October 6th
3:01 PM
(Present Day)

Peter woke up groggily with a splitting headache. His mouth was dry and his lips were swollen. Everything seemed slow and disconnected. His head lolled on his chest weakly. He couldn't quite bring himself to open his eyes and look up. Too much effort. For a moment everything was quiet and he was numb to the world.

Maybe he could just stay there forever. It was so much more calm than his normal life, getting punched and kicked and stabbed and burned and kidnapped. At least he helped people in the process–

Wait, kidnapped? He'd never been kidnapped before...?

His head jerked up in realization. Well, there's a first time for everything, he thought darkly. He would have looked around to see where the hell he was if not for the black bag over his head. Or he thought it was black. It could have been yellow for all he knew.

It was freezing too. He couldn't tell if that was just because of how sensitive he was or if they were trying to turn him into Captain America 2.0. The thick metal cuffs didn't hold much heat either. They were seriously like an inch wide. Whoever had made them did not want him getting out. He attempted to pull up his hands to slip his hood off, but they didn't have much maneuvering room. By the sound of metal clinking together, he judged they were chained to a table in front of him.

So he was sitting at a table. Once again, metal. Same with the straight backed chair. Where was he? Police containment? How did he get there? Oh crap this was bad...wait, but the last thing he remembered was sitting in the passenger seat of a car with Agent Coulson with his headphones in. The Agent has even given him some coffee to stay awake that late. He must have nodded off regardless.

Did coffee even affect his fast metabolism anymore? Huh...

He would figure that out later. SHIELD must have turned him over to the government or something. He didn't have his suit or his mask on so he felt naked. This was bad. Really really bad. He was regretting not calling Tony the second he saw that agent. He had no backup.

Peter tugged at the cuffs on his wrist, testing the chains. They seemed solid and just as thick. When Peter pulled at them, the insides got warmer too. Not burning, just warm, like the subtle heat from a lamp. Peter felt his breaths grow thicker and the muscle from his arms melt. He leaned against the table, the strength leeching out of him. What the hell were those things made of?

"They're Wakandan," a voice answered, as if someone had read his mind. Peter jumped back - or tried to. At least he found out that the chair was nailed down in the process. "An invention of their own princess, who also happens to be their head scientist. I'm fairly fond of them myself."

Shuri...Peter thought dejectedly. She was in on this? But they were such good friends! Peter would even push to say best friends. Did she even know about this?

"Who are you?" The arachnid demanded, still blind to the world. "What do you want?"

"My name doesn't matter much now," the voice - who was obviously a man - said. He spoke with the authority of a man with control and experience. Both of which scared Peter. "But yours does. Peter Parker. The Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. And, as of a few hours ago, one of the most wanted men in the nation. Or the most wanted boy, depending on what you know."

Peter's spidey sense gave him a light warning and the hood came off. He winced and squinted at the split second of blinding light that followed. His eyes adjusted a few seconds later to reveal a grey, plain room with no more furniture than the table, the chair and another on the other side of the table. However, the man did not sit in it. Too afraid to crumple his dramatic trench coat, maybe?

The man was tall. Like Steve tall, but not quite Thor tall. He clasped his hands in front of him, landing his intense gaze on Peter. The arachnid was especially impressed because it wasn't easy to glare tensely with one eye. The black man never wavered as the kid's eyes widened.

"You're Nick Fury!" He shouted in realization. This guy was a legend. Should he bow or...?

"Very perceptive of you," the man commented dryly. "Anything else obvious you would like to point out? That I only have one eye? That you're fifteen years old? And the fact that you're not getting out of those hand cuffs until you answer my questions."

Peter made an 'o' with his mouth and bobbed his head. "Well if I had known I was going to be given a pop quiz I would have studied."

"That's the point of pop quizzes, Mr. Parker," his interrogator leaned forward on the table to come eye to eye with the fidgeting teen. "They're meant to be surprises."

