Tony Stark
"Enough," said Tony, tired of Quinn Sharpe's games. What the man had done to Peter was more than enough for him to see the man wasn't bluffing. Not that Tony had any doubts about it to begin with. Now Quinn had attempted to kill Helen Cho as a warning shot. Though, warning shot might have been what everyone else saw, but Tony knew better, especially from his angle; the bullet should have struck Helen. Somehow Peter had sensed it ahead of time, and pulled her forward just enough for the bullet to pass her.
The kid had told him once something about his senses were enhanced, dialed up to 11. Was this what he was referring to? Then you should have learned to dodge that bullet the first time, thought Tony. But he knew that if Peter could have dodged it, he would have. God, he hoped the kid was okay. He had to be. Yes, aren't you feeling hopeful today? Because getting shot in the abdomen is nothing. Anyone can just shake that off. Damn it. Focus. Focus. Trying all that he could, Tony with gritted teeth, pushed himself to refocus his attention to Quinn. The man wanted it, and Tony was going to give it to him as long as it meant keeping the trigger happy man from firing his gun again.
"What. Is. It. You. Want. From. Me!" He enunciated each word out to the man. "You're not making any sense. You want to make me suffer, yay, you're doing it now. This," he gestured towards the others in the room, "this makes no sense. You shoot a kid. You try to shoot your lab partner you worked with for several years. Now what.. you want to shoot another person? Keep him as hostage? You want to release a poisonous gas to kill everyone in the facility to get back at me? Quinn, work with me, I'm trying to understand what you want. I'm an open target, if you're looking for someone to pay for what happened in Sokovia, I'm here. Shoot me, shoot me goddamn it!"
"Death, Tony, I think is too good for you," said Quinn with a slight shake of his head. "But you know what is funny, Tony, is that you still think you're in control here, thinking that if you just offered up yourself, everything will be fine. You think you can just wipe away all the sins like that. Playing the hero, stepping up and confronting a scientist gone mad. To die in trying to save everyone. No, Tony, today, you will definitely live, you will just keep on living, and remembering that you failed. No, not only that you failed, but you created me. You who created Ultron, destroyed a country, countless families, ended up creating me, creating Helmut."
Tony swallowed thickly hearing the name of Helmut Zemo. Quinn knew a lot of classified information. The question was, just how much did he know? And did he leak any of it out? Tony would have to thoroughly go through this with FRIDAY.
"I wonder how this story will spin, how will you justify to yourself after today, play the hero, save the masses and forsake just one little person."
"Tony's a hero, you assh*le," said Harley sharply making everyone in the room focus on him.
Ah shit, kid. Really? This is not the time, thought Tony, afraid that the boy's words would bring the unwanted attention of Quinn Sharpe.
It did as Tony feared, though it seemed to bemuse the scientist. "Really. A hero. I'm pretty sure I just stated how much damage Tony Stark has done by simply breathing. Do they not teach kids to listen in highschool?"
"I think I listen a lot better than you. He's not the best guy in personality, but he always puts his priority on protecting people. That is more than you, a petty small minded jackass will ever manage in your lifetime. And I'm not a little person, assh*le, I've got a name," was the kids' reply without a hint of fear in his voice.
If there had ever been a moment where Quinn didn't have an instant reply, this was it. Tony would have laughed aloud if the situation wasn't so dire. And he would have also been rather insulted by Harley's stab at his personality - Tony had a great one, he just wasn't really good with kids.
"Well. That may be your opinion, but I have mine. I suppose this is where the freedom of speech comes into play, Mr. Keener," he said finally after a moment.
Tony could see the kid wanted to hide his surprise, but Quinn just laughed. "I know about you. I know that Tony here has been sending a lot of advanced tech over to Rose Hill, Tennessee for the past few years. I was curious at first and had to do a little digging. And low and behold, Tony Stark, the man without a heart, actually reached out to a poor kid that lived out in the backwoods with an absentee father and a mom that works so hard to scrape by. Not an exact parallel to his own life, but close enough. All those little email exchanges, not the most heartwarming ones I admit, but I guess it's as nice as Tony could be to a runt kid that might take up the mantle when he's washed up. Just readying a new generation of ethicless vigilantes, right Tony? I guess in some in some ways you could also thank your mentor for that, because otherwise, I'd probably have selected Miss Potts instead of you."
