Unrecognizable
Lyco woke up in the arms of the man in the red suit as a wave of fear came over him. This man was an enemy, he was going to hurt him. He reached for his earpiece, but it was gone. That was a bad sign what the hell happened? What did this man do to him?
“ You don’t look thrilled with me.” the man said to him.
Lyco let out a loud cough as he finally inhaled the free air around him. He scrambled out of the man’s grip and used his web shooters to attach to a nearby tall building. He shot another web at the man's chest then swung the man with all of his force into the side of the building. The building cracked under the force of the coalition. Lyco flipped in the air then landed on the roof of that same building. The man soon flew back up to the roof back in front of Lyco, which is exactly what Lyco wanted. He grabbed a hold of the web still connected to the man's chest and jumped high in the air with it. He yanked down on the web as he ascended, taking the man down with him at a high speed. The man slammed down on the roof next to Lyco who landed gracefully on the ground. The man stumbled back up, yanking the web from his chest, and used his repulsors and to pull away. It sent a blast at Lyco who quickly jumped out of the way then flew to the side of a building sticking to it.
“ Kid, come on, I can help you!! I can help May too just- you have to let me kid.” the man yelled as he flew down in front of Peter sticking to the wall. Anger boiled in the boy's blood, he didn’t need help. He needed that man dead. He didn’t even know who May was. The man stared at him, his eyes broken as he retracted his helmet.
“ C’mon you have to know this handsome face.” the man replied.
“ I can’t believe you just implied that I’m old.” What the hell was that? It felt like a flashback but it was just that sentence, the person’s face blurry. But he knew who said it, the man standing right in front of him. The man was playing mind games with him. A new sense of anger washed over him as he wiped the blood from his face pulling his gator off his now bloody nose as it rested on his neck. Lyco leaped off the side of the building and caught a hold of the flying man. He grabbed and twisted the man mid air as the man lost control with the both of them, and slammed into the ground. Quickly they both got to their feet staring at each other, there was a seven foot space between them. Lyco was filled with rage as he stared at this man, more rage than he had ever felt in his life. This man was inside of his head, making him think thoughts that weren’t his own. He was putting noise in his head that was never there. Lyco bolted towards the man and ripped at the man’s suit, tearing pieces of the red exterior metal off of it as the man fumbled backwards. A huge blast hit Lyco straight in the chest sending him flying into a wall.
“ Well your Uncle Ben and I think you look great.” What is happening to his head? Who the hell is Uncle Ben? Rage mixed with confusion filled him as he reached for a knife. There was no knife, he must have lost all of his knives from the fall and in the fire. This pissed him off as he furiously leaped towards the man again.
“ Peter what the hell?! You gotta stop this!!” the man cried as he dodged the attack.
A flying shadow appeared in the background headed in their direction. As the figure got closer it looked to see the man in the shiny gray color. The only thing missing from his suit was a helmet. The men's dark brown eyes looked sad and furious as he flew in front of Lyco then aimed a huge machine gun at Lyco’s head.
“ Knock it off or I’ll shoot.” the man ordered, his eyes sad as he glanced quickly at his friend.
" WIPE HIM AGAIN!!!" His focus on the situation was taken aback by whatever just flashed in his head. What the hell?! Wipe him? Where were all these voices coming from? How was the man putting this in his head? Everytime he heard the voices he wanted to scream, who were they? These blurry faces kept popping up and leaving abruptly with no explanation. Anger filled his eyes as he glanced at the man in the red suit who stared at him with eyes full of pain.
“ STOP PUTTING STUFF IN MY HEAD!!” Lyco shouted as a tear fell down his cheek. He hadn’t felt like this before, he felt so terrified. He needed this to stop the voices they were so loud, so many people saying so many different things now. He couldn't focus, there was too much input at once it was like his senses were dialed to eleven. He winced in pain as his head began to throb in pain.
“ Peter. Look at me.” the man said softly and Lyco itched to run at him again. To ignore the huge gun pointed at him from the man in the gray suit’s shoulder. “ I’m Mr. Stark or Tony, whatever. That’s Rhodes. You know me kiddo, I’m not putting stuff in your head. Those people messed with your head.”
“No. No Liv wouldn’t do that. You are an enemy. You are an enemy of Hydra so you need to be eliminated” Lyco spoke with rage. His enragement boiled over as he ran at the man in the gray suit, ripping off his gun and kicking him down hard, punching him satisfyingly in the nose as he heard a snap. A loud string of mumbled cuss words came out as the man blasted him away, stumbling up.
“ Rhodes stand down.” the man in the red suit ordered, his eyes expressing concern as the man in the gray suit, apparently named ‘Rhodes’, gave a weak thumbs up while cradling his broken nose with one hand as he stepped out of the suit and leaned against a wall. The man in the red suit seemed angry as he blasted Lyco against a wall again.
“ I don’t wanna fight you kiddo. But I don’t know what the hell they did to you again because you obviously don’t know me now.” the man said his voice cracking a bit as Lyco sat up, feeling blood dripping down his face as he brushed rubble off of his shirt.
“ I don’t.” Lyco repeated. “ Nothing bad will happen to you I promise.” The man’s face was clearer in that-that whatever it was. Was it a memory? Or was it the man in his head again? Was the man in his head? No, Liv told him everything he needed to know, this man was messing with him. He scraped his combat boots against the rubble and ran as fast he could, jumping over the man’s blast and slamming him into the ground. He ripped off the blue power source in the middle with ease and he saw fear in the man’s face and heard yelling from Rhodes. His suit went limp and Lyco felt his fist collide with the man’s face, blood pouring from his nose.
