Breaking Iron Will

Peter couldn’t help but feel like he was on cloud nine. His dad’s doctor’s appointment went better than he could have ever hoped and last night neither of them experienced nightmares for the first time in what felt like forever. This morning gave him hope that they finally had rounded that final curve, they were going to be ok. Peter caught sight of Ned. Picking up his pace he ran over to his friend.

“Ned, so I’m going to talk dad about you coming over this weekend. His really doing good and I know he would love to see you, if your down.”

Ned grinned at Peter’s excited expression. “Yeah man, you know I am always down for a visit at Avengers tower.” Ned playfully punched Peter’s shoulder. “Should I bring the Lego’s?”

“Of course! And if we are lucky, we can get dad to help us out.” Peter replied thinking back to the Hogwarts model that his dad had completed with them. Both he and Ned had learned a few new colorful curse words at the end of that adventure. “No matter how lame he says they are you know he secretly loves them.”

Ned nodded, a serious expression crossing over his face. With Tony involved he would need to pull out the big guns. “If that’s the case, I should probably grab the new Millennium Falcon model.”

Peter clapped his friend on the back, lifting his backpack to his shoulder. “Awesome! I’m really looking forward to this dude. I’ll text you tonight after I give dad the heads up!”

“Sounds great Pete.” Ned replied. “Hey, send over Happy to give me a ride. I always feel like a celebrity when I have a chauffeur!”

Peter laughed throwing his friend a thumbs up before exiting the school doors. He couldn’t wait to tell his dads about their new weekend plans. Ned had been right, it had been far too long since they had hung out and he was excited about the return to normalcy.

~Tony

Tony sputtered awake when his body was assaulted by icy cold water. His shoulders and wrists ached as his body registered his position. Harsh chains encircled his wrists and kept his arms firmly locked above his head, his feet barely touching the ground. “What the fu…”

Tony was interrupted by a dull voice “Good afternoon, Mr. Stark. I hope you had a pleasant trip.”

Taking stock of his surroundings Tony noticed that he was in imprisoned in a dark room. A single flickering bulb provided the only light to the room. Tony could only assume he was being kept in some abandoned bunker of factory. The place smelled like mold and stagnate water. The only furnishings were a chair and a bucket. Tony wrinkled his nose at what the bucket implied.

“I’m sorry Mr. Stark, am I boring you already?”

The dull voice snapped, pulling Tony from his observations. “No, not at all. I just couldn’t help but be distracted by the beautiful scenery.” Tony twisted in his chains trying to locate the other man. “Don’t worry I will give you a 5 star on my Yelp review.” A small chuckle sounded from the far-right back corner causing Tony to swing his body in that direction. Squinting his eyes Tony struggled to adjust to the darkness. “If you don’t mind me asking, I would really like to know who my generous host is.”

Tony stiffened when the stranger finally moved out of the shadows. Just like the others this man was dressed in a high-end suit. His eyes were a dark grey that held no empathy, black hair slicked back away from his face. The man looked like he was enjoying Tony’s predicament, a smug grin plastered to his face. “At least the stories are true, your witty banter does not disappoint.”

Tony gripped his chains trying everything possible to relieve the strain on his shoulders. “Glad I met your expectations, I can die happy.”

“Oh no, you aren’t dying.” Suit cackled. “Not yet, anyway. Boss, has some important questions that need answers and word on the street is you are the only that knows the answers.”

Tony rolled his eyes before glaring at his captured closely. “Ok, ok since you goonies all insist on shopping at ‘Suits R Us’ try adding some color into your lives. Add a bright tie or even a handkerchief.” Tony caught the anger in the man’s eyes right before his monster hand closed around his throat cutting off his voice and air.

“When they said you had a mouth, they didn’t mention how annoying you were.” Suit growled. “Don’t push your luck Stark, my boss doesn’t have near the amount of patience I do.” Giving the prisoner a final threatening squeeze, suit released his grip, returning to his station.

When the pressure released Tony sucked in a haggard breath, the air stinging his freshly bruised throat. “All I was trying to say is, think about it. A splash of color could really change your life!” Tony wheezed out. His jailor threw up his hands before exiting the room, slamming the door roughly behind him. “Wait, I’m not finished! Come back!”

