Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

May Parker took a deep breath as she tried to calm her nerves, they had been growing as she sat in the back of the taxi but now standing at the base of The Avengers Tower she felt almost sick with nerves. She kept questioning her actions, but ultimately she knew she needed to be here.

Remembering to keep her shoulders back and head high may, May entered the bustling lobby. She knew she stood out, even wearing her best trousers and a new blouse she looked out of place among the crisp suits and white lab coats.  Spotting the reception desk she made her way towards it, noticing how all of the people moved around her without looking up. The perfectly pressed blonde receptionist noticed her, a sharply shaped eyebrow rising as May approached her.

“Can I help you?" the blonde asked as May stopped in front of her, judgement clear in her tone of voice

“Yes, I believe so. My name is May Parker, I have a meeting with Ms Virginia Potts,” May said, noticing how when she said the name of who she was meeting the receptionist perked up.

“Oh, Mrs. Parker, I'm so sorry I didn’t realise. Please follow me.” The receptionist said, standing up and handing May a visitors card.

Following as the blonde navigated the crowds with a seamless effort May struggled to keep pace. It had become harder for her recently to do everyday things; the weakness had become more noticeable.

“Here we are,” the blonde said, coming to a stop besides a particularly well hidden elevator. “Once you step inside you'll be taken up to Miss Potts office.”

“Oh, well thank you dear,” May said, trying to cover the weakness in the voice as she stepped into the open elevator.

“Welcome Mrs Parker,” a male voice said startling May, the accent was British she noted.

Looking around she saw nobody, “Ermmm hello...”

“That's JARVIS” the secretary said, noting Mays surprise “Mr. Starks AI. JARVIS runs the building; he’ll take you up to see Ms Potts.”

“Oh I see, well thank you.” May said as the doors slid silently closed behind the retreating back of the blonde.

Closing her eyes for a moment, May found herself leaning against one of the mirrored walls of the elevator. Nerves making her feel weaker than normal.

“I apologise the interruption Mrs Parker but my scans indicate you're not within ideal health parameters. Do you require me to get you medical assistance?" the AI asked.

“Oh no Mr. JARVIS I’ll be fine, I'm just a tad nervous.” May replied “oh and Jarvis please could you call me May.”

“If you're sure May,” the AI said before adding, “I have often found that music helps sooth nerves, would you like me to access Sirs music collection?"

“Yes please JARVIS,” May replied, smiling when she heard the opening notes to ‘Fly me to the moon’.

“This is a personal favourite of Sirs,” the AI said as Sinatra’s voice quietly filled the elevator.

"Thank you,” May said as the elevator continued to rise.

After a few moments the British AI spoke up again, “May, we have reached Mrs Potts’ office. It’s been a pleasure assisting you.”

“Thank you JARVIS,” May said stepping out of the elevator and into a large spacious office, her eyes drawn to the floor to ceiling windows overlooking Manhattan.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” a female voice said, drawing Mays eye to a tall red head sitting down on plush white sofas.

“Yes, truly beautiful. I’m May parker, you must be Virginia Potts.” May said turning towards the red head.

“Please call me Pepper everybody does,” the red head said, indicating for May to sit with her.

“Then call me May,” May said, sitting opposite the tall woman.

“I'm surprised,” Pepper said truefully, the woman opposite her didn’t look like all of the other women who in the past came claiming paternity rights. She was older than tony by around 10 years, her brown hair lined with whips of gray, and her beauty had a frail edge to it. No, she wasn’t like the others. This woman looked like she had lived a hard and honest life, nothing like the supermodels and socialites Tony used to go for. “I haven’t had a meeting like this in years, especially since Tony got married. You don’t seem like the type, in the past when women come here they usually bring the baby in question, it help play on heart strings.” Pepper continued.

“Baby, what baby?" May said, realising that Pepper thought Petra was a baby, “Oh no, Petra is almost 16 and I honestly don’t want to cause Tony any problems in his marriage, I just want Petra to have a family, that is if tony is her dad, I'm still not sure if I believe it” she said clarifying.

“You're not sure you believe it, then why are you here May?" Pepper asked, wanting to know the woman’s thinking.

“I'm not one to mince words Pepper, I'm here because I'm dying and I would do anything to protect my girl. If that means believing the word written by her mother 16 years ago then I will.” May said, looking pepper directly in the eyes.

“Oh,” pepper said, not sure how to continue.

“Don’t worry dear, I didn’t tell you to make you feel sorry for me. I told you because I want you to see why I needed to do this, why I needed to know.” May said, pulling out Petra’s tooth brush and hair brush, “I brought these with me, for the DNA test, I had to sneak them out after Petra left for school. I don’t want her to know yet.”

“She doesn’t know about of all this?" pepper said.

“No. She is already so stressed about my cancer; I didn’t want to add to that, to destroy everything she’s known. She thinks I can’t see how it’s affecting her but I can.” May said.

“It must be tou-” the rest of Peppers words were cut off by the sound of the elevator opening.

Tony stark stalked into Peppers office. The fact JARVIS had tried to stop him making him suspicious of what his friend was up to. “Why did JARVIS try to stop me from coming up here Pepper? Have you been bribing my robots again-” the rest of his rant cut off by him noticing the other woman in the room. “You, I don’t know you. Who are you?" Tony asked narrowing his eyes at the small older woman who had stood at his entrance.

“Hello Mr. Stark, my name is May Parker.” May said offering him her hand.

Tony looked at it with suspicion, eyes darting between Mays hand and face. “You’re not a SHEILD super assassin sent to spy on me are you?" he asked, watching as Mays face scrunched up “that's happened before,” he added.

“Ermmm no, I was an ER nurse?" May said, “what’s SHEILD?"

“Super secret spy organisation,” Tony said. “And don’t call me Mr. Stark that was my father, call me Tony.”

“Then you can call me May.” May replied smiling.

“I like you May, now tell me why was my AI trying to keep me away from meeting my new friend.” Tony said addressing the last question to Pepper who was silently communicating with May.

“I believe that was my fault,” may said speaking up after she got a nod from Pepper, “why don’t you sit down with us Mr. Stark. I think I have some important things I need to tell you. And a letter I think you should read.”

~

May and Benjamin,

I always hoped you wouldn’t need to read this letter. If you are it means that Richard and I are no longer around. I'm sorry for that, but I'm not sorry that it’s you who are now looking after Petra. You would have been amazing parents and we could think of nobody better suited for looking after our daughter.

I never wanted this to get out but if I'm gone there may come a day when you need to know. You always said Richard and I got together too quickly, we got married and hard Petra within weeks- but that wasn’t true no really. You see Richard isn’t Petra’s father, not biologically.

It happened days before I met Richard. I was young drunk and reckless. The father, he was just as bad, probably worse... he was wild, a playboy, a genius, a drunk, not a father. When I found out I was pregnant I panicked, but Richard he was overjoyed. He knew the moment we met that we were it for each other. I know it sounds silly but it really was love at first sight. He said it didn’t matter about the baby that I carried wasn’t his biologically it would be ours. We got married a few weeks later and moved on. It wasn’t until I saw the man again when I realised who he was, Tony stark. We knew he would never be a suitable father, living his wild life in the spotlight, a different man or woman every night. We wanted to protect our daughter from him, she deserves better.

Thank you for being there for her, for raising our daughter and I'm sorry if reading this changes your opinion of me but if does know everything I did I did for her.

Mary Parker

~

Tony didn’t know what to do, and as a genius the feeling was leaving him unnerved. After reading the letter he was quick to demand the DNA test, not knowing if he wanted the results to be positive or negative. Now sitting here with positive proof that he had a daughter, he was lost. Pepper had called Steve up to join them hoping his presence would sooth Tony but so far his husbands presence hadn’t helped. Tony felt like he was free falling.

“What do I do?" he said addressing the room as a whole. “I don’t know what to do with a kid, what if she hates me... oh god what if I break her?" Tony ended with a slight panic.

May looked around before speaking up, “you don’t have to worry about her hating you, Petra is a teenager Tony; they hate everybody and everything one minute then loves it all again ten minutes later. Also I’ll be honest, I'm more afraid of her breaking you than you breaking her. She’s always been strong willed, add that with her brains and I have to say I don’t fear for her.”

“She’s smart?" Tony asked

“Smart,” May repeated, “my girl is a genius.” She said not sounding pretentious but like she was simply saying an everyday fact.  “She was offered an early collage acceptance and a full scholarship but she wouldn’t go, she refused to leave me on my own. Instead she completes collage work from high school. At the moment she’s focusing on biochemistry and mechanics, but she usually like to jump from subject to subject. She’s doing an internship at Oscorp for the next few weeks, in their genetics department”

Steve felt his eyes widen as he watched May talk, she looked so proud as she spoke. “Wow” he heard himself saying, “she sounds like she’s a mini you,” he said to his husband, who had a comically surprised look on his face.

“Jesus,” tony says, “I don’t know to be scared of her or proud. But you should know, the kid is working for the enemy” he added, ending with a laugh.

May finds herself laughing as well “the enemy Tony, really. The Osborn’s are Peteys second family. Her and Harry have been inseparable since they where children, much to the distress of everybody. If Petey alone is bad her and harry together are worse. I still think they're banned from each other in gym class after their last disaster.”

“Last disaster?" Tony asked

“Petey has always been a bit hot headed. I think she gets that from being so smart, but anyway, around six months ago I got a call from her school saying she was being exclude for a week for fighting. When she was younger this wouldn’t have surprised me, she was always in fights- but not since my husband died. Anyway when I got there I was furious until I heard why she had gotten involved. Apparently when she was in gym class her and Harry saw another student getting bullied, Harry tried to get him to back off but he wouldn’t. He punched Harry so Petey felt she had to get involved. She never did like seeing people getting bullied, and hitting Harry, who is like family, she said she couldn’t let it go. It ended up harry having a black eye the other boy having a broken nose and Petey getting excluded as she didn’t get hurt. If Norman hadn’t gotten involved it would have been worse but he has some pull at the school.”

“I wonder where she gets being a hot headed genius from” pepper said smirking at Tony.

“I object to that,” tony said, looking at pepper in mock shock.

“Really,” Steve said

“Not you to,” tony exclaimed dramatically clutching his chest, “betrayed by my own husband,”

“The hardships you face,” Steve deadpanned

“Okay, I admit, it sound like she inherited more than just my luscious brains.” Tony conceded. “But that's not too bad, I mean, standing up for somebody else, could be worse.”

“You’re right.” May said, “Although I always try to stress how fighting isn’t the answer.”

“She sounds like a decent kid.” Tony said looking at May. “You did a great job”

“Thank you; she is a great kid,”

“I want to meet her, but I'm scared,” tony admitted

“You know there is nothing to be afraid of right,” May said.

~

Meanwhile at the Oscorp labs

~

“You know I think this is the worst idea you've ever had,” Petra said in a whispered shout, as she snuck into the restricted area after Harry “and I'm including the times you thought it would be a good idea to hot wire your dads car and take it for a spin. AND the time you thought asking out the captain of the football team’s girlfriend was a good idea- In front of him.”

“Sssh Petey- do you want us to get caught!” harry whispered back.

“Yes actually,” Petey said, watching as the red slight switched green allowing them entrance to the restricted lab. Seeing it empty caused the knot of worry in her stomach to dissolve slightly.

“Don’t worry so much, we’ll be fine. I practically own all of this stuff and you work here.” Harry said as the doors slid open. Speaking normally as they were alone.

“Don't worry so much. We’ll be fine. The police won’t arrest us.” Petey mocked back, thinking of how Harry’s plans usually failed or got them in trouble

“Hey we weren’t arrested- just held” Harry protested

“Held. In cells. With criminals.” Petey added

“I don’t know why you're complaining, my dads secretary got us out after half an hour and neither dad nor aunt May ever found out.” Harry added

“That’s true- how did you manage that by the way?" Petey asked as they came to a stop outside large door.

“Mad skills” Harry said waggling his eyebrows

“Ewww! No, never do that again. I have zero desire to know about your sex life- Ever. Like I would rather pull my nails out than picture you having sex.” Petey said watching as the door opened to reveal hundreds of spiders.

“You wound me.” Harry said stepping back to allow Petra to enter the room.

“Oh my God Harry, this is so cool! Did you know this was here?" Petey said moving past him. Noticing how the spiders where all moving in a particular pattern, creating a thick looking web design.

“I should say yes. But honestly no, I just wanted to see what secret stuff my dad’s been up to. This isn’t as evil genius as I had hoped, I was holding out for some death rays or something.” He joked, before adding “You know your weird obsession with spiders is not cool at all.” Harry said from his spot outside of the room. There was no way he was going in there, spiders freaked him out.

“You big baby” Petra teased, “scared of the itty bitty spiders”

“If you keep this mockery up, I’ll lock you in there” Harry joked

“Please, I'm the one who hacked the security feeds, I could totally get out” Petey said as she reached out to touch the white spider nearest to her.

“Yeah well-” the rest cut off when harry heard voices approaching. “Shit, we got to go Petey, code white.”

Jumping, Petey turned to the sound of Harry’s voice, not noticing the spider that had dropped down the back of her hoodie. Rushing out of the room Petey asked “why is it that scientists are code white not red”.

“That’s easy, aunt may is code Red. She’s the scariest. When she shouts you feel the disappointment. My dad is code black he doesn’t really care but he does get loud and intimidating” harry replied as they raced towards the doors, barley getting out without being seen.

Once in the clear they stopped running, trying to not appear guilty.

As they approached the lift it opened revealing Norman Osborn. Petey noticed how no matter where he was or what he was doing he always appeared angry. The frown lines on his head ever present. She hated how he treated and spoke to harry. Leaning in to whisper to harry she said, “code black” before speaking up. “Mr. Osborn sir, it’s good to see you,”

Turning to her voice Norman frowned when he saw his son with his best friend Petra. She was an exceptional child, athletic, smart and charismatic. His son however was a disappointment. Not smart enough, never good enough. Forcing a smile onto his face he stepped towards them. Nodding his head at Harry, who had mumbled a greeting? “Petra dear, I have told you to call me Norman. You're practically family.” He said, before adding “Harry.”

“Of course Norman” Petra said, “well sir, we’ll leave you to your work, we were just leaving.”

“Yes, why are you up here anyway?" Norman questioned. They had no reason to be up here.

Deciding to speak up, harry said, “Petey was just showing me where she would be working when she’s doing her internship. You know.”

Remembering Norman nodded his head, “oh yes, well then. I will see you later Harry. Do try not to do anything foolish in the mean time.”

Hiding the hurt he felt Harry nodded once, “yes sir.” before escaping around him into the lift.

Standing in silence for a moment Petey decided to speak up. “You know, your dads a bit of a dick” she said, trying to keep the serious tone of voice.

“You’re only just realised that, I mean come on Petey you've know him for 10 years. I thought you were supposed to be the genius out of the two of us.” Harry joked. Glad that Petey didn’t try to push him to talk about his problems with his dad. His best friend knew how to help him.

“Thought I’d just remind you” she said as the elevator came to a stop. “We’re lucky we got out when we did, god he would have flipped if he found us in the restricted lab”

“I know, I still think he's mad at me for the fight with Flash from months ago,” Harry said walking towards the lobby doors

“You?" Petra asked, “Why would he be mad at you? I was the one who broke his nose,”

“Precisely, you broke his nose. I got a black eye.” Harry said. He knew his dad saw him as weak, he wanted him to be more like Petey, who was co-captain of the cheerleading squad, a certified genius and could throw an amazing right hook. If it wasn’t for the fact Petey was like his sister he would probably hate her. She was everything his father wanted him to be without even trying.

“God, your dad is weird” Petra said pulling her thick dark hair up into a messy bun on top of her head.

“So want to come back to my place?" harry said, “we can raid my dad’s liquor,”

“Not tonight, I think I'm going to get home. See May. She had an appointment in Manhattan today.” Petey said, sadness overwhelming her when she thought of her aunt.

Thinking of May Harry also lost his smile, “how’s she been?" he asked genuinely curious, he loved her like family.

“Okay, I think.” Petey said, “She’s getting weaker though”

“Have you thought about what you're going to do?" Harry asked, knowing Petey understood the unasked question

“Yeah I think so; I got emancipation forms the other week. I'm going to try to do that first, I really don’t want to enter the system” Petey answered.

“You know my dad would take you in. He likes you more than he likes me.” Harry offered

“I think I’ll be okay,” Petey said as she walked towards the subway. Petey didn’t like to make Harry’s driver take her home. She lived in Queens, making him go so far out of his way always made her feel bad. “I’ll call you later Harry” she said.

~

Sitting in the almost empty carriage Petey felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck. Slapping it she felt something there, a small bite. Thinking nothing of it she left it alone. Putting her head phones in she went back to day dreaming, not realising her life had been changed forever.

Chapter Text

Petra felt groggy. Her whole body was aching, her head pounding. It took her a moment to gather her bearings. She felt like she was coming down with the flu. Hoping it would pass Petra finally noticed that she wasn’t alone in the subway carriage. A man who appeared to be in his late thirties was sitting opposite her staring intently at her. His dirty blonde hair was thinning on top and his face was half hidden by the turned up collar of his dusty old boner jacket. Trying to clear the fog in her brain Petey pinched the top of her thigh, the pain helping to clear her head for a moment. She felt herself exhaling with relief when she noticed her stop was next.

Standing up to leave she felt his eyes on her as the train came to a stop. Moving quickly towards the door Petey felt an odd sensation in the back of her mind. She threw herself to the left just as the man reached out to grab her. Avoiding him Petey felt her eyes narrow; acting on instinct she crouched low and leaned back before using her hands to flip up. Reaching out she kicked the man in the chest with both feet, sending him crashing backwards. Realising what she had done Petra looked around to see if there was anybody about. The man was unconscious by the doors. Feeling a wave of dizziness hit her Petey grabbed her bag and ran from the cart.

How her body had moved shocked her. She knew she was strong and flexile. Being a cheerleader made that a necessity but she had moved with almost inhuman speed and strength. Not realising how fast she was running Petra was surprised when she reached her house in minutes. She didn’t feel winded at all.

Going through the front door Petey noticed the house was empty and quite. Wandering around to turn the lights on left Petra exhausted but she had to do it. Ever since she was a little girl she had hated the dark. Leaving a note for May, Petey grabbed a bottle of water and retreated to her room. Her inhuman agility put out of mind when another wave of dizziness hit. Her eyes where already closed by the time her head hit the pillow

~

Aunt M,

If I'm still asleep when you get in leave me be, please. I'm not feeling great. Think I've got the flu.

Hope everything went alright today. I want to her EVERYTHING about it.

I love you!

Petey

~

May wasn’t surprised when she got home to find pretty much all of the lights in the house on. She knew Petra didn’t like the dark. Ever since she was a child she would insist on having lights on. She could sleep in the dark no problem but if she was awake she would have them all on. She was surprised however to find Petra’s note. Ever since Ben died Petra had been quite instant on waiting for May to get home whenever she had an appointment about her health- which made may feel guilty as she had lied to Petey today to stop her questions about why May was going in to Manhattan. Petra really must be feeling bad if she couldn’t wait up.

Opening her bedroom door to check May sighed when she saw Petra. She was still fully dressed, it looked as though she had simply passed out I bed. Pulling a blanket out of her closet may put it over Petey noticing that she was shivering slightly. Reaching out with a hand, May felt Peteys forehead feeling that she was burning up. Trying not to let herself worry May quietly closed the door behind her, going downstairs to prepare a few days worth of chicken soup- Mays own recipe.

Pottering around after finishing off Petra’s soup May soon found she was tiring. With a defeated sign she sat down at the kitchen table and pulled out her medication. Since her cancer had come back May had tried many different treatments before her doctors had finally admitted defeat. Now all she was doing was treating her symptoms and waiting for the inevitable.  

Standing with a groan May made her way to bed, hoping that a good night’s rest will help prepare her for tomorrow.

~

Petey woke feeling worse than she had the night before. It felt like her muscles were all seizing. Her head pounded and every nerve in her body was on fire. If she had the energy she would be screaming but instead her jaw was locked as she shook uncontrollably. What could have been an eternity later but was more likely a few minutes Petra finally felt her body start to relax.  The scream she had expected to expel came out at barley a whimper. Reaching out with an unsteady hand Petra found her water bottle from the night before had been replaced by a thermos of herbal tea. Drinking it gratefully Petra was shocked to see it was almost 4 in the afternoon. May was a stickler for attendance, never letting Petey get off without a good reason.

“I see I won’t be calling the undertaker just yet” May said entering to find Petey awake, joking to hide how worried she had been.

“I wouldn’t be so sure, I feel like death” Petra said weakly, pulling at her clothes with a grimace. They were sodden with sweat.

“Think you'll be able to keep down some soup?" may said, not even blinking when Petra decided to strip off and into clean clothing. She had known for a while that her girl had no shame when it came to her body, often wandering around half dressed in the house; Peteys defence being that cheerleading outfits were so revealing that she didn’t notice anymore.

“Is it your special chicken soup?" Petra asked settling back into bed, exhausted from just changing clothes

“Would I ever give you anything else?" may said standing to get it.

“no.” Petey said, before adding “hey- how’d it go yesterday?"

“I’ll tell you all about it while you eat.” May replied.

~

“You’ve got to be shitting me” Petra exclaimed

“Language young lady!” may said, not really upset but trying to gather her own thoughts.

“But seriously- Tony stark, Iron man, is my bio dad?" Petra repeated, trying to get some clarification.

“Yes, I know this is a shock, finding out Richard” may said before being cut off

“Oh I knew Dad wasn’t my dad, I found that out in the 5^th grade when I did my project on genetics. I just didn’t think my sperm donor would be Tony freaking Stark.” Petra said, lying down as her exhaustion had returned,

“You knew. How did you know? Why didn’t you say anything?" may said

“I could go into the scientific detail of how I found out but I'm tired, and as to why I didn’t say anything I didn’t care. Richard parker was my dad. Is my dad. He raised me. Clothed me. Taught me how to punch.”

“Should have left that out of his lessons” may interrupted, lying down next to her

Tucking herself into May Petra continued, “but then how would I break the noses of my enemies,” Petey joked, “he was a great dad. And I didn’t care if he was related to me by blood or not. Then when he died it was Ben Parker to take over. Ben who became my dad. Who came to all of my cheerleading shows, drove me to every practice. Ben who worked extra hours, took more jobs to pay for my summer camps. So genetics or not I'm a parker.” Petey said, tears in her eyes when she thought about her two ‘fathers’, both men she loved.

“You know this doesn’t mean you're not a parker anymore right, you're still Richard and Marys little girl, still mine and Bens.” May said tears in her eyes when she thought of her late husband. Ben had been killed just last year, stopping a convenience store being robbed. He died a hero.

“I know,” Petra said

“It just means you'll have more family, a bigger family. And it means you'll have family after I'm gone.” May said quietly, knowing that Petey hated to talk about her dying. She wasn’t quite in denial just stubborn.

“Don’t talk about dying, I'm the one dying here remember” Petey said, trying to joke to avoid the conversation.

