Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

June 2nd, 2012

10:52 AM

Classified Location

The laboratory was filled with scientists working diligently in a large room. Computers monitored a window overlooking a chamber where a boy lay motionless in a fetal position. The head scientist, Doctor Osborn, supervised the project. This endeavor is their most significant undertaking so far, with the potential to change the world permanently.

“I see you have decided to leave the confines of your dark tower of doom and witness your million-dollar pet project.” Tony Stark says as he walks in, Norman sighs in annoyance.

“You’re the one who put the most money into this.”

“Yeah, but I’m not the one who thought a spider person was the best idea for a soldier.”

Tony walked over to the railing that separated the entrance from the computers. He saw the boy, and he felt a weird feeling, he had felt it before but he tried to forget it. He always had a fascination with this project since its conception, he saw it as more than just an attempt at making a weapon, but making something greater.

“Director Fury wants to know how long it will take until it’s complete,” Tony says.

“Well lucky for him, one more day. With it, we make our first step toward creating a new era.” Norman smiled a little at saying this, they all knew that this project would change the world but Norman knew it would do more, he knew the true potential, the true impact it would have. It will reshape the world as they know it.

“So what are we calling this one?” Tony asks, Norman frowns. Tony likes to name new projects (and usually gives them stupid ones to boot) but this one is a special case, it had a name to begin with and something tells Norman that Tony wouldn’t change it, using the question just so he could tell him the obvious answer.

“I don’t know, if only we had someone brave to do it for us.” Norman sarcastically said Tony ignored it.

“Well, if nobody’s brave enough I was thinking…..”

Tony takes an unnecessary pause before continuing

“Peter.”

August 17th, 2012

7:00 AM

New York, Queens, 49th Street

 ***

“It’s too early in the morning for this.”

“Way too early.”

That’s what aunt May would always say whenever Peter would start his daily workout session.

Every day he would wake up at 7 am, on the dot, and do 5 minutes of jump rope, 25 jumping jacks, 20 push-ups, 20 squats, 10 burpees, and finish it off with a 1-minute plank. Then he would start making breakfast (even through May’s disdain due to him almost disintegrating the whole place last week when he got distracted) and take a well-needed shower.

Then for the rest of time, he would have free time that would usually be spent either helping Aunt May with cleaning up the place, watching television with her, or spending time in his room listening to music while reading till the clock hit ten at which Peter would enter a black car outside his apartment complex and would go to a cryptic facility outside the city.

The drive is one hour long, and all that could be done is simply gaze out the window. The driver doesn’t talk much: only answering indirectly at any question Peter asks, and attempting to make small talk with him proved to be fruitless. And the view outside the window wasn’t much better: he had seen every store, every residential building, every business that was on the way to the base. It was alluring originally although eventually, it got stale.

Approaching the facility the car enters through a large gate with two guards on top, the driver has to show his ID card to a monitor before being allowed entrance. Inside, Peter has to confirm his identity to some security guards, he always despised this part because it was time-consuming and a drag. Furthermore, they don't have much reason to continue this! He had already shown up so often that they knew him.

After that, the driver takes him to some office where he sits him down outside and goes into the office. Following a couple of minutes some scientist will come out to meet Peter.

At Least that was how it usually happened.

While waiting, Peter noticed a noise coming from the vent near. It was clanging and by the looks of it, it was busted as the lid of the vent was clinging to the ceiling.

In good old Peter Parker fashion, he would have used his webbing abilities to web up the vent, however there was a rule that forbade him to do that. The use of his abilities is only permitted for classified training, testing, or work-related tasks. Any other usage is strictly prohibited according to this order.

Peter followed that rule very strictly yet there were these little moments where he would break the rule either by him opening the fridge door mid-walk to grab a soda or to pick something up from a long distance. Nevertheless, he regularly made sure to space out the usage of his abilities so as for it not to become a grungy habit of his.

As the door swings open, Peter is taken aback by the sudden arrival of Tony Stark. He was dressed in a black suit (no doubt expensive) with a red tie and his signature glasses, with gray square lenses and a gold frame. Tony smiled upon seeing Peter.

“Hey Pete, how’s it going?”

Peter, taken aback, didn’t know how to respond. “Mr. Stark! I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Peter, call me Tony. We’ve talked about this before.”

