Legion ▹ Peter Parker [1]

7 | giving tree

7 | GIVING TREE

Five minutes went by, and Peter had did as told and met Val on the roof. "I would've never thought it was you." Val crossed her arms and laughed.

Peter shrugged and smiled small. The two stood in silence, overlooking Liz's suburban neighborhood and the forest that lingered just past it. The two wanted to say so many thing to each other, but simply could not put it to words. Their excitement ate out their insides.

Fortunately, they didn't have to stand in silence for much longer because a large, glowing, blue explosion went off in the visible forest. Valdís shot Peter a look, and Peter nodded, as if he were accepting the mission. The two hurriedly slipped on their suits that they couldn't seem to part ways with for one night, and set off into the night.

The two hurried to the scene on foot. "This sucks." Peter groaned as the two raced toward the explosion. Valdís shot him a challenging smirk then pulled up her bandana so that it would conceal the majority of her face.

The pair made it to the location of the explosion quite rapidly. Peter began to quickly and efficiently climb a tree, he reached his arm down and gave Valdís a lift so that they could hide and watch the scene carefully.

Three men were at the site, two seemed to be selling crazy weaponry, just like the ones the robbers were using the night before. "I got, black hole grenades, Chitauri rail guns..." One man offered.

The other seller approached the client. "Look, times are changing and were the only ones selling these high tech weapons." He told.

"Ohhhh, this must be where the ATM robbers got their stuff." Peter whispered to Valdís. Val nodded as her eyes locked onto the men.

"I just need something to stakeout somebody. I'm not trying to shoot them back in time." The buyer explained.

"I got anti-grav climbers..." the first seller that was digging around in his stock told.

"You have climbers?" The buyer inquired.

Valdís was ready to hear more about their stuff, until... Peter's phone began to loudly ring. Valdís punched his arm. "What the hell?" She whispered at him.

"Okay, what the hell was that?" One of the vendor inquired, looking around.

One vendor pulled out a gun and pointed it at the buyer. "You set us up?" He asked.

"Hey, hey, man!" The buy rose his arms up in surrender.

Peter turned off his ringer then jumped down onto the ground from the tree, leaving Valdís quite stuck on top of the tree. "Hey, cmon! If you're gonna shoot at somebody, shoot at me!" Peter exclaimed, gaining the attention of the vendor.

"All right." The seller grumbled then pointed his gun at Peter. Peter shot his web at the man and yanked away his gun. Peter then charged at the other vendor, but got blasted by one of their many weapons, and was sent flying at least 30 feet.

The three men booked it. They hopped into their cars and sped away before Peter could get up. Peter shot his web at the back of the vendors' van and held on. He was dragged as the van sped down the road. Valdís knew that she had to get down from the tree now, but as soon as she looked down, she sucked in a sharp, fearful breath. The height of the tree was extremely tall and she was afraid to fall.

"W—what do I do?" She huffed, her breath shaky as she readjusted herself on the tree limb.

"What would you like me to do, Miss Rogers?" A staticky, robotic, loud voice rung out.

Valdís jumped up, then clutched onto the limb of the tree. "Who are you!" Valdís shouted.

"I am the personal A.I. Mr. Stark implemented into your suit." The robotic voice told.

Valdís breaths evened out as she calmed herself. "I need to get down from this tree." Valdís let out some airy laughs. What kind of superhero would be afraid of heights?

"I can help you with that." The A.I. stated simply, then, suddenly shot out a small grappling hook from the sleeve of Val's suit.

Val quickly attached it to the limb of the tree, then held on as she hopped off of the tree, gliding down the rope. She was in whole that such a tight suit could hold such a tool, but then again, it was Tony who made it. Val hastily began to run in the direction that Peter was dragged away in.

* * *

Eventually Val caught up with Peter. The criminals had gotten away, and Peter had almost drowned, but Tony seemed to have saved him. Both Val and Peter sat in the park that Tony dropped them off in as Peter dried off. "He just picked me up and took me over like 1000 feet and just dropped me! How'd you find me? Did you put a tracker on my suit or something?" Peter asked the Iron Suit hovering in front of him.

Valdís looked at the suit quite suspiciously. "I put everything in your suit. Including this heater." Tony told, then cued the heater to turn on and rapidly dry Peter off.

"What were you two thinking?" Tony scolded.

Peter looked up at Tony. "The guy with the wings is obviously the source of the weapons. I gotta take him down." Peter told.

"Take him down now, huh? Steady, Crockett. There are people who handle this sort of thing," Tony told, then turned to Val, "and if your father found out that you're out here risking your life—" Tony began.

"The Avengers handle this sort of thing?" Peter inquired.

Tony shook his head. "No, no, no. This is a little below their pay grade." Tony informed.

"Anyway, Mr. Stark. You didn't have to come all the way out here. I had that. I was fine." Peter stated.

"He's not here." Val rolled her eyes, crossing her arms.

"She's right." Tony told, then the suit hovering in front of them opened its mask to reveal nothing behind it.

"Thank god this place had WiFi, or you'd be toast right now. Thank Ganesh while you're at it. Look, forget the flying Vulture guy. Please!" Tony pleaded.

Peter huffed. "Why?" He asked.

"You're sounding like my father now." Valdís grumbled.

Tony groaned. "Why? Because I said so! Stay close to the ground. Build up your game, helping the little people. You too, Val. Like that lady that bought you the churro. Can't you just be like a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man?" Tony lectured.

"But I'm ready for more than that now." Peter whined.

Valdís scoffed. "You almost drowned." She reminded.

"That is not what you thought when I took on Captain America!" Peter exclaimed.

"You fought my father?" Valdís questioned.

"You dad is Captain America?!" Peter asked with wide eyes.

Tony raised up a hand. "Trust me, kid. If Cal wanted to lay you out, he would have. Listen to me. If you come access these weapons again, call Happy." Tony told, then a roar of an engine sounded from his suit.

"Are you driving?" Peter asked.

Tony sighed. "You know, it's never too early to start thinking about college. I got some pull at MIT. Don't forget, Val. Your Uncle Tony will always be here for you, just call. End call." Tony spoke.

"No, I don't need to go to college, Mr. Stark..." Peter was interrupted.

"Mr. Stark is no longer connected." The suit informed, then flew away.

Val snorted. "Of course."