"Oh, Ross, sir! I wasn't expecting to see you here." Doctor Octavian Bloom remarked, distracted from his tinkering.

Peter was barely lucid, his sharp senses being the only reason he was even remotely conscious. He was slumped in a chair, strapped around the chest, waist, arm, and legs, shirtless with the left pant-leg rolled up to the knee, as the HYDRA scientist dabbled with the prosthetic designs that Weaver had come up with. They were incredibly intuitive, and the Doctor seemed fascinated that such a young mind carried such a thorough understanding of neural connectivity. The prosthetics in question were sitting at the desk where the Doctor was fiddling with the fine wiring that ran code through them and made them usable.

"Hello, Doctor," Ross greeted, ignoring the child and hovering over Bloom's shoulder. "Are those the designs the asset created?"

"They are!" Octavian gushed, grinning. "And their design is intelligent. I'm not quite sure where a five year old learned this. His mind is baffling, Ross. Despite not fully understanding the machinations his eidetic memory allowed him to draft how it would function!"

"That's certainly impressive," Ross mused, a small frown on his face. "It's a shame most of that intelligence has to be lost in the training. Perhaps I'll see if Harrison can find a way to use his brilliance for our means. If we only give him a basic form of education but train him on technology and biology he may be able to help design weapons, gear, and equipment for our personal use."

"It would be a waste of his genius otherwise, Ross," Bloom murmured, syncing up the last of the wiring. "Ah, there we are. Motor functions are installed and the electrodes are set up. The tracker and a transmitter were attached to the arm, while a transmitter was attached to the foot," he finished closing them up, satisfied, before holding up a small assortment of chips. "Now I will just need to surgically implant these into the asset and he will once more be operational."

"What do they do?" Ross asked, staring at the ten chips in the man's hand.

Grinning a cheshire smile, the man laid them out before picking up the first two. "These are for generalized movement within the prosthetic arm and foot. They're being implanted into the primary motor cortex." He set them down, before grabbing the next two. "Then these will be implanted into the premotor cortex. They're also synced to the arm and foot and will help with the depth-perception, sensory guidance, spatial guidance, and movement preparation." Setting those down, he snagged the next two. "These are the last two that are being attached to his brain directly; they'll help his foot and arm react to movements he wants and helps for planned movement. They will be going into the supplementary motor area." The last four were then scooped into his hand. "This first will be synced up to the communications function within the arm through the transmitter and will allow us to speak to the asset through vibrations that his mind will interpret as sound. It and its companion here-" he gestured to the second, "- will be implanted in the small space of skin underneath the external auditory canal." Bloom carefully set those down, before staring at the last two. "These do not have code on them yet, though my initial intentions were to design them to further process and execute protocols. What do you think?"

A small hum left Ross's lips. "Go ahead and do that with the first one. I've got an idea for the second."

"Oh?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

"I doubt I would have survived in HYDRA's ranks and have climbed as high as I did if that weren't the case, Ross."

Ross leaned in, a grin on his face. "I'm a very paranoid man, Bloom, and because of that, I don't trust my handlers," he straightened, before adding, "I fear they'll decide they want to stab me in the back one day and take my position. You know what would ease my paranoia, good Doctor?"

Guessing where Ross was going with it, a coy smile lit Bloom's face. "You'd like me to install a secret tenth chip to allow you direct access to the asset in case they turn him against you."

Grinning, Ross chimed, "Smart man. Can you do it?"

Humming in thought, Bloom turned to the computer he had synced up that implanted code into the chips. "It should be possible. All I would have to do is create a series of codes in the chip that would interpret a transmitted signal and emit an electrical stimulant that would in turn trigger the electrodes in his body to following the order," his glasses reflected the bright screen, before he turned to Ross. "Give me a day, and I can get it set up for you."

"Thank you," Ross said, though frowned. "How would I give him the commands, though?"

"Hmm..." Bloom trailed off, before his eyes fell on a programmable button. Grinning, he voiced, "I can create and install an app on your phone that can interpret and transmit the given commands, and have it be activated upon the press of the button. It's pressurized, so it will only activate when pressed by a finger, and I can have it be attachable to your device so you don't need to have it on your phone."

