When Tony finally landed, Banner was waiting with a full medical team, thank God. They quickly took Evan out of Tony's arms, placed her on a stretcher, and started running all kinds of tests. They were all yelling orders, stabbing Evan's arms with needles, giving her IVs, and trying to ask her all kinds of questions, to which she didn't respond.
Tony felt like he was living in a dream. Everyone's voices seemed to dull and became muffled. The world seemed to move in slow motion. He was unable to process the chaos happening around him. He thought he heard Banner trying to ask Evan questions about what happened and Tony realized he hadn't even told Banner.
"I… I have footage of what happened. I'll send it to you." Tony's words sounded as though they were being pulled out of him. Banner saw this change in Tony, and if the situation wasn't so dire, he would have stopped to check in on him. He knew that Tony had had trouble with anxiety in the past, hell, they all did at some point or another. This line of work was not an easy one.
Tony watched as Evan was wheeled away. Suddenly, it was hard to breathe, hard to see, hard to stand. He knew what this was but he hadn't had an attack like that since a few months after New York.
"FRIDAY scan vitals." Tony's voice was tight. He could barely even get words out. He knew that FRIDAY was giving him a response but he didn't hear it. All he could hear was the blood pounding in his ears. All he could think about was Evan and Peter and the responsibility he had toward those kids. He thought about his father. He thought about the damage his father had done to him. He thought about the damage he was doing to these children.
His knees felt weak. He dropped to the floor, taking short, ragged breaths. Suddenly, it was too hot in the suit. He was too hot, too confined. He opened the suit and dropped out and felt his hands hit the ground. This was a bad one, he could tell. He needed to pull himself together. Evan needed him, Peter needed him. This wasn't about him. This wasn't about him. How selfish do you have to be to turn the near-death of a child into a sob story about yourself?
He heard footsteps coming towards him and tried to stand up.
"Mr. Stark? Hey, are you okay, Mr. Stark? Where's Evan, is she okay? Please tell me she's okay." Tony felt Peter's arms under his, pulling him to his feet. He needed to pull himself together. This wasn't about him.
"Kid…" Tony's vision was still coming into focus but even with his limited vision, he could see the panic on Peter's face. Peter was looking for him, waiting for him to give him something, anything.
"What? Is she… is she…" Peter couldn't even get the words out. All he was thinking about was watching Evan dial his number. Watching her cry out when he didn't answer. The guilt was eating away at him faster than he could control.
"No, kid, she's not dead. But… it doesn't look good." Tony didn't want to lie to the kid, he owed him that, at least. He had seen Peter's face when he had watched the footage. He knew that no matter how this turned out, it wasn't going to be easy for him. Tony was going to have to step up and be an adult for the first time in his life.
"Jesus. Jesus. Well, where is she?" Peter was running his hands through his hair, trying to keep himself under control. He was supposed to be watching out for her. She was his responsibility.
"Banner is working on her now. She's in the best possible hands." Tony was finally getting himself under control and could really begin to understand the panic level Peter was at. He needed to calm this kid down.
He wasn't sure what to say. Again, much like in Berlin, he was at a loss for words. It was clear to see that both kids had a savior complex, but it was much more prevalent in Evan. Peter didn't want to die… Evan, he wasn't so sure about.
"I'm supposed to be looking out for her. I'm supposed to be making sure things like this don't happen." Peter was close to tears. He felt ashamed even admitting it out loud, especially to someone like Tony, whom he admired so much.
"This is not your fault, Pete. You're just a kid. She's not your responsibility. I'm the adult in this situation." Again, alarm bells went off in Tony's mind. There was something that Peter wasn't telling him about Evan. Why did Peter feel such a sense of responsibility towards her? He knew that he was an incredibly compassionate kid, but this felt like something else.
"Mr. Stark, with all due respect, you don't really know what you're talking about." Despite the harsh nature of his words, Peter wasn't agitated. He was just being honest. He didn't know what he was talking about.
"Well, then why don't you tell me, so I do know." Tony tried to be gentle, but he needed to know what Peter wasn't telling him. Tony saw Peter weighing his request. Peter was shaking, he was pale… he looked like a wreck. Tony could almost see the worry and fear radiating off of him in dark, thick waves.
This was not an easy thing for Peter to consider. He had known about Evan's father pretty much since he had known her. He had begged her to tell Mr. Stark since they had gotten closer but she refused adamantly. He hated seeing her get pushed around by her dad, but he respected her too much to tell anyone, even if it meant ensuring her safety. He knew that if he told Tony, and she survived this, she would kill him if she found out. But he couldn't do this anymore. He couldn't watch her get hurt over and over again knowing that he could have done something to make it easier.
"Evan, uh…" Peter ran a hand through his hair again, a nervous tick. He was trying to find the words, trying to find out where to start.
"You know she lives alone with her dad, right?" Maybe the best place to start was at the beginning. Tony nodded his head.
