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Peter is walking home when they take him.
A black van had driven up and, before his spider-senses could warn him, there was a sleeping dart sticking out of his throat as he was part way through changing into his suit.
The HYDRA men had dragged him away with ease, only two cameras capturing the deed.
Tony found out through a phone call.
Or more, May ringing panicked, saying Peter hadn’t got home.
Tony had immediately pinged the suit, flying straight to the alley…
Only to find Peter’s bag, shirt stomped into the dirt.
It was a one-way alley, so it was easy for Tony to find the footage.
And when he saw his kid being taken buy guys in the very same shit as HYDRA operatives…
Well, his breath had hardened, his eyes had burned, and he had started to methodically hunt for him…
But then a video comes in the mail.
And Tony.
Is.
Livid .
They had strapped his kid up on wires, threatened him , and they expect him to do as they want?
Oh, no, there is a very simple solution to this problem, as Tony feels the suit assemble around him.
“Oh dear , Nazi-snakes!” he says, voice curling into an annoyed, sing-song tone, “It looks like someone deserves a treat for the gift!”
The helmet forms, the eyes lighting up.
“Because I’m the Merchant of Death for a reason, so you get Tickets to Hell for Free …”
He bursts out the building, already tracking the nearest base, as he decides to go for a hunt …
Steve is talking with the others when his phone goes off.
“Huh?”
He pulls out his phone, glancing at the number.
When he recognises it, he immediately puts it on speaker.
“Tony?” he asks.
“Nope, but close,” Pepper’s voice is a surprise, “Rhodey’s gone after him, but he’s gone crazy ! Friday says he got a video this morning, but then he destroyed it after while spouting shit about his fucking Merchant title. He’s now blasting through countries and burning multiple buildings and some forests to the ground, killing everyone inside to the point they’re unidentifiable!”
“ What ?!” Steve snaps, as Natasha stands.
“Have you tried calling Spiderman?” she demands.
“Happy went to find him, but he only left ten minutes ago and it takes about half an hour to reach the apartment Spiderman shares with his Aunt.”
“Steve, he’s literally breaking the Accords with this. Please, you need to help!” she says.
Steve nods.
“We’ll handle it,” he says, as he looks at the others, hanging up...
“We done here, Fri?” Tony asks, data scrolling through his visor.
“Yes, Boss,” FRIDAY replies, as Tony hums, looking at the dead body by his feet, calmly stepping over it, as he leaves the base, setting off the bombs.
He’s just launching off again when he catches sight of Rhodey.
“Oh? Hey Rhodey! Come to ask me what I’m doing and all that jazz?” Tony smirks, “I mean, I did cover the reason to try and delay you for a bit…”
“Tony, you’re literally breaking the law doing this! Are you finding it funny?”
“Oh?” Tony hums, “As far as I see it, HYDRA decided my kid was fair territory and that they could try threatening me through him… So, as far as I see it, given how much shit they’ve given me, with more than just Peter … Well, someone’s gotta give out tickets to hell!”
Tony finishes his first little statement with a flourish, “Now, you are going to leave , fight , or help , got it?”
Rhodey firms his expression, straightening.
“Tony, you don’t have to do this!”
“Oh, Rhodey-bear!” Tony sings, already moving to go, “People have expected this for ages ! Looks like, well, they’re getting what they ask for !”
Rhodey growls , as Tony whistles , the familiar tune of Another One Bites the Dust causing Rhodey’s entire suit to shut down .
“Fifteen minutes! Plenty of thinking time!” Tony calls, launching off, “ Byyyee !”
“ TONY !” Rhodey yells, “ TONY !”
It scares him. Tony hadn’t even taken off his helmet to talk, just turning him aside and launching off!
“ FUCK !” he roars, waiting until, fifteen minutes later, he can finally patch through to Pepper. “Pepper! Tony’s gone beyond ape-shit!” he yells.
“Steve’s still in Wakanda, go after Tony and they can track you.”
