A/N: Riiiiight. I'm back. We have a few things to cover before you start reading. 1. Thank you for all the lovely reviews for the last chapter. It means a lot. 2. Thank you for sticking with this story. I know we are on chapter 31 and still no Peter which is no doubt a frustration for some. I promise he's making an appearance soon. 3. This chapter is a tiny-bit long. I didn't realize that as I was writing it so I apologize in advance. 4. I recently graduated so in honor of my achievements you will be receiving a chapter for every diploma and certificate that I have received. We have to celebrate somehow. 5. The other chapters might be a little long as well to get this story rolling without having to post too many chapters and forcing all you lovely people to wait. Once again sorry in advance.

That's all for now folks. Happy reading! Don't forget to review and all that jazz! This is number One!

Steve Rogers stared down at the ground where blood seemed to soak through the dirt. Question was, is it Bucky's, Spiderman or someone else. Kneeling down, he studied the ground as if it had all the answers. Rustling of trees nearby caused the first Avenger to spin around, ready for a fight.

"Easy there, just want to help."

Natasha stepped through the trees with Rhodes and Scott Lang following behind, each one dressed and ready for action . Relaxing, he stood to his full height. Pointing to the ground, he got right down to business. "There's blood on the ground, and drag marks. Not sure who the blood belongs to. Could be Bucky, Spiderman or someone else. Drag marks head east."

"Do we know if the Hydra agents are still here? Tony mentioned-"

"Nobody popped out yet. I would assume they would since I was here alone."

"Do we know what they wanted?" Scott asked as he looked around.

"Yeah. Peter Parker."

Scott frowned his face. "What is everyone's fascination with this kid? It's unsettling. Unnatural. Abnormal. Odd. Unusual. Stran-"

"Lang, we get it," Rhodes interrupted as his hand went into the air.

"You don't deny it though," Scott said while pointing a finger. "I mean first SHIELD, now Hydra. Who's next?"

"I don't know but we need to move." Steve barked as he headed east. Natasha and Rhodes shared a look before they rushed after him. Scott stared after them. "Do you not find that weird?"

"Lets go, Lang."

Scott grunted before jogging to catch up with them.


A buzzy feeling came over Peter followed by a prickly feeling in his arms. The soft bed he was laying on slowly drifted into a cloud. The pain in his stomach slowly dropped to an annoying numb. Closing his eyes, he tried to focus on the voices that floated above his head, but the annoying buzz in his body prevented him from doing so. His spidey senses tingled all over before jumping to his head, disrupting the floaty feeling that was there. Peter frowned in annoyance until he felt the fingers slide under his mask.

Adrenaline shot through his body as he jumped up off the gurney, throwing his fist out. Someone gave a shot as his eyes shot open. Not taking a chance, he shot a web to the ceiling and swung up, allowing his fingers to grip the plaster. He glared down at the people below him, daring them to try and come near him. A woman stared up at him with wide eyes as she laid on the ground. Pepper stared up at him from the doorway, her mouth hung open. All the nurses backed away as if he somehow had a disease that they had never seen before. The only people who stepped forward were Tony and Bruce.

Bruce knelt down and picked up the fallen doctor, before pushing her behind him. Tony tilted his head up before narrowing his eyes in a calculated manner. "Impressive. I think I should point out that you are getting footprints on my ceiling. Oh and don't think I didn't notice the footprints on my wall at the compound."

"Tony," Bruce cautioned before turning his attention back to Peter who had yet to move. "Spiderman, you need to come down. We're just trying to help."

Peter shook his head. "No. You're not going to touch me."

He meant for his voice to come out firm, the same firmness that made the guys he goes after quiver, but it came out weak and shaky. Sweat ran down his neck as he adjusted his grip on the ceiling. Every part of his body screamed at him to get down. Peter's eyes traveled frantically around the room, looking for an escape, but every exit was blocked. His eyes travelled to a vent not too far from his head. Using the adrenaline, he flipped over to where his back was towards the ground before he started crawling.

"Do you think if we hit him with a shoe, he will fall?"

"Tony." This time the stern warning came from a lighter voice. Pepper.

"That's what you normally do when you see a spider. You swat at it with a shoe or some bug spray."

"You're not helping."

