Tony IV
T o n y
It took an unprecedented effort to explain exactly what had occurred to the police officers who had arrived. Tony had still been seething, Wendy sobbing, and the Davidsons standing resolutely in the corner without saying a word.
When Tony had calmed down enough to explain, he then had to explain why he was there in the first place. It also took a lot of words to not allow the cops to arrest Wendy, too, as they seemed to think she was directly responsible. Wendy hadn’t helped the matter, as she had been unable to give any information as to why Peter’s disappearance had been able to flow under the radar for so long. They couldn’t get the numbers of the other social workers off her until they had all been hauled off to the police station. Due to the nature of the case, the officers had taken them to a bigger precinct rather than the small one they were stationed at in Brooklyn. Apparently, the bigger precinct had officers who dealt with cases involving children.
So, currently, five hours after he’d met with Wendy, Tony was sat on a plastic chair in a waiting room devoid of other people trying to comfort Wendy. He had with him two cups of coffee passed over by a kind-looking police officer.
“We can give you a separate waiting room soon,” said the kind police officer. “It’s just gone nine p.m., there’s usually the night-time rush in a bit.”
“Thanks,” said Tony, sipping the coffee.
“The coffee ain’t great,” the officer said, smiling at Tony’s face. “But it keeps you awake. And, looks like you guys are gonna need it.”
“Officer Davis!” came a voice to the left. “We got a call about a disturbance down at the warehouses; could be the lead we’ve been looking for!”
Officer Davis turned towards the other officer. “Thanks, Holden, I’ll be right there.” He turned to Tony. “Stay safe.”
Before Tony could ask what Officer Davis meant, he had already walked away towards the other waiting officer.
They were pulled into an interrogation room an hour later. The social workers who had been sent to check up on Peter whilst Wendy was on leave – though no one knew why just yet – had all arrived beforehand. Now, it seemed that they needed more information.
Tony insisted on being with Wendy for the interview (she looked as though she was about to keel over at any moment). He had also asked if lawyers were needed; the look on the commanding officer’s face had not given him reassurance that the both of them wouldn’t somehow get arrested for being involved. It took an effort to remind Tony that he – this time, at least – hadn’t done anything. The number of times he had ended up in a police cell for a couple of hours as a youth was rather embarrassing.
“Mr Stark, we just need the information from Miss Moore to connect everything together,” said the detective. “We’re not here to arrest her.”
Wendy trembled.
It turned out, through the quiet whispers that Wendy produced, that her mother had taken ill back at the end of January. Two weeks later, she had gotten worse, so Wendy had taken leave in order to look after her. Wendy had apparently visited Peter at the beginning of February before she had left for Massachusetts. Mrs Moore had improved by April, and Wendy had been able to return to New York.
It took a while – and many phone calls – for the police to corroborate the story – and fill in Wendy and Tony about how the usual ‘one social worker’ norm had not been used for the scheduled check-ups on Peter. Apparently, due to unprecedented circumstances, there had been five different social workers that had come to the Davidsons. Each time, the Davidsons had stated several reasons why Peter was not around. And, each time, the social workers accepted the excuse, had written down that Peter was fine, and that the Davidsons were “encouraging mentors” who had “allowed Peter to join many afterschool activities, regardless of expense”. As if they hadn’t known the Davidsons had removed Peter from Midtown because of travel expense. Then again, no one had seemed to do a history check on Peter before visiting; they had seemed surprised when the detectives had asked them if they’d known Peter’s history.
Tony’s head had found itself in his hands fifteen minutes into the explanation, as the detectives told them that the Davidsons had yet to give any information as to why they didn’t state Peter as missing back in February.
“Our hunch,” said the detective, who had introduced himself as Detective Fitzgerald. “Is that the Davidsons still received the foster care money after Peter had gone missing.”
“They still got the cheques?”
“Of course,” said Detective Fitzgerald. “The social workers said Peter was still there, so they still received – and this is from the data from you, Miss Moore - $708 a month for Peter’s supposed care.”
Tony sat back in his chair in shock.
“Not only that,” said Detective Fitzgerald. “It seems they used the entire payments on themselves, as Paul Davidson was fired from his job in January, just before Peter went missing.”
“Did they do something to him?”
“We don’t know yet,” said Detective Fitzgerald. “I shouldn’t even be giving you that much information, but this is an unusual case. The Davidsons may have – as you say – done something to Peter, which would have been extremely risky, or Peter could have – as they say – run away on his own volition.”
