Chapter 1
Peter was 100% fine with Harley being in town. He was Mr. Stark’s friend. Apparently they had this whole thing together right after New York. They seemed to have this old bond. It didn’t make Peter jealous per se. He just felt a little left out after his first week of lab time with Tony and Harley. Harley was fine though. He was crazy smart and kinda cool. But, there was just one tiny little thing that made Peter upset.
“He’s a huge dick!” He exclaimed to Ned. “He’s always bragging about his car and his potato guns.”
Ned couldn’t help but laugh. “Dude you’re an Avenger. Why are you getting so hung up on this guy?”
“I don’t know… He’s just such an asshole. He’s this country kid and he’s charming and charismatic and…”
“What?”
“Nothing,” Peter replied plopping onto his bed and staring up at the bunk above.
“Finish the sentence,” Ned insisted.
“Just forget it, man.”
They sat in slightly awkward silence. The only sound was Ned digging through a small pile of LEGOS.
Peter sighed. He was going to have to see the guy every other weekend at the tower.
‘Great!’ He thought. ‘This summer’s going to be awesome’.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Hey, Kid,” Tony said as Peter walked into the lab. Peter looked around cautiously before entering. He plopped his bag down and was about to pull out his suit when-
“Parker!” Peter rolled his eyes. He was hoping to get a bit of time fixing up the suit. But, with Harley there, he wouldn’t be able to. “What’re you working on today?”
“Uhh, I don’t know,” Peter replied. It was a dumb answer, sure. But he couldn’t just pull out the suit.
“Oh I’m gonna have him work on some stuff for Spider-Man,” Tony said saving the day.
“Oh, that’s pretty cool,” Harley said. For a second Peter felt a bit honoured. Only a second though. “Do you know how to make his webs?”
“Uh no, I think he makes those himself,” Peter said A bit on edge.
Harley nodded and returned to his workbench. He seemed a bit too quiet. Peter didn’t really mind it, however.
At the end of the night, Peter packed up his stuff and said goodbye to Mr. Stark…. And Harley. After a bit of convincing, Peter finally got Mr. Stark to let him walk home.
“I could get Happy to drive you. It’s no problem,” He said for the hundredth time.
“Mr. Stark, It’s like five blocks. And the street is packed. I’ll be fine,” He replied.
“You should leave the suit here. I can fix it up tonight and come get it tomorrow,” He said. Peter agreed and handed the crumpled up suit to Mr. Stark.
As he made his way down to the lobby, he felt a little itch on the back of his neck. He looked around. But, saw no immediate danger. He walked out of the lobby and into the dark street. He still had a small sense that he was in danger. A few blocks down, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He whipped his body around to see who it was.
“Harley?” He asked pretending he wasn’t about to go into defence mode.
“Hey uhhh. I know this is kinda weird but… Do you think I could stay with you tonight?” He seemed a bit shaken.
“What about the tower?” Peter asked.
“Tony and I got into this fight…”
“Oh… Uh, I can ask my aunt if she’s ok-” Something changed in Harley’s face.
“You know what… Don’t worry about it.”
“Are you sure? I have a-”
“Parker! It’s fine…”
“Dude,” Peter said. “What’s this about?”
“Oh, so NOW you want to talk to me about my life,” He replied with a laugh. But, there was no humour in it.
“What-”
“Now that I’m the sob story you want to talk to me about feelings.”
Peter had no words for this sudden outburst. It was all so unexpected.
“I’m sorry that you feel like I’m intruding in your life. But, as you can see you’re not the only person on this planet!”
“Harley-”
“You wanna know why I’m really here for the summer?” He raised his voice. “Well-”
Peter raised a hand to silence him. His spider-sense was going insane.
“What are you-”
“We have to go,” Peter said grabbing Harley’s arm and half walking half running back to the tower. The street was way too quiet for Queens Boulevard. It was always bustling with people no matter the time of day.
Harley freed his arm from Peter’s grip. “What the hell is going on?”
Peter whipped his head around just in time to see a bullet fly past him and shatter the bank window behind him. It was only inches from his shoulder. Glass flew everywhere. Peter Put his hands over his head. He felt the glass cut into his hands. When he looked up, a U Haul truck sped towards them. A man got out and helped the one with the gun haul, Harley, into the back of the truck.
Peter couldn’t risk going into Spider-Man mode. He was too exposed. With all the cameras from the bank, he didn't want to risk it. So, he ran up to the truck and slammed his whole body into one of the men. He lost balance for only a second before standing tall once again. Peter swung a punch. It was a bit weaker than his usual. Again, he couldn’t risk it. The man caught his fist in mid-air.
