Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Peter had completely forgotten about the (rehabilitated) addict from a few days ago. Sure, he felt bad about bumping into the guy at the time, but between school, the now-very-real internship, and his work as Spiderman, the brief interaction had completely slipped his mind.

Until today, that was.

Peter and Ned had missed the train by a few minutes. That was fine, they could just take the bus back to Peter’s apartment. They spent the first half of the trip quietly conversing about the Lego set they were planning to assemble that night. That was when Peter felt it.

It was the smallest tingle, the briefest pang of his Spidey Senses™, but Peter knew better than to ignore it by now. He subtly glanced around the bus, making sure to show Ned that he was still listening. The bus looked the same as it had minutes ago. Same couple in the seats ahead of them, same woman in the sideways-facing benches. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Confused, Peter checked his phone. Did Mr. Stark need anything? Was Aunt May okay? Peter was about to check his message history with MJ (better to know if he forgot to meet with her or something; at least he could make it up to her if he did) when his Spidey Senses™ went off again, this time much, much stronger. So strong that he barely even registered Ned hitting his arm in a move to get his attention.

Peter’s head shot up. In a previously unoccupied section of the bench seats, there sat a man that was definitely not there a moment ago.

The man was a mess. His bloodied hands trembled around the briefcase on his lap. The rest of his body trembled similarly, but Peter thought that it had more to do with the tear tracks running down his face than anything else.

To put it simply, the man looked absolutely horrible.

Peter recognized him, if only vaguely, as the addict he had bumped into a few days ago.

“Peter… Peter!” Ned’s hand waved in his face. “Dude!”

Ned was pale, his eyes were wide, and he was a little shaky. Was it because of the man? Or was it because of Peter’s reaction to the man’s appearance?

“Dude,” Ned continued, “that guy appeared out of thin air.”

WHAT. “...what? Are you sure?”

Ned gave Peter his best ‘are you serious?’ expression. “Yeah, man! I mean, it’s not like the bus stopped to let him on, you would’ve noticed that. And, you know, I literally saw him appear!”

Ned peeked at the guy again. It didn’t look like he was listening. Good.

“One moment, there was an empty bench. Couple seconds later, there’s this big, wobbly, blue flash, and BOOM!” He gestured to the guy. “Man.”

Peter considered that for a moment. According to Ned, this guy just appeared out of a blue… vortex? In the middle of the bus? And now there is this crying guy with bloody hands hugging a briefcase. This had to be what his Spidey Senses™ were warning him about.

“He’s in rough shape,” Peter whispered, “He might need help.”

Ned was not on board. “Peter, look at him!” he whisper-yelled, “He looks like he just murdered somebody. I don’t know about you, but that’s a huge red flag. Like, a really big, really freaky red flag!”

It was true. The guy did look kind of murder-y. He was very dirty, for one, and the blood on his hands spoke volumes. Peter didn’t really know what was going on, with the appearing-out-of-thin-air thing and the maybe-a-murderer thing, but if this man was an enhanced murderer, like Ned suggested? Well, then Peter would have to stop him.

The bus came rolling to a stop. The man shot up from his seat and was stumbling out onto the sidewalk within a few seconds.

Peter grabbed Ned’s arm. “C’mon.”

The two teens followed the man off the bus. He stumbled his way down the street slowly, almost leisurely, before stopping abruptly. He raised the briefcase. Was he inspecting it? Peter didn’t know. What he did know, though, was that in the next second the man had the briefcase raised above his head and was poised to throw it down.

The case emitted sparks when it hit the nearby bench. Over and over again the man brought the briefcase down onto the bench, and it continued to spark with each hit. The man kept this up until the briefcase seemed to start vibrating in his hand. He tossed it away, and it landed on the sidewalk a few feet away.

Then promptly blew up. Poof.

The man crouched down on the sidewalk and began sobbing loudly. Peter was out of his depth. Clearly something was wrong with this guy, but Peter didn’t know him. He didn’t know what to do. He made eye contact with Ned.

