(A/N I don't think I've written angst like this before and I'm going to do my best to make it hurt, and I'm sorry but also not, lmao. Also, my OC Carter (if you don't remember, is Morgan's boyfriend) returns in this oneshot)
*3rd Person POV*
Peter's disappearance happened when everyone least expected it. It was the morning of his birthday, and all the heroes of the universe were going to be there. It would have been the first reunion in over 5 years where everyone was available to come, Asgardians and Guardians as well. Everyone was going to sneak into Peter's room to wake him up with a collective shout of "SURPRISE!" and pop an unnecessary amount of party poppers all over the room.
Tony peeked inside first to make sure that Peter was still asleep before beckoning everyone inside. But he felt a cold draft flowing from the crack between the door and the doorframe that shouldn't have been possible due to the picture windows.
He entered the room to find the window cut open and various items belonging to Peter scattered on the floor. There was no sign of Peter himself and the excited feeling that Tony had all morning quickly twisted into something he had felt only when Pepper had been taken years ago by Killian.
It was the feeling of debilitating fear.
Tony felt a wave of nausea hit him as various scenarios all ran through his head, each with Peter hurt, scared, or possibly even dead.
Pepper was the first to notice Tony hadn't come to get everyone. He came out of Peter's room after a few minutes more of waiting. But he wasn't acting like the excited father he was only moments before.
"Tony, what's wrong?" She asked, feeling anxiety building up with each second of silence.
Tony turned to look at everyone with a haunted look in his eyes. Pepper recognized it as the same expression he had when he had returned from space after fighting Thanos. Something was horribly wrong, and it had to do with Peter.
"Tony, talk to me. What's happening." Pepper asked gently despite the worry she felt.
"Peter's not there." He whispered hoarsely and turned to look at her. "Pep, we can't lose him again."
Morgan, Carter and Harley had heard what Tony said and they all felt a sharp stab of fear and worry. Morgan felt tears burning in her eyes, and buried her face in Carter's shoulder for a moment to compose herself. Carter held her close and stroked her hair while Harley walked into Peter's room to see it for himself.
Harley looked around the entire space. He checked the closet, the hammock near the ceiling, and the bathroom adjacent to Peter's room to no avail.
"FRIDAY, show me the tower's security activity from 11pm last night up until dad opened Peter's door." Harley requested.
But to everyone's shock, there was no familiar response of, "Sure thing boss." from the speakers throughout the tower.
FRIDAY was out of commission. That meant that somebody had been able to shut down an AI made by Tony Stark, which is no easy feat. This meant someone skilled was behind it and most likely planned the kidnapping with extreme scrutiny.
Nothing about the situation was remotely close to how everyone thought this day was going to go.
"We need to get Friday back online ASAP." Morgan shakily said. "If we are able to access the security cameras, there's a chance we might be able to find a clue."
Carter glanced at Morgan and saw the pain and worry in her eyes, and gently took her hand and squeezed it to reassure her. She squeezed it back to acknowledge his presence.
"Morgan, Harley, and Carter, come with me to my lab. Nat, you reach out to any contacts who may know something. Carol, this is a long shot, but I want you to ask off world allies if they have any clues as well." Tony ordered. "Everyone else start looking around the tower for clues of any sort. If you see anything remotely suspicious, make a note of it."
*Time skip*
Nobody had been able to find a trace of a clue regarding Peter's whereabouts.
Not any of Tony's extensive connections had an idea. Natasha's contacts hadn't heard any chatter about a kidnapping or hostage. Carol came up empty from every person she had asked but that wasn't unexpected.
Morgan had been back to school and Carter was supportive whenever she needed reassurance. But after a month of no news, or leads, she was starting to lose the little hope she had left. Peter would promise her before every mission, that he would come home safe and sound. But this time he hadn't come home. She didn't even know where he had gone.
Harley became fixated on building tracking devices, scanners, homing beacons, anything that could help find his brother. Harley had promised to always help Peter if he was in a pinch, regardless of how annoying he could be sometimes.
Tony had shut himself in his lab to fix FRIDAY and go through everything he could think of that could offer some sort of sign, a clue, a word, literally anything to bring Peter back home. He had invented time travel to bring him back so why couldn't he do something as simple as finding a clue? Peter would probably point out an error in his work that would solve his problem but now that wasn't possible.
Pepper busied herself by concentrating on running Stark Industries. Whenever she got the chance, she would drag Tony and Harley out of their labs to eat meals with her. God knows those two would forget to eat if nobody reminded them that food and water was an essential part of living. Peter would usually take care of that but since his disappearance, she took up the job.
