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Chapter Text

"STEVE!" Tony shouted as a gunshot went off.

"I'm good!" Steve yelled back. "How's everyone else?"

"Fine!" Natasha and Peter answered back via comms.

Clint swore over the comms.

"What's wrong?"

"This stupid person just broke my finger!"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but they aren't."

Peter laughed.

They were infiltrating a HYDRA compound in New York (seriously, NEW YORK!) when they had been ambushed by a lot of guards and soldiers.

The team had left Sam and Bucky behind for this mission, as HYDRA could possibly control Bucky, and Sam was assigned to be with him, much to his disappointment. Thor was also sitting this one out, he wanted to spend time with Jane

"Wanda, how are you doing?" Peter asked, looking behind him to see scarlet magic flying soldiers everywhere.

"Good, but they won't stop shooting at me, can you help?"

Peter swung in, taking out three soldiers and webbing up two others.

"Thanks!"

BOOM.

An explosion shook the building.

The ceiling suddenly crumbled above them, separating Nat and Clint from the rest of the group.

Owwww.

A piece of rubble had fell on Peter's leg.

It was broken.

He lifted it up, accidentally jolting his leg.

He cried out in pain, but the rubble was off of it now.

Everything was dark.

"PETER! WANDA! ARE YOU OKAY?!"

"I'm-" Wanda's voice was cut off.

"Wanda?" Peter asked, his voice weak and full of pain.

"Peter, are you alright?"

"I think my leg is broken."

Tony swore.

"Steve? You alright?"

"Yeah."

"Does anybody see Wanda? Or hear her?"

"No. Where'd she go?" Peter was confused.

It was unlike Wanda to not respond to them.

"Wanda!"

Peter's senses were tingling.

"Ahg!" Steve cried out, then stopped making noise.

"STEVE!" Tony yelled. "Are you-"

His voice was cut off as well.

"Tony? Steve? Where are you guys?" Peter asked, his voice scared.

His senses flared in the back of his head.

Suddenly, an arm was wrapped around his throat.

"They're with us. Now, you will be too." A foreign voice whispered.

A sharp pain stabbed into his neck.

A sedative.

He passed out.

Chapter Text

Slowly, Peter's senses came back to him.

The first thing he felt was cold.

Cold around him, cold underneath him.

The second thing was a dull pain in his leg.

Right. It was broken.

He opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was a glass wall in front of him.

Tony and Steve.

They were trapped behind it.

Steve was awake. He caught Peter's eye, and mouthed, 'Are you okay?'.

Peter nodded.

He looked beside him to see Wanda stirring.

She opened her eyes, widening them at the sight of Peter.

Her head turned to see Steve and Tony.

Tony was awake now, and when he noticed Peter and Wanda, he stood up. His eyes were fearful.

"Hello, young ones."

Peter jerked his head up.

Tony and Steve whipped their heads to the speaker. They could hear him too. Steve and Tony could hear everything going on inside Wanda and Peter's room, but they couldn't hear Steve and Tony.

Great.

The person was a man, smiling sadistically at the teens.

"How are you feeling?"

"Oh fine, but this table is very uncomfortable, any chance you have a pillow?" Peter quipped, trying to keep him distracted.

The man's smile only grew. "I don't think I have a pillow, but I do have a few games, if you would like to play them."

Ugh. He was a psycho. How nice.

"Nah, I think I'll pass. Wanda and I really should get going, we'll miss the movie we reserved seats for." Peter made to stand up, but found that his hands and legs were cuffed to the table.

Wonderful.

Fear coursed through his veins, but he tried not to show it.

"Well, I hate to make you miss that, but this is much more important." Another man came through the shadows surrounding them.

He was wheeling a cart.

Oh god. Torture. That was the game.

Wanda squirmed, her eyes flaring red.

"Oh no, we can't have you doing that!" The man motioned to the other man, and he injected something into Wanda's arm.

Her eyes dimmed, and she cried out.

Steve banged on the glass. BOOM.

The sound startled Peter, who jumped.

"Don't worry, he can't break through." The man picked up a tool from the cart.

He walked towards Peter, and the other man did the same to Wanda.

He pressed the sharp metal object to Peters neck. It stung, but he willed himself not to cry out. Drips of blood ran down his neck, but the man didn't push it in farther.

Wanda didn't cry out either.

"Hmm, I guess you two are stronger than I thought." He stepped back, grabbing a large device from the cart.

It was a gun.

Wanda's torturer had the same one.

It wasn't a normal gun. It seemed to blast, not fire bullets.

BANG.

The blast hit Peter.

It wasn't just energy. It was a shock collar.

He cried out, writhing in pain.

Wanda screamed.

Right. She was terrified of shock collars ever since the prison.

Tony and Steve banged on the glass, seemingly screaming.

Steve's eyes were tearful, while Tony's were full of anger and despair.

The electricity finally stopped, leaving Wanda sobbing and Peter breathing heavily.

"So that's what makes her scared. Keep shocking her. I need to find something for this one."

His captor went back to the cart.

He clapped his hands in delight. "Ah yes, this one should do!"

The man came back into the light, holding three devices.

Two were small, and looked like earplugs.

Peter squirmed away from the man, thrashing his head back and forth so the man couldn't insert them in his ears.

Meanwhile, Wanda's torturer pressed the activation button for her collar.

She screamed, making Peter flinch.

The man eventually got the devices inside Peter's ears, and they weren't earplugs. At least, not good ones. He could still hear everything.

The man placed the third thing over his eyes. It was clear.

Peter suddenly realized what was happening.

Apparently, Tony did too.

He banged on the glass harder.

Then, the sound started.

