Walking the Tightrope 🕷 Peter Parker [2]

twenty

Peter

At first, they really had no idea where to start looking for David Cartwright. Immanuel was done talking to them, and even when Colin burst through the door demanding that he tell them more, Immanuel refused. He had already given them enough information, he thought. And until he had a lawyer, he wasn't going to say a word.

So, Peter thought, going back to the apartment where he found Alexandra at first was probably their best bet. It was still gross when they arrived. Mr. Stark had also tagged along, though he seemed to be without his Iron Man suit, which confused Peter but he didn't ask about it.

Peter, on the other hand, was all decked out in his Spider suit. Karen was more than happy to help out, as was Mr. Stark's AI, FRIDAY. When they stepped inside the apartment, Peter realized there wasn't much there to work with.

"FRI, do me a favor and scan for anything unusual," Mr. Stark said, tapping the sides of his sunglasses and looking around. Peter watched with amazement as his sunglasses seemed to spark to life. Of course Mr. Stark's glasses would be equipped with his AI and super cool technology.

"What would you call 'unusual,' Boss?" FRIDAY replied.

Mr. Stark paused for a moment. "I don't know, that's what you're here for."

"Yes, Boss."

That seemed to be the end of the conversation, because FRIDAY didn't say anything again. Peter assumed she was still scanning the apartment for anything strange. Colin had taken it upon himself to look around while Peter and Mr. Stark stood and waited for FRIDAY.

Peter felt kind of useless, so he asked Karen to help him find as much information about David Cartwright as possible. Soon enough, his screen was buzzing with articles and public records on David Cartwright and it made Peter's blood run cold.

"Mr. Stark..." Peter tugged on his mentor's jacket as he pulled his mask off and faced his mentor. "You need to take a look at this."

To Peter's surprise, Karen was able to holographically project everything Peter had been seeing so everyone else in the room could see it, too. Mr. Stark's eyes glazed over the screen and he must have put two and two together, because his eyes went wide soon after. "Shit."

Colin came back into the room. "What is it?" He asked, looking to the screen. He read over a couple of things. "Shit." He also cursed.

David Cartwright had been at Stark Industries several years earlier, back in 2012 when the Chitauri attacked New York. According to the files, he had been an integral part of organizing the group that was studying the alien weapons and making sure no one else was able to get their hands on them.

He hadn't done a very good job, Peter thought as he remembered Adrian Toomes' operation from last year.

"Mr. Stark, these files say he was fired after it was discovered that he was working on developing the weapons for sale at SI." Peter looked to his mentor. "Is that true?"

Tony shook his head. "I don't know—I seem to remember hearing something about alien weapons and a rogue scientist in that division," He rubbed the back of his neck. "But honestly, by that time, I wasn't really super involved with that kind of stuff anymore. It was more Pepper's area."

"Yeah? Well I think Cartwright's pissed that 'you' fired him all those years ago." Colin glared at Mr. Stark. "And he's trying to use my daughter to get revenge."

"We'll fix this." Mr. Stark tried to assure him, but it was clear that Colin was angry already. He swatted Mr. Stark's hand away and paced the room. "Now that we know exactly who this guy is, it'll make it a lot easier to track him down and bring him in."