Hi everyone and welcome to the second chapter of Finding Family: Foundations! No long author's note this time, don't worry!

Enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters/ franchises belong to their respective owners. I don't not stand to make any monetary gain from the publication of this story.


"Who is the tiny one?"

Tony sighed as a familiar blonde head walked from the training room to join him and Natasha in the rec room.

"His name is Peter," Tony replied. "He and his sister were attacked, his sister was drugged. We brought them back here to recover."

"Will not their parents worry for them?" Thor asked as the foursome of Clint, Steve, Peter and the unconscious Gwen disappeared into one of the spare rooms.

"Their parents are dead from what the boy told us. They've been living on the streets, running from something it seems, for months now. The boy also has abilities," Natasha said.

"Abilities?" Thor queried.

"I'll explain later, for now, let's get something started cooking. Peter looks like he hasn't had a proper meal in ages," she said as she disappeared into the kitchen.

"What will we do with them?" Thor asked Tony as they followed the red-head into the kitchen.

"When the sister wakes up, we'll talk to her. We'll probably be able to get information that makes sense out of her. Then, with Fury's approval, we'll start training the boy," Tony replied, watching absently as Tasha whirled around the kitchen preparing something that smelled amazingly good.

"You mean you guys have video games?" the child's voice carried from the hallway. "That's awesome! Will I be allowed to play?"

Steve appeared in the doorway, Peter perched on his shoulders, talking animatedly with the man.

"Of course you'll be allowed," Steve replied, swooping him off his shoulders and plunking him down in a chair at the table in the room. "And your sister too when she wakes."

As Steve turned to help Tasha with the final preparations of dinner, Peter eyed Thor with narrowed eyes. "Who are you?" the young boy asked.

Seeing that the thunder god was about to start his 'I am Thor, god of thunder, Son of Odin' routine, Tony cut him off quickly. Thor's thundery voice that more than lived up to his title would only scare the kid, not something they needed.

"This is our friend, Thor," he told the boy. "He stays with us too sometimes."

Peter's narrowed eyes lessened to an extent, but his distrust was still plain. "Will he swear on his heart?" the boy asked Tony.

"Probably," Tony replied. "Why don't you ask him?"

"Will you swear on your heart that you won't try and separate me and Gwen or give us back to the Goblin Man?"

"Swear on my heart? Why on my heart?"

"Sis says that the heart is the center of your being. Swearing on your life doesn't mean anything because people are too quick to give up their lives."

The adults in the room stared at the boy with mixed expressions of awe and surprise.

"I don't know what it means," Peter finished with a shrug. "But that's what she says."

"Well your sister is one smart girl," Thor said when he finally found his voice again. "Alright, I swear to you on my heart that I will do nothing to try and separate you from your sibling or give you back to this Goblin Man."

That seemed to appease Peter, as he turned to the grilled cheese sandwich that Natasha placed in front of him and began devouring it. As he ate, the rest of the adults began to eat as well as talk, being careful to keep the conversation light because of the child.

Peter was just reaching for the last half of his second sandwich when Tony noticed him stiffen, eyes trained on the door. Tony turned as Bruce Banner walked through the doorway, still in his white lab coat and looking haggard.

"Peter, this is our friend," Tony began as he turned back to the boy, hoping to calm Peter's fears right away. But the chair in which the kid had sat was empty. The sandwich half was gone and there was the sound of footsteps echoing down the hallway.

"Who's Peter?" Bruce asked.

"They'll fill you in," Natasha said, getting up from her place at the table hurriedly. Tony followed her out of the kitchen and down the hallway. They stopped at the closed door to the room where Gwen lay unconscious.

As Tony reached for the nob, Thor appeared behind them.

"There is magic in that room," he said, "Asgardian magic."

Tony raised his eyebrow and opened the door. He thought that the kid would've at least locked the door to try and keep them out. When he looked in the room though, he discovered why Peter hadn't bothered.


