#nokink

"Hope?" he father called from the living room. "I thought I heard you. Did you bring...oh you did." Hank came walking out into the foyer and made a face at Scott, who smiled and waved. "Hey Hank. It's nice to see you again. OH! Ummm...thanks for the new suit. It fits perfectly." "Of course it does. We've been working together for almost two years. I think I should know your measurements by now. Now, where is Sean? His family is waiting to see him." Hope shook her head, looking sadly at the floor. "We...we lost him. He was killed by one of the doctors that was holding his family captive. I'm sorry..." Doctor Pym was speechless. "How?" he finally asked after a long silence. "There was another man in the room. He took us by surprise when we thought he was unconscious, but he still had enough life in him to manage to pull a knife on Sean and....stabbed him in the back." Hope took a deep breath. She usually wasn't this upset when they lost someone. But, this man had known her father, was her father's friend. She would have liked to get to know him. "In the end, Sean destroyed his files, all his research." took the small tablet out of her back pocket, using a blue disc on it. "We were able to save the tablet Doctor McCleary was holding, but that's all." She handed the bloody tablet to her father, seeing the face he made when he took it. "Thank you," he managed to say around the sudden lump in his throat. His one time partner was gone. He shouldn't be feeling this way, he hadn't spoken to the man in nearly thirty years. But, it still hurt. "Any luck getting in touch with Doctor Banner?" Hope asked. Hank shook his head. "I started to..but I've been thinking, and I don't think I want anything to do with the Avengers if Stark is anywhere near them." "What?!" Scott exclaimed. "So, you'll just leave a kid who used to be normal, the size of a mouse for the rest of his life, without helping? Not even sending Doctor Banner any information on the serum that could have been used?" Hank gave Lang an angry glare. "You have no clue what Stark is like! He's a user. He uses everyone and everything for his own gain!" Scott shook his head. "No. I don't agree with you. I met him, fought with him...he uses his technology to help people, not take them down! You're thinking of his father!" The white haired man glared at Scott, but didn't say anything. Nothing would change his mind on the Stark family. "I want you to bring the boy here, then. If we have him, we can at least tell if the serum is reversible." Hope and Scott looked at him with shocked faces. "Do you know how impossible that would be? Tony has an AI that monitors the entire building, and I'm pretty sure he has things in place for anything ant sized." "Well, I am not stepping foot in a Stark building, even if that means leaving a child the way he is now!" Hank was stubborn, but the thing was, so was Hope. "Well, I'll go into the building then, and have you on Video where you can see the kid, talk with him, ask him questions. Sound good?" "Not really. I don't want you anywhere near the Avengers." "This isn't going to solve anything. Just suck up your pride, Hank and go to see this kid! Or, at least contact Doctor Banner!" Scott had had enough of this. The two glared at one another until Pym sighed. "Fine. I'll go into Stark's tower. But, he's not getting any files or information from me." With that, the man turned. "Where are you going?" Scott yelled. He wasn't finished. "To tell Sean's family the news," was all Hank needed to say. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The news was playing on the screen in front of the nurses station. May wasn't really paying much attention to what was being broadcast as she did her filing, until something caught her eye. Turning to the television, she saw it was the Avengers taking fire from some super villain that could fly, the footage from almost a week ago. But, that wasn't what she was looking at. One of the camera men turned his attention to the Hulk, who had Tony Stark's daughter in his arms, but there was something on his shoulder. The camera zoomed in a little more and May thought her heart was going to stop. There, sitting the green giants shoulder, was Peter! The woman let out a small scream as she watched the monster grab him in his hand and close the fist. "May?" One of the woman's coworkers came over, worry on her brow. "What's wrong?" "Peter," she whispered. "Peter's alive!" She pointed to the battle on the screen. The woman was unable to wrap her head around it all. Her nephew was alive and was the size of a doll with Tony Stark. The Hulk