Ch 76 Decathlon disaster

"Well, he got away." Steve said.

"Unfortunate. I know." Logan said.

Adrian's men were working when he flew down and took off his suit, fuming. One man said his wife kept texting him and was reprimanded for looking into his phone. The man said it was out and he was curious by nature.

"Curiosity killed the cat." Tony joked and all chuckled.

He said he had finished designing the high-altitude vacuum seal but was told it wasn't required. Then the two dealers Peter had intercepted arrived. Adrian reprimanded Brice for firing weapons out in the open, reminding him that they dealt under the radar and weren't supposed to bring the Avengers and Damage Control down here. He reprimanded him for gong around, calling himself the Shocker.

"The Shocker? That is really unoriginal." Scott said.

Brice said Adrian didn't give a crap but he said he did but was annoyed by his attitude.

"He's pissing off the big guy." Hope said.

"Big mistake." Hill agreed.

Adrian told him to get out as he was off the team because he couldn't afford his bullshit.

"You two called it!" Benjamin said.

Brice threatened Adrian discreetly, saying he wondered if he could afford him out there with all that information, saying his wife might find out where he got his money from.

"Big mistake, idiot." Loki said, "I'd kill you at this point."

"What do you think he'll do?" Odinson asked.

Adrian said he couldn't afford that and then shot him down with his gun, disintegrating him.

"Oh God!" Aunt May said in horror as the others flinched.

"He tried to go against his own crime boss. There are consequences for that." T'Challa said.

"Damn right!" Fury said, "Simple-minded folk."

Adrian said he had thought this to be the anti-gravity gun but was told it was kept somewhere else.

"So….he killed him by mistake?" Thor asked as everyone was shocked.

"Looks like it." Sam said.

Adrian walked to his ashes and picked up the gauntlet, tossing it to Herman, "Now you're the Shocker. Go out there and find that weapon he lost."

"And here comes the other one." Peter sighed.

Next day in the lab, Peter was working on the gauntlet he had got and Ned arrived, a bit pissed but Peter showed him the weapon and said someone had almost vaporized him with it, awing him before he said it was totally uncool of the guy and terrifying.

Everyone laughed as Bruce said, "Yeah. Some teenagers are like that."

Peter examined it, figuring out it was a power source while Ned saw the inductive charging plate. Peter realized whoever was making this was combining alien tech with theirs.

"You are smart. Both of you." Pepper complimented and Peter blushed.

Ned started thanking Peter for letting him help when they dropped the gauntlet accidentally and looked back but the teacher hadn't noticed and just said to keep their hands off the blade.

"Ah! Inattentive teachers. You got quite a few of those." Rhodes said to Tony and both chuckled.

"Oh I was smarter than them all." Tony said.

Peter and Ned did a signature teenager handshake.

"I really don't think teenagers did that in our time." Bruce said.

"Nope. I don't think they did." Clint said.

"Well, times change." Natasha said.

"I don't think all teenagers do this." Peter said.

"It's not a thing these days to be honest." Benjamin said.

Later, Peter and Ned walked across the hallway, discussing what to do with the tech when they saw Herman and another man in the front and Peter quickly hid, with Ned soon following. Peter told him Herman was one of the men who had tried to kill, him shocking him, as he said they needed to get out.

"What are they doing there?" Aunt May asked.

"They tracked the weapon's energy signature." Benjamin revealed to her shock.

Peter said he'd follow them to the guy who trapped him in the lake and went off. There was a class behind where they were hidden and one boy asked what Ned was doing. A startled Ned said nothing and asked if he was good. He said they were playing chess.

Everyone chuckled.

Peter followed the two and hid as they looked for the weapon. They heard a chair wobbling but looked to see no one was there.

Everyone sighed in relief.

They walked up, giving up the search, while Peter stuck to the bottom of a table to save himself.

"That's a very good way to hide." Logan said.

As they walked up, Peter fired a Spider-Tracer that crawled up Herman's leg while he left.

"You made it?" Wanda asked Tony.

