And...back.
I just wanted to say...it becomes a little obvious in this one that this whole thing is written pretty shakily like...doesn't align with canon, doesn't include the characters doing everything they probably should have...and honestly, between all the problems, I'm not even going to mention my butchering of medical stuff. Yikes
But at the end of the day I wrote this mainly to focus on the characters, not really the plot...which is lacking and really thin lol.
So please just...keep that in mind. Try not to look to deeply into it ig.
Anyway. Second part is a go.
Tony POV
"Jarvis, divert more power to thrusters."
"Right away, sir."
The suit jolted and sped through the air faster than before, skimming along over trees and through a deepening darkness. Flecks of snow drifting through the air melted in the heat his suit emanated.
Tony clenched his hands and felt the metal sheathing his fingers curl with a series of clicks.
Peter.
The kid. The superhero. The teenager. The Spiderman. The fifteen year old pain in his ass who smiled with his teeth, with wide eyes, and with his achingly whole heart.
Gone.
"Sir, your heart beat is reaching a concerning rate. I advise several deep breaths."
Lost.
"-breaths, sir."
Missing.
"-sir?"
"—there's some really weird guys over here, Happy. I don't know—I'm gonna check it out but if Mr. Stark asks—or, or if he needs me or something—" the voicemail Happy had sent him was stuck on replay, the words engrained in his mind.
Stolen.
Tony cut out of an unintentional dive, toes clipping two treetops before regaining a safe elevation. He sucked in a deep breath, the oxygen cutting through like a wave of ice-cold water.
"Well done sir. A few more now."
"I know," he told Jarvis. Besides, now that he'd started, Tony couldn't stop gasping for air if he wanted. He inhaled hungrily. "What's our ETA?" he managed.
"We are currently two minutes from Peter Parker's location," Jarvis answered.
Tony grimaced. "Half that."
"Yes, sir." Their speed noticeably increased, red messages blaring in the corners of Tony's vision. He blocked them out. Peter's location had only recently come back online, and Tony didn't know the reason why that had changed, but if it was a bad one, he needed to be there yesterday.
After all, Peter had been missing for hours. And to disappear in the middle of his patrol? He was in trouble. Or, had been. Either way, Tony wanted him underwing and safe, before his location blinked out again.
That thought didn't bring him comfort.
It was just over a minute of travel, spent with shallow breathing and tensed muscles, when Jarvis said, "We are currently hovering above Mr. Parker's location," and Tony about had a heart attack looking down and seeing nothing but wilderness.
He swooped to the ground, searching through the surrounding darkness and trees frantically, snow flakes flitting through his field of vision.
Only.
Tony didn't see anything.
"Jarvis—" he began, panicked.
Then stopped. There—something red.
Tony aimed his hand at the darkness, focusing enough energy to the repulsor to emit a glow that cleaved through the area, sliding between trees. There was a red lump curled up in the cast.
Peter.
Tony raced over, skidding to a stop in the growing blanket of snow. He shed the suit quickly to kneel beside the teenager. The cold and wet leaked through the knees of his sweatpants and he shivered. "Kid?"
Peter was laid down beside a tree, an alarming pool of blood spotting the white ground around him, his skin turning a sickening shade of mottled blue and pale. His suit was butchered, his mask missing—that explained Karen's absence.
Tony reached out, swiping the teenager's soaked hair away from the his eyes, feeling the heat radiating off his forehead and wincing.
"Jarvis. Vitals."
His AI rattled off a series of numbers and readings into Tony's earpiece, most of which flew over his head. But he knew enough basic first aid to recognize that the situation wasn't great.
The temp was too high, blood pressure too low. His breathing irregular, too fast and too shallow. He shook like a leaf in a windstorm—which wasn't surprising, considering he was essentially wearing tights in the cold night. And his face was flushed, rosy red, where it wasn't whiter than the snow.
"Karen's systems have been disabled," Jarvis added. "Therefore I am unable to confirm the severity of Mr. Parker's condition."
