Chapter 84
Toni and Steve did not indeed have a chance to talk to Peter when he came home from the Academic Decathlon meet. By time they'd gotten home after picking him up, it had grown rather late, and she knew he must have been tired.
So she'd glanced at Steve, and he'd given her a nod in agreement that they'd let him get some rest and talk to him after school the following day. He'd skipped the meet, and she was well aware that it probably meant detention for him so he wouldn't be home until later.
Which was fine by her. She'd get done all her work and clear her schedule for the afternoon as they talked about everything.
She looked up at the digital clock on her screen as she sighed to herself. Peter had been a good kid up to this point. Hell, he still was a good kid, which is what made it all so hard. But despite it all, she knew they would have to talk about it all. Because he still was a kid and he most certainly shouldn't be going after some sort of alien weapons dealer, especially when it involved him putting his own life in danger. Especially if it meant her son could get hurt trying to take on something that was way beyond him.
Those alien weapons in alien hands were a dangerous threat. But in the hands of humans? It definitely wasn't any better.
She looked at the clock again.
Six p.m.
No matter how late Peter had been kept for detention, he most certainly should have been home by now. But he wasn't. Which raised the question of just where was Peter Parker?
"Miss, you have an incoming call," JARVIS said.
"Peter?" she asked.
"The Bureau," JARVIS informed her. She waved at him to patch them through.
"Mrs Stark-Rogers?" a man on the other end said, "This is Agent Bradshaw. I've been handling the investigation into the Chitauri weapons on the streets of New York."
"What can I do for you, Agent Bradshaw?" she asked him, curiously.
"I just wanted to inform you that we have a sting planned right now," he told her, "If all goes well, we'll have the men in custody who have been stealing weapons from the Department of Damage Control behind bars and the streets will be clean once more. They're attempting to sell to a buyer on the Staten Island Ferry."
"Thank you for letting me know," she said, as the call disconnected. She looked at one of JARVIS' sensors, "J can you call Peter? I want to let him know."
"Calling," JARVIS said, as the call connected.
"Mom?" Peter said, sounding slightly strained.
"Peter, are you on your way home?" she asked, wondering what he was up to.
"I'm still at school," Peter said, and she frowned. Why was he still there so late? Detention couldn't have gone on for that long, could it?
"Okay, well do you have a few minutes to talk?" she asked, "I just wanted to give you an update on something."
"Uh I'm a little busy right now," Peter said, and she began to feel suspicious of her son, knowing something must have been up.
"It's important," she said firmly.
There was a horn blaring in the background of the call and her eyes narrowed.
"Where are you?" she asked him, as she pulled up her screen.
"Band practice?" he more asked than told her.
"Nice try, band doesn't practice on Mondays," she said, "Want to try again?"
"I gotta go, Mom," Peter said, "I'll be home soon, I promise. Before Dad has dinner on the table."
He ended the call then, and she stared at her phone in disbelief.
Did her son seriously just hang up on her? That was a joke, right? Because it seemed to her like her son had actually just lied to her about where he was and then ended the call before she'd even had a chance to tell him about the sting the feds were planning on the ferry.
Ferry.
She got a sinking feeling then.
"JARVIS, I need Peter's location right now," she demanded.
"Mr Parker is currently wearing his Spider suit," JARVIS told her, "And is on the Staten Island Ferry. I've alerted Mr Stark-Rogers. He's currently on his way into the room."
Her son was about to get caught in between the Feds and Alien Weapons Dealers.
"Toni," Steve said, as he came into the room, "What's wrong?"
"Your son is in danger," she said, feeling her breathing growing unstable. "The feds have a sting to catch the weapons dealers and Peter is in the middle of it and he doesn't even know. I need to go help him."
"Toni, you can't just put on the suit," he told her, stopping her from summoning it, "You're pregnant. What if you get hurt?"
"My son is on that ship," she said, staring at him in disbelief, "Am I just supposed to leave him there? What if something happens to him? I can't sit by and sacrifice one child for another."
"No one is asking you to," he said firmly. "I'm asking you to take me with you. Fly me there, and I'll help. We do this safely. I'll handle the fighting and you take the care of securing the civilians. Okay? We'll do this together."
"Together," she echoed, knowing he was right. If they had alien tech and something hit her.
Well, it wouldn't be good.
"Find," she said, as she summoned her suit to her. Steve nodded, and suited up quickly, as he came back to her. "Together."
