BIG BROTHERS

"Who are you?" May Parker asked in surprise. She'd come all the way from Queens to finally meet the girl who usually babysat little Mayday. But instead of a girl answering the door to Peter and MJ's apartment, there was a boy. And in the background, she could see another boy.

The boy at the door was part-Asian and was quite lean and strong-looking. Broad shoulders suggested he would grow into a powerful build. And the boy in the background was...

Well, he looked just like the young fellow who'd played Harry Potter in those movies. Except that boy had long-since grown up, while this one still looked like Daniel Radcliffe as a teenager.

Both boys were dressed in ragged jeans, loud t-shirts, scuffed sneakers, and jackets. To May's eyes, they both seemed to have a rough-edged appearance. But then again, so many youngsters today - particularly boys - seemed to favor that sort of look.

The young fellow at the door seemed to consider May for a moment. Then he leaned slightly forward, tilting his head to the side as he did.

May blinked in surprise. "Young man, did you just sniff me?"

The boy at the door hesitated. Then he silently nodded his head.

"My name is Raze," said the boy in the back - the one who looked like Daniel Radcliffe. "The guy you're talking to is Daken. Don't mind that he sniffed you. He does that."

Daken shot a hard look over his shoulder at Raze. Meanwhile, May took a moment to marvel at the names people gave their children in the modern-day.

"Our sister is babysitting," Daken explained. "We came to town with her. We're supposed to be somewhere else, but we kinda got stuck here."

With vast determination, May stepped into the apartment. Daken hastily got out of her way.

"Where is the babysitter... I think her name is Laura? And where's Mayday?" she demanded.

Technically, Peter and MJ's little girl was named May - a source of no little happiness to the older May Parker - but somehow the nickname 'Mayday' got applied early on, and then stuck. If nothing else, it was a handy way of avoiding the 'which May are we talking about?' problem.

"Laura took her to the park," Daken said quickly.

Raze nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Whenever Mayday gets fussy, that calms her down."

That seemed sensible, but May's little-old-lady-sense was tingling. Something was wrong. The two boys were acting reasonable enough, but there was an edge to both of them. Something was wrong.

"Help..." someone called weakly from the kitchen.

Daken and Raze winced and looked at each other. May shot them a 'stay right where you are!'-look and walked into the kitchen.

There were three bruised and battered boys laying in a heap on the kitchen floor. They were tied up, but one had managed to work a gag out of his mouth.

"Help," the boy who could speak repeated pathetically. "Oh, please, lady. Help."

They were all sitting at the kitchen table. The three boys were untied but, of course, looked rather ragged. Daken and Raze were firmly sitting between the boys and May.

Everyone had milk and cookies in front of them.

Daken was mechanically eating his cookies, crunching them down one at a time while his eyes never moved from the other boys. His milk was untouched.

Raze was drinking his milk. Unlike his brother, he actually looked embarrassed.

The three other boys were a motley group. There were two younger ones and an older one. The older boy was about Daken's age and he was fuming angrily. The two younger boys were closer to Raze's age and they were obviously scared. All three were taking the 'street-hooligan' look even further than Daken and Raze, although the cuts and bruises they were sporting helped that along.

"Now tell me what happened," May said mildly as she snapped the cap of the milk jug closed and put it on the table next to her.

"They broke into the apartment right below this one," Daken said.

"We stopped them," Raze added as he dunked a cookie into his milk.

Daken took up the story again. "Mr. Carry - he's the old guy who rents downstairs- started yelling when these... buttholes... walked into his place. We heard the racket and decided to check it out."

"Is Mr. Carry all right?" May asked.

Raze nodded his head. "They didn't hurt him."

"He wasn't supposed to be there," the youngest of the beat-up looking boys said disgustedly. He was glaring at the oldest boy. The older boy glared back.

"What were you after?" May asked.

"We heard that the old guy has a coin collection," the youngest boy said mournfully. "We figured we could sell it at a pawn shop."

"The old guy was really scared when we walked into his place," the middle boy said quietly. He seemed bothered by that. He'd just discovered that crime was something you did to real people.

