Chapter 10
Peter let out a breath as he slid the window shut and hurried down the wall. He wasn't sure where he would go from here. He had no money and no real destination.
All he knew was that he couldn't stay.
Making his way down the dark alley, he paused as his Spider Sense hummed lowly at the back of his mind. He scanned the area before continuing towards the opening. The close he got, the more his Spider Sense tingled.
Prepping for anything, Peter reached the mouth of the alley, only to find his way blocked as a large figure moved in front of him.
"A little late out, isn't it kid?" The man's deep voice filled Peter's ears.
Tightening the hold on his bag's strap, Peter narrowed his eyes.
"Why don't we have a little chat about curfews."
The man leered as he moved into the alley, causing Peter to retreat. The shadows of the alley masked the man's features, causing a sense of calm to wash over him.
If the man's face was masked, so was his.
Luring the man further back, Peter let his bag slip off his back. The soft thud of it hitting the ground seemed louder than it should have in the late hour.
"There's a good boy. Now, I think you deserve a punishment for being out."
As the man reached out for him, Peter moved. Grabbing the man's arm, he threw him to the ground, straddling his waist and punching the man's face.
Pushing up, the man threw Peter off, grabbing his by his collar and grinding his face into the rough brick of the building.
FIGHT!
The voice roared, causing Peter to shove himself off the wall, head-butting the man in the nose. The man yelled, grabbing at the appendage, and noting the falling blood.
"You little shit!" he yelled, charging at Peter.
Using the man's own momentum, Peter grabbed him by his outstretched arm, and slammed him against the building wall, pushing his arm into the man's neck. The man gasped, fingernails making claw marks across Peter's arms in an attempt to get free.
Peter glared as he pushed harder. His skin burned.
"Listen to me you pervert." Peter sneered, his voice deeper than he had ever hear it.
"This moment has been coming for you for a long time I feel."
He looked hard into what he could make out of the man's terrified face, then everything went black.
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Pietro shot up in bed as Wanda's scream filled his ears. Stumbling out of bed, he ran to the bathroom, flinging open the door to find Wanda on the floor, looking at her arms with wide eyes.
Following her eye line, Pietro froze.
Wanda's arms were littered with claw marks and bruises. Her face had several marks running down her left cheek. If they could have bled, hers and face would have been covered in it.
"Pietro!" Wanda cried, tears running down her face as she held her arms up.
Pietro ignored the sting to his knees as he hit the floor and pulled her into his arms. He didn't bother to check himself, knowing the marks would be on him as well.
"What's happening!"
The twins looked up as Clint and Natasha burst into the room, the other Avengers behind them. The group gasped as they took in the bloodless scratches littering thier skin.
Frowning, Natasha knelt down, looking over their arms and faces.
"They're healing, but they still look bad."
"Meaning Peter looked even worse at some point." Clint sighed.
"Didn't you do a check on the group home?" Steve frowned, looking at Tony. "Is it possible they weren't as honest about the kids there as they seemed?"
"I highly doubt it. I had FRIDAY do a serious search of any word about the place." Tony shook his head. "None of the kids have ever been reported with having anything other than normal bruises kids get."
Steve's frown turned to where Wanda and Pietro were being looked over by Natasha, and now Clint.
"The kids dealt with enough. He doesn't need a bully."
"Don't worry, Steve." Pepper said, looking at him. "I'm going to go check things out."
"Maybe I should go with you." Sam said. "I might be able to get Peter to talk."
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The sun hadn't long been up as Pepper, Sam drove out towards the group home Peter had been sent to.
"I don't suppose you have a cover story for showing up unannounced?" Sam asked, looking over at her.
"I'm adopting him. I think I can ask to visit with him."
"Yeah, but it's pretty early for a drop in."
Pepper frowned. Sam was right. It was definitely going to look strange. By the time they had left the shaken Maximoff twins, the marks had started to fade. Peter wouldn't have any by the time they got there.
"Maybe we should wait another hour." Pepper sighed. "I'm just worried."
"It's ok Pepper, we all are. I left Steve busting bags in the gym."
"Yeah, Tony retreated to his lab when I told him I was leaving."
