Author's Notes: I'm so overwhelmed by the fantastic reviews and discussion of this fic! Thank you all so very much!
Canon Notes: Some of you who read the X-Men comics will have noticed by now that this fic makes use of some of their villains, though I don't follow the comics canon much on Graydon Creed, Alan Lewis, or the Sentinels. Rather, I put them in a context based on current events. Speaking of current events, President Ronald Bunt is an original character...sort of. As a rule, I avoid RPF, and even if I didn't, I would not have that name appear in my fanfic. I have standards.
Chapter Three
Ned and MJ had left a dozen messages with the number for Peter's old internship before school was even out. Flash laughed at them. "Look at you two, he hasn't even been gone an hour, and you're all Mission Impossible!"
Principal Morita and Mr. Carpenter weren't laughing. Principal Morita pulled them aside and said, "Do not start gossip by discussing this with your classmates, but if you hear from Peter or from Stark Industries, I want you to let me know. I haven't reached them yet, and I don't like what just happened."
"We will," MJ half-whispered. She sounded more scared than Ned had ever imagined, and that was scaring him more than anything ever had – including that elevator ride in the Washington Monument.
"Has – has someone called Peter's Aunt May?" Ned croaked. Please don't make me be the one to do it!
"I'll do it," said Principal Morita, to Ned's relief.
So the two of them kept their mouths shut, even though the whole damn school had heard that a couple of federal agents had pulled Peter Parker out of class, and everybody had questions. Mr. Harrington slapped Flash with detention for continuing to say Peter Parker'd been arrested for terrorism after Ms. Warren told him to stop. Then he let Ned and MJ sit in his classroom after canceling decathlon practice.
Finally, three hours after school was out, the teachers told them there was still no news, so Ned decided to go to Peter's. Maybe somebody'd just forgotten to let them know and he was home already.
"I'll go with you," MJ muttered.
They knocked, but nobody was home. Ned called Peter's phone, and it went to voicemail. His texts went unanswered.
The next day, Peter wasn't back. Mr. Carpenter pulled Ned aside and asked if he'd heard anything. That told Ned that the teachers didn't know anything either.
Ned cracked at the end of the day and called Peter's Aunt May. "H-hello?"
Oh God, she's crying. "Hi…Hi, it's Ned Leeds."
"Ned? H-have you heard anything about where Peter is?"
"No." His throat was tightening up, it was getting hard to breathe…MJ came down the hall, saw the look on Ned's face, and actually ran up to him. Ned shook his head at her and choked out, "I'm sorry, I haven't, I was calling to see if you had. I'm sorry!"
"Nobody'll tell me!" Aunt May cried. "I can't find him, Ned! I can't reach Tony Stark! I don't know where they've taken him!"
"Who is that?" MJ whispered.
"His Aunt May," Ned mouthed.
"I've gotta go, in case someone calls, if you hear, Ned, tell me!"
"I promise, I promise, bye!" Ned gasped, and ended the call. "Oh my God. MJ…she doesn't know where he is."
MJ leaned against the wall, her hands over her mouth. "I told him not to go with them. Shit. What the hell can we even do?"
Ned's mind raced. What would the Avengers do, if one of them was missing? Who do the Avengers call? Hell, the Avengers don't have to call… He pushed himself off the wall. "I'm going downtown. To Stark Tower. I'm gonna – talk to them where he used to work, see if somebody can get Mr. Stark in touch with Peter's aunt."
"But the Avengers aren't there anymore!"
"I know, but – but Stark Industries still has offices in there, and I can get there faster than Avengers headquarters upstate. There's gotta be somebody who can get Mr. Stark on the phone!"
"I'll go with you - "
"No! No - look, MJ, sorry, but you can't. The stuff Peter did for Mr. Stark - it was kinda hush-hush, okay?" Ned explained awkwardly. "I'm not even supposed to know, I only found out by accident. I know Mr. Stark'll care, if we can just get word to him!"
MJ stared at him for several breaths. "He's…" She caught herself. "Okay. Okay. If there's anything I can do, text me, okay? No matter what time it is."
"I will. Thanks."
Happy Hogan never forgave himself for not listening to those messages sooner. Peter Parker left tons of messages and texts and vlogs for Happy and Tony. Happy didn't always screen them right away.
As a result, he didn't find out the kid was in trouble until one of his little buddies showed up at the Stark Industries offices in the Tower and said enough words for Friday's algorithms to alert him.
