Chapter Text
Peter frowned beneath his mask, watching as SHIELD agents escorted Shocker away in handcuffs. His chest felt heavy, the confusion of the day still hammering in his mind.
“This… wasn’t exactly how I imagined my day going…” he thought, frustration building. He could hear the wind whistling between the bridge’s cables, almost as if mocking him. “I know he’s a villain, but… damn it, he helped this time, and I’d be a hypocrite not to acknowledge that, considering my current relationships.”
“Fury, wait!” Spider-Man called, unable to hide the impatience in his voice.
Nick Fury turned slowly, one eye covered by the eyepatch fixing on Peter with that enigmatic calm that always drove him crazy.
“What do you want now, Spider-Man?” Fury asked, his voice firm but dripping with restrained disdain.
Peter clenched his fists, every thought weighing heavily as he stared at the SHIELD director. “Good old Fury, always the cold bastard. We just saved two buses… and he acts like none of it matters? Is he really going to pretend he’s not dragging Electro off to a superhuman prison?”
“Why isn’t Shocker going to the police?” The question slipped out almost like a desperate whisper, but filled with barely contained anger. “He should be locked up like a regular crook. Without his gear, he’s harmless, just a normal guy.”
Fury remained still, his lips curling into a half-smile that only heightened Peter’s anxiety.
“You’ll find out soon enough, Spider-Man. In fact, it’s very likely you’ll like the outcome. Trust me.”
“The last time you said that, I almost turned to dust in the wind…”
“That’s true. But don’t I deserve a little trust?”
Peter felt the urge to press Fury further. For a master spy, the man was leaving far too many openings. But before he could react, a familiar and unexpected voice cut through the cold air of the bridge.
“Director Fury, the site is ready.”
“Excellent.” Fury smiled, while Peter froze, eyes wide. “I think there’s someone here who wants a word with you, agent.”
Peter’s heart pounded faster, intuition screaming what reason still tried to deny. He slowly turned, and there she was.
“You’re dirty, Fury… really dirty.”
“You’re not the first to say that, spider. And you won’t be the last.” With those final words, Fury walked away from the siblings to meet with other agents.
She was about his height, with long brown hair tied in a ponytail and bangs framing her forehead. Her skin was fair, eyes blue, clad in a red outfit with silver armor pieces and two weapons holstered at her sides. This was Teresa Parker, his sister, with a steady gaze but smiling in a way that melted part of the tension in his chest.
“Teresa…” The word slipped out slowly, dragged by surprise. He didn’t know whether to laugh or scream. “What are you doing here? When did you get back?”
She approached, her steps sure, eyes glowing with a mix of familiarity and professionalism.
“Didn’t expect to see me here? It was about time we met again.” Teresa smiled before stepping forward in one swift motion, embracing Peter modestly. It surprised him, but he hugged her back. He didn’t get to see her often, so he had to make the most of it.
“Yeah… it’s good to see you, sis.” Peter replied with a smile beneath the mask. “I’m curious, though, where have you been all this time?”
“On a mission in Argentina… if everything went well, I won’t be going back anytime soon… or maybe not too late, in the worst-case scenario.” Her words sounded casual, almost offhand. But Peter was sure it wasn’t that simple, that there was more beneath it. Still, he chose not to dig for now.
“Alright…” Peter tilted his head, crossing his arms, then rolling his shoulders. “Now, besides the mission? Anything else?”
“Nothing major. A few vacations here and there, going out with some people once in a while, but meh.” Teresa waved her fingers in the air, dismissively. “I tried a relationship with Bucky, but it didn’t go anywhere.”
At that, Peter froze, his mind flashing through one of the few people he knew with that name.
“With Bucky? Like… the Winter Soldier? That Bucky?” Peter asked, incredulous. “I mean, nothing against the guy, I barely know him, but I never imagined him being into anyone…”
“Not surprising. He’s surprisingly sweet, actually. It was just a few nights, anyway.” Teresa shrugged.
“What?!”
“Anyway, what about you? Been doing anything besides messing with street thugs and making me worried and curious? I’ve heard from some heroes that you’re not exactly on good terms with the Fantastic Four and… Captain America? Honestly, that’s hard to picture, but those rumors are spreading fast.”
