Chapter Text
He should have realised that when he went to Harlem he would be side-tracked by a lot of criminals with alien tech. Really, he should have. But he was focused on finding Aaron Davis before his lead from last night was rendered useless and he was a bit too in his head for his own good, so nearly being blasted out of the sky should have been expected.
Unfortunately, he had been stupid and was now in the middle of another fight with some criminals with another Anti-Gravity gun and now half of the litter on the street was floating as the criminals ran away.
"One day of peace is all I ask!" He exclaimed, quickly shooting web-bombs at the floating rubbish and capturing it in neat bundles before shooting the bundle to the ground with his webs. The webs would dissolve by the time he doubled back to get to Greenwich and he could clean up then. "How many of these did Toomes manufacture? There couldn't have been that much Chitauri crap lying around after 2012!"
Swinging down an alley he had seen the criminals sprint down, he shot a web at the ankle of the closest one and yanked it so that he was forced to the ground before he webbed him up, barely dodging the violet blast that came from the woman with the gun.
"Can I get a break?" He asked exasperatedly. "This is the second time this week and I have stuff to do!"
"Then you shouldn't have followed us!" The woman yelled, shooting another blast at Peter just as he leapt off of the wall he had stuck to.
"No can do. It's my job to keep these off the streets."
He ducked to avoid another blast, wincing when a car alarm went off behind him. That would be fun to deal with in a few minutes and he didn't want to be caught by the owner only to get yelled at. That wouldn't be a good way to spend his Saturday morning.
"Karen, give the police an anonymous tip that there are two criminals webbed up with illegal weapons and give them this location." He grunted as he disarmed the criminal, making sure to web the Anti-Gravity gun high up on the wall before dodging the criminal's punch and swiping his legs out from under him before webbing him up.
"The police have been alerted and ETA is one minute."
"Thanks Karen."
He scanned over the criminals to make sure they couldn't move, smiling when the woman cursed as she struggled to reach her knife.
"I hope you two have a good time in prison," he said cheerfully before sprinting up the wall and jumping off the side of the building before swinging further up Harlem.
He wasn't sure how Aaron Davis would react to him interrupting his day since Peter would have to literally turn up at his house. Then again, it wasn't as if it would be the first time someone could potentially report him for trespassing on private property since he had snuck into Toomes's warehouse and a DDOC warehouse.
Aaron had good connections with other weapons dealers and he needed to arrest Shocker and Scorpion before they became a pain in the ass and rose to power during the Blip – assuming that never happened because he was going to stop it from happening.
Either way, the two were a pain and Shocker could cause a lot of collateral damage with his gun when he wanted to. MacGargan would take Toomes's place and carry on selling the guns until he made however much money he wanted.
Slowing down as he reached the neighbourhood that Karen had a marker on in his HUD, he dropped onto a roof and groaned when he realised it was an apartment complex. All he had hoped was a quick meeting with Aaron but he hoped no one would accidentally overhear the conversation.
"Karen, find the apartment Aaron Davis lives in," he murmured.
"Aaron Davis owns apartment number 23 on the first level," she replied, acknowledging his thanks before he parkoured down to the first level.
The apartment complex was pretty nice, with painted railings and a park in the middle with a play area for kids. Half of the area was covered by the shadow of the apartment buildings since the sun had risen late but there were a few kids playing on a swing set. He could see why Aaron wanted his nephew to be protected when they lived in a fairly peaceful area.
He drew in a deep breath before releasing it and knocking on the door, his heartbeat accelerating as time went on. He hoped he hadn't gone to the wrong apartment and disturbed some poor soul who wanted peace on a Saturday morning.
Heart freezing as the door unlocked, he waited anxiously as the door opened to reveal Aaron Davis. His hair was shorter than it was before and he was wearing cargo pants, a white t-shirt and the same necklace from last time.
Tilting his head, Peter could see a small boy who could be no older than 10 wearing bright red trainers. Both of them looked ready to go somewhere and he pushed down the guilt in his stomach from interrupting their morning.
"Uh…" Aaron hesitated, glancing back at the kid before going back to Peter. "You're not here for me, are you?" He asked, keeping his voice low and calm, assumingly not to panic the kid.
"Yes-" he raised his hands up placatingly as Aaron's eyes widened, -"but not in the way you think. I have a few questions." He looked behind Aaron, panicking slightly when he saw the kid. "And I think you would want us to be alone for this conversation."
"If you even think about doing anything to Miles," he said quietly, but the tone was threatening enough that he fought not to take a step backwards in fear. "I will end you, regardless of how close you are with Iron Man."
