The Black Spider - 9. Chapter 9: A Six Month Journey

If anyone would’ve asked Tony Stark six months ago if he saw himself training a sixteen-year-old boy, who’d acquired superhuman abilities from the bite of a genetically altered spider, he would’ve asked what type of mind altering substance the asker was on. But now, six months and an executive order later, that very question had become his and the aforementioned sixteen-year-old boy’s reality.

In the beginning, Tony thought that S.H.I.E.L.D.’s self-involvement into this new reality would become a very sharp thorn in his side. Instead, it’d almost been the opposite. He’d been allowed to set the pace of events after the conclusion of the first testing session, where it became apparent that Peter wasn’t displaying all of his abilities. Agent Coulson had agreed with Tony’s theory on why Peter had done that, and had no problem exercising whatever amount of patience was necessary to gain the teenager’s trust and cooperation.

It’d taken three more testing sessions before Peter accidentally revealed one of the abilities he was keeping secret. It was while Tony was making adjustments to one of the machines being used test his abilities. When the adjustment caused a quick, unexpected short, one of the pieces attached to the machine lost its suspension control and dropped. Tony, who was working below the piece, never saw it coming. He’d been looking at and talking to Peter, who’d had his back turned at the moment. It was Peter’s sudden turning around and charging at Tony, and seconds later, the leaping and catching of the falling piece that’d evoked questions afterward. Upon that inquiry, Peter had explained the ability he’d come to call his “danger sense”.

Though Tony hadn’t wanted to do it, he’d used the situation to press a bit further. He explained that he knew why Peter wasn’t telling him about all of his abilities, and how he respected it, but that they wouldn’t be able to test at full capacity until all was revealed.

Peter, who hadn’t quite been ready to do that just yet, was quiet for a long moment. Then, he’d asked one simple question.

“Why should I trust you with that kind of knowledge, Mister Stark?”

Tony, who’d known the question would come up eventually, had never been able to come up with an answer that didn’t sound like it could shadow for business purposes. But at that moment, the answer came out of his mouth as if he’d always known it.

“Because I’ve trusted you.”

“How?” Peter, with confusion upon his face, asked.

Tony explained the single-handed count of people who’d been allowed the level of access that Peter had been given. He also explained how that was also a liability. Without his suit, what did Tony have to stop his young friend from walking out with his technology? Technology that his own company didn’t even know he possessed. Technology that could cause a catastrophe in the wrong hands.

The change in perspective had been enough to send Peter into another, much longer moment of silence.

“I never thought about it like that,” he said.

Tony hadn’t liked the look that came to Peter’s face after that statement. Though he hadn’t known exactly what his young friend was thinking; Tony realized how the words that’d given him perspective could also give him another, incorrect perspective. Before Tony could speak to correct the error, Peter asked, “Is that how you see me? Am I a liability?”

“If that’s what you were to me, kid, you would’ve never gotten past the front door to my house,” Tony answered, surprised internally at the quickness and honesty of his response.

Peter’s eyes had locked onto Tony’s and held them in a strong gaze.

“For real?” He pressed.

Tony had given a single nod and answered, “For real.”

Peter’s gaze had softened and released Tony after that. When the young man spoke again, it was to reveal the rest of the abilities he’d been keeping secret.

It wasn’t until almost a week later that Tony told Agent Coulson about Peter’s full potential. Tony had been very concerned that S.H.I.E.L.D. would overreact once they found out that Peter had an extra sensory perception type of ability. He’d thought they would want to take matters completely into their own hands. And he’d prepared himself to stand against the organization should that decision be made.

The concern turned out to be misplaced. Agent Coulson didn’t overreact to the information as Tony thought he would. Instead, he’d been pleased to know that both of their patience had been rewarded. However, he’d wanted to capitalize on Peter’s desire to move from testing to training.

Tony hadn’t been as enthusiastic about the idea.

It’d led to a mild conflict that saw Tony walk out as the subservient party yet again.

