"This is so stupid…
MJ looked at Ned, who wasn't even pretending to be studying – even though they were in study hour. It was actually the only 'class' that the two shared, since she wasn't even close to being interested in the same tech and sciences that he was. Her academic bent leaned more toward social sciences and history, which Ned couldn't stand.
"What is?" she asked, facetiously. "Being forced to go to school instead of being allowed to stay home and watch the world react to the amazing events that unfolded overnight?"
"Exactly. If I wasn't stuck here, I could be at the compound, right in the middle of things, and-"
"You wouldn't be allowed to go there, Leeds." They both turned, annoyed at the interruption, and the guy doing the interrupting. Flash sneered. "My dad's at your precious compound and he says the place is crawling with military big-wigs. They're not going to let a nobody like you be there, right now."
"What do you know about it?" MJ asked, frowning at him. "He probably signed a nondisclosure when he arrived, so if he told you anything, chances are he'd be court-martialed."
"He doesn't know anything, MJ," Ned told her. "He just wants to look like a big shot. Tony won't let anything leak unless he wants it to. He probably set Friday up to filter out anything electronic that has anything to do with last night until he's ready to allow it to be released."
"Even Tony Stark can't censor the military," Flash disagreed. "He thinks he can do anything that he wants, but-"
"He thinks it because it's true. If it happened at the compound, it's Avengers business and not yours."
"That light that came through the city isn't Avengers business. It-"
"You didn't see it," Ned interrupted. "What do you know about it?"
"I know that my neighbor had a cold, but my mother said it's gone. Just like that."
"Go away, Flash," MJ told him. "We're studying. Maybe you'd have better grades if you studied, too."
"My grades are fine."
He left, though, still in a snit, and MJ looked at Ned, curiously.
"You're in a lousy mood," she observed. Normally he didn't bother to argue with Flash, and was a pretty cheerful guy. "What do you know that I don't?"
"Nothing," he said, evasively. "I was up late, though."
"Have you talked to Peter?" she asked, allowing her concern to show through, now that Flash was gone.
"I saw him last night," Ned told her. "It was pretty late."
"You saw him?"
"Yes."
"Did he look alright?"
"Yeah."
"Was he out doing his… thing?"
She didn't want to mention Spiderman, even though they were alone, just then.
"He was dressed for it," Ned replied, truthfully. "But I'm not sure. I tried calling him – after I saw the light – but he didn't answer and Tony said that he wasn't available."
"Did he sound worried?"
"Tony?"
"Yeah."
Ned shrugged.
"He sounds serious, most of the time."
"You saw the light?" she asked, clearly wishing that she had been awake.
"Yeah. It was outside the window, but it came in, I think, and went through us before going back out."
"You and your family?"
"Yeah." He hadn't meant to say us, but she gave him the out on it, and he took advantage of it. Ned was well aware that the last thing he could tell her was the last time he saw Peter he had a half-naked alien girl with him that he dumped off at the safe house for Ned to watch over. "It was pretty bright. Made me feel really good – although I didn't have any injury to heal."
She scowled.
"I wish I'd seen it."
"Sorry."
MJ shrugged, falling back on her typical apathy reaction to the world around her.
"Seen one healing light, you've seen them all, right?"
Ned snorted, softly.
"Yeah."
"Are you going to call Peter?"
"After school."
"Tell me what he tells you, alright."
"Yeah. Of course."
But probably not. At least, not without permission from Tony.
OOOOOOOO
Natasha was still alone with Peter when Nick walked into the room. He was still carrying Nutmeg, who was asleep, tucked snugly in Nick's right hand and cradled comfortably against his side. She watched as the SHIELD director walked over to stand in front of the tank, his eye intent on the boy.
"Have we heard anything on his progress?"
She shrugged.
"It's all on the display there," she told him, gesturing to the information that was being processed and displayed at a rate that made it next to impossible to keep up with the data – unless you were Tony Stark, or maybe Shuri. "He hasn't moved, though, and no alarms have gone off."
"Well, that's something, I suppose. You sent Tony and Pepper to bed?"
"I did. They'll probably be back in an hour or so." She was somewhat surprised that Tony hadn't snuck back, by then, so Pepper had probably taken him in hand to make him actually get some sleep. "Anything I need to know about?"
"The press is going nuts, demanding an explanation. Thor and his Asgards are gone. T'Challa's Wakandans are gone – except for him, Okoye and Shuri, of course. We have a video of Peter's stand against Thanos. It's amazing, and awful at the same time – and we are almost certainly going to want to edit his last words to the guy. Anything I need to know about, here?"
She shook her head, and then shrugged.
"Want to solve a mystery for me?"
"Of course. What do you have?"
The assassin held up the display in her hand.
"I went by Peter's quarters on the way to mine, earlier. The door was torn apart and shattered. Inward."
"Yeah? Something wanted in?"
"Apparently. That isn't the mystery, though."
She turned on the display, and Fury watched as the video outside the boy's room came up, showing the corridor as empty. Then, one of the savage dog-like creatures was ambling down the empty space, and the sensitive audio picked up the sound of barking from the other side of the door – making the creature come to a stop and growl, its nose coming to sniff the door. Another challenge from the other side of the door, and the thing was suddenly slamming into the door with a snarl. The door splintered open under the assault, and the creature vanished into the room.
There was a snarl, and a growl, and then a sudden yelp of surprise. Fury would have felt a stab of concern, if not for the fact that he had just left Steve Rogers, and Jack had been with him.
"What-"
"Watch," Romanoff said.
As Fury watched, there was a lot of silence and absolutely no indication of any movement from the inside of the room. After what seemed like forever, but was probably only a few minutes, there was a motion and Jack walked out of the room and into the corridor, looking around and then heading off in what looked to be a random direction. A moment later, Nutmeg followed, and looking at the timestamp, Nick realized that the timing was about right for it to have just before the kitten made his way int the control room. Both animals looked absolutely fine, and Fury frowned, looking down at the kitten sleeping in his arm.
"What the hell? Does it come out?"
Natasha shook her head.
"Not at all. I'd go look to see if there's a body, but the video shows the light coming down the corridor later on, so there probably isn't one."
"You think Jack killed the thing?"
"I can't even imagine how. He's not big enough to pose a threat to something like that thing. But it must have died – because all I can think of aside from that is that the damned thing hopped up on Peter's bed and fell asleep."
Nick snorted.
"Not likely."
"No."
"Well, I see the mystery, but there isn't anything I can think of that might solve it. Did you send anyone to see what the inside of the room looks like? Was there a fight, and maybe we didn't hear it on the footage?"
"I'll check it, myself. I assume you're here to take over for me?"
"I am. Go get some sleep, Agent Romanoff. Let me know if you find anything interesting in Peter's quarters, though, will you?"
"Of course."
Fury watched her leave and then settled in the same chair that she had been in. The action woke Nutmeg, who yawned, mightily, and then settled, closer to Fury's chest, more than willing to be cuddled by the most suspicious man on the planet – as long as he was willing to give him the caresses that he wanted, just then.
"You didn't eat that thing, did you?" Fury asked the tiny kitten, running a finger under the soft chin, making Nutmeg raise his head, practically cross-eyed with pleasure at the gentle rubbing. "I mean, you'd tell me, right?"
Fury looked at the boy he was sitting with, making sure the monitors were still showing green. Then he settled in to reassure the kitten, since he couldn't do much more than keep Peter company at the moment.
"Yeah… you'd tell me…"