Peter Stark

Chapter 5 - Worthy

I shut off the footage and smiled at Sam. "Hi!"

"Hi," he replied unenthusiastically.

"So, I have a proposal for you. You know you're on the losing side," I said, showing him the current score (15-5), "so help us instead."

He raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you just ask for ransom?"

I smiled cheekily. "Well, Bucky does want his arm back. And Pietro is absolutely craving one of Thor's poptarts."

He snorted. "Okay, deal. But I want a poptart too. And I get part of the reward."

"Obviously," I said, grinning as I hugged him.

"We're ready to negotiate," Steve said through the walkie talkie. I smiled and checked the cams. They were all in their base, regrouping.

"Here's what we want. First and foremost, we want a box of Thor's poptarts. Secondly, we want Bucky's arm. And last but most definitely not least, Natasha's widow bites," I repeated the list. "Bring them to the living room, unarmed. Just you, no one else. We'll know if you don't follow our instructions." I turned off the walkie talkie.

"Do you think they will?" Sam asked.

I snorted. "I know you guys better than you know yourselves. Uncle Steve is in charge over there, and he'll negotiate whenever he can. Come with me," I told Sam. I led him into the base. "Welcome, to our safe zone." I gestured with my arm.

"Why here?" he asked.

Natasha glanced up from the computer screen. "Nobody's gonna screw with my room."

We all nodded in agreement. Sam smiled. "So, who's in charge here?"

Everyone pointed at me. "Peter and Loki switch who's first each time. Right now, it's Peter and Loki is second."

"Why Peter?"

"He's great at this stuff," Wanda explains without looking up from reorganizing the food shelves. "He and Loki really know what they're doing."

He looks around the room again. The pantry in the corner, the surveillance computers taking up a whole wall, a blanket fort for power naps since it lasted for days normally, my worktable that was full of prank materials in the making, an Xbox for movies and games, a small library, a small kitchen, and even booby traps by the door. The whole room was set up for productivity and comfort at the same time. His eyes were wide as he took it all in. "Gosh, I should have betrayed them a while ago."

I laughed.

Loki walked over. "Stars and Stripes is headed out with everything; you should get going now."

I nodded. "Pietro, Sam, with me. Pietro, when he brings the ransom, grab it and take it out. Come back for Sam and me. If you're running us, they can't follow us to our base."

We set out, heading to meet Steve, but I could sense Clint was there too. I decided to not say anything to Steve for the time being, but I did signal to Pietro. When we got there, he glanced at Sam. Before he could speak, Pietro had the ransom and was taking it back to the base. "You have what you asked for, let Sam go," Steve demanded.

I shrugged, putting on an innocent smile. "Okay." I turned to Sam. "You're free to go."

He smirked at Steve. "Nah, I think I'll stick with you guys."

Steve's mouth dropped open. "Sam!"

Before he could say anything else, Sam was gone in a flash of blue. I decided to mention Clint now, considering we had our stuff. "We kept our side of the deal," I said, "but you didn't keep yours." I ducked as an arrow whizzed over my head.