Chapter Text
Tony could think of many things he’d rather be doing on his birthday than being on the phone for something about Stark Industries.
Like sleeping. He could care less about the contractor quitting at the last minute because of a cold or whatever it was.
Caring about his company was Pepper’s job; he was just the face that made his PR team cry themselves to sleep every night.
“Ok listen just get someone else to do it…. I’m a billionaire, money isn’t a problem…. Yea whatever, don't call for 3 to 8 business days bye”
Tony dropped his phone on the table and sighed rubbing his eyes.
He turned on the light to the living room, startling Pepper and Morgan who had fallen asleep on the couch.
“What are you guys still doing up? Shouldn’t the mongoose be in bed?” he questioned.
“Morgan wanted to give you one more “secret” gift but she fell asleep before she could give it to you,”
Pepper said tiredly somehow looking as perfect as ever despite the impromptu wake up.
“I didn’t want her to freak out in the morning so we stayed up”
He’d never understand how he got so lucky after all the fucked up things he’d done.
Yet here he was with his beautiful wife and his amazing daughter in the cabin far away from the world.
Feeling his chest swell up he pulled Pepper into a deep kiss.
“I love you,” he said earnestly when they parted. “I love you too Tony,”
Pepper said with a sparkle in her eye. Their commotion had woken up Morgan. She jumped up quickly.
“What time is it?!” she yelled. Privately Tony thought she had way more energy than any 5-year old ought to have as Morgan ducked under the couch to grab what Tony assumed was his “Secret” present.
“Is that where you hid it?” Pepper asked fondly.
“I didn’t want the house brownies to take it” Morgan said knowingly. Before Tony had time to ask what the hell a house brownie was, a small box was unceremoniously shoved in his face.
“I thought your watch was boring so I made one for you!” she boomed as Tony opened it up, inside was a practical, clumsily made, purple leather watch.
“I had to assemble it but she insisted on decorating it and choosing the color. She wanted a rainbow strap but I talked her down to purple”
Pepper said softly trying not to wake Morgan whose burst of energy had escaped her. He smiled when he saw several flowers and a small happy face directly on the face of the watch. “I’m going to take her to bed. Happy birthday Tony.”
Pepper kissed his head and carried Morgan off.” Tony noticed writing on the strap of the watch facing toward his wrist. It seemed to have been written by his five-year-old with a sharpie so it took a moment to decipher
“happy birthday daddy! your my hero! ~ from mommy and me”
He felt tears forming in the corners of his eyes and quickly blinked them away.
He must be doing something right if his life was like this, Everything was as it should be. His wife and daughter were safe and he was happy.
He quickly put on his new watch and went upstairs, his phone forgotten on the dining room table.
Morgan was woken up at half-past 3 by the emergency phone her daddy had given her.
She knew that other than her mommy and daddy there were only two people who could call her. Uncle Rhodey and Uncle Happy. At least that was what daddy said.
“Always answer this phone when it rings ok? This phone is to keep you safe”
She attempted to answer the still ringing phone clumsy with sleep.
“Hi, Uncle Rhodey! I think my Daddy’s asleep” She answered tiredly.
“Morgan honey I need you to listen to me carefully, go find your dad and give him the phone”
Uncle Rhodey sounded like Daddy and Mommy when she broke her arm trying to climb a tree.
“-not angry Mongoose. We were scared” Morgan still thought that was silly. Grown-ups weren’t supposed to be scared.
“Morgan please hurry. Something happened at Oscorp-” The line cut off. Whatever happened was making Uncle Rhodey nervous and that was scaring her. She quickly ran to her Mommy and Daddy’s room and jumped on the bed to wake them.
“Wake up! Mommy Daddy!” She yelled shaking the nearest lump on the bed.
“Morgan? Sweetie, what happened are you ok?” Her mommy asked turning on the light.
This had also woken her daddy up who grabbed the bat he always kept on the side of the bed.
“Uncle Rhodey called me! He sounded like you that time I broke my arm. He said to get Daddy because of Mosscrops” She said steadily getting louder.
“Baby I’m sure it was just a bad dream. Rhodey would’ve called me or your mom if something happened” Her dad said almost falling back asleep.
He couldn’t go back to sleep! If Rhodey was scared her Daddy could fix it. He always fixed everything
“No! It wasn’t a nightmare! It was real! It was real!” Her screams turned into sobs.
She missed the concerned look her Parents gave each other.
“Ok, Morgan, take a deep breath. Your mommy is calling Rhodey, you’re ok.”
Her Daddy said pulling her into a hug. Trying to take deep breaths she heard her mommy mutter
“That’s odd. I forgot to charge my phone last night. Tony where is yours?”