He wrapped his arms around her, and she held onto her husband tightly as she flew the two of them towards Staten Island. He didn't say anything to her, and she knew he must have been just as worried as she currently was.
The flight was short, thankfully, as she spotted the ship up in front of them.
The aforementioned ship happened to currently be split in the middle, as if someone had taken a giant laser and cut right down it evenly.
"Well shit," Steve swore.
At any other time, she may have corrected his language, but right now she needed to focus on the fact that her son was currently on a ship that would be sinking, fast.
She could see where her son had clearly webbed the ship together, hoping it would hold, but the webs were breaking, quick. And there, her son was in the middle of the ship, singlehandedly holding it all together as the whole thing fell apart.
If the weapons dealers were on the ship, it was clear that they were long gone.
"JARVIS send in the drones," she commanded, as she dropped Steve onto the boat. "Steve-"
"I'll see who needs help," he said through the comms.
She flew to the side of the boat, as the drones attached themselves to the boat along the sides and pushed with her.
"Hi Spider-Man," she said, as her son looked up at her. "Band practice, was it?"
He gave her an embarrassed look.
The ship began to push itself together and she flew through the inside, using her suit to meld the ship back together, and patch up any holes.
"I got a few civilians trapped by moving cars, but they seem fine for the most part," Steve said, to her. "Doesn't look like anyone was severely hurt."
"Thank Galileo for that," she exclaimed, knowing things could have been much, much worse if they had even shown up a few minutes later. What if the ship had sunk? What if something had happened to her son? She couldn't help but feel guilt, as she knew that things could have turned out a lot worse.
"I don't see any signs of the dealers," Steve told her.
"Neither do I," Toni said, as she scanned the ship, "But I do have eyes on the Feds. They're not going to be pleased that their plan literally sunk."
"I know," Steve said grimly. "And with all the talk about the Accords recently, well, Peter could be in a world of trouble."
"We'll deal with it," she cut him off, as she saw her son swing towards her. She could see all the cars in the water, and she knew it was only a matter of time before the currently shell-shocked passengers began asking questions and demanding compensation for their damages.
"Iron Woman?" her son asked, not wanting to address her with anything else. He swung after her as she continued to patch up the ship. "Can I do anything?"
She wanted to berate him, but she knew now wasn't the time. And beyond anything else, her son was still just that. Her child. It would do no good to belittle him like her father had often done to her when she'd made mistakes. It wouldn't make things any better.
So she took a deep breath in.
And let it out.
"Can you check on the passengers? Make sure they're all okay and that no one needs immediate help?" she asked him. "Steve, can you move towards gathering any of the alien tech that they left behind?"
"On it," Spider-Man said, as he swung up to where the passengers were located.
"The ship appears to be patched together, with a 100% certainty it will be able to safely return towards the docks," JARVIS told her.
"Thank you, JARVIS," she said with a nod. "Steve?"
"All the weapons have been collected," he said with a nod, "There wasn't much they left behind, but the device that seems to have blown up the ship."
"Spider-Man?" she asked, checking with her son.
"Everyone seems to be doing okay," he said with a nod.
Several boats approached the ferry, and she knew the ship would be fine.
"Let's go," she said, knowing they were no longer needed there. She flew down to where her husband and son were.
"How am I going to get back?" Peter asked, looking confused.
"Web onto me til we get over land," she said finally, knowing she couldn't leave him on a ship that would be covered with feds soon. And they needed to have a serious chat. "Then you swing yourself straight to the Tower and nowhere else, you understand me?"
"Okay," he said, looking down.
She didn't say another word as she gathered Steve up in her arms the same way they'd flown in and Peter waited til they were in the air to attach onto her suit. She carried them both, and despite how heavy it was, she kept flying. As they got over the city, Peter detached himself from the web holding him to her, and onto the nearest skyscraper.
"It's going to be okay," Steve told her gently.
"How can you say that?" she asked him, as he knew exactly what had been going through her mind. "What if something had happened to him? What if he'd been hurt? Or seriously injured? He shouldn't have been there, Steve. And what happens if I didn't get that call from the Feds? If I hadn't decided to have called Peter to let him know. He could have died."
"But he didn't," Steve reminded her. "He's alive, and that's because you were there for him. Because you're always there for him. And that's what you need to do now. I know you want to lock him in a room, so he'll be safe forever, but that's not what he needs right now. You're a good parent, and you know what needs to be done as well as I do."
