Chapter Text
When the office door closed everything was quiet for a beat. Finally Foggy broke the silence. “Matt, he gave us a check which would pay us, at a minimum, top hourly rate for all three of us for a solid week’s worth of work. One hundred and twenty hours worth of work.”
Matt had started to investigate the tablet in front of him, running his hands lightly over the device. At the news he paused for a moment with a slight frown before continuing. He circled back to the on button and pressed it, the device coming to life with a hum. He could hear the various pats working as a message was already appearing across the top of the surface. There was a braille keyboard below the ‘screen’ part where the raised message waited. There was plenty of talk about wanting to develop such a thing, but to the best of his knowledge no one had come close to a working prototype yet. Yet, there was one in front of him. Another piece of the puzzle that was this ‘Red’ or ‘Ben Reilly’.
Karen chimed in. “Why would he do that for three people? I’m not a lawyer, just your office person.”
“Because he meant what he said. You are part of our team.” Matt answered softly, his fingertips running over the message there. “He didn’t lie at any point. You’ll note he never told us Ben Reilly was his name, just to call him that.”
Foggy frowned thoughtfully. “You’re right. Any interaction I’ve heard of, he’s never said this is my name, just what to call him.” He turned on his tablet, his eyebrows going up at something on the screen and started to work the device. “So the question is, what’s he hiding?”
“Well if he wasn’t lying, that means he was offering some truth, if not all of it?” Karen interjected, starting up her own device.
“Not lying but still hiding.” Matt’s reply was firm. “The offer of technology, money as a retainer or donation, that’s going for the hard sell, for all that he left it up to us. I’d say he wants our trust.” His fingertips slid over a new configuration of braille on the device in front of him before he typed on the keyboard. “I want to know what the hidden cost is. Just what is he trying to get us involved in?”
A low whistle escaped Foggy as he had started to read the information. “Something big, very big. I think we should all read this over and discuss after.”
Karen’s eyes widened as the information popped up on her tablet. “I"m going to agree with you.” Moving over to her desk she checked the calendar. “Our next appointment isn’t due for a few hours. We have time to get a start on this now.”
They all picked a place and settled down. The title of the file is enough to draw and keep their attention. The Enhanced Accords.
*****
Jarvis kept Peter encased in the armor until he delivered him into Sue’s hands. Apparently he couldn’t be trusted to turn himself in for a medical check-up. Okay maybe thinking of it as turning himself in for the appointment didn’t help with that argument. And he really wasn’t paying any attention and just letting J do the driving. Still he stood by the principal of it, and called it rude.
When Sue was done checking him over he fled to the gaming room. He started up the console and then flopped on the couch upside down with one of the controllers. Being still unsettled from before he really didn’t want to be stuck in his head. Beating up some virtual bad guys seemed like an excellent distraction. What game didn’t matter as much as something to take his mind off of things.
He’d been left alone for about an hour before a quiet weight settled by him. A bit above average body temperature radiating in his direction made it easy to tell who exactly. Especially when they reached out to grab up the extra controller. Without a word Peter swapped over to a two person version of the game. The not so quiet weight thumped along and settled into a chair nearby. There really was no mistaking who had joined him there.
“What, I don’t get to play?” The gravelly voice caused a faint flicker of a smile on Peter’s face. Especially followed up by -
“Go bug Reed. You broke your last controller when you got mad at the game. I’m not letting you break one of mine.”
“What scared I’ll beat you matchstick?”
“As if. This isn’t one of those flying games.”
Which, as a pilot, Ben actually had a decent chance at. At least with the controllers that Reed Richards fixed up for him. Not really his fault that some of his manual dexterity required larger and made of tougher materials controllers than those that fit into Johnny or Peter’s hands. The former have melted a few in the past but gotten much better at retaining his temper with games. The latter did crush quite a few in his youth. Not so much when he was hyper aware of the damage his full strength could do.
To be fair, it is much easier for someone to adjust to powers as a teen and already adjusting to growth. As an adult, who already mastered the control of their body as it went through the adolescent change, it is much more difficult. The rocky skin didn’t help with gauging the fragility of things. Hard to feel the give until it was too late. There was probably a life lesson in that somewhere, but not one that was in the forefront of Peter’s mind at the moment. Instead he focused on destroying fictional bad guys.
