On Our Way To Nowhere

Tony screamed until he physically couldn’t scream anymore. 

He had never felt pain like this before in his life. He couldn’t even remember the last time he full on sobbed but he did. He couldn’t stop. He didn’t know what to do. Peter was gone and the only reason he wasn’t going to give up was because Peter was out there somewhere and needed him. 

He found a piece of the boat and climbed onto it, completely melting into it once he was on. He was exhausted. Next level exhausted that was due to both physical aspects and the emotional aspects that wiped him off his feet. 

Tony hadn’t felt this tired since Peter was a newborn baby and would scream bloody murder unless he was being held by Tony and Tony alone. 

The sun started to rise and Tony was lying on the piece of the blown up boat but wasn’t sleeping. He felt dead. He had been drifting in the water all night, not caring where the current was taking him. 

He bumped into something in the water that made him lift his head up to sit up. It was a log but when he looked up, he saw the island in the distance. 

Part of him was relieved because there was no way he would get to Peter out in the water. Whoever those people were, they came from the island. Tony knew it. Their boat was small, it wasn’t built for open waters so it had to have left port from somewhere close, the same place they came from; the island. 

He was going to get Peter back. He didn’t care what he had to do to get his kid back. He would risk it all. 

As he got close enough to the shore of the island, Tony jumped into the water and swam the rest of the way. He didn’t see their stuff so he knew he was most likely on the other side of the island. Not that he wanted to be back at their campsite without Peter. 

He took all the inhalers onto the boat, Peter’s clothes and blankie, he had nothing and most importantly, Peter had nothing. 

Once Tony got to the shore, he crawled up the sand a bit and rolled onto his back, exhausted. 

Peter was gone. His baby was gone, stolen from him. Tony felt sick. 

As Tony laid on the sand, trying to catch his breath and regain his composure to figure out what he was going to do next, there were three people slowly approaching him. 

He sat up and snapped his head to look at them. He didn’t know who the hell they were but there was no way he wasn’t going to let them take him too. They had Peter and he was going to get his kid back. 

Tony jumped to his feet and charged at one of the men. “Where is my kid?! Where the fuck is my kid?!” He threw the man to the ground and grabbed him by his shirt, getting in his face. 

The other men kicked Tony off of him so Tony rolled back onto his feet and punched the guy in the face. Someone came from behind him and slammed a gun into his back, taking him down. 

Tony rolled onto his back and looked up at them. “Who are you people? Where the hell is my kid?” 

The man he attacked, kneeled down in front of him and looked at him with concern written all over his bright blue eyes. “You’re kid? How old are they? Where did you come from?” 

Tony sat up and pushed the man away from him. “Like fuck you don’t know. You took my kid!” He looked around at the three people. There were two men and a woman. It looked like they'd been there for a while judging by the looks of their clothes. 

The blonde man stepped towards him. “We don’t have your kid. What happened to them? Did they get sick?” 

Tony didn’t understand. If they didn’t take Peter, then who did? And where was he? And who the fuck were these people? “No. He didn’t get sick.” 

The woman put her gun into the back of her pants. “How old was he?” 

Tony hated how she used past tense. He looked around at the beach. It wasn’t like he was going to take these peoples word for it, he wanted to see for himself if they had Peter. “I’m not telling you anything. I want my kid, you know where he is?” 

They looked at each other, having a private conversation with their eyes. Tony grabbed onto the blonde man again. “Where is he?!” 

“We don’t have him. We don’t have your kid but let’s go talk.” 

Tony reluctantly let him go. He followed them into the jungle but he didn’t have to walk very far before they were appearing at a camp. There were about ten tents set up, not like the tent he and Peter made out of scraps from the plane and the jungle but tents with polyester and nylon. It looked like these people lived there. 

He looked around and spotted at least twenty of them. All men and women. No kids and no Peter. 

Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at him but he didn’t care. He wanted to figure out who these people were and whether or not they were the ones who took Peter. 

They led him into a rather large tent and sat down. Some kneeled down but Tony stood there, not wanting to stay for very long. “Who are you? Where did you come from?” 

Tony debated on lying or telling the truth but whatever got him to Peter faster. “Our plane crashed over a month ago.” 

“Who was on the plane?” The redhead asked. Tony sat down on a makeshift chair and narrowed his eyes at her. 

“Just my son and I. The pilots… we found the front half of the plane in the jungle and they were both dead.” He answered honestly. “Who are you? It looks like you guys live here. What is this place?” 

The blonde haired man leaned in closer to Tony. “We’re the people who are gonna help you get your kid back.” 

Tony didn’t expect that but it couldn’t be that easy. “Why?” 

