Peters head throbbed as he became conscious, the hard floor beneath his back made his bones ache and the cold made him shiver.
He immediately knew something was wrong. He wracked his brain trying to remember what happened but it just made his head hurt more.
He finally had enough strength to crack his eyes open and had to suppress a groan at the sight of his decathlon team sat around him.
This was the worst thing that could've happened to him, he had no idea how he was supposed to get them out of here without revealing his identity.
His thoughts were cut off when he heard a groan coming from his left and turned his head to see Mr Harrington slowly open his eyes, it was obvious he was beginning to panic too.
"Hey Mr Harrington!" Peter grinned, hoping he would distract him.
"Peter? What is going on?" He squeaked.
"Well I think we were kidnapped,"
"That makes sense," he whispered.
Everyone was now starting to wake up, Peter had no clue how long they had been out but if he had to guess he wouldn't say it had been long, he can never stay sedated for a long time.
"Um, where are we?" Flash asked, not even bothering to hide the treble in his voice.
"Don't freak out guys, that won't help us, I'm sure someone's realised we're missing and has called the police," mr Harrington said, trying to keep everyone calm.
"You okay?" Peter asked Mj, who was rubbing the back of her head.
"Yeah, just a headache," she mumbled.
When it went silent peter honed in his hearing, hoping to catch someone else in the building, he could hear someone outside of the door, probably keeping guard, he thought. He could also hear footsteps on the floor above but he couldn't hear anyone talking.
He took note of the small camera in the corner of the ceiling but he couldn't find a mic anywhere so he guessed that no one was listening in.
The only exit in the room was the door in front of him as the vent was tiny and there weren't any windows.
He also took stock of how he was the only one handcuffed.
That couldn't be good.
Nobody else seemed to notice that so he decided to keep it to himself, whoever took them obviously knows about his enhancements as the cuffs were made of vibranium.
His thoughts were cut of when he heard voices outside of the door, the room must be soundproofed though because he couldn't make out enough of what they were saying to get an idea of what was happening.
Suddenly the door slammed open and Peter swears his heart almost gave up. The one person he hoped he would never have to see again, was stood fifteen feet away from him.
"Ah, it's good to see you're awake Паук," stralova grinned, as Peter unconsciously wiped his face of any emotion.
"What a pleasure to see you too," Peter replied sarcastically.
The group of teenagers around them were confused as to what was happening, the only people who had somewhat of an idea of what was going on was Ned and Mj.
"I see some of you are confused, have any of you heard of the red room?" When no one replied, he took that as his signal to carry on.
"Well I don't expect any of you to know, I'm assuming you've all heard of the black widow, well the red room is where she was trained when she was a little girl, you can't tell anybody this but we took her when she was just a little girl and we made her the best assassin to ever exist, it's unfortunate she deflected," he said the last part to himself.
Peter wasn't listening, he was praying stralova wouldn't reveal the fact that he was once in that same position only ten months ago, nothing ever goes his way though.
"Well, your friend Peter here, he grew up in the red room, didn't you Peter? He was one of our best assassins, killed hundreds for us, never caught once," Peter ignored the gasps coming from around the room, deciding to glare at stralova, he didn't waver.
"Yeah, you see, Peter somehow escaped our clutches and went off to live a normal life, we knew it would be hard to find him again considering he was one of our best, but he was also taught by the best," he laughed manically.
"What do they have to do with this?" Peter asked calmly, not letting his emotions show.
"We thought you'd need an incentive to comply, what better way than to bring your friends into this,"
"Where are we?" Betty asked, timidly.
"You're in Russia children," the team gasped once again, confused as to how they were all smuggled into Russia, Peter knew it was easy, he's done it plenty of times.
"I'm gonna leave you for now, let you talk, I'll be back soon," stralova left the room and everyone turned to look in peters direction, but too scared to ask him anything.
"You're an assassin?" Cindy asked, slowly.
"I was an assassin, not by choice obviously, my parents were hydra agents and as soon as I was born they sold me to the red room, I was there for fourteen years, I only managed to escape last year," Peter explained.
