Peter walked quickly down the street, heading back home with his phone pressed to his ear. The dial tone sounded loudly before Twilight's voice came through on the other end.

"Peter" she said in a cold tone.

"Whoa, what did I do wrong?" Peter asked in a surprised tone.

"You ran out on us, you left Harry when he needed you" Twilight answered sternly "You're his best friend, you're supposed to be there for him"

"Hey, you were there with him and you're is girlfriend" Peter said defensively.

"Maybe, but you've known him your entire life, I don't know him as well as you do and I don't know what I'm supposed to do when he gets like that" Twilight said "He needed you to talk to him and you ran off"

"It's not like that Twilight, I needed to take care of something" Peter said, placing his hand to his face and sighing "It was-"

"More important?" Twilight cut in.

"No, urgent, not able to be ignored" Peter snapped, his temper flaring briefly.

"Oh, and what was this urgent problem that's worth more to you than your friend's mental health?" Twilight asked in mock interest.

"Known criminal, Black Cat, I'm looking into her theft and bank jobs to try and see if she'll lead me to the Big Man" Peter said impatiently.

"And?" Twilight asked, seemingly knowing the answer before she heard it.

"And... and nothing" Peter said, lowering his head slightly "She didn't help me, she couldn't"

"So you bailed out on your best friend to chase after some random thief woman which lead you to nowhere?" Twilight asked "I thought you were supposed to be good at this whole superhero thing?"

"Look, I don't need to hear this from you" Peter hissed angrily "If you're just going to yell at me then I'll not talk to you"

"Yeah, go ahead Petey, just run out on me like you did before" Twilight said impatiently.

"Wait, when did this become about you?" Peter asked, casting a suspicious look towards his phone.

"I-It's not about me-" Twilight said, faltering at first before trying to regain her angry tone.

"Then why did you say it like that?"

"Slip of the tongue" Twilight snapped "Look, when you're ready to talk and ready to apologize you can come find Harry and I at his place where I'm being supportive, like a real friend would be" Peter exhaled angrily through his nostrils before hanging up the phone without a goodbye. He jammed his phone back into his pocket and stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets, staring hatefully at the side walk beneath him.

"Who the hell is she to tell me when I'm being a bad friend?" Peter asked angrily "I've got  job to do, I swore I'd do, and now she's yelling at me for making the right decisions?" Peter's rational mind kicked into gear for a brief moment and allowed him to think clearly for a second.

"No, I can't say it was the right decision, I should've stayed with Harry and waited to get Cat some other time" Peter sighed, snapping back to his anger-induced thought pattern again "But still, she has no right to call me out on what I did, she doesn't know what responsibility's like"

"And you think you do?" a familiar female voice said from ahead of him. He looked up to see the familiar, and angry, face of the Black Widow standing in front of his house with her arms folded. She wasn't wearing her uniform, instead wearing a pair of black jeans with a black shirt and a leather jacket. Peter could see a gun holster at her hip with a small handgun resting inside it. Peter scowled angrily at her as he came to a stop.

"I'm not in the mood Widow" Peter growled "Just get out of my way"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Fury wants to talk to you" Natasha responded coldly "Now" Peter attempted to push past her only to have her grab hold of his arm and pull him away from his door. Peter balled his fist and prepared to throw a punch only to be stopped by the barrel of a handgun being pressed against his forehead.

"You so much as breathe in the wrong way-" she said through gritted teeth "And I'll decorate the porch with your brains" Peter stood frozen for a brief moment before sighing loudly, uncurling his hands and looking up at the taller woman.

"What do you want?" he asked weakly.

"I already said, Director Fury wants to talk to you" she replied.

"And if I don't wanna talk to him?" Peter asked.

His response was the sound of Natasha priming the gun.

"Look, I'd love to, but my Aunt's gonna kill me if I don't get home before nine" Peter stated.

"All taken care of" Natasha countered "Your Aunt May thinks you're taking up Tae Kwondo at a gym in Manhattan and that you won't be home until eleven"

"And why did she believe that?" Peter asked.

"Because I said it convincingly" Natasha said, faking a sweet smile and a fake giggle before pressing the gun harder against Peter's head "Now let's get moving kid"

"In what?" Peter asked in an irritated tone "I don't see a car anywhere, do you?"

"Yes-" Natasha said, pointing at a black SUV across the street that Peter hadn't noticed "There, now move" Peter looked at the vehicle across from him for a long second before sighing, turning to face it and walking over to it as Natasha holstered her gun again with a smug grin.

