Chapter 10

"Hello," Natasha says sweetly as she opens the door. May Parker and Pepper Potts are sitting together on a coach. Cloths, a book, a stuffed rabbit and a couple food wrappers are scattered around the room. In the small room are a bed, the couch the women are sitting on, a TV, a trash can, a dresser and a door which opens to a bathroom. Natasha and Clint aren't entirely sure what the purpose of the small room is, perhaps to house people for a single night, but they don't put much thought into it. They are here on a mission.

"Wait, you two are those Avengers that were on the TV a couple years back," May states nervously standing up instantly.

"Umm, yes Ma'ma that is us," Clint answers nervously. This must be Spiderman's aunt. She is much prettier than he imagined.

"Do you know something!" She asks frantically. "Do you know something about what happened to my baby!"

"Yes." Natasha begins. Dang, she didn't realize this would be so hard. There's a lump in her throat the size of the motherland.

"Oh gosh he's dead, isn't he? My little Petey is dead!" The woman begins to sob.

"NO!" Clint jumps in, gosh, Nat is really bad at this. Not that he should be surprised. This isn't exactly something they teach you in the Red Room... or the SHIELD Academy for that matter. "We found him a couple hours ago. He's alive."

"Oh... umm... okay." May calms down. There's a pause for a moment, just a moment as if she was unsure what to say next. However, once the moment was over, both Clint and Natasha understood Tony's fear of the woman instinctively. "How is he? Can I see him? Is he hurt? And why the HELL DID IT TAKE YOU SO LONG TO TELL ME? I HAVE BEEN SITTING HERE FOR DAYS WITH ABSOLUTELY NO NEWS NO UPDATES ON HOW THE INVESTIGATION IS GOING! I HAVE BEEN NOTHING BUT PATIENT FOR THE SAKE OF PETER! BUT NOW YOU SELF-ABSORBED IDIOTS COME MARCHING IN HERE TO TELL ME YOU HAVE HAD HIM FOR HOURS! DO YOU KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE TO SIT FOR DAYS COMPLETELY IN THE DARK KNOWING THAT YOUR SON, YOUR ONLY FAMILY, HAS BEEN CAPTURED BY SOME MANIC AND HAVING GOD KNOWS WHAT HAPPEN TO HIM! I DON'T CARE IF YOU ARE SOME FREAKING SUPERHERO SPY FOR THE AVENGERS! I'M GOING TO KILL BOTH OF YOU FOR MAKING ME WAIT HOURS TO TELL ME THAT MY BABY IS SOMEWHERE IN THIS BUILDING WHILE I HAVE BEEN THINKING HE WAS DEAD IN A DITCH SOMEWHERE IN THE CITY!"

Then, before either Natasha or Clint could react, May Parker lunged at both of them. She didn't have a plan of action, she was just overcome with pure rage.

"OKAY!" Pepper yelps leaping after May. "Calm down May, they are just the messengers! They have been working nonstop for the past 5 days to find your nephew!"

At her new friend's advice, May collects herself and the two super-spies reorganize themselves.

"That's quite a right hook you have." Clint groans rubbing his jaw. Natasha just smiles, she's liking this Aunt May woman already.

"How is my nephew?" May asks pointedly as she flattens the wrinkles out of her shirt.

"We have yet to be informed," Natasha admits. "But, he is probably going to be in rough condition."

May sits down, clearly biting back tears.

"Give it to me straight. Tell me everything that happened to Peter over the past few days. I want to know." Her voice cracks out. "I can handle it."

Clint and Natasha exchange looks, and look over at Pepper. She gives them a nod of approval. The two women have become close over the past few days, bonding over the dangerous lives of their loved ones, laughing at funny stories of the odd geniuses and reminiscing to a time when their lives were simpler. Pepper Potts as seen an incredible strength in May Parker over the past 5 days. She knows she can handle the truth.

Clint takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, sends a prayer up to a God he isn't sure he believes in and begins to tell the story of Dr. Tiffany Ann Sherwood.


"So, computers are your thing." Sam smiles suggestively as he scooches closer to Daisy on the coach.

