Junior Avengers in Training

Thaddeus Ross had not been happy when his attempt to take control over the Avengers had failed. He had tried and failed to get them disbanded, outlawed, and branded vigilantes following his failed takeover, but he was no match for the team's supporters, defenders, and Peggy Carter. Years of running SHIELD and using the U.N. as a cover for what she really did had left Peggy with a great number of allies, as well as markers given to her by grateful heads of state and world leaders for her help. Peggy had called on her allies and cashed in her markers, and was now overseeing the Avengers with the U.N. 's blessing. With the Avengers out of his reach Ross created his own team of enhanced and highly trained and skilled people, but the Thunderbolts proved to be more trouble than helpful. Especially when the team went rogue and international.

They were tracking a member of the Thunderbolts known as Crossbones who was leading a team looking to get their hands on biological material held in a secret medical compound in a country they had no business in. Sam and Vision were perched above the route the mercenaries would have to take to the compound, while Steve watched the area from within. Meanwhile, Natasha and Wanda were being inconspicuous on the ground while watching over any possible exit routines. While Ross had been hell bent on transparency where the Avengers were concerned, wanting to out their civilian identities, he was keeping the identities of his Thunderbolts classified. Peggy had had a suspension as to why, which led to the second goal of this op. Identify Crossbones.

Once the attack on the compound happened, everyone jumped into action. Wanda was able to use her powers to move Steve around the battlefield, just as they had practiced, and it had sent a rush of pride through her, which lead to a smile that freaked out the men around her making it easier for the others to pick them off. Steve engaged Crossbones inside, but when forced into a position to follow his target or save the lives of innocent civilians he of course chose the latter. He radioed the team, warning them of Crossbone's escape, Sam was able to get eyes on him thanks to Redwing, his A.I. bird drone, and guide Natasha in his direction. She chased after him, Wanda seeing Natasha going off on her own followed, and Vision noticing what was happening followed Wanda.

Of course Crossbones would lead the Black Widow into a crowded market. She radioed the team, ordering them to start clearing out civilians, while she faced off against Crossbones herself. She watched as he pulled off his mask and even though she was surprised by the burn scared face behind it she didn't let it show. "I thought you were dead."

"I have too much unfinished business with you Carter bitches to die just yet." Brock Rumlow growls. "I ain't going anywhere until you're all dead."

They fight until Natasha gets the upper hand and just when it seems like she's about to subdue him, he produces a dead man's switch and a bomb vest. "Well, if I can't kill all of your fucking Carters I'll settle for one!"

A red glow appears around Rumlow's hand, keeping him from depressing the trigger of the killswitch, just before a red and green figure in a cape lands between himself and the Black Widow. Vision, using his ability to manipulate matter, removes the bomb, which Wanda incases in a bubble of red energy. Focusing on containing the bomb however takes her focus off keeping Rumlow immobilized. He presses the trigger, the bomb blows within the bubble, and they're all sent hurtling back by the backblast.

Steve arrives just in time to restrain Rumlow, slapping binders on him, and arresting him. Peggy had been right, the Thunderbolts were known criminals, and when this came to light, when the world found out that a member of Ross' Thunderbolts was a wanted HYDRA terrorist, Ross was done for. With their target in custody the team heads home. In the back of the quinjet Natasha and Wanda argue in Sokovian about the, 'stupid stunt' Wanda had pulled that ended up getting her hurt. It wasn't anything too bad, some lacerations, contusions, and a minor concussion, but now that the mission was over the Black Widow had given way to Nat, who was worried about her kid.

"You know Nat's going to give you hell for bringing Wanda on this mission." Sam said as he stepped up to stand beside Steve.

"Nat knows the importance of field testing while training." Steve said confidently. "Wanda's been training for a year now, it was time to see how she handled herself in the field."

"The Black Widow understands the importance of field testing." Sam replied with a shake of his head. "Mama Spider over there is going to chew your head off and spit it out because her kid's bleeding. You know how she is about her kids."