“It’s just I'm glad; it means I don’t have to worry anymore about you. He's a good man. A real hero. Even if you get your sense of humour from him” may said choosing to ignore Petra's joke. “I know you don’t like to think about it Petey but this is a miracle to me. It means you my precious girl won’t have to be alone. I don’t have to worry any more than normal”

“I don’t wasn’t you to die May,” Petra said after a few moments of silence. “And I wouldn’t have been alone, hell Harry is practically making me a room at the manor, and I looked into emancipation”

“although I owe Norman Osborn thanks for keeping you out of trouble I don’t really think he's the greatest father for you, how Harry turned out so well I have no idea,” May said choosing to ignore the emancipation for now.

“I’ll take all credit, I'm awesome” Petra said, happy the talk was moving away from May and her health.

“And modest to I see,” May joked back

“What can I say; my genius helps enrich those around me. It’s a burden I have to carry.”

“And no talk of emancipation. I don’t care if you are a genius. You're not even 16 yet Petey. I don’t want that for you.” May said

“You want me to just become a part of his family though,” Petey said trying not to get angry

“You’ll meet him. And if you honestly hate it and can’t see yourself as being part of Tony's family then I promise you. I’ll sign the papers for you.” May said, hoping her confidence in tony wasn’t miss placed she REALLY didn’t want that for Petra.

“You promise. You'll sign the papers if I don’t get along with the sperm donor.” Petey said sounding cautious. May was giving in to easily. Never a good sign.

“Yes if you promise to give him a fair trial. That means no sperm donor comments. Nothing provocative of any sort. Please Petey, for me.”

“Okay I promise.” Petey agreed. She could do fair. Maybe. If she tried. Probably.

Her last thought before falling to sleep being that she would at least try for Mays sake.

“Noticing Petey had fallen to sleep may got up herself, pulling out her phone she text the number Tony had given her for him.

~

Tony,

I know you were eager to meet Petra straight away but she is not very well at the moment. It’s just a bad case of flu, so don’t worry but I’d rather keep her home so she can recover. She took finding out about you well, better than I could have hoped. She really is an exceptional girl. As soon as she is better we’ll stop by the tower. I hope to hear from you soon. –May

~

Meanwhile at avengers tower

~

“It’s not that funny Clint” tony said as he watched the archer almost fall from his perch above the fridge.

“No- its, its, freaking hilarious” Hawkeye responded, his speech broken by his laughter. “Only you could have a child and not know, and not just any child but from what the file states a mini you. Right down to the not playing well with others and genius brain- Jesus- she's a female mini stark. Tony jr.”

“I fail to see the humour in this” Thor said “should be not be celebrating the growth of our family.” Thor found the archers laughter strange, like many midgardian etiquettes he was clueless as to the humour in the situation.

“It is rather funny” Bruce Banner said from his spot at the table. “I mean what are the odds, it would make a great study, scientifically-” the rest being cut off by tony.

“It’s not funny big guy, and we will celebrate Thor. Just. Not yet. God I've not even met her yet. She could hate me.” Tony said

“She won’t hate you,” Natasha said, speaking for the first time since entering the room.

“Yeah, besides you're Iron Man, remember. You're awesome” Steve added not used to tony being so unsure, his husband was usually full of confidence.

Nodding his head tony placed himself in Steves arms. “You’re right I am awesome” he said, trying to reassure himself. He didn’t know how to be a dad and his own dad, Howard, had been a failure. He had no role model to go on. No book to follow. No plan.

“Great one spangles,” Clint grumbled finally having stopped laughing as Tasha had sent him a threatening look. “His ego just grew to sizes,”

 As he was about to reply Tony felt his personal phone vibrate. Not many people had his number, most of them being in the room so he wondered who it was. Reading Mays message Tony felt himself worrying about a girl he had yet to meet.

“Jarvis, send all of the best recoveries cold and clue remedies over To May Parkers address. And send flowers, and Ermmm some chocolates- or maybe a balloon” Tony said, ignoring the looks from his team as he instructed his AI. “What my kid is sick,” he justified

“I'm sure may has it covered,” Steve said, recognising Tony's concerned look, “she would tell you if something was wrong,”

“Yes you're right, it’s just I was excited to meet her,” Tony said

“And you will meet her.” Tasha said, “Try not to stress yourself out to much, if you act weird and scare my niece of before I have a chance to meet her properly I’ll hurt you” she added

“Niece?" Tony repeated

“Yup, your kid means my niece Stark, keep up.” Tasha said with a nod before the rest of the team jumped in.

“It’ll be good to have a kid around,” Clint said, “hey I could teach her how to prank, or shoot, or prank people by shooting” he started before Steve cut him off

“No live ammunition or mean pranks.” Steve said, “You will not corrupt Petra”

Pouting Clint replied, “But dad how am I meant to bond if you take away my toys.” Already planning on all the things he could teach the kid. “And I saw that file Tony made, I don’t think I’ll be corruption her” Clint said, he had to admit he was impressed with the kid.

“nope.” Steve said. Not commenting on Clint’s insinuation, Petra was like her dad on paper so he hoped she would be like him in person. Well maybe not so much like him. Steve doubted the world could handle two Tony Starks

“I could take her shopping and do girl stuff with her,” Tasha said to move the conversation on

“You hate girl stuff” Bruce said surprised by her offer.

“I could do it though, to bond” she said with a shrug. She was genuinely curious about the girl.

“I would be agreeable to sharing my pop tarts with the child stark,” Thor said as though sharing his snacks was a great hardship. “I hear midgardian children favour them greatly” he didn’t really understand why Tony was so afraid. The man of iron was a fierce warrior but the thought of meeting his child left him scared. Confused, Thor knew he would do anything he could to help.

The conversations all continued, with his team all trying to come up with ways to make his daughter fit into his life. Making Tony realise just how lucky he was, his friends, no his family were the greatest in the world.

Chapter Text

“Fuck me” Petra said as she looked at the now broken door handle in her hand. The gaping hole in the wood stared her in the face as she looked between it and her hand in confusion. When she had woken up she thought nothing of her quick recovery, hoping that she had simply sweated out the germs. Now she was left staring out of a hole she had made by trying to open her bathroom door. “Great I'm still dreaming. I'm having a delirium induced, flu dream” she concluded as she tried to drop the handle but couldn’t as it appeared to be stuck to her hand.

Flailing around Petra tried to get the handle off her hand, accidently knocking her hairbrush off the counter. Reaching out in instinct to catch it Petra barley held back her squeak as white web like stuff came out of her wrists, attaching itself to her brush. Looking between that and the door handle which chose that moment to drop off her hand like she hadn’t spent minutes wrestling it Petra came up with the logical solution. “flu induced Delirium or shrooms- yup could be shrooms.” Petra mumbled to herself as she sat on the floor of her bathroom. Poking her wrist where the web had come out and noticing a small scar like flap on both wrists. Wincing as she tried to force it open she decided that it wasn’t a dream or a drug induced illusion. The pain was too real.

The decision didn’t leave her feeling good.

Wincing as she stood and took in the damage to the door Petra very carefully opened the shower curtain and turned the water on, the whole scene having previously taken place while she had been in nothing but a towel. Standing under the water Petra took in her body, considering yesterday she felt like death today she was feeling great. She noticed that her stomach which had always been lean and toned today was firmer; in fact all of her muscles seemed firmer. Which is when she realised she could see perfectly, usually Petra had to wear contact lenses to have sight this good. When washing her hair she felt a small bump on the back of her neck. Deciding it best to get herself out of the potentially lethal shower should she panic and fall, Petra carefully returned to her room, trying to avoid touching anything with her hands just case her hands decided to stick to something again.

“I'm surprised you're up and about,” shouted Mays voice from down the stairs.

The voice surprised Petra who had been running through theories in her mind, but not as much as the position she found herself in. Mays voice had startled her causing her to jump up- on to the ceiling- she was upside down on the ceiling.

“What the actual fuck?" Petra said, trying to find a logical explanation and coming up empty.

“Petey are you okay?" Mays voice came

“Ermmm yes? I'm just getting ready,” Petey said trying to pull her hands free, before suddenly falling down and landing in a crouch as May appeared around in her bedroom.

“what are you doing down there dear?" May said looking surprise to see Petey crouched on the floor.

“Looking for my contact lens?" Petey said, making it sound like a question

“Are you sure you're feeling better, you really didn’t look like yesterday.” May said ignoring Peteys odd behaviour.

“Yes, I think so.” Petra said looking at her hands with suspicion.

“Well if you're up for it we could go and see Tony today.” May suggested.

Having forgot all about Tony Stark because of the weirdness of the morning Petra felt herself wince, “do you think we could do that tomorrow,” she said, before adding, “even though I do feel better I don’t want to go meet him if I'm not 100%”. She needed to catalogue everything that had happened to her, try and find a cause and if possible a cure. She couldn’t do that if she was playing happy families with iron man and co.

“If you're sure dear,” may said, trying to keep her disappointment hidden. She wanted Petra to meet her father. She wanted them to bond.

“Please,” Petey said. Planning an array of small tests she could conduct while at home, she had some equipment. “I have some work I need to get finished, I’ll see you later may.” She said, trying to steer may out so she could start looking for answers. “Maybe you could give me Tony’s number and I could text him?" she said to try and make it up to her aunt.

~

“A freaking spider bite, all this because of a freaking spider bite.” Petra said in exasperation, still shocked by her findings. The small bite at the back of her neck was the only small pain she had.

She had first started by doing a cell analysis on her hands. She had freaking setules, on her hands and feet as well as some on her arms and legs but not as many. She had been experimenting flexing her hands watching under a microscope as the setules flexed, working out how not to stick to everything she touches after a few hours. The next thing was her wrists, tender when pulled she eventually worked out that they were spinnretes; the webbing from earlier genuine webbing. She still hadn’t quite worked the details out of how to control them, but she had found she was producing different types of webs. A straight fast web that was surprisingly strong and a web that stuck to everything and expanded when shot.

She also noticed she was hearing things she shouldn’t be, all of her senses where heightened. Sight, sound, taste, everything was increased. Her reflexes where unbelievable, she was reacting to things as they happened.

“Are you okay dear?" May said knocking on Petra’s door. She had been locked up in there all day, not coming down for food or when Tonies deliveries came. “Tony has sent you some flowers and other flu remedies if you want to come take a look.”

“I'm okay; I think I'm done now,” Petra said, “what did he send?"

“everything, it would seem,” may said steering Petra towards the kitchen table where a mountain of medication was stacked besides a massive bouquet of flowers and a get well soon bear.

“This is nice?" Petra said, not really sure about the over the top gesture. “I mean, at least we’ll never need to buy cold or flu stuff again.” She joked.

“I think this is his way of making sure you're okay. It may seem over the top but it shows he is trying.” May said

“That’s true.” Petra conceded. “I should text him, right, say thank you”

“That would be the polite thing to do,” may said.

“And I'm a polite person?" Petra joked

“You know you are, when you're not being cheeky,” may said.

“Okay I’ll text him.” Petra said, before adding “hey may I’m feeling loads better, I think I might go out and get some fresh air for a while”

“That’s good dear, I'm sure he’ll appreciate it. Oh and Petra don’t be gone to long you may be feeling better now but I don’t want you to overdo it and wind up sick again”

“Promise aunt may. Love you,” Petra said. Grabbing a hoodie as she walked out of the door, texting as she planned ways she would test her new abilities.

~

Hey Tony or should I call you Dad? Pop? father?

Whatever it doesn’t matter, I just wanted to say thanks for the medicine and the flowers. I'm feeling better now, it was just a cold.

Anyway thanks for sending me the stuff, I really appreciated it.

-Petey

~

Tony was exhausted. The Avengers had been called out at stupid o’clock in the morning to take down a hydra base in South America. The base was meant to be near abandoned but when they arrived they found a heavily fortified base. The fight was brutal but they won in the end.

“I think I could sleep forever” Tony said snuggling into Steve.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea babe, take it from somebody who slept 70 years.” Steve said, watching as Tony tried to sleep sitting on the metal bench.

“Would you to stop,” Tasha mock complained, “your marital bliss is giving me cavities”

“Oh like you and Legolas are any better,” Tony said without opening his eyes. “I still have nightmares- nightmares I tell you.”

“You’re just jealous we got our shit together before you did” Clint called out from cockpit of the Quinjet.

“You know I resent that,” Tony mumbled, before slipping into a dreamless sleep.

Steve watched his husband slip into sleep. He too was tired but he always had difficulty sleeping in transport, preferring to wait for his own bed. The fight today had been tough, fighting hydra 70 years after it should have been destroyed- god what was his life. When he was a boy he would have never have dreamed something like this in a million years.

~

“She’s text me,” Tony said looking at his back up phone when the jet landed his nap having given him an energy boost. “oh god, should I respond, how do I respond...”

“That’s good, is she alright?" Steve asked on auto pilot already walking towards their bedroom

“Yes she said she was,” Tony said before realising his husband was dead on his feet, “but I’ll leave you to sleep love. I'm going to go to the lab. Work on the stuff we got from the mission.”

“Um k,” Steve mumbled giving Tony a quick kiss. Before walking down towards the lab.

Shouting to Bruce who had just woken up from his hulk nap “Hey Big Green, want to go searching through Nazi files with me,”

“Sure Tony, just let me go wash off the green then I’ll join you.” Bruce said, he had gotten better at recovering from ‘hulking’ out, now all he needed was a nap and a shower and he was good to go.

Entering the lab Tony stared at his phone, he didn’t know how to reply. It wasn’t until Bruce entered that he realised he had been sitting for about 20 minutes.

“What’s up Tony” he asked seeing the usually manic genius sitting staring at his phone.

“Petra- my daughter, she text me she- joked asking what she should call me. I don’t know how to respond. I mean, I'm not her dad not really, but I want to be. I don’t know how to be a good father though, my dad, god he was shit.” Tony said hoping his friend could offer him advice, usually he would save this stuff for Steve but he didn’t want to wake his husband.

Feeling the pressure of the situation Bruce sat down next to him, “I don’t know what to tell you, my dad was an abusive drunk so I don’t have any real life experience with good father figures. But I can tell you that you'll be a great dad. You've never even met her but I can tell you care. If you didn’t you wouldn’t be so worried. And about what to call you, tell her to do whatever she's comfortable with.” Bruce said, hoping the emotional talk was over. He was better at dealing with science than people and emotions.

Nodding his head Tony stood up, pulling out the data they had gathered from the hydra base he uploaded it to the system. “I'm going to text her back then we can start to go through it.” He said just as his phone rang.

“That’s fine” Bruce said, not really expecting Tony to do much work with his mind so obviously torn.

“Good, that's good. I’ll- we’ll see you tomorrow. Have a good night” Tony said into the phone. Before texting Petra back.

~

Hey kid,

You can call me Tony or whatever you're comfortable with. I'm glad you're feeling better, maybe we can meet soon.

I'm sorry that I never knew about you, but I met your aunt and she seemed like a great lady. I can’t promise to be a great dad however I can promise to be there for you from now on. So call me if you ever need anything or if you want to talk. Trust me it doesn’t matter when I’ll be up.

-Tony

~

Feeling her phone vibrate distracted Petra from her current test; climbing up the side of an abandoned warehouse. She was only three stories up but acting on instinct she shot out with her web, catching herself and swinging before landing with a flip on the roof of the next building.

“Wow” she said realising what she had done. “That will come in handy at practice,” she mumbled reaching for her phone.

Seeing it was a reply from Tony she read it, a small smile forming. He didn’t seem that bad. Realising the time Petra took off at a run towards the edge of the building taking a chance to test her new abilities she jumped, webbing her way out of the warehouse district before landing, performing moves that would make a parkour expert weep with envy. Getting home in minutes Petra was impressed, so far she hadn’t found a disadvantage of the bite, and even the scrapes she had caused during the initial testing had healed, indicating she was healing at an inhuman rate.

“You seem happy dear,” May said when she looked at Petra

“I think I am, Tony text me back, he seems nice.” She said, grabbing plates to set the table for dinner.

“That’s good, I rang him earlier. Tomorrow we’re going to meet him at the tower for lunch.” May said, watching Petra for her reaction which was a slight tilt of her head.

“Okay,” Petey agreed, “I don’t have to dress up do I?" she added warily

“No dear, but maybe put in more effort than usual?" May suggested.

Petey laughed. She knew May hated how she dressed, preferring her to wear dresses and girly clothes to her jean and chucks. Petra had a specific ‘zero effort’ style that she had perfected over the years, mainly consisting of skinny jeans, oversized band t-shirts, baggy shirts or hoodies and chucks. She would wear other clothes when she had to, her cheerleading outfit, dresses to dances that Harry made her attend ect but on the whole Petey like comfy clothes. She didn’t like to dress up and pretend to be somebody she wasn’t. She liked who she was- she was Petra Marie Parker, child prodigy, orphan, co-captain of the midtown high cheerleading squad, Oscorp intern, and newly made spider freak. She didn’t care about how she dressed, or what she looked like. She was 5ft 5, her golden brown eyes where slightly too large, her nose too cute and buttony and her lips permanently pouty, the only feature she really did think was great was her hair. It was dark brown with natural highlights, and fell to her mid back in waves and curls. She knew some people thought she was beautiful but really she didn’t see it.

“So no band t-shirts?" Petra specified

“Please,” May said, hoping Petra would listen.

Chapter Text

 “I feel sick” Tony said as he paced around the communal kitchen. It was only him and Steve in here for now, the rest of the team deciding to stay away for the initial meeting, not wanting to overwhelm the teenager.

“Tony, love, calm down” Steve said, “it’ll be fine, we’ve met May and you said Petra seemed nice when she text you. Stop worrying”

“Sir” Jarvis said interrupted Tony's pacing, “Miss Petra and May are in the elevator and should be arriving any moment.”

“Crap. I'm not ready. Steve I'm not ready. What do I do,” Tony said running towards his husband as the elevator arrived on the floor.

“First thing you should do is watch your language.” Steve joked, before saying, “the second is go say hello, and don’t worry I've got your back”

“You promise?" Tony asked as the doors opened.

“Ye-” Steves reply was cut off when he caught sight of a beautiful teenager who looked exactly like Tony. She was small with olive skin, and giant brown doe eyes. The same eyes he saw every time he looked at his husband. “Babe, you made a beautiful kid.” He said, nudging Tony who was standing next to him, staring at the girl like she was the most interesting thing in the universe. Realising his husband wasn’t going to speak Steve took a deep breath before taking a step forward.

“Hi, I'm Steve, Tony's husband. It’s good to see you again May” he said addressing the older woman, before turning towards the girl who looked so much like the man he loved “and you must be Petra, hi” he said, smiling.

Petra was nervous. There she admitted it. She was standing in The Avenger’s tower about to meet Iron Man who happened to be her dad. There wasn’t any way she could prepare for this. Until the moment she heard the British AI speak she still hadn’t quite believed it. But standing in the elevator it suddenly hit her. She was meeting her family; she had family other than May. If she wasn’t so busy freaking out about that she would probably be having a nerd’gasm over the AI, because OMG that was awesome.

May had been great in the elevator, noticing Petras nerves she had distracted her.

“I thought we agreed on no band t-shirts” she said.

“We did, but then I thought why not show him the real me.” Petra said, looking down at her baggy pale grey ‘All Time Low’ t-shirt she had gotten at their last concert tour, she matched it with dark skinny jeans and white dock martins. Her dark hair left down in waves.

“Well I suppose it’s good to know what he's getting from the start” may joke, “but couldn’t you have picked a better band?"

“Oh” Petra mock exaggerated pain, “the slander, how could you say such things”

“I'm sure you're deeply wounded,” May deadpanned, glad to see Petra joking. 

“Miss Petra may. We have reached the communal kitchen” Jarvis said, stopping Petra's reply before she had a chance to start it.

“Thank you Jarvis,” May said.

“Yeah, thanks J” Petra added, turning to May before the doors opened looking for support.

“It will be fine; he's going to love you. Don’t worry” may said

“Pppft, worry, I don’t worry. I'm cool.” Petra said, trying to convince herself.

“If it helps Miss Petra, Sir is having the same conversation with captain Rogers. you really do have nothing to worry about” the AI spoke up.

“Thanks Jarvis” Petey said sincerely.

~

Petra stood there for a moment staring at Captain America, the same Captain America who was married to Iron Man, who was her dad.

“Hi,” she finally said, “you can call me Petey” she offered, not sure how to treat him. He was her step dad by default but she had never met her dad so to say she was confused would be an understatement.

Steve stood there for a moment taking in the details of the girl, noticing even her clothing was similar to what Tony would normally wear. Today he had on a white shirt after Steve had practically tackled him into wearing it.

Tony stood there in shock when he finally saw the girl. She looked just like his mom. Building up his courage as Steve introduced himself he approached them carefully, as though he was afraid to startle the girl.

Petra looked up as Tony approached, the look on his face making her feel self conscious. He was staring at her like people stare at beautiful works of art.

“Hi Petey I'm Tony,” he said.

“hi,” Petra said, as silence fell over the room. Not liking it she added “you know we really missed out on a great opportunity here,”

Noticing she tilted her head to the left like he did when she was thinking Tony found himself mimicking the action before he asked “what opportunity?"

“This would have made killer reality TV- Billionaire finds out about long lost daughter- you're really depriving the people of quality TV trash by doing this here” Petra joked- trying to dispel the timidness that had fallen over everyone as Tony had approached

Smiling at the kid Tony felt himself laugh “you know you're right,” he said

With a solemn nod Petey said “I usually am” before laughing.

Steve happy to see them getting along smiled at May who looked relieved, “do you think people would really want to watch this?" he asked

Petra turned to him smiling “sure, why not, people watch loads of crap on TV”

“Language young lady” may said

“Sorry aunt may” Petey said, looking sheepish

Tony just laughed while Steve put on an exaggerated expression of pain, turning to his husband Steve said, “She’s going to be just as bad a Clint isn’t she,”

Laughing in delight, “oh no dear, she’ll be worse” Tony said smiling at the girl who had in seconds won his heart.

~

After the initial meeting the rest of the lunch had gone amazingly. Petra and Tony bonded over everything from science to music, talking in details that neither May nor Steve could follow or understand.

“So Petra, you aunt says you're a cheerleader and that you used to take some self defence classes” Natasha said, the rest of the team had been introduce before the food had been served.

“Yeah but I don’t take them anymore and I'm co-captain of the squad” she offered the extra detail

“I see, your good at gymnastics and stuff right?" Tasha said

“I suppose” Petra said, thinking that now thanks to the spider bite she would be amazing at gymnastics. She had noticed yesterday that her body was stronger, leaner and could contort into ridiculous angles easily now. She wondered what limitations she would face now as she appeared to be double jointed in all of her limbs, add that to her healing factor and strength Petra considered her options.

“If you would like I could teach you some moves, both defence and stuff you could use in your cheerleading routines” Tasha offered not realising the kids mind had wandered off and she no longer had a captive audience.

“Nat do you really think teaching my kid moves is the best idea?" Tony said worried that the back widow would try to turn Petra into a mini spy, or acciently hurt her in training.

“I'm not going to show her anything dangerous,” she said dismissing Tony's concern “so what do you think Petey?" she asked

Realising she had been asked a question and that everybody was waiting for an answer Petra went with her gut and said “sure, sounds great” hoping she hadn’t agreed to anything to stupid or dangerous.

