Hello Wonderful People! It's Wednesday! One of my favorite days of the week. Thank you all so much of the support for the story so far. Story IV is still kicking my ass, so your reviews and encouragement mean more to me that ever before. I know exactly what I want to do, and I've had some ideas I'm very excited about writing, but I can't seem to get my thoughts in a cohesive line to write. Knowing you're reading and enjoying the story drives me to keep trying.
Chapter Eight
Tony's eyes moved from his phone, where he was looking at the photos of Morgan and Happy having a tea party that Pepper had sent him, to Peter who was shifting from side to side in his seat between Rhodey and Bucky.
"You need a bathroom break, Pete?" he asked, setting his phone down. "Friday, pause it."
The movie stopped, and everyone seemed to shake off their intent focus on The Return of the Jedi and look to Peter.
"Damn," Rhodey muttered. "Sorry, Pete. Got caught up in the movie. Let's make you a little more comfortable."
"I'll do it," Tony said.
"No, I've got it." Rhodey got to his feet and then eased up Peter beside him.
Peter followed Rhodey dutifully out of the room, led by the hand, and Tony heard the bathroom door click closed behind them.
"Should have caught that sooner," Bucky said. "This movie's actually a lot better than I expected. I can see why Peter likes them."
"They are good," Tony agreed. "And he more than likes them. He's nuts about them. Him and his buddy Ned like building Lego models of the spaceships and stuff."
He frowned a moment, wondering if that was something they could utilize to connect with Peter, if one of them built them with him, and then dismissed it. Peter wouldn't get much out of someone else making them, which is what would happen.
"You're heading home again later, right, Tony?" Bucky said.
Tony ran a hand over his face. "Yeah. I'll only be gone a couple nights, and I'll be close if anything happens, but…"
"We'll call you if anything changes," Steve reminded him. "We always do. Honestly, though, I'm not expecting it to. It's been a week, and there's been no sign of the Stones talking again."
"Which means the circumstances aren't right," Wanda said, her frown pronounced. "We're not connecting."
Tony sighed. They'd been trying everything they could think of to help him, but nothing had changed since Mind and Power had made an appearance. They were just playing a waiting game now, and puzzling over what they had heard. They needed someone Peter loved, but May was dead, and Tony was the closest person left to him.
"Or I freaked Peter out too much," Bucky said, his guilt evident. "That ass Power warned us it could happen. I scared him."
"I don't think it's that," Tony said, more because he wanted to help him than because he believed it. The truth was, he'd seen how scared Peter had been, and he figured Peter wasn't going to let it happen again in a hurry. Perhaps the Stones could break through his resistance and talk, but that might hurt him, which they'd said they wouldn't do.
There was the sound of the toilet flushing, and after a minute, Rhodey and Peter came back into the room. Rhodey tried to guide Peter back to the couch, but Peter tugged away and walked to the window, which was dripping with the rain pouring outside.
Bucky got up and went to stand beside him. "We'll go out when the rain stops, bud," he said. "Anyone know when that's supposed to be?"
"The forecast is rain for the next twenty-four hours," Friday announced.
Bucky shook his head. "Okay, it might take a while, but we'll go out as soon as it stops." He placed a hand in the small of Peter's back and said, "You want to finish the movie? We've got an hour before you need a feed. Or we can read. Wanda, how are you two doing with your book?"
"We're at the Quidditch final in Prisoner of Azkaban."
"How about that, bud?" Bucky asked. "Want to listen to Wanda read for a while? You don't have to sit."
Wanda picked up the tablet and was on the point of pulling up the eBook when Tony had an idea. He tucked his phone into his breast pocket and said. "Actually, me and Pete need a little time in the lab. I've got a project I need his help with."
He stood and put an arm around Peter, steering him away from the window and around the couch, then out of the room, curious eyes following them.
They reached the lab, Tony settled Peter on one of the rolling stools by the table and then took the box he'd brought back with his after his last visit home. "Okay, I know you said you didn't think you needed this anymore, but, kid, you were wrong. You do need this. Spider-Man isn't something you can just shake off since you got the Stones. It's part of who you are."
He leaned against the table and crossed his arms over his chest, looking at Peter's blank face and hoping these words, though they would not reach him clearly, were touching something.
"So, I am going to make you a new suit, a better one, and it'll be ready when you are, okay?"
Peter blinked, and his fingers started to fumble with his pants.
"Okay," Tony said. "Let's do something about that before we get started." He looked around for something to give Peter to hold, but there was nothing suitable in the room, nothing soft. With a shrug, he unzipped his hoodie and laid it over Peter's lap.
"Try this," he said. "Pep washed it so it should feel good. She uses that fancy detergent that makes it all soft and stuff. Hell, I don't know, kid, but it's soft and smells good."
Peter's fingers found it, movements becoming more gentle, stroking motions.
Tony unpacked Peter's new suit from the box and spread it over the table. He was using some of the tech Shuri had sent with him, the enforced nanites and the material from the original suit he made Peter.
"We've got vibranium here, Pete, that T'Challa sent just for you." He tousled Peter's hair. "Saving the universe comes with rewards, huh? And this…" he patted the chest of the suit where he'd already laid the new nanite shield, "Is an invention of Shuri that will store and expend kinetic energy. Basically, you get punched, you get a whole store of power to send back. How's that for invention?"
He hooked up Friday to the suit and began a diagnostic for the glitch he'd noticed when working on it at home.
"Incoming call from Mrs. Stark," Friday announced. "Shall I connect?"
"Hang on," Tony said, moving away from Peter to he would not be in view of the video in case Morgan was there. "Okay, connect, but keep the video on me."
"Okay, Boss. Connecting."
