Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

(posting this as a first chapter so I don't loose the tags n everything, if you see this then I am currently online and writing the first chapter!)

-Shizu 18.04 23:50

Okay wow-, this is like one hour up and we already have 100readers

Cool
Cool cool cool
....
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Anyways-, I've decided that my brain is too stupid to write chatfic so this will be a mixture of a bit texting and just full on face to face stuff yk?

Also while yall ate here check out my Daredevil x My hero academia fic if you like that sorta stuff!

-Shizu 19.4 01:24

AYOOOOO GUYS

Page one on the Moonknight sorted by Hits Tag

Page two on the Monnknight sorted by Kudos Tag

aaAaaAAaAaA

-Shizu, 5.6 03:10

Rewritten, feel free to re-read the quality should have improved by a lot.

-Shizu 22.4.24

Tbf the writing as a whole gets better later on, power through for me? xD

-Shizu 23.06.25

Chapter Text

Avengers+

IronDad
Has anyone seen the Kid anywhere?

OG bird
Nop, where did you last put him?

Steve
Clint, I doubt that this concept works with humans that are capable of walking away.

IronDad
Found him! Thanks Barton

SpiderMAN
I was standing next to the coffee machine B]

[WhereIsGus joined the Group] 

SpiderMAN
Who dis?

WhereIsGus
Uh-, Hi?

WhereIsGus
Sorry didn't think that would work haha

Steve
What work? Who are you!?

WhereIsGus
Oh yeah-, I'm Steven! Funny actually our Names are quite similar.. Is this a Rp group chat?

SpiderMAN
LMAO

Steve
Rp? How did you get into this group?

WhereIsGus
Well I was bored so I just typed in some random letters into a group chat link a few times and as you can see it worked!

SpiderMAN
I am legally obligated to try that out now.

IronDad
Steven Grant?

WhereIsGus
Oh whaaat

IronDad
I'm guessing that's you? Work at a Museum, kind of boring if you ask me.

WhereIsGus
Okay um-,

WhereIsGus
I sincerely apologize for interrupting your Superhero-RP (pls don't Dox me)

WhereIsGus
Also I got fired-

Steve
I still don't get what Rp is

OG bird
It's better that way

Steve
??

IronDad
Role play

Steve
Oh

OG bird
Yeah

Steve
Role play?

IronDad
Okay I will not explain that right now, go ask your boyfriend about it

Steve
I KBOW WHAT ROLRPLAY IS!

Steve
BOYFRUEND???

WhereIsGus
Um so-, can I like yk

WhereIsGus
Safely leave this Chat?

SpiderMAN
Meh

WhereIsGus
meh?

SpiderMAN
Yeah

 [WhersIsGus was kicked by BossLady]

SpiderMAN
NOOOO MY FRIEND MATERIAL

BossLady
You guys have seriously no sense of responsibility, there are information's in this Chat that could've been exposed to the public.

IronDad
Sorry pepper

SpiderMAN
Sorry!

OG bird
Yeah- Soz

Steve
Soz?

OG bird
=sorry

Steve
I see

BossLady
Tony please do something about the whole link situation, I don't want a repeat of what just happened.

IronDad
On it!

BossLady
Thank you. Also please don't forget about the Press conference tomorrow everybody!

OG bird
@BetterBird you heard her

BetterBird
I knew about the conference?

BetterBird
Also what happened in here

OG bird
Nothing

BetterBird
Mhm sure, I'll just scroll up

----------------------------------

SpiderMAN>WhereIsGus

SpiderMAN
Well? Where is Gus?

WhereIsGus
Wish id knew..
Also, you're from the Gc I just got kicked from right?

SpiderMAN
Yee

WhereIsGus
I'd really appreciate it if you're friend wouldn't dox me-,
I think thatd be the safest for everyone involved

SpiderMAN
everyone? ('o')

WhereIsGus
Mainly me and fake Gus

SpiderMAN
:0

---------------------------------

Tony did, in fact, do something about the whole link situation.
BUT he also thought that doing a little more digging into that Steven guy wouldn't hurt anyone right?

Now he was left staring at three identical faces under three different Names.
Steven Grant, worked at a Museum.
Jake Lockley, a cab-Driver.
Marc Spector... Mercenary.

A sigh escaped Tony's lips, the press conference was tomorrow and if that guy was any good he probably had the whole Chat downloaded by now.
Staring at "Steven Grants" address Tony knew that he should call Pepper. That was probably the right thing to do.

37 minutes later a private jet, containing a suited up billionaire, took off from the Avengers Tower.

Chapter Text

Tony was well aware of the short time frame he had, tomorrow was the press conference that he most definitely couldn't miss unless he wanted Pepper to kill him once and for all.
While in the Jet he quickly downed a Glass of Water and went over his plan again, he already had F.R.I.D.A.Y send into "Stevens" electronic devices to control any kind of information the man had downloaded or worse, already send out and the rest was-, well, still being planned. A work in Progress so to say.

Finally F.R.I.D.A.Ys voice came through his headset.

"Good Afternoon Sir, I couldn't find any Avengers related content being downloaded, screenshotet or shared. Here is a list of other suspicious contents that might help you."

Tony let out a sigh of relief he didn't know he was holding and quickly thanked his AI. His phone let out a ping after receiving the list. He briefed it and it just looked like "Steven" was a pretty normal, if not lonely guy.

Almost no Contacts and daily unanswered calls to his Mother, unless... Tony's eyes narrowed. Maybe it wasn't really his Mother but more of a code-named contact. He quickly put on some random voicemail that the other had sent out.

It started with a bit of silence. And then finally a voice with a British accent:

Hello Gus, 

It reminded Tony of his Chatroom name, most probably a reference to it. 

My little one finned wonder, hello mum

So still using a code Name, and a.. fish?

It’s me, just checking in. Um i got your postcard

Cards huh, non-electronic or verbal communication. Smart.

putting it up on Gus's tank now.

Okay, probably a fish. Stark made a mental note to take one of these postcards with him.

Yeah it’s very nice, Gus though, keeps asking why i don't take em anywhere nice. Maybe one day right? I mean he'd love to get out there but it’s a bit hard with one fin isnnit? Anyways Mum, things are well here, not too bad. Still wake up every morning feeling like I got hit by a- bus. 

Shuffling and keys were able to be heard, Tony still wasn't sure if there were any code words or secret messages being said. Now his voice sounded a bit distant, he was talking to somebody else?

hey mate, still selling the old brushes and brooms 'ight? Right in front of my entrance-,.. got no problem with it, cheers. Anyways sorry-, i missed you mum, I’ll try again tomorrow! Laters Gators.

And the voicemail ended and Tony didn't know more than before so he opened another one. It was just him talking about some chick he apparently met despite sounding devastated as fuck. He scrolled the list a bit more down, huh, apparently wrecked a bathroom at his workplace once. 

The next thing to investigate was Marc Spector, now THAT dude was a lot. Married, well, almost divorced and a shit ton of Blood. Lots of Egypt shit. No social Media, no social life, a throw away mobile with two contacts. Barely used and lots of missed calls mainly from a Layla Person and a Contact called Duchamp. 

Before Tony could look into the third identity that the Man had, F.R.I.D.A.Y notified him of their landing. With one last glance at "Stevens" current GPS location he closed the tab holding the information his AI had sent him, also quickly checking if he had any new messages regarding his quick disappearance. Lastly he called Taxi to come pick him up. 

------------------------------

Steven was doing rather well today despite the Chatroom incident. Yes, he was bored and tired but at least he didn't wake up in some random field!

He noticed Marc watching him from the Bathroom mirror as he fed fake Gus and didn't address him further after a quick wave.

It was.. weird knowing that another Person lived in your Body and having no memory of what has happened between timestamps but at least he learned how to watch the others when he wasn't in Control. Just like a third Person’s point of view. Now that Steven thought about it, it was kind of creepy. Having someone constantly looking at you. He stole a quick glance towards the Mirror again but Marc was already gone.

With a sigh he sat on his Chair, lazily opening a marked page in one of his Books and started flipping through it.

For a second he considered calling Layla but knowing her she was probably already doing another cool mission or something adventurous.

Instead he resorted back to reading a few Pages when suddenly Marc looked at him through an empty Glass.

"Someone's here."

And just as if on cue a knock came from the front door, startled Steven looked back at Marc who still had that ever-going serious expression on his Face.

After another knock Steven quickly stood up and hurried towards the Door, if it was trouble Marc would've surely tried fronting by now. Fumbling with the many locks he finally managed to pull open the door only to come face to face with-

Oh fuck

Oh fuck fuck fuck

Now that!

That's not good.

Chapter Text

It was rare for someone to visit them, no friends and all that-,
So when Steven decided to open the door he expected maybe some kid trying to sell him cookies, like in the movies, not to come face to face with Tony fucking 'I am Iron man' Stark.
It was only a natural reaction to slam the door shut right away!

Marc sent him an unimpressed look through the mirror on his right, maybe it was for the better that he couldn't see his own panicked reflection at the moment. Of course Stark had to speak up, his voice coming through muffled and with a twinge of annoyance.

"Sorry buddy, it seems like you accidentally closed that door. Might want to try again."

A last panicked look towards the mirror in which Marc looked at him amused, why was he like that!?
Wasn't he the one that always went all serious and grumpy and mean and-, Oh god Tony Stark!
Steven quickly opened the door again, locking eyes with the hero, who without warning made his way into the living space while Steven closed the door behind him looking panicked towards Marc, Stark, Marc again, Stark-, oh wow their names are pretty similar.

"Um, Mister Stark, uh Sir. What are you doing.. here?"

Said man had paused in front of the fish tank mustering Gus and then stood straight up walking towards Steven who in his defense only stumbled back a bit.

"Steven Grant, right?"

"Yes that's me, one and only haha! Probably not the only only one if-"

Tony cut his rambling right of

"Steven huh, is it okay if I call you Steven"

"Yes! Yes, Steven's fine-"

"Or would you prefer Marc?"

Steven’s eyes widened and he immediately looked back to the mirror where his own panicked expression met Marc’s disbelieving one.

"Or maybe Jake?"

Tony continued all while the other was having some kind of staring contest with his bathroom mirror. Suddenly Steven started talking again, not to Tony but rather himself.

"Take over. Take the Body, take it."

Tony watched a flash of disbelief flash through the other’s expression.

"What do you mean No!? You always want to take over!.. No this is not funny!"

Okay-, the only thing that came to Tony’s mind was that that man certainly had some problems. Either that or he had no idea that a distraction was meant to be.. distracting from oneself.

"I swear to-, I will jump us off a building you prick!"

That seemed to do the trick because the next thing Tony knew was that the man in front of him rolled his eyes all weird and then finally looked towards him.

"Marc."

"Huh?"

"You may call me Marc, Mr Stark. Please, have a seat."

"Mister Stark was my father. Call me Tony."

A bit perplexed by the sudden change Tony just sat on the chair to which Steven-, or Marc, Jake, whatever had gestured. The other seated himself on the other side of the table, closing some books and shoving them a bit to the side so there was nothing between the two men but blank wood.

"First of all, I would like to apologize for my rudeness earlier. Big fan. Now to what do I own the visit..?"

Chapter Text

Steven watched the two interact from fake Gus's Aquarium, his panic had eased a bit since Marc took over and was obviously handling the whole thing better than he had.
Stark also adjusted quite well and threw in some ironic comments at times.
Steven felt another presence, kind of like you feel someone watching you but when you turn around no ones there-,.. Just less creepy considering he knew it was just Jake watching the other two.

Marc had calmly explained to the billionaire that the whole chat room incident truly was just an accident and that 'he' thought it was just some Nerds role playing. He even wanted to let Stark go through Steven's phone to which the other replied that he already had that covered. The whole conversation then spiraled down to privacy breaches and currently came down to insulting each other in the seemingly politest ways possible.
Suddenly Stark seemed to remember who exactly, well not exactly-, god knows how many fucking identities that man had, Marc probably wasn't even his real name, he was speaking to. So he swiftly stood up, Marc watching him closely, and let out a deep sigh.

"Well it was truly lovely speaking with you Marc but with the whole killing yada yada-

Without warning Tony's watch transformed into some kind of cuffs and quickly flew towards the other. Successfully chaining his two hands together.

