The beginning
Hydra base, 2004
“EXPM-29, meet EXPM-30. She will be your roommate. EXPM-29, tell her your status.” The man ordered.
“EXPM-29; asset is called the Spider. Kill count 826.” The toddler reported. The man nodded and turned to the girl. “Your name is Frost Giant. You’ll introduce yourself like he did. Understood?” The man asked. “My name is Michelle.” The girl retorted. He slapped her.
“Well now it’s EXPM-30, asset Frost Giant.” The man snaps. “Permission to speak?” EXPM-29 asked. “Granted.” He said. “Sir, leave her to me. She will be straightened out by tomorrow.” The boy offered. “Very well.” He said and left. The small boy exhaled.
“Did you really kill 826 people?” Michelle asked. He nodded. “You should listen to our handler. I’ll call you Michelle privately if it makes you feel better.” “Do you have an actual name?” She asked. “My mom called me Peter before I was taken from her. I spent two years with her, a month training without her, and then I went on my first mission.” Peter mentioned. “So if it helps, call me Peter in private.”
—————
The next day, same place
“EXPM-30, status.” The man said upon entering. “EXPM-30; asset is called Frost Giant. Kill count 0.” Michelle said nervously. Satisfied, the man turned to Peter. “Well done, Spider. EXPM-30, I am Levkin Jaromir. You will refer to me as sir or handler.” “Yes handler.” Michelle said.
“EXPM-29, you have a mission. Take EXPM-30 with you. Here is the file.” He said, handing Peter a folder. “I expect you to be outside in six minutes.” Levkin finished. He walked outside.
“Mission is to take out this woman and take her child to be EXPM-31. Act when mother and child are there without the father.” Michelle read. She paused and reread it. “There must be a mistake. We aren’t killing her, right? We’re distracting her.” Peter was confused but decided to play along. “It means take her out of the house. Can you take the kid while I do that?” Michelle nodded.
—————
Seven days later, hydra corridor
Levkin spoke after Michelle took the boy to their shared room. “EXPM-29, mission report.” “As sir saw, EXPM-31 has been successfully acquired. Although prior to the mission, EXPM-30 showed remorse at the part of taking out the mother. As such, I let EXPM-30 believe I was simply distracting her while she extracted the new asset. Several witnesses heard EXPM-31 scream. I have exterminated all of them. New kill count 848.” Peter reported.
Levkin nodded, satisfied. “Sir, permission to ask a question.” “Granted.” “Why did EXPM-30 show remorse at the aspect of taking out the mother?” “Because her kill count is 0 and she didn’t grow up with the extermination factor. Soon she will be unphased by the aspect. Join her and the new asset in your room. His name is Asset the Griffin, make sure he is aware of that.”
—————
A second later, the gang’s room
“Michelle, did he wake up?” Peter asked upon entering. She shook her head. “I heard what you said. Is it true?” Peter sighed. “Yes. We had no time to deal with mental breakdowns.” Michelle winced. “What do we tell him?” “We don’t know what happened. Handler says he’s our new roommate so he can’t have him hating us.” Peter explained.
“Why didn’t you call him Levkin? You’ve been calling me Michelle and responding to Peter.” “He is our superior. But to be honest, you’re the second person that I’ve ever said the name of.” Before she could press further, the boy woke up. He looked around.
“Where am I?” He asked. “You’re at your new home.” Peter said bluntly. Michelle glared at him. “I’m Michelle and that’s Peter. We’re your roommates. What’s your name?” “Ned.”
“You can only say that in private. Your new official name is EXPM-31, asset the Griffin.” Peter continued. “You need to introduce yourself like this.” He turned to Michelle. “EXPM-30, status report.”
“EXPM-30; asset called Frost Giant. Kill count 0. Peter?” “EXPM-29; asset is called the Spider. Kill count 848.” Peter replied. “Wait- 848?” Ned blurted. Peter nodded. “EXPM-31, status report.” “How did you get that many? You’re like three or something.” Ned continued as if Peter had never spoke.