“Yes, Mr. Stark! I mean Tony.”

“Come on, we have a lot to do.” Tony gestured for Peter to follow him and he did. On the walk there, Peter had a thousand thoughts in his brain, he couldn’t believe Tony was here. He’s only seen him a couple of times and most of what he knows about him he researched. But most importantly he doesn’t want to disappoint Tony. He had invested a lot in this project and had personally overseen his development.

Not only that but Tony is a genuinely busy man. Running one of the largest companies in the world, creating new inventions for a better life, and protecting the country from outside threats. And especially since Tony had been involved with the government, helping solve issues that lingered after the 1990s. In truth, he wanted to show Tony that all his hard work wasn’t wasted on him.

“So what are you doing here?” Peter asked.

“Well I had recently moved into the newly built Stark Tower in Manhattan and had some free time so I decided to pay a visit,” Tony says as he and Peter enter a small room. There, Peter sits down on a medical chair. This is the most boring part of his day. Doctors take some tests on Peter, checking if he had contracted any illnesses, sustained any injuries, and had any negative reactions stemming from his powers.

After a couple of minutes of these tests, one of the doctors came with a syringe and administered the medicine into his arm. “Is that all Dr. Connors?” Tony asked.

“Yes, Mr. Stark.”

Tony smiled upon hearing this. “Great!” He said as he turned to Peter. “Now the fun part begins.”

Peter smiled, he liked what was coming next.

***

August 18th, 2012

11:25 AM

New York, Classified S.H.I.E.L.D Facility

Peter swung around large pillars in a large training room. He was wearing a skintight white training suit with armor plates on his knees, shoulders, elbows, chest, and a helmet for his head. Some of the pillars were small and Peter would have to land on them, others would go all the way to the ceiling. He swings around the pillars, trying to hit the sensors, just like he was told to do, making laps around the training room.

It was getting repetitive: swinging from one pillar, then Tony, commanding him to try another way to swing and hit a sensor.

“Say”

Peter finally breaks the silence (Well aside from the occasional grunting and beeping from the sensors) using the comms he has implanted in his helmet.

“Why am I doing this again?”

He says as he turns his body to the side. Trying to hit the sensor only to miss it. He groans in annoyance.

“It’s for when you’re fighting in the city,” Tony answered, examining Peter carefully from the ground.

“But what if I’m fighting in a field?”

Peter questions, successfully hitting a sensor with his foot in mid-air, nearly missing it.

“Well you do have super strength and fast regeneration, don’t you Peter?”

“Yes but what if I get shot and I can’t hide anywhere?”

Peter points out before hitting another sensor while doing a flip in mid-air.

“Well, I guess you’ll die.” Tony jokingly answers as Peter finishes another lap around the pillars.

“Oh.” The alarm blares telling Peter the training is over.

Pater lands next to Tony. “So what’s next?”

“Well, next is combat training,” Tony says as they exit the training room. Walking down the corridor, Peter noticed someone who doesn't look like one of the guards staring at him intently. He was wearing a nice suit, similar to Tony’s, and had brown, short hair. Tony stopped upon seeing him, and so did Peter. “Go on. I’ll catch up.”

Peter runs off, confused at the whole interaction. Tony glared at the man. He was not gonna like whatever he was going to say. “What are you doing here Norman?”

“What? Can’t I see the project where most of my money has gone?” Norman said with a smug smile on his face.

“I mean what are you doing after all this time?” Tony said, barely hiding his contempt.

“I needed to take some time after the incident, I couldn’t stay knowing what had happened.”

“We both know why you didn’t want to stay. Half the reason it even happened was you.”

Norman’s smile faded, and he held himself from yelling at Tony. Does he think he can blame it all on him? Norman wondered if Tony had tried to repress the whole event, or if he was back to drinking.

“Well I’m back, and you’ll have to deal with it. I’m gonna go and see what he can do.” Norman turned from Tony and walked towards the training room where Peter was at. Tony stood there, not sure what to think of Norman being here. But one thing he knew for sure: it won't be good. He knows that Norman isn’t all in the head, and it feels like having some sort of mental illness is an Osborn trait, as seen in his son. The only thing that isn’t certain is how long until everything goes wrong.