“His own volition!” Tony’s voice began to climb. “They were obviously doing something in there – did you not see how crappy it was? To think they were getting money, too –”
“Mr Stark, before you escalate your hunches, we are trying to get information out of the Davidsons as we speak. We are also looking at transactions, to see whether the foster money before Peter went missing was used on him.”
“He had a job in the supermarket!” said Tony. “Of course he didn’t!”
The detective looked slightly startled.
“Mr Stark, you said you hadn’t seen –”
“His best friend told me,” interjected Tony, waving the concern away. “I met him outside Midtown when I couldn’t get contact.”
“Right,” said Detective Fitzgerald. “Who is this friend?”
“Ned Leeds,” said Tony. “I think he’s probably one of the last people – aside from the Davidsons – who saw Peter. He said he stopped turning up around January.”
The detective rubbed his head. “A lot of things in January,” he muttered, jotting it down. “We’ll have to ask him some questions,” he sighed. “And I’m assuming he’s under eighteen, too.”
“I have lawyers,” said Tony.
“That’s great, do you have his address?”
“Somewhere,” said Tony, thinking about where he’d dropped Ned Leeds off the other day. It was a blur. “I’ll get my chauffeur to tell you,” he added when no address entered his brain.
The detective didn’t give much else in terms of explanation, or whether they could leave. In fact, after about ten minutes, Detective Fitzgerald left the room in order to interrogate the Davidsons and did not return.
Tony sat impatiently on the cold, hard green chair and tried not to tap his feet. Wendy was staring blankly at the wall in front of her.
“I’m going to be fired,” Wendy stated blandly. Tony jumped, causing the chair to make a screech across the floor. Flinching, he turned his head towards the woman.
Wendy’s hair was falling down, yet with enough frizz poking upwards to destroy Darwin’s gravity theory. Her shirt was rumpled; she’d taken off the jumper at some point, and it was now haphazardly wrapped round her torso. She gave a pitiful sniff.
“You’re not going to be fired,” said Tony. “The other people will probably get fired, I suppose, for negligence but –”
“I should be fired,” said Wendy hoarsely. “If I don’t, I’m going to quit.”
“Wendy,” Tony said firmly, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Against all odds, you’re actually a good one. Don’t be a good one and leave, you’ve got to continue helping these kids. You know why? Because you’re good at it. Heck, you told me off for what I’d done! You care about Peter, and … well he needs all the people he can get. He doesn’t have many.”
“What if they can’t find him?” whispered Wendy miserably. “What if –” she gave a whole-body shudder. “What if they did something so – so we’ll never find him.”
Tony forgot how to swallow. A tear dripped onto Wendy’s trousers and Tony stared at it, choking slightly, and thinking of the possibility that Peter wouldn’t make it home.
“As gross as they are,” Tony said, finally figuring out his muscles. “I doubt they’d kill anyone.”
“You don’t know,” Wendy sniffed. “I told you all the nice things about them and – and – they all t-turned out to b-be false. I work w-with children, Mr S-stark, I can’t make mistakes.” She was hiccupping slightly now, so Tony patted her shoulder in an attempt at comfort.
“Did you find the Davidsons?”
“N-no,” hiccupped Wendy. “I-I don’t do that, I j-just met them w-when we f-found a p-place for Marcus.”
“The other foster kid?”
“Sh-shit,” said Wendy.
“The cops are probably going to be asking him questions,” said Tony, shrugging. “I don’t think that’ll matter.”
“Such a mess,” Wendy said, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. “I wanted to be a ballet dancer.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I wasn’t very good,” said Wendy.
Tony gave a short laugh.
“I wanted to be a car,” he said. Wendy gave a wet sort of chuckle.
“Couldn’t figure it out?”
“Nope,” said Tony. He thought about how he had wanted to be a car so his father would pay more attention to him. He quickly put that thought in a tight little box. “Never figured it out."
By two in the morning, when Wendy nearly passed out, the officers allowed them to leave. Not for long, however, as they required them both back in order to understand Tony’s connection to Peter, and what the next steps were.
Tony had made FRIDAY block his calls and texts whilst he had been at the police station. When he finally allowed them through, he was immediately bombarded. Happy – who had picked them up after having followed them to the station (and apparently had waited. Tony was going to give him a pay rise) – told him that Steve and Rhodey had been calling since ten.