"Why am I here exactly?" Peter asked angrily, looking down the table at Nick Fury who sat with a tablet in his hand.

"Because you're a superhero who is terrible at his job-" Fury stated, handing the tablet back to one of the S.H.I.E.L.D agents with a thankful nod "And we're here to fix that for you"

"Oh joy, how?" Peter asked with mock enthusiasm "Are you going to make me a better hero through the power of friendship or some bullshit like that?"

"No" Fury said curtly "What we're going to do is put you in a ring with an assigned trainer and beat the ever-loving hell out of you until you're able to last longer than thirty minutes against each of them" Peter folded his arms and leaned back in the chair, raising an eyebrow.

"Sounds fun, who am I gonna kick the shit out of first?" Peter asked.

"Well, seeing as how you can't throw a punch to save your life, we're going to give you a trainer who's been taught by the best" Fury said, pressing a button on the table and speaking "Steve, come on in" With that the door slid open and Captain America walked in, dressed in a pair of shorts and a S.H.I.E.L.D-branded dark grey, polyester exercise shirt. Peter took one look at him before turning back to face Fury with a finger pointed at him.

"No way, not a chance" he snapped.

"I'm afraid so Mr Parker, Steve here is going to teach you as best as he can to fight hand to hand, melee combat and certain throwing weapons until you can beat him yourself" Fury responded. Natasha chuckled from across the room before speaking up.

"If you're acting this bad about soft-heart Steve over there training you I can't wait to see who Fury's assigned to teach you grappling" she laughed.

"That would be you, Miss Romanov" Fury said with a grin. Natasha's face dropped immediately only to be quickly revived with a look of pure fury.

"Director Fury I refuse to even consider teaching this little brat how to cross his fingers much less how to fight!" she yelled.

"I can already do that thank you" Peter interjected quickly but Natasha ignored him.

"Sir, I beg of you to find someone else to do it" she continued.

"Sorry Natasha, but you're the best we've got to teach him what he needs to know" Fury shrugged.

"I think it's so nice of you guys to teach me this stuff for free" Peter said with a cocky smirk, leaning further back in his chair and placing his feet on the table.

"Oh, we're not" Fury added. Peter looked at him with a curious expression, leaning forward slightly.

"What do you mean?" Peter asked.

"We're preparing you for service kid" Fury explained.

"But I'm not joining the military" Peter stated.

"I know, you're joining S.H.I.E.L.D" Fury responded.

"Hang on, I never agreed to that" Peter growled, taking his feet down and leaning forward on the desk.

"And you don't get a choice to" Fury said, folding his arms "Like it or not kid, the day you become eighteen you become property of S.H.I.E.L.D"

"You can't do that, that's against the law!" Peter yelled.

"Sorry kid, but we are the law" Fury said "And there's nothing you can do about that" Peter's fist curled up on the desk as he glared angrily at Fury, unable to say anything in his defence.

"Now-" Fury said, activating a display on the desk and entering in a few commands "Shall we get started?"

"Do I have a choice?" Peter asked through gritted teeth.

"No" Fury responded.

"Fuck it then!" Peter said, throwing his hands in the air "Let's do this!"

Peter had changed out of his civilian gear and was now wearing a similiar outfit to Steve's only in a smaller size. The two of them were standing in a boxing ring with Steve standing in the centre of the area.

"Alright, we're going to start off easy" Steve said, rolling his shoulders "Come at me with your best hit, don't worry, I'll be able to take it"

"I hope so" Peter said, cracking his knuckles loudly. He slowly walked over to Steve, eyeing him up before throwing a punch. Within a second of the punch being thrown Peter was on the floor with a stinging pain in his stomach and the back of his head.

"The fuck just happened?" Peter asked, coughing in pain.

"Get up and I'll show you what I did" Steve said, offering a hand to Peter. Peter took it and pulled himself up, dusting himself off.

"Alright, throw the punch again and I'll do it slowly this time" Steve instructed, holding up his fists. Peter nodded and threw his punch one more time. Steve caught the attack in the flat of his hand. His fist then closed around Peter's fist and he yanked him forward. Peter allowed himself to be moved, seeing the Steve had pulled him forward, forcing him to extend his torso and leave his stomach open for him to drive his knee into. Once his knee made contact Peter attempted to hunch over to protect himself only to have Steve slowly press his elbow into the back of his head and push it down.

