Chapter 22 : Prelude to Battle

Peter sighed as he looked at the red mask in his hand. It had been a while since he wore the Spider-Man costume. Six whole months actually. In all those months he had been a bit afraid to wear this costume that he would almost never take down once. It was always with him. During his battles and even underneath his civilian clothes.

It felt a bit weird. A bit itchy too. Seems like he had put on some weight in the past months. It would take some time to get adjusted to wearing skin tight suits again.

He was wearing the new SHIELD tech suit which he had only used once. Over it he was wearing normal cloths. A black jeans and black hoodie. He was a bit insecure about being seen as Spider-man in the public again.

He finally took a deep and put on his mask and pulled up his hoodie. He put on his Web-shooters and hid them under the sleeve.

Right then his phone rang and he picked up the call. "We are waiting outside your apartment building Mr. Parker"

"Alright. Just a minute."

Peter went out of his apartment and sure enough, there was a black car parked nearby. He got in and greeted the two guys who were at the front but they didn't reply. "What? No talking on duty? Well thank god I didn't become an agent too."

Still no reply. " Dedicated. Aren't ya?"

*Silence

"Fine. I'll stop talking too then. Just wanted to be friendly you know." Peter took out his mobile phone and started browsing Facebook.

"Ohohoho. That's a good one." Spidey suddenly laughed and then looked at the Agents again. "You gotta hear this one. 'One time the wife asked..... '"

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Peter finally reached the SHIELD Hello carrier that was flying high in the sky. It was a long journey. The car dropped him at the Military airport From there he had to board a Quinjet plane. Worst of all, none of the agents he met ever spoke a word. Spider-Man wasn't the type of guy who could remain silent all the time. It made him nervous.

Though, How the Helli-Carrier suddenly appeared out of thin air was really amazing. 'They must be using some kind of Vanishing technology. Light-bending probably.' Peter's inner scientist started to make all kinds of possible speculations about that scene.

When Peter came out of the jet he was met by none other than Phil Coulson. "Welcome Spider-Man. It's good to see you again." Coulson smiled and greeted. Peter maybe wrong but Coulson somehow looked like an excited kid.

"Director Fury is in the meeting room along with the rest of other people. I'll take you there too."

Peter nodded and they soon reached the room. As he passed through the door he first saw a very tall blond man who had his back towards him. He was wearing a Red Cape too.

Peter quriled an eyebrow and walked upto the man and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey."

"Who.... Ahhhhh." The blond man in question whose name is Thor Odinson turned to looked at who the person was but when he saw a weird being with red face and white eyes he screamed and took a few step. He raised one hand in the air and suddenly a Hammer came flying into his hand. He pointed the hammer at the Red faced guy. "Who are thy Foul creature?"

"Foul what? NOOO. I'm Spider-Man." Peter didn't know what to do. Wether he should laughing at this Big muscular guy screaming like a little girl or he should simply run away cause that hammer had arcs of electricity coming out of it and his spider Sense were tingling a little too.

"A spider? I don't know Midgard had such large and Well clothed insects." Thor looked very confused as he examined Spider-Man from head to toe again and again.

"Yeah, Well we are learning some manners." Spider-Man just shrugged.

"*Ahem. It's good to have you here Spider-Man." Nick Fury interrupted their banter. Then he turned to look at the other people who were around the table. " This is New York's vigilante Spider-Man. I'm sure all you must have heard his name. He was pretty famous some time ago."

Peter gave the bald eyepatch stinky eyes on calling him a vigilante but didn't bother much. He turned to look at the other people in the room.

First person he saw was, Natasha Romanoff, who is, his fellow spider themed Hero, Black Widow. Then sitting next to him was none other than The Captain America himself. There was no doubt about it. He wasn't wearing his mask and his face was clearly the same as the one in the history books.

"Hey... Hello, Captain, It's an honor to meet you. Big Fan, Spider-Man." Peter didn't know what to say to a Legend like him.

Captain America nodded his head. "The name's Steven Roger. I've heard a lot about you. How you go out of your way to save lives is truly admirable. It's an honor to meet you too Spider-man." Steve smiled at the masked hero in front of him. Out of all the people who were gathered in this room, Spider-Man was the only one who he could truly call a hero. Unlike the self-entitled Stark or Dr. Banner for obvious reasons.