"You nephew has nothing to do with this," he stated. "We can do this civilly and there'll be no consequences for you. I'll add the areas Miles is around to my normal patrol and as long as I don't catch you committing any crimes, you'll be off my radar for people who technically should be in prison but aren't."
"And if I don't co-operate?"
"The police will be on your doorstep a few minutes after I give the tip. Your record should have you in the Raft but your police buddies have kept you out."
"Damn." Aaron whistled lowly. "You do your research."
"I try."
"Hey Miles," Aaron said as he turned around to face his nephew. "I know I said we'll go to the park now but you've gotta give me a couple of minutes to talk to Spider-Man."
He watched as Miles's eyes lit up with excitement as he looked at him from behind Aaron before he nodded quickly before rushing away to do something, leaving Peter and Aaron in the doorway.
"You gonna come in or what?"
"Oh right, sorry." He shuffled inside, shutting the door behind him and meeting Aaron's expectant gaze. "I wanna talk to you about the arms dealers from a few weeks ago. MacGargan and Schultz."
"What about them? I know Schultz but I never met MacGargan – I have connections who do though. What about the other dude? Uh, Brice?"
"Brice is dead." Aaron's eyes widened. "I don't know either dude, something about Toomes accidentally killing him after he fired him." He internally thanked his past self for making Karen keep him updated about the status of each of Toomes's gang members, even if he had been surprised to find out Brice had died by Toomes's hand.
"Well shit. I never met Toomes but he sounds crazy."
"Desperation makes people make mistakes. Anyway, what about Schultz and MacGargan? What do you have on them?"
"Schultz has a major operation going on in Midtown where he sells a lotta tech to local gangsters. If you're gonna stop him, you gotta take his network down with him."
"Is it a physical network or…?" He could deal with a physical network easily with the right leads. A police insider would really benefit him right now…
"Nah, completely online and done through onion servers. If you want someone to get rid of them then they've gotta be skilled."
'Ned would love to do that,' he thought, mentally noting to call his friend and ask him if he wanted the challenge, otherwise he would ask Karen to help him to do it.
"What about MacGargan?" Aaron frowned at that.
"I don't know much about him, he covers every step he makes. If you're that desperate for info on him then I can ask my connections, but I need more than a promise you'll keep the area safe." He should have expected that.
"It's not like I have anything else," he muttered. "What do you want?" That question was far too open for him to benefit from anything but he needed the information if he wanted to stop MacGargan from building his weapons empire alongside Fisk during the Blip.
"Clear my name."
"What?"
"Clear my records for good so my police 'buddies' don't have to cover my ass all the time. I'm not interested in committing crimes, I need to stay around for Miles." Something about Aaron's request didn't feel right, but it might have just been his moral compass screaming at him for letting this happen. Then again, his moral compass was a bit fucked up anyway.
He sighed. "I'll see what I can do. I don't know if I can get it done but you've gotta deliver on your part. Also, what's your number?"
"Why?" Aaron asked warily.
"If you're gonna send me info then you need some way to contact me."
"Right, give me a second. Stay here," he instructed, quickly jogging down the corridor and turning left to presumably get his phone.
He stood awkwardly in the hallway, unsure of what to do with himself as the thin walls let him listen into the neighbour's argument. Something about volleyball uniforms and a k-drama? His Spidey-sense tingled in his head and he glanced at the door, frowning at the lack of noise that could indicate a threat.
"Hey." He flinched, turning around to see Miles. He was wearing a navy coat and still had his bright red trainers on, but the hoodie underneath was unzipped and revealed…
"Woah, nice t-shirt," he said, grinning when he saw a cartoonish version of his suit on Miles's t-shirt.
The red and blue went well against the rest of the white t-shirt and surprise fluttered in his chest. He hadn't known that people had made art of him and sold it on t-shirts until later in 2017 when he passed one of those vendors that tourists flocked to during Christmas. The design had been the same as Miles's t-shirt except he was wearing a Christmas hat and he had immediately sent a picture to Tony.
The billionaire had immediately sent him $5 and told him to buy it for him and had proceeded to wear it as much as he could throughout the Christmas period, claiming it was the best thing he had ever seen and he had messaged the artist once he had found them online. He had never told Peter what he had sent but suddenly there were a lot more t-shirts with Spider-Man drawings around.
"Thank you," Miles said as he tried to hide his grin before he took a phone out his pocket. "Can I get a picture?"
"Yeah, sure!" He squatted down beside Miles so the boy could angle the phone however he wanted it, posing with a peace sign as Miles took a few selfies before thanking him and went back down the corridor and disappeared. He grinned, thankful his mask hid his flustered face. He hadn't taken pictures with fans for a while after the Mysterio debacle so having some positive interaction made a world of difference to him.
