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Chapter Text

Tony and Bruce were enjoying a game of chess one evening when FRIDAY announced Spider-Man was swinging towards the Tower and in need of medical assistance.  Tony tried to get more details, but FRIDAY reported that Karen had been damaged and was unable to provide more information.

Bruce had not yet met Spider-Man. He only knew that the hero was young and Tony was mentoring him. He could see the obvious worry on Tony’s face.  

“He’s able to come in on his own, so it can’t be too bad,” Bruce remarked, trying reassure his friend.

“Yeah, but it’s serious enough that he’s coming in voluntarily,” Tony pointed out.

“I’ll get the medbay ready,” Bruce told him and headed towards the medical unit. 

“Thanks.”  Tony replied as he went onto the balcony.  

He could see Spider-Man approaching from about two blocks away.  His swings were slow and had an uneven rhythm, sure signs of injury.  Arriving at the Tower, he landed without any of his usual acrobatics. Tony rushed to the boy and looked at him closely. There was a bloody gash in the suit along the left side. Peter had webbed up the wound, but blood was oozing out from under the webbing.

Tony grimaced. “It must have hurt like hell to swing with that. You should have called for a ride.”

Peter’s took a moment to catch his breath, which was ragged from the exertion. “I didn’t need a ride.  I didn’t want to bother you and figured could swing here faster anyway.”

“I’ve told you before it’s not a bother.  You shouldn’t be swinging around with an injury like this. Next time ask for help.”  Tony was getting tired of giving this lecture.

The man pulled off Peter’s mask and ran his fingers over the kid’s scalp, checking for head injuries. Finding none, other than a bruised cheek, Tony gave a small sigh of relief.

“What happened, Spider-Kid?” Tony tried to keep his voice calm as he put an arm around the boy’s shoulders and started leading him to the medical unit.

“Got into a fight with a couple muggers.  One guy pulled a knife.” Peter explained.

“I see that.”  Tony answered dryly.  

Peter enthusiastically gave him a brief description of the fight as they as made their way to the medbay.

“Bruce, this is Peter…” Tony started the introductions once Peter had removed his damaged suit and settled onto the exam table. 

“Oh my god!” Peter gushed excitedly, “You’re Bruce Banner! I’ve read all your papers.  Your work on gamma radiation is amazing, particularly it’s transformative influence on living tissue.”

Bruce was a little taken aback by the recognition and praise. “Thank you. You’re very well read for someone so young. How old are you, Peter?”

“Fifteen.” Peter replied.

“Only fifteen?” He looked at Tony accusingly.  Tony just shrugged. Bruce turned back to the boy.  “Let’s see where you’re hurt.”

The wound on his side needed stitches. But despite the alarming amount of blood, Bruce declared it wasn’t too bad and had him patched up quickly. He had a few other scrapes and bruises, but everything was expected to clear up in a few days, given Peter’s enhanced healing.

“How did you get your powers?” Bruce asked Peter, while Tony stood a few feet away, examining the damage to the Spider-Man suit and trying not to hover.

“I was bitten by a genetically engineered spider,” Peter replied simply.

“Really? That’s fascinating,” Bruce said with genuine interest. “I once had a colleague who theorised that…” Bruce broke off suddenly and looked at the teen more closely.

“Oh my god…” Bruce’s astonished voice held the slightest hint of horror. “You’re Peter Parker.”

Tony looked up sharply. Peter and Bruce were staring at each other in mutual shock.

“Of course you are,” Bruce continued.  “Fifteen years old now and you look so much like your dad.”

“You knew my father?” Peter asked in surprise.

“I knew both your parents.  I knew you, too. The last time I saw you, you must have been…five years old, I think.”

Peter looked at the floor. “If you mean the funeral, I was six.” He said flatly.

Bruce shook his head. “I wasn’t at the funeral. When your parents died, I was living off the grid, dealing with...the transformative influence of gamma radiation.” That got a small smile from the boy. “I only heard about everything that happened with your parents a few years ago. I’d like to offer my condolences, as late as they are. I was really sorry to hear about all of it, Peter.”

The boy nodded solemnly. He didn’t know what to say.

Tony tapped at his phone and waited until the silence seemed strained.  “He’s ok? Everything checks out?” Tony asked Bruce, bringing them back to the situation at hand.  

“Yeah. He needs calories to support the advanced healing and I’d like him to stay a while so I can keep on eye on the wound, but he should be ok.”

“Done and done.” Tony told them. He looked at Peter fondly. “I ordered dinner from our favorite Italian place and texted your aunt that you’re staying here tonight. Go get changed and meet us in the kitchen.”

“OK.” Peter replied and got up slowly, wincing a little. Tony handed him a robe and he slipped it on. He started to head out of the medbay and then turned back to Bruce.

“Dr. Banner?” Peter didn’t quite meet the man’s eyes. “I don’t remember much from back then. But I do know something about my parents’ reputation. I hope you won’t hold it against me.”

Bruce gazed at the boy for a moment and then said gently, “of course not, Peter.”

Peter nodded and then headed off to his room.  As soon as the boy left, Bruce rounded on Tony. Before Bruce could say anything, Tony held up a hand in a STOP gesture, then tapped something on his phone. FRIDAY confirmed that the room had been soundproofed.

“Enhanced hearing,” Tony explained. “He can’t hear us now, so what do you want to say?”

“Tony, are you crazy?” Bruce’s voice was incredulous.  “Not only do you recruit a teenager, which is completely irresponsible - but you dig up the Parker kid? What the hell were you thinking?”

“Wait just a minute.” Tony interrupted. “First of all, I recruited him for his abilities as Spider-Man.  Yeah, he’s young, but he’s got amazing skills. He was doing the Spider-Man thing before I got involved with him. All I did was give him better equipment and I try to keep him safe. And he’s not just Spider-Man. He’s the brightest, youngest intern Stark Industries has ever had.”

Tony took a deep breath before continuing.  “I didn’t know anything about his parents until just now. I knew their names and that they died in a plane crash when the Kid was young, but that’s it. He never talks about them. I didn’t think they were important. So tell me, now - what’s the big deal about Richard and Mary Parker? And what did the Kid mean by their reputation?”

Bruce took a moment to collect his thoughts. “Back when everything happened with Ultron, you said that you and I were mad scientists.  Do you remember that?”

“Yeah, what about it?” Tony said cautiously.

“Rick and Mary were definitely mad scientists. They may have been worse than us.” Bruce said.

“A lot of times mad scientists just aren’t appreciated,” Tony sounded a little defensive. “What did they do?”

“They were both biologists. Specifically, Rick was a geneticist and Mary specialized in cellular biology. Together, they wanted to change the course of human evolution.  Rick had these wild ideas about traits that could be cultivated by fusing human and animal genes. Mary had theories about how to manipulate human cell development to accept the animal DNA.  Their work was fascinating and made for a lot of interesting debates. But some of their ideas were downright scary.”

“But it was all theoretical, right?” Tony asked, with some trepidation.  

Bruce shrugged. “I thought so at the time. But when I heard about their deaths I also heard that they had been censured by the government.”

“For what?” This conversation was taking an alarming turn.

“There were rumors that they had been conducting human experiments without proper approval. Including experiments on minors.”

Tony was stunned. “Peter? Did they experiment on him?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t want to believe the rumors. But now their own son has powers from a genetically altered spider?” Bruce paced a bit, trying to reign in his emotions.  “That sounds exactly like what they were working towards. So what do you think?”

Tony thought a minute. “But the Kid was bitten by that spider when he was fourteen. His parents died when he was six. It wasn’t them.”

Bruce considered that. “Someone’s been continuing their work?” he suggested.

Tony was deeply disturbed by the thought.  The idea that Peter had gotten his powers by a fluke accident was one thing. But if this had been done to him deliberately, that was another situation entirely.

FRIDAY interrupted their conversation to announce that dinner had arrived. The two scientists made their way to the kitchen.  Peter was already there, dressed in soft sweats and piling his plate with pasta and vegetables. Bruce and Tony joined him in dishing out their dinners.  Soon, all three were settled at the dining table.

“How did you know my parents, Dr. Banner?” Peter asked between mouthfuls.

“You may be too young to remember, but your parents liked to throw dinner parties and have scientists from diverse fields attend. It made for great discussion and debates about all kinds of scientific theories and discoveries.  The food was always amazing too. Your mom was a great hostess.” Bruce remembered. “Sometimes they liked to show you off. They called you their latest project.” What had seemed like a cute comment at the time now had an ominous implication.

Peter had a small frown and a far away look, like he was chasing a fleeting memory.

“You were friends with them?” Tony asked, thinking back to their earlier conversation. There was a bit of accusation in his voice.

“Colleagues. There’s a difference.” Bruce corrected him.

Peter looked at both adults questioningly, sensing some tension between them.

“How did you get invited to these parties?” Tony asked, flippantly, trying to lighten his own mood. “And why wasn’t I ever invited?”

Bruce smirked at Tony’s bruised ego. “My friend Betty was a geneticist. She had collaborated with Rick on a project.  I was originally invited through her.”

“It’s always about who you know.” Tony quipped, not really wanting to think about Betty Ross because then he would start thinking about her father.  He had enough on his mind right now.

After a few minutes, Bruce asked, “So, Peter, do you still wreck havoc on household appliances?”

Peter was startled by the question. “What do you mean?”

“Well, the last time I saw you, you had taken apart your parents’ brand new Roomba.”

“Oh, yeah… I think I was trying to figure out how the mapping system worked,” he remembered the incident a little vaguely.

Bruce commented, “your dad seemed pretty upset with you. I guess you did that kind of thing a lot.” Peter blushed and nodded.  Both adults chuckled.

“Uh...yeah.  I was always in trouble for taking something apart. But I usually got things put back together and most of the time they worked even better than before.  But my parents were never happy about it.”

Bruce and Tony seemed amused by that. Tony could only imagine how adorable little Peter must have been.

Bruce remarked, “You know, your dad said he had a plan to cure you of that habit.  But I never found out what it was.”

Peter swallowed a bite of his pasta and said, “he snapped my radius bone.”  The boy tapped his right forearm for emphasis. He remembered that part clearly.

The two adults set their forks down and stared at him, dumbfounded, all traces of amusement gone.  Peter continued eating like he didn’t realize he had just said something out of the ordinary.

“Dammit Rick,” Bruce muttered under his breath, and tried to contain his surge of emotion.

Tony kept his voice calm, “Pete, do you mean your father broke your arm because you took some appliances apart?” Peter nodded.

“He did it on purpose?” Tony clarified. Peter nodded again.

“What happened after that?” Bruce asked quietly.

“I had a cast for a about a month.” Peter replied, “no quick healing back then.”

“I mean, what happened after it healed?”

“Oh.  Well, I didn’t take their stuff apart anymore,” Peter said quickly. “But I did start going through the neighbors’ garbage looking for old appliances and electronics that I could use instead. So that was cool.”

Tony sighed. “That’s when you started dumpster diving? At five years old?”

“Yeah.”  Peter took another bite, like it was no big deal.

Tony pushed his plate away, having lost his appetite. His whole body felt tense. Human experimentation. Child abuse. The five-year old Kid digging through the trash. He had learned too much disturbing information about the Parkers for one evening.  

Feeling a desperate need to change the mood at the table, Tony brought out ice cream and prompted Peter to tell Bruce about his project for the upcoming science fair.  Peter had synthesized a new polymer with unique properties. The teen launched into an enthusiastic and animated description of how he developed his formula and experimented with materials. Bruce was impressed and asked several questions about the project. Tony added comments here and there - some complimentary and some sarcastic - and felt the tension inside him slowly melt away.

Bruce was beginning to understand Tony’s attachment to the Kid. He was obviously brilliant and creative, with a quick wit that could match Tony’s own. Bruce wasn’t really surprised at that. After all, he remembered the bright little boy from years ago.  And any child of Rick and Mary would have to be a sassy genius. Bruce saw that the teen had a liveliness and energy to him that drew others in, even though his natural shyness showed through at times. He was charming and awkward at the same time.

It was apparent Peter admired Tony greatly and he valued his mentor’s comments, even when they didn’t agree. And when talking to Peter or about him, Tony displayed a patience and pride that Bruce had not witnessed from him before. It was almost parental.   Bruce suddenly understood that Tony’s investment in this kid went beyond Spider-Man and was really about Peter himself.

Then like a switch had been thrown, Peter suddenly got quiet and sluggish. His eyes became heavy and he rested his elbows on the table, with his hands supporting his head.

Tony smiled fondly and gave Peter’s shoulder a small shake. “Time to turn in, Spiderling.” He said in a low voice.

“Yeah...sorry...it just hit me all of a sudden.”  Peter said with a yawn.

“It always does when you’re healing,” Tony reminded him. “Off to bed.  I’ll check on you in a bit and Bruce will look at you in the morning.”

Peter got up from the table. “Thank you for dinner, Mr. Stark.  You don’t need to check on me. Goodnight Dr. Banner. It was nice meeting you - or seeing you again.” He headed down the hallway as Bruce wished him goodnight.

“He’s a good kid,” Bruce said quietly after Peter left.

Tony nodded. “Yeah. With a rough past.  Rougher than I thought.”

The evening had raised so many questions about his young intern. Tony was determined to find the answers.

Chapter Text

Only four students from Midtown were invited to participate in the regional science fair, one from each grade level. Peter was the school’s top ranking sophomore - no surprise there - and so was one of the chosen participants. May wasn’t able to take the weekend off work, so Tony went with Peter upstate for the event.

The first day had just ended and the two finally had a chance to relax. Tony had of course gotten the best suite in the hotel: two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large living room, and a kitchen. He had ordered room service to stock the freezer with various flavors of ice cream, which they were now enjoying while sitting in the living room.

It had been a long day with Peter having to present his project to multiple panels of judges, answering their detailed questions and defending his theories. He had been nervous at first, but as he explained his project, he had gained confidence. Tony had been very impressed by how articulate Peter could actually be when needed.

The winners were announced at the end of the day.  Peter had taken first place in chemistry and third place overall.  Tony was bursting with pride. He knew the Kid was brilliant and it was gratifying to see him recognized for his talents.  

“You did a great job, Kid. And I don’t just mean your project, which honestly is amazing.  I mean your presentation today was perfect and you really dazzled the judges.” Tony said as he dug into the cookie dough ice cream.

Peter beamed at his mentor’s praise. “I’m just glad it’s over,” he admitted, taking a bite of his rocky road ice cream.

“It’s not over yet,” Tony reminded him. “Tomorrow’s the networking day.”

Tomorrow was the day that representatives from colleges and science/technology companies would be attending.  The students would be in their exhibit booths all day while these representatives checked out the various projects and scouted them.  It was a one of a kind networking event that would result in offers of scholarships and career opportunities.

Peter visibility deflated. “Any chance we can skip tomorrow and just head home?” he asked, although he already knew the answer.

“No way,” Tony replied quickly. “Pete, this is a great chance for you to impress college recruiters and industry leaders.”

“I just think it’s a waste of time, Mr. Stark. I don’t need to be thinking about that stuff.” Peter said, looking down at his ice cream.

Tony sighed in frustration. Every time he tried to talk to Peter about college or careers, the Kid shut down. Tony couldn’t understand the boy’s refusal to even think about his future.

“I know it feels like college is still a long way off, but it isn’t too early to think about where you want to go and what field you want get into.”  

“Why? You have my future already planned out: MIT and then a job at Stark Industries.” Peter tried to sound enthusiastic, but it fell flat. “Plus I have Spider-Man,” he added in a more upbeat tone.

“Spider-Man isn’t supposed to be career goal.” Tony said evenly. “Look, Spider-Man is important and does a lot of good. But you’re going to change the world as Peter Parker.  As for the rest, yes MIT and working at SI is what I would choose for you, but it’s your life and I’m not going to railroad you into that. I’ll support you wherever you choose to go.”

Peter pushed his ice cream around in the bowl nervously. “I just don’t want to disappoint you,” he said almost guiltily.

“You’re not going to disappoint me, Pete.” Tony said gently. “You are incredibly talented in so many ways.  Don’t waste that by not looking at everything possible.”

Peter was quiet for a while then asked, “what if the future I want isn’t possible?”

Tony studied the boy for a minute. “Kid, you do know they call me the futurist, right? I built the first Iron Man suit in a cave. I invented a new element.  Impossible futures are my specialty.”

Peter nodded solemnly. “I’ll think about it, Mr. Stark.”

For now, Tony would consider that a minor victory.

“When are you going to start calling me Tony?” The man suddenly changed the topic to lighten the mood.

Now Peter smiled, but it was his overly polite smile rather than a genuine one. “I was taught to respect my elders,” he said sarcastically. It was the same answer he gave every time Tony asked.  

Tony just shook his head. That issue was going to have to be a battle for another day.

——-

The next day got off to a great start. Peter and his project attracted a lot of attention from college recruiters and science companies. They all asked a lot of questions about his work and It was obvious that everyone admired the teen’s brilliance.  By the end of the day, Peter had talked to dozens of people and had a pocketful of business cards. He even seemed to be enjoying it.

Tony stayed close to Peter’s booth, watching and listening, but never interfering. Sure, he wanted the Kid to see all the options available to him, but at the same time, he wasn’t going to just let another company steal his protege. There were other representatives from SI present to do recruiting, so Tony was free to stay close and keep on eye on the Spiderling.

There was only about half an hour left to the day when Tony saw Peter’s body stiffen and his eyes go wide in alarm. The boy started looking around, scrutinizing everything. Tony knew that posture.

“Spidey sense?” Tony stepped close and asked in a low voice.  Peter nodded. His gaze fixed on something behind Tony.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…” Peter muttered under his breath.

Tony turned to see what the threat was.  To his surprise, he only saw Norman Osborn making a beeline over to Peter’s display.

Tony Stark and Norman Osborn had a relationship built on a professional rivalry and a mutual personal resentment. Tony didn’t know what caused Peter to have such a strong reaction to Norman’s approach. Maybe he was just sensitive to his mentor’s feelings about his rival. Still, Tony knew he shouldn’t be surprised that Peter had drawn Norman’s attention.  

“It’s Ok. You’ll be fine,” Tony whispered to Peter before taking a few steps back.  Tony would let Norman make his pitch - as he had with all the other companies - but Tony wasn’t going to be too far away.

“Petey, my boy! How are you?” Norman wrapped Peter in a huge hug that the boy did not return.  Tony was startled by Norman’s greeting.

“I’m fine, Dr. Osborn, sir.” Peter replied flatly.

“Dr. Osborn sir?” Norman repeated.  “Is that any way to address your godfather?”

“You’re not my godfather.” Peter protested. He turned to Tony. “He’s not. My parents weren’t even religious.”

Norman laughed. “A figure of speech, Petey. You’re parents weren’t just two of my best employees, they were two of my dearest friends.”

Tony did a double take. What? Why hadn’t Bruce told him that the Parkers worked for OsCorp?

Norman continued, “And you - I’ve known you since you were just a clump of cells in a petri dish.” Peter glared at him. “You took your first steps in my office. Your parents brought you to the lab so often I had to set up a playroom just for you and Harry.” Norman gestured over his shoulder and only then did Tony notice Harry Osborn standing several feet behind his father.

Peter leaned to his side, so he could look around Norman and see Harry. “Hey, Con,” Peter called out in a friendly tone.

“Hiya, Six,” Harry replied, with a trace of a smile.

“So, Petey, I hear you’re at the top of your class at Midtown.” Norman remarked.

“Yes, Dr. Osborn, sir.”

Norman sighed dramatically. “How many times do I have to tell you to call me Norman? Why do you insist on the formality?”

Tony expected Peter to reply with the usual sarcastic answer of respecting his elders. So he was shocked when instead Peter coldly stated, “it’s because I don’t trust you.”

Tony’s heart sank. Somehow this felt like the truth. Was this the real reason Peter wouldn’t call adults by their first names? Did that mean that Peter didn’t trust Tony either?

Norman scowled, but ignored the statement. “You haven’t answered my calls and emails, Petey.  When are you going to come intern for me?”

“I can’t. I’ve made a commitment to Stark Industries...and to Tony.” Peter put emphasis on his mentor’s first name.  Tony felt a swell of happiness. Maybe the Kid trusted him after all.

“Oh, I see. He’s Tony, but I’m Dr. Osborn sir? You trust him?” Norman scoffed. “It doesn’t matter. You’re a minor. You can’t commit to anything without your guardian’s permission.”

“Do you really think May would ever let me work for you?” Peter asked.

“Good point. But guardianship can be challenged.” Norman said ominously.

“That didn’t work before.” Peter said in a low voice, but there was a tinge of fear in it.

“I was listed as the preferred guardian in your parents’ will. The only reason the court ruled for May and Ben was that Ben was a blood relative to you. With his death, that’s no longer an issue.” Norman explained.

“May has raised me for ten years. The court’s not going to overlook that.” Peter countered, trying to keep calm.

“My lawyers think otherwise.” Norman said. “Who is May’s lawyer these days?”

“If May Parker needs custody lawyers, she will have the finest money can buy.” Tony interjected.

Norman turned to Tony, addressing him for the first time. “Of course. I don’t doubt that. But custody hearings can drag out for months and I can request that Petey be placed in foster care until the disputed is resolved. I can even demand visitation rights.” He looked back to Peter. “You enjoyed all that so much before, didn’t you?”

Peter was showing signs of anxiety. His face was pale and he was tapping clenched fists against his legs.

“I think you should go, Norman.” Tony said firmly.

“Nonsense.  I’m here to see the boy’s work.” he replied, with fake cheer.

