Someone to Unite Us

Eric Cane was a common, small time crook in Queens, New York. He was a bit more laid back than most of his "associates," preferring not to kill unless he was desperate. This attitude was also partially born of pragmatism, as leaving a trail of bodies was an easy way to bring the cops crashing down on your head. Overall, Eric had done pretty good for himself.

At the moment, however, he was beginning to regret his entire career choice.

With Eric's partner already subdued by a punch and blast of webbing, gluing him to the alley wall, Spider-Man took his merry time dancing around Eric's knife. The skin-headed criminal roared in frustration as he stabbed at the air again, missing the red and blue clad superhero once more. Gritting his teeth, the criminal tried swinging the purse he'd just snatched right at Spider-Man, but the clumsy, ill-conceived attack was easily avoided.

"Wow. Trying to hit a superhero with that thing?" chortled Spider-Man, "Honestly, this is just humiliating for both of us." With that thought in mind, he decided to end the "fight" then.

A quick web line attached to Eric's knife, yanking the weapon out of his grip, followed by a second blast to his eyes. As the man grabbed the sticky fibers blinding him, Spider-Man sprang forward like a grasshopper, smacking him upside the head with both feet. Eric was unconscious before he hit the ground, the purse falling out of his grip. Spider-Man clicked his web shooters once more, binding the criminal to the ground, before picking up the lost purse. He walked over to its owner, who stood unmoving down the alley, unsure of how to react.

"M'am," Spider-Man said politely, holding out her property. The woman looked from the purse to the man in the arachnid themed costume for several seconds, her eyes unblinking. Eventually, she took the purse, muttered a quiet "Thank you," and took off into the distance.

"Well, that's a step up," Peter mused, "Usually they threaten to call the cops on me." With that, he sprang onto the nearest wall, attaching with his fingers and climbing up to the roof in a matter of seconds. He took a moment just to make sure that he hadn't ripped his new outfit, nervous about asking Tony Stark for repairs. After fighting alongside Iron Man in Germany, he shouldn't have been, but Stark was still one of his idols, and he definitely didn't feel like they were on equal footing. Somehow, it was easier to punch Captain America in the face than send Iron Man an email. Thankfully, there was no damage he could see.

Satisfied, he turned his gaze to the horizon. At the moment, New York was in the midst of a nice sunset, without tons of people out driving around. Nobody else was screaming for help, no alarms were blaring, and no cars were threatening to slam into innocent pedestrians. Overall, this had been a good day. Spider-Man took the moment of calm to sit back and relax, enjoying the view.

Naturally, Aunt May chose that exact moment to call him, causing his cheap cell phone to buzz in the back of his utility belt. Peter had been nervous about carrying it with him, considering people could easily find out who he was if he got captured or something. Then again, Aunt May had already chewed him out twice for failing to answer her calls while he was "out," and since he wasn't in possession of Iron Man level communications technology, the benefits outweighed the risks. Peter retrieved the device from the pocket, pulling his mask away from his mouth as he answered.

"Hey, Aunt May," he answered, trying to get a word in before she started her angry yelling, "No, I'm fine, I promise. I'm studying at the library. No, Flash didn't beat me up again. I promise, I'll avoid the dark alleys. I'm gonna start on my way now. Yeah, love you too, see you soon. Just don't start on the meatloaf without me." He then hung up, guilt gnawing away at his insides. Peter hated lying to her, considering she'd been closer to him than his own mother, but it was all for the best. If she knew he was out risking his life every day, or that he'd fought against rogue Avengers in Germany, she could have a panic attack. He was about to start swinging away when a faint buzz from his spider-sense cut him off.

"You seem like a good kid," came a familiar voice from behind him, "Most teenagers I know would just ignore that call."

Peter spun around, fingers instinctively reaching for his web-shooters. The man behind him had just enough time to leap to the side, avoiding both adhesive streams, before standing up once more. Despite covering his appearance with an oversized jacket, a pulled down baseball cap, and sunglasses, there was no mistaking Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, especially considering Peter had fought the man only a few days ago. Rogers looked a bit worse for the wear, with two blunt trauma wounds on his face that were still healing, as well as the bruise poking out on his neck. Nonetheless, he was as strong and fast as he'd ever been.

Wary of the Captain after their previous encounter, Spider-Man kept his web-shooters trained on him. "What do you want from me?" he demanded, "Mr. Stark hasn't contacted me, I can't lead you to him-"

Rogers cut him off with a wave of his hand. "I'm not here about that. That fight between me and Tony..." he hesitated, looking down sadly at the ground, "...it doesn't matter, at least not right now."

"You're wanted," retorted Spider-Man.

Rogers chuckled. "I know," he responded, "And if you wanted to, I don't know, web me up right now, you could. Not like I could beat you in a fight at the moment. I'm hoping you won't."

"So...why are you here?" asked Peter. Now he was confused. If Rogers didn't want to force him to help fight Mr. Stark, what else could he want?