"Yo, Spidey. Here you go," Aaron said as he strolled down the corridor, handing him a piece of paper with a phone number scrawled on it. "I'll send any info I have on Schultz and MacGargan if I get anymore. Remember to keep your promise."
"I will, thanks."
He stuffed the rest of his sandwich in his mouth before dropping the wrapper in the bin by the Sanctum Sanctorum, thankful he had made a lot of sandwiches because he hadn't expected a 40 minute walk from Midtown to Greenwich. It wasn't like he was going to take the subway though, not when he needed to save his money for Christmas.
After he knocked on the Sanctum's doors for a couple of seconds, he checked the zips on his bags and made sure it was shut and his suit was buried underneath everything else so no one would see it. If push came to shove, he could pretend he was an avid cosplayer like when he did at customs in Europe.
"You know you can waltz into this place, right?" Stephen asked after he let him in and walked -well, levitated- with him to the living room.
"Isn't it dangerous to leave the doors unlocked like that?" He asked, grabbing his notebook and a pen before taking off his bag and leaving it by the side of the dark leather sofa. The curtains were drawn back so the early afternoon light streamed through, making the crystals on the chandelier emit light spectrums prettily on the cream walls.
"There are spells and enchantments all over this place ranging from illusions to anti-curiosity spells. Don't ask," Stephen said when Peter gave him a confused look. "The point is, no one is likely to come here unless they have a purpose and you and your friends would be allowed in because there's an enchantment that allows Wong and I to choose who comes in."
"Oh, okay. Also, I need your number. I don't know when you'll be around and I'd rather not make a 40 minute trip for nothing." Stephen raised an eyebrow in response. "I didn't have the money for a ticket and I don't wanna change in an alley."
"Right. I presume you didn't come here to talk about your travel issues. Also, what happened with Vulture? I saw the news and it didn't look pretty."
"Was it meant to?" He huffed. "I'm fine, a bit battered but I healed."
"You survived a plane crash and your response is 'a bit battered'?"
"My injuries heal faster than the average person's." Stephen gave him a concerned look but decided not to continue the conversation, deeming Peter's testiness as a warning to stop prying and he decided to reveal what he knew about the Infinity stones after he sat down on the opposite sofa.
"The Tesseract is safe on Asgard for the next couple of years until Thor and Loki do something to try and prevent Asgard from being destroyed, although I'm unsure of what it is. Either way, Loki comes into possession of it and gives it to Thanos, but I don't know if it was of his own volition." He took down notes as Stephen carried on talking about the Tesseract and its powers, frowning at the mention of the God of Mischief.
He had…mixed feelings when it came to Loki. He caused the invasion in 2012 and had a hand in making Toomes's new business by that logic, but he also changed and helped Thor on Asgard and died by Thanos's hand. He had asked the Norse God about Loki at Tony's funeral and the poor man had almost burst into tears but he did tell him fond stories about his brother.
"The Reality stone comes from the Aether and is kept with the Collector."
"The who?"
"It's exactly what the name implies. Thanos takes it from his collection and uses it to take the Mind stone from Vision when he comes to Earth, so we need to find a way to deal with that. Taking the Space or Reality stone will slow down Thanos considerably."
"Okay. What about the Power stone?"
"That's on another planet."
"You're joking."
"Does it look like I'm joking?" Stephen asked with a straight face. "I can portal to Xandar but the Power stone is with a bunch of space protectors who are fairly capable of keeping it safe for a few years."
"Don't you think it's worthwhile asking them to be extra careful or something?"
"You really want me to go to them and say 'hey, there's this purple titan who wants this stone you're protecting and he'll decimate half the universe once he gets all the stones'?" The sentence sounded ridiculous but it was a terrifyingly true reality that both of them had lived through before everything went to shit and they messed up the multiverse.
"Don't you have anything better?"
"…I'll work something out. We know where the Soul, Time and Mind stones are."
"We need to get some sort of warning to the Guardians to stop Thanos from reaching Gamora, assuming she was close to Peter Quill and the rest of them." He shuddered at the reminder of Quill and how furious he was when he found out Gamora had died. She must have been a very close teammate or a lover considering he had lost all restraint and punched Thanos.
He couldn't help but feel pissed at Quill for waking Thanos up and causing them to lose -he felt guilty for immediately going to blame Quill when there were dozens of other reasons for losing but he couldn't help it- but they were in a different timeline and had another chance and that was what counted.
