Peter walked into Wyatt's room in MedBay. "Heard you have to stay another night."

Wyatt crossed his arms and frowned at Peter. "Just because I got a little lightheaded when I tried to stand up Dr. Cho made me get a whole other round of x-rays and scans." He looked over at Peter. "Remind me not to get hit over the head with a gun again."

Peter nodded. "She's just making sure you're ok. I think you'll still be ready to head back to Boston Sunday night." Peter slid into the chair next to Wyatt. "How is Jennifer really doing?"

Wyatt shrugged. "Not bad considering the last couple days. Steve talked to her when he came down to bring me some pajama pants and a t-shirt. He has an unbelievable ability to make all of this seem not completely crazy. It calmed her down some." He leaned back on the bed and looked at Peter. "The cats out of the bag about who we are, might as well go the no secrets route, right?" Wyatt hadn't fully committed to the idea yet but was warning up to it.

Peter leaned back and put his foot up on the bars on the side of the bed. "MJ knew I was Spider-Man before we started dating. When we did start dating I was still your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man who on occasion would go on a mission with the Avengers. I would tell her some stuff but the older I got and the more missions I went on the more things I saw. Things I didn't think she needed to be exposed to. Things I wanted to protect her from. Hell, things I wanted to protect everyone from." He looked over at Wyatt, "But it wasn't just the Avenger stuff. Things I'd see as Spider-Man on a normal Friday night in New York. People can really do some horrible things." He shifted a little before continuing. "The more I saw the more boxes I had to create to put stuff into. I had the classified boxes, the horrible things boxes, and the I got hurt and I didn't want you to know about it box. Eventually there were more boxes that I wouldn't allow her to see than boxes that she could see."

"That makes for a rough life." Wyatt realized there were big chunks of Peter's life they hadn't known about. He had opened up a lot the last couple days and he felt like it made them all stronger, more of a team.

"It does and it was what drove her to break up with me. When she came to Boston she said she wanted in all of the boxes. So that's what we do now. And she's handling it. She's handling it better than I ever gave her credit for. There's still a couple things I haven't been able to tell her but it's a work in progress." Peter shrugged, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's not the end of the world if you let someone into the boxes as long as you trust them and they actually want in the boxes.

Wyatt looked over at Peter again, "It's weird. We don't have the history you and MJ have but I trust her. I guess I just need to see if she really wants in the boxes. What's the plan for protection?"

Peter grinned, "When MJ went to Africa Bucky called T'Challa and they got Nakia to keep an eye on her." Peter realized Wyatt had no idea who Nakia was and barely knew who T'Challa was so he backed up. "Wakanda's version of the CIA is called the 'War Dogs'. Nakia is..." Peter frowned, "...maybe was, a War Dog. Now she does a lot more of the outreach stuff Wakanda has started but she's basically the Wakanda version of Nat. She's coming here and will act as MJ's bodyguard. MJ knows her and likes her so she won't push back too much. If Jennifer can get comfortable with it she'll just move into their guest room at the apartment. If not they'll put her next door. Depends on Jennifer."

Wyatt sighed. "Ok, I'll talk to her and see how comfortable she is with the idea. Who knows she may want to dump all of us and go home." Wyatt frowned at the thought. Pushing it aside he looked back over at Peter. "I was worried you were going to tell me Nat was going to do it. Jennifer hasn't warmed up to Nat yet."

Peter laughed, "That's plan B. And Jennifer doesn't like Nat because she can't figure your relationship out. Nat treats you like she does me...like a little brother. But Nat is...well...she's Natasha Romanoff. That's a little intimidating until you get to know her."

Wyatt laughed. He knew Peter was right in his assessment of how Jennifer viewed Natasha. "One more question...when did we become Avengers? I'm not complaining but it was a little anticlimactic."

Peter laughed as he stood up. "Yeah, I don't think anyone is ever asked. I'm not sure when we went from Natasha's junior Avengers to full fledged ones." Peter turned when he heard the door open. He smiled at Jennifer as she walked in. "Hey Jennifer. See if you can cheer him up some. He's got to spend another night down here."

Jennifer smiled and walked over to Wyatt's bed. "I'll do my best."

"See you later Wyatt. Tell FRIDAY to get me if you need anything." Peter closed the door behind him and headed back upstairs.

xxxxxxxxxx

The five boys made their way into the command center. At some point on Friday, Tony and Steve thought it would be best to brief all affected parties. Peter wasn't even sure what that meant until they walked into the command center to find standing room only. Peter whispered to Bobby and Johnny who happened to be standing on either side of him. "Do you have any idea what the combined IQ is in the room right now?"

"Pretty damn high." Johnny waived at Sue and Reed who were making their way over to Johnny and Wyatt.

