Evening Talks
Tony hunched over his desk, listening through comms as the conversation came to a close.
“Tell the wall-crawler that if I ever see him again, I’ll kill him.”
“Well, I can’t exactly facilitate death threats, but I’ll tell him to keep his distance. That work for you?”
A gravelly voice gave a reluctant reply. “Whatever.”
There was a brief exchange of goodbye-s, the sound of walking, and eventually, the opening and closing of a car door.
No one spoke for a moment, until Bucky broke the silence. “So I think it’s safe to say that lead is buried.”
Tony shmushed his face into his hands and groaned, but Nat objected.
“He did give us more of an incentive to look into Hammer Tech.”
“Hammer Tech is low priority,” Tony insisted through his fingers, glaring at his tool-littered workbench with misplaced contempt.
“Tony, at some point you’re gonna have to admit-“
“I don’t have to do anything you say, Natalie. Going after Hammer tech is a bad idea - it’s Gargan, we’re after Gargan.”
“Davis seemed pretty sure we won’t be able to find him,” Bucky chimed in unhelpfully. It didn’t help Tony’s growing irritation that Barnes wasn’t exactly the highest person in his esteem, so this comment in particular ticked him off.
“What does he know?” Tony snapped. “Davis is just one guy, we’re supposed to be the best there is. Collectively, we’ve saved the world like five times, so forgive me if I’m not treating a single criminal like some unattainable force of evil.”
“Tony, we have nothing to go on-“
“We have his arrest records, and if I pull some strings at Rykers I could probably-“
“What about Rykers?”
Tony jolted upright. Pepper was stood in the doorway to his lab, eyebrows raised in questioning. Behind her stood a slightly sheepish Peter.
“Uhhh…” Tony had absolutely no idea how to answer her when he wasn’t sure how much she heard. Or Peter for that matter; the kid had that freaky super-hearing, but Tony was fairly certain the lab was soundproof. Maybe he’d heard nothing – or maybe he’d heard everything.
As it was, Tony didn’t need to explain himself or come up with an excuse, as Peter stepped forward before he had a chance. “Are you looking into Gargan?” he asked with a frown, but his tone sounded distinctly hopeful.
Tony huffed out a resigned sigh. “Yeah, we are – I’ve got Nat and Bucky on the line.”
“Hey.”
“Sup.”
Tony rolled his eyes at them, but Peter barely seemed to register it as he stepped further into the room. “Did you find anything?” the boy pressed.
“We just met with Davis, he actually gave us a little information,” Nat replied, much to Tony’s chagrin.
Peter’s eyes lit up. “Well is there anything I could do, anything I could help with?” He sounded so enthusiastic- no, desperate to help.
Tony was quick to shake his head. “No can do – it’s all footwork, I’m afraid.” Peter seemed to visibly deflate at this, so Tony couldn’t stop himself from adding, “But, if there’s ever anything that can be done from the tower to help in the search, I’ll let you know, okay? Until then, just let us handle it.”
It still seemed like Peter didn’t like his answer, but the kid at least gave him a nod. Good.
“Alright,” Tony addressed the call, “I’ll see you guys when you get back?”
“Sure thing.”
“Perfect – FRIDAY, end call.” With that, Tony flopped back down onto his swivel chair and tried his best to appear casual. “Anyway, not that I don’t love your company, you two, but I get the sense you’re both in here at ten-thirty for a reason?”
Pepper nodded. “That we are – Peter?” she asked, crossing over to lean against one of the work benches. The kid blanched slightly, obviously on edge about something. Based on Pepper’s half-neutral, half-expectant look, she didn’t know what it was either, so Tony made sure he was paying attention when he nodded for Peter to begin.
“Right,” said the kid, shifting his stance nervously and tapping his fingers together. “So I know we have this agreement that I’m allowed to leave the tower so long as it’s not as Spider-Man, and that I’m not alone, that you guys know who I’m with, and that I keep you updated.”
Ohhh, so that’s what this is about.
Pepper nodded slowly. “Okay…?”
“Okay. Well. Can I- I mean, would it be alright if- and I know this is late notice-“
“When, where and who, Peter,” Tony interrupted plainly.
“Tomorrow afternoon, at a park, with the interns I have lunch with?” He seemed so uncertain, as if he was expecting to be shot down. “Like I said, I know this is late notice-“
“Of course,” Pepper cut him off this time. “Which interns are they?”
