Thank you so much Prongs100 for pre-reading.
Thank you to all of you that got in touch after the last chapter. It was lovely to hear from so many new names that are enjoying the story. . I had some helpful suggestions. but I can't turn guest reviews off but I can moderate them before they show on the site. The problem with that is I have to read them to accept/decline, and it's the reading of them that sucks.
31. The Truth
Tony was leaning against the counter, watching Pepper as she moved around the kitchen, gathering ingredients to make the cookies Morgan had requested for dessert. She hummed to herself as she worked, her hips moving to a beat only she could hear. He smiled as he took her in. She was the most beautiful woman in the world, and he adored her. Somehow, miraculously, he'd been lucky enough to find that she loved him, too, and between them, they'd created the marvel that was their daughter.
Though he hadn't expected to he found it easier now he was home. He still thought of Peter, it was always in the back of his mind and often at the forefront, but he was calmer. He reminded himself that Peter was safe, more able to hide and protect himself that anyone in existence. He imagined where he might be. He suspected he'd found somewhere out of the way, a cabin like Rhodey said, and he was making a life for himself alone, working through his feelings, until he was ready to come home.
He hoped he was finding happiness wherever he was, the same way Tony was with his wife and daughter.
Pepper took the butter from the fridge and stopped as she caught sight of him watching her. "You're staring, Mister," she said, her smile taking the heat from her words.
"I am," he agreed. "I am just… absorbing you."
She raised an eyebrow. "That's close to romantic, Tony." She placed her warm hand on his forehead. "Hmm, no fever. You feeling okay?"
He moved her hand away and kissed her palm. "I'm allowed to be romantic sometimes. It's not like there are witnesses to it."
She laughed. "That's true. I don't think Friday is going to tell anyone, at least. Imagine, though, Iron Man's cover as a hardass being busted when people find out how sweet he can be."
Tony shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. "Never gonna happen. I've got an image to uphold."
Pepper stroked his cheek. "You do, and you're very good at it. The people that matter know who you really are."
Tony nodded and smiled, but his mind drifted to Peter again. If he really knew who Tony was, who he wanted to be for him, would he have left? He'd left Morgan to say it, tell Peter he was her brother and Tony was his father, but he'd never been able to make himself say the words. Part of it was that he didn't want to overwhelm the kid or seem like he was trying to take his Richard or Ben Parker's place. The other part was that he was scared Peter wouldn't want to hear it.
He wouldn't let that hold him back when he was there again. He would tell him how he felt, what Peter meant to him, so there was never any doubt in the kid's mind that he loved him and needed him there.
Pepper touched a finger to the lines of sadness at the corners of his eyes and said, "Go get our girl. Tell her that she needs to help make the cookies if she wants to eat them."
"On it," Tony said, pressing a quick kiss to her lips then heading outside, calling, "Maguna, where are you hiding?"
"Not hiding," Morgan said, skipping towards him. "Playing."
"Ahh, playing. Well, Momma needs help in the kitchen. She says you need to make the cookie if you want to eat them, and I need you to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't eat all the dough."
"In a minute?" Morgan said. "I want to show you something. I found a bug army."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "A bug army?"
"Yeah. There's lots of them under the stones. I thought we could put some in a jar and see if they grow. They could be pets, and I can take them to see Peter when he's back, and he can make magic bugs to play with them, bug friends."
Tony smiled. They had told Morgan that Peter had gone on a trip with Rhodey for a while, so that was why she couldn't see him. She'd been disappointed but seemed to accept the wait after a while. She'd gone most of her life without him or any expectation she would ever meet him, so he supposed she had more patience than him.
"Sure, show me," he said, and then something caught his eye. Across the lake, there was a glint of light that seemed out of place. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Though he reminded himself there could be a perfectly innocent explanation, he was tense. There were hiking trails on the other side of the lake on the land they didn't own, and someone could have binoculars; they could be watching any of the water birds that lived on the lake. And then he spotted the red dot of light on Morgan's back.
His heart seemed to fail and then kicked back into racing action, and he scooped her into his arm and rushed her back into the house, not running in case it made the sniper shoot, but being careful to shield her with himself.
When through the door, he dumped her in the kitchen, ignoring her protests and Pepper's questions, and said, "Stay here. No matter what you hear, don't come outside."
He grabbed the bracelets from the shelf and slapped them on, running back to the door as the suit assembled around him, and Pepper shouted in alarm and Morgan began to cry.
As soon as it was on, he flew out of the house, shouting to Friday, "Lockdown the house. No one in and no one out. Protect them."
"I will, Boss," she replied, and then he heard the slamming as the security protocols locked down the doors and windows of the house.
He shot towards the spot the light had been and spotted a man in black fatigues running along the trail towards a dirt bike.