“ GET THE HELL OFF OF HIM PETER!!!” Rhodes yelled, pointing a gun and firing it at Lyco, the bullet skimming his arm. He barely felt the pain as he felt his anger guiding him and shot a web at the man as he fumbled for it, the gun coming to a stop at Lyco’s feet.
“ Don’t… don’t get yourself killed over this.” the man who was in the red suit said as blood bubbled from his mouth while he weakly tried to push Lyco off of him. Lyco felt anger as he heard him speak and focused on the man, punching him again and again. It felt good to hear the groans of pain, almost therapeutic. Out of the corner of his eye he sensed a man running at him and watched as Rhodes ran at him, tackling him off of the man in the red suit.
“ Stop it, damn it kid. Tony doesn’t wanna hurt you.” Rhode growled as he pinned Lyco to his chest, blood bleeding into his hair as it dripped from Rhodes' broken nose. With a loud yell he broke free of his hold, sending him flying into the ground, not moving. The man in the red suit stood up weakly, obviously still trying to fight. “ I think this lego set has like five hundred pieces?” Fear filled him again as he felt his eyes water again. Who was that? Was that the man again? Or was it in his head? “ You guys are a bunch of losers.” That girl's voice, her blurry face. He longed to know the answer as tears fell down his bruised and bloodied face.
“ That’s not me kid. That’s memories from you.” the man said sadly as he watched Lyco intensely. Lyco hesitated, he wanted answers, but Liv said to kill him. That man had to be manipulating his mind. With a roar of determination to finish what he had started he flipped in the air, knocking the man onto the ground with a loud thud. Lyco quickly stood directly above the man now lying with his back against the ground, his eyes now staring back at Lycos. He wealky tried to push Lyco off of him, muttering stuff that Lyco couldn’t understand. He knelt down then twisted the man’s arm back. The man's screams of agony filled the air as Lyco tried to ignore the voices that kept replaying in his head.
“ STOP PUTTING THAT STUFF IN MY HEAD!!!” Lyco cried in anger as tears fell thickly down his cheeks. “ STOP IT!!! I’M GONNA KILL YOU!!!”
“ Then do it.” the man muttered softly as he cradled his arm which felt broken. Lyco saw a few tears forming in the man’s eyes. He looked so defeated. “ I obviously can’t overpower you.”
Peter. Lyco reached to grab a knife lying on the ground and walked back over top of the man to finish the job. He raised the knife high in the air over top of the man's chest ready to end it all. As he did this action his eyes began to fill with tears making it hard to see and his mind started to race. Peter. Why did that sound so familiar? The man tried to move but he cried out in pain as his broken arm fell again. Lyco knew he could kill him, but maybe he could ask Liv. Maybe to keep this man alive for questioning or something. But could he trust Liv? Of course he could, right? “ Damn I missed you kid. But I promise it will all be alright.” he looked up at the man’s face, clear as day. His eyes were so filled with care, he felt so safe. Spinning around as he heard the door open he ran to engulf a woman with long brown hair and caring eyes in a tight hug. She kissed his head and let go after a minute with a watery smile.
“ I’m so glad you are safe. I love you.” she whispered, pulling him into another hug, the man watching with a warm smile. Another heavier man stood nearby watching with the same warm expression.
“ Love you too May.” he muttered as he hugged the woman back.
Lycos' hands were now trembling as he looked down with teary eyes at the man below him. In a scream of anger and anguish Lyco threw the knife away from Tony, walking backwards a few steps off top of Tony before his knees buckled. He just couldn't do it, he couldn't kill this man.
“ Kid?” the man muttered as he used his unbroken left arm to sit up weakly, staring at Lyco with wet eyes.
“ I-” Lyco said as a sudden feeling hit him. Somehow he knew for a fact the man wasn’t messing with him. These were his memories. An anchor inside of him that he didn’t know was there grabbed a hold of the woman in the flashback’s voice. Her name was May. His name was Peter. The anchor inside of him gripped the bits of memories he had like life support.
“ Kid…” Tony asked softly again. The kid was sobbing, his entire body shaking as he faced away from Tony in a tight ball. Tony's heart was beating inside his chest loudly as he inched towards the kid. He had thought for sure as he was pinned down that he would die, that he would never see Morgan or Pepper again. Never dance with Pepper in the middle of the night when it was too quiet, never sit in the lawn with Morgan as he showed her different bugs and see her face light up. Tony thought the boy he thought of as his own would have killed him. Taking a deep breath he longed to comfort Peter as he sobbed, the sobs unrelenting and traced with pain so harsh it hurt. As he finally gathered up his sanity he sat next to Peter hesitantly, and placed a hand on his shoulder. Something deep in him told him Peter was no longer a threat, not when he couldn’t stop crying. Peter flinched a bit but didn’t look up.
“ Hey, I’ll help you kiddo.” he muttered in a voice usually reserved for an injured Morgan. The kid was more than injured though. Peter leaned slightly into Tony as he rubbed his good hand on the kid’s back while he cried. They sat like this for a little bit before Peter spoke.
“ I need to leave.” he croaked.
“ Why?” Tony asked, sadness filling his voice.
“ They are gonna come and take me. I feel like they will take my memories as well.” Peter whispered as he pressed himself into the man, tears still falling down painfully.
--- ------ ------ ----- ---- ------- ----
“ Take your memories?” Tony asked softly. He felt like he was in a dream like haze as he held the kid against him.
“ I don’t… the voices.” Peter said, his voice cracking. He buried his head into the man Tony's shoulder as he grabbed his head.