Should we help him?

That briefcase just exploded!

It’s still on fire…

We could help him?

No. Absolutely not.

Dude. Okay, at least help me put out the fire.

And pick up the remains. Littering is bad.

Decision made, Peter dug around in his backpack for his web shooters. It had been a while since he and Mr. Stark added fire-extinguishing properties to his web fluid, and Peter really hoped it would work on a fire like this. He had no idea why the briefcase blew up, so it was good to be cautious about putting it out.

Secretly glad that this seemed to be an electrical fire and not, say, a grease fire, Peter glanced around. Nobody was watching, good. Before that could change, Peter shot a few webs at the fire. It fizzled out almost immediately.

Current crisis solved, Peter and Ned turned to the man, only to find him gone. They looked around. Could he have disappeared the same way he showed up on the bus? Peter’s Spidey Senses™ didn’t go off, and Ned didn’t say anything, so it seemed unlikely.

Peter saw him first. The man had made it a good distance from them; a good two blocks. He was walking at the same sedate pace he had earlier, as if he wasn’t just sobbing on the sidewalk moments prior.

“Look man,” he turned to Ned, “you pick this up, alright? I’m gonna follow him, make sure he doesn’t blow anything else up.”

“Yeah, um. What do you want me to do with all this?” Ned gestured to the briefcase remains.

“Just… keep them? For now. I bet Mr. Stark will want to look at that.”

With that, Peter took off for the nearest alleyway to change.

~(0_0)~

Peter caught up to the man quickly enough. It helped that he was swinging around, as the man had actually made it a pretty good distance from the bus stop at that point. He dropped down next to the man and began walking with him. The man clearly noticed Peter’s presence, but didn’t acknowledge it. He just kept walking.

“Hey man, you alright?”

No answer. Peter kept going.

“Because, like, that was… a lot. And it’s totally okay if you don’t wanna talk about it or anything, but I’m here for you if you, you know, wanna talk… about it?”

He was still silent.

“Oh! I’m Peter, by the way. Peter Parker.”

Peter hopped in front of the man and stuck his hand out. The man didn’t bat an eyelash and proceeded to sidestep past him. Fine. Peter could be quiet for the time being. He would still walk with the man though, at least to make sure he didn’t blow anything up or walk into traffic.
It was another five blocks before the man huffed and threw his hands up in defeat.

“Okay! What! What do you want?!”

They were stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. Peter didn’t respond immediately, instead opting to get the best look at the man so far. There were tattoos on his hands, a very large “HELLO” on one, and a matching “GOODBYE” on the other. The man also had a tattoo on his forearm, a perplexingly familiar one that Peter couldn’t quite place. An umbrella inside a circle. He’d seen it before, but he couldn’t remember the significance of it for the life of him.

Assessment finished, Peter blurted out another, “are you okay?”

The man ran his hands down his face with an overexaggerated groan.

“Yes! Yes, alright? I’m fine, I’m just peachy!” He put on an obviously fake smile. “And, since I’m so peachy, I’m gonna continue my walk home. Alone. So if you’ll excuse me.”

He brushed past Peter with thinly veiled annoyance and began walking faster than before. Peter was many things, but there were two things that Peter simply was not: a quitter, and out of shape. He easily kept pace with the man, who let out another long groan.

Peter smiled cheekily. “At least let me walk you home. I mean, after what I saw earlier, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to leave you alone right now.”

The responding sigh was louder this time. “Fine. But!” The man hastily added, “Only to the curb outside. No coming inside the gate, you voyeur~”

The man’s tone was scolding, and it was paired with his index finger waving back and forth in the classic “uh-uh” motion. Peter smiled innocently, while cringing internally at the voyeur part. That was just gross.

“Of course, I’m just trying to get you home safely, after all.”

“Sure...”