"What happened in there?" Abe asked.
"They trained me as soon as I turned four, combat, weapons, best way to kill, all your average spy shit,"
It went silent for a while, until Peter realised something that doesn't usually happen.
"You're unusually quiet," Peter glared at flash, accidentally, and tried to soften his look.
"Are you gonna kill me?" Flash asked, obviously scared.
"Why would i kill you?"
"Because I've been an asshole ever since you moved to midtown," flash was shaking, and Peter was amused.
"If I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead and no one would have found the body," Peter replied, voice dark.
He couldn't help but smirk when flash's eyes widened and he cowered into himself, he's almost sure flash would never look at him again.
"Do you think you can get us out?" Mr Harrington asked, warily.
"It took me fourteen fucking years to get out the first time, what makes you think I'm gonna be able to get out again with a whole group of people," Peter glared, feeling bad when he obviously scared everyone.
"Look, even if I knew how to get us out, it would be too risky, right now they don't trust us, they're expecting us to run at any chance we get, they're gonna have failsafes, which means we need to make them trust us enough to get rid of those failsafes so unless the fucking avengers come and save us, we're gonna be here awhile," nobody spoke after that, too caught up in the fact they could be here for years.
Mr Harrington was shocked, to say the least, sweet, innocent Peter Parker, his top student, came from a life of fighting and murder, he's also scared, scared of what's gonna happen to him and his students, the man did only say they were an incentive to get Peter to do what they want, but he was still worried.
"What did he mean by We're an incentive to get you to comply?" He asked.
"It means, if I don't do what they ask me to do, one of you are gonna die," Peter answered in short, there's no point in sugar coating things, that wouldn't do them any favours.
A couple hours later the door was slammed open and stralova walked in, three guards in tow, "get up, all of you, we're moving you to a different room," two of the guards walked over to Peter and hoisted him up, both tightly grabbing on to his arms as if that was enough to hold him back.
"Any funny business, and one of you gets a bullet between the eyes," stralova lead the way, peter and two guards behind him, the rest of his team mates and then the final guard.
As they were walking, Peter made sure to memorise the floor plan as much as he could just in case in came in handy later.
They walked for a few minutes and stopped outside an identical door to the last, the guard standing by opened it and they were rushed inside. This room was a lot bigger than the last, the walls, floor and ceiling were still white, the only difference was the big glass wall on one side, showing a big room on the other side.
The others had no clue what that room was but Peter knew it was a training room, he also knew the glass was one sided so whoever was in the training room, wouldn't be able to see them.
They were ordered to sit down and Peter was cuffed to the bar on the floor, they said nothing other than to behave with the threat of a bullet and left them to their own devices.
"What's that room?" Sally asked, pointing to the other side of the glass.
"It's a training room,"
Peter quickly took stock everything in the room, there was again, only one camera with no mic and there were two possible exits, the door and the glass, that one wouldn't be smart though, there's always someone guarding every exit in there so there would be no way out.
"They aren't listening," Peter informed them.
"And how do you know that?" Flash scoffed, forgetting for a moment who he was talking to until Peter turned to glare at him.
"Right, yeah, forgot," flash stammered.
Peter looked around the training room on the other side and realised there was a clock on the wall showing the time as ten forty am, he doesn't know if he's gonna be thrown back into his old life, but if he is, he has training in twenty minutes.
His suspicions were proven correct when fifteen minutes later, two guards were opening the door and removing Peter from the room. They took him to the bathroom and told him to do his business and get changed into the clothes that were left on the counter, he shuddered when he realised they were black combat pants, and skin tight long sleeve shirt and black boots. He quickly did as he was told, not wanting to cause any trouble, and let them lead him to room opposite the glass.
When the team saw the door to the training room open, they held their breath, they were nervous when they saw Peter being led into the room in all black with a blank face. The guards left him and another door opened. Peters expression faulted for a moment when she walked in but it was for a split second and no one noticed. Madame b walked in.
"Peter, Peter, Peter, how I've missed you," she tutted, smiling sweetly at the younger boy.
