Shout Outs: Thanks to MythologyStar for reviewing the story.

Chapter 12: The Importance of a Hero

Iron Man got up, being in front of powerless Spider Man who was barely moving.

"Now then," Iron Man continued. "We can do this the hard way or the easy way. Personally, I prefer the easy way. Less complications to deal with."

The armored man, Bentley, laughed. "Cute but not gonna happen."

Tony titled his head to the side, pretending to be hurt. "Pity. Alright then…flares!"

All of a sudden, multiple missiles-like rockets flew into the air from the rocket holes. Just as they were fired, Iron Man quickly grabbed the helpless vigilante and flew out of sight.

The force field that was around Bentley and Sandman died down only to reveal an angered Bentley.

"Well played, Iron Man…"

Iron Man placed the tattered Peter on the bed. The boy hadn't gotten a clue as to where he was. The only thing he did know was that the bed looked inviting and looking at Peter's current state, it looked like the boy could pass out right about now.

Gritting his teeth, Iron Man deactivated his suit and gave a hard stare at the boy. He knew this was going to happen.

"Wh…where am I?" Peter croaked. He tried to get a look of his surroundings through his blurriness but couldn't.

"Shush. Rest now. You'll need it."

"Ho…How did you…f—find me?"

Tony gave a small wavering bitter smile before he gently lifted Peter's shoulder and brushed out what it looked like fired fragments of a tracker device. Peter stared at the item before Tony had his hand go sideways, letting the pieces fall down to the ground.

"You…you placed a tracking…device on me?!" his voice strained.

"I had to. In your current condition, you would've been killed. I wish I could've come sooner but I couldn't. You were just so full of rage and vengeance, it was only a matter of time for me to get in there. Don't let rage consume you, Peter."

Peter went quiet for a minutes until he spoke. "They weren't actually…there, were they?"

Tony let out a heavy breath and sighed. "No, your friends weren't there, I'm afraid. Just a trap to lure you in."

Something what Tony said triggered Peter and he had to ask.

"That's what the Sandman said. Friends. As in more than one. Who was the other missing person?"

Tony grimaced as he realized that if he brought out the news, Peter would not forgive him.

"Michelle."

At once, Peter instantly pushed himself up only to groan from the pain but he ignored it.

"Michelle!? I've got to find her!"

"Not now," Tony said firmly as he forcibly pushed Peter back down to the bed. "Peter, be reasonable!"

Peter narrowed his eyes. "How long have you known?" he whispered.

Tony tensed as he knew he was going to ask the question. "Known what?"

"Tony," Peter said sharply. "How long have you known?"

Tony took a deep breath and stared dead at Peter's eyes. "Since they went missing."

There was a thick disturbing silence, making Tony not liking it one bit. He knew what was going to happen next but he also knew that he had to eventually tell him though he didn't expect to tell him now.

"You knew?!" Peter roared. "You knew all this time and you didn't even bother to tell me?! I don't believe you! Why would you keep an important information away from? I trusted you."

"Look at yourself, Parker! That's exactly why I didn't told you! If I had given you all the information you need, you would head in the field blindly. I always knew you were smart, Peter, but going in a fight with a blind move isn't smart at all. Half of the time, I was considering to confiscate your suit but I didn't. I don't want to lose you, Peter."

Peter settled in silence as he stared up at the ceiling. He couldn't help but to feel betrayed. Peter thought that Tony trusted him and that Peter trusted him but the boy guessed that he was wrong.

"My greatest fear and it would always be is that me losing you. And if you have even an ounce of sense left in your head, you would understand why I'm doing this."

"You still had no right in keeping that information away," Peter replied bitterly as he forced himself to get up, not even bothering by the aching and the pain that went through his body.

"Where…where are you going?" Tony asked, troubled. Peter still needed to heal; physically and emotionally.

"Somewhere where even you can't find me."

"Peter. Peter!" Tony yelled as he caught up with him, grabbing his shoulder and roughly turned him around.

"What?!"

"Don't you dare walk away from me. You're still injured. You're physically and emotionally broken and going out will not do you any good. You need to heal."

"You don't understand!" Peter shouted. "The more time I waste time, the more something bad will happen to Ned and Michelle. I don't want to lose them!"

"I understand, Peter—I do. But going in recklessly will not do anything! Imagine if something bad were to happen to you? Then what? If you cannot think like a hero, then you shouldn't even be a hero. You're not an Avenger. Not yet."

Peter glared at his mentor, taking in a heavy breath. And then, he took a few step backs and right there, Tony knew what was going to happen next.

Tony sighed, realizing that he had no option left. He hoped that it wasn't going to come to this but it looked like did and he really didn't liked it at all. Closing his eyes, Tony got up and reopened them, activating his suit.

"Sorry Peter…" he mumbled. The repulsor got activated and then when Tony reached his power—where he felt it should be—he released it. The power struck at Peter from behind, instantly causing the boy be knocked out.

"Sir, did you had to use that certain method?"

Tony sighed. "I had to, Happy but I really wished I didn't. Trust me. What would you have done if you have tried everything?"

Happy gave a wry smile. "In the recent events, in all honesty, I would probably do the same."

Tony gazed at the unconscious Peter. He looked so torn, so broken, it pained him so much. The billionaire hated himself for even doing that action in the first place. Why did it have to come to that? However, quite frankly, Peter was a bit of a hypocrite as well. While Peter was knocked out, Tony took this time to examine any serious wounds if he had any and to his disbelief, he found one. Right at the shoulder that was now fully treated well.

