Tony leaned back from the screen in front of him and ran a hand through his hair angrily. He couldn't believe it had taken him this long to track down a single man. Wade Winston Wilson, alias Deadpool, had boarded a plane a week ago now under the assumed identity of Karl Kingston, with his 'son' Kevin Kingston, Aka Danny No-Last-Name-Given. The destination of the plane that 'Karl' and 'Kevin' had boarded had mysteriously been corrupted, but Tony had finally decoded it. Nairobi, in Kenya. Deadpool had taken the kid to Africa. Why was beyond him, but now he just had to hack into the street cameras, and track down Deadpool. He seriously doubted that the man would use the same false identity for a hotel, but it was worth a try. Just as Tony opened his mouth to ask FRIDAY to scan hotel registers for their two missing persons, a voice spoke from behind him.
"We have a problem." Tony shrieked and fell off his chair at the sudden presence in his previously dead quiet lab.
"Daredevil has entered the premises, boss." FRIDAY helpfully informed him.
"I can see that! How did he get in here?" Tony yelped from the floor "How did you get in here?!" Tony redirected as he struggled to get his feet under him. "Also, are you trying to kill me? I have a heart condition, it's the middle of the night!"
"That's not super important right now, Stark, because we have a problem." Mr high and mighty said from his position of comfortably standing on his feet and watching a man well into his fifties struggle to stand. Tony gave up and just sat on the floor.
"What problem could be so important that you'd break into my lab at… Fri, what time is it?"
"2:00 am, sir"
"Thank you, two in the morning? Normal people are trying to sleep!" Tony half yelled.
"...You don't seem to be sleeping." Daredevil said.
"I said normal people. Answer my question, what the hell are you doing here?"
"Peter didn't show up for training." Daredevil said this with the tone and gravity of a police officer informing someone that their child had been murdered, and it took a long second for Tony to actually process what Daredevil had said.
"I'm sorry, you broke into my lab, because Peter didn't show up for training at two in the morning?" Tony scoffed, but his chest felt tight. "He probably just fell asleep, or forgot, or something." Tony waved a dismissive hand as he used the desk to finally haul himself to his feet, but the thought of 'Peter is never even late to pre-arranged meetings' stuck in his mind. Peter had never missed a lab day without at least a full days warning.
"The kid didn't show up for Training three hours ago. I waited for two hours before I even came here, and then I had to talk my way past your AI to get in here."
Tony leaned heavily against the desk behind him and forced his breathing to slow despite his heart trying to claw its way up his throat. "I'll call his aunt."
Dr. Martin observed Spider-Man. Spider-Kid? The child could hardly call himself a man. He looked to be about fourteen, and certainly was no older than sixteen. He looked small, secured to the table in the middle of the room. Dr. Martin knew that looks could be deceiving, though. She had watched videos where the kid in that room had caught a bus, and the suit didn't seem to be supplementing him, seeing as some of those videos were from before Stark had sponsored him.
He was young enough that if she had made different life choices, he could have been her son. Dr. Martin shook her head, forcing that thought aggressively away. It didn't matter how old he was. The subject looked to be the same age, and she had thought nothing of that, so she would think nothing of this. Dr. Martin scrubbed a hand over her face, and stood up from the chair where she had been seated. The Target was secured. Now all she had to do was bait the hook and go fishing.
Danny lay peacefully on the sleeping bag that Wade had set up for him. Wade watched him closely, wishing that his eyes would open. The kid had barely moved since the warehouse, where he'd had a panic attack and passed out. [this is your fault] it had been two days, and Wade had only stopped at the hotel long enough to grab their stuff and ditch. {couldn't have just stayed away from the kid, huh?} Wade scrubbed a hand over his face, and then poked the fire with the stick he held in the other hand. Two days, and Danny hadn't even woken up yet.
[maybe the kid just has a delayed death response, and now he's actually going to die.] {and it'll be your fault, because you brought him here.} Wade tilted his head back and stared at the sky, stars barely visible through the trees. He had no idea where they were. He'd just picked a direction and gone, and now they were lost. [if the kid's not dead yet, he will be soon. Hard to stay alive when you can't eat.] {I'm hungry. Do you think this forest has tacos?} "tacos would be nice, but I don't think it does. Unless tacos grow on trees. That would be pretty cool." [listen to me! Danny is going to DIE if he doesn't wake up soon!]
