A/N: Wow! Thank you so much for 3k+ views and all the support/reviews I have been getting! This story is genuinely so much fun to write, and I wouldn't be able to stay motivated without all you lovely humans. Thanks again (so so much), and enjoy the chapter!

Also, I'm sorry again for how sporadic my uploads are. They have been frequent because I had a spurt of creative juices recently. It's hard to get a schedule, so I write when I can. I'll stop talking; enjoy!

Thursday, October 3

6:50am

Peter was acutely aware of how close October 4th was as he pulled on his battered converse and grabbed his backpack from where it rested on the bed. There was a pit in his stomach at the thought. Tomorrow, tomorrow whispered into his mind, along with other thoughts. Thoughts about his mom. Thoughts about last night.

This morning, when he had woken up, it took him a while to remember where he was and decipher what happened. Mr. Stark had comforted him from a bad dream… one he didn't seem to recall fully. There was something in the back of Peter's mind that told him it was important, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

He was mildly embarrassed at how he'd freaked out, worried that Tony would be awkward about it. But at breakfast, they talked like they normally did. Mr. Stark even gave him a ride to where he met Ned to walk to school.

Before he left the car, Peter said, "Oh yeah. My, er. My mom texted me this morning, so I won't be coming back to stay at the tower." He acted like 'my mom texted me' was a reasonable explanation, but Tony let it slide. He smiled.

"Sure kid. And take the day off tomorrow, ok?"

Peter returned the smile and nodded. "Thanks, for uh. For everything." He hopped out of the car and ran over to Ned. Tony laughed as Peter waved his arms up and down excitedly, probably telling his friend about the holo-computer.

As he pulled away from the curb, a thought nagged at his mind. Peter's dream hadn't been a coincidence. It hadn't been fake either… The kid had remembered something important, even if he didn't now. Tony frowned as his brain worked over the situation. More had gone down that night, eight years ago. And he intended to find out what that 'more' was. His stomach sank as he realized something.

He couldn't do it alone.

Thursday, October 3

6:00pm

Tony paced back and forth in front of his desk, considering. His phone sat on the surface, waiting for him. Taunting him. Inwardly, he weighed the pros and cons, shaking his head. On one hand, he didn't know what would happen if he went through with this. The sting of pain and betrayal was still fresh on his mind. On the other hand, Peter was in danger, and Tony couldn't do anything about it on his own. Finally, he snatched it and selected a contact, quickly sending a text before he could change his mind. Peter's safety was more important.

6:05pm: I need your help. You know where to find me.

He didn't wait for a reply; Tony knew one wasn't coming. He went down to his lab, deciding to at least try and work on some projects, but he kept losing focus. His foot bounced up and down, and his fingers tapped restlessly. Tony looked over at the clock. 10:02pm. Had he really been down here for four hours? Doing nothing? He hadn't even noticed the time passing…

"And here I thought you hated me," a familiar voice called from behind him, its source hidden in shadows. He immediately froze, straightening his back and forcing his nervous limbs to stop moving.

"I'm mad, Natasha. That's different," Tony said dryly, not turning. "I need your help… You're the only one that can handle this." He heard her step from the shadows toward him, but he didn't look. He couldn't look. Tony didn't know what he would feel if he saw her face… fear kept him sitting still.

"What could you possibly need from me? Especially right now." Her voice was steady and cool… not harsh. It filled the room and echoed around him. Tony sighed. He couldn't avoid her forever. He spun his chair slowly around.

Nat was almost hurt by the look on his face. She had never seen him like this. His eyes, usually sparked with mischief, were clouded and fierce. His mouth, normally pulled into his 'Tony Stark' smirk, was set in a firm, thin line. She hated that she hurt him. They said nothing.

"Do you know about Spider-Man?" Ok, not the question she had expected. Nevertheless, she nodded.

"He fought with you in-" Nat changed her mind. "We've been in the city for a little bit, and word travels fast. Why?"

His rigid features softened slightly. "Well, he's a kid. A 16-year-old kid... named Peter Parker… and I think he's in trouble."