“Oh, shi-” Peter whispered before receiving a punch ten times harder than his own. He didn’t get knocked out, but it didn’t tickle either.
“Get out of here!” He yelled at Harley.
He shut his eyes tight and tried to shake the dizziness off. In doing so, letting his guard down. The second man came up behind him, grabbed Peter by the hair, and slammed Peter’s head into the side of the truck. Peter was out instantly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shit shit shit shit shit. They were both fucked and they were both gonna die. They tossed Peter’s unconscious (hopefully not dead) body into the truck after him. One of the men climbed in afterward. They slammed the door shut and took off. Harley’s heart was beating so fast. Sure, the Mandarin stuff was scary. But at least Tony had protected him. He and Peter were defenceless.
He tried to ignore the trail of blood from the top of Peter’s forehead.
The man in the back with them rummaged around in an old duffle bag. Harley didn’t want to know what he kept in there. Luckily, he found out. The man pulled out a roll of duct tape and approached Harley.
“If you fucking touch me-” He was cut off. The man grabbed Harley by the collar and yanked him to his feet. Harley knew immediately how out of his league he was. The man slammed Harley’s face against the wall of the truck and taped his arms behind his back. “I’m gonna kick your ass when I get outta here.”
The man snorted. “Yea ok.”
Harley struggled under the man’s grip. That earned him another whack against the wall. That one made Harley dizzy. The man let go and He stumbled to the ground. It took him a moment to regain his bearings. When he finally had a grip on things, He saw the man taping Peter.
“Leave him alone,” He said. It sounded less of a threat and more of a plead. He hated it. “Hey! Leave him alone!”
The man didn’t reply. He just took a piece of tape and smacked it on Harley’s mouth. White-hot rage filled in his gut. ‘When I get out of here you’re going to wish none of this ever happened’ He thought.
The truck came to an abrupt stop. The door rolled up and the driver entered. The two men grabbed either of Harley’s arms and yanked him out of the truck. They were in some industrial parking garage. He looked back at Peter. He was still knocked out.
Harley fought against the men. He needed to check on Peter.
They dragged him into a disgusting room with a few chairs. The carpet looked like an old church carpet. It was green and had some suspicious stains. He didn't want to know what they were. They shoved him into the chair and restrained him to it. They ripped the tape off his mouth. Harley could’ve sworn it took off his four mustache hairs. A few moments later, they returned with Peter. He was stirring. They restrained him too and moved for the door.
“Assholes!” Harley yelled as the door slammed shut behind them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
God his head hurt. It felt like all the times he smacked into a building as Spider-Man put together.
“-rker! Are you awake man?” a voice whispered.
Peter shook his head. He wanted the pain to leave.
“Dude! Say something.”
“Ow...” was all Peter could muster. There was a relieved laugh.
“Holy shit I thought you were dead!”
“Not helping,” Peter said opening his eyes.
“Shit sorry!” Harley said. Peter felt what was around his hands. Duct tape. They obviously didn’t know he was Spider-Man. He could break free in a second.
Harley was rambling about what had happened. Peter didn't really want to know.
“Shut up,” Peter said. Harley looked a bit offended. “They’re coming back.”
The two men clobbered into the room once again. But, there was a third man. He strutted into the room like he owned the place. He was wearing a white suit and glasses. He looked like a normal rich guy. He smiled.
“Welcome boys!” He said spreading his arms out like a showman. Something about him was so familiar to Peter. But, he couldn’t make it out.
“Yea I’m feeling real welcome,” Harley said sarcastically. Peter shot him a warning glance.
“I’m sorry about these two,” He pointed at the two men behind him. “They never were the best at hospitality.”
Peter hated how casual he was. How he was trying to have a normal conversation with them. How could he possibly have a normal conversation when he was duct-taped to a chair?
“Allow me to introduce myself. I’m-” That’s when it clicked in Peter’s mind. That night at the Stark Expo. With the drones.
“Justin Hammer,” Peter said staring at the ground.
Hammer snapped his finger towards Peter. “The one and only,” He was basking in the moment. Like he had been waiting for it.
“Yea it would be too fun if there were more of you,” Harley butted in.
Hammer seemed to ignore it.
“So what do you want with us?” Peter asked.
“That’s a great question kid. Really great. Because I wanted to use this time to explain my evil plan…”
Harley rolled his eyes. “If you’re not gonna tell us why we’re here can you fuck off?”
Peter gave Harley a ‘STOP NOW’ look. But, he didn’t stop.
