Dust - On Hiatus

Night Monkey

The room filled with shocked silence. No one moved, as if they were scared to even breathe lest they break the spell put upon them by Tony Starks message.

Peter is the first to break the silence. He sinks to the ground, not wanting his friends to see him break but unable to stop it. There are no tears this time, only a sort of overwhelming regret. And shock. MJ puts her hand on his shoulder, but he shrugs it off, pulling himself back up.

"I'm fine, really. I-I just need a moment." His mind lingers on the image of his mentors face, on the love in his voice as he'd spoken. The things he said, so full of certainty and pride. Peter still found it unbelievable that he had inspired that emotion in the great Tony Stark. Peter lingers on that for a moment, relieved when it doesn't hurt. He realizes, suddenly, that the whole thing doesn't hurt quite as much as it used to. Tony didn't blame him, he'd said he loved him. A weight is lifted off of Peter's shoulders that he didn't even know was there.

He turned to his friends, an expression of awe on his face. "He said he loved me," he repeated reverently. MJ smiled and gave him a hug.

"You made him proud, Peter."

Peter smiled, turning to Ned before pausing for a moment. "Karen?"

"Yes, boss?"

He froze. "W-what?"

"Mr. Stark named you as the heir to Stark Industries. That transition will not take place until you are of age and Pepper Stark hands the company over, but until then, he transferred the ownership of me to you."

So much of that sentence makes Peter's brain want to explode so he decides to focus on one part. "Okay. D'you think you could just keep calling me Peter, though?"

"Okay."

"Um, do you think you could access the files from my other suit? It's really important."

"I can try, Peter. The suit has sustained much damage, and its hard drive is in a  state of disrepair possibly beyond recovery."

Peter's face falls, and Ned lets out a sigh of disappointment. "Just try, okay, Karen?"

"Of course, Peter."

The AI hummed for a few moments, before saying, "You may want to step away from the area, due to the volatility of the experiment."

"Wait, volatility? Like something could explode?" Peter said, concerned. But the AI only responded with, "Commencing experiment."

Peter hurriedly stepped away, pulling MJ and Ned with him.

"Shouldn't we have, like, adult supervision or something?" Ned asked. "What if we blow up the lab? What if we ruin everything?"

"Come on, loser," MJ said, sending him a derisive glance. "I'm sure Peter's thought this through, right?"

Peter froze. "Uh, yeah. Totally. Anyways, Nick Fury said I have full run of the place, so I'm just gonna assume that stretches to slightly dangerous and possibly explosive experiments on a hastily designed super-suit."

"Well, when you put it like that," Ned said, looking anything but reassured. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"That's the spirit!" MJ patted him on the shoulder.

"It's going to be fine, Ned. Worst-case scenario, we blow the suit and the footage is lost. But we aren't gonna destroy anything," Peter said, desperately hoping he was right.

"Uploading files. One percent complete." Karen's voice echoed through the room.

They wait with bated breath, the faint hum of tech the only noise in the silence of the lab. Peter clutched MJ's hand, hoping...

If this worked, if they could get the footage, his name would be cleared. Spiderman could patrol the streets again. Save people again. Sure, people would still know who he was, but at least they wouldn't hate him.

A faint light pulsed through the lines of the dead suit. "Uploading files. Ten percent complete." Karen spoke, and Peter clutched MJ's hand tighter, not letting himself believe.

"Thirty percent complete."

Ned looked over at Peter, excitement in his eyes. "This is so cool," he mouthed, still not wanting to break the atmosphere.

"Forty-five percent complete."

Peter breathes in, inching forward imperceptibly. He could feel a faint buzzing emanating from the suit. The light glows brighter, and Peter's spidey senses tingle. He steps back, shielding his eyes a second before it happens.

The suit blows. A pop, a bright flash of light, then nothing. No light and the suit looks even more charred than before.

"Experiment failed. I am sorry, Peter."

A pause. Ned and MJ glance at each other, silently communicating their worry.

"It's okay, Karen." Peter manages a smile, turning to his friends. His disappointment is clear in every line of his body, from his slumped shoulders to his downcast eyes.

"It was a long shot anyway."

"At least you tried, right?" Ned asked, trying to be encouraging. "Better than giving up and laying in your room all day."

"Yeah, I guess. Time for Plan B."

"What's plan B?" MJ asked, sitting on the couch. "Does SHIELD have some sort of plan?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Peter said, looking disheartened. "Probably more house arrest. This was..." He trailed off for a moment.

"This was my last chance," he continued.

MJ frowned. "What do you mean?"

"SHIELD is only going to keep trying to exonerate me for so long. I mean, without any huge threats, they don't need me. They think that street crime, the stuff I usually deal with, is stuff better left to the police."

"But-you're Spiderman! They can't get rid of Spiderman!" Ned said, sounding outraged.

"It's just like what Mysterio wanted. To ruin Tony Stark and me 'cause I got in his way. And he succeeded," Peter said as if Ned hadn't spoken. He sat down on the couch, slipping off the bracelet.

"Mysterio's dead. We won, so why doesn't it feel like it? Everyone's calling it a victory, telling me I did incredibly, especially since I didn't have any backup. So why does it feel like I lost?"

Peter drops his head into his hands.

"Beck didn't need to kill me. Even hitting me with that train was nothing compared to this. He made the world hate me. I can't fight that."

"Exactly," MJ says quietly. "You can't fight that. So don't fight. Show the world you're good by being good."

"And how am I supposed to do that when I practically have a warrant out for my head? How am I supposed to save people when they're scared of me?"

MJ chuckled. "You're Spiderman, dummy. I'm sure you can avoid a few angry citizens and the police. And besides, why do people need to know who's saving them?" she points out. Peter thinks, then looks at Ned. The two stare at each other for a moment. Peter smiles. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Ned practically jumps out of his seat with excitement. "Oh, yeah!"

"What are you two losers talking about?" MJ asks, slightly confused. She had merely been trying to point out that Spiderman could be super stealthy, and if he didn't hang around to chat after he saved someone, there likely wouldn't be a problem. But it looked like the two boys were on to something.

Peter and Ned look at each other before responding.

"It's time to bring back Night Monkey."