It was strange the lack of sound and smell and total absence of fear. Tony felt blank, empty, the process of chewing and eating automatically as if his brain was still floating in that terrible vast silent void.

His senses were dull, dialled down to almost the lowest setting as his body had finally had enough and he had done it himself. In a way he supposed his subconscious mind had made that decision. He had tried to reach his Guide through JARVIS on that terrifying journey to the unknown and when he couldn't he had purposely dulled their bond. The thought of John being hurt by his actions broke what was left of his mutilated shredded heart.

He might have saved the world with his mad dash into nothingness but it was a happy bi-product of his sole reason for being. Protecting his Guide. Tony Stark's primary goal when he flew that nuke through the dimensional rift into space straight at the Chitauri mothership had been to protect his Guide. His Guide and their child, his acknowledged step son, his own small tribe. Allowing those space monstrosities to gain a foothold and putting his family in danger was never an option he would tolerate.

After the heat and roar of the battle, the utter black terrifying silence of space even when the nuke had detonated, the freefall where the only sound to keep him company was the slowly halting breaths from his body and the faltering heartbeat, it was strange to sit amongst the group of people he had nearly died with, died for, actually died because of and slowly munch on a mouthful of shawarma as they all sank deeper into their own thoughts instead of speaking to each other.

Tony knew he would need to speak to his Guide soon and that was not as conversation that he was looking forward to. If he had previously thought it was hard confessing his sins to Pepper, then springing this on his Guide was in a whole other league. But he couldn't regret any of his actions.
Hopefully John would have slept through the whole fucking thing. He had been on night shift for a couple of weeks so he normally took a sleeping tablet to help him get some shut eye in the middle of the day. As it was a Saturday their baby Sentinel would be curled under the covers and out for the count still like any other normal teenager. So the pair of them should have missed the no doubted televised clusterfuck.

His Guide and their son were safe. JARVIS was safe. Pepper and Rhodey were safe. The important people in his life were safe from an Alien Invasion. If he wasn't so tired that phrase might have made him laugh. It sounded like something from a bad 70's B movie special.

Exhaustion, physical and emotional, hung over them all like a thick miasma. Every one of them buried deep in their own thoughts but oddly comforted by the physical presence of the others.
The soft sounds of chewing and swallowing, the gentle breathing, the slow movements, and delicate tinkle of the cutlery against the crockery. A lulling gentle hypnotic flow that no one was willing to or wanted to interrupt.

The voice of Stark's AI in their still active headphones startled everyone out of their semi stupor.
"Sir, I apologise for the interruption but I have a call for you"

Tony scowled as he tried to stay calm. "Not a good time right now Jay, take a message". His voice was hoarse and dry as he took a sip from the glass of water. Christ he could do with a proper drink but he had promised not to, he had promised them both, and they had both promised Stiles. If John could do it so could he. He wasn't fucking Howard who couldn't keep his word to save his life, the only promise that bastard had kept was to search for Captain America. He hadn't even honoured his own marriage vows.
Tony in direct contradiction to his father always tried his hardest to keep his promises.

He rubbed tiredly at his face as he muttered "God damn vultures on the board of Directors, I am seriously going to have to do something about them" but before he could continue in that vein, his next words were cut off by his AI's implacable tones.
"I apologise Sir but you need to take this call, its young Master Stilinski"

Tony's head shot up and his eyes widened with alarm, there was a pregnant pause as the call was connected "Stiles? Stiles is everything okay? Are you alright?" he queried urgently.

Surprise was reflected on the faces of the other Avengers at the change in Tony's tone and attitude. Rodgers gaze flickered from Tony to Banner, with a raised eyebrow. Banner shrugged his shoulders briefly but his attention was all on Tony. Thor leaned back in the puny chair, ignoring the ominous creaking and stared with mild fascination at the Man of Iron. Midgardians were …interesting even when petty.
Only Agent Barton saw the minuscule frown that crossed the Black Widow's face before she relaxed back with a smirk to continue her meal. So she knew what was going on. No surprise there then.

"Tony" a young male voice almost whispered with what sounded suspiciously like a sob at the end of the name. They could all hear the hitch in the kid's breathing as if he was fighting back tears.

