If I stay here...
“Watch me!” Peter yelled as he threw himself into the water then popped his head up right by Tony’s leg.
Tony grabbed Peter and poked his chest to get a bunch of giggles out of him. “Tickle monster wants you to wash the dirt off your face.”
Peter giggled and laid down on his dad’s legs so Tony lifted his legs up so Peter’s face didn’t go under the water. He grabbed Peter’s feet and tickled the bottom of them. “These little piggies need a bath.”
“Tony, Peter, how are you guys?” Tony looked over and saw Steve walking towards them with a basket of clothes. Tony sat Peter up a bit so he was sitting in the water.
“Good. Just washing all the dirt off of him.” Tony said, running his fingers through Peter’s curls. He wanted to know everything that happened to Peter during those five days but he was scared to ask. Peter seemed fine, he was happy, energetic, basically he was himself and that told Tony that they didn’t torture Peter there, they just did… tests. He still needed to know everything.
Steve smiled at Peter and kneeled down. “I brought you some clothes for Peter. We don’t have any kids clothes but… Rose cut apart some of the shirts and pants and sewed them so it fits better.”
Tony took the basket from him. “Thank you. We’ll have to be sure to thank Rose after too.”
Peter sat up on his knees and leaned against his dad’s arm to look in the basket. He chewed on the top of his thumb while he looked up at Steve with wide eyes.
“Of course. I’ll leave you guys to it.”
Peter watched Steve leave. He then sat on his dad’s leg and grabbed one of his hands to play with his ring. “At the other place, I had boy clothes there in my room.”
Tony was going to take this opportunity now that Peter was opening up to him about what happened. “What was it like there?”
Everything was still so new when Peter got back last night so Tony didn’t ask him much. He held Peter so tightly all night, terrified that someone was going to come into their tent in the middle of the night to take Peter.
Peter shrugged. “Ummm… they live in these houses. Like… yellow houses. And they wear these weird grey clothes… like police uniforms. And then when I wake up, they taked me to like, ummm… like a building that’s an aquarium. It used to be. And there’s cages for bears! That’s where I first went when I waked up.”
“In the cage?”
Peter shook his head. “No. In the aquarium. It used to be but then after I went in May’s house.”
Tony didn’t like this May woman. “Was she nice to you?”
Peter nodded. “I guess. She took me to the building for more tests which I didn’t like. But then I ate chocolate, daddy. She has all kinds of yummy food in her house.”
Tony was still trying to process the fact that these people lived in houses and had chocolate. How did they get chocolate? That wasn’t what he was worried about though. What he was worried about was the fact that these people took his kid and did things that Tony had no way of knowing if they injected Peter with something that was going to hurt him.
“Do you feel normal? Did they inject you with anything that made you feel sick?” Tony asked, looking over Peter’s body once again just to be sure.
Peter shook his head and dug in the sand. “No. I feel happy cause I’m back with you. I missed you.”
Tony pulled Peter against his side. “I missed you too, baby. Let’s finish washing you off and then we’ll go do something fun.”
“Yeah!” Peter jumped up, letting his dad help him wash off and then Tony wrapped him in a T-shirt and picked him up, holding him against his hip to walk back to the camp.
Tony had been in their camp for almost a week now and it was time to figure out how to get off the island. He tried to ignore all the stares from everyone but it was hard. Peter leaned his head against his shoulder.
“Why’s everyone looking at us, daddy?” He asked, shyly.
Tony double checked that his shirt was covering Peter and it was. He didn’t know why everyone was staring at them. “I don’t know.”
He walked over to his tent but stopped to look at a group of people. “What? Why is everyone staring at my kid and I?”
They whispered things to each other but they didn’t respond to him. Steve appeared at his side. “They’re not staring at you. They’re staring at Peter.”
Tony turned to look at Steve. “Why?”
“Because the last time they saw a child on the island, it was my son and they had to watch him die.” Steve explained, not attempting to hide any of the facts. Tony had no idea Steve had a son.
