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Peter sat in the nurses office. He’d been brought here by another student after he’d fainted in class. He knew it was probably because of the strict diet his mother and father were putting him through for an experiment at the moment. But he also knew he wasn’t allowed to tell the nurse about this.
“So, Peter,” she said. “Do you still feel any pain or dizziness?”
Peter shook his head. Really, he felt fine.
“Alright, I’ll call your parents to take you home then,” said the nurse. Then she typed something on her computer and frowned. “Seems like their phone number isn’t in the system. Their paperwork probably hasn’t been processed yet. Can you tell me their phone number, Peter?”
Peter looked at his left forearm for a moment, but it was blank. He didn’t really know if it was his mother’s and father’s phone number, but it was his parents’ phone number he was sure.
Meanwhile in Stark Tower…
“Jarvis, turn up the music, I’d like to get some more work done,” Tony said to his AI.
“Sir, Miss Potts has asked me to inform you that you are required to be at a meeting in fifteen minutes.”
Tony grimaced. “How angry was she?”
“I estimate an 8, sir.”
“Fine!” Tony groaned.
“Sir,” Jarvis then said.
“What is it?”
“There is a call coming in for the Baby number.”
“Peter’s number?” Tony asked.
“Yes, shall I patch it through?”
“Yes, inform Pepper that I’ll be late.”
There was the familiar sound of an accepted call and Tony braced himself. Tony and Pepper had never gotten any demands or communication after their son Peter had been kidnapped at the age of three. The baby number had been made solely for Peter related things and hadn’t been used in a long time.
“Hello?” Tony asked.
“Hello, this is Queens tech elementary, nurses office,” said a female voice. “Are you Peter’s dad?”
Tony’s eyes narrowed as his brain worked frantically. “Who are you? How did you get this number?” He finally asked with a bit of bite in his voice.
“I’m the school nurse at Queens tech elementary,” she said. “A student gave me your number when I asked him for his parents’ number, sorry for the mix up.”
“Wait!” Tony said. “I know this must be confusing for you, but please keep Peter in your office and don’t call his parents.”
“I can’t do that,” said the nurse.
“Your student, Peter,” Tony said. “Might be involved in a kidnapping case.” Then he turned to Jarvis. “Jarvis, is Agent Ganilli listening?”
“Yes, sir.” Said Jarvis and after a few moments: “The Agent has confirmed they are on their way now.”
“Miss,” Tony said to the nurse, “the FBI is on their way to you, please don’t call the boy’s guardians until they get there.”
“I guess I can keep him for a little while if Peter agrees,” the nurse said uncertainly.
“It’ll only be five or ten minutes, please.”
“Yeah, okay,” she agreed, still apparently hesitant.
Tony sighed in relief and jumped into a car.
Peter looked at the nurse in confusion. Had that number not been his parents’ number?
“Peter, dear,” the nurse turned to him. “There are some people who want to talk to you, so it will take a bit longer for your parents to come get you.”
“Okay,” Peter agreed readily. He didn’t mind sitting in the nurse’s office, there were colorful pictures and toys and papers. Even the table he was sitting on didn’t have white sheets like his mother and father used, but rather it was a nice blue and green.
“You can play with some of the toys if you like,” the nurse offered.
Peter smiled and thanked her.
A few minutes later there was a knock on the door.
The nurse stood up to open it and was met with two men and a woman.
“FBI, I’m Agent Ganilli,” the woman said and held out an ID. “Are you the one that Peter is with?”
The nurse closely examined the ID to the best of her knowledge before answering.
“Yes, he’s inside.”
Agent Ganilli followed her inside while the other two waited by the open door.
The woman immediately turned towards Peter and crouched down to his level.
“Peter, I’m Sarah,” she said. “Can you tell me your full name?”
Peter eyed her. “Peter Benjamin Parker,” he said.
One of the men by the door noted this down.
“You gave the nurse a phone number earlier, correct?” The Agent asked.
Peter nodded.
“How did you know that number?”
“It’s my parents number, I think,” Peter said, scrunching up his nose. “Not my mother and father’s number though,” he added as an afterthought.
Agent Ganilli’s eyes widened. “What’s the difference between your parents and your mother and father, Peter?”
Peter thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I know your mother and father are supposed to be your parents, but not for me. It’s like Josh from kindergarten who has two fathers and they’re his parents and he also has a mother, but she is somewhere else and she’s not his parent. Only I live with my mother and father instead of my parents, but it’s always been this way.”
