Something More

Chapter 3

It was in the dead of night. The city was finally asleep as the last of it's residents went to bed. Not everyone was as willing to rest as the rest of them.

One playboy philanthropist was still hard at work, his eyes never leaving his prized possession. Work tools were strewn around the area to show that he had been at it for quite some time now. The doors slide open and Bruce Banner entered the high tech lab, half asleep. He surveyed the area which included the multiple mugs of coffee on the counter sitting alongside some spare parts. It was a huge step up from alcohol, that's for sure.

"Tony. What time is it?" Bruce asked as he trudged into the lab.

"It is currently 3AM, Dr Banner."

"Hey, Bruce." Tony said, not even looking up from what he was doing.

"Jarvis. Activate 'You Will Not Die Of Junk Food' protocol." Bruce said as he turned to the AI.

"I don't remmeber setting up that protocol." Tony replied as he looked at the scientist in confusion.

"You didn't. I did. It monitors everything from your sleeping patterns down to your nutrition intake. Everyone has one. It's to ensure that the chances of dying from junk food is not higher than the chances of getting mauled by a world colossal scale threat." Bruce explained with a sigh.

"I'm fine." Tony said nonchalantly.

"Jarvis. Make sure Tony gets the sleep he needs. Resort to extreme measures if needed."

"Of course, Dr Banner."

"Jarvis. Override protocol."

"Apologies, sir. But Dr Banner has strictly forbade me to grant you that privilege."

"Dang it. But I'm the one who created you!"

"Apologies sir. If I may. Dr Banner does have a valid point. You have not been showing good eating habits and your sleeping patterns are rather irregular. Need I remind you, sir, that you have not slept in approximately 75 hours and 15 minutes with nothing but caffeine to keep you awake nor have you consumed anything other than pizza. I would say that it would be for your own good rather than anyone elses." Tony sighed in annoyance at the AI. He knew that Bruce was just being a good friend and was simply looking out for him, but he did not need this.

"I'm THE Tony Stark of Stark Industries for heaven's sake!"

"If you die of junk food and alcohol poisoning, there won't be a Tony Stark to run it." Bruce said back as he exited the lab to retreat to his room to most probably get some shut eye himself. It had been a long day after baby Peter's arrival.

Tony shrugged and proceeded to continue tinkering with his tech.

"Avengers. Assemble. Fury says he may have something on what happened to Peter in that Hydra lab." The entire team filed into the meeting room at SHIELD. "Avengers. What I'm about to say will not reach any ears beyond the very walls of this room. Do I make myself clear on this?" The entire team nodded.

"Apparently, these Hydra agents were without a doubt conducting illegal child experiments. And here's the wierd part. They had something to do with animal experiments. Spiders to be more specific. My sources have revealed that they have made a small and hopefully temporary pact with Oscorp industries. They have agreed to band together in hopes of creating the ultimate weapon. Something far more lethal than that of a full fledged Super Soldier. They've worked with countless children from ages as young as three, injecting their newly made serum into their bloodstream. These are the files so I'll spare you the gruesome details for now. Long story short, only one of them survived the tormenting process, you know who. We've managed to locate one of their newly built bases located on the outskirts of Germany, Berlin. You'll raid the base and rid it of soldiers. We have a strong reason to believe that they are still persuing this dream of theirs. So suit up. You'll leave in ten."

"What about Peter?" Tony asked. If they left, who was going to watch baby Peter?

"Leave him with Coulson. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to help out. Isn't that right, Phil?" Said agent who was leaning against the door frame nodded. "It's a last minute notice. But I'm sure that I can handle it."

Phil was given access to the main part of the tower. He couldn't believe it! He was in the Avengers tower. The first thing he wanted to visit was Cap's room. It was every kid's greatest fantasy brought to life. But after giving it some thought, he decided against it. They had an AI installed in the tower for security purposes.

Surprisingly, the day went pretty well. They played games which mainly consisted of peek-a-boo to which Peter responded pretty well to. They ate frozen pizza (well, more like Phil did while he fed Peter some mashed bananas and strawberries). They watched a couple of movies that were PG rated. He had to show Peter 'The Lion King' as he claimed that it was a classic. Then, Peter started to yawn. Phil smiled and draped a blanket over them, soon drifting off to sleep.

When the team had gotten back from their mission, they smiled at the sight before them. "JARVIS. Please tell me that you got all that."

"Of course, sir." They had no doubt that Phil would be a great uncle, and he even offered to be their babysitter any time.

When Tony had retreated to his lab, he slid down the side of his work table as the memories of the mission flooded into his mind like a torrent of images. There were some good news and some bad news. The good news was that they had found Peter's last name to be Parker. Turns out, Fury was right. But it wasn't just the part about what they did to Peter that made him gag. It was that when they raided the base, he had found papers that contained a contract. It was a contract as to how long Peter was allowed to be the property of Hydra. What was worse were the signatures of two people.

Both by the names of Richard Parker and Mary Parker.