Chapter 57 - Hands Off!
Tony's heart was beating in an unnatural rhythm. It had been for days, unable to calm down. Not after he had prevented Ross from busting both the boy and the Rogues. Not after he had managed to snatch him from the clutches of those kidnappers aided by the Rogues. Certainly not after he had found out the truth about the kid. About Peter. Aiden. Not even Pepper had truly managed to calm him enough so he could drown out that erratic fast beating of his heart.
That alone should have been enough for him to realize that his plan had been flawed. Should have been enough to make him reconsider, turn around before it was too late. Maybe he could have stopped this. Maybe he could have kept the kid hidden away, out of reach from Barnes, protected from the press, the police, all of them if he had just stayed. He had failed though. He hadn't managed to do what had been most important. Sacrificing his own needs, his own desperate craving to keep his son close, had done nothing but make things worse.
He couldn't get the kid's voice out of his head, his painfully distressed pleas, his voice too heavy to even really string together a whole sentence. It had been pure agony and only Barton and Doctor Cho's combined efforts had been able to stop him from rushing right to that damn hospital.
Waiting and staring at the machines hadn't been enough. He had delved right back into research mode. Nobody could hold a candle to Tony in research mode even as his hands were shaking and his mind was racing. Clarke. Fucking Clarke was in on this somehow. He knew something and Tony still had no idea what that was, but the idea made him sick.
"Boss, my algorithm registers and active FAD alert."
And just like that, Tony's heart froze.
Barton looked up at the ceiling, then at Tony. "What does that mean?"
He had already jumped out of his chair, one swift motion with his hand had FRIDAY pull up the data. "It means I'm trending."
"Trending where?" A deep frown on his face, the man came closer, eyes squinting at the different numbers and keywords. "Oh, that..."
"Yeah." Tony swallowed the lump in his throat. "That seems to be everywhere."
Tony's name had popped up simultaneously all over the internet. But not just his name.
Avenger Tony Stark's long lost son rumored to have resurfaced in New York.
Kidnapped son of billionaire philanthropist in police custody after violent attack in Queens, New York City.
Violent fight between fugitives Steve Rogers and the Winter Soldier leads to arrest of boy identified as Aiden Elliot Stark, son of Iron Man and billionaire tech genius Tony Stark.
NYPD match fingerprints of local boy with those of Aiden Stark, lost son of billionaire Avenger Tony Stark. Captain America and the Winter Soldier arrested in connected struggle.
His throat closed a little more with every headline that popped up. In and out. He tried to focus on his breathing. This... they... fuck.
"How... how can they—" He pulled up one article after the other. "FRI, any mention of the kid's name? Any— Shit. Fucking shit, I..."
"Tony, just breathe..." Barton stood close to him, brow furrowed. "This is a good thing. This will help."
"Help? Help?" He stared at the New York Times' breaking news story and there in bold letters they had printed it all.
Young boy from Queens.
Arrested in connection to fight with Captain America and the Winter Soldier.
Fingerprints matched Aiden Elliot Stark.
Arrested boy lived under the name of Peter Parker.
"They..." Tony swallowed hard. "The... the kid... this... this wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to be safe and not—" Deep breaths.
"Listen... Tony, listen if you— Without knowing what you know and this message comes in? What do you do?" Clint raised his eyebrows.
"I... I would..." Another deep breath.
"You would rush there and demand to know what the fuck is going on."
Tony blinked at the headlines a couple more times.
Avenger Tony Stark's long lost son identified by NYPD with fingerprint match.
"Right." The archer had a point.
"It means if you... if you go right now, nobody would even question it. Nobody would ever question what you knew about this before the fact. I think... I think this might be Nat."
"Nat?"
"Yeah, Nat and her... and her Wakandian connection."
Tony felt sick. "I don't even know what that is supposed to mean."
Barton stared at him point-blank. "It means we can kick this into the next gear. It means when Helen has a sample ready that is good enough to fool them you can go and get your boy."