They waited until they had dropped Wendy off at her apartment. Happy had gone up with her, as they were both concerned that she would pass out in the elevator. Once she’d got back in one piece, with plans for the next police station visit, Tony allowed Rhodey’s voicemails to come through.
“Hey Tony, I know you like the whole ‘I’m ignoring you, Steve’ thing, but he says you’ve been out since three thirty and haven’t replied. It’s ten fifteen now, Tony, I feel like that’s long enough to warrant a text back.”
“Tones, it’s eleven thirty. You better not be on some sort of bender. I’m back tomorrow, can you PLEASE let Steve know where you are? I’m concerned.”
“Tony if you don’t respond I’ll call Pepper.”
“Pepper is threatening to come back from Shanghai, which she will not be pleased with, and she also somehow seems angry at ME because of it.”
Tony quickly sent a text off to Pepper. She responded immediately with a stern We’ll talk when I’m back, then.
Trying not to think about the fact that Pepper was angry yet again, Tony instead thought about how he would tell Rhodey that Spider-Man not only was an orphan, but no longer had any family at all. Also, that he’d been missing since February, meaning the fight he’d engaged in three weeks ago was even more worrying. Where did he recover from that? The mysterious, red-suited vigilante that had helped him out?
Tony Stark to Rhodey Rhodey Rhodey RHODEY: not dead or on a bender. Speak to you about it tomorrow. It’s about my intern.
He didn’t text Steve. What was the point? He was headed back to the tower now, and it was nearly three. Steve could find out about it in the morning.
Happy dropped him off in the garage with a tired goodbye, with agreements over having the morning off before taking Tony and Wendy back to the police station. Happy looked ready to keel over, and if Tony’s head wasn’t buzzing, he would have suggested Happy stay in a guest bedroom for fear of a car accident.
Tony didn’t go up to the penthouse straight away; he was so pumped on shitty coffee and adrenaline that he found himself walking randomly around the floor that contained the gym, contemplating whether to beat the shit out of a punch bag. He marched down the corridor with purpose. He turned a corner and halted abruptly. There was a movement in the shadows, a glint of metal. Tony’s heart skipped several beats before it restarted, faster than before. Bucky Barnes emerged from the darkness, looming formidably.
His face remained impassive, but his eyes flashed in the same surprise that was written all over Tony’s face.
“Ah,” said Barnes.
“What are you doing?” Tony snapped, trying to get his heart to stop shaking his chest. “Skulking the corridors at three in the morning? Trying to spy, are you?”
“No,” said Barnes, blinking. He raised his metal arm to show a very obvious gym bag. “I was using the gym.”
“At this time?”
“I don’t sleep much,” said Barnes slowly. “I don’t have to use – I can go to the other gym.”
“Don’t bother,” Tony bit out. The other gym was on floor 2, for staff members and not at all equip for enhanced Super-Soldiers. He stood up taller, feeling a bit wrong-footed, and crossed his arms.
“Er, okay,” Bucky started to edge round him. Tony flinched at the closeness, and Bucky backed off quickly. “Sorry, I just –”
Stepping to the side, Tony eyed Barnes as he walked down the corridor. His posture was rounded as he stared at the ground, clutching his gym bag tightly. Tony did not unwind until Barnes had disappeared around the corner.
He walked closer to the gym.
“FRIDAY, is Barnes back in his room?”
“Sergeant Barnes is not in his room.”
“Where the fuck is he?”
“Sergeant Barnes is on the balcony on the ninety-eighth floor,” replied FRIDAY.
“Doing what?”
“He’s standing by the barriers.”
“Tell me if he goes anywhere but his room,” said Tony, irrationally irritated over the fact that he’d freaked out over Barnes’ appearance and was annoyed he hadn’t returned to his bedroom. Tony couldn’t exactly say he couldn’t empathise over not being able to sleep. Barnes had a million more demons than Tony did.
He stayed in the gym until five; by then, light had started to filter through the windows, and Tony’s eyes were drooping. Barnes had returned to his room at half past four, meaning Tony felt a sudden wash of being able to relax after a long time tensed. It felt that even his bones were sinking into the floor as he waited for the elevator to take him to his penthouse. Once there, he barely made it to his room when he flopped, fully dressed, onto his bed and finally descended into unconsciousness.
