Daredevil was the first to report a new player in town. He'd been tracking some dealers when they'd come up on a young boy. They'd begun harassing him, and attacked him. Matt had been about to intervene when the boy slipped away and began climbing the wall.
"Woah woah woah." Clint interrupted Matt's recount at the team meeting. "Are you sure? No offense, but….you didn't exactly see it."
Matt glared at him. "Your feet are on the conference table and its annoying Felicity. You also stole her soap this morning when you showered together. Thor skipped his shower this morning, Tony's on his third cup of coffee, and Oliver's not paying attention; he's playing something on his phone." Matt tilted his head, listening. "Candy crush." Everyone looked at each other in embarrassment. Oliver, who was in Starling and communicating via video message, shut off his phone and slipped it into his pocket. "Should I go on?" Matt asked innocently.
"No…you've made your point." Clint said, taking his feet off the table. "Sorry." He mouthed at Felicity. She patted his arm.
"When you say climb…" Tony asked, grabbing another cup of coffee.
"A 90 degree wall with no form of equipment." Matt said. "There's something off about him. I sensed he might have powers. None of us could have climbed it like he did."
"Well…" Barry interrupted from his view screen in STAR labs.
"He didn't have super speed, Allen." Matt insisted. "He just…went up like it was the most natural thing in the world."
"Huh." Clint said. "Kinda like a spider." Tony shuddered.
"No use of the "s" word in this tower, please." He said. "They might hear you and….converge."
"Are you afraid of spiders, Stark?" Oliver teased.
"Shouldn't you be losing at Candy Crush, Queen?" Tony shut back.
"I was winning." Oliver grumbled.
"I highly doubt that, seeing as I hacked your phone and reprogrammed the game to be unwinnable." Tony retorted.
"You what?" Oliver growled.
Felicity covered her face as the two launched into an argument. Clint nudged her shoulder. "Okay there Squeaky?" He asked.
She shook her head. "Matt, anything else you can tell us on this guy?" She asked in an attempt to get the briefing back on track.
Daredevil looked contemplative, then said. "He's young, I'd estimate no older than 12. And he was scared."
"He was being attacked by drug dealers." Clint pointed out.
"It was more than that." Matt said. "I can't really explain it, but he seemed to be afraid of himself."
The second time it was Laurel who ran into him. She came back one night with a dislocated shoulder and bruises all over.
"You're supposed to be in New York for vacation." Felicity muttered while Bruce checked her over. "The whole point of setting up this super team was so no one would get caught without backup. What were you thinking, going out there alone?"
"I wasn't." Laurel winced as Bruce set her shoulder. "At least…not the whole time." She gritted her teeth against the pain. "I think I saw Murdock's spider kid."
"The climbing guy?" Felicity asked, Laurel nodded.
"I was…patrolling and there were a bunch of kids playing some late night basketball. I decided to watch them when…something weird happened. The youngest out there just…froze. Then he tried to get his friends to leave. A few seconds later this group of idiots with knives showed up to try to steal their money. I jumped down to help and they all ran, except for this one kid. He got grabbed by one of the bigger guys. I fought them off, but one of them caught my arm and…" She motioned to her shoulder. "That's when the kid intervened. Felicity, I've never seen reflexes like that…well except for Barry, but this was different." She shook her head. "He distracted the thugs enough that I could kick their asses. Then he took off. I saw him climb a wall, just like Matt said."
"Did you get a look at his face?" Felicity asked.
Laurel nodded. "It was brief, but he's about 11, dark skin, not very tall."
"You've just described at least 40% of male children in New York." Felicity sighed. "You're off patrol until that shoulder heals." She left ignoring Laurel's protests.
The next 2 months passed the same way. Different members of the team reported sightings of a young boy, around 11 who helped people, almost by accident. He stopped a purse snatching, a jewelry store robbery.
"We could find out who he is." Clint said one night when they were sitting on the couch.
"He knows we've seen him." Felicity murmured. "He knows how to find us. If he wants help, he'll come to us."
"Hmmm." Clint grumbled. Felicity looked up knowingly, amused.
"You want to go out and find him using your super spy skills." She said. Clint nodded eagerly Felicity laughed.
"Squeaky, the kid's in over his head." He said. "He could get seriously hurt."