was shown again, but this time his legs were caught in a metallic rope and he was sent flying to the ground, letting go of the Stark girl, but the camera couldn't pick up Peter. Until the little girl was about to fall to her doom. Her sleeve was being pulled by something, and the cameraman focused in on Peter as he grabbed her sleeve and managed to actually pull the girl to safety. May smiled, tears in her eyes. Just like her nephew to think of others! Suddenly, he was gone, a piece of asphalt landing where he was. She let out a scream and collapsed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "First things first." Steve was setting up to start training Peter. It was a little odd not to be using the equipment, but hey, work with what you've got. "We run some tests. First test: strength. Sam told us what you did on that bridge with Morgan, and let me tell you, that was no small feat. So, I want to see how much you can lift." He set up the smallest weights they had, which weren't light, but not too heavy either. "Start with the smallest, lightest one. Then move up until you can't lift anymore. Sound good?" Peter nodded with a smile as he jumped off Mr. Stark's palm, taking off the wrist straps and running up to the weights that were so much larger than him. But, he couldn't be put down by that, because this was his moment to show the Avengers what he could do! Rubbing his hands together, Peter grabbed the weight. Everyone watched with bated breath as the boy lifted the weight with ease above his head. That was ten pounds, no light weight. "Now what?" he asked, not about to just let the weight drop. "Just put it down and go to the next," Steve said patiently. Peter nodded and gently set the dumbbell down, moving on to the next one, which was fifteen pounds. Again, he easily lifted the weight above his head for about thirty seconds before setting it down again. Again and again he lifted the weights, but started struggling when he hit the fifty pound mark. At sixty pounds, he was literally shaking in his effort to lift it. At seventy pounds, he grunted as he tried to lift it, but could barely get it over his head before he dropped the weight, breathing hard, his face red. There were six more weights, so he moved to the next one, which was seventy-five. He struggled a lot with this one, this time barely getting it off the ground before he collapsed to his knees, panting. Peter felt the ground rumbling so bad he actually fell over, only to be met with several adults, all of them looking down at him from their towering, skyscraper heights. It was scary, but the boy couldn't move at the moment. Tony knelt down first. "You okay, Spiderling?" When the boy nodded, he smirked. "Well that was one helluva show, Thumbelina. Feel like you could do a little more?" Peter nodded. "Yeah...let me just catch my breath?" He let out a gasp as he was grabbed around his middle by two large fingers and lifted from the ground. A water bottle cap was thrust into his hands filled with sweet, blissful water by a smirking billionaire. The teen couldn't thank Mr. Stark before he started chugging the liquid down, not stopping until it was empty. "That's much better, thanks." He sighed. "So what's next?" "We want to see how well you're able to stick to things," Bruce came forward, excitement in his voice. "We've seen you in action on certain objects, but we want to test in what climate you would stick. Like, can you stick to wet surfaces, frozen surfaces, things like that. Can you handle it?" Peter nodded, but then paused. "I think the chemical should be done by now, too," he said thoughtfully. "But, I have nothing to put it in and I really wanted to test it out. I mean, I have something to put it in, but no container since I didn't have time to measure it yesterday while I was building the shooter." Tony smirked and held out his hand to Banner, dropping the teen into the doctor's palm. "Yeah, I already thought of that. While you two were playing mad scientist, I made something for the kid. Be right back." Peter gave Doctor Banner a confused look, to which the man just shrugged. "I can never tell what Tony's thinking," he replied. While they waited for Tony to come back, Bruce let Peter off his palm to stick to the nearest wall. The entire group watched in fascination as they small boy climbed all the way to the top of the ceiling. Wanda followed when he got too high as a safety precaution, ready to catch the boy if he fell. But, Peter had all his concentration on his hands and feet, making sure they stuck to the surface of the smooth wall. When he turned to look down, he