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Chapter Text

November 7th, 2000

...Many years ago...

 The Red Room was no place for emotions. It was no place for love. It was no place for children to grow up in. That's why when the girls graduated, they took away the one thing that could get in between a woman and their mission. 

A child.

 Or more specifically, the ability to have children. As soon as they were 18, the year of graduation, they would be wheeled off for the surgery. Never allowed to have a family of their own. 

 It's not like they would find a special someone due to what they were, no one would ever love them, and to top it all off, they took away children from them. 

 The most cruel punishment of them all, they would never be able to reproduce again, not allowed to settle down and live a normal life. 

 And that, right there, was probably the most difficult part that Natalia had to come to terms with. 

 Natalia Alianovna Romanov was just another girl in the Red Room. She barely remembers her family as it is. The only thing that she remembers is being sold. That day was just a distant memory but she could remember the feelings. The dread she felt, the sadness, the anger, the betrayal that seeped into all her bones from her own father selling her off. 

When she tries to remember her mother though, those memories that are buried in the depths of her mind feel somewhat warm, like when a person looks back on a loved one that they lost, and they come across a memory that makes them happy. 

That...feeling

But no matter how hard she tries, the young woman can never grab anything more than that feeling when thinking about her mother. She can't remember anything else. 

It never fails to bring her mood down just slightly...

 Natalia tried not to think about it all too much. If she did, all those emotions would come flooding back towards the surface of her mind and completely drown her. If her superior had found out about those emotions, they'd kill her off so fast. 

After all, they were the ones who taught her that emotions were weakness, and weakness would get you killed. 

 She tried to forgot, really she did, but with her graduation ceremony coming right around the corner, the memories were all she could think about lately. 

 Really, it was the only thing on the young woman's mind. 

 Memories of her father, memories of her mother, memories of loss...

 Fantasies of having her own family...

Even memories of her "fake" family back in 1995 in Ohio. 

Memories of her and her sister, her "dad" and "mom", even of those few kids that lived around them. 

Melina used to always say that pain makes you stronger, but Natalia isn't feeling that strong at the moment...

It was stupid and naive of her thirteen year old self to believe a word that woman said.

 For she knew in a few months, she'd never be able to have her own children, and that was probably the most painful part of all this. 

 She's surprised that she has actually kept it together for the most part. Of course, at night when everyone went to sleep, Natalia would sometimes stay up till the ungodly hours of the morn, where she would let a few tears slip past her many walls that she's built up over the years. 

 Where she would mourn for the loss of the one thing that she wished she could have. 

 It seemed though, the universe was listening to her silent pleas...

 Natalia was in ballet class when it happened. It was the beginning of November and there was only a few months away until she officially graduated. All the other girls were there too, practicing the fluid movements when Madame B walked into the room. 

 Natalia didn't let it show, but she was surprised. Anyone rarely ever saw one of the main Directors of the Red Room. The only time anyone would see the cold woman would be if there was an assignment they were going on or if they were in trouble.

 She knew the older woman wasn't there for an assignment though because she would never interrupt training for that, she'd wait till after. 

 So that meant someone was in trouble. 

 "Natalia, I need to see you." The woman said looking at the girl. As soon as the woman entered, everyone stopped what they were doing to give her the attention that she always demanded when she was in the same room. Even the instructor was looking at Madame before she spoke. But when those words left her mouth, the redhead internally winced, not knowing what she did wrong. 

 The instructor nodded and waved Natalia off, silently telling her to do what was asked. Without another moment of hesitation, she walked off towards the older woman still in her training clothes. They both made their way out into the empty hallways of the academy in silence, Natalia walking a few steps behind the woman, showing her respect. 

 After a couple moments of silence, the two women arrived at a viewing window that had a clear view of a laboratory below. Natalia could see a table in the middle of the room, there was different machines and tools scattered across the room but nothing stood out that much about it. 

 She wondered why they were there but she didn't want to disrespect Madame and get into more trouble. Luckily for her though, she didn't have to wait long since Madame spoke up after a few more seconds, "You are not in trouble incase you were wondering. You have been chosen for a special assignment." The woman said in the same cold detached voice she always had since Natalia had met her all those years ago. What the woman said though caught the attention of the younger girl. The teen would be lying if she said that she wasn't all that interested in what Madame was talking about. 

 She didn't need to speak her thoughts though, because Madame could already tell and continued on, "You have been hand picked for this assignment, since you're one of the most independent students we have here. You will have to be moved to a different wing of the building for isolation from the others. You'll be given a bigger room with the essentials in order to survive the many months you'll be there for." Madame said which only confused Natalia more. What would she be doing where she wouldn't be able to train with the others? Why was she getting a bigger room? Why was she being isolated for months. 

 Natalia's curiosity got the better of her and she risked talking for once without getting permission first. "If I may ask Madame, why? What is happening?" She asked the woman, hoping she wouldn't get reprimanded for speaking out without permission. Madame though, actually turned to look at her with a glint behind her eyes. Natalia had front row seats to see a split second of emotion pass through the older woman's eyes. Madame actually looked somewhat excited for this, whatever this was. 

Instead of answering her question directly, she started off with smiling towards the girl, which sent shivers down Natalia's spine, before talking to her, "As you know your graduation is coming up. We will be moving it up a few months in order for this assignment to be on time. Tomorrow morning, I will personally come to get you and bring you here, to the infirmary. Get a good nights rest, you'll need as much as you can get for these next upcoming months." Madame said, gesturing behind her to allow Natalia to go first. The younger did so without another word, silently making it to her room escorted by Madame. 

As soon as the two woman made it back to the room, Madame looked at her one last time, "I know you'll bring great honor to us, it's why I picked you for this assignment Natalia. Don't make me regret this." Without another word, Madame turned around and moved back down towards the hall, leaving Natalia to go into her room to rest while she could.

 She moved over to the bed and heaved a sigh. She had no idea what this was gonna be like, this new assignment but she was getting a feeling that this wasn't just a graduation ceremony. Something was different about it and she wished that she knew what it was. All Natalia could do was lay down and try to sleep as she thought about what tomorrow would bring her. 

 The next morning, she woke up five minutes before Madame came to get her. As soon as she got up from her bed, she quickly changed into a pair of clean pants and a black tank top. Madame didn't tell her to wear anything special, so she'd just put some training clothes on and if she asked her to change, she would. She sat there and waited until Madame walked in and stood in the doorway staring at her. "As soon as the ceremony is completed, you'll be transferred over to your new room where you'll be spending the next few months in. Please, follow me." The woman said. 

 "Yes Madame." Natalia replied, getting off her bed and following the Director out of the room towards the infirmary that she had shown to her yesterday. As soon as they got outside of it, Natalia could see there were a couple doctors waiting out there for them to arrive. The doctors and Madame led Natalia over to the metal table that was in the middle of the room and slowly pushed her down onto it. 

 They didn't waste anytime before they put a mask over her head and started to put her under. Natalia couldn't do anything as the gas quickly flowed into her lungs and knocked her out for whatever these people and in mind for her.

 As soon as she was sleeping Madame turned to look at the lead doctor, "Do you have everything you require for the procedure?" She asked. The doctor nodded and held up the small container of the only thing that was needed to complete this, the other half of what was gonna be made. 

 "It was very difficult to convince them to give us a sample Madame, but after much argument, along with Dreykov's...methods, they gave us enough to ensure that she would be fertilized this first time. Once we extract the egg and place the sperm with it, we can place the egg back into her womb to incubate. Everything should go according to plan." The doctor said. Madame nodded her head in acceptance, pleased that they wouldn't have to do this again. She knew it took lots of convincing to finally get Hydra to hand over the fluids from their prized asset, but Madame was nothing if but patient and persistent. She needed to have the perfect assassin. With her best Widow being the mother and the best of Hydra's Soldiers being the father, she would for sure have the best child. 

 It would already be enhanced from the mother, but nothing too serious. Her Widow's were only given a serum that helped them not age as fast and that gave them slightly more endurance. But with the father being the Winter Soldier, that child would be stronger, faster, better than anyone that she could have trained. 

 She'd make the child the perfect assassin just like it's mother...

 She'd mold the child into their perfect soldier, just like it's father...

 And when she was done, said child would be completely unstoppable...

Just another asset for Dreykov's master plan...

 Madame stayed in the room for the whole procedure, watching as they took the egg out of Natalia, watching as they fertilized it and as they put it back in the young woman's womb to be incubated. 

 After the doctors patched up Natalia, they placed her on the stretcher before starting to wheel her off towards her new room on the opposite side of the building, completely isolated from the other students. Madame opened the door for them to allow them entrance and to situate the young girl before she stood in the doorway and watched. 

 They placed Natalia on her giant bed and placed a blanket over her before they left the room. Madame stayed there for a few minutes though, just to observe. 

 She looked around the room. Taking notice of all the features of the room. The big bed that was in the corner of the room, the hardwood floor that had carpets covering different portions of it, the baby supplies that were in the other far corner of the room, the kitchen that was to the left of when you walk into the room and the living area to the right. 

 Madame smiled to herself...

 Yes, this would work nicely. All she had to do now was wait...

November 8th, 2000

Natalia woke up in a bed that was definitely not hers. She quietly groaned and rolled over on her side and caught a glimpse of the room she was in when she opened her eyes. It was a giant room, bigger than anything that's she's ever seen before. She could see a kitchen that was pretty decent sized, a living room in the middle of the room, but what caught her attention, was all the baby stuff in the corner to her right. 

 From what she could see from her position laying in her bed, there was a crib and changing table right next to each other, a shelf with what appeared to be diapers and wipes, another shelf on the other side of the changing table that had different toys on it, and a mini box that if she had to guess, was full of more toys.

 The sight of all that baby stuff really confused her. She didn't understand why it was there or why she was in a room with it, but she would try not to ask questions about it. One of her many problems after all was her curiosity, she knew if she didn't control it she would have gotten into a lot more trouble throughout the years. 

 It didn't mean she still wasn't curious...

 The young woman sat up from her bed and winced, bringing a hand up to her head, resting it against her forehead. She pulled the blankets off of her body and realized that she was still in her clothes from before the procedure. She went over to the other side of her bed where the dresser was and picked out clothes to change into. 

 Just a simple black shirt with black leggings. She moved over to the bathroom door that was opened and closed the door so she could change, not wanting to take the chance for someone to barge in and see her getting dressed.

 She walked out after cleaning herself up and went over to the table and sat down at one of the chairs. She knew that she'd be getting guests soon so she just decided to wait until they got there. Which gave her plenty of time to think about her current predicament. 

 She had no idea why she had to be in isolation for months on end, she didn't even know how many months she'd have to be in isolation for. She wasn't really looking forward to it though. It's not like she's the social type of person, but that didn't mean she didn't want to see her sister at all. 

 She and Yelena may have a constant competition going between them, but she still enjoys the younger girl's company. 

 After a few minutes, her mind traveled to the topic that was still confusing for her. She had no idea why there was baby stuff in this new room. Was it to taunt her? To dangle this in front of her face, saying how you'll never have your own family? 

 Was it a method of physiological torture? Natalia didn't know, she hoped it was neither of those options. She knew that she was strong and all, but the one weakness that she knew she'd never be able to get rid of was the topic of having a family. 

 That right there, would always hurt her. 

 She was broken out of her thoughts when her door opened and Madame walked through. She quickly straighten up and made sure all emotions were masked so the older woman wouldn't see them. Madame walked over and sat down opposite to Natalia at the table with a file in her hand. She looked at the younger woman before speaking, "I'm sure you have many questions about what yesterday was." She said. Natalia quietly nodded her head in confirmation. 

 Madame nodded her head and placed the file down onto the table and opened it. Natalia looked at the file, not knowing if Madame wanted her to take it or not. She got her answer when Madame gestured for her to take it though, so she picked it up and looked it over. The file was labeled under a Project LoneWolf, which confused Natalia a little bit. But she scanned the file and read through what it was supposed to be. As soon as she got to the description, she froze in complete shock. 

 'The best of the Widows will be the mother of the child. Instead of sterilization, one of her eggs will be fertilized and placed back into her womb to incubate for 9 months. This will happen in place of the graduation ceremony that all students have to take place in, but after the child is born, the sterilization will happen. This will be the first child that will be born form two enhanced people. The baby will stay with the mother in isolation for as long as necessary before it is ready to start its training.' 

 Natalia was still in shock while she looked over the rest of the information of the file. 

 Mother: Natalia Alianovna Romanov, Age 18, The Black Widow 

Father: Classified 

Conceived: November 7th, 2000

Expected due date: August 7th, 2001

Description: The baby will be enhanced at birth due to both the mother and father having a serum in their blood. The father has a variation of the Captain America serum with enhanced strength, speed, durability, reflexes, agility and healing. The mother has a serum that enhances endurance and makes the person age slower than any normal human. The child will be taught the basics from it's mother before it's of age where it can start its training. The mother has all necessary materials to raise the child in the isolation of the room. She will continue on with her training and assignments once the baby is born and will have the real graduation ceremony after too.

 Natalia looked up into the eyes of Madame, still in shock at what she was reading. There was no way that she was pregnant, was there? The Red Room completely forbid that sort of stuff, there's no way that they'd do something this risky, would they? 

  She hated how unsure she was...

 She looked down at her stomach and placed her hand along her naval. She thought she'd never get this chance, the chance to be a mother. But she was proven wrong, she was handpicked to be a mother. A burst of happiness spread through Natalia's body, thinking about herself becoming a mother. While it wasn't ideal, she'd still have her own family, her own blood, her own child. She didn't even care who the father was at the moment, this was gonna be her child and her child alone, no one else's. She'd raise the baby to the best of her ability and she'd never abandon her own blood, ever.

 Like her family did to her...

 "I'm pregnant." Natalia stated while looking into Madame's eyes, trying to cover her hidden happiness with the concept of having the one thing she thought she'd never have. Madame looked her over once before she nodded her head. 

 "You will stay here for the full nine months and even after that fact, this will be your new room. Once a week, supplies will be dropped off, more food, water and clothes. When they come, they will take your dirty clothes and clean them for the next week. This will continue when you have the child. Once a week we will bring more baby food, diapers, everything you'll need. More information will be revealed once we get closer to the due date." Madame said, picking up the file and starting to walk towards the door, leaving Natalia at the table.

 Before she walked out, she turned to look at the younger girl with the same cold stare that she'd had since the day Natalia arrived here, "You will not leave this room, do I make myself clear? We cannot risk the development of the child." Madame said. Natalia internally scoffed, like she'd do anything to purposely endanger the only family that she'll ever have. She'd make sure nothing happened to her baby, no matter what. 

 Even if she had to kill to ensure that, it's not like it was new to her anyways. She'd willingly use her skills to protect her baby rather than kill others just because Madame told her to do so. 

 God, less than a day since being pregnant and she already had so many different thoughts running through her head. 

 Thoughts that would get her in trouble...

 She nodded to Madame, indicating that she heard her and understood. Without another word, the older woman left and locked the door behind her, leaving Natalia all by herself with her unborn child. 

 She rubbed her hand across her stomach, looking at nothing in particular on the table, just stuck in her head. She knew the next nine months would be hard, especially since she was in isolation. But to her, she was playing this for the long haul because the result of this little project, would be totally worth it. 

 All of her pain would be worth it just to have a baby of her own...

December 14th, 2000

It's been about 5 weeks since Natalia has been pregnant and needless to say that she's already feeling the symptoms. She has been really exhausted recently and she had enhanced endurance so she doesn't easily get like that. The other sure sign that she is most definitely pregnant is her breasts have been sore for awhile now. Usually in the mornings when she first wakes up was when it's the worst. 

 It's only been a few weeks so she can't really tell that she's pregnant besides those symptoms. The one thing she can't wait to see is the actually proof that the child, her child, is here with her. The day when she can see the bump will be an amazing day that will probably cause her to cry. 

 From the hormones of course, she was the Black Widow after all, she didn't cry...

 Too bad she was proving herself wrong almost every night...

 She couldn't get over how she'd be a mother. She couldn't wait to have her baby in her own hands in eight months, where she'd sing it to sleep, comfort it when it cried, fed it when it was hungry, and play with it and offer all of her love and support. 

 She'd give it what her family never offered her...

 God, she was softening up so much. She was kinda glad the other students wouldn't be able to see her like this...

She was glad that her sister wouldn't see her like this the most though because god knows she would never let her live this down. 

 She didn't like how she kept referring to her unborn child as an "it" either. But she didn't want to call it a him or her yet. It was only a month along and was way too early to tell the gender. If someone was to ask her what she would have preferred for a gender for her baby, she wouldn't be able to tell you. She was fine with either a girl or a boy. The only concerns she had was if the baby turned out to be a boy, she had no idea how that would effect his stay at the Red Room. She knew that the only students here were female, so she hoped that they wouldn't discriminate her baby if he did decide to be a boy. 

 God, the image of a little boy wrapped up in her arms made her heart melt just a tiny bit more...

 A doctor also came by once a month to check out her progress. Her first appointment was a couple days ago. A couple doctors, two nurses and Madame all entered and let her lay down on her bed while they preformed an ultrasound and took some of her blood, just to make sure that she and the baby were all healthy. When she saw what would eventually be her baby, she almost cried in relief but she kept it all together until everyone had left. 

 That, was when she cried...

 But today she was sitting at her table around mid afternoon if she had to guess, eating her lunch while she was stuck in her head, thinking about how this would change her life forever. 

 "You know, mommy's gonna love you baby, so much... I wasn't really all that wanted growing up and I would never put my own flesh and blood through that. I'll always be right her for you, I promise." She said looking down at her stomach. She knows it's probably silly to talk to her child who is only 5 weeks old at the moment, but she didn't really care. Her baby was the only company she'd have for the next eight months so if she wanted to talk to him, she would. 

 Him...

 Maybe she did have a preference for the gender...

February 20th, 2001

She could finally see the bump...

 In the beginning of the month, she had saw the first signs of the bump, definite proof that she was for sure pregnant. Now, she already knew with all the other symptoms. Some of them have been really getting on her nerves recently though, like the cravings and the morning sickness. 

 But, it brought her an odd sense of comfort to actually see her child growing...

 Her routine was pretty simple everyday. She wakes up in the morning, sometimes later than most, and she starts to make breakfast. Sometimes it's only something easy like toast or a bowl cereal. But even then, the cereal is so bland that she will most likely cook something else. 

 They left her a cook book in her room so she could learn new things to make during her isolation in the room. She'll sometimes cook some eggs, make French toast or even pancakes. She's learned pretty quickly that the smell of grease and stuff will make her nauseous so she can't cook any of the bacon or sausage that was left in the room. She has also learned that apparently her kid loves blueberry waffles. 

 Her room has all of the modern tools to make anything that she would desire and that includes a waffle maker. The first time that she made waffles she added blueberries to it and instantly fell in love with them. She wasn't the only one though, five out of the seven days of the week she has cravings for blueberry waffles no matter what time of day it was. Not like she was complaining though, before she became pregnant she never got this good of food, ever. 

 She'd take cravings for blueberry waffles over nasty oatmeal any day of the week...

 Probably the most difficult part of all of this though is the emotions. She has trained all her life to block them out, to burry them and never dwell on them for too long. But being pregnant, her hormones are everywhere and they've brought up all those emotions to the surface of her brain, clouding all of her thoughts constantly. 

 It hurts...

 But at the same time, it feels right...

 She's all sorts of confused...

 She's actually had time to stop and think about what she's been doing all her life. Her training, her little assignments, the killing...

 It's all wrong...

 But she can't do anything about that now, she's trapped here and Natalia is no fool. She knows that if she acts out once the Red Room wouldn't be against using her child to keep her in line. They'd constantly dangle is fragile life in front of her and if she acted out, they wouldn't have a problem with taking the baby away from her.

 She wouldn't be able to live with herself if they did that to her. Took her child away from her when she realistically knows that the child that's gonna be born in a little less than six months will be her only family. She hasn't even met the kid yet and she already loves it with all her heart. 

 God, just the thought of them taking her kid makes so much anger surge through her lithe body...

 Natalia also has come up with a few names for the baby so far. She wants to be prepared since she doesn't know the gender yet, that comes in a couple months. 

 The names that she's picked out for her child is Pyotr Ivanovich Romanov if it's a boy, and Petronia  Irina Romanov if it's a girl. 

 Her mother intuition is saying it's a boy though...

 And Natalia Romanov is rarely ever wrong...

It was actually towards the end of February where she decided to start calling her child by its name. She didn't want to keep walking around and calling them it. That just didn't sit right with her. 

 She was sitting down on her couch reading a book when all of her emotions started to push through her barriers that she has made. All of a sudden she just started to cry right there, on her couch. She sighed before placing her book down on the little table to the side of couch and placed her hands on top of her little bump. 

 "You're really testing out mommy's strength aren't you little one." She chuckled wetly, bring one hand up to wipe a tear from her face. "You know, mommy hasn't felt anything like this in so many years, these people taught me how to conceal everything, don't let anyone know what my true emotions were. But now that I have you, I know I won't ever be able to be like that again, at least not how I was before. You're always gonna be my one weakness in this world Pyotr...and I'm completely fine with that." She continued to quietly cry staring down at her baby growing inside of her. 

 She knew that everything would be ok. Her baby would be born healthy, she'd get to spend time with him, and she'd get to watch him grow. 

 The only regret that she has is that he'd have to grow up in a place like this...

April 17th, 2001

It was a boy...

 Her little Pyotr was already five months along which meant she was halfway through with the pregnancy. Which also meant she only had four months until she could see her baby boy for the first time. 

 She relaxed against the headboard of her bed as soon as the doctors left the room. She got to see her baby and find out the gender of him so she was feeling so many emotions flow through her she could barely contain them. She had enough control though to wait until Madame and the doctors left before she let them out. 

 "I love you so much baby. Mommy already can't stand the thought of being without you, I can't wait to meet you." She said smiling down to her stomach. She liked to think Pyotr could hear her, so her habit of talking hasn't really gone away. 

 She shut her eyes and laid her head down onto the wall behind her bed, the smile never leaving her face. 

 After a few minutes of resting, she suddenly felt a jolt in her stomach which caused her eyes to shoot open and stare in disbelief at her protruding belly. 

 "Did you just...?" She whispered, not believing that she just felt a kick. 

 "Baby, Pyotr, if you can hear mommy can you give her a little kick again, I just wanna make sure." She said in a hopeful voice. Not even a second later the jolt came back and she could see her stomach move just a little bit. Her smile widened when she felt it again and there were tears in her eyes. 

 "I can tell you this right now, you're the best damn thing that will ever happen to me Pyotr, don't you ever forget that." She laughed down at her stomach. The only response she got was another kick to her stomach. 

 "Wow, you're a strong one aren't you? A fighter just like mommy." She said. She may not know this yet, but her child was indeed a fighter. After all, he was the product of two enhanced people. And whether Natalia wanted to admit it or not, her son was also like it's father. He did have half of his enhanced DNA inside of him, even if she still had no idea who he was.

 Of course, she wouldn't know until years down the road...

 "What're you in the mood for baby, huh? You want more waffles?" She asked playfully towards her stomach, getting a kick in response. She laughed before she got up off of her bed and made her way over to the kitchen to make some more waffles for herself and Pyotr. 

 She couldn't wait until she could actually hold her son in her own two hands and sit down and have a meal with him.

 Only four more months...

July 13th, 2001

It's been getting to the point where Natalia was having trouble sleeping at night now. With her being 8 months along already, her stomach is so big that it's really uncomfortable for the young woman to try and sleep during the night. Even if she doesn't fall asleep, she only gets a couple hours of sleep before Pyotr wakes her up and she can't fall back to sleep. 

 She hasn't even met him yet and she knows that her little baby will be a trouble maker. 

 "You sure don't make it easy for mommy." She said. Natalia had just woken up from her sleep again, this time only getting an hour of sleep before being awoken by Pyotr. She sighed before sitting up in her bed and threw her legs over the side, slowly getting up to grab a glass of water. 

 She made her way over to the cupboard and grabbed a cup before filling it up with water, taking a sip and letting the cool liquid run down her throat. After she was finished with her drink, she walked back towards her bed to try and get a couple hours of rest. 

 She sat down at the edge of her bed when Pyotr decided to give another kick in her gut, causing her to wince a little, "You just love beating up mommy huh? I'm just your little punching bag." She said, scooting back towards the head of the bed to rest her back against the wall. 

 God, she now knows why they didn't have her continue her training, her back is killing her. She can't wait for her back to stop hurting. 

 She can't believe that in less than a month she could finally get back to some sort of routine again, but this time she'd have a kid to take care of. 

 Every time she thinks of holding her child for the first time, it makes a wave of love and affection rush through the cold, calculated assassin's body.

 But there was times like this, where she wondered if the affections were mutual between the two of them. 

 "Jesus, you sure do pack a punch." She winced again when he kicked against her stomach rather harshly. God, he wasn't even born yet and she could already tell he'd be stronger than any normal human. 

 She sighed and looked down at her stomach. She knew that they'd have her son train to be just like her. She knew that they'd train him to be an assassin for them, to be the little obedient soldier that they always wanted. 

 And there was nothing she could do to stop it...

 They'd make him hide his emotions, they'd tell him that it was weakness, that he should push them all down and forget about them. 

 But when he's with her, she'll never tell him those things...

 She'll encourage his curiosity because let's face it, he's her son and she's a very curious person by nature. It's obvious that'll he'll at least have some of her curiosity. She'll tell him that it's ok to cry, to show emotions, she'll hold him when he needs comfort, she'll never push him away.

 She'll never abandon him...

 With the last thoughts about her son, she slowly closed her eyes and fell into a restless sleep. Hopefully she could get another hour of sleep. 

 Unluckily for her though, she didn't even get an hour before she woke up again from discomfort.

 God was she ready to give birth, she didn't know how much more she could take of this...

August 10th, 2001

 The doctor placed her son in her arms for the very first time and it almost made Natalia cry.

 She looked down at her son with so much love and affection in her gaze. She couldn't believe that he was finally here, with her. 

 She's spent the last nine months carrying him, protecting him and really early on she got attached to him. She's always wanted family and now she finally has one, with her son. 

 "Hey Pyotr," she whispered to him, resting her hand on top of his little head, keeping it pressed against her chest. Suddenly, he started to whimper and make noises of distress, "Shhhh, baby, it's ok. Mommy has you. She's not going anywhere, I promise." She gently shushed her baby, running her hand up through what little hair he had. 

 He blindly reached around to grab onto her hand. She smiled warmly at him before offering her finger to him. He quickly grabbed onto her pinkie and held on with as much strength as a newborn baby had. 

 The moment between mother and son were quickly ruined though when Madame B walked into the room.

 She stared at the kid in Natalia's arms with hidden glee in her eyes. The first part of the plan was all going according to plan, now, all the older woman would have to do was wait for the boy to grow up a little bit before she started his training. 

 She locked eyes with her student and saw the protective look in Natalia's eyes as she was slightly glaring at her. 

She was getting attached...

She'd have to deal with that later...

But she still needed Natalia, someone had to raise the child until the time was right. 

Who better than the mother?

 "Get her ready and transfer her and the baby into their room." Madame told the doctor who was in the room, getting a nod in return. 

 "His name is Pyotr." Natalia responded to the woman. 

 Madame scoffed, "You named it?" 

 Natalia's glare hardened, "It...is my son, and he'll be referred to as such." She basically spat with as much venom as she could in her tired state. She would not have people downgrade her son before he could even open his eyes. 

He couldn't protect himself at the moment, but Natalia had no problem with doing the job until he could. 

The young adult could see the disdain clearly radiating off of Madame's face when she replied, "What is...his, full name?" 

 "Pyotr Ivanovich Romanov." She replied confidently, keeping one hand on his back protectively. The only response that Madame gave was a sharp nod before she gestured for the doctors to do what they needed. 

 An hour later, Natalia was back in her room leaning against her headboard with Pyotr resting on her chest and breastfeeding. The doctors had left her alone with the necessary things she would need and told her that they'd be back in the morning to check on both of them. 

She didn't care though, as long as her son was healthy, she'd be ok. 

 After she was done feeding him, she repositioned him in her arms and slid off the headboard so she was laying down on her back with her son laying on top of her chest. 

She looked at him with a warm smile, "Mommy's gonna take real good care of you, ok? I won't let anything happen to you." She said to him. Surprisingly, Pyotr turned his head over to her and slowly blinked his eyes open and Natalia had a clear view of her baby's bright green eyes. 

 Her eyes...

 She breathed out a quiet laugh, "Don't worry baby, I'm right here, go back to sleep." She placed a kiss on his head. He seemed to listen to her because he snuggled back down into his mother's warmth before his breath evened out. 

Natalia's eyes were also slowly shutting too as soon  as she saw her son go to sleep, the days events finally catching up to the young woman.

He laid her hand on his back before she drifted off into the land of dreams. 

Instead of nightmares, and memories of the horrors that's she's done, she dreamt about a future with her son right by her side.

Chapter Text

September 25th, 2006

She couldn't believe it, her baby was already five years old...

 Her little Pyotr, her rock that keeps her grounded in this living nightmare they're both trying to survive in. 

 Her son was already so smart for his age, he takes all his lessons to heart and learns all the skills taught to him so fast. 

It always makes so much pride flow through her when her son learns new things. 

Just like at this moment. He's sitting down on the little carpet surrounded by all his little toys. Her Pyotr had his eyebrows furrowed in concentration with a pout on his lips that made Natalia want to scoop him up and tickle his little sides until he was laughing hysterically. 

She couldn't help it, even five years later her son was just too damn cute.

 "What're you doing baby?" He asked with a soft smile from her position on the couch. 

 "Thinking." He mumbled while looking between his letter blocks. Natalia's gentle smile turned slightly amused with his one word response. He always did that when he was trying to figure out a problem. 

 "Wanna tell mommy what you're thinking about?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. 

 "No!! It's a surprise mommy!!" Pyotr exclaimed as he waved his little hands at her causing her to softly chuckle. 

 "Ok, ok it's a surprise." She raised her hands in surrender before she turned around and continued to read her book. 

 It was only a few minutes later when her son was pulling on her pant leg to try and get her attention. She placed her book down and looked down at her son with questioning eyes. 

 "Look mommy, I made you a message with blocks, look!" He pointed to were the blocks were laid out in a straight line and stacked three high. The message on the blocks made her heart melt with the amount of love that was spreading throughout her body. 

 The blocks spelt out, 'My Mommy is the best Mom in the world, Love Pyotr.'

 "It's beautiful маленький паук, Mommy also thinks your the best son in the world." She smiled down at him which caused her son to beam up at her. 

 God her son was just too damn adorable...

 Little did the famous Black Widow know, that she would only have a few more days with her son, for something bad would happen when she went on her mission, something that had been in motion for five years. 

 It was like any other day at the academy for her, she'd wake up and check on her son before making his breakfast and placing it on the table for him incase she wasn't in the room when he woke up. She also placed his clothes on the couch before she too got dressed for her mission. 

 She put on her black catsuit with red accents on the arms and legs, her utility belt with the black widow insignia on the buckle and all her weapons including her widow bites, electric batons and pistols. 