"Its one of many." She smiles back. There's nothing wrong with a little flirting. She tells herself. It's not like she is trying to marry the guy on the spot.

"Oh yeah, what else do you like." Sam chuckles a little, once again scooting closer.

"If I told you I'd have to kill you." Daisy jokes... kinda jokes anyways.

"Oh, top-secret huh?"

"Let's just say it could really... shake you up."

"Now I like the sound of that." Sam flashes a grin that could send Cap and Bucky to the back of the line.

"I bet you would." This time its Daisy moving closer to Sam.

"You know, I bet you could tell me," Sam tells her through a thick smile. "I'm kinda a big deal, you know, being an Avenger and all..."

"Ow!" Daisy laughs. "Had to bring out the big guns!"

"Haha... guilty as charged." Sam laughs.

"This is harder to watch than a 15-year-old getting the side of his face burned with a lighter." Fitz groans. Wanda and Vision burst out laughing. It's a morbid joke, but the tensions have been running so hard the past few days, it's a welcomed joke.

"Hey!" Daisy protests. "I'm just trying to have a little fun!"

"Now I definitely like the sound of that!" Sam practically yells out in excitement. Daisy smiles and rolls her eyes at the man's response.

"Alright you two, grab your stuff. It's wheels up in 10." May states as she walks into the room.

"WHAT!" Fitz, Daisy, and Sam jump up at the same time.

"You heard me. We've got places to be." May answers. "I'll go find Simmons."

"Wait, don't they still need Simmons here?" Daisy asks. "You know, to figure out what that crazy lady injected into Peter?"

"They have someone else now." May answers. "She has done her part. Wheels up in 9."

"You've got to be kidding me." Sam groans falling back onto the couch.

"Sorry." Daisy shrugs. "Duty calls."

Sam tries to protest, but he can't. He understands more than he would like to. Fitz gets up and walks out of the room and heads back to the lab to grab his stuff. Before Daisy leaves, she bends down and whispers something into Sam's ear, something that turns his sad little frown upside down. With a wink, she leaves, Sam watching her walk away.

"What did she say?" Wanda asks smiling. It's nice to see a change in mood.

"Oh, nothing... just her phone number!" Sam grins like a 13-year-old girl.

"Really!" Wanda laughs at his excitement. "Do you remember all the digits she gave you?"

Sam's face drops.

"I'll be right back!"

Vision and Wanda break down in tears of laughter.


Video camera. Torture. The basement, their basement. A promotion. Dr. Linda Sherwood. Her new neighbor. Injection. Happy Hogan. Seizure. Stark Industries. Tony Stark. These are the words that flood the mind of May Parker. Clint and Natasha have given her the gift of the truth. While there are still holes in the story, questions that are yet to be answered. At least she has an idea of what happened.

"Oh gosh!" May suddenly realizes. Her face turns from pale to green.

"What is it May?" Pepper asks frantically.

"Early Monday morning, the day Peter went missing, I got up early to do a load of laundry before Peter got up, and I went down to the basement where the wash machines are at, but there was a sign that said closed for repairs. The door was locked and everything... Peter was down there!" She sobs. "He was down there and I didn't even realize he was missing!"

Pepper, Clint, and Nat all give each other the same heartbroken look. For once in her life, Natasha is happy with the life she has been given. For once she can say "I'm so glad that isn't me".

"There's no way you could have known!" Pepper tells her as she embraces her friend.

"Happy Hogan did!" May sobs. Clint and Natasha straighten up. How did Happy know where to go?

"That was... well... we aren't really sure how he knew either," Natasha admits. It takes a solid ten minutes to calm May down, but once she has there is only one thought on her mind.

"I want to see Peter." As if on cue, Tony Stark chooses that exact moment to walk into the room, with a nervous looking Dr. Banner in tow.

"Get out." She mother bear growls instinctively.

Tony is puzzled at the woman's reaction at first, but one look at the faces of Natasha and Clint, and he understands. She knows. He looks over to Pepper for back-up. Her faces says it all "You are on your own buddy. PS you deserve everything she gives you."