was met with the smiling face of Wanda, who waved to him. "How long do they want me to stay up here?" he asked, and the girl repeated down to the others. "You can come down any time you want, son. You didn't even have to climb that high," Steve laughed, imagining Peter's blush. "Well that's something you should have told me," Peter grumbled. He wanted to test his own abilities too, and someone was there to catch him just in case. So, he turned around and slowly let his hands off the wall and straightened out so he could just walk down the wall like it was nothing. A few times he had to catch himself because of the weird angle, but he was sure it was a pretty cool sight. And it helped him understand that he could stick to more than just metal this way. "Reminds me of when we first rescued him," Natasha laughed. "Freaked Tony out so bad to see him just walk down his suit." Peter grinned at the memory as he stepped onto the floor. "I wasn't sure I could do it, because I had never used my new abilities before Mr. Stark came into the lab. I had been hiding under the table they put my cage on, sticking to one of the table legs after they..." Peter stopped himself, unable to think about what the soldiers did back then. It seemed like so long ago, but it had only been two weeks since then. "It's okay," Bucky said, kneeling down. "I understand more than anyone how messed up Hydra can be. But, if you ever want to talk about it, just let me know and I'll be there to listen." Peter smiled up gratefully at the man and nodded. "Thank you," was all he said, and that was all that needed saying. "What did I miss?" Mr. Stark asked as he walked back into the room holding a brown bottle and something in his fisted hand. "Well, Peter just climbed up to the ceiling and literally walked back down," Sam said. "Freakiest thing I've ever seen, and I fought Ant-Man." "Friday, turn the sprinklers on the wall please," Steve asked and suddenly Peter was almost swept away by the river streaming down the wall and onto the floor. "Woah!" he cried, falling on his butt and just going with the current, that is until Rhodey reached down and plucked him from the water like a drowning bird. "Easy there, Spider-Head," the man laughed, though it felt weird to have a something so small actually literally sticking to him. "A little warning next time, Cap?" he asked the wincing blonde. "Th-thanks Mr. Rhodes." "Hey, you don't have to call me that, kid. Just call me Rhodey, okay? That's what everyone calls me anyway, except when I'm at work, then they call me Mr. Rhodes, or General." Peter's face was priceless when he told him that, his eyes wide and his mouth shaped like the perfect 'O'. "You're a general? That's amazing!" He hadn't ever met a general before, and he had a million and one questions, but they were interrupted by Mr. Stark literally grabbing Peter from the man's hand. "Okay, time to see if you stick." Tony said with a smirk, the teenager squirming in between his pointer and thumb. He pressed the boy to the wall and waited a minute before slowly bringing his hand away, but keeping one palm up under him just in case. And Peter was glad for the hand, because the minute Mr. Stark let go, he slipped at least a foot-to him-down the wall before he was able to feel his fingertips grip. "Phew, that was close," he laughed, looking back to see the giant adults watching him with worried faces. "I'm okay, just took a minute. I'm gonna start climbing now." And Peter did just what he said he was going to do. But, he didn't get very far before he lost his concentration, thinking about how well this was going, and he fell. Tony was glad he'd had his hand out, because the kid fell right into the center of his palm, face pale and eyes squeezed shut. "You okay, Pete?" Peter opened one eye, then let out an explosive breath and nodded. "Yeah, yeah....I'm good...just lost my concentration for a second." "What do you mean?" Bruce asked, coming over to inspect Peter for any injuries. "Concentration?" Peter nodded. "Yeah. It's like, when I focus on sticking to things, I do it, even if it's in the back of my mind, as long as I'm thinking about it, I can do it. I don't really know how it works, but it does. I think anyway. I wasn't really able to use my abilities back in the lab, spending almost all my time in that cage, at least until Sean came in. He let me out and set up a little obstacle course for me to use for exercise." The team all had the same look of pity on their faces, to which Peter freaked out at. "It-it's no big deal!" he cried, eyes wide. "I'm not in there anymore, so that part of my life