"I'm very disappointed in you, I thought you were loyal to the red room, clearly I was wrong, but at least you still have your conditioning," Peter didn't even realise that he had slipped into his stance, feet shoulder width apart, hands clasped behind his back, eyes on her chin. He was tempted to come out of it but he knew that would make things worse.
"It doesn't matter now, it's all in the past, we're gonna resume your training from where you left off, don't even think about disobeying, remember who's here with you," she patted his cheek and stood off to the side.
The team were speechless, they knew this woman wasn't as nice as she pretended to be, anyone could see that. They waited in anticipation for something to happen, so far Peter was just stood in the middle of the room.
A few moments later the door reopened and the guards were dragging in what appeared to be a young boy, he couldn't be older than twelve, he had tears running down his face and he was shaking, it was obvious he was terrified.
Almost as if Peter knew what was going to happen, he took a few steps back and got into a fighting stance.
"Бой!" They didn't know what she said, but the boys clearly did, the younger came running at him, throwing blind punches, Peter dodged them all and with one swipe of his legs, he had him pinned.
Peter knew what was coming next, he wishes he didn't, but he does. He looked over at Madame b expectantly, waiting for instructions.
She silently handed him a sharp knife.
The kids on the other side held their breath, they knew what was about to happen, but what they didn't expect was for Peter to take the knife, and then slit the kids throat without so much as a second thought. Everyone in the room was silent, not even their breaths could be heard. They were terrified.
Peter handed the small weapon over to the guards and stood up, turning to face the woman almost robotically, like it was muscle memory.
"Very good Паук, you may return to your room," the guards grabbed him and a few seconds later the door to their cell was being opened. They threw Peter in, not even bothering with the handcuffs and Peter re took his seat silently.
"I don't wanna hear it, if I didn't do it, then instead of that kid, it would've been one of you," their eyes scanned over his body, all of them choosing to ignore the blood splatters across his torso and neck.
"You just killed somebody," flash whispered.
"Do you wanna be next?" Peter asked, sweetly. Smirking when he frantically shook his head.
"Then I suggest you shut it, because if i don't do what they ask me to do, they're gonna take you all out, one, by one, that kill was simply just a tally added to the never ending chart, this has been my entire life, so if I were you I'd be grateful because if I hear one comment about it from any of you, I'll kill you with my bare hands myself," Peter doesn't want to scare them, but for them to survive in here, they're gonna have to do what he says.
"What's gonna happen next?" Ned asked, finally having the courage to speak.
"You guys aren't gonna be doing anything, but if I've been thrown straight back into things I have ballet in an hour, training was short today,"
"I can't imagine a bunch of assassins doing ballet, no offence," Betty laughed, nervously.
"None taken, the ballet is just a front because everything that goes on back here is illegal, obviously,"
"Do we get food? I'm starving?" Charles whined.
"Breakfast at seven, lunch at one, dinner at eight, so you'll get lunch when I get back,"
When nobody had any questions the room was back in silence, not having anything more to say. Peter was still dressed in his bloody clothes and no matter how hard he rubbed his neck, it wouldn't clean.
Soon enough the guards returned and took Peter from the room again, they lead him to the bathroom and he got changed into a white skin tight shirt and black athletic shorts. He did his business and left the bathroom. The guards are already becoming less intense, they aren't even holding him anymore.
Like muscle memory, Peter knew where to go, straight down the hall, left, left again and then the third door on the right.
He walked into the studio, ignoring the stares, and took his position by the bar.
The team always got scared when Peter had to leave, they've realised that without him here they have no one to protect them if something happens. They're all still in shock over the revelations from today, how can awkward and nerdy Peter Parker be an assassin?
The ballet class went by quickly, Peter learnt from a young age that it's best to get lost inside of his head during these classes, that way he can't feel the constant ache in his legs and feet from being overworked.
"Everyone go back to your rooms, Паук stay behind please,"
When everyone left, Peter walked forward and got into his stance once he reached his teacher.
"It's been a long ten months without you Паук, you're our best assassin and we really hope you stick with us," Peter was dismissed and made his way back to the cell, he's a little confused as to how he's already allowed to roam the halls by himself but he knows better than to think he's not being watched.