Natasha. What the fuck was she thinking? Peter's name being out there that... that would change everything.
"FRIDAY, update on Helen, now!"
They had been close. Helen had been so close and in such a short time. There would have been no way he could have reverse engineered that DNA sample anywhere near as fast as Helen had.
It took him another 30 minutes to calm the fuck down. Well, to calm somewhat down. 5 frantic messages to Natasha later, he was in the Iron Man armor on route to the Tower. He had a car wait in the parking garage, had exchanged the armor for a three-piece suit, a different kind of armor.
The DNA sample lay heavy in his suit pocket. Helen had taken the neutral carrier Tony had synthesized and swiftly inserted the modified DNA structure. A DNA sample that could have been his son's at 13 years of age if it hadn't been for that spider bite. Not just a replica of the sample collected in 2005 after Aiden had been taken, but a 99.9% match that allowed for environmental modifications that DNA would naturally endure over a period of 10 years.
The sample had been transferred to a cotton swab. It would work. It could fool anyone if they only managed to place it without suspicion. If he would manage to get there in time.
Nobody had called him, not the hospital, not the NYPD. The latter didn't surprise him. With Clarke still in charge, they would angle to use this as much to their advantage as they could. They would use it against him, exclude him and pressure the boy, scare him to give away something, anything. Then they would use whatever they learned to try to extract favors from Tony. That was the best-case scenario, cause he could only hope that they didn't know, that Clarke hadn't found out the kid's most important secret.
The press outside the hospital was fighting over the best spots close to the entrance, how to best bask in his personal heartache. On a normal day, he'd feel guilty about the extra stress they were putting on the hospital staff, but this wasn't just any other day. His son was in that building. His teenage son, hurt and frightened, his true identity threatened to be revealed to the whole world with all the consequences that would bring.
On any other day, he would have FRIDAY find a different way into that building. The one with the lowest chances of being seen, but right now he needed the public's sympathies on his side. He would need the pressure on the authorities that came with sappy fluff pieces and his tense face plastered on the front page of every newspaper in the country as well as all over social media. As much as he wanted to keep his kid, his family private, safe and far away from everyone's prying eyes, that ship had sailed. Now he would need the press to tell the story to his benefit.
A wave of nausea ran through him at the thought of how his kid fighting for his life had been sensationalized. He had to get into that building. He had to get to the kid and at least the attention had given him the excuse he needed to show up at the hospital without raising too many eyebrows on what he knew.
By the time his driver went to open the car door, the cluster of reporters had moved up so close to the car that the door wouldn't even open all the way. He pushed his way through the crowd, thankful for the dark glasses he had picked. Even with that extra protection, his vision was mostly gone, blinded by all the camera flashes by the time he made it through the door. He hadn't announced his arrival to anyone but somehow there was still a lady waiting in the foyer.
"Mr. Stark. My name is Elaine Thomas. I'm with the hospital. We have a room prepared for you to wait for Congresswoman—"
"There's only one room I'll be heading for. You better tell me where my son is before my lawyers show up and sue this whole circus for every cent it's worthwhile they figure out who exactly is criminally responsible for this shit show." He tried to keep his tone flat and deadly but there was a quiver in his voice that - had she actually known him - would have given away the nerves he was fighting.
"Mr. Stark, I do understand that you are anxious. This is such a difficult situation to be dealing with. I assure you we—"
His phone vibrated in his pocket. A message form Natasha.
Get. Here. Faster!
Tony jumped forward, left with a quick shout over his shoulder directed at the lady from the hospital. "I highly doubt you have the slightest idea of the situation I'm dealing with, not that it matters."
The elevators were to their left and he was done chitchatting. His boy needed him and he'd break out his suit and fly up to the fifth floor if he had to. For now, he'd do things the civil way. Without as much as another glance in the lady's direction, he headed for the elevator. The doors opened instantly.