 She went over to her son's bed once more to check on him and leaned down to kiss his forehead before moving over to the door to wait out in the hallway for someone to pick her up.

 Not even five seconds later, a group of soldiers walked down the hallway. Without uttering a single word, she followed after them to where the transport was waiting for her.

She wanted to get this done as fast as possible. 

After all, her son was waiting for her...

 Madame watched as Natalia boarded the helicopter with a few of their soldiers. She waited until they were well past the horizon until she turned to look at the other man in the room. 

 "Do you think the boy is ready?" Dreykov asked as he walked out of the shadows, staring at the horizon where the helicopter disappeared behind. 

 Madame nodded, "He's ready. His mother has done a great job at teaching him the basics. He's also more intelligent then a five years old should be. If it's correctly harnessed, he could one day have genius level intellect." 

 "And the mother?" 

 "She will be taken care of, I assure you." 

 "We can not risk her escaping with the boy. He will be my greatest weapon in the future, I'd rather not have to kill him." He said as he turned to walk out the door. 

 "Don't worry General, once the boy is up, we'll get him ready for transport. By the end of the day, you'll have your new asset." She said. 

 "Make sure of it Madame, or an angry mother will be the least of your worries." With that said, the door shut behind him leaving only the woman there. 

 She had a job to do...

Natalia was walking down an alleyway somewhere in Berlin when the man showed up. 

 He wasn't one of the normal people that was sent after her, he was carrying a bow and was dressed in a dark black and purple suit.

And he was smiling...

 He was leaning up against the opposite wall about twenty feet in front of her so she took out her pistol and got ready to shoot but for some reason, her instincts were telling her not to shoot. 

 The man raised his hands in surrender, "Woah there, I'm not gonna hurt you." 

 "You Shield?" She asked while glaring at him. 

 "Yup, name is Clint, what's yours?" 

 "Why're you here?" She asked, ignoring his question. 

 "Well, I was sent to kill you, but...I don't think that's a good idea, for either you or me." He smiled slightly at her, nodding his head. 

Her gun slightly lower but it was still trained on his chest, "And why wouldn't you kill me? You know who I am, right? I could kill you before you even blink." 
 
"Which is precisely why I'm not gonna try, instead...I'm gonna give you a counter offer." He said. 

 "And what...does this offer entail?" She questioned. 

 "You leave The Red Room, and come work with Shield. We don't treat our workers like mindless slaves either so that's a plus." He said casually. 

 "You do know my supervisors are watching my every move at the moment. They probably already have a sniper aimed at your head." 

 "Well I would be worried if my other Shield buddies weren't watching my back. Communication and cameras are down for the next five minutes." 

 "Wow, I'm impressed, Shield is changing up their tactics for a change." 

 "Nah, they don't know I'm doing this, I'm pretty sure I went over that. They think I'm gonna kill you, they don't know that I brought the others with me to keep them off my back as long as possible." 

 "Why would you risk that much?" She asked with her eyes narrowed. 

 "Well I wanted to talk to you, and my boss doesn't like that idea very much." He said, uncrossing his arms and walking away from the wall. Natalia pointed the gun back at the man's head, silently telling him to stop. 

 "Hey, I'm just gonna walk over there, yeah? Just wanna give you a slip of paper?" He said, slowly walking over to her with his hands in the air. He made all his movements slow and exaggerated to try and calm the angry woman but she still had her gun trained on him. 

 "If I so much as think you're gonna grab a weapon, I'm going to put a bullet right between your eyes." She said. He nodded in acceptance while he stuck his right hand in his jacket pocket and pulled out a small slip of paper. 

He lowered his hand and offered her the slip of paper. She hesitated for a second before she quickly grabbed the paper with one hand while the other was still pointing the gun at his head. 

 "What's this?" She asked, referring to the numbers on the paper.

 "It's my phone number, for you to call when you change your mind about joining us." He said with a smile. 

She narrowed her eyes, "I'm not gonna change my mind." 

 The man, Clint shrugged his shoulders, "Suit yourself. I feel like I'm gonna get a call though. We can give you another chance, you know that right? Give you the opportunity to live outside that hellhole that you probably call a home. No one deserves a life like that." He said. 

Natalia's mind instantly traveled to her son, who was still no doubt in her room back at the academy, playing with his toys trying to pass the time until she got back from her mission. 

A chance to give her son the life he deserved...

 She internally shook her head, I'd do them no good since she didn't actually have her son with her at the moment, and there was no way she was telling this random man about her son. 

She'd tell no one of her little Pyotr...

 Clint looked down at his wrist for a second before he clicked his tongue, "Alright well I gotta get going if I don't wanna be killed by the people shadowing you that are no doubt lurking around some dark corner...I've said my bit, I'm not gonna keep trying to kill you, so when you change your mind, you know who to call." He said as he started to walk out of the alleyway. 

Natalia was about to let him go when she called out to him. She doesn't know why she did so, but it felt kind of wrong to just leave him without anything. 

 "Natasha." She said. He stopped in his tracks and glanced over his shoulder at her. 

 "My name is Natasha." She said and nodded at him. He offered her a smile before he walked the rest of the way out and into the streets of Berlin. 

 Only when he was gone, did Natalia lower her gun. She looked at the slip of paper in her hand before she quietly scoffed and shoved it in her pocket. 

 She didn't need his help, she'd find a way to help her son get the life he wanted, but it wouldn't be because of some Shield agent. 

 A few miles away where Clint's partners were hiding out, the man walked into the room and nodded once to them. 

 "Gave her the slip, but who's to tell if she'll actually call me or not." He said as he walked over to the couch and popped down and rested his feet on the coffee table. 

 "Are you sure about this Clint? We're all taking a big risk in doing this behind Fury's back." Mary Parker said from her place sitting on the table with a worried look behind her eyes. 

 "No I'm not, but sometimes you have to take a little risk every now and then. I'd be really great if she was an ally instead of an enemy." Clint said. 

 "He's right Mary, The Black Widow would be a major help with our fight against Hydra. They are starting to resurface and we need all the help we can get, but I am still a little weary." Richard Parker said from his place next to Clint on his computer. 

 "Gosh, the both of you worry way to much. Let me worry about this alright? It was my call to make so if it completely fails I'll take the blame for it, alright?" 

 Mary smirked at him, "You always take the blame for things."

"And if we're being honest, most of the times that there's blame to take, it's because of you." Richard added with his own amusement clearly showing on his face. 

 Clint mocked gasped and placed his hand on his chest, "How dare the two of you? I bring you along for this secret mission and all you do is pick fun at me? Unbelievable."

 Richard snorted while Mary laughed at his expense. Clint huffed and rolled his eyes at them but he had a small smile on his face. 

The minute she walked into the academy, she knew something was wrong...

 Her intuition was flaring and she was getting more and more anxious as the minutes ticked by. 

 So, she quickly made her way to the armory and dropped off all her gear and changed into simple black leggings and a tee shirt before she started the trek to her and Pyotr's room. 

 She got her answer when she opened the door and she didn't get her usual greeting which consisted of a hug from her son, instead she saw Madame sitting down at her table. 

Her son no where in sight...

 "Where is he?" She instantly demanded while glaring at Madame. All the older woman did was gesture to the other seat opposite her which only made her blood boil. 

She did what was asked though, still glaring at the head of academy. Madame waited a few seconds before she started to talk.

 "As you can tell, your son isn't here. You are officially relieved of your duty as mother, the child will be in our care now." She said which took all of Natalia's mental strength to not strangle the older woman.

 "Where.Is.My.Son." She said with gritted teeth. 

 "...he's been moved to a different facility. You are no longer needed." 

 When Natalia heard those words, more anger started to bubble up inside her. Like hell she wasn't needed! That was her son, her baby boy who still needed his mother's guidance, his mother's love and support. 

Who was still way to young to become exactly like his mother.

A killer trained from too young of an age...

 "You took my son." She muttered under her breath. 

 "For the greater good Natalia. You should be proud, he's gonna be the best soldier to ever exist." 

 Those words were the mother's breaking point.

She saw red...

 Faster than Madame could comprehend, Natalia jumped up and grabbed the butter knife that was still on the table from this morning and launched over the wooden piece of furniture to grab Madame. 

 She grabbed the older woman by her neck and hauled her off the chair before she stabbed the knife right through her throat, making her gurgle and try and pull the younger girl away from her. 

 But there was a reason they called her the Black Widow... 

 "You took my son from me...I'm taking your life." She spat the words in the ear of the dying woman. Natalia took great joy in hearing the struggles coming from her previous teacher. 

She deserved it for taking her son...

 As the seconds ticked by, Natalia watched as the fight and life drained from Madame's eyes. And after only a total of five seconds, all the energy left the old woman and she crumbled to the ground. 

 Natalia stood over the dead body of her former leader and panted. He hands were painted with the dark crimson color of blood and she could smell the iron floating around the room and going into her nostrils. 

 She didn't have time to think about anything else though as the alarm started to blare, signaling an attack. 

Natalia sighed, she had a long way to go to make it out of this alive, but she would escape. 

Not for herself, but in order to find her son...

Maybe that number would be useful after all...

Chapter Text

Natalia walked through the Russian wilderness in silence, her hands stained crimson red from the blood which was still dripping down her hands, onto the ground and a good majority of it staining her clothes. 

 She couldn't find it in her body to find an ounce of remorse for any of them...

 "Well that was a fucking mess." 

 Natalia looked to her left and saw her sister walking right along side her with as much red stained onto her body as her older sister. 

 "Yeah tell me about it." The older widow mumbled under her breath while absently trying to rub some of the blood from her hands. 

 "So...wanna tell me what that was about? Why we just killed all those people back there?" Yelena asked with a raised eyebrow. 

 "Not really no." 

 Yelena clicked her tongue and nodded her head, "Okay, that's cool. It's not like I just risked my life to save you or anything." 

 "You didn't save me." 

 "I, most certainly did." 

 "No, you didn't." 

"There was at least one time back there that I saved you." 

 "Nope." 

 "Listen I know you have trouble with asking for help, but it's okay, I'm not gonna tell anybody that the big bad Black Widow AKA, Natasha Romanoff needed saving. Your secret is safe with me." She smirked at her older sibling. 

Meanwhile Natalia rolled her eyes and tried not to smile at the use of her old name. The name that Yelena and her used when they were on that undercover mission back in Ohio of 1995. 

 She hasn't heard that name for a long time...

 "So....what's the plan sister?" Yelena asked after a moment of silence.

The twenty three year old looked around their surroundings and sighed in resignation. She knew she'd have to tell her sister about her child, the one that she had been keeping secret from everyone for five whole years. 

 The thought made an unexpected surge of guilt hit her heart, she knew her sister had just recently turned eighteen and had undergone the graduation ceremony. 

 She knew Yelena would never have a child, she kind of feels like she's betraying her sister, because she has one, a beautiful baby boy who's out there in the world, someplace where she doesn't know but she will find...while Yelena...

Yelena would never get that chance...

 "I've gotta tell you something." She said to Yelena, making sure to look her in the eyes and convey that this was a serious topic so she shouldn't joke around anymore. 

Yelena saw her message through her gaze, always really good at reading her sister, probably one of the only ones who could actually. She nodded her her head and leaned against a nearby tree and waited for her sister to talk.

 An hour later, Natalia was finally done explaining everything to her sister while Yelena was staring at her with a blank expression across her face. 

 "Let me get this straight, instead of the graduation ceremony, they injected you with sperm which fertilized one of your eggs, then nine months later you gave birth to a baby boy and then, they scooped out your other eggs so you couldn't have anymore. Do I have that first part right?" 

 "Yeah pretty much." 

 "Then you kept him a secret from me, your own sister for five whole years. Five years where I could've known I was an aunt?" 

 Natalia shook her head, "They never would have let you near him." 

 "But you still could have told me. You know how worried I was those nine months that I didn't see you? I thought they...I thought they killed you Tasha." Yelena whispered softly. 

Natalia's eyes softened and she laid one of her hands on her sisters shoulders, "I'm sorry, really I am. I did what I had to do to keep Pyotr safe...I wanted to tell you so many times." Natalia whispered. 

 Yelena huffed and smirked at her sister, "Yeah I bet, I'm just that awesome. Best aunt in the universe I'd wager." 

 Natalia snorted, "Believe whatever helps you sleep at night младшая сестра." 

 Yelena then grew more serious, "What're we gonna do? I mean, we're obviously going to find him, but we can't just go around stirring up trouble. Especially if we do so illegally, even though, I'm all for that idea. I'd be easier on everyone if we had more help." 

 Natalia thought for a moment before she remembered that piece of paper stuffed in the bottom of her pocket from that Shield agent. 

 The one who offered her a way out...

 "Do you have that dumb burner phone?" She asked her sister. 

 Yelena's eyes narrowed in suspicion before she nodded her head, "Yeah, why?" 

 She held our her hand, "Give it to me. I've gotta make a call." 

 Her eyes were still narrowed but she dug through her back pocket and threw the phone at her which Natalia caught with ease. 

She reached into her own pocket to grab the slip of paper and dialed the number the man had given her.

 "What're you doing?" 

 "Making a deal." She said casually. 

 "With who?" 

 "American Government, they go by Shield." 

 "Americans? What are they gonna help us with?" 

 Natalia sighed, "When I went on my mission, I ran into an agent who was sent to kill me. He defied orders though and said if I ever wanted out, I just had to call him. I'm expecting they're gonna want information in exchange, but if they can help me find my son, then I'll give them all the information I have." 

 After a moment of silence, Yelena spoke up, "If you're sure, then I'll be with you every step of the way. I want to meet my nephew for the first time, I think you've deprived him of his awesome aunt for far too long." She smirked. 

 Natalia shook her head before she dialed the number and put the phone up to her ear. The device rang three times before someone on the other end answered. 

 "Who's this?" The familiar voice of Clint said through the phone.

 "I'm ready to talk about that offer." She didn't answer the man's question, confident that he'd know who she was. 

Sure enough, she was correct, "Well, guess I was right, huh Natasha? You still in Berlin or have you gone back to your home base." 

 "I just destroyed my home base." She said flatly into the phone. 

 "Huh...well that makes things a little easier in your favor." He mused out loud before he continued, "Where are you then?" 

 "Russia, twenty miles north of Petersburg." 

 "Alright, I'll see what I can do." 

 "Barton you've done many stupid things, but this takes the mother fucking cake!" 

Clint should have been prepared for this, and in complete honesty he was, but that didn't change the fact that he still found himself wary of what would come of it. 

It wasn't everyday that a top agent defies a direct order and lets a Russian assassin live while also giving said assassin a way to contact him. 

Yeah, now that he looks back on it, probably wasn't his best idea, but he doesn't regret it. 

Not one moment of it.

 Mary and Richard were standing right next to him too, giving him their silent support while Fury stalked over with anger written all across his face. 

 "I did what I thought was best sir, I saw something in her, she didn't want to be there. I wouldn't have gone through with my plan if I wasn't a hundred percent certain about that." He replied. 

 Fury scoffed, "And what happens when her and her sister turn on us, hmm?" 

 "From what we all saw, they fought their way out of that building. There was bodies everywhere when you sent in that clean up sir, someone who wanted to stay there wouldn't kill everyone there, including one of the heads of the Red Room." He said, referring to the dead body of Madame B they had found in one of the rooms. 

 Fury glared at him, "If this goes sour, you three are taking the fall for it, do I make myself clear?" 

 "Yes sir." The three of them answered at the same time. The four of them then stood in silence, waiting until Coulson's team got back with he two assassins in question. 

 They stood and waited for another ten minutes before a line of SUV's drove into the building and parked. Some agents got out first to open the doors and escort the two Widows out of the middle

SUV. 

 Yelena and Natasha looked around, mapping out the room they were in just in case. Natasha also refrained from telling them her real name. That was something that she'd keep with her to the day she died. 

No one had to know...

 She was already taking a risk at telling them about her son, but she needed help in finding him, she needed her son with her and she knew that she couldn't do it alone, even with the help of her sister. 

 The man, Coulson, led the two widows towards everyone else. The both of them had been stripped of their weapons which was the only way that the director allowed them anywhere near one of their safe houses. 

Once they were in front of the man, he scowled at them, "You two better have a damn good reason for being here, and if I don't like it I’ll send you to rot in jail for the rest of your lives, understood?" 

 "We'll aren't you a ray of sunshine." Yelena muttered sarcastically which caused her sister to elbow her in the side. 

 She hissed in pain and shot a betrayed look towards her sister but Natasha wasn't looking at her, instead deciding to stare down the glaring director of Shield. 

 "I'll give you all the information I have on the leader of the Red Room, General Dreykov. All the information I've gathered since I was a little girl about his operations and where he stays, personal info and anything else that I know about other countries and their governments." All the occupants of the room stared at the older Widow in shock. 

 That was a lot of information, a lot of stuff that could help them end the Red Room and to give them an edge over certain countries. 

But Fury knew that things didn't come without a cost...

 "What do you want in exchange?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. 

 "Full pardon for my sister and I for the crimes we've committed. We'll work for you so you can even keep an eye on us, but in exchange...you also have to help me with something a bit...personal." She said. 

Fury furrowed his eyebrows, "And what would that be?" He asked. 

Natasha gulped, "You need to help me find my son." 

 As soon as the words left her mouth, she could see how everyone in the room was shocked by her confession. Fury though was the one who snapped out of it first. 

 "Your son? I thought widows underwent a procedure so they couldn't have children?" He asked , unable to keep the suspicion out of his voice. 

 Natasha sighed, "When I was eighteen, five years ago, I though I was undergoing the normal procedure for when we become of age...but I was wrong. I woke up and Madame showed me a file code named Project LoneWolf. It had all the data about me and my child, although the father was classified. All I ever found out about him was he was enhanced." She said. 

 "So your kid also is enhanced?" Fury asked. 

 "Yeah, they give all widows minor enhancements too, they make us age slowly and increase our stamina but the file made it abundantly clear that my child would develop abilities later on in his life." She said. 

 "So let me get this straight, you want a pardon for yourself and your sister, along with our help with finding your son and in exchange, we get all the information that you both have accumulated over the years of being a spy, along with taking down the Red Room for good. Do I got that right?" Fury asked. 

 Natasha nodded, "Yes." 

 Fury hummed in thought for a moment before he nodded his head, "Barton will show you to your room while we think this over." And without another word, he turned around with Coulson following behind him, leaving only a few agents to guard the two sister along with Clint and the other two next to him. 

 "We'll that went pretty well, all things considered." Clint said offhandedly while smiling at Natasha. 

 "Will he accept?" She asked bluntly. 

 Clint laughed, "Trust me, he's an absolute control freak. He’ll want all the info you've got so he's going to say yes, I promise you that." 

 "He looks like a pirate. Remember? Back in Ohio when that one kid dressed up as one for...what was that, dumb holiday again? It started with an H?" 

 "Halloween?" She asked her sister with a raised eyebrow with clear amusement written across her face.

 "Yes! That's it! How do you remember stuff so trivial?" Yelena shook her head. 

 "I'm just better than you." She smirked at her sister. 

 Yelena rolled her eyes, "Ha ha, you're hilarious." 

 A sudden snort brought their attention to the beautiful woman with brown hair and equally brown eyes that was standing to Clint's left, "Don't let him hear you call him a pirate, then he'll never say yes to your deal." She said with a smirk across her face which in turn, caused Natasha to smirk. 

 She liked her already. 

 "Yeah, don't ever call him anything else but sir or Fury while you're in the same room as him. He might kill you where you stand." The other man, who was standing next to the woman, said with amusement in his gaze. 

 "Yeah, Rich here speaks from experience." Clint said with a smug look directed at the man. 

 "It was one time." The man groaned which caused the other two to laugh at his expense. The three of them continued to tease each other all the way down the hallway while Natasha and Yelena watched the interaction with interest. 

It was different for them to see people interact so carefree like these people were, it was...weird to say the least. 

 After a couple minute walk, the Shield agents stopped in front of a door before they turned to look at the two sisters. 

 "We'll come get you when there's good news okay? Just rest for now." The woman said, who they still didn't know the name of. 

 They nodded before walking into the room and they watched as the door closed and they listened to the fading footsteps. After a few minutes of listening, the two sisters relaxed and Natasha allowed her emotions to be seen, finally dropping the mask. 

Yelena noticed and laid her hand on her shoulder, "Everything's gonna be okay." 

 Natasha nodded, "Yeah." She said, but she wasn't convinced in the slightest. 

 She hoped they made their decision soon, for every moment that she sat here, was a moment she wasn't looking for her son. 

 God she hoped he was okay...

Pyotr didn't know what was happening, but what he did know was when he woke up, he was someplace he didn't recognize and his mother wasn't there with him. 

 Which instantly made the boy uneasy...

 He looked around the room he was in and saw there was a cot in the corner and a toilet in the other one. There was a single window at the top right hand corner of the room but there were metal bars instead of glass. 

The last thing he noticed was the wall opposite the window. Instead of an actual wall, there were metal bars tightly compacted together like a cell he had seen a few times while his mother was gone and the doctors took him to their lab. 

 There was a bad feeling starting to pool in the little boys stomach and he didn't like it one bit. 

He wanted his mother...

 Just then, Pyotr heard a door slam shut which made the boy jump from his spot on the ground before he snapped his attention towards the cell door where he could make out four men, three of them surrounding one that looked to be some sort of leader. 

What Peter saw though was the octopus symbol on all of their arms. 

But why would they all have an octopus on their arms? 

 "с этого дня тебя зовут Паук, ты понял, мальчик?" (From this day forward, your name is Spider, do you understand boy?) The man in the middle glared at him with cold blue eyes that made Pyotr shiver. 

 "где моя мама?  Я хочу маму!" (Where's my mother? I want my mom!) The boy glared up at the man defiantly, looking a lot like his mother in that moment. 

To bad the look had no effect on the men standing in front of him. 

 " Ты будешь тренироваться с солдатом, станешь даже лучшим активом, чем он.  Затем, когда вы будете готовы, вы завершите заключительную часть своего обучения и по просьбе Дрейкова переместитесь обратно в Красную комнату, после того как вы здесь больше не нуждаетесь." (You will train with the soldier, become even better of an asset than him. Then once you're ready, you will complete the final part of your training and be moved back to the Red Room per Dreykov's request after you are no longer needed here.) The man said before signaling his men to leave the room. 

 Before the leader walked out though, he whispered a phrase in English that made fear course through the boy's body. 

 "Hail Hydra."

 With that said and done with, the man walked back down the hallway and slammed the door shut, leaving Pyotr alone in his cell with only his thoughts to keep him company. 

 He wanted his mother. 

But there was nothing he could do but just sit back and wait for something to happen. 

 And he hated that.

Chapter Text

 Natasha sat inside the black car with Yelena and watched as the building went up in flames. The building that Dreykov was in, along with his little daughter who was completely oblivious to what her father had done. 

Who loved her father with her whole being...

Who believed her father, was just her father and not a kidnapping monster...

Who was now dead, because Natasha wanted to find her son...

She closed her eyes and shakily exhaled. There has been a lot of kills over time that she has felt guilt for, especially since she had her son but this one, where she willingly killed an innocent girl because she wanted to find Pyotr...

The guilt felt like it was drowning her, like she was tied to an anchor and she was thrown overboard to sink into the bottomless pit which was the ocean, letting the water soak into her lungs and suffocate her. 

Luckily, her sister was there to pull her back to the surface...

 "You did what needed to be done Natasha." She said, resting her hand on her sisters shoulder, "No one can fault you for wanting your son back." 

 Natasha swallowed, "I sometimes wonder if he actually knew what I did, would he still love me?" She admitted to her sister, whispering so no one else could hear her confession, even if no one else was around. 

 Yelena frowned, "I think, that you are his mother, and he'd love you no matter what you did, because you loved him when he needed you." She said, her eyes growing a little softer at her sisters words. 

Natasha scoffed, "I wish I could be as sure as you." 

 "Don't worry, once we find him, you'll see for yourself." Yelena smirked which made the older woman roll her eyes slightly. 

 "Come on, let's get out of here and over to the rendezvous." Natasha said as she started the car and pulled out of the parking spot. 

When Clint called in and asked if the mission was complete, she said yes, not telling any of them about who else was in that building with Dreykov. 

She didn't need their judgment at the moment, she needed their help to find her son and she'd do whatever it took to find him. 

No matter how many secrets she had to keep...

Two guards stood on either side of Pyotr as he was escorted down a dark corridor. The place to the boy looked abandoned, like no one had lived in it for a very long time but something about the place was just, wrong. Like something very bad had happened here and he could feel it in the air. 

 Pyotr doesn't think he has ever been as scared as he was in this one moment, being walked down a dark, dreary hallway by four very scary looking men with masks on their faces and matching symbols on their shoulders. 

He just wanted his мама...

After another minute of walking down the hallways to the old building, they came to a doorway that was different from the others, for it had a nameplate towards the top but the name wasn't visible anymore, having been so old the name faded a while ago. 

One of the guards opened the door while another shoved him through before they shut it right behind him, trapping him inside with whoever was in the room. 

Pyotr's eyes roamed to the front of the room where he could see an old dusty desk but that wasn't what caught his attention. 

There was a man sitting down at the desk, his calculating blue eyes roaming across the kid’s form with a tilted head but Pyotr was more worried about the second man in the room. 

To the right of the desk, stood a man that easily reached six feet in height. His equally blue eyes stared through the young boy like he wasn't even there though. 

He stood straight up, no slouch in his stance whatsoever but the main thing that caught the kid's attention was his left arm. 

It was fully metal...

 "Welcome Spider, to your new home." The man behind the desk said in a monotone voice. 

 "W-what?" Pyotr muttered with fear behind both his gaze and his words. 

 "Your home is gone, the people there are now dead. No one is left who wants you and with their death, means the deal we had has changed. You will now stay with us for the rest of your life. You will train, you will kill, you will become the best soldier this world has ever seen." The man said. 

"N-no, you're lying! My mama is still out there, she'll come get me!!" Pyotr screamed at the lying man in front of him, not believing that his mother was gone. 

She couldn't be, she was his mother, nothing could stop her. 

The man only clicked his tongue at the boy, "Such an attitude, that won't be a problem very soon though. It matters not if you believe me, I don't need you to. I only need your cooperation. You will train with the soldier here, he will tech you everything you need to know. But first, my science team will have to keep you in their...medical facility to try and unlock all your powers." 

 "No!! I want my mama! I don't want to stay here!!" 

 "Don't you wish to know who your father is? Because I know exactly who that is..." The man wasn't even allowed to finish before the kid cut him off and glared at him which was an exact replica of his mothers. 

 "No!! I don't want my father, I don't know him! I want Mama!!" 

The man glared back at him, "I'm sorry, that's no longer an option." Without another word spoken, the guards who were still outside the room walked through the door and one of them grabbed the kid and started to haul him out the door. 

Pyotr tried his hardest to break free, kicking and screaming and trying to get out of the man's grasp but it was no use, he was only a five year old trying to fight against grown men. 

He never stood a chance...

The last thing he saw before the door slammed closed was the glare from the man behind the desk and the blank stare from the soldier on the right...

A year later...

October 13th, 2007

 Pyotr stood straight up with the Solider standing right next to him, waiting in an empty room for when their superiors entered. 

This past year has been a giant blur for the kid. After those first agonizing three weeks strapped to a table and experimented on, he was instantly thrown into training with the Solider. Learning everything from how to handle weapons, how to lie, to see how others are lying and even hand to hand combat. 

Now that all his powers have been unlocked for him due to all those experiments after he had got bitten by that spider his body could handle anything that they threw at him. He was more durable than the others, he was stronger than even the Solider himself, he could stick to surfaces, had enhanced sight, smell and hearing which was definitely not fun at certain times and he knew when he was in danger with his sixth sense. 

Because apparently the only thing that could unlock his powers was another one of their experiments which happened to be a radioactive spider, the arachnid having escaped and bit him the last day of the second week in that lab. 

Which happened to change his DNA and made him have freaky spider powers. 

His handler was saying he was molding into the perfect obedient little Solider. 

Little did his handler know though, that Pyotr never gave up hope that his mother was still out there, somewhere, looking for him. 

He'd do anything to see his mother again, even if that meant doing whatever these people wanted him to do. 

He wanted his mama back, and this was the only way to try and get her back...

He had to play the part...

The kid was knocked out of his head when the door creaked open and in came his handler along with two guards who were carrying a person with a black bag over their head. 

 The two guards forced the person onto her knees and ripped the bag off to show the face of a young woman who couldn't have been older than twenty years old. 

Pyotr didn't let it show across his face, but internally he was screaming and panicking. He didn't like the look of this one bit, not at all. 

He didn't want to hurt anyone...

 The red puffy eyes of the young woman looked up and made eye contact with the child who was standing as stiff as the Solider next to him. Her eyes widened in shock and fear before she tried to speak but she didn't even get a noise out of her mouth before the guard smacked her and shut her up. 

His handler walked over to him with a pistol in his hands, "Spider, take this, and complete your final test." He said in Russian, the only language he has ever spoken in the whole year he's been here. 

 Pyotr, not The Spider, looked at the pistol which was outstretched towards him and he hesitated. He didn't want to, he knew what the weapon was used for, and he didn't want to hurt this young lady. 

His handler saw this though and glared down at him, shoving the gun into his hands and making the boy grasp the handle, "You will do as I say, or I will kill her in front of you. No matter what, she will die. So either I kill her slowly and painfully, or you can do so." He offered before stepping away from Pyotr, leaving the kid staring into the scared honey brown eyes of the young woman. 

 "It's okay, it's okay honey. It's not your fault." She smiled sadly at the boy, speaking in perfect Russian but that's not what made the boy freeze for half a second. 

Her accent, how she spoke it reminded him so much of his mother. Her soothing Russian voice who would sing him to sleep when he couldn't fall asleep, the voice which would comfort him when he was sacred. 

He missed her so much...

 He gulped once before he pointed the gun at the woman's head, the only sign that he wasn't okay was the slight sway to his hands as he stared blankly at the woman. 

But she didn't seem to mind, offering him one last smile, "It's okay, it's okay." She kept repeating but Pyotr didn't hear her words, too focused on stopping his hands from shaking. 

A second later, and with one last smile, the only sound in the room was the echo of the bullet leaving the chamber and the thumb of a body hitting the ground. 

The very first of many kills...

 A few hours later, Pyotr sat in his room, which was really just the soldier’s and his cell, staring blankly at the wall in front of him with a few tears slipping down his face. 

He just killed someome. 

He just killed, someone...

What would his mother think of him? 

 He heard as the door to the room opened but he paid it no mind as he continued to stare at the wall, he only acknowledged there was someone else in the room with him when there was suddenly a weight next to him on the cot. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the Solider was staring at the same wall he was but there was something in his gaze that unsettled the boy. 

In the full year since he has known the soldier, he has never seen that look on the man's face. He has seen split seconds where emotions flashed behind his gaze but this was different. 

It looked like he was actually sitting next to him, and not just staring off into space like he usually did. 

 After a couple more minutes of silence, surprisingly the soldier spoke up. 

