Captain America has always been viewed as a symbol of strength. He may not be as strong as Thor, and that was understandable, but he was the strongest human on the team that didn't rely on the help of a suit or giant green monster.

But then Bucky showed up again and proved to be -if only slightly- stronger than Steve. The public would always view Steve to be the strongest, but the man knew that he wasn't.

And then one day, while fighting to protect Bucky, there was someone else that was stronger than him. He managed to hold Steve in place with a few strands of web without even trying, then easily caught the freight container that was dropped on top of him. Now that Cap knew who Spider-Man really was, he felt guilty for that fight... but was then reminded that this fifteen-year-old boy was stronger than him.

For one so small, Peter was surprisingly strong. It should be obvious by now to never judge a book by its cover, especially when it came to Peter... but the team couldn't help it at times. They knew Peter in his civilian life, so it was hardly believable that the kid was able to stop a train with his bare hands.

Captain America had taken a liking to Peter though, the kid was great and honestly too good for the world. And Steve knew... Peter was getting bullied. He knew from personal experience the signs of bullying, he knew that the way Peter seemed to dread school -something the boy loved- or the way that his grades were starting to go down, the times he would hear the boy's aunt call Tony and ask about any injuries that he received while crime fighting like bruises or black eyes... It broke Steve's heart.

He knew that the boy wouldn't tell anyone or ask for help, he didn't want to be viewed as weak. But Steve knew that staying silent and trying to handle it himself wouldn't get him anywhere.

So he started to go on missions with Spider-Man more often, trying to get the kid to open up about it. But how could Steve help when he never used to ask for help as a kid as well? It was almost like dealing with a younger version of himself... He suddenly felt the need to apologize to Bucky next time they met.

"So, kid, how's school going?"

Peter looked over, mouth full of sandwich and eyebrow raised. He quickly swallowed as he smiled, "It's pretty good. My friend, Ned, keeps freaking out over the videos you did for the school board and asking to meet you."

"They're still showing those?" His eyes widened, a groan building within him as the cringe worthy videos flooded his mind.

"Oh yeah, they show them for everything; PE, detention, special events, and a lot more."

"I knew I would regret that..."

Steve cursed himself later that night for not realizing that Peter had very easily switched the subject off of him. But it only confirmed his suspicions. Now he just had to think of what to do... If he told Tony and the others about this, then there would be a very large scene that would probably make Peter and a few parents very upset. But the last time he didn't tell Tony something, they ended up with a war. What to do, what to do...

Monday afternoon, Steve was very concerned about his decision. He was gaining a lot of attention from the students of Midtown High and would no doubt be attracting the media soon; but he needed to do this. There was no backing out now.

"Hey, Penis!" Someone yelled, Cap's advanced hearing picking up the voices from around the corner. He sighed and got off his bike, following the insults and snickers. "Where's my homework?"

Yep, Steve definitely remembered that from high school...

Just before he reached the corner that the voices were coming from, a redhead appeared next to him. "Hey there, stranger."

"Nat? What are you doing here?"

"Same as you, probably." Natasha glanced around, "you and the others."

Steve raised an eyebrow as he looked around as well, noticing the rest of the Avengers marching forward. He almost chuckled, of course they knew about Peter's problem.

"I told you to have it ready, loser!" There was a grunt of pain, then all seven Avengers were looking down the space between the buildings to see Peter pushed against the wall with a tall boy holding the front of his shirt, a smaller boy staring at the two with wide eyes next to the bully. "Now I'm going to have to hurt that cute little nerd in the library."

"Chad, maybe this is going a bit too far, man..."

"Shut it, Flash!"

"The teachers were getting suspicious, I had to submit it!" Peter shoved the other boy's hands off of him, ignoring Flash's hesitant statement. "I'll get you something else, just leave Caitlin out of it!"

"And give you a chance to let me get an F? Are you insane?"

"Chad-"

Peter was cut off as a fist slammed into the wall where his head was a second ago, the boy's mouth set in a firm line as the bully's hand burst into flames. "You don't get anymore second chances, Penis Parker."

"Holy-"

Chad swung his heated fist around, aimed for Flash now as Peter grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him out the way. He pushed the smaller boy towards where the Avengers were all running from, landing right in the arms of Captain America himself.

"C-Captain...?" Flash's eyes widened as he stared up at the hero, before being passed over to Scott.

"Evacuate the school!" Peter shouted, easily dodging Chad's fists. Scott, along with Rhodey, Clint, Bruce, and Sam, took Flash back to the open area of the school yard, ignoring the boy as he gushed over them.

"Peter!" Tony shouted, his suit forming around him as the spider boy was tricked to dodge a fake out and landed his face right into an inflamed fist. Peter was sent through the brick wall, a small curse of pain leaving him as he crashed into the metal lockers on the other side. Screams erupted around him as students ran towards the exits, directed by Clint -who kept a watchful eye on Peter as he stood up.

The boy glanced around before taking off down the hall, trying to dodge all the screaming people going in the opposite direction as him. Peter ran up to his locker, breaking the lock and pulling out his bag. Thankfully the hall he was in was already cleared, so he could easily strip and put his suit on.

