Chapter 53 - Intent matters
They hadn't said a lot to each other, not after their talk the night before. It was possible that she was simply mad at him. Mad that after all these years when he had always made a point of being strong and risking his neck that this was the moment he was running away.
What else could you call this? He sure had felt like a coward who was just running away when he had ushered Pepper into a car without more than a breakfast coffee, off to LaGuardia. They hadn't spoken in the car. She had been on the phone with the LA headquarter. He had been on the phone with Neil, his East Coast realtor. Not that it mattered how he felt about what he was doing. This wasn't about him.
They had been on the plane for more than an hour now. More than an hour of silence after their calls, both staring at their devices. He was reading through the files FRIDAY was still steadily adding to the heap of unsorted information on the adoption agency. He had been doing just that even before the sun had come up. Pepper was doing the same. Not that she had told him. Not that it shouldn't have been obvious that she would, but every once and again he had seen files time-stamped with her initials after she had accessed them.
She was sitting opposite him, not next to him. Too far for him to reach out to her with the wide table between them, but close enough that he could study her. A comfy blanket slung around her shoulders, she had pulled her legs up onto the seat. Her posture did carry all the body language signs that told him she was keeping her distance deliberately. She probably was mad, though there was a chance that it wasn't just that. It was just as likely that there was a tinge of guilt as well. After all, there was a very solid reason, why he had rushed them out of the city at the first available take-off slot that morning.
He cleared his throat, eyes still on her. "I don't blame you, you know. I'd never blame you for wanting to talk to him."
Her eyes shot up at him, lips pressed close.
"What?" Tony tried to shrug but to his irritation his shoulders only did a slightly uncoordinated wobble, his body still to strung up with nerves and anxiety. "You think FRIDAY wouldn't tell me? That I'm not having her monitor the boy's every move?"
"He's desperate." She dropped the tablet in her lap, eyes intensely on him. "He doesn't want to lose you."
Tony waved her off. "We already had this discussion. We agreed—"
"We didn't agree, Tony. You decided."
"Fine. I decided. I decided on the one way there is, Pepper."
"Come on, that's not—"
"Stop. Please..." He shook his head, eyes not on her but the horizon outside the plane's window. "I'll not risk him and that's the end of it."
He had assumed that shutting her down like that would set the mood for the rest of the flight. Would reaffirm how irritated she was by his decision and that they would spend the rest of their trip in silence but as so often when it came to Pepper, she surprised him.
"He knows about Siberia."
His eyes darted over to her, his mouth opened to speak but his breath was caught in his throat, stunned by the sharp turn the conversation had taken. "That... That's not—"
"He knows more than I do."
Tony swallowed hard, but still sounded breathless. "Not because I told him."
"Tony, you—"
"You think I want him to know?" He dropped his own tablet at that, stinging eyes non-withstanding. "The last thing I wanted was for the kid to be pulled into any of that mess."
"Tell me what happened." Her eyes were serious. "Tony, do you really want me to remind you that we have a deal?"
"Our deal..." He pursed his lips, determined to reign in his frustration. He wasn't even mad at her, only at the universe. "You just spent an evening chatting with the boy even though you know that I don't want him anywhere near us, that I want to keep him safe from people who would target him just because they see him near me and you didn't even tell me."
She shrugged up both her arms and let them fall with a sigh. "What should I have done? Just throw him out?"
"Of... of course not." He stared out of the window. "You could have told me."
She didn't answer right away. "Maybe. Maybe I should have." The leather on her chair creaked but she didn't get up, only repositioned herself in the seat, feet on the ground, blanked discarded on the seat behind her, she leaned further towards him. "Tony, you're hurting and I didn't want to make it worse."
There was no doubt in his mind that what she was saying was true. She loved him, had come back for him more than once in the last few months, and no matter what they had been through recently, how detached they had become from each other's lives, there was no denying that nobody on the planet knew him better than she did. Knew his heart better than she did.
"I'm sorry." She said it quietly. No need for her to clarify, that she was sorry she hadn't told him, not about the time she had gotten to spend with the kid. He had meant it though, he could never hold it against her that she had jumped at the chance to spend that time with the boy. He'd likely have done the same, not strong enough to turn him away when he should for Peter's sake. That's why they had to get out before Tony could lose that fight against his wants versus the boy's needs.
Tony cleared his throat, hoping it would help him control his voice but it still came out heavy with emotion. "He... he was fine, right? I mean..." One deep breath in and out. "Nothing had happened, right?"
