The life of a Stark

Chapter 18

-Tony's P.O.V- 

I was sat in my lab, the time had just hit 1AM and I was planning on waiting for Peter to come back before I even thought about going bed. 

'Boss, Karen is calling,' FRIDAY announces, making me frown as irrational fear erupts in my chest. 

Normally FRIDAY would say Peter is calling, but it's only ever Karen calling if something is happening to Peter, or something- something happened. 

"Let her through," I rush out, while already abandoning my project and standing. 

"Pete, bud, you okay?" I ask as soon as it connects. 

I can hear shouting from the other side and what sounds like 'hurry, before someone comes.'

"Help," I hear his small voice say before the call is suddenly cut off. I blanch in fear and shock and double tap my reactor, allowing my suit to wrap around me. 

I'm already flying through the air before I let myself dwell on all the thoughts, thankfully FRIDAY was already showing me where to go. 

"FRI, tell Bruce to have the med bay ready," I voice, knowing something is really, really wrong. 

'Will do boss, it also appears Karen was taken off line for around half an hour before she was able to get back online and contact you, she is still online and feeding me information on Peters vitals. His heart rate has dropped significantly, as has his blood pressure, from what I have been told, he has sustained multiple serious injuries.'

Worry builds even more within me and it takes everything in me not to break down there and then, I know I need to stay strong to be able to help him. I can see I'm only thirty seconds from him and I just hope it's not too long.

"Thanks FRI, send it to Bruce," I reply quickly. 

-

I look down to where my son is but see nothing but water. My heart thuds in my chest and anxiety crawls through my bones, threatening to take a hold of me and never let me go again. 

A startling thought comes to mind straight away and my dread grows even more. 

"FRI, light his suit up," I mumble, before diving down into the water and seeing the glowing suit, that is on my unmoving son who lays limpless at the bottom of the lake. 

I wrap my arms around him and pull him out from the water before flying him to the bank. I lay him carefully down and my suit quickly dissolves- although it doesn't feel quick enough for me.

I kneel beside him and pull off his mask with shaking hands, "Pete, can you hear me?" I voice, placing two unsteady fingers against his throat. 

A small, thankful sigh falls from my lips as I feel the steady thrum of his heartbeat against my fingers. Although he makes no indication of hearing me and waking up, and his breaths are shallow and uneven. 

"FRI, will he be okay to fly back?" I ask in a hurried tone, while my eyes scan his body to look at the extent of his injuries. 

His face is pale and bruised, water droplets falling from his hair and rolling down his face. His mouth slightly parted and I can hear his wheezing breaths. Some places of his suit is burnt and charred, and it looks like the same burn marks as the one he had got last time. There is also blood seeping down onto the ground from his shoulder and stomach, and I can see they're bullet wounds. And God knows how many bruises and small cuts he has. 

'Yes, although I recommend being quick, he isn't very stable, and I'm unsure of how quickly he may deteriorate,' FRIDAY replies.

That's all I need to hear before I gently lift him into my arms and begin to fly as fast as I can towards the tower.

-

I was pacing back and forth outside the hospital room just waiting for Bruce to come out and tell me I had lost my son. 

By the time we got here, he looked worse and he was barely breathing. Bruce had taken him with worried eyes and all but pushed me out of the room, telling me I can't be there as I would be a distraction. 

Pepper was sat down with worried eyes, looking at the ground, silent tears were falling down her face. I wanted to comfort her, and tell her it would be okay. But I couldn't get myself to say it would be when I wasn't sure myself. 

Bucky, Steve, Nat, and Clint were all sat down here as well, all varying degrees of worry on their faces. 

The door opens and I stop mid-pace and look up at Bruce who sends us all a weary smile. 

"Peter will be okay, it was a little touch and go here and there, but he pulled through. His healing has already kicked in, although it'll take a few days for him to heal properly. He should be waking up soon, so you can go and see him," Bruce voices, making us all slump in relief while a small, relieved smile falls on my face. 

"Thank you Bruce," I mumble,  Pepper doing the same as she is now stood beside me. 

The others nod at Pepper and I, indicating for us two to go in and see him, and the others will be by later. 

Walking in I frown at seeing how banged up he looks, but he does look better then he did before. Wordlessly we walk over to him and sit on either side. 

I take his hand and hold it tightly while whispering, "don't worry Petey, we're here now."

-

It was three hours later when Peter woke up. He was a little confused at first but when he saw us he understood what happened. 

After taking a few minutes, he explained what had happened. Telling me how he was going to contact me, but he was tased and it had caused Karen to malfunction and have to reboot- I'll be sure to fix that and make sure it can't happen again. 

He then told us that the men were selling to HYDRA and were helping them rise again, and the only reason they had said it to him was because they had planned to kill him. My blood ran cold at that and it took everything in me not to find them there and then and kill them. 

I knew we needed to stop them, and I only had one idea in my head that I could think of. 

"Pete, I have an idea of a way we could stop them. But I want your opinion on it, if you don't want to do it, you don't have to," I start, looking at my son. 

He nods and beckons for me to continue. 

"Next time you patrol, which won't be for at least a week because I want you to be better, I'll follow behind you the whole time. And when you come across them we can fight them together. How does that sound?" I ask.

He thinks for a moment before smiling and nodding. 

"Yeah dad, that sounds good," he replies. 

This will work. 

-