Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sean was late. Brown eyes glanced at the clock for like the hundredth time in five minutes. Sean was never late. It was three-forty-three, thirteen minutes after the Scottish scientist was supposed to show up for their lesson.

Like Peter, Sean was also a captive of Hydra. The man had told him one day that Hydra had his family being watched, and that they could hurt them any time they wanted, or any time he didn't do what they wanted.

Sean was a lot nicer than the others in the facility. He didn't grab Peter like he was a doll, with force that bruised his ribs at times. And he didn't give him any of those stupid shots.

Well, there was that one time when Peter first was taken to the facility. He'd been normal sized then, just a regular teenager. Then, the serum was administered. Peter hated that day, remembering the pain he felt of his body shrinking in on itself, his mass almost doubling as his bones broke and then healed stronger.

But, he couldn't think about that right now. He was worried about Sean! He began to pace in the small hamster cage they'd given him, blue and red uniform hanging off his shoulders.
Peter wasn't alone in the room. There were others like him. Well, not exactly like him, but they were experiments, too. There was a noise, almost like a crash, followed by someone cursing. The girl across from Peter stared at him with fearful wide eyes, the feathers on her wings puffed up.

Suddenly the door slammed open and in ran a squadron, all with guns drawn. One by one they stopped in front of the 'cages' they were in. Peter was rooted to the spot, staring at the barrel of a gun that looked like a gaping hole. They were there to kill them...

In unison the guns went off, and all the experiments fell in their cages, blood splattering across the walls. Peter, however, was able to dodge the bullet aimed for him, flipping to the side, grabbing onto the bars of the cage.

The soldier looked at him with hate filled eyes and began shooting round after round into the little hamster cage, but Peter was able to sense them all, dodging them, but wasn't able to predict the cage would fall to the floor.

The boy crashed to the floor and slid across the floor, under a table. He was dazed, but he saw the men were looking for him and hurried to crawl to the underside of the silver table, hiding in the shadows of the leg. A pair of knees crashed to the ground and searched under the table.

"I think it's dead," a man with a thick German accent said. "There's no way it could have survived that fall, plus the bullets."

The knees disappeared and Peter breathed again. Only to stop when he heard another voice. It sounded cocky, like it was the best in the world.

"Hey guys. You having a party and didn't invite me? I'm hurt."

There was a whistle and suddenly all the soldiers fell, their lifeless eyes staring up. "Oh my god.." Peter heard the man whisper.

A pair of red and gold feet began stomping through the room, surveying the damage. "Cap, we got casualties in here...I don't even know if you'd consider them human anymore." The feet slammed close to the table Peter was hiding under, the vibration enough to make the boy lose his grip and fall to the ground with a small 'oof'.

Instantly those feet moved, and machines were heard powering up. "Whoever's there, come out. I don't want to get caught in the rubble if I have to shoot."

Peter was too scared to move, his breathing coming in short gasps. "D-don't!" he finally called. "I-I-I'll come out...just please....don't hurt me."

That voice sounded young to Tony's microphones allowing him to hear inside the suit."I won't, kid. Just come on out." The machines powered down.

Peter took a deep breath and stepped toward the edge of the table. He'd never been on the floor before in his current state, so to see a person towering one hundred feet above him didn't do much for the boy's fear level.

The billionaire was worried about the child's state, was he hurt? "Where are you, kid?"

Peter watched the man's head look around high above him. Suddenly another person came into the room, but this person was even bigger than the metallic man.

"Oh my god..." His voice was deep as he looked around the room.

This man scared Peter even more than the metallic man, with his very large muscles bulging against the red, white and blue of his outfit. He clutched a very large-to Peter anyway- circular shield with the same colors as his suit that had a single star in the middle.

"I had no clue Hydra were doing this," the muscle bound man whispered, shaking his head and looking down. Right at Peter.

The boy's eyes widened and he shook, taking a step back as the muscled man yelled, "Tony! Don't move!"

Tony? Why did that name sound familiar....then it clicked. He had this person on his wall in his bedroom back in Queens. This was Iron-Man...the red and gold, the voice...Peter felt relief blossom through his chest. The Avengers had come to save them! Then he realized, he was the only one of the experiments that was going to leave here alive today.

"What's wrong, Spangles? Why can't I-oh." Tony's helmet crawled away from his face as he looked down where Steve was staring. "Oh man..." Slowly he knelt down, hand over his knee, groaning a bit as he got down. "Hey, there, um...little guy..."

Peter could only lift his hand, too star-struck-and scared- to speak. Mr. Stark was looking right at him!

"Are you okay?" Mr. Stark asked. He brought his face closer, close enough so that Peter could see every twitch of his expression change through shock to worry, then back to shock. The boy nodded, but took a step back.

"Hey, don't do that. Wouldn't want you getting lost before we got you out of here." As slowly as he knelt, Tony lowered his hand to the floor, resting it palm up in front of the boy. "We don't have a lot of time, and I don't want to hurt you by grabbing you. Can you climb on?"

Peter could only stare at the hand in front of him, the size of it making him feel even smaller.

"Come on, kid," Mr. Stark said impatiently. "This position isn't exactly easy for someone who hasn't done pilates in years."

Peter was shook out of his fear by a far away explosion, and ran up to the hand, climbing up on to the cold metal, shivering when his bare feet touched it. "Hang on," Mr. Stark muttered before the boy felt himself pressed down, the wind rushing around him as the man stood and turned.

"Are you the only one that's alive?" the man asked, his helmet crawling over his face.

"Y-yes, s-s-sir," Peter finally spoke, flinching when the other man jerked in surprise.

"Okay. Let's blow this capsicle stand."

The boy could only hang on as the man started walking out of the only room Peter had seen in six months. He was brought into a very large, very long corridor, his eyes taking everything in when suddenly someone came running up to them, red and white streaked hair flowing behind her.

"I grabbed a few things from the labs. The scientists there were very...generous," she smirked holding a few tubes with orange liquid in them. Then her gaze landed on Tony's palm. "What the hell is that?"

"Not important," Tony said. "I'll tell you on the plane. Where's Banner?"

"He made his way back to the plane a few minutes ago." Natasha couldn't keep her eyes off the little person who was clinging to Tony's thumb.

"Good. Let's go." Tony started almost running, forgetting the little person he carried on his palm.

Peter felt his hands and feet stick to the metal, keeping him from falling, but at the same time, he could feel eyes on him and looked back to see the Black Widow staring at him with awe and suspicion. He looked forward, eyes only on the way they were going. For the first time in months he was going to breathe fresh air, and Peter was so excited.

Chapter Text

Tony slammed through the opening, stopping short, and let his hands fall, but then barely heard the cry from his hand. "Oh shit, sorry kid. You okay?" He lifted his hand again and saw the little person nod, then heave. "Hey, no throwing up on my suit. You may be small, but it's still gross. We all here?" He looked at Steve and Natasha, saw them nod. "Okay, good. Initiating self destruct."

"Wait!" Peter yelled, looking up at the man in shock. "You can't! Sean's still in there!"

"Who the hell is Sean?" Mr. Stark snapped, eyes boring right into Peter, who shivered.

"He's a scientist...He was being held here against his will!" He looked to Ms. Romanoff, eyes pleading. "Please tell me if you saw him! He's got Red hair, and spoke with a Scottish accent!"

Natasha was taken aback, but she shook her head. "There was no one in the labs that looked like that."

Peter's relief was almost tangible, but then he tensed. Then that meant Sean was probably taken somewhere. He was the boy's only hope of ever getting back to normal. "No.." he sobbed.

"Well, this has all been interesting, but I don't want anyone getting their hands on whatever's in this lab, so, once again, initiating self destruct in three.....two....one...And now we run."

Peter held on as the wind-actual wind- rushed past him, the sun hitting his skin. The boy tried to breathe it in, but it was over in an instant before he was inside of a larger than life pane, the wind being cut off by the hangar closing, a large explosion shaking the jet.

Mr. Stark walked over to a chair and threw himself on it, making the teen on his palm cry out as he slipped, managing to get his hands to stick to the man's chest. Again he felt eyes on him as he tried to get his breath, hands laying flat on the cold metal. "That was close," he breathed.

"How the hell..." Mr. Stark's voice came from above Peter, who looked up to see the man staring at him with an odd look. The boy blushed, then brought his feet up, feeling them stick and he stood, waving his arms at the odd angle.

"Okay, anyone else freaked out by this?" Tony asked, his hand waving to the circus act on his chest.

"Very," Natasha agreed, watching the small thing begin walking down Tony's body to the arm rest.

"That's better," Peter sighed. He stiffened and looked up to see three pairs of eyes staring at him. "Oh...um..." he scratched the back of his neck bashfully, feeling his face heat up. "I guess that was kind of freaky, huh?" They were all silent for a minute.

"Uh, ya think?" Tony asked, tapping the reactor attached to his chest for his suit to crawl back into. "You basically defied the laws of every physics book in history. Explain."

Peter started to open his mouth, but stopped when a man came into view. "Hey guys, how was the rest...what's the matter?"

Bruce was very confused as to what everyone was looking at, until he followed their gazes to see a very small person standing on Tony's armrest. "Is that Scott?" he asked, coming closer to look, but stopped when he heard the tiny person scream, seeing them back up. "Apparently not. Who is it then?"

"Tony found him in the labs along with the dead bodies of all the experiments being kept there," Steve said, not taking his eyes off the tiny thing. "There were at least eight of them killed, not including...him," he waved at the boy.

"Oh man....I'm so sorry you had to see that, little buddy." The doctor took a seat next to Tony. "My name's Doctor Banner, but you can call me Bruce."

Peter's shaking lessened once he heard the giant's name. This was Doctor Banner? There was no way. "The Hulk?" he asked suddenly, and his hands clapped over his mouth. "I-I'm sorry, Mr. Banner, I-I mean Doctor Hulk, wait.." His face flushed when he heard the large man chuckle and Tony snorted behind his hand.

"Don't worry about it. That is the world's reaction too, then the running and the screaming," the man joked.

The boy stood, and he could feel his heart about to explode out of happiness because, here in this very plane, were his childhood heroes in the flesh. He wished he'd had a pen...but then again, it would probably be bigger than him. "I-I've read all of your papers from Gamma Ray technology, to micro-plant biology! I'm a huge fan!"

Bruce blushed and chuckled. "Well, thanks little one. I really thought there were no more people who'd actually read my papers."

Peter was about to answer, when Mr. Stark crossed his legs, elbow crashing next to the boy, making him yelp at the closeness. "So kid, what are you? I mean, you look human, but, you know." He held up his and brought his palm close to the boy's head, fingers spread out.

Peter had to shake himself from the vibrations of the man's arm and took a step back, tripping over a button. "Oof..ouch.." he rubbed his bottom. "I'm just a kid," he said, folding his legs, holding them close to his chest, laying his cheek on them. "I'm human, I mean."

"There's no way," Steve began, his brows furrowed. "How old are you?"

Peter looked up Mr. Rogers, flinching back from the look in the man's eyes. "F-fiteen," the boy stuttered. "I swear! I'm in high school!"

"What's your name?" Tony finally asked, trying to get the kid away from tears.

"P-Peter Parker."

"Friday, run a scan on the name Peter Parker."

"Yes, boss," the AI said.

Peter was starting to get cold, his heart not beating fast enough to maintain his body temperature at this height and he hugged his legs closer, wanting to get closer to the man's arm, but hesitant at the moment. He caught the man staring at him, and looked away, trying to move to hide his face, exposing his arms.

"What happened here?" Tony poked the boy's arm lightly, but that was enough to nearly push him back, his hands flying out, catching him and showing the man a lot more bruises.

"That's from the IV's the scientists gave me," Peter turned his arms to look at the bruises, some of which were healing from the shots they gave him yesterday. "They didn't care if they hurt me they actually did it on purpose, to test my healing. I never really knew what was in the needles, but I heard snippets of something about 'spider DNA' or something, which gave me advanced healing, or at least that's what Sean said, Mr. Stark."

Natasha snorted at the name Peter used for Tony, mouthing 'Mr. Stark' and making a face, to which said man flipped her off. "Bruce, think you can get a sample of his blood without killing him?"

"Yeah, I'll just need one of your worker bots to help. And not Dum-E, that thing can start a fire just by standing in the same room as a match."

"Match found," Friday informed the plane as they flew through the skies. "Displaying information." The plane dimmed and the holographic picture of the small teen was displayed, along with the missing persons file from...

"Six months?" Tony's eyes widened as he looked down at the boy. "You were in that lab for only six months, and they were able to do all this to you?"

Had it been that long? Peter didn't know, but it seemed like a good amount of time. "I-I guess," he said, looking down as Mr. Stark continued to look into his file.

"Midtown School of Sciences and Technology, not bad, kid. Looks like you weren't lying. Oh, what's this?" Tony pointed to a picture of a very attractive middle aged woman. "May Parker. She your mom?"

Peter shook his head, staring at the face of the woman he hadn't seen for so long. "N-no," he sniffled. "That's my Aunt May. She and my Uncle Ben took me in when my parent's died."

Tony frowned. "She's married. Pity." That comment earned him a glare from Natasha.

"And so are you, with a child. Watch it."

"Yeah yeah, semantics. But, we'll bring you home, give you to your aunt and uncle, end of story." Tony sat back and closed his eyes.

"Tone, I don't think that's a good idea," Bruce said. "I mean, look at him. What if the shock of seeing what he's become is too much on them? How would you feel if Morgan suddenly went missing, then she comes back the size of one of her dolls?"

"First, do not bring Morgan into this, and second that would never happen because she has Iron Man as her father, and I would never allow that to happen."

"But not everyone has a super hero for a father," the doctor argued. The billionaire stared at the doctor for a second then sighed disgustedly.

"Fine, he can stay with us. But, once we find a cure or whatever, he's gone," he pointed at the boy beaming up at him. "You're healed, you're gone, got it?"

Peter nodded. He couldn't believe it, he got to stay at the Avengers facility? This was going to be so awesome!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The jet landed softly on the landing pad. Bruce was the first to get up and stretch, his hands going miles into the air with a loud groan.

"I need to hit the head," Natasha groaned as she walked off the plane, Tony rolling his eyes behind her.

"Nice language!" he yelled, chuckling when she made a rude hand gesture. He glanced down at the kid sleeping on his arm rest. The man was at a loss. Yes, he knew how to hold a child, but not a child the size of a mouse. He sighed and poked the kid. "Hey, wakey time."

Peter groaned and rolled over, shivering a bit. "Go 'way," he mumbled, swatting at the person trying to wake him. "I'm not ready for school."

Stark chuckled. "I don't think you'll be ready for school for a while, Thumbelina. Come on." Being as careful as he could, Tony slid the boy into his palm held below the arm rest. When the teen fell, he gasped and Tony felt the sensation of his hands sticking to his fingers on bare flesh. It felt...weird. "Let go," he told the kid, shaking his finger.

"S-sorry...I got nervous." Peter slowly relaxed his body and let go, falling into the man's waiting hand, a feeling of safeness radiating from his savior. "Where are we?" He felt the vibration of each of Mr. Stark's footsteps as he walked off the plane and into the sun, which made the teen smile.

"We're home," Stark said thankfully. Suddenly a blonde head caught his attention and he smiled. "Hi honey, I'm home."

"I see. How was your trip?" the woman leaned in, kissing her husband. "Exciting?" They started walking into the building together, Pepper not paying attention to anything but her husband's face.

"Oh yeah, I even brought you something. Hold out your hand, but don't drop it!" He turned and waited for Pepper to give him her hand and dropped the boy into her waiting palm, hearing his cry as he fell. "Take him," he pointed to Peter, "to Bruce while I go say hello to my Morguna. Love you," he kissed the shocked woman's cheek and walked away.

"Um..Tony, I don't...Tony!" Pepper could only stare at the tiny boy in her hand as he sat up, every move ticking her palm. "Um, hi," she said.

Peter looked up after he'd gotten to his knees and let out a shocked gasp. "You're Ms. Potts! I mean, Mrs. Stark?" He didn't know anymore, he was still tired and his stomach hurt from hunger.

"Um, it's Stark," she said. "I guess I have to bring you to Bruce's lab," she started walking, trying to make her footsteps as even as possible, but she didn't miss the look on the tiny boy's face. "What's wrong?"

Peter shook his head, his hands sticking to the woman's hand, his eyes full of fear. "N-no more labs!" he stuttered, his voice shaking. "Please...don't let them touch me again!" He looked back at the woman who'd stopped walking, fear clearly written on his face. "I don't wanna go back into a lab, please." Tears began tracking down his face.

Pepper was speechless, but then her mothering instinct took over and she brought the scared boy to her chest, giving him the best version of a hug she could, shushing the boy quietly. "It's okay," she soothed. "Bruce isn't a bad guy, I promise. And, if you don't want to be in his lab, we can tell him, okay? It's okay, stop crying, it's okay." She rocked back and forth, acting like she would whenever Morgan cried.

Peter could smell Mrs. Stark's perfume, but also he could feel her heartbeat under him, and that, along with her voice sounding all around him, he could feel himself calming down. It felt just like when his Aunt would hold him and he had to smile at the memory, gripping the white silk shirt tightly.

Finally his sobs became small hiccups and the woman pulled her hands away, the boy falling back into her cupped hands which folded around him, making him feel safe, protected. "Do you feel better?" she whispered, feeling better when the boy nodded. "Good. Come on, let's go get you something to drink first." She started walking again, occasionally glancing down at the passenger in her hands.

Chapter Text

"Hey Pepper," Sam's voice called from the library as the woman passed. "Got a minute?"

"Sorry, I don't. Do you want me to send someone else?" She stopped, thinking nothing of it when the man started walking towards her, but jerked when she heard the gasp come from her palms.

"The Falcon?!" Peter yelled, eyes wide, then slapped his hands over his mouth.

Sam tensed and looked down at Pepper's hands, his eyes narrowing. "Is that Scott?" he snapped, already reaching for the small figure, figuring to give him a piece of his mind, grabbing the body before the woman could pull away, glaring. "Scott, I thought you were in hiding with Hank....and you're not Scott." He got a look at the scared face of the teenage boy that he just realized was too large to be Scott, even if he was still small, hanging in front of him. "Who is this?"

Pepper glared at the man, holding her hand out under the boy. "First, let him go," she demanded, staring the man down until he did as he was told. "Second, Tony just brought him from his mission." She turned from the man, feeling the small body shaking all over again. "It's okay, shh." She closed her cupped hands over the scared boy. "We need to be alone for a minute, so if you need help, get Thor or someone." With that she stalked away from the man, radiating anger at the way he treated the small teen.

Peter's body stopped shaking by the time he and Mrs. Stark reached the communal kitchen. He watched her fingers start to lower, and she brought her hands to the white marble counter. Reluctantly Peter climbed down and shivered as his bare feet touched the marble. "Is tea okay, sweetie?"

Pepper turned towards the boy with a slight smile. Now that she had gotten somewhat used to the strange teen Tony brought home, she had to admit that he was very adorable. Especially when he blushed, like now.

"Um, do you have coffee?" Peter asked, having a craving for the caffeine he'd been missing. Suddenly the counter started vibrating and Bruce walked in.

"Hey Pepper, where's Tony? I was expecting him to bring...oh, there you are." He walked to the counter. "I want to take some blood, so I'll need you down in my la-"

"He won't be going to your lab," Pepper broke in as she rounded on the man. "He told me he just came from a lab, and now you want to take him into another one? I don't think so." She placed a mug of coffee on the counter, then paused. How was he going to drink it?

"I understand Peter's fright, but I only need a little blood to see what they did to him. That's all," Banner argued, picking up the coffee, which he thought was for him and taking a sip.

Peter watched as the large hand lifted the mug away from him, but he didn't care. It wasn't him, so he wasn't bothered. He spotted Pepper stepping closer to the counter and took a few steps towards her until he could feel the woman's body heat.

"So, if you need blood, you can draw it here." She placed her hands on either side of the boy-Peter, she assumed. She felt silly for not asking his name, but she had been in shock.

"I can't do that, Pep. I need to use some of Tony's bots to get the blood sample, since he's so small."

The woman sighed. "Peter," she called gently, waiting for Peter to look at her. The boy shook, knowing what was coming, but he knew of one way to be able to do it.

"I-I know this is a-asking a lot...but...can you come? Please?" He needed the woman's comfort if he was going to do this, and even though they had literally just met, he wanted her by his side.

Pepper smiled softly. "Yes I can. Come on," she held out her hand to the boy, shivering when he hurried up and sat. "Okay, Bruce, you win. Let's go."

The man nodded and walked out, sipping his coffee, not catching the way Peter glared at him for taking his drink.

"I'll get you some coffee when we're done," Pepper said softly to the boy. She never thought she'd feel this protective of another child after Morgan, but she guessed once one became a mother, seeing a child in need, your instincts kick in. "I'm sure Morgan has a cup you can use."

The brunette simply nodded, too scared to speak. He really didn't want to go into another lab, but this time he had a support system. Like Sean was for him when he was taken by Hydra. Peter was brought out of his thoughts by the wind of the doors opening hitting his small form, causing him to shiver.

"Are you cold?" Pepper asked, cupping her warm hands around him.

"I've found I'm always cold, now. The scientists didn't take into account that my heart wouldn't be able to pump as fast as a smaller creature in order to regulate my temperature. If they had done the calculations, I never heard it anyway." He shrugged and wiggled a bit to sit by Pepper's fingers, each one a body-length heaters, but also for comfort, seeing all the beakers and lab equipment which brought back bad memories.

"Well, I'll try and fix that," Bruce said as he started setting things up on a table. He laid out a thick, fluffy towel. "Just put him here. It'll be warmer than him sitting on the cold metal. And more comfortable."

Peter didn't want to leave Pepper's hands, but he had to get this over with. Peter stepped from the woman's hand and on to the towel, surprised to find it very warm, warmer than a towel should be.

"I have a towel warmer in here," Bruce could see the surprise on the boy's face. "I have terrible allergies and that's the only way to get rid of them sometimes."

Peter had managed to laugh at the absurdity of the Hulk having allergies. He couldn't picture it and told the doctor in a shaky voice, calming when the man smiled down at him.

"Yeah, it's a little silly, huh?" Bruce chuckled and brought Tony's bots over, frowning when he saw the boy's size compared to the robot arm. "This cold be difficult," he breathed. "Peter, I'll need you to stand here, okay?" He pointed to the middle of the towel. "I'll need to observe this very closely and make sure you're okay."

The boy shook and stayed where he was, shaking his head. He wasn't leaving the woman's side. The doctor sighed.

"Okay, I understand. Then, I'll bring the machine over to you. Don't move, and this will be over in a second, okay?" He brought the magnifying machine over to the boy, placing it over him. He got a good look at Peter and the minute he did, he knew he couldn't ever hurt this boy. Big brown puppy dog eyes stared up at him with fear, from under a head full of curls that fell over thin eyebrows. He had a straight nose that fit perfectly in between his boy/man face.

From what Bruce could tell, Peter was well built, but it was hard to tell under the blue and red romper-like outfit. It almost looked like a prison outfit. He'd have to ask Tony to make the kid a new outfit, especially when he spotted the silver Hydra sign on the back. "Okay, here we go."

Peter watched as the fingers came at him with a cotton pad that hurt the boy's nose and eyes. He yelped at the temperature of it when the doctor swiped it over his arm, the alcohol stinging his skin.

"Hold on," Bruce said and turned up the magnifying power. "Does your healing work this fast? It's only been twenty minutes since the last I saw you on the Quinjet."

Peter nodded shakily. "Y-yeah...for bruises, anyway. Larger cuts take longer to heal." He stared up at Bruce's eye, made larger by the lens.

"I'm sorry, but that's incredible," the doctor responded in awe. "Okay. I have to make another wound, but this will hopefully be the last time for a long while." He programmed the bot with the needle.

Peter couldn't stop shaking as he watched the large, thin needle come closer and closed his eyes. He'd never stop being afraid of needles, especially when they were the length of his arm. He felt a pinch and whimpered, but then felt warmth around him. He opened one of his eyes and saw Mrs. Stark had laid her hand around him, her thumb in front of him, which he gladly gripped with the hand not being used.

"Okay, got a vein. We just need...that's it." Bruce had the bot pull away and wiped the boy's arm with the alcohol swab, hearing him hiss. "Sorry. But, we're done. You can go, okay? And, you did really good."

Peter sighed as the man pulled the magnifying lens away, practically collapsing on Mrs. Stark's thumb. "I hate needles, " he said, earning a chuckle from the adults.

"I understand that one," Dr. Banner laughed. "I'll just analyze this and let Tony know what I found. See you later, Peter."

Peter was lifted by Mrs. Stark, and for the second time that day, he felt safe when someone lifted him off the table. He grabbed the woman's thumb and held on when she tilted her palm to carry the boy that way in one hand, and she grabbed the now empty coffee cup from Bruce in the other.

It was time she had a talk with her husband.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh Morguna?" Tony called as he made his way into the facility. He was glad his family had a place to stay and be protected while he was away on missions, which weren't many nowadays. And for that he was glad.

A giggle from a room ahead of him made Tony smile. He walked faster and stopped at the open door, leaning against the door frame, watching Morgan have a princess party with all her dolls, wearing a tutu and a crown. "Friday, record," he whispered, smiling gently at his little girl's giggles. He lived for moments like this.

Morgan twirled and stopped facing the door and her face broke out into a bright smile and she ran to him. "Daddy!" she cried, her arms out as she leaped at Tony, who caught her. "Hello, Morguna! How's daddy's girl, huh?"

"I was having a dance party! I wanted Wanda to come, but she said she was going to visit Uncle Bucky." The excited sparkle in the little girl's eyes put a smile on Tony's face.

"Well, maybe if you ask really nice, next time uncle Bucky will come too," he said with mock excitement. He couldn't wait to get a video of that. Ever since he'd had the accords abolished, the ex-Winter Soldier had been coming by more and more to 'visit' Wanda. "Hey, who wants a juice pop?" he asked, making an excited face when his daughter gasped and smiled.

"Okay, let's go get a juice pop!" Tony listened to his daughter talk all excited the entire way to the kitchen, a smile on his face the entire time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pepper made her way back to the communal kitchen, dropping Peter off on the counter. "I'll be right back, okay? Just stay there." She waited for an affirmative from Peter and went off to search her daughter's room for a cup for him to use.

The teen walked in circles, pausing when he heard voices, and they were getting closer. He wanted to hide, but Mrs. Stark had told him not to move. Did that mean the spot or the counter? Thinking quick, the small boy ran to the coffee mug that towered over him. He climbed up the side and into the mug seconds before the group of people came into the kitchen, their voices echoing in the empty ceramic walls around him.

"Okay, I know you want orange, because that is my favorite flavor." The man turned then saw something on the counter, but it was gone a second later, and instead he saw a mug in its place. He opened his juice pop and grabbed the empty mug on the counter, rolling his eyes. "I swear I live with animals," he mumbled. He was about to place it in the sink when he spotted something and almost dropped it.

Peter hung onto the inside of the mug staring up at Mr. Stark, green in the face from the movement. The two stared at one another, until the billionaire suddenly looked towards where the small girl's voice Peter thought it was coming from. The boy sent him a pleading look. Though he hadn't been around any kids like this, he knew that they could be dangerous to him right now.

Tony nodded and placed the cup down, turning and clapping his hands. "Okay, finish that up and then it's time to get ready for bed." He pouted when Morgan whined and whined back at her.

"But you just came home!" Morgan said, her bottom lip wobbling a bit. Tony stuck his bottom lip out at her.

"And I'll be home tomorrow, and the next day," he swooped down, picking up the now giggling girl, "and the next day. It's nice to know you missed me, though.Come on," he moved her onto his hip. "Let's go brush your teeth."

Chapter Text

The boy sighed then poked his head out of the mug, glad to see he was alone. He'd never been around this many people in the lab!. Well, not people who didn't know about him, anyway. Here he had the advantage of people not trying to hurt him if they found him, though.

Peter climbed down from the cup and once he was on the counter again, he looked around. Now what? He was told to stay where he was, but it wasn't his fault that Mr. Stark had come in and moved the cup he'd had to hide in. But, she didn't exactly tell him not to move from there...and he was finally out of his cage and able to walk around and explore. A grin came to the boy's face.

This was a perfect time to test out his abilities to check out this place. He turned, his mind going a mile a minute. He had so many places he could go! In the room, of course. But, he wanted to see the whole room, and not from a counter. So, running to the tiled wall, Peter placed a hand on it, then another, testing if he could stick to it. And he could. The cabinets above him were a challenge though.

The small teen crawled up the wall as quickly as he could, his heart catching in his throat when he slipped a few times, but caught himself. He wasn't used to climbing with his new 'powers' yet. While the wall would be easy. the challenge would be the white wood of the cabinets looming over him.

With a gulp, he brought a hand out, feeling it latch on, then another, until he was crawling upside down! Peter giggled as he made his way over, then up to the top of the cabinets. Finally able to catch his breath, the boy turned and looked around. The room was HUGE! It would probably be large even if he was normal sized, but like this, it was ginormous!

"Wow," he whispered. He knew Mr. Stark was rich, but this....this was insane! The lights suddenly came on as the sun disappeared behind the horizon, which was beautiful to watch from where he was. The cabinets started vibrating more than they should have, and Peter fell back when Mr. and Mrs. Stark came in. Suddenly the woman stopped, her eyes on the spot where she had left the teen.

"Tony? Where's Peter?" she turned to him with a raised brow.

"Oh, Tom Thumb was over here...and he's gone." The man looked around. "Hey, kid, you can come out. You have an unfair advantage in hide and seek right now."

Peter breathed a sigh of relief and stood back up. "Up here, Mr. Stark," he called, beginning to crawl down the cabinet to be seen easier.

"Oh god!" Pepper cried as she saw Peter start to go over the side of the tall door and automatically went to reach out to catch him, when she watched him actually crawl down the cabinet door. Her face showed her shock and she looked between Tony and the kid.

"Yeah, freaky, right? He did the same thing on my suit, only he actually walked down it." Tony held his hand out for the boy to crawl onto.

"Ho-how?" the woman asked.

"Um, the scientists, they uh...they gave me spider DNA...they even tried to make me able to make spider webs...no thanks. I don't need webs coming out of my butt." The boy shivered.

"Oh...oh, you poor thing," Pepper leaned toward him, a sympathetic look on her face. "How long did they have you?" The boy looked up at the ceiling.

"His file said he was taken six months ago," Tony said, letting the boy crawl onto the counter. He placed his hand next to him, leaning on it. "So that's it."

The blonde woman felt pity for the boy. "I'm so sorry, Peter." He smiled up at her.

"It's okay, because I got to meet the actual Avengers! I mean, yeah, it was a little late, but hey, what can you do?" He laughed when Mr. Stark's finger pushed him lightly.

"Enough out of you. I'm hungry." The man went to the fridge. "Pepper?"

"No, but Peter? Are you hungry?" She chuckled when the boy's face lit up.

"Yes!" he shouted, and then blushed. "I-I mean, yeah. Since this happened, I'm always hungry it seems."

Tony took out things to make a sandwich, making sure he didn't squish the boy. "Well, there goes my food bill," he joked. "But, if you're hungry, just say something. Someone will come." He started putting together his sandwich, cutting a small piece for the boy before he began eating.

Peter had never seen someone eat at his size, and it was terrifying. His entire body shook with how his senses were blaring at every flash of teeth he saw, every noise the man made while chewing. He watched Mr. Stark's Adams apple bob when he swallowed.

"What? Do I have mayo on my face? Pepper? Do I have something on my face?" he asked while turning to his wife.

"S-sorry...it's just, I've never seen, you know...." he waved toward the man and the sandwich, feeling his face warm. "You know, it's nothing, thank you for the food, Mr. Stark." Trying to ignore the now staring man, he grabbed what he could of the food and began eating, having to use both hands. He jumped when hands clapped together above him and he was showered with crumbs. "Hey, watch it!" he yelled, brushing the food out of his head and heard Mr. Stark snort.

"Yeah, sorry. We need to figure out a sleeping space for now." the man said, going to the fridge to grab a water bottle. "What about next to Wanda?" Apparently he was speaking to himself, since Pepper was currently washing something at the sink. "No, she might make him float away. Oh, what about Clint's old room?"

Peter grabbed another slice of the sandwich, watching the man guzzle down gallons of water.
"I-I don't need a whole room," he said suddenly. "Just give me a corner somewhere, preferably on the floor."

"Oh, I think not, Stewart Little. We don't want to have to wash what's left of you off the floor. Even though we have tile, have you ever seen how hard it is to get a person off it?" Tony threw out his bottle. "No, you'll get a room. I think there's a empty room next to Sam's."

Peter could only gasp when he was suddenly lifted in a fist, popping his head out to breathe, scowling at the billionaire. "Warn me, please! I just ate!" Mr. Stark only nodded.

"Yeah yeah." Truth was, he had no clue how to act with this new little being that was dropped into his life. He wasn't used to his own body being a weapon from just stepping into a room. It was kind of scary. He walked and had to stop himself from moving his one hand and risk the kid getting motion sickness.

Peter could feel the footfalls and looked up at the man. He was used to this sort of handling, but at least Mr. Stark wasn't hurting him, and, truthfully, the man made him feel safe. Secure. But, he was starting to feel a little hot. He wiggled his arm out of the man's hold, sighing when cool air his his skin. "M-Mr. Stark?" he called. "You're hot!"

Tony suddenly stopped and stared down at the kid who was now wriggling like a worm in his hand, his face red. "Th-that's not what I meant! I meant, you're hand! It's hot!" The man felt the relief come over him like a wave and he chuckled.

"Good, because I can't deal with a crush right now, not with the way Pepper glares at women who throw themselves at me." He brought his hand up to his chest and opened it, hearing the boy let out a breath.

"That's better, thanks." He tried to cool his face with both hands, panting. When they started moving, he no longer needed his hands, the wind washing over him was more than enough. The man stopped in front of a door and he opened it, switching on a light.

"Well, here it is," Tony stepped into the room, going to the bed, tipping his hand so the boy fell gently to the covers. "Um...okay, so, get some sleep."

With that, he walked out of the room and switched off the light, leaving Peter in the dark. The boy whimpered as he tried to get his footing on the blankets. Now, he'd never been afraid of the dark. But, that was before when he was bigger than most things and not in an unfamiliar face. His breathing quickened, but then he noticed something. It was pitch black, but somehow he could still see outlines of things. True he couldn't exactly make out what the thing was, but he could see shapes. Peter felt his breath coming more even, but he was still panicked.

"Hello," an Irish voice called and Peter screamed, jumping up and looking around.

"Who said that?!" he cried.

"My name is Friday. I am the compound's personal AI." Peter felt his heart calming from the scare.

"So, you're the new computer! I haven't heard much about you, but it's um...it's nice to meet you, Ms. Friday. I'm Peter."

"Nice to meet you, Peter. I noticed your breathing and blood pressure had raised. Would you like me to notify Mr. Stark?"

Peter's eyes widened. "N-no! Definitely not. I'm okay now, I promise. But, can you please raise the lights a little?" It took a second, but the lighting was raised until the teen said it was enough. Now with the ability to see, he felt so much better. "Thank you, Ms. Friday. I'm better now." He stood as best he could and looked over the vast bed he was on. The pillows were so far away, but that's where the end of the blankets were. With a sigh, the boy started trudging through the blankets. It almost felt like walking through snow, or deep mud, except his feet stayed dry. It was a peculiar feeling.

Finally he reached the pillow and stared up at it, wanting to cry. The top was so far away, and even if he reached the top, he wouldn't be able to reach the blanket. So, he just lifted the gray blanket as much as he could and crawled under it, feeling cold. A few minutes under the comforter he began to warm up and started to fall asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Peter woke in the morning, the first thing he noticed-besides he was hungry- was there were no bars over him. Confused, he sat up, pushing the thick comforter off his body with a grunt. Looking around he noticed he was in what looked like a bedroom. He was trying to think when suddenly the Irish lady spoke.

"Good morning, Peter," Friday sounded and raised the lights, the windows lost their shading and the boy was gifted a view of the expansive fields outside, the sun hitting his face. He stood on the bed, sinking into the soft mattress, soaking it all in.

"Mr. Stark is on his way."

Peter didn't have time to answer before Mr. Stark was opening his door. "Hey spiderling," he said with a grin, walking to the bed and looking down at the small boy lost in the covers. "Sleep okay?" The boy nodded. "Good, otherwise I would be worried. This is a thousand dollar bed, after all. So, are you hungry?" He sat on the bed, which caused the boy to tumble against his thigh.

"I-I.." he swallowed as he looked up into Mr. Stark's expectant face. "I can come out of my room?"

Tony stared at the kid like he'd said something stupid, then rolled his eyes."No, you're not allowed, which is why I asked you if you wanted breakfast. Come kid, really think I would do that to you? But, this," he waved his hand over the spot where he thought Peter might be against his thigh. "This is getting ridiculous. Hold on." He lowered his hand to the bed and searched by his thigh until he heard a small yelp.

Pinching the teen's middle he brought him up to see his face. "Now I can see you. So, let's go get some grub." He got up and started walking, not missing how the boy held on to his thumb for dear life, his feet dangling in what Tony thought must have been a terrifying height. "Sorry," he mumbled and brought his other hand up, dropping Peter into his palm. He was new at this and didn't know how to carry a three inch person.

Peter let out a small 'oof' when he fell into the man's palm, shaking his head a bit. Although he was glad for the semi-stable surface, he didn't like how rough Mr. Stark was with him.

"Look who's finally in the land of the living," Mr. Stark announced as soon as they reached the kitchen and he felt the boy tense up as four pairs of eyes settled on them. Everyone was focused on the boy in Tony's hand, and he couldn't help but let his mouth fall open. All of his childhood heroes were sitting at the table.

"Good morning, Peter," Pepper said with a smile, kissing her husband who pouted as he sat next to her. "Did you sleep alright?"

"I don't get a good morning?"

"No, Tony. Not after what you did last night." The woman glared at him, but was grinning.

Before Peter could answer the woman, a finger came and poked him in the side, surprising the boy and made him jump and giggle at the same time. "Don't do that....it tickled," he protested, trying to give his best glare to the blue eyed man who stared at him.

Clint couldn't help himself and leaned closer to the small thing that was moving near Tony's arm, his finger still trying to poke it. "What is it?" he whispered, then yelped when Tony slapped his hand away.

"He is not a thing. His name is Peter. He's an unfortunate experiment we found in the HYDRA base yesterday."

Peter looked down at the memory of being in the lab and shuddered. Suddenly the finger was back, but Peter flipped over it before it could touch him.

"Woah. Have you always been this size?" Clint tried poking the kid again, only to have his fingertip slapped by 'Peter', and turned it into a sparring war, seeing the boy was smiling a little. He didn't even notice the rest of the table watching them, this was to much fun!

"No," Peter said, ducking the finger so it sailed over his head, but falling when it came back as a hook to try and grab him. "They gave me-" jump over the finger- "some kind of serum to-" slap "-to do this to me." He was breathing heavily now and starting to sweat, but this was the most exercise he'd had in six months! He was glad for those gymnastics and dance classes, even though he got made fun of for the latter.

Suddenly the man opened his hand to grab the boy, a grin on his large face, but at the last moment the teen jumped over the hand and, unfortunately, misjudged the height, and stuck to the bottom of Mr. Stark's mug as it passed over him as the billionaire told the archer to quit it. He brought it up to take a sip, and stopped when he heard Pepper gasp, her hand flashing out to hold under the man's cup just in case Peter fell.

"And this is why you can't bring kids to the adult table," Tony sighed, grabbing the boy between two fingers, peeling him from the mug. "You need to eat, so enough playing." He pulled a box over and flipped it open, revealing pancakes and eggs, dropping the kid in front of it.

Peter's eyes went large at the amount of food in front of him. A few months ago, that would have been enough to fill him, but now, it was like a literal mountain of food before him. He walked towards it slowly, the scent of the syrup so sweet it made his mouth water. Grabbing a pancake he tried to rip a piece off, but apparently he pulled too much and the entire thing unexpectedly came flying at him, covering him like a blanket.

Clint tried to suppress a laugh behind a snort at the moving pancake, lifting a bit to see the red faced boy underneath. "Hey, we have rules about trying to hide in your food around here, little buddy."

Peter glared at the man and wiggled out from under the hot food. "Ha ha, very funny, Mr. Hawkeye. I was trying to rip a piece off it." He yelped when the pancake was lifted and turned to see Pepper ripping the pancake in pieces and laying them next to him. "Thank you, Mrs. Stark," he said and lifted a piece to eat it.

Clint laughed. "Kid, you need to cut it with the mister and misses business. I'm Clint," he offered a finger to the kid, who backed up a step before he figured out what the man wanted and grabbed said finger.

"Hello, Mr. Clint," Peter chirped cheekily, earning a chuckle from Mr. Stark.

"Give it up. But the kid could help with your manners," the billionaire said, amusement in his tone.

"Um, why are we introducing ourselves to a child from a HYRDA operative base?" Steve finally asked, setting his coffee down. "Last I checked, they were still evil, or did you not see what they did to those other experiments, Tony?"

"I agree with Steve," Natasha said, eyes landing on the boy who backed away before Clint's hand covered him and the man glared back at the woman. "He gets out, not a scratch on him...for all we know, he could just be a spy. Look at what they did to Bucky." Steve nodded next to her.

"Well, if anything happens with the kid, I will take personal blame for it, okay?" Tony rolled his eyes at the team. "You need to ease up. He's just a kid, a little kid, literally. And if you haven't noticed, he was an experiment that we were able to rescue, so just back off."

"At least let us ask a few questions," Natasha offered, leaning back in her chair, hands disappearing under the table.

"Uh, that would be a no," the billionaire made a face which the woman rolled her eyes at and brought the knife she'd been playing with to the top of the table. "Leave him alone."
"Yeah, but he's a kid who was in Hydra's hands, and came out of a lab with not even a scratch." Steve said, as if alliterating where Peter was from.

"I-it's okay, Mr. Stark....they can question me...I-I'm not afraid." The boy stood as tall as he could and Tony snorted into his coffee cup.

"That's cute, Pete, but I know those two, and they won't stop pestering me about this until I agree."

There was silence at the table, until Tony finally sighed. "Fine, but it's done after breakfast, with me and Pepper in the room with you, and if the kid is uncomfortable, we stop. Got it?" The man glared at the two smiling Avengers who nodded. "Good. Now, let Tom thumb eat, Mr. Clint," the man teased, chuckling how red Peter's face went.

Clint poked the boy as soon as he lifted his hand and pointed to the pancake pile. "Better eat, kid, or," he swiped a piece from the pile, "it'll all be gone." He smiled around the food as Peter glared and quickly sat and started eating way faster than anyone thought he would, impressing them by eating the whole pile. "And I thought Steve could eat," the archer said. "Looks like you have competition."

Rogers only watched the little thing on the table, his eyes focused. What would HYDRA be doing with such a tiny person?

"M-Mrs. Stark?" Peter said, nervous from his childhood hero literally staring him down.

"Pepper," she reminded the boy who nodded.

"Pepper, i-if it's possible, could I have some c-coffee please?" The woman nodded as she stood.

"I got this for you yesterday out of Morgan's room. I thought you would like it. It came in one of her Barbie sets Tony had to buy her." She grabbed something off the counter and dipped into her own coffee cup, setting down the now visible Avengers cup made out of Iron Man's head.

Peter picked it up and laughed for a second at the icon, Tony leaning in to see it and smiled. "Of course I have to buy her everything Iron Man, or else how is she gonna know who her dad is?"

The boy smiled as he sipped his coffee, a blissful look coming over his face. Even though he could still feel Mr. Roger's eyes on him, it had been too long without the bitter taste of the drink. "Thank you," he said, taking another sip.

"You're welcome, sweetie. Are you still hungry?" The boy shook his head.

"No, Mrs-Pepper," he corrected himself at a look from her. "I'm not hungry." The woman nodded and pulled the box to Tony, who ate the remainders.

"Are we done? I would like to question him today, if possible." Steve started reaching for the teen, seeing his scared face, which made him pause. "Son, are you okay with me holding you?"

Peter saw the hand, but he couldn't move. The man's hand was huge up close, and intimidating to say the least. Then, the teen was suddenly scooped from behind, yelping as he fell backwards into a rough hand that smelled like the outdoors and wood oil. He looked up to see Mr. Barton's smiling face.

"Sorry, kid, but it's my turn to hold you. Steve doesn't get a turn until he behaves." He stuck his tongue out at the soldier, bringing Peter closer to his chest. "You lead the way, Cap."

"I thought we could do it here, make the kid more comfortable," Natasha spoke. "I mean, unless you want to go somewhere else, like the labs."

The boy shook his head at that. "N-n-no." Peter scurried up Mr. Barton's arm to his shoulder, huddling close to the archer's neck. "Please, n-no more labs....please...." he begged. "I don't like labs.."

The archer tried to see the kid, but it was like he disappeared. He took a chance and turned his head to look at Tony, who looked toward his neck, which the rest of the table did as well, with concern.

"Peter isn't comfortable in lab settings," Bruce came around the corner wearing a lab coat. "Hey, what's with the angry aura? Did Clint break something again?"

Steve shook his head. "No, Bruce. Just having a little discussion with the kid. Tell me, why don't you like labs?"

Peter shivered slightly. "When I was taken by Hydra, the first place I remember being was a lab. There was a doctor there, he went by Doctor Bloom. Every time I was brought to his lab, he forced needles into me. They...they made..."

Clint heard the boy sniff, his voice wavering as if he was fighting back tears.

"They made me...this," he shivered at the memory. "They had a whole group of people. Some my age, some a little older, some even younger..I was the only one who survived the experiment." A tear escaped as he thought of all those people screaming for someone to help.

"Do you know why?" Natasha asked, leaning forward and frowned when the boy shook his head.

"No, n-not really...I overheard them saying stuff like 'they needed the perfect spy', and 'it needs to be practically invisible'. But, that was after they gave me the serum that made me little." The whole thing sounded ludicrous to Peter, even as he said it. "It got worse when they started with the spider DNA...that hurt, worse the first shot.."

Everyone had a look of sheer disgust and astonishment on their faces as Peter spoke, looking at him with pity and sadness.

"And where did they get the, um, serum that made you little?" Tony asked.

"Actually," Bruce interrupted, holding up his clipboard. "I can answer that. It seems they were working with some of Hank Pym's particles," he laid his findings on the table, which Tony grabbed to read over, pulling up the holographic screen in order for the whole team to read. "Peter, do you happen to know how they got their hands on it?"

The boy was starting to settle down and was now sitting on Mr. Barton's shoulder, looking at his feet, his fist still clenched on the man's collar. "Sean said they found it in Berlin."
Steve groaned, leaning his head on his hand. Why did Berlin have to keep showing up?

"How? Scott couldn't have just given them some, could he have?" Natasha asked, getting up to see what Tony was looking at, leaning close to the small teen.

Peter flinched away from her, but when she didn't even glance at him, he relaxed. "No, he was told that they found some sort of disk with some of the particles on it, though most of it was burnt and melted."

"And Sean," Tony asked, "who is he? You mentioned him before, too."

"He was a scientist, kept there against his will. He..he tried to protect me." Tears burned behind Peter's eyes and he blinked them away. "His family was taken by Hydra and he was forced to do experiments for them." It seemed that whenever he got close to someone, they were taken away from him. From his father to his uncle Ben..everyone but his aunt May. He gasped. "Aunt May!" He leaped to his feet and turned to Mr. Stark, almost losing his balance on Mr. Clint's shoulder. "You have to let me speak to Aunt May! She's probably beside herself with worry!"

Tony put a hand up. "One thing at a time, Short stack. I have her number, I'm just waiting for the right time. Like when we finally get you back to normal."

The boy frowned. "And what if that isn't possible?" Bruce cleared his throat.

"Well, since the Berlin incident, Hank Pym has gone into hiding. No one knows where he is. I can put some feelers out though, see if anyone can find him. But, as long as I have Peter's blood, I can try and do some reversing agents on the serum that was used."

"What about the freaky spider things?" the boy asked. Bruce sighed, taking off his glasses to rub his nose.

"That, I can't undo, I'm sorry. The DNA has intermingled with your own. If I try to separate it, you won't make it." He couldn't look at the disappointed face on the small boy.

"Okay, are we done here?" the billionaire asked, unable to take the look on the kid's face. "I have things to do, missions to fund, things like that."

"I think we're done here. Peter, I'm sorry son, for everything you've had to go through." The boy nodded.

"I have some work I have to do as well," Pepper said with a side glance at Peter, who still stood on Clint's shoulder, holding the man's hair. He really was adorable. She looked to Tony, who put his hands up.

"I got some important shit to do, as I just said." He winced when his wife slapped his shoulder. "What?"

"Little ears," she made a movement toward's Peter, who was laughing. "Clint? Can you watch him?" The man shook his head, his little passenger almost falling.

"I can't. I got a call from Laura. That's where I was heading right after breakfast. One of the main pipes burst in the basement and she didn't want to call a plumber."

"I can watch him," Bruce said softly. The table all looked at him at the same time. "What? I actually like kids."

"I know that , Bruce, but..." Pepper looked at Peter, who had hidden once the man had spoke. "I don't think Peter's comfortable with you." He nodded with an understanding look.

"How about you, Spangles? You any good with kids?" Tony asked, and the man shook his head with a scared look.

Peter felt horrible. He was causing problems. He hated causing problems, especially to the people who rescued him. Mr. Stark was still arguing with Mr. Rogers when the boy spoke. "I can look after myself," he said, his voice cracking out of nerves when every pair of eyes was set on him. "I-I'm fifteen," he said, his face reddening. "I can t-take care of myself." There was silence.

"Oh sweetheart," Pepper said. "We all know that, but right now, it's dangerous for you to be on your own. If someone doesn't watch where they're going, an accident can happen." She saw the sadness on the tiny teen's face and looked to her husband.

Tony finished his coffee and hissed through his teeth. "Fine, I'll take him," he agreed with a clap of his hands. "Clint, time to release the Lilliputian to me." Clint turned to him with a raised brow.

"Lilliputian?"
"What? You've never seen Gulliver's Travels?"

"No, and you have?" Clint raised a hand to his shoulder, feeling Peter crawl onto it.

"Yes, because I have a normal daughter who likes to watch movies and veg out on the couch, not be outside frolicking through the tulips with chipmunks." As soon as the man brought Peter closer, Tony reached out and pinched his torso between two fingers before placing him on his own shoulder and getting up.

"Tony, is that safe?" Pepper asked, holding her hand out just in case.

"He's fine, right Pete?"

The boy who had almost lost his balance from the large movements smiled at the woman. "Yeah, I'm fine, Pepper."

"See? So, you guys go play, while daddy gets some work done," and with that, he walked away.

To say it was weird to ride on Mr. Stark's shoulder was putting it lightly. Peter could feel every movement, every step rumbled through him. He head learned in the first few minutes to not look down and watch the giant feet miles below him.

"So," Mr. Stark's voice sounded so close, the man's neck vibrating against the boy's white knuckles. "You went to a STEM school, right?"

"Y-yeah...for science and technology," the boy answered, looking out the windows, enjoying the view.

"What was your main subject? Or, is that college? I forget." Tony turned his head to see Peter looking out the window.

"I had an elective, which was chemistry. I took band, which Aunt May forced me to do for something, but I quit that after three weeks. But, I also took chemistry, physics, calculus and of course, P.E. which I was horrible at. Ned, he's my best friend, didn't like it either. He's better with computers then anything else, and was in the robotics club with me. We even built our own robot that could make a pizza, but it shorted out and there was dough everywhere. Aunt May wasn't even mad when she came home, she just told us to clean up the house and laughed." Peter smiled at the memory. He missed the woman, and hoped he could call her soon.

"Huh, really interesting," Tony said blandly. "So, you like building things?" The boy nodded. "Well then, you're gonna love the workshop. You're actually the very first civilian that has ever seen it, so be amazed, or at least pretend, okay?" He heard the boy laugh in his ear and grinned. He could grow to like this kid, especially if he kept laughing at his jokes.

They walked and Peter didn't see the short flight of stairs, too busy looking at the grounds, when Mr. Stark started bouncing down said stairs. The boy gasped and held on as his body jerked with each step, until not even his new abilities could hold him and with a scream, he fell.

Tony hadn't even realized the trouble the kid was having until he heard the tiny scream and looked to see Peter falling down the front of his shirt. With a curse that had Tony quickly brought his hands up, catching the kid just as he passed his waist, cupping his hands around the boy with a sigh of relief. "I'm so sorry, kid," he rushed. "I didn't even think. Are you okay?" He brought his hands up and looked in them.

Peter was shaking, which was a given for what just happened, but he nodded and gave a nervous laugh. "Yeah....that was scary though."

"Yeah, I can imagine. Let's get going, but no more shoulders on stairs," Tony furrowed his brows and folded his hands over the boy as he continued his descent.

Chapter Text

Peter was motion sick by the time Mr. Stark had reached his lab, currently sitting on the man's work table trying to calm down his stomach. "You okay, Peter?" Mr. Stark asked, busy at his hologram, sifting through ideas, throwing out bad ones.

"Y-yeah..." Peter managed to say, his stomach finally not feeling as if it were about to leave his body. "What are you working on?"

Tony glanced at the boy. "Oh, nothing really. Just going through ideas, some of them coming from my interns, which I can tell you, most of them suck, and the others aren't even worth my time, honestly." He sighed and stepped away, falling into a chair. "I don't know why I even let them continue to work for my company, I swear."

"They're at least trying," Peter said, getting up to walk the table shakily, going up to a project which was closest to the table. He studied it, reaching out to touch it, jumping when one part suddenly expanded enough for the boy to see. "Huh....this looks like it would work if the rotator coupler was over here....and if they added a circuit board over here....Is that supposed to be a motherboard? It looks horrible." He jumped, trying to reach where he wanted when suddenly a huge hand sailed over him and touched where he wanted.

"Show me." Tony followed the boy's thoughts and even anticipated them a few times, which got Peter smiling. "Woah...kid, I think I may just make you my personal intern."

Peter laughed. "But I wouldn't be able to get you coffee."

"Hmm, yeah, you're fired," Tony said with a smirk. "But you can help me with something." He went to grab the boy, but stopped when he saw how Peter flinched. "Hey, what's with this," he asked, moving his fingers above Peter. "Why so tense?"

Peter felt himself relax when the man didn't grab him. He didn't mean to to tense up, but it was just habit when he sensed a hand coming at him. "I-I don't like being grabbed," he said, looking down. "It's the way the scientists would move me. They always hurt me by grabbing me too tight. I guess, it just brings back some bad memories," he said with a shrug.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Tony was worried about this, since he'd just been grabbing the kid since the day he'd met him.

"It...it felt different with you, I guess...like, I knew you weren't going to hurt me." Peter heard Mr. Stark sigh and looked up to see pained eyes staring down at him.

"If you don't like something, say something, okay? I'll try and stop being so grabby. Now, let's try this again." The hand came at Peter, and he tensed, until it thudded down next to him, laid flat out. "Come on."

Peter smiled in relief and quickly climbed on, pausing when he realized he could actually feel Mr. Stark's hear beat and he chuckled. And no one said the man had a heart. Suddenly, a muscle twitched, making the boy fall on his face.

Tony couldn't help but laugh at that, which earned him a glare. "Aww, suck it up, buttercup. Come on," and he lifted his hand.

He brought the boy over to the table he was sitting at, letting Peter climb off. "See this pile here? Think you can handle the extra special job of sorting it out?" He made himself sound extra excited as he looked at the kid, who had a deadpan face.

"Really? Don't you have robots, or even a cleaning service for this?" Peter asked, looking at the mountain of parts and scraps towering over him.

"Well, yeah, but, let's face it. They wouldn't be as entertaining to watch." Tony chuckled at the boy. "No, but seriously, I want you to build something using these parts. Think you can do it?"

Peter sighed at that, relieved he wouldn't have the new title of 'maid'. "Yeah, I think I can do that." He took a step towards the tower and began scaling it, pulling out parts as he went. When he had a smaller pile, he climbed down and stood before what he'd gathered. There were wires, metal scraps, and a few circuits. The only problem, they were all half his size. Well, he would see what he was doing better.

So, he began his work, measuring scraps and plugging circuits into boards. He worked like that for a little over an hour, scaling the mountain of scraps a few times, and by the time he was done, sweat had plastered his hair to his forehead. Panting, he looked at his work and smiled. Now, how was he supposed to test if it worked? Tapping his chin, the boy turned and saw the Starkpad Mr. Stark had placed in lieu of his holographic puttering. Running over to it, he checked if the man was looking, and jumped on it, the see through screen lighting up. Now he had another challenge. The coding.

Tony had stopped what he was doing when he noticed his pad had lit up. He glanced down and had to smirk at the scene that met his eyes. Peter was jumping from letter to letter across the screen, busy typing some kind of command system into the pad. Tony stopped what he was doing to watch, leaning his head on a hand. He watched the boy scurry between his screen and the robotic looking thing on the table a little ways away. Then it seemed the kid was finished and he turned to see Tony staring at him. "So, what'dya make?" Tony asked.

Peter blushed. "Um...it's kind of like a drone..." He jogged to the wheeled bot sitting on the table. "It's all I could make with what you had in this pile. I haven't programmed it to do anything yet, but it's online and can move." He went to the pad and knelt next to it, his hands going to the screen and pushing a button up and the droid moved. "It's nothing too challenging."

He drove the drone around to make sure it worked. "I was able to build a camera, though, and attach it. That was fun." He hit a button to turn on the camera, glad it was working. Suddenly, the pad was moved from under him and Peter felt his hands stick to the screen, and he found himself dangling above the work space looking into Mr. Stark's amused face.