"He wanted to see you." She said it slowly, softly and he appreciated that he kept all vibes of reproach out of her voice no matter how much she resented what he made them do. "Wanted to keep you from leaving. Honey, he thinks you're mad, that you don't want him."
"But I... I told him that's not... I... I talked to him! I explained why we can't stay. I told him I wanted to stay!"
"That's all just words though, honey. He's..." Her eyes became unfocused for a moment as she seemed to be lost in her memories. "You find out he's yours and the first thing you do is leave. I mean... Can you blame him? It's not a crazy leap to make. He's overwhelmed with what's happening around him."
"No. No, of course not, but I... he's smart. He's so smart he—"
"He'd just a boy, Tony. He has lost his... well, the people he trusted most and then lost another guardian just last year and now you're leaving, too."
Tony brushed away that idea, openly rejected it. "He's been coming to the lab for a few months, it's not... you can't... you can't compare that, Pep! You said it yourself, there is no magic DNA connection."
"No, but there is a real-life connection. Tony, you were there for him during some of the most traumatic experiences of his life. That... that stab wound? When you took care of him? And now you came to his rescue, saved his life."
Tony tried to breathe through his emotions, tried to hold onto the little control he had. "And why is it that he had to go through those traumatic events. If only there was a common denominator that could be erased so his life would be a little less traumatic."
He couldn't help the bitterness in his voice even though he felt bad when Pepper let her head hang low and avoided his eyes. Deep down she knew he was right. That no amount of emotional support would keep the boy healthy in the high-risk environment Tony would pull him into.
"He was asking about his mother."
His hand squeezed the armrest of his chair. It felt like she had just pulled out the rug from underneath him. "What? What did you say?"
"I just... I told him her name was Aileen and... and that she died."
"Pep..." He didn't even know how he was supposed to feel about that. "Did he... did he not ask... did he..." He sucked in a deep breath and slowly blew it out. "If he finds out about... about how she died..." His throat was dry, not cooperating. "He's gonna blame himself, isn't he? That she died."
"If he's anything like you." She arched her brows at him.
"You trying to be funny, Pep?"
She blew out a frustrated breath, eyes on him. "He's confused and lost. He wants answers and I don't blame him."
Tony turned back towards the window, couldn't stand the guilt that it triggered in his gut. It would be hard for the kid, sure, but it was still better this way than to have him really hurt or worse, dead.
"I did tell him about... about the stroke." His heart froze in his chest, his eyes back on her, but she put up both of her hands, effectively stopping him from interrupting. "Just... just the stroke, nothing about it... it being complications after labor or anything. Just... just that." Her face showed all the signs of the struggle this was for her, her allegiances to him and Aiden battling for superiority. "Tony, please—"
"I'm doing what's best for him!" Even though he wanted to keep his voice low, to sound reasonable, he had a hard time reigning himself in. Pepper's face fell a little more and he had to look away, desperate to keep his frustrated growl bottled up inside. "We can't keep having the same argument."
"Tony, I know you hate changing your mind, but... just, please, this once, please just think about what this does to him."
He shook his head, jaw set. They all kept acting like he was doing all this on a whim. That he would go out of his way to hurt every single person he loved just because he was too stubborn? He hated every second of this and still, it was what was necessary! It was the only way. He crossed his arms in front of himself, still kept his gaze fixed on the sky outside. The clouds were thin and the wide bare plains of what was likely Kansas stretched out underneath them. Nothing to see and still better than the disappointment written all over her face. He stared out of that window for only a few minutes but the silence between them only agitated him more. He did feel guilty for leaving his boy, of course he did, but what other option did he have? How could she be so stubborn and refuse to see that he—
As he shot a careful glance at Pepper, his thoughts came to a sudden stop. She had her elbow perched on the armrest, her hand hiding her face as she stared down at her tablet. Her other arm was curled around her stomach and it made her look like she was just reading but there was no flare beaming up. The screen was black and mirrored a reflection of her face instead, eyes pressed tightly closed, face pulled into a painful expression.
"Pep?" His voice was still rough but low.
Her eyes blinked open and she twitched as if caught doing something she shouldn't do.
"Honey, what—"
He had made to stand, to go to her but a swift movement of her hand stopped him in his tracks. She turned her face away from him towards the other side of the plane, her finger repeatedly wiping the moisture away from her eyes.
