Chapter 1

Hide and Seek

"Hey kid, you in here?" Tony called out into the large rectangular room, Clint and Steve behind him.

"Where else could he be? We've searched every crevice of this place, this is the only room left." Clint said from behind Tony.

The three men looked into the the room; it was roughly the size of a football field, and had tall walls, with rows of lights evenly spaced out, from the floor to ceiling of the room. The top few rooms were out, leaving the top of the room black.

"Friday, turn the ceiling lights on, it's black as all hell up there." Tony called out.

"I apologise sir, I am unable to turn the lights on." The AI's female vocie called back through the speakers.

"Unable to or won't?" Tony asked.

"I apologise sir, I was asked to keep them off."

"I am not able to say."

"Not able to or asked not to?"

Friday did not respond, which answered Tony's question; dammit.

"Why the hell is my computer listening to a teenager over me? Good god, this is not what was meant to happen." Tony huffed to himself as he walked into the room, the others following behind him. The four of them stood in the centre of the room, looking up at the ceiling. Four? Ah, Clint noticed, Bucky had joined them.

"What are you three doing? You've been walking around all day, looking inside vents and cupboards. Lost something."

"Fumigating."

"Tony!" Came from Steve and Clint.

"Insect problem, you see." Tony continued, and Bucky nodded.

"Ah."

"Arachnid." Came from Friday.

"Huh?" Tony looked to the ceiling,as if Friday was there. She was; kinda.

"I was asked to correct you sir, the correct term is arachnid."

"Friday, why do I feel like you like the kid more than me?" Tony asked, exasperated by the situation.

"Mister Parker is lovely to chat to, and does not make fun of my selection of music. Nor does he insult me when frustrated." Friday explained.

"Stupid computers." Tony muttered.

"That's exactly what I'm talking about." Friday quipped. Bucky and Clint laughed, and Steve looked at Tony.

"So you replaced Jarvis with a new comput- AI, that is even sassier?" Steve asked, an eyebrow raised. He was trying not to smirk, though he didn't know how well he was doing.

"Kid come down! Bloody shit kid, Clint you climb up and get him!" Tony looked at Clint while gesturing to the dark ceiling with an open hand.

"Me?!"

"Sir, I have been asked to pass on another message."

"Go ahead Friday." Tony said, sighing.

"Language."

"Is that the entire message?"

'Yes sir."

Tony sighed again, louder, and Steve shook his head.

"Why don't we throw something up there?" Clint asked.

"Why?" Came three voices.

"If he is up there, it might knock him down, or he'll catch it and throw it back, and confirm he's there." Clint explained as if it was so simple. "Only question is what do we throw, and who throws it."

"What do you mean who? We've got a bloody super solider." Tony said.

"We've got two super soliders, and one of them has a metal arm." Clint said, looking at Tony. Tony was quiet for a second before groaning.

"Find something to throw, and one of you bloody throw it then!" Clint left, and came back with Steve's shield. Tony laughed, a little too hard, and Steve and Bucky shook their heads.

"Last chance kid, come down!"

"Another message sir."

"Go ahead Friday." Came Tony and Steve.

" And get crushed by an extra large apple pie? I'm good."

"What?" Came from Bucky, Tony and Steve.

"What's more american than an apple pie?" Clint said with a smirk, looking at Steve. Steve nodded. Ah.

"So, why are you looking at the ceiling? Is he up there?" Bucky asked.

"Yes." Said Tony.

"Maybe." Said Steve.

Bucky shook his head, and glared at Clint as he held the shield out to him. He moved to the front of the group and glanced around the ceiling.

"Where exactly am I throwing it?" He asked, and Tony and Clint deflated. Oh, yeah. Bucky passed the shield to Steve, who steadied himelf before throwing it in a wide circle, shooting in two darkened corners before flying back to his hands. He steadied himself again, and repeatedthe movement with the other two corners. They waited, and waited, and realised the shield wasn't returning to them. Steve and Tony stood with their hands on their hips, Clint had crossed his arms over his chest and Bucky ran his hands through his hair, a wide grin on his face.

"So, he caught it again, did he?" Bucky asked, looking over at Tony and Steve. "It would have been going fast, is the kid strong enough to grab it? The force of catching it should've knocked him down."

"Correct Agent Barnes; Peter's enhanced DNA allows him considerable strength. This is why he was able to survive the building which collapsed over him. This would have easily killed a non enhanced individuals."Friday explained.

"What?!" The three men who weren't tony shouted, Steve the loudest. The super soldier rubbed his face with his hands, and looked at Tony in disbelief.

"A building collapsed on him?!" Steve asked, not sure he had heard correctly.

"Um well, I suppose technically, yes it did." Tony was not looking at Steve.

"You let a building collapse on a teenager?" Steve asked, staring at Tony still, he shook his head and looked up at the corners where the shield had disappeared into the darkness.

"Friday, lights!" Tony shouted again. This time Friday responded by flicking the lights of the ceiling on, filling the darkness with a bright white light. In one of the corners was the shield, held by a coating of the web that held it to the wall, next to a vent grate.

Tony glanced over at Clint without turning his head.

"Clint. Why didn't you mention the vents in this room?" He asked.

"I'm not allowed in the vents here! Friday doesn't let me, says you have scurity things in place because it's a training room!" Clint defended himself.

"Security? What security Friday?" Tony asked, with no response from the AI. "Huh." The men left the room, bickering on the way to the main living floor of the tower. They entered the large living area, and found Natasha sprawled out on a couch reading a book. She didn't look at the men; she simply grabbed a book from the coffee table next to her and threw it at them. Steve was the one who caught it.

