Slight trigger warnings for anxiety and panic attacks towards the end of the chapter.
A/N: The thrilling conclusion to the Avengers movie! But not to the story. I'm trying to add more needed fluff moments, but I promise that there will be some in the next chapter, as I've already written some of it. I hope that some of your questions get cleared up in the chapter about what happened last time, if not, go ahead and ask, I'll answer if I can! I have vague plans for what's going to happen in future chapters, and that's all I need before the others start guiding me.
Y'all are amazing!
Unbeta'd, and Marvel owns more of this than I do.
Also, if you go to my Tubmlr page (megaranoelle. tumblr. com) you can catch some behinds the scene stuff about the fic. No spoilers, promise. Maybe you can influence the story.
The moment Tony felt the tip of the scepter touch his head, he lost himself. He didn't feel himself falling to the floor, didn't hear any of Peter's shouts, all he knew was that something was inside of his mind and he didn't like it. Tony couldn't describe what it felt like, it was nothing and everything at once. A force caressing his mind, riffling through his memories, holding him, pushing him down, and ripping into him all at the same time.
Tony gasped, sitting up in the cot, in the dark cold cave, the battery attached to his chest. His hands shook as he looked down, seeing the familiar blue of the arc reactor, the new arc reactor. But why were there wires attached to it? Tony blinked his eyes rapidly, looking around, his eyes adjusting from the light of the arc reactor to the dark of the cave. Not again, he wouldn't be caught in a cave again.
Swinging his legs around, Tony pushed himself off the cot then yelped, pulling his feet back up as he splashed water. The ground was full of water, several feet deep, and rapidly rising. Tony grabbed the battery quickly and stood up on the cot before the water crested over the top of it. As he stood up straight his head suddenly slammed against the rock ceiling, and he was pushed down to a hunch. The water was getting higher and he had a battery attached to him, and this time there would be no stopping the water from touching it.
Tony grit his teeth and pulled at the wires, yanking them out of the arc reactor and gasped. He pulled the wires away from the battery connections and threw it into the water. He would need to start swimming, he needed to get out, while he still had space to breathe. Tony felt it, the tightness in his chest, the buzzing in the back of his mind, the oncoming panic attack. He had to keep it together, until he got out of the water.
"Daddy!" Tony looked around, hearing the cry from far away. Tony started to tread water now, kicking his feet, looking for the familiar exit of a cave that he could remember from nearly five years ago.
Tony stumbled, almost falling to his face, when the water suddenly disappeared, leaving him standing in the sand of the desert. He covered his eyes from the sun and looked around, then saw two figures a few hundred feet away. "Daddy!" Peter, he was over there.
Tony started to run, getting closer, and saw the taller figure with his back to him. The figure, the man, was wearing a suit, no, a black tuck. The hair was cropped close to the back of his head, dark, with grey streaked through. Tony knew the stance, he knew the suit, the hair, and he stopped running. Howard Stark.
"No," Tony whispered to himself. Howard was facing Peter, Peter who was crying, big tears sliding down his cheeks, holding his hands to his chest. "Get away from him!" The man turned and Tony felt the blood drain from his face. It wasn't Howard. Tony was looking at himself.
"Daddy," Peter cried out weakly. Tony tore his eyes away and ran over to Peter, falling to his knees in front of the boy. He took Peter's hands away from his chest. There in the middle of his chest was a blue glow. Tony felt numb. "It hurts, Daddy. I'm scared."
"No, no, no, no," Tony repeated. He pushed Peter's shirt up, seeing the set in arc reactor. And the black lines of palladium poisoning marring his chest. "No, please, no."
The sand swirled around Tony then, circled around Peter, until it all disappeared, leaving Tony alone in a dark landscape. "No!" Tony shot up to his feet. "Peter!"
"He's not safe." Tony turned in a circle as a deep voice whispered around him. "There are too many dangers surrounding him."
"Where's my son?!" Tony shouted again. He had to get Peter back. Tony shivered when something brushed behind him and he turned around. There was nothing there.
"You can keep him safe," the voice whispered next to Tony's ear, causing the man to close his eyes and shiver. "Do you want to keep him safe?"
"Yes, of course," Tony answered immediately. There was a blue glow in front of him and he opened his eyes.
"There is power there, the power to keep him safe. Forever." Tony swallowed heavily. "You only need to reach out," as the voice spoke, Tony's arm lifted up, reaching towards the glow, "and take it."
The blue, it was familiar in color, but as Tony's fingers brushed along the glow, the energy was all wrong. It wasn't the arc reactor technology. Tony tried to pull his arm back, but the light lashed out, wrapping around his wrist. It tugged and Tony stumbled forward. The light grew in size, more threads lashing out at him, wrapping around his body, until it was all Tony could see, feel, breathe...
Steve lifted the shield up half a second before he was hit with the blast. He peered over the shield and once again saw Tony's blue eyes, looking at him, not brown. Tony lifted the scepter again and Steve lifted the shield again, making a face, knowing he had to try and stop Tony. Hopefully Romanoff's technique on Barton would work.
He took a breath, felt the next hit on the shield and moved forward. Steve lifted the shield up, expecting to hit the scepter out of Stark's hands, but instead felt resistance. Lifting his head he saw that Stark was holding it with both hands, pushing against the shield, stopping Steve, which really should not have been possible.
Stark snarled, nostrils flaring. "No one will keep me from my son. No one will stop me from keeping him safe! Not even you!" Steve's eyes widened a little in surprise, at both his words and the intense anger that coated them. Stark lifted his arms, bring them back and slamming the end of the scepter against Steve's shield, jerking him a little. Steve put his free hand behind the shield and lifted up with all his strength, causing Stark to stumble back a couple of steps.
He swung his shield towards Stark's arm, but Stark brought the staff up to block the attack. Steve moved one foot and was swinging his fist at Stark now, but he moved the staff just as quickly, hitting Steve's forearm and forcing it back. It was apparent that Tony didn't always need the suit to take care of himself. What had Loki done to Tony? To turn him into this angry fighter? Tony was still in there, by the way that he thought he was protecting Peter.
Steve fell into a routine of left with the shield, right with the fist, turn and pivot, try to throw Stark off his feet, forcing him to move back. Stark met him blow for blow, until one hit, a little closer to the inside, tripped him up. Steve pressed the advantage, slamming the shield against his wrist. Stark cried out, the scepter falling from his hand, and Steve kicked it, sending it flying out the window. Stark growled, narrowing his eyes at Steve and jumped at Steve.
"Sorry, Stark," Steve muttered before he swung his left arm up, shield clutched tightly, beaning Tony with the flat of the shield in the side of the head. Tony stopped, mouth opening a little before crumpling to the ground the next second. Steve took a breath and leaned down, shield still clutched tightly, but gently moved Tony's head. His chest was still moving, eyelids fluttering as his eyes moved underneath.
"Tony? Can you hear me?" Steve moved his hand to his chest, his breathing still strong, and felt and heard the moan of pain coming from the genius.
"'Sa mean leff hook," Tony slurred slightly, eyes opening at half mast. Steve left out a breath seeing them brown again. He was sure that the light feeling in his chest was just because he had gotten Peter's father back, yeah, that's what that was. Tony gripped Steve's wrist with his right hand, making Steve blink, before he realized that Tony was trying to sit up. He pulled him upright, watching him carefully.