is over!" He was telling the truth about that. His life had gotten better than it ever had, even with May. Sure she was great, but ever since they lost Ben, he'd lost a father figure of sorts. But, now when he looked around the room, he had so many male role models. But when he looked at Mr. Stark, he almost felt like the man was his father in a way. He couldn't explain it, but whenever the man held him in his hands, he felt....safe. Protected. And in a way, loved. He liked feeling that way. "Boss," Friday's voice came from the ceiling. "Happy says there's a woman screaming at the gate of the Compound. She says her name is May Parker." Peter's face went white as he looked up at Mr. Stark with horror. Aunt May was here!?

"Tony...Tony, it's time to get up. Come on." The man buried his face into his pillow and groaned. "Fi'e more min'tes." "No, now. Come on. Did you forget about the school tour today?" Pepper stood over the bed, hands on her hips as she scowled down at him. The man opened one eye and closed it immediately. "All right, all right." The week had passed so quickly for everyone. It was like they blinked and it was next week. And all through the week, Peter had been having nightmares, which Bruce had said was normal for someone going through what Peter was. It meant he was finally feeling comfortable here. Tony felt it was late, but at least the kid was starting to feel like himself. Tony brought his hand up the mattress slowly, the stopped before patting around him. "Where's Peter?" The boy generally had been sleeping in their bed all week whenever a nightmare happened. Pepper smiled. "Oh, that's why I got you up earlier than usual. It seems Peter had another nightmare last night, poor thing, but this time it was Morgan who went to him before he could even get off the bed, and....well, come and see." Tony rolled out of bed and stretched, groaning in relief when his shoulders and back cracked before getting up and following his wife. "You have the most spectacular body in that suit, did I ever tell you that?" "Even in the mornings you're crude," the woman said with humor in her voice. "Now, quiet." She slowly pushed open the door to Peter's room and Tony thought his heart was going to melt right then and there. On the bed lay a sleeping Morgan, but cuddled right up to the bridge of her nose was a little lump he recognized as Peter. The boy had his face pressed against the girl's skin while his legs were folded into a fetal position. A small smile was on Morgan's face and she wiggled a bit, bringing a hand up to curl around Peter, who let out a tiny sigh. Tony slowly crept forward and pulled his phone out. "Friday," he whispered as he aimed the camera at the sleeping pair. "Brighten lights ten percent." The lights came up just bright enough for the man to get a picture of the sleeping pair. Once he was done, he looked back to Pepper, who was watching, her hand over her heart. "Mis'er St'rk?" Tony looked down at the voice. "Go back to sleep," he brought a finger out to run it across Peter's hair. Peter nodded and fell back to sleep as quick as he woke up and Tony took that time to sneak out. He was so using that shot as his screen saver. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter was woken by Morgan's movements bouncing him on the pillow and he groaned, reaching around for a blanket. Finding none, he shivered and opened his eyes. "Good morning," the little girl whispered. "Morning," Peter yawned and stretched. "What time is it?" "Time to wake up!" she giggled and grabbed Peter gently in her hand, transferring the surprised boy to her shoulder, where she felt him latch on to her neck. It felt funny when he used his stickyness on her. "Mommy and Daddy are already up and cooking breakfast." At that, Peter's face went white. "Da-I mean, Mr. Stark's cooking?" God help him, he almost called Mr. Stark dad.. "You can call him that, too," Morgan stopped walking to turn her head to look at Peter. