What Tangled Webs We Weave

Chapter One

Why was Peter tied up and hanging upside down from the ceiling over a pit of sharks, you may ask? That's a good question. To which there is a perfectly logical explanation.

What that explanation might be, Peter had absolutely no clue.

"This is really cliché, I hope you know!" Peter called down to the man who was running the whole show. "Where did you get these sharks anyway? Amazon?"

The man looked up at him, his burnt face wearing a scowl. "Oh shut it, will ya?" He called back in a gravelly voice. "Don't make me kill you sooner."

"Oh, please do, sir. I just can't stand the wait!" Peter tried not to gasp as the man lowered him down quickly. "Okay, okay! I get it!" He flinched as a shark barely missed his head by a few feet. He began to wiggle, being closer to the sharks effectively shutting him up.

Well, at least for a good two minutes.

"Why the heck did you take me here?" Peter asked, glancing nervously at the sharks below. If you haven't been dangled over a pool of sharks, it's very frightening when they're right under you, ready to jump up at a minute.

He knew why he was being held captive. He had been making his usual rounds around the city, stopping robberies, all that. He had noticed a suspicious looking man entering what looked like an abandoned building. Peter had followed after him.

Before Peter had even had the chance to see who it was, he was hit in the back of the head and knocked unconscious. When he woke up, he was tied up and over a pit of sharks. How fun.

Of course, he had seen this guys photo around from on the news or from when he worked with the police, but he had no clue what his name was and what exactly he had done. People usually didn't tell him stuff.

What he didn't understand was why he was here. The building he had entered had been relatively small. This was a big warehouse. Why had they moved? And why in heavens name was Peter being held above sharks?!

The man chuckled and his scowl turned to a smirk.  "Ah, Mr. Rogers-Stark.  You are quite persistent, aren't you?"

Peter immediately froze. How did he know? He was still wearing his mask, wasn't he? Did he take it off while he was unconscious? It was still on now. "How did you-"

"I won't tell anyone, Spider-Man," the man said with a shrug. "Well, unless it comes down to it..."

"Why did you take me here?!" Peter shouted, worried now. "I was just following because you looked suspicious. Not because I know what you're doing!"

The man shook his head. "Oh, but we know you, Peter. We know everything. We know what you've done."

Peter was freaking out now. Who was 'we?' What had he done that they should use against him? Oh no.  Did they find out about his Spider-Man merchandise stash?!

"Yeah, okay. I'm done with this." Peter managed to wriggle his arm free of the rope that was binding him and shot a web at the man, knocking him over onto the ground. He then looked around for something to cut the rope with.

He spotted a piece of broken glass across the warehouse by a broken window. He quickly webbed it up and yanked it back.

Bad idea.

The glass cut into his palm and began to fall. He quickly webbed it up again and lifted it up. Slowly. He grabbed it, ignoring his now bleeding hand. He cut the ropes and, before he could fall and get eaten by sharks, he swung away from it.

He landed in front of the man who had just stood up. He tackled the man back down.

"How do you know so much about me?" Peter asked, pinning him down with his arm across his throat.

"We won't tell." The man wore a frightening grin. "Never."  He had an almost dead look in his eyes.

"Who the heck is we? Why did you hang me over a pool of-" Peter looked back at the pool and was surprised to see it empty. "- hologram sharks?"

The man had picked up a device from the floor beside him, not taking his eyes off of Peter. "What? You didn't see that coming?"

Peter's jaw dropped slightly. That had struck a nerve. Not thinking, he punched the man, square in the nose.

"I'm alerting the authorities," Peter muttered, using his suit to do so. He stood up, shaking.

The man just laughed, ignoring the blood coming from his nose and Peter. Peter kept a very close eye on him as he waited for the authorities to arrive.

He gave a sigh of relief as he heard sirens drawing nearer outside. The officers came in not much later. They immediately went and grabbed the man, him still laughing all the while. One of them saw Peter's bleeding hand and offered to bandage it up for him.

"Man, we've been lookin' for this dude for a while," The officer said as he bandaged up Peter's hand. "Of course, I'm new, so I don't know exactly why, to be honest. Won't tell me a thing."

After they loaded the man into the cop car and Peter's hand was fixed up, Peter left, hearing a few faint thank you's.

After Peter left the warehouse, he started swinging his way home. He was still shaken from what had happened. How did they know so much about him?

They knew Spider-Man was Peter - or, they knew Peter was Spider-Man, or - it doesn't matter. They knew who he was. Only a few people knew Peter was Spider-Man, and those people couldn't have told that man, right?

And that phrase.... you didn't see that coming? Pietro said that. Pietro Maximoff. Quicksilver. Speedy Gonzales. The hero Peter saw die in Sokovia.

Why on earth did they say that? How did they know that?

What had he done to that man? What had he done to cause him to find out everything about Peter? It didn't make sense.

He landed on the sidewalk outside Stark Tower - or, Avengers Tower. But he preferred to call it home. He walked inside and immediately heard FRIDAY - His Dad's AI assistant - welcome him.

"Welcome home, Peter," Friday said.

"Thank you, FRIDAY," Peter said as he made his way to the elevator.

"Everyone is waiting for you in the TV room, Peter. You're twenty minutes late. Shall I alert them of your arrival?"

Peter pressed the elevator button slowly, confused. "Late? Late for what?"

"For movie night, sir."

Peter's eyes widened. "Oh sh-" He pressed the TV room button faster. He had completely forgotten about movie night! He was to busy hanging over fake sharks to remember. "Er, no, FRIDAY. They'll figure it out in a minute."

"Alright. Is everything alright, Peter?  Do I need to activate the-"

"Everything is perfectly fine, FRIDAY," Peter quickly said with a sigh.

As he anxiously waited for the elevator to finish its crawl to the TV room floor, his mind drifted back to the man from before. How much did he know about Peter? About his family?  About his family and friends?

He didn't want to, under any circumstance, put his friends or family in any danger.  Peter didn't want to put MJ or Ned in harms way.  They deserved better than that. 

And his Dads... he didn't want to have to tell them about The man.  The man who knew so much about him.  They'd get really worried and would probably baby him again.  Maybe they'd try to take his suit away again.  He didn't want to risk that.

When the elevator doors slowly began to open, he tried to push those thoughts away. But one thought stayed in the back of his mind.

This was going to be one interesting summer.