Chapter 33
Tony was pacing, as Pepper, May and Happy sat silently in the chairs outside the exam room. It had been an hour and Dr Cho had yet to come out.
He was beginning to feel antsy. He couldn't sit still. He needed Peter to be ok. Just as he was about to barge in Dr Cho finally came out.
The other three stood up instantly at Tony turned.
"How is he? Please say he's ok." Tony demanded.
Dr Cho smiled holding up her hands; "He's going to be just fine. Now I'm not going to lie he's got some pretty bad injuries."
"How bad?" Pepper asked stepping closer to Tony taking his hand in a vice grip.
"Well he's got a mild concussion, a broken arm, and some pretty bad bruising of a few of his ribs. He also has a broken nose, and some other bruising and cuts and scrapes across the rest of his body."
"Dear god." Tony breathing rubbing a hand over his face as the others inhaled sharply.
"He's resting now." Dr Cho assured him; "I've given him some of his enhanced medicine which will help with his pain. I've also set his arm in a cast, so it will heal properly. I can't do much more about his concussion and bruising, but with his healing they should heal pretty fast. However," She hesitated, and Tony stilled not liking her expression.
"What is it?"
"The reason it took so long for me to come out here is because I had to be sure."
"Sure of what?" May demanded.
"His healing is slower than it should be. He's healing but it should be a lot faster than it is. So I ran some more tests. It seems he's suffering from malnutrition and sleep deprivation."
"That's affecting his healing?" Tony was shocked to hear that.
"He's very weak right now, you know how important it is for him to eat enough food. And then add on top of that not getting enough rest. His body is struggling to function properly, and now he's injured. It's a hell of a lot for his body to process right now. It's going to take some time for him to get back to normal. I've hooked up some IV's for fluid and glucose, and given him a pretty heavy sedative. He needs rest. His healing should start to pick up as he gets his strength back. But it will mean it's going to take longer for his injuries to heal."
"How long?"
Dr Cho paused thinking; "Maybe a week. Could be a little more, could be a little less. We'll just have to wait and see." Then she softened; "Breathe. He's ok. He'll be just fine."
"Can we see him?" May asked stepping forward.
"Of course." Dr Cho gestured with her arm to allow them entry. And she followed them in.
Tony stopped at the foot of the bed, feeling sick at the sight. Peter was hooked up to machines and IVs, and the bruising on his face was more pronounced now. His right eye was positively black, and both eyes were sunken with bags under them. His skin was pale. His whole face looked swollen, with a cut on his lip, and his nose all red and swollen with a bandage over the top. He looked like he had been used as a punching bag.
May rushed to Peter's side, her eyes watering as she cupped his face and soothed his hair. Happy moving beside her, patting Peter's leg. Pepper moved to his other side taking his hand. But Tony just couldn't force himself to move closer to him right now. He reached to grab Peter's foot, just needing to touch him to be sure he was real. And ok. But god seeing him like this, Tony couldn't bare it.
He could hear Dr Cho talking but it was like white noise to him. He could feel himself getting hotter. And was the room closing in or was it just him?
Suddenly realising what was happening, Tony raced from the room, and rushed into an empty room. He slammed the door shut, and covered his face, sliding down to the floor letting the tears fall. His heart was racing, he couldn't breath.
He missed the sound of the door opening, and then Pepper was suddenly beside him, wrapping her arms around him, carding through his hair.
"He's ok Tony. Peter's ok. He's safe." Pepper kept murmuring to Tony, not needing to guess to know what caused his latest panic attack.
After a while, Tony calmed down, his breathing evening out.
Pepper cupped his face and turned him to her, her expression worried and sad; "Oh honey."
"It's my fault Pep."
"No Tony..."
"I'm his dad. I'm supposed to protect him. I should have known something was wrong. I should have stopped this kid before he hurt Peter. God, it could have been a lot worse Pep! He was pushed down a flight of stairs!"
"I know." Pepper soothed flinching herself at the image. Her son was hurt. She would do anything to make him feel better; "But what happened is not your fault. You couldn't have known this was going to happen. No one could. You have done everything you could for Peter. You're a good dad Tony."
"Not good enough."
"You listen to me." Pepper said firmly in a tone that said not to interrupt; "You are the best dad ever to Peter. That is not up for discussion, it is a fact. And you can't argue with me because I'm always right."
Tony finally smiled and it made her smile.