 "What's your name kid?" He asked in perfect Russian but Pyotr could tell that it wasn't his native tongue. He spoke barely above a whisper but Pyotr could hear him, enhanced senses and all. 

 "Pyotr." He whispered back. 

 After a second of silence, he spoke again, "Peter. That's what your name means, yeah?" He asked. 

 The kid shrugged, "Mama named me. She used to say that it meant I was her rock, that I helped ground her." 

 "She sounds smart."

 "She was, the smartest I ever knew." She said but then remembered the man's other question before, "But...to answer your question, If you mean my name translates to Peter in English, then yeah, I know." 

 The soldier nodded his head, "Can I call you that? I'm American, it's easier for me." 

 Pyotr nodded his head, "Sure, what's your name?" 

 The soldier didn't speak for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed in thought before he answered the boy, "James, my name is James...I-I think." 

 "You think?" Pyotr tilted his head and turned a little bit to look at James. 

 The man grimaced, "I Uh, have trouble remembering things sometimes. They put me into this...this machine that takes away the memories. It was only today where the effects started to...wear off again, during your..." He trailed off, knowing he didn't need or should continue with that sentence. 

 "What happens if they find out?" Pyotr asked, ignoring the feeling of guilt that surged through his body at the reminder of what he did. 

 "They put me back in the machine." He said simply 

"Does it hurt?"

 James hesitated for a second before answering, "No, it just takes my memories." 

 "I don't want to forget my mama." 

 James looked to his left and slightly smiled down at the kid, "Don't worry, I'll make sure you won't." 

And from that conversation, birthed a friendship built on pain, suffering and blood...

A friendship that would not last...

Three years later...

October 15th, 2010

Pyotr stared ahead of him as his handler brought in the gagged and confused man. In his nine years of life, he has never done something as difficult as what he was going to be asked to do now. 

 Even killing someone was better than what they forced him to do in situations like this.

Having to extend his victims pain for information, just to kill him anyways at the end of it no matter what. 

All his interrogations ended that way, with the person dead, bleeding out in a pool of his or her own blood. 

And there was nothing he could do to change that...

 "Spider, do what you do best." His handler said, stepping aside and letting the young boy have at it. 

He made sure that all emotions were hidden from his eyes as he slowly walked around the tied up man, like a predator and his prey, stalking, ready to pounce at any given moment. 

 He had a part to play...

Within three minutes, the man was bleeding profusely from multiple lacerations across his face and torso, his head hanging down with his chin resting on his upper chest as he was mumbling nonsense in multiple languages but Peter acted like he didn't care. 

He got the information, that's all he needed...

 His handler nodded to him once, signaling Pyotr to end it so he grabbed the pistol one of the guards had in his hands and shot the man once in the head, ending his life before handing the weapon back to the guard. 

 "Excellent work Spider, you're dismissed." His handler said so Pyotr turned around to go out the door but the man called out to him one more time so the boy gave his full attention to the older man. 

 "Before I forget, you will be working alone from now on. The Solider was needed elsewhere and you have proven yourself capable enough to handle everything we need here, you may go now." He waved off like what he said wasn't just a big deal. 

But Pyotr, oh he was furious. He was sad, heartbroken but most of all, that one sentence caused the coldness inside his chest to start clawing at him, trying to escape from the cage he trapped it in three years ago when he met the Solider, James for the first time. 

 All those times James would help patch up a particularly nasty wound that he had gotten in training, where he'd give him a portion of his own food to try and help the kid with his enhanced metabolism or even the small things like offering the boy his blanket when he had gotten too cold during the winter nights. 

 James had been the one constant in the past three years of his life, but now that he was gone he didn't know what he was gonna do. 

The one person since his mother who seemed to care about Pyotr and not the Spider...

Was now gone, and probably wasn't ever coming back...

Without even realizing it, he was being led to his cell by a guard that he didn't recognize, but he knew she had been there for at least two years, having seen her around a couple times since meeting James. 

 When they got to his cell and she unlocked the door for him he walked in and sat down on his cot staring blankly at the other one in the room, the one which used to belong to James. 

 He could feel the loneliness slowly starting to creep up his spine, the coldness threatening to consume him but he couldn't really get himself to care at the moment. 

He was alone in this hellhole again, and he had no idea what he was going to do about it. 

 He was so busy that he didn't realize the woman was still standing in the doorway watching as the boy stared off into space, completely ignoring everything around him. 

The middle aged woman silently sighed to herself before closing the door behind her and walking down the hall towards her quarters. 

She hated watching the boy slowly become someone he wasn't, like every little thing he did here was slowly consuming everything in his being. 

She's been here for two whole years and she was so close to completing her plan to break them out, so close it almost physically hurt her. 

She couldn't handle watching her grandson in so much pain anymore...

She knew she'd have to act soon though if they both wanted to make it out of this alive and have any chance of seeing the outside world again.

 She had failed to protect her daughters from going through that pain, so she’d make sure her grandson got out of this type of life like his mother and aunt did even if it was the last thing she did.

Now the only thing missing was figuring out how she'd actually get the signal out to Alexei...

California 

Shield Facility

Natasha sighed softly as she sat down on her couch in her quarters within the base. It had been a long day of working as Stark's innocent little assistant. 

She hated the job, but it needed to be done and Yelena and her were the ones who grabbed the short straw in the cup but Yelena had weaseled her way out of the job. 

Leaving it all to Natasha. 

Lucky her...

 Natasha closed her eyes and laid her head back on her couch, wanting just a second of solace after an annoying day of dealing with stuck up business men in suits. 

But her mind quickly traveled to way more depressing thoughts, thoughts that she'd rather wish wouldn't come up until she was a hundred percent alone. 

 Her son, her little Pyotr who would've been already nine years old was still missing and it seemed that she was no closer to seeing her son again then she was back then when she first joined Shield. 

He's been missing for almost five years and she hated how she was starting to lose hope of ever seeing her son again. 

She felt so bad admitting it to herself, but she was a realistic person by nature, she knew what the possibilities were of ever seeing her son again but a small fraction of her brain, still silently hoped that he was out there, alive and hopefully living a good life. 

 But even she knew that was a stretch. 

Ever since joining, Fury has upheld his side of their little deal and made a team consisted of only a handful of people who looked for her son, two of those members being Mary and Richard Parker, along with Maria Hill, Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, Yelena and herself. 

Surprisingly, it was Mary who was put in the field the most searching for any echos, any whispers she could find of the long lost son of the Black Widow anywhere in the world. 

Natasha was forever in the woman's debt for what she was doing for her...

 She did find a tip about a year ago coming from over in Russia about a man and a young boy seen together. Apparently Mary had heard it from someone who crossed Hydra and the man was scared shitless, not wanting to invoke the wrath of the organization any more then he already did. 

 That piece of information, did not make Natasha feel any better about finding her son though...

 She was broken out of her thoughts when her sister walked through her door and sat down next to her with an exaggerated sigh causing Natasha's lips to twitch into a small smile. 

 "Ughhh, you would not believe the day I just had. Why do people have to be sooooo annoying?" Yelena said which made her sister snort in amusement. 

 "What happened now?"

 "So get this, I was in this class yeah? Teaching these noobies about how to be a better spy and this asshole had the audacity to hit on me, me? Like he had any chance with me to begin with." Her sister rolled her eyes which made Natasha smirk. 

"I'm sure you showed him didn't you?" 

 Yelena smirked right back, "Damn right. Took his wrist and broke it. You should've seen his face, priceless." 

 Natasha scoffed and opened one of her eyes to stare at her sister, "You can't just break anyones wrist who flirts with you." 

Yelena pouted, "But it's so fuuunn." 

 Natasha shook her head before closing her eyes again and letting her thoughts from before cloud her head, but lucky for her, Yelena saw this and didn't allow it to happen.

 "Hey, what's the matter?" She asked with a worried frown across her face. 

 Natasha gulped, "It's been five years." She said and Yelena could hear how broken her sister's voice sounded which made her heart constrict for the pain her sister was experiencing. 

 "Hey, none of that. We'll find him, I promise you I won't stop looking. I'll be a hundred and I still wouldn't stop looking for my nephew." She said with a soft smile, causing the older sibling to smile back at her sister. 

 "Thank you." She said. 

 Yelena shrugged, "Of course, what's family for if you can't count on them to help." 

 "Yeah well, if we could get into contact with Ma and Pa this would be a whole lot easier." Natasha scoffed, annoyed that the two of them still couldn't get into contact with Melina and Alexei. 

Two years ago, they got word that Alexei had broken out of the prison he was in and ever since then they have been searching and trying to get in contact with them, because they both knew who had broken him out. 

There was only one person who could do it without being seen, and that was their mother. 

 "Do you think they know you have a son?" Yelena asked. 

 "It's Melina, of course she knows." Natasha deadpanned. 

Yelena clicked her tongue, "True. Do you think that's what they're doing? Trying to find him?" She asked. 

 Natasha was quiet for a second before responding, "I sure hope so. If there is anyone who could find my son, it'd be his grandmother." 

 Yelena huffed, "Isn't that the truth." 

If they only knew how true that statement really was...

Chapter Text

December 20th, 2010

Hydra Research Facility

Bucharest, Romania 

 Melina walked through the stark white hallways of the research facility silently, not making a sound as she made her way down the different corridors of the building. 

  The last part of her plan was finally completed. She had gotten a hidden message to Alexei last night and had gotten his reply this morning, saying he'd be there with the escape vehicle. 

Today was finally the day that she and her grandson escaped this stupid base. 

 Luckily for her, there was scheduled maintenance for all the security systems happening this afternoon, right as Alexei was scheduled to reach the building. 

 She couldn't have planned it better herself.  

Oh wait, she did.

 She made her way to her quarters and once she shut the door, she took off her annoying helmet that they had her wear and brushed her braided hair behind her left shoulder before walking over to her bed where she had two bags laid out. 

One full of C4 and the other filled with every ounce of information she has about her grandson that she was going to send to Natasha once he was safe and she was back on the run. 

  Now originally she didn't plan on keeping him a secret from her daughter, honestly she didn't want to but these men would be out for her blood once she destroyed this facility and Pyotr wouldn't be safe with her for the time it would take her to track down her daughter. 

It was a risk, she wasn't willingly to take with him. He's already been through so much and she'd be damned if she was the cause of anymore pain in his life.  

So, she was doing the next best thing. 

 She had a contact in New York City who had agreed to look out for the boy and be there if he ever needed a place to go. All Melina asked of her was she made sure to check in on him and be sure he was safe.  

 Felicia had been understanding and agreed to her terms without a complaint though, happy that she could finally pay back the debt she owed to the older woman. 

Even if that meant looking out for a nine year old, possibly traumatized assassin. 

 She trusted Felicia with her life, she knew that the woman wouldn't fail her. 

 With one last check to her gear and the files along with the letter she would send, she zipped up everything, placed her helmet back on, shouldered the bags and walked out the room. 

She had work to do.

It was a pretty normal day for Pyotr, having woken up by himself today and not by the slamming of his cell door which was a good sign to the boy because it meant he didn't have his training or a mission that he'd no doubt regret later on. 

 Which just left the boy to his thoughts. 

Which, was never a good thing. 

It had been two months since his handler had told him he'd never see the Solider again, and he still didn't know how to feel about that.

James was the one constant in his life, had been for a few years now and when the man remembered him, he always tried to help Pyotr in anyway he could. 

No matter how small the gesture, Pyotr always appreciated it and made sure to subtly tell James whenever he could. 

He still likes to keep to the lessons his mother had taught him years ago, from the ones he could remember and one of them was of course using his manners whenever he could. 

Man he missed her..

Just as that thought crossed his mind, his senses detected a set of feet making their way over towards his cell. He made sure that all emotions were cleared from his face before sitting up right and waiting for the person to enter. 

From what he could tell, she was definitely female so he'd bet that it was that female guard who has taken to leading him around the facility. 

Pyotr was proven right when about ten seconds later, said woman walked into his room without her helmet on and a bag around her shoulders before she shut the door and looked at The Spider in the eyes.

 “Come. We’re leaving.” She said in a tone that brokered no room for argument but Pyotr always was curious, just like his mother. 

 “Where? What’s the mission?” He asked, his response actually getting a small smile out of the woman’s face but her eyes were sad. 

“Just like your mother, always asking questions. Come, we have no time for trivial details, let’s move.” She said gesturing to the door with her head but Pyotr was focused only on one thing as he slowly walked forward. 

“You know my mother?” He asked hopefully. The boy couldn’t help himself, he’s missed her so much that it physically hurts him sometimes. 

 “I do, but we can’t go to her right now, it’s not safe. I have no idea where my daughter is and it is too risky trying to look for her when I’ll have you.” She said, leading the way out his cell door, Pyotr following right behind. 

“You’re my grandma.” He stated with a raised eyebrow and it was almost funny how he looked so much like his mother with that one action, the eyes and everything. 

 Melina smiled, “Yes, I am but if we want to get out of here, you’ll have to trust me okay?” She turned around and waited for him to nod his head, she continued, “Good, there’s a ventilation system in my room that we both can crawl out of. It’ll take us outside and from there, we can get far enough away before they realize we’re gone, and by then, well let’s just say that this base won’t exist anymore.” 

The both of them snuck around the base until they reached her room, not wanting to be too loud incase they alerted someone but they only had a couple more minutes before the maintenance for the security system was completed and they’d be locked in again. 

Then they’d see that their Spider wasn’t in his room…

 And they would not be happy…

 They got to her room and as soon as Pyotr closed the door behind them, Melina walked over to the vent which was level with the ground, and ripped off the vent covering, the opening just big enough to fit them. 

“Alright, I’ll lead the way through the vents, you can follow me yes? Stay as quiet as you can, we don’t need them hearing us escape.” Peter nodded his head and crawled in behind her before grabbing the vent cover and placing it over the opening before he continued crawling again. 

 It took them only five minutes to get through the ventilation and Melina knew that the system would be up again in only two minutes so they had to hurry. 

 So when she got to the end, she wasted no time in turning her body and kicking the vent cover off which lead outside. 

“Come on, we’ve got to get the hell out of here.” She said, standing up and offering her hand to the boy which he took. She hauled him up before she started to run in the opposite direction, Pyotr following behind. 

“You never said where we were going.” He said, keeping up with her without a sweat. 

 “You are going to be staying with a friend of mine, she’s offered to give you a place to stay while I make sure these assholes don’t hunt you down and take you again.” 

“What about my mother?” He asked desperately, but trying to hide it. 

 She sighed, “I honestly don’t know where your mother is. I know she works for this government agency called Shield, but I don’t know which state she’s in. She lives in America now, just so you know. And that’s where you’ll be.” Melina said. 

 “Where am I going then? Will I ever see her again?” 

 Melina huffed, “Just like your mother with all the questions, yes you’ll see her again, I promise. But until then, you’ll be staying in New York with an old friend of mine, her name is Felicia and she’s a very nice woman who will look after you while I can’t.” 

 Pyotr frowned, “I don’t need to be looked after, I can take care of myself.” 

It was Melina’s time to frown now, “I know you think that right now, trust me I know what you’re going through, but everyone needs a little support from time to time, even I. No one needs to be strong every second of the day, we all have our moments and in time, you’ll learn that.” 

Before Peter could say anything else, he heard the telltale sounds of yelling coming from where they had come from. 

“They know.” He said simply, knowing she’d understand. 

She nodded her head, “We’ve only got a little ways to go, let’s pick up the pace.”

 It was only another thirty seconds before they had come across a little clearing where they had a view of the base down the hill. Without a single word, Melina took a device out of her pocket and pressed the button. 

Peter stood their in shock as he watched the whole building get engulfed in flames, he could hear all their screams, all of their panic filled last breaths as they died and ceased to exist. 

 “Burn in hell bastards.” He heard as the woman next to him, his grandmother, angrily muttered to herself. He knew he probably wasn’t supposed to hear that so he made no comment about it, but he did decided to ask another question. 

“How are we getting out of here?” He asked. 

 Just then, his eyes caught something behind them so he turned around and came face to face with a plane that wasn’t their five seconds ago. He watched as the vehicle went from being see through, to a normal dull grey color. 

“What is that?” He asked in shock. 

“It’s an old Shield jet. Active camouflage to make sure we aren’t seen leaving the scene. We’re going to drop you in New York with Felicia and then leave before they track us to you. There’s no doubt going to be survivors who will look for you.” 

“What do you mean we?” He tilted his head in confusion but just then the back hatch to the jet opened up and revealed a man in a red costume with a star on his chest. 

 “Melina, I see you got him! Come then, let’s get out of here before those bastards crawl out of the fire.” He said, walking back into the jet. 

“And…who’s that?” Peter raised an eyebrow. 

“That’s your grandpa, he’s…definitely unique.” She said. “But let’s not worry about that right now, let’s get you to New York.” She said walking over to the jet. 

“Will I ever see you two again?” He asked, dying to get to know more about his family and it seemed that the only person who knew anything would be leaving to try and protect him again. 

 “I promise, you’ll see us again. We’re family, and family have to stick together.” 

December 25, 2010

Natasha was sitting down in her little apartment with her sister when she had gotten the message from Fury. 

It was Christmas Day, and the resident spy family was down in the dumps, especially Natasha. All she wanted was her son and she still wasn’t any closer to finding him than she was years ago. 

It was like he had vanished from the face of the earth, and Natasha could do nothing about it. 

That was until, the message came through. 

All she got was a simple text from Fury saying come to my office so Yelena and her dragged their bodies off the couch and followed the familiar path to his room. 

As soon as they got there and opened the door, they knew something was happening when both Agent Parker’s were standing there along with Fury. 

 “What’s wrong?” She asked, not knowing what the hell was going on. 

“You don’t happen to be familiar with the name Melina, do you?” Fury asked, not even beating around the bush causing both Yelena and Natasha to tense. 

“How do you know that name?” Yelena glared. 

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Fury muttered before continuing, “There was a package that was dropped off at our New York facility yesterday. There was a duffle bag full of information on a base in Romania and a note, addressed to you Romanoff. You’re lucky the Parkers were the ones who found it before it had gotten in the hands of the board.” 

“Wait, pause for a second, why should I be glad about this? What did Melina drop off? What kind of information was it? What did it say?” Natasha asked with narrowed eyes. 

Fury and the Parker’s looked at each other before Mary spoke up, “How about you read the letter she wrote to you instead.” She offered, handing her the note with a gentleness behind her eyes. 

 Natasha narrowed her eyes even further but grabbed the note and started to read, Yelena reading it too, over her shoulder. 

 “Hello Natasha, I know that this isn’t how I should be doing this, but I promise you that if I knew where you were, I would’ve taken this info and the package to you personally, just know that.” 

“I’m taking a very big risk at just leaving this in New York, but like I stated, I have no idea where you work, I only know you work at Shield, so…let’s hope this makes it to you.” 

“I found him…” 

 “I found your son Natasha, I’ve been playing as a guard at a base in Romania for the last two years to try and help him out and just a few days ago, I finally managed to get him out.” 

“He’s safe, I promise.”

“But I don’t know where the fuck you are and it pisses me off. I don’t have time to try and find you because there are assholes on my tail for what I did to their base and their previous spider.” 

“That’s what they called him, Their Spider.”

 “In the bag, I’ve left you all the information about the base I destroyed and any information about your son. I tried to help him as much as I could without getting found out, but I don’t know if it was enough.” 

“They did horrible things to him, things that even disgusted me.” 

“I have a friend though, a woman who I trust with my life who promised me she’d look after him while I’m gone or until you find him. I hope you understand why I can’t say her name on a piece of paper, since I have no idea who will see this, so I’m not saying it for his own protection.” 

 “In the bag is a few pictures of him, so you know what he looks like and know what to look for while in the city.” 

“I hope you find him Natasha, truly I do. Say hello to your sister for me.” 

“Your mom, Melina…”

In shock, Natasha looked up at the three others with tears in her eyes. 

“W-where’s the bag?” She asked. 

Fury reached under his desk and placed the bag on the table, letting Natasha go through the files, he had already gone through them anyways. 

He knew what she wanted to see…

 She gently pulled out the first picture she could find and when she did, more tears leaked out from her eyes. 

It was like staring in a mirror, she was basically looking at a male version of herself. From the eyes, to the nose, the jaw hell, even to the slight red in his hair, all she could see was herself staring back at her. 

And this was very recently taken, it looked like he was nine in this photo, so it had to have been taken after August and it was only December now. 

 Her son was okay. 

Her mother had saved her son when she could do nothing to help him. 

And she now knew with one hundred percent certainty where he was located. 

New York City…

 “Before you go all mama bear Romanoff, need I remind you that you have a job to do with Stark? I need you to stay undercover here, not in New York.” 

Natasha glared with so much rage behind her gaze that it made both Parker’s take a step back, “When I first came here, I said for the information I had, you’d give me and my sister a pardon and you’d help me get my son. That last part still hasn’t been delivered. Now I know where he is, I’m going to find him even if it’s the last thing I do.” 

  “Agent Parkers live in New York, they can conduct the search for him.” Fury said. 

Natasha glare, If it was possible, became even more livid, “He’s my son.” 

 “And we know that.” Mary interrupted, “Fury here just wants you to finish your mission. So when you’re done evaluating Stark, then you can take over for us. But until then, we’d be happy to help look for your son.”  

 “Yeah, the city is a lot smaller then the rest of the world, it’s only a matter of time before we find him.” Richard shrugged. 

Natasha thought about it for a second before Yelena spoke up for her sister, still seeing the hesitation in her gaze. 

 “How about I work with them. I’ll help them try to find Pyotr while you’re busy with Stark, okay?” Her sister offered which made Natasha slightly relax her muscles at her sister’s suggestion. 

 “I’d like that.” She admitted with a small nod and a slight bitterness to her tone. 

She should be looking for him, he was her son. 

And yet she was stuck in California until she was done babysitting a giant man child.

 Fury nodded his head, “Good, Belova, Parkers pack your gear, you’re going to New York.” 

Chapter Text

Present Day....

"Peter?...Mr Hardy are you even listening to the lesson?" Ms Warren asked with a raised eyebrow directed at the boy in the back of her classroom, causing everyone else to also turn their heads in his direction. 

 The boy, all the way in the back corner looked up from his book which he was reading, trying to subtly hide it in his lap away from the prying eyes of anyone around him but it seemed he wasn't as successful as he hoped. 

The teen's emerald green eyes looked up and into his teachers with a slight twinkle of amusement behind his gaze. He placed his bookmark in the book before quietly shutting the novel as he smiled up at Ms Warren, "Of course I was ma'am, I always listen."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the other students in his class tried their best to hide their laughter at the statement, knowing just how much Peter was caught not listening during the day. 

If you asked Peter, he'd say how much of a lie that was but to anyone else at Midtown School of Technology, well they all knew Peter. 

Not really though since he was the social outcast of the school but you get the point. 

Peter glared around the room when they started to laugh which instantly shut some of them up. He had a reputation to uphold after all but his teacher didn't have the same view point as him. 

 "Very funny Mr Hardy. If, you were listening then answer me this, what's the formula for kinetic energy?" She asked. 

If she was trying to embarrass him, she'd have to try a little harder then that. 

 "Half the mass times velocity squared." Peter answered without hesitation, folding his hands in his lap, waiting to see if she was done testing him on material he already knew. 

He had learned this shit years ago...

"Alright, then up on the board is a diagram, it's what we've been talking about the past ten minutes. How do you calculate linear acceleration from points A to B?" She asked. Peter looked up at the board and tilted his head. 

It was a little more advanced then what he just answered, but he could do anything related to math or science in his sleep. 

He did read Doctor Banner's science books before he was even a teenager. 

 "Mass cancels out so it's just gravity times sign." Peter said coolly as he placed his hands on the desk and stared up at Ms Warren with a friendly smile on his face. 

 "That is...correct, well done Mr Hardy. Keep paying attention and stop reading in my class." She warned before she turned around and went back to teaching the class for the last five minutes until the bell rang. 

He decided to listen for the last few minutes but as soon as the bell rang, signaling time for lunch, he subtly winced at the sound before slowly packing up his books and folders before grabbing them and heading towards the door, making sure he was the last one out, not wanting to risk any attention on him. 

But before he could even make it out the door, his teacher called back to him so Peter sighed in resignation before he turned back around and walked over towards her desk. 

"Yes Ms Warren." Peter asked politely, not wanting to anger his teacher anymore then she probably already was. 

 She looked up and raised an eyebrow at him, "You know, that question was a pretty advanced one that you answered." She said. 

 Peter's lips quirked up into an amused smile, "Kinetic energy isn't that hard ma'am." He teased, knowing that she had meant the other problem, but not being able to help himself. 

Sarcasm was a way of life, and Peter made sure he walked down it every single day. 

He had to, it's who he was. 

Ms Warren rolled her eyes, "Funny Peter, but you know what I meant. I got that question from a college level text book. It was meant to challenge you students, but you answered it without any hesitation." She said. 

Peter smiled awkwardly and shrugged his shoulders, "It's pretty simple ma'am, all science is for me." He admitted. 

 Ms Warren hummed and had a contemplative look across her face for a few moments before she reached down into one of the drawers of her desk and pulled out a college level physics book. 

 "That right there, is ten times more challenging than what I'm teaching in class so Peter, if you can show me before or after every class that you've completed something in this book, and genuinely understand it, I won't make a scene if I happen to catch you reading your book once or twice." 

Peter's eyes widened in shock. His teacher, was telling him that he could openly ignore her lessons if he wanted to read? And all he had to do was a few questions a night? 

She must've seen his shock because she continued on, "But if that's the case, I expect you to pass all your tests understand? And when we have review days you will participate in that, am I clear?" She asked with a raised eyebrow as she offered the book to him, snapping Peter out of his haze. 

 "Yes, that's great! Thanks Ms Warren, really." He said as he grabbed the book and placed it in his pile of material he needed to bring to his locker before lunch. 

"Great, I'm glad we're in agreement. Over the weekend I expect some of that to be done, yeah? Come Monday I wanna see at least the first chapter of that book done and those questions completed." 

 "Yeah no, that's uh, no problem. I'll be sure to get right on it when I get home." Peter said as he grabbed the rest of his books and started to make his way back towards the door. He was already going to be late for lunch and he needed to eat, especially with his metabolism. 

 "See you Monday Peter." 

"Bye Ms Warren!" Peter exclaimed as he walked out the room and shut her door before he started off towards his locker to keep his stuff there until he got out of lunch. 

He also needed to grab his lunch. 

 It's crazy, Peter thought to himself as he walked down the hallway, how much his life has changed since coming to New York. 

 Felicia was absolutely fantastic, has been for years in Peter's opinion, no matter what she says. He knew that she didn't want children and he knew that she was an old friend to his grandma, and she kind of owed her a favor, bur Felicia has never complained once about him, always being there when he needed her and offering whatever she could to the boy. 

They lived together in her penthouse in Flushing New York. It's about a twenty minute drive from Queens where his school is located but for him, well it takes him under five minutes. 

Depending on how many times he stops along the way. 

Or if he's hungry, that's also a major factor. 

 But all in all, Felicia is an amazing woman and Peter really couldn't have asked for a better person to look out for him. She's taken care of him for years and well, she was kind of like his cool aunt who let him do whatever he wanted, but would secretly freak the fuck out if he got hurt and she'd hunt down the bastard responsible. 

She was pretty protective which sometimes caused little arguments here and there with his nightly activities, but he knew it came from a place of...

A place of love. 

Man, he wasn't good with emotions, and Felicia knew that but he was truly grateful to her. He sucked when it came to telling people things but he knew, he knew that Felicia knew that he loved her. 

Even if he rarely ever said the words out loud. 

Ever since the battle of New York, where Felicia and him were out on the streets that day, they had almost died so she made sure to tell him every single day that she cared about him, that she would do anything for him. 

That she, loved him. 

He hasn't felt that loved in his life since his mother...

 He still has those memories too, the good and the bad. Some nights he wakes up in a cold sweat as he remembers the needles the guns and the blood.

Or he wakes up screaming from what he witnesses out in the streets of the city. The murderers, the rapists or the burning buildings. The kids stuck inside with no way out, fully trapped and no chance of ever getting out to live the rest of their lives. 

 Or, on the very rare nights, he dreams of red hair, red fiery hair that was so soft. Piercing green eyes just like his and cuddles, he remembers cuddles on a little couch under fluffy blankets and blocks. 

For some reason, the blocks are always in those dreams. 

He knows that whoever the woman he sees is, she's his mother. He knew that, but it didn't help the ache in his heart to dissipate. 

He had no idea if she was even still alive or not, had no idea if his grandparents are even looking for her as he sits in school all day long. They've always tried to stay in contact with him, but Melina only ever sends him a text every few months to check in on him. 

Not even a visit since she dropped him off with Felicia. Hell, not even a damn call. 

 It hurt, but Peter did what he always did. He shouldered the pain and carried on in life because what else could he do? 

It's not like if he tried to call Melina, she'd answer. The only way he ever gets contact from her is from a random number that she uses to text him, she changed it after every time she texts so he knew that he'd never be able to get ahold of her. 

And to know that he didn't get to have contact with probably the only link he has to his biological family, hurt but it's not like Peter would admit that out loud. 

One night, he had gotten so upset about a nightmare that he had stormed out of the tower and what he saw, what he experienced changed his life forever. 

It had brought him back into the life that Melina had tried to get him out of. 

Back into the life of danger and blood...

 He had witnessed the murder of a man who was in his thirties. He had stopped at a gas station to just rest for a second after his walk, needing a minute to gather himself before going back to the penthouse but his senses had flared, warning him of danger. 

But he ignored it.

He ignored his warning and just stood there and watched as a man came out of the station chasing after another man with a ski mask on and by the time Peter realized the ski man had a gun, it was already too late. 

The man died, bleeding out on the sidewalk as people all around called the police and all Peter could do was just stare at the dying man. 

He swore he looked at him before he had died too, stared right at him and everything but that could've been his mind just playing tricks on him. 

But from that, watching another innocent life being taken, it reminded him of all of the innocents he had killed, everyone's life he had taken who didn't deserve it. 

He hated those memories, but he was stuck with them and they were all coming to the forefront of his mind as he watched this innocent man bleed out. 

That night, he vowed to protect the people of this city, the innocent lives who couldn't protect themselves from evil this city produced. 

He'd help them all, no matter how long it took him. 

He had skills, he had abilities and he was sick and tired of using them for nothing. They were just sitting there gathering dust and when he watched that man died, he realized that he, let him die. 

He could've listened to his powers, could've used them to help him but instead he stood on the side and watched. 

He realized, that if he had the power to do something, and he didn't, the bad thing that happened was his fault and his fault alone. 

This power he had, he could do great things with it. 

But with great power, comes great responsibility...

And from that one bad experience, birthed New York's newest Vigilante. 

And he's been around for the past two years, since his freshman year. 

He's now a sixteen year old Junior in high school who also happens to be Spider-Man, New York's youngest vigilante. 

Not that anyone knew that, except for Felicia that is. 

