Family Secrets

Business Can Wait

"-okay? Peter, what's going on? Talk to me!" Ned was screaming into his phone now, MJ was crying quietly, fearing the worst.

"Please, Peter, pick up!" The girl's voice cracked and she couldn't hold back her tears any longer.

The sound of footsteps made the two teens whip around, both of them on high alert. Ned drew his keys, a futile action if the people running up had been bad guys, but it made the boy feel a bit better.

Natasha and Clint were sprinting to them, Bucky, Strange, and Sam, as well as a few others were running into the school.

"Where is Peter?" Natasha yelled, noticing MJ's quiet sobbing and Ned's panic. Clint must have noticed it as well, because he grabbed Ned's phone and quickly started trying to get Peter to pick up.

"Peter? Petey, please, pick up!"

Natasha grabbed Ned's shoulders. "Ned, focus on me. What happened?"

"There was an explosion, Peter ran off to help people get out of the school. We were waiting for him and then there was a weird voice, like someone else who was in the room with him, but I didn't recognize the voice at all. They were taunting him and I think they fought and then he went silent and I don't know what's going on!"

Natasha took a breath. She wanted to cry and scream and rip the school apart until she found Peter, but right now she had to calm these kids down. 6 years ago, she wouldn't know how to deal with their tears and panic, but Peter had changed her. He had made her caring and softer and better.

"Clint, take Ned and MJ back to the car. I'm going to go find Peter."

Clint wrapped an arm around MJ and led her away from the scene, Ned in toe. Natasha ran into the building, only to see Strange coming at her. "Everyone else is still looking for Peter, I found him first!"

The tall man had Peter in his arms, holding him bridal style. His face was deathly pale and Natasha couldn't see any movement.

"Is he-"

"No. I found him like this, but I got his AI to start pumping the suit like compressions and I have oxygen flowing. Call Bruce, now!"

Natasha whipped out her phone. Tony and Rhodey had installed a sort of closed com system on the phones, so when there were battles like this, the Avengers could get in touch quickly and securely without texting. She switched into her com, only to hear a million noises all at once.

"Guys, we have Peter! I need Bruce now, get to the car."

Natasha and Stephan were running full tilt, trying to get Peter to the car as fast as they could. Clint and the teens were already in the van, ready to go. Natasha planned on leaving the others at the school if they didn't get her fast enough, and sure enough, the others were moving slower. Bruce and Sam made it to the car, and Bruce immediately started working on Peter.

"I need to get him to the Tower now, we gotta go!"

Clint hit the gas and Natasha pulled out her phone.

"We need to go, meet us at the Tower."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What the hell, Romanoff!"

The rest of the team, the ones who had been left behind, filed into the med bay, Bucky leading them.

"You left us!"

Natasha was staring blankly at the wall, not even flinching when the group had thrown open the doors. Clint had her hand in his, his other arm around her shoulders, and when he looked up, he was crying silently. Sam was sitting in a chair beside the two, his head leaned back against the wall.

Bucky stopped, pulling back and eyes growing wide.

"Where... where is Strange? Bruce? Peter?" Panic seeped into his voice as he imagined the worst.

"They are working on Peter. Ned and MJ are sleeping upstairs in Peter's room," Sam said softly.

"What happened?"

"He wasn't breathing," Natasha looked up. Her eyes were empty, despite her effort to move her head towards her comrades. It was the first thing she had said since Peter had been taken into the examination room and the two doctors had gone to work.

The group fell silent, each one sinking into a chair around Natasha and Clint. There was limited space in the med bay lobby, and the Guardians found themselves without a seat. They excused themselves to go upstairs, as did Thor. The blond God went to move his brother, but the trickster threw his brother's hand off his shoulder. The rest of the team left the room, and Wanda, Loki, Bucky, and Shuuri were silent for a moment as they settled into the hard plastic chairs.

"Where is Rhodey?" The question caught Sam off guard. He looked up, making eye contact with Bucky.

"I, uh... I think he's upstairs, watching Ned and MJ. He was here when he came in, he was the one who took them to Peter's room," he said, glancing at Clint and Natasha for backup.

The group fell silent again. In the room next to them, the room just past the plaster and wood next to them, was their boy. Their nephew, brother, and friend. Strange and Bruce were very good, and they knew that, but... no one is perfect. The Avengers had never felt so hopeless before.

"Has anyone called Tony and Pepper yet?"

For whatever reason, that was the last straw for Natasha. She crumpled, tears suddenly rolling down her cheeks. Clint pulled her in closer, and rubbed her back soothingly. Wanda moved towards the ex-assassin, and slowly entered the woman's mind.

Aunt Tasha, do you want to go upstairs?

Natasha shook her head, burrowing into Clint's chest more.

Okay. I'm going to sit next to you now.

Wanda sat down next to Natasha and felt the woman grab for the younger girl's hand.

"Has anyone called Tony and Pepper yet?" Bucky asked again, more forcefully.

"No, I don't think so," Sam said. "I asked Rhodey to wait for us before calling them."

Bucky nodded. "They are with Steve still, I'll call him and tell him what is going on."

The rest of the team nodded. Bucky was the most calm and functional of everyone there with him, and he knew that if one of the others called Tony or Pepper directly, they wouldn't be able to explain things clearly. It wasn't that he didn't care, Peter was his nephew after all. God, he loved that boy. He kept reminding himself 'everyone needs me, I can be emotional later' and his calm would only last a little longer. He took a breath and pulled out his phone. He clicked Steve's contact, jumping slightly at the ringing of the phone.

"Hello? Buck, what's-"

"It's Peter," Bucky cut the other man off. "There was an accident. You need to come home."