[ Queens ]

He had escaped all of the chaos that was going down in Manhattan. He and MJ had to wait out until night time for them to return. Peter had quietly brought MJ back to her house before heading back to his apartment. There was a good chance that his neighbors would horde him in the hallway, so he opted for the more logical approach—the fire exit.

Before he entered, he hung on the side of the fire exit. Taking off the mask, he could finally breath in air from his mouth and not his suit's ventilation. It was a lot to take in. He never knew that Beck still had time to frame him. He never knew that someone would reveal his identity. He never knew that his biggest nightmare would come true.

In his mind, he needed to get out of Queens as far as possible. Maybe he could seek help from Nick Fury? But at this point, they might not want to contact with Peter. Having him meet with S.H.I.E.L.D. may expose the fact that they were still in operation.

Maybe Happy could get Stark Industries to help him? He's probably dealing with the Spider-Man situation over there since he was directly affiliated with Tony Stark.

For now, he was alone. There was no one else he could turn to but himself if he wanted to solve this problem.

"Can somebody help me..." He muttered to himself, closing his eyes. "Someone... anyone... help me."

He gave up. Getting rid of the Spider-Man suit and fixing his t-shirt and pants that he was wearing underneath, he threw the only symbol he knew across the alley and onto the rooftop of the other building. He activated its camouflage and hoped that no one would stumble upon it.

Entering the window of his room, the whole apartment was completely dark. The thought that May was already sleeping made him cautious of his movements. Instead of heading to the kitchen to grab a snack, he went to his bed. It was already busy day—one of the most covered stories in news history just finished its first day. If he learned anything from the Battle of New York or the Accord Battle in Germany, this story was going to go on for a very long time. Maybe even more than that.

The identity of one of the world's Avengers were revealed. It wasn't a situation like Iron Man or Captain America—they made their marks on the people they were. Spider-Man was nothing more than a symbol; he was never going to be accepted for being a middle-aged teenager.

Those thoughts washed over Peter immensely as he was drowned on his bed, covering his face in despair. It was like there was no more tomorrow. How could he return to being Spider-Man. He was meant to show the world what a hero is; not who Peter Parker is.

"Ahhh..." Peter groaned, almost feeling like crying. "Wish you were here right now..."

"Peter?" A soft voice escaped from his bedroom doorframe.

In an instant, Peter sprung up from his bed and faced his aunt who looked more than worried. She was stressed and more importantly, worn out. Still, she had the energy to go to Peter's room to greet him.

"I— I thought you would be sleeping elsewhere. I've been getting so many calls... I was worried that you'd gone missing." May flashed a small smile for the relief that Peter actually came back. Peter did too, relieved that he still had a home to go to.

"I couldn't just leave, May." Peter rubbed his nose and sighed, "I'm... it's been a really long day."

"I know, Peter." She stopped to glance at her now famous nephew, who was shown on TV endlessly throughout the day. "It's still early, you hungry?"

"Ye— yeah, I am."

They both went into the beautifully-furnished kitchen area that May had designed over the summer while Peter was off in Europe. Since she wanted to have a talk with him, she settled for some leftover mac & cheese that Happy brought over the other day.

Peter sat on the sofa in the living room, not wanting to open the TV even if the remote was right in front of him. It would just continue to freak him out. All this time, he wanted the idea of Spider-Man to be famous, not him. He knew that one single click would mean his face plastered on all the telecasts.

The food was done, and May brought it over to him. He warmly accepted the food and began munching over it as if it was the most important thing in the world. She offered apple juice, which he accepted again.

"Well, the Salvation Army kept on calling me today. Couldn't believe that their number one sponsor was actually my nephew." She mentioned, looking for the drink.

"It should've been weird from the start..." He paused to chew, "You kept on finding him every time a charity rolled around."

"The donations from Ms. Potts were quite the cover up for you, huh." She handed over the drink and sat beside him. She glared at him, like a proud mother.

Peter looked at her funny as he kept on eating, "Is it my face?"

"No, no..." May silently chuckled to herself, "I just can't believe that my nephew is a celebrity now."

"Yeah, but..." Peter couldn't share in her disbelief, "the secret's out, May. We've talked about this before. I never wanted to be known. I didn't want the world to know that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. And now..." He flailed his arms, "It's hopeless. They hate me."

"And where did you get that attitude, mister? I'm sure you're only hearing what's on the news and not from the people who actually support you."

"They think I'm a murderer. The whole world thinks that I murdered Mysterio." He nearly punched the table out of anger, but refrained. "I should have known that Beck had something under his sleeve."

"And this Beck is..?"

"The guy from Europe."

"Summertime fling?"

Peter annoyingly nodded, hearing Quentin Beck in again.

"I hate him..." Peter grabbed onto his hair, "This is my fault. All of it... everything..."

"Hey," May tapped him on his shoulder to calm him down. "I want you to know that I  went through something like this. Peter, I basically raised you. Everyone looked down on... him and I. Nobody thought that we would survive."

May bit her lip, hoping that this would get through to Peter.

"I never wanted you to be in danger, more or less being Spider-Man."

"You didn't want me to become Spider-Man?" Peter shot his signature look of teenage confusion at her.

"NO! Who would want their nephew to be Spider-Man?!"

Peter raised his shoulders, showing some disagreement with her. He mumbled, "I mean, I would..."

