Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There’s something weird about taking the podium, after everything that had happened in those last few weeks. Standing before the ocean of reporters, whose curious eyes rested on him, and just him, Tony Stark, begging for an answer that he couldn’t give them.

Who is Iron Man?

Rhodey falls into step next to him. His long-time, best friend, was there to support every choice he’d ever made. It made it less scary, having to lie.

SHIELD had been great in helping Peter and Tony make up a believable story. Faking documents about Dr. Otto Octavius' untimely demise due to a miss misdiagnosed condition. Faking a story about a girl, in the wrong place, at the wrong time. About an arc reactor, that had overheated, its ring popping and sending energy in a big, glowing beam up, up, up, into the sky.

Tony had watched from below, begging for a response. He was waiting for Jarvis to tell him, to confirm that Peter was safe.

Peter…! Peter, please… no, no, don’t do this to me…

He tightens his grasp around the paper cards. Swallows. His mouth was dry. “Last time I stood here, it was told you I was ending Stark Industries weapons production indefinitely. After the attack that happened towards the winner of the September Foundation, Peter Parker.”

The reports go quiet around him.

There where so much that they didn’t know. So much he couldn’t tell them. About long lab nights with the young adult in his lab, he was watching as the kid learned how to fly. Growing closer to someone, in a way Tony hadn’t ever imagined possible. He wasn’t a father, he wouldn’t ever be a father, but maybe he could be something for Peter all the same—a mentor.

“There’s been speculation about Stark Industries involvement if occurred on the freeway and the rooftop-“

“I’m sorry, Mr. Stark” A report shouts out. Her eyes are stern and angry. “Do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard in a suit that conveniently appeared, even though you…”

Tony sighs deeply.

Peter had wanted to keep it secret. He wasn’t ready for the world to know who Iron Man was, and Tony really couldn’t blame the kid. He’d seen firsthand how PTSD had messed with his brain, how nightmares and flashbacks kept haunting him. Keeping Iron Man secret, for everyone, even Rhodey, seemed like the best step. The only step.

Tony had a chance to protect him from some of the fallout, so he would, “I know that it’s confusing. It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations or insinuate that… Stark Industries, are involved in creating a Superhero.”

The reporter smirks from the spot in the front row, “I never said you’d created a superhero.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“I think everyone present here, is under the assumption that you are Iron Man.” She says.

Tony wants to snort out laughter. Him? A Superhero? It had only been a few short months ago that he was taunted for putting Peter Parker in danger. Months ago, he’d been called the Marchen of Death. That he’d been the bad guy when in reality he hadn’t been. Sure, he’d made questionable life choices in running the company the way he did, his father had too. But Tony wanted to change that. Working with Peter, creating clean energy with the arc reactor… was Tony’s way of proving the world wrong. That was how he would change things.

Together. The two of them. They’d heal the world. Create peace.

“Well, I’m not,” Tony says instead. “To think that would be outlandish and impossible. I’m just not the hero type. Clearly. With my laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I’ve made.” Those known to the public and those not.

Rhodey reaches for his shoulder, a kind squeeze leading him back to the paper cards clenched between his fingers.

The truth is…

He takes a deep breath. Feels the words prickling on his tongue. “The truth is, that I for the last couple of months have been given an incredible opportunity to work together with Peter Parker, to make Stark Industries a better company. What happened last night was a tragic accident, that I and many others wish could have been prevented.” Tony looks up, his eyes flowing over reporters. Their hungry eyes stare back. “It is also true, that I helped create the Iron Man suit that was involved in the accident. A bodyguard assignment to Peter Parker by me.”

That seems to catch people’s attention. Tony levels the woman in the front row with a level glare when his mouth opens once more.

“The pilot has requested to remain anonymous indefinitely. We at Stark Industries have chosen to respect this decision.”

A hand raises slowly, an older man, an older reporter. Tony gives a stiff nod. “If the Bodyguard was assigned to Peter Parker, what was he doing on the freeway and at the rooftop last night?”

What had he been doing? Tony didn’t know.

“I was informed that the main arc reactor was malfunctioning.” Another voice joins in, and a warm, heavyweight meets Tony’s side. “Sorry I’m late, I was occupied.” There he is, Peter Parker in the blood. Wrist wrapped in white gauze, and a stitched-up wound above his eye. Arc reactor hidden under a thick hoodie. His brown curls are messy. “When I was informed, we went there to try and stabilize it. Since I’m currently our arc reactor expert.”

Reporters shoot up from their chairs at Peter’s precents. The camera’s flashing as Tony lets an arm fall over the kid’s shoulder. Quietly, in a whisper, “I thought you were still at the hospital…”

“Yeah, well…” Peter smirks, “You needed help.”

The truth was this: Peter Parker was twenty-one years old, a student at ESU. Winner of the September foundation. And Iron Man.

But they weren’t going to tell the world that, yet.

***

6 months later.

“270 at 30 knots. Holding steady at 15000 feet. You are clear for exfiltration over the drop zone.”

Jarvis lights up the HUD in green as the clearance comes over the radio. Peter feels a shrug in his stomach as the music hits his eardrums a moment later, through the suit’s speakers. Heavy base and drums, from Tony’s rock album.

It made his heart race deep in his chest. Excitement, nervousness, adrenaline.

The plan’s ramp opens up before him slowly. Ned’s face appears in the display a moment later, a gigantic smile on his face. Through the video feed, Peter can see people rushing by, getting ready for the big opening ceremony for the expo. It felt surreal not just watching but being part of it.

“Are you ready?” Ned asks in a high-pitched voice, “This is going to be so fucking cool dude!”

Ned wasn’t wrong. People had been waiting for this ever since Iron Man first appeared. It felt like a lifetime ago already that he built the reactor in a cave together with Yinsen. But it hadn’t even been a year yet. Peter was turning twenty-two at the end of summer, but there were still months until then. First, they had to celebrate Tony.

Peter gives a short chuckle, nodding at Ned’s excitement, before he finally takes a few steps forward and lets himself drop.

The first time he’d flown the suit, he’d been up so high its surface was covered in ice. He’d dropped with no control over where he’d land, or even if he’d live. He feels the same now, well aware that this was very different.

Around him explosion echoes, and colorful lights lighten up the world below in all the colors of the rainbow. Pinks and blues and greens and golds. “Mr. Parker, there are currently thirty seconds until landing.”

“Jarvis, how many times do I have to remind you? It’s just Peter!” He grins anyway.

“Of course, Peter. There are currently twenty-five seconds until landing.”

The lyric of the music cuts sharply through the speakers, a deep heavy voice pumping through his whole body.

Looking down from up here, Peter couldn’t help but smile. Remembering how much had changed over these past few months. Good stuff, mostly… (Death). The expo was a chance to make the world a better place, inviting the best scientists from around the globe to give a helping hand in saving the planet they called home. Because Iron Man might be red and gold, but the earth needed to be green.

To be clean.

When he’d first started the arc reactor project, he’d never imagined that it would be the center of a new world. And yet, that was exactly what he saw now, looking down. Glowing in soft blues formed like a reactor. The core of the expo. The beginning, of something better.

Peter readies himself as the last few seconds come near, and slows down slowly. The opening of the roof is narrow, but he passes through it without issue.

Fist in the ground, kneeling, he waves at the audience.

There are shouts and cheers, as dancers make it onto the stages too. Pretty girls in too little clothes, with glowing circles glued onto their chests and hands. The stages spin below him. Showing off the suit from every angle as Peter stands, hands in the air.

“Oh my god. You need to let me fly the things one day.” Ned cheers too. Hoping up and down on his end of the call, just off stage where the world can’t see him.

Peter wasn’t like Tony at all. He didn’t do well in the spotlight, even after months of people asking him questions and cheering for him and his technology. But he could do this. Be funny and cool on stage, hidden away under a mask of gold titanium alloy. Under a mask, that nobody could see blow.

Tony knew. Pepper knew. Ned knew. Coulson knew. MJ and Otto had… too…

The final notes of music fade into the background, as Tony reaches him on stage. Peter is taller in the suit, but in the real world, he’s much smaller than Tony. Younger. Less experienced.

“I’m not saying that the world is enjoying its longest period of uninterrupted peace in years because of Iron Man.” Tony jumps straight into his speech, and Peter starts his walk off stage. Ned’s face greets him as he finally steps out of the suit.

His friend is waiting with a new, fitted blazer that is carefully hung over Peter’s shoulders. The faded Star Wars t-shirt he’d chosen that morning, showing through. And below it, the blue light of the arc reactor barely reached the surface.

“I’m not saying that Uncle Sam and kick back on the lawn chair, sipping on an iced tea because we have yet to come across anyone who’s man enough toe-to-toe with Iron Man on his best day!”

Ned and Peter both settle at the edge of the stage. Just out of sight. Watching as Tony speaks.

It’s almost like being back at the weapon demonstration, the day Jarico was first introduced. The day, when Peter’s life had changed so much, in such a short time.

It was hard to believe it. All of this.

“It’s not about me!” Tony almost shouts. It catches everyone's attention, the crowd growing louder. But not louder than during Peter’s entrance onto the stage just minutes before. “It’s not about you. It’s not even about us. It’s about legacy. It’s about what we choose to leave behind for future generations. And that’s why…” Tony looks towards Peter and Ned. Meets their eyes. “That’s why, for the next year and for the first time since 1974, the best and brightest men and women of nations and corporations the world over, will pool their resources, share their collective vision, to leave behind a brighter future.”

Peter feels a twig of a smile on his lips.

“It’s not about us!” Tony looks towards them again. A glimmer in his eyes. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m happy to announce, that the future isn’t just on our shoulders anymore. All this wouldn’t have been possible, without the heir to Stark Industries, Peter Parker! So welcome back, to the Stark Expo.” Tony bows deeply, before making his way towards them.

Ned cheers loudly into his ear once more. Peter feels frozen in place.

Hair to Stark Industries…? Peter feels a knot form in his stomach. Tony wanted to leave the company to him. No, didn’t want to, he already had. Heir… Peter hadn’t agreed to that.

Arms fold around his shoulders and he has to fight every instinct in his body not to flinch back at Tony’s caring touch. “I- Tony… I’m not… I’m not sure I can-“

“Me first.” Tony holds him by the shoulders. His eyes take in every detail. Ever expression. Everything. Peter can feel it, the same way people studied him again and again after the attack. After his PTSD diagnosis. After everything. “I know it’s a big thing to carry, but I wouldn’t trust my company to anyone else, Peter. Only you. We’ll make it legal later, for now… just enjoy it.”

“But-“ Peter shakes his head, “Tony, I’m not like you!”

Tony nods happily. “That’s right, Peter. You’re better than me. Better than all of us. You are the future generations, who better to lead us into a green future, than you?”

Peter sighs. Tries to breathe. Tries to find the words to say no thank you, I don’t want it.

But Tony looks so happy. So proud as he stands there. Ned’s excitement bobbles next to him, with such pride. He wonders if May is watching, if she’s purring champagne up in a tall glass now, and cheers at the TV. Or maybe, she’d be furious now, that Peter hadn’t told her. She’d always hated Tony Stark, after all.

Peter doesn’t get a chance to say anything. “You’re coming to my birthday next week, right kid?”

He swallows. Nods.

“… The Stark Expo. Welcome.” Howard's voice finally ends. The video is gone.

That’s his cue. Peter Parker is supposed to walk on stage and talk about arc reactor technology. But that was before the big entrance, before the title of heir. His feet feel stuck in the ground. Maybe he’s stepped in glue, or maybe he’s sinking into it. Maybe this is what dying feels like.

(It isn’t, he knows. He’s been dying before…)

Tony pads him on the shoulder and pushes him forward. Peter had no choice but to walk out there, microphone active, and speak to them. Behind him, Tony’s words ring out, “Go and show them why you’re worthy of my company.”

Spotlights dance across the stage, centering in on Peter. If it’s even possible, the crowd only grows louder as Peter speaks.

The last time he’d talked to Otto, before things went south… or maybe they already had… his mentor had asked him to take over the company. Finish what he’d started… Peter, one day I won’t be here to finish the project. You’ll do it all on your own. Those were the words he’d used. That’s what he’d asked Peter to do.

Be an heir to a company… and now it was happening. Again.

***

“Mr. Stark, could we pick up now where we left off?” Stern asks, his voice is as stern as the man himself. Tony sighs but returns in focus to the man before him anyway.

Maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise that keeping Iron Man secret was going to cause issues. Maybe Tony should have looked over the reporters that day and lied, said… The truth is, I am Iron Man. That would have kept Peter safe. Better than SHIELD ever could.

The thing was, Tony hadn’t, and so now he was forced to pick off the pieces and stand front and center in the Iron Man court case.

It wasn’t like there weren’t valid points to be made. How can you trust someone in a high-tech metal suit, when they won’t show their face or share their name? Tony probably wouldn’t have. Rhodey only did, because Tony so kindly asked him to. Or, well, maybe it was the kid who’d managed that. To convince Rhodey that it was safe. Because Peter trusted him, the kid who hated weapons, then surely Rhodey could too.

It didn’t mean it was pleasant, having to fight in court. It was a necessity.

“Do you or do you not possess a specialized weapon?” Stern asks into the microphone.

Tony snorts, “I do not.”

“You do not?”

“I do not.” Tony shakes his head. He can hear the sound of cameras flashing behind him. Background noise he’d grown used to since he was a kid, growing up as a Stark. “Well… it depends on how you define the word weapon.” He had to give them something. An open door. Anything.

Stern doesn’t find it amusing, instead, he leans closer to the microphone. “The Iron Man weapon.”

“One, my device does not fit that description.” It didn’t. It was a plane. A one manned plane. “Even if it did, the answer would still be no. I do not possess the Iron Man suit, my company does.”

“Well… how would you describe it?” Stern sounds impatient as ever.

Tony shrugs, taking a long sip of water. How would he describe it? Plane might not be the right word for a courtroom, so what was it? “I would describe it by defining it as what it is, Senator. It’s a high-tech medical device. Protecting its wearer.”

There. That was it. That was good. Behind him, people whisper.

“It’s a weapon. It’s a weapon, Mr. Stark-“

Tony couldn’t let that slip. Couldn’t ignore the attempt to put words in his mouth. Of making things appear, in ways that weren’t true. “Please, did you see the expo last night? That’s not a weapon, Senator, that’s entertainment. People love it. Your priority shouldn’t be to take that away from the people, but to figure out a way to make the world safer.”

“My priority is to make the world safer” Stern agrees, “And I am doing that by getting the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America.”

Tony feels the anger rising in his chest as he sits there before the people.

The night before had been in celebration of the future of Stark Industries, or the fact he no longer created weapons, but instead tried to better the world.

How could he better the world, when it appeared everyone was fighting against him?

“You can forget it.” He’s losing patients and he knows it. He doesn’t try to hide it. “The only person who has any right to the suit is the piolet within it. They are Iron Man. The suit and they are one. Turning over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over a human being, which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending on what state you’re in. You can’t have it.”

He wonders why SHIELD hasn’t stepped in. Why they’re hiding in the shadows when clearly, they want to work with Peter? With Iron Man. Coulson had let that much slip during a meeting weeks ago in preparation for that day.

“Look, I’m no expert in weapons. However, we have somebody here who is an expert in weapons. I’d now like to call Justin Hammer, our current primary weapons contractor.”

Hammer takes a seat just a few chairs from Tony. A smug grin in plaster across his ugly mug.

“Well, I’m not going to waste anyone’s time. We all know why we’re here. In the last six months, Anthony Stark had created a sword with untold possibilities. And yet he insists that it’s a shield.” If Tony was so God damn smart, he would have said something. He technically didn’t create the Iron Man suit. That was a very flawed picture of the world if anyone believed that. Peter had. Tony just made it possible, assisting him, and giving him the tools and materials that he needed to make it a reality.

But Tony couldn’t tell the world that.

“He asks us to trust him as we cower behind it. I wish I were comforted-“

Tony stands then. Microphone in hand. With a frown on his face, he levels with Hammer. “I’m not asking you to trust me. I am asking you to trust Peter Parker. I messed up, and it shouldn’t have taken Peter to show me that, but it did. Despite that, despite my flaws and despite everything that happened afterward, and there happened a lot, he hasn’t once regrated giving me a second chance.”

Maybe that’s the wrong thing to say, but as the words spill between his lips, he can’t find it in himself to stop. To regret it. Not a word.

They asked for the truth, the truth, and only the truth. This was it.

“You’re asking us to trust a kid with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?” Hammer frowns, and Tony’s heart clenches at those words. “A kid, without a finished education, with no knowledge of how weapons are created and function. Yet he is your defense? Another Shield for your own mistakes? Did he know…? What you were gonna do last night?”

Tony swallows and sinks back into his seat. What can he say? No. Peter didn’t know.

Stern nods along. “Mr. Stark, we want the Iron Man weapon turned over to us, to protect kids like Peter himself. After what happened last year, I’m sure you can understand that. We want the same thing. We are on the same side. And to prove it, the committee would like to invite a common party, Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes to the chamber.”

The doors open, and through them comes Rhodey. In a full navy-blue suit. Gold on his shoulders.

Rhodey and Tony have been friends since MIT. Decades and decades of working close together, making the world… well, maybe not safer. By constructing weapons, never seen before. The Jerico missile had been the last one.

The end of a partnership. But not the end of a friendship.

It feels natural when Rhodey sits in the chair next to Tony. Close enough that he can feel his friends’ movements vibrating through the floor. Can hear his breath, and the paper as he fumbles with it between his fingers. “… Can you please read page 57, paragraph four?”

“You’re requesting that I read specific selections from my report, Senator?”

“Yes, sir.”

Rhodey frowns. “It was my understanding that I was going to be testifying in a much more comprehensive and detailed manner. Reading specific parts of a report could give the committee the wrong idea about the pros and cons of Iron Man.”

Stern bites his lip, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. “Would you rather turn your report into a pros and cons list? Lieutenant?”

“Actually, yes.” Rhodey hand tightens around his papers. “The biggest con about Iron Man is that he does not operate within any definable branch of government, and can therefore not legally cross borders, or act in military situations. Etc. From that point of view, you could argue that Iron Man poses a potential threat.”

“Very well” Stern nods happily.

“However, the pros far outweigh the cons. Considering that Iron Man had been working closely with the military already, I believe there isn’t a valid reason to stop their operation. And that we should instead attempt to find a way Iron Man could become an official member of our team.”

Tony relaxes in his chair at Rhode's words. There was a chance, small as it was, that Peter would willing to work with the military if his identity could be held secret or at least protected.

Hammer snorts loudly from his spot in the courtroom, “And what about the day when people manage to recreate the suit? What then? We’ll be defenseless. If I may…?”

Stern nods.

Hammer moves to the screens as they change. Grainy images of what might be suits like Tony’s at military bases, and labs appear. Red marks and arrows point them out.

Of course, people were trying to recreate it. It was quite possibly the biggest success story of the century. It wasn’t many years ago that the first smartphone appeared, and now every company that’d ever worked on phones and technology was following suit. iPhone and Samsungs and Google phones and Nokia. There was just one big difference, no other company had the arc reactor. Never would if Peter and Tony had a say in the matter. They’d seen how badly that could go already.

Tony reaches for his phone under the table. A download bar appears on the screen.

“These isn’t the first attempts of recreating the suits, however” Hammer talks, “Before Iron Man made an appearance, this so-called miniature arc reactor, was already created in a different New York lab in partnership with Advanced Idea Mechanics. However, these were never finished due to Octavious premature death. If he could do it, it’s only a question of time before someone else will.”

“I believe you have the wrong idea, Hammer” Tony connects to the screen. Mutters fill the air as they connect. The first picture that appears is Peter Parker and Otto Octavius, smiling at a camera, a cluttered ESU lab in the background. “Dr. Octavious was a professor of Peter’s. A great friend. You however… are not…”

The picture disappears, replaced by videos of Hammer’s attempt to make an Iron Man suit.

Exploiting batteries, bullets flying through the air, blood splattering across a camera, screams echoing around them, smoke and cries.

Rhodey snort. Stern sighs. Hammer pulls the plug after almost thirty seconds. Too late.

“Yeah, I’d say most countries, five, ten years away. Hammer Industries, twenty.” Tony meets Sterns's eyes, “Even I don’t understand the tech, sir. There’s a reason, that kid is my heir. Our future.”

Distantly Hammer makes a point. But nobody listens.

Instead, there are cheers, as if the heir announcement weren’t already old news. As if none of them had heard those words before. Maybe they hadn’t. Maybe these people were so incompetent, that they hadn’t watched the expo opening.

Tony gets up, and Rhodey follows him closely. “Whoever the guy in that suit is, you care about him, don’t you?” Rhodey asks in a whisper.

“Why wouldn’t I?” is all Tony can say in response.

***

Coming home was something Tony didn’t appreciate enough, until after he met Peter. There was something about it, seeing Peter sit there in his kitchen with cub noodles, or sit in his lab tinkering with whatever tech way laying around, or just exiting there on Tony’s coach texting his friends or aunt. Always with a smile on his face, and a new story to tell. Either about Peter Parker meeting a dog, or eating burgers with Ned, other times about Iron Man’s newest armored adventures.

Maybe Tony was living a little bit through Peter. Tony had missed a lot of stuff when he was growing up, never going to high school, and graduating college at the age of fifteen. Sixteen? Tony couldn’t remember, Rhodey probably could, but Rhodey hadn’t been half drunk all the time either.

Giving Peter a space to do his science stuff had been the best choice Tony ever made because it meant going home – not to an empty penthouse of the mansion, but to a living in a place with food and snacks and life. Even when the kid wasn’t actively there, there were small signs that he had been. A forgotten hoodie, dishes that needed to be done, or messages from Peter written and small post-it notes about what groceries to get despite being able to just tell Jarvis.

Pepper liked it too, Tony was sure of it because she always made of point of dropping by the lab when Peter was there. Often with home-cooked food instead of takeout.

Today was different.

When Tony finally reaches his home in Malibu the sun has already set. The court case was playing on repeat both in Tony’s brain wondering if he’d done the right thing, and on TV and social media and- well everywhere. It was the biggest new story about Tony ever. And it wasn’t even really about Tony, it was about Iron Man.

And… as if that wasn’t enough, Pepper wore a look of pure judgment as Tony stepped through the door.

He couldn’t possibly tell you what he’d done this time. He hadn’t forgotten her birthday, there was still a while left before then. He couldn’t have forgotten Christmas, Tony had big (really big) plans then. So, what had he done? What could make him look so disappointed?

“Did you talk to him?” She asks the second Tony slides into a kitchen chair. A cup of steaming coffee is placed on him.

Tony meets her eyes, “Rhodey? No of course I didn’t. I had no idea he’d be there.”

Pepper sighs but softens just a little. “I mean Peter,” she says, “Did you think to talk to him about the Heir thing before telling the whole world?”

And Oh… there it was.

Tony hadn’t talked to Peter about it. He’d thought about it, really had, but it had been hard enough to convince the kid to do the big Iron Man entrance. Tony didn’t want to spring anymore on Peter right then. The kid had enough to worry about and to consider. Tony had, well maybe, thought that Peter would be dancing with happiness, like his friend, Ned, had.