"Happy, you should know there's a teenaged boy in the SI Tower office lobby who seems to know that Spider-Man is Peter Parker," said Friday. "And he's awfully upset."
"Hm." Happy checked his usual channels. "No alerts have come in from the suit. He hasn't even been out on patrol since the weekend. Anything in his messages or the other incoming lines?"
"Happy?" said Friday after the 2.3 seconds it took for the AI to search them. "I'm calling the boss in from Santorini. I think we have a serious situation."
"Boss, you better get back here. Federal agents pulled Peter Parker out of class thirty-six hours ago, and nobody knows where he is now, including his aunt."
Upon getting Happy and Friday's message, Tony dropped what he was doing, donned his suit, and flew from Santorini to the New Avengers Facility at Mach 2. "Get his aunt to the compound along with anybody else who saw them take him."
Four hours later, Tony arrived at the compound to find Aunt May on the verge of a nervous breakdown, an absolutely terrified buddy of Peter's, and two of the kid's high school teachers. "What the hell happened?"
"Why don't you know?!" Aunt May practically screamed at him.
He got the scant facts out of Principal Morita – James Morita III, yes, grandson of that James Morita, incredible. Any other time, Tony would've wanted to quiz the guy on history, but not today.
"God help me, I should've told the front office to call 911," Morita spat, fists clenched. "I got their names – Corporal Graydon Creed and Corporal Alan Lewis. Both ICE officers, but they said they were part of a special team investigating mutants and enhanced. I've been researching since – there is such a subdivision. It was formed when the Sokovia Accords were implemented; it's called the Sentinel Program. But nobody in the police department has a contact for them, and I've called in a lot of favors."
"I have friends at downtown headquarters too," said the teacher whose class Peter had been yanked from. "They confirmed that a Peter Parker was brought in for questioning, he seemed well-behaved, but he kept trying to lawyer up and asking for his guardian. As far as they knew, everything was fine, and Creed and Lewis were taking him home. Nobody has a clue where they actually took him."
Aunt May sobbed as she paced back and forth. Tony intercepted her. "I'm gonna find him," he promised. "I'm gonna find where he's being held, and if there's even one bruise on him, I will bring down every government office responsible, up to and including the Ronald Bunt administration, you hear me? I swear it."
"What do I do?" she choked out.
He handed her a Starkphone with a panic button built in that he'd designed after the Mandarin business. "This can't be turned off, and the battery won't die. See this big red panic button on the back? It does exactly what it sends on the tin: if you feel threatened by anyone, even the neighborhood drunk, you press it. If you see Peter or get information about where he is, you press it. It'll call me directly – myself, no operators, no middlemen. Me. I'll call you when I know anything."
She burst into tears again, and Morita went to hug her, thankfully sparing Tony the obligation. "Take them home," he told Happy.
"Mr. Stark!" the kid ran after him. Happy went to catch him, but Tony held up a hand. "Mr. Stark," the kid leaned forward and whispered, "I know Peter's Spider-Man."
"Ah, so you're the one who helped him hack my suit."
The kid looked like hell, and Tony immediately felt bad. "I thought…what if they took him because he's Spider-Man?"
"Believe me, kid, that thought is foremost on my mind." Tony had an aide bring him another phone with a panic button. "Did you catch everything I said to Aunt May about when to push this button?"
"Yes, sir."
"You do the exact same thing, hear me?"
As they left, Tony doubted anything would come through to the civilians, but you never knew. So now the U.S. government – or worse, someone else – had been holding Peter for over a day, and Tony was just now finding out. "Friday, what've we got from facial recognition searches?"
"It's not good, Boss. The last hit was yesterday afternoon, about four hours after Peter was taken. He was captured by CCTV leaving police headquarters with Corporal Graydon Creed and Corporal Alan Lewis in a different vehicle than he arrived in. He may not have realized that the back of the vehicle was self-contained and pressurized once the door was closed."
Tony's heart sank. "Please tell me that wasn't a Stark design."
"…Sorry, Boss."
It'd been a supposedly non-violent containment measure, to sedate an out-of-control enhanced or mutant suspect. Cheap and easy to install in government vehicles. Tony had designed it for civilian law enforcement in 2015.
Of course, if they wanted to cut to the chase, they could switch out sedative gas with something lethal easy enough – no, no, no, I am so not thinking along those lines yet. "Find the vehicle. I'm impounding it. Get me a reason. Tell Vision to meet me wherever it is. We need to know what they gave Peter and fast. And find me those two agents."
"Already on it, Boss."
