While Natasha was settling in, getting her sleeping bag into the tent and looking around the immediate area of the campsite, the others settled themselves at the picnic table. Stephen and Tony started playing cards, and Peter went to work on the cloak, cleaning it with the special solution that Strange produced, and the towel that would keep the dirt, blood and smoky residue from smearing.
The cloak muttered sullenly in his mind when he started cleaning it, but Peter ignored it, reminding the relic that it didn't like to be dirty even more than it didn't like to be damp. He brushed his hand against one of the small tears caused by the fight with the bear, and rubbed it, absently.
"Does it hurt?" he asked the cloak.
There was a negative response, and a corner of fabric came up and caressed his cheek so tenderly that Peter had to smile. Stark and Strange stopped their game to watch.
"That isn't natural," Stark murmured to Stephen.
"What? A boy having a two way conversation with an ancient magical cape that saved him from a wild bear attack? What's unnatural about that?"
Peter heard the comment, but didn't respond. He was focused on the cloak just then.
"Is there anything I can do to help you get fixed?"
It was ripped because of him, after all.
It gave him another negative answer, and he went back to cleaning it, his touch as gentle as he could make it while still getting the thing clean.
"It won't take long for it to mend, Peter," Strange guaranteed him, smiling as Natasha came over and sat down beside him, across from Peter. "A few days, at the most, and you won't even be able tell where it was torn."
"Unlike Peter, who will take at least twice that," Tony said, reaching over with his free hand and ruffling the boy's hair, affectionately.
By the time the cloak was clean – very damp, but clean and no longer smelling like the fire pit for the moment, at least, they were all ready to eat. Over a simple meal of sandwiches and chips, Natasha asked them what kind of wildlife they'd seen so far – other than bears, of course. All three of the guys pulled out their cameras to show her what they'd managed to capture so far, and she had to admit that she was pretty impressed – especially of the one Stephen had taken of the deer at the lake with the sun rising behind them all.
Ater they finished eating, Peter retired to a chair by the water, bundled with a couple of blankets since the cloak was wet and had draped itself over the side of the pickup bed, apparently deciding if it had dried their clothes so well, it was probably the best place for it to be dried as well.
Stephen approved whole-heartedly and joined him, sitting in a chair as well, his foot propped up on a handy log, also covered in several blankets. The sun was up, but there were a line of clouds coming in and they were keeping it from being as warm as it had been the previous days. Both ended up falling asleep, not surprisingly, and Stark and Romanoff simply made sure they weren't in any precarious position that might dump them from their seats and let them sleep.
It had actually been what Tony had hoped for.
"Do you mind watching Peter for me?" he asked her, standing near the picnic table.
She frowned.
"Where are you going?"
"Bear hunting."
"What?"
"I'm going to see if I can find those cubs – and mamma."
"Can you do that?"
He shrugged, activating most of the Ironman suit but leaving his head free and clear – it was easier to talk to her this way.
"Shouldn't be a problem. He said there were two babies, and I'll find them, first. Make sure they're okay and then look for a wounded adult and see if they're anywhere near each other. Stephen couldn't tell me exactly where his portal terminated, but he gave me a general direction."
"You softie…"
He shrugged.
"Don't tell Peter, okay? I don't want to get his hopes up if it doesn't work."
She nodded.
"Happy hunting."
OOOOOOOOOO
It wasn't quite that easy. For one thing, he had to be careful when and where he used his thrusters in the trees. The last thing he needed was to start a forest fire being careless. Luckily, he had Friday to double check everywhere that he activated them, making sure there wasn't even a chance of catching something on fire.
He found a good place to begin and then simply hovered just above the trees and gave the AI free rein to scan the area. He didn't know how much a cub would travel any given day, and the database Friday was tapped into said it varied by individual so that wasn't any help. He wasn't worried, though. His scanners were up to finding a needle in a haystack, they could certainly find bear cubs in a tract of trees.
During the next ten minutes Tony found out just what a dizzying array of creatures there actually were in this area of woodland. He sifted the information that Friday was tossing at him easily, he was used to doing it in a combat situation, after all, and this was anything but that. The AI would see a creature, classify it absently and go onto the next, while Stark watched its progress. The place teemed with all kinds of little things; rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, skunks – like Peter had already shown them – and even a couple of porcupines. There were also deer a plenty, hanging out in groups or separately, and he was surprised to see pigs go flashing through the data. Even a coyote that seemed to be wandering aimlessly, probably looking for a rabbit.
"Got the babies," Friday announced, cutting into his contemplation.
Two little bears came up on his HUD, four miles away and not moving.
"Are we sure they're right ones?"
"Nope. But they're the only ones within the area that fit the scope of my scanning parameters. I found mom, too."
"Really? You're sure?"
The imagine joined the cubs on his HUD. Much bigger, much further away – thanks to Strange – and even limping just as Peter had said.
"There aren't a lot of bears in the area," The AI informed him. "It wasn't that hard."
He scowled, thinking that maybe Friday was spending too much time with Pepper. Or maybe he'd done too good a job of things.
"Injuries to the mother?"
"Puncture wound on the rear left flank."
"Caused by an arrow, most likely, then…"
"You'd have to ask her. It is consistent with the size of the head on the arrow Peter found."
"Bastards." Tony wasn't heartless, and certainly didn't hate nature, after all. It was his idea to go camping in the first place. "Let's pick up the kids and get them closer to momma."
Rounding up two half-grown bear cubs wasn't an easy task – even for Ironman. It wasn't dangerous, really. He had the suit and it had handled the mother just fine, but he was in thick brush and didn't dare use thrusters so he ended up running after them, feeling like he was chasing down chickens, or greased pigs. The cubs seemed to realize that they were his targets and didn't want anything to do with him. He plucked one out of a tree, holding it with as gently as he could in one metal encased arm as it wriggled and squealed against his side, and then found the brother caught up in a tangle of blackberry bushes. With one in each arm, doing unmentionable things on his Ironman suit – things that bears were only supposed to do in the woods – Tony found a safe clearing and directed Friday back into the air.
OOOOOOOO
Peter and Natasha were playing chess when Stark walked out of the woods. They both looked up at his approach, and he stole the bottle of water that was by the boy's captured pieces. Taking a drink, he sat down next to Peter, winking at Romanoff cheerfully.
"Where'd you go?" Peter asked, curiously. "Natasha said you went for a hike."
He would have gone, if he'd been awake. Spending time with Stark was one of the things he enjoyed best, after all.
"I went looking for those cubs you were so worried about."
The boy's eyebrows went up in surprise.
"Really?"
"You'll be happy to know they are safe and sound and have been found by their mother."
"Is she okay?"
"She is fine. You were right, though; she does have an injury. Probably that arrow you found. Friday says it isn't life threatening and will heal."
Peter smiled, and couldn't help but hug Tony – both in relief for something that had been nagging at him and because he knew instinctively that Tony had done what he'd done for him. Tony rolled his eyes when he saw Romanoff's warm smile at the sight, but he put his arms around the boy and hugged him back, carefully, and only let him go when Peter released him.
The boy wasn't going to be willing to hug him like that once he got older, and Tony knew it.
"I'll call the rangers and let them know where I found her."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. But now you have to help do dishes tonight."
Fair was fair. Cleaning baby bear crap off the Ironman suit had not been his idea of entertainment, after all.
Peter grinned.
"Okay."