Tony blew caution to the wind. Somewhat elegantly, he maneuvered himself across the table and came to sit in the empty seat between Pepper and the window. She scoffed at him though he didn't fail to put a cautious smile on her lips.
"What else did he ask, Pep?" He still kept his hands to himself, giving her space. All this between them was still so fragile.
"It... it's not..." She shook her head avoiding his eyes. "Nothing. It's... nothing."
"You don't cry about nothing."
"I'm crying because you're being an idiot, how about that?" She pressed both her palms against her eye sockets and as she pulled them away again, she blinked quickly, trying to pull her emotions back inside.
"If me being an idiot would make you cry, you would have spent a lot more of the past 15 in tears." He kept studying her but she wouldn't look up. "15 plus years." Another pause, still no response. "Feels more like 20. Are we old enough for it to be 20 years?"
She gave her head a quick shake but didn't hit him with one of their trademark banters in response.
"You know that deal goes both ways, right? The no-bullshit one."
She blew out a huff. "That's not true."
"Well, we'll make it true then. Tell me."
She looked down at her knees, lip caught between her teeth. Tony gave her another moment to collect her thoughts, maybe to figure out what truly had triggered her emotions like that, but it was Pepper. She'd know, wouldn't she?
"He erm... he apparently assumed or... I guess not assumed but he... well, he thought that you and I, that... that we might have been dating back then and I just—" She shook her head.
"Pep..."
"That's... that's when I told him about Aileen. He just, he wanted to know if I know who his mother is and, well..." She shrugged. "I did. It's stupid to get emotional over that. I guess I'm just sleep-deprived and a bit... I don't even know."
"Don't do that, Pep. Don't brush this off like you were a distant acquaintance. Aileen might have given birth to him but you raised him just as much as I did."
She pushed out a deep breath, not looking at him. "Don't be ridiculous."
"Pepper, come on you—"
"This isn't about me. I was your PA, and no matter what... what we are to each other now, it doesn't change the past. And that's fine."
"Pep, you were there every day."
"I wasn't. Not... not every day. I mean it was my job to be there, I—"
"Enough! You don't get to do this. You are part of his life. You have always been a major part of his life. There is literal video evidence of it." His heart gave a painful squeeze at that and he cleared his voice. "Video evidence that... that he has been, well, what do the kids say these days... he's kinda been binging those."
Her eyes were wide and round as she finally looked up at him. "What are you talking about?"
His lips pulled in a bit of an apologetic smile. "All these videos from, you know, from when Addy was little, they are all stored on my server and... and the kid, well..." Tony shrugged. He still couldn't really wrap his head around that.
"He watched them?" She sounded almost breathless. "When... when did he watch them?"
Tony grimaced. "When he hacked my server, he... Well, yeah, he watched them." Her lips were pressed shut, her eyes a little glazed over as she surely tried to think back to that time long gone. "Didn't know it was himself he was watching then of course, just..." He shrugged again, still a little squeamish about the details himself. "Of course he assumed, Pep. He saw you in those, saw how much you cared for him. Everyone who saw you together knew how much you loved him. How much you do love him."
She had her eyes pressed close, one hand covering her mouth. He should pull her close, hug her tightly but he wasn't quite done. There were some things he still had to say to her. Things he should have told her over a decade ago. A deep breath in, he wanted to use his words well.
"The only reason I never asked you to be his godmother was because I didn't want you to feel like... like you had to say yes just because well, because of the job."
"Tony..."
"Just... just let me finish. Please."
She stayed quiet, one hand still covering her mouth but her eyes on him, tears clinging to her lashes.
"The only reason I never asked you to stay then was because Addy loved you and I was terrified I'd ruin what we had." He made a point not to look away, to let her see him. "Pep, the only reason I never told you that I loved you after Aiden was born was because I knew I'd screw up and that when I did he'd lose you."
He lost his nerve at last, bowed his head down, eyes on his hands. The irony of his words wasn't lost on him. The fact that after all these years he was taking her away from him just like he had always feared he would. He was literally forcing her out of the kid's life as his plane carried her thousands of miles away from him, putting most of the country between them.
His throat was dry. "I'll... I'll find a better way. When I know all the variables, alright? We... we'll think of a better way to do this. To keep him safe and also for... for us not to go insane. So we can see him. I... I guess it'd be fine if you went. As long as I'm not there, it would be safer, right? You could go and see him. I can even like... think of something dumb to do to keep the attention away from you and... and he can visit or something, but it would have to be safe."
