PTR Arachnid 24601

Ch 10 - What's a name but a calling of joy?

3rd POV

Peter woke up to the sound of something loud––music––coming from all around him. It hurt his ears and he grimaced as he blearily looked about the room. Nothing had changed except that the shadows casted by the sun were longer and in a different place. When he felt fully awake thanks to the roaring music, a voice spoke to him.

"My apologies Mr. Spider. I did not intend to hurt your ears, however, I had to wake you," the female-sounding voice echoed around the room. It came from everywhere and nowhere, just like the music had seconds ago.

"Who's there?" There was nobody else in the room and his Spider Sense wasn't tingling––or stinging, for that matter––so he figured it was safe to ask one question.

"My apologies once again. I have not introduced myself. My name is Female Replacement Intelligent Digital Assistant Youth. However, everyone calls me FRIDAY. I am an AI, which stands for Artificial Intelligence. I control the security, files, data, messages, appliances, and other technological things of the tower. I am also the internet. Feel free to ask me anything you'd like. However, please keep in mind that I have the authorization to refuse some questions," the polite female voice informed him with a seemingly happy tone of voice.

He didn't really know how to respond. 

"Thank you," was all he came up with.

"Happy to help."

Suddenly, the door swung open and a lady that looked faintly familiar walked in while dragging someone actually familiar behind her: Wanda. The lady had files in one hand, fiery red hair, and she a wore simple blue sweater––that was much too big for her––with black yoga pants. Spider noticed that her eyes were a rather piercing shade of peridot that seemed to analyze everything they saw. The lady stood confidently, but otherwise portrayed no emotions. Not even a hint of fear of anxiety. Just nothingness. She reminded him of something but he couldn't place a finger on it. Not yet. Other than that, he felt a twinge of anger and hostility towards her. The reason? He had no idea. But the temptation to stab her was lingering fiercely in the back of his mind.

"Hey, Spider," she said, her eyes turning... Soft?

He responded appropriately, "Hello ma'am." He turned to Wanda and dipped his head, "Hello, Wanda." Peter didn't need to introduce himself since it seemed like this lady already knew who he was.

"Since you already know Wanda here, I'll introduce myself. My name is Natasha Romanoff. You can call me Natasha. I'm here to tell you something and maybe ask a few questions." It wasn't exactly a statement nor a question, a perfect in-between. So, Spider nodded.

The name plucked some kind of chord in the depths of Peter's mind. Natasha Romanoff. She sounded familiar. Her name whispered a sharp 'danger' in his mind. Not danger towards him, but danger in general.

Natasha pulled up a chair beside the foot of his bed just as Wanda had done. But this time, Wanda sat on one of the chairs against the wall. Her eyes flickered red every now and then as she attentively watched the youngest assassin.

"Before we get into the good stuff, how do you feel?" Ms. Romanoff asked.

"I feel fine," he answered simply.

She eyed him skeptically but didn't comment. "I won't sugarcoat this for you because I figure you can handle this. Do you know your real name?"

"I don't have one. I'm not allowed to have one."

"Why aren't you allowed to have one?" The ex-assassin knew the answer but asked anyway.

"The Men say that freaks like me aren't allowed names." Peter responded as if he were reciting something he had said so many times before. The boy analyzed the way Ms. Romanoff sat in hopes to get some more insight on who she is.