Hope
It had been ten months. Ten endless, suffocating months. Ten months since Tony had last smiled. Ten months since he had last laughed. And ten months since he had taken a full breath. Every lead so far was a dead end.
People say grief is the worst feeling in the world, but Tony had learned it was not, he had learned it is hope. More specifically, hope dying. Hope dying over and over again. Everytime there had been a new lead, Tony had felt a pang of hope inside his heart that just ended up dying later that day after finding nothing. Each lead makes that sliver of hope shrink, and now there is almost nothing left.
The tiny little piece of hope that was left, the last bit that hadn’t been extinguished yet, fluttered as Tony, and the rest of the team, came upon an abandoned hospital; their new lead.
As with every other lead, they had piled into the Quinjet, a frown on all their faces. The determined look they all had at the beginning of the ten months had faded after two. They were now left with saddened and doubtful expressions towards the unlikeliness that they would find what they were looking for.
“Alright,” Steve said, taking on his usually commanding leader voice, still there was an undertone of distress, “we go in no matter what, apprehend as many Hydra agents as possible, and turn them into Shield.”
Tony was hovering next to the jet in his suit, listening to Steve through the coms. “FRI?” Tony said, his voice strained with the pain of the last ten months. “Any heat signatures?”
“I detect 12 heat signatures, Boss.” Friday replied through his suit, but also into the comms so the rest of the team could hear.
Then Tony asked the same question he had asked for ten months; the question that always led to the same answer. An answer that had slowly chipped away his hope. He took a deep breath, ready for disappointment. “Do any of the heat signatures match Peter Parker’s?” Despair filled his voice.
There was a slight pause, then, “Affirmative, one of the heat signatures matches Peter Parker, Boss” Tony choked on his next breath, there was silence over the comms. No one had expected that answer after so many months of disappointment and anguish.
Nobody spoke in fear of shattering this unbelievable almost impossible moment. After almost a year they had finally found Peter. “F-FRI?” Tony’s voice finally came through weak and hoarse like he had not had water in days, “C-can you repeat th-that?” He asked almost like he was afraid her answer would change, but also wanted to make sure he wasn’t imagining it.
“One of the heat signatures matches that of Peter Parker’s, Boss” Friday’s voice came through crystal clear.
Silence descended once again until Steve's voice broke through. “This just became a rescue mission,” his voice unwavering just like it used to be, “Tony have FRIDAY get medical on standby at the tower. Bruce, you stay on the jet and prepare for emergency medical. The rest of us will go in, apprehend as many agents as possible, but our number one priority is getting Peter out. Do whatever it takes.” Everyone nodded in confirmation, expressions of disbelief turning into determination.
_____
Once off the jet, they split up to cover every entrance agreeing to meet where FRIDAY had located Peter. Bucky was with Steve at the front entrance, Rhodey was with Tony at the back entrance, and Cilint and Natasha were at the side entrance. Wanda and Vision were unavailable and Thor was off-world. At the beginning Tony called the whole team in, he didn’t care that he was on shaky ground with Steve or that he had not forgiven Bucky, he needed everyone’s help to get his kid back. Everyone showed up and helped search, putting their differences aside for Peter. Peter had a knack at bringing people closer together, even when he wasn’t around. Every time there was a new lead everyone came, no matter what, but after a few months, other commitments got in the way and hope was fading. What team members could join, when they got a new lead, did, but not everyone was available.
They all burst through the doors, only a few seconds after an alarm was blaring and Hydra agents were charging. Steve was throwing and catching his shield over and over knocking out agents while dodging hits and bullets. Bucky was taking a more hands on approach, knocking them out one by one. The agents attacking them had no shot, their greatest weapon turned against them. Soon all the agents were unconscious and Steve and Bucky went further into the building, ready to fight but focusing on getting to Peter.
On the side of the building Clint and Natasha were fighting another hoard of agents. The first thing Clint did was fire a smoke bomb arrow to blind the agents charging at them. Natasha quietly and quickly started taking them out individually while they were blindsided. Before the agents knew what was happening the smoke was clearing and half of them were on the floor. Clint knew he wasn’t supposed to kill them so he then took out his tranquilizer arrows and started shooting them while Natasha was still fighting. Soon enough all the agents around them were down and they continued on getting closer and closer to where Peter was while also fighting agents as they appeared.
Rhodey and Tony got ready as agents charged towards them. Rhodey was knocking the agents out with the metal arms of his suit as he knew he was not supposed to kill them unless he had to. Tony was doing the same, but also firing his repulsors. He had them in a setting that shouldn't kill them, only knock them out. He wanted to kill them so badly, but there was no time for rage blinding him, Peter was somewhere in the building, and he had to get to him. After all the agents were down they continued down the hall following FRIDAY’s directions on Tony’s HUD. His hope grew the closer they got, his heart ready to beat out of his chest.