Stark reacted like he had been shot, in fact the flinch was more telling, because it had become obvious during the battle the stubborn bastard ignored those kind of physical injuries until he physically couldn't anymore.

"Hey kid what's the matter? Harris giving you grief at school again or has your Dad grounded you because of more shenanigans with Scotty?" The attempt at cheerful conversation was so patently false that even Thor winced. There was a stunned silence and then it was as if they could feel the rage pour off the kid before he even drew breath to begin his rant.

"Grounded…grounded?" The boy's voice became higher pitched as he got more and more incensed "Yeah let's talk about the ground shall we you moronic mega red and gold painted douche head? As in staying on it and not boldly flying off into a rift in the atmosphere like Peter freaking Pan for a freaking one way trip with a freaking nuclear weapon strapped to your chest you great big bag of dicks"

Clint choked on the mouthful of food. He narrowly avoided inhaling it. But the noise didn't stop the infuriated youngster from his tirade. Steve's mouth dropped open and Banner's eyes widened. They all stared at Stark who uncharacteristically had paled and then winced whilst he rubbed at his temples. "You er know about that huh?" he almost mumbled.

They all stared in disbelief as Stark the master of the spoken word, dissemination and distraction seemed not to know what to say to the frantic youngster. Tony Stark of the quick and deadly tongue never mumbled.

Tony's words seemed to set the kid off again. "Know about it? We felt it, we fucking saw that clusterfuck Dude in glorious New York technicolour"
Banner wasn't sure how it was possible that Tony's face whitened even further. He sat up in his chair, concerned for his team mate's health. Steve stiffened, dear god the kid had a mouth on him and it wasn't decent the way he was spouting off.

"Young Man, you are speaking to a hero of the Battle of New York, you show him the respect he deserves. He was prepared to die to save us all" Roger's stern voice was in full Captain America mode as he reprimanded the nearly hysterical brat who was running off his ungrateful mouth to a strangely hesitant and tentative Stark.

The deadly glare Stark flashed at him shocked him to the core, then the kid responded and it shut Steve up immediately.

"I don't know who you are Dude and I don't care but my Al.., my Tony does not have the fucking right to get himself killed"

Eyebrows shot up, confused expressions were the norm, except for the Black Widow who serenely continued to eat her meal.

Barton snorted "Got yourself a toy boy Stark?" Natasha's slight raise of an eyebrow was her version of her rolling her eyes. Banner did roll his. Roger's took a few seconds to catch on. But when he did, it was interesting that he gave Barton a moue of disapproval for the implication instead of judging Stark. Thor opened his mouth to ask the obvious question but he was cut off before he could utter a word.

The twin growls of outrage from the boy on the air and the man suddenly standing menacingly before him clarified things in a shocking instance of understanding. Well god damn. They were Sentinels. Tony Stark was a Sentinel? How the hell had he managed to keep it together throughout the battle without losing control of his senses and going feral? The kid had nearly called him his Alpha. Tony Stark was an Alpha Sentinel?

The rest of the team slowly rose to their feet eyeing an enraged Stark with obvious concern.
"Tony" Banner began soothingly but Tony's attention was directed away from Hawkeye as he picked up on something else the kid had said.

Although he didn't relax his menacing posture in the slightest and the snarl on his faced directed towards the Archer was disconcerting, most of Tony's attention was on listening to the kid.
Barton threw an assessing glance at the other members of the team. Banner seemed to have caught a clue if the look in his eyes was anything to go by. The guy was another bonafide genius even if he did have a smashing green alter ego.
Tash obviously already knew and she was in a shit ton of trouble for not mentioning that salient fact to her fucking partner. It was not the most sensible idea to go into a fight with a Sentinel at your side if you didn't know they were a damn Sentinel. Too many chances for something to go wrong.
But Rogers and the hammer wielding caped alien prince dude still seemed oblivious. Did they even have Sentinels and Guides on that freaky ass planet? As for Rogers maybe it was something to do with his war time sensibilities, Sentinels and Guides had been a bit of a mystery to the ordinary Joe in those days. The sound of Tony's voice pulled him back from his fast assessment of the situation.

"Stiles, you said "We", "We saw it". Is your Dad, is John….?" He couldn't seem to finish the words, horrified realisation dawning on his face.

