The elevator chimes, stopping at the seventh floor before opening up, revealing the hallway outside my apartment, with everybody still sleeping.

Lazy Sunday.

I smile and walk towards the front door before it helpfully pops open for me, allowing me to open it with my foot.

"Thank you Karen." I say quietly before I hear May call out.

"Peter?"

"It's me." I smile and duck inside, making sure to hide what I'm carrying.

"Where'd you go? Your note didn't say where—." She demands before suddenly stopping, leaving me to smile as May covers her mouth while also looking ready to cry.

"Surprise." I laugh, then fully unveil the flowers I bought for her down the street, along with the box of chocolates and card. "Couldn't really tell you where I was going."

May chokes out a laugh that kind of sounds like a sob before I set the flowers down and May rounds the island in time to pull me into a hug.

"You're gonna crush your chocolates…" I complain as May hugs me as tightly as she can.

"Don't care." She gives me another squeeze. "They'll still taste great."

Yeah, that is true.

"Happy Mother's Day May. Love you."

May lifts her head off my shoulder, tears spilling down her cheeks before hugging me again. "Love you too."

"Your Belgian waffles ma'am, our fruit bar is just behind you to the right…" The waiter informs May as he deposits May's order of waffles, eggs and two strips of bacon in front of her. "Would you like a refill on your mimosa?"

"Oh no, that's fine—"

"Yes she would." I smile at our waiter, cutting May off.

The waiter smiles while May gives me a stern look, which we both ignore. "Alright, I'll get you that refill. Let me know if there is anything else I can do for you all."

"Thanks." I smile our waiter.

May does the same, adding "Thanks." Before he nods and walks away.

"I'll be back."

I nod at May as she grabs her plate and starts towards the fruit bar, then glance down and start arranging my pancakes, eggs and sausages.

This place is ridiculous. Some quick research online said this was the best brunch place in Queens, but still…

It's sort of a new age-y place, light strung down from the ceiling, open floor plan sort of thing. And it's completely packed.

I snag a portion of butter from the small container that they gave me, then spread it evenly throughout my pancake stack before glancing up to see May as she is working her way thru the fruit bar line.

Good. She's taking her time. Not just getting in and out, grabbing two blueberries and three strawberries before dashing back to get out of the way.

"Her mimosa…" The waiter flashes by, setting May's refill at her place before I smile at him in thanks, then make my first slice in the pancakes and take a bite.

Oh this is good.

May parks back at her seat, complete with a mountain of fruit and whipped cream before looking up and smiling at me. "What do you think?"

"Looks great." I laugh, mouth partially full.

"Yeah, I thought so too." She laughs, before we both dig into our brunch.

This is turning out as good as I could have expected. No snags, staff is nice, weather's good…

Giving the restaurant a casual glance around before turning back to my eggs and smiling at May, who is eying me.

"What?"

"I can't believe you pulled this off."

I laugh, then set my fork down. "Why?"

"I didn't notice." She explains, then leans forward. "Every year on my birthday I always notice you trying to hide my present."

True.

"Watch out this year then." I joke, and May laughs before covering her mouth with her napkin.

She takes a moment to tuck herself back in, then smiles at me again. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks." I smile, then focus in on my plate.

"No, I'm serious. We've come so far in the last couple of years." She says earnestly. "Just barely making it, getting by, figuring everything out with Ben, you never complained. Then you applied for that internship and…"

Plate.

"—now look where we are." May finishes her soliloquy with a huge smile. "You've got a big job, doing well in school…I'm just really proud of you."

"Thanks." I glance up again, then right back down. "Happy said you were thinking about doing more volunteering?"

May nods heartily, then takes a bite of her waffle. "Yeah. It'll probably be after your trip. Maybe with the Untied Way, Salvation Army or something like that. Pepper wants me to come down to…talk about maybe doing something for her."

"Really?"

"Yeah." May nods. "She didn't mention it to you?"

I shake my head, then take another bite of pancake. "Haven't talked to her since …everything."

I figure she's too busy.

"She probably wants to talk to me before she talks to you about it."

