Tony Stark had not seen Mary nor Richard Parker in years. Though, when he knew them, she was Mary Fitzpatrick and he was Richie Parker, and they were both young and just a little reckless. Mary Fitzpatrick… young, beautiful, and absolutely unattainable. Mary and Richard hadn't so much as crossed Tony's mind since he'd received an invitation to their wedding in 1998. He didn't attend, of course—he'd been out of the country, negotiating weapons deals in attempt to keep the legacy of Stark Industries alive. It had suffered quite a blow following the death of Howard Stark and the subsequent passing of the company to Obadiah before ultimately falling to Tony himself. Despite dealing with the industry and its issues, he found the time to send a gift, and in return received a thank-you card complete with a picture of the smiling duo, dressed to the nines for their wedding.
It was a rainy night on the first of March. Tony couldn't say exactly how late it was, given the fact that he hadn't looked at a clock for quite some time, but the sun had long since set and the blackness of night had enveloped the exterior of the mansion. Tony, as usual, was set up in his workshop, tinkering away on his latest project. Happy had left quite some time before and Tony was entertaining sending Pepper home for the night—he had nothing left for her to do, and likely wouldn't until the following day. Yes… yes, he should send Pepper home. He was in the middle of screwing in a component of his project when J.A.R.V.I.S.' voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. started, "there appears to be a woman in great distress outside the building. She identifies herself as Mary Parker."
Tony's hands froze, his eyes darting upwards, focusing on the papers scattered across his desk. "Did… did you say Mary?"
"Yes, sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. confirmed.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., show me the current security footage from out front." Tony pushed himself up as he gave the command, and no sooner had the words left his mouth did a holographic screen appear in front of him. The image on the screen was startling at first glance—there was blood. A lot of blood. It was matted into Mary's dark hair, running down the arm she was using to pound on the front door, staining the lower front of her powder blue dress and running down her legs. The rain hadn't seemed to help the situation; whatever wounds she had were new, and the bleeding wasn't slowing. She wasn't wearing shoes, her feet covered in mud and loose blades of grass.
"Tony!" she called, her voice slightly distorted by the audio on footage. Her tone verged on hysterical, her eyes wild on the recording. "Tony, please! Open up!"
Tony didn't stay in the workshop for much longer, sprinting out the glass door and making his way to the elevator, aggressively slamming the button to take the elevator upwards. The at most ten seconds it took for the elevator to bring him to the ground floor of the house felt like an eternity. When the doors finally parted in front of him, he darted between them, startling a noticeably confused Pepper.
"Tony, what is going on?" she questioned, quickly turning on her heel to keep up with him. "There is a woman at the door screaming, I didn't know what to do so I—"
"It's okay," Tony cut her off. "I know who she is… old friend." The words left his mouth in a frenzy, practically tripping over themselves in an attempt to explain. It would take too long. How could he possibly explain Mary Fitzpatrick—Mary Parker—in so little time? The short answer to that question was that he couldn't. So instead, he let Pepper follow him to the foyer and lay witness to what was to happen as he flung open the door.
Mary Parker leaned against the outside wall, her right palm pressed flat against it to hold herself up. Her breathing appeared labored, her shoulders shaking with every exhale. Tony saw her only in pieces at first: steel gray eyes filled with terror, furrowed brow, black hair matted with blood, blood, so much blood, running down her arm from a gash at the wrist and dripping at the elbow. Blood, staining her dress, smeared across the hand holding her stomach, and—
Her stomach.
Mary's left hand shook as she held her bulging stomach. Of course; she and Richard had been married for nearly three years, and Mary had always talked about wanting a family, but…
"Tony," Mary said, though his name mostly came out in an exhale of relief.
"Mary?" Tony questioned, though had to react quickly as Mary reached out to him with her good arm. Once he had hold of her, she stumbled, leaving Tony struggling to pull her back to her feet. "Mary, Mary, Mary," he said, over and over as he tried to steady her. "Mary, what's going on? What happened?"
"Oh, God, Tony." Mary's voice was hardly audible. "He got us. He knows—he knows we were spying on him, oh God, oh God—"
"Mary, Mary, who? Who knows?"
"The Red Skull." Mary shut her eyes tight, shaking as she spoke the words. "We were—Richard and I, we were assigned to infiltrate them and—and he knows, God, he knows…"
"Okay," Tony said to Mary before turning his attention to Pepper. "Pepper, could you give me a hand with her, please?"
Pepper, wide-eyed with a furrowed brow, grabbed ahold of Mary's right arm, avoiding the open wound. With support on each side, Mary was able to remain upright for the most part. She took shaky step after shaky step, gripping tightly onto Tony while her bad arm hung loosely in Pepper's hold.
"You said he got you, Mary?" Tony started again. "What does that mean, what happened to you and Richard?"
