Thank you all very much for the kind words last week! My family was lucky in that Hurricane Florence hit a bit south of us, bringing us only some heavy winds and rain. I'm hoping that none of you guys were affected by her!

"Project Insight?" Tony asked. "What the hell is that?"

"I am unaware as to the nature of this particular SHIELD project, sir," answered JARVIS. "It is not listed on any of their usual databases."

"Try Nick Fury again, JARVIS."

"Director Fury is still unavailable, sir. There is no mention of when he might return."

"Goddamnit!" cried Tony, slamming his fist on the counter. "What the hell is going on here?" He pinched the bridge of his nose, the beginnings of one of his old fatigue headaches building behind his eyes.

"Who's in charge of this Project Insight, JARVIS?" Tony asked as he scanned the blueprint. Based on his eidetic memory of the helicarrier from the Battle of New York, this newer carrier had undergone several changes to its design, including the addition of what appeared to be hundreds of cannon-like guns lining the sides and underside of the carrier. This was definitely a design meant to display great power and strength.

"It appears that only SHIELD agents with security classification levels of nine and ten have access to Project Insight, sir," answered JARVIS.

Tony huffed out a sharp breath, feeling as if the air was being forcibly ripped from his lungs. His SHIELD classification was only a level seven, and from what Steve had told him, his was likely even lower. "So that would leave Fury and this Alexander Pierce guy, right?"

"That is correct, sir."

"Oh, God," Tony gasped, grabbing onto the edge of the counter as his knees threatened to give way beneath him. All of it seemed like too much of a coincidence to only be a coincidence. Alexander Pierce, Nick Fury, Richard Parker, this Project Insight helicarrier-battleship thing that was suddenly above his clearance level.

None of it should make any sense.

And that's what was scaring Tony the most. Nick Fury had told Tony he'd been keeping tabs on Peter ever since Richard Parker was killed, and had even orchestrated it so that Peter was remanded into Tony's care after the Expo tragedy that took his aunt and uncle. That at least would suggest that Fury assumed Tony could protect the boy from any potential threats.

Well, Tony thought. He's at least got that right.

But what if one of those threats now happened to be Nick Fury himself? There was no way Tony could believe that Fury wasn't aware of these newly-classified flying gunships. But what were they going to be used for?

Or, more likely, who were they going to be used against?

"Dad?" Peter's small voice suddenly said from behind him. Tony whirled around at the unexpected sound, his hand grazing across the handle of his coffee cup. It fell to the floor with a loud crash, shattering into a million pieces and causing them both to cry out.

"Daddy!" Peter yelped as he leaped into Tony's arms. "Are you okay?"

Instead of answering Tony dropped to the floor, clutching Peter to his chest, trying to ignore the broken shards of the cup digging into his knees as he curled his fingers into Peter's hair, breathing in its calming scent.

"I'm better now," Tony whispered after a few deep breaths. "I'm sorry if I scared you, buddy."

"You sounded really worried, Dad," Peter murmured, his voice muffled against Tony's shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Tony let out a shaky breath. It was on the tip of his tongue to just say "nothing" and try to brush it off, as he often did when he was upset about something. But Peter was too smart and knew him too well. He'd know instantly that Tony was lying, and his persistent pleading for the truth would only make things worse.

"I… um…" Tony stammered. What could he tell possibly Peter that wouldn't scare the hell out of him?

"Is it about Steve?" Peter asked. "JARVIS told me he has to leave early tomorrow."

"And what were you doing talking to JARVIS when you're supposed to be sleeping?" Tony demanded, a little harsher than he intended when he felt Peter's skinny body freeze against him. He quickly ran his palm down Peter's back. "Nevermind, buddy. Did you have a bad dream? Is that why you're awake?"

"Uh huh. JARVIS tried turning up the rain sounds, but it didn't work."

"Well, can't fault him for trying," Tony mumbled. Getting slowly to his feet, he tugged Peter over towards the couch, careful to avoid stepping on the broken cup. Peter curled up on Tony's lap, his head resting over Tony's heart.

"Your heart's beating really fast, Daddy," murmured Peter. "Did you have another anxiety attack?"

Hot tears of shame stung Tony's eyes. An eleven-year-old kid shouldn't have to ask his father a question like that. "Yeah, I think so, bud. But I'm better now."

"I wanna help you. Can I?"

"You already are, Pete," Tony said. "Try not to worry about me. I'll be fine."

"But, can't you tell me what's wrong?" asked Peter. "I don't like it when you're scared, 'cause then I get scared. And being scared is scary, Daddy!"

"There's nothing you need to be scared about, Peter," Tony said firmly. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."

"I know you won't!" Peter cried. "But what about you?"

"I'm not gonna let anything happen to me either," Tony assured him. "No one messes with Iron Man, remember?"

"Well, yeah, but—"

"I'm just tired, Pete," Tony said. "You know I get extra jittery when I'm tired."

"Okay, so then why don't you go to sleep?"

"That's a good idea. Let's get you back to sleep."

Peter's nose wrinkled but he didn't protest as Tony guided him back to his room, which only proved to Tony how tired he really was. But as he lay there with Peter on Peter's bed, the boy's arms clutching his polar bear and his head resting on Tony's chest, Tony shook his head as his hands clenched into fists. Peter was too smart and way too perceptive for Tony to keep a secret like this for very long. He needed to get to the bottom of whatever this Project Insight thing was as soon as possible.

For both of their sakes.

"Hey, Peter, how're you doing?" Steve said from the tablet in Peter's hand. He was sitting on the floor of Dad's lab, working some more on his glue recipe. Even though it won first place at the science contest last spring, he thought he could get it even stronger.

"I'm okay," Peter replied, smiling as he heard a loud roar of appreciation coming from the living room. Thor was babysitting Peter that afternoon while Dad and Bruce were working down in Bruce's lab and Pepper was on yet another business trip. Peter had introduced Thor to hockey after Thor had taken him ice skating over Christmas break, and Thor had immediately taken a liking to the sport.

"He is a formidable warrior, young Peter!" Thor shouted across the vast apartment. "That is yet another successful battle for the home team!"

"What's going on up there?" asked Steve with a slight grin.

"Thor's watching the Islanders on TV," Peter explained. "And he thinks it's a good thing when the players get into fights and wind up in the penalty box. I've given up trying to explain the rules to him."

"Well, one reason why I always preferred baseball," Steve said, chuckling. "There's a lot less fighting in baseball."

"Yeah, I guess," Peter said. But it's not as much fun to watch either.

"Are you enjoying your Spring break from school?" Steve asked. "How're your new contact lenses working out?"

Peter sighed, trying not to show his disappointment. "The contacts are fine, as long as I don't try and stick them both in the same eye. And yeah, I guess. But I still wish we could've gone to the Compound this week. I miss it. We haven't been there at all since you've been gone."

Steve's face fell, and Peter immediately felt guilty. "Oh, I shouldn't've said that, Steve—"

"It's all right, Peter," Steve said. "It's okay to be upset. I didn't think I'd be down here this long either."

Picking up his stirring rod, Peter gave his lead beaker a quick stir before adding some clear liquid from one of his test tubes. "Yeah, well, Dad's hardly stopped working since you left anyway, so I don't even think it would've mattered. He's down with Bruce right now, even."

"And there's yet another penalty!" Thor shouted triumphantly from the living room. "I love this game!"