She felt her daddy shift around “Shit I left it downstairs” Morgan giggled “That’s mommy’s word”
“You would be right. That is my word” Her mommy said side-eyeing daddy.
“I’m going to go get my phone before I get myself in more trouble,” her daddy said as he lifted her off of his lap and onto the bed.
“Do you want to go to sleep Morgan? It’s four in the morning we don’t want your sleep schedule ruined”
Morgan thought about the way her uncle sounded and shivered. Something bad was happening, if she was with her mommy and daddy they’d make sure she wasn’t scared. They’d never let anything hurt her. Morgan shook her head and laid down on her mommy.
“Hey, what’s wrong Baby?” Before Morgan could say anything her Daddy came up the stairs. His face looked weird and his hands were shaking. She didn’t understand what was going on but Morgan knew when something bad was happening.
Pepper sat up when she saw her husband’s ashen face. He looked terrified.
“Tony? What happened is James ok?” He didn’t answer. He walked to the side of the bed and grabbed the metal bat.
“Tony?” She asked again. “We- We have to go- right now. Pack whatever you need into a gym bag. Pack whatever you can into a suitcase it doesn’t matter just hurry up”
He said with finality walking across the hall to Morgan’s room. She saw him grab Morgan’s small suitcase and start shoving things frantically into it.
“Mommy, what’s going on? Is daddy ok? He looks weird” Pepper looked down and saw her baby’s nervous face.
The thump of another suitcase hitting the floor finally got her moving
“Everything’s-”
She cut herself off. She didn’t want to lie to Morgan and say everything would be ok. She had no idea what was happening.
Pepper crouched down, took a deep breath, and tried to be as honest as possible to her five-year-old.
“I don’t know baby. I think something made your dad a little bit nervous. But you’re safe. We’re ok your Daddy and I are going to make sure nothing is going to happen to you ok?”
Morgan just nodded. Pepper sighed and decided to turn on the TV as a distraction for Morgan. As soon as she turned the TV on she was bombarded with the frantic voices of news reporters.
“-victims afflicted with the infection show signs of increased aggression and-” The reporter was cut off by a stern man’s voice “We need to move everybody out of here now. There’s a gas leak. Hey- move!” He yelled at the reporter who was still trying to speak. “There seems to be some commotion from beh-” She was cut off by a panicked yell “Lady get the hell outta here right-”
An explosion from behind them cut the screen into static. Pepper stood shell-shocked for a moment before running to the bedside drawer to grab all the important documents.
“Mommy?” Pepper quickly turned to her daughter
“Honey go put your shoes on and get your warmest coat”
“But momm-” She tried to protest.
“Now Morgan!” She practically yelled.
Morgan shrunk away from her voice. Pepper immediately felt guilty
“I’m sorry baby. This is very important please” Morgan gave in and ran to her room.
“I’ve got everything downstairs let’s go” Tony said walking into the room.
Pepper saw him reach for the gun he had bought in his younger days and felt sick.
“Rhodey is going to pick us up, we have to be downstairs when he is,”
Tony said, putting the now loaded gun into his holster.
“I’m ready!” Morgan said, coming into the room. Pepper would’ve laughed if she wasn’t scared to death.
She was wearing her bright green rain boots and what seemed to be at the very least 5 thick sweaters. The top one being put on backwards.
“Great let’s go” Tony said dragging the suitcases down stairs. Pepper unceremoniously shoved the now wrinkled documents into her bag and scooped Morgan up.
“When is James getting here?” Pepper asked. Before Tony could answer there was a bang on the glass door from the backyard.
“Tony?” He put a finger to his lips and withdrew his gun, Slowly walking to the back door. Pepper hugged her baby tighter.
She hid Morgan’s face in her neck not wanting her to see the plain fear on her face.
“Get to the front door now!” Tony yelled as the back door gave through. Pepper was horrified to see her neighbor getting up from the floor. But no, this wasn’t her neighbor. Mr. Dally was the picture of health.
This thing looked like a zombie from the walking dead. Something clicked in Peppers mind. “Oh my god-“ she was cut off by the thing lunging at her and Morgan. Before Mr. Dally could reach them; he was struck down by a bullet. Morgan was sobbing uncontrollably and Pepper was shaking.
“Are you ok?” Tony asked as he pulled both of them into a tight hug.
“You just killed him. He was fine yesterday. Why-?”
“Listen to me” Tony said looking her in the eyes “something very bad is happening. We need to get away- far away. I need to keep you safe” he faded off as he noticed headlights.
“That’s them. Let’s go” They walked outside to a frightened Rhodey and Happy. “Get in the car we need to go now!” Happy’s face softened when his eyes fell on Morgan who was now sniffing quietly.
“Hey Morgana everything’s going to be fine.” He said gently. “We’re sorry if we scared you too bad” Rhodey continued.