Finally, alone Tony took the time to take stock of his injuries. His ribs ached like a bitch, his head throbbed and made his vision swim. He could tell by the crusty feeling on his face he had multiple cuts and bruises forming. The scar above his heart felt warm and achy and Tony was refusing to acknowledge the return of the abnormal heartbeat. He was fine, he would return to Peter. Sighing Tony felt exhaustion wash over him, he had found himself in jams before but this one was starting to feel different.

“Well Stark, you’ve never done anything half way, why should your kidnapping be any different?” Tony grumbled to himself, testing his chains again finding that that they still held firm. The cell door abruptly flew open letting in two more suits followed closely behind by a third, shorter man. “Tony Stark, it’s a pity it had to come to this. But I did try to warn you.”

Tony’s eyes widen as recognition flooded through him. His eyes finally landing on the third man, anger boiling in his gut. “Thaddeus Ross, you son of a bitch!” Tony snarled lunging as far his restraints allowed. Ross stepped into the light surveying his prisoner.

“I warned you Stark, I told you if you didn’t give me all the information on Steve Rogers that I would have to resort to drastic measures.”

Tony continued pulling against his bonds. The urge to murder the man in front of him burned bright. Ross had broken into his home and assaulted him. But his biggest mistake was threatening Peter, and for that Tony would kill him. “How dare you! I told you everything I know!”

Pity and disappointment filled Ross’s expression. “Tony you and I both know that isn’t true. I was truly hoping that we could work together on this.”

“We were working together.” Tony snapped. “But you crossed the line when you threatened my son and for that I will make you pay!”

Ross sighed, sinking onto the steal metal chair. “You won’t be doing anything other than giving me Steve Rogers location. As of now you are just as guilty as he is." As Ross talked the two men drug in a metal table and began laying out different kinds of menacing instruments.

Tony did his best to keep his attention on Ross, he would not allow these men to intimidate him. “I have no idea what you are talking about it. Maybe you forgot the little detail of Rogers betraying me and leaving me to die in a winter waste land.” Tony spit out.

Ross still looked unconvinced, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I was hoping to do this with no more bloodshed. But due to your incompliance you are now a Rogue Avenger.” Waving his hand to his men Ross sat back and pulled out his phone to distract himself from the screaming that was to come.

Peter~

As soon as Peter stepped off the elevator his spider senses sent a shock over his spine. “Hey dad, are you home?” Peter called, instantly on alert. The house looked relatively in order, nothing seemed to be broken or out of place. It was a little odd that Tony wasn’t there to greet him, but every now and then he would get so caught up in a project that he would stay in the workshop.

Setting his bag down with a thump, Peter headed to his dad’s lab. His heart racing, it was as if his spider senses already knew what he was going to find. Rounding the corner Peter let out a heartbroken gasp. His father’s robots where tipped over and surrounded by shattered glass. His tools and blue prints littered the floor. But the sight that made Peter’s skin crawl was the puddle of blood in the middle of the mess. Peter felt his breath increasing to the point of hyperventilation. Someone had broken in and taken his dad and judging by the amount of blood on the floor and had given him a serious injury. “Friday?!” Peter called, panic fully sinking in now.

When the AI didn’t respond Peter rushed over to the nearest computer. With a few quick key strokes Peter could tell that the AI was completely shut down. It would take a powerful person to hack into Stark Industries and shut down his dad’s AI. Peter stepped back the scene around him overwhelming him. Peter buried his hands deep in his hair, his mind going crazy. What was he going to do? The police couldn’t handle this, whomever did this kidnapped Iron Man for crying out loud. Through his panic an idea struck him, rushing from the room Peter flew up the stairs. Please, please, please dad. God, I hope you left it there.

Peter skidded into the living room, flinging himself at the table. There at the center sat the tiny black flip phone. Snatching it up, Peter flipped it open, highlighting the lone name. Peter paused, should he do this? His dad had been very clear to never use this phone. But could he afford not to, this was his dad’s life after all. But Peter knew that no one else would be able to help him.

No, Peter had made up his mind, steeling his nerves he pushed the call button.

After one ring the line picked up.

“Hello?”