Team Ultimate

Part 19

(This has been sitting here for so long I forgot I finished it oOF sorry XD)

"Mr. Stark!" Peter landed roughly on the next rooftop, panting, but leaped onto the next regardless. "Where are we going?"

"Almost there kid, don't get your pajamas in a bunch."

Peter rolled his eyes and webbed across the street to follow the billionaire. It wasn't his fault his temporary super-costume wasn't high tech. And by not high tech, he meant a red sweat shirt with a spider spray painted on it, a similarly colored mask, sunglasses and jeans. But Tony insisted on making his future suit after Peter produced the design.

"Is that spandex?" the billionaire looked up from the paper doubtfully.

"It's comfortable!" Peter defended weakly. "And flexible."

"Yeah, I'll take your word for it, kid. Lemme see what I can do."

He hadn't mentioned it would take a month.

At least his mask covered the bruise Thompson had given him. The bully must have hit harder than he thought if it hadn't healed yet. Peter had the overwhelming erg to commit homicide, but Clint had told him that was a normal teenage thing. Progress!

Peter leaped over another roof and paused to take a break, bracing himself on his knees and taking deep breaths. Cardio sucked.

"Two roofs (a/n that is so weirdly spelled) away kid, let's go," Tony encouraged him teasingly, casually flying without a thought.

"Where are we going?" Peter asked again.

Tony shrugged his metal shoulders. "A place."

"Well no crap," he complained and closed the distance between him and the last roof.

It was fairly short compared to the buildings around it, but still respectable. Big 3D letters announced the name of the company on the front, though Peter couldn't make out the word(s) from his position. Pedestrians and drivers covered the streets and sidewalks, as usual, walking, running, texting, chatting, biking, honking, you name it.

At the sound of Tony's thrusters a few glanced up. Some glared in suspicion while other looked on admiringly. He didn't fail to notice that most of the darker looks were shot at him and Tony got the awed ones. Obviously his first impression hadn't been enough for New York, especially J. Jonah Jam...Jerkface, who had been bashing him for a week now.

And the fact that he had just landed on top of a very robbable bank.

"Uh, Mr. Star–"

"Tony, kid. If you call me Mr. Stark one more time I will throw you off the tower–without your webs."

Peter sighed dramatically. "Tony. What are we doing here?"

"Where are we?" Tony asked seriously in return, crossing his metal arms and he stood next to Peter.

Is this a test? "I don't know. You were the one who took me here."

"Look closely, kid."

Peter rolled his eyes, but complied, scanning his surroundings for anything out of the ordinary. The breeze tickled his neck and he longed to take the mask off. It was so itchy and inconvenient...was it even worth it?

Focus Peter. Okay, so, were was he? He squinted down at the civilians walking out of the building. Most were nicely dressed. There were a surprising amount of cameras on the building, on each corner, even up there on the roof. One guy walked out with a stack of cash in his hand, slipping his card back in his wallet. A girl skipped out, holding her mother's hand, clutching her lollipop happily.

"Uh...a hotel?" He guessed. Tony didn't react. Okay, then no.

Peter sighed. "I don't know...a bank?"

"There you go kid," Tony nodded in approval.

"Why are we at a bank?" The arachnid asked, settling himself on the lip of the roof, legs dangling. Some people held up phones to take pictures, but he was past caring.

"So that you can learn," he supplied.

Were they going to rob the bank or something?

"Two years ago a man named Breckston Scott brought a pistol in that bank and held everyone in there at gun point. He demanded ten thousand dollars. The tellers had no choice but to give it to him, they didn't want their brains blown out, after all.  But he was nervous, he'd never done anything like that before. He flinched at the slightest of noises and thought everyone was calling the cops when they were completely still. Once he flinched too hard and accidentally pulled the trigger on a security guard that had only been trying to calm a lady down.

"He started to freak out and the people in the bank started screaming. He pulled the trigger on two more people. After that he gave himself over to the police willingly, horrified with what he'd done."

"That's pretty sad, but what has that got to do do it's me?" Peter's expression dropped under his mask. "You think...I should turn myself in?"

"God no, kid," Tony's faceplate retracted to show his shocked face. "Don't ever do that, okay?"

"...okay?" Peter promised hesitantly. He told Tony to continue with his lesson thing.

The Iron Man grimly complied. "Do you think he was a good guy or a bad guy?"

Peter clutched the cement of the lip and glared at the sidewalk below to keep old memories from resurfacing. "A bad guy, obviously."

"What if I told you he hadn't wanted to hurt anyone? What if I told you about his seven year old daughter who was dying in the hospital because him and his wife didn't have enough money or the insurance to cover her surgery? All of his coworkers and friends said he was a nice guy. Does that justify his actions?"

Peter froze in confusion.

"Uh...maybe? Wouldn't you do that to save Ms. Potts if your money got cut off and no one knew your name?"

Tony looked at him sadly. "You think I would kill for that?"

"Do I think you would kill to save your wife?" Peter reworded. "Probably."

"Well..." Tony scrunched up his face in annoyance. "When you put it that way...but I wouldn't go rob a bank with a gun."

"You think I would?" Peter asked, offended. "Just because I was an assassin doesn't mean I stole stuff. There's only one requirement there."

"What I'm trying to say, kid," he sighed in exasperation. "Good people can do bad things for the right reasons, or good things for the wrong reasons, or bad people could do the right thing for the wrong reasons, or vise versa."

"So...?" Peter looked up at him quizzically, though the mask covered his expression.

"So...there's a thin line in between right and wrong. The only thing holding people back is moral ethics and fear of punishment- you know, jail time. If you want to help people, you have to be able to see those lines crystal clear. If they blur out, innocent people could get hurt."

Peter sighed. He knew this talk was coming. "I know...I'm figuring it out, alright?"

"I know you're trying, kiddo," he placed a metal hand on his shoulder. "You're doing great actually. Just keep your focus on that line, okay? Help your friends out with it too."

Peter nodded somberly.

"Cool," Tony's face brightened. "Now come on, I've got a surprise for you back home."

Peter's grin grew wide. "Sweet."

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Next chapter will be the last of the part! I'll add a bit of HYDRA stuff in, too, cause we all know that lil' bitch is still being an ass.

- Wanda