One bank robbery, two bodega robberies, an attempted carjacking, and a ferret stuck in a tree (that one was new) wasn't such a bad Friday afternoon and evening. Spider-Man had handled it all, with minimal property damage. The broken bank window and trashed bodega shelves couldn't have been helped. He had even gotten a box of girl scout cookies from the ferret girl out of it as a reward. This superheroing thing wasn't so hard, plus it was kind of fun. Crouched on the corner of a building Spider-Man munched on his thin mints while trying to decide if he should go for another swing around the city, or head home and get started on his history paper. He was just about to make up his mind when a shadow fell across him, making him look up.

Hovering several feet away, and slightly higher up in the sky than was necessary for anything other than dramatic effect, Iron Man's glowing eyes looked down with his armor clad arms over his chest. "You're not bad, kid, I'll give you that much."

Spider-Man sprung to his feet. "Iron Man, sir, Mr. Stark, sir, um, hi, hello, hi."

Tony shakes his head as he glides to the building's rooftop and lands so he's standing in front of the boy. "I don't know if you actually know what the hell you're doing or if it's all just been dumb luck up until this point. You're a clever kid, I'll give you that, but how you've managed not to get caught yet is beyond me."

"Kid?" Peter's voice cracks a little. "I'm not a kid, sir, Iron Man, sir, I'm Spider-Man."

"More like spider boy." Tony replies. "Why the spider theme, kid? Is it because of Nat? Is this some kind of stupid, dangerous, are you fucking crazy way of honoring Nat? Because if she knew you were out here fighting crime and swinging on a rather impressive webbing formula, she'd kick your ass."

Peter squeaked. "I don't, I have no idea, I… I…I..."

"Yeah kid, I know who you are." Tony says as he retracts his helmet so the kid can see his face. "Hi Pete."

"Aww, geesh, Mr. Stark, how did you figure it out?" Peter asks. He hadn't bothered to lower his mask back over his mouth and chin from having it raised to eat his cookies, so his pout was clearly on display.

"I'm a genius with an eye for talent and potential." Tony tells him honestly. "From the looks of your gym outfit, I'm guessing the wall crawling and enhanced strength are powers of some kind. The web shooters, and the webbing though, that's tech. Right?"

Peter nods and begins to explain the trip to OsCorp and the spider bite. He tells Tony about not feeling well for a few days afterwards, how he'd run a fever, and how Aunt May had started to worry, but then wham he woke up one morning feeling better than ever and he had these abilities. He told Tony all about those abilities, and even showed him what he could do. When Tony asked more about the spider Peter pulled out his phone to show him. "It was a really pretty spider, Mr. Stark, it looked like a black widow but it was blue and red and kind of shiny, so I took a picture of it and sent it to Nat."

"You didn't tell her about the powers though?" Tony asked as he sent himself the picture from Peter's phone.

"No." Peter dropped his head and sighed. "Aunt May loves Nat, but Nat being the Black Widow, it scares her. I don't want to risk them breaking up again. If I told Nat, then Nat would tell May, and then May would freak out, and I wouldn't be allowed to be Spider-Man any more, and worse than that, they might break up again."

"I see." Tony says as he steps out of his suit. "Kid," He walks over to the boy and puts his hand on Peter's shoulder as he looks the boy in the eye. "If anything ever happened to you, Nattie would be devastated, and she would probably blame herself because you decided to play hero because of her."

"And my Uncle Ben." Peter cuts in. "He was a police detective. He used to talk about responsibility all the time, ya know? About how if you have the ability to do something good for someone else, you have a responsibility to do it. He would say that he had a responsibility to uphold the power that came with his shield, and the trust that people put into it, and him."

"Your uncle was trained, Nattie is highly trained, you not so much." Tony told the boy as he squeezed the boy's shoulder. Stepping back from Peter he looked the boy over, taking in his homemade costume, and shaking his head. He couldn't just let Nat's kid swing around the city like this. Nodding as if he had finally made up his mind about something he says, "So, spider boy, I have an offer to make you."