"Take it slow, that couldn't have been pleasant to the head," Steve told him. Tony's pupils were shrinking and growing back and forth as he tried to gain his bearing.
"Yeah, neither was the blow to my wrist." Steve winced a little, but Tony shook his head a little.
"Where's Peter?" Tony tried to focus his eyes, looking around the room. "Loki-"
"Peter's safe," Steve said quickly. "Jarvis took him down the elevator to a safe room?" Tony's shoulders slumped with what he thought was relief. Steve felt a little guilty at the next question that he was going to ask, but he needed to know. "I need to know, are you good-"
"Get me in a suit and I'll be fine." Tony used Steve to push himself up carefully. They both turned to look outside, finally taking stock of what was actually going on. "Can't afford to have me sit this one out, Cap," Tony said carefully as they watched the invasion outside.
"I made a promise to Peter," Steve looked at Tony "That I'd help you."
"Not going to be much help if we don't save the world," Tony replied. "Won't have much time with my boy if we lose this. So let's not lose this." Tony walked towards the ledge of one of the broken windows in the penthouse. "Jarvis, deploy." Tony turned a head back towards Steve, something whirring behind him. "Beat you there." He jumped from the edge, out the window, and Steve's eyes widened as he shouted.
"Stark!" Something blew past Steve at the same time and he ran over, looking down, before Iron Man shot back up past him, firing shots at the invading aliens. Steve let out a bark of laughter. "That little shit."
Tony wouldn't tell any of them, but the suit was supporting Tony as they fought. He didn't have the needed strength or energy to keep himself standing for longer than five minutes, and his wrist was probably broken. Jarvis knew about this, could see the readings on the HUD, and tried to work with his creator so that Tony didn't have to do much maneuvering with his hand. But Tony would work through a hundred broken bones if it meant stopping this invasion and keeping Peter safe.
-the power to keep him safe-
Tony shook his head, the whispering in the back of his mind going away. He took a deep breath and turned, firing at a couple more of the chitauri. Steve had hit his head pretty hard, hard enough to bring him back, but the voice was still there. He could still feel, whatever it was, there, just at the back of his mind, too close, touching him. Was this what Loki was feeling? Was this what Barton had felt?
Whatever it was, whatever had passed into him with that scepter, it took his worst fears and gave them life. It played with him, then gave him a solution, just within his grasp, but with a price. It tested you to see how far you were willing to go, and it knew how far Tony was willing to go now to keep Peter safe. Tony had shown it his weak points, and it was relentless in its attacks. Even as Tony fought he could hear the whispers, could see the images of Peter in his mind, saw Tony, older, as Howard; and it told him that none of that would happen if he only accepted the power they offered him.
Tony closed his eyes as he flew through the Leviathan, blowing it up from the inside, and he didn't want to think about how much cleaning the suit was going to need. There was a faint blue glow behind his eyes.
Help our ally.
Tony's eyes shot open as he was flung through the air.
Help him secure the tesseract. Your son will be safe.
Tony grunted as he hit the ground, the HUD glitching a little.
"Stark!" Fury's voice.
Anthony.
"You hear me?" Tony grunted a little, trying to get up. "You have a missile headed straight for the city."
One of the chitauri hit his helmet as he tried to get up, slamming his head into the ground, but it was enough to jostle the voices whispering again, enough to focus on what was happening. "How long?"
"Three minutes, max." Tony swallowed at the words. He shot at the chitauri, getting to his feet. "The payload will wipe out Midtown." Midtown was where they were, was where Peter was.
"Jarvis, put everything we've got into the thrusters!" Tony ordered, standing up.
"I just did." Even Jarvis sounded rushed. And then he was up, flying, dropping off the rest of the chitauri soldiers.
As Tony got closer Jarvis scanned the missile. Nuclear, of course. What in the hell was Tony going to do with this? It was timed and there was no where remote enough that he could put it in less than two minutes. If there was- "I can close it. Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down."
The portal.
"Do it!" Cap's voice.
"No, wait!" Not yet, he need it open for just one more minute.
"Stark, these things are still coming!" Tony idly wondered if the man would have ever trusted him.
"I've got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute." Tony shot up, getting underneath the missile. He hated nukes. "And I know just where to put it." Tony knew what was coming, of course he did, but it didn't make it any easier.
"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip." Did Steve sound sad? Probably because of Peter. Tony felt bad that Rogers was going to have to be the one to tell Peter, but there would be no Peter if Tony didn't do this. There was no one else who could do it in less than a minute.
"Save the rest for the turn, J," Tony said quietly. "Steve," Tony let out a breath. "Take care of him."
"Shall I put you through to the safe room, Sir?" Jarvis asked sadly. Tony blinked his eyes, feeling the wetness there, and just nodded.
"Daddy?" Tony closed his eyes briefly, a little smile on his face. "Are you done fighting bad guys?"
"Almost Petey," Tony told him, keeping the tears out of his voice. Peter was perceptive. "Mr Steve is probably gonna be closer to come get you out, okay? So when he's there, you listen to what he says. I'm stopping the bad guys, so no one will hurt you, or Mama, again. Okay?"
"'Cause you're a superhero," Peter answered happily. He could see the blue glow from the tesseract now, could see his Tower. He was getting closer. Too close.
Tony bit his lip a little. "'Cause I'm your superhero, buddy. I love you." And he was up, headed straight for the portal, the missile too close to Zero.
"I love you, t-"
Tony's ear didn't even pop as he went through the portal, but a chill washed over him. The suit started to fail, the HUD going dark, Peter's voice was cut off. He let go of the missile, saw that he had at least guided it to the Chitauri mothership, or whatever it was, was going to be. The life support systems failed, his oxygen leaking out from the damage the suit sustained. He gasped for breath, tears in his eyes. But Peter was safe.
You will never be safe. Your son will never know peace. Tony hoped that he destroyed the voice with this missile as well. We will find you. He will find you.
"Too late," Tony whispered, watching the missile hit, the sphere of orange fire engulf the ship, destroying it. It was enough, it was enough to see, to know he had done it. His eyes closed.
Steve looked up into the sky immediately as the soldiers fell, lifeless. He needed to see the red and gold of the suit, he needed to see Tony! He felt Thor's gaze on him. The portal was open for too long, if they waited much longer then the destruction that the nuke was wreaking to the chitauri would come back, and Tony's sacrifice would have been for naught.
"Close it," he said brokenly through the coms. He looked away, then forced himself to look back up as the portal closed. He owed this to Tony, owed it to Peter, and to Mary. He swore he felt it as the portal closed, the air feeling lighter, the sky looking clearer-
"Stark!" His eyes widened, a smile flitting across his face when he saw the man in the sky. He was coming back down towards them. No... He was falling.
"He's not slowing down!" Thor started to swing his hammer, gaining speed and momentum. Tony was getting far too close to the ground, far too fast.
"Mr Steve!" Peter's worried shout came through the coms and he blinked. Thor glanced over at him. "Mr Steve! I was talking to Daddy and then he was gone! Jarvis lost the signal, and he can't get him back!" The Hulk jumped from a building, wrapping his arm around Tony, catching him. "Mr Steve, where's Daddy?"
"It's alright, Peter," Steve forced out. "Let me go find him. Can you stay calm for me?" He didn't hear Peter's response as he and Thor ran over to where Hulk had landed, dropping Tony to the ground.