'I know.' She sighed. "I just don't want to spook him." She tapped her fingers on Clint's arm. "And I also kind of, sort of, technically…hacked the security footage from the last time one of us ran into him and ran it through facial id." She blushed as Clint gave her an approving look.
"That's my little spy protégé." Clint grinned, ruffling her hair. Felicity pouted. "So…." He prodded her shoulder. She pulled out a tablet and opened a folder named "Baby Aragog."
"I matched it to a school id and-" She frowned at the screen. "There's a problem."
"What?" Clint said.
"I've been tracking around his neighborhood and…there's a police alert... at his address." She and Clint looked at each other and rushed towards the elevator to go to the garage. Clint must have disobeyed at least 30 traffic laws getting to the address. The house was roped off and police weren't letting anyone near. Clint walked right up to the crime scene tape, only to be held back by an officer.
"Sorry sir, we can't let you through." The officer said. "This is an active crime scene."
"Not to sound like Tony, but do you know who I am?" Clint growled. The officer stared at him blankly. "Seriously? Hero of New York? Fought off an alien invasion? Quiver? Bow? Super attractive, yet approachable?"
"You're…the arrow guy?" The officer said. Clint's jaw dropped. Felicity pulled him back before he did something stupid and illegal.
"Hi, my name is Felicity Smoak. I work as a consultant with the Avengers." She held out her hand. The cop's eyes widened.
"Felicity….Smoak? My girlfriend thinks you're amazing." He said.
Felicity grinned. "Can you tell us what happened here?" The cop looked back at the house and sighed.
"It's so sad. The family that lives there was attacked. Apparently the perps had beef with the son." He shrugged. "The kid wasn't home, but the parents were."
Felicity covered her mouth in horror as a group of paramedics brought out two gurneys with covered sheets. Clint held her, his mouth pressed into a hard line. "Do you have any idea who did this?" He asked. The cop shook his head.
Felicity looked up at Clint. "We need to find him."
The scoured the city for 2 weeks and came up empty. Felicity had begun to lose hope. She was walking Lucky in Central park one day when suddenly she saw a hooded figure watching her. "Hey!" She said. The boy started and took off. "Don't make me chase you." She growled. It had rained the day before and the path was covered in mud. The boy slipped and fell. Lucky jumped on him, licking his face excitedly. Felicity caught up with them.
"Get him off me." The boy said, pushing at the dog.
"He just wants to play." Felicity said, kneeling next to him. "I'm Felicity." She said.
"You're the Avengers chick." He glared. "You guys have been following me."
"We want to help you." Felicity said.
"I don't need your help." He said, his voice cracking. Felicity pushed his hood back, he was so young. Scared.
"What happened to your parents…" She began.
"Was because of me." He said. "I'm a freak and I got them killed." He had tears coming out of his eyes. "I just want to be normal."
"You also wanted to help people." Felicity said.
"I tried not to." He admitted softly. "But I can…feel when bad things are about to happen close by. I can sense them." He shuddered. "I couldn't just ignore the bad things." He bit his lip. "Maybe if I'd been stronger and hadn't done anything my mom and dad…"
"You were only doing what you thought was right." Felicity said.
"They wanted me." He said. "Ever since that stupid spider bit me, I didn't even really want to help some of those people or stop those crimes. I was so scared."
"Do you want me to tell you a secret?" She said. "Even the bravest heroes get scared." Felicity gently wiped his face. "You hungry?" she asked. He nodded slowly. "I know a Shawarma place not too far." She suggested. "You ever had it?"
He shook his head. "I'm Miles." He said. "Miles Morales."
"Felicity Smoak." She said, helping him to his feet.
If Clint was surprised to see Miles sleeping on the couch hugging Lucky when he got home, he didn't say anything. It took 3 days for Miles to speak to them. Mostly he watched them, eyes wide. Felicity bought him clothes, Clint bribed him with junk food and Lucky was always enthusiastically snuggled against him.
Then Tony happened.
"Well, well well if it isn't the fugitive." Tony said, entering the apartment.
"JARVIS." Clint growled. "What is he doing here?"
"You've been hiding Anansi here." Tony pointed at Miles. "And I wanted to see if he liked the costume." He held up a black suit with a red spider web and a spider on the center of the chest. "What do you think, Kid Arachnid?"
