Chapter 5

Tony, Fitz, Daisy, Vision, Natasha, Happy and Jemma all sit around the main lab in complete silence. Peter's screams ended about a half hour ago. This time he blacked out on his own, likely from the pain, according to Jemma. Pale-faced and red eyes describe the room. Tony looks distraught, unable to comprehend his own inner turmoil.

"WHY, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT? STOP! PLEASE!"

Tony doesn't think those questions will ever leave him. Peter's voice will never leave his head.

Happy is the first to move. He simply gets up and leaves. No words, he just leaves. Tony doesn't blame him.

"I'll get started on a health analysis." Jemma squeaks soon after. Her voice is horse. In a hurry to leave, she almost knocks over a tired and disgruntled Pepper Potts.

"Tony Stark I have been sitting with May Parker for-" She stops dead in her tracks once she sees the faces of the people in the room.

"Oh no, he isn't dead is he?" She beings to sob instantly.

"NO!" Tony jumps up snapping out of his daze. "He's not, we just haven't found him yet."

"Oh, well then... um..." She's confused as the collective look of defeat does not match the information she has just received.

"Has Happy been updating you?" Tony asks sensing her confusion.

"No, all I know is that Peter Parker, AKA Spiderman went missing about 40 hours ago and I have been sitting with his aunt since she got here over a day ago."

Everyone in the room shifts uncomfortably, unsure how to respond.

"Guys," Tony says turning to the rest of the team. "Get back to work, Fitz and Johnson, I'll join you as soon as I can." With a quick nod, the team disburses and Tony leads Pepper out of the lab into a secure corner of the compound.

"Tony, what's going on?" Pepper panics placing her hand on her chest in worry.

"There's no easy way to explain this-"

"Then explain it the hard way."

"Peter was kidnapped by one of my employees in search of revenge." He begins uneasily. "Her name is Tiffany Sherwood, and she worked in the coding department, and she has been live streaming herself torturing Peter for the past day."

"What!" Pepper chokes out. "I don't... why!"

"Its kinda hard to explain, basically she's pissed off about never getting a promotion."

"That doesn't even make sense. Why kind of manic does that?"

"She's... I don't know what she is, but she's damn good at coding. I've been working all day on trying to search for her IP address, but she's done a solid job hiding."

"Wow." Pepper breaths having a hard time comprehending what she has just heard.

"Clint, Sam, and Wanda are all out looking for him, and Natasha's... well I'm not sure what she's doing, but she's doing something to find the kid, and the girl that walked past you earlier is some sort of fancy medical doctor or something like that, basically she's monitoring the kid's health through the video."

"Okay, that's great Tony." Pepper breaths after a couple moment rest to regather her thoughts. "but what am I supposed to tell his aunt?"

"I don't know just making something up."

"Of course." Pepper grumbles as she watches Tony walk away. She's always making stuff up for Tony.

"Oh, I need a DNA sample of the kid, a recent one would be good," Tony shouts over his shoulder as he hustles over to his lab.

"How am I supposed to... and he's gone."


Brownish, old, broken and permantly stained with dirt, these are the words that pop into Pepper Potts head as she walks into the Parker apartment. Its a small apartment in the projects of Queens. A few boxes sit in the cornor, not yet unpacked.

"I'm sorry for the mess." May Parker sniffs. "We just moved about a month ago."

"Oh, that's quite alright." Pepper smiles sweetly.

"We have moved twice into the past couple months." May begins to explain leading Pepper to the small bedroom in the back to gather a couple of her things. "We had been living in tempory housing for about 7 years after the invasion a couple years ago. We were one of the last people to get our apartment back. Then we moved a couple months ago to a better place, but some unexpected expenses forced us to move to a different neighborhood."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Pepper says uncomfortably. Truth be told she had been living with Tony so long she had forgotten what it looked like to live in poverty. To be honest, her closet was bigger than May's room. After grabbing a few shirts, pants and a large book May walks out of her room back into the little hallway.

"Okay, that's everything." She states. Pepper stands awkwardly for a few moment unsure how to ask.

"Spit it out, sweetheart." May smiles sweetly through her worn out appearance.

"I'm sorry?" Pepper jumps in response.

"I've raised a Peter. I know when someone has something to say." May laughs lightly. Pepper smiles at her phrasing.

"We need a recent DNA sample from Peter..."

"Oh, of course..." May's face drains of the little color left and her body begins to shake.

"It doesn't mean anything bad, I assure you." Pepper attempts to comfort.

"I know," May says not looking back at her. "It's just... frightening."

The woman soon returns with the young hero's hairbrush.

"Will this work?"

"It's perfect." Pepper assures her. She furrows her brow as she looks down at May's other hand. There is a worn out stuffed white(ish) rabbit clutched in it. "What's that."

"Oh." May smiles genuinely. "This is Moseby."

"Who?" Pepper laughs following May's lead to sit on the dinky little couch. "Moseby, Peter's stuffed rabbit from when he was just a little baby. He used to be dressed in a white lab coat with gloves and goggles, but he lost those pieces long ago.

"A scientist." Pepper smiles.

"Yes, that's all Peter ever wanted to be. Ben was never really good at school and frankly neither am I, but his parents were geniuses in their own respect. His father got him that rabbit when he was born and the little thing hasn't left his side since. I honestly don't think he has spent the night away from the little guy, not even when he went to DC. He put the rabbit in the bottom of his duffle bag. He tried to pretend like he didn't pack the toy, but I know he did."

"That's so sweet." Pepper smiles.

"He keeps Dr. Moseby under his bed now, but I think that's mostly to save face." May laughs loudly. "After his parents died he wouldn't let go of the little thing for almost a year. I would have to wait until he fell asleep to wash it."

"Aww, that's so adorable." Pepper laughs. She doesn't know the boy personally, but she feels as if she does after listening to about a hundred stories about him from his aunt for the past day.

"Do you want to see a picture?" May asks eagerly.

"Of course!" Pepper grins from ear to ear. May reaches over and picks up the large book she grabbed out of her room earlier. It's a photo album full of pictures of little, smiley Peter Parker.


The next two days go the same as the first two. Clint, Wanda, and Sam work servalience. Jemma and Vision monitor Peter's health and with the help of the DNA sample, Jemma is able to make a digital model of Spiderman's body and able to estimate his condition. Fitz, Daisy, and Tony all work to break past the mountain of codes and firewalls and attempt to regain control over Friday. Natasha, after finding nothing on the footage to indicate the preditor's location, goes out searching and hunting down any and every lead.

Each new day Tiffany comes up with new games to play, and new ways to hurt the young hero. The team have adjusted to the sounds of Peter's screams and have learned to work through them. They don't have time to sit and watch Peter yell. By the end of the third day, Peter gave up on asking questions and switched to just screaming out in pain. No words, just yelling. Food and rest have been abandon. Nobody even notices the time past.

"You know, I expected more from you Mr. Stark," Tiffany says to the camera at the end of the fourth day. "Too bad, I honestly thought you had a chance."

With that, the woman walks off the screen.

"What does that mean?" Agent Johnson asks.

"I don't know," Tony mutters.

"It means she's preparing her end game." A blood-covered and disheveled Natasha answers from the door way.