"So this is the joker we are up against huh?" Peter turned to look at the gaint screen on the wall that shows the live footage of Loki pacing around in his prison cell.

"Careful how you speak Spider. Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard. And He is my Brother." Thor narrowed his eyes at Spider-Man again.

"He killed 80 people in 2 days, kidnapped world famous. scientists and stole many rare materials." Natasha looked at Thor with a challenging look as if asking him to something against her words.

"AAAND he wears weird helmet." Spider-Man quipped.

"Uhhhhh... He is Adopted." Thor sat back in his seat.

"What does Loki wants to do anyway?" Captain America looked at Thor.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They are not from Asgard or any known world. He intends to lead them against your people. They will win him the world. In return, I suspect for the tesseract." Thor replied.

"An army? From outer space? Well that's new. even for me." Spider-Man ploped down on one of the cusion chairs.

Dr. Banner, also a world-known scientist, and who also had a very unique second personality, looked at the other people around the table. "I think it's about the mechanics. The Iridium. Why does Loki needs Iridium?"

"It's a stabilizing agent." Suddenly someone spoke up from outside the room and every one turned to look at the man who walked in ,wearing a business suit.

Anthony Stark. Iron Man.

"It means that the portal won't collapse on itself like how it did with SHIELD tests." Tony turned to look at Spider-man. "I thought you were shorter."

"I grew up." Spidey shrugged simply.

"Okayyyy. Well anyway, what I mean is if he can stabilise the portal. Then the portal can open as wide, stay open as long, as Loki wants."Tony walked up to the main screen and fiddled around with somethings. "The rest of the things are easy to find. The only Major component he still needs is a power source of high density."

"He would have to heat the cube 120 million degrees just to break the coulomb barrier." Dr. Banner nodded completely understanding what Stark was saying. Everyone else except Peter had no clue what they were talking about.

"Unless, Selvig has already figured out how to stabilize the Quantum tunneling effect."

"Well if he could do that he could achieve heavy ion fusion in any reactor on the planet."

"Finally someone who speaks English." Tony Stark walked upto Dr. Banner and shook hands. "It's good to meet you Dr. Banner. Your work in antielectron collisions is unparalleled. I'm a huge fan of how you turn into an enormous green rage monster."

Peter sighed. The topic of Hulk wasn't really something people should talk so openly. Especially since how The US government has started a hunt for him, sending armies after the green guy. Everyone knows that.

"Dr. Banner is only here to help us find the cube. As soon as he does that he will be out of here." Fury looked at Tony sharply. "It would be better if you don't keep provoking him Stark."

"It's alright. I think we should start with that stick of his. It has some special powers much like the cube. Maybe that will help in finding the tessract." Dr. Banner tried to diffuse the situation.

"That would in best interest of everyone." Fury said.

"Shall we go Doctor?" Tony said as he made a gesture to Dr. Banner. They both walked out of the room soon followed by Captain and Thor.

"Some team huh? I'm pretty sure we can win the NFL with this team." Spider-Man looked at Fury before walking out too.

"*Sigh. Even that would be a blessing." Fury looked at Spider-Man's retreating back.

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"They seem to have similar energy signatures. And the power in them is very strong. What are these anyway?" Spider-Man asked as he continued to look at and compare the research reports of The Tessract and Loki's Scepter.

"They are two of the Infinity Stones." Thor was the one who gave the answer.

"Two of the stones? There's more of them?" Spider-Man asked.

"Yes. There are altogether six infinity stones. They are the embodiment of different aspects of Existence in the universe. Very powerful and uncontrollable." Thor gave an explanation.

" Who is behind Loki? What do they want to do with Tesseract?" Captain asked.

"I don't know who is helping him. But I do know they are upto no good." Thor shook his head.

" Just like SHIELD huh. Makes one wonder who is the lesser evil." Stark said.

"You have some problem with Fury?" Steve looked at Tony.

"Just curious. I mean what was SHIELD going to do anyway with Tesseract?" Stark simply shrugged.

"He is soldier." Steve's gaze hardened watching Tony walking around and yapping meaning less things without a care in the world about the potential threat they may be facing.

"Uh-uh cap. He is a spy. Even his secrets have secrets." Stark's voice suddenly grew in volume. "Can't you see anything. Everything around us smells shady. What was SHIELD even going to do by opening portals to different worlds. Maybe play Loki on them?"