It hurt Peter's brain to fight Fury in a staring contest. He was glad when the Director of SHIELD stood up straight and whipped his trench coat around, pacing back and forth.

"What did Peter Parker get his Aunt May for Christmas last year?"

"Uh," the arachnid blinked in shock. "I mean, Mrs. Leeds helped me make her a scarf but–"

"When..." the man interrupted without glancing at him. "Did Peter Parker first meet his best friend?"

"You mean Ned? Um...like fifth grade, I think. We were in, uh, Miss Anderson's class together," Peter answered easily. "But what does any of this–"

"What is Tony Stark's nickname for his intern?"

"Are you kidding?" Peter rolled his eyes. "You want me to name all of them? Kid, kiddo, Pete, Underoos, s-son...I guess..."

Fury nodded a little and folded his arms in front of him. Peter could almost feel his crippled eye boring into him through the eyepatch. He really was the most intimidating pirate ever, as Clint had put it. He probably had a pet parrot hiding somewhere in...jeez, where even were they? Some hidden SHIELD headquarters? Maybe Tony could track his suit.

Oh wait...Peter had disabled that weeks ago...

"What happened on August 29th one year ago?"

Spider-Man jerked back to the present at the mention of the familiar date.

"I..." Peter faltered and his voice cracked. "What?"

"August 29th. One year ago," Fury repeated suspiciously.

"I-I...What? Why?" Peter stopped and glared up at the man, shifting the hand cuffs around. "Why is any of this relevant?"

"Just answer the question."

"I...my uncle..." The arachnid clenched his teeth in an attempt to swallow his emotion down. "That was the day I decided to use my powers for good."

"But it wasn't you first day as Spider-Man," the director or SHIELD threw out carelessly.

What?

Peter paled. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Fury slammed his hands on the metal table and Peter flinched away. "You know exactly what it means Parker. Last question.

"What did you do exactly three days after discovering your unique abilities?"

"I–Nothing! I didn't do anything!" Peter's voice octave went higher than normal as he rose on the defensive. The arachnid pulled at the chains when shrinking back from Fury.

"Don't lie to me Parker."

How could he possibly know about that? Peter thought fearfully.

"I–I don't know what you're talking about. Let me go," Peter demanded. "Agent Coulson said–"

"Do I look like Agent Coulson to you?"

Fury narrowed his eyes silently.

"Uh..." Peter glanced around in confusion. "Was that a rhetorical question?"

That's when he spotted the mirror behind him. A long on just in the right place for a window. Peter had seen enough of Brooklyn 99 to know what an interrogation room looked like.

"What do you want from me?" Peter shouted angrily, standing up jerking at his hand cuffs. "What do you want me to say? That I made some stupid decisions? That I should have known? That I should have been better? That I got my uncle killed? Because I know all of that and I have a feeling you do too!"

Fury watched him skeptically as Peter got on top of the table and leaned back on the chains in an attempt to tear them from the metal hooks. They barley creaked. Then the cuffs activated and his shoes unstuck from the table and his strength waned once again. Well Peter figured out what they did. Stupid power dampeners.

"Jesus," he mumbled tiredly and fell back down to slump in the chair, already embarrassed by his outburst. "What did Shuri make those things out of?"

"Vibranium," Fury answered and held up a fist. Peter thought he was going to punch him in the face for a second, but his spidey sense never went off. Instead there was a little click and he spotted a remote firm in Fury's hand. The cuffs fell limply from his wrists onto the table, going cold. Peter sighed in relief and rubbed his sore wrists.

"Does that mean I passed?" He wondered as Fury turned away and put his palm up to a seemingly solid wall. As usual when it came to SHIELD, he shouldn't have trusted his eyes. The wall hissed and went concave before sliding into the wall to reveal a doorway. Well, that's one way to do it, Peter thought, impressed.

"In a sense," Nick answered vaguely. "General Ross has many powerful people in his pocket with powerful connections. We couldn't be sure that you weren't a shapeshifter and this was all an act to force SHIELD's hand."