She did move at that, he could tell even out of the corner of his eye. The rattling of the engine, the wind ripping at the exterior walls of the plane was all that cut through the silence as her hand found his. It didn't take more than a soft tug and she slid over to him as he pulled her close.
"I love you, Tony."
He swallowed hard, his throat felt like sandpaper, but he nodded against her.
"Maybe... maybe call him at least? Just... just to talk to him. He needs you, honey, he really does."
This was how it would start, wasn't it? He would give in to this, watering down the rules he had set in place to keep the kid safe and before he'd know it they'd get sloppy and the kid would end up hurt. In the past 8 years, ever since he had become Iron Man, he had lost sleep and nerves over how to keep Pepper safe and he had failed more than once. How was he ever going to protect both of them?
"When we know more." He had his arms slung around her tightly, holding her as close as the airplane seat would allow. "When I know what exactly I'm protecting him from. When I know who did this."
"Why did they take him?" Her voice was muffled against the fabric of his shirt. "I still... it makes even less sense now than it ever did. Why?"
"To hurt us. To hurt me. It's..." Tony swallowed hard. He had thought about that a lot. There didn't seem to be any other rational explanation. In all these years, there was nobody who had benefited from Aiden's disappearance. Sure, the Parker's had gotten a son to adopt out of it, but of all the children in America, why would anyone go to the trouble and steal a heavily monitored, protected, and sought-after kid like his? No, there was only one explanation. "That's all that's come from this. That we had to live without him. He without us."
"Then why is he alive, Tony? Why?" Her forehead was pressed against his shoulder as she slowly shook her head in frustration. "If that's all they wanted... If they just wanted to punish you for something, make you suffer, then why risk keeping him alive?"
The bluntness of the question left him momentarily speechless. "I... Pep, I don't—"
Her hand wandered up and carefully came to rest against his chest, just next to the spot where his bullet wound was healing. "It just... It makes no sense. Why did someone steal him and just left him with a random family in New Hampshire? Why did they let him live?"
Goosebumps broke out all over Tony's skin. But as harsh as those words rang in his ears, she did have a point.
She was still pressed close against him. "Why? Who benefits from Addy being gone but not dead?"
"I don't know, honey, I..." His voice broke, the thought of all the things that could have happened to his boy made him physically ill.
"Hey..." Pepper sat up straight on his lap, her hands still on him as her eyes found his. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." She blew out a shallow breath, her hand traveling up. It came to rest on his cheek then ran up and into his hair, her thumb slowly rubbing across the point on his forehead where about a day ago a big gash had decorated his face.
Her eyebrows pulled together in a frown and her hand stopped. "What... oh... oh god, what if they didn't?" A shudder went through her body that visibly shook her, her eyes growing wide. "What if they think he died on... on a country road in New Hampshire 8 years ago?"
Their eyes locked and realization rushed over Tony deeply chilling him to his very bones. A surge went through him that made him abruptly stand, Pepper still pressed close to him.
"They tried to kill him. Oh... Oh my god." He was going to be sick. "The Parker's... it wasn't an accident, was it? It—" He reached around her, had to hold on to the table in front of him just so his knees wouldn't give way.
Stunned silence settled between them. His mind wanted to race, find the answers, but he wasn't even sure if he was asking the right questions. Why? Why wait another 3 years to kill him? No. He pulled in a couple of deep breaths. No, it didn't make any sense. They were seeing monsters where there were only shadows in the dark,
"That... Pep, why would they have done it then? Why wait? If they wanted him dead, they'd... they'd have killed him and just made him disappear and we wouldn't be any the wiser. Might have—" He tried to breathe away the nausea that was trapped in his middle, trying to steady himself, expelling that alternate scenario from his imagination. "Might have never known."
Pepper didn't seem to listen though, kept shaking her head, small jerky motions back and forth. "Before... maybe... maybe before they thought that they might have to use him. They... they thought they might need him and then they didn't anymore." Her voice was just a low murmur, her eyes unfocused.
Deep breaths. He needed to calm the fuck down. "Okay, let's just take a moment and... and think."
"Because you were dead." Her eyes snapped over to meet his. "You were dead. For all we knew, you..." Her voice was shaking. Her breaths sounded too close to a whimper. "You were dead."
His limbs were numb as he slowly reached behind himself. He had to sit. If he didn't sit he was going to faint. The noise of his blood rushing in his ears made his head swim.
April 2008. He was still a prisoner in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan at that time. They had all thought him dead.
