Peter was in a darkness, but it quit almost as soon as it had come, at least it felt like it. He moved his head, moaning a little because he felt so stiff. He groped around for anything, maybe Aunt May was still by him. As his hand was searching the bed he was in he felt a hand. It was a bigger hand, most likely a man's hand, not Aunt May's. Peter yanked his hand away thinking the other hand to be Liam's, that was until he heard a different voice.

"Peter…" it sounded just like Mr. Stark, "are you awake."

"…Five more minutes, Mr. Stark…I don't wanna go yet…" Peter mumbled as he moved in his sleep.

"Peter…it's time to wake up," the voice softly spoke.

Peter moved his head a bit as if compensating whether or not he wanted to open his eyes in the first place. Sleep was the only way Peter could temporarily get away from Liam, and he preferred it. As Peter was deciding if he should wake up he felt a hand run through his hair. He let his eyes flutter open as they adjusted to the white room. He was genuinely surprised that he actually saw Mr. Stark sitting next to a hospital bed with him in it.

"W-where am I?" Peter frantically asked as he looked around.

"You're in the hospital," Tony frowned, "You and your aunt had a massive head injury when you both got here…she didn't make it… I sent Happy to check it out when I saw it on the news the next morning. He called me to say May died and you were close to…I came here and I haven't left this building since…"

"So was I out for a night?" Peter asked, "that's not that bad."

"You were out for two weeks…" Tony blurted, barely cutting off Peters sentence, "you were beaten, your skull was crushed…you were lucky you survived such terrible injuries."

"I had to see if you were alright," Tony said only half of it.

"H-he hurt me so many times…" Peter started to tear up, "but I let it happen without speaking up because I was protecting Aunt May…I-I didn't think he'd kill us…"

"Who, who did this?" Tony asked frantically hoping for an answer.

That's when Peter started sobbing so hard that he couldn't speak, only choke. Tony did what he thought he needed more in his own childhood, he pulled the crying boy to him and wrapped his arms around him in a warm embrace. Peter violently sobbed into Tony's chest as Tony was rubbing soothing circles on the boy's back. Peter seemed so fragile in his arms, thin enough to feel his bones and light enough to blow away in the wind. As he sobbed, Tony could feel his heart breaking inside his chest, and he wasn't quite sure why.

"Boy," Liam walked in with a concerned look on his face, obviously fake, "you're alright."

"You must be Peter's new uncle," Tony said suspiciously as he felt Peter cling tighter onto him, "Peter's not really in the mood to talk right now."

"Then what are you doing here?" Liam questioned Tony.

"Because I sat here for him the two weeks he was out," Tony growled lowly, "and where were you?"

"I have places to be," Liam passed it off as if it were nothing.

"Rather then being here for Peter?" Tony growled as he pulled Peter tighter to him.

Liam was obviously getting short circuited with Tony protecting Peter and interrogating him. He left the room, angered with the billionaire who had the boy in his arms. Tony didn't want to let go as he feared the uncle may be the reason, but he wasn't quite sure to begin pointing fingers at the man. He actually needed evidence, and he couldn't get anything out of the crying boy, so he had to uncover it himself. As soon as the boy stopped crying at least. His heart was burning as if telling him not to leave the boy in such distress, and he refused to even try.

Tony sat there for at least two hours with Peter, even after the sobbing had went to a small whimper ever so often. He rocked the young boy as he calmed down, but not enough to talk about the whole situation, or anything at all except some pop culture references he liked. At least talking about the little things like that comforted him a little more then Tony's soft voice in the moment. When he noticed that Peter fell asleep, he put him comfortably in the bed and turned out the lights. He didn't like leaving the kid, but he knew he had to do something about this kind of problem.

He walked outside to the car that looked normal for when he did stuff like this rather than a sports car, because he didn't know what kind of person would bring a sports car to the hospital. He jumped inside and quickly grabbed an old suitcase with the suit he had when he had to fight Whiplash. His nanotechnology was not complete yet, and he just had this one updated and fixed after the battle with Whiplash. He locked up his car as he flew off to investigate the happenings of that night two weeks ago.

When he arrived at the scene where Peter and May were left he found Liam in the backyard on a phone. Tony quickly got the signal of the phone as he told FRIDAY to intercept the call and send it straight to his helmet. He also told her to put it as a saved recording in case Liam said something that may help his search.

"Look, I tried, but that kid is tough," Liam said as soon as Tony patched into the call, "be lucky I managed to kill the aunt."

"I expected a professional when I hired you, not a fool who couldn't kill a teenage boy," the man on the other line spoke in a growly voice, "I expect his head on my desk in a week or I'll have yours."

"That kid is protected by Tony Stark in his hospital room which he's stuck in after the deadly injuries I gave him," Liam sighed, "there's no way I can get to him now."

