Author's Note:

Hey there. I ran into some big life happenings. Wow, it's been about a year? I guess that does sound about right. Well, I'm back for today. It's another rather short chapter, so my apologies there. Hope you might enjoy all the same!

Disclaimer:

All rights to the respective persons, please. Thank you!

Chapter 4:

Peter had gone completely offline. Iron Man made his way over to the described location, and hovered above with a grim determination. The foreboding darkness tinged by the orange glow all around it stood out like the most unwelcome of omens. The sanctuary from flames, however, provided him with what he hadn't been able to use for most of the night; thermal imaging. Though unclear, he could make out what he felt sure were two individual's signatures in the building below.

And so help whoever one of them was, the other had better be a fully intact Peter Parker.

Iron Man dropped to the ground below just inside the fence. Immediately an alarm sounded in his suit. "Low atmospheric oxygen? That explains the lack of flames, then." Safely contained from the outside world, his chin snapped upward with a sharp click of movement as the sounds of a woman's low cries filtered into the night. Cautiously he crept forward, hoping as of yet his presence was unannounced. "Friday, re-scan for heat signatures." He commanded quietly.

Friday hummed briefly in affirmation.

The images came back distorted, but still it seemed indicative of two individuals, both on the right hand side of the inelegant brick dorm. Though it was difficult to tell for certain, it did not escape his attention that if the shapes he could see were accurate, one individual was standing and the other was on the floor.

Stepping up onto the small cement slab that served as the door's threshold, Tony half-noted the oxygen levels warning was less insistent, as the atmospheric O2 became far closer to normal levels already just outside the building. He was slightly relieved, as he knew Peter's suit was not equipped to handle severe atmospheric imbalances. That would be next on his upgrade list. Heck, he should have had that handled much sooner in the event of airborne contaminants or poisons, even just something better for smoke filtering in instances like the one they found themselves in all evening; what was he thinking letting the kid go on so long with nothing but a glorified surgical mask worth of protection for his lungs? For pity's sake-

Focus, Stark.

Trying the doorknob, Iron Man found it (was it surprisingly?) unlocked. Immediately even more wary, he pushed the door inward, allowing it to open itself. Without so much as squeaking hinges, it smoothly and soundlessly came to a rest. In the background he heard a muffled explosion take place. There had been at least one more bomb, then, or simply something settling with a final cry of its ruination. Raising a palm to the ready, he cautiously entered the building, the women's still quiet wails continuing to haunt the gloom. No light was on in the first room entered, but to the right and down a hallway shone the illuminated lower edge of a closed door.

"Why, Why…?" Words formed and then vanished in the heavy air, dissolving into the incessant sobs they'd been born of. Iron Man felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

To say the place was underfurnished would have been an understatement. Absolutely nothing was in the room, though indents and impressions left in the carpet gave indications that it had not always been so. What could be made out in the lighting with a brief though careful glance was limited, but a couple of sections were stained in a way disconcertingly similar to what he had seen in crime scenes past.

His attention fixed on the light down the hall. Stance firm and palm still raised to fire, he approached with as quiet steps as possible. Carpeted floor transitioned to woodgrain laminate, causing an almost imperceptible increase in the volume of each footfall that seemed all too extreme a difference. The sounds of weeping continued, their own volume rising as he came closer to the barrier between he and whoever was in there. "Peter?" Iron Man risked a whisper into his comms one more time, hoping against hope he might get a response. Again none came, though at this point he'd expected that.

He stopped just outside the door. The mournful wails continued, but Tony wasn't sure what he should believe in the eerie setting he found himself in. Something wasn't right.

If Peter was in there, and there were two human heat signatures, that would mean it was only Peter and the seemingly inconsolable woman, which didn't add up no matter how he looked at it. Firstly, you can bet Peter would be talking. Secondly, Peter, as awkward as he might be at it, was a gentleman; if he went in on his own power and a lady was present, the door would very likely have stayed open. Now, she, whoever 'she' was, could have dragged a hypothetically unconscious Peter inside, but he just didn't believe that Spider-Man would have reported earlier a woman crying and then same said woman would have done such and thereafter proceeded to carry on as before.

Was there a woman in there at all, or were the sounds only a tape recording intended to lure one to some sort of trap?

Was Peter in there at all?

He reached forward and grasped the knob, turning it ever so slightly to find it bind against a lock. The sobbing stopped, giving way to a gasp.

Not a recording, then. And not able to be walked straight into like the front door had suspiciously been.

"N-no, no, please..!" It was barely a whisper.

Tony took a breath; quick, deep and decisive. Then he stepped back by a half-stride and broke the door open in one swift, splintering kick.

All at once, an anguished scream of "No!"; and for a brief second Tony Stark saw the horrified, tear-streaked face of a woman sitting barely a meter back on the floor at the foot of a bed, her cornflower blue dress and curled, golden hair practically glowing in lamplight. As she startled upwards to her knees her glance leapt wide-eyed to the left where there was the brief movement of a man's escape from view. Then a final violent explosion threw Iron Man back into first blinding light and then darkness.