Quinn grinned at Tony tensing immediately at the mention of Pepper.
"You -," started Tony but was interrupted by a cry from Helen Cho.
All eyes turned on to the convulsing figure on the ground. Peter! Ah shit. Tony immediately started to move towards the kid but stopped when Quinn tapped the gun against Harley's temple.
"Na-ah. Stay where you are, Tony."
"He's hurt really badly, please let me get him some help," said Helen Cho, her voice cracking in urgency.
"This lab is in lockdown, Helen, no one is leaving here," he said in a most casual way, as if they were having a conversation about the weather.
Demented assh*le was what came to Tony's mind just by seeing Helen's instant expression at his response. Helen, however, composed herself again and tried again to reason with Quinn.
"Let me at least try and keep him alive. He's just a kid. Like you said, he's not even your target. Let me take him to the AC-Lab, there are tools that that can help stop the bleeding. You can keep an eye on us if you don't trust me, it's just at the corner, right at that corner," she gestured to the lab that was adjacent to where Quinn stood. "Please," Helen pleaded, her voice desperate.
Quinn paused for a moment, stared at Peter's injured form on the ground and then to Tony's and everyone's surprise, the man nodded. "Fine, go now, before I change my mind." Maybe the man did have a conscious afterall. But that didn't change the fact that he shot Peter in the first place.
Helen relieved at Quinn's decision immediately took two scientists to help her move Peter to the lab.
Helen Cho
Helen been surprised when Peter asked if there was another way out of the X-Lab. The only thing that came to her mind was the vent located in the AC-Lab, a small med lab that Dr. Banner had requested to be added during the construction of Pharmax several years ago. Helen had never thought that one little add-on could possibly save hundreds of lives. Now the question was, how was the kid going to get to the vent since A. It was located on the ceiling and B. There was a large window pane making everything completely visible to Quinn.
As the two scientists gently set Peter on the lab table, it was only under bright light that Helen could see how badly injured Peter was. No, Peter couldn't and shouldn't be trying anything. Also, given that Quinn himself was a doctor, he knew how much time it took to get a bullet out. They didn't have enough time and Helen, after seeing how deathly pale Peter was, decided she was going forward to what she had told Quinn, she was really going to get the bullet out.
"Alright Peter, I'm going to inject some anesthesia to numb the pain, and we'll begin removing the bullet okay?"
Peter shook his head, "No, I need to get out of here, that guy, he's going to kill both Harley and everyone outside this lab. I can't… I can't have that, and Mr. Stark, he won't be able to live with that either. The guy isn't playing fair." The kid's hands were balled up in anger. "Please, just help me distract him, give me five minutes," he asked pleadingly.
Five minutes . Helen wavered. It wasn't that the kid's puppy eyes were working on her, but it was also the fact what Peter was saying was true. Quinn was playing with Tony, like a cat taunting the mouse. Helen was pretty sure Tony knew that too and was doing everything in his power to stall for time in hopes that someone would be suspicious and come rescue them.
What Quinn was going through, Helen could understand how his perspective of things went down. But while the man had worked with Helen in the past, Quinn had only worked with Tony for a year, he hadn't seen the past seven years behind everything, after the battle in New York. Quinn had no idea how truly devastating it was and how damn scared Tony Stark was of chancing another invasion of that same magnitude.
Tony had meant to do good with Ultron, Helen knew that. He and Banner had worked together on it so that the A.I. would be the first defense in case of anything coming down to attack Earth. No one expected the A.I. to go rogue and attempt to destroy the world. Technically, then if Quinn wanted to take revenge, he should have Banner here as well. Yeah, Big Green guy, you would so shit in your pants, Quinn , thought Helen rather snarkly.
