Nora had never been to the principals office in her life, but she swore in that very moment, this is what it would feel like.

There she stood, stuck in the doorway of her living room, not even two feet from the Black Widow, an Avenger, with her brother in the same room looking like he was about to faint at any moment. Nora gulped loud enough for the people down the block to hear. While the two Mendes kids were simultaneously losing their mind, Natasha Romanoff sat on their couch, seemingly not phased by the situation at hand. All she did was look at her, red hair perfectly windswept and a smile Nora couldn't decipher painted on her lips. It looked like she was willing to wait in the silence, although by the bounce in her leg, she was impatient over something.

"Can I get you something to drink, Ms. Romanoff, Ms. Black Widow— Natasha Widow, Black Romanoff?" Rafe fumbled over his words, making Nora's face burn.

Oh, Rafe, Nora thought, please stop talking.

Natasha lets herself look like she's pleased by his offer, before holding up the barely touched coffee in her hands. "It would make this rather redundant, wouldn't it?"

Rafe blinked, face frozen in a half open smile. "Yeah, it would, heh."

Nora was still standing, although she had set her backpack down, entering the room fully now. Natasha's eyes flitted from her brother to her, another tactic to tell Nora that she wanted to talk to her alone. "I'll take that drink, Rafe." she said, eyes still focused on the super spy in her living room. Every reason she could come up with as to why she was here were all bad. Did she want to arrest her, interrogate her, take her out? All these questions ran through her head as she slowly made her way into the room.

Probably realising he was making an idiot of himself, he nodded silently, disappearing out of the room. Nora finally sat, the staring match ending the moment Rafe left earshot. "Does he know?" Natasha asked lowly, smile completely gone. She didn't look mad, like Nora had noticed early, she was impatient.

Nora nodded. "So does my sister, but she's not here." Natasha nodded, the cogs in her mind turning as she weighed her options. "Does he need to go?"

"It would be far easier without him, I don't have a lot of time here."

The teenager bit the inside of her lip just as Rafe came back into the room with the fresh cup of coffee. "Here you go, Nora." reaching over to her, he gave her a wide eyed look, mouthing, why is she here? frantically.

"Thanks," she responded awkwardly.

"You know, the reason I'm here, is because I'm here on behalf of Tony Stark." Rafe frowned at his sister for a moment, before looking back at the redhead. "There was a grant you applied to, didn't you?"

"You did?" Rafe balked.

"I did." Nora agreed, not even stuttering. Since when did she get so good at lying? "I didn't think I'd get accepted, though."

Natasha hummed a laugh. "Mr. Stark's been extremely busy these past few days, so I've been called in for support."

Rafe nodded. "Okay, should I give you a few minutes alone then?"

"That would be great, Rafe, thank you."

At her saying his name, the older boy practically melted in front of the two women. "O-okay, I can d-do that. I'll just b-be out there." he pointed at the hall and scurried out the door moments later. When an appropriate amount of time passed, Natasha stood, closing the living room door silently, locking it. Nora flinched at the sound of the lock clicking shut. She really wanted to talk to her, huh?

"Ms. Romanoff, I didn't apply to any grant—"

Natasha brushed it off with a hand. "Forget about that,"

"O-Okay." Nora said slowly.

"Look, I need to be straight with you here, I know you're Mercy." Nora felt her whole body start to sweat at that, but she tried to keep her calm composure. She stayed silent, just waiting for her to tell her she needed to take her into custody or something to that nature. "Which is why I'm here asking for your help."

The brunette's features morphed from slight fear to confusion. "You need my what?" this was not what she expected to hear in the slightest.

"You have powers that could help the Avengers with a very important mission."

Nora couldn't get a word out, just kept opening and closing her mouth like a fish gasping for air. Her brain couldn't process the fact that she was here to ask for her help. "What do you need me to do?" came out of her mouth before she could even think. Apparently, her subconscious was eager to help out.

