Chapter Text
"Wow, look at this. Nicholas Fury coming to me for help. Can you say please? Maybe do a little begging?" Tony grinned, enjoying the way Fury's jaw only clenched tighter.
"I'm not asking you, Stark. I'm asking the Avengers. SHIELD needs help."
"You know, I don't know...I think maybe if you were on your knees, groveling at my feet, I'd be more eager to help." Tony leaned back in his seat. He had the power in this conversation and he loved that. Usually, Steve was the one that answered team calls, but he was training in the gym with Natasha. They hadn't expected a call from Fury.
"Stark, people are missing. Children are missing."
And that snapped him back into reality. Children were always enough to make his blood boil, but ever since a certain 16-year-old started running around the tower, these cases hit a little closer to home.
"What kids?" Tony was leaning closer to the screen.
"You know Xavier's School for the Gifted?"
The name sounded familiar, though he wasn't sure what the exact details were. "A school for mutants, right?"
"Yes. A few kids have gone missing. It seems that it's connected to a lot of other mutant disappearances lately."
"Like a serial killer for mutants?" Tony frowned.
"We don't have any reason to believe they're dead."
"You look into Ross?" Tony asked, thinking of that asshole first. Even after he failed to break the Avengers up with his Accords, he still tried to convince them that mutants weren't human and deserved to be incarcerated for it.
Of course that would have included locking Bruce, Steve, and Peter in the Raft, probably with shock collars around their necks. Tony refused to ever let that happen.
"Our agents close to him say he has no involvement in this."
Tony nodded his head thoughtfully. "Yeah, and there's no boasting from his side. If he was behind it, he'd be all over it and being his typically asshole self."
"We want your team to help find out who is taking these mutants and how. It has to be another mutant or someone very dangerous." Fury's voice was no nonsense as he warned Tony to be careful without saying a word about it.
"Yeah. We'll start looking into it." Tony nodded his head. He wanted to bring these kids home.
"Good. We sent the files to your servers. It's of the known missing mutts and their last known locations."
"I'll share it with the team. We'll do our best."
"I'm counting on you, Stark," Fury said before hanging up, the screen now black.
This was a mission they could not afford to lose, not when innocent kids were in trouble.
"What're you guys doing?" Peter asked, walking into the kitchen where all of the Avengers were sitting at the table, reading over papers.
It was the second Friday of the month, which meant he was spending the weekend at the tower for Avengers training and Mario Kart.
"Working," Sam said, flipping a piece of paper over, not even looking up.
"I thought we were supposed to be in the training room." Peter took a seat between Tony and Steve. He tried peaking over Tony's shoulder to see what he was reading, but he pulled the paper close to his chest.
"None of your business, Spider-Baby. Go watch some TV. We'll be right in."
Peter frowned. "Why're you shutting me out? I wanna help."
"Probably because you're a literal toddler," Sam said. "This is for the adults."
Peter knew Sam had to tease him. That was his job, but it didn't make him feel any less frustrated. "I'm an Avenger too. Just last month, I saved your ass when your wings got clipped in the air. You're welcome, by the way."
"I already thanked you for that, half-pint. Don't keep bringing it up. That's not cool."
"Alright, children. Can we please stop bickering." Clint asked. "Sheesh. I feel like I'm home with my kids."
"I just wanna help," Peter said, his shoulders sagging.
"Don't worry about this stuff, son. It's not fun Avengers stuff. Just a lot of paperwork for an upcoming mission." Steve was always the weak-link. He never lied to Peter, always treated him like an adult, and always gave him a chance because he said time and time again, he was just like Peter. They were both once the little guy with powers and responsibility thrusted upon them and they were just trying to do good and protect people.
"Can I go on the mission?" He gave Steve a big smile and didn't have to look behind him to know Tony was shaking his head, urging him to tell Peter no.
"Sorry, kiddo. This one's a little too dangerous."
"But I've been training all the time with you and Nat!"
"No is no, Pete."
Sure, when Steve had Peter's side, it was the best feeling in the world, but when he didn't, it was the worst. Steve was stubborn as a bull and wasn't going to budge.
So Peter turned back to Tony.
"Mr. Stark, pleeeease."