Everyone felt a piece of their family was missing. But nobody said his name out loud, even though everyone thought about him.
It just hurt too much to hear his name knowing that by now he was likely dead. That he was never coming home.
And time would continue to pass, as the pain of losing Peter would too.
Until one day, on a mission, everything changed.
*6 months after Peter's disappearance*
HYDRA had suddenly resurfaced with no warnings whatsoever.
They had set off Tony's alert system designed to warn of threats, and a group immediately suited up. Having HYDRA stirring up trouble was never a good sign, especially since they were supposed to be gone. But as the saying goes, "Cut one head off, two more take it's place."
The team that had gone to check out the threat consisted of the original 6 Avengers as well as Harley, Bucky, Kate, and Wanda. Upon arriving at the location that had set off the alarm, they noticed that another group of people were there as well. One person among them in particular stood out to the OG Avengers. Before anyone could make a move, all the Avengers were suddenly knocked down, and tied up so they couldn't move.
"Hey, I found these guys lurking around. Who are they?" An unfamiliar voice asked.
"Yo-Yo, you can let them go. We're friends. Well, at least most of us are, those three I haven't met. It's alright."
All the OG 6 Avengers felt a cold shock run through their bodies. That voice belonged to someone they thought was dead since the Battle of New York.
"Agent Coulson?" Tony asked in shock.
"It's former Director actually and yes, I'm alive." Coulson replied, as everyone was untied by Yo-Yo.
"There's no way." Natasha said as she stood up. "Fury would have said something sooner. And when were you Director of SHIELD?"
"I'm sorry, Nat, but he meant to keep it a secret from all of you. Me being resurrected." Coulson said with regret in his voice. "Said that if you knew, it would have distracted you from your goal."
"Steve, who is this guy?" Bucky asked in confusion.
Coulson's eyes widened in a very comical way when he noticed who had just spoken.
"Sergeant Barnes. It's an honor to meet you." He said, holding out a hand to shake.
Bucky took Coulson's hand to shake and noticed that his hand was not a real hand.
"Your hand... It's mechanical isn't it?" Bucky asked curiously.
"How much has happened with you since we last saw each other?" Steve asked.
"A lot. And we'll talk about it later after we take care of this HYDRA base. I assume that's why you're all here." Coulson said, gesturing to the other group.
"Yes, well, let's introduce the new members of our teams and then make a plan." Steve said.
Coulson informed his team of the change of plans. Everyone on Coulson's team met up for introductions.
"Daisy Johnson, aka Quake. She has the ability to manipulate natural vibrations as well as generate concussive blasts of vibrating air. Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez. She is able to travel at superhuman speeds within the timeframe of a beat of her heart before she bounces back. Hence the nickname, Yo-Yo. Melinda May, expert martial artist, pilot and empath. Mack, Deke, and FitzSimmons are on the Bus right now. You'll meet them later."
Everyone on Tony's side acknowledged their names and took note of their abilities and powers.
"Ok, for the new faces on our side, we have Barnes, the Winter Soldier, who you already know, Wanda, she's got telekinesis and can read minds, Kate, she's Clint's protege, slash eventual replacement and Harley, my oldest kid, who built his own suit." Tony said, introducing the group.
Daisy leaned over to Yo-Yo.
"Tony Stark has kids?" She whispered.
"How the hell would I know?" She responded. "I'm not the former groupie member here."
Daisy glared half heartedly at her.
"I said it was one time!"
"Not my fault you got drunk and told me that story." She shot back.
"Hey, focus we're not here to argue." May interrupted. "We have a mission."
Everyone quickly formed a plan and they all entered the base.
Yo-Yo ran through the halls to assess the amount of security as well as any potentially dangerous weapons. When she was done, she gave the report to Coulson and Tony so they could split their team accordingly.
"May, Harley, Kate, Captain Rogers, Wanda, and I will be one group. Daisy, Yo-Yo, Nat, Clint, Sergeant Barnes, and Tony will be the other. " Coulson explained. "Dr. Banner will be here on comms just in case. I've synced the signal our comms travel on so we're on the same channel. We're going to be split up, so only call for help if necessary. We have about equal amounts of power on each side, so take advantage of every opportunity if need be. Let's go."
Everyone nodded and headed off with their respective groups to raid the base.
