Chapter Text
“We got it!” Sam announced over the comms.
“Great. Now let’s get out of here.” Clint chimed in.
“You heard the man. Everyone back to the Quinjet. We got what we came for.” Steve said.
“Yes!” Peter celebrated, not over the comms, but to Mr. Stark, as he pumped his fist in the air.
“Come on kid, let’s skedaddle.” Mr. Stark said, and even though Peter couldn’t see his expression behind the Ironman mask, he could tell the man was amused by his antics. There was an odd tension in his voice as well, but Peter ignored it. He figured his mentor was just stressed.
“Aye aye.” He mocked saluted and turned around so they could start making their way back to the Quinjet and out of the weird ice fortress. They hadn’t encountered any bad guys in the last ten minutes, so he was hoping they’d be able to slip back out the way they came without any resistance. He was a little disappointed they hadn’t been the ones to find the stolen alien tech, but it was still cool to be on an Avengers mission. His first official one. If he wasn’t counting the whole Thanos thing when he followed Mr. Stark to Titan and then came back to fight the purple guy again, until Captain Marvel came from the sky and took the glove from Peter, snapped it, and ended everything once and for all.
“That was fast.” Peter said, trying to fill the silence. “Don’t you think that was fast? I mean, are missions always over this fast? I thought we’d be here a lot longer.”
Mr. Stark hummed instead of answering. Peter glanced over his shoulder to see that he’d fallen behind. He stopped and waited.
“Am I going too fast for you?” He joked, but as he studied Mr. Stark he felt a twinge of worry. Usually Ironman didn’t move so slow, and it almost looked like he was trying to mask a limp.
“Are you ok Mr. Stark?” He asked.
“Tony.” The man reminded him. Right. Ever since Peter had returned from the snap, Tony had insisted Peter call him by his first name instead of Mr. Stark.
“Are you ok Tony?” He asked again.
“I’m fine kid.” Tony answered, but the tension that’d been there throughout the mission remained, and now Peter was starting to see it in a different light. Instead of being tense because Peter was there, maybe it was something else. Peter looked the armor up and down and didn’t see any marks or damage over it, but it was nanotech, so even if something had happened, it would’ve fixed itself instantly.
“Ok.” He said but let his skepticism shine through. When he went back to walking, he slowed his pace slightly, and when Tony didn’t call him out on it, his concern increased.
They continued through the ice tunnel in silence. Peter could almost imagine they were in some kind of fancy glacial themed hotel instead of a Hydra subset hold out in Greenland except for all fighting they’d had to do to get in here and all the unconscious or dead Hydra soldiers scattered about.
“Hold up kid.” Tony said and Peter paused, watching as Ironman got down on one knee to pick up a blue glowy knife thing next to one of the fallen soldiers. Peter had seen some of them carrying similar weapons but he hadn’t thought much of it.
“Collecting souvenirs?” He asked.
Tony grunted as he straightened and simply said, “Research.”
Peter didn’t ask any further because he got the sense that Tony didn’t want to elaborate on it at the moment. The man had been oddly quiet, not that he was ever a motor mouth like Peter, but usually he talked more than this near silence. It was odd because he’d been talkative enough on the Quinjet ride here, but at some point since they’d stormed the ice castle, he’d grown quiet.
“Lead the way Pete.” Tony prompted and Peter realized he’d been staring at him.
“Right.” Peter gave him a nod and continued on. Tony was allowed to have an off day. Peter didn't need to overanalyze it like he always did with everything.
When they finally made it up the ramp and into the Quinjet, Peter noticed they were the last group to arrive. All the other Avengers sat scattered around, besides Clint, who was in the pilot’s seat up front, ready to take off now that they were all accounted for.
“Hey guys.” Peter greeted them, pulling off his mask.
“Hey pipsqueak.” Sam said with a smirk.
He rolled his eyes at the teasing, but when he noticed Steve frowning at him, he frowned back, wondering what he’d done to put that look on Captain America’s face. As uptight as Tony joked about Steve being, Peter didn’t think he’d have a problem with a little eye rolling. But then he realized Steve wasn’t looking at him, but past him, to where Tony stood.
“Tony.” Steve said and Peter turned around, his own eyes widening at the sight. Tony had retracted the nanotech of the helmet, so Peter saw his face for the first time since they’d started the mission, and he looked terrible. He was white as a ghost and his hair stuck to his forehead with beads of sweat.
“Are you all right?” Steve asked, quickly crossing the distance between them so he was beside Tony in a few steps.
Rhodey perked up at that, turning from where he’d been talking to Scott to take in the scene, brow furrowing. “Tones, you ok man?”