“No…” Tony confesses under Pepper’s gaze.

Instead of celebrating, he’d gotten a stiff Peter in his arms, that had almost refused it. Tony had changed the topic, only because he knew, the Kid might run off before giving his presentation. Something that wouldn’t have been ideal.

Pepper sighs and leans over the kitchen island. “He showed up here last night…” Pepper starts slowly, “He locked himself in the lab. Used one of the overwrite codes.”

“Oh…” Tony swallows. That couldn’t be good. “He wasn’t, uh…”

“No” Pepper shakes her head, a certain expression on her face. “I don’t think it was flashbacks, at least, Jarvis doesn’t seem to be worried about hyperventilation or heart rate. He’s just upset. And with good reason. That’s a lot to put on someone's shoulders.”

At age twenty-one, Tony had been handed his father's company after his tragic death. It was years ago, but hearing Pepper speak, Tony could remember it as if it was yesterday. The immense pressure of expectations settled onto Tony’s shoulders. He’d had Obadiah's help back then, of course, a second pair of eyes that pulled him out of more than one deep dark hole. But that didn’t make it any less scary.

Maybe he should have talked to Pepper or May or even Peter first. No, he should have. But that was too late now.

Instead, all he could do was go and talk to him after the fact. That had to count for something.

He downs the cup of coffee in one long sip, feeling the burning heat pass down his throat and settle in his stomach. “Pepper, do me a favor and cook something the kid likes. Okay?”

Pepper nods with a smile and gets to work.

Tony reaches the lab soon enough. Watching Peter through the glass wall. The kid didn’t look good. Dark shadows under his eyes, skin pale. He was wearing large black headphones that Tony had gotten him for Christmas, to help block out loud sounds, because those seemed to trigger flashbacks more times than not.

The large gray hoodie was covered with oil stains and discolored from months of lab use. And his hair was messy, messier than it had been the night before. Then it was cute, now it makes him look like Tony when Tony was that age. Too small for the weight he was carrying. Too small for that ginormous lab.  

It wasn’t just the title of heir weighing down the kid. It was Iron Man too.

He knocks carefully against the glass, hoping to give the kid an out. Hoping the kid will open up so that Tony doesn’t need to force his way inside. He wants to talk, but never at the cost of breaking Peter’s trust.

Peter doesn’t respond. Deep in the zone with whatever he’s working on.

“Jarvis?” Tony calls out a moment later, trusting that Jarvis knows what to do.

A moment later Tony can hear Jarvis's voice muffled through the glass. “Peter, the boss is at the door. Can I let him inside?”

Peter looks up to see Tony standing there. Tony waves softly with a smile. Lets himself relax.

After a moment Peter nods, and the lab door slides open with a beep. Peter discarded his headphones a second later and with them his tools. “Hey, Pete. You did yesterday. The entrance was good, but your presentation was even better. Dare I say perfect.” Be cool Tony’s brain tells him, don’t freak him out.

This lab was very different from the one back at the tower, where they spent most of their time. Though Peter had started coming more and more out to the mansion.

One wall was covered with glass cases of Iron Man suits. The original one, that Peter had test flown one time, so long ago. Almost crashing down into the pavement of New York City. There was the one he’d worn during his fight with Otto. There was the current one, it wasn’t too different from the second, but the red was darker, and it looked just a tad bit more clunky. And lastly, there where a large, clunky, suit that was Peter’s current project.

Tony hadn’t asked yet what the newest suit was for. It was different from the rest of them.

“What do you want, Tony?” Peter asks in a hollow voice when Tony doesn’t go on. The kid sounds even worse than he looks, and despite Tony not having known him for long, his heart clenches just a little in his chest at the sound.

Broken, hopeless, sad. Tony wondered if he’d been crying.

Tony leans against the lab table. Tries to remain casual. “Did you see the court case?” Peter nods. “Who is Hammer to think he can just… steal your tech? I mean, it put a lot of people at risk.”

“So do we…” Peter says, eyes averting Tony’s.

Right. Sometimes Tony almost forgot that Peter had been forced to fight in that suit. Almost forgot about what happened that day. He couldn’t, not fully, but he tried to. They both tried to.

“Do you want to hand it over?” Tony asks instead giving Peter a pointed look. “It won’t be hard. Just, give Rhodey a call, and boom, no more Iron Man.” An out that Tony wouldn’t ever take. But Peter wasn’t him… so maybe… maybe the kid would.

Peter bites his lip for a long moment. Tony can see the tiny drops of blood seeping out. “… No?”

“Are you telling me or asking me?”

“Telling you.” Peter sounds more certain this time as he takes a few deep breaths. Watching, Tony wonders if Pepper is wrong, if Jarvis is wrong, if there’d been another Flashback. “I just… they have a point. They aren’t wrong. That keeping him secret means he’s a risk.”

Tony shakes his head, “You aren’t a risk Pete.”

“But they don’t know that” Peter stresses, “They don’t know that I’m Iron Man, until today, they didn’t know I worked on the suit either.”

“They don’t need to know that to trust Iron Man” Tony argues weakly. Peter had to see that too, right? He was the one who’d had that dream all those months ago, that dream about changing things, about making the world a better place.

About saving people…

Peter nods slowly. Sighs. Tony sees the first tiny tear flowing down Peter’s cheek. It hadn’t been easy getting to where they were now. “Pepper’s cooking dinner” Tony tries to redirect, “Are you hungry? She mentioned you haven’t been out since last night.”

For a moment Peter stands there, tears flowing. Next, he looks at Tony with dark, determined eyes. “Why did you do it?”

“What?”

“Why did you go behind my back, Tony?” Peter sounds so hurt when he speaks now. “Did you ever think to ask me if I wanted to be your heir at all? Because I don’t. You can keep your stupid company to yourself.”

“Pete-“

Peter turns away, hands clenched. Voice growing louder. “What do you know about me, Tony?”

“I know you’re a smart, really nice person, willing to help others before yourself,” Tony says and reaches out a hand. Settles it on Peter’s shoulder, only for him to flinch away. “I know that you mean a lot to me, in a way I can’t put into words. To Pepper and Happy, too.”

“Yeah?” Peter snorts, “If I mean so much to you, I don’t understand why you didn’t talk to me.”

Tony can do nothing but look down at his feet.

He’d messed up, hadn’t he? It wouldn’t be the first time. But he couldn’t imagine anyone else taking over his company either. Not even Pepper. He just couldn’t.

Peter was and always would be, his only option.

“Would-Wou-“ Peter grasped for air now, tears flowing freely down red cheeks. Tony wants to help him. Wants to guide him through the breathing exercise Peter’s therapist had taught them both. But he feels frozen in place. Helpless. “Would… would you please… p-please leave me alone?”

No, a part of Tony wants to say. But he nods all the same.

“Um… I’ll have Pepper come down with some dinner later. Okay?” Peter doesn’t respond.

Chapter Text

“Sorry.”

“What the hell was that?” Happy looks annoyed as Tony throws another punch. The fighting session of the day lacked the usual energy. This was something Tony had loved doing with his friends for as long as he could remember. Probably even longer. But his fight with Peter the day before lingered in his brain, and for each punch missed, for each punch taken, Tony was slowly losing his motivation.

Tony throws another punch anyway. Happy catches it before it hits. “Is this about the kid?”

“What kid?” Tony asks, well aware of whom Happy is asking about. Happy frowns deeply at him, a no-bullshit kind of look that makes Tony drop the boxing glows with a deep sigh. “Okay, yes. It’s about the kid. Are you happy?”

Everyone around him already knew what that kid meant to him. Maybe everyone but Peter himself. Pepper cared about him, Happy cared about him, even Rhodey. And Rhodey didn’t even know that Peter was also a secret Iron Man.

Peter wasn’t much of a boxer himself, though during most of Tony’s sessions the past couple of months it was commonplace for Peter to join in. Watching the two throwing each other into the soft mattress below their feet. Peter had even taken up Happy’s challenge once, though the bodyguard had gone easy on him, walking him through the basic’s before they started throwing punches at each other. Even then Happy had held back.

“Do I need to call an intervention?” Happy asks discarding his gear as he climbs out of the ring. “I’ve got Pepper and Rhodey on speed dial ever since the stunt you pulled three years ago in Turkey.”

Tony snorts. Remember fondly the day he’d decided to step into his race car. He hadn’t been good at it by any means, but he owned it, so he might have given it a spin.

“Questions” Tony looks to Happy with a serious expression. “If, let's say, your mentor figure asked you to take over the company when they die or retire. How would you react?”

Happy lifts an eyebrow, concern coloring his face as he speaks. Voice dry. “That defends.”

“On?”

“If I was asked first” Happy shots. The same point Pepper had made the night before.

The thing was, Tony wasn’t sure it would have made any difference at all. It seemed there where something rooted much more deeply in Peter’s No than just the lack of interest or the lack of communication. Something in his past that Tony had yet to figure out. It was throwing him for a loop. Tony had never missed something important before. Jarvis certainly hadn’t.

“Jarvis, do another search on the kid. See if we’re missing some crucial information.” Tony takes his water and gulps it down.

“Certainly sir.”

Happy rolls his eyes, “This is exactly what I mean. Have you asked Peter why he doesn’t want your company?” Tony shakes his head. The kid didn’t want to talk to him, asking again wouldn’t make it any better. “Sometimes I wonder why that kid sticks around.”

“Because we asked him too” A third voice chimes in. Coulson appears in the doorway, a woman beside him with long curly hair, so red that it couldn’t possibly be natural. She was good-looking, not as good as Pepper, but close. “Mr. Stark, Mr. Hogan, this is Mrs. Natasha Romanoff. Another agent of SHIELD.”

Tony greets her with a steady handshake. To fill he shoots a dark glare, “Where the hell were you yesterday when I was trying to protect Peter?”

“I’m afraid that classified Mr. Stark” Coulson responds.

There was another thing Tony didn’t know about Peter. The kid had spent plenty of time with SHIELD ever since that damned night when things went wrong. But Tony didn’t understand why, because all Tony saw was another asshole, who wasn’t telling the truth.

Natasha studies Happy for a long moment before the two enter the ring. She doesn’t waste a second putting on gloves.

“What exactly are you doing here Agent?” Tony asks after a moment.

Coulson studies Natasha for a moment too, shrugs, and turns to Tony. “Is Peter here?”

“Last I saw him he’d locked himself in the lab, if he isn’t there, I don’t know where he’d be.” Tony shrugs, “Let me guess, you need him for secret SHIELD business.?”

“He didn’t show up for his therapy session. Isn’t responding to his phone, either.” Coulson sighs deeply, and a single line of concern appears between his brows. Tony almost feels bad about it. “If you see him, tell him to call me.”

Tony nods, “Sure. I’ll do that. If he’ll listen to me.”

“He’ll listen.”

***

The sun is slowly setting behind tall buildings, the afternoon coloring the park in oranges and reds. Kids are running around in the green spring grass; balls are flying through the air and cheers echo as they score.

Peter and Ben find a bench near the edge of the park. Looking over the world. Ice cream in hand.

“I got the first letter today” A younger Peter’s voice echoes around him. Echoes through his head. “I’ve been accepted into ESU.”

He turns to look at Ben. Ben sits there, rainbow-colored ice cream in his hand, frozen in place inches from his lips. His hair is grayer than Peter remembers it. Thinner. His skin is pale, and his body somehow seems thinner than it had been then. Four years ago… on the day he died.

For a moment Peter almost wonders if Ben never died. If this is an older Ben. A Ben, who’s seen Iron Man flying through the sky above their city.

Peter knows it’s a dream… but he hopes all the same.

For a long moment, he waits for Ben’s soft smile. The words of encouragement that Peter has saved close to his heart because those had been the last words Ben ever said to him. The last words Ben would ever say to him. A glimpse of happiness and pride in his eyes… And yet… Something different about the dream this time.

As if the colors are slowly fading, Ben stays frozen. The green of the grass is suddenly covered in a thick layer of white snow. The sun setting disappears, and instead, stars are glowing down at the two of them. The ice melts and disappears, and Ben’s hand drops. The sound of kids playing fades as their ball rolls up and stops before Peter’s feet.

… Only it isn’t a fall. It’s a bomb.

Peter can see the little display, frozen in time like Ben, numbers glowing red in the darkness.

“This is the moment you failed,” Ben’s voice finally tells him. There isn’t a smile on his face, no pride in his eyes. It’s been replaced with hatred and anger. Peter feels his heart skip a beat. “You thought you could save us with a metal suit? You thought you were strong enough to, what? Make a difference?”

Ben’s hand raises before them both and he snaps. Thumb slips along his long finger. A blinding white light flashes between them, and they’re standing before the man. The little girl behind him. Ben’s gun is drawn at him… another gun points back.

But it isn’t Ben who’s shot. It’s Peter. A version of him jumps between them, and the blood splatters across the snow. “You could have saved me that day…”

“No…” Peters – adult Peter this time – voice is hollow as he speaks. “I couldn’t- I was… I was too far away.”

“Is that what you tell yourself?” Ben pushes him backwards and Peter slips on the snow-covered pavement. Falls backwards, head pounding as Peter feels it collide with the ground. “I was too far away, so it wasn’t my fault that Ben died? Does May believe those words?”

Peter’s about to open his mouth, to argue that he didn’t mean it like that. That Peter back then hadn’t had the power to change things. That he’d been just a kid… but then May appears above him. “Is that true, Peter? Was it your fault…?”

“May… I-“

But May doesn’t listen. Her face morphs into an older woman, the person she is now. But it doesn’t stop there. The change keeps going. Her long brown hair grows gray, then white, before slowly falling onto the ground like the snow before him.

It’s the blood – his blood – and soaks it up. “I never wanted you… I wanted him.”

Before his eyes, all the moment with him and May appears. Statues frozen in time surround them. Glasses clink together in celebrating Peter’s win in a competition. May places herself between Peter and Tony, strong arms ready to protect him, when he returns home, sad and scared and injured. She’s there by his side the first time he meets his new therapist, and they're waiting outside when he gets his PTSD diagnosis. May’s there with food for him and- Peter swallows. Because it isn’t just May standing before him. It’s Michelle too.

“Was that your fault too?” She asks him, letting a finger run down Michelle’s frozen statue face. “Could you have saved her too?”

Ben nods beside her, “Wasn’t like you weren’t warned.”

“And if could have saved her, then maybe, you could have saved them too.” May points behind him. Still on the ground, Peter shifts to look behind him. Standing at the metro steps are four people.

Mary and Richard, his parents. Brown hair and soft eyes like himself, cladded in white lab coats and name tags. A little boy in their arms. “They did all of that for you, you know.” Ben walks towards them and takes the kid from their arms. “So that they had money to give you a great life.”

Beside them stands a soldier. Jackson. The man who covered Peter’s head, protecting him from broken glass. The man who’d talked to him, cared for him as bullets flew all around them. The man, the soldier, who had stepped out of that car, and died moments later. Because Peter was a VIP. Because Peter was the most important person right then… “What about him?” May asks, “What if it had been Flash protecting you that day?”

“What if it had been me?” Flash is there as Peter blinks. Lying in the snow before him.

Peter crawls closer. Reaching for him. Grasping around his former friend’s hand. Remember good and bad days in High school, sharing classes with a bully, a bully turned friend. “Flash, are you alright?”

Flash meets his eyes, “What if it had been me?” And then blood runs down from his mouth, down his lips and his chin, and somehow, all the way down onto Peter’s hand. “Would you have let me leave then, too? Like you let Jackson leave?”

“Jackson gave his life to save you when you should have died.” Another voice says. The fourth person at the metro steps. Yinsen. “Just like I did…”

“Yinsen…”

Yinsen moves. For a second longer Flash bleeds, and Ben holds a baby, and May stands at Michelle’s side, but only a second. They disappear.

A hand reaches out for him. Yinsen’s hand. “Do you remember what I told you?”

Peter nods.

Hands shaky as he reaches up.

“Tell me.” Yinsen commands. It’s not a request. There’s a slight plea in his voice. “Please, tell me what I said to you. I need to know that you remember. You have to remember.”

Peter swallows. His mouth suddenly dry. His throat was tight. But he forces the words past his lips all the same, between heavy, shaky breaths. “You were never supposed to be here Peter, you've been removed from your path. Your destiny. You must find your way back to it. Because the person you were almost meant to become.”

Yinsen reaches out and closes the distance between their hands. A Spider is crawling down his skin, and then down onto Peter’s. It sits there before it bits. It doesn’t hurt, just leaves two red marks across his skin.

“With great power, must also come great responsibility,” Yinsen says. Says it, like Ben would have said it. Reminds him. “Are you ready for that responsibility?”

Peter wasn’t sure he was.

Responsibility… that had to be Iron Man. A hero. A protector of a city, of a world. Peter shakes his head, “I don’t know…” Responsibility… of carrying on an empire when Tony was gone. Or carrying on Otto’s work now that he was gone. Or living his life, despite Michelle’s death, Ben’s death, Jackson and Yinsen and his parents’ deaths. “I don’t know.”

The Spider bits again, closer to his wrist. Yinsen reaches for it, takes it around its leg, and then rips off the legs one by one. Peter feels it in his body. Feels the pain of a limb being removed.

First his feet and hands. Then his legs and arms.

On the snow-covered ground, Peter becomes paralyzed. “Then you’re of no use to me.” It’s a growl. Deep and-

“Peter, god dammit open the door!” Peter sits up in his bed. His single bed, in a small apartment, two blogs from the tower. An apartment bought by Tony Stark, so that Peter didn’t have to live in the place of his lover. In the big apartment for two, sleeping in the bed that he had been both Peter’s and Michelle’s.

Someone’s banging on the door. Hard and loud. Again, they almost shout, “Peter come on, or I’ll knock the door down.”

He opens the door for Ned a moment later, “I’m not sure you physically could.” Peter points out.

“Then I’d call Happy and get him to do it.” Ned says with a dry voice, “Or I’d call Jarvis and have him fly a suit here. Have it bust the door down. You’d love it. Having to explain why another door is broken.”

Peter levels his friend with a glare, well aware that Ned would do it. He already had. Twice. “You wouldn’t…”

“Maybe” Ned relents, “Look, dude. We have a lunch date. We have to get going.”

***

It’s not like Peter had forgotten about the lunch date, because he hadn’t. He’d set double alarms the night before, just so that he’d be ready for his and Ned’s crazy expensive Stark Industries lunch date. He’d still slept through the alarms, still felt tired even as he took a quick shower, and still felt sore and uncomfortable.

But thirty minutes later they leave the house side by side. Peter is in a big hoodie, jeans, and his new backpack – which is a suit – over his back.

“I thought the nightmares had stopped” Ned comments as they near the restaurant. Breaking the comfortable silence between them.

Peter feels his heart skip a long beat, “Who said anything about a nightmare?”

Ned shakes his head and pulls them both to a stop, “I can tell, you know. How long have we known each other again? Fifteen years?” Peter wants to comment that it’s closer to sixteen but doesn’t dare open his mouth. Ned’s eyes are filled with worry. The way Michelle had been when Peter had flashbacks. The way Tony had been doing lab days when Peter would hyperventilate to the point of passing out. “What was it about this time? Does it have something to do with the expo?”

A fancy car stops before the restaurant a little further up the street. Justin Hammer steps out in a black suit, and waves at the press surrounding the red carpet.

“Could we not do this now?” Peter asks after a moment.

Ned considers it for a moment, before nodding with a sigh. They both move forward again. Press catching them the second they near, a journalist who’d been talking to Hammer almost drops their mic as she turns around to greet Peter and Ned. “Heir to Stark Industries, that’s a pretty cool title for someone so young. Would you care to comment on what it’s like?”

“Great presentation the other night,” another says – shouts – through the crowds. “What are your thoughts on the Iron Man court case Mr. Parker?”

“Peter, rumors say your medical leave from ESU is ending soon. Have you decided if you’re returning to finish your education yet?” a black microphone with red marks is pushed up into his face, and Peter takes a step backward in shock.

Ned’s hand reaches to grasp Peter’s wrist and keep him standing.

He almost finds himself wishing he’d taken up Happy’s offer of protection. It had been before the heir title before the court case had become a shit show. Before… before the nightmare.

“I uh…” Peter tries to force on a smile and together the two move towards the doors. “I haven’t made a final decision yet.” Then they’re inside. Finally. Safety. Peter takes a deep breath. “Remind me again, how Tony does this all the time.”

Ned snorts, “Do I need to find a video of the press smile?”

“Please don’t” Peter shakes his head. Though he knows Ned has a point. The Tony that the world knows and the Tony that Peter knows isn’t the same person. It’s sometimes hard to separate them, on bad days they’re remarkably similar. But Peter can tell. The way his smile is a little bigger and his eyes are a little brighter. The way his voice goes soft, and his shoulders slump.

Tony is never casual before a camera, only ever when Peter and he hide behind a lab wall. Or when Rhodey brings pizza from down the road. Or when Pepper smiles are him softly, brightly, happily, and Tony returns it. Or when he sighs and slips into the back of Happy’s car.

Justin Hammer lingers at the bar close to the entrance. There’s a fancy drink in his hand. Orange slice hanging at the side of it.

Peter and Ned move in and find a table. A server appears with menu cards but doesn’t speak.

“Why exactly is it Tony invited that guy?” Ned asks, having spotted Hammer too.

“Because Hammer and Tony might not agree on things, but he’s still part of the scientific community,” Peter responds. The same responses he’d give the press. It’s a lie. Tony wants eyes on Hammer, it’s why Peter is there too.

Justin Hammer made weapons. Had for about as long as Peter had been alive. Some of it was coping with other’s works, even the Iron Man suit, but Hammer had a talent all the same. He knew how to make things when he took his time and didn’t act like an idiot. There was a reason the military had picked him instead of someone else when Tony stepped down.

You don’t become America’s only weapons producer if you don’t know what you’re doing.

But Hammer hadn’t started with his own company… he’d been sponsored by A.I.M. Advanced Idea Mechanics. The same company that had offered Otto support when Oscorp's founding wasn’t sufficient anymore.

Michelle hadn’t just found stuff about Otto on those servers, she’d found stuff about Hammer, too. And now, Peter, Tony, and Shield were watching him like a hawk.

Well… mostly Peter and Shield.

“You and I both know that’s a lie,” Ned says sternly. “Don’t give me that press nonsense Pet-“

“It’s not,” Peter says quickly. “It’s not. I don’t know the details. I-“ He shakes his head. A server appears with water for them, and Peter gulps down half his glass gratefully. “Look, uhm… Tony doesn’t know the details. And you and I both know you aren’t the best with secrets.”

Ned looks hurt for a glimmer of seconds, “Well, I didn’t tell you about Tony’s plan on making you heir.” His friend looks so proud when he says it. “Actually… is that what the dream was about?”

Your fault… save them… snow… blood. What if it had been me?

“Maybe…” Peter relents. “Ned, it’s just. Complicated.”

“I’m your best friend, Peter, I’m here for the complicated stuff.” Ned meets his eyes. “Okay, well, maybe I’m mostly here for the cool superhero stuff. But it the complicated too. First, actually. I was here for the complicated first.”