His dreams offered no security.
He woke at eight, with three hours of intermittent sleep. It was not by choice, but because James Rhodes had barged into the room as though dressed in War Machine armour and said, very sternly, “What the fuck have you been doing?”
Tony, whose head was still spinning due to excessive noise and sudden light, tried not to puke.
“Wha?”
“What. Have. You. Been. Doing?” Rhodey punctuated each word with a step towards the bed. He looked rather angry. “You were missing for nearly twelve hours!”
“They don’t start looking until twenty-four,” said Tony, tugging the duvet over his head. Rhodey yanked it off and Tony yelped. “What the hell, man? I texted you!”
“You didn’t say what was going on!”
“I said I was going to,” said Tony. “Tomorrow.”
“It is tomorrow.”
“Technically,” Tony began. “I texted at three, meaning it was already today, and therefore the text meant tomorrow.”
“I got an early fucking flight for you to tell me you meant tomorrow on a technicality?”
“Yes,” said Tony, trying to snuggle into his mattress. “More fool you.”
“Are you drunk?”
“No,” said Tony. “I’m tired. I was at the police –”
“The police?” Rhodey sounded as though he was going to throw something. Like a Tony-sized something. Out the window.
“Yes, the police,” Tony huffed. “I didn’t get to bed until five, so can I please sleep until I am coherent enough to remember what happened?”
“You have four hours,” said Rhodey, shoving the duvet back on the bed and slamming his way out the door.
Tony knew better than to test James Rhodes, so he diligently set up camp on the sofa (and his duvet like he was back in his college days, and not forty-six). He nursed a cup of coffee as he waited impatiently for the return of his annoyed best friend.
Five minutes later, Rhodey walked through the doors as fast as a man with exoskeleton legs could. Which is to say, like an average human (because Tony was a genius, thank you very much). He was wearing what seemed to be casual sportswear, with sunglasses propped on his head, which was glistening.
“Did you go running?”
Rhodey ignored him.
“What’s going on?”
“Honeybear, good to see you too,” Tony said, giving a nice fake smile. He shucked the duvet off.
“Cut the shit, Tones,” replied Rhodey.
“Okay,” said Tony. He then took a breath. And another. He felt very nauseas. And hot. Very hot. Was it hot in here? Was Rhodey hot? Maybe he should turn the AC on, get some air. He put his coffee cup down. His hands were shaking.
“Tony,” said Rhodey, who was now closer and speaking more gently. “Take three breaths with me.”
Tony shuddered slightly as he did what he was told.
“What’s going on, Tones?” Rhodey asked. His eyes were wide and worried.
“Peter,” said Tony.
Rhodey looked at him. “Peter,” he repeated slowly. “What about Peter? I thought you saw him yesterday afternoon?”
“I thought I was,” said Tony hollowly. “He wasn’t there. He – I found out – on Monday that his aunt died six months ago.”
Rhodey looked slightly sick as he slumped back.
“I phoned CPS and asked for an appointment to give Peter his internship back,” Tony said flatly. “His friend had already shown his disparity with the fosters Peter was at, and he was right. Peter wasn’t there.” Tony gave a big shuddering breath. “He went missing.”
“Missing?”
“Since February.”
“February?!” choked Rhodey. “His foster parents –”
“Are in custody. The detectives think it’s the combination of not cross-referencing the check-ups, and the fact that the fosters seemed to want the money. They haven’t said anything.”
“Jesus,” said Rhodey. “And they don’t know where he is?”
“I don’t think they’ve even started looking,” said Tony miserably. “They want me and Wendy back today – something about my presence and making sure I don’t need arresting for some reason.”
“Wendy?”
“The social worker in charge of Peter,” Tony said heavily. “She was on leave because of her mother’s illness, and that’s why there were so many different workers to do the check-up.”
Rhodey didn’t say anything for a little while. So long, in fact, that Tony had started to doze off where he was sitting.
“I’m coming with you,” said Rhodey.
Tony jerked upright. “Hguh?”
“To the police station,” Rhodey said.
Tony blinked. “Thanks,” he said. Because who was to deny the fact that Tony needed Rhodey to come with him, like he had been for so many of his life events. It seemed useless to attempt to pretend that Tony could do it by himself; Parker had gone missing, and Tony should have been responsible for him. But he wasn’t.