He grimaced, wanting to know how he gotten the bullet wound. Whoever removed the bullet actually managed to do it quite well.

After a few hours, Peter had finally woken up. At first, his vision was blurry and he was having trouble seeing things. The gleaming light glared down which made Peter wince. Eventually, his eyesight became clearer and he was able to see properly but there was a sudden huge ache in his body which made him feel like he was unable to move at all. Like he was immobilized.

"T…Tony?" Peter whispered softly.

Almost at once, Tony jolted wide awake, waking up from his sleep. He never left his side.

"I'm here…"

Silence settled in.

"How do you feel?" Tony muttered.

"Like I can't move…"

"Don't worry. It'll pass."

"Sir, I require your immediate attention."

Happy's voice was heard through the intercom. Tony sighed.

"I'll be back. Just…just rest."

Once Tony was out of sight, Peter tried to push himself up but there was so much pain in his body. He tried to ignore it and he eventually got up and almost instinctively, Peter placed his hand on his injured shoulder—the one where he got the bullet wound. He expected to have blood pouring out but there wasn't. In fact, it was all patched up—the proper way and that made Peter's throat go dry. Tony had found out but there weren't any signs where Tony acknowledged it or otherwise, Peter would already gotten an earful.

Ned…

Peter clenched his fist tightly as he still hadn't found them. Him and Michelle. Peter staggered as he got up, swaying slightly to the side.

Must find them…

He leaned against the wall when he reached it. However, he stared at the suit what Tony left and an idea went in his mind. Voices were heard down the hall which made Peter have little time to perform his plan. He quickly fired his webs before he released them towards the higher part of the wall, disappearing from sight.

"…Peter mustn't get up yet. The less he moves, the better his healing would be."

"Well then, sir. If young Mr. Parker is still injured, then I'm assuming is that he has been healed."

Tony frowned. "What do you mean…" he trailed off when he spotted an empty bed. "Where is he?!"

"I'll get the searching done right away."

"He's going to get himself injured even more," Tony narrowed his eyes and he walked towards his suit. Once inside, Tony felt the familiar grip on him as the machine locked itself on him.

"What are you going to do, sir?"

"Bringing him home," Tony replied and the machine started to be activated only to falter which earned a confused look. "What…what happened? Friday?"

"Systems failure indicated…"

"…Failure…?"

"Foreign substance detected. There seemed to be a material that is similar to a web-like element that is causing this machine be problematic."

Tony's expression fallen when he heard the web-like material. He twisted his smile into irritation as he quirked his eyebrow, knowing who it was.

"That son of a—"

Spider Man grunted as he collapsed on a side platform of the building. He was still weak but he refused to give up. Not when Michelle and Ned were still captured by the fiends. Spider Man supposed that he was foolish simply because when he encountered Sandman, he could've finished him off. Instead, he was allowing himself to listen to his story.

Of course, back then, he didn't knew that Peter was talking to a fake Sandman.

He stared into the distance where the Heart of Queens lies. He climbed onto the top of the rail and performed a free fall then fired his webs, latching against nearest objects there was. He continued to web sling across the city, building after building, when a certain constructional site caught his from the distance.

With that thought in mind, Spider Man began to swing towards that direction until the site came closer and he was able to land on the dirty ground. Something seemed edgy about this place which unnerved Peter. He took this moment to look around the quiet place. Two machines were across from one another, currently being powered down.

But as he walked further down, a certain part of the wall grabbed his attention. Curious, he paced towards the wall only to widen his eyes, giving out a shocked gasp.

There, literally being stuck to the wall, were what it looked two humanoid shapes. The eyes (frozen with fear) and mouths were wide open as though they were screaming out for help. The whole figures were covered in sand and dirt, sticking them in one place. The hands were out as though they were trying to grab something.

"Ned!" Peter cried out, recognizing them. "Michelle!"

"Intriguing, isn't it?"

Spider Man whipped around to see a shadow emerging and it showed Bentley.

"What have you done to them?!" Peter exclaimed. In all honesty, he was quite disturbed by the sight.

The enemy smirked. "Me? You honestly think that it was I who covered them in dirt?"

Spider Man tightened his clenched fists.

"Aww, you're not upset are you?" Bentley sneered. "To me, it's better this way since you have less things to worry about. They're such an annoyance."

Angered, Peter fired web shoots but unfortunately, they were deflected by the force field that was around. Spider Man sneered.

"What's the matter? Can't fight without being a coward?"

The enemy gave out a rage yell. "You little insect!"

"Word of an advice: find a new hobby, Wittman."

Growling, Bentley activated his Anti-gravity discs, now being levitated off the ground. Using the flight, he began to fly towards Spider Man who ducked down to avoid the blow and then the masked hero shot out his webs, latching itself at one of his legs much to his annoyance.

"Get off me!" the foe growled and he used his anti-gravity discs (which allows him to fly) to glide around the construction site in hopes of losing Spider Man. Spider Man yelped form the sudden burst of speed and the two of them were found soaring around the area.

Author's Note: Welp, I think that was the bitch move Tony could ever do…I'm sorry! But there was a purpose to it…*cough cough* and I admit…I was actually struggling with this story *sweat-drop* so I hope it turned out alright. I may go back and edited some chapters when the books are finished and…Tony's not happy with what happened to his suit XD EDIT: I actually went back and edited the last scene so now it's better and we finally got a glimpse of what happened to Ned and Micelle. What happens next? Find out! Toodles!