Floating
It took barely two seconds after he watched a terrified Peter get slammed to the ground before Tony pulled out his wrist gauntlet and aimed it at Amar. Who the hell was this?
“ Who the hell are you?”
“ I’m Amar. Amar Rashpati, I’m with the F.B.I” the man explained. He pulled out a badge and showed it to Tony.
“ Why are you tackling a brainwashed kid to the ground?”
“ He was running. Plus it’s none of your business.” Amar snapped. With certainty Tony knew he didn’t like this guy.
“ Get off of him it is my damn business” Tony spoke as calmly as he could as he could see the kid pressed against the wall. Tony could see Peters handcuffed hands were digging there nails into each other and his face was ghost white with fear wide in his eyes.
" He's just a kid please," Tony pleaded.
" He's also a killer," Amar said coldly not even looking up to met Tony's shocked eyes.
" Get off of him." Tony said as he charged up his wrist gauntlet to make the high pitched noise to intimidate Amar.
“ When my backup gets here in five minutes.”
“ He’s crying and looks like he’s about to lose his mind. If he wants to escape he can.”
“ Yeah well he really wanted to talk to you.” Amar mused. “ Ran out of the room looking for you. About crapped himself when I came in.”
“ Well since you have the physique of the terminator and the personality of a psychopath I wouldn’t blame him.
“ Look, we needed vital information…” Amar glanced around. “ And if it’ll make you put that gauntlet away he… he freaked out because I mentioned 'they escaped'. I was gonna interview later but they escaped on the way to a holding cell. And the search team just found the crashed car to actually confirm Liv and Leslie escaped. Even though we lost contact with the car a few days ago and we all already assumed the worst, the search team just now actually confirmed it with the discovery of the crashed squad car that was transporting them.”
Tony felt his heart rate accelerate and he didn’t lower his gauntlet. “ Why would you tell him that? Do you not think before you act? That's the last thing you want to tell him. Get the hell off of him.” Tony said with anger rising in his tone.
“ Woah, I only told him after the little ass wouldn’t cooperate…”
“ Yeah well that ‘little ass’ was brainwashed and used for who knows what for almost six months and the information that his kidnappers are now frolicking about isn’t
exactly good for recovery. Plus I’m ninety nine precent sure that he’s having some sort of mental break so if you want to get any info out of him get off of him then let me talk to him. He won’t try to leave if he’s not threatened.” Tony explained. Amar shook his head as Peter let out a small whimper.
“ No. He’s not even your damn kid. Where is your kid anyways? If you want to go all mama bear for this one it would make more sense if you weren’t seen as unstable anyways.”
“ Unstable? What? Last time I checked I wasn’t pinning a traumatized teenager to the wall.” Tony was on the tipping point of just shooting this guy, but he knew if he did that, he’d never get Peter out of here. Which was happening as soon as possible now that he knew Liv and Leslie had escaped. Amar pulled Peter’s arms back again as he fidgeted a bit and Peter let out a small grunt of pain. " I only need to take these protocols because of his record. You still may see him as just a traumatized teenager, but he also has killed a great deal of people and gotten out of control more than once. These protocols are here for his safety and the safety of the facility."
Tony didn't even respond to Amar, instead he focused his attention on Peter, who was still being pinned to the wall. “ Hey, kiddo. Look it’s gonna be okay alright?” Tony spoke trying to comfort Peter who in turn just kicked hard causing Amar to pull out a taser.
“ Don’t tase him.”
“ I will if he tries to leave. He’s legally a criminal.”
“ Is one of the qualifications for being in the F.B.I involve being absolutely terrible with children?” Tony snapped.
" If the child is a confirmed killer, then yes. We treat them as an adult level theat. We need to take the appropriate measures to keep control over the situation." Amar said back like a computer.
Tony's stress was at an all time high as he watched Peter become uncharacteristically quiet, his eyes still leaking tears. As they heard the door at the top of the staircase open Amar leaned his leg off of Peter slightly to see his fellow coworkers running down the stairs. In almost a second Peter stood up, flipping Amar off of him. A whole squad of at least five F.B.I agents came running down as Peter struggled and broke his handcuffs.