"A lot of it is confidential. All you're supposed to know is that Captain America has gone AWOL and you are tasked with handling Scarlet Witch." 

"What did Captain America do?" Natasha shot her a look and she understood. "Right, right, confidential, got it."

"That's what you're supposed to know. But I need to ask you something, something that will determine something very crucial to the task at hand." Nora nodded, and she continued. "Would you be willing to willing to help someone who you knew was breaking the law, but you also knew was doing the right thing?"

Nora gulped again, fiddling with the end of her shirt, god she wished she had Peter's hoodie right now. "Is this a test?"

Without a second thought, Natasha nodded. "Yes."

Put on the spot, Nora thought for a few minutes. "I mean, what do I do nearly every night? Technically, I'm breaking the law by putting on a mask and helping people, but I do it because I know that someone who hurts themselves if safe when I'm there. A lot of heroes forget about the people around them get hurt, so my job is to be that hero who stops and asks them if they're alright. Depending on the circumstances, as long as the person breaking the law was doing it to save people rather than themselves, than I would help them, no question about it."

Natasha watched her intensely throughout her little monologue, although nothing in her expression changed. Just two burning green eyes searing into her as she examined her body language. Fiddling with her shirt, obviously nervous, but staring straight at her. This kid was brave, she only hoped the boy Tony went to recruit was like her. When Nora finished, Natasha nodded, leaning forward a bit before dropping a bomb on her. "How fast can you pack for a trip?"

"H-How long's a trip?" Nora exclaimed.

"Two or three days, considering the plane ride—" Nora eyes practically burst out of her head. "Do you have a passport?"

"A passport?" Nora stood, completely flabbergasted at the situation unfolding in front of her. "Why do I need a passport?"

Natasha stood, not perturbed at all which made Nora even more uneasy. "To go to Germany."

"Germany? To stop Scarlet Witch?!"

A hint of a smirk hit Natasha's lips. "I said handle, I never said stop."

Nora shut her mouth after that, that answer flooring her. Was this how she was going to become an Avenger? Did she even want it? She was being told absolutely nothing and it was starting to grate on her a bit, but she still found herself telling her. "I can be ready in twenty minutes."

Natasha nodded and Nora sprinted out of the room and up the stairs, racing into her room to grab a duffel bag and everything she needed. Clothes, toiletries, her suit. Her suit. Never did she think she'd be bringing this across continents. She could hear Natasha formulating a perfect excuse to Rafe, who seemed to be buying into it. Rafe was probably so starstruck she could tell him she was going to kill him and he would thank her. Once she finished, she jogged downstairs to see Rafe looking joyously up at her. "You need to take as many pictures as you can!"

Nora couldn't answer because Natasha beat her to it. "I'm afraid she can't. Classified information."

"Yeah, I guess Mr. Stark is gonna show you some cool stuff, huh?" he seemed ecstatic, so she should probably just agree with him.

"I know, I can't wait!" she forced a smile, and he bought it.

"How many of them are there?" he asked Natasha as they walked out the door. "Going on the retreat that is."

"Oh, probably a few more than we'll anticipate. Mr. Stark is actually recruiting right now as we speak."

When Rafe bid them goodbye, Nora turned to Natasha as they got into her sports car.

"Who's he recruiting?"

-

On the other side of New York, a very similar yet very different conversation was taking place.

Tony Stark, billionaire, philanthropist, member of the Avengers, was holed up in a cramped apartment, trying to recruit a kid the world knew as the spectacular Spider-something. It was a shock to find out that one of the best vigilantes out there was a fourteen year old boy, but Tony had to give him credit, him and his partner were doing a better job at keeping the peace than some of the NYPD these days. So, after glossing over the kid's bullshit detector with the mention of money, here he was. In his small bedroom ready to delve into this boy's life.