Thor ripped off the gold faceplate as Steve dropped to his knees. "Is he breathing?" He practically whispered. He couldn't see anything with the suit around Tony, couldn't see his chest, couldn't feel for a heartbeat. Steve put his hand on the suit, and paled a little, seeing no blue glow. Could he rip the chest plate off to give him CPR? Could he do it without breaking Tony's ribs completely?
Steve swallowed, pushing back the emotions that threatened to creep up his throat. He had to tell Peter, he had to bring Peter out into this. How was he going to do it? How could he go there and tell a six-year-old that not only was his Mom in a coma, but his Dad was gone? He would tell him that he had done it being a hero, but Peter already saw Tony as a hero, and it wouldn't make it hurt any less. Steve looked at the ground. This was going to hurt everyone.
"Mr Steve?" Peter's quiet voice asked, uncertain.
The Hulk let out an angry, sad, roar, the ground shaking under Steve with the sound of it. And then, a gasp for breath.
Steve's head shot up, looking over at Tony, his eyes were open, wide, and pupils blown, the arc reactor springing to life, glowing brightly, and Steve grinned.
"What the hell," Tony breathed out, trying to catch his breath at the same time.
"I've got him, Peter," Steve said gratefully into the coms. "I've got your Daddy, right here, by my side." Tony's eyes slid over to him. "I'm gonna bring him to you."
"Thank you!" Peter cried out. "Thank you, Mr Steve!"
"What happened?" Tony looked between the three that were around him. "Please tell me no one kissed me." Steve almost blushed, almost felt the little bit of heat climbing up his neck when Tony looked at him with that sentence.
"We did it, we won." He looked at Tony, a little smiled. Tony let out a breath, looking visibly relieved. Then Steve punched his armored arm and Tony looked at him with wide, surprised eyes. "Don't tell me to take care of him again!"
"I thought I wasn't coming back!" Tony shouted back.
"Nope," Steve shook his head, putting out a hand towards him. "Not allowed."
Tony blinked, looking at Captain America, dirty, bleeding, exhausted, and took his hand, letting the super soldier pull him to his feet. "I'll take that into consideration next time." Tony said with a tiny smirk. He worked at the rest of the helmet, as Thor went over and picked up the faceplate he ripped off. As Tony pulled off the rest of the helmet, he took the broken piece and let out a breath. "So, where did we leave Loki, then?"
Turns out, the Hulk had done what Steve and Tony, and the others, had wanted to do. They found him crawling out of a little crater in the floor, before turning around to face them. Tony caught Loki's eye for a second. Thor grabbed Loki, Romanoff and Barton following, an arrow pointed at him at all times, as they went to secure him while waiting for a SHIELD team to come from the New York building. Tony was already working on the manual releases of the suit, choosing not to say anything when Steve stepped up to help pull the bigger pieces off. Tony was moving as he tried to pull the boots off, heading for the elevator.
"Daddy!" Tony turned and Peter slammed into him, arms wrapping around, sending him back down to the ground, landing on his back. He puffed out some air, but wrapped his arms around Peter tightly.
"There's my Petey," Tony said, pressing his face into Peter's hair. He had his little boy in his arms, he was safe, unhurt, in one piece. That's all Tony needed. He could be content in life with Peter in his arms. He felt Peter shrink a little in his arms, growing shy at something, and Tony lifted his head. Peter was looking behind him, and when Tony turned his head, he saw Steve, and the Hulk still standing there.
Tony ran his hand through Peter's hair. "Remember when Uncle Bruce said he didn't like green that much?" Peter nodded, still looking over Tony's shoulder. Tony stood up carefully, slowly, and turned to face the other two Avengers in the broken room. "That, is the Other Guy that Bruce talks about. But we call him Hulk sometimes.
Peter looked at him with big eyes, still curled into Tony's arms. Until he suddenly leaned forward, putting out his hand towards Hulk. "Hi, I'm Peter," he said quietly, shyly.
Steve looked at Tony, surprised, then glanced back at the Hulk behind him, who was looking at Peter with much curiosity. He wanted to trust that Bruce wouldn't let Hulk do anything to hurt Peter, but he didn't know how much control Bruce really had over him. He changed on his own, sure, but he was sure that the Hulk wanted to break out anyway.
"You helped my Daddy, and Uncle Bruce, and Mr Steve," Peter continued, not moving his hand away, waiting patiently. Hulk let out a snort of air through his nose, looking a little anxious, before he took a couple steps forwards. Tony tried not to tense up, watching him. Hulk put out his hand and Peter grabbed one large finger with his hand, and shook it up and down like he was shaking someone's hand. "Thank you."
"Little Stark," Hulk rumbled out and Peter smiled at him.
Tony hissed a little when the SHIELD doctor started to wrap his wrist up. Peter was sitting on the bed beside him, only because the doctor wouldn't let him sit in Tony's lap. They had cleaned Tony up, set bandages and liquid stitches on Tony's cuts, and were now tending to his nearly broken wrist. He could practically feel Steve feeling guilty from the other room.
Tony leaned over, dropping a kiss on top of Peter's head as little hands grabbed at the sleeves on his arm. He had made the doctor check over Peter first, to make sure there was nothing wrong him before letting the Doctor tend to Tony himself. He knew that Steve wasn't too far away, getting his own injuries treated, even though they all knew that he would be healed by days end because of the Super Soldier serum.
Peter tried to hide a yawn, but Tony felt it, his hand rubbing the young boys back. The doctor finished wrapping his wrist, giving him some order that he was probably going to ignore, and put his arm in a sling. That would probably be taken off in a matter of hours.
"You're tired," Tony said softly to Peter, who tried to shake his head no. "Yeah you are, you're a little ball of sleepiness."
"Wanna see Uncle Bruce, Mr Steve, and Phil," Peter said tiredly. Tony pursed his lips a little at the mention of Phil. He didn't want to be the one to tell Peter what had happened, at least not right now, not with everything else that had happened. He would talk to Fury though. Tony would take care of all arrangements, he owed it to Mary. He pulled Peter into a hug against his side, trying not to think about what would happen when Mary woke up.
"How about, we go see Cap next door, and I'll go find everyone else, yeah?" Tony looked at Peter, seeing tired brown eyes meet his own. "You can talk to him, 'cause he's the real Captain America, and I'll see if everyone else can have visitors. Then we're gonna get you to a bed to sleep, alright?" Tony needed to see where Mary was, and if Coulson had been able to do anything before, well, everything had happened. He still wanted Mary moved to his care, he was not going to settle for anything less.
Peter nodded and moved so Tony could pick him up with one arm, biting back the groan as he muscles and joints protested. He needed to rest himself, his body was trying to tell him that, but that could wait for a couple more hours.
They stepped out of the small room, seeing people scramble about, treating as many people as they could, taking overflow from hospitals, who were only taking seriously injured patients at the moment. Tony saw Steve standing as a doctor left his side. He was only in the blue pants and red boots, a white t-shirt on, and the shield by his feet.
"Mr Steve." Peter saw him and gave the super soldier a tired smile, happy to see him standing, and looking better. Steve looked over and smiled at Peter, walking to meet them.
"Hey, Pete," Steve said to the boy, and Tony raised his eyebrow slightly at Steve's own nickname for the boy. "You get checked out?"
Peter nodded. "A doc looked at me, then helped Daddy. They said that we're both gonna be okay."