Tony shook his head and looked down at his papers, meaning their conversation was over. Which, for now, it was. There was no way that Peter was going to convince them to let him join.
So he sighed heavily, playing up the dramatics before standing up. "Fine! Keep it a secret then. I'll be in my room when you're all finally done with your secrets."
And that was exactly where he waited until later that night. It was almost 3 in the morning before FRIDAY told him that Tony had finally gone to bed.
They had been working hard on those papers all night, and moved into the mission room to use the computers too.
Peter climbed along the ceiling to avoid making the floor creak as he snuck into the room they had spent hours working in. Once inside, he gracefully fell to the floor, and glanced over his shoulder.
"Can I help you, Mr. Parker?"
Peter jumped slightly, completely forgetting about FRIDAY. "Just looking for the notes the team was working on today. I want to study up tonight to impress them."
"Were you given permission to access these files, Mr. Parker?"
Avoid telling a lie by asking a question.
"Did Mr. Stark block me from seeing them?"
There was a pause and then she responded, "No, he did not."
"Then, I guess I'm allowed to read them." Peter smiled. Tony would have locked him out if he really wanted to hide them. He'd done it before. Not that that would have stopped him, just would have slowed him down.
Another pause from FRIDAY like she was struggling to decide if Peter was allowed to see them or not. Thankfully, only a moment later, she was pulling them up.
It was just files of people. Kids, teenagers, adults...there was no connection between the demographics. Except...they all were listed with having a power of sort.
He stopped on a picture of a girl that looked about his age. She had fiery red hair and a smirk on her face. Jean Grey. Telekinesis.
That's when it clicked.
He scrolled to another recent file. Cyclops. Optic blasts.
He felt his heart beating as he went to the next.
Petra. Terrakinetic.
Darwin. Reactive Evolution.
Sway. Manipulate time.
They were mutants. All of them. Just like him.
"FRIDAY, why were they studying these files?" Were they looking for a new team member? Did they not think Peter was good enough?
"This is a file of recently missing superhumans."
There were dozens and dozens of files. How were they all missing? And why didn't Tony ask for his help? These were his people missing. He deserved to help.
The sudden anger at the situation had him storming out of the room, not caring about how much noise he made. He went right to the hallway where all of their private quarters were.
He started pounding on Tony's door.
Not soon after, Tony opened the door. He looked half asleep but alert, dressed in only his sweatpants, but his repulsor was on his hand, pointed right at Peter. Once he realized it was Peter, his arm dropped to his side and the whining died down.
"Jesus, Pete. You scared me. Everything okay?" His eyes looked Peter up and down, trying to see if he could see any blood probably. Peter had knocked on his door at late hours before with a wound from patrol.
"They're mutants just like me."
"I'm sorry...what?"
"They're mutants! And most of them are kids! Why are you hiding that from me?" Peter’s voice was nowhere near quiet.
Tony glanced over Peter’s shoulder when he heard a door creak open. It was probably Steve, since he was right across the hallway from Tony. "Alright, bud. Calm down. We can talk about it if you want."
He tried putting his hand on Peter's arm, but Peter pulled away. He didn't want to be babied. "No! You always try to push me out of missions. You say I need more training again and again. And usually, that's okay. I get it. I'm a kid. But you're icing me out of this one on purpose!"
"Peter, just tell me what you're upset about. Please." Tony genuinely looked to be struggling with understanding Peter's sudden outburst.
"I asked FRIDAY and she showed me."
Realization dawned on Tony's face and he muttered, "Dammit. She's getting reprogrammed tomorrow."
"You should have told me that mutants are going missing." Peter held his ground.
Tony sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "Pete, it's too late for this. Can we please talk tomorrow?"
"No! Mutants are missing and you wanted to hide it from me! Those are my people, Mr. Stark!" Peter splayed his hand against his chest. "I want to help!"
"Peter, I know--."
"No. You don't. You're normal. You can take off your suit and you don't have to worry about being... different." Peter felt his eyes burning and he didn't know why.
"That doesn't make a difference. I'm Iron Man, whether the suit is on or not. Which is why I'm putting my foot down and saying you are not getting involved with this." Tony sounded tired and exasperated.