Peter jerked.

It was a high pitched wailing, playing directly into his ears.

Peter couldn't hold it back. He screamed.

He couldn't hear himself, just the sound. The awful, painful shriek in his ears.

He saw Steve look to him, and frantically ask Tony what was happening, who yelled back to him.

Steve's face filled with anger.

The clear glass over his eyes suddenly wasn't clear.

Lights flashed into his eyes, adding to the pain.

Peter screamed even louder.

Black was threatening to overthrow his vision, and the man noticed Peter relaxing.

The sound and light suddenly stopped.

"We can't have you passing out on us, Peter."

Peter stared up to him in terror.

Five minutes later, they did it over again.

It went on for what felt like an eternity.

When would help arrive?

Chapter Text

Natasha and Clint searched the rubble for what seemed like an eternity, but there was no escaping the fact that Tony, Steve, Wanda, and Peter were gone.

Taken.

By HYDRA.

God, this was bad.

When they got back to the tower, Sam and Bucky were anxiously waiting.

"Where-" Bucky's question was cut off by Nat's reply.

"Captured."

"What?! How did you guys escape?"

"They collapsed the building. We were on the other half, away from the kids and Steve and Tony." Clint said darkly, sitting down on the couch.

"Oh my god. Are you sure they aren't-" Sam started to ask.

"They're not. We searched the rubble and found a pile with blood on it. We think it was Peter's, we heard him cry out." Natasha said. She was stressed out, frustrated at their inability to find them.

"We need to find them, now. Call S.H.I.E.L.D, tell them to search for any weird activity. If they find anything, tell them to alert us." Sam said, getting up and walking to the elevator.

"Okay, what are you doing?" Nat asked him, confused.

"Getting Bruce and Thor."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tony and Steve were trapped.

They had already tried to find a way out, but the floor was concrete, and the walls were unbreakable reinforced glass. Even Steve's strength couldn't shatter them.

Wanda and Peter's pained and terrified screams rang through the intercom, causing Tony to crouch down and try to block them out.

As much as he hated to admit it, there was nothing he could do for them.

Steve spent an hour banging on the glass.

Tony had never seen him so upset.

He was screaming profanities at the torturers.

Tony had the urge to say "Language" but it really wasn't the time for jokes.

Their kids were hurt.

Steve finally sank to the floor in the next hour, sweating and exhausted.

They leaned their heads back against the wall.

For all they tried, the screams still got through to them.

Who was going to save them?

Chapter Text

"Have you found them yet?" Natasha said, pacing her room in the tower.

"No. HYDRA is slippery, you know that. They've established secret bases all around the world, Romanov. They could be anywhere by now." Nick Fury's voice came over the phone. He had decided to take on this case personally, even though he wasn't technically the director anymore.

"Find them. They probably need our help. We need to get to them before they're dead, Fury!"

"I know. I'll get another team to work on it. I'm sure they will get it done."

Nat hung up the phone. She was beyond frustrated with S.H.I.E.L.D and HYDRA.

When would they get to bring the rest of their team home?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pain shot through Peter.

It was constant, just enough sound or electricity to make him scream, but not pass out.

It was normal now, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

Tony had passed out a couple times, Peter knew that much.

Steve would bang on the glass every few hours, but he was exhausted and in need of more food and water.

Peter and Wanda barely got any, but their captors knew about Peter's increased metabolism and fed him nutrients through an I.V.

Wanda only got fluids.

Today was different, because their kidnappers were getting frustrated.

Apparently, Tony and Steve wouldn't tell them anything.

So the torture was more frequent than normal.

During one of his sound sessions, Wanda had her break.

Peter felt a tingle in the back of his mind.

Suddenly, an image of quiet and tranquil beaches swallowed his vision. He could barely hear the sound anymore, and he stopped screaming, only occasionally crying out.

'Is this better?' Wanda's voice asked inside his mind. They were telepathically linked.

'Yeah. Thanks.' Peter replied.

'You're welcome.' Suddenly, the faint sound stopped, and Peter relaxed.

The image disappeared, and the room was back around him.

Wanda looked at him, eyes barely tinged with red.

"Are you okay, Peter? Broken?" The psycho asked a little too hopefully.

"No. I'm better than I've ever been." Peter smirked up at him.

The man looked shocked at his newfound attitude.

Tony turned and looked at Peter through the glass.

Hope was in his eyes.

They were getting out of this.

One way or another, they would escape.

Unbroken.

Chapter Text

The screams were loud and hoarse, piercing their ears.

Tony held onto the hope that Peter had given them when he spoke up, but it was hard to not sink into panic and darkness.

Steve was struggling, his exhaustion taking over and causing him to pass out a few times a day.

They were gradually getting worse.

Suddenly, a tingle in the back of their minds alerted them that Wanda was linked to them.

Tony jerked his head up, but Wanda wasn't getting punished.

'Why aren't they hurting you?'

'I learned how to keep my eyes from turning completely red. They're barely tinted right now. It just looks like my normal green, with a little red of a rim around it.' Wanda answered.

Since it was Peter's turn, he was still screaming, but it was quieter than it had been.

'Hi guys.'

Tony was shocked. 'Peter?'

'Yeah.'

'I am so sorry that they're hurting you. Is there any way we can help?' Steve's voice rang through their heads.

'Just keep talking. Wanda quieted down the sound for me, but it only helps me ignore the pain.' Peter's voice was strained, as if he was trying to hide his pain.

'Ok kid.' Tony answered.

'Remember that time you guys held a surprise party for Natasha?' Wanda asked.