Yeah, probably.

"Yeah." I nod, then keep it moving. "How about when I'm on my trip?"

"Actually, I was thinking of going up to the coast with Annie, Jen and Carol."

Her best friends from college.

"That sounds great." I light up and smile again. "How long?"

"Week and a half." She shrugs, then sips her mimosa. "Then come back down here, put the house back together, then come up and greet you when you get back."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

I really didn't want her rattling around the house worrying about me as I'm out in space.

May nods before I continue working thru my pancakes. "Any news on that?"

"Not really." I shake my head. "You know I was supposed to head up there this weekend, but my party plans kind of ruined that idea."

"Sure. 'Ruined'." May teases me, using air quotes around 'ruined', then laughs and sets her silverware aside. "You guys seem to be doing okay."

"That's because you missed her getting mad at me."

"For what?" May's eyes drop down sternly.

I shrug, then nervously grab my napkin. "Some random chick tried grabbing me and Michelle kind of thought it was a thing."

"Was it? A thing, I mean."

I shake my head strongly. "No, no."

"So she got jealous."

May.

I drop my napkin into my lap and give May quick look before she laughs at me. "Not like that."

"Sounds to me like that."

"It's really not." I insist.

"Don't believe him, the video totally makes her look jealous." I hear behind me, then see May react before I turn back and see Romanoff and Bruce as they pull up chairs beside us.

"Sorry to barge in. But we figured that we'd let you guys enjoy at least part of your brunch in peace." Bruce smiles at both of us while Romanoff gives May a hug around the shoulder, then squeezes past her to sit down. "Happy Mother's Day May."

"Thank you…" May says, looking a little overwhelmed before composing herself and asking "Did you all plan this?"

"No, this was all Peter." Romanoff smiles at me. "We just saw his reservations and decided to tag along."

Tag along?

Before I can ask what she means, our waiter pop back by, and Bruce easily orders two coffees for the two of them before he turns to me.

"Does May need another refill?"

"Nah." I shake my head. "Already got her one."

"No, I…no." May says strongly before blushing. "I'm not that bad."

"I know." Bruce smiles at her while Widow nods to our waiter that our order is complete. "Just asking."

"What do you mean tag along, by the way?" I turn and ask as May takes another bite of waffle.

"Nothing really. Just wanted to pass along something from Fury to May." Romanoff explains.

Huh?

"The new plan, at least for this week is to pick up Peter after he gets out of Decathlon on Tuesday." Bruce begins, then pauses as the coffee arrives for them. Once the waiter's gone, he continues.

"After we pick up Peter, Fury wanted us to swing by and pick you up."

May blinks at him before asking "Pick me up?"

"He thought you'd want some concrete details about this trip. We're having a meeting that night with some of the power players and he wants to invite you. Ease some of your concerns."

"I'm not really all that concerned." May laughs, only for it to come out hollow. "You're all going with him right?"

"Most of us." Romanoff concedes. "We're bringing along some other friends that have some business to take care of out in space too."

So Fury wants everyone in on the same page.

And he's staying in May's good graces. Smart move.

"Other friends?" May asks.

"You'll meet them. Peter's already met a couple of them. They're good, right Peter?"

I don't know who they're talking about.

"Yeah." I smile. "They're cool."

"You'll like them. Plus Mack ,the guy in charge wants to make sure you aren't concerned." Bruce reveals, then smiles at May.

They don't believe that she's not worried.

"Anyway though, that's for Tuesday." Romanoff laughs as Bruce sips his coffee, then winces. "Today…we have tickets to go down to Broadway and see any show you want."

WHAT?!

May quickly looks taken aback as she pulls out four tickets, ink printed on them and everything. "When'd you—?" She turns to me.

"Not him." Bruce laughs as he takes one of my napkins for his coffee. "This is from Nat and I. We guessed you hadn't seen a show in awhile."

May quickly looks overwhelmed again before Romanoff smiles and gives her another hug. "Happy Mother's Day."

"—not really a schedule. There's been an increase with everything Thor's bringing in to help rebuild Asgard…" Happy tells May as they walk, doors in front of us opening for them.

