The Hunt Of The Spiders

The Hunt Begins

Sirens blared as the Avengers ran down the red-lit corridors. This was meant to be a simple mission, a small Hydra base with only a couple of guards. When they had arrived however it was packed to the brim with footsoldiers holding a range of high tech weapons. Scanning the building revealed that it also had a very high tech security system that they had just triggered.

When they had landed seeing this it made them pause for a moment to try and think of another plan, one more stealthy than the original that was just storming the building with brute force. Sam sent out Redwing first so they could get a better idea of the protection of the Hydra base. They looked for the least guarded entrance so that Natasha and  Clint could go in first before some of the stronger and more flashy Avengers created a distraction elsewhere. Once inside it was Natasha's and Clint's job to take down their security measures as well as get as much information out of this base as they could.

That was what they were meant to be doing anyway but things didn't really go to plan. As soon as the alarm was triggered the number of soldiers rose while any information on the computers was slowly wiped. An evacuation plan was also clearly in place as tech and other mysterious items were brought out of the base along with all the scientists into a jet. This was done too efficiently to not be planned out. When Natasha finally got to a computer it was a race against time to get as much information as she could before it all got deleted.

It took almost an hour for the Avengers to take out all the soldiers and finally clear the base before they could investigate. There wasn't much left except a lot of empty terrariums, cages and clearly what used to be labs. Whatever they were working on was important and something they didn't want anyone to find out. This was big and if they didn't find out their plan soon everyone could be in danger. Their last hope to find anything was in the data Natasha collected.

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After debriefing back at the tower the Avengers moved to their communal floor. One by one all the Avengers flopped on the sofas and armchairs, set up around the Tv, except Natasha. She chose this moment to try and slip out. Before she could get to the lift though she was stopped by Steve.

"Now where are you sneaking off to? We were just about to order pizza." Steve asked leaning against the archway in the shelves the lead to the common room.

"You're not the only one with an apartment and life outside of the tower," Natasha said turning around to face Steve.

"You don't see me rushing off though."

"That's because you don't actually care about the state of your apartment and leave it for weeks. I on the other hand would like to keep mine clean and not going stale." Natasha turned back around and entered the lift before smiling and waving to Steve.

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Cold winds swept over Queens, New York. Grey clouds blocked out the sun muting the cityscape of its shining windows. The people on the streets weaved between each other in a daze going through their daily routines and responsibilities. As Natasha walked down these bleak streets she pulled her hood further down. She liked this time of year as it made it easier for her to blend in while disguising herself and trying to block her face from view. No one looked suspicious wearing a hood when the clouds looked ready to burst.

On her way back to her apartment Natasha stopped off at a little sandwich shop she was a regular at. Walking into the store she made sure to pet the cat on the counter before rattling off her regular order. As the sandwiches were being made she conversed with the owner who always had a bright smile on his face even after what had happened to his previous shop. After she found out the original shop was destroyed a few months ago in a bank robbery across the street gone wrong she made sure to head there more frequently and support them the best she could.

After getting the sandwiches she continued to her apartment block. The apartment was in a more run-down part of Queens. It didn't cost too much to rent and you could pay in cash. Now some people may think a place like this would attract a range of unsavoury people but the building manager made sure to protect all his tenants and create a nice place to live for families that don't have much or people who were trapped in bad places who needed a fresh start.

The paint was slowly chipping off the walls of the stairwell. Lights flashed overhead as Nat climbed to the top. After exiting the stairwell she walked to the end of the corridor to her apartment door. Walking into the apartment she looked around. It was a very cosy apartment with a lot of old worn furniture and a range of items littering the shelves. Walking further into the apartment she spotted Peter draped on the sofa with textbooks and paper spread out around him.

Smiling she placed the sandwiches on the coffee table with the worksheets and gently shook Peter awake. "Hello, маленький паук." (Litte spider)

Peter shot up off the sofa enveloping Natasha in a massive hug. "Welcome home, мама паук." (Mama spider)

Natasha picked up the sandwiches again and made her way over to the dining room table with Peter following behind excitedly telling her about what he did the two days she was gone. Peter was usually a very talkative person and loved to ramble on about anything and everything. This was always made worse whenever Natasha returned from a long mission trying to catch her up with everything and missing not being able to talk to each other for a long period of time. As they sat and ate their sandwiches they continued to talk about their recent lives as well as all manner of random topics that seemed to spring up.

Natasha and Peter had only known each other for about four months but in that time they were able to grow close, like family. They hadn't been officially family for all that time though; that only came after about a month and a half of knowing each other. It was a rainy day when Natasha suddenly got a surprise phone call from Peter. Before she could let out a cheery hello though she was cut off by a heart-wrenching sob. Straightening up in her seat Natasha asked Peter to explain what was going on.

"It's - it's May. She was driving home when a car near her started swerving and crashed into her. She - She didn't make it." Peter started crying hard again and Natasha waited, saying comforting words through the phone, till he was able to continue. "I - I can't go into foster care. Please help me."

"Hold on I'm coming over now. Just stay where you are."

Natasha drove over to the hospital where Peter was and stayed with him through the whole process. Soon after that fateful night Peter officially became her son.

Back to the present Peter was just finishing off telling Natasha about a surprise field trip coming up, that May signed the permission slip for, when her phone started to ring. Looking at the caller ID she saw it was Steve and excused herself from the table to answer.

"Now why are you calling me when we only saw each other about an hour ago," Natasha said smirking and heading into her bedroom.

"Sorry about this but Fury called in basically demanding a meeting tomorrow."

"I guess I will be seeing you tomorrow then," Natasha sighed.

"Goodbye, Natasha."

"Bye, Steve."

Natasha walked back to the kitchen to see Peter cleaning up their rubbish after hanging up on Steve. She sighed and sat down on one of the rickety old chairs putting her head in her hands, elbows resting against the table.

She looked back up again though when she heard Peter say: "It wasn't that nice just demanding a meeting like that. What if one of you guys were busy with something important?"

"He never does something like this unless it's important. Now, what have we said about listening to other peoples private conversations?"

"You know I can't help it. I try too but my hearing is just too sensitive. I have actually been working on something to help with that. It should help filter out sounds and it has different settings so I can filter out only what I need to. The only problem is I need some hearing aids but it's not like you can find them lying about. At least with the light filtering glasses, I can use my old ones, I just need to find them somewhere."

"Well tomorrow you can look for those glasses while I'm at the meeting and I can get the hearing aids. Now I think it's about time we make some hot chocolate and watch a movie."

"Yes!"