"Hey! You two shut the hell up!" snarled the oldest boy.

There was a blur of motion that ended with a meaty thud. The oldest boy's eyes crossed and then he fell out of his chair. The chair overbalanced, toppled, and went skittering across the kitchen floor. Everyone who'd been sitting nearby hastily moved to save their milk and cookies.

Daken was rubbing his knuckles. "Language," he growled to the prone boy.

"Daken," May said firmly. "That wasn't necessary. I've heard cuss-words before."

"Yes, ma'am," Daken said quietly. "Sorry, ma'am."

May thought Daken didn't look particularly sorry but decided to let it go.

"Have you called the police?" May asked.

"We were going to," Raze said disgustedly, "but Mr. Carry was really upset so we hauled these guys out of his place. We really couldn't think of anywhere else to take them but here. We were about to call the cops when you knocked on the door."

"It's been a busy day," Daken added with more than a trace of exasperation in his voice. "One thing right after another."

"Y'know, maybe we should just kick them out of the building," Raze suggested thoughtfully.

"That's not a bad idea," Daken admitted. "Because when Laura gets back, she's going to flip. This gig is important to her. Who knows what'll happen if she shows up before the cops do."

Raze gave the three would-be thieves a bleak look. "Man, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes when Laura gets here."

"But what if they go after Mr. Carry again?" Daken objected.

"Wow, is that not going to happen," the middle-youngest boy said as he held a milk-glass up against his black-eye. He sounded very tired and rather disgusted.

Daken and Raze went silent as they looked unblinkingly at their prisoners. May had the distinct impression that they were seeing something that other people couldn't make out.

"Okay. Get out," Daken finally told the younger boys.

The two youngest would-be thieves were gone - they took off at a dead run after being told they could go.

Daken and Raze dragged the still-dazed oldest boy to the elevator lobby and dropped him on the floor. May was with them, hovering in the background.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure those other two are gone for good," Raze told Daken, "but what about this idiot? He thinks he's a master-criminal or something."

The older boy stirred, and then sat up. He shot a venomous look at Daken and Raze.

Daken punched the elevator button. "We could take him into the alley behind the building and beat him up some more. Maybe that'll get the point across?"

Actually, Daken didn't sound too enthused about his own suggestion.

"Not scared of you..." the older boy slurred. He was still glaring at everyone else.

"And on top of everything else, he's stupid," Raze said in disgust.

"No more beatings," May told Daken and Raze firmly. "Something could go wrong and you might seriously hurt him. Then you'll be the ones in trouble."

"Yes, ma'am," Daken and Raze said simultaneously. May had the impression they were relieved that she'd intervened. And neither boy thought to ask May how she knew what she was talking about.

"Still... we need to show him that we're serious," Raze said helplessly. He was looking pretty unsure of himself.

Daken nodded. Then he lifted a hand and formed it into a fist. With a clicking sound, a bone-like claw came out from between his first two knuckles.

With a surprised blink, May suddenly realized who Daken's father was. Now that she knew what to look for, she could see it around Daken's eyes, and in the set of his jaw.

Daken grabbed the older boy by his collar and hauled him to his feet. The boy took a weak swing at Daken that Daken didn't even bother to dodge. The blow just bounced off his shoulder. The elevator dinged open and Daken dragged the older boy inside. Raze held the elevator door open.

"Don't..." May began to say.

Then the older boy shrieked as Daken cut a notch into his ear.

Daken let go of the boy, retracted his claw, pushed the button for the bottom floor, and stepped out of the elevator. The other boy was screaming and holding his ear as blood gushed down the side of his face and neck.

"...don't hurt him," May finished belatedly.

"Tell all your jerk-wad friends that they better stay out of this building," Raze said just before the elevator door slid shut.

May had a hand over her eyes. These boys were definitely their father's sons.

"I knew what I was doing," Daken told May defensively. "Ear cuts bleed a lot, but don't kill anyone."

Raze nodded in agreement. "And if he goes straight to the emergency ward, they can sew it up."