Their banter started to blur into indistinct background noise. Comforting in its own way. They weren’t requiring a response to him. Instead just keeping him company. Letting him be there without having to engage too much. A far cry from his youth when it was rare for Peter to be quiet. Not that he was an old man, but trauma does funny things to people. Yeah no, he was trying not to think about those things right now.
Unfortunately his ability to multi-thread often left plenty of room to have other things invade his mind. Especially with a relatively simple game. Well simple to him. Having experience with advanced technology and the increased ability to process information made it difficult for any video game to take all of his focus for long. At the same time Peter’s stubbornness at not thinking about anything else allowed him to just be in the comfort of the moment. At least for until the sound of his name pulled his attention to the surface. He started to tune into what they were saying.
“ . . . sounds like you may have some sort of plan?” Ben’s rough voice broke into his awareness.
He couldn’t help tensing up. The warmth shifting closer to him helped him force his muscles to relax again. “Yeah. I’ve been thinking about it. I really don’t want what happened to . . . well I don’t want it to happen here.”
“Yeah I’m a big fan of existing so with you there.” Johnny’s flippant remark instead of making him tense up, relaxed him further. What Ben said next, helped uncoil some of the tension Peter carried around inside of him.
“How can I help? I might not be an egghead the level of Reed, but what I can do I want to kid.” While he might be a full adult, he accepted that nickname from Ben. The guy didn’t mean any harm and Peter had nothing to prove.
“Plenty you can help with thanks. I am working on some tech that I’m going to need to pull this off and will need a few stress testors. Shouldn’t hurt you but I am essentially recreating and improving the design I remember.” The challenge wasn’t in the recreation really. More in the improvement and making it work to fill Peter’s specific needs.
“Count me in too. Not the first time I’ve been a crash test dummy for something.”
“Emphasis on the Dummy,” Benn quipped in response to Johnny.
“Hey! If anyone is the dummy it"s you rock-head.”
A warm feeling filled Peter at the unquestioning trust and faith. There was no hesitation in offering both support and action. It was like having a family again. Perhaps even better than the family he grew up with as they automatically assumed he knew what he was doing and didn’t question his competency. Perhaps, perhaps while he couldn’t really get the family back he once had, he could build a new one. Stop focusing on what he lost and more on what he had. Or even what he could have now? Something to think about anyways. They were giving him that opportunity to just be, and build, and unquestioning support. It was different from having J in his life. He knew, deep in his bones, J would never betray him. Hell he was programmed to support and help him. The Fantastics? They were offering, choosing to do that. Without really requiring anything in return. Since the day he tumbled into their lives they just gave this support.
Difficult to say if this healed something inside him, or cracked something open. Either way there was this degree of relief of pressure. Freedom from some of the self-imposed restrictions holding him back. He really didn’t need to hold back. At least, not with this. Whatever form this family took for him, it was there for him.
“You okay there Webs? All that blood rushing to your brain isn’t overloading things is it?” A short laugh broke out at Ben’s question. “I’m good. Some physiological differences in me because of the whole spider thing. Means hanging upside down doesn’t have the same effect it would on you or Johnny. “ This was . . . nice.
They were showing that they cared without fussing. Just keeping him company with the only question how they could help. Sue may have the habit of asking him how he was feeling. Reed thankfully focused on the science thing of things. Johnny and Ben? Accepting what was, and keeping questions to something he could easily handle.
“I’m going to have to find a neutral place to have a big gathering.”
“What are you talking about, you can have a meeting here.” Johnny’s response made it clear that yes, he did say that bit outside and not just in his head. More proof he was relaxing.
“When I say neutral, I mean neutral. I’m not going to ask you all to be okay with Doom walking through the doors,” Peter explained.
“Doom!” Ben exclaimed, “why the heck do you need that mook for?”