"Hey, little buddy," he cooed. "Hangin' around?" Tony chuckled at the face the boy gave him and showed his fingers, waiting for the boy's nod before he plucked him in between his thumb and his pointer. "So, let's see here..." The man looked between Peter and the pad. "Hold on." He put the boy down and picked up the pad, his thumb driving around the tiny boy, grinning when it started chasing Peter across the table. "Damn kid, this is what you see?" He stopped his chase and stared down at the boy. "That was pretty good for the amount of time and no tools, but I have something more 'challenging' for you. Come here."

Mr. Stark put his hand down and Peter climbed on to it, glaring at the droid that chased him like a traitor. "What's up?" he asked.

"I want you to fix this." Tony had brought the kid to where he had an old prototype suit laid open and brought his hand down. "Think you can get in there?" He removed a red plate and pointed to a three inch in diameter hole in the shoulder of suit. "I can fix it myself, but you're the one crying about how bored he is."

Peter laughed when the man mocked him, but was excited. "Okay, okay. I'll see what I can do. can you lower me down?" Mr. Stark lowered him until he could look down into the black void, shivering a bit. "What am I looking for?"

"Some loose wires, maybe a chip out of place. I haven't really worked on it in a few months, so it's fallen into some disrepair since I last used it."

"Okay. The hole looks big enough. Do you have a rope to pull me out just in case?"

Tony looked around and found a thin cable and gave it to the boy. "Just tie that around your waist."

Peter did as he was told, holding the free end for Mr. Stark to grab. "Okay. Let me see what's going on." Mr. Stark lowered his hand and Peter climbed off, trying not to stare at everything. He was actually going inside the Iron man suit! True it was an older model. but maybe Mr. Stark would allow him to see how everything worked.

With an excited glint in his eyes, he got onto his stomach and wiggled down until his lower half hung over the edge, then moved his hand out to grab the opposite edge of the hole, his hands sticking to the walls. Slowly he shimmied his way down before the walls gave way and the boy yelped as he fell.

"You okay, kid?" Mr. Stark's voice echoed around him, and he looked up to see a large brown eye staring down at him.

"Whoa." He looked around him in shock. The area suddenly lit up, glowing a light blue. Wires and circuits surrounded him in the tiny area. Peter was in heaven.

"Kid?" Tony tried to see into the hole, but it was too dark, so he tried turning on the interior lights, but he didn't want to start up his suit in case Peter was in a tight spot. "You okay?"

"This is awesome!" Peter's voice came from the hole and Tony felt his heart start back up.

"Well, yeah," the man answered. "I built it, of course it's awesome."

Peter shook his head at the man's ego, then found a few wires that weren't connected to anything, and seemed to be dangling. "I see a few wires that aren't hooked up to anything, I'll see if I can fix them!" He studied the wiring before grabbing the loose wires, studying where they went. Without blue-prints it was a little hard to tell, but he used his brain and quickly put everything in its place. "Okay, I think that did it...oh, wait!" He parted some wires and saw a chip was out of place. Reaching in, the boy was straining, but he touched the chip and felt it slide in, when suddenly he heard a whirring sound, which made him jump. "What's happening?"

"Hold on, just checking where you fixed," Tony tapped on the Starkpad. When the stats came back clear, he had to smile. The kid wasn't lying, he was just that good. "Okay, kid, you passed. Come on out."

Peter was confused, but started climbing out, his head popping out from the suit. "That was a test?" He climbed out of the suit, looking at the expanse of the red and gold before him, walking out to the chest piece.

"Yeah, you can call it that. But, I've got some work to do, so, come and tinker with me." Tony laid his hand out for the boy and walked to his station. "I want you to help me the nanobots, seeing as you're pretty much the perfect size. Ever worked with them before?" Peter shook his head. "Oh, they're fun. Here." He placed a small vial on the table. To his eye, he couldn't see anything.

But when Peter looked into the glass vial, he gasped. "Oh wow! They're bigger than I thought they'd be." He leaned in to get a closer look.

"BOO!" The boy let out a girlie squeal, jumping at Mr. Stark's scream, and falling back onto his butt, panting while Tony laughed. "Oh, kid, this is gonna be fun."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Octavius Bloom sat behind the thick glass with an air of confidence as he looked at all the guards around the room. A small smirk came to his face as the man he was there to meet was lead through the doors to the private room.

As soon as the man sat, Bloom waved the men out of the room and he picked up the phone, waiting until for the man on the other side of the glass to do the same. "Hello, Mr. Hammer. It's been a while."

"And who may I ask am I talking with?" Justin asked confused and Bloom chuckled.

"Your new glimpse at freedom, actually. My name is Octavius Bloom. It's a pleasure to meet you." Hammer smiled.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Kraken himself. Tell me, what's life like on the outside?"

Octavius chuckled. "Nice to hear you still have a nice attitude, Mr. Hammer."

"Justin, please. What do I owe to receive a visit from you, Mr. Bloom?"

"Iron-Man," Octavius said, smiling when the breath over the phone got heavier in the silence, the man's face turning a shade of red. "You see, he stole something of mine, that is quite valuable, and I would like your help in getting it back."

Justin sneered at the man. "Well, as you see, I can't help you there...Tony's bitch of a wife got me locked up. I'm spending these days looking through a gated area to the outside."

Bloom leaned back in his chair. "I can help you, if you wish it. You see, I know many a good man with a good resume for what you need...including a Mr. Toomes, also known as Vulture. I'm not sure you may have heard of him."

"No actually. He must be new on the scene. What are his....required skills?" Justin changed hands, the orange staining his hands fading to almost no shade at all.

"Well," Bloom started. "He does well with technology, as well as alien. I suppose you've heard of the Chitauri attack on NYC?" Hamer nodded. "Well, I've seen some of the weapons he made with the alien technology, and let me tell you, it is remarkable. Makes me wish he would join my ranks, but alas, he has refused me every time."

"Okay. But first, tell me about that freedom. I'm curious."

Bloom smiled, a strange glint in his eyes. "I can...pull a few strings, let's say. I have some friends in high places that owe me a favor or two. But, if you say yes, I would like for you to bring Mr. Toomes over to my team. I could use a man of his talents. And yours, of course." Justin laughed at that.

"Oh, Mr. Bloom, I will definitely help you. I can be very...persuasive."

"Good. Expect to be freed by the end of the week. There will be a car waiting for you, of course. Have a good week, Justin." With that he hung up and got back, calculating his plan as he walked out of the jail.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"No, you put that there," Tony told Peter, pointing where he wanted the wires plugged. "Good job, bud. Now, climb on in there and see what else we need."

Peter nodded and jumped up to the platform and crawled into the opening. He'd been doing this for Mr. Stark for about three days now, but it never got old. They were working on the nanobots, but the man had them form into a suit of armor for Colonel Rhodes, saying he needed an update, no matter what the colonel said. He thought it was nice of Mr. Stark to make his friends suits.

He even thought it was nice hanging out with the man like this. He hadn't had a man to look up to since his uncle Ben, and he liked the fact that Mr. Stark could keep up with the way his brain worked. A knock came from outside the suit.

"Hey, tiny toons, need an update. What's working, what's not."

Peter cleared his thoughts and went back to looking around, grabbing a few wires to get up and crawled up to the head, finding himself in the helmet looking at th heads up display. "Friday!" he called, his voice echoing. "Give me an update on the Iron Patriot!"

"Nuh-uh," Mr. Stark said. "I named Rhodey War Machine, and how did you get up into the helmet?" The face popped up and Peter was staring out at Mr. Stark as his face came sailing over him into the helmet and he ducked the man's chin, feeling his beard scrape past him.

"There's a gap for the air vents in the neck between the plating to keep Colonel Rhodes cool."

"Yeah, that's right, kid. You sure you don't have a sister by name of Morgan?" The teen laughed.

"I'm sure, Mr. Stark. But, thank you for trusting me to work on the Iron Pa-I mean War Machine with you. It really has been an honor, sir."

Tony had to smile at the kid. He was too good. "Yeah, I know, it would be an honor for me to work with me, too. But, you're just the right size that I don't need to take the suit apart every time I encounter a problem." He gave him a cheery grin, then frowned. "Okay, but seriously, outta the suit. Rhodey would kill me if he knew Tom Thumb had been in it before him." He held his hand out for Peter to step onto, which the boy did, kneeling before the man could move and make him fall. "You hungry?"

Peter hadn't noticed, being busy in the work room, but with moving and everything, he was starving! "So hungry," he said with a grimace.

"I figured. We need to get you on a better eating schedule, especially with your enhanced metabolism." The boy looked at him strange. "Yeah, I actually read the files Bruce made on you. Because of your new Hydra made updates, your body needs food at least every hour. It was my fault you didn't eat."

Mr. Stark carried Peter from the workroom, and when he got to the stairs, went up them quickly, much to the boy's annoyance at the motion sickness.

"You'll get used to it," was all the man said as he walked into the kitchen, depositing the boy on the counter to walk around. "So, what sounds good?" He perused the fridge, turning back to talk to Peter. "Hey, hey, kid, over here," he snapped his fingers when the boy was too far away. "Can't hear you over there. I could always order something."

"Oh, that's not necessary, Mr. Stark, sir! I'll just have whatever's in there." He wasn't used to all this yet. Before this, his aunt had been a single woman raising a teenager, and that put a strain on her...wait...if they couldn't reverse the spider stuff..."Mr. Stark?" He walked to the edge of the counter, jumping a bit when the man stood and looked down at him.

"If you're able to fix this, size problem, I know Dr. Banner said I wouldn't survive the DNA fix, but could you at least try? I..my aunt doesn't have a lot of money, paying rent and everything, and I wouldn't want to add to her by suddenly coming in and having to eat like a football team every hour."

Tony stopped and stared at the kid. He knew not everyone was rich, but that wasn't it. It was the fact that Peter wanted them to try and fix him to save his family from suffering. He smiled and brought a finger to the kid's head, ruffling his curls, then grimaced. "Well, when we can reverse this, we'll talk to Bruce and see what he can do about the DNA...but, he probably won't be able to. It's a wonder you're still alive with what Hydra did to you. You made it out, for a purpose, kid. Don't let that purpose go. After lunch, you need a shower, too."

"Yeah," Peter's shoulders slumped and he felt a wave of depression hit him. So he'd be a freak for the rest of his life, burdening his aunt with another thing. "I was gonna ask about that, but I didn't know if you had anything small enough for me to use."

"Don't worry, kid, I got you. Here, have some bread." He threw a slice of bread at Peter, snickering as it landed over him.

"Very funny, Mr. Stark!" the boy called, his voice muffled.

"What was that, Petey? I couldn't hear you! Too much breading around you!"

Peter made a face and tried lifting the slice over his head, grunting with the weight. "Would Pepper get angry if I threw this at you?"

"Go right ahead," the woman said, walking into the kitchen, putting her phone in her pocket.

"Did you two have fun in the work shop?"

"It was awesome! Mr. Stark let me into the War Machine suit and the Iron Man suit, of course he needed them fixed, but I did it no problem, and then he let me see his nanobots, which were bigger than I thought, and I wonder if aunt May would find them interesting? My uncle Ben would never find any of this interesting at all, but he would go with me to science seminars every time I would ask....and I think I'm talking too much now."

Pepper stared at the boy with a confused smile, then turned to Tony. "It's a mini you," she whispered as she reached behind him into the fridge.

"I know, right? It's just like looking into a teeny tiny mirror. Eat up, kid, because I'm gonna drown you in a bit."

"Tony!" Pepper yelled, eyes wide.

"What? Kid needs a shower or a bath."

"Well, say it nicer next time." She swatted him on the shoulder. "Happy's gonna go get Morgan in a little bit."

Tony checked his watch. It seemed time really did fly. "Okay, workshop later, shower set up first. Gotta ask Bruce what he has. Walk with me, Pepper, tell me how your day has been."

"Oh, you know, the same boring things. Papers need signing for your company, meetings to go to, phone calls to make. How was your day, honey."

"Oh, you know," he mimicked his wife, earning him a slap on the shoulder. "I got to see how smart Peter is. Did you know he can do quantum physics?"

"I-it's not my best subject," Peter replied blushing, then realized where they were going. "Do...do we have to go to the lab?" he asked, staring at the incoming elevator.

"We'll leave you by the door, if you want. You won't have to come fully in, okay? There's a table with a plant, for some reason, at the entrance."

"Hey hey, don't make fun of my decorating skills. Besides, Brucie wanted it."

Chapter Text

Peter scuffed his foot on the glass table as Pepper and Mr. Stark talked with Bruce, and the man looked back at him, squinting with a sad smile. "Yeah, I'll help build something for him, but couldn't you do it by yourself?" Wait, why could the boy suddenly hear them all the way over there? He then felt weird.

Tony smiled. "I haven't seen you in so long, I miss you!"

"Plus, I think he wants you and Peter to bond," Pepper said. "He's terrified of you, and he hasn't even seen the Hulk. But, what he's been through, I wouldn't want to be around doctors, either." She made a face.

"Yeah, all right. I'll see what I've got here to make him something." The man stood and headed for the door. "Hey, Peter. Nice to see you again." He frowned when the boy flinched, looking pained. "What's wrong?" Tony took a step towards the boy.

"Your voice...it's too loud.." Peter groaned, holding his ears. It seemed as if his entire body was going haywire at the moment. He didn't even see the hand coming at him, but when the fingers touched his torso, the boy reacted, grabbing the man's hand and bending his fingers back in a painful position.

"OWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!" Bruce struggled to get his hand away from Peter, but it seemed like the boy had it in a vice grip. He tried a different approach, trying to keep himself calm and calm the kid down at the same time. "Peter," he whispered. "Peter, calm down...no one is going to hurt you here...Peter, it's okay. I'm going to help you. I just need you to calm down, okay. Open your eyes, come on." His technique was working and he could feel the boy's grip loosening, until he was able to pull his hand away. "Are you okay?"

Pepper and Tony stood on both sides of the boy, a look of concern on their face. "What happened?" Tony looked down when he saw Peter flinch and knelt down. "Hey, Pete, talk to me."

Peter's head was pounding and every part of his body was screaming at him to get away. "I...I don't know..." he sobbed, curling up. "Help me.."

"Okay, short stuff, we're gonna have to go into the lab fully, though." The boy nodded and Tony knew at that point something was wrong. Carefully, he slid Peter into his hand, wincing when the teen rolled to the middle of his palm. Quickly he walked towards the table Bruce was set up on, waiting for the doctor to set up a towel to place Peter down. "Okay, kid, Bruce is gonna take a look at you. It'll be okay."

Banner came close, bringing a magnifying screen over the boy. "Pete, you need to calm down, you're giving yourself a nosebleed." He was worried that boy was going to have a heart attack with the way his blood pressure must have been raising. "Come on, bud.."

"Peter," Tony slid his hand over the teen, resting his thumb over his chest. "Pete, feel my heart, listen to my breaths....easy...." He purposefully breathed loud, watching his thumb rise and fall to see if the boy followed his breathing, which he did after a moment. "Good job, kid. Just keep it up." He turned to Bruce. "What do you need?"

"Um," Banner was looking between Tony and Peter, only seeing his friend like that with Morgan. "A new blood sample, definitely." He grabbed the thinnest needle he had and quickly swabbed the boy's arm, wincing when the smell made his face go pained again. He didn't have time to program a bot this time. "Sorry, bud. Okay, a little stick." He slid the needle into where he could see the blue of a vein, sighing when blood started flowing, and a second later he pulled the needle and quickly brought the sample to look at under the microscope. "Tones," he said, voice apprehensive.

"Friday, project." The room darkened and Friday showed a hologram of what was going on under the scope. "What the hell?" Tony watched as the blood cells mutated right in front of his eyes. "Enhance to a molecular level." Friday enhanced the image. Peter's DNA was changing more than it already had. The DNA strands before them were suddenly twisting and reforming, healing itself before his eyes. It was amazing to watch.

"What's going on?" A tiny pained voice asked.Tony looked back to Peter, who had calmed down, but still shaking under the man's hand. "Hey, hey, Pete, you okay?"

Peter nodded. "Y-yeah....I don't know what happened.."

"Your healing, how long would it take to heal a bruise?" Bruce asked, his mind working a mile a minute.

"It takes usually twenty minutes from what I've seen...bruises are easy when they're simple. When they broke bones, that took two days..." He was so tired...

"Don't go to sleep on me yet, kid." The billionaire remembered seeing the bruises on the boy's arms when they rescued him. "So, then it must have been that morning that they gave you an IV?" The teen nodded, his eyes closing, his face pale under the magnifying lens. "Do you know what they gave you?" A shake of the head. "Okay, it's okay, Pete...You can rest now." He accepted the corner of a paper towel from the doctor and placed it over Peter's bleeding nose until a few seconds later, the bleeding stopped on its own, which Tony thought was impossible.

"Thanks, Mr. Stark," Peter slurred and his eyes closed, a small snore coming from him a moment later.

"That...that was scary," Banner sighed.

"No kidding."

"What just happened?" Pepper came from the corner, concern on her face. "I mean...what just happened?"

Tony lifted his hands. "It would appear the injection Hydra gave Pete here took a few days to take hold, and that caused a mutation in his own DNA." He looked to Bruce, who was studying the microscope, as if he'd forgotten Friday was projecting the results.

"Tony...I know what they gave him, I would know it anywhere.." he pulled away, his eyes going to the hologram. "Gamma radiation...they mixed a spider's DNA string with gamma radiation.....It's hard to tell what spider, because the radiation takes it over. I can't believe he survived what those bastards did to him..." He took his glasses off, his face sad and angry at the same time.

"Just calm down, Brucie. Take a breath, the kid is okay, just breathe. You don't wanna turn green with Peter in the room."

Pepper went to him, placing a hand on his back, and when she wasn't rebuked, she rubbed circles on the doctor's back, soothing him with hushed words.

"I'm okay," the doctor breathed after a few minutes. "I'm good, I'm good...I just...I hate thinking of anyone in the hands of those..." he took a deep breath and looked at the tiny boy on the table, watching his face in the lens. "At least he's okay now. I'll try and figure out how to undo the...the only way I can put it is the shrinking, as childish as it is to say." Banner smiled and shook his head. "And also I'll try to get in touch with Hank Pym again, see what he has to say."

Tony nodded, and looked to Pepper, who was already holding Peter in her cupped hands, brushing the hair from his face with her thumb. "Okay, let's go get this kid to bed. He can take a shower after he wakes up." He wrapped his arm around the woman's waist and they stepped out, only to be greeted by a smiling Morgan.

"Hi mommy! Hi daddy! Mommy, what are you holding? Can I see it? Daddy, look at my drawing! It's of the team!" Morgan dropped her bag to the floor and dug through her bag.
Pepper stepped back, covering Peter. "I have to go for a minute. When I get back, how do you feel about cookies and milk before you start your homework?"

The little girl stopped rummaging, her face lighting up."Yes please! Daddy, can you help me? You're super smart." She gave the man big doe eyes, which she knew her daddy couldn't say no to.

"Okay, let's go." He grabbed his daughter's hand. "This is your fault, you know," he told Pepper, who smiled as the man was led away by the six year old.

Pepper quickly went to Peter's room, laying the boy on the pillow, seeing how his body sunk slightly into the surface. "Have a good rest, sweetie," she whispered. She wanted to kiss his forehead, but was afraid of hurting Peter. So, she just kissed her fingertip and brushed it along the boy's hairline.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Morgan couldn't sleep. All day she'd been full of energy, but everything she did did nothing to get rid of the energy, and it was starting to bug her. She wanted to go into her daddy's workshop with her plastic tools, and mimic every move, but it was too late and she knew her daddy would yell. So, she got up out of bed and padded to her dolls, quietly taking the ones that didn't talk out and brought them to her bed. She wanted to turn on her music, but she couldn't ask Friday to block the noise from her room. She'd done that once when she was experimenting with the toilet, and her daddy had told Friday to never let her do it again.

So, she silently went playing with her dolls, but soon her stomach grumbled. She'd had two slices of pizza for dinner, the team all around her at the table, but she found it weird that her dad had left the table with a slice of pizza, then came back a few minutes later without it. Morgan couldn't think on a empty stomach. She needed a snack. Putting her dolls aside, she padded out of her room.

"Miss Morgan," Friday's voice was loud. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"Shh!! Friday, I wanted a snack. I'm hungry."

"Your father will not be happy to learn that you are out of bed at this time," the AI whispered this time.

"He doesn't have to know," she called up to the ceiling. "Please, Friday? Just this once? And it's the weekend!"

"There are some carrot sticks in the bottom drawer."

Morgan smiled and ran to the kitchen, grabbing her snack, grabbing a few when she looked down the hall curiously. "Friday? Who else is here?"

"It is just your family, the avengers and Peter."

Who was that? "Where is Peter staying?"

"Down the hall, Miss Morgan. I am waking Mr. Stark."

"No!" She ran down the hall, opening each door, but there was no one in any room...maybe they were invisible! She went through again, calling into each room until a watery voice answered.

"M-Mrs. Stark?"

"No...I'm Morgan Stark. Are you Peter?" She couldn't see anyone. "Are you invisible?"

"What?" The boy laughed. "No! I'm just...tiny, I guess."

Morgan raised a brow and walked into the room and there laying in the middle of the pillow was a tiny boy, the size of one of Morgan's dolls, his face scrunched up in fear.

"Hi," Morgan called softly. "You really are tiny." She crawled onto the bed, being careful with her new friend. "Are you a fairy? Or, were you a doll that Daddy brought to life?" She reached out her hand.Peter scurried back when the child's hand reached toward him, his senses screaming at him that this was dangerous!

"Morgan Stark, what are you doing out of bed?" Both kids gasped, Peter sagged in relief to see Mr. Stark standing in the doorway, a stern yet worried expression on his face.

"I-I wanted to get a snack, but then I though about where the pizza from dinner went, so I looked in the rooms and found Peter." She frowned and looked at the ground. She was only curious.Tony sighed.

"I see...and how did you know his name?" He came to stand by the bed. "Friday?"

"You never gave an order to not tell anyone who asked, Boss."

Peter struggled to sit up in the softness beneath him when suddenly his hair stood up and he rolled away from the hand that was reaching out to grab him, surprising both him and Morgan, who stared at him with a smile. "That was really cool."She was lifted away suddenly by Mr. Stark, who gave her a stern look.

"Morgan, you could have hurt Peter if you had grabbed him. He's here under the Avengers protection, so that means that he is off limits."

Peter didn't like being talked about like he wasn't even in the room and he frowned. "I..If she doesn't try to pick me up, she can come and talk to me. I don't mind."

Morgan smiled. "See Daddy? He said I can come see him."

Mr. Stark shook his head and looked to Peter. "You have no clue what you've done," he joked. "But, if you want her company, I won't say no. Just do what he says, Morgan. He may not look it, but he's older than you." He gave the boy a scared look as he turned and smiled. "Come on, back to bed little miss. I'll be back, Pete."

The boy watched them leave the room, and wanted to tell the man not to leave. That he was scared...but, a few minutes later, Mr. Stark came back to sit on the bed. "You okay?" He glanced at the kid. Even though Tony had had the boy for only a couple of days, he felt protective of him. He could blame the parent thing, but he knew that wasn't it. Once you got to know Peter, it was impossible not to love him. Is this what having two kids felt like?

"Yeah, I'm okay." Peter lied, wiping his face. He felt his senses blare again, but he moved too late and he was scooped up by the billionaire and brought up to the man's face, where two large eyes studied him.

"Hmm....sure. What was this dream about?" Tony got up and started walking, exiting the room. He knew a nightmare when he saw it, and knew the boy had been having them since the first day. In a way, he was glad Morgan had gotten to him first. Normally when he got there, the kid was already asleep again, nightmare over. Well, tonight he was going to hopefully make them stay away.

Peter let out a soft sigh, blush reddening his face as his hand pushed his curls from his eyes. "I was back in the lab....there were people all around me, but...this time, Dr. Banner was there." He shivered and held himself, but Mr. Stark must have noticed, because the next he knew, he was curling his hand around the boy, creating a cocoon of warmth. "It's stupid, I know," the boy laughed.

"Nothing you've said has ever been stupid, kid. Trust me, I've known some pretty stupid people."

I've had this dream before, Mr. Stark...it's nothing really."

Tony ignored the boy an walked to his and Pepper's room, shutting the door behind him.

"Wh-what are we doing in your room?" Peter asked, looking around. He'd never been in the man's room.

"Well, it's late, I'm tired, you're tired. We're going to sleep." He slid into the bed as quietly as he could as not to wake the sleeping Pepper, but it seemed she was awake.

"What's wrong?" she glanced at Peter in her husband's hand, concern filling her face. "Peter?"

"It's nothing, honey. Just a little nightmare, that's all. Go back to sleep."

Peter gasped as the man laid down, not having a chance to grab on to something before falling to the man's chest. He sat there dazed for a moment. "Mr. Stark, I'm okay, really. I can sleep in my own room." He looked into Mr. Stark's face with a serious expression, his body moving up and down with the man's breathing. He wasn't a baby. He could handle a bad dream, and he went to tell the man that, when the man opened his mouth.

"Hush," Tony told him, closing his eyes. "It's sleep time."

Peter huffed and started looking for ways to get down, when he felt his body react before he could even think, rolling out of the way of the hand coming at him. "Mr. Stark!" he squeaked, feeling the man chuckle.

"You're tickling me," Tony lied and brought his hand up again, slower this time, letting the boy see it lower. "Now lay down."

Peter shook his head. This was completely embarrassing! Then, out of nowhere a finger knocked the boy down and he turned to see Pepper smirking, her manicured hand going back to her side.

"See? Even Pepper wants you to lay down." Tony brought his hand up before Peter could move, covering him, feeling his fingers over the boy like a weighted blanket.

And it wasn't as bad as Peter thought. The minute Mr. Stark's hand covered him, he felt the anxiety and fear of the dream going away. Under him, the man's heart beat thundered, but it was comforting to Peter.

Something touched his back and at first he fought it, but Mr. Stark's pointer finger had started rubbing his back, the digit firm and comforting. Slowly the boy felt his eyes closing, when the door opening brought them all to attention, but when they saw it was only Morgan, the adults relaxed.

"What is it?" Pepper asked sleepily, opening her arms for her daughter to crawl into.

"I wanted to tell Daddy I'm sorry for finding Peter...hi." Morgan waved at Peter, who laid on her father's chest, smiling when he waved back.

"You found Peter?" Pepper asked. "Were you looking for him?"

The girl shook her head. "No, but I found him. Can I sleep in here, too?"

Tony was about to say no, when Pepper brought the girl up into the bed and he sighed, but smiled. "Sure, I already have a kid the size of a mouse on my chest...what's one more titan, huh?"

Pepper chuckled as Morgan got settled and brought her arm across all three of them, her hand covering Tony's. "Good night," she whispered, but all she heard was breathing and she smiled, drifting off herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I had another idea for a story, but I want to make sure people want to read it. It's an Endgame sort of fix-it cross over with RDJ's version of Sherlock Holmes and the Avengers....Lemme know what you guys think

Chapter Text

The morning sun wasn't what woke Peter. It was the heavy breathing of a giant child leaning over him. He opened an eye and found himself staring into a smiling Morgan Stark's face, her dark eyes lit up with fascination.

"Hi," she whispered.

"Hi," Peter whispered back, smiling when he heard the girl giggle and curled under Mr. Stark's fingers. The fact that he knew the man was there, his hand protecting him, made him feel safe and he slept the night without a nightmare.

"Wanna have a tea party?" Morgan asked suddenly.

Peter made a face from under the fingers, popping his head out a moment later. "I can't right now. Your dad's got a good grip on me." A little lie wouldn't hurt, would it? Besides, he really didn't want to be subjected to a tea party.

The girl came closer then backed away, her nose scrunching."You need a bath," she grimaced then gasped. "I could help you!" She winced when her daddy groaned, the hand covering Peter lifting. Now he could play tea party! "Do you want to take a bath? My Avengers tower has a bathtub in it."

That made Peter pay attention. He didn't want to bathe in front of anyone, let alone a child, but...he did need a bath. "I have no clothes," he said.

"Oh, I have some extra clothes! Come on!" She reached out and grabbed the tiny boy in her hands, ignoring his yelp and quietly got off the bed and ran to her room. "You stay here," she set her new friend on the floor. "I'll go to the bathroom and get some warm water, and do you like bubbles? I'll bring bubbles."

Peter watched the child stand and for the first time since he was rescued, he felt his size. Morgan should have been smaller than him, but at the moment, he only came up to her shin. He hated this..The floor started shaking, meaning Morgan was on her way back holding a cup of steaming water.

"Here you go. Do you wanna go into the tower? I'm sure you'll fit inside." She watched Peter for a moment, and he didn't move. "What's wrong?"

Peter could only stare up at the child. He was supposed to be the taller of the two, not having her towering over him with a look of concern. "Nothing," he said, hanging his head. "I-I'll just go." He walked towards the tower, feeling her eyes on him the entire time. When he got to the plastic door, he pulled it, surprised it opened. But, when he got in, he was shocked.It looked just like the real tower! Sadness forgotten, he ran inside, turning in circles to look at everything.

The detail was crazy! He ran over to the stairs and climbed them, stopping at every floor, seeing the hallways and bedrooms on every floor. It was amazing! He got to the top floor and noticed he was at Morgan's chest, turning and looking at the large room. "This is awesome!" he shouted with a smile.

"It opens, too," Morgan said excitedly. "And it has working lights, but the batteries died."

"This is so cool...Where is the tub?"

"Oh, there's one in every room. Just tell me which one and I'll fill it for you."

Peter nodded and ran down, picking a room, running to the window and throwing it open. "I'm in this one!"

Morgan slowly opened up the tower and found the boy gripping the plastic bed, then reached into the bathroom and pulled out the tub, filling it. "Here you go, I'll leave it in the bedroom so I don't make a mess. Last time I got punished for having water all over the floor." She pouted at the memory.

"Well, I won't tell," Peter promised with a smile, holding onto the wall while Morgan closed the tower. Then Peter turned towards the steaming tub. Finally! He stripped and stepped into the tub, sighing when the water raised past his collarbone. This was a deep tub for a doll house. But, it was manufactured by Mr. Stark's company, so you can bet everything would be top of the line. His senses told him something was coming, when a knock came from the window and he turned to see Morgan looking in.

"I forgot the bubbles!" She looked so worried, Peter couldn't help but smile.

"It's okay. You gave me soap! That's all I need for now. Thank you!"

The little girl went from sad to happy in a second. "I'll go set up the tea table! I think there should be clothes in the closet there!"

Peter looked where the girl was pointing and nodded. "Okay. I'll be out in a minute." He waited for Morgan to leave before dunking his head, using the chunk of soap the girl left to clean his hair. Once he was done, the boy sat in the water until it started to cool, then jumped out, shivering. He ran to the closet that Morgan had pointed out and opened it, and almost fell back.

Hanging up were costumes of all the avengers, or at least the main parts, like Iron Man's mask and blaster gloves, Falcon's wings and goggles, Captain America's shield...the only one that had full clothing, was Thor.

"Why did have to be the cape?" Peter whined. It was either that, or freeze, which he was currently doing. So, he grabbed the suit off the hanger and groaned when it came off as one piece. "Of course. It couldn't be separate..."The boy stepped into the outfit, surprised at the fit, though it was long in the arms and legs, but that was easily fixed by folding them until his limbs popped out. And so, with a face as red as the cape, Peter emerged from the toy tower.

"Oh wow!" Morgan fell to her knees in front of the boy, who fell back. "That looks so good on you!"

"Yeah, well it's embarrassing," he griped.

"That's all the toy clothes I have...Daddy wants to get me the full Iron Man suit, but I don't want it unless he builds it. And I want to help, but daddy doesn't really let me around his tools. But, he does let me watch him work!"

She smiled down at Peter, who was listening. "The tea is set up!" She reached down to grab the boy, but stopped when her father's warning from the night before came into her head. "Would you like me to carry you, or would you like to walk?"

Peter looked at the distance to the play table. It looked like an hour's walk. "I have an idea. Put your hand down, please." When the little girl did, Peter grinned and ran up her hand up to her arm, climbing up to her shoulder, laughing when she giggled.

"That tickled!" she laughed, looking to the side to see the teen sitting behind her hair. Without warning, she slowly she rose and made her way to the table, where she giggled when

Peter climbed down to the table."All set! Now, where should I sit?"

"Next to Princess Natasha."

The boy looked to see a Black Widow action figure sitting on the table wearing a pink tiara. He had to grin at the picture it made and wondered if Miss Romanoff had ever seen it. He gave Morgan a thumbs up and walked over to the empty place, staring up at the doll that was three feet taller than him sitting. He felt silly sitting among the dolls , with a tiny cup in front of him. It was Captain America shaped, the man's dead eyed glare meeting Peter's, making the boy shiver.

"Tea, Peter?" Morgan held the large tea plastic tea pot up and he nodded, holding out Mr. Roger's head, surprised when a drop of juice came from the tea pot
.
"Thank you," he said, waiting. Aunt May had really drilled proper manners into his head, and he waited until the girl had sat.

"So, how old are you?" she asked, affixing a tiara to the top of her head.

"Um, I-I'm fifteen," Peter sipped his drink, wincing at the overly sweet taste. Fruit punch was his favorite, but this was too sweet.

"I see." Morgan sat back, trying to act like an adult. "So I'm guessing you're in high school? Or, does your kind not have school?"

Peter tried not to be offended and shook his head. "I'm in my sophomore year of high school, though I'm guessing I'll have to take summer school at this point. But, I'm human, just smaller." He shrugged, trying to not go into too much detail and scare the girl.

"Oh...So you used to be regular sized? What happened?" Morgan had this wonder and excitement in her eyes as she remembered all the stories she'd heard about Ant-Man and how he could become very tiny to really big. "Are you Ant-Man!? Can you turn into a giant!?" She was basically bouncing in her excitement.

"Um...no...I'm not Ant-Man. I can't become bigger, though sometimes since this happened, I wish I could." It would make life so much easier if he were able to go back to normal on his own.

"Oh," the girl's excitement died down. "Do you know him?" She sighed when the boy shook his head. "Okay. Would you like more tea?" She held up the white pot with a kind face set into it.

"Oh, no thank you. I'm done."

"Okay." Morgan looked around, trying to think of something to do, when a smile lit up her face. "Do you wanna play hide and seek? I'm sure you'll be so good at it!"

Peter thought about that for a minute. He would have to hide somewhere in plain sight, or it wouldn't be fair to the little girl, and so it would be safe for him. "Okay. But, you're allowed to hide wherever you want, okay? I'll make my hiding places easy to find."

Morgan blew out her cheeks."No! That's not fair! If you want to hide somewhere hard, I'll find you." She stomped her foot and Peter fell over from the vibrations.

"Okay, okay....I'll hide wherever I want too, okay?" He had to make sure they were easy to find places, low to the ground. "Just be careful of where you step, okay?"

The girl nodded. "Alright, you hide first. Ready, set....go!" He covered his eyes and felt the table shake as the little girl ran out of the room and he started counting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Justin smirked as he donned his suit jacket, turning to see it in the mirror he was provided in his cell. "Looking sharp," he told himself, spinning once.

"Hammer," a guard sneered, the keys jingling harshly against the metal bars. "I don't know how you did it, but you're free to go."

Justin took a step outside of the open door for the first time in 7 years as a free man, but was stopped by the guard's hand on his arm. "I have a feeling you'll fuck up again, and I can't wait to see you back behind these bars, where you belong."

The man smiled charmingly at the guard. "Oh, I'm not so sure, Frank. But, if I do come back to visit, I'll make sure to bring you something nice." He waved to the man and tugged his arm free, beginning to walk down the row of cells, everyone calling his name and cheering.

"Fuck that Iron Man over!" a muscled man cried out, but Justin kept walking until he reached the bars that kept him from freedom and turned.

"My name I Justin Hammer!" The cells grew quiet. "You've known me to be the smartest man alive, but Tony Stark thinks he's better than me." That earned a few boos. "Yes, yes, I know...but, I will outshine the sun that Tony's world revolves around and become the next sun!" He gave two peace signs, then stepped aside for the next guard to open the bars.

"See you later, gentlemen. I have some living to do." He stepped up to the window, getting a rundown of everything he had when he was first locked up after the Stark Expo, slipping his stopped watch on his wrist.

Twelve-twenty-three. That was the time he became a prisoner...and he was going to hurt Tony Stark and Pepper Potts for every year he'd spent behind bars. But first, he had someone to see. The moment he stepped outside the jail, he winced from the sunlight, but he couldn't not look, because freedom was beautiful. Justin took a deep breath, his arms raising to his sides. "I'm back, world!"

A car horn had him looking outside the gate. A black limousine was parked and waiting for him. Justin walked quickly, waiting with jittery legs for the gate to open, and then took his first step outside to the actual free world. It was glorious.

The car door opened for him and Justin slid in, blinking at the strange face greeting him. "Hello there, Justin Hammer." He slid into his 'press persona' slowly, not having much time to practice it. "It's nice to meet you, Mr....?"

"Ward," the bearded man shook his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hammer. I'm a big fan."

Justin nodded. "Yes, I'm sure you are. May I ask where Mr. Bloom is?"

Ward leaned back and crossed his legs."Octavian is currently....indisposed. I was sent in his place to pick you up, and drop you off at Mr. Toome's home."

Hammer was impressed as he mimicked his company in the moving car. "I see. Don't waste any time, do you? I like that. The quicker, the better and all that, right?" He stroked his chin. "So, tell me about this Toomes..."

Chapter Text

Peter really felt invisible in his hiding spot. He was currently hiding under the couch in the living room, holding on to the leg, hanging above the floor. The last hiding place Morgan had chosen wasn't very good, he had found her in minutes hiding in the hall closet. When she started sniffling, Peter did the only thing he could do. He said that if he hid really good and she could find him, he would allow her to play dress up with him for a week. But, there was no way he was allowing a little girl near him with a dress.

So, he had chosen the best place in the house, that she could reach, because she would cry foul if he was up on the ceiling or something. As he waited, he felt the floor trembling so much, he could have sworn there was an earthquake, his skin and the back of his head crawling as if twenty thousand ants were on him.

The trembling got worse when he saw Morgan's feet go running by. "Uncle Rhodey!" she jumped into the man's arms, giggling.

"Oof! Hello to you too, sweetheart. Where's your dad?" He put the girl down so she could greet the rest of the team.

"He's still sleeping. He stayed up late with Peter."

Rhodey gave her a confused look."Who's Peter?" he asked while walking to the couch.

The teen was able to keep hold of the leg of the couch, his fingers gripping the wood to make sure he could stay. That was until someone literally crashed onto the couch, and he lost his grip, falling with a yelp as he hit the floor. Peter groaned as he got up, shaking his head. He didn't know why he didn't sense someone coming. Probably due to so many giant people in the room at the same time, and he wasn't used to his new senses.

Peter slowly made his way from under the couch, patting some of the dust from out of his hair then stopped at the smell of Italian leather and turned to see a polished dress shoe right next to him. The boy looked up to see the shoe's mate high in the air above him, resting on someone's knee. What was going on? Who were these people? Suddenly he heard a voice that he recognized as Captain America and froze.

Peter was in the same room as the Avengers team. The actual Avengers! Sure he had already met half of them, but the entire team was just steps away from him!? It drove his little nerdy heart into overdrive. He had to see them! The boy bit his lip and jumped up, gripping the edge of the low bearing couch. Using the threading, the boy climbed as quick as he could, glad right now for his sticky ability. Just as Peter was reaching the cushion, the leg that was resting on the man's knee moved directly over him. Peter gasped and waited for the impact, but luckily leg didn't crush him.

However, it did knock the boy down. Peter reached out and grabbed onto the gray dress pants-who wears dress clothes casually?- and felt himself slam into the man's leg, the muscles stiffening at the feeling.

Rhodey felt something on the back of his leg and reached down to scratch. He felt a lump and paled, sitting up. What was it?! Was it a spider? Please don't let it be a spider! He felt it crawling.

"You alright, Rhodey?" Steve asked, coming over.

"I think there's a spider on my pant leg!" the man squeaked, knowing he was acting out of character, but he HATED spiders!

"Let me see," Wanda came over and crouched down, spotting a flash of red fabric. The last time she checked, spider's did not wear clothing. With a curious look, she made Rhodey turn and was met face to face with small boy wearing a Thor outfit.

Peter squeezed his eyes shut when he felt his skin crawling so much he felt sick, plus the man's movements didn't help. When nothing happened, slowly he opened one eye and found himself staring at a woman's shocked face, a woman he knew very well from seeing her on his poster every morning when he woke up in is room. The Scarlet Witch had was staring at him in shock. He couldn't move, too scared to do anything but stare. Suddenly he was wrapped in red light and he let out a shout and held onto the man's pants, feeling the material rip a bit in his grasp, until finally he let go and just let it happen.

"Peter?" Steve's voice sounded angry, but also worried. "What were you doing on Rhodey's pants?"

Said man turned. "Who's Peter? He better not be the team fricking tarantula, or I swear I will....oh my god."

"Aunt Wanda!" Morgan giggled. "You found Peter fair and square. Now I guess you're hers for a week!"

Peter turned white at that, still hanging in the air. "Pl-please don't drop me," he stuttered.

"What are you all talking so loud about?" Mr. Stark's annoyed voice came from the hallway. "Anyone seen Morgan? I need to ask her about something." Then his daughter came racing around the corner of the counter, jumping at him.

"Daddy! Peter and I were playing hide and seek, but he keeps winning, until Aunt Wanda found him!"

"Oof! Morgan, Peter was...wait, hide and seek.... Nobody move!" Tony didn't register what the girl had said right away, flying into panic mode. "Check the bottom of your shoes. You're in big trouble, young lady. Everyone check the bottoms of your shoes."

"It's okay, Tony," Steve said, holding his hand out for Wanda to drop the boy into. He was heavier than he thought he would be. "Apparently he was hiding near the floor and got caught on Rhodey's pants."

Peter watched from his position on Mr. Roger's palm. "I..I was hiding under the couch," the boy said.

"What the hell is that!?" Bucky asked, pointing at him with a metal finger, eyes wide.
It had been a few days since he was rescued and this was the first time he was surrounded by hundred foot tall adults, and it was kind of intimidating, even from waist high.

"What is he?" Wanda asked as she bent down, smiling, her Russian accent heavy this early in the morning. She wiggled her fingers at the boy in a form of hello.

Peter could only wave before Mr. Roger's took a step, causing him to fall back against his wall-like stomach.

"Where do you want him?" the man asked Mr. Stark, who pointed at the counter. Seconds later, Peter tumbled out of the man's grip onto the cold marble.

"You are in big trouble, too," Mr. Stark's stern voice came from above Peter.

"Tony?" Bucky asked as he came closer to look at the small boy, wanting to pick up each limb to see if they were real.

Tony waved his hand over Peter while he sipped his coffee. "Introduce yourself. And then explain what you're wearing."

Peter blushed. "Hi..I'm Peter Parker. This is the only thing that came in one piece with no Velcro. I had to change into it after I had a bath, Mr. Stark!"

"Who bathed you? Pepper and I were sleeping..."

"I'm fifteen, Mr. Stark, I can bathe myself. But, Morgan brought out the water for me." He looked up at the man. "I'm not a baby, no matter how small I am."

Tony stared down at the small teen who had crossed his arms and was actually pouting. He sighed. He wasn't good at this teenager stuff. He hoped Morgan wouldn't grow up.

"Hey, short stack," Clint greeted as walked over to the pouting boy by jabbing a finger into his back, or at least trying to, because somehow he dodged it. "Hey! Hold still," the man teased, trying again, but failed when Peter actually flipped over his hand, sticking to his arm. "What's this? Am I getting old now?"

"Oh, you're old, but that's not the case," Tony teased as he sipped his coffee. "I'll explain after you all explain what you're doing here so early." "SHIELD says Hydra is on the move...and looking for him," Steve pointed to Peter, who paled. "And they're desperate to get him back."

"Why?" Sam asked, standing. "He's just a kid, from the looks of him."

"I'm not a kid. Again, I'm fifteen." He frowned at the falcon.

"Anyway," Tony said, completely ignoring the boy. "First things first. Both of you," Tony pointed to Peter on the counter then to Morgan. "Are in trouble. Morgan, wait for your mother. Peter, you're coming to the meeting room. If I have to sit through one of Steve's boring talks, so do you. But, breakfast first. Anyone wanna help?"

"What!? Come on Mr. Stark!" Peter's eyes widened while Morgan pouted.

"Don't give me that look, young lady. Try it on your mother, and yes Peter, I mean it." He got a bowl out of the cabinet and was busy whisking his second batch of eggs when Pepper came out.

"Oh, already put the rest to work, huh?" she asked, kissing Tony on the cheek.

"He's a regular slave driver," Clint griped as he worked on the waffle batter. "Only kids are safe from his tyrant ways."

"Mm, yeah I can see that." She watched as everyone was doing something and spotted Peter, smiling as he waved at her.

"So, I think Morgan has something she wants to tell you," Tony said, looking up for a second giving his daughter 'the look'.

"Oh really? And what is that?" she put her best 'mom' face on as she sipped her coffee.

"I...I might have taken Peter out of the room this morning..but I did help him get a bath!" The little girl's eyes went moist as she stared at her mother, lower lip sticking out. "Peter was hiding on the floor!" she whined, pointing to the boy.

"Yeah, that look doesn't work on me. Time out corner." The woman then turned her attention to the boy who looked like he'd swallowed a lemon. What did we tell you Peter? You could have gotten hurt, even though you're being careful."

"But mommy-" Morgan whined.

"No but's young lady. Keep it up, and after breakfast your punishment will be no computer for three days." A tear trailed down the girl's face as she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest in a mood, but got up and walked to the chair in the corner, flopping down onto it..
"Peter, are you alright?" She bent down see the boy on the counter, seeing him wince in her sights.

"I'm okay," He said sadly. He started walking over to Miss Scarlet, when he felt his skin crawl and he dodged just as a salt shaker roll past him. "Hey!" he cried and looked towards the guilty looking Steve. "Did you just try to....a-SALT- me?"

The table was silent before everyone snorted all around him, but Tony turned to stare at him in shock. "No, nope, the only one allowed to do dad jokes is me...or Clint." the billionaire stated.

"You have to admit, it was kind of cheesy," Sam said, voice laden with amusement as he held up the cheddar he was slicing.

"Did you not hear a word I just said?" Tony whined while Morgan giggled from the corner.

"Yeah, we heard you, but nobody listens to you, so no big dill," Natasha said with a sly grin, Wanda laughing at that.

"Look what you started, kid," Tony glared at Peter, though his eyes held a glimmer of amusement. "Now everybody's starting." He flipped the pan with the scrambled eggs.
"Not my fault everybody here's a copy cat," Peter said and winced when everyone made a commotion over that, holding a hand over an ear.

"Hey, hey, let's not forget who could fit under my boot, kid," Rhodey said kiddingly.

"Yeah, but you'd have to catch me first." the boy cheekily replied.

"He's got you there," Steve ribbed. "Who knew Thor would have such a good sense of humor." He laughed when the teen groaned.

But, Peter swore that if this was a dream, he didn't want to wake up. But he still had a 'punishment' to deal with, right? Could Mr. Stark have maybe revoked his phone privileges if he got any as a punishment? No, because that would mean he was a prisoner here. The Avengers wouldn't keep a kid as a prisoner....would they?

A large plate was placed by him, breaking him from his foreboding thoughts as the heat from it warmed him, but the smell of the waffles was better than anything. "I never thought any of you would be able to cook," Peter said idly. They acted like a family in the mornings, actually. He liked it.

"Are you doubting my mad skills?" Clint asked as he lifted another waffle from the machine.

"Never try to speak slang, Clint," Sam said shaking his head. "Mm. Never again."

"Okay, eggs are done, how we looking on everything else?" Mr. Stark asked.

"Waffles are done," Clint responded as he flipped the last item out of the machines, waving his burnt hands a little.

"Everything's done. Let's eat!" Rhodey rubbed his hands together, sitting at the table, eagerly piling his plate up.

Pepper passed a small plate to Peter. "Here sweetie. Help yourself, okay?" She smiled at him.
Peter nodded and turned towards the plates of food, more food than he could think to eat, but he was hungry, so he was going to try. He reached toward the eggs, pausing when he saw the steam rising from them.

He felt the hair stand up on his arm and ducked when a hand sailed over him and Doctor Banner pushed some eggs off his fork. "There you go, Peter. Let's call that a truce." He smiled and continued eating, leaving Peter to eat.

The boy smiled and nodded as the avengers teased one another, even laughing with them. All in all, it was a great morning.

And then the meeting happened.....the day had started so great for Tony. True he'd gone crazy looking for Peter when he woke, but he had calmed since finding him. He glanced at the boy sitting on Clint's shoulder, talking to Wanda and blushing when the woman smiled. It seemed the boy had a good bond with the archer, which he wasn't jealous of...much. It wasn't like Clint had rescued the kid. But, the sniper did have teenager experience so he knew how to act with them.

Tony liked the kid. He was amazingly smart, funny and had a good heart from what he'd seen since Peter had been there. He was still nervous around Tony though, so to see him laughing so easily with Clint and the others made him feel...well, he didn't know what. Jealous? Yes, but there was something more. The thing with Tony, he wasn't good with the emotions. He was very bad at them, actually. But, he wanted Peter to laugh with him like he did with Clint. He was a selfish man after all.

So, when they reached the meeting room, he surged forward and snatched Peter off Clint's shoulder with a little "mine", and walked to his seat, letting Peter go onto the table.

"Mr. Stark? Why-"

"Shh, meeting's about to start," the man said with a grin.

The boy simply shook his head and turned to sit, leaning back against Mr. Stark's arm for warmth.

"SHIELD has gotten some news on activity within Hydra, all based around him," Steve started, pointed to Peter, who turned a shade of green and white Tony hadn't seen before. "They're looking for him, and they're desperate. There's been no activity on their plans, but I know there's bound to be something in the works as we speak."

A noise made them all turn to the door as Bruce walked through with a large cup of coffee, sleep still in his eyes."Sorry, sorry. Friday just told me about the meeting. What's wrong?" The doctor sat next to Tony, and smiled down at Peter, who waved shyly at him.

"Peter, actually," Rhodey informed him.

"Peter? Are you alright? Did any more powers or symptoms pop up?" The doctor was leaning in to look the boy over, trying to ignore when he pressed into Tony's arm.

"Powers?" Natashe was interested as she leaned forward to study the boy. "What kind of powers?"

"It seems that Hydra gave him a cocktail of Spider DNA mixed with Gamma radiation," Tony said angrily as he felt the boy shaking against his arm.

"Could that be why Hydra is already looking for him?" Bucky stood and walked over to Tony "Tony, please let the kid answer." He pleaded the billionaire, staring him down until the man gave up, leaning back, but keeping his arms on the table. The Winter soldier nodded and leaned over Peter, not missing the way he was shaking, staring up at the soldier in terror.

"Who are you, where did you come from, and why are you like that?" Bucky tried to keep his voice light, but his eyes were harsh. A hand touched his shoulder and he looked to see his best friend shaking his head slightly.

"We'll get to that later," Steve told Bucky firmly, removing his hand from the man's shoulder. "First things first. We need a protective detail on the kid."

Tony scoffed. "He can fit in any of our pockets, I think that's as protected as you can get with the damn Avengers."

"That may be, but I will feel much better if Peter is watched every second of the day, no matter where he is." Steve argued, giving the man a look.

"Oh come on, you don't think he's a spy, do you? Look at him!" Sam reached over and plucked the boy off the table by his Thor cape, the boy struggling and kicking, trying to get loose before giving up and panting. "Who can he hurt? He's literally smaller than my finger." For an example, the man held up his hand next to the boy. "See?"

"Sam," Wanda said dangerously, her hands glowing red.

Clint stood and had an arrow in his hand, steely gaze fixed on the Falcon. "Let Peter go."

Slowly the man did what he said. "Sorry, kid...I wasn't thinking," he apologized.

Tony cupped his hand around the kid moving it towards him, scooping the boy up to look him over, much to Peter's chagrin.

"I'm okay," Peter said. "It was just a shock, that's all. I'm okay, promise." He put his hands on the fingertip, trying to stop it from touching his chin to lift his head.

"Tony, he said he's okay," Rhodey said quietly. "Trust the kid's word."

Stark gave Peter another once over before letting him go, forcing his hands away from the small teen, leaning back.

Instantly the teen felt the lack of warmth, but didn't say anything about it, just glad to be out of the man's examining gaze.

"Be that as it may," Steve continued after getting a nod from the billionaire, "I would still feel better making sure Peter doesn't wind up in Hydra's hands again. They've obviously gotten this far with their experimentation, and I don't want them to get any further. We've dealt a big blow to them by destroying their lab and taking Peter away from them. Which, even though I am still a little nervous about him, I am glad that he's not under their thumb at the moment." He gave the teen a soft look, which made Peter blush slightly at but thanked the man.

"And let's not forget who actually saved him," Tony said light heartedly. "You're welcome."

The boy turned toward him with a smile. "Of course, Mr. Stark. There's no way I could ever thank you for what you did for me." The man smiled quickly, then his face fell serious again.

"So, we've had a little update on him," the billionaire said, leaning forward again, seeing Peter shiver a little. "Apparently, he's developed some...new abilities." he looked down at the boy who nodded. "As we stated before, the scientists gave him gamma radiated spider DNA the morning we found him." There was silence in the room, but every pair of eyes were on Peter, all of them full of anger.

"What did they do to him in that lab?" Sam asked seriously.

"It seemed," Steve said, "as though they really wanted him dead by the looks of that cage I saw on the floor." The captain moved forward in his seat. " What did that, son?"

Peter shivered at the memory. "The soldiers...they came in with guns...they killed everyone, then tried to..." he took a shuddering breath, then Mr. Stark's hand was around him.

"Well, looks like it's story time for the kiddies," Tony said, taking over for a grateful Peter. "Okay, so you all remember the mission the ones lucky enough to be here went on, right?" Everyone nodded. "Well, that happened to be an experimental lab run by Hydra....what we saw was...it was..." Tony took a deep breath. This was the first time he was thinking of it now that he had to. Blood splattered on the glass planes revealing lifeless eyes staring through him..."All the experiments had been killed moments before we got there," he continued. "Most of them were just kids. That's where we found Peter. He apparently was hiding after they tried to kill him, too, if the bullet ridden cage on the floor was the proof."

Peter nodded, hugging himself. Not aware of it, he shuffled over to Tony's arm, leaning against it, shivering.

"Wait, what destroyed that cage? Kid, how were you able to dodge bullets?" Natasha asked, an incredulous look on her face. "Are you like Scott, where the smaller you are, the slower things move and sound?"

Peter shook his head. "N-no...." the teen began, nervously wringing his hands together as he began his tale, glancing up to see shocked and angry faces as he spoke. "You all move normally to me, which I think is kind of weird and scary...but it was super scary when the soldiers came in. They had their guns drawn...and...and they shot everyone...." he sniffled, eyes burning.

"A few of those people...even though we couldn't speak...they were my friends." The boy took a deep breath. "Samantha was the girl with the red feathers...She was the nicest, always with a soft smile after the scientists threw me in my cage after a day of testing and shots. Jeremy, he was the boy with the tentacle like fingers. They tried to make him a sea-spy, but they couldn't make him able to breathe underwater, though that didn't stop them from trying. I just....I just can't believe they're gone."

In just one second, their lives were snuffed out. Then he thought of himself, and how he was almost killed. The barrel staring him down like a gaping maw, the sound of the bullets being released from the chamber deafening to his ears. The heat and the smell of singed hair as he dodged the overly large bullets, mixed with the sound of bending metal...His breath came in pants, body shivering. Lights started dancing in his vision and the room around him spun.

"Pete?" a voice called. "Pete, come on, you need to calm down. Take a deep breath."
The hand around him suddenly was laid on his back, making the boy jump and spin, about to grab the fingers, when he saw Mr. Stark looking at him and his hands lowered.

"Come on, Peter. Breathe." Tony placed his thumb against the boy's back so he could feel his pulse. The kid was having a bonafied panic attack, he would know the signs of it anywhere. "That's it, kid, good job."

Peter took a deep, shuddering breath, the feel of Mr. Stark's heartbeat calming to him. The room stopped spinning slowly, his vision coming back to normal. "I-I'm okay...I'm okay..." Peter suddenly sat, his knees giving out. "Whoa...."

"I think that's enough from the kid," Tony said, blocking Peter with his hands. "Hold on with the talk, let me call Pepper in to take Pete somewhere quiet, then we'll talk." Everyone nodded, but Clint stood.

"Let me take him to Pepper, get him outta here faster." He came to stand next to Tony. "You okay with that, kid?"

Blue eyes pierced Peter's and the boy nodded."Yeah, thank you." He climbed on to the offered hand.

Chapter Text

The house the limo pulled up to was a stylish one, deep in the suburbs of Long Island and Justin had to whistle. "I like this man's taste," he appreciated.

"A bit too flashy for me," Ward said. "But, to each his own. This is where I leave you, Mr. Hammer. But, you have the number of the driver, correct?"

"I do, Mr. Ward. But, I do hope we get to talk again. This was fun, a learning experience, if you will. Take care." With that, he climbed out of the limo, waiting for it to drive off before starting up the stairs of the beautiful home. On the stoop, he fixed his tie, ran his hands through his hair, then rang the bell, tugging on his suit jacket.

The door opened and there stood the most beguiling young beauty Justin had ever seen. The man put on his most charming smile, leaning on the door jamb. "Hello, young lady. My name is Justin Hammer. I was wondering if Mr. Toomes is home?"