"Excuse me, Mr. Stark. Sir, I really must insist—"
"You really do want to meet my lawyers, don't you?" Tony hit the number 5 on the elevator control panel. Room 513. That's what Natasha had said. 513. He took deep breaths, willing his nerves to calm down. He couldn't screw this up.
The lady from the hospital stepped into the steel car along with him, babbling about procedure and the hospital's administration. Regulations from the NYPD.
The NYPD. Fuck them. Fucking Clarke was the next person on Tony's list. He was neck-deep in this whole operation but as long as he had his son, Tony couldn't do anything. Wouldn't dare to touch him.
"I assure you, Sir, we are doing our very best and everything is dealt with according to protocol."
The lady was getting on his nerves. Did she think her talking at Tony would actually do anything for him? Would make him reconsider on whether he'd storm in there, whether he would just let it go and wait till they were good and ready for him to see his son? The elevator had almost reached the fifth floor when he took of his glasses and turned to her, the grimmest look on his face that he could manage. Not that it was difficult to muster given the circumstances.
"Listen, lady, I promise you I won't hesitate to sue this whole city until everyone here needs to move to Iowa and to find someone who's willing to employ them, so if you don't want to move into one of the pole positions you better stop yapping in my ear. I will go and see my son and nothing you say or do will change that, are we understood?"
"I..." She swallowed hard, eyes wide. "Yes. Yes, Sir."
He slipped the glasses into the inner pocket of his suit jacket.
"Now. 513. Left or right?"
"It's... erm, it's to the left, Sir. At the end of the corridor."
The doors of the elevator opened just in time and he marched out into the hallway. There weren't many people on the floor, a few more to his right, but as he strutted down the corridor to the left there was very little commotion around him, his steps echoing hollow from the naked walls. The last door on the left was room number 513. Tony didn't hesitate to push the door open and it forcefully hit someone in the back.
"Hey, you have no—" A lean, blond-haired NYPD officer jumped a bit as the door hit him and turned on Tony. "You can't just come in here!"
"The fuck I can't," Tony said under his breath. He didn't even care. He just pushed past the guy until he stood in the middle of the room. His eyes first fell onto Nat. She stood right next to the hospital bed, cotton swab in hand. Then there was Peter in the bed, cuffs around his wrists that were tethered to the steel frame of the hospital bed, a thick white bandage wrapped around his neck as well as his arm. Tony spun around towards the officer and had to stop himself from grabbing the guy by the collar.
"Take those off," he snarled through gritted teeth. "Take those cuffs off him right now."
"Those are protocol."
At the sound of that particular voice, a cold chill went down Tony's back. Shoulders pulled back, head held high, he couldn't help himself and stepped closer to the man he wanted to get his hands on more than anyone else right now. Fucking Clarke. "I'm going to fucking show you another kind of protocol if you don't—"
The chief cocked his head at him. "Are you threatening the chief of the NYPD, Mr. Stark? You need to leave this room right this instance."
Tony narrowed his eyes on him. "Or what, Clarke?"
"Or I'll arrest you for obstructing police work and threatening an officer of the state."
There was nothing Tony wanted to do more than punch that smug grin off of the asshole's face. That wicked smile his lips pulled into as he mentioned the obstruction. It could very well be a subtle hint that the police already knew more about Peter. About the Stark internship. If they didn't know yet, they were bound to find out soon and there was little he could do. Peter's position was official with the company. He had been on the payroll and if Tony went ahead and deleted the time account that tied the kid to his own lab he'd have to pick an engineer he could trust to lie for him and right now he didn't trust anyone to lie for him. He had to pick his fights in this and this time he would have to bite his tongue.
He pushed past Natasha who stood frozen, cotton swab still in hand. The kid's face crumbled in a gut-wrenching mix of hope and anguish.
"Hey kid..." he whispered, positive that only Peter would be able to make out the words. "You'll be fine, alright? You'll be just fine."