“At least it’s not picking you up from a cell,” said Rhodey. His face looked sad. “I didn’t realise it would be worse.”
The last time Rhodey had picked him up from a police station, Tony had been out drinking and had smashed his car. Tony only remembered fragments; the blank four walls, the hard bench, and the guards leering at him through the bars, pleased to find that the rich Stark kid was a junkie. Rhodey had picked him up without a word and helped him home. And continued to do so, even when Tony no longer deserved it.
“We’ll be broadcasting it on the news,” said Detective Fitzgerald.
They were all back in the police station, Tony sandwiched between Rhodey and Wendy, the latter of whom looked as though she had slept for about five minutes. All of them, including the detective, were clutching coffee cups in death grips.
“For public appeal,” carried on Fitzgerald. “It might be beneficial if you, Mr Stark, also broadcast a comment. As horrible as it is, people tend to take more notice if someone – er – of fame takes interest.”
The door opened and another detective popped their head in.
“I’ve got the posters,” said the detective, inching their way inside. They placed the stack on the table in between them all.
“Thanks, Mosely,” said Fitzgerald. He turned to the other three. “We’ll be pasting them around Brooklyn, and Queens too, just in case.”
Tony picked up the sheet of paper in front of him. What seemed to be a school picture of Peter was slapped in the middle. Tony looked at it carefully; Peter stared out the picture looking unsure and slightly confused. His curls were slightly haphazard, as though he’d just rolled out of bed and found himself in front of a camera. Tony wondered where’d they’d got it from.
MISSING:
PETER BENJAMIN PARKER
Born August 10, 2002 (aged 15 years, seven months)
brown hair, brown eyes, around 5’7”
Parker has been missing since February 8th from Crown Heights, Brooklyn. He is a native of Queens and knows the area well. If any person has any information, please contact the police.
There was a contact number underneath.
“We get calls,” said Detective Fitzgerald. “Most of them are duds, but a lot of the time they do actually help.”
“People would remember from February?”
“Not necessarily,” said the detective. “But it would be pretty hard to remain out of sight for so long in a place like this.”
“Where’d you get the photo?” asked Wendy.
“We phoned his old school this morning,” said Fitzgerald. “They said they would also keep an eye out; ask any of the students if they’ve seen him.”
Tony, who’s eyes hadn’t left the poster, raised his head. “Told you Ned hadn’t seen him since January.”
“We know, Mr Stark, but the other students may have seen him around,” said Fitzgerald. “Besides, it’ll be on the news by tomorrow.”
“I’ll get Pepper to release a statement on Twitter,” said Tony hollowly. “Peter was … a personal intern, which I don’t particularly want broadcasted.”
“Understood,” said Detective Fitzgerald. “This is Detective Mosely, by the way, she’s also on the case.”
“The Captain is also aware of the case,” said the other detective. She’s sat down next to Fitzgerald. “Especially since it involves failings of the foster system. I suspect that will make big news once it’s broken. At the moment, we’re trying to keep the Davidson’s involvement quiet, as to not let anything get in the way.”
“We’re also trying to get a hold of the other foster child they had,” said Detective Fitzgerald. “Miss Moore, we shall have to interview you separately for information about him. We need to know if anything may have happened during his time, that could have also happened to Peter.”
Tony tried not to vomit.
“The Davidsons have yet to say much,” Detective Fitzgerald pushed on through, seemingly ignoring Tony’s green complexion and Wendy’s blanching at his previous statement. “But they did tell us when Peter went missing, hence the date on the posters. They also let slip that the school they’d sent Peter too wasn’t very … adept at keeping their students in line. It is not uncommon for students to stop showing up and go unrecorded. They are very firmly stuck on the ‘running away’ due to Peter being a truant, but from everyone we’ve spoken to, Peter’s never been that sort of person. His old Headteacher said that in the first term of last year, before everything happened, he had a habit of skipping classes and being late. However, that seemed to have reconciled when he received detentions. Principle Morita still seemed complimentary over Parker, even with the skipping.”
“He had a tough time that first term,” said Tony. “We’d continued the internship on through to the start of term and … I think it was a bit much. That’s why we stopped and waited until things had passed a bit more.”
Detective Fitzgerald nodded. “There’s no record of him running away from his aunt, or any offences with the police. Considering he was in foster care, and his life had been upturned, it’s not exactly unusual for someone to run away. What is, is that no one has, apparently, seen him since. Or even be picked up by us; it’s not usual to see a young boy on the streets without them being questioned.”