"We need to do a lot of things and it involves a lot of travelling to different places that I've never been to."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Creating portals to places you've never been to is incredibly dangerous," Stephen stated, frowning as he continued "If you get the wrong place you're screwed and you can't leave for a couple of hours because your energy is drained."
"So then how did Ned open portals to different universes?"
"He didn't. The two Spider-Men he found had been brought to the universe by the botched spell and they hadn't caused any trouble like the villains did."
"Speaking of Ned…" He trailed off. "I remember him asking if he could learn magic." Stephen stared at him in what was either surprise or him being unimpressed – he found it difficult to tell the difference sometimes. "He wants to be able to help and he's a natural at magic, you saw him during the fight on the Statue of Liberty! He'd be amazing if you gave him a shot. We need all the help we can get if we're going to have a decent chance against Thanos."
He had thrown all of his arguments at the sorcerer, he just hoped he would consider it.
"You really think putting your friend into magic lessons will help us against Thanos?" Stephen asked dryly.
"He's a quick learner and he wants to learn. Test him if you think he needs to prove himself to you, but I wouldn't say he could if I didn't think so."
Stephen looked at him contemplatively before sighing and nodding. "What the hell, why not? But if he isn't ready then don't ask me again, okay?" Peter nodded, his heartbeat rapid at Stephen's quick acceptance of trialling Ned as his student. He didn't know what had changed his mind but he wasn't going to question it. Maybe he had decided Thanos was that much of a threat -which he was- that Ned would be a good person to train.
"What's happening with our plan concerning the Mind stone? Vision has it in his head and I think we're capable of saving at least one person this time," Stephen said.
"The original plan was for Princess Shuri to remove the Mind stone from Vision's head but it took too long and Wanda had to destroy the stone in the forest. I think Thanos used the Time stone to bring the Mind stone back into existence and finish the gauntlet."
"How do you know all this stuff?"
"Pepper told me everything a couple of months after Tony's funeral including the time heist. It sounds like the type of shit you hear in a fantasy book but it's the crazy stuff that happens here. Either way, there's a reasonable plan to remove the stone but we somehow need to persuade them to remove it earlier."
"You said that Tony wouldn't clue you in unless he was closer to you, yeah? Or that he would keep you out of it to protect you?" He nodded. "I can give you time to get closer to him and we remove it once you think it's likely you'll be kept in the loop."
"Sounds good. You'll need to give me a few months though, the internship starts on Friday." Excitement swirled in his chest at the thought. He hadn't had a lab day with Tony in just over a year and he couldn't wait to be with his mentor after being separated by death. It sounded very weird but when the impossible became possible he had learned not to question what he thought.
"Okay."
He stayed for another hour to discuss a few possible outcomes if they managed to steal the stones and keep them away from Thanos, but the best stones to keep away from Thanos would be the Reality and Space stones. As long as Thanos didn't have those, he couldn't travel around the universe so quickly and he couldn't fabricate things back into existence.
God, it was going to be a nightmare to orchestrate everything when there were so many things that could go wrong and have worse consequences than last time. Compared to some of the theories he and Stephen had come up with, last time seemed like a walk in the park. Somehow they had ended up with a theory that ended with Captain America's head being ripped off and then they had decided to call it quits. No one wanted that image in their head.
Waving goodbye to Stephen as he typed his number into his phone with one hand, he decided to put Aaron Davis's number into his phone as well, deeming it as good of a time as any as he weaved his way around a group of tourists standing in the middle of the street. He messaged Aaron before putting his phone away and jogging to an alley he knew was safe to change in, quickly jumping into his patrol 5 minutes later.
"Message from: Mr Know-It-All. Would you like me to read it to you?" Karen asked as he was in mid-swing.
"Go ahead," he replied, whooping as he swooped down and let the adrenaline fill his system as caught himself at the last second. Tony and May would hate looking at him doing such dangerous things but it was exhilarating and briefly made his worries go away.
"Managed to get some intel. There's a planned attack at a hotel but you'd better get at those onion servers if you want more specifics. I can't access them but there's a codename for the data pack: Vega. Would you like me to repeat the message?"
"Nope, but can you send it to Ned and ask him to find some stuff on this? Also tell him that Stephen – uh, Doctor Strange will contact him about magic lessons? Then send a thank you to Aaron for the info? Thanks."
"Messages sent. Your welcome."
The wind howled in his ears as he made another death defying drop, his sharp senses catching the gasps of civilians as he sprinted along a roof before he flipped off of it and carried on swinging. Karen alerted him about another crime concerning another gun made from alien technology and he nodded before asking her for directions and practically flew down the street to get to his destination.