Peter, one day I won’t be here to finish the project. You’ll do it all on your own. You’ve come so far from that little boy entering my classroom for the first time.

“May said you might react like this, too. That you wouldn’t want to be an heir. Why is that? Why don’t you talk to Tony about it? I mean, you aren’t still mad about what happened last winter, right?”

Is Stark Industries double-dealing under the table? Is that how they got the weapons to attack the car in the first place? Was that why I had to sit in that car? Huh? Remember what you told me that day, Tony? ‘That project always was just a proof of concept. You can’t make it smaller.’ Was that true? Was that what you thought? Or was that to cover your ass when you stole my project because I was dead?

“It’s not like it was Tony’s fault after all. He had no idea what was happening.”

“Ned.” Peter’s voice is stern but hollow. Steady but breathless. “Please stop. I can’t do this right now.” And then, he gets up and moves to the bar.

Peter slides into a bar chair. Somebody greets him with a flute of champagne. There are small pieces of golden leaves floating around in it, Peter sips it slowly. Letting the bobbles pop on his tongue, and the sweat taste lingers.

On the chair beside him sits Justin Hammer. Studying him with surprise. “If it isn’t Mr. Parker.” He greets them, they shake hands. Peter is sure he must be sweaty and shaky and weak, but Hammer doesn’t seem to mind it. Doesn’t comment, as they let go.

His drink from earlier was replaced with a matching glass of champagne.

“I’m so sorry to ask this” Hammer starts and doesn’t sound sorry at all, he sounds smug. “You know who’s inside that suit, don’t you?”

The lights above them flicker.

Peter feels his chest, his arc reactor, heat up close to his heart.

Would it be so bad if Hammer knew? Would it be so bad if the world knew? SHIELD seemed to think so, never allowing anyone but his closest friends to know about it. Most of SHIELD didn’t even know who Iron Man was under that helmet. Only Coulson and Fury. Maybe the redhead Peter had met a few months ago? What was her name again? Natasha?

“Wish I did” Peter answers instead, “Tony is pretty tightlipped about it.”

Hammer frowns, “But you’re his heir.” The man insists. As if that made any difference at all.

“Yeah,” Peter agrees, “Who was pretty tightlipped about that too until he stood at the expo.” There he is, confirming to a stranger, that he didn’t know about it.

But Hammer wasn’t just a stranger, he was a military contracted. And if things went according to his plan – Peter’s big, secret plan, but he barely dared to think about – then Hammer would be working on a suit one day. Sooner, rather than later.

Very soon.

Another flicker. A spark. Hammer looks up, lifting an eyebrow. “You’d think Stark would find a place that was… a little higher quality.”

Again, the lights flicker. Peter feels a spark deep in his chest. Pain surged through him.  

Peter isn’t superhuman. Just a guy with a suit, and an arc reactor running an electromagnet, that keeps tiny pieces of shrapnel from entering his heart. Too deep to be removed. But in that moment, it’s almost as if the world slows to a halt. The light turns off again, but it doesn’t come back on, and before Peter knows it he’s throwing himself over Justin Hammer.

They both come crashing to the ground, just as the lights turn on again. And forming out of thin air is a green, glowing, human. Living electricity. Living Lazer…

***

“Sir. I believe there’s a situation that requires your attention.” Jarvis's voice rings out through the living room, just as Happy comes sprinting around a corner.

“Boss, it’s the event. There’s been an attack. Peter's emergency tracker just went offline.”

Tony lowers his cup of coffee from his lips. On the other side of the couch, Rhodey sits up straighter, a deep frown on his face.

Jarvis doesn’t say anything else, before pulling up the suit data. A blue holo floating between them. Peter’s vitals are spiked higher than Tony has ever seen them before. The reactor sends out errors periodically for almost four minutes, but it stops tracking completely. Tony watches as the suit statue goes from UNACTIVE to ACTIVE.

“What’s the status on-“ Tony pauses, “What’s the status on Iron Man?”

“I’m afraid I’m unable to gain contact with the pilot. There appears to be a malfunction with the communications process.”

Tony meets Rhodey's eyes, then Happy’s. “What about, uhm, what about Peter? Any contact from him?” Was it possible that Peter was using the prototype that could move and act on its own, with minimal input from Peter? They’d made it for stuff like this. Moments with too many people around for Peter to slip away, disappear, and become Iron Man.

“I’m afraid Peter isn’t available at the moment, sir. However, Ned Leeds sent through a photo two minutes ago, before his phone went offline.”

The photo appears too. Tony watches it for a long moment. Was that- he shakes his head. The picture is bright, too bright to make out much of anything. But there, in the middle of that light, Tony is sure he can see a person. A human.

“What is that?” Rhodey appears to have seen the same thing, moving closer to Tony.

“I wish I knew.”

“It appears to be a sort of, living being, sir. The Iron Man suit is picking up vitals of that of a human but is unable to find a physical form.”

***

It’s Peter's luck that people start running off the second the man appears because it gives him time to let the suit form around his body. Over his hoodie, and down his legs, without anyone seeing. The backpack transforms. It’s kind of epic.

But maybe it’s more Parker luck than actual luck.

The living electricity moves quickly and disappears into the lights with ease. Then he came out right behind him. He can’t touch it since it isn’t solid. His power blasts only seem to make the energy glow a little brighter.

When the man disappears, Peter whips around. Prepared for him to appear behind him. Instead, he appears inside of him.

Or, inside of the suit.

The HUD’s soft blue flickers off and is soon replaced by a sharp green. Peter is forced to squint his eyes shut. The speakers of the suit crackle to life. “Say hello to your new roommate.” It sure as hell isn’t Jarvis. The voice is deep and angry. Peter lets his eyes slide open, and before him, much sharper now than he’d been outside of the suit, is the human face. Distorted and glowing, but A human.

“Jarvis, get this guy out of here.” Jarvis doesn’t respond.

Peter can do nothing but watch the HUD as the living energy searches through the database, connected to the suit, only because of its connection to Jarvis. Peter wonders if Happy and Tony have heard about the attack yet if they’re trying to contact him. Wonders how far the living energy can move. If it is pretending to be Jarvis right now. If it’s pretending to be him.

“Peter Parker… oh is my boss going to be excited by this. Iron man’s identity.” The living being laughs. It echoes through the metal. “What a shame they’ve asked me to kill you. Your intellect would be very useful for their company.”

Kill him?

Peter wants to ask about it, but another spark fills his chest. The suit takes off, and flies through the air, crashing into building after building. But Peter barely notices. Dark spots are dancing in his vision when Jarvis finally regains emergency access.

The HUD fills with red lights and blaring alarms. The living energy’s voice drowns it out.

EMERGENCY MALFUNCTION OF ARC RACTOR. Peter swallows hard as he reads those words. PLEASE SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION. DANGER. RACTOR SHUTTING DOWN. DANGER.

Peter tries to focus, really tries to focus, as he runs through code on his own. Pushing the living laser out one line at a time. Parks… the name appears on the screen when the living being appears in his vision. A name. It sounds oddly familiar.

A second later the laser is out, but Jarvis doesn’t get back online. The suit’s warning grows louder.

Now he can see the damage too. Sees as the arc reactor goes into Emergency mode, using everything it has to keep the suit in the air. But it isn’t enough. “Computer…” Peter’s voice is breathless… distant… he can barely hear it himself. He hopes the emergency system can… “Pl- Please engage autopilot…”

The world goes dark.

“What are you working on?” Peter stands on his toes to peek at his father’s desk. It’s filled with papers and drawings of technology that Peter doesn’t understand. But it draws his attention all the same.

His father pulls him up into his lap a second later. Settles him there on his father’s knees so he can get a better look. There’s a west glowing circle in one drawing, in another there are gloves in a matching design. There’s a picture too, Peter notices. A man stands next to his dad, an arm around his shoulder. “It’s a little experiment we’re working on for work. Me and Arthur. You remember Arthur?”

Peter nods. He remembers Arthur. Now that Dad mentions him, Peter knows the man in the picture, he just must be younger in it than he is now. “Tell me about it” Peter begs.

“I guess it is going to be your project one day” His dad smiles at him, “It’s a toll that will allow someone to control energy and electricity, in a way you couldn’t possibly imagine. As if, coming one with technology. It will change the world.”

“My project?” Those are the words that cling to Peter’s mind. His project?

His dad nods, turns him, and looks at him seriously. “One day I won’t be here anymore. Then, Parker Industries will need you to take over. Finish what me and your mother started.”

“What if I can’t?”

His father laughs. It’s so bright. Peter can’t imagine it will ever stop. “Arthur will help you if you aren’t ready. Parks and Parker, forever one.”

Arthur Parkers and Richard Parker. Peter smiles are he remembers. He’s been to the lab before, Parker written in glowing letters above the door. It hadn’t been big… not like Stark Industries in Manhattan. But his dad always said that one day it would be.

(That day never comes.)

***

It’s almost ten minutes after the suit goes offline that Jarvis speaks again. His voice filled with more worry than any AI has the right to possess. But it forces Tony and Rhodey up, moving, running. “It appears Peter is experiencing a heart attack and requires your assistance in the lab.”

Chapter Text

“Peter” It’s dinner time. The three of them sit around the table. Mary and Richard side by side. They’re smiling. “We wanted to talk to you about something” His mother starts slowly.

Peter pushes a fork full of Mac and Cheese into his mouth. Chews slowly and swallows, a smile on his lips as he looks between them. Things are great in the little Parker household. Better than great. Peter isn’t sure things have ever been better.

His dad goes on, “You remember what I told you in the lab a few months ago?”

“I do” Peter nods happily. He could remember every word as if they’d only just been said. That Peter would finish what his father had started, that Peter, a kid, would help change the world. That what was Richard’s now, would one day belong to him. Be his.

“Well…” His mother reaches for his hand, “We’ve talked a lot about it lately. And we wanted to make it official. Make the title official. For legal reasons, it’s important.”

Peter tilts his head confused. Fork hovering over his bowl. Melted cheese covering his pasta.

“The way things are right now if something were to happen to your mother and me, you would have little to no right about what happened to the company. It could be sold off to anyone, and you’d never have access again.” His father explains the best he can. Peter tries to understand what those big words mean. “It would be like… like…” His father shrugs. Unable to find the words.

“Like if Ned wasn’t your friend anymore” His mother jumps in, her voice so soft. “You’d never get to go to his house again and eat dinner and watch Star Wars with him.”

Peter can understand that, at least. It makes sense to him. “Title?” He asks, then.

“Yes,” His father smiles. “Just like Ned is your friend, you can become Parker Industries Heir.”

“Heir?” Peter tries the word in his mouth. Heir of Parker Industries… it sounded good. Nice even. As if he was somehow important. Peter wasn’t sure he’d ever been important like that before.

Mary nods, “Heir means that you’re next in line. You know, like royalty. You get your father's title of CEO, which means leader. You’ll get access to his lab, and his technology. Anything you could think of. It’d be yours.”

“Of course, we don’t hope anything happens to him.” His father is quick to step in, “But we do believe you old enough by now, to understand how important this is.”

Peter takes a deep breath. Here to Parker Industries. He nods then, pushing another forkful of pasta and melted cheese into his mouth. “Okay!”

***

“I thought Jarvis said Peter was at the scene of the attack” Rhodey sounds out of breath as they finally reach the elevator, falling into it and waiting for it to go down. Jarvis is already taking control, running everything in double time.

Tony isn’t sure he’s breathing as the elevator starts to decent. “He was.” They’d seen it. The picture from Ned. The picture from the press of two friends entering the restaurant. Tony had seen the spiked vitals that suddenly cut off as connection to the Iron Man suit was lost. Of course, Rhodey didn’t know that Peter was Iron Man. Not yet…

“Then how is he here?” The doors open too slowly. Way too slowly and Tony pushes himself out before they’re fully open. Doesn’t wait to see if Rhodey follows him or not.

To the world, Iron Man was Peter’s bodyguard. Tony’s apology for what happened during the weapons demonstration. In some ways, that wasn’t a lie. The suit was like a bodyguard. A shield that could protect Peter, no matter what happened. No more metal shrapnel would ever enter Peter’s chest. No more bullet wounds or scraps.

Tony feels himself moving faster and faster. “Iron man was there…” He reminds.

Rhodey catches up beside him but doesn’t go full speed. Waits for Tony despite knowing that he’d be able to reach the lab faster on his own. “You think Iron Man brought him here?”

“Peter is his priority” Tony nods after a short moment. Only he wasn’t the man inside the suit, he was Jarvis. Peter was always, always, Jarvis's priority.

They reach the lab in record time. Tony’s lab. It’s quiet inside. There’s nobody to be seen through the glass wall. Tony reaches for the handle and pushes it down. It doesn’t give in, even a millimeter. Locked. “Jarvis, what the hell? Get this door open right now.”

Tony remembers how Peter had locked himself in the lab, using an override code just days ago. How Jarvis had requested to allow Tony access. He wonders then if those codes had ever been removed. If this was the result of that night…

Of Tony’s mistake.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, sir. There appears to be an error in my software. I cannot override protocol b13.”

B13? Tony sucks in a deep breath. B13 was a protection protocol created to keep Peter’s identity safe. Rhodey wasn’t cleared yet, and now Peter was hurting, and Tony couldn’t reach him…

Beside him, something shatters. One of the large windows crashes to the ground, and a second later a fire extinguisher hits the ground too. Dropped by the same hands that destroyed the glass. Rhodey takes a step inside, and Tony follows. Doesn’t care that a shard of glass cuts his skin.

***

“No.” Peter’s young, childish voice breaks and Ben’s arms fold around his shoulders. “No… No… they said… they’d promised…”

Peter isn’t sure what they’d promised. But he knew what they’d said to him that night at the dinner table. That Peter would be Heir to Parker Industries when they one day weren’t there to do the work anymore, that nothing would happen to them anytime soon. Remembered what his father had promised in the lab, that Author Parks would help him until he was ready to run the company on his own.

Instead, everything falls apart.

There’s an emergency in one of the test areas the lab owns. His parents and Arthur Parks have to go and check it out, give a helping hand, and maybe make a statement about something they call the press. Peter says with Ben and May. Ben’s arms around him feel almost like dad’s had… sitting on the cold pavement of the parking lot, owned by the apartment company.

They’d promised they’d be back in just a few days. That everything would be just fine. But then, they’d never made it to the test area at all. Their plane had crashed suddenly, without warning. The black box showed a sudden spike in electricity before it all went down.

Mary and Richard Parker were dead. Arthur Parks was dead. And Peter had never been signed up as Heir to Parker Industries, so now he’d never get to see it again…

He’d lost it like you could lose a friend.

“I know. I know” Ben’s voice is calm. Calmer than it has any right to be. “We’ll figure it all out. I promise. We’ll figure it out. In the morning. We’ll talk to people who know about this stuff.”

But Peter knows it’s an empty promise as Ben pulls him up into his arms and carries him into the guest room. The guest room wasn’t a guest room anymore. Peter’s room. Because he no longer had a home with his parents, in a small house in Queens. He had an aunt and an uncle in a tiny apartment.

Nobody, no matter how talented and smart, could bring all of that back…

Because despite science growing and evolving all the time, time travel… saving people… that wasn’t ever going to happen. Death was death, and nobody could fix that. Not after days in ice-cold water, floating next to a broken plane. Drowned because of a technical error…

Ben helps him settle on the blankets, stuffs them tightly around him, and lingers at the edge of the bed. “Do you want me to stay?” he asks.

“No.” Peter shakes his head. Because Peter is a big boy. Big boys don’t need help. Big boys aren’t scared of the dark. Big boys aren’t scared of being alone.

Ben’s lips press into a thin line, “Are you sure? I can get May if you want. We can do a sleepover.  Movies and popcorn, right here. How does that sound?” His uncle tries to smile. Despite his young age, Peter can see how fake it is. How forced it is. How Ben is pale and shaky. How Ben is so far out of his depth this time.

No more would he be the fun uncle who babysat Peter when his parents were busy with a new project. No more would he just be a person who took Peter to the movies cooked dinner for the three of them and got ice cream after bedtime at a little local store. No more would Ben be dropping Peter off back home after a weekend of fun and adventure… because now Ben had to be his home. And Ben had to be almost like a father to him.

The role had changed so suddenly for both of them.

***

It takes a moment longer than Tony would have liked to finally spot Peter.

The lab is dark and messy. The smell of oil lingers in the air from Tony’s project, reworking an old car motor. There is technology everywhere, a mess of tolls and used chips and wires. Tony’s area is the worst. Peter’s is more orderly.

Tony almost bumps into Rhodey, as the other man stands frozen before him. Tony follows his line of sight. At the end of the lab, near the opening he and Peter had built for Iron Man, stands the suit. It’s shut down, Tony can tell, because the usually bright blue light is turned off, and the suit stands open. Revealing the thick layer of padding that they’d installed for comfort.

Before the suit, as if fallen from its metal grasp, lays Peter. His skin was pale and sweaty. “Peter is-“  Rhodey looks at Tony for a long moment, but Tony doesn’t have the time for it.

He rushes forward, sliding to his knees by Peter’s side. He pushes him into his back, pulling the t-shirt apart with strength he didn’t realize he had. Revealing the glowing blue circle in Peter’s chest. Only it isn’t glowing. It’s black and charred. A metallic smell lingers in the air.

“Javis, status” Tony barks out. He doesn’t know what he’s looking it…

“It appears the arc reactor keeping Peter alive has shut down after a large surge of energy, sir,” Jarvis informs him, and once more Tony sees the picture before him. The one Ned had sent him. Whatever that had been, whoever that had been, had done this. Had forced the reactor to overheat and die.

Tony twists the blacked reactor in its metal hold. It’s hard. Almost impossible. It clicks one little click at a time, before Tony can finally, finally, remove it.

He discards it. Doesn’t care that the core shatters against the lab floor.

“Rhodey” Tony looks to his friend for stands frozen for another long second he is nodding. His eyes turn clearer. Focused. Instead of distant and unseeing. “Peter’s desk, there’s a locked box. The passcode is 1610-14.”

Tony doesn’t wait for Rhodey to respond before letting two fingers come to rest against Peter’s neck. Searches through the thin, pale, fragile skin for a pulse that isn’t there. With that, Tony starts chest compressions. Puts his full weight into Peter’s chest, awkward because of the metal cylinder the arc reactor usually rests in. But Tony can feel the rips breaking. Can feel the tiny pieces of shrapnel, under his weight. Knows that he’s pushing them in further.

“16. 10. 14,” Rhodey repeats before scrambling for Peter’s desk. There’s no care for Peter’s system of tolls and tech as Rhodey reaches it for the locked box. A moment later he finds it, Tony can hear each beep as the code is typed. Beep, beep. 16. Bep, beeeeeep. 10. Beep, beep. 14. It opens with a loud click. A pop that makes Rhodey take a step back.

A spring opens the lid, and Tony can see the glowing blue light a second later.

With Careful hands, Rhodey grasps the reactor and makes it towards Tony and Peter. “Got it,” he says he too kneels on the lab floor. “What do I need to do.”

Tony pulls back. “Can you see the wire at the end of it?”

“Yes.”

“I need you to connect it to a small connection rather deep in his chest.” Tony tries to keep his voice steady as his friend stares at him. “I’d do it, but I’m shaking too much.” He holds his hand out for his friend to see. It trembles with fear.

Tony is supposed to die first. Peter, many, many years later. That’s why Tony is the CEO, and Peter is the Heir. Now that’s on the line.

Rhodey doesn’t question it again, instead grasps the wire in his hand and connects it to Peter’s chest. It takes a moment before the reactor registers the connection. When it does the static light becomes alive and pulses with a heartbeat. Tony lets his fingers come to rest against Peter’s neck again. This time he feels the heartbeat under his finger. He knows Peter isn’t out of the woods yet, and knows it’s just a simulation created by the reactor core. But it’s a start.

“Are we gonna talk about…” Rhodey waves at the suit. At Peter. At the charred, broken reactor that lays discarded on the lab floor. “All this?”

Tony nods. “Not here, though. We have to get him to the medical bay.”

***

“Most of the buildings have already been cleared out.” An older man informs them as they enter what used to be their father’s lab. “My company bought up everything, but we’ve got a central hub just outside of New York, so it makes better sense to move them out to our place. The scientist, I mean.”

Hank Pym looks down at Peter with a smile. Allowing Peter to enter what’s left of his parent’s tiny company. To Peter, it might as well as been the whole world.

The tech his father has been working on, the west and glows with the glowing lights are long gone. The tolls are long gone. His books and his pictures have been taken down, removed, or maybe destroyed. All that’s left at empty tables and old chairs lingering around the lab area. “If I’d known earlier, you’d be interested in the stuff, I would have invited you to come see it.” Hank talks to Peter almost as if he’s an adult, and not six years old.

“Mr. Pym. What happened to my dad’s projects?”

Hank moves further into the room and Peter follows silently. “We haven’t decided what we want to keep working on yet, it’s all moved to a storage unit.” Hank meets his eyes and grains, “Maybe when we’ve got it all set up, you can come and visit. See it all again. I’m sure the others would love your input.”

Peter swallows hard. Feels his tiny hands shaking. “Really?”

“Yes of course” Hank kneels before him, and for the first time, he reaches Peter’s level. “Peter, when I heard about what happened to your parents, I was very sad. They were doing incredible things. Changing the world of science. Changing… everything. I used to work with them years ago before they started their own company. You have to understand, that my deciding to buy up their company, is my way of making sure they live on. Your part of that. If you want it.”

Peter feels Ben and May’s eyes rest on him from a distance. Hears their echoes of hushed voices.

They’d taken him in when he had nowhere else to go. They’d taken him in because they were asked to, but they’d never wanted a kid of their own. They’d told him that once before his parents died. That all they needed was him.

He wonders what they’d think if they suddenly had to drive him to a lab outside of two. If they’d have the time at all. Ben is an officer and May is a nurse.

He wonders if Hank is being honest. Wonders what Hank means by everything.

***

“How is he?”

Rhodey slips down into one of the waiting room chairs later, right next to Tony. He brings coffee as a peace offering. A conversation starter. Tony folds his fingers around the Styrofoam cup and feels the warmth in his pals, seeping up into his wrist.

Tony takes a long sip of the bitter drink and watches Rhodey do the same. It almost feels like being fifteen again, waiting to be discharged after a rough night with one too many drinks. Weird cuts and concussions making them keep him for observation. Rhodey playing nurse.

“Stable” Tony responds after a long time, “Helen says he’ll be fine. That he was pretty lucky, all things considered. She doesn’t think there’ll be…” Tony trails off.

The truth is that Tony can see and feel the shrapnel under his hands. He can still feel the cracking of rips under his weight. Peter, the kid he’d sworn to protect, had been dying. Dying for over twenty minutes, Tony could do absolutely nothing about it. He hadn’t been there when the attack came around. He hadn’t been there to the event, because he thought it was better to give Peter space.

He never imagined that Iron Man would get hurt like Peter had that day.

Then again, Tony hadn’t ever imagined anyone appearing as living electricity. Jumping into the suit, and the electrical grid. Jarvis had recovered the footage that he could, the data available in the suit. Peter could do nothing against that… creature.

“Tony, we’re going to have to talk about this.”