My phone lights up in my hand, and I quickly swipe to the message.

"I'm surprised you didn't even tell Ned you were going somewhere. How far is this flight again?" - Michelle

Can't tell you that. Otherwise you'll be able to pinpoint where the base is.

"Never told you that. Sorry. Gotta go, we're about to take off."

Sending off the text, I slip my phone back into my pocket as May and Happy drift off to the glass wall on the right where—

Whoa. That's gotta be the biggest ship I…

Actually, Itake that back. The FlyingDonut was bigger, I guess.

But what is that?!

I hear a laugh behind me, then turn to see Hill walking this way. "Spotted it already?"

"Whose ship is that?"

"Ours." Hill comes up even with me as I turn back to the window, where the massive blackship is parked in the center of the tarmac. "It's S.H.I.E.L.D's."

"S.H.I.E.L.D built that?" I glance back to Hill.

Hill nods. "Yup. They're working on it now, It's how you're getting out to space."

Guess that makes sense.

"How's Michelle?"

"Fine." I shrug.

Didn't like me just bolting after practice today. I think she might have had something planned.

"Just fine?" Hill asks before I glance over to see her glancing at me.

"Yeah." I dismiss the idea with a nod. "Practice was fine, I left to come here. Didn't tell her that, though, you know. Because—"

Quick, throw her off the idea that Michelle thinks that I'm coming up here…

"I read your texts. You remember that right?" Hill laughs at me. "I saw you guys talk the whole ride up here."

Yeah, well…

Hill kindly redirects me to a sliding door out towards the tarmac.

"Okay. I won't tell you to fly safe then. Talk later?" – MJ

"Yeah, sure. Meetings and stuff. But I'll text you. Hope work doesn't suck too much."

The closer we get to the enormous black ship, the louder the construction sounds become, with drills and metal saws and workers.

That don't look…human?

"Uhm." I start, then stop.

I'm gonna sound ridiculous.

"No, you're right. They're aliens. Some friends from the Nova Corps. They're installing a interstellar drive on the Zephyr so you guys can get there on time without having to take weeks to get there."

"So they're on our side?" I ask, and Hill nods.

"Yup. And word has gotten out."

"About?" I reply, then glance back to see a group of three, stopped and staring at me.

Uhh.

"Hi." I speak up, unsure if I even should, before the three all scurry away.

What?

I turn back to Hill, looking amused. "Everyone they've seen is in uniform."

And I'm not. I'm in a polo and jeans.

"So they thought I was weird."

"We're all weird to them." Hill shakes her head. "C'mon, they all should be right in here."

Hill takes point, and I follow her around the plane to where the loading bay door is down, and multiple people are maneuvering around. "Hey hey hey." A man jumps in between us and the rest of the ship. "No kids. Sorry ma'am."

"This isn't a kid. Where's Agent Johnson?"

"Daisy's…busy." The man clearly lies. "Who are you?"

"I'm Hill."

The man's eyes bulge before he takes a step back. "Oh, uhm…okay. I'll…give me a second." He blabs, then dashes over to a console and starts tapping away on a screen while grabbing an old school style phone.

"Daisy's here?"

"This is her plane." Hill confirms.

"Okay, then why'd he freak out like that?"

"Well." Hill makes a face, then turns to me. "They all kind of hate me."

HATE HILL?!

"Why?"

"Miscommunication years back. Nearly lead to one of their team members dying because of it. Big long story. But they still don't totally trust me." Hill explains while the shifty guy glances back at us for an instant, then turns away when he sees us looking at him, all while talking into the phone.

Okay, makes sense I guess.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter now. But I understand why they don't totally trust me, so it's fine. I guess." Hill looks away, not looking fine. "I'm going to head back in. Meeting's in an hour. I'll text you."

Hill smiles before I reply "okay, sounds good." And Hill leaves me in the hanger bay just before the guy hangs up the phone.

"Where'd your Mom go?" Shady Guy asks me.

My MOM?!

"She's not my Mom."

"Then why'd she bring you up here?"

