Peter Parker POV
After catching ned up with the news about what happened at the tournament, the three parted ways. Ned was still trying to hack into that weird government organization, strategic homeland whatever whatever, which was obviously not as easy as planned. Alex was going off to his own place, wherever he goes when he isn't with us, and I was going back home to Aunt May and Uncle Ben.
I still cant believe everything that happened with the tournament... Thousands of thoughts zip through my head. Flash became an agent for the nazis??? The champion of the tournament was apparently a famous mercenary and a navy seal that also happened to be a lost prince? I still don't believe that one, even though Alex swore on it.
I lost to Alex, which means I still gotta work to catch up. The way I lost was also kind of embarrassing... I thought the combo was pretty clean until he pretty much used me as a crash test dummy and slammed me on the floor. I thought if I held on for longer, he would just feint, but noooooo. Alex and his monstrous constitution.
And finally, what was the stuff at the end about? Who was that super sketchy bald dude? How was he so big? What did Alex mean when he said he was going to start clearing out the gangs? how was he so big? What were those gauntlets he got at the end? How was he so big? All this thinking is making my head hurt...
I stop my mind from wandering as I make my way to my apartment. With a massive grin on my face, I fidget with he cheque in my pocket. I wonder what May and Ben's reaction to me winning all of this money is going to be...
Oh shit, are they gonna think that I stole all this money? They don't know that I fight, so they would get hella suspicious of how I got all this dough.
I instantly make a 180-degree turn and start heading to the nearest bank. Fuck that, I'm just going to deposit the 250k, and pull out bit by bit and give it to them, and tell them I got a job.
Shit, if I suddenly deposit 250k, wouldn't the IRS come knocking at my door???
I instantly make another 180-degree turn. I'll hide all the cash in my closet or something.
"Hi Ben, Hi May!" I yell into the apartment as I enter.
Aunt May peeks her head out of the kitchen, smiling. "Hey, sweetheart! You're home late. Did you and Ned get caught up with schoolwork? Or were you working out in the gym with that new friend?"
"Uh- yeah! Something like that," I say quickly, shoving my hands into my pockets. If she even suspects I'm lying, I'm so cooked.
Uncle Ben is sitting on the couch, flipping through a newspaper like it's still 1995. "Hey, kiddo. You eat yet? May made lasagna."
My stomach grumbles that exact moment, but my mind is waaaaay too occupied to think about food.
"I'm good! I, uh, already ate with the guys," I lie again. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you guys about something."
May wipes her hands on a kitchen towel and walks over. "Of course, honey. What's on your mind?"
I swallow hard. You got this Peter! It's time to sell this.
"So, uh, I actually, I got a job!"
Wow great fucking execution, Peter. I sigh in my head.
Ben raises a brow, looking impressed. "Oh yeah? What kind of job?"
I was not prepared for follow-up questions. "Uh… it's kind of like… an internship? "
May tilts her head. "Peter, that sounds very vague."
Shit. Think, Parker, think! "Uh, it's for a tech company!" I blurt out. "They needed a smart, reliable guy, and Ned recommended me!"
Technically, not a complete lie. Ned would totally recommend me for a job. Probably.
Ben strokes his chin. "A tech job, huh? Sounds interesting. How much does it pay?"
I pull out a number that sounds reasonable. "Like… a few hundred bucks a week?"
May's face lights up. "Peter, that's wonderful! You're taking on responsibility, helping out-" She suddenly gasps. "Oh! You could finally get that new laptop you've been eyeing!"
I laugh nervously. "Yeah, maybe… but I was actually thinking about using some of the money to help with bills and groceries and stuff."
Ben's eyes narrow slightly. "Pete, you don't have to do that. We have 'ben' and can handle it."
How can Ben so shamelessly mix in puns at such a serious moment...
Anyways, time for the emotional sucker punch.
"I want to," I say, putting on my most sincere face. "Y- You guys have done so much for me. I just… I just want to give back a little."
May clutches her chest like I just hit her with a Feels Ray at full blast. "Oh, sweetheart," she says, eyes getting misty. "That's so thoughtful of you."
Ben sighs, shaking his head with a smile. "We raised a good one, May."
She nods proudly. "That we did."
Boom. Critical hit. I try my best to conciel my smile.
"Okay, okay, let's not make a big deal out of it," I say, waving my hands. "I'll just put some money in the jar every now and then, you guys use it for whatever."
Ben chuckles. "Alright, kid. Just don't work yourself too hard, okay?"
"I won't!" I grin. "Promise."
I head to my room, my heart still pounding. That… actually worked. Now I just have to slowly funnel two fifty grand into our household without them getting suspicious.
No problem.
Right?
-o-
Third Person POV:
A Few Days Later, Somewhere in Stark Tower...
In a dimly lit room, a lone man is sitting on a workbench, holding a small glass container, with "EXPIRIMENT #42" printed on the side, pouring his soul over his work. He was wearing a worn-out Metallica T-shirt, and even though that man was wearing headphones, you could still hear loud metal music seeping out, swapping between artists like Limp Bizkit, System of a Down, and Slipknot.
