Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

BREAKING NEWS:
“The criminal known as “Rhino” was captured by the police last night due to the undeniably amazing work of the NYPD. Will this be the last New York has seen of Alexei Sytsevich? Stay tuned to more breaking news by your very own J. Jonah Jameson, up next, is the amazing Iron Man really all that he—“

“Peter?”

Peter breaks away from the TV with a scoff. If there was one person in the public eye that Spider-Man would gladly find dirt on, it would be the one and only J. Jonah Jameson. Always sticking his nose in other people’s—

“PETER!”

The teen jumps and sheepishly replies “Yes May?”

His Aunt May comes around the corner wearing a bright blue apron covered in mysterious liquids and what looks to be flour covering just about everywhere else. Just as he sees her, the smell of burning food hits him like a freight train.

May sets her hands on her hips and gives a disappointed sigh “I thought I told you to stop watching the news so much! It’s not good for all that stuff to be in your head all the time-“ Peter rolls his eyes in true teenager fashion “-now, as you can probably smell by now, I burnt dinner… again… so, I’m thinking Thai? Maybe from that new restaurant around the corner? I’ve heard they have great potstickers!”

Peter smiles and agrees. “I’ll take the-aughhh” his order dies off as the familiar feeling of pain shoots through his legs. His toes curl as he grips the sofa for support and takes deep breaths.The stabbing pain eventually dies down to a harsh tingle as Peter rubs his hands up and down his legs to alleviate the unwelcome feeling.

May walks over to Peter, grabbing his wheelchair from behind the couch along her way. May stares at Peter with a slight frown on her lips as she sits on the cushion right next to him.

“How about I order something to-go and you go lay down in your bed for a few minutes?

“But May-“

“No buts, have you taken your pills yet tonight?”

Peter scoffs, he doesn’t need her hovering around him all the time. He’s turning 17 in just a few months for Christ’s sake! But he knows that rehashing this conversation is not something he feels up to currently and he’s willing to be the bigger man and accept his fate at the moment.

“Yes, I have” the teen looks down at his lap, breaking eye contact with his aunt, “ Will you help me into my chair?”

“Of course, sweetie, always.” May lifts Peter up with a practiced ease only someone who has done this for many years could have, and within seconds Peter is in his chair. May gives him a small peck on the forehead and yells to text if he needs anything as she walks out the front door to go pickup dinner. Peter slowly rolls into his bedroom and unplugs his phone on the nightstand. He has an absurd amount of missed messages from Ned, all seemingly about the most recent arrest on TV.

The Nedster
PETER
DUDE
How do you even do it
I mean i know how you do it but it still gets me every time
That makes 3 arrests THIS MONTH ssjshjsdjhs
Extracurriculars are at it again!!!
Peterrrrrrr
Peteee
@theyseemerollin answer meee :(

Peter-Man
Yes?

The Nedster
Finally!!
We need to celebrate! :D
Big arrests call for big amounts of ice cream and some sandwiches from Delmar’s

Peter-Man
Maybe not today sorry
Been exiled to my bed for the rest of the day by order of May

The Nedster
No biggie dude
We can reschedule anytime
See you at school monday :3
Feel better

Peter-Man
Thanks dude
See you soon

Peter sets his phone back on the nightstand with a heavy sigh. He hates having to cancel on Ned but at the same time he does NOT want to go out when his legs flare up like this.

Feeling slightly dejected, the teen grabs his laptop and lifts himself into his bed. If he can’t do anything Peter-wise at the moment, he could at least do something Spidery. He flips open the computer on his lap and logs in. He enters the password in his program and a spider emblem flashes on the screen.Peter smiles as his file on the “Rhino” pops up in front of him. The teen checks his messages only to find the usual confirmation messages from the response team. He closes the tab and clicks open one of his newer files.

For as long as he could remember, Peter was extremely good at watching. He could recall sitting on the park bench, even before the accident, watching the passerby go about their day. To his left was a man with mismatching shoes and a backwards shirt, and Peter would determine that the man probably got dressed in the dark, and was in too much of a rush to notice. To his right was a young woman holding a small, screaming child in her arms. She was almost in hysterics trying to calm the kid and an older woman walked up to her to offer assistance-odd in New York but hey, that's what made it interesting- the young mother would gratefully accept and the pair of women would sit on a bench to calm down. Peter guessed from the situation that the older woman was most likely an experienced grandmother, and on the other hand, this was the young mother’s first child, based on the lack of true baby supplies she had on her.

