"Dude, where have you been?"
Peter turned around and met Ned's enthusiasm with a small smile.
"Broke my arm real bad, had to take a week off school to let it heal," he said quietly enough that no one else could hear. Ned's face grew more somber.
"You haven't gotten hurt like that in a while. What happened?"
"The Avengers," Peter said with a shrug, turning back to his locker to shove another textbook in his bag. He wanted to get away from this topic, but had also resigned himself to his fate. Ned would not let this drop until he ran out of questions and concerns.
"Dude! The Avengers?" Ned hissed, his eyes wide with excitement. "That is so cool!"
"Yeah, until they threaten you and put you in bed rest for a week," Peter said matter-of-factly.
Ned's face dropped. "Wait, did they attack you?"
Peter frowned, confused. "Uhh, yeah... What did you think I meant?"
"I thought that maybe you had a super epic team up and then got hurt fighting some super big bad guy, like Hydra or something, I dunno!" Ned rambled, looking as embarrassed as he probably felt.
"Apparently Nick Fury isn't so happy about the whole secret identity thing," Peter grumbled, shutting his locker a little harder than he intended.
"Wait, Nick Fury doesn't know who you are?" Ned asked. "I know something that Nick Fury doesn't!"
Peter couldn't help but chuckle. "Congrats, Ned," he said, "now let's just do our best to keep it that way."
"What does that mean?"
Peter sighed. "It means I'm not doing that anymore. Spider-Man is over, Ned. I can't keep coming back to the orphanage with unexplainable injuries. I haven't been to my internship for that reason."
"So you're quitting?" Ned asked.
"Let's just call it a forced retirement."
"What are you retiring from?" MJ asked from behind the two boys, who both jumped.
"My, uh," Peter stammered, "my internship!"
"The one with Tony Stark?" she asked, unimpressed. "Are you being serious right now?"
"Yeah?"
"Peter, that's not the sort of commitment you should 'retire' from," she said flatly.
"Well, I--" Peter started, but he was saved by the bell. "I should really get to Chem," he said nervously. "Bye guys!"
~~~
"Where's Peter?" Pepper asked as she peeked into Tony's lab. The billionaire frowned.
"Honestly Pepper, I have no idea. The kid just stopped coming about a week ago. He won't answer my texts," he said, clearly upset.
"Have you tried talking to him face to face?" Pepper asked.
"... No."
"So you're telling me that when the boy who collapsed from starvation just a few weeks ago stops responding, you didn't think to go check on him?"
Tony grimaced. "I'll be back," he said, running past Pepper. She frowned as she thought about the kid that had somehow broken through Tony's barriers.
She just hoped he was okay.
~~~
Tony had never felt more stupid. Pepper was right--when Peter started acting so out of character, the first thing he should have done was go check up on him.
He drove rather recklessly through the city until he reached the apartment that he'd dropped Peter off at several weeks ago. After taking a moment to compose himself, he stepped out of the car and entered the building.
There was no lobby or receptionist to talk to, so Tony just took a deep breath and knocked on the first door. After a second, an older woman answered it.
"Hi, I'm looking for the Parkers. Do you know where Peter and his aunt live?"
The woman looked taken aback, and tears formed in her eyes. "Peter doesn't live here anymore, sir," she said in a wobbly voice, "not since May's death."
Tony took a step back. "May is his Aunt?"
"Yes. I was good friends with her before she died, and that nephew of hers is just a big sweetheart. But he's not here anymore. I'm sorry." Then she closed the door.
Tony walked back to his car very quickly. "Friday," he said once he was inside again, "bring up every file you can possibly find on Peter Parker."
Moments later, he was hurriedly scrolling through different documents until he found school records, where he knew a current address would be listed.
"There. Friday, take me there!" A map appeared on the screen and Tony was once again racing through the crowded city, hoping that he could somehow make this up to Peter.
~~~
When Peter got home from school, there were two police cruisers with flashing lights parked outside the orphanage. Peter rushed through the front and found himself face to face once again with an agitated Ms. Walters and the young couple who had adopted Lincoln. There were also three police officers investigating the orphanage.
"What's going on?" Peter asked as two of the officers pulled him aside, took his backpack, and searched it.
"Lincoln is missing," Ms. Walters said, her voice dripping with fake emotion, "and they were hoping that maybe he'd ended up back here."
The couple were standing together, the young woman's eyes puffy and red as the man held her close. She met Peter's eyes.
"Son, have you seen our boy?" the young man asked, rubbing his wife's shoulder softly. "We know you two were close while he was here. Do you know where he might have gone?"
One of the officers pulled out a small notepad as Peter shook his head. "No, I haven't seen or heard from Lincoln since he left the orphanage two weeks ago."