“We phoned the supermarket job,” said Detective Mosely. “They said that Peter always turned up for shifts and was never late or skipping. Until the day he stopped showing up completely.”
“And they didn’t ask the Davidsons?”
“They apparently did,” said Detective Mosely. “And were told that the Davidsons had taken Peter on an impromptu holiday, and he would not be returning to the supermarket.”
“They didn’t find it weird?”
“They were more pissed off, I think,” said Detective Mosely. “Until I told them that Peter had gone missing on February 8th. They then stated that they’d seen Peter the night before on his shift, and he did not seem any different to usual, albeit slightly jumpy.”
Tony frowned slightly.
“We’re still looking into it,” said Detective Mosely. “But for now, that’s all we can give. We actually need to get more information about your involvement, Mr Stark, before we can pursue further. You see, it’s quite unusual for Tony Stark to go personally for an intern.”
“Peter was my personal intern,” said Tony. “I didn’t want to make a fuss; Peter didn’t deserve people to … know about him. So I had him in my lab.”
“Mr Stark, you don’t exactly have a track record of having personal interns, especially with someone so young.”
“Peter’s a genius,” said Tony. “I didn’t want the R&D department to have him. You can contact Pepper Potts; she can tell you.”
“We’ll do that,” said Detective Mosely, still sounding rather disbelieving. She wrote a few notes in her notebook as Fitzgerald looked slightly awkward.
“How did you find Peter?” asked Fitzgerald.
“We do sweeps of the science-oriented schools,” Tony lied easily. “And any student can sign up for the September Foundation grant. Peter signed up and,” he raised his hands. “I hired him.”
“Must be some kid,” said Detective Fitzgerald.
“Yeah,” said Tony weakly.
“When did this internship start?”
“The June,” said Tony.
“Whilst the – er – disagreement was going on with Captain America?”
“Just before, actually,” said Tony. “Then we stopped in the, er, September.”
“Because of Peter not being able to juggle both?”
“Yes,” said Tony. “His aunt was getting worried about school, so we said we’d see where we were in six months, and I’d offer it back.”
The detectives nodded. “Thank you, Mr Stark. It seems that you and Mr Parker had a nice relationship.”
Tony smiled weakly. How did he only now realise how much more attention he should have paid to the boy from Queens?
Steve was talking, Tony knew that much. Something about the expectations of the Avengers, or that they should implement some rules … or something about Clint and Scott Lang … well, honestly Tony wasn’t listening. He was inside his head remembering the police station, and the fact that the news report was set to air in a couple of hours. Then, everyone would know that Peter was gone, and that Tony was involved. Something he never wanted. He didn’t want Peter in the limelight, certainly not as Peter, and certainly not as Spider-Man. It was a blessing, he supposed, that Peter – though having run away – had still gone out as Spider-Man throughout the months he was homeless. It was a good tactic, really, in that it hadn’t made Tony suspicious at –
“Tony, how did the meeting go with Spider-Man?”
Tony tried not to jump as his brain stuttered to a stop. He stared at the table.
“He didn’t – um – want to get involved,” said Rhodey. He shifted in his chair. “He’s a bit busy.”
“A bit busy?” repeated Steve, looking completely puzzled. “For an Avengers meeting?”
“Yes,” said Rhodey.
“I might actually like this guy,” said Sam, looking like Christmas had come early. “He says no to an Avengers meeting?”
“Can I also say no?” asked Bucky.
“No,” Steve pinched between his eyes. “Tony, are you … er … alright?”
Tony ignored him, in favour of mentally drilling holes in the table instead.
“Tony’s had a bit of a shock yesterday,” said Rhodey.
Steve furrowed his eyebrows in concern. “A shock? Is everything alright, Tony?”
“No,” said Tony.
“He – ah – got some news,” said Rhodey. “About his intern going missing.”
“Missing?” Steve said at the same time as Natasha said “Intern?”
Tony stood up so fast the chair tipped over behind him.
“Rhodey,” he stated through gritted teeth. “Can I talk to you outside?”
Rhodey followed dutifully as Tony stalked out and walked down the corridor.
“You told them about Peter!” Tony snapped, whirling round to face him. Rhodey frowned at him.
“Yes, so that they would understand why you were so out of it. I didn’t say anything about Spider-Man. I didn’t even say Peter’s name!”