'Never trust a man in a white coat unless I tell you specifically that they're ok,' his sister had told him. 'Never, never, never go with them or even allow them within ten feet of you if you can help it. They're dangerous.'

Peter had never felt more scared in his life than when the man in white had walked through the door to the nice kitchen. Why had he trusted these people? Gwen had said to never trust strangers. But they had sworn on their hearts.

They never swore that they weren't working for Goblin Man.

He had reacted faster than he had thought, grabbing the half of the sandwich on his plate and ran under the table. He was the right size for that. Then he had dashed down the hall and into the room where Arrow man had put Gwen. The door shut behind him, he took five steps and leapt onto the bed beside her.

"Lab Rats," he whispered, curling up into his sister's side. He relaxed the tiniest bit as he felt the familiar tingle of Gwen's power surround them in a dome.

"Sis there are Lab Rats here. I'm so sorry. I should have listened to you. I trusted them and I shouldn't have trusted them. I messed everything up."

He looked up as the door opened and Iron suit, Thor and the nice Lady stood in the doorway. Tears were rolling down his cheeks as he pressed himself deeper into Gwen's side, hugging her limp arm like a favored stuffed animal.

"You swore," he said, his voice raspy with tears and sickness. "But you guys were Lab Rats all along, weren't you?"

"Pete," Iron guy started, "We're not-"

"Liar," Peter shouted. "You guys were all lying from the start. You don't want to help us at all. All you want to do is give us back to Goblin Man."

"Young one, I do not know what a 'Lab Rat' is but I am most assuredly not going to give you to a person who you fear," Thor said, stepping into the room and up to the shield. "What manner of magic is this barrier?"

"Magic?" Peter asked with a hiccup. "It's one of sis's abilities. That's why we were with the Goblin Man. He wanted to use her for tests and ex-spearmints. He hurt her so much. And you work for him. That man was a Lab Rat. You're going to give us back to him!"

Nice Lady spoke up then. "Thor, Tony, let's talk outside." She lowered her voice as she led them out of the room, leaving Peter and Gwen alone. Peter finally broke down and sobbed, worsening the hurt in his throat making him cry more. Finally, he had cried himself to sleep.


"It was Bruce," Natasha said as she closed the door softly behind them. "Well, Bruce's lab coat anyways. Both the men that attacked Gwen were wearing white coats and Peter called them 'lab rats.' Whoever they are, they're not good news."

"Who is this Goblin Man the boy speaks of?"

"Don't know," Tony replied. "That's the only name the kid seems to know him by. But he's scared stiff of him. Almost as scared as he is of losing his sister."

"Let's leave them alone for a moment, we can't get near them with that barrier thing in the way," Natasha said. "I think it's time for a meeting."

By the time the three made it out to the rec room, the rest of the Avengers team had assembled, waiting to hear the latest developments in one of the most interesting things to happen in their lives as of late.

"He got scared when he saw your lab coat Bruce," Natasha explained. "We think that whoever's after them wears that or something like it. That's why Peter reacted the way he did."

"What happened in there?" Steve asked.

"The girl has Asgardian magic," Thor announced. "She was able to produce a shield around her and the boy."

Well, that was a new development. "Do we know anything more about the Goblin Man that the kid keeps going on about?" Steve asked worriedly. "He sounds really scared of him."

"Terrified is more like it," Clint agreed.

"We don't," Natasha said. "Our best bet is to wait for his sister to wake up and clarify a few things for all of us. They shouldn't be left alone for too long though. Peter is sick and we don't know what reactions that drug might induce. I say we take watches. I'll go first."

"I will watch second," Thor volunteered.

"I'll keep an eye on them around four," Bruce said, "I'm usually up that early anyways."

"Sans lab coat," Tony reminded him. "And I'll keep an eye on the kids tomorrow morning."

They were in for a long night.