“ Peter stop!!” Tony yelled as Peter took off down the hallway, his movements weirdly clumsy and slower than usual. Running as fast as he could and flying past the open door to Rhodey’s room the kid became cornered at the end of the hallway by a window. The kids' eyes darted around as Tony ran up with the agent not far behind. Amar ran to grab him but Tony pushed him back.
“ Give me a sec with him please.” Tony begged. “ He’s not in the right mindset. Trust me he will just run again.”
“ Tony…” Peter said breathlessly, his pupils huge and he was white as a ghost.
“ Amar, I ran into a doctor before coming to you. He said he was his nurse or whatever and if needs a minute… I mean I saw his CAT scans and just chill.” a woman placed a hand on Amar’s enraged shoulder and pointed towards a door to an empty hospital room. Tony nodded.
“ You can talk to him in there. We will be out here so don’t do anything stupid but there is no point in trying to interrogate a kid that's having a mental breakdown.”
“ Thank you.” Tony said sincerely. He stepped towards Peter who was shaking a bit and placed an arm around his shoulder.
“ Kid, we are gonna go in here and figure out what's wrong.” Tony whispered. Peter didn't respond but allowed Tony to lead him into the room. Once he was in there the woman shut the door and Peter started shaking even harder.
“ Kid. Peter, what's wrong?” Tony prodded gently, his own mental breakdown feeling ages away from now. Peter was shaking and sweating but he was ghost white. He didn’t respond but didn’t move from Tony’s arm around his shoulder. “ Peter there is something very wrong and trying to pretend it’s nothing isn’t gonna cut it. You just pushed an F.B.I agent down the stairs.”
“ I was floating.” Peter mumbled.
“ What?”
“ I-I’m floating Tony, I can’t breathe I’m floating.” Peter cried as he dug his fingernails into his arm so hard blood spilled out. Oh no. Tony panicked as he watched the kid shake and dig his fingernails into his arm, tears spilling out all over. Floating, what does that mean? Peter seemed almost unaware of his actions as he crashed his back into a wall and started thudding his head against it. Parental adrenaline rushed through Tony as he pulled at Peter’s shoulders as shouts were exchanged between both of them.
“ Peter, peter you are really freaking me out kid.” Tony begged, finally Peter stopped trying to throw himself at the now dented wall and collapsed into Tony’s chest with loud gut wrenching sobs. Pulling the kid up so his head was hidden in Tony’s shoulder he mumbled soft reassurances as he held the kid against his chest.
“ Hey, hey kiddo what- you gotta tell me what's wrong. You are really scaring me.” Tony said in a pitifully soft voice. Peter didn’t answer but just wrapped his arms
around Tony in return and took in a big labored breath. He seemed to be hyperventilating, a panic attack. Tony had experience in that arena as he just clutched the kid tighter and put one hand on his head, carding his hand through the tangled mop of curls.
“ Kid, I think you are having a panic attack buddy. I know-I know you are scared kid but you gotta breathe, okay? Listen to my breathing and follow.” Tony said as he felt his own panic from a few minutes ago returning. Taking a deep breath and letting out he tried to get the kid to follow but it didn’t work as the kid continued his uneven breathing. He tried again but the kid was unresponsive and clinging to Tony so hard it hurt. What the hell was he supposed to do?
“ I’m floating Tony.” Peter whimpered again.
“ Kid what- are you in a flashback? What’s wrong? Let me help you please.”
“ No, I’m floating, I’m floating. It-I have no control. Don’t send me back-don’t send me back to Liv.” the kid's words were hoarse as if his throat was raw and he was speaking quietly in an achingly sad voice. Tony had no idea what was wrong.
“ Liv? Kid, I know they said Liv got out, but you are safe. You aren’t going back; I would never do that to you. Never.” Tony said in a voice usually reserved for a crying.
Morgan. “ I would never send you back there or let you get sent back to those asshats again.”
“ No, but she-she’s mad. I’m floating Tony make it STOP!” Peter screamed. Maybe they needed a doctor, where was Donte?