Tony had to hold himself back, had to stay a step out of reach of the bed lest he would lunge for his boy and pull him close. The boy's arms hung slack between his shoulders and the steel cuffs on his wrists, fastened at an uncomfortable height on the bed's railing. Peter would be able to snap them just like that, but not if he wanted to keep his powers to himself. Natasha had done what she could to hide his obvious injuries from view. Tony's eyes lingered on the thick bandage around the kid's throat. He still had no idea what had really happened in that apartment. Peter would know of course, so would May Parker and possibly Rogers. And Barnes. Neither of them was a source of information that Tony could fall back on though.
Not that what happened really mattered right now. All that mattered now, was for Peter to be safe. He had to get his boy out of the hands of these people, bring him to the Tower where nobody could get to him. Have his team check him over. Helen knew Peter. She'd know what to do, how to deal with his injuries. The physical ones at least.
The chaffed skin on his arms, the taped cut across his cheek. That dark spot that had formed close to the kid's temple. There were a few cuts and what looked like tiny burn blisters on his arms as well, but nothing too serious. All those were superficial. He would heal up in no time and that sure was another reason why they needed to leave sooner rather than later. His left arm was wrapped in a heavy dressing as well. But all of these injuries would mean nothing compared to the implications of what had happened in the Parker's apartment. Barnes' attack, the police running the kid's prints and finding out about who Peter truly was. The implications that would have on the boy's life.
Everything would change now. Tony had been a fool. A damn fool. All Tony could do now, was protect him, shield him from those who would harm him. The way the kid looked at him, judging from the trust and hope that flashed in his eyes, he still had no inclination what all this meant. What Tony showing up would mean for the rest of the boy's life, even if Tony did manage to get him out of this mess.
Tony would publicly embrace him as his son and that came with its own rules. With its own dangers and complications. With its own consequences.
Right now, that didn't matter though. All that mattered was the fear and pain written clearly all over the boy's face. He couldn't hold back any longer, his hand reaching out for Peter. Not to clasp his hand like he wanted to, that felt like a too-familiar gesture and he would still have to do his best to feign ignorance to the truth in front of the officers. Tony reached for his upper arm instead, squeezed it as tightly as he dared without hurting the kid.
"Mr. Stark, I... I don't... I'm—"
"Shhh." Tony looked right at him then, eyes locked with the boy's. "Everything will be alright. You'll be alright." He put all the force he could muster into his stare, willing Peter not to say too much, to stay quiet and not give away how well they really knew each other. How much relief he probably felt that Tony was there now.
This wasn't over, far from it.
"Step away from the detainee, Stark. You have no clearance, absolutely no permission to be in here!" Clarke's voice carried so much vile. Even if Tony hadn't known how deeply he was involved in all of this, it still would have made his blood boil.
But Tony refused to move. He kept his hand firmly on his boy. The tremor of the kid's muscles proved just how on edge Peter was, how close his senses were to overtake him. They had to get out of there before this whole thing would blow up in their faces.
"Did they tell you what is happening, buddy?" He spoke loud enough for the room to hear.
"Stark! You have no authority to be here!" Clarke wouldn't give up on this, but he'd have to have Tony drag out by a whole bunch of guys to make him leave.
"Do you know why you're here, kid?" Tony tried again.
Peter's eyes were wide, shining with moisture. He was probably scared. Well, of course he was scared, worried he would say the wrong thing. "Because..." the boy swallowed hard and twitched in pain. "Because I got hurt?"
"No, buddy. They ran your prints and found that—"
"Mr. Stark! Please, you can't! There's a protocol!" Great, the annoying hospital lady had made her way into the room as well, followed by a flustered Congresswoman Davis.
"Johnson!" Clarke's voice was a sharp bark. "Get him out of here!"
Tony turned before Clarke's officer could put his hands on him.
