From the Parker Industries building, they saw Shuri off, said goodbye to Gwen, who was excitedly pouring over the recorded data with Liv and called a taxi for themselves. Wanda explained the strange magical note she had received, and now Peter and Wanda made their way to the address the mysterious message had left.

While everything was proceeding nicely, there was a lot of paperwork and other arrangements to be made. Peter would have to formally present himself to the Wakandan council, formally introduce himself to the Royal family, and kick the ass of any challengers to his position. The first two seemed more daunting to him, as fighting seemed to be a fairly frequent occurrence, but a mother in-law was new.

While Shuri was going to be busy, so was Peter. The next time they would see her would be at the latest Stark Expo, where not just Tony but Justin Hammer, and now Parker Industries had presentations. With his time at Shield officially over, and the week of clearing up after the mess Shaw had made, it was nearing a new spring. As summer would be the perfect time for Stark to hold his Expo, they had time to prepare.

Liv had already made up a schedule, Gwen’s work was being showcased by Stark, so she was invited as a guest, but not as a speaker, and it was Peter's responsibility to give the demonstration of not just the new CLA system but the harness they had designed. They had four months before they needed to be ready, but Peter knew from school that four months was nothing once everything started to get organised.

As Peter and Wanda made their way to Bleecker street, it was a nice area and the outside of the building was well maintained, “You can knock you know,” said a portly Asian man, with short black hair and a serious look on his face, “The doctor will see you now, and I am Wong.”

Peter opened his mouth, about to make a small joke but he felt a pinch at his side and Wanda was glaring at him, with a raised eyebrow. He smiled and shrugged, and as Wanda and the group moved Wong shook his head, “sorry, Miss Maximov only, at least until we can be sure. While it’s not every day a new sorcerer comes to the sanctum, we do prefer to keep the rest of the supernatural creatures away.”

“Supernatural?” and Peter shrugged, “alien but okay.” and he waved a hand “hurt my girlfriend, blah blah. You get it right?” and Wong laughed and nodded,

“You would be surprised, but yes, we do. Stephen is a competent teacher, no harm will come to Miss Maximov while she is here.”

Peter gave Wanda a kiss on the cheek, “have fun at school,” and she smiled and shook her head before knocking and entering. As Wong went back to sweeping the entrance, Peter hailed a cab back to the warehouse.

It was quiet when he got there, and it was a bit strange. He had gotten used to being out all day at the academy, only returning home for an emergency but it was back to the old routine and he was at a loss.

Liv had been busy with the schedule for the Stark Expo, Jean was working on her internship with Curt, while Gwen focused on her symbiote research. Laura was still receiving lessons, and Ororo had agreed to teach her at the mansion, so she could interact with other Augmented and gain her qualifications at an accredited school.

It was Peter who was at a loose end. Liv had yet to get back to him about his role in the Expo, and the thought of giving a speech or presentation was slightly off-putting. He knew he was never the most social of people, and standing in front of a big ass crowd was more nerve-wracking than facing down a supervillain.

Even his usual routine of sketching components and other small but stupid devices was on hold. Liv had taken all his drawings and asked that anything he did be put through official Parker Industries channels. After Tony and Hammer had divided up Oscorps empire between them, and they had fought to get back what they could Liv was making sure that nothing Peter did ever went out of the warehouse. He didn’t complain. Once Matt had set him up with a corporate lawyer, she had hidden her laugh well but he knew they had been screwed.

Hammer was the easiest to deal with. They ignored him. The glider technology was useless, as Venom mainly used his web lines to travel and the rest of the tech was already back with Liv. Even the military had turned its nose up. Single pilot vehicles were useless, and the drone tech was only useful if you had a team of pilots.

As Venom and Spider-Man had taken out the two drones sent after them, he doubted that Hammer had the know-how to build better tha Norman, even if he was an asshole.

It was Stark that proved to be a problem. He had managed to stabilise Peters symbcells and created artificial ones. With the cells already patented to Peter, he used them anyway and had simply said ‘take me to court, and explain where you got them.’ While Natasha and Fury made it clear that Venom was no longer a wanted criminal, JJ’s insistent rantings still made him public enemy number six or something, Peter had stopped listening to the man a long time ago. 

Outing himself as Venom in court would out everyone else, and the damage to Parker Industries, the damage to MJ’s career, and the strain on May and Curt would be too much. Felicia would escape scrutiny, as nobody knew she was Huntress, leader of the Black Cats, or at least nobody who would be willing to stand up in court and admit it. The one good thing about scumbags and crooks, was unless they wanted the cell next to yours, they tended to stay quiet.

In the end, he used the Mind Stone and then emailed Pepper. 

‘We’ll play nice, let Tony have his nano suit, but nothing else. If he goes public with it, sells one single cell I will make sure the world knows exactly who Tony Stark is,’ 

and attached a list of court cases and incidents, many Pepper herself was unaware of. Right at the top was the death of Obadiah, and Iron Man’s involvement. After checking with various agencies, she had no idea where Peter got the information from, but it was enough to not just put Tony in jail, but kill Stark Industries with the resulting scandal.