When there was suddenly a spider powered person swinging around New York, well it didn't take a genius to figure out it was him, and seeing how she knew of his powers, the first time he had went out he had come back to the penthouse and found an angry Felicia standing next to his bed with her hands on her hips and raised eyebrows directed right at him.

Yeah, that was not a fun little chat. 

But at the end, Peter had been firm that he'd not stop, he couldn't after all he's done to harm people. 

Now, he was going to make up for it and when he told her that, Peter watched as Felicia's gaze softened and her defenses shatter. He knew that she understood what that felt like, after all she was still sort of a criminal, she understood trying to do good to make up for the bad. 

Reluctantly, she let him continue on doing what he was doing, with the promise of going to her if he was badly hurt, since she knew they could never go to a doctors with his powers. 

He didn't waste her time with trivial things such as bruised ribs, cuts, or sprained ankles, they healed within hours but when he tried to hide a stab wound or bullet wound, she had this weird sense like she knew way before he was already hurt, she knew and the minute he tried to deny it, she'd prove him wrong. 

He's pretty sure she's found a way to spy on him whenever he's out on patrol, but he's not yet proved that theory and he knows she'd never give him a true answer if he asked. 

But, he understands she's just worried, has been ever since the battle of New York. 

He honestly wouldn't change his life at all, sure he'd love to see if his mother was still out there, but it's been so long. If he finds her, he finds her but at the moment, he's happy with Felicia and Spider-Man, he's happy where he is in life. 

Overall, it's not bad. 

Except school. 

School is still soooo fucking boring. 

 It's not his fault he sometimes can't keep his mind on the subject the teachers drone on about, most of the stuff they're teaching he learned years ago when he first came to live with Felicia. 

She had seen just how smart he was and had bought him books that probably no child should own, but he understood all of them like it was the easiest thing in the world so then she offered if he wanted to go to school. 

He regrets agreeing with her decision all those years ago...

 Whenever the teachers catch him dozing off he also gets detention because they think he's not listening, which okay that's fair, he's not but that's only because he's learned it already. 

All those detentions, is why Captain America is his least favorite Avenger...

Damn PSA's....

It's also sometimes very tiring to wake up in the morning for school when he's only gotten a couple hours of sleep due to Spider-Man taking down a drug ring in a matter of hours the previous night. 

The struggles of a teenage Vigilante, while his classmates have to worry about homework and girls, he has to worry about crime syndicates, murderers and rapists out on the streets. 

Some would say that was too much of a burden to place on a teen's shoulders, but Peter would disagree. 

He was just as capable, if not more so then some of these goons working for the police department. He could literally find anything with enough time, his powers and enhancements gave him an upper hand and his past training allowed him to take those powers, and utilize them in the right way so he wouldn't hurt himself. 

He was perfect for the job, and over half of New York thought so too but he knew, if they ever saw who was really behind the mask, then they'd all start to question him. 

Funny, really it is how much adults don't have faith in the youth of today, of any time period really. They have these expectations they expect you to follow and if you don't they judge you based off of their own beliefs. 

 If you do something that adults can't, they judge you because a child can do it, and they don't know how to feel about that. But if an adult was reveled to be swinging around the city with these super insane powers, then they wouldn't even bat an eye at him. 

Because he would've been an adult but Peter, Peter was still a teen and not safe from the biased adults have for children. 

It was one of Peter's biggest pet peeves, being underestimated just because he was a "child."

He hated people who did that on patrol, just because of his voice and if he beat them a little harder then the other robbers that night, well no one had to know. 

No one had to know that it was also the reason why he added a voice modulator in his homemade spandex suit. 

But the smirk Felicia gave him when she heard it told him all he needed to know about what she thought about it. 

Peter sighed quietly to himself as he finally made it to his locker. He balanced his books in one hand as he reached over to the lock to put in his combo. Once the locker was opened he placed his morning books at the top of his locker before he reached into his bag to pull out his lunch, 

 After the incident where he almost starved to death due to his enhanced metabolism, Felicia always made sure to pack him little snacks along with his lunch for after school when he was on patrol. But todays lunch consisted of some left over Alfredo they had for dinner last night with an apple and a bag of cookies. 

The protein bars would be for Spider-Man later today. 

He walked his way over to cafeteria and as soon as he walked in his senses spiked with the amount of noise so he subtly reached up to his ears and pressed the small little machine in either ear, his own invention, and turned the volume down, making him relax as soon as the noise turned down. 

Sometimes, he loves being smart so he could make cool ass shit like this. 

He walked over to the empty table towards the back corner of the room and sat down to begin eating his lunch. 

Not noticing the group of people who were already watching him. 

 "He looks so lonely by himself." Lila commented with a frown across her face, her group sitting at a table a few down from Peter. 

Cooper scoffed at his sister, "He's always been like that. He's been here longer then any of us Lila, what makes you think he doesn't like being alone?" 

 "Because no one likes being alone Cooper." Cassie rolled her eyes, "Some people just have a...different perspective of the world and, well some people think they deserve to be alone, it doesn't mean they like it." She said, staring at Peter with sympathy behind her gaze. 

"You have no idea if that's what's happening with him though. He could just generally dislike people." Cooper pointed out with a shrug to his shoulders. 

 "Has anyone ever tried to friend him?" Lila asked rhetorically, "Since we've been here, I can count on my one hand the amount of people who went up to him and started a friendly conversation." 

 "He usually keeps to himself, more then I did before I met all of you." MJ shrugged as she took a bite out of her sandwich. She waited to continue until after she was done chewing, "He's never been mean to people, but I'm sure you've all heard stories about how he stands up to bullies. Flash basically pisses himself when he sees Peter after their little incident in freshman year." 

 "Umm, what happened freshman year?" Harley asked, his southern accent hard to miss as he raised an eyebrow at MJ, but there was morbid curiosity behind the look, wanting to know what the hell Hardy had done to Flash to get him to leave the other teen alone. 

 Ned softly chuckled before responding, "Oh it was perfect. Flash was picking on Gwen after she rejected him as his date and Peter saw. Now it wouldn't have been that bad, if Flash didn't make a comment about how she was apparently a whore. Man, when Peter heard that, he verbally beat the shit out of Flash but you should've seen his eyes oh man, the glare too! He was sooooo pissed!! I've never seen someone look so deadly before, let alone a teenager." 

"Ever since then, Flash pisses himself whenever he sees Peter. He doesn't want to invoke the dudes wrath." MJ smirked, finishing Ned's rambling on his favorite story from freshman year. 

 "Damn, is it weird I wanna meet him now?" Lila smirked as she risked a quick glance at the teen forty feet away from them. 

 "A little, you know what though? I kind of wanna see him and aunt Nat in the same room. If he's how you say he is, I bet he's the only one who'd be able to keep his cool." Cooper huffed with an amused smile across his face before grabbing his apple and biting off a piece.

 "Oh I would totally take that bet!" Harley said with a wide smile, "He'd shit his pants the moment he saw her!" 

 "Bullshit, he'd be cool as a cucumber." 

"Cucumbers, one, are not cool. Second, no one can be cool around Nat. Not even the people who know her." 

 "I think you're wrong." 

 "I think I'm right." 

"Well you, my dear friend, are not." 

 "I totally am right." 

"You can bet your southern britches you aren't." 

 "How'd you know my britches are southern, hmm?" 

 "Everything you own is southern." Lila deadpanned at Harley, making the others laugh as Harley had a contemplative look across his face. 

 "Okay okay, you right you right, I'll give you that one." 

 Just then, there was a commotion that started from behind them all so they stopped what they were talking about and turned their heads to look at what was happening. Everyone in the cafeteria also turned to look and what they saw made some of them roll their eyes but they still pulled out their phone to record, just incase. 

 Flash and his goons were standing at the table where Gwen Stacy, Sally Avril, Betty Brant and Cindy moon were all sitting down. The room had just gotten very quiet as well so everyone could hear what was being said. 

 "I don't understand babe, I'm everything you could ever want, just give me a chance. I've learned from my past mistakes, I've changed. I promise." Flash said to Gwen which made the girl scoff and roll her eyes. 

"I'm sure you have Flash, but I'm not interested in dating you. So if you can please just leave me the hell alone, that would be much appreciated, thank you." She said before turning back to eat her food which made Flash blush in both anger and embarrassment. 

 He was about to say something else which most likely would've got him smacked but a voice from the corner of the room spoke up which made chills go down some peoples spines, particularly the ones who remembered freshman year. 

 "I'd be wise about what you say Eugene. We don't need another repeat like last time, yeah?" Peter said, still sitting down in his seat but he was now staring at Flash with a glare that could probably rival Natasha Romanoff's. 

If only the kids of the avengers knew just how ironic that statement really was...

 Flash scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest, "What're you gonna do about it Hard-On, huh? I'm not scared of a nerd like you." He said, even though Peter could hear the tremor in his voice. 

 He was bleeding fear, Peter didn't even have to be near him to know that. But, he got up after he ate the last cookie and started to slowly walk from table to table, making sure to keep his eyes on Flash, "What's your obsession with my dick Eugene? Trying to tell us all something about you and a little closet?" Peter raised an eyebrow and smirked at the bully. 

Everyone in the cafeteria broke up into laughter at that comment which made flash's face burn even more bright pink in embarrassment. 

Contrary to popular belief, he wasn't a complete idiot, he could sometimes read the room. He remembered freshman year, he knew what Peter could do, even if he'd never admit it to anyone. Hardy was probably the strongest in the school, he just never showed it with the clothes he wore but Flash has seen him change before for gym class. 

He's not a string bean, and flash didn't know how to feel about having someone like Peter push him around, but he did know that he didn't want to anger the teen anymore. 

He's been on the receiving end of that anger before, he'd very much like to keep his body limbs attached thank you very much. 

"Whatever man, this doesn't concern you." He glared but it was nothing compared to Peter's, not that the teen would admit that out loud. 

Peter shrugged his shoulders as he finally came to rest a few feet in front of the bully, "Call me old fashioned if you'd like, but I don't like how you treat women like pieces of meat, or how you go around the school bullying kids just because you think you're all high and mighty because mommy and daddy's money got you here. Now the rest of us, or the vast majority anyways, had to work hard to get into this school so forgive me if I get a little heated with how you treat others...Now you have two options Eugene." He said the final part not above a whisper, coming to standing right behind flash to whisper down into his ear. 

 "You can walk away, and forget this happened, or cause a scene. One of those ways will end very badly for you so I'd suggest, you pick wisely Eugene." The teen's words made the bully shiver. He had no damn idea how scary Peter could actually get, but he did know that this, was barely anything. 

He could get a lot worse and a lot meaner, and Flash didn't really feel like getting suspended so he did the smart thing and walked away. 

But not after he scoffed and shoved at Peter's shoulder a bit, trying to move him away or push him on the ground but the teen stood tall and merely raised an eyebrow at him causing Flash's face to burn as he walked out the doors. 

Leaving Peter and Flash's goons. One of the assholes was about to say something though and Peter was having none of that so he took a menacing step forward and glared at them. 

 "Get lost, before I make you." He hissed and they instantly backed down and bolted out the room, not wanting to anger Peter at all. 

The booming exclamation and clapping coming from everyone invaded his senses which made him look around. He rolled his eyes before he started to walk away words the library where he could sit the rest of his lunch period in silence while he read his book, away from everyone else at the moment. 

He ignored how Gwen tried to gain his attention as he walked out. She didn't need to be associated with him, trust him it only brought more trouble. 

He didn't need friends, no matter what Felicia said about socializing. 

He was better by himself. 

And maybe if he kept telling myself that, he'd believe it one day...

Back in the cafeteria, the students were still talking about what they had just watched, another verbal beat down for Flash but the group which was classified as the Avengers kids, which wasn't known by anyone in school except Ned and MJ, couldn't shut up about it. 

 "Did you see the way he destroyed Flash!? Holy shit that was the highlight of my day! And guess what, I caught it on camera!!" Harley laughed with tears of joy running down his face. 

 "Did you see that glare? I wouldn't want to mess with him, thats for sure." Cassie shook her head. 

 "Isn't that the second times he's gone to Stacy's defense? Maybe he's got a thing for her." Cooper said but Ned and MJ instantly shook their heads. 

"No, Peter defends everyone. He once defended someone who was older then him from some senior who was this giant bully back in freshman year, towards the end of term. Whoever needs help, Peter tries to offer his assistance whenever he can. It doesn't matter if your short, tall, male, female, gay or straight." Ned said. 

MJ nodded, "Leeds is right, Peter helps everyone, it just happens that Flash tries to ask Gwen to be his date like, every year and every year he says something stupid and Peter usually gets involved." 

 "Well he sounds like a nice guy." Lila said before her eyes widened, "You know what? We should invite him to the table! Let him sit with us and make a new friend." 

The others looked at each other for a few minutes before shrugging their shoulders. It was Cassie who spoke up for the rest of them though. 

"Sure, why the hell not, let's try on Monday. 

 "Monday it is." 

So the day continued on. None of them had any classes with Peter for the second half of the day except for two of them. Even though most of them were in the same grade as him, Peter took a lot more advanced classes with Ned and MJ, the rest of them took normal level classes. 

Today, they had history, gym class and then Chemistry before the end of the day and all three of those classes were with Peter but they knew no matter what they'd tried, the teen wouldn't talk to them. 

He didn't really talk to that many people, so on Monday they knew it was going to be one tough challenge to try and convince him to sit with them. 

Anyways, the day passed by with not that much trouble, nothing major happened in the classes during the afternoon, Peter still sat in the back of every single one of them and read his book while the teachers droned on and honestly, MJ could respect that. 

It's not like he didn't know his stuff, he knew it so he decided to do something more productive with his time and read his book. 

If MJ could do that, you better bet your ass she would, but unfortunately she still had to listen to the teacher because she needed to learn this material. 

Peter, well he just knew everything for some reason. 

It was one of his many talents, she mused silently to herself at the end of the day, as she was at her locker with the others grabbing her things for the weekend. 

 "We still good for tomorrow?" Lila asked her with a tilted head. 

She nodded her head, "Of course, wouldn't want to miss a chance to see your crazy family in action." She smirked which caused the others to laugh. 

About five minutes down the hallway though, Peter was already starting to walk out the front doors but he suddenly heard a voice call out to him from behind so he turned around and came face to face with Gwen Stacy. 

 He smiled politely at her and waved before stopping and allowing her to catch up with him. Once she did she smiled at him and brought him in for a surprise hug, which made the teen freeze in shock. 

 The only person who has ever hugged him in these last few years, has been Felicia. Before that, the only person he could ever remember giving him a hug was his mother, and that was years and years ago. 

So reviving one from Gwen right now, we'll it was nice. 

It also happened to be his first hug outside of anyone who was "family" for the boy. 

 After a second of hesitation, he reached up and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, completing the hug and he could tell how she relaxed, glad that she hadn't overstepped any unwritten boundaries. 

 "You know, you never let me say thank you for defending me. You don't have to do what you do you know? But we all appreciate you taking on flash for us, including me, even though I can take care of myself." She smirked teasingly at him after they separated which made him snort. 

"I don't doubt that for a second, but still, it's kind of hardwired in me to help wherever I see trouble. I really don't like bullies as you can probably tell." He said. 

Gwen laughed, "Yeah I've noticed." She said as she shook her head, "Anyways I just wanted to thank you, again it means a lot to me that someone who doesn't even know me that well is willing to stick up for me." 

 "Yeah well, it's who I am." Peter shrugged. 

"Then you're a good person, really Pete, thanks." She said again but the name caused Peter to pause for a moment. 

He's gotten his fair share of nicknames from Felicia over the years, but no one's ever called him Pete before. 

It felt kind of...nice. 

Was this what it felt like to have a...have a friend? 

 He hated to admit it because that would mean Felicia was right, but, it felt kind of, nice...

 Peter shook himself out of it quickly and smiled at her, like actually gave Gwen a real, genuine smile, "Thanks for, stopping by and talking. It's uh, well it's different but..." He didn't even need to finish because Gwen smiled gently back at him and placed her hand on his shoulder. 

"Of course, everyone deserves to be happy Pete, even you. No one deserves to be lonely all the time." She smiled before he watched as an idea formed in her mind as her smile widened as she stared at him, "I have a great idea, how about I come and sit with you on Monday yeah? We'll have our own little corner table away from everyone else, how does that sound?" She asked. 

Peter smiled back at her and nodded his head after a second to think it over. It sounded, great actually, perfect. Did he finally have his first friend who was actually his age? Wow, Felicia was going to flip shit when she heard about this. 

 "Sure, that sounds great Gwen. But, you'd willingly leave your other friends to sit with me?" He asked with a tilted head. 

 Gwen shrugged her shoulders, "Sure, my friends don't need me at all that much. They have each other and I don't want you to be lonely anymore." 

"I mean, only if you're sure about it. Afraid we don't have like, top notch conversations over at table de Peter, but I mean, I'd like to think I'm pretty funny." Peter smirked in amusement which made Gwen laugh. 

"You're definitely something Pete." She teased. 

"Ouch, okay I see how it is." Peter fake gasped as he placed a hand on his chest, just making the other teen laugh louder. Just then, a car horn was heard and both of them looked over and saw that there was a police cruiser parked in the front waiting for what he deduced was actually Gwen. The tall blond male who was waiting outside kind of gave that a way. 

"Sorry I should probably get going that's my dad, but I'll see you Monday okay?!" She said as she already stared to sprint over towards her dad's vehicle, leaving Peter behind at the entrance staring at her retreating form. 

"Bye, Gwen. See you Monday." He called back out to her as he shook his head. 

He had actually made a friend, wow. That was completely new for him. 

And he had the perfect way to celebrate, a sandwich from Delmar's. Best sandwich place in all of Queens, Peter would go as far to say that it was the best damn sandwich's in all of New York. 

But that was just him.

It was only a few minute walk to Delmar's but he didn't mind it all that much, he enjoyed getting out to stretch his legs after a tiring day at school so he placed his earbuds in his ears and started to play his music until he got there. 

Once we opened the shop door, he paused his music and pocketed his buds before smiling at the owner who was behind the counter, "Hey Mr Delmar! How've you been today?" He asked as he came to lean on the counter in front of the man, letting his hand wander over to Murph to pet the cat. 

 "Mr Hardy! What a pleasure to see you today. I'm doing great though, thanks for asking." Mr Delmar exclaimed with a wide smile across his face. 

 "Great, how's your daughter been?" Peter smirked which made the older man glare at him warningly. 

He pointed his finger at him, "Do you wanna pay an extra five for your sandwich? If not I suggest you shut your trap." He said which made Peter snort as he placed a five dollar bill on the counter. 

 "Man, you're easy to get a reaction out of, chill Mr Delmar, I'm only joking around." Peter smiled and shook his head fondly at the shop owner making said man narrow his eyes as he took the bill with extreme caution like it was somehow tainted. 

 "You better be." He gave one final warning before he placed the bill in the register and moved over to make the food for Peter. 

 "So how's the shop Mr D?" Peter asked as he waited for the sandwich by the shop cat, making sure to scratch behind his ears since he knew the feline liked it so much. 

 "Business is booming as usual, everyone in Queens wants a taste of the best sandwich's this part of town." He said as he started to cut open the bread and throw all of Peter's toppings in. 

 "Well as they should, no place can outmatch your sandwiches Delmar." He said which made the man roll his eyes at the teen.

"So what're you up to theses days, huh? Still in school?" Delmar asked. 

Peter shrugged, "Yeah but it's not fun, I've already learned everything they're teaching like, years ago. It's boring and I've got better things to do." 

"Stay in school kid, you'll need that diploma if you want to get into colleges after high school. Just look at me, I dropped out and here I am, in a little sandwich shop in Queens." 

"Hey, this is the best sandwich place ever, I'd be amazing to have all this." Peter smiled at the older man, trying to encourage him. 

Delmar waved his hand around, "Yeah yeah yeah I hear you. If I never did that, I would've never met your lovely personality, isn't that right?" Delmar smirked as he placed Peter's sandwich on the counter for the teen to pick up. 

Peter smirked right back at the older man as he grabbed the bag his food was in, "You've got that right Mr D." 

 "Yeah, enjoy your number five with extra pickles, squished down extra flat." Delmar rolled his eyes before mumbling to himself, "I've never had someone be so particular with their food before you." 

Peter mock gasped in hurt and placed his other hand on his chest, "Ouch, Mr Delmar, that just hurts. I can't believe you'd betray me like this, how will I ever go on?" He said with a hand on his forehead being all dramatic. 

"You'll find a way." Mr Delmar deadpanned at the teen which made him snort. He offered Murph one more scratch behind his head before he started to walk out the door. 

"Bye Mr D, have a nice day!" He called out behind him as he opened the door. 

"You too Peter!" The owner called out and less then a second later, the door closed and Peter was now back out on the streets of his city, his home. 

 He always did the same thing every Friday. He'd go to Delmars and grab a sandwich before going to the top of a building to eat the food, then after that he'd grab his homemade silky spider suit, put it on and swing around the city saving people until he had to go back home to Felicia around seven so he could have dinner. 

He didn't know if he'd go back out tonight, it would depend on if he heard or found anything that was truly concerning while he was out right now. 

 But, this was his life. 

The life of a teenage vigilante and he wouldn't change a thing about it...

The elevator dinged as all the kids made it up to the penthouse of Stark Tower. As soon as the doors opened, they all walked out and threw their various items along the side wall, keeping them there until later where they'd take them to their rooms. 

The all walked into the living area and came face to face with their family lounging around and relaxing. Steve was most likely in the kitchen with Bucky, those two now that they were reunited were harder to get away from each other then a leech was to blood. 

 Clint and Laura were at the table with Nate, the little boy talking animatedly towards his parents as he colored in his book, Tony was at the table working on some tech with Bruce sitting next to him, offering him assistance when he needed it. 

 Scott, Sam and Yelena were all sitting down on the couch playing Mario kart while Natasha sat back and watched with a slightly amused gaze behind her look. 

 "Man you would not believe the day we had." Harley was the first from the kids to exclaim as they walked into the room. 

"Oh yeah? And why's that potato man?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow causing the teen to glare at him. 

 "Because we just watched the school bully get destroyed, that's why." Lila smirked as she sat down next to her aunt, causing the older woman to reach over and ruffle her hair. 

 "And how, pray tell did you do that, huh?" Natasha asked with a raised eyebrow but the people who knew her could tell she was curious about the subject. 

"Wait, pause, time out for a quick second, you mean to tell me there's a bully roaming your school? And you didn't tell us?" Scott asked causing his daughter to roll her eyes. 

"He never bullied us dad, but he did bully others." 

"And did you ever stop this asshole from being mean to others?" Clint raised an eyebrow at the kids which made them blush a bit in embarrassment from being called out. 

 "Well, no but that's not because we didn't want to." Cooper said. 

"Yeah, he was already being taken care of by another student. We have our own bully repellent in the shape of another student." Lila said as she gestured to Harley, "Harls, show them the video, I know you recorded it." 

 Harley gasped, "How dare you accuse me of filming a verbal beat down instead of reporting it to the teachers." He said. 

Everyone looked at him with the same deadpanned expression across their faces...

 "Ok fine, man tough crowd today." Harley muttered before taking out his phone and pulling up the video. He didn't even need to say the words because Friday was already listening in and brought the same video up on the tv screen, effectively cutting off the current game of Mario Kart. 

"Oh man." Scott muttered but was ignored by everyone else while his daughter fondly rolled her eyes. 

The Avengers stood around and watched as the kid, Peter verbally beat the shit out of the bully, coming to the other teen's defense even though they could tell he knew she didn't need it. 

 He had this weird confidence about him from what they could tell, he spoke with authority when he scared the other students away and it seemed he gained his own reputation in the school because he barely had to do anything to the Flash kid before he had already turned tail and ran. 

 They were all impressed with the kid's ability to end a fight without even having to raise a hand, Steve and Bucky more so then the others. 

 Back before the war, when Steve used to get his ass kicked everyday, bullies never liked it when you showed them you were smarter then them, trust the Captain on that and Peter used his wit instead of his strength to really teach these punks a lesson. 

 It made Steve see a little of himself in the kid who stood up for what was right. 

Bucky though, while he was thinking the same thing, had his eyes slightly narrowed in confusion. He couldn't place it but the kid, he looked so damn familiar, he could place where but he just knew that he knew the teen, somehow...

Man it was going to keep bugging him until he figured it out...

Natasha had the same feeling though she didn't let it show along her face. There was something about him, about how he held himself and how he acted that was similar. She couldn't see the whole teen with how it was recorded, but for some reason, she just couldn't stop the feeling that she knew him. 

 The spy's curiosity did get the better of her once the clip was finished though, "What's he like? Do you talk to him?" She asked the kids. 

"Well, not exactly. He doesn't really talk to anyone at school, people have tried but he always shuts them down. He prefers to sit alone whenever he's in class or in lunch. He'd much rather have his face stuffed in a book than socialize with people his age." Cooper shrugged as he leaned back against the couch cushion. 

Huh, sounds a bit like her to be honest. Socializing was just so damn hard at times, there were points where she'd much rather be stuffed in a book too. 

Especially on the bad days...

 "Yup, complete social outcast." Harley said out loud which made Cassie who was standing next to him glare and elbow him right in the side. 

"Ow, what? Am I wrong? Huh? I'm not." Harley huffed as he held his side in pain. 

"Just because it may be true, it doesn't mean you have to say it out loud." Cassie rolled her eyes.

 "She's right Harley, you don't know the kids situation. Who knows, maybe he doesn't know how to make friends, as sad as that sounds. We don't know him, and we can't assume anything about the kid without making an ass of ourselves." Tony said with his arms crossed. 

"Speaking from experience Stark?" Natasha asked sarcastically with a slight upturn of her lips, causing her sister to snort in amusement, followed by the others not long after. 

 Tony rolled his eyes, "This is why I never leave my lab, because you hooligans make fun of me. I can see where I'm not wanted, so if you'll all excuse me I'll be down in my lab, crying myself to sleep tonight." The genius sniffed before dramatically turning around and walking over to the elevator, leaving his laughing friends and family behind. 

 Natasha though, she was still staring at the paused video of the kid, not really looking at it anymore, just stuck in her own head. 

She didn't fully grasp what the kids just said until right now, the kids name...

It was Peter...

So, so so close to Pyotr...

All these years and she still hasn't found him, neither have either of the agent Parker's and with the death of Ben a few years ago, they had taken time off of the hunt to mourn their own loss. 

But still, throughout all these years she hasn't given up hope on him, that he was still somewhere out here in the city, waiting for her. 

But then the battle of New York happened, and that hope that her son was alive, dwindled down to a very very slight chance. 

The only thing that kept her going back then was her family, told her to not give up and to keep looking because her son needed her. 

Her son still needed her, even if he was sixteen years old already. 

She, needed to see him, to make sure he was okay and healthy and safe and....

 "You're spiraling." Yelena said from her spot right next to her sister. 

 Natasha scoffed, "Am not."

"What caused it this time?" She asked, completely ignoring her sister's denial and carrying on with her questioning. 

Natasha knew that her sister would just keep bugging her if she didn't talk so she sighed and looked around to make sure no one was listening in on them, "The kids name is Peter." She said, emphasizing the name until her sister caught on which didn't take too long. 

 When she did figure it out, she winced, "Sorry. Shouldn't have brought it up." She mumbled. 

Natasha shook her head, "No, it's fine. It's just....it's been sixteen years since I had him, over a decade since I've lost him and I...I just wanna see my son again." She admitted. 

 Yelena frowned and set her hand on her sister shoulder, "I'll try to get in contact with Mom again, see if she can give us any clues as to where she left your son, who she left him with alright?...I promise sis, we're gonna find him even if it's the last thing we do." 

Nat huffed and shook her head fondly, "Since when were you the optimist?" 

Yelena smirked right back, "Since you lost hope. Don't worry, I'll be the better sister and pick it up for the both of us. Someone has to." 

 Natasha smiled gently at her sister and laid her hand on her cheek," Thank you Yelena, it means the world to me." 

 "Of course. Oh!! And don't forget tomorrow night we're having dinner with the Parker's. Mary wanted me to tell you to bring over Barton and his family too." She suddenly exclaimed which made Natasha nod her head. 

 "Sounds good, see you later." The older woman said as she turned to walk down the hallway towards her room. 

"See you tonight." She heard her sister call back to her but she didn't respond, already saying what she needed to say. As she got into her room though and shut the door behind her, locking it, she rested her head back against the wood and closed her eyes before slowly sliding down until her butt hit the hardwood ground. 

 Behind locked doors and with no prying eyes to spy on her, she could finally break down the mask she always kept up and mourn. 

Mourn for the lost of her child who she didn't even known, didn't even know if he was still alive or anything. 

 And there was absolutely nothing she could do about it except sit here and wait, wait until a new lead popped up and she could actually follow it. 

Maybe, one day, a lead will actually bring her to her son. 

But until that day, she had to be strong, she had to continue on with her life and hope for the best. 

Even if she didn't have that much hope left to begin with...

Suddenly there was a knock on her door and she didn't even try to move or unlock the door, not in the mood to have any visitors at the moment. 

"Natasha? It's me. Can you let me in?" The voice of Bucky Barnes said which only made her eyes burn that much more and anger to course through her body. 

When Bucky was un-brainwashed, the first thing he had said to her was she looked familiar, and she reminded him of someone which instantly had put her on guard. 

A few weeks later, he had finally remembered why and had come clean to her. He told her about how he remembered a little boy with her eyes, how he remembered training him, teaching him everything that he could do. 

The man had made her baby into a murderer, had made her son go through so much pain and suffering at such a young age. 

She hated him, loathed the man even if it wasn't actually him who trained her son.

It didn't change the fact he made her son like her. 

Her little baby had to go through all of that, and he didn't even have his mother to help him get through it. 

She hated the man...

"Go away Barnes." She said coldly, not even bothering to mask the anger in her tone. 

She did not, want to see him right now. 

All the Avengers were confused with her behavior towards him, especially Steve but she couldn't bring herself to tell them why, and Barnes had enough decency left in that body of his to not tell anyone about her son. 

It was the least he could do in her opinion...

 She heard as he sighed from the other end of the door and waited a minute before speaking, barely above a whisper, "I'm sorry." He mumbled which only made her clench her hands in anger. 

 "I said leave Barnes! Don't make me come out there to force you because I promise you, I will make it hurt." She threatened, trying to keep herself composed until she heard the man leave the general vicinity of her room. 

Once he did, she let the water gates open as tears flooded out of her eyes and down her face. 

I'd be a long time before she spoke with that man, but she didn't want to even think about him at the moment. 

All she wanted was her son back...

Peter stood on top of the Empire State Building with his suit on, staring off at his beautiful city from behind the white eyes of his spider mask. 

 This place really was a site to see, all the buildings that towered up to the sky, the cool tourist attractions that brought people from thousands of miles away just for the chance to see it and Peter's favorite, the one thing above all else he loved about his city. 

Was when the sun started to set, there wasn't a more beautiful sight to see then when the sun started to lower down behind the horizon line. 

But, he'd have to wait a few hours until he saw that, right now the sun was still out high in the sky and he had patrol to do. 