Rhodey started toward them and Tony waved him away, but the next second his knees buckled. Steve grabbed his arms, easing him down to his knees so he didn’t hit the ground too hard.
“Tony?” Steve repeated, concern clear. Rhodey rushed over, kneeling down on Tony’s other side.
“What happened?” Rhodey asked, directing the question toward Peter.
Peter shook his head. “I don’t-I don’t know.” He wished he did, but he had no clue. Besides being slower and quieter than usual, Peter hadn’t noticed anything else different about Tony. Certainly nothing to indicate there was something seriously wrong. He hovered behind them, wanting to help, but not sure what to do or what kind of help was even needed.
“What’s going on back there?” Clint called from the front and Peter vaguely registered the feeling of the Quinjet taking off.
“Not sure yet.” Sam answered since Rhodey and Steve seemed otherwise occupied.
Tony still hadn’t answered any of their questions and now his breaths seemed to be coming in short little gasps.
“Tony, take this off.” Rhodey ordered, tapping at the armor that still covered his body. “Where are you hurt?”
Tony shook his head, not answering, but the nanotech started melting away anyway, revealing the flesh and bone underneath. Nothing became immediately obvious once the suit disappeared, leaving Tony in his regular clothes. Peter let out a silent breath of relief. Whatever it was couldn’t be that bad then.
“Tony,” Steve said in his Captain America voice, “tell us what’s going on.”
Peter watched as Steve put his hand on Tony’s back in a gesture of support only to pull away as if he’d been burned, holding his hand out to stare at it.
Steve’s hand was red. Peter stared at it, seeing but not comprehending.
“Shit.” Rhodey swore the instant he noticed the blood painting Steve’s hand. The two of them shared a look over Tony’s head and in the next second they were both moving quickly, in unison, turning him to examine his back.
And that’s when Peter saw it. The entire left side of Tony’s shirt was soaked in blood. The world around him seemed to tilt and twirl. Nothing made sense and yet it all made an exact scary kind of sense. The reason for why Tony had been acting the way he had been clicking into place. He’d been hurt and hiding it from Peter. But when? And how?
As soon as they saw the blood soaked shirt, Rhodey and Steve pulled it up, revealing a three inch gash over his left lower back. No. Not a gash. A stab wound.
Rhodey swore again and before Peter could even blink, Steve had gathered Tony up in his arms, carrying him toward a bed surrounded by medical equipment in the back.
“Sam.” Steve beckoned the other man over, and they rolled Tony onto his side, Rhodey putting pressure on the wound as Sam and Steve worked to hook him up to machines.
Peter watched, feet frozen to the ground, his entire body numb beside a weird tingling in his fingers.
“It’s ok.” Wanda said, suddenly at his side. He’d been too distracted to even hear her come over. “Let’s go sit down.” She nudged him toward a bench nearby and somehow his feet managed to unstick and make it over there, his eyes locked on Tony the entire time.
“Peter.” Wanda said as she crouched in front of him, breaking his sight line to Tony. She squeezed his tingling hands. “Can you breathe with me?”
It was only then that he noticed he was taking in short harsh staccato breaths like he couldn’t get enough air. He didn’t even have the breath to answer her, so he nodded, trying to gain control. He did his best to mimic her as she mimed breathing in deep, holding it and breathing out slowly. Eventually, he managed to bring his breathing back under control, but he had no clue how long it’d taken.
“Sorry.” He mumbled, feeling embarrassed that he’d lost it so completely in front of an Avenger.
“It’s ok.” She smiled kindly at him. “It’s not a weakness to care.” Her eyes saddened after she said it, but Peter could see she meant it.
He nodded, sneaking a glance past her to Tony. He had an oxygen mask on now and IV lines in place. Peter couldn’t tell if he was conscious or not but at least he was alive. For now. It only brought him a small comfort because Peter knew better than anyone how tenuous a hold life had on a person. A vision of Ben, sprawled out, bleeding on the ground intruded into his thoughts.
Wanda gave his hands a firm squeeze again, and he swung his gaze back toward her, trying to give her a thankful smile but failing.
How had this even happened? And how Peter not noticed? Tony had been in the armor. He hadn’t taken it off. How could he have gotten stabbed?
Research.
The word popped into Peter’s mind along with the image of Tony crouching down to pick up that weird knife. Where had it gone? Peter searched the floor and noticed it over by the wall where Tony had been standing before everything had gone sideways.
The blue glow seemed to taunt him. It all made an awful sort of sense. The blade must’ve pierced the nanotech armor.
But how?