two sided | peter parker

IV | dangerous

  『dan·ger·ous | adjective | able or likely to cause harm or injury』

"SHIT," Peter cursed, swinging out of the way while the criminal in front of him tilted its head, red eyes glowing with something Peter couldn't understand. Whacking it on the side, it merely hurt Peter as he retreated and yelled, yelping and moving out of the way again while it shot a giant claw at him, extending into a wire. "Karen, what's that thing made of?!"

"Scanning," She piped, calculating before concluding her results. "Depleted uranium alloy." Doing a flip, the hero groaned as he smacked head first into a street light, stumbling onto the sidewalk before quickly picking himself up and running away. He shot a few webs at the weird robot, watching it tear through the fluid immediately after.

"Um, more information on that!" He requested, tempted to call Mr. Stark to help, but stubbornly choosing to deal with it himself. Karen whirred a bit in his suit, coming up with an answer within a few seconds. "Depleted uranium alloy is commonly used in modern tanks for battlefields today. They are layered in a mesh pattern about two inches thick. This has nearly four inches of it."

Peter shot another web, swinging another web and dodging another odd wire. "Any idea where its vital spot is?" Karen clicked slightly, struggling. "I need you to stand still, Peter. I need a clearer scan in order to find a vital spot." Risking it, he stood on top of a roof, the robot screeching to a halt and tilting its head on why Peter stopped running.

It didn't waste a second, launching a giant hook at him and slamming him into a building behind him. The bricks hit his back harshly, a bruise blooming across the area as he groaned in pain. "That hit better have been worth it, Karen." The A.I. confirmed it, "I was able to get a better look. There are incredibly tiny gears on its ankle. If you manage to stick a web between its gears, it'll shutdown."

The robot came at him relentlessly, charging while making no noise. However, Peter did a flip and threw out a web in unison, the stickiness lodging in between the sensitive gears. Malfunctioning, it resulted in its default in case something like that happened, self destructing the electrical currents. Picking the robot off of the roof, he asked Karen to call Mr. Stark.

"What's up, kid?"

"Um, hey, Mr. Stark? I have a robot corpse." 

Hours had passed, the hunk of lingering web fluid and metal laying limp on Tony's lab table. "And you took this thing head on?" He massaged his temple, glancing at Peter who feebly nodded. The boy still had his suit on, his hair adorned into an absolute mess while his brown eyes casually flicked to his mentor, his hands, the floor, and the robot.

"Yeah," His answer earned a look from Tony, the man raising an eyebrow. "I-I mean, it came at me first! Plus, I'm okay." He reassured, showing no sign of bruising or any other minor marks on the front half as he hid his backside. The superior superhero sighed, "You know what I said before, kid. Don't be as reckless as you were two years ago, Peter."

Peter looked down, changing the subject as he licked his lips. "Karen scanned it and said it was made out of depleted uranium alloy." Tony confirmed it, giving it a hard knock as it banged loudly and only hurt his knuckles in the end. Pulling his reddened knuckles back with a slight hiss, he muttered. "That thing's only for the army, how could it possibly get that? And this much of it?"

The nerd's head perked up, eyes narrowing at the lump before he went over to poke it. The arm moved slightly, but stayed still after he backed up. "Maybe it's like the Vulture, the smuggling of stuff, I mean." Tony pursed his lips, averting his eyes to the metal wrench in his hand and swinging it slightly. "That's the problem, kid."

Peter didn't understand, stammering. "Wh-What do you mean by that, Mr. Stark?" Sighing, Tony took the wrench and tore out the gears that Peter had managed to stick together. Underneath, as if it was covered up previously with remnants of Peter's webs, were a syringe and some kind of bottle connected to it.

"It isn't smuggling, it's implanting things. Infecting, even. I'm not sure, Bruce and I tested the stuff we swabbed from inside the tube, but we couldn't recognize it." He muttered pathetically, shaking his head. Tony tapped the table anxiously, wrench still tightly clutched in his other hand. "T-This is a lot. Go on home, kid, just keep an eye out. I'll let you know when Bruce and I identify it."

Peter, knowing there was no point to stay and argue with the adult, reluctantly followed his orders. He whispered a soft goodnight before running out in his Spider-Man suit, swinging throughout the city once more, red eyes no longer on him. Being the guy in the chair, Ned faithfully was waiting for him as Peter slipped through the window, the suit dropping before him.

"What are you doing in here?" He yelled softly, careful not to alert his aunt at the same time. Black hair slightly flopping, Ned frowned and adjusted his shirt. "You invited me over for a sleepover! Either way, I brought another Star Wars Lego set." The superhero groaned, running a hand through his chocolate locks. 

Shaking his head, he refused. "It's like two in the morning. We can build it tomorrow, Ned. It'll be Saturday anyways." Peeling it off and pulling on another shirt, Peter winced and moaned in pain as the muscles of the bruise on his back flexed. "Holy shit," Ned stared at the darkening spot with wide eyes, "What did that to you?"

"This weird robot thing with glowing red eyes." 

From Ned's expression, Peter could tell that he was eager to talk more about it.

"Ned, we'll talk about it in the morning."

"Peter, glowing red robot eyes! That's so fucking cool! Could it—"

"—Ned. Ned! Ned! We'll talk about it in the morning, okay?"

"Okay, okay. I'll let it go. . . for now."