Tin Can boy || Peter Parker

eight

Hacking shield was familiar yet still challenging. He has hacked their servers often enough that he was familiar with their defence, but each time he did they upgraded and he had to concentrate. Most of the time, that was why he did it. Shield's secretes didn't bother him. It was the challenge of being able to hack them, that was what he enjoyed. (Also it was always amusing to see Fury flip hi, off whenever he gained access to security footage). Now he has to hack them with a blade to his neck, ankles chained and a underworld tycoon sitting across from him. The smoke from the cigarettes making his nose itchy and the blade resting over his shoulder stinging the fragile skin of his neck.

The keyboard clicked loudly as long lines of code and data filed down the screens. "He's past the first firewalls", the guard, Ae, stated. Tate jumped at the voice and inwardly cursed. Of course there was another hacker in the room. He was probably there just to make sure that Tate wasn't leaving any signals. That just meant that he had to leave some hidden ones instead.

He was just cracking into the third set of firewalls when a phone went off. The guard holding the blade to his neck moved a inch away from his skin as he fished his phone out.  "Boss, we have a situation. It's on the news".

Kris cursed and stubbed his cigarette out violently on the table. It left a charred mark on the wood. "Turn on the tv", he barked, turning in his chair to face the screen. Tate paused as one of the men picked up the remote, instantly the screen flashed into a news report. The dolled up woman on camera stating the headline news. Tate blinked as a photo of himself flashed across the screen.

"- eyewitness accounts of the scene describe the crime as 'organised'. But despite the obvious fact that the kidnapping of Tony Stark's adoptive son was planned, there has been no leads so far. Stark industries is apparently working with the police and shield in an effort to bring Tate Stark back home".

"Change the channel", Kris snapped. The news report switched to a group of people on a news based talk show. There was a white man with grey hair and a blonde woman involved in passionate discussion.

"Why do you think Tony Stark hid his son for so long? Any theories Gerald?"

"Well, Linda, there's the obvious face that he is a minor. The boy just turned seventeen. Also, I assume it was to keep him safe from situations like this". The man seemed to be trying to be sympathetic but it just made Tate recoil. He disliked gossip tv.

"He has been missing for over three days now. Do we even know if he is still alive?" The woman asked, fake pity clear in her voice.

"According to our sources, there has been no evidence to suggest life so far. But there has been no body found either. Stark has his drones canvassing every inch of the city".

"Has there been any contact from the kidnappers?"

"Nothing yet". The man paused and raised a hand to his ear. "News has just come in that Spider-Man has joined the hunt. The webs linger has been suspiciously absent the last few days but he has now been spotted swinging through Manhattan".

At that mention, Kris stood up. Tate averted his gaze from the tv to watch the man as he turned and rested his hand on the table to stare down at him. "I don't hear typing". The words were spoken calmly, a statement that paired with the darkness in his gaze, made Tate resist the urge to flinch. His fingers resumed their movement on the keys. Kris sighed deeply as if the whole thing was nothing more disappointing than a favourite character being killed off in a tv show. "They go the press involved and for what?" He asked the air. "All is is doing is creating a scandal".

Tate glanced out the floor to ceiling windows where he could just see Manhattan in the distance. He debated whether the glass would break if he threw himself against it. Could he get the guards down in time to move quickly enough? Would the glass break? And would Peter or one of his father's drones be near enough to catch him when he fell? Too many variables. On the computer, he broke past the fourth and fifth firewall. Only a few more to go.