She exhaled in her suit, as they landed on the landing pad of the Tower. The suit quickly detached itself from her body and flew back to its correct spot in the lab. Steve stripped off his suit as he threw on an old t-shirt and some sweats.
"Peter has returned back to the Tower," JARVIS told her, and Steve gave her a nod as they headed out to meet their son.
He looked dishevelled as he tore off the mask, and her heart broke at the sight of him. Instead of saying anything, she scooped him up into his arms and held onto him tightly.
"Are you okay?" she asked him as she looked him over. "Did you get hurt? JARVIS can you scan him quickly and see if he has any injuries?"
"I'm fine," Peter said, not meeting her eyes.
"JARVIS?" she asked, not quite trusting his words on whether her he was fine or not.
"Mr Parker appears to have no injuries other than some mild bruising," JARVIS told her.
"That's good at least," she breathed, and Steve came over as he gave him a pat on the back.
"Is everyone gonna be okay?" Peter asked him, and she pulled away. She let out a sigh.
"No one was hurt, if that's what you're asking. But there were quite a few children on board so hopefully none of them, or anyone else really, ends up traumatized because of it. From a civilian point of view, it must have been a truly terrifying experience. And that's not to even include all the hundreds of thousands of dollars of damages, both to the boat, and all the cars that were lost to the water, or damaged by the fighting. But physically, yes, everyone is going to be okay," she told him.
"What were you thinking, Peter?" Steve asked him, in a kind tone. "Going after those men like that? What if something had happened to you? What if you got hurt? Or died? You didn't even call to let us know what was happening to you."
"We had a deal," Toni said with a nod, "If anything comes up like this, you're supposed to let us know. You're supposed to keep us informed of things like this. But you didn't. Why, Peter?"
"I thought I could handle it," Peter said, voice breaking, "I thought I was strong enough to fight them. That I could prove to you guys that I could do this and that you didn't need to worry about me. That I was good enough to be a hero. I just wanted to be good enough."
She felt her heart break at that.
"Peter, you listen to me," she told him firmly, "There never was a question about if you were or were not good enough, you hear me? You are plenty good enough. You are the best of all of us, okay? You are our son, and you are the best thing in our lives. We love you so much, and the reason we have all these rules on what you can and cannot do is not because we don't trust you or think that you're not capable of doing this. We know you're capable. We've trained with you and know what you could one day achieve. But despite that all, you're still a child. You're our child. And it's our job to keep you safe."
She glanced at Steve, who nodded before saying, "We have all these rules to keep you safe. Did you even think for a minute before you went in there that that was why? That we were terrified of something happening to you? That every day we're terrified that you could get hurt? But we trusted you to call us if things got bad so we could be there with you. Why do you think the Avengers exist? Because some threats are too great for any single hero to handle. And some threats shouldn't be handled alone."
"Do you know why I called you earlier today?" she asked him, "When you lied to me about being in band practice?"
He winced at that and knew he had done the wrong thing to lie to them about that.
"I was going to tell you that the FBI was called in," she told him, "They had a sting set up to bring in the men. One that they were confident would have succeeded if it weren't for your involvement on the ship. And because of what happened, those men got away and who knows if they'll be able to bring them in again."
"Are you saying this is my fault?" Peter whispered, looking up at them.
"I'm saying you should have trusted us, Peter," she told him, "I told you I was going to handle it. And I was handling it. Instead you didn't trust us, and you took one of those weapons to D.C. and nearly brought down the Washington Monument. And after everything else that happened, you lied to us, didn't come straight home from school, and instead nearly blew up a ship. What if people died, Peter? What do you think that would have done to you?"
He looked back down at that.
"I just wanted to be like you," he said, without meeting their eyes, "I wanted to be a hero. I wanted to be good enough."
"I never wanted you to be like me," she told him gently, "I wanted you to be better. Because I know you, Peter. You have such a good heart. You're going to be the best of us, one day. But that doesn't change what happened."
"I'm sorry," he said to them both.
"I wish that could be enough," Steve said, a little broken-hearted.
"We need the suit back, Peter," she said to him.
His eyes snapped back up to meet their eyes, "What no? You can't take it away from me!"
"This isn't a debate," Steve said in agreement. "We told you when you became a superhero that there would be rules. But you disregarded all of them so thoroughly."
She could see tears threaten to spill from his eyes and she hated herself.
"For how long?" he asked finally.