The biological material Rumlow was after was Hulk blood. Apparently Ross really wanted to get his hands on Hulk blood. Upon hearing this Bruce takes a quinjet and disappears. Natasha and Clint are sent to track down any remaining samples that may be scattered around the world in the other hidden facilities not on SHIELD'S official books, but are clearly tied to SHIELD in some way. Natasha leaves Wanda with her mothers, knowing they will keep her safe while she's gone. Natasha and Clint gather seven vials of Hulk blood before finding themselves being chased down by Ross' Thunderbolts. Natasha sends word to her team, and they set up a plan to capture and detain them, a plan that comes into play in an airport in Berlin. That's when she sees the new guy for the first time, the kid in pajama pants and a hoodie from Queens who'd been splashed across the front pages of the newspapers on her Mum's side table.

"Who's the rookie?" Clint asks in the midst of the fight as Spider-Man swings overhead.

"He's with Iron Man." Rhodey says over comms.

Sam's voice cuts through next. "I think Tony was jealous of Widow's little witch, so he got himself a baby Avenger."

"I've seen him working with Stark at the compound." That's Wanda's voice. "He's always in costume though, no idea who he is."

Natasha frowned as she launched stings and bites from her gauntlets at a charging opponent, before taking her batons from their mount on her back. "Why is my kid here? This isn't a training mission! Who brought my kid to an all out Avengers fight?"

Sam, Tony, Rhodey and even Vision responded, "Cap." throwing the super soldier under the bus. Without Thor and Hulk the Avengers had been missing their heavy hitters. Steve had brought Wanda and Vision, Tony had brought Spider-Man, and Falcon had brought Ant-Man, who could also apparently get very, very, big. The Avengers come out on top but it isn't an easy win by a longshot. Turning big had apparently knocked Ant-Man out for the count. Rhodey's armor was damaged, and he'd been hurt though not seriously. And Spider-Man had been flung clean across the airfield, crashing into a stack of cargo containers.

Natasha saw the kid land and ran over to help. He was struggling to get to his feet, while fighting to get his mask up as if he couldn't breath. Natasha went over to him, settling her hand on his shoulder to keep him down. "Stop kid, lay down, you're done."

He didn't think, his heart was racing, surging adrenaline fueled blood through his body. He felt almost giddy with it. "I can keep going, Nat. I'm good. I'm ok. I just need a sec, ok? Then I can fight some more!"

Natasha's heart stopped, she gasped softly and then her lungs refused to do more, her blue-green eyes opened as wide as they could physically go. That voice! She knew that voice! Reaching out with trembling hands Natasha pulled the mask from the boy's head. "Peter!?"

"Shit." Peter replied as he scrambled to grab his mask back and put it back on.

Spider-Man is Peter? Peter is Spider-Man? And Tony knew? And he brought him into this fight!? Natasha lets her training take over, her thoughts and emotions overwhelming her. She gets Peter to the quinjet, orders him to stay put in a voice that is all Black Widow, and then goes back out to help secure the captured Thunderbolts. Spotting Wanda she orders the teen to the jet using the same voice and watches with satisfaction as she goes. It's a little easier to think now that she knows her kids are safe on the quinjet.

Once the mission is over and they're free to go home Natasha doesn't say a word to the rest of her team. She simply goes to the quinjet, walks past her kids who are sitting side by side lost in conversation, because Wanda's just discovered Peter is Spider-Man, and holy crap Nat and May's heads are going to explode! She heads to the cockpit, starts the jet up, raising the ramp, seals the doors and takes off, leaving the rest of the Avengers behind to find their own ways back.

Tony blinks as he watches the quinjet take off and disappear into the clouds above. "Did she just…"

"Take her kids and go home?" Steve says from beside him. "Yeap."

"Rude!" Tony huffs.

After setting the autopilot to take them back to upstate New York and the Avengers' compound, and cutting the comms so she wouldn't have to hear Tony's whine about being left behind, Natasha made her way back to the ops center where she'd left the kids sitting in the jump seats that lined the wall. Walking over to the small console island in the center of the space Natasha leaned back against it, hooking her hands over the edge to keep from crossing them over her chest. "Are you both alright?"

"I'm fine, Nat." Wanda reassured her guardian. "I took a few hits, but it's nothing a hot bath and some advil won't fix."