Ross's grin turned sinister as his gaze fell upon Peter, staring mutely at the wall, a fine tremble racking the thin frame. "That will be more than sufficient. Thank you, Doctor Bloom. I'll leave you to your work." With a respectful nod to his cohort, he turned and left the room.

Bloom let out a huff. "The things I do for the job I love," he commented softly, before staring at the asset as well. "I will have to be most careful when I insert this chip since it would go between the cerebellum and the brain stem." He then let out a soft laugh, shaking his head. "Then again, maybe not. As long as I can keep him alive any other damage can either work in our favor or be fixed." With that, the man went back to his work, leaving the child to shiver in the seat.

Peter's fist struck the ground an inch away from where T'Challa's foot had been a second ago, the concrete cracking under the strong metal and the strength the mutant wielded in his small form. Ross let out an unimpressed hum before turning back to the app, typing in a few more things before switching to a double-handed portrait grip from where it had previously been vertical. The way his hands were posed made it seem as if he were piloting Weaver like one would direct a video game character. Responding to the transmitted commands, his body jerked after the heroes in hot pursuit, lashing out at whatever hero happened to be closest.

"Woah!" Rhodey yelped, flying backwards. He turned sharply and avoided a shot from the surrounding HYDRA arsenal.

"What the hell did you do, Ross?!" Clint growled, firing an arrow at the nearest tank and disabling it.

Ross quirked a brow as Peter's possessed body threw itself at Steve, which was met by the vibranium shield that the Captain quickly used to push the asset back. "I'm a paranoid man, Mr. Barton," he stated as he had Peter lash a kick out in Natasha's direction, the other assassin flipping expertly out of the way. "So I installed a little party trick in my assassin. Do you like it?"

"FRIDAY, scan him!" Tony asked, launching weaponry at the surrounding HYDRA agents that were blocking them in and attacking them when they strayed too far out of the middle of the circle.

His visor whirred as several scans of Peter Parker were brought up on the display. "Boss," FRIDAY said, sounding worried despite lacking the designed functionality. "Ten chips were detected in his cranial region."

"What?" Tony asked, before frowning at the information.

"Six are located within the motor cortex of the frontal lobe and seem to connect with the prosthetics. Two are at the base of the external auditory canals of both ears, one is implanted in the temporal lobe, and the last is between the brain stem and cerebellum." FRIDAY relayed, before adding, "Scans indicate the brain tissue has grown around the chips, and they were likely added at a young age. Removing them is not possible without risking permanent injury."

"That wasn't on the files!" Scott chimed, yelping as he barely shrunk in time to dodge the controlled swiping from the spiderling.

"Of course it wasn't," Ross scoffed, rolling his eyes. "I did it in secret, behind the dimwitted handlers' backs. The information was purposefully rescinded to keep the use of the nine known ones lesser known, and the tenth a tool for me to use if I decided Mitchell, Harrison, and Curt were threats."

"You bastard!" Bucky growled, charging the man. Unamused, with a few rapid movements against the phone's screen, Peter's body was pivoting to block the original Winter Soldier from advancing further.

"You know, in a way, I see you leaving our fold as a victory, Mr. Barnes." Ross sneered, eyes narrowed. "Without your flight, I wouldn't be HYDRA's head, nor would we have learned from our mistakes with you and the other Winter Soldiers." He stared at the other six Winter Soldiers with unmasked disgust. "So imperfect in so many ways, taken way too late to condition completely without many repeated ministrations," With a grin, he gestured to Peter. "Weaver, on the other hand, is a masterpiece. We got to avoid having to repress decades of knowledge and experience and replaced it with our own training at a much younger age."

"You're disgusting," Natasha spat, pummeling an unfortunate HYDRA soldier that had rushed into their circle to attack them. "He's just a kid!"

"Exactly," Ross said softly, almost reverently. "Children are so susceptible!" With a laugh, he raved, "We got him at a perfect time. Incredible vision, developed balance, motor coordination, use of scissors and other hand-held objects, a developing vocabulary, the ability to retain information that they may not even understand, capable of telling objects apart, and most importantly, lacking moral concepts of right and wrong!" A small frown crossed his face as he continued the attack. "Or at least, that would be the case if he were a normal child, but he's oh so special." A dark grin dressed his face. "His powers were already developing at that age, and he was much more intelligent than a child his age should've been. A result of his mutagenic changes, no doubt. We hit a few snags with his better memory and sharper intellect, but nothing that couldn't have been worked out. Unfortunately, his handlers were too easily fooled by his act and weren't able to make him perfect."

