Chapter Text
As soon as Tony woke up after the Snap, he had a lot of information to process. Firstly, he had no arm, which in the grand scheme of things made him lucky that was all he didn't have. Secondly, he had been in a coma for over a month and then in and out of awareness for another two weeks after that. Then they waited a bit longer to tell him the good stuff or rather the panic-attack-inducing not so good stuff, like how Peter went to Europe and had to deal with both Fury and Beck hijacking his school trip. And even after Tony recovered and he was back to living the retired life with his family, he still found bits and pieces of information he wasn't given after he woke up. Like right now for instance.
"Wait, I thought he died?" Tony asked from where he sat next to Peter in the conference room, with Sam and Bucky standing across the table. Tony hated the silent conversations they and others could have since he obviously wasn't told everything that he should have been.
"We thought he did." Sam said slowly, eyes connecting with Peter's for a moment before turning back to Stark. "Our intelligence read no life signs at the scene at the time."
"Well your intelligence wasn't very good then if the man is sitting alive twelve floors below us then huh."
"It doesn't matter what we thought then, it only matters that we find out what we need to know for now." Bucky was eyeing a very quiet Peter who had yet to say anything since being told Quentin Beck was alive and captured by the two standing Avengers in the room.
Tony turned to his silent kid, trying to figure out what he might be thinking about all this. Tony figured it was best to work under the assumption that he was only ever given the cliff notes version of events that happened while he was otherwise indisposed. He might not know everything that had happened but he knew his kid and he could absolutely tell shit had gone down with all the added up little changes in Peter he'd noticed.
As soon as Tony had heard the first utterance from Pepper that Peter's school trip didn't go quite as planned, he demanded the full story and then, after visiting hours, found all the undamaged footage (which surprisingly was patchy at best) from Karen and Edith, all from his hospital bed. He had needed to see for himself what he knew he could have prevented. He had gotten his kid back, whole and alive, only to wake up and find out he could have easily lost him again while he was unable to lift a finger. It was nauseating to think about and even knowing the kid was fine but with more traumatic scars left knots in his stomach.
It was hard to tell sometimes, whether it was the Snap and subsequent Battle or the chaos caused by Beck that had changed his kid so much. It didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things which one stole the boy's ever present sparkle from his eyes, or which caused the kid to smile just a little slower than he used to. It only mattered that Peter was changed, marked by more horrifying events in the long list he had already racked up in so few years. Tony would do just about anything to bring back the lightness the kid exuded from when they first met all those years ago. And that's why it was killing him now to look at Peter and see a completely changed kid, a kid that looked far older than he was.
"Has he said anything?" Peter finally spoke up, his face almost completely blank besides his slightly furrowed eyebrows.
"Only crazy talk. He's got a few too many marbles loose if you ask me." Sam said, trying to keep his tone light as he comfortably crossed his arms.
"Also, he was wearing the tackiest outfit. I might be behind the times but really, he'd have to be crazy to wear a fish tank for a helmet." Bucky added, trying to tamp down the growing concern in his stomach. He wasn't there for Peter until things had settled a bit in the aftermath of London but he'd been around the kid long enough since then to know he seemed a bit spooked by this guy. A few months back, he and Sam had helped debrief the kid about his run-in with Beck and had shown him how to write a mission report, mostly to try to distract the kid long enough to leave Tony's comatose side for a bit. The pair knew the kid had left some stuff out, who didn't, but maybe they should have pushed a bit more.
"Really? A fishbowl? He is crazy." Tony had pulled up a couple recent pictures on his StarkPad.
Peter's grim mood seemed to extinguish the light atmosphere pretty quickly. "Do we know what he wants? Or how he survived? EDITH she...she confirmed his kill. She said it was real! I know my Spidey Sense was acting up but -"
"Wait your Peter Tingle wasn't working? Since when? Is it now?" Tony immediately interrupted, sitting up a bit straighter.
Peter hardly spared the man a glance as he tried to keep down his own panic. "It's been off since I came back." He said off-handedly, before continuing on like it was nothing. Sam and Bucky noticed how the kid's answer seemed to send his father figure into a mild panic of his own. "He was shot, I saw him die." Peter said with grim finality.
"It's something we're gonna have to look into Kid. There were enough drones and surveillance videos we should be able to piece some more information together." Bucky tried to reassure the boy.
"Actually, Spider-Kid did a good job destroying a ton of the drones. A lot of footage was lost through physical damage but also the coding that sends the footage to remote storage was corrupted at some point." Tony said, feeling a little better that he at least knew something he could bring to the table, even if it wasn't the best news.
"So we'll go through what is left but with fresh eyes and see what we find."
"And?" Peter asked.
"And besides that, we'll retrace his steps from where we caught him. It's gonna be a lot of ground-work for a little while until we get some answers Pete." Sam said, shrugging his shoulders but confident in the plan.
"What are we gonna do with Beck? I'm sure he has a price he'd talk for. He's gotta want something." Tony asked, still not liking the tension strewn across Peter's whole body, evident in how still and upright he was sitting.
The shared glances between Bucky and Sam didn't go unnoticed, and Peter's stomach wasn't the only one to drop when they both turned to face him.
"Shit." Peter mumbled.
"What? He wants Peter? Well, we all know that's not happening. You're right Feather Face, that guy is crazy." Tony knew he was rambling a bit but sue him. Twelve floors away was close enough for his kid to be near a psychopath.
The room was quiet for a minute, tension thrumming beneath the silence.
"I'll talk to him."
"Peter, you don't have -"
"Absolutely not." Tony nearly growled out. His Dad instincts were going wild and he was not about to allow Peter anywhere near the man that left him bloody and broken.
Peter swivelled in his chair to face Tony better. "You can come with if you want, but this is the fastest way to get him to talk. And the more he talks, the more he's gonna say. I'm sorry, but I'm doing this." His even tone and firm eye contact just about left Tony speechless. It was times like these that reminded him that Peter wasn’t just a child, but a hero too. It was so easy to see the man Peter would become when he talked and acted with such determination. The confusing mix between sadness and pride at the kid's words left him staring at the boy. He just wished he didn't have to grow up so fast.
"Fine. But you can bet your ass I'm coming with you. And Bird Brain and Wolfie are gonna be there for backup okay?"
"Okay." The reply was quiet but steady.