"Well, I promise we'll both make it up to you when I'm able to get back," Steve said, trying to smile. "Okay?"

"I know," Peter grumbled. "Do you know when you'll get to come back yet?"

Steve shook his head. "Not yet. But I'm hoping it'll be soon. You said your dad was down working with Bruce?"

"Yeah, they're down in his lab."

"All right. Well, I need to get going now, Peter. You and Thor have fun watching hockey."

"No, Thor's watching hockey. I'm making more glue," Peter said. "Thor gets kinda loud when he watches television. We tried watching a movie earlier, but we kept having to pause it because he kept asking me a bunch of questions, so then we just stopped."

"Well, say hi to him for me, okay?" asked Steve. "I'll talk to you again soon."

"I will," Peter answered.

Setting down the tablet, Peter stirred the liquid in his beaker and leaned back on his hands. He had fifteen minutes to wait before the next step in the reaction, and he knew he could leave it if he wanted since DUM-E knew how to complete all the steps too, but he didn't know what else he could do. He'd already taken apart and put back together all of his Lego sets at least twice, and he couldn't talk to Ned until the evening because he was visiting his grandparents in Hawaii for the week, and it was still the early morning there.

"Will you keep an eye on things for me, DUM-E?" Peter asked as he removed his protective goggles and pushed himself up to his feet. The bot—who'd been hovering over him the entire time he'd been working, fire extinguisher at the ready—gave an affirmative beep.

"Ah, young Peter!" Thor exclaimed when Peter entered the living room, making him jump. In addition to Thor's boisterous voice, Peter still wasn't used to seeing him in regular Earth clothes. "Come and sit and watch this revelry with me!"

"Actually, I was hoping I could go down and see my dad for a bit," Peter said sheepishly. "Is that okay?"

To his surprise, Thor immediately looked stern. "I am afraid not, young Peter. Stark tasked me specifically to observe you closely, and that is what I intend—"

"Bruce's lab is only five floors away, Mr. Thor," Peter protested. "You can even come with me if you want."

"I must refuse your request, Peter," Thor said, shaking his head. "You are to stay up here with me until Stark returns."

"But, why?"

"Because Stark and Banner do not wish to be disturbed," said Thor firmly. "And I daresay that includes you as well. Now, if you do not wish to enjoy the hockey, then I hereby challenge you to a rematch of our chess competition."

Peter did not feel like playing chess at all, but as he was still more than a little intimidated by the tall and broad god of thunder, he nodded anyway. "Fine. I'll go and get the board set up."

"That's a good lad," Thor replied, whooping with glee as yet another fight broke out on the television.

Dragging his feet, Peter shuffled off to his room, unearthing the chess set from its spot under his bed. It wasn't that Peter didn't enjoy spending time with Thor. Thor had a ton of amazing stories about the various battles he'd fought across the Nine Realms, and even more stories about growing up with Loki and all the trouble they used to get into. Peter and Ned would often rehash the best of the stories during their lunch periods at school, and even Flash Thompson, who wasn't impressed by anything Peter ever said or did otherwise, would listen in on them from time to time.

No, it wasn't Thor's fault that Peter was so impatient right now. The problem was that Peter hadn't seen his dad this anxious since Steve Rogers had been found in the ice three years ago, right before Loki showed up, and Peter didn't like it at all. And then, ever since Thor arrived with the news about the Convergence and the Aether, Dad had been staying up super late most nights working in his lab, drinking way too much coffee, and nearly jumping out of his skin every time Peter tried to get his attention. He was just as bad as he was before the whole thing with the Mandarin, and Dad had promised Peter after that big mess that he'd never be like that again.

But the absolute worst part was that Peter hated feeling like there was nothing he could do to help. He desperately wanted to help, because he knew most of his father's anxiety stemmed from wanting to keep Peter safe. But Dad always said that it was his job to worry about Peter, not the other way around, which Peter basically took to mean that he was too small and too young to do anything useful.

As if he didn't hear that enough from all the mean boys at school.

"I am ready, young Peter!" Thor called from the living room.

"Yeah, I'm coming," Peter answered. He carried the board out, setting it down on the coffee table. "JARVIS, can you turn off the television please?"

"Of course, Master Peter," answered JARVIS.

"Am I to be the white warriors again, Starkson?" asked Thor as Peter started setting up the pieces.

"Yeah," answered Peter. Just like with Steve, if Peter wasn't playing with his dad, it felt wrong for anyone else to be using Dad's pieces. Peter only played the white side when he was with Dad. Otherwise, he played the black.

"Very well. Then I wish you good luck, young warrior. For I do believe that my skill has grown such that I might vanquish you from the board during this battle."

Thor had yet to actually win a chess match against Peter, but that didn't stop him from trash talking throughout the entire thing. If that's what they called it on Asgard.

"Did my dad say what time he'd be back?" Peter asked, stifling a giggle at the look of pure audacity that crossed Thor's face as he captured one of Thor's bishops.

"Stark's instructions stated that he would return in time for the evening meal," Thor replied, intently studying the board.

Peter let out a sigh as he glanced at the clock. It was only 2pm, and they usually ate dinner around six or so.

Four more hours.

"I don't have a lot of time, guys," Steve said, glancing furtively over his shoulder. The old man was wearing a pair of sunglasses and a baseball cap that made Tony smirk when he first saw him. If Steve was trying to hide the fact that he was Captain America, that wasn't quite the right way to do it.

"Where even are you?" Tony asked. "You're not at your apartment?"

"Natasha showed me how to do a… what do you call it? A video chat? Anyway, I'm in one of the public libraries off the Mall in D.C."

"A public library?" exclaimed Bruce. "Steve, you can't get much less secure than that! Maybe you should go back to the Triskelion before you say anything else."

"No, no, Natasha gave me a device that's supposed to secure the computer line for up to fifteen minutes," Steve said. "I only used a few minutes with Peter, so we should be okay if we're quick."

"Wait a minute. You were talking to Peter?" demanded Tony. "Rogers, he doesn't know anything about any of this! What the hell did you tell him?"

"I didn't tell him anything, Tony, so don't worry!" Steve retorted. "And I was looking for you!"

"Well, now you found me!" Tony snapped. "So start talking."

Steve pursed his lips. "It's worse than we originally thought. After I confronted Director Fury about what Natasha was doing on the Lemurian Star, he brought me down to the Insight hangar bay. I saw all three of them up close."

"Okay, so there's three," Bruce said, jotting it down on a tablet. "Tony and I weren't sure how many they'd managed to build yet."

"Yeah, but we delivered enough engines for twice that many," Tony reminded him. "So this could just be the start."

"Fury told me that this project came about after the Battle of New York," Steve continued. "After they're launched, the three helicarriers are going to be connected to a series of spy satellites and used to take out any future possible threats. His exact words were 'our satellites can read a terrorists' DNA before he steps outside his spider hole.' And he said the guns can eliminate a thousand hostiles per minute."

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Bruce. "A thousand people per minute?"

Tony tapped his chin. "Okay… so a preemptive response to possible terrorist attacks. I can see how that could be useful to SHIELD, as long as they're damn careful with their targeting."

"I think that's what it's supposed to seem like," said Steve. "But Tony, I really think it has to be more than that. I mean, what if they're not careful with their targeting? Innocent civilians could be killed!"

"Is that what your gut is telling you?" asked Tony.

