The Stark Internship // Spider-Man [Book 1]

twenty-four {Arya's POV}

"Because he's my dad, Peter," I said softly. 

He opened his mouth only to close it again. "What?" he then asked. 

"Tony Stark is my father. Turns out he was the one who my mom had a one-night-stand with all those years ago, not some HYDRA agent." I shrugged helplessly. 

"Really? What-How do you feel about it?" Peter asked. I could tell he didn't know what to do with himself and that he didn't really have time for my life's story, but I appreciated him asking.

"Honestly, I don't know. I just found out who my father really is after thinking that it was just some HYDRA jerk." I wrapped my arms around myself. 

"Well, it's good to have you back." He saw him smile through his mask. "How did you know when to come back?" 

"I eh..." I started. "I wanted to come back for Homecoming but when the cab dropped me off right after I came from the airport, I heard the crash behind the school. I changed into my suit in the bathroom and came to help you out." 

"You were coming back for Homecoming?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah." 

"Peter!" we heard a voice behind us. I turned around and spotted Peter's best friend running toward us. 

"Ned? What are you doing here?" Peter asked.

"You ran off! I thought something had happened to you!" he panted as he reached us. 

"Hi, Ned," I said, suppressing a grin.

"Arya, you're back!" Ned gasped before pulling me into a tight hug and spinning me around. "Your suit is so cool!" 

"Thanks, Ned, but I'd like to breathe," I choked out with a laugh.

"Right, sorry," he muttered before placing me on my feet again. "Where have you been? We missed you so much, especially Peter. You should have seen him, he was miserable and-" 

"All right, okay, I think she gets it," Peter cut him off. 

"Thank you, Ned," I said with a smile, even though he couldn't see the majority of my face.

"Arya, we really need to get going," he turned to his friend. "Ned, the guy with the wings is Liz's dad. You have to call Happy Hogan. He is Mr Stark's head of security. And get a computer to track my phone for me." 

"Will you be okay?" Ned asked us as Peter ran off. I didn't see another choice but to follow him. 

"Yes, go! We have to catch him before he leaves town," he replied to Ned's question. He shot a web at the lamp post and held out an arm. "Are you coming?" 

"Yeah, let's go." I wrapped my arms around his neck and he put his arm around my middle, holding me close to his body as he swung us up.

We swung over the school's parking lot and spotted Flash Thompson and his blonde date in his convertible Audi. Peter landed us on the hood and the car came to a skidding stop. "Flash, I need your phone and your car," he said in a distorted voice. 

"Tech- Technically this is my dad's car, sir, so I can't just-" 

"Flash, now!" Peter pressed. 

A minute later, Peter had pushed me into the seat behind the wheel and we took off. "This is a horrible idea! I don't know how to drive!" I shrieked, turning the wheel to dodge a few trashcans. 

"You're fine," Peter replied over the howling of the wind. He dialled Ned's number on Flash's phone. "Ned, can you hear me? I need you to track my phone for me!" 

I tried not to get distracted and kept my eyes firmly on the road as I focussed on not hitting other cars, pedestrians, or cyclists. 

"Where exactly are we going?!" I asked, gripping the steering wheel even tighter. Peter didn't respond as he continued talking to Ned. "Parker!" I shouted. He looked at me in shock, almost dropping the phone. "Where are we going?"

"Turn left!" he said. I twisted the wheel and we took a sharp turn. 

"Ned, have you gotten through to Happy yet?" Peter asked before putting the phone on speaker. 

"On it!" Ned replied. We heard faint voices in the background before we heard Ned curse, "Damn." 

"What happened?" I asked. 

"He hung up on me," he replied. 

"Ned, where's my phone now?" Peter asked his friend. 

"He stopped at an old industrial park in Brooklyn." 

"That makes no sense, he said he was going out of town," Peter said. 

"By the way, that Mr Happy, I don't think he likes you very much. It sounded like he needed to catch a flight or something. He said something about taking off in nine minutes, he was surrounded by a bunch of boxes," Ned said. 

"Boxes?" I asked. 

"Boxes! It's moving day!" Peter shrieked. 

Everything fell into place. That was where the Vulture was going. The jet that was moving everything from Avengers Tower to the new Compound upstate. 

"He's going to rob that plane, we have to stop him!" 

I yelped as I almost ran over a group of bikers and I pulled into a side alley. "What are you doing?" Peter asked. 

I got out. "You're driving. Stealing this car-" 

"Borrowing." 

"Was your idea, so I'm not going to be responsible for accidentally running someone over," I said. Peter grumbled a few words under his breath before taking the wheel. I sat down in the passenger's seat. "Okay, Ned, which way to the industrial park?" he asked as he took off. The car jolted and it became clear that Peter also did not know how to drive. I nervously gripped the edges of the seat as we sped through the busy streets. 

"Okay, slow down. You're getting close," Ned said after a while. "Turn right. Turn right!" 

"What?" Peter shrieked before shooting a web at a lamp post and yanking the car around teh corner. The front left tire hit the sidewalk and the car flipped on its side. 

We both let out a scream as the car slid over the asphalt on its side. It slowly came to a stop and fell back down onto four tires. "Guys, are you okay?" Ned asked. 

"Yeah, we're fine," I replied, breathing heavily, shaking out my shaking hands. 

"Keep trying to get through to Happy," Peter said before getting out of the car. I followed right behind him toward the building in front of us. Peter swung us onto the roof and I broke open the window. 

We slowly descended from the ceiling, dangling from a single string of web. I was tightly holding onto Peter, not looking down at all. We landed in the middle of a computer lab. One of the monitors had the blueprints for the very familiar jet that belonged to Stark Industries.

"I'll go find him. Stay here, send anything useful to Happy or Mr Stark," Peter told me . I nodded, opening a program on the computer where I started uploading files I found on the computer. 

Peter briefly touched my shoulder. "Good to have you back," he said softly. "Good luck." 

"You too. Be careful," I replied. He nodded before leaving the room. After a few minutes, I heard Peter's shouting voice echo through the building. The next minute, the ground began to tremble under my feet and the mug on the desk fell to the ground, shattering into a million pieces. 

After the upload completed, I ran in the direction where Peter went but before I could even come close, the roof collapsed and a slab of concrete came crashing down.