Warning:
End Game spoilers within the first few sentences, so if you haven't seen the movie turn back now!
To say that Tony's dreams ever got any better would be a lie and the extremity of them this week only attested to that.
No, they didn't get better, they got worse, and he didn't understand why. It made him wonder if he should get some therapy because this never-ending cycle of him and the people he loved dying was beginning to wear on him.
I am Iron Man.
At least this time he had died saving the people he cared about the most, this time everyone except for him and Natasha had lived.
This fact alone didn't make coming back to reality any easier, though, especially considering he had dreamed about having a daughter with Pepper. The dream had been surreal and he wished that part of it could true, but no, life without Pepper was his reality.
The week had been mundane which in a way Tony was thankful for, it allowed him time to rest and heal and it was exactly what he needed.
As much as he hated to admit it, he was beginning to realize that he wasn't as young as he used to be. The injuries were becoming more difficult to bounce back from, especially since it was hard for him to rest at all. Everyone knew Tony Stark would rather be working any day.
The week had passed without him seeing any sign that Captain America was still on the Compound, which he found a little odd. He knew that he had to be here or the rest of the team would have notified him by now, but to see nothing of the man unnerved him a little. He had believed that they were making some progress, but maybe he had guessed wrong, and he hated being wrong.
He ventured down into the lounge with his head still throbbing a little, but at least it wasn't the searing pain from a week ago, now it was a manageable level of pain.
"Hey Tony, how're you feeling Iron Man?" Clint asked, peering over the couch like the bird of prey that he was.
"I've been better, but I've been worse, can't complain," Tony shrugged with a dull expression.
"Good to see you up and around again," Clint offered a half smile.
Tony couldn't help the surprise rising in his chest to hear the rest of the team agree with the archers' sentiment.
"Aw, I'm flattered all of you care."
He did a quick once over of the room and didn't spy Steve anywhere, but he decided not to ask and pushed it from his mind. He had spent far too much time in the last few months thinking about Rogers and the tension between them. It was becoming borderline obsessive. It hardly got him anywhere. It was time to dwell on something else, anything else.
"So, heard any more from Spiderling?"
Anything except that, that was undoubtedly and most definitely worse. Tony shifted his gaze back towards Clint and a frown crossed his face. "No, and I'm trying to keep it that way. I think it'll be better if I disappear from his life like I was never there at all."
The archer quirked an eyebrow upward and tilted his head to the side. "Are you sure, Tony? It seemed like you were getting pretty attached to the kid, and he was going out of his way to impress you."
"Going out of his way to impress me? He wants to be an Avenger! That's why he's going out of his way to impress me," Tony remarked with a dry sarcastic chuckle.
"Of course that's the only reason, it couldn't be because you're his hero or anything. It's definitely not that," Clint rolled his eyes and that gave Tony pause. "I think you're forgetting that you're Iron Man, which I don't know how all considering, and he's a, in all probability, star-struck teenager. I'm telling you that kid idolizes you, and why wouldn't he? You said he was like fourteen, right?"
"Fifteen," Tony mumbled as he rubbed his neck, shaking his head a little.
"It's pretty normal at that age," Clint responded with a shrug. "I don't believe that cutting yourself completely from his life is going to do him any favors."
Feeling conflicted Tony sat down on the couch and ran his hands across his face. He shook his head as a sigh passed his lips.
"I don't know, Clint. Honestly, what do I know about teenagers? I'm sure you know more than I do," he admitted with an annoyed tone. "Either way, though, I'd rather leave this mess where it lies and hope that the kid goes back to a normal life. Being around me isn't going to do him any favors either. He can't keep from getting himself into trouble with me around."
"You don't think he'll do that without you?" Clint chuckled, "believe me, buddy, he will."
Deep down Tony knew the archer was right, but either way, he shook his head and rolled his eyes a little. If anything happened to the boy on his watch, Tony would never be able to forgive himself. It would go on to a never-ending list of things that he was guilty for, things that he regretted. He didn't need anything else on his conscious, he wasn't sure if he could take it.
"So, how's the move going?"
It seemed that Clint realized that Tony wasn't going to budge on the matter and so he dropped the subject. He couldn't help but shoot the archer a grateful look, it was remarkable how much of a friend the man had become since their truce. Tony never would have imagined it before this mess.
"Good, it'll be finishing up tonight. Happy is over there heading it up, and once it's all packed the bird will be on the way. I'll be glad to have it over and done with."
"It'll be nice to have all that equipment here," Sam offered. "Isn't it a little bit of a dangerous move though?"
"It is, but it's handled. The plane will be about as secure as the old S.H.E.I.L.D helicarrier."
"I breached that once you know, we almost took it out of the sky, and didn't you hack into their databases?" Clint smirked.
"… maybe not a great comparison," Tony hesitated, rolling his eyes a little.
"Yeah, maybe not," came the snickered reply.
"Either way, it's completely safe. No one will mess with that plane tonight, and if they even try we have defensive actions in place, it'll be dealt with pretty quickly. There is nothing to worry about."
Later that night Tony found that he regretted his words, he realized that his arrogance was more damaging than he wanted to admit. Everything he had done, he had done with the utmost confidence.