"Yeah." He said.

"It was pretty good." Peter said.

Later, Peter and Ned were in the former's room as they used the tracer to track Herman, all the while working or eating. Eventually, they were asleep when the tracer working woke Ned up while he was wearing Peter's mask.

Everyone chuckled at the funny site.

Peter hung upside down as they saw he was in Maryland and Peter concluded they had an evil lair.

"Kid. None of the villains except Red Skull, Malekith and Ultron had an evil lair so far. Me included." Loki said and all chuckled.

It was 300 miles away but Peter looked at the Decathlon poster and said it wasn't far from Washington DC.

"And that happened." Peter said.

Next day, Peter ran up to the bus asking to rejoin, though Flash refused but Harrington welcomed him back.

"Of course I can be welcomed back." Benjamin said and all chuckled.

Flash was back to being alternate as Michelle asked if she could protest in front of an embassy before dinner and Harrington said it was patriotic.

"Only if you have a cause." Steve said, "Protesting just because it's a phase is pointless."

"And stupid." Natasha added.

On the bus, everyone rehearsed for the Decathlon, with Peter getting answers correct as Peter took a call from Happy, who said he was out of New York. Peter said it was a school trip and nothing more and called Happy tracking him without permission a violation of privacy.

"It is violation of privacy!" Aunt May said.

"I overstepped!" Tony said, "And so did he! It was a mistake."

Ned reminded they were tracking someone too but Peter said it was different and said it was no big deal. Happy said he decided if it was no big deal.

"No you don't." Aunt May said.

Happy then said it was no big deal but he was going to watch him.

"And I'm watching you." Aunt May said.

Later, they reached the Decathlon and in the room, Ned activated the laptop and helped Peter remove the tracker on his suit, saying he didn't want Stark following and Ned realized he was lying to Iron Man now, though he said he didn't get what he could do.

"Only you can get yourself." Tony told him.

Ned noticed there were several subsystems disabled by the Training Wheels Protocol.

"Okay, has your intelligence taken such a nosedive that a 15 year old with a laptop can hack through the database?" Pepper asked Tony who gapped.

"Uhhh…..I have no idea how that happened." Tony said.

"Ned is pretty smart." Peter told him.

"Looks like I didn't work hard enough." Tony said, "I work hardest on my own stuff."

"Now if anyone hacks my suit, I'm gonna shoot you." Rhodes said to Tony and all chuckled.

Peter said he didn't need training as he was sick of being treated like a kid. Ned said he was still one but he said he could stop a bus with his bare hands.

"Not a great point. That makes supervision even more necessary." Steve said, "But responsible supervision."

Peter then told Ned he was his guy in the chair and a flattered Ned eventually disabled the protocol as the suit glowed for a bit.

"Damn! Now it's gone!" Tony said.

Peter then put a hoodie on top of his suit as Ned stayed inside. He snuck out but saw Liz in a swimsuit with a towel running to the pool with other kids. The other kids ran, with Flash smacking Peter's butt.

"Oh I've got my eyes on you too now." Aunt May said.

Peter said he was gonna study in the business center but Liz said he didn't need to as he was the smartest guy she had ever met and a rebellious group activity a day before competition was good for morale, citing a TED Talk. She told him to get his trunks on and come on. Later, all of the kids were having fun at the pool as Peter watched from above in his suit but eventually got up and wore his mask.

"Duty first huh." Tony said.

Suddenly, a female voice greeted Peter, startling him and congratulating him on completing the Training Wheels Protocol as several new features appeared.

"Damn! Another AI?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Viz's girlfriend." Tony joked and all chuckled while Vision didn't get the joke. [1]

"Not a problem." Wanda muttered.

As the AI asked where to take him, he talked about the tracker which was located and said he needed to get back for the Decathlon in time.

"Something tells me that is not going to happen." Thor said.

Peter swung on his web and jumped on a vehicle before jumping to the side when the AI told him to. He ran forward and was told to stop in front of a gas station as 3 individuals were detected. He found it lame that the lair was in a gas station.