Tony walks into an observation room where Norman is, he faces a window that shows into the training room Peter’s in. In front of both Tony and Norman was a command board that connected to the training room. Tony speaks into a microphone connected to the board. “In a couple of minutes, training will begin. Your objective will be to defeat and incapacitate all your opponents.”

Peter gave Tony a thumbs up, indicating he was ready. Peter looked around the training room. Several structures were spotted nearby, appearing to be constructed for sheltering, some had windows for shooting it seems. In the center, there was a house-sized structure that looked like it was possible to enter it.

“Alright, release the Shockers!” Tony said in an over-the-top voice over the intercom. A gate opens at the other side of the room and four men wearing red and yellow armor with shock gauntlets on their arms emerge. Peter acts quickly and runs into the building, finding a hiding spot in one of the rooms.

After a minute of hiding, one of the Shockers came in, not noticing Peter. Peter quickly exited out of his hiding spot and webbed up the Shocker to the wall. Peter runs out of the building and swings over to the roof. Sneaking around, he sees the other two shockers. Quickly forming a plan in his head, Peter jumps onto one of the Shockers and webs his hands together. The last remaining Shocker turns around and fires a shockwave at Peter, but he dodges and webs his face, giving Peter a long enough distraction to web his hands and feet together.

Peter stood there, proud of his victory. He was too strong and fast for these idiots with gadgets. He was one of a kind and could not be trifled with. As Peter stood there, the fourth Shocker stood behind him and aimed his gauntlets at him. He fired a large shockwave at Peter and he turned too late, being hit by them.

Peter flew through the air and into a wall. He collapsed to the ground, unable to hear anything and in great pain. Peter tried to get up, but his vision was blurry. But he noticed something out of place. He saw a blue specter watching him from afar. He tried to focus on it, to see what it is but before he could his train of thought was cut off by a medic.

The medic tried to speak to Peter, but he couldn’t hear what he was saying. The medic put his hand on him. “I’m fine.” Peter pushed the medic away. He got up and tried to walk away, but he stumbled.

But he got back up. Peter didn’t care about the pain or the bones he might’ve broken. He was frustrated that he failed. That he failed and disappointed Tony. He wanted, NEEDED to prove to Tony he didn’t waste his time on him, and he just showed Tony did waste it all. Worse yet, this isn’t the first training test he failed. But this is much worse than those because he failed when he was just starting. It’s been months since he should have gotten better!

Peter walked up to the room going out of the training room where he met Tony, standing outside. “You should get looked at,” Tony said in a cold tone, no longer as cheerful as he was before.

Peter walked off. Norman approached Tony from behind. “Do you think he’s fine?” He asked Tony.

Tony paused for a second. “I don’t know.”

 ***

August 18th, 2012

5:30 PM

New York, Queens, 49th Street

Peter arrived home, exhausted. The rest of the training wasn’t very interesting. Just learning more about his powers. More swinging and testing to see how strong he is. You’d think that after months of this, they would’ve figured out how strong he is. And it isn’t even that he’s getting stronger every day, it usually takes months to do so!

Peter sat on the couch and turned on the tv. Aunt May wasn’t home yet (Probably to get something for dinner). The news was on and Peter wasn’t interested, but it gave him something to watch in the meantime. None of it interested Peter, there was news of a robbery in downtown Manhattan, another murder by some insane serial killer, tensions between China and the Soviet Union on the rise, a mutant attack in one of the reservations, and the Daily Bugle caught a picture of a giant green monster.

Soon due to boredom and fatigue, Peter drifted off to sleep, his body collapsing onto the couch.

 ***

It was dark…

Like always…

No sound... No color…

Just him…

And himself... till not.

Till it started again... Like always.

Tiny sparks of distorted, broken colors jumped around before falling and disappearing into nothing.

They needed more energy, more time before fully forming... Like always.

Distorted voices: murmured, lured, cut off. They repeated themselves just like the colors.

Like broken stained glasses or scattered, missing puzzle pieces trying to solve themselves, trying to fix themselves, even with the pieces that are too broken to be fixed or the ones that had disappeared into nowhere.

The colors would try to fit next to each other, and like always, they would clash into each other just like liquid molecules, they couldn't stay still even for a second.
The same could be said for the voices. Like a broken record, their words would repeat over and over as they tried to become one perfect picture even with their imperfections.