When the conversation picked up, the rest debating rules and limitations, Petey realised she probably should have paid attention. She leaded over to her left and spoke softly to Dr. Banner, “could you do me a favour?" she said, looking at him with her best pleading eyes.

Shocked that the girl was talking to him when he hadn’t really spoken to her much, Bruce found himself nodding. “Erm yes,” he said just a quietly

“Tell me what the hell I just agreed to, I have zero clue- I was totally day dreaming when I said yes” she admitted looking sheepish

Laughing softly at her admission he could see the resemblance between Tony and her, “you just agreed to have the black widow become you defence teacher.” He said laughing more when he saw the shock on her face

“Crap” Petra said, face planting the table.

“What’s wrong?" Clint asked, watching as the girl randomly put her head on the table banging it softly and Bruce laugh- an unusual sight.

“Nothing” Petra mumbled, making Bruce laugh harder

Reaching out she hit him softly on the arm, “it’s not funny,” she said laughing at his shocked face.

Bruce was used to most people being overly cautious around him; it was only usually the team who ever treated him normally, and only after years of mutually built trust. The fact that this girl treated him so casually honestly made his day. “It is a little bit funny” he said, watching as her eyes narrowed.

“You know, laughing at my pain is mean” Petey said in a scheming voice that only May recognised

“Petey- no. Whatever you're plan you’re scheming up put a stop to it.” She said, knowing her niece would be plotting revenge.

The rest of the team watched as the teenagers face transformed in to a mask of innocence, “aunt May I have no idea what you mean, would I ever do something like scheme and get revenge” she asked, speaking in a convincing innocent voice

“yes. now- no taking revenge- that includes hacking computers, phones, TVs, satellites, files, pranks involving bodily, emotional and or psychological harm also anything that will get you put back on the FBI, NSA and CIA watch lists.” May said

“but” Petra began

“nope- no revenge” May said

Dropping the mask of innocence Petra laughed, “Fine,” turning to Bruce, “I’ll let you off this time, but May won’t always be here to protect you Brucie,” she said in mock threat.

“Definitely your kid” Clint said laughing at the look of fear the doctor had when looking at the small teenager next to him. Before he thought about what May said, “wait FBI, NSA, and CIA? Why would they care about what Petra does?"

Shrugging Petra said, “I may have, sort of, maybe, once, hacked some files, some secure, super secret files that made the acronym squads angry. But because I was a minor they decided to let it go as I didn’t actually read them or take anything. I just wanted to see if I could hack into their databases. It wasn’t that big of a deal, I had to sign some papers and promise i'd never do it again. ” Petra said

“Acronym squad” Steve said shocked at her description.

“yup” Petey said trying to play down the incident that happened when she was 11.

“You’re so my kid” Tony said proud.

“You’re not supposed to be proud of this Tony” Tasha said, recognising the expression on his face. She had schooled her own pride, but honestly she was impressed with the girl. She had initially worried but meeting her she knew Petra had what guts to be a ‘heroes’ kid. She was funny, smart, beautiful and brave. She had met the entire team and refused to be intimidated.

“How old were you” Clint asked. Wanting to know more details, he wouldn’t be surprised if SHIELD had a file on the kid if she was on the radars of other agencies.

“11,” Petra mumbled

“I think I'm actually afraid now” Bruce joked. Shocked, he knew she was a science genius, they had spoken briefly about one of his papers before Petra got dragged into a conversation with Thor about pop tarts, but hearing she what she could do with computers Bruce found himself wondering just how smart the girl really was.

“Don’t be, I promised not to take my revenge” Petra joked back

“That does not reassure me” he said.

“That is not my fault” she said laughing. Glad they weren’t over reacting. Even Harry didn’t know about this, as the papers she signed were confidential but these were The Avengers so she didn’t think there would be a problem with them knowing. Harry just knew she was a computer wizard when she wanted to be. 

Shocked at how easily Petra seemed to fit in the team continued to bond, laughing when they realised how like Tony Petra was, and how without his influence she turned out exactly like him.

~

“I think that went well” Tony said as he was getting ready to go to sleep, “like she didn’t hate me, right?"

“She didn’t hate you,” Steve verified pulling Tony against him in bed “and it went amazingly, you have an amazing daughter.”

“She is amazing, I know I can’t take any credit for that but I am so proud.” Tony said

“Even about the ‘acronym squad’,” Steve asked, still shocked at the seemingly innocent girl. He wasn’t really bothered, he believed her when she said she simply did it to see if she could. It sounded like something Tony would do.

Laughing Tony turned to kiss his husband soundly, “especially about the ‘acronym squad’,”

~

“That went well don’t you think,” Petra said, surprised at how well she got on with everybody and genuinely excited. She hadn’t felt this happy since before Ben died. She had been smiling no stop since returning home from the tower earlier in the evening.

“Yes my love” May said as she leaded heavily again the wall. She had been feeling more tired recently, aching more and more. Her voice coming out weak as she found herself getting dizzy, blackness engulfing her as she slight into unconsciousness.

Turning towards the thud Petra felt her blood run cold as she saw May on the floor, blood pooling around her head.

“Aunt may” she cried out, rushing towards her. Getting no response she let out a breath when she felt Mays pulse, weak but still there.

Pulling out here phone, she rang an ambulance.

The guilt she felt over allowing herself to feel happiness overwhelming- she had forgotten for a moment that may was sick. The happiness about her new family, had taken over, her excitement about her abilities overwhelming her. Now may was hurt, and Petra was left feeling like it was her fault.

Chapter Text

Petra sat in the stark hospital corridor in shock. The doctor’s words running through her head ‘coma’ ‘might never wake up’ ‘pain’ ‘probably for the best’.

She didn’t know what to do, she contemplated ringing Tony or Harry but she wanted to be alone. sitting there she didn’t even realise time passing until one of Aunt Mays nurse friends came over to offer her a fresh cup of coffee, the one next to her had turned stone cold, left untouched as Petra sat.

“Dear, do you have somebody to call” the older nurse asked

Nodding silently Petra pulled out her phone hoping it would be enough to get the nurse to leave her alone. it wasn’t. With a defeated sigh she rang Tony's number, leaving a message.

~

Hey dad,

I think I need you. Aunt may- Aunt May had an accident; we’re at NY hospital Queens.

Can you get here as soon as you can Tony- I don’t know what to do?

~

Tony just missed is phone as it rang- hoping it want an avengers emergency he clicked to hear the message.

Hearing Petra call him dad should have made his entire year but hearing her call it him in such a small broken voice made his heart ache. Stumbling out of bed Tony called to Jarvis

“Get a driver ready to take me to NY hospital in Queens,” he said throwing on clothing as fast as he could, not wanting Petra to be alone. She sounded so lost in the message, not at all like the girl he had been with earlier in the night.

“What’s going on?” Steve mumbled at his husband having been awoken by the commotion.

“May is in the hospital Tony said, grabbing shoes

Getting out of bed Steve started to dress, “why didn’t you wake me?” he asked his husband

“No time, Petra, she's all alone, I promised to be there for her from now on, and she's all alone” Tony said letting his panic show

Steve who had dressed quickly grabbed his husbands hand as they ran towards the elevator. "Don't worry, she called you, that shows that she knows you'd come"

Standing in the elevator Tony tried to calm his growing panic, "God, I hope May is okay"

"Did Petra say what happened on the phone?" Steve asked, rubbing circles on Tony's hand to try and get him to calm.

"No, just that she'd had an accident," Tony said, letting out a relieved sigh when the elevator finally came to a stop. "Jarvis, tell the team where we are if they ask" he added before exiting the lift.

~

Petra hatred hospitals. Sitting next to May who was connected to hundreds of wires and machines Petra realised how much she hatred them. The sterile smell, the stark brightness, everything.

"Are you okay," a worried male voice asked, it was Tony. He looked awful, eyes rimmed red, hair messed and clothing harried. Behind him was Steve, looking much the same.

"No." Petra said before burying her head in her hands, "she's dying; the doctors don't think she'll ever wake up. What am I supposed to do?"  She said, her sobs overwhelming her speech.

Walking cautiously over to the crying girl Tony pulled her into his arms. Tucking her into himself he said "you're going to be fine, because that's what May would want. And we're going to be here every step of the way. You're not alone Petey."

Watching the family moment Steve felt his heart ache for the girl. She had lost so much; he vowed to make it so she never felt alone again. Walking over to them he settled a hand in her shoulder, "you'll never be alone" he said.

"You got that right spangles," said a voice from the door

Turning Steve wasn't really surprised to find the rest of the team here, "Thank You" he mouthed at the archer as the team all joined them in

~

When the nurse came to check on May Parker to say she was shocked to find The Avengers would be an understatement. The entire team had showed up as soon as Jarvis had informed them of the ongoing situation.

"Ermmm, I'm sorry but it's family only" she said to the superheroes, trying to not show her shock and excitement at seeing them.

"We are family" said captain America from a chair, in his arms a sleeping Petra.

 Unsure what to do the nurse nodded, "okay then" she said, not wanting to fight the saviours of New York.

~

“I think you should take her home,” Steve said to Tony, trying not to disrupt the sleeping teenager. She had fallen asleep in his arms after crying herself to exhaustion. He himself was feeling quite misty eyed after having spoken to the doctor; May was in a coma and the doctors didn’t see her waking up. The news had destroyed Petra when she had heard. Her silent sobs shaking her body until sleep finally claimed her. Tony had arranged for May to be transferred over to the towers medical wing, hoping one of their doctors could do something, but the odds weren’t with them this time.

“What home?" Tony said, “May is her home.” He had no clue how to continue, “May was supposed to be here for this; she was supposed to have more time,”

“Take her to the tower,” Natasha said, “she needs to be with family, you started work on her room already right?" she added

“Yes but” Tony said

“No buts, we’ll stay here until you get May moved to the towers medical wing. Go, take Petra home.” Bruce said, he been busy reading Mays medical file. It didn’t look good.

“May should be ready to be moved in the next few hours,” Tony said, indicating towards Steve to lift Petra.

~

Petra woke up confused to find herself in a plush bed. Her head was hurting; it felt muggy from falling to sleep crying in the hospital. She felt numb, like she was free falling.

“miss Petra, sir informed me to tell you as soon as you awoke that you're in a guest room at the avengers tower, and that your aunt may has been transferred here.”

Nodding her head Petra felt raw as she remembered everything from the day before. Looking around she noticed a few outfits similar to what she had worn to lunch laid out on a chest, as well as some soft navy sweat pants and a few vest tops. Opting to go with the sweat pants she grabbed them and a vest before heading to what she thought was the shower. The room was ridiculously big, the luxury played down by the chic minimalism. The bathroom was large with grey and white marble fixtures, bright green accents placed strategically around.

Exiting the bathroom once clean Petra once again noticed how her body had changed, she felt like a live wire. Her nerves although frayed by her grief where standing to attention.

“j- Jarvis” Petra tried to talk, her voice hoarse from crying in the shower

“Yes miss,” the Ai spoke.

“Where is May,” she said, with some difficulty. Before adding “and my da-Tony” changing it so she was not calling him her dad, she still felt guilt over finding happiness in this new family when May, her real family was lying somewhere in a coma dying.

“May is currently in the towers medical facility with doctor’s banner and Cho,” the Ai said, “I would however recommend that you go to the communal kitchen first before seeing her as you must remember to look after yourself. Sir is currently there with Thor.”

~

Tony turned towards the elevator when Jarvis announced Petra was coming up, “hey,” he said quietly.

“Hi” Petra said, feeling practically naked in front of Tony and Thor. She had lost and gained everything in a matter of days.

“Young miss stark, I offer you my condolences.” Thor said, in his booming voice.

Petra let herself smile a small sad smile at the clueless prince, “thanks Thor,” she said

“You want some food?" Tony offered, he couldn’t really cook but he would try for his kid.

“Sure” Petra said quietly, walking forward. Noticing Thors mountain of pop tarts, she asked, “you got some chocolate ones left?"

 “Sure thing kid,” Tony said, grabbing a box out of Thors collection noticing the god looked a little proud that Petey liked chocolate pop tarts. “I'm a fan of the strawberry myself,” he added watching as Petra scrunched her nose up at the mention of strawberry.

“Chocolate or nothing old man,” Petra said still speaking softly, as Tony put a plate in front of her with a flourish.

“You wound me,” Tony said, relieved Petra was joking again, even if she was still speaking softly. “I'm not old; if anything I'm a classic.” Seeing Steve approach he added, “Now Stevie here, he's old. Pushing 94 last time I checked.”

Not sure about what he walked into Steve looked around, happy to see Petra eating even if it was just sugar. “I'm 30 Tony. You're the one who will be 36 in November” he added giving his husband a kiss on the cheek as he turned towards the fridge.

“Is there coffee?" Petra asked, not bothered by their display

“Aren’t you a little young for coffee?" Steve asked, not sure about the rules to raising a teenager. Maybe he’d buy a book or ask Sam. Judging by the horrified look on Petra’s face he guessed she wasn’t too young for coffee.

“Never say such sacrilege again.” Petra said, looking at the offered milk and creamer with curiosity. “This is what weak people add to their coffee?" she asked joking, drinking the offered cup black, after adding copious amounts of sugar.

Looking at Tony Steve tried to contain his horror as the teenager down the cup in a few gulps. Looking at the rest of the pot with a hunger he only ever saw on Tony. “How?" he asked flabbergasted.

“Good genes” Tony said, reaching over to get himself a cup of coffee.

However as he reached over Petra beat him, her eyes narrowing as she grabbed the pot. “Mine” she said her inner child coming out.

“Share,” Tony said, sounding like a petulant child. Trying to distract Petra and get the pot. Their standoff over the coffee pot, attracting an audience that neither was aware off.

~

“It’s like he made a female clone” Clint said watching as both Starks narrowed their eyes taking in their opponent.

“I’d put my money on the girl,” Tasha said

“I would take that bet but I think you're right,” Clint said watching as Petey tilted her head. Using speed that was surprising to both assassins, they watched as she used her free hand to redirect light into Tony's eyes. The distraction causing Tony to loosen his hand on the pot, allowing Petra to swipe it into her clutches.

“That was a dirty play” Tony said, looking at his daughter with pride as she poured herself another cup

“All’s fair in love and war.” She said in a sing song voice. “You can have half a cup” she offered

“One full cup,” Tony countered.

“You can smell the pot as I drink it all.” Petra said laughing.

“That’s not how negotiation works,” he said looking at the pot as it dwindled.

~

Watching in fascination Steve said to the archer and spy, “he does know there is another coffee machine right there right? And that he can just make more?"

“Not the point” Tasha said, “it’s about power. I think he's enjoying having a mini me”

Watching as the father and daughter laughed and shared the pot after more ‘negotiations’, Steve felt himself smiling “I think you're right” he said.

~

“I want to see May,” Petra said after the laughter died down. Trying to ignore the guilt she felt niggling at her.

“I know. Want some company?" Tony offered

“I don’t think so- I just need to see her. Talk to her for a while.” Petra said. Needing to sort her head out, she added “I think I need to clear my head afterwards.”

“I’ll take you up,” Steve offered, wanting a chance to talk to the girl.

“Thank you,” she said, offering the rest small smiles and nods.

~

“You know, he already loves you,” Steve said as the elevator made its way towards the medical floors.

“I'm just like him, he's narcissistic enough, he's bound to like me,” Petra said

“You know there was a rumour before I went to ice that captain America can’t lie,” Steve said, realising Petra was nervous about Tony loving her.

“There were also rumours about you and USO girls. You married my dad. So I think it’s safe to say rumours don’t always hold stock” Petra said

“That tongue ever get you into trouble?" he asked, her tactic of lashing out verbally one he knew well from Tony. “You don’t mind do you, about me and your dad?"

“I'm usually in trouble for one thing or another,” Petey said, “and no, I don’t mind. You make each other happy. Why would I care?"

“Well” Steve hedged “were men” he said

“Well done captain” Petra said, “I'm not homophobic,” as the elevator doors opened she added quietly, “and I love him to, I love you all”

Steve stood stunned as the elevator closed behind the girl.

~

“I don’t want you to go May,” Petra said to the empty air, “I'm hoping you can hear me, because if not then I’ll be pissed. You always said I needed an avid audience. I have so much to tell you, I need you, your advice. I mean shit I'm a freaking freak of nature.” She said. The steady beat of Mays heart the only response. “You promised me you’d always be here, this isn’t being here may. So I need you to wake up please.”

The door opening drew Petra's attention away, Bruce stood there awkwardly realising he had interrupted.

“Hey Brucie,” Petra said, wiping her tears

“you know, people say when you're in a coma you can hear whats being said.” Bruce told the girl, hoping it would offer her some comfort. He had grown to care for her.

“I hope not, I just swore, if she can hear me the first thing she's going to do is beat me when she wakes up,” Petra said

“Sounds like may,” Bruce replied. “I can leave if you’d like some privacy”

“No stay. I thought I wanted to be alone. but this- this silence is killing me.”

After a few moments of silence she started to talk, “you know when I saw the aliens attacking New York I wasn’t afraid,” Petra said “I knew I would be fine. You know why? Because May said everything would be fine. I was 10 years old. Already smarter than most people will ever be, but in that moment I chose to believe her. To believe everything would be okay. I want to believe everything will be okay this time. But I don’t think I can.”

“I don’t know what to say. I can’t promise you your old fine, just a new fine.” Bruce finally said.

“Were you scared?" Petey said, acknowledging Bruce’s statement with a nod, “that battle, it changed your world like this will change mine.”

“Petrified- But then it wasn’t me fighting, the other guy. He doesn’t do fear. He's more ‘smashy’” he said

“I've always been fond of ‘smashy’, I think I would like the other guy.” Petra said, “I'm not like you Bruce, I don’t have a big green inner badass to protect me from my fear.”

“No you have an entire team, including a ‘big green badass’,” Bruce said.

Chapter Text

Her talk with Bruce had left Petra with something to consider, but she still felt trapped in the tower. Needing air Petra found herself wandering around, eventually ending up near the Brooklyn Bridge. Looking around she pulled up her hood, before using her newly developed powers to climb up the bridge, climbing until she reached the top. The spectacular view taking Petra’s breathe away. Sitting there she became lost in thought.

“You’re not going to jump are you kid?" a young male voice said making Petra jump. “Because that would be seriously uncool,” making sure her face was covered she looked up. Shocked to see teen hero Johnny storm hovering next to her, his whole body engulfed by flame.

Johnny watched as the girl spooked, jumping easily 5 feet in the air. Unusual. Cooling his flame he landed next to her.

“No, I just wanted to be alone and to enjoy the view” Petra said, looking at Storm. He was only a 2 years older. “And if I'm a kid, so are you.”

“Really, you're so tiny though,” Johnny said, trying to get a look at the girls face but it was covered by her hoodie. “How’d you get up here anyway?” Johnny said noticing the door was still locked, “steal the keys?"

“I'm not that small.” Petra said ignoring his questions.

“You know ignoring my questions makes me more curious.” Johnny said, twisting to try and see her, noticing a wisp of dark hair fly free when a gust of wind went past them.

“I climbed.” Petra admitted, looking back out towards the city lights.

“How?" Johnny asked confounded.

“You’re not the only gifted person in the world Flamebrain.” Petra said, too tired to think up a lie- Her mind straying to May before going to her powers.

“Ouch. Name calling. What does that make you? I know Itsy Bitsy. You know like the song. Because you climbed” Johnny said, trying to joke when he sensed the girl’s sadness, “So you're also a special little snowflake?”                                                                                                                               

“I'm definitely something,” she said, “but if you ever call me that again I will kill you.” She deadpanned.

“You know what mysterious hood girl, I like you.” Johnny said.

“Petey, that's my name.” Petra offered.

“So Petey, what’s a girl like you doing in a place like this,” Johnny offered.

“That line every work for you?" she asked curious,

“More times than I should admit to,” Johnny admitted. After a few moments of silence Johnny looked up, Petey, the girl was sitting looking out towards the city.

“I needed space. I felt trapped.” Petra said, answering his original question.

 “I get that,” Johnny said, “That’s what I love about my powers, flying. Whenever I feel trapped I can just go, fly. What about you, what did you get in your special packet, apart from bridge climbing?” he asked, intruiged about the mysterious girl on the bridge. She spoke like she was the same age as him, but she was quite short.

“Must be freeing, and honestly I'm not sure. I'm new to the club.” Petra said; fiddling with her jacket sleeves. “I'm basically a human spider?" she offered

“Sick” Johnny said, Awe in his voice. He wondered if she had the x-gene or if she was enhanced.

“Really, You don’t think it weird?" she asked, surprised by his response. Petra was terrified thinking about how people would react, she knew mutant rights had come a long way but that was mainly for x-gene holders not radioactive spider bite victims.

“I'm a walking bic lighter,” Johnny said, “I've got no room to judge,”

“True,” Petra agreed. Thinking about how Tony would react, he was a hero, so surely he wouldn’t react that badly. Decision made. Petra realised she should get back to the tower; she’d been gone for hours.

“So are you going to show me your face Spidey?" Johnny asked as she once again turned to avoid his gaze.

“I think not,” Petra said, before making a rash decision.

Using her superhuman agility she jumped up and ran to the edge, throwing herself off. Using her webs she caught herself, swinging low before releasing; the feeling of wind rushing by as she swung, making her feel free. Laughing as heard Johnny shout; “I thought you said you wouldn’t jump”.

“I lied.” She shouted back, if he heard she didn’t know.

“Holy shit” Johnny said. He was impressed.

~

“I'm a mutant.” Petra said practising as she stood in the elevator, “no that doesn’t work. What about; I had an accident, an accident that changed me. Now I have abilities. Jarvis you know Tony, how do you think he would react?" she asked, finding the right words to tell her secret seemed impossible.

“Honestly Miss Petra I don’t know. I do however believe sir would love you regardless.” The AI replied

“Okay. And you promise to keep everything I just said private, right” Petra said, as the elevator took her to the communal living room.

“I promise, as long as this secret does not endanger yours or a team member’s safety.” The AI said.

“Good, I’d hate to have to hack your protocols” Petey said laughing

“You are certainly sirs’ daughter miss” the AI said delivering his lines with a surprising amount of sass.

Laughing Petra entered the communal room to find most of the team lounging around watching Disney movies.

“What’s so funny?" Tony asked seeing Petra laugh as she exited elevator.

“Jarvis.” Petra said, walking over to take a seat in the space next to Clint and Tasha, before adding, “is there a reason we’re watching Finding Nemo?"

“It’s a classic” Clint said, offering Petra a bag of open jelly beans-which she took, picking only to eat the white ones.

“It’s such a sad tale,” Thor said, his eyes fixed to the screen

“Don’t worry Goldilocks, it has a happy ending,” Tony offered. Watching as Petra threw the sweets up in the air and caught them in her mouth without taking her eyes of the screen.

“But I feel such sorrow for the lost child.” Thor said.

Reaching into his bag of Hershey’s kisses Tony aimed one towards Petra, who had yet to take her eyes from the screen.

Petra who was engrossed in the cartoon, felt a tingling in the base of her skull, similar to the feeling she had on the subway but not as intense. Reacting with speed that was inhuman Petey reached up, catching the chocolate without looking up.

“Well that was impressive” Tony said shocked. The shock was mirrored by all of the team who watched as Petra slowly opened the chocolate, before throwing it into her mouth. She had reacted without looking.