"Well, her mom left a while back and since then things have taken a downward spiral with her dad. Lots of drinking, I wouldn't be surprised if drugs were involved too. He lost his job… that's why Evan works that shitty part-time one." Peter stopped and took a breath. She had worked a part-time job? On top of patrolling and school? Tony already knew where this was going and he felt sick. He had had his fair share of shitty experiences with his father but it didn't sound like it was near as bad as this.
"Her dad, he uh… well he's a real piece of shit." Even with the somber mood, Tony felt his eyebrows shoot up at the strong language. He had never known this kid to talk about anyone that way. He knew exactly what was going on.
"Her old man… he beats her?" Tony took a step towards Peter, cocking his head when he asked the question. Although he was sure he already knew the answer, he wished that Peter would say no. He wished that the only problem Evan had was an unstable place to live. That was an easy fix. An abusive father? That was much harder.
Peter opened his mouth to answer, but with glassy eyes only nodded his head yes. Tony took back and let out a breath, running his hand over his face.
"And it took you this long to tell me, why?" His voice was hard. He wasn't angry with Peter, he knew Evan and he knew that Evan had probably had something to do with the fact he hadn't known about this for so long.
"You know how proud Evan is." Peter gave a dry chuckle that lodged in his throat and was strangled into a sob. Suddenly, Peter folded in on himself. He crouched so his knees were up to his face like he was a little boy. He covered his face with his hands, trying to conceal the fact that tears were streaming down his face.
Tony, not expecting Peter's sudden outburst of emotion, was slow to respond but once he got himself together he knelt down by Peter.
"Pete…" Tony placed a paternal hand on Peter's back. He had always been awkward with emotional intimacy and vulnerability, especially when it was as fragile as it is in kids Peter's age.
"I can't believe she would go and do something this stupid. I should have been watching her more closely… I knew things were getting worse, but I ignored it." Peter took his hands from his face and Tony saw that it was red with shame.
"I should have been giving her more attention. She has no one else. She was relying on me and I seriously let her down." His hands went back up, covering his face and muffling the sounds of his crying.
Tony wrapped his arm completely around Peter and pulled the kid towards him, into his chest. He felt Peter shake against him as the strength of his emotion shook his body.
"It's not your fault, Pete. Evan will be fine, she's in the best hospital in the world." Tony smirked, hoping his little quip wasn't lost on Peter. Peter didn't respond, instead, Tony felt him shake his head "no" and grip Tony's shirt tighter.
Tony wasn't sure how long the pair stayed like that, but something in Tony told him that he shouldn't let go of this kid until he was quiet. Once he was quiet, Tony pulled back, surveying Peter. His face was red and puffy, as were his eyes, and he looked completely exhausted. Tony knew that even if Banner's treatment went as well as it could, it would be hours, if not days before Peter could see Evan.
"Call your aunt, kid, you're staying here tonight. Go clean yourself up and go to bed. I'll tell you if there are any developments." Normally, Peter would have fought with Tony on this. But he was exhausted and the idea of a shower and sleep sounded amazing. He nodded and turned away from Tony, heading into the compound.
After Tony knew that Peter was in his room, he went down to meet Banner and talk about Evan. He met him outside of the medical wing of the compound. He could see Evan through the glass. Someone had changed her out of her suit and she was in a white hospital gown. She was hooked up to more machines than Tony could count. She wasn't even breathing on her own, there was a tube shoved down her throat, pumping air into her lungs. She had a bruise under her chin and what looked like the remnants of a black eye. It wasn't fresh enough to have been because of tonight's incident.
"So? Is she gonna live?" The exhaustion of the night was starting to wear on Tony and looking at Evan wasn't helping. He thought that Berlin was the worst it could get, but he was wrong. This was much, much worse.
"It's still very uncertain. She's stable for now, but that could change very quickly. She's not out of the woods just yet." Banner took off his glasses and rubbed his face with his hand. He had met Evan a couple of times but mainly knew her from hearing Peter talk about her, and occasionally Tony.
"What is this, Tony? Another child vigilante you provide tech for?" Banner had always made it very clear that he didn't approve of Tony encouraging Peter and Evan in the ways that he did.
"What tipped you off?" Tony had always liked Banner and had always invited discourse between the two of them, but he had never liked discussing this topic. Banner didn't know these kids as he did and so, frankly, Tony didn't feel like he got a say on the subject.
Banner knew Tony's tone meant the topic was no longer being discussed and the two stood in silence unsure of where to take the conversation next.
"Get some rest Tony, I'll let you know if anything changes with her condition." Banner placed a hand on Tony's shoulder, much like Tony had done to Peter before. Tony nodded and returned the gesture.
"Thank you for doing this." Tony turned away from Banner and Banner nodded in response. Despite Banner's feelings on the subject of Peter and Evan, he knew how much Tony cared about those kids, especially Peter.
