New York City, Sunday evening
It had been a rough week for Peter. There were pretty much only two places he spent any amount of time for the past several days: by May's side or out on the streets, taking his frustration out on criminals. Peter knew that this would eventually draw the kind of attention that he wouldn't want to deal with, but that's just the way these things went.
He had just made his way back to the hospital roof where he was going to change out of his costume and into his clothes when a buzzing told him he wasn't alone.
"Don't worry, kid. I'm just here to talk," a voice said. A man stepped seemingly out of thin air and gave a small smile that Peter didn't trust.
"Fury," Peter said. "Nice job keeping the whole superhuman thing in check and not allowing your bosses to create illegal clones or anything. Really, you should get a raise."
"I understand that you're upset," Fury started. "But --"
"But what?" Peter asked. "You let a whole big genetic THING get completely out of control and it looks like you didn't even know it! What kind of explanation can you possibly have for that?"
"Are you done?" Fury asked, cocking his eyebrow. "I'm giving you some leeway here. You've been through more crap in the past week than anyone should deal with. That said, deal with it. The CIA is good at keeping their secrets, they hate me, and they have every possible safeguard at their disposal to keep me from knowing exactly what they're up to. There's no way I could have known until they messed up."
"Well, that's helpful! There are a couple dozen of these guys out there. Good to know you know nothing about them!" Peter yelled.
"What did I just say?" Fury asked. "I had know way of knowing until they messed up. But they did. They crossed you and that was them messing up. And now I know about them. Once I know something you can be damn sure that I'm going to know more really damn soon. I have locations, names, and powers on three of them. We've already taken one into custody, we're working on the next two and digging for info on more."
"Oh," Peter said, a little sheepishly.
"That's right, 'Oh'," Fury said. "The whole reason I wanted to talk to you was to tell you that we're getting the situation under control. And to tell you that I'm sorry about everything. How's your aunt?"
Peter was taken aback by this. "Um. She's doing okay. I mean, okay for someone who just had a heart attack, but still okay."
"How are you paying for the hospital bills?" Fury asked.
"By going into debt?" Peter said. It was all he had.
"Without having to support The Ultimates anymore, SHIELD has a few dollars laying around. There are bounties on the spider-clones. The President authorized it. Conveniently enough, the bounty on the two you brought in is exactly what it'll take to cover your aunt's medical bills."
"I... I don't know what to say," Peter said. "Thank you."
"No thanks necessary. You did a job, we're paying you for it," Fury said. "We're going to continue to take care of these clones, but it'll take a while. They're well-trained, spread all over the place, and I don't have a bunch of superheroes to take them down anymore so that means more prep-time. When we bring you into the fold, part of your job will be to finish this work. Thought you'd like to know that."
"That is actually more reassuring than you'd think," Peter said. "Just one question."
"Shoot."
"What are you doing with them after you capture them?" Peter asked.
"Top Secret, kid," Fury said, simply. "Finding out will be your graduation present. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a world to protect. I'll see you later."
"Bye," Peter said. He took another look around before putting on his civvies. He was surprised and grateful for the gestures Fury was making but there wasn't something quite right about the whole thing.
That didn't matter right now, though. Right now, he was going back to Aunt May's side.
[OOC: NFB and such due to being far away.]
He had just made his way back to the hospital roof where he was going to change out of his costume and into his clothes when a buzzing told him he wasn't alone.
"Don't worry, kid. I'm just here to talk," a voice said. A man stepped seemingly out of thin air and gave a small smile that Peter didn't trust.
"Fury," Peter said. "Nice job keeping the whole superhuman thing in check and not allowing your bosses to create illegal clones or anything. Really, you should get a raise."
"I understand that you're upset," Fury started. "But --"
"But what?" Peter asked. "You let a whole big genetic THING get completely out of control and it looks like you didn't even know it! What kind of explanation can you possibly have for that?"
"Are you done?" Fury asked, cocking his eyebrow. "I'm giving you some leeway here. You've been through more crap in the past week than anyone should deal with. That said, deal with it. The CIA is good at keeping their secrets, they hate me, and they have every possible safeguard at their disposal to keep me from knowing exactly what they're up to. There's no way I could have known until they messed up."
"Well, that's helpful! There are a couple dozen of these guys out there. Good to know you know nothing about them!" Peter yelled.
"What did I just say?" Fury asked. "I had know way of knowing until they messed up. But they did. They crossed you and that was them messing up. And now I know about them. Once I know something you can be damn sure that I'm going to know more really damn soon. I have locations, names, and powers on three of them. We've already taken one into custody, we're working on the next two and digging for info on more."
"Oh," Peter said, a little sheepishly.
"That's right, 'Oh'," Fury said. "The whole reason I wanted to talk to you was to tell you that we're getting the situation under control. And to tell you that I'm sorry about everything. How's your aunt?"
Peter was taken aback by this. "Um. She's doing okay. I mean, okay for someone who just had a heart attack, but still okay."
"How are you paying for the hospital bills?" Fury asked.
"By going into debt?" Peter said. It was all he had.
"Without having to support The Ultimates anymore, SHIELD has a few dollars laying around. There are bounties on the spider-clones. The President authorized it. Conveniently enough, the bounty on the two you brought in is exactly what it'll take to cover your aunt's medical bills."
"I... I don't know what to say," Peter said. "Thank you."
"No thanks necessary. You did a job, we're paying you for it," Fury said. "We're going to continue to take care of these clones, but it'll take a while. They're well-trained, spread all over the place, and I don't have a bunch of superheroes to take them down anymore so that means more prep-time. When we bring you into the fold, part of your job will be to finish this work. Thought you'd like to know that."
"That is actually more reassuring than you'd think," Peter said. "Just one question."
"Shoot."
"What are you doing with them after you capture them?" Peter asked.
"Top Secret, kid," Fury said, simply. "Finding out will be your graduation present. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a world to protect. I'll see you later."
"Bye," Peter said. He took another look around before putting on his civvies. He was surprised and grateful for the gestures Fury was making but there wasn't something quite right about the whole thing.
That didn't matter right now, though. Right now, he was going back to Aunt May's side.
[OOC: NFB and such due to being far away.]