That didn't matter. To Tony, the 'severity' of Peter's current 'condition' was high, high, high, never mind what medical opinion said.
He scanned Peter hurriedly, manually searching for injuries, patting down his limbs and torso carefully. He quickly found the weeping cuts on his wrists, hastily bandaged.
Tony frowned.
Shouldn't his accelerated healing have made some headway on those? Tony didn't know how long he'd had them but judging by the amount of blood staining the torn remains of his suit they should have been at least a little better off.
He shook his head. Either way, those cuts needed medical attention. Immediately.
Finding only the wrists and the beginnings of lurid bruising where his skin was visible, Tony hoisted Peter upright and laid his still form against himself for support. It drew a moan from the teen and Tony froze. "Spider-ling?"
But the response must have been completely unconscious because Peter didn't move or speak after that, just laid in Tony's arms limply.
Not good.
Tony tore loose fabric from his shirt and used it to re-bound the wounds on Peter's wrists. He knew it wasn't enough. There was already too much lost blood—he needed to get the teen to the tower.
Tony propped Peter against a tree for a moment while he stepped back into the suit, immediately reclaiming him in his grasp, carrying him bridal style and taking to the air without a moment to lose.
As they sped across the air, not as fast as Tony had hurried before—those kinds of speeds where dangerous with passengers—Tony whispered, into the chilled breeze encasing the both of them, "Hold on, Peter."
"Page Banner," Tony ordered as the tower came into view.
"Yes sir."
God, he hoped Bruce was awake. All the doctors associated with the tower were qualified, but considering Peter's identity and background, Tony wanted Bruce. He knew radiation like no one else, and was capable of applying his field of study to medicine. He could account for anything different in Peter's physiology.
They entered directly into the infirmary, through a window that slid opened upon their arrival. Inside, the lights overhead were too bright—the white walls seemed to shine. As a rule, the billionaire hated it in here. The scent of antiseptic, the cold, detached feel. But now? He'd never been happier to see a room.
Tony hurried to lay Peter down on a gurney and slipped free of the iron man suit. He bent over where the teen lay, hands hovering unsurely. What did he need to do? How could he help?
As luck would have it, he didn't need to do anything.
Evidently, Bruce was still awake and not far off, because the man came skidding around the infirmary doors.
"Tony? Jarvis said Peter was—" his gaze landed on the gurney and his eyes widened. "Jesus. What happened?"
He rushed over, immediately checking vitals and examining Peter's wrists.
Tony shook his head helplessly, "That's what I want to know."
He knew he should step back. He couldn't help by getting in Bruce's way, but something about the idea of leaving Peter on the thin sheets, sick and losing blood and so so small just made him nauseous.
Bruce must have noticed the look on his face when he glanced over.
"We'll figure it out," he assured him. "We can handle this—don't worry."
Usually that tone of voice would reassure Tony, Bruce knew what he was talking about when it came to pretty much...everything. If he said they had the situation under control, odds were they had the situation under control. But...Tony looked at Peter's face, which only grew paler.
He couldn't help but worry.
"This is..." Bruce frowned, looking over. "His healing should have kicked in by now?"
It wasn't much of a question. Bruce knew Peter's vitals were logged with fanatical precision—he'd seen the data. Even analyzed it. They both knew Peter should have started healing on the way back to the tower, much less counting however long it had been since he sustained the injury before.
Nonetheless, Tony nodded numbly in affirmative.
The scientist exhaled.
"We're going to run some tests."
Well damn. That wasn't...great.
Lol, this has been sitting in my stuff for forever though and I keep rewriting and editing and I continue to be increasingly less happy with it so honestly I'm kind of ready to post it and close that chapter and move on, ya know?
Thanks for reading though. This is really short and bag and didn't come out quite like I wanted it to but I hope it was somewhat enjoyable regardless?
Idk...Please leave a comment letting me know what you thought...I'd love to hear it!