased. “Sorry, give me one moment here.”

Peter went to the removed arm and fiddled with the circuits, lighting up the plasma blade. He jumped into the air and swung it down at the Crab Slayer’s head, cutting through it as easily as it cut through everything else. The Crab Slayer immediately went limp, its core processor completely disabled.

Peter turned to see a giant, hard light hand pin down the last Slayer, and Peter hefted the still-glowing blade into a fore-grip, throwing it like a javelin. It pierced the Slayer’s forehead and continued until burning deep within the robots body, it too going limp like a puppet without strings. “Boo yah! That’s Olympic gold medal material right there!”

With the fighting over, the group of young heroes began to gather up. The denim girl was panting a bit, sweat sticking her hair to her forehead. “Woah, never used my portals so much before. Took a lot out of me. I’ll be fine.” She waved off, even though nobody was really asking.

The group were all looking at him, specifically at the wounds all over his body, Peter noticed and looked down to see nasty-looking burns and cuts that had already begun to scab over. Peter’s definitely had worse, but he figured he should put them at ease. “Don’t worry about all this, I’ll get a nap and some food in me and I’ll be good to go.” Peter noticed their giant knocked out friend. “Is your friend knocked out over there? Or…?”

The red-white-and-blue boy spoke up. “She’ll be alright. One of them shot her with a sonic cannon right after she squashed the small one. Going big already makes her pretty whoozy, so the sonics shook her up even more.” He turned to the lightning bolt girl, whose eyes were completely locked on him, mouth agape. “Hawkeye went to deal with the cops and DC.”

Peter figured Hawkeye must be working to train some new group of heroes, something like an Avengers Academy. Peter thought he was retired, but this seems like good work for him. His attention was brought back to the leader of this little motley crew.

“Wow, I, uh, thought I’d know what to say, but now I’m really blanking. Spider-Man. You’re Spider-Man. Wow.” The leader babbled animatedly, shaking his hand. “Big fan, I’m Ms. Marvel.”

Peter looked at her with an amused smile. “Nice to meet you, MM. Any relation to the Captain?”

Her eyes brightened at the name. “Yeah! I’m actually kind of like her sidekick. Or partner, I mean.” She failed to hide a look of pride on her face. They stood as she continued to shake his hand, Peter looked around kind of awkwardly.

“So…this your team?” Peter subtly pulled his hand away.

“Oh right, duh. Yeah I found everybody, got contact info, all that. Together we make…well we’ve been workshopping a name. I was into something like the Young Avengers, but I was almost instantly vetoed. We’ve been trying out the Champions lately, seeing if it sticks.” She said with a smile.

Peter looked at the interesting gathered heroes. “Quite a group you got he-”

“I’m good!” The giant girl suddenly woke up and shouted in a booming voice, shrinking down in a moment, but remained in a seated position on the ground.

Ms. Marvel awkwardly chuckled. “Yeah, so that’s Stature.” She stage-whispered to him. “She’s Ant-Man’s daughter.”

“Yeah, I kinda put that together.” Peter waved at the girl who looked a bit out of it. “Hi! Sorry for typing up your dad like an AT-AT. He spiked me like a volleyball, so we’re kind of even.”

Ms. Marvel continued her introductions. “Red, white, and blue back there is Patriot. He’s the grandson of one of the Captain Americas.”

“Hey! Trying to have a secret identity here!” Patriot complained.

Ms. Marvel looked embarrassed for a moment. “Well, it’s not like I said a name or anything.” She sheepishly smiled.

Peter worked out they must be talking about Isaac Bradley, the Forgotten Captain America, it’s the only one that would make sense considering the boy’s age. Peter chose to spare the embarrassment all around and kept quiet about that part. He shook Patriot’s hand. “Good to meet you. Must be strong as a super soldier if you were able to tear off my webbing. Plus the way you fought.”

“Well, I can lift a car, at least. And I’m mostly bulletproof.” He said with his chest puffed out.

Peter sighed. “That sounds really nice right now.”

The armored pre-teen walked over and cut in. “Hello there! I’m Axl Heimdallson. You were so cool fighting Molten Man. I loved it when you walked out of that steam all badass and punched him through a wall.”

Peter’s eyes squinted in confusion. “How do you…?”

“I got the Sight from my dad, Heimdall. I can pretty much see anything I choose to. It’s how we knew what was going on here.” He says with a smirk.

Peter froze, not sure how to respond to the new information. “Uh, thanks.”

Ms. Marvel figured it’d be good to cut in before Axl said anything else as creepy as that. “This is Wiccan. Don’t know much about him, but he knows magic and he’s looking for his brother.”

“Just tell everybody’s life story. Why not.” Wiccan said sarcastically before unamusedly smiling at Peter. “Hi. I’m Wanda Maximoff’s kid.”

Peter blinked, and quickly just told himself to accept it regardless of how little it makes sense. “Haven’t had great experiences with magic, but I’ll try not to hold it against you.” He joked with a wink. Wiccan just rolled his eyes.

“I heard about that from Stephen. Do you fire webs from your butt?” The girl in denim asked.

Ms. Marvel lightly slapped her arm. “Hey! Ixnay on the ebsway! This rude girl is America. She can punch holes in the multiverse.”

Peter felt a punch in the gut at those words. “I-I…I don’t shoot webs from my butt…” He stuttered out, not completely cognizant of what he was saying. He knows he shouldn’t blame the girl for her powers, but to know there’s a person who can freely walk through the multiverse, while he had to give up everything to prevent holes in the multiverse made him…mad? Sad? Distraught?

Ms. Marvel looked at him worriedly, and America looked a little confused. Axl looked accusingly at America. “You shouldn’t have talked about his butt! Now you made it weird!”

“Whose butt are we talking about?” The seated girl shook her masked head, speech slightly slurring.

Another girl jogged over to the group from the nearby police and Damage Control units. “Ok guys, I bought us, like 5 minutes, so we really gotta go.” He got to look at her, a purple and black suit with a purple glove on her left hand and archery finger tabs on her right. In her gloved hand was an elegant recurve bow, and strapped around her back was an advanced-looking quiver filled to the brim with arrows.

Her face snapped him back into full focus; an incredibly kind expression with a hint of mischief in her eyes. “You good there, Spider-Man? I’m the new Hawkeye, nice to meet you.”