"Yes, it is," Steve answered. "Fury said that once the carriers are launched, they'd never have to land. Now I don't know all that much about global defense programs, but that seems excessive to me. Three heavily armed airborne battleships constantly scanning for targets? That's too aggressive for a supposedly peacekeeping organization, and the risk of a targeting mistake seems pretty high with that kind of an elimination rate."

"Not that excessive," Tony muttered, thinking of his Ultron program still in development. "But definitely more aggressive than we've seen from SHIELD in the past."

"We're coming up on too much time here, folks," Bruce said nervously. "We should cut this off in the next minute or two."

"Right. So what're you gonna do now, old man?" asked Tony.

"I don't know, Tony," replied Steve, obviously frustrated. "I'm not a spy, I don't have any experience with this kind of stuff. That's always been Natasha's job."

"Okay, so what about Natasha?" asked Bruce. "Can we trust her?"

"I'd like to think so. But I don't know for sure. She had a completely different objective on the Lemurian Star than I did, and it almost compromised the whole thing."

"What exactly was her objective?" asked Tony.

"She said she was 'retrieving SHIELD property'," answered Steve. "Whatever that means."

Tony grimaced. "Well, that sounds ominous. So we assume she's just a lackey for Fury at this point?"

"We really need to be wrapping this up, guys," Bruce cut in. "It's already been way too long for my comfort level."

"Yeah, the big guy's got a point," said Tony. "Look, just keep your eyes peeled, old man. Check in when you can. Bruce and I will see what we can do here."

"Copy that. Good luck," said Steve, and the screen went blank.

Bruce turned to Tony as soon as Steve was gone. "Tony, we really need to be careful here. All our stuff—"

"I already moved everything to a dedicated private server," Tony said. "Anything we've designed for SHIELD and all inquiries I've made were moved as soon as Rogers left on this mission of his. So we should be good."

"Okay, but good for how long?" asked Bruce. "What happens if we discover that Fury's gone rogue and taken our technology with him?"

"That's the least of our worries, big guy," Tony said grimly, tapping commands into his monitor. He pulled up the Project Insight helicarrier blueprints, pointing out the massive cannons lining each one. "Because if these things end up getting launched, all these guns are going to be pointed at a helluva lot of someones. And personally, I'd like to know who's gonna have their fingers on the triggers."

"Tony," a soft voice said, breaking through his semi-consciousness as a light hand gently shook his shoulder. "Tony, wake up!"

Tony blinked open his eyes, wincing as he rubbed at the sharp crick in his neck. He was sitting up on Peter's bed with Peter sprawled out across his entire front, the boy's hands fisted tightly in Tony's shirt. He'd had another nightmare earlier in the night, and while Tony had been able to finally get him back to sleep, he'd woken up again as soon as Tony tried to sneak away.

"Yeah?" Tony said, his throat dry and his voice raspy.

"JARVIS woke me," whispered Pepper. "He said he had some important information for you."

"Now?" asked Tony, squinting at the clock on Peter's bedside table. "It's almost three in the morning!"

"I'm just the messenger, Tony," Pepper said. "Something about the Project Insight?"

"Oh shit," Tony muttered. Of course there'd be new news in the middle of the fucking night. It had been three days of complete radio silence from Cap, and the only thing Tony and Bruce had been able to uncover in the meantime had been the apparently useless fact that Richard Parker had been working with a Doctor List at SHIELD right before he was killed.

"Go, Tony," Pepper said. "I'll sit with Peter."

"Are ya sure? I thought you had a 6am this morning."

Pepper shrugged, a slight smile on her face. "Then I'll just have to be tired. It's not like that's anything new."

"I don't deserve you," whispered Tony, relief washing over him like a wave. If JARVIS thought this new information was worth disregarding Tony's Do Not Disturb command, then maybe this was the breakthrough they'd been waiting for.

It took over five minutes for Tony to wiggle out from underneath Peter's ironclad grasp, but once he was done and standing next to the bed, his heart nearly melted at the sight in front of him. Peter's curly head was resting comfortably under Pepper's chin, his hands clinging to the short sleeves of her nightshirt. If Tony had possessed any talent with a camera at all, he would've paused to take a picture.

Maybe I should buy Pete a nice camera for his next birthday, he thought. Kid was always taking pictures with his phone, and everyone was always complimenting him on them. Maybe he could teach Tony how to take a halfway decent picture.

"Go, Tony," Pepper repeated as Tony leaned down to kiss both their foreheads. "We're good here."

"Talk to me, JARVIS," Tony said as he entered his lab, scrubbing a palm over his scratchy face. When was the last time that he'd shaved?

"I do apologize for the interruption, sir," JARVIS said. "But I was conducting my hourly scan of Master Peter's email communications and I came across a rather curious message, sent from a Mrs. Rushman. I have already completed the decryption program."

"Mrs. Rushman?" muttered Tony. "But Pete doesn't have a teacher named Mrs. Rush—, oh! Let's see it!"

"Right away, sir," answered JARVIS. A second later the short message appeared across Tony's monitor.

At safe house with Nick, Maria, Steve, and Sam. Nick was attacked and presumed killed, likely under orders from Secretary Pierce. SHIELD compromised by HYDRA moles. Project Insight reactivated with HYDRA targeting algorithm, take immediate precautions. Will contact again if able.

Tony's eyes widened in shock as he reread the message. HYDRA?! Holy shit! I thought HYDRA died with World War II!

As the son of Howard Stark, Tony was well-versed in all the doings of HYDRA from during the war, and how Steve Rogers had crushed the Nazi organization practically single-handedly. It was one of the things that Howard had never seemed to shut up about. Especially when he was drunk, which Tony remembered him as being most of the time he was home.

Tony read the message one more time prior to running it through his eight deletion programs. "JARVIS, pull up all information on Project Insight and give me a virtual blueprint of the new carrier."

"As you wish."

A couple seconds later the lab was filled with the glowing blue light of the Insight helicarrier, the massive guns lining the underside outlined in orange. Stepping underneath the holographic projection, Tony examined the targeting systems with a critical eye, noting that they could be triggered by multiple satellites in the event that one of the satellites was damaged.

"JARVIS, any chance you can tell me more about this HYDRA targeting algorithm?" Tony muttered. He zoomed in further on the gun design, breathing out a small sigh of relief when he realized that at least they weren't compatible with any of the former Stark Industries shells. With the recent appearance in Sokovia of more rogue SI missiles and other weapons, Tony wasn't sure if he could handle having even more of his old weapons being used to potentially threaten innocents.

"I have a limited amount of data that I was able to decipher from SHIELD servers before they were taken offline, sir," answered JARVIS. "But I don't believe it offers any new information."

"Give it to me anyway. Can't hurt anything."

"Apparently the information retrieved by Agent Romanoff from the Lemurian Star contained the targeting algorithm. Agent Romanoff was able to trace the origin of the program to an abandoned Army barracks in New Jersey, but she and Captain Rogers were attacked as they attempted to decipher the algorithm."

"Attacked by whom, JARVIS?" asked Tony.

"It appears that they were attacked by SHIELD, sir. But as their remains were not recovered in the subsequent wreckage, I would assume they have escaped."

"Right," muttered Tony. "Escaped along with Fury and Maria Hill, and whoever this Sam person is. JARVIS, get Banner on the line."

