(MCU) Arcs Collide: Chapter 30 – School Trip Under Fire

Chapter 30 – School Trip Under Fire

Summary: Teens always seem to find trouble without even trying, especially when that teen is Spider-Man. What a shame they interrupted a rare moment of peace for Carol and Tony.

Tony and Carol were cuddling on the couch in their private quarters, having just finished a meal Tony had prepared. They exchanged the occasional kiss.

It wasn’t often they got this much peaceful quiet. Rhodey and Laura were out on a date night. Harley and Kate were babysitting the younger kids (much to Cooper’s annoyance) and had taken them to watch a movie and eat burgers. Peter and Kamala were on a school trip.

Kamala, apparently, was in the same class as Peter, and her parents insisted she finish regular high school, so Tony took the chance to enroll her in the same school and class as Peter. That made the teenage Spider, his friend Ned, and his girlfriend MJ happy. Especially MJ, who, for the first time, had a female best friend. Ironically, their opposite personalities made them an even better fit for each other.

The Defenders were doing their own thing, and Stephen was getting ready for his wedding next week. Daisy had taken Sharon to visit some old friends at SHIELD, and everyone else who could bother Tony or Carol had found ways to keep themselves busy for a few hours.

Since his proposal, things had been happening at an increasing rate, leaving Tony and his fiancée with little time for themselves outside of pillow talk before sleep. So when a chance like this presented itself, Tony grabbed it with both arms.

He had considered making dinner last night, given that both he and Carol finished early, but after the test she had to run with the criminals, she was in a bad mood, which Tony completely understood. Instead, he prepared a bubble bath for her to relax before taking her to bed for the night.

Waking up to Rhodey’s call about having a day off made Tony jump out of bed and prepare a marvelous breakfast. Carol woke up about an hour later to a set table and a grinning fiancée.

He was drawn back to the present by a groan from the blonde head resting on his chest. She shook her head and looked up at him, asking, “How the hell did you deal with them for so long?”

Oh... So they were still talking about it. Last night, she had pointedly refused to even mention yesterday’s simulation. But as Tony thought over her question, he looked ashamed, answering with a voice full of regret, “I just gave in to whatever they wanted.”

Carol looked at him with sympathy before saying with a small sneer, “I’m sure that just encouraged Rogers to behave himself.”

Tony gave a self-deprecating snort, replying with hollow cheerfulness, “You’d think that, but the sad truth is, he acted just about the same as he does now, just with fewer tantrums.”

Carol frowned for a moment, then shook her head and smiled. “Well, at least you learned you don’t deserve or need to tolerate behavior like that. And as long as I’m with you, no one ever will again.”

Tony looked deep into her brown eyes, saying from the bottom of his heart, “And I’m not about to let anyone take you away from your family, even if I have to take on the entire universe to keep you.”

Her eyes filled with love and warmth. Their lips met a moment later, and they began to kiss. Carol climbed up Tony’s body, her blonde curls falling around his face. The kiss was getting heated, and Tony was about to sneak his hand up her—

Their moment was cut short when Tony’s wristwatch began beeping and flashing. At the same time, Friday’s worried voice came through. “Boss, Mom, I’m so sorry to stop you from giving me a baby sister...” Both Tony and Carol blushed at the comment, but Friday continued in a worried tone, which was alarming considering she usually switched to a cheeky tone after comments like that.

Tony raised his arm, and a holographic screen appeared from his watch (a recent addition, courtesy of studying Shuri’s beads or whatever she called them). On the screen was a 4-meter-tall lava monster at one end of the street, and the same monster made of ice at the other. The monsters were attacking everything in sight, obviously aiming for a specific point—where a yellow school bus was parked.

As Tony and Carol watched the screen, Friday explained, “These two monsters appeared out of nowhere and started causing damage while advancing toward the national park visitor center.”

Tony groaned. “Which is where Peter and Kamala went for a school trip. Why didn’t our sensors detect something before the news did?”

Friday sounded confused herself. “I have no idea, Boss. Even now, I’m getting nothing from them, which should be impossible.”

