Didn't You Trust Me?
Tony would claim up and down that he was not freaking out. There was no way he was panicking. And yet he sort of was. Ever since he received the phone call from Happy. Happy had called him to inform him that the plane heading to upstate had crashed. He honestly wasn't too concerned about the plane itself, it was what Happy had said next. The kid, Peter was most likely involved. The man didn't have much proof of it, but the tone was unwavering.
Why did he have to get attached to the Spider-kid? He honestly didn't know how it was possible, but it did. He had tried to keep his space from the teen, less worry and heartache. Especially because of the aftermath of the Civil War.
Tony didn't pay much attention to Happy's tone when the man admitted that Peter's nerd friend had called him. He thought the call was about mindless rambling and now this happened. Happy's guilt seemed to be heavy.
It didn't take very long for Tony to suit up in his Ironman suit. The crash site wasn't very far, just on the outskirts of Queens.
The plane was an absolute mess, metal scrapes were everywhere. The billionaire was frantic, so it was no surprise that he felt his heart almost leave his chest. Some may say he was cold hearted when he sighed in relief. The body was still and unmoving, but it was the body of an older man. It was relief that the body wasn't one of a teenager. A teenager that he felt solely responsible for.
It seemed that the momentarily relief was all for naught. Because just a few feet away from the plane crash was a motionless body. It wasn't the body of an adult, but a teenager in a poorly made costume.
The red sweater was ripped in several places and the stupid mask was gone. What almost made Tony's knees buckle was the object sticking out of Peter's stomach. There was blood everywhere. Tony's voice was full of denial, "No…" Even to himself, the voice sounded hoarse and broken. Why did he ever take back the suit, he took away the only protection that Peter had. He should have realized that Peter would try to go after the Vulture anyways. And now he had failed him in the worst way.
"Kid," Tony's voice whispered as his hand touched his shoulder. He had stepped out of the suit once he reached the kid. He didn't even have to tell Friday to get emergency air support to their position. Peter needed to get to Med-bay ASAP.
Peter's eyes had been closed before slowly fluttering open. It hurt to hear Peter's strained voice, "Mr. Stark…"
Tony clenched his other fist that wasn't touching the teen. Peter's voice was filled with pain and he didn't dare take the object out of the boy's stomach. He would die within minutes because of blood loss. The object looked to be made of reinforced steel, almost like it was from a metallic bird. He recalled seeing ruins of that same metal when he was frantically searching for Peter. It had been closer to the man's dead body he first came across. He had even hopelessly believed that Peter was safely in Queens.
"You're going to be just fine, kid. Hang in there…" Tony tried to feel for a pulse on Peter's neck. It was faint, but it was there. It was a small relief. Despite the fact he knew Peter was still alive, but he needed evidence of that. Evidence that it wasn't a figure of his imagination.
"Hurts…" Peter's voice croaked. His eyes were glossy with pain.
"I know…" Tony knew it wasn't comforting. He couldn't lose him though. The kid had wormed into his heart somehow.
Oh god… this couldn't be happening. Peter was too young to have to be going through this.
Tony looked behind him, what could be taking the chopper so long. He knew it was probably only a few minutes, but Peter was losing precious time. And it would do more damage to try to carry him while in the Ironman suit. That option was out.
It had felt like 30 minutes when the private chopper finally arrived, when in reality it had been between 5-10 minutes. Tony didn't bother having the chopper fly upstate to the new Avengers Headquarters, it would waste too much time. Beside he had Bruce in the almost empty tower, thankfully the med bay was the last place to be cleaned out for the move. Cleaning out the Med-Bay wouldn't be until tomorrow, otherwise he would have to flew Peter upstate.
Carefully lifting Peter in his arms and carried him into the chopper. The boy was too delirious with pain to notice anything. It made Tony wince as his grip on Peter tightened. He didn't dare look at Peter's stomach or care about the feeling of blood seeping into the suit he was wearing. All that mattered was saving Peter's life, he doubted Peter's healing ability would help him in this situation.
The ride felt entirely too long and before he knew it, Peter was being carried into Med-Bay. Tony didn't trust anyone but Bruce to look at Peter. It helped that one of Bruce's PhD's was in the medical field.
"It doesn't look good, Tony," Bruce's voice wasn't very reassuring.
"Please, Bruce. You're the best chance he has," Tony's voice was pleading. He didn't even care how strange it may have looked to his friend. The kid was dying, and he was desperate.
Dr. Banner gave Tony a strange look before he sighed. He had never seen Tony this desperate in all the years he's known him. But he knew that this kid meant something to him and he wasn't a fool to not realize this was the Queens superhero, Spiderman.
It felt like hours flew by while trying to save Peter. Tony never left the boy's bedside. It was like Tony's desperation got worse.
Yet Tony knew what Bruce was going to say before he did. Banner's eyes held sympathy and he wasn't a fool to recognize how pale Peter had gotten. His lips had even turned blue.
"I'm sorry, Tony. He lost too much blood. The damage was too severe. He's gone…"
Tony's eyes went hard as his fists clenched. His eyes shined with denial.
Bruce winced when he witnessed Tony slam his fist against the wall. His friend was angry with grief. He didn't know what kind of bond Tony had with the kid, he would almost say he looked at the deceased Spiderman as a son. That was a pain he wished on nobody. Almost feeling awkward, Bruce silently excused himself, so Tony could grieve.
Tony didn't care about the pain his hand, the words kept repeating in his mind. 'he's gone… he's gone… he's gone…' He had failed, he didn't save him. He could feel tears rolling down his face before collapsing on the ground. Tony felt like a complete failure. It took some effort before grasping onto a nearby chair to lift himself back up, but it felt the effort wasn't worth it. He looked back down at Peter still body, his body felt like it was shaking.
Tony reached out with his uninjured hand and touched Peter's curls. His body felt cold. His voice was hoarse as he whispered, "I'm sorry, Peter. I failed you…"