A moment later Bruce's face filled the viewscreen, looking so thoroughly sleepy and disgruntled that Tony had to stifle a chuckle. "What's going on, Tony?"

"I need you up here, Banner," Tony said. "We've got some hacking to do."

"Now?" asked Bruce, running a hand through his disheveled hair. Bruce was the only member of their little Tower household of heroes who never purposely tried to compromise on his sleep. His excuse was that getting his proper rest helped ensure he wouldn't unwillingly Hulk out, but Tony also suspected it had something to do with Bruce just wanting his damn beauty sleep every night.

"Yeah, sorry. We got something to find, and I need your help."

"All right, fine," Bruce grumbled. "But why does this stuff always have to happen in the middle of the night?"

"I wish I knew, big guy," answered Tony. "I wish I knew."

"Yeah, yeah. Give me five minutes."

As soon as the screen went blank, Tony pulled up the SHIELD server that had contained the algorithm before it was pulled and began inputting commands, hoping to reconstruct it on his own private server so he and Banner could look it over at their leisure. But to his surprise, the program began rewriting itself almost as soon as the first command was entered, and Tony was barely able to keep pace with it as Bruce entered the lab.

"Get over here quick, big guy," Tony said, not taking his eyes off the monitor. "I can't stay ahead of this on my own."

Pulling up another keyboard, Bruce leaned in, squinting through his glasses at the code Tony was hastily writing in order to stay ahead of the program's built-in self-destruct. "What the hell is this, Tony? I mean, who designed this?"

"I have no goddamn clue, Bruce," Tony snapped. "But whoever it is—or was—is really fucking smart. The only other time I've seen code this complex is when I've written it. Now, get in here and back me up."

The program was relentless. Just as soon as Tony would think they'd finally gotten ahead of it, it would veer off in a new direction, rewriting everything they'd written from the middle outward, rendering their entire code string useless. By the time they were finally able to break in and start a decryption program the sun was already shining brightly between the surrounding skyscrapers, and Tony was sweating and shaking so hard he could barely keep typing.

"I apologize for the interruption, sir," JARVIS said as Tony sank onto a chair. "But Master Peter is asking to see you before he departs for school."

Tony huffed out a sharp breath, rubbing the back of his neck with a sweaty palm as tears of pain and exhaustion pricked his eyes. As much as he wanted to tell Peter that everything was okay, there was absolutely no way he could leave the room at the moment, and he absolutely couldn't allow Peter to see any of this. It would scare the hell out of him.

"Tell him 'no', JARVIS," Tony said sadly, not taking his eyes off the monitor. "Tell him I'm okay and I'll see him after school, but he can't come in here right now. Bruce and I are working on something."

"But, why?" came Peter's loud, angry protest from the direction of the living room a few seconds later, nearly cracking Tony's heart in two. He could hear Pepper's soft voice in the background, trying to soothe him. She must have rescheduled her early morning meeting. "Daddy, please? Just for a second?''

"I'm sorry, buddy," Tony called, sniffing. "It's okay though, Pete. I'll see you later."

"But I don't believe you!" Peter cried. "You'll just be working and I'll have to sit with Bruce again! Or Thor! Or Happy! You're always working, when will you just stop?"

Please, buddy! Tony screamed internally. Don't do this right now!

"I can't stop right now, Pete," Tony said firmly, rubbing his eyes. "But I promise I will soon. I promise, buddy."

"Tony, look," Bruce said as he poked Tony's arm with his elbow. "The program's done decrypting."

Tony vaguely heard the apartment's elevator doors closing as he leaned closer to the monitor in front of him, blinking as a list of hundreds upon hundreds of names started crawling down the screen.

"JARVIS, what are we looking at?" Tony asked.

"It would appear that these are the names of the Project Insight targets, sir," JARVIS replied. "There are over seven hundred thousand listed in total that I have counted so far."

"Holy shit!" Tony exclaimed. "Are you sure, J?"

"There can't be that many terrorists in the world, Tony," warned Bruce. "Something's not right here."

But Tony was already ahead of him. "JARVIS, cross reference this list with known names and display."

The crawl on the monitor stopped as JARVIS completed the search, then blinked to life again, displaying a still-alarmingly long list of names. Tony quickly scanned down the list, his heart skipping a beat at what he saw.

Maria Hill
Nick Fury
Steve Rogers
Ki Wu - what the hell for?
Stephen Strange - isn't he some big hotshot brain surgeon? That doesn't make any sense!

"Bruce," Tony murmured a second later. "Big guy, you're on this list."

"So are you, Tony," replied Bruce, just as grimly. "I think it's safe to say that this algorithm is all HYDRA's doing."

"It's been HYDRA's doing all along," said Tony. "Looks like HYDRA's been buried deep inside SHIELD since its inception. This has to be the ghost organization that Fury was talking about."

And Howard and Peggy Carter and everyone else fucking missed it. Figures.

"Oh God, Tony. Look!" Bruce gasped, pointing at the monitor with a shaking finger. Tony's gaze followed the path, which led directly to the name that read Peter Parker Stark. He immediately choked, gasping for breath as his shocked, disbelieving eyes swept across Peter's name over and over and over again. All the breath left his lungs in one fell swoop, as if the Hulk himself had punched him square in the chest.

Because while Tony could fathom that there could be perhaps more than one Peter Parker living on this Earth, he would bet his entire fortune on the fact that there was only one Peter Parker Stark.

It was one of Tony's worst nightmares coming to life. HYDRA was targeting his son—his Peter—with their satellite-linked battleship carriers of death that he fucking helped to design. His son, the one thing he couldn't live without, who he'd sworn to always protect, was on the hit list for a terrorist organization.

No, no, no! Please! Not Peter!

"Why—?" choked Tony, drawing in a shaky breath. "Why him? Why's my son on here, Bruce? What did Pete ever do these HYDRA goons? He doesn't pose a threat to anyone, goddammit! He's just a kid!"

"The only thing I can think of is that it has something to do with his birth father, Tony," Bruce said gently. "You said Fury told you that Richard Parker was a casualty of one of these ghosts, right? Well, if the ghosts are HYDRA, then maybe HYDRA thinks they need to take out Peter too, in order to help achieve their twisted objectives. It doesn't make any sense otherwise."

"But that can only mean that Parker did something to him!" Tony cried. "That fucker must've been experimenting on Peter! What the hell did he do to him?"

"It doesn't have to mean that, Tony," Bruce objected. "Not necessarily. Maybe it could only mean that Peter has the potential to carry on Parker's work at some point, and HYDRA's trying to prevent that."

But Tony barely heard him as he doubled over, his fist pressed tightly against his chest that felt like it was threatening to split open. And he'd just sent Peter off to school without seeing him, without giving him a hug, without even saying goodbye!

"Tony, you gotta pull yourself together here," said Bruce, grabbing Tony's shoulders. "We still have to figure out what to do about this! These carriers are launching in only a few hours!"

It took nearly every ounce of Tony's strength to push himself back upright, his breaths still coming in panting gasps as he wracked his exhausted brain on what to do next.

"JARVIS," Tony croaked. "Intercept Pepper and Pete. Have Pepper take him directly to the Compound. Contact Principal Morita and tell him that Pete's sick or something."

"Right away, sir."

"Tony, that's not going to help anything if we don't figure out how to stop this," warned Bruce. "If these targeting satellites are as accurate as Steve said, they'll be able to track Peter up to the Compound just as easily as they could here."

