Chapter Text
Out of all the productive things you could be doing, you decided pissing off the Avengers was a good use of your time. Were you dead wrong? Why, yes. Yes, you were.
This was not a simple task at hand but somehow you managed to get yourself in an awkward predicament. Long story short, you- a masked vigilante- were on one of your nighttime escapades when you stumbled upon the ragtag gang of superheroes. Somehow in the chaos of trying to take down a group of criminals, the Iron Tin Man got in the way of your shot. As you can imagine, you ended up blasting him into a building, but as he flew backwards, he also managed to slam into a few of his unsuspecting teammates. Thus, more destruction ensued and the group of baddies slipped away. Right now you were getting some pretty great glares from everyone as you took that as your cue to leave.
“Pietro, grab the kid. They caused me enough trouble already,” The metal man grumbled.
“It's been a pleasure, everyone. Until we meet again,” you bowed, blinding everyone with a huge blast of energy.
You had to love your abilities in times like these. By the time everyone's eyes adjusted, you would have been a few blocks over swinging from building to building. Though, a blast like that definitely took a lot out of you. You've had your powers for a while, but even then you still had certain limitations. Ever since aliens invaded New York, you came in contact with something you assumed was part of their alien tech. Of course, you didn't realize until many days later that, whatever that thing was, it gave you strange and amazing powers. You could create energy shields around you and a certain radius around others as well. Using that same energy, you could shoot energy beams from your hands. Though, the strangest new ability of them all was the things you referred to as tentacles that grew from your back. At first, you freaked out waking up one morning finding four purple alien thingies growing out of you. However, once you realize you could summon and unsummon the tentacles at will, you grew to love them. For an added bonus, they could also withstand twice the weight of a bus, which definitely helped when you had to escape from the clutches of two super soldiers.
Landing on the top of a building effortlessly, you stretched your shoulder blades as your head pounded. One of the many joys in overusing your powers was the headaches that followed afterward. What caught you off guard was the wet sticky feeling you felt under your mask. Taking your mask off, you wiped your face to find, yup, a bloody nose.
Gross.
You knew crime fighting was hard work but, man, you forgot how draining it could be. You couldn’t complain, however; you chose to help make the city a safer place. Even if your little crime fighting may or may not be illegal in some sense. But, you still couldn’t figure out why Earth’s Mightiest Heroes were so hell-bent on taking you in. Despite all the banter you shared with the Avengers, there was more action than words and sometimes they were like your own little fan club. They acted like you were this criminal wanting to destroy the city but really you were just looking out for the little guy. To be fair you have- on many occasions- kicked their asses and knowing some of them, they don’t like their pride being stepped on.
You thanked your lucky stars that your parents decided to sign you up for defense classes instead of letting you sit around all day.
Wiping the rest of the blood on your sleeve, you scaled down the building into a dark alley where you stashed your normal clothes. Quickly changing out of your “superhero” get up, you grabbed your phone a prayed that you actually charged it for once. When it lit up you let out a sigh of relief as you pulled up your GPS. Knowing your superhero friends would be searching for you, you couldn’t just swing home.
As thunder boomed in the distance, you pull the hood of your jacket over your head as the rain began pouring down heavily. Joining in the huge mob of people passing by, you smirked when you saw a similar metal man flying overhead. They had to be a lot faster than that if they wanted to find you. Following your GPS, you made your way back to your apartment.
By the time you made it back to your little apartment you were soaked from head to toe. Slipping off your shoes and jacket, you threw them to the side before running your hand through your tangled wet hair. Sure it was a tiny place but it was better than living in some group home. Setting your bag down you stopped at an old picture of you and your parents. Smiling sadly at the photo, you touched the wooden frame around it before sighing. The day you got your powers was also the day your parents died. That was four years ago and it still felt like they were just there yesterday.
After spending some time in the foster care system, you eventually turned the right age to become emancipated. Sure, living on your own as a teenager was difficult but you couldn’t spend another minute in that system. Luckily your parents left you enough money to live off of and to put you through college. What can you say; you were a smart kid. When you weren’t crime-fighting, you were taking online classes to keep you busy. You had to do something in your free time since that Spider-Boy managed to get a handle on most of the crime. Even though the hardships, you managed to keep a positive outlook in the chaos. But it felt like you were missing something... you could just never put your finger on it.
Once you were changed out of your drenched clothes, you collapsed face-first onto the bed. As your face hit the pillow sleep overtook you rather quickly.
“What do you mean you can find them FRIDAY?” Tony barked into the air. “We have voice recognition and videos circulating through programs and we still have nothing?”
“Unfortunately, sir, there isn’t much to go on,” the AI replied.
Tony threw his hands up in the air as he let out an exasperated sigh. He used all that his best tech had to offer, but somehow this masked vigilante still managed to slip through his fingertips. Growling to himself, he typed away on his tablet trying to think of other solutions. How could one person manage to slip away so easily let alone stay so well hidden? It also didn’t help that the only way to draw you out was decent size robbery or some disaster that needed attention. Walking into the common room where everyone was seated, he flopped down onto the couch with a sour face.
“And nothing again,” He grumbled.
Steve knocked his head against the back of the couch and sighed. “No records or anything?”
Tony returned Steve’s question with a simple nod as the team collectively sighed. They were all becoming way too tired of chasing whoever this enhanced vigilante was.
“Unless I can get a face or some DNA, there isn’t much I can do. Now, I need a few drinks. This is giving me an annoying headache,” He said making his way over to the kitchen.
“You know,” Bucky piped in, “I’ve been thinking.”
“That’s dangerous coming from frosty,” Sam joked as Bucky slapped the back of his head.
“We could stage something to draw them out of hiding?” He continued as the team shared a few curious looks. “They only show up when there's danger. So, let’s set up a trap for them.”
“We could make it near the tower so they can’t get very far,” Natasha added.
“It could work but I don’t want to underestimate someone who clearly doesn’t want to be found. Hell, they may be just a kid but they fight like Natasha. There’s no telling what they can do if we try and trap them,” Clint said fiddling with some of his arrows as the team nodded.
Tony popped his head up from the fridge with a mouthful of blueberries and a beer. Smirking, he stuffed some more blueberries into his mouth.
“I’ve got a perfect idea."