Thank you for giving another piece of this world a chance.

Because of the direction this story took, there will be small inconsistencies to the timeline events referenced in With Great Power. They were necessary for the path of this plot. They do not alter the With Great Power plot at all.

Part One

Pepper sat beside the bed, clutching Tony's hand as if that could stop him disappearing again, going to fight a titan, flying into space, being gone, leaving her scared he'd never come home to her.

She turned the engagement ring on her finger and closed her eyes. The day Tony given it to her felt like a lifetime ago, though it had only been months. Would she ever have been given it if not for Peter Parker? If Tony had not asked for that press conference to announce the newest Avenger, if Peter had not made the mature and responsible choice to refuse his place with them, would Tony have waited another ten years to propose? Would she have the life she'd longed for?

She didn't know, and not knowing broke her heart.

Tony's fingers twitched in her hand, but his eyes remained closed and still beneath their lids. The doctors said he should wake up soon; the sedatives they'd given him were wearing off at last. They'd needed to continue sedating him for days as each time he woke, he was so distressed he was making himself ill.

As much as Pepper wanted him awake, she was scared of what would happen when he was. His ripping cries, hands grabbing at the tubes in him, shaking limbs like a palsy, were terrifying.

Even if he was calm this time, if the doctor's hopes were right, the man that had come back from the planet, emaciated and traumatized, was coming to a world that no longer made sense. Tony was going to struggle with that, they all were, but she thought what would be worse was the broken words that had slipped from him.

"I lost the kid."

Tony loved Peter Parker.

She wasn't sure he'd even admitted it to himself, but he did. He'd opened himself to Peter in a way he'd rarely done before, and he'd created something he'd never had—the role of a parent.

Many dinners had been interspersed by proud stories of what the kid had done, the things his AI, Karen, had reported back to Friday. She'd been shown the videos from his suit, heard the pride in Tony's voice as he'd said, "Look at that, Pep! He got the gun and webbed him up at the same time. Do you know the kind of skill that shows? He's amazing." Breakfast conversations had involved him describing in loving detail the web fluid Peter had created in chem class, "The science behind it is amazing, and he did it in his school desk! Kid's a damn genius."

Tony had loved Peter, and now Peter was gone.

"Hey, Pepper?" a heavy voice said from the door.

Pepper turned, not having noticed Rhodey's arrival. She'd not expected him back yet as he'd only left a few days ago to chase down Thanos with the remaining Avengers, leaving her to care for Tony. They'd heard nothing from them since. And she didn't think he was coming back with good news now.

She didn't want to hear it, though, no yet, so she just nodded and turned her attention back to her sleeping fiancé.

Perhaps sensing her need, Rhodey moved closer, pulled up a chair to sit, and said, "How is he?"

"They've mostly kept him sedated since you left," she said. "They say his body and mind need rest to heal, and they're worried about malnutrition. They've got him on IV feeds." She sighed. "They've cut off the sedation now, though, to see how he reacts when he wakes up."

"It's been bad?" he asked.

She nodded. "Each time they try waking him, he's been a wreck. He doesn't seem to notice I'm here. He just yanks the wires out of him, tries getting out of bed only to fall over again. He's so weak."

"But they're waking him again?"

"They are. Some psychologist is on standby to talk to him. They said his physically fit enough to be awake. It's mentally that he's in crisis now."

"What happened to him out there, Pepper?" Rhodey asked. "I know he was hurt, and he obviously saw things that messed him up, but I've never seen him like that before. Even when his parents died, he handled it with a constant stream of liquor. He didn't need to be knocked out."

"He lost Peter," Pepper said, then seeing he didn't understand, she went on. "Spider-Man. He was there with him. I don't know if he was snapped or killed in the fight that Tony was hurt in, but he's gone."

Rhodey leaned forwards. "Okay, I'm obviously missing something here. Spider-Man was part of the fight in Berlin, an apparently smart kid and a good fighter, but what was he to Tony."