“He can shut down the War Machine suit! Just by whistling !”
“So? Follow at a distance, and if you hear anything, give him a warning shot!” Pepper snaps.
Rhodey winces.
“Yes Ma’am,” he says, before shooting after his friend…
Several hours later, Tony had legally crossed several sets of borders without getting stopped and destroyed a total of twenty-eight HYDRA bases, twelve had been in the US, three in Canada, one in Japan and thirteen ‒ just going on fourteen ‒ around China and the small countries around it.
It was a slaughter , but Rhodey could only watch it, not wanting to take part, or be grounded for another fifteen minutes.
The only upside was Tony would free any captors that he found .
Found being the keyword; he’d always set the place alight after, meaning anyone could have been left to rot.
Finally, Tony heads for India.
And it is there that he is refused entrance.
And it is there that he barges in anyway !
Steve and the others catch up as the thirtieth base has become a wreckage of metal and flames.
“Tony, stop!” Steve orders.
Tony hums, only setting fire to another section, corpses already littering the ground.as a huddling group of survivors are watching, clutching one another.
“Might want to move this elsewhere, Captain!” Tony replies, “Authorities are already on their way to retrieve what used to be hostages and I’m already on my way to get out the next batch of free death-tickets! Gotta live up to my name, after all!”
“You’re crazy? You’re seriously slaughtering hundreds !” Natasha yells, face dark.
“Oh, don’t get snarky with me , Miss Widow,” Tony replies, “They took something of mine several times throughout my life, so I thought I’d kindly return the favour, with interest !”
“If this is about your parents‒” Steve starts.
“ More than them, Stevie!” Tony laughs , sounding practically hysterical, “They decided that they would not only kidnap my kid , but then send me a video of it, as well as leaving the feed of the kidnapping behind for me to find! They thought it would be amusing to reveal that the Ten Rings had been an affiliate group of theirs and had personally helped with my torture! With my Uncle Stane finding the time and place to rip my heart out, much like they gave it to you , obviously!”
Steve flinches , as Tony tilts his head.
“Now, if you excuse me, I’ve got twelve more bases to destroy before they finally work out things for them are a choice between death and death , with a side-note of keeping Peter alive so they recieve more mercy . Good? A- bye .”
Tony goes to leave, but Clint has already fired an arrow, one that Tony stops as Wanda tries to use her powers, only for a piece of metal to fling from Tony’s wrist and wrap around her neck in nanoseconds, suppressing her power as Tony catches himself, dodging attacks left and right.
“FRI, play from Highway to Hell in my playlist!” Tony grins, as he starts to fight , Rhodey cursing loudly as his suit shuts down again .
Vision also falls down, frame going stiff, though he can still move, though his movements slow with each step.
Tony first defeats Natasha, before focusing on Clint and Sam, dodging Bucky’s attack and using kung-fu to send it into Scott, who falls back on T’Challa, as his fury releases any and all thoughts of playing fair .
Finally, it gets down to just him and Steve , Tony having ensured everyone else was knocked out.
Steve is on his knees, as Tony stops in front of him.
“Tony…” Steve attempts.
Tony finally reveals his face, Steve’s eyes widening at the sight, jaw dropping open.
“I have nothing to say to you, not anymore,” Tony says, voice soft, before the helmet returns, flying off, as Vision and Rhodey finally gain control again.
“Steve!” Rhodey calls, rushing to the Captains side, as Vision quickly starts checking on everyone.
“...Dead…” Steve says.
“ What ?” Rhodey asks.
“He looked dead , like he just… Like we’d been fighting a corpse instead of Tony …” Steve pants out, shaking his head.
“W-we have to go after him. I don’t even think he cares about himself anymore!”
“Vision!” Rhodey calls, Vision looking up from where he’d ben reviving Bucky, “We need to go after Tones! He’s fucking suicidal !”
By the time they find him again, he has destroyed all but one base.
Which had been recently built, exactly where the abandoned base had been.