'Yeah, that was so funny! She did attack Steve, but it was worth it.' Tony said, his smile hidden from the captors, face turned to the non glass wall in their prison.

'That was terrifying! It took her like thirty seconds to realize that it wasn't any threat. Do you know how much she can do in thirty seconds?' Steve said.

'Poor Nat!' Peter spoke up. He sounded a little bit better.

'Poor Nat! Poor me! I had bruises for weeks!' Steve said comically.

They kept up their conversation for the whole day, until they got their two hours of sleep.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BOOM.

Rainbow light crashed down from the sky, dimming and disappearing to reveal a man. Thor.

He started towards the tower, where Natasha was awaiting his arrival with Bruce and the rest of the team.

"What is happening?" He boomed as he got inside.

"Where were you? I thought you were with Jane, not in space!" Nat snapped, stress tensing her features.

"I was on Asgard."

"Fine. Anyway, we need your help. Steve, Tony, Peter, and Wanda were captured by HYDRA a week ago. We haven't found them yet, but S.H.I.E.L.D is searching- What are you doing?"

Electricity sparked on Thor's hands. "HEIMDALL!" His eyes suddenly turned golden.

"Thor!" Natasha shouted, shaking his shoulders. The Asgardian didn't answer.

About two minutes later, Thor's eyes dimmed back to their normal color.

"They are in a prison in New York. We must hurry, they're using torture." Thor walked out, the rest of the team following closely behind, suits on in one minute.

"Who's being tortured?" Clint was angry, his voice shaking.

"The Witch and the Man of Spiders. Stark and Steve are trapped in some sort of glass cage." Thor said, grabbing Mjolnir.

"Sam, alert S.H.I.E.L.D. Tell them that we found them." Natasha said, loading her gun.

They were bringing them home.

Chapter Text

Peter was slowly breaking down.

The pain now cut through the illusions of happiness and peace that Wanda sent him, and he could barely communicate his thoughts to the other three.

Wanda was having trouble too, but she had made their telepathic link semi-permanent.

She could only break it if she convinced herself she wanted to.

The teens could tell that Tony was having frequent panic attacks, and Steve was still passing out a lot.

They weren't allowed to pass out, their insane kidnappers stopping the torture just before the dark closed in.

Rescue used to be daydreamed about everyday, even discussed in their long mind-conversations.

Now it felt like a faint fantasy.

Days blurred together, enough that it felt like an eternity that they were there.

Hope was faint.

Peter and Wanda were now being tortured together, their screams echoing throughout the prison.

Wanda was being shocked, and Peter had the sound and lights attacking his senses yet again.

Suddenly, Tony's thoughts rang through their heads.

'Natasha!'

Steve banged against the glass yet again.

It was like a spark had been ignited in them.

Wanda stopped screaming.

Suddenly, the lights over Peter's eyes stopped flashing.

The sound dimmed to silence.

Natasha was above him, her eyes shimmering oddly.

Were those tears?

Thunder boomed, and the glass shattered, leaving Steve and Tony free.

"You're safe now, Peter. You're safe." Natasha's voice was soft and comforting.

The black swallowed his vision, and he welcomed it with open arms.

Chapter Text

Natasha stands above Peter, tears filling her eyes.

Just a few seconds ago, he was screaming in agony.

Clint was with Wanda, who had just passed out.

Thor shattered the glass prison, releasing Tony and Steve.

To Natasha's disappointment, Peter lost consciousness soon after.

"We need to get them to medical, they're in bad shape." She said, stepping away to talk to Sam.

He nodded and ran out to get the S.H.I.E.L.D med team that they had on standby.

"Tony? Steve?"

Tony didn't answer, just stared at Peter.

"He's going to be okay, he just passed out."

Relief flitted across the man's features, but he still didn't speak.

Steve did, but it was quiet and shaky. "Is Wanda alright?"

"Yeah, come on, we need to get to the jet, alright?" Nat was worried. It wasn't like Steve or Tony to be this quiet.

Steve nodded, guiding Tony out of the room.

When they reached the Quinjet, the kids were put on beds with I.Vs feeding them nutrients, fluids, and a few different medicines.

Once Tony and Steve were situated next to them, Natasha took a good look at the two teens.

They were both incredibly pale, and both had multiple cuts and bruises.

Peter had faint burns around his neck, like a shock collar had been used.

Seeing Wanda's neck, the burns on Peter's seemed like nothing.

The skin on her's was burnt and raw, from the shock collar being used too many times.

Their was also a cut on her face, and a bruise. She must've spoken out.

Peter's leg was twisted in a weird way, like it had been healed wrong. It would have to be set.

The mental damage would be greater, but the physical wounds would also leave scars.

Tony and Steve were silent the whole ride back to the compound.

This would take a long time to heal.

Chapter Text

Peter and Wanda woke up in the compound, beds next to each other.

Once they realized that they were no longer in danger, they started communicating.

'Is this real?' Wanda sounded doubtful.

'I think so. Steve and Tony are still here, and Nat was there. It sounded like her.' Peter answered, looking around him.

'Yeah, it's real. We've been awake the whole time. The team seemed really worried. Thor is here, and Bruce came.' Steve answered.

Tony nodded. 'How do you guys feel?'

'Better.' Wanda answered, looking down.

'Are we broken?' Peter asked, voice shaky even in his thoughts.

'Yeah, bud. I think we are.' Tony replied, no fear in his voice.

'Broken things heal even stronger.' Wanda said. Her eyes flashed with hope.

'Thanks, Wanda.' Peter answered, his voice stronger.

Steve smiled.

Natasha was watching over the camera in the room.

She smiled sadly.

They would help them heal.

They would do whatever it took to get their friends back.

