Tony barely made it to the entrance to the garage and saw the Pontiac was, indeed, gone when Friday spoke up.
"Karen's reporting that Peter wrecked."
"What?" What had been mild confusion was now very real concern. "Where?"
The Ironman suit was already activating, and Tony was in the air by the time Friday had caught the coordinates from Karen. The HUD showed the scene courtesy of camera footage that came directly from the compound security camera that covered the service road into the facility. The Pontiac was a splash of red, off the road and against a tree. The front end was crumbled as was the side. The driver's side. It was close enough that the Ironman suit was already coming in for a landing by the time Tony had assessed what he was seeing.
Friday was already scanning the front of the car, and there was life in the figure that was sitting behind the wheel.
"Is he hurt?"
Friday didn't need to ask who Tony meant.
"Nothing broken. Heart rate is elevated. Head injury."
"His hand?"
"Inconclusive."
The scanners couldn't always see through vibranium.
"Get a medical team out here, now." He wouldn't let Peter move until they were certain he was alright. "Call Romanoff and let her know what happened. Tell her not to let Ned know if she's still with him, and that it's not serious enough to bring Stephen in by portal."
He wanted the surgeon there, but not so badly that it was worth leaving the car and jumping in, or anything that might cause trouble or more confusion in the city.
"And Pepper?"
Ugh.
"Tell her what happened. Let her know where we are."
That wasn't a secret he was going to keep.
He disengaged the suit and hurried over to the driver's side of the car. Peter was slumped over the steering wheel, unmoving, now, and Tony found the door was jammed when he tried to open it. The front fender of the car was bent and it wasn't moving to allow the door to open. Stark activated the suit, again, and forced the door, wincing at the sound of grating metal and the extra damage being done to the car that Peter loved so much.
"Peter?"
He turned to look at the billionaire and Tony frowned at the dazed look in his eyes and the blood leaking from a nasty cut above his eyebrow. He was pale and clearly in shock and there was definitely a knot on his head.
"I hit a deer." The boy sat up. "Jesus, I hit a deer. Oh shit. Oh shit. I killed one of our deer."
Tony hadn't seen a deer. He put his hand on Peter's shoulder. The left one, luckily.
"Hold still, son."
"I killed a deer."
"I don't see one. Stay still, okay? I have a medical team on the way."
"I'm okay."
It was an automatic denial of the need for anything special to be done for him.
"You're bleeding."
"I hit a deer."
"You hit a tree…" Tony looked at the boy, wishing that he had a blanket to put over him to keep him warm. He was obviously shocky, and the blood was startling red against his pale skin. "What were you thinking? Where were you going?"
"I don't know. I wasn't."
"What?"
Peter winced and tried to sit up a bit more, but the hand Tony had on his shoulder held him still.
"I-"
The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of many people all at once. Like a swarm of ants, Avengers and allies came into the area in a wave, summoned either by Friday, or because they were locked into the compound's security net and had been advised what happened. Several vehicles pulled up, tires and brakes screeching and squealing on the pavement. Nick Fury got out from behind the wheel of the black SUV with several medical personnel and Doctor Adams. All rushed over to the car, moving Tony aside in order to get to Peter. Stark allowed it, watching anxiously as Adams took control with calm efficiency, already making several orders for tests that she wanted to run on her patient.
"Tony?"
He turned to Nick, and was surprised that Wanda was standing beside him, as well. Maximoff had been almost constantly in the workroom with Vision, waiting for the time that Peter was well enough to return the mind stone to him and bring him back to full capacity once more.
"He said he hit a deer…"
"Looks like a tree to me," Fury said, looking at the Pontiac. "He was talking?"
"Not coherently." He looked at the car, too. The front end was badly damaged, as was the driver's side fender area. What he could see around the people working with Peter. "I can't even imagine what he was thinking, trying to drive one-handed. Or where he thought he needed to go."