"I can help! You can't stop me when it's my people they're hurting! I don't want to hide!"
Tony's jaw clenched and he straightened his shoulders. His voice was low when he spoke again, "You're right, Peter. You're just like them. You are a mutant. But maybe you skipped the part where the files have said they are all missing."
"I know they're missing, Tony. Don't patronize me," Peter argued. He hated being the child.
"Don't patronize you? When you're acting like a child? Peter, I know you're upset, but how about you let those teenage hormones chill and listen."
That comment only made his teenage hormones worse. "I'm not a kid!"
"You are!" Tony snapped back, unable to keep his voice quiet. "You're a child with mutant powers. Just like the other kids and adults that were taken. Did you stop to read how far back the first disappearance goes?"
Peter didn't say anything, honestly caught a bit off guard by Tony's tone.
"No? Well, don't worry. I've got it memorized. 2 years."
Peter's eyes widened.
"Yeah. 2 years. The first mutant has been missing for almost 22 months." Tony shook his head, a haunted look growing in his eyes. "I don't know what they're doing to these mutants, but I have an idea. I have many scary horrible inhumane ideas of what people would want to do with mutants."
Peter had a few ideas of his own, but he didn't think of it as much as Tony did, apparently. He hadn't even thought of the details. He just knew his people needed help.
"You're not helping with this case because tomorrow I'm calling May and you're not leaving this tower until we have this monster in custody."
"What?" Peter practically shouted. "That's not fair!"
"Pete," Steve's voice was behind him. He wondered how many of the others were watching. "Why don't you let him sleep. We'll talk about this tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? Another night that those people are tortured! You need everyone you can get to help find these people!" Peter didn't turn away from Tony and hoped Steve got the idea.
"I don't need anything!" Tony yelled, losing his temper finally. "I need you to stay in here, where I know you're safe! Because they're looking for mutants and you are a mutant. And while you think that makes you connected to them and somehow responsible for their safety, I think that it makes you a target! They will come for you eventually and I need that not to happen. Because I can't imagine losing you, and you being gone for years."
Peter stayed silent because he couldn't argue with that. He hadn't even thought about how it would affect Tony.
"I went through this once already. I kept you safe then, and I'll do it again. But I can't do it alone. You need to help keep yourself safe." Tony's voice was soft when he finished his rant. exhaustion filled his voice, both mentally and physically.
Peter nodded his head, lowering his voice as well. "I know you're trying to protect me, Mr. Stark. But I don't need protecting. I'm a superhero. It’s my job to protect others, no matter what."
"No, Peter. That's where you're wrong. It's not your job to do anything but be a kid and go to school and go home to May at the end of the night, safe."
Peter shook his head. Tony didn't understand. "I'm grateful to have you looking out for me, Mr. Stark. But I'm not giving up on these people. They need someone to fight for them just as hard as you fight for me. I'm going to be that person for them.”
“No, you’re not. You’re staying in this tower until we get this under control. I mean that, Peter.”
“Mr. Stark,” Peter tried to argue again because that was just bullshit.
“No, Peter. You’re staying out of this one.”
Peter knew by the look on his face and the sound of his voice, he wasn’t going to win this. Not with Tony’s permission, anyway. So he groaned loudly, stamped his foot and stormed back to his room.
He wasn’t going to just sit in his room and hide when mutants were going missing. He had some information like their last known locations. He could at least scout those areas and see if he noticed anything wrong.
“FRI, can you keep this to yourself for now?”
“Keep what to myself?”
Peter grinned. “Exactly. Thanks.” He didn’t hesitate before grabbing his suit and getting ready. “Do me a favor and transfer that information to Karen before Mr. Stark locks me out.”
FRIDAY did so without complaint and Peter grinned as he saw the files glow up inside his mask. All of this was only possible thanks to Tony. Kind of ironic that he was using it against him now.
Before leaping out of his window, he told FRIDAY, “Tell Mr. Stark or anyone else that comes to my door, that I don’t want to talk to anyone tonight. Maybe tomorrow.”
He’d be back in the tower by tomorrow and would act like he never even left.
FRIDAY didn’t give him a hard time, but Karen sure did. The moment he was out in the suit, he heard her in his ears. “Peter, should you be out with this information?”