"Tony you have to give yourself a break. You didn't do anything wrong. Sometimes things just happen. Sometimes kids get hurt."
"This was different though."
"I know and we're going to deal with that kid Flash." Pepper's eyes darkened for a moment before she softened; "But right now." She smiled caressing his cheek; "Our son is ok. He's going to get better, and be just fine. That's all that matters."
"I love you so much." Tony leant forward and rested his head on her shoulder.
"I love you too honey."
As Tony straightened up feeling a bit better, he raised an eyebrow at her; "So what are we going to do about that kid Flash?"
Pepper just smiled wickedly; "He messed with the wrong family."
0o0oo0oSPIDERMAN0o0o0oo0o
Tony and Pepper checked on Peter again, staying for a little while. Then May got a phone call that changed everything. It had been Principal Morita, asking about Peter's condition before saying Peter was currently suspended as well after starting a fight. Apparently Flash had said that it was Peter who started the fight, and the fall had been an accident. Of course the idiot school believed him.
Tony was furious, but Pepper...Tony was amazed when she snatched the phone and started yelling at the principal like a mama bear protecting Peter. Then she was making phone calls to the lawyers preparing to sue the school and Flash's family. Tony was impressed and more in love with her than ever.
Meanwhile, Tony got to work as May and Happy stayed with Peter. He hated staying away from Peter right now, but he was doing this for him. And well Peter wasn't going to wake up for a while. Dr Cho said she sedated him enough so he would sleep the rest of the day and maybe the night. He really needed the sleep.
Tony had FRIDAY access the wristband to show him any footage of Flash bullying Peter. Of course FRIDAY admitted she already knew, which shocked and angered Tony even more. He was going to have some serious talks with her about keeping things from him. It seems more protocols would need to be put into place so that she told him everything and anything that happened to Peter from now on. Even if it was nothing. But then he became saddened upon hearing from her that Peter had made her promise not to say anything. Peter shouldn't have had to deal with this alone. Well no one was going to hurt Peter again.
He paid a visit to Ned first. Showing up at the boy's house later that day had to be a shock for the boy, who stared at him slack jawed at the door for a few moments.
"Mr Stark at my house! So cool! Wait...how's Peter?" Immediately his face morphed from awe into deep concern; "Is he...ok? Please say he's ok."
"He's going to be." Tony said his jar hardening as he thought about the bruises covering Peter's body; "Listen. I need your help."
"My help? With what?"
"I need the truth Ned. Peter's been lying to me hasn't he? About this Flash kid? And how long he's been bullying Peter?"
Immediately Ned paled and looked away. Tony stiffened.
"Ned?" He growled; "Don't you dare even think of lying to me. Peter is severely hurt because of this punk. So I swear to god if you don't tell me the truth right now..."
"Ok ok. I'll tell you." Ned sighed looking down dejected; "I kept telling Peter to tell May and you, but he just told me he didn't want you to worry and he could handle it. Admittedly it wasn't so bad before. I never expected Flash to actually physically hit Peter! You're right. We should have told someone."
"Tell me now." Tony softened; "And I'll make sure this kid doesn't mess with either of you ever again."
Ned smiled at him and nodded; "Ok. I'll tell you everything."
0o0oo0oSPIDERMAN0o0o0oo
Happy stayed with Peter, whilst May, Tony and Pepper marched down to the school. They barged right in and straight to the principals office. Flash and his parents were already inside talking with the principal.
As they entered Tony took one look at Flash and had to restrain himself, hearing all the horror stories from Ned about what this punk did to his son. For years! Tony was sickened. And to see him sitting there on his phone, smirking. Obviously smug about hurting Peter. Well he couldn't wait to wipe that smug smirk off his face. Tony was really in awe over how Peter held back from hurting Flash. He knew Peter couldn't outright fight Flash in case he exposed himself, and that really sucks. It wasn't fair to Peter. Poor kid couldn't even defend himself over fear of revealing himself as Spider Man. Tony had been lucky enough to be able to defend himself as a boy, but Peter. Peter couldn't. Well Tony was going to make sure Flash never hurt Peter again.
"Ah good Miss Parker, Mr and Mrs Stark, thank you for coming." Principal Morita said shaking their hands before sitting at his desk and frowned; "How is Peter doing?"
"He's going to be ok. Eventually." Pepper said slowly.
"He's very badly hurt." Tony said pointedly glaring at Flash.
"Oh come on." Mr Thompson rolled his eyes; "It was just a little fight between kids. Peter's just overreacting."