Peter focused all his attention on the vent as it slowly grew closer. Only when it was within arms length did the people on the ground realize what he was doing.

"Oh no, you don't," Tony called out, then the handle of a broom slammed against the ceiling right in front of Peter, causing him to stop. He slowly turned his head to the ground, as a wave of nausea hit him. His arms shook as they tried to force his fingers to keep their grip.

"You need to come down, Spiderman," Bruce called out once more.

Peter licked his lips before slowly shaking his head. "Y...Y…"

The teenager let go with one hand in attempts to shake it out but quickly grabbed the ceiling as gravity slammed into him. As if some higher power agreed, the throbbing pain in his stomach reared its head. Licking his lips once more, he tried again. Tears sprung to his eyes as he desperately tried to get his words out. "Y...You pro...promised. Our deal. N...No trying to f...figure out who I am. No taking off my mask."

Silence filled the room as if they knew he was trying to hold back tears. Looking over his shoulder once more, he saw all the adults looking at each other. Tony looked up at the kid before shaking his head. "That was before you ended up with a bullet hole."

"You promised."

Tony looked to Bruce before they launched into a silent meeting of the eyes. Bruce shook his head once as Tony brought his wrist up. An expensive looking watch gleamed at Peter as if it were taunting him. Before Tony could touch the watch a light hand stopped him. Pepper stepped around her fiance, as closer to Peter. Kind eyes stared up at him. The same eyes that stared at him with understanding when she showed him to his room the night before.

"Spiderman, it's really important that we get you looked at. We can't do that with the mask on."

"Yes you can." Peter argued as he readjusted his grip causing pain to split his stomach in half, like a blade gliding over cheese. "My stomach hurts. Not my head."

Pepper seemed to think about that before nodding. "True, but your mask is not very clean. You wearing it during surgery would probably cause-"

"No. I'm keeping my mask."

"Spider-"

"E...Either you let me keep my mask or I'm leaving."

Tony snorted before shaking his head earning a look from both Bruce and Pepper. He held up his hands before backing up a step or two. Pepper looked to Cho and Bruce. "Is there any way you can do this with the mask on?"

Both doctors looked at each other. "I mean we can, but like you were going to say before. The mask isn't clean."

Pepper looked to the boy on the ceiling as his arms shook even worse than what they were before. As if any moment he would drop to the ground. Bruce looked to the ceiling too, as a thought popped into his head.

"We can separate the top half of his body from the lower half."

All eyes landed on him. "Use a sheet to separate the halves. It might not do much but it could help. This way he can keep the mask on, and we can get the bullet out. Which I suggest we do now. Who knows what kind of damage is being done."

Pepper looked to the boy above. "Are you okay with that?"

"You keep your promise?"

"Yes," she said kindly with a nod.

"O...kay," with that Peter dropped from the ceiling.

Bruce rushed forward to catch him but a red and gold tin machine appeared in front of him, catching the boy who now seemed unresponsive.

"Okay people, clear the room." Cho announced as she threw some scrubs on.

"If it's alright with you, I would like to stay." Pepper announced.

Bruce gave her a small smile before shaking his head. "We need the room to operate. I promise I will make sure nobody tries anything."

Pepper nodded once before walking into the hallway with Tony trailing behind her.


The long corridor sat empty and cold as Tony stared at the double doors that led to the room where the child was laying. Pepper had left a while ago, saying something about a press conference. Bruce came out once to inform him that because Spiderman was so malnourished there were a few complications.

The clicking of footsteps caused the billionaire to look up fully expecting to see Pepper. Only it was the black suit of the Black Widow that caught his attention. She was flanked by Rhodes, and Scott. A few feet behind was Steve. His usual face was replaced with a long, depressed, guilt ridden look. They all stood in silence before Steve finally spoke up.

"We can't find Bucky. It's possible Hydra has him."

Tony leaned back in his seat before looking down at the phone in his hand. Forcing himself to remain calm, he spoke. "The kid is still in surgery, in case you were wanting to know."

"How's he doing?" Natasha asked as her eyes traveled to the doors.

"Bruce came out a while ago and said there were some complications due to him being malnourished. He didn't go into detail." Tony finally looked up at all of them, but his eyes rested on Steve. "By the way, thanks for leaving me with a bleeding and dying kid while you run off to help your homicidal friend."

