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Chapter Text

SHIELD HQ, aka ‘The Playground

Location: Virginia

"What the hell?" Hearing the question Mack looked over to see Fitz looking up at the laboratory’s tv screen in disbelief. The small Scotsman had his hands clasped at the back of his head, mouth hanging slightly open. He looked back up to the dashboard cam footage to see the officers approaching the downed subjects. He’d seen a lot of crazy stuff since joining SHIELD but watching a pair of cops being forced to gun down a grandma and a paramedic filled him with a level of dread he hadn’t felt before.

Somewhere behind him he heard a scientist try and hold in his stomach. These newbies were going to have to be toughened up. He had to wonder how much influence Jemma had with the new director over hiring.

"What. The. Hell."

"You've already said that Turbo." Mack looked around to see Phil standing behind him with Melinda by his side. Their bodies were still but their eyes ..."What do you think boss ... biological ... Hydra maybe?" Phil Coulson may not technically be in charge of SHIELD anymore, but under the circumstances he didn’t think anyone could blame him for slipping into old habits.

When Phil replied, his eyes did not leave the madness that was being shown on the screen. "This seems too random for Hydra. As for anything else we have to leave that to Jemma to figure out." He looked around at the staring eyes.  "Ok everyone we have work to do, if you have any contacts now is the time to reach out.” Phil turned to look at the Asian woman. “Melinda ..."

"I'll do a check on our biohazard gear and get the strike team ready for deployment." Melinda paused as her eyes made contact with Phil's. “I’m guessing the new director won’t be unhappy with us being proactive?” She looked at Phil with an eyebrow raised. Her voice might have sounded flat to the newcomers who were still milling around, but those who knew her could pick up the slight disdain permeating underneath her words.

Phil only just held in a sigh, he appreciated that change could be hard, and that his decision to stand down hadn’t gone down well with many, but this was getting a bit silly. “Not as long as we don’t do something like try to leave base and capture one of these infected for study without authority.” Which was probably what Jemma was going to request for, if she hadn’t already. “I’m going to speak to the Director and Jemma now, see if I can get more information." He wasn’t even sure if she had technically had permission to share that footage.

"Phill.” He looked over to Mack, the tall African American had such a worried look on his face which almost made him look small. “What about Yoyo and Daisy ..."

"I'm sure they’re Ok.” He gave his partner his best reassuring smile. But it didn’t work. “I’ll go and talk with the Director and Jemma and see if they have more information.”

____

For Coulson, walking down the brick walled hallway to his old office always brought about a weird feeling. And it wasn’t just because of the completely unnecessary guard that now stood outside the room. As he looked up at Cecilio he couldn’t help but wonder how long the big guy would last in a spar against Melinda. He wondered how Director Mace felt about friendly beats. “Cecilio nice to see you again, I need to speak to the Director.”

"Is that Agent Coulson?” Came the Director’s voice through the open door. “Phill come in.” Walking in he saw the Director Mace with a bunch of … actually he wasn’t sure what they were supposed to be aids? Advisors?

To his left he saw Jemma, hunched over her computer on the shiny new black conference table. She looked up at him not saying anything, just giving a brief nod in recognition. The English girl’s ponytail was not as immaculate as usual, and she had a fake smile on her face. All which basically screamed bad news.

"Ok everyone.” He turned back to look at his boss who was giving his best version of a reassuring smile. With the fancy smile and good looks the smile made Jeffrey Mace look like a stereotypical politician, but that wasn’t a bad thing under the circumstances. “That’s enough for now. I need to have a quick word with Agent Coulson and Doctor Simmons.” As they all left the Director looked over Phil’s head. “You to Cecilio.”

As soon as the big guy had moved off Phil turned to look at the man he’d pressed to have his old job. "We’ve just watched the video, why weren't we notified earlier?”

His boss dropped the smile and ran a hand through his short brown hair, as he walked to a free chair on the conference table. "SHIELD's existence is still highly classified.”  The man sat down with a pensive look on his face. There were no greys in his hair, but Phil doubted that was going to last for much longer. “I only asked the President about it cause one of the congressmen overseeing our budget came to me directly. "

The sound of a throat clearing had both men turning towards the brunette. "I’ve just had a message from a contact I have in the NHS.” She looked up at both of them. “There has been no cases reported in the UK, but it looks like there are similar cases in France, including Paris. I ...."

Her throat visibly tightened. "Which means that in all likely hood this, whatever this is, has most likely reached the UK.” She slumped back into her chair. “And if somehow it hasn’t it soon will, as well as the rest of the EU.”

The silence was broken by a “Jesus Christ” from Mace. The man took a breath then leaned forward in his chair. He splayed his hands out as he looked between the two of them. “So where do we go from here?”

As far as Phil was concerned the fact the man wasn’t panicking was a good start. “We have to assume, even if travel restrictions are put in place, that this is going to spread throughout the United States.” He looked over at Jemma. “And there is nothing to indicate how this is spreading?”

“Nothing. Some people have bite marks ranging from barely more then a scratch to mortal wounds. But others don’t have any markings at all, or anything show up in autopsy. But one thing is sure, whoever gets infected becomes extremely aggressive.” She paused, frow tightening. “Though thankfully they seem to lose most of their cognitive functions.”

“You want to study one of the effected.” Stated Phil, feeling slightly smug that he’d already seen where Jemma was going to go with her thinking. “If necessary, capture one in a containment pod.”