"Nat and Clint have the twins. I just hope more damage hasn't been done. The kids already fragile." Sam shook his head. "Even if he's willing to talk, it's going to take some serious sessions to really help him. Of course, being around Wanda and Pietro might help. It also won't hurt that there are soulmates around the compound."
"Well, we should probably all work on being more active in showing our care. Natasha and Clint have been to busy for Nat to be with Steve or Clint to talk about Laura and the kids. Peter needs examples of loving couples and friends." Pepper nodded.
"You wouldn't even know they had soulmates with how things have been lately." Sam shook his head. "Once we have the kid though, it needs to be obvious."
The two fell silent, both lost in their own thoughts and worried for the young spider-kid they were about to take in.
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Wanda watched her arms as the last of the marks faded. Looking over at Pietro, she could once again see his clear skin as well. Waking up and going to the bathroom to find them had been terrifying.
What was happening with Peter?
The really strange thing though, was the fact she hadn't.....felt anything. There hadn't been any strong emotions from Peter when it happened. Not any she had felt anyway.
While she loved Natasha and Clint, she desperately wished they give her and Pietro some time alone.
"Come on, Wanda." Pietro smiled, holding out his hand to her. "Let's go for a little walk to calm down."
Wanda smiled. They always did know what the other was thinking.
"Are you sure you want to be alone right now?" Clint asked, his brow furrowed.
"Yeah. It's ok." Wanda smiled before following her brother out the room.
Clint watched them go with a frown.
"They'll be fine." Natasha said, patting him on the shoulder. "Now, let's go have a better look at that file."
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"You didn't feel anything either, did you?" Pietro asked once they were out of earshot of the two spies.
"No. No emotions considering the damage."
"We shouldn't have let Pepper and Sam leave us behind." Pietro sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We should have went with them. We're not doing all we should be."
"We can't move to fast. We've all seen how he reacts. Our mate needs a lot of patience and care. I want to cuddle him as much as you, but he's not ready for that." Wanda sniffled at the admission.
"No, but we can definitely be more attentive to him." Pietro said, face hardening in determination. "We'll pay attention to every detail. The more we can pick up on things that trigger or calm him, the better we can help him. He needs to understand nothing he does could push us away."
Wanda smiled, agreeing with her brother, before taking his hand and walking briskly.
"Where are we going?" Pietro asked, raising his eyebrow.
"I just realized how we can really help." Wanda smirked, a wicked idea unfolding in her head.
The two stopped outside of Clint's room before walking in.
"What are we doing in here?"
"We're going to find an outfit for you, then we're going to Natasha's for me." Wanda said, rummaging through Clint's closet.
"What?" Pietro shouted.
"Hush!" Wanda huffed, pulling out a duffle bag and carefully looking through it. "Clint and Nat keep disguises here sometimes. Throw this on."
Pietro looked as a short, brown wig and a case of contacts were thrown at him.
"Go put those in and that on. I'm gonna go check Nat's room."
"What is happening?"
"Just get ready and trust me. I promise you'll understand once we're on our way."
Sighing, Pietro took his items and followed Wanda out the room.
As Pietro went to the bathroom to put in his lenses, Wanda smirked as she made her own change in Natasha's room.
They hadn't been able to do much for Peter yet, but things were about to change.
Peter may have spent a good portion of his life believing he wasn't worth anyone's time, but that wasn't going to be the case anymore. They would make sure he understood just how important and loved he actually was.
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"This is disgusting." Clint growled, slamming another report down on the desk. "You'd think this kid was the devil incarnate with all this paper work."
Natasha sighed as she ran her hand down her face.
While it was true that they themselves hadn't had any interactions with Peter, she had studied Spider-Man closely. People didn't generally fool her. Sure, it would have been nice to have access to his face, but the boy's body language, speech patterns and tones told her a lot about him. Despite his act of confidence behind the mask, there was also insecurity there.
An honest insecurity.
One that didn't come from being the type of person described in these reports.
Peter Parker was a child in desperate need of help, and what type of heroes would they be if they didn't give it to him?
"Listen to this."
Clint's voice cut through her thoughts.
"It comes with great sadness that we will no longer be able to house Peter. After several months of disrespectful behavior, we thought things were getting better. We were very pleased with his progress. It seemed having a firm hand with him was working."