"You better bring more than one guy if you want to drag me out of this building, Clarke! I bet the pool of reporters out front will love to have a picture of the NYPD dragging Tony Stark away from the sickbed of his injured son."
The officer had frozen, uncertainly looking back and forth between his boss and Tony. It wasn't even an empty threat. The press would eat this up like butter and it would be a cakewalk for Tony to spin this in his favor. All that would take too long though, upset the kid too much, maybe to a point where he would snap. Tony's first priority was to get Peter out of there and safely to the Tower. Make sure the world would never learn who Spider-Man truly was. Give his senses time to recover, his body time to heal.
"Mr. Stark," the lady let out in a high-pitched shriek.
All eyes turned to Peter now. Tony had just dropped a bomb and his reaction would be crucial. The kid hadn't moved an inch, frozen except for his hands that now clutched the railing of the hospital bed right next to where the cuffs were fastened. He clutched the handrail so hard, his knuckles had turned white. His face was just as white, eyes even wider than before. The kid was a horrible liar. The shock on his face was not a reaction to the news but to Tony's blunt delivery. It would do though. It would be enough to make them believe that Peter had had no idea.
"Take those fucking cuffs off him, Clarke, or I'll swear, I'll cut them off myself."
"You don't tell me what to do, Stark."
"Actually, this court order issued by the district's court I have right here says differently."
Tony's eyes shifted to the door and there was never a more beautiful sight than his girl, pointed heels, suit and all, standing tall in the entrance of the room, coming to the rescue of his son. Pepper didn't need thrusters or laser beams, all she needed was her sharp brain, a good grasp of the law and an unwavering commitment to keeping his boy safe.
"Judge Tarino agrees upon reviewing the video evidence that Peter Parker has acted in defense of a third person. The arrest is to be voided and he is to be released to his legal guardian Tony Stark." She pushed the documents into the police chief's hands. "We have to thank your department for proving who the boy's true guardian is, Chief Clarke."
Clarke sneered and thrust the documents into his underling's hands. "That won't be decided until the DNA test comes back!"
"Judge Tarino's order states quite clearly—"
"I don't give a shit what it says. I, too, have an order from the district's family court that decided that a DNA test will determine the boy's parentage! Any action against it will find you in contempt with pending kidnapping charges, lady." Clarke looked back and forth between Tony and Pepper like he was daring them to defy him. Like he would like nothing better than arresting them both on the spot.
The Congresswoman cleared her throat. "Chief Clarke, I thought we had agreed that the young man would need a child advocate before any steps could be taken in this quests of yours for a DNA sample."
Clarke waved to the other side of the room. "Did that. Now, let's get back to business. Nurse! Go on!"
Tony's eyes flickered to the chair on the other side of the wall and sure enough, a little mousy woman was sat there, eyes so wide it made Peter look less afraid.
Congresswoman Davis shook her head slightly. "Oh... oh I see. You... CPS send you, Miss..?"
"Muller," the woman whispered, clearly desperate to be anywhere but in that room right now.
The Congresswoman didn't seem all too impressed with the submissive attitude the young woman displayed. "Miss Muller. And you advised this boy here go ahead with the DNA sample?"
"I... N—no, ma'am. But the, erm... the order the chief erm... Chief Clarke, he... the order from the judge means the can demand it and... and hospital protocol, it... well, it means they have to take the sample."
Davis nodded along then turned to Natasha. "Well, nurse, if that is correct then I guess—"
The door was pushed open once again and another four officers tried to make their way into the room.
"Ah." Neither Clarke nor his man Johnson did a good job in hiding their glee. "Back up's here. Come in, come in. Mr. Stark would like to be escorted outside and you two might need to help out the fine nurse here."
"Hey!" They pushed past Pepper. The kid's eyes were wide and he was scooching back in the bed, cuffs rattling on the bed's railings. The situation was so far out of Tony's control he was just about ready to bust through that window and take the kid with him.
