Twenty-Three

Peter was standing in the small training room dressed in his suit in front of Agent Hill and Fury. He paused as he looked at them awkwardly. "What do you want me to do?"

"Anything." Fury replied calmly. "Besides a few grainy Youtube videos we have no idea of your abilities and Agent Hill and I would like to see what you can do. Whenever you are ready?"

Peter let out a nervous giggle. He hadn't received formal training and he wasn't used to showing off his skills without an enemy present. "Ok, here I go." Peter tried to show Agent Hill and Fury his moves for fear that they would back out. He showed them how he could climb on walls, launch his sticky Spiderweb, his speed when it came to his reflexes, and the hidden skills that he had added and that he could only control via Karen. His most dangerous one being the Instant Kill, but he admitted to them that he hadn't used it yet because he thought it was too violent.

"Stop," Fury interrupted. "I've seen enough."

"Are you sure?" Peter asked weakly. "I have a couple of more things that I can show you-"

"You're sloppy kid," Fury interrupted. "I don't need to see anymore. You may be adopted, but you are very similar to Stark kid, you two are very showy. You thrive on sarcastic quips and brute strength rather than actual talent."

"I'm nothing like him," Peter replied irritated, offended that Fury had actually compared them both. "Each of us have totally different skills."

"Yes, both of you are arrogant." Fury said dryly as he snapped his finger. "You need training, Parker. You need to stop being so sloppy. One wrong move and you'll end up with your head broken straight down the middle. I thought this might be the case so I brought some backup."

A man wearing a suit and who had thinning hair enter the room and he looked oddly familiar. "Mr. Coulson?" Peter asked shocked. He hadn't seen Phil in years. "What are you doing here? My dad-Mr. Stark told me you died when Loki came around the first time."

Coulson and Fury exchanged looks. "Plans change."

Agent Hill crossed her arms over her chest. "Phil is an expert at training agents especially defensive techniques. Before the whole ordeal went down with SHIELD he was responsible for training the majority of our new agents and he has a 98% success rate."

Phil looked slightly embarrassed. "I don't like to brag, but I'm pretty good and I'm sure that I can do some decent work on you, Mr. Parker. Sharpen your skills a little."

Peter nodded, not sure if he should feel offended. "Ok."

Coulson nodded. "Alright then let's begin."


Steve rubbed his temples in frustration as he told Tony. "You know for someone so smart you really are an idiot sometimes." When it was clear that he was having no luck finding Peter, Tony realized that it was time to bring in the big guns which were his fellow Avengers. So he had round up Steve, Vision, Bruce, Wanda, Natasha, and even Bucky around the living room at HQ and slowly spilled the beans on the whole Peter/Mary/May drama and they apparently weren't taking it well. Apparently, they had all decided to take Peter's side in the matter and were acting as if Tony were the unreasonable one.

Tony took a long hard drink and gave Steve a dirty look. "I think we established that already otherwise I wouldn't need your help."

Wanda threw him a reproachful look as if Tony had boiled puppies in front of her. "Have you talked to May to see if Peter is with her?"

Tony nodded getting annoyed at how the conversation didn't seem to move on from where they had just started. "Yes, I checked with May and he's not there, May says he hasn't contacted her ever since I found them together. Happy already question Ted and NJ, but I'm going to go to their house so that I can question them again just in case Peter got to them first before me."

"Ned and MJ." Bruce replied tiredly as he played with his glasses. "Tony if you are going to question them you might as well get their names right."

"I'm working on it," Tony said with a shrug. "Let's move on, I need all of you to help me look for him. I tried doing it on my own and I've checked every security camera and every bank statement at least 5 times and still nothing. I need you guys to do the searching on foot and see where he could be hiding. Someone must have seen him."

Natasha crossed her arms over her chest. "I am hoping that there is a please thrown in there, but say that we do find him what do we say?"

Tony finished his drink. "You don't have to say anything, I don't care if you have to knock him down unconscious as long as you bring him home then I will talk to him." Wanda rolled her eyes.

"How could you let this happen?" Steve demanded as he walked towards Tony so they could have some sort of private conversation. "I knew you were too hard on him and I knew that Peter was bound to explode sooner or later. Tony, how could you be so selfish to keep Peter away from his own biological family?"

"Well, excuse me Dr. Phil I was just trying to protect him," Tony sneered. "In case you forgotten Peter was a little more than a baby when I gained custody of him. If Mary had wanted Peter to be raised with the Parkers then she would have given custody to May in the first place. For the past twelve years I have taken care of Peter the best way that I can I've send him to the best schools, given him whatever he wants, and stopped him from making the same stupid mistakes that I made as a teenager. I think I've done more than enough."

Bucky stood up and interrupted their conversation. "I have my bike here in HQ, I'll do some searching underground and check the tunnels. He's small so he could hide anywhere."

Tony nodded, surprised by Bucky's generosity and for a second he almost forgot the whole killed-my-parents-fiasco. "Thank you."

Steve seemed to relax when Tony wasn't outwardly rude to Bucky and in his mind he probably thought that they had a chance of friendship. "I'll check Brooklyn and I'll send Wanda and Vision to Queens and Natasha to the Bronx. I'll have Banner check Manhattan again just in case. You should get some sleep, you look exhausted and Pep won't be happy if you are working yourself to death."

"She won't be happy if we find Peter dead under a bridge like a starving kitten either," Tony said bitterly. "I'll be fine, I have to talk to Peter's friends."

Steve raised an eyebrow. "What if they don't know where to find him either?"

Tony didn't say anything because he didn't know what else he would do if that was the case.

-End of Chapter Twenty-Three-

Thank you so much for your reviews! We are a little more than halfway through the story : )