He had a duty to these people and he wasn't gonna let them down anytime soon, that was for sure. 

 He closed his eyes and relaxed his body and started to plummet down the tower, relishing in the feel of his adrenaline spiking and his heart pumping. 

He let out a whop as he continued to fall down to the earth, keeping his arms tucked against his body as he fell towards the sidewalk of the city. 

There was truly nothing more exhilarating than when the adrenaline in one's body started to flow through every vein. Peter loved the feeling it gave him, it made him feel like he was unstoppable, like he was finally at peace with the world around him. 

He loved who he was, and wouldn't give up his powers for anything. 

He needed Spider-Man, and Spider-Man needed him. 

Right before he hit the ground, his senses warned him and he shot a web at a nearby skyscraper, pulling his body upward and into a swing, making the onlookers gasp and point excitedly at him, happy that they got the chance to see their very own superhero protecting them. 

Even if he didn't think he was a superhero. 

You see, there were differences between superhero and vigilante, that's why there were different words to begin with. 

To Peter, a Superhero was someone like the Avengers, someone who protected the world from ruin, who made sure that at the end of the fight, they still had a planet to live on.

A vigilante though, was a lot more smaller than that, they'd be willing to help wherever they could. To helping people when they were lost, to even the nastiest of jobs, the jobs where you didn't know if you'd make it back because it was so dangerous. 

 A vigilante, went outside the law to get shit done because they knew it'd never get taken care of because the cops either couldn't handle it, or the person they were after were just too rich and powerful to be placed in jail by normal means. 

 And vigilantes took care of the shit that the Avengers wouldn't. They all sit at the top of their ivory tower while the little people down in the city suffer everyday of their lives and that night, where Peter watched Ben Parker bleed out in front of him, he vowed that he'd never be like the Avengers. 

He'd never be the person who sat down and did nothing as people were killed every night. 

 So to him, Vigilantes were the shield to their city. They took on the brunt of the damage. They suffered and endured the pain so the people wouldn't have to. They took care of it so innocent people wouldn't die. 

There was a word he liked, endure. Vigilantes endured every night so the people didn't. The word, endure, meant to carry on through, despite hardships. 

It meant to bear with tolerance or to continue in existence but to Peter, Peter liked the last definition the best. He thought it explained the word perfectly. 

 To suffer patiently without yielding...

And he knew that superheroes endured, that's not what he was saying. He was only saying that vigilantes endured the full might of their city and all the corruption that was hiding in it, that's how they helped their home.

The took care of the shady shit no one else was equipped to deal with. 

And they took it on not because they were forced, but because they had the ability to do so, they had the chance to help their city and they did so without a second of hesitation. 

Because that's what they did...

 No matter how small the problem was because that was who they were, they helped out the little guys who needed help. 

That's why Peter loved doing what he did, he loved going out there to save people because it gave him a sense of purpose. It made him feel good about himself, especially after his terrible past, the past where all he can remember is blood, blood that was on his hands. 

He couldn't stand the thought that he was once like the assholes he puts away now, someone who hurt innocent lives but he was trying to amend for what he had done, he was trying to make up for it in all the ways he knew. 

One of which, happened to be swinging around the city fighting crime...

And Peter wouldn't have it any other way.

 He spent a few hours swinging around the city, helping people find the building they were after, allowing people to cross streets, getting cats out of trees and he even flipped for a couple tourists who asked him to. 

Not a lot of exciting things happened and that was fine with Peter, he was just happy he was helping out where he could. 

But that soon changed when after three hours of swinging around, he got a little notification from his Hud on his lenses telling him about a robbery reported on Fifth avenue with a hostage situation.

Without any other delay, he turned around and swung off towards Manhattan. It only took him a few minutes and by that time, there was already police officers surrounding the building with a few familiar faces standing there. 

He recognized both Officer Davis, his grand old pal Yuri and more surprisingly, he saw the captain of the police force was here, Captain Stacy. 

Gwen's father. 

Small world wasn't it? 

 He swung over and landed on one of the police cars but made sure he stayed out of sight from the building so no one inside could tell he arrived. 

He's made a lot of enemies in his years swinging around the city and he knew that if some people saw him arrive, then they'd panic and start making decisions that probably wouldn't be good for the hostages inside. 

 "Sup my fellow cops, it's Spider-Cop reporting for duty. I hear you've got a little hostage problem in there?" He said with a raised eyebrow and a smile across his face. 

He knew that most of the cops couldn't stand him, the only ones that seem to tolerate him are the three standing in front of him plus detective Mahoney but that was probably because the man had been dealing with Daredevils bullshit for years before he had ever showed up. 

The man has told him many stories and some of them were pretty funny, he had to admit. 

The three people in front of him though didn't seem to share his same sense of humor at the moment because they all rolled their eyes at his cop comment but decided that they didn't have time to call him out on it. 

 It was the captain who spoke up though, "You think you can sneak in there and get all of the criminals webbed up without harming the hostages?" He asked bluntly. 

Peter scoffed and placed a hand on his chest, "You insult me by insinuating that I can't Captain. Of course I'll help you. Do you know if there's a vent shaft though? Somewhere I can crawl in undetected?" He asked them, getting down into his business mode. 

He had work to do. 

 "On top of the building, there's an air duct that will take you right to the main room of the bank. Once you're in, you won't be able to miss the hostages, they're right there but so are the assholes with alien weapons. We've got no idea how they got them so be careful Spider-Man." Officer Davis said to him. 

Peter nodded his head, "Alright I can work with that. I'll send the hostage out the front door so be ready once that door opens. I'll try to get the weapons out of the way first so no one gets hurt." He said but before he could swing to the top of the building, Yuri called out to him. 

"Stay safe Spider-Man, and be careful yeah? Don't really feel like cleaning up spider guts this evening." She smirked which made him snort in amusement. 

"Don't get your hopes up Yuri, I ain't going anywhere." With that said he swung off towards the roof of the bank and ripped off the vent cover before crawling into the vent and silently making his way into the main room. 

When he got there, he looked through the other cover and saw that right below him, there were about three people with alien weapons and on the opposite wall, there was five citizens with gags in their mouths with their hands tied behind their backs. 

 As quietly as he could, he tore open the vent covering and silently placed it in the vent with him before he used his powers to climb along the ceiling. 

 Once he was upside down on the roof, he reached back in and grabbed the piece of metal before he placed the vent covering back on before looking down and breathing a sigh of relief when he noticed that the criminals didn't notice or hear him. 

 Which was definitely good news for him. 

 He looked around the room and focused his senses before he noticed that there was only two more men in the other room, probably the two tasked with grabbing the money while these idiots guarded the hostages. 

Idiots who didn't even think to look up. 

Honestly one of criminals many downfalls, they never looked up. 

 He looked around the room for anything to make a distraction out of before his eyes landed on a nearby desk. He webbed a pen to his hand and chucked the object away from the hostages, making all three heads turn at the sudden sound. 

 "John, go check that out." One of the men said as he gestured to where the sound came from. 

"Why me?" The man, John asked with a raised eyebrow. 

"Because I said so. It's probably nothing but let's just make sure." He said and John then walked over to the sound with Peter silently following behind him. 

When they were both behind cover and away from prying eyes, Peter shot his webs at the man and pulled him up to the ceiling and covered him in webs before he could alert his fellow robbers. 

One down, four to go...

 He grabbed the alien weapon too and webbed it to the ceiling for now, not wanting to risk the weapon just lying on the floor. After that was done he crawled back over to the two men and decided that he'd play with them a bit. 

 He slowly lowered himself down his web right behind the other men. He could see how the hostages eyes widened at the sight of him so before he spoke, he made the classic be quiet symbol with his finger to his mouth before he whispered in the man's ears. 

"Pshh." As quickly as the words left his mouth, he crawled back up the web and watched the man turn around. 

"What?" He asked his partner, not knowing it was actually him and not the other man. 

"What're you on about man?" 

"What do you want?" 

"I want, you to shut your mouth." 

"Then why did you whisper to me?" 

"I didn't whisper to you." 

"You did, I heard it." 

"Man you're hearing things again. Just shut up okay? Once we're done here we'll report back to the big bosses and maybe then the Maggia will finally get off our goddamn back." Peter tilted his head at the man's words. 

The Maggia? He's heard whispers of their name before but it's usually Fisk's goons who utter the words. 

From what he's gathered, the Maggia are the only competitor for Fisk, and they don't like the mobster. 

Apparently stealing their territory instantly puts you on their shit list. 

Anyways he didn't know how far this job went but if these people were being gifted these weapons from the Maggia, and they were now in his city being used to rob banks. 

Then he had a major problem he needed to deal with. 

But he could worry about that later, right now he needed to finish the job and get these people out of this building all in one piece. 

So without any warning, he dropped down in his signature crouch and kicked one of the man's feet from under him and webbed him to the other wall before he grabbed the other man's weapon, ripped it out of his hands and grabbed his head and banged it against his knee, effectively knocking him out cold too. 

 He made sure to web both of them and their weapons to the ground before he ran over to the hostages. 

"Hey, hey guys I need you to be quiet once I take these gags out okay? There are still two punks I need to deal with, can you do that for me?" He asked, getting nods from all of them so he made quick work with their gags before he gestured for them to go out the front door. 

"Quickly, go, tell the cops that I'm almost done in here okay? Just need a few more minutes." He whispered and got nods from all the oldest members of the group. 

He jumped up on the ceiling again and waited until everyone was outside the doors. He watched as the cops ran up to them and gathered them away from the door so Peter turned away and focused on the task at hand. 

He still had two assholes to deal with and from what he could hear, they were still being greedy and stealing more money. 

Honestly he hated people like that. 

 He sat for another few seconds before he webbed a nearby keyboard from a computer and chucked it with all his strength, instantly shattering it on the other wall but making a loud noise in the process that he knew the men had heard based off of their heartbeats nervously fluttering once he produced the sound. 

It was time to end this.

 As soon as the men walked out into the room, Peter left them no time to react and instantly punched the first one out. The second one tried to shoot the alien weapon but Peter grabbed it and ripped it out of his hands. 

He twisted the man's wrist before grabbing both of their heads and smashed them together, making them stumble back at the force of the attack. Peter didn't see a need to extend this anymore then he already did so he webbed them both to the floor like their buddies and grabbed the alien weapons and placed them in a pile with the rest of them. 

He looked around and nodded his head at his own handiwork, happy that he had done it without anyone, Including himself getting hurt. 

God knows Felicia would fret over him if he came back with a whole in his side. 

 He saw no real reason to stay any longer either, he knew the cops could handle arresting these guys and getting the alien gear back into the hands of Damage control, he had the real problem to deal with though. 

Like who the hell was giving these random thugs alien weapons to go around and shoot up New York with? 

Was it the Maggia, or was the Vulture back at it again? Was he working with them? 

All questions that Peter needed answers to. 

It looked like it was gonna be a very long weekend for the teen... 

He jogged over to the door though and pushed his way past them before climbing up to the top of the building and looking down at the cops, who were already staring at him. 

"Good to go you guys! Weapons secure and criminals in webs ready for arrest. Have your way with them." He did his classic Spider-Man salute before he webbed off without another word. 

He should probably get back home before Felicia freaked out. 

Plus it was almost dinner time. 

Natasha sat down on her bed with the only evidence of her son in her hands. She held it like it was the most precious thing in existence and to her, well it was. 

It was the only thing she had managed to keep before she had destroyed the academy all those years ago. It was a picture of her baby boy probably around a month before he was taken from her. 

The picture was of him sleeping soundly in her arms, his little face tucked into the crook of her neck as his reddish brown hair stuck up in every direction. She had taken the picture herself with the camera she had stashed in her room after a mission where she had gone undercover. 

She traced over the shape of her son on the little picture in her hands, hating how he was so close, yet so far away from her. 

She wanted her son back but when had she ever gotten what she wanted? 

She knew life wasn't supposed to be fair, but it wasn't fair, that her son had to go through the same grueling training as she did when she was a kid. She never wanted that for him, she wanted him to live a life full of love and that was something that she could never give him back in the Red Room. 

But Barnes, oh just thinking about the man who stole at lest a part of her son's innocence, oh it made her want to kill the man ten times over until she was satisfied he paid. 

And even then, she probably would always despise the man to some degree. 

 Barnes had done bad things at the Winter Soldier, she understood he was forced to do so, like he was forced to kill Stark's parents but it was different. 

That was her child, her blood. How was she supposed to forgive him for something like that? Even if it wasn't really him doing it? 

How could you ask a mother to forgive the man who helped ruin your son's life? 

The answer is you couldn't, because at the end of the day that was her son that he beat up for training, that was her son that he taught how to kill, how to infiltrate and how to torture. 

It was him, who did it all...

 Just then, her door opened and her sister walked in. Yelena made sure she locked the door before she walked over to her and sat down next to her. She leaned over her shoulder to stare at the picture and she smiled. 

 "Every time I see that picture, I wonder, how the hell is that, your son? He's so damn cute and adorable and you, my dear sister, are none of those qualities." She smiled which made her older sister snort in amusement. 

 "It's funny you say that, because he usually acted exactly like me. He'd...he'd follow me around our room like a little duckling, copy everything I did, wanted to be exactly like me." Natasha laughed wetly as she reached up to wipe her eyes. 

"He had my eyes, my face structure, even the damn slight red to his hair. It was like looking into a mirror and seeing the male version of myself....I miss him." She admitted as more tears started to leak from her eyes. 

 "Hey, hey none of that. He's still out there, and we will find him I promise. Okay? We're gonna find him and you and him are gonna live happily ever after in some far away cabin away from all of us, hide away so the world never takes him away from you again. How's that sound?" Yelena asked. 

Natasha rolled her wet eyes, "I doubt he'd take the Rapunzel treatment lightly." 

Yelena clicked her tongue, "You're right, he is your son after all." She said which made Nat scoff and lightly punch her sister's shoulder. 

Yelena chucked before she sobered up, "I'm serious sister, I told you all those years ago that I wouldn't stop, and I wont. Not until I find my nephew, I promise." She said. 

"Thank you." Natasha said brokenly as she laid her head on her sisters shoulder, needing the support now more then ever. 

"No problem." 

After a moment of silence between the sisters Yelena spoke up somewhat hesitantly, "You do know you can't blame Barnes for it the rest of your life, right?" She said barely above a whisper but Natasha heard. 

And she was not at all pleased with the topic change. 

"Can we please not talk about Barnes right now? I do not want to think of him or I might blow a blood vessel." Natasha glared. 

"You can't blame him for what happened, he didn't know." Yelena was never one for following her sisters orders though and continued to plow on. 

 "I can and will. You don't understand Yelena. That's my son that he trained, my baby who he...who he made like me. I told myself when I had him I would never allow him to go through that and the one time that I wasn't there, they took him and gave him to Barnes. He made my baby too much like me and that, is something as a mother, that I can never forgive him for." She said, shaking her head in anger. 

None of them understood, they didn't and none of them ever would. 

They wouldn't...

 "Okay, maybe I won't. But you could at least try to be civil. If not for yourself, then at least for everyone else. I know for a fact that every time Steve sees you almost kill Barnes he gets all sad like a kicked puppy dog." Yelena said offhandedly. 

 "The man deserves it." She muttered bitterly to herself which made Yelena roll her eyes. 

"Alright that's enough bashing Barnes for one night. Now how about you clean yourself up, and we go out there and have a nice family dinner together yeah? You haven't been to one since you found out what Barnes did. I know the Barton's would appreciate it if you came, especially your niece and nephew." Yelena said pointedly with a raised eyebrow. 

Natasha sighed, "Fine. Just don't expect me to not glare at him all night." 

Yelena shrugged, "I'll take what I can get." 

Peter landed out on the balcony of Felicia's penthouse in his signature Spider-Man pose. 

He got up and walked into the place he's called home for years and once he was inside, he grabbed at his mask and pulled it off his face as he swung his book bag onto the ground nearby. 

 "Felicia?" He called out as he walked over to the kitchen to see if she was in there. 

"Peter? You're back pretty early all things considered." Felicia Hardy stepped out from behind the pantry door and smirked at her charge with a teasing look behind her gaze. 

Peter rolled his eyes as he pulled himself up onto the counter and crossed his arms over his chest, "Haha very funny." 

 Felicia laughed as she pushed a strand of her platinum blond hair behind her ear as she carried some ingredients over to the counter, "Can you blame me Peter? I basically have to force your AI to drag you back most days." 

 "That's not fair! That's happened like, one time when I was in the middle of a robbery. Plus, if I remember correctly I did apologize for that." Peter pointed out. 

She smiled fondly at the teen as she reached over and rested her hand on his cheek, "I know. I'm just messing with you. You're very easy to get a reaction out of Spider-Boy." 

Peter huffed and slightly pouted up at her, "Rude." He muttered before hoping off the counter and walking into the other room. 

"Go and change! Then you can help me with dinner yeah?" Felicia called out to him. 

"Got it! Give me a moment and I'll be right out!" He said as he walked over to his room to change into a comfy pair of clothes. 

He grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt before changing and walking back out to help Felicia with the food. 

 This right here, was perfect for the teen, the only thing that could probably make it any better was if he finally had his mother here too. 

He could picture it right now, his mother, Felicia and him all in the kitchen, cooking dinner like it was completely normal. 

He's never really thought much on his father, he never knew the man and didn't really have an opinion on the matter but, he guessed it would be cool to have his father mixed into that little fantasy of his. 

But for right now, this was all he needed, Spider-Man and Felicia until he could find his mother, then it would be the three of them. 

Man, he loved nights like this when it was only them. 

He didn't know where he'd be without Felicia. She's taken care of him for so long, been apart of his life that he wouldn't know what to do if she was to ever leave. 

 But he couldn't worry about that right now. He couldn't plague his mind with the what ifs at the moment. 

All he could do was live in the moment and enjoy every second he got with her. 

That we all any of them could really do now wasn't it? 

Enjoy the moment, and pray for more exactly like them. 

He'd enjoy it while it lasted, because he knew that this weekend would be very busy as he tracked down as many leads as he could find on the Maggia. 

Man, he was not, looking forward to metaphorically shaking the tree all weekend. 

But, that was apart of his life nowadays, did whatever he had to do to protect his city. 

And that, was something that he'd never change...

Chapter Text

Sunday morning found Peter sitting at his desk, across from his bulletin board with his arms crossed over his chest and his mouth pulled down into a contemplative frown as he looked at everything he gathered over the weekend. 

He had pulled an all nighter Friday night and yesterday. He had gotten back to the penthouse towards Saturday morning, slept for most of the day before getting up to eat dinner before going back out on patrol and then, he didn't get back until a few hours ago, into the early hours of the Sunday morning. 

He was basically nocturnal when he had a big mystery to solve and Felicia was alright with it as long as he got close to six hours of sleep before a school night. 

He'd have to be back by midnight tonight that meant. Which was fine with him because he didn't really want to anger Felicia, especially when he had promised after the last time he'd never do it again. 

She could be very scary when she wanted to be. 

Anyways, he had a map of the whole city up on the board with any pictures he had taken as evidence for what he's deemed as, the evidence board. 

Very original he knew, but he liked the name. 

It made him seem like one of those cool detectives, like good old Sherlock Holmes. 

Which, now that he thought back onto those two movies, that actor kind of looked like Tony Stark. 

Anyways…

 There were little tacks going through the map at certain locations where he had found certain pieces of evidence, marking them to let him know where he had found these people he was after and what they had told him. 

 There were a total of five locations that were marked with red tacks, which meant he had already been there and gathered all the information he could, but there were also another four of them which were marked with blue tacks which meant he still had to go there and see what he could find. 

So far, each place he's hit has lead him into the same direction. 

Right towards the Maggia...

 The warehouses that he had taken down were owned by Fisk and his goons had been all too eager to give up the information if it meant that a vigilante was tracking down their rival and would eventually wipe them out.

He guessed both of the groups weren't fond of each other, but Peter didn't like any of them in his city stirring up trouble and didn't really have a preference of who he went after first, all he cared about was that they were off the streets and they were unable to harm innocent lives. 

 He'd get them all in due time, but he had to be patient if he wanted to beat these criminals at their own game. 

He was in it for the long haul, and he knew he needed to have patience if he wanted to get to the bottom of these alien weapons and the Maggia. 

He prayed the Vulture wasn't back, he hated that man with a passion. 

Ironically, the Vulture was one of his old classmates father. She was once the leader of the decathlon team at Midtown. He had never really talked with Liz, but she had always been one of the nice Seniors when he was a freshman. 

 But her father was a completely different story. 

He had been going around selling Alien technology since the invasion had taken place. Peter actually didn't know how no one picked up on it until he had gotten his hands into the whole mess, but he didn't question it. 

He had taken the man down after he had tried to raid one of Stark's planes full of dangerous Avengers tech, but not before the man had brought a building down on him. 

But not to worry, because Peter got him back by crashing the plane he was trying to steal from. And in Peter's opinion, the man had gotten the worst of it. 

The teen had been healed the very next day so nothing to worry about there. 

But he had sent the man to prison, leaving his daughter and wife by themselves and with no income since the man who was getting the money for the family happened to be selling alien tech to do so. 

Which is highly illegal. 

After the fall out, Liz and her mother had moved out to Washington after that to stay with some family friend that was willing to house them until they got on their own two feet. 

It was better for Liz though, since she was attending Berkeley in California anyway but Peter's heart did go out to her. 

It must be hard finding out that your father was a psycho flying bird man who sold alien weapons to get money for the family. 

Peter didn't particularly like the thought that the man could be out of prison now, but he did know that it didn't have to be Toomes himself. A few people on the man's team had slipped through his hands and were presumably still at large so it wasn't that far off to think they could now be working with the Maggia. 

Peter heard that they did pay well, so anyone who'd be looking for work, especially the men on Toomes team, would greatly benefit if they did join. 

The Maggia got their weapons, and the people who were experts on the tech got jobs again. 

He had to admit, if it was Toomes' group, he was slightly impressed with how long they had managed to stay under his radar. 

But somewhere along the lines someone got sloppy and Peter had caught the scent again. 

And now that he knew about it, Peter wouldn't let any of this go anytime soon, not until everyone who was behind it was in bars. 

He couldn't let these weapons stay out on the street any longer, he had already made that mistake once and he'd be damned if he made the same one again. 

It may be time to get in contact with a few people who might know a thing or two about this. It also may be time that Peter went into Hell's Kitchen to have a little chat with Daredevil, considering that the next warehouse was definitely in the other vigilante's territory. 

A warehouse that Fisk was scheduled to be at tonight…

Lucky him.

He knew if there was one person who’d know anything about the Maggia it would be their rival so if Peter could just talk to Fisk, make somewhat of a deal with the man for the information then in Peter’s book it was a win win. 

He got the info, Fisk got to stay out on the streets a little while longer plus his rivals would be gone. 

Of course it wouldn’t stay like that for long, but it would be a temporary compromise until the Maggia were gone. 

He'll also have to have a little chat with Aaron Davis again, see if he could tell the teen anything of value. 

Shit he may even need to find Turk and see if the little rat had heard any rumors. 

Man, he was gonna be one busy spider in the upcoming weeks that was for sure. 

 "What's on your mind?" Felicia asked leaning against the doorway to his bedroom, her arms crossed over her chest as she looked at him before her eyes drifted over to his evidence board which made the woman shake her head. 

 "How much sleep have you gotten, hmm? You know it’s not healthy Spider, staying up ninety nine percent of the day.” She said as she started to walk over to him and sat atop his desk, crossing her legs as she leaned back. Peter could tell just by her tone of voice that she was worried, for what? Peter had no idea but it probably had something to do with the usual. 

How he was overworking himself, how he should get some rest yada yada yada, all that jazz. 

He doesn't know how many times he had to say this, but he was fine. Truly he was, with his powers he only needed like, an hour of sleep to function. 

Now, would he be operating at peak physical condition? 

Probably not but, he could still be working so that was a win in his book. 

 "Felicia these men are tearing up the city with these alien weapons, again. I have to track them down and stop them." He said, still staring ahead at the board. 

 "You don't need to do it alone." She said gently as she rested her hand on top of his shoulder. 

 Peter lightly scoffed, "What am I supposed to do? Go tattle to the Avengers? First of all, they won't listen to me, I'm just a random Vigilante, second why would I risk that? There's a chance one of them finds out who I am and if that happens, and they come for you...I'd, I'd never forgive myself." Peter admitted softly, causing the thirty year old's eyes to soften. 

When this young boy and first come to live with her, she promised herself she wouldn't get attached to him, told herself that he was just a mission, and this was how she repaid Melina for helping her escape the life she wanted out of, but as the years went by, she grew attached to the spider twerp and by the time she realized it, she was already in way too deep. 

 And it's not like it was hard to love the kid, he was a bundle of sunshine wherever he went but nowadays there seemed to always be this dark cloud that hung above his head. Back then, she had even saw the beginnings of it start to form, like he was stuck in his own head and he couldn't get out of the darkness. 

She's seen first hand just how much this vigilante lifestyle of his, no matter how dangerous she thought it was, helped with that darkness. How it's made the cloud above his head recede ever so slightly as time went on. 

He was getting better, slowly and painfully, but he was moving past whatever darkness he carried with him and it was all thanks to Spider-Man. 

So even if she hated it, she couldn't ever bring herself to ask him to stop. 

She couldn't, because she knew that she'd be condemning him back to that darkness if he ever did stop. 

And she wouldn't wish that on him, not again. 

Felicia sighed, "You know, we both have come a long way from the little nine year old who showed up at my doorstep, to the twenty four year old thief that I was...You know there was a time where I believed I'd not get attached to you, too many problems it would cause in the future." She admitted with a nostalgic look across her face, causing Peter to stop and look up at her. 

He bit his lip, "Do you regret it?" He asked hesitantly. He knew, back then that Felicia had not planned to get close with him, and he had been fine with that, he understood but somewhere along the way, they just...bonded. 

Peter liked to think it was around the same time when aliens started to pour from the sky. 

But through the years, he had always had that voice in the back of his head, telling him how Felicia had never wanted him, how he was just a mission and she was only doing it for a favor to his grandmother. 

A grandmother who barely checked in on him. A bitter voice in the back of his head commented but he pushed it down, he didn’t want to think of her at the moment, he had more important things to worry about. 

He hated those parts of his brain, but there was a small part of him that believed it, whenever it spoke those nasty words whether it be about his grandmother or Felicia. 

But he didn't need to worry. 

 For Felicia smiled down at him and instantly shook her head, making relief course through the teens’s body, "Wouldn't change it for the world Spider." She said fondly with a shake to her head and really there wasn't anything else that she needed to say, he understood what she was trying to get at, "You're stuck with me for the rest of your life." She finished with a smirk, making the teen scoff. 

"You sure you can handle that?" Peter teased with a single raised eyebrow. 

 "Please, I'm like the only one on the planet who can handle all the shit you get into. Plus, I’ve dealt with you your whole teenage years.”

 "The only one?" 

 "Well," Felicia shrugged, "If we ever find your mother I'm sure she'd be able to handle your shit, but...until then, I'm all you've got." She said. 

 Peter smiled gently back at her, hearing the hidden emotions that she tried to hide, tried to keep them from him but he heard, he heard the hidden message, her hidden fears about if they ever found his biological family. 

She was scared she'd lose him...

 "You're all I need for now." He admitted quietly, making the older woman smile at him before she leaned over to ruffle his hair, causing him to gasp in mock outrage. 

 "How dare you?! You know how long it takes me to get my hair like this every morning!?" 

 Felicia smirked, "Five minutes tops." 

Peter glared, "I'll have you know, beauty like this, takes time." He said dramatically while pretending to flip his hair over his shoulder.

Peter smiled as he heard Felicia laugh at his dramatics, he didn't know where his future would take him, but he knew one thing for sure that Felicia would be apart of it, no matter what. 

After all she was one of the only people in his life who had showed him kindness...

And stayed.

He wouldn't part from her if given the choice. 

They've been through too much for that...

"I'm telling you Matt, we need to take this case!" 

The voice of his long time best friend broke Matt out of his daze. He looked up from his office desk and raised an eyebrow at Foggy, even though he couldn't see a thing. 

"And why would that be?" He asked with a tilt to his head. 

Foggy scoffed before walking into the office and sat down on top of his desk, completely ignoring all of his friend's papers strewn across the wooden piece of furniture, "Dude we can't keep living off pies people give us. We need, you know, actual money to pay the bills!" Foggy exclaimed as he dropped the file right in front of the blind lawyer. 

 Matt sighed before grabbing the file and going over what was in it but after a few seconds, he stopped and scoffed before throwing it back down, "I told you, the man is guilty. I'm not taking a case with a man that's guilty of killing and raping five people Foggy." Matt rolled his eyes and anyone would be able to detect the exasperation in the man's voice if they heard it. 

But Foggy was not done yet apparently, "And how do you know this Matt? Hmm?" 

Matt tried to hide his smirk while rubbing a hand done his face but he was pretty sure Foggy knew, "Recon." He said before shrugging. 

Foggy rolled his eyes, "Recon...Right, and I'm the Easter bunny. You know for a lawyer you break an alarmingly huge amount of laws." 

 Matt shrugged, "Where's your proof?" 

"In your apartment. Under the stairs in that damn trunk. That's my proof." He deadpanned before suddenly getting up as he threw his arms in the air, "I don't even know why I try with you anymore!" 

"Because he's your friend!" Karen exclaimed from the other room, smirking at them through the window. 

"Shut it Page, don't drive a wedge through partners when they are debating an urgent matter of state!" He said, not even looking at her but pointing a finger at his other partner through the window which made the woman chuckle. 

 "Since when is this an urgent matter of state? It's merely a case that is irrelevant to our practice." Matt smiled innocently up at Foggy. 

 "Okay, I'll admit, probably not my best choice of case, but! What I'm saying is we need to find a case soon if we want the moneys!!!" Foggy said but which made both his partners laugh at his dramatics. 

 Matt was about to say something but his senses picked up on something very very different. 

Something that he never expected...

"Daredevil, I know you can hear me. It's Spider-Man. We need to talk." Matt's hearing picked up on the voice about a mile away from where they currently were, he could hear the whisper even though the evening traffic was currently in full swing. 

No pun intended. 

 He ignored Foggy's rant about cases and money and tried to hone in on where the vigilante was. He was about a mile away and he'd have to be on top of a building cause Spider-Man wouldn't just be hanging out on the street waiting for him. 

At least, he didn't think the vigilante would. 

 "I have to go." Matt suddenly got up from his place at his desk, quickly grabbed his walking stick and started to walk towards the door of their office building but he should've known both Foggy and Karen wouldn't let him off the hook that easily.

"Woah Woah Woah! You aren't going anywhere until you tell us what's happening!" Foggy exclaimed, running in front of Matt to stop him from reaching the door. 

"Yeah Matt we're your friends. If something is happening tell us." Karen said with her arms crossed, staring at Matt with a raised eyebrow but form her tone of voice Matt could tell she was concerned. 

"Just vigilante business, no need to worry." Matt waved off, trying to side step away from Foggy but it was no use at the moment. 