"Chief Clarke!" Congresswoman Davis' face had gone white. "Please, I'm sure we can find a... a more civil solution."
Tony would fight them. He wouldn't hesitate. Even if it would end up with him in the damn Raft, but not one of these clowns would put as much as a finger on his boy.
"Chief Clarke!" Davis' voice was so shrill if stopped the men in their tracks. "This... this is no way to go about this, chief. I'm sure we can find a—erm... compromise that Mr. Stark and his... his team would agree to. I'm sure they will agree to the test as well as the wait for the results if you make the process of waiting a little more comfortable for the boy." She turned to Tony, a teeth-achingly sweet smile on her lips but her eyes a deep pool of nerves. "I'm sure it's in Mr. Stark's own interest to make sure the NYPD's records aren't mistaken."
"In my best—" Tony blew out a shuddering breath. "The only interest I have is that the boy is left alone! He's been attacked! Shot at and..." He didn't know what had happened to the boy's neck. Only that there were bruises that... that meant he might have been strangled. Then there was the matter of his arrest. "...and the NYPD brutalized him for it! Cuffed him to the bed when the skin on his arm has been torn by a bullet and now... now they want to prod him even more, even though we have everything we need to prove that he is my son!"
"Brutalized?" Officer Johnson scoffed. "We treated him like we would any other person who fired shots in the middle of town. There's no special treatment for the spawn of—"
"Officer!" The Congresswoman's eyes were wide, looking back and forth between Clarke and his little stooge.
Tony's heartbeat so fast and so loudly in his ears, he had a hard time even trying to think. "They say the fingerprints matched. That's all I need. Scientifically that's all that's needed. I don't want them to touch my son "
Peter whimpered behind him but he couldn't afford to take his eyes off of Clarke's goons.
The Congresswoman swallowed hard. "The nurse... the nurse can swab him and... and I'm sure Chief Clarke and his man, they can just wait somewhere... somewhere else. There is... Mr. Stark, there is a court order that demands this I..."
She was pleading with him. He could tell. She was trying to deescalate, but she didn't know what she was asking. Tony's hand brushed over the pocket of his suit jacket. He could still feel the test tube safely hugged by the fabric. Natasha hadn't taken it then. Hadn't had a chance.
"I want them out!" His voice sounded breathless. "The cuffs need to go and I don't want them near him, any of them!"
"Oh, fuck you, Stark, we will—"
She sent a glare at the chief that managed to shut him up. "And then you'll agree. You'll let the nurse do her job."
He swallowed hard. His eyes flickered first to Natasha, then to Pepper. He could still refuse and then what? His watch surely would be enough to take them on. One glove against 5 human officers. He couldn't contain them and the kid at the same time though. Knowing Peter, he'd jump at the chance to bolt. Natasha. Natasha might be willing to blow her cover, but then what? They'd have to flee the country for good. Somewhere they wouldn't get extradited. If Rogers could do it, Tony sure could as well. But was he willing to put the kid through that? And Pepper? Maybe lose her after all? There was still a chance that their switcheroo with the samples could work and if it did... well, if it did things would be a lot easier.
Tony's hand brushed over the fabric of his suit once more. It was still there. She would take it, right? Natasha would make this work.
"Fine." His gaze met the Congresswoman's. "Get them away from the boy and we'll comply with the order."
"I don't fucking need you complying, Stark, I'll make you."
"Chief Clarke!" Davis' was losing her last nerve.
"What? Who knows what they could be up to!" The chief pointed back and forth between Tony and Pepper. "Could take Stark's sample for all we know to try and cheat the system like they always do! Not accountable to any of their bullshit, are they! I'm not leaving! I'm here to witness the process. That's my job!"
Tony's fists were clenched. "That's not how the sample even works, you fucking moron!"
"Fine. But you don't need backup to witness this!" The Congresswoman turned to the policemen than had just squeezed into the hospital room. "We don't need all of you people in here. None of this is helping!"