Norman finally moved away from the teen, stepping around him to examine Peter’s project display.  Peter and Harry exchanged a look that Tony couldn’t read. Then Peter glanced at up to the ceiling and his face took on a thoughtful expression. Tony recognized that look; it was the same one the Kid had when he was calculating an equation.  

“When are you going to accept that chemistry is a waste of your talents, my boy? You should be doing biology,” Norman said while looking over the project.

“I like chemistry.  And I’m not your boy.” Peter said harshly.  He turned to watch Norman inspect his display and took a couple steps to the side.

Norman chuckled. “You’ll make a contribution to science for sure.  But we both know it won’t be through this.” He indicated the project. Peter frowned in response.

Norman proceeded to quiz the teen about his work, but Peter’s answers were all sarcastic and terse.  Even Tony was taken aback by the Kid’s attitude. It seemed like he was itching for a fight.

Norman was getting irritated, “You look just like your dad. But that sass mouth of yours, that’s all your mom.  I let Mary get away with it because she was a beautiful woman with many talents. And your father didn’t mind sharing her. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, since none of you even cared if I was in the room or not.” the boy answered petulantly. Tony couldn’t help but wince. “What’s your point?” Peter asked.

“Norman…” Tony said warningly, but Peter waved his mentor off.

Norman ignored Tony. “The point, Petey, is that I tolerated that sass from your mom. I won’t tolerate it from you.  Do you remember the advice I would give you every day? Those four words I would always tell you?”

“Live fast, die young,” Peter recited without hesitation.  The way he said it sent a chill down Tony’s spine.

Norman laughed - it was a harsh, sharp sound. “Watch your mouth, boy, ” he corrected.

“Oh yeah, that too.” Peter said flippantly.  He rolled his eyes, taking another quick glance at the ceiling. He moved a step backwards.

“Your parents would be so disappointed in you.” Norman told him cruelly.

Oddly, Peter gave a huge smile. “Then it’s a good thing they aren’t here.”

Norman turned to Peter sharply, anger clearly rising on his face.

Peter was determined to push Norman’s mood further. “As a matter of fact, their deaths were the best thing that ever happened to me.”

As soon as he said it, Peter took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Norman’s anger erupted. He stepped forward, closing the gap between them and slapped Peter’s cheek as hard as he could.

“Hey!” Tony yelled. Peter immediately held up a hand towards Tony, in a STOP gesture.

The teen opened his eyes and blew out his breath. He smiled again, blood slightly staining his teeth. “You know, Dr. Osborn sir, I don’t think video of you slapping me in public will help your custody case.”  He said calmly and then pointed to the security camera in the ceiling that was perfectly positioned to capture the exact spot where they stood.

Tony pulled out his phone and immediately ordered FRIDAY to download the footage. He knew that kid was brilliant.

“Awesome” Harry whispered from where he stood several feet away.  Tony had forgotten the other boy was there.

Norman was seething. He whispered something directly into Peter’s ear. Tony couldn’t hear it, but he saw the flash of fear on the Kid’s face, which quickly changed to a look of defiance.

Norman then moved towards Tony. In a gravelly voice he said, “You’ve poached something that isn’t yours, Stark. Enjoy it while you can. It won’t last long.”  He looked back at Peter. “You think Stark can protect you? He can’t.”

Before Tony or Peter could even respond, Norman stormed away.

As soon as his father passed him, Harry rushed forward, extending his right hand to Peter, who held out his own. For a moment, it looked like the boys were going to shake hands. But then, their fingers curled around each other’s and Tony heard both of them whisper the chant “one, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war!”  

Tony didn’t know Harry Osborn very well. He had seen the boy attend various events with his father. And Harry could be a bit of a media sensation at times. He had a bad boy reputation for partying and getting expelled from schools. He was said to be smart, but lazy, skating along on his father’s name. But Tony of all people knew not to judge someone based on their portrayal in the media.

He watched as Peter and Harry thumb wrestled, the contest going on longer than necessary, since Peter could have easily won if he had wanted. The boys’ heads were bent close together and they whispered to each other things Tony couldn’t hear. He noted that the boys were almost the same height, with Harry just a bit taller.  They were of similar builds as well. Despite the differences in their facial features, Tony thought they could almost pass as brothers.

Suddenly, both teens stopped whispering and lifted their heads. Harry declared, “you win!” despite the fact that neither had pinned the other’s thumb. Their hands rotated, moving quickly from thumb wrestling to a pinky swear before breaking apart.

“Harry!”  Norman’s yell came from down the hall. “Let’s go!”

The boys stepped away from each other. “See you around, Con.”  Peter said with a smirk.

“Later, Six,” Harry responded. He turned to Tony. “Hi, Mr. Stark! Bye, Mr. Stark!”  And he ran off after his father.

Tony took a moment to recover from everything he had just witnessed. He looked at his protege and the hand shaped bruise that had formed on the Kid’s face. “Are you ok?”

“Yes. And no.” Peter was suddenly struggling to catch his breath. He wasn’t having an anxiety attack yet, but Tony knew it could develop into one.  

“Let’s get you some water.” Tony led Peter out of the exhibit hall and into the corridor.  He got a bottle of water from a vending machine and found a quiet spot for the Kid to catch his breath.

“Thank you, Mr. Stark,” Peter said after drinking down half the bottle. He felt calmer.

“Oh, it’s back to Mr. Stark now?”  Tony noted. “Does that mean you don’t trust me after all?”

“Oh that…that’s just something I said to get under his skin.”  Peter handwaved his earlier statement. Tony wasn’t sure. Either Peter had lied to Norman or he lied to Tony just now.  Either way, he was a better liar than Tony gave him credit for.

“You certainly managed to upset him.” Tony gestured towards Peter’s bruised cheek.  

“Yeah. You should probably take some pictures before it heals up.  In case we need them.”

Tony agreed. He pulled out his phone and led Peter to a spot with better light.  He took several pictures: straight on, profile, whole face, and up close.

Peter looked at the pictures while rubbing his tender cheek. “Totally worth it.” He commented.

Once again Tony had so many questions, he didn’t know where to begin.  They would have to wait though, because the event coordinator ame looking for them. The science fair was over. It was time to pack up Peter’s display and head home.

Chapter Text

Tony and Peter decided to drive back to city after the science fair.  Originally, they had planned to stay another night at the hotel and head back in the morning.  But after the incident with Norman Osborn, Peter was understandably anxious to get home to May.

The Kid was exhausted and fell asleep almost immediately after they got on the road. Tony felt bad for Peter.  The weekend had been going so well until it ended on that sour note. The encounter with Norman had been disturbing. He wanted to talk to Peter about it, but thought it was better to let the Kid sleep a while.

May was waiting up for them.  Tony had called earlier to let her know they were on the way, but he didn’t tell her what happened. She greeted them happily as soon as they entered the apartment.

“How was the science fair?” She asked, eager to hear all about it.

“Good,” Peter said quietly.

“It was great!” Tony corrected him. “He took first place in chemistry and third place overall. The judges and the recruiters loved him.”

May beamed, “Honey, that’s wonderful! I knew you would…what happened to your face?” Her tone instantly turned from joy to concern.

The bruise had already mostly faded due to Peter’s healing. But of course May Parker would notice the still lingering discoloration on her nephew’s cheek.

“Dr. Osborn was there,” Peter told her as if that explained everything.

Apparently it did. May’s own face took on a hard, angry expression. “Norman? What did he want?”

“Just to fu- mess with my head,” Peter replied, catching his language before he earned a reprimand.

“And he hit you.” May said. It was definitely not a question.

“Yeah. But I really had to goad him into it.” Peter sounded just a little too proud of that.

Even this did not surprise May. She sighed deeply and said, “Peter, we’ve talked about this.  You can’t pick fights with him…”

“He threatened the guardianship! He threatened to go to court and put me in foster care,”  Peter exploded, practically yelling. “I won’t go through that again! And I won’t live with him!” Peter looked at May and said with deadly seriousness, “I’ll run away first. I will.”

May approached him slowly. She reached out to the overwrought teen and pulled him into a close hug. “That won’t happen. I won’t let that happen. Tony won’t let that happen.”  She glanced at the man, who nodded in agreement. “There’s no need to run away,” she soothed.

Peter calmed while May held him and rubbed his back.  After a moment she said, “it’s late and it’s been a long couple of days. You should take a shower and get ready for bed.”

“Yeah.”  Peter agreed and shuffled off towards the bathroom.

May looked at Tony and gestured towards the living room. They sat on the sofa and waited until they heard the shower running.

“What happened?” May asked.

“Pretty much what he said.” Tony then gave her a very short version of the events.

“Did Norman fight you for custody before?” He asked at the end.

“Well, Norman was actually named as guardian in Rick and Mary’s will. So technically we fought him for custody.” May clarified. “We barely knew Peter then; we had only seen him a couple of times. But Ben loved Rick and therefore he loved Peter.  He felt strongly that Peter should be with family. So we petitioned for custody. But it was a battle. Peter was in foster care for five weeks while we fought it out. In the end, the judge decided that Ben and I were the better option for guardians.”

“You won because Ben was a blood relative?”  Tony asked, remembering Norman’s reasoning.

“No. Not really.”  May took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t know how familiar you are with Rick and Mary’s work...Did you know they got in trouble with the government?”

“I know they were censured.” Tony said evenly.

“Yes. For unethical research practices.” May said quietly.

Tony raised an eyebrow. That was putting it mildly. He had scoured the internet to find the records of the Parkers’ censure. The files he had found confirmed that the Parkers had in fact illegally experimented on humans, including children. There wasn’t a lot of additional information available. The records had been heavily redacted “to protect the interests of the minor children.”  Tony wondered if May didn’t know the whole story or if she was softening it for his sake.

May continued, “they were on a charter plane back from DC after the censure hearing when they crashed. The government had found that there wasn’t enough evidence to implicate Norman and his company in what they had done.  But the family court judge felt that given the circumstances, Peter was better off with us. ...Even so, we had to make compromises.”

“What kind of compromises?”

May stood up, paced a little. “Rick and Mary didn’t have any savings. Their house was owned by OsCorp. They left nothing for Peter’s care. Ben and I weren’t financially prepared to take on a child. After we won custody, Norman offered to help us out with some money in exchange for visitation.”

Tony wasn’t sure what to say about that. He could understand that they had financial difficulties - well, he couldn’t relate to it, but intellectually he understood.  But allowing Norman to have visitation with Peter ...after what he had seen today...it seemed unreal.

May seemed to sense his thoughts. “I know you must think we’re terrible.” She sat back down and asked, “was Harry there today?”

“Yeah.” Tony nodded.

May gave a sad smile. “You know, Peter and Harry were practically raised together until they were six. They were born three days apart, so they’ve literally known each other their whole lives. They were almost like twins, just not really related.  When Peter first moved in with us, he used to cry that he wanted Harry...not his parents. That’s why we agreed to the visitation. As the boys got older, Ben and I worried that Harry was a bad influence and we could see the visits were stressful on Peter. So we put a stop to it.”

“He’s not a bad influence.  He just gets a bad rap from the press,” came a young voice from the kitchen. Peter was there in his pajamas, looking through the refrigerator. The adults hadn’t noticed him come in.

“You shouldn’t be hanging out with him,” May said firmly.

Peter rolled his eyes. “I know. Do we have any grapes?”

“Sorry, we’re out.  Have an apple,” May suggested.

“I should be going,” Tony said as he stood up.

Peter came from the kitchen with an apple in hand. He stepped close to his mentor. “Thank you for everything, Mr. Stark,” he said with a quiet sincerity.

“I’m glad I could be there for you, Pete.” Tony put a hand on his protege’s shoulder. “I’ll always be there for you.” He nodded his goodbye to May and left the apartment.  

———-

As soon as Tony was back in the Tower, he stormed into Bruce’s lab.

“Hey you’re back! How was the science fair?” The scientist called out.

“Great. The Kid did great.” Tony replied. “What do you know about the Parkers and Norman Osborn?”

Bruce thought a moment.  “Rick and Mary worked for Norman. They were all good friends - really good friends. Norman was always at those dinner parties. He used to bring his son to play with Peter. And...there were rumors that Norman and Mary had something going on the side.”

Tony remembered Peter’s reaction to Norman’s insinuation. “Yeah, apparently it was more than rumors.”  A thought struck him, “Uh…you don’t think Peter could be Norman’s…”

“What? No way!” Bruce didn’t let him finish the thought. “Peter is definitely Rick’s kid.  There’s too many similarities for him not to be.”

Tony breathed a sigh of relief.

Bruce continued, “Besides, Rick and Mary did in vitro fertilization with both kids.  With their fields of work, they weren’t going to take any chances on something going wrong genetically.”

That made sense. Norman had commented about knowing Peter since he was a clump of cells in a petri dish. Then Tony realized what Bruce had said.

“What do you mean, both kids?”

“I mean both Patrick and Peter.”  At Tony’s confused look, Bruce explained. “I thought you knew. Patrick was their firstborn. He died about a year before Peter was born. He was just a baby, not even a year old.”

“Peter had a brother?” Tony said incredulously. “How did he die?”

“The baby got really sick. It was very tragic, some rare genetic thing they said.”  There was something odd about Bruce’s tone. It was sympathetic, but a little skeptical.

Tony picked up on it right away. “A genetic thing. You just said they did in vitro to avoid genetic problems. So what happened?”

Bruce hesitated, fidgeted a little. “I don’t know. Something really rare they didn’t screen for? In vitro isn't perfect. But...there were whispers that something...weird had happened to Patrick.”

Tony thought a minute. “For someone who claims to not have been the Parkers’ friend, you sure seem to know a lot about them.”

Bruce shrugged. “It’s mostly gossip. I don’t usually pay much attention to that sort of stuff, but Betty used to tell me everything she heard.”

Tony fiddled with the lab equipment, thinking intently. After a while, he asked quietly, “Do you think they experimented on Patrick and it killed him?.... I can’t believe I’m even suggesting someone would do that to their own kid.”  

Bruce took deep breaths, while his skin shimmered a bright green for an instant. “I don't know. I guess It’s possible.  If they did...that’s a whole different level of mad science than what we were doing.”

“Is it?” Tony asked dejectedly. “I created an artificial intelligence that wanted to destroy all of humanity. I honestly don’t know if that’s better or worse than what the Parkers might have done.”

———

Two days later, Spider-Man showed up at the Tower balcony with multiple injuries.  

“I’m amazed you were able to swing over here,” Bruce remarked, honestly impressed the teen had managed it. Peter grinned at him.

“What’s the damage?” Tony asked, not even bothering to hide the worry in his voice.  

“Two cracked ribs, torn ligaments in the right shoulder, and a head laceration that looks worse than it is.”  Bruce listed off as he cleaned Peter’s head wound.

Tony rubbed a hand over his face. “What happened?”

“A hold up at a gas station,” Peter replied. “There were four of them.  I webbed them all. They never even got a chance to fire a shot.” He smiled proudly.

Tony blew out an exasperated breath. “There were guns? You should have called for help. What were you thinking going up against four guys with guns?”

“That I was protecting the neighborhood,” Peter said defensively.  “That’s what I do.”

Bruce tried to calm the situation down. “Tony, he’s fine. Or he’ll be fine.  Some food and some rest and he’ll heal right up. You know that.” Peter smiled his thanks to the scientist.

Tony took a deep breath.  He knew Bruce was right. The Kid had been injured before, but for some reason it bothered him more now. “It’s amazing you weren’t hurt more seriously. How did you fight four of them?”  

Peter shrugged, “I’ve got my spidey sense for that.”

Tony sat down next to the Kid. “Speaking of your spidey sense, why are you afraid of Norman Osborn?”

Peter flinched at the unexpected question. He was thoughtful for a minute, then answered slowly, “he wanted to take me away from May.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t know that when he triggered your spidey sense.” Tony pointed out. “Why did he set it off?”

Tony wasn’t prepared for the look of fear in Peter’s eyes.

“Pete, what did Norman do to you? What did your parents do to you?” Tony pressed.

Peter slid off the exam table and grabbed his mask. “I need to go home. Thanks, Dr. Banner. ”

Tony stood and grabbed Peter’s left arm, stopping him. “Your mask is damaged and you’re in no shape to swing home. You should stay here tonight.”

Peter shook his head. He laid the mask back down on the table. “I’ll just grab some clothes from my room and take the subway.”

“Kid, no. Just...talk to me. What did they do?” Tony forced himself to sound calm, despite the churning in his stomach.

“I don’t remember,” Peter’s voice wavered just a bit. Tony was almost sure it was a lie.

“Pete, please...” Tony insisted. “Why don’t you trust me with this?”

“I can’t, Mr. Stark.”  Peter couldn’t look him in the eye. “I don’t know how to.”

Tony let go of the boy’s arm. “Don’t take the subway. Go get some clothes, grab a snack, and I’ll have Happy drive you home.”

Tony had never felt so defeated.

Chapter Text

Tony arrived at the coffee house in Brooklyn where he had agreed to meet the boys. He hadn’t seen Peter in nearly a week, since that evening at the Tower. But the Spiderling had unexpectedly called him and practically begged him to come here, rambling something about it being neutral ground. So Tony had agreed to this unusual meeting, although he had no idea what it could be about.

He placed his order at the counter and then found Peter and Harry in a secluded booth in the back.  They had apparently been there for some time. They were sitting across from each other with textbooks and homework papers spread on the table between them, along with their empty cups and a plate of half-eaten cookies. Tony grabbed a chair from an empty table and sat at the end of the booth.

Peter smiled nervously and waved a greeting, but his attention was on examining a paper he had snatched from Harry.  “This is the science you’re studying? What kind of shit school is he sending you to this year?”

Harry laughed, “Hey! It’s an expensive and pretentious shit school. Plus, they haven’t thrown me out yet.”  

Peter frowned. “You’re so much better than this, Con. You could have done this stuff in your sleep years ago. Aren’t you bored out of your mind there?”

Harry grabbed the paper back. “That’s the difference between us, Six.  You like to be challenged. You thrive on it. You want to work for everything you have. Me - I don’t need that. I’m happy to do the easy stuff, take what I’ve got, and just skate along on my name. Don’t you read the papers?”

Peter shook his head.  “I don’t care what the press says. That’s not you.”

Harry smiled and turned to greet Tony, “Hi, Mr. Stark.  We’re glad you could come.”

“Are one of you going to tell me what I’m doing here?”  He asked, looking straight at Peter.

“Order for Tony!” The barista called out before they could answer.

Without turning his gaze from his protege, Tony said, “Harry, would you grab that for me?” It clearly wasn’t meant as a question. Harry nodded and sauntered to the counter.  

“What’s going on, Kid? Why are we at a coffee house in Brooklyn?”

“Harry can’t come to Stark Tower and May won’t let him in the apartment. I won’t go to OsCorp and I’m sure you wouldn’t either…” Peter rambled quickly.

“Yeah, yeah...I understood the whole neutral ground thing. I meant, why did you want me to come here?” Tony said insistently.

“Live fast, die young,” the boy whispered under his breath, gazing at the table.  Tony felt a chill.

Then he turned frightened eyes to his mentor and asked, “Did you mean it when you said impossible futures are your specialty? Can you really change the future?”

Tony remembered their conversation from the weekend of the science fair. “Of course I meant it, Pete. And the future is always changing. Nothing’s set in stone…”

Harry returned and set Tony’s order of coffee and biscotti down in front of the man. He also had a bottle of apple juice, which he handed to Peter. “No more caffeine for you, Six.” Harry said knowingly. Tony had to chuckle a little.

Peter was disappointed, but accepted the juice. “You’re probably right. Thanks, Con.”

Harry sat down and said, “Look what they’re selling with the postcards and other touristy crap.” He tossed a small object to Peter, who caught it without even looking.

Peter opened his hand to inspect the object. It was a keychain with a plastic glittery silver spider web. The Spider-Man emblem was poorly printed in the center of the web.

“That’s as tacky as all hell,” Peter remarked as he held it up for Tony to see. The billionaire looked at it and rolled his eyes. The thing was horrendously gaudy.

“It’s so tacky it’s awesome!” Harry countered with a small giggle. “Oh come on, you know you love it. You love everything with Spider-Man on it. Just admit it.”

Peter shook his head, but laughed. He tossed the trinket back to Harry. “This one’s terrible.” He sipped the juice.

Tony found the exchange very curious. Did Harry know that Peter was Spider-Man? It’s hard to tell if Harry knew or if he just thought Peter was a Spider-Man fan. Peter was unusually calm about it. Usually whenever the subject of Spider-Man came up while out in public, the Kid would get very anxious, worrying that someone would discover his secret.  Even when Ned brought up Spider-Man, Peter was quick to shush his best friend. Then again, Ned’s obvious enthusiasm for Spider-Man was significantly different from Harry’s laidback amusement. Peter and Harry were both laughing and at ease, like they were sharing an inside joke. Tony wasn’t sure what to make of it.

Harry rearranged some of the books and homework papers, piling them up and pushing them to the side. He pulled a large brown envelope from his backpack and placed it on the table. His hand rested on the envelope, covering what was written on it. Harry glanced at Tony, then fixed a look at Peter.

“Are you ready to do this, Six?” Harry asked. The mood between the boys suddenly shifted and became serious.  

“I don’t know.” Peter replied uncertainly.

“Are you having second thoughts?” Harry asked him.

Peter studied Tony for a minute. “No. I’m in,” he finally decided. “But you need to be sure too, Con. If your dad finds out, you’re gonna be in deep shit. You’re taking a huge risk.”  