No matter what Quinn's motivations were, how much pain he endured, it didn't give him the right to put so many innocent lives at risk for his own agenda. Nor did it given him the right to put all of it on Tony Stark's shoulders.
"Alright. Five minutes."
Helen moved and prepared to place enough of a base to form the silhouette of a body, making sure to block Peter's 'head' with the box of a first aid kit. Satisfied that it was passable as a dummy, Helen went to retrieve a pair of scissors. When she turned back to the lab table, however, Peter was gone. Trying not to let her jaw drop and not to overreact she turned her head slowly and carefully, searching the room for the kid. Did Peter have the power of invisibility or something? Where was he? Suddenly, there was a red droplet, then two, then three, that fell onto her lab coat. Helen carefully looked up with her eyes and saw that the kid was on the damn ceiling. Within a second before she could even blink, the kid disappeared into the opening of the vent.
Seeing Peter effortlessly slip through the vent swelled hope in Helen's heart. Everyone might just make out okay afterall. Now, however, Helen had a key part to play - keep Quinn from discovering their plan. Peter had done what he said he would do, now she had her part to play - look busy. As gracefully as she could, Helen pretended her best to be operating on an invisible body under a white sheet.
Peter Parker
Five minutes . Peter knew that wasn't enough time, let alone that he was slowed down by the gunshot wound. He hadn't ever been shot before, and it felt pretty terrible, like his insides were on fire. A part of him had really wanted Dr. Cho to take out the bullet. But he knew there wasn't time for that. If it was a choice between him and hundreds of people making out of the facility alive, the decision was obvious.
Peter, as he painfully crawled through the vent, created an action plan in his head. Five minutes was not a lot of time to get out there and convince people to get help. Plus, Peter didn't know if the Quinn fellow had set up an alert or video feed so that once Peter was seen outside the lab, the man see him and release the gas. No. Peter couldn't take that risk. There was one thing that Peter could do, it was to get a message outside the facility. Quinn had said that cellphones in the lab were blocked, but if Peter got enough distance from the lab, he should be able to get a signal. This, was the best and most time efficient plan. Now it was just the hope that that one bar of signal didn't take more than five minutes to get to. This meant for peter to really move fast, so he did, all the while ignoring the throbbing pain that laced through his body. Peter just needed ONE bar. Just one. The fatigue that he had fought off earlier was returning, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why when he looked beneath him. He had been leaving a trail of blood in the vents. Man, the cleanup crew for Mr. Stark's company was not going to be happy.
Finally, for what seemed forever, Peter finally got his one bar signal. He immediately called Happy. Come on, come on. Nothing. It went to voicemail. Shit. Come on Happy, please pick up! Peter was feeling desperate, beads of sweat had started to fall from his forehead. Maybe it was the panic, or maybe infection from the bullet wound, it didn't matter, Peter was running out of time. Again, he dialed. And redialed. Finally, the phone connected.
"Peter, this had better be important -"
"Happy, sorry to interrupt you, but it's really really urgent. Mr. Stark and a bunch of scientists are being held hostage in the X-Lab in Pharmax. Some guy named Quinn is the one doing it. Please send someone to help! Quinn says he's going to release a toxic gas to kill everyone in the building. I'm not sure if he's got eyes in the facility, so the evacs gotta be really under the radar. Sorry I don't have a lot of details, Happy. I've gotta go back soon though, before the bad guy notices I'm gone and hurts Dr. Cho." Everything came out of Peter in one breath it seemed and his heart dropped when there was silence on the other line.
Peter feared suddenly that the call may have gotten disconnected. No no no! But a second later, his worries were abated when Happy spoke, and this time his tone had gone completely serious.
"Got it. Sending the calvary in on stealth mode. Tell Tony to hang tight. Kid, everything okay with you?"
"I'm .. I'm good Happy. Thanks. Gotta go."
