Tony ran into Wanda's bedroom, where five of the six teens were studying for their upcoming exams. MidTown often spent March and April assigning packets every week for exam reviews; during April and the first few weeks of May, the weeks were spent reviewing, as one of the top schools of New York, the school took the end of the year exams were taken extremely seriously. Tony noticed that Wanda 's bedroom windows were all open, letting the cool March breeze filter through the room. While it was slightly chilly on the outside, the compound felt comfortable inside thanks to how he'd designed the place. He stopped in the doorway and looked around the room, relief filling him when he saw how they were all safe and sound.
"JARVIS has been calling you kids for ten minutes," he announced, crossing his arms over his chest.
They all looked up from their work.
Wanda looked over at him, her powers picking up on his anxious energy. "We put him on mute so we could study...." she paused and looked at him, "What's wrong?" she asked, a frown tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"Mission downtown, everyone's needed." he replied.
Pietro looked up, "What's going on?" he asked, already shutting his laptop.
"Chitauri were spotted downtown. Suit up." the billionaire announced.
The teens started shutting their textbook and notebooks that they were using. Pietro was pushing his computer back into his backpack; he found it easier to type what the teacher was saying with his dyslexia than to write it. Kate was grabbing her highlighters and putting them haphazardly back into her pencil case while Yelena scowled at her for being disorganized. Wanda used her powers to effectively put everything away in her usual, neat and organized fashioned way. Penny followed suit of the older teens, watching them as they started running from the room. A red mist enveloped Wanda as her red suit appeared over her clothes, replacing the red and black sweater she'd been wearing mere seconds ago. Penny looked at the redhead in bewilderment, the older girl's hair was now curlier and more red looking, her deep red suit held intricate designs, and the topaz flecks in her eyes looked like they were vibrantly glowing. Tony handed her a delicate-looking mask; Penny quickly recognized it as a nano mask, one that she helped Peter design so they worked better. Wanda's features seemed to change and the thirteen year old could no longer recognize her. The older teen's nose appeared slightly wider, her cheekbones more prominent along with her jawline. Tony gently touched Penny's arm, pulling her attention from the situation in front of her.
"Kiddo, stay in the compound," he replied; he hoped she listened better than her brother did when he told him to stay put, "Do you understand me? Stay. here." he repeated.
She nodded, "Yes sir...where's Pete?" she asked, slightly looking around him for the sixteen year old.
Tony quickly threw out a response, knowing the teen was currently swinging his way downtown to help Natasha and Clint fight a group of aliens. "Don't worry about your brother, kiddo, he's somewhere safe. He'll be back once everything's clear. Stay in the compound," he repeated.
She nodded, "Yes sir."
He pulled her into a quick hug, "We'll all be fine," he promised, "love you kiddo."
As he pulled back, she softly replied, "I love you too, dad."
His heart soared, she'd never called him dad before; sure he'd heard her start slipping on occasion, almost using it, but she'd never done it before. He pulled her into a hug again and gently kissed her temple, "You called me dad kiddo..." he whispered.
She paused, "...Oh I guess I did....is that okay?" she asked, looking up at him.
"More than okay, now I'd love to stay and chat with you about this; celebrate a little, but I gotta go. Need to kick some ass." he paused when he realized he cursed, "Don't tell your mother I said that." he replied, holding out an outstretched index finger in her direction.
She nodded, a small giggle escaping her lips, "Yes sir." she replied.
He tapped the reactor under his t-shirt, letting his suit take over him. Penny watched him walk over to a window at the very end of the hallway that had been opened by one of the other teens. He jumped out of it and started flying off.
"Stay safe!" she yelled after him.
He nodded his head to himself, knowing she probably couldn't see him, "JARV."
"Yes, sir?" the AI replied.
"Lock it down. No one gets in, no one gets out till I'm back. Got it?"
"Understood sir. The compound is on lockdown. I've taken the liberty of locking all news channels on every device inside to prevent Miss Parker from accessing content that will surely cause her to be in duress."
Tony nodded, knowing that the AI was right, "Good thinking. Let's kick some alien ass." he announced as he kicked his thrusters into overdrive.