Agent Coulson then requested that Tony put together a training schedule and asked what resources he had available to establish a concrete, long term plan that could act as a cover for the training. Having already thought that far ahead, but for different reasons, Tony revealed that Stark Enterprises had an internship program for students of the R.W.L. Program.

Normally a student had to be at least a junior before they could apply, but Tony was confident he’d be able to get one extended to Peter, even though he was still a sophomore. If the other members of the program’s board had an issue with it, he would remind them that the trip to Oscorp and the “bee sting” that had nearly cost the student his life had all taken place while he was in the care of the R.W.L. Program.

Agent Coulson had told Tony to proceed.

Fortunately, Tony’s confidence didn’t betray him, and the board agreed to extend the internship to Peter without issue.

Next, he moved on to what he thought would be his biggest hurdle. Whether or not May would allow Peter to accept the internship. Tony knew that sixteen-year-old’s with part-time jobs weren’t commonplace like they had been when he was that age. It wasn’t until junior, maybe even senior year that most parents/guardians would let their teenagers work nowadays. On top of that, May could view the action as overkill and say no. If she did, Tony wondered if S.H.I.E.L.D. would be bold enough to try and pay her a visit.

To ease his nerves during the four day wait for May’s thought-upon-and-approved answer, Tony worked out the final kink in the plan. How to keep Peter’s training a secret from the other two people who were allowed into his in-home training facility.

The easiest to handle of the two was a man by the name of James Rhodes. Rhodey, as he was called by those close to him, had come to know Tony through his tenure as the military’s chief liaison to Stark Enterprises’ former weapons division. The two had quickly become friends, and over time, they’d grown to consider each other best friends. Rhodey was the first person to find out that Tony was Iron Man long before he announced it to the world, and he was also the only other person to utilize a customized Iron Man suit of his own, known as the War Machine.

Rhodey’s schedule was what made him a wild card. It was always random when he was able to come by for his own training. Tony hoped that none of those days would fall on one when he was working with Peter, otherwise he would have to come up with a very good excuse for why he wasn’t available. Because, as with the second person on the list, Tony knew it was a bad idea to let his best friend in on what S.H.I.E.L.D. was requesting him to do. He knew Rhodey would do everything in his power to talk him out of it. Given the opposition he already felt about the situation, Tony needed no further incentive to disobey.

The second person on the list was a woman by the name of Virginia Potts. Affectionately known as Pepper to those close to her, she would be the hardest one to keep the situation hidden from. It wasn’t just due to her status as his personal assistant. It was also because of her status as his more-than-serious girlfriend. Fortunately, he knew her business schedule, and knew the times and dates she would be wrapped up in work. As an extra precaution, he’d tapped her two phones to keep track of their GPS locations, and set the security system to warn him if she came within three miles of his residence while testing was in progress.

Agent Coulson had been pleased, if not impressed, with Tony’s arrangements and handling. Previously, he’d relied on Tony to keep him updated weekly on progress. Once the new training plan was set into motion, he began keeping contact once a week to check on progress. They were calls Tony never liked. Each one only served to remind him of the executive order and that although he was complying with it, his compliance was forced. It was a decision that even six months later he didn’t regret. He’d come to discover that he would do anything to make sure Peter stayed in his hands instead of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s. And he still stood by his mantra that Peter would not be stepping out into the world of super heroics while under his watch.

Agent Coulson, however, continued to contradict Tony’s mantra with his own. He continued to believe that as long as Peter had super powers, it was just a matter of time before he either stepped into the shoes of a super hero or a super villain. The purpose of the executive order was to make sure the shoes he chose to wear were those of a hero.

With Peter already aware of how dangerous it was for him to attempt any further heroics like he had at the Corner Store, plus the fact that he hadn’t even brought the subject up even once during the six months, Tony had started to become more and more confident that Agent Coulson’s mantra was unlikely, but not impossible. All Tony hoped was that should the subject come up, Peter would be well out of high school and into his adult life.

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For Peter, the past six months had been the most awesome months of his life. He’d only expected a single trip, maybe two, to Tony’s in-home training facility. He’d thought they would just test his abilities, see how far they extended, and that would be the end of it. He never expected an “internship”. He never expected training. And he never expected something with a definition like training to become a thing he looked forward to doing every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon.

