Chapter Text
Despite the fact that Peter’s abilities making the Captain a necessity in his training, the child had very little experience in combat, and far too much flexibility and too little muscle for Rogers’ fighting style to be effective for him. While she didn’t have super strength, Natasha did have the knowledge Peter needed to elevate his skills. That was, after he learned from her and Rogers to throw a punch properly. Either way, Natasha was at almost every one of his training sessions, either teaching him while listening (not un-fondly) to his constant nervous prattle or carefully watching him be taught as Steve did the same.
It was because of this that, whether the child knew it or not, Natasha understood Peter in a different way than Tony.
Natasha had seen how Peter’s first reactions to a dangerous situation were to simultaneously remain out of harm’s way and take danger head on. She had seen the horrified look on Peter’s face after she explained that the small drones, the ones they use for target practice, become more difficult to hit and learn your patterns through a simple AI Tony built and how he demanded not to use them again. She even caught glimpses of the teen in the hallway once, on his way down to the lab, whispering in his toy’s ear with one of the few smiles she’d seen from him during his time at the compound. All of these were things Tony liked to refer to as eccentricities. They were things Natasha thought they should refer to as red flags.
It was because of these that the moment Clint described the children he once tailed as ‘freaky’ and ‘cult-ish’ that Natasha thought the connection might have some merit. It was also because of this that she thought she knew about what to expect when they’d set off to go and collect the youngest Avenger for an impromptu interrogation session.
Best case scenario was as follows; Peter Parker submitted to his toy being inspected non-invasively. It was just that, a toy. Some other strange phenomenon was happening, or they were under attack, and they’d get a little more excitement in their lives in the next few weeks. Tony Stark’s fabricator was good enough to cover up any damage without Peter noticing.
Worst case scenario: someone, somewhere was recruiting children for an unknown organization and giving out dangerous technology under the guise of ‘toys’. This unknown had recruited Peter Parker, who was now in the thick of their propaganda and, even a worse possibility, had become enhanced through them. The Avengers had a potential leak and an unknown criminal organization to fight that was filled with children and could cripple their security systems via proximity. If this were the case, life would get a lot more interesting for a while.
Two ends of a very large spectrum. Before they made the arrangements on who would collect the boy, Natasha would’ve put money down on things landing somewhere firmly closer towards the worst-case scenario, just based on how their luck had gone so far.
Then she waited, watched, and listened. She waited for the signal that meant they were returning with the boy and the doll. She watched the updates to national news, to see if they would show the Avengers fighting with New York’s resident vigilante over something so trivial as a toy.
She listened as Tony said Peter’s school caught fire while he was inside, and the boy was being brought to the compound instead of the hospital due to his healing factor. How he had smoke in his lungs and a fractured leg.
And while Natasha Romanoff was a woman who planned, she was also a woman who adapted.
“FRIDAY,” She said, forcing her voice to remain impassive after hearing that this child nearly burned to death. “After Peter is all set in the infirmary, get the containment cell ready.”
“Any complications with Parker?”
Tony carefully put the “game system” that he now suspected was some sort of communicator down on the lab table. While it had been simple to guess what it was, the hard part was cracking the code. Whatever language it wrote in, it wasn’t one he was inherently familiar with. The other device steadfastly refused to even turn on, despite the fact that Tony was entirely sure it was powered fully.
He ignored them for the moment and turned to Natasha. “No,” He said, before adding, “Peter will be physically fine, with some bed rest.”
Her eyes flicked down to the items on the table. “And how are you doing with figuring these out?”
“Not great, actually. Thanks for asking,” Tony paused, letting out a long-suffering sigh, “First of all, they’re encoded in a language that doesn’t seem to exist, at least not on Earth. FRIDAY keeps telling me she can tell what it says, but when I ask her for a translation, she forgets what we’ve been talking about.”
“That’s odd.”
“It makes sense, considering that whatever these are seem to be connected with that thing in the other room. Anyway,” Tony continued. “Once I’ve cracked it, I should be able to read the messages.”
“Wait. It’s a… phone?”
“More like a PDA,” Tony explained. “A Personal Digital Assistant, not public affection. I didn’t know people still made these, let alone used them.” He huffed out a small laugh. “No wonder the kid was able to sneak it past us as a game.”
“You know we’re going to have to interrogate him when he wakes up,” Natasha said softly.
Tony’s small smile fell. The silence was awkward. Natasha uncharacteristically tried to fill it.
“The doll can talk.”
“Come again?” Tony asked, snapping out of his funk immediately. “I don’t think I heard you correctly.”
“The doll, it can talk.” She shrugged. “I haven’t asked any questions yet, but it has the ability to answer them. We could talk to it first.”
Tony muttered, almost to himself, “Does the universe want to throw any other curveballs at me today?”
“Boss,” FRIDAY said. “Thor has just landed outside of the compound.”
The lowest level of the labs at the Avengers compound held multiple containment units, each prepped with everything from bullet proof observation windows to radiation shielding. Tony’s original intention to have a place for the more volatile experiments that he knew would eventually happen.
He never could have guessed they’d end up being a near perfect holding cell for whatever this thing was.
