Author's Note: Yay, everyone's alive. Now we get into the problems that arise from pulling what Piper pulled and blasting out a closet at school. I own nothing.

48. Consequences

Tony wanted nothing more than to go back to his daughters room in the medical wing and fuss over her until she got better but as Pepper pointed out to him as he and Bruce left Piper's room that wasn't going to happen anytime soon, and in the meantime there was a very large crowd of reporters waiting outside for a statement. For once they weren't waiting for news about the mission the Avengers had left on though. Tony frowned as Bruce patched up his scrapes and slapped a therma-care on his sore neck. The inventor was busy flicking through news channels. Nearly all of them had something to say about 'Iron Lass' as they were calling her. Tony swore lightly and rubbed his temple. Bruce dropped two Tylenol in his hand and pointed to a water bottle on the counter before heading back to Piper's room. Tony downed the pills and took a deep breath. The reporters could wait another five minutes.

He went back to his room and changed clothes. When he opened his door he swore. Natasha was standing there in a black pants suit her hair looking perfect and determination in her eyes. He looked her up and down before raising an eyebrow.

"Natasha, what are you doing?" She looked at him condescendingly.

"Helping you. I know what you're like with reporters and if you pull another 'I am Iron Man' today I will have to kill you as a favor to my favorite niece." Her smile was sweet but deadly. Tony shuffled back a step.

"What do you mean?" Natasha rolled her eyes.

"You can't keep your mouth shut when it matters Tony. Not about things like this. You can't go telling everyone that she's your child. Not yet. She's not ready for that." Tony nodded. Natasha was right, Piper had been through enough in the past few days. She followed him down to the front doors of the tower.

The reporters turned to the doors as they opened. Tony Stark stepped out of the building, followed closely by Natasha. They gathered in a close circle around the slightly bruised Stark. He sighed and cleared his throat as cameras began to flash.

"I'm sure you have all heard or created different versions of the events that took place here at Stark Tower less than two hours ago. At present we do not know what the creature that attacked was, only that it referred to itself as Venom. The creature has been destroyed. I will now take a couple of questions from the crowd." A tall shapely blonde woman raised her hand and Tony nodded at her.

"Is it true that the girl seen flying into one of the upper floors of Stark Tower using your technology is in fact your child?" Tony sighed, Natasha glared at him. He took a deep breath.

"At this time I can not confirm or deny any of the rumors that have been circulating for years about me having a child." Natasha sighed to herself, good he hadn't done anything stupid. She should have known it was too soon to say that.

"However if it were true, I would have kept it from the general populace so my kid could keep her life normal. Instead of being hounded by press at every corner! So yeah the thing that attacked is gone, talk to SHEILD if you wanna know more. No more questions." Cameras flashed as Natasha slapped her hand to her forehead and slowly massaged her temple. She really should have seen this coming.

Norman Osborn was furious. Venom had been under his nose the whole time, his own son playing host to the symbiote. How had he missed it? He clicked off the tv. Stark was an idiot, he had basically outed his daughter without ever mentioning her name. He straightened his tie and looked down at his phone. SHEILD had called him ten minutes ago letting him know where his son was and that he would be staying on SHEILD property overnight as a precaution. No one else knew what had happened at Stark tower, only the Avengers, Fury's little team and Piper Parker.

Piper was a sweet girl, and smart as a whip, but he doubted that she would connect Venom to him. There was nothing to connect it to him, save that Harry had been its host. The Spiderman. His son had been the Spiderman. He steepled his fingers in front of his face. The symbiote was out of his reach once more, but he couldn't help but think that maybe that wasn't forever. He sighed and picked up his phone again. He needed to make sure no one else found out about Harry's extra-curricular activities.

Tony was back in his lab staring at the usb in his hand. He flipped it over again and again. The secret to why Richard and Mary had left Piper with her aunt and uncle were on this usb. The reason why they'd died, and maybe evidence enough to put away their killer for life. It was quite the responsibility. He sighed and plugged the usb in.

"JARVIS, keep this on my private servers, and keep it under my encryptions for now. I need to go check on Piper."

"Of course Mr. Stark." Tony stood and left.

When Tony returned to Piper's room in the medical wing Bruce was checking her temperature. He smiled and nodded at Tony. Piper was sound asleep. MJ was still in the waiting room with curled up on a chair, Pepper sitting next to her. Tony smiled at his daughter. Bruce stepped over to him.

"She's gonna be fine Tony. She had a cold when all this began. I wanted to make sure the antibiotic was knocking it out." Tony nodded and smiled at his friend.

"Thanks Bruce." Tony placed a hand on MJ's shoulder as he stepped out into the waiting room. She looked up at him and smiled at him.

"You should call your mom and let her know you're here and alright." MJ nodded and pulled out her phone. Tony smiled and stepped back into Piper's room.