Spider-man: Alone in New York

~ Chapter 31 ~

Mr. Stark was on board with suing Flash's, well, now Eugene's, father. When I had told him on the ride home, he was quiet. Far too quiet than he usually was. He patiently waited for me to finish explaining the situation. The only giveaway to how he was feeling was how his knuckles became white from gripping the steering wheel. When I was done, he asked me for the kid's full name, and that was all. 

On the way up the elevator, he was already on the phone with one of his many lawyers. We walked out together and into the living room of the commons area.

Clint sat with his feet propped up on a pillow and arms behind his back on the couch, and Natasha, next to him, was popping her gum while cleaning one of her blades. Bruce was reading a book, probably about some science topic, and Steve was watching TV with Clint. It seemed Thor was back from wherever he had gone and was currently eating Lunchables for a change, using his hammer as a plate. He carefully placed a slice of cheese on top of a cracker, then a slice of a ham, and on top of that another cracker. He ate it and hummed in delight. 

"Hey," Tony greeted them, putting down his phone for a moment, "We're back."

A chorus of greetings came my way.

"Peter the toddler!" Thor laughed as he stood up. "You're still here! What a pleasure. I was hoping you hadn't left yet."

"Uh, hi," I mumbled. 

Because of my super hearing, I could hear Bruce groan and mutter, "Not this again."

Thor came over to me, obviously not taking note of my beet-red face as he clapped me on the back and then strode back over to his seat, picking up the Lunchables again. "Cracker?" He held out a cracker to me.

"I'm good, thanks." I nodded at him. He shrugged, as if to say 'your loss', and started putting together a cracker with ham and cheese again.

Steve stood up from his seat and walked over to the adjacent kitchen. "You want anything else to eat, kid, that's more nutritious than uh, Lunchables?"

"Yes," Mr. Stark said at the same time I responded no thanks, "Could you get him something to eat? I need to go to my office. I'll be back soon."

Steve gave him a thumbs up. "Of course. What do you want, kid?" Steve opened the refrigerator door while Mr. Stark went back to the elevator and looked through the items. "We've got some leftover salad from last night, stir-fry, also from last night, hmmm... I could make you something if you want."

I said, not wanting him to do too much work for me, "No, it's fine. I'll take the salad."

"Sounds good." He took it out and placed it on the kitchen counter.

"Mr. Rogers, thanks. I can get the plate and stuff."

"Okay. If you need anything, just holler. I'm watching television." He turned away and walked back to the living room. I frowned at the way he said television instead of TV, then shrugged it off. It was probably because of the 'frozen in time' thing. 

I ate the salad and then put the plate in the dishwasher. I went back to the living room, stood behind the couch, and saw they were watching the news. There was a huge building on fire. The reporter said there were still people inside. I looked at the five Avengers in the living room. Why weren't they doing anything? Shouldn't they go out and help the people stuck inside? 

"You aren't going to go and help them?" I asked, and five heads swiveled back to face me. 

Steve wore a compassionate look. "Stuff like this isn't for the Avengers."

Clint nodded in agreement. "Yeah, if we would take care of these minor events we would be working 24/7, and besides, the firefighters will take care of it. They're good at their jobs. That's what they do."