"I know that! But it's not like I can do anything about it!" Wade shouted. The voices were silent after that, and Wade tipped his chin to his chest and pulled the hood further over his face. He wished that he was still wearing his Deadpool suit, but the smell of blood on it had caused Danny to thrash, and Wade knew it was giving him nightmares, so he'd left it at the last campsite yesterday, and was left with only his hood.
He stared into the fire as it burned down, his thoughts eating him. The voices came back as the fire burned down and the moon moved across the sky. Wade ignored them the best he could, but it was hard when they were repeating his own thoughts. [you destroy everything good that comes near you] {I wish we had tacos. Do you think the smell of food would make the kid wake up?} [just kill yourself. It's all you're good for anyway.] Wade whimpered. {hungry. I'm hungry} [if you're hungry, how do you think the kid feels?]
Danny shifted, and Wades attention snapped towards him, the voices going quiet as they all held their breath. Danny groaned as he rolled onto his side and cured into himself. {He's waking up!}[he's going to be hungry, just like we are, and the Idiot didn't bring any food with him.] Wade cringed. He hadn't thought of that when he fled the city, just that he had been seen by the cops and he needed to get them out of there. Danny groaned again, and his eyes flicked open. Wade was at his side before he could even blink.
"Hey kid, how are you feeling?" [What a stupid question] Danny squinted at Wade. "Are you hungry? Sore? You wanna go back to sleep?" Danny's eyes flicked around the small space that Wade had made for them before settling back on Wade.
"Where're we?" Danny half slurred, before wincing and licking his lips. [fucking moron! Get him water! Oh wait, YOU DIDN'T BRING ANY!] Wade cringed at the volume.
"I had to get us out of the city, the cops saw us. Well, they saw me, but it doesn't take a genius to put two and two together and get three." [... I can't believe how stupid you are.] Danny squinted at Wade with confusion. {what did he say that was stupid?} "You want some water? Food? I can probably find some water, but it'll take a bit. Uh… food might be harder." Danny blinked at Wade, eyes still slightly glazed from sleep, and shook his head. "You don't want water? Or you don't want me to leave to find some?"
"Second." Danny croaked, wiggling out of the sleeping bag and sitting up. "What… what happened?" [does he have amnesia? Quick! Check for a head injury!] {Our precious child is dying!}
"Still not my kid." Wade muttered to himself, putting a steadying hand on Danny's shoulder when he swayed.
"I…" Danny looked around a little more. "You… died? I… Died? How?" One of Danny's hands floated up to his head to rub at his eyes. "Did I… murder…?" [hey, does he seem like… different? Again?] {the hell are you on about? Our baby child is traumatised!} Wade rubbed Danny's back gently when he began to shake.
"Hey, hey. Deep breath. You're okay. You haven't done anything wrong. Mostly. It's fine. Just breathe. There you go."
"I-I-I killed people!" Wade pulled Danny's head towards his chest. [you made a child into a murderer. This is your fault]
"Yeah, and that's not great. But they were horrible, mean people, and if you didn't kill them, then I would have. Their lives were already forfeit the second they started selling people like cattle." Danny sobbed brokenly into Wades chest, and Wade felt his heart crack, just a little. "Breath. It's okay, Dan." Danny threw himself away from Wade, eyes wide with horror, at the name. [moron.]
"No! Nononono!" Danny's breathing picked up. {way to go, jackass.} [I don't think you're very good at comforting people.]
"Well, I'm sorry that I'm not used to this! What do you want me to do?!" [A better job, obviously] "Oh, fuck you! If you're so smart, why don't you comfort the kid?! Oh wait, you can't!" Danny was curled up away from Wade, muttering to himself about 'inevitability' or something. Wade reached out a shaky hand. Fuck, he was so not good at this. "Hey. Danny. Danny, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have called you that."
When Wades hand touched Danny's shoulder, Danny shot to his feet, and looked around wildly. Wade pulled his hand back to his chest. "Danny?" he asked, unsure of what to do. And then Danny spun on his heel and booked it into the trees way faster than Wade would have thought that he could. "Fuck!" Wade swore, jumping to his feet. {Go after him!}[If he gets lost in this forest and dies, It'll be your fault.] Wade scrambled to his feet and took off after Danny.