"Master Peter, I'd like to remind you of the Bedtime Protocol."
"I've still got half an hour. Besides, it's Saturday. Can't I stay in the lab a little longer?" Peter asked, adjusting his microscope.
"You'll have to take it up with -"
"Yeah, yeah. I know, Jay."
"What are you working on? Perhaps I can help."
"It's just some homework stuff. I've got to do it on my own."
"Alright, if you insist. Be mindful of the time please."
"I will, thanks, Jay."
Peter frowned as he adjusted the microscope again, then turned to his findings. He was pretty sure he had figured out what was going on, but he needed to do more testing on both his blood and the spider to be absolutely sure. This meant that unless he wanted Jay - and thus the rest of his family - to know, he'd have to be sneaky.
Did he not want them to know?
"… Jay?"
"Yes, Master Peter?"
"If I tell you something, can you keep it from Dad and the others?"
"So long as neither you nor anyone else gets hurt, then I would never betray your confidence."
Peter bit his lip and nodded.
"All samples indeed show evidence of Extremis, though an extremely modified version of the serum."
Peter nodded, watching Jay's findings scroll past from where he was carefully perched on the ceiling over a pile of mats. "Extremis was likely just a starting point."
"I would suggest it was paired with another unknown serum based on our findings, but without the base formula used on Weaver, neither hypothesis can be proven."
"Yeah," Peter sighed, letting himself fall. He should have paid more attention to Oscorp's formula once he'd realized it had Extremis in it. "It's all stable, right? I'm not going to blow up?"
"None of the samples - yours or Weaver's - show signs of instability nor the defect that resulted in spontaneous combustion. Your temperature is also significantly lower than even Ms. Potts."
"Really? What am I at now?" he hummed, checking that the band on his upper arm Jay was using to monitor him was still in place.
"Approximately twenty-six degrees Celsius."
Peter coughed. "Significantly lower is an understatement! That temperature is hypothermic!"
"I am aware. However, as your body is showing no other signs of hypothermia, I assumed it was a result of your new… adaptations. Spiders are poikilothermic after all."
"Okay," Peter whined, rubbing his face. "New fear, am I going to die if I go outside in the snow?" He tried to remember what he knew about poikilothermia, but all he could think about were reptiles getting sick if they were too hot or cold. He was pretty sure they were a different kind of endotherm though.
"We would need to monitor your body's reactions in such a situation, but there are spiders that can survive in extremely low temperatures."
"Is Weaver one of them?"
"He appears to be a hybrid of multiple spiders. Given that and the mutations caused by the serum, it is hard to be sure what went into it."
"I guess we've got some more tests to run."
"I'll add them to the list."
"I would like to remind you that I do not agree with this course of action," Jay said over the communicator in his ear.
"All the tests we've done in the lab have gone well. It's time for a field test!"
Jay gave a sigh.
"Is the drone recording?"
"Everything is ready."
"Then let's go!"
Despite his words, Peter hesitated a moment before aiming his new web-shooter at the building across from him and jumping.
"Master Peter, it is approaching five o'clock. I would suggest heading home if you wish to be there before Miss Nebula."
"Yeah, okay," Peter said, turning to the Dron-E Mark I, a drone he'd specifically built so Jay could watch out for him while out as Spider-Man.
Originally he'd just used a normal one, but he'd quickly realized Jay needed something that would go unnoticed. The new one was barely the size of Peter's hand and quite fast. It was even styled like a spider.
"Want to race home?"
"On your mark," Jay said in lieu of an answer.
Peter jumped to his feet and shot a web. "Get set!"
A scream startled them and they turned to see a speeding car come swerving around a corner, followed by a police car. Peter tracked it with his eyes and he gasped when he saw it heading for a bus. Without even thinking, Peter was swinging down after the car. He landed between it and the bus just before it could hit, gripping the ground with his feet to catch it. Then he leaped onto the car's hood and swung away.
All of which happened in a few seconds.
"Are you alright, Master Peter? I should call Sir," Jay said as soon as it was over.
"What? No! I'm fine, Jay! Don't call Dad!" He landed on a building and turned to the drone that flew up to his face.
"You jumped in front of a car."
"I caught it! No one was hurt!"
"You endangered yourself."
"I had it perfectly under control. No danger, nope."
"You -"
"I'm okay. The people on the bus are okay. The police got the bad guys. Everything turned out fine. Please, Jay, you said you wouldn't say anything as long as no one got hurt!"
There were a few moments of silence then Jay said, "I will think about it. You need to go home now."
"Thanks, Jay." He bumped his knuckles against the drone like he was giving it a fist bump then leaped off the roof.
Tony was reading through the minutes for the latest UN meeting about the enhanced regulations that were under consideration when F.R.I.D.A.Y. called out to him. "What's up, Baby Girl?"
"The Reborn Algorithm has turned up someone new."
He raised an eyebrow and pushed the minutes aside. "Lay it on me."
She brought up a video and played it for him. "The subject appears to possess enhanced strength and speed at the very least."
"What about whatever that was they used to get away?"
"I'm not sure. It appears to be very fine, yet quite strong."