"I bet I can guess what type of 'firm hand' they had." Clint glared as he continued reading.
"We were devastated to find that Peter was being physically abusive to our son. As the older of the two by four years, we have taught our son to be gentle with those younger. It has become apparent though that Peter has been taken advantage of our son's sweet nature, and has been abusing him. There have been cases of bruises on our son's arms that look to be sustained from being shoved around."
"I'd be more willing to bet they were from being shoved off."
"We cannot allow this type of violence against our child to continue."
Clint huffed as he pushed the paper away from him.
"This one isn't any better." Natasha frowned. "It's just a list of things they claim about him."
"Violent. Disrespectful. Ungrateful. Doesn't follow directions. Doesn't play well with other children. Shows no signs of remorse for actions."
"It goes on."
"This is ridiculous. If this kid was really this bad, he should have some sort of juvenile record. With all the accounts of 'violence', there's no way at least one of these families didn't call the cops." Clint said, leaning back in his chair. "There's nothing in here but lists of places he's lived and letters from the families. If he had spent any time with the cops, there would be a record of it here."
"This agency should be shut down. Peter's file wasn't the only one this full. How many of the others were full of crap like this?" Natasha scoffed, shoving all her papers into the folder.
"I'm done sifting through Peter's file. It's just getting redundant. None of these things were read, obviously. If they had actually looked at any of this, Peter would have been sent for some type of evaluation. He clearly was not."
"I just wanna go home and hug my kids, Nat." Clint sighed.
"Once we get Peter back, I'll take care of things here. Maybe Steve and I could bring the twins and Peter out for a weekend."
"I'll never turn down some free labor." Clint grinned as Natasha punched him in the arm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steve let out a heavy breath as he fell onto the bench. He was drenched in sweat and only mildly relieved of his frustrations about Peter.
Wanda and Pietro had looked horrible, and considering the time they found them, Peter's wounds had probably been far worse when he first received them.
Who was hurting this poor kid now?
Tony was positive the group home was a good place, but kids could be sneaky and mean.
While the workers may genuinely care about the kids there, it didn't mean there weren't bullies creeping around. It didn't matter that Peter was Spider-Man. The kid was far to protective of his alter ego to risk exposure by over defending himself. Pushing someone off him was one thing, but actually fighting back was another.
While Steve had never disliked children, he could honestly say he had never had one pull at his heart strings like Peter Parker.
He just wanted to see the young hero smiling.
He knew Wanda and Pietro would bend over backwards to see him happy, and the rest of the team would be there to support them.
Standing up, he made his way to the showers. He wasn't sure what Pepper and Sam would find when they arrived at the home, so he wanted to make sure he was ready if they needed him.
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"Wow." Sam said, stepping out of the car. "Tony really did good by the kid."
The group home was a medium size building, but the outside was clean and it was located in a good part of town.
"We wanted to make sure he was well taken care of until we got him back." Pepper nodded, making her way towards the doors.
She was reaching her hand out to the knob when the door opened to reveal two officers and a rather frazzled looking woman.
"We'll get the word out and let you know as soon as we find him." The officer said, giving the woman an encouraging smile.
"We've never had this happen before!" The woman sniffled. "I'm very worried about him."
"We'll find him."
The two officers nodded before turning to see Sam and Pepper waiting at the door. They both blinked in surprise before stumbling over apologies for taking up the doorway and compliments to them both.
It took a few minutes, but finally the officers left, leaving Pepper, Sam and the worker alone.
"I-I'm sorry Ms. Potts." The woman frowned. "This might now be a good time for you to visit."
"I've come to check on Peter. I just had this feeling I needed to see him."
The woman looked at her a moment before bursting into tears.
"We-we don't know where he is!" she cried. "He went to bed last night and was gone this morning! John and Alex, his roommates, said they didn't hear anything!"
Pepper froze as the woman continued to cry and Sam moved to comfort her.
Peter was gone?
He left?
He had nowhere to go!
Was he even capable of surviving on the streets on his own? He was only 15 and even though they hadn't really discussed his abilities, she couldn't help but wonder if his metabolism operated a quickly as Steve's. If it did, there would be no way Peter could survive. He was already malnourished as it was.