There was a whole lot of shuffling back and forth as Clarke's men made their way out of the room. Tony's pulse was still all over the place but he managed to move closer to the boy. Peter looked tiny hunched over in that bed, arms still stretched between the cuffs on both railings, tears still wet on his face.
"Mr... Mr. Stark, please, they..."
"Shh..." His hand was on the boy's arm, careful not to hurt him. The skin underneath his fingers was clammy with cold sweat, twitching as the kid's nerves were spiking. He kept his voice as low as he could manage. "It's gonna okay, buddy. Don't you worry. I'll make sure—"
"Stark, stay the fuck away! Don't even for a minute think you can give me the runaround!"
Tony squeezed the boy's arms once, then stepped back just far enough for Natasha to push her way through. She instructed Peter to open his mouth and carefully rubbed the cotton swab along the inside of his cheeks. Clarke was watching him like a hawk, not even sparing a glance in the kid's direction. The glass test tube still lay heavy in Tony's pocket. He had to get the sample to Natasha somehow but he had no idea how to do it. They were running out of time and if Tony fucked this up—
"There we go. All easy." The thick Russian accent startled Tony but his head was back in the game as soon as Clarke rushed forward.
"Gimme that!"
"Stay the fuck back, Clarke!" The man was a lot taller than Tony but he wouldn't get intimidated by that. Not when his son's safety was at stake.
"Tony!" Pepper's voice was high pitched.
"Stop it! Chief Clarke!" The Congresswoman stepped forward as well, almost hysterical at this point.
After a bit of a tussle, Clarke ripped the sample out of Natasha's hand.
"Goodness, chief!" The Congresswoman shook her head in disbelieve. "Was that really necessary!"
The chief wasn't fazed though, no. The shit-eating grin on Clarke's face made Tony's insides spasm. Like the cat that got the cream, victory so plainly written all over his face. A quick glance at Pepper confirmed that she saw just what he did. Clarke thought of this as a victory. He thought that he had won, which could only mean that... Tony reached for Pepper's hand, squeezed it tightly to keep his own from shaking. He knew something. Clarke was so sure that he knew something that would prove detrimental to them, to Tony. And he thought that DNA test would prove it.
"You agreed to take the cuffs off him!" Pepper's voice was shaking, not even with fear, she was livid.
Clarke gave a cocky nod in the direction of officer Johnson who was still by his side. The man pushed past him and Pepper, making a point of needing space. Not too gently, he opened up the cuff on Peter's right wrist. Tony's mind played an incredibly vivid daydream in front of his eyes, how he would hunt them down. How he would catch them, use the heaviest, most restraining titanium cuffs he could find on them. Cuffs that would bind them to the wall, no room to move. No room to rest or find any relief in stretching their legs. He'd let them rot in jail till the end of eternity.
Peter was whimpering as the guy took a hold of his other arm next, the one with the bullet wound.
"Hey!" Pepper took a step closer to the bed, her eyes burning.
"You'd think someone like you would know all about how pain meds work." The officer didn't even look at them, collecting the open cuffs. "He didn't even feel any of that. The kid's just a little drama queen."
Tony's hands balled up into fists. Maybe not just regular jail. Maybe he would put them in one of the dark single-cell compartments on the lowest level of the Compound. No sunlight. No fresh air.
"Get the fuck out!" He knew he shouldn't let them get to him, but he couldn't help himself. The tears that hung on the boy's lashes, the pain they caused him, Tony just couldn't contain his anger.
"We'll make sure to keep the room observed." The corner's of Clarke's mouth twitched. "We don't want to risk any accidents, do we? For your protection, Mr. Stark." He pointed at Natasha. "Go on, this needs to get to the lab!" He wiggled the test tube he had wrangled from Natasha between his fingers in obvious mocking. "Lead the way, nurse."