Vision met Tony at one of the police garages with a kit to identify any chemicals that had been in the back seat chamber. "I'm detecting heavy concentrations of halothane," said Vision. "Also chloroform."
Two powerful sedatives that could be made odorless. "Anything lethal?" Tony's voice was almost steady.
"No. There are also hairs on the seat that we should collect. We know that young Peter was in this vehicle, but the hair will confirm whether he was sedated."
"Do it. Friday, what's our progress on tracking those agents or this car?"
"The vehicle was passed through security at Laguardia on Tuesday evening, Boss, two hours after Peter was last seen. There was no visible passenger in the back seat, but he might have been lying down by that point. They entered a high-security zone where there are no cameras."
"Meaning he could be anywhere on God's green earth. DAMN IT!" Tony slammed his fist into the trunk of the car. No dent, five bruised fingers. The car was reinforced.
"Boss, I have a hit on Graydon Creed. He and Alan Lewis are in the habit of attending informal meetings at the American Legion hall every few weeks. The Legion hall is rented at those times by an organization called the Friends of Humanity, dedicated to anti-mutant and enhanced activities."
"Fucking figures. Where are they stationed and how fast can I get there?"
"No records show any contact information for them within ICE, but that's consistent with ICE policies. The only reason the Sentinel Program's existence was made public is due to a leak by the Department of Justice. There is no personnel roster, no headquarters, no contact information."
"What about Creed and Lewis themselves? Do they exist, or are they ghosts?"
"They both live in Port Washington."
"Awfully fancy neighborhood for a couple of low-ranking federal employees."
Vision stood up. "Tony, it will violate several laws if we accost law enforcement officers at their places of residence."
Tony almost swung at him. He managed to restrain himself, but snarled, "I want my kid back. I want him now. If they thought it was worth gassing him unconscious in the back of a car, I don't consider their intentions honorable. He's a citizen, he was entitled to a lawyer and his guardian, he got neither, and somebody's answering for that. I'm gonna tear this fucking city apart until I get him home. Come with me or don't. Turn me in to the same 'lawful authorities' or don't. You do what you want, Vision. I'm going."
Vision paused for only a few seconds before answering, "I'll return to the compound to test these hair samples. I'll advise you as soon as I confirmation whether Peter was sedated by those agents. Try not to physically assault them."
As the two of them launched, Tony muttered to himself, "I'll try."
Creed and Lewis were no-shows for three…fucking…days. Tony dutifully visited Aunt May every day with next to no news. He didn't tell her that the cops downtown had reported a blood sample being taken along with the usual fingerprinting, and that the results had arrived while Peter was being questioned. He didn't tell her the kid had seemed calm and believed, along with the cops, that the two agents were taking him home when he got into the back of that car. He didn't tell her that Vision had confirmed that Peter had been gassed unconscious in the back of that car, probably without any clue that he wasn't on his way home.
Without the suit, he was just a nice, trusting, all-American kid. Riding in the back of an SUV after a stern talking-to by a couple of friendly neighborhood feds. Hit with a dose of high-tech odorless gas in a chamber designed by his own goddamn mentor that probably had him under before he even realized he was getting sleepy.
I stopped manufacturing weapons. I kept on manufacturing "law enforcement aids." God damn me to hell.
Once or twice, Tony even pulled out that burner phone back at the compound. Rogers wouldn't have the resources to track down a kid taken by feds, but Romanoff and Barton would.
Or would they? Tony had Maria Hill burning up the phones to every SHIELD agent left that she still trusted. Were Romanoff and Barton likely to uncover anything that Phil Coulson wouldn't? In the end, he put the phone away without making a call. Even if Rogers was still hanging out with the rest of his rebel-without-a-cause pals, they wouldn't be able to cover any ground Tony wasn't already searching.
I don't know what to do.
As Friday and both the Stark Industries and Avengers mainframes tore through encrypted systems and hacked camera and vocal communications worldwide, Tony found himself listening to and reading every message the kid had ever left for him or for Happy.
So perky, so eager. So goddamned innocent. So beneath Tony's notice on any given day.
Come on, kid, send me another. Send me a thousand. I'll listen to them all, I promise. You'll sit next to me at the Oscars party - hell, we'll hold a viewing party before that and watch all the nominees in the media room so you can pick your favorite. We'll have pizza...or whatever you want.
What is your favorite food, anyway? Why don't I know? I should know.
Tony found himself wandering the kid's neighborhood after one of his daily visits to Aunt May. The New York Metro Area didn't know and couldn't care less, but on those few streets of Queens, Peter's picture was everywhere.