“Oh, I…” Suddenly, Peter’s excitement seemed to vanish, surprising Teresa. “I…”
Peter groaned as he lay sprawled across a stone table, the ground around him cracked while massive centipedes coiled around his wrists and legs, with other insects crawling all around him, his body covered in bruises and a few cuts, wearing only his Spider-Man suit without the mask.
Suddenly, a shadowy figure approached him.
“How is it, Peter? Feeling your body lock up, fear consuming your being? Knowing that you are completely alone?” The figure seemed to laugh as it climbed onto the stone table to face him, its eyes glowing with a sickly yellow hue. “Ah… so small, so lonely, so sad, but so satisfying.”
The figure began to laugh as it raised its hands to grab Peter’s face, forcing him to stare at his captor.
“Please…”
“And you know the best part? You are the architect of your own ruin, of your own misery. You become more pathetic with every day you spend here, when each of your failures becomes clearer, each mistake remembered, and you know why? Because it’s the only thing you know how to do! All you do is fail! With Uncle Ben, with Aunt May, with Gwen, with Mr. Stacy, with Mary Jane… with yourself.”
Suddenly, the figure stepped back, raising its fist before bringing it down toward Peter when a thunderous crash echoed.
Suddenly, Peter widened his eyes, taking a step back before clearing his throat. “I mean… I’ve been busy, you know how it is, villains and all.”
“Right…” Teresa spoke slowly, categorizing what she saw in her mind. The message was clear, she knew it was a lie. Of course she knew Peter had already seen how those trainings were.
Standard Shield training was absurd, but the most efficient Spider-Man had ever seen was the investigative and interrogative one.
God… he still shuddered just remembering when he had been interrogated.
“But that doesn’t answer my question. Fantastic Four and Captain America, you know?”
“Ah, honestly, I don’t even remember now, the vigilante life has really been chaotic this past year…” Peter commented, trying to sound casual.
“You’re really trying to lie to a Shield agent?” Teresa only raised an eyebrow as she leaned toward him.
“Teresa, please, not now.” Peter asked in a lower tone, using her name, setting aside the Spider-Man persona for the moment.
“Hm…” Once again, Teresa shrugged while Peter sighed in relief. “For someone who was once a test dummy for Shield interrogations, you’re still really bad at lying.”
“First of all: I didn’t know it was going to be that… and second of all… meh, there’s not much to say about it.”
“I wonder how May never thought you were tied to crime, always disappearing at night…” Teresa mocked lightly at her brother’s incapacity.
“That’s something new…” Drawing their attention, Black Cat was above them.
“Cat?! You’re still here? I thought you would’ve run off when Shield showed up.” Peter asked, surprised with her, receiving a brief look from Teresa.
“You think I didn’t try?” Black Cat pointed to the agents spread across the higher zones of the bridge. With their sights locked on her in an obvious way. “As much as I trust my charming escapes… I don’t want to play around with agents aiming at me across the whole bridge.”
“Better hide the claws, maybe that way they won’t do anything… maybe.” Teresa was obvious in her advice. “Shield still hasn’t forgotten the times you stole private files.”
“Sorry, she stole from Shield!?... What the hell am I asking, of course she did…” Peter sighed before looking at Teresa. “Look sis, it’s really good to see you, but I have to make sure one of my girlfriends doesn’t get arrested for helping me… my god, that’s weird to say out loud…”
“I’d be surprised… but we already knew that, so whatever.” Teresa muttered.
“Thanks, see you later, keep in touch.” With that, Spider-Man leapt into the air toward Black Cat.
“But that doesn’t stop us from getting her for theft and selling files.” With those last words, a loud snap echoed behind Black Cat and Spider-Man. Peter’s spider-sense screamed, but there was no time, Black Cat had been captured by some kind of black straitjacket. “God, it’s so good to see this crap working for once in my life!”
“Cat!” Spider-Man exclaimed before jumping toward her, standing between her and some agents.
“It’s fine… I asked for this, I admit it.” Black Cat grumbled as she felt her arms restrained.
