Raj stood by the window of Peter's bedroom, arms folded, eyes locked on the faraway skyline. The sunlight was fading behind layers of cloud, casting everything in a dull amber. He didn't need light to glow anymore; it pulsed low and steady beneath his skin like a silent drumbeat.
"Okay," Ned said, dragging a chair from the corner and flipping open his laptop. "I've triple-checked the encryption on the files, scrubbed the IP trace, and even made a decoy virus that reroutes anyone trying to backtrack to a fan page for 'Cats Who Look Like Tony Stark.'"
Peter, pacing beside his bed, frowned. "How is that helpful?"
"It's not," Ned replied brightly, typing fast. "But it's hilarious, and that counts. Anyway, Hydra's comm logs we intercepted from that dump node? It's not just a single location—it's a cluster. Four ping responses came from a long-decommissioned subway terminal "
Raj turned. "How far underground?"
"About six levels. Not on any public blueprints. Power spikes suggest an isolated grid. Shielded too, which is why it didn't show up on any regular scans until we brute-forced their comms."
Peter rubbed his temple. "They're not gonna make this easy."
"They never do," Raj said. His voice was steady, calm, but something sharp hummed beneath it.
Ned looked between them. "So... now what? We leak it? Drop a line to Stark? Government? Someone who doesn't do algebra on weekends?"
Peter stopped pacing. "No."
Ned blinked. "Wait. What?"
Peter pointed to the map glowing on Ned's screen. "If we hand it over now, we lose control of the narrative. Stark's people shut it down, maybe erase it, and we never know what Hydra's goal really was. Raj gets tagged, maybe detained. We're back to square one."
Raj nodded, stepping closer. "This is our fight. They came for us. They're not just experimenting anymore—they're hunting."
Ned hesitated, then exhaled. "So we're going in?"
Peter nodded. "We're going in. But not recklessly. We prep. We scout. We go full-on espionage nerds with superhero upgrades."
Raj moved toward the wall where Peter had started pinning sketches—costume blueprints, layout prints, snippets of intercepted messages. He tapped one pinned photo of the underground entrance. "We'll need recon tools. Thermal optics. I can handle the heavy lifting, but we'll need stealth too."
"Good thing I built a portable mini-drone," Ned said. "Technically it's for bird-watching but the camera's sharp. I can tweak it."
Peter tossed Raj a small device from his desk drawer. "Pocket comm. Works within a mile radius. Frequency-hopped, encrypted, no Wi-Fi required. Can't be jammed easily."
Raj caught it, weighed it in his palm. "Let's suit up. Tonight, we plan. Tomorrow—we move."
Hours later, Peter's bedroom looked like a command center. Maps, devices, and printed files covered every flat surface. Raj sat cross-legged on the floor, gold-glint suit half-unzipped as he adjusted the inner lining. Peter, fully suited in red and blue, tested web cartridges in silence.
Ned tapped away on his laptop, projecting a 3D schematic of the terminal onto the far wall via a mini projector. "Main access is buried, but there's an old maintenance shaft from an elevator tunnel two blocks away. No cameras. Entry point here." He zoomed in. "Steel-plated. Locked, but not electrified. Shouldn't be hard for Raj to punch through, if needed."
Peter turned. "And inside?"
"Four heat signatures confirmed. Could be more, but I'm betting most of the place is automated. I saw EM readings—drones, maybe. Defensive units. Not human."
Raj stood and zipped his suit fully, the fabric shimmering like molten metal in the dim light. He looked like something between a guardian and a war machine. "We extract data, disable what we can, get out. No heroics unless necessary."
Ned raised a hand. "Define 'necessary.'"
Peter and Raj answered together: "If someone's about to die."
"Right," Ned mumbled. "Of course. Naturally."
Peter clapped him on the shoulder. "You'll be our eye in the sky. Literally."
Ned looked around. "You guys realize how crazy this is, right? We're not trained soldiers. We're barely passing pre-calc."
Raj gave a faint smile. "Hydra isn't waiting for our final exams."
They stood there for a beat, three teens facing something vast and buried, stitched into the bones of a city too old to care.
Peter glanced at the clock. "We sleep for a few hours. Then we go."
In the quiet of night, Raj lay awake on Peter's floor, staring at the ceiling. The hum of a streetlamp filtered in through the curtains.
"You think we're ready?" he asked softly.
Peter didn't answer immediately. Then: "Nope. But we're willing. That might be enough."
Raj rolled onto his side. The glow beneath his skin faded gently as his body relaxed.
Outside, the city kept breathing.
And far below it, Hydra waited.