Gwen woke to the feeling of something shaking beside her. She looked down to see Peter shivering uncontrollably, clutching onto her arm for dear life. It was stark white, circulation a distant memory. The clothes on that side were sticky and wet with sweat.

"You're burning up Pete. Didn't I give you the medicine I got you?" She frowned, trying to remember. What had been the last thing that she remembered? When she finally figured it out, she wished she hadn't.

"I'm sorry sissy."

Gwen looked down again to see her little brother staring up at her with tear bright eyes. He looked worse than he had before. This was not what was supposed to be happening.

"Peter, what happened? And what are you apologizing for?" she asked, trying to clear her head from the drug induced fog it had been in.

"The Lab Rats had you and you gave me permission and told me to run, so I went back to camp but she followed me and to me she wasn't going to hurt me. Then her friend came and he said that you weren't dead and that they could help us. They swore on their hearts so I believed them. But we came here and they put you in a bed and gave me food but then a Lab Rat came in. They were with Goblin Man all along. I'm sorry sissy. I should have listened to you. I shouldn't have trusted them."

The words came out in a rush, almost too fast for Gwen's hazy mind to comprehend. She managed to get the catch most of it though. They were really in for it now.

A movement in the corner of the room caught her eye. She hugged Peter close to her as she locked eyes with the man sitting in a chair in the room. A book lay forgotten on a shelf beside him, a mug of something, coffee probably, sat beside it.

"Shhhhhhh, Peter." She rocked him gently. "It'll be alright. Everything will be fine, you'll see. Who are you?"

Accusing eyes bored into the man. "My name is Bruce Banner. My friends, Clint and Natasha, found you getting attacked and stepped in to help. When they found you had no family, they brought you here."

Gwen frowned. Bruce Banner? Why did that name sound familiar to her? "Is Clint the iron person Peter was talking about?"

"No, that's Tony. Clint was the guy with the bow and arrows," the man replied. "I'm afraid that I may have freaked your brother out a little bit by coming to the dinner table in my work clothes. You see, I'm a doctor and a lot of the time I work in my private lab that I have here in the building."

Gwen stiffened when she heard the words 'private lab,' but she forced herself to remain calm. "Where are we?"

"Stark Tower," the man replied.

"Are we still in the city?" Gwen asked. The man frowned, standing up and making his way over to the bed. He stopped a couple of feet away, unable to get closer because of the shield that was still in effect.

"You are still in the city," the man, Bruce, told her. "And I swear to you, we only want to help you-"

"What is your degree in?" Gwen cut him off.

"Biology. I focus on gamma radiation because of personal interest. How are you able to produce your shield?" He put his hand over his mouth, as if he hadn't been planning on asking that question.

"No clue. Are you interested because of healthy curiosity? Or because of professional reasons?" Gwen's eyes narrowed

"Professional curiosity," Bruce answered. "There's a reason I'm interested in gamma radiation." Gwen raised her eyebrow in a silent question. "Have you ever heard of the Avengers?"

"Heard of? Yes. Understand who they are or what they do? No." The man appeared surprised. "Could you please pass me my jacket?"

Bruce retrieved the jacket from the top of the dresser nearby and paused just outside the shield. The lavender colored magic turned particulate and retreated inside Gwen, who sat up on the bed, looking expectantly at her jacket. When Bruce handed it to her, she dug into her right pocket and sighed audibly with relief when her fingers wrapped around the bottle of medicine.

"Peter, I need you to sit up for me sweetie," she said as she read the label. As the younger boy sat up, she poured out the required dosage for his age group. "Alright Pete, drink this for me."

The man looked at the girl expectantly, waiting for her to reinstate the barrier.

"I can't." The sound of the girl's voice so suddenly made Bruce jump. He looked up to meet Gwen's eyes. "I can't. Can only do it when I'm asleep. I can keep it up when I'm awake but once I've called it off, I can't put it back up."