“This is about the risk to you.” Harry countered. “Yeah, if Dad finds out, I’m probably gonna regret it...No, actually I don’t care about the consequences anymore. If we don’t do this...nothing changes. I’ll regret that even more.” Harry pushed the envelope across the table to Peter.

The boys’ need to protect each other was obvious. Tony was not a patient man. The more he saw these boys interact, the more questions it raised in his mind and that was starting to wear on his nerves. “What’s going on? What is this?” He pointed to the envelope.

Peter chewed his lip, but looked Tony in the eye. “You always say that I don’t know when to ask for help. This is me trying to ask for help. This is me wanting an impossible future.”

It was not the answer Tony had expected and it blew him away. He could see how hard it was for Peter to say that. He put a hand on his intern’s shoulder. Tony realized that whatever was going on here, it was huge.

“Ok, Kid. I’m here for you and I want to help. What’s in the envelope?” Tony's voice was unusually gentle.

Peter looked back at Harry. “You’re sure?” he asked one last time.

In response, Harry simply held out his right hand, pinky finger extended. Peter nodded and reached his hand out, completing the pinky swear.

Peter turned to Tony and picked up the envelope. “This is my parents’ research. Their great experiment. The reason they were censured. It’s all the documentation that’s left anyway.” Peter set the envelope down in front of Tony.  

The envelope was sealed and seemed a little tattered. The label on the front read PARKER RESEARCH PROJECT.

“Have you looked at what’s in here?” Tony asked them. They both shook their heads.  “How did you get this?”

“I took it from my dad’s office. He kept it hidden in his safe.” Harry said.

“I asked Con to do it when we were at the science fair.” Peter added. That explained what the boys had been whispering about.

“I want to trust you, Tony.” The use of his first name combined with the small waver in Peter’s voice tore at Tony’s heart. “Will you help me?”

“Of course I’ll help you, Pete,” he assured his protege. “I’ll start on it right away. I’ll need to bring Bruce in on this, though. He knows more about biology than I do.”

Peter considered for a moment. “OK, if you think that’s best.”

“Six, I gotta get going.” Harry started to pack his schoolwork into his backpack and Peter did the same.

Harry pushed the Spider-Man keychain across the table towards Peter, who shook his head at it. Tony picked the keychain and pocketed it.  Harry suppressed a laugh.

“Thanks, Con. Call me when you can,” Peter said as Harry stood and shouldered his bag.

“I will. Be careful, Six. Bye, Mr. Stark.”  Harry gave them a small wave as he left the coffee shop.

“Does Harry know about Spider-Man?” Tony asked in a low voice that wouldn’t be overheard.

“Uhm...yeah.” Peter reluctantly admitted.

“How did that happen?”

“It didn’t happen. He just knows.”

“What does that mean?” Tony asked. “Did he see you in the suit like Ned and May? Did he just figure it out somehow? Or did you tell him?”

“No. No. No. None of those.” Peter said adamantly. “Harry just knows because he knows.”

“That doesn’t make any sense, Kid.” Tony was confused.

“It will.” Peter assured him quietly.

Tony accepted that and picked up the envelope.  “Come on, Spiderling, I’ll give you a ride home.”

Chapter Text

Tony had intended to investigate the contents of the envelope as soon as he returned to the Tower. But Pepper had intercepted him, demanding that he attend a meeting to settle a dispute between some of the SI Department Heads who were arguing about access to resources. Then she coerced him into reviewing some documents related to the latest overseas expansion project.  After that she threatened him until he had something to eat.

At long last he had been able to grab Bruce and lock them both into a small conference room on the Avengers’ floor. With the team still broken up, the floor was pretty much empty.  The contents of the envelope were now spread across the table. For several hours Tony tried to decrypt the computer discs while Bruce pored over the handwritten research notes and accompanying photographs.

“This...this is monstrous. It’s worse than I had imagined.”  Bruce said as he removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

“It’s going to take a while to crack the encryption on these discs.” Tony admitted with some frustration. “What have you found so far?”

“Most of what’s in the handwritten notes is about their early work. Do you remember I told you they had these mad theories to advance human evolution? Basically they were trying to put that into practice. Rick worked on how to fuse human and animal DNA to create enhanced individuals with specific traits.  Mary worked on how to get the human organism to accept the altered DNA. That’s putting it very simply, but you get the idea.”

He let that sink in a moment. Getting a nod from Tony, Bruce continued. “Rick’s work led him to concentrate on spiders, tarantulas to be specific. His theory was that he could use human DNA to genetically enhance a spider and then that spider’s bite would alter a human subject’s DNA. The result would be a human with superhuman powers based on spider traits.”

“Wait, so the spider had human DNA?” Tony asked for clarification.

“Yes. Rick and Mary both believed that inserting a small amount of human DNA into the spider’s genetic makeup was a necessary step. Otherwise the human subject would reject the spider DNA and the transfer wouldn’t take effect,” Bruce explained.

“And it worked?” Tony asked.

Bruce laid out three photographs. They were labeled SUBJECT ONE, SUBJECT TWO, and SUBJECT THREE. Each showed a different handsome young man. They all appeared to be in their early twenties.

“Subjects One, Two, and Three were college students who interned at OsCorp. They each volunteered for the experiment.  Each one got sick and died painfully within a few hours of the spider bite. In every case, the death was covered up as a lab accident and OsCorp paid generous settlements to the families.”

Tony studied the photos of the three subjects. They looked so young, bright, and full of promise, just like SI’s own college interns. Tony thought of the families who had lost these young men, never knowing the truth of what had happened to them. He cursed at Norman under his breath.  

“So it didn’t work.” Tony said. “The human subjects still rejected the spider DNA.”

Bruce nodded. “Right. After the third failure, Rick realized that they needed more than just a genetically engineered spider.  They needed a genetically engineered human subject. The spider and the human had to be specifically designed and created to be compatible with each other. Since Rick was using his own DNA to create the spiders, the human subject would need to have his DNA as well.

“You mean it had to be his own kid,” Tony said with disgust.

“Yes. Additionally Mary discovered that to be successful, the genetic fusion had to take place during a time when humans have rapid growth and development. The college aged subjects they had tried were too old. She identified three possible stages that could work: the early embryonic stage, infancy, and puberty.”

“So Rick and Mary started making babies in the lab? This is the real reason they did in vitro fertilization...to experiment on their own children?” Tony realized.

“Pretty much,” Bruce confirmed distastefully.  He set down the next photograph: a magnified image of a small mass of cells. The photo was labeled SUBJECT FOUR. “Subject Four was a five day old embryo. This was an attempt to bypass the actual spider bite part of the process and to simply introduce the spider DNA in the early embryonic stage. It failed immediately. The embryo simply stopped developing.”

Tony felt a pang of sorrow for this child who never was.  

Bruce laid down a photograph of an infant, with a round chubby face with hazel eyes and a laughing smile. The baby reminded Tony of Peter, but was obviously not Peter. The photo was labeled SUBJECT FIVE.  

Tony swallowed hard. “Is this Patrick?” He asked around the lump in his throat.

“Yes, Patrick. Your suspicions about him were right.” Bruce’s voice was sad and heavy. “He was genetically engineered with specific traits to be compatible with the spider. He was given the spider bite during an infant growth spurt. He started to show the superhuman spider traits they were hoping for, but his body wasn’t strong enough to handle the strain of the transformation. He survived only three days.”

Tony blinked away a few tears before they could fall as he stared at the picture of Peter’s brother, a brother the Kid had never even met.

“Subject Six…” Bruce started hesitantly.  

A memory played in Tony’s head: the voice of Harry Osborn with the greeting Hiya, Six. Oh, god no.

Bruce quietly laid down the photo.  Little Peter looked to be about five years old.  His brown hair was cut very short, cropped close to his head. The brown eyes glittered and he had a grin that made it seem like he was up to a bit of mischief.  The photo was labeled SUBJECT SIX.

“Oh, Kid…” Tony whispered.

Bruce took deep breaths, reigning in his emotions. “He was genetically engineered just like his brother. The plan was to arrange for the spider bite during puberty…”.

“Which is exactly what happened.”  Tony’s said angrily. He felt sick. So the spider bite and Peter’s resulting powers hadn't been a fluke accident.  This had in fact been deliberately done to him. “I assume Peter’s the last one? The only survivor of their experimenting.”

Bruce shifted a little nervously. “Not quite.  There’s one more.”

Tony was surprised. “There’s a Subject Seven?”

“No.” Bruce said quickly.  He laid down the last photograph, setting it next to the one of Peter. It was another five year old boy, this one with short blond hair and thoughtful green eyes. He had a serious expression with just the slightest hint of a smile.  This photo was labeled CONTROL SUBJECT.

Another memory played in Tony’s mind: Peter’s voice calling out Hey, Con.

Tony studied the image of the little boy closely.  “Is that ...Harry Osborn?” Bruce nodded.

Tony’s mind was racing. Peter and Harry… they called each other Six and Con… Subject Six and Control Subject… innocent kids who turned those horrific designations into playful nicknames.

“Why did they need a Control Subject? And why Harry?” Tony asked after a moment.

Bruce shook his head. “I don't know yet. There’s not a lot of detail about Peter or Harry in the handwritten notes. That information must be on the discs.”

It was almost as if FRIDAY had been waiting for the right time to interrupt them. “Boss, I have completed the decryption of several files on Disc One. Video files are included. Shall I play them?”

Tony squeezed his eyes shut.  His head hurt. His heart hurt. He gripped his aching left arm. Was he ready for this? It was all too much. He took a couple deep breaths before opening his eyes.

“Play them, FRIDAY.”

Chapter Text

“Boss, the video files appear to be unedited and only partially organized. I believe they are all pieces of a single production, but I do not have the completed film. I’ve tried to put the clips in order as much as possible.” The AI informed them.

“Understood, FRIDAY. Play them.” Tony replied.

FRIDAY dimmed the lights and started the video clips.

********

The camera showed three adults: Norman Osborn and a couple who Tony assumed were Rick and Mary Parker. Rick looked just like an older version of Peter.  Mary had light brown hair and intelligent green eyes. She was petite and moved gracefully.

Norman spoke to the others. “Ok. So...we’re just going to let the camera roll and we’ll edit things later. Remember that this video will be an overview for the investors, so don’t go into too much scientific detail.”

The noise of two little boys playing could be heard in the background. Norman turned to the direction of the noise and shouted, “Settle down, you two! We’re starting.”  There was a small crash, followed by silence. Norman angrily moved out of the camera’s view toward the disturbance.

The husband and wife team smiled at the camera a little awkwardly.  Then the man began speaking.

Hello. We are Richard and Mary Parker.  We would like to thank you for your investment in our project. Many of you have requested more details on the current status of the project and our future plans.  We are excited to share that information with you, so we are including this video along with our usual written progress report.

As you know, we believe that we are on the brink of being able to alter human evolution in ways never before considered possible, allowing a human to achieve superhuman abilities including strength, speed, agility, superior senses, and enhanced healing. Detailed information regarding the science involved is included in the written report.

Such far-reaching goals take time and patience to be achieved. We are currently running a small scale Proof of Concept experiment to test the real world application of our theories.

The camera panned out, showing a small table and chairs nearby. Young Peter seemed to be pushed into view.  He carried a large glass jar with a tarantula inside. Peter sat down at the table and gently placed the jar on the tabletop. He tapped the jar lightly and watched intently as the spider reacted.  

At this time we would like to introduce you to Peter, also known as Subject Six. Peter is a healthy, bright five year old boy. Both Peter and the spider you see here were created through the most advanced genetic engineering techniques that have been developed. These genetic enhancements will allow Peter’s DNA to fuse with the DNA of this spider. We anticipate that the ideal time for the fusion will be during puberty, most likely around age thirteen or fourteen. Don’t worry, tarantulas have a lifespan of a couple of decades, so our spider will still be strong and healthy at that time.

Young Peter tugged on his father’s sleeve. “Ice cream? Please?” the child asked.

Rick scowled. “Ice cream is for good boys. You need to earn it,” he said sternly.

Peter frowned and tapped the spider’s jar again. “Why are we making videos?” he asked.

“The investors want to see if you’re worth the money it cost to make you.  Now be quiet,” Rick reprimanded the child.

********

“Pause it, FRIDAY. “ Tony ordered.  He frowned deeply. That was as a hell of a thing to say to a child.

Tony looked at Bruce and saw a troubled expression on the scientist’s face. It was a unsettling to learn that there were investors in a project that had caused so much pain and death to the previous test subjects.

“FRIDAY, order ice cream.” Tony called out to the AI.

“Sure thing, Boss. What flavor and quantity?” FRIDAY replied.

“Order all of Peter’s favorites. A couple cartons of each.”

“The order has been placed.”  FRIDAY confirmed.

“Thanks.  Resume play.”

********

At this point, Mary took over the narration.

Because of the long-term nature of this experiment, we are including a Control Subject. Harry is also a bright, healthy five year old boy and has a similar genetic makeup as Peter, but lacks the specific genetic enhancements to be compatible with spider DNA.  

Young Harry was now brought in and sat at the table next to Peter, who grinned widely at his friend. The two boys whispered together and giggled. A glare from the adults silenced them.  

The inclusion of a Control Subject has several advantages.  Other researchers who have conducted experiments on young children found that by pairing them up in a buddy system, the children felt less frightened and isolated, making them easier to manage. With this in mind, Harry functions as a companion for Peter and helps him remain calm during the more stressful aspects of the experiment.  You’ll see an example of this later in the video.

However, the main purpose of the Control Subject is to serve as an example of normal development. This will provide a basis of comparison as we observe how the genetic enhancements affect Peter’s development throughout childhood. If we need to terminate Subject Six earlier than scheduled, that data will help us plan the next iteration of the experiment.

********

“FRIDAY, pause.” Tony turned horrified eyes to Bruce. “Did she just say they have a schedule to kill Peter?”

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure she did.” Bruce’s skin was tinged green for a few seconds, but he took deep breaths until the color faded.

Tony watched with concern.

“I’m ok.” Bruce said after a few minutes. “FRIDAY, continue playing.”

********

The next few video clips were of little Peter and Harry undergoing detailed medical testing, beyond what would be normal physical exams for such young children. There were EEGs and full body MRIs done, and several vials of blood were taken from each boy. Additionally, they had what appeared to be IQ testing, as well as vision and hearing tests.  Peter and Harry could be heard comforting and encouraging each other during the various procedures.

The tests were not all done at the same time. They could tell because Peter’s right arm was in a cast during some of them, but not others. In one clip, Norman could be heard telling Rick they would need to record some commentary about both boys being very healthy and having genius level IQs.  

Peter requested ice cream after several of the more upsetting tests. Each time he was denied and was reminded that he needed to be good to earn ice cream.

********

“FRIDAY, pause.” Tony commanded as one clip ended and before the next could begin.

Tony was familiar with teenage Peter’s love of ice cream.  Hearing his younger version constantly request it and be denied tore at Tony’s heart.  He wondered what exactly the child had to do to earn some ice cream.

“FRIDAY, double the ice cream order. Better yet - just fill the whole damn freezer.”  Tony called to the AI.

“Yes, Boss,”  FRIDAY replied.

********

Rick faced the camera.

This is an exercise designed to desensitize Peter to the spider bite. This way, when it's time for the DNA fusion, he will be accustomed to the procedure. We practice using regular, unaltered tarantulas.  You’ll also see the role Harry plays in helping Peter stay calm during this process.

Behind him, young Peter and Harry were seated at the table, waiting for something. Peter’s right arm was in a cast from his elbow to his hand. The boys whispered together and giggled nervously. Norman approached the table and set a bowl of chocolate ice cream in front of Harry.

Harry squealed happily while Peter pouted. “I want ice cream too,” he protested.

“You need to earn ice cream.”  Norman said gruffly, before walking off camera.

Rick brought a rectangular plexiglass test chamber and a box of spiders to the table. Peter frowned as soon as he saw it. Rick slid Peter’s left arm into a round opening in one end of the chamber and closed the seal. Rick then opened the small door on the top of the chamber and dropped in several tarantulas. Peter made a distressed noise.

“All of them?” The child asked.

“Yes.  We have to do all of them on your left arm this time because you broke your right arm.” Rick said in an annoyed tone.

“I didn’t break it,” Peter replied sullenly. The clear implication was that someone else had in fact broken his arm.  

“Watch your mouth, boy!” Norman growled at the child from off camera.

Rick smirked and told Peter, “You needed to learn not to touch things that aren’t yours, right?.”

“Yes, sir. No more take-aparts,” Peter replied with his eyes downcast.

“We’ll edit all that out,” Norman’s voice came from off-camera. Rick nodded in agreement.

The child’s attention was then on the spiders in the chamber as they began to crawl on his arm and bite him. Peter winced and squirmed in discomfort. Harry watched with obviously distress.

“Go ahead, Harry,” Rick encouraged the small blond boy.  

Harry took a bite of his ice cream. Then, he held a spoonful out to Peter. “You’re ok, Six. It’s gonna be alright. Here, have some,” Harry offered.

Peter looked to his father. “You’ve earned it now.” The man approved.

Peter sniffled, then opened his mouth so Harry could feed him the ice cream.  They shared the whole bowl together, with Harry feeding Peter spoonfuls and talking softly to him  while the spiders crawled all over Peter’s arm and bit him. Peter continued to squirm, but he didn’t cry and even managed to whisper, “Thanks, Con.”

After a while, Rick opened the seal and pulled Peter’s arm out of the chamber. He inspected the bites, which were starting to swell.  “Good work, boys. You both did great.” Peter and Harry smiled faintly at the praise. “We just have to keep practicing so when it’s time for the important bite, you’ll do fine.”

********

“FRIDAY, pause video.” Tony called out. The playback froze on the image of the two boys.

“That’s….that’s…” Bruce was at a loss for words.

“Yeah.” Tony agreed with the unspoken sentiment. His emotions were all over the place. He felt angry, sad and frightened for the Kid all at once.

“Don’t turn green,” Tony added. Bruce shook his head, concentrating on keeping his feelings in check.

“FRIDAY, order an extra freezer for the workshop.  Fill it with ice cream. Get a bunch of spoons too,” Tony called out.

“I’m on it, Boss,”  FRIDAY replied.

“That Kid is never going to have to earn his ice cream again,” Tony promised.

********

Rick and Peter sat at the table. Peter’s right arm wasn’t in a cast, but it was much paler than his suntanned left arm, indicating that the cast had been just recently removed. The Kid was taking apart a battered VCR that he must have found in the neighborhood trash.

Rick spoke to the camera.

Because this is a Proof of Concept test and not a pilot study, we are not letting it progress to a natural completion.  In other words, we have designed the experiment with a time limitation. As stated previously, we will perform the DNA fusion through spider bite when Peter is thirteen or fourteen years old. Assuming he survives the transformation, we will spend the following two to four years observing and testing his superhuman abilities.  We anticipate the Proof of Concept project will terminate when Peter is sixteen or seventeen years old. We need to avoid any legal complications that could arise from Peter reaching the age of adulthood. After project termination, we will be able to examine the physical effects of the spider bite through an autopsy.

Young Peter looked up from his electronics and turned his attention to his father, listening quietly.

We’ve set up several methods to guarantee Peter’s death.

First, risk-taking behavior is related to specific genes. We made sure these genes are turned on in Peter.  We will encourage an interest in extreme sports and other physically dangerous activities. Instilling a “live fast, die young” attitude will increases his changes of accidental death during his teen years.

In case that doesn’t work, as part of the genetic engineering done on Peter, we gave him a uniquely designed autoimmune disease.  This disease will remain dormant until sometime between his sixteenth and seventeenth birthdays, then will attack his vital systems and is expected to kill him several months after onset. However, we cannot guarantee this due to the enhanced immune system and physical health he will have.

If Peter somehow manages to survive his own recklessness and the autoimmune disease, a more direct method of inflecting a fatal injury may need to be arranged. For example, a gunshot to the head will cause immediate death.

Rick tapped Peter between the eyes. The boy flinched slightly and frowned.  

In any case, Peter will not be allowed to reach his eighteenth birthday...

********

“FRIDAY, pause!” Tony shouted.  The image of Rick and Peter froze.

Tony turned to Bruce. “Are you going to turn into an enormous, green rage-monster?” he asked carefully.

“No. I’ve got it under control” Bruce replied, but his voice sounded a little hoarse with the effort.

“Good, because I might.”  Tony declared. “They planned to kill Peter before he turns eighteen. They talked about it right in front of him. They didn’t even hide it.” Tony was shaking, with rage or maybe with fear.  

“But it’s not going to happen now.  His parents are dead.” Bruce pointed out.

“His parents were dead and he still got bitten by the spider on schedule! And if he has a disease coded into his genes, his parents may have already killed him.”  Tony ranted. After a moment, the realization hit. “Norman Osborn’s been continuing the experiment. That’s why Peter’s so afraid of him. Norman still plans to make sure Peter dies.”

********

The last video clip was of young Peter and Harry sitting at the table eating bowls of chocolate ice cream.  While he ate, Peter was singing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.”

Rick stepped into the shot and addressed the camera.

Mary and I hope that you, our investors, have found this video progress report enlightening.  We appreciate your continued support of our project.

Rick then looked at the boys and smiled. “Who’s the itsy bitsy spider?” he asked.

“I am!” Peter shouted, grinning around the spoon in his mouth.  It was adorable and it was chilling.

The video ended, fading to black.

********

“Boss, that’s the end of the files that have been decrypted so far,” FRIDAY announced.

Tony ran a hand over his face. “Thanks.  Keep working on the others.”

Tony and Bruce sat in silence for a while.

