Chapter 33: C33 Superhero Team-up
(Want to read ahead of what I've posted so far? Go to my patreòn and get early access chapters.
As of this chapter, the patreòn is 14 chapters ahead at chapter 47. Took the day off yesterday but I'll be writing 1 or 2 more chapters today.
https://www.patreón.com/AlienWarlord
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Sitting in a black four-door SUV, Natasha drives Peter and Tony to a nearby Mcdonald's. While they drove, many people caught a glimpse of Spider-Man in the backseat, but that wasn't all they saw.
Sitting in the front seat was Tony Stark, the man that's been missing for three months and was long thought to be deceased by this point in time.
Short and blurry videos and pictures were posted on social media, causing millions of people around the world to wonder if this was a hoax or not.
Peter's ghost phone was blowing up with notifications, everyone wanted to know if the videos were real or not.
"Can't you mute that thing?" Tony asks as he shoves a wad of salty Mcdonald's fries into his mouth.
"Sorry, Twitter is freaking out about us. Some people we passed earlier must have taken pictures or videos." Peter says as he muted his phone.
"Twitter?" Tony mutters after slurping on a chocolate milkshake. "Spider-Man has a Twitter account?"
"He has even been on the Oprah Winfrey Show." Natasha says, rolling her eyes at Peter through the rear view mirror.
"Oprah?! I haven't even been on Oprah..." Tony says incredulously.
"I guess you're just not as famous as me?" Peter says, knowing he's provoking Tony's ego.
"..." Tony stopped eating and turned towards Peter. "It's on."
"What's on?" Peter asked questioningly.
"I think he took that as a challenge." Natasha clarifies and Tony nods his head alongside her.
"Well, good luck." Peter says as he whips out his phone and shows Tony his follower and subscriber counts.
"Holy sh*t!" Tony exclaims as he reads numbers in the hundreds of millions.
"Like I said, good luck."
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After Tony finished eating, he borrowed Natasha's phone and made a few phone calls. Soon enough, a black-tinted car arrived to pick him up.
"I have some business to take care of." Tony says as he turns to Peter. "You want to tag along, Web-Head?"
"No, I have to get home." Peter refuses with a shake of his head. "Though, I'll come to visit you. Are you returning to Los Angeles?"
"Yeah, I have to get back to the company Headquarters." Tony nods.
"Alright, I'll visit you tomorrow." Peter says as he shoots a web at a nearby building and tugs, launching off into the distance.
"I was hoping he would give me a lift home..." Tony sighs dejectedly as he waves at Natasha and hops into the car, leaving her there.
*ring ring ring*
"Romanoff?" Natasha answers the phone.
"We got the images back, he's using..." Fury says but Natasha stops him.
"Portals, I know." She says with a bit of sass in her voice.
"He showed it to you?" Fury asks.
"Yes, he knew it was a lie from the start and seems to be upset with me now." Natasha says with a sigh.
"Should we pull you out and send a different agent to take your place?" Fury asks, not affected a single bit by the outcome of his lie.
"No, I'll figure it out." Natasha answers with a tired sigh.
"Alright, I'll have Barton on standby just in case. Spider-Man is too good of an asset to lose after all." Fury says and cuts the call.
Putting the phone away, Natasha leans up against her stolen car with a sad and conflicted look on her face. She needed to apologize and make it up to Spidey somehow...
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The next day, MJ came over after school and they watched TV together in the living room. May was at work and Ned has been working on his game for Parker Games, so they had the house all to themselves.
Just as things were getting a bit hot and heavy, the random channel they had on suddenly changed to a live press conference.
"Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down?" A voice came from the TV.
Peter's attention was immediately drawn away from MJ's lips and onto the TV, where they both saw Tony Stark sitting in front of a podium.
"Why don't you just sit down? That way you can see me, and this is a bit less formal." Tony says to the crowd on the other side of the camera.
"Good to see you." Tony says to Obadiah Stane, who is standing there beside him.
[Insert picture of MCU Obadiah Stane here]
"Good to see you too." Stane responds with nothing but lies.
"Didn't you just rescue him? Why is he holding a press conference?" MJ asks, from her position wrapped in Peter's arms.
"I don't know." Peter says as they both watch curiously.
"I never got to say goodbye to my father. There are questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels... I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend and protect them. I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability." Tony says with a hollow look in his eyes.
