Chapter 37 – Favours

Three days later and Peter is stuck at home doing the work they'd been assigned from school while the builders paid for by Stark Industries repair the damage enough so they can return to class. He'd had to come away from the facility. He felt too guilty, and Tony's missing presence was like a black hole. Not to mention he couldn't do much to help with the team's efforts to find him.

Well, he muses, staring out of the window, not at the facility I couldn't. But there's a few things I might be able to do here. He's promised to keep his suit on under his clothes so the team can track him if they need to, and he's checking in through text or phone every couple of hours. They've also got surveillance through the apartment just to be on the safe side. It had all been part of the agreement Natasha had made with him in order for him to go home. She'd understood his not being able to stay there, for which he was eternally grateful.

Making his mind up he sends a text to Natasha to let her know he's heading over to Ned's to do some work; then packs some of his books into his backpack in case someone is watching and heads out the door. As soon as he's far enough away he takes out his phone.

'Baby Boy? You alright? Do you need-'

'Don't you start going paranoid on me, Pool, or I swear you won't be able to talk for webbing for a year,' he growls.

'Alright, alright. Fucking hell you got your panties in a twist. Need some help getting the spandex out of that tight arse?'

'Not in the mood,' he says.

'Still no lead on Tin Can?' the merc's voice is sympathetic.

'No,' Peter fights back tears as he continues along the street. 'Can I ask a favour?'

'You know I'd do anything for you Baby Boy.'

'Is there anyone you can ask that might have some information on Hammer or HYDRA? Anyone who might know where they took him?'

There's a pause on the end of the phone, then Wade sighs. 'I'll ask around Sister Margaret's and see what I can dig up. Not sure what any of those fuckwits will be able to tell us, but it'll be a start; and I'll get Weasel on the case. Then I'll start heading out from there and see what I can find.'

'Thanks, Wade,' he says, pausing at a crossing for the lights to change. 'I'm not going to be allowed on patrol until we find him so we may have to wait for tacos.'

There's another pause. 'How about we do tacos tomorrow? Say eight at our usual place? I can update you with anything then.'

'Sounds good,' Peter feels a smile creeping onto his face. 'I'll see you at eight tomorrow.'

'You laying low at your place until then?'

'No I've got something else I need to do before I see you,' he says, heading towards the subway. 'I might lose you, Wade, I'm going into the subway.'

'What are you doing?' the merc's voice is dangerous.

'Paying a visit to a new friend,' he responds.

'Where are you going? Which friend?'

'I'm stopping by Hell's Kitchen. See you later, Wade.'

'What the fuck are you going to Hell's Kitchen for? Peter? Don't you dare hang up on me-'

Peter presses the end call button and heads towards the platform. 'Sorry, Wade,' he mutters, pulling up the map function on his phone, 'but I can't sit back and do nothing, and we're going to need all the help we can get.'

Peter cautiously opens the door of the law firm and steps inside, there's quite a few people waiting on chairs, and he recognises the blond woman sitting behind the desk at the far end of the room.

'Welcome to Nelson and Murdock,' she says, catching sight of him and coming over, 'just take a seat and we'll be with you as soon as- oh wait I know you! You were at the gala.'

'Peter,' he offers his hand with a small smile. 'I'm one of the Stark Interns. I was wondering if Mr Murdock is available? I really need to speak him.'

'Well if you want to take a seat, either he or Mr Nelson with be with you-'

'No it's just Mr Murdock I need to see,' he cuts her off. 'It's alright I can wait.'

She gives him a funny look but nods and goes to sit behind the desk again. He busies himself texting Natasha for his check in and doing some more of his school work as he waits; then he messages Ned to see if he's available to meet up tonight. Something tells him he's going to need his guy in the chair to help put everything together.

Matt Murdock doesn't make an appearance, but he sees his partner coming out and taking new clients in. There's a steady flow of people coming in through the door, and Peter's leg starts twitching nervously. He hates being around too many people in a confined space.