The doctor just shrugged. “There is only so much I can learn from reading other people’s reports. And the biometric scanners built into the pods are better than anything most medical facilities have. They’re probably even better then what the CDC or the army’s medical research staff at Fort Detrick have access to.” She looked over at Mace. “Plus, we can use it to see how the effected react to changes in light, temperature ….”.

“Ok, I get the picture.”  The director sat back and drummed his fingers on the table. “I’ll start making some calls. But I want to see a full containment proposal on my desk before I give the go ahead.” He stood up, flattening down his suit as he did so. “I’ll also see that we’ve got as many food and medical supplies as possible. If there is going to be some kind of temporary restrictions on movement, I want us prepared.”

A quick look at Jemma’s expression made it painfully obvious to Phil that the chances of any restrictions being ‘temporary’ wasn’t wishful thinking. He tried to put that aside as he stood up as well. “There is also something else we have to consider.” Mace looked across to him.  “Our people out in the field and those on the index. We can’t just leave them in the dark.”

Jeffrey looked at the two, he knew that this was personal to them in a way it wasn’t for him but atleast they weren’t spouting out names. “Those on the index we’ll give them option to come in, starting with those closest to us. As for our staff …” He paused, thinking. “We can’t stop doing our jobs, but we’ll ban unnecessary travel to areas where this has been reported. Till the decision is made to go public with this we can’t really do much more than that.”

As Phil gave a polite nod to his boss his mind was already That all sounded quite reasonable, but it wouldn’t go down with Mack. Hell, it didn’t really go down well with him. Still, that didn’t mean they couldn’t make some phone calls. In fact, it was probably time he quietly reached out to Fury and Maria again.

And what they decided to do with the info, well that was not really on him now was it?

That evening: Avengers Compound

Location: New York State

“Jesus Tony.”

Tony Stark looked over at his girlfriend. She looked pale but not outright scared or nauseated. "Maria forward it to me. As far as I know Natasha could have forwarded it to her." Though that didn’t make sense, any of Steve’s band would have just contacted him or Friday directly. Or possibly Vision, as he suspected the synthezoid was having some contact with them.

"And you can't reach any of them?"

He sighted. "I haven't heard from Maria or Fury in a while.” Ideally his hand brushed over his right pocket and the flip phone inside. “Honestly, I don’t know what good the others would do. “This isn’t something that can be fixed by throwing an expensive frisbee at.”  Rubbing his eyes he tried not to bury the growing thought that he may be out of his deep. He really wished Bruce was here. “I’ve left a message for Helen, but she’s probably not up yet. I’ll try and get her back from Hong Kong.”  God if this had reached there …

Pepper rested her hand on his shoulder and gently dropped her head on top of it. "You're trying to figure out how to save everyone, aren't you?"

“Well, I am an Avenger." He dropped the smug look. "Rhodey is looking into if the military has intel of this being some kind of biological attack.”  He looked out the window, slightly ashamed to find himself wondering how safe they were here. New York city alone and a population of what, 20 million? The compound had no active defences, hell they only had a basic fence backed up by sensors. And since the whole mess in Germany all those troops that had made Steve feel so nostalgic seemed to have been vanished.  

"We have to look at bringing the staff from New York out here.” He looked over at Pepper her hand left her shoulder. “If we can’t tell them the truth we will need to portray it as some kind of open day, something to bring their kids to. And their pets, well dogs anyway as even I can’t think of a good reason to bring out anything else.” She looked back up at him. “Actually, it would have to be an open weekend, so they don’t feel like they’d be better to just get a sitter to look after the kids.”

Tony didn’t bother to hide his awe. "And people think I'm the genius of the relationship." God, he loved her. Sighing he tried to get his mind back to the matter at hand and, he had to admit himself, back above his waist. "I’m going to need to tell Peter something, though the only chance I have of getting him out of New York is if I get May up here. Hell he probably still won't want to leave. Won't think it right to leave his friends let alone all of Queens." He had the feeling he was going to hear a lot of variations of ‘protecting the little guy’ from the kid when they talked.

"What are you thinking Tony?"

"That there are a couple of  people I need to speak to." He pulled out the flip phone. What the hell was Steve going to do? Or Natasha? Or Sam? His hand hovered above the dial button. God he was like a teenager trying to get the courage to call a girl. Not like he had any first hand experience of that kind of nerves. Except maybe when he first asked out Pepper.

Holding in a breath he pushed the dial button.

Location: Scotland

Phone still in hand Steve leaned forward in his chair and looked around the motel room at his friends. He wasn’t sure if he should be proud or worried about how well they were taking what Tony had just told him. Though, to be fair, he wasn’t exactly how they should be taking it. It wasn’t as if Tony had been asking for help busting some HYDRA lab, he was saying something potentially manufactured was already out in the public making them violent.

“So, what’s the play?” Asked Sam, trying to get comfortable on a bed that had to have one of the worst mattresses of all the places they’d been staying at. “We going to head back to the States? He looked across to Wanda sitting on the bed opposite him, then to Natasha leaning against the door, and finally back across at Steve. “I hate to say it Cap, but I got to think about my family down in Louisiana.”  

“Go to the Bartons first." Natasha said, leading to all to look at the newly dyed blond. "Don't land on the property itself in case it's under surveillance." She paused. "I have to get word to Yelana and to our .... parents." The former spy said the last word like she was still unsure how to say properly. "Mel … My mother is a scientist and may be able to help." Gracefully she pushed herself off the door and took a step forward. She looked at Steve and gave a quick shrug.  “I can find my own way back to the states.”