"Call the Tool Shed and tell them we're under attack," he commanded. "Get them here."
He caught the man around the back and knocked him to the floor. The man struggled, but he was nowhere near strong enough to defeat Tony in the armor. He rolled him over and bent down over him, metal fingers clasped around the man's throat tight enough to scare and constrict but not enough to kill.
He removed his faceplate and growled. "Who are you? Why are you coming after my daughter?"
"Orders," the man rasped.
"Whose orders?"
"I don't know. I just got the call that told me to do it."
Tony didn't believe him. In fact, he thought he knew exactly whose orders this man was following. Thaddeus Damn Ross. Though why he'd target Morgan, he didn't know. What he did know was that he was going to kill him for it.
"Were you here to kill her?" he asked.
The man glared back at him wordlessly.
Tony kept his grip on the man's throat and use his free had to fire a thruster at his upper arm, not close enough for a direct hit, just enough to graze the flesh. The man grunted with pain.
"Were you here to kill her?" he shouted.
"No," the man groaned. "I just had to film it for them to show."
"To show who?" Tony asked.
"Boss, War Machine is one minute out," Friday reported.
"Thanks, Fri," he said, then turned his attention back to the man. "Who were you filming her for?" When he failed to answer, he shot a thruster as his lower leg, closer this time and the smell of burning flesh filled the air. "Who?"
"The asset!" the man panted. "The boss needed him to see the girl was in danger so he wouldn't fight."
Tony's heart, which had been racing, stopped as horror filled him. "Does Ross have Peter?"
"I don't know the name," he moaned. "I just follow orders. Look, man, I was just regular secret service before I got this detail. I have to track and film her for when he wants it. He calls, and I film it. That's all, I swear."
Tony released him and straightened, placing a foot on his chest to hold him down. His heart was pounding and mind reeling. Ross had Peter. All this time, weeks, he'd had Peter, and they hadn't known. Tony spent the last week imagining Peter living a peaceful like his while he worked through what he'd heard, and Ross was doing God-knew-what to him.
He heard the sound of thrusters approaching, and Rhodey touched down beside him. His hand fell on Tony's shoulder, and he said, "What's going on? Are Pepper and Morgan okay? The others are on their way in the Quinjet." When Tony failed to answer, he gave him a small shake. "Tony, talk!"
Tony licked his lips. "He's got the kid," he whispered.
Rhodey removed his faceplate and stared at him with horror. "Who?"
Tony shuddered. "Ross, he's got Pete." His knees shook, and it was only the suit that was keeping him upright. "Rhodey, Ross has Peter, and he had this asshole filming Morgan with a sniper rifle aimed at her." He sucked in a shaky breath, and tears filled his eyes. "Rhodey, Ross has got Peter, and he won't be fighting back!"
Rhodey cursed loudly and then bent and dragged the man up by the collar. Holding him a foot above the ground, he shook him and shouted. "Where is he?"
"I don't know," the man groaned. "I never knew. I just follow orders. I wasn't going to kill her, I swear!"
"You say that like it makes a difference," Tony snarled. "You pointed a gun at my little girl. You are part of why my son was taken."
The man's eyes darted between Rhodey and Tony, fear-filled at first, and then they narrowed, and he said, falling back into training and strength, "I was following orders."
"The President's orders, right?" Rhodey stated. "I used to follow orders, too." He swung a gauntleted fist into the man's head, making his eyes roll back in his head, and his body sag. Rhodey dropped him and pressed a hand to Tony's chest, right over the spot Tony's heart thrummed against his ribs. "We know where he is now. We can get him back."
"Yeah," Tony agreed. "We know."
Because there was only one place Ross would keep Peter locked down, a place designed for superheroes.
Peter was on The Raft.
Tony paced back and forth around his workshop, all eyes following him. Rhodey was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, and his back against the wall, his eyes following his friend.
He'd been here since he'd finished burying the agent's body in the forest, too deep to be found for years, after realizing his one blow had been a little too heavy. He felt no regret, though, not yet—his fear and regret was all for Peter and what they'd missed happening.
"We've got to get him back," Tony said once again.
"We will, Tony," Steve said. "But we've got to go in smart. It took me weeks to prepare to go in to free the others. I had to gauge it at a time it was on the surface for a change of staff. I had to wait."
"I won't wait. I will raise the damn thing myself. Friday," he snapped, "can you hack through the tech."
"Not from here, Boss," she said. "I'd need to access a satellite to do it, and they are now…"
"Under the control of the government," Tony spat. "Why the fuck did we take that contract?"
"Because you believe it would secure the country and Mrs. Stark—"
"Rhetorical question, Friday," he said. "I don't need an answer."
"Okay," Rhodey said. "Steve. How did you know the shift patterns."
"I waited and watched," he replied.