They walked in silence after that. The man’s home was much closer than Peter anticipated, since they were in a small shopping district outside Queens. The man–and Peter really wished he knew what to call the guy–stopped in front of what Peter had assumed to be a storefront. Nestled between closed down shops on both sides, sat a regal-looking front door partially hidden by a wrought-iron fence. On the fence sat the same symbol as Klaus’ forearm. What was with these people and umbrellas?

The man entered through the gate, making sure to slam it shut behind him without a word.

“Oh- hey! Thanks for letting me walk you home, Mr…”

The man sighed and looked back at Peter from his spot literally one foot in the door. “Klaus.”

“Klaus, right. Oh, here take my number.”

Peter grabbed some paper and began digging through his backpack for a pen. He swore they always managed to get loose just when he needed them the most.
He quickly scribbled his number down, crumpled up the paper, then threw it at Klaus, who had tried to disappear in the house during Peter’s search.

“Call me if you need anything. I mean it man.”

With that, Peter turned to walk in the direction of his own apartment. Ned must’ve been worried sick.

Chapter Text

“Klaus. You gotta see this.”

The urgency in Ben’s voice propelled Klaus away from his knitting. He was led downstairs, where they found Diego leaving the Academy. 

“Grab Diego,” Ben ordered, “he should see this too.”

Doing as he was told–quite literally–Klaus grabbed Diego’s arm and started dragging him along. 

“Wha-hey! Klaus! Let go man!”

Klaus’ grip tightened the more Diego struggled against his hold. Soon enough, the trio could see Luther’s hulking frame making its way deeper into the academy. He was clutching something, but Klaus couldn’t see what.

Eventually, they found themselves in front of an elevator. Luther entered, and as he turned to press the button, Klaus could see what he was carrying.

An unconscious Vanya.

An unconscious Vanya that was being carried into the basement, if the numbers above the elevator were to be believed. 

“What the fuck.”

Klaus let go of Diego. They looked at each other with wide eyes, before Ben spoke up.

“Klaus, he crushed her. She came to see if Allison was okay, but he crushed her. She thought he was hugging her .”

A hole opened up in Klaus’s stomach. Luther knowingly and intentionally strangled their sister. Vanya. The weakest one of them all. Intentionally .

The soft ding of the elevator broke Klaus from his thoughts. Luther stepped out and startled when he saw his brothers. With a sigh, he beckoned them into the elevator.

~(0_0)~

One childhood-shattering revelation later, Klaus found himself pacing through his bedroom. Ben was also pacing, and the thought would’ve normally made Klaus giggle if it weren’t for the circumstances. 

“Obviously we have to save her.”

“No shit. But how are we supposed to?” Klaus started biting his nails. “If I know good ol’ Number One, he probably used his super monkey strength to shut it. It’s gotta be jammed in there! And look at me! I mean, I’m a toothpick, Ben! I can’t do shit!”

Klaus flopped onto his bed and grabbed the yarn. Might as well knit the negative energy away. “There’s nothing I could do…” he murmured. 

Ben froze in his pacing.

“Klaus! That’s it!” Klaus could see the lightbulb over Ben’s head. “ You can’t do anything, but what if there was someone who could ?”

“Ben, weren’t you listening? We don’t have super strength. Only Luther does, but he put her there! He’s not gonna be all ‘sure thing boys, I’ll just open her up right now, my bad’. I mean, could you imag-”

Ben came over to the bed. “But we know someone else who does!”At Klaus’ confused frown, Ben hurriedly continued, “Remember those kids from the other day? When you destroyed that briefcase?”

“I remember a pain-in-the-ass teenager who followed us here.”

“I mean, yeah. That’s why I followed the kid, Parker, I think? Anyway, I followed him back to his apartment. He was hella suspicious, you know?”

Klaus sighed. “Get to the point Ben.”

“Right! Anyway, that kid is Spiderman.” 

Klaus’ jaw dropped. It made sense. That’s why the kid insisted on following him and “making sure he was alright”. He was known as the “friendly neighborhood Spiderman” for a reason. And, if rumors were to be believed, this “Peter Parker” would be the perfect person to enlist for help. Klaus’ pocket suddenly grew heavier, as if to remind him of the phone number stashed there. 