This time, tonight. The picture was of a large blue sky, he could hear cars, people, anything and everything he would usually hear in the city but louder, like to the max on the stereo. Even with the noise shifting the tone to another, it was still deafeningly loud.

He stared at the sky as the picture tried to form something of which he couldn't see, but knew as the sky kept resetting itself till he heard a loud whooshing noise with now a distorted black blob flashing across the broken baby blue sky.

A bird?...

He guesses. Just watching it fly past him over and over as if he were stuck in one place, unallowed to move or look anywhere else.

So he just watched the large bird, now birds continued to fly over the sky.

Till a new sound came as if it were holding so much energy into itself till it was enough till it was just the most perfect timing.

Loud hawing came as the large birds flew by... soon screaming came.

What?

Just as the screaming adorably came, it ended.

"... Peter, hey"

His eyes fluttered open, looking up at Aunt May.

"... Hey."

He yawned, before sitting up, weakly smiling at her.

"I got fried chicken for dinner"

She softly said, patting Peter's shoulder before walking to the small dinner table.

"Okay"

Peter sleepily stretched before jumping over the couch and joining May at the table. He ate with her for a couple of minutes, talking about the day. But he kept thinking about the dream. He decided to ignore it. Everybody has weird dreams, why should he be worried if he has one of his own? After helping Aunt May with the dishes he would go to sleep.

As he lies in bed, he remembers how he failed Tony during the training, but he would never fail him again.

Chapter Text

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

It began again…

In its little repetitive dream loop…

Dark, colorless, and cold…

A deafening silence with the only comfort being his brain static…

And just like always, the little colorful statics would dance up and down like they were on a piano that was being played as they tried to reach each other…

Trying to grab and hold on to each other to get rid of the cold colorless land…

With the music dancing around him, changing its tones as it did…

As it tried to bring more comfort to the silence of the field…

But something felt different…

Much more different than any of the other dreams like these…

His body shook…

Twitched…

With a shock wave that he felt from yesterday run up and down his frame…

But softer…

Like little ants running up and sliding down on a tall hill…

His body moved slowly like it was surrounded by water…

Quietly splashing around him…

Forcing him to move…

Which was a bit different ... but yet again he could only see what these dreams wanted him to…

Then…

He saw his arms…for the very first time….or any body part ever in these weird dreams…

Little pale statics swam as they went up separating wide open as a sea of bright reds lay under them now…

His head forcefully turned around seeing red once again…but softer…

Softer and much, much smoother than the red before, and much more darker…

A dark figure stood there…

He never saw another person here before…

It was usually just him, looking at the puzzling picture being created in front of him, only seeing or hearing people, and animals but never being close to them like this…

So close he could see their…shocked expression?...

A small gasp left their mouth, small rivers of bronze creating their eyes…

Wide, and fearful…

Shaky and twitching at his temple…

Their hands slowly sinking still scaredly staring him down…

Just as they were about to speak, it restarted…

Like always…

Taking their sweet old time to smooth down statics, trying to stop the tides of colors from hitting each other, trying to create a barrier to at least calm them down even at the slightest…

He watched the little colorful rivers create their path, trying not to cross the others.

And just like every other dream, they took a while till the buzz of his surroundings was at least clearer than before, but with it still dancing around his head, left to right, louder to quieter…

A soft murmured voice talking from behind him as his body moved, before a tide of red screeched and crashed towards him, forcing his arms up his palms pushing up the red tide away from his face before hearing a dismayed gasp with his head being twisted around seeing a…

A woman?...

A tan woman with soft amber hair staring at him…

Clear eyes of bronze filled with fear…

“W…what…ar…are…yo…you?..”

Her voice trembled, and broke…

He just stared at her…

The uncomfortable feeling of his mouth being moved as a pitchy, broken voice spoke for him…

“...I…I’m s…so...sorry...T…This- This… w..was a… m…mis…mistake...”

He just stared at her…

Eyes of theirs filled with fear…of each other… of himself…

His palms slid down the red tide, placing it down on the ground carefully…

Then…

Everything went silent…

Soon everything was distorting itself back to those little statics…

No more noise, other than the comfort of his brain static…

And of his heavy breathing…

All dark and cold…

All lonely and silent…

Other than his heavy breathing…

***

August 19th, 2012

7:15 AM

New York, Queens, 49th Street

With heavy breathing, he woke up back in his small dimly lit bedroom. Peter wiped the sweat off his forehead and noticed he was drenched in sweat. He looked at the clock and noticed the time. Peter calmed down, it was just a dream, a weird dream for sure but nothing more. He got up and changed his shirt. Peter walked to the bathroom and began to brush his teeth.