“Oh, their names are Ned Leeds and Michelle Jones.”
Pepper looked to Tony for confirmation, and he nodded. “Yeah, I’ve met them – seem like good kids, and they had to have passed background checks to work here. You get along with them?” he asked Peter, and the kid’s face lit up.
“Yeah, they’re really nice. It’s been a while since- no, wait. Actually I don’t think I’ve ever had friends like this? Not since I was really young anyway, like before I went to live with my aunt and uncle.”
Tony tried to focus on the more positive side of that sentence. “Yeah?” was all he said, hoping it would prompt Peter to talk a little more about his new friends.
“Yeah. I’ve actually… tried being more open with them? It took a while, but… they know I used to be in care, and they actually came to the apartment I was living in once, and they were totally cool about it. And…” Peter trailed off with a wince.
“What is it?” Pepper asked.
“…And they know I’m staying here?” he replied hesitantly, yet again saying it like it was a question. Tony raised his eyebrows in surprise, which prompted Peter to launch into an apologetic rant. “Which I wasn’t exactly intending to tell them, but they saw the apartment fire on the news and they were asking about where I was staying and I just panicked, and-“
“Peter, Peter, slow down,” Tony soothed, holding up his hands. “I’m just impressed you actually volunteered information about yourself to someone,” he teased, before continuing in a more serious voice. “If you trust them, then so do we. And it’s great to hear you’re talking to real teenagers, rather than just hanging around with us old people all the time.”
“Hey, don’t say that,” Peter scolded him, “Pepper isn’t old.”
“Alright, you little shit, d’you want to be able to go out tomorrow or not?” The threat held no weight when Tony was trying not to smile, and it definitely did nothing to stop Peter from giggling at his own joke.
Trust Pepper to keep them on track. “Let us know tomorrow morning what time you need to be there by,” she instructed, a blend of softness and authority that was distinctly Pepper. “I’ll ask Happy to give you a lift, and knowing him he’ll probably stay nearby until you want picking up too.”
Peter’s eyes widened. “Oh, no, I don’t want to take up his time-“
“I know you don’t, so it’s a good thing Happy really enjoys monitoring for security threats.”
Peter looked to Tony, who nodded in confirmation. “I’m thinking about staging a bomb threat for his birthday.” Pepper grabbed the nearest file and slapped him upside the head with it. “Okay, okay, but the point still stands – you’re not taking up anyone’s time. Besides, neither of us are going anywhere, so all he’ll have to do is micromanage the poor people down in the security office. Maybe this way he’ll get some fresh air for once.”
“Hmm, if that’s the case, maybe you should take him,” Pepper muttered.
“Uhh, I’ll have you know I looked out of a window yesterday, so I’m doing great.”
“So that’s a yes?” Peter blurted out. “Tomorrow, I can go?”
“Yes, of course,” Pepper answered with an endeared smile. “Peter, any time you want to leave the tower, you only have to ask.”
“Although,” Tony interjected as a thought came to him, “We will have to set aside a day this week to head to the compound, if that’s okay with you? Give you a chance to demonstrate your mutant-spider-abilities in all their unhinged glory.”
“Oh, right!” said Peter as if he’d all but forgotten. “Yeah, of course, whenever.”
Tony nodded in conformation. “Alright then, it’s settled.” It was a nice change of pace, to think about and plan for more productive things following that disaster of a mission. Peter seemed pleased at the thought of hanging with his friends, they’d get the chance to learn a little more about his physiology - but it was a little bittersweet, considering their search had run dry.
-
Later that night (and not having left his desk since Pepper and the kid had left him), Tony found himself drawing an endless series of doodles on a spare scrap of paper. Acoustic design was never his go-to when the holograms were so readily available, but it gave him something to do as he waited for the Spy Kids to make their ascent up the tower. He could feel himself dreading the moment that Natasha and Bucky made it to his lab, knowing they would only be repeating the very same stuff he didn’t want to here, so Tony was content to keep scribbling down a stream of emblems, equations and eyes.
When the door to the lab swung open, Tony opted to speak without raising his head. “Let’s keep this brief, shall we kiddies?”
“You know I’m like 50 years older than you, right?” a gruff voice replied.