"That's why you're gonna head up to the Compound too," Tony muttered. "JARVIS, contact Rhodey and Thor. Have them meet Pepper and Pete at the Compound. Oh, and have Rhodey swing by here to grab Bruce first."

"Very good, sir," replied JARVIS.

"Tony, having me at the Compound won't help anything! I'll still be a target!" Bruce exclaimed. "I can't put people in danger like that!"

Tony turned on him, his nostrils flaring in anger. "The Hulk can survive a bullet, yes? Even really big goddamn bullets fired from orbiting battleships?"

"Well, yeah," answered Bruce, looking even more alarmed. "But Tony, I won't Hulk out around Peter, or any of the others! It's too dangerous!"

"Which is why you're gonna be hacking into the targeting satellite programs while you're up there," said Tony, tapping new commands into his monitor. "And you won't be able to just take out one, because the satellites can compensate for missing components. You'll have to take them all out."

"And what if I can't?" Bruce demanded. "Tony, the two of us combined could barely break into the coding for the algorithm. How am I supposed to break into the targeting coding by myself?"

"I have full confidence in you, big guy," Tony stated. "Besides, I doubt it'll be as complicated. The satellites don't know that we know who the targets are."

"Okay, but still," said Bruce. "What. If. I. Can't?"

"Then when those guns start firing, you Hulk out and shield my son," Tony said grimly. Placing his hand on Bruce's shoulder, he looked him straight in the eye. "The Hulk saved my life once. I know he can save Peter's life too. I know he can. You just keep Pete as close to you as possible while you're working, and use the other guy only as a last resort. We'll be in constant communication, so you'll know when it's time. Bruce, I'm begging you. Please, I need you to do this for me."

Bruce shook his head, glaring at Tony for what seemed like an eternity. "All right, Tony," he finally said. "I'll do it. But what're you gonna do?"

Tony's jaw clenched, his upper lip curling into a sneer. "I'm gonna take out those fucking helicarriers."

"Not by yourself!" cried Bruce. "There's three of those carriers, Tony, and only one of you!"

"No, not by myself. I'll get Cap to help me." And Romanoff and Hill, and whoever the hell this Sam dude is. "Go, Bruce. Rhodey'll be here any minute, and you gotta get upstate ASAP. I'd very much prefer if you can get started before Pete gets there."

"Okay," said Bruce. Removing his glasses, he placed them in his shirt pocket before clapping Tony on the shoulder. "Good luck, Tony."

"You too, big guy."

"Sir, Colonel Rhodes has retrieved Dr. Banner," said JARVIS. "They are proceeding towards the Compound."

"Thanks, J," Tony said softly. He breathed in a shaky breath, not taking his eyes off Peter's name on the monitor.

Peter Parker Stark.

Eleven years old. Boy genius. Beloved son.

HYDRA target.

"JARVIS," Tony said through clenched teeth. "Can you backtrace the origin signal from that email sent by Romanoff?"

"I believe so, sir," replied JARVIS. "One moment."

Two minutes later the pale, haggard face of Natasha Romanoff appeared on the screen. "Tony," she said, her voice even raspier than usual. "I see you got my message."

"You're looking a bit rough there, Mrs. Rushman," Tony muttered. "What's your status?"

"I took a hit through the shoulder," Natasha answered with a shrug. "Nothing I haven't had before. Still damn painful though."

"Yeah. You guys got a plan?" Tony asked. "'Cause from what I've just found, we don't have much time."

"Why? What've you found?" asked Maria Hill as she came into view.

"Banner and I cracked the algorithm," Tony said grimly. "We've got a list of the Insight targets. You, Fury, Rogers, Banner, me… and Peter, among others."

"Peter?" asked Hill. "Who's that?"

"Peter?" Steve's voice said from the background. "Why him?"

"Hell if I know, Rogers!" Tony snapped. "Just tell me you've got a plan! Otherwise I'm flying down to D.C. and taking out these carriers myself!"

"That would be suicide, Tony," Steve said, replacing Natasha in the viewer. "And we do have a plan. Hill says in order to divert the targeting algorithm we need to break onto each carrier and replace their targeting blades."

Tony pursed his lips. "That makes sense. I've also got Banner up at the Compound working on disabling the targeting satellites."

"We'll use that as a backup, Tony," said Steve. "If we can change out the targeting blades we won't need the satellites redirected."

"Well, I'm not gonna tell him to stop, Rogers! Not when my kid's life is at stake!"

"Peter's not the only one—"

"He's the most important one!" snapped Tony. "Now. What kind of resistance we can expect?"

Steve let out a sigh, and for the first time, Tony noticed how utterly shaken Steve looked. Like he'd literally just seen a ghost. His face was even paler than usual, and his blue eyes carried such immense pain that Tony had to gulp and look away.

"You okay there, Cap?"

"I'll be fine, Tony," Steve said, giving his head a light shake. "As for resistance, there'll be a lot. SHIELD's been completely infiltrated by HYDRA, so their agents have the full arsenal of SHIELD weapons and technology at their disposal. Right now we have no way of knowing how many agents are loyal to HYDRA, but my instincts say at least half, maybe more."

"Shit," Tony muttered. "Okay. I'm on my way in five."

"Copy that. See you soon, Tony."

As soon as the screen went blank Tony held out his hand towards the storage vault for his suit, standing in place as the armor flew towards him and wrapped around his body. "JARVIS," he said. "I want updates on the carrier status every five minutes, and every thirty seconds once we're within five minutes till launch. And make sure Banner has a clear comm as well, he's gonna need to hear everything."

"Very good, sir."

Tony's stomach lurched as he realized that if Banner was listening in it would mean Peter would be listening in as well, but he couldn't see any way around that particular problem. He needed Peter to be as close to Bruce as possible, which unfortunately meant he was going to have a front row seat to everything that was going on.

"JARVIS," Tony said as he headed out the lab doors, over to his takeoff platform. "Tell Cap that I'm on my way."

"As you wish, sir," replied JARVIS. "And good luck."

Peter's stomach was churning so violently he was surprised he'd managed the car ride up to the Compound without getting sick. Something bad was going on—that much was obvious—but neither Pepper nor Happy had given him any details as to what the bad thing might be other than the fact that his dad had been called to assist Steve with one of his missions, and was currently flying towards D.C.

Arriving at the Compound, Peter was surprised to find that Bruce and Colonel Rhodes had already arrived, with Bruce already working frantically on something in his lab.

"No, no, little guy," Bruce said, not looking up from his monitor as Peter attempted to head over to his own lab tucked in the corner. "Tony wants you to stay right here with me."

"Why?" asked Peter, a little more snarky than he meant. "I'll be just over here in the corner with my stuff."

"Uh, because he said so," Bruce said, cringing as his fingers continued to fly across the keyboard. "Just… please. Don't ask too many questions right now, I'm trying to concentrate."

Wrinkling his nose, Peter shuffled back over to where Bruce was working, peeking around his arm at the monitor. "What're you working on?"

"I just said don't ask questions, Peter," Bruce warned.

"No, you said don't ask too many questions," Peter snapped. "I just asked one!"

"Peter! Now's not the time for—"

"No!" Peter cried. "Where's my dad? What's going on? Why am I here?"

