Chapter Text
The first thing he saw was the blue sky - white clouds floating above just like any other normal day.
The normality of the calm, still atmosphere was like he’d been thrown in a blender for the past month that had only just stopped moving - that had only now given him the opportunity to look at his surroundings.
It was so normal, but so wrong.
He tried to move, the agonising pain in the back of his head telling him otherwise. He barely lifted his head when he collapsed back.
Everything was clear, dialled to eleven. The smell and feel of fresh, wet summer grass, under him, sound of birds chirping above him, and the people. People who he could hear muttering, flashing pictures and calling for help.
“Man, you okay?” Someone asked, towering over him and blocking the bright sky.
Peter frowned, and only then he realised. Realised why his face felt constricted and his clothes so tight.
“Spider-Man?” The person asked again, and Peter felt a sudden rush of panic jolt his entire body.
He felt as if his world was about to collapse around him because—because he couldn’t move. He couldn’t move and he couldn’t speak, and he didn’t know where he was, but there were people here. Too many people.
People.
People and the paralysing fear that he wouldn’t be able to do anything if they tried taking his mask or hurting him.
“I—“ his attempt to ask for help was cut off by the loud marching to his left, which seemed to shake the ground from underneath him.
“Everyone, please get back,” a man ordered, and then someone was rolling him to the side, pushing his face into the ground.
He inhaled sharply, the sickly sweet smell of grass and feeling of deja vu mixing with fear and helplessness. His heart was racing as his wrists were pulled back roughly, cuffed tightly.
“Don’t move.”
(“Don’t move.” The words were crisp and clear, whispered right into his ear.
He inhaled. Thought about how unbelievably hot it was here; focused on the heat instead of the horror show in front of him.
The woman stood in front of him, back to him so that he could only see the colour of her hair, “You move, you die. You wouldn’t want that, would you?)
His vision had already started blurring by then, darkening the more he blinked and tried to stay awake.
“Don’t try...” the rest of the menacing sentence faded into mumbles, and then nothing when the world turned black and he lost consciousness.
“And the wedding?” Tony asked quickly, firing back at her as soon as she’d finished her sentence.
Pepper raised her brows - blinked as if she’d been asked the stupidest question in the world, “the wedding? What about the wedding, Tony?”
“What about it? You cancelled—
“I postponed it, because you—“
“I didn’t say we should move the date,” he interrupted, lifting up both hands in the air defensively.
“Yeah.” Pepper said obviously, “you didn’t say anything.” There wasn’t rudeness or anger in her voice. Just regret and sadness, which she knew would only upset him more, but she couldn’t mask that.
Tony sighed, holding her by the shoulders, “We should do it. You wanna do it now? Let’s do it right now, take a plane to—“
Pepper smiled tiredly, “we’re not in our good place. I want it to start with happiness not—“ she shook her head, “—not this. Not until they’re all back.”
Not until your nightmares are gone. He heard the unsaid words, saw how defeated she felt. Knew it was all his fault, because he was dragging her into this unending mess. And she didn’t deserve this - giving up everything just because he had a broken shell of a life right now.
He gave a forced smile, then nodded, letting her go, “you’re right. You’re always right,”
She reciprocated, “maybe. But I don’t have the fate of the universe resting on my shoulders. My being wrong doesn’t matter.”
Tony looked away, eyes shifting uneasily, “and mine has.”
“We’ve never had to find out.” She said quickly, because she’d never say that, or mean anything like that, and she didn’t know why he wouldn’t understand that. She was on his side.
He huffed a laugh, “really?”
“Really.” She said confidently and genuinely. “No one would’ve done what you did.”
There were a few seconds of silence, and Tony wondered how she always knew exactly what to say at exactly the right time, an art he had yet to master.
She looked back at him with a smile, and everything in this moment was so perfect—
“Boss, there’s something in—“
He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, “Fri, I’m kinda in the—“
The ringing of the phone disrupted their conversation, and he looked down at the phone in his hand.
“Rhodey.” He stated, confused.
Pepper gave a curious look as he picked up.
”Turn on the news.”
“Rhodes, today’s my personal day, I can deal with whatever he’s done—“
”Tony, now.”
He pulled the phone away from his ear and looked to Pepper with a shrug.
“Fri, news please.”
”Yes, boss, I believe this is what Mr Rhodes is referring to.”
A screen illuminated in the middle of the room and Tony’s face dropped.
“—out of it and wasn’t even moving or anything and they just like, came outta nowhere, y’know?”
”And he was unconscious?” The reporter asked, her eyes squinting at the sunlight.
“Man, I’m pretty sure, they were, like, being real extra to the poor guy,” the young man answering the questions told her, a distant look of worry on his face.
“Well, there you have it. The arrest comes after accusations by Secretary Ross blamed super humans and the Avengers for the disappearance of over three and a half billion p—“
“Where is he?” Tony asked, waving a hand in the air and muting the news, phone pressed against his ear.
”I believe taken for interrogation.” Friday answered.
A few seconds of silence struck the room. Tony clenched his fists; Pepper uncharacteristically ran a hand over her face.
“I haven’t heard anything.” Rhodey answered, finally - the question was initially for him, after all, “but Friday sounds about right, sorry.”
“Tony, they can do that?” Pepper asked, eyes filled with worry.
Tony slammed his fist on the table, “what do you think, Pep? He doesn’t care who it is,” his words were harsher than he intended.
Pepper scoffed, “I’m gonna let that slide.”
He exhaled deeply, “sorry. I’m sorry,” he didn’t have enough time to deal with this. They’d probably have him there by the time he even figured out a plan, and he wasn’t waiting all those months for it to end up like this.
She ignored his apology, “I meant his age. Peter’s a minor, there has be some kind of law around it.”
“It doesn’t apply to—superhumans.” He stammered, running a hand over his face, “I should’ve kept tabs. I should’ve known where he’d end up—“
“Tony, that was an impossible question,” she interrupted, “what are you gonna do?”
“I can find out where they’re keeping him,” Rhodes offered.