"The Accords have superheroes working for them?" Peter wondered as the two came out in a busy hallway. Agents in uniforms rushed or walked past in singles and pairs, carrying everything from ray guns to paper work. Most stopped to salute their director as he and Peter passed, none of them paying the teen any mind. What, am I invisible?

Guards stood at every doorway, decked out in armor, blasters heavier than Peter probably was and big helmets. None wore any expression. They were like Nick-Furys-in-training, except less intimidating.

"And super villains," the man himself said shortly. "The entire point of the signing was to get mutants, aliens, experiments, inhumans, etcetera to open up and use their powers for military benefits. If they refused to work for the government then they were all nuclear bombs just waiting to go off. At least in the world's governments eyes. What they can't control are liabilities.

Peter glanced through door windows and around corners curiously. There were state of the art labs, robotic centers, chemistry rooms with mini explosions between every table. Then there were big empty rooms, medical stations, tracking offices, kitchenettes and break rooms, training rooms...SHIELD had everything. There was even a mini park with signs warning Agents to not let their dogs poop on the side walk. Then, of course, the barracks.

"They think I'm a nuclear bomb?" Peter asked Fury with his lips pinched together in a sour expression.

"Not you personally," Fury corrected. "But the image, the idea of Spider-Man. Public vigilante, mostly excepted by the citizens, even beloved. And, though you may not be a bomb, you are still very powerful Mr. Parker. More so than you realize. You may have abilities that you have not unlocked."

"So what am I gonna do?" Peter sighed. "Hide the rest of my life?"

"No," Fury disregarded simply.

"No? Then what are we supposed to do?"

Fury pushed opened a pair of mat double doors in response. They opened into a large room with three rows of computers and agents, all directed toward the middle stand. It was dark outside the large floor to ceiling window, or at least Peter couldn't see anything through it. It wasn't unlike what Tony told him about his first helicarrier experience except the computers were all holo-screened and connected, the window huge. Everything was like one brain or ant hill and Nick Fury seemed to be the center of it. Peter's mouth fell open as he surveyed the room and the directer took his natural place as leader, standing with his hands clasped behind his back. The man looked more confident that anyone Peter had met, including Steve, as Fury watched the window with a straight back and a ghost of a smile.

"Holy crap," Peter looked around in awe. He's just showing off now.

Peter glanced down at his tingling arms to see them trembling slightly. Whatever those cuffs could do certainly did a number on him. He could feel his powers seeping back into him, but he had felt very uncomfortable without them. They were like a pause button on the unnatural part of his DNA. He definitely was not going to be putting them on again.

"Wait, are we in a helicarrier?" Peter asked when the thought of Tony's story sank in.

"Not exactly," was all he got from Fury.

Peter stared at the back of the directors head for a few seconds, urging him on.

Fury sighed. "It's called a tricarrier. Part airborne, part boat, part submarine and..."

"And what?"

Dark humor sunk into the man's eyes. "You'll find out if we need it, Parker."

That doesn't have creepy undertones at all...Peter began to think but was rudely interrupted by two screaming children running into the room chasing each other. Kids were allowed in SHIELD? Maybe they were mini agents. He wouldn't put it past Fury to recruit two...what, ten year olds?

"Whoa!" He yelped as they cycloned around him, one using him as a shield and the other trying to catch them. "Calm it down!"

He reached out and grabbed both of them, barely catching their sleeves. Jeez why were kids so hyper. Fury rolled his eyes at the two, as if they had been giving him grief for a while. Peter didn't know how the serious director stood having random kids around...

"Cooper?" He asked in shock. The teen pulled the other one back to him, recognizing her as well. "Lila?"

His spidey sense spiked and all the air was knocked out of him with hugs and exclamations of, "Uncle Spidey!" from both little Bartons.

"Oh my god, hi!" Peter laughed. "I haven't seen you guys in a while!"

