Chapter 10

"So, I've gathered you all here, because I have another team mission," Tony announced. He'd decided that while it was definitely overkill to assemble the entire team to take down Aldrich Killian, it could be another team bonding experience. Plus, the last time he'd tried to take Killian on, Pepper had almost died. "As anyone not living under a rock knows, there's been a new terrorist in town…the Mandarin. Because I am a genius with superior technology, I did some digging and found some inside info-"

"Tony, you didn't hack into the military's files again, did you? We don't even have all the information yet, and-" Rhodey began.

"While I am hurt that you did not share that information with me Honey-Bear, what I know is far superior to the government. The Mandarin that you see on TV? He's just an actor. The real Mandarin, is a man named Aldrich Killian. He's created something called Extremis. It's something that allows people to regenerate, breathe fire, and a bunch of other confusing stuff. I'm speaking in layman's terms for everyone but Brucie Bear, by the way. However, it's super unstable, and it can cause explosions, hence the 'bombings'," Tony stated. "Now, Killian's got some lackeys with him at his testing site, and we can take them down by attacking them from behind and then throwing something at them, causing an explosion before they can regenerate. As Pepper would say, 'it's very violent'," Tony finished.

As the Avengers talked over the game plan, a warm feeling came to Tony. If we keep the team together from the start, then the Civil War won't happen, and we won't be divided when the Purple Grape comes. We'll be ready, and nobody has to die. We can do this, together.

While Steve created a more detailed plan of attack, Tony kept his quippy comments to himself. He trusted Steve, and knew that winging it wasn't always the best strategy. But when Loki chimed in with his own ideas, Tony was quick to fire back with insults. Loki was the one person that Tony did not care about offending. The guy destroyed my tower while invading New York, he deserves it. Granted, he was under mind control but...ugh, details. Just because he's not evil anymore, doesn't mean I have to like the guy. He's far too dramatic, whiny, and eccentric for me. It is so hard to like someone who's nothing like you.

XXXXXX

"JARVIS, locate all people with an Extremis signature," Tony instructed his AI. "Use the Iron Legion. You know what to do with them."

"Tony, over here," Steve called. Steve held up his vibranium shield as Tony fired his repulsors, reflecting them off the shield, taking down two extremis soldiers.

What the fuck? How are there so many Extremis soldiers? There's gotta be like, at least fifty of them here! What made Killian create so many this time around? It seems like every good change I make creates more problems! Tony felt a panic attack come on. Calm down, calm down. You gotta focus. Tony took a deep breath before firing and killing more extremis soldiers.

"Tony, I thought you said Killian had a few lackeys! This looks like a lot more than that!" Clint said as he fired an explosive arrow.

"Well Legolas, there's a reason I brought backup. I thought a secret agent like yourself would understand that sometimes inside information doesn't tell the whole story. Never realized you were such a complainer," Tony joked.

"Shut up, Tin Can," Hawkeye responded. "And considering the fact that the 'inside information' came from you, it seems like you just admitted that you were wrong."

Tony and Clint continued to quip back and forth, which actually helped Tony with his anxiety. Thank God for Clint. Not that I'll ever tell him that.

Meanwhile, Tony noticed that the Hulk was having a grand time smashing the "fire men", while Thor followed closely behind, destroying the soldiers with Mjolnir. "HULK LOVE SMASHING FIRE MEN!"

"Tony, I have eyes on Killian. Loki, Rhodey, and I are going in," Natasha informed.

"Hold on, I'm coming too. I'd like to have a word with this dickwad," Tony said.

Tony flew up to the roof that Killian was standing on, joining Loki, Rhodey and Natasha.

"Well, well, well...if it isn't the great Tony Stark," Killian sneered. "Oh, how the tables have turned. You thought I was just some weak, little nerd who wasn't worth the time, but now, look at me. I AM THE MANDARIN!" Killian declared.

"Okay, in hindsight, I probably should've just told you that I was busy, instead of having you wait on the roof. For that, as much as I hate to do this, I apologize. And I never apologize. But you're the one who decided that it was a good idea to become a domestic terrorist, all because I skipped a meeting one time while I was drunk off my ass. I'm all for turning bad experiences into strength, but attacking a school full of children? My children? That's just cowardly," Tony responded. "You mess with my kids, you die. Simple as that."

"Oh, enough with the monologues," Loki complained just as Killian was about to respond. "Let's just kill the insolent little weasle and call it a day, shall we?" Loki swiftly used his energy projection magic to hit Killian with an energy blast, while Rhoney used a repulser to destroy Killian's body before he could regenerate.