Penny ran into the living room where the TV was; she knew that whatever was going on downtown would be on the news. She remembered watching the attacks when she was six, but instead of watching it from her home it was from an alleyway; she'd gotten lost during the fight from her aunt. Well, more like her aunt ran from her; she'd left her alone in the middle of the street, not caring what happened to her. She remembered a nice pink-haired teenager had kept her safe after she'd found her hiding in an alleyway. She often wondered what happened to that girl. After watching the avengers flying around the sky as a young girl, it made her want to be like them; to make things safer for everyone. Now that she knew them all, it made her want them to be more okay; she needed them to be okay. She wanted to watch them to see that they were okay. When she flipped to the news channel, she was met with a black screen. She frowned slightly and started flipping through the channels, every single news channel was a black screen.
"JARVIS?" she asked.
"Yes, Miss Parker?" the British sounding AI replied.
"Do you know what's wrong with the news channels? I can't see anything."
"I have barred access to all points of entry to the news for every device within the compound. It is felt that you will push yourself into a worried state and possibly have another panic attack if you were to watch the citation downtown."
She frowned a little more, "Oh...c-can you at least let me know what happens o-or just tell me that they are all okay?"
"Yes Miss Parker, I can do that. I recommend participating in an activity that will keep you distracted as well as to help pass the time it'll the others return. As of my current knowledge, everyone is currently in perfect health."
She nodded and pulled out a book from the backpack that was still over her shoulder. After a few minutes of sitting on the couch and being unable to concentrate, she shut her book. She looked around the room, feeling herself slipping into a worried state, her anxiety starting to take over her. She closed her eyes and took in a few deep breaths and started going through the motion of counting down. Five things she could see... she opened her eyes and looked around her. The pillow on the couch, her book, her hands...her phone...and the carpet sitting in front of the couch. She released the breath she was holding and took another deep one in... four things she can feel...the warmth of her sweater, the hair tickling her ears, the cool binding of the book in her hand...the way Lucky kept nudging her hand with his nose...breathe out...breathe in. Three things she can hear...the ticking of the clock in the dining room, Fanny barking at a bird outside the window...her steady heartbeat. She let out another steady breath and sucked in another one. Two things she can smell...Lucky's breath and the faint smell of Wanda's perfume that was left on her sweater...repeat....breathe out...breathe in...one thing she can taste...the watermelon sour patch kids from Kate. She released the last breath, feeling better; everything was okay, she told herself. She pulled her phone out of pocket and the headphones of her backpack that was sitting on the floor in front of her. She slipped the emerald green headphones over her ears and pressed the play button on her screen. She started reading her book once again as the relaxing sound of piano music cascaded over her. Over two hours later, she vaguely heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hall. She glanced up from her book and saw someone standing in front of her; when she looked up she saw it was Tony. He offered her a light wave.
She slipped off her headphones, "Is everyone okay?" she asked, relieved that they were back.
He nodded, "Yep, everyone is fine," he replied.
She nodded her head, "Where is everyone?" She asked, noticing that everyone was still missing.
He pursed his lips slightly, "Downstairs...Banner is checking over them to double check if they're okay."
She nodded, she didn't know that the scientist was back already, the last thing she knew he was in Somalia til the end of April.
He started speaking to her again, his voice started to fade while she looked over him. He looked slightly younger than she remembered, the frown lines on his face were less prominent. His hair looked darker, like there was less gray...it felt off. Was he wearing a black sabbath t-shirt earlier? She could've sworn it was ACDC; she looked at him once again. She quickly pushed her thoughts away, blaming it on her anxiety. Sam told her that she tended to over-analyze things when she was nervous or worried. She was just looking into it too much, she told herself. He snapped his fingers at her, something he'd never done to her, but at her brother when he zoned out. Was she zoning out?
She blinked her eyes, "Sorry Tony, what was that?" she asked.
He didn't correct her, something that struck her as odd at the moment, "Do you want to see the others?" he asked.
"Yes sir." she replied, nodding her head,
She stood up and followed him to the staircase that led to the downstairs medbay and labs. She felt his hand touch her arm, it was cold. She could feel it through her sweater, was he okay? She saw him take a step behind her, his hand resting on her shoulder, why was it so cold? She gave him a small smile and led the way to the downstairs floor, the almost ice-like touch stinging through her sweater.