Eventually, Tony turned to Bruce and asked, “If you were fourteen years old and you suddenly got superpowers AND you honestly believed you had about three years to live, what would you do?”

Bruce thought about it. “I don’t know.  Impress girls. Win a bunch of sports trophies. Knock out my high school bully. Maybe figure out how to use it to get money.“

“Yeah,” Tony agreed.  “That’s what I was thinking.”

Bruce sighed and said, “I can tell you that I wouldn’t run around in a costume fighting crime anonymously.”  

“Me either.  I guess the Kid is better than both of us.” Tony replied.

“Yeah….he is.”

———

Tony couldn’t sleep.  After making sure Bruce was secure in his calm-down room, he sat in his workshop pondering the situation.

Peter had known since he was five - maybe even younger - that the experiment would kill him. That his parents had planned his death as certainly as they had planned his birth.  Most kids celebrate their birthdays counting up many years they’ve lived. On Peter’s birthdays, had he counted down how many years were left until he died?

Live fast, die young...live fast, die young...live fast, die young...

The phrase echoed through Tony’s mind.  Peter was designed to be reckless, a risk taker. He jumped into situations without thinking them through, without considering his own well-being. He wasn’t worried about saving his own life.

Live fast, die young… But it wasn’t only that living fast could lead to dying young, Tony realized. For Peter, the knowledge that he was destined to die young caused him to live fast. As a result, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to whatever he was doing.

This is why Peter would never wanted to talk about colleges and careers.  Most students worked hard in school to secure their futures. Peter worked hard in school because he liked the work. He got a thrill from competing with his classmates for the best grades, to be the top of the class. It was the same with Academic Decathlon and the science fair. These things were never about having a strong college application or an impressive resume. They were always about enjoying the competition in the present moment.  Because the present was all Peter ever had.

Tony couldn’t bear the thought of losing Peter. The Kid was so full of life and represented everything good in the world. Tony had never intended to grow close to the boy. But Peter had healed Tony in ways the older man hadn’t considered possible. The Spiderling provided something that Tony had never even realized was missing from his life - the pure, unconditional love of a child.  And in turn, Tony discovered he had a deep, almost parental feeling of affection and a need to protect the Kid.

Tony finally understood that Peter hadn’t given Tony the envelope because he was afraid of what had happened in his past. The teen had asked for help because despite his parents and Norman Osborn, Peter had decided that he now wanted a future. An impossible future. And impossible futures were Tony’s specialty. Tony was determined to do whatever it would take to give Peter the future he deserves.

Chapter Text

Tony spent the next couple of days immersed in learning about autoimmune diseases. He read in-depth articles and talked to experts on the topic. After all that, the key thing he discovered was that autoimmune diseases varied tremendously.  It was going to take a detailed investigation to understand the particulars of Peter’s case.

Tony was outside Midtown High when school let out.  He stood in the mid-afternoon sun, leaning against the orange Audi and watching the students stream out the school doors.  He hadn’t called or texted the Spiderling that he was coming, so he wasn’t sure what the teen’s reaction would be.

Peter finally emerged from the building, talking with his friend, Ned. (Tony really did remember the other kid’s name.) Peter saw his mentor and acknowledged him with a small nod.  He didn’t seem at all surprised to see Tony there. Ned, on the other hand, appeared shocked and thrilled to see the billionaire waiting in front of the the school. Peter smirked at his friend’s reaction and quickly whispered something to Ned, who beamed in delight. Peter then hurried over to Tony.

Mentor and protege got in the car after the briefest of greetings. Once they had pulled away from the school and were in the thick of mid-afternoon traffic, Tony looked over at the Kid.

“How are you feeling, Pete?” Tony asked in a gentle, concerned voice.

Peter winced. Tony had never asked him that question in that tone outside of the medbay. “I feel fine, Tony. Actually, I’m really good today.”  Peter said reassuringly. It was true. His most recent injuries had healed up and he didn’t have any new ones.

“Good. And how was school?”

“School was fine. I got an A on my history presentation and a perfect score on my calculus test.”

Neither of those were a surprise to Tony, but he smiled at the Kid proudly.

Then something occurred to Peter. “Uhm...did you text May or should I?”

“I already let her know that I was picking you up and you might be spending the night.”

“Did you tell her why?” Peter asked cautiously.

“I told her I needed your help with a new product in development. What did you tell Ned?”

Peter grinned. “That we’re working on a super-secret high tech upgrade to the Iron Man suit.  He loves that kind of stuff.” Tony chuckled at that.

They rode in silence for a while. Then Peter broached the topic they had been avoiding. “This is about the envelope, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, Kid, it is.”

“So you know why it’s impossible for me to have a future, with college and s career and everything?” Peter almost whispered as he looked down, fiddling with his backpack strap.

“Nothing’s impossible, Pete. I promise you, we’re going to figure it out. You’re going to have a future.” Tony was resolute in that.

Peter nodded, wanting to believe him. “I want to see what was in the envelope.” Peter’s voice was determined, almost daring Tony to deny him.

However, Tony had expected this request and had already given it a lot of thought. Peter was a smart kid who wasn’t going to run from a hard truth. The materials in the envelope were about his life.  They probably should belong to Peter anyway, from an ethical standpoint, if not a legal one. Tony didn’t think he had a right to say no to this.

“Ok. Spiderling,” Tony nodded, much to the teen’s surprise. “But first a snack.”

Peter smiled. “Agreed,”

————

When they arrived at the Tower, Peter ran to get a snack while Tony checked his messages.

“Tony, are you having a party later?” Peter called out from the kitchen.

“What? No,” the man responded from down the hall.

“Are the other Avengers coming back?” Peter asked.

“No. Why would you ask that?” Tony came into the kitchen carrying a tablet.

Peter was standing in front of the open freezer with a puzzled expression. “Then why is there so much ice cream? It’s all you’ve got in here.”

“Oh, that… The ice cream is for you.  Uhm…I may have gone a little overboard with the order,” Tony admitted sheepishly. He decided not to mention the additional freezerful in the workshop. “Eat some,” he insisted.

Delighted, Peter grabbed a pint of fudge ripple and a spoon. He sat at the kitchen island and dug into it.  Tony sat across from him and watched the boy.

“So, I’m guessing May doesn’t know,” Tony stated after a few minutes.

“What? That my parents experimented on me and planned to kill me?” Peter said that way too casually for Tony’s comfort. “No. If she knew, she would freak out.”

And when May freaks out, Peter freaks out. Tony remembered how Peter had told him that at their first meeting. And he had seen the mutual freak out first hand after May had discovered Peter’s secret identity and the Kid had called him in a panic. Tony sighed, he wasn’t looking forward to the inevitable repeat of that.

“We’re going to have to tell her, Spider-Kid.”  

“Yeah. I know.” Peter dug the spoon into the ice cream container.  “Can it wait? Like until there’s a plan to fix it? Is there a plan?” Peter asked before taking another bite.

“We’ll see about telling May. And yes, there’s a plan. Part one of the plan is that we need to talk about the whole ‘Live fast, die young’ attitude.  That ends now. No more unnecessary risks.” Tony said sternly.

“Are you saying I can’t be Spider-Man anymore?” Peter asked, with a hint of defiance in his voice.

“No,” Tony reassured him quickly. “I learned my lesson about that before. I know I can’t stop you from being Spider-Man.  More than that, I know I shouldn’t try to stop you. But you have to be safer. Ask for help when you need it. Call for backup. No more swinging with injuries.  No unnecessary risks. The key word here is unnecessary. Understand?”

Peter thought about it, nodded. “I understand.  I’ll try. That’s the most I can promise.”

Tony believed the Kid was being honest. “Ok. we’ll work on it. That’s part one. Part two is that before we can change the future, we need to know what we’re dealing with In the present.  So we need to get you a thorough checkup and run some tests. Helen Cho is sending a team of specialists. They should be arriving here soon.”

The boy paled. “Medical tests?” He asked in a low voice.

“Yes,” Tony replied, looking over the details on his tablet.

Peter set down his spoon and pushed away the container.  “Is that why you bought so much ice cream, Mr. Stark? So I would cooperate with the tests?”  

Oh, shit. Tony mentally kicked himself.  He hadn’t anticipated that reaction, but he should have. Of course Peter would think that. And he was back to being called Mr. Stark. It didn’t take much to lose this kid’s trust.

“No, Pete. Not at all.” Tony started, then paused waiting for the boy to meet his eyes. “No one is going to make you do anything you don’t want to. Bruce is going to lead the medical team and he’ll make sure of that. The medical tests might be...uncomfortable, but no one will deliberately hurt you. I promise.”

The teen considered this for a few minutes. “OK, Tony,” he said at last.

The man  breathed a sigh of relief and went back to the plan. “Part three…”  He paused. Part three was figuring out how to keep Norman Osborn from directly killing the Kid. Tony had ideas, but nothing concrete yet. “I’m still working on part three.”

“Ok.” Peter seemed to accept that. He finished his ice cream. “I’m ready to see what was in the envelope.”  

———

Bruce was in the conference room, intently studying the Parkers’ handwritten notes. He looked up as Tony and Peter came in, breaking his concentration.

Peter’s gaze took in everything scattered over the table.  The boy picked up up a couple pages of notes and read them before setting them back down.

“Peter…I’m so sorry…” Bruce’s voice was heavy with emotion.

Peter frowned. “Sorry for what, Dr. Banner?”

Bruce waved a hand over the papers scattered all over the table. “I had no idea this was going on. I went to dinner parties at your house. I debated scientific theories with your parents and I thought they were just theories. It was enlightening and entertaining. I saw you. You were just a little kid….And I had no idea that all this was going on. I was having a good time while you were going through this hell.”  Bruce ranted, then buried his head in his hands, overcome by the guilt he was feeling.

Peter didn’t know what to say to that. Maybe someone should have seen what was going on. Or maybe is was impossible for anyone to have known.  Peter didn’t know. He looked towards his mentor, but Tony didn’t know how to react either.

“It’s...it’s not your fault, Dr. Banner,” Peter said after a moment.  “You didn’t do this. It’s not on you.”

Somehow that didn’t make Bruce feel any better.  

“You’re going to help me now, right? Tony said you’ve been going through the notes and you’re going to lead the medical team.” Peter said quietly.

Bruce looked at the boy. “Yes. Of course. I’m going to do  everything I can to help you,” he promised.

Peter gave him a small smile. “Ok.”

Not knowing what else he could say, Peter walked to the other side of the table where the photographs were. There was the small stack of the subject photos Bruce had shown Tony previously. But there was an unorganized pile of additional photos they hadn’t really gone through yet.

Tony followed and watched Peter sift through the photos as if he was searching for something. Occasionally he stopped and looked at a photo of himself with Harry when they were young - oh, so very young.  And he paused once at a picture of his brother. But he carefully set each of those aside and continued searching through the pile. Eventually he found what he was looking for. He picked up one photo and studied it closely.

Tony looked over his shoulder at the photo in Peter’s hand. It was of the two little boys and a woman. She looked familiar to Tony, but he couldn’t quite remember who she was. She had one arm around each of the boys and all three of them were smiling.

Peter lightly ran his finger over the image. “Emily,” he whispered.

Of course, Tony suddenly recognized the woman. Emily Osborn.  

“You knew Emily?” Tony asked carefully. Bruce looked up, listening to their conversation.

Peter nodded. “She was Con’s Mom. Before I lived with May and Ben, Emily was the kindest person I had ever met.  She would play games with us - real games, not like when adults call it a game, but it’s really a test. Emily would sing to us and tell us stories. She always said she loved us both.”  Peter smiled at the memory.

It was obvious Emily had cared for he boys a great deal. Tony and Bruce were both a little relieved to know that there had been someone kind and loving in the boys’ lives. Tony had only met Emily Osborn a couple of times, but her gentle and quiet nature had been a strong contrast to Norman.

Peter’s smile turned sad. “One day Emily came into the playroom and said she had to leave and we wouldn’t see her again. She told us to be brave and to take care of each other. And then she was gone.”

“Norman and Emily got divorced,” Tony explained.

“Yeah.  We figured that out later.”  Peter wiped at his eyes with his sleeve.

“Boss,” FRIDAY’s lilting voice interrupted them. “The medical team is here.”

“Thanks, dear.” Tony replied. “Set them up in the medbay and we’ll be right there.”

———-

Helen Cho’s team of experts included an immunologist, a geneticist, and a pediatrician specializing in adolescent medicine.

None of them were particularly personable, but they were all highly regarded in their fields. Each one told Bruce how excited they were to be included on this “special project”. Peter tolerated them as well as an anxious teenager could be expected to. He nervously allowed them to conduct their tests: blood and tissue samples, X-rays and imaging scans, and a variety of other procedures. By the end of the day, he was tired of being poked and scrutinized, so he was grateful when Bruce announced that they were done.

After a thorough analysis, the initial test results all came back normal. Maybe Peter’s advanced healing had already destroyed the autoimmune disease. Or perhaps the disease couldn’t be detected while it was still dormant. In either case, Peter was currently the picture of perfect health. Bruce ordered follow up exams for once a month, to watch for any changes.

———

Peter stayed that night at the Tower and the next morning Tony made up an excuse for him to miss school. Happy picked up May and brought her to the Tower. They sat in the living room where Tony and Bruce told her everything about the nature of the Parkers’ work, what had been done to Peter, and that the boy’s life could be in serious danger.

May totally freaked out. She cried and yelled and cursed and ranted. As expected, her outburst made Peter freak out. He cried and ranted and argued with his aunt. This in turn, caused Bruce to freak out, although thankfully he didn’t Hulk out.  Still, Bruce’s reaction was volatile enough to alarm the medical staff, which put the Tower’s security team on high alert. The heightened security measures caused a ripple effect of anxiety through all the SI employees in the building.

So Tony found himself in the awkward role of being the calm, rational adult while everyone around him seemed to lose their minds. Luckily Pepper came in, trying to figure out the source of the widespread upset. Once she understood what was happening, she made pots of herbal tea while Tony attempted to guide everyone through breathing exercises. Between the two of them, they got everyone somewhat settled down. After a while, Tony explained everything to May again as best he could.

May listened to it all, then turned to Peter. “How long have you known that your life was in danger?” She asked with a furious gentleness.

Peter didn’t know how to answer that. “Uhm...always?” He looked to his mentor for help.

“He’s known since he was very little. Rick and Mary talked about it right in front of him.” Tony said. He could see that May had a hard time accepting that.

“Why didn’t you tell me? How could you keep this from me?” she asked, in a mix of sadness and anger.

Peter hesitated before answering. “When I was little, I thought you knew. I thought everyone knew.  When I got older and realized you didn’t….I don’t know. It was just too hard to tell you.” Peter looked at the floor.

“Oh, Sweetheart,” May pulled the boy into a hug. “I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how you went through this all alone.”

Peter pulled away from her. “I didn’t. I wasn’t alone.”

May didn’t understand. She looked to Tony questioningly.

“He means Harry,” Tony explained. “It’s why there’s such a strong bond between them.”

May was once again visibly frustrated. “Harry’s not…I meant that you should have told an adult.” Her voice was starting to take on an edge again.  Peter opened his mouth to protest.

Tony could see this was about to lead to another argument. “What’s done is done, May.” He said calmly. “The question is what do we do now.  That’s what we’re here to talk about.”

In the end, May agreed to the plan Tony had started to put in place. She wanted more frequent reports of Spider-Man’s activities and copies of all the medical tests. She was terrified by the situation, but she knew Tony would fight to protect Peter’s life. Like Peter, she was going to have to trust him.

————-

Life went on almost as normal, or what passes for normal when dealing with a teenaged superhero.  Peter finished his sophomore year of school. He continued to go out as Spider-Man, but he took more precautions.  He called Iron Man for backup when he needed it or when he got hurt. Occasionally they worked together to take down a criminal gang. Tony and Peter continued to develop upgrades for their suits in the workshop, along with other projects. They ate a lot of ice cream.  Tony and May threw Peter a big party for his sixteenth birthday. The short summer break flew by and soon Peter was starting his junior year. He had a heavy load of classes and extracurricular activities.

Meanwhile, Tony kept close surveillance on Norman Osborn’s activities.

FRIDAY managed to decrypt more of the files on the computer discs. These contained a huge amount of information. It was taking Bruce and the medical team months to sift through it and make sense of everything.

Peter’s monthly medical checkups continued to show that he was in perfect health. Until the one time they didn’t.

The symptoms had started five months after Peter turned sixteen. They were subtle at first and could easily be blamed on other things. Even so, Tony would never stop thinking that he should have recognized them sooner.

Chapter Text

“Tony, we need to talk.” Bruce started as he walked into the workshop with a tablet in hand.

“Hmm? What about?” Tony replied without looking up from his work on the Iron Man suit.

“Kid’s latest medical checkup.”

Now Tony did look up. “Everything’s good, right?”

Bruce shook his head. “The bloodwork came back a little wonky.” Bruce handed over the tablet for Tony to review the results. “I ran the tests on his samples several times. I had Cho’s team look at everything. The results always came back the same.”

“What does this mean?” Tony asked worriedly as he studied the test results.

Bruce shrugged. “We’re not sure. It could be nothing. Maybe Kid caught a virus. Or it could be the start of something serious. He should come in for more testing.”

Tony glanced at the clock. School would be getting out in an hour, which was perfect timing.  He called Happy and told him to pick up the Spider-Kid and bring him to the medbay.

———-

“Hey, Spiderling. How are you?” Tony asked as he stepped into the medbay.  Bruce was drawing a few vials of the teen’s blood.

“Hi, Tony. I’m fine. Really.”  Peter greeted him with a smile. The kid looked ok. Maybe they had gotten worried over nothing.

Bruce disagreed. “He’s running a low grade fever.”

Tony took a closer look at the boy. Although naturally fair completed, Peter appeared a little pale.  He also looked tired, in a run-down, weary type of way that differed from the more usual tiredness the Kid would have after a vigorous day of crime fighting.  The difference was subtle, but now that Tony was really looking, he could see it clearly. And despite Peter’s smile, there were traces of pain in his expression.

“Does anything hurt?” Tony asked.

Peter started to say no, but a warning look from Bruce changed his mind. “I have a headache. And I’m a little achy all over.” He admitted.

“How long have you been feeling like this?” Bruce asked.

“Uhm…a couple weeks.” Peter admitted reluctantly.

“Pete! Why didn’t you say anything?” Tony demanded. “We‘ve talked about this. You need to tell us if anything is wrong.”

“I’ve been pretty stressed out lately about school and everything else. I thought I was just pushing myself too hard.” Peter tried to explain.

Bruce took pity on the Kid. “The symptoms are subtle.  It’s not surprising he thought it was just stress related.” Bruce said to Tony. “Hell, you and I both saw him earlier this week and neither of us noticed anything. ”

Tony couldn’t argue with that. “Have Cho’s team look at him too and do whatever tests they need. Make sure we aren’t missing something.”  

Peter groaned, knowing this meant a lot more needles and test procedures.  Tony was sympathetic, but insisted it was necessary. The geneticist in particular asked Peter a lot of questions and took several tissue samples. Tony wondered why so many tissue samples were needed, but trusted that the medical team knew what they were doing.

Peter wanted to go home. He had homework to do and tests to study for. He felt fine, just tired, and wanted to stick to his routines. Tony argued that he needed to stay at the Tower and be monitored. Bruce agreed with Tony, although he understood that Peter wanted to maintain his normal life.  In the end, the decision was made by May, who felt that it was better to be overly cautious about Peter’s health. So he reluctantly stayed the night at the Tower.

It turned out to be the right decision when Peter woke up the next morning and vomited blood.

———

Once Peter’s health started to decline, things went downhill rapidly.

Bruce and the medical team pored over Peter’s latest tests.  His immune system was attacking his organs. His enhanced healing was repairing the organs, but his hyperactive immune system just kept attacking them. His body was in a constant state of war with itself.

Peter was tossing and turning in the grip of the fever and the pain, unable to find relief.  He groaned in his sleep, as he tried to find a comfortable position. Bruce had given him some painkillers and other medications, but they didn’t seem to help.

Tony watched the teen, wishing he could do something - anything- to comfort him.

“Con…” Peter called out in a delirious state. “Con…”

“Shh...Pete, I’m here. It’s Tony.”  He pressed a hand against the boy’s forehead to check the fever and then cupped his face and rubbed his cheek soothingly.

Peter pushed his mentor’s hand away. “Want Con.  Where’s Con?” Peter muttered, not really awake.

Con. Harry . Peter wanted Harry. It must have been a childhood instinct coming back to him, from the time when the two little boys depended on each other.

He had to be crazy to consider bringing Harry Osborn to Stark Tower.  But watching as Peter continued to suffer and call for his friend, Tony knew it had to be done.

Tony picked up Peter’s phone and unlocked it. Accessing the contacts, he didn’t find the other boy listed under H or under O.  Thinking a moment, Tony scrolled up to the C’s. There he found a contact listed as Control with just a phone number. He quickly pressed it. The line rang only once.

“Hey, Six! How are you?” came Harry’s friendly voice.

“Harry, this is Tony Stark,” the man said gruffly.

The line was silent for a moment, then “uhm...Hi, Mr. Stark… what...uhm…”

“Can you come to the Tower?” Tony asked quickly. “Pete’s very sick and he’s been asking for you.”

“Can I come to Stark Tower? I can get there, sure, but I don’t think I can get in the building.”  Harry was a smart kid. He knew there would be some kind of security measures in place to keep him out of the Tower.

“Yeah. Where are you? I’m gonna have Happy Hogan meet you somewhere and bring you here. He’ll bring you up the private entrance.” Tony explained.