“Nat…” Getting to his feet, Steve looked at her knowing what she was going to say. Hating himself for knowing that he wasn’t going to argue with her.

And from the look on her face she knew it to. “I’ll be ok. Go back to the states, make up with Tony, and get back your shield.” She took a step towards him, giving him a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I think everyone back home is going to need to need some of that old red, white, and blue spirit.”  

Home, a term that still felt like it was more about people then a place to him. He forced a smile onto his face, one he knew didn’t reach his eyes. “You better make it back soon. I think Clint will put an arrow into me just on principle if you don’t. He held out his arms. “Give an old fossil a quick hug for the road?”

That did get a proper smile from his teammate. “You are such a big softy.” She did give him a hug though.

“Hell, I’d like one of those as well.” Said Sam, big smile on his face. “Don’t worry, my bones aren’t as brittle as the old man’s.”  

Wanda didn’t even bother asking, as soon as Sam was done she almost pushed him out of the way to wrap Nat up in a bear hug of her own.

Looking at his comrades Steve couldn’t help but wonder if this was the last time the four of them would be in the same room again. After Wanda and Nat pulled apart from their hug an uneasy silence filled the room. Clearing his throat, he got all of their attentions. “Whatever comes next.” They all looked at him. “Whatever we see, or have to do to survive, we’re still Avengers. What we’ve done matters, ever person we save in the future matters.”

With one final look he struggled to keep his voice as calm as he needed it to be. “Now, lets get to work.”

Same Night: Queens, New York City

Stark Industries International HQ: Stark's private residence 

As Tony looked between the Parkers he couldn't help but silently curse that he'd agreed to sell the tower. The lounge's bar would have come very handy about now. Still, he thought as he watched Peter pace back and forth, the fading sun in the background doing nothing to hide the kids agitation. Still, Underoos was taking the news about as well as he could have hopped the kid would. Yes there was a lot of adrenaline but also a healthy dose of fear. 

As he looked across to May Parker he could see a lot of fear in her eyes, but he could tell by her posture that she wasn't surrendering to it. Huh, he shouldn't be surprised that's where the kid got it from.

"Ok." Said Peter as he continued pacing, hands moving all over the place. "So this is bad. Like really, really, bad. I mean it's like that British movie with that skinny guy from Sunshine, just with the infected moving in slow-mo." The kid stopped pacing to look at Tony, eyes narrowing. "How come you're only telling us this? I mean not that I don't appreciate it, but I get the feeling I'm not about to see this on the six o'clock news."

Sitting in his ridiculously expensive chair Tony's smile disappeared as he looked the kid, and prepared himself for a truth that even he struggled to stomach. "It's not my place Peter. I don't even know what this or how to begin to explain it." God, Pepper could explain this better then he could. But she had her hands full in the next room trying to figure out how to evacuate as many Star employees as possible, without looking like that was what they were doing.

Leaning forward he tried to not let his tirednesscone through in his voice. "I'm not even supposed to know about this. All I would be doing is causing panic which could lead to this spreading further faster." Why the hell couldn't he get hold of Dr Cho? Had the Chinese government grabbed her? A cold sweat started to seep through his pores. God if there were already cases in China ....

"So you're going to do nothing." The look May gave him almost made him want to shiver. Maybe introducing her to Pepper hadn't been such a good thing.

"Telling you both is not nothing. And I've already offered Stark Industries assistance to both the army and the CDC." He sighed. "But as I said I can't exactly go screaming this from the rooftops, even one from one as tall as mine. That would just cause panic, especially as I don't have any solutions. This isn't something I can fire a propulsor at."

He stood up. "I'm doing what I can to improve security and stock up on supplies here." Turning around he looked at May. "And that is where you come in. I want both of you to stay here. Not only is it probably the safest place in New York but easiest to evacuate from." He looked between the two, he knew what the answer was going to be but he had to ask the question. "I could also get the two of you set up in the Avengers compound upstate."

"And what about everyone else?!" Exclaimed May, also getting to her feet, visibly vibrating. "I appreciate the offer, but the idea of just abandoning everyone to hide out in your secret base, that's not what we do." 

"Yeah." Said Peter also getting to his feet, glancing nervously between May and Tony. "I mean I can't just ... , what about my friends? And their families? Ned, MJ ... I can't just ..." The kid dropped back down into his seat, his head dropping to his chest and arms drooping loosely over his knees.

A baffled Tony looked at Peter. He had heard the kid mention Ned before, but who was MJ? And why did the kid's face get all weird when he said those initials? Was MJ his girlfriend? And when had he become so interested if the kid had one? He sighed. "Again, I'm only thinking worse case scenario here." He looked between the two of them. "But there is over 2 million people in Queens alone, and you can't web up everyone."

Taking off his glasses he pinched his nose and tried not to sigh. God Hydra was easier to deal with then this. "Look, if a vaccine or a cure gets created I'll throw everything Stark Industries has in getting it manufactured and distributed but I don't know what else I can do."

May looked between the two then looked around before back at Tony. "Do you have any other rooms in this building? I know Peter well enough that the only way of having him stay in your compound would be to knock him out and lock him up. And I'm not leaving the city without him."