“Ned, focus!” Michelle snapped. The boy continued on talking. “Shut up unless you want to meet the chair!” Peter shouted and both looked at him. “Is that another asset?” Ned asked slowly. Peter laughed bitterly. “No. It will wipe any memory our handler deems unnecessary for the mission. I’ve only seen it right before my first solo mission, when they installed my triggers.”
“Triggers?” Both of them echoed. He nodded. “A series of words that nobody would ever randomly say together. When they finish saying them, you become the perfect soldier. You do anything they say without hesitation. You usually snap out of it after an hour if you haven’t been to the chair since. Each time they wipe your memory increases the duration of the trigger words.”
Ned shuddered. Michelle took that as a chance to test him. “EXPM-31, status report.” She ordered. “EXPM-31; asset is called the Griffin. Kill count 0.” He said shakily.
————
Ten years later, same place, entire scene is in Russian
A few years after they came, Michelle told them to call her MJ. The three of them had gone on many missions so MJ and Ned were no longer bothered about killing. MJ and Ned had gotten trigger words but hadn’t been to the chair since that. “Status report.” Levkin said.
“The Spider, kill count 5,236,521.”
“The Griffin, kill count 638,926.”
“Frost Giant, kill count 1,539,723.”
That was another new thing, they all were no longer referred to as their EXPM numbers, only their asset name. They continued to call each other by their birth names in private.
“Excellent.” The three looked at each other as he was talking and nodded. Ned attacked Levkin using his retractable claws to slice their handler’s neck. “Meet me at the security room. I’ll wipe out the base.” Peter whispered.
————
One hour later, security room, default is back to English
Peter entered the room. “Finally. What took you so long?” MJ teased. “New kill count 5,237,528.” “Wow. Mine increased by one because I killed Levkin and MJ killed five security guards.” Ned said. MJ glared at him. “Oh yeah, I found our files and removed all traces of us from hydra databases. So unless someone has a private database, we are good.”
“Unfortunately, Hydra had mastered the art of making paper that’s undestroyable so I decided that we’re taking our files with us instead of hiding them.” MJ told them.
“Biological name Edward Banner, mother deceased and father is Bruce Banner or the Hulk.” Ned said, reading his file.
“Biological name is Michelle Jordan Lokidaughter, father is Loki Laufeyson and mother is deceased.” MJ said as she looked over her file.
“Peter Romanoff-Barnes. Mother is Natalia Alianvona Romanoff and father is James Buchanan Barnes also known as the Winter Soldier.” Peter said, scanning his file.
“We need to move somewhere. Where should we go?” Ned said. “Don’t look at me, I never lived outside of Hydra.” Peter added. “Losers.” MJ muttered before she spoke up. “Ned, you need to get us fake IDs. Peter, get us money. I’ll look at schools for us to attend.”
——————
Queens, New York, a month later
“Here we are, our new mansion.” Ned said. “We’re supposed to lay low!” MJ retorted. “What’s the point of Peter stealing twelve million dollars if we don’t live in style?” Ned protested.
“If we sell the house now then we look even more suspicious.” Peter said with a sigh. “What’s our IDs?” “So my name is Ned Leeds. You’re Peter Parker and MJ is Michelle Jones. We’re under the legal guardianship of May Parker while her life-long friends are in the military.” He explained.
“I’ll sign us up for school. Peter, you focus on making an AI capable of human feelings while Ned makes a realistic looking body for it.” MJ said.
————
The gang’s mansion, later that day
“Anyone thinking of becoming a vigilante who looks after the little guy?” Peter asked and his two friends shrugged. “We can help out from behind the scenes most days. What will we be called?” Ned wondered.
“I’ll be Spiderman.” “I’ll be Eagleclaw cause my wings are gold and I have claws.” Ned said excitedly. “I guess I’ll be Icebringer. We can be the Lethal Trio.” “It sounds villainous but why not?” Peter replied.
———————
A month later, garage, August 20th
“Guys, who has a driver’s license?” MJ asked. “Peter since Levkin made him our designated driver.” Ned answered. “I’m underage.” Peter replied. “Government permission due to May working long hours.”
