Mastermind Part 1
Stepping into Happy's car, Bruce and Pepper shared a dark look. They knew the bastard's name now. They could finally find him and get revenge for him hurting Peter.
Happy noticed the look, seeing their eyes in the rearview mirror. "Any luck?" He asked, voice seemingly nonchalant, but Pepper knew him well enough to know that Happy was just as eager for revenge as they were. Happy didn't show it, but he had warmed up to the kid a lot since he first met him. At Pepper's nod, his grip tightened, "So, who is this son of a bitch?"
Pepper took a deep breath, before spitting out the name as though it was poison.
For nearly two hours, Tony and Ned sat in silence. Neither moved from Peter's side. May kept an eye on her nephew, occasionally coming to sit next to Ned. When she did, she put an arm around the boy's shoulder, and pulled him into a sort of half hug.
Soon, the silence was broken by Steve coming into the medbay. The captain took one look at Ned, raised an eyebrow, and sent Tony a look.
The billionaire sighed. "This is Peter's best friend, Ned." The boy in question didn't react, despite one of his heroes standing practically next to him. Ned was too busy worrying for Peter to care, frankly.
"Yeah..." Steve trailed off, uncertain. He wasn't sure how much he could say in front of the kid.
As if reading his thoughts, Tony quickly said, "He knows about Spider-Man, and the whole situation. May told him," Steve nodded.
"Well, we found him." Tony's previously sad and tired eyes widened.
"Who?" He sat up straighter and looked at the man.
"Daniel Price," Steve stated. "Owned Price Corp. Pepper and Bruce said that Gary Moore identified him as the man who orchestrated this."
Tony's eyes darkened. "Do we know where he is?"
"FRIDAY can't find his address. He sold his house a couple of weeks ago, and doesn't currently have one listed."
"But, he has to still be in New York, right?" The billionaire furrowed his eyebrows. "He wouldn't move away while his plan was in action, right? This guy seems like a control freak, he'd want to be able to see what was going on, and see his revenge take place. He went through all of the trouble of hiring Moore."
But, that raised another point. "But, how would he even be seeing anything at all? It isn't publicized in any media, so he would have no way of keeping tabs on the situation, especially if he wanted to see your reaction."
For the first time in two hours, Ned spoke up, "What if he is watching?" Drawing the eyes of everyone else in the room, his eyes drifted to the security cameras. "He got someone in to put the canister in the vents, who is to say he couldn't get access to security?"
"But, he would have to get past FRIDAY. His name wasn't in her system as an employee or frequent visitor, and only employees and certain guests have access to some parts of the building." Tony questioned. Steve was gaping at the kid, how had he come to that conclusion?
"That doesn't mean he doesn't have access to the security feed," Ned sat up a little taller, a strict determination filling him. He wanted to help his friend in any way he could. "And, if he did access the security footage off property, it would be trackable."
May had been sitting nervously throughout the conversation, but piped up, "But, wouldn't FRIDAY alert you if anyone was hacking in and viewing security footage?"
Tony seemed to have an epiphany. "Not unless the location was altered. FRIDAY, give me the location of anyone that has accessed medbay security footage in the past two days."
FRIDAY's voice answered through the ceiling, and Ned jumped. He forgot that Tony Stark had an AI. Internally, he was slightly geeking. "Scanning... All locations of access have been traced to Stark Tower, Boss."
"Can you run diagnostics? See if any of them are covers," Tony's order was followed by tense moments of silence, before her voice sounded.
"Location has moved northwest. Sending coordinates now." Ned let himself have a small grin. He was proud to have helped in some way. Peter was his best friend, and he would be damned if Ned didn't do anything when Peter needed him.
"Thanks, baby girl." Tony stood up, causing May to shoot him a look.
"Where are you going?" She asked, though she had a suspicion.
"Where do you think?" He walked briskly out of the room, Steve following swiftly.