"Until you prove that you can be trusted," she said finally, "Stop lying to us, and trust us, Peter. And stay out of the alien dealer stuff. If you can do that, we'll discuss giving it back."
"What if something happens to people while I'm on the bench?" he cried out, "What if people get hurt because I can't be there to help them?"
"As amazing as what you do is, we've discussed this, Peter," she carefully reminded him, "If people get hurt because of bad people, that's on the bad people, not on you. There still are cops and other heroes in New York to help the people. But for now, you're on the bench."
"I'm nothing without the suit," he said, tears falling down his face freely, "You can't take it away. Please Mom. I need it."
"The suit doesn't define you, Peter," she told him, "You are still you with or without it. If you think the suit makes you a hero, then maybe you're not ready for it right now."
Steve placed a hand on her shoulder.
She extended her hand out, and Peter hit the button to dislodge the suit as he handed it to her.
"Can I go to my room?" he asked them, and Steve nodded as she folded up her son's suit, which was torn and slightly blood stained.
He stalked off, and the minute he left, tears flooded her face.
"I know," Steve said, as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in tightly, "I know."
"That was awful," she cried, burying her head into his chest, "I hated that, Steve. He looked so upset and all I wanted to do was console him and tell him everything was going to be fine. He was crying, Steve, how am I supposed to do this?"
"You did the right thing," he told her gently, "Parenting isn't easy, Darling. But we did the right thing. We were very fortunate that no one got hurt, but what if that wasn't the case? What if something happened to Peter? Or someone else? We did the right thing."
"I felt like my father," she admitted to him, "I know we did what needed to be done, but seeing Peter there looking so upset and betrayed, it made me remember how I used to feel when my father punished me or yelled at me for anything. I never wanted to be like him, and I feel exactly like him."
"There's a difference between parenting and being an asshole," he said, causing her to let out a watery laugh, "We did what needed to be done. It's not forever. It's until Peter shows that he can trust us. And when he does, we'll give him the suit back. Peter is meant to be a hero; you saw how he handled the Washington event. He saved everyone without a single injury. Except himself, perhaps. But he still needs more training."
"Lots more training," she agreed, as he rubbed her back, "Perhaps some strategy sessions too, where you go over making decisions in a crisis. Maybe I can add some features for Karen to help him analyze all the best possible outcomes and make a recommendation for things like the boat. It could be useful."
"It could be," he said in agreement.
"I want to go check on him," she said, and Steve nodded as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"Okay, I'll start on dinner. Tell him I love him, okay?" he said, and she pulled away.
She walked to her son's room and knocked gently. She heard a muffled noise, and she gently opened the door.
"Peter, can we talk?" she asked him, as she saw her son wearing sweats as he sat on his bed.
"What more is there to say?" he asked, sounding upset.
"I wanted to tell you that I love you," she said, as she sat on the edge of the bed, "That your father loves you. We were both really terrified today, and I'm sorry if us taking the suit seems harsh to you, but we can't lose you, okay? If anything happened to you, it would have destroyed us."
"I'm sorry I worried you," he said after a second, "And that I lied to you. I really just wanted to prove to you that I was good enough."
"I know, Darling," she said, as she placed a hand on his, "And you are. You are so much more than good enough. You're a teenager. You make mistakes. It happens. It doesn't mean you're not good enough, or that you can't do this. I have no doubt in my mind that one day you're going to be the greatest hero out there. But right now, you're still a kid. You're my kid, and it's my job to protect you and keep you safe."
"You really believe that?" he asked her, looking up at her.
"Of course I do," she smiled at him, "Peter you have the kindest heart and soul out of anyone I know, and that includes Steve. You wanted to be a hero not because you wanted to make things right or because of money or fame or making up for your mistakes. You became a hero because you wanted to help people. And your first thought when I took the suit was that you wouldn't be able to help people. I have no doubt in my mind that you're going to be the best of us. But for now, let us help you get there, okay? Don't push us away. Trust that we want what's best for you and that we're not stopping you because we doubt you."
He hugged her then, and she was a bit surprised, but she wrapped her arms around him tightly.
"I was so scared today," he admitted to her, "When the webs started giving out and the ship nearly fell apart. I was scared that I let you down. That people were going to die, and that it would be all my fault. And I was terrified. When you came I was so relieved."
"I know, Sweetheart," she kissed his head, "But you did an amazing job holding things together. Just, next time, tell us the truth, okay?"
"Okay," he said, and she rubbed his back.
Things were far from okay. But she had to believe that they would get better.