After a few rounds of thinly-veiled hostile emails, the matter was settled. Tony could use the nanotech for Iron Man but nothing else. Gwen had officially cut ties with Stark Industries and all of Gwen’s patents currently being manufactured by Stark were returned, each one deducting from the final settlement Gwen would receive. Even the Stacy formula was returned, which surprised Peter until he got a phone call from Aldrich, and after arranging to meet, he finally found out why.

Rather than a fancy restaurant, Peter met Aldrich in a small coffee shop off Central Park, and as the pair sat at a table. Peter gave Aldrich a concerned look.

He hadn’t shaved and what would now be a 10 o’clock shadow graced his face, his hair was unkempt and unwashed and Aldrich himself had failed to shower and Peter plugged his nose,

“Well, Aldrich, you look like shit. What happened?” and as Aldrich looked around to make sure the staff were busy, he opened a small flask and Irished his coffee. As Peter shook his head, Aldrich took a small swig and returned it to his coat.

“Maya, and fucking Stark.” Aldrich venomously spat, “She left me.” and with slightly jittery hands Aldrich lifted and took a large gulp of coffee, sighing and leaning back. “I don’t know whether to blame you, or Stark, or myself, but FuturePharm is gone. Maya left and took it, took all of it in the divorce,” and as a few people glared at him, he sneered at them and leant forwards, cradling his cup with both hands.

“Maya was mad. It seems inviting a hot blonde to fix the formula you spent your life on isn’t a great idea. Fucking ungrateful bitch. I saved her life. We saved her life and she goes crawling back to that, that bastard.” and he lifted his cup and drained it more, “He even got his licence back. He bought out the rights to Extremis, claimed it was his formula originally, and snatched it.” As he took a final swig of the coffee, he left a small amount in the bottom and topped it up with his flask. “Didn’t matter that Gwen fixed it, she did it without permission, and without registering it. It wouldn’t, didn’t stand up in court and he just walked away with that stupid smug grin of his, and my work.” Aldrich took another drink from his cup,

“Add to that, Hammer is going apeshit, claiming you took his armour and gave it to Shield. I have nothing Peter, without the Extremis licence, even if I did have to company, I’ve got nothing. Maya took it all.” but Peter had no idea what to say to the man.

He knew that Extremis had been created by Tony and Maya. Tony had found his father’s old notes on the super-soldier formula and set about improving it. But unless he sent Gwen to work there, and allowed Aldrich to manufacture the Stacy formula, there wasn’t a lot he could do.

“Aldrich, I don’t know what I can do, I mean, Parker Industries needs Gwen, she’s bringing in a lot of money-” but Aldrich waved a hand at him,

“No, I’m gone. Too many bumps in the road Peter. Too many stupid people making decisions about my future and expecting me to bend over while they laugh at me.” Aldrich reached into his other suit pocket and pulled out a sheaf of papers, “All I have left Peter, that’s it all. Take it.” and as he offered it to Peter, he ordered them both more coffee and began to read.

“You know I can’t do this without asking?” and Aldrich shrugged and drank his newer, but still Irish, coffee.

“You’re the boss, or do they have you by the balls as well?” and Peter felt a twinge of annoyance at him, but given the circumstances he ignored it,

“No, handing over five million dollars for this goes beyond a simple favour.” and as Aldrich scowled Peter just shook his head, and holding up a finger, “I didn’t say no.” and Aldrich watched in amazement as Peter held his phone under that table and spread his symbskin over it, Peter grinned and after a few moments, took out a pen and signed his name on the contract.

“Liv and Gwen agree. Once she signs, you’ll get your money.” and Aldrich leant back and sighed in relief. “We do need to get the lawyers involved though, a property of this size and value, if Maya-” but Aldrich waved a hand

“That’s what I got to keep. Stark probably thought he was being smart, knowing I had a plant but nothing to use it for. So jokes on him, and while I hate the mess you made of my life Peter,” but he never continued, he just shook his head. 

“I’m going to Hawaii, screw New York,” and as he took the last swig of his coffee, “and screw Tony Stark.” he bundled the signed contract into his coat and got up. “Oh, one last thing. Justin’s got some big reveal at the Expo. Something massive and he’ll probably quit AIM, but let him. I always hated him, the smug asshole.” he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, flicking through a pile of cards he took out one in particular,

”Here,” and he offered Peter the card. “I know an upcoming scientist who would probably love to work with Parker Industries. His girlfriend went to school with Gwen I think,” and as Peter took the card Aldrich stretched and took a breath, “I doubt I’ll see you again Peter, but it was. No, it wasn’t.“ and he looked sad as he shook his head, “Take care Peter. Oh and if you get to punch Tony, do it twice.” and with that, he walked away.

Peter started at the business card,

Reed Richards

Inventor Extraordinaire

Baxter Building

New York