"But Peter," She moved his face to look at her straight in the eyes, "I'm glad that you proved me wrong. I'm glad that you became Spider-Man."

He was a little conflicted, "Y—you are?"

"You have seen so much, Peter. You've been to Germany, visited Venice; hell, you've even been to space. And when you come home, you act like the most excited child in the world—telling me every part about it." She smiled, "You've fought birds, illusions, and even weird-looking purple people. But you've also met some wonderful people and done so much good for this world. You would have never done it if you weren't Spider-Man."

"Hehe," Peter, for the first time since a few hours, actually felt happy. "You think that?"

"Absolutely." May reminisced in her mind, "But no matter what you've done or whatever you wear, I'll always think of Peter Parker."

There was a moment of silence. This was something Peter needed. At this point, it boosted him.

"Awh... Ma—"

A sudden knock on the door echoed throughout the apartment's floor. No, it was even more sudden than that. It was followed by an immediate breach of the door that got Peter and May's attention.

"DO NOT MOVE! HANDS IN THE AIR! WE HAVE A WARRENT!"

About a dozen armed individuals entered the apartment without any warning except for their opening lines. They were equipped with tough armour that would have been hard to knock down. Thankfully, they were not opening fire.

However, they weren't going to take on the risks.

"WE SAID HANDS IN THE AIR!"

Peter immediately did as they said on the second restatement; however, May wasn't going out easy.

"W— what are you doing here?! This is our apartment! Get out!"

"Ma'am, please calm down!" One of the men aimed at her as the others surrounded Peter.

"No! Get out, now!"

"May! May!" Peter called, keeping his hands on the air. "Please, stop..."

"I'm not going to allow this, Peter!"

"May! Please..." Peter was to the point of begging.

May didn't want to stop fighting—but they were clearly not getting out of this. May succumbed to their order and gave up. The cleaning squad swept the apartment, looking for the one thing that would link Peter to Spider-Man—the suit.

After some time, they stopped searching. Peter could overhear a conversation between him and his superior.

"Yes sir, we weren't able to find the suit... but we got the kid... yes sir, we'll have another full sweep later." The man lowered his phone and look to his men, "I want you two to take him to headquarters. We have to bring him in for questioning."

"Wa— wait, who's going to be questioning me?" Peter curiously asked as he was being handcuffed.

"A lot of people want to question you, kid." The man hid his phone, "The FBI, CIA, DODC... you've got the crowd from around the world."

"Is that a good thing?"

"We'll see..." He picked Peter up and began moving him out of the apartment, "This is Unit Two, Dusk moving out."

Although he was likely a wanted criminal, they were being quite nice to him. They didn't force him too much but made sure he wouldn't try to escape. Peter willingly followed them to one of their cars outside, as he saw that they were still searching the apartment.

Tucking him into the car, they began to drive towards an undisclosed location. The night was dark, so there were no people trying to flood the car. It was a quick drive. There were almost no problems.

Throughout the entire trip, Peter stayed silent. They weren't questioning him so he showed the same feeling.

After nearly thirty minutes, they arrived at a undisclosed building away from Manhattan. It was a secluded building behind a gate and a field of trees. It was barely noticeable.

They exited the car, garnering a lot of looks from the guards. They were not pleased at Peter's presence. Besides that, the building itself looked new. The interior was barely filled in and there was a lot of empty space. It also smelled of fresh boxes. Ignoring that, the people that were tasked in capturing Spider-Man quickly brought him to an interrogation room within the building.

Since it was late, the light inside the glass-walled room was the only light radiating for nearly two rooms over. Peter was chained to the table—something he could've easily undone. But there was no point to it. He kept silent.

After a while, two people entered the room. One was wearing the same armoured vests from earlier while the other had a white-buttoned shirt with a soft jacket over it tagged "CDC." They had multiple files in their hands and dumped it in front of Peter.

"Peter, Parker. Seventeen-years old studying at Midtown School Science and Technology. A former associate to Tony Stark and his company Stark Industries, correct?" The investigator with the jacket proceeded.

"Um... yes sir." Peter was scared to say anything more.

"You've been on quite the tour, Mr. Parker. You've been to space?"

"Yes sir."

"Woo— how I would kill to be you..." He chuckled, finally lowering the files and crossing his hands. "So, why did you kill Mysterio?"

"Wha— what?"

"The thing in Europe. CDC got quite the evidence from that scene. Just because you have a bunch of drones in your disposal doesn't mean that you can go around and cause a scene to look good."

Peter leaned to him and gestured, "Listen, I did not kill Mysterio. The drones did."

He became suspicious, "The drones that are yours?"

"N— look, he was controlling the drones. He was also the one who made the giant cloud monster. It was all him."

"I need you to prove it to me first."

"I—..." Peter choked up. He didn't have anything to say.

"See? You can't walk away from this, Parker. The CDC wants to know why you did it. Maybe we can even reduce your charges." He crouched next to him. "Because right now, it isn't looking good for you."

At that moment, someone bursted into the room. The sound of rhythmic taps on the floor echoed through the silent hallways outside. Dropping his case on the other side of the table, the man, dressed in a white-buttoned shirt complimented by a chestnut blazer and red tie, raised his voice.

"Hi, this is over." He bluntly said as he fixed his red shades.

All three men in the room looked dumbfounded. The interrogator stood up and questioned him first, "And who the hell are you?"

"I'm Matthew Murdock; and I'm Peter Parker's lawyer."