Chapter Text
Peter was not having a good day. Mr. Stark had told him that King T’Challa and Princess Shuri were going to be in the city today. That in itself was not an issue for the webslinger. The problem was that for the last month, crime had been on the rise. And now with two members of a royal family in town, well that was certainly going to increase his workload. Criminals had this stupid idea that the police would be far too busy protecting the Wakandans to catch all of them.
All this really did was wear Peter down as he had already caught seventeen criminals and stopped two bank robberies; and it was only three in the afternoon. He was sitting on the edge of a building with a large pizza sitting on the ledge beside him. He was still in full spiderman gear with only his mask rolled up just far enough to be able to eat. The bright side of having spider powers was that he could crush a pizza with no problem. That was gonna be great when he was Happy’s age.
He was halfway through his pizza when he communicator started beeping and all he could do was groan. He knew it was going to be Mr. Stark with more work for him, but he was so hungry and was tempted to just ignore it. That determination lasted for about five seconds before he connected the call.
“Hey Mr. Stark, what can your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man do for you?” he asked with all the enthusiasm he could muster.
“About time you answered kid. You have about ten minutes to finish that pie and get to the tower. T’Challa and the Princess have arrived so hurry it up” Tony said before hanging up the call.
Mr. Stark must have been in a really good mood today, he gave Peter ten minutes to finish his food. He was excited to meet the Wakandans. He had never met a King or a Princess before, so he was a weird mixture of excited and nervous. Super powers didn’t stop you from being a dork in front of royalty.
*S*
Sighing for the thousands time since they left on this trip, Shuri stared out the window of the jet. They were coming to the city to meet with the governor about establishing a new Wakandan Outreach Center in the city. T’Challa knew that she was eager to see more of the world and decided it would be a good idea for the princess to get more face time in front of the american media.
When the world learned that she was essentially one of the smartest people on the planet, it really inspired young women of all races to pursue scientific careers. She had even gotten a bit of an online following now. Her Youtube channel had over a million followers. It seems people appreciated science and puns as much as she did.
She finally saw Stark Tower, their first destination. She was interested in meeting Stark. While his own tech was behind hers, he was certainly brilliant. Men like him is why she was needed to handle the technological exchange. A brilliant mind could take one invention and spawn a hundred. Tony Stark seemed like a good man, but many out there were not.
Soon enough the jet landed on the helipad and she noticed that Tony Stark and fiance Pepper Pots were standing on the outside of the glass entrance to the top level. It was big news a few months ago when he proposed to her in front of an entire press corp, it even reached Wakanda. She noticed T’Challa move over beside her.
“Do not look so miserable, sister. Your presence is going to do a world of good” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“Broadway, brother!. We a literally near Broadway and we cannot even go see Hamilton? Are we not allowed to have fun? Must you taunt me again?” she moaned, standing to her feet and getting behind Okoye and her three Dora Milaje she brought with her.
“Ah yes, I forgot what a patron of the arts you are. You just do not want to go to this meeting” he chuckled.
She just looked at him slyly out the corner of her eyes and elbowed him that had him start laughing. Even Okoye had a smirk, one that disappeared the moment the door opened and she and the soldiers marched out of the ship followed by the royal siblings. Once they got neary Tony and Pepper Okoye and the soldiers split and stood with two on either side.
She watched as T’Challa shook hands with Tony and while she did the same with Pepper.
“Hey there Princess, any chance I can steal that brain of yours for the Stark Industries?” Tony asked while shaking her hand as well.
“I am going to have to decline your offer, although I might be willing to give you tips”
“I like her, Pepper we need to get one” he said nodding.
“How about we get through the wedding first, Tony” she replied, not taking him seriously.
Before Tony could reply with his own comment, everyone's attention was drawn to a new arrival swing onto the the top of the building, landing beside Tony. Naturally the Dora Milaje immediately aimed their spears at him.
