Chapter 1
Peter swung through a window into an abandoned warehouse, and collapsed on the ground. His body was covered in so many bruises and cuts that his healing factor was having a hard time keeping up. Normally that would not have been a problem, if not for the gash oozing blood on his head, and a stab wound in his stomach.
Gasping in pain, Peter stumbled towards a pillar and slid down, leaning on it. He took off his mask, and pressed it against his stomach, in an effort to slow the bleeding. The world was spinning, and there was a constant ringing and muted tone to his hearing, and god, did his body ache. Peter knew he needed a minute away from the fight. The rest of the avengers could handle iron man for a minute right? Peter just needed to close his eyes for a minute…
… the quiet whir of an arc reactor and clang of metal on concrete made Peter open his eyes in dread. Peter knew that sound. That was the sound of the enemy. The sound of the thing that had blasted him, and watched as he fell down eighty floors as he desperately fought with his jammed web shooters. The sound of the thing that had gutted him like a fish, before slamming him into a reinforced SHIELD van. The sound of Iron Man.
Terror filled Peter’s veins as the suit approached. Peter knew he couldn’t take on Iron Man by himself. Not in this state. Peter dragged himself behind the pillar, hoping in vain Iron Man had not seen him yet. A sharp pain came from his stab wound after he moved, and Peter involuntarily whimpered.
“I can hear you Spider-child. Won’t you come out and play?”
Peter flinched at Iron Man’s cruel mocking tone. Biting back frightened tears, Peter reached up to his ear piece. “Spi-Spider-Man to aven-avengers. There’s an Ir-Iron M-Man suit here…” But all Peter heard was static.
“They won’t come. My clones have them all occupied.”
A sob escaped Peter’s lips. It was just too much. The ringing in his head, the spinning, the consuming pain in his stomach, his spidey sense screaming at him to move, to fear of death. Peter didn’t want to die.
Peter turned to his left and saw the Iron Man feet walk into his sight.
Glancing up, Peter’s stomach dropped. “No...” Tears sliding down his cheeks, Peter frantically tried to move back, to get away but he was too weak. His stomach felt like a lead brick of pure pain, and his eyesight began to tunnel.
Upon seeing Peter for the first time, Iron Man suit stopped his approach and stared. Stared, straight and Peter’s bare face.
Peter scrambled to put his mask on, but his hands were too shaky. A finger accidentally touched his gash, and Peter whimpered, curling in on himself as more tears slipped down his face.
“You don’t need that anymore, kid. I already know.”
Iron Man continued walking towards him.
Peter desperately stumbled and crawled backward. Anything to get away from the looming Iron Man.
Peter slumped backward, head hitting the concrete behind him.
Through the ringing and the pain, Peter could barely make out Iron Man speaking.
“Kid, stop. You’re only hurting yourself.”
When Peter’s vision returned, tunnel vision and all, he saw that the Iron Man suit was now kneeling above him, arm reaching out of him.
“No.” Peter cried as he tried to roll away, but Iron Man grabbed his wrist.
“No, please, just let me go. Please.” Begged Peter, tears running down his face and mixing with the blood.
“JARVIS, give me an analysis. How bad is it?”
Peter didn’t hear a response. However, the suit melted away, returning to the arc reactor capsule in his chest. In its place, was Tony Stark.
Who was still holding onto Peter’s wrist.
Peter weakly tugged at his wrist, and Tony released it. He sat down next to Peter and gently reached up and wiped off Peter’s tears. Peter whimpered and angled his face away.
“It's okay, kid.”
Peter coughed, and spots of blood splattered on his lips. “I need to… Spider-Man...”
Peter choked, and gasped for air, making a horrifying ragged noise.
Tony hushed him, and gently rubbed his arms, being careful not to touch any of the cuts and bruises.
“Shh it's alright, kiddo. You did beautifully and I'm so proud of you.”
Peter turned back to look at Tony, in confusion. Tony took his sleeve and gently cleaned the blood and tears off Peter’s other cheek, below his gash.
“It was cruel of them to make you fight me - you could never have won. It's not your fault.”
Peter moved his lips, trying to say something. Tony leaned closer, but all that came out was a painful whisper.
“I’m sorry kid, I don’t know what you're saying.”
“I don’t want to die… Aunt May-.” Peter gasped out, more tears flooding his eyes. “Aunt May-.”
Tony took Peter’s hand in his. “You’re not gonna die, kiddo. You’re-you’re just going to sleep. A small nap, that’s it. It’s going to be okay.”
“Nap?” croaked Peter, his eyes closing.