The next time Mr Nelson comes out of the office and speaks to Karen he looks over at Peter. 'Hey, you want to come through kid?'

'It's alright I need to see Mr Murdock,' he says. 'No offence meant, Mr Nelson.'

'Matt's out at the moment and may not be back for an hour or so at least, he's getting some stuff for a case. Sure I can't help you?' the fair haired man asks. Peter just shakes his head, and looks back at his textbook. 'You're from the gala right?' Peter looks back up and nods at the question, he sees the frown on Mr Nelson's face and then the man gestures for Peter to follow him. 'Come here, kid.'

'But-'

'Just come here would ya?'

Peter decides it'd be more suspicious to argue so just does as he's told, feeling slightly uneasy as Mr Nelson closes the door behind him.

'So if you're from Stark Industries I've got to ask: is it Matt you want to speak to or his horned friend?'

Peter's eyes go wide. 'I-uh-I don't know what you're-'

'Oh save it, kid. Is it Matt you want to speak to or Daredevil?'

'Both,' he mutters, looking at the ground.

'Do the Avengers know you're here?'

'They would probably have grounded me if they even knew I'd thought about coming here,' he admits.

'So why are you here?'

'I need help.'

'Help the Avengers can't give you?'

'They're already doing all they can, but…' Peter trails off unsure of what to say. They've been trying to keep Tony's disappearance away from the media, but it was only a matter of time now, what with no leads and the trails going cold. 'We need a different set of skills to help with this particular problem.'

'Uh huh,' Mr Nelson doesn't look too happy, he's about to add something when the door opens behind him.

'Foggy? Karen said there was someone here who wanted to see me?' Matt Murdock steps through the door, stick in hand looking every inch the blind man and not the vigilante Peter knew he was.

'Mr Murdock I'm really sorry to bother you-'

'Wait. Peter? What are you doing here?' he asks, hurriedly closing the door behind him.

'I need your help,' he admits, voice small.

'As a lawyer or as Daredevil?' he asks, he assumes Matt hears his intake of breath as he chuckles. 'Foggy knows, Peter. It's only Karen who doesn't, and I'd rather keep it that way.'

'Wait, how does the kid know?' Foggy demands.

'That's not my information to give,' he replies to his friend. 'Now what can I do for you, Peter? Not that I'm promising I will help of course; but I'll hear you out at least.'

'Tony Stark's missing,' he admits, fighting back the tears, 'I need your help to find him. All the trails are turning cold the Avengers are trying to follow, and it's my fault he was taken in the first place.'

Matt nods. 'Follow me to my office, Peter. Foggy? Don't breathe a word of this to anyone.'

'Do I ever?' Foggy grumbles as Peter follows Matt across the room to his office. Once there he tells him everything that happened.

'So you want me to see what I can find out for you?' Matt says. 'Or do you want me to try and rescue Tony Stark myself?'

'No,' Peter shakes his head, forgetting the man can't see. 'No I wouldn't expect you to do that Mr Murdock. I just… I remembered what you said about your abilities and thought perhaps you'd be able to find something out that the rest of us couldn't. You'd be looking for things we wouldn't think to look for- uh figuratively speaking of course – and you might have more luck than we will.'

'And you've got Deadpool looking as well?'

'Yeah.'

'Why? Why not just leave it to the Avengers to handle?'

'It's my fault he was taken,' Peter lets the tears fall now. 'And we had an argument before he was taken and I said some things I really wish I didn't. Besides what kind of superhero would I be if I didn't do something to help one of the most important people in my life? Even if all I can do is eliminate some areas of New York from where we need to search I'll feel like I've done something.'

Matt just sits in silence for a couple of moments, then he nods. 'Alright I'll see what I can find out when I go out tonight. Put your number in my phone and I'll call you with anything I find out.'

'Thank you! Thank you so much,' he hurries to do as he's told. 'If you every need anything at all Mr Murdock just let me know.'

'You're a good kid, Peter,' is all the reply he gets as Matt opens the door to his office. 'I'll let you know when I've got some information for you.'