But while doing so, his mind returned to that dream. It felt strange. Like he had seen it before. It felt so familiar to him but this was the first time he had it. But he was more interested in the girl. This was the first dream he had of her, but he felt as if he knew her. But he also felt another emotion. Was it fear? Disappointment? It was something he hadn’t felt at all.

Peter finished brushing his teeth and spit out the foam. He sighed and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He focused on his hair, it was messy (very badly) and needed rearrangement. He grabbed a comb, brushing and pushing his blonde hair to the side, until it was fixed. He looked to make sure that it was all combed over. But as he focused on his blonde hair, he began to feel… strange about it. He couldn’t explain this feeling, almost like he just noticed that he was blonde but he obviously knew that. He turned away from the mirror and walked out of the bathroom.

This would usually be the time he does some exercise but on Sundays, he skips it. He knew that exercise was important but Sundays were the last days of his training so he saw no harm in skipping one day of his daily exercise.

So Peter headed straight into the kitchen to make breakfast.

“Good morning Petey…”

Aunt May greeted him, drowsily smiling as she sat at the dinner table while sipping a cup of coffee.

“Morning.”

Peter yawned, rubbing his eyes.

He turned on the stove with a pan on top, heating it as he started to prepare breakfast for May and him. Cracking a few eggs into the pan, the soft sound of the sizzling filled the serene kitchen.

As Peter waited for the eggs to cook, he began to make toast. Patiently watching for the bread to pop out any second now…

"Peter, I’m going to be at the hospital a little longer, there’ll be leftovers in the microwave.”

Peter nodded, tapping his fingers on the counter, with a small unfamiliar tingle circling his fingertips.

“Oh, May, I’m gonna be out for a little while.”

“Why?”

“Just go for a walk, you know.”

Peter felt a small shiver run through his body, with an ache pulling his attention towards the pan with a small string of steam flowing above it.

He moved quickly grabbing two plates from the cabinet above, cutting the large egg merger in half, trying to make them even as possible.

“Okay, but be careful, I heard some kid got into a car crash.”

May added as she boredly spun her spoon in her cup watching her reflection in the dark coffee become more distorted.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be alright, I’m always alright.”

Peter smiled, happy that he didn’t burn his eggs this time and also being given permission to get some air. Especially after that whole failed training and these weird dreams…

He placed down the two plates, feeling the same tingle from before but on his back, he turned his head around, his eyes quickly drawn towards the toaster, within a blink of an eye, there was a swift pop! sound as the toasts did a little jump.

As Peter went to grab the two toasts and the jam, he noticed the egg carton with only a few eggs left.

“Oh, we’re gonna be out of eggs soon, I’ll buy more while I’m out.”

Peter stacked the toasts on top of the jam with two forks and two knives placed on top of them as his other hand was being used to put away the egg carton back in the refrigerator.

“Alright.”

May beamed looking down at her breakfast. Perfect as ever.

A quick ‘thank you’ and ‘no problem-o’ were exchanged before the pair started to eat.

As Peter ate his breakfast he thought back to that feeling when the toast popped out. From what he knows about his abilities, he can sense anything that can be dangerous like, a truck coming to hit him or a bullet being shot at him. They called it a “sixth sense” but Peter has mostly gone calling it a spider-sense. But one thing that bugs him (no pun intended) the most is that it is spontaneous and random. Yesterday he failed to notice a Shocker behind him but today he gets a sense about a toaster popping out. It upset him to no end. 

Peter looked at the clock and saw that it was 9:00 a.m. He finished his breakfast and went upstairs to his room to prepare. Putting on a black hoodie over a blue shirt and jeans, Pete picked up his backpack and went downstairs to wait for the car to arrive.

***

August 19th, 2012

11:05 AM

New York, Classified S.H.I.ELD. Facility

Peter went through the same crap as usual. Security checks, a medical evaluation, and then training. Peter was prepping for the same exercise with the Shockers he did yesterday. But he noticed something really strange: Tony wasn’t anywhere here. He wasn’t anywhere. Peter thought about what happened yesterday and realized why Tony wasn’t there: he disappointed him. His failure at training invalidated whatever he thought of Peter. He had proved to Tony he was wasting his time.