Pepper's eyes prickled with the tears of pain she knew Tony was going to be in when he woke. "Peter started out as another fighter when you went up against Steve and his team. When they got back. Tony set him up with Happy as… a handler, I guess. Then the Coney Island thing happened, Peter saved the cargo and got hurt. Tony took him under his wing, after, offered him a place as an Avenger. Peter refused, though. Even after that, Tony would bring him over for time in the workshop and for dinners. I didn't get to see him because Tony wanted him to himself, but he was…" She sighed and stroked the back of Tony's pale hand. "Tony loved Peter, Rhodey, and he's gone."

"He never even told me about him," Rhodey said. "I asked questions after Berlin, concerned since you could tell the kid was young, but Tony just said he was on our side."

Pepper smiled. "He was proud of Peter. He'd talk about him all the time, show me the stuff he got off the video feed in his suit." She wiped at her eyes. "He was a great kid, apparently." She drew a deep breath. "And Tony lost him."

Rhodey cursed. "I had no idea that was happening. Why didn't he ever tell me?"

"Maybe he didn't want to share with you, either, or maybe he was ashamed of bringing a kid into the fight. He was only fourteen at the time."

Rhodey sucked in a breath. "He was fourteen, and he was fighting them with us!"

"He was good, though; you said it yourself."

"Yeah, but he had no place in that fight with us."

"I think Tony knew that, but he was desperate." She pushed her lank hair back from her face. "And he's desperate now." She took a breath and forced herself to ask the question that mattered. "It didn't work, did it? You didn't find Thanos."

Rhodey's jaw clenched. "We found him, but it was too late. He'd already destroyed the Stones. There was no way to undo it. Thor killed him, but that was just a formality. We'd already lost."

"We lost," she said, her voice breaking. "They're not coming back?"

"They're not."

Pepper squeezed her eyes shut, and fresh tears slipped down her cheeks. She felt a swelling in her chest, which constricted her breaths. It was over. They were never coming back.

Peter Parker was never coming back.

"It's over…" a rough voice rasped.

Both Pepper and Rhodey's head snapped to Tony, who was blinking slowly.

"Tony! How do you feel, honey?" Pepper asked, standing and cupping his cheeks. He seemed calmer now. Before, she'd not been able to get close to him without his flailing hands knocking her away.

He spoke again, his voice a dead thing. "It's over."

Rhodey stood and moved closer to the bed, placed his hand on Tony's shoulder, and said, "It is, Tone. There's no undoing it. Thanos destroyed the Stones."

"He isn't coming back," Tony whispered, and his eyes became glassy, though no tears fell. "He's gone."

No one answered, but Tony nodded as if they had, and he turned his face away from them.

"Tony," Pepper said querulously. "Look at me."

Tony didn't respond; he might not even have heard her. He just blinked slowly and exhaled in a long sigh.

"Tone," Rhodey said. "Come on, man. Say something. Look at me."

"Peter's gone," Tony whispered. "I failed."

A lone tear slipped down his cheek, and he did not wipe it away. "I've got to go," he said, struggling to sit up and swing his legs around to stand. "I need to tell her."

"No," Pepper said, rising to her feet and trying to push him back against the pillows. "You need rest."

"I'll rest later. I've got to tell her."

"Tell who what?" Rhodey asked. "I'll do it for you."

Tony stared up at him, his eyes devoid of life. "It's my job. I'm the one that did this, and I've got to be the one to tell her what happened."

He tugged at the tubes and wires, threw them on the bed, and got up. His legs didn't seem to want to hold him, but he managed by gripping the bed then the wall, making his way out of the room and away from them.

Pepper stared after him, her heart aching to follow, but her mind telling her to stay. Tony was going to Peter's aunt, she was sure, and that was something he should do alone. Peter was their loss, not Pepper's. She had to let him go and hope that he came back to her after. She had to hope that the man that came back wasn't as broken as she feared, because she needed her fiancé, not a shell of the man he was now.

She wasn't sure if the man he was now had any need or desire for her in his life.

So… What do you think?

I plan to write a series of out-takes/bonus scenes of the To Be Worthy series, of which this is the first. If there is any scene that you would like to see, leave me a review or send a PM to let me know. I'll do my best to accommodate requests.

Until next time…

Clowns or Midgets xxx