He gets to the door and the guard opens it, closing it tightly when he was inside.
"Do we get lunch now?" Mj asked.
"Give it ten minutes," he sat back down between Mj and mr Harrington and sighed when the pressure was off of his feet.
"How come you came in here alone?"
"The guards have stopped following me around, but don't get too excited, just because I'm not being taken everywhere doesn't mean we aren't being watched," before anyone could say anything else, the door reopened and in walked another guard.
"Up, lunch time," the class rose to their feet and walked out in a single file line, Peter in the front, mr Harrington in the back, it didn't take them long to reach the cafeteria. When they entered all eyes turned on them, more specifically, Peter. The newer kids were confused as to why everyone was staring. They've heard rumours that Peter was back, but nobody actually believed them.
They were led to a table in the back corner and told to sit and eat it silence
They quickly finished their lunch and Peter was told to lead them back to the cell with the reminder that if there's any funny business one of them is gonna die.
"Why was everyone staring at you?" Sally asked.
"Because they haven't seen me in ten months, they probably thought I was dead," they took their seats on the floor.
"Do you know what's gonna happen to us? surely they can't keep us here forever," Peter knows that the only way they're getting out of this alive is if they escape, they aren't just gonna let them back into the world knowing what they know, by the end of this they're either going to be dead, or being trained.
"I don't know," Peter lied, "but until I do know, you guys are gonna do exactly what you're told to do, they won't hesitate to kill you,"
They returned to sitting in silence, not finding anything to talk about when they're in the situation they're in.
"What's gonna happen tomorrow?" Mr Harrington asked.
"Wake up time is six thirty, breakfast at seven, you guys will probably come back here but I'll leave to go to school, at eleven I have training, at twelve I have ballet, at one it's lunch, at two thirty I have weapons training, at four thirty I'll come back here for a couple of hours and then at eight we have dinner, then lights out at nine thirty," Peter explained.
"So we're just gonna be sat in here all day for the foreseeable future?" Flash frowned.
"Probably,"
The rest of the day went by quickly for Peter, he did his weapons training, they had their dinner and now they're back in their cell waiting for the lights to go.
"How are we supposed to sleep like this?" Cindy whined.
"I've never slept in a cell before, I usually have a bed but I'm guessing they don't wanna leave you guys alone," Peter sighed.
The room was large enough that they could all lay down, huddling for warmth.
"Can you tell us some stories? Maybe take our mind off of things," Mj asked, wrapped in peters arms.
"Okay, uh, when I was seven I went on my first mission, it wasn't anything big, I infiltrated an oscorp lab and had to steal some research, I was almost caught by one of the lab techs but I snook up behind him and knocked him out, I had to kick him in the balls just so I could reach his head," everyone laughed at the imagine of a little Peter knocking a grown man out, "I ended up having to kill him because of the no witness rule, but you know," Peter kept telling stories until everyone was finally dozing off, he was grateful he could do something to keep his friends calm even if it's talking about something he'd rather just forget.
——————
The team groaned when the lights turned on and the alarm sounded, not wanting to be awake so early. The door opened and Madame b walked in.
"Take them to the cafeteria, have your breakfast and then come to my office when you've brought them back," she left without another word and Peter led his friends to breakfast.
Breakfast today was plain oats with a glass of milk and an apple. Breakfast was silent like the past two meals had been and twenty minutes later Peter was standing in front of Madame b in her office.
"I'm sending you on a mission, everyone thinks I'm crazy to let you out, but I'd just like to remind you, the safety of your friends relies on your compliance, do you understand?"
"Yes, ma'am," Peter replied, eyes on chin.
"Good, head to the debrief room," he left the office and made his way to the debrief room, he's surprised they're already sending him on a mission considering he's been on the run from them for ten months and has only been back for two days, he decides there's no point in over thinking and enters the room, stralova and a couple of guards waiting.
"Take a seat Паук," he sat opposite them and waited for them to begin.