He stumbles upon a desk completely trashed with old technology. Old computers, bits of circuit boards, and now a dvd player. "Whoa, what do we have here? Retro tech, huh? Thrift store? Salvation Army?"

Peter shook his head, clearing his throat. "Uh, the garbage, actually."

"You're a dumpster diver." Tony deadpanned.

"Yeah, I was..." he looked up, confusion written all over his face. "Anyway, look, um, I definitely did not apply for your grant."

"Ah-ah! Me first." Peter shut up, nodding with a quick 'okay.'. Tony pulled out a phone. "Quick question of the rhetorical variety." he pressed play, the phone displaying a short video of the kid in his costume racing to stop a guy from stealing a car. "That's you, right?"

All colour from Peter's face vanished in that moment, obviously realising he'd been caught. "Um, no. What do you— What do you mean?"

Tony smirked, displaying another video of him, again in the costume, racing to stop a car from crashing into a bus. "Yeah. Look at you go. Wow! Nice catch. 3,000 pounds, 40 miles an hour. That's not easy. You got mad skills." another video, this one of a car wreck, Mercy running away from it with a woman in her arms. "And let's not even mention your friend, huh?"

"That's all— That's all on Youtube, though, right?" Peter stammered, after a look of what could only be described as pure fear wash over his face. "I mean, that's where you found that? Because you know that's all fake. It's all done on the computer. A-And I don't even know that girl!"

Tony wasn't buying it. He didn't spend hours looking this stuff up to be wrong. "Mm-hm."

This kid was now trying to cover not only himself, but for his partner, who wasn't even in the room. "It's like that video. What is it?"

The older man grabbed a broom from the wall. "Yeah yeah yeah yeah... Oh you mean like those UFOs over Phoenix?" as Peter began to agree, Tony poked the attic opening in the roof. "Oh, what have we here?" the little trapdoor opened to reveal the homemade suit that confirmed his thoughts and completely derailed any argument Peter would try and give.

The kid practically tackled the suit into the closest. "No!" he paused, realising what he had just done before turning around slowly. "Uh...That's a...."

"So. You're the... Spider... ling. Crime-fighting Spider... You're Spider-Boy?"

Peter folded his arms petulantly. "S-spider-Man."

"Not in that onesie, you're not."

He looked at him, offended. "It's not a onesie." he didn't like how Tony called it a onesie, he only ever like it when Mercy called it a onesie. He sighed as Tony picked up the suit, inspecting it. He walked over to his table. "I don't believe this. I was actually having a real good day today, you know, Mr. Stark. I hung out with my girlfriend, didn't miss my train, this perfectly good DVD player was just sitting there and... algebra test. Nailed it!" maybe he shouldn't have mentioned girlfriend, but Tony didn't seem to catch that part. All he was worried about was the suit.

"Who else knows? Anybody?"

Peter scoffed, although the thought of May, Nora or Ned knowing tied his stomach into knots. "Nobody."

"Not even your unusually attractive aunt?"

"No. No, no. No, no. If she knew, she would freak out. And when she freaks out, I freak out."

Tony raised a brow. "And what about the girlfriend I'm honestly surprised you have."

Peter softened, fighting the urge to look at the framed photo on his desk. "I don't know. I mean I've thought about it, but I don't think I will, not yet anyway."

"Can't be that hard." the teenager shot him a look and Tony frowned. "I mean, she'd think you're even ten times hotter, wouldn't she? Girls like the whole vigilante, fuck the system type attitude or have I been doing it wrong all these years?"

The kid sighed, in a way that made Tony lean in a little closer, the suit taking a backseat for a moment. "You're Tony Stark, y'know? Girls tripped over themselves to be with you before you became Iron Man. Now, I don't know if you noticed, but I'm not exactly popular, or hot. Girls never looked my way unless it was to copy geometry homework off me. She is one of the only girls who's ever liked me for me. She liked me before I became what I am, and that's how I'd like to keep it. For her to like Peter, and not Spider-Man."

