99Here it is, another Spidey fic as promised. This time, the web head will be on his home turf in the Marvel Universe. This is great for me since I can be a bit more loose with the continuity here. This particular universe I've set up will be an amalgam of the MCU, Ultimate and 616, and at the time of this prologue (which takes place roughly one year before the events of the actual story) the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four and even the Defenders have all been active for quite a while. Certain characters will have their comic attire while others will have their movie costumes (Like Cap will have his Age of Ultron/Civil War costume, Iron Man's default armor will be the Mark 46. Meanwhile the X-Men and Fantastic Four characters will be more like their comic counterparts and Thor will have his Marvel Now costume.) Unfortunately there won't be any Spidey action until the next chapter, this is just to establish the relationship between our two main characters.
All characters are owned by Marvel Comics.
Prologue
Midtown High School, Queens NY
A perfect day that immediately goes to hell. That is the life that 14 year old Peter Parker lives. Here he was getting to ready to have an important chat with Liz Allan, the most popular girl in school, and from out of nowhere her boyfriend, Eugene "Flash" Thompson, shows up and is now grabbing the brown-haired boy by his dark blue sweater, ever ready to smash his glasses in his face.
"You mind telling me why you're talking to my girl Parker?" Flash asks.
Peter, with a look of fear, answers, "Look, Flash, I'm not trying to come onto Liz. I was tasked by Mr. Harris to tutor her. I'm just reminding her of her that we need to meet after school so we can review for the test that's on Friday."
"Liz has better things to do than hang out with nerds like you," the blonde haired boy scoffs. He then turns to his girlfriend, "Ain't that right Liz?"
"I…" The brown haired girl stammers.
"But Flash, it's really important that Liz passes this test. She can't afford to fail any of her classes, especially if she's going to stay on the cheerleading squad."
"Oh, so now you're calling my girl dumb?" Flash rhetorically asks. "You think just because she's not a bookworm like you that she's not on your level?"
"Flash you know that's not…"
"That's it Parker, it's clobberin' time."
As Flash raises his fist, and prepares to punch out Peter, a young female voice shouts out to him, "HEY, ASSHOLE."
The two boys turn around to see a girl that about their age, with blonde hair that is in a ponytail and blue eyes. She wears a red, plaid, buttoned up long sleeve shirt, with a black T-shirt underneath, some jeans and white slip on shoes.
The girl gives Flash a scowl, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
The blonde haired boy blinks for a moment and laughs, "Someone my own…Have you looked in a mirror lately Lang? You're barely even the size of a Hobbit."
This made the girl even more angry, she hated it when people make fun of her size. She speaks again, "Okay then, how about this? Leave the boy alone, or else."
"Or else what? You gonna call The Avengers and snitch on me? Or is it just your dad, who is no one's favorite Avenger? Ooh, what's he gonna do, is he gonna shrink down so I can gladly step on him?"
The blonde girl was getting angrier by the minute.
"Seriously, how is a guy like him on The Avengers? What use is a guy who shrinks anyway? It's no wonder your mom divorced his ass. Forget about the fact that he's an ex con."
The young girl now begins to form a fist on each hand and she grits her teeth.
One hour later…
"So," Captain America says has he appears near the door to the principal's office. "You got into a fight, and now you're sitting in a room waiting for your parents to pick you up. Now I get it, you were provoked, that person you punched made you very angry and you didn't want whatever he or she said to slide, but by retaliating, you are only doing what they wanted you to do. In the end, it's the person you punched who ends up winning. Don't let something like words force you to do something you will regret. If you really want to prove that you're better than that person, just ignore them. Eventually they will leave you alone for good." (A/N)
As one of the many PSA videos this school has plays on the TV, Cassandra Lang is sitting on a chair across from it with her arms folded. Three seats down is Flash Thompson with a prominent black-eye on the right side of his face.
As she was watching the TV, Cassie sighs, "If only it was that easy Cap."
Suddenly, a woman in her 40s walks through the door. She has short blonde hair and blue eyes, she wears a simple light green T-shirt, some jeans and green converses. Cassie looks up and recognizes the woman as her mother, Peggy Rae Burdick (formerly Lang). Peggy sees her daughter, she crosses her arms and gives a look of disappointment.
"Cassie, I can't believe you," the blonde woman says as she and her daughter enter the school hallway. "A three day suspension, is this really how you want your entire freshman year to go?"
"You don't understand Mom," Cassie responds. "He was going to punch this one kid's lights out. I had to step in."
"And you think, giving that boy a black-eye is your way of solving the problem?"
The younger blonde doesn't answer.
Peggy then sighs, "Cassie, you can't just go around getting into fights. You're in high school now, which means there are actual consequences for your actions, consequences that could affect you in the long run. You don't want to end up like your father, do you?"
Cassie then looks back at her mother, "You mean going out there and helping people, being a hero? Absolutely."
Peggy was silent for a few seconds until, "Look, just…simmer down on the violence okay? Whatever that boy said, don't let it get to you. You have a bright future ahead of you kiddo, I don't want you to see it go to waste."