Because they were a family.

Chapter Text

Natasha and the rest of the team stepped inside the room where Peter, Wanda, Steve, and Tony were staying.

They sat on the huge couch across from Tony and Steve's.

For a few minutes, everything was silent.

Then, Clint spoke up. "Can you guys speak? You're safe. Please talk to us."

Steve looked up. "Wanda is going to add you guys to our little conversation. We've been talking this whole time, just with our minds."

Thor looked confused.

"Telepathy. They have a little link going on." Natasha supplied, anxiously waiting for the familiar tingle in the back of her mind.

It came, along with everyone else's questions. Peter cried out, covering his ears as if it would help.

'Alright! Everybody stop, one at a time!' Wanda's voice rang out.

The barrage of voices stopped.

'Why won't you speak?' Sam asked curiously.

'My throat is raw, it hurts to speak for me. Tony just can't.' Wanda answered.

'I can. I just don't want to.' Tony answered. His voice was quiet and dull, void of it's normal spark and sarcasm.

'Peter?' Natasha asked, concern breaking through.

'It hurts for me too. My throat and my ears.'

Thor clenched a fist, sparks crackling. A thin line of green was visible on Bruce, but he swallowed it down.

'HYDRA does that. They break you down until you can't fight anymore.' Bucky sounded angry.

'Yeah.' Peter's thought was quiet.

'Thanks for saving us.' Wanda said.

'Of course. I just wish we had been earlier.' Nat was upset.

'You did the best you could do.' Steve was comforting, his voice stronger than the others.

'But it wasn't enough.' Clint said guiltily.

That was the last of their conversation.

Chapter Text

"Is the volume okay?" Natasha asked Peter.

She was worried that it'd be too loud.

In truth, it wasn't. Peter was starting to have trouble hearing, but he couldn't really explain through thoughts.

He tried to ignore it and nodded.

They were having a Disney movie marathon, and had just reached Mulan.

"She reminds me of Peggy!" Steve exclaimed, the tremor almost gone from his voice.

He was becoming more talkative, and could speak above a whisper.

Peter and Wanda could still not talk, and even though Peter's world was starting to get quieter (not in a good way), it reminded him of the song when sound was close to his ears.

And that sound hurt.

Tony was getting better, but his frequent panic attacks and constant anxiety in the HYDRA prison had left him shaken and selectively mute.

He was snarky and sarcastic in their thought conversations, but his mind wouldn't allow him to speak.

When lunchtime came around, Bruce made sandwiches for all of them.

"Bruce, you are such a good cook. This is amazing!" Clint said as he devoured his grilled cheese.

Peter nodded in agreement.

"What movie is next?" Sam asked curiously.

'TARZAN!' Peter shouted out in his mind.

Everyone jumped and laughed.

They sat down and watched the bittersweet and funny movie.

What Peter didn't know was that his hearing problem would gradually get worse, until he couldn't hide it anymore.

But his family would be there for him.

Just like they always were.

Chapter Text

Peter was reading a book in his bed, still getting nutrients and fluids from the I.V for his severely depleted body.

He was calmly turning a page when Wanda's thoughts cut through his mind.

'PETER! Respond to Natasha!'

He closed the book, barely hearing a thud when it slid off his bed and thudded on the floor.

Wanda jumped a little.

Peter turned his head to Nat, who was mouthing something. He could barely hear her, only detecting a small whispering noise.

'What?' Peter asked her, earning a confused look from her and Wanda.

Natasha mouthed it again.

'Peter? Can you hear her?' Wanda's voice rang in his head.

'Is she talking?'

'Yeah, Peter. I'm talking pretty loudly.' Natasha's thoughts came to him.

Oh.

His hearing problem had gotten pretty bad over the week since he had noticed it, but never to the point where he could barely hear anything at all.

'I can't hear you.' Peter looked down, fidgeting with the blanket draped over him.

'Peter. How long has this been going on?' Nat asked gently.

'Since I woke up here.'

'Why didn't you say something?' Natasha ran her fingers through her hair, sitting down next to him.

'I didn't want to bother you.'

'You wouldn't've bothered us at all. Next time something is wrong, you tell me, okay?' Nat said, standing up.

'I'm getting Bruce, okay? He'll know what's going on.'

Peter nodded and bit his lip.

He was scared.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After many, many tests, Bruce came back with a diagnosis.

'Peter, your eardrum was exposed to too much too frequently. It perforated it beyond repair, and it started deteriorating rapidly. You will probably have total loss of hearing in about two days.' Bruce looked sad, and anger was hidden behind his words.

Peter wasn't surprised.

'At least I don't have to worry as much about sensory overloads anymore.' He joked half-heartedly.

'I'm so sorry. But I think I know someone who can help you.'

Peter perked up. 'Really?'

'Yeah. And they're right here in the compound.'

Chapter Text

'Alright, repeat the alphabet for me.' Clint thought, sending it to Peter through their connection.

Peter was learning sign language because he needed to have a different form of communication to fall back on if they were unable to read his thoughts.

Clint was teaching him because he had his own experience with almost total loss of hearing.

Peter repeated the alphabet for what felt like the millionth time in two days.

Good, Clint signed.

Peter smiled. They were spending their days learning simple sign language, and were going to get to the more complicated stuff in about a week.

The rest of the Avengers were supposed to learn sign too, but Nat already knew it and Wanda could just read thoughts (also, the multiple times she tried it, she accidentally used her powers and flung a vase at the wall).

Apparently, Tony was having trouble and Steve was a prodigy. He was even farther than Peter, who was doing pretty well himself.

Tony could only speak to Steve, Peter, and Wanda, and he couldn't speak loudly or for very long.