(A/N Tony's team will be written in bold and Coulson's team in regular text to avoid unnecessary writing)
Wanda lead the group through the hallways, with May taking out the first few guards easily. Coulson shot ICER bullets at the ones May couldn't focus on while Harley made sure every guard was unconscious. Cap and Kate ran ahead to scout out the next few corridors and the rest of the group quickly followed.
Daisy knocked down the first wave of guards and Yo-Yo tied all of them up while Nat, Clint, Tony and Bucky advanced deeper into the building. A group of guards wielding batons and handguns immediately appeared in their path, blocking the way. Clint shot arrows into the walls that released smoke to obscure the soldiers vision and aim. Tony took advantage of their disorientated state and used heat signature seeking taser blasts to knock them out.
Cap almost got a punch to the face while he rounded a corner but he leaned to the side, barley avoiding it. Kate quickly rushed in and used the man's momentum to flip him over her shoulder into the wall while Cap recovered and punched another soldier trying to attack Kate from behind.
"Thanks." She said, a bit out of breath.
"No problem. Incoming from both sides, get ready." He replied, standing nearly back to back with Kate.
"You got it, Cap." She said, readying her bow.
He threw his shield at the closest guard while Kate shot multiple electric arrows at the hallway in front of her, effectively creating a bolt of electricity that hit multiple targets. They quickly rotated in sync and they repeated the same attacks as before, with Cap taking out the last of the soldiers in his way and Kate knocking out hers.
Tony watched Yo-Yo as she sped forward to scout the next hallway. He couldn't help but think of Pietro Maximoff, and how similar their powers seemed to be. Of course, Yo-Yo bounced back while Pietro didn't. He just kept going forward and never looked back.
Before he could even blink she had returned to the group.
"There's about a dozen guards outside a set of reinforced double doors." She said. "They're guarding something important."
"That's why we're here though. HYDRA has some weapon or something they plan on using, right?" Daisy asked. "Why else would they have resurfaced?"
"It's never a good sign when there's that much security outside an already pretty secure door." Clint added.
"They couldn't have possibly made anything more dangerous than supersoldiers." Bucky muttered.
"I wouldn't put it past HYDRA to find a way to do it." Nat said. "We got to make a plan. We can't just charge in."
Coulson's group had reached the end of the last hallway on their side. There wasn't anything at all to take as evidence or to destroy.
"It can't just be a dead end." Coulson said in disbelief. "There's gotta be a secret door or something at least."
Harley snorted at his complaint.
"I mean that's would I would have done." Kate said thoughtfully. "There wasn't anything of importance on our side of the base. So it makes sense that there's something we're missing."
Cap walked forward and proceeded to rap his knuckles on the wall.
"Whatcha doing there Cap?" Harley joked. "Hoping the secret door will open if you politely knock?"
Cap had moved to the left wall and knocked on it as well.
"He's checking to see if any of the walls sound more hollow than the others." May interjected. "It's a smart idea. It could reveal a hidden room or passage that isn't visible to the naked eye."
Wanda turned to Harley with a raised brow.
"Hey, can't you scan through walls with your suit? That would make this go a lot faster." She asked sarcastically.
Harley froze and everyone turned to look at him.
"Yeah, that would have made this a lot easier." Coulson said wryly.
"I'll get on it." Harley said sheepishly.
He scanned all the walls around them and eventually started walking in another direction.
"This way. There's a room further this way that I can't see through with the scanner. It seems to be lined with lead, which means x-ray scanners won't do the job. Whatever we need to find must be there." He said.
Everyone quickly followed Harley's lead as he walked down the halls, eventually leading them to where the other group had gathered in front of heavy looking doors. The soldiers that had presumably been standing guard were incapacitated on the floor.
(End of bold/regular text switches)
The entire group was preparing to enter the room they stood in front of. Whatever HYDRA had been working on had to be here. Nowhere else in the building had anything significant and this was the final stop.
The door had a keypad that required a passcode as well as a biometric scan. Of course, they could try using the guards to try to pass the retinal scan but there wasn't any guarantee they had access. Of course, they had to deal with the code as well. Maybe physical force would work.
Tony scanned the door's material and found that it was capable of taking the strongest hit from his and Harley's suit combined.
"All right, does anyone else have any brilliant ideas on how to enter this room?" He asked "I don't have enough firepower for this door."
Coulson turned to Daisy and nodded his head.
"Do your thing." He said.
She rolled her eyes and approached the keypad to the door and forced the device to open, revealing circuit boards and wires.
"What is she doing?" Harley asked in confusion. "I thought she could blast through stuff?"