"Then why did you-"

"Recall it in the first place? Because Peter needed his medicine. And, because I trust you for the moment." Peter handed the little cup back to his sister and curled up at her side.

"You trust the Avengers?"

"The Avengers have nothing to do with it," Gwen replied. "I have my own reasons for trusting you, just like you've got your reasons for your professional interest in gamma rays. Now, I'm going to get some more shut eye. Even for me, it's too early to be awake. See you in the morning."

With that, she laid down and pulled her little brother close to her. She closed her eyes. "Don't prove my fears right."


After the two siblings had gone back to sleep, Bruce had sat watching them, trying to understand the girl's reasoning. His book lay forgotten beside him and his coffee grew cold as the sun slowly rose.

"Did anything happen?" Bruce jumped at the sound of the voice so close.

"I swear, even knowing that you're an assassin, it still freaks me out when you do that," he told Natasha.

"The barrier's down?" Her eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Did it go down on its own?"

"Gwen woke up in the middle of the night and took it down. She had gone out to get Peter some medicine and it turns out she was attacked on the way back. She made me hand her her jacket. She can only put it up when she's asleep."

"She told you that?"

"I did."

The two looked to see Gwen sitting up and stretching. Beside her, Peter was awake, staring at Natasha and Bruce.

"Now would someone please tell me what the Avengers had to do with anything we talked about last night?"

"You don't know who the Avengers are?" Natasha asked.

"I never said that. I know of them, but like I said last night, I still don't understand who they are or what they're about," Gwen replied, rolling to side at the edge of the bed.

"So then why did you trust me enough to keep the barrier down while you slept?" Bruce asked. It made sense though, she hadn't known what or where Stark tower was. He almost wasn't surprised that she didn't know much about the Avengers.

"I have my reasons for that," Gwen said, standing up. Bruce rushed forward to catch her before she could hit the ground as her legs gave out. "What color?"

"What color what?" Bruce asked at the same moment Natasha said, "Yellow-green."

"Shi-" Gwen started to say before she glanced at her brother who was wide awake at this point. "-Take mushrooms."

"Good cover," came a voice from the door. Bruce looked to see Tony standing there.

"You learn to do that when you live with kids," Gwen replied as she struggled to stand on her own. She bit her lip as her right leg gave out, making her lean heavily on Bruce. "Now, before this gets any farther, I believe we should all be introduced and last night should be explained to me from the beginning."

"How about breakfast first?" Natasha said, eyeing Peter and Gwen. "It'll give us time to wait for the rest of the crew to wake up."

"Rest of the crew?" Gwen echoed. She suddenly looked very nervous.

"There's just a couple more people," Bruce said as he watched her successfully stand and take a couple of tentative steps on her own. Watching her like a hawk in case she fell again. He frowned when she bent down to pick her brother up off the bed.

"I'll be fine," Gwen said, her back to him. "I've slept off most of the effects of the drug. I just needed to tell my muscles to start working again. Where's the kitchen and what's for breakfast?"

"So, you know what the drug was?" Tony asked, suddenly serious as Natasha lead the way to the kitchen.

"Not its name, no. But I know the effects. It's some kind of sedative and muscle relaxant rolled into one, I think. That's what it's always done to me."

"That stuff has been used on you before," Bruce asked, startled. Gwen neglected to answer as they walked into the kitchen.

"Now, you guys are going to sit down at the table and wait while I make breakfast," Natasha said, cutting off Gwen when she opened her mouth. "No if's, and's or but's. We brought you here to make sure that you were safe and to care for you. We expect nothing in return for this. So sit down with your brother."

With something that sounded like a cross between a sigh and a huff, Gwen sat down beside her brother, who was talking animatedly with Tony, who had just sat down at the table with a cup of coffee. After a second, Gwen's eyes widened.

"Are you Tony Stark?" she asked. "Of Stark Enterprises?"

"The one and only," Tony replied.

Gwen frowned. "I don't know whether to hit you or thank you."

