The blaring music in the workshop cut out. "Boss, I think there is something you should read," Friday told him.
Tony groaned. She'd been bringing him tidbits for the past hour or so, and they were always slightly to grossly horrifying. Stark Industries had suffered a cyber attack recently, and as such were re-vamping their system. In that process, he had Friday scan for any issues, and she had found an old cache of files from Obie. He had his hands in more pies than previously thought, but luckily hadn't gotten much started before Tony came back and ruined his plans. Which is good, as those plans would have done untold damage to innocents around the world while Obie got rich.
Tony put down the tools he had in his hands, and brought up the waiting file. "What is it now?"
"I've found an old secure email he used, and while most of it is out of date information, compiled with a few documents in the cache, it has some very alarming information. It appears that about 14 years ago, he received a call asking to reach you pertaining to a possible child of yours," she explained.
Tony rolled his eyes. "That's not exactly rare, Friday. I've had a lot of paternity suits, at least from that time frame. Usually it's the lawyers that handled it, but it's not surprising that one or two got through to Obie."
"That's not what's concerning, boss. He did do what is always done in that case, and investigated. The woman that had contacted him, a Mary Parker, had indeed met with you and likely spent the weekend with you in the right time frame. You were both at a conference in Boston. Rarely does the time frame match up. He then asked for a paternity test from the mother when the baby was born, which she declined, stating that the boy would be happily raised by his stepfather but that she wanted you to know about him. She seemed to be fine with no further contact."
Furrowing his brow, Tony said "Then why is this concerning? Sounds like she made it up and then was caught out. I certainly don't remember a Mary Parker." He picked up his tools, ready to dismiss the whole issue.
"It seems Obie nearly dismissed it as well. But I have uncovered a paternity test a couple months later that Obie had downloaded. It lists Child Parker and you, boss. It's a match."
Tony burst out an incredulous laugh, but brought up the test in hologram. "I've only twice taken a paternity test, both negative, Friday. I don't know what this is, but it can't be real. Maybe he had one forged in a bid to get the company from me? The whole assassination thing was his last resort, after all."
Friday was starting to sound testy. "Boss. Right after he downloaded the file, his phone records show he contacted a Fredrick Townsend. In an attempt to be thorough, I researched him and found him to be a for hire criminal. I found several payments from one of Obie's offshore accounts to his. After tracing the dates and looking further into phone calls and emails, I found that one payment was followed by a plane ticket from L.A. to New York City, where the Parkers lived, two days before the sample from the child was entered into the lab's systems. He flew back out the next day after an email that stated the job was done and to contact him for any further needs.
Further more, Obie responded to the email that he may need him further when the results were back. I believe they were corresponding about the test. After the date of the results, there were occasional payments to Townsend followed by trips to New York, which appear to have been to check in on the family. There were also hacking attempts from a hacker used often by Obie to go through the family's information every few months."
His stomach suddenly doing something funny, Tony slowly read through the results of the test. It looked legit enough. He just didn't understand what all this meant. Why would Obie, if he believed this to be true, keep this from him?
Then again, maybe Obie was concerned about how it might change him? Obie had been happy enough to allow the immature Tony to sideline himself in the early years by partying and isolating himself in the parts of the job he liked, and passing the parts he didn't like to Obie. He had made deals pretty openly, to Tony's shame, that were questionable and solidified Obie's position without Tony even caring.
Since finding the cache though, Tony was alarmed to find that Obie had always planned for when Tony to become too much of a liability. He kept people on retainer that watched Tony, encouraged his bad and irresponsible behavior, and even, according to a few emails, had reached out to known hitmen a time or two just in case. Tony doubted, honestly, that knowing he maybe had a kid out there would have changed him then, but Obie would have needed to be sure. And even then, Tony would suddenly have an heir, and Obie would be stuck as second again.
"Okay, but wait. Did he pay the mother off then? Why didn't I hear about it when the test came back positive? Even if Obie didn't come forward..." Tony was trying really hard to focus on the trail of clues, but it was starting to become harder, his brain desperately denying what was slowly coming into focus. That at least Obie had thought he had a kid out there. He grabbed for his coffee cup to take a drink out of habit, and realized he was starting to shake.