Young Peter could spend hours at the park watching people and noticing the small details about everyone walking by. As he got older, this transitioned into wanting to know everything about the people he saw. He used his limited coding knowledge to look into his theories at home, to prove to himself that he was right.

Time and time again, his theories on the people he saw proved to be true and he loved it. One day, he was sitting on that same bench when he saw a man dressed in black run up to a woman and steal her purse. As the woman sat on the sidewalk and the indifferent New Yorkers moved around her, Peter got an idea.

That night when he got home, he accessed the CCTV footage for that area at the time of the robbery, and followed the man via camera back to an alleyway where the perpetrator took off his mask for a breather,

“Gotcha” a small Peter breathed to himself as he screenshotted the mans face and ran it through his mediocre database he had started creating.

Julian Flores, the computer read, arrested at age 16 for shoplifting, and again at age 20 for trespassing and vandalizing private property. Knowing he could actually do something with the information he collected, the boy felt ecstatic. He also knew that if he wanted to keep doing this he would have to set some things up in order to not be caught. Thus was the creation of the hacker mastermind known as the Spider-Man.

10 years, one accident, and 3 less parental figures later, Spider-Man has aided in the capture of many criminals and the takedown of many underground organizations. No one in the general public knows of Peter’s existence but that is exactly how he wants it. He doesn’t want the recognition, he just wants to prove to himself that he’s right. And he always is. As Peter closes his eyes for the night, he doesn't hear the slight buzz come from his laptop. The buzz that’s reserved only for the DM’s to Spider-Man.

Chapter Text

New Message

Hello Spider-Man

Heya Karen
What you got for me?

The trial for your energy cell has been concluded

Did it finally work?

Trial was unsuccessful
Want to try again?

No, Karen
I'll let you know later

With a heavy sigh, Peter shuts his laptop and gently places it on his nightstand. For almost 3 years, Peter has been trying to develop a device that would finally grant him the ability to stand.

It would function as an almost leg brace. The aforementioned energy cell gives significant power to the knee and hip joints to allow it to move without outside help and provide stability. In theory, it would grant someone who is, say, paraplegic, the ability to walk on their own. The only issue is the power. Nothing currently on the market —legal or otherwise— has the ability to give the braces sufficient power. Peter has tried many different prototypes of his own but none of the trial runs have returned successful. This most recent failure means back to the mental drawing board.

Peter sits up in his bed and untangles himself from his bedsheets. Grabbing his legs one at a time, he swings his feet over the side of his chair and gently lowers himself down to get started on his day. He rolls over to his closet and grabs a t-shirt from the hanger. Eventually, Peter exits his room dressed and ready for school. May walks over and pulls him in for a kiss on the forehead and ruffles his hair as she starts to walk away.

“Cereal’s on the counter and lunch is in the fridge. I have to run, a large pile up happened earlier this morning and the hospital’s severely understaffed.”

May stops in the doorway and blows Peter one last kiss and gives a slight wave before shutting the front door and leaving the teen to eat his slightly soggy cereal in solitude.

Eventually, the time to leave for hell –he means school– arrives and Peter cruises down the hallway to their apartment's elevator.

——-

When he arrives at his first period class, he pulls up to his desk, gets all his materials out, and promptly completely zones out.

His day goes on the same until he rolls into science and a very recognizable man is being projected on the white board.

Tony Stark

Peters tired eyes examine the photo from his desk, not really listening to the teacher drone on about his impact on science and technology.

Through all the droning however, peters ears heard two words loud and clear.

Arc Reactor

Of course! Why had he never thought of it before! The solution to his energy problem has been right at his fingertips the entire time.
One small issue however, there is absolutely no way the plans are public which means he, no, Spider-Man, must hack Tony Stark's private server. Damn.

