Peter couldn't believe his luck. He was only fifteen, he was supposed to be staying out past curfew and going on dates and hanging out with his best friends. He was not supposed to be hyperventilating under the rubble of another destroyed warehouse.

It was supposed to be a simple training exercise.

The Avengers had accepted him as soon as they saw him. Mr. Stark told him that there was something about him that made people want to protect him. He had wrinkled his nose at that statement, but he could understand where the man was coming from. Most people treated him like a puppy.

The Avengers had convinced Mr. Stark to share him every other weekend and so every other weekend he would go up to the Avengers compound with Mr. Stark to train with the rest of the team so that when he was old enough, he could join the Avengers full time. He knew that Mr. Stark didn't like that, but he wanted to join, he wanted to help save the world with the rest of the superheroes. He knew that he was young, but he was more than capable and once he got a little bit older, he would be even more capable, it was just a matter of convincing his mentor of that fact.

The previous weekend he had spent with Mr. Stark in the lab at the tower. They spent the entire weekend working on the different projects that they had in progress. He loved spending time at the tower, working in the lab with his mentor listening to the man's favorite music as they built until Pepper came down and dragged themselves upstairs to eat dinner ignoring their protests that they had had apple slices and other snacks Once Pepper came and got them, they were usually banned from going back down to the lab until the next morning. Instead of staying up the entire night working, they would eat dinner with Pepper and watch movies before going to bed and doing the same thing the next day. He wouldn't trade his days at the tower for anything.

The being said, he couldn't help but bounce in his seat on the trip to the Avenger's compound. He also couldn't help the enormous grin as his mentor told him about the small mission they would be going on again. It was a simple mission to an old Hydra base that had been abandoned many years ago when the Captain had crashed the plane and he had already been debriefed, but his mentor worried so he cheerfully sat through the explanation again.

It was only going to be him, Mr. Stark, the Captain, and the Black Widow going. The debriefing that he sat through said that this was a mission to recover intelligence from the abandoned base. They had gotten a tip that the base still had important documents about the testing and experiments done on the Winter Solider; only he wasn't supposed to call him that anymore. The reason that Mr. Stark asked him to come was so that he could go on a mission and get used to working in a team format. He was so used to being a solo crime fighter and he knew that before he could ever officially join the Avengers he needed to learn how to actually work with a team.

He couldn't help the nervous shaking of his legs as they pulled up to the compound. He knew that nothing bad was going to happen, but for some reason his anxiety was higher than it usually was. He decided to write off the anxiety as pre-mission jitters and shook his head as he got out of the car. He started walking towards the locker rooms to change into his suit, walking slower than he normally would so that Mr. Stark could keep up. He felt his anxiety surge through him again when he looked at himself in the mirror after he was in his suit. This was a normal recovery mission, the team did stuff like this all the time, usually only in groups of two, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

When he walked up to the jet that they were taking to get to the base he only saw his mentor waiting and walked up to the man, confusion written across his face.

"They're already on the plane kiddo, I just wanted to talk to you before we head out. I wanted to give you a few rules, just for this mission, and only because its your first one with the team back together again. I want you to stay by me, okay kid? I'm your mentor, not them, so if anything happens to you, that's on me."

"Of course, Mr. Stark, I'll stay close to you."

"Jesus kid, how many times have I told you to stop calming me that?"

He smirked and let out a laugh as he walked around the man and got on the jet.

The trip to the base took less time than he thought it would. He had only just calmed his nerves when they landed. He looked up at his mentor, the smallest amount of fear shining in his eyes. Mr. Stark grabbed his shoulder and nodded, and he felt the fear melt away. He could do this. He had a team behind him who would be there if he needed help and he knew that he could trust them all with his life. He stood tall, pulled on his mask and swung out of the back of the jet according to plan.