Just as soon as he fit the large suit over his body, a wall of flames appeared followed by malicious laughter. Peter froze for a second, blinking at the fire before quickly pulling his mask on and slapping the spider on his chest.

"So you're the Spider-Man?" Chad appeared out of his inferno, his brown eyes now orange. "I've been looking for you... The boss said that if I harassed Peter Parker from Midtown, then the Spider-Man wouldn't be too far behind."

"Aw, you were looking for me?" Peter placed a hand over his chest, "I'm touched by this burning love you have for me, but I have to say..." He reached over and lifted a set of lockers into the air, tossing it at Chad. "I don't quite feel the same!"

The lockers hit their target, sending Chad through the wall; Peter winced slightly as he jumped through the new hole in a wall. "Oh, sorry, man... Since you're so incandescently strong with your fire, I thought you would be physically too."

The lockers shot up into the air in an explosion of fire, Chad standing in the middle of it with a look of death and destruction written on his face. "I'm going to kill you!"

"Oh dear, it looks like you're blazing mad now."

"Peter, really?" Tony asked, his suit landed next to the boy . "We all know that the proper term is 'exploding with anger'. I know you know better than that."

"Mr. Stark, I was saving that for last!"

"Can we just get rid of Sparky Sparky Boom Man?" Scott asked over the comms. "Those eyes of his are creepy and will haunt my dreams, and all my peaceful days will go up in smoke."

"You're all hopeless," Nat chuckled as she hopped over the rubble. "I agree with Scott though, let's wrap this up. We all came here to stop a high school bully, not an enhanced."

Peter looked back at everyone and frowned, noticing the very non-protective civilian clothes that everyone but Iron Man was wearing. Why on earth they would wear civilian clothes to a fight- Wait...

"Wait, what do you mean you were here for a high school bully?" Peter stood up from his crouch and turned to face the team, "Is that why you're all here? Because you think I was getting bullied?"

Clint fixed him with a look, most of the others staring at him as well, and Peter felt the need to look away to avoid the looks that promised a discussion later. This was exactly what he was trying to avoid by not telling them about the bullying... Now he would have to sit through-

"Oop, incoming!" Peter shouted, jumping out the way of a blast of fire. He twisted in air, shooting a web at Chad only to yelp as the synthetic fibers caught on fire, trailing the flame back to him. He quickly cut the web off of him and jumped back.

"Well that's just great," He complained, "I can't use my webs against him, we can't touch him without getting fried. How are we supposed to beat him?" 

"He's not strong..." Steve said, jumping out of the way of another attack. "So just keep throwing things at him. Nat, Clint, Bruce, Sam, Scott, make sure that there aren't any kids straggling behind. The rest of us will chuck the biggest things we can find at him."

"Bet three of my suits that I can find the best object to throw at him," Tony said as he flew off, not letting the other's have time to answer. Steve, Rhodey, and Peter all glanced at each other before running off to find the biggest things they could lift.

Turns out, throwing things at Chad only made him madder.

Mad Chad is very bad.

"Damn it, Tony!"

"What? You're the one that threw a storage pod at him!"

"It was your idea to throw things at him!"

"Actually, I believe it was Cap's idea. Why are you always blaming me?"

Peter tuned out Tony and Rhodey's argument as he looked around the campus, trying to find a way to win. For the most part, Chad seemed to be focusing mainly on Spider-Man; which was good and bad. It was good because that meant the others had a less chance of getting hurt. Bad because... well... Peter discovered that his suit was very much not fire proof. He'd have to talk with Mr. Stark about that later.

"Dude, why do you even hate me?" Peter asked, flipping over a beam of fire. "What did I ever do to you?"

"It's all your fault! My parents are dead because of you!"

Peter faltered, his eyes widening. Chad's parents were dead because of him? Who were his parents? Was it someone that Peter failed to save? But Peter hadn't lost anyone before! So how...?

"Ah!" It would seem that getting distracted on the battle field was a very dangerous thing. Peter held his arm, his suit smoking slightly around the edges of the chard fabric. He'd definitely have to bring this up with Mr. Stark later.

"You killed them, so Imma kill you..." Chad's body lit on fire, his eyes almost red now as he walked forward.

Peter glanced around, spying the parking lot not too far away. An idea hit him as he started running for one of the buses that were still there, breaking the door open and standing on the steps. 

"Karen, launch as many web grenades as you can in here!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Peter?"

"Just do it!"

He nervously glanced back at Chad as the grenades started shooting inside the bus, the older boy forming a large fireball in his hands as he walked over. Peter looked back at his work, the seats and windows were unrecognizable under the webs. Maybe he shouldn't set all of them off after all...

He gave Karen the kill command as he ran back out of the bus, sighing in relief as Tony shot a blaster at Chad and diverted his attention. It was just what Peter needed as he grabbed the bus with both hands, lifting it in the air. He took a few steps forward to get in range (he really didn't want to miss) and slammed the bus onto Chad with a grunt.