Natasha covered her giggles while Bruce very quickly swallowed his coffee so he could laugh both at the comment and at the look on Tony's face.

"Don't worry, most people don't know the answer to that question," said a red haired woman, walking into the room. "Especially this early in the morning. Pepper Potts. I'm assuming that you two are Gwen and Peter?"

Gwen scowled. "Just how many people are there who know about us?" she demanded. "We try to keep a low profile for a very important reason. We've got people after us and I'm not keen on having a repeat of last night anytime soon."

"Calm down," Bruce said, the irony of the comment not lost on him. "We're not going to turn you two back onto the streets with this guy after you. There are only a few people who know you are here and we'll make sure that it stays that way. Remember what Natasha said earlier?"

"The man after us is smart and if you've run a background check on the two of us, like I think you have-" Gwen shot Tony a very dark look "-Then you'll have set off at least two of the red flags that he's got up. What did you find on us anyways?"

"That your last name is Parker and that your parents died a couple of years ago. Pretty much just enough to corroborate what your brother told us last night. I couldn't find records of your adoption or fostering in any of the federal files though," Tony replied. Pepper smacked the back of his head.

"That was for hacking into the government's files," she told him. "Something that you promised me you would refrain from doing."

"I said I wouldn't hack into Fury's files," Tony growled. "There's a difference."

As the two continued to bicker, Thor and Steve made their way into the kitchen.

"I don't know what you're making Tasha," Steve said. "But it smells wonderful."

"I agree," Thor said. "I see the magical Gwendolyn is awake."

Gwen frowned at the thunder god. "It's just Gwen," she said, "And I'm not magical."

"But of course you are," Thor replied. "How else would you have been able to produce a shield that could stand up to Mjolnir's power."

Everyone at the table stared at Thor with either a look of shock or one of confusion.

"You what?!" Bruce found that it was he who was having the outburst. "You took your hammer to that thing? Thor are you crazy?!"

"I did not, as you say, take my hammer to that thing," Thor replied. "I merely assessed her power levels through magical examination."

"Come again," Gwen said. "Did Bruce just say that he took some kind of hammer to my shield while we were sleeping?!" Her face held a mix of emotions between anger and fear.

"Yes, that's what Bruce said," Pepper replied, taking control of the conversation to keep certain parties from digging the hole they had made even deeper. "But that isn't what Thor did. Thor has magic-"

"Ok, before we go any further, I want people's names. I'm confused already," Gwen said, her tone the same as Pepper's was when she meant business.

"Natasha is the one making breakfast." It was Peter who spoke up, surprising everyone at the table. "She was the lady from last night. Tony is Iron guy that I told you about. Lab rat man is Bruce. I didn't catch everyone else's names."

"Lab Rat?" everyone at the table repeated questioningly.

"Explanations after introductions," Gwen said.

"I am Thor, god of thunder, son of Odin," Thor said. Gwen's reaction was to raise her eyebrows and then look at the rest of the table.

"Yes we are aware that he sounds like a mental case but no Asylum would take him," Tony said.

"My name is Steve Rodgers," Steve said.

"And Clint isn't here," Natasha said, "But he's the one who killed the two men who went after you last night."

"Sharp stick man," Peter chimed in.

"Arrows, Peter, they're called arrows," Gwen corrected. "Now, I'll assume you all are these Avengers people that I've heard about?"

"How could you-" Steve started.

"Not Know?" Gwen finished for him. "Me and Peter led a very sheltered life after our parents died. Now, tell me about what you guys do."

And so they told her. All about the Avengers initiative and their battles against Loki and the tesseract.

"So you guys are the people who save the world when evil comes calling," Gwen said in summary.

"Pretty much," Natasha replied. "Now, tell us about you and Peter."

Gwen eyed them, obviously trying to make up her mind on how much to tell them or even to tell at all.