Tony simply shrugged. “Details.” Only then did he push his chair around to face the – somewhat sheepish – spies that had made their way into his lab. Nat in particular had lost that usual sharpness she typically holds in her stare, having swapped it for something that closer resembled caution, as if she knew she was going to say something that Tony wasn’t going to like. She was of course correct.
“I take it this is going to be more of what was said on the phone?” the mechanic asked tiredly, “Because I think you know where I stand on that.”
“Tony, the kid might’ve been onto something,” Natasha said reproachfully.
He scoffed in dismissal. “The word of a single ex-con proves tantamount to nothing.”
“But it does give the whole super-soldier situation a little more credit,” Bucky interjected.
“Oh, does it? Oh, well then, my mistake – hey, let’s call up the rest of the Avengers right now and launch a full-scale assault on Hammer Industries – guns blazing, weapons free, really bring the bad guys to justice-“
Nat rolled her eyes. “Don’t be a child, Tony. No one’s suggesting we rush into anything, just that we need to acknowledge that this situation is bigger than we thought.”
“No shit, it’s bigger than we thought – I thought I was dealing with a minor car accident, not corporate conspiracy-“
“Great, so can we start making some decisions here? Cause this isn’t about to go away if we play blind to it-“
“I’m not playing blind to anything-“
“Well it sure as hell seems like it-“
“He’s just a kid!” Tony shouted at last, taking the other two by surprise. If he was honest, he surprised himself. “He’s a kid.” He took a breath to steady himself, then lowered himself back down into his chair, placing his head in his hands. “He loves Star Wars, thinks I don’t see him mouthing the lines whenever he puts it on. Scribbles little stick-men in the margins of his notes. Gets excited whenever he knows he’s gonna be hanging out with his friends. I’m pretty sure he has a favourite colour.”
He could feel the other two watching him, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to look.
“Y’know,” Tony continued, “I met him in September. Just this scarily thin, pale, exhausted teen with ice-cold hands. I knew he wasn’t being looked after, but I didn’t… well anyway, his last foster home, the last time Peter had anyone looking out for him… that ended in January. Meaning Peter had been on his own for seven fucking months before I even met him. I saw this bone-tired little guy who somehow still had a spark in him, and I thought maybe I might actually be able to do him some good. God knows he deserved it! But the more I try…”
He trailed off, still not bringing himself to look up at either spy. The silence hung in the air for a claustrophobic moment, until he sensed Natasha’s form shift. She made her way over to him with the caution of someone who doesn’t want to make a wrong step, passing behind him to lean herself against the workbench and place a single hand on Tony’s closest shoulder. The weight of it against his shirt made him realise how bunched up he was, so he made a conscious effort to release his tensed posture with a sigh.
“I’m a mechanic,” he muttered, remembering the words of wisdom given to him by a certain Tennessee youth. “I fix things. If I find a problem, I don’t leave it alone until the problem’s resolved. But those problems don’t normally revolve around 16-year-olds, let alone ones I know and… I just wanted to help him, maybe give him a chance to actually be a kid for once. He’s just a kid, what kind of person would do all this to a kid? Well no, I know what kind of person - last time with Hammer was a fucking mess. And now he’s here, not sleeping in some mouldy attic, and it’s better but it’s still not enough with everything this situation is hinting at, and I don’t know if I can protect him,” he finished weakly. God, it was humbling admitting all of that out loud; maybe he was mellowing out.
It was some time before anyone else spoke; Natasha was the one to break the silence, and, as usual, she came out with something annoyingly perceptive. “You don’t know if you can protect Peter… and I’m pretty sure you don’t like not knowing things.” He said nothing. “So surely knowing more will make protecting him easier?”
…Damn it.
“…Tell me this isn’t going to blow up in my face. Hammer Industries is an incompetent sleeping bear that we’re about to poke with a very sharp stick, and if they really want Peter dead then it won’t be us they take it out on. If we do this, it’s gonna have to be the most subtle spy work since they faked JFK’s death.”
“Tony,” Bucky said with a roll of his eyes. “Look who you’re talking to.”
“Right.” Right. These were the two most skilled agents to ever step on American soil. If anyone had a chance of doing this and succeeding, it was them. Hopefully. “…So we’re really doing this, huh?”
“Looks like it,” Nat hummed, with an unmistakable glint of excitement in her eye. “Wanna show us what you found on Gargan?”
Reluctantly, Tony nodded.
Time to get to work.