Now Tony was even more worried. He stood up, grumbling to himself, “The Mark L surgery is planned for tomorrow; I’ll have to use an older mark.”

A window opened across from where he stood, and a suit was already floating there, its back open and ready to accept him. With a smile, he muttered, “You’re the best, baby girl.”

Tony was worried when Friday didn’t reply with her usual “I know” remark. She was really rattled by this—he’d have to talk to her later.

He turned to see Carol already in her suit, glowing. All she said was, “Ready.”

Tony stepped into his suit, and they took off at top speed.

AC AC AC AC AC

It took them less than 10 minutes to reach the national park. When they got there, Spider-Man was swinging around the lava monster, shooting webs at it, but none seemed to have any effect, probably melting before making contact due to the heat.

On the other side, Ms. Marvel had enlarged her hands to grab debris created by the monsters and hurl it back at them. She even elongated her legs to be on eye level with the monster for better aim. Huh, training was paying off.

Tony couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off, but before he could say anything, Carol linked their comms and took charge. “Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel, switch enemies. Spider-Man, try webbing the ice monster’s legs—your webs should endure the cold. Ms. Marvel, use the same tactic on the lava one. The bigger the debris, the harder it’ll be for him to melt it before impact. I’ll distract them to give you time to switch. Iron Man, keep watch for a weakness.”

Carol dove into the fight first, aiming to distract the ice monster. Both young Avengers followed her orders without question, gaining distance from their current opponent to face the opposite one.

Tony frowned and opened a private channel to Friday. “Baby girl, you don’t detect any temperature changes in the area?”

Again, her response was confused. “No! I have no idea how.”

Tony scowled and muttered to himself, “Could their temperatures be canceling each other out?”

Friday’s voice sounded desperate. “I considered that and tried using specific scanners, but even with a scanner next to the monsters, there’s no change in temperature.”

That shouldn’t be possible. The presence of elemental monsters should cause... Unless... Still frowning, Tony whispered, “I have a theory.”

Before Friday could ask, Tony charged toward the ice monster. The moment it noticed him, it completely ignored Spider-Man and started launching ice spears at him. He dodged the first two, but then, taking a deep breath, allowed the third to hit him head-on.

Tony felt the impact, but it was smaller than expected. In fact, the metal of his armor warmed up instead of freezing, which contradicted what should have happened against an ice monster.

Tony didn’t even have to ask—Friday was already providing analysis, sounding less dismayed. “The hit wasn’t from the ice spear. Somehow, instead of ice, you were hit by a wide laser beam.”

Tony smirked. Gotcha. “Fri, did you calculate where the beam originated?”

Instead of answering, a point appeared on his HUD, signaling where the laser was shot from. Tony raised his hand and sent a repulsor blast to that spot.

It hit something that exploded, and a small patch of the ice monster disappeared before it reappeared in a familiar manner.

Now Tony was full-on smiling. “Fri, scan the entire area for light signatures that match those of BARF technology and find their origins.”

There was a static sound, like a gasp, from Friday. Clever girl—she figured it out. A moment later, over a hundred blue points filled his HUD.

Returning to the main channel, Tony called, “Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man—create distance from the hostiles. I’m about to put them down.”

None of the three even considered doubting him, backing off immediately. It warmed Tony’s heart, and even more so when their voices came through the comms. “Be careful!”

Taking a deep breath, Tony raised his arms toward the monsters and said, “Baby girl, start the fireworks.”

Friday’s reply was filled with vindictive satisfaction. “It’ll be my pleasure, Boss.”

A moment later, every single missile in Tony’s armor launched toward one of the marked targets.

Tony watched with a smirk as the sky filled with explosions, taking down each drone. A couple of minutes later, there was silence, and the monsters were gone.

Tony landed in his signature crouch before standing, his helmet folding into the armor, just as the three heroes ran toward him.

His attention was drawn to the other direction when the sound of shattering glass reached his ears.

He turned to see a familiar man in a weird green and gold super suit with a red cape. On the floor, what had once been a glass bowl was shattered into large pieces.

The man glared at Tony, screaming, “Damn you, Stark! I was supposed to be the hero! I was supposed to show you and your team up, not the other way around!”