-you are hereby under arrest."

Steven just watched in shock as he saw Marc trying to free his hands, he even thought he might've seen a flash of panic in his expression. And to top it off Khonshu decided that his avatar being imprisoned was shit, so he appeared and threw a baby tantrum which, on one hand threw Stark completely off but on the other, did nothing more than making a big mess out of Stevens apartment.

"I'm guessing you didn't just leave a window open and that there's a big fucking Storm right now?"

Stark’s sarcastic comment miserably failed at covering his surprise.

----------------------------------

Marc was so fucking done.
Sure it was funny seeing the little British fuck almost pissing himself when Iron Man appeared out of who knows where. And yes, he thought that he was leading the conversation with Stark quite well. Distracting enough at least. But he didn't exactly expect his own God to fuck things up.

Steven? Sure, he was an idiot. Jake? Most definitely.
But Khonshu! They don’t show themselves for literal weeks at times, but now they had to intervene!?

So to put it lightly, Marc was done. He was stressed and felt a headache come with Starks non-stop talking. Panicked reassurances from Steven that did the opposite of the effect considering he was on the verge of tears. And Khonshu screaming about killing the guy, probably knowing full well that Marc couldn't free himself of whatever these fucking cuffs were made of.

"-originally just wanted to drop you off at the police or give a tip to the FBI but you are.. a mutant.., enhanced? Alien?
Fuck knows what so yeah. No actually... Fuck okay, I'm gonna have to bring you to the tower and put you in one of our little temporary cells.
I can't figure this shit out right now.
Oh Cap is gonna be so pissed which would be funny but he's so gonna rat me out to Pepper if-"

"Could you al- Could you Shut up."

Stark just looked at him with a strained expression before completely ignoring him and reaching in his pocket to grab his own phone, presumably to text someone to inform them of his new addition.

"Alright let’s go windy."

"Windy?"

Marc was left ignored.

Chapter Text

IN GONNA FUCKING- AGHHHH
AAAAAAAADtss63s7tdksj
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
NO. NOOOOI

THIS IS JSUT NOT ACCEPTABLE WTF

AND WHEEE IS JAKE
FUCK THIS SHOW

FUCK THIS!

Thank you.

--(edited)----
At the end they're probably just not gonna give us Jake but tease him at the end like idk, that dude rolling up in his cab or some shit ]:

Chapter Text

The walk to the Jet as well as the fly to the Avengers tower was spent in mostly silence. The only noise that sometimes filled the room was Tony's own little curses as he tapped away on his phone. The window mirroring his phone screen.

"Oh my god he's playing Candy Crush!"

Marc looked towards Steven whose reflection was barely visible in the window next to Stark.

"Not even the real one.. I'm pretty sure this is a bootleg version."

Another curse came from the Man.

"Aw he lost-"

"Shut up"

Stark just looked up at him, offended, while Steven had this little kicked puppet face. Stark let out an annoyed huff and opened his mouth to answer his rude guest but a feminine, rather formal, voice out of nowhere informed them of their landing.

------------------------------

To say that they were sneaking in would've been an understatement. Tony had Marc still cuffed. His feet and mouth restrained the moment he had set foot on the black asphalt of the tower's roof.
The voice, Stark called her Friday, informed them of the best routes to the Cells and which ones to avoid if they didn't want to run into another Avenger.

Marc still wondered why the fuck they had some kind of Jail in here but who was he to wonder about what earths supposedly strongest heroes spend their money on. He was just thankful for Khonshu and Steven finally leaving him alone.
Abruptly Stark came to a halt in front of some kind of steel door.

"Well, this is your stop Windy"

Instead of answering Marc just let the man push the door open, inside was a white tiled corridor with multiple rooms, all with see through walls and the same steel doors. It reminded him of a Clinic.
Stark let him step inside and closed the steel door firm behind them. Then he instructed Marc to enter the very last Cell. Inside was nothing much, just a bed, sink, some kind of toilet and a desk in the middle of the room.

"Alright, you're gonna have a nice little stay here while I get ready for my conference that you hopefully didn't ruin."

Stark turned around and walked out leaving Marc alone in the Room. After the main entrance's door was closed once again, and Stark was once and for all out, the mechanical restraints folded themselves together and.. Flew away?

With a sigh Marc sat down on the Bed, the mattress surprisingly soft. Under other circumstances he would've knocked Iron Man out and went on with his life but since the Avengers definitely had a way of finding him, as Stark proved, and he really didn't want a Team of Superheroes hunting him down.. he'd have to play along for a bit

He thought about maybe letting Steven or Jake front, or at least talk to them, but he was sure that Stark had some kind of cameras installed around. So instead Marc resorted to sleeping. Their Body needed it anyways and considering he was in a Cell there was no way to wake up somewhere else.

-----------------------------

Peter knew something was weird when he saw Mister Stark leaving so abruptly. The Avengers Press Conference was soon and even though Mister Stark wasn't the most reliable Person to trust with PR stuff he was still to some degree responsible.. And afraid of Pepper.

So when Tony returned a few hours later Peters first thought was

'Why'

And then he saw some random dude in full fucking restraints following Mister Stark out and it went from Why to WHY in all caps.

Naturally he had to investigate now, well, after he crawled down from the tower's wall-.

Chapter Text

Now Peter wasn't a spy like Black Widow or a trained Soldier like Captain America but he was a teenager with his own fair share of sneaking out of his aunt's house.

Sneaking out was similar to sneaking in, he knew the Tower well enough to be able to get into Friday's security system and just maybe program a few things that would do anything that would normally be considered suspicious by the AI be completely ignored. Furthermore he now also knew exactly where the new bad guy was located and, lucky him, Mister Stark was nowhere even near it!

So like any bored guy would, he went to the Cell Corridor to find out more about the mystery-man himself.

Peter swiftly slipped inside the Corridor, all the Cells were see through from the outside. From inside a Cell it just looked like a regular white wall.

The guy he was looking for was at the very last Cell on the right. Inside was a fairly average looking guy. Curly Brownish hair and hard features, he sat on the bed and was mumbling to himself-, Peter couldn't understand what was being said yet it looked like a quite heated, although one-sided, argument which resorted to the Man slapping himself. That led to more angry glares and talking.

It should've been more weird to Peter than it was but considering that Eddie Brock, some dude with an alien not-parasite, had been in the same Cell a few months ago made it easier to handle stuff like that. 

Finally he found the button on the keypad next to the Cells door that allowed him to talk to the guy inside.

"No! Khonshu you don't-, Oh fuck off Jak-"

"Um, Hello!"

The Man immediately stopped talking, his gaze fully focused on the small speaker above the Door.

"I'm here to.. ask you some questions.. Sir."

"I thought Stark wanted to wait until after his Conference to talk to me. I also doubt that he'd let a kid interrogate me."

Before Peter could protest the Man added in a monotone voice.

"So, who are you?"

"Im Spider-Man!"

"Spiderman."

"Yeah! I fight crime and swing around and can definitely tell that you're saying it without the hyphen-"

"Great, now why are you here?"

"Hey! I'm the one asking questions here!"

Peter glared at the man in front of him who had resorted from looking towards the speaker, to look at the wall, his eyes only slightly missing where Peter stood.

"Sooo... Why are you here?"

"You don't know why."

"Of course I know! This is just to.. to make you reflect-! Yeah."

"I see, well Spiderman I'm here because I have an important message to bring forward."

Peter watched the expression on the other man's face take a serious turn, and finally curiosity won over.

"Well what is it-?"

The Man leaned closer, as if to exaggerate his point.

"I must ask of you to deliver this message safely to Stark Spiderboy, it is of great importance."

"Of course!"

"Good Good, the Message is: 'Go fuck yourself'."

Chapter Text

I CALLED IT! I FUCKING CALLED IT AHHAHAHAH
THAT END SZENE WAS JUST SUPERIOR AF! MY GUY JAKE IS GIRLBOSSING

Also-, khonshu in a suit is like hot as fuck-

AAAaaAAaAa

Anyways,
I'm a little less emotionally damaged after this beautiful finale and will try to make a new Chapter tonight :]

+LAYLAS FIT?? HELLO
THAT LOOKED SO FUCKING GOOD!
Tawaret my beloved<3

++That part with Ammit and Harrow definitely did something to me👀

Chapter Text

Jake grinned at the giant one way Mirror. The Spiderkid didn't reply to anything, was probably looking for a comeback or some shit. Maybe he finally left.

"Wow usually I'm the one annoying villains with talking but you really got it in you, huh?"

And there it was, the lame comeback. Suddenly Marc appeared in the wide mirror looking unimpressed at the other making Jake's grin only widen. 

"Give me the body Lockley."

"Sorry sugar not now"

There was a sudden cough from the other side of the Cell.

"What the fuck did you call me!?"

"Not talkin' to you kid."

"Yeah.. right. You also got an Alien in you or-?"

Now it was Jake's turn to choke on air. A fucking what now? 

"No?? Why the absolute fuck would I have an Alien insida me!"

"Dude I don't know, weird shit happens!"

"Jake now."

"Cállate"

"Yo you speak Spanish? That's cool, I had it in middle school but barely remember anyt-"

Suddenly the kid stopped talking and then there was some whispering. Something about Fridays or something. Jake just leaned back and stared at Marc in the Mirror. The mercenary looked beyond pissed off which made Jake chuckle a bit and subtly raise his middle finger towards the Man. 

Marc rolled his eyes and disappeared again.

Chapter Text

Peter didn't get to start his rant about how shitty his middle school Spanish teacher sucked when he got a call from none other than Bruce Banner.

"Peter, Hello!"

"Oh hey Mr Banner, um. What is it?"

The man on the other line let out a deep sigh.

"I think F.R.I.D.A.Y is down again. You don't happen to know anything about it?"

"I-, no.."

Peter let out a nervous chuckle.

"So I have to call In the Team about a possible threat?"

"Oh fuck. Yeah it was me-."

"Again? Do you at least have an explanation this time?"

Peter looked at the Guy inside the Cell again who now was flipping his reflection off grinning like a maniac... He probably was a maniac...

"Yeah, yeah alright. Are you at the lab?"

Bruce just laughed lightly

"Wherever else would I be."

and then hung up. Peter let out another sigh, he seemed to do that often nowadays, and spoke to the crazy guy again.

"Hey man, I've got to go now but your interrogation isn't over!"

The man inside just smiled so Peter pressed the speaker-button again, allowing no noise from outside somehow getting into the Cell. He then quickly jogged out of the Cell Corridor and went his way towards the Tower's labs in which Mr Banner was already waiting for him, a strained smile on his face.

"Hey Peter"

"Heyyyy"

A loud silence stretched out the Room.

"Okay listen-, there was the thing with Mr Stark and he brought this random guy in and I thought Hm weird I should check that out so I took down F.R.I.D.A.Y for a bit so I could check it out without Mr Stark really knowing but that guy is a as I said weirdo weird like Eddie Brock after we took him in weird, so yeah, I’m really Sor-"

"Okay, Okay stop."

Peter looked up at him, the others' smile softened a bit and he let out a small sigh before continuing to talk.

"So what I’m getting from this is that Tony probably fucked something up again."

"What? No-, well. Probably."

"Alright alright then do whatever you want."

"Huh?"

"Yeah I don’t care kid. I don’t work for Tony or anything and it would be funny to see his face when he finds out that the thing he tried to keep a secret is just really not one. I was just worried about F.R.I.D.A.Y Peter."

Peter winced and sent the other an apologetic look. Bruce had a thing for checking up on the AI's and Robots in the Tower as an aftermath of the whole Ultron situation. Peter's theory was that the man still blamed himself for helping Mr Stark.

"Thank you Sir."

"Its nothing kid, now shoo and don’t forget to boot up F.R.I.D.A.Y again yeah?"

"Yes!"

————————————————————

After the Spiderguy left, Jake resorted to speaking to Marc who was again glaring daggers at him. Not caring of the obvious security cameras he spoke up. 

"The fuck you looking at?"

"I told you that I wanted to front?"

"So?"

"We already talked about this with Steven!"

"Well that guy can front whenever he wants to!"

"And why not me!?"

"You are a fucking American."

"What."

"And you killed Gus, eres un cabrón Spector."

"THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, I LOVED THAT LITTLE GUY!"