“What‒” Natasha, now fully conscious, asked, shocked, as they saw Tony head inside, the first chords of Back in Black drifting up to them.
So, of course, they went after him, following the trail of red left in his path.
An explosion wracks through the building, as they quickly run towards it.
Tony is stained from head-to-toe in blood, dirt and soot, armour hardly able to move properly as silence now reigns.
A small boy is curled up, beaten, bruised and bloodied, as Tony finally steps out of the suit…
Unveiling that, instead of any of his usual under-armour wear, he was in his usual dirty mechanic gear, hair dishevelled and burns and bruises visible on open flesh, a few cuts even trickling his own blood into the clothes he wore.
Gently, Tony scoops up the child, like one would a newborn, one arm supporting the small boy as a hand goes to run through the kid’s hair.
“ Jesus …” Clint breathes, as Scott just stops in shock.
“Pete?” Tony’s voice, unlike the confident trill he had shown before, had crumpled, now sounding like a blend of papyrus and stone.
There’s silence, before a soft, “M’s’r St’rk?”
The suit melts down, blood and muck going all around Tony’s feet, as Steve moves to step forwards, Rhodey stopping him.
“It’s OK kid…” Tony says, “I’d never let you down, not even letting death get her hands on you… After all…”
Rhodey’s breath hitches at the sight of the macabre smile on the tear-and-blood stained face Tony had, eyebags more pronounced than usual and skin like paper, like just one breeze, and Tony would be dust.
Tony buries his face in Peter’s hair.
“ We can’t afford the cost, anyway… ”
He manages to get to them, the suit rising up, clean and fresh, Tony letting it dissolve back into his watch and arc reactor.
“Tony…” Steve starts.
“You did say he was on the young side,” Rhodey smiles, quickly moving to support his friend.
“Mmh,” Tony grunts, as his legs finally give out, the others catching him, as they finally settle on taking him to Wakanda…
It gets out a week later.
Tony had entered a coma during the ride from Siberia to Wakanda, Peter only taking a week to heal, though he doesn’t leave Tony’s side at all during that time.
Pepper has to start giving out statements, saying no , Tony had acted independently, no she had not known exactly how much the extremist group had taken and destroyed from people and no she does not know where the heck he is give her some slack you pompous pricks !
People who’d been held hostage start coming forwards. Some had been kept like objects to “entertain” the soldiers in various bases, all of which Tony, going off the thread from the HYDRA details dumped online and finding matching threads to other bases, had destroyed .
Of course, this meant certain groups started clamouring for Tony’s arrest, said he couldn’t possibly done all of that , in the end, over one child that wasn’t even his , that he’d destroyed people with families and an entire group as a hate-crime.
However, what they weren’t counting on, was for Peter to step forwards and say he was the one Tony had gone after, that all of the Avengers on-planet at that time had acted as witness , even after their ‘Civil War’, to what Tony had done. Peter had allowed them to see the scars on his back from the whips, the burn-scars on his arms from electrolysis.
Steve and Rhodey had stepped up on either side of him and agreed .
Tony is still in a coma for the year and three months it takes to allow both Tony and the Avengers to no longer be classed as criminals, for them to be allowed back out beyond the borders of Wakanda…
Then, when Tony is finally home, Dum-E cheery at finding even motor-oil couldn’t kill Peter, all of Tony’s kids are there for him when he wakes up ‒ even Harley had driven over to watch over Tony with Peter, the two kids taking shifts so they could be there the second he woke up.
And he does .
He’s still pale as a sheet.
Still got a voice like papyrus and stone.
But he’s alive .
And that’s all the science-kids want.
"Why?" Peter asks, voice soft, as Tony is finally able to be awake a bit more.
Tony gives a one-shoulder shrug, as Harley hands him a drink, sitting by Tony on the matress, Peter sitting on Tony's other side.
Tony gives a one-shouldered shrug, wrapping his arms around the pair's shoulders.
"Well, I may be the Merchant of Death," he says, "But you? My kids?... You're my life."