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It had been too long. Three weeks. Three weeks with Peter not with him. Tony could hardly stand to spend a day away from the kid, let alone have him ripped out from under his nose. He hadn’t done anything but search for his kid since then. May had gone back to work – grieving silently as Tony continued his obsessive search.
He had drawn in Natasha to help him, hoping she could find something in her secret circles to help him find his kid. He didn’t know much. He knew that a group of scientists had taken his kid - were experimenting on him like he was some sort of lab rat. He knew that his kid had been shot up with some type of dart, dropping to the ground in the middle of patrol with no means of fighting back before he was loaded into the back of a van and taken God knows where.
Tony was sitting at his holographic screen, flipping through every trace of the van for the millionth time when Natasha burst into the room, her usual air of coolness completely gone.
“We found him.” Tony was on his feet in seconds, following Natasha as she led the two of them to his garage. “They’re a cell of Hydra agents, focused on the buying and selling of enhanced individuals. I traced them to a chiropractic office out of Manhattan. It’ll be a thirty-minute drive. I’ll go in first, draw their attention and take out the initial guards. Be ready to come in guns-blazing when I send out the signal.” Natasha slammed the gas down on the SUV and peeled out of the tower parking deck.
“Will he still be there?” Tony asked – really praying the answer would be yes.
“I think so. From all of the research I’ve done – it’s um…” Natasha glanced over at him. “He’ll still be in the medical training stage.” She finished, looking back at the road with steel in his eyes. Tony gulped down the nausea in his throat.
“Oh God.” He whispered, his fingers twitching as he prepared himself to hold his kid once more. Three weeks. He had been missing for three weeks. How much damage could these people have done to his kind, caring kid in that time?
They slid into a parking lot and Natasha put a hand on his arm, fire burning across her face.
“Give me five minutes. I’ll buzz you in and we can get him out. I’ve got Steve, Sam, and Bucky on their way to help with the rest of the victim recovery, and a med team is in route. He’ll be okay.” Then she was gone in a flash. Tony stepped outside of the vehicle, tapping the housing unit on his chest, ready to fall into battle. Itching in his bones to hold his kids in his arms for the rest of his life.
It felt like ten years before Natasha buzzed him in, and he took off, bursting through the glass door without a care. He fired on everyone that came in to sight, not stopping for anything. He and Nat worked their way down a hidden staircase and into a long, white corridor.
Tony paused at the first door, turning to see a horrific surgery room. Blood was splattered on the floor, like a fresh surgery had just gone on. He gagged in his suit but continued down the hall.
“FRI find me Peter. Now!” He bit out.
“There is a heat signature matching Mister Parker’s body size on the last door to the left. He appears to be in extreme distress.” That was all he needed to hear. He flew forward, and in one blast the door flew off his hinges.
The sight that greeted him was one that would forever be burned into his memory.
Peter was strapped down onto a metal examiner’s table, a gel mouthpiece bit between his locked jaw. His body convulsed; eyes rolled into his head as electrodes attached to either side of his forehead emitted electric pulses into his brain. There was a single scientist watching Peter, writing notes into a notebook. He jumped back, hands raised when Tony entered the room, but one shot from his repulsors had the man thrown back into the wall behind him – unmoving.
He tapped his chest, and the suit retracted. Tony ripped the electrodes from Peter’s forehead and watched as the kid went limp.
He looked terrible. He had lost a good twenty pounds that he couldn’t afford to lose, his eyes were dark, and his hair was shaggier than Tony had ever seen it. He was in medical pants, and his chest was littered with surgical cuts and discolored skin.
“Peter, buddy, it’s me. It’s Tony.” Tony had FRIDAY send the Med crew their location as he quickly undid the leather straps that bound Peter to the table. “Alright, alright, I’ve got you.” Tony slid the mouthpiece from Peter’s lips. “Come on, Peter. Time to wake up.” Tony looked around, but he couldn’t find anything that would help him. “Okay, you can hate me for this but-” Tony took his knuckles and began to rake them over Peter’s sternum. He continued the motion until he heard a groan from the kid’s mouth.
“Peter? You with me, pal?” He watched as the kid tossed his head, whimpering silently.
“N’-pl’s- pl’s…” Peter’s voice was so quiet, but Tony knew exactly what he was saying.
“Hey, you’re safe, Peter. I’m here now.” He said. “Can you open your eyes for me?” Tony asked, wondering where the damn med team was.
Peter blinked his eyes open slowly, his face showered with terror and confusion as his eyes met Tony’s.
“Don’t. ‘m s’rry. I’ll be good.” He said, looking at Tony but not seeing him.
“Peter. I need you to look at me. I know you can look at me. It’s Tony. It’s Mister Stark. You’re safe. You’re safe.” And like a veil being torn from his eyes, the fog cleared as Peter looked up at him with a new found hope.
“Mr. Stark?” He whispered – his voice broken from too many hours of crying for help.
“Yeah, buddy. Yeah. I’m here now.” Tony pulled Peter up, tucking his kid’s head into his chest as he breathed in the knowledge that he had his kid once more. And he would never let him go again.
“Don’t leave me, please.” Peter cried, his fingers clumsily finding their way into Tony’s shirt.
“I’m never going anywhere – I’m never going anywhere ever again.”