RATING CHANGE TO M- I need you guys to let me know, does this chapter push the envelope to an M-rating for this story? What do you think.

Also, I'm sorry... I listened to sad piano music again. This happened.

SLIGHT TORTURE CHAPTER. PROCEED WITH CAUTION

Violins…

That was the first thing Peter heard.

The music was a crashing of sound followed by some nicer sounds, but his brain couldn't muddle out the whys, whats or wheres.

His eyes were so heavy, they didn't want to open.

The song, something that sounded like it belonged in one of Steve's favorite Shakespeare stage-to-film movies, seemed to be coming to an end, and the violins gave one happy lift before quieting.

Peter finally felt his eyes open- into blinding light.

He flinched, his eyes screaming bloody murder at him, his whole body wriggling in discomfort.

"Ah, he's awake!" a voice called from Peter's left, towards his feet.

He was beginning to get his bearings; lying on a table- scratch that- strapped down on a table, bright light above him, unnaturally lethargic limbs, mush brain, strange person over there, and- oh, that's why he heard violins. Somebody had that boring 'classical' music playing.

The music came from all around him, must be 'surround sound'-

Peter's brain suddenly caught up with the actual depth of the situation, and his instincts kicked in. He began to pull at the restraints, using all his strength to tug them off, to be free. He squirmed, jerking as much as he could. He had to get out of here. Now.

The voice from before called out just as Peter began to feel the material around his wrists begin to give way.

Too late, though, as 4 pairs of hands attached themselves to him- he had yet to open his eyes against the bright onslaught above him, but he had counted them- holding him down as he squirmed. He may have been immensely strong for his age, even strong enough to probably take out the four people holding him down, but the restraints slowed him, and a needle was soon stuck in his neck, his very bones becoming much too heavy for him to be able to lift at a scarily fast rate.

"Well, that was a close one, wasn't it? Now now, Little One, wouldn't want you to get yourself hurt," the voice teased him, "Wow! Look at what you did to these restraints?! We'll have to get something a little sturdier now. Oh, my superiors are going to be so pleased with you! You're the perfect specimen! Literally, you are what everybody has been trying to create for the past- are you even listening?"

Peter's limbs had numbed to the point where he couldn't move them. Whatever they had put in that needle made it so he couldn't lift his limbs, and that scared him. He'd been attempting to move his arms again, only vaguely aware that the voice was talking. It wasn't until the table underneath him shifted, tilting forward mechanically.

The light moved out from his eyes, and he finally could see where he was. He was… on the helicarrier.

The millisecond of relief that coursed through him froze, turning his body cold as he noticed immediately the contents of the large lab he was in. The walls were covered in that same grey, metal plating that was everywhere in the helicarrier, and in some places there were holographic computer screens, just like the ones back in Daddy and Tony's lab, and he could even make out the familiar hum of the giant helicarrier's engines. What made Peter's blood chill, though, was the huge tubes of blue liquid on the far side of the room. Bubbles flew up from the bottom inside the liquid, and Peter could make out dark wiring on the inside near the top. Only one of the 5 tubes he counted was occupied, a huge blue-tinged being he'd never seen before, held floating in the liquid by black tubing and wiring coming down from above its head. Even scarier, the creature… only had a torso, head and arms. No legs, no lower body. Part of its face was even missing, an eye, and the skin of its left cheek was gone, revealing the inside of its mouth.

Peter thought he might throw up. Was the thing even alive?

"Do you like my pet?"

Peter jerked away as much as he could with his body still unresponsive to him. The voice from earlier now had a face, and it was staring right at him.

He couldn't tell if they were a woman or a man or what. They were human, or seemed to be, but their face was covered by a strange mask.

Peter tried to remember how he'd gotten here, and was suddenly flooded with a rush of memories. Northstar.

"W-where-" Peter's tongue felt like a wet cotton ball in his mouth, but he still tried, "Where's-"

"You're friend, Little One?" the person asked, "We killed him."

Peter's eyes widened, horror written all over his face as tears finally began to streak across his cheeks.

Northstar? Dead? Peter knew that this bad person, and whoever they worked for, must want him for something. Northstar was dead? They killed him?! If Northstar hadn't been near Peter when these bad people came to kidnap him, he might… might still be…

"Auuuuh, don't cry, Little One!" the voice cooed, breathing cold air uncomfortably against Peter's already irritated eyeball.

Peter shrunk away.

The person shrugged as they stepped away, sighing dramatically, "I can't have you crying just yet. That just means it'll be so much harder to savor it later when-"

A beeping came from the computer screen to Peter's right, and the person crossed over to answer. A scary lady appeared on a screen Peter could just make out in the corner of his eye after turning his still-somewhat-functioning neck to see what was going on.

This was bad, Peter thought to himself, very, very bad. The woman had… she had a HYDRA symbol on her clothes. Steve told him about HYDRA. They were the worst people on the planet, dangerous and pure evil. And they'd killed Northstar. To get to him. Northstar was dead, and it was his fault. He had gotten his favorite teacher killed. His friend.

Peter's tears began rolling down his cheeks uncontrollably, keeping his sobs silent as the woman's commanding voice could clearly be heard in the background.