Downtown, Peter was swinging around with his webs from building to building, temporarily blinding the aliens that the group was fighting against so Tony could blast them with his repulsors. Everyone was spread out, doing what they did best. Natasha was kicking butt like normal with Yelena, Kate was shooting arrows from the top of a roof somewhere, Steve was trying to choke the robot-alien thingies and Bucky was shooting anything and everything that moved if it wasn't friendly. Clint was on a roof, aiming his bow at a Chitauri alien. He released the arrow and suddenly the creature vanished; his eyes widened when he realized it was sailing through the air towards Wanda.
"Red watch out!" he yelled into his communication device.
Wanda spun around to stop the arrow with her powers, but was saved by Peter who grabbed it from the air.
"Watch it birdman!" Pietro yelled angrily, shooting the man a middle finger from where he was.
The man ignored his action, "Sorry kid, the thinking just vanished. Scarlett, are you doing okay?"
"I'm fine. Spidey caught it," the redhead replied as Peter dropped it in front of her.
"I'm so sorry kid, I let it go right when it vanished."
"I'm fine, don't worry about it." she replied.
Peter dropped himself from his web, looking around the city at the slight ruins of broken buildings and trees. The places where the Chitauri had previously been were now empty, where did they go?
Tony's voice broke through the devices, "All of 'em vanished on the ground. Birds, you three see anything up here?"
Clint rolled his eyes at the name, "Everything's gone from what I can see, tincan."
"Nothing here Tony," Kate replied, her voice crackling through the inboard speaker of his suit.
Peter looked up to see Sam flying around, the man shrugged and shook his head from the sky, "There's not a single one anywhere." he announced.
"Alright, you guys know the drill. Nat, Clint and I check on the civilians; see if they need attention, find them injured, send them to the hospital and treat it if you can, anyone else comfort them as best as you can and send them home.. Scarlett, you and Tony tackle the debris, move it out of the way and fix what you can. Buck, you, Silver, and Sam check for hideaways, send 'em back to where they came from. Everyone else, find what you can. See what brought them out." Steve announced, authority booming in his voice.
Everyone split up to follow the captain's orders. An hour later, they all met at the quinjet. The twins ran over to their father, hugging the man tightly. He pulled his two children closer to him, hugging them both at the same time, making sure they were okay. Kate was found by her father, who was immediately checking her over for injuries; even though she was on the roof opposite to him the entirety of the fight and there was little to no way of her getting hurt. Bucky and Sam were holding hands as they checked on their niece and nephew. Natasha hugged Yelena tightly before lecturing her on how reckless she'd been after almost getting squished by a large piece of debris before Pietro sped her out of the way. The blonde rolled her eyes but listened to her worried sister, feeling slightly guilty for worrying her. Tony was checking over Peter for injuries, because he knew the youngest avenger had a habit of not telling anyone when he got hurt.
"Dad!" the brunet yelled after Tony had JARVIS scan him for the fifth time, "I'm fine. JARVIS keeps saying I'm okay..." he replied, pushing the man's hand down with his finger.
The billionaire sighed, "I-I know....but your mother would kill me if you got hurt and I can't have you get hurt." he replied.
Peter threw himself towards the man, wrapping his arms around his torso, "I'm okay dad...but we better get back home; Princess is probably worried about everyone. I'll walk home." he knew that the billionaire never forgave himself when anyone on the team got hurt, especially if it was Peter or one of the other teenagers.
"You're still in your suit," the man replied.
He shrugged, "I'll change. I can't exactly walk into the compound with you guys."
Tony nodded, knowing the boy was right, "I guess not...be safe out there underoos." the man replied.
Peter nodded, "I will!" he replied, swinging away from the group.