The first trip to Tony’s house, Stark Mansion, was the first time Peter had ever been to Malibu. It was not the first time he’d seen Stark Mansion, however. He’d done that years before by looking through the eyes of the tower viewers that were stationed along the Santa Monica Pier. It’d been Uncle Ben who’d shown him where to look, and the sight had provoked envy in his then ten-year-old mind. Six years later, though, it was the last feeling on his mind when he got to see the sprawling expanse up close and personal.

The tour of the mansion had left Peter with the conclusion that there was no other building in the world like it. And it wasn’t just because of its size, design, or the breathtaking views of both the Pacific Ocean and Los Angeles that it offered. The entire structure was operated and secured by a creation of Tony’s that he called Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, or J.A.R.V.I.S. It was an artificial intelligence so sophisticated that Peter had gone the entire first visit thinking he was being pranked. He thought there was no way the man who spoke through the various speakers in the house with the English accent was an actual machine.

The basement of the mansion was where the training facility and the garage were located. The garage, which was adjacent to the training room, was where Tony kept his collection of custom and classic cars and motorcycles. It was also where he kept the previous and current version of his Iron Man suits, as well as the War Machine suit, and even the not yet unveiled successor to the War Machine suit that he and Rhodey had recently created together. Peter thought the vehicles were cool, but he’d been more enthralled with the suits. Tony had given him a quick history on each of them.

When the training facility was finally revealed, Peter found himself disappointingly unimpressed. It was nothing more than a medium sized room with a platform in its center and a full body suit and sight apparatus suspended above the platform.

The negative impression began to change, however, once Tony explained to him how the three items combined to create a fully immersive virtual reality simulation. The sight apparatus brought the simulation to life before the eyes, while the suit allowed the simulation to feel real to the user. The platform beneath the suit housed a specialized treadmill, which allowed for natural movement in all directions.

Once the first round of tests were completed using the simulator, Peter’s impression had been changed completely. He was amazed at how real the experience was.

“Please tell me you can play video games on this thing.” He joked.

“Not video games per-se, but it does run simulations of programmed scenarios,” Tony revealed.

Peter got his chance to experience the scenarios shortly after he’d revealed the abilities he was keeping hidden from Tony. It was during this process that Tony realized the simulator was not going to work when it came to training Peter. The physicality of his abilities caused stress on the systems operating the suit. Despite his many tweaks, Tony couldn’t find a way to alleviate it. Peter would need physical space if training was going to continue.

Try as he might, Tony couldn’t come up with a feasible way to expand his own facility to accommodate this. It’d led to him considering one of the warehouses that Stark Enterprises owned. There were a few of them that weren’t being used for anything, and just one would provide the space needed.

However, there was the issue of time.

Tony had the resources to create what he needed at the warehouse, but it would take an eternity to put it together by himself. Unable to find another alternative, he’d run the concept by Agent Coulson. Liking the idea himself, Agent Coulson offered to send a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. officials to construct and assemble whatever Tony needed for the warehouse. Accepting the offer, Tony oversaw that project, along with Agent Coulson, while he also worked solo on a new suit for Peter. Since virtual reality was out as an option, the new suit would utilize augmented reality. This was what the warehouse was being outfitted to compliment.

Peter knew nothing about the warehouse, or the augmented reality suit, until both were finished. Though Tony hated that he’d had to lie, he’d told Peter that the warehouse was his initial test facility, until he’d been able to streamline the technology allowing him to put it in his home.

Although Peter had come to view testing in virtual reality as a second to none experience, getting to train in augmented reality eclipsed it. His new suit provided the same abilities as Tony’s virtual reality suit and sight apparatus. The warehouse’s multiple moving wall panels, four collapsible staircases, and two pseudo-ceilings that could lower and effectively split the warehouse into three levels could create a variety of scenarios, both indoor and out. It was a larger scale version of what Peter had expected to see in Tony’s in-home training facility. And it was all his to play with.

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