They heard a boom that shook the house. “Great time to go,” Tony said clapping his hands.
As Pepper saw ger home get smaller and smaller she felt an agonizing sense of hopelessness wash over her. Beneath all that was a dark certainty, she’d never see her home again.
~~~
Tony felt like he was drowning. Morgan had finally fallen asleep in Pepper’s lap. They had been clinging to each other as if they’d be ripped apart.
Tony hated it, They shouldn’t be shivering and scared at 5 AM. They should’ve been safe and warm in bed.
Morgan should’ve woken him up in the morning and begged him to play with her.
Pepper should’ve been getting ready for work.
Everything was wrong and Tony couldn’t fix it.
Rhodey?
"Tony thank god. Listen you remember the accident at Oscorp a few weeks ago? It was worse than we thought.
People aren’t just getting sick something is happening to them.
They’re changing. That change isn’t a good thing. We need to get out of New York and out of the country as soon as possible.
I’ve already got Happy with me.
Hang on Rhodey. Are you talking about Zombies? You can’t be serious.
Dammit, Tony! We don’t have time for this!! Unless you want Pepper and Morgan in danger you better listen to me.
Go pack and wait for us inside the house.
Don’t go outside unless you have to.
Grab your gun or bat it doesn’t matter.
We don’t have much time.
The entire damn world is falling apart.
I’ll explain more later now go"
“You gonna tell me what happened?” Rhodey asked breaking the silence
“Our neighbor broke through the back. I’ve never seen anyone act like that, he was feral. He jumped for Pepper and Morgan, and I-I shot him.”
Happy let out a stressed sigh “The entire city’s been like that. We’re lucky we got away. I saw an entire family that was man-”
“Not now Happy” Rhodey said “Sorry” Happy mumbled. “Is the radio working?” Tony asked.
“Everything is down nothing’s working”
“Great”
“Shit, the highways completely blocked. Looks like everyone and their mothers had the same damn idea”
“Happy what is that?” Rhodey asked trying to see through the windshield glare. Happy sat horrified as a man killed another man with his bare hands.
He was ripped from his frozen state by Rhodey shaking him roughly.
“Happy! Turn the hell around now! Go!”
“Holy Shit” Happy yelled turning the car around.
“What the fuck just happened? Did you see that?!” Pepper was yelling now
“We all saw it. Turn here Happy, turn here” Tony said. They drove straight into a wave of people running away from something.
“Get us out of here now!”
“I’m trying dammit”
“We can’t stop here”
“What do you want me to drive through them?”
“Back up then!”
“They’re everywhere I can’t back up!”
Finally there was an opening
“There go!”
“Watch out!”
“Daddy!”
~~~~
All Pepper could hear was static.
What happened?
Where were Tony and Morgan?
She tried to get up but felt a sharp pain in her head and side.
Someone was calling her.
Pepper was too tired to answer. She could feel herself fading out. She couldn’t go yet, she had to tell Tony and Morgan that she was ok.
They’d be fine without her.
‘Just breathe in and out. Gather your strength’
“Mommy!”
Was that Morgan? Why was she crying? She shouldn’t be sad it was her dad’s birthday.
Breathe In and out.
“-pper stay with me please” Tony? She had to tell him something important.
What was it? Little hands on her face bought her a moment of clarity.
She had to say goodbye
Tony felt as if all time was holding still. There was no sound he could register. He only saw red sticking onto his hands.
It wasn’t a brilliant red like Pepper’s hair. Or a calm red like Morgan’s favorite shoes. It was an angry red, destroying his only family without biased.
Pepper was trying to say something. Her lips were moving but no sound came out. He leaned in closer it was bearly enough to hear
“Tony please, please” He choked on a sob
“I’m here honey, I’m right here. Pepper stay with me please”
She tried to speak again
“Remember that Tony stark has a heart. You have a heart don’t lose that” then she spoke once more for Morgan.
“Baby, you're ok. I love you, we’ll see each other again baby”
Pepper felt the pain in her body go away.
Just breath in and out
In and out
In
Out
That last thing she heard was Morgan screaming her name.
~~~~
Morgan.
He had to get Morgan.
She was screaming and sobbing for Pepper, he had to do something. Pepper wasn’t here, Morgan was still here crying.
They were still in the car. He had to get her out of the car.
Gathering up whatever strength he had left Tony kicked the window as hard as he could. His legs were aching when the window finally broke.
He slowly crawled out, he barely registers the cuts forming on his arms and legs. When he was finally able to stand he noticed Morgan trying to follow him.
“Stay there Morgan I’ll find another way to get you out” the only response he got was pained sobs that made his heart clench.
Tony heard a terrifying scream. He barely had time to turn around before he was attacked.
