Just a kid from Queens (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
websnextdoor) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
nexus_crossings2018-07-14 06:39 pm
websnextdoor) wrote in nexus_crossings2018-07-14 06:39 pm
Doing Good
The AV field can only protect the Nexus so much.
Sure, it makes sure no one's hurt for the most part unless it's broken. And that does cut down on a lot of crime. Kinda hard to murder someone, or rob someone at gunpoint if there's no real threat to the victim. But petty theft? Pushing someone down, taking their shit, and running off? That's a huge crime problem in the Nexus. Especially with hundreds of doors to flee to other worlds and PINpoints to get back to a safe house of the thief's choosing.
And wouldn't you know it? Petty theft is one super hero's bread and butter specialty. Webbing a thief up doesn't hurt them and it keeps them from pointing away long enough to call in the sheriff or his volunteer officers to scoop up the criminal. It does leave some stolen goods unaccounted for though. Which is why there's a friendly Nexushood Spider-Man calmly walking through the plaza with a handbag and some kind of weapon in each hand. A ways back is a struggling reprobate webbed up good and snug to a tree.
Every now and then he stops and holds them both aloft.
"Hey, anyone missing these? Does anyone know who had their stuff stolen? Is there a lost and found in the Nexus?"
Sure, it makes sure no one's hurt for the most part unless it's broken. And that does cut down on a lot of crime. Kinda hard to murder someone, or rob someone at gunpoint if there's no real threat to the victim. But petty theft? Pushing someone down, taking their shit, and running off? That's a huge crime problem in the Nexus. Especially with hundreds of doors to flee to other worlds and PINpoints to get back to a safe house of the thief's choosing.
And wouldn't you know it? Petty theft is one super hero's bread and butter specialty. Webbing a thief up doesn't hurt them and it keeps them from pointing away long enough to call in the sheriff or his volunteer officers to scoop up the criminal. It does leave some stolen goods unaccounted for though. Which is why there's a friendly Nexushood Spider-Man calmly walking through the plaza with a handbag and some kind of weapon in each hand. A ways back is a struggling reprobate webbed up good and snug to a tree.
Every now and then he stops and holds them both aloft.
"Hey, anyone missing these? Does anyone know who had their stuff stolen? Is there a lost and found in the Nexus?"
no subject
What exactly are you going to be able to do about this, Peter? It's not like you can just invite him to stay at your place for a while. Aunt May would freak out. Again. And it'd put your identity at risk AND he's pretty sure if Mister Rogers got in trouble again it would technically be his fault and he could get in trouble too. It's a whole ball of Nope but it doesn't stop Peter from feeling bad about the situation.
Maybe if he can get the PINpoint thing figured out he can help get Steve back home.
"I suppose that's true. There's all kinds of food around here too, not to mention doors. I wish...I mean, I wish I knew if we were from the same world. I'd just show you where the door is I use."
Spider-Man gives a weak shrug since his hands are full and he can't rub at the back of his neck to ease his nerves.
"Not with anything living, obviously. I've figured out how to store coordinates so I've got a set on one side of the street and then another set across the way about twenty feet or so. I send the PINpoint with a pen or something and see if it shows up on the other side. If yes, I've successfully fixed it." Is this why Tony likes him so much? Giving Steve headaches with his half baked science experiments?
no subject
Only that idea makes him picture himself stepping out of some kid's closet, and that's weird on a couple levels. "I don't need you to do anything for me, kid. Just...keep an eye on Tony. Inasmuch as he'll let you."
The explanation of his experimental protocols puts Steve's mind more at ease, and his shoulders relax visibly. "As long as you're not sending yourself. That'd be a disaster waiting to happen."
Not that this is risk-free. He considers a moment, then says, "I wanna watch this. If you don't mind. I'm not sure I trust these PINpoint things yet, anyway."
Okay, mostly he just wants to be available to put himself in the way of shrapnel should this go badly, but he figures he has a better chance of a friendly reception if he makes it sound like idle curiosity and not pseudo-parental concern.
no subject
Once that's dealt with he gives Steve a small jerk of his head toward a coin operated set of lockers standing off to the side over by a long line of vending machines selling all manner of weird things off on the edge of the plaza.
"I keep my stuff over here." He pulls a key out and unlocks his unit before pulling out a backpack and a pair of sneakers before shutting it up again and heading off across the plaza. Man. it would be so much easier to do this if he was out of his Costume, but...hnggg. Tough choices.
"Come on. The place I've got plotted out for coordinates is out this way. I wanted a place out of the way that wasn't going to be super busy."
no subject
Yeah. Tony was his friend. Maybe he can be again some day, if they can forgive each other.
But none of that is Spider-Man's fault, and Steve isn't going to lay it on him. He just knows Tony puts too much pressure and guilt on himself, and he needs all the people--all the family--he can get around him to make him ease off. He's a little like Steve that way.
He follows the kid patiently to the lockers, and he doesn't have much of anything on him just now so he doesn't need one of his own, but it's good to know they're there. He's not going to question the costume. It's okay if he doesn't merit seeing the young man's face yet. Either he'll earn his trust eventually, or he won't and they can still work together under wraps.
"So if this works, are you going to open a local PINpoint repair shop?" he jokes mildly. "I could design your business cards."
no subject
Which is probably for the best considering he's how old?