“That’s right. Just a small nap. You’ll be back on your feet, swinging around in no time kiddo.”
Peter didn’t reply. Instead his head rolled to the side, lifelessly. Tony felt his wrist, looking for a pulse. Finding none, he placed Peter’s arm gently on his stomach and lowered his head as a tear rolled down his cheek.
Why.
Why did it have to be this innocent child?
Why couldn’t he have kept the fight between him and the avengers.
How many other innocent people, children, had to die before enough was enough?
“Sir, he still has a heartbeat.”
Tony’s eyes snapped back to Peter. The Iron Man suit expanded back into place, and Tony pressed two fingers above Peter’s chest.
“His heart beat is incredibly low at 5 bpm, but he is still alive at the moment.”
“JARVIS, plot the fastest route to the Tower. Send the nearest clone suit that hasn’t been damaged and have the rest of the clone suits lead the avengers away. Wake up Helen Cho and have her meet up in med-bay.” Tony ordered. He ripped the Spider-Man mask into strips and tied it around Peter’s head and pressed the rest into the wound on his stomach. A suit flew into the warehouse, and Jarvis directed it to wrap around Peter’s body. It wasn’t a perfect fit, but it would have to do.
Then, Tony and the suit took flight to the Tower. They landed, and JARVIS immediately took the suit with Peter to med-bay. Once they arrived, Tony placed Peter in one of the beds and began cutting off Spider-Man’s suit. The suit was a glorified pajama set, meaning that Peter felt every single injury he had inflicted; every time Tony’s suits had blasted him, dropped him, injured him, stabbed him, the child had felt every bit of that pain-
“Tony!” Helen Cho walked into the room. “Jarvis notified me of the situation. I need a detailed report of the injuries”
“Okay JARVIS. What do we have?”
“Spider-Man has numerous bruises, cuts and burns all over his body. His left ankle is broken, a fracture in his left tibia, a stab in the lower abdomen, 15 fractured ribs, 2 broken ribs, a hairline fracture in his left collarbone, a critical head injury, and other possible brain injuries to be determined if he wakes up...”
Helen’s eyes widened in shock for a moment, before regaining her professional composure. She gestured for her staff to get started prepping for surgery and wheeled Peter’s bed into another room. Tony walked out and sank down into one of the chairs in the waiting room, his head swirling. He recalled every fight, every piece of footage and tried to remember if there was any clue, any hint that the superhero he fought was just a child.
“Sir, if I may, you might want to get your injuries looked at.” Jarvis gently interrupted.
“I’m fine Jarvis.” Tony waved Jarvis away. “No need to mother hen me, I'm not the child on the literally brink of death here. Jarvis, run Spider-Man's face through facial recognition. Find his parents, and get me their number.”
“Searching… I have one result sir. Peter Parker, age 15, son of Mary Parker, deceased, and Richard Parker, also deceased. Records show that custody went to his aunt and uncle: May Parker age 50 and Ben Parker, deceased.”
“Call May Parker.” Tony ran a hand through his hair. How would he explain this? He nearly murdered her nephew and now was trying to save his life?
“... sir, the May Parker’s cell phone is off. Based on employment records, she works at Forest Hills Hospital…”
“... which is running over time because of the attack.” Tony put his head in his hands and sighed. “Jarvis, call her the minute her shift is over and tell her to come to the tower.”
“Yes sir. Since you refused first aid, may I suggest taking a shower?”
Tony looked at his blood covered hands. In his haste to save Peter, he had gotten Peter’s blood all over himself. Tony got up and walked to the elevator. He thought about the young superhero, the mere sweatpants that passed as a superhero suit, and his broken body.
“Where to, sir?”
“The lab, Jarvis. We have work to do.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
Ten hours later, Tony came down from his working binge to check on Peter. He walked into med-bay, which was in chaos. A few nurses were frantically running around grabbing supplies. One was sitting in the waiting area with an ice pack on a bruise on her head. Tony walked up to her.
“What’s going on?”
“The boy spider-man woke up. He's delirious and struggling and not responding to sedatives.”
Tony ran into the operating room just in time to see Helen Cho just barely dodge a punch. “Helen! What can I do?”
“Hold him down so we can restrain him!”
Together they wrangled Peter down on the bad and strapped him in. Tony used his gauntlets to keep Peter still and Helen pulled out a sedative. Seeing the bottle, Tony’s eyes widened.
“Isn’t that the formula we’re developing to subdue captain america?!”
Helen nodded grimly. “It is. We’ve tried everything else; nothing leaves an impact on him.” Helen injected the needle, and immediately Peter began to settle, and the tension escaped from his limbs.
