A Family of Flaws

Chapter Two; Watching A Bug

*Tony's POV*

  The first spotting of the newly masked hero, if he could be called such, was about nine months ago. Said vigilante, because that was a much better term to describe the flexible web-shooter, had become quickly known all throughout Queens and the areas around there.

It had started out as stopping a few alleyway muggings, maybe tracking a drug deal and leaving it for the cops to handle, but the crimes he took became larger and larger, up until said latest act of what New Yorkers call heroism.

There were three thugs robbing a younger lady, a gun was involved so it had of course made the news. Tony hadn't even been looking for much about 'Spider-Man' but the team seemed interested which meant he had to do some research. Friday was just supposed to update him on any new information and this bit of data had just been processed and read to him a little over an hour ago.

The crime had taken place around one twenty in the morning, which lead Tony to yet another dead end. He had been tracing the times of the crimes that Spider-Man dealt with but they changed on a regular. Yes, they most commonly happened during the late night hours, but it wasn't uncommon for them to take place early in the morning as the sun rose or late in the afternoon, sometimes in the middle of the day when it was inconvenient for everyone considering most people either had school or work to attend at the time.

The team had given their fair share of thoughts on the matter. Natasha was all but convinced the masked spider was on the younger side, pointing out things such as his limbs and proportions. The way his arms were just a little too lanky for the rest of his body, though he was on the shorter end of the normal teenage spectrum.

Cap was very concerned about her hypothesis, stressing how small the spider seemed in all the documented pictures and videos that had been taken of him. Worried he was even younger than she thought. Then again, everyone seemed small to Cap and they couldn't judge the vigilante for his height.

Barton had repeatedly tried to convince them all that Spider-Man was probably a college student who had a very unfortunate growth rate. All he could pull as proof was that he worked late hours more than any other times, and if his hours were so inconsistent then he was probably just going when he didn't have classes. Tony had been impressed, almost sold— that explanation made sense. But even so, he wanted to be sure. He wanted to know who Spider-Man truly was.

"Friday, use the pictures we have of our good pal Spidey and compare his size and build to local Queens college students." Tony said off-handedly, he had already been narrowing the searches. Starting with all New York college students and slowly bringing down the possibilities as the results continued to come in as highly unlikely students or, as this scan showed, no likely students at all.

Tony had been looking into this strange figure for two months now, and he was growing ever frustrated with his inability to discover the arachnid's identity. And the team was becoming more and more curious about him. Natasha had even tried tracking him, but when the spider engaged in a fight with two criminals, both armed with a gun, she had backed off in respect of his privacy after a hard night, something she seemed to sympathize with him.

The lab doors opened and closed, Tony barely batted an eye as he focused on the trinket in his hand. The small device zapped him which sent him into a frustrated rage as he tossed it in the bin. "That could cause a fire with all the scrapped blueprints you have in there." The familiar voice of his close colleague greeted his ears, he turned to see Bruce reach into the bin and pull out the previously discarded device.

Placing it back onto the table he turned to Tony and shook his head. "Seven hours straight, sitting down here, and you're working on something as simple as this? Maybe you really are getting old, Tony." The damn smartass smirked and rubbed the back of his neck. "Cap says you reached your maximum time limit. You have to take an hour break from the lab."