Quiet

Tony was good at hiding his emotions. It had been drilled into him from a young age that boys didn't cry, men don't show weakness. So he had crafted the perfect mask, and only let it go for a few people. He knew that mask was slipping now, but he couldn't bring himself to care, not when it was he had much bigger priorities. Peter had been taken, it had been almost two days and they still had nothing.

"FRIDAY," Tony's voice cracked and he winced. "Any updates on that substance?" the scene at the alleyway when he arrived would be burned into his brain forever. Blood was sprayed across the pavement and along the wall, and Peter's mask had been lying crumpled in a puddle. FRIDAY had scanned the area and picked up traces of some sort of toxin, and was currently running diagnostics to figure out what it was.

"Tones," Rhodey looked over to his friend. "You asked that less than five minutes ago. When was the last time you slept?" the rest of the Avengers were sat around the lab, scanning files and security footage.

Tony ran his hand over his face. "Not important. I can still see, so I'm fine." he grabbed a mug from across the desk and frowned when it came up empty.

"Tony," Nat put her files down and crossed the room. "Rhodey's right, you need sleep. You can't help Peter in this state. And we're all here, so you taking a break doesn't mean nothing's getting done, understand?" she patted his shoulder in an attempt to get him to move. "Come on."

"No," Tony brushed her hand away.

"To-"

"Zip it Romanoff. I'm not going anywhere, got it?" he stood up and swayed slightly, before turning to face the others. "My kid-" his voice wavered. "my kid is out there. He's missing. And you want me to take a break?" his voice was rising, but he couldn't care enough to calm himself down. "Like hell. And right now we're wasting time, so get out of my way so I can get back to my work."

Nat looked like she wanted to argue, but knew this wasn't something she could win, so she nodded and went back to her seat. An awkward silence had settled, broken by the occasional rustling of paper and keyboards clicking. Tony went back to his tablet and pulled up an evaluation of Peter's suit. The cameras in the mask had been smashed, and the tracker had been disabled just down the street from the alley, so he was holding onto this as his last hope. As he waited, he re-read messages he had received from Peter out on patrol, and suddenly it was like a switch had been flipped. He shot up, catching the attention of the others.

"Tony?" Steve went to stand but Tony waved him away.

"I'm an idiot," he breathed. He turned frantically and began digging through a nearby stack of files. "How did I not see that?"

The rest of the Avengers watched him warily. "Tony," Rhodey began cautiously. "What is it?"

"This is taking too long," Tony tugged on his hair. "FRIDAY, play back footage of the group we've been tracing." he pulled up a hologram and stared around the room. "A few minutes before Peter sent me that distress signal, he sent me a video from one of his old patrols. It was the same people from those attacks all around the city, but months before they started. It was the weapons he was showing me, some kind of energy ring, I'm still not sure yet. But," he let out a breath.

Nat stood up suddenly, Clint following close behind. "You think he was taken by the group?" Nat asked. Tony nodded.

"It would make sense," Wanda spoke from where she was sat. "Maybe, maybe they found out he was looking into them? So they wanted to get rid of any potential threats." she winced when she realised what she'd said. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"It's fine, I know what you mean." Tony muttered. They watched as FRIDAY projected the videos side by side.

"But what about the stuff we found there? The toxin?" Sam spoke up. "Unless..." he looked up to see the others looking at him. "Well, if they knew who they were up against, they probably knew about his healing. Just a knife alone wouldn't be enough to take him out that quickly right? So they cover the knife in something that stops him from healing, makes it easier to take him down."

Bruce pointed at him and nodded. "My guess is some sort of extreme anticoagulant. Karen reported a tear to the side of the suit, and that much blood wouldn't have come from a cut that size without something else stopping it. I'm also gonna say there's probably a cocktail of drugs too. Maybe a sedative?"

Tony clapped his hands. It felt like they were finally getting there. It wasn't much but it was a start at least. "FRIDAY, go back through the footage with facial recognition. Try and get names if you can." he pointed at Steve and Bucky. "You guys are supersoldiers, anything you can tell me? It's not the same as Peter's, but it's close enough until we know exactly what was in that stuff."

The two men glanced at each other. "When I was with Hydra," Bucky started. The room fell quiet and everyone looked to him. He cleared his throat awkwardly and carried on. "I don't know what they used, but it was always a lot. Whatever those people had, it will be a lot, I wouldn't be surprised if it's enough to kill a normal person."

The silence that followed was tense, broken after a few moments by FRIDAY. "Boss, I've got a reading for the substance."

Tony went back to his seat and let out a slow breath. "Okay Fri, hit me."

"It appears to be a mixture. And Sergeant Barnes is correct, there are extremely high doses, enough to kill three grown men." there was a collective intake of air throughout the lab. "It's mainly fentanyl, which is usually used in hospitals, followed closely by pentobarbitol. And," FRIDAY paused, and the anxiety grew. "There's a large amount of ketamine present as well. Those where the three most easy to identify, I've yet to get a name for the lesser drugs at this time."

Tony felt the room spin and the situation he was in suddenly became too real. The thought of Peter being attacked with those kind of drugs made him feel sick, and his mind cruelly conjured an image of a group of people in black dragging the kid's limp body away. He vaguely registered a hand rubbing small circles on his shoulder, and Rhodey's muffled voice entered his mind, warping as if he was underwater. He tried to bat him away, but Rhodey gripped him tighter, hauling him to his feet.

"Come on, let's go." he let himself be guided out of the lab and towards his room, too tired to put up a fight. FRIDAY's reading had taken most of his energy from him and his only focus was Peter, not caring about anything else. Rhodey snapped his fingers in front of his face and he blinked as his room came into focus.