Just look at that baby faced nose and cheeks when he pulls his mask up enough to hold a pen he's pulling out of his backpack in his mouth while he fumbles for the PINpoint and other junk he's scrounged up in his short time in the multiverse already.
"Little premature for that yet. I'm trying to test out if I've isolated the unit that reacts with the chronogps coordinates that get stored in the device and reattached them properly. Doesn't mean I know how they work or how stable it is. There's a whole lot in these things that seems waaaaaay outside the scope of what you'd find in just any smartphone."
With the pen free of his mouth, a deluge of jargon and observations spills out while Spider-Man jots down a few things in a school notebook that are popping up on the screen of the PINpoint.
"But that would be pretty cool, huh. Having my own multiversal business."
no subject
Steve doesn't get most of the technical terminology that comes out of Spider-Man's mouth, but the way he drops it tells him a lot about the young man. He's not, Steve thinks, even trying to talk over his head. It's the speech patter and enthusiasm of a kid talking about his favorite subject. (It also reminds him of Tony, except that Tony manages to sound patronizing a lot of the time, whether he means to or not).
"You may have one too many side-jobs to make that work already," he tells him with a little smile. "But you sure sound like you know what you're doing."
no subject
The anonymity is for everyone's safety, Peter reminds himself. Aunt May's. Ned's. It's better this way. But knowing that Steve Rogers--the original Avenger and super hero--thinks he's a smart cookie no matter if it's Peter Parker or Spider Man just fills him with pride. And yeah, it's probably best he doesn't tell Steve that. Man get's enough people looking up to a legend that's more propaganda than fact. But it's a lot simpler than that in Spider-Man's situation. Kid just really needs some parental figures in his life and he's not above assigning attachments to adults when they offer it.
He probably should be more careful just how many people he trusts though.
"Who me? I can multitask like a champ. But I'm perpetually late to everything as it is just juggling home life and this so...you might have a point." Speaking of points, Spider-Man hops back up to his feet from where he'd been squatting jotting down notes and takes a look around. The pen trick is pretty neat but it's not going to give him any new data. Oh! Peter rummages around in his backpack and pulls out the (slightly bruised) apple Aunt May had given him on his way out the door and gets to taping it to the back of the PINpoint.
"Okay. We're moving up to organic matter. I've got this thing set on a timer so I'm gonna hit the button and it should point right over there by that bench. You ready?"
no subject
In any case, Steve Rogers has a heart, which he wears on his sleeve, and the obvious enthusiasm the kid has for this project touches it. No matter how uncertain he is at this point that he's a suitable role model, Steve is used to people looking at him as such. It's an honor and a privilege. He's going to do it justice here for the kid's sake, not his own.
"You still in school? That's important too. If you are." Oh, Steve is dead positive this kid is still in school. Probably high school. But if he keeps it vague enough that it sounds like he maybe thinks he's in college, maybe the 'do your homework' message will come across softer.
"One of these days I should go back to university," he murmurs, half to himself. He's got a two-year art degree and a half dozen honorary degrees from various U.S. colleges. If tomorrow the world were permanently safe and he had no further work to do, and he and Bucky could come home? Yeah, once they were out of therapy, he'd put them both through school.
Anyway. He blinks at the apple and smiles. "And if it comes out the other side as applesauce, we'll know something's not quite right? Sure thing, let's do this."
no subject
Not so much.
"Huh? I uh--oh right!" University huh. God he doesn't even want to think about that. Sure, there's ESU and all but the amount of money it would cost even to get a four year degree, let alone a masters is enough to send a kid into a spiral of anxiety. "I am. Yeah."
He's beyond grateful for the change in subject. Thank god for science experiments.
"Yeah, something like that." Spider-Man hits the button and takes a step back away from the PINpoint and apple before it disappears in a tiny 'bip!' and reappears at the same time over on the ground next to Steve. It's no more or less bruised when Steve picks it up. Is the stem facing the other way? Impossible to tell really, maybe it's just turned slightly somehow.
no subject
Why do they do this to themselves? Steve supposes someone has to, but that a dismal train of thought.
"...what was that noise?" He asks when the apple transports over to him. He picks it up carefully, looking it over. "Does the device make a sound or was that the air displacing or something? Apple looks...okay, I think?"
He should have taken a closer look before Peter moved it. The bruises seem right, but if he'd paid closer attention he could make a definitive answer about the direction the stem should be facing in.
Leading in to Peter's next science experiments with a certain Exo
Freaked Spidey right the heck out the first time but he's more or less gotten used to it. Spider-Man is quick to hop over to where Steve's at holding the apple aloft and his grin is huge underneath the mask even though it can't really be seen. The rest of his body language more than makes up for it.
"Nice! Oh man, that's so cool that it worked!"
no subject
He sniffs the apple delicately, as if to make sure it wasn't cooked from the inside out or anything, then grins as the kid hastens over to him. He's really starting to like him. "I mean, I guess if you want to make sure the molecular-whatevers haven't changed in it, I could take a bite for you and tell you how it tastes."
He's halfway joking, and he hands the apple right to him in any case, satisfied it isn't about to turn into a fruit grenade. "I'm impressed."