Peter hung from the ceiling, lazily listening while Steve and Tony discussed the details of an upcoming mission.
He was not supposed to be there.
Neither were they, technically, but Peter was starving.
Steve and Tony had not noticed him yet, but if he tried to pull the cereal toward himself with a web, he would definitely give himself away.
He was not exactly eager to eavesdrop, but curiosity outweighed his moral principles.
Besides, he was not allowed on real missions, but there was no rule against listening to people talk about them.
Then the conversation abruptly turned to Peter—or rather, Spider-Man—and he nearly fell off the ceiling in surprise.
Not because Tony was willing to let him participate, but because this apparently was not the first time Tony had tried to convince Steve to take him along.
Tony always told Peter he was not ready for important missions yet, or that he worried too much to drag a kid into battle.
Well, if this was what was going on behind his back, Peter was obligated to reveal himself.
“Were you planning to ask me?” Peter grinned, making both adults jump.
“I want to go too!” “You’re supposed to be in bed, kiddo,” Tony said, muttering that these sudden appearances were going to turn his hair gray.
“I wanted cereal.” Peter dropped lightly to the floor as though nothing had happened.
“So what do you say, Captain?
Will you take me on the mission?
Tony clearly doesn’t mind.” Steve shook his head unhappily.
Arguing with Tony occasionally served a purpose.
Arguing with Peter was pointless.
Eventually the kid would activate the puppy eyes and win.
“Peter, I understand that you want to go, and I know you’ve saved people before.
But I can’t take you on a mission without any preparation, combat skills, or even the slightest idea of your actual training level—” Steve was about to continue, but Peter and Tony looked at each other and started laughing.
“You’ve never watched me on YouTube?” Peter poured himself a huge bowl of cereal and began searching the refrigerator for chocolate milk.
Steve shook his head, and Peter gave an offended snort.
“What was I expecting?
You can barely turn on a television, Grandpa.
Listen, what if we hold a practice fight?
The Avengers against me.
If I do well, you take me with you.” Steve bit his lip thoughtfully and agreed with visible reluctance.
Peter could not possibly hold his own against the Avengers, so afterward he would no longer have an argument for joining the mission.
Right?
A child could not defeat an entire team of superheroes.
*** The next morning, Peter paced around the first ‘boring’ training hall, practically bouncing with excitement as he waited for his opponents.
Tony sat on the mats looking bored and reading something on his phone.
He had said he would not participate because he had no desire to shoot at a child.
Peter was glad.
Taking down a few super-soldiers was one thing.
Fighting Tony was another; the man had a bad heart.
Besides, winning would be much easier if no one was firing lasers at him.
The Avengers were late, so Peter sat beside Tony, rested his head on Tony’s shoulder, and looked at the phone.
News.
How dull.
“And you told me I wasn’t ready,” Peter said.
Tony smirked and put the phone aside.
“I’m not denying it.
I’m not letting you anywhere near a mission with a serious threat to your life.” He ruffled Peter’s hair and narrowed his eyes slyly.
“The missions I keep recommending you for are almost harmless, especially with the rest of us there.
But they’re useful.
You can learn to work with a team and pick up new techniques.
One day you’ll grow up and definitely want to become a full-time Avenger.
Better to be prepared and trained, don’t you think?” “Have I ever told you you’re the best mentor?” “What was that, kiddo?
Say it again.” “I thought your hearing was fine.” Tony laughed and shoved Peter off the mat.
The kid was becoming far too cool; Tony’s heart could not take it.
They might have continued their playful argument, but the Avengers finally entered the room and Peter sprang up, delighted by the promise of something interesting.
While everyone warmed up and selected training weapons, Peter checked the charge in his web-shooters and made sure they were secure.
Since this was only a training session, he doubted he would need Karen or the hundreds of web combinations Tony never stopped adding.
“All right, here are the rules,” Steve announced loudly, ignoring Peter’s impatience.
“Don’t hold back.
If Peter stays on his feet for at least ten minutes or wins, he comes with us.
If not, I’m sorry, but you stay home.” The Avengers nodded and spread out across the floor.
Peter waited for the signal.
The moment it came, the fun began.
Finally.
Tony and Bruce were already placing bets.
A second into the fight, Peter sensed an arrow and dodged without effort, simultaneously moving away from Natasha, who had been ‘quietly’ advancing from the left.
Steve attacked head-on, clearly having arranged for Thor to approach from behind.
Peter jumped, flipped in the air, stuck to the ceiling, and fired webs around their legs to slow them down.
Clint immediately launched three more arrows to cover Natasha’s attack.
She was clearly aiming to sweep Peter’s legs and bring him to the floor, but Peter caught the arrows with one easy movement and threw them at her.
She hesitated for a fraction of a second, giving him enough time to reposition with his back against the wall.
All four advanced at once.
They thought he had trapped himself in a corner.
Peter disagreed.
Frontal attacks were the easiest to counter, which made them his favorite.
Steve threw the shield.
Peter saw Natasha’s and Clint’s hands twitch; they expected him to repeat the jump.
Instead he ducked, rolled, and webbed Natasha’s feet together.
While they regrouped, Peter crossed the entire room.
The Avengers looked uncertain.
Tony sat in the corner quietly laughing.
All right.
Playtime was over.
Time to put every one of them on the floor.
Thor, finally deciding to use his hammer, offered the perfect opportunity.
Thor hurled Mjolnir.