"What?!" Looking bewildered Peter whipped his head back between the two. Tony was mildly amazed the kid didn't give himself whiplash. "What, what about your job? And the rent?" 

Tony barely held in a smile. "You can both stay here, Pepper and I basically live up at the Compound anyway." Plus it would help him to keep Pepper out of the city. "Speaking of Pepper, if work will be an issue for you May I could have her whip up a contract for you. She'd be more then happy to. Hell Friday could probably put a basic one together."

He sat back in his chair, waving his right hand haphazardly. "As for rent I can easily cover that, heck I could just buy your whole building." Compared to that incomplete tower he had to buy in Johannesburg it probably wouldn't be that expensive. Actually no that was probably around the wrong way, but atleast he wasn't going to be destroying it."

"Buying the whole building is probably a bit far." May sighed, running her left hand through her hair. "And I don't like the idea of charity. But if you have a real job with real responsibilities that I'm suitable for then I'll definitely look at it."

This time Tony didn't hold in his smile. He really shouldn't have expected anything different from the woman who raised Peter. "You've got yourself a deal. I'll have Happy swing by tomorrow and get you all sorted out." He looked over at Peter who had a pensive look on his face. "Look kid I know you're going to want to tell your friends about all this, and I'm not saying that you can't tell them to be extra careful. Just you can't go into full detail, not to we have some idea what the hell this is."

Sighing Peter looked at him. "I promise Mr Stark, I won't tell my friends about how everyone may go crazy and start eating everybody else." Then he could tell the kid had worked something out cause he could almost see the lightbulb flicker on above Peter's head.

The boy came towards him, somehow looking a lot taller then normal. "And I know if that happens I can't save everybody but I sure as hell am going to try and save as many as I can."

Looking at the kid he couldn't help but feel proud of him. He may not be able to officially make Peter an Avenger but he didn't need to. Hell in this moment he didn't know who the kid reminded him more of, him or Captain Perfect Teeth. 

Getting up he walked towards Peter, who was still trying to look staunch, and put his right hand on the kid's left shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. "I know you will kid." Though part of his heart was saddened the 15 year old was already having to accept such realities. Sighing he looked at May then back at Peter.

Taking his hand down he put on his best smile. "You're not going to do it wearing that onesie, even if it was made by me. Friday, unlock 16B and send it here please."

"Will do boss." 

He looked back at the kid, he could only hope that whatever the kid had planned wasn't going to blow up in either of their faces.

Chapter Text

Next morning: Luke Cage & Claire Temple Residence

Location: Harlem

Humming Claire wrapped her robe tighter as she got a glass of water from the kitchen sink. There was nothing like a glass of cold water after a 'morning coffee' with Luke.

Hearing a clunk on the fire escape she turned to see a crouched face peering in. One wearing a very familiar superhero suit.

"What the fuck!" She stepped back, pulling her robe tighter with her right hand. She was really glad she had atleast bothered to put a singlet and some underwear on before coming out. What was Spiderman doing here? Was it really him? She really wished Luke was out of the shower.

The figure put his hands out, obviously trying to placate her. "Wow. I'm really sorry ma'am, I didn't mean to disturb you. It's Miss Temple right? I was uh looking for Luke Cage. Is this his residence? If it is I can come back at another time."

Turning her head to the side she put the glass back down on the counter, giving herself a chance to catch her brief. Part of her wanted to laugh, cause of course Spiderman would eventually turn up. God, how had this turned into her life?  "He's here, just in the shower." She went over to the window and undid the latch. "Come in and take a seat before someone see you."

As he climbed through she took in his physic, from the footage on the news she'd always thought he must be some kind of gymnast but seeing him in the flesh ... how small he was and how young he sounded. Oh god he was just a kid, mid teens at most. Shaking her head she barely held in a groan. "I'll go get Luke." And put some more clothes on. "Go grab a seat."

When she came back in with Luke Spiderman quickly got up from his chair, almost knocking it over as it skirted back. "Mr Cage." The boy came forward, hand outstretched "It's an honor to meet you." 

"Nice to meet you to." Luke took the hand. "Though I'd like to know how you figured out I was here."

She watched as Spiderman rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah I guess that seems kind of stalkery. I used the Harlem Hero app to see where you'd been then I used Karen, that's my suits AI ..." He waved at his own head. "To pull up nearby surveillance footage, and as it often showed you with Miss Temple here I asked Karen to run her face through facial recognition software."

What the hell? Thought Luke shooting a look over at Claire, who looked just as worried as felt. Jesus he was going to have to do something about that app. If this kid could do it then so could Stark, SHIELD, and god knows who else.

Looking across at Spiderman a suspicious thought grew in his mind. He'd been assuming the hero's small stature was due to the web slinger was some kind   of gymnast, but going off that voice... "How old are you?"

Spiderman cocked his head slightly to the left and took a step back. "Well that's kind of rude." The two adults watched as ge actually puffhed out his chest. "Nineteen."

"Oh sweet Christmas." Said Luke, running his right hand down his face. 

Claire couldn't help but agree. Jesus he'd just been fighting Captain America in Germany! "You would have been slightly more believable if you hadn't puffed your chest out, or tried to make your voice sound deeper."

She headed back to the kitchen to get her undrunk glass of water. Turning back around she leaned against the counter. If she ever meet Tony Stark she was going to have words with him. "Would you like some water, or some juice?" And words with whoever the kids legal guardians were. 

