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The rouge Avengers are coming back to the tower. That was all that was running through his mind. He didn’t want them to come back just like that, it hadn’t even been that long. Yes, he admired them and had done since the Avengers initiative was launched, but that was before all that shit went down. He didn’t know what to think anymore. He knew that a lot of people didn’t think about the possibility of a disguise to begin a blame game to destroy the Avengers before people were accusing Bucky of the bombing. But with what had just happened, he couldn’t really fault people for being mad. It was just a shame that they were mad at the wrong person.
Tony and Rhodey, the ones who physically suffered the most during and after the fight at Leipzig, were the ones who had fought the hardest for the rogue Avengers to be pardoned. They were the ones who suffered sleepless nights for weeks on end while they negotiated the terms of the accords with the UN until the two of them thought they could be deemed fair.
One time when the two were away on term negotiation duties and Peter was scheduled to be at the tower, he called Tony and asked if Ned could come and stay with him for the night, thankfully Tony approved and the next day Happy asked him for some basic information about Ned on the way to school on that day and showed up after school to pick both of them up with a brand new permanent identification pass for Ned for the tower, showing Peter that Tony would allow Ned to visit him in the tower more often. Upon giving the pass to Ned, Happy warned him that if he lost it he’d kill him and then Peter. (He was joking, but Ned didn’t know that, so the boy was thoroughly terrified)
At first, Peter’s plan to invite Ned to the tower was just so he could show him around the upper levels of the tower, to maybe mess around in his lab for a bit or even possibly take him down to the tech labs so he can take a look around, but then when Tony left, he’d left without locking Peter back out of his lab where the destroyed suit of armour from Sibera was still carelessly dumped in a far corner and seeing that, he became determined to find out what happened.
He was going to initiate a protocol that himself, Karen and FRIDAY had created without Tony knowing and he knew that Ned would agree with his plan. There were a few protocols which Peter and Tony created together which allowed him control, but the ‘Don’t Tell Mama' protocol in particular was named after the song from Cabaret and the fact that Tony worried over him like a mother hen.
This protocol allowed him to do certain things without any surveillance if it was something to do with someone he was close to and he was concerned enough that he would do something dumb otherwise. FRIDAY swore not to tell of anything that happened if it was in an area that her surveillance normally reached and would cover for him if necessary.
This plan of Peter’s would involve hacking into the surveillance system of the Mark 46 armour that he wore on the day where he had gone to visit the rogue Avengers at the Raft prison and then made a detour to Siberia, disappearing from his own helicopter. He’d seen the severely damaged state that his father figure had returned in and was absolutely horrified at how badly bruised and beaten the older man was, which had sparked his determination to learn what had happened in Russia.
Ned’s entry to the tower was like anyone else’s first entry. Although the main entry was grand, the personal entry for Tony, the Avengers and other associated parties with access to floors through the private elevator was just as grand, yet a lot more personal. There was still a chandelier and a single wall of floor to ceiling mirrors, yet above the door to the elevator there was a huge collage of framed in action pictures of all of the Avengers (even if most of them were now war fugitives, Tony couldn’t bring himself to take the photos down), along with a tribute wall to those whose lives were lost, whether they were related to the Avengers members or they lost their lives as a repercussion of any battle the Avengers fought.
Interestingly enough, the name of Howard Stark seemed strangely absent until just recently it was added at the bottom of the list (Peter now knew the reasoning for the original lack of his name after he’d unintentionally caused their first heart to heart about their relatives when he brought the topic of Howard Stark up and he found out that Howard was an absolute asshole who only cared about his reputation and image and, in retrospect, probably shouldn’t have been a parent ever) and he told Ned not to mention it as he observed the names that were both familiar and unfamiliar, including the name of the late king of Wakanda, T’Chaka.
“Welcome back Peter, I see you have your friend with you today, welcome to the tower Mr Leeds.” FRIDAY’s voice was the first thing that greeted him as he passed by her remote scanning system and Ned jumped and grabbed onto Peter’s sleeve, shocked at hearing the disembodied voice “Will we be initiating the protocol tonight?” She asked after they entered the elevator.
“Hi Ms Lady in the Building who I don’t know uhh where’s the buttons in this elevator?” Ned asked, seemingly having gotten his voice back and slowly getting over his shock. “I am FRIDAY, Mr Stark’s AI, I have full control over this elevator as it is the only one with access to the private upper levels, if you have clearance to do so, I will take you anywhere as long as you tell me. In your case, you must be in the presence of someone such as Peter for access, even though I can already tell you are trustworthy.”
The shade of red that Ned’s face became at the compliment from the AI was hilarious and as they went up, Peter had to stop himself from laughing in order to answer FRIDAY’s question from before “Yes, we will. But I’ll show Ned around for a bit, once we enter the level of the labs, I would like you to initiate the protocol.” The AI made a humming noise as if she was acknowledging the words and then the elevator stopped, and the doors opened to reveal the main living area.
Looking from the huge tv, the abundance of couches in front of said tv, the multiple gaming devices and the shelves upon shelves of movies and video games to the pristine kitchen and the long dining table, Ned’s jaw dropped, and it was safe to say that he was amazed. “Dude.” Peter laughed at his friend’s amazement.
“I know.”
“You live here.”
“I know. Come see my room.” Ned’s eyes lit up at the end of his sentence and before he had much time to react, his best friend shot another question at him. “You’ve got a room?” The question was innocent, but the repetition reminded him of the type of questions he’d asked after he found out Peter was Spider-Man.
“Ned, you already knew that. Did you not just say ‘you live here’?” Peter rolled his eyes fondly, amusement seeping into his voice. “Oh right.” A pause, “But still, dude.” Peter just sighed at his best friend but couldn’t help himself and started laughing at his prolonged amazement. Ned halfheartedly pouted before laughing a little at himself, knowing that he was geeking out over the little things and hadn’t really seen anything worth a geek meltdown, as he liked to call it. There was a small set of stairs that lead up to the hallway with the very few penthouse bedrooms (he could’ve gone back into the elevator to go up, but one set of stairs wouldn’t kill them).