Everyone chuckled as Bucky said, "Or maybe they're just hanging out."

The AI asked if he wished to hear what they were saying and he did so enhanced configuration was turned on, allowing him to hear about the messes from the government that was making them rich.

"It's like I'm Spider-Man and Daredevil." Benjamin joked and all chuckled.

Peter wanted to catch them red-handed and the AI asked if he wanted to engage Enhanced Combat Mode. He said he did and Instant Kill was activated as the suit's eyelids turned red but he told the AI to switch it off, saying he didn't want to kill anyone.

"Why did you put a kill feature in my suit?" Peter asked.

"I had no idea your friend would disable everything!" Tony said.

Peter swung down but fell as the others heard him. He hid, being told he had over 500 web combinations to choose from and muttered how Stark overdid it.

"Yeah you really did." Pepper said.

Herman was about to get out as Peter fired one web combination but activated the gas sign by accident as he freed the web and ran off before climbing up, being told it was a taser web, which he didn't want. The AI asked if he wanted a refresher course as he seemed to be unfamiliar with his settings when a convoy passed by at a distance. Adrian then flew over it to Peter's shock.

"And he is here again." Wanda sighed.

He deployed anchors and landed on one vehicle before using blue spheres to create a hole as he jumped into it. He started putting weapons in a bag as Peter arrived above him and touched the purple glow, realizing he had matter phase shifter.

"That is some really high-level tech in the hands of a criminal." Fury said.

Adrian flew back up when Peter snatched the bag with his web, telling him it didn't belong to him. Adrian then put on his wings and tried to take it bag as a random web line was fired due to Peter having told the AI to choose. Peter told the AI to put everything back to normal as he struggled with Adrian and in the struggle, fell into the truck. He tried to jump back up but the matter phase shifter was deactivated and he hit his head, knocking himself out.

"Tough luck, kid." Steve said as everyone sighed.

"At least you got the weapons." Sam looked at the bright side.

Peter woke up and was told he had a concussion. He thought the bad guys had hijacked the truck and taken him to their evil lair, deciding to fight their way out of this. He then broke the truck doors and as he looked around, he was told he was in the Damage Control Deep Storage vault.

"Now that sucks." Tony said.

"Yeah. The place is really secure." Clint said.

He was told the door would remain closed until morning so he formed some kind of hanging bed with his webs, lying on it and saying he felt bad for calling the AI 'suit lady' and wondered other names, like Liz, but then said it was too weird.

Everyone chuckled as Natasha said, "Yes it is."

Later, as he was hanging upside down reading a book, he decided to call her Karen and the AI agreed. He asked what else could the suit do and web wings were formed to his surprise.

"That was surprising." Aunt May said.

He decided to run the refresher course, firing a ricochet web that ricocheted off the wall.

"And I thought my shield ricocheted." Steve joked and all laughed.

Then there was a splitter web which split into two on being fired followed by a web grenade that exploded into one big web.

"That is a cool suit." Hope said.

He then did skipping, using his web as a skipping rope.

Everyone chuckled good-naturedly.

Peter then lay wearing the Decathlon uniform, wondering if he should tell Liz he was Spider-Man, telling Karen about her and saying she might be disappointed as she would be expecting some like Tony Stark. Karen said if it was her, she wouldn't be disappointed and Peter thanked her, saying it was good to have someone to talk to.

"Better than talking to myself." Peter said.

He asked how long they had been there and was told just 37 minutes to his shock and getting up, threw off his uniform, deciding to find a way to get out.

"It seemed longer than that." Scott said.

"Yeah. Bummer." Benjamin said.

Peter looked at the weapons, finding the glowing Chitauri thing he had and was told it was an explosive energy core, realizing him and Ned had been carrying a bomb the entire time.

"What the hell?" Sam said.

"I know. It sucks." Peter said.

"Do not pick up anything you find!" Aunt May said.