Captain Rogers looked at him thoughtfully for a minute. "I haven't been keeping such a close eye on you, like Tony has, but I've seen the things you do. You've helped a lot of people in this city, yet the media gets on your case about it. Still, you get out and fight, not caring what they think of you. I respect that." He looked at the setting sun, apparently mulling over his own thoughts. "Did Tony say he was gonna keep helping you?"

Taken aback, Peter stumbled over his words. "Uh...maybe, I don't know..."

"If he offers, take it," said Rogers, "You could make a real Avenger once you're older. Despite our...differences, Tony's a fundamentally good person. He can get you on that track."

"What do you care?" Peter asked, "You're not an Avenger anymore. Not to mention you threw away everything you stood for when you went against the law."

"I stand for freedom and protection of people who can't defend themselves," said Rogers, "I didn't violate either of those. Neither my team nor I are perfect people, we only did what we believed was right." He faced Spider-Man fully. "Sometimes that means going against the government. Why did you fight for Tony?"

Peter turned his thoughts over before answering. "Because he told me I could do some good," he said, "I put on this suit and fight crime because I have the power to. Because if I have the power to do something good, I'm responsible for doing it. I learned that a long time ago." Now that he thought about it, were his justifications really that different from Rogers'? If a law was morally and fundamentally wrong, didn't he have a responsibility to fight it? He didn't know if the Sokovia Accords were unjust, but what if they were? Now that Bucky Barnes had been proven innocent of the Vienna bombing, it was clear Rogers hadn't helped a criminal.

Rogers smiled. "Like I said, you're a good person. You're young, and you're just getting started in this business, so you don't fully understand this yet, but people need you. Now more than ever."

"What do you mean?" asked Peter.

Rogers looked somberly down at his feet before he responded. "While the fight over the Accords is over right now, the feelings it created still exist. You saw what happened at the airport in Germany. Friends fought each other, trusts were broken, and you didn't even see the stuff that went down in Siberia afterwards. I wish I could say that we'd apologize and just move past it, but we're all flawed, and we do hold grudges, myself included. Someday, another gigantic threat is gonna show up, but the Avengers won't be able to combat it, because we'll be too busy fighting each other. Some of us won't be willing to trust or work with each other again. Not for a long time."

"What's that got to do with me?" asked Spider-Man.

"The others...they're gonna need something to unite them. A symbol of the good that we do, that reminds all of us of why we became Avengers in the first place. A lot of people would expect that to be me, but after all the things I've done...like you said, I'm an outlaw. I'm hardly blameless for the mess that's left now. The Avengers...they need someone better than me." He looked into Spider-Man's white eyepieces. "I believe that could be you."

Beneath the mask, Peter raised his eyebrows. "Uh, excuse me, have we met? I'm Spider-Man. I'm a kid who runs around in red and blue spandex webbing up criminals and hanging them from streetlamps. Not to mention that, like you said, the media regularly paints me as the next Hitler. You'd have better luck with that Daredevil guy."

"And like I also said, you never stop trying to help people despite all the crap you get," countered Rogers, holding up a hand so Peter wouldn't interrupt him, "I'm not asking you to do anything. I'm just telling you that someday, the call is gonna come, whether you're ready or not. I hope that, in the future, the Avengers can count on you if needed."

Peter looked down at his feet and remained quiet for a moment. "But I'm not like you guys," he said, "I'm just a kid. I don't even know what I was doing in Germany. Why would the Avengers ever listen to someone like me-"

Rogers cut him off, "Believe me, when I was young, I was way dumber than you. I got into fights I knew I couldn't win, for the right reasons, but got annoyed when people tried to help. Even after I got the serum, and froze for seventy years, I was still that same headstrong kid from Brooklyn. Wasn't the greatest team player at first. Yet the Avengers followed my lead at the Battle of New York. Not to mention some of the others' backgrounds. Have you read the files on Natasha that she released? Or looked at Bruce's situation? If the Avengers accept them, they'll accept you for sure."

With that, he turned on his heel, walking towards the other end of the roof. "Take care of yourself, Spider-Man," he said, before he jumped off the edge.

Taken aback by the sudden action, Peter rushed to the edge. "Wait, Cap!" he called, "I've got a lot more questions-"

The words collapsed in his throat as he looked over the edge of the roof. There was another dark alley just below, without any major cover, but Captain America was nowhere in sight.

Peter stared down at the empty alley for a long time, thinking over all that had been said. Captain America believed he, Spider-Man, could unite the Avengers? At the moment, Peter doubted the veracity of that statement, but in the future, who knew? Maybe it was destined to be an extension of the role he'd been selected for. Peter remembered Uncle Ben's message of power and responsibility. Well, if he had the power to bring the Avengers back together someday, he would fulfill that duty. Maybe even fight alongside them again. Asking Mr. Stark for additional assistance didn't seem like a bad idea after all.

I have not been able to get this outta my head since Civil War. I feel like the Peter/Tony relationship is gonna be one of master and student, with Tony grooming Peter into the next Avenger. Since Cap's lost some of his face among the Avengers, I thought maybe they'd need someone to convince them to work together again. As always, review and enjoy.