(MCU) Forged Reality: Chapter 16 - You want to be a hero?

Chapter 16 - You want to be a hero?

Summary: A surprise visit, a secret revealed, and one question that could change everything

Tony took another deep breath in front of the house. He didn't visit much in Queens; he usually stuck to Manhattan and Brooklyn unless he had some business elsewhere. And still, it wasn't the reason he was nervous right now.

Before he could think about it any further, he shook his head, keeping himself in the present. Fortifying his courage.

Tony was about to knock on the door when he thought he heard someone arguing inside before a clear shout from somewhere near the door reached his ears, "Peter! You can't keep running away like that; now be ready for dinner soon."

So, the kid was home. That would make things easier and harder at the same time. Again, he was about to knock and was frozen mid-motion when the door was yanked open and an annoyed teenager looked over his shoulder and screamed, "Thanks, Aunt May, but I need to... Umm, study. Yes, I am going to the library; I will see the two of you later."

Before Tony could stop the teen, he went straight into him. Because Tony was ready for the hit, he was barely moved by it; the teen, on the other hand, was forced to catch himself on the door frame so he wouldn't end up on the floor.

He shook his head and looked at Tony. "I'm sorry, sir, I didn't..." His voice turned into a high-pitched yelp.

Tony smiled at the boy and asked gently, "Are you okay there, kid?"

All he received in return was another high-pitched sound, and the boy looked close to fainting. Tony was about to say something when a tall—and yes, Tony could admit now that he was single—attractive woman with long dark hair and a few worry lines on her face called, "Peter. You are still here, good. Look, your uncle just wants you to understand that we worry..."

Her voice faded as well when she noticed Tony, but her surprise was quickly overtaken by a frown. "Why are you standing here like a statue when a guest is waiting?" She aimed the question at the frozen boy. Not receiving any response, she sighed. "Would you like to come in, Mr..."

Tony opened his mouth to introduce himself; the boy, however, beat him to the punch, yelping at his aunt, "May! This is Tony Stark! Iron Man!"

The woman's eyes widened, and she began to apologize immediately. "Mr. Stark, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you; my nephew is just... I mean he would never..."

Tony smiled in amusement and cut her off. "It's totally fine. I know I don't exactly look like my old self these days. Is by any chance a Mr. Ben Parker around?"

Both nephew and aunt blinked in surprise before the woman finally managed to shake it off and nod. "Yes. I'm his wife, May Parker. Ben is inside; please come in."

Tony gave her a grateful smile and began walking in. "Thank you, Mrs. Parker."

The woman smiled back at him and said gently, "Please call me May, Mr. Stark." Then she turned to her still shocked nephew and began sternly, "You are lucky we have a guest, or I would give you one long lec..."

Tony cut her off softly. "Actually, I would like to talk with young Mr. Parker as well, if I may. And please call me Tony."

The woman was turning to order her nephew back inside, but the teen had a large grin on his face and walked inside by himself while muttering, "Tony Stark wants to talk with me."

May closed the door before screaming out, "Ben, we have a guest joining us."

A gentle male voice called back, "I will set up the table for one more then."

When the three of them entered the kitchen, Tony saw a man, a little shorter than him with familiar brown hair that already had a couple of silver strands in it. He was wearing a pair of glasses and a soft smile on his face.

The moment the man noticed him, his eyes widened, but his smile never faded away. "Dr. Stark, what a pleasant surprise. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

Tony smiled and handed the man the bag he was carrying. "First and foremost, I wish to thank you for saving my life, Agent Parker."

The other man took the bag gratefully before saying, "I was merely returning the favor, Dr. Stark; after all, it was you and Director Fury that worked so hard to make sure all of us were safe after Rogers's spectacular failure."

Tony chuckled. "So how about we put it all behind us? I came here actually looking toward the future." Tony looked around the house, seeing a lot of boxes being packed, as if the family was preparing to move away. "Speaking of it, what's going on around here?"

Mr. Parker looked a little embarrassed before explaining, "Well, with the fall of SHIELD, it's been hard to find a job. I have been doing odd jobs here and there, but that's not enough to keep the house, so we are looking for apartments at the moment."

Tony caught a heartbroken look on May's and the teen's faces, and it made him even more glad that he decided to take Rhodey's advice and look for the family sooner rather than later.

Tony smiled at the man. "That seems to lead exactly to what I wanted to talk with you about. You see, I just opened a new medical department in SI, and I hoped that you might be willing to join the staff; I can always use trustworthy people around."

The Parker male's jaw dropped, and he asked, "I... Is this a real offer, Dr. Stark?"

Tony smirked at him and said dramatically, "Look who you are talking with; of course it's real. Oh, and call me Tony; I really don't care for all those titles."

Ben shook his head before smiling at Tony. "I would love to accept your offer, Tony; please call me Ben."

May clapped her hands happily. "Well, we should celebrate with a meal. Tony wanted to talk with Peter as well, but that can wait until our stomachs are full."

Tony, who didn't manage to eat lunch today, was more than happy to accept the offer. And boy was he glad for it; the food was simply delicious.

While they ate, Ben and May would inquire about some of the specifics of the job offer, to which he usually replied that they would have to talk with the department heads as it was their job—he didn't want to meddle with it. All the meanwhile, the teen just kept staring at him with stars in his eyes.