Carol and the teens reached Tony just in time to hear the mad declaration. The space heroine glared at the man insulting her fiancée and asked Tony wearily, “Tony, who is he?”

Tony didn’t take his eyes off the man with the tantrum as he answered, “Quentin Beck. Former employee of Stark Industries’ R&D department. He was part of the team assigned to the BARF project.”

Beck’s glare remained harsh as he accused, “And you fired me just as the project was completed so you wouldn’t have to share the credit.”

Before Tony could retort, the teens jumped to his defense. Ms. Marvel huffed with crossed arms and said in a way that was true to her teenage girl personality, “As if we’d believe that. Mr. Stark isn’t like that.”

Spider-Man followed quickly, and for a moment, Tony was worried he’d have to hold the boy back from punching the madman as he yelled, “Yeah! I’ve seen Mr. Stark hand over credit to other people, even when he helped, just because the initial idea was theirs. So watch what you say about Mr. Stark!”

Tony sighed internally. He was glad they’d talked about when it was appropriate to refer to him as Uncle Tony (something they picked up from the younger kids) and when to use “Mr. Stark.”

Seeing the shock on Beck’s face, Tony seized the opportunity to add his own piece, staring Beck down. “You wanted to weaponize the technology. Even when I pointed out that SI doesn’t deal with weapons anymore, you went ahead and started working on those drones. That’s why I fired you.”

Beck waved his hands with a mad smile. “But don’t you see? It was a success! How can you deny the effectiveness of my idea?”

Tony shook his head. “It was never about doubting your success—I always knew you could do it. That’s why I had to stop you. Look at the damage you did, trying to play hero. Imagine this tool in the hands of a terrorist group.”

Beck seemed unmoved by the horrible possibility and kept his mad smile. “Well, if I can’t surpass you as a hero, I’ll take your title as the Merchant of Death and bring it to a whole new level.”

Tony flinched at the old moniker but quickly turned it into a glare. “It’s not possible for you to have achieved all this on your own in such a short time. Who are you working with?”

Beck snickered, answering mockingly, “Oh, I found quite a group of people you ‘let go’ for one reason or another, and they were eager to help. William was the most eager.”

Tony frowned. “William? He helped Obadiah, and so did his team. I couldn’t justify keeping them to the board, so they demanded I fire them. But I never denied they were brilliant. That’s why I didn’t blacklist them and even gave them a reference on their work files.”

Beck looked shocked again, trying to find something to say, but before he could, a new voice came through Tony’s comms. “Iron Man, Friday gave us the location of their base. We’re about to arrest all of them. Just deal with Beck, and you’re done.”

Tony let out a heavy sigh, whispering back, “Thanks, Mack.” The new SHIELD was a hell of a lot more effective than the Hydra-infested one.

Turning to Spidey, Tony motioned. “Do your thing, Spider-Man.”

Underoos immediately shot web after web, wrapping Beck up until he was unable to move.

Tony looked down at the still-shocked face of his former employee and said sadly, “You could’ve done so much good, and look at you now. I warned you back then—weapons only bring more tragedies. I speak from experience.”

Without waiting for a reply, Tony left the downed man behind and turned to the two teens. “You two need to get back to your class. Ned and MJ can only cover for you for so long.”

The two teens nodded, wide-eyed, before Peter grabbed Kamala by the waist and used his webs to swing them back to the center.

Carol placed a gentle hand on Tony’s metal-clad shoulder and asked softly, “Are you okay?”

Tony glanced at Beck before asking weakly, “Is it my fault he ended up like this?”

Carol turned his face so he was looking into her stern gaze, then said softly, “No, Tony. He came to you with a dangerous idea, and you shut him down. He’s the one who kept working on it despite that. You had every right to fire him. You even left him an open door for another job. You gave him every opportunity you could, and he chose to go down this road. Now he’ll have to deal with the consequences.”

Tony still couldn’t completely shake the guilt he felt—old habits die hard and all that—but Carol’s words, and the warmth in her eyes, eased his burden a lot. Her next words filled him with even more warmth, almost wiping away the guilt entirely. “You’re a good man, Tony Stark.”