Tony looks up and meets Rhodey’s dark eyes. He’s wearing a look he hasn’t seen since they first met each other. Or maybe Tony has just gotten it because he spends so much time drunk and being a massive asshole.

“So… Peter is Iron Man?” Rhodey starts. Tony gives a nod. His mouth feels dry, he doubts the coffee will fix it. Doubts black liquid can burn away the sandpaper that lays over his tung. “Where are you going to tell me about that, or where are you hoping to keep it secret?”

Tony shrugs. He hadn’t talked to the kid about it at all. Tony likes to believe that Rhodey would be a part of their team, their little group working on suits. That Peter could trust Rhodey the way that Tony did. Rhodey had been the one to find Peter after the attack, it wasn’t like he was a stranger. But he’d been scared that Peter would get angry or scared.

Maybe Tony had been scared too. Of what Rhodey would think.

It didn’t have to be a secret that Tony got a lot of shit from Rhodey when nobody knew if Peter was dead or alive. Rhodey must like most of the military, was convinced Tony was to blame for the kid’s death. Not directly, but because he’d asked him to drive with a different group.

If Peter had been with Rhodey, none of it would have happened. They weren’t wrong. Tony had a sneaking suspension that Peter hadn’t been their target. That they’d been expecting him.

Instead, they’d gotten Peter…

“Probably” Tony relents after a moment. “Tell you.” He clarifies.

Rhodey nods, a deep sigh escaping him. “Tones, I won’t pretend to understand any of this. Cause I don’t. But I’ve been spending the past six months trying to defend you in a military report. That would have been a lot easier if I knew of Peter’s involvement.”

“It wasn’t my secret to tell” Tony argues back weakly.

“I don’t mean Iron Man,” Rhodey nudges him softly. Tony looks up from his cup. “I mean, about him having grown this close to you. About him working on the suit.”

Tony frowns, “You knew about that. He told you about that himself.”

“I knew about the arc reactor” Rhodey corrects, “Doesn’t matter now. What matters is that he’ll be okay. And that we catch whoever did this in the first place.” Tony nods in agreement. Finding out who the glowing electrified man was, was step number one. If they couldn’t do that, it was only a question of time before another attack would come around and Peter still wouldn’t have a way to defend himself. Tony would be watching, next time. Covering Peter’s back. Unable to do anything to help truly. To protect him…

And that, ladies and gentlemen, just didn’t sit right with Tony at all. “He’ll need backup out there. More than just Jarvis, after today.”

“That’s all he has?” Rhodey asks in disbelief. Tony nods. Feels bad about it. The truth hurts. There wasn’t anyone able to go toe to toe with Iron Man. That’s what Tony had said at the expo. Nobody, but a glowing man. So who the hell would be Peter’s backup?

***

Hank Pym leaves his own company behind soon after… Peter never gets to see it.

 ***

“This is where it all went down just yesterday afternoon.” A young female journalist is standing in front of a camera, her face is colored with concern. In the background, Peter can see the restaurant that he and Ned had been in. The glass windows are splintered and covering the sidewalk. Police tap is put up around the area and over the door keeping people out. Peter can see long charred lines covering the once-white walls like Lichtenberg figures. “People attending the event have confirmed that Iron Man appeared on the scene soon after the attack started, and while the attack ended, it also appears that Iron Man-“

“Mute” Tony’s voice rings out and a second later the TV goes quiet. The subtitles below disappear.

Peter sighs and leans back into the bed, feeling his heartbeat steady and strong deep in his chest. Despite the newfound pain that had woken him up a couple of hours earlier.

Tony takes a chair next to the bed. His hair is messy and there are dark bags under his eyes. A desperateness lingers somewhere deep in his eyes, pleading words hanging between them, that Peter doesn’t truly understand. Words of giving up. Of giving the suit away. Of dropping the Iron Man act the superhero act.

What if it had been me?

“Peter…” Tony's voice is oddly quiet as he speaks. It almost makes Peter forget the anger he feels towards the man after the Heir student. It almost makes him forget about how he’d talked to Ned and to May but hadn’t cared to ask Peter what he thought. It makes his stomach turn into tight knots on itself, and Peter feels almost guilty about their last talk.

About forcing him out of their shared lab. The home they’d built together. “I know you’re hurting, but I need to know anything you remember from yesterday. We need to know who he is.”

Peter tries to picture the living energy standing before him. Chaotically pulsing with each heartbeat.  Two whole where eyes should be. His mouth was a glowing space of energy, crackling and burning and hurting.

Pictures of the face he’d seen in the HUD. Tried to hear the voice inside his head all over again.

Hadn’t there been something familiar about him? Peter was almost sure there had been. That he’d know the man in a time long passed. But he couldn’t place the name that lingered at the back of his tongue. “I think I knew him.”

“What?”

Peter nods. Stiffly. His heart skips a beat. The reactor sparks softly.

“You think you knew him?” Tony asks, again. Reaching out to offer a grounding hand against Peter’s thigh. Like so many times before, during flashbacks and nightmares.

“Yeah…” And then, because Peter trusts Tony even if he’s angry with him. “Tony I… I think there’s a lot we need to talk about.” Tony nods, moving closer. Closing the space between them. It’s more comforting than it has any right to be. Almost like one of Ben’s embraces. “The heir thing…”

Tony stiffens but soon relaxes again. “Look I know I-“

“No, listen. Please.” Peter swallows hard. Tony goes quiet. His eyes suddenly filled with regret. “You’ve probably never heard, but there once was a company called Parker Industries. Small lab, right here in New York. It was my parents. They always wanted me to take over, when they weren’t here anymore, but they died so suddenly that… well, it didn’t happen. It’s all gone.”

For a long moment, his father figure sits there before him and takes in his words. “That’s why you don’t want to be my Heir…?”

“I guess… it feels like I’m disappointing them. Failing them, somehow.” Peter nods.

Tony doesn’t argue with Peter’s words the way he sometimes does. “What does that have to do with yesterday?”

Peter takes a deep breath and pictures the man before his eyes one last time.

“Author Parks,” Peter says in a steady voice, “Was the second owner of the company. My dad’s friend since college. He was on the plane too, on the day that they died. He… they… they were working on a piece of technology that would allow them to connect to technology, with energy, in a way never seen before.”

Before him Tony straightens, and a frown grows on his face.

“The black box showed a single, violent, sudden raise in electrical levels on the plane. It’s believed to have been a reading error, happening just when the plane got out of control.” Peter explains, “What I saw yesterday… Tony, I think that was Parks.”

“You think your dad’s technology turned him into…. Living electricity?”

Peter shakes his head, “A living Lazer.”

He’d felt it when Parks entered the suit, not just electricity. There had been something more to it. A heat he couldn’t quite explain, a feeling of solidness, or brightness, or hurt and pain. Not just from the reactor in his chest, that was later. It felt like a Lazer popping a balloon.

“There’s something else… he. Parks dug through the Iron Man servers. Tony. He-“ Peter can’t finish it. Can’t bring himself to say the words out loud.

He doesn’t have to.

“He knows about you?” Tony asks, Peter nods in confirmation. “Peter… You have to promise me you won’t touch this guy. You can’t go after him. You have no way of defending yourself from him.”

“What?” It’s Peter’s turn to be confused. “Are you benching me?”

Tony shakes his head, his grasp on Peter growing stronger. “I’m protecting you.”

“You can’t protect me. I’m Iron Man, Tony. Iron Man doesn’t need protection.” If anyone needed protection it was Tony. A normal human who could even open his jaw of pickles on a good day. Not that Peter could either, but Tony had said himself that the suit was an extension of him. That made Peter different.

Not that he wanted to be Iron Man. Not anymore. The nightmare keeps replaying before his eyes. Park threat lingers in his ears.

“I already failed you once, Pete. I can’t fail you again, not like my dad-“ Tony stops. His eyes grew wide.

***

Not like my dad failed me… Not like my dad cared more about a Hero, than a son…

Tony cared about Peter. He always had, always would. Because Tony had tried being forgotten by his father, for a better son. A creation that was more perfect than any piece of technology had ever been to Haward Stark.

He’d created Captain America. And Tony had been left behind, in favor of a guy who could lift some magical hammer. A worthy guy. Despite Tony being born years after the man had died in the ocean to protect the world from the Red Skull, Tony had been second on the list of creations. Hadn’t been offered a hug, or support. He was trying to do better for Peter.

And maybe… maybe his dad was exactly the way to go about that.

“Whatever you’re going to say…” Peter sounds distant, anger returning to his voice, “Don’t. I don’t want to hear it.”

Tony opens his mouth to protest, but Peter’s gaze is burning hot. He retrieves. “I’ll give you some space. See you in the lab, later?” Peter doesn’t answer and the hospital door slams behind Tony.

***

“Everything is achievable through technology. Better living, robust health, and for the first time in human history, the possibility of world peace. So, from all of us here at Stark Industries, I would like to introduce you to the City of the Future personally. Technology holds infinite possibilities for mankind, and will one day rid society of all its ills. Soon technology will affect the way you live your life every day. No more tedious work, leaving more time for leisure activities and enjoying the sweet life. The Stark Expo. Welcome.”

All these years later, it somehow manages to surprise Tony how right his father had been. He’s digging through an old box, the same box he’d found the tape in for the expo. Pictures from before Tony is born or his father and mother smiling at a camera. Pictures of what Tony now knows as SHIELD, only a lifetime earlier.

But what he’s looking for, is Steve Rogers. It’s limited to what Tony still has. His father’s research was hidden away, forgotten, maybe destroyed as Peter’s parents' work had been.

There are photos of a small blond boy at a military camp. Sometimes with a woman known as Peggy, other names with a man known as James Barnes. There are even photos of Haward and Rogers together. Getting a drink under the stars.

When Tony was a child, he’d heard stories of his father’s work.

Both the parts that had worked, were a shield made of the strongest material on earth. The same material now running Peter’s arc reactor. Of a single flying care. But also, despite Tony sometimes forgetting about it, stories of things that had been wasted. Untested. Dangerous. A drug never used, the original story behind the soldier that people knew as Captain America. The plan before a hammer had fallen from the sky, and Rogers had been deemed worthy.

Tony remembers a time when he’d do anything to catch his father’s attention, there are pictures of one of those times. The colors have faded, having hung in his father’s lab for years before his death – Tony hadn’t known that at the time – a young Tony smiles back at him. Cladded in red, white, and blue.

If Tony had been a super soldier, if Tony had been worthy, he could have protected Peter.

He turns the picture around to see the date. He’d been young then. Seven, if handwriting from his mother were to be believed. But that’s not the only thing written.

Tony knows the second handwriting just as well. He’d spend hours reading over it after his father had passed because most of his father’s research had been written in notebooks. He’d learned to decipher each crocket letter.

My greatest creation is you.

Chapter Text

Tony pulls his sports car up to the security checkpoint. A guard clad in black technical gear and a big gun appears. “I need to see some ID sir.” The man speaks, voice monotone.

“I’m supposed to meet with Agent Phil Coulson,” Tony responds, a little annoyed as he pulls out his license. The guard scans it, before nodding to a college. The big gate slowly opens, and Tony drives forward, onto the private SHIELD area.

If Tony wanted to know more about his father’s research, this was the place to be. He hadn’t known it as a kid, but this had been Howard's first big thing. He’d helped form what was now known as SHIELD. Had done research that only SHIELD had access to, stuff hidden from the world outside. And by extension, Tony too.

It had been a while since Tony had visited Washington DC. The place hadn’t changed much. And Coulson said this was where Howard’s research would be stored. The Triskelion, on Theodore Roosevelt Island. The SHIELD Headquarters.

The tower that Tony was driving up to was massive. Separated from the rest of the world by a single bridge, was the only building that ever beat Stark Tower on scale. If Tony had to guess, he’d need to combine the Tower and his Malibu mansion to get anywhere close to what the Triskelion was. White walls, massive. Windows at the top floors. Glass elevators, that Tony could see even from his car as he got closer and closer.

The road leads into a big, underground parking lot. Tony gets out of the car, locking it. Coulson is already waiting at the elevator doors. “You better have a good reason to call.” Agent Coulson comments. “We’re in the middle of digging out one of the best fossils we’ve ever seen.”

“Fossil?” Tony asks with a raised eyebrow, confused as he shakes Coulson’s hands. “I thought SHIELD worked security for humanity, not… archaeology.”

Coulson shrugs, guiding Tony into the elevator. “We do what the world needs us to do.”

The agent scans his ID card before pressing a button and the elevator starts moving upwards. Tony studies the elevator. It didn’t just have a lot of floors above ground, it also had a lot of floors below ground. Tony couldn’t help but try and imagine what those floors might contain.

“No one has ever done an inventory on your Howard’s research,” Coulson explains as the elevator raises upwards. Soon they’re above ground, looking out from the elevator. Out over the water and the island. The view was nothing, compared to what was at Tony’s lab back home.

Tony nods slowly as Coulson speaks. “I imagined as much.”

“Everything we have is what we call the vault.” Coulson goes on. “Together with research and discarded tech from a handful of different people. Dr. Pym, for example.”

Pym Technologies. Tony remembered that company name. Though he hadn’t heard about it in ages. Henry Pym must have been a member of SHIELD too, just like Tony’s father. If he closes his eyes, he can see them both before him. Loud voices carry through their own, arguing about science and technology and their ethical uses.

Tony had always wondered what kind of technology the two worked on together.

Coulson nudges Tony softly. The elevator has come to a stop, and the doors are now open. “Sorry, I must have gotten stuck on thought.” Tony hurries out after Coulson as they start making their way through the headquarters. The specific floor they’re on is filled with labs and testing areas. Scientists in their white lab coats, work at each station.

He tries to catch a good glimpse of what they’re actively working on. Maybe new peacekeeping weapons, or green energy, or maybe SHIELD was trying to replicate the Iron Man suit too.

“If you don’t mind me asking.” Agent Coulson smiles at Tony with an expression that can’t quite be read. Too bright to be genuine. “What exactly are you hoping to find in your father’s research?”

Tony shrugs. “I don’t know. I mean, I’ve heard stories about the things that he did. A lot of technology has never reached the public eye. A flying car.” Tony chuckles. Because he’s seen the car. He knows that Coulson uses it. Maintains it.

“Coulson, you saw what happened the other day. You’re SHIELD. I know saw. Peter can’t keep doing this on his own anymore. He just doesn’t realize it himself yet.” Tony stresses.

Coulson nods in understanding. “Believe me, SHIELD is keeping a close eye on him.”

The agent says it as if Tony didn’t already know about it. As if Coulson and Agent Natasha Romanoff hadn’t shown up at his door, days earlier, because Peter missed a therapist appointment.

It didn’t always seem like that was the truth though. Tony had been alone fighting the US government, to keep the Iron Man name and the suit and its pilot, safe.

“How is Peter anyway?” Coulson asks as they move to a stop outside a soldier's metal door. “I heard you all had quite the scare.”

Tony forces his breathing to remain calm, as Coulson reminds Tony of how close they’d gotten to something irreversible. Tony had done CPR on the kid, for god's sake. Had seen the state of the reactor. That’s what scared him so much. Whatever… whoever… that… that living energy had been, Peter didn’t stand a chance against that. How do you defeat something, you can’t touch?

Something that can take control of the technology around you? Destroy the Iron Man suit, from the inside?

“He was released from the med bay last night. He’s sore, but he’ll be okay long-term. He’s supposed to meet with Rhodey today.” Tony shrugs. He hadn’t heard about the meeting from Peter, he’d heard about it from Rhodey. He didn’t like it. Not after Rhodey finds out about their secret. Was this Peter’s way of leaving Iron Man behind?

Coulson scans his badge once more. Types in a code on a pad. Scans his eye. The security is top-notch.

“Welcome to the Vault, Agent Phil Coulson.” A computer voice speaks. “Mr. Tony Stark is not cleared for entrance.”

“Override, code 437,” Coulson says, completely unfaced.

“Override successful. Welcome Agent Phil Coulson, and Mr. Tony Stark. Please stay clear of the vault doors as they open.”

A loud click rings out from the metal door before a green LED glows. The door slowly starts to open, the movement heavy and slow. It makes it look as if it was a billion tonnes. Coulson Pulls Tony a step backward as the door opens further, keeping him at a distance.

Inside the vault, is what Tony can only describe as a mase. Massive floor-to-ceiling shelves, filled to the brim with brown boxes. Some are marked with a black marker, others not.

“Remind me to get a vault like this,” Tony says under his breath and he and Coulson enter.

The door slowly falls shut behind them, before a second click echoes. Tony can see the locking mechanism as it shuts the door. Keeping them inside. And everyone else from coming in. “Don’t you have one for the suits?” Coulson asks with a half-smirk.

“Touché.”

Tony walks over to the first shelf of boxes. There aren’t some alphabetic systems like at a library. There isn’t an AI like at Tony’s lab. There’s no beginning and no end. There are just boxes, and boxes and boxes.

The first few boxes are filled with old file folders. SHIELD’s logo is printed in black, against a soft yellow, or cream. The next handful is old weapons, guns, and rifles that haven’t been used for over five decades. Then a box filled with Pym tech, and lawsuits.

“Does Peter know who is responsible for the attack?” Coulson’s voice echoes behind Tony.

He pulls out another box, finding a bunch of old journals. Scrims through them. “Author Parks. Peter’s dad knew the guy.”

“Hm.” Coulson huffs. “Not a name SHIELD has in their system.”

Tony stiffens as he skims through the text. He knows this handwriting. It’s the same handwriting that decorates the back of the photo he’d looked at last night. These boxes held some of his father's work. Research journals and sketches.

On one page there’s a drawing of a massive machine, that looks almost like a coffin.

He pulls the box off the shelf, then another and another. Until there’s nothing more of Howard’s work in the vault. There are close to twenty cardboard boxes. But there’s no guarantee that that the answer will be in any of them.  He can hope that it is.

Coulson and a team of agents help carry the boxes out of the security vault, and down into Tony’s car. The backseat and the back of the car are filled.

“You’re going back to the Malibu mansion?” Coulson asks as Tony slides into his front seat.

Tony shakes his head. “Kids in New York. So that’s where I’ll stay too. I need to be ready if he needs me.”

***

“Mr. Rhodes is in the elevator.” Jarvis's voice echoes through the lab, where Peter is working on the damaged Iron Man suit from his fight – a fight he lost – against the living laser. “He’ll enter the lab in approximately thirty seconds.”

“Thanks, Jar,” Peter responds, not looking up from his chest.

Peter’s chest where still sore from the burned-out reactor. There were deep bruises coloring his skin from the CPR he’d been told about. Still burns linger across his body. Bruises and pain.

Rhodey knocks softly on the Glassdoor of the lab, before entering. The New York lab wasn’t as big as the one in Malibu. But Peter didn’t want to be around Tony right now. Wasn’t sure if the older scientist understood, why Peter was so… anxious. Because Peter wasn’t angry.

“Hey, Rhodey.” Peter greets, finally discarding his tool onto the workbench and getting up.

Rhodey offers Peter a hand in greeting, smiling at him softly. Peter didn’t talk much with Rhodey if Tony wasn’t around. Not that the soldier wasn’t a good guy, because he was. But because Peter hadn’t known how to be around Rhodey after the whole Otto Octavius thing. The man hadn’t known that Peter was in the suit, and therefore, didn’t know that it was Peter’s fault Michelle was gone… “Hey, Pete. Got your text. It sounded urgent.”

Peter shrugs. “Not that urgent.” He confesses, sliding into a seat in one of the many chairs Tony kept around the lab. Feeling a little out of breath.

The soldier before him follows suit, taking a seat before Peter. Getting to the same level.

“Tony thinks I need more backup out there. That, I’m putting myself at risk. Maybe he’s right.” Peter rushes, rubbing his forehead with his hands. A tension headache sneaking up on him. Settling just behind his eyes.

A hand settles against Peter’s knee, squeezing it softly. “Iron Man is doing great work out there. Don’t go doubting yourself now. Tony said it himself, the longest period of peace, it’s not even a lie.”

Of course, it wasn’t a lie. He knew that. Better than anyone.

“ESU called,” Peter says slowly. “I can only be on medical leave so long. The semester ends soon… and if I don’t return after summer break, I’m out.”

The other day a journalist had asked Peter if he was returning to ESU. He’d claimed that he wasn’t sure, that nothing had been officially decided yet. But that wasn’t the truth. Because Peter had already made up his mind.

Rhodey nods. “You’re going back. That’s great Pete. I’m sure Tony is thrilled.”

“Look… it’s not like I ever wanted to become a hero. Hell, I didn’t wanna go to Tony’s weapon demonstration in the first place. May just convinced me that I had to do it.” Peter explains. Remembering that day, it wasn’t even a year ago, but it felt like a lifetime.

They’d celebrated that day…

… And then they’d grieved.

“I always wanted to change the world for the better. With science. That’s what I promised Ben I’d do. It’s what I owe to my parents.” Peter goes on. “I’m not a hero.”

“Okay.” Rhodey nods, smiling at Peter softly. Squeezing a little tighter. “Have you talked to Tony about this? How does it make you feel? Or, maybe more importantly, have you talked to your therapist about it? I’m not saying going back to school is bad, if it’s what you want to do, you should. But a lot has happened this last year. Nobody would blame you for needing a break.”

“I didn’t bring you here for you to talk me out of it,” Peter says getting back to his feet.

His hands a shaking. He can’t sit still anymore, his head pounding. The headache growing. Putting pressure behind the eyes as if they’d pop out any moment. His body filled with nervous energy, that seemed ever-present about the attack in Afghanistan. Since Otto.

Rhodey gets up too. Trails behind Peter through Tony’s Tower lab. “Then why am I here?”

Peter comes to a stop before a new project. It’s covered by a white sheet, stained with oil along the edges. “I never wanted to be a hero… but you already are one.”

“What do you mean?” Rhodey asks, stopping next to Peter. Studying the sheet.

Peter shrugs, waving at the sheet. Silently permitting Rhodey to remove it. So, the soldier does. Fingers grasp around the fabric and pull it off. The sheets hitting the floor with a thud echo through the small lab.

Underneath is an Iron Man suit. It’s much bigger than the ones Peter uses. The shoulders are wider. The metal is thicker. The silvery color, of stainless steel glitters under the harsh lab lights. “I call it, War Machine.”

Rhodey stares at it for a long while. The glowing eyes, and the arc reactor powering it. “Let me get this straight… Tony has just spent months protecting Iron Man. Keeping the suit out of the hands of the US government… and now you’re just handing it how to the military. Just like that?”

“No.” Peter shakes his head. “I’m handing it over to you.”

“To me?” Rhodey asks confused, raises an eyebrow, studying the massive suit before him. It truly looked like something that belonged to a military. Powerful beyond measure. “Why me?”

Peter lets hour a soft chuckle, that sends pain through his ribs. “What? You’re gonna tell me you haven’t secretly been dreaming about taking this bad boy on a spin? How many pages was that report again?”

Rhodey rolls his eyes, letting his fingers brush against the War Machine suit. His body language confirms what Peter already knows. “What’s the weaponry like?”