The girl blushed a little under his smile, which made his stomach flutter with excitement. The girl was gorgeous."Um...y-yeah...My dad is home, Mr. Hammer. Could you wait just a moment?"

The man nodded and the girl turned and yelled into the house, a male voice calling back a second later. "So, what may I ask is your name?" Just licked his teeth, eyes pouring over the girl.
"Umm...it's Elizabeth," she stuttered. "But, my friends call me Liz ."

"Well, Liz, if I may call you that, it's a pleasure to meet such a beautiful young lady, and there he is!" Justin took his eyes off the girl the moment her father was in view. "Mr. Toomes, what a wonderful moment it is to finally meet you." He extended his hand to the man, wincing at the hard grip as they shook.

"I recognize you. You were the one who created those murderous robots at the Stark Expo a few years ago."

"Oh, that was all the work of a Russian madman who hacked my project. I had nothing to do with that, I assure you."

Adrian narrowed his eyes at the man. He thought he'd been given a twenty year sentence, but it seemed that hadn't been correct. Just then, the man's greedy eyes flicked to his daughter, and Adrian stepped in front of her. "Honey, go tell your mother we have company and set out the new china that we just bought, will you? I'm sure your mother will thrilled to use it, eh?" He smiled at Liz as she nodded and ran off. "Won't you come in, Mr?"

"Oh, where are my manners. Hammer, Justin Hammer. And you have a lovely home," he said as he stepped inside. "And an even lovelier family. Hello, Mrs. Toomes, correct? What a beautiful wife you have." He took the woman's hand and placed a kiss on the top.

"Oh, well aren't you charming? Coffee will be brewing in just a minute. Adrian, where are those cakes I bought yesterday?"

"In the pantry, second shelf was where I left them. Hopefully there's still some left." He smirked as his wife smacked his shoulder. "We'll be in my study, Doris." He heard the woman answer and nodded his head to Justin, who followed. Once he closed the door, Adrian took on a serious look. "Who sent you?"

"Whoa, whoa....take it easy, Mr. Toomes. I'm just here to talk to you, that's it. You see...I'm a bit of a fan, per say. Especially of someone who wants to bring down Tony Stark." He grinned, and the door opened to reveal Doris with a silver tray in her hands. Adrian leaped up and took it from his wife.

"Thank you, honey. We'll be done in a bit, okay?"

The woman nodded."Will you be staying for dinner, Mr. Hammer?"

Adrian gave him a stony look and the man smiled. "I have to decline, Mr. Toomes. But, maybe another time?"

Doris smiled and excused herself from the room, leaving the two men alone to talk.

"How much do you know?" Toomes all but slammed the tray on the desk, his green eyes cold and hard as he stared at Hammer.

"Only enough to make you want to listen to my proposition." Hammer filled a cup with coffee, adding sugar and milk. "And the offer I intend to give you."

Adrian made his way behind the large desk and sat, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest. "And if I don't?"

Hammer smiled as he sipped his coffee. "Oh, I think you know what's on the line if you don't. That daughter of yours, is absolutely stunning, but I'm sure you knew that, didn't you? I would hate for something to happen to that lovely face of hers...or any other part of her, to be honest. Oh, this is good coffee. You'll have to tell me where you buy yours."

Toomes could only stare in horror at the man who threatened his family, his daughter, then asked where they bought coffee. He stared at the man with both anger and fear in his eyes. "Alright....but I will ask you again. Who sent you?"

Hammer put his cup down. "Octavion Bloom sends his regards. I heard he's tried to recruit you more than once, and each time you turned him down. For what, I couldn't imagine."

"I don't work for murderers, Mr. Hammer." Adrian scowled. He would rather be dead than kill wantonly like the group Hydra did. All he did was steal from the rich and powerful and give to his family for them to have a better life, a life they could be proud of.

"Have they murdered? Huh, I wasn't aware. But, you see, unlike Mr. Bloom, I don't have sneaky, underhanded ways of making people talk. I simply take what's most precious to them. So, tell me Mr. Toomes....who do you love more? Your wife, or your daughter?" He picked up his coffee cup, taking a sip. "Please tell me quickly, because I will tell you, I'm losing my patience." His finger twitched.

Adrian could only stare at the man in shock before he stood. "I am not letting you take either of them, Hammer." He growled, fists curling at his sides.

"Oh? Pity...Oh well. I guess I'll just take my leave then." Hammer stood, tugging on his suit jacket to straighten it out, then pulled out his phone, calling a driver. "Yes," he said after a moment. "I'm ready. Oh, and make sure there's room for two guests, also." With that, he hung up and smiled at Adrian, who was already running out of the office. But, Hammer had the upper hand and walked slowly out of the room behind the man. "It's too late, Mr. Toomes."

As he said that, an explosion came from the front door, followed by female screams. "Oh, man! They could have at least left the door. Oh well." He stepped over the splintered wood and shattered glass and jogged down the stairs, looking behind him to see men carrying out a struggling Doris and an unconscious Liz, which he frowned at. "Could you at least be a little more gentle with her, please? Jeez, it's like you're all animals, I swear."

Suddenly there was a crash from behind the house and a whirring noise made everyone look up to see a large mechanical bird hovering above them, green glowing eyes looking through the darkened sky eerily. "So, that's why he's called the vulture, huh? Not bad."

Hammer slid into the car after the two women were tossed in. "Take care of him," was all he said to the Hydra agents, not looking back as the car drove away. "Oh, don't look at me like that, Doris. It's not like I didn't give your husband a chance to save you. Now just sit back and enjoy the ride." He sat back and closed his eyes, listening to the muffled sobs of the woman.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clint walked down the hall with his fingers curled around Peter so he wouldn't fall. The boy was still shaking, feeling the effects of his panic attack. "I've seen people die, too," he said suddenly.

Peter looked up, but all he could see was Clint's chin, he couldn't gauge his facial expression.

"I've seen a lot of people die, actually. And, truth be told, they all affect me the same way as you." He chuckled. "But, I don't let it show in front of the others. I'm supposed to be the sniper, after all. But in private, or with my wife, that's when I break down. It's hard to process. Friends, gone right before your eyes...." he sighed and looked down to find the teen looking up at him with sorrow and and gratitude. "It'll be hard, for a while. You'll keep seeing their faces in everything, everyone. But, after that's done, you'll learn to let them go...and in your case, to know it wasn't your fault." He brought his finger to the kid's head, grinning when he tried to push it away as Clint gave him a noogie.

"And if you need help, you can always come to your uncle Clint."

Peter had laugh to out loud at that. "Uncle Clint?" he asked in amusement.

"Of course, kid. No matter what, I'll be there for you. I'm sure everyone will be, especially Tony and Pepper. Oh, and we can't forget Morgan." he smiled at the little girl's name.
They traveled the rest of the way in amicable silence, but Clint was glad that Peter had stopped shaking. Soon he came to Pepper's door and knocked, waiting for the bid to come in. "Hey, Pep, I'm here to drop off Peter." She gave him a confused face as he walked in, depositing the boy on her desk. "He had a little meltdown in the middle of a meeting," Clint explained. "He's okay though, right buddy?"

"Sure, 'Uncle Clint'," the boy laughed. "I'm alright. Just shaken up." He smiled up at Pepper, who watched him worriedly. "I promise."

"Well, you're spending the rest of the meeting in here with me," the blonde told him, shuffling some papers in front of him. "Besides, I could use the company." She lifted her pen. "Thanks, Uncle Clint," she teased. "We'll be fine."

The archer nodded and left the room.

Pepper watched Peter walk around her desk for almost five minutes, sometimes stopping to pick up a paperclip and study it before placing it down. "You seem bored," she said, resting her head in a palm.

Peter turned and set wide eyes on her. "NO! I-I'm not bored at all...well, maybe I am..it's just, I'm feeling a little cooped up. I guess...I don't know. I'm feeling calmer, but I feel like I have to move....I have to get out of here." He sighed and sat on the edge of the keyboard. "It's been six months since I've stepped foot outside," he pushed the space bar, the button not even moving.

Pepper smiled sadly, then an idea came to her and she covered the papers. "You know what, I need a break, too. Come on." She set her hand palm up next to the boy, trying to hide a shiver as Peter climbed on. "How about we get Morgan and go outside for a while, hmm?"

The boy felt his heart soar at that. "You mean it? Actually go outside?" He was a ball of energy in the woman's hand, his legs tapping against her skin.

Pepper only laughed as she left her office. It made her see him as he was. A child that needed some 'play time'. "Yes, actually outside. I want you to get some sun, and plus I love the outdoors. When I need to de-stress, I like to take walks, go hiking. But, mostly I only go to annoy Tony." She smiled. "He absolutely hates hiking, or anything to do with the outdoors. I once took him camping before Morgan was born, and the entire time he complained that there was no wifi." She shook her head, listening to the small laugh. "Morgan!" she called, wincing when Peter held his hands up to his ears. "Sorry."

"Yes mommy?" the little raven haired girl came running a few seconds later, dressed in jeans and a pink shirt with a headband with a pink bow. Pepper had to thank Tony for giving Friday her fashion advice program, or Morgan would never leave the house. "Peter and I were going to go play outside. Do you wanna come?"

Her daughter's eyes lit up and she nodded."Yes! Can I bring my dolls?" Pepper nodded. "Be right back! Oh, and I have something for Peter! I was working on it while I was in my room." She turned and ran back to her bedroom, running back a few seconds later, arms laiden with dolls and a small cloth bag. "I'm ready!"

"All right. Let's go. Maybe we can coax daddy into coming out with us later." If it weren't almost fall, they could have gone swimming, but the weather was getting too chilly to get wet, but it was perfect to spend a few hours without a jacket. Pepper felt her daughter grab her hand and she smiled, looking down at Morgan and then at Peter, who waved at the little girl from his spot in Pepper's palm.

She had to say, if this is what it was like to have more than one child, maybe she would have 'the talk' with Tony at some point.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To say Peter was amazed, was putting it lightly. Being outside for the first time in six months was absolutely wonderful! He took a deep breath, and shivered when a breeze passed over him, rubbing his arms a little. But, it was the smell of the trees, the sound of water behind them lapping against the bank of the river. Sure there were buildings obstructing nature, but to someone who was used to seeing skyscrapers this was heaven.

"Maybe this was a bad idea," Pepper said lowly, watching him.

Peter turned and shook his head. "No! Please....I can handle a little cold. Please..." He pleaded with her, eyes big.

The woman nodded. "Okay. But, if you get too cold, you can always sit in my pocket," she patted her suit jacket pocket. "Okay?"

The boy nodded and turned outward again.

"Mommy, can we go to the park?" Morgan asked, looking longingly at the swings visible in the distance.

"That's exactly what I was thinking. Sound good to you, Peter?"

"Sure. Let's go." The small boy punched the air and Morgan giggled, running ahead of the woman and stopping to look back every few feet until Pepper reached the small playground.
"Where would you like to sit?" She looked around as she asked Peter.

"Do...do you think maybe I can be on the ground? I haven't really had a chance to walk around...just put me somewhere I won't get crushed?" He said with a shrug.

"I don't know...I mean, anything can happen. We do have wild animals on the grounds."
"Oh, yeah...well, I won't go far. I promise. Please?"

Finally the woman conceded and walked to a bench, sitting on the stone and lowering her hand. "Don't go too far," she said sternly, and Peter rolled his eyes.

"Yes mom," he laughed.

"Very funny." Peter climbed off the woman's palm. He watched the pretty intimidating sight of a hundred foot tall woman unfold in front of him and turn to sit. The teen stood still as she kept him in his sights, then her phone went off, distracting her. Now was his chance to explore.

He walked under the bench, looking up at it, then out of the corner of his eye, he saw the grass looming before him. Grinning, the boy did what anyone would do in his situation. He ran into the chest high jungle, laughing as he parted the blades of grass like bushes.

Suddenly he jumped when a green caterpillar passed him, the insect coming up to his waist. He leaned down to pet it. "You're cute," he said. "I wanted a dog, but my aunt's building doesn't allow pets. Maybe I could sneak you in, huh?"

The insect nudged his hand for more pets, using it's antenna to 'smell' Peter, and lifted half it's body up to tackle him, making the laugh. "Okay, okay, get outta here," he pushed the insect off him and stood, walking away, determined to explore more.

About three minutes of exploration later, he came across a tree, the bark looking like a brown wall. Looking back, Peter could still see Pepper, so he guessed it was safe to climb. He was still near her, plus he had his sticky abilities. He would be fine.

He folded his costume over his arms and legs again, making sure his hands and feet were able to touch the wood over the clothing, and the little teen set to climbing up the tree. It took what felt like forever, but Peter guessed it was only ten minutes, but he was finally able to sit on a branch miles above the ground, breathing heavily.

He looked out over the grounds. Through the leaves he spotted Morgan playing on the swings, and beyond her he was able to look over some of the compound. He could see a river behind them, which would explain the smell of the water, and a dock that lead down into the river for the Avengers underwater missions, he guessed.

It was then he noticed a spider crawling near him and jumped. The insect paused, as if sizing Peter up with its eight eyes, then decided he wasn't worth it and scurried off under the branch. When the boy spotted it again, it had reached its web situated in the corner of the branch and the trunk.

Something touched his back lightly and he whirled around to see a bit of white thread blowing in the breeze. Curious, he reached out and touched the thin line of white, grinning when it didn't stick to him at all like other things. It amazed him that this was the substance Hydra had wanted him to make out of his own body. He also thought it was strange...but then, he got an idea. He studied his own hand. It would have to be lightweight and versatile, plus it would have to house a synthetic spider silk.

Turning, he tugged on the drag line thread, pleased to see it didn't break from the pressure. He'd read in textbooks that spider silk was the strongest substance in the insect world, and one strand alone could hold up to one point three GPa, which was stronger than steel by unit of measurement if he really thought about it, which was awesome in of itself.

Knowing it would't break from his weight, the boy began climbing, just to test the strength. It seemed the spider thread went on forever, until he found where it ended and grabbed the small twig, hefting himself up to sit on it to think, keep the thread in his hands.

The whole thing would be to make something small enough for his own hands to control...and then, he would have to talk to Mr. Stark about going into the lab. That was the hardest part for him.

The boy heaved a sigh and started to figure out plans in his head, when suddenly he heard someone calling Morgan. Mr. Stark came walking up to his wife, leaning over to kiss her, then grabbing his daughter when she threw herself at the man.

A pang of jealousy went through Peter. He'd never known the love of a mother and father. Sure, he had May and before his uncle was murdered, he had Ben. But, it just wasn't the same. He wished he could have someone like Mr. Stark to go running to with his problems and get manly advice. Like he said, May was great, but she wasn't a guy, and he felt he had to be strong for her all the time. Peter was the man of the house, even though he hadn't gotten a job yet.

He heard a giggle and that pang went through him again and he sniffed, feeling something in his throat that made it hard for him to breathe. He wasn't going to cry, dangit! He was a man, and men don't cry...did they? He didn't know, but he was sure they didn't. He focused instead on his project, thinking of different formulas to make something with spider web consistency that he didn't even notice Mr. Stark was calling his name.

"Peter!?" his voice sounded worried, so that meant it was time to go.

Giving up his thoughts for the moment, the boy started to climb down, using the spider web. Suddenly, when he was about half way down, he felt something snap and looked up. The wind wasn't strong, but the gentle breeze had shifted some of the silk strand to a pointed part of the twig and it was sawing away, and Peter's weight wasn't helping. With a gasp, the teen tried to hurry, but that made his situation worse and suddenly the thread snapped and in the next instant he was falling.

His screams came a second later, feeling his stomach come rushing up to his throat. Suddenly hands closed around him, leaving him in darkness, being tossed around as his prison tumbled to the ground. Peter lay on his back, panting, his heart hammering in his chest. Light began filtering when the fingers opened and a gold head of hair met the boy's eyes before one blue and one black eye stared at him.

"What is this?" a deep, booming voice asked, loud at even a whisper.

Chapter Text

"Um, hi...I-I...I'm Peter Parker," the boy said, paling when the eyes widened. Oh my god, he was talking to freaking THOR! The god of Thunder! He was in nerd heaven!

"Are you one of Stark's new projects? A miniature robot of some sort?"

"Um....no...I'm a kid.." Suddenly Peter felt gravity push him down as the man stood, the boy wobbling a bit.

"You are a mite smaller than a Midgardian child. Are you perchance a fairy child?" Thor's eyes lit up. "I have heard quite a bit about the children of the fairy realm, especially as a child myself."

Peter smiled. "No, just...just a regular kid..." He didn't know how to explain his situation.

"Oh, I see," The disappointment was clear in the god's eyes. But as he studied Peter, his head cocked to the side. "Is that why you are dressed like me? I've heard Midgardian children like to dress up as their favorite characters." The boy's face lit up red as he tried to explain himself, but was cut off.

"Uncle Thor!?" Morgan cried, and Peter struggled to see over the man's fingers, but froze when he felt his senses prickle the back of his neck and sunk back down.

"Oh thank God," the woman breathed as her head filled Peter's vision, relieved but angered eyes staring down at him. "What were you doing up in that tree? I told you not to wander. I was so worried when I heard you screaming and...." She reached into Thor's hands and picked Peter up, cautiously lifting his arms and legs, searching for injuries.

"I'm fine!" Peter argued, trying to tug his limbs back. "Even if I got hurt, it would heal in seconds."

"That is not the point, young man," Mr. Stark came from behind the woman, more anger than the boy had ever seen on his face. That must have been what his senses were warning him about. "Pepper trusted you, and you broke her trust by putting yourself in danger. You deliberately disobeyed her. "

"Mr. Stark, I was just-"

"I don't wanna hear it," the man said sternly. "From now on, when you're outside, you either have two choices. Shoulder or pocket, that's it!"

"I'm not your kid!" Peter shouted, suddenly freezing when every pair of eyes was focused on him, even Morgan looked surprised. "I-I mean...I'm not a child, Mr. Stark...I'm fifteen years old and have been looking out for myself since I was nine years old after my uncle Ben died. I'm sorry if I worried you, but-"

"No, there's no buts here, Peter," Mr. Stark snapped. "You may not be my kid, but I took responsibility for you, and right now, you're not a normal teenager who can take care of themselves. Right now you're less than four inches tall and until we can fix you, you need to learn that we're trying to keep you safe!" Pepper even flinched at the tone of voice her husband used.

Something in those words, coming from his childhood hero, the man that saved him, it was almost like he was treating Peter like the prisoner he was afraid of becoming, and that scared him into screaming,"well, who's choice was that? You were ready to drop me off at my home and just forget about me and everything, which I was perfectly fine with!" Tears were now leaking from his eyes as he ranted, unable to stop, unable to plug the emotion of knowing that he was defenseless in this world of giants he used to be a part of. "Stop treating me like I can't take care of myself!"

Tony stared at the boy angrily, jaw ticking."You know what, I'm done." Suddenly reaching out, he grabbed Peter between his thumb and pointer, dropping the boy into his breast jacket pocket, zipping it closed. "You can stay in there as long as you think you don't need help. I don't care if it's all night."

Peter was fuming when the man zipped up his pocket, slamming his fists against the man's chest. "Let me out!" he demanded, but received no answer. The others just greeted the god of thunder, the pocket vibrating with Mr. Stark's voice and laughter. After a few minutes, the boy had stopped trying to rip open the zipper and was now sitting in the fabric corner pouting, arms crossed over his chest. How did it come to this? He only wanted to stretch his legs. It wasn't his fault he got an idea that caused him to climb up a dumb spider thread.

Well, maybe it was. He huffed and the pocket started moving again, but this time the movements were jarring, signaling they were walking.

"Stark...is that really a child in your pocket, for I thought Midgardian children were much bigger<" Thor said motioning to the raven haired girl in his arms.

"That's a long story, but he's just a kid." Tony said, feeling the kid move against his chest. He felt bad about where he put the boy, but there were worse places, plus it would keep him warm. "We're trying to fix him."

"Ahh, I see. Then it wasn't a small robot you were making?"

"No. Although, that is a good idea. Be able to get around in places we can't. Plus, if it gets destroyed, can always build another one. Are the others with you, or did you come alone this time?"

"No, it is just I. The others decided to stay on Yoromis for, Quail called it a 'honeymoon'."

Pepper smiled. "Was it Drax and Mantis who got married? That's great to hear."

"Yes. The ceremony was short, but quite beautiful." Thor smiled at the memory. "Drax was quite overcome with emotion....and sickness at the thought of consummating the marriage with Mantis. Very emotional."

Tony and Pepper smiled at each other knowingly. "Sure it was. Will they be coming any time soon?"

"That I do not know, I will ask Quail. But, let us talk of other things! How have you been faring?" He slung a hand over Stark's shoulder, but stepped away when he realized he was pressing against the man's pocket, feeling the small thing occupying it jump and smack his chest.

"Don't worry about him. He's just in a mood." Tony rolled his eyes. "Let's go." He took Pepper's hand as they walked and talked.

Meanwhile, Peter felt forgotten and slumped in the pocket, Mr. Stark vibrating and pounding all around him. It was true that it was comforting, but he hadn't been punished in such a long time, he had forgotten what it was like. May never had the heart to do it, which he guessed now, that was a bad thing. Peter figured that once he was able to see her, they need to talk.

The boy sighed and let himself move with the jacket, thinking about what had happened and feeling bad about it. He would have to apologize, but first he needed to be out of the pocket.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Justin was settled into his chair, about to start work on a new droid, when suddenly there was a loud crash from another room. The man groaned, his head falling back and smacking the wall, making him wince. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" he screamed and forced himself up. "I'm out of jail for one day and already my home is being destroyed. Unbelievable."

He stormed through the large house to where the crash came from. "Ah, Mr. Toomes! Or, is it Vulture while you're dressed like this? I forget."

"Where is my family?" the man growled, his voice sounding more sinister behind the mask.

"Oooh, so scary. But seriously, take off the suit, sit down, have some coffee or something stronger-" he was cut off when Toomes lunged forward, gripping his throat.

"Give me my family...Now."

Hammer choked out a laugh as he pressed his watch and out of nowhere a battle droid came running and grabbed Toomes' arm, squeezing until Justin could hear the bones rubbing together and the man let go, cursing. "Now," Hammer panted. "Is that any way to treat a team member? Come on."

Rubbing his throat, the man leaned against his droid. "Your family is safe and sound, in a well protected, undisclosed area. Here, look." Hammer brought out his phone and tapped the screen, a hologram of Adrian's wife and daughter popping up. "See? Safe and sound."

"Why are you doing this?" Adrian asked, pulling the mask off to see his family more clearly.

"Oh, you know, because I was set free on the off chance you would join me on a mission," Hammer smiled, then it quickly turned into a frown. "Why the fuck do you think I'm doing this!?" he screamed, veins popping out of his neck. "I just got out of the hell hole Pepper Potts put me in, and I am not going back. So you either help me take back whatever it was Tony Stark and his Ass-vengers stole from Mr. Bloom, or your family dies. So, what do you think?"

Hammer stared at the man who in turn, stared at the hologram of his family. "I need an answer, here, Mr. Toomes. You see, my 'friend,'" he used air quotes, "has a very tight schedule. So, he needs to get this little thing back, but he can't do it alone. I mean, he has the resources, but he needs help now. And his help will take too long to get there. Can you see his predicament?"

Toomes only nodded. "So, you want to know if you and your employer-"

"Friend," Justin corrected, his mood becoming pleasant again.

"Oh, yeah, your friend, can get this thing back from the Avengers? It must have been something valuable." Toomes' eyes were still on his family as he spoke. This was the only way to keep them safe.

"Oh you have no idea. It was a piece of very valuable research material, nothing like it. Worth millions, actually." At least that's the idea he got from talking to Mr. Bloom.

"So, what is it we're stealing back from the Avengers?" Toomes knew this was a dangerous thing to be doing, especially who they were doing it too. He needed details, for sure.

"That, I don't know. My friend never told me, just that we would know it when we saw it. Said it was something small, but amazing." Justin didn't like not having details, but for something like this, for revenge against Tony Stark, he didn't need much to do that. "But, you'll get to see your daughter again. Think about that one. Imagine the look of love when your family sees you, think of them running to you in joy when you come to rescue them!" He clapped his pale hands. He needed to get out of there to tan soon...

Adrian sighed deeply. He could die if he did this...but then again, if he didn't, his family was going to die definitely. "Fine," he said. "You have a deal. But, I want your word that my family will not be harmed."

Justin smiled, a strange glint in his eyes. "Fine, that's fine by me, hey I'm just glad to have you on board. Shake on it?" He held his hand out for a second before Toomes grabbed it, and his smile grew deeper. "Good man."

Chapter Text

Adrian slammed into his work space with an angry scream. He kicked a few tables, including one Phineas was working at. The blonde man stared at him. "So how was your day?"

"Not good," he growled. "SO we got a new gig...we're working with Hydra."

The tinkerer's face went white. "Wait, wait, what!? You said to never get involved with them, and now you're telling me we're involved with them?"

Adrian nodded. "Yes. But not by choice. They have Liz and Doris." Phineas was stunned to say the least. "Justin Hammer has them, and he's working for Hydra, so that means now so are we." Toomes growled again, punching the wall.

"Hey, hey, what's all the racket out here? I'm trying to take a nap," Herman yelled as he stormed out of the back.

Adrian turned with a smile, and Shultz knew he was in trouble."I'm sorry, Herman. I didn't mean to interrupt your bedtime with my damn life!!" Adrian yelled, picking up a piece of scrap and throwing it at Herman, who dodged it.

"Whoa! Man, calm down!"

"Calm down!? I'll be calm when I've got my goddamned family back!!"

The man put his hands up placatingly, and backed away. "Okay, okay. So, what's the job?"

Adrian sat down heavily, slamming his elbow on the table, his head falling into his palm. "We have to take something back," he mumbled, massaging his temple.

"That's easy," Phineas smiled. "Who do we have to steal from?"

"That's the hard part...the Avengers."

Phineas made a face. "Oooh yeah. I can see how that would be tough. Um," he began sifting through his pile of stuff when they heard a noise. All three men tensed and turned, only to see Hammer walking through the room.

"Gentlemen, ugh," Justin snarked while looking around. "I have to invest in a better hideout for you, seriously. What is this, a junkyard? Yeesh." The man tugged on his suit jacket and brushed off his sleeves, flicking off imaginary dirt.

"Hammer, what are you doing here?" Adrian growled, getting up.

"Oh, you know, I wanted to come 'hang with my homies', get to know you guys, yadda yadda yadda. Justin Hammer, by the way," he introduced himself to the two men looking at him like he had three heads.

"Yeah, I know who you are," Herman said.

"Oh, good to know my reputation hasn't diminished since I was in jail. I just got finished making a deal with Oscorp for an assembly factory to make my androids. This place it perfect! It's got balls to the walls adva-" he got cut off by his phone. "One moment, gentleman," he reached into his pocket. "Hello?"

The trio looked at one another, then snapped their attention to Hammer, who had started yelling at the phone.

"What do you mean I can't get what I ordered?!" Justin screamed as he waved his hands, taking a deep breath a second later. "Alright, alright. Let me see what I can dig up while I'm here. No, I am not going to tell you where I am, because I'm sure you know and am tracking this phone as we speak." He ended the call with a frustrated sigh. "Lemme borrow that," he asked the blonde man and immediately walked past him to the computer, pulling out a USB and plugged it in, then started typing commands. "And....there we go!" He stood and smiled.

"And what was that, exactly?" Adrian asked, leaning against the table.

"Well, I got a call from Mr. Ward, an agent of Hydra's, who said that my shipment of droids wouldn't be arriving. I fixed that, so they should be at my lab within three hours." The man shrugged. "So, here's the plan gentlemen."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruce had joined the four person group with the rest of the team and Tony had to roll his eyes. "Oh I see, everyone hears I'm springing for lunch, and then you all come running. Where are the others?"

"Yup," Clint said, winking at Morgan and Peter who were giggling. "Wanda and Bucky decided to go do some googly-eyes at each other and Sam is out there somewhere, probably trying to train to get faster than Cap."

"Hello Peter," Bruce said to the boy, who shyly waved. "How are you feeling?"

"I-I'm okay," he said. "Just have to get used to the enhanced senses."

"Oh yeah, about that. Bruce, I'd like to run a few tests with him before he leaves, you know, before and after," Roger's said, smiling at the boy in Tony's pocket.

"Only if I'm there to make sure no one gets hurt," Tony said, noticing Happy jogging towards them looking frazzled and red in the face.

"What happened to waiting for me?" he gasped angrily.

"But that wouldn't keep you on your toes. Come on, lets go." he started walking towards a limo since there were a lot more of them now."Happy, take us to the nearest place with a salad bar," Mr. Stark called as soon as everyone was in the car.

His guard looked at him in the rear view mirror with a deadpan face."Do I look like MapQuest to you?" he asked grumpily, buckling his seat belt.

"Who even uses that anymore?" the billionaire asked, raising a brow. "Do you want me to drive? I can get us to something rather than complaining."

"No! I will drive, thank you very much." Happy sighed and typed something into his phone, then started driving.

Peter climbed out from the man's pocket and jumped over the window, pressing his whole body against it and watched the huge world go by.

"Hey, lollipop guild, get down before you fall," Mr. Stark said. "I would swear they used jumping spider DNA with the way you get around."

"I won't fall. And maybe they did," the boy said, looking back.

The man grunted as Morgan climbed over his lap to join Peter, her head above the boy. "Look what you started, kid. I swear, you're an instigator," he smiled at the two kids smiling at him then turned back.

Morgan started playing a game of banana, the two poking each other whenever they saw a yellow car, Peter almost falling a few times with the force of Morgan's pokes.. When they grew bored of the game after a half hour, Peter lounged on the window, basking in the sunlight, while Morgan was busy asking Thor questions about Norway.

Tony smiled and leaned back, taking Pepper's hand.

Peter opened his eyes when his senses told him someone was coming. Doctor Banner had moved to sit nearer to him, smiling and showing his hands. "I promise I have no needles," he joked, making Peter smile.

"Hello, Doctor Banner," the boy said, letting his feet hang from where he sat in front of the window.

"Hello, Peter." he looked nervous, which was funny to the teen, because he was the much bigger person here. "Listen...I know you don't trust me, which I understand. But, I...well, I hate being a source of fear for you, for anybody, really. I've had too much of that in the past." He sighed and took off his glasses. "What I'm saying is-"

"Doctor Banner," Peter interrupted the man, blushing. "I...I am scared of anyone who wears a lab coat. I know you're a good person, but you're still a scientist at heart. I know you get excited about what I'm capable of, and that's what makes me nervous." He looked down at his fingers, twisting them together.

"And I know that you are a scientist as well," Bruce said. "I know that you're wondering what you're capable of, too. And I'm willing to help you find out. No needles, no IV's, I promise. Maybe you can even help figure out how to help fix you."

The teen looked up at the man. "About that...I was wondering....maybe you can help me with something I've been trying to figure out? I mean, I have the formula in my head, but, I can't reach everything I would need. It would help me get around by myself a little better when no one's around." He couldn't believe he was asking a scientist for help. But, Doctor Banner hadn't hurt him yet, not even when drawing blood. He'd been kind and gentle, and that put Peter at ease a little. If there was someone he could trust, it seemed like it was the man in front of him.

"Oh, yeah sure!" Bruce smiled, his eyes lighting up. "If you could write it down, I can help you, no problem."

There was a jerk in the motion of the car and everyone looked around. Peter turned and looked out the window, his face going pale, his head buzzing like crazy. "Get away from the window!" He cried just as the glass shattered.

Doctor Banner was the closest to him to grab the boy, pulling him away from the window. Morgan had been thrust to the floor, Pepper over her, a blue armor forming on the woman's body as she protected her child.

"Bruce," Tony warned the doctor, who nodded.

"I'll try!" he shouted as a car next to the limo crashed, the entire vehicle shaking from the impact.

"What the hell is that!?" Clint had his head out of the sunroof, a bow in forming in his hands from his ring. He stared up at what looked like a man in a wing suit, with green eyes glowing from his helmet.

Another missile was loading and pointed directly at the limo. Clint looked back. "He's got missiles!" he warned, seeing Tony jump into action, the suit crawling over his body, sunglasses dissolving into it as well.

"Get Peter and Morgan out of here!" the man's robotic voice said, then he jumped through the sunroof.

Bruce stared at the little teen in his hands and Morgan who was gripping onto her mother, sobbing for her not to go. He couldn't leave her here, but he couldn't leave the rest of them to deal with this mess either.

"Bruce!" Pepper shouted. "Go!" she thrust the little girl at him, Peter had already crawled up to the man's shoulder so he could take the girl. "We're already calling in reinforcements!"

"Stark! All I want is what you stole!" the man floating above the car said, his voice projecting through his helmet.

"What is this guy talking about? Clint asked from on top of the car, shooting his arrows one after another.

There was another explosion just as the doctor opened the car door, and Bruce felt the heat of the flames hit his body, and there was nothing he could do. The pain hit him hard, so hard, it turned his skin green. He tried to force the Hulk back, but it was too late. He could feel the rage monster coming out, feel his muscles ripping and tearing before he fell into blissful nothingness. With Morgan in the monster's arms, the Hulk suddenly exploded from the limo, roaring his anger at the man floating in the sky.

Morgan sobbed as she was swung from the green monster's arm, holding on to the green giant's muscles for safety. She looked back to see her mother staring in horror as her daughter was subject to the Hulk. She felt eyes on her and looked up to see the green thing staring down at her, its eyes soft and gentle, like Doctor Banner's.

"Hulk keep safe," he whispered gruffly, his vision moving to Peter who stood on the green man's shoulder, staring at him. The boy's face filled with fear when Hulk started moving his hand toward the boy. "Hulk keep both safe."

Peter could only gasp as the monstrous hand engulfed him in darkness. "Hey!" he pounded on one of the fingers, which twitched, but that was it. "Let me out! Please!"

Hulk on the other hand was paying the small boy no mind, focused on dodging the bullets that sprayed at him from the robot that had appeared on the scene out of nowhere. They felt like horsefly bites, stinging and annoying him, but it seemed like they were only trying to get him, and everyone else was just a deterrent. Hulk turned his head, baring his teeth with a growl. "No more!" he roared, feeling the girl in his arm jump. That got him angrier.

He roared at the robot, keeping the girl in front of him to keep her safe. He ran as fast as he could, until suddenly his legs were bound from behind, tripping the Hulk up, sending the kids flying. He could see Morgan, but Peter was too small.

The teen cried out as the feeling of buoyancy, feeling his stomach raise up to his throat. It stopped when he was caught but, it wasn't human hands he was in. Metal fingers were all around him and at first he thought it was Mr. Bucky, but when they opened and a robotic face stared down at him, he screamed.

The droid suddenly jerked and the hands let Peter drop. The boy screamed as hit the ground, rolling a bit, and saw Morgan just on the edge of the highway border, the chunk of concrete destroyed by a truck that had crashed into it.

Peter was in pain, but he had to get to her before she fell into the oncoming traffic that was rushing to get away from the battle below! The boy got to his feet, grimacing as he took a few steps, his eyes on the little girl.

Morgan was moving, sobs coming from her. The girl rolled a fraction of an inch, then suddenly there was no more ground. With a cry, she scrambled to grab purchase, feeling the asphalt scraping up her fingers until she could feel the wetness of the blood. She sobbed, feeling her legs flailing and looked down, letting out an ear piercing scream. She felt something and looked to see Peter standing before her, his hands grabbing her sleeve.

"It's alright!" he cried. "I've got you!" the boy panted as he planted his feet, his grip on the girl's sleeve relentless, pain filling his face. "Just keep your eyes on me!" he cried. He groaned as he pushed against the border, feeling his shoulders pop he screamed, but he still kept pulling, and a second later Morgan moved an inch toward him.

He felt his heart flutter and forced himself to keep going, keep pulling. Soon her torso was over the road and the girl used her arms to help pull herself up, letting Peter fall back, panting. The two were trembling for very different reasons, but they were safe. "It's okay," Peter reassured the girl who was staring at him with trusting eyes. She was safe, that was all that mattered.Then, their sense of peace was destroyed by a robot appearing behind them, its lifeless red eyes in its gray tin head focused on Peter. "Get down!!" Peter cried, and the girl turned, her eyes widening.

"DADDY!!" Morgan screamed, covering Peter with her bloody hands. Suddenly, something flew from above and knocked the robot down.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked, firing his gun at the robot, frowning when nothing happened. "I want my daddy!" the girl sobbed, rubbing her face with one hand.

Peter put his hand on her thigh, rubbing it gently.. "It's okay. I'm here. Can you move?" he asked the girl, who nodded. "We have to get away from here, so your mommy and daddy can fight without worrying, okay?" He waited for the girl to nod. "Good girl. Now,-" he was cut off by a large piece of asphalt dropping from the sky, landing on top of him, the weight pinning half his body under it. He cried out from the pain, unable to move his legs, feeling the gravelly surface grinding his skin down every time he tried.

He felt it shift and looked up to see Morgan trying to lift the rock from him. "Just run!" He screamed, watching another robot flying over head, focused on the little girl. "GO!"

Then, Thor was there, grabbing the girl, but apparently he didn't see Peter and took off.
"Peter!" Morgan cried, her bloody hand still reaching for him. "We have to go back for Peter! He's stuck!"

"I can not do that, Morgan. We need to get you away from the battle first, then I will go back for the small one! Now hold on."
The girl sobbed into her 'uncle's' shoulder for her friend.

~~

Tony shot the bot, their design looking familiar, while keeping an eye on the flying guy at the same time. "Friday, give me a scan on both targets."

"On it boss," the AI replied.Tony ducked a car thrown at him, then heard a familiar roar followed by a thud. He glanced over his shoulder to see the Hulk down, but then snapping the bonds that entangled his legs a second later.

"I'm on the scene," Sam's voice came over the communicator. "Oh shit, is that Peter?" The man's voice sounded shocked. "Anyone know if this kid has super strength?"

"Just get my kids out of here!" Tony snapped, too upset to miss the slip up, because he couldn't get to them himself. He missed what Sam said, Friday's voice speaking up.

"The man in the suit is Adrian Toomes, boss," Friday told him. "He's a small time thief."

It seemed as though Toomes were searching the ground, even getting a little closer.
"What's he doing here then? How about the droids?" Tony asked, shooting another robot down, chunks of asphalt went flying. Where the hell were they coming from?

"I can't get an exact location!"

"That's just great," he muttered. "Thor, we could really use your hammer here, buddy!"

"I'm a little busy at the moment, Stark! I have your daughter, I'm taking her to safety,"

Thor told him and Tony felt his heart start beating again."Just Morgan? What about Peter?"

"I could not find him and it was getting too dangerous," Thor replied.

Tony turned when he heard Pepper's repuslors go off. "Pep, can you find Peter!?"

The woman grunted as she blocked a robot's arm, then blasted it. "I can't shake this guy!" She yelled. "I don't want to put him in danger!"

Natasha grunted as she shot at the flying man, watching every one of her bullets bounce off a blue shield. "Shit. My bullets can't pierce his armor!"

"Let me try," Wanda flew in from nowhere, getting right in the man's face. "Hello." She lifted her hands. "Goodbye." Suddenly before she could make contact with her powers, an energy pulse was shot at her, making the woman cry out as electricity shot through her body.

"Wanda!" Bucky screamed. He watched his girlfriend fall to the ground and screamed, lifting his guns. But, as much as he shot, they didn't make a dent in the man.

"My turn," Tony said. He lifted his arm and his armor shifted to a plasma gun, the whine of the weapon powering up in the man's ears before it exploded from him. Just as it was about to hit, something lit up on Adrian's suit and spread around him, stopping the blast with a wave of blue.

"Nice try, Stark!" Toomes spoke with amusement. "Your weapons can't touch me! I'm invincib-"

Rhodey came flying at the man from behind, tackling him between his mechanical wings. "How about a man?" he asked, bringing the man down. They skidded to the ground, sparks flying from their suits until they stopped. Rhodey punched Toomes, the man's head snapping back, one wing sparking and crooked from the fall.

"Big mistake," Toomes said. His hand sparked and before anyone could warn him, Rhodey was sent flying from the man and Toomes scrambled to his feet, and git into the air with a struggle.

The colonel came crashing down on the roof of a car, shaking his head. "Okay, no one saw that?" he complained.

"Quit complaining, he's getting away! And someone find Peter!"" Tony snapped, his repulsors already firing up, but stopped when he found himself staring at a man's face projected by the robots surrounding him.

"Hello, Tony."

Chapter Text

Thor flew as fast as he could after leaving Morgan with Happy, and what he returned to was a nightmare. The team were surrounded by robots, fighting them off as they all attacked at once. Tony and Pepper were surrounded by a dozen robots, all of them just standing there, projecting a man's face in front of the man. Thor didn't know what to do, so he simply landed next to Tony, facing the opposite of him, back to back.

"Took you long enough," Tony groused as he got up, Pepper by his side helping him.

"I was seeing to your child," Thor answered, sending another wave of lightning into the air, dropping the remaining bots. The billionaire was about to retort to that, when suddenly a voice interrupted him.

"I told you I'd be back, didn't I?" The projected head laughed. "But, I see you've gotten some help over the years, huh? Oh, and now Pepper even has armor? That's nice, you can fight as a family now."

Tony narrowed his eyes as recollection entered his memories. "Justin Hammer. What a unpleasant surprise. It's been, what, six, seven years? I thought you would be behind bars for longer than that."

A robot took a step forward, and Thor hit it with his hammer, making it twitch and spark, and the man's face blur for a second. "Well, you know what they say when you have friends in high places, right Tony?"

"Hm, yeah, but I think that's the opposite for you. So, who's your connection?"

"Aww, if I told you, that would spoil the game I have planned for you and for your beautiful wife, which I'm a little offended I wasn't even sent a video of the wedding. Oh well, semantics. Just give me what y'all stole from Hydra, and we'll be off."

Tony was so confused. "What do you mean? We haven't stole anything from anyone, and even if we did steal from Hydra, that would be kind of a good thing, yes?"

Justin laughed, his crooked teeth showing. "But, you see, the item you stole took them months to make, and time like that should be protected, not stolen away from it's creator."

Tony thought a minute about what the man was saying, then his eyes went wide. "Peter?" he asked. "You're after Peter?"

Justin shrugged. "If this Peter was taken from Hydra, then yes, I mean Peter."

"You can't have him!" Steve jumped over the wall of droids, fists curled at his sides, blood running down the side of his face.

"Oh, I always get what I want," Hammer said with a smile. "Eventually. But, it seems as though I've lost this battle for now." The man disappeared and all the robot's eyes started blinking before suddenly breaking apart and all the parts flying off, too quickly for anyone to follow

The highway trembled and everyone looked back to see the Hulk coming towards them, head hung low. "Hulk sorry," he mumbled. "Didn't protect kids."

Natasha walked up to him, a soft smile on her face as she took the beasts hand. "You did good, Hulk. Why don't you take a rest, hm? You deserve it. The sun's gettin' real low, big guy."

The green giant held out his hand to Natasha, and when the woman touched him, he started to shrink, pale skin showing through until Doctor Banner was standing there panting as he surveyed the damage.

"Did we win?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been three days since Hope left her father's home on the coastal island of Tahiti for San Francisco. Now she hovered in front of an unlit home, flitting from window to window. Even though the house was dark, didn't mean no one was home.

In fact, Scott rarely left the home, preferring to work from home on his new business even though he had been off house arrest for a while now.

She flew around the house, and noticed the blue light of a computer screen. Hope smiled and flew up to the attic window, peeking through the window to see Scott asleep at his desk, head on the keyboard of his laptop. She had to shake her head and smile fondly, even though she was still pissed at him didn't mean she had stopped loving him.

For a while they had tried dating, and she had to admit they were a great couple, but they had agreed to take a break from their relationship. She hoped they could try again. She missed him.Her small form looked for a way in, but everything was locked tight with not an opening for an ant sized woman.

Sighing in frustration she flew down to the front door. The door was flush with the frame, but the locks were the same. She landed on the giant gold deadbolt lock, slipping inside, being sure she could fit through the cam slot. She made it to the key-way slot in the dark, her suit creating light when she pushed a button. She should have been seeing light by now. Hope got past the key springs and into the housing cylinder, only to find that the outside had been covered completely by a sheet of metal.

"Damn you, Scott," she growled. Bringing her arm up, she shot her laser at the metal, relieved to see it was cutting through. At least he hadn't been able to get a hold of Vibranium, that would have made this impossible.

Finally she cut her way through and slipped out, only to be met with the barrel of a gun held by none other than Luis.

"Hey, whoever you are. I know how to use this." He pressed a button on it and a small red dot focused on her. "So, I would suggest you...unshrink, or whatever it is you have to do..."

Hope rolled her eyes. Luis, ever the one for the drama. She pressed the button on her shifter and shot up, her mask removing itself. "Luis, put the gun down before you hurt yourself."

"Hope!" he smiled. "Hey, wh-what're-what're you doing here? I wasn't expecting to see you!" He held his arms out, but the woman didn't move, instead glared at him. "Okay, not there yet, I hear you. Oh, do you want Scott? He's-"

"Upstairs, asleep at his desk, I know." Hope stepped past the short man and rushed up the stairs until she made it to the attic. Outside the door she heard the loud snores of her ex and softly opened the door, slowly sneaking up to him. Hope stared at him for a minute, drool leaking out of the side of his open mouth, not yet reaching the keyboard, but it was getting close.

She ran a hand through his hair, the man rousing a little. Then she pulled him up by his hair.

"Oooow!!" Scott howled, jerked awake, wide eyed and panting. "Hope?" he asked after a minute. "What're you doing here? Please let go of my hair."

The woman released her grip, but smacked him on the back of the head. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" she yelled. "You said you only used one reducer and one accelerator in Germany, which you said you picked up!"

"I did! Well, the accelerator was too burned after the truck exploded over it." Scott shrugged. "But I did pick up the reducer!"

"Yeah, well guess what, Scott? The accelerator wasn't burned, and Hydra was able to find it during the clean up. Which means they were able to study the particles and get a hold of one of my father's old lab mate who helped him develop the particles and managed to reverse the serum. So thank you for that."

Scott's face was pale. "Oh no..." he whispered. "Did....did you or Hank get them back?"

"No, thanks to you, they are now in the body of a teenage boy in the hands of Tony Stark." She started pacing. "I mean, what is wrong with you!?"

"What?! After the battle at the airport was done, we were kind of LOCKED UP!" Scott screamed. "Law enforcement came and threw us in cages, or do you not remember my bargain for house arrest as a result?" The man widened his eyes for a moment, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Oh, I remember. My father and I had to break your dumb ass out of your house. But, you did rescue my mother because of it...so I guess I have to thank you for that."

"Yeah, see? And, I was able to get the healing factor from the quantum realm, right? And you're welcome!" he got up and stood by Hope. "I did miss you, though."

The woman sighed. "I missed you too," she said softly.

"So where is the research Hydra was able to make?" Scott asked, his hand slowly going to the woman's shoulder. When he wasn't rebuked, he smiled.

"It was destroyed by the Avengers on a mission where they found the boy. Dad's trying to contact Doctor Banner at the moment to work on the reversal serum."

"What about your father's...what? Partner? By the way, I would have liked to know about sooner."

"I didn't know about him until this, either. Dad thought he died during a raid on his building by Hydra in the past...but apparently they took him then, used his family as bargaining chips to keep him from fighting back." Scott scowled at that. "And now it's our job to get the man back and the boy with the serum in him. So, you ready for a reconnaissance mission?"

"Oh, you bet I am."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Thor, do you have Peter?" Tony asked the god, who shook his head.

"No, as I had said, I was not able to find him before things got out of hand with this Hammer man." The god looked ashamed.

"Everyone, spread out, but be careful where you step. Peter is here somewhere, and may be hurt. Find him!" The panic in Tony's voice was enough to get everyone moving gingerly, watching the ground as they walked.

Tony had Friday scanning as well. He just hoped Peter was still alive. At that thought, his chest tightened and he had to take a breath. "He's alive," the man chanted over and over. He had to be alive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter grimaced in pain in the darkness. He felt the crushing weight of the large rock on him, tears streaming down his face. Was this how he was going to die? Had he survived six months in that lab to go like this? Crushed between a rock and the street? Peter shook his head.

He couldn't die like this! "Come on," he whispered as he moved his arms under himself and pushed, groaning and gasping, but the most he did was shift the weight, which collapsed on him again when his hands slipped, cutting his arms open.

Suddenly he felt the vibration of footsteps near him, and they were coming closer. "HELLO!?" he screamed, desperately clawing at the rocks around him, the ground's vibrations stopping. "Please! Hey! Please!" Tears were dripping onto the ground now as he tried to move again, his arms straining. "Gah!!"

Even though he couldn't see the person, relief still hit him like a sack of bricks and he started screaming in earnest. "Help! I'm down here! I'm down here, I'm stuck, I can't move!"

He was reaching toward a beacon of light pouring in from an opening in between the asphalt he'd made in his efforts. "Mr. Stark, anyone please!" His voice had turned shrill in his panic, and his chest hurt from trying to breathe with his chest being crushed and his ribs didn't feel good either.

"Peter?" Mr. Stark's voice filled the little cavern Peter was in and he fell to the ground next to where the boy was by the amount of shaking he felt.

Tony quickly lifted the rock, throwing it aside and was met with a sight he wouldn't soon forget. Peter lay in the pebbles, Thor costume shredded showing bloody gashes and scrapes. His unprotected feet were ripped to all hell, and his ankle bone on one foot was jutting out under the skin, one of his wrists was definitely broken and the shoulder on the same side was out of its socket. "Friday, vitals!" Tony said, his voice panicked.

"Heart rate and blood pressure is high, but stable. Several broken bones, including one ankle, wrist, two ribs and a dislocated shoulder. Several torn muscles. No puncture wounds to the lungs and no spinal damage."

Tony heard the others around him and he sighed, his mask crawling from his face. "Pete, I'm gonna have to lift you up, okay? Think you can be brave enough for me to do that?" Peter nodded, his eyes closed, face pale. "Good job, bud. Here we go." Slowly, Tony slid his hand under the chunks of road Peter was laying on, a few of them coming up with him.

Peter groaned as he felt gravity pushing against the hardness of Mr. Stark's glove, but the coolness of it felt good against his injuries.

"Is he you alright?" Mr. Barton's voice asked.

Peter looked up and smiled at the man."Yeah, I'm okay, promise, Uncle Clint." The archer didn't laugh, but he smiled softly.

"I..I gotta get him back to the compound," Tony stuttered, slowly rising to his feet. He was afraid to fly and hurt Peter, but it was the quickest way. "Just hold on, Pete," he said. "Pepper, come with me! I'll meet you guy back there. Friday, back thrusters at full."

He cupped his hand over the small boy and had to balance fast before he was thrown for a loop, and took off, his wife right beside him. "Keep Peter's vitals on the screen," he ordered Friday, watching them when she did.

"Tony, he'll be fine," the woman said softly, but there was a tinge of worry in her voice.

"Yeah," Tony responded. He was sure the kid was gonna be fine. He was stronger than anyone realized, and even though he wasn't a Stark, Tony felt like he was holding his own son.

Peter, in the meantime, was trying to block out the semi-darkness. It reminded him of being trapped, crushed. Right then, he wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep for a month, but he hurt too much to even do that.

Tony was already calling the compound, Happy's voice picking up a second later. "Tony! Where are you!?"

"I'm flying back now. I'm gonna need Cho and her team in the medbay now," he said.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, it's not for me. Too much to explain, but they're gonna need a lot of magnifiers and small equipment!" His focus shifted to the boy in his palms. "How we doing kid?" He heard a groan, meaning the boy was still conscious. "Okay, we're almost there. Happy, make it happen and fast, I'm approaching the compound now. End call."

The white building came up fast, almost too fast for Tony to land, but he slid to a stop, rubble forming at his feet from the landing strip. He started walking as quick as he could, making sure not to jar Peter any more than he had to and slammed into the medbay. "CHO!?" he called.

"Here, Mr. Stark," the Korean woman hurried over to him, looking him over. "How can I help?"

"I'm fine," Tony said impatiently. "It's him." Slowly he opened his cupped hands, revealing Peter.

Chapter Text

Helen Cho stared at the boy for a moment, before she took action. "I'll need an X-ray of the his entire body!"

The medical team nodded and burst into action.

She directed Tony to one of the beds. "Put him there," she said. "Easy," she whispered as Tony transferred the boy from his hand onto the mattress just below the pillow.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Morgan cried out from where she was being treated, trying to push the doctors away.

"Hold still, sweetheart," the man treating Morgan said patiently, but the girl wasn't having it.

"No! I need to see Peter!" the girl shouted.

"And you will, honey. But, we need to clean your hands a little, okay? We need to make sure there's no rocks or glass in your cuts." He smiled at the girl and waited patiently.

"You want to sit next to Peter?" Pepper asked with a soft smile.Morgan nodded at this, sliding off the bed that she was on and stood in between her parents.

"Is he gonna be okay?" she asked.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, Morguna. He'll be fine."

"Okay. You know, he's like my little big brother," she said, shocking the two adults. "I really like him. I wish he could stay with us, but I know he can't. He told me about his aunt, and how much he missed her the day we played hide and seek."

Pepper looked at Tony and the man nodded. "Well, when all of this is over, and he's able to go home, he'll be able to visit whenever he wants."

Morgan's face lit up. "Really?" she asked, and her father nodded.

One man brought a cleaning solution and two chairs over to Morgan and her parents. Pepper placed her daughter on her lap and watched as the nurse that was treating Morgan before was back with a warm smile on his face as he dipped the girl's hands into the warm solution.

Another person brought the portable scanner and held it over Peter's body, snapping a few pictures of the boy's bones before handing it to Helen, who expanded it into a holographic form to get a better look. And she wished she hadn't. She hadn't seen someone this bad since Tony had battled the Hulk.

One thing that caught her attention was that his ankle was already trying to repair itself, mending the bones where they were. That was not good.

"Peter," she crouched down to see the boy on his level. "Your bones are already healing, but they're healing incorrectly, which is dangerous. I'm sorry, but we'll have to re-break the ankle and set it properly." Plus, she would have to figure out how the boy was already healing. "Without knowing your weight and height, we can't put you to sleep for this, but we can give you something to numb the pain if we have time."

"Height is approximately three inches, weight is five point two ounces," Friday told them.

Shit that was small. Tony didn't realize how small the kid was. "Okay, okay, we can deal with that.." he whispered.

The boy shook his head with a groan. "Won't work," he ground out as a wave of pain hit him. "Scientists tried all sorts of drugs to put me to sleep, poison me, you name it. But I burned through everything too fast."

Helen's eyes widened. What the hell had happened to this boy? "Okay, so we can't do pain pills. It will be over in a minute, Peter. Just bear with me, I'll try and be as gentle as I can. But, I'm going to have to cut the clothes you have on, though." She moved and towered over the boy, snipping what she had to of the clothing that was left, then, with her hands poised over the broken bone, she stopped. How was she supposed to fix this?

She had never worked with such a small patient before and was afraid she would hurt him even more. But, she had to. So, steeling herself, the doctor moved the magnifying lens over the boy and gripped the small leg, feeling the small bones against her fingertips. Then she tried gripping the boy's foot, but it was too small.

Someone then handed her a pair of forceps and she looked up to see Mr. Stark staring at her, his eyes clearly said he was worried.Steadily she took Peter's foot into the metal grips and flicked the tool a bit, hearing a 'snap' and the boy cried out and went limp a second later. Quickly she moved the bones into place. "Friday, give me an analysis," she ordered shakily.

"All bones are connected," the AI said. "Heart beat and blood pressure is elevated, breathing is shallow but even."

Doctor Cho breathed and went to setting the unbelievably small ankle into place, using two small blunt pins she was handed as a splint, then wrapped the entire leg in gauze. She repeated the process on Peter's wrist. "The shoulder will be tricky. Mr. Stark, hold him down for a minute."

Tony nodded and placed a hand over the boy gently. "It'll be alright, kid," he whispered to the unconscious teen.

Helen pushed on the boy's shoulder as much as she could, and the joint popped back into place, Peter let out a whimper in his passed out state, then quieted.

Morgan, who had watched the whole thing, wanted nothing more than to comfort her friend, but her hands were being wrapped as well, so she just cried for him as the nurses started treating the smaller things that could wait and cleaned his bloody feet.

"It's all over," the nurse told Morgan, his voice patient and kind. "It's all done. He's safe now." He smiled at her. Morgan glanced over at her friend on the bed, reaching for her father's hand, which gripped hers carefully over the bandages.

"He'll be fine," Tony said, more as a mantra to himself. "He'll be fine.."

Morgan looked at the boy's ripped and cut clothes when she remembered the gift she made for Peter. "Daddy," she whimpered when she reached into her pocket. "I..I made this for Peter..." She brought out the small cloth bag and with a wince, pulled out what looked like what the boy was wearing when they first found him.

Tony gently took the outfit and turned it between his thumb and pointer, seeing the duct tape holding the legs together, the blue and red material evenly distributed through the arms and legs and the silver Hydra sigil gone. "This...this looks so good, Morguna. I'm sure Peter will love it."

Morgan smiled. "I can't use needles, so maybe you or mommy can sew it."

