Ghost

29

Maddie leaned against a tall tree in the middle of a park, patiently waiting for Peter to arrive. Earlier that night, Tony called Maddie to ask

"why is the spider kid chasing a van on the news?"

Turning on the TV, Maddie did indeed see a live broadcast of a van driving recklessly through New York and Spider-Man chasing behind. Next thing she knew, Tony was asking her to drive to a certain location and wait.

So here she was....waiting.

He originally wanted her there to rip into the boy for being so reckless. But the more he thought about it, he decided it would be more effective if he lectured Peter instead of a 16 year old girl. Tony did however need Maddie to know what was going on with Peter, since she is Peters contact to Stark Industries and the avengers.

She heard noises above her head and watched as her dads suit placed Peter on the jungle gym infront of her. Ripping off his mask, Peter sighed before bursting out with words. Maddie could have sworn he was speaking a different language by how fast he was talking.

"And then he just, he just, like, swooped down like a monster and he picked me up and, uh, he took me up, like, a thousand feet and just dropped me. How'd you guys find me? Did you put a tracker in my suit or something?" Peter rambled as he watched Tony's suit land infront of him while Maddie stayed against the tree.

"I put everything into your suit dweeb" Maddie laughed.

"Including this heater" Tony finished for his daughter. Instantly, Peters suit starts to heat up and within a few seconds the wet material is dry. Peter looked a bit more relaxed now. His arms that were thrown across his chest now fell to his sides.

"What were you thinking!?" Tony yelled after Peter warmed up.

"The guy with the wings is obviously the source of the weapons. I gotta take him down." Peter nodded back.

"Take him down now, huh? Steady, Crockett, there are people who handle this sort of thing."

"Like the Avengers?" Peter smirked a bit.

"This is a little below their pay grade." Maddie jumped in, pushing herself off the tree and moving to stand beside Tony's suit.

Peter looked a bit confused at Maddie, silently thinking why she was here.

"Anyway, Mr. Stark, you didn't have to come all the way out here. I had that. I was fine." Peter moved his gaze from Maddie to his mentor.

"Oh he's not here." Maddie smirked. Tony's mask opens showing an empty space where Tony's face should have been. Tony was in India, so he was unable to be present in front of the two teens.

"Look forget the flying Vulture guy please!". Tony groaned

"Why?"

"Why!? Because I said so!" Tony's snaps. Peter looks down at his hands and starts to twiddle his thumbs. Maddie stays quiet, not wanting to be apart of Peters lecture.

"Stay close to the ground. Build up your game helping little people, like that lady that bought you the churro. Can't you just be a friendly... neighborhood Spider-Man?"

"But I'm ready for more" Peter looked up, a serious look in his face.

"No you're not".

Peter scoffs at this statement. If he really thought he wasn't ready, why would he bring him to Germany? Why make Peter fight thee Captain America? Why recruit Peter if he's not effective.

"You know, it's never too early to start thinking about college. I got some pull at MIT." And with that Tony ended the call.

The iron man suit flies off and Peter is left with Maddie in the Park. They both watched the suit disappear into the sky and fly back to the tower.

"I guess you're gonna give me a lecture too, huh?" Peter scoffed at Maddie. Maddie just shook her head and sat down on a nearby swing set.

"Nah. I prefer to be good cop in these situations. I'm trying to work on being more positive actually. It's going terrible though cause just yesterday, I told Happy that we basically spend our lives inviting people to our own funerals and he cried for like 20 minutes."

Peter furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the Stark girl. "Why are you here then?".

Pushing her legs beneath her so she was swinging back and forth, Maddie groaned a bit. "Cause my dad thinks I need new hobbies so he's making me watch out for you".

"I don't need a babysitter!" Peter scoffed.

"Who said I wanted to be your babysitter? God, give a boy a multi-million dollar suit and he's suddenly Mr independent" Maddie mumbled the last part under her breath but Peters super human hearing easily picked it up.

Noticing Peters sour mood, Maddie followed up. "Look, I'm no superhero so really whatever I tell you to do is useless. If your going to do shit like this, at least try and stay off the news so I don't have my dad calling me about it constantly. Honestly, if I was you and I saw something shady going on, I would probably react too."

Maddie stood up from the swing set and began to dig through her jacket pocket for her car keys.

"Just be careful please. I don't need another dead body in carved in my memory".

Nodding understandably, Peter started to pick up his mask and twirl it in his fingers.

"I'm serious Parker. If you die doing something reckless, I will find a way to resurrect you and personally kill you myself. Got it?" Maddie looked sternly at Peter. The soft, peaceful look from the first time Peter met her was gone.

"Y-yes I understand. No reckless behaviour from me" Peter smiled, but really he was kind of scared of the girl infront of him. With a nod, Maddie was stepping into her car outside the park and driving off.

Peter watched the car drive away. He could hear her words repeating in his head. Jumping down from the jungle gym, Peter threw on his mask and started walking down the street.

"Stay close to the ground? What is he talking about?" Peter muttered to himself as he kicked a pebble ahead of him. He stops walking, spotting something in a close yard. Peter enters the yard and finds a piece of A damaged weapon that had fallen out of the vehicle. He crouches down to tentatively flip it over with his fingertips. He carefully lifts the weapon. Metal and wires encase the glowing core. Peter looks up, determination clear on his masked face.

However, whatever he was thinking, he knew Tony wouldn't like it!