Quick A/N before we all start this next chapter. So the last one I posted was slightly confusing due to the whole operation at the start. I don't want to fully give it all away, but basically, the operation that was happening was before Tony had gone to see and talk to Dr. Storen and if you reread the end of Ned's chapter, you'll have Peter's point of view for a few moments. He hears people speaking and if you read what he hears and then go back to the last chapter I posted, you can actually read what was going on in the operation room when he had woken up in Ned's chapter. Anyways, I noticed the last chapter I posted was slightly boring, so now I present you with a medium sized, awesome chapter. (Hopefully it's awesome)
PS-There are multiple foreshadows in this chapter, look out for them! ;)
Enjoy!
•*Spider*•*Man*•
Chapter 8- Call, Rustles, and That Voice
Present-Monday 1:58 in the Evening
"I know it's a long ways, but I wouldn't doubt he'd love to see you again...besides...I need someone to talk to."
Tony sighed into the phone as if to make it even more of a desperate call.
"Do you seriously think that he actually would want to see me? The person he'd probably want to see is Steve, if anyone." They replied.
"I doubt it. If he were here, it'd probably be war all over again. And the kid might even try to help me if it weren't for a broken neck and like six casts." Retorted Tony.
The person on the other side sighed, chuckled, and then held their breath a moment before deciding, "Fine. I'll be over in a couple of hours. See you then."
"See you then." Tony replied.
The hero hung up the phone and sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face before checking the time.
"Two o'clock." He muttered silently. He put the phone in his pocket and then stood up, leaving the hospital cafeteria.
He grimaced at the smell as he passed the bathroom, both reek and foul smells floated in the air with a hint of something that would make any grown man gag at the smell of it.
Speed walking toward the stairs, Tony jogged up the two flights of polished quarts with slight struggle.
He had, had no sleep in the past three days. Both him and May were told that Peter would wake up in a day. But that didn't happen. In fact, the opposite happened. The kid had coded, while in sleep, and almost had a full on seizure. But luckily, Dr. Storen had sedated him and kept him alive. After a full night of monitoring and a machine breathing for him, he was stable once more.
Now it was the the third day, nothing but the steady beeping of the heart monitor was heard in the room. And no movement had been seen from Peter ever since.
Ned had gone off to school this morning. May had insisted and forced him to, no matter how much he had wanted to stay, the aunt wouldn't take no for an answer.
Tony stepped through the double doors and breathed out slowly through his mouth, trying not to scream as he thought about the situation.
Walking towards the hallway that the younger Avenger's room was in, the hero was stopped by a kind nurse almost bumping into him.
"Oh, I'm sorry!-" She cupped a hand over her mouth as she backed up a bit, her papers now splayed all over the floor.
Tony's eyes widened slightly. He backed up and looked at the nurse that was bending down and picking her notes up. He crouched down and grabbed some of her notes too, handing them over as an apology.
"No, I'm sorry." He smiled slightly, and apologetically, toward her as he stood up again. She stood up too, blushing lightly before finally looking him in the eyes.
Her eyes widened, the blush disappearing, "I-I know you!" She exclaimed, raised eyebrows and a smile on her face.
"Tony Stark." He said his name slowly, as if talking to someone who didn't speak English.
She nodded quickly, "Yea- Oh! Why are you here?"
Tony opened his mouth to say, but hesitated, trying to figure how to say it.
"For A...friend." He dragged out, face palming inwardly with his stupidity.
"Right, that makes sense. Well, I hope your 'friend' is okay!" She smiled a little, putting the rest of her papers back into place before turning around quickly, before he had a chance to read her name tag.
"Hey-" he reached out as if to almost grab her moving arm, but stopped himself.
She whipped around, and like she read his mind, she smiled, "It's Michelle." before ducking her head and speed walking away like a frightened little girl.
Tony stood there a moment before blinking a couple times. He shook his head as if to get rid of something in his vision, and walked on.
Entering the room with silent footsteps, he peered in. Silence. Beeping monitor, but other than that, silence.
Tony's eyes travelled to the seat beside Peter's bed. Aunt May was sitting, slumped, and eyes closed.
He wasn't sure if he should leave again, or stay, so he did the worst thing he could do instead. A typical Tony Stark move.
"May?" He whispered, slowly walking up to the bed and it's occupants.
The aunt stayed slumped, not moving and not blinking. She was breathing though, that was for sure, Tony noted with a mental kick for thinking that.
He sighed and backed up, turning to face the doorway when he heard a rustle behind him.
Slowly turning to face the sound, his eyes narrowed, having that all to familiar feeling that something was wrong.
At first, he looked to Peter, just to make sure the fifteen year old wasn't the one that made the sound. The slings and casts stayed unmoved, and his eyes were closed. Looking down to the kid's hand, he looked carefully for a few moments, just to make sure he didn't miss any movement, even slight movement. But there was no sign that he was awake, just the usual, so Tony looked to May next.
The aunt was still slumped. No matter what, it looked like she was out for good until someone threw her across the room to wake her up.
He looked up and around the now eerily silent - disregarding the monitors still - room with a flare of protectiveness in his eyes. If anyone wanted to hurt that kid or his aunt any further, they'd have to go through Iron Man first.
But nothing moved. Nothing spoke. No one even blinked. Tony held his breath though, not risking it. He knew he had only heard it once, and he was probably just hearing things from lack of sleep, but he also knew that in this world, anything was possible.
He let out a breath again, turning back to the door as if he was about to leave. He glanced down to his hand and pressed the button that he always had secretly on the inside of his sleeve cuffs.