"Is this an overreaction!" Tony bellowed slamming a folder down on the desk glowering at Flash.
Morita started before taking the folder and opening it with a flinch; "Is this...?"
"Peter has a serious concussion, a broken arm in two places, bruised ribs, a black eye, a broken nose and bruising across all his body." Pepper said with outright indignation.
"That is very troubling to here." Morita murmured scanning over all the x-rays, photos and medical documents. Tony and Pepper made sure to be prepared, after hearing Flash blame the fight on Peter, there was no way they were going to let him get away with that; "My sympathies. I hope Peter will be ok."
"You can't serious believe this!" Mr Thompson barked; "My son is the victim here!"
"Your son?!" Tony bellowed; "Your son started the fight not Peter! He is a bully!"
"How dare you!" Mrs Thompson gasped; "Look what that child did to my son!" She grabbed Flash's chin to show everyone the bruise on his cheek and split lip.
"That child!" May repeated slowly; "That child! Don't you speak about Peter that way!" She stood and was about lunge at Mrs Thompson when Morita raised his hands.
"Ok enough." Morita said huffing; "We aren't here to discuss who started the fight, we're here to discuss the suspensions. We are a zero tolerance school for fighting..."
"Oh really?" Tony snorted; "Then how do you explain not doing anything!"
"Excuse me?"
"We have evidence that Flash has been bullying Peter for years!" Pepper exclaimed turning to glare at Flash, and Tony watched as the kids face finally fell.
"Ridiculous! That's a lie!"
"See for yourself." Tony set his phone down on the table; "FRIDAY."
Immediately, a holographic image appeared and a collage of video clips played. Some were small clips of Flash tripping Peter in the hall, of shoving him by his locker, saying hurtful things, throwing things at him in class. And some were even ones of outside the school of Flash taking Peter's backpack and ripping it. Then the final one was of the fight.
Watching it had Tony feeling sick. He had to close his eyes and look away. Pepper thankfully took his hand to offer him comfort.
"Oh my god." Morita finally said when it stopped and he looked at Flash utterly horrified; "Is this true Flash?"
"Of course not." Mrs Thompson spluttered laughing; "My son is a good boy."
"This is fake!" Mr Thompson said waving a hand dismissively; "He's Tony Stark. A tech billionaire. He could easily have faked this. Where did you even get all that?"
"Peter was wearing a wristband that had my AI FRIDAY built in. She records everything."
"Aha see!" Mr Thompson said triumphantly.
"There's also other students." May said leaning forward; "They happily came forward with footage of the fight, and other incidents."
"We also have statements from them." Pepper handed over a file; "That they have witnessed Flash bullying Peter for years."
Surprised, Morita opened the file and scanned over the signed statements; "This is very thorough."
"We've learnt to be prepared." Tony murmured; "But surely you can finally see the truth here. Flash has been bullying Peter for years, and you did nothing about it! Now he beat Peter up and blamed him for it, and you're now punishing Peter for doing nothing! I'm not letting that happen. We're not letting that happen!"
"Ok ok I understand why you would be upset about this." Morita said diplomatically; "It's very concerning to hear that Flash may have been bullying Peter all this time."
"May have?" Pepper repeated sending him a dark look.
"Has been." Morita corrected nodding at her.
"You can't just..." Mrs Thompson objected but Morita held up a hand to stop her.
"No more please Mrs Thompson. Clearly your son has lied about what really happened, and I am very very disappointed to hear that Flash had been bullying another student." His eyes fell on Flash who shrunk in his seat as everyone stared at him; "We do not tolerate bullying Flash. At all."
"You wouldn't know that here." Tony snapped crossing his legs to try and calm himself down. It was taking a lot to reign his fury in; "Your supposed to protect the students here. Clearly, you're not doing your jobs if this is going on under your nose. Would you like to explain yourself?"
"Mr..Mr Stark..." Morita spluttered his face going red; "I assure you we are dedicated to looking after the wellbeing of all our students."
"Then where the hell were the teachers when this fight went on? Why weren't they around to stop it before it got so bad? Hmm?"
"Well I...I er...I..." Morita stammered.
"You can't seriously be listening to this guy!" Mr Thompson yelled; "He's manipulating you!"
"No I'm telling you right now. I'm pissed!" Tony shouted making everyone but Pepper and May jump; "At you," He said to Morita; "the teachers, this school, the other students who did nothing to stop the fight, and all of you." He finished glaring at Flash and his parents; "And I'm going to make sure this never happens again."
