Gosh I love this chapter title so much :') Here it is! I hope you're ready for a boatload of angst and hurt before we get to the comfort! Lots and lots PAIN

TW / for temporary character death and medical jargon cause that needs its own warning let's be honest

Have fun and stay safe ❤️️ 💛💚💙💜

The Fall of a Hero

Tony watches as the scene before him, one he's feared ever since meeting the kid, devolves into chaos as the medics try to save Peter's life. He holds a shaking hand over his mouth, tears flowing over it as he stands in denial. Peter's pale, sickly looking face is one that will haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life.

"Charging!" a medic calls out, giving everyone a heads up. Bystanders form a crowd near the commotion, but are kept from coming closer by another medic acting as crowd control. One medic uses a Portal Instrument to administer epinephrine before the former yells out, "Clear!" Her prompt makes the other medics stop what they're doing to hold their hands up. The shock is delivered and Peter's chest spasms. Tony feels like he's the one who's been shocked, especially when Peter doesn't move.

"Spider-Man!" MJ's shrill scream brings him out of his nearly catatonic state. Ned and MJ sprint towards them, but he spins around and holds them both back.

"You guys did good getting them," Tony praises with a hoarse voice, knowing that they were the ones who got the medics. His damp eyes portray just how much grief has already begun to settle in the core of his very being. Ned looks up at him with red, puffy eyes of his own that practically plead for Tony to do something. MJ, however, doesn't take her gaze off Peter as the shocks are administered by the AED. She tightly grips Tony's arm that's holding her back, tears falling straight to the ground.

"He's gonna be okay, right?" Ned asks in a dreadful whisper. He stares at Tony for an answer, but the man can't bring himself to speak.

"He has to be," MJ replies without looking away. It's almost as if she's talking to herself. Convincing herself that everything will work out. Tony's armor retreats into his arc reactor and he closes his eyes. It feels inappropriate to hold the kids back with the armor on, so he simply uses his arms to simultaneously soothe them. Not that he isn't aware it won't do much good. Now facing away from the nightmare, it makes it all the more surreal when the monitor produces a constant tone. No beeping. Purely monotonous. Asystole.

"He's coding!" another medic alerts their team. Their words send the medics into a different kind of flurry. The AED remains attached but is pushed off to the side to make room for a man who begins compressions while another medic once again injects a medication, this time atropine.

"No!" MJ sobs, her face contorting into what can only be described as pure devastation. She puts all her weight on Tony's arm, allowing him to be the only thing holding her up. The entirety of her cheeks are wet with tears that she doesn't even care about. All she wants, needs, is for Peter to be okay. She'd give anything to make that happen. Tony holds her up as she pushes through her hiccuping sobs and pulls Ned close. The medics switch off, a woman taking over compressions.

"He's my best friend," Ned chokes out in a watery voice. "I, I have to be there. He's my best friend! He's my-" He cuts himself off by crying into Tony's shoulder. Tony shakes his head, not at them but at the universe.

"Don't you dare," he whispers furiously with clenched teeth. "Don't you fucking dare take him from us. He doesn't deserve this. He's a good kid. We need him so you better fucking fix this." He isn't talking to anything in particular, but he's lost control of everything around him. He can't do anything.

"Why isn't it working?!" Ned shouts his demand, but it's muffled by Tony's suit jacket.

"I swear, Parker," MJ forces out in a low voice as she sniffs. "You get your ass up or I'll never forgive you." Her angry façade almost immediately shatters and her chin wobbles. "Please don't go. Come back. Please, please, please." She squeezes her eyes shut, causing more tears to fall. The camera Tony gave Peter hangs around her neck and sways as her shoulders shake.

"He's a fighter. He'll be okay. He'll be okay," Tony repeats, holding in his own cries and pressing his lips together to maintain what little composure he has left. Regardless of his efforts, shuddering gasps take over his breathing. An automated voice, not one he recognizes, rings out.

"Rhythm restored." Tony whips his head around and his eyes lock onto the medics who are getting ready to transfer Peter to the gurney.

"We have a pulse!" the leader announces to her team. "Lift on three! One, two, three!" Peter is lifted onto gurney and the array of medics get to work as they rush him past the trio and back to the Tower. It might be damaged, but it has his best chance for survival. MJ, Tony, and Ned don't hesitate to follow and are hot on their heels. Tony tries to steal looks at Peter to gauge his injuries, but the flurry of movement prevents him from doing so. "Get him into recovery position so we can get pressure on the entry and exit wounds!" The medics instantly oblige, turning the hero on his left side before two put pressure on both wounds. "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but you can't ride with us. We need room." A man denies Tony entrance to the elevator that the billionaire didn't even realize he was attempting to push his way in.