“Wait your bedroom is in the penthouse? Dude that means you’re like, higher than the Avengers!” He enthused and Peter clicked his tongue slightly at the mention of the Avengers. “Well, anything is higher than the Avengers right now. All the others except for Mr Thor, Dr Banner and Mr Stark sorta just very recently messed up everything for themselves. Here we are.” Peter stopped in front of a door and turned the door handle before entering.
“Wait you said that Thor and the Hulk weren’t at the battle of Leipzig, so where were they?” Ned asked, not yet entering the room. Peter shifted uncomfortably before trying to figure out what to say “I... we don’t know. Dr Banner disappeared over a year ago and Thor went back to Asgard and hasn’t returned yet or been in contact with anyone for a while. It’s honestly concerning but Tony trusts that they’ll return.” Satisfied with the response, Ned walks into the bedroom and his jaw dropped. “Dude.”
“Let’s not do this again.” Peter cuts him off before he can say any more and can’t help but laugh again at the brand-new look of amazement on Ned’s face. “Your room is awesome! It’s huge what even it’s like, uh, the size of most of my house.” Peter laughed again as Ned looked around.
There was a huge bed with a red and blue colour theme, a bunch of posters of movies and superheroes that Peter loved all over the walls along with a bunch of photos of Peter with all sorts of people (Ned felt proud that most of them were with himself), there was a display cabinet with all sorts of figures above a desk that was littered with schoolwork and workbooks. On the opposite side to his bed was a walk-in wardrobe and a door which led to a bathroom. Sitting high up in the room was a hammock that looked like it was made of Peter’s web fluid, but upon a look from a higher, and closer, vantage point, it was clear that it was made of a material that doesn’t dissolve in 2 hours and just looks similar to the Spider-Man’s webs.
As Ned went to put his backpack down by the bed, getting out his laptop before setting the bag down, he noticed a box on the other side of it that he couldn’t see from where he was earlier and turned to gape at Peter. “Yes, that is a Lego Avengers Tower. I don’t know how so don’t ask me, Tony must’ve done something, pulled some strings or something, because this one was definitely sold out and out of manufacturing after he sold the tower then re-bought it for SI. We can do it after we visit my lab.”
Ned didn’t seem to be able to focus on the Lego set after hearing that. “You have a lab?” His voice had gotten louder throughout the sentence and Peter couldn’t bring himself to care about his enhanced senses and how much that hurts his ears, instead grinning and nodding at his friend. “Come on, I’ll show you!” They hurried to the elevator and found that it was already waiting for them. With nobody else in the penthouse levels of tower at that time, FRIDAY was watching over where Peter and Ned were along with overseeing the workers on the lower levels.
“To the labs!” Peter didn’t even get halfway through shouting his sentence before they started moving downwards. It only took a few seconds before they arrived and as soon as they stepped out of the elevator, FRIDAY spoke “Protocol: Don’t Tell Mama activated. Surveillance systems are now down for this level. After you have completed the hacking of the surveillance of the Mark 46 armour and left Mr Stark’s lab they will resume and I will edit and loop the files for you.” The AI told them, but Peter already knew this.
“Thanks FRI.”
“Wait we’re doing what?”
“Ned. You’re hacking into an Iron Man suit. You’re a genius with tech. I need to find out what happened to Mr Stark in Siberia and who I need to punch, although I’m 99% sure it was Steve Rogers just based on that deep slice through the chest, and you’re the only one I trust to help me with it and then view the playback. Man in the chair, remember?” Ned’s eyes were widened, but he nodded, getting serious at the new information. He couldn’t stop his grin when they went into Tony freaking Stark’s personal lab, however, and went to set himself up by the damaged armour.
Ned saw that the helmet was in pieces, one of the blasters on the hand and the jet on one of the feet had been shattered, there was severe damage and discolouration to the arms, legs and torso showing that Tony had been on the receiving edge of a pretty harsh beating and, just as Peter had said, there was a deep gouge through the arc reactor and part of the chest and indentations around the arc reactor that were suspiciously shaped like a hand. “You see?” Peter’s voice was unnaturally somber as he looked at the armour, “Mr Stark hasn’t even touched this since he returned, he doesn’t even look at it, he moves as far away from it as he physically can when he comes here, which is why it’s in a dark corner.”
“God... that’s horrible... do you know where I can find the footage? FRIDAY, can you please tell me how I can access the data we are searching for.” Ned asked, voice sounding a little shaky. “Mr Leeds, you have an abundance of Mr Stark’s technology around you,” she brought up a few of the holographic screens which did not have critically confidential information on them and continued, “If you cannot access it on the suit, which would be the likely cause due to the state of the helmet, which where the footage is accessible from, you can access it by hacking into any of the screens I have pulled up, which is where the files immediately go to as they’re filmed.”
Ned nodded and got to work. He put a pair of gloves on to prevent fingerprints before picking up and analysing the helmet and hooked his computer up to the access points he could see. He looked at his laptop and as he started to get his head around the tech of a real-life Iron Man suit, Peter moved towards the front of the lab where himself and Tony had been working on upgrades for his suit and pulled it out of the protected drawers on one of the benches.
Both boys worked in silence for a while, Peter analysing his suit and writing a list of upgrades he would like to try to include in his regular suit and the Iron Spider suit, for if he ever needed it, Ned working through codes and encrypted files as he tried to reach the storage of the video footage that was recorded whilst Tony was in the Iron Man suit. “I think I might have found it... come here Peter I’m gonna play the video.” Peter was in awe about how his friend managed to access the files so quickly, however, he wasn’t at all surprised that he was able to do it, Ned was a tech genius, after all.