“So… I don’t know a lot about weapons. That’s, Tony’s Domaine. You’ll have to find a weapons specialist to install whatever weapons you see fit in the suit.” Peter shrugs, leaning against a nearby work desk. “Which shouldn’t be hard. The court case proved how many people are eager to work on this technology.”

Peter doesn’t mention that Otto had been eager about the technology too. Tries to forget about it. The real reason he isn’t the one installing weapons into the War Machine. Because Peter hated weapons, more now than he’d ever done before.

First Ben… then Michelle…

And for some odd reason, he couldn’t help but think Flash might be next.

“For some reason, I always thought you had something against the military.” Rhodey comments after a long moment.

“I don’t,” Peter assures. Hesitating. “Rhodey, if it weren’t for those guys giving up their lives, I would have been dead now… hell, one of my old classmates is in the military. Uncle Ben always wanted that too, before my parents died. Surprisingly, I didn’t go that path.”

Rhodey looks at Peter surprised. “I thought you said you weren’t a hero.”

“Yeah.” Peter nods. “Look, the powers, the abilities that we have… that doesn’t make us Heroes. The path we choose makes us heroes. And I’m taking a left turn. Getting as far away from it, as I can.”

***

“It was confirmed just earlier today, that after almost half a year of Stark Industries trying to protect the Iron Man name and technology behind the suit, that it has finally been handed over to the US military.” The journalist on the screen speaks, and Tony goes blanket.

Handed over? When? How?

On the screen footage of Peter’s latest project appears on the screen, as the larger suit comes to land outside one of the Air Force military bases that Tony knew Rhodey worked at. Had worked at. Stationed at. Before the suit opens, and Rhodey himself steps out. Waving at the cameras, smiling. Medals on his military uniform glistering under the warm sunlight.

“Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes himself will be the main piolet behind future versions of the Iron Man suit.” The journalist goes on. “And to help make the Iron Man suit, or War Machine as this version is named, be as strong as possible, the US military has hired Justin Hammer himself as not just an adviser, but the man to make it happen.”

Recordings from the attack at the restaurant just a few days earlier appear as the journalist goes on. “Rumors say that the prior Iron Man pilot got seriously injured. And is unable to return into the suit anytime soon.”

A picture of Justin Hammer appears. “Mr. Hammer originally started as a member of AIM back when he was 25. In connecting with his new project of working on the War Machine, Mr. Hammer will together with AIM help to create the next generation of soldiers. Promising that no more human lives will be put at risk for the greater good of humanity.”

Tony blinks at the screen before it jumps to the next new article. Jarvis mutes it a moment later.

Peter wasn’t stupid enough to hand over the suit’s technology, was he? After what had happened to Michelle earlier that year because Dr. Octopus had stolen the technology. And especially not to the military, where Peter knew it could end up in Hammer’s hands.

And yet, he had. Tony was looking at it, right there on his TV screen. Peter hadn’t even told him.

“That’s the last of it.” Pepper comments, dropping the last cardboard box on the Malibu lab table. “All the boxes have been retrieved from your car. What exactly are you looking for?”

“To invent,” Tony says hesitating. Thoughts still on War Machine; the name was good. “Uh, to reinvent.” Tony corrects. Then looks up at Pepper who’s standing with a brown paper bag in her hands. “Are those cheeseburgers?”

The paper back thuds onto the coffee table, next to the scientific journal that Tony had been reading. His father's handwriting was rushed and messy on the pages. But readable if Tony takes the proper time.

“Have you seen this?” Tony pulls the paper bag open, stuffing his mouth with a big burger bit. Perfectly prepared meat, with cheese and tomatoes, and crispy bacon and ketchup and pickles. “Handing the suit over to the government. Who does he think he is?”

Pepper shrugs. “The creator of the suit?”

Tony swallows. Takes a second bite. “Sure. But he wasn’t alone about it. I’ve spent all my-“ Tony stops himself. “Sorry… I’m just worried about him. The kid.”

“Well.” Pepper chuckles softly. “You have one less thing to worry about now.”

For a long moment, he thinks that over. Pepper wasn’t wrong. Peter not being in the suit, meant Living Lazer, or Author Parks, couldn’t get to him anymore. Not as easily. Because Peter wouldn’t be in the suit, saving the world, keeping the peace around.

But the Author knew who Peter was. So, Peter wasn’t ever truly safe.

That was why Tony was doing this. Digging through documents, videos, sketches, journals. Trying to find the missing pieces, the key that his father had left behind.

Teaching him, from beyond the grave.

“Hammer requested presentation time at the expo,” Pepper informs Tony after a long moment. The burger was forgotten between his fingers. “There wasn’t a reason not to accept. He’s part of the scientific community, and with him working the military. It’s good press.”

“And what exactly is he presenting?” Tony asks with a raised brow at Pepper. “Last I checked, Hammer couldn’t make anything useable.”

Pepper shrugs softly, heels clicking against the stone floors as she heads to leave the room. “I didn’t read the details. Something about military tech. Maybe the armor.”

“Hey, Pepper!” Tony calls after her. “Cancel my birthday party. I’ll be busy.”

And with that she’s out the door, leaving Tony to dwell in his thoughts. In his work.

Tony finishes the cheeseburger – the melted cheese nice in his mouth – because Pepper knows him so well. He’d eaten so many cheeseburgers during her years as Tony’s assistant. It was Peter’s favorite too. The two would scarf them down in the lab with ease.

Food gone; Tony moves on to the next cardboard box. A few old tapes that he’ll have to watch later. A name on a medical document, Steve Rogers, a less worn version of the photo Tony had himself. A copy most likely, from before it had faded under the sunlight in Howard’s lab.

And then… glistering blue, red, and silver…

***

“You bailed on me,” Ned says, standing at Peter’s apartment door. For the second time that week.

Peter looks at him for a long moment before stepping aside. Letting his friend invade him, yet again. Secretly, Peter loves it. He’d lived with his parents, then Ben and May, and then just May, and then Michelle. He’d never lived alone… until…

So sure, Ned showing up unannounced was a little annoying. But it was also great.

“I was attacked.” Peter points out, following his friend to the kitchen. When Ned pulls out seasoning pasta and milk, and an array of colorful vegetables. Carefully cupping them into cubs, that he mixes into a pot. “I was attacked, and almost died. What did you want me to do? Send a text?” Peter asks, pretending to be angry. And failing hard.

Ned gives him a look that softens after a few seconds. “I was talking about before you got attacked. You left the table when I brought up Tony. You talked to Hammer!”

Oh…

Peter had done that. He wasn’t sure what to think of Justin Hammer. But he’d seen a little of his tech, and the US government trusted him, so slowly the man was growing on him. Probably much to Tony’s dismay.

“Sorry…” Peter rubs his neck sheepishly. “I uh… was going through a lot.”

Ned stirs the pot for a long while. “I talked to Tony you know, after the attack. I didn’t know if you were okay, or…” Ned shakes his head, “But he said you were fine. So, that’s good. And you seem okay, too.”

“Is that why you’re here?” Peter asks, leaning against the kitchen table. He can’t resist, picking off a piece of carrot from Ned’s cooking. “Checking in on me?”

“Nop.” Ned pops the P. Sprinkling a dark red powder into the pot. A nice scent spreads through the apartment. “I’m here to cook you a homecooked meal. Sit down with you and talk about why you’re so angry with Tony.”

And just like that, Peter bursts out laughing. Ned is also so direct. Cutting right to the meat on the bone.

“I’m not angry.” Peter gets out once the laughter dies down. “I thought you’d talked to Tony.”

 “Oh, I did,” Ned confirms. “Showed up at the tower, saw you at the Med bay while you were still asleep. Then saw Tony digging through cardboard boxes earlier today-“

“Cardboard boxes?” That catches Peter’s attention.

“- And okay, you say it’s all because of Parker Industries that you were supposed to run but lost. And that’s it’s about Author Parks. But you and I both know that’s not the whole story-“

“Ned. Why was he digging through cardboard boxes?” Peter asks again, almost instantly.

“- huh? Oh, just, looking for one of his dad’s old inventions or something. Pepper brought Cheeseburgers.” Ned shrugs and Ned fills two bowls with the finished meal. A mix of vegetables and pasta and a creamy sauce. It smells good enough that Peter suddenly remembers that he hasn’t had a homecooked meal in a long time.

He doesn’t like cooking for one person, because he can never get through all the food in time. And Pepper’s food is good, but not as good as May’s. Or maybe that’s just childhood nostalgia.

Ned guides Peter to Peter’s kitchen table. It’s small, just enough for one, and two if you squeeze. Because Peter never eats food at this table, opting for chilling on the couch with a laptop or table. Or staying at Tony’s lab or massive kitchen.

“It’s good, isn’t it?” Ned asks after a while of the two eating in silence.

Peter nods slowly, swallowing a bite. “It is… I didn’t know you knew how to cook.”

Ned shrugs. “Lola taught me. Remind me to make her famous bread for you sometime. It’s to die for.”

“Lola?” Peter asks. “Your Nana that believes your family is magic right?”

His friend nods across the table. “Enough about me. What is going on between you and Tony?”

Ned wasn’t wrong. There were a lot of things going on between Peter and Tony. Or maybe, more just with Peter alone, that made him so scared of the title of Heir. After the attack, it had just been easier to brush Tony off with the Parker Industries story and Author Parks and leave it at that. It had seemed to satisfy the billionaire. But Ned wasn’t giving up.

“I’m not angry.” Peter started. Because he wasn’t angry, thank you very much, and he’d keep telling people that until everyone… including himself… believed it. Whenever that might be.

Ned snorts out. “Sure you aren’t.”

“I’m scared.” Peter goes on, ignoring Ned’s comments. “About, a lot of things…”

His friend pretends to check the clock on a watch around his wrists that isn’t there. Tabbing his skin, pretending that it’s glass. “I’ve got all night. You choose, chronological order, or order of importance?”

“I’m not sure there is an order of importance,” Peter says.

Ned stares at him across the table. Hands folded. The fork and knife were discarded on the half-eaten plate. Peter knows that Ned knows that those expected eyes will break him. They always do.

Michelle had taught Ned that.

“Fine.” Peter sighs. Slumping in the chair. “The most important thing is about Parker Industries.” Peter says truthfully. “It feels like I’m betraying their memory. Everything that they stood for. They wanted to create technology to help the world-“

“Which Tony does too.” Ned points out.

“- But Stark Industries… they do good things now, but they didn’t always. Not even six months ago, I got shrapnel from those weapons in my chest.” Peter reminds.

Talking about it, his chest aches. The sound of the arc reactor doing its work it’s constant. He’s learned to ignore it, but sometimes it’s nearly impossible to push it aside and focus on the important parts of life, or conversations, or the people around him.

… If he’d been more focused, maybe Otto wouldn’t have chosen the path he did. Michelle would have still been alive. Instead of a burned skeleton, so destroyed no DNA test could confirm if the remains were hers.

Ned reaches for Peter’s hand. “But there’s more to it. Right?”

Peter nods slowly. “Did I ever tell you that Otto wanted me to take over his lab when he couldn’t work anymore?”

“No.” Ned shakes his head surprised. “No, you didn’t. Is that what’s making you hesitant?”

“I got angry that Tony didn’t talk to me. Being an heir, that’s a big thing. And I do feel like it betrays my parents…” Peter bites his lip hard enough to draw blood. A metallic taste lingers on the tip of his tongue. “Otto did, good things… I trusted him, and he betrayed me… Tony’s good now, but he acted like an asshole when we first meet. And when I was saved what he cared about was his image.”

 Ned nods softly as Peter speaks, understanding dawning on him. “You’re scared Tony’s gonna turn his back on you too.”

Peter just nods, gluing his eyes onto the kitchen table. He doesn’t dare say it, but he can picture it before him. A stolen suit, broken glass in a lab somewhere, pain and blood. An arc reactor was deactivated. Or Jarvis taking control of the suit, to hurt Peter, to control him… He knows it’s unlikely. His therapist says it’s him being hyper-vigilant because of PTSD…

“Peter, Tony isn’t Otto,” Ned speaks softly. “He did some stupid stuff, but Tony has proven he’s changing. He fought for you for so long, so keep Iron Man safe. He hasn’t made a weapon since he closed it down. You know that, right?”

“I do,” Peter confirms. “But that doesn’t make the anxiety any less real.”

Ned gives him a long glare. “You see him as a father figure, don’t you? Like Ben? Like Otto? And you’re scared of getting too close again…”

***

He’d seen it in pictures of course. Heard stories about it stopping bullets like no other material on earth could. It had been the first time he heard of Vibranium. Tony had always imagined it would be heavy. Too heavy to carry for any normal person.

Steve Rogers had been a normal person. A person is chosen for something incredible. Only for a hammer to fall out of the sky, instead of a serum being injected into his body.

When Tony stands there now, shield in hand, his heart flutters. Pounding deep in his chest.

My greatest creation is you.

Those were the words his father had written on the back of that photo. A child with a dream smiling back, faded, and old. Trying to live up to a son that wasn’t a son. A soldier that wasn’t a soldier. A God.

Because that’s what Steve Rogers had become. Not just to fellow soldiers, but to all of humanity. To all of Walhalla.

Tony lets out a shaky breath. “I’ll protect him.” He promises under his breath, “With my life.”

Chapter Text

“I was a collector, you know.” Coulson comments, standing at the lab door and watching Tony work through video after video, book after book of disjointed notes. “Of Captain America cards,” Coulson goes on.

That takes Tony by surprise. Of course, there were a lot of people who were fans of Captain America. He had been special, in so many ways, so good-hearted. It shouldn’t be surprising that there’d been playing cards, or that Coulson – around Tony’s age – had been around to collect them. But Tony just hadn’t thought about it before. Because to Tony, Steve Rogers, the man who could lift Thor’s hammer, hadn’t been a hero. He’s been a dead man, whose shadow Tony lived in.

“Cap might have been the first hero, but Peter did it better.” Coulson offers when Tony doesn’t respond.

Tony gives a slow, stiff nod. “He did. He will, again…”

What was the point of all Tony’s current work, if Peter didn’t go back in the suit? The kid couldn’t seriously just hand it over and pretend like Iron Man wasn’t him.

His heart where too good for that, Tony had learned. For Peter to turn his back on people in need. The people who truly needed help and couldn’t get it anywhere else. The little guy.

It was why Peter had gotten so defensive when he thought Tony had been sealing weapons under the table.

Coulson hums in agreement, “I think you might be right about that.”

“Coulson, help me figure this out.” Tony suddenly says, placing the notebook of the coffin – the injector, Tony now knew – before Coulson. “He has all these notes, and all this tech for the hardware. But the serum? Where did it go? Where are the notes?”

The SHIELD agent studies the page for a long moment, fingers reaching out to brush against the Vibranium SHIELD. Steve had used it, too. But not because he was the success of his dad. He should have been but never was.

“There’s one tape you haven’t watched,” Coulson says slowly, pulling it out of one of the many cardboard boxes they’d transported to Tony’s place. On the tape is written Stark Expo Uncut.

Tony takes the tape and pops it into the tape player. Jarvis spinning to life and pulling up the holo, but doesn’t play it yet. “You think this is going to be any different than the original tape?” He asks.

“I didn’t know your dad, Tony,” Coulson says. “Not as well as other members of SHIELD did. You’ll have to talk to Fury to hear all the war stories, and thoughts and feelings.”

With that the agent head towards the glass door of the lab. Back out into the Malibu mansion. And over his shoulder, he calls out, “Come find me when you figure it out. We still have one of the old suits in storage.”

My greatest creation is you.

That’s what the photo said. That’s what his father had written. If Tony had asked Director Fury of SHIELD, maybe he could have found the answers he was looking for. But as things stood, Fury wasn’t there. The tape was.

With a sigh Tony leans back, throwing his feet up onto the table, and takes a large sip of coffee.

Here goes nothing.

“… And everything you need, in the future, can be found right here.” Howards speak on the Holo video. Standing in front of the original design of the Stark Expo. A place of science, that was supposed to have all the newest technology, even prototypes. “So, from all of us at Stark Industries, I would like to personally…”

Howard stops talking, and into the background of the record sneaks a young Tony. He doesn’t remember that day. Doesn’t remember his young fingers grasping one of the buildings or being told to put it down. To be ushered away. Because he’d experienced a million times prior, and a billion times after that moment. They all blurred together.

“Tony, what are you doing there? What is that? Put that back.” His father's voice was as stern as Tony remembered it. “Put it back where you got it from.” Howard insists, pointing.

And so, younger Tony does. Before his mother comes to pick him up. To cradle him in her arms. And suddenly Tony does remember. His mother soft-spoken words, that hadn’t been picked up by the camera. Be patient with him. And Tony, he sees the microscopic nod from Howard right here on the recording. So many years later.

There’s a cut. A flicker of pictures, close-ups at the expo table.

Then they’re in Howard's office, the man taking a long sip of a glass. The cameraman asks if Howards waiting on him.

Another cut.

There’s playing around. There’s the frustration of having to redo, take after take. Howard calling the shoot-off. And then suddenly it’s quiet, Howard just standing there, leaning against the expo model and looking straight into the camera. A sober expression on his face. “Tony?” His voice is questioning, almost as if the past Howard had expected an answer.

Tony doesn’t answer, but his focus grows. His normal fidgeting stops.

“You’re too young to understand this right now, so I thought I’d put it on film for you,” Howard says, his voice unusually soft. A tone he’d only ever used when talking about Steve Rogers, and his perfect heart, and a hammer falling from the sky, and- “I built this for you.” His father holds his arm out the same way he’d do when presenting a new piece of science, this time directed towards the Expo model that part of Tony hated so much.

“And someday, you’ll realize that it represents a whole lot more than just people’s inventions. It represents my life’s work. This is the key to the future. I’m not limited by the technology of my time… but there are so few people who are made of the right stuff to undergo the procedure. But when I look at you, Tony, I see the same that we saw in Steve Rogers.” Howard says. And Tony’s heart flutters oddly in his chest.

Had his father seen something in him all those years ago?

Wasn’t this the same man who’d called him a failure day in and day out? Who’d sent him off the boarding school? And then MIT at fifteen...

“You’ll figure this out, and when you do…” Howard smiles at the camera now. “You’ll change the world. What is, and always will be, my greatest creation… is you.”

The video ends, and for a while, Tony just sits there. Staring at the last frame, his whole memory of his father shifts a little to the left. Not perfect. Not without flaw. Howard's way of showing love hadn’t been that of a normal parent, but he’d done it. In his own, weird way.

My greatest creation…

“I built this for you,” Tony repeats slowly, looking at the expo through the screen. Wasn’t there something about it, that… Tony didn’t know. Something that almost made it look like an element.

He had to go get it. To analyze it. Because Coulson had been right. Maybe this was different.

***

Tony pulls his sports car up to the tower, and into the private parking garage for employees and CEO’s. It’s dark, the harsh, white lights doing little to reach the shadows. He was rarely here alone, either driving with Pepper and Happy or even Rhodey.

He gets up, locking the car behind him. Before heading straight for the private elevator. Only a handful of select people had access to it. Peter and Michelle had been the newest people to get clearance. But only Peter remains.

“Good afternoon sir.” Jarvis greets, even though the AI had said goodbye to him back in his mansion lab just a couple of hours ago. “Would you like to go to the lab, sir?”

Tony chuckles softly as his unseen companion. “No thanks, Jar. I need to get to the office.”

The door closes, and the elevator numbers go up. Double speed. And then Tony steps out into the hallway, and goes straight for the double door, entering his office.

Lights flicker on, the privacy screen across the windows slowly rolls up revealing the view over the city, and the TV comes to life. A detailed documentary, rush made, about all the weapons Justin Hammer was adding to the War Machine armor, that Peter had gifted to Rhodey and the US government. “This is my Eiffel Tower. This is my Rachmaninoff’s Third. My pieta. It’s completely elegant. It’s bafflingly beautiful. It’s capable of reducing the population of any standing structure to zero.” Disgusting.

“Mute,” Tony orders into the room, and Justin Hammer's voice is silenced. The TV dims but doesn’t turn off.

He doesn’t walk towards his desk. Doesn’t even consider it. Instead, he turns 90 degrees and heads towards a corner of the room. Covered by a thin layer of fabric to protect from dust and scratches, stands the expo model. Exactly where Tony had left it when he planned out this year's expo.

Back then he’d been best friends with a kid, a mentor to him. He’s been ready to hand over his company to Peter, still where.

Tony pushes those thoughts down and gently pulls the fabric away. The model is split apart into four big, long wooden plates. But even now, when Tony looks at it, he can see something that he hadn’t in all these years prior.

“Tony?” Pepper pokes her head into the office. Her hair was in a perfect bun, and dressed in her formal uniform. It was a stark contrast to the Pepper Tony had at home nowadays. Cooking dinner.

With a few steps, Pepper reaches his side. “What’s this?”

“The answer. I think.” Tony says truthfully, pulling Pepper into his side and pressing a kiss to her cheek. “What do you see when looking at this? Think back to like grade 6 chemistry.”

“An atom?” Pepper asks, leaning into Tony’s touch.

Tony nods, heart swelling. She sees it too. Tony isn’t going crazy over words from a video his dad had left him. She sees it.

“Pepper, am I doing the right thing? Should I just take them and burn them so that whatever secrets my dad left behind are gone?” Tony asks. “Let Peter do what he wants, and allow Rhodey to just be the New and improved Iron Man?”

Pepper shakes her head. “Tony, you need to talk to Peter.”

It’s what she’s been saying from the beginning, but Tony can’t forget the fight in the lab or the following fight in the medical bay. Can’t forget how Peter had almost gotten killed because of the Iron Man suit that he’d been adamant about not wanting for months now. Despite being the creator behind it.

Tony can’t stop picturing Peter signing those documents, making him the official heir of Stark Industries. Even if he sort of understood part of the kid’s reasoning for saying no.

There was just something about Peter Parker with his puppy dog, brown eyes. And soft curly hair. And heart so pure and good, and brain so ready to make new technology, that Tony couldn’t just forget about him. And Tony had truly thought, that they’d become something more than mentor and mentee.

Like… family.

“Pepper I need this…” Tony waves at the expo model before them, “Taken to the car. Within the hour. In the meantime, I think there’s a kid I need to visit.”

Pepper nods, giving Tony a big smile. “Of course Tony. Go make amends.”

As Tony takes the elevator down onto street level and walks out the tower he can’t stop thinking about that one work. Family. Peter wasn’t his son, but in some weird way, he’d kind of taken that spot anyway. Had Tony pushed too hard trying to make him see Tony as a dad?

***

The walk to Peter’s apartment where surprisingly pleasant. The weather where pretty good, not warm but not cold either. The sun was shining, only a cloud here and there. Tony finds himself humming and feeling hopeful when he’s buzzed into the lobby and makes his way up the stairs.

His knuckles collide with the door in a few soft knocks, before Tony takes a step back. Slacking slightly in his shoulders, looking down at his phone, and tried to look as normal, nonthreatening as he possibly could.

There’d been a lot of fighting and name-calling lately. There wouldn’t be today.

Tony was ready – sort of – to accept Peter throwing Iron Man away. Okay, maybe not quite. But he could understand the need to heal after all the shit that had happened over the last year. The cave. The arc reactor in his chest. Otto betrayed him. Michelle’s death. And now this Author Parks dude almost killed Peter in the suit, taking control over something that Peter needed to be in control of.