"Wow, that was...anticlimactic," Tony stated.

"So, you're telling me that you had trouble killing this guy in your past life?" Loki asked incredulously. "And you call yourself a warrior," Loki scoffed. "Well, now we certainly know which of the two of us is superior."

"Well, it's easy to finish the job when someone, AKA me, has already laid out all the groundwork. And not all of us can be Norse gods," Tony responded, irritated.

"What the hell are they talking about?" Tony heard Rhodey ask Natasha while he and Loki were arguing.

"I have no idea. But those two eccentric idiots might want to shut up and talk about this at another time," Natasha responded. She gave the two feuding men a look that said, 'shut up before you fuck up the timeline all because of your endless pissing contest'. Tony immediately quieted down, and Loki quickly followed suit. That didn't stop them from continuing to glare at one another.

"Man of Iron, we have defeated the rest of the soldiers," Thor informed Tony.

"Alright, we need to blow up this place so that way, no other idiot from my past decides to use it to become a supervillain. Cap, get everyone to the quinjet," Tony instructed.

"Copy that Tony," Cap replied. "Alright, everyone's here."

"JARVIS, search the building and see if there's anyone there," Tony said.

"All clear, Boss," JARVIS replied.

"You know what to do."

XXXXXXXXXX

"In other news, Billionaire Tony Stark has donated a generous five million dollars to the Midtown School of Science and Technology to help them rebuild after the Mandarin attack," Anderson Cooper reported on CNN. "However, despite this generous donation, Midtown School is said to be closed for the next month as the building is restored. Classes are said to be continued online until further notice."

Peter watched the TV screen as he sat beside Tony in the waiting room at Oscorp Industries. "Ugh, I can't believe that we still have classes online. I thought the one good thing that could come from a supervillain attack would be that school would be canceled," Peter complained. "Ned, Harley, and I were going to work on the Republic Dropship that you just bought us."

Just as Peter saw Tony open his mouth to respond, Norman Osborn walked out with a young boy who looked to be around Peter's age. "Mr Stark, how wonderful to see you again," Norman said tersely, looking like it pained him to be cordial.

"Well, I wish I could say the same Normie, but you've always been an asshole, while I am amazing, so I guess the pleasure's all yours," Tony responded, clearly not caring about faking niceties.

Both Peter and the young boy standing next to Norman snorted in amusement. "Harry!" Norman scolded. "And I don't believe you've met my son, Harry. He's not the brightest, and he can be a bit of a nuisance, but I'm hoping that one day he'll mature enough to be able to run the company." Peter noted that the way Norman looked at Harry was far different from the way Tony looked at Peter. While Tony looked at Peter with nothing but admiration, Norman looked at Harry with pure disdain.

"Oh my gosh, Mr Normie, I mean Mr Norman or Osborn...Mr Osborn," Peter stuttered nervously. "I'm a huge fan, you're like, a scientific genius, your work on-"

"Thank you, young man," Norman cut Peter off. "And who might you be?"

"This is my kid, Peter. He's here to make sure I don't go completely insane while I'm here," Tony responded.

"I'm Parker, I'm mean I-I-I-I-I-I'm Peter Parker," Peter stuttered out at the same time.

"Am I correct in remembering that he attends Midtown School of Science and Technology? That's a very prestigious school, he must be very intelligent. It is unfortunate that the attack happened there. Perhaps Harry here, could learn a thing or two from Mr Parker," Norman said.

Harry rolled his eyes. "You know, if you didn't want to have a kid, you could've just kept your junk to yourself."

Norman smacked Harry with the stack of papers he was holding. "That's enough out of you." Norman shot Harry a death glare. "Why don't the boys go play, while the two of us discuss business?"

"I don't know, I don't really want Peter walking around unsupervised-" Tony began.

"Mr Stark, I'll be fine. It sounds like fun," Peter reassured him.

"Okay, fine. But if you need me at all, even if it's just because you can't find your juice box, have JARVIS notify me," Tony said.

"Da-I mean, Mr Stark! I'll be fine, I'm not a little kid!" Peter protested.

"Just promise me that you won't go anywhere you aren't supposed to go. I know you have a habit of doing that."

"I promise. Seriously, Mr Stark! Nothing's going to happen," Peter said.

XXXXX

"So, what's your deal with Tony Stark?" Harry asked Peter.

"What do you mean?" Peter wondered.