"Richard…" Mary said, then stopped, swallowing before shaking her head back and forth. "Richard is gone, Tony, I couldn't do anything, he was—he was gone like that." Mary seemed to be holding back a sob, perhaps in an attempt to retain the final shred of her composure. "They sent someone in a car, I don't—I don't know who it was. They hit us head on."
The news of Richard's death would have to wait to have an affect on Tony; at the moment he was preoccupied. He simply nodded at the revelation and continued talking to Mary. "Alright, Mary, we're gonna take you to the bathroom and get you nice and fixed up, and then we're gonna phone an ambulance—"
"No," Mary insisted forcefully, taking both Tony and Pepper aback. "You can't. If he finds out I survived, I—I can't let that happen. I need… I need Peter to be okay."
For a quick moment, Pepper and Tony's eyes met in shared confusion.
Tony paused for a moment before speaking again. "Peter?" he questioned.
"Peter," Mary confirmed. "Peter, the baby. I can't have them find him, I don't know what'll happen to him, I don't—I don't—"
"Step up," Tony instructed.
The trio had arrived in the bathroom. Tony intended on having Mary sit in the bath in order to catch the blood, and so he and Pepper could begin the process of getting her cleaned up. Mary stepped into the bath, squeezing Tony's hand as if she were afraid he'd let go of her.
"Hey, Pep, you know where the first aid kit is?" Tony turned to face Pepper, and without a word she exited the bathroom in search of the first aid kit. That left him alone with Mary. Tony drew in a deep breath before exhaling it, returning his attention to his old friend. "Mary, we have to call an ambulance."
Once again, Mary shook her head, eyes shut in defiance. "No," she insisted. "No. If I thought there was any chance of Peter being safe, I would do it, but… they would find him, Tony, I know they would. I'd never be able to live with myself if anything happened to him. I just want—" Mary stopped mid-sentence, shutting her eyes tight and bringing a closed fist to her mouth.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., run a med scan on Mary," Tony insisted, a panicked tone entering his voice.
"Young Miss has suffered a blow to the right temporal lobe and is showing signs of hemorrhaging. A slash on the wrist and rate of bleeding suggests signs of exsanguination. The left kneecap appears to be fractured, and Miss also appears to be in the later stages of labor. Prolonging any form of medical treatment will prove fatal."
Tony gestured upwards as if to thank J.A.R.V.I.S. for proving his point. "Fatal! Mary, Peter is gonna need you. He's already lost one parent tonight. He needs you."
Pepper returned with the first aid kit, though it became apparent that it wasn't going to provide much use. Despite this, Tony fished a bandage from the kit and began wrapping it around the gash in Mary's wrist. Mary, at the time, had begun to tremble. Once again, she brought a closed fist to her lips in attempt to mask the pain.
"Tony, Tony, please promise me," Mary started, stressing the words. "You… you have to look after Peter for me. You have to make sure he's safe."
"What?" Tony questioned, exasperated. "Mary, I can't look after a kid!"
All attempts to articulate his thoughts after that were futile. How could Mary Fitzpatrick, perhaps one of the smartest people Tony had ever met, possibly think that he, a known playboy with a burgeoning drinking problem and a wild lifestyle, would be a good candidate to raise her son? In what way was Tony Stark at all kid-friendly? There were—in approximation—six million other people Tony could think of that would make a better parent than he would.
"Tony…" Mary intended to start a sentence with that, but once again stopped and clenched a fist to her mouth.
"Mary, I can't! What… what about Richard's brother?" Tony paused for a moment as the man's name escaped his mind. "What was it? Ben? Yeah, Ben! He's married, he doesn't have any kids, he'd be perfect!"
Mary shook her head rapidly, swallowing before speaking again. "No, no. That'd be the first place they'd look. And I don't… I can't put Ben and May in danger, too. He'd be safe here, Tony, he'd be so safe, I know he would—"
The baby wasn't born so much as he simply appeared, abrupt and without much warning. Tony's first memory of the boy is on his mother's chest, head turned away from the both of them, squalling in the way that only newborns can manage. His hair was brown like Richard's. Not seeing the boy's face, Tony couldn't tell much else about his appearance.
"Oh, Peter. Peter, Peter…" Mary said, her voice barely above a whisper. "My Peter. My beautiful Peter Benjamin…"
"Mary, please let me call an ambulance."
Again, Mary shook her head. "No. Not until I'm gone." Suddenly, Mary reached out, gripping tight around Tony's wrist. "Tony, you have to keep him safe. Please keep him safe. Keep Peter safe. Please, please…"
Mary stopped, her eyes suddenly fixed on the wall in front of her. She took one sharp inhale, and then her grip loosened on Tony's wrist, her hand falling limp into the tub.
Mary Parker had gone, leaving Tony with only the sounds of the pouring rain and her wailing baby son.