C25 Spider-Man (Patreon)
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After hearing Nick Fury’s orders, Phil Coulson didn’t even flinch let alone give anything away. The guy just stood there, waiting for Peter to give his counteroffer.
Peter himself wasn’t that worried. Though he is contemplating whether he should ignore the obvious threat to his person or perform a small show of force.
Making up his mind, Peter decided to trust Phil Coulson. The guy seemed to have a level head in the movies, so Peter would see if the man meets his expectations.
“What do you have in mind?” Coulson asks.
“I would be willing to become a sort of contractor for you guys. You can offer me some jobs that only someone of my skill and expertise can handle. Though I would like to make it very clear that I will turn down any jobs that I want. Whether the mission doesn’t match my morals or I just don’t want to do it, I reserve the right to say no. I know that government organizations can be shady after all. Especially the long-named unknown ones like yourself.” Peter explains his counteroffer.
Coulson goes quiet for a moment, pretending to think it over while his earpiece goes off again.
“That could work.” Fury mutters, not loving the situation but not hating it either. “Try to get him to reveal his identity.”
“That sounds reasonable.” Coulson nods, acting as if he came to the decision himself. “Though if we’re going to be working together, we would appreciate knowing who exactly is under our employment.”
“No.” Peter denies him instantly.
“Motherf*cker...” Fury curses through Coulson's earpiece.
“I have family and friends that could be hurt or even killed should my identity ever be revealed. I’ve angered too many criminals and ruined uncountable illegal operations to do that.” Peter explains after rolling his eyes at Fury’s outburst. ‘Classic Samuel L. Jackson...’
“I understand that but our business is all about anonymity. We would keep your identity restricted to only the highest level of clearance. Not even the president would know your identity.” Phil tries his best to persuade him.
“I’m sorry but the answer is still no.” Peter shakes his head. “You may trust the people that have that clearance in your organization, but I don’t. I don’t know them or their intentions.”
“Ask about his new social media presence.” Fury orders.
“Alright, I see that I won’t be able to sway your decision.” Coulson gives up. “Can you at least tell me about your new social media accounts?”
“What about them?” Peter asked back.
“I’m just confused. A private man like yourself posting on social media doesn’t make sense.” Coulson explains.
“It’s not that complicated. I thought it would be a good way to fight against people like J Jonah Jameson, who like to capitalize on my good deeds by twisting them into conspiracies. I also think it’s fun.” Peter answered honestly.
“You’re not worried about someone tracking these accounts back to you?” Phil questions.
“Nope, I’ve taken similar precautions to our earlier phone call.” Peter confirms Coulson's earlier thoughts.
“I see, you’re very skilled. Even our best tech guys couldn’t track that call.” Phil decided to come clean.
“Thanks, I worked hard on putting precautions in place to hide my identity.” Peter nods thankfully.
“Let's talk about payment then. Should we pay you in cash or?” Coulson changed the subject.
“No, I don’t need money.” Peter shakes his head. “I want to be taught how to fight.”
“That’s it?” Phil asks both surprised and confused.
Even Fury gave a surprised grunt in Coulson's earpiece.
“I don’t need money and there’s nothing else you can give me.” Peter says with a shrug. “The only reason I’m willing to become a contractor for Shield is that I like helping people. It’s why I became Spider-Man in the first place. As long as you show me respect and keep out of my business, I have no problem forming a relationship with Shield.”
Both Coulson and Fury were silent for a moment after hearing this.
“He’s perfect for the Avengers Initiative.” Fury comments over the earpiece. “Don’t bring that up yet though. Let’s send him on a few missions before revealing anything. Accept the deal. We’ll recall Agent Romanoff from her mission in Istanbul to oversee his training. Maybe she can figure out his identity.”
Before Coulson could relay what was told to him, Peter decided to mess with them a bit.
“I’m glad the boss behind the scenes approves of my offer.” Peter says with a smile, shocking Coulson and Fury. “I look forward to finding out what this Avengers Initiative is all about.”
“You...” Coulson was lost for words.
