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Peter knows that eavesdropping with his super senses is wrong. He swears he knows it's wrong, but he can’t not. He dares anyone living with the fucking Avengers not try and listen to their conversations at least once. His super senses just mean it’s easier to not get caught.
For months the most interesting conversations that were conveniently within his hearing range (as if his hearing range doesn’t include the whole tower and many blocks beyond it-) were mundane, or really boring mission debriefings that were out of country, missions he didn’t go on unless they really needed him as last-resort backup.
After months he finally heard a conversation he actually had to interrupt.
Peter had just walked into the tower after a long day at school, tired and a little pissed at Flash’s comments, when he heard Mr. Stark, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Barnes, and Wanda talking about a mission going on in Hell’s Kitchen. From where he started hearing the conversation, Director Fury had assigned them the mission because SHIELD has been hearing whispers of HYDRA building a base there.
“Hello Peter. How was school today?” FRIDAY’s soothing voice welcomes him as the elevator doors slide open.
He looks up to the corner where he knows her camera is. “Hey Fri! It was good, same old school. I'm just glad to be home. Can you take me to where Mr. Stark and the others are?”
“Boss is currently in a mission briefing, and he has asked me to tell anyone who asks to see him to wait until the team arrives back to the tower.” FRIDAY replies.
“Please FRI? I was actually going to ask about the mission and if I can go with them.” He’s hoping that she doesn’t relay this to Mr. Stark—he would immediately say no because he doesn’t like Peter going on HYDRA missions.
“They are in conference room 104. Heading to floor 93.” Peter swears she sounds fond, as if she knows Mr. Stark would deny and would prefer him not to know about the mission until it’s over. He thinks she does know but likes him too much to not help him out. (Can an advanced AI be fond? Is she programmed to be able to pick favorites?) He doesn’t make his internal thought process known and just says, “Thank you FRI.”
As the elevator makes the trip from the parking garage to floor 93, (why does it move so slow? It’s probably on purpose, knowing Mr. Stark.) He starts to think of all the things that could go wrong. He also wonders how in the world they got permission.
Little fact about vigilantes—they’re very territorial. Like a “If you stay in your part of the city, i’ll stay in mine and we won’t have any issues.” Type of situation. Even other vigilantes ask if they can go into another one of their territories, more as a courtesy than actually needing too. Most of New York’s vigilantes are on at least civil terms, if not civil than outright friendly. It’s not the most well-known fact in the city, but most outside small-time heroes and vigilantes know that you have to ask permission first. If another hero or vigilante just goes into a claimed territory without doing this, they are guaranteed to be met with violent retaliation. Surprisingly, only 2 Avengers know of this never-said-out-loud-but-definitely-existing rule. Hawkeye, because he was a vigilante himself, and Black Widow because well…. she's Black Widow.
Usually when the Avengers get sent on the rare mission that’s in New York (or any other city that was vigilantes) Clint is the one to ask permission beforehand. Peter happens to know (totally not because he was eavesdropping) that Nat and Clint had been sent on an undercover mission on another continent, and he severely doubts they let the other Avengers know the deal with vigilantes and their territorial habits. They were super-spies even if Clint pretended to act like an idiot outside of official Avenger work.
As the elevator door opens, Peter exits and walks along the weirdly long, empty hallway. He lets the voices of the assembled group guide him to room 104 and waits until Mr. Stark finishes talking to open the door.
As he does, 4 pairs of surprised eyes look his way while Fury stays staring at the hologram, his face glaring at (what Peter assumes) is details for the mission.
Mr. Stark is the one to speak first. “Peter? What the hell are you doing here? We’re about to leave on a mission.” He glances at the hologram and then goes back to Peter. “Did you get lost on your way to your room?”
Peter is still staring at Fury as he talks, because he knows the Fury knows about vigilantes and their habits. He also knows there is no way in hell Matt would give them permission to go into Hell’s Kitchen without him or Clint there to supervise. Matt doesn’t like any of the Avengers except Clint. Not that he particularly likes him either, just respects him as a vigilante-turned-hero.
Peter decides to ignore everyone except Fury for now. “Did you get permission?” The 4 heroes in the room turned from vaguely surprised or a little confused too, very confused after his question. Firstly, because Peter Parker was asking Nick Fury a direct question without stuttering or just being overall Peter-like. Secondly, because he said it coldly with an unheard of “don’t fuck with me tone” he quickly mastered after about 3 months of being a vigilante.
(He learned after stopping an attempted sexual assault in a dark alleyway. Hearing an intimidating disembodied voice usually drove them off faster than rushing at them with his tiny 14-year-old stature.)