As he stands there waiting he suddenly realizes how much Author Parks must have reminded Peter of the arc reactor weapons last year.

If Author Parks truly had been working with Peter’s parents, and Tony had no reason to doubt it, then he’d have been someone that Peter was supposed to trust. In some weird, twisted way, that no kid would understand. A family friend even. A man who Peter should have trusted, that had betrayed him so badly. How was that any different from Otto?

The door finally opens, and Tony leaves with a breath of relief. Relief short-lived, because it isn’t Peter in the door. It’s Ned.

“Uhm… Ted.” Tony greets, suddenly feeling a lot less sure of himself. Ned had never been as protective as Michelle had. But when Peter needed a Shield, Ned was one. Solid. “Is, uh… is Peter here?”

Ned hesitates, leaning against the doorframe, blocking Tony’s path. “What’s it to you?”

“Look, I just want to talk to him,” Tony says, trying to push past Ned. But the guy is a rock. Unmoving. “I get it, I messed up. But I need to talk to him. I want to make things right.”

Ned folds his arms across his chest. Tony’s about to speak again when Ned holds up a hand to stop him.

“I’m not the one you need to convince, Mr. Stark. That’s Peter. But right now isn’t the time.” Ned says, soft. “He’s learned not to get close to people. He’s afraid, maybe rightfully so, that you’ll be the same way. That you’re just gonna be someone else he’ll lose.”

So, Peter felt the same way Tony did. Scared for the other's life.

What, are you benching me?

I’m protecting you.

“That’s why we need to talk,” Tony says pulling out the notebook. Showing Howard's work on the super soldier project. “I know he doesn’t want to be a hero, or alone. I’ll change that. This changes that. I’m so close… I just need to talk to him. Figure all this out.”

Ned studies the pages for a moment. Handing it back to Tony. “I’ll try and get him to the expo for Justin Hammer’s presentation. He did make the War Machine armor after all, he might want to see the official reveal to the world. But, I can’t promise it will change anything.”

Tony lets out a breath of relief. “Thank you, Ned. I just… tell Peter it’s okay. That I understand.”

***

“Who was it?” Peter asks, looking up from his tea mug as Ned renters the living room.

Ned shrugs. “Just some, idiot who got the wrong address.”

Peter nods slowly, having a feeling that Ned isn’t telling him the truth. But he doesn’t push it. He didn’t have to anymore. Because he was just a normal Peter Parker, ESU student. Not Iron Man. Not Stark Industries Heir.

***

“1974 Stark Expo model scan complete, sir,” Jarvis announces. The blue layer that has layered itself over the model detaches itself and hovers just a few inches across the real model.

Now or never.

Tony reaches out his hands, lifts the holo model, and moves it to an empty spot in the lab. “How many buildings are there?”

Jarvis highlights the buildings and the model goes from horizontal to vertical. Giving Tony a proper top-down view of the expo that year. All centered around the globe in the middle. The earth. Home. The planet of the future.

The same globe that was part of the expo, today. So many years later.

“It has to be the nucleus,” Tony concludes, sizing it up till it’s bigger than a basketball. “Jarvis, could you highlight this please?” Jarvis does.

A golden, orange glove escapes from it. Different from the blue, sharp, cold color of the rest of the holo. Like a tiny sunset or sunrise, right there in the lab. Magical really, if Tony thought about it. It wasn’t important though, this was science. This was…

No inventing.

Re-inventing.

Not an element, not an atom as Tony had first thought. The serum. It was here. The super soldier serum recipe that Tony hadn’t been able to find in any of the old books. This had to be it.

Not many people are made of the right stuff, wasn’t that what his father had said in the video? Tony had read about this serum, that it enhanced not just the body, but everything within. The good, but also the bed. And Howard had made this, invented this, during a way. Where some of the worst of the worst people ever, had shown their faces. It hadn’t been safe to write down this back then, but he’d still found a way to get it to Tony.

It was unbelievable.

“Loss the footpaths, landscaping, shrubbery, trees…” Tony watches as the model becomes simpler and simpler by the second.

Parking lots are disappearing, and entrances exist. Down to the bare bone of the expo design.

And then suddenly it’s there. Glowing down at him. A ball of energy.

He thinks back to the photo once more, of a young Tony playing with that Shield. Had this been what his dad had pictured? Tony was the right one for this, serum? Or had he just meant that Tony would be living in an age where there might be good people, like Peter, ready to do the right thing and that Tony would make it happen?

It didn’t now. Not really. It hadn’t ever mattered what he thought. Because Tony was his person. Ready to put things behind me and try again.

“Jarvis, call Coulson. I think I’ll need that suit of his.” Tony declares. Feeling a smile coming onto his face.

Chapter Text

“You need to go,” Ned says, and Peter looks up at him from where he’d been napping on his couch.

Peter let out a big yawn, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. “Go? Go where?” He asks, voice heavy with sleep and stress, and recovering from the attack. His chest still hurt.

“The expo,” Ned says sternly, no hint of backing down.

“No.” Peter rolls over on his side, closing his eyes again. Back to Ned and the world that seemed to keep beating him even while he was down. Mails from the press asking if Peter would be at the expo, if he’d be up for interviews, and answer questions about his position and heir. A title he didn’t want. Coming with responsibility’s he hated.

Ned let’s out a tired sigh of frustration. They’d had this talk. It was better for Peter to stay as far away from Tony as he could, and anyone else that could be seen as a father figure or had anything to do with science. He’d go back to finish his education, and he’d pretend Iron Man wasn’t his creation.

The arc reactor made the last part of that difficult…

“You really wanna stay here and do nothing all day?” Ned demands. “Because ESU doesn’t start up again for another few weeks, I saw the mails… I know you’re still hesitating.”

Peter doesn’t answer.

“Do you support Tony?” Ned finally asks after a long moment of intense silence. His voice is strong, stronger than it had been a moment ago.

Reluctantly, Peter looks back up at his friend. “Of course!” He assures. He did. A year ago, he hadn’t, because Tony made weapons. Deadly weapons that almost killed Peter. Peter didn’t like weapons. But Tony was a changed man, and Peter was proud of that, supported that.

“So talk to him,” Ned says, meeting Peter’s eyes with a fiery passion. “You’ve studied your whole life to do science, on this level. You made it out of Afghanistan, and you built that suit with him. What was all that for, if you’re just abandoning it now? Wasn’t this what you wanted? You get to help build up a company, it might not be the company you wanted, but it still counts for something. So go to the Expo.”

Peter swallows hard. There where truth to Ned’s words, after all.

Ned sits down on the couch next to Peter, letting out a sigh of defeat. “I guess you’ve already made your mind up, I don’t blame you after all you’ve been through. It must have been hard.”

“You have no idea,” Peter whispers, eyes looking to the photos of Michelle he has on the table next to his old broken-down couch. Ned seems to follow Peter’s gaze, a hand coming to rest on Peter’s knee. “She should have been there, you know? Hearing about all the cool new tech, and writing some article about it. Doing what she loves. What she was good at.”

“What’s the last thing she wrote?” Ned asks kindly. It makes Peter have to dig through his memory. He always knew long before everyone else what Michelle had been working on. How far had she gotten with things?

He swallows, “I think that must have been… She was working on the case with the weapons. The arc reactor weapons that were sold overseas. I don’t think she finished it; some journalist she was working with did.”

Ned nods slowly, taking a deep breath, “So, go for Michelle?”

“What?” Peter frowns deeply.

“Right now you’re letting one person ruin your love for science.” Ned says, “So don’t go for science or Tony, go for Michelle.”

Peter feels flabbergasted. Go for Michelle? He hadn’t thought about that before, and that wasn’t the point. “I’m not letting one person ruin my love for science,” Peter defended harshly. He wasn’t. He loved science, it was what he studied. Sure, he’d handed over Iron Man to Rhody, but Iron Man wasn’t science, it was a suit, an armor… a hero.

Ned huffs out a breath of disbelief, folding his arms over his chest, making him look bigger. “So prove it,” Ned challenges, “Join me at the expo, and look at the stands. No worrying about the press and the heir thing. Just science. You and me. Like when we were kids.”

“You’ve got a deal…” Peter grumbles reluctantly.

***

Peter had seen the expo from above, of course, but standing on the ground surrounded by fellow science geeks was a different experience entirely. He’d dreamt of something like this as a kid, when he heard about the Stark Expo. He’d almost forgotten how the thought makes his heartbeat faster, and his breathing quicken.  Excitement.

The tech was cool too. One person was working on a new, green way for planes to fly, while emitting little to no CO2. Another had made an actual working computer running off of 5078 potatoes as the power source, proving that energy would come from a different place. And another person entirely was working was present a theory on how to heal the spinal cord, or other damaged nerve cells.

“You think people are excited about seeing War Machine in action?” Ned asks as he returns after having bought them a bucket of popcorn.

“War Machine?” Peter asks with a lifted brow, “What would Rhodey be doing here?”

Ned grins, “Hammer got a spot on stage. He built a fleet of robots, inspired by Iron Man. Something about not losing anymore good people in war, instead using highly advanced AI to control weaponry and motion.”

Okay, so maybe not all the tech was safe and amazing. There would always be people in the scientific field pushing the boundaries of ethical dilemmas. That included Hammer. AI’s controlling weaponry in massive kill bots? No thanks.

“I’ve read that he hadn’t coded them yet, so it’s just big fancy paper weights,” Ned adds, “So he brought Rhodey and War Machine to make things look more flashy.

Peter finds himself chuckling weakly. “Yeah, that sounds like Hammer, alright.”

They keep walking. Peter stuffs a handful of salty popcorn into his mouth and lets his hand rest in his hoodie pockets. Feeling his office backstage lanyard and badge in there.

There’s a military stand trying to recruit new scientists for the cause. A group that Tony sponsored to improve the medical help that soldiers could get in the field. Even if it wasn’t by a lot. Everything counted. And with Stark Industries no longer making weapons, they could get a lot of medical supplies out instead.

“You know…” Peter hesitates, “I do have my badge with me.” He says slowly, pulling it out of his pocket to show Ned.

Ned’s eyes light up, then fall. “But if we go backstage, you can’t hide from the press in the crowds.”

Peter nods, he’d thought about that. And while he wasn’t sure what to tell the press after what had happened over the last few days, he did want to wish Rhodey good luck up there. It was Peter’s work, after all. Peter’s amazing creation, which everyone was waiting to see.

He could bathe a little in the warm lights for a moment, just to show Ned that he wasn’t letting Tony ruin his love for science. (Or Otto, or his dad.)

“If you’re sure, I’m game. I have Bruce Banner hiding back there and wants to do a presentation about gamma radiation.” Ned sequels. Bruce, right. Peter had met Bruce once or twice during his work with SHIELD over the past few months. Coulson had been the one to introduce them. Bruce also went by Hawkeye and was a pro with a bow and arrow. He’d done science since he was Peter’s age, and while he still did it and studied gamma radiation effects on the body, he focused more on his work with SHIELD now.

Of course, Peter also knew that research wasn’t just on normal people. It was on a monster that Peter hadn’t seen, with thick green gamma skin. Hulk, Bruce called it.

Peter smirks, “You might be right about that,” He tells Ned.

***

Tony stands before the chamber, filling the blue serum into each of the syringes. It had a soft smell and a thick consistency that made it hard to work with. But Jarvis had confirmed that the serum would do exactly what his father had made it to do. Improve every part of the human body, physical and mental.

The raw metal of the chamber is only broken with a single window of thick glass. Foggy from the heat the chamber produces, just keeping the serum stable.

“This doesn’t mean Fury wants you in the Avengers initiative.”  Coulson reminds, handing Tony of a blue, red, and white suit. It was modern-looking compared to the one Tony had seen as a kid, on TV and collectors’ cards. Darker, and more… military. He didn’t mind. A super soldier had an advantage that Iron Man didn’t have, being less flashy and easier to sneak around.

“What, improving my Dad’s serum and recreating someone everyone thought lost does by me a ticket to the freak show?” Tony jokes softly, taking the suit with a grateful smile. Then, more seriously, “I’m not doing this for the Avengers,” He reminds us not for the first time, “I’m doing it for the kid.”

Peter was scared and alone in a new world of superheroes. Sure, there were agents he’d gotten close to, Natasha and Bruce and Clint. But they weren’t heroes. They were doing a job and got paid for it. What Peter, and soon Tony, had been doing was different. They did it for the world.

Sort of.

“So what’s the plan?” Coulson asks, taking in the machine standing tall in Tony’s lab. “You just go through the transformation, and call it a day, before going to talk to Peter?”

Tony shakes his head, setting the suit down on a nearby lab table. “I’m going to talk to him. Discuss things. Make it clear why I’m doing this, and give him a chance to tell me what he thinks.” What he should have done when make Peter his heir.

Coulson smiles. “Sounds like a plan, Captain.”

Tony's heart flutters at that name. God, it felt good. Captain. He could be that. Right? A leader… “Well, of course, unless something happens, and he needs me. Then that comes first.” He adds. But what would happen? The world was mostly at peace, even if Hammer was a deadass. “Don’t give me that look, he almost died once this week already. It’s not happening again, if I can prevent it.”

“Don’t worry,” Coulson holds his hands up in surrender. “I wasn’t planning on saying anything. I just like how protective you get over this. It… looks good on you.” Then after a moment, “And your file.”

Tony’s shoulder slumps slightly. He’d become soft, and he couldn’t hide it. Couldn’t deny it. Peter Parker had a way of getting under people’s skin, even Coulson’s, Tony knew. He was living proof.

“When all this is over,” Coulson says, leaning against one of the lab tables and looking at the chamber one more time. “When all this is over, I might have to borrow Pete, if he’s up for it. We… have a 0-84.”

“0-84?” Tony asks, lifting a brow.

Coulson nods, “Object of unknown origin. Possibly… alive.”

“Alien?” Tony immediately concludes, “You’re saying SHIELD found something that might be alien. And you want to pull Peter, a kid who’s made it very clear he doesn’t want to be Iron Man anymore, into the mission?”

Coulson smirks, “I thought you were going to fix him?”

***

“Peter,” Rhodey gives him a tight hug the moment he sees them, “I didn’t think you were going to be here. Did you and Tony finally talk things out?”

For a moment, Peter lets himself be embraced by Rhodey. Rhodey wasn’t just Tony’s friend, he was slowly becoming a friend of Peter’s, too. Rhodey and Tony were like brothers, and if Peter truly was a bit like a son to Tony and Tony a father to Peter, did that make Rhodey Peter’s uncle?

The thought is scary yet comforting at the same time, as he finally pulls away, “No, just here… looking. You know.”

“Right, science geeks.” Rhodey nods, giving Ned a hand in greeting too. “Well, you’re staying for the reveal, right? The Hammer droids?”

Peter nods slowly, he wasn’t sure he had a choice in the matter, as Hammer was using the War Machine suit as a part of the collection. He had to make sure things were safe- No. He couldn’t think like that. He wasn’t Iron Man anymore. Rhodey had everything under control, Peter trusted that. They were friends. Rhodey was a military man with more experience than Peter would ever get. If Rhodey wanted to present War Machine together with Hammer? Then Peter didn’t need to worry.

Ned seems unbothered by Peter’s thoughtful silence, “You know if Bruce is here?” Ned asks Rhodey with big, excited eyes.

“Don’t think I’ve seen him,” Rhodey responds, “Sorry. And uh, I have to run. Get in the suit. But I’ll see you two afterwards.”

***

“Safety check, 2% complete… Estimated time, eight hours and fifty-two minutes.” Jarvis' voice filters through the speakers of the penthouse. His AI had insisted – and Tony silently agreed – to run a full safety check on the capsule and serum.

Tony flops down into his couch and wonders what Peter is doing right then. He’d made a deal with Ned, trying to get Peter out and make everything better, and while Tony knew whatever had happened couldn’t be fixed in a day, today at the expo would be the first step in the right direction.

If Peter showed up.

Some scared part of Tony wanted to stay right there on the couch and watch the expo from the safety of his home. Wait for Pepper to come home, and then order in.

But he couldn’t do that. He needed to talk to Peter.

Tony claps twice, pointing to the TV screen, and moments later, it flickers to life. The blue glow feels blinding as his eyes adjust after many hours in the workshop. Focused. The Expo appears on the screen, just as Justin Hammer is about to walk on stage.

Music playing, and the Hammer industries logo on the large backdrop at the back of the stage. The man himself was wearing the same gray suit that he always wore, his signature look. For a moment, Tony can forget the fear in his stomach and instead think about how he’d never wear the same thing to every event. Did Tony like keeping things consistent? Sure. It was part of the gig when your name was Tony Stark. But he also added a touch of color here and there, went with a vest instead of a jacket, and almost always brought a friend with him. Happy, Pepper… Peter.

“Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about. Thanks for coming.” Hammer swirls to a step on the front of the stage, people clapping loudly.

Tony rolls his eyes and leans back, letting his head rest on the back of the couch and swinging his legs up. “Jarvis, more volume, would ya?”

“Raising TV volume to 65%,” Jarvis confirms without a second of hesitation.

Hammer goes on, “Ladies and gentlemen,” he says on the TV screen. “For far too long, this country has had to place its brave men and women in harm’s way, but then the Iron Man arrived, and we thought the days of losing lives were behind us.”

Tony can’t help but snort out and raise an eyebrow. People thought the Iron Man armor would change death? How could one person ever replace what millions did every day?

The Iron Man armor was powerful, and with Peter behind the wheel, Iron Man could do amazing stuff that no military could. No number of soldiers. But the military could do things that Iron Man couldn’t. Hearing Hammer talk about the armor like the ultimate replacement for human intervention almost made Tony angry, but he had to keep his cool.

Once Justin Hammer was done talking, Tony would go down there, and he’d find Peter.

 “Sadly, that technology was kept out of reach.” Justin goes on, and Tony can feel the headache building. “That’s not fair. That’s not right. And it’s just too bad. Regardless, it was an impressive innovation-“

“Get to the point,” Tony says impatiently, staring up at the ceiling.

Hammer didn’t just wear the same boring, colorless outfit over and over. He wasn’t any good at holding speeches either. Tony was bored, he couldn’t imagine Ned and Peter or Rhodey thinking it was any better, wherever they were.

As Hammer, with his big ego, tells the press they’ll run out of ink, two scene workers run in to remove the glass stand. Leaving Hammer standing freely. “Ladies and gentlemen,” He repeats, “Today I present to you… The New Face of the United States military. The Hammer drone!”

Tony’s eyes widen comically as the floor elevators raise the stage floor. Creating podium rows of… Was that the suits that had broken someone’s back? The very same technology that Tony had shown in the courtroom just days ago, after a small hack.

The music changes, and the backdrop plays a video of soldiers and helicopters, the word army written in big bold letters.

Tony had seen very little of the war machine armor, but it was clear these were rush-made to match. A new coat of gray covered their surface, with soft white LED lights in the chest, and more LED in the face. They were clunky, but there wasn’t a doubt where Hammer had gotten his inspiration from.

And then more and more is raised into view. Marine and air force, all similar enough to be a unified design.

“Jarvis,” Tony’s voice raises a couple of octaves, his heart skipping a beat, “Please tell me Hammer didn’t bring functioning military droids to the expo?” Tony asks but doubts he’ll be that lucky.

A blue holo-screen opens before Tony as Jarvis' voice filters through, “Hammer did not, sir. The blueprints provided to the committee when Mr. Hammer applied for a presentation slot show that the droids do not have a power supply installed.”

Tony let out a deep sigh of relief.  Anyone who’d seen Hammer’s tech knew how many bugs and errors it had. Things that needed a gentle hand by a pro, to function as intended. But as long as these didn’t have any power, it didn’t matter. There wasn’t anything to cause chaos.

Yet he can’t fully shake the nerves as he reaches for his phone, pulling up Peter’s contacts. But doesn’t ring him.

“- I am proud to present the very first prototype in the Variable Threat Response Battle suit!” Justin is grinning ear to ear as Rhodey in the War Machine armor appears on stage. Shiny, instead of matted like the droids.

There it was, Peter’s work in all its glory, and Hammer was taking the honor for it.

For a moment everything looks perfectly normal as people at the expo clap and the music fades for Hammer to keep speaking. But then the blue and white lights of the droids and the war machine armors flickers. The lights flicker, the microphone crackles.

Tony straightens, sitting back up fully. He’d seen that before, hadn’t he?

They flicker again, and when they come back this time, they’re glowing a radioactive green. Before a bright flash leaves Tony’s screen black.

We apologize for the issues. We’ll return with the schedule programming shortly. The stands messages from the TV station is the only thing left.

“Jarvis?” Tony’s voice feels dry like sandpaper.

There’s a moment of waiting, probably Jarvis trying to pull up the War Machine’s feed or the private cameras from the expo. When he fails, the AI speaks, “It appears there’s a powerful power surge at the Stark Expo.” Jarvis says, and Tony immediately knows this is the same thing that happened just a few days ago.

Arthur Parks.

A living Lazer, those were the words Peter had used to describe the attacker that day.

And now he was back, possibly able to… to power the Hammer drones. Tony swallows, pressing the call button on his phone. Listens to the beeps before he’s thrown into Peter’s voicemail.

“Jarvis, how far is that safety check?” Tony asks, but he doesn’t care. Doesn’t need to know. He’s already made up his mind. Already moving towards his workshop, where the Shield is sitting on its stand, where the suit Coulson brought him rests on the table. Where the chamber is waiting.

“5% sir,” Jarvis responded, “I would not recommend proceeding before the test are finished.”

Tony pulls open the chamber, lowering himself into the padded casket, “Warm up the Iron man suit, and get this chamber going Jar.” Tony barks out orders.

For a moment, he swears he can hear the AI hesitate, but then the chamber doors close before Tony leaves only the light from the window. Clasps wrap around his wrist and feet, needles pressing into his body.

He immediately let out a choked scream, feeling his muscles expand under his skin. Stretching his whole body. Growing therm and strong. He’s pretty sure he passes out for more of it, because the world blurs around him, and for a moment he’s convinced he can see his dad standing above him. Speaking his name, but Tony can’t hear the words. Not with his ears anyway, but with his heart.

He doesn’t know how long it lasts. But when the chamber finally opens he’s panting as he supports himself on the doors, legs shaking under him as he takes the first few steps. “Jar…?” He asks, his mouth feels dry as hell.

“It appears the transformation was successful, sir,” Jarvis says.

***

Peter’s stomach drops as he watches the lights of the robots, what are supposed to be useless paperweights, turn from a blue glow to a green. The fluorescent lights in the backstage area flicker violently, and Peter can feel the electricity in the air. The hairs along his arms raising, goosebumps covering his skin.

“Ned, come on.” Peter grabs Ned’s arm and starts pulling him away from the stage entrance. Attempting to create as much distance between them and the Living Lazer as possible.

There wasn’t a moment of doubt inside Peter’s gut, this couldn’t be anyone but the same man who’d attacked them at the café just days ago. Author Parks. The man who’d spend years creating side by side with Peter’s father and had turned into the very thing he was working with. Electricity.

