Seven Years Ago
S.H.E.I.L.D Compound
"So, you know who the kid's parents are?" Natasha asked, the famous Nick Fury, as they walked down a bustling warehouse full of advanced weaponry and agents hard at work training.
It reminded her a little too much of the red room. She inwardly shuddered.
"The boy you found had parents who were once S.H.E.I.L.D agents themselves," Fury answered. 'His father was a scientist for us, providing us with information and breakthrough technology that put us a step ahead of our enemies."
"His mother?"
"She was more of a field agent," Fury replied. 'A spy, for lack of a better word. She'd go in, look around, and see what she could find."
"What happened to them?"
Nick stopped in his tracks and turned to face her. "What do you think happened?" Nick asked. "They had information somebody wanted and that certain somebody took it, as well as their lives."
Natasha furrowed her brow, not quite grasping the situation. "He doesn't have any family?"
"An Aunt and Uncle in Queens," Nick Fury said. "But they don't even wanna look at him. Wouldn't say why."
"Is that why you wouldn't let me take him to the authorities?' Natasha asked, remembering the moment she had tried returning the child
to his parents through the nearest police station. It was a lengthy process, only for Fury to come in and tell everybody he would be taking over.
"Think of it as taking care of one of our own," Nick Fury said. "The system is less than perfect, I'm sure you of all people can wrap your head around that."
"So he's just been here?" Natasha raised an eye bow. "In the S.H.E.I.L.D compound?"
"I thought it'd be best," Fury shrugged.
"Did you?" Natasha asked. "Or did you just think you could turn this kid into your next avenger or something?"
"We've covered the fundamentals of self-defense," Fury said.
Natasha held her face in her hands, frustrated. "Of course you have," she muttered.
"You sound, displeased, Natasha," Fury pointed out, folding his hand behind his back. "He'll be well protected here. I'm sure that's what his parents would have wanted."
"Yeah, having their kid holed up inside of a military compound with no friends, no real life, and no sense of direction whatsoever," Natasha spat. "Every parent's dream."
"Well you were the one who found him," Fury said leaning in. "What do you suggest I do?"
Present Day
Seven Years Later
Peter was trying in vain to pay attention during first-period class, but he was sweating like crazy and had a pounding headache. Perhaps he should have stayed back at the tower, told Natasha that he wasn't feeling well. Although if he did she would ask what was wrong, and he wouldn't be able to answer her because he didn't know what was wrong. Maybe he should see a doctor, what if he contracted a fatal disease or something.
Peter was sure that wasn't the case. He looked down at his hand, the one that had been but yesterday by the escaped spider. The two little red bite marks had swelled into two red bumps on his hands and were starting to hurt. Maybe the spider that had bitten him was toxic after all.
Peter was thinking about putting his head down on the desk to sleep before class was sober when something pointy hit him in the head. He looked around until his eyes landed on the fooor where a paper place, constructed out of notebook loose-leaf paper was lying on the floor. It must have hit him in the head. Peter looked at Ned sitting on the other side of the room, but Ned seemed too engrossed with the lesson and didn't even look his way, but who else could have thrown it?
Peter opened the plane and read the words sloppily written down in blocky letters, obviouslyy done on purpose.
Hey. Parker, you look like crap today.
Peter looked around, but only one person was staring at him. It was that girl Ned had mentioned the other day. Michelle Jones. She was eying him nonchalantly as he held the note in his trembling fingers.
"I'm fine," he mouthed back to her.
But she don' acknowledged him. She just turned back around in her seat and started writing something in her notebook.
Peter slipped the note in his pocket, before laying his head down on the desk so he doze off. Unfortunately for him, the bell rang for the end of the class, and students began filing out of the classroom one by one.
"Peter, you coming?" Ned asked, shaking his shoulder.
Peter could see Michelle looking at him from the corner of her eye as she walked past, out of the classroom, without another word.
"Yeah," Peter huffed. "I just think I'm coming down with something. You go on ahead without me, I'll meet you there."
Ned reluctantly backed out of the classroom," looking concerned.
"Go on bud," Peter said. "Save me a seat."
After a couple of seconds, the next period was beginning to file into the classroom, so Peter knew he had to get going to his next class. He was a bit unsteady on his feet, and everything was spinning, but he managed to make it out of the classroom. He made sure to keep one hand on the lockers against the wall so that he could get his bearings much better. However, he was still dizzy and ended up tripping up over his own feet, bumping into a girl chatting by the lockers, making her drop her books.