“Woah!” the stranger shouted, throwing his arms into the air.
“Easy there, he is supposed to be here” Tony said before checking his watch, “Actually, he was supposed to be here earlier.
“Sorry Mr. Stark, there was another bank robbery on the way here. Seriously, that is the third one today” the guy said, exasperated. He even seemed to forget about the spears because he just threw his arms down and sagged his shoulders. Shuri had to bring a hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh from his antics.T’Challa motioned for his soldiers to stand down.
“It is a pleasure to see you again, Spider-Man” T’Challa spoke, recalling the boy from the airport fight. He was a good warrior, although he could definitely use some training. Spider-Man stared at T’Challa and recognized the necklace he was wearing.
“Oh you’re the cat guy from the airport!” he exclaimed before remembering he was talking to a king, “I’m mean uh... it's nice to see you as well your majesty”
Shuri couldn’t help it, she started laughing. He was all over the place in the most amusing way. He seemed to notice her laughing and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. She couldn’t believe that this person was a warrior that fought alongside her brother.
“Oh, I like your cool Princess Leia braids by the way” Peter said enthusiastically, giving her a thumbs up. She stopped laughing and blushed a bit. Especially because her brother began to laugh now, knowing that was exactly who she styled them after.
Tony clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention.
“Yes, it was a fun time and speaking of time we are on a schedule. So here’s the deal, you and I are going to escort King T’Challa and Princess Shuri to the governor's office for their meeting. Of course they have their own warriors and the police, but we’re going to be extra careful with this one.”
“Why didn’t you just fly there directly?” Spider-Man asked T’Challa.
“Currently airspace travel over the building is restricted. Security is being updated for potential vulnerabilities against aerial threats.”
Tony answered his phone as soon as it began ringing and announced that their police escort has arrived and the cars were ready. The group split up, with the Wakandans heading down to the cars while Tony and Peter prepared on the roof.
“Flirting with with a princess, kid? Didn’t know you it in ya, good job” he said as his armor began to attach to him.
“What!? Mr. Stark I wasn’t…” Peter began, hoping to clear up this understanding.
*P*
Peter swung between the buildings above the motorcade. There were four identical Stark Armored Cars with two police cars in the front and two in the back. Shuri and T’Challa were in two different cars with two guards each. T’Challa and Shuri argued over who Okoye would ride with, but in the end Shuri won and had her ride with her brother. She loved Okoye but her brother was a bigger target.
While Peter was sluggish and frankly annoyed before, he was much more alert and excited. As lame as it might sound, he was actually escorting a princess and king in real life. He didn’t ever think something like this would ever happen when he started being Spider-Man. Despite the cool suit and being mentored by Iron Man, he still felt like a dork in a hoodie sometimes. He hoped he would get to talk with the two at some point. She was wicked smart and might be able to give him some tips on his webbing formula. And T’Challa was just so cool, he is a superhero and a king, that was awesome.
He was even wearing his new suit Mr. Stark made for him, he called it the Iron Spider. He was surprised that Mr. Stark still wanted him to use it since he turned down officially joining the Avengers for now. He supposed it was just because the mission was just that important.
“Spider-Man checking in, how are you guys doing on the ground?” he asked through his radio. Mr. Stark was still letting him operate without the training wheels protocol. Although he made sure instant kill mode was disabled. He wasn’t comfortable with it being in the suit. He refused to kill someone, but if it absolutely came down to it, he needed it to be his own action and not a machines.
“Everything is fine down here unfortunately. I was hoping the car would break down so I could get out of this” Shuri groaned.
“I don’t think so, there are still three more cars little sister” T’Challa replied.”
“Genius or not, cars are one thing I love. You can always count on my cars to work, Princess” Tony bragged, fifty feet above Peter.
Peter was going to reply but something odd caught his eye. It was a reflection from a store on the right side of the street, it looked like something was running through the store. He suddenly felt a sense of danger from that direction.