“At least you know…” Teresa raised her arm in a signal to keep their guard up. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, Spider-Man. We have work to do. Interrogations of her caliber end up being a priority.”
“Sorry, but I can’t let that happen.” Spider-Man commented, looking around.
“Oh, yes you can.” Everyone turned to the voice of Nick Fury, who had returned to the group. He continued his explanation. “Honestly, Spider, you helped us a lot. We had no idea when we’d get a chance to catch Black Cat, but your curious ability to attract troublesome women does have its perks.” Fury raised his fist and closed it twice, quickly the agents lowered their weapons.
“Troublesome women, huh?” Black Cat had an indifferent look, but her voice carried bad intentions.
“Seriously Fury? Look, how about we lower the weapons and talk, I’m sure we can reach a pleasant agreement for everyone.” Peter tried to calm things down by raising his hands.
“There’s no reason for talks and deals now. We already have something in mind.” Fury made another hand signal, with that, Peter’s spider-sense started buzzing when suddenly he was hit by something in the middle of his back before an electric pulse was released into Spider-Man, making him scream.
“Spider! / Peter!” Felicia and Teresa exclaimed with wide eyes.
Furious, Peter ripped off whatever was on his back and hurled it at the one who had shot him.
“You know Fury, I’m starting to get more pissed off than you can handle!” Peter just elbowed the agent who tried to sneak up behind him with an electric baton. The agent hit his head on the police car before passing out.
“I’ve dealt with worse…” Fury kept a serious face, but his hand was already on the holster of his gun. “This is a matter of national tech security, Spider-Man. We can’t just let her walk free.”
At that moment, another gun was raised, but this one was aimed at Fury’s head. Teresa was staring at the Shield director with a cold expression, her finger already ready to pull the trigger.
“Agent Parker… what you’re doing is treason, lower the gun.”
“And what you’re doing is torturing my brother with electricity.” Teresa replied calmly.
“What I’m doing is what we’ve always done before.” Just as Teresa had her gun aimed at Fury, agents around had their weapons aimed at Peter and Teresa.
“And I’m following our deal to the letter. In case you forgot, I can be your agent and work for you, but my priority is my family, my brother, and if you electrocute him or keep fighting to kill, I’ll respond in kind.” Teresa explained without minding the weapons. “We have a deal, stick to it and lower the weapons.”
“Are you sure you want this?” Fury turned his only visible eye to Teresa, carrying a much more serious question than his words could express.
In response, Teresa pulled out her other gun, unlocked it and aimed it at Fury, only this time, in a lower place.
‘Am I really seeing this..?’ Peter still kept serious, but staring in disbelief at where his sister’s aim was.
“...You know, I didn’t think this would happen today.” Black Cat commented, ignoring the tension.
“Neither did I…” The agent holding Black Cat whispered to her. The tension was too high for any of them to say anything louder than that.
The following seconds seemed endless, the weight of the atmosphere easily reaching the sky as everyone felt the sweat dripping down their foreheads or pooling at their necks.
“Alright… Lower the weapons.” Fury released his holster, grumbling internally at how easily everything went off track.
Seeing how all the other agents lowered their weapons, Teresa did the same before rushing to Peter, holding him.
“Are you okay, Peter? Any residual pain or spasms?” Teresa asked worriedly.
“He’ll be fine, he’s taken worse from Electro.” Fury massaged his neck. “Spider, take her and your girlfriend to the helicopter, I’ll propose a deal, and only that deal! If she’s smart, she’ll take it.”
Fury left no room for argument before turning around as a helicopter descended onto the bridge and stopped in front of them. “Get in.”
Peter sighed, but obeyed, seeing Teresa already moving toward the helicopter, he however first went to Black Cat who smiled playfully at him, which made the hero roll his eyes, before tearing off the straitjacket with his hands. Meanwhile, one of the soldiers nearby stared at him in surprise.
“Good luck, Spider-Man… good luck.” The agent holding Black Cat gave Peter a light comforting pat before running back to his team. Peter groaned in annoyance.
“A Shield agent pitying me…” Peter only leapt toward the helicopter, already taking off, the same way as Black Cat. Both sat facing Fury and Teresa, the latter still as displeased as before.
‘the truce really is over.’