"Oh, I am so sorry," Peter murmured. He figured he looked a mess right now. His hair matted down on his forehead with sweat, his skin clammy, and his entire body shuddering like a fool. A Drunk, fool. "Let me help you get that-"
Before Peter could do anything, he was roughly pushed to the ground. Looking up, a pretty well-built kid, probably on the football team, judging from the jersey he wore, glared at him.
"Hey man!" He barked. "That's my girlfriend you're touching!"
Peter quickly scrambled to his feet, and held up a hand, cautiously, as not to further aggravate him. However, people were already beginning to stare
"I'm sorry," Peter gasped. "I'm sorry man I didn't mean to"
The next thing Peter knew he was getting the wind punched out of his lungs by the aggravated football player. He nailed him right in the stomach and the kids in the hallway who had gathered to spectate, let out sounds of pity as Peter fell to his knees, holding his gut.
"Brock, that's enough!" The girl said, clinging to her boyfriend's arm. Brock brushed her off before gripping Peter by the hair, pulling him onto his feet. He reeled his arm back, about to land another blow directly at his face.
Without thinking Peter jumped off the ground, brought his feet forward, and kicked Brock right in the torso, causing him to let go of his hair and stumble back.
Peter gasped for breath as he looked at Brocks's enraged face.
"I'm so sorry," Peter muttered.
"Your gonna pay for that!" Brock growled.
Peter jumped over Brock's head, much to the bully's dismay.
Brock growled and threw another punch, which Peter ducked. Peter then grabbed Brock by the shoulder and gave him an uppercut right in the jaw.
"Oh my gosh, I didn't know I could do that," Peter huffed. "That was amazing."
Brock fell flat on his butt. He was surprised and angered when he touched his lip and came away with blood.
"Please," Peter breathed. "Stay down, man."
However, Broke wasn't done yet. He got up and attempted to tackle Peter to the ground. Peter did a quick back handspring, kicking Brock in the nose as he flipped backward. He delivered a left hook and then a right, and then vice versa repeatedly about four times until Brock slowly slumped onto his knees.
Brock still tried to land a punch on Peter, but before Peter let the baffled bully get up, he gave a swift kick to his rib cage. Brock collapsed onto the ground. the kids watching were silently looking at him with a mixture of awe and horror.
Finally, a teacher pushed through the mass of muttering children to find Brock lying in a heap on the floor, and of course, Peter standing over him.
"So your Peter Parker's legal guardian?" Principal Manda asked, looking over the file on her desktop computer. "Natasha Romanoff?"
"Uh, well, sorta. They put my name in the system, but it's complicated," Natasha said. " uh, he's more independent."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're the black widow, yes?" The Principal asked, taking her glasses off.
"I was," Natasha answered.
The teacher shrugged. "And you're not anymore?"
"Unofficially kind of," Natasha said, flicking a piece of lint off her pants.
"So who looks after the kid at home?" The principal asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
"Were staying with-"
"The other Avengers?" Principal Manda asked. crossing her arms over her chest. "Am I correct?"
"It's temporary," Natasha said.
"So tell me, Ms.Romanoff," The Principal leaned forward. "It seems you have only been Peter's Legal guardian for about seven years. Do you know where he was he before that?"
"With my boss," Natasha replied, thinking of Nick Fury. Technically not a lie, even though Fury has a hard time getting the avengers to follow simple orders.
"that doesn't answer my question."
"I'm sorry," Natasha said. "I thought we were here because Peter got into some trouble."
"He brutally assaulted another student," The Principal hissed.
"That doesn't sound like him," Natasha said.
"Well, he did it," Principal Manda spat. "Fighting another student. I wonder who he picked up that behavior from?"
"I've never encouraged him to fight," Natasha said.
"Of course not, "The Principal smirks. "You're never around much are you?"
"I'm a busy person, "Natasha replied defensively.
"Busy enough not to notice when your son picks up your bad habits?"
"He's not my son," Natasha snapped. "I'm not his mother, I'm just the lady who found him, and I don't encourage him to go around beating up people."
"Be that as it may," Principal Manda huffed. "But I still will make sure to contact CPS for a full investigation."