Chapter Text

After Peter had walked off from the Laboratories he considered going back to the weird probably-not-alien guy yet a message from Ned about their physics group assignment made him change his mind. 

Quickly rebooting F.R.I.D.A.Y and grabbing his school bag from the Avengers common room, he checked out of the Tower and took a train back to Queens. Listening to Music all the way home while scrolling through his Twitter timeline.

Official.Spider-Man @FriendlySpidor

GhAaaaAagguuhhbcxr Life goes bonk

|

Daredevil  @DevilOfHellsKitchen

You truly are a menace.

||

Official.Spider-Man   @FriendlySpidor

): 

|||

SHURI   @WakandasPrinc

Bonk Bonk

||||

Official.Spider-Man @FriendlySpidor

(:

Smiling to himself Peter turned off his phone and waited until he finally arrived. From there on he made his way to Ned's, his school stuff already in his backpack.

--------------

Jake was starting to get bored. Sure it was funny to piss Marc off and good to get some time to front but he usually only did so when they were in immediate danger.

It was weird adjusting to the whole boundaries shit Steven had set up but it wasn't something he overly concerned himself with.

So now he was fronting. Fronting in a blank boring fucking room with nothing to do. Spider-kid also didn't come back. Sighing Jake plopped himself back onto the bed, honestly Stark should really get some entertainment in these Cells. Ay que mierda! Man even took his phone.

And of course Khonshu now had to make himself visible again.

"Break out!"

"AH puta madre!"

Jake definitely let out a very manly shriek.

"What the fuck do you want!?"

"How dare you speak with that tone Lockley!"

"I'm in a fucking cell dios mio!"

"I am aware."

"How am I supposed to break out?"

"Break out!"

Jake looked towards the god. An annoyed expression on his face.

"Yeah of course lemme just-"

He stood up and with all his might ran against the Glass wall. It didn't even leave a crack.

"Again!"

"Die in a ditch."

"Again Worm!"

"Hey now! You only call Steven that got it!"

"Wormmm!"

"You may refer to me as Jake Lockley, bestie or papi, and that's it ya fuck!"

"YOU DARE-"

Chapter Text

It was about 9 hours into their containment now. In that time Jake argued and somehow flirted with Khonshu to Marc and Stevens' great disapproval as well as downright refused any sort of switch.

"I literally hid from you guys for years! I think I ought to deserve un poquito tiempo for me, ey?"

The rest of the time, so about 4 hours, he let the body rest again. Sleeping.

Meanwhile Tony was in a PR meeting with Pepper and the rest of the Avengers. There was a speech to be presented due to a few hours and they wanted to give them a quick rundown. It wasn't like everyone would do the talking, no, that was all on the Captain, Iron man and the CEO of Stark industries. Yet the others were supposed to stand behind them and look pretty. maybe even throw in a smile or a nod at times. 

The whole thing was supposed to be about heroism, the media started going into the accords again, despite it being years past them, and began criticizing the Avengers. Normally it wouldn’t be that big of a deal but now there was a mass of Facebook and Twitter campaigns against them and Stark was tired of having to track every single one of them down to investigate possible terrorism threats.

And soon enough they all stood on stage, cameras completely focused on them and a crowd of reporters staring expectantly.
Pepper started

”How do you explain why some people are able to achieve things that seem impossible?”

there was a short pause.

”We have these people right here. People that achieved the impossible. Heroes that achieved the impossible. They saved our planet, mind you multiple times.. without even thinking of asking anything in return. So why? How can one possibly explain the motive-…”

The speech continued for a bit, and after Tony and then Steve also had their turn, the actual press conference was about to start.

The first reporter was just about to throw in a question when Captain America suddenly got thrown up a bit into the air, by some kind of invisible force, and shaken around. The Avengers suddenly fully alerted immediately began trying to get some kind of control into the situation and fight whatever just came around.

The Falcon and Pepper started helping evacuate the civilians only to get swept away by the mass panic.

Steve somehow managed to free himself by punching whatever it was, wherever he could hit it.

”What are we dealing with?”

He asked, slowly moving around in circles trying to guess from where the next attack will be coming from. Tony’s mechanical voice answered.

”No idea, F.R.I.D.A.Y can’t get anything on the scanners-”

Suddenly he was tackled to the ground, at the same time something tried to take a swing at Natasha.

”Okay, invisible large and strong monsters, that’s fine. We dealt with worse-”

Tony tried to struggle against the thing holding him down, suddenly a big claw mark made itself across the red of his Iron man suit, so naturally he sent a shot towards the thing. It fucking whimpered?

Captain and the Widow dealt with the other thing, Clint was trying his best but he left his hearing aids in the tower and shooting at invisible targets was turning out to be quite difficult when they were moving around and fighting off his teammates.

Finally F.R.I.D.A.Y was able to get vague sound directions so Tony just shot the thing a few more times. At the same time Steve held the other one down, it looked like he awkwardly floated, while Nat just stabbed into it trying to find a weak spot.

Finally Steve hit the ground and was surrounded by sand. The same thing happened with Tony, one more shot and sand just flew everywhere.

He let the Iron man suit fold into itself and picked up some of the sand letting it run through his fingers before putting a bit away to test it later on. The other three slowly surrounded him. Clint broke the silence first.

”Good conference, 8/10, I think we got the point across.”

”I just really hope the Cameras still got how Capsicle got flung away-”

Steve let out a long suffering sigh.

”Let’s just get to the Tower, this whole thing will probably need another press conference by itself.”

”Nah I’ll just tweet an apology”

”Tony-,”

Back at the tower they all met up at the kitchen area, Tony putting on a pot of coffee while the others were just sitting around. He swiftly turned around to face them.

”Okayyy so we’ve got invisible monsters now, anything you all got from today?”

Natasha was the first who answered

”A bit smaller than Steve when on, probably on four legs double that when on two, so it’s animal like, durable and extremely fast. Probably not as sentiment as a human, it only whimpered and growled.”

”Yeah-, I think Nat got it all covered. Also-, I am fucking starving, move outta the way Stark I’m going to raid this fridge now.”

Natasha smiled at Clint who just stood up with a slight groan and shooed the Billionaire away. Suddenly Tony’s eyes went wide and he exclaimed a strained 'fuck'.

”What?”

Tony just stared into nothingness for a few seconds before he quickly took some fruits and leftovers out of the fridge and ran off.

”Okay but that wasn’t because of me right-? I wasn’t going to eat his beloved leftovers-.”

Sam's eyes had narrowed as he stared at the Door Tony had disappeared in. Natasha had rolled her eyes and directly addressed the AI.

”F.R.I.D.A.Y could you pull up the Cams? Specifically on Tony?”

”Of course Agent Romanoff.”

Suddenly a big holographic screen pulled up, everyone watching it in interest. It showed Tony speed walking through the tower until he had reached the elevator. In there he muttered something like 'can’t believe I forgot to fucking feed him' and pulled out his phone.
At the eleventh floor the elevator came to a halt and Tony stepped out. He passed the training rooms and finally stopped at the entrance of the so-called cell corridor.

”Unbelievable..”

Sam muttered as they continued watching Tony struggle to type in the code to the door with his hands full, and finally disappear in the corridor.
The camera switched again and they saw Tony hurrying off to the very last door. Another switch and now they could see that there was actually a man inside it, he was sleeping. 

”Unbe- fucking -lievable…”

Chapter Text

Tony walked up to the Cell and swiftly pressed a few buttons on the control panel. 

"Wakey wakey Windy! Papa's here to feed you."

The man inside just groaned and slowly sat up from the bed.

"I'll blow yer' fucking brains out."

"AC what you did there."

"What?"

"What."

There was a bit of silence before Tony sighed and began pressing buttons again, this time a small space on the door opened up which made.. Spector? Gran-.. Windy. Which made Windy flinch back a little.

"Here. Food."

The man inside stood up and slowly crept closer.

"Que es?"

"Why the fuck are you speak-, you know what? I don't care. It's leftovers and fruits."

Windy took an Apple and sunk his head lower to look through the small open space.

"Hello there, now would you mind taking the food and backing off so I can close this again?" 

"Yes."

"Great."

A bit of silence once again before Tony took a deep breath and was about to say something yet he got interrupted by the main door opening up, and a very angry looking Captain America stepping inside.

"Fuck."

"Tony!"

The Captain closed the distance between himself and the other and was now also able to see the man inside the cell, who was very slowly biting into his Apple… mid bite he hesitated for a second, face softening a bit, before finally taking a chunk and chewing it.

"Tony, who is this!?"

Steve whisper-yelled.

"I have no fucking clue."

"What?"

"No idea who he is, that's why he's here!"

"That's not-! That's not our domain! You should give him over to the police."

The man inside mumbled something along the lines of 'coming rich from a guy against the accords' which made Steve snap his head towards him and Tony stifle a laugh.

"You-, I'm trying to help you here-"

"Listen Cap, that's the dude that was in the Groupchat."

"And?"

"And, long story short, criminal record and possibly an enhanced individual."

Windy took another bite out of his apple. 

"Hello Captain America."

"Wha-,"

"I know a guy who's a big fan."

Steve continued to stare at him dumbfounded before snapping out of it and sighing.

"Seriously, who is this!?"

"Call him Windy."  At the same time the man inside the cell spoke up, "Marc Spector."

"Pleasure.., Why didn't you just tell us Tony..?"

"Pff it's not a big deal is it? Well-, he was here because I didnt want a fuck up to happen at the conference but that just kind of... failed."

"Yeah, been a while since we had to fight against giant invisible animals-"

Tony's expression darkened.

"We don't talk about the Hamster incident."

"Sorry to interrupt but what kind of super invisible animals are we talking about?"

"Weren't you Spanish earlier, Windy?"

Another sigh came from the Captain.

"Let's just go Tony, we have to debrief and then vote about what we do with the man."

"Do we take him with us now?"

"What? Why would we?"

"I don't wanna walk over here again-,"

Stark said with a whiny pout. 

"Fine, you deal with Natasha."

"Fine"

Chapter Text

Convincing Natasha was easier than Tony thought considering that there was no convincing needed.. She just acknowledged the three with a firm nod, having watched the whole conversation on the CCTV anyways. Clint and Sam however? The two were huddled together whispering about all kinds of shit while watching the prisone-, man in custody. Huddling while watching the custody guy.

Marc just followed behind Tony who grabbed the Coffee he had made earlier.

"You finally ready, boys?"

Nat asked which earned a collective head nodding.

"Okay. As I said earlier, they are invisible and sound like big angry dogs. But way bigger so we cannot go about them the same way as we did with the it which can not be named incident."

A shudder went through Tony’s body. Natasha however noted that Spector had a thoughtful expression on his face, the man was obviously trying to hide it after he noticed her stare but it failed miserably.

"..And i think our visitor here could tell us a bit more, no?"

Sam and Clint's heads immediately snapped towards Marc while Tony groaned and the Captain just sighed.

"Well Windy?"

"Yeah I know those things-" a quick glance towards the huddlers, "no I did not send or control them."

Silence passed the room, Marc now looking mildly uncomfortable.

"Ah-, if they are what I think.. they are i guess. You errr, do you know what a Jackal is? Fuck im bad at explaining this kinda shit"

"Yes."

"Alright Widow, now imagine that but big bony and with hair. Like, thin grandma hair that goes to a cheap beauty salon hair, and in the same salon it gets its nails do-"

"Windy-"

"Stop fucking calling me that! I don't even have Wind powers!"

"Uhhhh yeah you do."

"Go fuck yourself."

"I would if I-"

"Tony!"

The two got interrupted by Steve whose face looked like it couldn't decide on being amused, angry or disappointed. 

"Could you please tell us more about those Jackals?"

"Well yeah they-"

Suddenly Marc flinched back his eyes going big for a second before he let out a breathy laugh.

"Holy shit.. that was fucking scary. Haaaaa " 

Now he just fully stopped moving, his eyes slowly wandering up and looking towards the Avengers that were now staring at him.

------

As if being taken as a prisoner wasn't enough, Khonshu just had to reappear right in front of Captain America and scare the shit out of him.

"Why are you still here!?"

Marc ignored him and resorted to look back at the Avengers who were obviously weirded out? Concerned? Whatever, it was awkward.