Tony now regarded the thing in the containment cell much more carefully than he ever had before. His first instinct was that it was an AI of some sort. This made sense, given how often he’d seen the thing be perfectly still for hours. It mimicked all the aspects of life so easily, from the little twitches in its face and eyes to the breaths it took every few moments. Completely autonomous, from what he’d observed so far.
Further still, just as it knew how to hide all this time, to hold as still as possible and pretend to be merely a toy, it also knew that the gig was up the moment Tony handed it off to Steve and Natasha to take down here. He’d seen the thing immediately tense and wriggle as hard as possible to escape their grasp, then the sharp gasp just after the trio turned the corner.
He didn’t miss the wrapping on Steve’s hand when he saw him next, nor everyone keeping a close eye on the sharp teeth.
Whoever made this thing was a genius, just based on what he already knew. They were also an utter madman for putting something this dangerous anywhere near a child. Worse, it had been hanging out with Peter for years, for who knew what reason.
“You said it talks?” He asked Steve, who set himself to guarding the little creature ever since they’d placed it in the cell.
“Yeah. I’ve tried asking a few questions, but it’s just been cursing at me for the past half-hour. At least, I think so. It’s very,” Tony could’ve sworn the man was fighting off a grin, “Creative in phrasing.”
Tony leaned over and pressed the button that allowed for communication within the cell. “Hello?”
A low growl answered him.
“Look, I know you can talk,” Tony said. “Can’t we pretend to have something like a civil conversation?”
There was a moment of silence before the creature opened its mouth again. Tony expected another growl, but instead one sentence came through clearly.
“Suck a toad, ya Andromon-wannabe.”
Tony set his mouth in a firm line as he turned his glare at Steve. “You knew that was going to happen, didn’t you?”
“I asked if it’d answer a few questions earlier,” Steve said. “It told me I should ‘see if I could find a Frigimon that would be nice enough to put me back on ice’.” At the shocked looks, he held up his hands placatingly. “It was less of an actual threat, and more of a… harsh comment made in anger.”
“How would it even know about that?”
“It’s public information,” Natasha answered from near the doorway.
Steve grimaced at the reminder. “If it was ever around Peter when the kid read a book on me, or went to a museum with the right exhibit,” Steve paused for a second before reigning in his irritation on the subject, “We can assume it knows whatever Peter knows, can’t we?”
“I think that’d be a safe assumption.” Natasha shouldered her way in-between the two men and pushed the microphone button. “Yaamon?” She asked, her tone noticeably softer than before.
The creature was too startled by the familiar name to growl.
Natasha continued. “We’re sorry about sticking you in there alone, Yaamon, but we don’t know anything about you. We just recently found out you weren’t just Peter’s toy,” Natasha let a little bit of worry creep into her voice. “I’m sure you’re smart enough to imagine how shocking that is, can’t you?”
To the surprise of everyone else in the room, the creature began rocking. No, wait, it was nodding.
“We don’t know what you are or what you can do. And Peter,” The moment she said his name, Tony swore he could see the creature’s ever-present glare soften slightly before hardening, “Is just a kid. It’s our job to keep him safe.”
"I’m Petey’s partner,” Yaamon protested. “Me ‘nd him keep each other safe.”
“What do you need to keep him safe from?” Natasha pressed. When silence followed once again, she brought out one of the items that Tony confiscated, the blue device with strange symbols and held it up to the observation window. “Do you know what this is, Yaamon?”
“That doesn’t belong to you,” Yaamon snarled, his fur puffing out. “You need to give it back right now.”
"What’s so important about it?”
“It’s Petey’s,” Yaamon spat out, his eyes searching the room behind the few he could see in the window. “He needs his things in case something happens.”
The gears turning in Natasha’s head were nearly audible. After a few seconds of silence, she said, “Don’t worry, Yaamon. I’ll be sure to get it back to him soon enough,” and turned off the mic, completely ignoring the shout she cut off. “That was informative.”
“I feel like I’m missing something, because I got next to nothing from that.” Steve said.
“Yaamon,” She gestured to the creature behind her, “Called them partners. Not friends, or companions, or even brothers, but partners. That implies they have some sort of job or activity they do together. It also refuses to speak, but only on specifics. He admits that this-“ She pointed to the object in her hand. “Is Peter’s, and it’s very important, and that they keep each other safe, but not what they do, or what it’s used for, or what they need to be kept safe from. I’d usually blame a lack of trust in authority, but with Peter we know that isn’t true. He, at the very least, trusts Tony. And Yaamon, being around Peter all the time, probably would too.”
“So, it’s probably a need to protect specific information. Even after being found out, someone, or something, is keeping Yaamon from spilling the beans. This same thing is probably what kept Peter from telling anyone. Now, this,” She continued as she handed the small device back to Tony. The man still needed to figure out what it was, after all. “And the other one you confiscated are most likely connected to whoever is pulling the strings in this whole thing.” She turned to fully face Tony. “Is it possible to find out where the messages are coming from?”
“There’s still messages coming and going, so it’s just a matter of time,” Tony confirmed. “Once I’m able to read them, it’ll be a lot easier.”