"We don't even know how he got out!"
Pepper heard the woman's voice come back.
"He was on the top floor! He couldn't have gone out the window! That means he managed to get past all of us and leave!"
Sam gave Pepper a look over the top of the woman's head.
Peter had definitely went out the window.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You guys are here?" Steve asked, walking into the kitchen to see Natasha and Clint.
"Where else would we be?" Clint asked, raising an eyebrow with a grin.
"I just saw one of our cars leaving. Thought it might be one or both of you." Steve shrugged. "Where are Wanda and Pietro? I thought they'd be with you."
The three looked at each other a moment before dropping everything and running towards the garage.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Tony."
"Hey Pep. Is Spider-Baby ok?" Tony asked, sitting up from where he had been bent over the web shooters he had been upgrading to add to Peter's suit.
A suit he had found, along with the first one, stuffed into the cabinet in the bathroom. The bathroom Peter had used before leaving.
"We have a problem, Tony." Pepper's calm but strained voice came through the speaker.
"I don't like problems, Pep." Tony frowned.
"Peter's gone, Tony!" Pepper's voice cracked. "We have no idea where he's gone. The police were here when we arrived. They're already out looking for him."
Tony sighed, running his hand down his face.
He'd be lying if he said he was surprised. He knew when he found the suits Peter didn't plan on returning. Hell, he had looked like he had wanted to bolt as soon as he was aware of where he was. He had, in fact. Who knows where he would have ran if he hadn't run into Steve. Not that it would have really been an issue. FRIDAY knew everything.
"It's ok, Pep." Tony said, standing up and stretching. "I'm on it."
"What do you mean you're 'on it'?"
"Just trust me. I'll have the kid back before you know it."
Before she could reply, FRIDAY disconnected the call.
Tony pulled out his phone as he made his way towards his car, taking note of the fact that two vehicles, besides the one Pepper and Sam had taken, were gone.
Shrugging, Tony slid behind the wheel of his Audi and turned the key.
"FRI?"
"Yes, Boss?"
"Activate Charlotte's Web protocol."
"Finding location....location found. Coordinates displayed on screen."
Tony looked at the hologram from his phone with a sigh. He was destroying the kid's trust in him at every turn.
He had been worried after his little conversation with Peter and the twins in his office, making sure to install a GPS in the lining of the boy's bag while the social worker had taken him aside to talk.
"Alright, FRIDAY, let's go get our little spider."
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"Are you planning on telling me where we're going.....and why you feel the need to drive so fast!" Pietro shouted as Wanda weaved in and out of traffic.
"Are you kidding me? You, of all people, are questioning me about speed?"
"Excuse you! When I speed, I'm running and in control! Not in the passenger seat of a metal deathtrap with a maniac behind the wheel!"
"It's only a deathtrap if you don't know what you're doing." Wanda huffed.
"You don't know what you're doing! You've driven absolutely nowhere in this city! We've only driven on tracks around the compound!"
"And yet I'm doing it so naturally." she smiled.
"You almost hit that car back there!"
"They should stay in their own lane then!"
"They were!"
Wanda scoffed as she continued taking them through traffic.
"Where are we even going? And why do we need these stupid disguises?"
"Because my magic can only do so much. I can't alter security footage."
"Security footage?"
Wanda bit her lip as their destination came into view.
"Wanda, what are we doing?"
"We're......going to get in trouble with the others."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"How could we lose them?" Clint groaned.
"She's a better driver in the city than I thought she'd be." Steve shrugged from the back seat.
Natasha smirked as Clint threw his hands up next to her.
"Well, I think we're wasting our time now."
"I know Natasha Romanoff is not giving up." Clint gasped.
"If I thought they needed me, I wouldn't. They obviously know where they're going, and they know what's at stake."
"But-"
"We just gotta trust them to make good choices." Steve smiled, patting Clint on the shoulder.
The car was silent for a bit before Steve finally spoke.
"I know this is going to sound more like something Clint would ask than myself but,"
Clint turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow while Natasha looked at him through the rearview mirror.
"Have either of you ever wondered why Wanda never made the car she was driving fly?"
Clint gasped in offense he hadn't thought of it first.