“Because we know who took him and why.” He answered then sat back. 

Tony was immediately on his feet. “Who took him? How would you know?” 

The blonde man stared at Tony then looked at the other men. Tony followed his gaze and noticed for the first time that the other men had a metal arm. That made him curious but he didn’t mention it. Then the man with the metal arm was speaking. 

“It’s a research project called Hydra. We used to be a part of it but we left three years ago when a new leader came in and had different… views and an order of doing things.” 

Tony tried to think why that name sounded so familiar. Hydra? Oh god, “Hydra. We-we-we found this-this hatch on the island. It was like a medical station. That’s where they’re keeping my boy.” 

Tony went to leave but the woman grabbed his arm. “They didn’t take your son there. Trust us.” 

“Then where is he?” He spoke in a low voice. He was wasting precious time. 

“We don’t know.” 

Tony turned to face the blonde man. “How do you not know? You guys were apart of whatever the fuck that Hydra is. Where’s my kid?” 

“Just relax. Let’s talk about this, we can’t go waltzing off into the jungle and over to their camp. They’ll shoot us.” 

Tony pointed at the woman. “She has a gun. We’ll shoot them back.” 

“No.” 

Tony didn’t care. He was going to find Peter with or without their help. He pushed past them and walked out of the tent, trying to decide which way to go first. He began walking when another man walked up to him, smiling. 

“Hello there, what’s your name?” 

Tony eyed the old man. He didn’t have time to answer because the blonde man was grabbing his arm. “You can’t leave. Look, we’re gonna help you but let’s talk about this.” 

“Every second I waste talking to you is another second my kid is with those people and crying for me-” 

“How old is he?” The old man asked, giving an interest to Tony’s kid like the other people did when he mentioned he had a kid. He turned to face the old man. 

“He’s eight.” 

He didn’t miss the way all four of them had their eyes widening. “What? What is it?” No one answered him so Tony snapped. “Somebody wanna tell me what the fuck is going on?!”

“Kids…” The old man started but paused. “Kids die on this island.” 

Tony felt his heart drop. “What did you just say?” 

“We-we don’t know why. We-they haven’t figured it out yet but… kids that come to the island get sick almost immediately and then three days later, they die.” 

Tony felt sick himself. He pushed away from them to run over to a tree and vomit. Oh god. No. No. Peter was going to die. His baby was going to die and he had no idea where he was. Tony felt sick. 

He wiped his mouth and turned back around to the group. “Tell me where to find him. I’ll go right now.” 

“You said you guys crashed here over a month ago, right?” 

“That’s right.” 

“Was your boy… sick or show any symptoms of sickness?” 

Tony tried to remember. “No. He was fine. He has asthma but… other than that, he was fine.” 

“We should talk.” The blonde man said then turned to the man with the metal arm. “Bucky, tell the others we’re here.” 

Tony watched him leave and then followed the man back into the tent, this time joined by the old man. 

“Well, for starters, I’m Steve, this is Natasha and Locke.” The blonde man, Steve, said. Tony didn’t care but if these people helped him get his kid back, he’d learn everything there was to know about them. 

“Tony.” He introduced himself briefly. “Hydra… they got my kid for sure? We found a boat, I don’t know, it was just sitting there in the water so I fixed it up and yesterday we sailed out then we bumped into… them and they took my kid and blew the boat up.” 

Tony didn’t even know there was anyone on the island. He refused to believe it. Maybe that was the whispering Peter said he heard in the jungle. “Mary. Do you know a Mary?” 

He saw the face Steve made before answering. “No. Why?” 

“Nothing. Just… some woman my kid said he kept seeing in the jungle. He’s eight, he has an active imagination.” 

“Wait, did you ever see her?” 

“No… why?” 

“Kids can… see things on this island. It’s what makes them so special. That’s why Hydra wants to find out why they all die here.” Steve explained. 

Tony felt sick again. “So are you saying they’re gonna do experiments on my kid?” 

No one answered him or even looked at him so that was answer enough to Tony. He wanted Peter back safety in his arms. He needed to get his son back. 

“We need to go now. I’m not risking anything.” Tony stood up and pushed his way out again but he was screwed. He needed them to tell him where to go and how to get there. 

“Tony, wait-” 

Locke grabbed Steve’s arm. “Wait. Let him go.” 

“I’m not just gonna let him go, Locke. If he goes, he’s gonna get himself killed. They only want his kid, not him.” Steve yanked his arm away from Locke and followed Tony out but Locke was after him again. 

“He’s gonna go with or without us. I believe a father will do anything for his son and who are we to tell him what he can and can’t do.” 

Steve hesitated. “If we let him leave, he’ll die and then his kid won’t have a father anymore.” 