"This mission is gonna be a hard one, if we could’ve sent another soldier, we would, but we need our best, we’ve waited almost a year to bring you back here so you could complete this mission and time is running out, that’s why we’re sending you so early in your return,” stralova paused, Peter knew this mission was important if they waited so long just so they could send their best.
“Your mission is to infiltrate the avengers compound, we want you to break into Tony Starks lab and steal the blueprints for the arc reactor, get in, get the blue prints, get out, he has an Ai that controls the building so when you get in you’re gonna plug this drive into his computer,” he slid over a usb stick, “this will turn his Ai off for fifteen minutes, if you take any longer, you’re caught, do you understand?” Peter nodded silently, he hates the fact that he’s excited to be going to the avengers compound.
“You’re clothes and weapons have been dropped off to your cell, you have thirty minutes to prepare, dismissed,” Peter left the room and hurried to his cell, the fact that they left a bunch of weapons with his class concerns him even if he knows they’ll be in a sealed box.
He entered the cell and everyone’s eyes instantly rose to look at Peter.
“What’s going on? What’s in the box?” Ned asked, frantically.
“I’m going on a mission, you guys are gonna be here by yourself for awhile, so do as you’re told and don’t give them attitude, I’m not here to protect you,” Peter explained, getting changed into his mission clothes.
“What’s the mission?” Betty asked.”
“Classified, they said it’s an important one and if they could avoid sending me into the field so early in my return they would, but apparently they need their best for this mission,” he finished getting dressed and opened the box to begin strapping his weapons to his body.
He ignored their stares and put two guns in his holsters, a knife in his shoe, one in his pocket and three attached to his vest, he made sure to grab some extra magazines before closing the box and sitting on the floor.
“Do you know how long it’ll take you?” Flash asked.
“The longest ill be gone for is two or three days, shouldn’t take me too long if everything goes to plan,” he answered the rest of their questions, ignoring the ones about where he was going.
“Why can’t you just tell us where you’re going?”
“Because its classified, the less you know right now the better,” Peter would tell them if he could, but he knew if he told them he was going to the avengers compound they would get excited and make him ask for help, that’s exactly what he’s planning, but he can’t tell them that and give them false hope, if he’s the only one who knows this plan, then it’s more likely it’ll work.
Soon enough the door was being opened and Peter was being led to the helicopter outside. Peters plan is to start the mission, but when he gets inside he’s not gonna insert the drive, he’s gonna remove his weapons and stand down.
The almost ten hour flight to the safe house went by quickly, they allowed him to sleep through it so he was energised and they woke him up an hour before landing to have a quick meal. The plan was for them to fly back to Russia and leave him in New York until the mission was complete, which he thinks is stupid but he’s not complaining.
The safe house was a few miles away from the compound so they didn’t have to be too discreet when landing.
They all got out of the helicopter and entered the house. It was small, only two rooms, one was a joint living room, kitchen and bedroom and the other was a bathroom.
“There’s enough food to last you for four days, there’s also extra clothes and weapons hidden in the bathroom,”
The guards reentered the helicopter and left the premises, leaving Peter to himself. It was eleven am in New York right now so Peter decided to do some recon before he planned the mission.
He left the house making sure the lock the door and began the three mile walk to the compound, peters thankful for his enhancements because without them he’s sure he would be fucked right now.
An hour later Peter was up in a tree, right in front of the compound, he saw a couple of cars outside so he knew that some of the avengers were home.
After two and a half hours of just sitting in the tree and watching, he only saw captain America and the falcon enter the compound, nobody else entered or exited in that time.
——————
Peter woke up at ten the next day, he knew this plan could end terribly but he also knew that if he wanted his friends alive and safe then he had no other choice than to go with it, he needs the avengers help.
He got dressed, attached his weapons, had a breakfast and was out the door within an hour, it was now eleven and he knew most of the avengers would be awake at this point.
It was twelve when he reached the compound, he knocked out the guards and climbed in through an open window, you’d think they would have more security than this.
He hopped onto the ceiling and crawled into the vents, making sure to be as silent as possible.