Natasha nodded, her eyes raking over the girl with a critical gaze. She'd look the girl over a little more closely once they were home, but for now she didn't see anything that needed her immediate attention. She relaxed a little, and gave Wanda a reassuring smile. Then she turned her gaze on Peter. Peter. Natasha couldn't wrap her mind around it. The web swinging Queens' vigilante was her Peter! "What about you, little spider?"

Peter was quiet for a moment as he did an internal check on himself. Then he looked up to meet Natasha's eyes, she was angry, confused, and disappointed and it gutted him like a fish. "I'll be fine by the time we reach New York. I, um, I have enhanced healing, so, um, yeah, I'll be ok."

"Peter," Natasha said firmly as she glared softly at the boy. "How the hell do you have enhanced healing now? Explain to me how the hell you're fucking Spider-Man."

The boy flinches a bit. Natasha's never been mad at him before. He doesn't like it. He takes a deep breath as he rings his mask in his hands and then he begins telling them how he ended up here. "Do you remember that field trip I had to OsCorp?" He barely breathes as he rushes through his story. The cool spider he sent Natasha a picture of, how he thought it felt like he'd been bitten but just chalked it up to being in a lab full of spiders and thinking it was all in his head. "Remember how sick I was afterwards? You brought me soup from Mrs. Angie and shortbread cookies from Mrs. Carter?"

Natasha listens and nods. "May was really starting to worry. We were about to take you to the ER when you just woke up feeling better, like you hadn't been feverish for days."

"I woke up with these abilities." Peter told her. "The web shooters and webbing, that's tech, but everything else is me. Enhanced strength and agility, healing, I can stick to stuff, surfaces, walls, ceilings, doorknobs. And my senses are different now too. And that's just the stuff I've worked out I can do, Mr. Stark is going to help me figure out if there's anything else, and more about what we already know about."

Tony. Natasha bit back a growl as she asked, "How long has he known?"

"Just a couple of weeks." Peter answered quickly. "He figured out who I was and confronted me while you were away on your mission. He gave me a choice, either train with the Avengers or stop being Spider-Man. He was going to tell you when you got back, I swear he was Nat! Please don't be mad at Mr. Stark!"

"Spider-Man has been swinging around Queens for months, Peter." Natasha shook her head, raising her hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Why didn't you tell us, Peter? Why didn't you come to me and May when you first discovered you suddenly had enhanced abilities?"

"I can't tell Aunt May, Nat." Peter's voice was nearly begging her to understand. "She wouldn't understand, she'd make me stop. And I couldn't tell you because I couldn't ask you to lie to Aunt May. I don't want you two to break up again."

Natasha sighed, her shoulders slumping. "Peter."

"I like helping people, Nat." Peter said as he stood up with a soft groan. He wrapped his arm around himself as he moved unsteadily towards the redhead. "I have these powers now, and I must have them for a reason right? I can help keep people safe, I can protect Queens the way Uncle Ben did, and I can help protect the world the way you do. Please Nat?"

"This is karma." Natasha groans as she pulls the boy into her arms and glances over at Wanda. "This is payback for me joining SHIELD when I was seventeen behind my mother's back. I can hear the old lady cackling already."

Wanda gave her mother figure a warm smile while Peter clung to Natasha, tightening his hold carefully when he felt her trembling. When she let him go he stepped back and asked, "What happens next?"

"We tell May." Natasha replied firmly.

"Nat!" Peter's eyes went wide as he shook his head.

"Peter." Natasha said firmly. "We're telling May. Everything else we'll figure out afterwards." There was no arguing with her. She sent him back to his seat, telling them both to strap in, and then Natasha went back to the cockpit. Turning the comms back on she called ahead to the compound while sending a text to May.

"Natasha?" Peggy's voice rang out over the channel. "Why did you leave your team behind?"

Natasha rolled her eyes. Of course Tony went whining to her mother. "I'll explain everything when we get back, Mum. For now, I need you to send Happy to pick up May. If you ask him then Tony can't interfere."

There was a long pause before Peggy replied and when she did her voice clearly told Natasha she was confused and concerned. "Alright, done."