"No disrespect Cap. But I agree with Mr. Stark here. I mean I'm only now learning about Tesseract. Till now I was told that Loki had a super powerful weapon. Not that it was initially SHIELD toying around with said weapon that caused all this mayhem." Spider-Man sat on a high table and looked at the other men around him. They were supposed to be a team along with Natasha who was currently not here.

"Exactly. I just know they are hiding something from us and soon I'll find out just what it is." Tony looked at Spider-Man and walked up to him and patted his shoulder.

Captain America still wasn't too happy with this. He saw that everyone was looking at him. Even Thor, who was sitting down on a sofa lazily. Cap looked back at Stark who had a playful smile on his face.

"Why now?" Captain finally asked a question.

"What do you mean now?" Tony was confused.

"Stark even with all your brain you are still not good at tactical thinking. You are trying to find dirt on your potential ally right when there's a great danger on our head. Loki maybe in prison. But that's not stopping his schemes. He has an ay of aliens who can wage war on us any moment and you are here trying to find Fury's dirty magazine collection?" Captain pointed out Stark's fault.

"We need to work as a team and deal with this situation as fast as possible. That's what's most important right now. After that.....you can go find out what is wrong with SHIELD. But we will deal with Loki first." Steve finally said in his Commanding officer tone.

"Mr. Stark will have to play his antics elsewhere if he doesn't intends to stop." Suddenly Fury walked in followed by Natasha Romanoff. He walked up to Stark and put mini button like device in front of him.

Tony clicked his tongue.

"Dr. Banner you are coming with us tight now." Natasha said as looked at Dr. Banner who was silently working in corner. The man looked back at her confused and with a slight sense of apprehension.

"Why what's wrong?" Banner asked.

"We just interrogated Loki. He intends to use you to get out of here." Natasha replied and then she added. "The other you."

"Look, My work is almost complete here. We are just about to find out that cube of yours and then I'll just get out here myself."Banner tried to explain. He was afraid that SHIELD might try to do something to him.

"He isn't going anywhere with you." It was Tony who interjected. "Not after this. First of all, You pirate, will tell me what is this PEGASUS CLASSIFIED?" Tony got up with a tab in his hand and lifted it upto Fury's face with the screen towards him.

"Stark will you just stop this now." Steve wasn't too happy with Tony still doing this instead of trying to find Tesseract. "I Already told you we need to deal with Loki first."

"I don't take orders from you. You may have the Captain title but it's only in name. You are nothing but a failed Genie out of a bottle." Tony replied sharply.

"You were building super powered weapons with the help of Tesseract." Spider-Man suddenly said as he looked at the classified file on the screen that Tony had in his hand. "Thousands of such weapons."

Peter looked at Fury with uncertainty not knowing how to take this information.

"What is the meaning of this Director?" This time even Captain looked at Fury with narrow eyes.

"We did what we had to....because of HIM." Fury suddenly pointed a finger at Thor who uptill now was sitting on the sofa and looking at them all as if enjoying a show.

"Where did i come into this all of a sudden?" Thor asked.

"You really want to know? Three months ago, Three extraterrestrial beings arrived at earth. And destroyed a town in Mexico in their fight. At that time we learned how weak we truly are in this universe. We had to prepare. For beings like him. Cause when they turn their Sights on us we will be vulnerable if we don't prepare. Right now is one such situation." Fury spoke his reason of build war weapons. But everyone knew that it was a lie or only less than half truth.

"Loki came here because YOU were playing with powers beyond your control. Asgard doesn't wants anything but peace with you people." Thor finally said his piece.

"You aren't the only one out there. " Fury sharply asked him.

"Your acts are a gesture to the rest of the universe that Earth is ready for Battes on even bigger scale."Thor roared.

"Bigger scale?" Spider-Man widened his lenses.

"We had no other way." Fury tried to explain his reason again.

"By building even stronger nuclear bombs with the help of Tesseract." Tony stopped him before Fury could speak any further.

"I thought humans were supposed to be smarter." Thor laughed for no apparent reason. Maybe he found this cat fight funny.

Spider-Man ignored him and looked at Fury, "You were building weapons, preparing armies and opening portals to other worlds. One has to be an idiot to not see what you were trying to do. Is this even any different from Loki?"

