Pressure // MARVEL // PETER PARKER

CHAPTER 11: grab your popcorn, my friends

TONY TURNED OFF the television at exactly ten minutes before midnight. He saw how his daughter, who had been crying a few hours ago, was peacefully sleeping on the couch. Maybe he had to just let her skip the day tomorrow, she deserved some rest. He wanted to go back to the kitchen and put everything in the dishwasher, but the doorbell rang, so he went to the front door instead.

Tony opened the door and immediately recognized the red and black suit he designed himself. 'Peter? Why are you in your suit? Shouldn't you be home to sleep? I thought Sesame Street already ended?'

'Who are you then? Black Widow fan?' Steve judged the hero by the spider on his suit while he stood behind Tony.

Peter took his mask off. 'Hi, I'm Peter Parker,' he said while he extended his hand.

'Oh, you're the Spiderling,' Steve realized, but he didn't get any reaction from Peter. 'Crime fighting spider. Spider-boy?'

'S-Spider-Man,' Peter corrected the blond man.

'Ah, right. You're Morgan's friend right?' Steve asked.

'U-Uhm, yeah, yeah I am.'

Tony looked at Peter. 'Then why exactly aren't you surprised to see me and Steve opening the door?'

'Well, that's kinda the reason I'm here,' Peter explained. 'I found a letter addressed to Morgan yesterday and, well, I maybe read it-' He saw both the heroes' faces. 'Hear me out. So, I read it and apparently Morgan's been getting serious threats because you guys are her parents and she probably didn't want to bother you, because that's how Morgan is, but she gave the blackmailer guy money and apparently the Mark II which wasn't really smart from her, but I get it because she had no choice, but yeah. So she's going to get attacked at midnight because she hasn't seen the threat, so she hasn't given the attacker anything, but now they have the first real Iron Man suit, so yeah, that's messed up.'

'I didn't understand a single thing you just said.'

Peter looked at Tony, done with his witty comments. 'Just read the letter.'

The blond boy gave the two fathers the white envelope. While Tony and Steve read the threat, Peter glanced over at the clock that hung on the wall inside the house. There were only three minutes until it was midnight, which played with Peter's patience. As soon as the two dads stopped reading, Peter took the letter back.

'Come in, Parker. Just don't touch anything, because I know you'll break it,' Tony said, still a little overwhelmed, while he stepped out of the way. Peter walked inside. 'Oh, and put your mask on, Morgan's asleep in the living room.'

And yeah, Peter noticed that.

The blond eyed the peacefully sleeping girl. Her soft brown hair fell over her face and shoulders, but despite that, Peter could still see the tear stains on her cheeks. The blanket didn't cover her legs anymore, because it had fallen for a half of the couch. She was so incredibly pretty that it almost physically hurt.

'You can continue walking, Peter,' Steve joked who stood behind the blond. Peter blushed at that, put his mask back on and walked in the room.

'Friday, can you find Cap's shield for me?' Tony asked his AI. He held up one of his arms and pieces of his latest Iron Man suit flew towards him only to stick on his body. Peter put his mask on at that.

'Steve, your shield is in the lab downstairs,' Friday informed the soldier who immediately walked away.

Morgan slowly opened her eyes. 'What's all the noise?'

'I think you forgot to mention how you've been getting threats,' Tony responded from his Iron Man suit. 'We could've helped, you know.'

That woke Morgan up completely. She removed the blanket from her chest, letting it fall on the floor. She noticed how her dad was in his shining yellow and red armor, which he never did in the living room. Then her gaze stopped on the guy in a red and black suit, with a spider on his chest. Wait, why was Spider-Man here?

'What the hell is going on?' Morgan asked, both terrified and angry.

'Apparently you're being blackmailed, gave the person who threatened you money and my first ever Iron Man suit, didn't deliver the last goods and now we're under attack,' Tony explained while his daughter stood up from the couch.

Morgan turned to the other guy. 'You're Spider-Man, right? What are you doing here?'

'I was the one who found your letter on the streets,' Spider-Man answered the brunette. His voice sounded some kind of robotic. Definitely a voice changer.

'Morgan,' Tony said again, 'why didn't you just tell us? We could have fixed it!'

Then the clock moved its longest clock-hand to the twelve. The ceiling collapsed. Morgan looked up, terrified. Enormous pieces of concrete began to fall down. She threw up her arms in the form of an x above her head, hoping it would give at least a little protection. However, she felt an arm wrapping around her lower back and pulled her into a chest.

When the concrete was down, Morgan looked up and saw her father with his shield on his arm. He let her go again. Then she looked at the hole in the ceiling and there was a silver Iron Man floating in the air. Morgan heard the repulsors from her dad powering up while the villain landed in the house. The helmet went off and-

'Ellie?!'