Tony stared at Peter, as he fought the sedative. His eyes were brown, shiny, full of pain and fear. Tony couldn't stand the sight. He retracted his gauntlet and ran his hand through Peter’s hair, quietly murmuring, “It's going to be alright kid. You’re okay.” Until his eyes fully closed. Feeling everyone’s eyes on him, Tony stepped back awkwardly and nodded to Helen before leaving.
After 3 more hours of surgery and 22 hours of sleep, Peter’s condition finally became stable. Helen reported that Peter had a healing factor that had already begun to repair the damage. She estimated that Peter would take anywhere between 3 to 6 weeks for a full recovery. Considering that a regular human would have died with Peter’s injuries, Helen and Tony were impressed.
Tony was fiddling with blueprints on his Stark Phone by Peter’s bedside when Peter began to wake up. His eyes fluttered, before slowly opening and squinting against the light. Tony put down his Stark Phone and stood up.
“Hey kiddo. How are you feeling?”
Upon seeing Tony, Peter scrambled, trying to get away. The heart rate monitor sped up. “No! Nonono leave me alone -”
“Kid, kid! It's okay! I'm not going to hurt you.” Tony put his hands up, and sat back down on the chair by the bed. “You're not in any danger, Peter.”
“You know who I am.” Peter stammered, still terrified.
“Yea. You live with your aunt, May right? She worked a double shift and-I’m assuming- when straight to sleep, so we should be able to get in touch with her soon.”
Peter gave a small nod, and his heart rate began to slow down.
“While we wait, mind if I ask you a few questions?”
Peter gave another timid nod.
“So, you're the spider-ling? Crime fighting spider? Spider-boy?”
Peter looked away. ‘Its spider-man.”
Tony snorted. In the bed, Peter looked small, leagues away from adulthood and all its trials and tribulations. “Not in that onesie you're not.”
Peter grumbled, “It's not a onesie.”
“I gotta ask. Who else knows? Aunt May? Who's your go to guy?”
“I don’t have one? It's just me.”
“Come on kid. Where do you go when you're injured? Who do you talk to about all of this?”
“No-one, it's just me Mr. Stark.”
Tony frowned. “No one? Alright, we’ll address that later. Next question, why do all this? What's your M.O.? Most days you're the neighborhood friendly guy helping old ladies cross the street and carry groceries and then other days you’re working with the avengers? ”
“I can’t- I can’t not see people that need help, and not help them. Not protect them. You know?”
Tony made a face. “Super villain, remember?”
Peter fiddled with the edge of the blanket on his bed nervously. “I’ve had these powers for 6 months. When you can do the things that I can, but you don’t and the bad things happen, they happen because of you.”
‘So you want to look out for the little guy, do your part, make the world a better place, all of that?”
“Yea, just looking out for the little guy.”
Tony stood up and sat at the edge of Peter’s bed and rested his hand on Peter’s leg - the one not in a cast. “You’re in dire need of an update. Systematic, top to bottom. 100 point restoration. That's why I’m here.” Tony grabbed his stark phone and pulled up the blueprints he was working on. It was a high tech spider-man suit.
Peter’s eyes widened, almost comically. “Wow! Is that-”
“For you, yes. It has padding which will lessen the number of injuries, parachute, heater, built in AI- everything a young crime fighting spider-ling would need. And it's all yours, under one condition.”
Peter's smile dropped immediately. “I’m not going to be a villain, Mr. Stark.”
“God no! That’s my job. You just need to stick to being the neighborhood friendly spider man. No big missions, no avengers, no super villains, actually, no villains in general.”
Peter eyed Tony suspiciously. “That's it?”
“That’s it, kiddo.”
“Why are you doing this?”
Tony sighed. “I may be a super villain, but I don't hurt kids. Well, I don't hurt kids knowingly. My… feud is with the avengers. No one else has to get involved. I’m sorry it took me this long to separate you from the avengers, and realize that you're a kid.”
Peter stared at the blueprint with longing poorly disguised in his eyes. “When you fight with the avengers, I can't not help. If there's someone about to get hurt, I can't just stand there.”
“And I’m not asking you to.” Tony met Peter’s gaze. “I’m not stopping you from helping people, I’m restricting you from fighting the enhanced and trained. Staying on the sidelines and helping the medics is completely fine. So, do you agree?”
At the sight of Peter nodding, a small weight lifted off Tony’s chest. He still had a lot to make up for with the kid, but this was a start: the dawn of redemption.