"But-" He doesn't have time to argue before the doors close, not that any of them were paying attention. All their efforts were directed towards Peter, which he knows he should be grateful for. And he is, but it doesn't calm his own worries. The three of them stand, staring at the closed doors in shock and defeat, and MJ discretely wipes her eyes. Ned clutches his sides in an attempt to keep his tears at bay and make his breathing even. "Okay," Tony starts off, gathering his bearings, "we'll take the-"

"You need to call May," MJ interjects as the voice of reason as always. Her voice is strong and determined, an obvious deterrent from her previously expressed emotions. "The stairs will take too long. We'll just wait for the elevator." Tony nods perceptively and pulls out his phone as they wait for their ride. His hand trembles uncontrollably, but he manages to select May's contact despite that and the knot in the pit of his stomach. She answers on the first ring.

"What's wrong? What happened?" She delves straight into the interrogation, already having come to terms that something wasn't right.

"May…" Tony begins, but is forced to trail off by the tightening of his voice.

"I know something's wrong. Peter didn't send me an update. And, and I have this feeling," May relays, emotion already leaking into her voice. She clears her throat before speaking again. "Just give it to me straight. I'm already on my way over." There's no room to beat around the bush, not that Tony would have the heart to. At the moment, he barely has the heart to think about what just happened.

"Scorpion attacked the Tower," he's able to get out, then looks around as if trying to avoid nonexistent eye contact. The elevator doors open and they're all swift to get in with MJ repeatedly pressing the correct floor button. "Peter came to help and…and he…May I'm so sorry." He presses his lips together and holds his head in a hand, desperately just trying to keep himself together.

"Is he alive?" May asks the question she's feared ever since she found out Peter is Spider-Man. She maintains her composure over the phone, but tears are preemptively dripping off her chin. Tony nods before speaking.

"Yeah, he's alive." He swallows thickly and moves his hand to rub his forehead. Unable to stay still in the elevator, he paces. "They had- he went into cardiac arrest and, oh god." This can't be real. Pull yourself together. "They said he coded, but they got a pulse and moved him inside. We're heading up now." He can hear May's tremorous breaths on the other end, but her tone is just as strong-willed as the last time.

"His heart stopped?" Her tone falters at the end, yet doesn't allow it to break. She already knows the answer. With a tremor-ridden hand, she wipes the tears under glasses then grips the steering wheel. "How long?" She needs to know how long her boy's brain was without oxygen.

"I, I don't know," Tony answers honestly but feels useless because of it. "They switched out on CPR twice?" His despondent response is enough to give May a relative timeline. It feels like the wind has been knocked out of her, but she quickly recovers.

"We're only supposed to do two minutes of CPR each," she informs before quietly adding, "four minutes." Her baby's brain was without oxygen for four minutes. When she hears Tony start to panic, she elaborates to soothe him as well as herself. "It's okay, he should be fine. Max we should be concerned about is ten minutes. That's when…when cells start to die." Tony takes a pained breath of relief and nods to both Ned and MJ, who took on their own looks of dread.

"Thank god you're a nurse," he commends with an abundance of evident stress. May doesn't waste any time with pleasantries and merely hums in agreement.

"I'll be there in five." With that, she ends the hands-free call and concentrates on the road ahead. By the time the call ends, the trio has made it up to the Laboratory floors equipped with everything to take care of Peter. Hopefully. They all take their respective seats; Tony has his head in his hands, Ned has his arms tucked around himself, and MJ has her arm comfortingly placed around Ned's shoulders. None of them have the heart to speak to each other.

Realizing that they might be waiting a while for any news, Tony makes a few more calls. He calls Pepper first to inform her of everything that happened, knowing how much she cares for Peter and that May will need her support. Next is Happy, who he knows will have enough guilt to rival his own, and the man promises to be over asap. May will need him too. Finally, he calls Rhodey to update him on the situation in hopes that his best friend will be his stability. He makes all the correspondents long enough to explain the situation yet short enough to be able to give May his full attention when she arrives. And he's glad he went about it that way, because when May walks in with a scary determination and barely-hidden , he knows she'll need all the support she can get.

"Where is he?!" she demands, looking straight at Tony with an unreadable expression. There's an underlying tone of panic in her voice, but she remains impassive. She has to be. She knows what it's like to lose family, so she has to stay strong for the time being. Until they all get answers. Instantly, Tony gets up to his feet to greet her.

