Oops, well there goes my will to live
"Steve, ya got anything on underoos?" Tony asks
"Still nothing, I'll keep looking." He responds quick, knowing that whoever Spider-Man is, he must be important to the billionaire.
"God, I'm so worried...He just fucking, just fucking takes off! And I didn't even know until hours later! I swear he's going to give me a heart attack one day and that will be what kills me." He starts rambling on the other end
"Tony, come on, where are you...let's take a break, we've been searching for hours. I'll meet you wherever you are."
"Alright, I'm going into this Thai restaurant on the corner of 7th and Dreaner Street"
"I'll be there in ten" the super soldier says, starting a light jog to meet up with Stark.
----
The place was a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant with only a few tables, but it served good food. Tony was impressed with the quality and service of the place, but then again it hadn't been Peter's favorite for no reason.
Ugh, just thinking about the squirt made his stomach bubble with anxiety. Tony had been on the verge of a panic attack since the kid went MIA and he could really feel it coming on now.
What if he gets hurt and Tony isn't there for him?
What if he's too late?
This kid is his responsibility and what if he loses him. If Peter dies, it's going to be on him.
Thankfully before the genius started full on hyperventilating, Steve noticed and started talking softly. The war criminal had memorized a grounding technique that helps with anxiety and slowly coaxed Tony out of his panic. He murmured instructions to him just loud enough for the other man to hear him.
Once the billionaire was level headed, Steve began talking "Look, I have no idea the kind of relationship you have with spider-man, but whatever is going on, we will find him. I can promise you that."
"I have no idea what you were insinuating with that 'kind of relationship I have with Spider-Man' but I'm just going to ignore it and agree with you." Tony gets up and leaves $200 on the table "Okay, well I'm gonna go out and find that annoying pain in the neck"
Just as he pushed in his chair, a loud booming noise erupted from outside. Men wearing alien tech armor were running around grabbing civilians, holding them captive. Tony immediately suits up while Steve grabs the nearest weapon like object.
As Iron-Man nears the window, he can see several of the men start locking down the area, collecting as many hostages as they can. Captain America locks eyes with him and they lunge out the door, ready for battle.
"Not another step closer!" The criminal in the center screams. He had a mask covering the top part of his face and wore armor made from what looked like alien tech. He had a gun to poor little girl's head "I don't wanna fight 'cha...my beef ain't with you two"
"When you decide to attack the people here, then you have beef with us!" Cap shouted back
"Nonono, I don't wanna hurt cha, im just waiting for our favorite arachnid hero" he begins laughing.
Before they had a chance to respond, a certain spider themed vigilante appeared from seemingly no where, landing gracefully between the attacker in the center and the two super heros.
"Oh hey buddy!" Peter says in a friendly tone "How've ya been? Staying out of jail I see..its a shame that you'll be there before the night's over, but hey, make sure you tell the Vulture I said 'hi'"
"Oh think ya real funny, huh tough guy" he aims a gun to spidey
"Yeah actually, I mean, I always make myself laugh"
"Spiderman what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Tony bites
"Guys, go and find the hostages. They've been capturing people for more than an hour now. I would've come sooner but I have been trying to find all the citizens first."
"Pe-Spiderman, I-"
"The majority are in the parking structure. Go! Both of you!" He yells to the heros aggressively
When they begrudgingly left, he turns his attention back to the guy in the center. He now had three other guys backing him up. All of them we're wearing stolen equipment that they took from Stark over the years.
"So what should I call you...hmm..silly mask, ugly suit, man you have no good qualities,"
"Oh shut up!" he blasted some laser gun thingy at Peter, narrowly missing him when the vigilante jumped out of the way
"Ooh! How 'bout Hot Head, I mean it goes well with that...is that a heat gun?"
Another blast that hit the web Peter was swinging on, dropping him to the ground and knocking the wind out of him. The criminal took it to his advantage and made his way over to the teen. He picked him up by the neck, starting to choke him.
"You were the reason why my boss is in jail. He had a family..we all have families. We were outta business for months because none of us had the same brain as him, we didn't know what to do. But now we do, and that is to take you out.
Petr was squirming. Normally he'd be able to get out of that position quite easily with his enhanced strength, but he hadn't eaten anything in days and lack of sleep was really taking a toll on him.
"Hah, I don't even need these to kill ya. I could squish you with my own two hands, but I want to take this nice and slow. I want you to feel it."
Hot Head releases his grip on the spider's neck, still close enough to start throttling him again as the kid coughs.
"You see, if we have all these hostages, we can demand money. More money, then--well you know what happens. The only thing stopping us is you. Those hot shot heros back there, well one is technically a criminal like us, but the other? They don't bother with us folk. Especially when we go right under the radar.
"You though? You are the one stopping us. All we's gotta do is get ridda you then we got our ticket to crime paradise."
Peter inserts "Must be nice, but sadly, I can't let you do that." He kicks as hard as he can, pushing Hot Head away from him.
Peter climbs up a wall and begins shooting webs at him, trying to keep him away from his weapon. Unfortunately he forgot about the other three that were now aiming at him like it was target practice.
Spider-Man jumped down from his place, getting grazed by a bullet on his left leg.
"Peter it is unwise to fight alone right now. Tony Stark is in the Iron-Man suit nearby, shall I call him?" Karen asks, almost a hint of worry in her voice
"No, this is my problem, I'll deal with it." He turns his attention back to the task at hand "So Mr. Head, nevermind I shouldn't say that, it sounds kind of wrong..."
"You sarcastic son of a-"
"Language! There are children present!" Spidey interjects
"Oh fu-"
"fudge"
"off!"
By now, Peter had worn through the older man's patients. The real fight was starting and it was going to be brutal.
One of the men following Hot Head around snuck up behind Peter while he was busy dodging bullets from another guy. The criminal swiped his legs out from under him, causing the teen to topple to the floor. He groaned, trying to get back up again but Hot Head was not on top of him, throwing punch after punch at his torso.
Curling himself up onto his right side, he pushed against the man's leg keeping him in place and shimmied his way out. He kicked his legs up which coincidentally hit the guy in the solar plex, knocking him down.
"I'm all for fun and games, guys, but I think it's time we wrap this up" just then Spider-Man webslings to the rooftop of a building, aiming his webshooters at the four criminals. They were all firing at him, but the kid managed to web up their guns, leaving them in a bundled mess on the ground.
Peter began congratulating himself on a job well done when he heard something. It was quiet, even with his advanced hearing. A ticking noise.
Suddenly there was an explosion of heat and pain. The roof had collapsed in on itself and Peter was under heaps of rubble. Luckily everyone that had been in that building evacuated a while ago during the fight because there was almost nothing left of it.
Karen started running the list of injuries. Multiple contusions detected, mild concussion, several fractured ribs, and bleeding coming from the left side right below his rib cage. Great.
"Would you like me to call Tony Stark, Peter?"
He grits his teeth, taking a steadying breath and begins lifting himself from the rubble.
"No." He yelps as a large stone hits him in the chest "Thi-this is my mess" he wheezes
"I have--I have to clean it up myself."