A/N: Here's the next chapter! Uploading twice in one day since I'm going out of town this weekend. Thank you to all who reviewed, favorited, and followed!
WARNING: Rating may go up.
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing! I make no profit off of this. This is solely for my enjoyment and hopefully for the enjoyment of others! ;)
––––––––––
"Hey ah ah ah! That doesn't go there. Did you even look at the plans I laid out for you?" Tony ducked under Dum-E's arm as the robot swung towards him, dropping the rounded piece of metal in it's claw onto the work table.
"Oh no wait," Tony muttered, picking the piece back up. He frowned at it for a second before flipping it the other way around. "You were right. It was just upside down." He passed it back to the robot, who chirped cheerfully and took the segment back.
Tony grabbed a wrench of the bench next to him before walking back over to the car he and his bots had been working on. He eased himself back onto the creeper and slid under the vehicle, snatching up his safety goggles from where'd left them a few moments ago.
Once they were firmly in place, he stretched up his arms and dove back into this work, humming slightly to the song blasting throughout his workshop.
He didn't know how long he spent beneath the belly of the car when the music suddenly faded and FRIDAY's voice called out, "Incoming call from May Parker."
"Put 'er frue," he lisped around the wrench handle between his teeth.
"Stark?"
"'Ey May," he said, grunting as he shoved another piece into place. "'Ow're 'ou liking Cali? 'Ad an In-an-Out 'urger yet?"
"Have I what? Stark, I can't understand you."
He pulled the wrench from his mouth and hauled himself out into the open space of the workshop. "Sorry," he said, getting to his feet. "What's up?"
"Have you talked to Peter recently?"
Tony nodded, tossing the wrench back into the toolbox where it clanged loudly. "Yeah, I talked to him earlier today," he said aloud once he remembered May couldn't see him.
"That was yesterday, Boss," FRIDAY interjected. "It is currently 2:08 pm on Saturday afternoon."
Whoops.
"Scratch that," Tony amended. "I talked to him yesterday."
"So did I," May said quickly. "But I can't get ahold of him today. He's not answering any of my messages and my calls are going straight to voicemail."
Something in her tone gave the billionaire pause. He picked up a screwdriver and absentmindedly tapped it against his palm. "Well it is Saturday. You know how teenagers are: they need sleep more than they need to breathe."
Neither one of them believed it for a second. Tony didn't even know why he was trying to play it off. Internally, a spark of worry was starting to fester in his stomach.
"I know. And I know I'm probably just overreacting, and I know you are an incredibly busy man, but it would really put my mind at ease if you could find five minutes to go check and see if he's okay," May said in a rush, barely masking the plead in her voice. "I just– I'm worried maybe he's sick or hurt or something. You know how he is. Please, Tony?"
Well, damn. Why'd she have to go and pull out the first name card? He was going to do it anyways but now it was more than a just a box to be checked; it was personal.
"Yeah, I'll head over to your apartment right now," he said, tossing the screwdriver back onto the tabletop and grabbing his zip-up hoodie from the back of the chair.
May released a small breath of relief at the man's consent. "Thank you. Have him call me when you find him, please?"
Once Tony had vowed to do so, May disconnected the call after stating her thanks once more.
"Do me a favor, FRI, and try Peter's cell," Tony called to the AI as he pressed the down button on the elevator. The doors slid open a moment later and the man quickly stepped inside, pressing the button for the garage.
"Call failed. The connection went straight to voicemail."
Tony frowned, chewing the inside of his cheek slightly.
"Would you like me to try again?" FRIDAY asked in her lilting Irish brogue.
The billionaire scratched idly at his chin as the doors opened, depositing him on the ground floor. "No, don't bother. Do me a favor though–" He quickly keyed in the code to the lock box for the many sets of car keys. Not even bothering to check which car it went to, he picked the first set off one of the rings. "–track down the GPS on his phone. Let me know if he's actually at home."
He pressed the lock button, following the horn and flashing lights to car that went with the keys he chose. He slid into the vehicle, strapping on his seatbelt, and turning the key in the ignition. Pulling out of the spot, he revved the engine and tore out of the garage at a speed that definitely wasn't allowed within an enclosed structure.
It took no longer than twenty minutes to pull up to the Parkers' apartment complex. Tony pulled up to the curb, coming to an abrupt stop. He locked the car, twice (you never knew with the riffraff of Queens), and hopped up the steps to the front door.
Before May had left for her trip, she'd given Tony a spare set of keys to the apartment. "For emergencies only, okay?" She'd said, withholding them until the man had sworn he'd only use them in an emergency. He snorted as the twisted the key in the lock. What on earth else had she thought he'd use them for?
"FRIDAY, what's taking so long on that GPS?" Tony whispered, sliding on his special glasses as he climbed the stairs to the apartment.
"Apologies," his AI replied. "Something keeps throwing off the signal. I'm unable to get a definite lock on the phone's location."
Tony's brows drew together in a frown as he reached the door and inserted the key into the lock. "What– like you're being hacked? You've got some of the best firewalls ever designed, FRI. Go nuts."
He slipped the keys back into his pocket as the AI responded. "It's nothing on my end." If Tony didn't know any better, he'd say FRIDAY sounded offended.