“FRIDAY can you please start the video at the point which sparks the conflict?” Ned asked and instead of the AI playing it on Ned’s laptop, she broadcasted it to one of the larger screens and the video started playing. It showed a dark room, but then six strange chamber looking things lit up, one of which was open and a chair with restraints for the arms and legs was all that was in the chamber. The other had figures which definitely looked to be human sitting in the chair.
In the middle of the room was something that honestly looked like a torture device and he didn’t really want to look at it anymore. He had a feeling this was a hydra base. “If it’s any comfort, they died in their sleep.” An unfamiliar voice spoke and Tony walked forward behind Steve Rogers, looking around. In the closest chamber which, like the others, had a bullet hole in the glass was a man who, with a bullet wound in his head and a trail of blood running from it, was very clearly dead.
“Did you really think I wanted more of you?” Right, Barnes was one of Hydra's super soldiers, the only one who would never willingly do anything for the Nazi organisation and had to be tortured until he would obey like an animal. So this man, who Peter had quickly identified, was the bomber that killed King T’Chaka in order to get revenge against the Avengers for the accidental killing of his wife, child and father. “What the hell?” Barnes’ voice was low, confused and quiet.
“I’m grateful for them though. They brought you here.” A tiny window lit up on the wall behind the furthest chambers and Tony immediately prepared his miniature missile, ready to shoot yet as Steve threw his shield at the window without hesitation, it did absolutely no damage to it. “Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 blasts.”
Tony speaks up “I’m betting I could beat that.” They walk around the strange torture device slowly, watching the man to make sure he doesn’t make a movement to do something sketchy. “Oh, I’m sure you could Mr Stark, given time. But then you’d never know why you came.” Steve was stiff as he walked closer to the glass before he spoke, voice controlled but flat. “You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here.”
“I though about nothing else for over a year, I studied you, I followed you. But now that you’re standing here I just realised... there’s a bit of green in the blue of your eyes... how nice to find a flaw.” He spoke to Steve who was right in front of the glass. Steve spoke his next words without much hesitation. “You’re Sokovian, is that what this is about?” Tony was silent, along with Barnes.
“Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell. No... I’m here because I made a promise.” He looked like he was burdened by whatever promise he had made, which, isn’t very good.
“You lost someone.” It wasn’t a question; it was a statement. He knew what the answer to that was. “I lost everyone.” The man’s voice was bleak, soulless, vaguely heartbroken as he nodded, “And so will you.” He pressed a button which lit up a computer screen, showing a date written in Russian as the 16th of a month in 1991. “An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again but one which crumbles from within, that’s dead... forever.”
Tony had taken his mask off, so the video cut out, but the audio continued. “I know that road... what is this?” There was no answer. Ominous much. There was nothing for a little bit, not a peep from anyone, but then, a bit tinny, as if through a filter, came a voice from the past that Peter felt he had heard before. “Help my wife, please... help.” Heavy breathing “Sargent Barnes.”
“Howard...” another voice that was familiar. Then it hit him, these were Tony’s parents, Howard and Maria Stark. The nearby faint sound of the impact of a punch, then of something hitting the outside of the car, possibly a body “Howard!” Laboured breathing, as if the person was in pain or panicking. Maybe both. There was the faint sound of someone being strangled, their airways being cut off. Peter had a fear that it was Tony’s mother.
There were a few sets of feet moving and then Steve grabbed ahold of the armour, probably the arm. “Tony. Tony.” He spoke, voice low, a hidden underlying warning in his tone of voice. “Did you know?” Tony’s voice was quiet, to anyone else it would seem calm, but Peter could hear the underlying grief. “I didn’t know it was him.” Steve answered. He had a feeling he was lying.
“Don’t bullshit me, Rogers! Did you know?” Tony’s voice seemed almost threatening now, he’d just seen his parents' death, he was clearly distraught, knowing he’d been lied to since they were killed. “Yes.” Steve’s voice sounded defeated. It was silent for another few seconds then the impact of something hard against a body was heard and suddenly they could see everything again and Steve Rogers was flying across the room.
Tony turned and Barnes aimed a gun at him as quickly as possible. With a short blast from his hand, the gun was knocked from Barnes’ hand. Barnes tries to punch Tony, only for his metal arm to be caught by Tony. The look in his eyes was intense and also a little terrifying, but Peter could see that the man was terrified that he was going to die.
They continued fighting with their fists for less than a minute before Tony grabs Barnes by the neck, flies him across the room and pins him to the ground, stepping on his metal arm, blaster pointed at his face, ready to fire, not to kill but to subdue and damage just a little bit. Just when he was about to fire, the video jerks diagonally a little and Peter could tell the shield had just hit the side of Tony’s armour. The shot with the shield jerks Tony’s arm to the side, the blast hit just above Barnes’ shoulder, Tony turns to see Rogers catch the shield whilst running to him and hit him directly in the chest with it.
The two boys watch Tony fight back against Rogers, immobilising him with a device that clamps around his legs. He fights with Barnes for a while longer, when Tony has him pinned above one of the chambers, Barnes grabs one hand with his metal arm and the boys watched as Tony watched his blaster get crushed and when he tries to shoot a mini missile, his arm gets directed and it hits another part of the structure and a few of the metal structures of the chambers collapse, one landing on Tony which momentarily triggered Peter’s anxiety, causing him to squeeze his eyes shut but he still listened as he reminded himself that he was alive and Tony was alive and they were both okay, neither of them were crushed by a building, or a creepy Hydra chamber anymore.