Happy was disgruntled when Tony called him with the instructions.  “Seriously? You’re going to let the heir to OsCorp into the Tower? You’re just going to bypass all the security protocols we set up to keep this very thing from happening?”

“Yeah, I am. So just get him and bring him here!” Tony ordered.

———

Harry entered the medbay and immediately rushed to Peter’s side. “Hey, Six. It’s me.  I’m here. It’s gonna be OK.” He spoke in a low soothing tone.

Harry was sporting a black eye and a split lip.

“What happened to your face?” Tony asked with concern.

Harry hesitated. “It’s nothing, Mr. Stark...my Dad...just…it’s nothing…it was worth it.” Harry rambled without forming a complete sentence.

Tony didn’t need more than that to understand what had happened. Norman must have discovered that the envelope was missing from his safe.

Peter tossed fitfully and moaned.  But as Harry talked to him, Peter settled down and fell into a deep sleep.

“I haven’t seen him like this since the spider bite.” Harry told Tony in a sad, worried tone.

“Can you tell me about it?” Tony asked. Peter had said that he had gotten very sick after the bite, but had never told Tony the details.  

“It was just before May and Ben stopped the visitation.  Six was staying with us for a week during school break. May and Ben weren’t happy about it, but they had to work and didn’t want Six home alone every day.” He paused and looked at Tony.

The man nodded. “Sure, I understand.” Although he still hated the fact that they had allowed visitation with Norman.

Harry continued. “So the first day, Dad took us to the lab and sat us down. Then he brought out the plexiglass box and a jar with Harriet in it...”

“Harriet?” Tony interrupted.

Harry gave a sheepish smile. “That’s what Six named the genetically engineered tarantula when we were little.”

Tony chuckled at that. “Go on.”

“Six begged Dad not to do it. He said he didn’t want it. I begged him to stop too. But Dad wouldn’t listen. He said we had to finish the experiment.  He said it was what Six was born for. Dad put Six’s arm in the plexiglass box and put Harriet in it too. It only took about a minute or so for Harriet to bite him.” Harry nearly cried at the memory.  

“What happened next?” Tony asked gently.

Harry bit his lip before continuing.  “Six had a seizure. It didn’t last long, but it scared me half to death. I thought Six was gonna die right then. But after a while it stopped. His arm was still in the box and with all the flailing around, Harriet was crushed and killed. Six felt terrible about that.”

That sounded like Peter. “And then he got sick?” Tony prompted.  

“Yeah, he got really sick. He had a fever and was in and out of consciousness.  He had a couple more seizures. Dad set up an IV with fluids and a heart monitor, but wouldn’t do anything else to help him. Dad said that Six had to survive it on his own. I stayed with him the whole time.  I talked to him and fed him when he was awake.”

“You’re a good friend to him, Harry,” Tony said sincerely.

Harry shook his head. “I had the easier role. I always did. He had to go through so much and all I could ever do was watch.”

Tony realized that Harry had been traumatized by the experience just as much as Peter. He felt a surge of anger for what both boys had been through. The emotional reaction surprised him. Feeling a need to protect his protege was one thing. But when had he started feeling protective of Norman Osborn’s son?

Harry went on telling the story. “Uhm...after four days, the seizures stopped and the fever broke. But Six woke up screaming. Everything was too bright, too loud, too intense…”

“He was in sensory overload..,” Tony supplied.

“Yes. We had to do sensory deprivation for a day. When he woke up again, he was mostly ok.  But changed, because he had his powers and everything. And he was starving. But he seemed ok.  He went back home the next day. A couple weeks later, Ben was killed. And not long after that he started Spider-Man.”

Tony had watched as the boy closely while he told the story.  Harry’s hands were clenched into tight fists and tapped against his legs. It was a gesture that Tony had seen countless times, from Peter. Tony thought it was strange that the two boys had the exact same anxiety behavior. Maybe it came from growing up together.

A sound at the doorway caught their attention.  Bruce was standing there and the expression of shock and horror on his face showed that he had heard everything. For a moment, Tony worried that the Hulk would appear and Harry looked terrified. But Bruce got control of himself and walked out without saying a word.

Tony watched his friend go, then looked at the two boys. “We’re going to fix this,” he promised.

————-

Tony had been taken by surprise when Norman Osborn called and requested - or more accurately demanded - a meeting. Tony agreed to it, hoping to get some information on how to help Peter.

For the teens, neutral ground meant a comfortable coffee house in Brooklyn. For Tony and Norman, it was a private booth in an upscale hotel lounge in Manhattan.

“I hear Petey’s very sick,” Norman said with false concern once they had been served their drinks.

“How did you hear that?” Tony asked.

Norman smirked. “I have my spies, Stark, just like you have yours.”

That was troubling to think about. “Spies? I don’t know what you mean,” Tony said innocently.  

Norman wasn’t buying the act. “I know you got your hands on documents that don’t belong to you. Documents about the Parkers.”

Tony wasn't going to confirm or deny that, for Harry’s sake. “What do you want, Norman?”

His rival smiled and casually sipped his drink. “The boy’s body once it’s over. For the autopsy. It's important for the data.”

Tony’s blood boiled. “Peter is not going to die!  And even if he did, there’s no way in hell I would let you have his body.”

“I can still sue May Parker for custody. If I have custody when he dies, I can do an autopsy no problem.  But I’d rather not have it come to that. I’m willing to let the boy live out his remaining time with May - if you promise me the body.” Norman had the audacity to pull out legal papers.

Tony read the papers quickly and tossed them back. “No way.  And don’t bother trying for custody. We still have the video of you abusing him in public.”

“Then his death will be meaningless.” Norman said calmly, as if he were talking to a young child. “Don’t do that to him. With an autopsy, I can get a team to continue the Parkers’ research. It will be Petey’s contribution to science. The Parkers wanted to change human evolution.  What we learn from his physiology could change the world.”

“Help me cure him. That will be a better contribution to science. And Peter will live to change the world in his own way.” Tony tried to appeal to the other man.

“That’s not how the project was designed.” Norman says dismissively.

“You’re a monster, Norman.” Tony was disgusted. “You let them kill three of your own interns.  You let them kill a baby. And now you’re just going to stand by and do nothing as Peter dies? He’s just a child.”  

Norman finally lost his patience. “Don’t you get it, Stark? The boy was created to be a test subject, not a superhero.  Don’t blame me because you got emotionally attached to a lab rat. That’s your own fault.”

“You involved your own son in this.” Tony said, shaking his head.

“My son wasn’t a test subject. He was never harmed.” Norman said defensively.  “You stay away from Harry. Don’t you dare try to turn him against me!”

“You’re doing that on your own. You want to win Harry back? Help me cure Peter.” Tony pleaded.

“You’re wasting your time trying.” Norman told him.

“It’s mine to waste. We’re done here.”  Tony replied. He got up and left, feeling more discouraged than ever.

———-

Tony had a thorough background check run on everyone in the Tower, trying to identify Norman Osborn’s spies. It was expensive and labor intensive, but Tony knew it was necessary. The security team found two spies in R&D, luckily both in low clearance positions.  Under usual circumstances, that would upset him greatly. But these weren’t usual circumstances.

The truly disturbing finding was that the geneticist sent by Helen Cho was an OsCorp spy. Not just a spy, but an admirer of Rick Parker’s work and had wanted to continue his research. Now the geneticist was gone and couldn’t be found - and Peter’s tissue samples were missing as well.

Tony went ballistic at hearing the news.

“How did this happen?” Tony demanded on a call with Helen and Bruce.

Helen was mortified and extremely apologetic.  She had no explanation. The geneticist had been highly recommended to her and was well regarded in the field.

Tony immediately fired the rest of the medical team. As much as he wanted their expertise, he wasn’t taking any more chances. Tony and Bruce would solve this themselves.  

———-

Peter had good days and bad days. His bad days were filled with pain and fevers. On his good days he barely seemed sick.  He would do his school work - he was determined to keep up with his classes - and play games with whomever was around.

He had a steady stream of people to keep him company. Harry came over frequently, which annoyed Happy to no end. But everyone saw how much it cheered Peter to have Harry there. Ned came over sometimes. And May visited as often as she could.

At the moment, Peter was having one of his better days. He was sitting up in his bed, playing cards and joking with Harry, who was perched on the foot of the bed.

Bruce came in to check Peter’s temperature and other vital signs. He watched the two boys for a while. There was something about their interaction and their mannerisms that made his brain itch. It was a nagging, unsettling feeling that he was missing something…something important...an odd suspicion.

He walked out of the room, only to return a few minutes later with a procedure tray.

“Harry, I need to take a blood sample...” Bruce started.

“Oh, sure  Dr. Banner.  I’ll get out of your way.”  Harry scrambled to get down and step aside while Peter frowned at the news.

“No, I mean, I want to get a blood sample from you. Just for comparison, since you and Peter were exposed to a lot of the same things.”  Bruce hoped that sounded plausible.

Harry smiled. “A control sample? Sure, that’s my job,”  he said agreeably.

Bruce rubbed an alcohol prep pad over the inside of Harry’s elbow. “I really ought to get your father’s permission for this, since you’re a minor.  But given the circumstances…”

Harry gave a brief, humorless laugh. “Yeah, I get it. I won’t tell Dad.”

The blood draw only took a minute or so. Harry grimaced and Peter quipped, “Make sure they give you some ice cream for that, Con.”

Bruce went to the lab to start the tests running on Harry’s blood.  Then he went down to the conference room. He needed to take another look at some of those files FRIDAY had decrypted.

It was hours later when Bruce let himself into Tony’s workshop.  “Tony, We need to talk. I might have found something.”

Chapter Text

“Tony, we have to talk. I might have found something.”

Tony followed Bruce to the conference room. Once there, Bruce sifted through the information on the holographic displays, closing some files and opening others. He pulled up photos of Peter and Harry, setting them up side by side.

“I’ve been an idiot, Tony.” Bruce’s voice was full of guilt and frustration. “All this time I’ve been focused on the files about Peter. I never even looked at the files about Harry.”

“Well, Peter’s the one who’s sick, so that makes sense.” Tony reassured him. “Besides Harry’s just a Control Subject. He’s not genetically altered and Norman insisted that Harry wasn’t harmed by the experiment - not physically anyway.”

“That’s exactly why I should have looked at him more closely.” Bruce pointed out.

Tony wasn’t following the other man’s thinking. “Explain that to me.”

Bruce sighed. “You’ve spent time with both boys. Have you noticed anything unusual about the two of them?”

“You mean other than the fact that they were both part of an illegal experiment? Or that they were both traumatized and have trouble trusting adults?”

Bruce nodded sadly, “Yeah, other than that stuff.”

Tony thought for a minute. “They have similar speech patterns. There are times I’ve talked to Harry and I could swear that Peter would have said the exact same thing.” He suddenly remembered something else. “They have the same anxiety behaviors.”

“Yeah,” Bruce agreed.

“But that stuff’s not from genetic manipulation.  I mean that’s just because they were raised together, right?”

“Maybe. Or maybe not,” Bruce replied.

Tony ran a hand over his face. “What are you getting at?”

“Think about it, Tony.  You know how to do experimental design just as much as I do. The whole purpose of having a control subject is to provide a basis of comparison between someone who received the experimental treatment and someone who didn’t. And you do that by matching the experimental subject and the control subject as closely as possible.” Bruce stated in his professor tone of voice.

“Yeah. But when you’re working with people you can only match them to a certain extent.  Unless you’re using identical twins, you can’t get a perfect match,” Tony pointed out.

“That’s true. But Rick Parker was a geneticist. The experiment was to test the effects genetic of the enhancements done to Peter. Those enhancements were all on genes he inherited from his father because Rick’s genes were used to create the spider as well. The best way to study those effects would be to have a control subject where the only genetic differences were on the fathers’ sides.”  Bruce paused to let that set in.

“Wait a minute...are you saying…” Tony wasn’t able to finish the sentence.

Bruce pulled up a new file on the holographic display.  It should the chromosome structure for each of the boys. Certain portions were highlighted. “So, full siblings share an average of fifty percent of the same genetic material.  Half siblings share an average of twenty-five percent of the same genetic material. Peter and Harry share almost forty percent of their genes, but all the matches are on the maternal chromosomes. The Parkers stacked the deck to make them a closer match than most half siblings.”

“They have the same mother,” Tony said in awe. “Peter and Harry are half-brothers. How is that possible? And who’s the mother?”

“Mary Parker,” Bruce replied simply, as if stating the obvious.  

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah.  They kept thorough records on it.” Bruce waved his hand toward some of the other displays.

Tony’s mind was reeling. “But how? Harry was born to Emily Osborn.  It was big news at the time - the heir to OsCorp. Even I followed the story.”

Bruce nodded. “Yeah, well apparently Emily had fertility problems.  They decided to use in vitro fertilization. Norman convinced Emily to let the Parkers handle the procedure privately. He told her it was to keep her medical issues out of the press.”

“And they used Mary Parker’s eggs instead of Emily’s,” Tony concluded.  Bruce nodded.

Tony stared at the display, trying to take in the news. Then he remembered something from the weekend of the science fair. “Norman said Rick didn’t mind sharing his wife. I thought he meant the affair, but maybe he meant this too.”  He shook his head. “So Emily didn’t know?”

“No, not at first,” Bruce said. “She figured it out after a few years. She noticed how similar the boys were. The notes imply that she confronted Norman and it was a factor in their divorce.”

“What about Peter and Harry? Do they know?” Tony’s voice was instinctively hushed, despite the fact that the room was soundproof and there was no way Peter could hear them.

“I don’t think so.” Bruce replied. “I think at this point, if they knew, they would have told us. It’ll probably be a shock to them.”

Tony ran a hand through his hair, taking it all in. “All right.  Ok. This is fascinating and all. But does it really change anything? Does this somehow help Peter?”

“Yes! That’s the best part!” Bruce said excitedly.  He quickly changed the displays on the holo screens.

Bruce launched into his explanation. “Remember that I said all Peter’s enhancements are on the genes from his father?” Tony nodded and Bruce continued, “The exception is that the Parkers had to alter his X chromosome when they gave him the autoimmune disease. ”

This caught Tony’s attention immediately.  “Males get their X chromosome only from their mother.”

“That’s right,” Bruce said.  “And because Peter and Harry have the same mother, they have have identical X chromosomes.  Except that Harry’s is the unaltered version because he doesn’t have the disease.” Bruce brought the comparison up on the display.

“Wait a minute.” Tony gathered his thoughts. “Are you saying….we can use Harry to cure Peter?”

Bruce grinned widely,” That’s exactly what I’m saying.”  

———-

Peter was looking pale and thin, propped up against his headboard while Harry sat next to him on the bed. Bruce and Tony sat in chairs next to the bed.  The two teens were wore nearly identical expressions of disbelief as the adults explained their relationship, using Tony’s tablet to display the information.  

“We’re brothers?” Peter said stunned.

“Half-brothers,” Bruce corrected.

Peter shrugged, “Yeah, but it’s not like only half of him is my brother.” He turned and made a gesture like he was cutting Harry down the middle.

Harry smiled slightly, but then frowned and looked down.

Peter lightly shoulder bumped Harry and asked, “Are you Ok, Con?”

Harry looked up with tears in his eyes. “My Mom isn’t my mom,” he whispered.

“I’m sorry,” Peter replied on a low tone.

“I mean….I think it’s cool that we’re really brothers...cause it always felt like we were anyway.  I just don’t want Mary Parker to be my mom.” He glanced over at Peter sheepishly. “No offense, Six,” he added.

Peter shook his head. “None taken. I don’t really want her as my mom either,”  he said dryly. Harry gave a small chuckle.

“Harry…” Tony began in a gentle tone and waited until both boys were looking at him. “Emily will always be your Mom. She just isn’t your biological mother. It’s like when couples use a donor egg. Biology is important, but it’s not everything.”

“Is this why Mom left?” Harry asked, looking between Tony and Bruce.

Tony was starting to realize that he hadn’t really prepared for this discussion.  He was so excited about what their discovery meant for Peter that he hadn’t thought about what the news might mean to Harry.

Bruce said, “Your parents had a complicated relationship.  There were a lot of factors in the divorce. But Harry, your Mom loved you very much.”

Harry nodded and wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

Peter wrapped an arm around his brother’s shoulders. “Are you gonna be alright, Con?”

“Yeah,” Harry swallowed hard. “It’s just weird...it’s like I’m not who I thought I was.”  

Bruce cleared his throat. “There’s more, if you both are ready for it.”

The teens looked at each other and then at the two adults anxiously.  

“More?” Harry said, “I don’t know if I can take more.”

“Well, Harry, you’re gonna like this part.” Tony said with a smile. “You get to save Pete’s life.”

The boys perked up immediately.  This was Bruce’s area of expertise, so Tony let him explain the genetic cause of Peter’s disease and their thoughts on how to develop the cure. Both teens became animated and excited, engaging in a lively discussion with Bruce. They asked a lot of questions - intelligent, detailed questions - that Tony hadn’t even thought of. They shouted out helpful comments that even impressed Bruce.

Despite Peter’s past statements that he wasn’t as interested in biology as other sciences, he had an innate talent for the field. And it shouldn’t have been a surprise that Harry did as well.  However, if Tony found that one over excited teen genius could be exhausting, he quickly learned that two were doubly so.

Just as Tony was starting to feel a throbbing in his head, he saw that Peter was starting to fade. The Kid’s comments had become less frequent and quieter and his eyes were starting to glaze over.  

Tony tapped rapidly on the tablet. “Bruce, why don’t you take Harry down to the medlab and get started.  I’ll sit with the Spiderling for a while.”

Harry’s eyes went wide. “You’re going to let me in one of your labs? Mr. Hogan will have a fit.”

Tony sighed. “Yes, he will. But I’ll only letting you into the medlab and I’ve set up a specific protocol for you. I know we could use your help on this. Besides, Bruce is going to have to take more blood from you.”

Harry grimaced at that, but nodded.  He slid off the bed with a quiet, “See you later, Six,” and followed Bruce out.

After they left, Tony sat on the bed in the place Harry had vacated.  He put an arm around Peter’s shoulders and the Kid leaned into him easily.

“How are you feeling, Spider-Kid?” he asked gently.

Peter hesitated before admitting, “I’m tired. A little achy.”  He paused and then looked up at Tony. “I have a brother... I mean a half-brother, but still….” Despite his fatigue, his voice conveyed his sense of awe.

“I know,” Tony said with a smile. “That’s going to take some getting used to.”

“Yeah.” But then Peter’s voice sounded sad. “I can’t believe they did that to him...I mean hiding his parentage like that.”

Tony frowned. “It’s bad, but it’s not the worst thing they did.”  Tony did feel sympathy for Harry. The boy was clearly rattled by the news. However, compared to what they had done it Peter, it didn’t seem so bad.

“Besides,” Tony pointed out, “Harry’s genes are going to cure you.  You’re going to have that future you always thought was impossible.”

That thought was about as intriguing as the fact he had a brother.  Despite all of Tony’s promises, Peter had never really let himself fully believe that he would have a future.  He had never allowed himself to dream about it. But now it really seemed true. It was almost overwhelming.

Peter suddenly laughed. Tony looked at him quizzically.  

“I just realized,” Peter said, “my Dad was Con’s stepdad. And that makes May his stepaunt.  She’ll hate that.” His tiredness combined with his shock made that fact seem hilarious to him.  Tony couldn’t help laughing along with him.

“She’ll have to deal with it, just like the results of us,” Tony declared. “But I think we’ll let you give her the

news, Kid.”

At that, Peter stopped laughing.

———

It took a couple of weeks to formulate the cure.  During that time, Peter’s health continued to deteriorate and he had fewer good days. He rarely complained, but it was obvious that he was exhausted and in pain most of the time.  Even when his friends visited, Peter was often too tired to play games or even keep up a conversation. So they usually watched movies while Peter dozed. He barely attempted to do all his schoolwork, although he refused to give it up completely.  When Peter’s fever would flare up, he was nearly inconsolable. At the worst times, the only person who could calm him was Harry.

Tony and Bruce spent long hours in the lab, sometimes joined by Harry after he had soothed Peter to sleep.  They all knew that they were in a race against time. Finally, they believed they had perfected the cure.

Tony, May and Harry were gathered around Peter’s bed while Bruce prepared the IV with the solution they had created from Harry’s blood.  The excitement and anxiety in the room was palpable.

Peter, despite his hopes, was a little apprehensive as Bruce inserted the IV in his arm.  “Will it hurt?” he asked, remembering the pain after the spider bite.

Bruce seemed to understand his thoughts.  “It won’t hurt like the bite did, but you may have some discomfort. It’s probably better if you can sleep.”

Peter anxiously looked to his mentor. Tony smiled and gently said, “It’s ok, Pete.  Get some rest. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Peter wasn’t sure if it was just the fatigue from the disease or if Bruce had added something to make him drowsy, but he was soon dropping off to sleep. Once they were sure he was out,  Tony and Bruce moved to the other end of the lab to review the medical notes. May and Harry stayed near Peter, holding his hands and talking to him softly.

“When will we know if it works?” Tony asked quietly, so the others wouldn’t hear.

“We should see some positive effect in a few hours,” Bruce replied. “But I don’t know how long it will take for a full recovery.”  At Tony’s questioning look, Bruce elaborated. “It took him several weeks to get this sick. Normally, I would expect it to take at least that long to recover.  But, with his enhanced healing, that could be accelerated. I just don’t know.”

Tony stared at the sleeping boy for a few minutes and then turned back to Bruce.

“Do you think the Parkers did this on purpose?” Tony asked thoughtfully.

