Author's Note: Here we go guys, the penultimate post! I had such a huge grin on my face while I wrote this monster, I hope you all enjoy it! *Cue the maniacal laughter*

Chapter Eleven - Holiday Heralds

"Sweet freedom!" Ned exclaimed, opening his arms to greet the weak winter sunlight. Behind him, Peter chuckled and MJ smirked as they walked out the school doors, holding hands.

Final exams had been brutal, but with the last one over and done with, Winter Break stretched out in front of them like an oasis in the desert.

Before that, though, they had the Midtown High Holiday Dance to get ready for.

"Video games tonight, Dance tomorrow, and then I'll finally get to visit Avengers Compound, right?"

"Yes, Ned," Peter assured him. "And then the team can focus on embarrassing you instead of me for a change."

"Are you kidding?" MJ snickered. "They'll probably go out if their way to treat him normally, just to get under your skin."

Peter frowned. "What is it with you and raining on my parade?"

"Habit, at this point."

They continued to playfully bicker all the way to the street, where Peter's spidey sense began to prickle. He halted mid-step.

"Dude, you okay?"

"Something... something isn't-" Happy's car pulled up in front of them before he could say more. Except, it couldn't be Happy's car, because Happy wasn't the person who got out of it.

A tall woman with light brown hair and freckles stepped out and moved towards them. "Hi, Peter! Are you ready to go?"

"Uh, who are you?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm Maria Hill," she replied, holding out a hand to shake. "Didn't Tony text you? Happy was in a car accident a couple hours ago. He's fine," she hastened to add, "But the boss didn't really want him driving again so soon afterward, so they sent me."

Peter frowned. He glanced down at the hand she was still holding out, and his spidey sense rocketed up into the danger zone. "Um, do you mind if I call Mister Stark...?"

"Not at all, but I don't think you'll reach him - the Avengers had an emergency come up, they're all in Canada right now." Peter's hand froze, mere inches from his pocket. Mind scrambling, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Phone!"

"Pardon?"

"My phone - I think I left it in my locker. Uh, can you wait here just a minute?"

The woman nodded, though something about her smile became a bit stiffer. "Sure thing, Peter."

"Thanks, I promise I'll be quick-"

"And we'll make sure of it," MJ cut in. "C'mon, nerds." She led the way back towards the school, all three of them pushing against the crowd.

The woman continued to watch them, left hand coming up to tap at her earpiece - her right hand, wearing a ring with built-in sedative dart, went back into its pocket. "Pick-up to Command, I think he's made me. Prepare Strike Teams One and Two for mobilization."

"Okay, guys, what the heck was that?" Ned demanded as soon as they were back inside. "Peter, I know you didn't forget your phone-"

"And I know the team isn't on some emergency mission in Canada," he interrupted. "I need to call Mister Stark."

He pulled his cell out, opened up the screen- and froze when a cascade of goosebumps travelled up his spine, only seconds before both the lights above and his phone screen went dark. Ned yelped, MJ sucked in a startled gasp, and Peter tried to tamp down on his rising panic.

"Please tell me that was just a suspiciously timed power outage," Ned whispered in the dimness. They could still see, somewhat, thanks to the windows at their backs, but the sun would be setting soon and Peter didn't want to think about what they could walk into when even the Emergency Exit lights were out.

"Probably an EMP blast, or something like that," he muttered, tapping at his phone to no effect. "Whoever that woman is, she's not alone. We need to move."

"And go where?!" The rising panic in Ned's voice caused Peter to make a split-second decision.

"I have to stay put," he said. "The bad guys need to be contained so they don't hurt anyone, and the school's pretty much empty already. Besides, once they realize something's up, this is the first place the Avengers will come."

MJ frowned sharply. "You better not be making a bid for us to leave you behind to save ourselves."

Peter winced. "It's not safe-"

"Bull. Next to you is safer than by ourselves - cool Stark tech aside, I know you've got actual powers to go along with the Spider stuff." Both boys stared at her, wide-eyed, causing MJ to huff. "Do we really need to do this right now? I know you two suspected I knew, so let's move on to what needs to happen right now."

A door opened.

All three teenagers flinched, spinning around to face the threat, only to deflate when they realized it was Mister Lee, the school's ancient janitor. Humming along to whatever music was playing through his headphones and wearing reflective aviator sunglasses, he ignored them - then again, it was entirely possible the man just didn't see them as he locked the supply closet door. He then turned and shuffled off, clearly ready to leave the school for the day.

"Ned," Peter said. "Go with him."

"What?"

"Follow him, make sure he gets out of the school, then get out of this dead zone to call Mister Stark."

