uncalled decisions
Peter had no idea why he was there to fight Captain America and his crew besides Tony's explanations of Mr. America going rouge. From what Peter learned in history class, Going rouge often meant the person had their own interest.
So what was Captain America's interest?
He got to know an hour into tension.
But really, he knew once he tried to hit the metal arm guy and instead hit the bird WITH the metal arm guy.
Captain America's reason for going rogue was James Buchanan Barnes. To Captain America, Bucky. Peter understood his motives. James didn't bomb the UN, Captain wanted to keep him free because he thinks that James isn't responsible. Tony seemed to think the opposite because of the Winter Soldier.
Peter's head could wrap around it but it didn't make sense.
Why fight?
Adults are so dramatic, Peter thinks with a frown. Suddenly, he wasn't excited to have a fistfight with Captain America. As they block their ride, The opposite side starts to walk. Them too. Then, it went from speed walk to a run like it was the last printer on black Friday.
"They aren't stopping," Peter says keeping up with his mom who was beginning to jog.
"We aren't either." His mom and Tony say at the same time.
They ran and the first to hit was Tony but was blocked by Captain America.
"HEY! WHO DO I FIGHT?!" Peter asks as he swinging to avoid cars by a magician (who he thinks is very cool and wants to be friends with her! She's like a cool superhero!). No reply which made Peter get away from the woman and to help his mom who was fighting Hawkeye.
"I hope we're still friends," Natasha says with a smile before Peter attempts to kick Hawkeye, his leg glows red.
"Ah, Peter! Meet Clint, your uncle." Natasha introduces.
Clint hums, "I can't hear you since my hearing aids broke but hey Spider-Man."
"HE KNOWS ME!" Peter squeals before he was thrown towards Captain America by the female superhero with glowing red hands.
"You're pulling your punches," She says, also throwing Natasha and Peter huffs before turning his attention to Captain America.
He took a minute to examine the Nazi fighter.
Steve Rogers was in his blue American suit, he noticed the Avengers logo on his shoulder was no longer there. He wasn't an Avenger. Peter notes. Steve's head tilted to the side as if he was asking: Who are you?
That isn't fair, almost everyone knew him. Peter thinks.
"Look, kid, there's a lot you don't understand." He speaks with what must've been his captain voice.
That's where you're wrong. Peter says in his mind, I know plenty.
"Mr. Stark thought you'd say that, wow." With a shake of his head, he throws webs that stick to Steve's shield and ankle and pulls him over before Peter was propelled in the air due to Steve doing a somersault.
As they traded hits and dodges, Steve manages to tug Peter using his own webs and hit him with the shield. Peter, being quick recovers and jumps back up.
"Did Stark tell you anything else?"
That you think you're right. And that is what makes someone dangerous.
"Nothing, really," Peter lies, "But I seen this one vine that inspires my next move."
"Vine? Wha- HEY!" And suddenly, Steve was kicked in the legs to the gangway's leg. Peter walks over to Captain America and hears him.
"Guess that vine had a point," Steve mumbles before throwing his shield at the leg and Peter suddenly had to carry the gangway. If Peter was still a human, he would've sued Captain America. "You got heart kid, where you from?"
"Queens," Peter says as he sees Captain America get away from him.
"Brooklyn."
As if that has any rep. Peter stews.
Suddenly, The one fighter he missed (Ant-Man) grew.
Really grew.
Suddenly, he was giant and Peter treads back for a little, amazed by the sudden change in size. "HOLY SHIT!" He screams in disbelief before he watched Giant-Man grab War Machine by the leg.
War Machine is on his team. Peter thinks, That rhymes.
"Give me back my Rhodey." Peter hears Tony prior to being shot down by the birds feet first. That must be gross.
"I got him!" Peter shouts as Giant-Man threw War Machine and Peter catches him with his web before swinging him back into the fight.
"Okay, anybody on our side hiding any shocking and fantastic abilities they'd like to disclose, I'm open to suggestion!" Tony chirps and Peter hated that he didn't have anything besides webbing.
"I can heal super quick!-" Peter was cut off before he realizes that he's still attached to War Machine and instead of being on the ground, he's a few feet into the air as War Machine flies attacking Giant-Man. It was then that Peter was able to detach himself as the cool female superhero had more red around War Machine and he jumps to Giant-Man.
"Get off," Giant-Man says sluggish.