He heard Morgan scream and he fought. His saving grace was Rhodey, who ran up behind the attacker and knocked him down with a rock before killing him.
“Daddy! Don’t leave!” Morgan was crying so much her face looked blue.
“Ok honey, come here, don’t crawl you’ll get cut up by glass”
“My l-l-leg hh-hurts, help,” Morgan said hysterically. Tony internally cursed.
“You can get her out through the sunroof,” Rhodey said, he was looking around waiting for something to come at them.
“Morgan close your eyes ok? It’s going to be loud but we’re going to get you ok?” She nodded grabbing Pepper’s limp hand before shutting her eyes tight.
Tony made a wounded sound but managed to break the sunroof enough to grab his daughter.
At first, it seemed Morgan wasn’t going to let go of Pepper’s hand but she allowed herself to be pulled out of the car immediately clinging to Tony.
He hugged her as close as he could. As if that would stop any harm from becoming his daughter.
“We gotta go now! They’re coming!” Rhodey yelled snapped him out of his thoughts.
He picked Morgan up and ran as fast as he could. It became routine after what felt like hours of running.
Run
Dodge
Block
Hide
Repeat.
Just as their luck was starting to run out Rhodey yelled “The bar! Over there go!”
They got inside just as the three attackers were gaining on them. Rhodey stood in front of the bar door uselessly trying to keep them out
“Morgan I have-”
Tony was cut off by Rhodey and Morgan’s protests “No!”
“Get the hell out of here! I’ll hold them off. You have Morgan” After a split second of hesitation Tony was running again.
“We’re almost there honey, just hang on” They passed an overturned ambulance and Tony saw a man crawl out of the back.
Tony paid him no mind because they were finally at the highway. They were almost safe, just a little bit more.
He heard now-familiar screams and readied himself to defend Morgan and run.
Before it could reach them he heard a voice yell “Get down!” and he ducked instinctively.
The gunshots left his ears ringing, He felt Morgan shaking against him. Tony looked up and saw an army man pointing a flashlight at them.
He couldn’t help but sigh with relief
“It’s okay, honey. We’re safe now. We’re safe”
Tony started moving towards the man
“Hey! We need help, please! My daughter, her-”
“Stop!”
Tony’s pleads fell on deaf ears.
“Stop right there!” The relief he felt left as suddenly as he came.
“Okay… We’re not sick” Tony said wearily slowly trying to back up.
“Got a couple of civilians in the outer perimeter. Please advise”
“Daddy I’m scared” Morgan spoke, her small voice shaking
. “I know you are, We’re going to be ok I promise” Tony lied. He heard the man mutter
“Sir there’s a little girl here. She can’t be more than five.” The man gripped his gun tighter
“But… yes sir”
Tony felt trapped. He had to go now!
“Listen sir, we just need to pass the highway. My little girls just been through hell please-“ the man pointed his flashlight and gun at them.
Tony realized what would happen seconds too late
“Oh Shit” Tony turned around and tried to run but he was shot down.
He didn’t remember how he got on the ground, he could only hear the ping of a shotgun and the heavy footsteps.
Tony looked up to see Rhodey with a dark look on his face. Before Tony could thank him he heard horrible pained cries.
They shared a horrified look and bolted up. A bullet had pierced his arm but he didn’t care. All he could see was his daughter lying in a pool of her own blood . He couldn’t think all he saw was blood seeping out of his daughter, out of his wife.
“No-“ Tony’s voice was horse as if he had been screaming.
He dropped to his knees and attempted to cover the bullet would with his hands, he could feel hot blood seep through his fingers as he pressed harder.
He tried to pick her up, and Morgan let out a blood curdling scream begging Tony to stop hurting her.
‘A bullet scar is ok if she’s alive to have it scar, screaming is alright if she’s able to breath for the rest of her life’
He repeated the phrases, trying to convince himself she was going to be ok.
Morgan gave a weak whine and tried to push Tony away in vain.
"Help, Daddy, please it hurts” she sobbed weakly. Tony held in a sob
“I know baby I know” He tried to pick Morgan up again and found no resistance.
Morgan gave one more pained whine before she stopped moving completely.
Tony looked at his daughters face, she was staring at the stars.
Eyes that had once been so full of light and love were now dull.
Tony hugged his daughter closer and screamed.
20 years later
Tony had been on burning duty for the past week.
If anyone asked him, the worst part was his sore arms after throwing, digging, and cleaning.
He didn’t think about the bodies that used to be people, he rarely thought of people at all.
More focused on survival, for what he didn’t know.
Tony looked up when one of his ‘coworkers’ let out a pained gasp.
Discreetly he put his hand on his gun, fearing an infected had somehow gotten through and made it onto the truck.