After he got to an alley near the compound, he pressed the spider emblem on his suit, letting it fall loose on his frame and quickly changed back into his clothes. Moments later, the sixteen year old was walking home. He reached the compound, sweat still collecting on his brow as the adrenaline wore off. He was hungry; he was always hungry after a mission or patrol. He found that the more he used his powers, the quicker his metabolism worked. He could feel the mask of his suit in between his fingers in the pocket of his jacket. He made sure that his backpack was fully zipped in order to hide the rest of his suit when he opened the door using his keycard since his father probably hadn't turned off the lockdown mode.
"Princess, I'm home!" he called loudly as he shut the door behind himself.
There was no response, so he assumed she was in her room upstairs.
He started walking up the stairs, talking loudly, "Crazy what happened downtown right? I saw dad and the team on the news while I was at Ned's. Maybe dad'll let me join the team. I mean, I already see mission reports and I work on all the suits." he joked, "Princess?" he called again, when she didn't respond to him.
He opened the door to her room, her winter coat was draped across her bed along with her scarf and earmuffs. He sighed to himself when he found the room to be empty. Maybe she was hiding, she had a habit of doing that when she was anxious. He started looking in her normal hiding places: under her bed, the book nook in the corner, the secret place in her closet for when she had really bad panic attacks; there was nothing. He saw the bathroom light was off, and he heard nothing to symbolize that she was in there. He crossed through the bathroom, finding it empty, and went into his room. Maybe she was in there... he knew that she often waited for him there after his practices at school. His room was empty; there was nothing in there but his stuff. Where was she?
"Princess if you're hiding you can come out now!" he yelled, checking Wanda's room. Once again he found it empty, "JARVIS?" he called.
There was no response from the AI, did Tony turn him off while they were gone?
"JARV?" he repeated.
The AI still didn't respond, he felt his senses going off now, something was seriously wrong. She was missing and JARVIS was disabled? it didn't sit well with him. He started looking in all the rooms on the floor, throwing the doors open and checking in any place she could have hidden herself. He found nothing. He ran up to the penthouse suite and looked around on the floor, mainly in Morgan's room. That was the only place the younger teen spent her time when they were on the floor. It was also empty, he started to worry, where was his sister? He used the elevator to get back down to the main floor, the emerald green headphones that were hanging off the couch caught his eye. He went over to the couch and saw her phone had slipped onto the floor, music was still playing. He picked it up and found that it was cool to the touch, meaning she hadn't held it in about thirty minutes at least. Her book was discarded on the couch next to the headphones and her backpack was tucked under the coffee table. Where was she? Did something happen to her? He felt tears starting to form in his eyes, his breathing picking up he couldn't lose her too. He heard the front door open again and heard several footsteps approaching him.
"Kids, we're back!" he heard Tony announce loudly, "Oh there you are Pete." he replied, softening his voice when he saw the sixteen year old in the living room.
Peter turned around to look at him, his vision was blurring.
"Underoos you have any idea why JARVIS is not on?" he asked; when Peter didn't respond, the billionaire looked at Peter, he noticed Peter's expression and picked up on his rapid breathing, "Kid?" he called quietly.
Peter was starting to hyperventilate, he felt like he couldn't breath, "D-dad? Something's....something's wrong.." he slowly broke out.
Tony quickly walked over to him, "Pete, Pete. look at me, you're fine." he announced, trying to be as calm as he possibly could, he snapped his fingers in the boy's face to get his attention, "I need you to breathe." he replied, calmly when the teen started breathing heavily; he cupped either side of Peter's face, pulling the boy's head up to face him, "Kid, are you hurt? What's wrong?" he asked, starting to wonder what was wrong with the brunet.
He shook his head, "N-no I'm fine....D-dad...I can't...I can't breathe...." he wheezed, he felt like he was having an asthma attack like when he was in middle school.
"Someone get Little Parker." Tony replied, motioning for someone to find his middle child.
Peter let out a strangled breath, "You won't find her." he replied shakily.
"What are you talking about kid?" he asked.
"She's not here....I can't find her." Peter replied, as thick, wet tears streamed down his face.
"What do you mean she's not here?!" Tony asked, his tone picking up.
Peter shook his head, "She's not here, dad. I c-came back and JARVIS was o-off....I figured you'd decided t-to turn him off while...while were out..." Peter sucked in the deep breath, trying to gain his composure, he hated looking like a panicked kid in front of people, "B-but she's not upstairs in any of the rooms...o-or in Morgan's room....I haven't checked downstairs b-but I can't hear her....I can't hear her dad." he replied, he enunciated the last phrase as he spoke.
