The Kidnapped Boy
(Ross’ Safe House, Nassau County, Long Island, New York)
"Are we here yet Miss Tracy? Where’s my mom and sister? Why’s Tony still not contacting me?” The kid, Harley, asked incessantly. Turned out, his confusion and skepticism won out against the fear that curbed out his strings of questions not an hour ago.
Cassidy’s babbling face assaulted her face, superimposing the kid’s. A fresh wave of guilt almost made her keel on the spot. All those time spent in the Chopper with the kid, feeling his confusion and foggy shock, was making her soft.
Do it for him. Do it for him. Do it for him.
“I’m so sorry, kid,” she said finally, pointedly not looking at him. Hearing, rather than seeing, the sedative dart that was shot at him. But even in her mind, she could feel his shock, anger, and fear from her betrayal. They tasted like Cassidy’s when Ross’ men came for them after they’ve been sold out.
She gritted her teeth and glared at the hallway, where the devil incarnate himself was standing, looking disgustingly smug. Confidently, she stepped forward, only to have a dart shot at her as well. This time, she did keel over from the wooziness, not noticing Ross’ men putting cuffs and power suppressing collar on her.
“What the fuck do you want from me Ross?! You asked for the kid? There! Give me my brother, now! We’ve got a deal!” She roared, Trying to sound as intimidating as possible when she couldn’t even stand up on her own.
“If I were you, Ms. Crowley, I’d have a little brother that I would want to watch my tone for,” Ross sneered slyly. “And if you’d look back to our agreement, it was your brother’s freedom for the Stark’s kid. Heard anything about yours there?”
Tracy snarled and opened her mouth to retort, but another sedative dart was shot at her upper arm. And everything went dark.
(Parkers’ Apartment, Queens, New York City.)
Peter’s eyes widen at picture on the TV.
Harley?! How?? Didn’t he say Tony already took care of that picture?
Beside him, his aunt looked almost as shocked as he felt. “Isn’t that the Harley boy you told me about?”
“Yeah, that’s him May. Hold on, I gotta call him,” Peter answered as he scrambled to find Harley’s name on his contact list. Gently, he didn’t need any more cracks on his screen from accidentally tapping too hard.
The ringback tone kept on sounding from the speaker, but Harley didn’t answer. Undeterred, he tried to call him again. And again. And again.
“May! He didn’t answer the phone! Oh my god, what if something happened to him? What if he’s hurt? What if he’s－”
“Calm down, Peter, maybe he just put his phone on silent? He just got outed as Stark’s kid, he’s bound to have some stalkers on his phone.”
May’s got a point… but Peter wasn’t buying it. Something was wrong… very wrong. “May, I…. Can I call Ton－”
“You will not,” his aunt hissed, evidently still very pissed off at Tony. She was adamant about him stopping being Spider-man, and according to her, that included having no contact at all with Tony Stark. Not that it stopped him from sneaking out of his room wearing his old suit, of course.
“Please, May…. Something’s not right here, I just know it…. Please, let me call Tony to check for me. I owe Harley for helping me, May… you gotta understand,” he begged.
Aunt May chewed her lips, mulling it over for 3 long minutes. “Fine,” she said finally, “but you put that on loud speaker.”
Peter hurried to call his mentor, thanking May profusely.
The call was answered almost immediately. “Kid?”
God, Tony sounded so tired. And angry. Peter was almost afraid of asking him about the one thing that undoubtedly caused said fatigue and anger. “Hey, Tony? Mr.－Tony? This is Peter… Peter Parker? Spider-man? I… uh….”
Peter cursed his awkwardness inwardly.
“Slow down, kid. Is this about Harley?” Tony cut to the chase.
“I…－yeah. Yeah, I just saw the news…. Is he－is Harley okay, Tony?” he asked, still stammering, to his own dismay.
Tony fell silent, and Peter felt cold sweat running down his back.
Oh no.
“Peter… Harley’s missing. Someone kidnapped him.”