“Get out of here!” He heard Rogers yell, presumably at Barnes, he heard the jets and then another blast from the thruster then the shifting of some sort of other heavy structure. “It wasn’t him Tony. Hydra had control of his mind.” Rogers tried to reason. It wasn’t going to work. “Move.” Tony was not in the mood to listen to reason, Peter knew that much. He was blinded by his grief, his mother meant the world to him and he never got to say goodbye to his family. He heard something smashing against something else and then the clattering of Tony’s suit landing roughly. The telltale sign of a laser and crumbling concrete. Peter flinched a little just at the sound. “Left boot jet failing.” FRIDAY’s voice spoke as mechanical whirring could be heard, the jet protesting about being used, “Flight systems compromised.” He could hear Tony mutter ‘oh crap’ under his breath and Peter opened his eyes as he landed on a platform, before going further up and kicking Barnes. He takes his aim and fires from the remaining blaster but by the time he shoots, Rogers is there, shield prepared and the blast reflects back and hits Tony which knocks him into the wall and then down further onto a lower platform.
Tony went to fly up again, but Rogers was jumping at him, and he barely had any time to react before a wire was wrapped around the neck of the suit and he was dragged further down. He watched Tony try to aim at Barnes, shoot the shield out of his way and notices the display is very shaky, whispering ‘come on’ as he tries to will it to work. “Targeting system’s knackered, boss.” FRIDAY spoke again and then the video went black again, after hearing Tony say, “I’m eyeballing it.”, then the sound of a blast, then the sound of someone - Barnes - groaning as he landed on one of the platforms.
Tony put the mask back on and flew up despite the struggle and Barnes was there, he fought back, hitting Tony with a metal pipe twice before he was caught in a chokehold. Quietly, with anger audible in his voice, he asked “Do you remember them?” And Barnes’ response was a breathless, pain filled “I remember all of them.” before Tony flew them backwards and down back into the base, where he was intercepted by Rogers which sent them all tumbling down and they impacted the ground hard. Peter noticed that Tony didn’t even turn to find Barnes, instead standing to face Rogers. “This isn’t gonna change what happened.” The super soldier was breathless, something Peter never expected to see. “I don’t care, he killed my mum.” And the two start exchanging punches, Tony starting to get the upper hand before an impact against his back knocks him forward and suddenly it’s two against one, one on either side and he was being kicked and beaten and overpowered and to Ned it seemed hopeless.
Tony shot a quick blast at Rogers to knock him down and Barnes started attacking on his own. When Tony went to shoot an energy beam, the arm was forcibly moved to avoid hitting anyone and he was forced against the wall. Tony’s head is then pushed against the wall but out of the corner of the video, Tony’s arm can be seen flailing as he attempts to get Barnes’ metal arm away from him and the arc reactor because Peter knows that’s one of the only things he feels safe with because had it not been for that he would have died multiple times and he could see Barnes’ fingers pushing through the metal and ripping at the arc reactor and he could tell Tony was panicking due to how silent he was but thankfully Tony was saved by the energy beam shot from his chest.
Tony turned in time to see most of the metal arm get ripped off by the beam and by the way he doesn’t make a sarcastic remark or a pun, Peter can tell that Tony couldn’t believe he’d just done that and immediately left Barnes alone as Rogers came closer to him and he shot beams at the shield but then he was being pushed back and he was being punched over and over again and FRIDAY was heard saying “You can’t beat him hand to hand.” And after getting hit another two times in the face, Tony slurred “Analyse his fight pattern.” And they watched Tony get hit time and time again until FRIDAY said, “Countermeasures ready.” And the shield was stopped mid swing as Tony caught it.
Rogers realised that his attack was about to be turned against him and his face dropped from the harsh scowl he had been wearing exactly as Tony said, “Let’s kick his ass.” And Ned cheered and Peter laughed a little bit, but they quickly went silent, realising that all of the damage has not been seen yet. Tony fought back with a burst of strength and as he shot Steve in the stomach with his blaster, knocking him down, the man who after all of the years of shit had been like family to him looked up at him, face bloodied and said, “He’s my friend.”
That, Peter thought, was a low blow. “So was I.” And then he punched Steve Rogers in the face. Once. Twice. He picked up and threw him to the other side of the room. “Stay down. Final warning.” Yet Rogers stood, but it looked like he was barely able to stand up straight as he stood in a weak offensive stance, and said “I can do this all day.” Like it was nothing. Tony raised a blaster but then looked down to see Barnes holding onto his leg and kicked him in the face. That was all it took for Rogers to come from behind, pick him up and as Tony activated the jets to get out of his clutches, he was thrown down. His head must’ve hit one of the weird concrete drain cover looking things because his vision jerked back, forward then to the side and suddenly Tony was being punched in the face over and over again.
Then, based on the barely noticeable expression on Rogers’ face, just punching Tony wasn’t enough because soon he was slamming the shield into the faceplate of the mask. Once, twice, he whacked the broken pieces away with a hand. The mask was still filming, despite the expectations of the boys so from the floor beside Tony they watched as Rogers lifted this shield with that look on his face and Tony put his hands above his face and flinched away in fear.
However, instead of hitting his face, the full force of the vibranium weapon went right onto the chest and cracked the arc reactor and put the deep gash into the suit and Peter could see the panic on Tony’s voice, gods, even Ned could see it. Both men were breathing heavily, and Rogers dropped to the floor after, leaving Tony with the shield in the chest of his suit.
After a few seconds, Rogers stood up and as he pulled the shield out of the suit, the light in the arc reactor went dark, the shattered pieces falling as he rolled to the side to watch Rogers help Barnes up. “That shield doesn’t belong to you.” His breathing was laboured and speech a little fast as Peter could hear more of his mentor’s panic bleeding through. Rogers turned away from him. “You don’t deserve it. My father made that shield.” And the shield was dropped and they were gone. Tony struggled to sit up, breaths short and stuttering as he tried to watch them go and he fell backwards, fear plastered on his face, about to have a panic attack and then the video cut off before Peter and Ned could witness Tony having a panic attack.