He tried to call Ned but it failed as he used his webs to leap onto the doors, asking Karen to help him override the time lock as they worked on combinations together, trying to go through all of them.

"That'd take a lot of time." Thor said.

"Not with that AI it won't." Tony said.

Ned left for the Decathlon, taking the core with him.

"Damn it!" Bruce said.

Peter managed to get the right code and jumped onto a truck, telling Karen he needed to get to the Decathlon as soon as possible as Ned and the others managed to reach on time and gave up their cell phones while Peter tried to call.

"And now it's even worse." Pepper said.

Peter jumped onto another vehicle as the last round was reached and Michelle pressed the bell, giving the right answer as all cheered and Ned hugged Michelle, Midtown High having won.

Everyone sighed in relief as Peter said, "At least she handled it."

"Yeah, if she wasn't there to pick up the slack, I'd be dead." Benjamin said.

Later, Harrington and Michelle met as she said she didn't want to enjoy something built by slaves and Harrington told her to enjoy her book.

"Get over this phase." Aunt May said.

Peter was rushing back as he called Ned, trying to tell him about the bomb but failing as Ned said it was safe and he had missed the Decathlon. Liz took the phone from Ned, telling Peter she wasn't mad but worried about what was going on with him as he asked her to give the phone back to Ned while Karen told him to confess his feelings.

"That is some really bad luck." Sam said.

"Parker Luck." Peter corrected.

"I wish it stood for better stuff." Benjamin said.

The phone was then put on the conveyor as they all walked into the elevator while Peter rushed back just as the grenade exploded to his and Michelle's shock. Karen said it had caused structural damage to the elevator as Michelle said her friends were up there and Peter jumped up, climbing. The female guide said they were fine and security systems were working while Karen told Peter the security had failed and all were in mortal danger.

"Shit!" Rhodes said as all tensed.

Two workers opened the doors above as everyone started climbing the hatch, with only 125 seconds until catastrophic failure due to the movement making it unstable. He wondered how to get up there when a reconnaissance drone was activated to find an optimal entry point, eventually finding out.

"How much stuff did you put in it? I never got all that." Rhodes said as Tony groaned.

Peter reached the south-west window but didn't go in as he never had been this high before. He tried kicking the window but failed as it was 4-inch ballistic glass and he needed more momentum so he attached webbing and swung, breaking the glass slowly but police arrived on helicopter, telling him to get on the ground.

"Man, Parker Luck really sucks." Sam said as the others sighed.

Flash was climbing up now with the trophy as Peter climbed higher and jumping off, activated his wings, flying past the helicopter and attaching webbing to it before swinging hard enough to shatter the glass just as Flash climbed up and the elevator fell down, catching it with webbing and slowly pulling it back up as the fire brigade arrived outside.

"You are strong and dedicated. When you become more experienced and responsible, you may just be among the best heroes ever." T'Challa said to Peter who blushed again.

"T-Thanks." He said, trying to not have a meltdown.

He managed to pull the elevator back up as everyone got out but it fell down with Liz still in it so he caught her with webbing and helped her up, telling her she was okay as Karen said this was his chance but then his webbing detached and he fell down, with Flash asking if he was really friends with Peter Parker.

"No. I am Peter Parker." Peter said.

"Good save kid. Impressive." Steve complimented and he nodded, while still shy.

Adrian and his men were discussing another job as Herman tested his gauntlet. He was pissed at Spider-Man, wanting to kill him, when he saw the news of Spider-Man crawling up Washington Monument and saving the Academic Decathlon Team from Queens. His identity was still unknown.

"I hope it remains that way." Aunt May said while Benjamin sighed, knowing they would see what would happen about that later.

The kids all got out of the bus sometime later and were hugged by their parents as Aunt May also hugged Peter tightly, while Harrington watched.

"He cares about his children a lot." Steve said, noticing his expression.

"Parker Luck ruins everything." Benjamin said.

"No kidding." Peter agreed.

"Well, let's continue to see more Parker Luck in action." Logan said as the recording continued