————
Mr. Harrington’s home room
“Hello everyone. I’m Mr. Harrington and I’m your home room teacher. When I call your name, come up and tell me your name, and three fun facts about you.” He said. “Allan, Elizabeth?”
“Hi, I’m Liz. I’m the captain of the academic decathlon team, I’m dating Harry Osborn, and I took my mom’s last name.” “Avril, Sally?”
“I’m Sally. I’m part of the academic decathlon team, my parents almost named me Sarah, and my best friend is Cindy.” “Brant, Elizabeth?”
“I’m Betty. I’m part of the school news, I love the color blue, and my best friend is Liz.” “Brown, Abraham?”
“I’m Abe. I take Karate, I’m part of the Academic Decathlon, and my best friend is Jason.” “Ionello, Jason?”
“I’m Jason. My best friend is Abe, I’m part of the school news, and I love the color orange.” “Jones, Michelle?”
“I’m Michelle. My friends call me MJ, I like to draw people in crisis, and I know over fifty ways to kill someone with one pencil.” “Leeds, Ned?”
“I’m Ned. I can hack anything, my mom was murdered, and I speak 11 different languages.” “Maximoff, Pietro?”
“I’m Pietro. I’m from Sokovia, my twin sister is Wanda, and we live with family friends.” “Maximoff, Wanda?”
“Hi, I’m Wanda. I’m from Sokovia, my twin brother is Pietro, and I saw Ultron in the fight.” “Moon, Cindy?”
“I’m Cindy. Sally is my best friend, I’m in the academic decathlon team, and I like yellow.” “O’Rielly, Seymour?”
“I’m Seymour. I’m an only child, my best friend is Flash, and my favorite color is red.” “Osborn, Harry?”
“My name is Harry. I’m the heir to Oscorp, I’m dating Liz, and I never ate broccoli.” “Parker, Peter?”
“I’m Peter. I never met my parents, I can drive, and I’m adopted by a woman I call my aunt.” “Thompson, Eugene?”
“I’m Flash. My best friend is Seymour, I am part of the Academic Decathlon team, and my favorite Superhero is Spiderman.”
“Alright. Uh, just ask each other some questions.” Mr. Harrington said. “I have one. Michelle, were you serious about the pencil thing?” Harry asked and she nodded. “So what languages can you speak?” Betty asked Ned.
“English, German, Chinese, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Polish, Spanish, French, and Japanese. I also know American Sign Language.” He answered. “MJ and Peter know them too.”
“Way to expose us.” Peter said to Ned in Arabic. “Like MJ wasn’t being weird enough with the pencil fact.” He said in Japanese. “He’s kinda right.” MJ told him in Chinese.
“Why do we keep switching which language we’re speaking?” Ned asked in Russian. “So if anyone overhears us then they don’t understand the entire conversation.” Peter finished in Polish before they switched to English. “So I know the languages Ned said plus Italian and Greek but excluding French.” MJ said.
“And I know all the languages they know plus Vietnamese, Korean, Portuguese, Turkish, Dutch, Danish, Icelandic, Swedish, Slovenian, Norwegian, and Serbian.”
“So Ned knows eleven languages, I know twelve, and Peter knows twenty four languages.” MJ concluded. “Why do you know so many? You couldn’t decide which language?” Flash teased.
“Can I kill him?” MJ asked in Spanish to which Betty and Abe flinched. “I don’t think you can.” Peter snapped in Hebrew. “It’s against the law.” Ned told her in German. “Fine.” Michelle signed with ASL.
“I live with idiots.” Peter muttered in Greek. “Anyway, what are we learning today?” He said in English. His teacher just sighs and puts on a video.
————
The gang’s mansion, later that day
“Why does the name Maximoff sound so familiar?” Ned wondered. “Because it’s the last name of the two people who helped with taking down Ultron.” Peter reminded him.
“Aren’t they also Quicksilver and the Scarlet witch?” Ned asked. “That’s not public information, you found that out through hacking Shield's databases.” MJ reminded him.
“We gotta be careful.” Peter decided and the two nodded.