Wanda's eyes narrowed and glowed a dangerous red, reflecting in her hands. With a raise of her hands, she quickly dispatched of the rest of the soldiers that were in the circle, narrowly missing the stragglers at the edges. She was livid, her hair moving in the invisible wind. "You'll pay for this!" She growled, body tensed and rigid in her anger. "You're the worst person on Earth to do that to an innocent child!"

Ross backed up a step out of fear, forgetting to type in another command. In response, Peter's body continued what it was originally doing, which was heading to Tony, who immediately held his wrists to prevent the spiderling from punching the titanium metal alloy. The head of HYDRA's eyes narrowed darkly. "I'm willing to do what I must for my country to ensure the world is safe. The sacrifice of one is worth it in the face of the many he will save under HYDRA's regime."

"You call this saving?!" Tony asked, voice seething with anger that Peter could feel through the armor, despite not having control of his body nor seeing the man's expression. "You forced the kid to kill for years! You stripped him of any chance of a normal childhood! You call that saving?!"

"Yes." Ross stated, cold fury of his own dripping from the words like venom. "I do."

"Then there's no choice. Avengers, do whatever you can to end this." Steve said, ice in his eyes and tone.

Tony smirked under the mask. "Way ahead of you, Capsicle," he leaned his head down to stare at Peter, and in a gentler tone, said, "Sorry, kid, this is going to hurt." Quickly moving his hands to cup Peter's head, he called, "FRIDAY, controlled electromagnetic pulse, now! Aim at the ear chips, the protocol chip, and the neurocognitive chip and avoid the others!"

A pulse raced through Peter's body, ringing down the prosthetic arm before zapping into his brain. He let out a cry of pain and collapsed into Tony's arms, eyes clenched shut as the targeted chips turned off. He nearly crumbled to the floor, but the metal armor prevented him from doing so as it acted as a support to the mutant as he once more got his bearings, blinking back into reality, this time of his own volition. Startled, he raised his gaze to stare at the Iron Man mask, before a surprised huff left his lips. He reflexively flexed the prosthetics, testing if they still worked. Then, when they moved, he let out a breath of relief, the sentiment matched in his thankful expression.

"No, no, no!" Ross fumed, angrily mashing at the phone. Turning to the Winter Soldiers that had been held back behind him, he pointed furiously at the heroes. "Get them!"

Obedient as ever, they raced forward, being intercepted by the other heroes as Tony released his grip on Peter's arms. "There you are, kid," he said, lifting the mask, where the former asset could see the palpable relief on the man's face. With a shaky breath, he hugged Peter, head pressed into the assassin's shoulder. "I thought we were going to lose you."

Peter froze in the hug, uncertain of what to do given the current situation. A memory, foggy and blurred of a gesture like this came to mind, and, following what a younger, innocent Peter Parker had once done to the blurred image of his loving family, his arms shakily folded the armored man into a tentative hug of his own. As he completed the hug, a warm feeling bloomed in his chest, and his mouth instinctively twitched into a small, fond smile. Something about this position was precious, and something his body hadn't realized it had missed until this moment.

The hug was broken as a Winter Soldier broke past the others and raced at the pair. Senses flaring, Peter's eyes narrowed instinctively as he thrust his vibranium arm out to catch the knife that was thrown at him. Spinning with the momentum, he redirected it backwards, before meeting Tony's gaze. His fingers twitched, and he reached over to tap out, W-H-A-T-S-T-H-E-P-L-A-N?

With a grunt, Tony threw off an advance from the Winter Soldier, wincing as the man's fist collided with the side of the suit and left a small dent. Averting his gaze to stare at Steve, he called, "Spangles, what have you got for us?"