“I’m sorry. What happened to him?” Tony held Peter closer, the thought alone of having to watch Peter die was terrifying.
Steve looked at Peter sadly. “Like I said, children don’t survive on this island, Tony. They arrive, they get sick and three days later, they die.”
Peter whimpered and buried his face in Tony’s neck.
Tony rubbed at his back. “Can you give me five minutes?” Steve nodded and walked away so Tony went into his tent and placed Peter on his feet and sat down, grabbing the basket of clothes to get Peter dressed.
“I don’t wanna die, daddy.” Peter whimpered.
Tony grabbed Peter’s hands. “I promise you, you’re not going to die. I’m going to get you off this island and we’re gonna go home.”
Peter sat down on his knee, wrapping his tiny arms around his neck. “But… but that boy said kids die. He-he said they get sick. Did the boy's son die, daddy?”
“I think so. But you’re not gonna die, Peter. We’ve been here for almost two months now, you’re not gonna die.” Tony promised Peter but it was scary it’s been so long. Peter would be nine in a short two months and Tony needed to get Peter off this island.
Tony already celebrated his own birthday on the island, he didn’t know what day it was since he lost track of the days but he didn’t care about himself, he needed Peter to have a birthday party at home with Pepper and his friends.
He kissed Peter’s cheek and held the pants out for him but Peter pushed it away. “My underwear.”
“Your underwear went in the water, baby. It’s all gone.”
Peter frowned but he didn’t say anything else. Tony helped Peter get dressed and walked out of the tent to say a thank you to Rose for making the clothes fit Peter. He took Peter’s hand and walked across the campsite.
“Hi Rose. Peter and I just came to say thank you for making these clothes fit him.” Tony said, patting her arm. He barely said three words to her before but he appreciated the woman nonetheless.
“You’re welcome. I’m glad they fit you, Peter.” Rose smiled down at the eight year old.
Tony wanted to talk to Steve without Peter so he kneeled down, looking up at Rose. “Do you mind watching him for a few minutes? I just have to go talk to Steve.”
“I would love to.”
Peter grabbed onto Tony’s leg. “No, daddy. Don’t leave me.”
“Pete, I’m just gonna be right over there. You can watch me, okay?”
Peter reluctantly let go with a nod. He grabbed onto Roses hand so Tony pressed a kiss to his head and left. He needed to find some answers.
“Steve? Can you talk?”
“Yeah. Where’s Peter?”
“He’s with Rose. Look, I didn’t know you lost a son. I’m sorry.” Tony didn’t know why he was apologizing. It wasn’t his fault.
Steve waved him off. “It was a long time ago. It’s my fault, I should have never brought him here.”
“How old was he?”
“Seven. He would be eighteen now though.” Steve looked down and then tossed the orange peel he was peeling and looked at Tony. “That’s why Hydra wants Peter. They want to figure out what makes him special and why he hasn’t gotten sick or died.”
“Is it any age? Do kids die at any age? Or just seven?” Tony wanted to know all the answers but he knew Steve didn’t know everything.
“As young as an infant and as old as seventeen. We don’t know why. We’ve had to bury hundreds of kids. I had to bury my son. He was only here for three days but it all happened so quickly. There was nothing I could do. There was nothing anyone could do.”
“So Hydra, the people that took Peter, they’re trying to figure out why kids die on the island?”
Steve took a bite of his orange. “That's not all. They are mining certain spots on the island. These spots have strong electromagnetic fields that harness energy points. It’s why your plane crashed here.”
Tony didn’t understand. They flew off course. They weren’t anywhere near any land. “Then why hasn’t anyone come for us yet? Where are we?”
Steve chuckled and swallowed his last orange. “That’s a long answer that I’m sure you don’t have time for since your kid is burning a hole through the back of your head right now.” He gestured to Peter across the campsite with a chuckle.
Tony turned around and saw Peter staring at him but Peter could wait. “He’s fine. Summarize it for me then.”