"What does that mean?" Morita said nervously gulping.
Tony just smiled leaning back in the chair as he pulled out a small envelope and held it out to Flash's dad; "I'm suing you."
"Excuse me!" Mr Thompson said his eyes widening, snatching it from Tony and opening it up furiously; "What for?"
"Your son assaulted Peter. Caused physical, emotional and mental damage. There could be long term effects of Peter's injuries from the shove down the stairs, and punching him in the head. Not to mention the emotional turmoil you've put him through for the bullying. You're going to pay for that!"
"We're going to fight this!" Mrs Thompson snapped sitting up her seat and looking down her nose at him; "You won't win."
"I have an army of lawyers and evidence on my side. What do you have?" Tony said innocently; "Besides manipulating and lying!"
"Karl! Say something!"
"Shut up Janice!" Mr Thompson growled his face bowing in defeat. Tony straightened smugly. He knew they wouldn't fight it, Tony would have sued for a lot more if it was him, but knowing Peter he wouldn't want to cause trouble so Tony checked their financials before suing for the amount. Enough to cause them some hurt, but not enough to ruin them. He wanted to teach them a lesson not ruin their lives. As much as he was tempted to...
"As for you." Tony turned to Morita who cowered back.
"Are you suing the school?"
"I considered it." Tony admitted nodding; "But then that would take money out of the school, and it would make the students suffer. Make Peter suffer. And this bullying would not get solved. So no. I'm not suing you. Although I should. Instead we," Tony took Pepper's hand; "We are going to make a sizeable donation to the school."
"We support many anti-bullying charities and foundations." Pepper added; "And coordinate them with schools. We would like to introduce you to these schemes."
"With the money you can hire some counsellors, some more teachers, put up some cameras for security for all the students. And well of course for other supplies for the kids studies." Tony finished.
"Mr Stark that is very generous! I don't know what to say."
"I'm not doing this for you!" Tony snapped glaring; "This isn't a reward. I'm only doing this because Peter is going here. To help him. And to make sure kids like him don't get away with bullying other kids."
"Now Peter's suspension?" May prompted leaning forward.
"Gone of course." Morita said bobbing his head quickly; "Now I know the truth of course. I understand he will be away from school for medical recovery so we will offer whatever assistance we can for him to continue his studies until he can return. And we'll make sure he can feel safe to return to school I promise."
"Good." Tony said pleased nodding at him; "That's good. And him?" He gestured his head at Flash whose eyes widened fearfully; "What punishment will he get?"
Morita paused to consider that before turning to Flash; "Well this is very concerning and there will need to be serious consequences. I think first of all a three months suspension."
"What dad!" Flash objected; "That's not fair!"
"Quiet Eugene!" Mr Thompson barked sending him a look that quickly shut him up; "It's your fault we're in this mess. I'm getting sued because of you. So shut up and take your punishment. We'll talk about this at home."
Tony snorted. Eugene. No wonder the kid had issues.
"When you get back," Morita continued; "You will have detention for another month."
"Might I suggest community service as well?" Tony said grinning, enjoying this now; "I think that is quite fair. Considering we could be filing assault charges with the police."
Mrs Thompson froze, her eyes widening as he looked at her husband in panic. Flash looked between them shuddering.
"Community service is fair." Mr Thompson growled back in a huff.
"Good. Great!" Tony said pleased. This was going just like he thought it would; "Well I think that concludes our business here."
"We need to get back to Peter." May concluded as they all stood.
Morita quickly stood as well; "Of course. Yes. Send him mine and the schools wishes for him to get better."
"Thank you." May nodded and they all shook his hands and made to leave.
As Tony left he sent Flash a warning look, and was pleased to see the kid cower slightly. There was one more surprise he had in for Flash aka Eugene but that was for later.
Outside, Tony exhaled loudly and clapped his hands together; "Well that went well I think."
To his surprise, May lunged forward and hugged him; "Thank you. For everything you've done for Peter."
"You don't have to thank me May." Tony said kindly as they pulled back; "I'd...we'd do anything for Peter." Tony said smiling at Pepper, taking her hand.
"I know I just...for so long I was all Peter had. And I was terrified if anything happened to me he would be alone. Knowing he has you two now." May's eyes watered; "It makes me so happy."
Pepper took May's hand and smiled; "We're all family now. Now come on let's get back to our son."