Daisy took out a small tablet and hooked it to the keypad, quickly typing out code and breaking through the security.
"You're lucky I still carry a tablet, Coulson. We would have been in trouble otherwise."
Tony was impressed and slightly scared of how fast she broke through HYDRA's mainframe of security. He made a mental note to update his security system as well as FRIDAY's firewalls.
After a couple minutes of rapid typing, the door opened with a hiss of cold air.
"Remind me to change all my passwords on my social media." Harley said to his suit's AI.
"All right, lets see what HYDRA has been working on." Coulson announced. "Prepare yourselves for anything."
They walked into the room and immediately, everyone noticed the change of temperature compared to the rest of the base.
FRIDAY informed Tony that it was 10 degrees in the room and understandably, everyone was shivering.
Tony walked a bit further and then stopped suddenly. He felt his blood run colder than the room itself.
Coulson had said to be prepared for anything but he clearly didn't have this in mind of the things he needed to steel himself for.
"Oh my god." Kate whispered. "Is it?"
"Peter?" Harley asked in disbelief.
Tony's son was in the corner of the room, curled up in the fetal position, and unresponsive to the world around him.
"FRIDAY, scan for any vital signs." Tony asked desperately.
"He's got a pulse, but I believe he may be in a comatose state. He is also dehydrated and malnourished."
Coulson's team didn't know who this Peter was, but they knew based on everyone else's reaction that he was someone who had been missing for a long time.
"FitzSimmons, do you read me?" Coulson said into his earpiece.
"Yes sir, what's wrong?" Jemma's voice replied.
"We need you to set up the medbay immediately. Get an IV drip sufficient for dehydration as well as malnutrition." Coulson ordered. "We also need heat lamps, if you got any."
"Right away sir." She replied.
Steve picked Peter up and everyone followed him out of the base, back to safety.
*Time skip to returning to New York*
Morgan had been in the middle of a meeting for student council when her watch buzzed. Although it wasn't unusual for that to happen, this time it was buzzing in a pattern that meant there was an emergency that she could not ignore.
"May I be excused to go to the bathroom?" She asked the teacher, who nodded her approval.
She grabbed the hall pass and made her way to the bathroom and checked to see what the message was.
The message was from Harley and what he had sent broken down the walls of composure she had been building for 6 months.
Morgan, we found Peter. We're almost back to the tower and mom's picking you and Carter up. We'll tell you more when you get here.
She sank to the floor and started to sob.
How was this possible?
Where had he been?
How was he alive?
Was he still alive?
More and more questions ran through her head and she finally calmed down enough to exit the bathroom without looking like she had just had a breakdown. When she walked back into the classroom she was handed a summons to leave early.
She arrived at the attendance office and Carter was already there, waiting for her with Pepper by his side.
They all hugged for a good long while and they all cried a bit before Happy started to drive to the tower to meet up with everyone.
"Mom? Is he alive?" Morgan asked hoarsely.
She was silent for a bit before replying.
"He's alive but he's in a coma of sorts."
"Do we know why?" Carter asked.
"Dad said it was extensive exposure to frigid temperatures and that the spider DNA caused him to hibernate because of it." She answered.
"Do we know when he's supposed to wake up?" Carter questioned.
"I don't know honey." Pepper said honestly. "We have to hope for the best."
Morgan felt her heart sink in her chest as they pulled into the parking garage.
Everyone got out as soon as the car was parked and rushed to the elevator.
"FRIDAY, take us to the medbay where Peter is." Pepper said.
"Right away miss." She replied.
They made it to the medbay in record time and rushed to Peter's bedside, where he was still asleep.
Morgan almost didn't recognize that it was Peter in the bed.
His face was unnaturally pale and gaunt and he had lost weight, his frame looking thinner and weaker because of it. His hair was longer than she had ever seen it before and was tangled in knots. He had multiple bruises scattered around his body that should have been healed.
Tony and Harley walked into the room soon after and Morgan hugged them both extra tightly as she let out months worth of fear and anxiety in the form of tears.
"Shhhh, Maguna, it's ok, he's home." Tony whispered. "Breathe, you have to breathe."
"I thought he was dead." She sobbed into his chest.
"I know, but he's here now, everything's going to be ok." Tony reassured her gently.
Carter and Pepper joined in the hug and they all comforted each other.
Peter was finally home, where he belonged.
.
.
.
And he was about to wake up from his slumber.
"Hello?" a voice said, cracking in the middle of the word. "Where 'm I?"