This meant sign language was probably a good thing to learn for the time being.

The rest of the team were doing pretty well. Sam and Bucky were farther than Tony but behind Peter, and Thor was just bad at it.

Bruce was at the same level as Peter.

It was fun to learn, but also pretty challenging to not mess up.

Peter secretly watched Tony all the time, and laughed when he messed up.

He must've been pretty quiet, because they never heard him.

Peter's speaking had taken a turn for the worst.

Since he couldn't hear, his confidence in speaking had disappeared, so he barely made a sound.

His senses were still enhanced, and he would get a tingle in the back of his mind when someone was about to speak to him or sign.

'You're doing a great job. Do you want to go help Tony and Thor with me? They're doing pretty bad.' Clint asked Peter, who nodded excitedly.

Clint shouted something across the room, and Tony and Thor came in soon after.

They sat down on the couches across from Peter, and he waved.

'HELLO MAN OF SPIDERS! THIS COMMUNICATION THAT MISS WANDA HAD GIVEN US IS VERY HELPFUL!' Thor's voice boomed through his mind.

'Hey Thor. You know, you don't have to be so loud.'

'Sorry Man of Spiders.'

'Alright, you two are getting very behind on this. Tony doesn't even know his swear words yet.' Clint joked.

Tony signed a swear word.

'Nevermind. Tony, not around the kid. Honestly, I can't believe you.'

Peter signed back another swear.

Tony burst out laughing, and Clint and Thor looked shocked.

'You kids better get it together, because if you mess up on your last time today, you owe me twenty bucks.'

Tony's mouth dropped open. 'Seriously? This is a class, not a bet!'

'It's a deal.'

Peter laughed.

The rest of the class consisted of Tony and Thor messing up their signs to the point of no recognition.

All in all, it was a fun day.

Chapter Text

'SCHOOL TIME! GET OFF YOUR PHONES!' Tony's loud and obnoxious voice rang through Peter's head as he groaned.

Wanda smiled at him.

Yes! He had made a sound!

He put his phone down and stood up on his newly healed leg.

The Avengers had taken it upon themselves to homeschool Peter and Wanda, as they were 15 and 17.

Wanda hadn't gotten an education since elementary school with Pietro, as her family was very poor. She was bright and had picked up a few tips about math and science from Tony and Bruce, and Natasha and Steve caught her up on history and reading, but she was still only on the same level as Peter was in school.

They went to the lab in single file, Natasha, Steve, and Clint following. (Thor couldn't really teach them anything unless they wanted to learn about Asgard, and Sam was on a mission with Vision, aka grocery shopping. Peter wondered how that was working out for them.)

'Alright, so today from us you are learning about...' Tony paused dramatically. 'LAB SAFETY!'

'WHAT? Seriously, we learned this in elementary school!' Peter exclaimed. Wanda raised her hand.

'We didn't have a lab.'

Tony looked excited, and Bruce just sighed.

'Yay! Alright, so these are safety goggles, always put them on when you're working....'

Tony went on to explain the rules of the lab and the chemicals.

When they finally finished, Tony told Wanda that she could do one thing that was against the rules as long as it wasn't going to kill them or injure them.

She stood up, grinning.

Tony looked like he immediately regretted his words.

Her eyes flashed a bright scarlet as she flung baking soda, vinegar, and a huge container across the room.

Wanda then poured the baking soda (all of it) into the container (while still levitating it).

Tony's eyes widened as she put the container in front of him, but he didn't have time to run.

Wanda poured all of the vinegar into the container.

FIZZZZZZZZ.

The solution spilled over the edge of the container, hitting Tony as he covered his head.

"AHG!" He cried out in surprise, making all of the other Avengers double over laughing.

Wanda smirked, then poured more solution on top of him.

'GET THIS OFF OF ME!' Tony screamed in their thoughts and out loud.

She smiled, then waved her hands and gathered a huge bubble of water from the sink.

Tony looked up to see it hovering above him.

'NO-'

The bubble broke, splashing water everywhere, soaking Tony.

He stood there, staring at Wanda with a look of anger and indignation.

'Goodbye. Lesson over.' Tony grumbled, though everyone could tell he wasn't really that mad.

After he left the room, the team burst out laughing.

No one knew that this was the last day of happiness for a long time to come.

The next morning, everything would go wrong.

Chapter Text

Tony woke up in the middle of the night, and had to calm himself down to not have a sudden attack.

The kids were safe.

He was safe.

Steve was safe.

Well, that's at least what he thought.

Until he heard screams coming from the teen's bedroom.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Peter woke up to a flash of red light and a panicked thought from Wanda.

He jolted upwards.

Wanda wasn't up.

She was jerking in pain on her bed.

Faint traces of red energy swirled around her as she twitched.

Panic and memories of electric shocks filled Peter's mind, and he must've started screaming, because his throat started to feel raw and dry.

The door to their room burst open, revealing Tony, Steve, and Natasha.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Oh god, no.

Tony was sprinting down the hallway when he was met by Steve and Natasha, who had sprung out of bed as soon as they heard screaming.

"What's going on?" Steve asked, running with Tony.

Tony just shook his head.

They burst through the door.

Peter was screaming, panic in his eyes. Tears streamed down his face. He was covering his ears, even though he couldn't hear anything.

Then they saw Wanda.

Steve immediately ran to the seizing girl, flipping her to the recovery position.

"GET BRUCE NOW!"

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Natasha ran out of the room, racing down the halls.

Bucky, Clint, Sam, and Thor came out of their rooms as soon as they heard her running. They joined her, following behind her as she sprinted to Bruce's lab/room, the only one not exactly on the same floor as the others.