“ Make what stop?” Tony’s voice cracked a bit. “ What, what. Kid talk to me please.”
“ I’M FLOATING!! I-I CAN’T STOP IT!!! IT’S TAKING ME!!!” the kid was full on raw throat hollering as if someone was stabbing him. What the hell? Tony could feel his heart beating out of control as Peter clung to him even harder. It hurt, it really hurt but couldn’t get him to loosen up. The kid was full on losing his mind and it was terrifying.
“ Peter? Peter. Please-please listen to me I know you are scared and honestly so am I but, but you need to breathe. You aren’t breathing well buddy. You aren’t floating, can you feel my heartbeat? You aren’t floating. You are here, with me. It’s Tony-”
“- Tony?”
“ Yeah, yeah kiddo it’s Tony. Do you want me to keep talking? Does it help you feel grounded? Because I can talk for as long as you need-”
“ -it’s helping stop the floating. Talk.” Peter begged as he loosed his grip a bit.
“ O-Okay. Okay listen to me, okay? You are here in a very secure Stark Industries Hospital. No one’s going to hurt you, and you aren’t floating whatever the hell that means. Geez kid please breathe, you need to breathe, come on take in a good breath kid-”
“ It-it hurts…” Peter coughed out.
“ I know, I know it hurts but just try or this is gonna get a hell of a lot worse. I’ll keep talking but you gotta breathe-”
“- Tony?”
“ What? Yeah, it’s Tony I said that before. You asked me to keep talking.” Tony could barely keep it together as he could feel the kids shallow and raspy breathing against his own chest. Peter would inevitably pass out if he didn’t pull it together.
“- yeah, talk. I-I said that?”
Tony cursed loudly as the kid’s legs started to give out a bit and he leaned into Tony, all his body weight on him like a giant koala. “ Peter Parker, I need you to breathe.”
“ I-It hurts.”
“ It hurt’s? Where?” It was like pulling teeth to get any info out of this kid and Tony was really scared something was very wrong. Maybe he needed a doctor, scratch that they definitely needed a doctor.
“ Hey. HEY!” Tony yelled at the door. “ AMAR OR WHOEVER’S OUT THERE I NEED YOU TO GET DONTE!!”
“ I-It hurts.” Peter groaned again as he tripped and fell into Tony’s chest again causing them to both stubble back as Tony grabbed Peter's body.
“ I know, I’m getting help.” Tony mumbled. “ I NEED A DAMN DOCTOR NOW.”
“ Is this him?” Amar asked as the door opened and Donte was there breathless and holding a medical kit, his eyes wide. “ He arrived a few minutes ago. Said something looked off about the kid.”
“ Yeah, you have no idea how happy I am to see you.” Tony said as a small bit of relief filled him. “ That’s him.”
“ What’s wrong?” asked the F.B.I agent holding open the door.
“ I don’t know but I need you to shut that damn door he’s-”
“ Please don’t send me back to Liv, Tony.” Peter’s legs completely gave out.
“ Shut the door now.” Donte ordered. “ Any extra stress right now could literally kill him. Tony I need you to put him on this bed right now.”
“ Are you sure? Don’t we need an actual doctor, you are a nurse?” the agent prodded. Donte’s face turned stone cold.
“I am here because Peter trusts me enough not to run out and do something very stupid. Panic attacks can’t kill you but when he’s this out of it any person that reminds him of his serious trauma will cause him to possibly something very stupid and maybe fatal.” Donte retorted, going into laser focus.
The F.B.I agent seemed frozen for a second but shut the door as Tony tried to hoist the kid onto the bed. “ I don’t wanna go, please I don’t wanna go, I don’t wanna go”
“ No, I-It hurts. Tony, please. Please just stop it.” Peter's arms loosened around Tony but they still were determined to hang on for what felt like dear life, his legs slowly giving out underneath him.
Tony could feel the kid trembling on his shoulder, it was almost worse than Titan. Almost.