Harley turned his head towards Peter so fast he almost gave himself whiplash.
"He's awake!" He said.
Everyone let go from the hug to gather around Peter's bed.
"Peter, are you ok? How do you feel?" Carter asked.
Peter turned to look at Carter.
"Who're you?" He asked confusedly.
Peter looked at all the people standing by his bed.
"Who are you guys?" He asked. "What am I doing here?"
Everyone's hearts collectively sank at his question.
Peter didn't remember anyone in this room. He couldn't recall his family. What had HYDRA done to him?
"Peter, we're your family." Morgan explained shakily. "I'm Morgan, your little sister. That's Harley, your brother, Carter, my boyfriend. That's mom and dad over there. Don't you remember at all?"
Morgan's voice broke as she asked him that question.
Peter looked at everyone's faces, one by one, trying his best to remember them but he couldn't. His memories were blank with a capital 'B'.
"Maybe photos or videos might help?" Carter offered weakly.
"FRIDAY pull up video footage from the folder, Family Shenanigans."
FRIDAY displayed footage from the timeframe that the Avengers were playing pool in the rec room.
Tony was on a team with Carter and Harley and Morgan were on the other. Peter and Pepper were watching them play from the side.
"Come on Harley, you can do better than that!" Tony teased as he put chalk on his cue stick. "Morgan's been carrying your team the whole game."
"No way, I've hit at least half of our balls in the pockets!" Harley protested, even though he knew he was spouting bullshit.
"I've done two behind the back shots and made them, how many have you done?" Morgan piped in, absolutely decimating Harley, the Roast King himself.
Everyone burst out laughing at her comeback and Tony immediately fell to the floor from laughter and pounded his fist on the ground.
Morgan had never seen her dad laugh so hard at something, let alone everyone else, including Natasha, who usually never let more than a chuckle out when she found something hilarious.
"WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON ANYWAY?!" Harley yelled at her over all the laughter.
"That's my sister!" Peter said proudly, with tears of laughter in his eyes.
Friday played other videos taken during random moments, as well as displaying photos. Everyone took turns explaining what had happened that day and why it was special. Peter asked questions here and there and everyone answered patiently and with extra detail to help.
Eventually, they had gone through the entire folder and Morgan glanced at Peter to see if there was a flicker of recognition at all.
"Do you remember now?" She asked him softly.
Peter had tears in his eyes as he answered.
"I'm so sorry." He said.
Morgan wanted to scream her heart out. He still didn't remember his family. She didn't know if he ever would.
"I've been gone so long, and HYDRA erased my memories. But you guys were able to find me before they could finish the job for good." He said, finishing what he had wanted to say. "I do remember you guys. I can't believe I ever forgot how much everyone here means to me."
Pepper let out a gasp as she nearly tackled him in a hug. Everyone felt a huge weight lift from their shoulders as Peter laughed weakly at everyone's faces.
"Peter, don't you ever scare us like that again!" Harley scolded with tears running down his face.
"That was a shitty thing to do, seriously." Carter said, annoyed but mostly relieved that Peter was back.
"Peter, never forget how much we love you." Tony said, wiping a tear away from his cheek.
"I can't believe you're back." Morgan said, smiling despite the fact she was still crying a bit.
"I'm here, and I won't be leaving you guys like that again." Peter replied. "I mean, I'm bedridden at the moment anyway."
Everyone groaned at his joke before a group hug formed around Peter.
Everything was as it should always have been.
Hey everybody! I'm still alive and kicking! This honestly made me tear up in some parts as I was writing it. Also, little fun fact about this chapter, the part where Morgan roasts Harley is based on something that happened within my family a couple years ago. In my family's version, I was on a team with my cousin and my dad and another cousin were on the other team. The dialogue is basically word for word what happened. I roasted my cousin, and my everyone started laughing, and my dad literally fell to the floor and was pounding his fist on the ground.
Also, I know that as of recently, Agents of SHIELD is technically not canon within the MCU which makes me sad because I love that show. I had watched it when it premiered way back in 2013 up until the last season, which made me ugly cry because it was actually over. I do recommend watching it if you have the opportunity. It's currently on Netflix as of 5/23/2021 and I also suggest watching Agent Carter before you watch season 7 because it's important to know the lore of that show as well for the last season.
I hope you are all doing ok, and that you are taking care of yourselves. It's been a rough year and a half for everyone and I am almost on summer break from my first year of college. Yay me, haha. I want to get more chapters done during that time, so expect a few of those in June, July, August.
See ya next chapter!