Hunted [1]

~ Prologue ~

Sometimes, Peter really hated his dad.

Usually, he adored him. He had been adopted at the age of ten, and even then he had understood most of the scientific references that Tony would make.

Oh, didn't he mention? Tony Stark was his father.

He'd always kept it hidden. Hidden from classmates, hidden from reporters, hidden from his best friends. Not that he had many friends, of course.

Peter Parker - Stark, really - was orphaned once at the age of five, and again once he was ten (nine, technically, but he preferred to not think of those months alone). Tony Stark had vowed to make sure that never happened again. Not that he could do anything.

He spent his first five years of his life with his parents, enjoying his life, discovering new things every day. He'd been an inquisitive kid, always asking questions, often ones that didn't require an answer, or one that his parents simply couldn't answer.

Both of his parents were scientists, until one day his father brought him to his uncle and aunt's house and told him, firmly, that he and his mother were leaving, and to stay safe, not worry about them. They'd be fine.

Peter, it was sad to say, completely believed the lie, and was anticipating the time when his parents would come home. It took a full month and a plane crash being on the news to make him finally break down into his Aunt May's arms.

The next five - four - years were spent with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben.

They weren't too into science - Uncle Ben made up his own formula - W/GP->GR, which meant with great power comes great responsibility. Peter had laughed.

Aunt May tried her hardest to cook and clean and do everything else, adding the time for work, but eventually Uncle Ben had told her off for doing so and split the chores between the three of them - Peter being seven then - and obtaining a job with a higher income.

That was how Peter lived for the next year or so. Right until a robber shot Uncle Ben, and Peter had seen him, and if he had tried to stop him as he left, tried to do something, anything, nobody would have died that night.

Aunt May had comforted him, telling him it wasn't his fault, that he was only eight and that Uncle Ben would have put up a right fight even if the robber hadn't gone after him. Uncle Ben had always hated seeing others in pain.

And then his one last string from his family was cut, and he was all alone, with nowhere to go. He suffered in the streets for several months - he'd had his tenth birthday out in the cold, pouring rain, but he couldn't help but tell himself that he was in a better position than his mother, father, aunt, uncle - until a nice, motherly woman finally forced him into an orphanage.

He stayed there for about a week before he escaped. He doubted if they even noticed.

It was only a few days after that when he caught Bruce Banner's eye. The man himself was struggling over a complicated formula and, Tony Stark had said, needed to grab a coffee from the nearest place he could find. That's why he was seated outside; a coffee in his hand, rain sprinkling down onto him, eyebrows crinkling as he tried to work it out.

(Although Peter suspected he didn't do that, because the tower was a half an hour walk from the coffee shop. He felt that Bruce went far away so he could continue working and Tony wouldn't criticise him for it.)

"It's easy," the small, youthful voice spoke. "Just don't look at it all together. Look at it separately, and then you'll find the answer!"

Bruce Banner was shocked when, after taking the kid's advice, he worked it out in moments. He turned to the short person standing behind him.

"What's your name?"

"Peter. Peter Park - oh my gosh, you're Bruce Banner!"

That was the start to their friendship, and they'd quickly begun to meet up at that same coffee shop - Peter had never bothered to learn the name - every week, until Tony Stark (Tony freaking Stark) came down along with Bruce.

Peter's eyes were wide and he stuttered with every word he spoke.

"Y-you're Tony S-S-Stark!"

"And you're the kid Bruce won't stop nattering about."

Tony had insisted on learning his name, and the next time he saw the man, he seemed to know more about himself than he did. One thing was for sure, though. Tony Stark wouldn't let him stay there any longer.

He had sprung the question on him suddenly, and it took mere moments before Peter was hugging him, tears leaking out of his eyes, asking really? Really?

But now, a fourteen year old Peter grumbled as his father started on a topic he had grown to hate.

"Seems like Spider-Man's in the paper again."

"So?"

Peter wouldn't have spoken like that to his mentor and father if he hadn't known him for a long amount of time. Quite frankly, his father was annoying him with the Spider-Man talk all the time.

"He shouldn't be hailed as a hero - he's not a criminal, don't you say it Pete, but he's definitely not a hero," Tony grumbled.

"Okay, I agree," Peter said, surprising Tony. Usually he disagreed with everything bad Tony said about Spider-Man - it had gotten so bad that Tony was beginning to wonder if Peter had a crush on the guy.

"Wait a minute before you carry on. I agree because he's not a hero, he's a vigilante. He's not a villain, either, but not a hero. He saves the people who don't usually get saved - the muggings, killings, everything. They're stopped by him."

"Stop right there," Tony instructed. "A vigilante is on the wrong side of the law. They do things their own way, often doing it wrong. They don't care what they do, as long as their end goal is completed."

"Come on, dad!" Peter groaned. "Do we seriously have to have this conversation every morning? All I'm saying is that Spider-Man's like a voice - a voice to the people who don't have one. He saves all the little people."

"He's on the wrong side of the law, Pete," Tony said. "He has power. And because he has power, he's a threat. We don't know what he could do with it, and that's why he's dangerous. A threat."

All Peter could do is glumly nod.

Hi! This chapter felt a bit all over the place, I might edit it soon... you'll get an extra note if I have! So, er, new fic, I have loads on the way - four more drafts! - but before I do any of them I'm going to finish at least one of the books I'm working on. Okay? Anyway, see ya!

Edit: I just added a few things, no worries :) I wanted to make it better, whoo!

- WriteCrazyForLife