"What's happening? Who's screaming?" Clint asked, running with her.

"It's Peter and Wanda. Something is wrong, Wanda is having a seizure and Peter is panicking."

"We must get Banner!" Thor cried out, running even faster.

Bruce met them on the stair case, where Natasha quickly explained the situation while they ran back.

"Oh my god." Bruce paused for a moment before getting to work. "Steve, keep her from hurting herself. We need to get them both to the med room now!"

"Why Peter?" Sam asked, helping Tony with the crying teenager.

"If Wanda is having a seizure, chances are, the same thing that caused hers will happen in Peter too."

"HYDRA. It was them." Steve growled. "I saw them show us something that they brought over to Peter and Wanda. It looked like some sort of implant. I barely remember them saying that it would kill them if they ever escaped. I guess it just slipped my mind. I don't know why it took this long to activate."

Bruce swore, eyes flashing green before he swallowed his anger. "I bet that's it. If it was natural, the seizure should've lessened in intensity by now. How long ago did Peter start screaming?"

"About three minutes."

"We need to hurry."

A minute later, with the help of F.R.I.D.A.Y, the teens were in the med room.

"Sam, I need your help. Steve, you stay. Everyone else, leave."

They followed his orders, Tony sitting down next to Bucky, who put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Suddenly, Sam yelled a swear.

"NATASHA, WE NEED YOU!" Bruce yelled.

Nat ran inside the room.

Tony passed out.

Why was this happening?

__________________________________________________________________________

Peter had started seizing.

Bruce was working on disabling the implant they had found releasing poison into Wanda near her spine.

"Bruce, what do I do?" Natasha asked.

"Find Peter's implant, it should be near his spine. Try to stop him from hurting himself. Make sure he can still breathe."

Bruce had Steve help him with Wanda, while Sam and Nat worked with Peter.

"I need to remove the implant. Steve, you need to keep her from jerking so much." Bruce got a tool from a cart at the side of the room.

He made an incision, working as fast as he could to get the implant out.

His hand kept surprisingly steady throughout the operation.

"It's out!"

Wanda stopped seizing, her body relaxing.

"Sam, stitch up the cut. I need to get Peter's out."

Bruce ran to operate on Peter.

Two minutes later, the implant was out.

Sam stitched up Peter's incision.

Bruce collapsed to the floor in exhaustion, adrenaline finally taking it's toll on him.

He leaned against the wall, refusing the help offered by Steve.

"Sam, can you get fluids going in both of them? I need to figure out the type of toxin they used." Bruce stood up, going to the table where he had set the implants.

Three tests later, he figured out what had been used.

It was a synthesized neurotoxin that had been used by HYDRA before in more concentrated, higher doses as a way for soldiers to avoid capture by death.

The implant had a delayed reaction, pumping the poison through their veins slowly.

It would've killed them in minutes if they weren't enhanced.

If Bruce and the team hadn't gotten to them, the teens would be dead in an hour.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

"They're alive." Natasha was out of the med room.

Clint, Bucky, and Thor sighed in relief.

Tony was awake and had his head in his hands, sucking in deep breaths.

"Are they going to be okay?" Clint asked for everyone.

"Bruce thinks that there will be some lasting damage. But they will live, and they will heal." Natasha said, her voice more confident then she actually felt.

Tony looked up, tears running down his face.

This was a huge setback for the team.

Tony hadn't spoken at all, and Peter and Wanda would be back at the beginning.

But they would survive.

Because they were a team.

A family that couldn't be broken.

No matter what.

Chapter Text

'Where's Wanda?' Was the first thought that went through Peter's head as he opened his eyes.

He could feel an I.V in his arm, and a cannula in his nose.

He looked to the side and saw her, I.V feeding her medicine and an oxygen mask over her face.

Steve and Tony were sitting on a couch across from them.

The med room was exactly the same as when they were saved from HYDRA.

What happened? He signed to Steve, who had just looked up to see the awake teenager.

You both had seizures. HYDRA implants caused them, fed neurotoxin to your brain. Bruce and Sam saved you guys. Steve signed back.

Faint memories of pain came back to Peter.

Wanda opened her eyes next to him.

He felt a tingle in the back of his mind.

'What happened to us?'

'We both had seizures. Apparently, HYDRA implanted devices that released poison into our brains to kill us, but Bruce fixed us. I think I screamed, and that's why they knew.'

Wanda nodded.

'I think I remember hearing you.'

Just then, Bruce, Natasha, Sam, Clint, and Bucky walked into the room and sat down.

Hey Peter, Clint signed.

Hi, Peter signed back.

Wanda spread her connection to the rest of the room.

'Thanks Bruce.'

Bruce smiled tiredly. 'It was hard, but I got your implants out. You're safe now. We even x-rayed to see if there were any more. I can't believe we didn't see them earlier. I'm sorry.' He glanced down guiltily.

'You couldn't have known about them.' Peter immediately responded.

'Still. I should've been better.'

The rest of the team yelled through the connection. 'IT WASN'T YOUR FAULT!'

Bruce jumped.

Sam put an arm around him. 'It wasn't anybody's fault except HYDRA's.'

Nat smiled. 'Who wants to get the whole of S.H.I.E.L.D and kill those psychos with me?'

All of the Avengers except for Peter, Wanda, and Tony raised their hands.

'Go get them for us.' Tony said, a spark of his old self backing his words.

Steve looked at him and nodded.

'Let's go.'

Chapter Text

"Alright, I'll send a team with you." Phil Coulson said over the phone to Natasha.

She had told him what happened to Wanda and Peter, and he was furious.