The officers asked Peter a few more questions before Peter interjected with one of his own.
"Do you know anything about what happened? Like, where he was last? Or did he just... vanish?"
The officers shared a glance with each other before one reached in his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper. He held it up so Peter could see the symbol on it very clearly. Although the symbol itself was cleverly hidden within the illustration printed on the note, making it hard for the untrained eye to tell, Peter saw it immediately.
Hydra.
Even though he could feel bile rising in his throat, Peter decided to feign ignorance.
"What is that?"
"Truthfully, we were hoping you would recognize it."
Peter shook his head, and not long after that, he was watching the police cruisers roll away. He could tell Ms. Walters was itching to get after him again, but when a younger boy accidentally tipped over a vase on the coffee table she was quickly distracted. Peter didn't waste his opportunity.
In a matter of seconds he was in his room, startling Tanner from a restless nap. Robert was luckily nowhere to be seen.
"Where are you going?" Tanner scoffed grumpily as Peter threw on his suit.
"To find Lincoln."
Forget retirement, Peter thought as he shut the window behind him, Lincoln needs Spider-Man.
~~~
When Tony pulled up to the address, his heart sank.
Ms. Walters' Home for Boys.
An orphanage.
No wonder the kid had been so secretive and shy. No wonder he wasn't getting enough to eat. Being an orphan at his age was a situation that practically begged for Peter to be neglected.
Tony walked up the sidewalk to the squat building with a fervor he rarely felt and knocked more aggressively than was probably warranted.
He was met at the door by a skinny boy who looked to be about ten. The kid's eyes widened and he called out for Ms. Walters.
Tony put on his fake celebrity smile as a very unbecoming woman greeted him at the door.
"How can I help you, sir?"
"Yeah, hi," Tony said, trying to see past her into the building, "I'm, uh, I'm looking to adopt, actually."
The woman plastered on a smile that was almost faker than the one Tony was sporting before turning around and hollering for a boy named Tanner. Moments later, he appeared. His dreary expression and mussed hair suggested he had been woken from a nap.
"Would you take this fine gentleman on a quick tour of the building while I help Stanley clean up this mess?" The boy nodded, seemingly unfazed by the billionaire's presence.
Tony wandered behind the boy throughout the building, taking note of the crowded space and dirty living quarters. He glanced in the pantry as the passed through the kitchen, and began to get angry.
This woman was definitely not taking care of Peter, or any of these boys for that matter.
When they finally climbed the stairs to where the boys slept, Ms. Walters joined them again.
"So, around what age were you thinking, sir?" she asked, sending a spray of spit with her words.
Tony shrugged. "Probably close to like, I dunno, 15? 16?"
The woman's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Well, Tanner here is 17 years old. He rooms with the other two boys in that general age group."
"What are their names?" Tony asked.
"Well, Robert is a very nice boy. He's fifteen, good in school, hardworking."
"Anyone else?"
The woman's lips tightened as though she were sucking on something sour. "Well, there is also Peter, but I would stay away from him if I were you. Bit of a strange one, he is. Violent tendencies, laziness, disobedience. Half the time he's out wandering the city, making me worried that something horrible has happened to him out there!"
"I see," Tony said. "Can I have a moment alone with them?"
"I don't see why not," the woman said. She started to make her way downstairs, clearly dawdling in the hopes that she would catch snippets of their conversation as Tanner guided Tony into a bedroom.
The room had two bunk beds against the walls. One of the beds had only one mattress being used, and leaning up against it was Peter's backpack. Tony turned and met Tanner's eyes.
"Where's Peter?"
"I don't know," the boy admitted. He explained to Tony what had happened at the orphanage just that afternoon.
"Okay..." Tony said slowly, "but what does a kidnapped child have to do with Peter's absence?"
Now Tanner was confused as well. "Wait, do you not know?"
"Know about what, kid?"
Tanner looked like he was on the verge of explaining when suddenly, Tony's phone rang. He glanced at the screen and answered with a sigh when he saw Rhodey's name.
"What is it?"
"Tony, Spider-Man was just spotted by our scanners!"
"What?" Tony said, tapping his chest and activating his nanosuit. "Are you already on him?"
"The team is suiting up as we speak."
Tony nodded his thanks at the baffled teen he was still with before opening the window and flying out. "Friday, pinpoint Spider-Man's last known location. Have the team rendezvous with me there."
"Yes Boss."
"It's time to end this."
(AN: 1858 words! *Celebrates* Thanks for sticking with this story, guys. It really means a lot to me when I see that people are reading it. I promise I'm trying to update as much as I can, and hopefully the next chapter will be out soon. Au revoir!)