Resilience | Marvel

Chapter 18

Peter aimlessly wandered the halls connected to the living area. He couldn't sleep and there was a calming feeling on Floor 70. There was a large window at the end of the hall, which pointed toward the statue of liberty. He had been to Liberty island a few times, his parents had taken him when he was four or so, he didn't remember much of his parents. 

"They left for a trip, and never came back," is what May and Ben had told him all his life. When he was younger he'd wished they never left. When he was older, he just wished he had more to remember them by. 

The second time was when Peter was six or so, just after he'd been adopted. Ben and May took him out to Liberty Island to celebrate, he didn't realize where they were going until he stepped off the boat and recognized where they were. They couldn't get him to calm down for a good five minutes.

The third time was last year, he took a girl there on a date, he tried to kiss her, which ended in him getting a slushie dumped on his head. He had to take the ferry back to Battery Park with Grape Slurpee dripping down his neck and staining his shirt. The girl just a few yards away, glaring at him.

His spidey senses kicked in when he heard a clambering from the ceiling, and what sounded like banging coming from the ventilation system. There was a vent at the end of the hall that opened into the family room. He decided to follow the noise and catch whatever was in there.

He braced himself for an intruder or a bird, the last one was partly true. A head popped out.

"Clint? What the fuck?" Peter whispered. Clint dropped down from the grate, onto the floor, and ending with a flourish.

"What, you've never seen a guy climbing around in the vents before?"

"Aren't you too old to reenact spy movie cliches?" His eyebrow raised curiously.

"Well, I am a spy, so..." He scratched the back of his neck, his eye catching the cupboard in the kitchen, he walked towards it grabbing something from inside. 

"How have I been here a month and not known about this?" Peter gestured towards the ceiling.

"Be more observant, kid." He tossed a bag of potato chips to the fifteen year old, who caught them easily.

"Wait, you don't like...actually spy on anyone here, right?" He asked as he sat down on the sofa.

"Just Tony, he hates it, so that only makes me do it more. Why? You got any secrets you don't want me to know about?" He asked sarcastically.

"Shut up, Bird-Man." Peter stuck his tongue out like a five-year-old.

"Real mature, Parker. We need to get you some abilities, so you can come with us on our missions." He nudged Peter, who chuckled nervously. 

"Ha.Ha.Ha." Peter slow clapped. "But yeah, I'm in this weird, in-between stage, where I don't really feel like an Avenger, but I don't really feel like an employee either. You and Nat seem to have it all together."

"I felt like that when I first started living here, Natasha helped me out. I mean, I've known her for almost a decade, when we got called in for the Avengers Initiative, neither of us knew what we were really supposed to do, the Battle of New York, that was our first Avengers Mission, we had no idea what we were doing. I was a carnie, who spent his free time shooting targets. And she was a Russian assassin, who'd been brainwashed by the KGB. I was sent to end her, but she was cornered by some KGB sleepers, who she'd apparently, stolen from earlier that night, something in me said, 'No, maybe she needs saving.' I gave her a choice, take my hand, or I'd leave her, she grabbed my hand, We ran, S.H.I.E.L.D and KGB operatives chased us."

"We hid out for a month in Budapest. I found out what they did to the girls in the "Red Room". I realized none of this was her fault. After I convinced her she would be okay if I took her back to S.H.I.E.L.D and explained the situation to Fury, she was recruited. I don't know why, Fury was the one who sent me to kill her in the first place."

"Maybe he sent you because he knew you would give her a chance." 

"I've never thought of it like that."Clint looked like he had just realized something very big.

"Speaking of Natasha, where does she disappear to every day?" He crunched a handful of chips in his mouth.

"She goes down to the training floor." Peter already knew that.

"Yeah, and does what?" He turned the bag upside down, realizing he'd finished the entire bag of chips in roughly four minutes.

"Spars with dummies." Clint plopped down onto the couch.

"That doesn't sound very effective." Peter balanced on the arm of the sofa while Clint pushed on him with his feet.

"Yeah it's not, I try and go down there to spar with her as much as I can, but that only goes so far. You should go down there, I'm sure she'd like to pick on the new kid a little bit." 

Peter knew he could probably match her in a fight. But he didn't really want the team knowing that. He'd rather just  do his internship, keep his head down, and go quietly. He wanted more than anything to be an Avenger, but if they knew about his age, they'd probably make him wait until he was eighteen until they let him fight alongside them. 

"I dunno, I mean, she'd probably break my arm or something." Peter nervously tried to make an excuse. 

"Aw come-on, she'd go easy on you. It'd be good for you too, seeing as how you don't get out of this tower that much." Clint nudged his shoulder again, Peter rubbed it, feigning actual pain.

"See, you need the muscle, I almost took ya down with one tap." He laughed.

"Whatever, bird-guy, I need to get to bed, I'll be sure to talk to Nat tomorrow." Peters eyes caught the shine of the Empire State Building, his next goal. 

He went to tap on the elevator button, for a split second an error message appeared and a *whomp* sounded from the panel. Jarvis must need maintenance. Peter thought. He tapped it again and everything was fine, he arrived at his floor and pulled his suit out from under the bed and climbed out the window