“ Oh.” Tony knew that Peter was too distressed right now to answer any of his questions with sensibility. He glanced at Rhodey who was still lying unconscious in a pile of rubble and a wave of worry came over him. He tapped Peter with his good hand and slowly motioned him to get up. The boy looked up at him, tears still flowing down his face as he slid off of Tony and sat to the side of him on the floor. Peter was still holding his hands on his ears to maybe help with the 'voices' he was hearing. Tony gently got up from the ground, pushing himself up and trying his best not to use his broken arm, as he stumbled over to Rhodey. Tony quickly remembered his high tech glasses that had been stuck uselessly in his back pocket, unable to use them while Peter had attempted to kill him and Rhodey. Grabbing his glasses he forgot he had, he ordered his AI Friday to read vitals. For a tense second he waited, letting out a huge sigh of relief when the AI informed him Rhodey’s pulse was stable.
“ How the hell are we gonna get out of here?” he muttered to himself. Tony glanced over to Peter who was huddled against the wall now, holding his head and shaking.
“ Kid. Come on, we gotta go.” Stark said as he walked over to Peter, glancing for any sign of whoever was coming for the kid. They must have lost track of him after his earpiece fell out.
“ I-I can’t. I can't. ” Peter mumbled, trying to not make eye contact staring at a rock a few feet in front of him. He rocked back and forth slowly muttering something Tony couldn’t understand.
“ That’s not an option, this isn’t some training exercise. We gotta go.” Tony ordered, trying to break through to the kid.
“ I can’t come… I-I might kill you.” Peter said quietly.
“ What? No, don't worry about that kid. You won’t kill me, we will fix you. Those people wouldn't hurt you anymore. They'll have to go through me if they want you ” Tony reassured him, although he wasn’t sure what he could do to protect the kid now, especially in the state he was in now.
“ The numbness in my head, the numbness that makes me do stuff. It’s still there. I can't fight it forever, I'm disobeying an order. She still wanted you dead.” the kid mumbled as he took his hands off his head and barred his face in the palms of his hands. Tony placed a comforting hand on Peter's back but a sense of urgency overtook him as he heard trucks whirring by. Those could be the people looking for Peter, they needed to leave now.
“ Friday, send my Mark 87.” Tony ordered into his glasses. They didn’t have time for a therapy session here if they wanted to get out of here alive. His entire face felt like a giant bruise, besides his terribly sore arm that felt like it was about to fall off his whole body burned as well. Definitely a few things either dislocated or also broken. But he could worry about that later his only thought was to get himself and his kid out of here.
“ No. I can’t come. Doctor Liv will come for me and she won’t hesitate to kill you. She gets very angry very easily. ” Peter said as he went back to grabbing his head, gripping it harder.
“ Who’s Doctor Liv?”
“ She's the woman I thought I could trust, but I think she caused all of this.” Peter mumbled, rocking back and forth.
“ Well she won’t get you again, kid. I promise.” Tony hummed reassuringly as he heard his suit whirring through the air in his direction lightning fast.
They needed to leave. He gently picked up Rhodey's bridal in his arms as Rhodey fell limp. Thank God his suit was taking some of the weight of Rhodeys body because his broken arm was screaming in pain. He ordered Peter to jump onto his back. The kid didn’t move.
“ Fine.” Tony muttered to himself and very carefully grabbed Peter's arm.
Peter jumped in surprise at the sudden touch but was even more startled when Tony quickly flew into the air with him. They shot off into the sky, vague sirens behind him. The kid struggled a bit but was too out of it to really fight, Tony threw him onto his back and ordered him to stay. To his surprise the kid gently grabbed onto his shoulders and he flew to his lake house. He had the kid. The kid was alive, and not dead. A miracle if there ever was one.
--- ------ ------ ----- ---- ------- ----
Pepper was sitting in the living room drinking coffee as Morgan played with her toys on the floor. She almost spit out her coffee all over Morgan as she saw her husband land in a different suit, the kid on his back and a horribly injured Rhodey in his arms. Tapping Happy’s arm they both bolted outside.
“ Oh my-oh my gosh.” Pepper muttered as her hand flew to her mouth. Happy stared at Peter who was still sticking to the back of Tony’s suit, muttering stuff to himself.
“ Hey kid.” Happy said softly as he waved at him. Peter didn’t respond, instead staring at nothing, his eyes looked unfocused and very uncomfortable.
“ We have a lot of problems.” Tony said quietly, his face filled with worry.
“ Bring Rhodey into the living room. I know some first aid.” Pepper said and Tony nodded but paused as he noticed the kid on his back.
“ Hey buddy, let go.” Tony said softly, Peter hesitated for a second but gently let go.
Peter looked around at his surroundings, he tried to fight back tears filling his eyes again. This all felt like a fuzzy memory, like he was in a dream and would soon wake up back at Hydra. He never wanted to go back there; he wanted to stay in this strangely familiar place forever even if it was a dream. He never wanted to wake up. His head quickly became filled with a not so foggy memory of Liv yelling in his ear to complete his mission. To kill on sight of anyone who isn't a part of Hydra, and everyone currently around him wasn't so he was disobeying a direct order. Liv clearly warned him he would be profusely punished for disobeying orders and he still vaguely remembered his last horrendous punishment. His head was so loud with the voices of Liv he wanted them to stop.
“Stop. P-please no I can’t…” he mumbled as he gripped his head again, shutting his eyes tightly. His knees buckled underneath him as he fell to his knees in the grass.
“ Look, leave him for a second, Happy be very careful the kid doesn’t know who you are-” Tony ordered as he saw the mess of a kid on his lawn.
“ Right, because he’s brainwashed.” Happy said as he stared at Peter with a terrified expression.
“ We will bring Rhodey inside and-”
“ Daddy!!” Morgan ran outside, interrupting her dad. Her smile faltered as she saw a limp Rhodey in her dad’s arms and Peter sitting on the lawn talking to himself.
“ Crap.” Tony said softly as his daughter looked like she wanted to run away to cry. Pepper swooped in to save the day and picked her up as they went inside. Tony
slowly followed her inside to place Rhodey on the couch. Leaving a trembling Peter outside on the front lawn.