The Falcon took it for the best time to chime in.

"Tony-, I think it's for the best if we go over who he is thoroughly. I mean while Steve was talking with you we got F.R.I.D.A.Y to send us the files you had on him but there's obviously more to him."

"Yes! That's what I'm trying to tell you! He has these weird magic wind powers-"

"I don't."

"You do! And now he knows about these invisible dogs-"

"Jackals."

"Jackals whatever, and now apparently sees stuff that we dont! You gonna interrupt me again, Spector?"

"No."

Tony let out a cry of frustration and made wild gestures with his Arms towards Marc as if to say 'see what I'm dealing with?'. 

"Are you guys even allowed to hold me in custody!?"

"We're the Avengers!"

"..so?"

Now it was the Avengers talking about laws and shit, them just full on stress arguing while Khonshu was screaming Marc’s ears off. Steven had also woken up and was looking mortified at the whole scene that was playing before his eyes all while Jake laughed at his Face. It was frankly just a bit overwhelming. 

"Oh Marc-, what happened? Oh no- it's the Avengers! The bloody Avengers!"

"AHAHAH míralo!! Look at his face Marc!"

"Oh noooooo, why can't we just be friends with everyone for once!?"

"And that is exactly why we needed the Accords!"

"Shut up Stark, we talked about this."

"KILL THEM! ESCAPE FROM THESE FOOLISH MORTALS"

"Please don't kill the Avengers-, Oh what would Layla do!"

Natasha turned around, clearly mocked annoyed and looked towards Marc. 

"It's all your fault."

And suddenly it wasn’t the Black Widow looking at him.

Chapter Text

Marc didn't know why it happened, he usually wasn't as trigger happy but the stress and the noise must have set him off..

Now he was trying to catch his breath, tears building up in his eyes, hands and knees on the floor. When had he sat down? It felt like he couldn't move his limbs, so he didn't. He could think properly, so he stopped trying to.

Meanwhile the Avengers didn't know what to do.

One moment they were arguing with each other and the next Marc Spector was on the floor. Worst thing was that they only noticed after Nat said something along the lines of

"Boys! Get yourselves together and either you help or out."

which turned everyone's attention to the man now kneeling on the floor.

"Oh fuck-,"

Tony didn't know what to do. For one he wanted to help the man, the others surely did too but he was restricted in the things he could do considering that Spector was a criminal. A mutated one at that. Who knows what could happen when his wind powers got out of control.

As he was pondering upon what to do Spector just stopped at once which made Tony retreat a step back.

Spector just coughed a few times, quickly standing up again and brushing dust off his knees before his head slowly went up.

Tony felt like he had a Deja-vu.

Natasha took a step forward to which the others eyes widened a tad.

"Bullocks-, Oh gosh. I'm a big fan hello-"

Spector then took another look around, his face mortified.

"Hello fellow Avengers!"

"What the fuck."

"Language Steve, but yes. What the fuck, how did you go from Spanish to American and then to British with an horrible American accent."

"Wha-, You have a horrible accent!"

"I don't have an accent!"

"American."

"No! No fuck this. I don't care about what just happened, explain yourself now!"

"Erm, what happened if I may ask-?

Tony started to stammer before closing his eyes and just walking out of the room. 

Spector winced and mumbled a small apology before he started fidgeting with his hands, Natasha took note of his behavior.

"Please start from the beginning again. We need to know everything about those Jackals."

"Ah yes of course miss-"

"Sam, Steve? Go after Tony, me and Clint have it handled here."

"Nat with all due respect-"

"If you already start a sentence like that you can spare it until after we are done here. Got it Cap?"

He just sighed but followed her order on going after the other. Sam as well.

"Marc, come sit down please."

She gestured towards the living room area. She herself and Clint both sat down onto two Chairs so all that was left was the black leather couch.

"Ah yes, Thanks."

The man quickly hurried after them.

The couch Steven sat on was too spacious, it was awkward and oh my god BlackWidowAndHawkeyeWereSittingRightNextToHim!

Okay! Breathing.

Breathing was good and everything was going to be just fine and puppies and hearts and why was Khonshu standing at the door menacingly-

The Widow interrupted his thoughts.

"I must apologize for earlier, I think you might've misinterpreted my tone or thought of it as triggering."

"Huh-?"

"Dude do you like-, really not remember?"

"Um, No Mr Hawkeye Sir."

"Please, call me Natasha and him Clin-"

"Nope! I like Mr Hawkeye Sir!"

"You are such a child."

"At least I dont scare children."

Steven would've expected more professionality from two super spies. But who was he to judge-? He honestly was relieved if nothing else.

He watched the two bicker for a second only for the Widow to let out a deep sigh and turn back towards him. Her demeanor changed back immediately and even Hawkeye seemed to straighten up.

"From the top Spector."

"The top?"

"..the Jackals."

"Ah! Well um-,"

He threw an asking look towards Khonshu, ignoring how Hawkeye's head snapped towards Widows and they held some kind of silent conversation with each other.

"Fear not worm. Those who protect the traveler's of the night can be trusted."

Steven also tried reaching out to Jake and Marc but both did not respond to him, did he mention how awkward this giant couch was?

"The Jackals. Well-, in ancient Egypt they were some kind of death dogs? They served essential functions in the Egyptians understanding of what happened after death and acted as some kind of guides and protectors in reaching said afterlife-, Funny actually considering they tried to kill me haha-"

Clint threw another concerned look towards Nat.

"On itself the myths vary, naturally. And there's also Anubis who plays a big part in all that stuff! Even Wepwawet, Osiris,  and Duamutef-, Oh! And the wife and daughter of Anubis! Can't forget about those heh- 

Did you know that there were nearly no female jackal gods, and if there were they most often existed in relation to Male deities? Roles and activities of the Gods largely reflect Male and female gender roles in Egyptian society-"

"Dios mio-, get to the point"

Steven immediately brightened up at Jake's sudden appearance.

"Well? Go on, they're starting to stare."

"And you're probably not all that interested in that.."

He let out an awkward chuckle.

"Well we certainly don't mind, but getting to the actual point.. would be great."

"Hmm so Anubis and Ammit were expelled out of the Ennead, the group of the main gods, following an insurrection to seize total control of the whole soul judging.

Like, whether you are a 'good' or 'bad' soul, the equivalent of Egypt's heaven and Hell. 

Anubis just kinda disappeared along the wait but Ammit waited and waited until she got ahold of a new Avatar-"

"Avatar-..? Are you fucking with us-"

"Ah! It's like-, funny I made that same face when I- They're like the mortal servant to a God and basically have to do whatever shit they want!"

"YOU-, YOU DO NOT NOW HOW MUCH DISRESPECT-"

Steven happily interrupted Khonshus screeching.

"And well, When We-.. I~ Wei, when I  fought Ammits Avatar he was able to release the-"

"Hold up-"

Hawkeye interrupted once again.

"You did what?"

Chapter Text

Silence stretched across the Room for a few seconds before Steven finally catched himself.

"I fought Ammits Avatar..?"

The Widow answered immediately.

"Are you some kind of vigilante then? Using your wind powers to help people?"

Now it was Stevens turn to be confused, he had noticed that during the flight to the tower Iron man had called them Windy multiple times and the first meeting.. Oh-, yeah of course it was Khonshus fault.

He send a quick glare towards the God but the threatening head tilt he got back quickly made him refocus on the interrogation.

"..sure!"

"What's your name?"

Steven turned towards Hawkeye.

"Huh?"

"Like-, come on dude, your vigilante name!"

"Oh- Oh! No I don't have one of.. those.."

"It's fine if its an embarrassing one, swear I wont laugh."

"I really don't Sir!"

"Everyone has one-"

"Clint."

The man just rolled his eyes at the other spy threatening tone but let her continue the questioning without further ado.

"Well Mr Spector, if you are a vigilante and I'm assuming fighting for the good-"

She pulled out some kind of Tablet from behind her and set it onto the Table for him to see.

"would you mind explaining these?"

The device turned on and Steven was met with some kind of collage of dead bodies. He vaguely recognized them from his and Marc's trauma trip to the land of the dead.

Steven felt sick once again. He knew Marc had killed people, Jake even more so. He had seen the Room had spoken to his Headmates.

"Ah mierda, perdón Steven.. Didn't think theyd pull these out. You need to switch?"

Steven resorted to just nudge the other back a bit. He could handle this. He had to.

The Widow continued.

"You have 'accidentally' joined a high security group chat, switched accents and even languages multiple times as well as talked or interacted with yourself, made a show of your wind powers, somehow stand in relation with those invisible Jackals that attacked us and not to mention your three different identities behaviors and no social life. It all seems awfully coincidentally doesn't it Spector?"

Hawkeye now chimed in, Tablet in his hands.

"Dishonorable discharged from the Army, Mercenary, probably a lot of undiagnosed mental shit as well huh? Awfully reminds me of Frank Castle doesn't it Nat?"

"Tell me Spector-"

she spoke up.

"Who really are you."

Steven just sat there in stunned silence. The seriousness of everything finally kicking properly in.

The Avengers weren't just this funny disorganized lot, they were fighting against villains and.. Invisible Hamsters apparently, on an almost daily basis.

Hawkeye and Black Widow weren't just two friends messing with each other while doing an interrogation but trained spies that probably only wanted him to feel the way he felt.

At ease? Confident?

Well those feelings were gone now.

Chapter Text

It was silent, mostly silent that is. Marc felt like waking up after a bad concussion and there was some kind of muffled talking. 

He opened his eyes and found himself in his Room.

The fish tank was there, but with only two fish instead of three. He tapped the Glass gently. Looking around felt familiar and yet wrong. It wasn't really his home, their home. 

The others weren't there, the books didn't have titles and some corners and bits of the Room looked blurry. 

Looking around it felt empty and familiar at the same time. Almost calm. 

Marc walked over to the door but trying to open it he found that it was locked. 

Ah

He was in their Headspace..

Right.

The Black Widow made him push back and now he left Steven and Jake in his situation. 

The talking came from behind the door, it was a consistent noise but no actual words could be made sense of. Sighing he sat down, his back leaning against the hard wood of the Door.

He closed his eyes and tried to make more sense of what had happened. He obviously got triggered by the sentence that much was clear. 

It was what mom said to him after..

That wasn't important anyways. There were many occasions where he had heard the sentence in the past. Be it from a passerby or whatever. 

He shouldn't have gotten pushed back so easily, was it the tone of her voice? She didn't look anything like her . 

Opening his eyes again he watched the Goldfish swim around. It was calming. Everything was so calm.

He didn't want it to be.

It was his job to protect Steven from stuff like this shit, not expose him to it. Jake wasn't made for this either. He was more of an attack guy. 

Suddenly the door behind him opened up and he fell back, next thing he knew was he was standing next to Jake. 

The Man acknowledged him with a nod and then turned his head continuing to watch Steven.

Marc turned as well and was met with gory pictures of.. oh. 

Oh yeah he knew these faces..

Chapter Text

Steven was staring into the space between the tablet in front of him and the edge of the table. He really didn't know what to reply to the two superheroes that were still staring at him with a quiet and dangerous expectancy.

He knew Marc and Jake were aware of what was happening, and he was glad that Marc was doing alright but their presence.. wasn't really helping. Khonshu was long gone after their screeching about disrespect and all. It was nice to not feel the pressure of their dead stare. The God was able to be quite unnerving at times, though these last few months they were more annoying than anything.

Hawkeye was the one who interrupted the silence.

"Quit spacing out and answer us Spector."

Steven looked up from the table and his eyes traveled between the two spies

"Sorry um, what's this?"

The Black Widow let out a sigh and picked up the tablet once again before speaking up.

"Listen, I know you just had a rough patch but if you think even once that you can lie to us you're in for a rough time."
for good measure the woman added in a firm "understood?" at the end.

Steven nodded, trying to not feel too threatened.

"I.. didn't kill those people if that is what you are asking. I don't even know them."

Hawkeye replied

"One doesn't have to know a Person to kill them."

There was a dark almost knowing undertone in his voice and Steven watched as the man tapped on one of the many pictures on the tablet.

The picture now filled up the whole screen, it was a man on the ground with about two visible shot wounds. Steven averted his gaze from it, he felt Marc trying to reach out to him but was quick to mentally push the man away.
It was Stevens' turn to watch out for him.