"He's heading for D.C.," answered Bruce. "Just like I'm sure Pepper has told you already."

"Okay, but why's he going there?"

"Bruce, you all set?" came Dad's voice through the speaker next to Bruce's monitor. Peter's stomach dropped at how tense his father sounded.

"I'm already working on disabling the satellites, Tony," Bruce replied. "Just keep me posted."

"Daddy!" Peter called, not even knowing if his father could hear him. "Please tell me what's going on!"

"I'll tell you when it's over, Pete," Dad replied after a short pause, which Peter had come to realize was code for 'I'm doing something too dangerous to talk to you about until I know I'm not gonna get killed'.

"I hate when you say that," said Peter in a low voice. "That always means you're off fighting dangerous bad guys."

"Pete, believe me," Dad said. "I'm doing this for you. Just stay glued to Bruce's side, he and Thor will make sure you're okay."

"And who's gonna make sure you're okay?" cried Peter.

"Cap's with me, buddy. Remember when he told you that we're a team?"

"Yeah, I guess. But—"

"And that means we look out for each other." Dad stated. "He's got my back, and I've got his. Now, I gotta go, bud. I'll see you soon."

"But—!"

"Stay close to Bruce! Don't leave his side, Peter, I mean it!"

Peter's shoulders sagged as Bruce shot him a stern look out of the corner of his eye. "Can you at least tell me what you're working on?" Peter asked softly. "I promise I'll be quiet afterwards."

"I'm trying to disable some satellites," Bruce replied. "They've been… commandeered."

"Oh. Then what's my dad doing?"

Bruce raised an eyebrow, uttering a curse under his breath, his finger flying across the keyboard. "He's watching my back, Peter. Just like he said; we're all a team."

"Listen up," said Maria Hill, handing Tony, Steve, and the man Steve introduced as Sam Wilson each two computer chips about half the size of a credit card. "These are the new targeting blades. You'll have to fight your way into the computer core on each of the carriers and manually replace the existing targeting chips with these."

"Seems easy enough," said Tony.

"Not so easy, Stark," retorted Hill. "The blades in all three carriers need to be replaced before Insight goes live, or the whole thing's a wash."

"Okay, so, let's get started!" Tony exclaimed. "There's a lot of lives at stake here!"

"Tony," said Steve. "You don't need to tell us what's at stake. We all know."

"Do you?" barked Tony, feeling a small twinge of remorse when Steve flinched. What the hell had happened to him on this mission?

"Yes," Steve said firmly. "I do."

"Can we talk about this some other time?" said Sam. "The clock is ticking!"

"Sam's right," said Hill. "We've got twelve minutes until launch."

"Great. You need a lift there, Denzel?" Tony asked Sam.

To Tony's surprise, Sam shook his head as he placed a pair of protective goggles over his eyes. Pressing a button on his chest, he gave Tony a rather sadistic grin as a pair of black and grey carbon fiber wings suddenly sprouted from the backpack contraption strapped to his back.

"Nope," he said proudly. "I got my own ride."

"Hey, those are pretty cool!" Tony said, impressed. "Can I take a closer look at 'em later?"

Sam's toothy grin grew even wider. "Sure thing, Iron Man."

"All right," Steve said firmly, tucking the targeting blades into the belt of his suit. "Let's roll."

"Copy that, Cap," Tony said. He walked over to the door that led outside. "I'm on Alpha."

"Be careful, Tony!" Steve called as he took off. "There's gonna be a lot of enemy crossfire!"

"I'll take enemy crossfire over being targeted by one of those death carriers!" Tony shouted back. "So get to yours!"

Steve wasn't exaggerating. Tony had only been airborne for about ten seconds when three of SHIELD's attack Quinjets suddenly appeared right in front of him, the center jet aiming directly for him while the outside two assumed flanking positions. Tony gritted his teeth, boosting his speed as he armed one of his shoulder missiles.

"C'mon, you assholes," Tony muttered as he launched the missile, weaving out of the way just in time to avoid being hit by the swerving flanking jets, which crashed into each other in a fiery blaze. "No one fucking messes with my son!"

"Cap!" Sam called over the comm. "How're we supposed to know the good guys from the bad?"

"If they're shooting at you, they're bad," Steve replied.

"I'm trying to scrounge up some air support," Hill said. "But I wouldn't count on it. Comm channels are loaded and we still don't know who we can trust. Assume anyone on those carriers is HYDRA until proven otherwise."

"I'll be air support as soon as I swap my blades out," said Tony, flying onto the Alpha carrier, immediately taking out another enemy Quinjet attempting to fire on him. How many of these damn things does SHIELD have?

"Copy that," said Steve with a grunt.

Flying up to the command level, Tony repulsed two foot soldiers away as he ran across the metal bridge that led to the computer core, keeping one eye on his surroundings as he retrieved the targeting blades from his arm gauntlet.

An RPG blast suddenly hit him from the back, directly between his shoulder blades, knocking him up against the core. Tony let out a gasp as one of the targeting chips fell from his hand and skittered across the floor, nearly out of reach under the core.

"JARVIS!" Tony cried, sinking to his knees to retrieve the chip. "Target enemy combatant and fire!"

"Right away, sir!" JARVIS responded. As he strained to reach the renegade chip, another of the shoulder missiles took off from his armor, taking out the HYDRA agent wielding the grenade launcher.

"Combatant has been neutralized, sir," said JARVIS.

"Thanks, J!" Tony grunted, his armored fingers finally closing around the targeting blade. "I owe you one."

"If we are actually keeping score, sir, I believe you would owe me a lot more than a mere 'one'," JARVIS replied.

"Yeah, well, we can talk about it later!" Pulling himself to his feet, Tony quickly tapped the command to unlock the computer core, ripping out the targeting blades and replacing them with his own.

"Alpha is locked, Cap," he said as he closed the core and headed back across the bridge. "Now, where do you need me?"

"Assist Sam, Tony!" Steve replied in a strained voice. "He's on Bravo."

"Hey now, I'm holding my own just fine!" Sam protested. "You're the only one who can't fly here, Cap!"

"Help Sam, Tony," repeated Steve. "That's an order!"

"Copy that!"

Peter couldn't tell what was worse. The fact that his father was almost killed by one—or many—of the very SHIELD soldiers who were supposed to be their friends, or the fact that Colonel Rhodes and Thor had joined he and Bruce in Bruce's lab to listen in on the battle, but still refused to tell Peter exactly what was going on. At this point all Peter understood was that SHIELD—or people who'd said they were working for SHIELD but were really bad guys in disguise—had built something they weren't supposed to build using something that Dad and Bruce designed which was now trying to kill a bunch of people.

"Bruce," Peter said, his voice trembling. "Please. Is my dad gonna be okay?"

"Tony's gonna be fine, Peter," replied Colonel Rhodes as he patted Peter's shoulder. "But you need to leave Bruce alone. He's working."

"But—!" Peter started, interrupted by the sound of another booming blast from the comm speakers. Peter immediately covered his ears, his head curling into his chest as he whimpered in fear.

Why do battles always have to be so loud?

"Hey now, it's okay, Peter," Colonel Rhodes said. Peter felt a pair of strong arms wrap around him, pulling him against a broad chest, and he opened his eyes to see Thor winking down at him.

"The Colonel is correct, young Peter," Thor said. "You are safe here with us."

