Spidey and the Iron Girl: Vol. 1

#11: Couldn't Care Less

A week passed before Peter heard from Mr. Stark again. It was another invite to the compound.

"... He says it's to do final fittings for the suit," He read the text dubiously to Aunt May. She looked up from her book.

"Oh?" She frowned.

"And he's sending Happy to pick me up... which you're probably excited about," He gave his aunt a look. Aunt May smiled a little and shrugged.

"It's always nice to see a friend..."

"Right, a friend..." Peter rolled his eyes. It had taken him a little while to warm up to the idea of May having this weird on-and-off relationship with Mr. Stark's head of security, but Happy worshipped the ground his aunt walked on so... He was fine with it. May, on the other hand, seemed to be keeping Happy at arm's length, but that was really none of his business. "I just hope Collin isn't there."

"Well, it's unlikely she won't be there," May pointed out. "Considering how Tony reacted to her little stunt on Saturday."

"Thanks, May. Really comforting," Peter rubbed his eyes. She patted his shoulder.

"I know it's sucky, but just get this over with, Pete," She advised. "If you two are going to have to work together for the Initiative it's better to get it all out in the open now and move past it."

Peter made a non-committal noise as a reply, but when Happy rolled around to his building on Saturday morning, he was already standing outside waiting for him. He tried not to gag as May flirted with the man, but it was over soon enough and they were on their way to Upstate New York.

The compound was as sleek, modern, and beautiful as he remembered... but it didn't impress him as much this time. All he noticed was how much of it reminded him of a nuclear bunker, half-way underground, covered and protected on all sides except for the one huge wall of glass overlooking the helipad. If he were being less kind, he might have even thought it kind of resembled a prison. An extremely nice prison-- Swedish, probably-- but a prison nonetheless.

"Underoos, you made it!" Tony pounded him on the shoulder in greeting, followed by Bruce who smiled at him.

"Hey, Peter."

"Hi, Mr. Banner. Will I, uh, be going with you for the fitting or--?"

"Nope," Natasha Romanov sauntered up, slinging a casual arm around Peter. Peter froze-- she smelled intoxicating and, as always, intimidating. "For that, you'll be coming with me."

"W-with you?" Peter's eyes widened as she led him through the labyrinth of hallways away from the sunlit lobby and deep into the interior of the compound towards the lab, Banner and Tony closely trailing them. "I didn't know you were involved with making the suits...?"

"Oh, she's not," Bruce commented from behind them, smirking slightly when Peter glanced at him helplessly. The boy reminded him of a lamb being led to slaughter.

"So, then who...?" The glass doors of the lab slid open as they approached. A familiar black ponytail could be seen from behind a wall of beakers, and then a pair of big blue eyes distorted by the liquid filled glass. Even ten times bigger than normal, Collin's immediate disdain for him was clear as those eyes narrowed. Peter gulped. "Oh."

"Yeah, hi to you too, Spidey-kins," Collin muttered, stepping out from behind the beakers. She put her hands on her hips and glared at her father. "This is why you cut my work out short this morning and told me to get dressed?"

"No, I cut your combat training short because Natasha wasn't supposed to be training you today in the first place," Tony crossed his arms, giving the spy a pointed look.