Peter sighed as he stretched his arms and legs again. His eyes scanned around the room one last time in the hope of seeing Tony enter the room at the last second, giving him a pat on the back and praising him before he was sent off into the room full of hidden Shockers.

But of course, he could only have fantasies, and hope that Tony doesn’t remove him…

Peter turned his head to the male scientist, there were scientists all around the facility, especially around the training facilities, they wore white long coats that were always buttoned up to the collar (Peter would bet you all his allowance that those scientists wore their pajama shirts underneath those coats, it only made sense!), and they carried around clipboards with thick papers that they were still seemingly making progress through.

The scientist sighed, his eyes droopy as he read the paper on his clipboard before tucking it in between his armpit and turning to Peter, tilting his head to the entrance of the room, Peter nodded, putting on his game face, taking a deep breath in, before he entered the training room.

Peter waited for a second when over the intercom the scientist announced the beginning of training. Peter began to run. The room was the same as before and as such he entered the building once more and hid in the corner of a room. Waiting for one of the Shockers to arrive, he quietly listened. Then he heard footsteps, and as each thud approached closer and closer, Peter readied himself to attack. He closely watched the entrance to the room, when a hand with a gauntlet on it peered through the entrance. Soon the Shocker entered and turned to inspect the corner on his left, which Peter was not at.

As he turned around, Peter shot out his webs at his face and lunged at him, knocking him out after punching him. The Shocker fell and made a loud thud. Peter knew it must’ve alerted any other Shocker near him, so Peter quickly ran out only to be nearly hit by a shockwave. Peter jumped into the next room, and from the ground saw a Shocker pointing his gauntlets at him. He rolled away as the Shocker fired at him and when he reached the wall, shot out a web that hit the Shocker's leg, before pulling it and knocking him over. Peter then ran up and knocked him out.

Peter ran out of the room and heard a Shocker running. Thinking quickly, he jumped up and stuck himself to the roof. The Shocker arrived and found his two knocked-out comrades. It must’ve spooked him because he took a defensive stance. The Shocker moved slowly until he was exactly under Peter.

“Boo.”

The Shocker looked up only to be knocked out by Peter hitting him with his foot. Peter jumped up and quickly walked out of the room. He slowly approached the exit, ensuring that the final Shocker wasn’t near him. He got out of the building and slowly made his way across the field. 

As Peter walked he began to slow down. He felt something. Almost like someone was standing right behind him. 

He stopped walking and took a defensive stance. He stood there, focussing on this feeling, this sense.

Tingling.

Just like in the kitchen before.

But not just on his fingertips.

It was all over him.

A wave of brisk slid up his spine.

And then it flared. 

In a split second, Peter jumped out of the way, avoiding a shockwave aimed at his direction. He then flipped back and webbed the hands of the Shocker. Peter then ran up and knocked the Shocker out with one punch.

Peter stood there, triumphantly, feeling incredibly proud of himself.

A cheery smile spread across his face, a rocky breath slithering out from the cracks of his teeth.

He swiftly turned his head to the window of where the scientist stood. He raised his left hand from the clipboard, making a thumbs up as he smiled at Peter, before motioning him to get out of the large field. Peter nodded, his speed increasing as he ran towards the exit door.

Just a few feet from the exit door, he sprang up from the colorless ground, whipping out a web from his wrist, and stuck to the bright red flashing exit sign. His legs curled to his chest, and he squinted his eyes, the world around him becoming a blur as a rough cold air pushed against him. 

Soon the bright blur disappeared above him, giving him the que.

He stretched his legs forward, releasing his grip on the web as his feet hit the ground. Gracefully like an Olympics participant, he stood proudly with that cheeky grin glued to his face as he turned to the scientist, who gave him a weak and quiet clap, and a pat on the back before guiding him down the long line of office benches and excusing himself into another room.

As Peter waited for the scientist to return, he swung his feet up and down as he imagined the greatness of what he could become…

The sound of footsteps ripped him away from his fantasies. Turning his head, it took quite a surprise to see no sharply dressed scientist but the man himself, Tony Stark with his glee-full smirk.

