The dinging was starting to become distracting, but Tony did his best to tune it out so he could focus on repairing the damage to his Iron Man suit. True, this one wasn't in current use, but that was no reason to let it fall into disrepair. You never know when you might need it.
Despite Tony's conviction to ignore the dinging, it was still really distracting. Eventually Tony set his screwdriver down and pushed his chair away from the table.
"Friday," The music cut off when he spoke.
"Yes, boss?" she responded.
"What's dinging? I thought I said that I didn't want to be disturbed while I was in the lab today!" Tony threw his hands in the air as he spoke.
"I apologize, boss, but you've set the Spider-Suit to be able to send distress messages even when you're in 'do not disturb.'" Tony went pale.
"What distress message, and why wasn't it read immediately?!"
"Approximately thirty minutes ago there was a shootout at a building which Karen had marked as suspicious. However, since she did not list a reason, this was filed as routine. Ten minutes ago the Spider-Suit went offline. The reboot sequence has just finished. I did not read this to you because you were absorbed in your work, and I wasn't sure if I could get you attention."
"Okay, so what's the distress signal you mentioned?" Tony said, feeling shaky.
"Oh, Karen activated the emergency retrieval protocol, but Peter doesn't appear to be in immediate danger." At Friday's words, Tony stood up and went to put on his Iron Man suit.
"Friday, next time there's a distress signal from the Spider-Suit, just tell me. None of this 'I wasn't sure i could get your attention' bullshit."
Tony was out the door before Friday could finish her acknowledgement. Not even five minutes later Iron Man was hovering above an unassuming warehouse.
"Friday, show me heat signatures." immediately his visor lit up. There were four bodies inside the building in pairs of two, sitting across from one another. "Which one is Peter?" Friday changed the colour of one of the bodies. "I'm going in."
Tony hovered above a skylight, and then cut the thrusters so that he could drop through the ceiling. Glass shattered everywhere as he fell through the ceiling, and he reactivated the thrusters before he could hit the floor, instead he hovered about in the middle of the room.
The inside of the warehouse was a wreck. There were crates full of guns and other weapons piled in every corner, and the floor was carpeted in a mix of pizza boxes, taco wrappers, and chinese takeout boxes. Not all of which were empty.
Dead center of the room was a couch, and directly in front of that was a crate that someone had clearly been using as a coffee table. Across from both was a beanbag chair, next to which was a mini fridge, and on the other side a TV with every gaming console possible tangled next to it.
On the couch was the Devil of Hells Kitchen, and a bundle of blankets wrapped around Peter. On the bean bag chair was a massive man decked out in weapons, dressed head to toe in red and black, and cradling a child to his chest. Tony had barely opened his mouth to speak when the child suddenly flung himself out of the mans arms, transformed in a bright flash of light, and threw a bright green orb straight into Tonys chest.
The Iron Man suit shorted out and Tony hit the floor with a deafening clatter-bang.
Danny was laying on the couch with his dad and watching movies. While he was never happy to be sick, he couldn't deny that he enjoyed cuddling with his dad and listening to the rumble of his chest as he spoke while fingers carded gently through his hair. He turned his face to snuggle deeper with his dad, and inhale the comforting scent, then froze.
His dad was supposed to smell like fudge, and warmth, and the strangely cold-electric smell of ectoplasm. What he smelled instead was sulfurous, and blood, and something spicy that tickled his nose. He rubbed his face against the familiar spandex of his dads jumpsuit, and relaxed again. He smelt a bit odd, but that was okay. He was still his dad.
The front window shattered, and Skulker was suddenly in the living room. Danny froze in fear. His ghost sense hadn't even gone off! How had Skulker evaded it? Danny struggled to stand against his fathers restraining grip for a moment, before remembering he could just phase through it. As he stood, he transformed, briefly forgetting that his father was watching. Skulker turned to face him, and Danny threw an ectoblast as quickly as he could, hoping to get the upper hand in their fight.
The deafening clatter of something metal and tangible hitting the floor snapped Danny into full consciousness. Danny gaped. There was a metal man laying on the floor, yes, but it wasn't Skulker by a long shot. This man, or robot, or thing, was bright red and gold, and far more human shaped than Skulker had ever been.