"Tony-" Steve started but the former playboy stood, cutting him off.

"You left a dying kid with me, so you could chase after your friend. Then you come here and don't have the decency to ask how he's doing?"

"Tony-" Rhodes called as he stepped forward, placing a hand on the man's shoulders. Tony shook it off before stepping closer to the blond man.

"Did you know that I had to fly with him in my arms. He was bleeding, unconscious and possibly on death's doorstep. Who knows what could have happened. As a matter of fact, Friday!"

Yes Boss?

"Can you please inform the good captain as to what the probability of something happening to Spiderman when I flew with him, while he was injured?"

There was a 70% chance of further injury to Spiderman while boss flew with him, Captain Rogers.

Even the AI sounded irritated.

"Exactly. 70%! There was a 70% chance that the bullet could have gone more damage, so much damage that by the time I ended up here, the kid would have been dead. I would have been carrying a dead kid in my arms!"

By the time Tony finished talking, he was outright yelling. Scott moved closer to his team captain as if he were afraid a fight was going to break out. Rhodes placed a hand on his friends shoulder again as if that would somehow calm him. Steve looked at the man in the eyes, his face changed from the guilt ridden one to a blank face, but Tony could see by the man's eyes that his words hit home.

"Listen, I get you care more about your friend than the Avengers or even me. You've proven that, besides I can live with that. But you chose your friend over a dying kid. Explain the logic to me behind that, because this genius is actually confused."

"Tony, we get it," Natasha interrupted. "You two can discuss this later but right now we have a bigger problem on our hands." Tony turned and set a glare on her. Unfazed, she continued. "Hydra agents not only have Bucky but they were after this Parker kid."

A frown spread across Tony's face as he looked between all of them. His voice finally back to normal volume. "Peter Parker? As in the kid SHIELD has us looking for?"

"Yeah," Steve said, earning a reproachful look from Tony. "They know that Spiderman knows where this Parker kid is. They were after him when Bucky and I found him."

"Hydra wants Spiderman so he can show them where the kid is," Scott added unhelpfully. Tony looked around at all the faces in front of him.

"The time for games is over. We need the kid and we need him now. Who knows why Hydra wants the boy. Every second he's out there, we run the risk of them finding him first." Natasha said as she looked at all of the men.

Rhodes looked at the door before looking back at his team. "What do we do about Spiderman? He said he wouldn't give us the kid until he knew the kid was safe."

"That was before he got shot. We saved his life, that should be proof enough," Scott mumbled.

"You know what, you're right pissant."

Scott smiled at the praise, completely ignoring the last bit. Steve opened his mouth to say something but the double doors opened and Bruce came walking out. Worry and amazement was etched on his face.

"How's the kid?" Tony asked with the raise of his eyebrow.

Bruce stood still for a moment before nodding. "He's good. We managed to remove the bullet and get him patched up nicely."

"Then why do you look like you saw the pearly gates and the gates of hell at the same time?"

"He's enhanced."

"Yeah, we know that. The kid was hanging from the ceiling by his hands and feet." That earned him curious looks from everyone but Tony threw up a hand saying he'll explain later.

"Um...yes. There is that but I meant his pain. We gave him an IV and the standard dosage of medicine that one would give a person around his age, but it left his system too quickly. Helen found that out the hard was when she started digging around the hole. We upped his meds but nothing would take."

"Then how did you get the bullet out?"

A hand ran across Bruce's face as he looked at them. "We finally decided to give him a shot of one of the medicines we give to Steve and Bucky. Worked like a charm."

"Is he awake?" Natasha asked.

"No. He's asleep."

All the Avengers shared a look before Natasha finally spoke. "Can you wake him up?"

"I mean I could, I would have to ease back on the drugs a little but I don't know by how much."

"We need you to wake him up. The Parker kid is in danger."

"What kind of danger?"

"Hydra agents are after him. We need Spiderman to tell us where to find him."

Bruce looked around at everyone before nodding. "Okay, but if we do this then you need to know that we might be causing the kid pain. He may hold all the answers but he is still a kid."

All eyes landed on the two leaders. Steve and Tony looked at each other.

"We'll be quick," they said in unison.

Bruce nodded, then pointed to the door behind him. "Follow me.