“Incoming on the right side” Peter shouted as the glass front of the store exploded outwards.
It was a large man, standing at least seven feet tall. He was wearing metal body armor and charged head first into the side of the front right police car. It was flipped into the police car beside it, crashing both cars into the middle of the road. There wasn't enough time for the first armored car to avoid it and crashing to the two police cars. It was was horrifying as it broke through them and crashed into a building to the left. It left a trail of twisted metal through the street.
The motorcade slammed on their breaks, unable to go onto the sidewalks due to civilian foot traffic. Spider-man began to swing down towards the cars when out from between two buildings he was hit in the head by a man in green on what appeared to be a hoverboard. A very painful hoverboard. He webbed himself to the side of a nearby building. He couldn't let the criminal know it, but that hoverboard was kind of cool.
“Kid, go help them on the ground and I’ll deal with Marty Mcfly here” Tony said shooting a blast at the flying...was that an elf?
Peter turned and looked back the ground and the scene had gotten worse in just a few seconds. The Wakandan warriors were in the streets doing battle with criminals in body armor shooting assault weapons at them. Black Panther was engaged in battle with the man from earlier who was ridiculously strong and keeping T'Challa on his toes.
“Princess, where are you?” he asked, swinging down, kicking a mercenary in the back who was about to pull a grenade. The man flew across the street and smacked his head on the sidewalk, knocking him out.
“I am in still in the car!” she yelled, keeping her head low. The car was armored, but that didn't seem to matter to a guy who headbutts them with no problem. \
“Okay, stay in there. It is well protected and should keep you safe while we get these guys” he replied confidently. He didn’t feel confident right now, but he didn't want her panicking.
Landing between two other soldiers, he crossed his arms and webbed both of them and pulled them together above his head. They collided hard and were webbed together.
He jumped back on instinct as a large blue mailbox was sent flying past him. He turned and was startled to see the Shocker standing there. He should be in prison, Peter had beat him and the others months ago. Yet here he was wearing tactical armor and armed with his gauntlet.
“Herman? Shouldn’t you be in the birdcage with Toomes?” Spider-man snarked as he webbed the same mailbox and threw it at the Shockers chest only for it to be backhanded away with the gauntlet.
“Ooookay, he’s learned a new trick” Peter said aloud before dodging the electromagnetic bursts being aimed at his body. He wasn’t sure how that thing would interact with the Iron Spider but he was sure it would do damage.
“Hey Panther, wanna change dance partners? His electricity clashes with my tux”
Black Panther nodded and launched himself at the Shocker. Meanwhile Spider-man faced down a charging beast of a man. When he got close, he attached a rope of web to a building and wrapped it low on power pole. The mans momentum was too much to stop and he ended up tripping and sent flying into back of the armored car that T’Challa was previously riding in.
“I think we just got off on the wrong foot, truce?” he taunted as he leaned against the lightpost. That stopped quickly when the man pulled himself out of the trunk of the car and grabbed a hold of it. Sure enough lifted the car and threw it at Peter.
“Take that, bug” the man shouted.
Peters eyes went wide as couldn’t just dodge due to civilians still being in the building behind him. He braced himself to catch the car. As it made contact, four metal spider legs came out of the armor to help support the weight of the vehicle, much to his own surprise. Once he had a solid grip, he set car on the ground. Just in time for the man to slam into the car, knocking him into the lobby of a bank and sliding across the marble floor.
“Of course it's a bank” he groaned on the shiny floor. He was sure that at least one of his ribs were broke, but it seems liked the suit took the brunt of the damage. Civilians were screaming from the destruction.
“Hide inside the vault everyone, you’ll be safer in there than out there” he yelled to them as he pulled himself to his feet.
Looking through the front window he could see the guy casually walking towards the bank. Peter webbed two walls and began stepping backwards to form a human slingshot. Once he was far enough back, he launched himself through the front of building and over the head of his opponent.