Steve threw his shield expertly at a Winter Soldier, before sliding against the ground. As the asset caught the shield Steve used his sliding momentum to kick the man's feet out from under him, then threw an uppercut at the man's jaw, sending him reeling. He snaked his leg around the arm holding his shield and twisted it until the shield fell from the writhing assassin's grip. Looking around at the situation, the rest of the Winter Soldiers keeping them occupied and the HYDRA lackeys joining in where they could, he pursed his lips. "We'll wear ourselves thin if we keep this up. Our best course of action is to end the fight quickly. Anything we can use to our advantage, Stark?"

"FRIDAY?" Tony asked, helping Rhodey bend the barrel of a tank until it could fire no longer. "What do you have?"

"The power grid could be overloaded and set ablaze," the AI chimed, bringing up the building's electrical mainframe in a corner of the visor. "To do so, however, there would need to be sparks from a cut wire."

"Gas vapors are present in the air from the destroyed vehicles. It is preferable we were away from the incendiaries before the sparks create a flash fire." Vision chimed from where he had been quietly fighting.

"The nearest cables are reinforced." T'Challa noted, eyeing the ceiling. "And they're up high. Someone with flight capabilities would have to do it."

"I can always shrink and remove the reinforced exteriors from the inside!" Scott offered, panting. He admittedly wasn't as used to fighting for longer durations as the others were.

"That's too much of a risk." Sam dismissed, frowning. "What if you got stuck there when the sparks fly?"

"Come up with something, then," Clint chimed, shooting an arrow at Ross. He clicked his tongue as a Winter Soldier intercepted it with his body. "I'm running out of arrows."

Peter scanned the ceiling, spotting one of the aforementioned cables. It was insulated and covered in metal, running along the pipework at the top of the building. It was the most accessible one nearby he could spot. I-C-A-N-G-E-T-I-T. The mutant offered, flicking his head up to point at the cable he was looking at. I-S-H-O-U-L-D-B-E-A-B-L-E-T-O-G-E-T-I-T-O-F-F-A-N-D-G-I-V-E-U-S-A-S-P-A-R-K. He held a knife he'd kept from another Winter Soldier trying to use it against him.

"That's rather risky, kid," Rhodey chimed, voicing the discomfort the others felt at the notion. "Wouldn't you run the risk of getting electrocuted, cutting a live wire?"

N-O-M-O-R-E-T-H-A-N-T-H-E-R-E-S-T-O-F-Y-O-U. The former asset shot back, kicking a lackey that charged at him away. I-F-I-H-O-L-D-I-T-C-A-R-E-F-U-L-L-Y-I-C-A-N-A-V-O-I-D-T-H-E-W-O-R-S-T-O-F-I-T. I-C-A-N-G-E-T-A-W-A-Y-B-E-F-O-R-E-I-T-L-I-G-H-T-S-U-P.

Natasha pursed her lips. "What do you think, Tony, Steve?"

Steve let out a sigh. "I don't like it, but it looks like it's our best option," blocking another attack, he called, "Tony? It's your call."

"Of course you designate it to me," Tony muttered, before huffing a breath. "If you get zapped, kid, don't say we didn't warn you."

"If you die I'll kill you personally," Natasha chimed in a serious tone, though none could miss the fond smile on her face.

Taking that as permission, Peter offered a small smile at the concern. He shot a web towards the ceiling before leaping into the air, intending to take it all the way to the objective. His aim was thrown off by some of the leftover lackeys shooting the web, causing him to fall short. He tumbled in the air before hitting the wall, sliding against it until he gained purchase. With a breath, he quickly rolled himself over to dodge the spatter of bullets now aimed at him. He made his way up to the cable, tugging it loose and gripping it with the prosthetic arm. He broke the insulation, revealing the live wiring within, then planted his feet more firmly against the ceiling so he could use his other hand to fish a knife out.

"Get him!" Ross roared, fuming. "Don't let them do it!" Then, when he realized that few of them were left standing, narrowed his eyes. "Useless, all of them," he pulled a gun out of his outfit. Leveling it at Peter, he growled, "I'll just do it myself."

"No you don't!" Wanda hissed, using her magic to throw him. However, Ross's finger had been on the trigger, and the sudden motion sent the bullet flying. It struck the cable in Peter's hand as the asset was bringing the knife around to slice the wires. Sparks flew from the cable and Peter hissed as some of the discharge conducted through him, causing the arm to short-circuit and drop the cable altogether. Now aimed downwards, the sparks dripped freely, one of which drifted and hit the gas vapors from the destroyed tanks.