A moment later, Pepper's face filled the hologram in front of him, her smile wide and eyes soft. "Hey," she said. "Am I interrupting?"
"Not at all," he said. "I was just working on something in the lab with Pete. How's everything at home?"
"We're all good. I was just calling to make sure you'd be home for dinner and to ask what you wanted to eat."
"I'll be home," Tony said. "Hmm, dinner… How about I pick us up some pizza on the way back? There's that place in town Morgan likes. Obviously, it's got nothing on New York City pizza, but it's not bad."
"Sounds good," she said. "Don't forget to get pineapple on—"
"Happy's," Tony said with a grimace. "Yeah, yeah, I'll include the abomination topping. I'm not sitting next to him, though."
She laughed. "You're such a baby. It's not like he's asking you to eat it."
"I'd fire him if he did," Tony said seriously.
She shook her head, giving him a fond smile. "You want to talk to Morgan? Put an order in for dessert?"
"Sure," he said.
Pepper called over her shoulder, and Morgan bounced into view. "Daddy! You coming home yet?" she asked.
"In a couple hours," he said. "Just got a few things to do here first. I wanted to ask you if you could fix dessert since I'm bringing pizza home with me."
She clapped her hands. "Pizza! Yeah!"
"I was thinking brownies to go after," Tony said. "You think you and momma can…"
He trailed off as he heard something beside him. His eyes darted to Peter, and his heart skipped as he saw that Peter wasn't just on his feet, but his eyes were alert, too, and his lips pressed into a thin line.
"I've got to go, honey," he said. "I'll call you right back."
He swiped across the screen to end the call and rushed towards Peter, then stopped before touching him as he realized this wasn't Peter—it was one of the Stones.
"Which one are you?" he asked.
Peter looked up, his eyes seeming to be weighted, and his lip trembled, then he spoke in a whisper that seemed to take all his energy to make. "Mo?"
"Peter!" Tony gasped and grabbed his shoulders. "Yes! Yes! That was Morgan. Oh, god, Pete. Kid, I'm here. She's okay." He pulled Peter against his chest and shouted, "Friday, get everyone in here. It's Peter!"
He hugged Peter against him and then pulled back, holding him at arm's length and ducking his face to look into his eyes. But they'd changed. The awareness that had shown was lost, and Peter was into a blank mask again.
"No," he groaned. "Pete, please. Give me something."
There was a rush of movement at the door, Steve and Bucky racing in first, Bruce right behind them, and Sam, Wanda, and Rhodey bringing up the rear.
"What happened?" Steve asked. "Is he okay?"
Tony was still holding Peter, but he couldn't talk. His words were lost in the shock of what had happened. That was Peter's voice speaking, his awareness, not the Stones'. He'd asked for Morgan.
"Tony, what happened?" Steve asked, pulling him away from Peter and giving him a firm shake as Bruce checked Peter's pulse and ran a finger across his eyes.
Tony licked his lips and tried to speak, but it came out as a croak. He cleared his throat and said, "Peter spoke."
"You mean the Stones did," Bucky said.
Tony shook his head, moving back to Peter and stroking his warm cheek. "He said Morgan's name. It was him. Pepper called, and I was talking to Morgan. It was her voice. Peter connected with Morgan!"
Rhodey ran a hand through his hair and started to laugh. Tony stared at him incredulously and snapped, "What the hell is so funny?" but his friend couldn't seem to stop laughing long enough to answer.
"Morgan," Steve said with an air of dawning realization. "Of course, it was Morgan."
Tony's eyes moved to him, bemused, and then his mind moved past his shock and short-lived elation as he understood. It needed to be someone Peter loved, and it wasn't him, for whatever reason, but it was Morgan. He adored her, and she him.
"He went there and suffered whatever it was they did to him because he was protecting her," Bucky said, one hand on his heart and the other on Peter's shoulder. "He gave everything for her."
Rhodey choked himself to something resembling calm and said, "Power was right: we are stupid. None of us saw what he needed. It had to be Morgan."
Tony put his arms around Peter again and held his face into his neck, feeling Peter's warm and perfectly even breaths, untouched by the emotion around him.
"We can use this," Wanda said. "We have to bring Morgan to him."
Tony released Peter and stepped back, his heart sinking. "We can't do that, not with how he looks now. He's a mess. It'd destroy her to see her big brother like this."
"Kid's are resilient, Tony," Bruce said. "You might be underestimating her."
"No," Rhodey said, voice firm. "Morgan's an amazing kid, but she won't be able to handle seeing Peter like this. It's too damn much to ask of her. We'll work something else out."
Glad to have support, Tony shot his friend a smile. As much as he loved Peter—and he truly did—and was desperate to help him, he knew Peter wouldn't want Morgan subjected to the sight of him like this. It would hurt her and, therefore, Peter, too.
"Boss, Mrs. Start is calling again," Friday announced.
Tony put his head in his hands and said, "Someone take Peter for his feed. I've got to talk to Pepper, work something out." He put his hand on the back of Peter's head, tugged him forward and kissed his forehead, and then moved out of range and said, "Okay, Friday, connect the call."
Pepper's face appeared, no longer smiling. "What happened?" she snapped.
Tony took a breath and said, "We had a breakthrough, but I don't know what to do, Pep." His voice broke. "I…"
She stared at him a moment then said, "Come home. We'll talk about it, work it out, but come home."
Tony stared at her, his heart longing for her arms to hold him and her words to tell him what to do—how to help one child without hurting the other—and he said, "I'm leaving now.
So… Breakthrough! How many of you guessed it would be Morgan he'd connect to? It was something that was always planned for me, which is rare and awesome because I usually change my mind.
Until next time…
Clowns or Midgets xxx