Tony took a deep breath, "JARVIS time to wake up, bud."
"How may I help you boss?" the AI replied, buzzing back to life.
"Where is Penny? JARVIS, where is my daughter?" the billionaire asked, his tone firm but worried. If Peter couldn't sense her, something was definitely wrong; Peter could almost always hear her.
"According to my scan's Miss Parker is not on the premises."
Tony pushed himself up from his position on the floor, "The hell do you mean she's not here?!" the billionaire yelled, "Scan again!" he demanded.
"My scans give the same results sir." the AI announced after a few seconds.
Tony ran a stressed hand through his hair, "I shut the place down. No one gets in, no one gets out. You're supposed to be on top of that!" he almost yelled.
"My services were shut down approximately one hour and thirty-five minutes ago. The premises were no longer on lock down allowing for Miss Parker to leave."
Tony frowned, he'd told her to stay here, she always followed instructions,"What do you mean she left?! I didn't authorize you to be shut off. Check the damn feeds." he demanded again where the hell did she go?
"Someone else was here." Wanda announced, her brow was furrowed. They could all see the red mist surrounding her, the topaz flecks in her eyes slightly glowing.
"What are you talking about, little red? The only person here was Penny." Tony replied, no one else was here when he left.
"Someone with powers like mine... I can feel their presence," she replied, closing her eyes slightly as she tilted her head to the side, "they left a strong imprint. Like they were using them the entire time they were here."
Peter let out a strangled breath and Tony immediately fell back down to his knees infront of the boy, he pulled him into his arms.
"Shit." the billionaire muttered, "Come on Pete breathe...take a deep breath." He was eying Peter, who was breathing heavily in his arms, Tony could see the panic attack setting in on his son. "Now's not the time for this underoos, I need you to breathe."
The AI pulled up the camera feed from the floor they were on. Tony appeared on the screen, the timestamp was on the bottom center of the screen. They all looked at each other, knowing Tony was with them fighting the Chitauri when the Tony they saw on the screen appeared in the compound. The imposter looked like Tony, just a few years younger. His hair was less gray, he had fewer frown lines, walked lighter, was a little thinner than he was now, the goatee was thicker. He looked exactly like Tony; like Tony from seven years ago.
Steve spoke up, "Tony when was the last time you wore that shirt?" he asked, motioning to the black sabbath t-shirt the imposter was wearing, he was pretty sure he knew the answer.
"Capsicle, that shirt was destroyed in the New York Battle, got shredded when reindeer games threw me out the damn window." the billionaire replied.
Steve nodded, sharing a look with Natasha who had a similar expression.
On the screen, the imposter walked over to Penny, offering her a slight wave. They all noticed her looking at him as he talked to her, she looked slightly confused. They knew she noticed that he looked different, she was a genius after all, she picked up on almost everything. She seemed to shrug the worries away when he motioned for her to go somewhere. She stood up and followed him, they noticed her freeze when he put his hand on her. Something that she rarely did, she looked up at the look-a-like with concern, Why was she concerned for him? She seemed to shrug it off and he took a step behind her, placing his hand on her shoulder and leading her into the hall.
"JARVIS, show me the hall feed." Tony replied.
The holographic image that was being portrayed to the room quickly changed to hall feed where the two were walking. The Tony look-a-like moved his hands from her arm, brushing his fingers against the side of her head as he did so. She paused in her walking and brought a hand up to her head, rubbing her temple lightly. Her small frame fell limp into his arms, he swept her up and suddenly vanished, a light green flash bursting on the screen.
"Dad, we have to find her!" Peter replied, pulling his suit back out of his backpack, his mask was already on.
Tony reached over and pulled the sixteen year old's mask off, "Kid, we don't know where she is." the billionaire replied calmly, trying to reason with the frantic teen.
He himself wanted more than anything to find his older daughter at the moment, but he knew that it was pointless to run around like a chicken with his head cut off.