"Supposed to be a surprise, surprise for you. Planned it, planned everything. Got, got Pepper to free up your schedule."
Christ, John and Stiles were in New York. They had been here the whole time. They were right in the middle of the battle. If he hadn't taken care of that fucking nuke, his pride, his family would be gone. He was going to fucking destroy the World Security Council. He would make it his main priority. He could feel his Sentinel itch beneath his skin, could feel the primal instincts flooding through his body but damn it, he couldn't afford to give into it yet. But he would, he damn well would luxuriate in his Sentinel when he could finally set him at those utter bastards.

The kid was stuttering, sobs hitching with every other word as he seemed to break apart. The boy's breathing and sentence structure grew more erratic.
Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, his suit was too damaged to fly. He needed to get to his kid. If the fucking Chitauri weren't dead already he would go back up with another ten fucking nukes because those bastards had damaged his suit when he needed to get to Stiles.

JARVIS's voice smoothly cut in on their private line as Tony realised that Stiles was having a panic attack. Guilt flooded his mind, Stiles had been doing so much better after he, John and the Alpha Primes had dealt with his supernatural secrets. The kid had just started to relax again, accept his Sentinel status and even enjoy being a teenager. It also helped that Tony loved spoiling him, even when it pissed John off. Especially when it pissed John off. The makeup sex was always fantastic.

"Sir, I have directed Mr Hogan to young Master Stiles's location, despite the current chaos on the streets, he will be there faster than you can get to him via the damaged suit. His ETA is approximately seven minutes. I have medical on standby"

Tony nodded abruptly, his relief that help was on the way to the kid was still tinged with guilt that he wasn't the one providing it. He couldn't allow himself to lose his Sentinel shit now. He needed to talk the kid down until Happy got there. Happy knew what to do with panic attacks. He had helped Tony through enough of them.

"Stiles, Sweetheart, I need you to breath now, just breathe with me. One breath in, hold it and one breathe out. C'mon kid, it's okay now. Just breathe for me darling. You can hear me. I'm safe, I'll be with you soon. JARVIS has sent Happy to pick you up but I need you to try to calm down for me now"

Tony's voice was calm and gentle and so unlike his normal persona that Rodger's stared at him with utter confusion. He didn't know Stark had a kid. He didn't read anything about it in his file. Something else Fury had not bothered to tell him. He was going to have words with that man and if it involved some punching so be it.

"Stark, Tony is there anything we can do to help?" Steve asked earnestly. Leaving a kid to fend for himself in this dangerous chaos didn't sit right with him, even if he was a sarcastic little punk. Especially if he was a sarcastic little punk because despite the historical propaganda, Steve Rogers had been exactly the same. The Howling Commandos, Bucky, Colonel Phelps and his Ma would all have confirmed that.

Tony's eyes flickered over to him and something softened in his face, the smile was small but genuinely warm as he held up his hand and shook his head as he concentrated on calming his baby Sentinel.

Tony was well acquainted with Stiles panic attacks. He had learnt how to recognise them from the minute changes in his breathing and the frantic throb of his heartbeat because the stubborn little shit wouldn't let his Stepfather know it was happening if he could get away with it, he would hide in his room with some stupid music blaring especially his Dad wasn't around to feel his distress and call him out on his bullshit.
Tony was desperate to hear him calm down but he knew he couldn't extend his senses more today or he would zone and John would kick his ass.

Oh God John. His Guide. Why wasn't he with their boy? Tony desperately pulled on the bond that he had deliberately dulled to spare his bond mate any pain but he could barely feel him. There was no way in hell John would have left Stiles to fend for himself in that fucking nightmare battle.
Where the hell was his Guide? Where the hell was his husband?

AN:

This is a three part time stamp that would not allow me to write anything else in this Universe until I finished it. The Sheriff wanted to deliver an arse kicking for Tony's flying into space stunt and what the Sheriff wants, he gets.

I have my plan for the next part of the main story but no, I had to write this first. There shouldn't be any spoilers for the story I intend to write. Hope you enjoy this little interlude. Be warned, the Sheriff is enraged. (Looking at you Natasha / Steve/ Fury)

No infringement intended.