“Ben. Is there anyone in the hallway?”

Ben stuck his head through the door, only to reappear moments later. 

“No. But if you’re gonna do something, it couldn’t hurt to use some stealth.”

That was how the pair of them found themselves in some sort of pretend–but oh, so very real–espionage mission reminiscent of their youth. Using Ben as a lookout, they snuck down the hall to the landline. With each button press, Klaus prayed that Allison was far, far away from them. After all, where Allison went, Luther followed.

After what seemed like an eternity, the dial tone gave way to Peter’s voice, giving Klaus a confused “Hello?”

“Peter!” Klaus whisper-yelled into the phone, “it’s me, Klaus.”

“Klaus? Are you okay? What do you need?”

“Peter. Peter. I’m fine, but I do need your help. It’s kind of urgent. How fast can you get to my house? The place you walked me to?”

Peter was silent. Klaus’ anxiety grew with each moment that it remained that way. Impatient, Klaus was about to tell Peter to forget it when the kid’s voice came through the speakers once again.

“I’ll be there in 10 minutes.”

The line went dead, and Klaus gently returned the landline to its stand. Quietly, oh so quietly, Klaus and Ben made their way downstairs. The foyer was thankfully empty, but a quick glance into the sitting room revealed Diego. And Diego, as he tends to do whenever Klaus is doing something strange, strode over to see what was going on with his brother.

“Klaus.”

Klaus startled. It raised some flags in Diego’s mind. Was Klaus on something? Was he off to get more? A once over showed that Klaus was jittery, and his eyes moved all over the place. 

“Hey man, what’s going on?” Diego went to put his hand on Klaus’ shoulder, but he shrugged it off and started to pace. 

“Diego!” Klaus suddenly whirled around. “Diego, Vanya shouldn’t be locked up, right?”

“No. Man- stop .”

Diego reached for Klaus’ arms in an effort to stop his pacing.

“Tell me what’s wrong with you.”

Klaus took a deep breath. “So, Vanya shouldn’t be locked up, right, but I’m a twig, as you can see, so I can’t open the door to the vault she’s locked in. Luther’s stupid monkey strength has it wound up real tight, right?”

Diego released Klaus and crossed his arms. He didn’t like that Vanya was locked up either, but you didn’t see him acting like this. He motioned for Klaus to continue.

“So, we may have called someone to help us open the door.”

Klaus looked for Diego’s reaction. If it were any other situation, he might’ve laughed at the look on his brother’s face. Diego’s lips were turned into a frown, his eyebrows were furrowed, and the look in his eyes almost screamed “you did not”.

“Klaus… what the fuck.”

Indignation flared up. How dare Diego side with Luther of all people? “Diego-”

“No. Klaus. Why would you involve someone else? How do you know we can trust this person?”

“How do we know we can trust Luther after this?” Klaus started. “I called someone, Diego, because Vanya doesn’t deserve to be locked up! I couldn’t open the door, so we called someone that could ! I mean, have you tried to open the door? I don’t see you doing anything but interrogating me over my choices!”

Whatever Diego said in response came second to Ben alerting Klaus of Peter’s arrival. Carefully, and as quietly as possible, Klaus opened the door before Peter could knock. His hand shot out and grabbed Peter before dragging him inside and shutting the door just as carefully as he opened it. With one finger over his lips in the classic shushing motion, Klaus gestured for both Diego and Peter to follow him.

They made their way to the elevator. The tension was thick, and only became thicker when they entered the elevator. In true Klaus fashion, he loudly clapped his hands and startled his guests. 

“So! Now that we can kinda talk freely, Diego, this is Peter. Peter, this is my brother Diego.”

Peter gave a small wave to Diego, who just observed the teen. Diego kept his eyes trained on Peter as he addressed Klaus.