"What happened over there?" One of the reporters in the crowd asks.
"I had my eyes opened." Tony stands and moves behind the podium. "I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. That is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International"
A huge commotion is heard, as every reporter in the room starts rapid-firing questions.
"Until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be. What direction it should take, hopefully, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well." Tony leaves the stage and Obadiah Stane takes his place at the podium.
"What we should take away from this is that Tony's back! And he's healthier than ever. We're going to have a..." Stane speaks and Peter mutes the TV.
"How did a bunch of terrorists get a hold of Stark weapons?" MJ asks suspiciously.
"It sounds like someone in his company is selling some goods off the books." Peter answers.
"Are you still planning to visit Stark today?" MJ asks as she pulled out of Peter's hold and stood up.
"Yeah, where are you going?" Peter confirms.
"Home, go visit Tony and get the details. Maybe you can help." MJ says as she pecks Peter on the cheek and makes her way to the door. "Be sure to bring me back all the details."
At that moment, Peter knew why she was doing this. MJ wanted the juicy details about what she just heard on TV. Luckily, her significant other has some connections.
'She would make a good reporter or detective...'
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Stepping through a portal into the Stark mansion in Los Angeles, Peter enters Tony's workshop and sees Pepper Pots standing over Tony, who is shirtless on a reclined chair. There's a hole in his chest and the arc reactor is on a nearby table. Pepper's fingers are all up inside Tony's chest hole, reaching for something.
[Insert picture of MCU Pepper Potts here]
"Okay, now make sure that when you pull it out, that you don't..." Tony tries to explain something, but Pepper pulls out a wire with a magnet attached causing some nearby medical equipment to start beeping. "There's a magnet at the end of it! That was it. You just pulled it out!"
"Oh, God!" Pepper starts to panic.
"Okay, I was not expecting that..." Tony mutters.
"Okay, what do I do?" Pepper asks as she tries to put the magnet back inside Tony's chest hole.
"Don't put it back in! Don't put it back in!" Tony stops her.
"What's wrong?" Pepper asks.
"Nothing, I'm just going into cardiac arrest..." Tony says.
"Can I lend a hand?" Peter makes his presence known, scaring Pepper with his sudden appearance.
"Ahh! Web-Head. Perfect timing." Tony says as he waves Peter over. "You say you're a nerd, right? Help me out."
Pepper immediately steps away in shock as Spider-Man takes her place and begins fixing whatever she did. Tony walks him through it and in no time a brand new magnet and arc reactor are in place.
"Oh, that's so much better." Tony says as the shrapnel in his chest is no longer making its way towards his heart. "Thanks, Web-Head. I owe you one."
"You owe me two." Peter holds up two fingers. "I also saved you from a desert."
"Sir, if this is a good time, I believe I require a diagnostics check. The cameras seem to be malfunctioning." Jarvis speaks through the speakers in the room.
"How so?" Tony asks as he rolls his chair toward a nearby computer.
"You are talking to somebody that I can't see. I can hear his voice through the microphones in the house, yet he's invisible to the cameras." Jarvis explains.
"Oh, sorry. Let me fix that for you." Peter says and turns off his camera protection.
Instantly, Tony saw Spider-Man appear on a nearby surveillance monitor, and Jarvis could see him as clear as day.
"That's a neat bit of technology." Tony nods in approval.
"It's not." Peter answers cryptically as he turns to a very confused Pepper Pots.
"Hello, I'm Spider-Man. Sorry for the late introduction." Peter says as he holds his hand forward.
"P-Pepper." She says and shakes Peter's hand.
"Sorry for dropping in without permission, but I saw the press conference and thought I'd come over. Well, that's only half truthful. My girlfriend was watching too and wanted to know how those terrorists got your weapons. Though I have to say, I'm curious as well." Peter says as he turns back to Tony.
"I haven't had time to look into it yet. Want to team up and figure it out, Web-Head?" Tony asks excitedly. "It'll be like a comic book team up."
"Except you aren't a superhero..." Peter says and Tony's eyes brighten as if a light bulb went off in his head.
"I could be..." Tony mutters lowly.
Only Peter could hear what Tony said, and a smile instantly formed on his face.
'Did I just help Tony Stark decide to officially become Ironman?'
A/N: 1743 words
[DONT FORGET MY STONES! And I'll do nothing because I'm lazy... 😴]