"He would have inherited the company." Pepper was leaning heavily against the table behind her, both hands clutching the edge. "There's..." She sucked in a couple of quick breaths and blew them out slowly, but her voice sounded just as broken. "There's only one person who benefited from Addy not being there to inherit your company. Your assets."
"No." He sounded stronger than he would have thought possible. "No, Pep, that... No! He... he wouldn't have. No. No, he wouldn't have done that!"
Pepper leaned forward, both hands on his arms now but she was shaking just as much as he did. "Honey..."
"No. Not... not to Addy. He... he wouldn't. He was there that day at the house he—"
Obadiah had been there alright, consoling him. Talking him down. Concerned and invested in the police work. Had made sure to take care of business while Tony tried to deal with his son's disappearance.
"He kept the board off my back for months, Pep."
"He got to direct the company as he pleased, made decisions without consulting you. Without as much as informing you!"
"He was worried for Addy, always... always asked for updates."
"Because he didn't want to get caught!"
"No... No!" His legs still felt like rubber but he stood up out of the chair all the same. Even if he would fall on his face, another moment sitting down would kill him. "He always tried to help with the detectives, too. Brainstormed with me and Rhodey he—"
"To lead you down the wrong track!"
"Pep, stop." Pacing up and down the aisle, his hands were sweating. "He wouldn't have done that!"
"He tried to kill you, Tony. You. Me. Innocent people on the freeway." She tried to stop him, tried to still him but Tony couldn't handle the idea of not doing something. "He wanted the company and without Aiden, he would have been next in line!"
"Addy was just a boy, he was just a little kid!" His throat was raw. He felt dumb for screaming, weak, but she was wrong. It couldn't be true. "We checked." Tony took a couple of deep breaths, desperate to calm himself. "After he died, we did check all his accounts. There was nothing. It... it can't have been him."
"Maybe we missed something." She forced her voice to stay soft, he could tell that much.
"JARVIS wouldn't have missed things."
"JARVIS didn't know what we know now. The name of the agency, where Addy was all this time. That... that second incident." She stepped into his path now, grabbed him by both arms. "Honey, let's just... just think about what this would mean." She stood close to him, rubbing his arms slowly. "He'd be safe, then, right? Stane is dead. He's gone. He—"
"He was dead last week as well." She stopped, lips pursed at his refusal to give in. "He was dead last week and someone still took the kid and tortured him."
Her hands fell off him and she spun around, arms tightly wrapped around herself. She hadn't seen him when Tony had brought him back from that bunker. Hadn't even heard the details of what they had done to his boy. It had been early the next morning after the cradle had already done wonders for the kid, that Pepper had arrived. If anything, he envied her for he couldn't get the images out of his head. The kid tied to a chair, blood on his face, on his body. How small he looked when he was lying on that stretcher in the med wing, passed out, so vulnerable. He hated those memories and at the same time he used them every time he was tempted to do the selfish thing and just take what was his, he pulled them up every time to remind himself what the boy had suffered by the mere association with Tony Stark.
One deep breath and he stepped up to Pepper, slung his arms around her, pressed against her back, chin resting on her shoulder.
"Tell me what they did." Her voice shook, barely audible over the engine sounds.
"You don't want to know, Pep. They hurt him. Believe me, you don't want to picture how."
She clasped her hand over her mouth, stifling the soft sobs as she shook in his arms.
"He's fine now." He held her tight, his face buried in the crook of her neck. "He's safe now. We'll keep him safe."
His arms loosened a bit as she turned to face him, then let herself be pulled close by him. It would be a tough time for them to come to terms with everything that had happened, with everything they still had to do to make sure his son was safe. This would never be easy and there were still so many open ends.
"FRI, expand analytics from Aiden's folder to every single file you have access to and find me all the connections to WAF America you can dig up. Alert for anything that has a specific connection to us or anyone we know."
Pepper held onto him a little tighter. She still believed that they would find a way and he loved her for her fire. For her optimism. For how much she craved to have his son back in their lives.
"Come on." His lips pressed against her temple, he slowly detangled their bodies, then made for the seat he had originally gotten out of to comfort her.
Pepper picked up her tablet and came to sit in the chair next to him, her feet pulled up once more but leaning closer to him now rather than using her posture to put distance between them. The silence between them as they both browsed through the different documents that FRIDAY had collected was different too, less charged with tension. They did want the same thing, they had all along. Less than an hour till they would arrive in LA and he couldn't really see either of them work on anything else until they found out what really happened. Until they either found the confirmation Pepper seemed so sure was out there or could dig up someone else to blame for all this.