“ Morgan, listen very carefully.” Pepper said as Tony lay Rhodey on the couch and double tapped to remove his suit. “ Your daddy needs me and Uncle Happy’s help a lot right now. We need you to stay in your room. I will bring you a juice pop and dinner later but we need you to stay there no matter what. Or else you could get hurt.”
“ Why?” Morgan asked, as a few tears escaped her eyes. Tony crouched down and kissed his daughter on the head but she just cried even more as she saw the terrible state her dad's face was in. His face had blood all over it and bruises everywhere there wasn't blood. Pepper rushed and grabbed her, carrying her upstairs and whispering reassurances to the scared toddler. Tony went back outside to check on Peter as Pepper got Morgan upstairs safely. Happy was standing twenty feet from a terrified Peter who was still rocking back and forth.
“ I’ve never seen him like this.” Happy whispered, his voice filling with fear.
“ Me neither.” Tony said with a cough. It was quiet except for Peter as they stood watching him. He desperately wanted to help the kid, but he felt frozen, and terrified. Clenching his fist and lost in thought he nearly jumped out of his skin when Pepper came out a few minutes later.
“ Oh my…” Pepper whispered as she put a hand on her husband's shoulder. She stared at the teen boy in front of him as he rocked back and forth.
“ Now who’s the mess?” Tony asked lightly but his voice was filled with grief. It was hard to disguise it with the kid in front of him a complete wreck. Pepper just squeezed Tony’s shoulder lightly.
“ How’s Rhodey?” Happy asked, all business as usual.
“ Good… we need a doctor though.” Pepper lamented. “ We can’t take him to the hospital in the city, it's too much of a risk, they’ll ask too many questions.”
“ Bring in one of the doctors from Stark Industries. If we knock Peter out and bring him upstairs they can come… they can’t legally run their mouths and we don’t have to tell them what entirely happened.” Tony explained as he tried to pry his eyes off of the broken teen on his lawn.
“ That’s a good idea. I’ll call.” Pepper replied quietly. She squeezed Tony’s shoulder again and walked back into the house, leaving Tony feeling weak and scared.
--- ------ ------ ----- ---- ------- ----
Peter felt like his head was going to burst into flames any second from all of the stress. He had no idea where he was, or who he was. He kept losing that man in the metal suit's name. It would pop up in his head one minute and he would forget it the next. He thought it was Tony but he couldn't be sure as his memory was broken into pieces. He knew his name was Peter and not Lyco, he knew that, but he didn’t know how. It just felt right, every time Tony said his name a small wave of reassurance came over him, because that had to be his name, right? He vaguely felt Tony sit next to him and place a hand on his back, it helped a bit and he stopped rocking. “ Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you!!!” The woman with long brown hair sung sweetly, her face blurry, everything was really blurry actually. She placed a cake in front of him, it said 15th birthday. The woman was May, he kept hearing her voice a lot and it hurt. As much as he wanted to stop crying he couldn’t as another loud sob erupted and his whole body shook with pain. He didn’t even know who she was.
“ It’s okay..” Tony said, rubbing the kids back in soothing circles, his voice soft and sad. Peter wished he knew exactly who this man was. He forgot the man's name again but his voice was comforting even if it didn’t help. He heard another man walk up but he didn’t have the strength to look up and see who it was. Tony- that was this man’s name, Tony whispered something to the other man standing above Peter, but Peter's senses were all messed up with the voices in his head and he couldn’t hear what Tony had said. What had he whispered? Did they want to kill him? He gripped his head so hard he felt blood as his nails dug into his scalp. The numbness wanted this man dead and it hurt to disobey. He felt like he was fighting against his own body. Peter used all the strength he could to fight it as he let out a quick scream then continued to breathe heavy.
“ Kid…” Tony said with concern as Peter shut his eyes tightly. “ What the hell did they do to you?”
“ Tony.” said another man and Peter looked up. A heavier man with heavy eyes was holding a vile with a needle at the end. Oh no. Fear filled Peter as he tried to get up but felt frozen in terror.
“ Please no…” Peter begged.
Tony didn't say anything to the teen as he grabbed the vile with his good arm.
Peter was filled with fear he thought these men would help him. “ No, please don’t, noo…” Peter sobbed, finally finding the urge to stand up, backing away from the vile.
Tony looked at Peter with eyes filled with pain and grief.“ Peter. I won’t hurt you, I promise.” Tony said, while he slowly rose up off the ground with the syringe on his right hand.
“ No. No! I thought I could trust you! You're with her, you're with Doctor Liv!” Peter said in a panic, looking around. He could run, he should run but he didn't know where he could go.
" No kid, you've got this all wrong, we just want to help you relax." Tony spoke, trying to calm him down as he took a step towards Peter.
" Every time someone has ever said that to me something bad always happens! You're a liar! You always have been! I trusted you but you're with her! " Peter screamed as he stumbled backwards looking for a way out. He felt so betrayed, he thought these guys would help him get away from Hydra but no it looked as if they were going to inject him with that liquid to make him unconscious. To send him back to Doctor Liv who would definitely not be happy with his decisions.
" I'm not with that crazy Doctor you keep mentioning. Please kid just let me help you. You just need to calm down". Tony spoke trying to keep his voice calm, as he now noticed Happy was slowly creeping his way behind Peter.
" I AM CALM!" Peter screamed back in anger. What was he going to do? The voices started to act up again in his head. They were all saying so many different things, different voices screaming at him to do this and that. Some telling him to kill and others telling him to run. He frantically looked around and could only see the man named Tony slowly inching towards him with the vial.
" Peter, " Tony said, seeing a change in the kid's face as he heard the voices screaming at him.
