Chapter Twenty-Six

The doors opened of the ER at St. Mary's hospital as two doctors and two nurses pushed a gurney carrying Peter's pale body. St. Mary's was the closest hospital to where Peter had passed out, but it was a small hospital and Tony didn't know if they had the right equipment. He made a mental note to make sure they transferred Peter to HQ as soon as possible so he could get looked up by doctors who were more aware of his "condition."

Tony felt shaky and dizzy as he followed them feeling overwhelmed by the bright lights, the hospital smell, and the worried patients. A stocky doctor kept asking Tony questions he didn't know the answers too and he gave them answers that barely qualified as a response.

"Sir," one of the nurses said as she pressed her hand against Tony's chest. "I'm sorry, but I am going to have to ask you to wait here. There can be no one on the other side. We are going to run every test on your son so that we can see what is wrong with him."

Tony nodded numbly, not bothering correcting the nurse that Peter was not his son. Did she not know who he was? He watched as the doors closed and Tony sat on a nearby chair not caring that at least ten people were gawking at him.

What was he supposed to do now? What was wrong with Peter? Was he sick? He had never been a man of prayer or a man of god, but maybe he should be now. What if Peter-He shook his head, he was not going down that road.

"There you are," Bruce said, sounding relief as he sat down next to him. "I've been looking everywhere for you. This hospital is quite confusing. When you called me I couldn't believe-" Bruce stopped short when he saw Tony's panicked look on his face. "Are you ok? Man, you're looking a little sick."

"I'm fine," Tony managed to say hating how squeaky his voice sounded. "Is Helen with you? Dr. Strange said he was on his way. We need real doctors here, Peter needs to be seen by someone who graduated from Harvard, not the local community college."

Bruce squeezed his shoulder. "Happy was going to give Dr. Cho and Pepper a ride to the hospital," he said gently. "Steve, Natasha, and Wanda stayed behind so they could get everything ready at the med bay in HQ. Peter is going to receive the best care possible. Have you talked to May?"

May. How could Tony had forgotten about May. She must be so worried. Bruce noticed the concern on his face, and he stated, "I'll call her."

"No," Tony said as he stood up and fiddled with his phone. "I'll call her. I have to call her."

He went towards the back of the waiting room so he could get some privacy. "Hello?" May answered the phone sounding distracted. "Tony, now is not really a good time to-"

"I know," he interrupted. "May, there is something I have to tell you. It's not going to be easy for you to hear, but Peter is at the hospital."

"What?" she practically squeaked. "Scott just told me he ran away. What happened?"

Run away? Tony was confused. Peter would never run away, he loved May too much. "Look, I don't know the whole story, but I picked him up from Dr. Strange's house and I was going to take him home when he collapsed. I'm at St. Mary's hospital, do you have a pen so I can give you the address-"

"I know where it is," she interrupted, and Tony heard her fiddling around with her purse. "Thank you, Tony we'll be there in 20 minutes."


Pepper, Happy, Dr. Cho, and Dr. Strange arrived 30 minutes after his phone call with May. Dr. Strange had a bunch of odd-looking potions in his hands, but Tony didn't question him as he requested Dr. Cho and Dr. Strange to work on Peter. He stated he could buy off any doctor who objected Peter having the best medical care possible.

Pepper was rubbing his back and whispering comforting words when May and her boyfriend Scott appeared. Scott had an annoyed look on his face while May's face was bright pink, and her eyes looked red and sore.

She immediately lunged towards Tony. "Where is he? Where's my baby? Tell me! I need to see him."

"They are still doing some tests," Tony admitted as he rubbed her shoulders trying to ignore the bored look on Scott's face. "But I have the best doctors looking after him and I swear to you May that Pete will be alright."

Pepper shot him a warning look as she took May's hand. "Come May, let's see if we can convince someone to give us some answers."

They watched as Pepper took May away. Happy stood up and looked at them awkwardly, "I'll got get some coffee for. . .May and for everyone. I called MJ and Ned, Tony. They wanted to come tonight, but I told them to come tomorrow instead."

"Thanks, Happy." Tony mumbled as Happy excused himself to get some coffee until it was just Scott and Tony.

Tony focused his eyes on Scott, he had only met the guy a couple of times and Peter had mentioned that he had been living with them for the past couple of months so you'd think he would show a bit more concern. "What is this about Peter running away? He was only gone for a few hours at the most."

"He left a note," Scott said smoothly as he ran a hand through his hair. "You know how teenagers are. Overly dramatic. He probably met with the wrong crowd soon after he decided to run away."

"I know how teenagers are," Tony responded coldly. "And Peter is not like that."

"You don't know Peter," Scott said never missing a beat. "The kid is a real mess-"

Something snapped inside of Tony as he took a step forward, wondering how much damage he could do to without getting himself arrested. "What the hell did you just say-"

"Gentlemen," Dr. Strange interrupted with a raised eyebrow as he stood in between the two men. "Is there a problem?"

Both men stared at each other and Scott was the first person to break the silence. "No problem at all. I'm going to look for May, excuse me."

Tony took a deep breath as he stared at Dr. Strange with a raised eyebrow. "Well? Please tell me you have some good news. I don't need the kid to give me an early heart attack."

"He's alive." Dr. Strange said simply.

"That's the bare minimum, Strange."

"We're keeping his alive," Dr. Strange said, not impressed with Tony's remark. "Dr. Cho and Dr. Banner are finishing running some more tests-Peter's blood system is complex-but we've all come to the same conclusion. He's been poisoned. Dr. Banner said he's been looking ill for a while, so I'm assuming he's been getting small doses of poison-"

"Poison?" Tony squeaked. "How the hell did Peter get poison into his system?"

Dr. Strange raised an eyebrow. "I believe the answer might be right under our very noses."

-End of Chapter Twenty-Six-

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