C178 Spider-Man (Patreon)

Waking up the next morning, Peter was welcomed to the world by a phone full of missed calls and a large file full of information on his laptop, courtesy of Jarvis.

Staying in bed to enjoy the company of his sleeping girlfriend, who was practically glued to his side, Peter opened up his laptop and started parsing through everything.

About an hour passed as Peter was gathering information and MJ started to stir from her sleep.

“Hmm...” MJ stretches like a cat and wipes the sleep from her eyes as she looks up to find Peter awake and typing away on his laptop. “What are you doing?”

Pushing the covers off, MJ reveals her naked upper body as she moves to get a better look.

“I’m reviewing the recent Mandarin attacks.” Peter says as he presses play, showing her an explosion that took place in Washington DC.

“Are we going after him?” She asks expectantly.

“...” Peter was about to turn her down, as he was going to handle this with the Avengers, but that was completely ruined when he saw her puppy dog eyes pointed in his direction.

“Please...” She pleads as she presses her bare body against his.

“Fine...” Peter gives in with a sigh.

“Yes!” MJ started celebrating, though it was a bit too early for that.

“But you’ll need to pay for what you started...” Peter says as he puts his laptop aside and pulls MJ onto his lap.

Instantly, she could feel something hard resting between her legs. Thankfully, it’s Saturday so they can spend the morning however they like.

...

Hours later, Peter finished his work and called a council meeting at the tower.

“Are you ready?” Peter asked as he and MJ were suited up and about to head out.

Pacing back and forth in front of him, MJ was nervous about her first encounter with the Avengers.

Peter has sort of shielded her from anything Avengers related ever since she started her own hero gig, as he wanted her to just stick to the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man stuff, like saving people from burning buildings and other everyday crimes and catastrophes.

Though there was one other very big reason why he kept her away from the Avengers, even while they questioned him about New York’s new spider related hero.

MJ’s father, Nick Fury.

“What if he can tell that it’s me?” MJ asks, referring to her father.

“Well, then we have some explaining to do, don’t we?” Peter says with a smirk. “Though I doubt he’ll notice.”

“Alright, let’s go...” MJ says and psyched herself up as she waits for Peter to open a portal.

“If you want, you can back out.” Peter offers since he can see how nervous she is.

“No, I want to help fight the Mandarin!” MJ states resolutely.

“Okay, if you say so...” Peter nods and opens a portal. “Ladies first.”

———————————————

When a portal opened in the council room of the Tower, everyone thought that it would be Peter, who just so happened to arrive late.

Though just as the other council members were about to complain about waiting for so long, an unexpected individual came strolling on through.

“Huh?” Tony grunted in surprise as MJ came walking out of the portal. “M... Silk, what are you doing here?”

Like the idiot he is, Tony almost leaked MJ’s name, which wouldn’t have been good, to say the least.

In the past few months, MJ has met with Tony a few times, so he knows that she is Silk. Of course, he plagued Peter with questions as to how he was able to give her his powers, but Peter kept his mouth shut for the time being.

He would tell Tony about the Resurrection Elixir when he had more dragon bones to spare. Then Tony would be the next person to receive it as well.

“Silk, I see Spider-Man decided to stop hiding you away from us.” Charles says with a welcoming smile.

“Who said I was hiding her?” Peter denies everything as he steps through behind her.

“You said that if we tried to contact or bother Silk you would throw all of your work onto us until we were buried in paperwork for months.” Erik says dryly.

Hearing that, MJ turned to look at Peter questioningly.

“I don’t know what he’s talking about. He used to be a villain. Don’t believe a word he says.” Peter continues denying everything.

“Whatever, let’s just get down to business.” MJ says and sits next to Tony, as she feels more comfortable around him compared to the other Avengers.

As she sat down, MJ peeked over at her father, who she hadn’t seen in a few months. Although she worried that he would recognize her voice, Fury didn’t seem to react at all.

“I agree, what’s this all about?” Her father asks as his gaze turns toward Peter.

“Jarvis, play the video.” Peter says as a large TV instantly plays the footage of the most recent Mandarin bombing.

Just as he did yesterday, the video zoomed in and showed the figure of the man in the window brightening and exploding.

“Huh, that was odd.” Tony mutters.

“I know, but it gets even weirder.” Peter says as the video changes, showing two other similar instances.

In each of them, security footage picked up a glimpse of a bright human figure only seconds before a huge explosion.

“Is it an exploding meta-human?” Erik asks with an interested look.

“I don’t know for sure, but there’s more.” Peter says as the image on the screen changes to the AIM logo alongside a picture of Aldrich Killian. “A lot of these attacks can be traced back to him, Aldrich Killian.”

“He looks familiar...” Tony says thoughtfully.

“His Organization, AIM is based in the city so you’ve likely met before. He basically runs a scientific research and development agency funded by the government.” Peter explains.

“Okay, so what do these attacks have to do with him?” MJ asks, surprising everyone that she didn’t already know. “What? He doesn’t tell me everything...”

“In each of these three attacks alone, Killian had something to gain from an explosion going off.” Peter says as the images cycle through, showing each explosion. “Here, a Senator who always spoke out against Killian and AIM was killed in Washington, and here, a woman who lead multiple protests against AIM was killed in a coffee shop in Los Angeles. Finally, on the most recent incident, a man that was competing with AIM for a very lucrative government contract was blown up in a theater with his family.”

As Peter says this, the picture changes to a family photo, showing a man and wife sitting with two young children on each of their laps.

“These are the only few incidents where I was able to find a glimpse of the suicide bombers. In almost every Mandarin bombing, I can find links like this leading back to AIM and Killian.” Peter explains fully, shocking everyone.

“How has no one noticed this?” Tony asks incredulously.

“Because we live in America and when we hear the word terrorist, we tend to stop investigating and start hunting.” Peter says with a shrug.

“Do you think he’s using the Ten Rings as a smokescreen?” Fury asks.

“Either that or they’re working together.” Peter says with a shrug. “Though, I would like to point out how shockingly white the Mandarin seems to be for the leader and founder of a terrorist group that’s supposed to be from Asia.”

“I did find that odd as well...” Fury agreed with a nod.

“We should put together a team and find Killian before another attack like this happens again.” MJ says, ready to get out there.

“I agree, but we need to find him first.” Peter says as Tony scrolls on his cell phone.

“Oh! I knew he sounded familiar.” Tony says as he holds out his phone, showing a contact by the name of Aldrich Killian. “His number is saved in my phone.”

“How can you not remember him, when the guy is in your contacts...” MJ asked with a roll of her eyes. “Do you have dementia?”

“I was probably blackout drunk.” Tony says as though it was a normal occurrence.

“So, that only leaves half of your waking life as the possible times you could have met Killian?” Peter asks sarcastically, poking fun at Tony’s alcoholism.

“I’m not that bad...”

A/N: 1411 words. GN