They were back in the Parker apartment. Daken had just finished washing his hands in the sink - May had insisted. May was making sandwiches. She was also lecturing as she worked, emphasizing things like minimal use of force, the importance of not making rash decisions, and that cutting other people's body-parts was an objectively wrong thing to do.

Daken and Raze spent a lot of time saying "yes, ma'am" as they waited for their food.

The apartment's door opened. It was Laura and a peacefully sleeping Mayday. Mayday was tucked against Laura, but the little girl had the odd habit of wrapping her arms and legs around others. People didn't so much hold Mayday as she held them.

Still, Laura had both of her arms and a blanket around Mayday. May smiled to herself as she saw that Laura was wearing a colorful dress, tasteful jewelry, and a pair of fashionable-looking sandals. The outfit had a definitely African air and was actually quite lovely. Laura obviously made it a point to dress up when she worked for Peter and MJ.

May looked closely at Laura's face. Her father wasn't as visible in her as he was in Daken. Still, the hair and cheekbones were right. On the other hand, Laura's electric green eyes were as piercing as MJs. Laura was pretty now, but she was going to be beautiful when she grew into womanhood. May found herself wondering if perhaps MJ could find Laura a job in the movie industry.

"What happened!" Laura whispered urgently - trying to find a balance between yelling at her brothers and not waking up her charge. "I can smell fighting and blood!"

May handed the boys their sandwiches. Then she began making one for Laura.

"There was a break-in downstairs," May explained to Laura. "Your brothers stopped it."

"Is that why there's a blood trail from the elevator to the front door of the building?!" Laura continued.

"Pretty much," Daken said. Munching on his sandwich, he used his other hand to reach over and gently rub Mayday's forehead through her cap. Still asleep, the little girl reached up and snagged Daken's finger. Daken grinned and gave a gentle pull. Mayday held on with surprising strength.

"Feeling better now?" Raze asked Mayday as he gave the little girl's foot a tug.

May noted that the two boys weren't embarrassed to show that they were comfortable around babies. That made her wonder if Laura wasn't the youngest in her family.

May handed Laura her sandwich and then carefully took Mayday from Laura and Daken. Mayday, who was very active for a sleeping baby, wriggled closer to May's body heat.

"You must be Aunt May," Laura said as she waved her sandwich helplessly. "I'm sorry. I..."

"Oh, don't worry, dear," May said to Laura as she gazed down at Mayday. "There's nothing to be sorry about. Your brothers took care of everything and meeting them was... interesting."

"We're just that cool," Raze said to Laura through a mouthful of sandwich. Daken grinned. Laura glared at them dangerously.

"Shouldn't you two be at the concert?" Laura asked tensely.

Daken glanced at a clock on the kitchen counter. "Oh... yeah. It's started already, Raze. We better get going."

Raze swallowed the last of his sandwich and hastily got to his feet. Then his form shifted until he looked like a young Daniel Craig.

May wasn't exactly surprised to see that, but she wasn't exactly prepared for it either.

"Thanks, Mrs. Parker," the boys said more-or-less together.

Then Daken and Raze headed for the door. Laura looked at May, said "Excuse me, Mrs. Parker, I'll be right back," and followed them out.

May found a comfortable chair, sat down, and began gently rocking Mayday.

Outside, May could hear Laura berating her brothers. Something about "one day in New York and you two jackasses get into a fight!?" and, "don't even think about bringing any girls back here!" and, "Mom said no drinking!"

May shook her head and smiled.

"Guess what, Mayday?" she asked the dozing bundle in her arms. "It looks like your daddy isn't the only dangerous man who finally found himself a good woman and settled down."

Mayday smiled in her sleep.

Then a thoughtful look appeared in May's eyes.

"Did you know that Anna Watson and I got your mommy and daddy together?" May continued. "We set them up for a blind date and things just developed from there. Peter was a little wild until then. That helped calm him down."

Then May slowly nodded her head. "Perhaps Daken and Raze need to have some young ladies in their lives."

As May wove her plans, Mayday started snoring.