“-ker,”

There’s probably a heavily encrypted firewall on top of any other specialized passcodes imbedded into the software…

“Mr. Parker!”

Peter startles back to the present as the slightly frustrated shout of his teacher registers in his dazed mind.

Oopsie.

“Yes Ms. Coxley?”

“Care to answer the question? Or would you rather stare off into nothing as you seem so comfortable doing?” She stared at the teen with a hard glint in her eyes as perfectly manicured hands rested both hips. Hmm, well, now Peter is definitely screwed. He has absolutely no idea what the question was. It’s not entirely his fault! He has better things to think about instead of how many elements are on the periodic table for christ's sake.
“I’m sorry but would you mind repeating the question? Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I didn’t hear you, I just don't believe I understood exactly what you were asking in the context of this situation.” Peter gives ms. Coxley a sheepish grin as the teacher disparagingly sighs and repeats the question.

______

The school day goes on pretty much the same but by the time Peter gets back to the apartment a plan has formed in his mind.

He rolls up to his bed and hoists himself up onto the soft, blue comforter. Peter unplugs his laptop from the nightstand and logs into his Spider-Man software.

Hello, Spider-Man

The teen smiles to himself as he types a quick greeting to his trusty AI, Karen. She is easily one of his proudest achievements. As a young tween, he always heard about the Stark AI, Jarvis, from interviews and recorded tours of Stark Industries. It was the coolest thing EVER. After some minor research and many sleepless nights, a baby Karen was born. Well not born, more so brought into existence by a very loving creator. And with every case they crack together and invention made, Karen’s interface grows alongside Peter and his achievements.

But, continuing on…

Getting into any Stark Industries device or firewall is no small task. Fortunately, that’s where being the one and only Spider-Man comes in handy. He’s memorized the in’s to the specific servers that would be able to get him a decent head start on his metaphorical pot of gold. From inside the server he would follow the rainbow through the encryptions on the rest of the firewalls.

As he always says, anything coded can be de-coded. Actually, that's a lie. He’s never said that.

Peter types away on his laptop as the sun slowly descends in the sky. He has to get in and grab the files before May gets home. Hacking is kind of like stacking building blocks. You can tower up as high as you want if everything is done exactly as it should, and at this point he has gotten pretty good at doing things exactly like they should be done. However, he’s gone too far into the servers to back out now. There is always a trace left behind and if he were to stop right now, he knows he wouldn’t be able to get back in as smoothly as he is now.

Unfortunately, just as with the rest of his life, nothing ever goes as he wants.

As he finally slides through another level, he hears the tell-tale sound of keys jingling in the doorway. Dammit.

May calls out to him from the entryway, “Peter? I’m home!”
“Just a minute May!” He yells back as his fingers fly across the keyboard at inhuman speeds.
He barely registers a question being called out from the kitchen, “I was thinking of ordering something from that chicken place! Anything specific you would like? Or maybe that…”

CRASH

“SHIT” Peter startles and his furious typing pauses as he hears May scream at what sounded like the bowl usually sitting on their counter shattering on the floor. Perfect.

“Uhh, don’t come out yet honey! I don't want any glass to pop your tires! It’ll be just a sec” The teen couldn't believe his luck. Poor twist of fate on the bowls part but the extra clean up needed gives him just the right amount of time to work his way into the final wall.

Welcome, Sir.
How may I be of assistance?

Holy mother of shit. He’s in. He, Peter Parker, Spider-Man, just hacked his way into THE Tony Stark's personal server. And the digital cherry on top? JARVIS asked him a question. This has to be one of the best days of his life.

Shoving the fanboying way down deep he gets to work. With a little help from Jarvis he finds the small folder labeled, ARC REACTOR. With a quick check that it is in fact the real thing, he saves the file onto his laptop and traces his steps back through the system, trying to erase his footsteps as he goes.

Peter shuts his computer right as his Aunt May walks into the room with an embarrassed look adorning her features.

“Chicken sounds great May, I’d take a sandwich, please” The teen’s eyes follow May as she crosses the room to his bed and climbs in over him and pulls out her phone.

Little does Spider-Man know, across the city a small alert sounded in a certain lab as a billionaires messy head shoots up from his work.