Chapter 88: Cold Blooded I

"Dude, what do you mean you won't tell me anything about The Big Man?" Peter ran a hand down his face, mask ridden up to his nose as he talked on the phone and paced on the building ledge.

There was an exasperated sigh on the other line, he could almost hear Aizawa pinching the bridge of his nose over the phone.

Alright, day 11 with Mirko and in Hosu! The whole train thing from 3 days ago somehow made the news because apparently the city kept cameras in a subway station no one uses. Who knew?

And somehow people found themselves incredibly engrossed in watching him and Mirko fight their way through a train even if all the shots were from outside.

At least they got a good angle of him being thrown out a window, though. Yeah, the experience of being defenestrated wasn't too enjoyable for him but at the very least the angles of it were sick.

Anyway, outside him and Mirko trending again, because apparently him being within 5 feet of a top 10 hero was newsworthy, nothing much has happened.

You know! Some robberies here, some giant villains there, the usual stuff.

Oh, and then there's what he's been personally doing during those 3 days.

Annoying Aizawa for more info on The Big Man.

That was one of the things Peter had his eyes on, taking The Big Man down. He's dealt with that guy twice already, and some old leads he followed back before his arrest looked as if they were tied to him.

So, yeah. That's what he's doing now, planning to take on organized crime.

Like the good old days.

Oh, and Peter knew he couldn't go beat up a crime boss now , but he's planned for that.

When work studies come around, he'll have his provisional license and be able to do everything a sidekick could!

Which includes getting involved in investigations and raids against villains! As long as Tony Stark kept a wide leash on what he did between whatever S.H.I.E.L.D stuff he had to deal with, it was a perfect plan.

Besides! Letting him mostly do his own thing was the least Stark could do!

Still, he would need one more connection to contribute to taking The Big Man down.

Someone who worked on cases like that.

Someone like-

"I mean I can't tell you anything about The Big Man, Parker. That's a case I've been working on for a while, so I can't divulge classified information to you just because you asked."

Aizawa's tired voice snapped him out of his thoughts, Peter groaned once what he said sunk in.

Peter stopped pacing for a moment, hanging his head low.

"Aizawa, man, you're kinda messing up my plans right now."

Over on his end, the man sighed.

"And what plans are those, kid? Getting yourself included into the investigation so you can help in taking down a major crime boss? Are those your plans?"

God, why did he have to be so difficult?

"Technically, I'm already part of the investigation. Did the Shocker guy I told the cops would talk say anything? If he said anything important, you gotta give me credit." He glanced back at Mirko down in the street, the woman talking to some fans.

Apparently she liked to talk to her supporters every now and then or something, a small part of him was a bit jealous of how she could just do that.

"Yes, Herman Schultz-" Peter snorted, how could a criminal be named Herman ? "-gave us some new leads that we've been following up the past few days."

Man, Peter sure did wish he knew what those leads were. That'd be swell .

For a moment, the sound of rustling papers was he could hear before Aizawa spoke again.

"Look, do you know that you need both a provisional hero license and a work study to be assigned to a case like this? The fact that this is underground work makes it even harder for you to get involved."

"Of course I know that! You of all people should know I've dealt with underground work all the time, man! Honestly, I probably have more experience with this stuff than a lot of people at UA." He threw his arm in the air, once again pacing on the ledge.

Yeah, he understood that getting assigned to a specific case would be hard, but he had Aizawa! The guy could just vouch for him or something, right?

This stuff was so much easier when he could just swing out of a window and follow up on leads whenever he wanted.

"Okay… What about a work study? You need to be working under a hero to join up on an investigation. As far as I understand, you don't seem to have connections to get yourself a work study." Aizawa said, followed by the sound of a pen writing something down on his end.

Peter stopped pacing, and smiled. Who knew he'd be genuinely happy about getting roped into S.H.I.E.L.D? Lucky him that he'd get a work study out of that, free of charge.

Yeah, it was technically a front for his S.H.I.E.L.D work, but he was pretty sure it'd be a regular work study during the downtime he got.

Maybe, he didn't ask a lot of questions he should've asked.

"Oh, I got connections."

"Connections, Parker? Connections from sources that aren't frowned upon by the law?"

Wow, he was just gonna act like what he just said didn't hurt him a bit.

Cause it didn't, not at all.

"Dude, my connections are legal! They'll get me a work study, guaranteed." Peter reassured, wondering about the legality of his newfound S.H.I.E.L.D connections.

Eh, it was probably fine. Hopefully.

Another sigh on Aizawa's end, Peter could basically hear him rub his eyes.

"Alright, let's say you get a work study that wants you on the case and the police think you qualify to help, alright? As your teacher I still have the final decision on whether or not you are brought on a mission." He informed, whatever chair he was sitting on creaked as he shifted.

"I feel like our unbreakable bond and my massive amounts of charisma would persuade you to let me on the case."

The line went quiet for a bit, before what was probably the most annoyed and exhausted sigh Peter's ever heard came from Aizawa's end.

"I'll think about it."

Before Peter could say anything, Aizawa hung up.

Hell yeah! That was basically a yes!

With a small sigh, he pulled his mask back over the rest of his face and pocketed his phone into a pouch on his belt.

It was kinda funny, you know?

He's always complained about how much he hated dealing with organized crime, but there he was.

Doing everything he could to force himself into an investigation about organized crime.

Guess he was his own worst enemy when it came to making Spider-Man more complicated of a job than it probably should be.

Damn.

What was wrong with him, man?

His spider-sense buzzing a bit in the back of his head, Peter catching a truck turning the corner onto the street out of the corner of his eye.

Looking at it from afar, he swears it was shaking.

He shrugged to himself, jumping off of the roof and swinging across the street and onto a lamp post directly above Mirko.

A few of the people crowded around her jumped at seeing him, a few just pointing their phones up and took pictures.

Aw, look at that! They don't hate him!

Peter smiled under the mask, waving at the camera as the crowd began to disperse.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt your meet and greet, but I couldn't help but notice that the number of people whose teeth you kicked in today is kinda… low. What's up with that?" Peter moved onto the underside of the lamppost, lowering himself to Mirko's eye level and hanging upside on a web.

Seriously, they've barely stopped any crime today! Which was nice, since he kinda, sorta, desperately needed a break from this internship, but it was weird that Mirko actually… gave it to him.

"Why the hell are you complaining, kid? Isn't like half your gimmick looking exhausted all the time? Thought you'd appreciate the break!" She said, thumping her foot on the sidewalk.

Alright, wow .

He liked to think he had a lot more to him than that! Being tired was like… one thirty seventh of his whole deal at best .

"Are you really gonna be mean to me in front of all your adoring fans? You're setting a bad example for the kids back home." With a chuckle, he began to hang on the web by his feet to free up his hands to motion at the small gathering of fans.

Fans that were gathering a small distance away from him, which was something that kinda hurt.

Seriously, when were people gonna stop treating like he had the plague in 1600s Europe?

Rolling her eyes, Mirko scoffed and pushed him back. "And are you gonna keep back talking when I'm the main reason your public appeal isn't on Endeavor level?"

...

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