Pepper hugged her daughter tighter. "I will, baby. Come on, let's go get something to drink. We'll come back later when Peter's awake.. And thank you, whoever fixed Morgan's hands." The nurses and doctors smiled and nodded, watching them go.

~~~~~~~

Helen waited until Morgan was out of the room before turning on Tony. "Mr. Stark, who and what is this boy?" Her voice was angry, hateful.

Tony shook his head, running his hand over his face. "I don't know what to tell you. He kind of...fell into my grasp one day. Little accident." He didn't want to go into detail with Helen. He trusted her medical judgement, but she answered to Fury. And he didn't want that man anywhere near Peter. At least not yet.

"No, I will not tolerate that answer. Did you do this to him?"

"No, definitely not," he denied vehemently. "I would never hurt a kid, you should know that." he said lowly.

The doctor studied him with narrowed eyes before nodding. "Alright. We'll keep an eye on him overnight. You're welcome to stay with him, if you need to, but I will be in the room if you do."

The man nodded, pulling his chair over and sitting. "Yes, I need to. You," he pointed to a male nurse. "You do Starbucks runs, right?"

"My staff are not your personal errand boys," Helen snapped.

"I pay them, so I get to order them to do what I want. He's not busy, are you?" The man shook his head. "See? It's fine. Friday will send you what to order." He set his eyes on the man, raising his brows. "Well? Go on, go, shoo." he waggled his fingers at the nurse and he practically ran from the room. "See what happens when you're above everybody's pay grade?"

Helen shook her head and walked out, a frown on her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hammer was angry. No, he was more than that. He was absolutely livid. He'd gotten the best droids he could get with Hydra's help, had them boosted with his own weaponry, and they still lost! What was worse, one of the droid's also had the thing in its grasp!

Adrian turned to look at the man as soon as Hammer walked into the garage. Toomes had anger written on his face, a tool in his hands. "A kid?" he asked in a demanding tone. "Hydra wants us to steal back a kid from the Avengers, after Hydra did who knows what to him!?" The man had seen what the bot was after, the screen in his goggles, and he was still in shock, which had gotten his wings broken. "He's just a fucking child! I would say he's in better hands with the Avengers!"

Justin just stared at him, giving a confused smile. "Are you saying you're out of the deal? Because, if so.." he pulled out his phone, slowly bringing it to his ear.

"NO!" Toomes screamed, making Herman and Phineas jump. "I'm going to keep my family safe, so that means I'm not backing out. I'll go along with your plans...but this time, I'll be acting alone. NO help from you, you got it? You almost killed that kid, today. I won't have that blood on my hands."

Hammer nodded and sat. "Okay, okay, I hear you. Hydra never said they wanted him back alive, but I think they would appreciate that he were living."

Toomes glared at him. "I'll keep a watch on him and see when I can grab him. You stay out of it. Me and my guys will handle everything from this point on." He was going to get his family back, then live with the money he'd made and get out of this business. He had to if this is what it brought for them all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter woke to not so subtle pangs of pain and the boy's brows furrowed as he opened his eyes, rolling his head to the side. He winced from the bright light, hand going in front of his face. He felt the soft mattress shift and dip a lot. "May?" he asked, hope lighting his voice.

"Sorry, kiddo," Mr. Stark's voice was closer than normal and Peter turned to see the man leaning his head on the bed, massive eyes focused on the boy closer than they'd ever been. "I can call Natasha in if you need an Aunt Hottie," he joked.

"Ha ha," the boy groaned when he tried to sit up, holding his middle when his ribs protested, so he laid back down. "Where are we?" He looked at everything, taking it in and studying everything he could.

"Med bay. You got pretty banged up out there."

Suddenly Peter's eyes went wide and he tried to sit up again, struggling against Mr. Stark's finger that kept him down. "Morgan," he gasped. "How is Morgan?"

"She's fine, bud. Just a few scrapes and bruises." They were lucky nothing worse happened to her.

"That's good." He moved his shoulders and hissed when they burned. "Note to self, do not lift a child until I'm back to normal," he joked.

"Oh yeah, I was wondering about that." Mr. Stark's head popped up and his finger moved from Peter's chest to his face, pulling his chin to look at him gently. "How in the hell were you able to lift a five year old, who is clearly at least one thousand times your weight?"

The teen's nerves took over at the look the man gave him, then it hit him. Mr. Stark was busy with the droids to see what had happened. He couldn't really explain it either, actually. "I-I don't know," he answered shakily. "I really don't, Mr. Stark..." he shook his head, wincing when it caused him some pain. "All I knew was that she was in danger, and I had to do something." She was like his little sister, and he couldn't let the girl just fall to her death.

"Hmm....I'm starting to agree with Steve and his 'tests', of the non sciency variety."

"Does that mean I get to train with the Avengers?" the boy asked, excitement making his face glow bright.

"Well, not exactly." Mr. Stark finally removed his finger when it looked like Peter was going to stay down. "And, I know this is gonna suck, but you have to stay in bed for at least three days, just to monitor you before you're allowed to move on your own. The good news is you're allowed to be in your own room."

Peter tried to argue that he was fine, but Tony wouldn't have it. "Not my call. Be mad at Dr. Cho, whom I agree with totally." He sighed. "But, all kidding aside....I want to thank ou for what you did. You saved my whole world back there."

And, what he didn't want to admit to the kid, he'd almost lost a piece under asphalt.

"And for that, I know you've been feeling cooped up, and I'm to blame for most of it. But, I think we can have a little leeway for you. Only upstairs in my suite, and in Bruce's lab, are you allowed on the floor to walk around. We will have a talk with Morgan, too. But, I think I can remember to look down through the night, and I'll have a reason to use those floor lamps I installed. I already built and installed a tiny bathroom in your room on your nightstand, as well as put one of the Avenger's tubs you liked so much there, too."

Peter blushed at the mention of that. "Thank you," he mumbled, meaning it. It was amazing that he was finally going to get to walk around by himself without being carried, although he was sure Mr. Stark enjoyed it. He jumped and winced when the man clapped and stood.

"Okay, let's get you settled and I'll let Morgan know you're in your room, okay? And I'm pretty sure Pepper wants to see you, too. Probably give you a big sloppy kiss. Lucky." He winked at the boy who gagged.

Chapter Text

A flying ant buzzed by a guard's ear and he swatted it away. The man on the ant swung a little in the saddle, but managed to hold on. "Hope, watch the guard, he's got a sissy swing," he joked.

"Not that I don't appreciate your humor, but please focus on the mission," Hope said, mirth in her voice anyway.

Scott smiled as he straightened the ant he was riding. He flew as high as he could to to keep out of the way of the agents, all carrying guns. This was going to be hard. He heard shouting ahead of him and turned Antonia to the door it was coming from. Landing his mount on the florescent light above two people, he laid on his stomach and peeked over the edge. Below him the lab was a mess, there were beakers broken, with a rainbow of different colored liquids spilled all over the floor.

"What do you mean you refuse!?" a man screamed, German accent thick in his anger. "Do you forget who has your family!?"

Scott gasped. "Hope, they have Sean's family."

"I know. Mom's on it as we speak."

"Thanks for telling me!" he whisper shouted.

"Well, we didn't have time, and why are you whispering?"

"I don't know!" Scott huffed. "Women, am I right?" he asked Antonia, who cocked her head. "Sorry."

The men were now in a stare down, the red head standing his ground. "I am not hurting another child!" The man spoke with a Scottish brogue, which added to his presence. "You killed all those kids in the lab because you were scared of the Avengers. And you have every right to be!"

The German man pulled out a phone. Why did he look so familiar to Scott? "You know all I have to do is make a phone call and your family is as good as dead!"

"And you will lose everything I have made." Sean threatened and pulled out a handheld tablet. "Every file in the system on my work is on this tablet. You call, I press delete." His finger hovered above the screen, eyes challenging the now angry German man.

"Then all I have to do," he pulled out a gun, and Scott cursed. "Is kill you."

"Hope! Bloom's gonna kill the doc!" That was his name! Octavion Bloom! What a stupid name for a guy.

"Stop him!" Hope's voice pulled him from his thoughts.

Scott nodded and jumped off the light and pressed the button on his right hand. He grew to his normal size and kicked the gun from the German man's hand, then shrunk back down, running along the floor. He saw a shadow above him and looked to see a giant boot coming down on top of him. "Oh no!" he cried, then pressed his right hand again and shot up, kicking the man, then grabbing Sean. "We've gotta get outta here!"

"Pym?" the doctor asked, shock in his voice and all over his face.

"Oh," Scott let the helmet flip away from his face. "I'm Scott Lang..I'm Ant-Man," he said proudly. "But, you didn't want to know that. Um, I work with Hank Pym?"

At that name, relief lit in the man's eyes."So he is still alive."

"Yeah, but I think this would be better discussed elsewhere." Scott tried to drag the man out, but he resisted.

"My family! I can't go! They have my wife and daughters!"

"They're okay," Scott said with a smile. "Janet, Hank's wife, probably has them in her care right now." Sean sighed, but then his eyes went wide and stared down at the spot beginning to grow on his stomach.

Scott watched it happen almost as if he were small and everything was going in slow motion. The blood on the man's lab coat, spreading almost like thick fruit punch, the look on the man's face; pain and shock. Lang didn't know what happened, until Sean fell to his knees and there stood Bloom, holding a bloody knife, a sick smile on his face.

"Hope," Scott said, shock lacing his voice. "We have a problem."

The woman then appeared next to him, staring in shock. "Dr. O'Cleary," she whispered, catching the man as he fell. "I'm Hank's daughter, Hope."

Scott had attacked the other man the moment she arrived and had punched him, knocking him out.

"Hope," the man breathed, his chest rattling. "That was the name.....your father loved. . Tell me...Is at least one of the children from the lab alive?" He needed at least one survivor to not feel like a failure.

Hope nodded. "Yes. A boy named Peter. He's alive and safe."

Sean smiled, tears in his eyes. "Good. He didn't deserve any of this. No one did or does...." He then brought the tablet up and before she could say anything, pushed the button to erase his files.

The woman grabbed the blinking tablet and tried to undo the damage, but it was too late. "No, no!" she looked at Sean. "Why? We could have saved Peter, fixed him!"

Sean shook his head and coughed. "Don't want your father's work in anyone's hands." The Dr. smiled as he took his last breath, lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling.

"Damnit!" she shouted. They'd failed in so many ways. She felt like the fate of that boy was weighing on her shoulders and it got so much heavier.

Scott was by her side in an instant, a hand on her shoulder and felt a little of the weight coming off by his presence. She wasn't alone in this.

"Come on, Hope....let's get out of here, it's getting too dangerous to stay." The sound of an alarm was blaring all around them with lights flashing. Already he could hear boots hitting against the metal floor, getting louder.

The woman nodded and got up, leaving the man on the floor, but took the tablet, placing a reducing disk on it and shrinking down, then pressing the remote to shrink the tablet down as well. If anything, they would have the remnants of Dr. O'Cleary's work, and hopefully if her parent's couldn't get the files back, Tony Stark would cooperate with them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter was getting so bored sitting in his room all day alone. He did have Morgan to talk to, but she was at a friend's house right now. So, at the moment he was sitting up on a pillow with a makeshift pencil Mr. Stark had brought in for him. The man had come in with a Cheshire grin holding a long piece of lead like you would find in a mechanical pencil wrapped with a piece of plastic that made it look almost like a pen to Peter.

The boy was grateful to hold the tool, to feel its almost familiar form in his grasp. But, the note book the man had brought was HUGE! He'd brought him the largest notebook he could find as a joke, but the funny thing was, Peter loved it. The lines on the paper were as tall as he was, so it made it a little harder for bigger people to read.

The boy was busy with his newest chemistry formula when there was a knock on his door and Dr. Banner's head poked in. "Hello there, Peter." The man walked into the room, greeting the boy with a big smile, shaking his head when he saw the notebook being used again. "Came to check on my favorite patient."

Peter laughed. "I'm your only patient." Dr. Banner had been coming multiple times a day the past three days, and Peter had gotten more comfortable with the scientist, which is what he suspected the man wanted.

"Very true. Well, I came to do a final check up. If you're all clear, you can get out of bed." Bruce chuckled at the look on the boy's face as he leaned over the bed, offering his hand. "Same as yesterday." When the boy climbed onto his hand, the doctor reached into his pocket to bring out his magnifying lens. "Any pain or stiffness anywhere?" he asked as he looked at the boy's ankle.

"Nope."

"Good. Move it up and down. Very good. Now, left to right. Now in a circular motion clockwise and counterclockwise." The boy did everything with no pain and easy, fluid motions. The scientist in him was geeking out. It only took the boy three days to fully heal, and his ankle had been severely damaged, practically crushed under the piece of asphalt. It was remarkable. He moved Peter to the nightstand, setting his hand down. "Okay, so how are you walking?"

Peter stepped off the palm and walked around the nightstand without a limp or showing pain whatsoever. "So am I cleared?"

Banner chuckled and nodded. "You have the all clear."

The boy whooped for joy, almost loosing his washcloth toga he was given since the Thor costume he was wearing got destroyed. He remembered Tony giving him something Morgan had given him.

"I have a gift from Morgan. She made it originally, but Pepper sewed it. Tony gave it to me since I see you the most at the moment." He reached into his jeans pocket and brought out the suit the girl had made from the boy's old uniform. Bruce was sure it looked better than it did with the duct tape, but the stitches were pretty visible.

Peter smiled and took the offered clothing, staring at it like it was made of gold. "I'm gonna go change," he finally said, his voice cracking. The fact that Morgan had made him something he could wear, well that meant it was special to him. Once he was in his little 'bathroom', he looked the new suit over. The chest, stomach and the top of his arms were red, while the rest of the suit was blue.

The girl had given it legs instead of the dress like style it originally was, and somehow had taken the Hydra symbol off the back of it. "I wonder if she still has that symbol," he wondered, having an idea for it.

Peter put it on and even noticed there was a small button in the back of the neck that he was able to close by himself. He would have to thank Pepper for doing that for him. When he was finished, he wished he'd had a mirror to look the back over, but, he stepped out, arms held out. "What do you think?" Apparently Morgan had the same eye for detail as her father as it fit him perfectly.

"Oh, very stylish," Mr. Stark's voice came from behind the doctor. "Hey you two. Came to tell you dinner's ready." He walked into the room and smirked down at the boy. "What did the good doctor say?" he asked Bruce.

"I gave him the all clear."

"That's great! Now you can move about, scurry along and whatever it is you do. Bruce and I will meet you in the kitchen." He patted the doctor on the shoulder, smirking at the delighted look on the boy's face. He left the room, and a second later, Bruce followed him.

"Are you insane? He could get hurt!"

"He won't get hurt. I'll just tell everyone they have to be careful where they walk from now until the kid's fixed. If Morgan can do it, so can they. Speaking of Mighty Mouse, anything new?"

Bruce shook his head. "Not yet. That Sean guy is a genius. He was actually able to hide the genetic makeup of the serum so well, that even looking at the serum, if that's what they used, you can't tell what it's made of because one chemical takes over the entire chemical compound and I can't see past it. I even had Friday run diagnostics and she couldn't break down the chemicals. I have no clue how he did it, but I want to meet this man."

They walked out into the kitchen where the group was seated at the large table. "Why does everyone gather on my floor?" Tony complained with a smirk.

"You have the best food," Clint said around a bite of stew, making the others laugh.

"Is Peter with you?" Wanda asked, her eyes looking them up and down.

"Yeah, he'll be along in a minute," Tony said sitting down. "I told him that from now on he'd be able to travel by himself."

A bunch of tableware hit plates. "What?" Steve asked, getting to his feet, gaze roaming the floor. "Are you insane?"

"No. The kid proved himself during the battle. He kept Morgan safe. So, from now on, you'll have to watch where you step if you want to keep gathering here."

Sam clicked his spoon against his bowl as he looked up. "I was wondering about that! How did he pull Morgan up? At his size, it should be impossible!"

Bruce nodded. "Yes, it should be. But, that may be another ability coming through. We'll have to do some tests. Or it could be when he was...well, shrunk, his mass was affected, giving him stronger muscles. We won't know until he's back to normal."

"So, that kid could basically be Steve but with the ability to crawl up walls?" Natasha made a face. "Just what we need."

Tony shrugged. "So, we'll train him, starting now. Starting with the tests. It's that easy." He sipped from his bowl, which was brought over by his wife.

"Just be careful with him," Pepper warned. "He may be enhanced, but he's still only three inches tall." The team nodded.

"So no throwing dump trucks at the kid," Rhodey joked. "Got it."

Chapter Text

Peter stood on the nightstand, staring at the open door. For the first time since he was rescued, he was finally able to travel by himself. And he was too scared to even move. True he'd seen the home from the floor with Morgan, but no one had been around, now there would be at least fifteen giant adults who knew he was there. Well, if he stuck to the walls, he would be alright, right? What good were his abilities if he didn't use them.

With a deep breath, he walked towards the edge of the nightstand, then using his abilities, crawled down to the floor slowly. Once he was on the flat surface, he did something stupid. He looked up. When he was playing hide and seek with Morgan, he kept his eyes on the ground or straight ahead, not looking up.

Everything in the room looked so different from his point of view. Peter looked around the landscape of a bedroom, his eyes continually exploring everything he'd never really given himself a chance to see before.

It was like looking at the skyscrapers he saw daily before he was taken, but they were in household item shapes. It was...weird to say the least. A little terrifying as well, like every time he looked up, he felt butterflies in his stomach from the dizzying height.

He just hoped one of Mr. Stark's vacuuming robots didn't come by while he was on the floor. That would be embarrassing. He would make sure to remember what this looked like if and when he was fixed. But, right now, his stomach was calling to the food.

The boy stepped out of his open door and smelled dinner and his mouth started watering, his stomach grumbling. The only problem, it would take him so long to get there by walking, even running it would take twenty minutes at the least. He rolled his eyes up at the ceiling that loomed what seemed like hundreds of feet above his head.

But, he was out and about by himself, moving without being carried. And sure, it was a little scary, but he loved the feeling of finally being able to travel. With a sigh, he started jogging, and when that was going too slow, he decided to run. He was used to being a common nerd, complete with asthma. Now, it was like that was completely gone. Before he'd been taken, he couldn't even run for five minutes.

Now, he found he could run at full speed for way longer than five minutes. In no time he made it out of the hallway and into the kitchen/living room area, and he wasn't even out of breath yet! This was amazing!

Peter looked up at the people at the table, all talking. They hadn't noticed him yet, and how could they at his size? Or, were they trying not to make him feel singled out? He had no clue, so the boy slowly made his way to the table, craning his head to see the top. He almost fell over with how much he had to bend his back. Wow that was high.

That was higher than he'd ever been on his own since he was shrunk. Fear lightly nipped at his heels, but the boy pushed it back and started scaling the white table leg, grateful for Morgan's style choice of leaving his feet bare. All four limbs moved in perfect sync, and Peter giggled a little at how easy it was to scale the large furniture, but maybe his new chemical formula could make it go faster. He'd have to talk to Dr. Banner about it.

Hanging upside down, he finally reached the table top and pulled himself up, but then ducked when his mind screamed at him to and a hand sailed over his body and stopped. Peter poked his head up and was met with smiling blue eyes.

"Ah, young Peter! Stark was just telling me of your harrowing tale. A sad one, indeed."

The boy yelped as he felt the back of his outfit pulled as he was lifted the rest of the way onto the table, dropped gently near a plate. "You must eat! A young man needs his strength!" The booming voice made the boy wince, but he smiled and nodded, grinning when Pepper loomed over him, setting his tiny bowl next to him.

"Thank you." Even though the bowl was meant for a doll, it was quite large and he had to hold it with two hands and sip from it. "This is really good!" His voice was echoing in the already almost empty bowl. He was so hungry!

"Here, Pete. Have some bread." Mr. Stark threw a piece of bread at the boy, but unlike the last time, he dodged it and stuck his tongue out at the man.

"Behave," Pepper said chuckling.

"Glad to see you out and about, though, kid," Colonel Rhodes stated. "I'm guessing one of your abilities is fast healing?"

Peter nodded and swallowed his mouthful, frowning as he saw the bottom of his bowl. "Yeah. But, it takes up most of my energy and my metabolism is about three times what it used to be I think. I'm not too sure. Doctor Banner would be able to explain it a little better." He shrugged.

Mr. Stark took his bowl and dipped it in his own, placing the now sloppy piece of plastic on the table. Peter sent him a grin and picked it up, hungrily eating.

"All I can think of is my poor food bill tripling when he gets back to normal."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Peter asked, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. Hadn't Mr. Stark told him the day he rescued Peter that he was gone right after he was back to normal?

"I mean, kid, asking your aunt to let me cover your food bills from now on. You did say you were worried about it, right?" The boy was about to argue, but was stopped by a question.

"Wait, Peter has family?" Rhodey asked, everyone looking worried. "Have you let him see his aunt?"

"No, not yet," Tony stuttered a little. "We're waiting until he's back to normal. And you're fine with that, right Peter?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah. I mean I do miss her, but what if seeing me like this causes her to have a heart attack or something. I'd rather not hurt her."

Tony smiled. Peter was just too good for this world.

"Well, how about a phone call?" Steve asked, an angry tone to his voice. "I mean, the poor woman has probably thought he was dead for six months, Tony!"

"I understand that, but I don't have anything but a video phone hooked up to all phones, cellular or otherwise that send video straight to a source, like a television. So, she'd wind up seeing him, and it's like the kid said." He shrugged and sipped another spoonful.

"So, are you planning on adopting him then?" Steve leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. "You can't just keep him if you're not his legal guardian." Peter couldn't help but wince at that question.

"I don't plan on keeping him like a pet!" Tony's hand began to shake a bit, and he quickly hid it under the table, not letting anyone know he was getting so worked up. "I'll let him call his aunt when he's back to normal, whenever that may be. For now, he's where he's the safest. Plus the kid isn't a prisoner here, Cap. He can come and go as he pleases on this floor and in Bruce's lab. Anywhere else, he'll need someone to bring him, but he won't be stuck in his room all day."

He couldn't bring himself to look at the kid he'd grown to like so much in the past two weeks. He didn't want to see Peter go, but he had no right in asking the boy to stay when he had family waiting for his return. His shaking got a little worse at the thought of the boy leaving.

Peter glanced between both the adults and he felt happiness brimming in his chest. Now his aunt wouldn't have to struggle anymore than she already did. That's if she said it was okay, though. He felt shaking through the table and looked worriedly at Mr. Stark, who had a tight lipped look.

"Oh, Peter, what were you doing in your room?" Bruce asked, trying to diffuse the situation. "I saw some kind of equation."

The boy tore his eyes from the billionaire. "Oh, I've been working on a new chemical makeup. Since Hydra wasn't able to make me able to create spider webbing out of my own body, I was just playing around with a formula of a long chain polymer nylon, that I think can simulate it, or even do better than the actual thing. But, I have to test it out."

Bruce was intrigued and leaned forward. "Really? I'd like to see it, maybe help you if I can. I'd love to live up to what I said in the car the other day."

At that, Peter paled. Could he handle being around another scientist. But, Dr. Banner did try and save him, even his other, more destructive side, was gentle about holding him. "O-okay," he stuttered a little nervously.

"Great! I'll bring whatever we need into Tony's workshop after dinner, if you're okay with that." He looked at Tony, who frowned, but the shaking had stopped.

"I guess I can have you destroying my lab with your chemicals and explosions. Just, pick an area of the wall that already has burn marks on it, hm?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You have a tour next week of the compound," Pepper told Tony, who had slipped Peter into his pocket after dinner knowing he would have to travel a long way and didn't want to wait all night for the boy. "It's a high school. Midtown Technical, a STEM school."

Peter felt his face fall. His class was coming here!? No, they couldn't! "Mr. Stark!" he hit the man on the chest and looked up at the man's startled face, the size of a billboard in his vision. "That's my school! What if it's my class!?"

Tony shrugged. "So we'll just keep you with Clint. He likes you."

Pepper shook her head. "No, the rest of the team has been put on assignment. Apparently there's someone by the name of 'Green Goblin' destroying Bali."

Tony snorted at the name. "At least he's original. Well, then, you can stay with Pepper!" Again, she shook her head. "You know, I'm hating that movement on you. Let's never do it again, hmm?"

"I have meetings all that morning, and I'll be the one conducting the tour, and you'll be putting an appearance in as well."

Tony's face fell. "Wait, what did you say? You couldn't have said what I think you just said, because I wouldn't allow it." He looked down at Peter hanging out of his pocket with a grin on his face. "Please tell me you didn't hear what she just said."

"Sorry, Mr. Stark, looks like you're going to have to have a line of goslings following you next week." The boy shrugged.

The man narrowed his eyes and suddenly, but gently, pushed Peter down into his pocket. "No more from the peanut gallery. I guess I can't lock him in a room like some Disney princess. What about Bruce?"

Peter's face went white. "I-I don't think I'm ready to spend time with him alone." Peter shivered.

Tony sighed. "Then, I guess you'll have to stay with me."

"What?" Pepper turned wide eyes on him as they walked to Peter's room. "You can't risk Peter like that. What happens if he's seen by someone from his class?"

Peter nodded as he struggled to stand back up. "There's this one girl who's really, really observant. She goes by MJ and she's like, scary smart."

Tony made a face. "Is she smarter than me? No. I'm not going to outwitted by a high schooler." He said it so matter of factly that it said that was the end of that discussion.
Pepper sighed in defeat. "Since you've got this all in the bag, I'll be in my office, finishing a few papers. I'll talk to you later."

"That's fine, Pep. I'll be up later." He kissed his wife goodbye and went into Peter's room picking up the extra large notebook with a grin to Peter who chuckled at him from his pocket. They left the bedroom and took the stairs down to Tony's workshop, where he called Bruce.

"You know you could just come here," Banner sighed as he gathered beakers into a milk crate. Where did he get a milk crate?

"But that wouldn't give me the excuse to use my overpriced phones," Tony pouted.

"Peter?" Bruce was going to ignore Tony for as long as he could. He chuckled when the boy's head popped out of the billionaire's breast pocket, hair a little disheveled. "There you are. What kind of containers will we need for this little experiment?"

"Let's see....in the past, a round bottomed flask has heated everything safely and evenly. A septum seal, umm...maybe a gas cylinder. Definitely a hot plate and or a burner. A measuring cylinder, and a stir bar. Glass would be best, I think. No reactions to it."

Banner was impressed and he let it show on his face as he gathered all the beakers. "Okay. I'll come down and start looking over the chemical makeup of what you've got, then get everything we'll need."

"Sounds good!" Peter was excited to start this, to see if what he was thinking would work, and itching to get his hands on a chemistry set again. He gasped as Mr. Stark plucked him out of his pocket and set him down on the table.

"While we wait, why don't you help me with this? You're going to need something to shoot that sticky mess out of, right? You start designing and fitting, while I work on a new upgrade to the suit, which includes an inside pocket. Perfect for carrying small items, including small teenagers," he joked.

The boy laughed. "But how will I fit once I'm back to normal?"

"I'll just make you your own suit, then."

Peter's eyes went wide as he stared up at the man. "You...you mean it?" he stuttered. "You'll make me my own suit?" The teen was shocked. He never expected that.

Tony became uncomfortable with the way Peter was staring at him, with such adoration in his eyes. He looked away to grab a tool to busy himself. "Sure. And you can put some design thoughts as well as your webby thingies. If you wind up using it, then when you're living here full time, you'll be trained by the team."

The boy couldn't believe his ears. "But, what if I don't want to use the suit?"

"Then it'll be a test for you in a way. Besides, you'll still need training." He tightened a joint that had been loose on one of his suit's knee. "You'll need to be able to control your strength. You're doing pretty well with your new sense, although with how well you're controlling it, I doubt it's new. How's your hearing?"

Peter nodded. "It's okay. I can kind of control it, but really loud noises or high pitched sounds I don't know about. It's not like I've been around any of those."

Tony nodded. "Okay. So I'll have Steve work with you on that, seeing as he has enhanced hearing, too. We can start that as soon as tomorrow." He turned his attention back to the project at hand. "So go ahead and start, Pete. You don't have much time before Bruce shows up."

They worked in somewhat silence. Mostly it was Peter asking for things such as thin cables, which he had Tony cut, until Bruce came in lugging a heavy crate filled with beakers and glasses. He hefted it up to the table, dropping it on the table making Peter lose his balance and fall back from the vibrations.

"Watch it!" Tony cried, poking Bruce in the side with the sharp tool. "You almost crushed the most entertaining person here." The doctor raised a brow at that. "What? You ever see him try and lift something twice his size? It's adorable and fun to watch."

Peter looked up from the wristband he was making, glaring at men while bending the metal to fit in his hand for the activator. "I am not!" he yelled, his voice cracking at the wrong moment, making him blush.

Doctor Banner chuckled. "Okay, let's see this formula you have," he said, placing his glasses on his face. Tony motioned him to the large notebook. "I still can't believe you did this to the poor kid." He squinted, trying to read the minuscule writing. It was good he thought to bring the magnifying lens.

"Gotta have my fun somehow." Stark said as Bruce whistled.

"This is pretty advanced stuff for a high schooler. I'm very impressed." He gave a glance back to the boy fidgeting with something on his wrists. "What school do you go to again?"
"Midtown Tech," Tony answered for him, as the boy was too far away to be heard. "It's a new STEM school that was built a few years ago after the old one was destroyed in the Chitauri attack."

Bruce nodded as he read over the instructions."It's so detailed. I had no clue this was what kids were doing nowadays." He brought out his own tablet, typing in the chemicals he would need to bring down. "Okay, so I have a list of everything we'll need. I'll go grab them and be right back."

Peter watched the doctor leave the room and finally let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding. Yes, he was nervous around the man, but, he was actually going to do science with the Doctor Banner! His nerd heart couldn't take anymore!

"Okay, kid. Let's get this stuff up so you and Brucie can play with chemicals." Tony grabbed the boy and paused, looking down at him. "You're gonna need some goggles," he said with a frown.

Peter shrugged. "I guess. I mean, I can just stand behind a pair." He didn't like it, but if it meant Mr. Stark would let him work, then he would do it.

"No, I can see you wanna get in there. Hold on." Walking over to his work table, Tony shifted some things around and covered some notes, something he was planning on working on, before grabbing his welder and a thin piece of wire, then looked around the table. There was no safe place to put Peter where he wouldn't get in the way of the sparks. Unless.

"Sorry, kid."

Peter was confused until Mr. Stark started raising him to his slightly open mouth. "What are you doing?!" he yelled, scooching back. Mr. Stark didn't answer. He just grabbed the boy by the fabric around his neck.

Peter kicked and punched at the fingers, but he couldn't reach his target, so instead he had to watch that dreaded mouth come closer, until suddenly, he was spun around and felt Mr. Stark's hot breath against his back.

The boy squeezed his eyes closed, waiting for...something, he had no clue. But, when nothing happened, he opened one eye carefully and looked around. He looked behind him, Mr. Stark's mouth was right there, the teeth as large as the boy's hand were gripping the fabric, keeping Peter aloft. "M-M-Mr. Stark," Peter stuttered, his gaze fixed on the man's teeth, which were too close for comfort. "What are you doing?"

"Hold on a shec, kid," Mr. Stark mumbled, his beard and lips brushing against Peter's back and head, the humid air causing Peter's hair to frizz a little. "Don't wanna drop ya."

"You c-could put me down."

"There'sh no shafe plashe."

The table below Peter lit up and sparks went flying all over the place as Mr. Stark welded something that looked like little circles. Peter was jerked so much he was swore he was going to get whiplash. For a good five minutes this went on before a voice disturbed them as the billionaire cut out small glass circles.

"Tony?" Bruce asked from the door, holding a bunch of chemicals in another crate with both hands.

Peter cried out when the man turned his head, his body whipped around and he swung back and forth, holding on to Mr. Stark's beard just in case he fell.

"Oh my god, what are you doing!?" Hurriedly, Bruce put down the crate and ran over to the man, gently grabbing Peter around the middle and away from Tony's mouth. "Are you crazy? What are you trying to do, scar the kid for life?"

"What?" Mr. Stark had turned around, continuing working, setting the glass. "He was fine. Besides, there was no safe place for him on the table and he's not going around my workshop alone with Dum-E rolling around. He could get run over or god forbid, vacuumed up."

The man turned, holding something in his hands. "Anyway, I just made him these." He held out the little goggles to Peter with a smirk.The boy's face lit up and he reached up for them, putting them on his face.

"They fit perfectly!" he exclaimed.

"Of course. What kind of inventor would I be if I didn't know how to make goggles for a tiny teenager? Besides, I had Friday send me your measurements." He then went back to working on his notes, which he wouldn't allow Peter to see. "Go have fun and play with your chemistry set."

Bruce sighed and went to a somewhat empty table, putting Peter down. "Stay there, please," he said and went to grab the crate of beakers and burners, placing them away from the boy, then grabbed the chemicals. "I hope I got everything," he mumbled.

"It looks like it," Peter said, reading everything the doctor was placing on the table.

"Okay, let's do this." Bruce went to grab the notebook, placing it against the wall. "It says here that Salicylic acid and Divinyl sulfoxide with Vinyl Sulfoxide. This can be really irritating, especially to someone who's enhanced. I'm gonna need you to step back so I can mix these three together, okay?"

Peter nodded and stepped back, but when the doctor mixed the two, he still coughed a bit.

"You okay?" Bruce heard Tony in the back awwwing over the little coughs.

Peter nodded and covered his mouth with his outfit, breathing through the material. It still stung to breathe, but it was at least better than before.

"Okay. Once I put these next ones in, it should be safe."Once the next chemicals were in, the air got clear enough for Peter to step up the beaker. Wanting to actually assist, the boy stuck to the wall nearest to the beaker and climbed up to edge, looking up at doctor Banner.

"I want to stir it," he said in a serious tone. "Or else it won't feel like mine."

"I don't know," the scientist said, drawing out the I. "There's a lot here.."

"Please, Dr. Banner? I need to feel like I can at least do something." He set pleading eyes on the man and saw his resolve crumbling.

"Okay. But be careful." He passed Peter the stir bar, the boy's hands not even big enough to grip it fully, and if he didn't have his powers, he would have dropped it so many times as he moved it as much as he could. But Bruce watched in amazement as the boy stuck to the wall with nothing but his bare feet. Apparently his powers weren't just limited to his hands. He wondered if the boy's entire body was like that.

"Isn't that the freaking most adorable thing you've ever seen?" Tony said suddenly, scaring Bruce and Peter. "I mean, it's like watching a kitten sneeze, it's so cute. Friday be sure to send me a video of this."

"Yes, Boss."

Peter was startled so bad by the man that while he was stirring, he wasn't paying attention, and his grip let go of the wall. The boy yelped as he grabbed the stir bar, riding it as it spun from the vortex caused by the stirring. "Help!!"

Bruce grabbed the glass stick and stopped it's movements while Tony laughed in the background.

"Don't stop stirring!" the boy cried, seeing bubbles start down at the bottom, crawling up doctor Banner's hand to watch. "Now add the next other ingredients," the boy said once it was bubbling, the heat making him sweat, watching the doctor add each ingredient carefully. "Now, we seal it and wait fifteen minutes, letting it heat on this temperature."

Bruce took the stir bar out of the flask and sealed it. "So," he asked the boy after he'd set him down on the table. "What made you think of this, you know, besides Hydra?"

Peter shrugged, picking up a stray thread on the man's shirt and letting it fall, watching it until he couldn't see it anymore over the man's arm. "I kind of found a drag line from a spider and I climbed it, then figured, how can I make this work with what they did to me?"

He stared sadly at the table. "So, I started thinking, and working chemical formulas in my head, until I came up with this." He winced when he remembered Mr. Stark's angry glare, hoping to never be subject to it again.

"Well the polymer nylon was a very good idea, but making it super stretchy by adding the silica in two stages was genius."

Peter blushed. "It's only genius if it works." He smiled at the man and realized, he wasn't so nervous around him anymore. It actually felt nice to talk to someone about the science that he loved, and was able to understand it. In a way, he felt like he belonged here..and he would try and say this to his aunt when he saw her again.

"Okay, time to add the activator," the boy said, glancing at the clock behind the doctor, who did just that, then he walked to the burner and turned down the heat. "Now we just let it heat over this flame overnight. Then we'll see."

Bruce nodded. "Well, thank you for letting me assist you, Dr. Parker." He grinned when the boy smiled. "I can't wait to see if this works. For now, though, I have to get back to my lab. I have that serum to try and figure out. Meet you here tomorrow?"

Peter nodded and waved to the doctor as he walked out.

"Okay, kid. Bedtime." Tony walked over the boy, holding his hand out. "I'll bring you to your room, and you'll get it all to yourself because Morgan's spending the night at her friend's house, thank god."

Peter laughed and shook his head, but gladly climbed into Mr. Stark's waiting hand, letting him bring him to his bedroom.

Chapter Text

Octavion Bloom was getting angry. He wasn't used to waiting for what he wanted. When he'd spoken to Hammer, the man had informed Bloom that he had been 'kicked off' the team.

Apparently he didn't play well with the others. And now he'd lost everything! When he'd stabbed Sean McCleary, he hadn't expected the man to erase all his records from the computer systems so there wasn't even a trace of them left.

No serum, no files, and no experiments!

Octavion scowled at the blinking phone, and in a moment of rage, swept everything off his desk with a roar, flipping said desk over. Soldiers ran in, guns drawn in case there was something or someone there, but Bloom simply stood there, panting, his hair askew. "I'm fine," he finally said, smoothing his hair back. "I'm fine. Leave me." He righted his desk and picked up the phone. "Bloom."

The voice of Strucker on the other end made him frown. What next? "Hello, Herr Strucker. It's a pleasure to hear from you, but, I'm sure this isn't a social call."

"Right you are, Herr Doctor. I am calling about what happened at the labs with Doctor McCleary. And I hear Justin Hammer is no longer on the job?"

Octavion winced at the sound of the man's voice. It was calm and clear, which wasn't a good sign. "Yes, I was getting ready to call you, but something...came up." He looked around at the destroyed office. "I have someone working on getting the subject back as we speak."

"Is this someone reliable?"

Oh, Bloom hoped he was. "Yes, sir."

"Good, but just in case, get Hammer back in. I hope to hear good news from you soon, Bloom."

And with that, the line went dead.

Octavion slammed the receiver down. He had a headache, but he had a recently abandoned cure.

With a frown, he picked up his phone again, dialing a number. "Hello, again, Hammer."

"Well, I never thought I'd get another call from the boss man himself. Please tell me who I'm going to be teamed up with this time so it can go horribly wrong."

"Yes, I was expecting that. But, I was thinking to let you go it alone this time. You seem like a capable man, very level-headed. I'm counting on you and you alone to get what we want back. Dead or alive, as long as we have a body we can use to recreate the serum."

There was a long pause before Hammer spoke. "I think I'd like to do business with you again, Mr. Bloom."

"Call me Octavion."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was two a.m. when Peter jolted awake, his hair sticking to his forehead with sweat. His heart beat almost too fast and his breaths came in pants as he looked around the room in alarm.

The nightmares had come back with a vengeance, but now they included a flying man with glowing green eyes pushing Morgan over the side of the road before he could get to her. He shivered when he thought of it. Those green glowing eyes, those robotic fingers holding him too tight in their cold fingers. Peter wiped at the tears that were drying to his cheeks.
He tried lying down again, but the dream came back to his mind and he lay in the dark shaking, pulling the comforter to him, but it was no use.

"Peter, your heart rate is elevated. Would you like me to wake Mr. Stark?" Friday asked suddenly, making the boy jump.

"No!" he shouted up at the ceiling. "No, it's okay..." he sighed and tried to go to sleep again, but it happened over and over in his mind. With a frustrated groan, he threw the piece of comforter off him and sat up to look at expansive bed, looming before him like a Savannah.

He stood, and the pillow threatened to swallow him, the fluff feeling like quicksand under his feet, but he was able to slide down the edge once he reached it. Running to the edge of the bed, he scaled the blanket that was left for him down to the floor and headed for the open door. Mr. Stark started leaving it open so that if Peter ever wanted to get out, he could. It isn't like there's a gap under each door wide enough for me to slip under, he thought with a snort.

Now in the open, his bare feet hitting the floors, he was freezing. Even though there was carpeting, he still felt cold and hurried into the hallway. Turning the opposite direction he'd normally use to go to the kitchen, the boy found himself at a closed door.

He'd never been through this door by himself before, but...that dream had scared him too much to try and sleep alone, even though he was fifteen, he was still scared. With a deep breath, he slipped onto his belly and slid under the door.

Mr. Stark's room looked different in the dark, a little scarier. Thanking Thor for his silent feet, the boy made his way towards the large bed sitting in the middle of the room, the dark piece towering over him like a demonic shadow. He could have sworn he saw green, glowing eyes staring at him from under the bed. Peter ran the rest of the way, leaping to the bed post and climbing up quickly.

He stopped when he saw large movement from the bed and stopped. Was he interrupting something? But, a loud snore told him that he wasn't. Now the question was, how was he supposed to get from the bed post to somewhere he wouldn't get crushed? He'd have to get on the mattress, and that proved a danger to him. Was this worth it?

Peter's gaze went to the window, and again he could swear he saw the eyes and he gasped, falling to the mattress. He bounced a little, but got up and made his way carefully to where Mr. Stark was face up, blankets over his chest, but that was okay. Peter made his way to the man's head, feeling the heat that came off the man made him relax instantly.

Laying down, he curled up near Mr. Stark and closed his eyes, feeling the instant relief from the fear and the worries. In minutes he was asleep, the last thought he had was he hoped he wouldn't get in trouble for this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun was streaming through the open curtains, making Pepper wince. She groaned and rolled over, opening her eyes once she was away from the sun. In her sleep induced state, she saw something moving by Tony's shoulder and Pepper let out a short scream, jumping away from the thing on the bed.

"What is it!?" Tony was up and out of the bed in seconds, lights coming on quickly as his gauntlets formed on his arms. Pepper was pointing to the bed, wide eyes full of fear.

Peter was woken up by being thrown in the air as the mattress bounced, and the blankets covering him at a dizzying speed and he was lost in a sea of blue. He sat up once he got his bearings, arms flailing as he tried to find the exit. "I'm sorry!" his muffled voice cried as he panicked. The blankets were torn away and Peter winced at the bright light that blinded him, his hand going up to block the light.

"Peter?" Mr. Stark breathed, hand going to the reactor on his chest, recalling the bots that formed over his arms. "What are you doing in here?"

The boy sniffled. "I...I had a nightmare last night," he said lowly, looking down at the bed abashedly.

"Oh, sweetheart. Why didn't you just ask Friday to wake one of us?" Pepper asked, her voice soft as she sat on the bed.

"I...I thought I could maybe go to sleep...but every time I closed my eyes..." he shuddered, wrapping his arms around himself. He heard a sigh from above him, and the boy looked up at Mr. Stark, who also sat on the bed. "So I came in here...I'm sorry for scaring you both. I won't do it again!"

A hand came and scooped the boy up, bringing him to large brown eyes. "You're not in trouble, but next time ask Friday and one of us will come to you, okay?" Tony smirked. "I just hope this isn't a habit when you get back to normal."

Peter sobbed out a laugh, wiping tears away nodding. "I hope not either. That would be weird for May."

Tony laughed. "Tell me about it. So how about we go back to sleep? Because it is too damn early to be up, and it's our day off."

Mr. Stark suddenly flopped back into the bed, making Peter shout, then placed him on the mattress, the man laying his hand over the boy. "Take a nap." he ordered, closing his own eyes.

Pepper laid down next to her husband, snuggling as close as she could without squishing Peter and did the same. At least for a little while.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day started a second time with Peter having to leave the room quick to use his own bathroom. He was able to get Mr. Stark's hand off him with a little force and scale the large body, then climb down the blanket to get to the floor.

He ran all the way to his room at full speed and climbed up the nightstand. He still had no clue how he made it. Now, he was walking out into the noisy kitchen feeling much better when a pair of feet slammed next to him, making the boy shout and fall over, glaring up at the towering giant.

"Hey there, squirt!" Clint cheered looking down like he hadn't almost crushed the kid. "I was wondering when you were gonna wake up and join us." The man walked away, causing the floor to rumble under the boy. Man that was scary.

"Well, I would have been up sooner if Mr. Stark hadn't pinned me to the bed with his hand." He rolled his eyes. Who even did that anyway?

"You slept in Tony's bed, huh? Nightmare?" The archer sat down and started stuffing his face, trying not to watch the boy jog up to the table and disappear beyond his vision. It was just so interesting to watch something that small move about in a giant world.

Peter had begun climbing the kitchen table, slamming his hand on the top and pulling himself up. "Yeah," he groaned. "Another one I didn't handle very well." He basically acted like a kid last night and it was embarrassing. The last time he slept in Mr. Stark's bed, the man had brought Peter there himself against his will.

"We all have nightmares," Mr. Rogers put in, picking up his mug. "How we deal with them is different for all of us.I know when I can't sleep, I go to the gym and hit the sand bag for a while." He sipped his coffee.

Peter didn't say anything, just stood on the table scuffing his foot, wincing when he stubbed his toe.

"So, you want one Cheerio or two?" Sam asked with a lopsided grin, trying to break the tension.

"Oh, I'm not that hungry." He actually was, but he felt weird being in the room with everyone staring at him, without Mr. Stark. It made him feel exposed in a way.

"Peter, you need to eat something. Here." Mr. Rogers broke off a piece of his omelette and put it in front of the boy. "Tony told us about your metabolism. I know how painful it can be to miss even one meal."

The teen knew the man was right, so he sat down with a sigh and picked up the food, taking one bit of it and automatically spit it out, making a face.

"What's wrong?" Steve made a worried face and tried the food again himself.

"Too much," the boy tried getting the taste off his tongue with the corner of Sam's napkin. "Too much seasoning..." he shook his head.

Steve gave him a nod. "Okay. I should have thought of that. The entire time you've been here, I haven't really seen you eat anything with spices. I've noticed that whenever Pepper cooks, it's usually add your own flavor recently. Now I know why."

"No, it-it's all right, Mr. Rogers, I swear!" He waved his hands, eyes wide in his panic. The man and the others just chuckled.

Natasha however, stood up and got a package of pop-tarts from the cupboard and opened the package, giving a quarter of one to the boy. "Because we don't want you starving," she said with a wink.

A loud yawn made the team look to the hall where they saw Tony walking out, scratching his beard.

"Well, well, look who's up before the stroke of noon," Sam said with a grin.

"Stuff it, Pigeon." Tony's eyes fell on Peter. "I was wondering where you went. I spent damn near ten minutes searching the floor and the mattress for you before even moving."

"S-sorry Mr. Stark...I had to use the bathroom." Peter blushed at that admittance.

"If you keep this ninja shit up, I'm asking Bruce to keep you they way you are and sending you out with Natasha or Clint," the man grumbled as he grabbed a cup of coffee, grabbing Peter's cup as a second thought. Dipping it into his own cup, he placed it on the table. "Did you eat yet?" He eyed the small piece of egg and glared at the half a pop-tart. The kid wasn't eating that shit.

"That was my fault. I used too much seasoning for the little guy and he couldn't eat it. Too much for his new senses, I guess." Steve smiled at the small boy as he finished his omelette.

Tony nodded and got up, going to the fruit bowl on the counter and grabbing out of it, bringing it back to the table, picking up the pop-tart which he ate, ignoring the whine from Peter. "Which reminds me," he said as he handed the teen a blueberry, watching as held it in two hands. That was so freaking adorable.

"The kid's gonna need some training, and I'd rather not wait until he's back to normal. Steve, can you help him? With his new senses and strength, he's gonna need all the help he can get, and once he's back to normal, he's gonna really need it."

The blonde man turned from where he was putting his dish into the dishwasher. "Yeah, sure. I have nothing planned for the next week, so how about we start today?"

"That sounds perfect. Just let the Spiderling finish his blueberry, hm?" Tony smirked down at Peter who's mouth was now blue.

Steve chuckled and sipped his coffee.

Chapter Text

Hope and Scott enlarged themselves as soon as they came in the special door Hank had provided for them. Both of them were heavy hearted for the news they had to tell Hank.

"Hope?" he father called from the living room. "I thought I heard you. Did you bring...oh you did." Hank came walking out into the foyer and made a face at Scott, who smiled and waved.

"Hey Hank. It's nice to see you again. OH! Ummm...thanks for the new suit. It fits perfectly."

"Of course it does. We've been working together for almost two years. I think I should know your measurements by now. Now, where is Sean? His family is waiting to see him."

Hope shook her head, looking sadly at the floor. "We...we lost him. He was killed by one of the doctors that was holding his family captive. I'm sorry..."

Doctor Pym was speechless. "How?" he finally asked after a long silence.

"There was another man in the room. He took us by surprise when we thought he was unconscious, but he still had enough life in him to manage to pull a knife on Sean and....stabbed him in the back." Hope took a deep breath. She usually wasn't this upset when they lost someone. But, this man had known her father, was her father's friend. She would have liked to get to know him.

"In the end, Sean destroyed his files, all his research." took the small tablet out of her back pocket, using a blue disc on it. "We were able to save the tablet Doctor McCleary was holding, but that's all." She handed the bloody tablet to her father, seeing the face he made when he took it.

"Thank you," he managed to say around the sudden lump in his throat. His one time partner was gone. He shouldn't be feeling this way, he hadn't spoken to the man in nearly thirty years. But, it still hurt.

"Any luck getting in touch with Doctor Banner?" Hope asked.

Hank shook his head. "I started to..but I've been thinking, and I don't think I want anything to do with the Avengers if Stark is anywhere near them."

"What?!" Scott exclaimed. "So, you'll just leave a kid who used to be normal, the size of a mouse for the rest of his life, without helping? Not even sending Doctor Banner any information on the serum that could have been used?"

Hank gave Lang an angry glare. "You have no clue what Stark is like! He's a user. He uses everyone and everything for his own gain!"

Scott shook his head. "No. I don't agree with you. I met him, fought with him...he uses his technology to help people, not take them down! You're thinking of his father!"

The white haired man glared at Scott, but didn't say anything. Nothing would change his mind on the Stark family. "I want you to bring the boy here, then. If we have him, we can at least tell if the serum is reversible."

Hope and Scott looked at him with shocked faces. "Do you know how impossible that would be? Tony has an AI that monitors the entire building, and I'm pretty sure he has things in place for anything ant sized."

"Well, I am not stepping foot in a Stark building, even if that means leaving a child the way he is now!" Hank was stubborn, but the thing was, so was Hope.

"Well, I'll go into the building then, and have you on Video where you can see the kid, talk with him, ask him questions. Sound good?"

"Not really. I don't want you anywhere near the Avengers."

"This isn't going to solve anything. Just suck up your pride, Hank and go to see this kid! Or, at least contact Doctor Banner!" Scott had had enough of this.

The two glared at one another until Pym sighed. "Fine. I'll go into Stark's tower. But, he's not getting any files or information from me." With that, the man turned.

"Where are you going?" Scott yelled. He wasn't finished.

"To tell Sean's family the news," was all Hank needed to say.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The news was playing on the screen in front of the nurses station. May wasn't really paying much attention to what was being broadcast as she did her filing, until something caught her eye. Turning to the television, she saw it was the Avengers taking fire from some super villain that could fly, the footage from almost a week ago.

But, that wasn't what she was looking at. One of the camera men turned his attention to the Hulk, who had Tony Stark's daughter in his arms, but there was something on his shoulder. The camera zoomed in a little more and May thought her heart was going to stop. There, sitting the green giants shoulder, was Peter! The woman let out a small scream as she watched the monster grab him in his hand and close the fist.

"May?" One of the woman's coworkers came over, worry on her brow. "What's wrong?"

"Peter," she whispered. "Peter's alive!" She pointed to the battle on the screen.

The woman was unable to wrap her head around it all. Her nephew was alive and was the size of a doll with Tony Stark. The Hulk was shown again, but this time his legs were caught in a metallic rope and he was sent flying to the ground, letting go of the Stark girl, but the camera couldn't pick up Peter.

Until the little girl was about to fall to her doom. Her sleeve was being pulled by something, and the cameraman focused in on Peter as he grabbed her sleeve and managed to actually pull the girl to safety. May smiled, tears in her eyes. Just like her nephew to think of others!

Suddenly, he was gone, a piece of asphalt landing where he was. She let out a scream and collapsed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"First things first." Steve was setting up to start training Peter. It was a little odd not to be using the equipment, but hey, work with what you've got. "We run some tests. First test: strength. Sam told us what you did on that bridge with Morgan, and let me tell you, that was no small feat. So, I want to see how much you can lift." He set up the smallest weights they had, which weren't light, but not too heavy either. "Start with the smallest, lightest one. Then move up until you can't lift anymore. Sound good?"

Peter nodded with a smile as he jumped off Mr. Stark's palm, taking off the wrist straps and running up to the weights that were so much larger than him. But, he couldn't be put down by that, because this was his moment to show the Avengers what he could do! Rubbing his hands together, Peter grabbed the weight.

Everyone watched with bated breath as the boy lifted the weight with ease above his head. That was ten pounds, no light weight. "Now what?" he asked, not about to just let the weight drop.

"Just put it down and go to the next," Steve said patiently.

Peter nodded and gently set the dumbbell down, moving on to the next one, which was fifteen pounds. Again, he easily lifted the weight above his head for about thirty seconds before setting it down again.

Again and again he lifted the weights, but started struggling when he hit the fifty pound mark. At sixty pounds, he was literally shaking in his effort to lift it. At seventy pounds, he grunted as he tried to lift it, but could barely get it over his head before he dropped the weight, breathing hard, his face red.

There were six more weights, so he moved to the next one, which was seventy-five. He struggled a lot with this one, this time barely getting it off the ground before he collapsed to his knees, panting.

Peter felt the ground rumbling so bad he actually fell over, only to be met with several adults, all of them looking down at him from their towering, skyscraper heights. It was scary, but the boy couldn't move at the moment.

Tony knelt down first. "You okay, Spiderling?" When the boy nodded, he smirked. "Well that was one helluva show, Thumbelina. Feel like you could do a little more?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah...let me just catch my breath?" He let out a gasp as he was grabbed around his middle by two large fingers and lifted from the ground. A water bottle cap was thrust into his hands filled with sweet, blissful water by a smirking billionaire. The teen couldn't thank Mr. Stark before he started chugging the liquid down, not stopping until it was empty. "That's much better, thanks." He sighed. "So what's next?"

"We want to see how well you're able to stick to things," Bruce came forward, excitement in his voice. "We've seen you in action on certain objects, but we want to test in what climate you would stick. Like, can you stick to wet surfaces, frozen surfaces, things like that. Can you handle it?"

Peter nodded, but then paused. "I think the chemical should be done by now, too," he said thoughtfully. "But, I have nothing to put it in and I really wanted to test it out. I mean, I have something to put it in, but no container since I didn't have time to measure it yesterday while I was building the shooter."

Tony smirked and held out his hand to Banner, dropping the teen into the doctor's palm. "Yeah, I already thought of that. While you two were playing mad scientist, I made something for the kid. Be right back."

Peter gave Doctor Banner a confused look, to which the man just shrugged. "I can never tell what Tony's thinking," he replied.

While they waited for Tony to come back, Bruce let Peter off his palm to stick to the nearest wall. The entire group watched in fascination as they small boy climbed all the way to the top of the ceiling. Wanda followed when he got too high as a safety precaution, ready to catch the boy if he fell.

But, Peter had all his concentration on his hands and feet, making sure they stuck to the surface of the smooth wall. When he turned to look down, he was met with the smiling face of Wanda, who waved to him. "How long do they want me to stay up here?" he asked, and the girl repeated down to the others.

"You can come down any time you want, son. You didn't even have to climb that high," Steve laughed, imagining Peter's blush.

"Well that's something you should have told me," Peter grumbled.

He wanted to test his own abilities too, and someone was there to catch him just in case. So, he turned around and slowly let his hands off the wall and straightened out so he could just walk down the wall like it was nothing.

A few times he had to catch himself because of the weird angle, but he was sure it was a pretty cool sight. And it helped him understand that he could stick to more than just metal this way.

"Reminds me of when we first rescued him," Natasha laughed. "Freaked Tony out so bad to see him just walk down his suit."

Peter grinned at the memory as he stepped onto the floor. "I wasn't sure I could do it, because I had never used my new abilities before Mr. Stark came into the lab. I had been hiding under the table they put my cage on, sticking to one of the table legs after they..." Peter stopped himself, unable to think about what the soldiers did back then. It seemed like so long ago, but it had only been two weeks since then.

"It's okay," Bucky said, kneeling down. "I understand more than anyone how messed up Hydra can be. But, if you ever want to talk about it, just let me know and I'll be there to listen."

Peter smiled up gratefully at the man and nodded. "Thank you," was all he said, and that was all that needed saying.

"What did I miss?" Mr. Stark asked as he walked back into the room holding a brown bottle and something in his fisted hand.

"Well, Peter just climbed up to the ceiling and literally walked back down," Sam said. "Freakiest thing I've ever seen, and I fought Ant-Man."

"Friday, turn the sprinklers on the wall please," Steve asked and suddenly Peter was almost swept away by the river streaming down the wall and onto the floor.

"Woah!" he cried, falling on his butt and just going with the current, that is until Rhodey reached down and plucked him from the water like a drowning bird.

"Easy there, Spider-Head," the man laughed, though it felt weird to have a something so small actually literally sticking to him. "A little warning next time, Cap?" he asked the wincing blonde.

"Th-thanks Mr. Rhodes."

"Hey, you don't have to call me that, kid. Just call me Rhodey, okay? That's what everyone calls me anyway, except when I'm at work, then they call me Mr. Rhodes, or General."

Peter's face was priceless when he told him that, his eyes wide and his mouth shaped like the perfect 'O'. "You're a general? That's amazing!" He hadn't ever met a general before, and he had a million and one questions, but they were interrupted by Mr. Stark literally grabbing Peter from the man's hand.

"Okay, time to see if you stick." Tony said with a smirk, the teenager squirming in between his pointer and thumb. He pressed the boy to the wall and waited a minute before slowly bringing his hand away, but keeping one palm up under him just in case.