The voices must have heard Tony as well because they all started chanting and screaming. PETER! PETER! PETER! Peter's head was so loud he couldn't hear and couldn't focus. Peter put his hands on his head and his finger laced through his messy brown hair as he pulled. He fell to his knees, squeezed his eyes shut as a scream erupted from his throat. " STOP IT! PLEASE STOP IT! SHUT UP SHUT UP! MAKE IT STOP!"
Peter's sudden outburst made Tony and Happy lock eyes for a second both of their faces filled with concern. Happy slowly nodded his head to Tony and Tony nodded back. Happy was about ten feet behind Peter, not that the boy noticed, Peter's head was keeping him occupied. Happy ran full speed at the kid and leaned down so his shoulders were in line with Peter's heaving chest. They collided and Peter was smacked to the grass. Happy was able to situate his body so he was sitting on the boy's chest and he pinned down Peter's forearms with his hands.
Peter desperately tries to claw his hands out from Happy's grip but the man just proves to be too much. As Peter struggled he felt his right shoulder pop, it erupted in pain then fell limp under Happy's grip. Happy was putting his full weight on Peter to keep him pinned down and it was proving to be effective.
Tony quickly ran to the side of the scrambling Peter, their eyes quickly locked. Peter's eyes filled with anger and terror while Tony's filled with regret and sadness from the action he was about to commit. That only lasted for a split second as Peter swiftly shut his eyes and screamed in pain as his left pinned down hand tried to reach for his head.
Tony grabbed Peter's left shoulder to help keep it from moving as he plunged the needle into Peter. " I'm sorry kid." Tony said softly as the liquid from the vial drained into Peter's shoulder.
Peter winced in pain at the needle coming in contact with his skin. Once the needle was retracted from his body the men just stared at Peter. He continued to fight but felt an all too familiar wave of sleep and exhaustion come over him. He stopped thrashing against Happy who was still pinning him down as his vision became blurry. He stared back at the now blurry figures above him as his body could no longer fight the drug. He lost consciousness.
--- ------ ------ ----- ---- ------- ----
Tony stared at Peter lying on the ground, breathing quietly. Happy got off top of Peter then groaned a bit as he clutched his shoulder, the kid had fought like hell
for ten seconds before they knocked him out. Tony’s eyes watered as he bit his lip while he moved his broken arm a bit. He knew he needed medical attention, but that’s not why his eyes watered. It had taken everything in Tony’s power not to lose it to see the kid rocked back and forth and cry. Whatever they had done to him had messed him up, and when the kid screamed like that…
“ Wanna take him to the guest room? That stuff should knock him out for twelve hours.” Happy said numbly.
Tony nodded, it was going to be dark outside soon, Tony watched Happy pick up the kid as they walked towards the house and up the stairs to the guest room. He opened the door to allow Happy to put the kid gently on the bed. The room was rather plain with tan walls, a dresser, and a chair with a computer on the desk by the bed. It was usually used when Happy or Rhodey crashed here. Or when May and Peter had stayed with them. Tony sat quietly in the chair by Peter.
“ I told him I would fix him. Ya know his mind, but I-” Tony spoke quietly.
“ Don’t know what to do?” Happy finished for him. Tony nodded. The two men stood in the room in silence for a while, unsure what to do next.
“ Bucky.”
“ What?” Tony snapped as he looked up at Happy who seemed uncomfortable.
“ Bucky, his mind. We should ask him.” Happy explained hesitantly. A wave of emotions hit Tony as he watched Peter’s chest move up and down with each breath.
“ Great idea, ask the guy who murdered my parents.” Tony scoffed with his trademark sarcasm.
" You got a better idea?" Happy said back quickly knowing he was right.
But Happy was right, he knew it. It wasn’t really Bucky’s fault. Tony didn’t reply and another wave of suffocating silence filled the room. He should call Bucky, Tony promised the kid he could help him, and he honestly didn’t know how else to. Pushing back the flashbacks from Siberia he grabbed his phone. Scrolling through his contacts he called Sam, hoping Bucky was with him so he could finally get some answers.
“ Tony, hey what’s up man?” Sam said, answering the phone.
“ Hey look, we found the kid.” Tony said quietly, Happy giving him a small smile and leaving the room quietly shutting the door on his way out.
“ Oh-uh wow, that’s great!! I was worried about that kid, is he alright?”
“ Uh…” a memory of Peter rocking back and forth flashed in Tony’s mind. “... not great”
“ How so? Is he injured?” Sam asked with concern.
“ Kinda, yeah. Look, is Bucky there?” Tony asked as the kid stirred a bit, he was so emotionally drained and this won’t be an easy conversation.
“ Erm we are at my sister’s house right now, with the whole flag smasher thing-”
“ I need to talk to Bucky.” Tony said firmly.
“ About what?” Sam said, slightly irritated.
“ They brainwashed the kid, his whole memory.” Tony finally blurted out.
“ Damn…” Sam said clearly worried. “ Yeah, I'll have Bucky call you. He’s not here right now, I honestly don’t know where he is. Probably flirting with my sister or somethin’.”
“ Flirting with your sister?” Tony asked slightly amused as a small smile crossed his lips.
“ Shut up Man. I’ll have him call you… and uh I’m sorry about your-the kid.”
“ Thanks.” Tony said sincerely and hung up. His arm hurt so badly and everything was such a mess. Peter was still sleeping and he had wounds that required medical attention, and honestly so did Tony. Peter looked terrible, his face had black smog smeared all over it from the fire. The only clean spots on his face were in the shape of tear streaks going down face. His hair was all messed up blood protruding from his scalp and a giant cut on his chin. Peter's right shoulder looked like it was dislocated and his clothing was ripped and burned. Bruises and scabs covered any exposed skin. Tony stood up breaking his glance on the kid and quietly walked out the door cradling his left arm as he shut the door. He ordered Friday to lock all the windows and doors in that room, and to alert him when he woke up before heading downstairs to take care of his injuries.