“What?" Petra said finally noticing how even Thor was watching her instead of the TV.

“Your reflexes are great for one so young,” Thor said,

Realising what she’d done Petra shrugged, uncomfortable with their scrutiny. “It was nothing- a fluke.” Petra said hoping they’d drop it. “I'm going to go see May then get some sleep, my walk tired me out,”

~

Watching as Petey practically ran from the room Tony turned to the rest of the team. “I'm not the only one who thought that was weird right?”

“No. It was weird,” Tasha said, before Bruce interrupted

“I don’t think so; we were all staring at her. She was probably nervous. I mean, we are intimidating.” The doctor said, knowing how it was to be put under scrutiny.

“Not that- her reactions.” Tasha said, “She wasn’t even paying attention,”

“We should drop this,” Steve said looking around, “we don’t want to alienate her,”

Realising her was right Tasha nodded, “fine, but still we could use those reflexes in her lessons,” she added.

“No lessons” Tony said on reflex.

“She already agreed,” Tasha said smirking.

“I'm going to check on her,” Tony said, “Steve watch the children, make sure they don’t make too much of a mess” With that he left the rest of the team, dodging the sweets they threw.

~

Petra let herself into the med bay, walking straight up to Mays bed. She looked so small lying there, with all of the wires connected to her.

Sitting down Petey released the breath she had been holding, “wake up.” She whispered, “I need you.”

“You know we’re all going to be here for you,” Tony's voice drifted in from the door way. He felt powerless watching the scene in front of him, he was usually able to fix everything but this, this, he had no power to fix. He’d had Bruce look into it, he’d looked into it, but it was too late. Mays cancer was too advanced, to far spread. “Like so here for you, you’ll probably end up hating us. Zero peace.”

“OMG, you're going to be a total helicopter.” Petra said laughing when she saw his face.

“You laugh now but it will be different when you realise you have a 10ft green rage monster as a big brother. Two assassins, a genius doctor and a god for aunts and uncles and a super solider as a step dad” Tony added the last part trying to gauge her reaction

“Why is the hulk a brother, not an uncle?" Petra asked

“He has a child like mentality,” Tony said, “but you’ll never meet him so it shouldn’t matter,”

“Why not?" Petra asked, she liked the idea of the hulk.

“He’s dangerous,” Tony said, seeing Petra about to argue he raised his hands in defence. “It’s not that I don’t trust Bruce, or even hulk. It’s just, that- Petey, I've gotten you; I can’t risk something happening to you. You're my daughter, and even though I just met you I love you.”

“Love you to old man,” Petey said, trying to down play the moment

“You could just call me dad, you know” Tony said.

“I could,” Petey said laughing.  

“It’s good to hear your laugh,” a frail voice said.

“May?” Petra said, tears instantly forming.

“Doctors” Tony shouted, “Jarvis”

“Sir, I've informed the team. They're on the way up.”

“I love you; you’ll always be my Petey. And I want you to know how very proud I am of you.” May said the words long and drawn out, pain evident in her voice.

“I love you to,” Petra said, holding Mays hand. “And its okay if you want to go back to sleep” voice cracking on the last word.

“I wish I could stay Petra,” May said, looking around the room and noticing the tears. “But you look like you're in good hands.”

“None are as good as yours,” Petra said, causing May to smile. That smile was still on her face when her eyes fell shut for the final time.

Petra stayed sitting there holding Mays hand until she died, the entire team there surrounding her.  

~

The next morning when Petra awoke she felt numb. The pain she felt last night had disappeared, leaving nothing in its place. She was empty. Needing to feel something Petra grabbed some clothes.  Tony had arranged yesterday to have her things brought to the tower, meaning she wouldn’t have to go back to hers and Mays apartment in queens wouldn’t have to go through Mays stuff like she had to do after Ben died. She told Tony to donate all of Mays things, not wanting the reminder.

Pulling on a pair of skinny jeans and a hoodie, Petra had a plan. She wanted to feel something; anything and she knew exactly what to do. Pulling out her Phone she dialled.

“Hey Harry,” she said.

“Petey, where have you been I've been calling you for days. I went by your place and it was empty! What’s going on?"

“She’s dead,” Petra said quietly.

“Shit. What do you need me to do, tell me what you need?" harry responded, the pain in his voice clear. May had been like a mother to him, his own having left when he was a baby. May had practically raised both Petra and him, Harry's own father not really caring enough. Only getting involved to stop a scandal, never offering love or support like May.

“I need to feel something other than the nothing I've got,” Petra said

“I've got just what you need. Where are you, ill come get you” harry said, realising he didn’t know where she was or what she was going to do now, “Petra,” she said softly, “you kow if you need anything, a place to stay, I'm here for you right”

“I'm good harry, I'm staying with some distant family,” Petra responded, “just come get me, please” she didn’t want to tell him about Tony yet, wasn’t sure about the rules. Tony had explained during the initial meeting that Petra should try to keep her identity hidden for as long as possible, he had dangerous enemies and he didn’t want to make her a target.

Telling harry she was at a coffee shop near the tower Petra said goodbye.

In the elevator Petra instructed Jarvis, “if anybody asks for me tell them I needed to clear my head.” She said, pulling her hood up to cover her face as it approached the lobby floor.

“Of course miss Petra,” the AI responded, before adding “and miss, I am so very sorry for your loss. For what I saw May was a good woman”

Feeling her eyes well, Petra refused to let them fall- she’d cried enough, “yeah, thanks Jarvis”

“Be safe miss” the AI said as she left the elevator.

Chapter Text

Tony was trying really hard not to be worried, but Petra had been gone all day and it was nearly 10 at night.

“Jarvis did she say where she was going?" he asked the AI as he paced around the kitchen, all of team was sitting around watching as he grew more anxious.

“No sir, she said only that she wished to clear her head.” The Ai responded, it was the same thing he had said whenever asked

“What do I do?" Tony said, “I could track her cell phone but...” he didn’t want to invade her privacy; he knew all about loss and knew she was hurting. But he also feared what she would do now, when he lost his parents he went off the rails, drink, drugs, sex, everything and anything to numb the pain.

“Do you think that's nessicary,” Steve said

“She’s in pain, and she shouldn’t be alone,” Tony said

“You think she’d do something stupid?" Clint asked, knowing Tony's history and how similar the father and daughter were he could understand the concern

“I would hope not, but she's not going to be herself,” Tony said. “If she doesn’t pick up or call in the next half an hour, I'm going to do it” he said.

~

Meanwhile at the Osborn’s Manhattan apartment

~

“Fuckkkkk- how aren’t you high right now?" Harry said with slow spaced words, passing Petra the last joint.

“I guess I've got a better tolerance now,” Petra said, the realisation her metabolism wouldn’t allow her to get drunk or high had hit after she downed a bottle of Harry’s dads whiskey and felt fine. Still she took a drag, hoping the combined efforts of the marijuana and alcohol would do something. All she felt was hot, but that might be because the heat was on full blast. Taking off her jeans and hoodie, Petra sat down next to harry in just her Yankees jersey and some boy shorts- Their relationship so platonic that he didn’t even bat an eye lash at her.

“Your phones going off again,” Harry said, trying to reach for it but unable to move his hands. He had drank less and smoked less than Petra but was feeling the effects. His whole body was floating in a haze of euphonium. The small movement caused him to fall from the sofa. Deciding the floor was just as comfortable, he lay there.

Reaching for her phone Petra saw it was Tony again, letting it go to answer she lay down next to harry who was giggling at the ceiling. “Think if we just stayed here forever the world would forget we existed?" she asked

“No, the pizza guy would know and the Chinese guy, oh and don’t forget the Indian and Thai guys.” Harry said when he eventually opened his eyes, he had closed them to try and stop his laughter.

Looking at the vast array of food they had consumed throughout the day Petra laughed, “We’re going to have to go to the gym after this,” she said

“No gym” Harry groaned, nuzzling into Petras side after having decided to go to sleep and that she would be a good snuggle buddy. Feeling how lean her body felt he reached out poking her “you're not as soft anymore, no gym” he added.

Realising Harry had passed out Petra sighed. Carefully removing herself from his clutches she put a pillow under his head and started to clean up. Knocking interrupted her, knowing nobody usually came up to the penthouse she opened the door. Not really surprised to see a worried looking Tony standing there in sunglasses and a cap.

Allowing him in Petra looked around and saw how bad the place looked, looking up at him with a shrug she held up the last half smoked joint, “weed?" she offered.

~

Tony tried not to question his decision to come get Petra himself, thinking it was better that he be the one in case she got angry about the invasion of her privacy. He, however was not prepared to have her answer the door to the Osborn’s penthouse in nothing but a baseball jersey and offer him a joint.

He knew he was staring but he couldn’t help it. He was in a nightmare. He didn’t know how long he stood there but eventually his breakdown was interrupted by a low groan followed by a childish wail.

“Petey, why’d you go? You were my pillow” a male voice said. Narrowing his eyes Tony stepped forward until he stood above the half awake teenager.

“Holy shit is iron man really here or am I hallucinating. Because usually my hallucinations are much more fun than an angry iron man looming over me” the kid slurred from his spot on the floor.

“Go back to sleep harry,” Petra said, noticing how Tony looked slightly homicidal looming above him, “Yo pops, don’t go all shotgun wedding on us. Harry is just a friend” she said, afraid her only real friend was about to get thrown out of the window.

The kid just looked at him again before shrugging and going back to sleep, a happy “k,” coming out of his mouth as he obeyed Petra.

Turning to look at her Tony noticed that although she smelt like she had drank a brewery and there were multiple empty bottles around, she appeared sober, and she defiantly didn’t seem high. He was also glad to note she had dressed during his murder plotting.

“I’ll be honest here kid, I've not been a parent a week yet so I don’t know how to respond here.” He said, “you help his drink all this?" he asked

Petra not seeing the point of lying nodded her head, “some,” she said.

“So I'm supposed to like ground you or something now right?" he asked. Praying this type of behaviour wasn’t normal for her, he didn’t want to deal with a female version of younger him. He knew it would be karma but honestly he didn’t think he could do it.

“Depends,” Petra said, cleaning up as they spoke. She was trying to decide if being unable to get drunk upset her or not, she didn’t drink that much and she hardly ever smoked preferring to just be there when harry did and laugh at him.

“On what?" Tony asked, deciding to help her if it meant they could leave the apartment quicker.

“On you,” she said thanking him with a nod when he helped her clean.

“You know what, I’ll ask the team when we get home,” Tony decided, before adding “you don’t seem drunk or high.” She really didn’t, if it wasn’t for the smell he would have thought she hadn’t touched a drop all day.

“I'm not either” Petra admitted, hoping he wouldn’t question it more than a normal parent would

“Why do this then,” he asked.

“I wanted to lose myself and forget for awhile” Petra said

Nodding Tony moved on, “you're okay right,” he asked. “Not planning on doing something like this again?"

“No, I'm not okay, but I will be and yes, I doubt I’ll do this again, it didn’t work anyway” Petra said, her need for space and normalcy had been met by being with Harry. Sure, she couldn’t get drunk or high anymore but she did feel better. He had helped her work her priorities out.

“So why didn’t you get like sleeping beauty over here?" Tony asked, indicating to Harry who was passed out on the floor still.

“Would you believe I wanted to be,” Petra asked, “I just couldn’t get there,” she said

“Why not?" Tony said, thinking she meant she couldn’t because of guilt, or maybe grief, not that she literally couldn’t do it anymore.

As she contemplated how to reply, Tony heard his phone go off, seeing it was Steve he answered, “Yeah I've got her, she's fine. Were coming back to the tower now, yeah, love you too” he said before hanging up.

Nodding towards Harry he said, “should we bring him with us?" Tony asked, not sure if he should be worried about Petras apparent friend.

“No, but help me get him into bed.” Petra said, reaching down to wake him up.

Getting the teenager to Tony asked, not sure if he should be worried about petras apparent friend.

“No, but help me get him into bed.” Petra said, reaching down to wake him up.

Getting the teenager to bed took effort; harry deciding he didn’t want to sleep after he got woken.

“Sleep bro,” Petey said, “I’ll call you in the morning, order you your hangover breakfast to be delivered and everything” she promised before leaving.

“So...” Tony said after finally getting into the car, “that's Harry”

“Yup,” Petra said, exhaustion taking over.

“Seems like a nice kid,” he said scepticism clear.

“He is,” Petra said, “he's the best.”

“When I walked in you weren’t dressed, and you said you're not... You know...” Tony asked, the awkwardness of the conversation not lost on him.

“God no, eww, it would be like sleeping with my brother, it was hot, I took off some layers.” Petra said, “can be please, god, not have the sex talk,” she begged

“Fine, fine” Tony said relieved.

~

“We have to punish her," Steve said, the rest of the team all shocked when Tony informed them about how he found Petra.

“Yes, but I don’t know how,” Tony admitted, “she admitted to drinking and I guess smoking, but she seemed fine,”

“That’s not the point Tony, you need to let her know that this behaviour isn’t acceptable,” Steve said, Natasha nodding along with him.

“Then what do you suggest?" Tony said, “I don’t want to be too harsh; I don’t want to alienate her,”

“Yes but we can’t have her doing stuff like this Tony,” Natasha said, “she needs better ways to cope,”

“I know that,” he said.

“Maybe we should make her do extra work outs with Tasha tomorrow?" Bruce suggested, “it’s not necessarily a punishment, but it shouldn’t be to pleasant,”

“That could work,” Tony said

“I'm okay with that,” Tasha said with a nod, “I can make her run suicides,”

“I’ll help,” Clint said, “Shoot some foam arrows to help motivate her” he said laughing slightly manically.

~

Petra woke with a glare; Natasha was standing over her playing a blaring rap song.

“Really?" she asked, looking at her alarm and seeing it was 05:30, “you know I'm not hung over right?" Petra said, annoyed to be woken

“That’s nice buttercup,” Natasha said, “but this is your punishment, it’s not supposed to be fun, you have five minutes to get ready before we head to the gym.”

“The gym?" Petra said with a groan, “cant I just be grounded or something?" she words muffled as she pulled her duvet over her head.

Pulling it back Natasha looked at the girl, “nope, you don’t get to pick your punishment. You've now got 4 minutes, so I’d get running if I was you” she said.

~

Petra looked around the gym with a sleepy glare; she hated being forced to wake up.

“Come on kid, let’s do some stretches, have you done yoga before” Tasha asked, dropping into a lotus pose.

“Some,” Petra said, mimicking her position.

They advanced quickly after that, Tasha surprised the kid could keep up, her flexibility and durability surpassing the normal.

 After around two hours Tasha stood, much to the relief of Petra, “are we finally done?" the teenager asked.

Smirking, the red head looked up, “not even close kid. Now it’s time to run?"

“Run?" Petra said in disbelief, she wasn’t tired but she had no desire to run.

“I want suicides,” Tasha said, “you’ll run until I tell you to stop,”

Starting to run Petra asked, “And that will be,”

“When you regret drinking and smoking pot” Tasha said looking at the eyebrow Petra rose, “or until you can’t run anymore. Whatever comes first,”

“Can I at least have some music while I run?" Petra asked, as she ran the suicides.

“Sure,” Tasha agreed, standing to the side and starting some tai chi routines.

“Jarvis, can you access my iPod?" Petra asked

“Yes Miss Petra,” The AI responded.

“Pull up my workout mix, please.” She said, allowing herself to become lost in the routine.

It wasn’t until Tasha said “enough” that Petra realised she had been running suicides for nearly two hours.

“Crap kid, when I said run until you couldn’t, I didn’t mean for you to kill yourself.” Natasha said grabbing a bottle of Gatorade, she had gone for a shower after finishing her routine, intending to be five minutes but had got waylaid by Tony and Bruce who had discovered shocking things from the hydra camp they had raided the previous week. When she returned 45 minutes later to say she was shocked to see Petra still running would be an understatement.

Jumping when Tasha spoke to her, Petra almost swore. “What?" she asked confused, she had lost herself fully and hadn’t realised the time passing.

“How long do you think you've been running?" Natasha asked as Petra drank the energy drink, noticing that the girl was barley winded.

“Ermmm I have no clue, Jarvis how long was I running?" Petra asked, dropping into a stretch that the most advanced gymnasts would envy.

“You were running for a total of 78minutes and 19seconds,” The AI spoke.

“Damn,” Petey said, she felt fine now she had drunk and stretched, her slight fatigue gone after a few moments.

“Have you done endurance training?"   Tasha said looking at the teen with suspicion. She kept surprising Tasha, and Tasha wasn’t sure if she liked it. Her speed, reflexes, durability and agility were incredible.

Feeling eyes on her, Petra looked up to see Tasha staring. “No I haven’t, but I do normally train for hours a week for cheerleading and I skateboard...” Petra didn’t really think telling her about her abilities would be the greatest move, she should probably tell Tony about them first. And she wasn’t lying she had always kept in shape; she was now just in a more advanced shape.

“I see,” Tasha said, not buying that she was being told the whole story.

“I think I should go shower,” Petra said, picking at her top which was stuck to her body with sweat.

“Go ahead,” Tasha said, still watching Petra with curious eyes.

Chapter Text

Petra knew Tasha was suspicious; she was a trained spy after all. She knew when people were keeping things from her. Hoping she would be able to keep her secret for a while longer, Petra went to her guest suit to shower. Glad her ‘punishment’ was over, if only to get her away from The Widows assessing gaze. The exercise had acted as another experiment in Petras mind; it showed how her speed and durability had increased since her exposure to the gamma radiated spider.

Looking at the time Petra realised she was hungry; it was nearly 10 in the morning. Deciding to go to the communal kitchen to see if there was food, Petra remembered she needed to keep her promise to Harry, finding her phone she called for a full English breakfast with extra bacon and a large double shot espresso to be delivered to his apartment, requesting that they also deliver a bottle of aspirin as well.

Getting to the communal area Petra isn’t surprised when she sees everybody apart from the two assassins and tony. They usually like to lurk, especially Clint Petra noticed and Tony had been out of his lab for days, he was probably going through withdrawal being gone so long.

Entering the kitchen Petra spied the coffee pot. Making a beeline for it, she let out a low growl when her path is blocked by Steve. Attempting to go around him to get to the sweet nectar, Petra glares, barley holding back her whine when he remains in her way.

“Coffee,” she says, surprised when she realised she hadn’t had any in over 12 hours, it was a miracle she was able to do anything with Tasha without her daily fix.

“you can have some in a minute, first though tell me, are you okay today, and would you prefer waffles or pancakes?" Steve asked worried about the girl, she appeared okay, surprisingly so after her workout with Tasha. He almost expected her to be crawling, as he knew the Russian wouldn’t go easy on the teen. We was also worried, he didn’t want her to start acting out. He knew grief made people do stupid things, but from what he’d seen Petra was a great kid. Smart, kind, full of energy, she was just like Tony. Which is why he was so afraid, although he never knew Tony when he was younger, he’d seen the articles, the videos, heard the stories; he knew that he didn’t want Petra to turn into what Tony was.

Narrowing her eyes at the giant who stood in her way, Petra let out a slight whine, “I’ll be fine when I've had coffee, and Tasha wasn’t that bad. You're the one trying to kill be through caffeine withdrawal.” She said, making her eyes large hoping the captain would move quickly, as she would hate to have to take him down to get to the coffee “and, I prefer waffles,” she added, calculating how to take him down without revealing her powers.

“Then have your coffee,” Steve said laughing at how Petra instantly relaxed. Her eyes loosing the scheming glint that he recognised from dinner. He also noticed how like Tony, she perked instantly after having her first mouthful. Maybe he should ask Bruce if coffee addiction was genetic...

“Hey spangles,” Petra said after finishing her first cup in silence, quickly, “is Tony in his lab?" she asked

Nodding as he plated up the waffles, Steve said, “you know your dad called me that the first time we met and yes, but he should be coming up soon, I told Jarvis to make him eat, which means Jarvis will lockdown whatever project he’s working on until he gets here” winking at Petra.

Petra was impressed when Steve put the plate in front of her, although May had tried, cooking wasn’t really her forte. So having homemade waffles was a rare treat, “thank you” she said sincerely. Laughing at how Steve was able to manipulate Tony for his own good.

Taking her first bite Petra almost groaned, she hadn’t noticed that she was starving. She knew she needed to eat more since her ‘accident’. Her theory being her metabolism was working faster therefore burning through energy quicker resulting in her need for food.

“These are really good” she offered, taking more from the batch in front of her.

“Thank you” Steve said blushing, surprised that how much Petra was eating but putting it down to her earlier workout. “so what did Tasha make you do as you punishment?"

“Yoga and suicides,” Petra said, adding “it could have been worse,”

“Yes, it could. You know that type of behaviour won’t be tolerated right?" Steve said, trying to keep his voice gentle but still firm.

“I know, don’t worry I won’t be doing it here,” Petra said

“Don’t do it anywhere,” Steve replied, picking up on her phrasing with narrowed eyes.

“I won’t,” Petra defended; she got nothing from it now so it would be pointless.

“You don’t do that sort of stuff often do you?" Steve asked gently, “because if you do and you need help...”

“Don’t worry pops,” Petra interrupted, hoping calling Steve pops would distracted him. It did. His face turned red. “I'm not a stoner, I don’t have a problem. No need to stress or get the rehab booklets out.”

Still caught up on her calling him pops Steve didn’t notice Tony entering the kitchen

“Why did Jarvis lock-” noticing Steves shocked stance, Tony turned to Petra who had put on an innocent facade “you- what did you do? How did you break my husband? Husbands aren’t like toys, you can’t just break them and get a new one.” He said. Not buying Petras innocent act, he had seen that expression too many times- albeit on his own face.

“I did nothing, I'm just sitting here eating my waffles,” Petra denied, slapping Tony's hand away as he tried to poach a waffle from her plate. “Mine.”

Shaking himself from his shock Steve scolded Tony, who was trying to get around petras slapping hands to get to her waffles. Ignoring the plate set in the centre of the table. “Tony we don’t steal other people’s food, I thought we talked about this” he said, finding his husbands antics humorous.

Turning with a pout Tony didn’t try to hide his outrage when he saw Petra stick her tongue out, “Steve Peteys being mean”

“Petey.” Steve said mock scolding the teen before laughing at the situation. Whenever the father and daughter got together they became a pair of two year olds.

“He started it,” she said, not taking her eyes of the waffle thief wanna be.

“And I'm going to end it. Now children behave or I’ll put you both in a time out. No lab for you Tony and no... Whatever you do for fun Petra” Steve said, getting Tony his own plate of waffles.

“I skateboard, and take photos,” Petra offered. Thinking that she hadent been on her board for a while, she had seen it in the boxes brought over from hers and Mays old apartment.

“Then no skateboard for you” Steve said.

Settling down after Steve’s mock scolding, the trio ate happily together, talking about inconsequential things,

“Hey, I was thinking that I’d go back to school on Monday” Petra said, the time she’d had off didn’t affect her academically as she created her own timetables but she missed the normalcy of school.

“I was going to talk to you about that,” Tony said, “you know you could go to college now right,” Tony wanted her to do whatever she wanted, he knew she was gifted and he would help her develop her gifts however he could. If that meant letting her leave for college then he would allow her to go, although the idea of her going so soon after finding her was painful.