Natasha listened as Tony told her about Peter (rather fondly, she noticed), and was surprised to feel anger build in her chest. A child should be protected and safe… she knew that as well as anyone. What right did this woman, Angela, have to make him feel otherwise? He didn't have to say exactly what he thought was going on; they both knew. Her gut told her something wasn't right and that she could do something about it. She could help.

"You think she's abusing him," Nat said bluntly. "And you want me to get proof." Tony nodded, and he suddenly didn't look angry anymore. Just tired. Exhausted, even. She noticed the dark bags under his eyes and his mussed brown hair. A pang of guilt went through her. Nat hadn't realized the mess that Steve had left behind, and more importantly, who was left to clean it up.

"That's not all. Something is weird about his mom's death… I was hoping you would look into that, too." Nat knew it took a lot for him to ask for help. Maybe, if things were different, she would be flattered.

"It's really risky, Tony. What if I get caught? I'm a criminal, remember?"

"No one's making you do anything, Natasha," he snapped. She cringed at the longer version of her name. He always used to call her 'Nat' or 'Widow'. He loved nicknames. "I need a favor. Just this once, and you'll never have to see me again. Just like you want." Tony was angry again, and he still wouldn't look her in the eyes.

"I don't want that," she said softly. "I didn't want it to be like this…" his eyes remained on the ground. "I'll do what I can for Peter. Then maybe we can fix things."

Tony swiveled around and grabbed a glass of wine from his desk, downing the entire thing. She was confused. Wine was not usually his alcohol of choice; it was always whiskey or something stronger. This boy might have had more of an effect than she first realized. Nat found herself smiling. Maybe there was hope that they could mend this. That they could be a team again...

He set the glass back on the desk, shoulders slumped. He tossed her a thumb-drive over his back. She caught it with ease. "It's all you need to know about him. And you cannot tell anyone, got it? It's the kid's secret."

"I won't," Nat said. There was a pause. "Listen, I-"

"Please leave. I can't do this right now." He sounded so hurt, so angry that Nat was glad he was facing the other way, because she wasn't able to hide the pain from her face. The familiar sadness that accompanied her thoughts about Germany weighed heavy on her heart.

"I'm sorry," she said simply.

"You made your choice. Now go." He didn't look up to see her leave, but Tony knew she was gone. He could no longer feel her presence watching him.

The shattered glass was covering the floor before he realized he had thrown it.

Friday, October 4

5:00am

"No, Steve. He wasn't exactly happy to see me." Natasha paced back and forth along the dirty cement floor, a silver phone clutched tightly in her hand. "Yes, I tried. He's not hearing it!" A pause. "I mean can you blame him?" She tapped her fingers on the burner phone. "No, I can't tell you. I made a promise."

Nat rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure. I've got to go, check back if you can. Tell Sam I said hi. Yes, he's here." Bucky glanced up at her from where he sat. "Ok, ok. Bye." She shook her head and tossed the temporary phone to Bucky, who caught it and crushed it with his metal hand. They couldn't risk anything. Not now.

Natasha went and sat at a small makeshift desk, opening her computer. She had dropped by the Parker residence early this morning and left a few bugs that were recording all the time. She listened with some earbuds that she found on the street a couple days ago. While Nat waited to hear something, she decided to research Angela Parker, or before marriage, Angela Magran. Angela worked for a company called RaylenTech (or RayTech), run by one of Stark Industries biggest competitors, Mark Raylen. Richard and Mary Parker, Peter's mom and dad, had also worked there. Angela's position wasn't on public record, so she had to dig deeper.

This is probably why Tony wanted her help. She was used to finding things that didn't want to be found.

Noises in her earbuds alerted her. "Looks like someone's up," she said to herself. Bucky, who was seated in the corner, looked at her and opened his mouth. Nat held a finger up to shush him.

"Where are you going?" A female voice called, presumably to whoever was making the noise.

"T-to… uh. To the g-graveyard, mom. T-today is October 4th." This person she assumed was Peter. He sounded so small and nervous; she could hardly believe he was a superhero. The kid had caught a carrier in Germany not 6 months ago. He sounded way different now.