Was he Paranoid?
Maybe
(Yes)
It has only gotten worse with the meager sleep he’d been able to get.
Tony had been plagued by nightmares for 20 years, but lately they’d been getting worse.
He walked around the truck seeing her coworker cover her mouth and turn away.
A bright color caught Tony’s eye, turning him away from the woman to the truck.
Inside there was a small body wearing a bright red shirt, the face was covered but he could tell it was a kid.
He grabbed the kid without thought, walking toward the pit.
They wouldn’t have been older than 7, unwillingly Tony thought of Morgan.
She never reached 7, hell she never reached 6.
He wondered if she would’ve have felt the same in his arms at 7 as she did at 5, if she would’ve been the same weight as the kid hanging limply from his arms.
He could feel his breathing speed up, he quickly dropped the body into the pit and turned away, squashing the thought as deep as it would go into his brain.
~~~~
Tony woke up gasping for air. Morgan and Pepper were yelling for him but he couldn’t get to them.
No matter how much he tried. When he looked down at his hands he saw red. His wife and daughter’s blood was all over his hands.
No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get it off his hands. He hadn’t had that nightmare for nearly 15 years,
‘It’s probably because I’m not hung over’ he thought bitterly.
Now that he was awake he could hear an incessant banging on the door.
He grumbled when it got louder and reluctantly got up.
He may not be hungover but he had a headache so massive he wished he was hungover instead.
Stupid withdrawals. Frankly, he was surprised he had gone on this long without alcohol.
Sure it wasn’t his choice, those stupid ration cards weren’t enough to get food and alcohol even if he was near the front of the list to get them.
The banging on the door got even louder “Yea, I’m coming” He unlocked the door to find the traitor Natasha Romanoff with her newly dyed hair.
If Tony was being honest he was glad she switched to blond, her natural red hair looked so much like Peppers he wanted to scream. She smirked when she saw him and walked in
“So how was your morning?” She asked as he questioned where the hell she had gotten hair dye.
“I brought scotch, want some?” She said pulling a bottle out of nowhere.
By this point, Tony knew it was useless to ask Natasha. He’d never get anything out of her no matter how hard he tried.
“Yea, the scotch glasses are on the table” She poured herself a glass before he took the entire bottle for himself.
“You want to be sober for what I’m about to tell you,” she said before he could down the bottle.
“I have some interesting news for you,” Tony was starting to get annoyed, he snapped
“Where the hell were you, Natasha?” She merely raised an eyebrow “West End district. We had a drop to make”
“Oh, so it’s we now? I thought it was only you, considering you made the drop without me Nat” he spat using the nickname he knew she hated.
Her eyes tightened, Tony had annoyed her, good.
“I remember someone throwing a fucking bottle at me and telling me to leave him alone. Ring any bells Tones?” She shot back.
Tony rubbed his eyes, he didn’t want to do this right now
“So I take it the deal went south? Our pills are gone now am I right?” Natasha laughed like she found Tony funny.
“What do you think? The deal went out without a hitch. I was able to get enough ration cards to get us food and alcohol for months easy”
Tony noticed some blood on Natasha’s shirt. Sure it was normal to have blood on your shirt but Natasha usually looked impeccable.
“What the hell happened then?” He said pointing to the bloodstain. Natasha sighed
“Was on my way back and got jumped by these two assholes.”
Tony asked already knowing the answer
“Are these assholes still with us?” She laughed “What do you think?”
“What about the Car Battery?” She at least looked slightly sympathetic
“Sold, or it’s going to be”
“Did you at least find out who they were” Natasha stiffened
“That doesn’t matter, what does matter is that Aldrich fucking sent them”
“Aldrich Killian? Our Aldrich Killian”
“Do you know another one? He knows that we’re after him. He thinks he’s going to get us first”
“Thank god I’m-” He cut himself off when he saw Natashas look
“...We’re smarter than him. So I take it you know where he’s hiding”
Natasha scoffed “Of course, I do who do you think I am? He’s over in the old warehouse in the old apartment buildings by area 5. If we want to catch him we have to go right now, you in?”
“Who do you think I am? Of course, I’m in” He grumbled.
~~~~~
Peter was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Month.
Year
Life
Sure his life had never been fun but being chained in a small room with leaking pipes tops the metaphorical cake.
What even is a cake? Why is it metaphorical? Peter shook the thoughts about cake away when he heard the door open.
He started counting as they had made him do for the past two weeks.
He was met with silence. Weird, they usually say something by now.
Peter looked up to find a woman walking towards him.
She kicked his backpack at him before he could ask any questions.
Peter felt his heart drop as he looked through it, he couldn’t find his knife.
He looked up to find the woman holding it with a weird expression on her face. He backed away when she sat next to him.