Donte ran over to Tony who was practically holding Peter up at this point against his chest. The kid was trembling and taking very quick and short breaths, which wasn't good. He moved to the side of Tony to where Peter's face which was buried into Tony's chest. " Hey you're going to be ok Peter, where does it hurt? You said it hurts, where does it hurt kid? I'm here to help."
He didn't get a response out of Peter, Donte wanted to help but he needed the kid to respond so he could know where the pain was so he could treat the kid properly. Donte knew he needed to do something fast. He took off his stethoscope from around his neck and situated the ear tips of it in his own ears before gently placing the chest piece of it on an exposed part of Peter's back from his hospital gown. " Ok Peter I need you to take in some deep breaths for me." Donte said to Peter, but it didn't even look like the teen heard him.
Peter continued his short and scarce breathing pattern, coughing a lot as he gasped for more air to fill his shallow lungs. He felt like he had gotten the wind knocked out of him. He tried to breathe but his lungs felt like they couldn't hold any air, no matter how much he gasped for air. He didn't know what was happening, his mind just filled with horrific memories of being trapped back at Hydra, he felt like he was there. Like he was a prisoner again and would never be set free, it was all his mind could think of. He felt helpless, trying to escape his brain's madness while failing to breathe properly. His throat felt so dry, like sandpaper as he coughed uncontrollably to get air into his lungs.
Donte was silent while he moved the stethoscope to different parts of Peter's back to hopefully hear Peter's heart better. It was no use he could barely hear anything over Peters coughing. It also was hard to keep his stethoscope stuck in one spot when he did get a good listen of Peter's heart because the kid kepted squirming around. Donte knew he needed to get Peter to calm down, but it seemed as if Peter was blocking him out. So, Donte turned his attention to Tony,
" Tony can you tell the kid he needs to take some long deep breaths please. I need him to do that so I can hear his heart and how well his breathing is."
"Um, yeah. Yes, I can do that." Tony blurted out back to Donte, before turning his full attention back to Peter. Tony looked down at Peter who looked like he was holding onto Tony for dear life. Tony spoke in a soft but assertive tone, " Peter, I need you to listen to me. Look at me kiddo." Tony stopped and waited for Peter too slowly look up back at him.
" I need you to take some nice deep breaths for me. Ok we can do them together, but you need to stay still and breathe with me." Tony finished and tightened his grip around Peter to help stop him from squirming around too much as Donte pressed his stethoscope against Peter's back. Tony looked back down at Peter and began, " Ok ready, three, two, one." Tony took a big deep breath in, and Peter followed suit the best he could with a big shaky deep breath in. After about three seconds of holding in the breath Tony slowly let it back out again with Peter attempting to do the same thing but falling short on it and coughing it back out. Tony continued with his best efforts to get Peter to breathe steadily. It wasn’t working. After breathing in sync for a while Peter had only taken in about two good deep breaths, that weren't interrupted by himself coughing or having to let it out early to hastily gasp for another short breath of air.
Donte sighed as he took the stethoscope off of Peter's back, then looked at Tony, "This isn't good, the kids heart sounds like it's running a marathon. And he's not breathing well."
" Yeah I already figured out the second part," Tony said sarcastically.
Donte disregarded Tony's remark, he was in no mood to joke around. " We need to get Peter on oxygen. That should help him." Donte stopped when he realized Tony wasn't really paying attention to his words. So, he snapped his fingers to grab Tony's attention again. “ Stark I know you are freaked out but I need you to listen to me very carefully.” Donte ordered.
Tony found the words hard to hear as if his hearing was almost becoming muted by Peter’s pleas and sobbing.
“ Y-yeah.” Tony mumbled as he tried to think of how to get the kid on the bed. The more Peter begged the more he felt like passing out as his mind went into overdrive.
Donte said something but Tony didn’t hear as he tried to hold the kid to his chest.
“ -Tony?” the kid’s voice asked again, soft and sad.
“ Buddy, kid please let go Pete.” Tony ignored the voice crack.
“ But, but I-I can’t breathe. I’m floating away.” Peter said, coughing up a storm.
“ Kid, I need you to let go.”
“ No, no please. I-I she burned my brain.” Peter's eyes began to flutter.