"Eighty-six days!" Lila relied automatically. Cooper rolled his eyes at her, as if he could not believe she had been counting the days.

"We haven't talked to pa in that long either," Cooper huffed. His expression brightened when he looked up at the older boy. "But he came with you, right? Now we can see him!"

He and Lila squealed in excitement and held hands, jumping up and down. Peter but his lip and steadied them.

"Sorry, guys, your dad didn't come with me," he told them sadly. He winced when their faces dropped. "It's just me this time."

Lila whined. "Why not? Does he not like us anymore?"

"Of course he likes us," Cooper shot over angrily. "He's just busy."

"I thought he worked here?" She confessed, eyes watering.

"Only sometimes," Cooper told her and hugged her. Peter resisted the urge to fawn over the cuteness. Coop was the best older brother. He didn't even know what was happening half the time, but he still reassured Lila, who was two years younger at eight. It made Peter wish he had siblings.

"I'm sorry, Director Fury, I promise to keep them off the bridge from now on..." Came a tired, but familiar voice.

The director nodded to Laura Barton as she attempted to shift baby Nathanial from her right hip to her left. She glanced up and gasped in surprise at seeing the teen hero-now-fugitive.

"Peter!" She pulled him into a hug, trying to keep Nathan from being squished between them. Peter chuckled and wrapped an arm around her so that she didn't have to struggle. She laughed as well and pulled his face away to study him.

"Sorry. How are you, hon? Is the team here? Did Clint come with you?" She asked, a little desperate. The weight of three little kids and being a temporary single mom must have been getting to her.

"No, I'm sorry Laura, it's just me," Peter gave her a weak smile. She returned it, though a little forced this time.

"Oh it's fine, don't apologize. It's so nice to see you again."

"I'm happy to see you guys too," he admitted. "Clint really misses you, by the way. Tony's helping him plan a big family trip to go on when...well, when everything blows over. It was supposed to be a surprise so just act surprised when he tells you, okay?"

"Don't you worry," she winked at him. "But thank you, Peter. It's been...a little rough without him."

She watched her two oldest play around with an agent worriedly.

"It'll be okay," the arachnid tried to assure the taller woman. "You'll see him soon."

"I hope so..." she told him, going to wrangle her kids. "Lila, Cooper, come here! That man has a job to do!"

Fury raised an eyebrow in her direction, shaking his head. Then he looked at Peter head on, as if about to give an order. The arachnid resisted the urge to salute as the director studied him.

"Hold on," was all he said in the end. "Mrs. Barton, I'd sit down if you want to keep hold of that baby."

The four Bartons found the nearest seat, with a bit of motherly guidance and lecture. They strapped in hastily, Laura fishing a pair of ear muffs from her baby bag Peter hadn't realized she'd been carrying as well. She slipped them over little Nate's head and wrapped an arm around Lila. Cooper gripped his seat with a mask of full beam excitement.

"What are they–" a loud boom cut Peter's question off. Sunlight suddenly filled the window, a stark contrast from the white of the electric lights that were now shutting off.

Peter opened his mouth to try to say something again, but a loud swooshing filled the air, making it hard to hear anything. Fury stood tall and confident as the floor tilted to the side, making Peter engage his sticking abilities.

Gravity tried to pull him down, but the tricarrier disagreed as it rose out of the ditch slowly. Orange sand rained down the side of it. Peter gasped as they rise up and above what seemed to be a barren desert and the ditch - which looked more like a cement hangar - closed with a very SHIELD like lid of rock. It looked as if there was nothing there.

The carrier floated into the sky to nearly cloud level, Fury barking commands the entire time. When everything was steady and he was satisfied, he glanced back to see Peter's reaction.

"Whoa," Spider-Man simply said.

He grinned at the director. "I guess this means SHIELD is back in business."

The corner of Nick Fury's lip curled up a smidge. "I guess it does, kid."