War in Love

In every darkness

There are hope and a future

The moonlight shows sadness

Now gently shine upon me

The secret you gave me was in the form of a mark

I walked through the silent blue night

Kalafina - Lacrimosa

Pepper gently touched the white piano in front of her. She lifted the keyboard cover and pressed the keyboard tuts randomly.  Pepper never knew how to play the piano. But her son Darrel became interested in the piano when she took him to Tony's parents' house. Darrel starts crying when he has to separate from his grandmother's piano.

Darrel's cry was a nightmare for Tony. So without a second thought, Tony bought a piano for Darrel and put it in the living room. Darrel was very happy at the time, Pepper remembered how a little Darrel had to be on Tony's lap to reach the keyboard. He hit the keyboard randomly with laughter because what he did produce a sound.

Since Tony and pepper can't play the piano, they eventually decide to hire a piano teacher for Darrel, Sophia. Darrel can't read yet, but Darrel can absorb quickly whatever Miss Sophia teaches to him.

"You can be whatever you want to be, son. pianist, doctor, mechanic, painter whatever you want. I'll always be proud of you son" Pepper still remembers Tony whispering to Darrel while holding his sleeping son to his chest.

Pepper knew her husband was always used as a tool to achieve his own father's success. So when Darrel was born, Tony vowed that he will never ever treat Darrel like his father treated Tony.

Pepper's tears fell, Pepper quickly wiped away her tears. She remembers when Darrel saw her crying.

"Mom, please don't cry. Everything will be fine" said Darrel, wiping his mother's cheek gently. His little hand moved to hug Pepper.  Pepper immediately wiped away her tears and hugged her son tightly. How can a child as small as him who may not even understand what his mother faced at the time, be able to make her stronger to face her partial hysterectomy surgery, tomorrow?

The sound of mobile phone notifications takes Pepper back to her real world today. On her phone screen, she could see Laura Barton's calling her.

"Hi, Laura," Said Pepper in her hoarse voice.

"Hi Pepper, are you at home right now? I'd like to ask for your help if you don't mind" said Laura.

"Yes of course, what happened Laura?" Pepper asked curiously.

"Can you go to the hospital with cooper, this afternoon?" "The hospital? Is cooper sick?" Pepper's starting to panic.

"No, cooper's not sick. He is all right. Peter, his piano teacher is sick and cooper is very sad and he keeps whining wanting to see Peter's condition" Laura says gently reassuring Pepper "But I have to go to Cooper and Lila's school to attend a parent and teacher meeting right now" laura explains her circumstances.

"Mom, I want to see Peter now, mom please," Cooper said while tugging at the end of his mother's shirt.

Pepper can clearly hear the boy whining

"Okay Laura, I'll go with cooper," pepper said. "I'll go with Happy too. If necessary I will also bring another bodyguard"

"Pepper," Laura says softly "I believe in you"

Laura knows very well, Pepper is still suffering from the trauma of losing her son.

"All right, I'll pick up cooper in 20 minutes," Pepper said.

"Thank you, Pepper, you are a lifesaver," Laura said then ended her phone call.

"Peter?" Pepper whispered.

---------------------------------------------
The data of Christian Dawson was scattered on Tony's table, now.

Steve stood explaining something on the board. Oh God, This one detective is very comfortable with his old technology.

"Finally we have found a clue of where the Christian lives now," Steve said firmly.

"Wait, old man. Are you saying Christ doesn't live in Los Angeles, now?" Tony asked him curiously.

He still remembered very well, where the bodyguard's house was.

"The house has been abandoned since 10 years ago, Tony" explained Natasha.

Tony's eyes widened at what Natasha said. 10 years, since Darrel? Shit

"What did you find again Romanoff?" Said Tony asked.

"Anne and Mike Dawson have passed away five years ago," said Romanoff, and showing the autopsy results of the bodies of them.

Tony's face turned pale after hearing this information. "What? but how?" He said haltingly.