"Rhodes," he croaked, before clearing his throat and trying again. "I don't, I can't-"

"I know," Rhodey hummed. "FRIDAY, give Pepper the rundown of what's happened and what we know." FRIDAY made a noise of confirmation and he turned his attention back to his friend, who was sitting on his bed with his head in his hands. He sat down gently next to him and put his hand on his arm. "You're not going to want to hear this Tones, but you need to sleep, take a break, do something other than look for Peter." Tony looked at him and he pushed forward. "I mean it. Nat was right, you're not the only one working on this, we all are, so you can take time off when you need it. You clearly do right now, and I'm not taking any argument on this." he stood up and patted Tony once more. "Get some rest dude, we'll regroup in the morning."

Tony knew he was right, so he murmured a thanks before slumping onto his side. He could still feel his heart racing, and focused on taking a few deep breaths until he felt almost calm again. There was a bone deep tiredness he finally let himself feel after that day and allowed sleep to wash over him.

⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎

"Mr. Stark?" Tony shot up, squinting through the darkness. A small figure stood over him, the silhouette unmistakably of Peter. He scrambled to pull the covers back and staggered to his feet.

"Peter?" he took a step forward and pulled Peter into a hug, resting his chin on the boy's head. "Oh my god. I was so worried, oh thank god." he closed his eyes and pulled him closer. "I'm never going to let you out of my sight again." he stood there for several moments, taking it in. Peter was alive. It didn't matter how he got back, the only important thing was that he was standing in front of him. He knew he'd have to alert the team soon, but for now he was going to hold the boy he thought he'd lost.

Peter leaned into the embrace for a moment before he grabbed Tony's arms and pulled away. He held the man in front of him, and regarded him with a sorrowful expression the older man could just make out in the dark. "It's too late for that Tony."

Tony felt his blood run cold as Peter took a step back. "I know, I know. I should've gotten there sooner, I should have given you more protection, I-"

"No." Peter cut him off harshly and he fell back onto his bed with surprise. He'd never seen the boy this way before, and he felt the guilt rising inside him. "You were supposed to be there," his voice wavered, but he kept speaking. "I needed your help, and you let me get taken."

"Pete please, you have to understand," he tried to stand but Peter pushed him back down.

"Look at me!" he yelled. "Look at what you let happen to me!" he reached for the lamp on the bedside table, flicking it on. "This is your fault!"

Tony felt like his heart had stopped. There he had been, foolishly under the notion that Peter had made it back in one piece. The boy stood in front of him, his hair sopping wet, a steadily growing puddle at his feet. There were deep bags under his eyes, standing out against his skin, which had become ashy and pale. His face looked hollow, his eyes sunken and cheekbones sticking out harshly. He was wearing all grey, something that looked to be a sort of prison uniform, and Tony noticed with a horrifying jolt that there was a large gash on his side. The material around it crusted brown, fresh blood slowly seeping through.

"Oh my god," Tony felt like he was choking. "FRIDAY, FRIDAY get Bruce. Get everyone, we need medical immediately." his legs felt weak and he had started shaking, desperately trying to get close to Peter. "I didn't know, I didn't know, I'm so sorry."

"I told you," Peter took another step away from him. "It's too late for that." his eyes filled with tears, and he gasped for air. "They drugged me Tony. They cut me and they drugged me and they took me away. And it's all your fault." he was standing still now, his arms hanging limply by his side.

Tony felt like his head was stuffed with cotton. There was a ringing noise echoing in his head and his eyes burned as tears threatened to spill down his face. “Peter,” he whispered. “Please, you have to listen.”

Peter watched him coldly. “I’m done.” he opened his mouth, and Tony watched in horror as it continued to stretch, a splintering sound filling the room as his jaw split and dislocated. A loud crack echoed as his spine snapped to the side, throwing the top half of his body at a sharp angle. His eyes rolled back in his head and he shuffled forward slightly. A low, guttural noise started from the back of his throat, slowly growing louder until it was the only thing Tony could hear. Peter moved forward again and the older man moved back in instinct, his muscles tensed as he prepared to run. The boy was standing above him, the light from his bedside throwing his face into harsh shadows as his expression twisted. He was screaming now, and Tony felt himself start to scream too, even though he couldn’t hear it. He could only stare as Peter began crying in front of him, his tears running red.

“Tony-“ he couldn’t move, he was stuck. Peter was still crying, choking on something. He knew he was still screaming, the room was filled with the sound, but he couldn’t do anything to stop it.

“It’s okay-“ no, it’s not, because now Peter is coughing harshly and there’s something coming out of his mouth, a steady stream of blood that mixes with the tears in his face. He’s gasping and struggling for air, and Tony feels pinned in place.

“Tony!” he scrambled to sit up and he heaved for air. Pepper was crouching in front of him, slowly running her hand up and down his arm. “You’re awake, you’re okay.”

Tony could feel a wetness on his face and he roughly wiped it away with his hand. “Yeah, yeah,” his voice was rough. “How long was I asleep for?”

Pepper sighed. “About three hours. Do you want to talk about it?”

“No,” he shook his head as he climbed out of bed.

“Alright,” Pepper followed him as he made his way to the common area in search of coffee. “FRIDAY got an alert, we’ve been sent a video from an unknown number.”

Any remaining adrenaline from his nightmare spiked as Tony spin around. He felt breathless as he half ran to the elevator, Pepper hurrying behind him. They were in the lab within minutes, and burst through the doors to see the rest of the Avengers sitting tensely in front of a projection. The video hasn’t been played yet, and Tony collapsed into a chair beside Steve.

“FRIDAY,” everyone took a breath as they steeled themselves for what they were about to see. “Play the video.”