"Which we don't have time to do," Tony growled.
"Breathe, Tone," Rhodey said. "We'll work it out."
"My kid is trapped on that—"
"I know!" Rhodey cut in, voice raised. "And you're not the only one feeling this way. Do you think I care any less, that this is any easier on me? I feel like crap, too. I feel guilty and pissed and worried and everything else because we didn't realize what had happened. We thought he'd taken off on his own, but now we've got to think he was drawn out to protect Morgan."
Tony nodded curtly. "Yes. He would have gone for her."
"He would," Wanda agreed quietly.
"But she's safe now," Barnes said. "You've got this place locked down, right?"
Tony looked at him a moment and then nodded. "I have, but someone's got to stay here when we go for Peter. Happy is coming over, but I need real strength here."
"Not it," Rhodey said quickly.
Tony's eyes found him, and Rhodey knew what he was going to say before he opened his mouth, and he held up his hand and said, "No way, Tony."
"I need you to," Tony said. "I can't stay, so I need the person I trust the most here to stay with them, someone that I knew will do anything I would for them. I know you will not hold back, do whatever it takes for them, so please."
Rhodey turned his face away. He didn't want to stay. He wanted to be on the mission, saving Peter. He understood Tony's need, though. He would do whatever it took to protect Pepper and Morgan because they were his family, too, the same way he would for Peter. He'd die for them, just like Tony would. Anyone else that stayed for them would fight for them, and fight hard, but they wouldn't have the same drive as he would.
"I'll do it," he said. "But you are going to be in touch with me the whole time. I'm connecting Home Base to Friday, and you will tell me exactly what's happening, understand?"
Tony nodded and said, "You hear that Friday?"
"Yes, Boss."
"Do it. Create a live feed between my suit and Home Base."
"Done," she replied.
"Okay, now that's taken care of, how do we raise the Raft?" Bruce asked. "It's not something any of us are going to be able to do. We can't breathe underwater, and Wanda is…"
"Too unstable?" she supplied. "I am."
"We call T'Challa," Barnes said. "Their tech is more advanced than anyone's. They will be able to get inside the satellite."
"And he can bring weapons," Rhodey said. "They've got that knockout gun they used on you, Tony. You can get in and out without bloodshed that way."
Tony gaped at him. "You don't want bloodshed! Are you kidding me?"
Rhodey stared back at him, face fixed in a hard mask. "I want bloodshed. I want to kill every single person that had a part in this, but Peter won't. The people that have him aren't evil, at least not all of them. The Raft is manned by US Marshals, Tony. They're following orders. Sure, they're messed up orders, but I've not always agreed with the ones I've followed either."
Tony glowered. "They are holding my kid prisoner! I know you've never done anything that messed up."
"Maybe not, but this is for Peter. Think, Tony, how will he feel if he knew people had died for him?" More people died, he amended silently. I already ended one life for Peter. When Tony continued to look mutinous, he railed on. "He is worthy, Tony. He saved the world because he felt it was the right thing to do, even though he didn't know what it would do to him. He's good. He's not violent. He's not taken innocent lives, and he's never been the reason they've been lost the way we all are until now, and he can never know about that." He couldn't' bear for Peter to find out what he'd done.
"Rhodey's right," Bruce said. "We do this the way he would. We get him out without killing."
Tony turned away and ran a hand through his hair. "This is ridiculous."
"It's not," Steve said. "We've all done things we're not proud of, and I'd like to mete out some punishment for this, but he wouldn't so we can't. There is a way to do it without killing, and Queens would want that, so we'll take it. Bucky, call T'Challa and see if he can help."
Barnes took a cell phone from his pocket and walked to the corner to make his call.
"Okay," Tony said, voice tight with anger. "We'll do it the kid's way, but—" he held up a finger, "someone is dying for this, and that's Ross. I don't care what Peter says, wants, or does; Ross is going to pay."
Rhodey nodded. "Agreed, but maybe we don't have to kill him for that."
"No," Tony said darkly. "We do."
"We'll talk about that later," Steve said. "We need to get ready. Bucky?"
Bucky lowered the phone from his ear and said, "Shuri can do it, and T'Challa will bring what we need to get in and out. He's coming along for the delivery. His plane is faster than the Quinjet, so he'll be here in a few hours."
"Hours," Tony groaned.
It seemed an eternity to Rhodey, too, but it was better that they go in with The Black Panther and his tech on their side than without. Peter had been gone for three weeks. With T'Challa's help, they could be there within four hours. They would get him back, home and safe, before dawn.
Peter was strong. He could handle four more hours, and then they could take care of him together.
It was almost over.
So… Almost rescue time! How are you feeling now? I'm particularly curious about your feelings for what Rhodey did to the sniper.
Until next time…
Clowns or Midgets xxx