"What the fuck!" the metal man screamed, before devolving into incomprehensible, furious, gibberish.
Someone giggled behind him, and Danny turned. Another man, larger than the first, and dressed head to toe in a red and black jumpsuit, was curled up on a bean bag chair and holding his stomach as he giggled. Someone else sighed, and Danny turned again. Yet another man dressed head to toe in red sat on a couch, head in his hands. Next to that man was what Danny assumed to be a pile of blankets, before it moved and yet another red dressed man turned his masked face in Danny's direction.
Danny swiveled back to face the giggling man, about to ask what was going on, when exhaustion rushed through him, and he fell out of the air. The giggling man caught him just before he transformed back to human, and pain exploded out from his chest. Danny whined, unable to properly vocalise his pain. The man shushed him as he tried to curl around his chest.
"Hey, hey, no. Don't do that. You're okay, just focus on breathing."
"What the fuck, Deadpool?" Red man number three, the one on the couch, asked. "Just. What."
"What?" the giggling man - Deadpool? - asked. "What's got your panties in a bunch now?"
"The kid just fucking disappeared and you're asking me what I'm upset about?" The man snapped back.
"Would someone explain what the hell is going on?" the Metal man yelled angrily.
"Well, you see Iron pants…" Deadpool began.
"Don't listen to him, he doesn't know what's happening either." the Red man interrupted.
Well someone has to know what's going on, because I sure as hell don't. Danny tried to say. Tried, because the moment he tried to speak, his throat burned like he'd swallowed razor blades. He closed his mouth without speaking.
"I know more than you do!" Deadpool retorted, half sing-songing.
"Someone start talking before I have you all arrested!" Iron Pants snapped. Could he even do that? Who were these people?
"How about we start with introductions?" the red masked blanket man offered. Or kid, judging by his voice.
"Excellent suggestion, my young arachnid friend!" Deadpool said. "My name is Wade Winston Wilson, but I'm better known as Deadpool, or the Merc With a Mouth. Now you go."
"Uhh…" The blanket man sounded unsure.
"I'm Daredevil. Or the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. Call me whichever you want, I don't really care." the Red man offered.
"I'm Spider-Man!" Blanket man finally said.
Iron Pants did not introduce himself, although Deadpool and Daredevil had turned to him expectantly. At some point Deadpool had picked Danny up without him noticing. Danny wiggled in his arms to face the metal man with them.
"What?" Metal Man snapped into the silence of the room. "Everybody already knows who I am, why are you all looking at me like that?!"
"That's a fucking pompous assumption there, ass face." Deadpool, or Wade? said.
"Fuck you. Someone explain what that kid did to my suit, because I can't move."
Danny flailed in Wades arms at that, attempting to apologize in some manner and managed only to aggravate his chest and make the most embarrassing squeak sound he'd ever heard. Danny blushed as Wade cooed at him.
"Don't patronize him, Deadpool!" Daredevil snapped. The man seemed perpetually annoyed. Danny hoped it wasn't his fault.
"Hey, what's your name?" 'Spider-Man' directed the question to Danny. Danny flailed in frustration.
"Ah, kid doesn't seem to be able to talk right now." Wade said for him, seemingly reading Danny's mind. He settled Danny into the beanbag chair and crouched in front of him. "Yes or no, are you a-okay right now?" his face, despite the mask, was sincere, and his voice held nothing but concern.
As much as Danny wanted to lie and say that, yes, he was okay, he couldn't bring himself to. He shook his head. Behind Wade, Spider-Man was poking at Iron Pants.
"Okay, is there anything that might make you feel better right now?" he paused, then seemed to realise his mistake.
Before he could correct himself, Danny waved his hands in front of himself dismissively, while thinking 'a dozen pizzas and a gallon of water wouldn't go unappreciated.' but he knew the man couldn't actually hear his thoughts. He was proven wrong, however, when Wade next spoke.
"A dozen Pizzas and a gallon of water it is!" Wade said excitedly, clapping his hands together. Danny stared incredulously at Wade. "Anything else?" Danny shook his head.