"Kind of like Onesie there. Keep them on the list. Try to get a sample of that string for me."
"You got it, Boss."
"Please tell me you didn't know about this," Rhodey said as he marched into the mansion's foyer from the armor bay and spotted Vision walking through the front door.
The android shook his head, his skin returning to his usual metallic colors. "I have been staying with Mr. Parker as Nebula went with Ms. Potts to Tokyo and Mr. Hogan is with Mr. Stark in California. I never received any call about a mission."
Rhodey smirked as they headed upstairs. "Your first time babysitting, huh? How did it go?"
"Quite well, although he did try to convince me that, given our relative ages, he was actually babysitting me."
Rhodey chuckled. "If we went by that logic, then Dum-E should be babysitting all of you."
His amusement quickly fled when he came into the common area to see Romanoff, Rogers, and Wilson lounging around.
"Rhodes?" Romanoff said, catching sight of them.
"Hey, Colonel," Wilson greeted, turning to them. "Vision."
"Hello," Vision replied.
"Good to see you both," Rogers said, standing. "I thought you weren't supposed to be back from base for another week."
"I wasn't, but then we heard about Lagos." Rogers frowned, but Rhodey continued before he could say anything. "We've got a call waiting for us in the conference room. Where's Maximoff?"
"In her room."
"I will retrieve her," Vision offered, heading off towards the housing wing.
"Leave her. She's taking everything hard," Rogers called.
Vision got a soft look on his face and nodded. "I will keep that in mind." Then he phased through the wall.
Rhodey, like the rest of the ever-expanding Stark clan, really didn't know what to make of the connection growing between Maximoff and Vision. None of them trusted her still, but as per Tony's policy of not wanting to control his children - or grandchildren as the case may be - no one was willing to step in their way.
Although, Rhodey knew he wasn't the only one preparing a shovel talk just in case their relationship ever went beyond weird glances.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Rhodey focused on stopping Rogers' further arguments. "She needs to be here for this."
"She should be allowed time to pull herself together. She's just a kid."
"She's twenty-five," Rhodey snorted. "At her age, we were both serving our country. She's an adult and should be treated as such."
The captain opened his mouth, but no arguments came.
Rhodey turned and led them to the conference room.
"What's going on, exactly?" Wilson asked.
"We've got questions." He opened the door and was surprised to see Ross and Drew already on the screens.
"I took the liberty of answering their calls for you."
Rhodey turned and sighed when he saw his best friend lounging in a plush chair that definitely didn't belong in the conference room. He was tucked into the corner so he wouldn't be seen from the entrance and was draped over the chair like it was a throne.
Leave it to Tony to make a grand return.
"Stark? What are you doing here?" Rogers asked.
"Couldn't stay away?" Romanoff teased.
Rhodey rolled his eyes and gave his friend the most passive look he could. "Aren't you supposed to be in California?"
"And miss the party?"
"Pepper's going to kill you."
Tony waved him off. "The project's ahead of schedule, even with Rinehart throwing his fits. It's all set for the demo at MIT next month. Now, I'm pretty sure we're not here to talk about my tendency to skip out on work."
"We aren't," Ross agreed, sounding annoyed with Tony's antics. "Please sit."
Rhodey sat at the table and the others followed, sending Tony looks when he didn't join them.
"What is this about?" Rogers asked.
"We're still missing two," Drew pointed out.
"Vision went to inform Maximoff," Rhodey explained.
"We'll wait then," Ross said. Before Rogers could object, the CIA operative turned to Tony. "How are the Guardsmen coming along?"
"They're doing great. Mer's still a little bit upset he barely ever gets to blow things up, but otherwise, they're coming into their own well." He pointed at Drew when her eyes lit up. "It's still a no. The kids need a few more years of life experience, at least, before I'd feel comfortable sending them into combat. Besides, I think it might still be a little too soon for the public, especially given recent circumstances."
Rhodey glanced at the other Avengers, only to see them staring at Tony. Romanoff's face was blank, but Rogers and Wilson both looked concerned.
"He wants to blow things up and you're still considering sending them into a combat zone?" Romanoff asked, her voice merely curious despite the obvious judgment in her words.
Drew snorted and muttered something her microphone didn't pick up, but Rogers sent her a disapproving glance anyways. She flipped him off, but - probably by design - the Captain didn't see it since he turned to Tony as he began to speak.
"He's a kid. Kids like to blow things up. Especially teenage boys, trust me. You should see the list of things Rhodey and I blew up in college."
Rhodey rolled his eyes. "Don't include me in your band of pyromaniacs."
"You know you loved it, Sourpatch," Tony said, winking flirtatiously.
"Tony, this is serious," Steve interrupted. "It's not a kid. It's a robot. You need to be careful or it will turn into another Ultron."
Rhodey slapped his forehead while both Ross and Drew sighed.
Tony's eyes narrowed. "First of all, that AI was never Ultron and if you even think about calling him such in front of one of my kids, you'll have no one to blame for what happens but yourself so don't think I'll be paying for your funeral."
All three scowled at the threat.