“You mean did they purposely create Harry with a way to cure Peter?” Bruce clarified, having wondered the same thing.

“Yeah.”

“I really don’t know. The genetic similarities between the boys were a necessary part of the experiment.  But I would like to think that they had some shred of human decency and wanted a way save their son.”

Tony wanted to think so too. He hated Rick and Mary Parker for what they had done to Peter. Still, he wanted to think that they had cared for their son enough create a way to save him. One small act of parental love to restore Tony’s faith in their humanity. Unfortunately, it was a question they would never really know the answer to.

Chapter Text

Peter loved swinging through the streets of New York. It was a sensation unlike anything else. He loved the thrill of it, the adrenaline rush, the physical exercise, the sense of freedom as the wind whooshed by.  

Tony understood this.  It was the same way he felt about flying in the Iron Man suit sometimes.  And the Kid had only been back to swinging for two weeks. It had only been a month since Peter had made a full recovery from the autoimmune disease that been designed to kill him. So he was making up for lost time.

May thought it was too soon for Spider-Man to be back out on the street.  And part of Tony agreed with her; that same part of him wanted to keep the Kid locked in the Tower, safe from everything that could threaten him.  But the more reasonable part of him knew that Peter needed to get back to his life that meant going home to the apartment and resuming his activities as Spider-Man.

So Tony kept the Baby Monitor Protocol on a nearby holo screen with the volume on low.  That way he could keep an eye and ear on the Kid while working on other projects. In the past two weeks he had seen Spider-Man do his usual crime fighting work: take down muggers, stop vandals, and catch petty thieves. He also helped the citizens of Queens by assisting elderly people with their groceries, giving directions, and finding lost pets.

Tony was focused on repairing a boot from one of the older Iron Man suits when he heard the exclamation from the Baby Monitor.  “Whoa! What was that?” Peter's voice was full of surprise and alarm. Tony’s full attention was immediately on the display, where the image swung around wildly as Peter looked in all directions.

“FRIDAY, call Spider-Man. Force it through,” Tony commanded.

He didn’t even wait for Peter to answer. “Kid,  what’s going on?”

“I don’t know.  I thought I sensed something...I thought there was someone…” Peter settled on a rooftop and shook his head, causing the image to move back and forth rapidly.  “I don’t know...it’s nothing I guess.”

Tony frowned.  He didn’t really understand Peter’s danger sense - no one did.  It wasn’t always completely accurate, but it was rarely completely wrong.  If the Kid sensed something wrong, there probably was.

“What was it, Kid?”  

“I don’t...it’s nothing, Tony.   Probably just my mind playing tricks on me. I’m tired.”  Peter admitted, but he didn’t sound convinced.

Tony sighed. “It’s getting late. Maybe you should call it a night and head home.”  He made sure it sounded like a suggestion, not a reprimand.

Tony could see through the monitor that the Spiderling was looking around again, searching for something he knew was there, but couldn’t find. “Yeah…that’s probably a good idea,” Peter agreed finally. “Good night. End call.” He leapt off the roof and started swinging towards home.  

Tony continued to watch the monitor until the teen was safely home.  Even then he continued to worry. Peter had survived his illness, but there was still the remaining threat that Norman Osborn would try to kill the boy. Tony decided that in the morning, he would talk to Happy about assigning him a security detail.  Peter would protest that he didn’t need it, but Tony was determined to keep the Kid safe.

—————

As it turned out, the next morning was too late.

Tony was preparing for a meeting with the SI department heads. He planned to talk with Happy afterwards about Peter’s security.  Tony picked up his tablet and started looking over the notes Pepper had prepared for the meeting. He hadn’t gotten far when FRIDAY interrupted, ”Boss, there’s an alert that Peter Parker has been taken to New York Hospital-Queens.”

Tony nearly dropped the tablet.  “What alert? What happened?”

FRIDAY’s voice was as calm as ever. “The security sub system that monitors emergency channels in the city.  Earlier this morning an ambulance responded to a call about a teenage boy with a gunshot wound. The boy has been identified as Peter Parker. No additional information is available.”

“Tell Happy meet me in the garage and have a car ready immediately.  And tell Pepper to cancel the meeting,” he commanded as he ran to the elevator.  

“Yes, Boss.”

——————-

In the car Tony tried calling May several times, but kept getting her voicemail.  He didn’t know if that meant she was already at the hospital with Peter or if her phone was off because she was at work.

They got to the hospital in record time.  Tony ran in, followed by Happy close behind. At the desk, they got directions to the appropriate floor, where Peter was just out of surgery.  

Arriving in the surgery waiting room, Tony saw Peter’s friend Ned sitting next to a woman he didn’t recognize.  Ned looked up in surprise as Tony and Happy entered the room.

The woman stood and introduced herself. “I’m Mrs. Leeds, Ned’s mother.”

“Tony Stark,” Tony introduced himself, unnecessarily.  

She nodded, “They just put Peter in room 325.  We were only able to see him for a minute, then they asked us to leave while they set up his IVs and monitors.”

“I put his backpack in his room.” Ned spoke up, sounding a little dazed. “He might want it when he wakes up.”

Tony looked at the boy.  His eyes were red rimmed from crying and he looked like he was in shock.

“Ned, what happened?” Tony asked as he sat down across from them.

Ned leaned against his mother for support.  “We were walking to school. We were almost there. And then Peter got...agitated...like he knew something was going to happen. You know what I mean?”

Tony nodded, understanding exactly what Ned meant, and made a gesture for him to continue.

“Peter pushed me down to the sidewalk and then there were gunshots. The next thing I knew, Peter was lying there bleeding.  He got hit in the shoulder.”

Mrs. Leeds spoke up, “The police said it was a robbery at the bodega on the corner.  The boys got caught in the crossfire.”

That story didn’t sound right to Tony, but he nodded anyway. “Are you alright, Ned? Did they check you out?”

Ned nodded. “I’m ok.  But Peter…”

“Peter’s strong,” Mrs. Leeds soothed her son. “Peter’s gonna get through this just fine.”

“Where’s May?” Tony asked the woman.

Mrs. Leeds shook her head. “I’ve been trying to call her, but it keeps going to voicemail.”  

Before Tony could respond, the nurse approached them. “You can see Peter now, for a few minutes.”  

Ned started to stand, but Mrs Leeds put a hand on his arm, stopping him. She looked at Tony. “Go ahead, we’ll wait,” she said gently.

Tony thanked her and headed to Peter’s room. He paused at the door, taking in the sight of the boy unconscious and hooked up to various IVs and monitors. It was a small room, and looked downright tiny with all the medical equipment crammed into it.  There was a single chair next to the bed, where Ned had deposited Peter’s backpack.

Tony was about to step into the room when Happy approached him.  In a low voice Happy said, “The police confirmed the friend’s account. They got caught in the crossfire from a robbery.”

“I don’t believe that for a minute,” Tony replied harshly.

Happy shrugged. “I know what you mean. But it is possible. It’s Queens after all.”  

Tony sighed and again looked into Peter’s room. The Kid was laying still in the bed, out cold due to whatever medications they had given him.  Tony wondered how long that would last and how much time they had before his advanced healing became apparent. He needed to make arrangements to have Peter moved to the Tower.

He walked over to the nurses’ station.  “As soon as Peter is awake, I want him transferred to my private medical facility.  I’ll sign whatever paperwork you need.” Tony informed the nurses there.

“Wait just a goddamn minute!” a booming voice came from down the hallway.  

Tony looked up to see Norman Osborn heading towards him.

“Peter will be moved to my private medical facility,” Norman insisted.

“Like hell he will!” Tony would have shouted if they weren’t standing in the hallway of a hospital. “May Parker will never allow that!”

Norman smirked. “Didn’t you hear? May Parker was hit by a car while walking to work this morning. It was a hit and run. She’s in a coma.”

“What?” Tony nearly exploded.  He looked at Happy, who immediately pulled out his phone and made a call.

The nurse was typing rapidly on her computer.  “There is a May Parker in the critical care unit. Is she Peter’s family?”

Norman answered first. “Yes. She’s his guardian.  But if she’s incapacitated, I’m the designated backup guardian. That’s from the original custody hearing. He’s going to my facility.”

“No,” Tony protested. “I have medical power of attorney for both Peter and May. They are both going to the Tower.”

The two men started arguing over each other in raised voices.  

“Gentlemen! Enough!” The nurse had to practically shout to get their attention.  Then she lowered her voice to a more hushed tone. “Obviously you both have valid claims.  I’ll need to call the hospital social worker to sort this out. But she’ll probably need to bring in Children’s Services.” The nurse picked up the phone.

Tony moved over to Happy, who confirmed the news about May. In a quiet voice, Happy added, “What are the chances that May would get hit by a car the same time that Peter was caught in crossfire?”

“None.  This was a coordinated attack on the Parkers.  Norman’s behind all of this. I know it.” Tony seethed.

Suddenly alarms started blaring at the nurses station.  The medical personnel sprang into action.

“Room 325! He’s coding! All monitors are flatlined!”

That was Peter’s room. Tony, Norman, Happy, and the Leeds followed the nurses as they ran down the hall.

“Oh my god!” Tony heard a nurse exclaim as she entered the room.  He pushed past the others to see what was happening with the Kid.

The bed was empty. The window was open and the curtain moved with the sight breeze.  The chair, where Ned had left Peter’s backpack was empty.

One of the nurses checked the bathroom. “He’s not in here.”

Peter was gone. Tony realized that he must have woken up and heard the argument in the hallway.  He remembered something Peter had said all those months ago when Norman had threatened May’s guardianship.   I’ll run away first , Peter had told them. And now he had.

Tony turned to Ned.  “Did Peter have a change of clothes in his backpack?”

Ned understood what the man was asking. “He had his after school outfit in there,” he answered carefully.

So Peter had the Spider-Man suit with him. That meant Tony could track him. But Tony didn’t have an Iron Man suit with him, which meant he had to go to the Tower and get one before he could follow after the boy.

————

Tony wasted no time in getting May transferred to the Tower’s medbay and making sure that Bruce and the best medical personnel were taking care of her. He needed May to recover as quickly as possible so Norman wouldn’t have any claim on Peter.  Once he was assured that May was in the best care possible, he focused on finding the Spiderling.

Tony traced the suit’s tracker to a rooftop three blocks from the Parkers’ apartment.  The roof was empty when he arrived, but the signal from the suit was strong.

Looking around, Tony spotted a beat up metal box tucked under a ledge.  The box wasn’t too large and was somehow secured to the rooftop. It was locked with a combination padlock.

Tony used the suit’s gauntlet to crush the lock, then opened the box. The Spider-Man suit was inside, along with Peter’s phone. Tony swore under his breath as he picked up the objects.  He looked around carefully for any other signs of the boy.

From the corner of his eye, he saw something white fluttering in the wind. He hurried to it and confirmed that it was the last remnants of a web.  It was almost completely dissolved. Tony reached out to touch it and as his fingers brushed the webbing, it disintegrated. He looked around, but couldn’t see any other remains of webs.

Two hours. Peter had been here two hours ago. He could be anywhere in the city by now.

———-

In his workshop, Tony rapidly typed in commands, activating the interface from the Spider-Man suit and tying Karen into FRIDAY.

“Karen, are you online?” he called out.

“Yes, Mr. Stark.” She sounded a little startled to be speaking with her creator directly.

“Do you know where Peter is?”

“No, sir.”

“Do you know where I found you?”

There was a pause before Karen answered, “You found me in Emergency Supply Box Number Three.”

Tony had not expected that kind of response. “Number Three? How many boxes are there?”

“Peter has seven emergency supply boxes placed on various rooftops throughout Queens.”

This was news to Tony. He rubbed a hand over his face. “Karen, what emergency supplies were in the box?”

“Box Three contained extra web cartridges, a first aid kit, six protein bars, a bottle of water, a change of clothes, and one hundred eighty-seven dollars in cash.”

“What’s in the other boxes? Are they all the same?”

Karen seemed to consider this for a while. Tony was about to ask again when she responded. “All the boxes have extra web cartridges, snacks, and water.  Most of them have some first aid supplies. Box three was unique for containing clothing and cash.”

“Thanks, Karen.”  

Tony sighed, realizing that Peter had prepared for something like this.  Just under two hundred dollars was not a lot of money to Tony - he could easily spend five times that without a thought. But Peter was frugal and resourceful.  That money could last him several weeks. He would dumpster dive for most things he needed and only use the cash when absolutely necessary. He would just need to find a place to sleep. Peter would avoid any kind of shelter or establishment that could turn him over to authorities.  That meant he would be be sleeping in the streets. Or the rooftops.

Peter was strong and smart, but he was also vulnerable.  Added to that he was injured, which was going to increase his need for food and sleep.  Tony had to find Peter before Norman did.

After a moment Karen stated, “Box five includes a US road atlas and a Greyhound bus schedule.”

Oh shit . Peter could be on his way to anywhere by now. Tony could only hope the Kid would realize that May was expected to make a full recovery and that he would stay in the city.

Chapter Text

It had been more than two weeks since Peter had run away from the hospital.  The Kid had managed to elude everyone who was looking for him. FRIDAY was watching for any mention of the Kid in the news, as well as monitoring emergency channels and scanning security cameras for facial recognition.  Tony took the to air for several hours each day. Iron Man flew above the streets of New York searching for the boy. There has been no sign of him and every day Tony grew more worried.

Meanwhile, his lawyers addressed the legal issues of Peter’s custody, but currently there was no progress on that front either.

Tony was meeting with the Molly Woodward, the social worker from Children’s Services who had been assigned to Peter’s case. She had just finished a surprisingly  thorough search of the premises, to verify that Peter wasn’t there. She assured Tony that a search of OsCorp had been done that morning as well.

Tony took her to the medbay, where May Parker was still in a coma. Bruce explained that May’s other injuries were minor by comparison: a broken leg, a couple broken ribs, and a bruised liver. She had been very lucky that the injuries weren’t more severe. Bruce and the other doctors were confident she would wake up eventually, but with a coma, it wasn’t possible to predict when that would be.

Ms. Woodward nodded and made her notes about May’s condition.  Then Tony led her back to the living room, where they sat down.

Tony gave her his most charming smile. “It would be great if we could get the matter of custody settled. I'm sure you can see that with May here, it just makes sense that Peter should be here too.”

Ms. Woodward gave a polite smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Mr. Stark, both you and Mr. Osborn have reasonable and valid claims for custody. It’s going to be a matter for the Family Court to decide. However, the court is unwilling to consider the case until the child is found.”

Tony frowned.  He guessed that Peter wouldn’t willing be found as long as there was chance Norman would get custody.

“Both you and Mr. Osborn have said that you don’t know why Peter ran away, is that correct?” Ms. Woodward asked as she looked over her notes.

Tony and Norman both knew exactly why Peter had run away. But neither of them could tell the social worker. Of course Norman was not going to admit to his plans to kill the boy as part of an illegal experiment.  And Tony couldn’t reveal the truth without compromising Peter’s identity as Spider-Man, which could lead to a different set of problems. There would be the very real threats to Peter’s and May’s safety from anyone Peter had fought.  Additionally, Tony doubted that Children’s Services - and certain other government departments - would approve of the whole teenage superhero thing.

“I don’t know why he ran,” Tony lied. “It’s really not like him to be so unpredictable and reckless.”

The social worker stood to leave. “You’ll contact me immediately if you hear from him?” She said politely, but it sounded more like an order than a request.

“Yes, of course.” Tony lied again as he walked her to the elevator.  

They exchanged meaningless pleasantries as Ms. Woodward left. Once she was gone, Tony’s shoulders slumped and he dropped the well-practiced smile. He went into the kitchen, where Pepper was making a fresh pot of coffee.

“How did it go?” Pepper asked.

Tony shrugged. “I’m not sure how it was supposed to go.  She has no idea of what’s actually going on here.”

Pepper sighed. “But no one’s found Peter yet? That’s good right? I mean, at least we know that Norman doesn’t have him.”

“Maybe,” Tony replied. “I mean, there’s gotta be a least a dozen places at OsCorp where Norman could hide the Kid and she wouldn’t find him during her thorough search.”

Pepper raised an eyebrow. “You sound pretty certain about that,” she commented as she poured them cups of coffee.

“Well, that’s what I would do. It’s what I will do, when I find him. They could never do a thorough enough search of this Tower.” Tony said with determination.  

Pepper frowned. “You’ll hide him, rather than take the matter to Family Court?”

“I won’t take the risk of Norman winning custody.”  Tony said softly.

“So you plan to just hide him away, locked in this tower?” Pepper asked.  “For how long? Until May’s out of her coma - however long that is? Until he’s eighteen?”

“I don’t know,” Tony admitted.  He rubbed a hand through his hair. “But this isn’t going to end when he’s eighteen. Norman’s not going to give up.”

“You can’t lock him up for forever. That’s no life for him,” Pepper’s voice was low and challenging.  

Tony sighed. “I know. I just want him safe.”

“I know you do.” She gave him small sympathetic smile. “You haven’t heard from Peter at all?”

Tony shook his head. “Nothing.”

“And his friends haven’t either?”

“No. Ned says that neither he nor Michelle have heard anything.”  Tony said wearily.

Pepper paused before asking carefully, “What about Harry?”

Tony sipped his coffee. “Harry claims he hasn’t had contact with Peter.”

“You don’t believe him?”

Tony shrugged. “I think if the Kid contacts anyone, it’s most likely gonna be Harry. But Norman probably knows that too, so he’s gotta be keeping Harry on a pretty short leash these days. Pete might think it’s too risky.”

Pepper thought for a minute. “But you have a way to contact him right? I mean, if May wakes up tomorrow, you've got a way to let him know?”

Tony hung his head. “Not really. He doesn’t have his suit or his phone. I can only hope he goes back to one of the emergency supply boxes and finds the notes I’ve left there.”

They finished their coffees in quietly thought.

———-

As soon as Tony had learned about Peter’s emergency supply boxes, he had asked Karen to map out their locations throughout Queens. He also got her to tell him detailed information about the boxes. She reported that they were all very similar. Each was a slightly beat up metal lockbox secured to a roof in a hidden spot. Karen couldn’t tell Tony much about the origin of the boxes. Apparently Peter had set them up not long after getting his powers. Their main purpose was to keep things the Spiderling might need if a patrol got rough. But he also used them to store items he would need now, when on the run from Norman Osborn.

Tony built seven ultra high-tech biometric locking systems that would open only for Peter’s fingerprints or his own. They were nearly indestructible and tamper proof. And each lock would send a signal to FRIDAY when opened.

Then Tony visited each box. At every one of them, he crushed the existing combination lock and installed one of the biometric locks. He also restocked each box with better supplies. He included the highest quality portable foods, painkillers, antibiotics, additional cash, and a prepaid disposable phone. Additionally, he left handwritten notes asking Peter to return to the Tower, or to at least call.

It had been two weeks and there had been no signal from any of the locks. Tony ran through all the possible reasons why Peter had not been to the boxes.  Maybe the Spiderling hadn’t needed additional supplies yet. Or maybe by changing out the locks, Tony had inadvertently scared the Kid away. Maybe he had been captured by Norman. Maybe the teen was lying somewhere injured or worse.

He worried about Peter’s shoulder. It should be healed up by now, if it hadn’t gotten infected. Tony knew infection was a very real concern.  Peter wasn’t great about wound care even under the best circumstances. And that was just one way the Kid could be hurt. Even with his super powers, there was no end to the dangers that could have befallen him.

Tony needed to clear his head from the morbid train of thought he was heading towards. He went down to the medbay. Every day, he made it a point to spend some time sitting with May. Sometimes it was just a few minutes; other times it was hours. Some days he just sat by her silently. Other days he talked to her - updated her on his efforts to find Peter or just told her stories about the Kid. He wasn’t sure if the visits really made a difference to May, but they often raised his own spirits just a little.

Tony was telling May the story of how Peter had stolen Captain America’s shield. He had told it to her before, but he always enjoyed it. Looking back, Tony admitted that he shouldn’t have involved the boy in the fight.  But he glossed over that aspect to emphasize Peter’s skill and enthusiasm during the fight. The Kid had been simply amazing.

FRIDAY interrupted his story. “Boss, I've received an unusual signal from the lock on Emergency Supply Box Number Four.”

Tony’s breath caught. “Do you mean the lock has been opened?”

“I mean the lock has been disabled or destroyed.” FRIDAY clarified.  

That was a surprise.  Tony had built the locks himself and they were damn near indestructible and tamperproof. Peter would be able to open the locks with a simple fingerprint. So he had no need to destroy them. Tony wondered if someone else could have found the box and messed with the lock.

“FRIDAY, get me a suit.” Tony commanded.  Then he looked at the unconscious woman. “May, I’m going to check on our boy. I’ll be back soon.”

————

Tony arrived at the Emergency Supply Box Number  Four. The biometric lock was indeed gone and the box had been sealed with a thick layer of webs.  Well, at least he knew who had tampered with the lock. That was some relief. He had the suit’s gauntlet produce a knife and cut through the webbing to open the box.

The box was empty except for the prepaid phone and the lock Tony had built.  Tony was disappointed that Peter hadn’t taken the phone, but at least he had accepted the rest of the supplies. Both the lock and the phone initially appeared to be broken. But on closer inspection, Tony could see that they had each been expertly disassembled and components were missing from each.

Tony was impressed. The lock was supposed to be completely tamperproof. But Peter was skilled enough to take it apart and had cannibalized it for parts. The next day, when same thing happened with Emergency Supply Box Number Seven, Tony was slightly less surprised. He wondered what Peter could be building with the missing parts.   