The men turned without another word, way too pleased with themselves. Natasha didn't look at him either and he could just hope, just pray that she had either managed the impossible or would just strangle both men in a deserted hallway. As soon as the door fell shut behind them, Pepper was by the boy's side, her arms pulling him in, mumbling low whispered words of comfort.
"Shh, oh darling, it'll be okay. Everything will be just fine."
Congresswoman Davis was still in the room. So was the lady from CPS. Davis had shuffled so far towards the wall next to the door, her back was pressed against it. Her eyes were wide, staring at Peter.
"Congresswoman." Tony made an effort to reign in the anger and desperation that was pulsing through his veins. "If you don't mind, we'd appreciate some privacy."
"I... I didn't know they would— I... Clarke, he..." She shook her head, just stared at how tightly the kid clung to Pepper.
"Yeah, that's who they are. The only thing that matters to them is power and power." He kept a close eye on her, convinced that he would lose himself in his emotions if he turned to look at Pepper and Peter. "That's who you picked to align yourself with. Maybe it's time to rethink your priorities, Congresswoman."
She stayed stoic, eyes fixed on the boy behind him.
"Congresswoman." Deep breaths. He couldn't let his anger flare. "You were just about to leave." His eyes traveled over to Miss Muller. "Do I need to get a dictionary so you can all look up what privacy means?"
The woman cowered in her seat, eyes at Tony. "I... I can't... I can't... I'm not... not allowed, I—"
Tony groaned. "Just... I don't know. Maybe you need to use the restroom or something?"
Miss Muller jumped to her feet. "I... some... some water... I think... I think the boy needs some... some water."
She ran from the room so fast, she almost stumbled over the Congresswoman's feet. Just as she rushed past, Davis' head whipped around and she quickly made her way out of the room too, finally leaving them safe from prying eyes. Tony's hand went to his pocket. There was still a small bulge as he patted it down. Shaky fingers slipped past the fabric and curled around the glass test tube. His eyes cast down, he pulled it out only far enough to check. To make sure. His knees went weak and he had to grab the end of the bed for some support. It was empty. The sample was gone.
He spun around, wide eyes on the kid who still clung to Pepper. Three long strides and he was at the other side of the hospital bed, one hand at the back of the boy's head, the other on Pepper. The kid shook with heavy sobs.
"Shh, you're alright, buddy."
The boy turned, eyes on Tony. "But... but they'll know." His voice shook just as much as his arms were trembling. "They'll know now, everyone... everyone—"
"They won't." One of Tony's hands came up and wiped away the tears from the boy's face. "You have to trust me, kid. We have a plan, alright? You'll be fine."
"A... a plan?"
Tony nodded. His heart was breaking in real time looking at his boy. He was so scared and Tony couldn't even blame him. Not after he had let him down like that. "I'm sorry, kid. I should have been so much faster. Shh... come here..."
Peter didn't hesitate. He let himself be pulled close, but it didn't stop him from shaking.
"I... I didn't... didn't even do anything. He just... just broke down the door and then... and then he shot at us and I didn't— I don't know what I did. I don't know—"
"Shhh, nothing, buddy. You didn't do anything."
Tony's eyes found Pepper's. She was biting her lip, trying her hardest not to cry. One of her hands was holding on to Tony's arm, the other rubbed the kid's back.
"I... I swear, I... I stayed put... I didn't... I didn't even go looking... didn't go out, didn't—"
"Breath for me, buddy. You're shaking. You need to calm down so we can get out of here."
There was a vial in his other pocket, the sedative Helen had designed that would take all of the boy's pain away. That would soothe his senses. But it would also make him loopy, might even knock him out at this point. Tony couldn't risk that. As long as they were out in the open like this, things could still go wrong and Peter being conscious could make or break this for them.
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[author's note: I wasn't kidding about getting attached to the update speed, was I ;)
Thank you guys for the awesome feedback on the last chapter. It's super fun to read your thoughts and theories and I'm glad you're enjoying yourselves ;) ]