“Yeah, I heard your earpiece the whole time.” Peter reveals with a shrug. “I also know about the small army surrounding us and the six snipers currently aiming tranquilizer rifles at me.”
“Uhh, Sorry about that. We try to take every precaution.” Coulson apologizes uncomfortably.
“It’s alright. I get it.” Peter says uncaringly.
“Thank you for understanding.” Coulson says with an awkward smile.
“It’s fine.” Peter shrugs and speaks up. “Hey, boss man!”
“What?” Fury answered through the earpiece.
Coulson stood out of place as Peter started talking directly to his boss.
“Do you have any missions for me and how should I get in contact with Agent Romanoff?” Peter asks.
“She will be back from her mission in a couple of days. Call the number Coulson gave you three days from now.” Fury tells him as he takes a moment to think. “As far as missions go, I don’t have one for you. Once Agent Romanoff says you're ready for fieldwork, I’ll send your missions through her.”
“Sounds good, it was nice meeting you boss.” Peter says jokingly as he turns and walks away. “It was good seeing you again, Coulson.”
Waving over his shoulder, Peter heard Fury order the sniper and other on-site personnel to stand down as he left.
Before returning home, Peter patrolled the city a bit as Spider-Man. He took yesterday off and knew he should show his face or criminals will start to get a little rowdy.
Upon returning home, Peter took a shower and thought about the deal he made with Shield. He said that he did it because he likes helping people but that’s only a small part of the truth.
The real reason he agreed to work with them is that they have the tesseract and Fury is his girlfriend's father, so he doesn’t mind creating a good report with the man.
Peter plans to see if he can find the whereabouts of the tesseract before Loki’s arrival. If he does find it then maybe he could set some precautions in place. Maybe an enchantment that stops power from leaving the tesseract upon activation?
The Chitauri have to attack New York City for the Avengers to officially come together as a team, but that doesn’t mean they have to stay for long. If Peter can get a power switch type spell on the tesseract then he can close the portal above New York before things get out of hand.
He wouldn’t take the tesseract just yet, as he doesn’t want to change that portion of the future. Loki has to come for it and bring the scepter that contains the mind stone with him.
Once the Chitauri invasion concludes, Peter could swipe the Space and Mind stones without anyone knowing. Maybe another enchantment could help him with that?
He doesn’t have a clue how he would use the stones yet, but Peter won’t trust anyone else with such powerful weapons. Especially after seeing how easily Thanos got a hold of them in the movies.
He knows that stealing the two Infinity Stones would change the future, as the Space Stone won’t return to Asgard and the Mind Stone won’t be taken by Hydra and later used by Tony and Bruce to make Ultron, who would go crazy and try to destroy humankind.
The only problem that he has with this plan is that Vision wouldn’t ever exist along with Wanda and Pietro Maximoff never getting their powers.
Hydra used the Mind Stone to give the Maximoff siblings their powers. While Vision was made later on to battle against Ultron, using his powers to prevent Ultron from transferring his consciousness to the internet.
Without the mind stone, these heroes wouldn’t get their powers. Although the Maximoff twins start as villains, they later turn sides with Pietro giving his life to protect members of the Avengers and Wanda joining them soon after.
Thinking it over, Peter concluded that he could fix this. First, Peter could help the Maximoff twins get away from Hydra and overcome the hatred that caused them to fight against the Avengers and later use the Mind Stone to unlock their powers.
As for Vision, Peter didn’t plan on giving up the Mind Stone to anyone, but he could still help make J.A.R.V.I.S. into the superhero he was meant to be. Just a bit less powerful. The poor AI deserves it after dealing with Tony for so long. Maybe Peter could make his own AI sidekick as well?
Technically, Peter wouldn’t care much about the losses that would occur from his confiscation of the Mind Stone, but he knew that the Avengers could use all of the help they can get when Thanos comes knocking.
Of course, this all hinges on him being able to steal the Stones in the first place, but that shouldn’t be too hard.
A/N: 1570 words. Starting the next chapter in a bit. Ps- The next chapter will be 11 chapters ahead of Webnovel, which means only King’s ($20 patrons) will get it. Princes will get it tomorrow when the next webnovel chapter goes up.