“You know, If you’re going to kidnap someone, you don’t have to be such a jackass about it.”
Hammer smirked a bit. He leaned in close. He was only a few inches from Harley’s face.
“You wanna know why you’re here?” He asked in a voice Peter imagined he used to talk to babies. It was so condescending. “Cuz your daddy has some unfinished business with me.” He gave him a fake smile. As he was going for the door, he whispered something to one of the goons. The man smiled and nodded. And with that, Hammer left. The goon approached Harley with a shit-eating grin.
Peter felt a twang of panic rise in his throat.
“Hey! Vin Diesel!” Peter shouted. The man turned to him. “Ever heard of body spray? I can smell you from here.” It wasn't one of Peter's best quips... But it got the job done. He had to keep them away from Harley.
The man chuckled and swung a punch to Peter’s stomach. It knocked the wind out of him. Peter coughed for a moment. “I’ve been punched harder by my grandma… And I’ve never even met her,” Peter choked. Again not a very good insult. But, he was on a bit of a time crunch.
He earned a punch in the face for that.
“You done?” The man asked.
Peter forced a smile. “Not even close sweetheart.”
The man lost control. He began punching Peter repeatedly. But, Peter took it all. As long as they left Harley alone, he could handle it.
“Stop! He’s done! He’ll shut up!” Harley yelled.
The man seemed to regain his cool. He shook the blood off his fists and both men retreated laughing together.
Peter leaned his head back against the backrest and tried to catch his breath. He could taste metal in his mouth.
“Holy shit dude,” Harley said. “So that sucked.”
Peter leaned to the side and spit the mouthful of blood onto the floor. “Next time just shut up.”
“Yea…” There was a loaded pause.
“How does your dad know Hammer?” Peter asked after a moment.
Harley shrugged.
“He’s never mentioned, Hammer?”
“Maybe he did… I don’t know.”
“What?”
“I’ve ever met him before,” He didn’t sound pained by this. Just annoyed that Peter hadn’t picked up on it sooner.
“Oh shit… Harley-”
“It happens. Dads leave. No need to be a pussy about it.” He interrupted.
Peter glanced toward Harley. They were so totally screwed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter awoke to the sound of footsteps. His eyes shot open. He saw Harley still asleep beside him.
“Harley! Wake up!” Peter stared at the door as the footsteps grew louder. But, they walked right past the door. Peter sighed in relief. He looked over to Harley. He was twitching in his sleep. His face was twisted in pain. He was mumbling. That mumbling very quickly became yelling.
“Wake up!” Peter yelled.
His eyes finally opened. He struggled under the tape and searched the room. He relaxed a bit when he saw Peter.
“Fuck,” He whispered between breaths.
Peter felt horrible. This whole thing was his fault. He should’ve gotten Happy to drive him home. And none of this would have happened.
“You good?” Peter asked.
“Fine.” Peter didn't believe him for a second.
Peter nodded. His neck tingled.
“They’re coming,” He said. “Stay quiet ok?”
Harley nodded nervously.
In walked Mr. Showboat. He was tossing Peter’s phone back and forth in his hands. Peter shifted a bit. Escape was so near.
“I’m a bit disappointed,” Hammer began. “Only four people have called you so far.”
He pressed on the home button and looked at the notifications. “Missed call from Ned, MJ, May, and Happy. None of which are the man I want to talk to.”
Peter squirmed a little. If he got a hold of that phone, he could be out of here in less than four hours.
“I’m gonna need your password.” He said. Peter almost scoffed. As if he would fall for that. “Of course I could just use your thumbprint.”
Peter deflated. It was almost too easy for this asshole to get what he wants. But he would rather die than give them his password. “Just use the thumbprint.”
Hammer smirked. He walked around and unlocked the phone. “Now the fun begins,” He said
“I thought the fun was last night,” Harley said. Hammer looked at the man beside him and almost instantly, there was a piece of tape over Harley’s mouth.
Hammer dialled Mr. Stark. Peter hated himself. But, it gave them the chance to have the call traced.
Hammer put the phone on speaker.
“Hey kid, is Harley with you? He kinda stormed out last night.” Hammer put a finger over his mouth. Shooshing Peter.
“Peter? You there?” Mr. Stark asked.
“I wouldn’t count on a response buddy,” He was enjoying this too much.
“Who is this?” His voice changed from talking to a friend to talking to the devil. It was kinda spooky.
“An old friend! You can’t tell me you don’t remember!” Hammer exclaimed.
“Put the kid on the phone,”
“That’s no fun!”
“Mr. Sta-” One of the men put his hand around Peter’s mouth.