Instead of dodging, Peter grabbed it, startling his opponents, and fired a web as he repeated the maneuver he had used in Germany.
He needed a shield.
Now he had one, though with the web attached it looked more like a yo-yo.
Mjolnir always returned to its owner, so seconds later Peter was racing toward the Avengers.
He swept the shield hard at their legs.
Clint had to go first so those annoying arrows would stop distracting him.
Steve was already disarmed and therefore not an immediate threat.
An instant before reaching Thor, Peter pulled himself up by one arm—thank you, super-strength—thrust both feet forward, and struck Thor hard in the chest and throat before springing away.
The Asgardian was disoriented, and the hammer lay off to one side.
It might have helped Natasha, but she could not lift it.
Natasha attempted to shoot him with a Widow’s Bite and silently hoped Tony would not maim her for it.
She missed.
Peter moved too quickly and unpredictably.
One second he stood in front of her; the next he had jumped behind her, kicked her in the back, and glued her firmly to the floor.
She tried to reach for a knife, but the webbing hardened and would not allow her to move.
Peter reassessed the field.
Clint was back on his feet but less mobile after the blow to his legs and was probably looking for a firing position.
Thor was recovering but had not recalled the hammer.
Steve was ‘quietly’ approaching from behind.
Since the shield still lay webbed to the floor in the corner, he was coming in hand-to-hand.
Peter did not let him get close enough to strike.
He spun around, caught Steve’s wrist, squeezed, and twisted the hand.
The brief hesitation let him strike the knees, then drive his other fist into Steve’s solar plexus.
That would slow him down while Peter dealt with Thor.
Thor had already reclaimed Mjolnir.
He was asking for it.
Peter remained near Captain America, paused as though uncertain, and gave Thor a clear target.
He waited until the hammer was close, then darted left and revealed a new target—Steve.
Thor did not react quickly enough to recall the weapon.
Mjolnir slammed into the Captain and threw him into the wall.
Peter heard the back of Steve’s head strike stone and hoped the injury would not be too serious.
Only Thor and Clint remained.
While Thor called the hammer back—seriously, Peter had already used it against him several times; he should have learned by now—Peter spotted Clint, caught the arrow aimed at him, and fired webbing over the bow and the archer’s hand.
Two leaps brought him close enough to snatch the quiver and throw it toward Tony, then web Barton’s feet to the floor.
Clint was not as strong as Steve or Thor, so that immobilized him completely.
Without looking back, Peter dodged Mjolnir, ran along the wall, sprang onto the ceiling, and dropped like a stone onto Thor with one foot aimed at his head.
Thor raised the hammer to block.
Peter caught and held it with one hand, then punched Thor in the throat with the other.
A second later he stepped away from the Asgardian, who lay on the floor making quiet, pained noises.
The Avengers stared in shock.
Bruce silently handed a very satisfied Tony twenty dollars.
F.R.I.D.A.Y.
announced that nine minutes and fourteen seconds had passed since the round began and asked whether they wished to repeat the exercise.
Peter laughed softly and approached the Avengers with the web solvent he had thoughtfully brought in advance.
“Um, I didn’t hurt you too badly, did I?” Peter almost felt guilty.
Almost.
They had brought it on themselves.
They should simply have taken him on the mission.
“Stark, what do you feed him?” Natasha asked as she got up and rubbed her bruises.
“Kid, could you hold your own against the Hulk?” “Well, technically I’m a little stronger than the Hulk.” Peter shrugged, ignoring Bruce’s startled look.
“But he acts randomly, so predicting him would be difficult.
Still, yes.
I think I could take him.” Natasha’s expression sat somewhere between Why didn’t you say that before I agreed to this?
and Have you ever actually seen the Hulk?
Peter only shrugged as if to say she could believe whatever she liked, then walked over and high-fived Tony.
Steve sat beside him with ice pressed to his head.
Thor lay behind them, muttering that he was a god and had just been defeated by a child.
Clint unhappily cleaned webbing from his bow.
Tony stood and cleared his throat loudly to get everyone’s attention.
“I didn’t want to mention this before the brat wiped the floor with you, but I should probably point out that he once caught a moving car with his bare hands and held together both halves of a split ferry.” Peter lowered his gaze and pretended to be embarrassed.
“I also designed a special training system for him that makes beating any of you fairly easy.
He’s been using that program on sub-level seven for almost two years.” “You trained a child to fight us?” “It started when all of you became fugitives.” Tony shrugged.
“I came back from Siberia in a very bad mood.
Two super-soldiers were running around the world, my trust in the rest of you was damaged, and I needed a plan—some way of keeping every one of you under control.
The brat volunteered.” “Yep.” Peter shrugged casually.
“Then he adopted me, and the whole ‘use him as a weapon’ idea had to be abandoned.
Not that I objected.
I don’t like violence.” Tony smiled and ruffled the kid’s hair.
The Avengers tried to process what they had heard and even felt a little guilty because of what Tony had said.
Yes, they had certainly destroyed his trust.
Peter gave an awkward shrug, then abruptly remembered why all of them were there.
“So are you taking me on the mission or what?” Steve’s astonished face and the group’s laughter were his only answer.
“Hey!
What’s so funny?” “After that, we’re not sure.
It may be more efficient to send you alone,” Natasha muttered, still rubbing her shoulder.
Peter gave them a condescending look that practically shouted his superiority.
Honestly.
A bunch of old people.
They could not even survive one ordinary training session.