And Peter was glad for the hand, because the minute Mr. Stark let go, he slipped at least a foot-to him-down the wall before he was able to feel his fingertips grip. "Phew, that was close," he laughed, looking back to see the giant adults watching him with worried faces. "I'm okay, just took a minute. I'm gonna start climbing now."

And Peter did just what he said he was going to do. But, he didn't get very far before he lost his concentration, thinking about how well this was going, and he fell.

Tony was glad he'd had his hand out, because the kid fell right into the center of his palm, face pale and eyes squeezed shut. "You okay, Pete?"

Peter opened one eye, then let out an explosive breath and nodded. "Yeah, yeah....I'm good...just lost my concentration for a second."

"What do you mean?" Bruce asked, coming over to inspect Peter for any injuries. "Concentration?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah. It's like, when I focus on sticking to things, I do it, even if it's in the back of my mind, as long as I'm thinking about it, I can do it. I don't really know how it works, but it does. I think anyway. I wasn't really able to use my abilities back in the lab, spending almost all my time in that cage, at least until Sean came in. He let me out and set up a little obstacle course for me to use for exercise."

The team all had the same look of pity on their faces, to which Peter freaked out at. "It-it's no big deal!" he cried, eyes wide. "I'm not in there anymore, so that part of my life is over!" He was telling the truth about that. His life had gotten better than it ever had, even with May.

Sure she was great, but ever since they lost Ben, he'd lost a father figure of sorts. But, now when he looked around the room, he had so many male role models. But when he looked at Mr. Stark, he almost felt like the man was his father in a way. He couldn't explain it, but whenever the man held him in his hands, he felt....safe. Protected. And in a way, loved. He liked feeling that way.

"Boss," Friday's voice came from the ceiling. "Happy says there's a woman screaming at the gate of the Compound. She says her name is May Parker."

Peter's face went white as he looked up at Mr. Stark with horror. Aunt May was here!?

Chapter Text

As soon as she was cleared to leave the hospital, May got into her old ninety-four four door sedan and drove like a madwoman. She wasn't exactly clear on where this 'Compound' was, but she was determined to get there. Her nephew was now probably dead, and she wanted answers as to why that was! Tears tracked down the woman's face as she drove, listening to the GPS as it told her where to turn. She drove for what seemed like hours, no music, just the cheery woman telling her which street to take.

For the past six months, she thought Peter had run away, living on the streets. She'd actually searched for him every day, looking down alley ways, calling different homeless shelters for months. She'd actually just spoken to an out of state one and was disappointed again. But when she saw that small boy sitting on the Hulk's shoulders, his hair was the same as Peter's....the cameraman had even gotten his tiny face into the screen and May felt her heart explode with happiness. But, all that disappeared when she saw the piece of asphalt land where he was laying.

A sob ripped through her as the scene replayed over and over in her head as she drove. Suddenly she noticed the woman wasn't talking anymore and looked at her phone. The screen was blank with a message reading 'entering top secret area, no directions found.'

"Great!" she screamed and sobbed again. Just then she passed a dirt road. May stopped the car and started driving down it. Hopefully someone lived along the road and maybe knew where the facility was. More thoughts then poured into the woman's head. How long had Peter been living there? Why hadn't he called her? Were the Avengers holding him prisoner? Did they even do that? Had he possibly gotten involved in something dangerous and his current body was the result?

She didn't' know what to think, and tried not to let her mind wander, but it was too late. The only thing she knew was that she wanted her baby boy home with her today.

Her tears were starting to dry when she was met with a large electronic gate with a huge white mansion looking building that the road led to. She took a deep breath and she felt a wave of relief as soon as she saw the large A on the building. Now that she had found it, how was she going to get in? Getting out of her car, she walked up to the gate and tried to peer inside when a man appeared in front of her, his round face angry.

"You're on private property," he said with a growl.

May saw red and put her hands on her hips. "Don't you think I know that!? I drove all night to get here and I demand to have some answers about my nephew!" Thinking about Peter suddenly started another wave of sobs.

"I demand to see Tony Stark!" Her voice had risen to a shrill, explosive volume, her glasses askew on her face, hair wild from the wind.

Happy gulped and contacted Friday to tell Tony.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What am I gonna do!?" Peter wailed from Tony's pocket, his fidgeting getting worse the closer and closer the group got to the common room.

"Just calm down, Peter," the man said, taking a deep breath, feeling the boy rise and fall. "We're gonna talk to her, that's all. You know, offer her a place to stay if she wants to be near you. But there is no way she is going to be taking you out of this building."

"But, Mr. Stark, she's my family! She's gonna want to take me home!"

The man simply pushed the boy into his pocket and out of sight. "We'll take care of it, bud. Don't worry." He walked until he heard a scathing voice and stopped.

"Mr Stark, I presume?"

The woman who met them in the common room looked nothing like her picture. Her hair was wild, and her eyes were red and glassy behind her glasses, as if she'd been crying for hours.

"That depends on who's asking," the billionaire said, and wished he hadn't.

May's eyes flashed with fire the moment the group walked into the room. She wasn't even paying attention as they all stared at her. "I was told that Peter is top secret," May said in a dangerously low voice. "Peter was my nephew, my only living family, so I have more than a right to know what happened to him," she snapped.

The boy huddled deeper in Tony's pocket the moment the woman spoke, and right now, he wanted to join him. "I apologize about that. Yes, my name is Tony Stark. Let me say first, you look so much better than your picture." He shot her a winning smile, but the woman didn't stop glaring. Well, there went that plan.

"I want my nephew's body," she demanded shakily, her body trembling. Happy was in the corner, trying to hide the fact that he was listening and failing if his shocked face said anything. "If you don't hand it over, I will bring lawyers into this."

"May, if I can call you that, this is a difficult situation to explain. But first, I will let you know, Peter is alive."

The woman's shoulders sagged with relief and tears came to her already cried out eyes.

"But, if Peter leaves this building with other than myself, or any of the Avengers, it will be dangerous for him. There's people who are working for Hydra that want to take him back to the scientists that did this to him."

May scoffed. "Yeah right. You're probably trying to cover for yourself after something went wrong. How dare you try and keep Peter away from me after what I saw! What did you do with him!?"

"He's telling the truth, May!" Peter's head popped up from Tony's pocket, his face a little red from the heat around him. "Him and the Avengers are the ones who saved me...I....I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry or think I was dead. The Hydra people, they took me while I was walking home from school. I couldn't fight them, there were too many, and I was so weak back then. I'm sorry." Tears started tracking down the boy's face as he spoke, staring at the ashen faced woman.

In an instant, May had surged forward and taken Peter out of the more than shocked billionaire's pocket before Tony could stop her. Happy had moved in that moment as well, but when he saw the small boy, he simply stared, mouth open in shock.

She held him in a curled hand, eyes wide as she looked at him. "Oh, Peter," she finally said, her voice raw as tears came to her eyes. "I was so worried about you....I thought you had run away, that I did something wrong to make you so angry that you would leave...The when I saw the news, you were there, and then that piece of rubble.."

The boy's head was shaking like a bobble. "Aunt May, you could never do anything to make me hate you. You're wonderful and I love you so much." He said as he held onto the woman's thumb. "And I'm so sorry you had to see that...It's just...I can't leave."

Her eyes went wider, if that was possible. "What do you mean? Are they holding you prisoner?" She sent a glare to the group who had the right to look a little ashamed.

"No, May....what Mr. Stark said was true. What you saw on the bridge, those guys that attacked us, they were after me. Hydra really does want me back."

"Why?"

"Because..." he looked down, drawing little circles on the woman's palm. "Because I was the only person who survived the procedure to turn me this way. All the rest of the people with me died....in horrible ways." He didn't want to go into detail. "But, then the Avengers came and took me out of where I was....they gave me freedom again, let me go outside. Not by myself, but at least I got to walk around by myself! And I've met so many amazing people, like Mr. Stark! He got Captain America to agree to help me even when I'm normal with the changes that happened. We were actually testing out my abilities before you came."

May's brow was raised again. "Abilities?"

"Ms. Parker," Bruce came forward with a smile. "Please allow me to explain, because Tony will just make it so confusing. You see, your nephew was given injections by Hydra, some of which were made by a Dr. Hank Pym, who also made Ant-Man." He paused and the woman nodded, seeming to understand. "So, Peter's body was compressed, but his mass was doubled. But, according to his size, he is the weight he should be, but due to his mass increasing, he's able to move things that are up to one thousand times his weight, and maybe more. It's really very interesting."

When he finished, May had been following, but the man had lost her towards the end. "So...what does that mean?"

"I'm like a super strong ant," Peter explained. "I was able to save Morgan, Mr. Stark's daughter. It took a lot, but I was able to lift her over the road."

"Is that how you survived? These...abilities?" Peter nodded. "Well, I guess I have to thank them for that. It's a miracle that you're here at all...but what about when you get-get to normal?"

"That's a bit harder to explain," Tony stepped forward, wanting to be close to Peter just in case he fell or the woman fainted. "You see, when Hydra gave him the shots, the DNA they injected him with pretty much changed his whole genetic makeup. He's still Peter, but now he's mixed with spider. We're not sure what kind of spider, though I'm convinced it was one hooked on something because he's too hyper." He reached out and with a finger, rustled the boy's hair. "How did you get blueberry in your hair?"

May watched the interaction, fascinated about seeing the soft side of the money mogul. "So...does that mean...he'll be changed when he gets back to normal?" May was staring at Peter like he wasn't even her nephew anymore, and that hurt the boy the most.

"Well, yes and no. When he can finally get him back to normal, which I'm guessing will be much taller than he is now, he'll probably be able to do everything he can do now. Some new abilities may begin to grow, or they may not. Time will only tell. But," Tony smiled, "my offer still stands for the others to train him. That will remain for as long as he needs or wants it."

"R-really!?" Peter felt his heart swell at that news. He would still be able to come back when everything was back to normal?

"I don't know," May said, dashing the boy's dreams. "I don't want Peter anywhere near where he can get hurt. He's a frail boy."

Clint started laughing. "Really?" he managed to get out. "The kid who can lift seventy pounds the way he is, is frail? Yeah right, tell me another one."

"May, I...I've changed. Because of Hydra, I'm not that frail boy you knew anymore. I'm much stronger, like I said. I can run faster, move things I was never able to before, and once I'm big again, I'm sure I'll be able to do all these things and more! Please, May...I've made a lot of friends here and I promise I'll be safe.Right Mr. Stark?"

The man threw his hands up. "Yep, completely safe. We're basically just talking about training him to control his senses and strength." He wouldn't tell her about the suit he'd build for the kid, nor would he tell her if Peter decided to use it. That was Peter's job.

May nodded. "Then I guess it's okay," she said a little unwillingly. She looked at Peter, still stunned at his size and the fact that he was still alive, and in her grip. With a watery smile, she brought him close to her chest and hugged him as best she could. "I missed you so much, Peter."

Peter smiled as he was enveloped in May's scent and warmth, the things he was used to. "I missed you too," he said, not sure if the woman heard him, but at the moment he didn't care. Too soon he was pulled away and was presented with a pair of lips coming at him, and before he could scramble away, May was planting a soft kiss to his head, which enveloped half his face with it.

"MAY!!" he yelled, embarrassed to be kissed in front of the entire Avengers team. He enjoyed it though, even though when she pulled away, his face was red.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They were back in the training room, May hadn't given up her hold on Peter just yet, insisting on holding him in her palm the entire way, all while looking around. She was promised a tour by her nephew after the tests.

Happy had appeared on the way down to the training room, smiling at May a little too much. "So," he started, clearing his throat. "How are you doing? You know, with all this?" The man had motioned towards Peter, who had ducked the incoming hand, sending a glare Happy's way.

"Oh..I'm doing a little better than I was before. I mean, I'm coming to understand that he won't be like this for the rest of his life, so that's a good thing. The only thing I'm worried about are these tests they're doing."

"I'll be fine, May," Peter said with a sure smile.

Happy stared at the finger sized kid in the woman's hand. He sometimes wished his life was more....sane.

"And here we are," Tony's voice broke through the tension and they stopped in front of the training room, which was soaked at the moment.

"What happened?" Happy asked as he stepped in a puddle, making a face.

"It's just a test for Peter," Steve said shrugging. "See if he can stick to wet surfaces."

May put her hand up. "Wait, wait...stick to wet surfaces?" She stared at the boy who looked a little too innocent.

""May, can you put me down?" the boy asked.

His aunt was hesitant, but agreed, lowering him to the floor, allowing him to crawl off her hand. "I'm gonna need to focus on this, but remember when we were talking about abilities? Well, sticking to things is one of those abilities. I don't know how it works, but it seems to work better when I can concentrate on what I'm sticking to." He shrugged at the crouched woman who stared at him.

"Ready?" Doctor Banner asked, his eyes on the boy at their feet. Peter gave him a thumbs up and started running to the wet wall, avoiding the shin deep puddles and waited by the wall for the say. "Go whenever you want,"the doctor said.

Peter nodded and put a hand and foot against the wall. The wet surface was a little tricky because of it's slippery nature, but he was sure he could do it. He focused intensely on the slippery wall until he felt his fingers stick, then the pads of his foot before allowing himself to begin to ascend.

He waited until he felt his other limbs stick, making his climb faster. He only slipped twice, and that was when he looked back to see May staring at him with worried fascination, while Happy was checking out the woman's butt, and he lost concentration.

Peter didn't go as high this time, because it was a lot harder to stick to a wet surface. "I'm coming down!" he yelled and tried to come down the way he had before, but that was a lot harder on a wet surface, and he caught Happy checking out his aunt's butt again and lost his concentration.

With a shout, Peter felt his feet slip and he was free falling, tumbling through the air. He saw the ground rushing to meet him, and closed his eyes, expecting to hit the hard ground, but what he hit was something soft, yet firm enough to daze him from the contact.

Slowly he opened his eyes and found himself looking up at Mr. Rogers' worried face as his hands cupped around him. "Are you alright?" the man asked, bringing Peter up to check him over.

The boy nodded, wincing when that hurt his neck a little. "Y-yeah, I think so.." he stuttered. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. That was pretty impressive to watch, by the way," the man smiled as Peter blushed.

"Th-thanks..." He couldn't believe he had just gotten a compliment from Captain America! True he hadn't really fanned out about living with the Avengers, but he had never really had a chance to think about it, with his situation. But it seemed to be setting now that he had his aunt in his life suddenly, bringing back a semblance of normalcy into his life.

"That was very good, Peter," Doctor Banner said leaning over to look down at him. "Why don't you take a little break, be with your aunt while we set up the next test, okay?"

Peter nodded and stood up, feeling his feet stick to the familiar texture of skin. Apparently he didn't need to focus on something if he'd already stuck to it. "Mr. Stark?" he called and the man turned. "Can I, umm....can I be on my own in here, on the floor I mean?" He stared at the man with big eyes and he sighed.

"Those eyes are weapons," Mr. Stark said to his aunt, who smiled and agreed. "Just be careful, okay?"

Peter smiled brightly and automatically started hopping in Mr. Rogers' hands, acting like he had to pee.

"I guess you wanna be put down?" Rogers teased, laughing when the boy nodded so fast he thought his head would fly off. "Okay, I'll set you down, but stay close to you aunt, okay? May?" He looked to the woman, who seemed surprised that Captain America was talking to her and nodded.

"I can watch him. I've been doing it for the past nine years," she said snappily. It was obvious Peter was very popular here and that was making May a little jealous.

Peter ran to his aunt, who knelt to in order to not be towering over him, even then she knew she must look so big compared to his size now. "Why haven't you called me?" the woman asked, obvious hurt in her voice, her hand reaching out to Peter, her fingers stroking his back.

The boy looked at her nervously. "Because...I didn't want you to see me like this. I was afraid if you did, the shock would give you a heart attack or something. So, we were gonna wait until I was back to normal, but we don't know when that will be. I'm sorry, May."

May smiled and scooped the boy up, bringing him in for another hug, loving that her nephew was alive and safe. "I'm just glad that you're okay, honey, honestly. You don't have to worry about anything, okay. As long as you're safe and with me, I don't care what happens." She pulled him away and rubbed his head with her pinky, laughing at the aggravated sigh he gave at that.

"About that," Tony chose that moment to cut in while Bruce and the capsicle analyzed everything for Peter's next test. "What we were talking about earlier, him staying here, that's a must unfortunately. So if you want to bring Peter home with you, we all have to go. And that means less time here to work on the cure, the more time Pete has to spend time as a Liliputian...do you get where I'm going with this?"

May nodded, her face scrunched with anger. "You're saying you want to take my nephew away from me so you con continue to experiment on him."

Tony shook his head, a shocked look on his face, that was covered in an instant with a not too strong glare. "No, we want him safe. We want him back to normal again, because between Clint and my daughter, we have enough children around here."

"Hey!" the archer cried with a pout.

Tony ignored him. "I want you to go home, knowing everything is all right and Peter is safe right where he is. This is the safest place for him to be right now. Plus, he loves it, right Mighty Mouse?"

Peter laughed and nodded. "Yeah, May! Please...I don't want to put you in danger. If I go home with you, that means you'll have all the Avengers at the apartment, which will bring more trouble than it's worth. So please, let me stay here, where it's safe. I know you have to go to work, but Mr. Stark has offered a place to stay if you need or want it, okay? So I won't be completely off limits to you if you want to see me."

"While that doesn't make me feel a little better," May said. She wanted her nephew by her side, with her where she knew he would be safe. But, this place, it was like a fortress, almost seemingly built for keeping people safe. She hoped that was the case in this moment.

"All right," she agreed again with a shaky sigh. "I'll let you stay here on one condition. You call me, and once you're normal, I want to be the first person to know, do you hear me?"

Peter nodded, his eyes wide and shining. He got to stay with the Avengers!

"And, Ned has been asking about you. Would you like me to tell him where you are?"

The boy thought about this, but shook his head. "No, because if we tell him he's gonna wanna come and see me and the compound....which I don't think it's a good idea to let a lot of people know where this place is located, you know? I hate to say it, but he's gonna have to keep thinking I'm missing, and you're gonna have to play along with it May. I'm sorry to have to do that to you."

Tony then realized that Peter apologized to the people he loved or trusted way too much. And then it hit him. Peter apologized to him all the time. He got a warm feeling in his heart at that and hid his smile behind a cough.

"We're all set up," Steve turned to May and Peter, smiling at the way the boy looked at the woman adoringly.

"Okay George Shrinks, let's get this over with, I'm sure you're hungry after all this." Tony simply grabbed the boy around the middle.

Peter was placed on the floor near what basically looked like flat surface. "Am I supposed to be impressed?" May asked with an eyebrow raised, letting them know if they hurt Peter, they would be answering to her.

Doctor Banner was the one that answered. "You will be. This is a training simulation that was made for Scott, also known as Ant Man. He was supposed to come and stay with us full time, so this was made for his training. He decided to stay where he was with his family, so you can use it until you're fixed. It has a few tricks in it. They're not exactly made for your abilities, but this will test your ability to think on your feet." The man stepped towards Peter, casting his shadow over the minuscule boy. "Go whenever you're ready."

He could feel every time one of the giants shifted, feel the rumbles and vibrations in the floor. He really hoped that didn't distract him.

Peter nodded and took a step onto the blank looking floor, when suddenly walls that were his height popped up from beneath the tile.

"Friday," Mr. Stark said from above him. "Lower the Piss-Ant training course slightly." Steve glared at him. "What? I thought Scott would be using it."

Suddenly a shadow became larger and Peter felt the back of his neck tingle and turned to see the billionaire crouching down, his hands held out. "Thought you could use these, kid. And thank Friday for the vials. She thought of them and cut them down to size."

The boy took his web-shooters and the now full vials and smiled. "Thank you," he whispered, then turned up to the ceiling. "Thanks Friday!!"

"You're welcome, Peter," the AI replied, happiness in her voice.

"Try them on," the billionaire urged.

Peter nodded and hurriedly attached the wrist bands. He would have never been able to make the vials that small. They had to be at least only a centimeter in one of other's eyes, but to Peter they were just right. He wondered what type vials Mr. Stark had.

"What are those?" May asked, looking at Mr. Stark with worry in her eyes.

"Just watch," the man replied.

Holding out his hand, Peter aimed at the low wall, and pressed his middle and index finger to the applicator, using his strength to push it down. A harsh click and a stream of web-like fluid came shooting out, but the thing that surprised the boy was the kickback that made him fall back.

And he found the webs sticking to a familiar pair of jeans. Looking up he saw the stunned face of a certain billionaire staring at the webbing. "Mr-Mr. Stark! I'm sorry!" Peter began pulling at the string of web to no avail, not realizing how strongly they would stick to objects.

"Okay, this is gross," the man griped, pulling at the white strands, making a face when they stuck to his skin. "Jeez, kid. Apparently they work. A little too well, I would say."

Peter blushed as he stood. "Um...I don't know how long they'll stay...it shouldn't be long, I made sure the webs would be able to dissolve in the air. I hope I didn't ruin your pants." He shook his wrist, the strand falling from his shooter.

"Just go do the course kid," Mr. Stark sighed and stood, the strand hanging from his shin.

Peter felt bad about what had happened, but now he knew there was a definite kickback if he pressed the activator too hard. "I'm ready," he said lowly, and thankfully Friday heard him.

The first obstacle was dodging the walls that were as tall as him, which moved. Peter thought that was really cool. Staring at the walls, he timed them and thought out the mathematical pattern for the four walls in seconds.

Keeping that in mind, he jumped to the first wall, keeping his hands and feet as far away from himself as possible so he could be flush to the wall. It was hard to keep his grip, but he only had to hold it for a second until, and there it was!

The second wall moved diagonally behind him, coming so close he thought it might hit him, but that was only his senses tricking him. With a grunt, the boy threw himself from the wall he was stuck to, flung himself around and gripped onto the passing wall in a perfect rendition of a dancer doing a pirouette. He silently thanked his aunt for those dancing lessons.

Next was the wall that was the furthest from him, and possibly the most tricky to get to, since it moved up and down and side to side in a random sequence.It did go higher, then the others but left a substantial gap on the floor of the maze that was just big enough for him to get under, but it came down too quick to be safe. Besides, he'd figured out this equation on possibly stronger legs, and there was only one way to find out if it would work.

Waiting for the wall he clung to to pass the first wall, he quickly let go with his hands and moved his feet so they were flat. He only had a few seconds to try this, so squatting down, the boy felt his muscles curl and he jumped!

Apparently his legs had gotten a stronger than he thought, because he reached the tricky wall faster than he calculated, which earned him probably a nice big bruise on his right leg as the teen crashed into the wall with a loud 'thunk' upside down and turned outward as the wall was heading down. He had been planning on landing the right way, but thankfully he didn't go beneath the floor, crab walking up the wall.

The fourth and final wall spun and moved at the same time, making it hard, but the pattern was predictable, as well as the timing.

Pointing his hand out, Peter shot a web stream at the wall, feeling his body reel from the kickback, but he forced himself to keep the aim. When the wall stopped spinning was when Peter allowed himself a moment to cheer a moment before connecting the strand in his hand to the wall he was on, successfully stopping the other object's movements.

Flipping himself up, the boy landed on the web, his balance wavering a bit as he felt his feet stick to the already sticky web. Soon Peter was doing a tightrope walk that would have made his gymnastics instructor weep.

Now it was on to the pendulum looking objects flying through the air from the ceiling. Those would be a little tricky, but he was sure he could do it. Crouching down, he grabbed the web for balance, and pointing a hand out, he hit the activator and timed it just right so that the web stuck to the bottom of the first swinging piece. He propelled himself off the wall and time and time again, he gripped each one of the swinging objects, until he came to the last one.

Aiming his web shooter, he clicked the activator as gently as he could and felt proud when a web shot and stuck to the top piece with little kickback, and swung himself toward it. The boy then climbed up the now swinging web and flipped up to land on the top of the giant hammer-like pendulum.

He studied the area in front of him as he passed again and again, looking for the next test, but he couldn't see anything. Not until he climbed up a little and instantly his face went white.

Mr. Barton came into view, his huge body waiting for him with an arrow ready.

"Don't worry, kid, they're foam tipped," the archer said, noting the way the small teen froze, poking himself with the arrows. "They won't hurt you and I'll be gentle."

Peter looked to Mr. Stark, who only nodded and smiled in encouragement. He gulped and turned back to Mr. Barton. "I-I'm ready," he stuttered.

The archer nodded and notched the arrow. "It'll be fine, kid," he said with a gentle smile, and let it fly straight at Peter.

The teen heard May gasp, which had him flying into action. The boy only had a second to dodge, his senses screaming at him. Peter jumped over the massive arrow, feeling it brush against his arm before he used a hand to flip and land on top of it, running along the half mile long stick as it sped toward the ground.

Another arrow followed it, aimed a little higher and to the left of the boy. When it was close enough, he jumped to the side. He meant to land on top of the arrow, but at the last minute he felt his finger slip off the foam, and he hit the hard metal with a pained grunt, rolling along the rod with the velocity until it finally ran out and he fell from the arrow, flipping head over heel in mid-air. He heard May cry out.

The ceiling and the floor became so disorienting that Peter didn't know which was was up. Suddenly a shadow fell over him and Peter let out a loud grunt as he shot a web towards what he hoped was the person's chest, his arm nearly coming out of the socket when he came to an abrupt stop, his centrifical force causing him to swing toward the body he'd attached to, and the speed he was going caused the boy to close his eyes before he hit, the force behind it enough to make him gasp. "Ouch..." he mumbled against the cloth, forcing his hands and feet to move to stick to the person he'd hit.

"You okay, kid?" Mr. Barton's voice sounded too close, making Peter look up to see the man's body twisted to stare down at Peter, who looked to see he was hanging from the man's shoulder blade.

"Oh my god!" he pulled himself away a little too quickly, because he had to grab the web that was still wrapped halfway around the man and wound up hanging from the string. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Barton!"

The man just chuckled and grabbed Peter gently between his thumb and pointer finger, tugging him away from the webbing. "It's all good, pipsqueak. As long as you're okay. And what happened to Uncle Clint?"

The boy smiled. "I forgot, Uncle Clint. Better?" The archer nodded with a smug look, but that disappeared when Peter looked down at the man's thumb. "That was so embarrassing, though..."

After a moment, Clint laughed. "Kid, I don't know what you saw, but that was freaking great! I think Natasha and I have to watch our backs in this business. If Nick Fury ever finds out about you when you get back to normal, I have a feeling you'll receive a phone call real soon."

Chapter Text

Tony chose that moment to step forward, a strange look on his face. "That will not happen if I can help it," he groused. "But, you did good for your first try, kid. You even handled that sticky shit pretty well." Peter grinned and blushed. It seemed he was doing that a lot today. "Tests are over for today."

Mr. Barton put Peter on his shoulder. "How about we order something in and take it outside?" He glanced at the happy face of the kid. "I'm getting a little cabin fever, and Morgan should be home by now, right?"

Steve frowned. "I don't know. I'm still a little wary about bringing the kid outside, even if it's on the compound grounds."

"Come on, man. We can't keep the kid locked up here like a prisoner! His aunt already thinks we do that now. Let the kid get some fresh air. We have all the soldiers on the grounds, plus we have all the weapons that were meant to shoot anything down that we say is a threat."

"It's okay, Mr-I mean Uncle Clint." The man grinned. "If it's for safety reasons, we can stay inside." Peter was a little bummed out about not even being allowed on the grounds, but he understood. Somewhat.

"No," Tony said said suddenly. "Bird brain is right. We all need a little relaxation, and think of all the nature that will be out there. And plus, I can't wait to see Peter here playing pretty pink princess with Morgan in the sunlight." He grinned at the boy who groaned and hid himself behind Clint's head, peeking out from behind the man's neck.

Even Steve chuckled at that one. "All right. As long as we all go and we're on guard. We all know how badly Hydra wants Peter back, so be on your guard."

Sam saluted the man and smirked. "Yes, sir your holiness!" That earned him a punch to the arm and Sam winced, rubbing his bicep. "Ouch, Cap."

"Who's Fury?" May asked, her head cocked to the side.

"The once leader of SHIELD," Happy said before anyone could answer, making everyone look to him. "What? I listen to people."

"Well, he doesn't matter, since he's not hearing about Peter until he's either normal again, or if he doesn't want anything to do with any of this once that happens, then we forget about him." Tony butted in. "It's up to the kid once he's normal. But, before we can fix him, nothing is said to Fury."

Peter was confused. "But why? I remember reading about SHIELD in my history class. It said they did nothing but good things, protected people, kept peace. They even helped the people of Sokovia after the Ultron incident, which is so not your fault, Mr. Stark. You were only looking for a way to keep people safe."

Steve grimaced at that and sent a look towards Tony, who shrugged. "That may be true kid, but once he hears what you can do and of your predicament, he will make sure Hydra's training will get done. Not in the same style as they would have used, but it will get done nonetheless."

The billionaire knew Fury wouldn't care about the kid's safety as much as he would. He wouldn't take care of the kid if he got caught in a tight place, nor would he send anyone to Peter's rescue if he got himself caught. "Fury's a...well, he's a dangerous player in a not so dangerous game. Let's just call it that." He stuck his hands in his pockets to keep from grabbing the kid off Clint's shoulder like he was itching to do.

Lately when he found his hands were idle, he wanted to hold Peter. He didn't know why, but he enjoyed the feeling of the boy in his hands, knowing he was looking to the man as a...what? But, he already had Morgan, so he didn't need another kid. Right? Looking back at the small boy sitting on Clint's shoulder made a pang of jealousy ring through him.

"Welcome to my world," May's voice cut through Tony's thoughts and he blinked.

"Excuse me?"

She laughed softly. "I see the way you look at him. He's found a way into everyone's hearts here, whether they know it or not. Which does make me feel like leaving him here would be the best thing for him for now." He looked back at the boy, love shining in her eyes. "I see the way he looks at everyone here, and especially at you." She sighed and started toying with the ring on her finger. "Peter...Peter hasn't had the best childhood."

Tony's brow quirked. "Meaning?"

"Meaning, he's lost a lot more than any other kid his age. His parents were killed in a plane crash while on a business trip, and his uncle Ben was shot. He died right in front of Peter." She sighed, the sound a little watery. "He hasn't had much luck when it comes to male figures to look up to. But, seeing him around so many good, kind hearted people who generally want the best for him, I can't help but be happy he's here. Even if he couldn't' call me." She gave Tony a half hearted glare. "Just, let him be himself while he's here." Her gaze then turned stee;y and she waited for everyone to pass before backing Tony into a wall, her finger pressed into his chest. "And if anything happens, and I mean anything, a scraped knee, bad dream, you call me or I will kick your ass. Do you hear me?"

Tony silently nodded, licking his suddenly dry lips at the look in the woman's eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Justin Hammer smiled as he signed for his delivery, watching as his droid shells were brought in, reveling in their beauty. Crate by crate they were brought in by machinery, until a half hour later, the last one was dropped off. He waved to the men and pressed the button to close the warehouse doors. "Finally." Now he could get to work. Going to a metal crate, he used the code given to him by his new partner.

The bots inside were beautifully crafted and waiting for his programming.

Screw Toomes.

Ever since the man had 'kicked' him off the little team he'd been planning on going behind their backs. Now, with Bloom his only employer and the only one he'd have to worry about being on his team, he had more room to work. He didn't have to worry about the feelings of some middle aged man in a bird costume.

Oh, he still planned on using Toomes' family against him. Maybe he would bring him onto team Hammer, or when Justin got the job done, off the man's wife and keep the daughter for himself. He would let Adrian live, though, just to play with the man's mind in the knowledge that Justin had his Liz all because Toomes wasn't strong enough to get the job done. The thought excited him.

Booting up his computers, Justin pulled out his flash drive and plugged it in. The screen flashed blue for a moment, then his logo came up and the password prompt came up. "Fuck Tony Stark," he said to the computer. A second later it beeped.

"Welcome Justin." A monotone voice said.

"Thank you, darling. Let's get started on programming these, shall we?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter sat in the shade of a tree, resting against the bark, eyes closed and just enjoying the breeze. He felt the rumbles as the giants moved around, but he didn't care. He was safe where he was. Suddenly, he was jolted out of his relaxation by someone flopping next to him, the wind of their body enough to practically blow him over.

"Hi!" Morgan said in a chipper voice. "Mommy said lunch is here."

The boy used his arm to get up and shake the debris out of his hair. The quicker he was back to normal, the better. He hated being this small, and yet he didn't. It was odd. "Okay."

Peter stood up and wiped his pants when he felt the ground move and watched the girl get up, her shoes digging into the dirt to create little pits. She crouched down and offered an open hand. "Want help?"

The teen smiled and shook his head. "No, I think I'm gonna go alone. Thanks though, Morgan." He gave her a soft look to let her know he wasn't mad at her.

Morgan simply shrugged and got up, running over to her parents, falling into Tony's arms with a giggle.

Again the jealous feeling came over Peter and he watched with a slight scowl before shaking his head. No. That part of life wasn't made for him. He wasn't allowed to have a father figure in his life for some odd reason. He was meant to be...well, not alone. He still had May.

The world around him suddenly turned black and Peter cried out when he felt gravity force him into the soft, leathery surface he was gripped in before the hand opened to reveal the worried face of Mr. Barton.

"Hey there, little man. Why the long face?"

Peter was still gasping for air after that shock, but he calmed down quickly in the soft gaze of the archer. "I don't have a long face," he said lowly, not meeting the man's eyes. "I was just getting ready to walk over for lunch."

"Mm-hmm.....Listen, they don't call me Hawkeye for nothing, little man. So, how's about we get something and take it somewhere we can eat in private and you can talk to me."

The teen was tempted to say no, because he was feeling stubborn today, but, looking back at a squeal of laughter from Morgan made his heart hurt and he nodded.

"Okay. We got Thai, by the way. Your aunt said you really like Larb, so we got that for you. I know you can't eat all of it, but I'm willing to put more food in me if it means no waste."

Clint chuckled and transferred Peter to his shoulder, walking quickly up to the group.

"Hey, Pete?" Tony turned to see the boy on Clint's shoulder, casting a worried look to the archer, who shook his head.

"We're gonna talk for a minute. You know, trade manly secrets. But, food first please. We're hungry!"

Pepper smiled and handed the man two boxes, smiling softly at Peter. "Just don't spread too much testosterone around. I don't think the world can handle any more."

"Will do. Let's go, Pete. Off to beat the drums around the fire and tell war stories!"

May gave her nephew a soft smile as she was passed her box, blushing a bit and saying thank you. "Just be careful, okay?"

Peter nodded while he laughed. Always count on 'Uncle Clint' the make him feel better. The archer walked in silence until he brought them to a shady bench, sitting and bringing a hand up for Peter to climb onto, setting him on the bench next to him.

"So," he began, opening the box of Larb and making a face at the almost magotty looking contents. "Ugh, how can you eat this?" he asked, pushing it towards Peter.

"Easy. Just don't think about what it looks like. Besides, I like that it doesn't have too much flavor, you know?"

"Okay, I get it. So. What were you thinking about by that root?" Clint dug out his chopsticks, and placed a napkin next to Peter, who didn't have any utensils at all.

The boy paused in grabbing a piece of chicken, then looked down as he transferred it to the napkin to cool down, reaching in for a grain of rice. "I wasn't thinking anything, honest."

Liar.

"Liar," Clint said, reading the word all over the boy's face. "I can tell you were getting upset about something, so either tell me, or I'm letting Tony know something's bothering you. You're always around him, so if you're more comfortable talking to him, I can go get him and-"

"NO!" Peter yelled, startling the both of them into a moment of silence. "No," he said softer. "I can't tell him what's on my mind...it's dumb."

"Kid, if you won't talk to Tony, then I'm your best bet. I know how to keep a secret." Clint smiled mischievously, making Peter doubt that.

"It's just, whenever I see Mr. Stark with Morgan, and see the way his eyes light up with her, I get a little jealous. I've never had a father figure in my life...the one's I had were killed..." Peter's eyes stung as he spoke. "And I know once I'm back to normal, or as normal as I can be, that Mr. Stark is probably going to start ignoring me because I won't need anymore help to get around. And besides, he's already got his daughter. What does a kid with no blood relation have on that?"

Deep down, Peter was already starting to think of the mechanic as a father figure, a protector....and he didn't want to shatter that illusion, but that's all it was. An illusion.

Clint chewed for a moment, then spoke. "Kid, I doubt Tony's gonna start ignoring you. I mean, have you seen the way he looks at you? If he could, I swear he would adopt you in a heartbeat, but seeing as you already have your aunt, he doesn't want to pull your family apart. I know he's hurting because he can't send you home with May just yet, but he still offered her a place to stay if she wanted to. Tony, in a weird way, already thinks of you as a son, I think. And if you wanna test that theory, I suggest a little 'experiment'."

Peter was stunned to say the least at what Mr. Barton had said, but was very intrigued by the experiment idea. "What kind of...experiment?" he asked, nerves heard in his voice.

"Next time you're alone with Tony, just pretend to slip up and call him 'Dad'. See what his reaction is, and that will tell you the truth."

"I dunno, Uncle Clint....it seems a little...weird, right?" Peter wasn't too sure about the plan. What if it backfired and Mr. Stark hated him for it?

"Trust me, kid. It'll turn out alright. I know, I watch...like a hawk." He nudged the boy with the tip of his chopstick, almost pushing him over. "Get it?"

"Yeah, yeah I get it, now get that thing away from me. You spit all over it!"

"Oh, get over it," the archer laughed, but pulled it away. "Seriously, though, what do you think would happen if you accidentally called Tony that, anyway?"

"He'd hate me for it." The teen said without missing a beat.

Clint stared at Peter before laughing. "Dude, he could never hate you. I don't think anyone could hate you. You're too cute right now."

Peter threw the grain of rice in his hands at the man with a laugh. "Shut up."

"See? Even that was cute! But, do you feel better now that you talked it out with good ol' Uncle Clint?"

Peter was about to say something when he stopped and thought about it. The jealous feeling he got was lifted a little and he felt lighter. "Actually...yeah, I do. Thanks Uncle Clint. I LARB you!!"

"Oh God, never say that in my presence again, seriously kid. I may have to throw you out of a tree."

"Already did that," the boy stated smugly as he took a bite of his chicken.

"Kid, you and I are gonna have to have another talk."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I have to go now, Peter," May said, her voice cracking as tears filled her eyes. "Do you need anything before I leave? Maybe I can bring some of your books, or maybe your skateboard?" Now she was grasping at strings, almost as if she weren't allowed to come back without something for her nephew.

"I'm fine, May." Peter stepped up to her and the woman lowered her hand for him to climb onto.

Once he was situated, the woman rose and held Peter close to her bosom, her thumb coming to rub his back. "And you know you can come back just to visit, right? We already told you, I'm not a prisoner. If you want to see me, you can either call, or I can call you, or you can come any time." Peter looked back to see Mr. Stark nodding.

"Okay. Just remember, I love you so much, Petey-pie. I'm glad you're here. Call me before bedtime and in the morning and once in the-"

"May!" Peter laughed, hugging the woman's thumb. "If i call you that many times, you'll get sick of me. I'll call you before bed, okay? I love you so much. Have a safe drive, and we'll keep you updated on what's going on."

May nodded and sniffled, bringing Peter's diminutive form to her chest in a hug, cupping the boy in her hands. "I love you too, Peter. Always." She then dropped a kiss to the top of his head, half of his face disappearing when she did.

May turned to Tony and was about to hand him the teen, when Pepper stepped up and put her hand out for him. "We'll take good care of him," she promised the woman with a smile.

"Thank you. For everything you're doing and have done." She looked to Peter, who was climbing onto the blonde woman's hand. "Remember to eat your vegetables every day, and change your underwear twice a day, okay?"

"May!" Peter cried, blushing as the people around them snickered.

"Okay, okay. Bye, Peter....." The woman wiped her eyes and walked out, Happy volunteering to walk her out.

Peter watched her go with a sad face, his lower lip quivering. "This is for the best," Pepper told him, bringing him closer to her. "You'll see her again. And now you'll be able to call her, and when you're back to normal, you'll get to go home." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tony make a face. It was only for a second before he covered it up by picking up Morgan.

"We gotta call it an early night," Clint said sadly. "We gotta go somewhere tomorrow and I don't know when we'll be back. So, we'll see you later, little man." He held up his pointer to Peter and smiled when he felt the kid smack it in a high five. "Be good, man."

Peter smiled as most of the group left the room, leaving him, Pepper, Tony and Morgan alone.

"So, who wants to watch a movie?" The man bounced Morgan on his hip. "How about you, little lady?"

"Yes!" she shouted, giggling as her father made a face at her loudness. "Brave?"

"Good choice. I always think the dad is like me in that." He grinned and started walking, but not before grabbing Pepper's hand and dragging her along.

They got the movie set up and in minutes, both the children were out like a light. Peter was sleeping on Pepper's shoulder, his body curled up into her neck for warmth, and Morgan was stretched out over both of them.

Both the adults looked to one another with loving smiles. "We need to have Peter here once he's back to normal," Pepper whispered. "I think I'll ask May if maybe he can spend the summers at the cabin. What do you think?"

That got Tony to smile and nod. He liked that idea. He liked that idea a lot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You've gotta be kidding me," Hammer said, clapping his hands once and laughing. Almost all the Avengers would out of the compound the next few days, meaning the target would be even less protected. "Oh, Tony...you've got a lot of nerve thinking you could hide him from me for long." He smiled as he programmed more of the code he was writing.

He wished he still had Ivan to write the code for him, but he was out of the picture, even for his employer. So that meant he just had to bite the bullet and do it himself. Which he didn't mind, he was just used to having people do this for him.

But, that wasn't the problem. The problem was getting into the compound before Toomes, if the man even knew. He enjoyed a challenge.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The computer was beeping as Bruce walked into his lab that night. He walked over to it and looked at the screen. He almost dropped his cup of coffee on his lap. Hank Pym had actually contacted him!

He'd seen the encrypted message and wanted to know what was going on with Peter. The doctor clicked on the link and was brought to a video chat where Dr. Pym was sitting behind a large desk, white hair slicked back.

"Hello, Dr. Banner," he said with a nod.

"Dr. Pym, I am so happy to hear from you. I assume you got the message?"

The white haired man nodded."What I would like to know, is how much you know about the serum?"

Bruce sighed. "Almost nothing," he replied truthfully. "This Sean guy Peter has mentioned is a genius, I'll tell you that. The fact that he had your particles, but also could hide their structure and data even when having the serum in front of you, which I don't understand. I'm stumped, but then again, it is your research. I wouldn't dream of looking too into it without your say-so. My name isn't Tony Stark."

The man smirked. "That's the only reason I decided to contact you, Dr. Banner."

"Thank you again, for that. Is there somewhere I can send you the data-though it's not much-on the serum I've got?"

Pym shook his head. "No. I'll need to see the boy, see what they did to him, see if it is possible to reverse what Sean did." The man then turned as if hearing something. "I have to go. Expect me there about....I'd say, a two weeks."

"That long?" Banner said with a forlorn expression.

"Well, I do have other obligations," the man said with a chuckle. "Plus, I'll have to have Scott go into the Quantum Realm to collect some healing particles from inside, and that takes time to prepare for."

Bruce's eyes widened. "You did it? In that case, It will be a privilege to meet you, Dr. Pym. Can't wait to meet with you."

"Don't expect it to happen often. The Stark's and I don't get along." And with that, the man hung up, the screen going dark.

"What a shock," Bruce said to himself as he got up to go back to his work on the serum.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adrian Toomes sat at his work bench, carefully soldering wires together when something caught his eye. He stopped what he was doing and spotted one of his daughter's field trip slips he forgot to sign. Tears came to his eyes as he grabbed the paper and unfolded it. It was for today. But instead of going upstate, she was stuck who knows where probably scared out of her mind crying for him. His eyes went wide as he read where the trip was for.

The Avengers Compound.

"Phineas!" he called into the large warehouse. Seconds later he heard something fall over, then footsteps running over to where Adrian was.

"Boss? What's wrong?"

"Nothing...I just need to know, is my suit fixed?"

Phineas turned his head quick to look back at the direction where he came from. "Um, I think so, but there's a few bugs I haven't been able to sort out yet since it was damaged. I'd like to make it a touch stronger so that you can survive the kind of attack Justin brought you to." At that name Adrian scowled.

"Yeah, well he knows where he stands since that shit show of a disaster." Then he looked to the permission slip. "What about anything to help with a silent mission? You know, sneaking into a building and taking something."

"Well, yeah I do have some things for that, but it all depends on what building you're going into. Like the white house, I can't do."

"No, not the white house. I was thinking of the Avengers Compound."

Phineas' eyes got bigger. "No, no way, Adrian. I helped you once and you failed, almost getting yourself killed. I won't let you put yourself in that kind of danger again."

Adrian put a hand on his shoulder, and smiled an actual smile at him. Phineas wasn't like his other associates. He was more of a keep to the background kinda guy, which is what he needed right now. "I'm not asking you to send me anywhere. I'll be sending myself. I'm just gonna need you to hack into Tony Stark's data and create a personnel file for me, that's all."

Phineas laughed. "That's all? If I could do that, don't you think I would have done it already, Adrian?" He would have done it for himself so he could get in there and see what Tony had cooking in that lab of his.

"Well, I need you to be able to do it by tonight. Find any way in, any way, and get that file created. Please...for Lizzy's sake. This is my only chance to get my family back."

Phineas stared into Adrian's pleading eyes for a long moment before sighing. "I'll see what I can do. I'm also going to create a remote for your suit so you can call it to you from where you are. Only if things get bad, okay?"

Adrian nodded and squeezed his friend's shoulder before turning away, letting the programmer go and tinker away.

Chapter Text

"Tony...Tony, it's time to get up. Come on."

The man buried his face into his pillow and groaned. "Fi'e more min'tes."

"No, now. Come on. Did you forget about the school tour today?" Pepper stood over the bed, hands on her hips as she scowled down at him.

The man opened one eye and closed it immediately. "All right, all right."

The week had passed so quickly for everyone. It was like they blinked and it was next week. And all through the week, Peter had been having nightmares, which Bruce had said was normal for someone going through what Peter was. It meant he was finally feeling comfortable here. Tony felt it was late, but at least the kid was starting to feel like himself.

Tony brought his hand up the mattress slowly, the stopped before patting around him. "Where's Peter?" The boy generally had been sleeping in their bed all week whenever a nightmare happened.

Pepper smiled. "Oh, that's why I got you up earlier than usual. It seems Peter had another nightmare last night, poor thing, but this time it was Morgan who went to him before he could even get off the bed, and....well, come and see."

Tony rolled out of bed and stretched, groaning in relief when his shoulders and back cracked before getting up and following his wife. "You have the most spectacular body in that suit, did I ever tell you that?"

"Even in the mornings you're crude," the woman said with humor in her voice. "Now, quiet." She slowly pushed open the door to Peter's room and Tony thought his heart was going to melt right then and there.

On the bed lay a sleeping Morgan, but cuddled right up to the bridge of her nose was a little lump he recognized as Peter. The boy had his face pressed against the girl's skin while his legs were folded into a fetal position.

A small smile was on Morgan's face and she wiggled a bit, bringing a hand up to curl around Peter, who let out a tiny sigh. Tony slowly crept forward and pulled his phone out.

"Friday," he whispered as he aimed the camera at the sleeping pair. "Brighten lights ten percent."

The lights came up just bright enough for the man to get a picture of the sleeping pair. Once he was done, he looked back to Pepper, who was watching, her hand over her heart.

"Mis'er St'rk?"

Tony looked down at the voice. "Go back to sleep," he brought a finger out to run it across Peter's hair. Peter nodded and fell back to sleep as quick as he woke up and Tony took that time to sneak out. He was so using that shot as his screen saver.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter was woken by Morgan's movements bouncing him on the pillow and he groaned, reaching around for a blanket. Finding none, he shivered and opened his eyes.

"Good morning," the little girl whispered.

"Morning," Peter yawned and stretched. "What time is it?"

"Time to wake up!" she giggled and grabbed Peter gently in her hand, transferring the surprised boy to her shoulder, where she felt him latch on to her neck. It felt funny when he used his stickyness on her. "Mommy and Daddy are already up and cooking breakfast."

At that, Peter's face went white. "Da-I mean, Mr. Stark's cooking?" God help him, he almost called Mr. Stark dad..

"You can call him that, too," Morgan stopped walking to turn her head to look at Peter. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind. And, I already told them I think of you as my little big brother."

The teen felt his heart speed up and his face go red. That's how Morgan really looked at him? He would have thought she hated him, because of all the time he spent with Mr. Stark.

"I know you have your Aunt May, who's really nice, but, I would miss you if you stayed away. I know Mommy and Daddy would, too."

Peter nodded. "But, I just can't call some guy I just met last month 'dad'. And yeah, May is nice, but she's kind of like my mom and dad rolled into one, you know? I feel it would hurt her more if I started calling Mr. Stark that."

Morgan shrugged and started walking again, putting her hand up in case Peter fell from the movement. "Well, I know I would like it if you were part of the family all the time. But, I can't see that nice lady all alone when she cares about you. Just know we would miss you, too if you stayed away for good."

She dropped the subject as they turned into the kitchen.

"It's about time. I thought all these muffins would be gone if you two were any later." Mr. Stark was sitting at the table with his tablet in hand, sipping at a cup of coffee, eyebrows raised as he looked at the two from over the rim of the mug. "What? What is it?"

"N-nothing," Peter was quick to yell, feeling Morgan wince from the volume in her ear. "We're just surprised to see all...this." He motioned to the table full of muffins and crepes filled with different assortments of fruit and creme's.

"Ah, yes. I was totally capable in the kitchen and used this to make it appear." The man tapped his tablet with a smirk, Pepper chuckling as she sat next to the man.

"Peter, I'll help you get what you want, and I've got your cup filled with coffee the way you like it." The woman pointed to the small cup sitting on one of the doll saucers which was settled next to a plate.

"Thank you, Pepper." He waited for Morgan to take a seat then jumped onto the table to walk around the food and pick what he wanted, Pepper taking the items off their plates and cut them into small pieces, depositing them onto Peter's plate. The boy then sat behind his 'table' and a thought struck him as silverware hit the plates.

He was already a member of this family, whether he wanted to be or not.

"Peter?" Mr. Stark had his eyes on him, the gaze flicking to everything. "Are you alright?"

The boy nodded with a warm smile. "Yeah. I think I am."

The man nodded and turned back to his food, keeping an eye on the pleased teen as they ate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Toomes sat in the van to the side of the road, made up to look like a telephone repair van. "Are you sure I'm in the system?" he asked once more and Phineas nodded.

"I was up all night looking for any way into the system, but I was finally able to access Stark's mainframe and create a personnel file for you. Not even his AI noticed what I did."

All in all, the man was proud of himself for his tinkering skills. "Here's your badge. I made it high enough so that you can get into the labs, but not too high so someone would notice." He handed Adrian the lanyard with his picture and the code he would need to scan at the entrance.

"Thank you, man," Toomes said, meaning it. He was about to get his family back.

"No need. Now, here's the remote I promised you. Providing you don't use it too early, I should be done with your suit when you need it. Just give me about...and hour. Think you can do that?"

Adrian nodded. He would use that time to look for the boy. He grabbed his briefcase and took off the jumpsuit he was wearing to cover the suit he had on. "Wish me luck."

Herman and Phineas nodded their heads, and Adrian was out of the van. Walking quickly, he turned down the road where the sign said. Seriously, if your building was top secret, why have a sign directing people to it?

Slowly, he came to a gate and stopped when someone came out holding what looked like a regular gun. Adrian tried not to laugh at the simplicity of it. "What is your business here?" the guard asked, voice hard.

"My name is Daniels, I'm new here. Would have been here sooner, but, my car broke down about two miles down the road and I had to walk. Already called Triple A, they said they'd take care of it." He held out his pass, making his hand stop shaking. He trusted Phineas' work.

The guard scanned it and looked to the screen, before nodding. "Go on in. You want a bottle of water? It's still pretty hot out."

"No, I'm good. Thanks, though! You take care." And I hope you're not here when I leave. You seem like a good man. With that, he made his way into the building just as a bus pulled in through the gate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You okay in there, bud?"

Peter looked up at the billboard sized face of Mr. Stark as he glanced down at his breast pocket. "I'm okay, Mr. Stark." He shifted again as he felt his foot fall asleep, making a pained face as it woke up.

"Then stop moving, the kids are almost here." Tony gently slipped the folded handkerchief he always sported with every suit he wore in front of Peter to block him even more from view.

"Hey!" he shouted, but was stopped by Mr. Stark's finger flicking his leg through the pocket

"Ow," he whined softly and punched the man's chest and stopped moving after that.

"Welcome, futures of tomorrow!" Mr. Stark's loud, booming voice made Peter wince as it vibrated through him and he covered his ears.

"I am so glad you could be here today! Too bad we can't get rid of the feds, right? But, they're here to watch over you, which is why I had them sign waivers over all of you!" He made a motion that lifted Peter and set him down in such a quick jerk he was almost thrown out.

Peter smacked the man's chest. "Careful!" he hissed, but Mr. Stark didn't hear him.

"Now, I can't stay with you for the entire tour," a few of the class whined. "I know, but I need to get back to work for once." This made the class laugh.

The man walked for what seemed like ever, and it was getting too hot in the pocket. If Peter could just get a breath of air, he would be fine. Moving as slowly as he could, the teen grabbed the edge of the fabric and hoisted his head out. His face was flushed as he pushed the pocket square aside, heaving for breath.

Mr. Stark must have felt this, because suddenly the boy was being pushed back into the pocket and a stern look was sent down at him with a subtle head shake.

"It's too hot!" Peter whispered, moving his mouth so the man could see instead of hear, but there was nothing he could do, so he felt the man shrug.

So, Peter sat in the heat, feeling the sweat soaking into the blue and red suit Morgan made for him. He needed something else. Maybe he could call May and ask her to bring some clothes for him from a toy store.

Finally, it was too much.

Everything was too hot.

Too loud.

He could feel every beat of Mr. Stark's heart go through him, jarring his senses so much he was in physical pain.

Every time the man spoke, it felt like he was screaming.

He had to get out!

But, if he was seen, that was the end and Mr. Stark would probably send him to be with May, danger or not, and he couldn't risk his aunt like that. But, it was so hot!

Peter tried talking, but just moving his jaw hurt. With a grimace, he lifted his head, his face hitting the cool air. He tried not to bring himself out of Mr. Stark's pocket too much, when suddenly the man whipped around, causing Peter to shout and caught the attention of the boy standing next to the man.

He and Peter stared at one another, one with wide, unbelieving eyes, the other with such a scared face he looked about ready to wet himself.

"Peter?" Ned whispered, getting MJ's attention. The girl met Peter's eyes and widened a fraction before falling to their 'I don't care' position.

The teen quickly ducked into the man's pocket and felt the heat of Mr. Stark's glare on him as he shook. Everything was just too overwhelming, too hot, too enclosed! He had to cover his ears and wince when the man's heart sped up.

"You two, come with me. Ms. Sanders? Please take over the tour from here. I have to go have a word with these two."

Peter felt bad for his friend, knew he would probably be geeking out, but so scared he would either faint or wet himself.

"Mr. Iron Man, sir, please-"

"Nu-uh! Me first. Tell me what you saw?"

Peter let loose a low whining noise.Make the noises stop!

"I-I think I saw my best friend's face...in your pocket."

"No," said the girl said. "We know we saw Peter's face in your pocket."

Tony froze. "You two...know Peter?" He looked down and noticed something wasn't right. Peter was curled up on the bottom of his pocket, eyes squeezed shut and his hands over his ears while he muttered something.

"Peter? What's wrong?" The man noticed every time he spoke, the boy would flinch. Tony then in turn, cursed and turned Peter's friend. "What you see here, does not leave here, got it?"

Ned and MJ nodded and followed Mr. Stark as he walk-ran through the building into what looked like a laboratory.

"Bruce!" Tony cried, his voice echoing through the room. "BRUCE!"

He reached into his pocket and brought the tiny teen out and laid his curled up form on the table, keeping his hand over him to keep him warm.

"Tony? What is it?" Banner's eyes went to the kids behind the man, to his hand covering a whimpering Peter. "What happened?"

"I don't know!" Tony's voice was panicked.

"Peter, come on, bud, you've gotta tell me something. Is it another overload?" Banner had come up with a name for the attack that happened last time in the lab, calling it a Sensory Overload. The small head nodded.

"Okay, okay. Friday, lights to ten percent." The room was thrown into almost blackness, leaving just enough light for everyone to see each other.

"Is...is he gonna be okay?" Ned asked, wincing when a whimper came from under Mr. Stark's hand.

MJ took a step forward and knelt to see her friend more clearly and smiled. "Hey there, tiny loser," she whispered. Peter smiled weakly.

"Yeah, we just have to be quiet for a while." Bruce smiled at the teen, then sent a confused look to Tony, who shook his head.

They waited in the dark for at least thirty minutes before Peter tapped MJ's finger, which was nearest to him.

"You okay?" Tony crouched down next to the girl to look at the teen on his level, disregarding the glare he got.

Peter nodded, but flinched at the movement. "I-I think so," he said lowly, his voice tired. "Just, don't turn the lights up, yet, please."

Ned suddenly shifted forward. "Peter?" he whispered, placing his hands near his friend. "What...what happened?"

The brunette looked up into a face he hadn't seen in seven months. "Hey Ned. It's um...it's kind of hard to explain, but just know that Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner are trying their hardest to fix me."