They left him a map of the compound and the vents so he knew where he needed to go to end up in the lab, he also knew that the possibility that someone was in there was very high, which he guesses worked out for him.
He carefully made his way through the maze, not wanting to blow his cover too early. When he got to the lab he peaked through the slats and saw Tony stark working closely on some type of circuit board, not wanting to startle him, he opened the small hatch and lowered himself onto the floor, he was slightly concerned when Mr Stark didn’t even look up and cleared his throat to get his attention.
As soon as he saw Peter, Mr Stark activated his wrist gauntlet and pointed it at Peter who raised his hands.
“Who are you and how did you get into this building?!”
“This is important, I’m supposed to be on a mission right now but I need you all to listen to me, especially Natalia Romanov,” Peter explained, carefully.
“What do you mean mission? You’re a kid,” Peter didn’t know what to say to that so he shrugged. “What’s your mission?”
“I was sent to steal your arc reactor blue prints,” before Peter could explain any further, the rest of the avengers were rushing into the lab, weapons in hand.
“What’s going on?” Captain America asked, confused.
“Yeah, why’s there a kid here?” Sam wondered out loud.
“Come on, I’m fifteen,” Peter whined.
“Yeah, a kid,” he scoffed, “what are you doing here?”
“Can someone just take my weapons and cuff me or something, my arms are starting to ache, I really need to talk to you, especially you,” Peter looked at the black widow.
Romanoff walked over and stripped Peter of his weapons whilst Rogers cuffed his hands behind his back.
“Let’s take him to the interrogation room,” Steve grabbed his bicep and led him down the stairs and into a room with a table, three chairs and a double sided mirror.
They cuffed Peter to the table and left the room, he honed in his hearing so he could listen it to what they were saying in the other room.
“What the fuck is going on?!” Clint asked.
“I don’t know, I was in the lab and he just jumped out of the vents, I didn’t even notice at first!”
“He said he has to talk to us, do you think it’s a trap?” Natasha questioned.
“There’s only one way to find out, who’s going in?”
The obvious answer was to send Romanoff in, so that’s what they did, she entered the room and took the seat opposite Peter.
“What’s so important that you had to break into the avengers compound to contact us?”
“I’m from the red room,” Peter said shortly, feeling guilty when he saw the brief panic on her face.
“No, Barton and I shut that place down years ago, that’s not possible,”
“So you’re trying to tell me I’ve been dreaming the last fifteen years of my life,” Peter smiled sadly. “Drekov and Madame B survived the explosion, they had enough funds to rebuild,”
“Fuck,”
“Yeah,” Peter huffed, “fuck,”
“Start from the beginning, from the moment you were born,”
“My parents were hydra agents, well that’s what they told me anyway, apparently I was only conceived to be their little experiment, when I was born my father used his research on me and when it was successful they sold me to the red room, I was one when that happened, they didn’t start training me until I was four, I went on my first mission when I was seven and for the next seven years it was just training and missions, when I was fourteen they sent me on a solo mission, I took that opportunity to run, I smuggled myself into the us and created false documents, I made a mistake though and went to school, I’ve always wanted to so I did, me and My decathlon team were on our way to a competition when our bus was hit off the road, me, my friends and our teacher were kidnapped and smuggled into Russia, at first I didn’t know where we were but I had my suspicions, it was the red room, they said they took them as well so that I would have a reason to stay in line and do what they say, so far they’ve made plenty of mistakes, they sent me on a solo mission two days after being back and they didn’t even sedate me on the way here so I know exactly where the red room is,” Peter explained, trying to word it as best as he could.
“What was your mission?”
“I was sent to steal the arc reactor blue prints,”
“And why would you get caught? We could send you to prison for the rest of your life,”
“I don’t care about me, this has been my entire life, my friends don’t deserve to be dragged into this just because I made a dumb decision to go to school, if it was just me that was taken, I would’ve accepted the fact I was never gonna escape this life,” Peter really hoped she believed him, his friends are relying on it.
“Okay, I believe you,” Peter released his breath, not realising he was holding it and slumped into his seat.
