The Waterspout

In Which Peter Misses Dinner and Tony gets a Headache

"Mr. Stark?"

Peter left another message on the man's voicemail for the 50th time this week. "Um, this is Peter, uh I was just calling to ask whether you needed my help saving the world or something... Call me when you do..."

He hung up, flopping onto his bed. Damn I'm bored... "Aggghhhuu... why are some days so normal?"

It was Wednesday, which meant he wasn't allowed to go patrolling, according to the quite irritating rules Aunt May had laid out when she'd found out his little secret. Said rules also dictated that when he could go out, he had to be back by ten. Which was inconvenient to say the least; real trouble happened around eleven.

He wasn't about to complain though. She hadn't taken his suit or grounded him for all of eternity as he'd feared. So shit if he was going to make a fuss about a few boundaries when the alternative was near-literal life imprisonment.

But if Mr. Stark needed him to help save the world... well, Aunt May couldn't keep him from something that important.

He checked his nerdy watch (it had chemical elements instead of numbers), and sighed. 3:10... Aunt May wouldn't be home until 5:00...

Peter opened the attic hatch above his desk. His room tilted as he attached himself to the ceiling and climbed through the small entrance. Crouching in a frog-like position, he opened his fancy Stark Industries suitcase.

The mechanic suit holder flipped open, revealing his totally awesome Spider-Man suit. Hesitating, and knowing he really shouldn't be doing this, he grabbed it, then jumped back down into his room.

A couple minutes later, he opened his bedroom window and swung out into the crisp Manhattan air.

He perched on top of one of the many skyscrapers in Rockefeller Plaza. From his seat, he watched the ant-sized people run back and forth from building to building. Nothing abnormal.

He sighed. "Hey Karen?"

His suit answered, "Yes Peter?"

"Any reports of any crimes or thefts in the area?"

"Shouldn't you be at home?" The AI sounded a little too much like it was scolding him. "It's Wednesday."

Peter tried to hide his face, which wasn't very effective considering the person he was hiding from was literally the clothes he was wearing. Which was a bit freaky, now that he thought about it. "I've done all my homework and May won't be back for a while and I'm not gonna do anything dangerous..." he trailed off, knowing exactly how true that particular comment was. "Just scan, please, Karen?"

His suit made a noise that sounded a bit like a sigh and compiled. "Scanning..."

Peter tapped his foot impatiently. Just one crime... please? A ding sounded in his ear.

"Speeding on 47th. Crowded street; could get dangerous soon."

Unable to contain excitement and relief, Spider-Man punched the air. "Yes!" He shot a line of web towards the nearest building, and swung towards the downtown area.

Approximately an hour and a half (and three neighborhood crimes) later, Spider-Man was slinking along the edge of the building at the corner of 47th and 5th avenue, on the lookout for some jewel robbers Karen had warned him about. Sure enough, three thugs with ski masks were robbing MDC Diamonds. Not that he was surprised; the Stark tech that Karen used (and was, he supposed) was never wrong. He walked in and leaned against the door frame in attempted casualty. "Hey guys! Why'd you have to start without me? We could have made this a lot easier."