"I didn't kill them."

The man just snorted, earning a disapproving look from the Widow.

"Marc we know you did, there's no denying it, it's besides the point really. What we need to know now is if you possess any threat to us."

"I don't!"

"Prove it. Tell us everything."

Steven didn't know what they expected him to tell them. Did they want him to confess to murdering people or did they want information about the Jackals?
The Black Widow seemed to sense his distress and spoke up again.

"Start explaining your relation to those creatures we fought, and remember, lying is useless we are able to tell."

And so he did. Or well.. he explained a slightly altered version.

He started off by accidentally coming in contact with a small little golden bug. For good measurements in his asshole-assassin role he told them that he stole it from the museum he was working at.

He told them about Harrow and how the man had found him and killed someone in front of him to get 'Marc' to give him the Scarab. He included the Scales and Staff in all of this.

He started to explain the Avatar principle without disclosing to being one himself and to what Harrow was trying to achieve.
He'd told them that the Scarab was a compass to lead Harrow to Ammit and that it was the reason the man found him in the first place.

From then on he retold the story pretty accurately just with leaving Layla out of it, she didn't need to be involved in this whole thing, claiming to have been possessed by Khonshu the Egyptian God of the moon without having control over his actions.

"It was terrible! I watched him use my body to kill those Jackals and even humans!"

Hawkeye's sympathetic hum reassured Steven that they were buying the story. Marc and Jakes recoil at those words even made Steven wince realistically.
Time for apologies was due for later.

From then on it was easy to continue, coating his actions as those of the God he was possessed by and finally ending his story with the dramatic battle of Ammit vs Khonshu in which both gods died.

Hawkeye and Black Widow thanked him and told him to stay put while they went to retrieve the others. Being cuffed to arm rest was the only safety measurement they took before leaving, closing the doors to the room behind them.

Steven sunk back on the couch, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath in.
He actually did it!

Outside Natasha and Clint were walking down the long corridor.

"Believe anything he said?"

Clint hummed.

"Parts of it."

Natasha smiled softly,

"You sympathize."

The man huffed out a humorless laugh.

"Can't hide anything from you huh?"

And after a short pause

"Remember what I said about him reminding me of Castle? ..that's not all. Also reminds me of myself."

A sigh came out of his mouth

"And that's not a good thing."

Chapter Text

After the conversation the three of them had Steven move from his cell to a Guest room that he was able to call his own. He hasn't really left his room but at the beginning of his new quarter situation Tony Stark had made it absolutely clear that without permission he wasn't able to open the door anyways.

Sighing he opened his eyes only to stare at a dark ceiling. A quick glance to the side promised him another sleepless night, 04:13, since their nap in the cell they haven't slept. 

The other two were deep into their headspace after Steven showed them that he was able to actually handle himself. He hated how sometimes they'd actively leave him out of their business for the sake of his 'protection' although Steven was just as capable as them. Especially Jake, always trying to play things off and still lying about shit when confronted by either Marc or him.

Steven rubbed his eyes with his hands before finally heaving himself off the bed. 

He walked a bit through their new room. It was pretty luxurious in comparison to where the Avengers could've stored him away, there was a bed, a desk filled with paper but no pencils to write anything on it and a red lamp mounted on the wall right above the desk itself. On the wall to his left was a sparsely filled bookshelf containing only a few novels that Steven recognized their names of. 

What did catch his attention was the window, he wasn't able to open it properly but the sight was astonishing. Looking down he was able to see just how high up he was and the view from the Avengers Tower itself offered a stunning panorama of New York City's bustling cityscape. Skyscrapers, busy streets, landmarks and Steven was even able to catch glimpses of Central Park. It was honestly stunning. 

Yet at the moment it was still dark, and flashing lights of cars and stuff just wasn't as humbling as the view with the sun illuminating everything. 

"Excuse me uhhh.. Friday! Um may I leave my room please?"

"Good Morning Mr Spector-" a mechanical and yet feminine voice answered from seemingly nowhere, "What is the purpose of your leave?"

"I'd like to eat something if that's fine?"

There wasn't a response for a few moments and Steven contemplated lying down again before the door finally swung open. 

"You are welcome to join Mr Banner in the kitchen."

He offered the AI a small smile before making his way down to where he vaguely remembered the kitchen being. The corridor itself was long and sleek, the walls were paneled with dark wood. Occasionally, large panoramic windows punctuated the corridor not unlike the one he had his own room. 

He didn't really like Stark but the man obviously had a sense for aesthetics which Steven could appreciate. Finally the bright light of the Kitchen made itself known and Steven sheepishly knocked on the door frame so as to not startle the man inside. 

Banner looked up from his cup of tea and made a quick gesture with his hand inviting him in. Steven smiled once again and walked inside, pausing, grabbing an apple and sitting down in front of the man.

"Hi I’m uh I’m Marc."

"Good Morning I’m Bruce Banner the um Hulk."

"Oh god this is so weird I-"

"Ha yeah.. Don’t worry I won’t turn big and green and try to kill you."

"What? No no I just, I love your paper on Egyptian Medicine and Healing Practices! Oh this is embarrassing haha.."

"An Ancient Legacy of Health and Wellness?"

"Yes that one! The concepts of the anatomy and disease part were written amazingly, guess I’m well chuffed!"

The other finally smiled back.

"Thank you Marc, really. It’s been quite a long time since someone brought that one up, it’s usually 'The Effects of Gamma Radiation on Cellular Mutation and Genetic Adaptation' or something."

"Oh bollocks I haven’t read that one yet I usually-"

Banner suddenly barked out a light laugh shaking his head.

"No no, I’m happy. Really."

"That’s good? I just really love anything surrounding Egyptian culture and I stumbled across your paper. It’s a wonder I remember that it’s written by you, my memory isn’t always all that great."

Bruce nods along and takes another sip of his tea.

"Egyptian culture huh?"

"Yeah.. you got briefed on the whole Khonshu thing right?"

"Ah Yes... Well... I won't lie, this isn't the most normal way for me to run into somebody. If you don't mind my asking, how did that happen?"

"Oh uh great question!"

The other's face quickly overtook a more concerned look.

"I am here for whatever you need to talk about. I have worked with people in tough circumstances and I try to be really non judgemental. I'm not going to judge you whatever happened, and I'm happy to keep what you share here private if that's what you want. But if you need to talk, I'm here to listen." he paused and took a deep breath "And I obviously know how it’s like not being in control at all times."

A different kind of panic overtook Steven. It didn’t feel anything like when he was interrogated by the two other Avengers but he felt bad for going to lie to the Scientist. Doctor Banner just seemed like a really nice guy.. Steven took a bite out of his apple before remembering to respond.

"I uh, I found this beautiful golden scarab artifact at the museum I used to work in and after that my memories sometimes got really fuzzy, and before I knew it there was this Egyptian God called Khonshu cooperating my body to fight against a different God… it’s honestly really crazy."

"Trust me, I know crazy." Bruce chuckles, "But honestly I’m so sorry that happened to you and now you even got dragged down into our mess."

"I’m not too sure if it isn’t my mess that you guys got dragged into.."

The smile the other wore turned into more of a grimace before he answered Steven.

"Trust me we’d probably manage to get involved one way or another. The team tends to attract.. frankly weird shit. Did they tell you about the Hamster incident it was-"

He was interrupted by the door swinging upon once again and Hawkeye entering the kitchen. The man looked tired and had tousled bed hair, he halted in his steps as he noticed the other two seated at the kitchen table.

"Morning.." he mumbled before continuing to make his way towards the coffee machine.

Chapter Text

Steven laid on his bed closing his eyes to get in a little bit more sleep only to get lost in his own thoughts. He opened his eyes again reading 06:31 when suddenly a bright red light started to flicker and alarm bells started going off. Steven was just about to throw himself off the bed but was quickly pushed back by Marc who was startled just as badly as him into a switch. 

Marc shot up and tried opening the door but it wouldn’t budge. That idiot Stark had probably locked in some kind of mechanism to keep him inside.

”Friday can you open?” He asked but the alarm would have overturned any sort of sound from the AI and the door still wouldn't open up. Marc desperately searched his room for anything at all to be used to pry open the door or at least able to be used as a weapon… Chair it is. 

He wasn't stupid enough to try to ram the door in with his newly acquired wooden chair but should someone try to get inside they wouldn't know what had hit them. Because he would definitely hit them. With the chair. God this plan sucks. 

Marc let the chair fall down and decided to crouch behind the bed, keeping an eye on the door from a hidden space. 

He didn't know when the blaring alarm stopped but the red light kept him still and on edge. 

“¿Por qué no escapamos Marc?”

Good question. Now would really be the best time to escape. 

“Uhh because Iron Man will literally hunt us down, or worse, Black Widow! What is bloody wrong with you two!”

Well at least they'd be out of this shitty tower. The Avengers already got all their infos out of them. There was no reason why they should be still in here. 

“Because we can help them!”

“We were helping people before! Now we have to ask every goddamn morning if we are allowed to leave our room to eat!” Marc whispered, trying to keep control over his voice. “Fuck it.”

Marc took one last look at the door and quickly wrapped a pillowcase around his fist, took a deep breath, and then punched as hard as he could against their window. 

The window did not give, Marc's hand however did. 

“Oh fuck!”

Probably broke a finger, shit. He glared at the window and almost immediately startled back as a red and blue figure popped out of nowhere. Spider-Kid was outside. Marc didn't even want to know on what floor they were..

The kid glanced inside and seemed to recognize them going by the widened lenses and frantic happy waving. 

Marc gestured back towards the door and very badly gesticulated his inability to open it. The kid gave him a thumbs up and fumbled out a phone from god knows where. 

He typed something and then turned the screen around for Marc to read.

UNDER ATTACK. STAY SILENT!!! & HEAD UPSTAIRS. STAIRS LEFT R SAFE. 

He gave a thumbs up and the kid turned his phone back around. After just a few seconds the door to his room unlocked near silently. He got one last enthusiastic goodbye wave and then the kid let himself drop down which gave Marc just about his second heart attack that day. 

Man he really owed the kid one, mainly for the fact that he had no plan whatsoever to drop by upstairs to go play pretty prisoner again. 

He did take the stairs on their left though. 

He finally reached what appeared to be a fire escape ladder and carefully climbed the last few floors downstairs. Marc didn’t even want to know if getting into the Avengers Tower was as easy as getting out but he definitely wasn’t as surprised by the number of attacks the superheroes undergo as he was before.  

„Alright guys, where to?”

“Right back up that tower Mister.”

Marc glanced at his reflection to make a point of rolling his eyes at Steven before he continued onwards and ducked into a random alley. 

“Spector, you escaped!”

He didn’t think he’d ever actually heard Khonshu be this genuinely gleeful. 

“The travelers of the night have yearnfully expected your return.”

“You’re such a romantic.”

Marc continued running, as though his life depended on it, further than he possibly could away from the tower all while the oversized deity reappeared every few seconds up on a different rooftop. What a show off. 

Finally he reached what appeared to be an abandoned flower shop, the paint on the sign slowly withering away and the inside looking just as degenerated. Marc slipped inside and leaned against a wall to catch his breath. 

“Man this secret lair sucks.”

Just as Marc grabbed a glass shard off the floor to hurl it at the unexpected intruder he found his hand getting whiplashed at the wall with some sort of sticky mass. He hissed in pain as not only the shard dug into his skin but also because he was pretty sure his broken finger just turned into an additional broken wrist. 

“Oh shit sorry man!”

Spider-Kid webbed Marc’s other limbs at the wall and only then approached, carefully wrangled the glass out of his hand which got tangled up in the web and then shot more of the sticky shit onto Marc's hand. This one feeling fucking cold though. 

“Uhhh this should probably do, um, sorry I guess?”

“You guess!?” Snarled Marc right back.

“Well you tried to throw that at me!”

“You startled me!”

“You were trying to escape!”

Well touché. Marc wasn't going to admit that in front of the little spider though. 

“Listen here you little shit-!”

“Woah man-”

“No! Listen, I am tired of bantering around of-, of having to walk on eggshells around every single one of you! I have been nothing but cooperative considering you are illegally holding me and I'm so fucking tired of it. I want to see my wife, I want to freely walk around, and I want to eat a fucking greasy ass hotdog!” 