Tony tilted his head to the side. "Isn't that a little selfish."

"I'm a teenager, I think I'm allowed to be selfish." this time, Peter did look at the photo.

The Stark resisted the urge to curse. Fuck, this kid was smarter than he first thought.

Changing the subject quickly, he held up the cartridge from his suit, throwing it at him to catch. "You know what I think is really cool? This webbing. That tensile strength is off the charts. Who manufactured that?"

"I did." he caught it without even looking.

"Not your partner."

He smirked at the mention of Mercy. He wondered if she was getting the same talk. "No, no, that's not what she does."

"Good to know, and climbing the walls, how you doing that? Cohesive gloves?"

Again, Peter smirked. "It's a long story. I was uh—"

Turns out, despite Peter's readiness to delve into his story, Tony wasn't interested. "Lordy!" he cried, holding up the lenses. "Can you even see in these?" Peter groaned, grabbing the suit from the Avenger and throwing it into the back of his closet.

"Yes. Yes, I can! I can. I can— I can see in those. Okay? It's just that when whatever happened, happened... it's like my senses have been dialled to 11. There's way too much input, so, they just kinda help me focus."

"You're in dire need of an upgrade. Systemic, top to bottom. 100-point restoration. That's why I'm here." he watched the boy sit down on the bed, a little bit dejected. "Why you doing this? I gotta know. What's your MO? What gets you outta that twin bed in the morning?"

Peter sighed, glancing back to the photo on his table as he fiddled with his fingers. Tony could tell that that girl must've been his girlfriend, or someone close to him, you don't look at a photo for support like he was. "Because l've been me my whole life, and l've had these powers for 6 months. I read books, I build computers... And-And yeah. I would love to play football. But I couldn't then so I shouldn't now."

Tony listened as the kid details why he should stay the way he was at school. Why should he change just because he's different now? He doesn't have the luxury of telling people who he really was like Tony did. However, nothing really affected him properly until Peter said something very familiar. "When you can do the things that I can, but you don't and then the bad things happen... they happen because of you."

At Peter's age, Tony never really dwelled much on right or wrong. But this kid, with a burden the size of a truck on his shoulders, seemed to have it all figured out. Which he was very worried about. That seemed like a very Captain America thing to say and he should know, he heard it a few hours ago. But, he cleared his throat, moving on from the thought and asks him for his passport status.

"Uh, no. I don't even have a driver's license." Tony grimaced, this may be harder than he thought.

"You ever been to Germany?"

"No."

"Oh, you'll love it."

Peter's eyes went wide as he processed what he just said. "I can't go to Germany." how was he supposed to explain to Nora how he couldn't make Saturday?

"Why?"

Don't tell him you have a date, don't do it Parker. "I've got...homework." wow, smooth.

Tony stood up, giving him a side look. "I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that."

"I'm-I'm being serious! I can't just drop out of school!" Peter exclaimed.

Tony made a move for the door handle. "Might be a little dangerous. Better tell Aunt Hottie I'm taking you on a field trip." he was stopped by something sticky locking his hand to the knob.

In front of him, Peter stood, web shooters out, panicked. "Don't tell aunt May."

Tony gave him an earnest look, maybe this kid would do better than he could ever do. "Alright, Spider-Man." Peter smiled at him confidently. "Now, get me out of this."

Peter scrambled to get something to dissolve the webbing. As he did so, he paused. "Mr. Stark, what about Mercy? Are you planning on recruiting her."

Honestly, Tony shook his head. "I'm sorry, can't let too many people in on this, kid. I would if I could."

Peter nodded, a little rejected, but understanding. He would need to get a serious apology ready for both girls when he came back, but Mercy would understand.

It was Nora he was worried about.

-

A/N: am i cringing at this ending, you bet I am!

why does Tony not know about Nora being recruited???? What ever is going on???? 

Comment, vote & follow! - emma