Ned doesn’t move. His feet is as glued to the floor, eyes wide with terror. “Ned, come on. We have to go,” Peter shakes his friend’s shoulders with no success. So instead, he pulls harder. Eyes scanning the area for anyone who can help. Security. For Tony…

“P-peter…” Ned’s finger raises and points towards the actual danger. Peter watches with horror as the War Machine armor’s eyes too change colors. A spiral of green that spreads and spreads, until it fills both the eyes and the main power source, an arc reactor similar to Peter’s, but weaker. It was running a machine, not a heart.

The war machine armor turns towards them, scans Peter’s mind notes. Before raising one repulsor hand. The first blast misses the two boys by centimeters. Peter pushes Ned to the ground.

“Ned,” Peter’s voice is stern and sharp, his fingers and nails digging into his friend’s lower arm. “We’re leaving now.”

Ned doesn’t freeze up this time, he nods, and the two scatter to their feet and run. Down the steps and further into the backstage area. Security is already on guard with their weapons drawn, clearly aware that something is happening. But unaware that no bullet will ever be able to touch their attacker.

A small part of Peter wants to joke with Ned that this is his fault. That they wouldn’t have been at the expo if it weren’t for him. But instead, Peter bites his lip hard and stays quiet. Tony would have made a joke, and Peter would have gotten mad. Michelle would have made a sarcastic joke, but Michelle was gone, and Peter’s tired.

“You said they weren’t coded,” Peter pulls them both around a corner before coming to a stop. “The only one that is coded is War Machine. But what do you think would happen if a person made of living electricity were to power them?”

“Uh…” Ned hesitates, shrugs. “Probably nothing good.”

Peter’s heart pounds deep in his chest, below where the arc reactor glows. Racing a million miles an hour. If he were in the Iron Man suit, Jarvis would call it out and remind Peter to breathe. That the pain would be over in a second. But Peter hung up the suit, he told them he wasn’t coming back.

A sudden crushing cold feeling spreads throughout his upper left arm, before his feet is pulled off the floor. A shocked, panicked noise escapes past his lips at the sight before his eyes.

One of the robots is holding onto him, its free hand moving toward his chest.

“I remember this,” The mechanical, rusty voice of Author Parks comes through the suit. “Oh, such power, such energy. I’ll mine.”

The arc reactor pulses in Peter’s chest. He can feel the electricity surge through it, the same way it had a few days ago. Remember how it had left the reactor charged and usable.

Right then, none of those matters. Peter knows Ned is still there, just a few steps behind Peter. Just a few steps away from being injured too, but a massive robot that Hammer had created. Peter squeezes his eyes shut and tries to remain calm as he forces words out, “Ned… Run!”

There’s a long tense moment where Peter waits, prays. Then he finally hears running footsteps. Disappearing down the hallway, before fading away completely.

The metal fingers of the robot rip through Peter’s t-shirt and dig in under the edge of the metal casing holding the arc reactor in Peter’s chest. “When Hammer asked me to get this for him, he didn’t know Rhodey would hand him one free of charge. Guess I’ll be taking this one to AIM, when Hammer is too scared to.”

Peter’s heart skips a beat at that one word. AIM.

The same organization that had sponsored Otto’s technology when everything went down. They knew about what the arc reactor could do, it had been in Otto’s drawings for those weapons, Peter feels a sour taste in his mouth just thinking about it. But AIM had done good stuff, they wouldn’t be working with Hammer or Author Parks, if they were trying to cause harm.

No, Peter had read about AIM after everything that happened. Read about all the changes they were making to protect the planet from climate change, and how they sponsored medical technology.

So why would the Living Lazer want to bring the arc reactor to AIM? Why would they need it?

Peter lets out a pitiful, painful shout as the arc reactor clicks out of the casing. A spark of power ran through his chest, leaving him out of breath and in pain. His heart is palpating.

The sound of metal bouncing against metal echoes through the room. The robot’s grasp lets go, and Peter tumbles onto the floor. Gasping to regain his breath, his head moving up to his chest. Feel the cables of the reactor, intact.

Vibrations run through the floor as the heavy metal robot takes a step forward. Narrowly missing Peter’s ankle with its massive metal feet.

Peter gives it a short glance before scrambling to push the arc reactor back into place. Hands shaking.

The sound of metal, scraping against metal returns. Another short burst, before sparks flies from the robot’s headless neck. The head clattering onto the floor next to Peter. Lifeless, broken. As the green light fades into darkness in its empty eyes.

He searches upwards with his eyes. Had Ned someone managed to take the bot out?

“You okay?” Tony asks, looking down at Peter. Wearing a red and blue suit, his abbs covered in strips, with a star on his chest. A matching round shield in one hand. He looks so different from the last time Peter had seen him, just a few days ago, Peter can’t even manage to get words out. Letting himself slump back on the ground, the arc reactor still lost in his chest.

Tony slides the Shield onto his back as he kneels next to Peter. Hands coming to gently turn the arc reactor back into place. It locks with a soft click. “Pete, are you hurt anywhere?” Tony asks more sternly.

Peter shakes his head weakly and tries to decide whether to be angry with Tony or relieved.

It felt like they’d been fighting for a decade. Maybe over things that neither of them truly understood. About Peter having responsibility, and about Peter feeling alone. Lost. Because what was a hero? And could Peter ever really be one? About the heir announcement, which they hadn’t discussed. That carried too much emotion for both of them.

They were adults, the two of them. They’d fought enough the year prior. When Peter had been hurt and captured by the Ten Rings. They had to talk about it if they made it out of this.

“What happened to you?” Peter asks, pushing himself up on his elbows. Heart slowing down. “Where’s Rhodey?”

“Later,” Tony shakes his head and reaches for his shield once more. Offering Peter and hand, pulling him up from the floor as if Peter weighed nothing. “I think you need to put on the suit. Just one more time.”

Peter can hear everything that remains unspoken. Author Parks isn’t done yet. Rhodey doesn’t have control over the War Machine armor, and the remaining bots are out there creating chaos and fear at the expo.

Maybe killing people…

“I can’t do this alone, Tony,” Peter whispers, his hands coming to protect his arc reactor. He can feel a crack in the glass; it would need to be replaced, but it would hold for now. “He almost killed me, just a few days ago… and this…” Peter waves at the robot, dismantled and dead. Hopes that Tony understands.

Tony’s free hand comes to rest on Peter’s shoulder. A squeeze of protection and encouragement that makes Peter look up and meet his eyes.

“You’re not alone out there this time, Kiddo,” Tony promises.

Chapter Text

If Peter stops to think about it, he can write a list of a million reasons not to put the suit back on. The nightmares and weird dreams he’d been having, of Yinsen in a cave, of Spider’s crawling over his skin, of Flash Thompson, who Peter had gone to school with, a military man. He could think of Ben, who’d saved a little girl. Think of Michelle, who had been taken from Peter too soon, by a man he thought that he could trust.

Most importantly, he could think of May. What would happen to Aunt May if Peter were gone? She’d already lost so much and given up so many things to help Peter.

She’d never wanted kids, but she loved Peter as her own. Even when Ben had been gone, she hadn’t discarded him, she’d hugged him close and told him everything would be okay. Then she’d almost lost Peter too, to an attack in a war zone where Peter shouldn’t have been. The thing that changed everything.

Did she know that Peter was inside that suit? Was Peter Iron Man?

But Peter doesn’t get a chance to stop and think. From the backstage area, once his heart slows down, he can hear the blasters from the stage area, can hear the echoes of screams, and metal feet clapping against the floor.

What was he supposed to do? Ignore it? Like he’d ignored everything lately? No, Peter couldn’t ignore his responsibility anymore. He had so many people rooting for him, cheering him on. He didn’t regret giving Rhodey that suit and making War Machine a reality, but it shouldn’t be as Peter’s replacement. Just as Peter’s friend, a second hero. And now a third, with Tony.

Peter’s legs move as fast as they can, carrying him, trying to keep up with Tony. Yet the older man has to stop up once in a while to let Peter catch up. What the hell had happened to Tony?

“Slow down…” Peter gasps for air, almost tumbling over as he grasps for Tony’s arm to make him stop. “You’re… you’re gonna trigger my asthma…”

Tony raises a brow, “You’ve got Asthma?”

Peter waves a dismissive hand at Tony’s worried glance. Peter hadn’t had a proper Asthma attack in years. Only when sick. Peter wasn’t sick now, just had mountains of adrenaline pumping through his body.

“I’m telling you, they’re not even programmed!” Justin Hammer’s voice comes from down the hall. A couple of octaves too high, so different from the confident man who’d stood on the stage ten minutes ago. “Some guy from AIM is supposed to do the code. I’m just delivering the hardware. That’s what they wanted, an Iron Man robot and power source.”

A deep sigh of anger and fear follows, Ned. “Well, clearly, they aren’t just paper weights. There has to be a way to shut them down!”

“Too late, Ned,” Peter pokes his head around the corner, finding Hammer’s main control area. A couple of scientists are already typing away on keyboards, trying to shut them down, but everyone knows it won’t help.

There’s no code, now a power source. Just ArthurParks.

Relief flashes across Ned’s face, and with open arms, he heads to pull Peter into a hug. Peter takes a moment to return it. Feeling the warmth and safety of his friends, and for a moment wondering if he’s making the right choice. But he knows he is. He’s making the only choice.

Peter pulls away from the hug after a long moment. A part of him wants to stay there, another wants to get as far away as he can.

“Up,” Peter barks at one of the men sitting at a laptop. The man takes a moment to stare are Peter, confused and hesitant. But it scrambles off the office chair when Tony raises the shield. Peter takes his spot, quickly opening the control window, and types in his code to enter the Stark Industries system that powers most of the expo. “Come on, Jarvis, I need you,” Peter mutters under his breath.

“Hey, hey!” Hammer’s hand grasp Peter’s shoulder and attempt to pull him away from the computer, “We’ve got this handle, now go away. Go away!”

Peter lets out a loud snort, “Oh, you can have your laptop back in a second, I just need my suit first.”

“Your suit?” Hammer asks, confused, an offended look plastered onto his face. It almost makes Peter want to laugh.

Outside of Shield, Tony, Ned, and most recently Rhodey, Peter hadn’t referred to the Iron Man suit as his own. It hadn’t felt like his own. All he’d wanted to do was build a green power source, the miniature arc reactor. The suit had been a fun project, but it hadn’t been his; it had been Tony’s as much as it had been Peters's. Or at least it had felt that way.

Connected to direct chat with Jarvis… Input awaited… Blinks on the screen, finally.

Peter’s fingers fly over the keyboard. The command is simple. Launch Mark III.

ETA: 3 minutes.

“Pete,” Tony reaches for Peter the same way Hammer had, only gentler. “I have to go, I’m covering the ground. You need to be air control, and that means-“

“- Rhodey.” Peter finishes for Peter. The two of them give each other a short nod. Before Tony finally runs off, shield ready.

It means so much more than Rhodey, Peter almost wants to shout after Tony, but right now, Rhodey’s the priority. And then, a plan. There had to be a way that you could fight living electricity; they just had to figure out how. More importantly, they had to figure out a way to make him appear, because while Living Lazer jumps from robot to robot, he’s untouchable.

Scanning the area around him, Justin Hammer stood off to the side, looking offended, his team on computers, doing nothing to help.

There were so many things they had to figure out…

Deep breath, Peter, Peter says to himself, and forces himself to count as he breathes in. Holds his breath. And then, let’s go.

Tony had promised him he wouldn’t be alone this time. That was true. Whatever had happened to Tony, his mentor and father figure, could take on the robots now; Peter didn’t have to worry about him. If they got Rhodey back, then they’d have him on their side, too. Three against… well, a lot of robots, but only one mind. That had to count for something.

Peter waves Ned over and hands him an old-fashioned phone. The same one Coulson had given him. “There are two numbers in here, one for Phil Coulson and one for Natasha Romanoff. I need you to call them, get them here, they’ll deal with Hammer.”

Ned clutches the phone tightly in his hand as if Peter had just given him the most important task on the planet. “So, I’ll be like, your guy in the chair?” Ned asks hopefully.

“Uh…” Peter wants to correct him and say that he has Jarvis too, but decides against it. Nods. “Yeah. I’ll go to the roof, Jarvis will have the suit here any moment, and the sooner I get in the air, the better.”

***

Tony feels his heart clench as he leaves Peter behind, their voices fading as he moves down the hallway. Towards the main stage, the hand grasping the shield is tight.

There are many things they still need to talk about, the heir's decision that never should have been Tony’s to make. The suit that Peter had handed over to Rhodey. The nightmares that Tony knew Peter still had, even if the kid didn’t say anything. It had to be Peter’s choice if he wanted to keep being Iron Man. If all this had been the right path. Tony was ready to support whatever Peter would do, no questions asked.

If only he had gotten to do it the way he planned.

It all almost makes Tony’s heart break, it takes everything in him not to turn around and pull the kid into a hug. To get him far away from all this and let New York deal with this on its own. But just the thought of it left him disgusted.

A single tear slips down his cheek as Peter’s voice finally disappears behind him.

Before Tony is the abandoned stage where he’d opened the expo just days ago. The elevator on the floor remains up, the pedestals where the robots had stood in all their glory, waiting to attack.

Tony swings himself off the edge of the stage, landing in a crouch. The floor is covered in dust and shards of glass. Looking up, Tony can see the broken windows above, confirmation that a handful of the robots are successfully flying. “Dammit…” Tony mutters to himself.

Through the roof, Tony catches a glimpse of Mark three coming down to land.

A couple of panicked screams catch Tony’s attention, and he scans the area around him.

It takes a moment to spot the two teens cuddling behind a stack of black chairs discarded near a wall. A large droid leans in over them as it raises its metal fists.

Tony shoves the chairs lined up in rows before the stage away and runs into action. Watching the attack happen in slow motion as he nears them. Just a little closer, just a little closer.

He uses a chair to push off of and gains just enough height in his jump to land on the back of the droid. Letting the shield dig into the head and through the neck. Cutting the colorful wires, sparking, and spilling out of them.

Green sparks danced and dazzled for a few long moments down the metal. Through the vibranium shield. Then, for a moment, it’s quiet until the same green power flickers through the lights.

Tony can see as it skips through each light, disappearing down the stage area. Before a figure hovers on the stage for a long moment.

A bright green light, with holes for eyes, and a sharp, electric mouth.

Then it’s gone.

He swallows hard before sliding down the droid’s large body. He gives it a hard shove, making it tumble over uselessly on the floor, and kneels before the girl. “Either of you hurt?” Tony asks, placing his shield onto his back, and offers each of them a hand. They pulled up onto their feet without any trouble. Light at feathers.

The oldest shakes her head, eyes glued to the dismantled droid. “I think we’re okay,” She stammers. The teens are clinging to each other.

Tony tucks them under his shoulder in a protective hold, “Come on, let’s get you two out of here. I won’t leave you.”

***

The front shield of the helmet closes down over Peter’s face. He watches, in awe, as the HUD boots to life. The blue overlay appears, detailing the world around him. It was almost like stepping into the suit for the first time all over again, Peter would never get tired of it.

“Javis, give me a direct line to “ Peter begins, but Jarvis interrupts.

“A direct communications line has been established with Tony Stark and James Rhodes.” The AI responds. Peter feels a smirk coming onto his face.

“Rhodey, please tell me you can hear us?” Peter asks uncertainly, a slight shakiness to his voice. He knew what it was like for Living Lazer to take over one’s suit, the way you’d lose all control. But he didn’t know if Living Lazer had cut the contact, too. Or if… if Living Lazer could have done something to Rhodey in the suit, like he’d done to Peter.

Frying the system.

There’s a long time where Peter holds his breath. He can hear Tony’s rough breathing over the comm, the shield hitting metal, but the man doesn’t speak.

And then finally, “Pete, is that you?” Rhodey’s voice finally comes, filled with relief. “I swear, I’m not doing this. It isn’t me. I can’t move, I’m locked out of the system!”

Peter pulls up the War Machine on his HUD. He can see the unnatural amounts of power coursing through it, disabling most no, – of the manual control system in the suit. Just like Living Lazer had done to him.

“Trust me, we know,” Tony responds. “Pete, I just saw this, Arthur Parks, hovering in the air. Pure electricity. He’s not trapped in devices; he can move independently of technology.”

Peter’s heart skipped a beat in his chest, trying to imagine what Tony had seen. Arthur Parks didn’t have to be trapped inside a droid, or a lamp, or a phone. He could move through the air. That was something they could work with.

“What if I made a vest that we put on him. That will force the molecules in his body to re-stabilize and take shape as a human?” Peter brainstormed, already scanning the destroyed and broken expo area for pieces of technology he might be able to use. A lot of it was broken beyond repair for what it had been designed for, but that didn’t have to matter for Peter; he’d dumpster-dived for years. He’d made the arc reactor in a cave, with nothing but the weapons he was handed to dismantle.

“Peter-“

“I just need a… uhm a… I just need a particle stabilizer, that’s industry great.” Peter keeps going because he has to make this right. He remembers what he’d told Tony about the plane crash that killed his parents, and that everyone thought killed Arthur Parks too. If it was the technology they’d been working on that turned Parks into the Living Lazer, Peter had to attempt to fix it. “We just need him outside of a droid for a fraction of a second, I know it can work-“

“Peter,” Tony’s voice is sharper this time, and Peter shuts his mouth.

Tony takes a deep breath on the other side of the com-system. “I understand how you feel responsible for this, but it’s not your fault. Neither was Otto. You said it yourself, you read what AIM had written in those emails. The neuro chip has corrupted his brain. I doubt Parks is any more present than Otto was in the end.”

Peter wants to fight and argue with Tony. They couldn’t just assume that Parks wasn’t there anymore, and that he wasn’t forced to do whatever it was that he was doing. Fighting with Tony seemed easier somehow.

Instead, he bites his lip hard, hovers in the air. Thinking. Planning. Attempting to make the pieces fit together.

Peter Parker… oh, is my boss going to be excited by this? Iron Man’s identity. What a shame they’ve asked me to kill you. Your intellect would be very useful for their company. Parks had a side inside the suit a few days ago, before Peter realized who he was. A company where intellect was important. Being recognized. And then, AIM. The arc reactor that Parks had been after when he attacked Peter with the robot.

He had to accept that Parks knew what he was doing, that he was in control. He couldn’t think about what that meant for the plane crash that killed his parents, at least not right then. That had to wait. But at least he could accept that Parks wasn’t like Otto.

“If we can get him out in the open for long enough, we can overload him with the main power beams of mine and Rhodey’s suit,” Peter whispers, squeezing his eyes shut. He knows Jarvis is calculated in the HUD, and he doesn’t want to see it. “We’d… destabilize him enough to tear his molecules apart.”

“One little problem with that plan, I’m not in control!” Rhodey half-shouts.

“I saw this great TV clip of you and Hammer speaking out of the suit,” Tony remembers. “He didn’t happen to add an EMP to the suit while he was at it?”

Peter’s eyes snap open at Tony’s questions, immediately knowing where this is going. If Rhodey had access to an EMP, they’d just have to trigger it, and force Parks out of the suit and thereby giving Rhodey control back.

They can hear Rhodey’s hesitation over the coms, “He did…”

“If I can get close enough, I can get Jarvis to override the War Machine’s system and trigger the EMP, forcing Living Lazer out of the suit,” Peter jumps in.

“If you get close enough to trigger the EMP, wouldn’t you also be close enough for the EMP to affect you?” Rhodey points out sharply. His military training is shining through. Luckily, Peter wasn’t military, he was just a guy in a suit that people called a hero. He’d done weird stuff before and was afraid to take risks. At least, when his mental health allowed it.

Peter takes off through the sky towards the red blinking dot in his display, showing where Rhodey is. “Sure, but we’ll figure that out once we get that far.”

***

Tony watches from the ground, seeing the two suits in the air. The bright lights of the repulsors are making them move at incredible speeds.

His stomach crunched, a tight knot appearing. Rhodey and Peter, two of the most important people in his life, were both doing this. Granted, so did Tony, just differently. It hadn’t hit Tony until right then, what it meant.

Fighting his way through robots and droids, Tony takes each one down. Cutting off arms or legs. Their bullets bounce off the vibranium shield as he runs straight at them. Pulling at wires and the motherboards, hoping to shut them down. Tony, who was usually so careful with technology, couldn’t bring himself to care.

“Without range,” Peter announces loudly over the coms, just as Tony bursts outside the main building. The faint scent of smoke in the air. Chaos surrounds him.

A couple is limping away, the woman supporting the man the best she can. It doesn’t look too bad, so Tony focuses on the attackers inside, leaping in front of one of the massive robots, shields raised, just as it fires against a family of four trying to get into their car.

Each bullet hitting the shield sends vibrations down through Tony's arm; it’s uncomfortable, but Tony doesn’t care.

“What?” Rhodey shouts over the com, panic clear, “You can’t do it now, we’ll fall…”

Tony’s eyes look up at that, glancing across the dark sky, trying to spot his friends. There, high up, too high. The War Machine armor, chasing Iron Man. A news helicopter hovers nearby, not caring for its safety enough to get away. All they care about is getting photos of the heroes.

He bites his lip, trying to make his heart rate slow down before he speaks, “You sure, Pete?”

“Higher up than when the prototype froze over…” Peter responds, sounding a little out of breath. Tony makes a mental note to make a suit that can easily go into space, and up where the air is thinner. At this speed, Peter would need it.

“Okay,” Tony agrees. “The suits will have to do a full reboot. Give Jarvis the order to take full control the second the suits are back online, I’m not sure Rhodey can handle it on his own.”

An exacerbated sound comes from Rhodey, “Are you both out of your minds? We’ll die!”

It’s the last thing Tony hears before the lights of both suits disappear. Fading. A small pop echoes in his ears at the EMP’s blast.

Tony’s eyes stay glued to the sky, trying to spot the two falling suits. A part of him wants to look away, scared of the crater they’d leave behind if this failed. Concrete cracking, suit crumbled, body broken. But he couldn’t think like that, Ton trusted Peter.

“Come on, come on, come on…” Tony murmurs under his breath.

But all Tony can see in the sky are Hammer drones. Blasters are shooting at anything and everything moving below them.

After another few seconds, Tony forces his gaze down from the sky. He had to focus on the mission, on what was before him. He couldn’t help Rhodey or Peter if something went wrong, he’d done everything he could already, reminding them of Jarvis. Offering advice. He had to trust that they’d be okay, and if they weren’t, at least Tony would have done hist best on the ground.

A young boy runs as fast as his small legs can carry him, a couple of hundred meters away from Tony. Wearing an expo t-shirt and blue hoodie. A plastic Iron Man helmet on his head, and homemade gloves on his hands.

Right behind him comes one of the hammer droids.

Tony moves, running towards the boy. The kid stumbles down the steps and falls over untied shoelaces. Hands moving up to cover his face, fear making him shake.

The Hammer droid raises it’s machine gun, Tony can hear it charging as he nears it. Adjusting his grasp on the shield, he swings his arm back, aims and throws the shield. Watching it tear through the metal, just in time.

The shield bounces back, Tony catching it. Coming to a stop with a roll, he grasped the kid into his arms. “You okay? Is anything hurt?”