“I’m sorry but I do not want to show you any more of this. Mr Stark has a panic attack and over an hour later he was found by King T’Challa who had followed them there and detained the real bomber, who was also the one who triggered Mr Barnes, he helped Mr Stark get out of the suit and helped him return here. He sleeps on the way back, thankful for autopilot and well, Peter knows what went down afterwards and what he looked like while recovering.” Peter nodded mutely before speaking.
“I’m going to punch Steve Rogers in the face.” Peter‘s voice was full of conviction. Both boys were in tears and Ned took a few moments before pulling Peter into a tight hug and after a few seconds, pulled away and wiped away both of their tears. Ned could tell his friend was definitely going to do it but he had a bad feeling that if he did it, it’d somehow go against whatever terms Peter and FRIDAY set in order for the surveillance to be turned off while they hacked into the suit.
“Peter...” the AI warned, voice sounding disappointed, but not surprised. Ned laughed loudly, obnoxiously, before trying to cover up his friend. “No, he won’t! Don’t worry FRIDAY, he won’t actually try to punch Steve Rogers, will you, Peter?” Peter blinked and shook his head quickly, he knew that if Friday had any reason to suspect that he has actually going to punch Rogers (until he actually did), him and Ned would be ratted out to Tony. “No, I won’t. Don’t worry FRIDAY, I’m just mad that he could do that to Tony after keeping how his parents died a secret for so long. If he’d told Tony about what had happened to them, I’m sure none of this would’ve happened. He was already in a mentally weak state after Leipzig, so this really was the cherry on top that made him snap.” He huffed. “Cmon Ned lets go into my lab.”
Peter walked out of the lab, muttering words angrily under his breath and Ned followed him quietly as they went to a door further along the hallway. Peter pushed the door open and Ned looked around at everything in his best friend’s lab in awe. “Dude.”
The next day after they arrived at school and Happy had left, Peter turned to Ned and said, in all seriousness, “I’m actually going to punch Steve Rogers on the day when he shows up at the tower.” And Ned laughed a little before he replied just as seriously, “Put some extra oomph in it for me too.” And both boys started laughing as if they weren’t just discussing punching Captain America.
It was exactly a week later when the newly semi-pardoned rogue Avengers arrived at the tower. Upon exiting the elevator, they had looked around, expecting the living area to be empty and untouched, but they were surprised to find game consoles, games and movies, a pile of soft looking blankets and a few opened game cases on the floor by the console which had likely been the last used one. In the kitchen there were hoodies hanging over two of the stools at the island counter and an open workbook.
There was nobody there, but FRIDAY was waiting for them. “Mr Stark is not currently in the tower but has told me to inform you that your rooms on the levels below are still untouched so you can unpack whatever belongings you may be carrying in them. Mr Wilson, Mr Stark has prepared a room for you which I can take you to at any time. Mr Barnes, Mr Parker has prepared a room for you on an otherwise empty floor with permission of Mr Stark, I can take you to it right now if you’d like.” Bucky, not really wanting to look around wherever they were allowed to go and not seeing anything wrong with the offer, not knowing that nobody else who was in the room with him knew a ‘Mr Parker’, stepped into the elevator which closed before anyone could stop him. FRIDAY took him down a few floors and upon landing at the correct floor said, “3rd room on the left.”
A few levels up, the more rogue Avengers (excluding Natasha who was wherever she wanted to be and would probably go to the tower when she knows it’s safe and Clint and Scott who didn’t really hold any anger towards Tony and were absent due to the house arrest they were put under and would find that they’d be pardoned from rather quickly in comparison to the ones who had been brought to the tower) had burst out in noise, asking questions along the lines of ‘Parker?’ ‘Did Stark drag some other asshole into the Avengers after we left?’ ‘What’s all this stuff that’s hanging around?’ ‘Does Stark have a secret kid?’
Back down to Bucky, he walked into the room that was white with a lot of silver and grey in the colour scheme and immediately thought that it was too much for someone like him who had done the ultimate wrong against Tony Stark. There was a queen bed that looked way too comfortable to be real with silvery grey covers on it, a bedside table with a homely looking lamp on it, a wall of windows with sheer curtains, a door which clearly led to a bathroom, a floor to ceiling bookshelf full of all sorts of different genres of books, a two seater couch with an abundance of cushions by the bookshelf, a decent sized television on the wall opposite of the bed, easily visible from both the bed and the couch, a desk and chair with a framed black and white photo of the two super soldiers from when they were younger and a rather large chest of drawers by the bathroom door.
There was a note on the bedside table which Bucky had noticed immediately upon walking into the room and after having a good look at the room, he went over to it and picked it up, reading the contents.
Mr Barnes
Unlike what you may believe, Tony does not hate you. I know what you and Rogers did to Tony in Siberia (although Tony does not know this) and I wanted to leave you this note, which is why I was the one who designed and set up your room. I know that Tony might seem to act cold to you for a while after you arrive, but he’s only that way because Rogers held the truth of the deaths of his parents a secret. What happened in Siberia was Tony’s pent up grief exploding. He was not trying to kill either of you, he was only trying to apprehend you to bring you back. He has a way to remove the memories associated with whatever triggers you into becoming the Winter Soldier, but you must approach him and you must talk everything through with him, no matter how hard it may be for both of you. I am not mad at you, neither is Tony, the only one we’re mad at is Rogers. Believe me. Tony’s mad because he had his trust broken, I’m mad because he beat and then abandoned Tony.
If you are wondering about me, you don’t need to know who I am, you will meet me soon enough.
