“Ned, Ned, can I help you with your X-Wing Starfighter set when we get home?” Kale asked. Ned shook his head with a smile. “Sorry kiddo, but today’s a Friday, remember? You have to go with Mister Happy so that Peter and Spidey can go see Mister Stark.” Kale pouted.
“Okay Ned. . .” Kale climbed into the car, pulling out a Rubix Cube to occupy their attention. Happy never liked interacting with them, but according to their headmates, they shouldn’t use that as an indicator. He didn’t like talking to any of them, because he just wasn’t a chatty man. They hummed while concentrating on their cube. Red with red, green with green, blue with blue. . .
They solved the cube, and rescrambled it. They did this a couple of times before getting bored. They knocked on the black glass - lightly. Happy didn’t like it when they knocked on the glass really loudly. He didn’t roll it down. They knocked again. He didn’t roll it down. They knocked a third time, and this time, the air started smelling funny. They took a deeper sniff, confused. They looked around, and forgot to keep trying to detect the source of the smell when they saw that their arm hair was raised. They tried to smooth it down, and it just rose up again.
They giggled, and kept trying to smooth it down, making a game out of it. It didn’t occupy them for very long, though. The smell was getting stronger, and they were starting to feel dizzy. They knocked on the glass even harder.
“Mr. Happy?” They cried out. “Mr. Happy, I don’t feel so good!”
The smell was overwhelming now, making their eyelids flutter. The car came to a stop, and they pulled at the car handle weakly. Luckily, it still opened, and when they stumbled out, they were surrounded by men wearing a symbol of a red octopus. It tickled something in the back of their brain, but they didn’t know what. The men sent a shiver down their spine, and their breath started speeding up. “Mr. Happy?” They called out again. “Mr. Stark?”
The watch on their wrist lit up, and a voice came out of it. “Underoos? Do you know where you are?”
Kale sniffled. “I, I don’t know who Underoos is, but I’m lost and Mr. Happy isn’t here and-” They got cut off when one of the men lunged towards them. They yelped and jumped backwards, landing on top of the car. “And I’m surrounded by mean people who have the weird octopus symbol!”
“Hey, look, it’s going to be okay kiddo. Just see if you can find a way out and we’ll be right there.” Kale looked around and spotted a tree within jumping distance from the car. The men who had surrounded them had been setting up a device, and it didn’t look like a good thing. They jumped into the tree, ignoring the shouts from the men. They jumped from tree to tree, running further into the wilderness that they had been brought into. Eventually they came across a cave, and they stopped to rest there.
“Mr. Stark? Are you still there?” They asked. The watch crackled to life once more.
“Yeah, I’m still here kiddo. I’m on my way with the rest of the Avengers, we’ll be there in five minutes.” Kale perked up.
“Avengers?” They wriggled in excitement.
“Yeah, everything will be okay. We’re almost there, just hold on a little bit longer.” As he uttered those words, they heard a small buzzing noise, almost like a roar, but not quite. A small jet hovered by the cave entrance, and a man covered in red and gold armor flew out. He landed in front of Kale, and the armor quickly retracted. The man grabbed them by the shoulders, checking them over. “Peter, are you okay?” He questioned.
Kale blinked. “I- ‘m not Peter, he’s. . . resting? But I can get him back for you if I try really hard. I just, I just want my Auntie.”
Tony blinked. “Look, I don’t really know what you’re talking about, but it’s all going to be okay kid. If. . . if you’re not Peter, then. . . Who are you?”
“My name’s Kale. Do you know if the car is still safe? I left Spider-Man’s suit there.” Tony nodded. “The car was left intact. We grabbed your stuff, it’s in the Quinjet. Steve?”
Steve went back into the Quinjet with a dark blue backpack. “Here’s your suit.” He said, looking at them in confusion. Kale grabbed the backpack and pulled the suit out. They could feel themselves fading into the back of their headspace as they pulled the mask on, and as Spider-Man came to the front. He nodded at Steve.
“Thank you Cap. Mr. Stark, I’m very sorry that you had to find out this way, I promise I’m still qualified to be Spider-Man, please don’t take the suit away!”
Tony gave him an appraising look. “This isn’t Kale anymore, is it?”
“No, it’s Spider-Man. If I get too stressed, Peter might front or co-front.”
Steve interrupted. “I’m sorry, but I’m lost. What’s going on here?”
Spider-Man’s hands came up to his head, and massaged his temples. “Yeah, it’s no problem, I can explain. As a child, you have different. . . personalities? I guess that’s a good word for it. They fully integrate by the age of ten, but this body was subjected to a lot of trauma before then, so they weren’t able to. Some of us hold the trauma, and some, like Kale, are there because. . . They’re innocent.They’re meant to get the childhood we never got. They’re there to be able to live their life. I’m William. I’m one of the protectors, so I take over when someone’s been forgetting that we have a higher metabolism and actually need sleep, or when someone’s really stressed, or when I need to explain. . . All of this,” He gestured to his body in general. “To someone. And because Kale didn’t fully realize how much danger they were in, I didn’t come out before. Spider-Man is still clear to be an Avenger, right?”
Tony nodded. “Of course he is, and Peter is still clear to work in my lab. Peter is the one who hangs around in my lab, right?” William nodded.
“Yeah, Peter loves it there. It’s become a safe space for him, and it’s even a positive trigger at this point!”
Tony smiled. “I’m glad. Come on kiddo, let’s go home.”
William nodded. “Okay.”
And they got on the jet.