"At first we thought there was nothing we could get from the results of the autopsy. But we were wrong," said Romanoff.

Steve then give an underline the note from the forensic doctor that was attached to the document. "They found the same chemical compounds, that found in Darrel's milk bottle, but in higher amounts"

"Oh my God," Rhodey covers his mouth.

Tony was silent, he wished he could turn back time. then he won't ask Darrel to drink his milk.  He wishes he had slept with Darrel that night. Is his child still being taken from him?

"We found a location that we believe is the current Christin's home and we have to move fast before he can escape again," said Steve trying to convince Tony.

"We have to catch him no matter what, after all, he is our key to the disappearance of the Darrel case," Natasha said emphatically.

--------------------------------------------

"Come on Aunt Pepper, hurry," the 10-year-old boy said as he pulled Pepper's hand in the hospital lobby. While Happy followed him carrying a fruit basket behind Pepper. Finally, they Arrive at Peter's room, Cooper opened the door impatiently. Pepper gasped, he saw a boy with brown hair sleeping peacefully.

"Darrel?" Pepper whispers in a mumble.

"No, Aunt Pepper, his name is Peter, Peter Parker," Cooper said corrected her.

Pepper couldn't take her eyes off the boy, Pepper walked towards the boy, and he could clearly see that the boy's face was very pale. Pepper could even see the bruise that hadn't faded under the boy's right eye. With her trembling hands, Pepper wants to stroke the boy's hair. When Pepper raised her hand to touch the boy's face, the kid moved his eyelids. Pepper fell silent, looking directly into the hazel brown eyes in front of her.

Pepper noticed that the boy's face was turning paler.

"I - I .. can't ... I can't breathe," said Peter, and he holding his chest.

Pepper sees the oxygen mask hanging over Peter's head. Pepper immediately helps Peter use his oxygen mask.

"Keep breathing, kid, does it still hurt?" pepper asked softly.

Her hand moved to brush the soft hair of this child.

Pepper could see how the boy was grimacing, enduring his pain and trying to catch a breath. Pepper felt her heart, -ache to see this child suffer. She Wishes she could replace the child to bear his pain so that he wouldn't be in pain. Pepper would have done it without a second thought.

"Cooper, call the doctor," Said Pepper without taking her eyes off Peter.

Peter shook his head, "I, I'm fine." Peter spoke slowly behind his oxygen mask.

Pepper looked at the boy's face gently and stroked Peter's head. "Thank you," Peter said in a whisper.

After Peter was able to breathe normally again. Peter calmed down again.

"Peter, are you okay? Are you hurt?" Cooper said while moving his little hand holding Peter's hand.

Peter ruffled Cooper's hair slowly, "hey buddy. I'm fine especially after I saw you here"

Peter's eyes moved to see Pepper. Cooper saw it, "Peter Meet My Aunt, Aunt Pepper Stark"

Peter's eyes widened after knowing who the blonde woman in front of him was. Who doesn't know this woman, pepper stark, the wife of a Tony Stark? Gosh, what have I done?

"Hi Mrs. Stark, I'm Peter .. Peter Parker" said Peter introducing himself. "And I .. I'm sorry for ...."

"Hey Peter, you can call me Pepper," Pepper said with a smile on her face. "And you don't need to apologize, kid, I'm happy to help you,"

Pepper and Peter just stare at each other, until Happy's voice interrupting them. "Pepper"

"Pepper, I think I have to go, Tony Call me, I'll get you back," Happy said to Pepper.

"Okay, happy, you can go. Cooper and I are safe here. We will not leave this room until you pick us up here," Pepper said calming his bodyguard.

Happy give the basket of fruit to Pepper's hands. but before he exited Peter's room, he stopped and turned around briefly to look at Peter, who was talking cheerfully with Cooper.

"Okay see you, Pepper. Don't leave this room" Happy said to Pepper and came out of Peter's room. Happy did not forget to close the door of Peter's room.

