Chapter 3

After checking out the school and finding out what little information they could from Gwen Stacy, Tony, Steve, Natasha, and Clint found themselves back at Stark tower where they met up with Bruce.

"Any sign of him?" were the first words out of the scientists mouth, but the edginess of his friends quickly answered for him.

"JARVIS, locate Peter's phone." Natasha ordered the moment she was inside, and the AI answered immediately.

"Right away agent Romanov."

"Do you really think they wouldn't toss his phone? Or destroy it?" Steve asked, and Natasha shrugged.

"There's no way of knowing. But Peter told me he was turning the tracker on when he called me so it's a good place to start." Within moments the steady beep of the phones tracking device was slowly going off, and they all stared in disbelief.

"The Brooklyn War Museum." Steve murmured, and all eyes turned to him, watching the pain come and go in his eyes before the hardened and he headed for the door. "Let's go."

Tony flew over the city, worry gnawing at him. He had the beep of Peter's possible location flashing on screen, and although it was relieving that it was still beeping, it was also strange that the people who had took him hadn't either destroyed it or dropped it somewhere else. The thought wouldn't leave him alone and it must have been obvious cause moments later Steve was speaking in his ear.

"If he's not there we'll keep looking. Peter's a smart kid, he'll be okay." Steve assured him, but Tony could hear the strain in his husband's voice.

"Come on, let's find out. This whole stress and worry thing isn't really suiting me." he commented, and could almost hear Steve's strained smile at his attempt at attitude.

"It looks like there's an entrance underground by the public library." Natasha was saying suddenly, and Tony veered in that direction, coming down where he saw the others gathered.

"Call it, Cap." Tony said, turning to his husband, and Steve nodded, tone snapping into his soldier mode.

"Tony, I want you to find another way in. There's got to be a backdoor. Find it. If they're in here, we don't want them getting out. Barton, go with him. It's better if we have two on both sides." the two of them nodded, and without even a comment Tony grabbed hold of Barton's harness, lifting him into the air.

"Are you ready, Steve?" Natasha asked, and he could hear the moment of warmth in her tone. As soon as he nodded, he watched her focus, the warmth disappearing behind a cold shell, and with only one more shared look, they entered the compound.

"What do you see down there?" Tony asked, the instant the two disappeared underground, even as Jarvis scanned the ground for a possible entrance.

"It's empty so far," Natasha replied, and they both knew it was because Steve would sound disappointed if he spoke.

"There might be another entrance by the water. It would be a good location for a quick getaway." Barton suggested, and Tony immediately swerved in that direction. It wasn't hard for the two of them to find the entrance then and soon they too were underground, looking around at the empty halls.

"This is definitely a military base of some sort, but S.H.I.E.L.D. has no record of it that I know of." Barton commented.

"I didn't know of any base beneath the memorial either." Natasha confirmed, and they all approached the centre of the base with caution and doubt, hoping for a sign of the youngest member of their makeshift family, but growing more and more doubtful that they'd find one.

"A lot of this is S.H.I.E.L.D. equipment though, isn't it?" Steve commented, and none of them missed the tightness of Natasha's voice when she answered.

"It is."

They met up outside a row of interrogation rooms lined up around a lab of some sort, and the idea that Peter had been here set Steve on edge. He knew what it was like to be experimented on, and he'd remembered how terrifying it was even when he'd been a volunteer. The idea of his son being under any sort of forced experiment had fury rising in his chest.

"Is the signal still coming from here?" Barton asked, and Tony nodded, scanning the room. The first to move was Steve, and they all watched him approach an interrogation room, shoulders set in a tense, angry line.

"In here." Steve bit out, and he broke the handle off with his shield, shoving the door open. They all caught sight of the blood on the floor, and Tony was immediately there and testing it.

"Is it Peters?" Steve asked, though they all expected it to be. What they didn't expect was Tony's silence. "Tony?" Steve asked, voice strained, and that's when Tony stood.

"Yeah, it's Peters."

The sound of a phone ringing had them all jumping, and they turned to see Peter's phone sitting on the chair Peter had clearly been bound to. Steve moved to answer it, frowning when he realized it was a Skype call.

"Answer it." Natasha prodded, and so he did, going tense when he caught sight of his sons bruised face.

"Hey pops," Peter's voice came through slightly grainy, but they could all hear the strain.