They all made it to the center of the building outside the room where Peter’s heat signature was picked up. “Everyone alright?” Steve asked just the tiniest bit out of breath. Everyone gave some form of affirmative reply. “Alright, let-”
Before Steve could finish, Tony interrupted, “Let’s go get my kid.” His voice was more determined than it had ever been. They all nodded in agreement.
In the ten months of Peter's absence the team had learned how much Peter meant to him. Tony basically fell apart only pulling himself together enough to go on missions or to follow leads. He blamed himself, even though there was nothing he could have done. When Hydra took Peter, he was on Patrol. Before they drove off in the unmarked van with Peter's unconscious form, they stripped his suit and took off his watch. Tony had given him the watch for his birthday and it had a built in tracker. Hydra left both the suit and watch at the scene of the abduction. Tony had no possible way of tracking him, he was just gone without a trace.
They all got into a fighting stance as Steve reached for the door. Right before he grabbed the handle it burst open. A figure in an all black bodysuit, including a mask covering their face, charged and immediately kicked Steve in the chest; to everyone’s surprise Steve actually went down. Not many people, really almost no one, could knock Cap down that hard. Everyone else started to fight while Bucky helped Steve up. Clint shot a tranquilizer arrow that the figure easily doged while also jumping above Nat’s leg swipe. The figure landed right as Tony fired a repulsor, and ducked. The figure was up again leaning back as he dodged a punch from Rhodey. Steve was back up and threw his shield; the figure caught it and threw it back at him. Luckily Steve was able to catch it before it hit him, but everyone was at a loss. They had all taken on tens of agents with ease but no one could knock out this one person, not even working together. Bucky couldn’t help but notice the familiar way the figure fought and the fact that the figure had not made a sound, no out of breath breathing, no grunts of pain, just silence. It was all too similar to the way he fought as the Winter Soldier.
They went on fighting, Cap’s shield, arrows, punches, and repulsor shots flying; the figure dodging every one and getting hits and kicks in themself. Finally Tony fired a repulsor that actually hit them. The figure was thrown back from the force of the shot hitting the wall, knocking his mask off. While the figure was down the team advanced. Almost immediately the figure got up ready to fight again. He looked up at the team, maskless, a blank expression on his face. The whole team stopped in their tracks. No one moved.
“Peter,” Tony breathed out in an unbelievable tone.
The blank expressionless face, the person fighting and trying to kill them, was the person they were trying to rescue. It was Peter. After ten months Peter was standing right in front of them. Before anyone could say anything else Peter was charging at them once again, a glazed look in his eyes as he threw kicks and punches. They were all alert again, trying to dodge Peter’s attacks, but not actually fighting him. No one wanted to hurt Peter, not that they even had been able to before.
“Peter!” Steve shouted. “Peter stop, it’s us!” There was no recognition in his eyes, he just kept fighting.
“Peter!” Tony then tried, Peter turned towards him. Before Tony could feel relief Peter started fighting him. Throwing kicks and punches denting Tony’s suit. “Peter! Stop, it’s me, Tony!” Nothing.
“If we can’t get him to stop we need to knock him out.” Natasha said on high alert.
“What! No!” Tony shouted even as his suit was still taking damage. He flew up a few feet so Peter couldn’t reach him.
“Tony, it’s the only way right now! I am sure more agents are on their way and we need to get Peter out of here!” Steve shouted, blocking Peter’s blows. “Clint tranquilizer arrows now!”
There was a look of dread on Clint’s face as he yelled, “On it!” He did not want to, but he knew it was the only way. He shot arrow after arrow, Peter dodged almost every one, until one finally hit him. He did not go down though. His moves were a little more sluggish, but with his metabolism one arrow was not enough to bring him down. Clint kept shooting, Peter was still awake enough to dodge them. Clint was running low. On his last arrow he aimed, let go, and prayed. It flew through the air, Peter jumped out of the way, but not enough. It hit his left shin and he dropped to the ground like a bag of bricks.
The team walked up to Peter’s limp figure, getting a good look at him for the first time in ten months. He was skinnier than before, but other than that it was the same Peter they remembered, although it seemed he did not remember them. No one spoke, no one knew what to say.
Steve then heard Hydra agents coming, “They're coming back, we have to move now.” Steve went to pick up Peter, but Tony stopped him.
He just uttered one word, “Please.” Steve understood and nodded solemnly.
Tony picked up Peter's limp form, not liking how light he was. He ran with the rest of the team out of the building and then flew with Peter in his arms to the jet. While he flew the short distance he looked down at Peter. He had so many thoughts going through his head, but one was at the forefront.
‘We finally found him, but did we really?’