Tony was desperate at this point. Peter had been missing for a week, there still wasn't any ransom call, email, video, or anything that could confirm he was alive and he had no leads on what could have happened. He seemed to have just vanished off school grounds. All the surveillance cameras were blank, simply showing Peter leaving his classroom and then nothing. Even after he'd hacked the cameras to try and recover the erased footage, he discovered nothing had been erased.

He wasn't sure how Peter's kidnappers had done it, but they were good enough to avoid FRIDAY's attempts to uncover them. They were even successfully avoiding a very angry Black Widow, though she had just told Tony she had a lead so they weren't going to last long. Unfortunately for Tony, Natasha had also told him he needed to bring in the others to help which was something he didn't want to do.

"Trust me, Tony," Natasha said over the phone, "There's no way we're getting in and out with Peter if we don't have more help and firepower."

Tony sighed. "Fine."

He glanced at the living room where Pepper was talking to yet another police officer. If it meant getting Peter back, he'd tell the team.

"Send me your coordinates. I'll tell the team to suit up."

"I know you don't like it, but there's no other way."

Tony pursed his lips and nodded. "I just want my kid back."

"Me too."

She hung up without another word and Tony sent Steve a text, telling him to tell the team to suit up, they had a mission. A second after she hung up, Natasha sent him the coordinates. While FRIDAY got a jet ready, Tony walked over to Pepper and kissed her head, interrupting her conversation with the officer.

"Nat found him," Tony said and Pepper gasped, covering her mouth. "We're gonna go get him."

"Okay," Pepper said softly.

Pressing another kiss to Pepper's head, Tony left her side and walked into the balcony to suit up. He sent the quin jet to Steve and the others at the Compound then shot into the air. Letting FRIDAY take control of the suit, Tony didn't touch the controls until he landed in front of Natasha quite a while later.

Natasha crossed her arms as he approached. "You're alone."

Tony lifted his faceplate and looked around. They were in the middle of nowhere despite how confident Natasha was in their location. Unless Peter was hiding behind a tree, there was nowhere he could be.

"They're on the way," Tony said, waving a hand and telling FRIDAY to scan the area.

As if on cue, the quin jet appeared overhead. Within only a few minutes, it landed and Steve led the team out.

"What's this about, Tony?" Steve asked, looking around the woods just like Tony had.

"Kidnapping," Tony replied shortly.

Steve glanced at him warily but bit back a question about when they'd started treating kidnappings as emergency missions.

"They're holding him inside," Natasha said, stepping forward to explain the situation. "I've got a plan for getting in but any deviation will put everyone at risk."

Steve nodded and pulled his attention away from the surrounding forest to look at her. "What do you have?"

* * * * *

Peter huddled in a corner, arms around his knees even though he could feel the scabs on his back threatening to break open again. The room was silent and his breathing the only noise he could hear. He wasn't sure how long it had been since his kidnappers had last visited, but he knew it had been a couple of hours. Never before had he been so happy to be left alone for so long. The phrase 'bad attention is better than no attention' had turned out to be a terrible lie and Peter wanted to meet the idiot who thought it up.

At the sound of the door being opened, Peter jumped. The scabs on his back broke open and fresh blood began to trickle down, but Peter only whimpered and buried his face in his arms. He didn't need a spidey sense to know one of his kidnappers was coming closer.

When the footsteps stopped in front of him, he stopped breathing. Maybe he could pass out before anything else bad happened to him. Unfortunately for him, his wish wasn't granted and the man grabbed his hair, jerking his head up to face him.

"Wakey, wakey, Stark," the man cooed.

Peter trembled and the second the man released his hair, Peter tried to scoot further back into his corner. The movement tore his back further and pain rippled through his body. From his corner, Peter watched as the man walked over to the far wall and his trembling increased.

"Please no," he whispered, not audible to the man who was trying to decide what to hurt Peter with today.

"Oh, Peter," the man sighed, fingering a small blade before picking it up and slowly walking back over to Peter. "I thought for sure you would have agreed by now."

Peter kept his eyes on the blade in the man's hand as he walked closer.

"I don't know how to get in," Peter insisted which was only a partial lie.

He knew there were four passwords at different levels of the Stark Industries warehouse and he knew all four passwords. He just didn't know which ones went to each level and after two fails, the building went into lockdown.

"I really wish you'd stop lying to me," the man growled, twisting the blade in his hand and gently resting the tip on Peter's cheek.

Peter whimpered and closed his eyes, waiting for the man to cut his face.

"Now please, I'd hate to mess up your beautiful face." The knife was pressed harder against his cheek, but not hard enough to draw blood. "Just tell me what to do."

Peter stayed silent, bracing himself for the cut.

The pressure on the blade slowly increased, giving Peter time to answer before the blade actually cut him. He felt it break his skin and he held his breath. Any minute now, the man would yank the blade across his cheek and he wouldn't be able to keep himself from crying.

At the sudden shriek of an alarm, the man pulled the knife back. Peter opened his eyes as the man threw the blade to the ground and stormed out the door, leaving Peter alone with the door wide open. Even if he didn't have a chain around one of his wrists, he doubted he would have been able to flee. He was too weak and in too much pain to even lift a hand to his cheek where the knife had been.