"Tony."
Her voice had an edge to it that made him look up right away. Her face was pulled into an undefinable frown. She held her tablet out for him to take a look at. An article in a local New York paper with a bunch of pictures from an event some 5 years ago and—
"Isn't that—"
"Clarke," he bit out, the toxicity in his voice almost strong enough to burn his throat.
"That's... that's Stane next to him."
"Fuck." Tony bit his lip hard, zooming into the particular picture. "Fucking bastard."
The copy was bad, the resolution low. There was a third person in that picture he didn't recognize. He strained his eyes, trying to recognize the description underneath the picture.
"Why did this pop up? Were you searching for a connection with Obadiah?"
"No, no I was looking for references for the agency on the East Coast and this popped up."
"FRI, reverse image search on that picture." He swallowed hard.
"Right away, Boss."
"The whole article. Fuck." Clarke and Stane both. That. Shit. That couldn't be good.
A beam of light flickered to life from above them. FRIDAY was projecting the image search result he had asked her for in the highest resolution she could dig up. Tony didn't even need to zoom into the picture now. The caption was easy to read.
Obadiah Stane with the President of the awarded WAF America, Eric Williams, and fellow honoree Sheriff Daniel Clarke, Belknap County Police Department.
"Fuck." He slammed his fist against the table. "Fuck it, Stane, you fucking monster." He hit it twice more until his hand hurt harder than his head.
"Stop it." Her hands engulfed his, carefully checked his fingers.
"It's fine. I can work with some broken fingers. I've done it before."
Her look told him to shut up. "I'm less worried about your work, more worried on a girlfriend level, Tony."
She was trying to calm him, cheeky banter, that was their thing, and he loved her for it. "I hired you because you always cared about the company more than I did."
"You did and then you expanded my responsibilities because you needed someone who cared more about you being healthy than you did as well."
He huffed out a breath that was almost humorous. "Right."
"We know he knew them now. Met them at least." Pepper pulled her tablet close again. "Still, that's not direct proof. That's circumstantial evidence at best. We still need to find a direct connection with—"
Yes, they needed concrete proof. "FRIDAY, pull up what you have on this Eric Williams. I feel like that name sounds kind of familiar. It's not a unique name, but still. Pep, have you heard tha—"
He froze as he looked over at her. Her eyes were wide, her face had gone completely white.
"What?" He sat upright in his chair, alarmed by how pale she looked. "What did you find?"
"There... there's four of them."
"Four of them?"
"Four transactions."
"Pep, I need you to be a bit more specific."
"Two from February 2005 and another two from April 2008. They..." She shook her head again. "Paid from the Stark Industries accounts."
"What transactions?" He shook his head. "How... how did we pay?"
She projected the statement she was looking at containing the four different transactions off the tablet for him to see. No extraordinary sums. A couple hundred thousand in 2005 and then another 100K each in 2008. But they were there, black on white, payments directly issued from the Stark Industries accounts to WAF America.
He felt cold, his throat dry. "Who... who approved these payments?"
"FRIDAY?" Pepper's own voice shook as well and he just now realized how pale she was.
"These were all approved by the board as charitable donations, Ma'am."
Chills went down his spine, eyes still on the projection as if it would vanish if he didn't keep staring at it. "The board?" He knew where this was going. He was sure he knew but he needed to see it. Needed to see that is was true. There wasn't anything unusual about the board approving donations. The board decided on donations all the time. It wasn't just a ridiculously easy way to give money to projects that deserved it but also a nice tax break for the company. "I need the transcripts from those meetings. Pull them up. Scan through them for whenever the company's name popped up."
His voice shook. He could feel it and he knew Pepper could hear it just the same. A sudden need to get up and pace made him jump out of his seat, but there was nowhere to go with Pepper sitting next to him, blocking his way to the aisle. She reached for his hand as they both had their eyes glued to the lines of the meeting's transcript rattling down too fast to read as FRIDAY scanned them for the agency's name. The blood froze in his veins as the first line containing the name popped up, highlighted in bright orange, the familiar name almost staring back at them from FRIDAY's projection.
Obadiah Stane
He felt sick. Physically sick. There was actual bile rising in his throat.
Pepper's hand squeezed his tightly. "It... it wasn't an accident." Her breathing wavered, sounded as nauseated as he felt. "Oh god, it wasn't an accident."