As he passed over the man, he webbed the mans chest and swung as hard as he could overhead onto the ground. The impact shook the street and left a foot deep hole in the ground where the giant finally rested. The biological readings he was giving off indicated he was just knocked out. He decided to web him up just to be sure.
He was getting ready to go assist Black Panther when he saw a rocket flying straight for the car that Shuri was hiding in. He didn’t have time to waste, he shot web onto the rear passenger door and using all of his strength, ripped it off. The next one hit Shuris torso directly and he pulled her to himself and out of the path of harm before the rocket while pulling them both up onto the the wall of a nearby building. The explosion rocked the area, but she was safe.
“Are you okay, princess?”
“I’m fine, thank you for saving me” she said in a shaky voice. That was a rather close call. From inside the car she didn’t even know a rocket was coming for her.
“Hey Spidey, get the princess back to the tower, she’ll be safer there. We’ll mop up these guys” Tony ordered.
“Yes sir” he affirmed before looking at Shuri, “Hold on tight, Princess!”
*P*
Peter swung through the streets while Shuri held on with everything she had.Peter made sure he kept his left arm around her waist, his strength assured that he would not accidentally drop her. The made it a block away from the main fighting. It was beginning to look like they were in the clear when mid swing an explosion of bullets destroyed part of the brickwork his web was attached to.
Peter tightened his grip as they fell before shooting another web and swinging them back up higher. With a quick turn of his head, he saw four quad drones with guns attached to them flying in formation after them.
“Oh boy, I’m gonna need both hands for this, sorry princess” she said, before having his AI Karen activate the spider legs. The crossed over Shuri and held her tightly to his chest. With both hands freed his maneuverability greatly increased and he began swinging between buildings faster and taking sharper turns.
“Spider-man, two of the drones are missing” Shuri informed him, looking over his shoulder to help him keep track. While this was very dangerous, the whole situation was rather exciting for her. Normally the only time she was involved in the action was when remote controlling a vehicle for her brother.
He dodge another barrage of fire from the two drones that were still perusing from behind them. He wasn’t sure how much ammo those things carried, but he imagined it was enough to get the job done. He had a feeling that the other two were setting a trap of some kind and needed to figure it out fast.
Sure enough two of the drones appeared ahead of them, leaving them surrounded in the air. He didn’t have time to warn her, only to act. He really hoped she would forgive him for this. He released the Iron Spider legs and as she began to fall, he latched on with with one hand on her forearm. They looked each other in the eyes for just a moment before with a mighty swing, he threw her twenty feet into the air.
“Activate rapid fire, Karen” he yelled to his AI. It was then he spun in the air and rapidly shot all four of the drones, clogging up their propellers and causing them to fall to the street below. With a swift movement, he stuck all the drones to buildings and caught Shuri. He swung the both of them onto a nearby rooftop and set her down for a moment.
“You could have warned me you were going to do that, webhead” she exclaimed, slapping his chest, much to chagrin of his broken rib.
He wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be an insult, but he kind of liked the nickname webhead. At least when she said it. Her foreign accent made it sound interesting and he was definitely getting distracted when he shouldn't.
“Sorry Princess, I had to act fast. I didn’t want to risk you getting shot and we were surrounded” he weakly explained. He really did feel bad for her, he was used to moving around like that so it was no problem. But she must be feeling sore and disoriented. If he wasn't more careful he'd become The Friendly Neighborhood Whiplash-Man.
“Don’t worry about it, I was just startled” she huffed, not really that mad at him. She was more mad at the people who tried to kill her with such primitive weapons.
“This is sweet, but I think we need to discuss the bill for my toys that you broke” spoke a man who casually flipped onto the roof they were standing on.
Okay he was wondering what the deal with these guys was. The guy in front of them had a giant mechanical tail attached to him. There was green fluid running through the tail, which he assumed to be it’s power source.