"I show no payments to Mary and Richard Parker. Unknown whether they even knew that the test had been done, and they appear not to have known they were watched. But boss…" Friday hesitated. She never hesitated, Tony thought. While she was slowly evolving and learning to mimic some human characteristics, she was still blunt and not afraid to pass things on that would upset him. He cringed, and braced, not being able to bring himself to look at the new documents now in front of him.
"Mary Parker did, once again years later, email the company trying to reach you, which Obie intercepted. The boy was 6 years old at the time, and she believed he was beginning to exhibit traits and intelligence that indicated he was your child. She again reiterated that she wanted nothing from you but just wanted you to know. Obie, the same day, contacted Townsend over the phone, who flew out to New York. Mary and Richard Parker died the following week in a plane crash attributed to engine failure. There was a significant payment to Townsend's account after this, more than any previous payment."
He knew it was going to be bad, but Jesus Christ! Tony finally glanced through the crash report, phone and bank documents, where Friday had helpfully highlighted the pertinent parts. He felt nauseous, and lightheaded. A big part of him still felt like he was just reading too much into this. That there was some other explanation. As he absent mindedly swiped through the last of the bank documents, the next thing that came up froze him in his seat.
It was a picture of a small, shaggy haired boy, attached to Mary Parker's email. The kid was pale, and skinny, but had a megawatt smile and bright eyes. He recognized those eyes. They stared back from the mirror every day. He recognized that smile, his mother smiled like that the few times she had been truly happy spending time with him.
"Boss, Peter Parker was meant to be with them on that flight, but got sick and was left behind with his Aunt and Uncle last minute. Obie meant to kill him as well."
Tony snapped the hologram off and put his face in his hands. He was worried that maybe he might start to panic, but felt strangely disconnected. Holy shit, Obie. What the fuck.
Holy shit. He may have a kid out there.
Christ.
"Okay, Okay. Alright. But he's still alive, somewhere?" He may have felt disconnected, but his voice came out much less steady than normal.
"Yes. After the plane crash, it appears Townsend sent an email asking if Obie wanted him to return to New York and 'finish it'. Obie sends back that it might appear suspicious, and they would wait a couple years. That it appears the only ones who knew of Peter's true paternity were his parents, now deceased. He does say that he would be needing Townsend again for this problem in a few years though, that it couldn't be left to 'grow' just in case."
Tony absently nodded. "Only a couple years later, the kidnapping and Iron Man happened, and they never got a chance. Fuck." Tony got up to pace. The disconnected feeling was fading, and he needed to get rid of some of the nervous energy that was starting in his chest.
He didn't want to know. He didn't want any part of it. He felt horrible for it, but he wished Friday had never uncovered any of this. He doesn't want a kid, never has. But it was Okay, he figured. The kids parents had been dead for almost a decade now. He didn't know what had happened, and wasn't responsible for fixing it. There was no fixing that. The kid landed somewhere safe, he was sure. It was a long time ago. He was fine, better off than if Tony had stepped in anyway. Lord knows he wouldn't have actually stepped up.
No, he had to know. "Fri, where's the kid now? He was taken in by family, right? Happy now? No need or want of me?" Damn it, he was practically pleading with her. He wasn't sure what emotion he was feeling, but he needed two things from her- to absolve him of this weird guilt in his heart about the kid being safe, and to have no need to do anything more than forget this past 15 minutes ever happened.
"Ben and May Parker did indeed keep him when informed of his parent's passing." Tony nodded. Good. Kids' safe, no need to do anything. Maybe he'd anonymously start a college fund or something. Yeah. That's the extent he'll be involved- better for everybody that way. He probably calls them Mom and Dad now. Yeah.
"But Boss, about nine months ago, they were killed in a mugging. Peter Parker, having no family left, was put into foster care. He was reported as a runaway from his third home two months ago and hasn't been seen since."
Well, shit.