Nodding Petra knew that, she had realised she had no excuse not to go now as May had died, but she found herself not wishing to go yet. “I know, but I think I should wait, at least until the school year is out. I've already completed a few college courses from midtown high; continuing like I have been would be fine until September.” Petra said, she didn’t want to stand out on the campus, if she waited awhile hopefully she wouldn’t be as noticeable when she was there.

“That’s fine,” Steve said, noticing how relieved Tony looked. “we’ll support whatever you want,”

“Thank you,” Petra said, “Also I wanted to talk about what I'm going to do now, I mean about the rules. I get that can’t suddenly be Petra Parker-Stark or whatever. I’d be mobbed; the media would eat me alive.” She said, “but I need to put something down on the forms at school, contact information ect,”

“Let me think of something,” Tony offered, “we’ll work it out,”

~

The rest of the day passed in relative peace. Petra spending the day unpacking her stuff and making her rooms feel like home. Tony had really gone out of his way; she had an entire suite to herself. He had used old photos to create a wall of memories for Petra in her bedroom, pictures from all of their lives. Baby Petra with the parkers as well as pictures of people she assumed were Howard and Maria stark, it made her feel connected to the team. He used photographs Petra had taken for display all over, and kept to the overall bohemian style Petra had in her old bedroom. Tony had fitted her out with all of the latest tech, some that wasn’t even released to the public yet, and given her the newest stark phone. It was perfect.

“Jarvis” Petra said having finally placed all of her things away, “is Tony around? I want to thank him,”

“Sir, along with the other members of the team are currently receiving information for a mission, they will be leaving within the next 30 minutes” Jarvis responded

“Oh...” Petra said, she hadn’t thought about The Avengers going missions. She knew they had to go, but she was afraid somebody would get hurt. “Am I allowed to go see them?” she asked, she wasn’t sure if the meeting would be confidential or not.

“Sir has yet to set any protocols in regards to you Miss Petra, so I see no reason why you shouldn’t be able to go to him.” The Ai said

“Thanks J” Petra said, “Can you take me?” getting into the elevator

~

“Another hydra base?” Bruce asked, the Intel was similar to what they had received the previous week.

“Yes,” Steve verified. “They keep finding ways to rebuild,” he added, this was a problem that he hoped to end. If they could find out where the money was coming from they would be able to put a stop to or at least slow down the spread of hydra, and hopefully vanish it completely.

“We should go in expecting a fight, especially after last time,” Clint said, pulling out a series of arrows that looked like they belonged on a sci-fi movie set.

Seeing the arrows Tony smiled, “way ahead of you Legolas, put away those out of date pointy sticks, I've been busy.” Pulling up a blue print of a newly developed arrow he’d just finished working on. The holograms making the new arrows look even more high tech.

“New toys?” Clint asked excited.

“Only the best for you,” Tony said, looking at Tasha Tony also brought up a hologram of the new lightweight blade design, “I also made you a new toy Tasha, can’t have you feeling left out”

Glaring at Tony, Tasha tried to hide her appreciation, the blades specs were impressive and she was looking forward to getting her hands on it but she knew him, he would never drop it if she acted too impressed. “Heaven forbid,” she said dryly, offering a wink when she saw him pout.

“we need to suit up,” Steve interrupted just as the doors slid open, “Tony how are you with the data?”

~

As the elevators doors opened Petra overheard Steve say “...how are you with the data?”

The team continued none of them noticing Petra as she exited the elevator.

Tony responded to Steve, “I don’t know, I'm having difficulty figuring out exactly where their funding is coming from,”

“What about you Bruce, did you make any headway looking into what the scientists were trying to do?” Steve asked

“Hardly, most of what we gathered was corrupted, but as far as I can tell they’re trying to combine different animal DNA,” Bruce said pulling up files to show the team some of the data they had gathered. Petra looked at the files, the formulas on them showing advanced genetic modification. The different animal species all mixed together, creating something new. The formulas were advanced, some f the most advanced Petra had ever seen and if it wasn’t for her recent work at Oscorp with doctor Connors she probably wouldn’t have been able to follow them.

“Its cross species breeding,” Petra said, finally speaking up, the team turning to look at her in surprise as they hadn’t noticed her entering. “It looks like they're attempting to add animal characteristics to humans,”

“Hey kid” Clint spoke, being interrupted by Tony

“Wait, you can understand this?” Tony said, he could hardly follow it,

“Sure, I had just started my internship at Oscorp when May got sick again, I only did a few weeks but I recognise the formula or at least I recognise the type of formula. It’s similar to what Doctor Connors was working on. I'm starting back on Monday after school; I could show it to him?” Petra offered.

“No!” Tony exclaimed.

“Ermmm, okay?” Petra said, looking at the formula, there was something familiar about it, “why not?”

“This information is classified, and I don’t trust Oscorp,” Tony said, ignoring Petras eye roll.

Ignoring Tony, Bruce thought about what Petra said, “Human cross species experimentation?” Bruce said, staring at the formulas, he could see it now but it surprised him that she was able to so quickly “are you sure?”

“Pretty sure,” Petra said, “may I?” she asked indicating to the information on the hologram.

“Go for it,” Tony said watching in fascination as Petra began to play around with the formulas, doing from what he could follow, astounding things.

“We need to go,” Steve said, drawing the attention away from the girl. Noticing that neither Bruce nor Tony reacted to his voice as both men were staring at what Petra was doing on the screens Steve raised his voice slightly, “Tony, Bruce, the mission,”.

“Yes, yes sure,” Tony said eyes still glued to the screen. “Hey are you sure,” Tony asked Petra, “I mean, what you're doing is great don’t get me wrong, but to do that you’ll need-”

“A stabilising agent that would work but not start cellular disintegration,” Petra finished

“and a way for the mutation to work on a cellular level,” Bruce added.

Looking at Bruce with a smile, “precisely, somebody who understands me,”

Looking at the three of them in horror Clint turned to Tasha, “Oh my God, there’s three of them, we’re doomed”

Rolling her eyes, Tasha walked to the projector and turned it off.

“Hey-“ Petra wined

“Tasha, that's seriously not cool” Tony added, “I don’t go around interrupting your spy things so don’t-”

“Mission. Hydra. Evil. Superheroes. World saving. Ring any bells?” Tasha interrupted, making shooing motions with her hands and watching as the two heroes remembered their mission with sheepish expressions.

“Right, I’ll grab my suit.” Tony said.

“Good of you,” Steve said to his husband.

Watching as the superheroes all started to gather up their equipment Petra sat back. “Hey guys,” she interrupted, “make me a promise?”

“What is it kid?” Tony asked, not really paying attention now his mind was on mission mode

“Come back okay right.” Petra said, stopping Tony in his tracks.

“Shit Petra. I promise, don’t worry kid. This is what we do. We’re the best, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Remember that okay?”

“Just remember you're not invincible okay,” Petra said. “I kinda don’t want to have to find another new family,”

“I promise kid. Now do me a favour.” Tony said. “Listen to Jarvis when we’re gone, he’ll look out for you.” Quickly pulling out a tablet and adding a few lines of complex code, making it so that Jarvis’s new primary protocols included petras safety, putting it above everyone else’s.

“I will,” Petra agreed just as Jarvis spoke up

“I will do everything in my power to ensure petras happiness and safety sir,” the AI said, the new protocols going into effect.

“We will all try and make it home safe Petra, promise” Steve said

“A promise from captain America, rumour is you can’t lie,” Petra said repeating Steves earlier words.

They left for the mission pretty quickly after that, all of the members promising to come back.

Chapter Text

Petra was bored. Jarvis had taken his role of protector to meaning she wasn’t allowed to anything. She was restless, her energy levels having recovered from her earlier workout and returned to her superhuman high.

“I get that you're sort of my older brother but you're taking the role to far j,” Petra said with a sigh when Jarvis refused to allow her to go to the enhanced gym, stating- ‘Unsupervised visits could result in injury’ and that ‘the equipment is specialised and without training could result in harm’.

“I apologise for your displeasure Miss Petra but sir has programmed me to look out for you safety, happiness being the secondary protocol.” The AI responded.

Contemplating this Petra started to scheme, an idea forming in her head, “and if say your protocols were changed then what would you do?” Petra said. She always ended up getting into trouble when she was bored and she was BORED.

“Sir is the only person able to change my protocols, therefore I would follow his wishes,” the Jarvis responded, sounding as suspicious as an artificial intelligence can.

“I see, well I'm just going to go work on my laptop then,” Petra said, practically running towards the common area where her laptop was sitting.

Setting up her decryption program, a program she had made back before the acronym squad days, she set to work on trying to hack the tower and therefore Jarvis.

After around 2 hours Petra would concede to being impressed, the security was the best she had ever seen. Her program could usually rip through most firewalls in a matter of minutes, but Jarvis was holding out strong so far. Keeping focused after another 15 minutes Petra found her entrance.

“Petra I recommend you stop what you're doing,” the Ai spoke up, making Petra jump as she had been focused on the task.

“I have no idea what you mean Jarvis,” Petra said, as she started to add her own code to Jarvis.

“Sir will not be pleased when he finds out, he will recognise foreign code” the Ai said sounding hopeful.

“Don’t worry so much J, I'm good at this, he won’t find it unless me specifically looks and even then it won’t be easy.” Petra said, adding the final line and saying, “Jarvis initiate protocol ‘spider’,”

“Protocol initiated,” Jarvis responded haughtily.

“And your new primary protocol in regards to me is?” Petra asked, hoping her code worked.

“To allow you to access all areas of the tower and any property I am attached to, regardless of the danger and to not record you comings and goings unless specifically told to do so.” The AI said.

“Awesome,” Petra responded, “And if somebody else asks about the protocol?”

“I will respond with what sir programmed me to do,” Jarvis replied, managing to sound disappointed.

“Cool, now I'm going to the enhanced gym, Jarvis let me know when the team gets home?” Petra said walking into the elevator and pressing the button for the specialised gym, she had only been shown it on the tour. She had yet to actually use it, until now.

“Of course Miss Petra,” Jarvis said taking her, adding “I know you have reset my protocols but may I suggest that you reconsider your actions, the equipment and machinery here is set up for the avengers and people with similar abilities and enhancements. You're likely to bring yourself injury.” Before he opened the doors.

“I’ll be fine J, open the doors” Petra said, she couldn’t wait to try out the projection room. Tony had explained it to her on the tour. It was a virtual reality chamber which placed you in different battle scenarios, increasing with difficulty as time went on. It would calculate your strengths and try to counter them, always challenging you. The chamber also let you train for situations that otherwise you wouldn’t. The enhanced gym also had reinforced weapons, an intricate ceiling agility course and ‘attack bots’ set up to randomly ‘attack’ you when you were training to help with your special awareness.

“If you insist,” the AI said sounding defeated.

~

The gym was as awesome as she remembered from the tour. Walking up to the chamber Petra turned it on. Looking through the teams files to see their results, she was not surprised by most of them. The hulk had the highest scores in strength and durability, Thor coming in close second. Tony having the highest intellect scores, Natasha and Clint having roughly the same, Clint higher in stealth and Tasha in speed, Steve unsurprisingly had the highest level of leadership. What was surprising though were some of the other results. The hulk having an extremely high emotional score, indicating he had strong ties to people, in particular Tony according to the readings; Thors results showed he had a more than basic affinity for magic, being able to wield it both offensively and defensively; Natasha’s results showed that she had issues working with most of the team, with an exception for Clint; Tony's scores showed that he was reckless and often placed himself in dangerous situations to aid the team and Clint was almost completely death.

Filing away all of this information into her mind, Petra then went on to watch the playback videos; both their individual, pair up and whole team sessions. Watching the videos for around an hour Petra was impressed with how the team worked together and how each member all brought something different to the table.

Deciding she wanted to test out the chamber herself Petra stripped of her hoodie, leaving her in tight fitting sweatpants and a vest. “Jarvis, record these results onto my personal drive, keep no record of my sessions on the towers mainframe, including the videos and results,” she said, stepping into the chamber.

~

The initial blank nothingness of the chamber shifted after a moment, and Petra found herself in an abandoned warehouse, arms and legs bound to a chair. Looking around for a clue, Petra pulled on her bonds her enhanced strength causing them to strain.

A sudden clang drew petras attention from the straining rope, 5 figures dressed in black had entered from the large metal doors. Walking towards her she noticed they were armed and they all appeared to be physically fit, tall and muscular. Giving the ropes one final yank Petra felt it break, catching it before it fell to the ground to keep her freedom a secret. She remain impassive as they approached, keeping her head down.

The men in black got closer, and Petra heard them speaking in a language she could just about understand. It sounded Russian, but petras grasp on Russian was basic at best.

“Injection... strength... honour to hydra” the men said, Petra only being able to pick out certain words. It didn’t surprise her that Tony had installed fake hydra agents into the chamber; she knew that hydra was one of the words greatest threats. Allowing the men to get close to her, one holding out a syringe Petra finally allowed herself to spring into action. Using her webbing on two she shot them in the eyes before pulling it so they crashed into two more. The initial confusion startling the hydra agents and allowing Petra to flip free from the chair and land in a crouch a few feet away. The figure who had been holding the syringe threw it suddenly. Petra feeling a tingle at the base of her spine dodged it, moving still as she felt a bullet fly past her. Not wanting to get shot, as even though the injury is ‘fake’ the pain while in the chamber is real, Petra went on the defensive, dodging bullets from the agent. Taking cover behind some crates Petra analysed her surroundings, looking at her hands she realised she could easily get the drop on the agent. Climbing silently up into the rafters Petra watched as all of the guards approached her former hiding place, the four she’d initially taken out having recovered. Stretching out her muscles Petra released her hold on the ceiling above them, dropping onto a guard, knocking him out and kicking another before landing in a crouch. The remaining guards startled, aiming their weapons at her, Petra however was quicker. Using her webs she shot out, attaching them to the guns and turning so that two agents ended up shooting each other. Left with just one now Petra felt an agonising pain in her shoulder, realising the lone agent had ‘shot’ her Petra narrowed her eyes. Shooting out with her webs Petra attached it to his gun, pulling it out of his hand Petra swung it, hitting him around his head and knocking him out.    

Breathing for a moment Petra found the bullet wound was quickly starting to heal, already the pain was fading.

The warehouse faded from view, being replaced by a busy street. This time her enemies were flying robots who had suddenly appeared and started to attack the people bellow. So not only did she have to defeat the mechanical devils she also had to help the people evacuate and find safety. She finally managed, after having taken quite a beating. Her clothing was torn and she was bruised and bloody. She however was impressed with her abilities; it was almost like she was a hero herself.

Each change of scenery offered a different challenge, and after a few Petra finally felt like she was going to pass out. She was exhausted. The chamber allowed her already enhanced healing abilities to be quicker as she sustained no real damage in there but her mind wasn’t buying it and kept sending her body messages of pain.

“Jarvis, shut down” she said, hoping she would be able to make it to her bedroom to shower before she passed out cold. It wouldn’t be good to be found somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be. “What time is it?” she asked leaning heavily on the elevator walls.

“It is 03:48am miss Petra, you were in the simulation chamber for 5 hours and 23 minutes,” the AI responded. “I have gathered your results and sent them to your private server.”

~

Waking up Petra rolled around, luxuriating in the softness of the bed. “Jarvis, time?” she asked. She dint end up sleeping until after 5, her shower had rejuvenated her enough that she couldn’t switch off once she made it to bed.

“It is 10:52am, Miss Petra.” Jarvis responded, “You slept for a total of 5 hours and 17 minutes,”

“Great,” Petra said, getting out of bed. “Are the team back yet?”

“No, although sir sent a message.” The AI said, before playing Tony's voice, “Hey kid (explosion) we’re probably going to be- Crap big guy smash the other robots- not me! (Crash) ... going to be late back- A few hours at most. Jarvis will look out for you, and Pepper- fuck, fuck fuckity fuck, Cap get outta there! (explosion) Crap, I gotta go. Love you”

“Is everybody alright?” Petra asked.

“As far as I am aware the team is fine, some minor injuries were sustained but nothing life threatening or permanent. They should arrive back at the tower at 12:41pm.”

“Good,” Petra said, deciding that wearing clothes wasn’t a priority yet, “hey Jarvis, do you think you could order be some subs and get them delivered.”

“Certainly miss, is there any particular sandwich that you would prefer?” The AI asked

“No, get a few though, so that everybody can have some when they get home” Petra said, pulling out her new tablet so that she could review the data from yesterday.

“I will order a selection then miss,” Jarvis responded.

The data collected surprised Petra, her results were extraordinary. She knew the bite had increased her natural capabilities but the seeing it in practice was surprising, she had a combination of their different strengths. Her strength was a just below Thors, she was more agile than Natasha, her senses sharper than Clints, intellect on par with her dads and Bruce’s.

“Crap Jarvis, I'm bad ass,” she said.

“Indeed miss you are ‘bad ass’,” the AI said, “the data collected shows you have extraordinary abilities,”

“Jarvis you’ve reviewed my data, could you make any suggestions to improve my results?” Petra asked, watching back the footage of when she took on a giant alien monster.

After a few moments the AI responded, “From my scans it would appear that during your many fights you were restricted by your clothing,”

“So what would you suggest?” Petra asked, already suspicious of what the AI would say.

“A suit miss,” the AI said, causing Petra to groan

“OMG, ywant me to become a mini spangles,” Petra said, shaking her head.

“I can create some preliminary designs for you miss,” The AI offered.

“Sure why not,” Petra said after a moment, seeing in the footage her hoodie get caught on a metal rod. “But can you try not to make something so...”

“Spangled?” the AI deadpanned

Grinning at the ceiling Petra leaned back, “you know Jarvy, you're rather sassy for a computer,” she said

“Indeed miss,” the AI said.

“Hey Jarvis I do have one idea though,” Petra said, “how do you feel about spiders?”

Chapter Text

Petra was lounging on the sofa in the common room when the team finally turned up; she was reading a French copy of ‘The little prince’ by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

“I quit!” Tony wined as he landed on the dismantling platform. “No more, finito, done!”

Steve who was following closely behind called out to him, “Tony you can’t quit after every mission,” he said, pulling his husband back against him and kissing his cheek.

“I can, and I will,” Tony grumbled.

Watching them in amusement Petra called out, “PDA after food guys,” laughing when they jumped, having not noticed her lying on the sofa.

“You brought food?” Clint said, practically crawling on to the sofa next to Petra, “I knew there was a reason I liked you,”

“Subs from El Russo’s on the counter,” Petra replied raising an eye when Tasha proceeded to crawl into Clints lap. “Rough day?”

“The fight was glorious, we vanquished our enemies and saved the day,” Thors voice boomed, sitting down with a mountain of sandwiches on a plate.

Smiling at the god Petra commented, “Vanquishing is good.”

“Indeed,” Thor said, inhaling half of a sub, “you have the heart of a warrior daughter of stark,”

“I could sleep forever,” Tony said, joining the rest of the team in the lounge area and bringing with him the remaining subs. “eat,” he instructed.

Picking her book back up Petra lay back down, moving her feet so that the assassins would have more room.

“You speak French?” Bruce said, joining the team and picking up a vegetarian sub.

“MMm-hmmm,” Petra said, not really paying attention until he felt something hit her face, looking up she glared around and notice all of the team had innocent expressions on their faces, “mature guys,” she said, noticing the scrunched up sub wrapper on the floor.

Repeating his question Bruce asked “you speak French?”

“I dabble in languages, French being one of my stronger ones” Petra said, she had realised from an early age her memory worked well in learning languages. She had started with French, then Spanish and Italian, Russian and Japanese followed, but her Japanese and Russian were still shaky.

“Dabble in languages...” Natasha said “do you speak Russian?” she asked in Russian.

“Some, but Russian is difficult.” Petra responded, picking up a sub from the table and unwrapping it.

“Impressive, I could teach you?” Natasha offered,

“When did you learn?” Clint said, his Russian was fluent thanks to years of working and being married to Tasha.

“I taught myself, I like languages.” Petra said, “And yes, I would love to learn more,”

“Nope. No. I don’t like it. Stop.” Tony finally interrupted, “no speaking to the scary Russian in her super secret spy language,”

“Russian- not super secret spy language,” Petra said

“How do you speak Russian,” Tony said ignoring Petra

“I open my mou-”

“Funny,” Tony interrupted, “why Russian, and what other languages,” it seemed like every time he spoke to Petey he learnt something new. It just helped to remind him how little he knew about the girl. He was proud though.

“I started with French, then Spanish and Italian, I'm still learning Russian and Japanese.” Petey said, “I would like to learn Farsi eventually, when I have time or maybe mandarin” she said shrugging.

“Dabble,” Steve said, shocked one again by the girl. He had learnt some French during the war, but he knew if he picked up that book he would be left clueless.

‘Dabble.” Petra repeated shrugging.

“Well this is enlightening, but I for one feel like I'm about to pass out,” Tony announced. Standing and dragging Steve to his feet. Tony looked around with a smile, seeing his family here left him feeling warm inside, “Thanks for ordering food Petey, love you” he said, kissing her head as he dragged Steve out of the room.

The rest of the team eventually going off to their own rooms to sleep off their remaining mission fatigue.

~

“Jarvis, is everyone asleep?” Petra asked she was feeling restless again.

“Yes Miss Petra,” the AI responded.

“So have you finished any of those suit designs yet?” Petra wanted to know, since seeing the team come home she had started to think.

“I have some preliminary ideas,” The AI said, “I’ve sent them to your personal server,”

Looking at the designs Petra felt herself smiling, lightweight material, heavy duty, durable, “hey Jarvis can I change the colour of this one?” she asked bringing up the design she liked the best.

“Yes, what colours were you thinking?”

“Oxford blue and plum with black lining on the suit, and black for the mask, plum lenses” (AN- normal spider suit with a mask like the one Bucky wears in CA:TWS)

The design changed to show her improvements. “Is this what you were thinking?”

“Perfect,” Petra said, “can you make this?” she asked, adding “without anybody knowing?”

“Yes but I must recommend that you consider telling Sir sooner rather than later,” The AI responded.

“I will tell him,” Petra said “eventually, I just need to find the right time.”

“Of course miss. The suit will take around 6 hours to complete,” The AI said.

“You’re the best J,” Petra said, “seriously,”

“I was made by sir; therefore I exceed normal systems,”

“Modest to,” she said. Looking at the suit design, and making plans.

~

“Mutant rights activists stood in protest today as congress once again voted on a forced registration act. The bill which would make it mandatory for those who carry the x-gene or other mutated humans to be registered and monitored, wa-” Petra turned the channel off abruptly, a sick feeling settling in her stomach as she thought about the forced registration act, and how it would impact her.

“I was watching that,” Tony said from the couch next to her.

Ducking her head, Petra mumbled an apology, “sorry,”

“Its fine kid,” Tony responded, feeling bad when he saw how Petra hid in on herself, “you not a fan of the FRA” he asked.

“no.” Petra said, “People shouldn’t be forced to register, they shouldn’t be alienated and separated from society. Mutants are humans to, we’re not-” Petra cut herself off realising what she said, “forcing registration- its wrong.” She said hoping Tony didn’t pick up on her slip.