In Tony's mind, moving was going to be simple and the plan was fool-proof, but he had been wrong. Someone had tried to take the plane, and in fact, they had almost done it.
They would have done it if it hadn't of been for Peter Parker, who should have been at his Homecoming dance, not taking planes out of the sky and dealing with issues that Tony should have seen long before they arose.
Finding the note the kid had left had been jarring, and the moment that Happy called to tell him what happened Tony had blasted out there in his suit to see it himself. When he arrived, he stared at the destruction and wreckage in absolute shock.
He was proud of Peter for doing this, truly he was, but he had done all this without his suit, without his safety net, and now where was he? Steve had been right; Tony deeply regretted taking the suit away from the boy. He stared at the burning rubble around him and wondered how the kid had done this and where he was now.
Was Peter injured? Tony decided that he likely wasn't since he wasn't still here, but he couldn't be sure. What if he is? Where is he? Tony's mind demanded.
He swept the area with a scan, looking high and low for any trace of the young and naïve would be superhero.
A small blip showed up on his screen and he sighed in relief as he jetted towards it as fast as the suit would go. As he tracked the boy, his slight relief turned to mild dread and slight terror, realizing he might still be in danger.
The dot he was tracking was moving with sporadic movements, it was too fast and it was all over the place.
What are you doing kid, fighting someone else? Tony's heart leaped into his throat at the thought. It was possible, though it was also possible that he was web swinging his way back home.
The street from his radar came into view and Tony's eyes darted around.
Just as Tony spotted Peter, from the corner of his eye he saw it, a car hurtling through the air straight towards him. Thrown by a delusional and wild looking man that Tony could only assume was another one of Ross' super freaks.
He realized a second too late that the car was flying straight at him, and despite Peter screaming at him, he was too late to dodge it.
This night had gone from bad to worse in the blink of an eye.
Steve made his way into the lounge, stretching out his muscles and sighing under his breath. He glanced up at the others and paused, the concern in their tones startled him.
"Do you think someone should have gone with him?" Natasha questioned.
"Gone with who? What happened?" Steve narrowed his eyes a little. The others looked up at him, appearing a bit alarmed, and he knew they didn't expect to see him.
"Tony, someone tried to hijack the plane and Spider-Man stopped them, the plane was destroyed and Tony went to go check on things," Scott piped.
Steve froze for a moment, taking the situation into consideration.
"Spider-Man stopped them, without his suit? The kid did it on his own?" He asked lowly, then raised his voice for his final question, "is he hurt?"
"We don't know," Clint responded, "Tony didn't give us any more information, he blasted out of here after he got the call and we saw the rest on the news. No word on Spider-Man, or if the kid is alright."
Steve fought back the urge to swear as he ran his hand through his hair, sitting down for a moment, allowing the words to sink in.
"I told him not to take the kids suit," he mumbled before shaking his head and standing to his feet once more. "I'm going to go and make sure everything is alright."
"Steve, I understand why you want to do that, but you can't leave the Compound, you know that."
Steve felt surprised to hear Rhodey's voice and he glanced over at the other man. He hadn't spoken much to Rhodey since the ordeal, it was difficult to do, he felt responsible for the man's condition.
"I need to," he said, schooling his tone and biting the inside of his lip. "Tony might need some help, especially if the kid's hurt."
"I agree, but are you the best one for that, Steve?"
Though he wasn't sure that Rhodey meant to, the sharp words cut him and he had to fight not to wince as he looked away, considering the situation.
"You shouldn't leave the Compound for a multitude of reasons, first of all being you're a fugitive, but you can't overlook the fact that you might not be the one Tony needs to watch his back right now," Rhodey sighed, shaking his head, "no disrespect."
"I understand your point."
The soft tone sounded so unlike the voice everyone was used to that most of them did a double take to be certain the voice actually came from Steve.
After a moment of silence, Steve added, "is someone else going to go?"
"We were talking that over," Clint chimed in, "some of us are on house arrest and can't go, but someone should."
Silence spread over the group again for a moment before Steve turned on his heel and walked out of the room, leaving everyone stunned and confused.
"Do you think he's alright?" Scott cringed a little, "he looked a little pale."
"...You're right, but I think he's about to go no matter what anyone says," Clint responded, rolling his eyes upward at the form of Captain America walking down the hall, shoulders rolled back and a serious intensity to his walk.
"I hope he knows what he's doing," Rhodey sighed, rubbing his eyes,
"So do I."
Authors Note:
First of all please don't hate me, I know it's been forever and two days and I do apologize for the millionth time. I make no promises for the future other than this is the last time I will apologize because I'm being upfront with you guys now.
I will stick this fic out to the end so never fear about that! I just can never tell when I'll become completely and totally unmotivated to write, and during those patches, it's hard even though I keep reminding myself I need to be writing. Writing is so fun for me when I'm motivated and I'm not drained, but it's work otherwise, so it sucks and that's why it takes a while for me to get chapters out.
But I will continue this story until it's done, and possibly even beyond, I do have more ideas and I'm excited about them!
Second of all, wow End Game wrecked me so of course, I had to tie that into the beginning and ultimately to a degree, the plot, it gave me an overall idea that I think I'm going to run with so I suppose I can thank it for that, haha!
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and I'll try not to stay away so long next time! No promises but I'll do my best! =)