“I don’t want them knowing about Peter,” said Tony.
“Why not?”
“Because – because I don’t want Barnes knowing shit,” Tony rubbed his chest slightly. “And Steve would be unbearable.”
“If they just know him as your intern, I’m pretty sure he’d find it endearing,” Rhodey said.
“Endearing?” scoffed Tony.
“Because you actually care about someone,” said Rhodey. “Who is also under the age of twenty-five. Also, I’m pretty sure Barnes doesn’t give a fuck.” Rhodey paused, his head tilted. “Well, he probably does now he’s missing.”
Tony snorted in disbelief.
“He’s not a monster,” said Rhodey. “Not anymore, anyway. Peter’s going to be in the news, Tony, and the fact that you’ve been in and out of police stations is going to spark some interest. They’re appealing for witnesses, remember?”
Tony’s brain jolted with a loud clunk.
There had been witnesses. He had seen him.
“But it would be pretty hard to remain out of sight for so long in a place like this.” Peter hadn’t been out of sight; he’d been in full view. How did Tony forget the brief appearance of Spider-Man four days ago? He’d gone off radar for three weeks yet still made an appearance just before the time Tony found out that Peter was missing. So Peter wasn’t missing at all!
“FRIDAY, show me footage of Spider-Man over the last four days,” Tony commanded.
“There’s been no more sightings of Spider-Man since Wednesday,” said FRIDAY apologetically.
Tony swore loudly.
“I am programmed to let you know of any sightings without prompting,” said FRIDAY.
“I know, I just … never mind,” said Tony.
“If there was a sighting of Spider-Man four days ago,” said Rhodey slowly. “Then it seems that Peter can’t be too far away.”
Tony nodded, feeling out of sorts. “Can’t tell the police, though,” he said. “Peter Parker’s been missing for three months; Spider-Man was only missing for three weeks. Now, four days.”
“He’ll turn up,” said Rhodey confidently. “And then we can go collect him when he does. Say to the police he turned up here, or something. But,” Rhodey looked serious. “We’re still going with just Peter missing when we go back inside.”
“We have to go back inside?” Tony said (he did not whine, thank you very much).
“Steve’s saying about Clint and Scott arriving,” said Rhodey, shrugging.
“Was I informed about this?” Tony demanded. “Considering it’s my tower?”
“Nope,” said Rhodey. “But if you had been listening, it was why Steve asked you about Spider-Man.”
“Whatever,” said Tony, and stalked back inside.
The team all looked up when he entered, a hologram up in the middle of the table showing Peter’s face. Tony tried not to look at it. He was, however, extremely relieved that he’d inputted some bullshit internship within Peter’s profile instead of leaving it blank and suspicious. Steve was looking particularly sad at Peter’s age.
“We would like to help,” said Steve solemnly. “Mr Parker is very young –”
“– same age as you were when you tried for the army –” Bucky’s mutter was only just heard.
“When did he go missing?” asked Sam.
“February.”
Steve dropped the StarkPad.
“February?” he said, horrified. “But –”
“No one knew,” said Rhodey. “Because his foster parents failed to record his disappearance.”
“But what about his school –”
“They moved him to a shit one,” said Tony, looking at where it said Midtown Tech on Peter’s ‘education’ bar. He didn’t even know the name of the school the Davidsons had shoved him into.
“February,” Wilson repeated. “And the police are still optimistic about finding him alive?”
Natasha elbowed him neatly in the ribs.
“Do you have recorded footage of Peter speaking?” asked Natasha. Tony looked at her. She smiled serenely back. “So we know if we hear his voice. Sight can only do so much.”
“I have audio recordings, boss,” said FRIDAY.
“Roll one of them,” said Tony heavily.
Immediately, the click of footage starting filtered through the speakers.
“Hey, Mr Stark – uh – so my aunt found out about my – er – internship and she’s real mad that you er, didn’t tell her, so – wait, May no! –”
The audio cuts of rather abruptly, as May’s voice, angry and loud, would inevitably would have filtered through and voiced her opinion on the “internship”. Tony was rather grateful FRIDAY had the sense to stop it before May had given up the Spider-Man identity.