“ You aren’t going back to Liv. You are going to lie down and calm down.”
“ -Tony?”
“ TONY STARK!” Tony looked up to see Donte holding an assortment of tools. “ I need that kid on the bed right now or he’s gonna pass out because he sure as hell isn’t breathing well.”
“ I-I can’t breathe.”
“ I know. I know kid just let go. Let go of me.” Tony ordered.
“ No, no I’m sorry. Please, I'm so sorry.”
“ Peter I am dead serious kid let go you are barely breathing I-” Peter’s legs gave out and Tony fell backwards. He crashed into a wall as he hoisted Peter up by the armpits as the kid's eyes rolled back into his head and went limp.
“ Crap, Get him here now.” Donte ordered pointing at the hospital bed.
Tony wanted to pass out as well, he was completely mentally exhausted and so worried he could barely focus. Using some sort of miracle and parental rush of adrenaline he picked Peter up bridal style and placed him on the bed.
“ What’s wrong with him?” Tony asked leaning against the wall, his entire back aching. Donte ignored him and ran over to a phone on the wall.
“ What is wrong with him!” Tony repeated but again Donte ignored him. After a few seconds he swore again and hung up the phone before redialing.
“ Look, do you need me to grab something? I can grab-”
“ That’s a terrible idea. You look like you are gonna pass out as well and besides I need you here to calm him down in case of worst-case scenario.”
“ Worst case scenario? What’s wrong with him?” Tony felt himself slipping down the wall slightly as he fought not fall down. His back hurt terribly, a drink would be really nice.
“ Hi Penelope I need to know what room Racheal currently-” Donte is immediately stopped talking as Peter let out a loud rasping cough. Tony pushed himself off the wall as the boy turned himself over on his side with his face completely submerged in the pillow.
The nurse swore loudly and rushed over leaving the corded phone dangling from the wall. " Okay, okay I need you to stay with me here Stark and follow my directions. Got it?”
“ Yes.” Tony responded as seriously as ever as he leaned over Peter’s bed.
Donte quickly turned Peter over on his back as the boy took in a meager gasp of air, his eyes barely open. Quickly Donte checked Peter's pulse and made a worried
expression.
“ You don’t look hap-” Tony tried to say before getting cut off.
“ I’m not. The current rundown is he’s barely breathing, and his pulse is getting too high. We need oxygen right now and I only really trust one person right now to do that. Everyone else would bring a whole squad and that's no good. His brain is already too over-stimulated as it is, the less people in here the better. So I am going to get her and make sure Peter doesn’t turn over again and yell down the hall if any weird things happen.” Donte finished meeting Tony's eyes and they shared a nod.
At this point Tony would follow any instructions if it meant the kid didn’t die. As the thought passed through it paralyzed him, was the kid dying? No, not again.
“ Stark, pay attention.” Donte snapped as he talked to someone on the phone.
Tony leaned his hip against the side of the hospital bed practically sitting next to Peter's head as he watched the kid stay so still he could be dead. The only sign of life was shaky breaths every few seconds. Peter's skin was pale as a ghost and sweat beaded his forehead light glitter. Tony shakily placed a hand on the kids head, hoping it would provide some sort of comfort. It was stupid but it was all he could do to not breakdown.
“ I got someone coming.” Donte said breathlessly as he ran back to Peter, his stethoscope bouncing up and down. He quietly took his pulse and looked over to the door nervously. After a few seconds of tense silence Peter let out another loud and raspy cough and tried to turn over but Tony pulled on his shoulders to stop him.
“ Good, good job.” Donte approved as he rummaged through his bag but stopped when heard a knock on the door. After he ran over Peter weakly thrashed a bit but Tony
held him down before the kid’s head rested on Tony’s leg.
“ Kid, kid don’t do that. You need to keep your head up. You won’t be able to breathe like that. ” Tony muttered as he pulled the kid's face away from his leg, but Tony
leaned closer on the bed to be closer to Peter. He heard some unintelligible talking before the door burst open and Racheal came in pushing an oxygen tank connected to a long clear tube with an oxygen mask. Her red hair was falling out of a messy bun and her cheeks were bright pink. Tony and Racheal made tense eye contact. Tony wasn't pleased to see her but at this point though Tony didn’t have enough energy to yell.