Steve looked at Tony, giving him a little smile, then smiled at Peter, nodding. "That's good, I'm glad that you didn't get hurt."
"Just a little scared when the bad man took me," Peter said quietly, and Tony hugged him a little tighter in his arm. "But, he didn't really hurt me. Then Daddy came, then you came, and you both kept me safe, with Jarvis' help."
"Your Daddy loves you so much, and we both will always make sure your safe," Steve told Peter seriously. The little boy reached over for a hug and Steve moved closer. Peter wrapped his arms around Steve's neck, and Tony let the little boy transfer himself to Steve's arms.
"Do you mind holding him for a bit?" Tony asked Steve when the soldier looked at Tony oddly. "I told him that I would see if anyone else could have visitors, he wants to make sure that everyone else is alright." Steve nodded a couple times.
"Yeah, of course." Steve hugged Peter a little when the little boy laid his head on his shoulder, looking at Tony. Tony reached forward with his good arm, bopping Peter's nose.
"I'll be back in a little bit, okay?" Peter nodded and Tony kissed his forehead. "Then we'll head back to the Manor once all our business is sorted."
"Can Mr Steve come, too?" Peter asked and Tony blinked.
"That's-" Steve started.
"Sure," Tony said, cutting him off, shrugging one shoulder. "If that's what he wants to do, we've got room. Uncle Bruce will be there, too, so the more the merrier." Tony just didn't want to see Peter disappointed right now, and if he wanted Spangles to come back with them, then so be it. He nodded his head to Steve then turned around and walked off, several goals in mind.
His first was one of his crazier ideas, and he wasn't going to tell anyone about it. Except maybe the one, big, blonde, alien that was standing in the way. He nodded to Thor who was standing in front of the door of the cell that held his crazy brother.
"Man of Iron," Thor greeted. "Your healers have tended to you well?" Tony glanced at the sling, then shrugged a little.
"As well as they can, yeah," Tony said, looking back at the man. "What about you?"
"I am just battle weary, but nothing that will not heal," Thor said, nodding. "But, I think that you did not come to inquire about my health."
"Nope." Tony had one shot at convincing Thor. "I gotta talk to him," he nodded towards the door. "I gotta ask him some questions. I wanna know why he took my son." Thor looked at him with troubled eyes. "I have to know, Thor, he could have ignored him, left him, or something worse." Tony didn't like to think about the other possibilities. "But, he did it for a purpose. I have no weapons, and you put those sparkly handcuffs on him."
"I would suggest not being in there for long," Thor said after several moments, moving a couple steps away from the door. Tony nodded, pulled open the door just enough to slip in through, and closed the door. He stayed close to the exit, looking at the man that had kidnapped his son, sitting on a bench at the other end of the room.
Loki glanced up at him, the cuts and injuries he had endured, mostly from the Hulk, looking red, but starting to heal. "I wondered when you would come." Tony grit his jaw a little, but didn't move. "Did you feel him as well?" Tingles raced up Tony's spine at his words. "I had not expected the reaction when you were affected by the spear."
Tony licked his lips. "What had you expected?"
"To become another mindless servant, like the rest," Loki said with a tone of carelessness. "I had not expected you to become an unwilling slave, as well." Tony frowned at his choice of words.
"Slave? To who? You?" Tony asked carefully. Loki let out a short laugh.
"You know it was not me inside of your mind." Loki leaned back against the wall, watching Tony now. "Was not my voice that you heard. But, you did what I could not, you fought."
"Why did you take my son?" Tony asked, suddenly not wanting to continue this line of questioning. He didn't care about what happened to Loki, the madman had touched his son and that was unforgivable.
"Because I needed you," Loki said simply and Tony ground his jaw a little. "I would have used you for one purpose or another, but Barton had told me enough to deduce that the quickest way to get your attention would be through your son. I would not had hurt the boy-"
"You don't Touch my son," Tony hissed at him. "You're lucky I don't kill you now-" Tony was cut off by Loki's loud snort.
"I doubt very much that you would be capable of that at this moment," Loki told him, the bastard looking relaxed. "You have seen, and heard, many things. You went through the portal, you saw what-"
"Shut up!" Tony growled. He knew his shout would probably have drawn the attention of Thor. "I ever hear of you getting anywhere close to Earth after this, expect to see me. It will be the last thing that you see," Tony promised. The door was opened by Thor and Tony turned, stepping through. "Thanks, big guy," Tony said as he walked down the hall without so much as a glance back. That business was done with. For now.
He had a certain one-eyed director to find now. After several minutes, he saw Maria Hill walked away down a hallway and he decided to follow her; where there was a Hill, there was usually a Fury.
He wasn't disappointed.
"Stark," Fury said, looking down at a tablet. "I actually expected you to come sooner." Tony frowned. What was it with people expecting him? He wasn't that predictable, was he?
"I wanna see him," Tony said with preamble.
"No one is getting in to see Loki," Fury said immediately. "As soon as Thor is-"
"I'm not talking about him, that's old news." That got Fury's attention, making him look up from the tablet. "I want to see Coulson." Fury frowned. "I'm going to make the arrangements for his funeral, and-"
"SHIELD has that covered," Fury said, and now it was Tony's turn to frown. "You have your own problems to deal with."
"I think I'm owed a moment to see to him," Tony growled out. "Mary would be demanding the same thing if she were here right now, and Peter was with him when Loki attacked him. I have a right to see him." Fury looked ready to shoot Tony down, but he wasn't done yet. "My son was put in danger because of the secrets that your organization had, his mother is now in a coma because of your actions, and I put my life on the line to help clean up your mess and save the world! I think you all owe me!"
"Stark," Hill started, but Fury held up a hand.
"Agent Parker has been moved to your mansion, Stark," Fury told him. "Your AI is monitoring her now" Tony hid his surprised, wondering why Jarvis hadn't told him. "Coulson had put the order through before you came aboard the Hellicarrier. We've given you this."
"And Coulson?" Tony narrowed his eyes a little at the Director.
"I'll contact you." Fury said, then looked back down at the tablet. He was apparently done with Tony. Tony huffed out a breath, feeling anger curl in his stomach, but he knew when he wasn't going to get anything else. It didn't mean that he was done, but it would be useless to continue. Plus, he had to get back to Peter. He felt a little guilty then, hoping that he could distract Peter from thought about Agent by letting him see Mary.
When Tony made his way back to Steve and Peter he saw that Bruce had found them as well, sitting in a chair, Peter in his lap this time. The boy was looking even more tired and Tony knew that it was time to go home. Tony could deal with the rest at home, when Peter was asleep, tucked away safely in blankets where Tony could see him.
"Peter talk you into coming back with us?" Tony asked Steve as he walked over. The blonde looked at him and nodded. "Mary's there, just to let you know, so, you know," he shrugged a little. Tony ran his hand through Peter's hair. "Guess we'd better get to where there's a bed then, right?"
"I'll be there a bit later," Bruce said. He was in borrowed SHIELD clothing now. "I'm gonna help the staff here."
Tony nodded. "You know where the key is." Tony took Peter from Bruce's arms, the little boy putting his head against Tony's shoulder, eyes mostly closed. Steve grabbed his shield, and the trio was off, headed back to the Manor.
Tony's mansion had been far enough away to escape the attack from the aliens, but took nearly an hour to get too with the cleanup effort going on. Tony wanted to keep Peter from seeing as much of the destruction as he could, away from prying eyes; he had already been through so much in his few years already.