The world was set ablaze as the charge hit the gas vapors, fire flaring to life and licking against the building, snaking down to catch the spilled fuel from the broken vehicles. It quickly caught the leaking line from a broken tank and snaked into the engine, exploding the vehicle. The others were quick to follow suit. Most of the heroes were quick to react, shielding themselves with whatever they readily had available, while most of HYDRA were quickly caught in the maelstrom of flame. Screams from the burning men prevailed as the building began to collapse from the rock of the explosion, cascading rubble down onto the unwilling people below.

The ground rumbled as the rubble fell to the ground, fire licking up between the boulders as it rapidly ate at the fuel. Once it ran out, the flames flickered and subsided, leaving the once proud warehouse as nothing but desolate ruins. Smoke rose between the concrete and dust hung in the air. The stench of blood and burnt flesh perfumed the exposed, cold, snow-driven air outside to the few minutes of agony that had just occurred. A few moments of silence followed the building's collapse, before movement stirred from the ashes of HYDRA's remains, picking their way out of the rubble with hoarse coughs and strained breathing.

Tony moved a large boulder away, then helped Natasha and Clint to their feet from where he'd helped shield them. Opening the comms, he called out, "Is everyone alright?"

Red magic emerged from a spot off to their left as Wanda and Vision burst from the rubble. Wanda slumped against Vision, exhausted and streaked with blood from a cut on her brow. The android himself had a dent in his leg, but despite that was able to float over to the group and help Wanda over. "Present." Vision voiced for both of them, while Wanda gave them a shaky thumbs-up.

Steve climbed out of the ruins towing Sam with him. The latter's wingpack was off as it had gotten damaged from a smaller bit of rubble that Cap's shield hadn't defended against. The former was breathing heavily from the exertion of moving the rocks, but was otherwise alright. "Here," Steve huffed.

"Where's Tic-Tack?" Sam asked, glancing out around.

"Right here," Scott said, resizing beside the man and causing the Falcon to jump. "I hitched a ride when things were going south."

"Warn me next time!" Sam hissed, breathing out a sigh of relief.

"Barnes got his prosthetic arm stuck between some rubble," T'Challa called out as the pair joined them, Bucky one arm short. "We had to detach it."

"It's easier to make a new one than to salvage it," Bucky sighed. "Sorry about that."

"As long as you're alright, that's all that matters." Clint replied.

Doing a mental count, Natasha voiced, "We're missing Rhodes, Bruce, and Peter."

A roar was heard as the Hulk emerged from the rubble, angry at the turn of events. Spotting the team, though, the body shrank until Bruce was left standing. The doctor staggered tiredly over to them. "If it weren't for the big guy, that would've been bad," he huffed out a breath, worry lines clear on his face.

Tony tried the comms again, this time having FRIDAY try to connect to the chips that Peter had as well, hoping they were back online after the EMP. "Platypus, Pete, do you copy? Are you alright?"

"I thought I told you not to call me that," Rhodey's voice quietly huffed over the comms. "Sorry, Tones, the system just came back online. I was hit pretty bad." Concrete chunks moved to their right, and T'Challa and Steve moved over to help War Machine emerge from the remains.

Relief at finding Rhodey was quickly washed away by the silence that came from Peter's front. "Kid? Pete? Peter?" Tony probed, before moving forward a bit. "Spiderling, do you hear me? Kid!"

A bubbling laugh rising from the remains, followed by coughing and rigorous breathing drew the heroes towards a figure that shakily pulled himself from the ruins of the warehouse. Ross's labored breathing was heavy, and the man was covered in blood and ash, but despite that, a maniacal grin was stretched across his features. "Hah... wow... you heroes... really don't know when... to give up, do you?" He wheezed out, leaning against a larger piece of rubble as one of his arms was cupped to apply pressure to a wound that bled rivulets from his side. Eyes narrowed, he chimed, "You think you're... so noble, but... you're no better than me." His words were interrupted by heavy coughing, his lips stained in blood. "The world... sees you as heroes... but you're killers... just like I am. One day... they'll see... what I saw... and discard... you. Just... you... wait." His eyes were drooping, and his breathing had weakened considerably. He raised a hand shakily, flipping the heroes off. "Go ahead... have the kid. But you will... never... be able to... save him from us..." he went to laugh but it caught in his throat, instead creating the sound of bubbles popping through liquid. "As long... as he lives... HYDRA's essence... will follow." He threw his head back and wheezed out the laugh anyways, his face happy despite the circumstances. "Hail... HYDRA..." with that, his gaze stilled, his lungs freezing as his heart ran out of blood to circulate.

