Hydra's Spider
The team made it back to the tower, Bruce had checked Peter's vitals on the jet and deemed him stable. Even through Bruce's check and walking into the tower Peter stayed unconscious in Tony’s arms. “Tony, we need to put him in some kind of containment so he doesn’t try to attack us again.” Steve said sadly.
“You want to lock him up?!” Tony replied, anger radiating off him.
“Just until we know he is safe to be around.”
Tony knew Steve was right, but he just got Peter back. The last thing he wanted was to be separated from him again, even just by some bars or a wall. “Where do you suggest?” Tony said, still a bit hesitant.
“One of the cells in the basement. We can move in bed so he is more comfortable.”
“How long?” Tony said defeatedly in a whisper.
“Not sure. Hydra obviously got into his head, so we need to remind him of who he was, just like I did for Bucky, and hopefully whatever they did to him will break.”
Tony nodded, words escaping him. He never liked Bucky, he always blamed him for his parents deaths, but looking into Peter’s emotionless eyes while he was trying to kill him made Tony realize that it wasn’t Bucky who killed them, it was Hydra.
Tony followed Steve down to the basement where there was a line of cells each with a reinforced transparent wall with a door. Steve opened one of the doors for Tony as he walked in with Peter. “I’ll go get a bed, he should still be out for a while.” Tony nodded, not taking his eyes off Peter.
After Steve walked out Tony gently laid Peter's unconscious form on the ground as he stepped out of his suit. Once out he got to his knees beside Peter and lifted his kid into his lap. “What did they do to you?” Tony asked in a choked up voice cradling Peter, even though he knew he couldn’t hear him. Even if he could hear Tony, Peter wasn’t Peter right now. Tears that Tony had been holding in started to stream down his face. He ran his hands through Peter’s curls, it had become something he did to calm Peter down, and himself in all truth, before he was taken.
Tony thought that once Peter was back everything would be okay again. He would have his kid back, he would have the piece of his heart that he had been missing for ten months back. But here he was, his body cradled in Tony’s lap, yet Peter was a million miles away. He was lost in his mind, needing to be found, and Tony was lost with him. The tears slowed to silent sorrow as he just stared at Peter's lax face.
He didn’t even hear Steve come back in until he saw him carrying a bed into the room, his super strength making it look effortless. He put the bed down in the far corner of the room, Tony picked Peter up, without a word, and walked towards the bed not caring that Steve saw the tear tracks on his face. He laid Peter down, making sure his head was supported by a pillow, “He needs a blanket, he gets cold easily.” Is all Tony said.
“Here,” Steve said, his face and voice full of sympathy as he handed Tony a fuzzy blue throw blanket.
“Thanks,” Tony replied, grabbing it and then immediately turning his attention back to Peter.
“He will be awake in an hour probably, you should eat something and get changed.”
“I’m not leaving him.” Tony said not looking away from Peter as he laid the blanket over his body and then went back to continuously brushing through his mop of curls.
“Tony, you can’t be in here when he wakes up, he could try to hurt you again.” Just the thought of Peter trying to hurt him made Tony want to cry all over again. He said nothing. “I can set up a chair outside the cell.” The word cell pushed him over the edge and tears once again started to fall. They just got Peter back from a prison and now he was in another. Put there by his family. Not to mention the prison he was trapped in in his mind.
“Tony, this isn’t forever.” Steve said as he watched his friend cry, “Once, he stops attacking and/or we get him to remember he can come out.”
Tony continued to silently cry, but nodded. Steve sighed and went out to go grab a chair. Once again Tony and Peter were alone. “We found you Pete,” Tony whispered, “I’m so sorry it took so long, but we found you. Please just find yourself now and come back to me.”
Steve came back and set up a comfy chair right outside the cell. He went back in and laid a hand on Tony’s shoulder, “He’ll be waking up soon,” he said in a gentle tone, “you can sit out there and wait.”
Tony nodded but didn't say anything. Steve started to walk outside the cell to give Tony a bit of privacy, but didn’t leave entirely. Tony stood up from where he was kneeling beside Peter's bed. Before he left he leaned down and kissed Peter on the forehead, “Alright kiddo, I’ll be right out there for when you wake up.” He said it more for himself than for Peter, especially since Peter couldn't hear him. “I love you.” he said the last part a little quieter. Steve still heard because of his enhanced hearing, but didn’t mention it since he knew Tony did not want him to hear it, that was only meant for Peter.