Peter ignores it, "HI MR GIANT-MAN!" Peter says, super excited and knocks on the helmet rapidly. "I'M SPIDER-MAN AND I WANNA KNOW HOW YOU GOT SO GIANT!"
As Peter crawls all over the helmet, His ears begin to ache as War Machine had a sonic disruptor and the cool female superhero screams.
Shut up! Peter wants to say as he suddenly sees more than one Giant-Man and more than one everything. He can hear everything and even smell everything and it hurts. He suddenly couldn't breathe as he was just bombarded with smell, sight, even hearing. All of a sudden he hears his moms voice,
"You're not gonna stop."
(Peter would regret not listening in later but his focus wasn't on his mom who could surely hold herself against a super-soldier or two.)
Pull through, Peter encourages himself and looks around before analyzing the situation. An idea pops up and he isn't afraid to share it. "Hey!" He says to his team, "Has anyone seen that one Star Wars movie... Empire Strikes back?!"
"Jesus, Tony," He could hear War Machine say, "How old is this guy?"
"Dunno," Tony replies, "Didn't carbon date him yet but he's on the young side."
Peter swings around Giant-Man, "You know that part… where they're on the snow planet… with the walking thingies?" He asks them both, hoping they at least seen that part.
Tony stops for a moment, "Are you a star wars nerd?"
"No! My best friend Ned is though and I force myself to watch it with him!"
"Well, He is onto something." War Machine provides, "High now, Tones. Go high!"
Peter swings his webs around Giant-Man and he knows that they've done their part when Giant-Man topples over, "YES! Hah! That was awesome!" He cheers but he did it too early as when Giant-Man stumbled, he hits Peter and Peter flew and landed nearby.
For what seemed like forever was actually a minute as Tony retracted his helmet and Peter could see his eyebrows furrowed together and his frown apparent, "Kid, are you okay?" He asks.
Peter nods, "That was scary." He jokes.
"Yeah. You're done. Alright?" Tony says it like a question but to Peter, it was a demand.
"What?"
"You did a good job, kiddo. Now stay down."
"But!"
"Your mom AND aunt would kill me if I keep letting you fight as you nearly got thrown over like you were some feather."
Peter slumps down, "Fine."
It took a few days until he learned what his mom did.
-
Tony had to force himself to stay pieced together as he watches his best friend inside a CT-Scanner. The logical part of Tony says it wasn't his fault. Vision had the beam and Rhodey told him to beam it. But the emotional part of Tony (his "better" part) said IT WAS. If Tony had just simply talked and talked, maybe there would still be Avengers.
Steve making tea and training newbies as Natasha fights with Clint to see what they have to prove on and Tony being in the lab making them new equipment, waiting for Thor and his science buddy Bruce to come back in one piece ready to eat junk food and talk more science.
But Tony never gets what he wants. Never.
As he walks away from Rhodey and Vision, he spots Natasha and an angry Peter. He wondered if Peter found out about what Natasha did and how it can affect their future. Walking slowly, he can see Peter waving his hands and talking but Natasha was playing statue as she stood still and listened to every word Peter had said.
He stops when he can listen in. Which is in front of them.
"You're a fugitive mom!" Peter snaps, tears on the brink of leaving his eyes and Tony's heart broke. He realized that Natasha didn't think it through or that she did and went through with it. Natasha was smart. They're talking about a spy.
Natasha says nothing, Peter continued, "And I got you mom. After so many years! I finally unite with my mom and she has to leave."
Tony nearly tears up. No, he does. It reminds him of his own relationship with his mom. His mom was fantastic at being a mom but often than not, She always had to leave with Howard. It hurt Tony each time she left because he'd be alone with Jarvis or with Obie. He just wanted his mom, not Obie. He didn't mind Jarvis as he played much more of a fatherly role than Howard ever did.
The difference between them, however, is the separation. His mom is dead. Has been dead for nearly two decades. He can't reunite unless he dies too (and that is if he's lucky that some deity sees him as a good person rather than a dick). Peter and his mom can reunite. Can. But they can't now due to Natasha's decision.
As Natasha said something along the lines of, "I had too, Pete." Tony moves out the way as Peter storms off, wiping his tears. He could hear Peter saying, "Adults are mean."
Tony didn't mind as what he said was true.
