Chapter 1

It was a cold, dark night in New York City, people were either in their homes or late night shopping. In Avengers Tower the Avengers were sat minding their own business. Natasha and Clint were talking strategy, Thor was reading a Shakespeare book, Bruce was down in the lab, Tony and his husband Steve was curled up on the sofa watching a movie. Suddenly the alarm went off. "Sir, the police are in pursuit of three thieves down town." JARVIS informed, with that the Avengers got suited up and went to join the party...

"Alright, according to JARVIS the punks broke into a place called the Second Chance Orphanage and stole pretty much everything from the baby room." Tony explained as he flew over the city in his Iron Man suit. "I can see them guys, their heading your way Clint." Natasha replied as the get away car made a sharp turn. "I have a visual, I'm taking a shot." Clint exclaimed before an arrow went through the windshield and white smoke causing the car to smash into a lamp post. Soon the three thieves stumbled out the car, coughing violently, when they looked up they saw the Avengers aiming their weapons at them. "Up you get boys." Steve ordered and the men obeyed and stood up, as the cops cuffed the men Steve and Tony went to get the stolen items when something caught their eyes. Tony suddenly stepped back and Steve froze in place, after a moment of silence Steve pulled back some of the bags to reveal a small boy with brown hair and pale skin, dressed in dirty old clothes and he looked no older then 4. "Holy cow." Clint whispered when he saw Tony give the boy a medical check, they soon noticed that the child was skin and bones and covered in muck...

The Second Chance Orphanage was a 7 story building surround by fences that had barbed wire at the top, inside had creaky floor boards, rotting wallpaper, cracked ceilings and bared doors and windows. When the Avengers finished returning all of the stolen goods two women came to collect the boy. The older woman was called Lucy Crow, she was 45 years old, had dark blonde hair, bright blue eyes and wore a professional black suit, she was the head of the Second Chance Orphanage and was strict as hell. The other woman was called Alice Grace, she was 23 years, she had black shoulder length hair, violet eyes and wore a navy blue woolly jumper and white jeans, she took care of all the the 5 year old until they were 8 years old and she was kind and caring to all the children at the orphanage. "Oh my god Peter!?" Alice cried and quickly took the child from Steve's arms and left the room.

After Alice was gone Tony gave Lucy a look that could kill. "Alright Miss Crow, what's the deal with this hell house?" Tony snarled as Lucy walked into her office to deal with paperwork the police had left her. "This 'hell house' belonged to my Grandmother, she opened it after my Mother was born and after she died my Mother took over then I took it over after she was moved to an old people's home 20 years ago." Miss Crow started as she began the paper. "There are 7 floors in this building. The seventh floor is were the 13-17 year old's sleep, if they aren't fostered then they get thrown out." Lucy explained, not a trace of sympathy in her voice. "The sixth floor is were the 9-12 year old's sleep, the fifth floor is where the 5-8 year old's sleep, the fourth floor is where the 2-4 year old's sleep, the third floor is where the newborns to 2 year old's sleep, the second floor is where all the toilets, baths, diapers and cleaning equipment are stored, the first floor is where the head office, kitchen, dining room, and records of the the children that live here are kept and finally the basement." Lucy chuckled for a moment before continuing. "The basement is where all the carers sleep and live. You see for each room we have one male and female carer to look after the children. The two on the seventh floor are Amy White and John Kenny, the ones on the sixth are Alice Grace and Kyle Jones, the two on the fifth floor are Chloe Salmon and Lewis Ross, the ones on the fourth floor are Dixie Grimm and Mark Fisher, then finally the ones on the third floor are Bella Violet and Tom Turner. We have 20 children on each of the bedroom floors." Lucy finished and handed the now finished paperwork to the police officer. "Yeah we would like to have a look at the child who we saved." Steve insisted with a cold stare. "Okay, Kyle can take up stairs and explain the child's history." And with that Tony and Steve left Lucy's office and followed Kyle to the sixth floor...

As Lucy Crow had said, there were 20 children on each floor, there were 10 bedrooms that held 2 people each room. "The child's name is Peter Parker, he's 2 years old, parents died in a plane crash. Came here 5 months ago when his Uncle Ben and Aunt May died in a car crash while on their way to pick him up from school." Harry explained as they made their way down the corridor. "Why did the thieves take Peter?" Tony asked as he looked in the rooms and saw the children in their beds. "Don't known, you see at the end of each bed there's a chest were all the children's thing are kept, you know like things their parents left them. Well the thieves raid some of the chests and stole things like jewelry or stuff of value, but I haven't a clue why they took the kid." Kyle shrugged.

"Why was he nothing but skin and bones when we found him?" Steve asked in a dark tone when they reached Peter's bedroom, Tom seemed to hesitate for a moment before sighing. "Sometimes the orphanage doesn't have enough money to buy food and, well, some kids who were unlucky didn't get much but scraps for dinner." Kyle sighed and opened the door to Peter's room, they saw him resting in a small bed, sound asleep and his arms and legs were handcuffed to the bed post. "Why is he cuffed to the bed?" Tony asked with a death glare. "Well most of the kids try to do a runner, so the staff have to handcuff them to the bed each night to stop them." Kyle said like it was normal. In the crib next to him lay another boy who was crying in pain and trying to shake the cuffs off his limbs, causing him more pain. "That's Charlie, Peter's roommate, he's always been a bit of a drama queen." Tom laughed, but Steve and Tony weren't paying attention, the super soldier stared at Peter's little face while Tony stared at the cuts and bruises along the sleeping boys body. "Why is this place in a crap state?" Tony asked, ignoring the dirty looks from the staff. "Like I've said before, no one will help sponsor the orphanage and because of that Miss Crow predicts that the government is gonna close this place down in about 10 years." Tom frowned before shouting at Charlie to shut up. "I think you should go now." The 2 Avengers turned around to see Alice glaring at them...

"I'm sorry, you want to what?!" Steve cried and began pacing around the bedroom as Tony just sat on the giant bed watching his husband. "I want to adopt Peter." Tony replied with an innocent smile. "I KNOW WHAT YOU SAID!" Steve shouted before taking a deep breath. "Come on, Steve you saw that boy, you saw that place, we need to help him." Tony exclaimed. "Yes but were Avengers, I mean it's not like we can call a nanny when the worlds in danger." Tony sighed, his lover did make a good point. "We can worry about that after we get him out of that house of horrors." Steve relized that his husband wasn't going to back down. "Ok."...