Three days later, Tony was in the workshop when FRIDAY announced that he had a text from an unknown number.

It read:  “Meet me tomorrow 2pm. Coffee house in Brooklyn. You know the one.”

—————

Tony arrived at the same coffee house where he had met with Peter and Harry all those months ago.  He placed his order at the counter and headed towards the secluded booth in the back.

Peter and Harry were sitting next to each other on one side of the booth. They both had cups of hot chocolate and Peter was eating a plate of muffins. Tony slid in across from them.

“Pete, are you alright?” Tony asked. He took a good look at the boy. Peter was looking thin and pale. His clothes were dirty.

“I’m ok, Tony,” the boy said with a forced smile. Harry rolled his eyes.

“How’s your shoulder?”  Tony persisted.

“It’s good. All healed up,” Peter assured him.  

“Order for Tony!” The barista called out.  Harry nodded at Tony, then got up and went to the counter.

“How’s May?” Peter asked anxiously.

Tony gave the boy a quick summary of her injuries.  He tried to emphasize that most of her injuries were minor and although she was still in a coma, the doctors expected her to fully recover eventually.

Peter seemed relieved at hearing this and wiped tears from his eyes.

Harry returned with Tony’s coffee and set it down in front of the man.  He sat down again next to Peter. Seeing his brother’s face, he asked, “Are you ok, Six?”

“Yeah,” Peter replied. “May’s gonna be alright, Con.  I don’t know what I would do if I lost her too.”

Harry gave him a small smile and squeezed his arm lightly. “That’s great news, Six.”

Tony watched the boys, then said, “I’m glad you messaged me, Pete. I’ve been worried about you.”

“I needed to talk to you.” Peter said quietly.

Before Tony could respond, the boy started talking very quickly. “I wanted to thank you for everything.  For everything you’ve taught me and everything you’ve done for me. Thank you for my suit and Karen. Thank you for taking care of me when I was sick and for looking after May now. I...I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate all of it.”

Tony didn’t like the direction this conversation seemed to be heading. “Kid, you’re welcome for all of it. You don’t need to thank me. But you do need to come back to the Tower with me. I can keep you safe.”

Peter shook his head. “Dr. Osborn’s never gonna stop.” He said miserably. “He’s going to keep coming after me and after May. Even if I live to be eighteen, he’s not going to stop.”

Tony wasn’t surprised that Peter had made the same realization he had. “We’ll figure something out, Pete.” Tony said quickly.  “You’ll be safe.”

Peter looked down at the table and shook his head.

Harry shoulder bumped his brother gently. “You don’t have to do this.” Harry’s voice was so low Tony almost didn’t hear him. But he caught the look of fear in Harry’s eyes.

“I also wanted to apologize to you, Tony,” Peter said softly.

Tony was startled. “Apologize for what?”

“For all the times I didn’t listen to you. For all the times I was reckless or careless. For all the times I disappointed you.” Peter said sadly. “And especially for what’s going to happen next.”

Tony went on alert. “Peter? What do you mean?”

The movement was quick. Peter flexed both wrists and webs shot out, securing Tony’s hands to the tabletop. With another quick movement, Tony’s torso was webbed to the booth.

Tony was shocked to find himself immobilized. “Peter? What the hell are you doing!” He demanded.

Suddenly there were several OsCorp security personnel around them. Peter nudged Harry and both boys got up from the booth. Peter grabbed his backpack.

“I’m going with them,” the Kid said flatly. “It’s the only way to get him to stop. I have to protect May. I’m sorry.”

“Peter! No!” Tony yelled.

Norman Osborn calmly walked up. He took in the sight of Tony webbed to the booth and smiled arrogantly. He leaned in close to his rival and said in a low voice, “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of the boy. I’m going run a few tests on him and then I’ll make the end quick and painless. It’s all about the science, after all.”  

Norman gripped Peter’s shoulder with a heavy hand, causing the teen to wince. “I’m so glad you came to see it my way, Petey. Your parents would be proud.” Peter grimaced.

Harry watched as his father lead Peter away.  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bottle. Without a word, Harry carefully placed the bottle between Tony’s fingers and then ran off.

Tony was able to move his fingers just enough so he could turn the bottle and read the label. “Web Dissolvant” was written in Peter’s clear script.  

Great. Now if only he could unscrew the damn cap.

Chapter Text

By the time Tony got back to Stark Tower, he was frantic. “FRIDAY, have Bruce meet me in the common room,” Tony ordered as soon as he entered the building. FRIDAY confirmed that Bruce was already waiting for him.

“Where’s the Kid?” Bruce asked when he saw Tony exit the elevator alone. “I thought you were going to pick up Peter?”

“So did I,” Tony replied gruffly. “The Kid had other ideas.”

Bruce could see that Tony was even more stressed than before. “Tony, you need to calm down.  Breathe. Tell me what happened. Did you see the Kid?”

Tony collapsed into the sofa. “Yeah, I saw him. He thanked me for everything, said he was sorry,  And then that stupid child webbed me up and walked off with Norman Osborn.“

Bruce was incredulous.  “What!”

“Yeah. Pete said it was the only way to stop him. The only way to protect May.”  Tony was angry: at Norman, at Peter, at himself. “Now we have to find a way to rescue the damn Kid.  I’m going to need your help on this, maybe even the other guy.”

Bruce pondered for a minute. “Maybe we go rescue him, or maybe we don’t.”

Tony’s frustration erupted. “What? Are you seriously suggesting that we leave Peter there and let Norman kill him in the name of science?”

Bruce tried to keep his voice calm and his feelings in check. “No, I’m suggesting that Peter didn’t go through everything he has just to give up the fight now. You know that kid. There’s got to be more going on here.”

Tony took a deep breath and considered Bruce’s words. He really hadn’t thought about it. “So you’re saying we should wait and see what the Kid’s plan is?”  

“Yeah.  Maybe he’ll send you some kind of sign that he needs you to come in.” Bruce said thoughtfully.

Tony sighed. “I’ll wait for a little while. But I’m still making plans to storm the place.”  He got up and headed to his workshop.

————

Tony had been working late into the night, trying to hack into OsCorp’s computer system.  He was attempting find access points into the building as well as detailed information about the top secret labs.  Unfortunately, OsCorp’s security was better than Tony had expected and he was having difficulties getting past it.

“Boss, there’s a news alert you should watch.” FRIDAY interrupted.

On of the holographic screens flickered and as the display changed from a floor plan diagram to the local news station.

A reporter was standing in front of the OsCorp building. Or as close to in front of it as she could get. Emergency vehicles appeared to to everywhere.  

“Once again, this is breaking news of a fire at OsCorp headquarters.  Full details are not yet available, but the reports we have indicate that one of the restricted labs has been destroyed. We believe there may have been an explosion in that lab.”

Bruce ran into the workshop, followed closely by Pepper.

“Tony, have you seen the news?” Bruce asked out of breath.  

Tony indicated the screen. “FRIDAY just turned it on.”

“The damage appears to be isolated to one particular section of the building. We have been told that this specific lab contained one of OsCorp’s most top secret projects and only a select few personnel have clearance to it. Although we still don’t know the cause of the explosion, we’ve been told that no one was injured this incident. Due to the late hour, only a few employees were actually in the building.”

“That’s good news, right?” Pepper asked.

Tony swallowed hard. “I doubt that Norman would report it if Peter’s been hurt…or if he’s dead.”

Pepper gasped. “You think Peter could be dead?”

Tony turned to Bruce. “Norman covered up those interns’ deaths by claiming they were lab accidents, remember?”

“So is this Osborn killing Peter or is this Peter fighting back?” Bruce wondered.

Tony ran a hand through his hair. “You think this could be a sign from the Kid?”

Bruce shrugged. “Maybe?”

“I’ve got to get over there,” Tony said. “I have to find out what’s happening.”

Pepper put a hand on his arm, stopping him.  “Tony, you can’t go to OsCorp headquarters. There’s no way you would even get close to it.”  

“I’ll go in a suit…” Tony started.

Bruce and Pepper looked at each other in alarm. “No!” Pepper said emphatically.

“Iron Man can’t go anywhere near there.” Bruce told him.

“I can’t just stay here and watch it happen on TV.  I need to know what’s happened to Peter.” Tony insisted.

Just then the elevator dinged and the doors opened, revealing two exhausted and slightly dazed teenagers.  Peter leaned heavily on Harry. Their clothes had small tears and were streaked with soot. Their backpacks had been dropped by their feet.

Peter gave Tony a quick smile as the two stumbled out of the elevator. Then he promptly passed out, falling to the floor and taking Harry down with him.  The adults were staring in complete shock, unable to move or say anything.

Harry spoke first, from where he sat beside Peter. “Uhm...hey, Mr. Stark...can we crash here tonight?”

That snapped Tony out of his stupor.  He hurried forward and knelt down next to Peter, immediately finding the boy’s pulse.

“He’ll be ok,” Harry assured the man. “He just needs fluids and rest. Dad took almost two pints of blood from him before everything happened.”  

“What did happen?” Tony asked.

Harry looked up and caught sight of the news report playing on the screen.

“Oh yeah... that ...we kinda blew up the lab.” Harry replied.

Peter fought his way back to consciousness, peeling his eyes open and seeing the worried face of his mentor. “Oh hey, Tony.”

Peter looked to Harry. “Did you ask if it’s ok to crash here?”

“I think you’ve already crashed here, Kid.” Tony said with relief. “Can you walk? We need to get you to the medbay.”

Peter nodded. Tony and Bruce helped him up and supported him as they slowly walked to the medbay. Harry and Pepper followed closely behind them.

Once they got to the medbay, both Peter and Harry were  thoroughly checked out by the medical staff. Both boys had mild concussions, as well as some cuts and bruises, with Harry being slightly better off. Peter had shielded Harry during the explosion and taken the brunt of the force.

Additionally, Peter needed extra fluids after Norman’s excessive blood tests and extra nutrients to make up for the weeks of living on the streets.  But with his advanced healing, even that wasn’t going to be too serious. And his shoulder wound had completely healed. Overall, the boys were lucky to not be in worse shape.

Tony hovered during Peter’s exam.  He was just so relieved to see the teen alive and mostly unharmed. Of course he had a ton of questions about what had happened. But both boys were exhausted, so after they were cleared by medical, he sent Peter to his room and Harry to the guest room down the hall. Tony would have to wait until morning to get the details from them.

———-

Tony was tinkering in the workshop, feeling overwhelmed by the events of the day.  He just needed to clear his mind for a while before heading off to bed.

“Boss, Peter has left his room and returned to the medbay,” FRIDAY informed him.

“What’s wrong?” Tony asked in alarm.  Was the Kid more seriously injured than they had thought?

“I’m not certain. He isn’t answering me,” FRIDAY stated.

Tony ran to the medbay.  He found Peter sitting at May’s bedside, sobbing.

“....I’m sorry, May….I’m so sorry…” Peter was mumbling repeatedly as he cried.

Tony’s heart broke as he watched. Quietly, he pulled another chair over to the bed and sat down next to his protege.  He wrapped an arm around Peter’s shoulders and pulled the boy to his chest.

“It’s gonna be ok, Spiderling.  She’s going to be just fine.” Tony whispered reassuringly.  

“When will she wake up?” Peter asked, his voice cracking.

“I don’t know.  Bruce says she’s getting stronger, so hopefully she’ll wake up soon. We just have to wait and see.”  He hated not being able to give the boy a better answer.

“It’s my fault she’s like this.” Peter cried.

“No. It’s not your fault,” Tony said gently, but firmly. “This is Norman’s fault. This was part of his desperate play to get control of you. It isn’t your fault. Do you understand me?”

Peter nodded. But his sense of guilt found another outlet. “I’m sorry for webbing you up.”

Tony sighed. “Yeah, well that wasn’t fun. And I was angry that you webbed me, but I was more terrified about you giving yourself up to Norman.” He felt Peter tense, so he gently rubbed circles on the boy’s back.  

“I’m sorry.” Peter said again.

“I know,” Tony replied quietly. “I still think we could have found another way to handle the situation.  Remember how we talked about no more reckless behavior and not taking unnecessary risks?”

“Yeah.  But I thought it was a necessary risk. And it wasn’t reckless, I had thought it through. I had a plan.” Peter insisted.

“And your plan was to commit arson?” Tony asked more harshly than he intended.

“I didn’t think of it like that,” Peter admitted.  He sounded defeated.

Tony relented. “Yeah, Ok. I understand why you did what you did. I’m not happy about it, but I understand. I’m not angry anymore. Ok?”

He felt Peter nod against his chest. They sat in silence for a while, until Tony felt the boy get heavier.  He gave the teen a little shake. “Come on, you need to head back to bed. A growing Spider-Kid needs rest.”

Tony helped Peter stand and led him back to his own room.  He even tucked the Kid back into bed, making Peter smile in amusement.

“Get some sleep, Kid. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

—————-

it was almost noon when Tony walked into the kitchen and found Peter and Harry were finally up. Both looked better after getting some sleep. They sat side by side at the kitchen island, eating cereal and watching the latest news about the incident at OsCorp. They looked so young with their bedhead hair and pajamas. Tony thought they ought to be watching cartoons instead of the news.

“...Preliminary investigation points to the fire resulting from an explosion in the top secret lab. Although the way the building is constructed kept the fire from spreading, we’ve been told that the lab in question was completely destroyed. OsCorp is not giving any details about the nature of the project; however, an insider has told us that the research took decades and has been completely lost…”

Peter turned his gaze to his mentor. “That whole lab was dedicated to my parents’ project. He had copies of everything from the envelope - all the notes and computer files. Plus there was all the data he collected on me over the years. He kept it all on separate servers housed right in the lab. He had my blood and tissue samples. My father’s blood samples.  The spiders. Now everything’s gone. All of it. Destroyed. He can’t do any more work on the project without all that.”

Tony was a little stunned by the turn of events. He muted the tv and told Peter. “Molly Woodward called me this morning,”

Peter didn’t recognize the name. “Who?”

“Your social worker,” Harry explained.  “She’s a pain,” he added.

Tony chuckled.  “Yeah, she can be. But she called to tell me that Norman has dropped his claim for custody. He told her that with all this going on…” Tony waved a hand to indicate the news report “....you’re more trouble than you’re worth.”

Peter looked at him in wordless shock.

“You did it.  You stopped him,” Tony said in amazement.

“Yeah.”  There was a small note of victory in Peter’s voice. “What happens now?”

Tony smiled. “My lawyers are completing the paperwork for me to have temporary guardianship until May recovers. Ms. Woodward is coming by this afternoon to talk with you. We’ll need to figure out what you’ll tell her. But hopefully we should have this cleared up by the end of the day. Tomorrow at the latest.”

Peter smiled slightly and didn’t look as happy as Tony had expected.  “What’s wrong?” Tony asked.

Peter shrugged and hung his head. Then in a soft voice he asked, “Am I more trouble than I’m worth?”

Harry and Tony exchanged concerned glances.  

Tony quickly moved around the island to sit next to Peter. He gently laid a hand on the Kid’s shoulder. “No, Peter. You’re not more trouble than you’re worth.  And believe me, you are a ton of trouble...like a whole big shitload of trouble. But you’re worth every bit of it and more.”

Peter didn’t say anything for a minute, but Harry grinned in delight.  Finally Peter looked up at Tony and smiled.

Tony wrapped his arms around the boy and Peter hugged him in return. After they pulled away from each other, Tony asked, “I gotta know…how  did you do it? How did you destroy the lab and stop Norman?”

Peter slid off the chair and retrieved his battered backpack.  He opened it and pulled out a device.

“Thanks for the Stark tech. I couldn’t have built that without it.” Peter said wryly as he handed over the object.

Tony studied the outside of the device.  It was a box roughly the size of a brick with wires sticking out from various ports. He immediately recognized the two biometric locking units, which had been incorporated into the top panel, along with the touchscreen display from one of the disposable phones.

Tony tried to pry the box open, but it was tightly fastened shut. He pressed his fingers to the biometric readers, but the display flashed “Access Denied”.

He held the device out to Peter. “Open it.”

Peter and Harry both reached out and pressed their thumbs against the two biometric readers at the same time. “It needs both of us to work.” Harry commented.

“We’ve always been in this together,” Peter added.

The display changed to “Access Granted” and gave three options: Open, Set Timer, or Detonate Immediately. The last option seemed particularly troubling.

Tony tapped Open and the front panel swung down. He turned the box to get a better angle and carefully examined the inside. He wanted to get it down to the workshop and take it apart.  But just from this first cursory look he was impressed by what he found. He was also a little disturbed by it.

Looking at the Kid, he asked, “Where the hell did you learn how to build a detonator like this?”

Peter seemed amused by the question. “Really? I help you work on Avengers tech. It’s not that different.”

Tony covered his face with his hand. He hated to admit it, but Peter was right. Tony had in fact taught the Kid how to build weapons. So much for breaking that cycle.

Peter misread Tony’s reaction. “Uhm….How much legal trouble am I in?” He asked nervously.

“Do you mean because you blew up a lab last night?” Tony asked.

“Yeah.”

Tony glanced at his tablet. “I’ve been monitoring the investigation. If looks like you guys did a good job of making it look like an accident.  And no one really knows you were even there. Norman won’t be able to press charges against you without revealing everything about the project. So I think you’re in the clear.”

Peter released the breath he had been holding. “That’s a relief.” Harry nodded in agreement.

“Yeah,” Tony agreed. “Just don’t make a habit of it.”

Peter laughed nervously. “Yeah. Ok.”

They were all quiet for a moment until Pepper walked in “I hate to throw you out, Harry. But the press is starting to wonder where you are. They’re getting into a bit of a frenzy over the missing Heir to OsCorp.  A couple channels are speculating that you might be dead.”

Harry groaned.  “I guess I should get going. Duty calls and all that crap. Can I borrow some clothes, Six?”

“Yeah, help yourself. You already borrowed my pajamas.”  Peter replied. Harry nodded and headed to Peter’s room while Peter poured himself another bowl of cereal.

Harry returned a short while later, dressed in a pair of jeans and a Captain America tee shirt.  Peter laughed when he saw him. Tony rolled his eyes.

“Thanks for letting me stay last night.” Harry said to Tony.  The man just nodded in response.

“Do you have your cover story in place?” Peter asked.

“Yeah,” Harry replied. “I’m going to let the press find out that I was partying all night with my friend Cole from school. Cole’s agreed to go along with it. He thinks I was really spending the night with some girl, so if he slips up, there’s always that.”

Tony nodded. “Good thinking. The press will eat that up.”

“Yeah, they love that bad boy reputation I’ve got.” Harry flashed a press-worthy smile that rivaled Tony’s own.

Tony chuckled at that. “I’ll have a car drop you off a couple blocks from OsCorp.”

“Thanks, Mr. Stark.” Harry turned to Peter. “Are you good, Six?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, Con. Call me when you can.”  The boys did a quick pinky swear before Harry took the elevator down to the garage.

Tony stared at his protege for a minute. “What am I going to do with you?”

Peter frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Kid….You took apart my high-tech biometric locks - which should have been impossible to do. Then you built a very advanced detonator out of scrap and blew up an OsCorp lab. Honestly, I don’t know if it would be better to ground you or put you on the payroll.”

Peter smirked. “Well if I get a vote, I’d rather not be grounded.”

Tony laughed.   Damn, it was good to have the Kid back . “Yeah, well, I’ll think about it. In the meantime, go shower and get dressed.  We’ve got a busy day ahead of us.”

Chapter Text

Tony rushed into the medbay. He had just finished a meeting with the R&D Department when Bruce had called him to come down right away. Pushing through the door, he worriedly asked, “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

Bruce smiled widely.  “Nothing’s wrong.”

Before Tony could even ask, Bruce pointed to May Parker’s bed, where the woman was sitting up, drinking a glass of water.

Tony looked at her in amazement. “May! You’re awake!” He turned to Bruce. “How long as she been awake?”

“About an hour,” Bruce replied.

Tony was flabbergasted. “An hour! Why didn’t you call me?” He sat down next to May’s bed.

“You were in a meeting and FRIDAY said you weren’t to be disturbed.” Bruce shrugged.

Tony shot him a dangerous look, then turned to May with a grin. “How are you feeling?”

May smiled weakly. “Sore. A little disoriented. I’m not exactly sure what’s happened,” she confessed.

Tony nodded. “You were hit by a car on your way to work. There were some...concerns for your safety, so I had you transferred to the medbay here at the Tower.  You’ve been in a coma for about five weeks.”

“Dr. Banner told me all that. I guess I just haven’t taken it all in.  Five weeks.” She shook her head. “But where’s Peter?” She asked urgently.

Tony glanced at his watch. “School. It’ll be a few hours before he’s home...I mean, back.  He’ll be thrilled that you’re awake!”

“So he’s ok? Dr. Banner said things were rough for him.” She sounded so worried and so tired.

Tony frowned. “Maybe we should talk after you’ve had some time to rest.”

“Tony! I’ve been resting for five weeks!” May protested.  “I know something happened to Peter. I need to know what it was.”

Tony sighed, but he agreed with her. He told her everything.  He told her that Peter had been shot and ran away from the hospital after Tony and Norman argued about custody. May cried when he told her that Peter had been on the run for almost three weeks and then turned himself over to Norman.  She was stunned when Tony told her that Peter and Harry had destroyed the lab at OsCorp. But she was relieved to hear that in the past couple of weeks Peter had recovered from his ordeal and had already caught up with his missed schoolwork. He had even started to resume his activities as Spider-Man.

“So you’re his legal guardian now?” May asked carefully.