“Give me my knife” he tried to sound as intimidating at possible, he knew he failed when the woman tried to hide a smile.
“I’ll give you your knife back when you tell me your real name” Peter rolled his eyes
“I told you it’s Tom”
“ Fine Tom, I’m still waiting for my thank you”
“For what?”
“For saving your life, I’m the one who told them not to shoot you”
Peter rolled his eyes
“Thank you, for locking me in a little room against my will, it’s really lovely. I really love the leaky pipe and the I'm going to have my fingers cut off vibe”
The woman smiled again and handed Peter the switchblade.
Peter felt relief when it was in his hands again.
He looked up again to the woman, expecting her to move out of reach of the switch blade, but she didn’t.
“You’re not scared of me?” The woman shook her head.
“Then unlock me,” he knew he sounded desperate, showing weakness but he couldn’t help it. The woman just sighed
“So, how are you feeling, Tom?”
“The same as yesterday, and the day before” Peter looked down before asking<
“Is it gonna happen?” He didn’t know exactly what he was asking.
Was he going to turn? Were they going to kill him? Would he be forcibly recruited into the fireflies?
Whatever the woman thought he was asking she said no to.
“Then let me go, please. I won’t tell anyone I swear”
“Where are you gonna go? Back to FEDRA? You so anxious to become a soldier?” Peter scoffed
“It’s not like I chose to be there, They put me in when I was a little kid after my aunt died. Its for orphans” The woman shook her head
“They didn’t put you in there, I did”
Peter stared at her as if she’d grown a few extra heads. There was a beat of silence, then
“Are you my mom or something?” The woman barked out a laugh
“Do I look old enough to be your mom?”
“I guess not” Peter grumbled. He guessed he had amused the woman enough to let her guard down, as she went to unlock him.
“My name is Karli, I’m the leader of the fireflies in the New York QZ” She reached out her hand for his to shake, and he just stared at it.
“Why did a group of terrorists dump me FEDRA of all people?” She sighed again
“You were safe there until you decided to leave. And terrorist? Would you call Wade a terrorist?”
Peter sucked in a breath. “Please let me go”
Karli looked almost sympathetic “We can’t do that,” She rose her hand before Peter could protest.
“We can’t do that because we’re leaving. And your going to save the world,”
~~~~
Tony and Natasha crawled through the walls of the building silently, both tense, listening for infected or other people who decided to take a nice stroll in between molding walls. Eventually Tony got sick of the silence, never being able to keep it long.
“Who do you think he double crossed us with?” He whispered.
He saw Natasha tense at the sudden noise before relaxing a fraction.
“Doesn’t matter, if they’re smart they’ll be long gone” before falling silent again signaling to Tony the conversation was over.
Tony sighed wishing they could just get it over with.
He’d decided somewhere in the silence that he would rather be home than seeking revenge with Natasha.
He’d of course never tell her that, he didn’t have a death wish.
Luckily for him they got to the “door” a few minutes later.
It really wasn’t a door, it was just a piece of wood hiding a hole in the wall.
He told as much to Natasha who shushed him harshly.
She leaned against the door and tried to open it lightly, but it didn’t budge, as if there was something heavy behind it.
“What the fuck?” she whispered.
He shined his flashlight around hoping to find a key or something helpful, instead he found a pool of familiar dark liquid.
Natasha saw it at the same time. They both tensed and pulled out their guns.
Natasha signaled to him to protect her flank as she opened the door. Pushing hard, they were met with the heavy thump of a body hitting the floor.
“That explains the blood” he said whispering to Natasha who was inspecting the body’s
“These were made by Fedra bullets. I don’t think we’re getting your car battery Tony”
He didn’t respond, looking down the dark hallways.
He could’ve sworn he heard-
a clatter, followed by a painful grunt.
Tony and Natasha gave each other a silent look.
They silently followed the noise down the dim corridor.
They heard a louder grunt, they both turned their guns toward the noise ready to shoot
“It’s nice to see you guys too” the noise grumbled.
Tony realized it was Karli, the leader of the fireflies.
They didn’t put their guns down
“Gee thanks for the warm welcome” she said.
“What happened here?” Natasha asked cutting to the chase. Before Karli could respond a door slammed open and a small figure came running at Tony.
It was almost laughable how easily he disarmed them.
They fell to the floor holding their arms up against Tony’s gun. He found himself holding up a small figure at gunpoint
“Don’t shoot him! If your going to point the gun at anyone point it at me”
“I can work with that” he said pointing the gun back at Karli.
He looked down at the figure when they tried to reach for the knife under him boot and realized it was a kid.
The kid was practically growling at him but He couldn’t have been over twelve years old.
Jesus, this kid was practically a baby.