Spider-Man stood there looking truly speechless all while Marc panted a bit from his not so bitty rant. 

“Uhhh okayyy mate. You were eh-, holding some stuff in again, huh?” Steven not so helpfully supplied. 

Marc looked down towards the mess of broken glass and could now see the concerned (and only a little amused) faces of his respective headmates. 

He sighed.

“Umm, I know a pretty good uh, hotdog spot I guess? We could, just for a little bit, before i bring you back-, We could grab one?” 

God the kid was stammering. To hell with it..

“I'd like that.”

Chapter Text

Eating hotdogs with Spider-man wasn't as awkward as Marc thought it would be, he brought him to a little cart run by some old white guy but god were they good. 

Marc glanced beside him where the kid was happily chomping down on own meal while swinging his legs down from the top of the rooftop they were sitting on.

Marc took a deep breath, letting the night air cool his frustration as he finished off the last bite of his meal. The city sprawled beneath them, alive with the sounds of traffic and distant sirens, yet up here it felt strangely peaceful. He wasn't sure if it was the food, the view, or the surprising camaraderie, but the tension of his shoulders slowly started to ease away.

Spider-Man, mask half-pulled up to reveal a few crumbs on the corner of his mouth, caught Marc's glance and offered a lopsided grin. "See? Pretty good, right?"

Marc smirked, shaking his head. "Trick question, all New York hotdogs are pretty good."

“Woahh are you seriously bonding with the kid?”

"Hey, that's just not true," Spider-Man quipped, wiping his hands on his suit. "Sooo uhh, man. You were wound up tighter than a slinky back there."

Marc sighed, leaning his weight on his hands. "You try getting chased down and thrown in a cell by people who don’t even know what the hell’s going on themselves, see how you like it."

Spider-Man nodded, his gaze turning serious for a moment. "I get it, really. You’ve got your own stuff going on, and it’s complicated. But you’ve gotta understand, we’re just trying to keep people safe. The Jackal thing, it’s… weird. And you—well, you’re kind of an enigma, man. No one really knows what to make of you."

Marc’s expression hardened slightly but he kept his tone level. "Trust me, the Jackal’s are not just your problem but I can't help while I'm not even able to get out of my room by myself can I?"

The kid was quiet for a moment, studying Marc. "You know, maybe if you told them what’s really going on, they’d back off a bit."

"I've told them everything that they need to know."

There was a sort of tense pause between them before the kid deflated with a sigh and started packing away their trash. "I can try talking with Tony about your current living situation, pinky promise."

He hopped off the ledge and pulled his mask down again. "Time to head back, man."

Marc's expression shifted subtly, a shadow crossing his face. Spider-Man had been a good sport, and Marc almost felt bad for what he was about to do. Almost.

With a practiced fluidity, Marc leaned back, pretending to stretch. The kids' lenses widened and he tried to jump back but in one swift motion Marc's hand shot out, striking the kids temple with one of Stevens stupid looking batons. The kid's body went limp instantly, Marc caught him before he could slump forward, cradling him carefully to keep him from toppling off the rooftop.

"Sorry, kid," Marc murmured, gently lowering Spider-Man to the ground. "But I’m not coming with you."

"You did not just do that mate-, oh god!"

He dragged the kid further away from the ledge, swiftly ignoring Steven, making sure Spider-Man was in no danger of rolling off the roof. Marc knew the Avengers would be looking for him soon, but he couldn’t waste time worrying about that now.

Glancing around to get his bearings, Marc tried to assess the quickest route out of the area. 

"Déjame hacer eso. We all know yall aint got no orientation sense."

With one last look at Spider-Man Marc turned and let Jake switch with him, who was quick to leap across the roof, landing silently on the next building, and continued his escape into the night.

Jake knew he had to find a safe place to lay low and regroup. The Avengers would be on high alert now, especially with Spider-Man out of commission and them being AWOL, but he was nothing if not resourceful.

As he moved through the city, blending into the darkness, a plan began to form in his mind. He needed to figure out who—or what—was really behind the Jackal attacks, clear his name, and get back to his life. But for now, his priority was simple: stay free, stay ahead, and keep fighting. 

Jake Lockley was officially on the run, but Moon Knight was never truly cornered. Not as long as the night was his ally.

"Blimey I forgot how edgy you can get."

"Shut it."

"Not gonna lie, I agree with Steven on this one."

----------------------

Tony was seriously pissed off. So fucking pissed off. 

"How have you not found him yet!?"

Sooooooooooooo pissed off.

"I am trying to, Legolas. But someone keeps interrupting me-" Tony points at Steve, "even Icey here got it and shut up." 

Steve’s brow furrowed, but he kept his cool (haha, got it?). "Tony, you need to calm down. This isn’t helping."

"Calm down?!" Tony’s voice rose another octave, incredulous. "Do you have any idea what kind of damage that guy could do if he gets cornered? Or if he decides to go full-on crazy vigilante-merc on us? We had him in custody, and now he’s out there, God knows where, and the cams see my kid following him out there! So no, Steve, I will not calm down!"

Bruce, who had been silently observing from the back of the room, took a step forward, trying to diffuse the situation. "We’ll find him. Spector is not going to get far with the resources we have. But we need to be methodical about this."

"Methodical," Tony repeated, almost mockingly, rubbing a hand over his face in frustration. "Right, sure. But we can’t afford to waste time. He’s dangerous, Bruce. And now Spider-Man’s out of the game.

Tony clenched his fists, trying to reign in his fury. "He’s got to be somewhere. And I'll keep looking. I don’t care if I have to tear apart the city block by block—we’re not letting this guy slip through our fingers."

Steve exchanged a glance with Clint, both of them sensing just how deeply this was getting under Tony’s skin. It wasn’t just about capturing a random rogue mercenary—it was personal.

Chapter Text

The first thing Jake did with his newly found freedom was walk to the nearest kiosk and get himself a pack of cigarettes. The second thing was lighting one of said cigarettes only for it to drop straight out of his mouth as he saw his own face staring back at him from the newscast of a grainy TV-screen inside.

Those crazy ass Avengers bastards really got him painted as the new public enemy number one!?

He quickly walked away from the street and took a sharp turn into an alley where Khnoshu already stood ready, scaring the living shit out of him. 

"Dios Pajarito, we oughta put a bell on you!"

"Come now, Jacke Lockley."

"I doubt ya know better where it's safer than I do."

"Do not test me, little Avatar."

Jake scoffed yet began following the god nonetheless. 

"I'm a grown ass man you know? No need for all that mijo bullshit."

Khnoshu tilted his head in a way that could only be described as amused. "I merely called you little Avatar, not my son."

A furious blush took over Jake's face and he muttered a venomous whatever before falling back into silence and running alongside his god. 

"Turn!"

Jake almost fell over trying to get the sharp turn Khonshu directed him to before a gust of wind slung him into the curve. 

He was about to go off at the bird when he suddenly heard a low whirring going past him. Jake quickly ducked behind a dumpster and carefully peeked around to watch the golden red drone. Big mystery who's tech that was.. 

When the drone was out of his field of vision, Jake stayed put for a little more than a minute and carefully moved out of the alley. 

At least Khonshu had been gracious enough to warn him, but he knew that their whims were random at best. Khnoshu probably just didn't want their Avatar locked up again. 

Okay-, time to figure out where to lay low.., best to look for a dingy please with no cameras. Best to get out of the country.

------------------------

Tony had finally found him. He was staring at the hologram in front of him, at a masked up Spector fighting against what was most probably one of the invisible dogs in Cairo. 

The footage couldn't be older than a few hours, Tony had been thorough with his search for the man having spent the last three months basically attached to his screen. 

Spector had given them enough information about the battle in Egypt when they had first captured him that it wasn't all too difficult to figure out that ”Moon Knight” was the identity Marc Spector had taken upon when he had been possessed by supposedly the god of the moon. 

Complete and utter bullshit apparently considering Tony just saw the guy and Spector had told them that Achoo (Gesundheit) or whatever his gods name was is dead. 

So either the god was back or Windy had lied to them from the start. 

Tony closed the hologram and ran towards the elevator to go upstairs. When the doors opened on his destined floor he was met face to face with a startled Steve, who was probably about to leave. 

"I found him."

"Found who? Tony wha-" 

Tony grabbed Steve by the arm and dragged him right back into the living room where Peter was already sitting and looking just as startled as Cap. 

"I found Marc Spector." he was met with silence so Tony continued, "He's back in Egypt, in Cairo, fighting against those Jackals that attacked us at the conference a few months back. I already called Happy he can get the Jet ready in 10 so suit up and we can go grab this mothe-"

"Woah Tony hold on-!" Steve interrupted him. "What's going on?”

"What do you mean what's going on!? We have to arrest him!"

Steve just sighed and shot Peter a look of concern.

"Come on, we have been looking for that lunatic for months!"

"You mean you have been looking for him. I thought we decided on letting it rest after we found out Peter was alright and just temporarily immobilized."

"He's dangerous, he could have seriously hurt the kid!"

"Umm no offense Mr Stark but im literally stronger than him." Peter said. "All we did was get Hotdogs and have a venting session. Honestly I cant even be mad at him for knocking me out because I would've tried escaping as well."

"You don't understand Peter, he's back as Moon Knight. He lied to us!"

Steve just shook his head. "Can't blame him. We had no jurisdiction to hold him here in the first place and although vigilantism is a crime, that was not the one he was taken in for, nor one we have any right to punish."

"Why are you suddenly so against this, he killed people Steve!"

"So have I" Steve whispered while leaning in.  "-and you."

"Besides," Cap continued on. "Isn't he fighting against the Jackals? We were practically useless against them and you still didn't figure out how to properly eliminate them."

"Throw some paint on them, done. Let's get back to talking about how there's an insane guy with glowing eyes and a god complex on the loose?"

Steve just sighed and shook his head. "Getting permission to fight in Egypt will take a while, for just one guy even longer. I say leave him alone and let him get rid of those invisible dogs. He clearly has more experience with them."

An angry sigh escaped Tony but he bit out a ’fine’ and turned back towards the elevator. "But don't blame me when I get to say I told you so, because that will happen Capsicle!" and closed the doors.

"I hate when he calls me that." Steve said while turning back to Peter.

"It's better than underoos?" Peter answered when suddenly a screen popped up right in between them showing a gif of Steve at the press conference getting flung away by an invisible Jackal. 

Steve just sighed and walked away, trying to ignore Peter holding in his laugh.

Chapter Text

Marc was panting as he tried to deliver another kick to the Jackal in front of him. The monster lunged with a feral roar, claws outstretched to tear into his flesh.

Moon Knight sidestepped the attack with a fluid motion, the jackal’s claws scraping against the stone wall behind him.

Moon Knight retaliated immediately, spinning and slamming an elbow into the jackal's ribs. The beast staggered but quickly recovered, swiping a claw at Moon Knight's face. He raised his gauntlet to block it which slightly ripped fabric at the pull back. 

"You’ll have to do better than that," Marc spat back in a strained voice. 

Reaching into his belt, he pulled out a crescent-shaped blade and hurled it with a deadly precision. The blade embedded itself inside the jackal’s shoulder, luring out a howl of pain and another attack.

This time Marc ducked low and swept the jackal’s legs out from under it.

It hit the ground with a thud but it twisted and lashed out with its claws, catching Moon Knight’s arm and tearing more at his sleeve. Blood seeped through the fabric and Marc let out a painful grunt.

The jackal leaped onto him, pinning him to the ground. Saliva dripped from its snout as it snarled inches away from his face. Marc gritted his teeth, using every ounce of his strength to keep the creature’s jaws from snapping shut on him.

"Khonshu!" he shouted. "A little help here?"

His prayer went ignored as the moon above seemed to glow as dull as ever and Marc drove his knee into the jackal’s stomach, forcing it off him without the gods help. He quickly rolled to his feet and watched as the wound on his arm slowly stitched itself back together. 

"Least you could do you stupid bird."

He pulled out another crescent blade from his chest and charged once again. The jackal lunged too, claws swiping but Marc ducked under the attack and drove the crescent blade upward, straight into the oversized dogs chest.