“ You help us out and you might still have a job.” Tony ordered and Racheal nodded as she motioned for Tony to move. Tentatively the man removed his hand from the boy's head as Donte went to the other side forcing Tony to the end of the bed. They placed the oxygen mask on Peter's face and Racheal activated the tank.
“ Check his pulse.” Racheal whispered and Donte nodded.
“ Not much improvement but give it a minute.”
“ Is he okay now?” Tony asked as he held himself up on the end of the bed.
“ Yes he’s stable enough for now.”
It was quiet again as they listened to the soft whirring of the oxygen tank and Peter’s soft and rhythmic breaths. The sound was like music to Tony’s ears compared to the scarring screams from before. What the hell was that? It made no sense, like the kid wasn’t aware of his movements. If they got him out of the hospital and this happened again could he die? Maybe they needed to rethink this. As he watched the kid's chest rise and fall Donte took his pulse again and gave a weak smile.
“ Much improved. I’m think we are at around ninety-seven now.”
“ That’s a relief. I’m going to put a sedative in him so he doesn’t wake up and ruin our progress.” Racheal went over to a cabinet at the side of the room and pulled out an empty syringe and then a vial full of liquid.
“ He has a superhuman -like metabolism. You might want to double the dose; he could burn through that quickly.” Tony added as he sat tentatively on the edge of the bed.
“ Yeah, I know. Here I know the dosage, Racheal.” Donte added as he walked around and grabbed the syringe. Racheal gave a warm smile as Donte filled up the vile and pinched Peter’s arm for a vein. He quickly injected it before turning his attention to Tony, oblivious to Racheal’s red face as she smiled at him sweetly.
“ I can stay with him if you want to get some rest.” Donte offered, while discarding the syringe.
Tony shook his head.“ No, I don’t- I’m cool waiting here with him.”
“ Yeah ok, that's cool. Here-” he grabbed a chair from the other side of the room and sat it by the front of Peter’s bed.
“ I’m not so shaky, I can manage myself.” Tony snarked. “ But thanks. For both the chair and saving my-the kids life.”
“ I’m going to go and grab an extra tank and some more sedatives just in case. I’ll talk to the agents and explain they probably don’t need a whole ass army for a drugged teen.” Rachel finished gesturing towards the door.
“ That’s a good idea, thanks Rach.” Donte smiled at her with soft eyes and she scurried off with red cheeks before leaving the room.
If Stark had any leftover energy he would make fun of the two’s oblivious flirting, but he collapsed into the chair and propped his head on his hand.
Donte watched Tony for a second after Racheal left, contemplating his next words. “Hey, look I don’t want to overstep here, but this is-it’s very hard. Not just on Peter.”
Tony fidgeted slightly. “ Yeah, I figured that out.”
“ Do you have an outlet?” Donte asked cautiously. Tony let out a light laugh.
“ An outlet? I’m not who you should be worried about right now.”
“ Yeah actually you are.” the nurse ran paused for a second as he gathered his thoughts. “Look, your mental health is gonna be vital to his recovery. And considering the fact that he seems to trust you so much I would say you are a vital aspect of this.”
“ Is this because all of a sudden I’m unstable?” scoffed Tony.
“ You disappeared out of public eye for months and randomly appearing to have a chat with what looked like a terrorist. So yeah I’d say you seemed unstable.”
“ The damn media doesn’t know the full story.” Tony snapped.
“ Whatever the full story is doesn’t matter right now. Look all I’m saying is you need to think about getting some help if this becomes to much. I can’t imagine being in your shoes right now and if you bottle it all up you will only create more problems.” Donte drummed his fingers on a table by Peter’s bedside. “ And I’m going to school for therapy right now, I would be more than willing to work with both you and Peter.”
“ I-” Tony’s eyes fell on a sleeping Peter. “ I would love to work with you to help with the kid. But I’m fine. Honestly.”