“Peter,” Karli said in warning when he bared his teeth in a miserable attempt to look threatening.
“You’re recruiting kind of young aren’t you?” Tony asked, raising his eyebrow.
The kid looked at Karli, his eyes widening when he saw her clutching her sides “Shit, are you ok?” The kid asked, trying to get up. Tony pointed his gun at the kid instinctively
“Hey! The gun at me!” Karli pointed her gun at Tony.
“I’m ok Peter, don’t worry about me, worry about yourself. You shouldn’t have ran out like that.” She scolded.
Natasha spoke up before the kid could formulate a response. “So who’s this?” Karli hesitated, she took one long look at the both of them before speaking.
“We were going to take him out of the city tonight, me and the rest of the fireflies. But as you can tell there’s only me at the moment. So now you're going to do it.”
“What the fuck?”
“Who is he?”
“No, I’m not going with them. ''
Tony looked back at Natasha. “Absolutely not, we do not have time for this. We don’t smuggle people. End of Story”
“I will give you guys whatever you want if you do this. There’s a team of firefly’s and the state house. If you do this I promise you will get everything you want and more.” “You want us to go through the city crawling with infected”
Tony turned back to look at Natasha ready to argue against this, but the look on her face said she’s already made up her mind.
“Motherf-“ Tony groaned before turning back to Karli, Natasha stepped in at that point
“We want guns, and a car. If we don’t get the stuff we kill him” Tony knew Natasha would probably never hurt a kid but Karli didn’t know that.
To everyone in the New York QZ who knew their names also knew they were ruthless and had no mercy.
“Alright” Karli agreed easily “really, you're just going to pawn me off like that?”
The kid said annoyed. “Yes seriously go get your backpack”
The kid grumbled and walked off into the room, leaving the tension of the adults behind him.
“There’s a team of fireflies just outside the city, in Mount Vernon-”
“Hang on a second, I want to see the merchandise first” Natasha interrupted.
“Deal” Tony looked at Natasha with a betrayed look
“Hang on I don’t-”
Karli cleared her throat. “I hate to interrupt whatever is going on” she waved her hand vaguely in their direction
“but I am currently bleeding out, and Fedra officers are definitely going to be on top of us soon.”
She turned to Natasha “Meet me on 152nd. I’ll show you the merch”
Natasha gave her a long look before nodding.
“Alright let’s go” By the time they reached Tony’s safe house they were all soaking wet and shivering in the kids case.
He gestured for the kid to walk inside before slamming the door on him.
“What the f-”
The kids indignant response was cut off by the slamming door.
He forced a smirk down at the kids tone.
~~~~
Peter looked around the apartment annoyed.]
He knew he wasn’t their preferred company but they didn’t have to treat him like he was some type of plague.
It was their choice to take him after all.
Curiously Peter walked around, poking at stuff and flipping pages of random books.
The apartment was sparsely decorated, as far as he could see there was only a couch, coffee table, desk, and bookshelf.
Honestly it was making Peter sad.
At least his old dormitory had some personality hiding the concrete walls.
Peter flipped through an old phone book and found scribbles.
SB
40s- No change
60s- New Stuff
80s- ❌
“Natasha!”
He heard the man, Tony? Yell through the wall.
He watched slightly annoyed at he walked back into the apartment and fell into the couch closing his eyes.
“What are you doing?”
“Killing time”<
“What am I supposed to do?” Peter said trying to sound as annoying as possible.
He saw Tony take a deep breath
“You’ll figure it out” he said before turning his back to the room. Peter saw a flash of his watch before it was hidden by his body.
It looked cracked. "Your watch is broken"
Tony merely tensed slightly, but gave no response.
~~~
Tony woke with up slightly confused. His mouth felt dry and his head hurt slightly.
“Your really loud when you sleep you know?” The kid said.
“What’s this code for?” He asked. “
You shouldn’t look through people’s stuff. It’s rude”
What was up with this guy? Peter thought
“What’s your name?”
“Tony Stark” he said sounding irritated. The name sounded familiar to Peter, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
“So who are you? Some firefly’s kid?” Peter hesitated
“Something like that” He said scratching at his arm absentmindedly. The name finally clicked in his head
“You’re Tony stark!” He said excitedly
“I got stuck with a smart one didn’t I?” Tony said dully. Peter rolled his eyes with an attitude only a teenager could achieve
“You wrote books, from before. I’ve only read a few, they didn’t have many in Fedra. My favourite was-“
Tony cuz off the kids rambling “you’ve read my stuff?” He asked incredulously. The kid brightened up
“Yea! Your book on-“
“You read my books, the ones meant for scientists? And you understood them? You’re what twelve?” Tony asked begrudgingly impressed
“I’m fourteen!” Peter said indignant
“So I was right, you’re smart” The kid shrugged not knowing how to respond.