Though everyone else’s faces remained the same, Natasha’s was slightly shrewd before reverting to her normal imperceptible expression. Tony stood corrected; Natasha had probably already figured it out. How many kids had Tony ever expressed interest in? Spider-Man was with them in Germany, and it wasn’t hard to figure out that he was young. Tony having an intern was rather out of the blue, too, especially when said intern was not college age.
“Thank you,” said Natasha simply, not giving away her thoughts. “I can investigate around.”
Tony nodded slowly. “Thanks,” he said. “I, um, there’s going to be a news report this afternoon.”
“What happened to the foster parents?”
“In custody,” said Rhodey. “They haven’t said much.”
“What shall we do?”
“Can’t do much,” said Tony heavily. “Except, apparently, to wait for the police to do their job.”
“Right,” said Wilson. “So what are we actually going to do?”
“We’re going to fucking find him.”
PETER PARKER MISSING SINCE FEBRUARY; STARK INDUSTRIES ASKING FOR WITNESSES
15-year-old Peter Parker, from Crown Heights, was announced as missing today by the police. Parker, a native of Queens, had moved to Brooklyn after losing his aunt in the supermarket crash in November, which killed five others. The unusuality of this case has sparked backlash for the police, who informed the media today that Parker had actually been missing since February, and that they had not been aware that he was missing. Parker’s foster parents have been remanded in custody over not informing the police over Parker’s disappearance, but no more has been said over their apparent involvement. Police are asking any witnesses who may have seen Parker between the time of his disappearance and now to contact the police immediately.
Parker attended the prestigious Midtown School for Science and Technology on scholarship since his freshman year. After the death of his last living relative, Parker was moved to George Washington High School in Crown Heights. The school is now facing charges over not informing authorities of Parker’s disappearance. In another turn of events, Stark Industries, who hired Parker as an intern during his time at Midtown, have expressed their hopes that Parker is found safe, and are appealing for witnesses. It is unknown whether Tony Stark was involved in Parker’s employment, but sources within Stark Industries state that Stark hired him personally.
Online, various users have already expressed doubt over finding Parker alive; most believe the time since his disappearance, and the winter months, have severely depleted his chances. Others believe that his foster parents were involved in much more nefarious doings, and that police efforts should be focused on finding Parker’s body. In this case of a missing child, it seems as though that once again, people have already begun to play armchair detectives.
SPIDER-MAN DISAPPEARS FOR THE SECOND TIME
Last week, Spider-Man fans rejoiced over the return of their beloved Queens vigilante after three weeks of absence. Spider-Man had been involved in a yet disclosed fight that involved another vigilante (see our poll for ‘Was it Deadpool or Daredevil?’!) coming to his aid. His return was met with a huge response online, but it seems that Spider-Man has once again disappeared from view after another six days without being spotted. After a year of Spider-Man turning up on the streets, fans have stated that seeing the hero swing through the streets has become a sort of norm that they are now without.
“He’s a good man,” says bodega owner Mr Delmar, whose shop was destroyed last year after Spider-Man’s involvement in an ATM robbery using Chitauri weapons (see our article on “The Vulture” for more information). “He helped me and my cat out of my shop as soon as he could. I would’ve died otherwise. I owe Spider-Man everything.”
When prompted over the fact that Spider-Man seemingly caused the accident, Mr Delmar was quick to dismiss these views.
“He saved the day,” he insists. “Without him, The Vulture would have got much more powerful.”
A STRING OF UNMODERATED VISITS LEADS TO A 15-YEAR-OLD FOSTER MISSING FOR THREE MONTHS
Foster parents Paul and Margaret Davidson, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, appeared in court today over the recently announced disappearance of Peter Parker (15). The couple pled Not Guilty for gross negligence and failure to inform the police of Parker’s disappearance. Captain Michael Schwartz of the 78th Precinct stated that the couple are still under further suspicion over Parker’s disappearance with malicious intent. The failures from the foster system over not properly conducting wellness checks with the boy have been heavily criticised and under full investigation. Police state that the couple would state that Peter Parker was “out” whenever a check was made, which the social workers accepted and did not pursue. All social workers involved with Parker’s case are suspended whilst this investigation continues.
In surprising news, Tony Stark has been involved within the investigation due to Parker’s internship at Stark Industries. He posted an official letter on SI’s Twitter account asking for people to come forward with any information over Parker’s whereabouts. This has yet to yield any results, as police have failed to uncover any information about Parker.
SIX DAYS ON: NO NEWS ON MISSING BOY, PETER PARKER