"You can't do that," Natasha replied.
"Why not?"
"We can't disclose certain topics regarding the avengers,' Natasahe answered calmly. "Unfortunately, violating our privacy counts."
"I'm sure Mr.Stark wouldn't mind,' the Principal said. "Always flying around in that oversized suit of his, and people call Iron Man a hero!"
Natasha sighed, leaning her head back on the chair.
"I want to investigate Avengers tower, "The Principal demanded.
Natasha was about to protest, when suddenly a familiar voice interjected from behind her, jarring her out of her thoughts.
"That won't be necessary," the voice said.
Natasha whirled around In her seat only to come face to face with the director, Nick Fury himself. She gulped, knowing this wasn't going to be good.
"What are you doing here?" Natasha hissed. It wasn't an unreasonable question. What the heck was a director of S.H.E.I.L.D doing at a public high school? To bother her? Doesn't he have more important matters to attend to?
"Peter called us," Nick Fury said. "Said he got into some trouble."
"Who are you?" The principal snapped, standing up from her seat.
"I work for the government," Nick said. "That's all you need to know."
Nick then squatted so that he was eye lever with Natasha who was busy gritting her teeth.
"We made a deal," he whispered. "You gave me your word that your duties wouldn't compromise everything we've worked for."
"It hasn't," Natasha said. "It won't."
"Not when you've got CPS wanting to poke around the Avenger's tower," Fury hissed.
"I can take care of that," Natasha said.
"I already did," Fury replied. "As for the kid, I'm questioning my decisions greatly, Natasha."
Peter watched as director Fury walked out of the principal's office. He looked at him for a second, giving him a small nod before stalking away.
Next Natasha came out. Her jaw clenched, and her face discolored with an angry blush.
"I'm sorry Nat," Peter whispered looking down.
Natasha just stood there for a second, thinking about what she was going to do.
"You called Fury?" Natasha asked after a while, trying to mask the hurt in her voice. It wasn't his fault. He just felt like they needed help, that was all. Yet, she felt this stabbing pain in her chest. It shouldn't matter whether Peter trusted her or not. It wasn't her problem. Still, she had to admit, it kind of hurt.
"Let's go for a walk," Natasha said, moving without waiting to see if Peter would follow her. She knew he would. Just like he followed her relentlessly all his life.
"He punched me first," Peter murmured as they walked along the busy sidewalks of new york.
"I don't doubt you for a second," Natasha said. "However I'm sure there were other ways you could have dealt with that situation."
"Like what?"
"Walk away, Perhaps?"
Peter bristled. "You don't walk away when people bully you," he protested, kicking a pebble.
"That's because people who tend to bully me are blood-thirsty assassins bent on taking over the world," she laughed. "there is a big difference."
"Nat?"
"Yes?"
"Will Nick Fury take me back to the compound?" He asked her.
Natasha sighed, sticking her hand in her pockets. "Probably not."
"Is he going to put me in the system?"
Natasha nodded. "He might think about doing something like that."
"What if I don't want to?"
"I can't control what he does," Natasha said. "My name might be on your files, but officially he gets the say over what happens with you.'
"I want to stay," Peter decided matter-of-factly.
"Why? So you can keep bugging Tony?" She scoffed
"No," Peter said. "So then I can keep trying out Mr.Stark's awesome high-tech gear!" Peter grinned.
Natasha couldn't help but laugh.
"Or maybe actually beat you in a water gun fight!"
"Never!" Natasha said. "It will take you centuries before you can even hold a water pistol correctly, let alone beat me!"
"I'm honestly not that bad!"
"Your the worst shot I've ever met in my entire life, kid."
"You know what would be even cooler!" Peter asked.
"What?"
"Picking up Thor's hammer!"
"Good luck with that, kid," Natasha smiled.
"You don't think I can do it?"
"Oh, I know you can't."
"We'll see about that," Peter huffed. He then ran ahead of her, as the tower was just a few feet away from them at that point. Natasha hung back awhile as Peter high-fived Happy, Tony's assistant, as he opened the door for Peter.
Natasha couldn't help but think about what Peter had said. He said he wanted to stay, which she supposed was fine. But, when he talked about why he wanted to stay...Natasha didn't know what she was expecting.
Was it wrong that it bothered her a little bit?
