Walking among people was a bit of a chore, but a necessary one. To mitigate most of it, Tom preferred shopping in the early morning or late at night, where the least amount of people were around. Less chance that he might bump into someone by accident.

He wore a gray singlet and brown slacks. His pale white hair and black eyes stood out a bit, but it was easier to maintain the illusion when some parts of him were represented in an accurate way.

As he walked down the street in the fading light, it was perhaps ironic that the eight eyes behind the illusion didn't notice that he was being watched.

"Coughing meds for my sister… Chicken soup… Black tea…" He rattled off his shopping list as he walked down the aisle that was barely wide enough to allow him to walk alone. That was one of the reasons he had to be careful. His true form might have been cloaked by the illusion, but he still took up the space. People would notice something was off.

Thanking the cashier for bagging his purchases, Tom left. One of the lamp posts outside rattled a bit as he bumped it with a leg by mistake, but there didn't seem to be anyone nearby, so he breathed a sigh of relief as he began the trip back home.

Measured footsteps became apparent at about the halfway point between the store and home, but Tom paid it no mind, as it was probably someone just going for an evening walk.

The trip back home was uneventful, and Tom greeted his little sister when she met him at the door with a hug. "I'm home, Serena. And I got your cough meds and some chicken soup."

"Yaay! Thanks… *Cough cough* Tom! I've been looking forward to chicken soup all evening." Serena's shoulder-length blonde hair was waving back and forth as she clung to her brother, a faint glimmer of gold could be seen around her neck.

"Let's get cooking so you'll get well quickly. If you are feeling up for it, I'll take you to the park tomorrow." Tom's proposal was answered by a cheerful "Yippee!" before he closed the door, preparing supper for his younger sibling.

It was the next morning and Tom had just finished washing up for the day… It took a while with his body, so he had to start early if he wanted to eat breakfast with his sister. However, as got out of the bathroom, throwing on a different singlet for the day, a knock on the front made him pause on his way downstairs, as his sister beat him to it.

He could only hear muffled voices, until his sister yelled out for him. "Tooooom! There's someone here to see you! They are wearing a suit!"

Caught by surprise, he just managed to get the illusion in place without stumbling down the stairs. He caught himself on the rail, before calling back. "I'll be there in a minute." Before walking a bit faster than usual. They lived in a two-story building, with the stairs ending on the opposite end of where the entrance was, which meant Tom had what felt like a very long time to take in the person standing in the doorway.

"The hell?! Is that… Hawkeye? Why is he here?"

It was fortunate that the surprise didn't show on his illusioned face. He approached the man carefully. "You can begin breakfast without me, Serena. I'll be with you soon, and we'll go to the park if you are still up for it, okay?"

His question got a smile from his sister, so he considered it a win, even as she had to push up against the wall to move past him.

Turning his attention to the suited man in his doorway, Tom closed the remaining distance, a bit of trepidation in his voice. "What can I do for you, Mr…? I wasn't expecting visitors today."

Clint Barton seemed to take on a relaxed, but formal posture. The briefcase he was carrying in one hand rattled minutely. "Mr. Barton. I work for SHIELD. Mind if I come in for a chat?"

"Ah…" Tom thought for a moment, before eventually forming a small smile. "Yeah, sure… Do you want some coffee? I assume this isn't just a social call…" Beckoning with a hand, Tom didn't wait as he began walking back into the house, past the stairs and into the kitchen at the end of the hall.

Following him inside, Barton politely declined the offer. "No thanks, I just had one." He stated, taking a breath before continuing. "You're right that it's not a social call, but I'm sure it's no big deal."

The sound of boiling water could be heard as Tom prepared two cups. Serena was eating some cereal with milk at the table, but that wasn't a problem. There were three chairs around the table, so he offered the second to Mr. Barton. Removing the boiler from its power source, he poured into one of the cups and added a tea bag before leaning on the counter.

"So what can I do for you today, Mr. Barton?" He asked. The smell of the tea as it set helped to calm his nerves somewhat.

Putting the briefcase on the table, Barton opened it, and pulled out a few files from a folder inside. They were photos of him taken by both a normal camera, an Infrared camera, and even sonar imaging. Two of those happened to show his spider body in crystal clear quality for their image type, and one showed only the illusion, but had a good view of his face. "Is this you?" he asked with the most deadpan face he could muster. It was clear something serious was on his mind, but he was doing a good job hiding it.

"Oh…" Tom glanced at the pictures. He felt like he could be forgiven for not making an illusion that covered those spectrums, considering he didn't have access to any of the tech necessary to actually display what he looked like. "Yeah… Funny thing, one day I was a regular person, and the next I'm this." The words sort of rambled out of him as the illusion unraveled before their eyes.

The human torso remained, but instead of the pants, there was a white spider's hindquarters with eight legs, each leg had three bands of gold along the lower part, and a wide golden line extended along his back. His arms took on a similar colouration, as well as his face. However, the change to his face was the most noticeable. Instead of a regular mouth and human eyes, there were now pincers and eight pitch-black eyes that stared at the agent in the room.

The dropping of the illusion caused Serena to stop eating as she ran in front of her brother. "I won't let you take Tom! He saved me." Her arms were to each side, and a line of gold along her neck glittered.

"You got that?" Barton paused for a minute before looking at the young girl. "It's going to be fine, miss. Your brother will need to come with us for a short while so we can make sure everything is alright, but he'll probably be back before dinner."

Tom gently hugged his sister from behind, causing her to calm down a bit. "I'll call Frank so he can watch over you while I'm gone, ok?" He asked. Their big brother would do it. In the absence of their parents - who were on vacation - that was the best outcome.

Putting the files away and closing the briefcase, Barton motioned for the spider-boy to follow him. "Let's go kid. We have a van waiting outside for us."

Finishing his call after explaining what was going on, Tom hugged his sister one last time. "I'm just going to reapply the illusion again… Don't want the neighbors to see things." Within a second, a regular person stood where the spider-man was moments before.

He drained the mug of tea, before walking after the agent. The van was indeed outside, a beige one, and Tom stepped into the back portion, causing the van to dip slightly in the rear before closing the door.

The trip to SHIELD, and the subsequent questioning was… It wasn't as bad as it could have been. Within Tom's mind, scenarios played out where any wrong answer would lead to scientific experiments or torture. But it had just been a few questions, a lie detector, and they wanted to draw some of his blood just to make sure it fit with his birth records.

Tom was exhausted as he got home, but Serena was there to hug him as he walked through the front door, having apparently waited up for him even as it was starting to get late.

"Frank put me to bed and left an hour ago, but I wanted to wait up for you." She explained as she clung to her brother. It was obvious she had been worried by the red rims around her eyes, so Tom tried to sooth her the best way he could as he walked the rest of the way inside.

"It was just some questions, nothing to worry about." He stroked her hair as he put her on his back, taking his time to carry her up the stairs. "Your brother is here, and I'm not going anywhere. Now let's get you to bed so we can go to the park tomorrow."

Serena snuggled up to his back, drifting off by the time he reached her room. With soft eyes and gentle hands, he managed to lift her into her bed and tuck her in. His hand went to her neck for a second. With his vision, he was able to see that the glittering line of gold was actually a very fine spider web.

Clasping his hands in prayer, he repeated how grateful he was for the assistance his deity had offered before kissing his sister on the forehead. He went to sleep in his own bed minutes later, thinking that maybe this turn of events was a good omen for things to come.