"We'll see you soon." Natasha said before once again disconnecting the comms.

By the time they landed at the compound Peter was indeed moving as if he were merely sore and not injured at all. That was a good thing, it would be easier to talk to May with him uninjuried. Peggy was waiting for them as they disembarked from the quinjet. She'd been aware of Wanda's inclusion, Steve having consulted her beforehand. He'd reassured her that Wanda was ready, and that he would keep her safe, so she'd agreed to allow it. As Wanda walked down the ramp she smiled softly at Peggy, and Peggy smiled back. The girl was turning out to be a Carter through and through and Peggy took a great amount of pride in that. When Natasha appeared Peggy's smile faulted. The look on her daughter's face wasn't one of physical pain, but emotional upset. Peggy didn't understand until the third person disembraked, trailing behind Natasha like a chastised puppy.

"Peter?" Peggy's brown eyes were wide and her voice had gone up a notch as she stared at the boy in his new suit.

"Hi Mrs. Carter, ma'am." Peter replied with a bashful little wave.

"So," Natasha said curtly. "Peter's Spider-Man, Tony knew, and brought him along to fight the Thunderbolts."

"What?!" Peggy didn't even bother hiding her expression of shock, nor did she try to conceal it's shift into outrage. How could Tony take an untrained child, one of their children no less, into battle? How could he have kept the fact that Peter was Spider-Man from them? He's clearly known long enough to make the boy a suit, Peggy knows the work of a Stark when she sees it, and yet he'd said nothing, not even to her.

"Yeah." Natasha replies. "Is May here?"

"She's waiting in your apartment." Peggy replies, her gaze still on Peter.

"Will you take Wanda to get checked out by a medic?" Natasha asks her mother as she reaches out for Peggy's hand. She needs a bit of grounding comfort, and feeling her mother squeeze her hand gives her that.

Wanda rolls her eyes. "I'm fine."

"Of course, poppet." Peggy nods at Natasha, gives her girl's hand another squeeze, and then lets it go to hold out to Wanda. She smiled warmly, "Come along, darling. You can tell me all the details of the mission."

"Thank you." Natasha smiles weakly and then calls out, "Come on Peter."

"Please, Nat!" Peter tries one more time as he follows after her.

Natasha doesn't respond. She simply leads the boy to the back corner of the compound where Natasha had made her home with Wanda. This wasn't going to be an easy conversation for any of them. May had freaked out big time following the Battle of New York, her fears causing her to break up with Natasha. It still wasn't easy for her, Natasha knew, May struggled with loving someone who constantly made the choice to put herself on the line for the greater good. There was no way May was going to be remotely alright with Peter doing the same thing. Hell, she wasn't alright with Peter following in her footsteps, she wasn't even alright with Wanda doing it, but at least she had control of Wanda's involvement.

"Oh thank god you're alright." May says as she rushed to Natasha as soon as the redhead walked into the apartment.

Natasha sighs softly as she gladly accepts the hug May gives her. "I'm alright, babe. We're all alright."

"Your mother said as much when she came to pick me up." May said as she pulled back so she could look Natasha over for herself. "But getting your text scared me a little and…"

"I'm sorry." Natasha raised her hand to caress May's cheek. "I didn't mean to scare you." She takes a deep breath. "But there's something you need to know and it couldn't wait any longer."

Concern and fear washed over May's features as she looked into Natasha's eyes. "What is it, Nat?"

Natasha steps to May's side and looks towards her open apartment door. "Stop hiding in the hallway and come in here, young man. Time to face the music." Seconds tick past and no one appears. Natasha sighs, she moves to the door and looks into the hallway to see if Peter had run, and finds him sulking. "Now. That's an order. And take the mask off."

May stands there watching the open space of the door frame after Natasha steps into the hallway. She has no idea what's about to happen but it has her stomach twisting up. She knows whatever it is, she isn't going to like it. Moments after Natasha steps out into the hallway, a figure appears, May's eyes go wide. Spider-Man? Then he takes his mask off and May's heart stops. Peter? "What the fuck?"