“So do you guys have a club name or something? Because you guys all clearly shop at the same arms dealer. Do you get a group discount?” Peter snarked, causing Shuri to snort and fail to suppress to a chuckle. This did not please the stranger.
“Cute, lets just get to the part where I kill you and the Princess over there” the man snarled, mechanical tail shifting around behind him.
“Stay back, I’ll deal with him” Peter said before launching himself at the new foe.
He didn’t want to admit it, but he was getting really tired. That second wind he got earlier when the escort began was now gone and he was really starting to feel his injuries. He and opponent engaged in a prolonged series of feints and strikes. Dodges and blocks. It was all becoming a blur to him and he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep this up much longer. He was not sure where the others were and didn’t even have time to radio them, every breath was precious.
He screamed out as the tail slammed into his left arm. He knew right away that it was broken. He couldn’t keep this up for much longer. He only had one trick left and it was really going to suck for his day.
“Karen, I need you to activate Gemini Protocol. Target Shuri and get her to the tower. Go!” he yelled.
The Iron Spider suit disengaged from his body, leaving him in a regular secondary suit. The armor lept at Shuri and then formed around her. In just a few seconds she was fully armored up. Peter winced as he looked down, there were blood stains on his uniform, his blood. Well that wasn't good.
“Spider-man, what is going on?” Shuri shouted as her body moved at the will of the suit. She found herself fleeing the fight. She couldn’t stop herself, no matter how hard she tried. She screamed at the last thing she saw before the suit brought her out of view.
Another round of furious combat started up between the two again, but Peters movements had slowed considerably and he knew it. He was slowly accumulating little bits of damage as more and more of his foes attacks kept slipping through. After a few more hits, his guard was broken and he didn’t have the strength to avoid what happened next. The tail shot forwards and buried itself into his torso. He thought he would feel pain, but instead he just felt fatigue and numbness spreading all the way out to the tips of his fingers. Peter fell to his knees as the tail was pulled out and the man stepped closer.
“I guess we can call it even on those drones after all” he laughed, using his foot to nudge Peter off the edge of the building. The last thing Peter saw before passing out was the ground rushing up to meet him. He did enough,
*S*
Shuri paced back and forth in the tower. The armor was still on her and not allowing her to leave the building. She was not sure what was going on and frankly she was worried for everyone, especially Spider-man. The stab from that tail looked nasty and she wasn’t sure if he would survive. She received directions from the house Ai on preparing a medical cart and some beds for anyone injured.
She even called up a few doctors that Stark kept on staff for his employees. Say what you will about the man's private life, but he took care of the people that worked for him. It was ten agonizing minutes later when Iron Man came flying into the building with Spider-Man in his arms, body limp.
She quickly waved him over to a bed and they set him down. She withdrew a scalpel that began to cut cleanly through his uniform. She cut open the chest and removed the mask. She hated violating his privacy, but she needed to be able to check all of his vitals. She gasped when she saw his face. His voice did sound young, but she wasn’t expecting him to be around her own age.
She shook her head and focused on his primary wound from the tail. In and around the wound was the same green liquid that they saw in the tail. She began cleaning the wound to try and get a better look at the injury. She made sure to take several samples of the green liquid and shoved them towards Tony.
“Start examining this right away, we need to know what we’re looking at, I will focus on stabilizing him. Also bring me any of his medical files that you have so we have something to compare it to.”
She didn’t even realize that T’Challa and the other Wakandans had arrived and were being seen to by each other and the doctors on site. Even pepper was using the EMT training she learned to patch everyone up. The watched proudly as Shuri lead everyone, giving orders while simultaneously saving a life.
Shuri focused intently on trying to repair the damage with the tech she had on hand. She had retrieved and emergency kit from their aircraft. She was able to stem the bleeding and was going about setting his broken ribs and arm. The damage was extensive and it took her twenty minutes to finally reach a point where she could use a Kimoyo bead to finally stabilize him. She had him all hooked up and his vitals were weak but they were there.