"Why is that necessary? I told you that you were grounded from free time until you learned your lesson." This person was probably Angela. She sounded cold and calculating, and if Nat were to guess, she would say her eyes were dark brown or black.

"She died today," Peter said, a little indignantly. "Eight years ago." Nat was glad he was trying to stand up for himself; that meant it wasn't too late. But she also frowned. Was this woman so cruel that she wouldn't allow a child to visit his mom's grave?

There was a resigned huff. "Fine. But head straight to school afterwards, got it? And I'm calling Stark to make sure you get to the internship." She spat Tony's name out. That was a clue… she obviously disliked the man. But, many people did.

"Thank you, mom."

"I'm only hard on you because I love you, Peter. Always remember that." Nat snorted. If Angela really loved him, she would treat him like a real teenager. Like a kid.

Bucky shot her a weird look. She shot him one right back. I'm working, she mouthed, pointing at the screen. He looked down and continued fiddling with his sleeve cuff. Over the recording, she heard a door close and a sigh from Angela. Nat didn't hear anything again for a couple more hours, when the woman was on the phone.

"I'm not sure, Mark. He's… he's just not ready yet," she was saying. She was talking with the head of RayTech, which meant she either worked for him or with him. "We have to get to zero!" A pause. "No, I don't think we can make it go any faster." Another pause. "I don't think so. Peter shouldn't have even survived the bite. He was an anomaly." So she knows about Spider-Man.

She waited. "We can't do any tests on him until it gets down to zero, you know that!" This pause was longer than the others. "I'm working on it, ok? Give me a break! It's all that time with Stark." A short wait. "Because of the money, that's why! I can use it for the project!"

Angela was pretty much yelling now, and she took a moment to calm down. "I've got it under control, sir. Just another month. I'll try and find a reason to keep Peter away from him, until further research can pursue. Yes. Yes, sir. Goodbye." Once the call cut off, Angela cursed and slammed her fist down on something. Nat couldn't see, but she figured it was the table.

The last thing she heard from the woman was, "I need more time."

Friday, October 4

5:29am

Peter grabbed the brown, wilting lilacs from the vase and replaced them with new ones. The bright purple flowers shone in the dim light. Lilacs were her favorite. Even now, he could recall the smell… it brought a small smile to his face. He sat down cross-legged in front of the modest gravestone.

"Hi, mom," he started. Peter usually told her about what had happened since the last time he visited. "I know it's been a couple months… I'm sorry. But you'll never guess who I'm interning for!" He rambled on, telling the empty air about Tony and the work they were doing. He spoke about the room that he had in Avengers Tower ("That's right mom, Avengers Tower!"). Soon, the topic drifted to his friends.

"I think I might… I might like MJ. Like as in more than a friend. It's weird… she's smart, a-and funny. And she doesn't care what anyone thinks! Not to mention she's got really pretty eyes and cute curly brown hair. I don't think I'll ever get the courage to ask her out, though. If I did, she would probably say, 'Are you suggesting that as a woman, I can't ask you on a date?'" He laughed to himself. "I wish you could meet her, mom. She's amazing." He didn't even realize he was crying.

"You've missed so much… I got my driver's license… and-and…." Peter put his head in his hands. "I grew up, mom. I miss you… so much." With that, he began singing softly, the notes filling the empty graveyard and floating through the still air.

His voice cracked as he sang, "I want to have you near me." He sniffed and his voice cracked. "I want to… have you hear m-me saying..." Peter stopped. He couldn't sing the next words. He had to choke them out, losing the sweet melody to his emotion.

"N-no one needs y-you more t-than I n-need you…"

Friday, October 4

8:01am

Nat slipped her knife into the window latch, sliding the blade quickly across to unlock it. She was grateful that the latches were old school, but she had disabled the security system anyway. Her black boots landed in a bedroom, and from the looks of it, it was Peter's. The room was small, and it was crammed with a bed, a desk, and tons of random electronic parts. Everything other than the desk was pretty neat; the bed was made, and no clothes were lying around. A picture of his parents was on the bedside table,

Natasha wandered out of the room, her footsteps silent and careful. She found her way to the kitchen and placed a tiny camera in the corner above a cabinet. This way, she could watch what was going on and not invade their privacy.