Foggy was determined, Matt had to give him that.

 "Nope, we're gonna sit here and wait until you tell us why you suddenly, out of nowhere mind you, had to get up and get out because of vigilante business." He said, using air quotes around the last two words of his sentence. 

Matt mentally debated whether or not he should tell them the truth or not, but considering he didn't know how long Spider-Man would wait for him he decided the quickest way to get out of here was to just tell them. 

He sighed, "I can hear Spider-Man calling to me about a mile away. He needs to talk to me so I'm gonna talk to him." He said like it was simple and it really was, he didn't understand why his friends always had to make a mountain out of a mole hill when it came to his second job. 

 "Wait a minute. You're telling me, that the Spider-Man is calling out for Daredevil's help? You?!" Foggy fanboyed which made Matt grumble. 

 Ever since the spider themed vigilante popped up it seemed like Foggy could never shut up about him. It was always "Spider-Man did this." Or "Spider-Man saved them." 

Honestly Matt thought he knew the vigilantes every move thanks to his friend. 

 "Yes. So if you could please get out of my way so I can meet with him, that would be much appreciated." Matt said, slightly annoyed now that Foggy would no doubt badger him about details on the man when he inevitably got back. 

 Was his ego a bit bruised that his best friend seemed to like another vigilante over him?

Maybe...

But that didn't matter at the moment.

He needed to go meet with Spider-Man. 

 He quickly made his way out of the office building and towards his apartment to grab his gear. It was already almost sundown anyway so it wouldn't be too weird for Daredevil to make an appearance at the moment. 

And he's pretty sure Spider-Man knew that...

 He walked into his apartment and over to the closet under the stairs to get the box out. He kneeled down and slid the box towards him before opening it up. 

After everything with Kingpin and the brief take over of the FBI, the two of them have come to a…somewhat of an understanding. He wouldn't go after Vanessa and Fisk won't go after his friends. 

But especially after Melvin Potter was released from jail, Matt had needed a new and better suit so he made sure that Potter was under his protection before Fisk could get his hands on him. 

 And the result was the new suit that was in front of him. 

Now he couldn't see the suit, but Foggy had told him that the suit this time around was like the old one Melvin made except it wasn't all red, the dominant color was now black with red and yellow highlights going along the chest arms and new helmet. The yellow highlights though accented his wrists, legs and shoulders. 

The eyes were still glassy red according to Karen, but he looked more like the original Daredevil then the new Daredevil that the public saw as "Bullseye." 

He felt bad that Ben had broken his spine, but the man was insane. It was probably far safer for the man to be immobile so he couldn't hurt anyone else. 

 He quickly grabbed his suit, put it on in record time and then once he made sure his baton was clicked onto his belt, he walked over to his window and climbed up onto the roof to try and see if he could sense Spider-Man. 

 "Spider-Man?" He called out hesitantly, hoping the man could hear his whisper. Knowing about as much as the public did about the vigilante, they guessed he did have enhanced senses. 

To what extent? He had no idea. 

 "Tony's Pizzeria." He heard a whisper a few moments back so he quickly got to work in reaching the rendezvous. 

It only took him five minutes to reach the pizzeria with the smell the whole building gave off, he could probably find it in his sleep. 

One he landed though, he instantly took notice of the Vigilante leaning against the giant air conditioning unit on the roof. 

"Okay. I'm here. What do you want?" Matt demanded, getting right down to business. 

 The vigilante snorted and from this close up, Matt could tell he was using a voice modulator of some kind along with some sort of device that covered his heartbeat. 

Interesting.

 "Well that's not anyway to greet a fellow vigilante. No sir. That attitude simply won't do. What have I done to you?" Spider-Man asked as he moved his hand to place against his chest. 

 "Nothing...yet." 

 "Ouch, you wound me, really you do." He said before he got more serious, "I've got a little problem that's wandered into your turf, wondered if you'd give me a point in the right direction." He said, straight to the point. 

Matt raised an eyebrow at him, not that the man could see it, "What do you need?" 

 "The location of all Fisk's hideaways in the City you've got." He said, instantly putting Daredevil on edge. 

"Why?" He demanded. 

"So I can track down the man myself of he doesn’t show tonight. I got a tip that he’s visiting a warehouse in a bit and I wanna see if he can tell me who's behind the Maggia which would allow me to help get the alien tech off the streets. That's basically the gist of it." Spider-Man nodded his head which made Matt silently curse in his head, not being able to get a clear read on his heart meant he didn't know if the man was lying or not. 

He really needed to find a way to get around that.

 "So you're really just looking for the Maggia then?" He said but it wasn't a question, more a statement which made the spider themed vigilante nod his head. 

"Yup." He said popping the P, "Some low level crooks had alien weapons and I overheard them say that the Maggia was handing them out. I've dealt with these techholes before though, so I was just wondering if you know, could point me in the right direction and I'd be on my jolly way." 

"Techholes?" Matt muttered 

Spider-Man waved his hand around dismissing him, "Assholes who are good with tech, keep with the program now are you gonna help or not? Am I just wasting my time?" He asked with a raised eyebrow which made Matt clench his teeth in thought. 

 On one hand he didn't know the man, apart from the rants he's heard from his best friend, he doesn't know much about the guy let alone have any experience working with him so he has no real way of knowing if his intentions are true. 

But on the other hand New York absolutely adores the guy, he's no fool to that. He knows how much Spider-Man does for this city as a whole and to be honest, he's the only vigilante that has tried to get good in with the cops. 

But still...

 Matt sighed before speaking again, "I don't know you man and…” Before he was even allowed to finish the man cut him off. 

 "I'm gonna stop you right there, these assholes are tearing up my city, my home with this alien garbage and you're telling me you won't even help me find the people responsible?!" Matt could tell even if the voice was masked that the man was starting to get a little angry at him so he tried to defuse the situation. 

"Listen man, I get wanting to protect your home, but if your looking for the Maggia odds are you aren't on their good list. Don't go looking for them, learn everything you can before charging head first into..." 

"Well it sounds like to me that you know more then me at the moment, so how about you spill?" Spider-Man said which made Matt scoff. 

"They aren't to be trifled with kid. If you think Fisk is bad then you haven't even seen the beginning of it. The Maggia, they're ruthless man, they won't stop at anything to get what they want and if you anger them? All bets are off. They'll go after the people you love, you're friends everyone!" 

"I get it, they're bad guys, who do bad things. But that's not gonna stop me from protecting my city from them. They're trying to push Fisk out of business so I thought, if I meet up with Fisk, he could give me information only he knew so I'd really appreciate it if you told me all his hideouts." Spider-Man said, shrugging off his warning about the Maggia like it was nothing but Matt knew they weren't to be messed around with. 

 Especially with who was in charge of them...

 But it seemed like he had no choice here.

 Matt sighed, "A few months ago I heard the Maggia came to Fisk with a proposal. Join them and gain territory." He said instead of giving the man locations, hoping he’d understand more if he explained it. 

"I'm guessing the big man didn't take too kindly to being told what to do in "his city." Did he?" Spider-Man asked sarcastically, not expecting an answer for he already knew it. 

But Matt nodded anyway, "Exactly. He's been butting heads with them ever since and I've had to deal with the fallout here in Hell's Kitchen. It's a real shit storm out there and it's hurting a lot of people. If you're really gonna try and take out the Maggia you're gonna need some help." Matt finally finished, staring at the red and blue clad vigilante and tried to convey how serious he was with just his voice. 

 Apparently, this news shocked the man, "Y-you wanna help me?" He asked. "Why?" 

"Because you're a fool trying to take on the Maggia alone. This way if you die, I can go and tell your family that you didn't mysteriously just vanish from thin air." Matt deadpanned.

 "Hey! I can take care of myself thank you very much." 

"Yeah but this is the Maggia. Spearheaded by Madame Masque along with Hammerhead, Tombstone, Bushmaster and all their little cronies Spider-Man! You can't just rush in and expect to take them down." Matt scolded the vigilante, "You need all the information before going into this. Which is why, I'm offering you my help. Take it or leave it." He said. 

Peter was on the fence about this whole mess. On one hand he didn't know all that information about the Maggia but it seemed that Daredevil did, on the other he didn't really work well with others, preferring to be the lone wolf rather then with a pack. 

 But he knew that if he was gonna take all of these mob bosses down, he'd need information and Daredevil seemed to have a good portion of it. 

After all information was power in a world like this...

 Peter sighed and shook his head before looking back at the Vigilante, "Fine. Tonight at seven, which is an hour away. There's a warehouse over at the harbor, warehouse thirteen. Don't be late. Heard our friend Fisk is gonna make an appearance tonight." 

Matt nodded his head, "I'll be there." 

Peter smirked under his mask as he walked over to the edge of the roof but before he jumped off, he turned around to the other Vigilante and spoke, "See you later Matt." Without another word he jumped off and swung out into the city. 

Matt was frozen from his spot on the roof before he sighed and shook his head a second later. 

"Son of a bitch."

"See? Isn't this nice? A good 'ol family dinner." Clint said again for the second time in the past few days, trying to defuse the situation that was currently his partner glaring daggers at Barnes from across the table. 

Ever since Friday, they all have tried to get Nat to come to family dinners and it usually ended with Nat getting angry at Barnes before storming off towards her bed. 

The others didn’t know why she was acting like this, but Yelena and Clint both shared looks whenever it happened and couldn’t help but feel sadness for her. 

It wasn’t her fault, not really. She was just a grieving mother and she didn’t know how to deal with it. Seeing as how Barnes was one of the last people to see her son, she usually directed that anger and grief at the man. 

And Barnes took it like a champ every time.

 Back to the present though. Tony, because he's Tony snorted, "Oh yeah, just like old times." He said sarcastically which made Pepper who was right next to him elbow him in the gut. 

The man groaned and winced in pain, "So worth it." He muttered. 

Everyone was sitting at the table eating dinner. And by everyone there literally was everyone except Yelena currently at the table. All the kids, adults and androids were currently eating and or pretending to eat in Vision's case. 

Meanwhile, Natasha found better use of her time glaring at Bucky. 

 "It's okay." Bucky said, "She has every right to be upset with me." He finished with a small sigh escaping his lips which only made Natasha's blood boil even more. 

"Don't you dare take the high road in this Barnes. You know what you did is unforgivable." She hissed at him with so much hate that it surprised the rest of the family, especially the children. Never had they ever heard so much anger in the spy's voice before. 

Not even when she was on missions and in her Black Widow mode. 

 "Nat please, I'm sure whatever Buck did doesn't deserve this kind of behavior." Steve tried to pled with her but Bucky was the one who actually said something. 

"It, actually does Steve. It's completely warranted." He replied, barely above a whisper but the whole table heard it. 

"Maybe Family dinner wasn't such a good idea." Clint muttered at the same time Tony spoke up. 

 "Alright I think I speak for us all when I say if this continued cat and dog fight is gonna happen, we should at least know why it's happening. Romanoff, why the hell do you hate Barnes so much and Elsa, why do you just take it? Hmm?" Tony asked as he stared at the two of them, going back and forth between the assassins. 

Bucky gulped, "It's not my place to tell you. If she wants to, that's up to her." He admitted softly, his eyes now downcast down towards his shoes making Steve look at him in sadness. 

The whole table sat in tense silence, waiting to see if Nat was gonna say anything but after a full minute it seemed like the answer was no, she was gonna in fact stare at Barnes and glare daggers at him all night long. 

That was until Clint, made a very very unwise decision. 

"Oh for the love of god! Just tell them already Nat! Tell them, that you were once a damn mother and be done with this shit!!" He exclaimed causing everyone to look and stare at the archer. 

Some in shock, others in denial but one above all, Natasha, was glaring daggers at him now. 

He may have jumped the gun just a bit...

 "Excuse me, what? Did I just hear that right?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow. "You're a mother?!"

 "Was." She replied back a second later, just above a whisper causing everyone to calm down and look at her. 

Steve was the brave one who asked the question they were all thinking, "What happened?" 

Natasha knew, that she could trust them. She knew she could trust her family but it was so hard to talk about him, so hard to speak about her son when she still hadn't found him yet, even after so many years. 

She had to tell them something, she knew they would never stop badgering her if she didn't, thanks to Clint. 

He was definitely gonna pay for the stunt he just pulled...

 "Instead of...the normal procedure they usually did, my handlers thought I'd undergo a special type of procedure, a new mission that they came up with." She started off hesitantly, taking great care in her wording with all the kids at the table, especially Morgan. 

"I woke up and they told me I was pregnant. Gave me surgery and placed one of my fertilized eggs back into my womb. Next thing I know, nine months goes by and I'm holding my son in my hands." She admitted, trying not to cry in front of all her family. 

"What was his name?" Laura asked with a genuine smile across her face. 

Natasha huffed and shook her head finally removing her eyes from Clint to stare at Laura with a small smile, "Pyotr. Pyotr Ivanovich Romanov. My little mini me." She chuckled wetly just thinking about her little bundle of joy who wouldn't be so little now. 

"And...is he..?" Sam trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence but he didn't need to, Natasha understood. 

She shook her head, "When he was five, they stole him. They stole my baby and I have no idea where he is now. All I know is he's alive and somewhere in the city. But the Parker's and I've been looking for years and still nothing." She closed her eyes and shook her head at the reminder that her son was still at large. 

She really fucking missed him. 

 "And...how does Barnes fit into this?" Wanda asked hesitantly and Natasha we about to answer when Barnes cut her off. 

"Because before he was saved and brought to the city, he was taken to Hydra, and given to me...to train." He admitted which made some people at the table gasp, knowing what that entailed for the child. 

 "Buck..." Steve trailed off. 

 "He made my baby into a killer, just like me. He took away his innocence and I will never forgive you for that." She glared at him, cutting Steve off from what he was gonna say to comfort the man. 

 "Natasha, I think your being a bit extreme, don't you? It's not like Barnes wanted to." Rhodey pointed out which was not the right thing to say to the grieving mother. 

 She glared at the Colonel before turning to stare directly at Pepper, "If someone kidnapped your daughter, trained her to be a killer, abused her into obedience, trained her until she bleed on the floor and was deadbeat tired, would you forgive the man who was responsible, even if he was just following orders?" She asked one of the mothers in the room who had a five year old, who knew what it was like to be a mother, to birth someone, to love their child unconditionally.

 Pepper seemed conflicted for a few moments before shaking her head, "No, I don't think I would." She said softly. 

She nodded before turning to Laura, "What about you. What if that happened to Nate?" 

Laura didn't even make eye contact with her as she shook her head no. Natasha, satisfied with the answers turned to look at everyone else, "None of you get it okay? You don't understand that my son was the only damn good think I've ever made, I've ever done in my entire life. So to know, my innocent little boy was kidnapped from me right under my nose and taken to train with him. It breaks my heart and I don't think I will ever, truly be able to forgive him." She said before pushing her chair out and walking away without another word, ignoring everyone else as they called out to her. 

That was until she heard the frantic call of her sister towards the other end of the dinning room. 

Everyone, including Natasha turned to look and saw that Yelena had a giant smile across her face and hope behind her eyes as she stared at her sister. 

Natasha despite herself, felt her stomach flutter in anticipation...

"What?" She asked, trying to mask the emotions in her eyes as she had just spent ten minutes telling her family a major sob story very few knew about her. 

Yelena though, merely smiled all the wider, "Melina gave me a clue sis. She gave me a last name." She said which made the spy freeze as she stared at her sister. 

"What?" She whispered. Shocked that Yelena had one, actually gotten in contact with Melina and two, she had told her something as important as a last name. 

Maybe, she could finally find her son. 

"Get this. The last name she gave me, is Hardy...His last name is Hardy." She said which made Natasha's eyes widen in shock as she remembered that name. 

And it seemed, that the kids did too.

"Wait as in Peter Hardy? The bully repellent at Midtown? That Hardy?!" Harley exclaimed with wide eyes. 

Tony didn't wast another moment before he had Friday bring up everything he had on Peter Hardy. 

Everyone wasn't in the mood anymore for dinner so they gathered around the living room and waited until the AI brought up everything she could find on "Peter."

 "Peter Hardy. Brought into the care of a Felicia Hardy roughly a year before the 2012 invasion. They've been together ever since. No place of birth, just stating that she starting taking care of him for a family friend. They live in flushing New York, there's an address here that shows she lives in a penthouse." Friday said. 

"Felicia Hardy. Why is that name familiar?" Natasha muttered to herself. The others didn't have time to comment before Friday continued. 

"Has a full scholarship ride to Midtown High, top of his class, working on college level assignments from multiple teachers and it says here that he's had multiple suspensions for being "In Fights." But from what I could find, every accusation is because he stood up to someone who was bullying another student." The AI finished as she brought up a picture of the boy. It was a school picture and as soon as it was queued up, they all got a shock. 

For it looked liked like a mini male Natasha staring back at them. He had reddish brown hair, the same green eyes, the same face structure and the most defining feature of the whole picture was the smirk directed at them. 

The same mischievous smirk they saw on Natasha every other day...

 "Pyotr." She muttered, staring at the picture of her long lost child in happiness but a small part of her couldn't help but be a small bit bitter. After all, she hadn't gotten to watch him grow up but this, Felicia had essentially raised her boy for years. 

She was more his parent now then she was...

Yelena must have saw the emotions play out behind her gaze because she walked up to her and rested her hand across her shoulder, "Listen, I'm sure Melina briefed Felicia about what Pyotr's situation was. She would know you were out there looking for him. She'd understand." 

"Yeah, but would Pyotr?" Natasha said, bringing up a good point. 

For even if she was his mother, to Peter he had lived with Felicia for longer so there really is no telling how he'd react if she walked up and demanded her son back. 

Knowing that he was essentially a mini her, and taking into account what she would probably do, she'd bet that he wouldn't take too kindly to that. 

"Hey, how about we befriend him." Lila suddenly exclaimed with a wide smile, "We could sit with him and try to get to know him at lunch and maybe in a little while we could invite him over. Seeing as how he is aunt Nat's son, I'm sure he could keep a secret." Lila offered to the room of adults which actually was a pretty good idea. 

But it wasn't enough for Natasha, she wanted her son now, with her. After so long without him, over ten years she just wanted him back, safe with her so she could keep him in her sights for the rest of his life. 

Never to be hurt again. 

 Yelena, her amazing sister, threw her a lifeline, "How about this. You and I will go to the address tomorrow when the kids are in school so we can have a talk without being interrupted. Then, we'll go from there, alright?" She told her sister and after a second of contemplation, Natasha hesitantly nodded her head, knowing she wasn't going to get a better deal. 

But still. 

"I just want him with me." She whispered. 

 "But even you know it's not fair to either Felicia or Peter to just drop everything and go to you." Clint said, the voice of reason, "These things are gonna take time Nat, you can't rush into this," 

"Rush into what Clint? He's my son!" She glared at her partner. 

The archer simply placed his hands in the air in surrender, "Yes, he is. But you can't take him away just because you miss him. Sometimes as parents you have to do what's best for the kid. Even if that means leaving him alone for the time being." 

Natasha scoffed, "And what? Make him think his mother has forgotten him? Doesn't care about him? Doesn't want him?! Is that what you want me to do." 

 "You know it's not." Clint said softly. 

 "No listen, I haven't seen my son in a decade! Nothing, not even god himself if he suddenly descended from the heavens could stop me!" Nat glare hardened, "I'm seeing my son." 

 She was about to turn around the opposite direction and march out to head to the address but surprisingly it was all the kids in the room who stepped in front of her, blocking her path. 

 "Lila, please get out of my way." She said, not wanting to snap at her niece but very much not in the mood to deal with teenage rebellion at the moment. 

 "No Aunt Nat, you aren't thinking straight. I know you want to see him, but you can't just show up out of the blue and demand he come with you, and I think you know that." Lila said, taking charge of the group of young adults as they got in the way of The Black Widow. 

Natasha narrowed her eyes at her niece in annoyance, not wanting to argue about this but the others stopped her before she could do anything crazy. 

 "Nat, please just follow the plan." Steve started off before his eyes softened even more as he looked Natasha in her eyes, "We obviously couldn't imagine the pain you're going through, but please listen to us when we tell you charging straight in there is not gonna help either one of you." He finished just as Sam decided to pick it back up. 

 "Yeah, it won't do either party involved any good. We have, to take this slowly Natasha. You haven't seen him in , like you said, over a decade so you have no idea how he'd react. The best course of action is to slowly introduce him to us and have him warm up to us before dropping the bomb on him." 

Yelena frowned, "But what if he hates us because we kept the secret so long?" 

"We won't keep it long." Tony shrugged, "Just long enough for him to know who our kids are related to. Plus who's to say once he sees Nat he won't somehow remember her?" Tony rolled his eyes. 

At his words, Natasha's gaze suddenly darkened, "We forgot one important aspect to that plan." 

"Really? And what would that be?" Rhodey raised an eyebrow. 

She pointed at Barnes who was standing next to Steve, "He'll instantly know who he, is." She said coldly. 

Bucky decided to risk it and test his luck. He smiled sarcastically, "Who's to say that's a bad thing?" He commented with a shrug to his shoulders which made Natasha glare at him. 

 "You think this is funny?" She questioned, "You think this is a joke? Him seeing you could trigger him, have you even thought about that?! Do you even know if they made him like you? Added trigger words?! How do you know the minute he sees you, he won't go crazy?!" She exclaimed. 

 Bucky shrugged, "From what I can remember from our...time together, he was usually the one who had his mind together. He usually helped me, with trying to remember so I don't think they added the same stuff as they did in me, but that's not to say they didn't add some contingencies." 

Before Nat could say anything Steve spoke up, "Alright so we have a game plan. The kids will try to friend him at school while tomorrow when school is in secession Yelena and Nat will go and talk to Felicia, see what they can learn. When they do friend him, we ease him into our lives and eventually introduce him to Nat when we think he's ready. Bucky...well, we'll see if he knows that you live here with us before introducing you two again." Steve finished as Natasha finally let all the tension melt from her frame. 

She knew there was nothing else she could do but wait till tomorrow and yeah, there was also a small part of her who knew she was being a bit irrational, but could you really blame her?

She just wanted her son back...

 But, it seemed she'd just have to wait it out a little bit longer. 

Let's hope she could survive that.

"Took you long enough." Peter whispered as Daredevil, aka Matt dropped down right next to him from atop the roof across the warehouse. 

"How'd you know?" The man didn't even wait a second before he asked the younger vigilante his question. 

Peter smirked underneath his mask, "You can't honestly believe that you're the only one in the world with super senses, can you?" 

 "How much did you hear?" He asked and Peter could tell there was something else in his voice, like he was a bit hesitant at his answer and Peter knew why. 

Matt was after all speaking with his friends, and he had heard every last word of it...

 "Enough." Peter started, "So...how long have you been walking around a living contradiction Mr Murdock? Hmm?" He finished with a whisper, letting the man know he had heard it all. 

He saw as Matt tensed and blew out a breath before scoffing, "Over a decade of keeping my identity a secret and the new guy on the block figures it out after one encounter." 

 Peter huffed, "Can't win them all Double D." 

"Don't call me that." Matt deadpanned in his lowered tone of voice. 

 Peter shrugged, "Suit yourself, let's get to work though. There's about ten guards patrolling the outside of the warehouse, three more on top of the building across from us, another four at the highest points at the warehouse corners, snipers no doubt, then to top it all off there's at least twenty people inside the warehouse itself." Peter was about to say something else but Matt cut him off. 

"Don't forgot about the ten armed men in the sewers under the building." 

"Ah ah ah, hold your horses man. If you had let me finish I was getting to that." 

"I'm sure you were." 

"Asshole." 

"You're the one who asked me for help." 

"To be fair, you're the one who wanted to come along. I just wanted your information." 

"Ouch." 

Peter shrugged, "Get used to it. Now I'll get the lookouts seeing's as how I can climb walls. Wait for my signal before heading to the ten guards around the building. While you're dealing with them, I'll go into the sewers and take out those men leaving only the ones inside." 

 "Sounds like a plan." 

 With that, the duo split up to do what needed to be done to get into the warehouse. Matt stayed in the shadows while Peter moved over towards the building across from them first. 

 "Hey boys, whatcha waiting for?" He said once he landed silently behind the three guards before he sprung into action. 

 Quickly shooting a web at the first guy who turned around, he used all his strength to pull the guy up into the air before chucking him into the two next to him. 

Once they were all down in a pile of bodies on the ground Peter shot webs at them to keep them there until Matt and him were done here. 

 He then moved onto the four watchmen at the corners of the warehouse. He didn't want any of them to spot him and put a bullet in his side so he made sure he was extra careful when he snuck up on them. 

It didn't take too long to take care of them all and by that point he could already see Matt was making his way around the building to clear out the guards so he went to the nearest entrance to the sewers and went down. 

 He landed in his signature Spider-Man pose before looking around his surroundings but he was apparently extremely unlucky with where he landed. 

Because all ten men were right in front of him...

 "Fuck me." He muttered. 

"Spider-Man!! Get him!!!" As soon as the words left the man's mouth the others turned around and started to shoot at him but he launched off the ground and twisted in mid air, dodging the bullets as he grabbed onto the ceiling and started to crawl towards them. 

He didn't let the men have a second of rest though for he launched off the ceiling and crashed into the group of men. 

It took him no time at all to deal with them and web the thugs up along the roof of the sewer. He looked around and waited, using his senses to see if he could hear anyone else down there with him. When he didn't, he started to jog over towards the ladder that would take him into the warehouse and he waited. 

Back with Matt, he had just finished taking out the guards along the outside of the building. He used his senses to try and find the best way in and found that there was an open window on the second floor so he quickly walked over and used the garbage bin to jump up to the fire escape and pull himself up to get to the windowsill. 

 Once he was in the warehouse, he crouched down and made sure to be extra quiet when sneaking around the boxes which were up on the second floor. 

From what he could sense all the men were actually on the first floor which was good for him, but not good for Spider-Man who would be coming from the sewers. 

And the situation only got worse when the voice of Wilson Fisk suddenly called out to him, specifically. 

"Daredevil! I know you're up there. Come down here and I promise my men won't harm you. I simply want to talk!!" Fisk said from the middle of the building. 

Matt gritted his teeth in anger. How the hell did he know he was here? He was only coming due to Spider-Man's tip but he knew how much Spidey hated Fisk as well so the thought of him selling him out was instantly thrown out as soon as it entered his mind. 

 Matt debated his options in his head before he decided the best course was probably gonna be for him to go down there and talk with the man. 

Especially if he didn't know Spider-Man was beneath them all at the moment, that would give them the advantage. 

And Matt knew first hand you could never have too many advantages when it came to Wilson Fisk.

 He jumped down and landed in a crouch, right in front of Fisk and the thugs protecting him, surrounding the man so Matt even if he wanted to, couldn't get to the man without going through the others first. 

"What do you want Fisk?" 

 Kingpin hummed a bit before glaring at the devil in front of him, "I'm sure you've heard that, I've run into a couple of complications in my business. Complications which can lead to something far worse if not dealt with." 

 Daredevil nodded once, "I've heard the rumors." 

 "Then you should know one of your, masked buddies is trying to take care of my problem. Spider-Man." Fisk said, making Matt nod back. 

 "If anyone could take on the Maggia I'm sure it's Spider-Man." Matt said, "He's very skilled incase you didn't know." 

Fisk hummed but the look on his face made it seem like he had just swallowed a lemon, "Which is why, I need to get in contact with him." 

 "Lucky you Wilson." 

Everyone turned to stare at the Vigilante suddenly behind the large group of men who happened to be leaning against a wall with a manhole cover next to his feet. 

"You didn't come alone I see." Fisk said, turning to glare at the Devil. 

Matt shrugged, "Technically I came with him." 

 "It doesn't matter!! What matters is the Maggia want what's rightfully mine! They think they can just show up now after I've been here for a decade! And take everything I've worked for!! I will not let that, happen!!!" Fisk screamed. 

Peter held up his hands, "Hey no need to get mad bro, I want them gone as much as you but we're gonna do it, my way. So I'd very much appreciate all the information you have on them if you'd please." 

 Fisk grunted before turning to stare at one of his henchmen, "Give him the maps." He said, causing the thug to take the cylinder container which was on his back and chuck them at the spider themed Vigilante. 

Once Peter caught them, he stared at Fisk for a moment before opening the container. He pulled out a various amounts of maps and from a quick glance at some of them, he could tell there were a few positions that were already circled and had notes jotted down. 

 Peter raised an eyebrow under his mask, "What's all this?" He asked. 

 "Every known hide out from each division of the Maggia. From Hammerhead Labs, to Tombstone's auto shops to even the mansion Madame Masque inhabits for her bar of operations." Peter was about to say something but Fisk cut him off, "But don't be a fool! That Mansion is a fortress and unless you know the building by heart, you will no doubt be caught." Fisk warned as he stared at the masked Vigilante.

Peter clicked his tongue and after a second placed the maps back into the case before sealing it, "Thanks." He said in shock, not believing he had gotten what he wanted so fast. 

It seemed Fisk really was getting desperate.

 "You can thank me by taking care of Masque. She's been bad for business for long enough. It's time she's put back into her place among the hierarchy." Wilson said which made Peter actually roll his eyes in annoyance. 

"Yeah, well don't be getting too comfy because once I'm done with her and the organization she leads, I'll come right back to beating you down a few pegs." 

 Wilson scowled but otherwise didn't comment on his wording any further, he simply nodded his head and turned to his henchmen before starting to walk towards a side door, leading out of the warehouse. 

 "It was a pleasure doing business with you Spider-Man, perhaps another time?" 

Peter scoffed, "In your dreams Wilson." 

With their final words said, Wilson Fisk and his thugs walked out of the warehouse, leaving Peter and Matt alone. 

"Well that was productive." Matt said offhandedly. 

 Peter sighed, "Let's just get out of here before the cops somehow find out that I made a deal with Fisk. I don't need the Bugle to have any other reason to hate me." 

Matt snorted softly, "That man is gonna hate you no matter what you do." 

 Peter merely rolled his eyes before jumping up to the second story and crawling out the window, leaving Matt behind. 

But not before he called out to the other Vigilante one last time. 

"See you next time Double D!" 

When Matt was sure the other man was gone, he let out a wary sigh and rubbed his hand under his exposed chin. 

"That guy is gonna be the death of me, I can already tell." He muttered before he too left the abandoned warehouse. 

He had a lot to think about after all...

"I knew he seemed familiar." Natasha muttered to herself as she rewatched the video Harley had taken that Friday in school, showing how her son stood up to bullies with ease. 

When she had first watched it with everyone the day Harley had gotten back, she knew, she had this feeling that the boy looked familiar but the camera never got a good look on the boys face. If she had a clear shot at his face and eyes, she knew without a reasonable doubt that she would've recognized him as her long lost son. 

After all a mother never forgets...

She was sitting in the common room, on one of the fluffy too expensive couches that Tony thought they all needed. But right now she definitely wasn't complaining. 

 She had been stuck here, in her thoughts ever since everyone left to go to sleep for the night but Natasha, she couldn't, not with so much on her mind. 