His hands held onto her as well as the table. Obadiah Stane had not just conspired to have him murder in Afghanistan to steal his company. He had started so much earlier than that. He had paid people to steal his son, had used Tony's own money to do it. And then, when he had thought that Tony was dead, when nothing was standing between him and the keys to Stark Industries, the man had wanted to make sure, that no Stark heir was ever going to spoil his treasure.
Just then, FRIDAY's alert popped up. The red flashing light of the projection pulled both their eyes.
Eric Williams. HYDRA. Head of the New York branch. Alias: The Grim Reaper.
It was as if someone had poured a bucket of ice over Tony's head. The shock to his system let all the pieces fall into place. They hadn't just died. They were traveling in a car on a dark empty road when the car happened to run off that road and slid into a riverbed. All three people in the car were killed. Mary and Richard Parker. And the real Peter Parker. His stomach turned as the pictures of a similar supposed accident flashed in front of his eyes. His parents, killed on a lonely winter road.
Not killed, murdered. Because they were in the way. Because HYDRA wanted to take over SHIELD and his father was in their way. So HYDRA had sent their tool to finish the job, to make it look like an accident. A tool they had rented out.
"Oh... oh god, he—" Tony's stomach turned. Chills went through his body as if the plane had just fallen into an air pocket because that's how fast and deep his stomach dropped as everything clicked into place. That accident... no... that had been no accident. Stane had already seen himself with the keys to the kingdom but they had made a mistake. That other boy, May and Benjamin Parker's son had died instead of his. He had been murdered instead of his own son.
Tony's vision was turning black on the edges. He couldn't breathe, had to hold on to the table in front of him to keep himself steady.
"Barnes," he whispered, swallowing hard hoping he wasn't about to lose the content of his stomach.
"Tony." Pepper shook him, trying to get his attention. Her eyes were searching his, confused about what was happening, of what had him freak out like that. He should have told her before. Maybe Pepper could have connected the dots faster than he had.
"My parents, they didn't die in a car crash."
"I..." She blinked a couple of times, eyes not leaving his face. "I don't..."
"They were murdered by the Winter Soldier. Barnes. He staged the accident to make it look like the crash killed them."
Her lips were moving like she was trying to speak, trying to respond by the way her mouth kept working, but not a single word came over her lips.
"Barnes killed my parents." No. He gave his head a hard shake, one deep breath in hopes of kick-starting his brain. "He murdered them."
"Oh... Oh my god, Tony, that... Are you... are you sure? Maybe it—" She shut her mouth with an almost audible clap as he sent her a look. "Alright. You... You're sure. I..."
"That's why we fought. Because I found out. Steve and I. HYDRA used the Winter Soldier to murder my parents."
"I... I still don't understand, what—"
"Maybe it wasn't the only accident he staged."
Her hands dropped off him like she had been burned. The wheels in her head were spinning, trying to process, but there was no time to wait for her to catch up on what was happening. He had to do something. Now.
His phone lay discarded on the side of the table and he quickly picked it up, shaky fingers activating the touchpad. He wanted to just tell FRIDAY to dial his number at first but he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud. He held onto the phone with both hands, worried he might drop it otherwise. The name in his contact list was almost staring back at him. The last person he wanted to call. The last person he wanted to talk to but there was no other way. No faster way. And there was only one thing that was important.
His son.
Deep breath in. Deep breath out. One click and he pulled the phone up to his ear, eyes on the ground.
"Tony?"
His tongue was frozen for just a second, the hand not holding his phone balled up into a fist as he forced the words over his lips. "Where is he?"
"I... I don't... who are yo—"
"Barnes. Is he with you? Do you... do you have him?"
"Alright, calm down. Bucky is..." Rogers sighed. "Tony, I get it, okay. You hate him for what he was made to do, but I'm telling you, it's not him. It's the—"
"—the fucking triggers in his head. I know. Steve, I think he was sent to kill my son."
"I... What? What are you talking about?"
"He was hired. Or rented. I don't even— Years ago. After they kidnapped him, Aiden... he was just hidden out of sight and when they thought I was dead... When they thought I had been killed in Afghanistan they went and hired HYDRA to murder my son. Those triggers... I... I need to know that they're gone. I need you to bring him in. Right now."
"Just... okay, just take a breath, Tony. How do you even know it was him? Bucky is doing... he's doing really well. He's... he's safe. He's monitored, alright? We're... we're working on—"
"He still in Wakanda?"