Steve had faltered a little as they walked up the walkway to the front door, staring at the mansion. Tony glanced back at him. "Come now, warm bed waits inside, Cap."
"You live here?" Steve asked, catching back up to him as Tony opened the front door.
"For the time being," Tony said, letting him walk in first, watching the man take in the mansion. It was obviously something that the man would have never seen back in the 40's, and probably a level of opulence that he wouldn't have even seen since coming back from his ice nap. Peter was already asleep in his arms, having fallen asleep in the car that Tony had managed to get from SHIELD. Happy was with Pepper while she had been on her meetings, so he knew that his friend would be safe.
"The bedrooms are down this way," Tony said as he walked down the first hallway to the right. Tony had always liked his bedroom to be at the end of the hallway, far away from anyone else that might have been staying there, but when he moved back there, and Peter had seen the place, he had instantly claimed the first bedroom, and insisted that Tony take the room right next door to him. Peter claimed that if he was closer to his Daddy, and the living room, then the monsters in the night couldn't get him. The hallway was too long to travel, the little boy had insisted, giving monsters too much time to catch him. Tony had been unable to say no.
Tony tapped on a door with his elbow on the arm that wasn't holding Peter. "This is Bruce's room." He walked down to the next door. "You can stay in this room right here." Steve reached forward to turn the knob, Tony's arm still in the sling for the time being. "My room is here," Tony said walking across the hallway. "Peter's room is right here," he said, tapping the toe of his shoe against the first door next to his. Steve opened this door as well, knowing that that was where they were headed first anyway.
The room was painted a medium blue, but the walls were covered in lots of Peter's drawings, actions figures on shelves against the walls as well. He had custom Captain America sheets, and Tony swore that Steve may have blushed a little, seeing the little bit of hero worship from the boy. Tony had let Peter do whatever he had wanted to the room when they first got to New York.
Tony sat at the edge of the bed, trying to pull back the covers, but Steve moved first, having two free arms to do it. The comforter and sheets were pulled back, and Tony gently put Peter down, not worrying about putting him pajamas at the moment, and tucked one of the stuffed animals on the bed between his arms. Peter snuggled into the pillows, gripping the stuffed animal, and Tony covered him back up. He motioned to Steve to leave the room, dimming the lights at the door, but not fully shutting the door.
Tony pulled out his phone from his pocket. "Jarvis, you there?"
"I am Sir," Jarvis answered from the phone a second later. "I am connected back to the Manor."
"Good, bring up surveillance of Peter's room," Tony said as a small rectangle appeared in the corner of the screen. He could see Peter sleeping his bed. "Alert me if he's about to wake up. What are the cell towers looking like? I have a call to make."
"I am linking you to the nearest undamaged cell tower, increasing the strength," the AI responded. Steve watched him, trying to understand everything that was happening, but he didn't look too confused. There were questions on his face, though. "Miss Parker in located in the room next to yours. I am sorry I did not alert you sooner, but I had not been connected to the Manor server when she was transferred."
"It's alright, J," Tony nodded a little. "How's her status?"
"She remains stable," Jarvis said, if not sounding a little sad. "I have contacted medical professionals that you trust, Sir, and they are on their way. I have a twenty-four hour surveillance on her room, and her vitals sir." Another rectangle appeared, showing Mary's vitals. Tony glanced over to the bedroom door that Mary was behind, and almost jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Steve was still standing there looking at him.
"You can go see her first." Steve frowned at Tony's words. "I have to,..." Tony paused, taking a breath. "I have to call her parents." He wasn't looking forward to the phone call. Steve's eyes softened a little. "I need to get a jet to them, and get them here as soon as possible. If they're even able to get in the air right now. Driving will be too long, but I don't know if all flights are grounded or not-"
"Only within two-hundred miles around New York," Steve told him. Tony nodded a little.
"Alright, well I can get them as close as possible, then get a driver for them." Tony was looking back at his phone, fingers flying over the surface.
Steve watched Tony, watched him dive into the newest problem on his plate. He knew what was happening, but he doubted he would be able to get Tony to stop. The man was looking for something to keep busy. Peter was asleep, so now he needed to focus on Mary, but he wasn't allowing himself to go in and see her.
"Let me know if there's anything I can do to help," Steve told him, and Tony just nodded, walking down the hall a little, towards one of the windows. The sun was starting to set and Steve sighed internally. He went over to the door next to what Tony had said was his room, and slowly opened the door. He could automatically hear the soft sounds of hospital equipment, a heart monitor, and stepped inside.
The room was painted a soft red color, the bed was large, and Mary looked peaceful with her head on the pillows. If you ignored the large bruises on her face that were purple and starting to yellow, showing that they were starting to heal. Her nose had been set, Steve remembering that he read that she had broken her nose. There was some dark circles under her eyes, and her arm was in a sling as well. He could see that one of her legs was propped up underneath the blankets, but she at least looked peaceful as she slept.
Steve bit his lip and sat down in one of the chairs next to her bed. "My Mom used to tell me that you should talk to people in a coma," Steve said quietly. "She believed that they could hear those that talked to them, swore up and down that it could help them wake up. I know your body still has to heal, but thought it might be nice to hear a familiar voice." Steve just felt that talking to her was the right thing to do. "A lot of stuff happened that you missed. Peter's alright, and so is Tony. At least, I think he is. You know him better than me, and he didn't look the least bit happy when he found out who I actually was. There's a strain there, obviously, and we both said some stuff. I'm not proud of what I said, and I wish I could use the excuse that an evil scepter made us say it. I'm still not sure, yet. This was something that not even you could have trained me for."
Steve leaned back a little in the seat, watching Mary. There wasn't a breathing tube down her throat, but she did have an oxygen mask over her face. Probably to help her breathing in case the broken ribs impeded that. He opened his mouth to say something when he heard a voice echo from the hallway. It sounded female and Steve frowned. There was no one else here that he knew about, or that Tony had mentioned. Steve stepped out into the hall and saw Tony holding onto the phone, and he could hear a female on the phone, her voice raised.
"-coma! You said you would protect them!" Tony had the phone sitting on the window sill, eyes closed, wrinkles at the corner of his eyes in what Steve recognized as either a bad headache, or a migraine. Tony must have been in more pain than anyone had thought. "I told her to be careful of you, that you would bring nothing but trouble to them! She defended you over and over-" The woman's voice faded out, the sounds of someone taking the phone away from her. Tony's hand was rubbing at his temple a little, head looking down.
"Tony?" An older male voice came through the phone this time.
"Yeah, I'm here," Tony replied quietly. "Um, I was going to say that I've got a jet waiting for you." Steve could hear the exhaustion and sadness in Tony's voice. He was in need of rest as much as Peter had been, maybe more so. Tony had gone straight from the trouble at the Stark Expo to the trouble with Loki, and Bruce had mentioned something about his arc reactor to Peter back at the medical site. "I'll fly you both as close as I can, the air is a no-fly-zone around New York at the moment. There'll be a driver waiting to take you the rest of the way here. I'll have a room set up right next to,..." Tony drifted a little before saying Mary's name. "I'll have everything set up. Peter's sleeping right now, and he's fine, I made sure of that. I have Jarvis monitoring him, as well-"
"Tony, you need to get some rest yourself, before we get there," the man interrupted him. Steve figured he must have been talking to Mary's parents. "I can hear it in your voice, son." ('Don't give him sympathy, Bill!" Steve heard in the background.)