Natasha turns to the balcony and stares at the trees. Tony steps forward and stands next to his friend. His former friend.
"The doctors say he shattered L4 through S1. Extreme laceration in the spinal cord. Probably looking at some form of paralysis." Tony starts, "From the hips down, perhaps."
"Steve's not gonna stop. If you don't either, Rhodey's gonna be the best case scenario." Natasha murmurs.
"You let them go, Natasha." Tony points out.
"We played this wrong." She says.
"We? Boy, it must be hard to shake the whole double agent thing, huh? It sticks in the DNA!" Tony says with a huff.
Natasha looks at him, concealing most of her anger, "Are you incapable of letting go of your ego for one goddamn second?" She asks as if that was the hardest thing Tony can ever do.
Tony stays silent thanking his glasses were tinted before responding, "T'Challa snitched on you... So, they're coming for ya."
"I'm not the one that needs to watch their back." She spits, almost walking away before Tony grabs her wrist.
Even if he dislikes Natasha, he thinks of Peter. He knows the kid has been aching to see and spend time with his mom. And if he lets her go, Peter might never get that chance to spend time with Natasha. He may be a dick, but he won't let Peter go mother-less when his mom is alive, well, and surely can be there for Peter if Tony has trouble. So, Tony strikes a deal.
"What is it?" Natasha asks harshly, pulling her wrist back.
"Peter."
And that is when Natasha's walls pull down and she stands in front of him, her eyes darting to his glasses in fury, "I'm not gonna hurt the kid," Tony reassures, "I like him and I'm looking out for him. Wants what best for him."
Natasha visibly slumps, "I failed him." Is what she says, "I couldn't even say anything."
Tony shoves down his words and focuses on Peter, "I'll let you see the kid every two weeks of the month as long as you stay here and don't cause trouble."
Natasha seems to consider this. She had no other option if Tony was being honest. It seemed to dawn on Natasha and she nods. "Deal."
They shake hands.
Do they still dislike each other? Sure, but they had one thing in common now and it was Peter.
"Tell him I'm sorry, okay?" Natasha requests, "I forgot that I have the best kid ever in the midst of the chaos."
Tony nods.
Natasha leaves and Tony runs away to a guest room. He goes to the nearest pillow and breathes in it. Suddenly, the anxiety kicked in and he didn't have his stress ball or pen.
As the earth turns, Tony turns as well and refuses his tears to be let free.
.
He finds out Bucky killed his parents.
He asks Steve if he knew. If he knew that Bucky killed his parents. If he knew all along and didn't tell him. If he knew and that he played along to the charade. He wanted Steve not to know. He wanted his closest friend to say he never knew that footage existed and that Bucky possibly didn't know either.
But.
Tony never gets what he wants. Never.
As Steve nods, Tony blinks away the tears of many emotions. Betrayal. Grief. Anger. Hurt.
He starts to fight them both. Because he didn't care for Howard. He was a sperm donor. But, he cared for his mom. The same woman that was gentle with him after she had a fight with Howard and Tony gave her a firefly as a way to get better. Maria may have been submissive to his father, but she wouldn't hesitate to love Tony and ignore the toxic motto of Stark men are made of iron.
She was the good thing for Tony and Bucky ripped that away.
Again, Tony felt so many emotions.
And as they fight and fight, Tony is on the ground. He didn't care if he was fighting two super soldiers that took steroids. He's fighting his mom's killer and his mom's killer friend. He kept thinking about it.
Steve probably never considered him as a friend, did he?
Ouch.
His mask was off, no glasses. Steve can very well see the horrified eyes Tony had as Steve Rogers-- His former friend, His former teammate stabbed the core of the iron man suit with his father's shield. Tony had thought Steve was going to put the shield through his head. He didn't know which was worse.
The betrayal and dying or living through the betrayal.
Steve pulls the shield out and helps Bucky but Tony wasn't about to let him run away, "THAT'S MY FATHERS SHIELD! YOU DON'T DESERVE IT!"
Steve drops the shield and walks away.
Don't cry, Tony hears his father, Stark men are made of iron.
But what if the iron rusts?
.
Even after seeing his Rhodey walk (and almost fails), reads the stupid letter, and hearing about the raft situation, Tony knows he didn't win.
The Avengers are no longer.
Tony grabs a wine bottle and drinks his sorrows away.
Stark men are made of iron.
And sadly, the iron began to rust.