“Steve, come and un cuff him, let’s go to the debrief room,” Peter was released and they led him to the debrief room. Peter was seated between the two super soldiers and the discussion began.
“Do you know the coordinates?” Clint asked.
“No, but I can tell you everything that’s around it,” Peter described everything within a two mile radius and soon enough Friday found the location of the room.
“We need a plan,” Steve moved to the front of the room and got started.
“What’s your name?”
“Peter,”
“Okay, we have to take Peter, as much as I hate the idea of bringing a kid into this we have to,” Steve sighed.
“Uh, not to sound like a dick, but this kid has been training at the same place as Romanoff for his entire life, he could probably take most of us down before we even realised something was up,” Peter grinned at the remark and confirmed he could.
“Okay, Tony, Rhodey and Sam, you guys are gonna go in through the roof, the rest of us will take the ground and we meet in the middle, capture and kill,”
When they finished planning they suited up, gave Peter his weapons back and loaded the quinjet.
The flight to Russia was only gonna take them two hours according to Mr stark, which Peter thinks is awesome.
“Let’s go over the plan one more time, peters gonna sneak into the building first and find his friends so he can keep them safe, as soon as he gives us the signal we’re gonna ambush them, once everyone’s either knocked out or dead, peters gonna guide his friends out of the building and shield are gonna take over once we’re all back on the jet,” they settled in for the ride and Sam decided to fit in a quick nap.
“Would you have asked for our help if it was just you that they took?” Tony asked.
“I don’t know, I might’ve thought about it but I wouldn’t have had enough motivation to actually do it, the fact that my friends are trapped there gave me no choice, I had to take the risk,” Peter sighed.
“You’re friends are lucky to have you,” Steve commented.
“Not really, they wouldn’t be in this situation at all if it wasn’t for me,”
“You’re right, but it’s because of you that they’re getting out safe,” Steve patted his shoulder.
“I guess,” For the rest of the flight Peter kept to himself, only speaking when spoken to, he can’t stop thinking of all the ways this could go wrong, if he gets caught whilst he’s in the building they’re gonna know somethings wrong if the helicopter hasn’t returned, someone could get to his friends before he does and kills them all.
“Hey, I can hear you overthinking this from over here, calm down, everything’s gonna be fine,” Tony smiled, Peter nodded and tried to relax.
Clint landed the jet out of sight and they made their way up to the building. Scanning the building, Peter found a vent on the side and after Steve finished taking the guards out, he boosted Peter up and he climbed through the vents. It took him a while but he eventually found the room where his friends were and after doing a quick scan he deduced that they were alone and they would be for awhile considering they were asleep and it was dark outside.
He quietly lowed himself and dropped onto the floor silently, “I’ve found them, you can come in now,” Peter whispered into his com.
“Copy that,”
“Mr Harrington,” Peter shook him.
“Peter? What?” Peter put his finger to his lips silencing and moved on to wake the rest of his class.
“What’s going on?” Betty asked, groggily.
“I need you all to stay still and quiet, everybody move to the back of the room and stay there,” once everyone did as he said he handed a gun to mr Harrington and took position, standing protectively in front of them.
“Peter? What’s happening?” Mj asked.
“We’re getting out of here, my mission was to infiltrate the avengers compound and steal some blue prints, but instead I got myself caught so I could get their help,”
Peter was cut short when the intruder alarm started blaring, he re took his position and waited, moments later a guard slammed the door open and Peter didn’t even give him time to think before he slammed the butt of his gun on his head and knocked him out. He dragged his body into the cell and closed the door again.
“Betty, watch him, if you see him move, tell me!”
“Peter, are you still safe?” Tony asked.
“Everything’s good, only one guard has come in but he’s knocked out and in the room with us so no one will suspect anything,”
“Good, cap can we get an update? we’re almost at the middle,”
“We’re almost at the middle too,”
The atmosphere in the cell was so tense you could cut it with a knife, everyone was holding their breath, terrified for their lives.
“Shit!” Nat said.
“What? Are you okay?” Steve asked frantically.