"I..."
"You think I don't know where you went? Who was sponsoring you?"
"Tony, please... just hold on a moment. Let's just... let's just figure out what happened and—"
"Have you talked to him about Aiden? Did you tell him about my son?"
The silence on the other end of the line flooded Tony's veins with fear.
"Rogers? Nat said you tell him about all the shit that you do all day. Did you tell him about my son being alive?"
"I... listen, just... just calm down for a moment. I—"
"They hired HYDRA. To kill my son. They used Barnes for those jobs until a couple of years ago. He killed the wrong kid. If he realizes that, what if that triggers him? Makes him want to finish the job, huh?
"That... that's not—" Rogers breaths came in short puffs.
Tony's pulse went haywire. He had then. He had talked to the assassin, told him that Aiden was alive, that they found him. "When's the last time you talked to him?"
"Erm, I... I'm not..."
"Steve. Please. Please tell me you know where he is. Please."
"Let me..." Roger's cleared his throat. "I'll... I'll call you right back, alright?"
The call was disconnected before Tony could even respond. If he hadn't been freaked out before, he sure was now.
"FRI, I need eyes on New York. I need eyes on Peter. Where is he?"
"His phone puts him in his bedroom in Queens. Do you want to place a call?"
Tony hesitated for a moment. His heart rate was going through the roof. Was he overreacting? Was this... was he making things worse? What if he freaked the kid out? What if he did something stupid and reckless if he called the kid now and scared him?
"Tony, what's going on? What's happening?"
He bit his lip, gave his head a little shake. "FRI, tell them to turn the plane around. Tell them to go back."
"Yes, boss."
Pepper reached for him and turned him to face her. "What's going on? Does he not know where Barnes is? You're scaring me!"
"Sir, the plane is not stocked with enough fuel to make it all the way back to New York City. I recommend a fuel stop outside of Denver, Colorado."
"Fuck." Pepper's hand on him weren't helping. He was losing it, losing the little cool he had left. "Call the kid, FRIDAY. Call him right now."
The call signal rang through the plane, clearly elevated over the white noise engines and high winds had rush in their ears. They waited and Tony grabbed the table a little stronger to stay upright as the plane made a sharp u-turn.
"Sir, he's not answering."
Pepper stood up now too, one hand on his wrist. "He's fine. I... Tony, I'm sure he's fine. He's at the apartment. He's safe."
Her words didn't help. They only freaked him out even more. That wasn't rational but then what was rational about this anymore.
He almost had a heart attack when his phone rang. It wasn't the boy though.
"Where is he?"
"Tony, listen..." Roger's voice was strained which couldn't be a good sign. "I... I can't get a hold of him right now but—"
"Oh god, oh my god, he—"
"Tony, that's not all that unusual. He's out there in the middle of nowhere in a cabin, spending most of his time herding goats. I'm... I'm sure everything is alright. If you... just... I guess just keep a close eye on the kid. Give me a couple of hours and I can clear this all up."
"I can't keep an eye on him! I'm on a plane somewhere over Nevada!" His voice sounded shrill even to his own ears.
Rogers was quiet for a moment. "Why are you in Nevada?"
"Does it matter right now?"
"Alright, we... we're just... we're not that far from New York City. Less than an hour out with the jet, maybe we can get there a bit faster. We... I guess we can stop by, make sure everything's in order."
"You told him then." His breathing was still erratic but despite his hysteria, Tony felt somewhat detached from his body. "He knows Aiden is alive."
"Your boy will be just fine."
"You... you told your assassin BFF where my son is."
"I..." Rogers cleared his throat. "I didn't know, did I? I just—"
"You know he killed people. You know what he can do! Why... why would you ever bring up my son to a—"
"Nothing will happen to Aiden. To Peter. Nothing. You have my word, Tony."
Tony hung up before he could say something he would regret. Pepper had her eyes on him, wide and frightened.
"FRIDAY, try the kid again."
He let it ring five times then he had made up his mind. He slid across the table past Pepper towards the aisle.
"Tony..."
A flicker of his wrist towards FRIDAY's sensors and the armor was assembling around him.
"Tony, wait!"
He turned, faceplate still pulled up. Her hands were on his face faster than he could react. She pulled him close and kissed him hard. When she pulled away, her eyes were still shining with tears. "Please be fast. Please."
"As fast as I can be, darling."
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[author's note: Thank you guys for following and commenting! I always love to read your reactions and theories! Thanks for sticking with the story!]