"Please, call me James," Colonel Rhodes muttered. "Or Rhodes, or even Rhodey if you want. Whenever I hear 'Colonel' I feel like I'm supposed to salute, and I don't really need to be doing that here. Not around my family."

"Ah," replied Thor. "Very well then, Rhodes."

Peter shivered as the speaker let out another crashing sound, drowning out the voice of his father as he directed someone named Sam on how to avoid enemy fire. Thor patted his head, taking care to be extra gentle so as to not hurt him. Thor didn't know his own strength sometimes, and Dad especially had been on the bad end of one of Thor's crushing shoulder claps more than once.

"But, then what am I supposed to call you?" asked Peter. "My Auntie May always taught me that it was polite to address military people by their rank."

"Well, she was right, Peter," said Colonel Rhodes. "But if you remember, I believe I introduced myself to you first as James, so I think it's okay if you drop the 'Colonel' now, four years later. Okay?"

"Okay," Peter said, nodding as he tried to smile.

"Bravo lock!" came Sam's voice from the speaker. "That's two!"

"Rogers, what's your status?" asked Dad.

"There's a lot of enemy fire coming from the forty-first floor of the Triskelion," answered Steve. "You and Sam get on it. I'm on Charlie."

"I'm on it, Cap," replied Dad. "Sam, where you at?"

"Heading to the forty-first floor!"

"On my way!"

"Dammit!" Bruce suddenly said, slamming his fists down on the counter and causing Peter to jump. "I almost had it!"

"Two minutes!" said the voice of some woman Peter had never heard before. "Steve, two minutes till launch!"

"Bruce!" Peter croaked. "Are they—?"

"Not now, Peter!" snapped Bruce.

"Try not to be alarmed, Starkson," Thor said. "Your father is a formidable warrior. I am confident that he and our fellow Avengers will be victorious."

"What happens in two minutes?" Peter asked frantically. "Can't someone tell me? What's launching in two minutes?"

But the only reply Peter got was the sound of yet another explosive blast from the speaker, followed directly on its heels by Dad letting out a very loud four-letter word.

"Rogers!" Dad shouted. "What's your status? Falcon's down!"

"I'm sorry, Cap!" said Sam a few seconds later. "Damn Winter Soldier tore one of my wings clean off!"

Wings? Was Dad fighting alongside a birdman or something? And who's the Winter Soldier?

"Get him to safety, Tony!" Steve replied in a strained voice, each word punctuated with what sounded like very hard punches and kicks. He seemed to be fighting hand-to-hand against someone who was just as strong as he. But wasn't that impossible? Steve Rogers was supposed to be the only Captain America. So far the only people Peter knew who could match Steve in strength were Thor and the Hulk, both of whom were right next to him.

"Dad!" Peter cried, tears pricking his eyes. "Steve needs help!"

The sudden deafening sound of a gunshot made Peter yelp in fear, burying his face into Thor's chest. "Daddy? Are you okay?"

"Thirty seconds, Cap!" yelled the woman.

"I'm on my way, Cap!" shouted Dad, his repulsors firing. "Stand by!"

"Daddy!" screamed Peter, the nearly overwhelming dread he'd been trying to stamp down for the last several days finally boiling over. "Daddy, please!"

"Tony, I can't do it!" Bruce cried in frustration, pushing himself away from the monitor. "There's not enough time!"

"Fifteen seconds!"

Peter's teeth clamped down over his trembling lower lip as his father's voice came over the speaker, eerily calm in the intense, building sense of doom.

"It's all right, Bruce," he said, repulsors firing. "But I don't think Cap's gonna make it. You know what needs to be done."

"Daddy? What do you mean?" Peter gasped, his eyes huge as he turned to Bruce. His heart was pounding so hard he felt woozy, like he might pass out. "Bruce, what does he mean?"

"Tony!" Bruce shouted. "I still don't—!"

"It's the only way!" interrupted Dad. "And Thor! As soon as those guns start firing, you light the place up. Maybe it'll disrupt their targeting!"

Guns? What guns? Space guns?

"Five seconds, Cap!"

Almost in slow motion, Peter watched as Bruce and Thor locked eyes. Thor gave Bruce a small but firm nod, lifting Peter off of his lap and handing him to Bruce as he raised Mjolnir in his right hand, pointing it up towards the ceiling. Bruce's arms wrapped around Peter, pinning his arms to his sides as Bruce twisted his body around, positioning Peter underneath him.

"It's okay, little guy," Bruce whispered. "I've got you."

"O—, okay," whimpered Peter, bracing himself even though he had no idea what he was bracing himself against.

"CHARLIE LOCK!"

Peter's eyes were squeezed closed, his entire body shaking under Bruce's larger form when the pained voice of Steve Rogers blurted out from the speaker. Whatever Steve meant by what he said, Peter didn't really know. All he knew was that Bruce let out a sigh of relief so profuse that he nearly collapsed them both onto the floor.

"Did everyone copy?" Steve asked, panting. "Hill? Charlie lock!"

"Copy that, Cap," replied the sharp voice of the woman, presumably this Hill person. "Programming new targets."

"Bruce!" Dad shouted. "Is Pete okay?"

"Yeah, Tony! We're both fine," Bruce called back. "But what about you guys?"

"Good job, big guy," said Dad, sounding just as relieved as Bruce. "Falcon's secure. Cap, where you at?"

"Steve, targets are set and the carriers are repositioned," said Hill. "You gotta get out of there now!"

"Fire!" cried Steve with a grunt, as if he'd just gotten punched in the stomach. "Hill, fire! That's an order!"

"Bruce?" Peter asked in a trembling voice. "Why are they still fighting?"

"I don't know, Peter" replied Bruce, his eyebrows knitting together. "I don't know."

"There are some battles that can have rather prolonged conclusions, young Starkson," said Thor. "Perhaps this is such a battle."

"Thor's right, Peter," agreed James. "I see it all the time in the Air Force."

But Peter only shook his head, his feeling of dread returning as Dad asked once again for Steve's location, only to be told to get and stay the hell out of the way.

"Stand down, Tony!" Steve commanded, his voice still thick with pain and what sounded like sorrow. "That's an order!"

"Daddy!" Peter said in Tony's ear, his heart skipping a beat as he detected the immense fear in his voice. "Daddy, are you okay? I think Steve's in trouble!"

"And I'm gonna help him, Pete. I don't care what he said," Tony replied, grunting as he boosted his speed towards the Charlie carrier. The massive ship was in a slow deadspin and heading straight towards the Potomac River, still taking fire from the Alpha and Bravo carriers as it fell. Tony wove carefully through the huge chunks of debris falling from the damaged battleships, still firing away at enemy HYDRA Quinjets as he flew.

As he landed on what used to be the Command deck, Tony immediately spotted Steve, shield in hand and his midsection covered in blood, fighting against a man dressed in black with a bad shaggy haircut and what appeared to be a solid metal arm. As Tony looked on in horror, the man pulled back his metal left fist and punched Steve square in the face, knocking him flat just as a huge piece of debris landed directly across Tony's shoulders.

"Rogers!" Tony yelled, now pinned down against the glass as the huge carrier tipped onto its side, heading rapidly down towards the river. He could no longer see Steve or the other man, but he could still hear the sound of the landing blows.

"JARVIS!" said Tony when Steve didn't reply. "Get me out of this!"