“His kid might already be dead.” Locke said through gritted teeth and walked over to Tony. “What’s his name?” 

Tony didn’t look at him. He was trying to decide what he was going to do next. “Peter.” 

Steve and Bucky appeared at his side. “Alright. First thing tomorrow morning we will go. Tonight we will make a plan and rest.” 

Tomorrow morning was too far away. He had to go now although he wasn’t a tracker, he had no clue where he was going but all he knew was he had to get to Peter. “Give me a gun. I’m going now, you don’t have to go, just point me in the right direction.” 

“Their camp is on the other side of the island, they have about a hundred people there, you’re not going alone.” Steve walked around Tony to stand in front of him but that wasn’t going to stop him. 

He was getting his kid back or he was going to die trying. 

“Just stay tonight. We’ll go out together in the morning.” Steve sounded desperate for him to stay.

Tony sighed in defeat. They better have a pretty good plan to get his kid back. 

.

.

.

Tony couldn’t wait any longer. 

Every minute that passed was another minute his kid was alone and most definitely terrified for his life. Tony wasn’t going to waste the precious hours they had, sitting by a god damn fire and trying for the life of him to fall asleep. It just wasn’t going to happen. 

He got up and made his way over to Steve’s tent. He didn’t know if the man was sleeping or not but he saw him go in there over an hour ago so he hoped so. 

Tony was about to go in but he heard someone walk up behind him. 

“You looking for this?” 

Tony turned around and saw Bucky holding a gun. “Yeah. Is that your only one?” 

“The docs got another one.” The man said, gesturing to Steve’s tent. 

“Steve’s a doctor?” Tony didn’t know why that surprised him so much. What was a doctor doing on this island? 

“Yeah, well, not so much anymore.” Bucky said, something sad flickering across his face before he flipped the gun and held it out for Tony. “Here. We can’t go with you if you go now but if you follow a compass bearing of North going towards the beach, you’ll reach their camp within a day.” 

Tony was incredibly grateful but he didn’t show it. “Thanks.” 

With that, he turned and left. He was putting all his trust into these people, trusting them that they were telling the truth and not just leading them into some trap. 

If the same people who captured Peter took him as well, he wouldn’t mind. He wanted that to happen because then he would be with Peter. 

He hoped his baby was okay. “I’m coming, Peter daddy’s coming.” He whispered to himself and kept going. 

.

.

.

Tony was lost. There were no if ands or buts about it. 

He had absolutely no idea where he was going. He had been walking for around four hours and yet, he didn’t know where he was or if he were any closer to their camp. 

There was no way of telling if he was even heading in the right direction. He was going with his best estimate. 

The sun was starting to rise, it was barely poking through the trees, lighting somewhat of a path for him. 

Tony heard movement behind him so he raised his gun and aimed it. Steve appeared from behind a tree with Bucky, Natasha and Locke following him. Tony lowered his gun. “Are you following me?” 

“It didn’t take that long to track you considering you were walking in a circle.” Locke said, putting a knife into its holster. 

“Well… now that you’re here,” Tony stepped aside, making a path for the apparent tracker of the group. “you lead.” 

No one moved. 

“I’m desperate. This is my child. Do you have a kid?” Tony asked Steve since he seemed like the one who was most concerned for him and Peter. 

Steve looked away. “Let’s go back, make a plan and then we’ll go out.” 

“Why are you guys so reluctant to come with me? Who are these people?” 

“They’re the bad guys, Tony. We separated from their group a long time ago and we ain’t ever going back.” Locke said. 

Tony pointed at Bucky, walking towards him. “Then why’d you give me the gun? Why did you tell me to go last night? Am I even heading in the right direction? Did you fucking lie to me?!” 

“No. I didn’t lie to you. We want to help you find your boy but it’s not that simple.” Bucky sighed, seeming to search for the right answers. “They aren’t just going to let Peter go. If your kid has survived on this island for a month without getting sick, they’re going to want to figure out how and why. They aren’t gonna give your boy up just from us walking on in there.” 

Tony was willing to risk that. “So what? I’m supposed to sit around and wait for something to happen? They have my kid!” 

“Calm down-” 

“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down! They have my kid and I’m gonna get him back!” Tony aimed his gun at them. He wasn’t going to shoot them but he wanted to leave. 

“Just wait, we’re gonna make a plan. Let’s go back to our camp and do that.” Steve stepped closer to Tony so Tony lowered his gun. 

“Fine. Alright. Let’s go.” 

Tony felt like he was giving up by turning around and going back with them but if this was what saved Peter and got him back safely, Tony would risk it. 

Whatever it takes.