"Is, is this where you've been the entire time you were missing?" Ned's eyes were wider, if that were possible, as he leaned in to stare at his best friend. He couldn't believe he was looking at Peter! The boy laying on the table was no more than three inches tall, and the scrawny, lanky teen he knew was basically gone, replaced by someone who looked like he trained every day for hours.

MJ narrowed her eyes at Mr. Stark for a minute. "You can tell us the truth, Peter. Do we need to take you out of here?" If his rights were being taken away due to his size, she would shut this place down.

"No! I..I was taken by some pretty bad people, who did this to me. But, Mr. Stark and the Avengers rescued me from there. That's all you need to know."

The girl nodded and stood, but kept her eyes on the man. "It seems as if you speak of him highly. I have my doubts, but if you say he's okay, then I believe you."

Ned nodded and sniffled, wiping his nose on his hand. "I missed you, man." Slowly, he brought his hand out in a fist, and Peter smiled as he did the same. Tiny and giant fists bumped before they both did an explosion. "We all thought you were dead. Flash actually spoke at your remembrance at school! Flash!"

Peter sat up slowly. "No way! I thought he hated me!" His friend laughed.

"Actually, it was pretty nice for it being Flash," MJ said. "I didn't buy it."

"You know, as much as I hate to break up this reunion, you need to get back to your class, Ted." Mr. Stark's voice cut into their conversation, making them jump.

"Oh yeah! Mr. Daniels probably thinks we did something wrong!" Ned's eyes grew worried. "But, are you alright Peter?"

Tony scoffed in the background, but Banner put a hand on his chest and shook his head.

"Yeah, Ned. I'm fine here. As you saw, they take care of me pretty well, and I owe them pretty much my life. But, thanks, man. I really do appreciate that I can maybe call you guys now?" Peter turned to Mr. Stark, who had the lights raised a little, and set his trademark puppy dog eyes on him. "Please, Mr. Stark?"

"Jeez, kid, what did you just finish telling your aunt? You're not a prisoner here. You can call whoever you want."

"So...does that mean Peter can leave?"

"Unfortunately, no," Dr. Banner said with a sigh, looking at the young girl. "You see, the group that did this to him, wants him back. Badly. And, if you saw the news last week, you can see what they're willing to do to get Peter."

"Oh yeah! I saw you go all Hulk on the bad guys, gotta say, awesome Dr. Banner." Ned was in his glory.

Bruce looked down. "Yeah, thanks."

"All right, enough with the hero worship. I have to get you back to the group, and you have to get somewhere safe for the remainder of the day that isn't in a lab. The things I do for you people."

"Mr. Stark," Peter said just as said man grabbed him. "Please don't put me in your pocket again. I had an overload because your voice was too loud and it got way too hot!"

"Well, I'm sorry, but I have nowhere else to put you, and put that fanny pack down, Bruce, or I swear I will lock you out of all the labs for a month."

Bruce smirked and put the bag down. "Just a suggestion."

"Fine, you can go here." He reached down to his flap pocket and gently deposited the teen into it. "Just no coming out fully, got it? You already caused one person to see you. We're just lucky he happened to be a friend of yours."

Peter's face went red as he was dropped into Mr. Stark's pocket, landing not so softly on the bottom. "I said I was sorry!" he shouted, but didn't receive a reply.

The teen was left to pout as Mr. Stark walked, the bouncing a little much, but he had to deal with it.

Chapter Text

Swiping his key card, Toomes was able to gain access to the experimental labs in the compound. He had spent most of his time searching for any sign of the boy Hydra wanted, but there was nothing. Getting annoyed, he slammed out of the last lab, his fist hitting the wall of the empty hall. How hard was it to find a tiny person!? It was then a voice made the man's back go rigid.

It sounded like a tour guide. His daughter's class! True, while none of the kids had seen Adrian before, he knew he had to be stealthy. He was about to start walking the other way, but another voice joined the guide and the man cursed his luck.

Tony freaking Stark was walking up to the class with a kid at his side, an arm looped around his chunky shoulders as the boy looked at him in wonder.

Tony Stark didn't deserve the adoration! He had driven Toomes to the life he was living, the situation he was in right now! He deserved to be punished, torn down from that pedestal he'd built himself!

Movement came from Stark's pocket and Adrian had to take a double look as a tiny brown haired head popped out. It was for a second, but he definitely saw it. That was the kid he was looking for.

Adrian knelt down, pretending to tie his shoe while the class was stopped, Stark talking to them in that pompous voice he used to bolster the unwitting. It would never fool him.
When Stark moved away from the group, Toomes rose and followed quickly. He got a few paces ahead of the man, and suddenly his briefcase opened, spilling papers all over the floor in front of the 'hero'.

"Oh, oh man I am so sorry! Mr. Stark, please let me clean all this up." Adrian made a show of gathering the papers into the case. "My wife has been asking me to get this fixed for weeks now, it just pops open whenever it wants, like it has a mind of its own."

Stark had knelt down to help him, smiling at the anecdote. "I know wives," he said in a somewhat rushed tone.

Adrian used the pen case opening to bring himself closer to the man. Slowly, he reached out until his fingers came in contact with the pocket.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter was wondering what was going on when he felt the movement of heading down and jerking to a stop. He felt the man's subtle movements, but also heard a voice right outside the pocket. He stayed perfectly still. But, he wasn't expecting the giant hand suddenly filling his vision.

It wasn't Mr. Stark's hand, and that scared him. But, before he could shout, the fingers wrapped around him, almost crushing the teen in a vice-like grip and drawing him out into the open. He was thrown unceremoniously onto paper and trapped in darkness in seconds, too fast for Mr. Stark to see. ]

He stood and was knocked off his feet by the movement of whatever he was in. "Mr. Stark!" he called as he was bounced on the hard bottom of what he assumed to be a briefcase, if the pens around him were any clue.

"Mr. Stark! Please!" He banged his fists, but with the soft cushioning, he knew he wouldn't be making much noise. His heart was beating too fast, and he was scared and being bounced around his mind just reacted, making him shout:

"DAD!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two men shook hands as they parted with a light laugh and Adrian felt his heart going a mile a minute. He did it. He had gotten the person who would help him get his family back.
He walked quickly to the front doors, nodding to people as he went. Just a few more feet....come on....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You're being very quiet," Tony said to Peter as he boarded the elevator. Reaching into his pocket, he thought to give the kid some air in the privacy, but his hand only came in contact with air. "Pete?" he called sternly.

"Now is not the time to be playing games. Come on, Peter." He patted his jacket and pockets down, but there was no Peter. Had he fallen out of his pocket?

"Friday, bring me back down!" he snapped.

He couldn't wait for the doors to open, his hands already pushing them apart as he ran out of the doors. "PETER!?" Tony called, not caring if he looked like an idiot. "Friday, give me video of the past ten minutes!" Stark had started shaking, breathing heavily as he ran his hands through his hair.

"Here they are boss," the AI said form his phone.

Tony pulled out his phone and ran through all the footage, stopping when he saw the man who dropped the papers. He had gotten closer to Tony, but the man watched his hand as it reached into Stark's pocket and withdrew...he zoomed in. A very scared looking Peter and threw the boy into his briefcase before slamming it shut.

Thoughts ran through the billionaire's head as he turned, looking left and right in a panic, people staring at him with worry and concern. Where did he go...THERE! "Friday! Put the building on lock down!" He said it too late, seeing the thief get through the doors jut as the AI did as he ordered. That man had his boy. That man was going to pay.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adrian heard a shout and he felt his heart stop. Clutching the briefcase handle, Toomes practically ran to the exit and was able to get out just as Stark's AI issued a lock-down of the building. Getting his remote out, the man hit the 'call' button as he ran, watching the blinking light on the small device.

Behind him he heard shouting and feet pounding as the guards chased after him. Seconds later, his wing suit came flying over the trees and he jumped up to grab onto it, the metal vest opening to allow him to climb into it. Strapping himself in, he hit the boosters, but apparently not fast enough, because in his way was a very pissed off Iron Man.

"Give me back my Peter," Stark said in a threatening voice, made colder by the robotic inlay of the helmet.

"Sorry, Stark, but I can't do that! You see, if I give this kid back to Hydra, I get my family back, and I can't risk their lives over your little pet. Now, stand down, tell your men to lower their weapons," he brought the briefcase up to his chest and pointed one of his latest weapons at it. "Or this little freak gets nice and toasty." He started up the gun, knowing Stark heard the high pitched whine.

"And what makes you think I can't stop you before you pull the trigger?"

"Because I know you'd never harm this boy. You've become his protector, his 'savior', although I have no clue why." Toomes was getting angry, and this wasn't the time or the place for it. "Now, stand down, or else." He powered up the gun even more and glanced at what it was at. He knew at this temperature, he could probably melt Stark Tower if it still existed.

Iron Man sighed and held his hands up, only to lower them. "This isn't the end," he challenged.

"No. It's my beginning." With that, Toomes was soaring high, the gun still pressed against the briefcase if anyone tried anything. He didn't notice, however, the small nano-tracker Stark had let loose as he was flying away to catch the inside of his pant hem.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter curled into a ball inside the briefcase as he heard the wind whistling over it. Why would Mr. Stark give up that easily? He didn't understand, he only knew he was going to be sent back to the people who tried to kill him in the first place and he was petrified.

He let out a yelp as his prison was suddenly set down, causing him to roll to his side as pens the size of him crashed into the boy. The floor of his container started rumbling, the vibrations going through him. Was he in a vehicle of some kind? A jerking movement told him the answer, so he simply let his senses do they're thing.

He could hear every gear in the engine, but he didn't want that. He needed information, but he hadn't tried listening to one particular thing. He'd only heard a jumble whenever he tried. But, he needed information. Focusing he singled out a man's voice above the engine and the grinding gears.

"You did a good job with that fake badge, Phineas. Thank you, for helping me get my family back. All we have to do is deliver the item to Hammer and we're good."

"I'm glad. I miss Lizzy and Dorris. Especially her cooking," a stranger said with the sound of licking his lips. The first voice chuckled.

"Well, when she hears what you did to get her and my daughter back safe, I'm sure she'll invite you to dinner for a year."

Silence fell over the car, until someone kicked the briefcase and Peter shouted, hitting his head against the inside.

"Careful!"

Peter felt gravity push him down and vertigo made his stomach lurch. He was getting sick of this, literally. The case was placed broad side down on what seemed like someone's lap if the beating of someone's heart was the tell. Peter wanted to know what was going on. Where were they going? How long was he going to be kept in the dark?

He moved and felt something brush against his wrists. His webshooters! He had no idea how he had forgotten about them. With the creation of his formula, he had them on at all times, just in case he had to get somewhere quickly without help, or someone accidentally dropped him, then he could latch on to the person's clothing. Adjusting them, he waited in the dark for the first sign of light. Then, he was out of there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's okay, Tony. It's okay. We'll get him back." Bruce had been saying the same thing over and over to the man who was literally staring at the wall, gaze hardened in anger as he thought. "Tony, you need to stop beating yourself up and start tracking the guy who took Peter."

The steel like gaze fell on the scientist. "You don't think I know this? I am tracking him, this very moment, but I can't go after him while he's moving with Peter. He held up some kind of, glowing gun to the briefcase, Bruce. If I had done something, even twitched a finger, Peter would be gone and I would be down a kid!"

Tony didn't care about the slip up. He was worried and pissed that he'd put the boy in danger. He shouldn't have listened and made Peter stay with Bruce, make the scientist go up to the common room or something. And what a great time for the team to be on a mission!

"Tony, nothing will come of you getting angry at me. Just take a breath."

"Screw your breathing, Banner! If I wanted to learn how to breathe, I would go to Yoga classes! I just want my kid back!" He started pacing back and forth, eyes on the screen that held the moving red dot. They were getting farther and farther away, and yet he was there just watching the men do it. He wanted to rage at someone.

He wanted to go and kill those sons of bitches. But, he had to keep watching the screen until it stopped. And it would stop. And they would get Peter back. And he would get his pound of flesh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter must have fallen asleep, because he was startled when the vehicle stopped and cried out when he was suddenly flipped back to the bottom of the case. Why couldn't these guys be more careful?

"Do you think I could take a look," said the driver from the car.

"Yeah. Just be careful. I have no clue what they did to it, but I know it's strong."

Strong? Oh, Peter was going to show them strong, and smart.

It was dark for a moment longer, but once the light peeked its way through, the boy fell into a crouch, one leg stretched out as a hand kept him balanced. Wait for it....A giant bearded face suddenly appeared and stared at Peter like he was an animal in a zoo.

"Oh my," he said, his breath enough to knock the kid out. "You know, it's kind of cute. Hey, little guy!" He waved at the boy, smiling brighter when he got a smile and a wave back.

The smile disappeared, however, when Phineas found his glasses covered in a white sticky substance. He cried out and fell back, trying to get the substance away from his eyes.

Peter took his chance and curled his legs, feeling his muscles bunch under him and he jumped as hard as he could. From the corner of his eye, he caught the enraged yet fascinated face of his captor and another man. He hadn't heard the third man in the car. He had another pair of hands to stay away from, which made his escape harder. Looking around the warehouse, he spotted a beam and aimed his hand at it.

Still not good with the activator, he almost knocked himself off course with the kickback, but he still caught it and swung to another beam while the giants below him struggled to coordinate.

"Catch him!" His captor roared, running to a suit. As soon as he started it up, green eyes lighting up the darkness of the van.

Peter almost froze in that gaze, the gaze from his nightmares, but he forced himself to move. A breeze washed over him and the teen looked up to see a large open skylight. He shot another web and launched himself out of the warehouse into the light of the afternoon. The sun was blinding after spending all morning sitting in the dark, but Peter wouldn't let that stop him. He landed on the roof and looked around at the junkyard around him. There were a million places to hide, but the question was could he get to one in time?

A large noise almost made him fall over as he ran for the shadows of the building's vent system, pressing his back to the overly warm surface. It was times like this he wished he still had the darker Thor costume.

"Do you see him?!" his captor said, startling Peter. That was the first time they had noted he was alive.

"No...I'm so sorry, Adrian....I didn't know that he had a weapon."

Peter stuck where he was as the breeze from the suit as it lowered tried to push him from hiding, but the boy gripped the concrete harder.

"Well, get out there and look for him! I'll take the air. Remember, he's freaking tiny!"

Suddenly the wind was back with a vengeance and Peter cried out as the rough surface tore at his fingers, trying to make him let go. And, just like that, it was gone and he watched the man disappear.

The boy took that moment to run to the edge of the building and looked down at the ground that looked so far away. "Okay, Peter, you've got this. It's just like in the gym."

Only there was no Mr. Stark waiting to catch him in a hand if things went bad. NO! He couldn't think like that. Everything was going to be fine, he would get away, and somehow, find a way to contact someone.

Peter took a moment to see if he knew where he was. It was somewhere somewhat secluded, that was for sure, but if he focused he could hear the sounds of the city. The only problem was he couldn't tell how far away it was, and with the piles of cars and metal, he couldn't tell where he was. He would have to make it to the top of one to look around.

With a nod he got on all fours and started scaling the building head first, which was scary to say the least. He froze when the blonde man from before came out. Another man, more intimidating, followed. Peter had to move soon, because the concrete of the building was hot in the afternoon sun and it was starting to burn his fingertips and feet.

"Man, you're smart, but stupid at the same time. How does Adrian expect us to find a kid this big?" He held his fingers millimeters apart.

"In a hurry," the blonde replied. "Go check the roof, I saw him go out that way."

Shit!

That sent the teen scurrying quickly down the hot surface, wishing there were shadows. He reached a ginormous open space and had to scale the building sideways in order to make his way around it. Peter saw his chance when the blonde man walked away and made his way down the side, scurrying as fast as he could before reaching the ground.

In a panic, he looked left and right and chose to go left, because his senses told him going right was a big mistake. Apparently going right was a mistake, too, because not soon after he started running, he heard the man from the roof scream.

"Phineas! There!"

"You guys don't play fair!" The boy muttered. "It's no fun to gang up on a little person!"

Peter shot another web onto the building and used the momentum to swing himself away from the thundering footsteps of Phineas running to catch him. In front of him was a very giant tower of junk, just what he needed. He made his way towards it. He veered to the left as he felt his neck tingle, and a giant hand tried to snatch him out of the air.

"Thank you spidey tingle!" he shouted. Peter landed on a particularly hot piece of metal and yelp, shaking a foot with every step he took as he ran up the pile. "That's so hot!" Finally he found a shadow covered little nook and dove in, panting and fanning his red feet.

His senses were quiet as rested, but he knew he couldn't stay there. In his bright outfit, he would be spotted no matter where in the shadows he went. He chanced a look outside the little cranny he had crammed himself into and saw a Phineas pass him and waited until the man disappeared around the pile.

He knew he had to get out of the yard, but it was a risky move, but he was smart and nearly invisible. He knew he could't get to the ground, because he was too easy to pick up or get stepped on. So, he had to use the junk piles.

Peter stayed as close to the pile he was in as he could as he exited his hiding spot, trying not to be weirded out by the pipe he had to climb over the was the size of a man's arm. "Crap," he had to jump into another nook as two of his captors met right beneath the boy..

"Have you found him yet?" the other man asked with a snap.

"Not yet. I..I think he's gone," Phineas answered softly.

Peter relaxed in his hidey hole. So they hadn't known what direction he could have gone in. That was good. He could hide in here for the remainder of the day and wait for-

"He better not be!" the voice of Peter's captor, Adrian said from above, the sound echoing through the forest of metal. "Look harder!"

Or he had to get out of there now. Peter gulped and looked around for a way to get away from the three giants, but there was no escape that he could take. If he moved in the junk pile, his outfit would give him away, the same thing with the ground and the air. He was stuck. Unless. He looked behind him and noticed there was a small sliver of light.

He got up and jogged to it, finding an opening barely big enough for him to slip through. Taking a deep breath, he shimmied through the opening, gritting his teeth as he felt his side being cut open by the sharp edges. "Oh man. I really hope I had my tetanus.."

Holding his wound, he made his way out of the opening, back pressed against the metal pile as Adrian flew overhead, those terrifying green eyes searching for Peter. He wished someone was there to help him. But, he was alone. Which, gave him the chance to prove himself to Mr. Stark and the others. But, he was still a kid in the end run. Well, it was time to grow up.

With a grunt, he shot a web at the junk tower closest to him and began to swing through the junk. As he did, he realized that this would have been a great place for him to pick up wires and things for the projects he was doing before he was captured. Maybe he would come back, if this Toomes guy was caught.

When Adrian passed, Peter let his webs fly. He had to admit, he was getting better at this. His arms didn't even hurt from controlling the kickback anymore.

He had to hide a few more times, each one getting more and more dangerous as his captors became even more irritated that they couldn't find him. By that time it was getting darker, which was not a good thing for Peter. He swung to the last pile and chanced a climb to the top to peek and see where he was.

Instantly he knew where he was, seeing the street sign of Houston blaring right in front of his eyes. He wasn't too far away from Bleecker street, which in turn meant civilization and maybe some help. Hopefully whoever he went to didn't think he was some radioactive mouse.

Bunching the muscles in his legs, Peter made sure he wasn't in anyone's shadow before jumping to the street sign, slamming into it with a small 'plink'.

"Ouch," he grumbled and climbed up to the top. Now, the whole thing was getting to where he needed to go without being spotted by one of the cats roaming the area. "Great."

Chapter Text

Tony watched as the little red dot stopped by Bleecker, instantly tapping his chest to have his suit form around him. But, then the dot moved all over the place after being stationary, but it seemed like it wasn't leaving the area, just going around and around it. What was that about?

"Do you need me to come? I can do a check up faster on Peter if I'm there." Bruce was worried about the kid in the hands of this asshole.

"No. Can't risk you breaking Greenwich if you accidentally chip a nail. I'll take care of this, but set things up just in case he's hurt." Which he better not be.

Tony took off from the lab out of the window that Friday opened for him. "Fri, show me where I'm going."

A small map showed up on the HUD, complete with the red dot which was still going in circles. Had the man found the nano-tracker? No, that was impossible, his tech was non-detectable. So what was he doing? Tony put on a burst of speed and broke the sound barrier, all the while watching the dot move with narrowed eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter was out of web fluid by the time he made it to Bleecker, which was farther than he thought it would be. The boy sat on a brick that was jutting out of the wall he had attached to and looked around.

It was now night and there was no one around. What was he supposed to do? Yeah, he had super abilities, but that didn't help him if he was the size of a skipper doll. He brought his legs up and curled his arms around them. He should have gone home, to May's. At least there, she would be able to help him get back to the Compound.

But, he'd done the stupid thing and now he was out of web fluid and too small to simply walk the streets and get on a train. He sniffled as he looked around the dark alley. He was alone, in the middle of the city with no way of getting back to where he would be safe. So, all in all, he was scared.

"Mr. Stark," he called softly into the darkness, sniffling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon suit made an appearance, Adrian had to freeze. He knew Iron Man would come looking, but he hadn't expected the man of the hour to show up so soon.

"Where is he?" Stark asked, anger in his metallic voice.

"Where is who?" Adrian asked. "All I see is you and me up here."

The billionaire raised his arm, nano-bots forming into a blaster. "I'm in no mood for games, you vulture. Where. Is. My. Kid?"

The gun started whining as it powered up and the light from it shone a bright blue. "Tell me why you took him!"

Adrian wasn't going to answer, but a voice got both their attentions.

"Justin Hammer has his family!" Phineas ran into view waving his arms to get Stark's attention. "Hammer has his wife and daughter. We don't know where the boy is, I swear! He shot my glasses full of this white gunk and got away using the junk piles."

Stark turned his attention to Toomes again. "When I come back, we'll talk. But, if Peter's hurt himself in any way, I will come back and do double that damage to you."

With that, his bots turned the suits arms back to normal and the propulsors jetted the man into the night sky.

Adrian felt his life beginning to crumble around him as he dropped to the ground, his legs giving out once he touch down. He sat in the middle of the junk yard while Phineas rushed to help him up. "We need to go," he said. "We'll have another chance-"

"No Adrian! This was our only chance, even you said that! We need to stay here and wait..." Phineas looked at his friend with trusting eyes. "You'll see Doris and Lizzy again, I'm sure of it."

"No...this is the only way I can face them, if I do this....I have to give this kid to the people who want him. Phineas, get out of here, I don't want you involved in any of this. Schultz!" His voice carried over the sounds of tinkering junk piles that vibrated. Phineas had made his way back to the building.

Herman came around the corner so quick he almost fell. "Go and try to find the little twerp," he breathed out, getting up and struggling under the weight of his wing-suit.

"Wait," Phineas called from the warehouse door, his tone sad. "Take this...just in case you get into trouble." He handed Toomes what looked like a mechanical glove. "Use it only in an emergency. It's only got a one time use."

Adrian smiled and squeezed his friend's shoulder. "Thank you," he said and took off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony had been searching the area for well over two hours, having Friday zoom his camera in, even turning on heat vision, but he still hadn't found Peter. Why did the rest of the group have to be on a mission right now? He could use their help. And that's when it hit him. Not everyone was on a mission.

"Friday! Call Pepper!"

"Yes Boss." At the first ring, Pepper's voice came on the phone, her breathing telling him she had ran to get her phone.

"Did you find him!?" she asked anxiously.

"Not yet, but that's why I'm calling. Can you have Bruce watch Morgan and come meet me? It'll go faster with two of us searching."

"Um, yeah, I'll be there soon."

With that she hung up and left Tony to keep searching alone for now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter was shaking now, the night air not agreeing with his small body. He had his knees tucked against his chest and his arms wrapped around them to try and stay warm, but that didn't really do much whenever the breeze came. He just wanted to go home and crawl into a blanket.

Why did all this stuff have to happen to him? Was it just the Parker Luck, or was it that life hated him? He didn't know, but he was really getting sick of it.

"I found him!" came a voice from the mouth of the alley, startling Peter out of his thoughts.

He saw a dark skinned man rushing toward him and instantly Peter was up and crawling up the wall as fast as he could, but that wasn't enough. He would have needed his webbing to get away, and he knew it the moment he saw the glowing fist.

"Not so fast, freak!" The man hit the wall and sent an energy pulse through the brick, destroying it under Peter's hands, leaving the boy grasping at nothing as he fell.But, he didn't fall for long, landing on the man's palm.

In one moment he saw light, the next nothing but darkness and a cramped feeling as the flesh squeezed around him.

"Adrian, I've got him. He was close to Bleecker, the sly little fucker. Coming back now."

With his advanced hearing, Peter could hear what the other man had to say over the obvious communicator.

"No. I'm coming for him. Wait for me there. I need to teach that little asshole a lesson."

The space the boy was in wasn't tight enough to stop the trembling.

"Yeah, you'd better be shaking, you little piss ant. You're in for it now."

They didn't have long to wait until the sounds of machines whirring down were heard along with footsteps. "Where is he?" Adrian snapped, anger in his voice.

"Right here," Peter felt himself lifted, and suddenly he was falling and let out a sharp gasp before he was in another fist, his head poking out.

He was lifted to an older man's face and looked into angry dark blue eyes. "Your father is looking for you," he hissed at the terrified teen. "Too bad daddy isn't gonna find you before I deliver you."

Pepper's voice startled them all into looking up, seeing the blue rescue suit hovering above them. "Well, it's a good thing daddy called in mommy, isn't it?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the blue suit appeared behind Adrian, he instantly got a feeling of dread. As if his family was already dead and gone. He couldn't do that to them, he couldn't lose them! So with a burst of speed, he flew off, gripping the tiny teen in his hand, feeling his bones almost snapping in the process.

But, he didn't care at the moment. All he saw was his family.

"Stop!" the female voice called again, but Adrian couldn't. Suddenly a flash of red and gold appeared in his view along with a bright light.

"I would listen to the lady," Stark's metallic voice said. "She doesn't mess around when it comes to our kids."

Toomes knew he was blocked on all sides, except to take the highroad option. "You want him!?" If he couldn't get his family back, then the people fighting for the boy wouldn't get him either. With a determined frown, he boosted himself up, climbing higher and higher. He could hear the couple closing in on him and kept looking down to judge where they were.

"Catch!"

Drawing his hand back, he threw the tiny teen straight down.

Peter screamed as he left the man's fist, feeling the air rush past him as he flailed. Tears gathered in his eyes as he shot past both the adults. He felt the cold brush of metal as Pepper reached out for him, but he had no way of catching himself and he fell towards the ground. He watched them both get farther away as tears burned his eyes. ]

"MOM! DAD!" He screamed, too terrified to even filter himself right then.

Suddenly, a flash of black and then flesh was around him, knocking the air from his lungs and he gasped as they fell to the ground and Peter was thrown from the grip up into the air, where the cloth around his shoulders was grabbed, followed by a feminine grunt.

"Are you all right?" the woman asked and Peter looked up to see someone tinier than he was carrying him.

"Y-yeah." Peter replied shakily. "Who are you?"

"Just a friend. Hold on, okay?"

Peter wasn't expecting what came next. The tiny woman brought him lower to the ground and then suddenly she was grabbing him in her hand as she grew!

The boy just stared up at her masked face, his eyes darting from the wings to her mask and finally to her suit. She didn't look at all familiar.

"Hope!" A man grew from out of thin air and Peter just stared up at them. "Get him outta here and back to the compound! Hank will be there in a few hours!"

The woman nodded and looked down at Peter. "You ready?" She didn't give him a chance to reply before she was shrinking down. The boy screamed as she was suddenly dropped, but then picked up by his suit again.

"I'm Peter, by the way!" The boy shouted over the wind as the woman sped up. "Peter Parker!"

Hope had to smile at the naivety of this boy. "Well, Peter Parker, it's nice to meet you. I'm Hope." The woman flew higher and higher and further away from the fight.

"Is Mr. Hank gonna help me?"

"Hopefully he'll be able to fix what's wrong. We got a distress call from the compound." She wasn't going to tell the boy that Scott had given a few ants in the vicinity the alert system, so when they'd gotten the signal, it was a good thing they were already on their way.

"Scott has been sticking up for you," Hope had fondness in her voice. "He's been bugging my dad to come and fix you for days, so when he called Dr. Banner, Scott really laid into him."

He had bugged her dad so much that he said he needed to get away from him that minute and packed everything, including the house. They were on a plane in minutes. "Hold on!" she shouted and sped up, gripping the boy harder as he swung from her grasp.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Give it up, Toomes!" Tony's voice was full of anger. "You lost. Peter is gone from here."

Adrian smiled. "You think your little building is going to keep him safe from me? How much do you want to bet that Hammer is there right now, since your band of freaks is gone and you've left the place unguarded?"

Pepper jolted in her suit and looked where she had seen Hope taking Peter. "Tony, we can't let her take him there!"

"Scott!" The billionaire was looking on the ground, not seeing him and afraid he'd taken off with Hope, when he heard his voice.

"How can I help you, Mr. Stark?"

"Tell Hope to stop where she is and hide, do not bring Peter to the compound. I repeat, do. Not. Bring Peter to the compound! It's been compromised."

"Got it!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hope's eyes widened and she cursed. "We can't bring you back to the compound, Peter. Mr. Stark is afraid it might have been breached. I don't know where to bring you, though."

"I know a place! And, Mr. Stark and Pepper will be able to find us" He sounded a bit scared, but tried to stay strong for Hope.

"You're doing great, Pete. Tell me where this is?"

"It's my home in Queens. I'm pretty sure Aunt May is doing one of her shifts, so the place should be empty, but easy to get into. She always leaves one of the windows open a crack, no matter how many times I've told her not to do that."

"All right. Direct me to it." She began flying and Peter told her which way to go. "Scott, did you get that? We're headed to Queens!"

"Got it! Mr. Stark, they're going to Queens."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Queens? What would they be going to Queens for? Then it hit him, Tony remembered reading the kid was from there. Good thinking. "Good. Tell them to lay low while I finish him off."

"I'll go meet them if you don't need help," Pepper volunteered and Tony nodded.

"Go ahead. I've got this bucket meal."

The woman in the blue suit nodded and started flying, then remembered Ant-Man. "Scott, do you need a ride?" Something landed on one of her eye pieces.

"I'm already on, Mrs. Stark. And it's nice to meet you, officially, that is." Scott saluted her from where he was hanging onto her mask, making the woman smile. Only Tony would have friends like these.

"Hold on," was all the warning she gave before shooting off. "Friday, give me a location on May Parker's apartment in Queens."

"Of course, Pepper."

She loved that Tony had made the AI a woman, and an Irish woman at that. Her voice could be so soothing. In seconds a map was up on her HUD, with a red dot signalling where Peter was heading.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony watched his wife take off, holding Toomes where he was until the light from her prepulsors disappeared into the fading light. "Now that that's over, I have you beat, Colonel Sanders." He aimed his gauntlet at the man's chest, the light powering up. "So, are you ready to talk, or do I have to blast you out of the sky?"

Adrian felt rage like he'd never felt before, but what caught him off guard was Tony's offer to talk. Although, he'd said he wanted to talk to him in the junkyard too. "What's there to talk about? You said you've already won...so I give up. You win." Adrian put his hands up, but was smirking behind the mask. He wouldn't let his family go that easily.

"Why do I not believe you would ever back down that easily? Listen, I know what it's like to have your wife and daughter taken from you. Do you know who I am?" He put his arms out as if to prove a point. "But, that doesn't mean I'm not a reasonable guy when it comes to others."

Toomes made a face. "Okay, you got me there, but I'm being serious! I want to help you."

"Why would you want to help the person who put your son's life in danger?" Toomes was confused.

"Because you did it for a reason. So, let's talk and we'll find out how to get them back. Maybe even get a little revenge on Hammer while we're here." Tony put his hand out. "Waitin' on you, big bird."

Adrian took a long moment to think it over, then firmly clasped Tony's hand in his then pulled the man toward him, reaching for his reactor.

"Phineas!" Adrian yelled into his earpiece, mechanical fingers breaking through the protective glass on his reactor and pulling it off. "They're in Queens! GO!"

Tony could only watch in shock and anger as Adrian crushed his reactor and took off in the same direction as Pepper. He fell like a missile, reminding him of the very first suit he built in that cave, crash landing in the sand. At least then he had something he could fall into that somewhat cushioned his landing.

Now, the only thing he had was a building, which he fell through like a ton of bricks. When he hit the floor, he had to gasp as air was hard to come by at that point. Luckily the suit stayed on the most important body parts, like his head and spine, or else he would be drooling creamed spinach when he hit the floor. He gasped for air as he reached for his phone, the helmet finally falling away to crumble to the ground.

"Call Pepper," he wheezed, blinking a few times to try and get his bearings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Happy? Happy, do you copy? Happy? Anyone?"

Happy had been watching from one of the darkened windows as robots hovered over the compound and all around, aiming guns at the building. He had to guess they were everywhere when the voice came over his earpiece. "Who the hell is this?" he snapped.

"Uh....I'm Ant-man," the voice replied.

"Who?" Happy asked, turning away from the window.

"It's what I'm called. My real name is Scott. But, that's-that's not important right now. Mr. Stark is in trouble! The guy who took Peter, he had some kind of mechanical glove that took Mr. Stark's nano-thingy!"

That was not good. "Hold on, my phone always has his location." Happy began fumbling with his new phone, cursing it a few times, before Tony's blip popped up. "Got him!"

"You'd better bring a new power thing for him, if he has one. And anything else he might need."

"That's gonna be difficult, seeing as we're surrounded by Hammer Drones right now." And he wasn't kidding. "I'll get us out somehow."

"Us?" Scott asked.

"Yes, us, as in more than one person." Geez, was this guy an idiot? "I'm on my way, I have a plan." He disconnected with Ant-Man-who makes up these people's names?- and ran to the lab, pressing in his code.

"It's Happy, don't green me!" He called and walked slowly in, hands raised.

"Calm down, you won't get hurt." Bruce said from the corner he had Morgan hiding in with a coloring book and some pencils. To keep himself calm, he'd actually done a few. "Heard anything?"

The bodyguard shook his head and looked at the little girl. "We've gotta go," he said lowly. "Tony was making an escape hatch, kind of, but it's not finished. Well, it is, but I don't know how stable it is. But, it's the only chance we've got. Grab Morgan, pack a bag."

"Where will we go?" Bruce was worried about Happy's plan, especially if Morgan was involved.

"Where we always go. A safe house." Happy smirked and hurried out of the lab to Tony's personal lab when the first explosion hit. Then of course, his phone had to ring.

Glancing it at, he groaned. "Why Tony?" He thought about sending the call to voicemail when another explosion hit and Friday's voice came over the speakers.

"Mr. Stark is breaking protocol and hacking his own system because you're taking too long," the AI said.

"Of course he is. Yes, Tony?"

"Hey Hap. What took so long? You on the toilet or something?"

"No...I'm just in the middle of getting a car to come get your sorry ass. I've already got your location."

"This is why I love you. Hey can you-" another explosion. "What was that?" He drawled.

"Justin Hammer is trying to bust his way in through Friday's guards." Happy covered his head as a bit of ceiling came down.

"Really? Him too? This is why we can't have nice things."

"Yeah yeah, just stay where you are! I'm coming!" With that he hung up and made a dash for Tony's lab. He grabbed a silver case, putting three empty nano-reactors in, with the car stealth modules.He was sure Tony would be able to use them.

By the time he was ready, Morgan and Bruce were already in the garage, waiting with bags by their feet. "Uncle Happy, is my daddy okay?" Morgan's little voice sounded scared and she jumped whenever an explosion went off.

"Yeah, honey, your daddy is fine. We just have to go pick him up and we're gonna go to Uncle Clint's place."

"Why can't we go home?" she asked, her bottom lip quivering.

"Because your house is too far away right now. Maybe once you and your mommy and daddy are together again, you can all go home."

"Peter too?"

Happy nodded and grabbed her hand, bringing her to a car and picking her up. "Yes. I'm sure Peter will be there, too." Or at least he hoped. "Everyone buckled in?" Happy asked once he was in.

Seeing the nods, he took off, speeding through the garage. Suddenly a large column fell in front of the car, making the man have to swerve, wincing when he heard Morgan shriek in fear.

"Hold on, Morgan. I'm here to take care of you," Banner soothed the girl, bringing her closer to his chest.

Happy hit a button in the car, and in the distance a ramp opened up that lead down into a dark tunnel that got darker when the ramp closed after the car was off it. The guard hit the brights and instantly the darkness was illuminated by the car as they traveled down the tunnel that seemed to go on forever.

An explosion hit, making the car tremble and Morgan whimper. "It's okay, honey. Uncle Happy's going as fast as he can." Another explosion and suddenly the tunnel was collapsing behind them, the ground getting closer and closer to the car. "OH SHIT!"

The driver stepped on the gas pedal and the tires spun and the car skidded a bit before it straightened out and shot forward through the dark tunnel.

Moments later Happy saw the light at the end of the tunnel and floored it. The car sped up the ramp that lead to the forest road, the speed causing the car to lift from the ground before slamming down. "How we doing back there?" Happy asked, glancing in the mirror. He got worried when he saw Bruce panting.

"We're okay," the scientist breathed. "Just go."

Happy nodded and floored it, following his GPS to where Tony was.

Chapter Text

"This is it!" Peter pointed down to a building they were flying over. If he wasn't scared out of his mind, he would be so impressed by Hope and her wings.

"Okay, I'm bringing us down." Slowly Hope lowered them to the roof, setting Peter on top of it before growing to her natural size. "I didn't realize how small they made you," she told the boy who stood little higher than her foot.

"I've gotten kind of used to it, actually." He smiled and shrugged, then turned to the door. "Can we get outta here before we get seen, though?"

Hope smiled and made a motion towards the door. "You're the one that lives here, so show me the way." The minute Peter started moving though, she knew it was a bad decision to allow him to lead the way. She had to wait at least five minutes before she even took a step. It was going so slow.

"Peter!"

The boy's head snapped up and he smiled when a blue suit came at them, landing a good distance away from the small boy. "Oh my god, Peter, are you alright? We heard the lock down code and I didn't know what was going on, then Tony called me...." She fell to her knees, face mask popping up as she bent over to look him over. "Oh, honey, what happened to your side?"

"It's nothing, Pepper, I promise! It's already healing, see? Scab's almost gone." He showed her the thin line that was visible under the scab. "I'm all right."

Pepper's eyes shone with tears as she scooped the boy into her cupped hands. "When I heard you were kidnapped, I feared the worst...I thought...Never mind what I thought, I'm just glad you're safe. You don't know how much Tony and I love you, Peter." She sniffled and pressed him close to her cheek.

Peter blushed and grabbed onto Pepper in the only sort of hug he could do. He couldn't wait to get to his normal size so he could hug everyone who helped him. "Thank you," he managed to get out.

"As much as I love these mushy lifetime moments, I think we'd better get inside." Hope's head swiveled back and forth as she looked around. Pepper nodded and stood slowly.

That was when Scott appeared from the ground, shooting up like the proverbial weed." Hey there," he waved.

"Let's go, Scott." Hope pushed his shoulder to the door and they all ran inside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pepper was currently out of her suit and sitting on the couch, Peter on the arm looking around with a nostalgic smile on his face. Suddenly her wrist bands lit up and Tony's very breathy voice came out of one.

"Pep, you're gonna have to get out of there now! I really screwed the pooch on this one, and Big Bird got away, but he knows where you are! I'm gonna have you contact Clint, tell him to let Laura know you're on your way to his farm. Piss Ant, you tell Hank where you're going. Be in touch right after I kick this chicken to the ground."

Peter's face went white and he jumped onto Pepper's shirt as she stood up, clinging to the material for dear life. "Tony, no! You can't go anywhere near him without the team!" Pepper said, peeling Peter off her shoulder.

"I'm not going anywhere, dear. He has my reactor. I..I let my guard down for one second and he tore it out. The suit's out of juice. Hon, I just need you to make sure you and Peter stay safe. I know I promised I wouldn't put you in danger, and here I am doing it again. Just go as fast as you can, Happy's coming to pick me up, and we'll go back to the compound so I can get another power source. Just, promise me you'll be careful."

"I promise, Tony. And you make me the same deal, you hear me? Morgan still needs you." She was already tapping her bracelets to let her suit crawl out of them, placing Peter down near her chin as the bots closed around her body.

"You got it, Pep. After this, we're gonna need a long vacation. Bring both the kids and just go somewhere we can have fun."

Pepper didn't want to correct him that they only had one child, because they didn't at this point. Peter actually felt like theirs and she liked it. "You got it, Tony. I love you."

"Love you too."

That was the last of their conversation. She turned to see Scott and Hope getting their suits ready. "You're coming with us, right?" Hope shook her head.

"No. You go, we'll hold off these guys, give you a head start."

"Yeah," Scott added. "What she said, right honey?" The woman simply rolled her eyes.

"I'll send you the address as soon as I'm done talking with Clint." The face plate closed around her and Peter, the boy fitting snugly against the woman's face. "You ready, Pete?" He nodded, face still red from what Tony had said, and she climbed the windowsill and took off, grimacing when Peter's scream echoed in the helmet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

May heaved a tired sigh as she exited the elevator and got her key out. Already she missed Peter now that she knew he was alive. She had the number to the compound, but she didn't want to bother them, especially if Peter was in 'training' to control his new abilities. The one they called Happy had been calling her a lot, though. She didn't mind him. He was actually kind of handsome.

The woman unlocked her door and walked in. And saw two people in weird suits standing in her living room.

"Who are you?" she asked, slowly making her way into the apartment and grabbing a vase, holding it above her head. "I know Iron Man and I will call him!"

"Miss, calm down," the winged-wait, wings!?-came forward, her hands up. "We're friends of Tony's too. We're here helping Peter."

"How can I confirm that?" She raised the vase more when the man lifted his face plate and smiled. "Can I call Happy?"

"Of course, yeah, go ahead. Would you like me to call him for you?" The man asked, giving her a lopsided grin.

"No...I'll call him." She pulled out her phone and dialed the number, still holding her 'weapon'.

"May? What's wrong?" Happy's voice came over the phone, his worried tone making butterflies in her stomach.

"There are two odd people in my apartment that claim to know Tony, as well as Peter. One has wings."

"Hey Happy," the man waved at the phone.

"They're good. But you have to get out of there, May! Some bad people took Peter, but we were able to get him back. Pepper has him and is on her way to Clint's farm with him. I'll send you the address and you get here as quick as you can. You need to leave the city just in case this asshole has something on you."

The winged woman cursed as she looked out the window, seeing a blue camarro screech to a halt in front of the building. "Looks like we're out of time." She turned back to May. "Miss, my name is Hope Van Dyne, and what you are about to see may seem weird to you, but know you are safe." She then looked to the man. "Ready Scott?"

"Oh you know it." His face plate went down and he pressed a button on his hand and disappeared!

"Where did he go?" May asked in a freaked out tone, raising the vase higher.

"He's still here, he's just the size of an ant right now. It's a lot to take in, but know we're here to protect you. Now, go over to the window and we'll get you out of here."

The woman did as she was told, cautiously making her way to the window, weapon still in hand.

"Just listen to what they say and you'll be fine. I'm picking up Tony, but once we have what we need, we'll be heading to the farm as well. Just wait for me."

May was nodding when suddenly she felt herself lifted and screamed when she was passed through the window by an unseen force. She fell, screaming the entire way, until she landed in Scott's arms, clutching his neck. "It's okay, I gotcha."

When she had her bearings, May started smacking him. "Never do that again!"

"Ow! Ow! Okay, okay! Stop hitting me!" Scott blocked every one of her strikes. When she moved to hit him again, that's when he noticed the man coming at them, fist glowing and an angry look on his face. "Down!"

He shoved the hysterical woman to the side and shrunk to avoid the sparking punch aimed at him, then grew to kick him and shrunk again. He played this game until the attacker grew tired of it and headed towards the wide eyed woman, determination in his eyes.

Herman flicked his wrist at her, sending a spark of energy towards her, watching as it zapped her arm just enough to attach the tracker Phineas had given him before he left. And just in time.

"Oh no you don't!" Scott grew and grabbed the man's denim coat collar and threw him back, adding insult to injury with a kick to his solar plexus. "Didn't your mother ever teach you it's wrong to hit women?"

The only response he got was a groan. "Miss, are you all right?"

May nodded shakily. "Yeah....yeah, I'm okay..." She still had the phone tight in her grip, hearing Happy's voice calming her down. "I'm okay, Happy. Scott was here. I'm going to my car now. I'll see you there." And she hung up, turning to Scott again. "Thank you, for everything."

"You're welcome, Ma'am. It's all part of the job." She smiled and ran to her car.

A second later, Scott answered an incoming call. "Listen here, you little shit, I saw her first and you'll leave your grubby mitts offa her, you hear me?"

"Happy?!" Scott answered in a shocked voice.

"Yeah, it's Happy. And you'll leave May alone, or so help me, there will be no unshrinking from where I'll send you. Got it?"

"Um...yeah, I got it...." Scott gulped as the line went dead. "That was weird."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Glancing at his watch, Tony had to tap his foot in impatience. He had watched Adrian Toomes take off in the direction of his wife what felt like two hours ago and here he was, still waiting for Happy to turn up. He knew it was a long drive from the compound, but this was ridiculous. Suddenly, he saw a black car speeding to where he was, spinning out on the pavement until it stopped right next to him.

"Sorry I'm late, boss. But, had a few things to pick up."

"Daddy!" Morgan's smiling face came around Happy's grump.

"Really?" Tony asked as he went around to the passenger side. "You do realize I'm going to have to go back to the compound, right? To pick up another nano-reactor?"

Bruce suddenly appeared, looking a little ragged. "Scott actually called us not too long after your fight with Toomes, so Happy thought to bring a couple, just in case." He patted the case next to him.

"And this is why I so would have married you over Pepper, but you didn't accept that night when I asked." Tony slid in and took the case from the scientist's hands. "Did you grab the stealth-"

"We grabbed everything." Happy told him, starting to drive. "And, if you recall, which you probably won't, you were so drunk that night you asked a lamp post to marry you." He glanced back. "Morgan, sweetheart, you're gonna have to buckle up. Uncle Happy has to drive like a maniac."

The little girl nodded and she did as she was told. "Is Peter okay?"

Tony's heart leaped a little at that question. "Yes, honey. Peter is just fine. We're gonna go see him, okay? He's at Uncle Clint's farm." Or, at least he hoped he was.

His bots had just finished crawling into the new nano-chamber. He lifted his shirt and placed it onto the electromagnets in his chest. He'd opted to keep them in from his first reactor for future designs. "What was going on at the compound?" he asked as the last of his suit stored itself.

"Well....Justin Hammer was in the process of....blowing up parts of the building to get in." Bruce said lowly.

"What? And you just left him there with all my research?" Tony was agreeably angry now.

"Well, it's not like we had a choice," the scientist said nodding at Morgan. "Plus I'm sure Friday has all of your files locked down in an impenetrable system."

"Fri, lock down all my files and seal the file room," he said to his phone.

"Already done, Boss. Justin Hammer has not gotten past my defenses, but he has done considerable damage to the inner frame work."

Tony sighed. "And this is why we can't have anything nice. All right, keep him out as long as you can. I'm on my way."

Happy put a hand to his chest. "Not without the team you're not," he told the billionaire. "Last time you fought Hammer, you had Rhodey to help you, and you two barely made it out of that one alive."

"Okay, one you're exaggerating. Two, my tech has gotten so much better since then. And three, where are we gonna stay?"

"We could go home," Morgan said lowly in the silence of the car.

"Yeah, but it's too far. Remember how Uncle Happy said it was too far?"

"Maybe for you," Tony said. "So, we'll wait for the team to be done with their little side quest, gain the experience points and we'll all go face the dragon in the cave together."

"Thank you," Happy stated and they drove in silence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pepper saw the farm in the distance and heaved out a sigh. Getting the address from Happy, she had asked Friday to plot out the shortest flight plan. Nonetheless it took them almost five hours to get to the safe house and she was sure Peter was uncomfortable being pressed against hard metal and her chin.

"A call is coming in from Ms. Laura Barton," Friday informed her.

"Answer," she said, wincing when her speaking made for an even tighter space for the teen. "Peter, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Pepper. Just a little cramped." the boy groaned out after the vibrations surged through him.

"Mrs. Stark? Is that you coming towards us?" A female voice came over the phone line connected to her suit.

"Yes. You must be Laura, right?" The suit automatically slowed its propulsion and she landed softly on the grass.

A dark haired woman came out of the large house, worry on her face as she looked over the blue suit. "Mrs. Stark?"

Pepper touched her bracelets which held her suit and felt it crawl over her skin. Still a new and weird feeling to her. The minute the bots withdrew from her face, she reached out a hand to catch Peter as he dropped.

"Hello, Laura. Call me Pepper, please. It's nice to finally meet you." The blonde climbed the stairs, looking at the beautiful porch, so much like her own home. "You have a gorgeous house."

"Oh, uh thank you. And I assume this little guy is Peter, right?" Laura bent down and smiled at the boy sitting in Pepper's palm.

"Um, hello, Mrs. Barton. It's, uh, nice to meet you." Peter blushed under the very pretty woman's gaze.

"It's Laura. Any friend of Clint's is a friend of mine, especially the ones who protect the world." She had to love this boy, from his red face to his manners. If only Clint would learn from someone.

"Well, it's nice to finally meet you, Laura. Tony and Clint talk about you a lot, so it's nice to see a face. Are your kids home?" Pepper tried to see past her into the house.

"Fortunately, no. They went over to a friend's to play some kind of video game. I don't know who's worse, them or my husband." The two women shared a laugh over that. "Please, come in," Laura stepped aside and let the woman in the door. "This place is completely off anyone's map, besides the Avengers, of course. So, you're safe here."

"Thank you so much. We really do appreciate you opening your home to us like this."
"Like I said, any friend of Clint's is a friend of mine. And speaking of Clint, he said he was on his way home. The others told him to leave and come here."

"Clint also said something about Dr. Banner coming as well." She liked the shy doctor, and thought he was a perfect match for Natasha. It was just a shame they wouldn't be able to have their own children. They could always adopt. But, she didn't know what the 'other guy' would think of children running around.

"Yes, Dr. Banner will be coming here, along with Tony and Morgan. And, I think three more people." Pepper didn't have a chance to ask Scott and the other woman if they were going to join her.

Laura's face fell a little. "Oh." Was all she said. She liked this house and didn't want it being blown up by some psychopath.

"It's okay. Trust me, Tony would only allow someone he trusts to work on Peter." The only thing was, he had to trust this Pym guy, and she didn't know him. So, she was hoping that she didn't just lie to this woman.

Chapter Text

"Hey!" Nat's voice came over the com as Clint made his way down the highway on his bike, wind rushing through his hair. "How about a little company?"

The roar of another bike made the archer look to his side and he smiled. "Hey, what took you so long?"

"Oh, you know, my hair was a mess and I couldn't find anything to wear." She pulled up to the side of her friend and smiled, revving her engine.

"You didn't have to follow me," Clint said, turning around a bend. "I would have been fine on my own."

"Oh, I know. But I haven't seen my niece and nephews in so long, so I thought it was time."

Clint gave her a side smirk. "Don't use my kids as an excuse. You're just worried about Peter, just like the rest of us. Come on, I know you." The woman snorted.

"Look, just because he hasn't done anything doesn't mean he won't. I still don't trust him fully." Until he was out of the facility and away from Tony's work.

"Yeah, yeah, tell me another one. Just, don't be too hard on the kid, okay? I'm sure he feels like this whole thing is his fault." When he had talked with him the other day, he'd gotten to know him, taking subtle hints from the way he acted, so he could take a knowing guess to how the boy was feeling.

"I'm not blaming him for anything. I just don't trust him, that's all." And she hadn't since the day he was brought to the compound.

The archer stayed silent after that, just letting the wind blow over his helmet. He heard a strange noise and looked up to see a private plane go overhead heading straight for his home.

Being that his area was a no fly zone, he got nervous and picked up the speed, Natasha on his heels as they rounded the last bend before they veered off a dirt road that led to his home. He had to get there soon and make sure Laura was all right.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How long would it take to blast a freaking hole in a building!? Hammer was loosing his patience. "Come on guys, let's make it efficient here!" he complained from the car window, watching as droid after droid crashed into the Avengers facility. And every time, when the smoke cleared, there wasn't even a dent in polished white outside. "Dammit!" he pounded the inside of the car.

"Please calm down, Mr. Hammer," Mr. Ward's tone of voice was bored. "You've obviously underestimated Mr. Stark's defenses."

"Never tell me that again!" Justin seethed. "I am superior to Tony Stark in every way!"

Ward held up his hands in a placating manner. "Okay, just calm down and gather your bots. There has to be a weak spot. A way in."

"I can't scan the building for anything because of the fucking AI Stark built! It has ti have a weakness!" He hit the seat again and again like a child who didn't get his way.

"Hammer," Ward said in a dangerously calm voice. "I will not listen to your screaming like a petulant child." Justin took a moment to calm himself, taking a deep breath.

"I apologize. I'm not used to loosing so easily."

"Everyone loses at one time or another in their lives." Ward raised an eyebrow as if to enunciate his point.

"Yes...I suppose they do." Justin tapped his small tablet. "And I know when I'm beat, and-" he was cut off by his phone ringing. Confused, he answered the unknown number. "Hammer here."

"I know where the kid will be," Toomes' voice rang from the other end. "I know where they're going. Phineas is tracking the car the boy's mother is in as we speak."

"And how are you doing this?" Justin was very cautious with this, being as Toomes had shunted him in the past. And he didn't like being two timed. "How do I know I can trust you right now?" Sure he had Toomes' family, but he had to know that the man wasn't leading him into a trap.

"Herman put a locator onto the woman's clothing that was built by Phineas. They're heading towards where the boy is now, I know it." Toomes didn't sound like he liked asking for help very much, which delighted Justin immensely.

"Okay, I'll bite. Send me the coordinates of the tracker. I'll go quietly this time to make sure I get the item." He gave Ward a thumbs up who nodded and got on the phone himself. "I'll tell you where your family is after I have the kid." With that he hung up and a second later, his phone rang and he pulled up a mini-map of the area where the locator was headed.

"Perfect."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Placed on the arm of the couch, Peter was left there while Pepper went over to where Laura was already chopping up greens for a salad. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"How are you at making burgers?" Laura pointed to a large bowl full of ground beef.

"I can do that." Pepper made sure Peter was still on the couch and set to forming the patties.

In the meantime, the small boy felt useless as he stood watching from the couch. He'd never really voiced his opinion about not being able to help, but this was his mess too. It all happened because of him, so he at least wanted to help make dinner. Slowly making his way to the edge of the couch, he used his sticky abilities to get himself to the floor, grateful the couch was low.

Once he was on the wooden boards, he started running over to the counter, wincing when his gait had pulled the wound on his side. He stared up at the adults towering at least eighty feet over him, knowing full well that they didn't know about him being on the floor, so he had to be careful around them.

"Pepper!?" he shouted, standing close to the woman's shoe, keeping an eye on its movements. "Pepper!?" he shouted again and the woman glanced up, her line of vision going to the couch and she automatically stopped what she was doing.

"Peter?" she called and looked down at the floor around them, stopping when she spotted him. "Oh my god! Peter, you know you shouldn't be on the floor! What if I had hurt you?" She crouched down and went to grab him, but her hands were full of meat. "Up here, now," she ordered in a serious tone.

"I'm sorry," Peter grunted as he started to climb the up the counter, glad they were polished wood, because he would have had so many splinters by the time he reached the top. "I just wanted to help, and I knew you wouldn't be able to hear me from the couch, so I came to you." He stood by the half full bowl of ground beef, the top of his head not even coming to half the height of said bowl.

Laura smiled at the picture the two made. Yeah, it was a little weird to have a boy the size of a mouse standing on her counter, but at the same time she found him endearing. "You know what," she said before Pepper could speak. "I know something you can do. Just give me a second." She nodded at the woman who frowned at her and walked from the room to give them a minute.

The strawberry blonde waited until they were alone before she started berating the teen. "Peter, you know how dangerous it is for you right now. What if you had gotten hurt? Or worse?" She shook her head, a disappointed look on her face. "I heard you'd made a promise to Tony that if you needed help with anything you would ask. Why didn't you ask for help getting here?"

The teen scowled at the counter top, his fists curling halfway. "Because all I do is make things worse! I want to help make something nice at least." He couldn't look up at her face with the guilt of knowing that he couldn't do anything.

"Peter, that is not true. Nothing is your fault." Pepper leaned down to look at him at his level, which had the boy looking straight at her. "You are a victim of unfortunate circumstances that made you this way." She gave him a small smile. "And if you hadn't come into our lives to shake things up, we'd just be boring anyway."

The teen let out a small laugh at that, then the discussion stopped when Laura sauntered back into the kitchen.

"Here you go." She handed the small boy something, smiling knowingly at Pepper. "It doesn't hurt to have a man around the house who knows his way around some tools. And has glue and tape on hand."

Peter smiled brightly when he saw the box cutting blade sticking out of the green handle like a pieces that were taped together.

"You can help chop." She placed the peppers she'd already sliced up in front of the boy in a large pile.

Still smiling, Peter grabbed one of the slices that were as tall as he was and started making little cubes.

The 'knife' was too big for him to hold in one hand, so he had to use both, but he was glad to be helping. Next to him, Pepper placed down the burger patties until there were only scraps of meat in the bowl and started shaping little hamburgers for Peter. It was then her bracelets lit up and Tony's voice came from the small speaker.

"Pep? You there?"