Because I know Daisy.

"Who are you, again? I must have missed your name." I change topics, then turn and smile at the man.

"Oh, yeah." He laughs, then extends his hand to me. "Deke Shaw. I'm…well, it's hard to explain."

That's a theme with these guys.

"Who are you?" He follows up.

"I'm nobody." I answer. "A technician that wanted to check up on how everything's going."

"Oh." Deke's face goes slack. "I think you'll want to talk to Simmons about that, she knows this place better than anybody really."

He knows Simmons too?

Again, before I can think of something to say, he speaks up again. "Oh, here she is." Before raising his hand helpfully to flag her down.

Yup, it's her.

Daisy slips thru a doorway, then down a few stairs before smiling at me. "Hey, didn't know you were coming so soon. I heard something about some school thing? I thought you were out of school."

"I am, it's with my school. Academic Decathlon." I explain.

"What's that?" Deke asks before Daisy waves him down.

"Google it. And keep an eye on things out here. C'mon Peter." Daisy orders him then waves for me to follow her.

"Oh, yeah." Deke says suddenly. "He needs to talk to Simmons. He's some kind of technician…?"

Daisy's eyebrows furrow before she responds "Thanks Deke." and leads me deeper into the ship.

What a idiot.

"Who is that guy again?"

"He's…a old friend." Daisy shakes her head. "And you're not exactly a technician."

Wait. Does she know who I am?

"It's the first thing that popped into my head. You don't know who I am." I counter.

Daisy nods. "That is true. But you are important, and a good kid. So don't make me regret bringing you in here on faith. I kind of have a guess though."

"What's the guess?"

"Well, it's not really a guess. More like a girl. Brunette, lives in New Jersey?"

Michelle.

"Yeah…?"

Daisy laughs, then flashes a badge, allowing us deeper into the ship. "Relax, I don't really care. It's just that a couple members of our team got assigned to keep an eye on and evaluate this girl we don't know."

So they're the ones doing the evaluation…

"And?"

"She's fine." She shrugs. "Boring. Works, listens to music. Talks to somebody on her phone thru text all the time. Probably a boyfriend. You know anything about that?"

"Boyfriend?" I ask. "No, I didn't know she had a boyfriend.

She's always talking…to me.

"Interesting." Daisy muses. "What's her name?"

"If your friends are evaluating her, you already know her name." I counter.

She just wants me to talk.

"Yeah, but maybe you'll…loosen up." Daisy smiles, then shakes my shoulders. "I don't know what you and Stark got into together, but it's got you more tightly wound than." She hesitates, then sighs. "I don't even know."

"Sorry." I apologize. "Kind of hard to trust people with all…this." I gesture around us.

"The Avengers? Yeah, I bet. Whole big secret, probably winds you up tight."

"Yeah." I laugh before a large man turns away from another conversation, spots the two of us then lets out a huge smile.

"Daisy…you know who that is?"

Daisy turns to look at the man, a surprised expression, before giving me a skeptical look. "Maybe not."

"It's an honor. Alphonso Mackenzie. Everybody around here calls me Mack." The large man says, moving to shake my hand.

I return the gesture and smile.

He's the S.H.I.E.L.D Director. He's the boss.

"Yeah, Hill's mentioned you. She lieks you guys, said you guys sort of do your own thing." I divert the conversation.

Mack shrugs then leads us towards a hallway. "Only because we've been forced to. Any attempts to reintegrate with the larger picture has turned up…messy."

Like robots floating in the ocean.

"I've read." I nod.

"So. Who is he? Genius with a ton of intel. Very close to Tony Freaking Stark." Daisy says, emphatically.

"And super fast reflexes, a adaptable suitby the looks of it and a passport that has 'Space' stamped on it." Mack says, then smirks at me.

Ahh. He knows. Makes sense, S.H.I.E.L.D Director would need to know if he spotted me one day.

Daisy doesn't say anything for a moment, then turns to me with a stunned look. "No way."

"Yeah."

"You're…Spider-Man?" She says quietly, then peeks around us to ensure nobody heard her.