Now it was Cassie's turn to sigh, "Okay Mom."
Peggy puts a hand on her daughter's shoulder and gives her a playful nudge, "Now come on, let's go get your things and head home."
"Okay," the younger blonde says as she and her mother walk down the hall.
Three days later…
Peter sits at a table in the cafeteria all by his lonesome.
He gets himself lost in a book on chemical compounds when suddenly, "Is this seat taken?"
The brunette boy looks up and sees that it's none other than that girl from several days ago, the one who saved his skin. Peter opens his mouth, but no words came out. No one has asked to sit with him before, much less a girl, who Peter will admit is incredibly attractive. Having no clue as to what to say, he resorts to just shaking his head, encouraging the girl that it was okay to sit with him.
Cassie sits on the chair across from him and then says, "I like your shirt by the way."
Peter looks down and sees that, underneath his green, buttoned up, short sleeve shirt, he is wearing a black T-shirt with a black and white image of Bruce Lee on the front.
"Oh, uh, thanks," says Peter. "I take it you're a fan?"
"Oh, totally, I watched almost all of his movies with my dad. "Fist of Fury" would have to be my favorite."
""The Big Boss" for me," Peter says back. "You ever watched "Game of Death"?"
"You mean the movie he never got to finish? No, that's probably the only one I didn't see."
"I have it on DVD."
Cassie gasped at the fact, "You have GOT to let me borrow it."
Peter chuckles at this, "I'll be sure to bring it tomorrow. Word of advice though, just fast forward to the part where he climbs the tower and he wears the yellow jumpsuit. That's when it has the real Bruce Lee, and not just some cheap stunt double. That and it is hands down the best scene in the movie."
"I'll take you word for it."
After some awkward silence, Peter then says, "So, uh, thanks for saving my bacon a while back. It sucks that you got suspended for it."
Cassie just shrugs, "What can I say? I hate bullies. I used to get picked on in Elementary School because of how short I am."
Peter nods, "Well, I hope you were able to get those notes I sent you in the mail on some of the subjects we went over while you weren't here. You know, so you won't fall behind. I know I'm not in all of your classes but…"
The blonde girl perks up, "Wait, that was you?"
Now it was the brunette boy's turn to shrug, "It was the least I can do after what you did for me."
Cassie now smiles warmly, "Wow, thanks." Now her smile turns into a look of guilt. "You'll have to forgive me, I never actually got your name. I know, a couple months into our freshman year and I still don't know anybody's names around here."
Peter chuckles again, "That's okay, I'm used to it by now." He then takes out his hand, "Peter Parker."
Cassie takes the hand and shakes it, "Cassandra Lang, but you can call me Cassie."
As the brunette boy lets go of her hand, he says, "Oh, believe me, I know exactly who you are. You're Ant-Man's daughter right?"
Cassie now sighs, "Yep, also known as "nobody's favorite Avenger"."
"Don't listen to Flash, I'm sure there are people out there who love your dad."
Cassie raises an eyebrow, "Yeah? And who's YOUR favorite Avenger?"
Peter looks to the side and says in a low voice, "…Iron Man."
"I rest my case."
"But…but…that's not to say I think your dad is lame. The suit he wears, it was originally designed and worn by Dr. Hank Pym right? That guy is also one of my heroes. I thought his work on Pym Particles were great. I mean, being able to shrink anything down to size, it would definitely make moving luggage so much easier. And…and the things you can find when you're ant-size that you may not have found when you're regular size, it's one of the reasons why I love "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" so much…Well…that and Rick Moranis is a freaking treasure. Then there's the part where the Pym Particles can let you keep your regular strength intact when you're small. Which makes perfect sense as to why he's called Ant-Man, because ants are known to be very strong. They can lift things up to 10-50 times their own weight and…"
Peter's rambling was interrupted by a giggle from Cassie.
The brunette boy's face fell and he lowers his head, "Sorry."
Now Cassie's face falls, "Sorry? For what?"
"I'm probably boring you with my "nerd-talk". Whenever something science related is brought up, I can't help myself."
Peter then feels a hand on top of his. He looks up and sees Cassie with a reassuring smile on her face.
"No, it's okay," she now says. "I like that you're really smart. The way you were able to answer all of the teacher's questions in Bio, I thought that was impressive."
This elicits a small smile from Peter.
"And you shouldn't listen to Flash either. I think being a bookworm is a good thing. That just tells me that, in your future, you could be the next Reed Richards, Hank Pym, and yes, even Tony Stark."
With that, Peter fully smiles and puts his other hand on top of Cassie's, "Thanks Cassie."
The blonde girl felt her cheeks warm up for some reason, but she brushes it off and just nods.
After staring at each other awkwardly for several seconds, they eventually let go of each other's hands. Peter clears his throat and then asks, "So uh, since your dad's an Avenger, does that mean you were able to meet any of the others."