She slipped on a pair of black leather gloves and went back down the only hall in the apartment. The walls had a couple of frames, but they didn't hold any pictures. One contained a degree of graduation for Angela, and the other held a certificate of Academic Achievement for Peter. Nat thought it was slightly strange that they had no photos of Peter's parents or any of him and Angela together.

Peter's room was the first door on the right, so she passed it and came to the first on the left. A bathroom. She moved on to the room next to Peter's. This one was more promising; it was Angela's. There wasn't anything that was personalized in the bedroom, similar to the hallway. There was a queen size bed with white sheets and a desk. She looked quickly through the desk, but finding nothing, Nat replaced everything carefully and left.

The last room at the end of the hall appeared to be an office. Jackpot.

Everything was meticulously organized into boxes, files, and drawers, labeled neatly. There was a larger desk in the middle of the room facing the door. Nat went straight to that first. The top drawer was locked, so she dug around in the others first. It was mostly junk; a couple bills and some uncashed checks. Since everything was so neat, Nat took great caution in putting everything back the way she found it.

It didn't take long to pick the lock, although it was stronger than most desk drawers. Inside there were eight manila folders that were labeled in numerical order. Nat grabbed the first one and quickly scanned it, then took a photo of the papers inside. She'd have to look over them more later.

Repeating the process with the other files in the room, locking the desk, and exiting the apartment only took her 10 minutes, with a minute or two to restart the alarm system.

When Nat arrived back at the hideout, Bucky hadn't moved from his spot in the corner. He wasn't one for restlessness, she supposed. She walked past him and pulled open her laptop again. The camera blinked on, sending her a low-quality image.

"Now we wait," she said to herself. Nat suddenly remembered the files, and uploaded them to her computer. After retouching them, she began to read them out loud.

August 10, 2011: Joint Project 13, test #30

Mary Parker and Angela Magran of RaylenTech Inc.

Written Report: Spider showed signs of an increase in strength, agility, and sensory input. Subject 30 appeared to be able to sense its surroundings with incredible speed and accuracy. It could also hold nearly 100 times its own weight.

Oral Report:

~-begin recording~-

"Mary Parker on test number 30. We induced radioactive levels 0.03% higher than test 29, and it was successful in altering the spider!"

"For about five minutes. This is Angela Magran, and the spider was not able to handle that much radiation. I think we are going to have to selectively breed the species and remain at constant levels of radiation for success. All equations are being re-ran and double-checked."

"While the spider died only five minutes after introduction, we were able to run several tests that provided information on the spider's enhanced abilities. If the equation is altered correctly, we can use this info to benefit the human race."

"Or enhance it."

-~end recording~-

Natasha set the papers down and leaned back in her chair. "Peter's mom was working to help people…"

Bucky, who had taken some interest and was behind her left shoulder said, "And the other girl wanted to make people better. Like the experiments HYDRA did."

"Or the one Banner pulled." She looked through the other files. "They go back into 2010. They were working on this for a year. The file I just read is the most recent… and it was recording a few weeks before Peter's mom went missing."

They were quiet. "Do you think she figured it out?" Bucky asked. "The formula, I mean. Maybe Raylen wanted it for… enhancing people, and she didn't know. What happened the night she disappeared?"

"I don't know. That's what I'm trying to find out."

A/N: Thanks for reading. :)

REVIEWS:

Belbelanne: Oh my heck, I started laughing so hard when I read that! No, you're not a bad person. It's what we all want. :)

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xSapphirexRosesxFanx: :O Literally how did you know? I've been wanting to add Nat into the story for so long, and I finally did. I'm a little freaked out that you guessed that so well, haha. :D

Hawkeyes Gal: Thank you 3 And of course! I love replying to reviews; it's one of my favorite things to do. :)

Thanks again and see you next time!

-katilange