“Temporary legal guardian,” Tony clarified. He was afraid that May would think he had overstepped a boundary. “Just until the you’re well enough to take care of him again. You can stay here during your recovery and see him as much as you both want. I’m not going to interfere…”

“Tony, calm down.” May said gently. “I just woke up from the longest nap ever. I’m certainly in no condition to be taking care of a teenager.  I’m just grateful that he has you looking after him. And looking after me. Thank you for everything.”

Tony was a little embarrassed by her sincere gratitude. “You don’t need to thank me, May.  I’m happy to help. I would do anything for that Kid.”

“I know.” May gave him a look of genuine, but tired, affection. “And when I’m feeling a little better, we need to talk about setting up a permanent joint custody agreement.”

Tony didn’t know what to say.  “May…” he started, but his voice trailed off. He was amazed that May would be willing to share custody.

She looked down sadly, “I should have done it months ago when I first started thinking about it. Maybe we could have avoided some of this mess.”

Tony shook his head. “It wouldn’t have stopped Norman,” he murmured.

May nodded tiredly.  Tony could see that she was starting to drift a little. “Get some rest,” he told her.  “We’ll talk later. I’ll send Peter in when he gets ho- here.”

———-

Tony was in the kitchen slicing fruit when Peter came home - back - from school.

“Hey Kid, How was school today?” Tony asked as Peter dropped his backpack on the counter and grabbed at the fruit salad with his fingers.  Tony playfully swatted him away.

“Pretty good.  We had a substitute in history and I nailed the chemistry test.”  Peter replied as he sucked on a piece of watermelon.

Tony grinned at him. “That’s great.” The Kid probably knew more about chemistry than the teacher did. He finished slicing and picked up the bowl of fruit salad. “Grab a couple of  forks and come with me.”

“Where are we going?” Peter asked as he retrieved the silverware.

“There’s someone in medbay who’s eager to see you.” Tony said happily.

Peter’s expression blossomed into pure joy.  “May’s awake?” Not even waiting for an answer, Peter was off sprinting towards the medbay.

When Tony reached the medbay, Peter was embracing his aunt while laughing and crying at the same time.  The man smiled at seeing them together. He placed the fruit salad on the side table with a warm smile and a gentle reminder for them both to eat. Then he quietly left them to their reunion.

————

It was late at night when Tony heard the footsteps running towards the workshop, light and rapid-fire quick. The pitter-patter of spider feet.  Then the door burst open.

Peter was out of breath. His hair was a mess from sleeping and his clothes looked like they had been haphazardly thrown on, the shirt inside out and socks mismatched.

“I have to get to the hospital,” Peter panted. “I need to go right away.”

It was the last thing Tony expected him to say. Why would the boy want to go to a hospital when the medbay was fully staffed? And what could be wrong with him?

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Tony looked the boy over, checking for signs of injury or illness.

Peter shook his head. “Con just called. Dr. Osborn had a heart attack. They don’t think he’s gonna make it.”

Tony let out the frantic breath he had been holding and turned back to his work. So Norman was dying, why should he care? Why should Peter care?

“Go back to bed, Pete,” Tony said harshly.

Peter’s eyes went wide. “I have to go,” he insisted.  Seeing that Tony wasn’t moving from his workstation, Peter nodded. “Ok. I’ll take the subway.” He turned to leave.

Tony set the tools down with a loud bang. “Why? You need to pay your respects to him? What for? You want to let him torture you one last time?” Tony said angrily.

Peter turned back and looked Tony in the eye. “Con is there alone. His father is dying and he’s all alone. I need to be there for him. He’s always been there for me.”

Tony deflated. Harry . He hadn’t thought about Harry. It was true that Norman was a monster, but Harry shouldn’t face the death of a parent by himself. Of course they had to go.

Tony wiped his hands on a rag. “Alright. I need to clean up real quick. Go brush your hair and fix your clothes. Meet me in the living room in ten minutes.”

Peter nodded his thanks and ran off to get ready.

————

Apparently Peter knew exactly where Harry was. Once they got to the hospital, Peter led Tony through a labyrinth of hallways to an elevator, then through another series of hallways. Finally, they arrived at a small, private waiting room. Peter quickly pushed the door open and they went in.

The room was the size of a small living room and comfortably furnished. There was a small kitchenette towards the back of the room. Tony realized this wasn’t a waiting room, it was a bereavement room.

Harry was inside. He wasn’t exactly alone. There were two OsCorp security guys standing in the corner of the room. Tony recognized them from that day at the coffee shop when Peter had gone off with Norman.  Now, they gave Tony a quick side glance, then ignored him.

Peter rushed to his brother hugged him. Harry had obviously been crying.

“Thanks for coming, Six,” Harry said as the boys clung to each other for a minute. “Thanks, Mr. Stark.”

Peter and Harry sat down on the couch and Tony sat in an armchair nearby.

Harry sniffled. “We were arguing…about school...and grades and stuff.  And then he just collapsed. I called for an ambulance and they brought us here.  The doctors ...uh...they worked on him for a while, but they...they just told me he didn’t make it.”

“I’m so sorry, Con,” Peter put his arm around his brother.  Harry cried on Peter’s shoulder for a while. .

Tony stood and walked over to the small kitchenette to get them a couple glasses of water.

Harry sniffled again and wiped his red-rimmed eyes with his sleeves. “I don’t even know why I’m crying.  He was a shitty father.”

“Yeah. But he was your shitty father.” Peter reminded him gently.

Harry nodded. “Yeah, he was.”

“You know, Tony and I have a special club. You could join now.” Peter told him. Tony shot his protege a look, as if to say Harry was not joining the Avengers.

“What kind of a club?” Harry asked.

“It’s for guys with dead shitty fathers.  You totally qualify.” Peter told him. Harry laughed a little at that. Tony smirked. Unfortunately, they all qualified.

“Yeah.” Harry agreed. “That sounds good.  What do you think, Mr. Stark? Can I join your club?”

Before Tony could respond, the door was flung open and a woman exclaimed, “My boys! Oh, how you’ve grown!”

Peter and Harry both stood and turned to face the voice.  They stared at the woman approaching them. Peter’s eyes were huge in shock and Harry’s eyes filled with fresh tears.

“Mom?” Harry asked incredulously as he took a step towards the woman.

Emily Osborn quickly closed the space between them, wrapping Harry in a tight hug. “Oh Harry, it’s been so long. I’ve missed you so much.” She kissed his cheek and then his forehead.

“Mom, what are you doing here?” Harry’s voice cracked.

“I knew I had to come as soon as I heard about your father. I had to come for you.” Emily pulled away from him slightly to study Harry’s face. She wiped at the tears that lingered on his cheeks.

Then she looked past Harry to Peter, standing awkwardly a few feet away and still staring in disbelief. Giving Harry a smile, she moved away from her son to the other boy.

“Petey, it's so good to see you. I thought about both you boys every day.” she said as embraced Peter tightly and kissed his temple.

“Emily…” Peter didn’t know what to say and stood stiffly while she hugged him.

Emily suddenly noticed Tony standing by the kitchenette and her expression changed to alarm.  She let go of Peter and gently pushed him towards Harry, placing herself between Tony and the boys. She spread her arms as if attempting to shield the two teenagers.

“Stark, what are you doing here? What do you want with them?” Emily demanded.

Tony wasn’t sure how to react to this display of protectiveness.  He was shocked, amused, impressed, and annoyed all at once.

Peter stepped forward. “It’s ok, Emily.  Tony’s been helping us.” Peter said reassuringly.

Emily looked at him in disbelief, “Stark’s helping you?”

“Yeah,” Harry confirmed. “It turns out that Mr. Stark is a good guy.”

Emily’s posture relaxed and she gave Tony a slight nod.  Then she turned back to the two boys.

Harry looked at her sadly, “Mom…” Harry’s voice wavered a little. “I know...that Mary Parker was…” He couldn’t bring himself to say it. “I know that we’re half brothers,” he said instead.

Emily gave him a small smile. “It’s ok, sweetheart. I know Mary was your genetic mother, but you’ll always be my son. And I’m so glad you two have each other.”  she said lovingly.

“You left us,” Peter said, his voice heavy with anger and accusation.

“Six!” Harry reprimanded.

Peter turned to his brother. “She did, Con! She knew what they were doing and she just left us there.” The hurt was evident in his voice.

“It wasn’t her fault! She wasn’t involved in it.” Harry countered angrily.

“She knew what was going on whether she was involved or not.” Peter spat back.

They continued for several minutes.  Peter ranted that Emily had abandoned them while Harry insisted that his mom had done nothing wrong.

Tony knew that the boys rarely argued. Even when they did, the disagreements were short-lived and without malice. So he knew the best course of action was to wait it out and he silently signaled Emily to do the same.  The OsCorp security guards, still standing in the corner, watched curiously but made no move to intervene.

Finally Peter let out a deep breath and lowered his voice. “I’m sorry, Con. You just lost your dad and I shouldn’t have gone off on your mom like that.  It’s just that…”

“Yeah.” Harry said remorsefully.  

Harry turned to Emily. “Six is right, Mom. You left us there and some really bad stuff happened.”

“You boys still call each other by those nicknames?” Emily asked in surprise.  

The teens glanced at each other, but didn’t reply.

Emily sighed. “I know, I left you there. Petey, I am so sorry for what they did to you.” She reached to hug him again, but this time Peter moved away.

Tony stepped back into the seating area and handed each boy a glass of water. He gestured that they should all sit down. The teens took their places on the couch while the adults sat in the armchairs across from them.

Emily took deep breath before speaking. “I didn’t know what was happening at first. When I found out...I couldn’t believe that my husband and my best friends were ...such monsters. I tried to stay and make things better for you boys. But after a while I just couldn’t stay. I wish I could have taken you both away from there. But Norman was was too powerful and had too many resources. I was scared of him. I did try to stop the experiments though. I reported your parents’ activities to the government and I even testified at the censure hearing.”

Peter was surprised by this news and looked to Tony.  

“You were the anonymous source?” Tony asked.

Emily nodded, still looking at Peter.  “I thought that would end it. I thought everything would be better after your parents died and you went to live with your aunt and uncle. It wasn’t until much later that I realized things were still going on. I’m so sorry.”

Harry nodded, accepting his mother’s explanation.    Tony could see that Peter was less sure, but would acquiesce for his brother’s sake. The Kid nodded reluctantly and gave Emily a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

The door opened again and Happy stepped into the room with an unreadable expression. Seeing him, the OsCorp security guys stood straighter and appeared ready for to take action.

Happy addressed Tony, “It’s a media circus out there. They heard about Norman and they’re trying to get details on what happened. I don’t know if they’re aware that Emily’s here. But someone let it slip that you and the Kid are here. Now they’re going nuts speculating about your involvement in this and who the Kid could be. Hospital security has managed to keep them outside, but they’re swarming the entrance.”

Tony ran a hand over his face. It had been too much to hope for, thinking that the press might let them have a private tragedy for once.  

He stood up and said to Peter, “We need to go.” He looked at the OsCorp security guys, “Can you get Harry and Emily out a back entrance away from the press if Pete and I distract them at  the front?” The security guys nodded.

Emily looked at Harry, “Are you ready to go? We can handle all the arrangements later.”

“Yeah,” Harry said.  He suddenly seemed very tired. He hugged Peter, promising to call later.  They two groups left the room and headed in different directions.

As they approached the front of the hospital, Tony wrapped an arm around Peter protectively. “Stay close and don’t say anything. It’ll be ok.”

Peter nodded, but looked pale.

“Should I tell the press what kind of a monster Norman was? Let the world know it for once and for all?” Tony asked.

Peter shook his head quickly. “No. For Con’s sake, please don’t.”

Peter was right; Harry shouldn’t have to deal with that.  “Ok, Kid. I’ll play nice. For Harry.”

The were bombarded with questions and photo flashes as soon as they stepped out.

“Mr. Stark, why are you here? What was the cause of Norman Osborn’s death? Did you have anything to do with it?  Who is the boy with you? Why did you bring him here? What do you think will happen to OsCorp now?”

Tony stopped on the steps of the hospital and stood still. He waited, with Peter tucked closely by his side. The reporters quieted down, recognizing that Tony was about to give a statement.

“The tech industry has suffered a great loss today. Although Norman Osborn and I were professional rivals, I can with all honesty say that he had a profound impact on my life and the lives of those around him.  The world will never be the same. My protege and I extend our deep sympathies and our support to Harry Osborn during this difficult time. I will remind all of you that Harry is a minor and the press needs to leave him alone.”

Recognizing that was the end of Tony’s statement, a few of the reporters turned their attention to Peter.

“Are you Tony Stark’s protege? Why did he bring you here? What’s your connection to the Osborns?”

Tony glared at the reporters. “He is my protege and he is also a minor, so the press needs to leave him alone too.”

With that, Tony quickly led Peter to the car and they both got into the backseat. Peter turned and watched the press staring and snapping pictures as the car pulled away from the hospital towards the Tower.

Chapter Text

It was almost noon when Tony returned from his morning meetings. He found Peter sitting on the couch doing his classwork for calculus while watching  TV. It was one of those shows that pretended to be news, but was clearly gossip.

“The tech industry has suffered a great loss today. Although Norman Osborn and I were professional rivals, I can with all honesty say that he had a profound impact on my life and the lives of those around him.  The world will never be the same. My protege and I extend our deep sympathies and our support to Harry Osborn during this difficult time.”

The press kept replaying the video of Tony’s impromptu statement from the hospital steps. The reporter continued with the story that seemed to be all over the place lately.

“Tony Stark’s heartfelt statement upon the death of Norman Osborn has caused many people to reconsider the public rivalry between these two great industry leaders.  Many now feel that this was a carefully crafted public image that hid a close personal friendship between the two. Neither Stark Industries nor OsCorp will confirm or deny this friendship. But the public outpouring of support for both companies has been unprecedented.”

Tony chuckled to himself and shook his head.  The media would never know just how wrong they were.

“Mr. Stark’s presence at Mr. Osborn’s funeral earlier this week has seemed to confirm that the two were indeed good friends.”

The press didn’t realize that Tony had only been at the funeral for Peter’s sake and Peter had only been there for Harry.

Tony saw Peter frown as a now-familiar photograph was shown on the screen. It was a photo of Peter and Harry that had gone viral. They both looked somber, standing shoulder to shoulder together next to Norman’s fresh grave.  

“It looks like the Heir to OsCorp and the Stark Protege are following in their elders’ footsteps.  As this photo shows, Harry Osborn and Peter Parker appear to be very good friends as well. A source close to the boys has revealed that the late Richard and Mary Parker were close associates of Norman and Emily Osborn and because of that, the two boys have been lifelong friends.”

The media had became extremely curious about the Stark Protege. Much to Tony’s dismay, it hadn’t taken them long to identify Peter Parker and dig up his life story. The press and the public couldn’t get enough of it. Tony hated that over the past few days, Peter had watched multiple media outlets report on his tragic life as a “poor orphan” whose genius had been discovered by the great Tony Stark.  

Tony and Emily agreed to keep Peter’s true history with Norman a secret. They also decided to hide the fact that the boys were half-brothers.  Instead, they allowed a “leak” to the press that the two were longtime friends. The press was constantly trying to find out more about them.

The reporter was rambling on, saying that Peter’s squeaky clean image was a contrast to Harry’s bad boy reputation.

Tony grabbed the remote and turned the TV off abruptly.   “I told you not to watch that junk,” Tony reminded the boy, disapproval evident in his voice.

Peter gave him a look of wide-eyed innocence. “But Tony, how else am I supposed to find out if I’m your secret love child?” he asked, referencing one of the early rumors that had circulated about his identity.  

Tony attempted to give him a stern look, but laughed despite himself.

“You know,” Peter added hopefully, “I wouldn’t be able to watch this junk if you let me go back to school.”

Tony smiled. He had never heard of a kid so eager to get back to school. “Tomorrow.”

Pete eyes lit up. “Really?”

“Yep. Happy finished his security assessment yesterday. Turns out Midtown’s security is pretty good.  The system just needs a few upgrades, which SI generously donated, and those are being installed today.  So you’re good to go back tomorrow.”

Peter grinned.  “That’s great news. I’ve been keeping up with most of  my classes, but there’s a group project in history and it’s hard to work on that without being there.”

“Put your school work away for now and come with me.  We have more important stuff to do.” Tony told him.

“Ooh, are we going to work on the suits in the workshop?” Peter jumped up excitedly.

“Hmm….maybe later.  I’ve got something else in mind for now.” Tony led Peter into the kitchen and gestured for him to take a seat at the island.

“What are we doing?” Peter asked curiously.

Tony pulled two tubs of ice cream from the freezer. “We’re spoiling your appetite for lunch. Don’t tell May.”

Peter chuckled and happily accepted the tub of caramel fudge while Tony opened the toffee chip for himself.  

After getting them both spoons, Tony walked to the other end of the kitchen and opened a seldom used drawer.  He pulled out the contents and carried a stack of glossy booklets to the island.

“And we’re going to talk about colleges!” Tony told him triumphantly, as he set the pile of brochures down in front of Peter.

The Kid’s eyes went wide and he sucked in a deep breath.  Then he laughed. For the first time ever, he looked interested and didn’t protest about the subject. “Yeah, that sounds good.”  

Tony and Peter sat at the kitchen island most of the afternoon, eating way too much ice cream and looking through the literature Tony had somehow collected from various colleges.  They discussed the pros and cons of each one. They debated and argued. They laughed and joked around.

Peter’s eyes sparkled with excitement. He was both anxious and enthusiastic about finding just the right college.  Tony was so happy and proud he felt like his chest would burst. This was the discussion he had wanted to have with Peter for so long. Now the boy was finally able to really think about what he wanted for his future.

Tony kept pushing the brochure for MIT in front of Peter.  “I’m telling you, Spiderling, it’s the best college out there. I’ll call and arrange for a private tour. You’re gonna love it!”

Peter laughed, “Are you still pushing MIT and then a job at Stark Industries?”

“Like I told you before, it’s your future and I’m not gonna railroad you into a decision. But I am going to encourage you to seriously consider it.”

“Ok, ok.  I’ll think about it.” Peter conceded with a smile.

“Besides,” Tony added, “it’s not like you would have just any job at SI. You’ll be learning to run the company.”

Peter stopped smiling. He looked stunned. “What?”

Tony shrugged. “You’re going to inherit all my shares one day anyway. As the biggest stockholder, you really should be in charge of the place.”

Peter’s eyes were wide, “Are you serious?”

Tony grinned. “Of course. Kid, you are smartest person I know, except for Bruce and possibly myself.  And you’ve got an amazing heart. Who else would Pepper and I trust to take over for us?”

Peter stared at him for a moment, then shook his head. “The Stark Industries Board Of Directors isn’t going to let you name a successor with blood ties to OsCorp.”  

“Maybe.  Maybe not. The Board doesn’t need to know,” Tony said calmly.

“What do you mean?” Peter asked.

“Legally, Harry’s mother is Emily Osborn.  With the OsCorp lab destroyed, there’s no documentation that shows his genetic parentage except for the records here at the Tower.” Tony explained.  “There’s no reason for anyone to suspect that Mary was his mother.”

Peter looked a little disappointed. “So we’re supposed to hide the fact that we’re brothers?”

“For now, I think that’s best. Emily does too.  Later, once you’re both established in your careers you might choose to make it public.  Or you might not.” Tony replied.

“That isn’t really helpful,” Peter complained.

Tony smiled. “I think you boys will navigate your own way. When Harry graduates college, he’ll take over OsCorp. He isn’t going to run it the same way Norman did.  OsCorp will be a different company under Harry’s leadership.”

Peter thought about that and nodded.

Tony continued, “Just like Stark Industries isn’t the same company it was when my father ran it. And I suspect it will be a different company when you’re in charge.  Maybe SI and OsCorp will even form some kind of partnership or joint venture.”

“Doesn’t the thought of that bother you?” Peter asked.

At one time it would have been unthinkable, but now Tony welcomed the idea. “No. I’ve seen the kind of schemes you and Harry come up with when you put your heads together. Think of the incredible things the two of you could accomplish with the combined resources of SI and OsCorp. Think of all the good you could do for the world. You’ll achieve things I could only dream about. I know it.”

Peter groaned. “You call that not railroading me into a decision?” he asked flippantly.

Tony chuckled. “I didn’t say I’d play fair.”

“Well, whatever I do, I’m gonna keep being Spider-Man,” Peter said as if he expected Tony to protest.

“Of course,” Tony said fondly.  “The Avengers are going need someone to take over someday.”

“The Avengers? I thought the Avengers broke up. Like a band,” Peter reminded him.  

“Yeah, but I think it’s time to see about getting the old band back together.  We’ve got to start training up the next generation of heroes.” He squeezed the boy’s shoulder.  

Peter smirked. “You told me Spider-Man wasn’t supposed to be a career goal.”

“He’s not. But one day the world is going to need Spider-Man just as much as it needs Peter Parker.” Tony said with certainty.

That statement took Peter by surprise. But he grinned and let it go. He started to flip through the MIT brochure.   “So tell me more about this place? What are the classes like?”

As Tony talked about his alma mater, he thought back to the film of Howard saying that Tony was his greatest creation. For years Tony couldn’t comprehend how his father felt that way.  But now, sitting in his kitchen and eating ice cream with this teenager, he did understand. Because Tony knew that nothing he had ever invented or built was as wonderful as the boy sitting next to him.  And nothing Tony had ever done was as important as caring for Peter, ensuring his safety, and nurturing his development.

The Kid was going to have an amazing future.