 “You’re… you’re the guy from my dad’s playing cards!” The kid beams, wiggling in Tony’s arms.

Tony doesn’t correct the kid, just chuckles at his excitement. A little superhero nerd, this one. Tony moves towards the family he’d seen just minutes earlier, handing the child over. “Call the police, get the kid to safety.”

The dad from the family nods sternly. Eyes are hard, but full of discipline.

“Rhodey, Peter, come in?” Tony asks over the coms, hoping to hear their voice. To know that they’ve gotten safely onto the ground, and that the EMP works.

Peter’s voice crackled over the speakers’ moments later. “Rhodey’s a little busy throw up,” He says, “Living Lazer’s out the suit. Get as many of these Hammer droids to follow you, and meet us at the globe park. We’ll force Parks out there, hopefully that far enough away from technology that we can get him.”

“Copy that,” Tony confirms without hesitation.

***

Peter kneels to grab one of the discarded droid heads, the HUD layers up the internal machinery for Peter to see. Rhodey’s on the ground, suit discarded, throwing up not too far from him. “Jarvis, how’s the air forces flight control?”

“Basic at best, sir.” The AI responds and pulls up data. “It appears their response time is significantly slower than the Iron Man suit. It would be like-“

“- Playing a video game with a bad wireless mouse.” Peter finishes. He still remembered playing games on Ben and May’s old computer when he was younger. He’d invested in a cheap wireless mouse that looked cool, with lots of RGB. But the transmitter had been so bad that the wired mouse Ben used had been better.

Peter looks to Rhodey for a moment, the soldier slowly recovering. Then they scan the area around them. If he could just find a good obstacle course, with tight passages and quick turns, Peter wouldn’t even have to fight the droids. They’d kill themselves, flying into stuff.

Jarvis paints a glowing blue track through the globe. Peter chuckled, “Reading my mind, Jar?”

“You and Boss have just gotten used to your way of thinking,” Jarvis responds. With so much emotion that Peter could be fooled into thinking Jarvis was a real person. A small smirk plasters onto his lips, and he gets in the air. Trying to get the flying metal death trap's attention.

***

“Incoming, get ready!” Tony’s voice carries towards Rhodey. The echoing, rumbling steps of the droids follow him as fast as they can. But not nearly as fast as Tony.

Rhodey’s head snaps up, eyes widening, as Tony grasps his lower arm and pulls Rhodey up. Placing him on his feet and nudging him towards the war machine armor. Standing open, and abandoned a few meters away. Eyes glowing in the darkness of the park.

Tony watches at the suit closes around Rhodey’s body. Rhodey raises a repulsure hand up, and Tony jumps out the way at the beam of light emerges.

The droid pushes forward despite it, but the energy and heat from the suits beam makes is strumble and stagger. It’s smooth movement turning clumpsy. The metal chestplate, melting, dripping in hot red liquid, revealing the empty cavity beyond. Wires and motherboards. Control units, and GPS trackers. All glowing with green, sicking, power. Before it flickers and disappeares. Leaving the bot abondoned.

Rhodey’s pants comes mechaniically through the suits speakers, “What happened to you?” He asks looking towards Tony.

“Later,” Tony promises, grasp on his shield tightening, “I’ll tell you and Peter, later. Where is the kid?”

Rhodey nods towards a dark globe, around half a mile away. It hadn’t been an accident that Tony decided to have it be a prominent part of the expo. Now, more than ever, Stark Industries and other tech companies are focused on peace, on fixing the climate change that humans have caused. Having the globe, Earth, be at the center of all that, as people from around the world got to show what they were able to do, seemed so magical, so perfect.

Now, Tony watches as bright lights maneuver towards it. It’s too dark to see the gold and red of Peter’s suit, but he could tell by how it moved that it was him. Peter and Jarvis.

“Damit Pete,” Tony mutters under his breath. “I thought we where supposed to meet up, make a propper plan. Recuperate for a minute.”

“Kid did what you would have done, and his plan is… decent,” Rhodey responds. “Seems you brought the party either way, so let’s just Peter get this, and we’ll take care of the rest.”

They’re pratically surrounded by giant walking lumps of steel and metals. They’re creaking, echoing footsteps, and glowing eyes, fills the space around them. Half hidden now in the parks terrain. Rhodey and Tony would have to focus to do this all on their own.

Tony doesn’t move. His eyes locked onto the globe as he sees Peter fly straight into the metal frama. Through it. With the flying death traps hot on his heals.

Tony’s ready to see them following him and destroying him. But instead, he sees them one by one hitting the hard, cold metal sculpture. The sound of them slamming into it, reaching them, even so far away. Sparks flying. Until only one set of lights remains.

Peter.

“Tony!” Rhodey’s voice is sharp, grasping Tony’s arm and lifting him. The way Tony had done with Rhodey. Only Rhodey doesn’t set Tony on his feet, they’re flying. A mountain of robots below his dangling feet. “Do you have a death wish?” His friend demands.

Tony’s mouth feels dry, “Sorry… Thank you.”

His eyes return to the sky, searching for Peter’s suit once more.

“Kid’s smart,” Rhodey comments as he finally stops raising, instead hovering over the impromptu battlefield. “We’d never have stood a chance with those beasts filling the sky; we’ve got the high ground now.”

“I agree with that,” Peter’s voice filters over the coms, “You got eyes on the rest?”

Rhodey chuckles, “Right below us, Pete. You got any more cool ideas?”

There’s a moment of silent hesitation, they can hear Peter breathing into the suit’s microphone. “I’ve got an idea, but I’m gonna need a minute to get it working.”

Tony glances up, meeting Rhodey’s glowing eyes. A silent question between them. Rhodey shrugs, just as clueless as Tony. It was good seeing Peter taking initiative, the way he’d done when they’d worked in the lab together, creating that beautiful suit. But it also made Tony worry, maybe he hadn’t gotten communication back with Peter by showing up here, or worse… the Kid was getting overconfident like at the café. Or scared… God, Tony didn’t want Peter to be scared.

“Sure Underoos,” Tony responds, delayed, “We’ll just… keep hanging…”

Swinging himself slightly, Tony gets enough height to grab onto Rhodey’s wrist instead of being held up. His body relaxes slightly at being in control.

Peter doesn’t say anything over the coms.

“I hope he knows what he’s doing. If Living Lazer decides to jump back into the War Machine armor while we wait, we’re both toast.” Rhodey commens, adjusting his hold on Tony.

“Well, then we better get down.”

Rhodey’s free hand clenses into a fit, and through the metal forms a massive automatic gun. More like a sci-fi blaster. The machinegun on his back adjust it’s position, readying. Tony can hear the hum of it as it’s rotating motors get’s ready.

In a single, sincroniced move, they fall. It’s not far down, but Tony’s new relexes from the serum speeds him up. Swinging himself up onto Rhodey’s back, and then launches himself with a powerful kick, into a backflip. Shield post and ready.

The vibranium cuts right through the metal beast before Tony, through the glowing light in the chest, as he lands. The suit collapses into two halves.

He throws the shield forward, cutting through the knees of a second droid. It falls over, trying to catch itself by its thick metal arms, but doesn’t get back up.

Rhodey’s blasters spur bullets faster than anything Tony had ever seen. The fire, blast, and lightning up the area around them. More than the robotic monster did. The bullets were tearing through the metal like it was butter.

Once upon a time, Tony had made weapons like these. He’d never seen them in use firsthand, not properly. Just for testing in a military zone. Peter had told him about what he saw, of course, when he’d been attacked and later escaped. But there was a difference between hearing about it and seeing the damage those weapons could do.

Tony had never felt more sure of his choice to stop the weapons production.

“Incoming, get down!” Peter’s voice shouted over the coms. Tony sighs a breath of relief. It came to a rolling stop, knelt. Raising the shield above his head and back, as a droid raises its arm ready to hit.

He counts softly inside his head, hoping that Peter knows what he’s doing.

Beside him the War machine armor comes to a kneling positon too. Seperated from his friend only by a single pair of droid legs.

A bright red flash appears above them. Tony can feel the heat of it and knows immediately what it is. A powerful laser beam.

The droid with it’s raise hand is cut in half. The area where the lazer had hit is left red hot. Glowing in the darkness. The torso and head and arms tilt forward, and down onto the shield with a sharp echoing sound, of metal slamming against metal. Before it tumbles off to the side, and lands in the grass.

It’s quiet.

Tony can hear the water flowing some a small creek somewhere in the park. Can hear the sound of Rhodey’s and Peter’s breathing.

A short moment of peace.

Then he hears crackeling, popping electricity. The bright lights from the weapons and the droids, are replaced by the neongreen glow of Living Lazer’s body. Searching desperatly for a piece of tech he can enter.

No… Not any piece of tech. Peter’s suit.

Tony pushes himself up as fast as he can, eyes searching for Peter in the darkness, spotting the red and golden suit. He runs, raising his shield into a defensive position, and runs as fast as his legs allow. Leaps the last few meters, landing before Peter, covering him with the shield.

Living Lazer reflects against the shield and bounces backwards. Tony can feel the electricity in the air around him, the hair on his arms stands up, and the shield’s metal feels warm. Vibrating.

“Are you okay?” Tony demands, looking back at Peter with stern, worried eyes.

The Iron Man suit nods slowly, hesitating for a moment. Before pushing Tony out of the way, “Rhodey, now!”

The power beams shoot out of the suit’s chest, and right into the living laser. For a long moment, the living energy grows and grows, obserbing the energy, thriving in it. Tony can hear the man’s electrical laughs. But then slowly, Tony can see flickers in power, like a dying battery. Can see green sparks jump off him and die out.

Then he’s gone.

They’re alone, standing in the middle of a battlefield of broken, melted droids.

“I didn’t know you had a lazer,” Rhodey comments to Peter and Tony can hear the grin in his voice even when he can’t see his friends face.

Peter lets his face plate slide up, revealing his sweaty, pale skin. “Yeah… I didn’t. I made it. The flying droids landed practically on top of an expo stand filled with lasers.”

Chapter Text

Tony, for the second time that night, sees the city from above. This time, not clinging on for dear life on the outside of the War Machine armor, while an army of killer droids stopped across the wet grass below him. No, this time he had his feet standing on one of the Iron Man boots, holding onto Peter’s armored arm. While the suit’s fingers were gently curled around the leather straps where the Vibranium Shield was held securely to Tony’s bag.

They hadn’t left the scene until both the police had gotten there, blue and red light flashes in the darkness. And better yet, till SHIELD had gotten to the scene. Natasha and Coulson led them as the cleanup effort began.

Tony didn’t know how SHIELD was going to get rid of the mountain of metal that they’d left behind, or how they were planning on repairing all the property damage, but he didn’t have to either. They’d figured it out not even a year earlier when Dr. Octavius had chased Iron Man through the stress of New York and blew up the big arc reactor at Stark Industries' factory. They’d figure this out too.

Instead, Tony would focus on breathing. Trying to forget the pain slowly spreading through his body.

Adrenaline, he’d discovered, was a miracle drug. But now that it was wearing off, Tony had no doubts that despite the serum now running through his veins, he’d cracked a rib or two. He was going to bruise in a million shared of blue and purple tomorrow morning. Right now, it just hurts, especially when he breathed a little too deeply.

“Ned just confirmed that SHIELD has Justin Hammer in custody,” Peter informs Tony, letting the face plate slide up, revealing Peter’s face below.

Despite being protected by a thick layer of metal, Peter’s skin has seen better days. His lower lip was split, and a wound was slowly clotting above his right eye. The side of his face was covered in dried blood. Tony didn’t dare imagine what injuries he might be hiding under the rest of the armor.

Tony lets out a soft hum from deep in his throat, “That’s good.”

Peter brings the suit down on a rooftop, at the edge of the expo area. Tony steps off the boat and onto the cold concrete below them. His legs are shaking.

The arena where Tony had held his speech and announced Peter’s status as heir a few days earlier looked like a meteor had slammed down into it. Most of the roof was shattered and gone. It wouldn’t be easy to repair.

“I’m sorry,” Tony says then, voice hoarse. Peter’s head tilts, the suit letting out a mechanical click.

Tony clears his throat and tries again; it becomes stronger this time, honest and pure. “I truly am sorry.” He hadn’t said sorry to Peter before, even when he should have. Pepper was right, Ned was right, the whole world was right. He should have sat down with Peter and had the conversation. Maybe then they’d have shared the stage tonight, down there, instead of fighting droids from Hammer industries. Maybe Peter wouldn’t have given Rhodey a suit, but instead stayed Iron Man the way Tony dreamed of when he protected Peter in that courtroom.

Peter takes a deep breath and lets the suit open around him. He practically crumbles forward, ready to take a swan dive.

Tony’s beside him, in less than a second. Letting his arms slide underneath Peter’s armpits. The kid’s curly, soft hair came to rest against Tony's chest. Exhausted. “You okay?” Tony whispers into Peter’s hair, chin settling on top of his mentee’s head.

Peter let’s out a soft grunt.

“Jarvis?” Tony’s eyes flicker to the suit standing behind Peter.

For a long moment, a blue holo-beam scans up and down Peter’s body, before Jarvis speaks up through the suit’s speakers. “Broken wrist, slip lip, head wound, concussion, dehydration, as well as bruising along the ribs and spine.” Jarvis lists off, and Tony feels his stomach drop.

A tiny voice in the back of his head tells him it’s not that bad, that just a few days later, Peter had been lying dead on the lab floor. The Arc reactor burned out. Tony had prevented that from happening again. Sure, Peter would need time to heal, a cast on his wrist, an ice bag, and a lot of pain killers, but there wasn’t a single injury that Peter couldn’t get back from.

Still, a part of Tony felt like he’d failed despite becoming Captain America. Or whatever cheap copy of the old-time superhero that Tony was now.

He pushes that aside when Peter looks up at him, with big brown puppy-dog eyes.

“Okay,” Peter rasps out so fast that Tony almost misses it. “Okay. I’ll do it.”

Tony stares at Peter, lost and confused, baffled. “Do what?” Tony asks sharply, Was this Peter’s concussion talking?

Peter sighs, frustrated and tired all at the same time, “Heir,” Peter says in a small voice.

Tony’s heart skips a beat at the one word, a billion questions appearing in his head. His lips part, but none of the questions come out. Not even one. Until finally he manages to force out the first and only one that matters, “I thought you were mad at me?”

Peter pulls away, out of Tony’s hold. Staring towards the arena, too. Tony wonders if Peter’s thinking the same thing Tony had been thinking.

“I was,” Peter finally says, “But I was just scared and a little bit hurt.”

The kid before Tony sounds and looks so earnest. What would Howard Stark have said to Tony if he’d been as truthful with his dad when he had the chance? Told his father the truth about MIT, or the idea of taking over the company?

He shakes it off, steps up beside Peter, and slings a protective arm around the young man’s shoulders. “There’s no pressure,” Tony makes sure, “If you ever change your mind, I won’t ask why. You don’t have to explain yourself, ever. But if you are sure you want to take over once I’m gone, then you can trust that I am truly proud of you.”

Peter might not have been Tony’s son, but it felt like he was in every way but blood right at the moment.

Would Howard Stark have told Tony he was proud, too? Tony doubted. Tony didn’t want to be like Howard.

“Just adopt him already,” Rhodey’s voice echoed from behind them. Tony spins around, ready for another fight; he hadn’t heard Rhodey land on the roof, either. But there he was, the War Machine Armor scuffed and in need of repair. Face planted, revealing his uninjured, smug face.

Peter splutters beside Tony with utter disbelief, but Tony kind of likes the sound of that. Adoption. Peter Benjamin Parker-Stark. It has a nice cling to it. But he wouldn’t say that out loud right then, he’d wait, and he’d sit down alone with Peter and have a proper talk about it. Give him a choice on the matter, which he hadn’t been given with the heir title.

Rhodey stands, face flat, closing down. Eyes glowing in a bright white light. “Last one back at the penthouse is a turtle,” He announces and takes off.

Tony glances at Peter, who’s already rushing towards the waiting Iron Man armor. The metal closing around him. He offers Tony a metal hand, a boot to stand on, “We wouldn’t let him win, right, Dad?”

This time, it’s Tony who splutters.

***

Peter sits in that stiff office chair, with Tony’s hand resting on his good shoulder. His one arm is held in a soft sling, supporting the weight of the cast, and eases the pain of his wrist only slightly. The rest of his scuffs had already scabbed over, and his bruises were fading.

He wasn’t healing as fast as Tony had, of course. Tony hadn’t even been scared.

The large sign with the eagle in the middle and the words, Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, hangs on the back wall of the office. On the glass table before them lie three reports, two of which Peter’s already read before, the last one he knows must belong to Tony.

Peter had shut down Coulson the first time they’d talked to him about the Avengers initiative. Practically jumped in the suit, stepped over the edge of the Heli carrier, and let himself free fall before booting up the boots and coming to a hovering halt just above the water.

This time was different.

Tony, ever impatient, reaches for the folder with Avengers written in big, bold letters.

Fingers move to hold it down from the other side of the table. Fury was studying the two of them with his one eye. Sighs as he turns to face Peter fully, “You won’t sign on without him, will you?”

Peter shakes his head. Fury had already asked that over the phone and in an email earlier that week.

Fury pushes the new file, Tony’s file, towards them. “This is Miss Romanov's assessment of you, Mr. Stark. Read it.”

Tony takes the file up, opening it. Fingers tightening around the paper, making it crinkle slightly. His eyes scan it, “… Displays compulsive behavior? In my defense, that was last week.” Tony says pointedly at Fury, clearly referencing taking an untested serum. But Peter also thinks it’s referencing the heir situation, the complete sudden stop of weapons production earlier that year, and the accident that led to Peter having an arc reactor in his chest to keep shrapnel from reaching his heart.

“Prone to self-destructive tendencies?” Tony reads on with a raised brow, “Aren’t we all? I mean, superheroes right here. Kind needs to be willing to get hurt.”

Peter finds himself nodding in agreement, the same point had been made in Peter’s file after all.

“Textbook narcissism?” Tony snorts, “Agreed.”

“You’re diagnosing now?” Peter asks Fury with a small smirk on his lips, reaching for his file. Curious if they’d edited anything since the last time Peter saw it. “What? I’m autistic now or something?”

Fury pulls the file out of Peter’s hands before he can open it.

Peter gives Fury a half-offended look, but there’s no real heat behind it. He’s just tired. So tired. Joking helps a little. But still, tired. He wonders if it’s the concussion.

“Coulson needs you,” Fury says sharply as he puts Peter’s file down into a drawer under the desk. “Transport is waiting at HQ. You report there as soon as possible.”

Peter hesitates for a moment, looking between Tony and Fury, but then he gets out. Tony gives Peter a tight hug, and Peter returns it the best he can with one arm. Then Peter begins to walk towards the exit of the office.

Behind him, Tony returns to his file. “Recruitment assessment of the Avengers initiative, Captain America, yes. I gotta think about it.”

“Read on,” Fury’s voice commands. Peter pushes the door handle down, steps out.

“Under the condition that…” Tony trails off. Peter can picture Tony’s eyes looking up to meet Fury. “… That Iron Man joins.” His mentor finishes just before the door closes.

Peter wants to sink to the floor right then and there. That wasn’t fair. Tony deserved a chance at being an Avenger because Tony was a good man despite his flaws. Peter had flaws, too, and Fury hadn’t hesitated to extend the invite to Peter.

Why was it any different with Tony?

No, Peter didn’t need to ask that. He already knew. It was different because Tony was a tool to them. A way to get Peter, too. Because now Peter was obligated to sign that contract. Instead of doing this loss, sometimes SHIELD thing, he’d been doing up until that point.

Peter didn’t like that at all. He was going to let Coulson know. He was going to speak up for himself.

But really… if it ever came to that, Peter wouldn’t hesitate to join the Avengers. If Earth needed it.

***

Coulson had seen a lot of things during his time with SHIELD. As a Captain America fan and card collector, his most exciting project was the hammer.

Back in Howard’s time, when Steve Rogers had been deemed worthy to wield it, it had landed in a deserted desert. Dusty and sandy. The crater was still there; Phil Coulson had seen it.

Nowadays, the hammer rested on a small, unpopulated island. Not many miles away from where Howard and Peggy lost contact with Steve Rogers many years ago. It was covered in snow 99 percent of the time. The island was surrounded by jagged ice that shifted and cracked every so often.

It, together with the Tesseract, was found during the search for the world’s first superhero.

Most people didn’t know the hammer had ever been found. To the ordinary person, it was assumed that it had been lost together with its wielder. SHIELD liked to keep it that way.

But with the latest shift of the ice surrounding the island, something had changed.

Coulson sips up his thick jacket, pulling the fur-coated hood over his head, before walking onto the helicopter pad. They’d build a base around the hammer, keeping it safe. It was so isolated that no boat would ever reach it. Most planes would never get there. The helicopter pad was the only entrance and exit.

Years ago, Coulson had spent over a month stuck at the base. As a snowstorm had forced their hand. Grounding them.

As the SHIELD helicopter slowly descended, Coulson stepped closer. Ducking slightly to stay clear of the twirling propellers. The door opens, and the first one out is one of the agents from the search team, and Peter’s escort. The man offers Peter a hand as he has to take the big step down, too. Still unsteady and healing from his injuries.

 A 0-84. That’s what Coulson had told Tony.

“Thank you, agent,” Coulson gives the man a stern nod. Dismissing him from duty. Peter follows Coulson like a soft dog, shivering despite the thick jacket he’d been provided too. “How much did Fury tell you?” Coulson inquiries.

Peter lets out a soft snort that makes his breath dance before him. “Nothing.”

Coulson scans his badge and waits for the doors to open. Peter steps into the warmth first, and Coulson next. Closing the door behind them, testing the handle to confirm that it’s properly locked.

“We’re going up to the observation room,” Coulson tells Peter kindly and guides him along.

The observation room is a large, rounded hallway. The inner wall is made of glass, with round windows from the floor up to the ceiling. Insulated with rubber to prevent lightning strikes from hurting the scientist who studied the hammer from here during thunderstorms.

And in the middle, rest the hammer, in all its glory.

Until recently, it had been quiet. Unassuming. Yes, lightning strikes it often during storms, but it never seemed to affect it or change it in any way, where it had rested frozen solidly in a small pillar of ice.

Now the ice has melted. And despite it being a clear, cold, and windy day, the lightning kept coming.

Powerful blue blast diving from the sky, and straight down through the hammer's handle. Out through the metal block that was the hammer head, and into the ground, where it left massive growing cracks.

The moment they step in, Peter’s nose is pressed against the glass with an awed expression on his face. “That’s the real hammer, isn’t it?” He asks with all his nerd brain.

Coulson nods.

The moment things had changed, they’d intensified the search effort for the long-lost plane. Coulson had a feeling this was a sign that something was about to change. But despite having choppers in the air searching day and night, and having dog patrols on the ground covering the ice, they’d yet to find what they were looking for.

With another storm threatening the base, and with it the risk that the ice would shift again, Coulson had called in backup. Peter. Iron Man.

They wouldn’t get another chance like this; Coulson was sure of it.

Peter Parker will return…

“If He Be Worthy”