A wail echoed through the empty street as the jackal writhed, until it stopped. Its body slowly decayed back into sand and distributed by the wind. Only thing left of it were Marc's own weapons.

________________

Marc slammed shut the door of his dimly lit safe house in Cairo, the sound echoing through the small space. His breaths were still heavy and his body aching from the fight. Steven had been right when comparing it with a feeling of getting run over by a truck. 

There was dried blood on his arm but his wounds were nothing more than fading memories and an itch. 

"That’s the third one this week," he growled, pacing back and forth. "How many more of these things do I have to take down? Harrow’s gone. Gone . This should be over!"

His reflection in the cracked mirror above the sink stirred and Steven’s familiar, concerned voice chimed in. “Marc, mate, yelling at the walls isn’t going to help, yeah? Maybe we’re missing something. What if it’s not Harrow but something else entirely?”

Marc scoffed, running a hand through his sweat-matted hair. “Yeah obviously! These jackals didn’t just pop out of nowhere.”

“Maybe we can’t figure it out alone,” Steven suggested hesitantly, glancing up from the reflection. “You know.. there’s a certain group of individuals we could—”

“Absolutely not,” Marc snapped, cutting him off. “We’ve been over this. I’m not asking the Avengers for help.”

“You don’t have to go in all ‘Cap’s bestie” Steven countered leaning toward him from the mirror. “Just... talk to them?”

Marc turned away from the mirror, clenching his fists. “You know they're nothing but trouble. Stark has us on the most wanted list and let’s not even start on that time with Hawkeye and Black Widow.” His voice was dripping with frustration as he glared at Steven. “I don’t need their help.”

“Don’t need their help, huh?” another deep, sarcastic, voice interjected as Jake appeared in the mirror, shifting into focus beside Steven. “Tell me  amigo, how’s that strategy working out for you? ‘Cause from where I’m standing, you’re bleeding all over the floor every other night.”

Marc exhaled sharply, gripping the edge of the counter. “I can handle this. We’ve handled worse.”

Jake shook his head, leaning casually against the frame of the reflection. “Yeah, sure, you’re doing great. Except these jackals just keep coming and you’ve got no clue why. You want to keep playing lone wolf, that’s fine. But if these things start showing up in places we care about—Layla, maybe? You still wanna to be stubborn then?”

The mention of Layla made Marc pause and his jaw tighten. He didn’t respond but Jake smirked nonetheless.

“Look, Marc.” Steven said softly, trying to diffuse the tension. “We’re not saying you have to trust them. But what if there’s something they know-, the jackals attacked them too you know?”

Marc was silent, his fists loosening as he stared at the cracked mirror. He hated admitting it but Steven had a point. He couldn’t protect everyone if he was running blind. Still, the thought of turning to the Avengers left a sour taste in his mouth.

“I don't like this.”

“Whatever you say goes, jefe. Just don’t take too long thinkin’. These perros don’t exactly wait for invitations.”

Marc scowled at Jake’s smirk in the mirror. “You sound like you’re pushing for it.”

Jake snorted, shaking his head. “Nah, don’t get it twisted. I’m just saying your routine isn’t cutting it. But calling the Avengers? That’s a different kind of stupid. We don’t need their interference.”

Steven threw up his hands from his side of the mirror. “Brilliant. Now we’ve got two of you being stubborn. Care to explain why, Jake? Or are you just being difficult for the sake of it?”

Jake leaned closer to the glass, his eyes sharp and unyielding. “You think those so-called heroes are going to help us out of the goodness of their hearts? They’ll want something in return—always. We’ve got enough problems without signing on to their mess. You think they’re gonna leave us alone after this shit show?”

Steven frowned. “Well, no, but they’re not bad people, are they? I mean, they’ve saved the world more times than I can count.”

“They save the world their way.” Jake shot back. “They already decided we're a threat.”

Marc nodded, his jaw tight. “I don’t trust them either. Last thing we need is Stark breathing down our necks, it’s bad enough with Khonshu calling the shots. I don’t need more voices telling me what to do.”

“Right, so your grand plan is to just... what? Keep taking these jackals down until they stop showing up?” Steven pressed. “That’s not a plan, Marc! That’s exhaustion waiting to happen!”

“I didn’t say it’s a good plan,” Marc muttered, rubbing his temples. “But it’s the one we’ve got.”

“Not necessarily,” Jake interjected, his tone darkening . “There are other ways to get answers. We don’t need the Avengers but maybe we need to start hitting harder. Make whoever’s behind this think twice about sending more of their pets.”

Steven blinked. “Hitting harder? What does that mean exactly?”

Jake smirked. “It means not waiting around for the next jackal to show up. We track the source and we make sure they regret it.”

Marc sat forward, considering Jake’s words. “You think you can find a lead?”

“If you let me take the reins, I can.” Jake said confidently. “Give me a night and I’ll have something.”

Steven crossed his arms looking clearly uneasy. “Oh, wonderful. Your reins. What does that mean, more blood? And what happens if it’s too big for us to handle alone? You know, the exact thing we’re trying to avoid?”

Jake shrugged . “Then we handle it anyway. We’ve dealt with gods, pequeño. Whatever this is, it’s not going to be worse than that.” Jake grinned, tipping an imaginary hat at Marc. “You won’t regret it, jefe.”

Steven muttered under his breath, “Oh, we absolutely will.” But he didn’t push further.

Marc groaned, his head falling back against the worn cushion of the couch. “Fine. Fine! Steven, you win. We’ll... reach out —but not to the Avengers.”

Steven’s face brightened in the mirror. “Really? You mean it? Because I was starting to think you two were just going to keep bashing heads until the jackals solved the problem for us.”

Marc rubbed his temples. “Spider-Man.”

Jake raised an eyebrow. “En serio? The kid?”

Marc shrugged exasperated. “He’s street-level. Low-profile. He’s not tied up in a million world-ending crises and he’s probably dumb enough to answer.”

Steven pointed at Marc’s reflection. “That’s the spirit. Just insult the child we’re about to ask for help.”

Marc waved him off and grabbed his phone from the coffee table. “Do you even know how to get in touch with him?”

“Well,” Steven said sheepishly, “I noticed his Twitter’s quite active. He’s very good at replying to mentions. If we just send him a polite message...”

“A polite message.” Jake deadpanned. “Yeah, sure. Why not? ‘Dear Spider-Man, please help us deal with rabid sand dogs. Sincerely, Moon Knight.’ That won’t sound unhinged at all.”

Marc groaned again. “It’s better than nothing.” He unlocked his phone, grimacing as he opened Twitter and made a new account. It wasn’t exactly his preferred method of communication, but desperate times and all that. He found Spider-Man’s official account—verified, of course—and started typing.

@user15673882651 — @FriendlySpidor

Need to talk. Jackals. Big problem. DM me. -MK.

He stared at the message, then added another line.

P.S. Not a prank. 

Steven peered over from the mirror. “Looks fine to me! Straight to the point.”

Jake let out a sarcastic laugh. “Classy. Real professional.”

Marc hit send before he could overthink it. “It’s done. Now we wait.”

“And hope he doesn’t just block us,” Jake muttered.

“See? Was that so hard? Now let’s just try not to scare the poor lad off when he actually replies. Maybe apologize for leaving him on a roof?”

Marc dropped the phone onto the table and leaned back, closing his eyes. “If he even replies.”

Marc sighed and willed himself up from the couch and went to close the bathroom mirror, effectively shutting it in Jake and Steven's face. 

He had to sleep this whole fucking mess off.

Chapter Text

@user15673882651 — @FriendlySpidor

Need to talk. Jackals. Big problem. DM me. -MK.

|

@user15673882651 — @FriendlySpidor

P.S. Not a prank. 

Peter stared at the tweet that he had pulled up on his phone. It was like 8am and he was trying to catch up on all the messages that had flooded him the night before. As Spider-Man he was always trying to interact with his community (the fact that he even had a community was already crazy enough) as much as possible, who knows if someone actually DM’d him for help or just wanted to share their own story.

Anyways, the point was that he liked to read random messages and tweets and he usually did so on his way to midtown. 

But what did user187388- whatever want from him and how does he know about the Jackals the Avengers and him were dealing with!? 

The tweet was from last night and the join date of the profile as well. Deciding to take the risk Peter shot the stranger a message. 

Official.Spider-Man

Uhhhh Yo? I saw ur tweet, is everything alright?

user18738826951

No. 

The reply came almost immediately and was just as confusing and short cut as the dudes tweet to him. 

Official.Spider-Man

So what can I help you with exactly?

user18738826951

Are you really the Spiderkid?

Official.Spider-Man

That's what the blue checkmark is for dude

And its Spider-MAN 

user18738826951

Sure.

So what's your Plan?

Official.Spider-Man

Bro who are you and how do you even know abt the Jackals😭

user18738826951

I told you already. I’m sure Stark already linked me to Moon Knight, that’s why I signed off with MK. 

Official.Spider-Man

Dude why are you tweeting me 

you already have my number from the group chat

and how would I know that MK means moonknight for all i know a Mary Kingston could have hit me up or something??

user18738826951

That’s just stupid. 

Mary wouldn't know about the Jackals.

Official.Spider-Man

Wow

user18738826951

Stark wiped my phone, I threw it away anyways. 

Official.Spider-Man

lol true

so you need help with the jackals? 

arent you in cairo??

user18738826951

How do you know where I am?

And yes, I do need your help.

Official.Spider-Man

bro Mr Stark figured out where you are ages ago

so..?

whats up?

user18738826951

Ah. Makes sense. 

Let's not discuss this here. 

Can we meet?

Chapter Text

Movies always made faking an identity and sneaking onto a flight seem more difficult than it actually was. But when Tony Stark puts a national manhunt on your ass? Yeah, getting from Cairo to America suddenly becomes a lot harder.

Jake strode through the airport gate, silently praying that the stubble-and-mustache combo he’d grown for the past month did enough to sell his new identity. He moved carefully through airport security, keeping his pace steady and his eyes on potential escape routes. Only when he was seated and the plane was in the air did he finally let himself relax.. New York, aquí vamos ! 

---

Peter was chewing his lip again-, a nervous habit he was pretty sure he’d picked up from Ned.

He stole another glance at his phone, only to sigh and pocket it once more. Moon Knight was late, and the rooftop he sat on was way too damn cold for his Spidey-Suit.

Peter exhaled sharply, rubbing his gloved hands together in a vain attempt to generate warmth. He was starting to wonder if Moon Knight was even going to show when a gust of wind swept over the rooftop, and Peter’s instincts flared just a second before a figure landed silently behind him.

“Nice of you to finally show,” Peter muttered without turning around. “You know-, you knocked me out on a rooftop, this is a pretty traumatic moment for me.”

Moon Knight stepped forward, his white crescent cape shifting like liquid under the dim light. “I had to be sure you were alone.” His voice was calm and steady. And he completely ignored Peter's attempt at a joke. 

Peter turned to face him with his arms crossed. “Well here I am. Freezing my ass off. What’s so important you couldn’t just text me like a normal, weird, morally questionable vigilante?”

Moon Knight ignored the jab. “I need your help.”

“I figured?”

“The Jackals,” Moon Knight simply continued.

Peter frowned. “The Avengers have been dealing with them for weeks without you. What, and you want to help now ?”

“You're not the only ones who have been having problems with them. I think you forgot who informed the Avengers and why I left in the first place.” Marc said with a grim look obscured by his mask. 

The Spider-kid seemed to pick up on it anyways though. “Dude chill, I get it. You gotta know why I'm at least a little pissed at you though, right?.” Moonknight stilled as if listening to something and then let out a resigned sigh. “I'm sorry for knocking you out and leaving you on a roof.. that was uncalled for.”

“Damn right it was! Alright let's meet the team.”

“Just like that?” Marc asked in a surprised voice. Spider-Man echoed the question right back at him. “Yup, Just like that.” 

The three alters were filled with an odd mix of dread and deja-vu as they sat on the very couch that the Black Widow and Hawkeye had cross-interviewed him once before. The Avengers, more like Rogers, Stark and the kid, sat opposite him. Fun times.

“So you wanna work with us?” the Captain interrupted Stark who had been holding what could only be called a villain monologue since Marc had stepped through the door. Tony shot the super soldier a scandalized look but thankfully kept his mouth shut. Between Jake screaming at the man from a nearby window and the Spider-kid desperately trying and failing to stop Stark it had become quite difficult to listen to either of the three. 

