Tony and Pepper had both made themselves available when Natasha had contacted them. Leaving Barton in charge of security for the competition with Coulson backing him up in the room Peter was now competing in against England, having finished the match with Australia. She and Barnes met up with Nick and Steve as they all entered the tower and went to Tony's office, which was where the receptionist directed them to go.
Predictably, neither was pleased to hear what Natasha had to tell them, but Bucky frowned.
"I don't understand," he said, lounging in one of the comfortable chairs in the billionaire's office. "It's the mob, right?"
"It is, yes," Nick confirmed.
"Then tell the police to not let them meet and problem solved."
"They're not doing anything illegal, Buck," Steve pointed out. "We can't just send them on their way without cause."
"Not to mention Alex put himself in a bit of a risk telling us about the meeting," Romanoff added. "Presumably it's a pretty hush-hush thing, and if the police were to get involved, whoever called it is going to start wondering who notified them. That wouldn't go well for Alex or for King, really."
Barnes clearly wasn't concerned about the mob guys but he'd heard the story and understood why the others were less willing to do something that might cause them harm.
"So what do we do?" Tony asked, aware that Romanoff and Fury probably already had a plan in mind before they'd brought the problem to him and Pepper. "We can't move the competition."
"No. Not even to the compound," Romanoff agreed, ignoring the look that Nick couldn't force down at the thought of moving all those kids and their chaperones – as well as the staff for the competition itself. The place would be overrun, despite being as spacious as it was. "We're going to reduce the visible security presence that we have at the convention center, right now, and-"
"Wait," Tony interrupted. "You want to cut the security on Peter?"
"The visible security," Romanoff clarified.
"Why?" Pepper asked.
"Because we're pretty sure the people having the meeting aren't aware what else is going on at the convention center and we don't want to draw attention to Peter and his friends – or the other kids – if we can avoid it."
"You think they're in danger?" Tony asked, frowning.
"No. Not right now, they aren't," Nick told him. "But if these mob guys come into the convention center and they see a lot of SHIELD personnel, they're going to start wondering who they're guarding and that might cause problems."
"We're going to keep a low profile during their meeting – and we'll watch from a distance when all of their men come around to start their own security processes before the meeting."
"And if someone figures it out?"
"It's a brainiac competition for a bunch of high school kids, Tony," Nick reminded him. "There isn't anything to be discovered – unless these guys see a bunch of high level security people hanging around and wonder who – or what – they're guarding. That's when things could become worrisome."
"It's already worrisome," Tony pointed out. "Peter aside," although everyone knew that Peter was his primary concern. "Some of these foreign kids have influential or wealthy parents, too."
Proving that SHIELD hadn't been the only ones to check out the kids who were going to be around Peter.
"This mob meeting is only going to be a day – and not even a full day, at that," Nick reminded him. "We'll make sure that the floor the competition is on is completely off limits to anyone who doesn't need to be there and we'll keep the kids there between rounds to make sure no one wanders into any situation."
Tony frowned, looking at Pepper who looked uncertain. Then he looked at Romanoff.
"You'll take lead on this?"
"Of course." She certainly wasn't going to let someone else keep an eye on things, now was she. "I'm going to contact Alex and get a timeline from him and see what we're looking at – and I might talk to Stephen and see what ideas he might have to make sure the two parties stay apart."
Tony's concerned expression cleared at the mention of the sorcerer supreme.
"That's a great idea." Magic could keep things more secure than even SHIELD. "Tonight?"
She nodded.
"I'll invite him to come here for dinner, if that's alright?"
Pepper nodded, too.
"I'd appreciate that."
She wanted to be involved in the planning, so she at least knew what was going on – and she knew Tony would want to, as well.
"Do we let the others know what's going on?" Tony asked, curiously. "They're going to need to know why we want to keep everyone on the same floor."
"That's the floor where the competition is being held, though," Romanoff pointed out. She shrugged. "We should tell them something – if for no other reason than to have them help keep their kids where they need to be. SHIELD can't watch all of them and the mafia people and expect to do any of it with success. We don't need to regulate the people who are handling the event, itself. They're not in any danger, and they're not a security concern, either."
"If we do this right," Nick said – mostly for Tony and Pepper's benefit. "The mob will have their meeting and not even realize when they leave that Peter or any other people of interest were in the building with them."
"And the kids won't know anything, either," Steve added. "If we do things right. So there won't be any distractions for them."
Everyone nodded their agreement to that – it was definitely how they would prefer things, now wasn't it? Maybe they would tell Peter, later, after all was said and done, but for now it'd be adults, only.
"I'll make the arrangements," Natasha told them all. "And once we know what we're looking at, I'll talk to the chaperones and coaches, myself. Most likely, tomorrow."
"Let me know if you need anything from us," Tony said.
"Of course."
OOOOOOOOOOO
"Peter?"
The boy grinned at Tony's image, pleased with himself for thinking of surprising Tony with a call to check in on him and Pepper.
"Hey."
"Is everything alright?"
The boy frowned, wondering why he looked worried all of the sudden.
"Yeah. Are you?"
Tony's smile was forced.
"Of course. What are you up to?"
"We're taking a break," Peter told him, studying his expression to see if he could determine if something was wrong. Peter wasn't great at reading people, but he knew Tony pretty well. He looked concerned about something. "I thought I'd call and say hi."
The smile widened, a little, and now it wasn't so uncertain.
"Hey. Are you having a good time?"
"Yeah." Peter sat down on the bed in his room. "We're getting ready for the last round of the day, but there's about a half an hour, so I was thinking of you and thought I'd see what you're doing…"
"We're just getting ready to go to…" Tony trailed off, looking to the side. "Mom just walked in."
Pepper's head came into the cameral range, and he noticed that her expression looked worried, too.
"Am I reading them wrong?" he asked Alec.
"I can't tell what they're thinking in a video," the ancient sorcerer reminded the boy. "But they do both look worried about something."
"Hi, honey," Pepper said, drawing Peter's attention from the silent conversation that he was having. "Is everything alright?"
"He's just between rounds and thought he'd call and say hi," Tony told her.
Peter's frown returned.
"Are you guys okay?"
"Of course we are," Pepper told him. "How's the competition going? Did you win, today?"
"So far." He was pretty sure she was trying to change the subject – but he wasn't very good at reading that kind of behavior, either. "We have Japan, next." The door to the room opened and Ned walked in, holding a couple of colas with MJ and Flash.
"Are you talking to Shuri?"
Peter shook his head, holding up the phone.
"Tony and Pepper."
"Cool." The boy crossed the room and sat down beside Peter, while MJ and Flash looked around – comparing their rooms to Peter and Ned's. "Hey, Tony. Hi Pepper."
Now the smiles were sincere.
"HI, Ned," Tony replied. "Having a good time?"
"It's great." He grinned. "We've come to collect Peter," he added. "There's a wet t-shirt contest going on down the hall and I've entered him."
Pepper snorted, indelicately, and Peter rolled his eyes.
"We're going to let you get to it, then," Tony said, smirking. "Call us tonight, alright?"
"I will."
The call ended and Peter put his phone in his pocket.
"What are you really doing?" he asked, taking the cola Ned offered him.
"Some practice questions."
"Sounds good."
OOOOOOOOOOO
"Well that wasn't suspicious at all…"
Tony rolled his eyes.
"He caught me off guard…"
"Do you think those spider senses of his work through video calls?" Pepper asked.
"I don't think so, no. No way to ask, is there?"
"No." She shrugged. "We'll tell him if he needs to know, but I don't want to distract him from the competition."
"True."
