Author's Note: I LIVE! I have seen Captain Marvel and Endgame. I will say nothing about either here. And still own nothing.

25. Reunions

Piper had flown Quinnjets before, with Tony as copilot but he was off dealing with a Hydra base in France with the other Avengers. So she was flying on her own. Well mostly, Karen was copiloting for her, but she wasn't sure the AI had actually done this before either though she had definitely been programed for it. The com unit flicked to life and Piper waved at her dad.

"Why'd you take a Quinnjet Kiddo?"

"Dr. Connors is awake! Dr. Cho called me. I on my way to Korea to see what's happening with him. If…" Piper paused flicking a few switches on the jet to send it flying faster. "If he's not… not him, they'll need someone who can handle it." There was a pause on the line.

"Will you be able to handle it?" Piper nodded.

"I'll handle it. It's my mess. I have to do this. If he is him, I can help. No offence dad but genetics isn't your wheelhouse. It's Bruce's and mine." Tony laughed lightly.

"I love that you and Bruce are on the same level! I am proud of you Pipes. Go, but call if you need help. And wear your suit." Piper paused.

"How did you know I wasn't?" Tony went quiet. "Dad, did you put a tracker in my suit?"

"I didn't not put a tracker in your suit." Piper let out a long breath.

"That's getting removed right the hell now." She pulled her suit out of her bag and began disassembling it. "I'll keep the emergency protocols but no tracker!" Tony sighed.

"Love you kiddo." Piper nodded a screwdriver between her teeth.

"Love you too dad." It came out muffled but Tony gave a little laugh that she knew meant he'd heard her, then he ended the call. She shook her head as the jet sped off towards the horizon.

Dr Cho was waiting outside the lab on the Helipad as the Quinnjet landed. Piper stepped out of the back of it, hopping down the minute there was enough space for her to do so. Helen Cho smiled at her.

"No need to be rushing Miss Stark." Piper shot her a look.

"Parker, Dr. Cho. Parker. What are we looking at?" Dr. Cho nodded and flicked her finger across a pad in her hand bringing up a chart. She handed Piper a lab coat and let her pull it on before she handed over the chart.

"Honestly he's looking quite well. He's a touch under the what would be an ideal temperature, but that seems common in subjects with similar… experiences." Piper nodded.

"It would run along the lines of the animal he's essentially been spliced with. Spidergirl runs differently temperature wise too as does Dr. Banner. Though I wouldn't call him an animal, the other guy either." Dr. Cho nodded making a few notes on a pad her assistant had handed her as Piper skimmed the pad in her hands.

"Is this live?" Dr. Cho nodded and Piper went back to the pad.

"You're right about his temperature but… carry the four… That should be standard for him now. Has there been any sign of transformation?" She didn't beat around the bush. There was no time for that now. Even though it had only taken her three hours to get there, thanks to her dads tech, but it was still seven in the morning the day after Dr. Cho had originally called her. Time changes were hell on her already anxious mind.

"No. Not yet. He's interacted with a few people so far. Some basic questions and tests. Nothing stressful no needles. Nothing that might trigger the transformation." Piper nodded.

"That's all well and good but we need to know what would happen if there was." She thought for a moment. "I'm going in." Dr. Cho looked like she wanted to protest but Piper held up a hand. "You've got the room he's in rigged for Hulk level sedatives, right?" Dr. Cho nodded sending her assistants away as the approached the room. "Have the switch at the ready. It wont hurt me, just knock me out for a few hours. If he's not… him, we need to know it now. Not when we've got him back out in the world." Dr. Cho caught her arm.

"What will you do if he's not himself?"

"Try again. I have to save him. It's my fault he's like this. He did this to save me. I have to do everything I can to save him." Dr. Cho's eyes softened and she shook her head slightly.

"Sometimes I forget just how young you are. We'll give you a signal when we're ready for you to go in. We'll flash that light twice." She pointed at the light above the door to Dr. Connors room. Piper nodded and Dr. Cho slipped into the room she'd sent her assistants into. Piper took a deep breath. She was steadying herself. She would be facing one of two things in there. A lizard it had taken help from the Avengers to subdue, or a scientist who should blame her for his altered DNA. If she had been a little faster he wouldn't have had to do it. She took another breath, this one shook and the light above the door flashed twice. No turning back now. She stepped into the room.

Dr. Connors was a little nervous. He'd woken up in a lab he didn't recognize, been told it was nearly three months after the last date he remembered and no one would give him a straight answer about what had happened. The last thing he remembered was being in the underground lab with Otto and Spidergirl. He'd attacked them. He'd meant to kill Otto. Meant to kill Piper when she got in his way. He clenched his fist trying to stop the shakes. The door clicked open and he looked up and froze. Piper stood in the doorway. She wasn't wearing her Spidergirl suit, at least it didn't look like she was. Instead she wore a t shirt, jeans and a white lab coat. He sat up carefully.

"Piper?" She nodded.

"How are you feeling doc?" He blinked at her as he sat up fully in bed. She took a tentative step forward. "Talk to me doc. Please."

"Piper. You're ok?" She nodded looking slightly relieved.

"Yeah doc, more worried about you to be honest." He blinked. She frowned. "What's the last thing you remember?" He paused. "You're safe here doc, we both are." She knew that Dr. Cho's staff had all signed airtight non disclosure agreements, they all liked their jobs too much to give away any secrets they saw or heard. He took a deep breath and nodded.

"The lab in the sewers. I was talking to Otto. He wouldn't help. He… he wasn't what he had been. I attacked him. Spidergirl intervened. I…" His voice shook. "I attacked her too." He shook tears spilling down his face. Piper stepped up to him and reached out carefully wrapping him in a hug.

"You're ok doc. We're gonna be ok." He sobbed into her shoulder. She nodded at the one way glass behind them. They were gonna be ok.

Tony frowned watching the footage on his screen. They had dealt with the base easily enough. Almost too easily. But that wasn't what he was looking at now. Right now he was watching old footage Natasha had lifted from the SHEILD database and dumped onto Piper's server. Why? Because it was footage of her in her SHEILD days, well Spidey's SHEILD days. She was good. Even as a trainee. Very good. Likely because she'd had a year of on the ground experience before she'd had much training. He wouldn't say before she had any training, because apparently all of the avengers except him had known she was Spidey before he did. Well except for Sam. But Sam was still new, he also wasn't here, apparently he was chasing a lead on Bucky. Tony shook himself and closed the footage as Nat stepped onto the jet.

"How's Spangles dealing with the authorities?" Natasha smiled.

"Pretty well, his French is a bit rusty but Clint knows enough for all of us and apparently Thor speaks something called Allspeak which we all just hear as our native language." Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Does that mean you heard him speaking Russian this whole time?" Natasha's smile turned secretive.

"Russian hasn't been my native language in a long time Stark." Tony rolled his eyes, ready to shoot back that technically one couldn't change one's native tongue, when the console started beeping. Tony tapped it and smiled, rushing to the back of the jet.

"Avengers! Get your asses over here I got something!" They gathered quickly. Tony pulled up the info. Cap frowned.

"I don't see what you're seeing." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Of course you don't Spangles." Bruce stepped forward.

"They've been hiding a base. A big one, this might be it! Hiding it by stacking other information on top of it." Tony nodded.

"Exactly. If I wasn't information matching what we have with every base we find it would have taken us years to find it!" Cap cleared his throat and Thor frowned.

"Find what?"

"Loki's scepter." Clint perked up.

"Where are we headed?" Tony glanced down at his screen.

"Sokovia."