“I feel like I could be of use.” Marc answered. “Khonshu has agreed to it as well.” 

“And again he goes with his imaginary mind controlling and, mind you, supposedly dead God! Windy you really gotta-!

“They're not imaginary Stark. Heed your words for you don't know the power behind them.” 

Marc could hear Steven and Jake laugh at him.

“Mate what just came out of your mouth-” he bit back a retort to Stevens mocking and instead continued to stare at Stark's dumbfounded face. 

“I'm just gonna ignore what you said and choose not to feed into your delusions.”

“You know-, I really thought that the wind-show that Khonshu put up the last time you were so ignorant was enough to prove my god's existence.”

Stark snorted out a laugh. “I'm still on proving that that was all you, Mister Specor-Grant-Lockley-, you know guys, I think we're  skipping over this work for hire, screwed identity thing too much.”

“We've talked about this, Tony.” Steve interjected. He turned his gaze back to Marc and asked once again. “You're here to work with us?” 

“Yes.” Marc answered this time. “I've been dealing with the Jackals in Cairo and if they're there, they could be anywhere and as much as Khonshu and I would like for me to take care of them on my own. I'm just one man.”

“Sounds fair enough to me, let's brief the attacks.”

Stark scoffed but pulled out a hologram nonetheless. Marc could feel Stevens' curious impression but he could only think about how impractical it must be to carry that disk around at all times. It was bad enough to remember where his car keys were but in Starks' defence, Jake loved to hide them.. he was very adamant about being the best and only driver in the body. 

“We've been attacked about thirteen times since your departure, our current strategy is to throw paint bombs, invented by yours truly, at them. Only way they are visible, costs a lot and is a nightmare to clean up afterwards. You got a more efficient strategy Moony?”

Marc just sighed and pinched his nose bridge. “I think I'm gonna have to clarify a few things first. And without-” he shot a scathing look at Stark. “any interruptions.”

Tony held his hands up in mock surrender and Spider-Man nodded eagerly. 

“I may have not been entirely truthful about my past... You know I was a U.S Marine Corps? Even dabbled a bit with the CIA before I was a mercenary, not that it matters. When I was discharged from the military I went work for hire for my old CO Bushman.” he let out a bitter chuckle. “I was on a mission in Egypt a few years back, it was-, the mission was to raid a dig site. Bushman changed the plan and called for no witnesses..” 

Marc looked up at the three Avengers “It wasn't right. I tried to get them all away but we didn't make it. I mean you've seen the report, you were very adamant about shoving it in my face.”

“I apologize but at the time-” Captain America tried to interrupt but Marc just continued on. 

He stared at the floor, his hands clasped tightly in front of him as if letting go would make everything spill out too fast. “I was just about bleeding out and dragged myself towards a tomb that was located near the dig site,” Marc said quietly. “Didn’t even know what it was at the time. Just saw a structure—any structure—and thought I could crawl into it and either die somewhere quietly or hide well enough until someone found me.

I wasn’t looking for salvation. I wasn’t hoping for some god to reach down and spare me but Khonshu did. They spoke to me that day and I was desperate and bleeding and they were an asshole but convincing so-”

Tony didn’t even wait a beat. “Then why the hell did Khonshu choose you? You think we’re just supposed to believe an Egyptian god randomly picks some half-dead mercenary crawling into a tomb to bleed out?”

“I don't know Stark—I don't have an explanation for everything!”

“Oho-” the man laughed, “I think you do.”

Marc’s eyes flared. “You want to know why they chose me?” He stood abruptly, the scrape of the couch being pushed backwards loud in the room. “Because I was at my lowest . Because I had nothing left. That's why.” 

Tony tensed but said nothing, watching him like he was trying to take apart a puzzle with no clear edges.

Marc went on, voice rising with every word. There just was something about Stark that made him unable to stop. “They didn’t save me. They used me. I wasn’t some hero and built myself a suit in a cave. I was a shell. That’s what made me perfect for them. Someone with no reason to say no. I was there to die . I’d already failed everyone else. The last thing I thought I had control over was the gun under my chin!”

The kid was the first to speak after Marc's outburst, he could imagine that his face was stricken behind the mask, his voice barely above a whisper. “You were gonna..?”

Marc didn’t look at him, just nodded. “Yeah. I was done. And Khonshu-, they didn’t stop me because I was worth saving. They stopped me because I was convenient . Because I was broken enough to rebuild however they wanted.”

Steve’s expression softened with understanding, but Marc wasn’t finished.

“You think I wear that suit because I believe in some grand crusade? No. I wear it because it’s penance . Because every night I wonder if it would’ve been better to just bleed out in that tomb. At least then it would’ve been my choice.”

Tony exhaled sharply, pacing a step away. “Damn…”

Silence followed. No one quite knew what to say until the Spider-Kid finally spoke, quietly: “You’re still here. That’s gotta mean something.”

Marc glanced at him and muttered “I guess it does.” before sighing, “I'm going out for a smoke. Alone.” and turning around to walk out of the door. 

Chapter Text

Avengers+

OG bird
Yo guys! Weird question but is Moon Knight here?

OG bird
I’m pretty sure I just saw him punching a wall

OG bird
He’s also talking to himself-..

BetterBird
Clint, what?

OG bird
Dude I swear to god

OG bird
I’m just chilling on my balcony and fucking Marc Spector comes storming outside 

Natasha
I thought he’s in Cairo?

OG bird
Yeah!! That's what I thought too!

OG bird
Istg @IronDad if this is your fault Nat will kill you.

Natasha
Sure

OG bird
You know what? I’m gonna go talk to Spector and ask him

BetterBird
I am genuinely amazed by your stupidity

OG bird
Oh shut up Sam

OG bird
Brb, I’m gonna hold an adult conversation now.

BetterBird
20 bucks say he’s gonna get punched in the face

Natasha
You sure you want to bet against me?

BetterBird
I’m gonna call Steve

Natasha
You go do that

BetterBird
You sound awfully unconcerned about Clint even though you evaluated Spector as dangerous

Natasha
My balcony also has direct line of sight on Spector.. and Clint who just ran up to him

BetterBird
Ah

Natasha
You can join me and watch if you bring snacks

BetterBird
Yeah okay, be right there

----------------------------------

The courtyard was quiet and Marc lit a cigarette with shaky fingers, the flame trembling for a second before catching. He exhaled slowly, watching the smoke drift into the night and cover the dull light of the moon. 

He hated smoking, hated the taste of it, but it was the only thing that gave his hands something to do right now and deep inside he could imagine Jake purring at the thought of nicotine in their lungs.

The air shifted behind him and there were light and careful footsteps behind him.

Marc didn’t turn around. “If this is about earlier.” he said without looking, “I’m not going to kill myself so you can put the webs down.”

“Funny.” came a dry, familiar voice that most definitely wasn't the kid. “I was thinking of an arrow to the spine. You know-”

Marc tensed and slowly, he turned.

Clint Barton stood about ten feet away, bow in hand, relaxed, but not entirely lowered. His expression was unreadable but his knuckles were white where they gripped the riser.

“You’re supposed to be in Egypt.” Clint said evenly. “Or a secure holding cell. Or literally anywhere but here , breathing New York air like you didn’t ghost us and vanish mid-magic-jackal-crisis.”

Marc took another drag. “Yeah. I get that a lot.”

Clint narrowed his eyes. “You skipped out on us and knocked Spider-Man out. Pretty sure Tony sent out a national manhunt after you.”

“I did.”

"And now you’re just what? Hanging out?"

Marc flinched,just slightly. He looked away. “I needed air.”

Clint’s eyes flicked down to the cigarette, then to Marc’s scuffed boots, then back up to his face.

“You okay?” he asked, a little too sharp, like he already knew the answer but was too polite to just call him out on it.

“No,” Marc replied bluntly. “But I’m not gonna put a hole in the pavement if that’s what you’re asking.”

Clint hesitated. The bow lowered another inch.

“I pinged the group chat.” he said after a pause. “Nobody told me you were cleared to be here.”

“Because I’m not.” Marc said. “They’re… figuring it out. I think. Maybe. I don’t know. I just almost cried in front of Captain America.”

“You cried in front of Cap?” Clint winced. “Man. Rookie mistake.”

Marc huffed out something between a scoff and a laugh. “Tell me about it.”

A long silence stretched between them.

The bow was finally lowered. Clint casually leaning against a wall and mustering Marc like he was trying to look right through him. 

“I thought we’d have to chase you down again,” Clint said. “You made it pretty clear last time you weren’t a fan of the ‘team’ thing.”

“I’m still not.”

“And yet... here you are.”

Marc didn’t respond at first and then, ”Yet here I am..”

Clint let that hang in the air for a few moments.

“Alright. I’ll bite.” He paused and glanced sideways. “You sticking around? And the others know you're here?”

“For now,” Marc said.

Another beat passed.

“Want to come inside?”

Marc looked at him. “Not really.”

Clint lowered himself down beside Marc, the cool stone pressing against his back as he settled. He glanced over, eyes flicking to the cigarette pinched between Marc’s fingers.

“Mind if I have one?” Clint asked, voice low.

Marc raised an eyebrow but didn’t move the cigarette away. “Suit yourself.”

Clint gently took it from Marc's hand, bringing it to his lips. Clint inhaled slowly, the smoke curling out in a steady stream.

“Thanks.” he said, exhaling and bringing the cigarette to his lips one last time before giving it back.

Marc watched the smoke drift away, then muttered, “You don’t strike me as the smoking type.”

Clint shrugged. “Not usually.”

Marc flicked ash onto the ground. “Yeah. I get that.”

They sat quietly for a moment, sharing the calm, broken only by the occasional crackle of burning tobacco.

“So,” Clint finally said, “why come back here? After doing all that to get away.”

Marc didn’t answer right away. He took a long drag and let the smoke fill the space between them. It was weird talking to the Avenger again after the last conversation they had, for a second he remembered getting pushed out of his own mind, getting stuck in his headspace-, having to leave Steven to deal with his past mistakes, past kills… 

Marc was quick to take another drag from his cigarette, letting the nicotine do its work to calm him. 

Clint didn’t press him. He just watched quietly with one hand resting loosely over his knee while the other fidgeted idly with the arrow he had pointed at Marc.

“Because I don't get to be selfish.”

----------------------------------

“Give me my money, Wilson.”

Sam just sighed as he rummaged through his wallet and dropped a twenty in Natashas outstretched hand. She pocketed the money and gave him a bright smile. 

“How’d you know that Clint wouldn't start a fight?”

“He relates to Spector too much.”

Sam hummed and continued to watch the two figures in the courtyard.

“You know-, I feel like this was kinda an intrusion into their privacy..”

Natasha just took another sip from her glass of wine. “Welcome to the spy biz, don't even think about asking for your money back.”

Sam leaned against the windowsill, arms crossed, eyes narrowed at the figures below. “They’re literally smoking and trauma-bonding. That feels like sacred ground we should not be treading on.”

“Please,” Natasha said, swirling her wine like this was the least interesting part of her evening. “If they wanted privacy, they’d have picked a rooftop. Courtyards are for existential crises with witnesses .”

Sam gave her a look. “That can’t be an actual rule.”

“It is if you’re Russian.” She took another slow sip.

Down in the courtyard, Clint had stood and was saying something quietly before turning toward the building. Marc didn’t follow.

Sam sighed again. “You think he’s gonna come inside?”

“He will.” Natasha’s voice was confident, too confident. “Just needs to finish the cigarette. And the emotional spiraling.”

“And the crippling guilt?” Sam added.

“Oh, that’ll take longer. Might need a second cigarette.”

They both watched as Marc flicked ash to the ground, staring at nothing, cigarette still burning slowly in his hand.

Sam ran a hand over his face and took a sip of his own drink. “You know, I genuinely thought you would finally lose a bet. I didn't take Clint for a deep talk kinda guy.”

Natasha grinned. “And yet here I am. Richer, smugger, and still undefeated in emotional manipulation bingo.”

He shot her a look. “You’re terrifying.”

“I know.”

They stood in silence, watching the lone figure in the courtyard finally stand up and drag himself back into the building after one last exhale of smoke.