Bobby spotted Professor Xavier and pulled Peter over. "Peter, I don't think you've met Scott or Jean before." Bobby turned to the two people flanking Professor Xavier. "Scott Summers, Jean Grey, this is Peter."

"Bobby's talked about you both. It's great to meet you in person. Scott, thanks for the assist with Firebrand. The information was helpful." Peter shook hands with all three. Before Peter could add anything, Tony walked up to the group. "Charles, can can I borrow Peter for a minute?" Tony steered Peter toward T'Challa. "Dad, why is everyone here?"

"Yeah, it got a little out of control. It's hard to imagine that all of this started with six of us battling Chitauri in New York. We thought it was only fair to let Reed and Sue know what's going on especially since Wyatt got hurt. Ross has been specifically targeting mutants which means Charles needed to be informed."

"Why is Dr. Strange here?" Peter glanced around at all of the faces. "And isn't that the giant guy?"

Tony followed Peter's gaze as they continued to move through the room, "That's Lang. He's big and little. Stephen was here this morning consulting on your electrical problem and what we discovered on how Davis makes portals and just decided to stay. He said he's representing the 'mystic arts'...I really just think he felt left out." Despite the condescending tone he used when he said 'mystic arts', Tony actually liked Stephen. Although if they spent too much time together they'd probably end up trying to kill each other. "T'Challa is heading back to Wakanda right after the briefing. He wanted to actually meet you. You stayed in the back of the room with Clint when we were in Wakanda before."

'That's because he's a head of state and I'm a teenager from Queens' Peter thought to himself. He looked up at the incredibly imposing figure that was T'Challa and his equally imposing body guard and extended his hand. "King T'Challa, I'm Peter."

"Peter, it's nice to finally meet you. And please, just T'Challa." T'Challa shook Peter's hand. "This is Okoye, General of the Dora Milaje." Okoye nodded at Peter but didn't move her hand off of her staff.

Peter thought he saw T'Challa roll his eyes at Okoye but he couldn't be sure. "T'Challa, thank you for allowing Nakia to help protect MJ."

T'Challa put an arm around Peter's shoulder. "You are welcome, although my approval was not needed. Nakia would have done it regardless of my opinion although I am more than happy to provide any assistance you might need. Nakia genuinely enjoyed spending time with MJ last summer and was more than happy to seize the opportunity to visit with her again. You can trust however that Nakia will keep her safe." He glanced over at Steve. "It appears that the briefing is starting momentarily but I did want to extend an offer to you and MJ to come spend some time in Wakanda this summer. We would love to show you our country and my sister has been dying to meet Spider-Man."

Peter nodded, "I'm sure MJ would love that." He nodded to both T'Challa and Okoye and made his way back to the rear of the room with his dad.

Steve waited for everyone else to settle down. Peter had always marveled at the ability Steve had to command attention without saying a word. He leaned against the wall next to his dad with the rest of his team standing in close proximity.

"Over the last couple months we've seen evidence of an increase in bio-engineering by a new fixer that is using a brain stem interface. We also have reason the believe that a new formula for a Super Soldier serum has been found. And then this past week we've seen evidence that a controller device has been perfected that also interfaces with the brain stem. We don't believe the fixer or the person with the controller technology are working on their own. We think they are potentially component parts of a larger plan." Steve glanced over at at Johnny, "who needs to control that much fire power. Imagine the damage that could be done if you have bio-enhanced individuals and super soldiers, both of which you can control."

Jean leaned forward in her chair next to Professor Xavier. "Hydra tried something similar a couple years ago with the Terrigen drug. Their plan was to essentially create an army of super powered mutants. Do we think Hydra is behind this?"

"No. I'd never thought I'd say this but it would be easier if it were Hydra. We feel like it's more likely that it's former Secretary of State Ross." Steve paused to let the murmurs die down. "Let me be clear. We do not have direct evidence proving his involvement but..."

"But with his recent anti-mutant rumblings it fits. He would need a super powered army to take on a group of mutants." Charles Xavier's expression was pensive. He had feared that a war was coming.

Steve nodded, "Ross has always had personal issues with anyone that has been altered. He also likes to be in control. That unfortunately puts most of the people in this room in his cross hairs."

xxxxxxxxxx

Information was distributed to all parties. The hunt for Sandhurst, their fixer, any evidence of controller tech, and anything that might link Ross to any of this. Nat hadn't had a lot of luck finding anything on her own. As much as she hated to admit defeat she welcomed the extra eyes.

Peter and Wyatt said good by to MJ, Jennifer, and Nakia in the morning. Peter hated the idea of MJ possibly being in danger and being so far away and he thought Wyatt felt the same about Jennifer. He trusted Nakia but he trusted himself more. The boys flew back to Cambridge that night and started school the next day. Everything was almost normal but they all knew it wasn't. They just weren't sure what to expect and when.