"See?" Steve asked "The biggest problem of fighting fast is that when you're throwing punch after punch you barely have any protection against counter attacks" Steve let go of Peter and allowed him to stand up straight once more.

"Right, try another punch but this time keep your stomach covered with your other hand" Steve said, stepping back and holding his fists up again. Peter took a moment to think about his next move before throwing another punch, holding his arm over his stomach this time. But this time Steve deflected the attack with his forearm and with a large step forward he put his body weight into a powerful punch that connected with Peter's face and knocked him flat onto his back with a loud cracking sound. Peter hit the floor with a heavy thump, dust flying out from underneath him and a pained sigh escaped his lungs.

"Son of a bitch" Peter moaned, rubbing his face with a hand "I thought you were going to do the same thing?"

"Did I say I was going to?" Steve asked in return.

"No" Peter sighed, dropping his head onto the floor of the ring and sighing once more "This is going to be a long day isn't it?"

"Probably, painful too" Steve said with a chuckle, offering his hand to Peter once more.

"Should I get a pillow?" Peter asked as he grabbed hold of Steve's hand "I get the feeling I'm going to have to get comfortable down here"

"That'd probably be a great idea" Steve nodded with a grin. Peter was pulled back to his feet and he dusted himself off again.

"Right, so first things first I think we should work on your stance" Steve said "In case someone goes for your legs"

"It wouldn't make a difference" Peter shrugged "I can just stick to the floor so they won't be able to push me over" Steve then suddenly rushed at Peter, the latter expecting the move and activating his adhesive powers. Steve swung his leg out and it collided with Peter's knee joint, causing it to bend painfully. The teenager hissed in pain, bending over to try and block the second kick Steve was preparing. Unluckily for Peter the kick was a feint and his duck had only opened him up more as Steve stepped forward once more and brought his knee up into Peter's face, the impact forcing him to stand up straight once again. His adhesive abilities kept him standing but this only proved to be a mistake as Steve then stepped back before lashing forward with a series of stabbing kicks that slammed into Peter's face several times before he brought up his hands and caught Steve's foot.

"Ha!" he exclaimed, believing he had won. Steve countered this by stomping his leg downwards, using his greater strength to pull Peter down once more only to again bring up his knee into the teen's forehead and knee him back up to a standing position with a painful thudding sound. Peter stood up for several seconds before dropping onto his backside clutching at his head.

"You OK there kid?" Steve asked.

"No I'm not fucking OK" Peter spat, his temper flaring and his pride stinging fiercely "I can't land a hit on you"

"So do you understand now why we needed to teach you to fight?" Steve asked.

"No!" Peter spat "How many super-powered nutjobs do you expect me to run into?!" Steve placed his hands on his hips and shook his head, giving Peter a disappointed look.

"What?" Peter snapped "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because I can't believe how deluded you are about this" Steve answered "I don't think you have a clue what being a superhero involves"

"Of course I do" Peter hissed, standing up again and taking his hands away from his head.

"So tell me, if you're so sure" Steve said sternly "Because I don't think you do"

"Being a superhero is about fighting crime in order to protect the innocent" Peter said, giving a textbook answer.

"And do you expect it to be easy?" Steve continued.

"Well... I guess it would be seeing as how I'm a superhero and not just a normal guy" Peter shrugged.

"So do you just expect to be able to waltz through your fights with no difficulty?" Steve asked.

"No, I-"

"Then why are you complaining about having to learn how to fight?" Steve cut in.

"Because I didn't expect it to be so..." Peter muttered.

"So difficult is the word you're looking for, you're trying to say that you didn't expect to have to put any work into this, that you'd just put on a costume and save the day within minutes" Steve explained "That's right, isn't it Peter?"

"No" Peter growled "I just... I'm just upset at how bad I am at this, I've only barely managed to scrape my way through the fights I've had, I feel like I'm not good enough"

"And that's why we're here, doing this for you" Steve elaborated "To train you to be able to look after yourself and utilize your powers to their full extent to keep people safe, so, are you going to stop complaining and start practising already?"

"I... I guess" Peter nodded, the red mark on his face beginning to fade away.

"Good, now we can start with leg movements and why being unable to fall over isn't the best battle strategy" Steve said, clapping Peter on the shoulder and moving away from him. Next Chapter: Malfunction Estimated time remaining: 11 Hours, 58 Minutes