October 6th
11:47 AM
(Present Day)

The receptionist at the front desk of Midtown Tech raised an eyebrow, unimpressed as the billionaire begged.

"Peter Parker?" She shook her head. "I'm sorry Mr...?"

"Stark. Tony Stark," the billionaire supplied impatiently. They were wasting time here! He needed to see Peter.

"Okay, Mr. Stark, I'm sorry, I'm not permitted to give out student information unless you're a parent or guardian. Are you either of those things to him?"

"Well...no, not technically, but–" he fidgeted anxiously.

She smiled robotically. "In that case, I'm sorry, I can't legally tell you where he is or hand him off to you."

Tony groaned in frustration and slammed his head on the desk. Steve pulled him back by the cuff of his shirt and smiled charmingly at the receptionist. Nat rolled her eyes from where she stood, arms crossed, behind them.

"Could you at least tell us if he showed up for school today?" The Captain asked pleasantly.

The lady eyed him skeptically. "I...suppose so. Let me pull up his attendance."

Tony huffed moodily when Steve glanced back with an almost smug look. Nat hid her chuckle behind her hand. Steve thanked the woman politely and Tony leaned forward early to see the computer screen. She scowled at him, but Steve shrugged and followed his example. Natasha read it from across the room and frowned in thought. He hadn't been in school at all the last two days. 

She immediately went to calculating different possibilities. Steve bit his lip and watched for Tony's reaction. The billionaire stood frozen, staring at the screen. When he opened his mouth, he surprised Steve with his first reaction.

"Where is Ned Leeds?" He demanded immediately. Steve was taken aback by the calmness in his voice. Natasha knew better. 

"Tony, calm down," she stepped forward smoothly and put a hand on his arm. "It's probably nothing, okay? Let's not overreact until we have reason to."

He stared at her, tight lipped. "Okay." Iron Man turned back to the woman. "Where is Ned Leeds."

"I already told you-"

"Just tell me where he is."

Steve glared at him, thinking he was way out of line. The woman shuddered under his gaze and told Steve hesitantly that she could call Mr. Leeds down to the office, if they would like her too. Steve thanked her as Nat pulled Tony to the side.

"Tony. You need to calm down." She waited, holding on to his arms so he couldn't escape her hard gaze. "Breathe."

He waved her off and pulled his phone out to call Peter again. Maybe his phone had just been off. Maybe he would be able to hear the ringing of his stark phone from here. He must be here. Where else would he be? If he was on patrol he would be answering. Why wasn't he answering? Why couldn't he just pick up the phone? What was he doing? Was he okay? Of course he was okay. But what if he wasn't?

"Tony." Nat grabbed his chin. "Look at me."

He hadn't even unlocked his phone yet, though. He hadn't made it past his lock screen. Peter's goofy selfie from a few weeks prior laughed at him from the small device. It's only been two days! Why was he panicking? Was he panicking? He was probably fine. Yep, totally fine. Hopefully, unlike Tony was right then.

Nat growled and ripped the stark phone from his hand. "Tony!"

"Hey!" he complained. Why was everyone stealing his phone that day? "What? Gimme that-"

"Tony, you were hyperventilating," she said quietly, eyes flashing towards the distracted receptionist. 

He blinked. "Oh."

Steve seemed to have finished his conversation with the lady and joined them ignorant to the almost-panic attack. They could hear her calling Ned down to the office. Nat's sharp eyes didn't leave Tony as the Captain approached. Steve glanced between them inquiringly, but neither moved to clue him in. 

Eventually he just sighed. "Ned's on his way. I'm sure he knows where Peter is. He's probably sick at home with a dead phone."

Tony cleared his throat to keep the smile from his face. "Yeah, probably."

"Uh," someone behind them winced, causing Tony and Steve to turn in surprise. 

"Hello, Ned," Natasha smiled smoothly. 

The teen fidgeted under her gaze. Her gripped his books tightly to his chest with white knuckles, gulping nervously. His backpack looked almost dragged behind him it was so weighed down with work, jacket hanging out. His mouth opened and closed and repeated like a fish out of water. 

That was all the convincing Tony needed.

"Ned." He stepped forward with a cool demeter. "Where is Peter?"

The teen licked his lips and glanced back and forth between them. "He-He went on vacation. To...uh, China. With his aunt. For, um, I don't know how long really..."

"Then why isn't he answering his phone?" The billionaire narrowed his eyes.

Ned froze with a guilty look on his face.

"Oh, it...it broke. I can't call him either so..."

Natasha and Steve shared a look behind them. Steve crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the stuttering teen while Nat rolled her eyes. He was making it so obvious. Like he wanted them to know he was lying. She might have suspected it with anyone else. But with Ned? Yeah, she was pretty sure he was just a really really bad liar. 

Tony glared down at him, even though he only beat Ned by an inch or two. It still seemed pretty intimidating to the poor guy, though, he looked about to pee his pants. 

"Spill."