"I will," Tony said, licking his lips. "I've just got a couple more things to take care of."
"We watched the news." Tony opened his eyes at the words. "Get some rest."
"Yeah," Tony said quietly. This man reminded Steve of the man he talked down from an anxiety attack last year. "I'll see you both soon, everything is set up. Peter will be happy to have you both here." Mary's Dad said his farewells and Tony hung up the phone, grabbing it, and just gripped it in his hand for a second. Steve felt like he was intruding suddenly.
"How is she?" Tony asked after a second.
Steve cleared his throat a little. "She seems to be fine," Steve responded in a soft voice.
Tony nodded, slipping his phone into his pocket. "I'll be downstairs for a little bit. Jarvis can help you with anything you need." Tony started to walk away and Steve blinked.
"You're not going to go inside?" Steve didn't believe that Tony was just going to walk away without checking on her. Tony didn't stop though, heading back down the hall, disappearing through a doorway. Steve was about to follow before the British voice stopped him, this time intoning from the ceiling.
"Captain Rogers, while I would usually agree with you, right now I must insist that Sir retreat to his workshop." Steve frowned. "I have been unable to properly record his vitals, and run tests on his new arc reactor, and must make sure that his is not suffering from any adverse side effects from the new element."
"New element?" Steve asked. He had noticed black lines on Tony's neck on his first visit to the lab that he and Dr Banner had been working. If he thought back on it, the project that he saw on the table, the one that he thought that Tony had been working on because he was bored, it was blue, much like the glowing reactor in his chest. Tony hadn't brought up a personal pet project, he was working on a new reactor. "Why did Tony need a new reactor, Jarvis?"
There was a pause, as if the AI was considering on whether or not to tell the Captain. "Sir suffered from palladium poisoning from the previous reactor," Jarvis said finally. "He needed to create a new one, and Dr Banner had been helping him. Had he not finished it aboard the Hellicarrier, I am afraid that Sir would not have survived long enough to stop the missile that threatened the island of Manhattan."
Steve paled at the words, at the thought. Tony had been working on saving his life as a side project. He shouldn't have been called in if he had been dying, it wouldn't have been worth it. If Steve thought about it though, how many had actually known what had been going on, other than Dr Banner? Tony wouldn't have told them, that was for certain.
"I will keep you informed, Captain Rogers," the AI said as if he could read Steve's thoughts. "I would like to recommend that you also get some rest. Night is approaching and I believe that it will be troublesome to find a time to rest coming morning."
"Thank you, Jarvis." Steve looked down the hall where Tony had disappeared, then went to check on Peter, just peeking his head in the doorway, then looked in on Mary, before finally retreating to the room Tony had given him.
While Tony had collected the data from the new arc reactor, and collected himself from the previous phone call, he had managed to get in touch with Pepper and Happy, telling her over and over that he was fine, and he was at the Manor with Peter. She should stay where she was, New York wasn't safe at the moment, and was just pure chaos. Jarvis assured Tony that Steve was asleep before he made his way back upstairs. Looking in on Peter, Tony checked that the little boy was still asleep, happy to see that he wasn't having bad dreams, or nightmares, yet. Maybe he would get lucky. Tony walked past his door, stopping at the door that he knew Mary was behind. He took a deep breath before slowly pushing the door open, stepping inside.
Tony wished that he would hear Mary when he walked in, yelling at him for being an idiot, telling him that he had overreacted by calling in so many doctors. But she didn't, she was asleep on the bed, the oxygen running, the heart monitor steadily beeping.
He sat down on the edge of the chair by the bed, and took the sling off from around his neck, the strap starting to rub at the skin. He flexed his fingers a little and held up his bandaged wrist. "Your wonder boy did this, by the way," Tony said softly. Tony took a breath. "I could really use you right now, Mary," he whispered. He rested his arms on his knees, looking down. "I don't know what to do. You've always been the better parent, and all I seemed to do was bring more trouble." Tony felt a tingle behind his eyes, and tried to push it back. "And I shouldn't even be the one sitting here. Agent should be here, doing this, talking to you, nursing you back to health. He would know what to do. I approved, by the way, of you and him. Wish I would have told him."
Tony sat there in silence for a few more moments, then pushed himself up from the chair, leaving the room. He stopped when he saw Bruce leaning against the wall across from the door. He looked tired.
"Steve is next to your room," Tony told him. "Jarvis took readings of the arc reactor, and everything seems to be normal. No more readings of palladium."
"You should get some sleep, Tony," Bruce told him, pushing himself away from the wall. "It's late. Go sleep next to Peter." Tony nodded a little. "Things are going to start getting crazy in the morning."
"You're telling me," Tony said, snorting softly.
"Rest, I'll make breakfast in the morning," Bruce told him again, leading him towards Peter's room. He made sure Tony went into the room before retreating to his own. Tony slowly crawled into the bed next to Peter. Almost instantly, the little boy turned, seeking out Tony, cuddling into his chest, hand covering his arc reactor.
It was cold, and dark. He was wet, and he couldn't see. There was someone there with him, he could feel them behind him. Tony turned on his foot, but there was nothing there.
You will never be safe.
Tony quickly turned around again. He gasped when a hand grabbed the back of his neck, throwing him forward, plunging his head in water. He tried to hold his breath, but he had had too little warning. Water made its way into his mouth, down his throat, and he tried to stop, but he started coughing, more water shooting down his throat, quickly losing his remaining oxygen.
Tony gasped, coughing, falling to his knees, when he was pulled back out of the water just as quickly as he had been shoved under. His arms were shaking, trying to keep him up. A shadow passed over Tony and he looked up, falling backwards onto his back when he saw one of the Leviathans passing overhead. He saw the Chitauri mothership and suddenly he couldn't breathe again. He was weightless, the dark abyss of space around him, the portal back to Earth gone.
We will find you.
Tony tried to get away, but his limbs were cold, they felt heavy. He felt hands on his shoulders, shaking him.
He will find you.
There was a scream in his ears, forcing him to close his eyes tightly.
Tony!
He shook his head, trying to get away, he tried pushing in front of him. He just wanted to breathe, he needed to breathe!
Tony Stark!
"NO!" His eyes shot open as he pushed the person that was over him. His chest hurt, he couldn't breathe, but there was light around him. He heard a gasp and he sat up quickly and saw Mary's mother, Rachel, stumbling back, holding onto the edge of the bed, her eyes wide.
"I'm sorry," Tony panted out, sliding out of the bed, stumbling on his feet. He couldn't breathe. "Sorry, I'm sorry," he kept repeating, looking around the room. Where was he? He couldn't remember. Blue walls, drawings all over. Peter, this was Peter's room. Tony's head whipped around, looking for the little boy, but didn't see him. "Peter," Tony panted, stumbling past Rachel, heading for the door. He didn't hear the woman calling his name behind him. He needed to find Peter.
Tony had been holding onto the wall as he made his way to the door. As he left the stability of the wall he stumbled, falling to his knees. He couldn't catch his breath, his chest really hurt, and it felt like his eye were vibrating. There were people coming towards him and he quickly backed up until his back hit the wall. He hissed when he bent his wrist a little too much. There were voices talking around him and he pressed his hands to his ears, shaking his head.
Why couldn't he just breathe?! Why did he hurt so much? The arc reactor, it was working, wasn't it?