He swung to the top of the tallest tree that was nearest to the base and waited. The jet had landed a distance away from the base, just in case there were any of Hydra's men waiting for them. The plan detailed that he would swing from the jet and get as close to the base as possible as quietly as possible and let the ground team know that it was okay for them to head up on foot. Usually on these missions they would send in Tony, but the repulsors were still loud in their stealth mode whereas he was quick and quiet.

He watched trying to depict any sign of life and after a few minutes of waiting with bated breath he told the ground team that it was all clear. He heard the repulsors fire to life in the distance and watched for signs of his mentors suit. The ground team was going to go in the front while he went through the back with his mentor. They figured that having everyone searching for the documents would get them in and out quicker.

When he saw his mentor fly past, he shot out a web and swung behind him, landing on the ground after he saw the suit touch down and retract around the man. They walked slowly up to the door and after his mentor nodded once, they opened the door.

It was different than he expected. He had only really fought small criminals besides his one fight with an actual supervillain. He had never been on a mission where there wasn't someone to fight. When they opened the door, he had half expected a swarm of enemies to bust out, but that didn't happen. The door creaked open and he was met with eerie quiet and darkness. They walked forward into the dark warehouse, and he took a second for his eyes to adjust. Once they did his eyes widened. There were cracks running through the walls and floors, random papers strewn haphazardly, cobwebs attached to nearly every surface along with a fine layer of dust. With every step they took, the dust at their feet scattered before settling in another spot.

He had grown up in Queens. He was used to seeing things that were broken down, but he had never been the type of kid to explore abandoned buildings. He had never seen a place like this; abandoned, empty, quiet, despondent.

They walked slowly, careful not to disturb too much, searching the rooms that they happened across, not finding anything of use. His nerves had long since faded once he got used to feeling of the building, so when his anxiety turned up a notch, he let himself panic a little. He whipped his head from side to side, trying to find the reason for his anxiety. When he found nothing out of the ordinary, he opened his mouth, about to warn his mentor that something was wrong when they heard the comms crackle.

He could hear bits and pieces of his teammates worried shouts, every other word cutting out. He heard his mentor call out, trying to tell them that something was wrong, and they couldn't hear anything when his anxiety suddenly screamed at him to get down. He rushed forward and tackled his mentor, taking them both to the ground. He heard the man shout in shock before the first bomb went off in the distance, a second one going off only seconds after. He looked up and saw the ceiling falling and barely had time to cover his head before everything went black.

"Pete! C'mon kid answer me! Damn it kid, c'mon!"

He groaned as he felt a heavy weight on his back before he opened his eyes. He tried to turn his head but found that he could only move a few inches before he had to stop. He groaned again as he felt a weight shift on his back and blinked, trying to understand what was going on.

"Mr. Stark?"

"Oh, thank god kid, you really know how to give a man grey hair, you've been out for about 20 minutes."

"Mr. Stark? Wh-what happened? I don't understand. I don't understand why I can't move. Where are we?"

He felt himself beginning to panic and tried to recall what happened before he apparently passed out.

"There was a bomb, the ceiling collapsed, maybe the whole damn warehouse for all I know. What I do know is that you tackled me before the bomb went off and for some reason you decided that the best course of action would be to cover me with your body. You know I think I said something about being careful and letting me take the lead."

He couldn't stop himself, "Actually, Mr. Stark, the only rule you gave me was to stay close, which technically I did do."

"Christ kid, it's like you're trying to give me a full head of grey hair. Who taught you to be this cheeky, huh? My bet is on May."

"Actually Mr. Stark I learned it from you."

He laughed at the expression on his mentors face before wincing as the laughter caused the rubble resting on his back to shift. He knew that he had to stay still, knew what he had to do to get out of it. He had been through this before after all.

That thought made him pause. He had been through this before. He had been through this before and he had almost died. He couldn't do this again. He didn't even know how he had managed to lift the debris off him last time and this time there was somebody else involved too. If he made the wrong move, he could cause the rubble to fall and land on his mentor, his mentor who had retracted the suit. His mentor who was not bitten by a radioactive spider and who under the suit was an easily breakable man, a human. He felt his breaths start coming in short pants, the mask that he hadn't removed making it even harder to get a deep breath in. He couldn't do this again; he couldn't even breathe.