If anyone hated HYDRA more than possibly even Bucky, it was Phil Coulson.

"Good." Natasha smiled darkly.

Today, they were attacking the HYDRA idiots that tortured Peter and Wanda.

With the help of Thor's friend Heimdall, they found the men immediately.

"You guys ready?" She turned to the rest of the team.

They nodded.

"Let's go kill those psychopaths."

___________________________________________________________________________________________

BOOM.

Natasha walked calmly out of the room in the HYDRA base they were attacking.

She had set off a grenade after shooting all of the soldiers twice in the chest.

The rest of the team was doing well.

Steve and Bucky had found the two men that had tortured Wanda and Peter, and Clint, Natasha, Thor, and Bruce were heading there way after blowing up the rest of the base and killing the psychopaths that resided in it.

Bruce was hulked out, and Nat could hear him shouting: "YOU HURT SPIDER AND LITTLE WITCH! DIE!"

A smashing sound and a crack came after that.

She met up with Clint on the way to Steve and Bucky.

"You ready for this?" He asked her, grinning.

"Always."

They reached the room.

"Ahh, the whole team is here! How ni-"

CRACK.

It took a second for Nat to realize that she had punched Peter's torturer in the face.

Hard.

There was a bit of fear showing in his eyes after that, which Natasha relished.

"It's over. How do you feel knowing that you completely failed at your mission?"

"We didn't fail. Your friends are broken, are they not?"

"No. They aren't." Nat stepped closer. "Because us Avengers, we live by one thing."

The man seemed shocked.

"You can't break us apart. You can only make us stronger."

BANG.

She shot him point blank in the heart.

He was dead.

Chapter Text

"What did you do?" Was the first question that left Tony's mouth at the sight of their blood-covered suits. Wanda's eyes were glowing, connecting everyone's thoughts.

"We avenged you!" Thor shouted enthusiastically.

"Are they dead?" Wanda asked, standing.

"Yes. I killed them." Natasha said.

She didn't regret it.

"Geez, Nat. You could've just captured them." Peter spoke up, making everyone in the room jump.

"PETER! YOU SPOKE!" The team yelled and thought in unison.

"I did? Wait. Ohhhhh, that makes sense. Do I sound okay?" Peter asked nervously.

Nat nodded, while Wanda gave Peter a hug.

Steve and Tony actually had tears in their eyes.

"Who wants to watch Disney movies?"

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

They ended up watching the Lion King.

"I know I've said this before, but those hyenas are the stupidest creatures alive if they think Scar is helping them." Clint exclaimed, leaning back in his bean bag chair.

"Its a kid's movie, Clint. The plot doesn't matter." Natasha retorted, crunching on her Pringles.

"So-"

"SHHHH! The best part is starting."

Clint quieted down as they all watched the final showdown between Scar and Simba in rapture.

Afterwards, Wanda and Peter decided to reenact Be Prepared using Wanda's magic to lift up a tower of pillows in the training room for the ending shot.

It was a great day, and as they watched the kids having fun, they all agreed that what Nat had said earlier couldn't be more true.

Chapter Text

Screaming.

That's all Wanda could hear around her.

Concrete walls were closing in around her.

"Ahh, Ms. Maximoff, how nice to see you again."

Wanda whipped around to see her kidnapper holding a gun to Peter's head.

"NO!"

Peter smiled sadly at her. "He was going to kill you."

The man just laughed.

"You're dead. This isn't real!" Wanda screamed back at him. "Peter! You'll be okay, just-"

BANG.

Peter fell to the ground in front of her, bullet in his head.

Wanda screamed, her voice raw and painful.

She fell to the ground on her knees.

"Your turn."

"NO-"

BANG.

"WANDA!"

A voice cut through her head.

"WAKE UP!"

Peter.

Wanda jolted upwards, hyperventilating.

"What happened?"

Peter didn't answer.

Right.

'What happened?'

"You had a nightmare." Peter said quietly, barely reaching Wanda's ears.

'Louder.' They were teaching him to control his volume, as he couldn't hear himself and hadn't for a long time.

"You had a nightmare, you were screaming in your sleep. I was already awake." He didn't make eye contact on his last words.

'Peter.'

"What?"

'I wasn't the only one to have a nightmare, was I?'

"No."

'Do you want to talk about it?'

"Can we just go downstairs and watch a movie?"

'Yeah. We can do that.'

She smiled sadly at him, and they headed downstairs.

Little did they know, Steve and Tony were watching from a distance.

They smiled.

Chapter Text

"Wanda, aim higher!"

The teen was trying to attack a quickly moving target robot with her telekinesis.

"YES!"

The robot exploded in a burst of red.

Clint, who was controlling the simulation, added another robot.

"Multitask!"

Wanda groaned.

Bursts of energy flew from her hands as she tried to attack the tiny things.

"Smash them together once you get a hold of them!" Clint said, maneuvering the robots out of the way of another of Wanda's blasts.

"I'm." She got a hold of one bot. "Trying!"

CRASH!

Wanda stopped, having disabled the robots.

Your turn, Clint signed to Peter across the room.

He had been sparring with Steve.

He had only won once.

"What do I do?" Peter asked.

He had been training with Wanda to speak, and he was getting better.

"Shoot your webs at the bots. They'll be going a little slower, since Wanda is at a higher level with her telekinesis."

It took an hour before Peter finally gave up on the challenge.

He had only made it to two robots on the lowest speed.

We need to work on your aim, young man, Clint signed, smirking.

Peter stuck his tongue out at him.

They trained for the rest of the morning, Natasha beating all of them in combat and Clint in aim training.