"Peter, are you alright?" they watched as their son looked around before giving his customary grin and shrug. Of course, the look was put off by the fact that his lip was bleeding and swollen, a bruise covered his cheekbone, and the skin around his left eye was turning a dark purple.

"Course I'm alright, pops. Is dad there?" Steve handed the phone to Tony, and with only a few touches, Peter's image projected itself onto the wall.

"Hey kiddo. Nasty bruise you got there." he noted, but no one could miss the rage seething in his voice that someone had dared to lay a hand on his son. There was a moment of silence before Peter gave a pained yelp, a glare, and then turned back to the camera.

"Alright well, as I'm sure you've figured out, they want something. Nothing new there. These people are really starting to bore me." there was a motion beyond the scope of the camera and Peter winced in pain, but continued. "Anyways, they want-" he paused, expression a clear replication of Tony's sarcasm before he spoke again. "They want-" another pause and then Peter clearly looked annoyed. "Make up your mind for christ sakes." once again there was a motion and Peter was wincing, blinking back tears. Nobody missed how both parents flinched at their sons obvious pain. Then he was looking at whatever the people were showing him. They watched Peter's expression go from frowning, to disbelief, to rage and a hint of panic. "Get out of there! Don't call this number back! It's flipped S.H.I.E.L.D. agents – don't-" they all watched as Peter was punched across the face before the camera was turned away and a man in a military mask appeared.

"You've got a surprisingly loyal kid," the voice drawled, and Steve's jaw clenched.

"You're going to regret ever having touched him." he warned, and the man laughed.

"Doubtful. Here's what you're going to give me to get your precious son back. I want the Iron Man suit, without the man inside, I want your shield, Captain, the widow's hand weapons, and hawkeye's bow." The four were frowning, although all were wary of giving up their symbols, none could understand why it had thrown Peter into such a fit.

"Let Peter go, and we'll consider letting you live when we find you." the threat was startling coming from Tony's mouth, but none of them argued it because none could claim they felt differently.

"Not willing to give up your symbols for your kid? It's a shame. But that's okay, I didn't really want them anyways. No, what I want is blood. I'm sure you can guess which two members of your precious little group I want it from. If I don't get what I want, not only will I keep your boy, but I have some interesting theories to test out. The Parker line can be easily cut off. After all, with his biological parents having been killed off, he's the last one to carry on that genetic line. If you don't give us what we want, we'll turn your kid into our own lab rat and we'll make sure he won't last long enough to ever see you again."

"Hey! Get your hands off me!" They heard Peter shout from off camera, and then the man facing them gave a chuckle.

"You know, your kid is also, unsurprisingly, unable to keep his mouth shut." there was another sound of impact, and it had them all tensing.

"Know what else I'm unable to do?" Came Peter's furious voice, "Play by your rules." the man they were facing went flying, the phone skittering across the ground. Then Peter was once more in view.

"H+ + HCO3 ," Peter said, and then he was ducking and Natasha smirked at the impressive spin kick the boy gave to the man who tried to come up behind him. "4 Fe(OH)3(s), and don't forget about running water."

"What does that mean?" Steve was asking, turning to Tony, but his husband put up a hand to shush him.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah," Peter nodded, and then he was dropping the phone. The sound of an electrical buzz met their ears paired with what could only be Peter trying not to cry out in pain.

"You stupid brat." was the next thing they heard but Tony was already on the move, transferring the call so it came through their ear pieces, and they raced to follow the Iron Man suit.

"Not as stupid as you." was the tight reply, and this time the sound of impact was followed by a near sob.

"Somebody turn off that damned phone!" the man ordered, but not before they all heard Peter's final words.

"Negative 70 or so." the words were huffed out painfully, and followed by more sounds of abuse, but then the phone was shut off.

"What the hell did all that mean?" Steve demanded as they arrived above ground, only to have the Iron Man suit shoot into the air.

"Rust, polluted running water, and that he's underground. They couldn't have taken him far so I'm guessing some sort of water plantation. There's one north of here." he was shooting off in that direction before any of them could respond, and Steve was climbing onto his motorcycle. He was quick to follow, the two assassins in a car behind him. They were getting closer, and they wouldn't miss him this time.

Hello folks just wanted to give a quick thanks for the reviews :) I really appreciate them so thank you to those who took the moment :)