“Ugh, Karen. It’s fine.” He rolled his eyes as he swung through the streets. “I’ve been going out on patrol for weeks since all of this started and nothing bad happened.”
“I don’t think you should be out here. Mr. Stark has already programmed me to inform him if you try to sneak out.”
“Don’t,” Peter warned. “I’m fine.”
“Peter--.”
“Karen, if you keep annoying me, I’ll just shut you off. Your company is good, but not when you’re against me too.” Peter felt his annoyance growing again, and he felt stupid for being aggravated at an AI.
Karen hesitated and her voice sounded as soft as a robot’s voice could. “I care about your safety, Peter. So does Mr. Stark.”
“Well, I care about the safety of all those mutants. I can help, so I will. Either help me, or leave me alone.” Peter felt guilty for snapping at her, when she was only trying to help. She was always only trying to help him.
“I want to help you in any way I can.”
“Good. Then just...help me scan around these areas for anything suspicious. I have no idea what we’re looking for.”
“Alright, Peter,” Karen replied, sounding unhappy to have to help. But she did anyway.
They moved from one location to the next around the city. They were running out of mutants from NYC to trace. He didn’t want to go back to the tower empty handed. Not because he wanted to show anybody anything, but because he felt like a failure in his own mind.
“Seriously, nothing, Karen?” Peter groaned, falling to the ground in an alley. He had been scouring the city for almost two hours by now. There was nothing for him to find. He leaned his head against the wall and sighed.
“You know, Kar...maybe Mr. Stark was right. Maybe I should have stayed put or at least waited.”
“I think that would have been the smart idea.”
“Yeah, but then I would have just been laying in bed while they tried saving the day. And they weren’t even trying now! They were sleeping. The mutants need their help now. Some of them 2 years ago!” Peter kicked his foot against some garbage by his feet.
“In their defense, Peter, they were not aware of the disappearances until only very recently. And how are they supposed to search if they do not rest?”
Peter groaned loudly. “Stop being so logical!”
“It’s a protocol Mr. Stark uploaded into my servers.”
Even though they had left things in an argument, Peter couldn’t keep a small smile off of his face. “What protocol is that?”
"Common Sense," Karen replied, and Peter didn't know if she understood the slap to the face that felt like coming from Tony. “It’s used to give you a voice of reason so you don’t drive yourself crazy in your teenage tantrums.”
“Teenage Tantrums, is that what Mr. Stark calls them?”
“Yes.”
Peter sighed, giving in. “Well, he’s not wrong. I did lose my head back there. I shouldn’t have snapped. I shouldn’t even be out here. I just wanted to get away from it all. I felt so angry.”
“You do not have to explain or try to justify your emotions to me, Peter. Your feelings are your feelings, no matter what. And they are valid.”
Peter laughed. “Now, that you definitely didn’t learn from Mr. Stark. No way he’s that emotionally evolved. Not yet.”
Karen laughed back. “It’s part of my programming. Mama Bear. He uploaded the transcripts of several parenting books for teenagers into my servers. This is from a chapter all about dealing with the ups and downs of teenage hormones.”
“Lucky me,” Peter said. And maybe the words came out sarcastic, but he meant it genuinely. How lucky was he that he had a man, who had no responsibility to be the father figure he was? Tony was always there to help him, even when Peter proved him unworthy of his help time and time again. Peter had someone to care about him so deeply that he’d lock him in a room just from the slim chances he’d be kidnapped. And sure, that was a little overkill, but it was Tony.
Not everyone had someone like to care about them.
Tony could leave him at any time, and he didn’t. He chose to stay even when Peter made it so hard.
He pushed himself back up to his feet and sighed. “I’m gonna head back, Karen. See if Mr. Stark is still up.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” she replied, sounding proud of herself.
“Watch the attitude, Karen. You’re supposed to be like me, not Mr. Stark,” Peter reminded her.
Before she could give him a response though, Peter went on full alert and he got into a stance ready to fight. His spidey sense was going off like crazy, pounding in the base of his skull.
“Danger, Karen. Where’s the danger?” He glanced around the alley, searching for any sign of something. Thankfully, he had night vision on in the suit to make things easier to see in the pitch black.