Starting to walk toward the doorway again, nothing moved. He heard the squeaky silent rubber of the bottom of his shoes rubbing against the tiled hospital floor as he reached the hospital door. He stopped as he placed a hand on the door's handle, ready to leave the room without a care.
And then, a rustle. And another. Now Tony knew something was in here with him, something or someone.
The rustles became slightly louder, as if someone was trying to either move around to get comfortable in a bean bag, or was scrambling massively hard to get away from something.
Tony silently -even without the squeak in his shoe- sneaked toward the closet, where the sound was coming from. He reached out and closed his eyes a moment, ready for anything.
He slowly placed his hand on the short, slim handle of the closet's slid shut door, and held his breath.
He yanked it open, raising a fist and taking out a flipped open pocket knife in seconds.
"Ah!" The 'monster' shrieked, shrinking away and putting his hands up as a signal that he wanted no trouble.
"Ned?" Tony's brows furrowed in confusion, lowering his weapon and fist. He flipped the knife shut and stood there for a moment before helping the teenager up.
"First of all, why are you hiding in the closet? And secon-" Tony started, but got interrupted by an annoyed aunt steps behind him.
"-Second of all, why are you even here?! You should be in school!" She seethed, half asleep and half angry awake. And partially annoyed by the alarming awakening.
Ned put his hands up again, backing up. He almost tripped over his stacked up blankets, but caught his balance and stared at the two adults and their penetrating, twin glares and confused faces.
"Guys, I had too! It's Peter!He's my best friend. You can shove me out of this room all you want- no, go and shove me out of the freaking hospital! I will not stop." He ranted, hands folded and feet placed in an I'm-Not-Moving stance.
Tony blinked a couple times before glancing at May and then back at the teen, "What? You won't stop what? And how did you get in the closet in the first place?"
Ned's eyes narrowed, "I won't stop trying. I will stay with my best friend until he wakes up. Then I can go to school. Besides, I would be too sleepy and too worried to learn anything in any of the classes anyways."
Tony heard May step up behind him, and then stand beside him with a raised eyebrow.
"Have you been hiding in this closet all day?"
Tony slowly turned to look at her with wide eyes. Was she not wanting to know how he got in in the first place?
Ned lowered his head like a punished dog, glancing up a few times. "Maybe. But who really cares, it was really comfy in here. And I've been able to sleep some. You know, without the worry consuming me."
May stepped forward once more and wrapped her arms around him. Not saying a word.
"You sure about that? Because from what I heard, it sounded like you were dying from wiggle disease." Tony dead panned, watching the scene.
Ned and May both smiled, not that Tony could even see it, but they were laughing on the inside.
May backed away, her hands on Ned's shoulders with stern eyes, "If you do this again, I'm dragging you to school. I don't care what time of the day it is. Especially since it's past two already, you'd have an hour left. Even less than that."
She took one hand off before speaking again, "This conversation isn't over by the way. But I have to ask...have you eaten breakfast or lunch?"
Tony sighed, backing away from the two. He knew he wasn't exactly welcomed when it came to May Parker and that family. But he hoped that she knew just how much this made him feel guilty.
"No, not exactly. I told you, I was pretty much sleeping all this morning. Well, I played video games to pass the time, but I mean...no, I haven't eaten today." Tony heard Ned explain.
Without another word, the ironclad hero left the three in the room and stepped into the hallway.
He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. Happy. Happy! Happy was what he needed.
His eyes darted from left to right in the hallway, people rushing here and there and speed walking to and from places. No, he didn't see Michelle.
Crap.
"Okay, Happy." He muttered, digging his phone from the pocket and speed walking away from the room.
"H-H-H." He said the letter many times, scrolling down the H names that filled his contacts before finally getting to Happy Hogan's contact.
He tapped call and put it to his ear, walking toward the elevator. He was too tired to walk the stairs again and needed his breath to talk on the phone anyways.
After a couple of unanswered rings, the person on the other line answered with a deep sigh, "Tony?"
"Happy. You sound depressed, what happened?" He asked, stepping into the elevator and pressing 1.
"I'm not. But something did happen. Where are you?" Questioned Happy, his tone perking up very slightly.
"At the hospital. I'm about to leave, where are you? We need to discuss this. Face to face, I mean." Replied Tony, watching the elevators doors close and the elevator bump slightly as it started going.
"Is...Is he awake yet?"
Tony didn't need to know who it was he was asking about to be elaborated, and replied calmly, "No...He..." The hero trailed off. He wasn't sure if he should tell Happy about the coding and the scary silence. So he chose not too, and instead said, "He hasn't woken up. But the doctor told us not to worry. It might actually be a good thing, since it gives him more time to heal. Although, we still need to know what all happened..."
There was silence on the other side as the elevator dinged and the door slid open with a whirring sound.
Finally, Happy spoke up, "We may know where it is."
"Where..the monster is?" Asked Tony, eyebrows furrowed and walking out of the elevator. He nodded to the woman behind the register as he walked past, finally meeting up with the double doors at the front.
"Yeah. They spotted some movement south of Queens. Someone had called the police, saying that some creepy guy with a cloak was breaking into a home across the street." Happy replied.
Tony nodded, walking through the front doors and toward the parking lot.
"Alright. Where are you?" He repeated, staring down at the pavement.
"Here." The voice came from in front of him and through the phone. Tony's head snapped up, seeing Happy and-
"Hey Tony." Steve smiled slightly, almost sad.
Tony's eyes widened and he slowly turned to look at Happy, shocked.
