"We just intercepted a call from the penthouse asking for an ambulance…"

Natasha frowned.

"What?" She looked at the display on her tablet, which was carrying everywhere with her, just then, since it gave her total access (through Tony's AI) of all the security cameras in the hotel and the convention center. It didn't give her access to the penthouse suite – or any of the other guest rooms, of course – but she saw that there were three mobsters outside the penthouse door, looking extremely alert and tense, and sure enough, the hotel lobby was already showing signs that something was going on that they knew about. "What's going on?"

Instantly alert for any kind of abnormal activity, SHIELD was already on it, and it was one of the men closest to the penthouse (posing as a floor concierge) who replied into the ear bug she was wearing.

"No clue," he told her. "But they're all coming this way from every other room they're staying in."

The head mobsters were staying in the suite, but the underlings were in the rooms around that. Nice rooms and very luxurious, close enough to give their bosses the protection that they needed, but far enough away to give them whatever privacy they might need, as well.

"See if you can find out," she said. "And let me know as soon as you do."

They'd definitely need to know of something was going on. The assassin pressed the tablet surface and the scene changed to the hotel's swimming pool, and her eyes easily picked out Peter's form where the boy was sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet dangling in the water, chatting with MJ and one of the Japanese kids (maybe Nico?) and occasionally splashing Ned and some of his other classmates when the chance came up.

He was alright, and there was nothing in his expression that made her think he had any kind of spider sense thing going on, just then.

That was good.

"What do you want to do?" Steve asked her, knowing Tony was going to hear the same thing that they just had.

"I'm going to stay clear," she replied. "Just like I have been. It might be something completely innocent – or maybe someone hurt themselves, or something."

No one had mentioned hearing any gunshots, after all, and the only people in the upper floor of the hotel were allies of the mob bosses who were there, so she hadn't thought there would be any kind of issues. Otherwise she would have suggested that they somehow remove either the kids from the hotel and convention center – or the mobsters.

"Want me to see if Bucky's willing to go take a look?"

"Not yet. We'll see what happens, next."

She did, however, send a couple of extra people towards the pool area. Just in case.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Dude…" Ned walked over to where Peter was sitting, slapping his friend, excitedly, on the shoulder. "There's some police cars pulling up, outside."

"What?" Peter wasn't the only one to look up at him. He was sitting with MJ, and a couple of the kids from England, listening to MJ tell them a story about her brother in law breaking his leg and gross it had been, and all of them looked up, as well. "What's going on?"

"No clue." He gestured toward the wide window that dominated the indoor pool's room, and looked out onto a balcony that was three floors up and gave a good view of the parking lot. "I just saw them when I walked over to the drinking fountain."

"There's an ambulance, too," Abe reported, having walked up right behind Ned, and seeing what he'd seen, but a little more. "Only it isn't an ambulance, it says coroner on the side."

"Coroner?" Peter echoed.

"Somebody died," Ned said, looking excited, still, but a little uncomfortable, too – as though he wasn't sure that that was something to be excited about. "We should go look."

"I don't want to see a dead person," MJ told him.

"Neither do I," Peter agreed. "Besides, you don't know that that's what it is…"

"Coroners pick up dead bodies," Flash confirmed. He'd been sitting close by, shirt off and sucking his gut in each time any of the other students (especially the pretty girls) walked by, and had heard everything. "If it were someone with a medical problem, they'd have sent an ambulance."

"I wonder what happened," Abe said, sitting down on the edge of the pool.

"I bet Tony would know," Ned said, looking at Peter, pointedly. "You could call and ask."

"And freak him out when I mention the possibility of a dead body?" Peter asked, shaking his head. "No way." Bad enough he'd already been stuck in an elevator, that day. Tony's heart was strong, Peter knew, but it could only handle so much in a day. "If it's something we need to know about, they'll make sure we know."

Ned rolled his eyes.

"No one tells kids anything."

"That's true," one of the English kids agreed.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"What happened…?"

King shook his head, watching as the police and a couple of medical people from the city handled the gathering of his friend's body and questioned those who were in the room. He'd already spoken with the police officer who had been the first to arrive once Victor had checked his cousin's pulse and announced that he was dead. They had had to call the police; something like this wasn't going to be swept under a rug, after all – and since it wasn't illegal to die in a hotel room, there was no reason for them to not call.

Besides, King wasn't the only one who wanted an autopsy done. Nicholai Varsto was a healthy man and healthy men didn't just drop dead, now did they? The whole reason for the get together had been a concern that there were some young guns who were making noises that sounded suspiciously like sedition and suddenly the leader of the west coast family is dead? They definitely wanted to know why.

"I don't know. We were talking about the kid, and he was saying how he-"

"What kid?" Alex interrupted.

"Parker. Nicholai was mentioning that he could use someone with his smarts in the organization, and he said that…" King trailed off, eyes narrowing. "He was talking about finding a way to force the kid to come work for him once he got out of school… You think Stark was listening in and killed him for it?"

His information man frowned, but he shook his head.

"Stark doesn't have a death ray, or anything, Joel. How could he just kill him? And why would he?"

"Because it was a threat to his son," King pointed out, looking around to make sure they weren't being overheard. "The timing is too perfect for-"

"I doubt Stark has a listening device in here," Zhihov pointed out before his boss could get too strung out about things that were unlikely – and maybe say something he shouldn't. "And – again – how would he just kill him, even if he knew what was being said? I think we need to find out what happened, first. For all we know, it could have been poison, or it could have been bad shellfish, or something."

"But-"

He was interrupted when Victor walked over, looking troubled.

"They're going to take him to the coroner's office and I was told they'll do an autopsy within the next 24 hours and let us know the cause of death."

King nodded. They probably didn't normally do things that way, but he knew that the promise of money would make things go faster and would cut plenty of red tape if necessary. Victor was kin, too, so it wasn't an unreasonable request to make.

"Good. I'll be interested in hearing what they find."

"So will I." The man's face darkened, and his eyes grew dangerous. "People don't just drop dead for no reason," he said, not realizing he was echoing a statement that had already been said. "None of our people leave, here, until we find out what happened."

King didn't like that – he'd told Marie that he'd be home that night, and now he was going to have to stay. Not only to be with Victor for support if he needed it as he mourned the loss of his cousin, but also because leaving would make him look suspicious. True, he'd been friends with Nicholai for years, but things changed, and better to not look like a suspect if it could be avoided.

"I'll let the hotel people know."