P. Parker.
“Excuse me tower lady, I don’t know your name, but are there some sort of reinforced cells? I don’t deserve a room like this after what I’ve done. I... I’m afraid I’ll lose control and hurt someone.” Bucky confessed. For a few seconds, there was only silence and then the tower replied, “If you are certain, I can lead you to a reinforced room. I can monitor allowing you out if you wish it and I can lock you in if you enter a state that makes you become dangerous?” The voice offered. Bucky nodded.
“Feel free to take a few books and the blanket with you if you wish, you won’t be riddled of something that would help comfort or distract you if you are distressed.” Surprised, Bucky walked over to the bookshelf and picked out a few books at random before walking to the bed and taking the heavy grey fluffy blanket off the bed. He also picked up the note that was left for him and walked back to the elevator before going down a few floors to the hallway of reinforced rooms and going into the closest one, looking at the cheap looking bed with dismay before sighing sadly, putting the books down in a neat pile, folding and putting the note underneath the pillow and putting the blanket down before sitting on it and wrapping it around himself.
“Thank you, tower lady.” He whispered as he picked up one of the books with the intention to begin reading as soon as he could.
“Call me FRIDAY.” The AI offered
“Thank you FRIDAY.” He amended.
Back in the main living room, not much had changed from before. Sam, who hadn’t ever been in the tower, was dead silent and just looking around at everything. He went to go up the stairs, but was stopped when FRIDAY said “Apologies Mr Wilson, but you do not have clearance to go up to the penthouse bedrooms.” And the stairs turned into a slide. He should have been offended, he should have been pissed at Tony Stark and his tower and at his AI, but all he could do was laugh because it was sorta funny that a billionaire had implemented a feature which turned a staircase into a slide, of all things.
He found that his anger at the man who had indirectly caused them to become fugitives was slowly turning into appreciation because he had video games, he probably had good food and he was the one who had gotten them pardoned. Instead of staying pissed like Wanda and Steve had been for a while (and they still were just as pissed), he walked over to the kitchen, scavenged for some snacks and sat down on the couch, finding the tv remote and sitting down, flicking through the channels until he found some cartoons and started to watch them.
He’d just gotten comfortable and was getting engrossed in the plot of whatever cartoon it was he was watching when the other two who were in the room noticed what he was doing, or, wasn’t doing, really. “Sam what are you doing? You’re gonna make it seem like we’re happy to be here!” Wanda snapped and Sam didn’t even turn to look at them before he said “You know what? I am happy to be here. I’d prefer to be somewhere like this then be a fugitive and on the run.”
He didn’t even turn off the tv as he walked towards the elevator, saying, “Ms AI lady, could you please direct me to my room.” Stepping into the elevator as soon as the doors opened and watching Steve and Wanda’s shocked faces with grim satisfaction as the doors closed and the elevator started to go down. In the silence, he asked “What is your name Ms AI?” There was barely a second before the AI responded “My name is FRIDAY. Your room is the first to the left on this floor. I hope you enjoy your time here and don’t hate Mr Stark too much.” Sam chuckled and shook his head at FRIDAY’s concern for her creator. “Nice to meet you FRIDAY. I’ve never hated him, and I certainly wouldn’t hate him even after Leipzig. He saved us from being fugitives for the rest of our lives whether they like it or not.” If FRIDAY had a face, she would be smiling at the man’s words.
Peter was anxious, he knew that today was the day that the rogue Avengers were moving back into the tower. It was also one of the days that he was not spending back at the apartment with May and that he did not have an extracurricular activity and therefore there was nothing he could do to stall his return to the tower. He didn’t know how they’d react to him just walking into the penthouse level of the tower like he lived there (which, he did) and he didn’t know how they’d react when he punched Steve Rogers in the face (yes, he was still set on doing that, he just didn’t exactly know when he was gonna do it).
The glass partition between himself and Happy that the older man always put up was rolling down. He saw the man turn his head slightly to look at him through the rear-view mirror and with his usual gruff voice he asked, “How are you feeling, knowing that you’ll be seeing the rogues for the first time since you fought them?” Peter took a deep breath as he tried to figure out how to word what he was feeling but think rationally about his words as to not accidentally inform Happy of what he and Ned had gotten up to just over a week prior to the current day.
“I want to punch Captain America in the face.” He responded with finality and Happy actually laughed at that statement, looking back at the road. “Honestly, you and me both kid. You’d actually have more of a chance to go through with it and actually hurt him. Not that I’m telling you to punch him, but he does deserve a punch to his self-righteous face.” Peter smiled at his response, this was a lot more socialisation than he normally had with Happy and even though the topic was punching America’s original sweetheart, he definitely appreciated the talk and knew it’d likely never happen again. “If I did happen to punch him... would you tell Tony that I wanted to do it?” Peter asked cautiously. He swore Happy’s eyes moved to look at him again but he wasn’t too sure through the dark sunglasses he wore. “No... I wouldn’t. But don’t go punching him without reason, okay?” Peter had to restrain himself from giggling - giggling! - and instead grinned at the advice. Happy Hogan, who he had thought had always hated him, practically gave him permission to punch Captain America and not tell Tony!
When Happy noticed Peter smiling so wide he thought the grin was going to split his face, he decided to leave the kid to his own strange thoughts. He’s not entirely sure why the kid wanted to hurt a super soldier other than for what happened at Leipzig, but he wasn’t going to question him. Soon enough, they were finally reaching the car park and Peter hadn’t moved at all. Happy rolled his eyes and poked the kid “C’mon Parker, up and out you get.” The smile dropped as Peter realised that they were already at the tower and swallowed nervously which caused Happy to laugh slightly. He really liked the kid, even though he would never acknowledge it to except maybe Tony. If Tony one day had to fully take over guardianship for the kid because of his aunt’s health issues he was hoping that his friend would adopt him (but he wasn’t ever going to tell anyone that, that was a secret for himself only).