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind. And, I already told them I think of you as my little big brother." The teen felt his heart speed up and his face go red. That's how Morgan really looked at him? He would have thought she hated him, because of all the time he spent with Mr. Stark. "I know you have your Aunt May, who's really nice, but, I would miss you if you stayed away. I know Mommy and Daddy would, too." Peter nodded. "But, I just can't call some guy I just met last month 'dad'. And yeah, May is nice, but she's kind of like my mom and dad rolled into one, you know? I feel it would hurt her more if I started calling Mr. Stark that." Morgan shrugged and started walking again, putting her hand up in case Peter fell from the movement. "Well, I know I would like it if you were part of the family all the time. But, I can't see that nice lady all alone when she cares about you. Just know we would miss you, too if you stayed away for good." She dropped the subject as they turned into the kitchen. "It's about time. I thought all these muffins would be gone if you two were any later." Mr. Stark was sitting at the table with his tablet in hand, sipping at a cup of coffee, eyebrows raised as he looked at the two from over the rim of the mug. "What? What is it?" "N-nothing," Peter was quick to yell, feeling Morgan wince from the volume in her ear. "We're just surprised to see all...this." He motioned to the table full of muffins and crepes filled with different assortments of fruit and creme's. "Ah, yes. I was totally capable in the kitchen and used this to make it appear." The man tapped his tablet with a smirk, Pepper chuckling as she sat next to the man. "Peter, I'll help you get what you want, and I've got your cup filled with coffee the way you like it." The woman pointed to the small cup sitting on one of the doll saucers which was settled next to a plate. "Thank you, Pepper." He waited for Morgan to take a seat then jumped onto the table to walk around the food and pick what he wanted, Pepper taking the items off their plates and cut them into small pieces, depositing them onto Peter's plate. The boy then sat behind his 'table' and a thought struck him as silverware hit the plates. He was already a member of this family, whether he wanted to be or not. "Peter?" Mr. Stark had his eyes on him, the gaze flicking to everything. "Are you alright?" The boy nodded with a warm smile. "Yeah. I think I am." The man nodded and turned back to his food, keeping an eye on the pleased teen as they ate. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Toomes sat in the van to the side of the road, made up to look like a telephone repair van. "Are you sure I'm in the system?" he asked once more and Phineas nodded. "I was up all night looking for any way into the system, but I was finally able to access Stark's mainframe and create a personnel file for you. Not even his AI noticed what I did." All in all, the man was proud of himself for his tinkering skills. "Here's your badge. I made it high enough so that you can get into the labs, but not too high so someone would notice." He handed Adrian the lanyard with his picture and the code he would need to scan at the entrance. "Thank you, man," Toomes said, meaning it. He was about to get his family back. "No need. Now, here's the remote I promised you. Providing you don't use it too early, I should be done with your suit when you need it. Just give me about...and hour. Think you can do that?" Adrian nodded. He would use that time to look for the boy. He grabbed his briefcase and took off the jumpsuit he was wearing to cover the suit he had on. "Wish me luck." Herman and Phineas nodded their heads, and Adrian was out of the van. Walking quickly, he turned down the road where the sign said. Seriously, if your building was top secret, why have a sign directing people to it? Slowly, he came to a gate and stopped when someone came out holding what looked like a regular gun. Adrian tried not to laugh at the simplicity of it. "What is your business here?" the guard asked, voice hard. "My name is Daniels, I'm new here. Would have been here sooner, but, my car broke down about two miles down the road and I had to walk. Already called Triple A, they said they'd take care of it." He held out his pass, making his hand stop shaking. He trusted Phineas' work. The guard scanned it and looked to the screen, before nodding. "Go on in. You want a bottle of water? It's still pretty hot out." "No, I'm good. Thanks, though! You take care." And I hope you're not here when I leave. You seem like a good man. With that, he made his way into the building just as a bus pulled in through the gate. