Spidey AU's

What A Load Of Nonsense!

It was the only thing on the news. "Norman Osborn promises to save the world from magic wielders!" The headlines sang. Unfortunately, Tony, Peter and Harley had been in the lab for the past three days, running off naps on the sofa (the teens) or just energy drinks (Tony) so hadn't been watching the news. They emerged from the lab and headed to the common floor after a breakthrough, only to find the entire Avengers team (plus Pepper) gathered around the TV arguing. "Finally," Rogers was the first to speak, "We've been trying to get you out of the lab for hours."
"What's going on?" Harley had taken a nap most recently, so was more alert than the others.
"Watch." The report played again.
When it had finished, Tony started ranting, "Well this is bad. I can't believe that that slimy little liar had the gall to tell the press all this nonsense. Hah, save the world, as if. He just wants to assert himself as the most powerful Spellcaster and the only way that's ever going to be possible is if he removes everyone else's access to their magic. And there's no way for Osborn to do that, I don't think. Either way, this is so big it's hard not to believe so he's gone and revealed magic meaning that the council will have to get involved and WHERE ON EARTH IS STRANGE?"
Strange portaled into the room at the same time Peter spoke up, "Something's wrong."
"Well, that's an understatement, darlin'."
"Querido you know that's not what I'm on about. There's... The people. They're missing something."
"Osborn cast a spell, mind control I think. They don't know anything is amiss, but in the bluntest way possible, they're animated corpses." Strange broke the bad news.
The group was already backing away from him when Natasha took control, "And how do you know all this?"
"He just did it at the Sanctum. I am the only one to escape."
Tony, Harley and Peter all spoke at the same time, "Shields." Shimmering, translucent walls the colour of their respective magic appeared in front of them, with the rest of the Avengers stepping behind the three.
Harley put his shield down first, calling out, "I've scanned him. He's clear." The other two followed, sitting down and muting the TV.
"Right, before we get to questions, there are a few things that need to be done. Fri, This counts as a priority. Tell the guards to reinforce the wards, physical, mental and spiritual. Strange, you said that it didn't harm the Spellfree? Good, tell them not to waste any energy trying to create defences for them." Tony steadfastly ignored the team.
"What next?" Harley asked.
"Wards first." So the four of them went around the floor and reinforced the defences.
They sat back down again, signalling that the team could ask questions. "Explain," Steve demanded.
"Eh magic is real in case you hadn't noticed, those that can use it are called Spellcasters, or a more specific title-" Tony pointed at Strange "-there are five different branches: elemental, traditional, potions, mental manipulation, and wild. The ruling body's the council represented by a member per branch. There'll be something else I've forgotten but now isn't the time."
"Which... Branch do each of you use?" Sam questioned.
"Elemental, traditional, potions from strongest to weakest," Tony answered first.
"Traditional, elemental and wild," said Strange.
"Mental, traditional and potions," said Harley.
"Wild, elemental and traditional," Peter admitted reluctantly.
"Potions before mental and wild were forced onto me," Wanda muttered.
"We can all do the basics of each apart from wild if really necessary," Tony summed up.
"Will Laura and the kids be safe?" Fear leaked into Clint's voice.
"We can't promise anything, but so long as it's only passed on through touch and direct casting they should be for a while," Peter answered sympathetically.
"Why is the first time we're hearing of all this?" Natasha was livid at being left out of the loop.
"It's such an old rule it's written in blood. Not immortal," Strange anticipated the follow-up question.
"How bad is this?" Harley asked last.
"We're going to have to strip him, if all are in agreement?" Tony replied somberly. Harley, Peter and Wanda all gasped.
"Completely remove it," Strange echoed.

A few months in without leaving the tower they were starting to run out of food. Bucky pulled his head out of a cupboard and announced, "We have two weeks worth of food left if we ration."
"We're going to have to go on a food run."
"Who's going?" Peter and Harley volunteered immediately, Tony's protests going ignored. Bucky, Steve and Nat agreed to go with them. They grabbed the bags and stepped through a portal to a dark alleyway, sending a rat scurrying away. The group jogged across the street and swept through the store, grabbing any food items that weren't obviously out of date then reunited at a shelf near the back of the shop that they could peer out from and see the door. A good plan, as it was surrounded by Osborn's Minions. They looked at each other, "What can we do?"
"Can't portal, they'll track the trace straight back to the tower. We'll have to go through them."
Peter passed his bags to Steve and stretched. Harley watched with a frown, "Honey... I love you."
"I love you too. We'll be fine," they kissed and Peter sprinted towards the door, muttering the spell to summon his shields. He barrelled through, scattering people everywhere and allowing the group to escape. They ran through and down the street, but as they raced around the corner, Harley noticed that Peter hadn't got back up. Nat yanked him forward even as he breathed, "No."
"Get us back to the Tower so that you're able to break down safely," she commanded. He portaled them home and they managed to put the bags on the table before Tony asked where Peter was. Harley stormed out of the room, giving him all the answers he needed. Tony followed him a few minutes later, entered the dark bedroom and saw Harley curled up on the bed. He sat down at the edge, "Oh potato kid..."
"He always has to take the self-sacrificing route, doesn't he?" Harley snuffled.
"He's strong and clever. He'd been watching the Web a lot recently as well. Don't give up hope."