(Ross’ Basement, Nassau County, Long Island, New York)
"So… you’re kidnapped too now, Ms. Kidnapper?”
“I will end you kid.”
“Touchy subject?”
“Your face will be touchy after I’m done slapping it.”
“Okay, okay. Yesh.”
Tracy sighed and closed her eyes in defeat. The now-familiar feeling of embarrassment and self loathing flared even hotter inside. She knew that Ross was not someone to trust. But shit, this is a new low, even for him.
“So….”
“Look, kid, I’m sorry I kidnapped you, OK? Said it once, said it again, now shut it. Please.” The sympathy she felt for the kid was slowly evaporating with every childishly petty remarks the boy gave.
Even without her powers she knew how smug the kid must’ve felt, and she couldn’t even deny him the fun. She did kidnap him, after all, and she wasn’t proud of the fact. She did the deed under duress, that’s not a lie. In fact, she’s sure that she could win the case in court, if that ever happened. But did that make what she did right?
I’d be lucky to even make it to the court room after Stark’s done with me.
“Why are you even here, though? Aren’t you, like, Ross’ lackey or something?”
She’s going to smack this boy, handcuffs be damned. “I’m not,” she spat. “He’s got my brother locked up, said he’d let him go if I ‘napped Stark’s kid. Sucks for me for not reading between the line.”
Miraculously, that shut him up. For 30 seconds. “I’m sorry about your brother,” he said, sounding completely sincere for once. “You think he’s still here somewhere?”
The thought of her brother made her heart clench a little. “I don’t know,” she admitted, “he said he’d let him go. But he could be lying through his teeth for all I know.”
“I’m sorry,” Harley said again. “I mean, it’s still a dick move, kidnapping me, but… I’m still sorry about your brother.”
Tracy winced. “Yeah, thanks. Got a little sympathy left for me, though? Gonna need it in about a few hours. Your dad’s gonna murder me for this... not that I’d blame him if he does, but still….”
Harley looked stuck between a blush and a frown. “Tony’s not… I’m not really… you know….”
“You’re not his kid?” she blinked. “Sure look like one.”
The poor boy stammered and blushed even more at that. That was almost… cute? “I’m blond,” he mumbled finally. Seriously?
“Ever heard of recessive gene, boyo?” she clucked in disapproval. “You’re not that blond anyway…. Besides, that’s not what I’m talking about.”
“What are you talking about, then?” he pursed his lips. Perhaps aiming for challenging, but with that blush on his face, he just managed to look like a grumpy toddler.
“The pap’s pic, kid. For a guy known to be the biggest asshole on the continent, he sure looked all soft and fatherly with you.”
Wow, okay, that’s one hell of a blush over there.
Shaking her head, she decided to look around the basement instead of indulging the embarrassed boy besides her. What she saw made her furrow her eyebrows. There’s a ventilation shaft up on the ceiling in the corner of the room, but the ceiling’s way too high for her to reach, and there’s no chair or desk she can climb in the room. The door was solid metal and looked very heavy. No doubt reinforced to withstand conventional weaponry. Not that she had any here.
She sighed. She knew she couldn’t just give up. Cassidy needed her. Locked up or not, he’s still a wide-eyed 10-years-old with a superpower that was much more conspicuous than hers. If (and it’s a big if) Ross did let her brother go, she knew she told him once to run back as fast as he could to the general direction of their home in New Jersey. But who knew what kind of state his brother was let out in? What if Ross let him out with a suppressor collar attached? Her simplistic escape plan for him was hanging on the fact that he could run faster than a sports car with his powers fully engaged.
How’s he going to survive New York’s midnight without his powers? Without her?
Tracy felt Harley’s stare from her side. “What? Mommy never taught you it’s rude to stare?”
Harley snorted, “Yeah, no. That’s a power suppressing collar right? You have some kind of superpower to escape?”
“Even if I get this off, I don’t think I can mind bend the door to open up,” she sighed. “Mental power’s not exactly the most useful in this situation.”