“Then we just need to know the purpose of this one,” Natasha said. “But we do know it’s important.”
"You got all of that out of five sentences?” Steve asked.
“Six,” Natasha corrected. “There’s a reason I was one of SHIELD’s best agents.”
Peter woke up to a sharp pain in his throat and chest as he sucked in a breath. He blinked away the last bits of sleep as he took in the sterile white walls and the lingering throbs in his leg. Eyes widening, everything came rushing back to him.
In seconds he was struggling to climb out of the bed to find someone, anyone to tell him where his partner was. Did they think he was a trinket and leave him in the building? Did he escape on his own to the Digital World? Did he leave when he saw Peter rescued and go home to Aunt May?
Where was Yaamon.
“-alm down, Peter,” FRIDAY was saying to him from above. “Someone will be coming in to check on you. I must ask you to return to bed.”
Peter froze and took a better look around. “FRI?” He asked and heard a short beep in response from the AI. “Am I at the compound?”
“Yes,” came the short reply. “You were transferred here nearly immediately to hide your healing factor.” The next time the AI spoke, her tone sounded worried. “You’ve been unconscious for over a day.”
“A whole day?” Peter spluttered as the door to the room opened. “Mr. Stark, how did I-“
Peter froze as Thor, Prince of Asgard and the one Avenger on the team that was an actual alien, walked into the small room with a confused look on his face.
“What is a child doing here?” He asked to himself, as he looked Peter up and down. A buzzing ran down the teen’s spine as he was silently measured, Thor’s eyes widening at whatever hidden thing he saw. The two stared at each other in silence for a few seconds too long, neither willing to make the first move to break it. Then Thor said, “I did not know Midgard housed Children of Yggdrasil.”
Children of what?
“Uhm.” Peter shifted uncomfortably in place, wondering if he should say anything. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Thor held up a placating hand. “Peace, Child,” And Peter could hear the capitalization. “I know of your kind and will not seek conflict. It would be more than foolish,” Thor continued, as if Peter were a new and entirely separate species from the humans he interacted with, “Where is your companion? Is he injured as well?”
Peter felt, for the first time in a long time, a sensation pouring over him. Opposite than the usual sensation he remembered, which told him to keep the secret, keep them safe, this one was an outpouring of the feeling of pure trust.
Peter left his face crumble as he rushed to wipe away tears. “He wasn’t here when I woke up,” He whined.
Without missing a beat, Thor nodded and held out his hand for Peter to grab. “Come, then,” he said, looking like he was a knight in a fairytale receiving dire orders from a king. “If you do not mind, I will enlist the aid of the man called Barton. He is showing me around the compound, for I have just arrived. Together we shall find your companion.”
“I don’t think-“ Peter began, but was cut off nearly immediately by a surprised shout from the doorway.
“Thor?” Out of the corner of his eye, Peter saw Clint Barton edging into the room, a very confused expression on his face. “What are you doing? I leave you alone for two minutes to use the bathroom and when I come back you’ve made the sick kid cry?”
Peter’s frown deepened. “I’m not sick, and he didn’t make me cry, Mr. Barton.”
Clint blinked twice before looking at Peter as if seeing him for the first time. After a second, he recovered and continued. “But you are injured. For Christ’s sake, you just broke your leg, and Thor should not be trying to pull you out of bed like that.”
“The Child’s companion is missing,” Thor said, as if this explained everything. Perhaps it did. “We are duty-bound to reunite them, before the worst shall occur.”
“All of my stuff is gone, too,” Peter added, more towards Clint than Thor.
Still, Thor nodded with severity. “A dire situation indeed.”
Clint stared at the Prince of Asgard, gears turning behind his eyes before he came to a decision. “Thor, can I talk to you?” When the other man spread his hands out, as if saying ‘Go ahead!’ Clint grit his teeth. “Can I talk to you in private?”
The two went into the hallway, and the door shut firmly. Although the walls stopped him from hearing it, they didn’t stop Peter from seeing the conversation from the small observation window, showing a stoic Thor turning into an increasingly angry Thor and an annoyed Clint slowly becoming distressed, his face turning paler and paler.
After a solid five minutes, Thor led Clint back into the room, slightly straining to keep a smile on his face for Peter’s sake.
“Come, Child,” He said, “Barton has agreed to aid us.”
“Boss,” FRIDAY called out into the lab. “Clint is asking for the members of the team who are here to meet him in the conference room.”
“Please remind Barton of the following,” Tony replied without looking up from his work on trying to figure out these coded messages. He could just feel that he was getting close. “He’s supposed to be showing Thor around the compound so Thunderstruck doesn’t get lost while he’s here, and everyone else is a little busy right now, so unless he’s got something to add about all of this-“
“Thor made the original request for a neutral location for what he stated would be ‘negotiations for the release of prisoners’,” FRIDAY interrupted. “However, Peter Parker could not be moved too far, and thus he settled for Clint’s suggestion of the conference room.”
“Negotiations for the release of what?” Tony spluttered. Then the rest of what she said caught up to him. He turned to leave; his work completely abandoned on the table. “Just- Just explain to me everything on the way. And tell everyone else to show up, alright?”