Steve shrugged. “Fine. There are stations across the island where Hydra works, there’s this one station called The Flame and it uses sonar and satellite technologies to communicate with the outside world. It can also block any communication to answer from the island. Your plane didn’t send off any signals because they are blocking it all. No one will ever find you guys here.”
Tony was trying to take this all in. “Why block the signals? What’s the point of that?”
“Because, Tony,” Steve gestured to the island around them. “this place is special and it must be protected. If the world finds this place, they will come in and destroy it because man destroys every beautiful living thing.”
Tony was even more confused now. “How does an island take down a whole plane? That doesn’t make any sense.”
Steve jumped off the table and started walking away. “Follow me.”
Tony looked towards Peter, seeing him playing with Rose so he followed Steve a bit into the jungle and over to a wall of rocks. Steve took his knife out of its holster and threw it in the opposite direction of the cliff but the knife changed direction and slammed against the rocks.
Tony couldn’t believe what he was looking at. “Woah.” He slowly approached the knife and peeled it off the rocks. “There’s some kind of… metal attraction here. How’s that possible?”
“The same thing happened to your plane, Tony. You already know how.”
“So even if someone did find us, they would crash on this island too?” Tony asked, handing the knife back to Steve.
Steve chuckled and began walking back to their campsite. “No. Because it would be impossible for anyone to find you guys here. No one can see us. This island, it’s invisible to the rest of the world.”
“I don’t understand. How is that possible?” Tony grabbed onto Steve’s arm to stop him from walking. He felt like he was having an out of body experience, he was so lost.
Steve turned to him. “I don’t understand either. It’s just the rules.”
“The rules? What rules?”
“The rules that we must follow to keep the island and everyone on it, safe.”
“Safe from what?”
“Safe from the outside world.”
Tony ran his hands through his hair. “How do I get off the island? I need to get my son off. He can’t grow up here.”
Steve sighed and stopped walking to turn to him. “They have a submarine. It’s the only way anyone can ever get off the island but once you choose to leave, you can’t ever come back.”
“I won’t ever want to come back here. Don’t worry.”
“They won’t ever let you leave with the boy.” Steve avoided eye contact with Tony.
“Why not? If you can take me to the submarine, I can get Peter home.” Tony insisted but he was hoping for a lot. He had to get someone who knew how to operate it to take them home, someone who was willing to risk never returning to the island again.
Steve shook his head at him. “If I take you to their camp, they won’t let you leave. Peter is way too valuable.”
“He’s a child. Are they going to experiment on him until he’s seventeen?!” Tony ran his hands through his hair. He had to get Peter home. “Can you bring me to their camp?”
“If that’s what you want, then yes.”
Tony nodded. He didn’t know if that was what he wanted just yet, he wanted to bring Peter home but what if they got caught and took Peter away from him again. He didn’t know if he was ready to risk that.
“Do you want to leave?” Tony asked Steve. He now knew Steve was on this island for years. Perhaps there wasn’t any reason for him to leave.
“No. I have nothing back home for me anymore. Everyone I ever loved is on this island.”
“And what about your son's mother? Did she come here too?” Tony didn’t know if he was overstepping.
Steve looked down. “Yeah. Mary died trying to save our son. I can’t ever leave. I won’t leave them.”
Tony’s eyes went wide. Mary. That was the woman Peter insisted he saw out in the jungle. It was the woman who led Peter to almost jumping off the cliff and who told Peter about the boat. “Mary?”
Steve looked at him, confused. “Yeah… why?”
“Nothing… just, after we crashed, Peter kept running off into the jungle, insisting that he saw a woman named Mary. She was the one who told Peter about the boat that we went on when… they took him.” Tony explained, feeling chills run through his body.
Steve looked uncomfortable. “I don’t know, Tony. My wife died the day my son did. That was years ago.”
Tony stared at Steve, trying to figure out what the hell was going on here. “Yeah, I’m gonna get back to my kid.”
They walked back to the camp and Tony walked over to Roses tent to get Peter. He heard his giggles and it immediately brought a smile to his face. “Hi guys. Having fun?”
Peter jumped up and into his dad's arms. “You came back.”
