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.