--- ------ ------ ----- ---- ------- ----
Tony walked down the stairs to the sound of their doorbell ringing. Pepper swung open the door to reveal a small woman with a loaded backpack. She slowly walked into the door as she introduced herself.
" H-Hi everyone my name is Doctor Brooks but you can just call me Rachel, Ms.Potts called for me here because you guys needed some medical attention". Rachel said. She was very intimidated. It's not every day you get called by your boss to come to their personal residence to administer medical care for many classified reasons. She was wearing a long white lab coat with a plain gray t-shirt underneath. Her long red hair was pulled up in a ponytail.
" It's great to see you, Rachel. We are happy you agreed to help us because we are kinda low on options here.” Pepper said smiling as she walked towards the living room and motioned Rachel to follow her.
Rachel slowly followed Pepper as she began " It's no problem I'm glad I can he-". Rachel stopped in her tracks as her brown eyes saw Rhodey lying on the couch in a desperate state of agony.
" Oh my, I- what happened to him." She stuttered as she covered her mouth with her hand, quickly rushing over to him to see what she could do to help.
" Let's just say a lot has happened to him." Tony said from the bottom of the stairs. " Do you think you can fix him?".
Rachel looked at Tony who also looked terrible. He was cradling his left arm and was full of bruises. " I'll see what I can do, but I need to focus. So if you guys wouldn't mind giving me a little space while I work I would greatly appreciate it." Rachel said not taking her eyes off Rhodey and his injuries.
" Oh yeah we can do that, we will just be in the kitchen then," Pepper quickly said as she pushed everyone into the kitchen.
Quietly Tony stared off into space while he vaguely heard Happy and Pepper talking. An emotional numbness hit him as he tried not to fall asleep. He was so tired. After about an hour Rachel walked back into the kitchen as she slipped off her gloves.
" He should be fine. I did as much as I could with what I had. He has a minor concussion, a twisted left angle, and two cracked ribs. To cover the big injuries but the rest was pretty treatable. He should be off his feet for a few days and then he should be mostly back to normal." Rachel said as she fidgeted with her hair as the whole group looked back at her with concerned eyes.
" Oh thank God." Pepper blurted out.
" Thanks for helping Rhodey." Tony said shifting his body in his chair making him wince a little in pain.
" It's not a problem, I could look at your arm now if you would like." Rachel said as she pointed at Tony who was still craddleing his left arm.
Tony looked at Pepper who quickly gave him a reassuring kiss as he reluctantly followed Rachel back into the living room away from the rest of the group. Tony sat in
a regular wooden chair as Rachel helped him take off his long sleeve shirt so she could get a better look at his arm.
It was mostly silent in the room as Rachel worked on Tony's arm. She was trying really hard to focus and not mess up because this was the CEO of Stark industries entrusting her, who was only in her late twenties and had only been working there for four years. After about 20 minutes she had figured it out and told Stark that he actually didn't break his arm. He just severely hyperextended it, which meant he bent it further back than it was supposed to. That's why it felt like it was broken because it was very close to being broken. He tore a bit of muscle but as long as he kept his left arm in a sling for a while it would heal up fine. She helped Tony put an arm sling around his body and gently placed his left arm in it. Then she went and patched up some minor injuries around the rest of Tony's body. Tony had to sit still as Rachel stitched up wounds and bandaged others.
" There that's the last of it." Rachel said as she put a bandage on Tony's chin.
" Thank you, my arm feels better. It hurt like hell before." Tony said as he watched Rachel start to pick up her medical supplies into her backpack.
" I'm glad I could help, it's my job after all but I'll get out of your guy's hair so-" she said but was interrupted by Tony.
" Actually, wait I have one more friend that needs to be patched up." Tony reluctantly said not sure if he was making the right call by telling her about Peter.
" Um sure ". Rachel said, taken aback that there was still another person hurt. What did these guys do to get themselves all bangs up like this. " Where's your friend?" Rachel asked curiously as she grabbed her backpack.
" He's- He's passed out upstairs. Just follow me". Tony said as he got up and started to walk up the stairs.
Once they both got upstairs Tony slowly opened the door to see Peter still asleep in the same spot where he left him. Rachel quickly walked over to the side of the bed and placed her backpack on the desk next to it.
" Oh my, he's just a kid. If you don't mind me asking what happened to him". Rachel said as she slowly examined the sleeping teen.
" He… fell through the roof of a burning building". Tony said as Rachels concerned eyes met his.
Rachel had a lot of questions but bit her tongue as she went to evaluate his injuries. " Well this looks bad, I think his right shoulder is dislocated and I can see a few burn marks on his exposed skin. Are you sure he won't wake up?" Rachel said to Tony.
" We gave the kid a sedative to help with the pain. He should be out cold for another nine to ten hours" Tony said breaking eye contact with Rachel as he stared at Peter still comfortably sleeping.
" Ok, yeah I can help him.” Rachel said in a calm voice towards Tony whose eyes filled with sadness at the sight of Peter. “ You can stay if you want but this might take a while, and it might be a little gross with the shoulder…”
" Ok, yeah sure as long as you can help him. Take all the time you need." Tony said as he walked out of the room and closed the door hesitantly. It wouldn’t help for him to sit in the room, he knew that.