Cassie nods again, "Oh, of course. Cap is pretty cool…when he's not lecturing me of course. He was able to teach me some self-defense."
Peter chuckles, "I guess that explains how you were able to lay out Flash no problem."
Cassie also chuckles, "Yeah, well…Ooh, I also ran into Thor once or twice. He's mostly off-world so it's rare when I actually get to see him. I met Hawkeye one time, he's cool too. Then there's the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, the former being much nicer, and I even met The Vision. My dad's current girlfriend, Hope, you might know her as The Wasp, she's really nice too."
"Wow, so, uh, I know you probably get this question all the time but..."
"You want to meet them?" Cassie asks with a sly grin.
Peter sheepishly nods, which elicits another giggle from the blonde.
"Even if I wanted to, I can't."
This made the brunette boy confused, "What? Why?"
Cassie now sighs, "You can thank my mom for that. You see, every month, I was able to spend one weekend at Avengers Mansion, but then my mom thought spending time over there would be too dangerous, what with the constant supervillain attacks and whatnot. So she sued my dad for sole custody of me…and won."
Peter lowers his head in guilt, "I'm…I'm sorry. It must be pretty rough, having divorced parents."
"It is."
"So, despite that, you still get to see your dad from time to time, right?"
"I do, but not as often as I used to."
Peter just nods.
"I bet your parents fared much better than mine did."
"Um, actually…"
"What?"
"My parents died when I was very young…Plane crash."
This shocked the blonde girl, "Oh. Oh my God, I'm…I'm so sorry."
Peter immediately gave her some reassurance, "No, no it's okay. I've made peace with it years ago. Besides, my aunt and uncle take care of me now, and I love them just as much as they love me."
"Do you remember anything about your parents?"
"Just that my dad was a Bio-engineer, his research is what got me into science in the first place. Don't know much about my mom though…"
"Did they love each other?"
"My aunt and uncle say that they did, very much."
"Then you were lucky. My parents don't even want to be in the same room together."
"But they still love you right?"
"They do."
"Then that's all that matters."
Cassie now smiles, "Thanks Peter."
Peter also smiles.
And just like that, a friendship was born. After their conversation in the cafeteria, Peter and Cassie began to talk to each other more, eventually it had gotten to the point where the two began to hang out. They've done a lot of things, like doing homework together and watching really old movies. Peter introduced Cassie to another friend of his, Harry Osborn. To the blonde girl, Harry seems like an okay guy, and it's clear that he and Peter share some sort of a bond. At one point, the two teens introduced each other to their parents and legal guardians. Peter had the pleasure of meeting Cassie's mother and step-father. They both seemed like nice people…at least when you're not talking about Cassie's biological father who Peter has yet to meet. Then Cassie got to meet Peter's aunt and uncle, and they all got along real fast. From that point on, the two of them became the best of friends, they were nearly inseparable. The whole school notice this too, and begin to place bets on when they're going to get serious. For Peter, things were starting to look up for him, he got a new friend who appreciates him for who he is, and will have his back every step of the way. Freshman year was looking pretty sweet. Sophomore year on the other hand was a different story, and it all started with a simple field trip…
(A/N) For those of you who aren't big on the Cap PSA's in Spider-Man: Homecoming, don't worry, this is a one time thing.
So if you haven't already guessed it by now, Spidey's main squeeze in this story will be none other than Cassie Lang aka Stature (Or I guess Stinger now, but here she'll have the Stature persona). I got this idea after reading aspiringactor's story Spider-Man: Greatest of Them All. I thought the Peter/Cassie pairing in that fic had a lot of potential, so I figured, why not? I'll take a crack at it. And of course, if Stature is going to be in this story, you can bet the rest of the Young Avengers are going to be a part of it too. Don't worry, it's not going to be like the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon where most of the focus was on his team. There will be moments where Peter will venture off on his own, and that's where the "Ultimate" stuff will come in. So yeah, this is going to be one of those, "I'm gonna do the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon but better" fics, which I know most writers here have done already, but this is my take on it. And, hey, if you liked Ultimate Spider-Man the show, great, my biggest problem just comes from the name alone. I mean to have the show be called that and not have anything to do with the comic in which that name spawned from, as a fan I felt kinda gypped.
As for the Young Avengers aspect of the story, their origin will be the same for the most part, but there will be some changes, and by that I mean I'm going to have to nix stories like Avengers: Disassembled (Which is a shame because I really like that story). Mainly because I want The Avengers to be more prominent, especially when it comes to mentoring/training our heroes...and I kinda want Scott Lang to live (You can blame the Ant-Man movie and Nick Spencer's run for my newfound love for the character).
Be sure to tune in next chapter, where we fast forward to about a year and Peter is only weeks into his web-slinging career (we all know the origin already so there's no point in retelling it). Meanwhile, the Young Avengers are going to make a splash of their own and will grab some media attention, putting them under The Avengers and SHIELD's radar.
Remember to leave a comment with your thoughts on the story so far. The next chapter of Hope and Responsibility will be out sometime next week. Until next time...