Peter quickly jumped back, standing nervously a few yards away just as Steve and the others came out to the parking lot. Chad may not have had super strength, but he definitely didn't die easily.

The bus exploded, shooting into the sky as Peter grabbed another one and tossed it towards the human torch as well. When that bus exploded, he tossed another, then another, and another...

The Avengers watched as their youngest member lifted buses up easily with barely any strain, holding it with one hand as he shot web grenades in each one before tossing it at the bully.

"Does anyone have s'mores?" Scott asked, his eyes on the growing fire.

"That would actually be pretty nice right now..." Tony's helmet retracted as he rubbed his chin in thought. "The kid's got a dentist appointment on Friday, he can take a three day weekend and we can all go camping together."

"Camping in the woods with all of you?" Sam raised an eyebrow as he looked at everyone. "No offense, but hell no."

"Aw, come on-"

An explosion, much louder and stronger than any before, went off. The group quickly focused back on the fight, not seeing either teenager.

"Peter?" Tony called, his helmet forming as he lifted into the air in search of his prodigy.

"Boss, scanner shows a very large and very hot figure above us." Friday informed, causing Tony to stop his search and look up. Sure enough, there was Chad and Peter, wrestling with each other as they plummeted back towards the earth. 

"Peter!" It was deja vu... It was just like before. His best friend was falling to the ground and he couldn't fly fast enough to catch him. Tony reached a hand out, as if that would make him able to grab Peter's hand and pull him to safety. But in the end, he watched as the two boys crashed through the roof of the school, flames shooting into the air.

Rhodey was next to him, a hand on his metal shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm sure that Peter's alright. He may be a little banged up, but he's..."

Rhodey trailed off as the building started to shake, everyone praying that didn't mean what they thought it meant, but their eyes widening as the roof caved in. Time had frozen for a minute as they all saw the smoke and dust lifting into the air, only snapping out of their shock at the faint scream from inside.

"Peter!" Tony desperately screamed as he took off to the building, "Peter, hold on!"

"Tony, wait," Steve shouted, holding his hand up at the man, "The building is still unstable, you could just bring more down on them!"

"You're crazy if you think I'm going to leave my kid under four stories of rubble!"

No one dared point out that Tony had just called Peter his in that moment, mostly because they were too busy watching at the building started shaking again. The large bricks and whatnot moving slightly before tumbling down the sides of a small hill, showing Peter standing above an unconscious Chad, panting heavily as he tossed the last bits of rock away from him.

Tony and Rhodey both shouted his name as they flew down, Tony instantly picking him up and carrying him out, leaving Rhodey with Flame Boy.

Tony set Peter down on the grass in front of the school, the others all surrounding him

"Are you okay?"

"Anything broken?"

"How many fingers do you see?"

"Did you just lift four stories off of yourself?"

Peter chuckled a bit and held his hands up, "I'm fine. It's not the first building dropped on top of me."

Everyone went silent as they stared at him, and Peter soon remembered that they didn't actually know about the first building that fell on him because he deliberately left that piece of information out when telling the story. 

"A-Anyway, I think Chad shouldn't be a problem now. He hit the max limit on his powers when he shot us up into the air." He chuckled nervously, "His final move did more damage to him than me." 

Tony held a finger in Peter's face, his eyes stern. "Don't ever scare me like that again. My heart can't take this kind of stress."

Peter smiled slightly and nodded, "I'll try my best, Mr. Stark."

The team all ruffled the boy's hair as they got up, helping him to stand as they started walking back to their various vehicles.

"So... Seriously, can we have s'mores?" Scott asked, the others laughing at him as Peter trailed behind.

"Hey..." Peter paused in his steps, his eyebrows furrowing. The others looked at him, all stopping as well.

"What's wrong?"

"Chad... Chad said something before the fight..."

Tony walked back to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sure that nerdy girl in the library will be just fine, don't worry."

"No," Peter looked up, "He said that his boss told him to harass me - harass Peter Parker from Midtown- and Spider-Man would show up."

There was silence as the words sunk into everyone's minds, the heavy meaning behind the words starting to weigh down on them.

"Someone out there knows who I am." Peter's eyes were wide with panic as he looked between the adults. "Someone knows me."

A/N: Dun dun DUUUNNN!!! The plot thickens!! Someone out there is after the Spiderling! Who could it be? Someone old or new? Find out in the next chapter!!

Speaking of next chapter...

 Small life update: my laptop broke. Not really, but the battery in it is completely shot. So I'm having to use my mom's computer for now until I can go out and buy a replacement; which won't be for a while since I've got an appointment with a cardiologist tomorrow that no one actually told me about. I just heard that they needed to talk to me... My mom told me I had an appointment literally just now. Then I've got to go on a two hour drive to another city just to get an ultrasound on my heart... then I'm getting another heart monitor on for a month(I've had one on for the last week). And then I'm going to see Wings Over Houston Air Show where....... THE BLUE ANGELS ARE PERFORMING!!! WOO HOO!!(Kinda a big fan of them) So the last chapter won't be out for a while, I'm sorry! But I made this chapter extra long for you!