"He's in the OR," he calmly divulges and gauges her response. May can hide a lot of things, but she can't hide the way all color drains from her face at the news. She shakes her head in either disbelief or shock. Maybe even denial. "He's not like us, remember?" Tony attempts to console her. "He's stronger because of the bite. He'll make it."

"I know that," May defends, refusing to lower her head and break down no matter how much she wants to. "I know how strong he is, I raised him. He'll pull through, I have no doubt in my mind." Her words aren't accusatory and Tony knows that; she's just trying to give herself hope. Tony nods slightly in agreement and, without breaking eye contact, places a firm, encouraging hand on her shoulder.

"There's nothing wrong with letting yourself feel. And I know that's hypocritical coming from me, but it's a work in progress." He offers her a lopsided smile, to which May fervently shakes her head.

"I have to be strong for them," she counters in a whisper, glancing at Ned and MJ who are still comforting one another. And she isn't only talking about them, she's also referring to Peter. However, Tony shakes his head.

"It's okay," he once again assures. That last push is all it takes for more tears to cascade down May's cheeks. She's been holding on for so many years, being strong for Peter, but the thought of losing him is too much. With her resolve cracking, the breakdown is inescapable and she quietly sobs into her hand.

"I can't lose him, Tony. I can't go through this again." As soon as the choked, arduous words are uttered, Tony pulls her into a gentle hug.

"You won't," he promises, despite having no control over what happens. But he owes her that hope. May nods against his shoulder before pulling back and wiping her cheeks with her sweater sleeves. She protectively crosses her arms across her chest, then walks over to Ned and MJ.

"How are you two doing?" she softly inquires with as much of a smile as she can muster. MJ does her best to return it, but Ned can't even fake it.

"Do you really wanna know?" MJ double checks, a hint of humor in voice. The smile disappears as rapidly as it appeared. May rubs her back and sits next to her, sensing more than just those few words. "I hate not being able to do anything. Peter does all these crazy things and we know they're dangerous. We just don't stop and think about it and then something like this happens and we can't-" MJ stops herself before her voice can crack and brushes away fresh tears. "And we can't help," she struggles to finish. They're all feeling that same hopelessness. All of them are powerless.

"Me too," May empathizes. "I feel that whenever he goes out in that suit. I just hope and pray he comes back every night." She smiles despite her watery eyes, then leans forward to look at Ned and holds his hand.

"He needs to be okay," Ned tries to portray his desperation. "We had this whole plan for the rest of break and New Years. I'm supposed to be his Guy in the Chair." His bottom lip trembles as he holds the emotions back in vain.

"It's not your fault," Tony does his best to alleviate Ned's lingering guilt. He clasps a hand on the teenager's shoulder and squeezes. "You two staying safe was important. He wouldn't've wanted you to get hurt." The last thing he wants is for them to somehow feel responsible when intervening could've gotten them killed. He rubs a hand down his face and the group lapses into silence. May continues to give the teens kind reassurances, which helps distract her from her own anguish, as they await news. Happy is the first to arrive and rushes to May's side in the blink of an eye. He tightly embraces her without a second thought, profusely apologizing despite her protests. Pepper comes shortly after, her heels clicking rapidly against the tiled floor until she reaches Tony and looks him over. The smell of her perfume and the reassuring smile on her face has an almost immediate effect on his nerves. He sighs as she gently holds his face in her hands.

"You okay?" Pepper asks as he puts his hands over hers. Not seeing the point in dodging the question, he shakes his head.

"She needs you more than me." He nods towards May, who is doing the comforting instead of allowing herself to receive comfort. Pepper tilts his head forward and places a kiss on his forehead, then joins the others to offer her support. Around a half hour later, Rhodey is the last to get there due to work holding him up. Tony discretely and hastily relays everything as to not upset the others more, but then they're left to the waiting game again.

It's three hours thereafter, following sunset and countless coffees as well as snacks, when a doctor comes out to meet them. May is the first to jump to her feet and holds her elbows anxiously.

"How is he? Is he okay?" she demands, worry lines becoming more prominent on her forehead and between her eyebrows. Everyone gathers, successfully condensing all the nerves and tension into one concise spot. Pepper and Rhodey stand on either side of the evidently nervous Tony while MJ and Ned tightly interlock each other's arms and Happy stands beside May. The doctor sighs, but nods with a tight-lipped smile.

"He's in a recovery room right now undergoing tissue reconstruction. I expect him to make a full recovery and, yes, you can see him afterward. Only a single family member at a time until the anaesthetics wear off. I don't expect that to be long, but roughly a few hours." The doctor is quite matter-of-fact, but there's a softness to her voice that portrays her empathy. Tony feels the tightness in his shoulders give way and he's able to breathe for the first time since seeing Peter flatline. All he does is repeat Peter's okay, Peter's okay, Peter's okay, Peter's okay, in his mind to keep him sane. May chuckles breathlessly, trying not to devolve back into sobs, then sniffs.