"Dr. Smythe, I presume our subject is ready for the operation?"

The now-dubbed Dr. Smythe nodded their head, grinning slightly.

"Proceed."

A moment later, the screen went blank, and the doctor stepped up in front of Peter, still grinning.

"Now, Little One, it's time," he grinned, a whirring sound starting up from behind the still upturned table top Peter lay limply against, "We are going to make you forget everything. Anything you love, or anyone you hold dear, anything that makes you…" the doctor grinned, "You, just poof!" spittle flew from Dr. Smythe's mouth as he screamed out his laughter, a huge, shadowy machine with a hundred long tube 'arms' writhing around it rolling up beside him, "Now, now, we can't have a crying little boy in this amazing body of yours- no!" the doctor's voice dropped with that one word, his insanity clear, "HYDRA needs soldiers, strong and pure power, unstoppable. You, Little One, are everything we could hope for," the Doctor's voice changed, and their eyes shown down on Peter with awe, just as their arm raised above their head, seemingly without their notice, as though the arm itself was doing it autonomously.

In the doctor's hand, raised above their head, was a very sharp and very long needle.

Peter had never in his life felt the terror of that moment.

"Everything we could hope for," the doctor said hollowly, staring at Peter with unseeing eyes.

The needle jammed down.

Peter screamed.

(#)

One week, three days, twelve hours, and fourteen minutes after he had been informed, the Hulk hadn't turned back into Bruce Banner.

For obvious reasons, SHIELD held him in a special facility while the Banner was uncontrollable, one that, while not actually capable of holding him, held him long enough to drug him into submission- with the team's permission. They wouldn't have let Fury use knock out gas to keep the Hulk immobile unless it was necessary, and in this case, it was. 5 city blocks of Manhattan completely obliterated, 3 dead bodies, and a multitude of injuries were proof enough of that.

In the meantime the Avengers worked tirelessly, day and night, enlisting the help of the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Guardians, and anyone else willing to help. Thor appeared on the 5th day, back from Asgard with a vanguard of his most trusted warriors behind him, all quiet as the seriousness of the situation was evident to anyone who looked at the residents of Avengers Tower.

Natasha's hair was frizzed and unwashed, her eyes bloodshot from the many late nights of staying up, surfing through data streams and contacting old connections to call in favors. Tony, known for his sleepless nights, found himself on the receiving end of a Vulcan nerve pinch- something he quickly regretted showing Steve- a number of times as the American hero went down to his lab to find him 'working' with JARVIS, his eyes unseeing of the data before him, but unwilling to rest all the same. The man took it the hardest, being that he had only been 20 minutes out from the school when Peter was taken. 20 minutes earlier, and he would have been there to save Peter. He could've stopped them, he could have done somet-

"Tony," Steve shook the man, "you couldn't have done anything. Don't go there. There was nothing that could have been done."

Tony vaguely realized he'd been talking out loud. He stared at Steve, trying to comprehend what his eyes were seeing.

Steve sighed, reaching up for the spot between the man's neck and shoulder where, if he pressed hard enough, a simple pinch would render Tony unconscious.

However, the genius had seemingly had enough of this annoyingly efficient tactic for getting him to rest, "Yeah yeah, I'll go to bed. Quit with the nerve pinch. You shouldn't even know that. You're not Vulcan. How could you possibly know that?"

Tony's ramblings grew quiet as Steve slowly dragged him up the stairs and down the hall towards the genius' bedroom to put the poor man to sleep.

Steve sighed when the man had finally closed his eyes, and headed to the kitchen for a drink of whatever he could find. He didn't care if he couldn't get drunk, he could damn well try.

The team, his team, was falling apart at the seams. Even with the help of the X-Men, the Guardians, even SHIELD, Peter still had yet to be found. It was like he had disappeared off the face of the planet- not, Steve realized, that that was completely impossible.

However, Thor had his men scouting all of the nine realms in search of the tiniest clues to the boy's whereabouts.

Still, nothing.

Where could they be hiding Peter? Steve couldn't think clearly, as he headed towards his room. Wait, his room? Hadn't he been going towards the kitchen for a drink? Steve shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Tony might not be the only one in need of a good rest. Steve sighed and started walking again.

Wherever Peter was being held, Steve prayed that the boy was alright. He couldn't hope for the child's safety, as that was naive at this point, but if the boy was, at the very least, alive…?

Steve could only pray and hope.

Good news- Steve can do a Vulcan Nerve Pinch because he's uber duber strong

Bad news- this chapter was... woah. Peter... there was no hesitation, no reluctance on the part of the crazed doctor to torture Peter. It kinda made me feel sick writing this chapter, and it's not like all that much happened. I guess it's just the knowledge of what's to come that's got me feeling queasy.

HOMEWORK: (again, sorry!)

1) Name one item that is a COLLEGE ESSENTIAL to survive freshman year (on-campus). If you're not in college, that's ok! I'd love to hear your suggestions as well!

2) IF YOU ARE A WRITER, please tell me the full and accurate titles of one of your stories, and I'll read the first 5 sent to me!