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You okay in there, bud?" Peter looked up at the billboard sized face of Mr. Stark as he glanced down at his breast pocket. "I'm okay, Mr. Stark." He shifted again as he felt his foot fall asleep, making a pained face as it woke up. "Then stop moving, the kids are almost here." Tony gently slipped the folded handkerchief he always sported with every suit he wore in front of Peter to  block him even more from view. "Hey!" he shouted, but was stopped by Mr. Stark's finger flicking his leg through the pocket "Ow," he whined softly and punched the man's chest and stopped moving after that. "Welcome, futures of tomorrow!" Mr. Stark's loud, booming voice  made Peter wince as it vibrated through him and he covered his ears. "I am so glad you could be here today! Too bad we can't get rid of the feds, right? But, they're here to watch over you, which is why I had them sign waivers over all of you!" He made a motion that lifted Peter and set him down in such a quick jerk he was almost thrown out. Peter smacked the man's chest. "Careful!" he hissed, but Mr. Stark didn't hear him. "Now, I can't stay with you for the entire tour," a few of the class whined. "I know, but I need to get back to work for once." This made the class laugh. The man walked for what seemed like ever, and it was getting too hot in the pocket. If Peter could just get a breath of air, he would be fine. Moving as slowly as he could, the teen grabbed the edge of the fabric and hoisted his head out. His face was flushed as he pushed the pocket square aside, heaving for breath. Mr. Stark must have felt this, because suddenly the boy was being pushed back into the pocket and a stern look was sent down at him with a subtle head shake. "It's too hot!" Peter whispered, moving his mouth so the man could see instead of hear, but there was nothing he could do, so he felt the man shrug. So, Peter sat in the heat, feeling the sweat soaking into the blue and red suit Morgan made for him. He needed something else. Maybe he could call May and ask her to bring some clothes for him from a toy store. Finally, it was too much. Everything was too hot. Too loud. He could feel every beat of Mr. Stark's heart go through him, jarring his senses so much he was in physical pain. Every time the man spoke, it felt like he was screaming. He had to get out! But, if he was seen, that was the end and Mr. Stark would probably send him to be with May, danger or not, and he couldn't risk his aunt like that. But, it was so hot! Peter tried talking, but just moving his jaw hurt. With a grimace, he lifted his head, his face hitting the cool air. He tried not to bring himself out of Mr. Stark's pocket too much, when suddenly the man whipped around, causing Peter to shout and caught the attention of the boy standing next to the man. He and Peter stared at one another, one with wide, unbelieving eyes, the other with such a scared face he looked about ready to wet himself. "Peter?" Ned whispered, getting MJ's attention. The girl met Peter's eyes and widened a fraction before falling to their 'I don't care' position. The teen quickly ducked into the man's pocket and felt the heat of Mr. Stark's glare on him as he shook. Everything was just too overwhelming, too hot, too enclosed! He had to cover his ears and wince when the man's heart sped up. "You two, come with me. Ms. Sanders? Please take over the tour from here. I have to go have a word with these two." Peter felt bad for his friend, knew he would probably be geeking out, but so scared he would either faint or wet himself. "Mr. Iron Man, sir, please-" "Nu-uh! Me first. Tell me what you saw?" Peter let loose a low whining noise.Make the noises stop! "I-I think I saw my best friend's face...in your pocket." "No," said the girl said. "We know we saw Peter's face in your pocket." Tony froze. "You two...know Peter?" He looked down and noticed something wasn't right. Peter was curled up on the bottom of his pocket, eyes squeezed shut and his hands over his ears while he muttered something. "Peter? What's wrong?" The man noticed every time he spoke, the boy would flinch. Tony then in turn, cursed and turned Peter's friend. "What you see here, does not leave here, got it?" Ned and MJ nodded and followed Mr. Stark as he walk-ran through the building into what looked like a laboratory. "Bruce!" Tony cried, his voice echoing through the room. "BRUCE!" He reached into his pocket and brought the tiny teen out and laid his curled up form on the table, keeping his hand over him to keep him warm. "Tony? What is it?" Banner's eyes went to the kids behind the man, to his hand covering a whimpering Peter. "What happened?" "I don't know!" Tony's voice was panicked. "Peter, come on, bud, you've gotta tell me something. Is it another overload?" Banner had come up with a name for the attack that happened last time in the lab, calling it a Sensory Overload. The small head nodded. "Okay, okay. Friday, lights to ten percent." The room was thrown into almost blackness, leaving just enough light for everyone to see each other. "Is...is he gonna be okay?" Ned asked, wincing when a whimper came from under Mr. Stark's