“I’m fine, drekov and Madame B just escaped by helicopter,”
Peter tried not to let that get to him, right now it was for the best, he knew with the both of them gone, it would make peters job of getting them out easier.
“It’s all clear Peter, let’s all head to the jet,”
“Okay, everyone stand up, they said it’s all clear but they could’ve missed someone, stay light on your feet and don’t say a word,” Peter slowly opened the door and looked both ways before leading his class through the maze of the hallways, he knows them like the back of his hand.
They were just about to turn a corner when Peter heard footsteps coming their way, he held up his hand signalling them to stop and he waited.
A second later a guard was running around the corner, Peter wasted no time in taking him down, he was obviously surprised because he was out by the time he realised what was going on.
They kept walking and stepping over bodies when finally they got to the side door by the vent Peter entered through. He swung the door open and was met with captain America waiting, his shield still in his hand.
“Is everybody okay?” Peter confirmed everyone was fine and they followed him to the jet where Bruce began checking everyone over.
“I’m gonna call all of your parents so they know you’re okay, Peter come with me,” Tony led him to a separate room of the jet and they both sat down at the small table.
“Do you have anyone I can call?”
“No, I live by myself in queens,” something in Tony’s expression shifted but Peter chose to ignore it.
“Okay, because of the situation shield is gonna take this case off of the police’s hands, as for you, we can get you pardoned due to the circumstances so you’ll be able to walk free, it’s the same situation with Bucky and Nat,” Peter nodded, relieved he wouldn’t be spending the rest of his life in the raft and let himself finally relax for the first time in fifteen years.
He sat in silence as Tony made calls to all the parents and sent drivers to each of their houses to bring them to the compound.
When he was done the pair re entered the main part of the jet and Tony asked Steve if they could talk.
“Is everything okay?” Steve asked.
“Yeah everything’s fine, I’ve just contacted all their parents and they’re on their way to the compound,”
“So what’s up?”
“Peters fifteen, he lives alone in queens,” Tony sighed.
“He lives alone?” Tony nodded.
“Maybe we should move Peter into the compound, he could be a valuable member to the team if we need him and until we find the two runaways he’s still in danger, the compound is the best place for him,” Tony convinced Steve.
“I agree, I think that’s a good idea,”
“You do? Wow, I thought it would take a lot more convincing than that,” he laughed.
“Let’s discuss it with him when we get home,” they joined everyone else and Tony took a seat by Peter who was practically asleep on Mj’s shoulder who was also asleep.
A couple hours later they were touching down at the compound and they were entering the building. As soon as they walked in, the parents rushed over and pulled their kids into bone crushing hugs, Peter looked away and tried not to feel too jealous, how come all these kids get a loving family and all i got was a life of violence and murder? He though glumly.
Tony noticed peters mood drop and swung his arm around his shoulders, hoping to make him feel comforted.
“How about we head upstairs, I need to talk to you,” they entered the elevator and made their way up to the common area in silence, Tony’s arm still around peters shoulders.
“Sit,” Peter took a seat at the island and took his jacket off before resting his head in his arms.
“What did you want to talk about?”
“Me and Steve had a little chat on the jet, and we think you should move into the compound, you’d still be able to go to school like you wanted, you’ll be a great asset to the team if needed, you’ll have your own room in my penthouse and most of all, you won’t have to take care of yourself anymore Peter, you’re a kid and you were dealt the worst cards in life, this will give you the chance to actually be a kid,” Peter couldn’t believe what he was hearing, ever since he was little he’s dreamt of living a normal life, one where he can just be a kid, not have to worry about surviving the next mission or getting on the wrong side of his superiors.
“Really?” He whispered.
“Yeah Peter, I know in the media i come across as a grade A asshole, but I’m not, don’t tell anybody though,” Peter laughed, “so, what do you say? Wanna move into the compound?”
“Yeah,” Peter whispered, holding his tears back. “Yes please,”
“Yeah?” Tony grinned, “we’re gonna have a great time kid,”
Peter didn’t stop smiling for the rest of the night, his prayers were finally answered and he was safe and out of that place for good, he finally had somewhere to call home and he finally had his people. He’s never felt happier.