"I don't care if he's protected by the FBI," the man shouted, "I want him dead by the end of the week."

"I think by then I won't have to even try," Liam chuckled, "someone else closer can take care of that themselves."

"How do you know they'll do it?" The man questioned.

"Oh trust me," Liam chuckled, "he will."

Tony knew he had enough recorded evidence in his helmet to track the man and to put Liam behind bars, hopefully for his lifetime. Tony flew towards him at a fast speed and hit him in the jaw, knocking Liam out. He landed by the unconscious man and the slightly cracked phone on the ground. He looked at the number, but it said it was an unknown number.

"Damn-it," Tony sighed.

An unknown number could mean anything, and could be virtually impossible to track down. He heard sirens coming down the street and he noticed FRIDAY automatically called the cops when she heard of the trouble. The police officers jumped in with their guns in the air. They lowered them once they saw the Iron Man already took care of the man.

"How much did you send to the police?" Tony asked FRIDAY.

"I sent them the whole message," FRIDAY replied in her robotic tone, "it would be used as evidence in the case."

"Good," Tony sighs, "now, I have a kid to see."

He let his repulsers blaze as he took off. He wasn't much for making conversation with the Police, which he barely did anyways, but he felt it was his full responsibility to keep an eye on the kid. They mentioned some other hit man, and he wouldn't let the man even close to Peter without being killed himself. He felt a love deep inside of him, a love he never felt before in his life time. He knew he had to protect the kid, and he felt deep down, it must have been a type if a fatherly love. It was true, he loved Peter as if he was his own son. That's why his heart broke when he heard of the brutal murder attempt on the kid, that's why he sat there for two whole weeks, praying and begging that the kid would be alright. It had to be true.

Tony quickly returned to the hospital and packed up his suit. He personally couldn't wait for his nanotechnology to be ready. Then he wouldn't have to carry around a suit case everywhere or call for a suit to come to him and take away some precious time that could mean life or death. He locked up everything and walked into the building silently. He knew exactly where Peter's room was, so he didn't need anyone to point out where to go in the twisted hallways. After two weeks in the same building a person would learn every twists and turns a building would have, especially if it was as important as Peter. He stepped in the room to find the boy playing with something.

"Hey, kid,' Tony said with a smile as he walked in, "how are you feeling?"

"I don't feel so good…" Peter admitted as he put the thing he was playing with under his blanket so he could look at Mr. Stark.

"I could imagine," Tony frowned as he sat down, "but I'll be here for when you need me, kid."

"Really?" Peter looked at him with his big, yet childish, eyes, "you'd do that for me, Mr. Stark?"

"Of course I will," Tony smiled as he placed a hand on the kid's arm, "I will also make sure you have a place to stay. What do you think of Avengers Complex?"

"R-really?" Peter's eyes widened, but returned to normal, "but what about school?"

"Happy or I'll drive you to your school," Tony assured, "I won't make you switch."

"Thank you, Mr. Stark," Peter smiled.

"Now, I'll get you some food," Tony said, "you have to have jello or pudding, your choice."

"What?" Peter looked at him and saw the grin on Mr. Stark's face, "oh we're kidding, weren't you?"

"Yes," Tony chuckled, "what do you want?"

"Could I just have a grilled chicken breast?" Peter asked, "and a cup of cherry jello?"

"Sure, kid," Tony chuckled then left to get the food.

While Tony was in the cafeteria getting the food he worried a bit about Peter. He kept thinking about the guy who they said something about the death within a week, but who could it be? He continued to collect the food Peter wanted and a cheeseburger for himself. He learned about his love of cheeseburgers when he was a kid and re-learned it after returning from the 10 Rings. He had everything paid for and began to walk back with a handful of food and a bottle of water as he remembered the kid hasn't properly had water in awhile. He walked to the door and heard scrambling inside when he walked to the door.

"Peter?" Tony pushed the door open a crack, "are you alright, kid?"

"Uh, yes, I am Mr. Stark," Peter said as he scrambled around a bit.

"Kid, I'm coming in," Tony said as he pushed open the door and walked inside.

It looked as if Peter had just settled in his bed after doing something, and the kid looked pretty suspicious too. Tony approached the kid and passed him his food. He looked at the kid up and down. He noticed a small, red stain by his arm. Tony quickly reacted, faster them Peter and grabbed his arm, lifting it in the air.

"Peter?…" Tony looked at the boy with concern.

There were cuts up his arms, and the boy cried a bit and pounced at Tony in a hug as the crying started again. Tony held tightly on the kid, rocking him in his arms. While rubbing calming circles on his back. He looked up and saw the bloodied knife thrown in a corner as if he wanted to get rid of it.

The killer wasn't some random guy, Tony thought, it was himself…