“You did great out there, kid,” Tony said, still smiling.

“You saw all that?” Peter said, surprised by Tony’s compliment.

“Yep, gotta say, you were amazing out there.”

Tony gave a small and slow clap as he walked closer to Peter, taking a seat right next to him, his arm falling over the young boy’s shoulders.

Peter gave a dorky grin that hurt his cheeks a bit, he grabbed at his knees trying to contain their bounciness only to fall as his feet speedily tapped the marble floor.

“Thanks, Tony!”

“Don’t mention it, kid.” Tony chuckled, patting Peter on the shoulder causing him to squeal.

“Where were you though? I didn’t see you before”

Tony huffed rolling his eyes, shifting to the other side before shifting back to Peter.

“Just some boring meeting, nothing interesting, it’ll probably bore you to death.”

“Yeah!”

Peter chuckled, rubbing his knees.

“So-um-” Peter started, trying to think of any good questions to ask Tony before he missed the chance, only to get a wiggle of the finger from Tony.

“Look, kid. You did amazing but. But, but, but, but!”

Tony shook his head, continuing.

“There’s just a slight, little bitty issue! You see, kiddo, your last session… well, let’s just say it wasn’t up to par as some of the others were expecting.”

“Oh…” Peter looked down nervously, biting his lip.

“Yeahhhh…” Tony nodded 

“So! If you wanna improve and become a true soldier for this city then I suggest working out more like on your free days! You can just ask May and then you can come right over here and have a workout session! But of course, you gotta make an arrangement just in case of any important meetings.”

Tony grinned up at Peter, clamping his hands together before standing up.

“We don’t wanna lose a good soldier now do we?”

Tony asked, tilting his head to the side, anticipating Peter's answer as the boy sat there, looking down before finally facing his idol, and shaking his head.

“No, we don’t”

“Good to hear” 

Tony nodded before turning his back and looking down at his lavish watch.

“Anyways, I should be going. Have a meeting I need to attend. Wish I could see you do your magic but duty calls.”

“Okay. See you, Tony.”

Peter gave a weak wave and a stupid smile before looking down at his knees again. Squeezing his caps.

“Oh and after that I’ll be meeting my friend Rhodey. I think you two would get along pretty well if you two ever met."

The tall man shrugged, making a peace sign with his hands without looking back at the teen boy as he left the training arena.

Peter sighs, covering his face with his sweaty hands before sliding them off and wiping off the sparkle of sweat left on his face with his arms.

“...stupid stupid stupid…dumbass…”

Peter groaned, holding his head down with his fingernails digging into his forehead.

“Had to screw it up! Just had to!”

Peter said angrily to himself. If only he hadn’t screwed up. If only his damned sixth sense worked properly! Peter held his head for a few seconds until he saw in his peripheral vision someone walk by. Quickly he let go of his head and raised it, trying to look normal. But he couldn’t shake this feeling. He hated himself for messing it up. He fucked up and now he has to face the consequences. But he can still fix it. He can still make up to Tony. He can make everything alright.

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

A slothful voice spoke. Peter jumped up and with panic in his eyes tried to look for whoever said that. 

But there was no one. 

No one was in the room to say that. 

Peter looked around for a few more seconds, concerned that someone might be watching him and trying to find whoever that was. But there was still no one. 

Eventually, Peter concluded that it must’ve been in his head. He was stressed and his mind must’ve played tricks on him. 

Right. 

That’s what happened.

***

August 19th, 2012

5:30 PM

New York, Queens, 49th Street

Peter arrived home, taking off his shoes and dropping his bag as he closed the door. He was tired and went to get something to drink. As he walked over to the kitchen, he tried to look for Aunt May, only to remember she was staying at the hospital for a little longer than usual. He opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water to drink. He walked over to a couch and sat there, turning on the TV.

After an hour of watching the news and whatever show came on, Peter got up. He decided to go on that walk he told Aunt May in the morning. He walked past a mirror but something strange caught his attention. He saw someone in his peripheral vision in the mirror. He quickly turned around to see what it was, but there was nothing but his reflection. Shaking his head, Peter dismissed it as him just seeing things. He is probably tired from the training he had at the facility. 

Just as he swung open the building's main doors, he was slapped by the harsh and sharp wind. He took a whiff, before sighing.