Someone tried to grab his hands and he pushed back at them. No, he couldn't let this happen, he needed to keep Peter safe! He couldn't protect Mary, he needed to protect Peter!
"He's safe, Tony." Tony kept pushing at the hands, trying to keep them away. The hands moved to his shoulders, but they were a light touch. "Tony, open your eyes for me. Open your eyes."
He didn't want to see what was there. He didn't want to see the darkness, didn't want to think that he was far away from Peter again.
"You're in New York," the voice was speaking again. It was older, commanding, but soft. "You're in your house, in New York. Open your eyes, Tony." Tony shook his head a little. "You have to do it Tony, you need to breathe. You're hyperventilating, part of a severe anxiety attack."
What? Tony felt himself frowning, then slowly started to open his eyes. He recognized the person in front of him, white hair, the same soft eyes that Mary had. William.
"Look at me, Tony," the man said again, keeping his eyes on Tony's. "I need you match your breathing to mine." One of his hands was pressed to William's chest, feeling the man's chest rise and fall with each breath he took. "Concentrate, Tony."
Steve had jumped from his bed, running to the door when he heard Jarvis call his name. He saw the door to Peter's bedroom open, then saw Tony stumble out, falling to the floor. His eyes were wide, pupils were blown, and he was hyperventilating. An older man was rushing down the hall, kneeling front of Tony and Steve blinked. There was a woman in the doorway to Peter's room, watching Tony with wide, but hard, eyes.
Tony started to mumble Peter's name, and the man assured him that he was safe, telling him to open his eyes. "Don't want too," Tony stuttered out, fear lacing his voice. "Don't want to be back there, can't go back there, can't lose Peter."
Steve glanced up at the woman across the hall. She was looking at Tony with a hard gaze. This must have been Mary's mother, the same one who had been yelling at him on the phone. He knew that the woman had been speaking out of grief for her daughter, but it seemed that she was still carrying around that anger towards Tony. While Steve wasn't Tony's biggest fan, he had seen what the man had done, how he had sacrificed himself to save everyone. It wasn't right for her to judge Tony as harshly as she was.
Steve looked back at Tony when he heard a couple of faint wheezing sounds. He was trying to catch his breath now, trying to pull it in. This was something that Steve was familiar with. Bucky would wake up with nightmares sometimes during the war. None of the Commandos would say anything, and Steve was always there for him.
He moved from his doorway, leaning next to Mary's father. The older man glanced at him, and Steve instantly knew that this man had served, there was some kind of military look that passed, before he nodded, transferring Tony's care to Steve. Steve took one of Tony's hands, then gently guided his forehead to rest against Steve's chest. "You're doing great, Tony. Listen to my breathing, match the rhythm. In through the nose when I go up, out through the mouth when I go down. In, and out." He started to guide Tony's breathing.
"He shoved me away," he heard Mary's mother hiss to her husband in the hallway. "Nearly slammed me into the dresser, he shouldn't be coddled-"
"He's having a flashback," Mary's father said curtly to his wife. "He's not alright, and we can't let Peter see him like that either." The woman huffed a little, but didn't say anything else.
Steve put his other hand on Tony's back, rubbing small circles, helping him calm down. The wheezes were quieting down, slowing down, Tony's breathing evening out slowly. "That's it," Steve soothed quietly. "Almost there."
After a couple minutes Tony leaned back, eyes open, and looked at Steve. Steve, not William. He blinked rapidly, then started to push himself up from the floor. Steve paused, then helped Tony up. "Sorry," Tony breathed, looking down at the floor. Steve fucking Rogers had to help him through another anxiety attack. "I have too," the words were starting to flow from Tony's mouth. "Have to go, check on stuff, just, gotta..." Tony stepped around Steve, not looking at anyone, practically jogging down the hall, away from everyone.
His hands reached for the handle down to his workshop and pushed it open quickly, flying down the stairs. In retrospect he was lucky that he hadn't tripped. He reached for the workshop door, but it didn't budge. He growled then looked at the scanner, pressing his thumb hastily to it. He had put this in for something like this. If he had been too drunk, or incapacitated in some way, if he shouldn't be in the workshop for his own safety, then he wouldn't be able to get in. Jarvis couldn't override this, unless it was an emergency.
The door beeped once, sliding open. "Tony." He paused at the door, not turning around. It was William, not Steve. Tony walked inside the workshop, then held the door open for Mary's father to follow him. He took the invitation, the door sliding closed behind them. Tony practically collapsed on the couch, burying his face in his hands.
"I'm sorry," Tony said quietly. Here he was, running away, from Mary, from Peter. Rachel had her right to berate Tony, he wouldn't be surprised if they demanded to take Mary back to California, and Peter with them.
"I talked to your AI," William said after a beat. "Jarvis. He's very insightful." Tony leaned back against the couch, William sat down next to him. "He told me what happened, with that missile, and how your first thoughts were of Peter."
Tony swallowed. "I should tell you, that if anything happens to me, Peter gets everything," Tony told him. "I guess, at this point it would go to him, and then to Mary because Peter's too young, but that would go to you and Rachel until she wakes up. It's all set up like that, dozens of lawyers making sure it's ironclad."
"You're a good father." Tony's head whipped around to look at William. "You're a good man. Rachel is just upset."
"She's never liked me," Tony snorted.
"She's never thought you were good enough for Mary and Peter," William corrected. "To be fair, no one will be good enough in her eyes, so don't take everything so personally."
"Why aren't you more upset with me?" Tony asked to man, unable to understand.
"You didn't choose Mary's job," he said calmly. "You didn't make her go to work that day."
Tony licked his lips. He was trying to focus on the conversation, he really was, but his mind kept thinking back to what woke him up. He wished everything had-
"Tony." Tony blinked at the fingers snapping in front of his face and William was looking at him. "I need you to stay with me." Tony rubbed his face with his hand. "You know what this is, right?" Tony shook his head no. "These are anxiety attacks, and flashbacks."
Tony frowned and pulled his hand down, looking at the older man. "I used to get them all the time," William admitted. "After I got back from my tours of duty, PTSD."
"I'm not a soldier," Tony echoed words he had spit at Steve back up on the Hellicarrier.
"But you've seen battle," William countered. "First in Afghanistan, and just yesterday."
"I don't have PTSD," Tony bit out. "Just nightmares sometimes, it's fine." Tony pushed himself up from the couch.
"Did you have a nightmare about that portal?" William asked and Tony froze a little, shoulders hunching a little. "Was it just the portal? Or were there other things."
"I'm fine," Tony bit out. He needed to get readings from Jarvis on Mary, then needed to see if he could bug Fury again about Coulson, all the while keeping an eye on Peter. No doubt they would have to start coordinating about cleanup of the city as well. The Tower needed to be worked on again thanks to-
"No, you're kind of not," William interrupted his thought process. "But that's okay." Tony turned to look at him frowning. "You don't have to be perfect, you just have to have a plan to deal."
"I don't have time for that." Tony brought up a screen with a flick of his good wrist, showing the number of phone calls, texts, and voicemails he already had just from that morning. "There was an alien attack yesterday and-"
"You're only human," William said as he got up from the couch.
"I'm Iron Man," Tony said over him.
