Guilt
~-Tony-~
Tony was exhausted.
After watching the video of Peter, he immediately called the rest of the team.
They were happy to help.
Tony hasn’t realized how close they all had grown to Peter.
Clint and Sam played video games with him (mostly Mario cart) and Peter would win every time. (Although the others believed that they were getting better, and told him they just needed ‘time’ which always made Peter laugh.)
Steve and Natasha would train with him. They’d show him new skills every time he’d come to the tower.
Thor enjoyed telling stories to the spider child, and Peter would listen with anticipation, wondering what would happen next.
And Peter looked up to Bruce. He found everything he did to be interesting. Bruce would talk about science with him.
Lastly, Vision and Wanda were his friends. Wanda and Peter could talk to each other naturally, they just sort of had a connection. The three understood each other.
So you could imagine their reaction when they found out that Peter was kidnapped and is currently being tortured by Tony’s enemy.
“The Child of Spiders has been taken?!?” Thor’s deep voice boomed throughout the tower.
“Tony, oh my God we have to find him!” Sam said, his voice thick with concern.
“Do they know that he’s Spider-Man?” Clint asked.
“How long has he been gone?” Steve asked, hoping to get more details on what happened to Peter.
“How hurt is he?” Vision stifled out.
Wanda didn’t say anything. Instead, tears filled her eyes as she thought of all the possible things that could be happening to Peter right now.
The whole team looked over to Tony, and he was speechless. He couldn’t answer any of those questions. Truthfully, he didn’t know where he was, if they knew his identity, how hurt he was, how long he had been gone. He knew nothing. He felt so scared. And guilty.
“I-I tried to trace the call. I tried in every way I knew how. I couldn’t get through. I couldn’t find him. He c-could be dying right n-no-“
Steve ran over to his pale friend and quickly shushed him.
“Peter is going to be okay. He is strong. We will find him.” Steve said with a voice full of hope.
Tony almost believed him.
“FRIDAY is searching security cameras right now, and scanning facial recognition for Nathanial Black.
“See, that’s good. We’re going to find him.” Steve reassured. He was a good friend.
Vision took Wanda’s hand and led her over to the couch. She still hadn’t said anything.
The rest of the avengers followed them.
On his way over, Tony’s phone rang.
“H-hold on let me grab that.” Tony said.
A moment later Tony returned to the room, the ringing phone in his hand.
“Well aren’t you going to answer it?” Clint asked.
“I-It’s P-Peter.” He stuttered.
Before anyone could say anything, Tony answered the phone.
“PETE? Peter I’m coming okay. You’re going to be okay. Just h-“
“Tony.” Peter gasped as Peter spoke. He sounded like he was in pain. He sounded, uncomfortable?
“I am hurt because of you.”
The words hit Tony like a freight train. The air in his lungs was instantly sucked out. He couldn’t breathe.
“I am injured because of you.” Tony could hear them his fellow avengers gasp and whisper behind him. Wanda cried louder.
‘Did Peter really feel that way?’
Before the call, Tony already thought that this was all his fault. The man literally told him that it was.
But hearing it from Peter was a whole new level.
“I am bleeding because of you.”
Each new sentence brought more physical pain to Tony. Tony crumpled to the ground. He could no longer hold back his tears. The pressure of overwhelming guilt was consuming him.
“I might die because of you.” Every word was like a dagger to the heart. He sat on the floor sobbing loudly. The avengers were talking to him, trying to comfort him, but he zoned them all out.
Peter was hurt, because of him.
Peter was injured, because of him.
Peter might die,
Because of him.
The guilt was too much.