"Um no thank you, I'm fine." The boy pulled slightly at the bottom of his mask. "I know it's kind of rude for me to keep this on when I know your identities." His head moved to look at Luke. "But I don't have bullet proof skin."

Looking back towards Claire Spiderman leaned forward slightly. "Do you have powers as well? Not that you have to tell me if you do." He straightened back up and rubbed the back of his head again. "Actually that was kind of rude, so please I forget I asked."

It was hard for Claire to hold in a smile as she took a sip of her water. The kid was kind of adorable. "My only power is being able to put up with whatever load of superhero bullshit gets dropped into my lap." And seriously how did this keep happing to her? "Though I must say I'm a pretty kick ass nurse."

"You're a nurse?" Spiderman took a step forward, eagerness pouring through his voice. "So, you understand about viruses and stuff? Like on a medical level."

A sudden feeling of cold dread started to creep down her spine. "I'm not a virologist." She put her glass down and folded her arms, the movement provided more self comfort then she liked to think about. "But I would say I understand it better then the person the street."

Taking a breath she leaned back, her head resting lightly against the cupboard. She looked across at Luke. "And Luke isn't any dummy either."

She looked back at the kid, mentally trying to steel herself for what she feared was about to come. "And the fact you're here and talking about viruses suggests that this wasn't just a social call. You know something, or atleast think something is coming. Something that hasn't been released to the public yet." If it ever will be, but she didn't want to lay that on the kid. She was getting the feeling he wasn't supposed to be here.

The kid ... or was teenager more accurate? Took a step back and slumped back down into the chair. She couldn't help but find the fact he hadn't needed to look where it was was slightly impressive.

"Yeah." He said, all pretense of bravo gone from his voice. "I mean I haven't been, like, sworn to secrecy or anything, but Mr Stark made it clear that I shouldn't be making this public. Not till they have some idea what it is let alone work out a vaccine or cure."

The teenager looked back up. "He's worried about it causing a panic which I can understand, but on the other hand I can't help but think if the public doesn't know and the worst happens then the panic it would cause would make it well worse, or worst faster..." He waved his hands around. "You know what I mean."

"So why come to us?" Asked Luke. "I mean you didn't even know Claire was a nurse."

"Yeah I know but... I mean" The kid's shoulders twitched in what had to be nerves. "When Mr Stark told me about this he kept coming back to how the police were likely to get overwhelmed if things go bad. And if that happens then who else is there to look after the little guy?" He suddenly looked up at Claire .... "Uh, I mean the little people ... not as in, like, physically little people ...."

She held up her left hand. "I get it kid."

"Oh thank god." Spiderman's shoulders relaxed, then he straightened up again. "Wait, I told you I'm not a ..."

"Save it, we didn't buy it the first time." Said Luke who sighed before taking a seat. "But you still haven't explained what you think I, we, can do to help." He paused thinking over what the kid had said. "Or why you're worried about the police being overwhelmed."

What the kid went on to tell them was worse then Luke could have imagined. Part of him was pissed that it was being kept quiet but after the whole mess with the Hand.... Shaking his head he looked across as Claire asked another medical question, one that he kid clearly didn't have an answer to. 

The boy was clearly embarrassed by his lack of knowledge. He was getting the feeling that didn't happen a lot to the kid. Suddenly a thought occured to him. It was a weekday wasn't it? "I think you're supposed to be in school by now."

Spiderman shrugged. "Yeah, I thought this would happen just with how far I would have to travel. Under the circumstances I figured it was worth the risk. Hopefully the school hasn't called A... hasn't called home asking where I am." 

Luke's chair groaned slightly as he leaned back in it. Interesting, he thought, the kid definitely was about to say a name rather then mum or dad. Adopted maybe? Looking up Claire he could tell she had picked up on it as well. Sighing he thought through their options. "I'd rather you not be seen leaving here. You didn't swing here all the way from Queens did you?" Last thing he and Claire needed was footage of Spiderman heading in their direction.

"Subway, got off at 125th Street, then put on my costume and went along the roof tops." And the kid was back to sounding proud of himself again.

"There are a couple of nurses who haven't lost my number." Said Claire, putting her now empty glass back down. "I could start making some calls. Then there is Misty and Karen, they might have some knowledge."

"Karen?" Spiderman perked up at the name.

"Are you referring to me Spiderman." Came a female voice from Spiderman's suit.

"Ok, what the hell?" Claire looked at the kid. Was his AI listening in this whole time? And how? The suit was basically skin tight and there was no sign of any bump to show he had any electronics in the thing. 

"That's Karen, my AI Karen that is." He waved his right hand around to encompass both Luke and Claire. "Karen say hello to Mr Cage and Ms Temple."

"Claire and Luke is fine, for the both of you." Claire started to rub her forehead. As cute as this kid was he was starting to give her a headache. "The Karen I was referring is a journalist with the New York Bulletin." Seeing Spiderman react she put her hands up. "Relax, anything I tell her would be off the record."

"Ok, well that's, well, ok I guess.. and Misty?

"She's a cop. Again, anything we tell her would be off the record. Plus she's technically on leave." Most people would take retirement after losing an arm but that wasn't Misty. "Both Misty and Karen are use to weird shit." Claire turned to Luke. "Speaking of weird shit do you want me to call Colleen or will you call Danny?"

She watched as her boyfriend sighed. "I'll get in touch with Danny, if Tony Stark has been given the heads up maybe they're doing it for all the rich white dudes."

