I Feel Like That's on Me

A Brief History

SHIELD Facility

[2023]

~Peter~

"I did listen, kid. Who do you think called the FBI, huh? Do you know that I was the only one who believed in you? Everyone else said I was crazy to recruit a 14-year-old kid."

"I'm fifteen."

"No, this is where you zip it, all right? The adult is talking. What if somebody had died tonight? Different story, right? 'Cause that's on you. And if you died, I feel like that's on me. I don't need that on my conscience."

"Yes, sir."

"Yes."

"I, I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it."

I wake with a gasp and wipe the single tear that I realize has run down my cheek. I use my time alone to look around my room and see what's here, it seems like a pretty basic hospital room with a bed, machines, a few chairs, a clock, no windows and a door that probably could withstand the full power of my super strength. Just a completely normal hospital room, yeah.

I sit and watch the clock for about an hour before I hear the door being unlocked and Fury steps in with a tray of food and a tablet.

"Goodmorning Mr. Parker" I don't want to talk to him but I will, for now at least.

"Yeah whatever" what? I never said I'd be nice. Fury rolls his eyes before approaching me with the food and then taking a seat next to me.

"I thought you might like a history lesson, about the last six years or so." I stare into his eye for a moment before using my arms to push myself into a sitting position and adjust my pillow.

"Okay, then what have I missed Mr. Pirate" The older man scoffs and the corner of his lip curls up. Fury scoots his chair closer to my bed and pulls out his tablet before handing it to me, it's open to a file with a date in 2018 titled 'Thanos'. I turn to Fury "Who is Thanos?"

"The Titan Thanos was a genocidal warlord, his main objective was to, as he put it, bring balance to the universe. Of course, to him, that meant eradicating half of every living being in the galaxy with six magic stones." I just stare at him with my mouth open for a few seconds before asking the question eating at me,

"So how did the avengers beat them? Was there a big battle? What happened?" Fury rubbed his face with one of his hands and sighed.

"We didn't"

"What" I meant to yell but only managed a whisper.

"We lost, Thanos turned half of all life to dust with the snap of his fingers and life went on for three years before the remaining avengers found a way to bring everyone back and finally defeat Thanos for good" holy shit. Half of the entire universe just didn't exist for three years.

"Who did it? How did they do it?" Fury didn't respond and instead just pointed at the tablet in my hands.

"Most of it is classified or redacted though, you're on a need-to-know" I scoff before looking down to read what's not blacked out. I look up after hearing the chair scrape on the floor and watch as Fury walks towards the door. "Oh, Mr. Parker there are some videos of fights on there as well as basic apps. Don't want you to get too bored" The man exits and closes the door and I shake my head before looking back at the tablet.

While most of the information is blacked out, I got the basic gist of who the remaining avengers were and how they got everybody back. The list of heroes that survived the snap consisted of Thor, Natasha Romanov (Black Widow), Steve Rogers (Captain America), Bruce Banner (Hulk), Clint Barton (Hawkeye), Colonel James Rhodes (War Machine), Scott Lang (Ant-Man), and Tony Stark (Ironman). My breath hitched at the final name on the list, where was Tony now what happened to him after the umm...incident?

I push the thought away and instead focused on what I had just read. One of the avengers (probably Tony or Bruce, that part was redacted) basically invented TIME TRAVEL and they all went back in time to get all the stones and bring them to the present and somebody snapped everyone back, but a past Thanos followed them and there was a large fight and Thanos was defeated. At some point during the battle, Natasha Romanov and Steve Rogers were killed in action and any details on how they passed were also classified.

I sigh, content with the information I have for now and check out the apps on the tablet. A few of the icons on the screen are unfamiliar but I spot Google and immediately open the application hoping to find out something about the Avengers (Tony) other than what the vague SHIELD file contained. After typing in 'Tony Stark' and limiting the dates to 2017-2023 I start to read the article titles.

'The Ironman, Tony Stark Spotted at a Teen's Funeral in Queens'

'Tony Stark Takes a Leave of Absence'

'Tony Stark Announces Separation With Long Time Girlfriend Pepper Potts'

'Ironman Not Present Recent at Avengers Mission.'

' Has Tony Stark Quit the Avengers? '

I stop reading the headlines and put the tablet down next to me, I can feel the tears starting to run down my cheeks again. Was all this my fault? Did Ironman quit the avengers because of me? I turn over onto my side and pull a pillow to my chest and bury my face into it.

"He did come back you know" I turn to see Fury leaning on the door frame. "Stark was there for both battles against Thanos" I scoff at the man before turning back around, letting out a quiet sob.

"What do you want from me? Why did you do this... why bring me back?" my words are choked and emotional. I peek at Fury behind me who sighs and sits in his usual chair.

"We've had this planned since you died. We knew that we would need you either as leverage for Stark or something else" I shoot up and twist towards the man, now I'm mad.

"So what, that's all I am to you?! Leverage!? That's what my life is worth? Wow, yeah let's bring the dead teenage superhero back as if his life wasn't already traumatized enough!" Fury rolls his eyes before standing up to start pacing the room.

"Mr. Parker three years ago half the universe was restored but they also lost most of their heroes. The crime rate has skyrocketed and people need someone to look up to. So yes part of the reason you're back is to get Stark to be Ironman again but first, we want to put Spider-man back into the world" I gawk at him for a second before realizing my chance to get something I want.

"If I'm going to do this for you then I want to see or at least call either Tony or my Aunt May" The room is silent for a moment and I see something unfamiliar in the man's eye, pity? No, why would a soulless man like him feel something like pity?

"No. Not yet you aren't ready for that yet" The man turns and leaves the room before I can get another word in and I roll back over and sob into my pillow harder than before.