"When you have the suit on, yes," William agreed. "But right now, you're Tony, not even Tony Stark. You're human, and you have a son to take care of. Steve isn't always Captain America, and Mary is always Agent Parker." Tony looked at William, and his shoulders suddenly sagged, the weight of the man's words hitting him. He was right, and he was utterly exhausted with it all. He had been working non-stop since before the Expo, and then Vanko had happened. That was enough to wipe him out alone, but then Loki had appeared, and he had to change the arc reactor on the fly. Tony was immensely grateful for Bruce on that front.
Tony found himself being pushed towards the door of the workshop, William behind him. "We'll work on a plan for you later," the older man was telling him. "But right now, your Doctor friend is making breakfast, and Peter is up there waiting for his Daddy."
"I look like shit," Tony mumbled, catching a brief glance at his reflection.
"You do," William nodded and Tony's expression deadpanned. "But I bet you looked worse yesterday. Peter needs you." Tony's resolve hardened at that statement, and he nodded. Peter needed him, and he'd be damned if he let that boy down.
Steve kept his eyes on the door where Tony and William had disappeared too. Rachel had gone into Mary's room, talking to her daughter, and Steve stayed out in the hall. He felt a little awkward, but he wanted to make sure that Tony was going to be okay. He also felt a little protective, wanting to keep the grieving mother away from Tony until she could calm down.
"How can you defend him?" Steve glanced over when he heard Rachel's voice behind him. Steve raised an eyebrow. "After everything's that happened? All the trouble that follows him? He's still known as the Merchant of Death."
"You do know that what happened yesterday wasn't his fault, right?" Steve asked. He could feel the evil eye from his Ma as he talked to a woman like this, but she was directing her anger and emotions in the wrong direction. "What happened to Mary wasn't his fault either."
"If she didn't keep cavorting with him, it wouldn't have happened." Rachel crossed her arms over her chest, strong in her convictions.
"Tony actually has no say in what Mary chooses to do with her life." Steve knew this best of all, Mary being his Handler. Especially since he had figured out who Tony was, Mary didn't have to hide anything about Peter's father, and how close of friends they were. "Tony didn't even know what Mary was doing until hours after it had happened. I was there, with Peter, when Phil got the call. Tony was at the Expo."
Rachel snorted. "The Stark Expo, the monument to his ego." She rolled her eyes, but she was starting to lose her argument. "And where is he now? Downstairs, hiding, feeling sorry for himself?"
Steve frowned at her. "Tony Stark was willing to give his life to save millions yesterday, because he was the only one who could do it. There aren't many people I know who would be willing to make that call."
The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on the wire and let the other guy crawl over you. How Steve wished he could take back those words now.
I would just cut the wire. That was what Tony had once said. It had all been a front, that's what Tony was good at, deceiving. He had turned it into an art form, out of necessity.
"He's one of the bravest men I've known, and I fought in World War II." Steve heard the door behind him closing and he turned to see a slightly stunned Tony looking at him.
When they locked eyes Tony quickly turned, heading for the kitchen. William followed him and he caught Rachel when she went to follow Tony. He shook his head to his wife, catching her hands, kissing her knuckles. William caught Steve's eyes then, making a subtle head gesture for Steve to follow Tony. He didn't need to be told twice, following the older man out to the kitchen.
Tony had already moved Peter to his lap, a plate of waffles in front of them. "It's not Saturday, Daddy."
"But, what if I really wanted pancakes?" Tony asked the little boy, reaching his arms on either side of Peter to cut the waffles that Bruce had made. Steve went over to Bruce, nodding to him. Bruce motioned to a stack of waffles already made, various toppings sitting in smaller bowls.
"You know the rules," Peter told him, nodding like it was the simplest thing. "Only on Saturdays, or birthdays, or really special days!"
"I'm sorry, you're right," Tony nodded. "You're so smart Petey, remembering all the rules." Peter smiled, turned his little body to kiss Tony's cheek, making the man smile.
"It's okay, I'll always be here to remind you, Daddy." Peter hummed, taking his fork to eat some of the pieces of his waffle. "But, we can have pancakes tomorrow," Peter said after he swallowed his bite. Bruce and Steve glanced over at the boy. Tony didn't say anything, he looked like he hadn't even heard him.
"Why's that, Peter?" Bruce asked, and now Tony glanced up a little.
"Cause tomorrow is Daddy's birthday," Peter announced. Tony was studiously avoiding their eye contact.
Everything had happened just days before Tony's birthday? Steve looked at Bruce with big eyes. They couldn't let Tony's birthday pass like this, could they? Bruce had got to get more juice, and fill Tony's cup with coffee, leaving Steve with his lingering thoughts.
As Peter finished his breakfast, he turned and let out a little gasp. Tony set the boy down on the ground as he shouted his excitement. "Granpa! Granma!" Peter ran over and William caught him, picking him up, making an exaggerated 'oomph.'
"You're getting so big!" Peter hugged his Granpa around his neck.
"When did you get here?" Peter asked his grandparents. Steve saw Tony looking at the breakfast plate like it had the answers to the universe on it.
"Your Daddy flew us in last night," William told him as Rachel rubbed Peter's back. "We got here just after you woke up this morning."
"I'm glad you're here," he murmured.
"So are we, sweety," Rachel cooed to the little boy.
"Are you here to see Mama, too?" Peter asked, and Tony's shoulders tensed a little. Peter had fallen asleep before they had gotten back, and he wasn't sure how the little boy would take it seeing Mary.
"We are," William nodded.
"Daddy says that family has to take care of family," Peter said firmly. "That must be why he brought you here so fast. He wants you to help Mama, too."
Rachel glanced over at Tony, her expression unreadable to Steve. "You're probably right," she told Peter softly. "Let's go say hi to Mama, yeah? They say that even when people are asleep as deeply as Mama is, that they can still hear people talking to them."
"Okay," Peter said a little brightly. He turned his head to look at Tony. "Are you coming Daddy?" Tony's eyes widened marginally before returning to normal and turning his head to look at them.
"I'll be there in a couple minutes, yeah? Have to clean up the dishes from breakfast real quick." Peter nodded seriously at Tony's words. "Then we can spend however long with Mama as you want."
William and Rachel walked off with Peter, and Tony let out a big breath. He gathered the plate and two cups, taking them over to the sink. He turned, catching Steve and Bruce's eyes, before pointing between them. "The only thing that's going to happen is that someone is going to make blueberry pancakes. That's it." The two men blinked at him. "Peter expects it, but I don't want a party, I don't want a celebration. My birthday is not worth celebrating, not this year."
"How old are you going to be?" Steve asked and Tony blinked a little.
"I'll be thirty-four," Tony answered after a second. "I mean it, Rogers, no celebration."
"Why not?" This question was from Bruce this time.
"Because, yesterday, and today, was someone else's birthday," Tony answered lowly. "And aliens invaded. They might have lost someone they loved. I don't get to celebrate my birthday when someone else's day was filled with terrible sadness and fear." Steve opened his mouth but Tony was already walking out of the kitchen.
"He's takes on much more than he should," Bruce said quietly, starting to clean up the dishes, setting most of them in the dishwasher.
"Has he always done that?" Steve asked, looking over at the Doctor.
"Yes and no." Steve frowned at the non-answer. "Lately, yes, but you'd have to talk to Tony about that one. This stems from childhood issues, and I know you knew his father. I'm not about to get into that, not my story to tell."
"What if he doesn't want to tell me?" Steve asked.
"He may surprise you."