"What?!" Spiderman got to his feet, this timd his did fall to the floor. "I mean yeah, Mr Stark definitely falls into that demographic. But's he's Iron man, and wicked smart and and has wickedly smart people working for him."

"Calm down kid Luke didn't mean anything by it." She shot a warning look over to her boyfriend. "He is still bitter Danny was able to knock him out."

"He didn't knock me out."  Said Luke, trying not to sound petulant. "Just rattled me with that ... fist of his." He probably shouldn't tell the kid about the fact it glowed. Danny might be happy to spouting it out to anyone but he still had some idea of keeping things on the need to know.

Spiderman looked down to Luke then across at Claire. With a huff he picked up the chair and slumped back down into it, crossing his arms. Taking a breath they watched the kid collect himself and look back up at the them. "So are they like, superheroes too or something?"

Shit thought Luke, they probably shouldn't even had said their names. "It's ... complicated."

"Speaking of complicated ...." The raised eyebrow Claire gave Luke was all the prompting she needed to give him.

"Yeah I'll call Jess. The way things tend to go she'll probably run into one of these ... infected first."

"Wow." Both adults looked at the youngster. "Ok, I mean when I thought about contacting you I figured you might try and warn people not full on investigate yourselves."

Luke looked over at Claire then back at Spiderman, a weary smile appearing on his face. "Yeah that's not really our style. What are you're plans now?"

Rubbing the back of his head Spiderman shrugged.  "Honestly I'm not sure. Part of me wants to head back to Queens and give the new suit Mr Stark gave me a real trial run. The other part says I should stick around Manhattan and when it gets  dark swing by Hells Kitchen to try and meet Daredevil, I've been thinking of doing that for awhile. He was one of my inspiration for getting into all this." He looked up, the weirdly expressive eyes on his suit widening. "I don't suppose you know h... how to get in touch with him? Or should I say what happened to him cause he seems to have been incognito for a while now. Even N ... even my guy in the chair hasn't found anything online about him."

The silence was only broken by the sound of Claire walking around the island to sit down at the table with them. As she did so she could see by the way the kid folded in on himself that he had worked out that something bad had happened. "Did you hear of that building collapsing a couple of months ago? Midland Circle?" Her voice was soft, thought she wasn't sure why. But then again, even if Spiderman hadn't know Matt he was still just a kid. When she got a slow nod in return, she felt her voice start threatened to crack. "He was in it, and no one has heard from his since."

It was hard to believe that Matt was dead, ever since she found him clinging to life in that dumpster he'd seem to stubborn to let even something like a falling building stop him.

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that."  Peter looked out the window, trying to collect his thoughts. May's concerns about his safety suddenly felt just a little bit less annoying. "I don't recall hearing that there had been any fatalities. Was he trying to stop it?"

"Something like that. Honestly you really don't want to know." Sighing Claire leaned forward, thinking it was really to early in the day for this kind of conversation. "Look kid do you have a number we can reach you on? A burner phone or something?"

"Um just my personal cell." He perked up. "Wait, Karen can you set me up with a second phone number so they can call though my suit? Like Mr Stark does?"

"Of course, please give me a second." Answered Karen.

The kid looked between the two of them. "Sweet, so do one of you have your cell on you?"

"I'll get mine." Claire stood back up. "While I get it from the bedroom, the two of you play nice."

After watching her leave Luke turned back to Spiderman. "So what are you going to do?" Asked Luke. "Head back and have a look at this new suit you got?" He couldn't help but think it would be nice to have something like that. Even though he couldn't he had impenetrable skin he was getting sick of fools putting holes in his hoodies. 

"I'm not sure, maybe go to a couple of museums, I haven't been to MoMath for awhile."

Luke couldn't hold in a snort. He guess he shouldn't be surprised that Tony Stark's prodigy would be a nerd. Only a nerd would go to a museum about maths when skipping school. "Someone would probably ask what you're doing there alone on a school day. And, no offense, but you're kind of a horrible liar."

Sighing he leaned forward. "You might as well as stick around if you're not going to try and make it back to school. I take it you've got a bag of clothes stashed somewhere?"

"Uh yeah, up on your roof."

He should have expected that. "You may as well stay here while Claire and I make our calls. Or go up to the roof and do your own research. There's a good chance the others may want to talk to you directly. Off the record of course." God he didn't need this, not with his name being put onto drugs and been given to kids.

"I guess that would be ok." The kid shuffled in his chair. "So neither of you have work?"

It was hard not to feel a bit ashamed he couldn't say they were both flat out. "Nothing pressing." What was he going to tell DW and Bobby about all this? What the hell was he supposed to do if the kid was right with how bad things could get? "Punching water." He muttered to himself.

"What's that?" Asked Spiderman.

The kid had good hearing, something Luke was going to have to keep in mind "Nothing, just something my training officer use to say back when I was a cop,"

"In Georgia, right?"

"Yeah." Luke cocked his head to the right. "Your AI find that out for you?"

"Yeah, and that you were a Marine." 

"That was a long time ago." Most of the newspapers hadn't bothered to dig that far back, hopefully the kid wasn't about to bring up his father. "Felt more like several lifetimes ago. "

"Yeah, I can imagine." The kid looked like he wanted to say more only to suddenly to freeze. Reaching his hand behind his back Spiderman pulled out ... a cellphone? Where was he hiding that? "Oh, this is uh ... uh." Spiderman looked back up at him. "I uh need to take this. I'll ah ... be back up to the roof if you need anything just call me." And with that the kid scampered across the room and out the window.