Tony walked outside the cell and shut the door softly, he basically fell into the chair Steve had brought down. He just stared through the transparent wall at Peter asleep. “I am going to go get changed and grab something to eat with the rest of the team. Do you want anything?”
“No.”
“Alright, let FRIDAY know if you need anything.” Steve turned to leave, but then stopped and said, “FRI? Can you inform me and the rest of the team when Peter starts to wake up?”
“Yes Captain Rogers” FRIDAY’s replied. And with that Steve left.
Tony continued to stare, just waiting for Peter to wake up, but also dreading it a little. His eyes started to droop no matter how much he wanted to stay awake and watch over Peter. He did not even want sleep separating them. But with the physical and emotional exhaustion of the day Tony started to slip into a worryful slumber.
____
Tony awoke to FRIDAY’s voice, “Peter appears to be waking up.” Tony snapped out of his sleep, standing straight up, and watching as Peter started to shift. FRIDAY’s message must have gone to the rest of the team as well since they were there in a matter of seconds, coming down the hall from the elevator. They all crowded around Tony watching with him.
Peter opened his eyes and sat up. He looked at his surroundings and realized he was in a cell, but did not move to get out. He knew the walls were reinforced so even people like him and super soldiers could not get out. He just sat on the bed and started ahead at the team staring back at him, his eyes emotionless still.
“Peter?” Although there was no recognition in his eyes they did move to look at Tony, “You with us?”
Peter said nothing.
Tony tried something else. He took a shaky breath as he said, “Do you know who I am Kiddo?” He prayed Peter did, even though he didn’t believe in God.
“Yes,” Peter blinked a few times. A look of relief appeared on Tony’s face, hope swelling, “you are Iron Man, you are a threat.”
And once again the hope Tony had died. What started as a flame ten months ago dimmed and started to go out slowly. Every month that flame got a little smaller and a little less bright until it was barely there. After he finally saw Peter once again that flame began to grow, hope coming back to life. But after Peter fought them and now hearing his words and the monotonous way he said them, that flame flickered out until there was just an ember left. Tony was holding onto it with all his might, trying his best to fan that remnant of hope back to life before it went out forever.
Tony’s eyes blurred with tears as he looked at Peter. The problem was it wasn’t Peter looking back at him. “Peter,” Tony said in a choked voice, “what did they do to you?” This time Peter was awake to hear him, but he said nothing.
“Peter?” Steve tried. Peter turned his attention to Steve, but seemed not to have full comprehension, like he did not understand what Steve was saying.
Bucky saw this and stepped in. He dreaded the question he was about to ask, but knew it had to be asked, “Do you know who you are?” Everyone looked towards Bucky like he was crazy. Bucky just kept staring at Peter.
Peter turned his attention towards Bucky looking him straight in the eyes, blinking a few times. His expressionless face, eerie and all too familiar to Bucky, “Yes, I am Hydra’s Spider.”
Everyone turned their attention from Bucky to Peter, a look of shock and horror on all their faces. Bucky just stared sadly at an almost mirror image of the Winter Soldier.
Tony couldn’t help it anymore, he needed Peter back, “No. No, you are Peter Parker.” He didn’t take a breath, “You’re Peter Parker, from Queens. The brightest, bravest kid I have ever met. You are not theirs!” he said the last part desperately.
“Hydra is my creator.” Peter said simply in a flat tone.
Bucky then looked on with a bit of shock. When he was the Winter Soldier he was brainwashed, yes, but not like this. What they did was to force him to do as they said, making him a shell of a person. He was never brainwashed to believe or say that he was Hydra, they just took away his ability to disagree or go against his handler. Somehow this seemed worse, Peter seemed aware, like he believed he was Hydra’s. The similarities were still there, the way Peter fought, his expressionless face, the fact that his memories were hidden, but the awareness was new.
One thing was for sure the same though, Peter Parker was locked behind the Spider just as Bucky Barnes used to be locked behind the Winter Soldier.