A Mature Decision
Peter barely paid attention on the way back. By the time he realized it, the bus was already in front of his school.
And as soon as they got off, they saw it; completely rebuilt.
In just a single day since they had left.
That alone was enough to leave everyone stunned.
"Pretty amazing, right?" the teacher said with a smile, clearly enjoying the students' reactions as they stared at the newly restored school.
"The principal told me Tony Stark himself invested a lot of money to rebuild it. To the point that he even sent his steel machines to finish the job. And in just one night, they completed everything. Honestly… it's a good thing he's not in construction, or he'd drive half the companies out of business," the teacher added with respect.
But Peter knew the truth.
Tony rebuilding the school wasn't just generosity.
It was a message.
A direct one.
A way of telling him to stay.
To keep studying.
And that no matter if the school got destroyed… he would rebuild it again.
Tony, and the others, probably already knew what had happened in Washington. Even if Mr. Richard had said no one would find out because they were too busy… Owen had figured it out almost immediately.
Which meant the rest probably had too.
"Great…" Peter muttered as he followed the others, who were about to place their trophy on the display shelf of the newly rebuilt school; the old ones had all been destroyed.
But Peter turned to leave.
Before Ned stopped him.
"Peter, you're not coming again?" his friend asked. "The others are already starting to feel like you're not really part of the group if you don't join them… and now you're leaving. They're going to think you don't even care," Ned said, clearly worried.
"I figured it out… well, more or less," Peter replied as he pulled out his notebook.
It was completely filled with scribbles, words connected with lines, circles… and even some pretty bad drawings, which he now realized were unnecessary the moment he showed them to someone else.
"Ahem… the guy with the wings," he said, pointing at the sketch of that strange figure. "He was stealing from Damage Control, the DODC, to build those weird weapons… radioactive ones. And he's selling them on the black market, probably to other criminals. One of them is named Mac Gargan… and they've got a delivery coming up soon. If I can get to the place where the deal happens and catch them all… I won't just take one criminal off the streets, I'll take down the whole supply chain. It's like killing two birds with one stone… you get it? Because of the wing guy," Peter added with a small smile.
Ned stared at him in silence for a moment.
"Peter… don't you think you're getting a little obsessed with this? You said there are people who handle this kind of stuff… why not leave it to them? It sounds dangerous. He's got futuristic weapons… and a guy who can fly. You… swing around with webs," he said, clearly concerned.
"No… I don't want to be the kid who calls the adults when something goes wrong. I want to be the adult who goes toward the problem… and fixes it. And with that… I can prove it. I can prove it to them," Peter said firmly.
"Prove what?" Ned asked.
"That I'm a superhero too," Peter replied, his gaze serious.
Ned looked at him for a few seconds, not sure what to say.
Then he let out a sigh.
"Alright… you know I'm going to support you no matter what, right? In return, you're getting me Scarlet Witch's autograph. She's… pretty hot," he said, not having many other options but to accept.
"Sure… but you might want to keep that to yourself. She's Owen's fiancée… and he's not exactly gentle, even with teenagers. Trust me, his punches hurt," Peter said with a slight grin before waving him off and running away.
…
Peter arrived home and looked around, noticing Aunt May wasn't there.
So he went straight to his room, dropped his notebook on the desk, and tossed his backpack onto the bed. Then he pulled out his mask and put it on without thinking twice.
He sat down for a moment.
Looked at his small notebook.
Stayed silent.
Then stood up again.
A couple of minutes later, he came back; this time with a whiteboard. He erased everything on it; laundry days, to-do lists… and the stars he earned for washing dishes.
He rewrote all his investigation there, clean and organized.
Then sat down again.
Trying different poses.
Until he lifted both legs onto the desk and pulled his hood over the mask, striking a pose straight out of a 90s detective movie.
"Hey, Karen… can you help me look up someone named… Mac Gargan?" Peter said, staring at his board with a serious expression.
"Yes, Peter. Let me access the police databases…" Karen replied, as multiple profiles with the name Mac Gargan appeared in his vision.
There were a lot.
Too many.
"There are a total of 183 individuals with criminal records under the name Mac Gargan. Ranging from armed robbery to kidnapping, extortion, and murder…" Karen said quickly.
"Murder…?… no…," Peter muttered. He swallowed hard, snapping back to focus. "Focus on the ones related to weapons theft… or illegal possession, something like that," he added quickly.
The list started shrinking.
Names disappeared one by one.
Until only three remained.
"We have three matches. Victor Mac Gargan, wanted for armed robbery, clashes with police, and bank heists. Seamus Mac Gargan, wanted for stealing weapons from an officer, kidnapping, and extortion. And MacDonal Gargan, wanted for stealing military robotics blueprints… remnants of the former Oscorp, which collapsed a few years ago. All of them have additional records, including homicide," Karen explained.
"That one! That's the one," Peter said immediately. "The guy said thanks to him they were able to build a lot of things. If they used Osborn's company blueprints… then it makes sense. Perfect… alright. Then let's go catch him," he added, getting to his feet, ready to go hunt criminals.
In front of him, an image appeared; a man with a scorpion tattoo on his neck and a face that practically screamed villain.
"Great… now I just have to wait until they say where the meeting is, track this guy down… and catch them all at once," Peter said, like it was the simplest thing in the world.
But he quickly realized it wasn't that simple.
Hours passed as he listened to the conversations coming from their base. Most of it was just complaints; which celebrity was hotter, how they deserved a raise… or how one guy's wife had been dressing up way too much lately just to go out with her friends.
Which led Peter to the same conclusion his coworkers probably had.
Even if none of them seemed willing to say it directly to the poor guy.
Right then, footsteps approached, and the men stopped talking.
"Boss, it's here. The weapons are already loaded into the van, and we got tickets for the 11 o'clock ferry," one of them said quickly.
"Good. Let's not be late. That guy… that guy is really dangerous," the boss replied seriously as they got into the van.
"Ferry? What ferry?" Peter said quickly. "He said 11… so that's soon," he added, glancing at the time. "Karen?"
"Yes. I'll mark the locations closest to the last GPS signal from the spy spider. I'll triangulate the area to show the nearest ferries they could realistically reach within the remaining time… and that depart at 11," Karen responded immediately.
Several ferry routes appeared in front of Peter, along with their departure times.
"There are only two ferries leaving at that time nearby. What do you want to do, Peter?" Karen asked in her usual neutral tone.
"I'm just one guy… so it's a fifty-fifty, huh…" Peter muttered, forced to choose between one or the other. "What should I do?" he added, hesitating. If he chose wrong, his plan to catch the criminals would fail.
"What about informing the VITAE Class A agents, Peter? You've already done a great job getting this far. Mister Stark and the S-Class members will surely be proud of you," Karen said. Even she sounded… concerned, despite not being supposed to have emotions. "Even they… as powerful as they are… sometimes need help."
Peter hesitated.
Even more.
"…Alright," he said at last, letting his arms drop slightly. "Send the information to the agents… but I'm going too. Is that okay?" he added, his tone calmer now.
"Of course, Peter. That is an appropriate decision," Karen replied.
Peter couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.
Then he looked at his Spider-Man suit.
And without hesitating any further, he grabbed it and started putting it on.
Maybe he didn't need to complete a mission on his own.
But this time… he wasn't going to stay behind.
After all… he was a VITAE agent too.