"Kid, you don't sound sure -"
Peter hung up. So sorry, Happy! He didn't want to be rude, but he was running overtime. His five minutes was up and Peter had to get back to the lab or else everything he had done was for nothing if Quinn discovered he'd been tricked. Peter couldn't help but feel relieved that Happy immediately set into action, no questions asked. Maybe the man suspected something was off, considering that Mr. Stark was rarely not reachable. Or FRIDAY may have noticed something. It didn't matter, the most important thing was help was coming. Peter only hoped it came quickly. He didn't know how long Mr. Stark could keep the man talking. It was a good thing a lot of bad guys liked to monologue.
The crawl back to the AC-Lab was incredibly difficult. He was feeling really light headed. Gotta move, Parker . Keep going, you've got this. Mr. Stark, he's depending on you . His vision blurred slightly more than once, and each time, he had to blink several times to refocus them. Finally, Peter reached the open vent. He took a second to peek through it, and saw that Dr. Cho was still there in the lab, her back to the table tinkering with something. This to Peter was good news, it meant that his absence hadn't been discovered.
Without a sound, Peter crawled through the AC-Lab's vent, to the back wall and soundlessly slipped himself on to the steel table, and underneath the white sheet. When the doctor turned around again, and saw Peter, there was instant surprise on her face, so much she nearly dropped the scalpel she was holding.
After the initial surprise, however, there was all business in the doctor's eyes. She set down the scalpel and went to grab the IV fluid and anesthesia that she had prepared while he was gone. Gently, Dr. Cho cleaned his wound, and then the anesthesia went in. Peter didn't know how much time passed by, but the numbing sensation that he felt was great. The jarring pain that he had felt was slowly ebbing away finally. Eyes drooping, Peter was ready to let Dr. Cho do her magic and get the bullet out of him.
Suddenly, there was a tremor in the lab, and it was followed by a loud cry of anguish from the other room, "How the hell?!" Hearing those words, especially from a voice that he recognized well to be the hostage taker Quinn, Peter tried to force himself awake again. He wanted to know what was going on, and if he could help some how.
By reflex, he yanked out the IV. With the anesthesia in him already, however, things seemed to come to him in disjointed blocks. An explosion. Somethings was happening . The calvary must have arrived! Through the glass pane, Peter could see that Mr. Stark had his iron man palm blaster activated. Yeah, Iron Man! Peter couldn't but cheer on the inside.
Peter's head was spinning, and again, the drug was trying to pull him back into a slumber. No.. he needed to.. he needed to stay awake.
A shot was fired from the outer lab. Peter tensed, ready to move, but Dr. Cho held him still. "No, Peter. You've done enough. They've got this. They'll be okay. I think the calvary are here."
Another explosion rocked the lab. Why were there so many explosions? Peter suddenly saw Mr. Stark look at them with horror on his face and Quinn grinning widely.
The door to the AC-Lab was locked shut. Peter and Dr. Cho's eyes met and they both had an understanding. The gas, the bastard must have set off the gas in the facility. Peter could only hope that he gave Happy enough time to pull of the evac outside. This, however, didn't help him or Dr. Cho though. The vent was connected to the external labs and Quinn, he had just locked them in. That meant the gas was on its way to the AC-Lab. Did the man know that there was a vent in there, or did he simply make a guess? There wasn't time to dwell on the matter as he moved to help Dr. Cho toss everything out of a test sample fridge. Peter knew instantly what she was thinking - the fridge should be air tight and it would keep the gas from getting in. For the short duration, assuming that people were coming to the rescue, it would have enough oxygen to keep someone alive. It, however, wasn't large enough to fit two people.
The moment that it was cleared, Dr. Cho moved to have Peter go inside. Instead, Peter grabbed hold of her gently and pushed her towards it. "No, please, you should get inside. I'll be okay." In truth, Peter had no idea how he would react to the gas, but he wasn't going to let anyone die on his watch, not if he could help it.
She protested, but Peter gave her little chance to argue. With a quick apology, he shuffled her into the fridge and closed the door. It was not a moment too soon as the gas started to enter through the ceiling vent.