 Her son, her little baby boy was all grown up and standing up to bullies on a daily basis. He was top of his class, best grades in the whole school and already working on college level problems. 

But there was one thing that stuck out to her that the kids had told them all, how Peter never seemed to hang out around anyone, how he kept things close to the vest and preferred to be alone. 

Her baby didn't have any friends. 

Even she always had her sister around to support her but Peter, he seemed to only have this Felicia as support but in school? When he was by himself? He had no one around. 

She could already tell that he had walls, a lot of them with the way he acted in the video and what the kids have described, and she wanted to do everything she could to knock them down, to tell him that his mother would always be there for him, no matter what now that she knew where he was.

And that was another thing, he had been right under her nose all this time for so many years and she never caught wind of it. 

It infuriated the woman to no end. 

 She understood that after Shield disbanded, Fury's resources were kind of low, and he didn't really have that many people he could fully trust anymore, the list coming down to basically the Parkers, Hill, Barton and Natasha and her sister, but it still didn't stop the anger from overtaking her. 

She was friends with Tony Stark for gods sake! He has the best tech in the world and yet, even his gear that she may or may not have burrowed from him hadn't led her anywhere, hadn't picked up any leads from no one or thing in the city. 

That was of course, until Melina finally answered one of their calls for help. 

Over the year she's contacted her adopted mother many times, to see if she could give them a clue but the answer had always been it wasn't safe yet or some bullshit like that which made Natasha even more mad just thinking about it. 

She knew if she saw her mother anytime soon, they'd be having a few choice words together, that was for sure. 

She knew after all, where her son was and never told her a damn thing about him. 

She was gonna kill her.

"I thought he looked similar too." The sudden voice of Barnes made her break out of her thoughts but seeing him only angered her more. 

"What do you want?" She hissed under her breath, hoping the man would just leave already. 

 "I didn't want to believe...I kept telling myself that it couldn't be him, that it wasn't. I felt like if I got my hopes up, I'd just ultimately be disappointed when it turned out not to be him." Bucky sighed, "So, now that it is...well, him...maybe I'll finally be able to apologize for everything I've done..." 

 "If you think a few words is gonna make me forgive you, you have another thing coming." She glared. 

"I'm not asking for your forgiveness Natasha, just...a chance." 

She scoffed, "A chance at what? Corrupting my son even more?" 

"A chance for him, to forgive me. A chance to apologize to him." Bucky said softly, but strongly. 

Natasha clenched her teeth in anger and was about to lash out at the man but something stopped her. She looked at the picture of her son paused on screen and thought for a moment. 

What would he think of me...?

Right now, directing all the anger at the man who trained him, what would he think of her for not even giving him a chance? 

Against her better judgment, she sighed, "One Chance. If he doesn't forgive you that's not on me." 

 Bucky nodded his head with a slight smile now stretched out across his lips, "Thanks, really I mean it." 

Natasha rolled her eyes, "Whatever, now get out of my sight before I change my mind." 

"Why'd you do it?" 

"Do what?" 

"Tell them where he was? You always say it's not safe, what has changed?" 

 "Nothing changed. 

 "You're lying again, what did we say about lying? Hmm? We try to be better people, yah?" 

"I'm not lying." 

 "Then I ask again, why did you tell them?" 

Melina sighed sadly and shook her head, "Because Dreykov now knows the boy lives. I figured he'd be a lot safer with his mother now that Dreykov's trying to track him down and use him as his personal weapon." 

Alexei winced, "Should we warn them? About Dreykov?" 

Melina stared at a picture of said man across from her that was pinned up with tacks, in thought before shaking her head a few moments later, "No it's too early. When we know more about his plan, then we tell. Until then, let them have their family time. 

...Who knows how much they'll actually get in the upcoming months."

Chapter Text

Peter remembers every last one of his missions...

 He was sent on hundreds of them, whether or not they be infiltrating an organization, assassinating a high value target, or simply gathering info for Hydra. 

But to him, there was one type of mission which were classified to him as the worst ones...

Being sent out on a mission to kill a person who was completely innocent, a person who was a citizen and the only wrong thing they did was cross paths with the wrong people, those missions where he had to take them out were the worst, they stayed with him more then any of the other ones. 

But there was one mission that really made an impact on him, a mission that he'd never forget...

It happened about a month before Melina had rescued him, he was sent on a mission to take out a mother and her two children for getting too close to Tony Stark. 

They had told him that the boy, they never told him his name, was actually the biological son to Stark. The daughter though wasn't, she had been born after Stark hooked up with the mother. 

Apparently Stark had found out and had offered the mother of two his help in whatever she needed and the woman, Emma had gratefully accepted anything the man was willing to give due to the fact she worked at a diner and only had one source of income.

Too bad Hydra wanted to hurt Stark, hurt him in a way he could never recover from..

And that's where he came in...

——Flashback——

The Spider sat in the helicopter right next to three armed guards in his outfit. His combat gear on and the muzzle firmly placed against his mouth. He stared at the man across from him blankly, not letting any emotions through his gaze. 

Emotions were a weakness, and weaknesses got you killed...

 The sun was just starting to set along the mountains in the distance, the Tennessee sky looking like an explosion of colors to the Spider, oranges and yellows and reds all spread out across the sky and mixing together. 

Peter didn't pay attention to it for that long, he had a mission to accomplish and he needed to keep his focus. 

"You know your target Spider. Take them all out and meet us at the rendezvous." The man in the copilot seat said through the Spider's com. 

Peter didn't say anything in response, only nodded his head once to let the man know he heard him. 

He learned not to ignore a superior a long time ago.

It took only another three minutes before the helicopter landed in a field of grass. Once Spider was given the okay, he unbuckled himself from the seat, grabbed his weapon and hopped out and into the field. 

"You know your mission Spider, you have two hours. Get it done and meet us two miles north at the rendezvous. I'm sure you understand what failure will bring you." His superior said through the com as the assassin walked through the field and towards a road that would lead him into the nearest town. 

"Understood." He replied this time, his tone blank and full of no emotion. 

He knew what would happen if his superiors thought he was slipping. 

He did not feel like sitting in that chair anymore then necessary...

 He quietly made his way down the path as the helicopter took off towards the rendezvous. It wasn't that long of a walk, maybe five minutes tops but it still gave the young boy time to look at his surroundings. 

There was a gentle breeze that swept over him and Peter tried to repress a shiver as it washed over him. He was never really good with the cold, due to his DNA but he had learned to hide it from Hydra a long time ago, after a very harsh punishment for showing weakness once a couple years ago. 

He had James though, to get him through that, whether or not he wanted to admit it or not, the man was a comfort these past few years. 

Whenever he remembered him...

He tried to shake those thoughts though, now was not the time for distractions, now was the time for focus, for strength, for him to do what needed to be done. 

He had a mission to complete, and he would not fail...

 The last of the sun had disappeared behind the horizon in the five minutes it took him to walk into town, so it was almost pitch black out besides the lights that were illuminating the town.

That's how you could tell it was starting to become winter...

But Now all he needed to do was to get into position and wait for the targets to arrive. 

He snuck around buildings before finding his perch on top of a local market, right across from the diner that the family was eating out at tonight. He placed down his bag before unzipping it and taking out his sniper. 

He placed the silencer onto the barrel of the gun, attached the stand and leaned against the small wall to give him support before he aimed down the sights and waited for his targets to arrive. 

As he was sat, atop the roof he had a little time to himself as he waited for them to come out of the building. 

Deep down, he knew what he was doing was wrong, of course he did. But at the end of the day it was survival out here. 

People in the real world wouldn't get it. To them he was just killing innocent people, to them he was just a bloodthirsty assassin. 

But to him, he was just trying to survive, he knew if he disobeyed that it would be ten times worse for him in the long run. 

You didn't get as smart and as far in life as he did without knowing a thing or two about how things worked. 

It was survival of the fittest out here, in the shadows of the world. Where the people didn't dare to look because of the danger. 

But the shadows are what Peter was comfortable with, what he knew like the back of his hand. They were like an old friend of his, always there, somewhere in the back, always waiting for him, always near. 

They've been a constant all his life and there was nothing he could do about that, except embrace it for now. 

Until he could escape...

While stuck in his head, he was suddenly broken out of his thoughts twenty minutes after he arrived on top the roof. He shook his head and looked through the scope to see a mother and her two children. 

One boy, one girl. 

 He inhaled through his nose before holding for three seconds, then he exhaled through his mouth, calming his nerves down before getting ready to take the shot. 

But, he hesitated. 

Through the scope he saw how both the boy and girl were smiling up at their mother with clear love and adoration through their gaze, Peter from his spot from across the street could see that clear as day. 

They loved their mother, and the loss of her would completely destroy them. 

It was probably best if he killed them all, three bullets, three shots and get it over with. 

But, something inside of him, something was screaming at him not to kill them, not to kill the children, not to kill the mother, not to listen to his oppressors. 

He closed his eyes to try and calm himself down a bit but in doing so, his pointer finger which was hovering over the trigger twitched down onto the trigger, sending a bullet straight towards the target. 

Straight towards the mother. 

Before anyone knew what was happening, the mother dropped down onto the pavement with a bullet hole through her head, causing her children to scream in fright, causing some bystanders to quickly rush over to the children. 

Peter cursed under his breath, knowing that there were too many people there now to take shots at the children, to fully complete his mission. 

Peter gritted his teeth before ducking down and placing his weapons away into the bag, trying to ignore the cries coming from the two children across the street. 

He quickly packed everything up, made sure he wasn't in any line of sight of any cameras before he jumped down and dashed towards the woods, heading north towards the rendezvous. 

He knew he'd receive punishment for his failure, he knew pain was surely to come for his mistake. 

But he couldn't worry about that right now. 

All that was on his mind was the sound of a sobbing little girl and the pleas of a heartbroken son...

—End Of Flashback—

Peter's eyes popped open as he gasped for air... 

He quickly sat up in his bed and kicked off everything that was covering him up during the night, tried to get out of his cocoon of silk sheets and fluffy blankets all the while trying to catch his breath. 

 He gulped down air as he tried to get a grip on his mind, trying not to think of that night all those years ago. 

He hated that memory, more than anything else. 

 He hated Hydra, with a passion. He hated what they made him, he hated that he was the way he was because of them. 

That every time he went out as Spider-Man, he knew that those powers were because of them, and he had used them once to hurt people instead of help. 

 It was a constant reminder of what he had done under their thumb, a constant pain in the back of his head that reminded him that no matter what he did, no matter how much good he accomplished...

He would always be a man of shadow, a human who wasn't a hero, wasn't a good person. He was a survivor, a young man who did whatever it takes to survive, the consequences be damned. No matter who he killed, no matter who he hurt. 

He would always be apart of that world, the shadows. The real world, if they knew who he truly was, would never accept him, would never understand. 

James would though...

Peter sighed and rubbed his hand down his face as he tried to distract himself from the sudden feelings of bitterness and betrayal that usually popped up whenever he thought of Soldier. 

It had been awhile since James had left him, but even now it still stung a little, that James left without ever saying goodbye. 

A small part of him knew it was Hydra that took him away, but it still stung nonetheless. 

After another minute he finally got up from his bed and walked over to his dresser to get ready for the day.

Man he hated Mondays...

After about fifteen minutes of getting dressed, making sure he had all of his books for the day, his homework done and his homemade suit at the bottom of his bag for patrol after school, he walked out of his room towards the kitchen where he could hear Felicia cooking breakfast. 

 "Morning." He said quietly as he placed his bag on the couch and sat down at the bar stool at the kitchen counter. From her place at the stove, she turned around briefly and made eyebrow contact with him before offering a soft smile that she only had for him, before turning back around, "Morning Peter. Sleep well?" She asked, getting a groan from the young man. 

Felicia hummed in acknowledgment as she heard his response, making sure to focus on the eggs she was cooking so she didn't burn them as she responded, "That bad?" She whispered, not knowing if his senses were acting up as well, but also not wanting to take the chance of her voice hurting said senses. 

Peter sent her a grateful look before answering back in a whispered tone of voice as well, "Yeah. Nightmare." 

 Felicia pursed her lips in thought as she took the spatula and placed two eggs on each plate. She reached over to the toaster and picked up the toast as well before reaching for a knife. 

 As she started to butter the toast, she spoke up, "Same one?" 

Peter hummed affirmatively, as he rubbed the rest of the sleep from his eyes. Felicia clicked her tongue before placing two pieces of buttered toast on each of their plates before taking both of them, setting one down in front of her charge as she sat down next to him with her plate. 

As Peter started to eat his eggs, Felicia laid one of her hands across his back, rubbing soothing circles in a pattern which she hoped would help calm him down. 

Throughout the years she has learned that no matter how tough or independent Peter acted, he wouldn't say no to someone rubbing his back when needed, or running her hand through his hair when he's stressed. 

She watched as he subtly relaxed at her touch and leaned his back into her hand, causing her to smile fondly at the boy. She waited a few seconds before speaking up though, giving him time to sort through his own thoughts. 

 "It's not your fault, you know that." She murmured as she leaned forward to lay a kiss on the crown of his head. 

 Peter scoffed before taking a bite of his toast. He waited until he was done chewing though before speaking, that one detail amusing the women to no end. 

Even when he was running on emotions he still made sure to be polite...

 "I should've stopped. But those kids will never have their mother because of me." He said quietly, with a voice filled with so much shame and guilt it made Felicia pause for a moment. 

She turned towards him and made sure she was looking right into his eyes before speaking,  "The only one to blame is Hydra, I know that, and I'm sure you know that too. You may have killed that woman but you were just following orders. There's nothing you could've done that would've changed her fate." She whispered as she held his chin in her hand, making sure Peter kept eye contact with her as she told him this. 

 "You we're surviving Peter, trust me I know what that's like. Doing whatever you have to do to survive, it's not easy." She sighed before slightly shaking her head, "But sometimes, things happen. And all you can do is move forward, move on from the past, and get over it. You'll spend the rest of your life with this guilt and shame if you don't try to move past it. It'll be the death of you." She finished, smiling sadly at him, making him huff and shake his head. 

 "When did you get so wise?" He asked wryly with one raised eyebrow and a hint of a smile across his face. 

Felicia's smile turned a little more upbeat when she saw that and heard his question, "Since looking after you. You've really done wonders for my wisdom. But, I could be biased." She smirked at him which made him softly chuckle. 

 Peter smiled up at her as he looked into her eyes with so much trust and love that it almost took Felicia's breath away. There was a time in her life where she thought she'd never have anyone in her life again. 

But this boy changed her entire life. 

He was her entire world nowadays and she wouldn't have it any other way...

"Thank you." He said before turning back around to finish his food, knowing that he didn't need to say anything else. 

"No problem." Felicia shrugged before she too turned back to her food and started eating. They both ate their food in comfortable silence after the fact, not needing to speak anymore with everything said. 

They didn't always need to use words to communicate, and sometimes the silence spoke enough volumes to the both of them. 

It's taken years but they both have gotten pretty good at reading the others moods. 

Peter finished before her, as he usually did so he got up and placed his dish near the sink before walking over to the couch to grab his backpack. 

As he was walking past her he placed a kiss on her cheek before offering her a one armed hug before he walked towards the door, "See yah later Felicia." He said after he pulled his arms back. 

"Patrol right?" She asked, trying to smoother her smile as she swallowed the last bite of her eggs. 

 "Yup, I'll be back before dinner though." Peter replied as he walked over to grab his converse. 

"Stay safe. You know to call me if you need anything." She called out. 

She couldn't help it that she still worried about him, no matter how strong he was. 

"I know, I know. See you later." Peter waved his hand and rolled his eyes as he walked out the door of their penthouse. 

 "Rude." Felicia muttered with a smirk. 

Harley woke with a gasp of air...

 He inhaled shakily through his nose before he shook his head and got up from his bed and groaned. 

He hated nightmares...

 The teen sat on the end of his bed and tried to calm himself down. He reached over and grabbed the picture frame that was there, a picture that never failed to make him both sad and happy. 

It was a picture of him, his sister and mother. It was a few months before she had died, where they had gone to the local mall and had been shopping for new clothes and the picture was of all of them wearing funny hats and smiling into the camera. 

God he missed his mother. 

That night is forever etched into his mind, he couldn't forget it, forget the despair he felt as he watched his mother bleed out before him and his sister, the sadness it brought, the bitter feeling at the world for taking her and the anger at the person who shot her. 

Tony still, to this day has no idea who did it. He knew that the shooter had to be on top of a building from where the bullet entered his...his mother's head and from the angle he found the bullet Tony knew the shooter had to have been on top of the market but ironically none of the cameras were pointed towards the top of that building. 

 The shooter was skilled and knew how to stay undetected, that much they all knew but even as the years went by, Tony and the Avengers have all tried to figure it out and even Natasha couldn't find out that much info. 

Tony deduced that the shooter was trying to get back at him for something. There must have been a breech in his security and someone leaked to the wrong people that he was the biological son of Tony Stark. 

His father still tried to apologize for it, saying how it's his fault but Harley doesn't blame him, it's not his fault people are assholes. 

But if Harley ever finds out who killed his mother...

There would be hell to pay, that he was sure of...

 He finally decided it was time for him to get up and stop thinking of these not so happy thoughts before someone came crashing into his room to remind him he still had school today. 

 He did not feel up for school at the moment, but the sudden thought of what waited for him at Midtown woke him up a bit, because the Avengers had discovered that Peter Hardy, the school outcast was the long lost son of Natasha Romanoff. 

Man, it's still weird thinking of The Black Widow as a mother. 

Even weirder that he was trained by Bucky as an assassin for years before he had apparently escaped. 

Well, no matter what he thought about it, he had to do his best to befriend the boy, for his aunt Nat, he could do this. After all the times she has helped him out whenever he needed it, he could do this one thing for her, to make friends with her son. 

He'd make sure that they'd be reunited as soon as possible. 

After all he was family, even if he didn't know it yet. And Harley would do anything for family. 

Felicia smiled to herself as Peter closed the door and made his way out of the building towards school. 

She couldn't put into words how much she loved that damn kid. He has been a core part of her life for so long that she couldn't imagine her life without him. 

It was simply not a life that Felicia wanted to live if Peter wasn't there. 

God, when did she become such a mom?

After another moment thinking about how much she loved her damn kid, she spun her chair around and got up to bring her plate over to the sink. 

She rolled her eyes when she saw that Peter had placed his plate on the counter, and not the filled up sink to soak it before she washed it but it's not like she was mad. 

It was just a little pet peeve that he knows she hates, but does it anyways when he wants to be a little shit. 

But she wouldn't change him for the world...

 She spent the next ten minutes cleaning the dishes from last night and this morning before placing them all in the strainer to let them dry. She walked down the hallway towards the master bedroom to get clothes out for today and to get ready for a shower. 

An hour later she was in a pair of skinny jeans and a normal white blouse and black shawl while sitting on her armchair reading a book. 

Suddenly though, her doorbell wrung which made her look up at her door with slightly narrowed eyes and a tilt to her head. 

She never usually had visitors, not really. She would sometimes get packages that were brought up on occasion but she didn't order anything, and she knew of nothing that would be here this early in the morning. 

She quickly placed her book down after marking her page and slowly made her way over towards the door with caution in every step. 

She didn't know what to expect when she got to the door and opened it, but it definitely wasn't what she got. 

Because standing in front of her was The Black Widow along with her sister, dressed in casual clothes as the agents both stared at her. 

Before she could say anything though, Romanoff spoke up, "Good morning Miss Hardy. If you wouldn't mind, we'd like to speak with you about something." She said with a raised eyebrow and that one gesture made her think of her charge. He always did that damn eyebrow thing, it was his signature look and to see it on Romanoff made her gut drop for some reason. 

She narrowed her eyes though and opened her door a little more, "Of course, would you like some tea? Coffee?" She asked out of common courtesy, allowing the two spies to walk into her home. 

Her sister was about to speak up, Yelena, If Felicia wasn't mistaken, but Romanoff softly elbowed her sister in the ribs before she could say anything, "No thanks, we just want to talk." She smiled politely at the woman. 

Felicia nodded while taking the lead towards her living room. The woman caught sight of both of them looking at her mantle where pictures were framed, more specifically pictures of her and Peter. 

She watched as different emotions passed through Romanoff's eyes before she put her mask back on and sat down on the couch as she took the chair. 

Warning number two...

 She cleared her throat before looking into the Black Widow's eyes, "So, Miss Romanoff, what can I do for you?" She asked. 

"Please, Natasha will do just fine." She waved off. 

"Then Felicia will suffice as well." 

Natasha nodded, "Very well. I'm sure you have many questions as to why I'm here." 

"I do." She said, placing her hands in her lap as she fiddled with the bracelet Peter had made for her a few months after the alien invasion. 

Both assassins took notice of the action...

 "We just want to speak about your...son. If that's alright." Natasha said and Felicia did take notice of the way she hesitated when she had called Peter her son. 

Warning number three...

 "What about Peter? He hasn't caused any trouble has he? He's always been a prankster I'm afraid and I'm sure he didn't mean it." She said with practiced ease. 

When he was in middle school, she had to have been privy to at least five calls a month due to him and his little pranks on kids. According to him though, he only pranked bullies so she wasn't that mad about those years. 

Why would she be made if he was standing up to bullies? 

"No, nothing like that ma'am. We just...we want to speak to you about...well..." Yelena spoke up but by the end she trailed off like she didn't really know how to finish her statement. 

"What?" Felicia raised an eyebrow, "What's this about then? What do you want from me?" She asked, the pit in her stomach growing as this conversation continued on. 

She had a real bad feeling about this now...

What if they found out he was Spider-Man? What would they do? Would they take him from her? Would they lock him up in the Raft and force him to do the governments bidding? Did they find out about his past? 

One thing for sure was she wouldn't give him up without a fight.

 "He's not yours, is he? Biologically speaking." Natasha suddenly said which made Felicia freeze. 

So this was where it was going...

 "No, he's not. But I've raised him since he was a boy. He's lived with me for almost a decade and blood doesn't matter to me, he's mine where it counts." Felicia said with narrowed eyes, watching Natasha's left eye twitched as she gritted her teeth, trying to hold her tongue for some reason. 

 Felicia now had a very bad feeling about this surprise meeting...

 "What if," Yelena cut in, seeing as her sister was about a second away from exploding, "We told you we found his biological mother?" She said the fateful words which made Felicia's whole body flinch as she felt a sudden coldness wash down her spine. 

 She glared openly at the two assassins now, "I'd say, where's your proof?" 

Natasha and Yelena looked at each other before Natasha spoke up in a voice, barely above a whisper, "Melina, she's his grandmother. Isn't she?" When Felicia nodded her head reluctantly, Natasha started speaking again, "Melina is my mother." She admitted. 

 Felicia's whole body froze once she heard those words. She wasn't an idiot, she knew how to put two and two together. She knew what those fateful words meant to the assassin in front of her and to her. 

Peter, her Peter was the son of The Black Widow. 

I guess that explained a lot about him, to be honest...

 Felicia exhaled shakily before closing her eyes for a second, gathering thoughts before looking up into Natasha's eyes, "You can't take him." 

The spy's eyes narrowed but before she could retort Felicia spoke up again, "No, I mean you literally can not. If you try to force that kid to do anything, he does the compete opposite. I'm telling you right now, he will not take kindly to you trying to uproot his life." She said seriously, trying to show them that she wasn't messing  around. 

As much as Peter would love to meet his biological mother, he knew that if she came in and tried to force him away from her, he'd fight tooth and nail to stay with her. 

And that was putting it lightly. 

It didn't even matter if his biological mother was the Black Widow, that would probably just make him fight even harder. 

 Natasha slumped her shoulders in defeat, "Yeah, I kinda figured he would." She muttered under her breath but both women still heard it. 

Felicia sighed and rubbed her hand down her face, "I would be lying if I said I haven't planned for if this day ever happened." She admitted softly. 

 Natasha looked into her eyes and smiled for the first time sense arriving, "You love him." She stated, but the statement was etched with sadness. 

 "I've raised him, of I course I do." She said, gesturing to the mantle where there were pictures of the two of them smiling and or smirking into the camera. 

 Natasha sighed and nodded her head, "I, I get it. Really I do. But, please try to see it from my point of view. If been searching for my son for years, over a decade. It didn't help that my mother never told me who had him." She muttered bitterly before continuing, "I understand that he doesn't remember me, I know he doesn't know me I just, I just want a chance to know my son. Please, I'd do anything." She begged the other woman, knowing this was out of character for her but not caring in the slightest. 

Not when her son was involved. 

 Felicia pursed her lips in thought for a moment, trying to think what would be the best course of action for every party involved. For Natasha, for Peter and her. 

Felicia didn't think they knew he was Spider-Man so that was a bonus, but how would Peter take the news that his mother was an Avenger? How would he react when he found out his mother came knocking when he had been at school? 

What did she think? 

 It was insane, it was outlandish but perhaps that was just her fear talking for her. Maybe she thought those things because she was afraid of losing him. 

She knew that it wasn't fair to keep him away from her forever, especially since she now knew his real mother. It wouldn't be fair for either of them if she was honest. 

But Natasha was a complete stranger to the both of them, they didn't know her, and she didn't know them. 

But that was the problem wasn't it? She wanted to know her son, that was all she was asking for. 

Who was Felicia to deprive them of forming a bond? 

She'd never forgive herself if she took that chance away from Peter...

She bit her lip in thought for a second before she came up with a good idea. Through the years, she's captured moments of Peter's life on video from her old hand held recorder. 

 Call her sentimental, but there was something about little Peter that made Felicia just want to look back on his life. She knew he wouldn't always be that small and adorable, so she wanted to capture as much of his life as she could. 

 It served in her favor at this moment though...

 "Give me a second." Felicia said as she got up from her chair and walked over to the shelf over by the mantle where she kept a box full of the home videos. 

She grabbed the box and walked back over to the living room and placed it on the coffee table in between her and the assassins. 

The two of them looked up and Natasha raised an eyebrow at her, "What's this?" She asked. 

 Felicia huffed at the similarity's between her and Peter before talking, "It's a box full of recordings. I made hard copies of them so I still have the originals, but I thought this would help you get to know a little about your son while I talk to him." She admitted. 

"So, you will speak to him? About, me?" She asked, "Are you gonna tell him who I really am?" 

 "Of course I will." Felicia scoffed, "I don't lie to that child. He'd sniff it out before I even could if I did. Plus he deserves to know." She said which made both females across from her snort in amusement. 

"Sounds like someone I know." Yelena rolled her eyes towards her sister which made Natasha smile to herself. 

"Thank you." Natasha said after a moment staring at the box, reaching out to take it like it was the most precious thing in her life at the moment, "It means a lot to me that, that you're willing to do this for me." 

Felicia waved her hand at the woman, "Don't mention it. Peter would never forgive me if I kept him from his biological family. He's always told me he's curious about his mother. I just never thought she'd come knocking on our doorstep." She shrugged. 

 Natasha hummed, "Sorry for how I acted. It's just, it's been a while since I've seen him and seeing someone else..." She trailed off. 

Yelena though, groaned, "You were an asshole, just say so and apologize!" She rolled her eyes at her sister which made Natasha glare at her sister. 

Felicia huffed and a small smirk slid across her face. Natasha muttered something under her breath towards her sister before she looked back up at the platinum hair woman in front of her, "Really though, sorry for all, that." 

 "Don't mention it." 

"Alright, seeing as how we're all done here, I guess we'll be heading back home. Felicia, it was nice to meet you, sister, get your damn box and let's get the fuck moving. I'm sure she doesn't want us here any longer." Yelena exclaimed as she stood up and marched over to the door. 

Felicia watched her move with a raised eyebrow before turning to look at Natasha while pointing at the blond, "She sure is a character." 

Natasha huffed, "Tell me about it, you don't have to live with her." 

"I heard that!!" 

"You were supposed to hear it!" Natasha said back before turning to look at Felicia one last time, "Thank you." She said gratefully before getting up and walking towards the door as well. 

Felicia watched the both of them leave with a small smile but as soon as they closed the door, the smile slid off her face. 

She'd have to have a conversation with Peter once he got back home. 

A conversation she still didn't know how to feel about...

Peter wasn't as clueless as his classmates. 

People called him the outcast, sure but everyone knew how truly smart he was. He could solve for the atomic weight of an any known element in his head, find the square root of any number in the world, hell he could even calculate the hypotenuse of any triangle if given the correct data. 

Needless to say he was very intelligent, and that wasn't him trying to brag about his smarts. 

So he didn't understand how none of his other classmates realized that the children of the Avengers literally went to their school...

It was insane! 

They weren't inconspicuous at all, they didn't know how to whisper for shit, but that could also be just him with his enhanced hearing and don't even get him started on how they didn't even bother to change their names. 

Everyone knew that Clint had three children, but no one knew what they looked like so Peter could see past the Barton Children but for Lang and Stark? Completely unacceptable. 

 Her name is literally still, Cassie Lang, she didn't even bother to hide it. 

Don't even get him started about how the whole world now knows that Harley was Starks child. 

The sudden reminder of Harley brought him a wave of sadness but he quickly shook himself out of his stupor and pushed those feelings down. 

Now was not the time for that...

The fact was his classmates were completely oblivious and it was times like this where he lost a little faith in his generation...

He was currently in lunch, sitting by himself at his table like normal when Gwen Stacy walked up to his table and sat down. 

He raised an eyebrow at the young woman but she only smiled at him, "What? I told you I'd sit with you last Friday." She said. 

Peter shrugged his shoulders as he bit into his apple. He waited until he was done chewing before replying, "I didn't really think you'd sit here to be honest. Also kinda forgot about it." He admitted with a small wince which made Gwen chuckle at him. 

 "It's alright Peter, no offense taken." She smirked which made him huff in amusement. Before he could say anything else he sensed more people coming his way. 

He turned to his left to see that the Avenger's group was making their way towards his table, not that anyone else knew they were the Avenger kids. 

Well minus Edward and Michelle, but that was besides the point. 

He raised his eyebrow at them before speaking, "What have I done to be graced by your presence, hmm?" He asked with a small smirk which made both Gwen and Michelle snort in amusement while the others looked kind of nervous. 

 Lila was the one to speak up for their group though, "We were wondering if we could sit down with you two? It's perfectly fine if you don't want us but we thought to ask you before we did." She quickly added on the last part which made Peter smile in amusement. 

He gestured to his table, "You act like I own the table. Last time I checked, it belonged to the school." 

Harley scoffed, "We're just trying to be polite man." 

Peter's smirk returned but he didn't look at Harley himself, not wanting to make his mind go back to that night, "Relax, I'm picking fun. Take a chill pill." He said before waving his hand around, "Take a seat, I don't bite. Usually." He added on, his smirk widening when he saw the look of trepidation on some of their faces. 

Except for Michelle and Gwen, Michelle was smirking right back as Gwen was trying not to laugh at their faces. 

 Apparently those two had humor like his...

He watched as everyone sat down at his table and he had to wonder what this was all about. Some might call him paranoid, but he didn't become the best Hydra weapon by not taking in his surroundings and questioning everything around him. 

There was a reason he was the best at finding things, finding out secrets that he wasn't supposed to know. 