"Six Verse Eight: A Guide to Insects and Arachnids." He read outloud; Bucky barked out a laugh and patted Steve on the back. Natasha looked up at the laugh, an eyebrow raised.

"What's so funny Barnes?" She asked, book still open in her lap, ready to continue reading.

"Spider kid is frightened of our extra large apple pie here." Bucky said, clapping Steve on the back ahrder, and jumping away as Steve moved to strike his arm.

"Apple pie?" She asked.

"Yeah, what's more american?" Clint said, smirking at Steve, also jumping away from him. Steve shook his head and sat in an armchair across from Natasha, who had returned to her book.

"Little spider has gotten into Clint's bad habits; he dropped out of a vent ten minutes ago before leaving to see his friend." She said, not looking up, and was startled by the shouts of "Ten minutes ago?!" from the Tony, Steve and Clint. Bucky just laughed again.

"Maybe eleven, I wasn't paying that much attention to the little spider." She said, looking up at them again. "Why, are you looking for him? Is he in trouble?"

Clint leaned on the back of the couch Natasha was on, arms retsing on the back of the plush piece of furntiure.

"Aww, worried about your fellow spider Nat?" Clint teased, dodging the book she threw at him.

"No. I am curious as to why you want to know where he is. I was only made aware he was here when he fell out of the ceiling."

"He's playing hide and fucking seek with us." Tony said, as he poured himself a glass of water from a jug in the fridge, and rested his arms against the kitchen island.

"Spiders have a natural tendency to hide when threatened or injured." Friday said over the speakers.

"I have no idea if that's true or not." Tony groaned, taking a sip of his water.

"So you are not playing hide and seek then?" Natasha asked, her lips forming into a small grin.

"No! He's hiding from our bloody mascot over here." Tony waved a hand at Steve, who shot him a nasty glare, though his heart wasn't in it.

"I see… why is that?"

"You know, we're not very sure. I'm curious as to how he was getting Friday to pass messags to us if he wasn't in the room."

"Mister Parker was communicating with me via his phone. I may have some insight as to why he is avoiding Captain Rogers." Friday said.

"Please tell." Tony said with a roll of his eyes.

"Mister Parker is of the age where most have personal icons, or 'heroes' as many call them. He is likely concerned due to being present in the fight a the airport."

"What age is that exactly Friday?" Steve asked; Tony had been avoiding giving them an exact number. Tony spluttered on his water, and was unable to stop Friday.

"Mister Parker turned sixteen two weeks ago, on a Thursday." Friday answered.

"He's sixteen?" Everyone shouted.

"Why are you surprised? You knew!" Steve shouted. He couldn't believe just how young the kid was.

"He didn't tell me about his birthday!"Tony said back, obviously a little upset.

"He… was fifteen in Berlin?" Bucky asked.

"I…well, yes." Tony couldn't really deny it now.

"Wait, how did he get super soldier serum?" Bucky asked, becoming more confused.

"He didn'-"

"Well he certainly did, if he was able to hit hard enough to leave bruises on us." Bucky motioned to himself and Steve. Tony looked from Bucky to Steve, eyes wide. Steve nodded.

"He… it wasn't serum exactly. Hell I don't know what it was, besides how it happened. He got bit by some…spider, that was radioactive in some capacity. Screwed his DNA royally, but somehow he didn't die from that."

"Have you ever tested his strength?" Natasha asked, sitting up properly on the couch now. Tony looked over at her with an odd expression; almost anger.

"No." Tony spat, without meaning to. She didn't say anything, just kept her eyes on him as he finished his glass of water, keeping his eyes on the counter top.

"He… he likes me, enough, but there's a wall there, definitely. What if I ask him to do tests? He'll worry, he always does. He'll think I'm only keeping him here for tests, because of his powers; yes, I only found him because he's spiderman but, shit if the kid isn't a fuckin' genius." Tony looked up and rubbed his face with his hands. He hadn't really wanted to voice his worries, not about the kid.

"You want to though." Bucky said, sitting in the chair next to Steve.

"Good god do I!" Tony exploded, his hands slamming against the kitchen countertop. "He's stupidly strong, has a healing factor that rivals the two of you – when he actually eats – and he can stick to stuff! Oh and his spider senses!"

"Spider senses?" Bucky asked.

"It's what Clint was talking about with the shield. That kid could be across a field, and if you threw it at him completely unaware, with no warning, he would be able to to grab it out of midair and throw it back to you without even turning around." Tony was smiling now; almost grinning.

"He seemed shocked we were here." Steve said.

"His aunt is away, and he's on holidays from school, so I said sure to him staying here, completely forgetting you guys had completed the mission early and were due to arrive. I had no time to tell him you guys were here; and when I realised, I figured he'd just be excited to meet the Avengers, properly anyway."

"Instead, he's terrified Steve is gonna squish him like an insect, and his now hiding from us?" Bucky asked.

"Arachnid." Natasha said, confused by the nasty looks she got from the others at her word.

"He's probably worried about you as well." Clint said to Bucky, who looked confused.

"You're Steve's friend, you're also a super soldier, and you have a metal arm that he grabbed mid-fight." Clint explained. "He's probbaly worried you're both gonna pummel him."

"He's already got someone doing that, you two aren't allowed." Tony said. Steve and Bucky went to defend themselves, but stopped.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked.

"Some little shit at his school is using him as a bloody punching bag. I've tried mentioning it, it's hard not to when he's bruised to shit after a day of school."

"He brought down someone who was trying to steal Stark weapons, from a secret plane, while it was flying; and he lets himself get beat?" Clint asked, staring at Tony, who raised his hands in front of himself.

"Teenagers, dude." Tony said, Clint nodded and the group fell into silence.