“Mental power?” Harley asked, hesitant. “You didn’t, like, mind rape me to get me here, right?”
“I still have a few morality left in me, kid. I used emotional projection on daily basis, but mind whammy’s just for a select few to use. Besides, you would know if I use my power for something that big, trust me.”
Harley seemed to trust her words. Probably because she’s currently unable to use her powers to make him believe her. Or maybe he’s just naive like that.
“How far can your power reach? Can you, like, make an illusion or something? Just mind control?” he asked.
“Gee, kid… I don’t know? Depends on what I’m using my power for I guess? If I want complete control I’ve got to be in the same room, at least. And illusion? What? Like the ones that can be seen by cameras too? I don’t know, never tried. Maybe? What good would that do anyway? It’s not like I can take the collar off.”
Instead of answering, Harley simply lifted his hands up. Separately. Tracy blinked.
Smirking, Harley riffled through his shirt sleeve and pull out a bent hairpin.
“Well, would you look at that. Not as helpless as you look, are you?” she said, impressed.
Shrugging, Harley started to work on her handcuffs. “Tony told me once about the time he first got kidnapped when he was 5. He said the dumb ones look down on kids, so they don’t search the body.”
“Started the escape gig early, didn’t he? I thought Afghanistan was a one-off. Must be why media never caught his kidnapping until then,” she said, rubbing the feeling back into her wrists. That was fast, the kid’s good at this.
“Nah… that’s because his dad was a dick. ‘Wouldn’t want a heir that couldn’t even escape 2 bits kidnapper by himself’, Tony said,” Harley recalled as he moved to open her collar.
“Wonderful. The man got an example of what kind of bad behaviour to avoid when your kid got kidnapped. I really am gonna die, aren’t I?”
Harley huffed behind her, finally finding the keyhole hidden there. “You know, I don’t think he’s one to kill indiscriminately like that.”
“Ten Rings’ vanished, that guy Stane’s dead, and no one can find big enough remains of that Killian character to bury. So you tell me what’s he gonna to me.”
Harley hesitated. He kept on fiddling with her collar, staying silent the whole time. Who’s bright idea was it, anyway, to secure a high-tech superpower suppressing collar with lock and key?
“He’s… gonna be mad, yeah. But… I think I can talk him down for a while, just so he can listen about your brother. Just don’t… like, appear to argumentative or something. I mean… at least you didn’t deny what you did was wrong, right?” Harley answered finally, letting out a small ‘whoop’ of victory when he finally disengaged the collar.
Tracy huffed. “I don’t think he’s going to wait long enough to blast me to pieces, shorty. Besides, I don’t really think I should just go scot-free for this. Hostage or no hostage, I still kidnapped you. I don’t think you should like me too much. What kind of self-respecting hostage let his kidnapper, who’s got a mind control power, out of her bindings?” She cricked her neck and added as an afterthought, “Nice job on the collar, by the way.”
Harley chuckled a little. “Who said I like you, lady? We’re just on the same boat here. So why don’t you make yourself useful now and go try some illusion or something?”
“Watch it, kid. I don’t need my powers to smack you,” Tracy said, grinning.
“Child abuse!”
“Shush.”
“Shushing.”
(Parkers’ Apartment, Queens, New York City.)
“May!”
“NO!”
“You don’t understand May, I have to－”
“Peter Benjamin Parker, You will not go out and put yourself in harm’s way!” May’s eyes shone with the dangerous sort of gleam that always made Peter shut up and put up in the past.
But not now. Not when a life was at stake. Harley’s life. “Please May… Harley might be in danger right now, he’s alone, and he’s scared…. I can help save Harley, May. I got the power to do it now. If I just stand by and let anything bad happen to him… that’s gonna be my fault. Please. I’ll just stick around Queens, Nowhere too far, I swear.”