-------------------------

October 6th
2:35 PM
(Present Day)

Clint was so done with his computer. It kept kicking him out of Netflix when all he wanted to do was binge watch Orange Is The New Black! Was that so much to ask? He groaned and put it to the side, laying down on his bed and staring up at the ceiling boredly. He had already done everything there was to do in the compound five times over. The fugitive Avengers were barley allowed out of the facility these day, the danger of being found 'too high.' He hadn't found out Tasha, Steve and Tony were leaving until five minutes after they left, otherwise he would have tagged along.

He missed Laura. He wanted to go bowling with Cooper and Lila again, both already taking after their father when it came to hitting their targets. He wanted to see his newborn son. Nathaniel had been born two weeks ago and all he had gotten was some Facetime. His family was being so closely monitored, they might as well have been on a different planet. 

He missed them all so much. At times he regretted helping Steve out, but it was only for a split second before guilt set in. He could never leave his friends like that, even if he wanted to sometimes. He knew he would have done the same thing, even knowing the consequences. He couldn't leave Steve and he defiantly couldn't leave Wanda and Pietro. He owed that much to them when Pietro had very, very, nearly died saving his life. The archer obviously didn't have many regrets in life, but that was one of them for sure.

Clint sighed and rolled out of bed. No use sitting on his ass all day. He could probably get some training done...what was he even training for though? SHIELD was gone, The Avengers were all messed up and he was in hiding. What was the point anymore? All the more reason to get back to his family. Maybe if he snuck out, took Wanda and, inevitably, Vision with him, he could steal his wife, his kids away and they could all live somewhere peaceful where war and Ross would never find them...

It was nice to daydream about, but that's all it was. An impossible dream. Like he mentioned earlier, he could never abandon his friends.

He was distracted from his thoughts when something in his room beeped. It was small and his ears barley caught it, even with his discreet hearing aids on. He pulled his phone out to see a voice mail from Tasha, though it was from roughly half an hour ago. The noise hadn't come from his phone. 

It beeped again and this time he caught the red light that flashed on and off. His computer? Unless he had accidentally turned it into a bomb, again, it shouldn't have been doing that. The archer hesitantly poked his head back around to that he could see the screen.Someone had sent him a Facetime request. That was strange. It wasn't Laura's number, though it could still be Cooper calling from school, since the Accords didn't have stalkers there. What was with the red light though? That wasn't normal.

He climbed on his bed frame (you could never be too cautious) and re-read the number. Not Cooper's. Not Lila's. Obviously the caller ID wasn't Laura's. No one else should be able to call him...

He winced, reaching for the accept button. Please don't be Ross, please don't be Ross, please don't be some other power hungry villain that wants to kill us all... He accepted the call. A startling familiar and moody face filled the screen.

"What the-" Clint fell backwards off his bed in shock. 

"Get off the floor, Barton."

"D-D-" he choked and scrambled up onto his knees, jerking the computer screen towards him. "Director Fury? I thought you would have staying in hiding for longer than...what, three years?"

"Times have changed, agent," was all he said. "Plans have been adjusted accordingly. Plans that involve what's left of the Avengers, so it's about time they knew."

"You...you haven't reached out to them?"

"If I haven't reach out to you until now, what makes you think I would want to see Stark's face again?" He snorted and stood on the other side of the screen. 

It shook as he seemingly walked down a bright hall. People - Agents - rushed around behind him, some deep in conversation, some handing out orders and jobs. They all nodded when Fury walked by. The screen was in a weird position so that Clint could only see Fury's face and behind him, like he was holding the phone up.

Clint cringed back a little when a realization hit him. "Are you...calling from your eyepatch?"

"Yes. Now focus on the task at hand, Barton."

Clint snorted in laughter as he imagined a mini holo-screen spouting from the eyepatch. Was it like it's own computer? Fury probably watched Netflix on it in his free time. Clint wondered if he could get one on amazon.

Fury scowled, as if sensing his thoughts. "Grow up, agent. I need functioning adults if we're going to win this war."

Clint's smile melted along with any thoughts of a super-patch. "War?"

"Have you not watched the news at all Hawkeye? I would think you would at least stay up to date!" He sighed and shook his head, the making the screen shiver. "Doesn't matter. I'll debrief you when  you and Agent Romanov get your lazy asses up here, where you're really needed."

"Wait, now?" Clint put his hands together in a time out gesture. "What about the rest of the team?"

"Later."

"Also, up where?"

Fury stopped and frowned at something offscreen without answering. He looked irritated, but soon wiped his face of emotion when someone approached him and asked him something. Clint was left hanging for nearly five minutes as he met a one-sided argument with a cool mask. A kid screamed then laughed loudly, making Clint raise an eyebrow. Full functioning adults his ass.

Fury eventually sighed in sympathy and put a hand out, presumably on someone's shoulder. The screen went black for a few seconds, making Clint slightly panic, before coming back online with Fury alone and moody once again.

"Do I want to know?"

"Later," he repeated tiredly. "Just grab Romanov and meet me at these co-ordinates at twenty-two hundred hours. Alone."

Clint nodded seriously. "Yes, sir."

Arguing with Fury was a lose-lose ticket to certain death, in the archer's mind. Not to mention Nick Fury's. Clint didn't wait to start getting his favorite arrows together. He was defiantly going to wear his lucky socks for this one.