Pepper then put the fruits on the table, besides Peter's bed.

"We brought you this, I hope you are not allergic to anything," said Pepper softly.

"Thank you," Peter said quietly
----------------------

"Come on, Happy" Tony said roughly closing the car's door. Happy knows his boss is at the end of his patience.

Happy grumbled, and stepped on the gas pedal immediately, and went to the detective office that had been informed before.

Happy saw from the corner of his eye, the boss put a shiny black invitation into his briefcase. Happy knows what it is.

"Are you planning to come to the gala dinner?" Happy asked.

"I don't know, the receptionist gave it to me when I ran out of my room" Tony answered, his hand moved to wear his brown glasses.

Happy knows his boss very well since they lost their child. Tony and Pepper's life is no longer the same. There were no more parties they attended, and Happy didn't even see his boss laugh anymore. Apparently, the kidnapper is not only kidnapped his child but kidnapped the life of his boss.

"You have to come, take Pepper," Happy said.

"No, hap. I .."

"You need a fresh brain to find Darrel, tony," said Happy trying to convince his boss. And mentions Darrel's name very carefully.

Tony doesn't answer him, but Happy knows that his boss and best friend is thinking about what he said.

Finally, they arrived at Steve's office. Tony hurried into Steve's room. And opened the door to the room roughly, Tony could see Steve and his team are getting ready to put on their jackets. Tony could also see Romanoff in the room preparing to take his gun.

"Tony, we will ambush Christian, my team has made sure that  Christian is there" Steve explained to Tony when he noticed Tony and Happy presence in the room.

"Would you like to come with us?" Nat walked over to him and asked Tony.

"I have to come," Tony said firmly.

Natasha just nodded, and turned to see Steve "I already called the police team, they will arrive in 5 minutes," Natasha said.

Tony had already made it clear to Steve and Natasha that he had to come with them when arrest Christian. Tony had trusted that man all this time, and let him go before. He didn't want to repeat the same mistake again this time. He has a lot of questions for the man. And Tony made sure he'd get the answer today, no matter how.

The team, complete with several police teams leave the office in Brooklyn at that time. The journey took a very long time.

Tony's eyes look at his surroundings during the trip. This time they drove in silence. Happy tries to focus, while Tony tries to observe everything. He didn't want to lose even the slightest detail that could serve as a clue to finding Darrel.

The Fog begins to block Tony and Happy's view. They are curious where they are right now. Their car finally stopped at the end of the road, right after Steve's car had stopped. Happy and Tony got out of the car. Happy's eyes scanned the surroundings, and he pulled out his Pistol. In his heart, He was determined to protect his boss no matter what.

"Something's not right, steve," Nat said frantically as he saw the door to the house open widely, and not a single light was on in the house. The house was as dark as the forest beside it.

On Steve's cue, the team moved in. When Tony entered the house, Tony could see that the house was very messy, like he had just been attacked by something.

"We have to search this place, you have to collect all the evidence, find as much detail as possible" Steve shouted at his team.

"Steve, Steve! you got to see this" Nat shouted from the basement, which was open.

Steve and Tony ran toward the basement door. And he found Nat, standing in the middle of the room.

Steve pulled the light switch hanging above their heads

"Oh, my God." Tony gasped and his face turned pale when he saw something terrible in front of him.

As the lights lit the room, they all could see a man lying there with a knife stabbed in his chest.

Tony could hear Nat's voice calling a team of forensic to come to their location.

Eventually, Tony sat in his car with the car door open. he sat there silently, while Happy was standing in front of him. Tony turned his face when he saw the forensic team carried a body bag.

"Tony, we got something, the forensic team found this memory card under his tongue," Steve said and he shows the memory card in a plastic clip.

Tony saw that with teary eyes. He could feel hope growing in his heart again. Darrel, I'll come for you, son. I'll keep you safe.