This time, Happy parked rather than just dropping Peter at the door and then walked with him. “Hey Mr Happy, if they don’t react well to seeing me for the first time, what should I do? Like, they chose to abandon Tony so they wouldn’t have any idea of anything that happened after they left so they don’t really have the right to question me, right?” Peter asked.
It took a good few seconds before Happy could think of a response, blinking blankly at Peter’s question. “That’s a tough one kid. We both already know that they’ll say shitty things about Tony, they might also make horrible assumptions about you to try and emotionally manipulate you, but at the end of the day, you’ve gotta prove you’re the bigger person and stick to what you know is right.” Happy let out a small chuckle at his pun which caused Peter to roll his eyes, but he still smiled at the man. “Superheroes are meant to have tough skin and while you do have surprisingly tough skin, you’re a kid with a bleeding heart and people will use that against you.”
Peter was amazed, that was the most words he’d ever heard from Happy, and it was even more advice, this had probably been the best drive ever with Happy and he was beyond ecstatic “Thank you Mr Happy! You give really good advice.” Happy sighed fondly at the boy’s excitement and gestured to the elevator, “Now, up you go kid, I’ve gotta get back to my main job in the main area of the tower,” he then whispered, knowing Peter would be able to hear him regardless, “And if you do punch Rogers make sure you punch him hard. It is, after all, payback.” And clapped Peter on the shoulder before walking out and towards the front entry, leaving Peter with a lingering smile as he walked towards the elevator that was waiting for him.
Multiple stories up, one superwitch with a somewhat bad attitude issue was annoyed that the AI wasn’t bringing the elevator up to take her down to her room. When she tried to tell her an override code she had once found in Tony’s mind, she denied access and stated simply that there was a person of higher clearance waiting and no override codes work against him, especially not a stolen one. That caused her temper to flare so she huffed and stalked over to Steve, waiting for whoever this higher clearance person was to get out so she could leave this part of the tower.
Steve was suspicious. Firstly, the common area actually looked lived in. Secondly, most of the stuff around looked like it belonged to a kid. Thirdly, there was no news of a new member of the Avengers while they were absent so Spider-Man couldn’t have been recruited. Fourthly, Tony Stark always spent too much time in his lab to spend time up here, but alas, one of the hoodies on the stools was a MIT hoodie with Stark embroidered on it so something was causing him to actually spend time in the common room with someone and Steve was convinced it was a secret child.
As Peter was in the elevator, he convinced FRIDAY to slow down his ascent, because she had warned him that the two who rogue Avengers that would likely cause him most anger were still in the living area where he normally went into straight after school to do his homework (something about being in his room distracted him). But regardless, he liked keeping his routine, even if there would be people that he didn’t necessarily like who would end up disrupting said routine.
Peter closed his eyes and took a deep breath, knowing that FRIDAY was waiting for his signal to open the elevator doors. He sighed and nodded, “Okay FRI, let’s do this.” he pushed himself away from the door and watched as it opened slowly, too slow for his liking. Unslinging his backpack from over his shoulders, he slipped through the doors as soon as it was big enough for him and rolled his eyes, momentarily forgetting what was about to happen as he looked up at the hidden camera in the roof so he could complain exasperatedly to FRIDAY about how she took what he said a bit too seriously “FRI! Why are you like this?” And her cheeky response said enough.
“Well Peter, you did ask me to give you some time to prepare.” Peter’s hand impacted his face in a facepalm, maybe he hit himself a bit too hard because he yelped in pain. “FRI you’re a little shit.” He huffed before he thought about the things he was too anxious to remember to ask about in the elevator, “Did you already tell Tony I was back? How did he go in that meeting today with Ross about the amendments of the Accords that he’ll complain about for the next two days?”
“Yes, he is aware you have arrived and actually left you a voice message just after the meeting ended.” The voice of Tony came through FRIDAY’s speaker “Hey kiddo, I know you have separation anxiety,” there was a quiet snicker from Tony that made Peter pout before he continued, “but I’ll be coming home tonight, so I hope you haven’t destroyed my lab if you went in there at all during the past two weeks. The meeting was...” he sighed, “just like millennials and you gen-z kids say, I wanted to die and would have loved to be literally anywhere else at this moment. By the time you hear this message, I’ll be on the jet. I’ll tell you about what we discussed in the lab when I get home... and make sure you eat something young man!”
Peter nodded at the message from his father figure, a small smile on his face. “Thanks FRI.” Then he heard a throat being cleared from behind him and he was being lifted off the ground, surrounded by a red glow. “Who are you and what do you have to do with Tony Stark? Are you an illegitimate child?” The familiar voice of Steve Rogers could be heard and he scowled before he was turned around. There were only two people there, Steve and Wanda Maximoff. He looked at them both with a deadpan expression on his face, which turned into a slight glare as he could feel Wanda trying to peer into his mind. “I don’t think so, Ms Maximoff. I have the right to privacy in my own mind.” He spoke and aforementioned girl gaped at him in perplexity before dropping him and giving back control over his body.
“I’m Peter Parker...” Peter stopped for a second, contemplating the consequences of what he was planning on saying next, then shrugged, thought to hell with it and said it anyway, “and you don’t need to know the relationship between me and Tony Stark, you’re still a fugitive in my eyes despite me being with Mr Stark since shit went down with the accords and seeing him losing sleep and having panic attacks through the time he was trying to make them better for you.” The gobsmacked look he got in response was priceless and it made up for the glare that was shot at him once Steve regained his composure.
“Now listen here son, we aren’t fugitives anymore. The accords that your dad willingly signed were problematic and would’ve stripped all of us superheroes of our rights, something you wouldn’t understand-" Peter’s eyes narrowed hearing Steve call him son and he glared at him as he pushed past the two rogue Avengers to the island where he found the math textbook which he had forgotten that morning and picked it up, shoving into his backpack. When he heard him say that he wouldn’t understand, he clenched his fist. He was glad there wasn’t an object in it otherwise it would’ve been crushed. “Don’t call me ‘son’ Mr Poster Boy. I know more than what you would even know about the accords, but you don't understand that people who signed have the ability to suggest amendments to make them better and fairer, which is exactly what Tony and Rhodey did, and they suffered the most because of you.”