Running past his cell, men yelled for backup and seemed to ignore the open door. Peter could hardly make out what they were saying, but he was pretty sure he caught to words 'Avengers', 'Angry', and 'Black Widow'. He didn't let his hopes rise, though. It could just be a ruse to encourage him to escape so the men could try to break him down even more.

"FRIDAY—he—here."

Peter didn't catch everything said, but he knew the person was nearing his room and they had definitely mentioned FRIDAY. Unlike the others, this person didn't run past. Instead, the door was pushed open and Peter buried his face in his arms.

"Peter!"

Peter looked up at the familiar voice, his eyes wide.

Natasha dropped down in front of him and stared at him in horror. Looking at Peter's bruised skin and tear-stained face, she hesitated and held back from touching him.

"Auntie Tasha," Peter whimpered, a tear trickling down his face.

Natasha looked up at Tony and Peter followed her gaze.

"Dad!"

Tony knelt down beside Natasha and blasted the chain off Peter's wrist. At the expected blast, Peter screamed and tried to hide, crying even harder as Tony and Natasha watched. When he lifted his head back up, Tony's suit had just disappeared back into the reactor and he was kneeling down in front of him.

"Oh my god, Peter," he said softly, looking at Peter's bruised face and the long slice on his arm.

Peter reached out for his dad and Tony immediately engulfed him in a hug.

As Tony's arms wrapped around Peter's back tightly, he screamed louder than Tony had ever heard anyone scream. The sound tore through Tony's chest and he let go of Peter in a panic. His hands came back bloody and Peter swayed where he was sitting.

Glancing at Peter's torn back, Natasha sucked in a breath. "He needs to see Banner."

Tony put his suit back on and carefully picked Peter up. He continued to cry and squirm in pain, but Tony was more focused on getting him out of there than not hurting him. In time—once Peter was safely healing—he would apologise but at the moment, getting him to safety was the only thing that mattered.

* * * * *

Tony and Natasha waited impatiently in the lobby of the Compound medical wing. Natasha was sitting in one of the chairs, staring at the floor, but Tony was pacing, sipping coffee to stay awake.

It had been three hours since they arrived and Peter had been taken from them, but they still didn't have any news on Peter. While Tony and Natasha had rushed back to the Compound, the team had been much slower to return. Steve insisted on checking the building for more kids and Tony hadn't even thought about telling him otherwise. He and Natasha had taken the escape jet off the quin jet and flown back to the Compound so Bruce could fix Peter as soon as possible.

"Tony?"

Tony's head snapped up and he stopped his pacing. From her chair, Natasha slowly lifted her head and Bruce wisely said nothing about their red eyes.

"Can I see him?" Tony asked softly.

Bruce gave him a small smile and nodded. As he opened the door, Tony and Natasha rushed through and Bruce took them down the hall to the room where Peter was laying. There were stitches on his arm and a small band-aid over the cut on his cheek, but his bruises had already started to fade. He was fast asleep and based on all the machines he was hooked up to, his vitals were normal. That didn't stop Natasha and Tony from running to his side and sitting beside him.

"Tony, who is this?" Bruce asked, watching from the end of Peter's bed. Whoever the kid was, it wasn't just a mission Fury had told him about, that much had been made clear when Natasha and Tony came running to him with tears in their eyes.

"Peter," Tony answered, running a hand through Peter's freshly washed curls. "FRIDAY, tell Pepper that Peter's fine."

"No, who is he to you?" Bruce clarified, "And don't say a mission. You were both crying."

Natasha glared at Bruce but it wasn't harsh enough to make Bruce regret his words.

Tony didn't look up as he quietly answered, "Peter's my son."

Bruce just nodded. He'd had his suspicions, he just wanted to hear Tony tell him. The rest of the team that had just appeared in the doorway, though, weren't nearly as prepared for Tony's announcement.

"Your son?" Steve echoed from the doorway.

Tony looked up to see everyone standing near the door. With a sigh and once last glance down at Peter, he turned to the team.

"Yeah, Peter's my son," Tony told them, "He went missing a week ago which is why Natasha and I have been gone. We couldn't have gotten him back without your help, so thanks."

"You have a son?"

Tony didn't even pretend he was surprised by Clint not listening to what he said. Instead, he looked past him where Pepper was sprinting down the hall. Pushing through the crowd at the door, she dropped down next to Tony who was still beside Peter.

"Oh my gosh," she gasped, looking down at Peter's pale face. "What did they do to him?"

"I don't know," Tony replied, turning from his team back to his son. "But we're gonna find out when he wakes up."

At that moment, Peter shifted and groaned, causing the room to become even quieter than it already was.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Peter muttered.

Tony smiled as Peter slowly opened his eyes. He blinked a couple of times then smiled up at his parents.

"Tough luck, kiddo," Tony said softly.

Peter jutted out his lower lip and turned to look at Natasha, his eyes widening happily. "Auntie Tasha!"

Natasha laughed softly at his weak attempt of cheering and nodded. With her back to the team, her eyes began to prick with tears again. "Hey, Peter."

He turned to look at his parents again but stopped, spotting the Avengers Team in his doorway. His eyes widened and he looked up at his dad to make sure he wasn't the only one seeing them.

"Yeah, the Avengers are here," Tony confirmed, squeezing Peter's hand gently.

Peter looked back at the team.

"They know who you are too."

"They know I'm Spider-Man?" Peter asked, frowning slightly.

Tony's eyes widened and he shook his head quickly, but it was too late. The team had heard.

"We fought your son?!"