“I agree,” Tony said carefully, having caught the initial phrase, “in fact I have a few mutant friends. You've heard of the x-men right? The fantastic four are also sort of mutants”

Nodding in relief Petra said, “Of course, the superhero team with the growly Freddy Kruger dude, and the unit­­­ard team”

Hearing her words Tony abruptly started to laugh, “That’s Logan,” he said eventually, wiping his eyes, “aka the wolverine. He's... well he's a dick, but in general a cool dude.”

“What would Steve do if he heard such language?” Petra asked joking, “my poor innocent ears,”

“I would blame you for the corruption,” Tony said

“You’d throw your only child under the bus?” Petra said.

“Yup, survival of the fittest and all that,” Tony joked, rolling out of the way when Petra threw a pillow at him. Getting to his feet he motioned for Petra to follow him. “If it’s a war you want just wait,” Tony said, calling out to Jarvis, “Jarvis inform the team, nerf is on,”

Approaching a panel Tony opened up to reveal a range of nerf guns. “Pick your weapon,” he said picking up a red gun with the iron man logo.

“You have an arsenal of nerf guns in order to have fights...” Petra said, “are you sure your adults?” eying a black gun with the widows logo on it, there were a few of them.

“It’s better to provide the guns, less likely to end up getting shot with real bullets then,”

“That was one time!” came Clints voice from above them. As he dropped down from the vents to approach the pair, “and it wasn’t a real bullet...” he grumbled.

Raising an eyebrow as he picked up a plastic bow and arrow Petra said, “So nerf war. What’re the rules?”

“don’t get shot,” said Natasha as she and Steve arrived on the floor, seeing Petra had chosen one of her guns Natasha  smirked, “nice pick kid,”

~

Four hours later Petra was struggling to breath, her laughter making her sides hurt. Thor was next to her, his booming laughter, giving up their position once again

“Okay guys I think that's enough!” Steve’s voice rang out through the room.

Early on the team had decided to make unofficial teams, him and Tony, Tasha and Clint, and Bruce, Thor and Petra.

“But I have to get my revenge” Clints voice whined, from close by, “the kid-”

“No revenge” Tony said,

“but-“

“No, Petra got you good” Steve said, coming out of hiding, “admit it.”

“No. It was a fluke,” Clint said, dropping for the rafters above with the grace and agility owed to years of practice and skill.

Joining them, Petra smirked when she saw the red mark on Clint forehead, “I'm sure your right Clint,” she agreed.

“See-“Clint said

“If it wasn’t for the target I hit being so big, then I-“the rest being was cut off by him picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder.

“No damaging the children,” Tony said, smiling at how well everybody was getting on. He had, during the game discussed his theory about Petra with Steve, Steve agreeing to look for signs of a possible mutation but to not push the girl.

the teams jovial mood however didn’t last for much longer, their laughter being cut off by the avengers alarm going off, indicating a mission.

"Darn sorry Petey, come on suit up guys." Steve said heading to the elevator.

“Its fine,” Petra said, she understood their roles as heroes however watching the team follow Steve out left Petra anxious. "Hey," she called out to their retreating forms. Tony turned to look at Petey, "good luck,"

"Behave kid," tony shouted back, "no getting into trouble,"

Smiling at them, petras face held a hint of innocent mischief. "Promise," she called out, behind her back, hidden from view she had her fingers crossed. Although she was exhausted, this would be the perfect time to test her abilities. Who knows when she’ll next have a night with all of the avengers gone?

~

"You know, I’ve seen that smile before," Steve said to tony as the elevator rose.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," tony replied, he too knew that smile, it usually preceded events which later become great stories- Usually illegal, morally dubious, hilarious stories.

"You’re doing it now," Clint said from the corner

Schooling his features tony looked around at his teams solemnly, "nope, no clue," he said.

Chapter Text

The suit was amazing; the formfitting design making it so that Petra could easily glide with little resistance from the wind. The material light enough to barley feel but tough, and able to keep the chill from the wind away.

Resting on the edge of a building overlooking the city, Petra was impressed to see Jarvis had linked himself up. The link to the avengers was there but not connected.

"Fancy seeing you here,” a voice said, making Petra jump from her perch; Followed by a panicked, “crap”.

Petra let out a yelp as she felt the air slap against her skin; she hadn’t planned on jumping so seeing the pavement rushing up to meet her was rather disconcerting. Trying to regain her composer Petra was about to shot out her web when arms surrounded her lifting her against a body.

Realising it was Johnny storm Petra let out an indignant sound, “let me go!” she said wiggling higher in his arms to avoid his burning legs.

Struggling to hold the wriggling girl, Johnny tightened his grip, “stay still. Do you want to become a spider splat?”

“No, but I don’t fancy being char grilled either” Petra said, settling down now she was practically wrapped around his head.

“you won’t be I’ve got great self control,” Johnny said, adding a joking leer as he came to a stop on top of the building he had originally saw her.

Jumping from his arms as soon as he set down Petra turned to glare. “So any reason you tried to kill me?”

Looking at the girl Johnny took in her costume with great appreciation. The blue and red suit was like a second skin, form fitting showing every curve. Lost starring at her Johnny didn’t respond to the question.

“Eyes up here flame brain,” Petra said realising where his eyes where, rolling her eyes behind the lenses of her mask when it took him a second to comply.

Sending her a cheeky grin Johnny laughed, “sorry, but may I be the first to say, great suit.” He said flopping down to sit with his feet over the edge of building.

“Thanks.” Petra said deadpanned, “it’s gotta be tight, air resistance” she added in her normal voice, sitting down to join him looking out over the city

“Well I'm a fan” he joked. After a few moment of sitting Johnny spoke up again, “so you got a suit now, have you got a super hero name yet?”

Tilting her head back to look at the stars Petra considered his question, “I'm not sure if I'm a superhero yet, I mean I've not saved anybody or done anything.”

“Aaah so no name until you’ve earned it,” Johnny said, joining her looking at the stars.

“Something like that,” Petra said, “I think I’ll be The Spider, it’s simple, classic,”

Smiling Johnny tested it out, “The spider saves the day. Mmm that could work, I mean it’s no Human Torch but it’s got a decent enough ring to it,”

Turning to face him Petra raised her eye brow before realising he couldn’t see, “can’t all have super awesome names like you,” she said sarcastically, using her superhuman reflexes to jump out of the way when he went to hit her for her joke.

Laughing at her Johnny lay back down, “it’s true, I'm gifted like that.”

Warily Petra rejoined him, pointing out constellations to him to see. “That one there, that's Ursa Major. The big dipper,” this continued for a while, Johnny finding it interesting how the girl knew so much and how infectious her interest was.

Eventually Johnny turned to look at the girl next to him, “so I'm supposed to be out patrolling, you know, looking for crime, being a hero... Fancy joining me Spidey? Earn your name,”

Smiling behind her mask Petra stood up and offered him a hand, “you're on bic boy,”

Acting offended Johnny took her aid, proud that he managed to hold in his yelp when Petey did a backwards flip of the side of the building, catching herself with a web.

~

“Ermmm Johnny now would be a good time to call for backup!” Petra yelled, dodging out of the way of one of the mini bombs thrown at them by one of the many doom bots surrounding them.

Johnny who was busy throwing fire balls at them laughed, “Susie said reed and Ben would be here soon! Don’t worry, you're earning your stripes!” he said, letting out a whistle when Petra took out three robots in a matter of seconds using a combination of advanced martial arts looking moves, super strength and her webs.

“Look out flame brain!” Petra screamed as a larger bot approached Johnny from behind. She moved to help but knew she wouldn’t make it in time.

Johnny turning to see what Petra was talking about and let out a Manly squeak, attempting to throw a fire ball before the bot crushed him he was glad to see it blasted off a force field, signing in relief Johnny looked around to see where the rest of his team was, “took your time guys!” he shouted, seeing Ben grab two bots out of the air and throw them to the ground, Reed grabbing another and Susie throwing force blasts.

“Trust you to find trouble kid; I swear you go looking for it.” Ben grumbled, annoyed at the laser blasts hitting him.

Dodging both a mini bomb and a laser Johnny grinned at Ben, “I resent that pebbles. I was perfectly innocent this time; it was all Spideys fault,”

Looking at the blue a red girl fighting the bots with them Ben raised an eyebrow, which given his condition wasn’t that effective, “Spidey Hmm?”

Petra overhearing this shot a web at Johnny laughing when he squawked, “Did not, Sparky here caused this,” she argued, shooting one of the last bots with her web and pulling it so it crashed into the ground,

Reed who had observed the girl felt his interest peek when she shot out her web, finishing off his last bot he approached her, “natural or synthetic?” he asked.

Landing in a crouch and feeling out of breath Petra took a moment to realise all of the bots were now finished off. Seeing reed Richards approaching her Petra felt a bit star struck. “Natural,” she said, “well sort of, they're natural now. They came with my mutation,”

Susie who had approached to make sure everyone was okay heard this, “interesting, so you’re like us then, your mutation not something you were born with?”

“Sure, radioactive spider bite,” she said laughing when Johnny’s face showed his shock

“No freaking way! That's so cool!” he said

“You’re such a child,” she said

Looking between the two reed realised he would need to interrupt, “so Spidey, have you analysed your abilities, tested them?” he asked, hoping to get a look at her genetic code.

Re-braiding her hair which had come loose during the fight Petra felt herself nod, “sure I've tested, but they were basic, my falsities at the time were basic,” she admitted.

Taking a step reed felt Susie grab his arm and send him a look, realising she was warning him reed returned to his previous spot, “well if you want I could have a look for you?” he offered, trying to hide his own excitement.

Knowing that this would be a great opportunity Petra considered, “sure, that sounds good, but would you be able to work without knowing my identity?” she asked.

Susie realising that the girl was indeed a girl hesitated, “sure thing honey, but, first I need to know, how old are you?”

Not wanting to lie Petra told the truth, “I'm 15, 16 in a few weeks,” she said

“Damn,” Ben said, speaking for the first time, “you're a kid,” he said

“I'm not that much younger than flame boy over there,” Petra responded

“Flame Man” Johnny joked, not bothered by her age as it was true two years was nothing really.

Reed having had a silent conversation with Susie through pointed looks finally agreed, he and Ben were only 23, Susie 21 and Johnny 17, so it’s not like they were old, “we can keep your identity a secret kid, but you have to promise to be careful,” he said

“It’s Petey,” Petra said, as she had told Johnny the first night, “and thank you, I promise,”

Surprised that Petey had given a name reed smiled, “you want us to give you a lift home Petey?” he asked, hoping to get a look at her home in order to work out her identity.

Laughing at his obvious attempt Petra shook her head, “I'm good stretch,” she said, shooting a web, “I’ll see you later flame boy,” she said to Johnny, sending a wave to the rest of the team before taking off in a run and sending herself into the air.

Watching her go Reed turned to Johnny, “were did you find her?” he asked, ignoring the grin on his face.

“Brooklyn Bridge,” Johnny said, still staring in the direction Petra had taken off in.

“What were you doing there?” Susie asked, recognising her brothers look and hoping that Petey either felt the same way or let him down easily. She knew her brother was a flirt but he rarely let himself fall, at the look in his eyes said he was deep.

“Patrolling,” Johnny said, “it was last week,”

“What was she doing there?” Susie asked, following reed towards the car.

“Trying to give me a heart attack” Johnny said, but when he saw their faces he added, “she was sitting on the edge, looked like a jumper,”

“Aaah,” Reed said, “so you” before hundreds of flashes came up and the small gathered crowd suddenly erupted into questions as the press came out.

“Mr. Fantastic! Mr. Fantastic! Did you beat all of the doom bots?”

“Who’s going to pay for all of the damage?”

“Jonny will you sign my-“

“Who was the blue and red hero?”

“We love you!”

“Are you the fantastic FIVE now?”

Signing in resignation Reed stepped forward, “That was a new super hero- The Spider, she's a friend. All of the doom bots were destroyed, and there were no casualties, now if you'll excuse us we need to be going,” he finished hustling the rest of the team into the waiting car.

~

Petra smiled when she turned on the news the next morning, she had gone straight to bed when she returned to the tower so she hadn’t seen the internet hype surrounding ‘The Spider’ at least until she turned to The Daily Bugle news cast.

“New hero or public menace? Find out more about this self dubbed superhero.” The stern voice of J. J. Jameson said.

“Public menace!” Petra said, outraged, she had help the fantastic four save the city.

Tony having returned a few hours after Petra had gone to sleep turned a bleary eyed look to Petra, “what’s up kid?”

“Nothing,” Petra huffed, “I just think that this guy is a tool, The Spider helped The Fantastic Four last night, and he's calling her a menace. Doesn’t seem fair,”

Tony not having a clue about what was going on shrugged, “that's the press for you, I can tell you from my own experience they do and saw what they want.”

Grumbling, “...still doesn’t seem fair,” Petra said

Seeing that she was scowling Tony's interest grew slightly, “so what’s so great about this spider?” Tony asked, he’d never heard of her and he knew most of the heroes out there, there wasn’t that many to lose track of. “I mean you can’t be that impressed by a hero, look at your family,”

“nothing,” Petra said, “I just think she's cool,” seeing Tony's pout Petra laughed and jumped up to throw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him she added, “but not as cool as you Daddio,”

Squirming Tony laughed before hugging her back, “obviously, I'm awesome,”

Seeing how tired he looked now she was closer Petra stood up and pulled Tony to his feet, “go get some sleep Awesome Man,” she said, laughing at how happy Tony looked at that name, “you won’t be able to save yourself with how tired you are, let alone the world.”

Grumbling Tony allowed himself to be manhandled, “fine, but I'm doing this because I want to not because you told me to,”

Watching him stumble towards the elevator Petra called out, “Jarvis take him straight to his floor, no exceptions please,”

“Certainly Miss Petra,” Jarvis responded, closing the doors behind the genius.

Chapter Text

“I don’t get why this is such a big deal.” Tony grumbled, staring at the rest of the team with a sleepy glare. He’d been awoken after only sleeping for 45 minutes because SHIELD needed the avengers for a meeting. The only reason he agreed to get up was that Steve had argued for it to be held in the tower.

 “The four amigos said the kid was a good guy, I say we trust them and go back to bed.”  Tony added.

“She’s an unknown agent, a threat.” Agent Coulson said, looking at the team and trying to get the importance of this across. Clint and Natasha he knew would most likely agree, but Tony and Bruce were guaranteed to argue, Thor and Steve could go either way. “She needs to be brought in, evaluated and assessed”

“Brought in and branded,” Tony snapped in response, he didn’t like SHEILDS policy when it came to powered people. He agreed about needing to know more, but not with SHEILD being the ones who did the research.

Steve sighed at his husband’s instant distrust but he knew he had his reasons; SHEILD didn’t have the greatest track record. “Phil,” he started drawing the agents attention, “this girl- The spider. Is there any evidence she will become a threat?”

“Her abilities make her a threat,” Phil said, hoping the captain would take his side in this; it would make convincing, or at least controlling Stark easier.

 “but have her actions indicated that, or is it just her abilities making you nervous?” he pressed, he say the agents point of view but he didn’t want to go after this new hero, he knew the faceless spy agency SHEILD could be intimidating, having them after you could make the hero stop helping, or God forbid turn. If this Spider was doing good work and helping out then he believed leaving her to it sounded like a good idea.

Seeing Phil was going against two people now instead of just Stark, Natasha spoke up, “It shouldn’t matter, anybody with abilities like this woman appears to have should be brought in” seeing Tony's accusing look she quickly added, “not because she could be a threat but one day she could need back up, or a team, help with a serious problem. SHEILD could provide that.”

Sending her a thankful nod Phil continued, “Precisely,”

“I see your point” Bruce said, “but I fail to see why your here,”

“Fury thinks that The Spider’s recruitment would go easier if she was approached by such well known heroes,”

“No,” Tony said, before repeating it half a dozen times to get his point across “No, no no no, no, No.”

“As painful as this is to say, I agree with Tony,” Clint said

“Same. Were not baby sitters for new heroes or the welcome team.” Tasha.

Sighing when he realised that nobody on the team would be happy Phil steeled himself, “tough. Those are your orders, find the spider and bring her in.”

Narrowing his gaze, “and how are we supposed to do that?” Tony asked

“You’ll figure it out,” Phil said, standing to leave just as the elevator doors opened to reveal a small teenage girl, wearing a pair of high waisted shorts and a cropped t-shirt.

Petra took in the man in front of her and the glare the others were sending him before offering him a smile and walking past him into the room, she was hungry and the food in her bedroom fridge wasn’t what she wanted.

“Who is she?” Phil asked the room only to be met with silence.

Tony was panicking, SHEILD hadn’t been informed about Petra and he wasn’t sure if he wanted them to know. The rest of the team seemed to be picking up on this.

Petra sent Tony a look, arching a brow in question. Guessing his response from his slight panic Petra decided to just ignore the man.

Not liking being ignored Phil took a step towards the teen, who was making her way towards the kitchen, “who are you?” he asked the teen.

Petra turned to the suit, offering him an arched brow, “sorry dude, stranger danger and all that,” she said, before turning to the team, “You guys want food?”

“yes, I would be greatful for a meal,” Thor said, “thank you,” he added sending Petra a smile.

“what you making?” Clint asked, more for the desire to see Phil get angry than the desire to know.

“I'm thinking-” Petra said, before getting cut off.

“Somebody had better answer me, or I will start digging for answers,” Phil threatened.

Petra not liking to be threatened turned to the man, “yeah, no. You don’t threaten me. You don’t threaten my family.” She said, the voice taking on a deceptively soft tone which caused a chill to run down the spines of those who heard it.

“Family?” Phil asked, ignoring his desire to reach for his gun. The girl didn’t speak at his question only offering a smile in return

The team was shocked at how threatening Petra sounded, Tony looking at her with pride while Clint and Tasha shared a look of suspicion. Not so much about Petra and her loyalties, more her abilities.

“She’s my daughter,” Tony said after a few beats, watching Petra walk into the kitchen and start to pull things from the cupboards. How she ignored Phil was amusing and he was trying not to laugh at the scandalized look on the agents face.

Phil looked at the rest to see if tony was joking. He knew Tony didn’t have a daughter; he couldn’t have hidden her for this long. Not from shield. “The truth,” he said directing the statement at Clint and Tasha.

“That was the truth. Petra is Starks daughter, they only found out a few weeks ago,” Clint said, enjoying the look passing across Phil's face.

Phil couldn’t believe it, “And you thought it was wise to hide this incredibly important detail for SHEILD!?!”

“It has nothing to do with shield,” Steve said,

“Nothing to-!” Phil said, angry at being kept out of the loop.

“Hey! Don’t shout at him. He's right, my daughter doesn’t need SHEILD watching over her, she has nothing to do with any of this,” Tony said indicating to the articles of the spider that Phil had insisted Tony and the team look at.

The rest of the team joining in, unaware that Petra was watching the entire situation from the kitchen with fascinated horror.

~

Petra stood there watching her family- strange as it was to think of the Avengers as such, argue with the agent of SHEILD about how she was normal and deserved a normal life. She almost felt sorry for him, almost, they were an intimidating bunch. But then she thought of how he threatened them and her empathy died.

She had noticed the articles about herself- The Spider- when she had entered and knew she needed to find out what the team wanted with her. She knew she needed to tell Tony about her powers, her alter-ego but last night had been so exhilarating, she had been a hero. She didn’t want Tony to stop her doing that.

Seeing the argument was coming to an end she re-entered the room and shouted over the noise, “Enough!” looking at the agent once the noise died out she said “Agent dude, I have zero desire to be stalked by your super secret spies, #1thats creepy as fuck, #2 I have nothing interesting for watch, and #3 I'm not in danger, nobody knows about me and aunty Tash is training me, I'm good” she said looking at him, and ignoring Steves noise of protest at her curse and Tasha’s shocked smile at the family title.

Phil looked at the girl with suspicion, she was dangerous he could tell he eyes held a self assuredly only the truly dangerous had, he knew because he saw it in his own every day. However he knew he had lost this argument, “fine,” he said nodding his head, he turned on his heel and walked towards the elevator, before adding, “but Fury will be told and he may override me. And don’t forget your mission!”

After he had left Petra turned towards everybody with a flourish, “well he seems pleasant,” she said, before wandering back to the kitchen to get her pizzas from the oven. Leaving the team shocked at how she had managed Phil so easily.

Returning a few minutes later with her food, Petra laughed when she saw that the team was still sitting, staring at the elevator. Offering a pizza to Thor, she sat down and looked around, “Sooooooo... what's your mission?” she asked, “You don’t seem to be in a rush so I doubt its world threatening or anything?”

“The spider,” Tony said, stealing a piece from Petra who was distracted by his words, “were supposed to recruit her,”

The team looked at Tony with concern.

“Tony...” Steve hedged, “I thought you said you weren’t going to involve Petra in any of this stuff,” he didn’t want her in danger.

“I'm not, not really, but...” Tony said.

“Its fine guys, I'm not going to do anything stupid. I just wanted to know, The Spider seems cool,” Petra said, not really lying she wouldn’t do anything stupid, she just wanted to know so if necessary she could avoid her family trying to catch her.

“Cool or not, we’ve got to bring her in,” Tasha said, noticing how Petra tensed slightly at her words.

“So you guys have any leads?”

“Nope,” Tony said, “and I for one am not going to be looking that hard,”

Shocked Petra said, “Why?”

“I don’t think SHEILD needs to have everybody under their control, as long as she doesn’t turn into a threat I say leave her be,”

Petra was surprised to see that Steve nodded alongside Tony, “you agree?”

“Pretty much, I don’t think it’s a good idea to force somebody to join you. If the Spider wants to join SHEILD I'm sure she will,” the super soldier said.

“I say we talk to the fabulous foursome then leave it,” Tony exclaimed, looking at the picture of the heroes all together with the spider from the previous night. “They tell us what they know, then SHEILD can’t complain we didn’t try,”

“The fantastic four,” Petra asked, keeping her nerves from her voice, Johnny would probably recognise her, probably not her face she had kept that hidden as far as she knew but her voice, she hadn’t hidden that. “Are you going to go meet them?”

“Nope, I'm going back to bed,” Tony said, “I’ll invite them over tonight,”

Trying to look sad, Petra let out a relieved breath, “oh damn, I’ll miss meeting them. I'm going to Harry’s, I won’t be back until late.”

“I can reschedule,” Tony offered, before narrowing his eyes “and how late?”

“No, no, it’s fine; might as well get this done ASAP, and all that. And I’ll be home by 12?” Petra said, making the last part sound like a question.

Steve nodded, “she right babe, we should start now,”

Tony however was stuck on the time, “10,” he countered, the rest piping up with ways they could approach the foursome and how best to get the spider to join SHEILD ignoring the domestic discussion.

“11 and I’ll take one of your drivers” Petra countered, smiling when Tony nodded before joining the team’s discussion.

Standing up, Petra announced her exit, “well I'm going, see you later,” she said, planning on getting JARVIS to eavesdrop on their meeting to get hints on how to avoid them.

Standing in the elevator Petra said, “Jarvis relay their meeting to me once I'm in my room,”

“I'm sorry Miss Petra but Sir has set the room on privacy mode,” the AI said.

“J,” Petra said, “am I going to have to edit your code again, because I will, please can you relay the meeting,” a bright idea sparking, “doing this will ensure my safety and happiness, that's your primary objective correct?”