"I'm his aunt and an ER nurse. I want to know everything," she requests with newfound strength, but doesn't leave much wiggle room.

"Of course," the doctor kindly obliges. "Most likely due to his enhanced abilities, Peter fared much better than you or I would have. We were able to stop the hemorrhaging, but honestly his regeneration did a majority of the work for us. No pneumothorax, which was what we had initially expected, and his lungs were clear bilaterally. He was hyperventilating, but we have him on O2 via non-rebreather. His left internal intercostals between the third and sixth ribs were torn and the surrounding cartilage as well as his sternum were cracked. Those are the chief reasons I have him in reconstruction. We managed to get his heart back into normal sinus rhythm and are monitoring his heart closely." May appears to absorb the information like a sponge and, based on her relieved expression, the others relax as well. She hugs Happy and holds on like her life depends on it. The doctor clears her throat. "However," the room stills, "we're still running blood tests to determine if his bloodstream is clear." Tony's heart drops. They wouldn't be testing Peter's blood if they didn't think something was still wrong.

"What? Why," he swallows, "why wouldn't his blood be clear?" His hands begin to shake, so he clasps them behind his back. You're overreacting. It can't be that. There's no way they could've gotten to it. He's fine. He's going to be fine. May glances at him, but then their eyes both shift back to the doctor.

"He's pale, cool, and diaphoretic and has a fever of 39° Celsius. We think his immune system is still trying to fight something off. That coupled with the arrhythmia and cardiac arrest is why we're double checking. Usually poisoning or septicemia would concern us the most, but it's just a precaution. The last thing we want is an infection." Her words send everyone into silence, driving a harsh knife of reality into all of them. Peter may be enhanced, but he isn't invincible. May nods perceptively, but MJ shakes hers and closes her eyes. Just when they thought they were in the clear. "Ma'am? Do you want to come sit with him while I check his vitals?" the doctor offers genuinely. May realizes the doctor is trying to give her some solace and smiles in return.

"Please." With her agreement, she follows the doctor down the hall and, almost as soon as they're out of sight, Tony turns on his heel. He forces himself to stay calm and walk, but everyone can see the jerky movements.

"I'll be right back," he supplies before any of them can interrogate him. Pepper and Rhodey exchange a knowing look, aware that he can't be alone at the moment, and Pepper follows after him. When Tony reaches the elevator, Pepper steps in after him.

"Is there something I need to know?" Pepper elegantly pries once the doors are closed.

"No," Tony instantly deflects on instinct. He knows his answer is too immediate, but his head is buzzing with too many thoughts. If Gargan somehow got a hold of that, then Peter's in danger. More danger than he's already in. Shit, how could you be so stupid. Screw Ross and his dumb ass, Peter comes first. The doors slide open and Tony doesn't hesitate to rush into the workshop. Composure be damned. He sprints to the storage room and opens the door so fast that it slams against the wall. Pepper follows him into the cramped, muggy room and stares at him in

"You have to talk to me!" she intervenes, trying to get through to him. But Tony is too focused on frantically searching for the one object that encompasses his entire mind. His heart erratically pounds in his ears.

"It has to be it! Some damn venom or microbe wouldn't be affecting him this much!" he shouts in both fear and anger, swiping boxes out of the way which tumble out onto the floor. The various mechanical parts clang and Pepper has to rapidly sidestep the pieces so they don't hit her feet.

"Tony, I swear to god, if you don't start talking to me right now!" she shouts, the fear and confusion in her voice indisputable. Finally, Tony reaches to the very back of the shelving and pulls out the fateful box. With slight apprehension, he slowly peers into it. It's there. It's still there. A part of him is relieved, but another part of him is enraged; enraged at Ross, Gargan, and himself. He slams it back down and runs both hands through his hair. He's not sure how long he can keep this charade up. Pepper notices the sudden shift and lets out an exasperated breath to alleviate her aggravation. "Tell me what's going on," she calmly prompts, pinning him with expectant yet patient eyes. Tony gazes back at her, but she sees something she didn't expect: shame. He averts his eyes, taps his foot restlessly, and clenches his teeth. Then, he painstakingly says,

"There's a part of the deal with Ross that you don't know about."

THERE WE ARE! things are happening, Peter died, Peter's alive, and Tony has been keeping secrets 👀 Next chapter we get Peter feeling all kinds of pain, so that's something to look forward to!

Thank you for reading! ❤️️ 💛💚💙💜

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