"Tony! Oh god, I was so worried about you! Are you all right?" Pepper immediately put the knife down. "Friday, transfer to a video source. You don't mind, do you, Laura?"

The brown haired woman shook her head, watching Peter to make sure he didn't hurt himself.A second later the television in the family room lit up and Tony's smiling face took up the screen.

"Hey Pepper. Long time no see."

"Yes, you jerk. Where are you?"

"Actually, I'm on my way to the farm...with a couple of surprise visitors." The screen suddenly shifted and a smiling Morgan was seen sitting the back of the car, playing a hand game with Bruce. "I hope they're not too much of an opposition."

Laura smiled. "It'll be a regular party here. Just let me know when you're in the state ad I'll have something for dinner waiting."

"No, don't worry about it. I'll have some delivered." Tony really felt bad about putting all this on the woman and wanted to make up for it. He couldn't do much, but there was so much money could buy.

"Mr. Stark?" Peter called, gripping the knife close to him, pressing it against his chest. "I am so sorry about this...I know it wasn't my fault, but I still feel like it is, and I put your family in danger...and I'm sorry."

Tony sighed and the women heard Happy snort in the background. "Pete, this is not your fault, really. Unfortunately my company hired idiots for guards. But, I'm not mad, I promise. I'm just thankful you're safe."

Morgan chose that moment to look into the screen. "Peter? Is that you?"

"Hi, Morgan," the tiny teen said with a shy little wave.

"Don't you worry about anymore bad guys coming to steal you away form us! We're a family full of bad-asses!" the girl said proudly.

"Morgan!" Pepper gasped. "Where did you hear that?" She scowled at her husband who looked a little too sheepish.

"Remember what daddy said about adult words, Morgan? Seriously, she's like a little sponge! But, we'll be there by the morning. Keep the grill hot for us." He smiled and the screen went blank.

"That man, I swear.." Pepper sighed with a smile, turning to the sink to wash her hands. "Keep chopping, Peter. We're gonna have a lot of people to feed."

At that moment, they heard what sounded like a plane coming in for a landing, skidding on the pavement of the long driveway. Laura wiped her hands on a towel and peeked out the window to see a white haired man getting out alone. "Is he a friend?" she asked Pepper who came up behind her.

"Oh my goodness.....that's Hank Pym."

"Seriously? The guy who can fix me!?" Peter sounded too excited as he ran to the end of the counter, trying to figure out a way to see out the window, but it was way too far to jump it.

"Calm down, Peter. We don't know if he can fix you right now." Pepper didn't like saying those words, but she didn't want Peter to feel horrible if they found out his situation was permanent. Of course, if that was the case, she would definitely talk to May Parker about adopting the teen, letting him live with them full time. So, in a way, as horrible as it was, she hoped Pym wasn't able to fix the boy, but for his sake, she hoped the man could.

They watched the white haired man walk down the driveway and he started up the steps when Laura shook herself out of her daze. "I guess I better go invite him in," she said, awe in her voice.

Never would she have guessed that the infamous Dr. Hank Pym would be coming up to her door, or that she would have met the great Tony Stark so many years ago...but this was all happening in her life, and she couldn't be more grateful.

The woman got to the door just as Dr. Pym was about to knock, his hand in the air when she threw the door open. "Welcome, Dr. Pym!" God, she sounded like a starstruck teenager. "Why don't you come in? I'm sure your travels must have been so tiring." She stepped back and allowed the man to walk through the front door, closing it behind him.

"Thank you, Ms....?"

"Oh, it's Mrs. Mrs. Barton, but you can call me Laura."

"Ah, well it's nice to meet you, Laura. And Pepper, always a pleasure to see you." He started walking towards the woman when something caught his eye and he stopped.

"My god..."

Hank had never seen anything like the boy standing on the table, holding a blade that was small, but obviously too big for him. For decades he'd been trying to do what he thought was impossible, but here was the proof right before his eyes. Scott had done what he couldn't, and now the man was gone, as well as his research. The only living thing left of him in this world, was this tiny miracle.

"Hello there," he whispered, afraid to say anything too loud just in case this boy's hearing was too acute to bigger sounds.

"Hello," the tiny teen said back, nervously switching from foot to foot, clutching his knife to his chest, almost as if it were a barrier. "I'm Peter Parker."

"It's nice to meet you, Peter. I'm Hank Pym." Slowly, he brought his pinky finger out to shake the teen's hand, a wondrous expression on his face when Peter grabbed his finger. Instantly he felt the dash sized digits sticking to his skin and had to cock his head in confusion. "You stuck to me," he whispered, wanting to get every bit of information from this experience.

"Oh...sorry about that. I tend to do that when I'm nervous, and then I talk way too much. Mr. Stark calls it my 'nervous babble', which I know is his way of saying he notices, so I'm cool with how he words it..and I now noticed I'm doing it again." Peter blushed and looked down, his fingers still gripping the man's pinky.

"It's okay, Peter. There's nothing to be nervous about." He tended to stay away from children, besides his own and Scott, but this boy seemed to pull Hank in to his demeanor. Made him want to protect him. It was astonishing.

"Dr. Pym," Pepper said, getting the man's attention. "I was wondering if maybe I can talk to you?"

The man nodded and pulled his hand away, but stopped when he realized Peter was still stuck to his hand. "How is he doing that?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," the woman stated. "Peter, it's okay. We'll be right back, okay?"

"Right, sorry, sorry." Peter took a deep breath and the man felt the boy physically pull away from his skin. It was absolutely amazing.

"Don't worry about us, we'll keep busy, right Peter?" Laura smiled at the boy who nodded and went back to chopping. Hank was unable to take his eyes off the small teen until they turned the corner.

"Dr. Pym, Peter is...well, he's a special case, I guess you can say. Tony or Bruce would be able to explain it better, but I'm here right now, so I'll have to do. When this happened to Peter, apparently Hydra injected him with what Bruce explained to be...radioactive spider venom or DNA, I don't remember all the specifics. But, when they did that, Peter..changed. He went from being a normal, every day boy to someone with abilities." She rubbed her temple, strain on her face.

"Just, know that he'll ask if you can fix that, too, so he can go back to his normal life. But, Bruce told us all that it would be impossible without killing Peter. And I don't want that." She lowered her hands. The thought of Peter in any danger was enough to make her want to collapse. "No, I don't want him hurt, or dead."

"So you love him." Hank kept his face neutral, his tone was straight to the point and Pepper had to laugh as she nodded her head.

"Yes....yes, and yes," she affirmed. "I love that boy like he's my own...he's only been around two months, and I would do anything to keep him safe. He's a member of the family, and if he didn't already have his aunt, I would adopt him no matter what Tony said. But, I'm sure he would agree in a heartbeat. He feels the same way about Peter, if not stronger. Morgan even loves him. It's impossible not to."

Pym smiled softly. "I understand, Pepper. But, this information of his DNA being restructured, does complicate things everything. I'll have to get a blood sample, run some DNA diagnostics on him, and test his abilities, all before we can talk about getting him fixed, if that's even possible. Sean's work was all in the files he destroyed, so the only thing I have would be Peter." He felt his heart drop to the bottom of his stomach at the thought of his friend, but he shook it away. This was no time to be sentimental.

"Please know, that I will do everything possible to fix your son-Peter. To fix Peter. But, it will be dangerous, especially if we don't have any of the files that Sean had."

Pepper nodded, but her face relayed her fright. "I understand, Hank. Thank you." He simply nodded and walked back into the room to see Peter again.

Chapter Text

"Anyone home?" Clint walked through the door, head turning left and right until he came into the living room. His wife was sitting with a strange man and Pepper on the couches. "Honey, who's this?"

Laura turned to him and her face lit up. "This is Hank Pym. Hank, this is my husband. You may know him as-"

"Hawkeye," Pym said with a nod. "Yes, I've heard of you from Dr. Selvig. He actually talks very...let's say highly of you."The archer smirked as the two shook hands.

"Well it's a good thing that the old man hasn't forgotten who I am, you know after surviving Loki together."

"Yes, well, let's hope he never has to 'survive' another Loki again. His mind can't take it." They parted, each taking their respective seats, though Clint stayed close to his wife.

"I checked the perimeter and it looks like we're safe for now." Natasha walked in, casting a threatening look at Dr. Pym. "Where's Peter?"

"Over here," Pym said, motioning to the coffee table where the boy sat, almost unnoticeable. His outfit was ripped in places, leaving healing wounds visible and he was fiddling with his wrist bands.

"Looks like he'll need a new outfit," the hit woman observed. "What happened, by the way?"

Peter looked up. "I was taken.... But, I knew that man." His voice was so low everyone had to move closer just to hear him. "His name is Adrian Toomes. He's the father of one of the girl's in my school, her name is Liz. She's really pretty, smart, head of the yearbook committee."

"You like her," Clint had a knowing smile on his face.

"What!?" the boy shouted, his face turning red. "N-no I don't! Stop being ridiculous uncle Clint." He looked away, pouting.

"Uncle Clint?" Laura asked. "Since when did this happen?" She didn't mind it at all, but she knew the look on Peter's face, and he needed the subject to be changed.

Luckily, Clint knew what she was doing."Well, I figured that he needed to call me something other than Mr. Clint. The name gave me the heebies." He shivered dramatically for the group's sake.

"So that gave you the right to Uncle?" Natasha teased.

"Of course!" Clint moved over to where Peter was and sat next to him, making sure not to crowd the small teen. "He's got a cool uncle now. Unlike a tired old dad like Tony." The minute the words left his mouth, Clint knew he had messed up.

"Clint!" Peter hissed, getting up to punch the man in the thigh with all his strength, which actually hurt.

"Ouch...sorry, Pete..." He looked guiltily down at the boy who seemed crestfallen, his face almost ghostly white. Pepper chose that moment to lean forward, putting her hands on the table around Peter when it looked like he was going to run for it.

"Peter, is that true?" Her eyes shone with what looked like hope to everyone else. "Do you really see Tony as your father figure?"

It took a second for Peter to nod, not looking at Pepper. How could he? He was sure the woman hated him for thinking of her husband, the father of their child like that. He didn't have a chance against Morgan, and he wasn't going to contest her for that.

"Oh, honey. Please don't be embarrassed....in fact, in the past, I've almost called you my son, and I know Tony has called you his kid before, too."

The teen's head shot up, a shocked look on his face. "R-really?" The woman nodded with a smile. "But....I just feel so guilty," he said lowly. "I have May, and if she hears that I called you and Tony...you know," he waved his hand. "Then she would be really upset and be mad and disappointed..."

"I've only met your aunt once," the blonde said. "But, I know she would never feel disappointed that you found someone in your life that you could look up to. I'll tell you what, though. We'll call her later and I'll leave you alone to talk to her, okay?"

The teen nodded, putting his head down. But, it wasn't out of guilt. No, this time it was happiness keeping him from looking at Pepper fully. "So...so you wouldn't mind it if I called you....Mom?"

The blonde woman let out a small laugh. "Mind? Peter, you've been living with us for what? Almost two months now? You've wormed your little self into our hearts within the first three days. I would love it if you called me mom. But, only if you're comfortable with it." Her heart almost exploded at that moment.

Suddenly, Peter felt the rumbling of footsteps, but he felt no car. Whipping his head to the door, he watched, shaking with fear. Who was it now? It was the knock on the door that proved it was someone safe, or at least he thought. He still hid, climbing down from the table top to the leg and to the floor. He scurried under the couch just as Mrs. Barton had opened the door. He watched the feet around him move, noting no one seemed alarmed, and that put him at ease.

"Peter? You can come out now," Pepper's voice came from above him and Peter slowly made his way out from his hiding spot.

"Hey there," Hope smiled at the little teen, squatting to not seem so large. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah..thank you, Ms. Hope, for everything. You know, saving me and stuff..." He stared down at his hands.

"Think nothing of it, Pete. It was a pleasure to get to know you." She stood up and turned, keeping an eye on the boy on the floor. "Has there been any word from Mr. Stark?"

"Yes, he's all right. Him, Morgan and Bruce are on their way." Pepper noticed the way Natasha's eyes lit up and hid a smile. "We were just finishing making dinner if you'd like to help?"

"Sure, I could help." Scott then turned to Hank. "Did you bring the machine with you?"

"Of course I did," Pym scoffed. "I'm not an idiot like you." He motioned towards his circular bag on the counter. "I'd like to wait until Dr. Banner gets here. He's been studying Peter longer than I have and he knows a great deal more." The man looked towards the boy in the woman's hand, eyes softening when he noticed him shaking a bit. "Peter," he said softly. "What's wrong?"

The boy shook his head. "Nothing. I'm just a little cold."the boy lied. He stared at everyone's shoes warily, jumping every time one of them moved.

"Sean wasn't able to get your heart rate up enough to keep your body warm. I suppose that would be hard to actually change the inside of a human, not just their DNA." He sighed and shook his head. "I can understand why he did this, but why not take the boy's vitals into effect? Sean is a better man, a better scientist than this. I just don't understand." Hank knelt down, offering a hand.

It was slow because Peter didn't know this man, but he wanted to get away from the feet as soon as possible. He'd never been around this many people with him on the floor before.

Hank was in awe of the feeling of the small human in the palm of his hand and he smiled all the way to the counter, where he set his hand down and opened it fully for the boy to climb off.

Which Peter did as soon as he was set on the counter near his 'knife' and immediately grabbed it, setting to chopping up the last of the pepper slices Mrs. Barton had given him before company arrived. He was almost done when suddenly fingers wrapped around him and he let out a small yell as he was lifted from the counter, knife clattering to the surface as he turned to see Mr. Clint grinning at him.

"You've done enough from what I can tell. Come on, you need a break, and I need video games. Ever played Mario Kart?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Justin tapped his fingers against the armrest on the door of the limo, watching the scenery as they passed. He glanced at the holographic map, watching the dot slowly move forward. How far was this place? He was getting antsy.

"Calm down," Ward's voice cut in on his thoughts. "The person the tracker was attached to will get there eventually and all we have to do is follow."

"But," Hammer rivaled. "What if the person isn't going to where the kid is? What then?"

Ward shook his head. "They're going to him. I wouldn't doubt that's the boy's mother."

Hammer nodded and sat back, watching the world pass them by again. He was angry they couldn't take the plane, but this also gave him a chance to work on some of his coding. Taking out his tablet, he began typing furiously.

It had been a good few hours before Ward got his attention. "There, see? I told you."

Justin looked at the dot that had finally stopped. "Map," he ordered, and instantly a large map was pulled up, almost taking up the majority of room in the car. "Iowa?" Justin quirked a brow. "What could be in Iowa?"

"Well, we're about to find out." Ward tapped the glass to get the driver's attention, Hammer sending the coordinates to him. "You have the destination."

The driver nodded and sped up. Justin leaned back with a smile. He loved it when a plan came together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh come on!" Clint huffed and sat back, staring at the screen. "How did you beat me, kid? Can you even reach all the buttons?"

Peter smiled victoriously as he let the remote control go. "Barely, but that's enough to beat you apparently."

Clint scowled playfully at the boy, swooping down on him, his fingertips attacking his hair, making him balk and try to get away. "Oh no you don't!" With a grin, Clint put his hand behind Peter, blocking his escape. "Now you're mine." He then turned to tickling, making the boy laugh.

Laura shook her head smiling. "I swear, he's worse than the kids."

Pepper laughed when she heard the teen let out a particularly loud giggle. "But I'm glad Peter has someone he can talk to."

"Uncle! Uncle!" Peter cried from the couch, tears streaming down his red face. "I give up!" He batted at the huge fingers attacking his sides, his laughter turning to giggles when they finally stopped.

"I thought so," Clint said smugly. "How's dinner coming?" He turned to look at the women behind the counter, smelling the peppers and onions.

"It would come faster if you got off your lazy butt and helped," Laura threw a playful glare at her husband.

"But if I do that, who will spend time with Peter here?" He picked up his remote. "Rematch."

"No," said Mrs. Barton, walking over to the couch and grabbing Clint by the ear, dragging him to the kitchen while Peter laughed.

Scott took his place, sitting closer to Peter than he was used to anyone sitting, and the dip in the couch suddenly had him falling into the man's thigh. "Mr. Scott! Could you move over please?"

Suddenly the dip was gone and Peter was left staring at a tiny man, smaller than the boy, staring up at him and waving. "Sorry about that. I forget what it's like, you know, to be small. Think this is a better match?"

Peter smiled and nodded, lifting the remote over to Scott and hit the play button. "But, will you be able to reach the buttons?"

Hope came over and sat on the other side of the two. "Don't worry about that." She clicked her belt and a red disk came out of a small segment. She placed it on the remote and clicked a small device in her hand and the remote suddenly was gone! "That should be better, and if it doesn't work, then that's even better." She smiled smugly at where she thought Scott was, imagining him glaring up at her.

The little teen sat next to his remote, dragging the joystick over to his side and they started the race. Unfortunately, Scott's controller did work, and that meant he was able to beat Peter, leaving Clint groaning in the background. "This is so not fair! Now I have to win my title back from two people!"

The sound of a car pulling up to the house made everyone stop. Scott grew to his natural height and on instinct grabbed Peter, hiding him in his fist, thumb pressing his head down. "Sorry little man, but I can't risk you being put in danger, not when we're so close to fixing you." He brought his fist down to his waist, glancing at Hope.

Pepper brought her wristband up to her mouth and whispered "Tony?"

"What's up, Pep? We're still on the road."

That made the woman's mouth go dry. "There's someone else here," she whispered. She moved closer to Scott in order to grab Peter if things went south.

"Oh, shit!" Happy cried. "I forgot to tell you May was on her way. She was attacked at her apartment by one of Toomes' goons." The woman's shoulders dropped from relief and then there was a pounding on the door.

"Hello? Is this the Barton residence?" Another knock. "Hello?"

Pepper rushed to the door and threw it open, revealing the haphazard looking woman. "Oh May, I'm so sorry no one called you...with everything that happened, we just weren't thinking."

May glared at the CEO. "Where is my nephew?"

"He's inside, and he's safe. Like I said, I apologize for everything. This happened unexpectedly, May."

The woman nodded and entered when Pepper stepped aside to allow her entry and found herself staring at some new faces as well as some very familiar ones. "Hello, everyone."

Peter started wiggling in Scott's hand as he heard his aunt's voice. "May!" he called, beginning to sweat in the hot confines of the fist. "May! Over here!" he called again. It took a minute for Scott to guess he wanted out and opened his hand to let Peter breathe. "May?"

The woman rushed over to her nephew, tears filling her eyes. "Oh, Peter....I was so afraid." She grabbed him, bringing him up to her cheek to nuzzle him. "Are you hurt? What happened?"

Peter hugged May's cheek then pulled away. "I was taken from the compound by a classmate's father! He just picked me up and threw me into a briefcase! He was so big, he looked like a monster!" His voice cracked from the high pitch he used. "But then, he brought me to like this junkyard in the middle of the city where I got away and Mom-I mean Pepper," his face went red at the slip up, but he continued, hoping May didn't catch that.

She did, though she let him continue. "She found us, then this whole thing with flying, Ms. Hope was there...it was crazy!" He spread his arms at the last part, eyes wide. "But, I'm okay, May. I promise."

"Dinner's ready," Laura said cheerily from the kitchen area, setting up the table. "Pete, honey, I used some of Violet's old doll things for you."

His aunt brought him closer to the table and Peter's eyes lit up when he saw he had an actual table set up with a-though large-fork and glass. "Thank you so much, Mrs. Barton." May lowered him to the table and he pulled out the tiny seat, looking as if it were made just for him. "This is great! I feel normal again." The he looked up to see everyone's giant faces staring at him. "Sort of."

His aunt smiled and took a seat at the table, accepting a plate and slowly adding things to it. She went to ask Peter what he wanted, but it seemed Pepper was already there, filling his small plate with food.

Her nephew laughed so easily with her it made her feel a little jealous. "Peter? Juice?" she asked, smiling when he nodded.

And that was the way dinner went for the group, with laughter and talking. May even took over doing the dishes, not taking no for an answer. She of course kept Peter by her side, watching the little teen like a hawk, loathe to let him out of her sight. And the others understood, not even trying to take the boy from her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony checked his watch for the twentieth time in the past half hour, letting out an exasperated sigh. "How much longer," he whined to Happy, who was gripping the wheel tightly.

"We'll get there when we get there," the guard grit out. He thought Morgan would be bad, but she was the best one in the car. It was the adults getting on his nerves.

"This is boring. I'm taking a nap," Tony sighed, aggravated.

"Well, how about you fly yourself and your child to the farm and get there faster so you won't have to be bored and Bruce and I will get there later."

"Shh, I'm sleeping." The billionaire had his eyes closed, head leaning against the window. He smirked when he heard Happy grumble to himself about childish bosses. But, the fact was, he was worried after the phone call from Pepper. He knew it was just May, but he couldn't help but wonder how his wife was doing.

She was the light of his life, and if anything were to happen to her, or his family, he didn't know what he would do. Tony would literally die to protect what he had. He'd even had a dream where he actually had fought someone and ultimately made the biggest sacrifice, his life, to save them. Everyone was there, even Peter in that dream, only he was normal sized. It broke his heart to hear everyone cry for him, but he felt happy he'd saved everything.

He just didn't want to have that dream again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The group stayed up as late as they could, or at least Peter did. By the time midnight hit, the boy was slumping over on Clint's shoulder where he was perched, leaning against the man's neck. It was the warmest place to be and he actually liked the way he walked, with practically no jarring motions, just a slight sway that helped lull him into the sate he was in now.

Clint must have noticed, because in the next second, a finger was pushing the teen awake, Peter having to blink a few times. "Hey, kid, why don't you get some sleep, hm? I'm sure we have somewhere you can rest for the night."

"I'll take him," May said abruptly as Pepper went to get up. "I was getting tired anyway. Had a long drive to get here." She forced a yawn out. Pepper smiled understandingly.

"We have two guest rooms open," Laura said, watching her husband hand off the finger sized child to the brunette woman. "I'll show you where you can sleep. If you don't mind sharing, Natasha will have to sleep in the same room."

May looked towards the redhead and nodded. "Of course, I don't mind. The more the merrier, as they say," she laughed.

"No, I think I'll be good where I usually stay," the redhead said, turning a faint pink from a catcall from Clint. Laura elbowed her husband and nodded.

"Okay, okay, down boy. This way." She lead May upstairs to the first door on the left. "It's this one. Sorry it isn't much, but there's room for a cot and a bathroom attached if you need it." Laura showed the woman where everything was, then noticed her lack of bags. "I have something that will fit you, if you want to take a shower."

May nodded vigorously. "Yes, please. Thank you so much." She sat on the bed, then raised Peter to eye level. "You okay, honey?" The boy nodded.

"Yeah. I'm just glad you're here, May. I'm....I'm scared." It was hard to admit that to anyone, but he was. The reality of the situation was really getting to him. "I'm tired of being this size. I want to be normal again, go to school with my friends..." His voice broke, but no tears came. "It's so scary to be the height of someone's foot...one misstep, and that's the end...I thought I was used to it, but seeing everyone towering above me from the floor, I was reminded how tiny I am now, and it scared me..." His chin wobbled.

"Oh, honey. I'm so sorry I can't say I know how you feel, but know that from now on, I will be here, no matter what. I'll even take that room at Mr. Stark's big, fancy building."

Peter let out a wet laugh and nodded. "Thank you, May. I..I really appreciate this."

"You're family, honey." At that moment a knock interrupted the family moment and Laura came back into the room holding a night shift.

"This was all I could find at such short notice. I have to catch up on the wash, and as you know, with kids you can't ever catch up."

May laughed. "Tell me about it. But, I wouldn't trade it for the world." She put Peter on the bed and sent him a soft smile. "Once I'm done, we'll find something for you to wear so you can get washed up, too, okay?"

The boy nodded and watched the woman walk into the bathroom. He was left alone for a moment until Natasha walked into the room. Instantly the boy froze where he was, his eyes focused on the extremely frightening woman.

"Hello, Peter," she said in a dulcet tone.

"H-hello, Miss Natasha." He was nervous now, being the in the room alone with her. He watched her close the door and gulped. "Do you need something?"

Natasha shook her head, walking around the room. "No. I'm just checking out the room. Very...cozy." Finally she came towards the bed, all the while staring at Peter with an intense look, seeing the boy cower from her. She had a pang of guilt for that and lowered her eyes with a sigh.

"Look," she began, squatting next to the bed to be on the boy's level. She took all of him in in a second, focusing on his side where the obvious slice was now just a simple angry red line. "I know I haven't been the...nicest to you. I ignored you most of the time. But, can you blame me? You came out of a Hydra lab without a scratch. But, now I know, you're just a regular kid that has some unfortunate luck." She then looked to his side again. "Looks like that hurt," she nodded towards the line.

Peter shrugged and played with the tattered edging on his side. Natasha chuckled and put her hands on the bed. "I won't hurt you. Just know, if you ever need a hand with anything, I'll be there. Promise." She then lifted her hand and extended her pinky, smirking at the boy.

The teen studied her eyes for a moment, then slowly brought his hand out, extending his pinky and touching it to the woman's much larger one, staring at the vast difference in their sizes for a moment before his face went red when he realized this was such a childish thing to do. "Thank you," he said lowering his hand.

"Not a problem. I'll even make you a new outfit tonight, okay? It'll be ready when you wake up."

"No, Miss Natasha! You don't have to do that, I'm fine, I promise!" His eyes widened at the thought of the giant woman sitting and taking time out of her night to make something for him.

"Hush it, kid. You'll need something other than that." She rose to her feet just as the bathroom door opened and May came out, freezing when she spotted the woman.

"Oh, hello Ms. Romanoff. If you're tired, you can have the bed. I'll ask Mr. Barton where the cot is."

"No, don't worry about me, I'll be up for a while. I'll bring in the cot, though, this way I don't wake you later. Hope will be up in a minute, though." With that she left the room, but poked her head into the room, staring right at Peter.

"Oh, and it's not miss Natasha. Call me Aunt Nat," she said with a smile and chuckled at the red color the boy turned.

Chapter Text

The nightmare came that night to Peter's slumbering mind.

They were riding in the car when Mr. Toomes attacked. The vivid, green, glowing eyes had pinned Peter to the spot he was standing, frozen by fear. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe. All he could do was watch as the giant man loomed over him, watching his large hand come closer and closer until it was wrapped around him, crushing Peter in his grasp. The boy could only stare up at the man, watching as he transformed into the doctor from the lab, grinning down at him, eyes glowing in the dark.

He couldn't breathe, couldn't move! Trapped! Peter fought for breath, but the weight was just too much!

"Mr. Stark!" he cried out, trying to get free. "Pepper!" Tears were flowing down his face as his nightmare suddenly became him falling through the air, watching the shocked couple watch him fall, their faces filled with dread and horror. "Mom, Dad! Help me! Please! Please!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Peter! Peter, wake up!" May was sitting up in the bed, watching her nephew as he struggled to get out of the nightmare. "Wake up, honey! It's only a dream!"

Suddenly, Pepper came running into the room, a worried expression on her face. "Is he alright?"

May shook her head. "He's having a nightmare and I can't wake him." Tears were falling from her eyes now as she watched helplessly as Peter cried out from his spot on the pillow next to her. Pepper took that moment to reach down, and May was about to say something, but the woman simply ran her finger across Peter's hair.

"Peter, come on. It's time to wake up now. You're safe, remember? We save you." Over and over again Pepper whispered to the boy he was safe, until slowly Peter opened his eyes. With a shot he was up, almost getting lost on the pillow as he rolled down the side, his panting being heard by the two women. "Peter? Are you okay?"

The teen whipped his head around and stared at Pepper for a moment before suddenly flinging his body onto her hand, clutching the woman's fingers in a sticky death grip, using his entire body to make sure he wasn't going to let go.

"Mom," he sobbed out. His eyes were closed, so he couldn't see the shock on May's face at the word. "You're really here?"

The strawberry blonde smiled and held up a placating hand to May who looked like she had a lot of questions. "Yes, I'm here, Pete. It's okay, you're okay." She brought her hand up to her chest, cradling the shivering boy to her. "You're okay, you're safe."

Over and over she whispered the words to Peter, until she felt him beginning to slide down her fingers as he fell asleep again, this time a peaceful look on his face. Gently she placed him on the pillow again and tucked the small scrap he'd been using as a blanket around him. She put a finger to her lips when May opened her mouth. "Not here," she whispered, giving Hope a smile before leaving the room.

"Is he alright?" Hope asked, sitting up. May nodded.

"Yes, thank you. Can you watch to make sure he doesn't have another one while Pepper and I talk?" The dark haired woman nodded and laid down, but kept her eyes on the small boy sleeping on the pillow.

When May made it to the kitchen, Pepper already had a pot of tea warming on the stove. She looked so at home in the stranger's house it was strange.

"Tea?" the woman asked, moving to grab the cups.

"Please." May sat and watched for a few minutes while Mrs. Stark set up the cups. "So, when did he start calling you 'mom'?" There was a small bite to the woman's voice, and she was ashamed to hear her jealousy coming out, but she had raised Peter, not the stranger before her.

"He called me mom by accident after he was literally thrown from hundreds of feet to the ground. Tony and I were lucky Hope came swooping in when she did." Pepper shivered then looked at May, who had lost all the color in her face.

"He what!?" the brunette practically screeched, making the other woman wince.

"Please, Mrs. Parker....as you can see, this is the reason we forgot to call you. It was just too chaotic, and we were making sure Peter was safe at the time."

"Oh? Then please tell me why Ms. Van Dyne and Mr. Lang were in my apartment when I came home?" May was so angry at the woman, she wouldn't be surprised if her ears started whistling like the tea pot.

"That was because Peter led Hope there to get away from Toomes."

"So, you were at my apartment, and didn't even think to call me?"

"Yes! Okay? Is that what you want to hear? That I'm only human and forget when the people I love are put in danger in front of me?"

May narrowed her eyes. "And you don't think I love that boy, too? I took him in when he was only six years old and raised him after his parents died in that crash! I was there for him when he lost his Uncle, no one else! I struggled to keep a roof over our heads, but when times were tough, he had me. And now you think it's okay for him to be calling you 'mom' when you've done none of those things for him?" She was panting by the end of her whispered rant, her eyes on fire as she glared at the woman.

Pepper sighed. "You're right," she said softly. "I'm sorry, I...I just got to love him so much. He has that affect on people, you know? You can't help but love him..." She looked at May, sincerity in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Parker. I had no right to tell him that was all right without clearing it with you first. I just thought it would be alright with you, seeing how you like how Peter has so many people he can look up to." She poured the hot water into the cup and handed it to the woman. "I'll talk to him in the morning."

May shook her head as she took the hot mug, taking a deep breath. She was right about Peter. He could make even the Grinch fall in love with him. "No, no....I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone off like that...I guess it was just a bit of a shock to hear that tonight. I guess because I wasn't able to wake him, too afraid of hurting him now..." she whispered a curse.

"I wish this had never happened." Tears welled up in her eyes. "He told me in the room earlier that he wasn't really used to this yet." She let out a snide laugh. "He said he was still scared about being around other people, being the size he is now."

Pepper brought her hand up to her chest. She had to wonder why he didn't tell them, but then it dawned on her, and she had said it herself. He looked up to them, and to say he was afraid of his situation would make him seem weak in their eyes. "Peter..." she said lowly, despair in her voice.

"I'm glad he told someone," she whispered, feeling a tear roll down her face. "I should have noticed the way he shied away even me when he was on the floor earlier." She shook her head, dipping her tea bag into the hot water angrily, being mad at herself.

Now May felt like the bad guy. Slowly she put a hand on Mrs. Stark's, stopping her movements. "It would be hard to see. Peter's always been good at hiding things, especially his fear. I should have said something before." She chuckled. "Looks like we're both in the cookie jar, huh?"

Pepper laughed and nodded. "It seems so." They finished their tea in silence, May bringing the cups to the sink to wash them.

"Do you want me to move Peter into your room, just in case he has another nightmare?" May wanted her nephew with her, but she had to think about what was best for him at the moment.

"No, it's okay. I think it's best to let him know you're here now." She smiled and placed a hand on the other woman's shoulder, squeezing a bit. "Good night," she said and walked down the hall to a guest room down the hall and shut the door, leaving May to go back to her own room in silence, thinking about the conversation the two just shared.

"Everything okay?" Hope asked as soon as the woman opened the door. May nodded.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Thank you, for watching over Peter for a while." She laid back in the bed and brought the comforter up to her shoulders, turning to her side in order to watch Peter. The cloth scrap rose and fell so discreetly it took a minute for the woman to see it.

"Looks like you've made a nice group of friends while you were away, huh Peter?" She brought her hand up, using her pinky to brush the hair away from the boy's sleeping face. "It's nice to know you'll have these people to look after you if something happens." She smiled, leaving her hand over the boy, and closed her eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Tony."

Happy's voice drifted into the dream the billionaire was having. It wasn't the normal nightmare, but it was actually a pleasant dream. His family were at the beach, he and Pepper were watching Peter and Morgan playing in the water, their little girl giggling as Peter helped her jump over waves. It actually felt real, so he was grumpy when he was pulled out of it by his driver.

"What," he grumped, sliding further down into his seat, wanting the dream to continue.

"We're here." Happy informed him, smirking at the pleasant smile his friend had on his face before. It was nice to see that instead of the furrowed brow he usually wore when sleeping.

Tony yawned and blinked a few times to clear his eyes of sleep, looking around the now empty car. "Where's Morgan?" he asked.

"She already went inside, and just in time, too. She was about to wet the seat and I would have blamed you." Happy went to the back and pulled out the bags he'd packed and brought them up onto the porch, huffing by the time he'd reached the top with the last bag.

"Too much McDonald's," Tony said as he jogged up the stairs, but took two of the bags on his way.

"Yeah, yeah....jerk." The guard made his way into the house carrying the last of the bags, groaning with the exertion. "No, no one help, I can manage, thank you."

"Happy?" May's voice came from the kitchen table and she rushed over to him, looking like an angel in the night shift. There were dark circles under her eyes, but that didn't change Happy's view of the woman.

"Hey, May. Glad to see you're alright." He smiled, but was shocked when the woman grabbed him in a tight hug, pulling him close to her.

"Thank you, for everything," she said into his neck. The man blushed and wrapped his arms around the woman.

"Oh, um, no problem. It's um, kinda my job. Nothing too serious."

"Nonsense! You helped save my life last night. And for that, I owe you this." She turned her head and planted a kiss on the man's cheek, pulling away when her own face started heating up. "Come on, have something to eat. I'm sure you must be hungry after that long drive." She grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the table, everyone greeting him with a smile or a wave.

"Where's the kid?" Tony asked, looking around on the table, lifting the butter dish.

"Still sleeping," May said. "He had a pretty rough night with nightmares, so he's exhausted."
The billionaire frowned, but nodded and thanked Laura for his plate and began to eat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter woke with a start to find himself alone in the room, still shaking after another small nightmare. It was the same, but different as before with who played a role in the dream this time. He wiped his sweaty face on his hands before noticing a small outfit on the pillow next to him.

Picking it up, he smiled in wonder at the sweat suit made in blue and red colors, sewn with such care they looked like they were from an actual store. It made his heart warm to think about Miss Natasha working on this for him. He would have to thank her for everything.

Getting dressed, the boy was then left alone with a predicament. He was hungry, but he was alone in the room. It was then he heard a noise. "Hello?" he called into the hallway, hoping whoever was there would hear him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Morgan made her out of the upstairs bathroom when she heard someone calling out. Slowly she made her way towards the open door and peeked in. Sitting up on the pillow was Peter, his face looked pale in the light. "Peter?" she asked, shuffling over to the bed. "Are you okay?"

The teen nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. It's good to see you, though." He smiled at the young girl, bracing himself when she crawled on the bed.

"Yeah, I've missed you. With mom and dad sending me to summer science classes, I've been too busy to spend much time with you. But, now that we're here, we should do something. I used to go out and play with Violet and Nathaniel. Cooper was always too cool to be playing hide and seek." She giggled.

Peter chuckled. "Well, I don't know about going outside though. It's pretty dangerous right now." The girl shook her head.

"No, nobody knows where this place is! Nate told me one day that this place is even a no fly zone! So it's completely hidden and safe for us to play outside!"

Peter thought about it, staring at the sunlight streaming into the room. He waffled with the idea, but the idea of being outside won. "Okay. But not too far, okay?"

"Yes! Come on!" She reached out and slowly wrapped her fingers around his middle gently, picking him up off the bed. "You can ride on my shoulder if you want."

"That would be better, I think." He tried to fight down the vertigo from the quick movement of being brought up to Morgan's shoulder in an instant and stepped onto it when she let him go, allowing his hand to stick to her neck. "Alright, let's go."

The girl nodded and checked the hallway. Finding it clear, she quickly made her way downstairs, her hand around Peter to keep him on her shoulder until it was safe. Checking again, all the adults were in the kitchen talking and laughing, not paying attention to the back door where the girl slipped out.

Once they were outside, the teen inhaled deeply, a wide smile on his face. "This is amazing. It was never this clear in Queens, there was always a haze fog blocking the actual sky from being seen. This is beautiful."

"Mm, it really is. The first time I came up here with daddy, Nate and I played in the hay in the barn for hours before we got in trouble and had to clean up the mess. So worth it, though." Morgan giggled at the memory.

"Woah, so this is like, a real farm? Do they have cows?"

"No, silly. There's no animals, but they do grow their own products to sell, like vegetable and grass to be made into hay for horses to eat. Violet said something about getting a horse of her own soon. That would be amazing, but daddy already has Gerald the Llama, and mommy hates him because he's always eating our berries."

Peter laughed at that, moving to sit on the girl's shoulder, just taking in the view. Suddenly, an idea came to him. "Do you think, since this place is so off the grid, that we can maybe explore a little? See what's around here? Maybe you can show me things you used to do." He knew it was probably a bad idea, but the idea of being outside without moving around seemed incredibly dull and he needed to get some of his energy out.

"Oh! Good idea! Should we tell someone though?"

"No. They'll make us go inside, and I can't stand another second in doors right now, not when I've already seen out here." A breeze chose to kick up at that moment, bringing scents Peter had never had the pleasure of smelling before and he closed his eyes. He could stay out there forever.

"All right. We'll be back soon, right?" The teen nodded to Morgan and the girl bounded down the steps and started walking and telling Peter all about her play dates with Nate and what they played. Soon they were near the edge of the property, far away from the house. Morgan was still talking when both of them heard a stick break behind them and Morgan stopped. Slowly she turned, only to stare up into the face of a smiling stranger.

"Hello, little girl. I believe you have something of mine." The strange man reached for her shoulder with an orange stained hand, and Morgan let loose a scream.

Chapter Text

Breakfast was over, and Tony was getting antsy. "I'm going to check on Peter," he told the group and practically ran up the stairs. "Hey, Pete, just wanted to say hello and check on you."

He walked into the bedroom where the boy was supposed to be and stopped, confused. Then his eyes widened and he checked the floor, his breath coming in panicked breaths as he picked up his feet to check the bottoms of his shoes. Finding nothing, he let lose an explosive breath and sat heavily on the bed.

One question remained, though. Where was Peter? Getting up, he carefully made his way to the other guest room, thinking maybe he'd gotten the room wrong, but finding that empty as well, he began to worry. "Pete?" he called, checking each room frantically. Finding nothing, he ran down the stairs. "Is Peter down here?"

Natasha shook her head. "No, we thought he was upstairs. He's not?" The billionaire shook his head.

Pepper's eyes went wide and she threw back her chair. "Where's Morgan?" Her voice was panicked, eyes wide. Everyone shot into action then, calling out for both the missing kids until they came back to the kitchen. It was then through the open window, everyone heard what sounded like a shrill scream.

"Morgan!" Tony cried, already out the door in seconds, his legs taking up a ground eating pace as he ran to where he heard the scream coming from, not even noticing everyone following him. "Morgan!" he screamed, but heard nothing.

"Tony!" Clint's voice was heard from a distance and he ran over to the archer, sweat pouring down his neck by this point.

"Did you find her?" The archer shook his head, but held out his hand.

"I found this attached to a tree. It's signed J H."

Tony reached out and snatched the note from the man's hand, his own shaky as he read it, growing angrier and angrier at each word. With a growl, he crumpled it up and threw it to the ground. "Now he's gone too far," he ground out.

"Tony?" Pepper came through the trees, panting. "Anything?"

Clint bent down and picked up the note, giving it to her, but Tony didn't give her a chance to read it. "Hammer has our kids," he growled out, not missing the way May flinched when he said the words, but he ignored it. "I'm not going to give him the option of jail this time. This time, I'm going to kill the bastard." He turned to Pepper, death in his eyes. "I want you to stay here. I'll call Fury, tell him an emergency came up and I need the team back here now."

The woman could only nod, tears coming to her eyes as she read the note. May came forward and offered a shoulder for the woman to cry on, her own bottom lip quivering. "Find them," the brunette said, her voice hard. "No matter what, please....for both our families sake."

Tony only nodded and jerked his head to Clint, his suit already starting to form over his clothes. "Pep, tell Bruce to stay here and give everything he knows about Pete to Hank. They need to get whatever they can together to help the kid as soon as we get back."

Suddenly Hope and Scott materialized out of thin air. "Let's go," was the only thing Tony said, grabbing Clint.

"Better catch a ride quick," the archer told the two size warriors, and they shrunk, quickly climbing into the man's front pocket just before Tony took off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Justin stared at the girl cowering in the corner of the car with a friendly smile. "No need to be scared. I'm a friend of your dad's, your uncle Justin." The girl only shifted closer in on herself, hands closed around the small boy he was after. "Now, now, what did I just say? What's your name?" He was getting aggravated now.

"If you're a friend, how come I've never heard of you before? And why don't you know my name?" Morgan asked, stubbornness in her voice.

"This is pointless," Ward growled. "It's obvious she's too smart for you, Hammer. So, we'll just have to get the package by force." The man sat up and reached for the girl, watching her wide, scared eyes. "If you don't want to get hurt, let go of what you've got."

Morgan shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. "No! I won't give my brother up to you!"

Ward made a sympathetic noise deep in his throat. "That's sweet, she thinks it's her brother." He leaned forward to get closer to the girl "You know it's just a lab rat, right? It's not even a real person, honey."

The little girl shook her head, whimpering. "No! Peter's human and he is my brother!" She wasn't going to let go of the teenager for anything. That was when the fist came out of nowhere and all Morgan felt in the next moment was pain mixed with stars in her vision as the fist made contact with her head. She was sent flying, her hands almost opening, but she kept them clamped shut as tight as she dared without hurting Peter.

"Morgan!" the boy's voice was muffled, and a hand was seen trying to get out of the girl's hands. "I'm not worth this! Please, just give them to me! I can't stand to see you hurt because of me."

"No, Peter," the little girl told her hands, glaring at the pale man who had just knocked her silly. "I won't give up family for any reason."

Ward smiled cruelly as he sat back, checking his red knuckles while Justin stared at him, shocked. "Hey, hey, we never spoke of hurting the kid."

"She has what Mr. Bloom wants and she won't give it up for 'anything', or do you not remember those words coming from her a second ago? So, I tested her, and she showed she was telling the truth."

Already a black eye was forming around Morgan's right eye, the swelling not too bad. "But still, Mr. Ward. She's only a little kid."

"And I don't discriminate. If the person in front of me has something I want, I will do anything to get what I want. I won't kill the child, so don't worry. I think I'll just send a message to Stark about stubbornness in his gene line."

Morgan whimpered and hid her face. "I'm sorry, Peter...I don't think I can keep you hidden for much longer." She sneaked a peek at the Ward man, the shadows from the moving trees making his face look more sinister even though it was daylight.

"I don't care, Morgan! Just give me to them! They won't kill me, but they'll hurt you, and I can't stand that on my conscience. So please, just let me go, okay?" He couldn't stand hearing Morgan in pain, and seeing what they did would make him feel even worse.

"No...no, I can't. Do you remember watching Lilo and Stitch? O'hana, Peter...you're my o'hana, and I won't leave you behind or give you up."

"No! Morgan, please! Just open your hands!" Peter tried to pull the girl's hands apart, but he didn't want to hurt her so he couldn't pull with all his strength. "Please! Give me to them!"

"No!" Morgan saw stars again when Ward's fist hit the side of her head again, this time making the world spin around her and grow darker before another punch made the world black out and her limbs go slack.

Finally, Peter was in view, having tumbled to the floor of the fast moving car, dazed by the force he rolled and hit one of the men's shoes. He was in trouble.

Hammer could only stare in amazement at the tiny figure that just rolled into his toe. "Whoa," he whispered, leaning forward to get a better look at the trembling being staring up at him in fear. "I've seen him before, on the bridge, but...I never realized how small they made him."

He reached out and touched the small being, retracting his hand as if it were burned. "What else did Bloom have on this boy?" He watched as the teen dragged himself up and crawled over to where the little girl lay, unconscious on the floor.

"Said he had some kind of chemically altered spider in him, he didn't say what kind, but he was sure that the kid has some kind of healing ability that's much faster than a normal human's." A glint came to Ward's eyes as he reached out and plucked the experiment up by the hood on his sweater. "I'd like to test that, though...see if there have been any," he grabbed the boy's thin arm between his thumb and pointer, "changes."

Justin heard the bone snap then the kid screamed, and when the man let his limb go, it was bent in an unnatural way. Angry now, he reached out and grabbed the boy from the smiling man's grip.

"I'm sure Mr. Bloom wouldn't want his merchandise harmed in our care, Mr. Ward. So, I will hold on to him from this point on." Hammer didn't realize how hard he was gripping the boy, but when he heard him struggling to breathe, he loosened his grip and saw him draw in a coughing gasp, head hanging down.

"Please," the teen whispered as loud as he could. "Please, don't hurt...Morgan...anymore. You have...what you want now. Leave her alone."

"Courage, I dig it. But, I promise you, we won't be touching her again." Justin sent Ward a warning look and the man put his hands up. "As long as you don't try to run or escape." The teen nodded. "Good." With one motion, he deposited the tiny teen into his jacket pocket. "Get some rest. It's a long drive to California."

There was silence from his pocket, so Justin sat back and closed his eyes, falling into a light sleep for the rest of the trip.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They had searched the entire farm and the surrounding areas, but there was no sign of Morgan or her kidnappers. And Tony was getting worried. It had been six hours and they could be anywhere by now. "Where are you, baby girl?" he whispered.

"We'll find her, Tony," Clint said from the suit's arms. "We'll find them both. Let's regroup at the house and wait for the team to show up. Plus, it's starting to get dark and we can't keep looking in the dark."

"Says the man with no night vision," Tony quipped back. "I can't. I'll drop you at the house, and I'll keep looking...I can't leave my baby girl out there any longer than she has to be. We don't know what Hammer may be doing to her right now."

"I get it, man, but you can't be too tired to fight if it comes to that. You need to rest and recharge your batteries, technical and organic. Just go be with Pepper for a little while, eat some dinner, and then you both can look all you want, okay?"

The billionaire only nodded and headed for the house. He was dreading what he was going to say to Pepper when he came in with nothing...no clues, no idea of where to look....the anger was beginning to recede, and now worry and heartbreak were taking its place, and boy did he want to crawl into a bottle right now. But, he couldn't, for Morgan's sake. Landing on the porch, he tapped his reactor and went in the house. Instantly he felt eyes on him, and Pepper got up from the couch, her red eyes finding Tony's right away.

"Tony?" was all she asked and when the man looked down, she let out a sob. He rushed to her side and grabbed her close, beard tangling in her hair as he hugged her tight. "Where could they be?" she sobbed out.

"I don't know, Pep, but I'm going to find out."

"Wrong," a voice came from the doorway and everyone looked up to see the rest of the Avengers coming into the house. "They wronged all of us when they took Morgan and Peter." Steve's gaze was hard, a look on his face Tony hadn't seen before. "And it's time this man learned not to mess with the Avengers."

Tony let out a shaky sigh, grabbing the man's outstretched hand tightly. "Don't mess with family."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Darkness still enveloped Peter as he tried to move around in the man's pocket. Worry had been his prime initiative from the moment he was dropped by the man. That and his arm, but in due time, that stopped hurting as his bones started to heal themselves. He had to set the bone, though, or else he'd never be able to use that arm again. So, with a scream, he pulled his arm until the bones aligned, but he passed out from the pain.

The next thing he knew, he was being picked up by an orange stained hand, and he hoped it didn't rub off on him whatever it was. He sat back, but shot up when a hand appeared above him, only to have orange stained fingers wrap around him. He hoped it didn't rub off on him.

"Oh, you're awake. I'm glad. I have a few...inquiries while my partner is away from the car for the moment." The man smiled at him, making Peter shiver.

"Well, I have one request before I answer your questions," Peter countered.

"Please, elaborate." The man leaned back and picked up Peter's arm, a curious look on his face as he moved it around to look at it from every angle, oblivious to the boy's hisses of pain. "Marvelous."

"First, let Morgan go. She's just a little girl and has nothing to do with this. Let her go and call her parents so they can take her home, and then you'll just have me to deal with."

"Oh, I had no intention of keeping the little one. In fact, the minute she showed signs of waking, I let her go on the side of the road. I may be Tony Stark's rival, but there are certain things I won't do, and hurting kids is one of them...well, little kids anyway." He placed the boy on his knee, staring down at him. "So, since your little request is done, on to my questions."

Tenderly Peter touched the spot with the broken bone and winced a little when there was a flash of pain but that was it. It was healing faster than ever. Probably because of all the food he was given with Tony and Pepper. He would have to ask Dr. Banner...if he ever saw him again. And if these two were bringing him to who he thought they were bringing him to, then he would never see anyone ever again. The scientists would keep him under lock and key...but at least he'd get to see Sean again. That was the only shining light out of this.

"Alright....I'm ready."

"What kind of spider did they use?" Justin leaned forward, crowding in on the kid to hear his answer. If he could get him to answer, then maybe he could make his own little spy for future reference.

"To tell you the truth, I don't even know. The scientists at the labs weren't all that forthcoming, you know? But I do know they used some kind of radiation in the DNA they injected into me."

"Great," Justin sighed, hands flopping down at his sides. "I'll have to ask Mr. Bloom. If he'll tell me." He was so annoyed right now!

"Is that it?" Peter wanted off this man's body and onto the floor where he could curl up under a seat and be out of mind. He didn't want to think about what he'd lost for making a stupid decision. He looked up to see the man grinning at him.

"Oh, that's not even the beginning."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Morgan had woken up on the side of the road alone. It was dark out and she wanted her mommy. Looking around and seeing no cars coming, she decided to walk down the long road in the dark, sobbing and cold until a nice man in a truck pulled over.

"Oh my....sweetheart, are you all right? Did you have an accident?" He saw the swelling of her eye and the bruises littering her face.

"No...I was taken, along with my brother Peter! They still have Peter!" Morgan screamed at the man, shaking in the now cold.

"Calm down, sweetie. Let's call the authorities and you can tell them everything."

"No, I have to call my daddy! He's an Avenger." That got a wide eyed look from the man.

"An...Avenger?" he asked slowly, seeing the girl nod. "Okay....which one is he honey?"

"Daddy is Iron Man. Mommy isn't an Avenger yet, but he built her a suit...but I have to call him and tell him where I am! Please, mister!"

"Okay, okay....It's just I don't exactly have a one eight hundred Iron Man button on my phone."

"I know my daddy's number. Friday had me memorize it a long time ago." She tried to climb into the cab, but the seat was too high and she had to wait for the man to come around. How did Peter do it so easily?

"Okay, here you go. You call your Avenger daddy and I'll go to the nearest police station." The little girl nodded, already dialing and putting it on speaker just in case her father wanted to speak to the truck driver.

"Hello? Who is this?" a man's voice came over the phone.

"Daddy!" Morgan cried, tears welling up in her visible eye.

"Morgan? I'm so glad to hear your voice. Are you alright? Did they hurt you? Where's Peter? Where are you?"

"They still have him, daddy..I was on a road when I woke up and this nice truck guy stopped and let me use his phone."

"Um, sir," the driver called. "Hi, I'm Eddie Fultun. I'm taking your daughter to the nearest police station and-"

"Don't bother, I'm already tracking your phone and am on my way. Pep, did you get all that?"

"You bet I did. We're coming, sweetheart, okay?"

"Yes mommy...but...they took Peter with them....I couldn't save him. I tried, and they hurt me..." She started sobbing.

"Morgan Stark, you listen to me. You did nothing wrong, okay? You tried to be brave for Peter and save him, and that makes you the strongest girl I know. Steve and the others are on their way, too, okay?"

The whole team? Daddy had brought the whole team in to find her? She sniffled and felt so loved in that moment. "Please hurry, daddy...I'm scared."

"I know, honey. Uncle Bruce is going to take a look at you as soon as we touch down, okay? I love you, and Mr. Fultun, please pull over, you're making it hard to catch up."

The driver was still in shock at hearing the little girl's name, but he managed to nod. "Oh, um...yeah, sure...there's a rest stop not too far from where I am. I'll pull over there and get your little one something to drink."

"Thank you, so much. Anything you want, you just ask and I'll deliver it. Or, ask my wife to make sure it gets done. Morgan, be a good girl, okay? I love you tons."

The little girl sniffled again. "I love you three thousand." With that the line went dead and she erupted into sobs at the thought of because of her stubbornness, she might never see Peter again.

Chapter Text

The rest of the ride to the labs were spent in silence. Peter had no clue how long he had been unconscious for, but it had to be a long time since the trip had only lasted a few hours after. The closer they came, the more shaky the boy became. By the time the car had stopped, the boy was shivering uncontrollably, even his teeth chattered.

"Aww, looks like the little lab rat is scared," Ward smirked down at the shaking being in Hammer's grip.

"Well, wouldn't you be, knowing what these people were going to do? They're probably going to dissect him and perform all sort of tests." Justin's heart hurt by saying it, but it was better to get it out in the open than having the boy lamenting on what was going to happen.
The two men walked into the building that was such a bright white that it actually hurt

Peter's eyes at first. Luckily the man wasn't swinging his hands, but kept the one holding Peter still at his side.

Quickly they made their way to a room that was obviously a laboratory, with the vials and beakers in plain sight. This made Peter shake even more, but this man didn't seem to be into experimentation. Instead, he just grabbed a large glass box and dropped the boy in, ignoring his tiny cry of pain when he slammed to the bottom.

"Hey!" Peter asked as soon as he was able to stand. "Please, where are we?" The orange man simply ignored him and pulled out a phone.

"Hammer?" Toomes' voice came over the phone.

"Yeah, it's me."

"I did my end of the original bargain, now tell me where my family is dammit!"

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you, jeeze." He leaned back in front of the glass cage, his hand tapping against the table in front it. "Pier fifteen, warehouse three." And with that, he hung up. "I love it when a plan comes together."

He turned to look down at the boy, crouching down to get a better look at him. "And you, are going to keep me out of jail."

Peter backed away until his back hit a hard surface. It then hit him, this was it...the scientists were going to have him, and they would experiment on him until he died. "Please," he pleaded. "Please don't do this...I don't wanna die...please...I don't wanna go.." His voice wavered as he folded in on himself. "I don't wanna go...please..." He sobbed.

Hammer could only stare at the crying boy awkwardly before clearing his throat and rubbing the back of his neck. "It's getting late. I'll leave you to sleep."

He stood and made his way to the door, unable to hear the sobs, but still able to see the boy's body wracked with them. He felt a trip of guilt, but shut the light, leaving the lab in a light glow of computer screens.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Morgan!" Pepper raced toward her daughter who ran into her mother's arms, jumping up into the embrace.

"Mommy! I was so scared...I tried to protect Peter, but...but there were two men, and one of them hurt me...." Pepper let the girl down and smoothed her hair out of her face, her expression shocked at the swollen black eye she saw. Who would do that to a child?

"Did they hurt you anywhere else?" The little girl shook her head.

"No, but they took Peter....I couldn't save him, mommy..." Morgan sobbed into the woman's chest while Tony made his way over to the driver.

"Thank you," he said to the man, clasping his hand his own. "You saved my little girl, and for that I owe you anything you want...I mean it, anything you could want, it's yours." The driver could only stare and nod, eyes wide as he shook the hero's hand.

Pepper came up next to her husband, who once he saw his daughter's face, cold anger lit his eyes. "She's fine," the woman soothed. "It looks worse than it is, she says it doesn't even hurt."

"But still...to lay their hands on a child.." It made Tony's stomach sick. "This I will kill Hammer for."

"Tony, calm down. Morgan still needs her father, and how are you going to help Peter from a jail cell?" That seemed to calm the man a little.

"Do we have any clue as to where they were going?" The strawberry blonde shook her head.

"California," said Morgan in a serious tone. "The orange man, he said something about California."

Tony smiled and kissed his daughter's head. "I love you," he told her, his breath intermingling with her hair before he pulled away. "Pep, get her home. I'm going to call Fury this time and see if there has been any activity from Hydra in California or on its coast."

He was glad he was so familiar with the sunny state as his helmet shut over his face. "But first, get that man something to eat, and make sure Morgan eats, too." His thrusters propelled him upwards where he met the quinjet.

"Anything on Peter?" Steve's voice came over the comms.

"Yeah...Morgan said she heard Hammer say California before she was knocked out....and don't ask. I sent Pepper home with her in order to get her checked out by Bruce. I'll go ahead and call Fury."

"Tony, I don't think that's a good idea. You're not in the best state of mind right now, and you may do something you regret." That made Tony smile as he shot forward.

"I always regret my actions in one way or the other. Stark out." He cut the connection. "Friday, call Fury."

"Calling Nick Fury."

The phone line rang a couple of times and Tony was getting impatient. "Come on, Fury, you old windbag, pick up the phone."

"I should hang up because of that language," Nick's angry voice came over the line and Stark had it instantly sent to video feed, wanting to see the man's face.