After May took away the dishes and sat back, she asked, "So what is it you wanted to talk with Peter about?"

Tony hesitated again, his mind going back to the conversation with Rhodey that led him to this place.

Flashback

Tony and Rhodey were sitting in his office going through some of the ideas they wanted to start implementing. One of the ideas was recruiting some new talent.

When Rhodey asked where they should even start with that, Tony was excited to tell him about a few young people that wanted to be heroes and kind of already began doing it small-time. Tony was hoping to provide them with some support and training; after all, he didn't want to see any teen die on the news because they didn't have enough training.

Rhodey approved and asked who Tony wanted to be first, and as an answer, Tony showed him a video of the teen in question.

Rhodey nodded in approval. "He could use some training, and he would be a great Avenger in the future. How do you plan to talk with him?"

Tony shrugged. "Thought I would catch him during one of his patrols in Queens and have a chat with him."

Rhodey raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "How old is this kid? 14? 15? What about his parents?"

Tony tilted his head. "He lives with his uncle and aunt, but considering it looks like he tries to keep it a secret, I thought it would be best to approach him out of earshot."

Rhodey gave Tony a deadpan look. "Their kid is running around getting himself into danger; they should know."

Tony rubbed the back of his head. "When you say it like that..."

End Flashback

So here Tony was. But Rhodey was right; they deserved to know what their nephew was up to, and it worked well for the teen as well. Tony could only guess that all that running around put a strain on the relationship he had with his guardians.

Tony pulled out his phone and played a video he got from hacking a city security camera. The screen showed what was obviously a teen in blue spandex and a red hoodie, hiding his face and jumping between two criminals with superhuman agility.

The video then went on to show that the hooded figure webbed up the criminals, before lifting a car with one hand and pulling a purse that was under it. He then used his webs to swing out of frame.

There was a moment of silence, and from the corner of his eye, he could see the teen sweating heavily. Ben raised an eyebrow at the paused video. "It's impressive without a doubt, but what does Peter have to do with any of it?"

Tony smirked a little and said as if it was obvious, "Oh, the small fact that the person in that video is Mr. Parker here."

Ben's and May's faces snapped to Peter, who frantically shook his head. "No! Y-You g-got i-it wrong, Mr. Stark!"

Tony leaned back in his chair and faked deep thinking. "Hmmm, I will guess your Bug-Kid suit is in your room, in a secret compartment under your rug."

The teen jumped to his feet and screeched, "It's Spider-Man! And how could you possibly know that?"

Tony smirked at the boy, who a moment later realized what he just said. He turned to his family stiffly to be met with his uncle, who had his eyebrows up in his hairline, and his aunt, who was glaring at him.

Peter chuckled awkwardly and sat down as he tried to lie his way out. "I- I mean. I heard that's what he's called, a-a-and I am hiding something else up in my room, not a super suit, not at all!"

Tony facepalmed and mumbled, "Really, kid?"

"Peter Parker! So this is where you are running off to, playing a hero?! Did you even consider what could happen to you?" May ranted at the boy.

The boy looked defiantly at her and said in a confident voice, "I'm doing what you and Uncle Ben taught me. With great power comes great responsibility."

Tony smirked at the boy. "Couldn't have said it better myself, Mr. Parker."

Peter blushed deeply and turned to Tony. "T-Thank you, Mr. Stark! And please call me Peter."

Ben sighed. "I understand what you are trying to do, Peter, and it's admirable; I'm very proud of you. But you also have to consider yourself in that. You can't help anybody if you get yourself killed, and without any training or support, I'm afraid it will happen sooner rather than later."

Peter looked down, obviously having no retort for the logical points his uncle was making. So Tony decided to intervene. "That's why I'm here." He looked Peter in the eye and asked seriously, "You want to be a hero, right?"

Peter's eyes shined brightly as he replied wholeheartedly, "That's all I've wanted since you saved me during the Stark Expo."

Tony remembered. He remembered a kid facing off one of the droids, an Iron Man mask on and a homemade repulsor aimed forward. A small smile twitched on Tony's lips.

Ben turned to him with a frown and asked, "Are you intending to make Peter an Avenger at his age, Tony?"

Tony shook his head. "As you might have heard through rumors, I'm no longer part of the Avengers. Right now, I'm working on a new program, and part of it will include young talents like Peter here so they could receive the training and support they need for a future in this line of work."

Ben began smiling when May cut in with a suspicious tone, "What exactly will your offer include? Will he have to drop from school and leave the house?"

Tony shook his head. "No. I have a couple more candidates in mind that are around the same age as Peter. I intend it to be more like a club. They will come to the tower a couple of times a week after school. Of course, the program is just starting now, so there will be a few issues to iron out as we go on."

Ben and May exchanged a long look, as if they had an entire conversation telepathically, before Ben turned to Tony with a smile and said, "We will be glad to accept your offer, Tony, but I suppose the final decision will be Peter's."

Tony turned to Peter with a raised eyebrow. The boy jumped to his feet and screamed out, "To be trained by The Tony Stark?! Of course I agree!"

Tony clapped his hands with enthusiasm matched to the teen's and exclaimed, "Then we are in business. You will be a hero."