hand. MJ took a step forward and knelt to see her friend more clearly and smiled. "Hey there, tiny loser," she whispered. Peter smiled weakly. "Yeah, we just have to be quiet for a while." Bruce smiled at the teen, then sent a confused look to Tony, who shook his head. They waited in the dark for at least thirty minutes before Peter tapped MJ's finger, which was nearest to him. "You okay?" Tony crouched down next to the girl to look at the teen on his level, disregarding the glare he got. Peter nodded, but flinched at the movement. "I-I think so," he said lowly, his voice tired. "Just, don't turn the lights up, yet, please." Ned suddenly shifted forward. "Peter?" he whispered, placing his hands near his friend. "What...what happened?" The brunette looked up into a face he hadn't seen in seven months. "Hey Ned. It's um...it's kind of hard to explain, but just know that Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner are trying their hardest to fix me." "Is, is this where you've been the entire time you were missing?" Ned's eyes were wider, if that were possible, as he leaned in to stare at his best friend. He couldn't believe he was looking at Peter! The boy laying on the table was no more than three inches tall, and the scrawny, lanky teen he knew was basically gone, replaced by someone who looked like he trained every day for hours. MJ narrowed her eyes at Mr. Stark for a minute. "You can tell us the truth, Peter. Do we need to take you out of here?" If his rights were being taken away due to his size, she would shut this place down. "No! I..I was taken by some pretty bad people, who did this to me. But, Mr. Stark and the Avengers rescued me from there. That's all you need to know." The girl nodded and stood, but kept her eyes on the man. "It seems as if you speak of him highly. I have my doubts, but if you say he's okay, then I believe you." Ned nodded and sniffled, wiping his nose on his hand. "I missed you, man." Slowly, he brought his hand out in a fist, and Peter smiled as he did the same. Tiny and giant fists bumped before they both did an explosion. "We all thought you were dead. Flash actually spoke at your remembrance at school! Flash!" Peter sat up slowly. "No way! I thought he hated me!" His friend laughed. "Actually, it was pretty nice for it being Flash," MJ said. "I didn't buy it." "You know, as much as I hate to break up this reunion, you need to get back to your class, Ted." Mr. Stark's voice cut into their conversation, making them jump. "Oh yeah! Mr. Daniels probably thinks we did something wrong!" Ned's eyes grew worried. "But, are you alright Peter?" Tony scoffed in the background, but Banner put a hand on his chest and shook his head. "Yeah, Ned. I'm fine here. As you saw, they take care of me pretty well, and I owe them pretty much my life. But, thanks, man. I really do appreciate that I can maybe call you guys now?" Peter turned to Mr. Stark, who had the lights raised a little, and set his trademark puppy dog eyes on him. "Please, Mr. Stark?" "Jeez, kid, what did you just finish telling your aunt? You're not a prisoner here. You can call whoever you want." "So...does that mean Peter can leave?" "Unfortunately, no," Dr. Banner said with a sigh, looking at the young girl. "You see, the group that did this to him, wants him back. Badly. And, if you saw the news last week, you can see what they're willing to do to get Peter." "Oh yeah! I saw you go all Hulk on the bad guys, gotta say, awesome Dr. Banner." Ned was in his glory. Bruce looked down. "Yeah, thanks." "All right, enough with the hero worship. I have to get you back to the group, and you have to get somewhere safe for the remainder of the day that isn't in a lab. The things I do for you people." "Mr. Stark," Peter said just as said man grabbed him. "Please don't put me in your pocket again. I had an overload because your voice was too loud and it got way too hot!" "Well, I'm sorry, but I have nowhere else to put you, and put that fanny pack down, Bruce, or I swear I will lock you out of all the labs for a month." Bruce smirked and put the bag down. "Just a suggestion." "Fine, you can go here." He reached down to his flap pocket and gently deposited the teen into it. "Just no coming out fully, got it? You already caused one person to see you. We're just lucky he happened to be a friend of yours." Peter's face went red as he was dropped into Mr. Stark's pocket, landing not so softly on the bottom. "I said I was sorry!" he shouted, but didn't receive a reply. The teen was left to pout as Mr. Stark walked, the bouncing a little much, but he had to deal with it.