Despite everything Luke found himself wanting to crack up laughing. Spiderman, the superhero who took on a crazy guy in a bird suit, about to get told off for skipping class. He wondered how long it was going to be before the kid remembered he hadn't actually given him or Claire a number to call him on. Shaking his head, we got up to go see how Claire was doing and to get his own cell. He had some calls to make. Sweet Christmas how did this turn into his life?

That afternoon: Colleen Wing and Danny Rand Residence

Location: Chinatown

Karen walked as quickly as she could to the door. Looking up she couldn't help but wonder why they'd bothered to keep up the sign saying Chikara Dojo, were they going to reopen. As she got up the stairs to the exit for the first floor she couldn't help but stop with a sudden feeling of trepidation. This was the first time she had been in the same room with, well, any of this group since the precinct. Since Midland Circle, since Matt choose Electra over ... She took a breath, shouldering her bag she walked to the door and knocked. 

The door opened to show some light curly hair then the face of Danny. "Karen, glad you could make it." He opened up the door fully, "Welcome to our home." As she stepped through the doorway she looked to her right to see Luke hovering over Missy as they looked over some computer screens. Giving both a quick nod she looked to her left to see Claire, Colleen, and Jessica sitting at a dinning table, the latter two with their laptops out. Claire was just sitting there holding some paperwork in her right hand. To see everyone here in one room, the situation had to be really bad.

"Would you like some tea or coffee?" Asked Danny behind her.

"A coffee would be great thanks." As she put her bag down onto the table, she looked around the room. It was a big open floor space, the furniture was very eclectic, not at all what she would expect to find in the home of a billionaire. Though she doubted there were any others living in renovated dojos. She gave Colleen a smile across the table as she sat down. "I really like your place."

Going into her handbag Karen pulled out her tablet, making sure her handgun didn’t partially come out as she did so. As she got herself set up she heard a 'Huh' from Jessica across the table and to the left of Colleen.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing.” Jessica looked from her screen. "I should have guessed you would have a conceal carry permit. My sister carries a revolver, 38 special, what do you have?"

Blinking she tried to work out how Jessica figure it out. Had she made out the shape through her bag. "A 380 pistol." She looked across to Colleen. 

"I don't carry a handgun." Colleen turned her head and pointed behind Karen and to her right. Turning Karen saw a katana on a stand on top of a shelf

 "I sometimes carry my katana around though. Said Collen. “I think most people think it's a fake."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." `Called out Misty across the room. "I've got my 9mm Glock, in case anyone is interested." 

Karen's turned to her right to look at Claire who just shrugged. "Don't look at it me, all I have is some pepper spray.” She dropped the piece of paper onto the table and  

 Though I don't know how much good that is going to do me against this. 

Hearing a door open Karen looked to her left to see .... she blinked ... then blinked again. Oh wow, he really was here.

Spiderman walked into the room. "Can I just say you ladies are very scary. But in a good way, if that makes sense."

"I think that counts as a compliment." Said Claire, with a smile on her face. "Besides, between aliens and immortal ninjas nothing really has made nothing has made sense in years.

"Wait.” Spiderman stopped. “Immortal ninja's?"

"Long story." Came from several voices across the room.

"Trust us kid, you don't want to know." Chipped in Jessica, who didn't even bother to look up for her screen."

"I really wish everyone would stop calling me kid." He pulled up the chair at the head of the table and slumped down into it. 

"Well give us any name and we'll call you that. Cause we're not calling you Spiderman." 

"Why not?" His shoulders slumped. "Fine call me ... call me Ben." The kid’s voice hitching slightly when he gave the name.

"Ok Ben." Putting on her best smile Karen put her hand across the table to ‘Ben’. The name obviously meant something to the kid, someone important. "Karen Page, New York Bulletin."

‘Ben’ took her hand, almost shyly. "Nice to meet you. Atleast you don't work for that Jameson guy.” He took his hand back. “But for the record I want it ... well off the record that I was ever here. Let alone was the one to spill the beans on all this.”

“You have my word, not even my editor will know.” Mitch wouldn’t like that, but she wouldn’t break her word. Not to mention it did not sit right with her to use a minor as a named source, even if he was a superhero.

Thanks oh and ahh … he pointed to his head. “I have a AI in my suit also called Karen, so no offence but I’ll think I’ll stick with calling you Ms Page.”

Karen blinked. Tony Stark gave a teenager a suit with an inbuilt AI? Actually from what she’d seen of the guy that sounded exactly like they sort  of thing that he would do. “That’s fair enough.” She wondered if the AI was advanced enough that she could actually interview it. Or should she say her? Shaking her head she looked over at the paper that Claire had put down on the table. It appeared to be a printout of an email with a whole bunch of medical jargon.

Claire slid it over to Karen “Something a friend of mine forwarded to her from management. My guess it is an edited version of something that originally came from some organisation such as the CDC or WHO.”   

“Why would they do that.”

Throwing her hands up Claire leaned back in her chair. “Take your pick, cause their scared, cause they don’t understand it themselves.” She put her hands on her head and scoffed. “It could simply because they don’t think us simple nurses could understand all the details. Like we couldn’t figure out that a simple wouldn’t make people violent.”   Leaning back forward Claire turned serious. “I did have a friend mention that they had someone come into ER with a bite wound, said some homeless guy attacked him. He got patched up and left.