"Pick up a newspaper, I know they had those in your time. His name was V.I.R.G.I.L. Second, if you ever compare one of my kids to HYDRA's monster again, a funeral will be the least of your worries," Tony finished with a cheerful smile.
"Agreed," J.A.R.V.I.S. and F.R.I.D.A.Y. said as one and the three jumped.
Before anything else could be said, Vision and Maximoff walked in.
"Did we miss anything?" Vision asked.
"Nope," Tone said, popping the p. "How'd the side project go?"
Vision gave a surprised smile. "Oh, hello, Mr. Stark. It went fine. I suppose it's over now that you are back?"
"Yeah, I'll take it off your hands. Thanks. You know you're always welcome to come over whenever. You're family. Speaking of which, are you ever going to call me grandpa?" Tony pouted and Maximoff's nose wrinkled up.
Rhodey knew that was the intention, though. Reminding her of their connection was Tony's one way of rebelling against Vision's choice of crush.
"Perhaps one day," Vision said, pulling out a chair for Wanda.
"I'll take it. Better than your father and some of his siblings," Tony said with a pointed look at one of the room's cameras.
"You know you love it, Boss."
Vision chuckled and took his own seat. "Shall we begin?"
"Yes, thank you, Vision," Ross said. "We can start with what you four were thinking showing up in Nigeria without telling anyone."
Rogers crossed his arms. "All due respect, we don't work for you. We don't have to give you details on missions you aren't involved in."
"I don't know if you've realized this, but you don't work for S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore," Drew pointed out. "We don't have a nobody knows all the secrets pact here."
Ross nodded. "If you don't keep us updated, we can't give you the background support you need."
"We've run plenty of missions that you two weren't involved in," Romanoff said.
"Actually, we haven't," Rhodey cut in. "At least, not since Tony left. This would be the first."
Drew tilted her head in his direction. "Without Iron Man to run point, the job fell to us."
"Steve is our leader," Maximoff argued and the other three agreed.
"In the field, of course," Drew allowed. "But he does not possess the skills to do the research needed for missions, to establish clearance for you to be where you need to be, or to have the proper authorities ready to do clean up and assist any civilians that might have gotten caught in the crossfire. This disaster only proves such."
"With all due respect, Ma'am," Rogers said, "we did everything we could."
"With all due respect, Captain, that isn't enough," Drew said, staring him down. "You went into a foreign country illegally, you had no first responders on standby so it took longer for people to receive help after the fact, and the local authorities had no idea what was going on and therefore could not provide you with the proper assistance."
"You also didn't have your full team with you," Ross added. "I already know Rhodes wasn't involved as he contacted us as soon as he found out what happened. Vision, can I assume the same for you?"
The android nodded. "I only discovered what happened half an hour ago when I saw it on the news. I came straight here to speak to the others."
"They were both on leave, we didn't have any reason to think they would need to be called in," Rogers stated and Vision frowned.
"I was not on leave," he argued. "I told you when I left that I was merely staying elsewhere for a short time and that I would be nearby if you needed me."
"But we didn't need you," Wanda said, setting her hand on his arm. "We didn't want to pull you away from what you were doing."
"Clearly you did need him," Drew pointed out.
"Enough," Rogers said, standing up. "Sir, Ma'am, I'm grateful for the assistance you've provided for us before, but you are not apart of this team and we do not work for you. I will not sit back and listen to you berate my team like this."
Drew scowled and opened her mouth.
"End call," Rogers snapped then turned to Tony as their pictures disappeared from the screen.
"Well that was a hot mess," Tony sighed. "If Jessy wasn't mad before, she certainly is now. Fri, remind me to put together a gift basket for her, maybe include some of those fancy bath grenade things she likes too."
"They're bath bombs, and I'm already on it, Boss."
"Do you think this is funny?" Rogers growled.
Tony looked at him over the bridge of his glasses. "Pretty sure I just called it a hot mess."
"I can't believe you had those two spying on us."
Tony laughed. "Is that what you got out of that?" He stood up and brushed at the wrinkles on his suit jacket. "Rogers, why do you think the military has people that work the PR and politics scenes?"
"We're not a military," Steve said instead of answering.
"You're right, the Avengers are a bunch of civilians. Which means we need to keep face even more than a military unless we want to be labeled vigilantes, or worse." He pushed up his glasses. "I left you in the hands of Ross and Drew as well as a PR team because I knew you couldn't manage it on your own. I can't force you to use them, but you're going to regret it if you don't. Read the room, Rogers. The tide is changing and you're going to be swept away if you don't start paying attention to what's going on out there in the real world. Worse still, you might end up dragging all of us with you."
With that, he turned and left.
"Stark!" Rogers shouted after him, but Tony didn't respond.
"I can't believe him," Wilson huffed.
Rhodey sighed, but decided not to start a fight over it. Glancing at Vision, he saw him come to the same decision.
I couldn't help but throw a reference to Mysterio in there.
The Reborn Algorithm is named after Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, which had been called Avengers Reborn for a time while in development. Thought it was fitting since it's meant to be keeping an eye out for the next generation of Avengers using social media and the like.