And he wasn't about to stop now. 

It was like a constant itch he had, to always know what was happening around him, to always be ready incase something ever happened. 

Call it what you will...

 It didn't change the fact that it has saved his ass more times then he cares to admit out loud. 

The table full of teens sat in awkward silence though  for a grand total of ten seconds before Edward broke it. 

"So," He started off saying, staring directly at Peter, "I've got a very serious question that will make or break this new friendship." 

Peter hummed, "Really now, and what would that be?" 

"Star Wars, or Star Trek?" 

Peter snorted in amusement before rolling his eyes, "Star wars hands down. If you say Star Trek, your opinion is automatically invalid towards me from this point on." He said. 

"Thank you!!! Someone with a sense of culture!" Edward exclaimed while he pointed towards his other friends. 

"What's wrong with Star Trek?" Cassie asked with narrowed eyes and arms crossed along her chest. 

 "I didn't say anything was wrong with Star Trek," Peter shrugged, "I simply said Star Wars was superior." 

 "Based off what reasoning?" Lila raised an eyebrow at him. 

Peter started to talk, listing off the reasons on his fingers as he went along, "Light Sabers, R2-D2, 3PO, badass duels, fucking Yoda, Obi-Wan, the best villain in existence Darth Vader and last but not least, we got better shows then Star Trek." He finished. 

"Thank you!!" This time, it was Gwen who exclaimed, "I've been trying to tell my friends that The Mandalorian is a fucking master piece but they won't watch it!" 

Edward shook his head, "A tragedy." 

Peter sadly nodded his head alongside him, "Indeed, although I'm more of a fan of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series myself." 

"Shut the front door, so am I!!" Edward smiled. 

Peter nodded his head, "Now you are a man of culture. You now have my utmost respect Edward." Peter smirked. 

Said teen blushed a bit at the use of his full name before he spoke up, "You can call me Ned, that's what my friends call me anyways." He shrugged. 

 Peter stared at the other boy for another second before a small smile made its way across his face. He gestured towards himself, "Names Peter, my friends call me Peter too." He said in amusement which made the other occupants at the table laugh. 

Maybe it wasn't bad if he had a few normal friends...

Harley was the first child to walk into the common room after school got out. 

Everyone was in there, waiting for the kids to get home to see what they learned from Peter today, hoping that they had luck with getting to know the boy. 

As soon as the elevator opened and Harley walked out and saw everyone staring at him, he huffed before staring at Natasha, "Your son is a giant Star Wars nerd, just so you know." He said before sitting down on the couch, flinging his backpack across the back of the furniture. 

"That's an understatement." Lila commented dryly as she sat down on one of the armchairs, "He's a full blown fanatic like Ned. The two of them spent the most of our lunch period with Gwen discussing what there favorite movies are." 

"Yeah you'd think for a person who didn't talk unless spoken to, he'd have a lot less to say to us." Cooper commented as he walked in with Cassie and Abby by his side. Harley's sister just getting back from middle school where happy had picked her up from. 

 Cassie shrugged though, "He likes what he likes. We know what'll get him to talk though. Just tell him Star Trek is better than Star Wars and he'll fight you on it for hours." 

Harley hummed before he looked back towards his aunt, "Any luck talking with his guardian?" He asked. 

Natasha smiled slightly before nodding her head, "She told me she'd talk to him herself. While waiting though, she gave me a box of recordings of Peter when he was little. Hopefully he agrees to meet me." Natasha shrugged. 

Yelena snorted though, "My sister forgot to mention the fact that she got possessive over her son whom she hadn't seen in a decade, in front of his guardian who has been looking out for him! For years!" She smirked at her red headed sister which caused the others in the room to chuckle while the spy glared at the blond. 

Natasha rolled her eyes, "Haha very funny." 

 Tony smirked at her before asking a genuine question, "So, you gonna watch those videos?" He asked. 

"Yeah, alone." She said pointedly staring at the man which made him huff. 

"Rude." He muttered. 

Since Peter started this whole vigilante business, he's come across many different faces. 

To the enhanced PI known as Jessica Jones, to the man with indestructible skin known as Luke cage, a woman with a dragon powered sword, a man with dragon powered guns, hell even an ex marine who kills the worst of the worst with nothing but guns, and his bare hands. 

Just recently, He's even met up with the devil of Hell's Kitchen, the original vigilante of the city. 

But never in his adventures has he ever met someone as...unique as Deadpool. 

And he most certainly did not expect to first meet him after school on a Monday while trying to track down the Maggia shipping manifest for the next month. 

He was simply stacking out the warehouse waiting to strike when his senses warned him about someone behind him. 

He turned around and came face to face with a man in a red and black suit with white eyes. 

"Hello spider boy, I've been dying to meet you, and I'm sure the readers have been too." He said happily while having his hand off towards the right. Peter looked over and saw that nothing was there at all though. 

"What. The fuck?" He deadpanned. 

"Look! It's Spider-Man! Get him!!" 

Well shit... 

 Things just got a lot more complicated...

Chapter Text

 "Sooo, how's it been Spidey?" Deadpool, aka Wade Wilson asked from where the mercenary was resting up on the rafters of the warehouse, lazily pointing his pistol around every few seconds shooting goons while talking to the other vigilante. 

Peter ducked under a fist that was thrown his way before kicking the henchmen away with this feet. He rolled his eyes underneath his mask, "Just peachy." He replied sarcastically before jumping right back into the fight with another goon who started charging at him with a knife. 

"Great! You know I was getting worried there for a moment. It's felt like months since we got here and you've been so stoic and quiet! So serious!" He said in a mock baby voice, like he was talking to a child which made Peter grit his teeth as he elbowed another man in the face. 

God, he should've listen to Daredevil when the man told him to try and avoid all contact with Deadpool, he was already starting to get a headache and it wasn't even six o'clock at night yet. 

 "Can you please focus for one second?!" Peter asked in exasperation as a bullet zipped by him and hit a man who was sneaking up on him right in the head, dropping the guy to the ground in an instant in a pile of his own blood, the red liquid slowly seeping out of the hole now in the goon's head.

"You're welcome." Deadpool cried cheerfully up above him as he started to shoot at more people, "What are you sitting down there lolly gagging for? We've got some assholes to take out!" Wade continued while Peter took a moment to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose with his pointer and thumb, slowly shaking his head. 

Just one job, that's it. Then after he got the manifest Wade and him could split ways. 

Only one job...

He could deal with a couple more minutes. 

At least, that was what he was trying to tell himself. 

The warehouse didn't take the two trained vigilantes that much more time to clear, with the both of them working together it took only five more minutes before everyone was on the ground either unconscious thanks to Peter, or dead thanks to Wade. 

Peter sighed, "Alright, let's see what you were all hiding." He muttered to himself as he walked over to the nearest crate in search of the manifest. 

He didn't pay any more attention to Deadpool, focusing all his energy on finding that damn manifest. 

If he could find the list, he would be able to track down the Maggia's moves for at least the next month. Imagine, a list of all their shipments, all the resources they would be bringing in from other places, maybe even some definitive proof that the Maggia was working with Fisk. 

Wouldn't that be something. 

For a normal person it would be hard to memorize all these different organizations next moves, but for Peter, a trained assassin and spy, someone who was trained for infiltration, it was like second nature for the teen, a mask falling into place over the Spider-Man suit.

He tried to keep Pyotr and Peter two different entities within his mind, tried to separate the good and the bad. 

For example, Pyotr was trained to kill, trained to be a chameleon who could fit in anywhere he needed to. A perfect Solider who could do any task he was asked for. 

Peter was the complete opposite, Peter was Spider-Man, someone who tried to do good for the city, tried to never take a life as this new persona that he now was. 

Two different entities, two different people who did two different things. 

One a teenage Vigilante, the other a child Solider trained to become the best asset in the world. 

One a criminal, the other a good teenager. 

Two sides of the same coin. 

Peter shook himself form his musing as he came upon a couple boxes. He spent a few minutes looking through it until he got to the last box. He dug through it until he finally found what he was looking for. 

"Ah Ha," Peter exclaimed as he grabbed the manifest from the final box and looked it over. He blinked a few times with his lenses, taking a picture with his mask and making sure to send it over to his computer so he had a digital copy before he looked over the context on the list more thoroughly. 

There was one thing that stood out very clearly on the list though, it was at the very top of the page and it was actually in Russian for some reason. 

"Фулкрум." He said to himself, tracing the name of the object on the paper with his thumb. 

"What was that?" The sudden appearance of Wade behind him made the teen swiftly turn around and punch the merc in the face, sending him flying backwards a few feet before falling on his ass. 

"Owwww!!! That hurt baby boy!!!" The mercenary whined as he touched his nose causing Peter to roll his eyes under the mask. 

"Next time don't sneak up on a Vigilante then, I was reading something." He said as he walked over to the merc and offered the man his hand. 

"What was that word you said?" Wade asked as he grabbed the teen's hand and together, they pulled the man back up on his feet. 

"Фулкрум, it means The Fulcrum in English. No idea what it is, but apparently according to this list, it's very important to the higher ups of the Maggia." Peter explained as he looked back at the list, "Lucky me, it seems that whatever this object is, they're transporting it today right through the heart of Manhattan." He said. 

"Yes!!!! Field trip!!!!!" Wade exclaimed while shaking Peter's shoulders in excitement. 

"Wait, no, that's not how this is gonna work. I'm gonna go get the item and you're gonna go back to wherever you crawled out of." Peter said, jumping away from the man while pointing his finger at him. 

"Aww, you don't wanna spend time with me?" 

"No." Peter deadpanned. 

"Come oooon Spidey, you could use all the help you could get. What if you need backup, hmm? No ones ever said no to more help man." Wade shrugged. 

Peter scoffed, "Pretty sure they have." He muttered. 

 "Come on! It'll be fun!!" 

Peter glared at Wade through his mask In annoyance. No matter how much he was loath to admit it, the man did have a point, sometimes it was better for someone to have your six. 

In this instance though, Peter would rather have literally anyone else than a mercenary for hire watching his back. 

But the man did have his uses...

Peter groaned softly before shaking his head, "I'm gonna regret this." He muttered, "Come on, we have fifteen minutes to intercept that rendezvous." He continued so Wade could hear him. 

The man literally started jumping up and down for joy while clapping his hands together like a child, squealing like a teenage girl who just went to a Taylor Swift concert. 

"Goodie!!! You won't regret it Spidey, cross my heart and hope to die!" 

"I already am DP." He shook his head. 

"Yes!" Wade pumped his fist in the air, following Peter out of the warehouse like a lost puppy dog, "Already on nickname basis!" 

 This was gonna be sooo much fun, Peter could already tell...

"There it is, see?" Peter said as he pointed at the armored SUV speeding down the road with bikers following at a distance. 

The two vigilantes were sitting atop a nearby building, waiting for the vehicle. It only took them a few minutes before they spotted the very obvious armored vehicle. 

 "Who needs an armored SUV to deliver one item?" Wade muttered to himself while shaking his head. 

 "All that proves is it's very important, which is bad for the Maggia cause in about two minutes, that Fulcrum is gonna be mine." Peter said, not wasting another moment before jumping off the roof right towards the truck. 

Deadpool sighed before he turned to look behind him, staring directly into the horizon while shaking his head. 

"Is he always like this?" He asked, no one in particular. 

There was a reason the other vigilantes stayed away from him. 

"Hey! I heard that. You know, that's not very nice author!" Wade exclaimed with a pout on his face. 

Looking like a complete nut case talking to himself...

Wade huffed, "Fine, I see where I'm not wanted, I'll go help Spidey down there." Just then, there was a giant crash that came from below on the streets along with people screaming. 

"Well, duty calls." Wade shrugged. 

Down below, Peter had just launched himself at the SUV, knocking the vehicle off course which made the driver swerve dangerously close to some pedestrians as the security detail speed up to try and cut him off. 

From the top of the SUV, Peter saw the motorcycles start to approach so he decided he'd deal with them first. He jumped off the vehicle and landed on the back of one of the motorcycles. 

"Hey man, you know it's very dangerous to be speeding. You should slow down." After the words left his mouth, he grabbed the man and threw him off the bike and shot a web at him, knowing that he would be fine thanks to the web. 

Before the motorcycle could lose control he quickly backflipped off the vehicle and landed on the front of another bike that was making its way towards him. He could tell the man was surprised with the way he flinched back once he landed and the way his heartbeat sped up which only made Peter smirk under the mask. 

 He decided to deal with them as quick as possible, not willing to risk the Fulcrum getting away so he shot a web at the cyclist and jumped up again to deal with the others. 

There was a grand total of a dozen motorcyclists following the convoy and Peter had no doubt that there was more security either farther ahead or a couple minutes behind so he knew once he dealt with the security near the convoy, he'd need to act fast. 

He was riding on the final bike, keeping the man under the helmet webbed to the handles as he crouched behind him, reaching forward to use the throttle to speed up towards the vehicle but just then, as he was getting closer to the SUV, a sudden weight landed on the motorcycle's front which caused the vigilante to be catapulted forward and crash into the back of the very armored vehicle. 

Peter groaned as he stuck to the back of the SUV, he shook his head as he looked at what the fuck happened when he saw a certain merc now riding on the motorcycle he was on just seconds ago. 

"You're doing great Spidey!!" The man exclaimed which made Peter glare at him under the mask. 

He couldn't wait for this mission to be over...

He sighed before climbing up onto the back of the SUV, holding on tightly due to the driver trying to swerve and make him fall off. 

 He quickly made his way towards one of the windows and started to use his enhanced strength to punch through the glass. On the first punch, there was a satisfying crunch to the glass as cracks appeared all along the pane. On the second punch he completely shattered the glass and quickly hopped into the vehicle. 

Landing right between two goons. 

"Hello fellas, how's your afternoon been?" He said before quickly punching one of them in their throat as he grabbed the other man's arm which was slowly heading towards the gun attached to his hip. 

 Peter twisted his body around and wrapped his legs around the man who was gasping for breath due to the punch to his throat and squeezed, making the man have trouble breathing as he continued to wrestle with the man with the gun. 

After a couple seconds, Peter could hear as the man became unconscious so he then released the dude before finally grasping the other man's wrist and twisting his hand, causing the man to scream out in pain as he dropped the gun. 

Peter then wasted no time in knocking the man out with a single punch to the temple, dropping the man into a dreamless sleep. 

He quickly ducked when his sense warned him and he looked up at the two front seats of the SUV and saw that the passenger was shooting at him. He pointed his wrists at the man and webbed him up so he couldn't do anything and just to be safe, he shot two webs at the drivers hands so he couldn't take them off the wheel. 

With the rest of the men taken care of for the time being, Peter looked behind the seats and saw that there was a metal box with a lock on the hatch. 

He knew that he didn't have time to unlock the box here, given he was still in the SUV with two enemies who did have control over the vehicle, so he grabbed both sides of the box and pulled with all his strength. 

It was quite easy to rip the box off of the SUV and without a second of hesitation, he threw himself back out the window and quickly swung away onto a nearby roof. 

Deadpool saw that the other vigilante got away from his place still on the motorcycle and decided that the man wouldn't mind if he had a little bit of fun so he took out a grenade he had and speed up towards the hole in the window Spidey left. 

He pulled the pin and threw the grenade in the SUV before he sped away while pulling the cycle in a wheelie, quickly speeding away from the explosive vehicle. 

Wade knew that this wasn't the last time he'd see Spider-Man, but he was a little saddened that he couldn't stick around for a little bit longer. 

 But, that was for another time.

It was by pure luck that the SUV was nowhere near close enough to any pedestrians to cause any harm because when the grenade went off, it caused the whole vehicle to burst into flames. 

With Peter up on a roof, he closed his eyes and he focused his senses on the lock. He slowly turned the combo, making sure to pay attention to the sound until he heard the first click, after that he quickly turned the dial the other way and did the same another two times .

On the final turn, he heard the lock click so he pulled down and grabbed the lock, throwing it behind him before he turned back towards the box and opened it up. 

He tilted his head in slight confusion as he reached in and grabbed the little flash drive in the middle of the box. 

"The Fulcrum." He muttered under his breath, "What's so special about you?" He asked himself. 

Not knowing just how much knowledge was stored in that one little flash drive...

Or how one little object would change his life...

It was just past six in the evening when Peter got back to his and Felicia's apartment. 

He made sure that no one was watching this far up before slowly crawling into his bedroom window. He dropped down onto the ground and stripped out of his Spider-Man suit before changing into a white t-shirt and black pair of jeans. 

When he placed his suit in its hiding spot underneath his bed in a hidden compartment, he spared one look at his evidence board before grabbing his laptop with the fulcrum in his hand, walking out into the living room where he could hear Felicia cooking dinner. 

 "Hey Felicia." He called out towards her, sitting down on the armchair while opening up his laptop to get started. 

"Hey Pete." She said, causing Peter to frown. By the tone of her voice she sounded distracted by something. By what, Peter had no clue but he'd ask her about it during dinner because right now he needed to decrypt whatever was on this Fulcrum. 

 Before he plugged it into his computer, he did the smart thing and made sure his servers were protected and his code would isolate anything harmful towards his servers. 

He didn't know if someone planted a virus on the drive, and Peter would rather be safe then sorry. 

After all, he didn't need any virus to destroy his work on making his own Artificial Intelligence. 

Once the systems check was completed, he plugged the flash drive into the laptop and waited for all the files to load. 

It took ten minutes for Peter to be able to open the file and when he did, what he saw inside froze the teen dead in his tracks. 

As soon as he opened the first file, a slideshow of articles popped up with different names and dates, people whom have died, very important people in power. 

There was the mafia, cartel, all sorts of organizations across the globe. More words in different sorts of languages, that zipped across the screen too fast for the teen to read it all. 

 But there were a few names that stuck out to Peter more then the rest. 

Wilson Fisk

The Maggia

Hydra

The Red Room

Thaddeus Ross

Names and groups of the most notorious criminals on the planet but at the center of all the data, sat one name, one name that held so much power in the government. 

The Secretary of State...

This drive, had everything that this...hidden Cabal has done for years, all the crimes that have been committed,  anyone who’s ever helped them whether from bribery or by force, dating back decades it seems, before any of these people really gained power. 

It seems the oldest date went back to the early days of Hydra back at the end of World War II. 

A group of corrupted government officials who had tremendous power and influence, along with the most dangerous of organizations to ever exist. 

A group who could make laws to fit their agenda...

"Christ." Peter muttered under his breath as he stared at his computer screen in shock. He could count on his one hand the amount of times he was fully shocked to his core. 

This, was one of them...

 "What's wrong?" Felicia asked, walking over to stand next to him with a worried frown across her face. 

 Peter looked up into her concerned eyes and shook his head, "Felicia, this goes deep. Like, The Empire taking over the Republic deep." He said causing her brows to furrow as she sat down on the arm of the chair. 

"Let me see." She instructed and he handed over the laptop, she only had it for a minute but that whole minute Peter listened to her heartbeat slowly pick up pace as she read on. 

"Holy Shit, this...this is big, Peter. Bigger then anyone of us. I mean, the government, the Attorney General!? That's, they've been building their power for decades." She said, handing the computer back to him as she got up and started to pace around the living room. 

"That's not what I'm worried about." He admitted softly. 

Felicia turned to stare at him, "Then what is?" She asked, just as softly. 

 Peter huffed and shook his head, "Hydra knows all about me, so does the Red Room. If anyone could figure out who I am under the mask, it's them because they gave me these powers. I wouldn't be surprised if they already know so when they find out Spider-Man stole their most prized secrets..." He shrugged. 

"They're gonna come after you." Felicia finished with a fearful look behind her gaze. 

Peter clicked his tongue, absentmindedly scrolling through the information that was on his laptop, "Most likely, but that'll be their own downfall then." 

"Why?" 

Peter tore his gaze away from the laptop and looked up at his guardian, "Because they made me to topple whole civilizations to the ground. When they inevitably try to tear me down, I'll be there, to show them all what it feels like to lose." 

 Felicia pursed her lips before biting the inside of her cheek, "I don't like it." She said after a few moments. 

Peter smiled gently up at her, "I know, but at the moment there's only two people who know what's happening, you and me. I can't sit on the sidelines when the people who made my life a living hell are in control of our government." 

"Maybe...you don't have to do this alone." She said, the tension that was previously in her voice when he first arrived back causing Peter to tilt his head. 

"I can't ask you to help me with this." Peter shook his head causing Felicia to reach a hand out and lay it on his cheek, gently running her thumb across his face. 

"Firstly, yes you can, because I love you. And there's nothing I wouldn't do for you. Even if I am in danger, if you needed help I'd be there for you. Second, I wasn't talking about that." She said. 

"Then what is it?" He asked. 

Felicia closed her eyes and swallowed before opening her eyes and staring at him, "When you went to school, I got a visitor this morning." She spoke gently, causing Peter's eyes to narrow in thought. 

"Who? We don't get much visitors." He stated. 

"The Black Widow." 

Peter eyes narrowed even further when she said the name, "An Avenger? You think it would be a good idea to ask the Avengers for help on this? They work with the government Felicia, Ross overlooks them too, and he controls the whole damn organization, they wouldn't be able to do much with Ross pulling the strings." He shook his head, instantly disputing the idea. 

It wouldn't be good to ask for help on this, Peter was only gonna use his most trusted Allies with help on this, it's not like he could trust a wide variety of people with probably half of them in the governments pocket anyway. 

 Felicia rubbed her thumb in a soothing circle along his cheek for a couple more seconds before she answered him, "I'm not gonna force you to tell them about the corrupt government, and I wasn't gonna try and convince you to tell them otherwise." 

Peter frowned, "Then what's your point?" 

Felicia smiled softly down at him, "Peter, I can tell you have a lot on your mind because you haven't even questioned me on why, an Avenger was in our home." She said gently, her words causing Peter to freeze. 

She was right. 

What was, the Black Widow doing here?

Peter smiled up at her, "I do have a lot on my mind." He admitted, "So, could you please tell me why Natasha Romanoff was in our apartment?" He asked with a single raised eyebrow. 

 Felicia cleared her throat before speaking, "She...she was looking for her son." She whispered. 

Peter's eyes widened in shock, instantly catching onto her meaning. He looked into her eyes, trying to see if she was lying but only saw sincerity in her gaze, along with a bit of fear and apprehension. 

Instantly putting Peter somewhat at ease, knowing that she was just as worked up as he was no doubt going to be. 

 Natasha Romanoff, his mother...

 "I..." Peter for once, was at a loss for words, "I don't, I mean, I guess...it makes since but..." He shook his head swallowing harshly, trying to fight back all the emotions flowing through his body. 

"It's okay, you can talk to me." 

"It's just, the only things I remember of my mom really is her voice, not what it sounds like just, how it made me feel and her hair. I've known that she had red hair, it's always the same in my dreams. I really should've connected the dots sooner now that I think about it." Peter frowned. 

Felicia smiled in amusement, "One person can't know everything Peter, not even you." 

The teen huffed, "Well I can be pretty damn close can't I?" 

Felicia laughed, "If there was one person in the world who would know everything, there's no doubt in my mind that it would be you Pete." She said which caused the teen to smirk. 

 He shrugged, "Hey, you said it, not me." Peter said before he got more serious, the smile quickly getting wiped off his face, "She wants me to move in with her, doesn't she?" He asked. 

Felicia didn't respond with words though, all Peter needed to do was look at her expression to know her answer, "Kinda. She knows she wouldn't be able to force you to do anything you didn't want to do, but at the same time..." She said, leaving the rest for Peter to put together. 

When Peter thought back on his day at school, it all made since now why the Avenger's kids were at his table. God, they didn't want to sit with him cause they were interested in him, they wanted to get to know the son of The Black Widow so they could report back to her. So they could tell his mother what he was like and how he acted towards things. 

He didn't know whether or not to be slightly impressed with them, or offended they somewhat succeeded in doing so. 

He was definitely more offended though. 

And kinda pissed. 

Yet, impressed for some reason. 

It was a weird blend of emotions that were swirling in the pit of his stomach. Too many emotions for the teen to deal with at the moment though, having just learned his mother was Natasha Romanoff and the Government was actually corrupted by their worlds worst criminals. 

God, what a Monday man...

Peter hated Mondays...

"It all makes since now." He said, continuing when Felicia raised an eyebrow in questioning, "The Avenger's kids sat at my table today, tried to socialize with me when none of them have ever tried to do so before. I thought it was weird, but I let it go and chucked it up to teenagers being teenagers. I should've listened to my gut." Peter shook his head, closing his laptop for now and setting it on the coffee table and laying his hands on his lap, rubbing his pinky and ring finger on his left hand with his right hand, a tick of his when he's trying to think through a problem. 

Felicia's hands reached down to take his hands into her own, rubbing soothing circles across the backs of his palms, making sure she had his attention before speaking. 

"You know I'm not gonna force you to do anything you don't want to. So if you don't want to see her for the next decade, I'll make sure that happens. Whatever you want, I'm here for you, promise." She spoke with such conviction in her tone that Peter was forced to believe her, it wasn't necessarily her words as it was her tone, her passion and emotion behind them. 

He knew she loved him, like a mother loves her child and he has never doubted that since the invasion of the city all those years ago when they had gotten briefly separated for ten minutes, both frantically searching for the other. 

But hearing her say those words, fight for whatever he needed, well it was much easier hearing it from her then it was for anyone else on the planet. 

Well, maybe besides one other person...

He smiled up at her, "I wanna meet her, really I do. Just, I don't think they need to know about Spider-Man yet. I don't need them to tell me that I'm a child and I shouldn't be trying to play hero, I don't need that speech form anyone. And, I'd feel better if you were...you know, there with me." He admitted quietly as he looked down at his lap, finally breaking eye contact with Felicia, not seeing the grateful smile that spread across her face. 

She nodded her head, "That can be arranged. I'll make the call tonight yeah? How about for now, we forget about everything that's happened, and just have a nice dinner yeah?" 

Peter nodded, "That sounds great to me."

Three hours later, all the Avengers and Co were sitting around the common area when Natasha's phone suddenly started to ring. 

Clint groaned, "I thought we made it a rule that during family time all phones are supposed to be off Nat." He said which made Natasha glare at him after breaking out of her shock. 

"I made an exception for one number Clint and that's all you need to know at the moment." She said quickly, digging in her pocket to grab her phone and walk out of the room swiftly before answering it while in the hallway, not bothering to answer anyone's questions thrown her way as she walked out. 

Her phone is always on silent, except for this morning when she added her number to Felicia's phone, making sure if the woman needed to call her, she'd always hear so. 

She put the phone up to her head and answered the call, "Yes, this is Natasha." 

"Natasha." Felicia greeted form the other side of the phone, "I was gonna have Peter hack into Stark’s servers to leave you a message but low and behold, I found your number already in my phone." She said and the woman didn't sound angry which made Natasha breath a sigh of relief. 

"I had Stark hack into your phone just to leave my number incase you needed it. And don't worry I babysat him the whole time to make sure that's the only thing he did." She said in a neutral tone of voice and with a smirk across her face. 

Felicia huffed, "I'm sure you did. Listen, I talked with Peter when he got home." As soon as those words left her mouth, a bit of the spy's cool demeanor faded away to something a bit more subdued. 

 "I take it he didn't take it well?" She asked with a sadness to her tone that she hopes the other woman didn't pick up on. 

 "He didn't take it bad if that's what you were wondering. He was shocked for a total of maybe two seconds before he started asking himself why he didn't see it sooner." Felicia said and Natasha could hear the smile in her voice while talking about her son. 

No matter how much she hated it, Felicia knew her son better then her at the moment but, at least she was willing to help her out. 

That's all she could ask for at this point, just a second chance to make up for what she's missed. 

Despite herself though, a smile slid across her face at Felicia's words, "Really? Is he good at figuring stuff out?" She asked, trying not to make it seem like an interrogation to know her son. 

Even though that's kind of what it was. 

Felicia hummed, "He's like Sherlock Holmes, Romanoff. The kid could sniff out anything as long as you gave him a scarp of evidence. That's all he'd need."

The spy huffed, "I'm sure that's fun during the holidays." She said, the words slipping out of her mouth as she internally berated herself for rambling on. 

"You don't know the half of it, but that's not why I called." Felicia said, getting straight down to business, "Like I said, I talked to him and he doesn't feel comfortable moving away from me but he said he'd like to meet you again, if you're up for it?" 

"Really?" She asked, barely containing the joy she felt at those words, "He wants to meet me?" 

"Sure does. But he told me to pass along a message to the other kids. Said it was pretty important they know before he showed up." Felicia said and for some reason Natasha could hear a smirk in her voice. 

She raised an eyebrow in amusement, "Yeah, what's that?" 

"He told me to tell you that, and I quote, "Those kids are as subtle as a herd of Elephants. They really need to learn how to gather information the right way." End quote. He also said he knew something was fishy the moment they walked up to his table." Felicia finished and Natasha couldn't help the amused smirk that slid across her face at the comment. 

Oh she is so gonna make fun of them for this...

 "Well, you can tell him I'll be sure to pass along the message." She said before becoming more serious, "Is there, a specific day he wanted to meet?" 

"He told me he could clear his schedule tomorrow but it wouldn't be until around six. We've gotta do some things around the city and he wanted me to be there with him." She said. 

Natasha though was ecstatic for her part, nodding even though Felicia couldn't see her, "That sounds great, we could have diner tomorrow night a 6:30, if that works for you two." 

"Perfect, we'll be there. Any specific entrance you want us to use?" 

"The south side of the tower there's a door that's usually locked. The buildings AI will be informed you'll be coming that way though and will let you up through the residence elevator." 

"South side, got it. See you tomorrow night Romanoff."

"You too Hardy." And with that, she hung up her phone and leaned back against the wall, clutching her phone in her hands as she tried to sort through her thoughts. 

He really wanted to meet her. 

This was definitely the best Monday she's ever had in a very long time. 

After a couple moments to collect herself, she pocketed her phone and walked back towards the common room where the rest of the team was impatiently waiting her return. 

She rolled her eyes before speaking, "We're having two guests tomorrow for dinner at 6:30. I expect all of you to behave and have everything ready by 6:20." 

"Woah Woah Woah, wait just a fucking moment here. I think I should be informed who said guests are, it is after all my tower." Tony said which made Pepper smack him across the head as she rolled her eyes at her husband's behavior. 

 Natasha smirked, "My son and his guardian."

Peter sat on his bed and thought about the day he had. To making a, maybe new friend in Gwen, to being terribly interrogated by children, teaming up with Deadpool, figuring out the worst criminals are in fact in charge of the government and to top it off, his mother is apparently Natasha Romanoff. 

It’s sure as hell been one jam packed Monday if he's ever seen one, that's for sure. 

He laid on his bed, his arms and legs spread out like a starfish as he thought of what his next moves would be. His eyes slowly wandered over to his evidence board and looked at all the information he's collected which has brought him to his biggest find yet. 

The fulcrum. 

If he wanted to make sure that the information stayed as safe as possible though, he'd need to finish the upgrades to his personal servers and quickly, needed to find a way to complete his AI before it was too late.