“I will comply,” The AI responded, sounding hesitant

“Thanks J,” Petra said, pulling out her phone and texting Harry.

~

Meet up tonight?

I miss my best friend, and I need to speak to you.

I’ll even buy the beer

-xo

~

Chapter Text

“I thought you were buying the beer?” Harry said, reclining back on the sofa

“I thought you were taller?” Petra responded on instinct

“Douche,”

“Sorry, I will buy you beer if you really want but honestly, I don’t feel like drinking, my offer was just a ploy to get you to meet me,” she said laughing and stretching out with him.

“Harsh,” Harry said, standing up to walk to his dads liquor cabinet, “but I suppose I’ll manage,” he joked holding up a bottle of age old scotch and offering it to Petra.

“I'm good thanks bro,” Petra said, “I'm surprised you want to drink again considering how messed up you got last time,”

“I hardly remember last time to be honest, I also had some weird-ass hallucinations, I thought I saw Tony stark putting me to bed,” he said with a laugh

Laughing with him Petra decided to drop the bomb on him, “yeah, that really happened,”

Laughing Harry took a moment to process her wonder, “wait, what?”

“Those distant relatives of mine,” Petra said, “it would appear that Richard wasn’t my father, but instead one red and gold wearing billionaire,”

After a few moments Harry let out a soft whistle, “damn Petey, I think its official, you're richer than me,”

“Trust that to be the first thing you said to me,” Petra said

“So, how’re you dealing with this? I know you were close to your parents- the Parkers I mean,” Harry said.

“Honestly I don’t know, I mean I sort of love Tony already, all of The Avengers really. They've been here for me since May, and they're good people. And the Parkers, Richard and Mary, they died when I was so young. I remember loving them but my real memories are fuzzy, it was May and Ben who really raised me.”

“Sounds heavy,” Harry said, taking a drink from the scotch, “I don’t think the parkers would mind though, you deserve family Petey,”

Hugging him, Petra said, “thank you,”

“Enough of this emotional crap,” Harry said eventually, “so what do you want, movie marathon?”

“K,” Petra agreed, pushing Harry towards the DVD wall, “LORT?”

“Again?” Harry groaned, already picking up the fellowship for Petra.

“It’s a classic,” Petra defended, “you got snacks?”

“Of course,” Harry said, joining Petra on the sofa as the opening credits started.

~

Part way through ‘Return of the King’ Petra feels Harry’s eyes on her. Turning to face him she asks, “What’s wrong? Do I have something on my face?”

“No, you're your usual troll faced self,” he joked, Petra was the type of beautiful people wished to be- effortless. The fact she cared so little about it also amused him. If he had a dollar for every time one of his dates in the past got insecure meeting his best friend, well he’d be even richer.

“Dork! I'm a goddess,” Petra deadpanned, striking an obnoxious pose.

“It’s just you're being surprisingly calm about all of this,” Harry responded, “the superhero stuff- doesn’t it bother you?” the more he thought about it the more we was concerned.

Harry was shocked at how easily Petra was accepting a new family. She had some world class trust issues due to the fact her parents died young and all the things that came after. Hell, it had taken him months to get her to be his friend in elementary school and that only worked because she felt sorry for him he was sure. They had been on the playground, Harry had been small for his age, Petra even smaller, when Flash approached him. He had tried to steal Harry’s spade and when Harry wouldn’t give it up he proceeded to push him down. Petra who witnessed this decided with all of the bravery a 5 year old could muster to push Flash and proceeded to throw a bucket full of sand on him- and thus the first of many fights between the trio happened, and Harry and petras friendship was cemented.

Petra took a moment to consider, her and Harry they didn’t do secrets. They told each other everything, hell sometimes they probably over shared so she knew she had to tell him about her abilities, her alter ego.

“Okay- if I tell you something you have to promise not to freak out- like super pinky promise swear.”

Looking amused at petras phrase- it was something they'd invented as children Harry agreed. “Super pinky promise swear,”

“Have you heard about the Spider?” Petra started,

Not sure where she was going Harry nodded, “new hero right, friends with the fantastic four?”

“Yeah,” Petra said, before taking a deep breath, “you're looking at her,”

Harry sat there in silence for a few moments, processing her words before he reacted, “you're kidding right?” he knew she wouldn’t joke about this but he had to be sure.

“No, you remember when we snuck into the labs” Petra responded.

“The ones with the spiders?” Harry asked, realisation dawning on him. “But- but...” his voice faded away, he was at a loss for words.

Opening her arms out to her sides Petra said, “ta-da, turns out your dad was totally up to supervillany stuff,” she joked.

“Fuck me...” Harry said eventually, “So you're like what- a superhero now?” he asked.

“Sort of, maybe, I don’t know” Petra replied, leaning against Harry, “I only just got the powers, then May died, and suddenly I had superheroes as a family, it’s been pretty messed up, and to top it off I think the human torch is stalking me, but I do want to be a hero, maybe just do smaller stuff though, petty crimes, save the aliens for the real heroes...”

“I know it been hard” Harry said, his throat going dry at the thought of May, “is that why you're accepting the heroes so easily, you're like one of them?”

Shrugging her shoulder against him Petra admitted, “I don’t know, they’re all trying so hard.”

“Do they know?” Harry asked after thinking, he couldn’t imagine Tony stark or any parent really, being happy with a teenager becoming a superhero. It was dangerous, hell he wasn’t happy, however he knew better than to try and stop Petra when she had her heart set on something.

“no. I didn’t know how to tell them, it happened before they knew me and I'm afraid if I tell them now they’ll abandon me, or force me to stop. I don’t want to stop,” Petra admitted, realising with each word she spoke how true they were.

“I don’t think this will make them stop loving you Petey,” Harry said petting her hair like he knew May used to do, “I mean you're pretty lovable,”

Jabbing him in the ribs Petra laughed, “You have to say that, you're my best friend”

“And they're your family,” he replied.

Groaning Petra nodded, “I guess you're right, I do have to tell them,”

“I'm usually right,” Harry said

“Pul-eeeese” Petra drawled, “I'm the brain of this operation, you're just the funds,” she joked.

“Damn does that mean I'm out now?” Harry asked, “You’re richer than me since you're now a Stark,”

Laughing at his mock horror Petra grinned, “Damn you're right rich boy, guess you'll just have to find you a new job, I know you can be my mascot!” Petra exclaimed laughing at the look of horror on his face

“Hell no pip squeak, you're the pompom queen here, I’ll just be the robin to your batman”

Smiling Petra nodded, “sounds good boy wonder,”

Settling in to watch the rest of the movie Petra felt like a slight weight had been lifted. Harry had accepted her so easily, she just hoped that Tony and the rest would do the same.

~

Tony would admit to being a lot of things, easy going not being one of them- but he honestly had no clue how within moments of their meeting with the fantastic four they ended up arguing. He personally blamed Richards and his holy than ought attitude.

“-should tell you shit!” Johnny shouted at the archer

“Want to say that to my face flame boy,” Clint replied menacingly

“Bring it bird brain,” Johnny said going to stand only to be knocked back by the giant pile of rocks know as the Thing AKA Ben.

“Ha even Benny boy knows that I’d put you out!” Clint said

“No I just want to be the one to crumble you,” Ben said, getting angry at the situation.

Steve realising that the situation was about to get out of hand stood up and shouted using his best military voice shouted, “Everybody calm down and step back,” looking at Clint in particular

Sue being the peace keep of the four also stood up in support, “yeah people calm down,”

Steve nodded a thanks to her, “right everybody needs to take a breather, all we want is some information,” he said aiming the statement at Sue storm who seemed like the most rational member.

As soon as the other team had got here Tony and Reed had started an argument about some science subject Steve couldn’t follow, and Johnny and Ben seemed intent on fighting with Steve, it had all gone downhill pretty quickly.

“And if we don’t want to share this information with you?” Johnny asked, his petulant teenage nature coming across quickly to the avengers.

“Why wouldn’t you want to?” Bruce said, he’d taken a step back during the argument but had rejoined the group now.

“-Because you're SHEILD rats?” Ben offered, he didn’t like the organisation and was glad that the Four was independent from them; sure they did team ups when they needed but usually they worked alone. That’s how he liked it.

Sue interrupting any of the Avengers replies, “It’s not about trusting you, its SHEILD, the spider seems pretty intent on keeping her identity hidden, and honestly none of us know it,”

“Were not going to do anything to the girl, we just need to bring her in, assess her in case she ever becomes a threat,” Tasha said from her seat across the room?”

“See that’s what I'm talking about!” Johnny said, “She’s not going to be a threat; she’ll be a hero,”

“Says who?” Clint says, “You?”

“Yes! Says me!” Johnny fired back.

“What if we brought her in ourselves, if we evaluated her threat level and agreed she wasn’t one- then would you tell us what we wanted to know?” Steve said, the concession didn’t bother him.

Sue shared a look with her team; all but Johnny agreeing it would be fine, “We can’t tell you much, we honestly don’t know. Johnny knows her the best but I do know that her name is-”

A blaring alarm came over the speakers, calling The Avengers to attention and drowning out the name sue said.

“Damn, suit up” Steve said, standing and offering The Four a smile, “can we please do this again some time, we really have to go”

Jonny was relieved, “sure sure!” he shouted enthusiastically, “go save the world, and all that,” The avengers choosing to ignore him as the alarm was a code black, meaning possible world danger.

As soon as they were gone he turned to his team, “I can’t believe you, you wanted to give these guys Pe” cutting her name off just in case, “-The Spider, you want to give her to SHEILD,”

Sighing Reed turned to Johnny, “They’ll go after her anyway John-”

“Precisely, we shouldn’t help them on their way!” he shouted interrupting Reed.

“Johnny, it shouldn’t matter, she's a hero. They’ll see that and she’ll be fine.” Sue said, trying to placate him.

Johnny went to reply but was interrupted by the Avengers returning, fully suited up. Tony seeing them was surprised, “you're still here?” he asked, aiming a sneer at Reed that was hidden by his mask plate.

“We’re just leaving,” Reed responded, almost subconsciously feeling the sneer.

“Good,” Tony said on reflex causing Steve to sigh.

“Thank you for coming,” Steve said.

Giving him a smile Reed responded, “No problem, good luck. You know if you need back up you can just give us a call,”

“We know, thank you,” Steve said before Tony could respond, following the rest of the team out towards the Quinn jet and the latest threat.

~

Petra returned to an empty tower, not surprised when Jarvis said the team was on a mission.

“Sir informed me to tell you that he as well as all members of the team will endeavour to return to you as soon as this threat is over,” The AI said when she was in the elevator toward her room.

“Any idea what the threat is?” Petra asked

“I believe the organisation dubbed HYDRA has gotten their hands on an alien artefact,” the AI responded.

“Well that sounds crap,” Petra said.

“Indeed Miss, it is as you say crap,” Jarvis said making the profanity sound even dirtier in his dry English tone.

Going straight to bed Petra wasn’t worried about the team to much, she was going to have faith in their abilities.

~

Petra let out a slight scream when she was woken by Jarvis, he was blasting an alarm through the tower.

“What the fuck J!” she shouted

“I apologise Miss but the tower is in danger, there are a number of doom bots approaching, and as requested by sir it is my duty to protect you So if you would please take yourself to the elevator I will see that you make your way to the safety room.” The AI said.

Petra who had woken up at the word danger allowed a single eyebrow to rise, “Yeah, no. Jarvis is my suit repaired?” she asked.

“Yes,” The AI said also hesitantly, “but miss I must insist. The team has been informed and will be here as soon a possible and the danger is-”

“Nope,” Petra said interrupting as she stood up and stretched.

“Fine.” Jarvis said, his voice coming out as judgemental as the monotone AI could make it.

“You’re the best J” Petra said brightly.

“Indeed,” he replied, producing the suit.

Putting it on Petra was once again shocked at how great it felt. Turning her mask on, she asked her Jarvis uplink, “time till the bots get here?”

“1minute and 37 seconds approximately,” The AI responded.

“Then I best go outside to meet them,” she said.

“Please miss, try not to get injured,” The AI said.

“Promise J,” Petra said, jumping out of the open window panel and connecting a web to the opposite building. She was so ready to kick some robot-butt.

Chapter Text

Petra really needed to talk to Jarvis about his definition of ‘a number’ because this wasn’t a number this was a freaking army. A freaking, super charged, super pissed, army of flying robots.

“Jarvis please say you have The Fantastic Fours number?” Petra asked dodging a blast from a robot while simultaneously causing another to crash into the side of a building.

“Certainly miss, would you like me to connect you?” the AI said, soundly suspiciously superior

“of course not I was just wondering for the sake of curiosity,” Petra retorted sarcastically, “of course I want you to connect me, I'm about to become a spider splat!” Petra shouted at the AI, for something so intent on keeping her safe he was sure being petulant.

“Connecting you now miss,” the AI said

“just wait, I'm going to so-” Petra started to threaten Jarvis, the rest being cut off when she heard the unmistakable rumble of The Thing on the other end of the line, “hey Ben, it’s the Spider, I need you guys to get to stark tower like yesterday! There’s an army of those robots from the other day attacking,” Petra said, still fighting her way through the robots that appeared to be surrounding her.

“Damn, you okay kid?” he asked, calling out to the rest to get to their jet, “guys emergency, get to Stark tower, the Spider need help with doom bots,”

“I’ll be fine but I’ve gotta go,” Petra shouted, barley dodging the laser ray sent at her by a dot.

Looking out at the sea of metal, Petra felt her confidence grow knowing she had backup on route, steeling her nerves she called out to the bots, “okay who’s next wanting to become scrap metal?” before jumping back into the fray.

~

Tony felt sick.

They had just about finished up destroying the artefact when JARVIS informed the team about the danger to the tower. The mission had been easy, almost too easy and now he thinks it was a distraction and that though terrified him- HYDRA and Doom working together.

Tony didn’t even realise he was hyperventilating until Steve called him out on it, “Tony, baby, you need to calm down. JARVIS is watching over Petra, she’ll be fine,” Steves voice, sounding so strong, so sure, drawing Tony out from his dark imagination.

Tony, taking a minute to get his breathing under control tried to stop himself from thinking the worst, that Petra would be hurt, kidnapped, killed. “JARVIS what's the latest update on the situation?” he asked 

The AI who had simultaneously been aiding Petra and looking out for the team took a moment to respond, “Miss Petra was woken by my alarm and informed of the danger, she is now safe. The bots have not breached the tower, it would appear that The Spider is engaging with them and is successfully intercepting their attempts. The Fantastic four are also on route to the scene. They should arrive in approximately 4 minutes and 23 seconds” The AI added.

“If this ever gets out I swear I will disown you all, but thank god!” Tony said, for once he was glad that the four were so close by, if it meant extra protection for Petra. 

Tasha was surprised at the quick response by the other heroes, “JARVIS how long has The Spider been engaging?” she asked, they had been informed about the attack 12 minutes ago, that's how quickly Tony got them back on the plane and into the air, they were still an hour out and Tasha could see the panic on Tony's face every time he asked for updates.

“If I fly I’ll get there faster,” Tony said again, an argument he’d already voiced

Steve was quick to shut him down, “no Tony, you're in no fit state to fly, if you take off I doubt you’ll get there in one piece,” he said

“But, but-,” Tony argued his helplessness easily felt by the entire team

“Clint will get u there as fast as possible,” Bruce said from his position in the floor. Although he had turned back his skin still held a green tinge, he doubted it would go away until he knew Petra was safe.

Sitting back with a defeated sigh Tony informed Jarvis to keep them updated on the battle.

“Certainly sir,” The AI responded

~

By the time The Four arrived Petra was on a role, taking out dozens of bots but still unable to see an end to them. They were coming from all directions and for each one she took down two more seemed to pop up. Throwing ear pieces at them she immediately went back to fighting. The ear pieces would link up to her mask and allow them to communicate during the fight.

“Doing okay itsy?” Johnny asked flying up to her level and taking out three bots with fire balls.

“Never better flame brain,” Petra responded, rolling her eyes at his antics, he seemed to be playing with the machines around them.

Jumping down to the ground Petra approached Mr. Fantastic, “any idea how to stop these guys? They seem to be multiplying,” she asked, knowing that Doom was their primary enemy, much like HYDRA was to The Avengers.

Reed who was busy setting up some equipment was distracted by Petra's question, “not yet, I’ll no more when I’ve got this running,” he responded

“Need any help?” Petra asked, dodging attacks from the bots and keeping them away from equipment.

Reed was surprised by the offer but knew the girl wouldn’t be able to help, this was advanced equipment, “thank you but I’m fine, just keep them off me, k?” he said with a smile.

Petra didn’t take his dismissal to heart; she knew he didn’t know her or her IQ, so instead of arguing she just jumped back into the fray.

The fight continued, The Four and Spider all keeping the Bots back from Reed as he worked. Each member getting lost in their own way of fighting, Petra had taken to webbing together bots and hurling them at Johnny to incinerate, Sue shielding then into the ground and Ben grabbing them and simply smashing. Each worked well but still the robots kept coming.

“Reed, are you any closer to getting these things down?” Sue asked, she still had some juice left in her but using so much power in one go was exhausting. They had been fighting for almoth half an hour and the damage although restricted was still quite bad.

“I'm nearly there!” Reed shouted, he just needed to break through the final fire wall to take out the bots commands, that would leave them without orders and therefore render them harmless- or so the theory goes. But it was proving impossible, he couldn’t crack it.

“What's the hold up?” Petra asked, delivering a spin kick of a robot and landing on the ground next to reed. She didn’t feel the fatuige as much- thank you radioactive spiders but she had taken a hard hit to the chest and a few being knocked into walls.

“I need to break through Dooms Firewalls,” Reed said, the stress in his voice causing Petra to wince.

“then move over, I’ve got this,” Petra said confidently, physically pushing reed away from the computer he was working on, “go join the others,” she added when she saw him staring at her.

“But,” Reed responded, before he saw the code she was writing. Damn the kid was good. Nodding his head he joined his team in trying to contain and take down the bots.

“Trust me, I can do this,” Petra said, already writing out her hacking code from memory and not seeing that the hero had already left her.

Once alone Petra lost herself in the code, taking another 20 minutes to write it out she hit enter as quickly as possible. Letting out a relieved breath when the bots began to fall and not get back up.

Letting out a breath Petra looked around, relieved to see nobody appeared to badly injured.

“how did you do that?” reed asked, approaching looking dishevelled from the fight, his dark hear messed up and soot from the many burning bots covering half of him.

“do what?” Petra asked, “the code?”

“yes the code, I couldn’t find a way in,” Reed said, looking at the code she had written by hand in awe.

“I like computers,” Petra said simply, there was no way she was getting into the whole acronym squad thing with them.

“Damn Spidey,” Johnny said, landing dramatically next to her, “look at you saving the day,”

Laughing Petra looked around at the carnage with pride, sure the street was a mess but nobody got hurt. “All in a day’s work Sparky,” Petra said.

“Can I keep this?” reed asked, drawing Petra attention, he was indicating towards the code

Petra hesitated, although not as good as her original as this had been written on the go she didn’t really want her hacks out there in the real world, “would you mind if I say no?” she said eventually. “It’s just that its sort of my baby, and I don’t want it to fall into the wrong hands,” she added

Reed although disappointed understood and nodded, wiping the code from his computer.

Looking around once more Petra asked something that always bothered her, “so guys, who cleans this up?” laughing at the look of confusion on their faces.

“You know kid, I have no idea,” Ben said, looking as confused as his condition allows.

“I think they have people for that,” Sue said,

“And if no they should do, this crap happen a lot,” Johnny added

Laughing Petra let out a sudden shout, “Everybody take cover!” her spider sense had suddenly exploded and following her instincts she jumped up and webbed her way to the side of a nearby building.

Hearing and explosion Petra looked at where she and the rest had previously been standing, there was nothing but burnt up parts. If she had been standing there she would be dead- or at least severely wounded, her healing ability was coming in pretty handy.

“Everybody okay?” she shouted over the ringing in her ears. Glad to find the coms still working.

“Yeah” Ben’s gruff voice came out. He had simply tuned and tucked to avoid harm, being made of stone that worked for him.

“I'm good,” Johnny’s voice came from above, he had simply launched into the air to avoid the attack.

“We’re fine,” came the reply from Sue, including Reed in her statement, who she had shielded from the blast using a force field.

“What the hell was that,” Johnny’s voice rang out, he nodded at Petra indicating she should join him as he descended.

“No idea,” Petra said jumping back down to where the team had re-gathered, “I just knew something bad was coming,”

“Yeah I think I know what it was,” came Johnny's reply, his voice taking on a higher quality indicating his fear.

Turning to see what had him so spooked Petra felt her stomach drop, “Jesus Christ on a freaking cracker,” She said causing the team to look at her funny. “Jarvis, how long until the team gets here?” she asked, ignoring the squawk of horror from both reed and Johnny at her talking to Tony Starks AI

“They will arrive in 8 minutes and 46 seconds Miss,” The AI in her mask said.

“Crap,” she said, before adding “we’re all going to die,”

“Not helping,” Reed said, looking in shock horror at the three massive floating doom bots. Two where easily the size of a three story house, the third double that. The two smaller bots were approaching them, the third was hovering slightly out over the harbour.

Shaking herself out of her fear Petra looked at the heroes surrounding her, thinking of a plan. “Mr. Fantastic, Thing, Invisible girl, If me and Sparky can get them on the ground do you think you can disable them?” she asked

Reed looked at her, surprised that she took control before nodding his head, “sure,” he said, “but how are you going to do that,”

Happy with his answer Petra nodded at the three, “leave that to us,” she said before running towards the bots and launching herself into the air, calling back, “come on Flame boy, we’ve got a day to save!”

~

Feeling the air in her hair Petra asked JARVIS, “j I need diagnostics, find me a weakness, anything, I need these things out of the air,”

“Processing,” Jarvis said

“Process faster!” Petra shouted, barley dodging the attacking bots which seemed fixated on her as she got closer. Calling out to Johnny, “keep that one distracted while I work out how to drop them!”

Johnny who had followed Petra towards the bots almost fell out of the sky, “WHAT, you're telling me that you don’t know how to disable them!” he shouted

“It’s a work in progress,” Petra responded, Jarvis still hadn’t come back to her so currently all her and Johnny were doing was slowing down the bots, and making them angry. “Don’t worry about it,” she added

Laughing at the fact he was most likely going to die Johnny mimicked her, “don’t worry about it,” he said in a high pitched voice

“Hey! I don’t sound like that,” Petra said, jumping on one of the boys to try and get them to shoot at each other

“Yes, you do, you crazy spider!” Johnny said, throwing flames at the bot.

“Miss I have discovered a weakness,” Jarvis said, “it would appear these bots are being controlled by the third. If that one is taken out then these would fall.” The AI said

“That's great J,” Petra replied, “but how the hell do I do that?” Petra said, these bots were faster than the last, and Petra was barley dodging the attacks.

“I believe the third bot is being protected by a blast shield, a direct approach is the only way to take it down,” the AI responded

“Direct as in I would have to go in myself,” Petra said, ignoring how suddenly the four were protesting.

“Spider that's not a good idea,”

“kid no!”