He shoved the door open, perhaps a little harder than was necessary and stepped into the apartment. "Kid, you in here?" He called, closing the door behind him with his foot.
"I'll keep trying," FRIDAY said. Tony slipped off the glasses and placed them in his jacket pocket. "Kid?" Tony called again, briefly peering into the kitchen and living room. He changed directions and headed down the hallway, pausing at the partially opened bathroom door.
The lights were off inside so the man quickly ruled it out as housing the MIA teenager.
"Pete?" He called, rapping his knuckles on the boy's bedroom door, one eyebrow flicking up in surprise as the door swung in at the pressure.
Pressing his palm against the wood, he pushed until the crack was big enough for him to step through. "Peter?" He called again, softer this time, as his eyes swept over the room taking in the few items of dirty laundry strewn about, the rumpled bed clothes, the untied shoes flopped on their sides.
But no Peter.
Whipping his glasses back onto his face, he tapped the right side twice, bringing the display to life. "FRIDAY, tell me you've got something on that GPS."
"Negative, Boss. I'm still unable to get a lock."
Tony exhaled sharply through his nose. "What the hell…" He muttered. His eyes fell on Peter's backpack propped up against his desk, half-opened. Tony crossed to the desk and dropped into a crouch next to the bag. He rifled through the bag's contents, shifting notebooks and folders as he searched for familiar red and blue suit that the kid always, for some goddamn reason, took with him to school.
He sat back on his heels with a frustrated sigh. No suit.
No Peter and now no suit.
Could it just be that the kid was out being Spider-Man and had been deliberately ignoring all calls? Pretty shitty thing to do but when crime calls…
"FRIDAY, track the Spider suit," Tony said, not moving from his position on the floor.
"Tracking now."
Tony stuck his thumb between his front teeth as she ran the scan. Why was this taking so long? On a normal day, FRIDAY could pinpoint a GPS in under three seconds. It had now been ten seconds. "FRIDAY, what–"
"I am unable to locate the suit." She almost sounded surprised. Tony pulled his thumb out of his mouth and shot back up to his feet.
"Give me something, FRI," he said because what the hell? Since when had his AI ever been able to be thwarted not once, but twice in one day. He dropped heavily into the desk's computer chair, nerves getting the best of him as he drummed his fingers on the desktop.
"The suit appears to be offline, sir," FRIDAY responded.
"Define 'offline'." Tony's hand curled into a fist, knuckles tapping now instead of fingertips.
"Just that, Boss. There's no input or output coming from the suit right now."
Tony screwed his eyes shut tight as he processed her words, one hand massaging his temple. "So… what, you're saying he's not in it right now?"
"No, Mr. Parker is not using the suit. But the suit is also offline," she repeated.
His eyes sprang open as he lifted the hand off his head in the universal "huh?" gesture. "Okay, so–" He paused to scratch his head. "–he's not in the suit. Got it. You're saying it's offline. Not a problem; I created failsafes for this. You should still be able to access Karen from the last time the suit was up and running."
"Accessing files."
Tony didn't have to wait long.
"Last data log is from Friday at 10:52 pm," FRIDAY recited. Tony ran a hand through his hair.
"Right before curfew. He was probably heading home," he mumbled to himself.
"A partial distress signal from Karen was attempted before all systems went down," the AI continued. "Would you like me to play video footage leading up to the time stamp?"
"Later. Go back to the part about a 'partial distress signal'?" A stone of unease dropped heavily into Tony' stomach.
A string of data rolled across the display of his glasses before FRIDAY responded.
"I am unable to gain specifics about the distress signal, due to it's incompleteness. The only information I tell is that the suit's AI was alerting you, sir."
Tony pulled off the glasses and scrubbed a hand over his face. The kid had been about to call him for help. He sat in silence for a moment, staring blankly at the bubbling wood of the desk before finally sliding the glasses back onto his nose.
"Bring up that footage for me," he said, clearing his throat against the sudden dryness. "Put it up on my phone."
He slipped his phone out of his pocket as FRIDAY loaded the files. The video started with Peter flipping through the pale blue skies of Queens, distracting criminals with his witty banter then taking them out with his skillful acrobatics.
The sky switched from blue to orange and pink as Tony fast forwarded the video, anxious to get to the end. Things didn't get wonky until the sun had finally set on the city. Tony glanced at the time stamp on the video as Peter talked to a little boy about finding his mom.
"What the hell?" He muttered for the second time that day as something happened that he couldn't see. All he heard was a whispered apology that he assumed had come from the child and then Peter was on the ground.
"Did that kid just… drug him?" Tony whispered, a twinge of anger leaking into his voice as another figure walked into the suit's camera. "But that's…" It was the man that Peter had been following earlier that evening. Were the man and the kid some kind of tag team?
"FRIDAY," he said once the video had ended, "tell me you've got a location for where this went down."
"Yes, Boss."
"Good." Tony shoved himself out of the chair, sending it rolling away from the force. "Cause someone's got our kid and it's time to get him the hell back."
––––––––––
Thanks for reading! Next update won't be for a few days…Drop me a review if you've got the time!