"The armor has been badly damaged, sir," answered JARVIS. "I'm rerouting power to the back thrusters, but it will take a moment."

"Well, hurry it up, otherwise we're all about to become fish food," Tony grumbled, struggling in vain to shimmy out from underneath the massive beam pinning him down.

"Please stand by, sir," said JARVIS.

Tony saw rather than felt the crash of the freezing river encompassing him as the carrier splashed down, the buoyancy the water provided giving him enough of a boost to slightly shift the beam covering him, just in time to see Steve go under the surface.

"Rogers!" Tony screamed, scanning frantically for the shaggy-haired attacker. "JARVIS, get me out of here!"

"I'm rebooting the system, sir. Please stand by!"

"We don't have time!" yelled Tony. Even as he knew that Steve already survived one crash into water, this time, as cold as this water was there still was no ice to preserve his body, and Tony had no way of knowing how badly Steve was already injured.

"System rebooted, sir," said JARVIS.

"Fire up the thrusters!" Tony snapped. Wrapping his hands around the beam, he pushed against it with all of his remaining strength, grunting with the effort while his thrusters fired, pushing him up off the glass. Just as he was able to lift the beam enough to shimmy out, his eyes caught Steve's attacker dragging him out of the river and onto the shore, dropping the unconscious Captain on the muddy riverbank before escaping into the thick, tall trees. The last thing Tony noticed before he disappeared into the mist was the red star of the former Soviet Union, embossed on the outside of the man's metal arm.

"Rogers!" Tony said, his helmet disappearing behind his head as he arrived at Steve's side. "Rogers? Give me a sign here!"

Tony shook his shoulder, breathing out a sigh of relief when Steve let out a loud, groaning exhale. Besides the gunshot wound to his abdomen, Steve's face was battered and bloody, both eyes were swollen and bruised, and there was a fairly wide gash extending from his lips out to his cheek. Only the super soldier serum coursing through his blood had prevented him from being killed at Metal Arm Man's hands.

"JARVIS, call for an ambulance," Tony commanded.

"Already done, sir," replied JARVIS. "Emergency services has been dispatched to your location with an estimated arrival time of four minutes."

"Dad? Is everyone okay?" Peter's frightened voice said over the comm. Tony squeezed his eyes closed as his lower lip started to shake. In that moment he wanted nothing more than to hug his little boy close and tell him that everything was going to be okay now.

But, was it really going to be okay? Or was this just yet another thing in a long line of things that are gonna keep happening?

Are we ever going to have any peace?

"I'm okay, Pete," Tony croaked. "And once I make sure Steve's gonna be okay I'll be zooming right back up there to ya. All right? So you just sit tight and wait for me."

He heard Peter sniff, like he always did when he was trying not to cry. "Okay. I'll be waiting. We're all waiting."

"You can go ahead and go if you want," Sam's voice suddenly said from the treeline, causing Tony to whirl around. Fury and Natasha must've dropped him off to look for Steve. "I'll stay here with Cap."

"Are you sure?" Tony asked.

"Absolutely," replied Sam. "Look. If I had a kid that overheard all the shit that just went down, I'd be wanting to get back to him too. I'm sure he's gonna have a lot of questions."

Tony patted Steve's shoulder one final time before pushing himself up to his feet and extending a hand to Sam. "Yeah, you have no idea. Take good care of Cap for me, yeah? Tell him I'll catch up with him once he's back on his feet."

"I promise," replied Sam, crouching down next to Steve's prone body. Tony could hear the sound of sirens approaching. "Go on, man. Don't keep your boy waiting."

"Is he asleep?" Pepper asked Tony, setting aside the paperwork she'd been looking over as Tony stepped into their Tower bedroom. "Seems like it took a little less time tonight."

Tony let out a heavy sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose as he sank down onto the bed. "Yeah, maybe a few minutes. I doubt he'll last through the night though."

Pepper's hands reached for Tony's shoulders, trying to rub some of the tension away. "Well, I've already called his therapist, Tony. She'll be here tomorrow when he gets home from school."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Tony admitted, even though he was still skeptical as to whether or not this therapist lady actually did Peter any good. The way Tony saw it, the only way Peter would finally be free of his nightmares and fears would be when he thought he didn't have to worry about Tony anymore.

But, as the recent debacle with SHIELD had shown them, not knowing who your enemies even are makes it extra difficult to fight them. And Tony knew that he couldn't rest until all the possible enemies were found and eliminated. Until every terrorist, every rogue HYDRA agent, every possible anything that could want to harm his family or friends, was destroyed.

It'd been nearly three weeks since the Battle of the Triskelion. Three weeks since most of HYDRAs secrets—and SHIELDs—were dumped onto the live internet by Agent Romanoff. Three weeks of Congressional Hearings and dodging reporters and dealing with Peter's constant nightmares and clinginess in addition to Tony's own resurgent sleeplessness and anxiety.

It was just like the Battle of New York all over again. The only difference this time was that they'd been fighting the evil, corrupt versions of themselves instead of aliens.

Which almost made it seem worse.

"Tony," Pepper said in a low voice, her hands pausing their ministrations on his shoulders. "What're you thinking about?"

"Nothing, honey," Tony lied, grateful that Pepper couldn't see his face. "Just something that Banner and I need to get working on."

"Mmm," Pepper said, sounding skeptical. "Okay. Are you gonna take Peter to school in the morning, or am I?"

"No, I'll take him," Tony said quickly. "Don't you have another early meeting?"

"You know I can always reschedule the meetings, Tony," replied Pepper. "That is one of the perks of being the CEO."

"True enough. But no, I'll take him." What Tony didn't add is that he wanted to make absolutely sure that none of the reporters tried to go after Peter again. They'd been a lot better this time than after the Battle of New York, probably partially due to the fact that the battle had taken place outside of New York. But Tony was still afraid that if they saw Peter without Tony, they'd see it as an opportunity to pounce on him. Even if he was with Pepper.

And there was no way Tony could allow that. Poor kid had been through enough. He didn't need to be harassed by a bunch of newsies on top of everything else.

"Pardon me, sir," JARVIS said. "But Captain Rogers is asking to speak with you. He'd like to come up."

Tony huffed out a sharp breath, dropping his head down to his chin. Sometimes it seemed like Steve forgot that everyone else besides Thor required more sleep than he did.

"Yeah, okay, JARVIS," answered Tony. "Tell him to come on up."

"Very good, sir."

Leaning over to kiss Pepper's cheek, Tony smoothed away a stray piece of her strawberry hair. "Don't wait up for me."

Stepping into the dim living room, Tony was pacing back and forth when the elevator doors opened and Steve walked in.

"Tony," Steve said, his pale face pinched with sorrow and trepidation, but showing no lingering signs of his brutal fight against the Winter Soldier thanks to his enhanced healing. He clapped his hands together, his eyes flitting awkwardly around the room.

"Yeah?" Tony said, trying to sound lighter than he felt. "What's up, old man? Just needing some company?"

But Steve's pained expression only grew deeper. "For as long as I remembered, I only wanted to do what was right," he said softly. "But now, I'm not so sure I know what that is anymore."

"Rogers, what're you saying?" Tony asked. "Just spit it out. We're all friends here."

Steve shook his head, his lower lip shaking. "Tony… I… um… There's something very important that I need to tell you."

As always, I'm on pins and needles waiting to see what you guys think! Please don't hesitate to leave me a review! :)