I nod, then smile. "That's me."

"See. And you gusy are already friends. Nice to have friends in high places." Mack chides Daisy, who rolls her eyes at him.

"Shut up." She retorts before looking back to me. "I…well now it makes a lot more sense. No wonder you were so damn paranoid last time I saw you."

"But I'm better now." I quickly add.

I am.

"I can tell." She replies, then gently pushes my arm. "So, what's the deal? You're not an Inhuman?"

Nope.

I shake my head before Mack adds. "Then what is it?"

"A lame story. Bit by a spider on a field trip. Got sick, stayed home from school, slept. Woke up as…this."

Mack and Daisy exchange a look. "That is kind of lame." Mack brutally monotones.

"How long'd it take you to figure everything out?" Daisy peppers me.

I can't stop a smile while I answer "Still kind of am. Juggling."

"Not really, if you can beat a purple alien in three days."

I didn't do that.

Feeling helpless, I shrug. "So." Mack helpfully chooses the moment to jump in. "What vbrings you here? What can we do for you?"

"Just seeing what's going on. What the plan is."

Daisy brightens up then takes the lead. "The plan? Get the bad boy space worthy in the next 9 days so we all can go to space."

"You're coming?" I smile.

I didn't know that. I don't know who all is coming.

"Yeah." Mack nods. "We'll be with you for the first leg of the journey, but after that we have a little mission of our own to handle."

"Other mission?"

This time, Daisy answers. "Yeah. We…sort of lost a teammate. One of our best people. He's somewhere out in space. Been working with some outer space contacts given to us to pinpoint where he is. And I think we've got it nailed down."

So a rescue mission.

Last time Daisy said that it's not like a team. Their team is a family. So it makes sense that they're willing to go all the way out into space to bring him home.

"That's awesome. Sounds promising."

"It is." Mack smiles. "Gonna take some work but we've got a good feeling about it."

"And we're due some luck." Daisy adds as my phone vibrates in my pocket.

"Upside to my job: No meetings. Never boring." –Michelle

That's not true. She's complained about the slow days, when it rains and nobody comes in.

"Is that her?" Daisy asks, sounding happy before I turn my phonee over to hide the screen from her.

"Her?" Mack asks.

"The girl that Hunter and Bobbi are following? I think that's his girl."

"She's not my girl." I frown.

Daisy gives me a look. "Then why's she texting you here at the Avengers compound? Does she know?"

"No, of course not. What are you crazy?"

They're crazy.

"Well, if you do like her/" Mack laughs. "Being a superhero is a really good card to play."

No. I wouldn't want it like that. That'd be super cheap and….

No.

I shake my head and slip my phone back into my pocket. "Are you guys coming to this meeting?"

"Yeah." Mack nods, then checks a clock on the wall. "Speaking of that, we'd better get going."

He leads the way back towards the loading bay before Daisy laughs. "You know, most people would think having superpowers would help you get the girl."

"Stop." I request, continue following Mack all the way out of the ship.

"Any idea what this is supposed to be about by chance?" Mack turns back and asks. "I just know time and place and that we're supposed to be there."

I shrug. "Some details , uhm…"

I don't think I should say that.

I can trust these guys, but I can't just tell them about May.

"Yes?" Daisy helpfully adds.

"I brought some people along with me. Assure them while we go off into space."

"Your mom's here?" She instantly beams.

"No."

Mack hums his assent then adds "Yeah, you'd probably want to know what's going on. Help you sleep better."

Exactly.

We walk off the plane, towards the smooth glass before slowly they start to slow down.

"Where's the door?" Daisy turns to me.

I smile, already pulling out my phone. "Karen, can you let us in?"

"Who is—?" Mack starts before the glass in front of us parts, allowing us inside.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome Peter. Director Fury is awaiting you all on the 4th floor, in his office."

I nod as we walk in, then let the glass slide shut behind us. "We're on our way."

Out of the corner of my eye I see Mack and Daisy lean conspiratorily together.

"Did you know about…this?" He asks her.

"No." She hisses back. "He's totally different now."