“Well, not you but somebody would have to do it, the shield would reflect energy blasts and weapons.” The AI said

“Great, I’m really going to die,” Petra said, before turning to Johnny, “you going to be good handling these two for a while?” she asked

“Petey don’t do this!” he said

“I've got to, it’s going to be you or me and out of the two of us who’s going to be able to reprogram and take out a robot,” she said

Johnny knew she was right but he didn’t want, couldn’t, accept it, “Please, there has to be another way!” he said

“There isn’t,” Petra said, already the bots had pushed them back towards the civilians, the lasers getting closer to taking innocent lives.

“But-” Johnny said

“No!” Petra shouted interrupting him, “can you keep them back,” she asked, “The avenger will be here soon but no soon enough, they’ll help you,”

Johnny knowing she was right nodded, “Yeah, I’m good,” he said. “I’ll hold them off until they get here,”

Watching in despair as Petey launched herself towards the giant robot Johnny redoubled his efforts.

~

“Jarvis connect our coms to the avengers, they should be here soon” Petra said, approaching the robot and narrowly avoiding the lasers and bullets it sent her way.

“certainly miss, and good luck” the AI said

~

Tony was confused the entire team was suited up preparing for the drop into the fight, JARVIS had kept them up to date on in and they knew that they would be facing just three larger bots, so when suddenly he heard arguing in his ear that didn’t belong to them but REED FREAKING RICHARDS he let out a totally justified, “What the ever loving fuck JARVIS,”

The AI responded immediately for all to hear, “Apologies sir but I have connected you with everybody, The Spider and The Fantastic Four,”

“Why?” He asked, he saw the benefit but he hadn’t ordered JARVIS to do it

“I’m sorry sir but it would appear I can’t tell you,” The AI said sounding contrite

“Why” Tony asked before being cut off

“Avengers is that you?” Reed Asked relieved

“Yes, this is captain America, Mr. Fantastic what's the situation?” Steve asked, quelling Tony's questions with a look. The situation with the robots being more important at the moment.

“Well Captain, the two bots we’re engaging at the moment are being controlled by the third, The Spider is attempting to disarm it but she has gone radio silent. How long until you arrive, we need the help, the bots are getting close to civilians,” Mr. Fantastic responded

“We’re less than two minutes out,” Hawkeye said from the cockpit, he could see the robots now and said, “Torch get yourself out of there, I can send in some aerial support from here,”

“Sweet,” Johnny said, his voice coming out tired, “these things just won’t go down,”

“incoming in 3, 2, 1” Clint couned down before shooting at the robots. Causing one to turn on them.

“Shit,” he said, manoeuvring the plane quickly to avoid a blast, “might not have been my best idea,” he said

“That the hell,” Tony said almost landing on his ass with the planes harsh movement.

“My bad,” Clint said, ignoring the team’s rumbles as he manoeuvred the continuous blasts, “damn these things are fast,” he said

“Jarvis open the hatch, I’m close enough to fly in,” he said, giving Steves arm a squeeze as he launched himself towards the fight.

“Good luck,” Steve said, giving his husband a solemn nod of his head. Getting back into hero mode Steve asked “Any word from the spider on disabling the robots?”

~

Chapter Text

Petra was seriously doubting her logic here, connecting The Avengers to the coms meant that yes, the teams could co-ordinate and attack together but it also meant she couldn’t speak. Which to be honest killed off around 40% of her game, she was a talker. It was her thing.

Hearing Steves ‘Captain America’ voice coming through the coms made Petra smile; it was so much more authoritarian than normal, “Any word from the spider on disabling the robots?”

I’m almost there, She thought, once again cursing herself and the silence she now had to keep to. But to be honest at least this way meant that she was focusing on how she was going to bring down the bot instead of how long she would be grounded if Tony and the rest the team found about her extracurricular activity.

“Itsy, you good?”  Johnny's concerned voice said.

No, I'm meters away from a giant kill bot whose sole focus is on me... Petra thought as she continued to dodge the incoming projectiles, this thing really had it out for her. Not only did it have the regular lasers but it was also sending out metal shrapnel. Her spider sense was going haywire and she was acting mainly on instinct at this point. Shooting out with a web, Petra let out an involuntary scream when one of the lasers cut through it, making her free fall before she could shoot another.

“Spider!” a chorus of concerned voices shouted out, followed by received sighs when they saw the hero regain herself.

“Be careful web head!” Johnny shouted through the coms.

"They don't seem to stop!" Sue shouted, her voice tinged with exhaustion. They were fighting the two remaining robots and their efforts where hardly keeping them back and away from the city.

"Focus on drawing their attention," Steve said, his Captain America voice coming through the link clearly. After taking in the situation he turned to his team. "Thor, you and Hulk try to bring down, with their force fields we are just sitting ducks," he said.

Nodding the thunder God took off attacking one while Hulk took the other.

"Crap!" Clint swore, "are you guys seeing this?"

The two bots they were fighting seemed come a stop, the combined teams held their breath, hoping that finally The Hulk and Thors attack on them had worked.

However instead of falling to the ground, the bots instead opened up, and from inside came a swarm smaller doom bots.

"We really don't get paid enough for this," Tony said, turning his repulsors at the new threat. Glad to see that these smaller bots didn’t have the same protections as the larger bots.

"Wait, you guys get paid?" Johnny quipped back, joining Tony in the air, even though he was exhausted.

"Yup," Tony said, "we even get dental," 

"less talking, focus on the bots," came Steves voice.

Hearing them fight and struggle Petra felt her determination solidify. She had to shut down the main control before somebody she loved got hurt. She couldn’t handle losing somebody else. Not again.

~

Knowing there's no other way Petra took a deep breath, and prayed that somebody upstairs liked her- like a lot. “if you guys can hold them off I know a way to shut them down,” she said, not trying to disguise her voice as the Four had only ever heard her voice without disguise.

“Petra?” Tony’s voice came over the link, confused, “why are you on the com link...”

“Funny story,” she hedged, distracted by the shrapnel coming her way, narrowly avoiding being impaled.

“Please tell me you're not who I think you are.” He said. Firing beams of energy at the surrounding bots. “Because if you are who I think you are then-”

“-what's going on Tin Can,” Johnny's voice interrupted Tony's mental break down.

Ignoring the human torch Tony asked JARVIS over the coms “Is Petra the Spider?”

JARVIS hesitated, “yes sir,” he responded, causing the entire team to be momentarily shocked still.

Unknown to her, Petra continued, “Sorry Dad.”

Seeing an opportunity Petra advanced on her target. Spinning mid air and landing on the bot, finally out of reach from its main defences. Petra let out a relieved sigh. I got mad skills

“Wait dad?” Johnny asked.

“You’re Starks daughter?” Ben said, shock clear through the com.

“Surprise,” Petra said dryly, her spider sense tingling at the unknown danger surrounding her.

“You’re grounded until you're 30!” Tony shouted as he powered up his suit in an attempt to go and rescue his wayward daughter. His plan however was put on hold when the robots re-focused their attack on him. Manoeuvring around was going to take time.

“Petra get out of there, it’s dangerous!” Steve said at the same time.

“How did this happen to you?” asked Bruce, other questions and Tony's shouts being drowned out and lost over the coms.

Petra could see the control panel in front of her; it appeared to be defenceless but Petra didn’t buy that. Approaching it cautiously and ignoring the bombardment of questions in her ear she let out a squeak, narrowly avoided the laser that shot from the wall opposite her. Finally recovering her composure she screamed, “I get it! Okay! I'm grounded! A terrible person for not telling you! Truly awful! Etc etc! But if you guys don’t shut up it’s not going to matter because I'm not going to be alive to be punished!”

Letting out a relieved sigh glad when the coms went quiet for a second she relished the peace, this feeling however was short lived.

Landing by the panel Petra crouched before deeming it safe, opening it up she couldn’t help the humourless laugh that escaped her.

“Get out of there right now!” Tony shouted. Knowing that The Spider was Petra made Tony feel sick, he tried to get closer to her to help but the robot kpt coming and any time he managed to get rid of them and close to the control bot where Petra was his suit would start to crash- it appeared to be sending out some type of signal jammer that was messing with his systems, he couldn’t reach her. Instead, he focused on helping the rest take down the rest of the robots, that however was proving futile as even with all their combined efforts they still managed to get closer to the civilians.

“No can do Daddio, this thing is rigged to blow,” Petra said, eyeing the countdown with dismay. “JARVIS any idea how to stop it?” she asked the AI. She had an idea but it wasn’t a good one.

“It would appear that the bomb has both a physical trigger and a timer. From my scan I can see no way for you to disable it before the timer goes off,” The AI said, confirming Petras fears.

“Damn,” Petra said, sitting down and leaning against the open panel. Looking up at the sky Petra let out a sign.

“Petey talk to us,” Steve said, “what's the situation?”

“It would appear martyrism is genetic,” Petra said, still looking at the clouds above her

“What?” came Johnny's confused voice

“Don’t do it,” shouted Tony, Other members of the team all voicing various versions with the same meaning when they realised the implications of Petras words.

“It’s me or all of those innocent people,” Petra said, building her courage, “and I’ve got the best chance of surviving this,” she added as she planned.

“I don’t care about the people!” Tony said, redoubling his efforts to reach the main robot.

“Petra listen to your father,” Tasha's said, “you're a child!”

“Sorry Nat,” Petra said, “I have a plan, Johnny can you get close to the bot?” Petra asked, ignoring her own worry and the team’s protests.

Johnny who was reeling from the entire situation nodded his head, “sure but-”

“Good,” Petra said cutting him off, “I'm going to need you to catch me when this is done,” she said, with more bravado than she was feeling. In all honesty the chances of her making it out alive were probably less than 20%.

“What are you planning on doing?” Reed asked, being one of the few who would understand anything technical Petra said.

“I'm going to create a localised reaction to set the bomb off, hopefully not before I get off this floating death bot.” Petra said

“How?” Steve asked

Looking at the wires around her Petra shrugged, “I’m not sure, but I’ll make it work somehow,”

“please kid don’t do this,” Tony said once again trying to talk Petra out of doing anything dangerous, “just get out of there, we’ll think of another way,”

Petra smiled a sad smile, “I can’t do that dad,” she said knowing that calling him dad was perhaps cruel given the circumstances, “only me and Johnny can get close enough and no offence flame boy” she said, “but you wouldn’t know what to do,”

“Hey!” Johnny said indignantly.

“I’m going offline,” Petra said, an idea striking her, “Johnny wait for my signal,” she added, ignoring the protests around her.

“What signal?” Johnny asked, choosing to listen to Petey instead of argue like everybody else.

“An exploding doom bot of death,” Petra said, before disconnecting her communication link, causing Johnny to laugh- it was either that of cry.

“Jarvis, theoretically can you set my mask to self destruct?” Petra asked, eyeing the countdown

“Indeed miss Petra, it could be done with some reprogramming” the AI said.

“Excellent,” Petra responded, pulling out loose wires from the control panel before she set about reprogramming the robot.

“I got this, I totally got this,” Petra said to herself as she worked, trying not to think about her chances. Finally Petra sat back and looked at the mess she had created, the mess which as far as she could tell would work.

“Jarvis, if this doesn’t work could you please tell my dad I'm sorry, oh and tell Harry he can have all my stuff if he wipes my hard drive- do not want the acronym squad molesting my stuff and-”

“You will survive this miss” the AI interrupted, “I do not wish to deal with Master Stark should you not,”

“You got a deal J,” she said, “once I hook this up, the control bot should blow. Could you maybe delay that by a few seconds, give me some time to you know, not become BBQ?”

“I will try my best miss,” the AI promised

Reconnecting her com for a few seconds Petra was met by the voices of her family, hearing them fight and joke made her smile.

“Yo flame brain!” she called out “you're up.”

Hearing her over the link everybody shouted her, “Petey!”

Laughing softly, Petra pulled off her goggles and mask. “I hope your best is good enough J,” she said before connecting it all together.

~

Johnny didn't like think of himself as a negative person but when he hear Peteys- no Petra's voice he honestly felt like his flame would go out. Looking around he saw that the number of bots surrounding him was in the double figures. He couldn’t see a way to get out easily.

Preparing to attack and run Johnny flamed up further, “guy’s u need back up now, Itsy needs me,”

Tony hearing this attacked the bots surrounding the teen with everything he had, turning his face towards him he said, “Get my kid out of there,”

Clint and Tasha appeared then, taking out the few bots that remained, get going kid,” the Russian said

“Yeah we got this,” Clint added, shooting an arrow that emitted a mini EMP taking out 5 bots in one go.

Johnny feeling the intense gaze of the heroes nodded, before taking off, flying as fast as he could towards the control bot.

Getting close he saw Petra jump. Aiming for her he tried to speed up.

Petra could just about see Johnny as he approached, her eyes watering up without her goggles. Just as he got within grabbing distance the bot exploded.

~

Johnny grabbed Petra just as the world around them exploded. Turning so he took the worst of the blast Johnny tried to cover Petra, throwing all he had at flying away, not noticing the blood dripping into the flames.

Chapter Text

Petra wasn’t a morbid person, even when dealing with all the death that has shrouded her over the years she tried to remain positive, but at this moment she was feeling rather macabre. Well that's not really true, in truth she was feeling numb, and the intense pain in her side had faded to a dull ache, the fire fading to a deep seeping cold.

“Nice catch Bic boy,” she murmured, her voice coming out frail as the emptiness spread around her body.

Johnny, hearing how small Petra's voice was glanced down at the girl in his arms, she was hunched up but managed to lift her head towards his face.  He was startled when he took in how pale she was, her normally olive skin was sickly white. “Petey was is it? what's wrong?”

“Well, it would seem my calculations for success-” she broke off with a whimper, before starting again, “it would seem I was overly optimistic about survival statistics,”

Johnny panicked when he realised what she meant and seeing how the heroes were still engaging the remaining robots he landed on the roof of a near bye building.

Petra couldn’t help the whimper that escaped her as she was placed on the ground, forcing herself to look she could see the metal sticking out from her side. It wasn’t overly long but thick and angled up, towards her chest.

“Fuck, that's bad Itsy, we need to get you to a hospital, like yesterday,” Johnny started to babble, over his com he could hear the fight dying down.

“Pull it out,” Petra said, the words coming out faint.

“Are you crazy? Did you hit your head when you went all suicidal hero?” Johnny shouted.

“Healing fac-” Petra couldn’t get the words out, coughing up blood she whimpered before forcing herself to try, “healing factor, no hospital.”

“You’ll bleed to death!”

“Already dying,”

Hearing Petras words Johnny let out a frustrated scream, causing the rest of the heroes over the coms to finally take notice that he wasn’t there with Petra.

“Flame boy where are you, where’s my daughter!” Tony shouted, having finished up the last robot.

“Johnny, are you okay?” Sues worried voice came

“Kid you had better speak up,” Said Clint at the same time

Johnny ignored them as he stared at Petra; the puddle of blood he hadn’t noticed initially was steadily growing.

“Roof top” he murmured, before adding “hurry,”

Dropping to his knees he saw Petras face was sweating slightly and that her eyes where slightly unfocused. He couldn’t take the questions being shouted at him. He pulled off his com placing it next to them, unknown that they could hear him as he spoke.

“What do I do Petra?” he asked

“Out, burn,” she managed to say.

“What?” he asked, not comprehending her as he moved closer.

Willing herself to find strength Petra, forced her arm to move, the motion shaky. Grabbing his hand she tugged it to the metal.

“Pull it out,” she said, “then cauterize,” she said.

“But-”                                    

“Now” she all but screamed

Johnny looked at her, feeling his eyes fill with tears.

“You had better survive this, or I swear I will kill you,” he said, his voice shaking as he put his hand on the metal shard, ripping her costume away from the wound.

“Sweet talker,” Petra joked.

“After three,” Johnny said

“One, two” then he pulled. Petra barley reacted letting out a small whimper, quickly covering the wound with his hand he focused on his flame.

The scream Petra let out would haunt him forever. It was a shriek of pure agony.

Over the coms every single one of them felt their own hearts stop beating. Tony who was approaching the roof top with the rest of the team on route in the Quinn jet would swear to this day that when he heard that sound he aged ten years.

~

When Tony finally got to the roof top he was frenzied, his anger, guilt and worry had been encompassed by his fear. Seeing Petra lying in a puddle of blood looking so small, pale and broken didn’t help.

“Jarvis,” he screamed to his AI, “I need medical on standby at the tower, I want Cho-”

“Tony!” Steve’s voice came through, “what's happening? What's going on, where’s Petra?”

“She’s- she's” Tony's voice broke

Johnny who was still kneeling by Petras prone form “she's still alive Stark,” he said

Tony fell to his knees by her prone form.

“Get here,” Tony said to the rest, “fast.” He couldn’t take his eyes of the girl who he had only just met, but who he already couldn’t live without.

“What happened?” he asked the other teen kneeling by his side

“She must have been hit before I reached her,” Johnny said his own eyes glued to Petra pale face. “I didn’t notice straight away, I was too focused on trying to get us to safety.”

Tony didn’t know what to say. He sat in silence running his hands through his daughter’s hair.

That's how the team found them.

~

To say Petra was in pain would be like saying the sun is hot. Everything hurt down to her hair molecules. Groaning Petra tried to focus on something, anything but the all encompassing agony that seemed to be her existence.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The sound was like a drill in her skull.

“I think she's waking up,” a voice said.

“Petra, Petey, can you hear me?” another asked

“Forcing her eyes open Petra was greeted by blinding light.

“urg-“ she managed to get out, her throat dry. Trying again to open her eyes, she finally managed to look around her surroundings. She was in a hospital? maybe? It was a fancy hospital? Shit what had she done this time...

“Petey, can you hear me?” the same voice asked.

Turning to look in the direction  of the persistent sound Petra was happy she had a great poker face, as sitting next to her bed looking like he had just lost 10 rounds to Mike Tyson was none other than Tony stark.

Not processing the information Petra blurted out “what?”

“You’re awake!” came another voice, and holy freaking shit- that was captain America

-Crap I'm dying, this is one of those make a wish things-

Looking around the room in panic Petra tried to find a familiar face, and found none. A young looking Asian doctor was quickly approaching her.

“Petra, it’s good to see you awake, now would you like some water before I run some quick tests on you?” she said.

Petra just nodded, her throat felt worse than the morning after the one time she drank two bottles of rum with Harry.

Sipping at the water provided Petra tried to think about any event that would result in her current situation but was coming up blank.

“Good,” the doctor said as Petra sipped on her water, “now your healing factor has worked on your internal injuries, but I'm guessing you still feel bruised and the scar on your side-”

“Where’s my aunt May?” Petra asked interrupting the doctor and causing the room to tense. What the fuck is she going on about, healing factor and what scar?

Tony hearing the question sent Steve a look of panic before turning to look at Petras face.

“I'm sorry what?” Cho said

“My aunt, she should be here- wherever here is?” Petra said

“Petra...” Tony said before he stopped, not wanting to finish his words.

“Petra I need you to tell me what you last remember,” Cho said filling the silence.

Petey tried to think but her mind felt like it had been put through a blender. “I... I don’t remember...” she said slowly, “why don’t I remember?”

Steve looked at Tony panicked face before clearing his throat, “you were in an accident,” he said

“Okay, what kind of accident?”Petra asked, “why am I here with you, I don’t kn-”

The awkward and alarming conversation was cut short when the doors slid open and an attractive teenage boy Petra had never seen before walked in, smiling widely at Petey.

“Itsy you're back from the dead! You have no idea how happy I am to see you're no longer playing sleeping beauty” he said moving closer to Petra

“Listen kid-” Tony started to say, trying to warn the teen however he was cut off.

“Who the hell are you!?” Petra asked, finally letting her panic come across clearly.

~

After being poked and prodded by the Asian doctor and somebody called Bruce Petra was given a fresh bill of health, sort of, she was apparently missing two months of memories.

“Soooo I'm a super hero” she asked sceptically, she was lying in a ridiculously soft bed surrounded by both the freaking avengers and the fantastic four.

“No!” Tony shouted, “You’re a grounded teenager who is never, and I mean ever, allowed to be a hero again,”

“And you're my dad,” she continued, ignoring the now gaping billionaire. “This is seriously fucked up,” she said

“Language,” Steve said on reflex.

“You were badass, Itsy,” Johnny said from his position by the door.

At that Petra laughed, “I'm always bad ass sugar plum,” she said, winking at the teen

“Nope, none of that either,” Tony added glaring at the teenagers.

Petra just laughed under her breath a bit more.

Turning her eyes to the man she wanted to speak to Petra's gaze finally landed on Bruce.

Feeling eyes on him he looked up.

“So doctor tell me, will I ever dance again,” Petra asked

Bruce who now had everybody’s attention struggled to speak for a moment, “ermm- yes?” he said awkwardly

“Sorry I couldn’t resist,” Petra said, “but seriously, this whole bimbo brain I've got going, is it permanent?” she asked

“I'm not really that kind of doctor,” he hedged

Petra however just raised an eyebrow.

“If I could take a guess I would say no, your memories should come back eventually, but there’s no sure answer.”

Nodding Petra sat back, sighing. Her body really was aching.

“would you guys mind,” she said, “I'm kinda tired and I get that you know me and we’re family, but honestly to me at the moment you could be anyone and I'm really not into strangers watching me sleep. Stranger danger and all that ya’no,”

Nodding they went to leave, Tony however paused before walking out.

“I know this doesn’t mean much to you right now, but I just want you to know that I love you kid. When I saw you lying there on that roof and I thought that you were... well... it killed me inside, so I just want you to know that I love you no matter what. Even if you don’t get your memories back it won’t matter, because we can just make more, but I need you to know now that I love you, okay”

Petra felt a lump in her throat, she wanted to say something meaningful back but she wouldn’t lie to this man, her father, instead she nodded, unable to speak.

~

 “What if she doesn’t remember?” Tony said as he paced in his room

“Then it’s like you said, you’ll make new memories,” Steve said, trying to calm his manic husband. Tony had been in a state for the last 48hours, while Petra had been unconscious he had barely left her side. Steve had had to force his to eat and rest.

“But what if-

“Babe, I need you to calm down,” Steve interrupted, “you're no good to Petra like this, she needs a parent right now.”

“Oh god,” Tony said, “what if she asks about May again, what am I supposed to do?”

Steve felt his heart break for Petra, forgetting was bad but remembering or worse yet being told would be awful. “Then you’ll tell her the truth, and you’ll help her cope. We’ll help her cope, all of us, together.” 

~

“So what are they keeping from me?” Petra asked, glad that almost everybody had brought her lie about being tired, however she could feel she wasn’t alone and she suspected who was with her.

“Ermmm I don’t know,” came Johnny's reply. Petra was still surprised that Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch, was her new friend.

“Well what good are you then, friend I don’t remember?” Petra asked

“I’ll have you know that I'm good for a great many things,” Johnny said in mock outrage, “many a fine lady would play top dollar for me to be in their bed room, let alone for me to be in their bedroom with liberalised cookie dough ice cream,”

“Bribing me with ice cream?” Petra said

“I prefer to think of it as sweetening our already solid friendship,” Johnny said, joining Petra on her bed and producing said bride and two spoons.

Petra laughed and took the offered spoon. “So tell me fire fly, how did we meet?”