May looked pissed. The last time she used this glare, she aimed it at Tony and the man shriveled under it. Tony fucking Stark was cowered by his aunt’s death glare. He almost felt smug for not giving in under the same threat.
“You listen to me now, Peter, and listen carefully. You do not owe anyone your help. There is a fine line between altruism and idiocy, and you have been crossing that line ever since you put on that stupid pajamas you called suit,” Aunt May was breathing heavily, anger and pain clearly outlined in the thinness of her lips and the tightness of her jaw. “You want to help? You call the police and step the fuck out of their way. Jesus, Pete, the world’s not gonna blame you for not putting yourself in danger!”
Peter dropped his head wistfully. He didn’t want to use this card, but his aunt wasn’t going to budge. “Aunt May… I love you, and I am sorry for doing this to you…. But you should know… I’m not going to stop being Spider-man. With or without your permission, I will still go out there and do whatever I can to help. You can let me have the suit Tony made so I can be safer… or not. I’ll just make another web-shooters myself and head on out.”
Aunt May gaped at him, nostrils flaring dangerously and eyes burning so viciously, he was surprised she didn’t start to smoke from her ears. Distantly, he remembered the video of a boy coming out as gay to his parents MJ showed him because she needed ‘a crying face model for practice’. The parents ended up kicking the poor boy out of his own home.
Peter sweated nervously. He was starting to regret his wording choices, but May, surprisingly hung her head in defeat and chuckled sadly.
“If Ben’s still here, I’d strangle him for teaching you to be so self-sacrificing.”
Peter scooted closer to May’s seat and took her hands in his. “No, May,” he murmured. “You’re the one who taught me how to be kind.”
May’s eyes filled with tears, but she her smile spoke of pride and love. “Stay safe, honey. Call Stark, make sure you get all backups you can get. Don’t go to far, and be back before midnight.”
Peter smiled wanly at his aunt, feeling stupid for his previous worry and fear. “I larb you, Aunt May.”
“I larb you too, sweetheart. Go, your suit’s in my wardrobe. Don’t forget to call Stark, see if he’s already sending out search parties.”
“Will do, May!” Peter shouted as he ran to her room.
It’s going to be a long night, Peter thought. Better get going. Harley’s waiting.
(New Avengers’ Facility, Upstate New York)
“Damnit Peter, I thought you were just looking for Harley out there!” Tony was definitely having an aneurysm one of these days.
“I was, Mr. S－Tony! But there was an explosion! And those people’s got some alien tech! And then there’s this flying guy, and then he just－he just swooped down like a monster, and he picked me up and he－he－he took me up a thousand feet and just drop me! What if they’ve got Harley too?” Peter babbled, voice a little winded and shivery as he wrung his mask dry. “How’d you find me? Did you put a tracker in my suit or something?”
Tony sighed. “I put everything in your suit, including this heater,” he said nonchalantly as he turned on the heater in Peter’s suit.
Peter moaned in appreciation. “Whoa. That’s better… thanks.”
“What were you thinking?!”
“It’s just－one day Harley got outed and kidnapped, and then suddenly there’s people selling alien tech on the street, and now there’s a－a－a super villain or something flying around? Mr.－Tony, you’ve gotta admit that’s a little weird! The guy with the wings is obviously behind all of this! I gotta take him down!”
Tony could feel his temper starting to flare. Not a rare occurrence, now, after Harley went missing. “Take him down, now, huh?? Steady Crockett, there are people who handle this sort of thing.” Damn, that came out a little mocking. But Harley’s still missing, Peter almost got killed because his parachute failed, now the damn kid was insisting to put himself in even more danger. It’s a miracle he hadn’t melt anything yet.
“The Avengers?” Peter asked quietly.
Tony felt a sharp sting in his chest. “No, no, no. This is a little below their pay grade.”
“Anyway, Mr. Stark, Tony, you didn’t have to come all the way out here. I had that. I was fine.”
“Oh, I’m not… here.” Tony flipped the legionnaire’s mask up. “Thank god I finished the legionnaire already or you would be toast right now.”
