Something More

Chapter 1

The earth's mightiest heroes were just lounging around on the penthouse level on a peaceful Sunday morning, minding their own business. Tony was tinkering with some scraps of metal at the bar, tongue sticking out in concentration.

Then, a file was being thrown their way. They looked up to see Nick Fury in their faces, with his eye patch staring at them. Steve looked up from his sketch book and scanned the files. "Rogers, Stark and Romanoff. Suit up." The three said people groaned in protest. They just wanted one day of quiet. But something always had to get in the way of their relaxation.

Twenty minutes later, they were in the quintjet all suited up, flying ten thousand feet in the air over New York City. "Where are we headed?"

"Siberia."

"Eyepatch. What was so important that you had to send us backpacking to Siberia without so much as a heads-up?"

"I sent ten agents to investigate an active Hydra base last week. Only three made it back, barely alive. They reported that there was something fishy going on in there. They found out that they were conducting experiments. Illegal ones."

"They're trying to recreate the super soldier project?" Steve asked.

"That's for you to find out. I know for a fact based on the reports that they were attempting to smuggle some high tech equipment across the Mexican border. The reasons for it seems vague. It may be for show. The question is; why? I expect a full report by the end of this mission."

"Copy that." With that, the screen shut off.

A few hours later, they were here. There was nothing but snow and more snow beyond.

"Tony. Aerial surveillance."

Tony flew off the ground and began scanning the area clear of any threats. "Clear." Steve had his shield held in front of him. He looked at the others who had their weapons ready. Tony nodded and kicked the door open. "No one's home."

"Jarvis. Scan for lifeforms. Nothing."

"Maybe they cleared out?" Natasha knelt down and inspected the dirt by her feet. "Seems like they made a few trips on land. Fury was right about the smuggling part. They probably abandoned the place as soon as they got the weapons they needed."

They moved further into the building, flashlights on. There didn't seem to be anyone to greet them. With caution, they proceeded to make their way down the spiralled metal staircase. As their footsteps echoed throughout the basement, they found out that it only lead them into labs. Tony's faceplate retracted and he examined the empty glass tubes.

"They were definetly conducting some sort of experiment here."

"Tony. Steve. You might wanna take a look at this."

The two said people approached to where Natasha stood. There was a small hatch. It was definetly well concealed, but obviously not well enough. A trap door. She tugged on the rung and lifted the heavy metal lid open.

They made their way down the rusty ladder, reaching a dead end after some time. Once their feet touched solid ground, Steve tried the light switch. "Dead."

Tony fished out an orb and it lit up the whole room. They had stumbled upon yet another lab. But this time, it was a different one. There stood a computer and other electronic devices hooked up to some cables stationed at the rear end. Tony typed something onto his holographic screen. "Tony. See if you can get this thing working."

"What do you think I'm doing, cap?" Tony said and Steve sensed him roll his eyes underneath that faceplate but soon slumped in defeat. "This thing's circuits are completely fried. There's no way to retrieve any data from it. I'm guessing that whatever they were doing, they definetly did not want anyone finding out about it." They began searching for clues, anything remotely valuable.

"What are we looking for?"

"Proof that something was going on here."

"Guys?" Natasha called and both men went to her. She had found a small box. It contained papers. "What is it, Nat?"

She cussed in Russian. "Child experiments."

"The serum?"

"No. Something different. Spiders."

Then, they heard a whimper. Too busy raking the place, they failed to notice pile of dirty blankets by the corner. They readied their weapons and on a count of three, Steve yanked off the cloths. To their shock, it revealed a small baby. Steve wanted to be sick. He wanted to throw up. This couldn't be a coincidence. They had found a child in a lab filled with tools to conduct child experiments.

"Let's go. I think that's enough snooping around for one day."

Fury was not expecting the three Avengers to enter his office with a baby in tow. "Mission report. Now."

"Can't it wait?" Fury eyed the small bundle in disgust. "Just hand it over to SHIELD medical. They'll take it over from here."

A few hours later, they had finished up the report and were dismissed. As both the super soldier and the red head made their way back down the hallway, Tony turned to go the other direction. "Stark. Where are you going? Penthouse is this way."

"I'm gonna go see the kid. God knows he's been through hell and back." With that, he walked off.

Tony entered the med bay. "Coulson. Where's the kid?"

"Sleeping. He's fine."

"Wait. It's a boy?" Coulson nodded. "What do we know about him?"

"Not much. Just his name. Peter. Not so much as a surname to track down any living relatives. As far as the government is concerned, this kid's an orphan." Tony shouldered his way through the door. He saw the baby probably no more than a few months old lying in a crib like bed. He had more tubes and needles inserted into him than any newborn should have.

"Peter, huh?"

By the second day, the news spread like wildfire throughout the tower. When Tony came in for the briefing, the entire team looked at him. Coulson was just smirking while Fury looked at him with well, fury. "Stark. What did you do?"

"I just gave the kid a life."