"Th-that doesn't matter!" Peter yelled, reaching back out for the mask that Tony had tossed to the side, "She isn't like the rest of us, she doesn't know how to fight someone off, she doesn't have powers, o-or a fancy suit. She's all by herself, we gotta find her! Please!" his voice was cracking as he spoke.
Wanda bent over and picked his mask up, holding it tightly in her hands.
Tony patted the boy's shoulders, trying to get him to look at him, "We're going to do just that kid, but first we gotta find out who the hell can do that little trick to look like me."
Peter shook his head, "N-no, we have to do it now! She's probably terrified and she doesn't have her inhaler. What if she starts having an asthma attack or a panic attack. The breathing exercises don't always work, I have to be there! She's all by herself with a strange man who looks like you and she's probably terrified. I-if I don't find her she'll never forgive me.... I won't forgive me." he replied, he was tightly gripping onto the man's arm.
Tony winced slightly at the boy's strength, "Kid, she doesn't know who you are."
"B-"
"Pete...." Wanda called, "We'll find her. I promise, It'll just take some time."
He sobbed, "N-no we gotta do it now."
"If we go in blind, we won't do much good." Natasha replied, looking at the teenager in front of her.
Wanda gently pulled the suit out of his hand, "Pete it's okay...We'll get her back." she assured, determination setting in her green eyes.
"I-I can't lose h-her too." he whispered, sounding completely heartbroken.
Wanda carded her fingers through his hair, trying to soothe him.
Tony sighed heavily, "Come here kid." he replied, pulling the boy in for a hug; the teenager had pushed him away a few moments ago when he was trying to pull his suit back on over his shoes and jeans. "JARVIS, scan everything you can for her. Sightings, possible or definite, I want to know. Make a list of known people who have the technology or powers to change their appearance to look like something they aren't. Contact Rhodey, Pep, and Happy; let them know what's going on. Don't contact the police just yet, I want this under wraps. If word gets out that she's related to the team, things go downhill fast. Get me Fury. Blow up the pirate's phone until he responds. I want him here yesterday. Find. my. kid." his tone was cold and steady, anger could be heard in his voice, Who thought it was a good idea to take his kid?
Kate walked into the living room, she noticed Peter tightly gripping Tony's shirt as he cried. She also noticed the somber attitude, what was going on? They'd just won a mission,everyone should be as ecstatic as she was.
"Guys? What's wrong?" she asked, the bounce in her step slowly but surely ceasing.
"Bugs something happened..." Clint replied, motioning for the blue-eyed teen to come over to him.
She looked over at Peter who was sobbing heavily, his body shaking with broken cries, "Why's Pete crying? Where's Little P, she'd be down here by now." the brunette asked, looking around for the thirteen year old.
Clint walked over to her, he knew his daughter was especially close with the girl, "Honey, she's gone."
Kate looked at her dad, "Wh-what do you mean she's gone?" she asked, "We left her right here."
"Kate..." Wanda whispered, "Someone took her..."
Kate's deep blue eyes started to get misty, "Y-you're lying. Where's Little P?" she asked, pushing her father away when he tried to hug her.
"Bugs...I'm sorry she's gone." he replied quietly,
"N-no. No." she replied, shaking her head, "Where's she at?!"
Clint pulled her into a hug, "It's okay...we'll find her."
She shook her head, "N-no...dad this isn't funny!" she pushed him away, "Pete?" she asked.
He looked over at her and shook his head, tears streaming down his face.
She knew from the look in his eyes that they were telling her the truth, tears escaped her eyes. "N-no." she whispered. "Who took her?"
"We don't know bugs..."
"Who took her?! Who took Little P?!" the teen yelled angrily, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Yelena grabbed her, hugging her tightly, "We don't know Katie, but we will soon. And we'll bring her back." she promised.
Kate fell to her knees almost immediately and Clint rushed over to hug her like Yelena was doing.
A somber air filled the room, everyone thinking about who could do something like what had been done. Steve and Natasha already had a pretty good idea, but their fears were cemented when a loud crack of lightning burst through the air and the building shuddered. The lights flickered in the room and a few moments later the elevator doors opened to reveal a familiar long-haired blond.