“Scanning for heat signatures around you now, Peter,” Karen replied, all business. “Shall I contact Mr. Stark as well?”
Peter shook his head. “Just give me a second. I can protect myself.”
And he did when that first punch was thrown from the man that jumped down from a fire escape above him. He dodged the punch easily and brought up his fists to get ready to block the next punch.
“You can fight,” the man said. “But you won’t win. They never do.” Then he stepped forward and Peter saw he was wearing some sort of suit with a mask that covered his entire head. He threw another punch and Peter dodged once again.
“I don’t wanna hurt you!” He said, bouncing on his feet. “But I will if I have to!”
“Aw, isn’t this cute?” He asked, to whom, Peter didn’t know. “He thinks he has a chance against us, boys.”
“What--?”
Then someone tackled him from behind and even through the suit, he could feel the hard cement run painfully against his face.”Woah, I thought there were rules in Fight Club!” Peter yelled as he rolled onto his back to avoid being jumped on. “Isn’t rule number one to have even and fair teams?”
Another man jumped down next to him and kicked him right in the side before he had a chance to notice he was there.
After he regained his breath, Peter wheezed, “No? That’s right. Rule number one is don’t talk about fight club. Sorry, boys. I’ll get the next one right. Promise.”
“Shut up!” The first man rushed forward and Peter jumped to a wall to avoid him.
Peter shook his head as he looked down at them. His heart was racing like crazy, and he was actually a little scared of these three men that seemed to have skill and a big grudge against him. Of course, whenever he was nervous, his mouth wouldn’t shut up. “You guys look cute in your matching masks and ugly armor. Are you starting a boy-band? I’d offer to join, but I’m not a good singer.”
The men below continued to talk among themselves to try and figure out how to get Peter down. Peter ignored them.
“You know the sound of nails on a chalkboard? That sounds a little like me. Except I’m like, a million times worse. Just ask Iron Man. He said I’m banned from Team Karaoke nights in the unforeseeable future.”
Peter jumped from one wall to the other, webbing one of the men to the ground as he did so. “Oh, no I’m the bad guy here. I really didn’t wanna have to do this, guys!” He webbed another one the first guy he webbed up.
He tried to web the last guy, who was the first one he had an encounter with, but he rolled out of the way, pulling something from his waistband.
“Well, like that really old song goes, two outta three ain’t bad!”
Peter didn’t even have time to laugh at his own joke because suddenly, the man had his hands raised and what he pulled from his pants was shining in the little light that was in the alley. Through his night vision, he could see it clearly. It was a gun and it was pointed straight for him.
He jumped up in the air, doing a small flip as the man shot it. It didn’t sound like a gunshot, which Peter was thankful for because those always triggered bad memories with that. One gunshot and he was 14 again, covered in Uncle Ben’s blood as he held him, listening to his last breaths. Peter never did well with gun crimes during patrol. He usually saved that for the NYPD.
“Missed me!” Peter mocked in a sing-song voice, perching on the railing of a fire escape.
The man growled and Peter jumped, ready to dodge another shot. But the man expected that move and he shot directly where Peter was jumping to. There was no pain from it, and Peter had to stop and check himself over to see where he was hit-- if he was hit.
And he was. There was a small dart sticking out of his thigh. Peter blinked as he pulled it from his skin. Then he glanced down at the three men. “Hey, Curly, you do realize that a little tranq dart won’t work on me, right? I’m not like your garden variety kidnapee that you can…”
His quip was slowly cut off when he started losing feeling of all of the muscles in his face. He couldn’t move his lips to even say another word. His eyes darted to the men when he heard them all start to howl with laughter.
Then he felt his hands slip from his perch and he was falling 3 stories down to the concrete below. Peter wasn’t sure if his vision went black went he hit the ground or just a second before.
When he woke up, he was crammed into a tiny cage. The room was dark with only a few lights on the ceiling, but he could easily make out what else was in the room. There were rows and rows of cages, all full of people and creatures.
It wasn’t until he recognized a girl in the cage across from him that he put two and two together. These were the missing mutants, and he had found them...without giving Tony any indication at all where he was.
“Oh, shit.”