He took a chair from the bedroom next door and sat it against the wall outside of the bedroom Peter and Rachel were in. Tony sat there for what felt like an eternity, impatiently tapping his foot on the floor waiting for Rachel to open the door. After what felt like an eternity of anxiety Rachel finally opened up the door and invited Tony in. Tony finally got to see Peter still asleep on the bed but now all patched up to the best of Rachel's abilities. Peter's right sleeve from his black long sleeve shirt had been cut off, leaving his shoulder exposed covered with gauze and a cold pack taped on the top of it like a bow on top of a wrapped present. His shirt was slightly lifted, with his stomach having a few bandages on it. His left sleeve was rolled up to expose a burn mark on his arm that was covered in a thick blue cream. Peter's face was all cleaned up too, no black smog left on his clean face as a big bandage covered the bottom of his chin, just like Tony's.
Rachel put a reassuring hand on Tony's shoulder and began to speak. " The kid was pretty banged up. I originally wanted to cut off the kids whole shirt to get a better view of his dislocated arm, but I couldn't figure out how to take off the vest on his chest. Then I quickly realized it was way too thick to cut through so I just cut off his whole right sleeve all the way as far as I could. After that I was able to pop his dislocated right shoulder back into place with a bit of effort. His many burn marks are covered in that blue burn cream that should help them from not blistering, it also has some numbing cream mixed in it to help with the pain. He had a lot more scrapes and bruises then you and Rhodey did that I had to stitch up. That's why it took me so long. But the kid should be ok and make a full recovery. He just might be sore for a few days."
" Thank you, thank you so much." Tony said as he found her hand and shook it with his good hand.
" Yep, I'll be on my way out unless you have any other mysterious friends that are also in dire need of medical care. " Rachel said with a laugh as she swung her bag over his shoulder.
" No I'm pretty sure you covered us all." Tony responded as lightly as he could as they both walked down the stairs into the kitchen towards the front door and the rest of the group.
Happy shook her hand and said his thanks to the Doctor. Pepper pulled her into a quick hug and whispered into Rachel's ear.
" See I told you you could do this. You doubted yourself so much while we were on the phone. And you did fantastic, thank you again for all the help. " Pepper retracted from the hug and they both met each other with a smile on their face.
Rachel said her goodbyes and was about to step out the door when Tony grabbed her arm and said " You realized you can not tell a soul about this. And if you do you can get into some serious legal trouble with me. So do us both a favor and never talk about this again to anyone. Got it? " Tony finished as he raised an eyebrow at her.
Rachel filled with a little panic but quickly responded. " Of course sir, I won't tell a soul. I promise. "
" Ok " Tony said as he let his grip go off of Rachel's arm. She walked away out the door to her car and waved back at all of them one more time before driving away into the darkness of the night.
Happy shut the door after she disappeared, while all of their attention was taken back to the living room as Rhodey groaned again as he slowly sat up a bit more on the couch.
“ How long do we got until the kid wakes up?” he asked as he clutched his side and took a drink of water.
“ Like seven to eight ish hours.” Tony replied, he was so tired and drained but they had too much work to do. Too many problems to resolve.
“ Any word about May?” Happy asked quietly, afraid of the answer. Tony shook his head.
“ No, I have no idea. I’ll ask the kid once he’s back to his senses…” Tony trailed off as he thought of May. He had no idea how long it would take to get a sensible answer out of the kid and he didn’t want to leave her, wherever she was.
“ We can’t leave her.” Rhodey said, speaking Tony’s thoughts out loud.
“ Well sadly we don’t have much of a choice… “ Tony said. “ We aren’t in great shape”
“ Tony. She is most likely in the hands of whoever mushed that kid's brain!” Happy exclaimed as he gestured upstairs to the kid.
“ I am aware of that but due to the fact that I can not magically fix my injuries or make sure that kid doesn’t try to murder us again we have no options.” Tony hissed angrily. He cared about May and wanted to find her but it wasn’t that simple. He couldn’t just walk in and take her. If she was still alive. Tony ran his hands through his hair as Happy paced angrily.
“ Well we have work to do so I’m gonna go make more of that sedative because I have a feeling we are going to need it.” Tony paused as he stood up, the urge to sit back down and doze out strong. The pain meds made him even more tired. “ If you need me that’s where I will be.”
--- ------ ------ ----- ---- ------- ----
Back at Hydra Leslie was filled with anger. On her last mission she had been waiting in the white van for Lyco, but sure enough Tony Stark had to enter the scene and ruin everything. Tony flew off with Lyco, and she did nothing, she was very morally conflicted by her decision. At one point when Lyco and Tony were on the roof of a building she had a shot lined up on Tony. Her pistol was ready to shoot but she second guessed herself. That hesitation was just enough time for Tony to go off flying with Lyco and she lost her angle on him. Leslie lowered her pistol and began to think, the metal of Tony Stark's suit was most likely made out of the most expensive metal on the market which would make it very impenetrable to a regular bullet. She couldn't decide if she should have shot him or not. What if the bullet didn't go through and Tony started to focus on her instead of Lyco. If Tony would have captured her it would be game over, he would do anything to her to get information from Hydra. Her train of thought was cut short when she heard her name.
" Hey Leslie, Doctor Liv wants you in her lab". A man said as he quickly walked away.
" Oh crap that's right...Welp. I'm dead ". Leslie muttered to herself as she prepared herself for the inevitable. Liv most likely just got to the mission report and will not be happy about Lyco being gone. Liv will be on fire the moment she walks into her lab. This was going to be a shit show and Leslie knew it, she prepared herself as she stood outside of Livs lab door. She took a deep breath and walked in.
Liv was pacing back and forth through her lab when Leslie reluctantly opened the door. Liv was so furious with this woman, she was the cause of all her problems. That woman did nothing while Lyco was swept away by the one person in the world that was a major threat to Hydra. Rage coursed through her veins as she tried to speak her anger into words but failed.