Wanda scoffed, “Stark suffered? Are you serious?” Peter turned around and glared at her then looked at Steve with a dark look,
“You didn’t tell them, did you? Oh, that’s rich! You did the same as you did with Tony and kept a secret that would hurt them.” Steve stayed silent, seemingly not knowing what to say or do, before he finally opened his mouth and looked back at Peter with a glare of his own. “Look, kid, who are you to know what happened? He deserved it, he was going to kill Bucky!”
“He deserved it? He deserved it?! Mr Stark did not deserve to be beaten so much that you left him bruised and broken in Russia! Had it not been for King T’Challa he would have died! He trusted you and like many people he’s trusted before, you betrayed him! You betrayed him by not telling him that your best friend murdered his parents and then by trying to kill him! He was never trying to kill Mr Bucky, he just wanted to knock him out at most, because he knew he wouldn’t come willingly, to bring him back to try out a new machine he created to alter memories and hopefully remove his triggers. He just wanted to help him! If you actually knew him, you’d know that the ‘asshole’ that he shows everyone is a front, he’s actually a funny, kind person who wants to help people because he doesn’t want anyone to suffer the way he did.”
Steve’s eyes were wide as he processed Peter’s words. Peter didn’t think any longer before saying, “I’m sorry for this but you deserve it.” And then he punched Steve Rogers in the face. He ran towards the staircase and stopped to look back at the damage, Steve had blood gushing down his nose and he was watching Peter bewilderedly. “And by the way, Mr Stark isn’t my dad!” Wanda just scowled at him and went to the elevator, stepping in it as the doors opened slowly. As Peter walked up the stairs, FRIDAY’s voice rang out, saying, “Peter, you violated protocol Don’t Tell Mama.” And Peter gasped, almost offended that she said he was violating their protocol (he was but he didn’t want to admit it).
“No way FRI! That wasn’t dumb, it was reasonable! He deserved it! Don’t you dare tell Mr Stark or I’ll reprogram you to quote vines. Don’t try me!” He threatened as he retreated into his room to do his homework. He knew his routine would’ve been disrupted by those two and should’ve just gone straight up to his bedroom in the first place.
Steve Rogers was lost. How did this kid manage to punch him and actually leave him in pain? How did this kid know so much about Tony if he wasn’t his kid? Why was he able to access the penthouse bedrooms? How was FRIDAY so familiar with him? Since when did Tony have protocols? What was protocol Don’t Tell Mama? How would the kid be able to reprogram FRIDAY? The biggest question was, if he wasn’t Tony’s kid, then what was he to Tony?
The kid’s words made him think, they made him feel guilty. Steve realised, thanks to the kid’s words, that he really didn’t know Tony as well as he thought he did. It was his fault, after all, for what happened in Siberia. He knew there would be a risk of there somehow being video footage of the demise of the Starks in any of the Hydra bases and he was too afraid to tell Tony what he knew after he found out. He knew the impromptu mission that Tony initiated technically went against the accords but he did it to help Steve and Bucky stop the Hydra assassins from being let loose and because of his mistake, Zemo managed to under their skin and to turn them against each other. He hated it. He sometimes wished he could turn back time, or just slap sense into his past self until he told Tony the truth.
“Hey Pete-" Tony barely made it a few steps into the lab when he was knocked over by his overly clingy spider child launching at him, hugging him, cheeks smooshed against his chest and the arc reactor. “I missed you, Tony.” Although he was uncomfortable laying the way he was, he reached up to ruffle Peter’s hair, smiling softly. “Did everything go well with the accords? Is stuff gonna get better for us? Why did you bring the rogue Avengers back? Why do you deal with Ross even with everything he’s done to outlaw us and make us seem like criminals?”
Tony shook his head good-naturedly at Peter’s rapid-fire questions and just smiled. “Okay Underoos, how about you chill out first, help me up second and then I’ll answer these questions for you. Good?” Peter was jittering like a bobble head at the words and very quickly started following the instructions. When they were both standing, Tony took a seat and started to talk. “Yes, the accords went well, I was fighting for vigilante rights and protection of heroes who are minors with you and any of your vigilante friends in mind. We also were pushing for them to create a private organisation to run the Avengers much like SHIELD, I also discreetly suggested for them to just reinstate SHIELD.
“I brought the rogues back because they do deserve a second chance, they just need to understand that we are trying to change the accords for the benefit of all of us. And why I deal with Ross...? I don’t, honestly. He’s an asshole and I prefer when we have calls because then I can put him on hold just to piss him off. I know I could complain to UN about everything he’s done and get him put in jail, but we’d get someone knew that we don’t know anything about unlike Ross. I know how to piss him off without pushing him overboard, so I'm fine with not doing anything until after they're amended.”
Peter was nodding along in understanding the whole time Tony spoke, enthralled by his words. He grinned when Tony told him what he liked to do to piss Ross off. He was reminded of what he did earlier, and the smile dropped slightly. He didn’t doubt that FRIDAY had told Tony about what had happened before and about everything that happened with Ned hacking into the suit, therefore he was just waiting for a berating now. “Oh, and Pete?” Peter looked at Tony and saw the faint smile on his face. “Thanks for punching Steve on behalf of me. I don’t know how or what you knew but I sorta appreciated it.” FRIDAY hadn’t betrayed him, he smiled very slightly in the direction of the AI’s nearest camera. Tony continued. “Also, you’re grounded because you punched Steve.”
Peter almost cried.