He grinned, the weather was just perfect.

He thought to himself as he rounded the building's corner, his hand grazing over the rough brick wall. He stops, making sure there are no civilians around to avoid running into them.

1…

2…

3…

He takes deep breaths.

1…

2…

3…

Stretching his legs before getting into position. 

1…

2…

3…

And he does one last check around the block…

1…

2…

3…

He charges forward to the convenience store just a few blocks ahead.

And upon reaching the convenience store, he took a sharp turn turning left, the icy wind cutting into the side of his face.

He ran through a tight alleyway, trying his best to avoid the trash bins.

He continued straight, only slamming into bins once or twice but still keeping on his feet.

SHIT!

He froze in a frenzy, his feet coming to a halting stop, almost falling over as he tried to keep his composure.

He panted, turning back around. This time, not running, but steadily jogging back into the streets.

Well, fuck me…

Peter sighed, realizing that he had gone past the authorized area of the street.

Well, it wasn’t illegal for him to go to this part of his street, but it was Aunt May’s rule. He was only allowed to go to certain locations around the street: from the left of the apartment building down to a small shop, up to that music shop that had the best of fucking music that anyone’s ears could be blessed to ever fucking hear, then crossing the road to another apartment building, and down to a small clothing shop. And of course, there were only the smallest parts of the town that Peter could go to that wasn’t that near the apartment: a small restaurant that Aunt May takes him to during special occasion, a food market, and another shopping store, there was another music store but it mostly sold instruments and it didn’t have the greatest of music like the other one, and some more stores. 

Peter always theorized that May didn’t let him go that far due to the building far ahead of the music shop that was destroyed by the war. Many people tried to fix it but they always gave up, leaving it abandoned and busted for anyone's use, from hippies trying to smoke in peace to drug dealers and criminal masterminds. No matter what, that building always had some conflict going on in it.

So most would rather take the long way home than having to cross the street in fear that they’ll, somehow, become involved in the conflict.

Honestly, his whole street looked fucked up.

Fucked up by the war or not, there was barely any people around. Peter would consider himself lucky if he saw any punks or speeding cars come by. Usually, the only people he would see walking on these streets were people walking home from the store and that was it.

Peter jogged up to the small store. Getting back into position. This time he’ll just stick to the street, he can save running through tight spaces for another day.

***

Peter stood over the stove, checking on his soup, occasionally stirring it and carefully checking down on the garlic bread in the oven as he listened to the news.

He leaned over the kitchen counter, thinking about what Tony had said to him. He could schedule an extra day to train during the upcoming week. Thinking about it, Peter could use the day to improve his skills. Not only that but he could spend more time with Tony. This is an opportunity he can’t waste. He has to prove himself, not just to the higher-ups but to Tony.

It’ll be great, and he knows it will be.

***

Tucking himself into bed, Peter was met with the pure darkness of his dreams.

Pure darkness.

No light.

No sound.

Nothing.

Just, absolutely nothing but a black void with no start or end.

He just stood there.

Paralyzed as he stared into this abyss.

And as it stared back.

Staring back at him with its pure white eyes that had been jaggedly ripped open from the murky void.

Its jagged eyes cut through the void vigorously to grow bigger.

And so did its mouth.

As it unclenched, opening wide as if to swallow him whole.

Peter awoke with a jolt. He was breathing heavily and his clothes were covered in sweat. His heart was racing, no doubt because of whatever he saw in his dreams. Peter calmed himself, it was a nightmare, it wasn’t real. He stopped breathing heavily and his heart calmed down. Peter sat on his bed for a few seconds before preparing to go back to sleep. But just as he lay there, he saw a figure in his corner.

Peter did not get up, scream, or do anything. He just looked at the figure with fear and panic. As he watched the figure, its details became more clear to him. This person was a male and seemed to be wearing an all-body suit, but he couldn’t see the face.

As he focused on the person, he noticed that it looked like he could see the wall through him. Peter got up.

“Who are you?” He said, confused and afraid a little. 

But as he continued to look at the person, he saw their face. And then his heart dropped. His eyes widened in absolute shock as he saw what the face looked like. 

It was his face.

He stared at…him?...himself?...

Either way.

He just sat there, paralyzed, staring into who and whatever that was in the corner of his bedroom,

And just like before.

The darkness swallowed him whole…