"Are you deaf or just stupid?" May questions him angerly. "I said, get out!" She resembles a lion.

"Listen, I know you are mad at me-"

"HA!" The woman bursts out. "Mad at you? Sweetie, I could never be mad at you." Her laughter reminds the Avengers of Tiffany's shrill high pitched laughter. "No, I don't think mad is the proper verb to use here. How about instead we use the words livid, hatred, enraged, fuming, infuriated, outraged, furious-"


What do you think his scans mean Dr. Cho?" An anxious young SHIELD doctor asks her superior. They two are looking at the CT and MRI scans of Peter Parker's brain.

"Like I said earlier, Janet." Dr. Cho says patiently "It's too early to tell."

"But if you had to guess..."

"This is medicine, Dr. Jones." Dr. Cho scolds her firmly. "We do not make guesses unless we absolutely avoidable."

"I'm sorry Dr. Cho." She says looking ashamed. Dr. Cho allows a small smile to grace her face for a second, but only a second. She remembers when she was that young, that eager, that... pure.

"I have seen scans like this before." She tells the young girl.

"Where?" Dr. Jones asks perking up.

"In medical school." She sighs.

"I don't understand..."

"As you can imagine, we don't see these types of patients at SHIELD very often." She sighs sadly.

"I'm lost, doctor."

"The scans I saw were that of a patient who had been diagnosed with a nasty mental disease."

"Wait, are you telling me..."

"I'm afraid so."

"But how... how could one single little injection do this to a person's mind?"

"That does seem to be the million dollar question, doesn't it." Dr. Cho shakes her head. This single injection has given Peter Parker schizophrenia.


"...peeved, vexed, pissed, venom, uproar, wrath, hysterics, violence, murderous, have I mentioned hatred, ravenous-" May pulled out a thesaurus on her phone about 30 words ago.

"Okay, I think he gets it May," Pepper says trying to be supportive of her hurt friend while also defending Tony and making a point.

"Can it fiance!" Pepper simply nods and steps back in line, not wanting to get hit with a May bullet. After another round of 10 or so words, May comes to a holt and takes a deep breath before saying:

"Take me to Peter. You can update me on the walk over to him." Tony simply nods and follows orders. Pepper can't help but be a tad bit jealous of May's control over her highly eccentric boyfriend.

Natasha and Clint don't follow Pepper, Tony, and May. Their job is done. Now its time to take a break before wrapping up this mess.

"Nat wait!" Bruce calls out to her. The super spy stops dead in her tracks. Her partner knows better than the mild-mannered doctor and practically sprints away from the situation. Natasha turns on her heels and smiles brightly (but in a creepy, unnatural way, not in a warm and friendly way).

"Yes Dr. Banner?" She asks. Bruce is taken aback at her use of the word doctor. He might not be the greatest at social interactions, but he can tell this is not good. "Did you want to update me on Spiderman's condition?"

"Oh... umm... no... actually its something else." He stammers.

"Oh." She frowns. "Do you have a message for me from one of our coworkers?"

"Uh, no."

"Do you need help finding your way around the compound? Or were you needing help to find someone? Or were you concerned about me or one of our coworker's performance? Or..." At Bruce's clearly distressed face Natasha changes tones to one of more seriousness. "Wait... Dr. Banner, you didn't want to talk about something... personal, did you? Oh, how embarrassing! I'm flattered at your trust in me, but I'm afraid that is inappropriate behavior in the workplace, r. Banner. You see, as co-workers... Dr. Banner, we don't share personal aspects of our lives with each other. In case you have forgotten after being away for so long, co-workers don't share the personal aspects of their lives with each other, Dr. Banner. And as you know, Dr. Banner, that is all we are. Coworkers... Dr. Banner."

With that, she turns her back on him and walks away, chin held high.

"Well... that could have gone better," Bruce grumbles as he walks away, shoulders slumped.

I haven't see the new Thor so the details about Bruce's werabouts are going to be nonexistant and glazed over.

PS Review... they give me life.