They took him.

They took him and they don't know what's coming.

They took him and they will pay.

"Smile kid, this camera's live, streaming right onto every TV channel in America. Hell, you're even in Time's Square!" He laughs, breath stinking of foul, rotten food.

Peter takes a moment to respond, "What's wrong, daddies-boy? Cat got your tongue?" One of them taunts, leering dangerously.

"He's going to kill you," Peter mutters.

"Speak up, kiddo." The man grunts, forcing a rough hand under his chin to make the boy look up, into the camera.

"He's going to kill you." Peter says, louder this time.

The man cackles, "who? Daddy Stark?" The men behind him laugh cruelly.

"No," Peter shakes his head almost solemnly. "Steve Rodgers is going to kill you."

There's a moment of silence from his captors, the hand holding his chin drops away, but Peter still holds his head high. He continues, staring straight into the camera with eyes no longer big, brown and scared. They're still big and brown, but they are sharp and angry instead.

"Bruce Banner is going to kill you, Thor Odinson is going to kill you, Clint Barton, Bucky Barnes, and Colonel James Rhodes are going to kill you." Each word is careful, measured. "Natasha Romanoff and Loki Laufeyson are going to torture you until you hope Tony Stark will kill you." he takes a break, eyes boring into the camera, "But he will not, Tony Stark will be the one burying you." Peter moves his gaze away from the camera, towards his kidnappers, and he smiles.

"Good luck." That's the last thing that transmits before there's a boom and a stream of bright light falling onto Peter's face. He looks up and laughs.

A shape — no — person spins into frame, ducking at the sudden sound of bullets. There's harsh shouting and the figure uncoils. By the dim light you can see the lean figure of none other than Loki. He grasps Peter's face in a brotherly gesture, speaking intently. The words are lost in between the crackle of gunfire and the boom of repulsors. Loki reaches down, his hand turning blue. He grasps the chains biding his legs, and the crackle of frost shoots up the metal.

Peter breaks free easily, "you know I could have done that without you, right?"

"I was given instructions, and I will carry them out," Loki laughs, turning towards the fight. He shimmers green and a dagger is in his hand, "go, Peter."

"Ay ay captain," Peter says, Loki disappears out of frame and Peter laughs. "Sucker," he whispers, leaping into the fight.

One muffled shout later, the Iron-Man suit is pinning the boy against the wall. "Pepper and Happy are waiting with a few dozen government agents, so walk down there and get your ass in the car," he orders, suit face sliding up.

"Fine," Peter says. Once Iron-Man shoots back into the fight Peter walks forward, slinking into the battle yet again. He lasts longer this time — about 10 seconds, before he is hit by a flying tackle, rolling directly across the line of the camera.

None other than Black Widow is holding him down, her new silver falling around her face. "I swear to god, Petey, I'll walk you down there myself."

"But Ms. Romanoff!" he whines, "I'm not allowed to fight in anything!"

"You won't be able to fight in anything if you don't get into the car in the next 2 minutes."

"But—" before he can finish, Steve's voice echoes over from the impromptu battleground.

"They're down!"

Natasha sighs, "I didn't even get to torture any," she pouts.

"You can next time," Peter tries, rubbing his wrists.

Tony appears, stepping out of his suit, "oh, there will not be a next time."

"Second," Steve says, stepping into frame.

"Third. Did they touch you?" Clint asks, appearing out of nowhere, frantically checking over Peter's body.

Peter pushes him off, laughing, "I'm fine, Mr. Barton! They roughed me up a bit in the van, and gave me a sedative, but it wore off ages ago with my metabolism."

"How do you know it was a sedative?" Tony ask, shouldering past Clint and checking Peter for the injection site.

"My neck," Peter directs, "and 'cos I felt real sleepy."

"As the mortal's say, 'no shit'," Thor contributes, smiling proudly.

Peter cackles, gasping in breath. Tony doesn't crack a smile, but Natasha and Loki smile faintly.

Thor's brow furrows, "I do not understand, what is the source of amusement?"

"Nothing, brother," Loki pats his shoulder. Thor still looks confused, but he drops the topic — for now.

"Killer speech, Pete!" The Black Widow THE BLACK FUCKING WIDOW gives Peter a high five, "have you been practicing?"

"Every morning," Peter smiles sweetly and Tony behind him chokes. "You okay, Mr. Stark?" Peter asks, turning around.

"Oh — yeah, no I'm fine, Underoos. You're the one to be worried about." He shudders, Peter reminds him a bit too much of himself sometimes.

"Nah, spidey-healing, 'member?" Peter grins lopsidedly.

"Don't think that excuses you," Clint says, prodding at a bruise on Peter's temple.

"Ow! Stop it!" Peter bats Clint's hands away, scowling good-naturedly.

"Fury's waiting," Natasha says, "he wants a debrief, and to find out how it happened with your powers."

"Not my fault! Secret identity, right?"

"Peter," Natasha prompts, voice low.

"Fine! I just, I mean...Look, before I could really fight back they were jabbing a needle into my neck, and then I knew you guys would come for me, and you did!"

"You have senses, Peter. They should warn you about these things."

"And you didn't know what was in that needle! It could have been anything!" Tony inputs, leaning on his suit and faux-scrolling through his phone, but his eyes fixated on Peter.

"Even I know that's a bad plan, Spider-child," Loki says severely, standing next to Thor, who is for the most part, silent.

"I'm sorry," Peter mumbles, looking down, ashamed.

"Hey, it's okay, we just don't want you to get hurt." Natasha pulls Peter into her arms, he hugs her back fiercely.

They draw back after a moment, Natasha ruffling his hair affectionately. Evidently a comm crackles in her ear, because she holds a hand up, saying, "coming in now, Director."

The group gathers, picking up stray weapons and checking for injuries. They leave Tony and Peter alone, drifting down to where SHIELD is waiting.

"You know, I'm thinking of assigning a guard to you full-time," Tony says, gaze on his phone. When Peter doesn't answer, "Hey, Pete? You hear me, 'cos.." his voice trails off as he looks up to see Peter fixated on the camera. More specifically, the little red blinking light.

"Um...Is that still recording?" Peter says, pointing at the camera.

"Shit." The last thing that transmits it Tony Stark's face, drained of color and wide-eyed.