"Our father was Richard Parker," she began. "He worked for Oscorp where he was head scientist. His main focus was gene splicing, particularly spiders, he loved spiders." She had what almost seemed to be a smile on her face as she remembered him. "Five years ago, give or take a few months, he brought home a specimen from the labs. It got out and bit Peter. When he grew a little bit older we found out the side effects of that bite and his powers. When Peter was two and a half, dad died."

Gwen's face clouded and her expression grew somber. "We stayed with our aunt and uncle for a month before Norman Osbourne got custody of us." Her eyes grew hard. "At first things were fine. We went to school, we played with his son, that all changed when he found out about me."

During the course of her speech, Peter had climbed into his sister's lap. Gwen held him as close as she could without suffocating him. "Peter had crawled into bed with me one night and activated my shield. When Osbourne came in the next morning to wake me up, my life became living hell. I was his little 'test subject' for a year. I hated it, being poked and prodded all the time. Never having enough sleep and wondering what round of drugs they were going to give me next to 'test' the effects of. Finally I'd had it. I broke out, took Peter with me and we've been running ever since."

Peter was sniffling by the end of it. His nose was looking red too. Gwen slid him out of her lap and onto his own chair. Then she disappeared down the hall, returning just as quickly with the bottle of children's medicine in her hand and the throw blanket from the living room thrown over her shoulder.

"Hope you don't mind," she said, wrapping her brother up and pouring out the required dosage of medicine. Her comment seemed to snap the Avengers out of whatever stupor her story had sent them into.

"He WHAT?!" Everyone winced as Bruce shouted so loud they were sure the interns on the floors below were shaking in their shoes. "He used you as a guinea pig!"

Gwen's eyes grew wide as a green tinge took on Bruce's skin and his muscles started to bulge.

"Bruce, calm down," Steve shouted.

"Gwen, Peter, why don't we go to your room and see if we can't find something else for you guys to wear?" Natasha said. Gwen merely scooped her brother into her arms at breakneck speed and Got out of the kitchen as fast as she could.


Once the kids, Pepper and Natasha were out of the way, Tony, Thor and Steve set about trying to calm down the rapidly going out of control Hulk.

"Bruce you need to calm down," Tony shouted.

"Hulk, we do not wish to contend with you in battle but if you continue on this path we will have no choice but to restrain you," Thor said, summoning Mjolnir to his hand.

It was at that moment that Clint walked into the kitchen. He took in the scene around him with an eyebrow raised. "Tony, what did you do this time?" he asked. It was well known that some of Tony's more harmful practical jokes could set off the big green beast.

"Why is it that whenever he hulks out it's always somehow my fault?" Tony asked to no one in particular. "I didn't do anything this time. We'll fill you in later damnit, now help us calm him down!"

With a roll of his eyes, Clint walked over to assist Bruce, who was slowly losing his muscles and green hue. After a couple of minutes, he was completely back to normal and the room was relatively intact, minus some of the dishes that had been on the table.

"Shit," Bruce said when he finally got control back. "Shit, shit, shit, shit."

"You know, it gets boring after a while if you just use the same word," Clint drawled.

"Shut up Barton," Bruce hissed. "I can't believe I did that. Dammit, and we were just starting to get her to trust us too."


And that's the end of Chapter 2!

Just some responses to the reviews I got for the last chapter:

Midnight Bloom - In answer to your question, as of yet I don't have plans to put Peter in a mini-Spiderman costume. It might happen later but right now the answer is no.

Manicpanicgirl - I'm so glad that you liked the story so far!

Sailor Leia - You don't know what it means to me that you took the time to re-read the chapter and leave me a review. Thank you so much for everything that you've done to encourage me on this story!

Hope you guys enjoyed it! If you all could just take a couple of seconds to leave me a review? I'm not the type of author who says that I won't update until I get a certain number of reviews, but I'm really nervous about posting this story because it's so like and so unlike some of the other stories out there and I'd really like some feedback.

Till next chapter,
CaseClosed621