"-eter! Peter, c'mon kid, come back to me. Breathe with me kiddo, everything is going to be okay, we're going to get out of this."

He tried to focus on his mentors breathing and copy the man, but his mind kept going back to the last time he was in this situation. He knew logically that someone would come for them if they weren't back by their designated return time, but he was scared.

"That's it kiddo, nice and easy."

He felt his breathing return to semi-normal levels, every other breath coming out shaky and ragged.

"I-I'm sorry Mr. Stark."

"Hey, hey, there's nothing to apologize for Pete. This sucks. I'm going to be honest with you as long as you promise to try and stay calm, okay?" He nodded before the man continued, "Okay. Our comms are down, I have no idea if Cap or Nat made it out before the explosions hit and I have no idea how much rubble is on top of us, nor do I have a plan. I know that was a whole lot of negative, but there is one positive. We told the rest of the team when we would be back, so if we're not back by then, they'll come searching for us, and they know exactly where we are."

He felt himself calming down. Even though he knew everything his mentor told him, it helped to hear it from someone else, however, he knew that he could get them out. He had done it before and he could do it again, he just had to believe in himself.

"Mr. Stark, I don't think I can wait that long."

"I know kiddo, but we don't really have a choice."

"Actually, we do. It's kind of a funny story that I was totally gonna tell you, I swear!"

"Peter what the hell did you do?"

"Why do you assume I did something?"

"With you kiddo, a funny story always involves something dangerous that I probably don't wanna hear."

"You don't wanna hear it? That's great, cause like, I really didn't wanna tell you about it."

"Oh no, you're not getting out of this one kid."

"What, but Mr. Stark! You just said that you didn't wanna hear it!"

"Spill."

He gulped before he began, "Well do you remember when I fought the Vulture?" his mentor nodded, "Okay, so before he got to your plane and that whole thing happened we kinda sorta had a pre-fight fight at a warehouse, and long story short, he dropped the building on me."

"I'm sorry, he did what?"

"Dropped a building on me?"

"Jesus Christ and you're just telling me now?"

"Yes?"

"Okay, we're gonna talk about the types of things you need to tell me about later kid, but how'd you get out?"

"I kinda sorta lifted it off me?"

"You did what?"

"I lifted the building off of myself."

"Pete do you know how much a building weighs?"

"Like a lot?"

"Like a lot kid, jesus, how strong are you?"

"I dunno, I have the proportional strength of a spider."

"Christ. So, what's your plan here kid?"

"Lift the building off of us?"

"Right. Of course. He's just gonna lift the building off of us."

He snorted at the incredulous tone of his mentor before thinking back to the fight with Toomes. He believed in himself. It was the first time in a while that he had to do something without the help of an adult figure, and right now was the same. He may have had his mentor right under him, but his mentor didn't have the strength or angle to help. It was up to him.

He shifted his position, despite the pain and angled his shoulders so it was under what felt like a large piece of rubble and shoved. Nothing happened and he let his shoulders drop with a huff. He took in a deep breath and pushed up again and this time the rubble shifted up slightly and he was filled with determination. He kept pushing up until he was able to bring his legs up underneath him, one leg on either side of his mentor in a crouched position. He quickly pushed up and dropped himself lower than the rubble, shooting his hands out to catch the piece of ceiling.

He saw his mentor re-engage his suit and almost sighed in relief at the thought that even if he did drop the rubble, he wouldn't kill the man. He kept pushing up until he was standing and threw the piece of rubble to the side before he collapsed onto his knees.

"Holy shit!"

He whipped his head around and saw the Captain staring at him in shock.

"Language!"

His mentor was standing in the place where rubble used to be with a smirk on his face and he let out a laugh.

"How strong are you Queens?"

"Apparently stronger than you."

He heard his mentor let out a laugh and the rest of the tension faded.