She fell back into a chair and sighed. An applause began around her from the assembled Wakandans and Pepper. She finally fully realized that everyone else was there and began to push herself back to her feet to begin helping them. T’Challa was beside her in a flash, pushing her back into the chair.”
“Rest for a moment, little cat. We are fine, you have done well.”
Shuri sighed but did not fight it, the whole event had been exhausting. Pepper came over and used her authorization to disable the gemini protocol and remove the suit. She wanted to help earlier but Shuri had been a girl possessed as she prepared the area for the wounded. Shuri felt much better once she was out of the suit and rubbed her bare arms.
She moved over to a nearby couch and just sat down. She took several deep breaths to help keep herself calm. With the adrenaline gone, it was all starting to hit her. But she couldn’t focus on that right now. Pepper came over and sat down beside her. She placed bottle of water down in front of her, a gesture that Shuri really appreciated.
She began sipping on the water when Tony came back in, this time wearing sweats and a t-shirt.
“Okay whatever this stuff is, it’s alien. Possibly another weapon based of chitauri tech. Whatever it is, it’s deadly. If it wasn’t for his superhuman healing, he would probably be dead. We need a way to figure out what this stuff is and counteract it.”
“Then we shall take him to Wakanda. My labs are better and we stand a better chance at figuring this out, at the very least we can better stabilize him. What we have now will last half a day at most.”
Tony didn’t even take offense to that, he was putting his ego aside to help Peter.
“His Aunt will be here momentarily, we’ll have to run it by her first. But I say prepare the ship anyways, I think she’ll okay it.”
It was ten minutes when May Parker stepped out of the elevator and marched straight over to Tony.
“May, It’s good that you’re…” was all he got out before May punched him in the mouth.
Everybody was stunned but did nothing to intervene. Even Tony nodded, accepting that he deserved it. The second punch was harder to take, but it was now clear to him who taught Peter to throw a punch. He was pretty sure that his lip would need stitches, best not to comment on that right now.
“What happened to Peter?! You told me you would keep him safe!” she screamed, tears forming in her eyes.
T’Challa stepped forward and bowed to May in respect.
“I am King T’Challa of Wakanda. Your ward was escorting my sister and I to a meeting to begin a Wakandan Outreach Center here in the city. Our convoy was attacked by an unknown group using we believe to be alien weapons from the invasion. He fought bravely and saved many lives”
May was certainly stunned. She was not expecting royalty when she came up here. She was about speak when a young girl around Peters age stepped in front of her.
“My name is Shuri, if you follow me I’ll take you to Peter”
May nodded and followed her across the room to where Peters bed was. She gasped looking at her little boy was so pale and fragile looking with monitors hooked up to him. She notice bandages covering part of his torso with a light glow beneath it. It was all so overwhelming.
“Is he going to die?” May asked in a fragile voice.
“No, not if I can help it.You need to know, he saved my life. More than once today. He gave his armor to me and forced it to take me back to the tower. I have done what I can with what I have here.”
“I will pay whatever you need to help him” she said desperately. She didn’t know how she would get the money, but she would.
“Its not money, it’s technology. I will have a better chance of healing him in my labs in Wakanda. We have the most advanced technology on the planet, it will give him a better chance. We will take you as well to be with him.”
“Yes, please” she replied, holding Peters hand. She would take the best chance at saving his life no matter what.
Everyone prepared for transportation. Tony said he was staying behind and investigating the group that attacked them. The main members got away but they did get a lot of the foot soldiers. The ones the Wakandans didn’t kill at least.
It would take them an hour to reach Wakanda and they called ahead to have a medical team ready and her lab prepared.T’Challa sat beside Shuri and just wrapped an arm around her. They didn’t say anything and just sat there in silent solidarity. Sometimes the weight of a crown requires family to help you lift it.