"Hiya Aunt May." Peter says meekly. He watches a myriad of emotions work it's out on his aunt's face and then rushes on to say, "I can explain!"

It's a conversation that lasts for days and includes not just May and Peter, but Natasha, and Tony who repeatedly gets yelled at for not telling anyone as soon as he knew the truth, and Peggy. It's actually a long chat over several drinks with Peggy that finally settles May on what to do.

"My intentions were to raise a strong, independent, woman who knew and understood her own value." Peggy said gently as she handed May a glass of whiskey on the rocks before taking her seat in her favorite chair. "All I ever wanted was for Natasha to find happiness and a sense of purpose in what she chose to do with her life. I never wanted her to follow in my footsteps, I didn't want her putting herself at risk, but she is the woman her mother and I raised her to be." Peggy can't help the proud smile on her painted red lips. "Angie says we didn't know we were doing it but we raised her to be a superhero, and she's right. It would be unfair of us to expect her to be anything less than who we raised her to be." She offers May a warm smile as she reaches across the space between them to put a comforting hand on May's knee. "It would be unfair to you, your late husband, and Peter to expect him to be anything less than the young man you raised him to be. He wants to help, he wants to fulfill the sense of responsibility he speaks so proudly of that he got from his Uncle Ben. I know it scares you, May. To be honest, it still scares me too, and now it's not just because of Natasha, but Wanda, and now Peter as well. But giving into our fears and forcing them not to follow their paths, it would do more harm than good."

"So you think I should be ok with this?" May asks as she looks up from her dark amber drink to look into the even darker eyes of her girlfriend's mother, who just happens to be a world class spymaster and den mother to a team of superheroes that her nephew's joined behind her back. "That I should be alright with him risking his safety and well being?"

"No, dear." Peggy said with a shake of her head. "I'm not saying that at all. I am not ok with Natasha risking her life, not at all. I have learned, however, to live with her choice to do so. I can take a small measure of comfort in knowing that she is the very best at what she does." Peggy pauses for a moment and then continues. "So I do think you should agree to allow Peter to be trained properly, and to allow the Avengers, to allow Natasha, to monitor and control his heroic efforts the way she does with Wanda. I have a feeling he will find a way to continue as Spider-Man whether you agree or not, at least this way, we can help keep him safe."

May sighed softly. "Why does everyone I love have to have a damn hero complex."

Peggy laughs. "You can blame me for Natasha's."

It takes a few more days and a lot more soul searching before May agrees to allow Peter to continue on as Spider-Man. She does put limits on him, however. He has to train with the Avengers, he has to abide by Natasha's rules, and he can not lie to her anymore, or sneak around behind their backs anymore. If he does not follow the rules, then May will ask Stark to find a way to take away or suppress his powers. Peter agrees, he doesn't really have a choice, and starts his training. Natasha has Tony add what they call the Baby Spider protocol to his suit, which monitors and limits Peter's use of the suit. He's given strict guidelines for his patrols. And while it's all a little annoying for the teenager, he can hardly complain. He's a freaking Avenger!

"In training." Natasha tells him as he gathers excitedly with Wanda, Vision, and Sam to train with her.

Wanda smiles at him and says, "We're junior Avengers."

"In training, junior, young, who cares!" Peter's excitement is almost overwhelming. "We're still Avengers! How cool is that!"

From the observation deck Tony pouts a little as he watches. "How come Nat gets all the Avenger babies?"

"To be fair, they were hers first." Steve chuckles.

Tony grumbles. "I want one."

Steve puts his hand on his friend's shoulder and laughs. "That sounds like a conversation you should be having with Pepper."

"What, no, I didn't mean…" Tony looks at him wide eyed. "I meant my own little Avenger, not my own little Stark, gods Cap, I ain't ready for that. I can barely take care of myself."

"Hey!" Natasha calls up from the training floor. "Are you two going to come down here and train or stay up there clucking like hens?"

"We're coming, we're coming." Tony replies. "She's so damn bossy."

Steve laughs. "Yeah, well, most Carters are."

"Ain't that the truth!" Tony laughs in agreement.