"Hah. You talk about peace but want to wage wars." Thor looked at Fury with Narrowed eyes.

"No we don't. This is important for us." Fury didn't back down from his reason.

" Well then what was it?" Dr. Banner asked again.

"Agent Romanoff please take Dr. Banner away from here." Fury didn't bother replying to him.

"Oh come on! Why can't a guy be curious about something?" Tony spoke out from the back.

"Stop trying to provoke him." Steve reprimanded him.

"Why?"

"You know full well why." Steve narrowed his eyes at Stark.

"I'm not going anywhere before you give me an answer about what SHIELD was trying to do by making nuclear weapons with the help of Tesseract." Banner was really worked up.

"AGENT ROMANOFF please take Dr. Banner to his room right now." Fury finally had enough of this arguements.

"Room? Or that prison you made for othe me. So that you kill me." Banner shouted and everyone looked at him slightly alarmed.

"You think you are the only one who tried. One time I put a gun in my mouth and pulled the trigger. The other guy caught the bullet in his mouth. Life went on. I was content by helping people living a silent life. Until YOU dragged me back into this madness." He pointed at Natasha.

"Now everyones life is in danger because of it. You want to what my secret is? YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW I REMAIN CAM?" Banner shouted the last part looking at Romanoff.

"Dr. Banner..." Captain America called out to him.

"Please put the Scepter down." Spider-Man said.

Banner looked down on his hand to see that he was holding onto Loki's Scepter.

*PING

He looked at the computer and put the Scepter back on the table.

"Well Gentlemen, It looks like we have found the Tesseract. That means that my work here is done and you all won't be able to say hi to the other guy. " Banner said as he walked towards the computer.

"So according to this the Tesseract is currently in........ New York." Banner said as he looked at everyone else.

Spider-Man's reacted first after hearing this information. "We need to go. Now."

"No wait. I first need to prepare. Can you tell us exactly where in New York?" Captain stopped the Web hero from running off without any preparation. He turned towards Banner and asked his question.

"That would need another half an hour. Exactly pin pointing it's location is really hard. Especially since it has so much energy." Banner looked back at the screen and started typing away somethings.

"You said Loki needed a reactor and power source. Where can he get that in New York?" Natasha asked as she looked at both Tony and Banner.

Spider-Man thought about all the possible places fitting these criteria. There was the electric field lines main Powerplant but he still needed to make a reactor.... Suddenly his eyes widened as he looked at Tony's chest and then at his face.

"Why are looking at me like—OH FUCK." Tony cursed out loud as he understood what was the best place for Loki to go to was.

"What happened?" Captain asked as he didn't know much about modern technologies.

"The New Stark Tower. It has a Reactor AND a Power source capable enough to do the task Loki's braindead motley crew wants to do." Spider-Man explained to him.

"Stark tower? That big Ugly-looking..." Steve laughed before he shut up once Tony gave him a glare.

"We don't have much time anymore We need to go now...." Peter stopped speaking in the middle as his Spider-Senses rumbled, warning him the danger nearby.

"Get Down." Spider-Man roared as he jumped to away from the wall he was standing close to. And Right then...

*BOOM

Hell broke loose.

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End

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A/N :- I thought about it. A lot. Wether i should make a change in the plot and write something completely new. Or just copy the stuff down fro the most part.

In the end I decided to copy it down for two reasons.

1. I couldn't cook up a good enough story. I had three ideas but the final execution on all of them looked very bad to me. So there's that. Biggest reason.

2. I thought instead of reading a long ass team up arc with multiple different Pov. We should all just stick to simple solo Spidey stuff. You know, if i wrote it different I wouldn't have made Spidey do all the work. I would write about every other hero too. And that would mean less screen time for Spidey.

Lol. The main hero himself wouldn't appear in the story for two chapters. That would definitely be bad.

So I decided to simply wrap this Avengers arc up in just 2-3 chapters.

Look the main point of this small arc is to introduce Spidey to other hero and to world as an avenger. Cause that holds a lot of weight. Aaaand the other minor reason is to keep up the timeline at a set pace. You know like, Owl and goblin happened before this then this-that will happen in between this and age of Ultron. And so on.

Anyway I have tell you only this that I have some really good ideas for Age of Ultron.