Leslie took a deep breath and began to speak, " Hey Olivia. Long time no see, um what is it you wanted to talk about? Leslie stopped for a second as Liv stared back at her with angry eyes. " Um c-could we make this quick because, um I have a thing to do after this-". Leslie was interrupted.
" Shut up and sit " Liv said in a cold monotone voice and she kicked a chair in Leslie's direction. All Leslie did was stare back in confusion as a bit of fear began to build up.
" Um, what? Leslie said in confusion as she started down at the chair that was slid right beside her.
" SIT DAMMIT!" Liv yelled back while slamming her fist against her desk. Leslie quickly sat down in the chair filled with shock, and shut her mouth until Liv spoke again. " So about your last mission, what happened to the Wolf Spider? ‘Liv spoke with an angry devilish smile as she closed her hands together.
" Look Liv I can explain I-"
" Shut up! I don't want to hear it, child! " Liv interrupted.
" Hey for your information I'm twenty-three so I'm not a child ". Leslie said with sass, trying to lighten the tension, but that was a mistake. Liv marched towards Leslie who was still sitting in that chair now grabbing the seat of the chair with both hands. Liv stopped and stood above her looking down on her as if she was looking at a toddler in timeout.
" One more interruption and you just might be my next test subject," Liv said.
" You can't d-". The words spilling out of Leslies mouth.
" SO I ADVISE YOU TO STAY QUIET! " Liv snapped, if it wasn't for Hydra Liv would have killed Leslie already she had messed up the one time when it mattered most. Liv began to compose herself as she spoke. " Now without any further interruption let's start from the beginning. You Leslie were in the getaway car parked on the end of the block of the building Lyco was supposed to blow up. Correct?" Liv said towards Leslie as Leslie slowly nodded her head.
" Good, we're on the same page, now let's talk about the fun part. You said in your mission report that Tony and another flying metal friend of his showed up out of nowhere and they started fighting on various buildings with Lyco. Why didn't you try and stop it? " Liv said coldly over Leslie as Leslie took a second to gage whether or not to speak.
" I-I had a shot on Tony but it was only for a second, so I didn't take it. " Leslie quickly said back, trying not to make eye contact with the woman still standing above her.
" Why not? " Liv snapped back as she grabbed ahold of both of Leslie's shoulders.
" Ma'am even if I got the shot I don't think it would have even punctured his suit. The metal is most likely top of the line so my bullet would have done nothing. Plus what if I did shoot and it caught Stark's attention. He would have for sure captured me and tried to get information out of me". Leslie said back, finally meeting Livs frustrated eyes.
" It doesn't matter, you should have taken the shot. Lyco matters more than you do. Don't you see it, he's a super soldier worth millions of dollars, you are worthless in a mission compared to him. You messed everything up! You are the reason Lyco is gone and now we are screwed! " Liv yelled back as she marched away from Leslie, still sitting in a chair. Then threw a few vials of liquid at the wall, the glass shattering all over the floor. Leslie sat and watched for a while in silence as she let Liv get her anger out on the many things that filled her desk.
" Ouch that one hurt Liv, not going to lie. It's rude to say someone's worthless." Leslie said back feeling a lot more comfortable because of the distance between the two of them now.
" You are pathetic, you need to learn when to shut your mouth and keep that attitude in check." Liv said angrily back as she couldn't find anything else to throw off her desk into the wall.
" Look Liv, we can still fix this. We just need to look at it a different way. " Leslie said as she got up from the chair.
" Really? What's your brilliant plan then? How do you possibly think we can turn this train wreck around? " Liv sarcastically responded to Leslie's proposal.
" We just have to find out where he's keeping the kid. There has to be some secret place he's keeping the kid. A remote lab somewhere or something." Leslie said back hoping the idea would stick.
" Are you kidding me? That would take forever to do. Especially because of the blip the world is still trying to figure everything out again. Buildings are being reclaimed and unclaimed everywhere because of this mess, it would take ages to find that kind of information if at all ". Liv said frustrated at the crazy idea, but it just might be their only bet. What else could they do?
Leslie walks up and places both of her hands on Livs desk, leaning overing it slightly looking across it at Liv. " Well then I guess we should get started". She stopped for a moment and let a smirk come across her face before she continued. "We have a long treacherous journey ahead of us. Many will die but we must go on and complete the mission. It's the only way to save the loving prince from the dragon's keep". She finished in a dramatic way as a laugh escaped her.
Liv couldn't help it but a small laugh came out of her too. " You are such a child, I can't believe you are an assassin with the way you act sometimes. I can't tell if that makes me want to kill you more or less".
" Aw I'm taking that as a compliment and not a threat. So I take it you're not that mad at me anymore?" Leslie said curiously but also happy she got a small laugh out of Liv, which never happens.
" Oh no I still want to rip your heart out, but you do have good ideas so I'm thinking about keeping you around for a little while longer." Liv swiftly responded.
" Hm, fair point. Hey, speaking of good ideas, what if you used the back up words on Lyco to try and gain control over him. Or did you not implement any trigger words? I know it's an old system but, you know, it might still work." Leslie finished as she saw Liv open a drawer from her desk and started rummaging through it.
“ I could maybe. We could use the old system, I did implant words but it’s…” Liv trailed off as she ran to the other end of the lab and frantically searched through papers. Leslie hesitantly followed as Liv muttered to herself.
“ Found it.” Liv smiled holding up a dirty notebook. “ We might have a chance. You are in luck Leslie, your crazy ideas are what's still keeping you alive." Liv said as she looked at Leslie with a smirk.
" And that's why we work so well together. My crazy ideas and you the mad scientist who actually takes me seriously". Leslie finished as she put her hands on her hips with a big smile on her face.
" Pshhh sure, now come on we have work to do ". Liv ordered as they both walked out of the room.