“You invited a kid-”

“Okay! So, Peter, long story short, my other brother–he’s a real asshat by the way–” the elevator doors opened, “locked my sister up in this box.”

Chapter Text

Peter’s stomach dropped to the floor. Before him stood a huge vault-like structure. Peter would’ve assumed it was a vault if it weren’t for the door, which didn’t seem as thick and had a window. And in that window was a clearly distraught woman who soundlessly banged on the glass in an effort to escape.

“She doesn’t deserve this,” Klaus continued, “so I asked for your help with getting her out of there.”

“Let me get this straight,” Diego said, “this kid is going to undo the latch? The latch that our brother, who has super strength, almost broke with how tight he made it?”

Klaus grabbed one of Peter’s hands and led him over to the door. “Peter. I won’t lie to you, our brother really did make the lock tighter than a virgin asshole. But! A little birdie told me that you also have super strength. So, by process of elimination, that makes you the most capable guy to help her right now.” He pointed at Vanya. “She needs you .”

Peter looked around. His gaze first met Klaus, who seemed anxious and carried an air of desperation, then to Diego, who locked eyes with Peter.

“It’s your call kid,” Diego sighed, “we’ve honestly tried everything.”

Finally, Peter’s eyes met the eyes of the woman. She was no longer banging on the glass, but was just watching them instead. Her face was shiny, as if sweat–or tears–had coated it in a layer of grime. It didn’t take much for Peter to make a decision.

“Okay. I’ll do it.”

The tension in the air lessened considerably. With a deep breath to calm his nerves, Peter reached for the handle of the–what even was this–and twisted. It moved easily, and Peter briefly wondered if he was stronger than this brother of theirs. 

It didn’t take long for the door to pop open and for the woman to fall into Klaus’ arms. Dust rained from the ceiling of the tunnel as he held her tightly, rubbing circles into her back and petting her hair. Peter watched as the tunnel seemed to vibrate somehow, and pondered whether or not they should hurry back to the surface before it collapsed. 

However, it seemed as though the vibrations lessened as the woman calmed down. Her powers, perhaps? Once she had calmed down enough, she took in the faces around her. Her eyes found Klaus and Diego, before landing on Peter standing in the corner. Peter gave her a little wave, and Vanya reached out to him.

“Thank you,” she said as she grasped his hand, “Thank you so much.”

“Oh… it’s really no problem, ma’am.”

“Vanya.”

“Huh?”

“My name. It’s Vanya.”

“O-oh,” Peter hadn’t even asked. Crap! Way to be politie, Parker. “I’m Peter. Peter Parker.”

“Well,” Klaus clapped his hands, “this is nice and all, love a good introduction, but we should probably go before Luther comes down here.”

The vibrations started again. Peter now knew that Vanya was the source of them, and a look at her showed a very eerie sight. 

Vanya’s eyes were white. She was shaking, but it wasn’t the same anxious shakes that Klaus still showed. No, Vanya was shaking with rage . 

Luckily, it seemed like Klaus had seen it too. 

“Vanya!” Klaus called as he placed a hand on her back, “you need to calm down !”

That brought her out of it. The walls stopped shaking abruptly, and Vanya blinked. She took a deep breath and nodded. Everything was fine. She could be angry later. She needed to control herself first.

“Let’s get out of here.”

“Wait,” Peter said, “Where are you gonna go?”

At their confused looks, he soldiered on. “Your brother, if he put you here, wouldn’t he do it again if he sees you?”

That… would probably happen. Klaus had to admit that to himself. Where would they go? A glance at his siblings told him that they didn’t think about that either. They knew where Vanya and Diego lived, and there was a very strong chance that Luther would hunt Vanya down if they went to either of their homes. Meanwhile, Klaus didn’t technically have a home, so where on Earth could they go?

Sensing the siblings’ indecision, Peter took matters into his own hands.

“I have an idea,” he tried, “and we really need to get out of here.”

And that was how the party of four (five) snuck out of the Hargreeves mansion.