"But-"

"Just do it!" Clearly unhappy, Ned reluctantly followed his friend's order, hurrying after the balding old man. When he glanced over at her, Peter was unsurprised to see MJ glaring at him.

"Try to send me away, and I swear I'll punch you."

"Noted." New footsteps replaced those of Ned and Mister Lee's, prompting Peter to pull MJ into the nearby bathroom. Once out of sight of the hallway, he gestured for the girl to put her arms around him. Eyebrow arched, MJ nonetheless did so. Her eyes widened when Peter placed his palms flat against the wall at his back and slowly started pushing the both of them up off the floor.

"Wow," she breathed, hanging on as they got higher and higher. Peter stopped when his head touched the ceiling. Just in time, he and MJ pulled their feet up, as a man dressed in black and armed with a submachine gun entered the bathroom.

He glanced around, checked the stalls, and then left again, calling "Clear!" to someone else in the hallway. Both Peter and MJ held their breath until the sound of several footsteps had passed and all was quiet again.

"...we can't just stay here, can we," MJ whispered. Peter grimaced.

"We could, but they'll search the whole school and then come back. I don't think they know about the Spidey stuff, which means I can't tip them off by getting caught sticking to walls."

"Okay. Let's go back down." Just as cautiously as before, Peter inched down to the floor, letting MJ let go and step back before unsticking himself.

"Should we follow one step behind them, or something?"

"Maybe two steps, just to be careful." Peter grinned as MJ gave him an unimpressed stare. "I want to see what kind of search pattern they're using, find a hole in it to slip through."

"Alright, but if this blows up in our faces, I'm gonna-" They stepped out of the bathroom, at the same moment another armed man rounded the corner of the hallway to their right. "Crap."

"Run!" Peter grabbed her hand and took off down the left, even as they heard the guy behind them calling for reinforcements. The teens skidded their way through empty and rapidly darkening halls, soon reaching the main staircase to the second floor. They just barely threw themselves up it in time, before a spray of bullets filled the hall behind them.

"That was a warning shot, brats!" Someone yelled. "Come back here before you get hurt!"

"Don't listen to anything they say," Peter warned, climbing with MJ right beside him.

"Kinda figured that out for myself, thanks! New plan?"

"New plan! Overlook!"

Once on the second floor, they veered right, towards the Science department, which had picture windows looking out onto the snow-covered roof of the gymnasium. Skidding to a stop beside them, Peter yanked off his backpack and hurled it at the glass.

Normally, a fabric bag containing assorted papers and a couple textbooks wouldn't have near enough weight to actually do anything - but with radioactive spider-strength behind it, Peter's pack smashed through. MJ helped him hit at the broken glass, busting open a big enough hole for them to climb out onto the ledge.

"You first!"

"But-"

"Michelle!" Growling, MJ went out, balancing on the narrow strip of stone with her back braced against the concrete wall. Just as he was following her, Peter's Spidey Sense screamed a warning, but there wasn't much he could do to dodge. Sure enough, something impacted his thigh right when he was shimmying out. Peter's hand automatically snapped to the spot, and his stomach dropped his fingers found a metal dart rather than a bullet hole.

"Come on!" MJ grabbed his hand, tugging him along as they shuffled away from the hole and the people running towards it. "What's next?"

"Roof!" They continued on, out of sight of the windows, to a spot where a recess in the wall gave them enough room for Peter to turn and MJ to wrap her arms around his shoulders. Then he climbed, quickly, trying to ignore his growing dizziness.

Soon the two of them tumbled over the raised edge, limbs tangling as they rolled. Peter tried to get to his feet, to hurry towards the only interior staircase access door, but found his vision blurring too much to be able to tell where it was. MJ moved quicker, anyway, jumping up and hurrying out of his line of sight. "What the hell's the matter with you?!" She demanded.

"Got hit," he called in reply, pressing a palm to his forehead. "Some kind of dart- drugged, I think- I'm having a hard time shaking it off." His senses started going haywire, Peter having a hard time distinguishing any of the sounds that bombarded his ears: voices speaking, yelling, cars honking, engines roaring. There was no mistaking the touch of MJ's hands to his cheeks, though, lifting his face so that Peter could squint at her.

"Is it something meant to take down Peter Parker, or Spider-man?" She asked.

"I can't- I can't tell-" He heard voices coming from the building below them, orders being shouted. "Door, we've got to block the door-"

"There's nothing to block it with, it locks from the inside!"

"Lead me." MJ helped Peter to his feet and over to the rooftop access. He gripped the edge of the doorframe, and squeezed. Even with everything else going fuzzy, he very clearly felt the metal crunch. Fumbling for the hinges on the other side, Peter did it again. "There- that oughta slow 'em down."