“Do you know who your parents are, Peter?”
Peter looked at her intently, scrunched up his nose and then raised his shoulders sadly.
Then the agent heard a commotion in the hallway and a muffled “Where is he?” As the other two agents closed the door.
It was best to wait for the results of the DNA test before letting Stark see the child.
As Agent Ganilli turned back to Peter though, the child was staring at the door with wide eyes.
“Is that my dad?” He asked. “Did the number call him?”
“Maybe,” she sighed. “We don’t know for sure yet, we can do a test to check though. If you would allow it, Peter?”
Peter flinched slightly at her words. “What kind of test?”
“A DNA test.”
Peter shuddered. His Mother and Father did those, and he hated getting his blood drawn. “So you need my blood?”
“No, we can do it with a mouth swab,” the agent said. “But we need to go to a special lab.”
Peter considered. The voice from the hallway had sounded achingly familiar and he had always wanted to meet his parents. But if his mother and father found out that someone else had looked at his DNA…
“Will you tell my mother and father?” Peter asked.
The agent was taken aback. “Yes, since you are still a child we need to tell your parents.”
“I don’t want to do your test,” Peter said in response.
Agent Ganilli frowned.
“If we did not tell your mother and father, would you agree to the test?”
“You really won’t tell them?” Peter assured himself.
“I think we can make an exception, and we won’t tell them, so long as you agree,” Agent Ganilli said.
“Okay,” Peter smiled. “I really want to know my parents,” he told her.
“Well, maybe we can find them.” Agent Ganilli turned to the nurse. “When do his classes end?”
“It’s the first day, so his classes end at eleven thirty,” the nurse said.
“That’s only just over an hour,” Agent Ganilli murmured to herself. “Where do the parents pick up their kids at the end of the day?”
“Just outside the main building,” the nurse said.
“Thank you,” Agent Ganilli said. “We will take responsibility of Peter and would appreciate it if you don’t disclose anything that happened.”
The nurse visibly hesitated. “Can I make a photocopy of your ID, just in case…” you aren’t who you say you are, and something happens to Peter.
“Wise precaution,” the agent smiled and offered her ID.
The nurse took a quick photo and the agent took Peter outside. Mr Stark had been dealt with by her colleagues, who informed her that Mr Stark would be at the FBI in half an hour at the latest to get the news if this child was his son.
The child was very quiet on the car ride and when they took the DNA sample, though he seemed to be uneasy around the doctors and scientists.
Mr Stark had already arrived, but had been kept away from the boy, when the results arrived.
“Is it him?” Was the first thing Mr Stark asked her.
“We had his DNA fully sequenced and checked against everything we have on record,” Agent Ganilli informed him. “He has all the same genetic identifiers as your son, the rest of his DNA is unusual.”
“So he is my son?” Tony asked.
“His DNA isn’t a complete match with that of your son,” Agent Ganilli told him, and Tony’s face fell. “But as far as our scientists can tell, he is your Peter. Concerning the irregularities they appear in sequences that are usually a fundamental part of human DNA. They are mutations, if you will, only they happened after he was taken.”
“You mean they changed his DNA?” Tony gasped. “They experimented on him!?”
“It seems likely.”
“I want to see him!”
“Of course.”
The agent led him through a door and Tony laid eyes on Peter. He felt himself relax at the sight of this child who looked so much like his son and who was most probably his Peter. Peter was sitting at a small desk, playing with ball-pens and paper provided by the agents.
“Peter?” Tony asked.
Peter turned around to look at him. “Dad?” He asked back.
“Yes, yes,” Tony agreed as he moved forward to lift Peter in a hug.
“Can I see mom too?” Peter questioned.
“Yes, of course you can,” Tony said. “We’ve missed you so much!”
“Can I live with you now?”
Tony nodded. “Yes, we want you to live with us, Peter. We’ve been looking for you for so long.”
Peter hugged him tighter at that.
“Can I take him home?” Tony asked the agent.
“Of course,” Agent Ganilli said. “We have arrested Mary and Richard Parker and are investigating motive and potential accomplices. You should get Peter counseling,” she suggested. “Maybe parent-child counseling, there’s no telling what exactly happened to him. Although I hope you know forcing him to talk isn’t good either, take it slow but don’t ignore it.”
Tony nodded. Then he turned back to Peter. “Do you want to go home, buddy?”
Peter nodded against his shoulder. “Can I see mommy?”
“I’ll see if she can meet us there,” Tony smiled.