Not Anymore

Chapter 9: Where Were Heros When I Needed Them? [Peter Parker's POV]

"Good morning Pete, you ready to meet the team?" Tony called out from outside my room, as he knocked, as if asking for permission.

[Permission was an interesting concept that S-20 was not knowledgeable in. There was no sense of "permission" in Hydra. S-20 did not ask to be hosed down. S-20 did not ask for the beatings and torture. S-20 did not ask for the meager and disgusting food that was provided and barely satisfied him. S-20 did not ask for his only friend to have disappeared. S-20 did not ask for the pain and aftereffect of the chair. S-20 was not asked when its cell door was thrown open and it was dragged out for missions. S-20 was not asked whether or not it was comfortable with the things it was doing. The triggers it had to pull. Where the soldiers had touched it.]

"You can come in sir," I responded. The door gently opened and Tony leaned against the frame.

"I invited the team last night and they're starting to come in. A few of them are already here. I believe Steve already started making pancakes for breakfast, but we all decided we could eat lunch together for the official introduction. Just, I know that you may get uncomfortable with meeting so many new people, so I thought you could come for breakfast and get comfortable with a few of them early so it wouldn't be too stressful."

Tony was thinking about his comfort? I did not remember the last time that anyone had done anything that benefited him and had asked him first.

[If S-20 was ordered to a room, it was expected to drop everything and march. The higher ups had special rooms with nice things, such as cushioned chairs and couches. S-20 was not permitted to touch any of those things. It was expected to stand or kneel in front of the higher officials and never, under any circumstances, look them in the eye or speak without being directly spoken to. It would often get stressed or overwhelmed when meeting too many people. It was not comfortable with S-20's heightened senses. That didn't matter when there were orders, though. It was expected to comply. It listened to orders. It was a good boy. Some of the soldiers that had particularly hated it liked to inform it that it was summoned to a room after a while so that it would get punished for coming late. Others liked to tell it to go somewhere while it was eating because, once he returned, the food would be gone and S-20 would suffer all night with hunger pains.]

"That is very kind of you Mr. Stark, I would like that very much," I told him slowly, keeping my eyes trained down onto his shoes. I heard that there were a lot of Avengers. Meeting all of them at once would be really stressful. I was grateful that Mr. Stark would let me get comfortable with a few of them in the morning so it wouldn't be too overwhelming.

Mr. Stark smiled softly and waited for me to get ready so we could walk to the kitchen together.

I had already gone to the bathroom and pulled on a fresh set of clothes that had come last night. It felt nice to be wearing nice, new clothes. All the clothes that I had worn before were torn, dirty, stiff from grime and blood, and, just in general, had a million problems.

"Peter," a voice called out, breaking me away from my thoughts. "If this gets too overwhelming, just tell me. We can stop whenever you want, okay? I'm here. You can talk to me."

Mr. Stark spoke gently, and I nodded anyway, but I knew I couldn't speak up. Mr. Stark was being kind enough as it was. I was not going to be rude and act out by walking away from this meeting he set up for me.

"Okay Mr. Stark. We can get going for breakfast now," I told him. I walked behind my new boss and he guided me towards the kitchen area. I waited near the entrance for a second, taking some time to just breathe in the environment.

No one had noticed that we were here yet. Mr. Stark placed his hand on my back and gave me a rub. It did not hurt. I looked up at him and saw that he was giving me a smile.