"Now what?"

Peter tried to reply, only for a new wave of goosebumps to sweep over his skin. He shuddered, falling backwards, barely hearing MJ's shout of alarm.

Crap, this is bad very bad gotta stay awake Parker don't you dare leave her alone with your mess come ON wake UP dammit Peter gotta hold on too loud too much we need to hurry up scanners rooftop just hold on Spidey-

When he next opened his eyes, however, it was to see things coming back into focus, including the panicked expression of the girl leaning over him.

"Please don't do that again," she said.

"I'll try not to," he promised. They both jumped when something hit the other side of the door. Dizziness receding but not gone, Peter let MJ drag him to a corner of the roof, out of sight of the doorway.

"Are you gonna be alright?" She asked after a moment, when it was clear their pursuers weren't going to be making an immediate appearance.

"...I think so," Peter replied, tentatively poking at the spot the dart had hit him. As quickly as they'd overloaded, his hearing and other senses started to dial back down to normal. "I think that dart had to be a regular sedative, 'cause I'm already getting over it."

"Good, because if it had made you throw up on my boots, we'd be having words, Parker." MJ's smirk, though, lacked it's usual confidence, and Peter reached to grab her hand.

"Hey, we'll make it out of this alive. I promise. Okay?"

The girl took a deep breath, squeezing his fingers when they heard another bang from the door. "Okay."

Something landed in front of them.

MJ shrieked, Peter lurched forward, and Captain Rogers rose to his feet looking ready to commit murder. Then Black Widow came down beside him, and Scarlet Witch, and Black Panther, and Peter looked up to see the Quinjet hovering overhead, Thor and Falcon and Vision beside it. Someone else jumped out of the hatch, someone in red and gold, and Peter scrambled unsteadily to his feet just in time for Mister Stark to land and step out of his suit.

The man didn't say a word - he just bolted forward, arms wrapping around Peter in the tightest hug he'd ever felt. Distantly, the kid heard Captain Rogers giving orders, heard MJ telling them about the sedative dart. He heard a small explosion, too, followed by shocked shouts and screams, presumably from the people who'd finally broken through the door expecting to find a couple of teenagers and instead coming face to face with a bunch of pissed off Avengers.

"We came as soon as we could," Tony murmured in his ear. "You hear me, kid? We're here. I'm here."

Peter buried his head in the man's shoulder and let himself relax for the first time that afternoon.

He must have still been a little out of whack, because next Peter knew, Mister Stark and Colonel Rhodes were carrying him and MJ up to the hovering Quinjet. Doctor Banner and Sergeant Barnes met them inside and took over while the armored Avengers went back down. The sergeant got MJ settled, wrapped up in an emergency blanket with her bag set to one side, while Banner checked Peter over, confirming that his healing factor was already getting the sedative out of his system.

Apparently, according to Barnes, they had Princess Shuri to thank for the fast rescue. She'd taken to monitoring the social media posts about Peter's rides in order to place her own bets, and had seen the most recent pictures of a woman decidedly not affiliated with the Avengers. She informed her brother, who told Tony, who started running for the Quinjet even as he called the traffic-trapped Happy. Word travelled fast, and in no time at all the entire team assembled, even before they got Ned's phone call about the school being invaded.

By the time Peter was pronounced to be ninety percent back to his usual self, Hawkeye had parked the Quinjet on a nearby rooftop, the Avengers were done cleaning out the school of would-be kidnappers, and Wasp had even brought up Peter's retrieved backpack, along with a bit of unwelcome news.

"Hydra?" MJ was the one to ask, Peter unable to say much of anything. "Do they know about his secret identity?"

"Stark thinks this was just their attempt to get some leverage over us, by taking a kid we've all been seen with," Van Dyne explained. "Hence the regular soldiers and normal-dosage sedatives."

"Yeah, if they'd known about your wall-crawling, they'd have brought something capable of knocking even Steve out," Barnes joked. They all ignored the way his metal arm was clenched into a tight fist.

Peter let out a slow breath. "Okay, so, what now?"

"You're both coming to the Compound tonight. Michelle, you mom's been notified, and we've got a team of former, trustworthy, Shield agents going to pick up May."

"Ned?"

"Down below with Strange and Okoye, going over what happened. He'll be coming too - we don't want to take any chances with you guys."

"Well, that's gonna make his day," Peter smiled weakly. MJ laced her fingers with his and squeezed.

"...I realize this is way down on the list of priorities at the moment," she said slowly, "But is there anyway we can still go to the school dance tomorrow night? This nerd promised me a good time and I intend to collect."

As one, the gathered Avengers blinked at them. Then Hawkeye grinned.

"I think we can work something out."