“Oh, the radio came on while you were asleep. It said something like, I’ll be gone in a day or two or something like that”
Tony felt his heart stop “fuck” he mumbled Peter smiled triumphantly.
“I broke the code! 80s means trouble” he said cheerily.
Tony rose from the couch angrily, pointing a finger at Peter
“Listen here you little s-“
Tony was cut off by Natasha slamming the door open. Peter gave him a smile like he knew Tony couldn’t do anything now.
He’d never felt the urge to strangle a kid more.
Doing the next best thing Tony threw up his middle finger before turning to Natasha who was giving him a dry look, ignoring the kids laugh.
“We’re leaving now, I hope you have a jacket in your pack kid”
The New York sewers were a lot cleaner than Peter thought they were.
Maybe it was because they were basically unused.
That didn’t mean they didn’t smell.
As they were walking through, Peter with his shirt over his nose, he couldn’t help but break the silence that had fallen over them.
He’d been told many times his biggest problem was not knowing when to shut up
“Did alligators actually live in the sewers? When I was little I read a book about alligators who were abandoned by their owners in New York. I wasn’t sure if that was true or not” looking up, neither adult was paying him much attention, they continued walking stoically, as if he wasn’t there at all.
Not knowing what else to do Peter began humming and drumming his nails against his thighs.
He’d always been the kid who could never stop moving. It had gotten him in trouble countless times, if his mouth hadn't first.
Just as Peter wondered if he could get away with starting an entire musical number he was stopped by Natasha’s hand.
“We’re here, stay low and stay quiet” she gave them both a significant look and started to climb out.
Getting a look at the outside was underwhelming. Maybe he’d excepted hoards of infected or dead bodies piled up or something like that.
It was just dark. On a whim Peter looked up and felt his breath leave his body. Somehow right outside the QZ wall there were more stars than he’d ever seen.
Peter didn’t realize he was standing until he was pulled down roughly.
“Stay low” Natasha hissed. Nodding he pointedly looked straight ahead.
They must’ve gotten a good few peaceful minutes of sneaking before everything went wrong. The group spotted and the soldier spotted each other at the same time.
“Shit” the soldier said frantically, trying to zip his pants back up while they attempted to run away crouched down, “Stay where you are!” He yelled roughly.
Biting back a curse, the adults slowly turned around. Peter grabbed Natasha’s had nervously before letting go just as quickly.
She didn’t look at him, she was looking at the soldier in a calculating manner, but she very lightly pressed a hand to his back
“All of you get on your fucking knees and put your hand up” He was too afraid to turn his head toward Tony, who was behind him.
“You let us do this? We’ll spilt the cards with you”
“Oh I’m so blessed, hands on your head”
“What about three quarters?”
“Listen, if you let us go we’ll give you half of what we’re getting” Natasha said, her words rolling off her tongue like honey.
The soldier looked interested before scoffing.
“I’m not risking my job for fifty of whatever shitty thing you're smuggling in.”
He pulled out a small machine and pressed it to Natasha’s neck. “Really?”
"I’m just following protocol” he said cockily.
The machine lit up green.
Peter panicked when the soldier put the machine to his neck. He didn’t think before he stabbed the soldier in the leg.
He felt his hair grabbed tightly for a moment, jerking him away before he was let go and thrown to the ground.
Looking up he saw Tony standing in front of him, his arms out in a pleading manner “Move away from the boy”
Tony shook his head as the light was aimed at him.
Peter didn’t see what happened, one second Tony was in front of him, and the next he was beating the soldier to a pulp.
Peter should have felt scared, but he felt strangely calm. Tony could have let the soldier kill him but he didn’t.
He protected him.
Oh.
He felt safe.
He hadn’t felt that since May passed away.
“Tony!” Natasha screamed, backing away from him.
As quickly as the feeling of safety came it vanished, giving him whiplash.
The machine was red.
Peter put his hand up]
“I’m not infected! I swear”
Tony was pointing a gun at him.
His heart was in his ears
“why the fuck are we smuggling an infected kid ?”
Peter threw his arm out desperately, ignoring their flinch
“Look at this! It’s 3 weeks old! Most people turn in less than a day”
It was the first time he’d looked at his scar in a week. The reminder he’d failed his best friend making him sick.
The scar had healed over, no longer pink, only raised lines over skin.
Tony looked at him apprehensively
“It doesn’t matter, you have to trust me. If we don’t run right we will be caught”
“He’s right, Tony we gotta go. Fedras going to be here any minute. We can figure this out later”
Tony slowly nodded. Together they walked into the dark city, the destroyed skyscrapers rising above them in the distance.