"He was angry," Wanda said. "He-"
Another car pulled up with a squeal of tires and gravel on the shoulder of the road, parking behind the SUV and blocking the right lane of the service road, entirely. This time Pepper got out from behind the wheel and she hurried over to the group, looking first at the boy they were swarming around, and then backing out of the way to look at the car, and then her husband.
"What happened?"
"He says he hit a deer," Tony told her, taking her hand and pulling her close to try and help keep her from worrying.
"Is he alright? Where's Stephen?"
"Still taking Ned home. He'll be fine, Pep. He was awake and talking to me."
Somewhat.
"What-"
"He was upset," Wanda interrupted, her expression troubled. "I didn't get to him in time, but I could feel how angry he was – even from the other side of the compound. The mind stone doesn't communicate with me as it does with Vision – or with Peter – but I didn't need to in order to feel Peter."
"What was he upset about?" Pepper asked.
Wanda shrugged.
"I don't know. Peter's mind is protected from my powers more than anyone's."
"He was going to call MJ back," Tony said. "Something must have happened."
He trailed off when sudden activity at the driver's side of the Pontiac distracted him from whatever he was going to say. A couple of corpsmen were easing Peter out of the car. Adams had had him put onto a backboard and firmly strapped down, and there was now a heavy bandage over the boy's forehead where the cut was. They were being careful with his hand and arm, but that was a known injury and the medics were more concerned about what they didn't see. As the men loaded Peter into the back of the SUV, Adams walked over to the group, which was getting bigger, now, with the arrival of several more people – mostly SHIELD agents.
"Doctor?"
"The board is just a precaution," she said, quickly. "I want to make sure he didn't break anything – although he was moving around. He's in shock, hit his head pretty hard and it looks like he hit the injured hand on the steering wheel. We'll take him to the infirmary and get him squared away. You guys can come check on him once we're done with the tests."
Her calm manner did a lot to calm Pepper's worried expression, and Tony admitted that it helped him, too.
"I'll have the car towed home," Nick told them. "Do we have a recording of the call he made? A way to find out what happened?"
"Every call has a recording," Tony pointed out. "That's the nature of the technology. I'm not sure listening in on his private conversation is warranted, though."
Nick Fury was a spy. A master of secrets and finding out the reasons behind things. It was second-nature for him to want to know what happened – and do what was needed to find out. Tony wanted to know, too, of course, but he was a father, now, and had to worry about stepping over a line that had never existed for him before Peter had become his responsibility.
Fury shrugged, watching as the SUV drove away.
"Ask him, then, and see what you find out. I'll take care of things, here."
"Thanks, Nick."
Pepper turned to Tony.
"He hit a deer?"
"He said he did."
"Did he kill it?"
That wasn't a conversation she was looking forward to having with their son.
Stark shrugged, and then activated his suit.
"Friday? Any dead creatures in the area?"
A quick scan confirmed several deer, but none were even limping, much less down.
"Looks good, boss."
Tony released the suit and shook his head.
"If he actually hit one, it must have just been a glancing blow. Friday doesn't see anything."
"We have video monitoring in the Pontiac?"
"No," Tony said. "For the same reason we don't have any in Peter's room. But we do have a black box – through Karen. Once I have a chance to make sure he's really alright, I'll run through the data."
"Go check on your boy, Tony," Nick told him – and Pepper. "Let me know if you need anything."
He turned away, and Tony looked at Wanda.
"Angry and upset?"
She nodded.
"And uncertain, I think. It's hard for me to read him," she added – again.
"Thanks, Wanda."
"You're welcome."
"Ride back with us?" Pepper offered.
"Thank you."
The compound would be filled with concerned people, soon, worried about Peter. She would go back to where Vision was and use his solid presence to keep herself from being overwhelmed by it all.
"Is the car repairable?" Pepper asked as Tony walked to the sedan Pepper had brought from the compound.
"Yeah. We'll get it back into shape."
That wasn't a conversation either of them would have wanted to have with Peter, either.