Dark halls, barely lit by dimmed lights, created a maze of turned and halls, each one littered with dorms and training rooms, gyms and classrooms.

Natalia made careful movements, peeking around corners and searching for guards before making her way swiftly down the hall, hurriedly slipping past doors. Finally, she checked the last hall, peeking around the corner with a hand mirror. Coast clear. The young girl made her way to the third door on the left, an old classroom, no longer used for students anymore.

Pausing only long enough to knock a pattern on the door, Natalia pushed open the door. "Alek?"

"I'm here." Strong arms, arms of someone years older than just 16, wrapped around her waist. "Any issues getting here?"

"No, it was fine."

Natalia breathed in the scent of Alek's shampoo and soap - almost like dirt, it was natural. Woody. Mossy. He was older, old enough to be part of the actual mission teams. A KGB operative. A positive outcome.

He kissed down Natalia's cheek and neck, landing near her clavicle. It was forbidden, of course, to love. To care. To fall for someone. A junior trainee, a 14 year old still waiting to graduate, and a 16 year old agent? That was far worse than forbidden. That was condemnation.

Natalia sighed contentedly. "I love you."

The boy stiffened around her, but only for a second. "I love you, too."

They stayed there for the night, wrapped in one another, Natalia blissfully unaware of the little camera in the corner of the room, it's lens always watching.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"He was older than me. I only saw him a few times. It was a few months before I knew about Peter, and there was no way to hide it. I had him, I got a few hours with him, I was taken down to the medical wing, I had surgery, I woke up, he was gone. They were both gone. I never saw Alek again, and I never knew where Peter went."

Clint was shocked. Unsure of what he could do. Unsure of what he could say. Unsure of how to respond.

"You... You had a son?"

Natasha looked up, eyes strained with pain, intensified over years of being pushed down and ignored. "I had a son. I think they wanted to minimize my connection, and minimize their mistake, so they were quick to graduate me. I jumped into missions after that."

Graduation. The word had taken a new meaning for Clint since meeting Nat. It was synonymous with death. Loss of self. Loss of control. Loss of body. Sure, a uterus didn't make Natasha a woman, and the loss of one didn't make her any less of a human being, full of value and worth, but knowing that they had let her taste the absolute joy of a child, the joy Clint himself had felt time and time again, and then ripped it all away. There was something sinister about it. Something even more cruel than it had seemed before.

Clint sucked in a breath. "I am so sorry. I am so sorry, Nat. I... I don't even know what else to say."

The woman shrugged.

"Have you told him? Or Tony?"

Natasha shook her head. "He has a family. I don't want to go out there and shatter his whole life. Besides, I don't... I don't..."

Clint sat next to his friend, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in for a comforting hug. "What do you want to do, then?"

"What I always do," Natasha choked, sniffling. "Act like nothing's wrong."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter swung through Ned's window, landing on the plush rug in a squat. "What's the emergency?"

Ned swiveled around in his chair, his face indiscernible. "You know how I set up that police scanner and stuff? How we get certain tags if something pops up?"

Peter nodded, slipping out of his suit and collapsing backwards on his friend's bed. The old springs creaked, compressing under the weight of the teen. After years of being best friends, Ned didn't care at all about Peter in his room, sprawled over his bed, even when laundry and boxers were covering the blankets.

"Well, I thought it was that. You know, at first, when I saw the whole thing come up, but then I was like 'it can't be a tag, 'cause it wasn't an alert or and email or a text, so I was like, that's weird, so I looked more into-"

"Ned," Peter interrupted. "I was in the middle of a robbery."

"Someone's threatening you."

Peter bolted up, his eyes blown wide. "What?"

"Someone put out this weird video, it was like, all over the news and stuff? It was a picture of you, swinging through the city, and then there was this weird little thing that said 'Keep that spider-sense sharp'."

Peter hummed. "Doesn't sound like a direct threat."

"Dude, it sounds like a very direct threat. It was literally a picture of you and 'watch your back'."

Rolling his eyes, Peter pulled his suit back up and stepped into it. "Dude, you're overthinking this one."

Ned tilted his head and opened his mouth to speak, but Peter cut him off. "Seriously."

"Can you at least tell May? Or Fury? Or Tony! You have a whole team of amazing people to watch out for you, just-"

"I don't need looking after."

There was a beat of silence.

"Still haven't talked to her?" Ned asked.

Peter shook his head. "I just don't know how to talk to her! How do I look her in the face and forgive her? She knew, she knew, I was going to be trained and punished and asked to fucking kill people and-"

Peter had never said it like that before. He'd never just said it like that, like he was the one who did it, like he'd done that to someone's husband or daughter or brother or...

"Peter?" Ned noticed Peter's labored breath. He hadn't heard that part of Peter's story, but his friend was more important than some stupid... Ned couldn't exactly ignore that his best friend had just dropped something that serious, but right now. Right now he has to help his friend.

"She knew what he was going to do. She knew how Fury was going to treat me, and she let him take me and-"

"Peter, breath. Calm down." Ned moved over to the bed, putting his hands on his friend's shoulders. "Breath with me. In... Out... In... Out..."

Peter regained control, closing his eyes and taking a minute to relax. Panic attacks were rare, but he'd had them come and go for a while now. Ever since...

"I'm sorry."

"Don't even think about it," Ned assured.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

May unlocked the apartment, kicking off her shoes as she came through the door. 16 hours. For being a world-class agency, SHIELD certainly didn't follow worker's guidelines, and May almost always ended up working longer than she should.

Pausing to put her head against the door frame, the tired woman took a couple deep breaths.

Shaking her head and pushing her bangs out of her face, May straightened and came into the kitchen. There was something strange, something... off...

The key's by the door were slightly shifted.

Peter's old, dusty soccer cleats, remnants of a time before Fury, were slightly knocked out of the shoe rack. Like someone who didn't know the apartment had bumped into it.

SHIELD training kicked in and May grabbed the closest thing she could find - a letter opener. She should have had something better, a knife or a gun or anything. She should have been better prepared.

Crouching slightly, she moved through the living room and kitchen slowly, the letter opener clutched in her fist.

Nothing.

But that noise. There was a soft ticking, barely noticeable, but to someone like May, it was deafening. It was strange. It was out of the ordinary.

A flutter of paper. May turned, catching the note as it fell from the table. It must have gotten caught in the breeze she made when walking by.

ARE SPIDERS REALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO KILL? LETS SEE IF MATTERS OF THE HEART CAN DO IT.

May barely finished the note before the apartment was engulfed in flames, a violent explosion ripping through the walls. Somewhere across town, another explosion echoes the one in May's apartment, blowing Normal Osborn into a vat of biochemical material.

**Y'all know Peter's dad now! Well, you know his name ;) Any theories so far? Who is he? Why was the "Red Room" okay with it? And anyone who wants to look through the Wikipedia page might have an idea who Alek is... How do you guys think the Osborns will come into it? Comment theories, guys, I love reading what you all have to say!! By the way, I am so sorry about May.**