Miles looked at the suit and ran from the room.
"Was it something I said?" Tony asked, looking at Felicity and Clint who were wearing identical glares.
"He just horrifically lost his parents, Stark." Clint said.
"He's 10, Tony." Felicity said. "No one in their right mind would give a 10 year old a mask and send him out to fight dangerous criminals."
"That would be bat shit crazy." Clint agreed.
Tony held up his hands. "Okay." He backed up. "But I'm keeping this." He said, grabbing hold of the costume and shook it in front of them. "He'll want it someday. The kids got powers and with great power comes kickass costumes and groupies and publicity and parties and –"
"He's 10." Felicity and Clint shouted.
"Which is why I'm going to the lab to build him some toys." Tony said, smirking.
Clint found him 3 hours later hiding in an air vent. "Come here often?" He asked, then he frowned at the bag of chips next to Miles. "I see you've found my stash."
Miles didn't say anything. Clint sighed. "Tony's an ass. Wait, can I use that word in front of a 10 year old?" He shrugged. "Eh, whatever, Felicity's not here to yell at me."
"My dad…didn't like superheroes."' Miles finally said. "He didn't like the idea of people getting powers and taking the law into their hands. He said it was dangerous because the day they decided to take over, no one could stop them." He looked at his fingers. "That's why I didn't tell him about…what I can do. I've been thinking…about what happened to them. Maybe if I had…been better trained I could have saved them."
"There's no guarantee." Clint said. "Life isn't always fair. Hell, talk to anyone in this Tower and they can tell you that. We all have a tragic origin story ranging from bad to… Natasha" He squeezed Miles' hand. "You're a good kid, Miles. We really like you…especially the sound of your voice. It's such a rare treat…I have definitely been hanging around Felicity too much because that sounded weird."
Miles snorted. Over the last couple of days he'd been subjected to various forms of Felicity's babble from her fussing over how underfed he was to accidental sexual innuendos she made about Clint.
"You wouldn't like me if you knew everything about me." He mumbled.
"You're talking about your uncle?" Clint asked, grimacing at the look of terror Miles shot him. "He's the Prowler. We knew. Even before we found you."
"My dad used to help him." Miles admitted. "But after I was born he…he wanted out of that life because he wanted to make surer his family was safe." He began crying again. "I'm scared of what's going to happen to me."
"Well, we're going to sit up here a while longer and eat these chips. Then we're going back to the apartment where Felicity's going to yell at me for letting you have junk food before dinner. Natasha's probably going to come over and the 5 of us are going to eat while I pretend not to see you feeding Lucky under the table. You'll brush your teeth and go to bed." He smiled. "You're a kid Miles. Being scared is completely okay."
5 years later
"Nuh uh." Felicity shook her head. "This isn't happening." Miles and Clint were sitting on the couch playing video games. Felicity crossed her arms and stood in front of the TV.
"Felicity." Miles whined. She frowned and held out a copy of the Daily Bugle
"Who is Spider Man?" She raised an eyebrow. "I'm assuming this is you?" she said, pointing to the picture.
"Um." Miles gulped then jumped, attaching to the ceiling and crawling towards an air vent.
"You better run." She shouted. "JARVIS?"
"Mr. Morales has gone to his apartment, Mrs. Barton." The AI said. "and can I just add that he did an exceptional job last night?'
Felicity sighed and smacked Clint as he chortled.
"Hey.' He said. "It's not like we didn't know this day would come. Cap's been grooming him for years." He held open his arms.
Felicity huffed and sat next to him, burying her face in his neck. "I worry."
"Yeah. The kid grew up so fast." Clint said wistfully.
"He was half grown when we found him." Felicity said sarcastically.
"Which got me thinking." Clint said, drumming his fingers on her arm. "We were pretty good pseudo parents with Miles."
"Uh huh." Felicity agreed.
'And we are amazing dog parents with Lucky."
"This is true."
"And we did the best we could with Tony."
Felicity giggled.
"Soooooooo." Clint seemed unsure how to continue his train of thought. Felicity put her arms around his waist.
"I've been thinking the same thing." She whispered. Clint's eyes lit up.
"Mini Bartons!" He cheered. He jumped off the couch and pulled Felicity towards their bedroom. "Come on. I want to start now."