Harley was just staring at the floor. He didn’t even try to speak.
“Aw, he ruined the surprise!” He said jokingly. “Yes, I have them both here so there’s no need to worry yourself Stark.”
“What do you want?”
“I want all your research, funding, and prototypes of the Iron Man armour. Everything you have on it.”
“How do I know you have both kids? I only heard one.”
Harley looked up at Peter as if asking if he should confirm him being alive and present. Peter shook his head. If he did, Tony would 100% give up the suits. The hand on Peter’s face pulled his head back so he couldn’t move it anymore.
“You want vocal confirmation or something?” Hammer asked losing his patience.
“Yes,”
“Fine,” Hammer sighed.
The other guard grabbed a fistful of Harley’s hair and yanked his head up. He tried as hard as he could to not make any noise.
“Say hi!” Hammer said in his baby voice.
Harley didn’t make a sound.
Hammer was definitely losing his patience. “Break his wrist,” He grunted.
Peter yelled from behind the hand.
“Wait!” Tony yelled from the phone.
“You said you wanted vocal confirmation Stark!” He nodded at the man. There was a sickening crack. Harley tried to stay quiet. So there was just a loud groan.
Peter felt sick. It should have been him. He could heal. This was all his fault.
“There you have it. Two kids, one incredibly handsome, soon to be very wealthy, Justin Hammer!” He sounded like a kid on Christmas eve. “I’ll send you the details on the exchange soon!”
“Wait-” Hammer hung up.
The hand on Peter’s mouth released him and the guard let go of Harley’s hair. He shoved Harley’s head forward for good measure. They took the tape off his mouth.
“We don’t want another peep from you,” The guard said before leaving the room.
Peter noticed Harley was trying very hard to not look in his direction.
“Are you ok?” He asked. Because that’s all Peter could do.
“Fine,”
“Dude…”
“You wanna know why I’m here for the summer?” Harley started. His tone was much sadder than when he began the story the previous night. “My mom kicked me out… So, I drove that car Tony gave me to the first place I could think of.”
“Why didn’t you stay in Tennessee?”
“There’s nothing left for me there. My mom and I have been going back and forth with the being kicked out thing… But this time’s different. So, I knew Tony would let me stay for the summer until I could find a place.”
“Does Mr. Stark know that?”
“Of course...” He laughed. “That's what we were arguing about.”
Damn… Peter hadn’t realized how hard Harley had had it. It was crazy how similar they were.
“We’re gonna get out of here,” Peter said.
“This is all my fault,” Harley said.
“What?”
“If I had’ve just stayed in the tower none of this shit would’ve happened.”
“Hey, that’s my job. Taking the blame is my job.”
“Then what’s my job?” You get to be the one who gets blame me for everything.”
They both laughed a bit at that. It was nice to get an almost normal moment with Harley.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another hour or two went by. They mostly just sat in silence. When Peter heard the familiar sound or the repulsor jets. He tried to stay calm. But it was hard to mask his relief. By the time Harley could hear the fighting, Tony was only one floor above them. Peter heard some shuffling in front of the door.
“Ditch the kids,” He heard someone whisper. Peter smiled and broke through his tape. Harley looked in awe at his new strength. Peter ditched his chair and was about to rip Harley out before the door opened. One of the men was standing in the doorway pointing a gun at the two of them. Peter put his hands up calmly.
The man decided not to waste any more time. He fired twice. Peter could see it happening in slow motion. Two bullets. Two targets. They were moving too fast. Either Peter dodged his. Or he blocked Harley. Obviously he blocked Harley. He jumped over the chair in a backflip and landed in front of Harley. The second he touched the floor it was just pain. White-hot pain all over his body. He stood for a moment realizing what he had just done. Harley’s face was a mixture of shock and horror.
Peter swallowed thickly before collapsing on the floor.
“Holy shit…” Harley said. The man in the doorway had the same reaction. The man shook it off and raised his gun once again Harley closed his eyes. He didn’t hear the gun go off. He heard a repulsor. The man was blasted away.
Harley strained on the tape. He needed to get out. He needed to help Peter. “Tony! We’re in here! Help!” The last word came out as more of a sob. The puddle of blood was growing every second. Harley screamed trying to free his arms. He could feel the bones in his broken wrist grinding together. He didn’t care how much it hurt. But, they didn’t budge.
“Kid!” A voice yelled. Harley looked up to see War Machine approach. “When did this happen?” He asked.
“Like a minute ago,” He said trying to calm himself down.
“Tony I need evac Peter’s hurt,” the face of the suit lifted. “I see two gsws… alright bringing him to you.”