MISSING - KIDNAPPED - PETER BENJAMIN PARKER
Down by Delmar's Grocery & Deli, people were leaving flowers under a huge poster that had been made, a collage of the missing child alert and other pictures of Peter. It wasn't far from the kid's place. The owner must adore him. I bet he knows Peter Parker better than I ever will.
What the hell have I done?
Fucking Sentinel agents should be after me, not him. I want him back. Give him back!
He hugged me. I almost laughed at him. Happy and me, smirking all the way back to the Tower.
Happy thought him hugging me was funny. I thought him driving Happy to drink was funny.
I want him back. I'll hug him. This time I'll really hug him.
I promise.
When Corporal Graydon Creed finally returned home, looking tired from a trip somewhere, Iron Man paid him a personal visit and took him on a short flight, one thousand feet straight up above his house. "Where. Is. Peter. Parker?"
"Jesus, fuck, man, put me down, we're on the same side here!"
"I'll put you down all right, but whether I stay here depends on what you tell me," Tony snarled. "Where IS he?!"
"Iron Man, seriously!" the man squawked, writhing in Tony's grasp. "I don't know what you're talking about!"
"TONY!" Vision swooped in. "This is a highly inadvisable course of action."
"Either help me or shut up!" Tony shot back and returned his attention to Creed. "I'm trying to find my kid, either you tell me where he is, or I fucking drop you!"
"WHAT KID?" Creed screamed.
Vision wrapped his arms around Creed's waist and pulled. "Tony, Corporal Creed clearly does not understand your question."
"Let Vision play good cop, Boss!" Friday urged. "Creed'll tell us what he knows."
"I swear to God," Creed wailed. "I don't know what you're talking about!"
So Tony let Vision take him, but Vision stayed airborne. "Six days ago, you removed a sixteen-year-old by the name of Peter Parker from Midtown School of Science and Technology. You took him to police headquarters for questioning in connection with mutant and enhanced activities, then transported him to Laguardia Airport, sedating him with gas along the way. Where is he?"
Creed gasped. "Oh, shit, man, I didn't realize he really did know you – look, his blood test came back as enhanced, possible mutant! That means he goes up the chain! Policy's the same for everybody – we put 'em under for transport to a secured location for more questioning – I SWEAR TO GOD, I don't know where it is!" he shrieked as Tony raised a fist. "That's the point! This whole policy is to keep mutant groups and enhanced terrorists from getting their agents back!"
"HE'S A KID!" Tony roared, trying to grab Creed back from Vision. "HE'S A FUCKING KID!"
"Stark, the guy's enhanced; I'm just doing my job!"
Vision flew back to the ground, but didn't let Creed go. "What flight number was he placed on?"
Panting, Creed flapped his arm at Vision, "I don't know! Pickup crew comes for the suspects. Once they've checked the suspect out from the car, my job's done, man! I swear, I had no idea he was one of your team!"
Tony landed behind him with a thud that made Creed practically swoon into Vision's arms. "Give me your phone."
"I can't, it's classified - "
"TOUGH SHIT!" Tony ripped it from the guy's pocket and tapped Friday in. "Decrypt, top speed. I want his supervisor. I want his supervisor's supervisor. I want the agents who did this 'pick-up' at Laguardia." He was breathing almost as hard as Creed.
"On it, Boss."
Tony leaned towards Creed and purred, "I know about your little Friends of Humanity club." If possible, Creed went even whiter. He was also, quite literally, pissing himself. "If my kid is hurt, I promise you, your career will be the least of your problems."
Vision caught up with Tony at Lewis's place, and managed to prevent Tony from taking Lewis for some flight time. Lewis's story matched Creed's, and his phone wound up in Tony's suit along with Creed's. "You can't do this!" Lewis protested. "We're operating under full ICE authority, Stark! Look, if the kid was registered, I'm sorry we goofed, but this is under the full mandate of the Sokovia Accords!"
"Drugging and kidnapping teenagers was not part of that treaty!" Tony shot back. He was going to kill someone very, very soon.
"It was in our enacting legislation!" Lewis insisted. "And it's not kidnapping, come on! They're suspects and public threats! That's the whole point – if you're enhanced and you don't register, then you've broken the law!"
To Be Continued...
Coming Soon: Tony Stark is not the only person desperately searching for kidnapped children. The X-Men and fugitive Avengers have joined forces outside the law to liberate a Sentinel Program detention center - but it's not only mutant prisoners they find!
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