The cold winds stirred snow against the scene, the white slowly staining red as it settled over the remains of the building. Ross's final words unsettled the team, not knowing what to think of his last declaration to the heroes. The Avengers turned away from the last remains of HYDRA as they instead focused on finding the one person they really cared about. Peter Parker's name rang out and echoed against the biting snow as the team began searching more desperately for the unfound member of their team, their family.

A quiet wheezing was heard and the group stirred as a scraggly figure brushed aside the rubble that had pinned him in his fall from the ceiling as the building collapsed over him. He was limping, the prosthetic foot bent at an unnatural angle, the prosthetic arm hanging limp and mangled at his side from where he had used both to break his fall and shelter his body from the worst of the damage. His suit was torn and his body was covered in tremors, blood dripping sluggishly as the wounds repaired themselves. Peter's face looked gaunt and more exhausted than usual, the bags under his eyes standing out against his pale skin and the snow.

The group rushed forward to the mutant as his foot snagged against a rock, and Natasha caught the mutant in her arms. He shivered violently in her arms, but despite this looked up sluggishly at the group, the unspoken question lingering in the air. With a relieved breath, she brushed his messy curls away from his face. "Yes, маленький паук. It's over."

Hearing that, Peter was filled with an overwhelming sense of relief that came out in a broken, cracked laugh, bubbling out of his chest and into the cold Siberian air. Despite how rough it was, hearing it was something that the heroes knew they could never take for granted, and they surged around the spiderling, carefully enveloping him in a group hug, unintentionally also providing the freezing arachnid with much needed warmth.

As they pulled away, Tony ruffled Peter's hair affectionately, the mask pulled back to show the relief on the man's face. The group stared at the remains of HYDRA, finally, finally gone. Then, the group began walking towards the Quinjet. "Come on, kid. Let's go home."

Home. That was a word the former asset hadn't heard in a long time. It was associated with something intangible in his brain, with four deceased loved ones, buried under ten and a half years of trauma. But hearing the term brought up once again, in such a warm way, stirred the happy feelings that were the last residual dregs of those nearly forgotten times.

"Thank you." Came two broken, cracked words from Peter's lips, barely loud enough for everyone to hear.

The significance of the moment wasn't lost on the group, knowing the mutant hadn't spoken a word for eight years. They boarded the Quinjet and left, the remains of HYDRA to be buried under a grave of snow, no longer tormenting the world. As they bundled up and settled down for the flight back to New York, Peter tucked between Tony and Natasha, the mutant's eyes watched the last string of his ten and a half years of hell as it was obscured into oblivion by the pure white snow. A small, content smile crossed his face as he relaxed for the first time in years. He forgot about the uncertainties of the future for the moment as sleep finally came to claim the exhausted spider's attention. There was still work to be done, the heroes knew. But they didn't matter for the moment.

The last thought in Peter's mind as he drifted into a dreamless sleep was the final important date. The date that he was freed from HYDRA, the day that he could start learning how to be human again.

April 11th, 2017.

And thus concludes the HYDRA portion of the Iolaus arc! There's still five more chapters before the Iolaus arc itself concludes and before we head into the Strange Encounters arc, but we've finally reached the main portion of this series's core premise; Peter learning how to be human and what it means to be a hero!

I.D.'s Fantasy- Gotta love them references. Well, he's no longer the boss person now, is he? :P

Krakengirl- Haha, yeah, he's always been hella shady to me. I mean he kinda ruined Bruce's life.

Verinorina- I already answered this in PM, so I'll just say thanks for the 'amazing' remark!

SarahS18- Thank you!

Next time on OWOW: They weren't ready for how complicated the situation was when they walked into it, and now they have to deal with the consequences.

Discord: /7jYYC36