The walls of the room he was sitting in were lined with glass cages of differing sizes, each with little LED lights illuminating them. Each one held different species of animals.
This was a side project of the man, as it was getting pretty repetitive and boring to keep making pretty much the same suit of armour over and over. This man, of course, was Tony Stark.
After the 20th or so Iron Man suit for the Iron Legion, Tony Stark was getting a little bored. And in his hands, there was a fresh new element that nobody other than him even knew existed. Badassium.
He was more of an engineer than a scientist, but it would be a disservice to the entire world to not experiment with this.
He has been injecting trace amounts of Badassium into any animal he could come across. Was this animal abuse? Maybe. Did this give the animals sick ass superpowers? Yes. If the animals got intelligent, would they thank him later for granting them these powers? Also yes.
These animals, which he was going to release back into the wild later, would reign as the kings of their ecosystems. Some examples include...
When a turtle is injected with Badassium, it gained human-like muscle mass, and was able to walk on their hind legs, and seemed to develop an obsession with Renaissance-age painters? That was a head-scratcher.
When one of the hedgehogs were Injected, they became blue and started rolling around unnaturally quickly while curled into a spikey ball. It even once rolled up the walls of its cage, fell on the ground and rolled right into Tony's leg. Shit made him yelp like a little girl.
Finally, the last experiment was when Tony injected some Badassium into a goose. It didn't do anything. It might have become a little more intelligent, but nobody knows. One time it escaped from the lab and just went around being a menace around Stark Tower, stealing important documents, and quacking at people passing by.
Tony chuckled to himself, remembering how difficult it was to contain that one seemingly regular goose, and how much trouble it caused.
But because of this, His finger slipped, and he accidentally injected way more liquid Badassium than normal into his current subject. A spider.
As soon as the excess Badassium surged into the spider's tiny body, Tony immediately realized his mistake. The arachnid twitched violently, its legs splaying outwards as a faint, crackling energy rippled across its exoskeleton.
"Oh, shit" Tony muttered, pulling his hand back. "That was way too much."
The spider convulsed for a few seconds, then went completely still. Tony held his breath, watching intently. He was already preparing a whole mental script about how this wasn't technically animal cruelty, more like a morally gray science experiment.
Then, the spider moved.
First, a single twitch of its front leg. Then, with eerie smoothness, it stood up in a way that shouldn't have been possible for a normal spider. Its carapace shimmered subtly, taking on a faint metallic sheen under the lab's artificial lighting.
"Huh…" Tony leaned in closer. "Did I just make a robo-spider? Because that would be sick as hell."
Before he could react, the spider moved. Fast. Faster than any spider had any right to. It zipped from one end of the enclosure to the other in the blink of an eye, its movements erratic yet somehow precise.
"Oh yeah, definitely some kind of speed boost," Tony noted, rubbing his unkempt goatee, which was getting a little too long. "Maybe I can try looking at its muscle formatio-"
CRACK.
The spider slammed into the glass wall of its enclosure. A spider of that size shouldn't have been able to leave a scratch, but instead, a fine crack splintered outwards from the point of impact. Tony's eyes widened. "Okay, so definitely super strength. That's new."
The spider paused for a second as if testing its newfound abilities, before leaping straight up. It clung to the ceiling of the container with an almost magnetic grip. Then, with one swift motion, it reared back one of its front legs and punched the glass.
Yes. Punched.
Tony barely had time to react before the glass exploded outward. Well, if the explosion was spider-sized. Pretty underwhelming. Still, a fucking explosion caused by a spider.
"Oh, come on!" He flinched back, shielding his face as shards rained onto the lab bench. When he lowered his hands, the spider was already gone.
He immediately turned to the control panel, scrambling to pull up the security feeds. "Jarvis, please tell me you got eyes on our little eight-legged friend."
"Locating now, sir." Jarvis's voice chimed in smoothly. "Ah. It appears the subject is heading towards the ventilation system."
Tony groaned. "Of course it is. Because nothing I do can ever be simple."
A small red alert flashed on one of the monitors as Jarvis continued. "Trajectory suggests it will exit into the upper floors within the next two minutes. Shall I dispatch containment measures?"
"Ehhh… let's not," Tony said, rubbing his temples. "I'd rather not have the janitors ask why we set up an anti-spider SWAT team in my own tower. Let's just keep an eye on it. It's just one tiny little spider, how much trouble could it—"
BEEP BEEP.
A separate security alert blared on the screen.
[STARK INDUSTRIES TOUR – LAB 3B – FIELD TRIP ARRIVING]
Tony froze.
"...Oh, son of a-"
(a/n I have no idea how MCU peter got bit by a radioactive spider, so I'm making some shit up as I go. None of the special animals mentioned in this chapter will be reused in the story. The goose might come back though.)