He convinced May to let Ned stay round the night before, the two of them were up late organising their own version of what Peter had seen at the facility. He'd told Ned the team had worked out that they must be in New York or the general vicinity, and all routes in and out of the city were being monitored so there was no way they'd managed to get him out without their knowing.

At least they hoped so.

Karen had helped as well. They'd got up a map of New York and started ruling out certain areas, labelling other potential areas of interest, and flagging the first points that Peter could try and scope out safely without drawing attention from the team. There were pieces of paper stuck up all around his room with any information on they thought important, and Ned's laptop had a couple of documents where they recorded anything else. All of it came from Peter's memory of discussions at the facility, and from what he remembered being mentioned during the fight and capture.

Blinking awake the next morning from where they'd both fallen asleep half on the bed and half-off, he has to admit he's a little impressed at what they've achieved.

They continue throughout the day. Peter has Karen monitor the police radios to see if anything useful comes through; there isn't any leads on where Tony might be, but at least they can cross some areas off as they hear the police have searched them for other reasons.

'Though to be fair dude a big organisation like HYRDA isn't going to be found by a random police search,' Ned points out as they cross off an old warehouse the police searched for potential drug use.

'True,' he sighs, 'alright Karen put all the police searches in a different colour. Maybe I can visit a few in the suit and rule them out at some point.'

'All done for you, Peter,' his AI replies as his aunt opens the door.

'Really boys?' her voice is laced with worry.

'I've got to do something, May,' he counters.

May just sighs. 'No going out on patrol still.' Peter shakes his head. 'Alright, just be careful and make sure you pass anything on to Natasha alright?'

'Of course, May,' they chorus.

'You boys want dinner?' she asks.

'Oh I'm meeting someone for dinner in a bit,' Peter replies, looking at his watch and seeing it's six thirty. 'I should probably make a move soon.'

'Who are you meeting?'

'Just a friend May,' Peter groans, 'please don't start the Spanish Inquisition.'

May puts up her hands and leaves, and Peter's left with Ned's calculating look. 'This wouldn't happen to be Deadpool would it?'

'He's just going to give me an update on any information he's managed to find, Ned. Don't make it weird,' Peter sighs, stuffing his mask into his pocket and reaching for his phone, keys and wallet.

'Right,' Ned replies with an eye roll, 'and this couldn't be done over the phone because?'

He shrugs. 'He just wants to make sure I'm alright. Besides I asked Daredevil for help as well.'

'Excuse me?' Ned's eyes bug out of his head. 'Since when do you know Daredevil?'

'Long story. Now I've got to move, you coming?'

'To meet Deadpool?'

'Well…' Peter waits until they've left the apartment before answering. 'That may not be a good idea.'

'Because he's an insane mercenary?'

'No because…' he sighs and then continues. 'I don't know if he'll be wearing his mask or not and he… well he has a lot of scars from the bit of skin I've seen when we've been eating and he's really self-conscious about them. I don't think he'd be comfortable if there was someone he doesn't know there.'

'Hang on,' Ned's mouth falls open, 'are you going on a date with Deadpool?'

'What? No!'

'Dude you so should have dressed up.'

'Ned it's not a date. And what's wrong with what I'm wearing?'

'Whatever you say, Pete. Whatever you say.'

Pain. That's the first thing that registers through the fog in his mind. There's sharp agony in his chest, but if he concentrates he can feel the dull ache in his limbs, and a throbbing behind his eyes.

He opens his eyes, blinking against the harsh lights and looks around. Some kind of lab. Well at least he's still alive.

He tries to take in a breath, but it feels like there's something pressing down on his lungs. It's a horribly, hauntingly familiar feeling. Trying to move his arms he finds they're tied to the bedrail, but he's able to raise his head enough to look down at his chest.

Tony screams.

A/N: Hi everyone. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter because I've got a surprise for you all: double update this week! Mainly because the next chapter title is "Date With Deadpool" and I didn't think you'd want to wait a whole week for it to be uploaded.

L x