"Having a good time?"

Peter turned to me with a grin so wide I was worried his face was going to split in half, and nodded vigorously.

The adults were all mingling around the room, most with drinks in their hand. Even Uncle Bucky was being sociable. Between the hum of everyone's conversations and the music Dad had playing, the noise level in the room had seemed to steadily increase all night long. Carol and Aunt Nat were playing pool in the corner, and somehow I had the feeling Carol was being treated to a more in-depth version of the Stark-Barns-Y/l/n saga than what she had received earlier, based off of their constant shifting of their glances between the three of us.

Peter had been incredibly hyper all evening long, though he clammed up and just stared at Carol with wide eyes anytime she came near him, the only thing he managed to squeak out was a, "Hi, I'm Peter Parker." Of course, Carol was still immediately taken in by him and I had already heard her arguing with some of the others over the right to claim him as her nephew.

It had been a fun night, but it was thankfully starting to wind down. I hadn't slept well the last few nights, so even though it was still relatively early, I was already getting tired. I stifled a yawn and looked around for Dad.

"I think it may be time for bed."

I jumped as his voice came from behind me. I twisted to face him, "Not quite yet."

"You're yawning, Pumpkin."

"It'll be rude if I leave so early."

"It's 9:30, you've had an exciting several hours, and you have school tomorrow. They'll understand. Especially if it's by my orders." He winked at me.

I sighed, quickly covering my mouth as it turned into another yawn. My shoulders sagged in defeat, "Fine."

"That's my girl. Now go say goodnight to everyone." He pushed me towards the centre of the room, and I obediently made a quick round around the room telling everyone goodnight, and that I was being sent to bed.

Carol raised her eyebrow at my words, "Wow, Tony really has taken to the whole parenting thing, hasn't he?"

I nodded, blushing softly, "Yeah, he's been great."

She smiled and bumped her shoulder against mine, "I'm glad. Anyway, I'll see you around, kid. Sweet dreams."

I finished my goodbyes and headed for the private penthouse, exhaling in relief at the sudden quiet once the door closed behind me.

I went upstairs, passing out before my head hit the pillow. But, of course, it was too good to last and before long I was once more tossing and turning trying to find a comfortable position. I would drift off slightly, just to wake up again because I was too cold or too hot, or for no discernable reason whatsoever. After a few hours, I woke up with a start, tears on my face. I couldn't remember what the dream had been about, it was already reduced to brief flashes. I think Dad had been there, and maybe a few other Avengers. I frowned, and Jeremy too. I hadn't thought about him in awhile—the house was secure under Stark protection. But the most unsettling thing about the dream still lingered, a heavy feeling of fear, loneliness, and a deep anxious feeling; like there was something I needed to do or remember, though couldn't figure out what it was.

I ran my hand over my face and decided to get up for a drink of water. Making my way down the stairs, I headed for the kitchen. Moonlight poured into the room from the glass windows, lighting everything up clearly. I grabbed a glass out of the cupboard, filled it with water and moved over to the window, looking out as I sipped at my drink. My gaze shifted to the TV, I didn't think I was going to be getting any more sleep tonight, so maybe I should just watch something. I immediately scrunched my nose up at the thought, I felt far too restless to just sit down and do something passive. A thought struck me and I moved over to the door leading to the public penthouse thinking I could work on cleaning up from the party. Before opening the door, I listened carefully to make sure it was quiet and that the party was not still going on. The room was all dark, the shades having been drawn down, keeping out even the moonlight. I reached out to the wall, searching for the switch with my hand.

And then someone grabbed my hand.

Before I could even scream, a hand came over my mouth, and I was pulled into the room, my glass falling from my hand, shattering on the hardwood before the door was closed off behind me.

Now trapped in the gloom with a stranger, fear raced through my heart. Fear that only increased when I felt something cold against my throat.

"Don't even think about fighting. Got it?"

I mumbled a vague noise of assent, my heart pounding in my ears.

They pulled me over to the wall where another set of hands grabbed at me, the hand on my mouth and the knife at my neck disappearing for the slightest of moments only to be replaced by my new captor. Where was FRIDAY? In fact, normally FRIDAY would engage me when I got up during the night, yet she'd been silent. The horrible thought struck me that they'd disabled FRIDAY. Which meant this was some sort of planned attack. I shuddered, my eyes starting to tear up. What was going to happen to me? To everyone else in the tower?

"Who is she anyway?" Asked one of the voices.

"Hell if I know. Maybe friends with that intern kid, looked to be about the same age when I saw her."

Someone pushed my shoulder, aggressively asking "Am I right, kid?"

I nodded, glad they'd come up with their own answer, one that would be easy enough to pass off.

A new voice, from further away, "Doesn't matter who she is, boys, what matters is that we now have ourselves a hostage. Them superheroes won't do anything if it means an innocent gets hurt, especially one they know."

"Hmm, how do we know she's an innocent? She was in the private penthouse after all…"

The hand came off my mouth, but the knife pressed slightly harder into my skin. I stifled a sob to avoid moving my throat to much, fearing I would be nicked. The man behind me bent to speak into my ear in a menacing tone, "You better tell us now kid, whether you're one of 'em or not."

My voice came out panicked and thready, "I'm nobody, I promise! I'm just a normal high schooler! I can't do anything! Please just let me g—"

"Sounds pretty legit to me. No self-respecting hero would start begging right off the bat."

Ouch. I wasn't sure if I should consider that an insult or not.

Before I had a chance to think too deeply on it, the emergency lights suddenly flicked on, bathing the room in red. A second later, a deep alarm began blaring.

"Fuck! I thought we disabled the security system!"

"It's Stark, he must have a back-up!"

"Do we run for it?"

A new voice spoke up, "You're both idiots—we have the hostage. And we're not running. We'll take what we came for! Now prepare yourselves, the Avengers will be here any moment!"