Fury turns so that they make eye-contact. “We don’t need permission to conduct a mission in this city.” He turns back as if Peter hadn’t interrupted the briefing at all. Peter strides over to the SHIELD director so he can get up close and personal. “That’s bullshit Fury. Clint would’ve asked before this little meeting had even started if he wasn’t on another continent. Why do you think that only applies when he is here?” Peter is surprised that he isn’t as scared as he thought he would be standing in front of one of the most influential people in SHIELD. The only emotion he feels is anger. Fury is purposefully sending the team into a conflict with one of the most powerful vigilantes in New York (Not that he could flawlessly beat the four of them, but he could land some critical hits.) “This is none of your concern Spider-man. It’s an Avengers mission, and last time I checked you're not on the team.” Peter can see out of his periphery Mr. Stark, Mr. Roger’s, and Wanda looking at the exchange in shock. Mr. Barnes just looks impassive, bored almost.
“None of my concern? How the fuck is this none of my concern? I may not be an Avenger, but I am one of the best vigilantes in New York. I am one of two connections to all the vigilantes you have access to. Vigilantes tend to stick together against people disrespecting them as you already know.” Peter takes a second to sit down and take a breath before continuing. “You would be risking this entire fucking mission sending them in there without asking Daredevil first. He may not be able to beat all four of them at once, but he could give them critical injuries. Not to mention every other vigilante finding out about it. Not even Clint would be able to get through the city without being attacked left right and center. That would not only be extremely inconvenient for any future missions but also be catastrophic to the Avengers public image. They aren’t the ones out there every night protecting them from rapists or muggers. They aren’t the ones returning their children to them after taking down child trafficking rings or busting the gangs and crime lords making their neighborhoods unsafe to live in.” Peter’s gaze is furious and unblinking.
Nick Fury has never really been easy to intimidate. So why was this kid, who doesn’t seem to need to blink, starting to unnerve him? He’d underestimated the kid for sure. The SHIELD Director was beginning to see the difference between Peter Parker, 16-year-old shy, stuttering genius, and Spider-man.
“There is a reason Clint warned you about warning them when you enter their territory. You think Daredevil won’t be territorial just because you’re the leader of a shady shadow government, and the team you’re sending are all Avengers? If anything, it would be worse because they are Avengers. You’d be better off sending the X-Men or Fantastic 4. The Punisher won’t hesitate to fill them full of bullets, nor will Jessica Jones. Do you believe they can put up a quick fight against Iron Fist? Just hit him a couple times and he’ll back down?” Peters' chest was heaving by now; the angry words coming out harsher and quicker the more he talked. In what universe does this idiot think this was a good idea?
“You don’t have much faith in the Avengers it sounds like…want to expand on that?”
Peter looks up, an incredulous look on his face. “Is that all you got out of that? How has SHIELD not been shut down by now…” He muttered the last sentence under his breath, but he knew everyone in the room still heard him. “I want to tell the vigilante network what you were thinking of doing just to show you what the repercussions of your actions would be. I’m not stupid or petty enough to do it without an actual reason, but it’s tempting.” He takes a second to look around the room and examines the shocked faces looking back at him (including Mr. Barnes this time) and pulls out his burner phone to look at Daredevils' reply to the question he asked between the elevator and the conference room.
“You will not do this mission until Clint and Nat come back from their mission.” He stands up preparing to leave when fucking Fury decides to say something. “What makes you think you have the authority to demand something like that kid?” Peter catches the gloved hand that was on a path to grab his forearm. He leans close to Fury, letting cold anger flood his voice, leaving no room for argument. “Those are DD’s terms. He doesn’t want flashy heroes to destroy things unnecessarily without supervision. If you send them on the mission without him, the vigilantes of New York will rain hell down on you. Maybe he’ll set Deadpool on you all as well. You can guarantee that the vigilantes and heroes of other cities and countries won’t be happy either. They all know who Nicholas Fury is, no matter how sneaky you think you and your operatives are.” And with that, a calm expression falls back over his face as he turns and heads for the door. Just as he opens it, he turns back to Stark with a beaming smile. “See you in the lab Mr. Stark!” It clicks closed.
The 5 remaining are silent for a minute before someone decides to break the silence with a whispered “what the fuck?” Then after, Stark yells “WHAT THE FUCK?!”
Back in his room Peter is flipping out. Pacing back in forth and on the ceiling, internally rambling.
WHAT THE FUCK. What the fuck. What the fuck. I just threatened the DIRECTOR OF SHIELD. OH MY GOD. I’m going to die. This is the end for me. Forgive me Mr. Stark; you’ll have to scribe the words “Here lies Peter Parker, mysteriously murdered by the shadow government” on my tombstone.
He looks back down to his burner phone as Daredevil messages him asking for a detailed explanation. He sighs and puts on his Spider suit as he tells DD to meet him at their regular meeting spot. “Can you open my window, please, FRI?” he gets no answer as the windowpane slides open quietly. He leaps through the opening without a second thought, knowing FRIDAY will close it behind him. I mean it could’ve gone…worse?
His Spider senses go off, and he hears a mugger a couple blocks away. I can deal with that later. He thinks, flying across New York to protect its inhabitants once again.