"Well, don't. I need information. Has there been anything on Hydra in California? Or along the coast line of the state?"

"Now that you mention it, a new base has actually gone up quite literally overnight. I think it's run by the man you were supposed to have captured two months ago. The one doing all the crazy experiments. I was gonna send in some informants to get the scope on everything." The man's voice sounded wary. "Why would you want to know about that?"

Tony sighed. He could either tell Fury the whole truth and risk keeping Peter with him, or not tell the man anything, thus risking the boy's life and safety. It was a lose/lose situation, and Tony hated to lose....but, if the first option had the chance of Peter living, he would take it. Hands down. "There was one subject still alive," he told the man. "His name is Peter Parker...and he's been staying with me for the past two months."

There was silence on the feed and Tony was afraid his signal had been cut. "Fury, please, you can bitch at me later all you want, you can even throw me out of SHIELD, which wouldn't help your cause, but you can do it...as long as I can save Peter."

The silence was broken. "Save him? Stark, I thought you said he was living with you? Did I hear you wrong?"

"No. Hydra wants him back. Bad. Twice they sent someone to attack me while I had Peter. The first time they didn't win....this last time, they took Morgan too. She's fine. She's actually with Pepper...but....Peter, he's just a kid. A kid that's very special to the team," and to me. "Help me, Fury."

A sigh from the man meant Tony had won. "Fine. The base is on the northern part of California, nearest to Oregon. And this time, Stark, capture the target." He sent him a one eyed glare.

"Of course. Oh, and, you might wanna send a team to Hammer Robotics...Justin Hammer is out of prison and kidnapped a family and was the one who took Morgan and Peter. I want him thrown in jail, hell, the chair for all I care....just make sure that bastard doesn't see sunlight again."

"I'll take care of it, Tony. You just be careful and wait for the team to get there." He knew the hot headed inventor better than that, but he thought he would say something just to make it clear he had in the reports.

"Of course. But first, I'm gonna get some of my anger out. End call." The screen went back to the normal HUD display, but this time there was a digital map with a pinpoint on it. He corrected his course, and with the rising sun as his light, set off to save his kid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter was woken by a bang, followed by whistling. He shot up and winced when his back pulled, sore from sleeping on the hard plastic floor of the cage.

"Mornin'," the orange man said joyfully. He was carrying a plate and already the boy could smell the sausage and bacon, making his stomach grumble. "Hope you had a good sleep." He set the plate down, smirking at the way Peter stared hungrily at its contents.

"I figured you'd be hungry." He began cutting off bits of bacon and sausage, dropping them into a slot that he'd pulled out of the bottom of Peter's prison, adding some eggs before he slid it back in.

If the giant stayed like this, Peter was sure he wouldn't be so scared...but it was what he was planning on doing that worried him. "Thank you." His voice echoed a bit in the clear cage. Demurely, he picked up a bit of the egg, not watching the man standing in front of him eating, making those noises he thought he was used to.

"Bloom will be here as soon as I call him." Those words abolished all Peter's appetite, bringing back the scared feeling again. He dropped the bacon he was putting to his mouth, feeling sick.

He couldn't go back to that man...."Please.." he begged. "Please, just let me go....tell him I got away, please!" He was visibly shaking now, curling up in a corner, hugging his knees and rocking. "I don't want to die," he said softly, tears welling in his eyes.

Hammer thought it was going to be easy...but, like everything else, it was difficult to think about handing a kid over to someone who probably was going to kill him. It was so much easier before he learned that the package was a kid. But, he'd already made the phone call.

"Can't be helped now," he said, his voice cold. He had to shut his emotions out of this. It was the only way he was going to be able to do this. "Finish your meal."

With that, he walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. "Damnit," he breathed. Shaking the feeling of guilt away, he thought it was better if he stayed away from the kid, and his big brown eyes staring at him. Yeah....right.

At that moment, his phone rang. "Hello?" he answered sullenly after reading the name on the screen.

"Ah, hello Justin. I was told you have the experiment?" Octavion's accent was thick with his excitement.

Damn that Ward. "Yes, I do. You can come pick him up whenever you want. I won't be here." Just in case the man double crossed him. "He will be protected, so don't worry. The guards know who you are." Why was he feeling this way over giving the boy to over to Bloom? He was getting his revenge on Tony....so why did it feel like he was losing?

"That is fine. You did well, Hammer. Consider our deal sealed. Have a good life." Justin didn't answer, simply hung up and hurried to pack a bag.

Chapter Text

Tony arrived at the base shortly after sunrise. After pushing his suit to the limits of its speed, he broke the sound barrier at least three times in succession, leaving the quinjet in the dust.

"Tony, you have to slow down and think," Steve's voice came from the comms. "It won't do Peter any good if you show up alone and start blasting your way into the facility. Think about his safety first."

Of course the righteous Captain America was right, but Tony didn't want to hear it. "Calm down, old man. I'm going to scout the area before you get here." And if he got to smash a few heads, that was all the better.

"Only scout," Rogers told him, his voice serious.

"Yes dad. End communications."

"Tony you'd be-" the line went dead.

"Friday, if I ever get that cranky in my old age, you have permission to end me."

"Yes Boss," she replied a little too hastily.

"Really? Well, that's rude." He focused on the facility as it came into view, the rapid movements on his HUD flicking, ever changing and giving Tony the information he needed. The mist from the early ocean breeze fogged his vision a little, making it hard for him to see. "Friday, scan for a shield or a power source for one." Already his defoggers were working to clear the helm.

"Yes, Boss." The AI did a full scan of the facility as Tony passed over it, activating stealth mode so he wouldn't be seen. "They have the set up for it, but it has yet to be activated."

Perfect. "Get me a body count outside of the facility."

"I count fifteen guards, all armed."

Fifteen? He could take that many in his sleep. He began landing procedures, his suit balancing out to hover just above the ground, his hands out. "Hey," Tony whistled to get the guard's attentions. "Yeah, you. Catch."

His tracking system had targeted the men and he shot bullets from his suit, hitting each one in the kneecap, crippling them. "Told you to catch." With that, he flew up and took off his stealth mode just as the quinjet flew overhead, Steve jumping out even before it could land. He landed on one knee, slamming his shield into the ground to absorb the impact.

"Just couldn't wait," he quipped.

Tony didn't want to hear a whole speech. "Of course not, which is why I started the games early. They already lost. Friday counted fifteen, well, now twelve, guards on the ground. I didn't do an internal scan yet."

"Make that ten," Natasha's voice came over the comms.

"Eight," said Sam.

They were knocking these guys out easily. Too easily.

"Guys, don't you think this is too easy?" Tony voiced his fears.

"I had noticed that...why do you think that is? I mean, they usually put up more of a fight than this." Sam had deployed Redwing and he shot four of the guards, watching them go down, unconscious. "Unless....guys! This isn't the main facility!"

At that minute, something in the harbor splashed and Tony sped into the air to see a Hydra underwater vehicle race away, diving under the waves. "Oh no you don't. Guys, I'm going after it."

"Tony, no! At least wait for Rhodey!" Steve's command was ignored and the mechanic raced to the harbor.

"Friday, anything?" He was beginning to panic now.

"No....It must have a stealth mode that makes me unable to track it." That made Tony's heart skip a beat.

"Then we'll just have to look the old fashion way. How much air do I have?"

"Thirty minutes. This model isn't made for underwater missions."

"Remind to fix that." With that, he dove into the bay, his repulsors pushing him through the murky water, trying to find any trace of the black submarine. Was he too late? Suddenly, to his left he saw a trail of what looked like bubbles disappearing. "Found you trail of breadcrumbs..." He shot off in the direction of the trail.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Tony, I told you to wait for Rhodey!" Steve snapped, pressing his communicator in his ear.

"How can I wait with one of my kids in danger?" Came the billionaire's answer. "Besides, Rhodey already has me on lock and on his way."

"Could have told me that sooner," the captain muttered. "Just be careful. We'll check it out here. And Rhodey, make sure he doesn't blow up the ship. There might be more experiments on board."

"Wasn't counting on letting him get that far," came the colonel's answer. With that, the line went dead and Steve sighed.

"Avengers," he called to the team, waiting for them to group around him. "We've got no idea what could be inside, so once we breach, we'll have to be careful. Everyone, watch your backs." The group nodded and they broke up. Natasha went straight for the vents, slipping in silently. Sam went for an air approach and Steve....well, Steve took a page from Hulk. He smashed his way in.

"I was right," Sam whispered over the comms. "There's nothing in here. It's just an empty building."

Steve cursed under his breath. "Natasha? Anything from your end?" Suddenly, the wall was kicked in behind him and he turned, raising his shield.

"The vents are even fake!" the assassin complained. "Who the hell goes to this much effort to create a building with fake vents? It's unnatural."

Rogers sighed. "Looks like we're getting wet," he told the team and ran outside for the quinjet, the team behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter sat in his cage, playing with the cold food at his feet. The bacon had begun to gelatinize and he was drawing in the grease when the door slammed open, making him yelp and jump.

"Righ this way, Mr. Bloom." It was the man that hit Morgan's voice. Peter grew angry when he saw his face and shot up, running to the front of the cage, banging on the glass.

"You! You bastard!" He screamed, anger written on his tiny features.

"Well, well, Mr. Ward...It looks like number seventy-three doesn't like you very much." Bloom walked through the door and instantly the boy stopped his banging. His red face was suddenly white washed. "Hello, seventy-three. How pleased I am that you remember me." He took steps towards the small rectangular cage on the silver table, always looking down at the being inhabiting it. "I trust you are well?" He asked.

But, Peter couldn't answer him. Fear had closed his throat and he found his legs too shaky to hold him up and crumpled to the floor. He watched as the man gripped the cage in his hands, his breath pumping from him in great gasps as his fight or flight instinct kicked in, but he couldn't run, and he sure as hell couldn't fight this giant man. He could only stare as the cage was brought up to Bloom's eyes. The cold, peering eyes of the scientist brought back bad memories and tears started leaking from the boy's eyes, his bottom lip trembling.

"You look good. But, it seems you haven't finished your breakfast. That's a good thing, though. You'll have to have an empty stomach for the procedure." The eyes took on a sorrowful gaze. "I wish we could have kept you alive, but we need to extract everything and anything that contains your DNA."

With that, he brought the cage down and tucked it under his arm. Peter felt every step, every beat of the scientists heart....but he didn't care. He didn't want to die in a lab, cut open like a high school experiment. With a sob, he threw himself at the glass. He did it again and winced as his shoulder grew sore. Again and again, he tried to get out, but every time he hit it, the glass was left unchanged.

How? How could he not get away, even with his abilities?

With a snarl, he stuck to the walls and climbed up to the sealed top and hanging by his arms, he kicked at the clear top. But, just like the sides, he couldn't break it. He couldn't even put a dent in it. He dropped to the bottom, staring at the walls, an incredulous look on his face. So, this was really it....He was going to die.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"If I may, what's in the case?" Bruce picked up the circular case, turning it over carefully to study it as if it were some kind of puzzle.

"It's where I store my cars," Pym gently took the case. "We need to be outside for this." He walked out onto the porch and down the stairs. "Where can I set this up?"

Clint, who was leaning against the railing, pointed to the spot next to a tree with a target on it. "Over there, in that field. It doesn't have anything growing in it yet and has the most room."

"Perfect." hank walked over and set the case down, opening it. "Oh, I forgot." He turned toward the plane sitting on the grass in the front of the house. Pulling out a remote, he looked to Hope, who nodded and started walking towards it.

"Hope you're not gonna try and change the channel," the archer joked, squinting against the sun.

Pym just smiled and pushed the red button. Instantaneously the plane disappeared, or it seemed to. Hope bent down to retrieve the small model sized toy looking plane from the ground. "We have to work on the weight ratio," she said with a strained voice. "It's much heavier than the cars."

"I know, I just haven't had the time." Hank then pulled out a hideous(in his opinion) brown van and placed it on the ground, clicking the blue button this time.

"Amazing," said Banner, awe in his voice as he watched the toy become a life sized car.
"Absolutely incredible. Is this the van that powers the Quantum tunnel? How do you control it?" He inched closer to the van. Even though this wasn't his area of expertise, he was still a curious scientist.

"Yes, the van powers everything. Unfortunately I lost my lab a while ago in an explosion actually pertaining to the tunnel. Luckily, I was able to shrink it to its present size. I fixed the van up with a high powered battery in order to power the tunnel efficiently."

"That is really fascinating....Is the batter lithium powered or nuclear based?"

"Neither, actually. It's powered by Quantum energy that Scott pulls out. Which, is what he's going to do today. As soon as we have Peter back, I'll be able to take some blood samples and run diagnostics on him. You said his blood is very interesting, which I can't wait to see." He hoped the team would be able to get him back soon. He was worried about the small teen.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Bruce laid a hand on Pym's shoulder. "Don't worry." Hank nodded and turned to the van.

"Scott? Can you please turn it on?" Lang nodded and jumped into the driver's seat and turned the ignition on. "Just needs to warm up." As he was getting out, his hand accidentally hit the horn, sounding the playful tone. "Sorry.."

Clint burst out laughing at the hat dance that played. "That's your secret weapon? Oh my God...Best blackmail ever."

"Bruce, can you set these up over there?" Hank handed the doctor a few stands that were miniaturized. "And don't touch anything until I say so."

Banner nodded and placed the mini stands in the clearing, close enough to the van that they would be able to reach with wires. "Here?"

Hank nodded and pushed the accelerator, unshrinking them. "Now, we attach the wires and Scott can go get the energy we'll need. I'm going to need multiple cans this time."

Scott nodded and jumped into the passenger's seat and pressed a few buttons. A row of energy canister's popped up from the console and he grabbed the whole row, another row appearing behind it. "Is one row enough?"

"Should be. Come on, I want to get this over with so we can help get Peter back!" Hank was already hooking the wires into the computers that lead to the van, booting them up. He typed in his code and waited for the Pym logo to show up, then opened up the necessary files, inputting the codes. "All right, we're good to go. Scott, you ready?"

"Ready and waiting."

"Okay. Hope, I'll-"

"You need me on the other computer, I know. Who's going to man the third, though?"

"I can help, if you tell me what to do," Bruce said, taking a step towards the computers. "I'm actually really good with technology."

"Good, then take the one next to Hope. She can tell you what to hit." He was going to be watching Scott's progress on the screen, as well as how much energy he was able to absorb.

"We're ready," Came Hope's voice.

"Ready here....okay. Going Subatomic in three....two...one..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The process of going that small had freaked Scott out for the longest time, but now, as he passed through the tunnel, he found himself actually enjoying the peace and serenity of the space with no concept of time. As he shrunk, he stayed away from the dark tunnels,. not wanting to get caught in a vortex or in a different time line. Or even a different realm.

That was the scariest part about this. Once he was clear of those, though, he kind of just floated. A rainbow of colors, turning through the ever shifting kaleidoscope of the space.

"Scott, mic test," came Hank's voice over his comms. Scott immediately answered once he found his head.

"This is a go for Scott Lang. Opening up the first container." He opened the absorber, watching the Leptons jump in and out of the crystalline particles shifting around him, reminding him of jumping fish, beautiful and hypnotic.

Once one was full, he got another out, attaching the full ones to his belt until his waist was almost decked out. "I think Bruce would love to see this sometime. Maybe we can get him into a suit, hmm?"

"Don't push it, Scott. How we doing? I see you've almost completely filled the last container."

"Just finished loading up the last one. Ready to be extracted and back to normal." He said and looked around the terrifying beauty of the realm between realms.

"Extraction in three....two....one..." Scott was assaulted by the vertigo from growing so quickly, but it passed once he was out of the tunnel.

"All full and ready for you." He clicked open his mask and took a deep breath of fresh air. He had air while in the tunnel from his suit, but even after just a few minutes recirculated air got stale fast.

"Thank you, Scott. Now, let's get going. We've got a boy to save."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bloom sat in the car, watching the scenery pass with a small smirk on his lips. By now, Stark was probably chasing down the dummy lab, now miles away from the shore line. And by the time the Avengers figured it out, Bloom would be safely in the air. It was a goof thing he kept a stash of his lab equipment with him. He would like to get started as soon as possible.

Looking down, he saw the boy curled up in the corner of the glass cage, arms wrapped around his legs. It was then he noticed something on his wrists. "What is this?" Picking up the cage, he peered inside, squinting his eyes to see the boy's wrists. "Seventy-three. What is that on your wrists?"

Angry brown eyes looked up at him for a fraction of a second before disappearing behind his knees again. Silent treatment?

"Fine. I'll remove them eventually." Bloom sat back, placing the cage on the floor, and shoved it under his seat. If the subject didn't want to cooperate, then he would be in the dark. "How much longer until we meet the plane?"

"About ten minutes," Ward told him, opening one eye. "Nervous?"

"I am never nervous. I just do not like being so close to Stark and his team." He sat back, his foot hitting the case. He heard scrabbling from inside and then nothing. Whatever. He didn't have the patience to check on seventy-three. He wanted to board the plane and get off the ground. It was safe in the air.

Ten minutes passed like nothing and soon, Bloom was reaching for the case, shoving it under his arm roughly and climbing out. "Get the engine started!" he screamed and ran to board it. "Hurry up, Ward!"

"I'm coming, Mr. Bloom. Calm down." Ward climbed the steps and as soon as he was in, he reached behind him and pulled the chain to close the door, locking it in place. "Now we can go."

"Take off!" he screamed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter watched in horror as his last chance at escape was closed, pressing his hands to the glass he watched as the world became the inside of a small plane. Soon, he was shoved under the scientists seat. And there he sat, alone in the dark, dreading his future. Peter's ears popped, signalling they were rising and leveling out until it stopped. A sob caught in his throat and he curled up on his side in a fetal position, crying into his knees.

"May...Mom.....Dad...." he whispered. He was scared. When they had been in the air for a while, Bloom pulled out the clear cage and leered in at the boy, who stared at him with wide, terrified eyes.

"It is time."

At that, Peter started shaking and once again tried to escape from the box, but like last time, he wasn't able to break the glass. Not even a crack. But, Bloom had to put his hand in, didn't he? That could be Peter's chance!

It seemed like the Parker Luck was working though, as he watched a tube be attached to the top of the cage. What? Suddenly a small slit appeared and Peter felt air hit his head, which was odd. Then it hit him. That wasn't air! "No!" he screamed, beating his fists against the clear plates, begging Bloom with his eyes.

"Please! Please, don't do this!" Slowly his muscles began to weaken as he felt his body slipping under the anesthesia.

He tried forcing himself to stay awake, but it was impossible and soon blackness swallowed him.

Chapter Text

"Eyes on the target," Maria said, her deep voice serious in tone. "Permission to fire, sir?"

Fury sat at the console, watching the small aircraft. He didn't know if the boy was on that plane, but, he couldn't afford to let Bloom go for any reason. With a sigh, he nodded, turning his head.

Maria nodded once. "Fire!" she said loudly into the comm-link in her ear. Seconds later, two missiles were set loose on the plane. One just grazed the side, while the second hit the wing dead on. "Confirmed hit, sir! Permission to fire again?"

This time, Fury shook his head. "No, they won't be able to get very far like that." At the moment, the plane started loosing altitude alarmingly fast, and that's when he noticed they hadn't just struck the wing, but the engine as well. "Follow them," he said and sat back to watch. "But, keep a lock on the plane just in case Bloom as something up his sleeve."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony had been chasing the target for about twenty minutes when Friday's voice broke in. "You have ten minutes of air left, and Nick Fury is on the line."

"Well why didn't you tell me that first? Put him through."

Fury's face came up on the HUD, serious as always. "Stark...why is your position two hundred feet below the ocean?"

"Because I'm hunting Moby Dick, why else? I'm trying to get Bloom before he gets away with one of my kids!" At that Fury smiled, like he knew something Tony didn't, and that pissed him off even more. "What do you want, Fury? I'm kind of busy."

"Oh, just to tell you I found Bloom trying to make an escape on a plane thirty miles away from where you are."

Tony came to an almost screeching halt, staring at the trail of bubbles. It couldn't be...were they following a dud? The man cursed under his breath. "Rhodey!" he called and the silver suit stopped, looking back.

"Tony! Why did you stop? We're getting close, I can feel it!"

"Have you noticed, we've been getting close for the past fifteen minutes....and there's always nothing there. It's like we're following a ghost. Or," he looked around. "Friday, do a scan of the area."

"I am detecting multiple devices that are made to make bubbles, boss."

"Shit...you were right, Fury. He had us following breadcrumbs. Where are you?"

"We're just passed Anacapa...in fact, I think I see where your house used to be."

"Very funny...just don't do anything until I get there, Fury...I mean it." He gave the man a glaring look.

"Are you giving me orders now? It doesn't work like that, Tony. I do what I want when I want." That didn't sound good to Tony.

"Just don't hurt my kid," he pleaded, already breaking the surface and heading up as fast as he could go.

"I'll try....I can't promise anything." Then in the background he heard 'permission to fire?' "I have to go." And with that, the line went dead.

"Fury!? Fury, if you hurt him, I swear I'll kill you!" He tried calling the man back, but it was like he shut his line down, because didn't ring at all. "Dammit! Rhodey, we have to hurry!"

"On it!" Came the colonel's reply and they broke the sound barrier together as they shot towards Fury.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Octavion was about to put the empty needle into seventy-three's abdomen when he felt what he thought was turbulence. Waiting for it to pass, he lifted the needle again and just started drawing out the boy's blood when the explosion shook the aircraft. "What was that!?" he shouted, looking towards the window and seeing nothing but smoke. "What have we hit?"

Ward was at the pilot's door, speaking in raised volumes with him. "Well loose them!"

"I can't, sir! They have us on lock and we're losing altitude!"

"What's wrong?" Bloom shouted, covering the subject with a plastic dome, a hose attached to the top that kept pumping oxygen mixed with anesthesia in to the boy. "Why are we losing altitude?!"

"A missile hit the engine!" the pilot yelled over the screaming alarms. The ocean, which had been hundreds of feet below the plane, was now hurtling towards them.

"We have to get out of here!" Bloom rushed for the boy, hastily taking off the done and pushing him into the glass cage. "Hurry! Help me get my equipment!"

"We don't have time!" Ward rushed for the parachutes, throwing one at Octavion, who dropped the cage, letting it clatter to the floor.

"You idiot!" He threw the parachute to the ground and picked up the cage, then the parachute again. "You could have killed him! Then where would my experiments have gone?" He put the pack on and went to the now open door, looking down nervously at the incoming ocean. "What do we do now?"

"We jump," Ward said.

"What? Me? Jump into the air? No!" He shook his head, backing away from the door, eyes wide. Ward grabbed the man's arm in a harsh grip and pulled him forward.

"Yes, you. Now. JUMP!" He pushed the man from the plane, waiting a few seconds before following. He wasn't sure if there was another parachute for the pilot, and right now he couldn't care less.

He was out to save his own hide right now. He checked on Bloom, not surprised to see him clutching to the case like it was a teddy bear and not paying attention to his rip cord. Well, like he'd said. Not his problem. But, it would prove useful to him if he could get the experiment away from Octavion, Ward would be able to able to take it apart and study it.

With a sinister look, he pulled his own cord and was pulled up, all the while watching Bloom struggling to find his cord, but it was too late for him. Even if he was able to pull his cord, he would still hit the water too hard and it would be like concrete, snapping any and all vital bones that would be able to power through the waves to keep the man afloat.

The only problem was if it was that hard, it would shatter the box. Ward would have to find experiment seventy-three quick so it wouldn't be lost to the waves.

As predicted, when the scientist found the cord, by the time he pulled it, there wasn't enough air under the parachute to lift him and he was going too fast. With a crack, Bloom hit the blue calmness of the ocean. He bobbed for a minute with the buoyancy of the cage, but the cracks were too much for the water and the outside shattered, sending the scientist's lifeless body below the serene waves.

Too slowly Ward drifted through the air, finally hitting the water hard enough to bruise a few limbs. Looking around, he saw pieces of glass drifting away. Where was the experiment?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I want people in the water now!" Fury yelled as soon as the plane hit the water. "Search and rescue! And remember, your target is small. First to find it, call me immediately. NOW MOVE!"

He never yelled, but now he raised his voice enough for the crew to know he meant business. Dozens of SHIELD agents ran past him through the battlecarrier and to the subnautical vehicles held below.

"Sir? Is everything all right?" Maria asked, her brows furrowed in concern.

"Yes....just something in that plane that I need. I just hope we're able to find it." He wasn't too sure how small Peter was when talking to Bruce, only that he was tiny. A great description on his part.

On a second thought, he stood and he pulled out his phone and sent a picture he'd found after a quick search of the boy's name, to all the underwater subversive agents as he made his way to a boat, Maria following him.

He hoped the boy lived, because Fury knew Banner hadn't been fully truthful about the boy, and Fury wanted to meet him in person.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Something wet was touching him, that was how Peter woke.

Blinking, he stared up at the blue sky, sun beating down on him. But, something about the sky seemed different. It was almost like he was staring at it without a barrier. Suddenly he shot up with a start and almost fell off the piece of reinforced glass he was floating on. What happened?

The last thing he remembered was being in the cage banging on the glass trying to get free. Now, it seemed like he was out of the clear cage....was he dead? Had Dr. Bloom actually killed him? No, because if he were dead, he'd be on a cloud, not in the ocean, surrounded by millions of miles of blue water.

Looking around, he saw the shore wasn't that far...well, to normal sized people anyway. The boy knew he had paddle, he had to find a way to the the shore. He had to get away, and find his way back to safety, to Tony...to his dad. "Okay, Peter....you can do this....."

Taking a deep breath and not looking at the clear bottom, the boy used his hands to start paddling.

But, he didn't make it too far before a something massive hit the water, causing him and to capsize. In his current state, it was hard for him to tread water, his lung size not enough to keep him afloat. But that didn't matter, for a hand was wrapping wrapping around him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Ward hit the water, he'd found where the boy was and aimed for the glass he was using as a body board. Hitting the water caused enough waves to flip the glass, and Ward had removed his parachute before it dragged him down. Reaching out a hand, he grabbed the experiment, but instead of bringing him above the waves, Ward held the small thing just under the water. He grinned at the struggles he felt, so insignificant. It made him feel like a god, holding a small baby bird in his palm.

The boy's struggles lessened, and the bubbles coming from his mouth increased. He was almost gone! Finally, this tiny being would be his to take apart and discover what secrets he had hidden in its blood!

Suddenly, he felt something blunt rest against his head and the man froze. "Raise your hands slowly," a deep voice said into Ward's ear.

The man did as he was told, bringing his hands, and the tiny being, above the water. "You're too late," he laughed, the limp form in his hand speaking volumes, when suddenly he heard a gunshot and nothing else as his body slipped beneath the water.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Floating. That was what Peter was doing at the moment. But, there was something persistent hitting him in the chest. What was it?

"Breathe kid!" It was a stranger's voice calling to him. Who's was it?

Slowly Peter's body came into focus, and through the haze, he saw a man above him, one of his eyes covered by a black eye patch. Peter would have cheered, but he could only cough as air forced itself into his chest, expelling water like a fountain.

"Glad you could make it back, Peter."

"Who," he gasped. "Who are you?" Salt water did not taste good coming up.

"Nick Fury."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony's mind was was thinking about fifty thousand thoughts at the moment, most of them not good. He thought about what Peter was going through right now, where he was. Was he scared? Was he hurt? All these thoughts just kept repeating themselves over and over, driving the man crazy.

"Tony, you need to calm down, man," Rhodey's voice was firm in the comms. "Friday's over here annoying me about your blood pressure."

The billionaire smirked at that. "What do you know, I did program her right if she annoys you. Good job, Friday."

"Tony, I'm serious. You have to calm down. We'll find Peter and he's going to be fine."

He wasn't so sure about that, but he trusted what Rhodey had said in the past, and it turned out to be right. "You're right...I just need to take a few breaths and think about something else." He inhaled deeply, eyes still stuck on the red dot that was Fury's location. "Have you heard from Banner or anyone back at the farm?"

"Not yet, but I'm sure that means good things. Hopefully they're just busy getting what they need from the quantum realm, or whatever." Tony could only hope.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it." He just wished they would hurry and call.

"Incoming call from Nick Fury. Should I put it throught?" Friday's voice interrupted.

"Yeah, or else he's gonna hack my systems and get all pissy."

"Damn right I will." The director's face popped up on the HUD. "And after all the trouble I went through to get you a present."

Present? "Aww, and I didn't get you anything."

"I'll bill you later. We're on route to your location now. Keep heading for us and we'll meet halfway." Tony nodded.

"Whatever you say, you're the boss. But, does this mean you-"

"Meet first, presents later," Fury had a knowing smile, then ended the call.

"Damnit," Tony cursed and sped up, going through the sound barrier like it was butter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter sat shivering on the control panel, curled up on himself as he watched the giant man with the eye patch hang up on Tony. It had been a harrowing adventure, but Peter wanted to just leap into his dad's hands and feel the warmth and safety the man provided.

"Here," the man said and dropped something on top of the boy, cloaking him in a world of white. "Tony would kill me if you got sick."

Finally he poked his head out and saw it was a white handkerchief. Shivering, he quickly wrapped himself in it, letting out a content noise. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Now, explain again what happened to you?"

The giant leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs and leaning his head on a hand to stare at Peter. Sure the boy had grown used to it by now, but there was something about this man's stare that was disconcerting.

Slowly Peter went into the story of how he was turned tiny, putting emphasis on the parts of the story that even he thought were ridiculous, but true. Finally, he began to wind down to how one of Fury's men found him and the shivering finally stopped. "So now, I have to wait for Sean to come and fix me." He smiled at the thought of his friend.

"Sean O'Cleary?" The giant then turned in his chair to see a screen, typing in the name. "I have heard of him...but it says here, he's deceased. Died a couple days ago...I'm sorry."

At first it was shock that made the boy go quiet. Sean was... "No," he whispered, head shaking. "No, they wouldn't kill him...he said it himself, he was too valuable...only he knew his research." If he was dead, then how was Dr. Pym going to fix him? "Does it...does it say how?"

Fury shook his head and closed the file before Peter could see what was written. "No. The report said he was found in an abandoned laboratory."

Big, brown eyes started filling with tears. Peter blinked away the burning sensation, looking away from the giant man. "Thank you," he said lowly. "For telling me." He had lost another friend.

True he still had Ned and MJ, but he wouldn't actually have them until he was back to normal. He was going to be stuck as a freak for the rest of his life, destined to stay in a lab to be studied by Dr. Banner until he came up with a cure. Suppressing a sob, he threw the handkerchief over his head to block anyone from seeing him.

"Sir, Stark is within radar."

"Thank you, Ms. Hill. Keep on course, open the hangar."

Peter could tell the giant glanced at him and huddled into his white cave, listening to the giant man chuckle. He wanted Mr. Stark even more now. He needed the man's comfort.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The nanobots weren't even done crawling into his reactor before Tony was storming onto the large heliship. He didn't acknowledge anyone, kept looking straight as he traversed the well known hallways of the airship. Suddenly, he saw something that got his curiosity.

Hammer was being marched through the halls of the ship in handcuffs. He had a deep scowl on his face, but when he saw Tony, that's when he started fighting. "I had him in my clutches!" Justin screamed, his face red under the spray on tan. "I almost bested you, the great Tony Stark!"

"Apparently he knows you," a guard said, stopping to hold the man still.

"Were there any others?" Stark asked, bristling as he stared into Hammer's eyes.

"No. The little guy with Fury told us this was the second man with Bloom, and he was also in the car with the one that hit the girl. He is the one who threw the girl into the car, though."

Instantly Tony saw red. He stared at the man, moving towards him, fury written on his face. "So, you like taking little girls, huh? Especially my little girl?" He stared at the smirking man for a second before, faster than even he thought he could move, Tony brought his fist up and punched the other in the face.

"That was for Morgan. And this," he brought his foot up and landed a kick between the man's legs. "Is for Peter."

He wiped his nose and turned. "I'll let you get back to bringing this scum in. Thanks." He walked away, listening to the man's grunting and the guards snickering, until he reached the bridge.

"Where is he?" Were the first words out of his mouth when he saw Fury.

"Hello to you too, Tony. Nice to see you again." Nick stood. "Is that so simple?"

"I am in no mood for this, Fury. I want my kid, now."

The director's eyebrows went skyward. "Your kid? I thought you only had Morgan..."

"No. Mood.," he growled out. "Where is Peter?" Now Tony was starting to get annoyed, and the other man could sense it. He didn't want to play games right now.

"Okay, okay, I get it. Don't poke the bear. He's right here." Fury stepped away from the console to reveal Peter, staring up at Tony with such adoration, it actually hurt to see the kid's face.

"Pete." Tony lunged forward and grabbed the tiny teen in one hand, bringing him close, closing his eyes as he felt the slight weight in his hand. Every little heartbeat, every breath, Tony adored. "I thought I lost you, buddy."

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Stark....I messed up. I was selfish and wanted to go outside for a bit, and I got Morgan hurt, and I hurt you and Pepper...I'm so sorry.."

Every apology Peter made went straight to Tony's heart and tugged. How was this kid selfish? He was actually the most kind person he'd ever known. "No...none of it was your fault. It was nobody's fault."

"How is Morgan? Is she alright? I know she probably blames me, and that's okay, because I-"

"Peter, breathe. She's not angry. No one is. I'm just relieved to have you back..." He sighed and hugged the boy as close as he dared, bringing his other hand up, cupping the boy against his shirt.

Peter breathed in the comforting scent of Tony Stark. Coffee, motor oil and cologne stuck to the man's skin and clothing and Peter thought it was the best smell in the world. He gripped as much of the man's shirt in his hands as he could, pressing his face into the cloth. "I...I thought I was dead," he whispered, not even sure if the man heard him.

"I thought I was dead, and I didn't get to say goodbye, and that made me feel so sad." He pulled away and looked up to see Mr. Stark's billboard sized face staring down at him. "I never want to leave you, Mr. Stark....I know I have aunt May, and it's going to sound selfish...but..you think maybe I can spend the summer's with you and Pepper? Maybe we could go to the beach or something...Dad?"

Tony smiled down at the boy, his eyes misting over so much he had to blink back the moisture. "Of course, kid. I wouldn't have it any other way." He looked up at Fury, who was watching the reunion with a slight smirk. "Thank you," was all he said and turned. "I owe you one."

"You owe me more than one!" the man called with a chuckle.

Peter didn't pay much attention, because Rhodey came out of the hallway, panting. "This place is huge! I got lost looking for you."

"Well, good thing you found us, because we're leaving. There's a few people back at the farm who are waiting to see you." Peter's eyes lit up and he smiled, hugging Mr. Stark's thumb tightly.

Suddenly the nanobots started crawling under the boy and he gasped at the feeling of them crawling past his skin, his body trapped in Mr. Stark's fist. "Um..."

"Don't worry, kid. Remember that pocket I was making?" Mr. Stark's suit then opened a bit to reveal a space just big enough for Peter. "Finally finished it the other day. Hop in, let's take it for a spin."

Peter nodded and slid out of the man's grip and into the chest pocket, the suit closing over him, wrapping him in a cocoon of warmth. It wasn't until a few seconds later he heard Mr. Stark's heartbeat, feeling it against his body and he felt safe.

"You okay?" The man's voice rumbled through and around him.

"Yes! This is perfect." It wasn't too hot, like the pockets on the man's suits, the metal kept him cool.

"Okay. Let's go." Peter felt the suit take off. The rumbling from the thrusters and Mr. Stark's heartbeat soon lulled the boy into a deep sleep, his body craving it after the hectic few days he'd had.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pepper was pacing after Tony's call, a sleeping Morgan in her arms while they all waited for the three to come back. It was late, but she didn't care. She wanted to see Peter, make sure he was all right, hold him in her hands.

May watched her and after a while, the woman knew she needed to be comforted. Though she was a little sore about Peter calling her mom, but she knew Pepper loved Peter just as much as she did. Getting up, she walked up to the woman, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, why don't you put Morgan to bed, and I'll make some tea. Sound good?"

The strawberry blonde stared at May for a minute before nodding. "Yeah, yeah, sure." Pepper smiled slightly. "Thank you."

May simply nodded and watched the woman walk off before letting out a breath and putting a kettle of water on. "I think what you're doing is very brave."

Laura had walked up to her, setting down the phone after calling her kids at their friends houses, letting them spend the night again. "I don't know how I would react if the kids I raised called someone else 'mom'."

May frowned and shook her head. "I don't know how I'm supposed to handle this. I've raised Peter since he was six...I don't know if I can handle it."

Mrs. Barton smiled and took the kettle from the woman, putting it on the stove. The others were on the couch, all talking among themselves. "It can be hard to let someone else in. But, you're doing a great job with it." May had to laugh at that one.

"You should have seen me the other night...I was ready to tear Pepper's head off when Peter called her mom." She took a deep breath and look to where the woman had gone. "But, then I saw the love in her eyes, as well as Peter's....and I knew in order for him to be happy, he needed both Pepper and Tony in his life." That was the moment she knew she had to stop being selfish with hr nephew and let someone else into the little circle she called family. "And that's all I want...is Peter to be happy."

Laura smiled. "That's any mother's wish for her children. And though you're not his mother, you've been a great resource for him and you've raised him so well. You should be proud." With that, Mrs. Barton walked to the couch, joining in on the conversation.

A noise had May turning to see Pepper coming down the stairs and she looked so weary. The woman walked over to the counter and sat heavily on a stool. "Pepper?" Said woman turned her eyes to May.

"You do know everything is going to be all right, right?" May smiled. "I've been around Peter his whole life, and he's always gotten into some kind of trouble, but always he was able to pull himself out. Now, I don't particularly care for the method that he did it, but now, he's got more support than he ever did...and for that, I'm sure he's grateful. I know I am." And she truly was. It suddenly came to her, that as much a family as these people were to Peter, they were to her as well.

"Thank you....I just want our boys to come home," Pepper said, her voice betraying how tired she was. "I know you do, too."

May nodded. "Isn't that a fact. I just want to hold Peter and never let him go....when he first disappeared, and the police said he was dead, I was beside myself....I almost ended it all. But, there was something telling me that he was alive, and that he was coming home."

"Oh May..." Pepper felt so bad for everything that they had done. True that in the beginning they all thought they were doing what was best, even Peter, but now she realized her mistake.

"I promise, I won't ever try and take your place in his life. I really can't, because of everything that you've done for him. All that I can ask is to maybe let us be a part of his life? Share some experiences."

The brunette nodded, wiping her leaking eyes. "Yeah, I can do that."

"Pep, you there?" Tony's voice broke through the moment, making the two women jump.

"Tony? Is everything all right?"

"Perfectly fine. I'll be coming home with a tiny package in my pocket..who, Friday told me is asleep at the moment. The poor kid was bushed."

"I can imagine. Just be careful, okay?"

"Yes dear. I can see the farm now. Tell Pym I want to wait until the morning, this way Peter can get a bath before he does anything. The poor kid reeks like fish."

Pepper and May laughed at that as they hung up, both women smiling at one another. Their family was coming home.
!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The minute Tony touched down, he was grabbed by his wife in a strong hug. He felt her warmth through the metal as he hugged her back, his eyes closing as his cheek rested against her cheek, his beard tangling with her hair. "Hey Pep."

"Hey yourself. Are you okay?" She pulled away to look into his eyes.

"Yes, and I know of a little napping teen who wants to say hello." He tapped his reactor, Peter's sleeping form revealed against the man's chest. "I guess he's not up yet."

May was there in an instant, her eyes glistening with tears. "Oh, my Peter..." she held her hands out, accepting the boy gratefully. "I'll put him to bed."

Tony watched the woman retreat. "Does Pym have everything he needs?"

"Yes. He actually finished getting the particles yesterday. Bruce was very interested."

"Hm, I bet he was. Come on. I want to check on Morgan. How's her face?" Tony was still pissed at the man now in Fury's care. He was also mad he hadn't found out what happened to Bloom...but, if he was out there, Tony would find him.

"She's doing better. Told me 'it looks worse than it feels'. She's so brave." Pepper reached her arm across his back, her hand sliding into his back pocket.

"I know she is. Look who had a hand in raising her," he waggled his brows and she laughed as they walked inside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You ready?" Hank was standing over Peter on the table, in his hand a needle. He'd unshrunk a lab from his pack for him and Banner to work in, promising Mrs. Barton that everything would be the way it was later that night....maybe.

The boy nodded, thought his face was ghost white, staring at the long needle and shaking. "I-I-I'm ready..."

Tony stepped forward, giving Pym a harsh glare as he put his thumb over the boy. "Just feel my heartbeat, Pete. Follow it." Morgan peered around her father's arm, giving her 'brother' a smile.

"Okay..okay, you can do this....okay, just do it, Mr. Pym!" Peter squeezed his eyes shut and gripped onto Tony's finger with all his strength, making the man wince.

Hank nodded and slowly inserted the thin needle into the boy's arm, watching what he was doing in the magnifying machine. Once blood started flowing, the man waited a few seconds before withdrawing and held a piece of a cotton ball to the injection sight.

"You did great, Pete." He smiled at the teen and walked to Banner, putting the sample into the computer.

"What's that? It have molecular specs?" Stark was peering over Hank's shoulder, watching every move he was making. "Oh, what's this?" He made to touch a scale and Pym slapped his hand.

"Do I have to tell you to get out, Stark?" he growled.

"Maybe." The man grinned, but backed away with his hands up. "Okay, okay, I break I bought it. I get it." He walked back towards Peter and Pepper, who was scowling at the man playfully. "What a grouch," he stage whispered.

Hank simply rolled his eyes, continuing to study Peter's blood. "This could be tricky," he told Banner, who nodded.

"I thought the same, even without knowledge of the makeup of Pym Particles. And like I said, Sean buried the makeup so well I couldn't even find out what the particles were made of."

Pym studied the blood more and smiled. "Sean, you son of a bitch....you couldn't find the particles because he didn't use my particles....He developed a whole new serum...." He shook his head. Now it would be easy to find out what the late scientist had done. "I just need a molecular view of the boy's DNA."

"Oh, I'm already on that," Stark said, phone in hand. "Aaaaannnnddd....I'm in. Friday?"

"On it." The AI took the image of the blood sample and magnified it, making it a hologram in order for the whole team to see.

"This is why I can't stand your entire family, Stark...you just do what you want. Just like your father." Stark glared and took a step forward.

Bruce was in between the men in a second, a hand on each of their chests. "Guys, let's not do this here. Remember Peter here is key priority. You can duke it out after we fix him."

Tony nodded. "Yeah, yeah." He backed up, sniffing indignantly. "The kid comes first." He turned and picked up Morgan, hugging her close.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hours passed and the two scientists worked the entire time in silence trying to reverse the work Sean had done. Finally, when they had just about lost hope, Hank clapped his hands. "I figured it out!" He ran to the white board. "Why didn't I think of this before? You remember when the Kosmosians were discovered? And they brought the bridge?"

Banner nodded, and suddenly his eyes lit up. "That's it! Hank, you're a genius! All we have to do is inject Peter with a reverse serum, then attach the bridge to him in some way."

"And I know the perfect way," Hank said, a glimmer in his eye. "Bill Foster had an adoptive daughter, who was a victim of the first Quantum tunnel explosion. She was affected by the quantum energy and almost died from her phase shifting. He had built her a sort of container...anyway, when we healed her, I opted to hang on to the cabin, just in case we needed it for her. But, the healing particles have been a success. And once we inject those particles into Peter, we can put him in the cabin and attach the brige."

"Okay, I get that, but, how does that help Peter? The bridge, I mean."

"The Kosmosians have been working on a way to send their realm's energy here to this realm for a project we're working on. And no, you can't know the name of it."

"I wasn't gonna ask. But, you're saying, you have a way of transferring energy from realm to realm?"

"Well, almost. It's really a finite amount at the moment, but it may just be enough to do what we need it to do." Hank went to his bag and pulled out a small container, placing it in the middle of the lab. "Stand back." He pressed the remote and instantly there was a huge glass-like chamber.

"I'll never get over that," Bruce said with a smile.

"Now you sound like Scott," Pym complained and went back into his bag, taking out a tiny pin shaped object. "I need you to attach this to the tube in the cabin. I'll continue working on the serum." Banner nodded and took the little object from Pym, observing it. "And don't drop it."

"Hey, I only sound like Scott," Bruce laughed and went to the cabin to begin his job.

Bruce checked the bridge was attached inside the tubing leading from the cabin. May was behind him, holding Peter close to her chest watching every move Banner made.

"Hey, Pete," the scientist said as he turned, smiling at the tiny teen. "Now, this isn't gonna hurt, okay? Just a little stick and an injection. It's gonna take time for the serum to work, so don't expect any miracles." Peter nodded and gulped, then looked for Dr. Pym.

"Mr. Pym?" the boy called and the man walked over. "Is...is there any way for you to fix my DNA too?" Bruce had been waiting for this. He and Pym had talked about it while the team was searching for Peter and they exchanged sorrowful glances.

"I'm sorry," Hank told him. "It would be impossible to change your DNA back. It's been too long and the spider venom they injected you with has had too much time to fully form with your genetic code." Peter just nodded, his lower jaw wobbling. "But, I did hear that Tony had asked you to come back to the compound to train, right? I bet that's exciting."

The teen nodded, smiling, though his face gave his thoughts away. "Y-yeah...it'll be awesome...I just...I was just hoping to be normal."

Hank crouched a bit to look the boy in the eyes, his finger going under the boy's chin. "Now, you listen to me Peter. There is nothing wrong with being different. If all of us were 'normal', we wouldn't have the Avengers, now would we?"

Peter shook his head. "No sir...I-I guess you're right. Okay....I'm ready."

"Good. Miss? I'll need you to give the boy to Dr. Banner." Hank stepped aside for Bruce to step forward. Since he had known Peter longer, it was obvious he would be more comfortable with the boy.

May slid her nephew into the scientists cupped hands, giving him a water smile. "You're so brave," she whispered then covered her mouth.

"He'll be okay, May. A couple of hours, possibly a day or two in the chamber, and you'll have your nephew back." He gave the woman a smile and turned towards the empty glass box.

"Now, Peter, you have to understand a few points. While your body is absorbing the healing particles from the Quantum realm, there will be a little discomfort, but no full on pain, okay? And, you can not speak. Once we start the process, you can't use your vocal cords at all, do you understand? If you do, your throat will continue to grow, but your vocal chords will cease to grow and eventually be absorbed into your muscles, leaving you mute and do some major damage."

The teen grew pale, but he nodded. "I understand. And Dr. Banner?" The man turned his eyes to the teen. "Thank you, for everything."

"You're very welcome, Peter." He climbed into the glass chamber and set Peter on the floor, backing out. "All right. Here goes nothing. Dr. Pym?" The white haired man nodded and started the chamber. "I think it would be best for everyone to leave." He nodded to Pepper, who put a hand on May's shoulder.

"Come on. You can see him once it's over." She smiled at the woman, who nodded shakily.

"I love you Petey-pie," she called before the door closed, leaving the two scientists alone.

"Okay. Chamber door, secured." Banner told Pym, who gave him a thumbs up, inputting code into the computer.

"All right....Injection ready." The white haired man walked over to the chamber, grabbing a syringe from the table. "Peter, I need you to walk towards the tube to your right." Peter nodded and jogged to the spot, holding his arm out, not making a sound.

"You're doing great." He slid the needle into the tube. "Hold still.......and done. Good job." He slid the needle out and closed the latch, securing it. "How's it going on your end, Banner?"

"All good here. Ready whenever you are."

Hank nodded and rushed to his console, opening the bridge protocol. "Bridge connection in three......two......one.....NOW!" He pushed enter and instantly the chamber was filled with a dull, almost black light with gold specks floating in it.

"Wow....that's....it's beautiful."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The air around Peter had grown thick and the boy was finding it harder to breathe, but not by much. But, was it enough to affect his vision, because everything was starting to turn black. He felt his breathing increase as he panicked, looking around.

"Peter," came Dr. Banner's voice. "Your breathing is getting a little heavy. Everything you're seeing is normal, and we can see the black smoke, too. We're almost done, bud. Just a little more and you can come out."

The teen nodded, even though he was sure the giant adults couldn't see him. Peter took a few steadying breaths, remembering the breathing techniques Mr. Stark taught him. It worked like the other times and Peter's breathing came back to normal.

When he opened his eyes, he was suddenly struck with the most beautiful sight.

Gold specks seemed to dance in the black around him, almost looking like stars in the universe. He stared up at them, even reaching out to touch a few that danced by him, laughing silently when they broke apart and melted back together around his fingers. This was amazing. He only wished his aunt could see it.

He sat on the floor and crossed his legs and waited, imagining himself normal again, the image making him smile.

The lights suddenly stopped and all seemed to congregate around Peter before all shooting towards the teen. He cried out as his body was pummeled from the inside out and finally passed out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hours passed and May was getting antsy. She checked her watch. Five hours! "How long is he going to be in there and why couldn't I be in there with him? What if he gets scared?" She had always been the one to comfort the boy when he came home, crying from being bullied and having his glasses broken or had gotten a black eye. Especially after Ben had died. Those were the days where they comforted each other.

"I'm sure he's fine," Pepper smiled. "If he wasn't, Bruce or Hank would come get you. Have you eaten yet?" The brunette shook her head. "Well, you should. It would help with passing the time."

May knew the woman was right as she made her way to the refrigerator, Laura smiling at her as she passed the woman. "I can't wait to see him," Clint wrapped an arm around his wife. "I mean, really see him. So far it's been like trying to read those little dolls...what are they? Polly something. Hate those things. They hurt worse than Lego's if you step on them."

His wife elbowed him in the ribs at the face May made at him, her skin white as a sheet. "I promise I would never have stepped on Peter, though! He was pretty much always in one of our hands...except Natasha or Steve. They thought he was a spy for the longest time."

Steve actually looked at the ground, his face turning red. "I do apologize about that...Once I met you, Mrs. Parker, I knew he couldn't have been a spy for Hydra." He paused and glanced at the woman. "He's actually a good kid."

"Damn right he's a good kid," May retorted adamantly. "I raised him right." She finished making her sandwich and slammed the fridge shut.

"I wouldn't doubt that, and the proof is in the boy."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Peter? Are you okay?"

A voice screamed, banging against the glass. The air was still dense as Peter slowly opened his eyes. His body hurt like crazy, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. He sat up and winced, a hand going to his head as a dizzy spell hit him.

"Peter! You have to talk to me!" Dr. Banner was pressed against the glass, but Peter was able to see him. It was almost like a two way mirror.

"Yeah," the boy finally answered. He looked at the walls and noticed they were a lot closer than they had been. "I'm okay...is it smaller in here?"

The scientist smiled. "It should be. Pym! Close the bridge!" Peter couldn't see the man, but he guessed this 'bridge' was finally closed as the lights and the black fog went away. Soon, the chamber was empty, leaving Peter alone....and naked inside.

"Holy crap!!" the boy shuffled into a corner and curled up, staring at Dr. Banner with scared yet excited eyes. "It worked!"

"I can see that," Dr. Pym came beside Dr. Banner with a large towel on his arm. "I'm guessing Clint can loan you some of his boy's clothes, if not his own." He opened the door and handed the boy the cover, both men turning away as Peter stood to wrap himself.

"Whoa..not used to seeing the ground so far away." The teen raised his hand out and laughed a little, examining his own body like it was some wonder. Well, to him it was. He gingerly stepped out of the chamber, the two man turning to him. "Wow...I can see eye to eye with you."

"Welcome back, Peter," Dr. Banner said, clasping his shoulder. "Let's go get you some clothes." The boy nodded and they walked from the lab and to the house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter pushed open the door at Dr. Banner's insistence and stopped when several eyes landed on him. "Hello...everyone."

Instantly May threw herself at her nephew, her tears soaking the boy's shoulder. "Oh Peter! My Peter!" She pulled away and grabbed his face, looking at him. "I missed seeing you like this." She pulled him to her again, squeezing him.

"Well, kid. Looks like you're still short." Mr. Stark came over. "It's good to see you back to normal though. Just sorry it took so long."

"No! Mr. Stark, I am so grateful for everything you've done! Thank you." The minute May let him go to find a tissue, Peter did what he wanted to do from the first week. Beckoning Pepper over with Morgan, he threw his arms around them in a strong hug, not noticing when Mr. Stark winced.

"Peter," the man wheezed. "Let go, buddy..." Automatically the kid let them go, his face guilt stricken. "Maybe you shouldn't try hugs until the Capsicle can give you lessons on how to control your strength."

"Sorry," Peter said lowly, playing with the hem of the towel. Clint came up behind the boy holding clothes.

"Here. These might be a little big, but I'm sure you're used to that." He winked at the boy playfully and handed him the clothes.

"Haha, so funny. But, thank you." Peter disappeared from the room to get changed.

"Who knew Peter was such a cutie?" Natasha said with a glance at Bruce, who folded his arms in a pout at that. "But, I like green still." She winked at Banner, who smiled.

Peter walked back into the room. "Everyone...I want to say thank you so much for everything...." He looked to Morgan, who was smiling, her black eye looking better, but still horrible.

"You were all so brave...and I don't know what would have become of me if you hadn't come that day and rescued me. I'd probably be dead...." he wiped his nose. "So, thank you.."

Steve walked up to the boy and offered a hand. "No thanks are necessary, Peter. We're just glad you're all right." The boy grinned at the captain and grabbed his hand tight, shaking it.

"Now, what do you say about going out to eat? My treat," said Tony, who laughed when everyone agreed. "Moochers."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

---Three months later---

Peter sat in the back of the car, Happy driving him to the compound. Ever since he'd gotten fixed, Mr. Stark had invited him up for some training to control his new 'abilities'. He was a bit sad that Dr. Pym wasn't able to get rid of them, but they actually helped a lot in the long run.

Even though the training hadn't allowed him to go back to his dance or gymnastics, he was learning a lot more, though it still freaked May out whenever he would walk on the ceilings.

"You okay, kid?" Happy's voice entered his thoughts and Peter sat up.

"Oh, yeah....I'm okay, Happy. Are we almost there?" The driver nodded.

"Yep. You should see what Tony did to the compound, though," the man shook his head. "It looks like Christmas exploded all over the walls."

Peter laughed. "I can't wait to see it!" He looked to the small pile of gifts on the seat next to him. With Mr. Stark helping May out with the food bills, there was a little extra money in the budget for him to do a little shopping for the holidays. It wasn't much, but he thought extremely hard what to get everyone. "Is dad there now?"

"Yeah. He likes to come up every now and then. He asks about your training a lot."

Peter blushed, pleased. "I'm doing good. I don't hurt May when I hug her anymore. I still break some things, like I broke a lamp the other day when I picked it up to move it." He chuckled at that. "May was angry...said it was her favorite lamp."

The car fell into a comfortable silence until Happy pulled onto the road that lead to the compound. Instantly, Peter saw that the man wasn't kidding. There was still some snow on the ground from a storm that hit a few days ago, and that added to the winter wonderland scene that the compound was sporting. There was a giant inflatable Santa standing in front of the compound, waving in the wind.

"Uncle Clint," he laughed and Happy nodded.

"How'd you guess?" The man pulled up to the building and Peter jumped out, leaning to gather all the presents, Happy helping to grab some that fell.

"Thanks! Two of those are yours, by the way. One from me and one from May." That made the man's face light up and he smiled as they walked. The minute Peter stepped in, he was surrounded by red and green everywhere. "Wow...you weren't kidding," he laughed, looking around.

"Told you. If you want, Tony's up in his lab," the man said, handing Peter the presents except two.

"Thank you, Happy."

Instead of going up to the lab, Peter went to the elevator and went up to the common room to find a big tree sitting in the corner. Quickly, he placed the presents under it, but kept two of them in his hands. He turned and finally went to the lab, finding his kind of adoptive 'parents' standing side by side, the woman laughing at something her husband said. They turned when the door opened.

"Hey Pete!" Mr. Stark said, joy in his voice. "Good to see you!"

"Yeah, same." Peter hid the boxes behind his back, and leaned up on his toes. "So, how have you been?"

"Kid, you act like we don't speak all the time on the phone. Get over here." The man held his arms open and Peter smiled, rushing over to give him a hug. "Hey, you're getting better at control. Hardly felt that one."

"Yeah, Mr. Rogers is helping a lot, and so is Dr. Banner. He helped me develop a new webbing solvent that will work with the formula I created. It even fits in the new web shooters I designed. I was thinking of, you know....becoming a crime fighter?" He looked to Mr. Stark and Pepper for approval.

"That's great, honey!" Pepper wrapped her arms around him. "I am so proud that you'll be using your abilities to do something good."

"Yes, that is a good thing. Or else I would have built this for nothing." Mr. Stark stepped to the side to reveal a suit folded on the table. Peter stared at it for a minute before stepping towards it. He ran his hand over the mask, the web design around the eyes. Putting the boxes he held on the table, he picked it up and had to smile at the blue mixed in with the red.

"It's perfect..." he whispered, tears gathering in his eyes. He bunched the material in his hands. "Thank you!"

"Oh? What's this?" Mr. Stark had noticed the wrapped boxes and picked them up, shaking them.

"For us?" Peter nodded, too emotional to speak. The man smiled and started unwrapping his, Pepper rolling her eyes, but doing the same.

The minute Tony saw what was inside the box, he froze. It was an iron man plaque. He stared at the surface of it, reading the words "best dad ever" over and over, feeling his heart melt every time. He glanced at Pepper, who held hers up.

It read "I love you Mom".

The two put their presents down and went to their 'son'. "We love you, too, kid." Tony said and they enveloped him in a tight hug.

This was the best Christmas they'd ever had.