Tony held Peter on his hip, kissing his cheek. “Of course I did, I told you I would, didn’t I?”
“Uh huh.” Peter leaned his head against his shoulder.
“Thanks for watching him, Rose.” Tony said then walked away, ignoring all the stares they were getting. He understood now.
.
.
.
Tony tried to calm Peter down but it was hard.
Peter was having an asthma attack and all of his inhalers were gone. Tony tried to hold him and rock him to calm him down but Peter’s breathing was getting worse.
Everyone in the camp was standing around and watching him try to calm Peter down but everyone was too scared to talk to Peter or Tony. It was like they were a ticking time bomb, waiting to go off.
Tony picked Peter up and carried him over to Steve. “Help me. He’s having a really bad asthma attack and I don’t have any more inhalers for him.”
Steve put down his gun and rushed over to the table. “Quick. Bring him here.”
Tony rushed over and placed Peter on the table. Peter immediately freaked out, trying to speak but he couldn’t. “Shh, I’m not leaving. I’m right here. You have to breathe, Peter.”
Steve grabbed a wet washcloth from the bucket and wiped it over Peter’s forehead. “When was his last asthma attack?”
“Uh, it was back home. about five months ago. He had his inhalers but we had to take him to the hospital.” Tony squeezed Peter’s hand, trying to get him to focus so he calmed down.
“So he had it this bad off the island then?”
“What? What do you mean? Is this what it’s like when children get sick?” Tony was going to have a panic attack of his own soon.
“No. It’s not.” Steve reassured him then gently placed his hand on Peter’s face who was pale and gasping for air. “Peter, can you hear me?” Peter nodded. “I need you to take a deep breath in through your nose.”
Peter tried through his mouth but it only made his breathing worse and he started panicking again.
“No, Peter. Through your nose. Copy me.” Steve tried but Peter wasn’t looking at him and turned to Tony with desperate eyes. “Tony, have him copy your breathing. Take a deep breath through your nose and out through your mouth. I’ll be back.”
Steve stood up and walked over to Bucky and Natasha who were watching like everyone else. “It’s getting bad. He needs his inhaler. I can’t do anything for him out here.”
“Should we take him to Hydra? Maybe they did something to him.” Bucky suggested.
“If Hydra did something to him then this is their plan to get the kid back, just hoping we take him to them or let him die.” Natasha added.
Steve wasn’t so sure. “No, Tony said he had bad asthma attacks back home. Peter’s just freaking out because he knows he doesn’t have any inhalers left so it’s making it worse.”
“Steve, he’s getting worse.” Tony panicked. He was trying to stay calm for Peter but if they were at home, he would have already taken Peter to the hospital.
“I think I know how to help him.” Natasha said before running off.
Steve went to Peter’s side to try and keep him calm but Peter wasn’t trying to calm down. “Peter, try to focus on me. One breath in, no in. Try, Peter.”
Peter gasped, completely losing his oxygen. “Oh god. Peter.” Tony picked him up and tried to get him to breathe again, sighing in complete and utter relief as Peter gasped for air again. It was better than nothing. “Keep breathing, baby. You can do it.”
Natasha ran over to them with one of their bowls and mashed up green mush. “Take off his shirt. This will help.”
Tony looked at the green substances. “What is that?”
“Eucalyptus. I grinded it up. It’ll work, trust me.” Natasha quickly explained so Tony sat Peter up on his lap to take off his shirt and cradle him back in his arms. Natasha sat in front of them and took some with her fingers, waving it in front of Peter’s nose then gently rubbing it onto his chest.
Tony dipped his finger into the bowl, smelling it. It was definitely Eucalyptus but he hadn’t heard of it helping asthma attacks before. He guesses because he never needed to look up any other remedies since he had everything until he didn’t.
“Thank you.”
Natasha smiled and continued to dip her fingers into the bowl then wave it in front of Peter’s nose and rub it on his chest. Within minutes, Peter calmed down and was breathing almost normally again.
Tony sat there, holding Peter and grateful that Natasha came when she did.