It was just one more step in the long journey towards healing.

Chapter Text

"A mission?"

They were in the living room eating lunch when the call came in.

It had been about a week since the team's last mission, and they were all restless in the compound.

Peter and Wanda were especially bad, because Tony wouldn't allow them in the lab to help him work, and he was allowed to go on missions!

"Are you sure you're ready?" Clint arched an eyebrow at the teens.

Peter groaned as his teasing voice sounded in his head (courtesy of Wanda, of course.) "Yes!"

"Fine, you guys can come." Steve said, sighing. He wanted them safe as much as the rest of the team, but they were Avengers as well as kids. They needed to get out and use their powers.

"YES!"

Natasha smiled at them.

They went to the debrief room, Wanda and Peter 'chatting' behind them the whole time.

Ten minutes later, they were preparing for the mission.

The goal was simple; Stop the huge evil man trying to break down a bridge downtown while simultaneously fighting genetically modified monster creatures.

Yeah, maybe it wasn't really that simple.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

"Wanda, you take the creatures with Sam and Clint. Peter, you're with Nat and Bucky." Steve commanded. "Thor, Tony, you're with me. We're taking on the big guy. Make sure not to hit any civilians, they are the priority here!" He turned to the rest of the team on his last sentence.

Wanda nodded in confirmation, eyes turning red as she whipped the animalistic things off of the bridge, seeing Peter webbing them up across from her.

'You okay?' She sent a message, hearing his reply in a second.

'Yep! These things are disgusting!'

Wanda stifled a laugh.

Hearing Sam grunt behind her, she turned around, a flash of red hitting the creature in the heart.

Sam got up, brushing himself off and nodding at her in appreciation.

He flew back into the sky.

Suddenly, a scream rang across the bridge.

A monster thing had dug a woman out of a car.

Wanda ran towards them.

The creature fell backwards, dropping the woman off the bridge.

Wanda caught her with telekinesis, quickly bringing her to safety.

But there was a bigger problem.

The man in the middle of the bridge was holding Tony by the throat, squeezing hard.

"TONY!"

Peter's cry rang out across the bridge.

Wanda watched helplessly as he flung himself at the man.

Peter managed to wrench Tony out of the man's grasp.

But he was grabbed by the throat instead. In a few seconds, he went limp.

He was unconscious.

"PETER!" Wanda screamed, knowing he wouldn't hear her anyway.

Peter was flung over the side of the bridge.

Into the unforgiving rapids below.

Chapter Text

Peter felt the mist of the water below him whip at his face before he hit the water.

Why did his neck hurt?

Why was he falling?

WHAP.

The force was unexpected.

Then the pain hit him.

His vision clouded as he sunk down into the water, swept away by the current....

Red surrounded him.

And he was lifted out of the water.

That was all he saw before he passed out once more.

___________________________________________________________________________________

"PETER!" Wanda screamed in pure terror.

She felt anger and sorrow build up inside her.

"GUYS GET DOWN!"

The team immediately ducked.

An explosion of red magic radiated from Wanda, hitting the giant man full force in the chest.

He fell to the floor, dead.

The team stood, looking at her gratefully.

Steve ran over to Tony, who was laying still on the ground.

He was just unconscious.

"Oh my god." Wanda ran to side of the bridge.

She was exhausted, feeling the pull of unconsciousness dragging on herself.

But still, she sent her telekinesis into the water, searching for something human, anything....

Wanda's powers grabbed a hold of someone.

Peter.

She pulled him out of the water, setting him gently on the ground nearby.

Wanda stumbled, trying to find her footing.

Then, someone was supporting her, holding her upright.

It was Nat.

She smiled at Wanda, leading her away from Peter.

"He'll be fine, don't worry."

Wanda suddenly found herself inside a car.

She fell asleep on the seats.

Chapter Text

'-eter. Peter, please wake up. We need you.' Wanda's telepathic voice cut through the haze of unconsciousness clouding Peter's mind. He felt numb. He tried to open his eyes, to move his hand, but nothing worked.

'Hey.' He responded, hoping she got his answer.

'OH MY GOD PETER! ARE YOU OKAY?!' Wanda's voice was relieved and emotional. 'How do you feel? Can you open your eyes?'

'I feel really weird, everything kinda started hurting a few seconds ago.' Peter replied honestly. 'I can't move. I think I'm not really fully awake yet.'

'That's okay. I'll ask Bruce to get some more meds for you.' Wanda said, sounding a bit disappointed.

'How is the rest of the team?' Peter suddenly remembered Tony.

'They're okay. Nobody was seriously injured.'

They chatted for a few more minutes, before Peter was exhausted and fell back asleep.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wanda sat next to Peter's bed every day. Her friend's torso was wrapped in bandages, his head supported by a neck brace. A cast wrapped around his fractured leg. IV lines poked into his arms. Peter was pale, but looked better than he had when they pulled him out of the water. He had almost died. They were thankful that a rib didn't puncture a lung. All in all, Peter was lucky to have survived the drop, but Wanda still felt terrible. She hadn't caught him in time.

Tony visited constantly, and was there every time Peter woke up. Wanda connected them telepathically, and Tony cried when he heard Peter's voice. It was too close to the first time they had all been captured.

It was too close to Peter dying.

The rest of the team filtered in and out one by one, and when Peter finally opened his eyes, they were all right beside him. Three days after the battle, Peter was able to speak.

Wanda connected their minds again, so Peter didn't have to read lips. Steve was pretty much fluent in ASL, but Tony still only knew swear words and the alphabet. It made Peter laugh every time he finger spelled something and got it wrong.

They would heal, again and again. Nothing could ever break them apart.