Caught In A Web

two

THREE MONTHS LATER...

"There's been more sightings of that spider-woman in downtown New York," Fury stated.

Fury was standing in front of the long conference table in the glass-walled room of the Tower. Tony was on the opposite end, with Steve, Bucky, and Natasha on his right and Sam and Bruce on his left. The rest of the Avengers were out on missions or had taken personal time off, leaving the six of them to deal with Fury. There were holograms playing from a small round object in the center of the table: changing from video clip to video clip of the spider-woman.

"My question to you is what are we going to do about it?" Fury continued.

"Do we need to do anything about it?" Sam questioned. "It seems as if she's just helping out people in need."

"It seems that way, but it is clear that she has powers."

"And what's the problem with that?" Asked Steve.

"The problem, Rogers, is that we don't know exactly what this spider-woman's powers entail. We need to find her and bring her in for an evaluation."

Tony scoffed. "You just want another super-powered human on the roster."

"What I want is to make sure that we're all on the same side here. And I hope that's something that you all can get behind."

"How exactly do you want us to bring her in?" Bruce wondered.

"We are in a building full of professional trackers and technology that allows us to make it extremely easy, figure it out."

~~~

Tony was struggling, not that he would admit that to anyone. Pepper had broken up with him over a year ago and left Stark Industries, leaving him a broken shell of a man and putting him back as CEO of the company. Nothing interested him anymore; working in the lab, the suits, hero work, none of it. So when Fury told the team about bringing in the spider-woman, he really didn't care about it. The person wasn't doing any harm and actually helping the heroes with their job.

To try to help Tony get his mind off his troubles and maybe find this new hero, he decided to go out flying that night. He took one of his older suit models, only him to reminisce of the good old days. Flying between the skyscrapers allowed Tony to scope out the city to see if there were any signs that the spider-woman was out. Though Tony didn't actually care, he had FRIDAY gathered all the information on the new hero and had determined that there were more sightings on the weekends than on weekdays.

"Boss, there was a sighting two blocks east of you," FRIDAY interrupted Tony's quiet flight.

"I'm not going unless you're positive it's her," Tony stated, not wanting to put any work in if it wasn't going to be worth it.

"Pulling up the live street cam footage now."

On Tony's helmet screen appear the live feed of you, in a white and black masked suit, tying up a man with spider webs. FRIDAY had already changed the suit's direction without Tony's orders. Tony was interested in the situation, noticing how there was a clearly distraught woman against the wall of the alleyway you were in.

"Is there any way we could get some audio, FRI?" Tony wondered.

"I tried, boss," FRIDAY informed. "Unfortunately, the audio is unavailable."

"Park the suit around the corner or on the roof of a building. I want to observe the situation."

"You got it."

FRIDAY parked the suit on the edge of a nearby rooftop. Tony looked down on the scene.

"The cops are on their way," you informed, voice slightly muffled by your mask. "And the two I called don't particularly like rapists."

The man you had tied up in a web, tried to speak but you quickly shot a web out of your wrist and covered his mouth.

"I can't hear you," you taunted. You turned around and went over to the frightened woman. "Are you alright?"

"Y—yes," the woman shuttered as she nodded. "Thank you."

"Of course. The police should be here any second. They both are understanding women and will get you the help you need."

"Okay."

You turned around and shot another web around the man's ankles and then another at his wrists. "He's not going anywhere. You're safe." You could hear the sirens on their way. "I've got to get going."

"Wait! I don't even know your name."

"I don't have one. And that's alright. I'm sure I'll see you around."

You shot a web up at the edge of the roof and swung up onto the roof, disappearing from the view of the alley. Tony, now on the same roof as you, watched as you crouched down and peeked over the edge. You didn't move as the police showed up and took care of the man and woman. Letting out a sigh of relief, you went to pull off your mask but you stopped yourself when you felt like you were being watched. Looking to the side you realized that Iron Man was staring right at you.

"Impressive," he complimented through the suit.

"Thanks," you responded, swallowing nervously. "What brings you around these parts, Iron Man? A little far from your glamorous tower, aren't you?"

"You are actually the reason I'm out and about tonight."

"What? Why?"

"You've caught our team's attention and we've been tasked to bring you in for evaluation."

"Really? That's interesting."

"Yeah, so if you don't mind swinging over to the tower, that would be great."

"Yeah, I don't think so."

"What?"

"I'm not interested in being a part of your team. I really only do this as a hobby. Besides, your team doesn't solve the little everyday problems that need to be taken care of. Someone's got to help with those."

"And you think you're the one to do that?"

"Well, you clearly aren't."

Tony smirked inside the helmet, secretly enjoying the banter the two of you were getting into.

"Now," you continued, "if you'll excuse me, I've got more people to take care of."

"Hold up," Tony took a step toward you. "You aren't going anywhere but with me to the tower."

"No thanks."

"I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice."

"Yeah," you shook your head, "I'm not so sure about that."

You jumped up, doing a flip over Iron Man while tying him up with your webs. You knew that it wouldn't hold him but you needed time to get away.

"See ya around, Tin Man."

Tony could hear the smirk as you spoke before disappearing between two buildings. He was quick to free himself from the webs and try to follow after you. You were already a few blocks away, using the buildings and your webs to swing further. Tony had his suit pick up speed as you turned a corner. Before he could catch up, you threw yourself into your open apartment window. You crawled up onto the ceiling and held yourself there until you heard Iron Man zoom past you.

When you felt safe, you dropped yourself onto your bed and tore off your mask.

"That was a close one," you breathed out.

~~~

Tony searched all night for a sign of you. Even with FRIDAY's help, he couldn't find you. He went back to the tower with nothing but that little interaction with you and a few webs still stuck to his suit. He immediately threw himself into his lab to study the webs. Tony was now fighting the urge to find you, not because of Fury but because he wanted to actually get to know you. To him, there was an undeniable connection as the two of you spoke. He was going to find you, whatever it took.