Tony adjusted his remote control sunglasses, thanking whatever deities up there that had made the new sensor-motor implant compatible with his now-enhanced physiology. “Look, forget the flying vulture guy, please! If he does have anything to do with Harley, I’ll take care of him myself, he doesn’t, then let the police and FBI handle him!”
“Why?!”
“Why?? Because I said so!” Tony yelled. That’s bad, he didn’t want yell. His dad liked to yell, and although he knew his dad meant well, he still couldn’t help feeling resentful even years after his last scolding. So he took a deep breath and spoke again with a pointedly calmer tone, “Stay close to the ground. Build up your game helping the little people, go around look for clue about Harley. Can’t you just be a friendly, neighborhood Spider-man?”
Peter’s face scrunched up. “But I’m ready for more than that now! I could help Harley!”
Tony flipped the legionnaire’s mask down with an air of finality. “No, you’re not. You want to help me find Harley? How about you make sure I don’t have to find you too at the same time, hmm?”
“That is not what you thought when I took on Captain America!”
Tony clenched his teeth at the name. “Trust me, kid, he wanted to lay you out, he would have. I would know.”
Peter flinched and looked down guiltily. Tony couldn’t help but feel a little bad for flaying the kid like this. Both of them were quiet now, and it was awkward as all hell.
“Listen to me, you come across these weapons again, call Happy. If you find anything else that you find suspicious, something you think have anything to do with Harley, call me. I’ll check it out, and if I think it’s safe enough for you, I’d call you in.”
“Why Happy?”
“Because I called in the FBI and I need someone I can trust to coordinate with them.” Tony heaved a heavy breath. “You know, it’s never too early to－who’s there?!” he said suddenly when something moved behind the monkey bars Peter was sitting on.
Peter whipped around to where the legionnaire was training it’s repulsor, and clumsily put his mask back on.
The shape stopped suddenly in fright, and peaked slowly around a tree to reveal….
“It’s a kid,” Peter breathed dazedly.
“You’re a kid,” muttered Tony to himself, zooming in on the new kid’s face, only to be shown the myriad of bruises and cuts not just on his face, but all over his skinny malnourished body.
Tony felt bile coming up from his throat. What kind of monster could’ve done that to a kid?!
The poor kid was swaying on the spot, lips trembling from the cold and fear. “You－you’re Iron Man and S－Spider-man.”
Peter seemed to be jolted out of his daze. He walked slowly, with the confidence that he didn’t have out of the suit. “Hey, buddy. Are you alright? Who… who did that to you?”
Fat tears started to stream down his little face. Hiccuping, the boy fell down to his knees, unable to hold his own weight. “Help me…. P－Please help me…. My sister… they’ve got my sister, please… you gotta－you gotta save my sister!”
“Peter, the kid’s going to a shock. I need you to make sure he’s alright until I get there. ETA 3 minutes.” Tony called another armor and let it wrap around him before he jet out of the window in a hurry.
On his HUD, he saw Peter trying keep the kid warm without touching any fresh wounds. “Hey, it’s gonna be alright…. C’mon don’t cry, please? Tony what do I do? He’s crying now.”
“You think I’m more experienced with little humans than you, kid? I don’t know… ask his name, or something?”
“Hey… buddy? Kid? You have a name? Your sister’s? Do you know who took your sister?” Peter was starting to babble again now. Tony sped up even more.
“C－Cassidy,” the boy sobbed. “My name－My name’s Cassidy Crowley….”
“Alright, Cassidy,” Tony tried to lower his voice to soothe the crying boy. “Do you know where your sister is? Who got him?”
Surprisingly, Cassidy nodded at him. “I just… I just ran away from there…. I－I heard them talking about someone… they－they were calling someone about… about my sister and, and a boy? He’s got－he’s got a funny name. Like a motorbike.”
Tony’s blood ran cold.
“They said… they called their boss… Ross.”