"Well, he's obviously no family man. Any magazine released in the past twenty years will tell you that. So, what is it? Some kind of PR stunt? Does your family get paychecks from the great Tony Stark in return?" Harry said.

"What? No, Mr Stark, Aunt May, and Uncle Ben would never do that! Mr Stark just offered me an internship when we met, and we connected. He's nothing like what people think. He's awesome, and he really cares about helping people. He's like a dad to me, he wouldn't do that," Peter defended his mentor.

"Hmmm…from what I've heard about him, he probably has a bunch of real kids out there that he's never bothered to meet. I doubt that he'd actually want to take in two random kids for no reason. But, who knows, I could be wrong. I know that my dad only had me so his 'heir' could take over the company," Harry said.

Peter went quiet as he took in Harry's words. Could he be right? I mean, why would Tony want a kid like me?

Peter then realized that while he'd been lost in his thoughts, Harry had disappeared. "Harry! Where are you?!" Peter called out nervously. "Harry, this isn't funny!"

Peter continued wandering around the building, but Harry was nowhere to be found. Woah...is that a lab? I mean, I know Tony told me not to go anywhere I'm not supposed to go, but it would be so cool to see a real Oscorp lab! Peter hid behind a wall, as he watched a worker enter the passcode to the lab. Peter carefully looked around before entering the same passcode and entering the lab himself.

"Woah! This is so awesome!" Peter gushed as he took in the high tech facility. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck. "Ow, what the heck was that?" Peter asked as he instinctively slapped the area where the pain came from. "Ew, it's a spider, I hate spiders!" Peter exclaimed as he wiped the spider's remains on the lab table.

"Dr Connors, we've been making tremendous progress..." A woman's voice echoed throughout the lab.

"Oh man, I should get out of here before someone sees me. Mr Stark will kill me if I get caught," Peter quickly ran to the door and sprinted out.

XXXXX

"Peter! There you are, I've been looking for you!" Harry called out.

"Where did you go? You just disappeared without telling me," Peter said.

"Ummm...I did tell you. I said I was going to get us both sodas, remember?" Harry replied.

"Oh, yeah, right," Peter said. "Sorry." Peter took the Pepsi that Harry handed him.

"We should probably get back to my dad's office. They're probably done by now," Harry said. "Hey, Peter, are you okay? You look a little green."

"I'm okay. I probably just didn't get enough sleep last night," Peter said, trying to hide the fact that he was shivering. I'm hot and cold at the same time. Oh man, I hope I don't have a fever. I'm supposed to go over to Ned's house tomorrow!

XXXXXXXX

"Hey Pete, are you doing alright there?" Tony asked as Happy was driving them home.

"I'm fine, Mr Stark," Peter replied tersely. In actuality, his head was pounding, and it sounded like Happy had the radio station turned up to 100. "Happy, can you turn that off?"

Happy looked confused, but obliged. "What's the matter kid, you don't like AC/DC?"

"What? I thought that was Led Zeppelin?" Peter asked, his discomfort momentarily forgotten.

"Kid, that statement right there, is a crime against humanity. That truly hurts my soul, kid. Don't make me regret giving you that internship!" Tony joked.

Peter didn't know if it was the unbearable pain he was in that caused his little outburst, but suddenly, he snapped. "If you didn't want me in the first place, you should've just ignored me at that expo. What am I? Your charity case? Or is this some kind of PR stunt so the media will think you actually have an ounce of humanity in you?"

"Woah...kid, where is this coming from? And to answer your question, I took you in because I saw a better version of myself in you. I have believed in you since the day I met you, and you've brought me nothing but joy. You're an amazing kid Pete, and I love you, because blood or not, you're my kid. Nothing will change that," Tony put his arm around Peter before feeling his forehead. "Jeez kid, you're burning up. JARVIS, what's his temperature?"

"102 degrees, sir," JARVIS replied.

"Alright Pete, when we get you home, you are going straight to bed. You need rest, and rest means rest, not working on some random science experiment, capisce?"

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Mr Stark. I don't know what got into me! I just really don't feel good right now, and Harry said something earlier, and I couldn't get it out of my head and I-" Peter rambled.

"Shh..just go to sleep, it's okay. And whatever Harry said is based on his shitty relationship with Norman Assborn. I'm honestly surprised that Normie was able to raise a kid that turned out somewhat normal looking. The point is, whatever dumb theories Harry has about me aren't true, and I love you for you. JARVIS, recline Peter's chair, he needs to rest."

"Will do, sir," JARVIS replied.