“Because we are going to need players from both sides of the board to make this work.” That much was obvious to Peter. “Doom, actually, is probably a poor example. If he really wanted to cause havoc, his doom bots would be a lot more destructive. I’ve seen examples of him really going after an enemy. There is little to nothing left of them so they wouldn’t ever consider acting against him or his country again.” That was one of the things he liked about the dictator. Not that Peter was one to go ra ra let"s have a dictatorship. Just that Doom got stuff done. So in looking how he handled his interactions with the FF. More like a child throwing a tantrum to get attention.
“In the end this is a global threat that we’d be up against. Beyond that really.” Peter’s expression darkened even as he continued to kick fictional bad guy butt on the game. “This is a universal threat. We will have to start locally and build up, but in the end it"s for all existence that we are protecting.”
He hesitated and then continued. “Doom and several others are fighting against the kind of things I saw happen. You know, before. I don’t want them to happen here.”
Johnny’s warmth now pressed into his side. “They won’t Pete. You got this, and we got you.”
“What the flame brain said, we got this.”
Peter blinked hard and cleared his throat. “Yeah, thanks. And we got J to make sure we don’t get too crazy.”
Which was a bit weird that his brother wasn’t contributing but it"s not like Jarvis didn’t know the plan inside and out. And he did say he had a few things he was working on. Peter was sure that he knew everything that was going on right now regardless. At the same time it was likely . . . healthier that they practice not constantly interacting. At least in safe spaces.
“So what is it that we’re going to help you with?” Johnny encouraged, tight against Peter’s side.
“Ah, well, something that’s bound to be pretty controversial but also necessary to make sure spaces stay safe and neutral. Plus I refuse to go the unethical route with it. It"s too easily misused and I won’t let it fall into the wrong hands.” Oh the damage tech could do under the control of people that only cared about their own power.
“Well that’s not disturbing at all.” Ben sarcastically replied. “Want to clue us in?”
“Something to prevent people from using their powers externally within an area but not the internal ones.” Johnny dropped his remote at Peter’s reply. He could feel both him and Ben staring at him now.
“You can do that?”
“What the heck is the difference between the two?”
The overlapping responses had another flicker of a smile on Peter’s face. “I can’t, yet but I will be able to once I’m done. Internal would be like Wolverine"s healing factor. External would be Johnny’s ability to flame on. Suppressing internal abilities tends to be harmful, mentally and physically. Down to a cellular level. I don’t want to put people in pain. It also can mess them up to have internal powers suppressed and released multiple times. But help keep the peace in meetings, I don’t want someone to be able to lob their power across the table.” A darker expression flickered on Peter’s face. “Or try to mentally influence someone else.”
That was one of the reasons Peter needed all the therapy for. One he also wasn’t ready to talk about, if ever. Not all the same people were on the same side in this universe that they were in the last. Some sides were swapped, neutral, or otherwise different.
“Well yeah, I can see why you’d want that. Especially with how many times Johnny has scorched the furniture around here.”
That reply had Johnny throwing a small ball of flame that did nothing but sputter against Ben’s rocky skin. The blonde looked down at Peter afterwards. “And can see why you say you don’t want it in the wrong hands.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen what the worst versions of it can do. So to keep it safe, the plans are going to stay right here.” Freeing up a hand Peter tapped the side of his head. “There are going to be protections in place to keep from being tampered with, scanned, or copied. I even have been taking steps to make sure none of my progress on the prototype has been recorded. I’m taking no chances with that.” The consequences were far too dire.
“A working prototype?” Johnny nudged him and Peter finally looked at his face, reading his expression. For the most part he’d been avoiding looking directly at the pair that had joined them. Afraid to see what they might be thinking about all this. Right now, all he could see on his friend’s face was open friendliness. No judgment, or pity. Flicking a glance over to Ben who was watching him with the same open expression, perhaps he shouldn’t have avoided looking so much.
“Yeah, I think I am ready for the first tests.”
“Well then, what are we waiting for?” Ben got up from his reinforced armchair and walked over to over. Since there was enough space to, he tipped the couch back to make it easier for Peter to get up. That it caused Johnny to squawk, flail and tumble off the couch had absolutely nothing to do with his method, of course not.
“Yeah let"s go down to the gym and see how many fireballs I can throw at Ben’s head before your thingy works.”
It was, nice. This warm feeling he got when he let the two of them help him up and head out. It was, okay, to let go a little.