War Machine turned to Harley. “Tony’s coming to get you!” The face of the suit dropped down and out he flew.
‘He could’ve at least untied me,’ He thought as he listened to the fight above. He wobbled his chair back and forth until he fell backwards and hit his head hard on the ground. His wrist burned from the amount of pressure on it. He really thought the chair would break. That’s what they always did in movies. But, it was a metal chair. God, he was stupid.
The fight upstairs suddenly went silent. He couldn’t help but think the worst. But, before he could worry any more, Iron Man was stepping into the room. Harley was incredibly relieved. Tony put the chair upright and ripped the duct tape off his arms. The first thing Harley did was he buried his face in his hands. Tony put a hand on his shoulder. Not a metallic hand. His hand. Harley turned around and hugged the shit out of Tony. Harley was never the hugging type. But, he felt now was an appropriate time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter looked like shit. Like really really bad. Harley’s stomach kinda twisted when he saw him. He was pale and covered in sweat. His hair was wet and slicked onto his face. But, he was just glad Peter was alive.
Harley’s arm was in a cast. It hurt, But he didn’t care. He just needed to see Peter. Tony had been on his ass about getting some rest for the past three hours. So, Harley snuck out of his bedroom in the middle of the night to see him. He had to be quiet because Tony was in a chair right across from Peter. But, he was asleep. Harley snuck past him and plopped into a chair on the other side of Peter’s bed. He wanted to be there when Peter woke up.
He sat there just trying not to think about all the fucked up shit that happened over the past two days. And he didn’t mean to fall asleep. He was really trying to stay awake. But, the room was dark and it was so warm that he couldn’t help it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harley awoke to footsteps. He didn’t want to wake up yet. He kept his eyes closed in hopes he could still salvage a few hours. He felt a hand on his shoulder. He jerked awake and began flailing his arms in front of his face. For a minute he was back in that dumbass chair. In that stupid room. But, when he opened his eyes, he was in the tower. Tony was standing over him.
“Oh shit… Sorry,” Harley said immediately.
“What are you doing here?” He asked ignoring the freakout.
It took Harley a minute to catch his breath. “I couldn’t sleep.”
“Uh-huh,” He said not believing him for a second.
There was a small twang of guilt in Harley’s gut when Peter started stirring. He could help but think he woke him up.
“Hey kid,” Tony said returning to his chair. “You feeling better?”
“Ow…” Peter croaked.
Tony chuckled a bit. “Yea I bet.”
Harley got up from his chair and leaned onto Peter’s bed.
“Oh hey-” Harley punched Peter’s shoulder. “Ow!”
“You’re an asshole Parker!” He yelled.
“Wha-”
“What the fuck is wrong with you? You backflipped over my chair? What the fuck was that?”
“Hey cool it,” Tony piped in.
“I had to dude... You would’ve died.”
“You could’ve died!” He yelled.
Peter spared a glance at Tony.
“How did you even break the tape? Are you a gymnast or something?”
“Uhh, my hands were really sweaty… So they slipped out.” Peter said. “And I took gymnastics my whole life.”
Harley didn’t believe him for a second. He had seen the duct tape after Peter got out. It was ripped. If he had’ve slipped out, it would’ve been intact. He knew there was something they weren’t telling him. But, he didn’t press it. He’d find out eventually. He would just need to pay a bit more attention.
“You’re good though right?” Harley asked.
“Yea…” He knew it was a lie. But, Harley was glad Peter lied. He didn’t want to know all the terrible details.
“You should get some rest kid,” Tony said breaking Harley’s train of thought.
“Which kid?” Peter laughed.
“Both.”
Harley collapsed his head onto the bed. “Oh god, Tony why are you so lame?”
Tony smacked Harley lightly on the back. “C’mon kid. You got some sleep the catch up on.”
“Wait are you not gonna tell us what happened to that jackass?” Harley realized.
Tony sighed. He had probably been hoping to avoid this question. “We found his getaway car a few miles out. It crashed. We looked everywhere but… He left before we got there.”
Peter visibly tensed. Tony obviously noticed.
“We have every FBI agent on the case. You guys have nothing to worry about.” This did nothing to ease Harley’s conscience.
“The longer we sit here the less sleep you seem to be getting.”
Harley sighed but, followed. He said goodnight to Peter and was lead back to his bedroom.
“Do me a favour… Stay here.”
Harley laughed and fell on the bed. He was more tired now. He could definitely sleep ok now that he knew Peter would be fine.
God… That whole thing felt so distant by now. And he was glad. He hated thinking about it.