Hearing a seat move Karen looked across to see Missy get back to her feet. “I’m going to head over to that hospital now, see if I can get more info.”

“Karen could probably ha … find out quicker.

“Let’s try it my way first. It’s bad enough these two have hacked into security cameras.” She turned to look at Spiderman. “And I don’t think you’ve even signed the Accords.”

“Ah yeah Mr Stark has kind of vouched for me on that one. Or atleast done some stalling.” Ben suddenly looked down at the table. “But ahh I may have already had Karen look into missing person reports and there has been a slight uptick but again nothing definitive.”

Laughing Missy grabbed her jacked. “OK this is getting ridiculous.  I’m getting out of here before I either arrest someone or had in my badge.” She turned to look at back at Ben “You sure about this kid? At the moment this all seems circumstantial at best.”

“Yeah, Mr Stark showed me some footage. It was pretty gruesome, some guy in a suit chewing on a lady’s leg as she leaned down to help him.” He chuckled darkly. “I thought that A…” He paused. “Anyway, yeah I’m sure.” He paused. “I think he has even reached out to … well l better not say, atleast till you after you leave.”

“That would still make everyone in this room accessories but that’s any kid.” Said Missy as she headed for the door. “I’ll let you know what I find out.’

That evening

"You seem a bit jumpy tonight Karen."

She looked around from the park bench. Even though she recognised the voice her hand still didn't stray from her purse.

Frank came towards her, hoody up and hands in his pocket. "What's got you spooked?" It came out as a question but she knew that he'd not hesitate to a plea to tell him.

She made herself relax, taking her hand away from her purse she put it on the railing. "I've heard some disturbing things recently." Shifting nervously she made herself look up at Frank. "I was actually hopping Micro would be ale to help."

"Ouch." He tilted his head back and looked up at the sky. "That one hurt Karen." His tone though was playful. Looking back down to Karen he got serious again. "What do you need."

She explained everything she could without naming names. Even to her own ears it sounded thin. If the initial info hadn’t come from Spiderman, if the kid hadn’t sounded so out of his depth she probably wouldn’t believe it either.

"The initial intel, how solid is your source?"

"It comes from A compound up north. Some other people I know are looking into it but they haven't found anything solid that collaborates it. ”

It took a second for him to catch on to how she emphasized the ‘A’ and where that meant. "Jesus Christ." He leaned forward and looked across the Hudson to the city, tried to imagine what it would be like if it spread. “Do you have a hip holster for that 380?"

She shook her head.

"Get one if you can, if the entire city goes apeshit best have the ability to carry the gun on your person." Feeling his 45 he found himself thinking through his own options. "One of those only holds what, 7 rounds?" She nodded. "If you think there's time maybe look at getting an extended mag, or something that holds more.” As much as he hated to admit it he may have to go down to a 9mm for the same reason. "If you do the latter don't start carrying it till you've put some rounds down range, it's got to feel as comfortable in your hands as the one you've got." He shuffled his feet, trying to figure out why he was suddenly feeling a bit nervous. Well, he knew why he just didn't really want to admit it. "At the paper do you just have a desk or your own office?

"My own office." She couldn't help but let a little bit pride slip out as she said those words. "You thinking I need to keep a bag of stuff there?"

"Yeah. If things going to shit in a hurry, it may be safer to barricade the doors. Hell, even if you're just there at night when there's a power outage you're probably better to hunker down there." He didn't need to tell her what to pack into it, she was smart enough to figure that out for herself. 

She couldn't help but smile slightly, she knew this was all his way of showing he cared. Taking a breath she made a note that she'd have to convince Foggy to do the same. Well atleast the emergency bag. "That's the only reason?"

Frank simply looked out over the water. "I just want you to be careful."

She wanted to laugh at that. One of the deadliest men walking the streets of New York, if not the most dangerous, and the most he was comfortable saying to a woman was. ‘I just want you to be careful.’

“Any sign of Murdock?”

The change in subject took all the joy out of her mood. “No.” She shuffled slightly, just saying his name still made her eyes want to well up.

“He and I might disagree on a lot of things but he’s a tough bastard. Hell I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s still out there somewhere, thinking he’s protecting you my keeping his distance.”

That would almost be worse than if he was actually dead. It did though lead to something else she had to say. “If this does turn out to be as serious as I think it is I’m thinking of moving into his apartment. It’s on the top floor, easy access to the roof. The current door is pretty shitty but Danny, Danny Rand that is, has offered to pay to get a security door put in." She looked at him. "He's upgrading his own doors as well. ”

That got a raised eyebrow from Frank. Karen really was taking it seriously. And where had he heard that name before? Hang on .. “What, isn't that the rich kid who turned up out of know where, dresses like a hipster? You’re really running in some high circles there Karen.” 

She tried not to blush. “It’s a long story, even crazier than the one I just told you.”

Frank chuckled. “Shit, what classifies as crazy these days doesn’t cover what it’s use to.” He got up to leave. “I should have something for you by the end of tomorrow, I’ll try and get the same spot so don’t work to late, it gets cold out there on the streets.”

With one last look he turned away and put his hands in his pockets. God he hoped she was wrong about this. Cause if she was then all that shit he and his guys went through in Iraq and Afghanistan, everything he’s done since he got back, wouldn’t mean a god damn thing.